《VRMMO: The Unrivaled》 Chapter 1: Beautiful Leader (Overture) Looking at the door of dreams Listening to distant whispers Oh bloodstained sword Please guide me on the path onward The fountain of light cleanses my dusted body Weary, I still begin a new journey Blood and tears spread across my eyes, the killing never stops Oh, my lover, please don¡¯t shed tears for me The devil will never obtain blessing I will protect you, even if it costs me a lifetime ¡­¡­ It was a moonlit night. A warm spring breeze mixed with the fragrance of flowers and plants brushed across a forest, tree branches swaying in response. In just the blink of an eye, two swift figures appeared, moving deeper into the forest. Rustle¡­ Crushing thin grass beneath my feet, I looked up to the stars and felt an indescribable gloom come over me. Another party wipe. I wasn¡¯t alone. Beside me was a beautiful and attractive elf archer. Bathed in poignant and beautiful moonlight, it looked like her face itself was glowing. ¡°Phew¡­¡± She leaned back against an ancient pine tree. Fatigue and discontent was peeking through her features, and her chest heaved as she breathed deeply. She was gripping a saber with light flowing around it tightly. Her chest armor was cracked after the fierce battle, causing a speck of her near perfect curves to peek through it. Her bracers and legguards were also cracked, exposing her pale, round legs to the mountain wind. Her white cape was soaked with blood and severely shredded. ¡°Let¡¯s stop running, Lu Chen.¡± She looked at me with red cheeks. ¡°Why?¡± I asked in astonishment. She waved her hands. ¡°We¡¯re going to proceed with the plan in two days anyway. In that case, we may as well set this place on fire and delete our accounts now!¡± ¡°Alright, whatever you say, boss.¡± I nodded and raised my bloodstained palms slowly. Swoosh! A burning arrow flew to the sky before exploding into a shower of fire. It only took an instant for the whole forest to become covered in flames. ¡°Aaaaah¡­¡± Bloodcurdling screams resounded throughout the forest. The thousands of players chasing behind us were burned into a crisp as they succumbed to the sea of flames. I let out a long sigh of relief. ¡°It¡¯s done.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± The girl nodded. ¡°Now, let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s begin our new journey!¡± I lifted my hand, and several streams of light composed of data swirled across my palm. My body started vanishing slowly. The beautiful archer seated on the opposite side of me nodded at me with a smile before doing the same. Just like that, we vanished from the virtual forest. ¡­¡­ ¡°Whew¡­¡± I let out a long sigh and took off my gaming helmet. It was finally over. There was a shiny helmet on top of a table not far away from me. Two bold, cursive characters were engraved on its surface: Heavenblessed! That¡¯s right. After the success that was ¡°Spirit of Grief¡±, the world¡¯s greatest gaming corporation, Eternal Moon Corporation, had carefully pushed out a new game called ¡°Heavenblessed¡±. It claimed itself to be the king of games, boasting top rankings, whether it be design or consumerbase. More than 800 million gaming helmets had been sold in the first month alone, and it dominated the market with a whopping 95%. The official release date of ¡°Heavenblessed¡± was two days later, at midnight, with no closed or open beta. ¡°Heavenblessed¡± was one of the reasons I chose to leave. Many teams were ready to leave ¡°Spirit of Grief¡± and develop themselves in the new game, and we were no exception. Heavenblessed¡¯s gaming helmets were split into four different types: low tier, middle tier, high tier and VIP tier. Naturally, each tier was priced differently. My helmet was of the VIP tier. It even had a small line of text imprinted on the side: Proud Member of the CGL Ranking, Falling Dust. That¡¯s right. My name is Lu Chen, and my legend is everywhere in this world. ¡­¡­ ¡°Heh¡­¡± I let out a self-derisive laugh before turning on my computer. An avatar nicknamed ¡°Boss¡± was vibrating in my MSN Messenger. It was of course my beautiful leader. I clicked the avatar and read the message she left behind to me. ¡°Let''s meet tomorrow morning, okay? Where should we meet?¡± ¡°9 am, in front of the gym at Sanxiang Road.¡± Her response was quick. ¡°Alright. Including your salaries, we¡¯ve got over 200 thousand after selling all our equipment. I¡¯ve made a new card, and I¡¯ll send it to you tomorrow.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I lay on my bed after sorting out my feelings. I recalled all the things that had happened in the past two years and lamented about the ups and downs of life. I had worked for the boss for over a year already, but I had never seen her in person before. She told me that her appearance in game was beautified, and that she was a dinosaur in real life. I didn¡¯t really care about that anyway. ¡­¡­ The next day, very early in the morning, I woke up and put on a set of casual clothes. I walked downstairs and strolled through the streets. The gym was only ten minutes away from my place. Feeling a bit of trepidation, I called the boss again. ¡°Boss, how do you look like? What should I look out for?¡± A melodious laugh came from the opposite side of the phone. ¡°Silly boy, just head to the front of the gym and look for the girl who stands out the most.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I hung up the phone and arrived at the public transport stop in front of the gym. Then, I waited while looking all over the place. There were seven or eight people at the public transport stop besides me. A brand new black sports car with gorgeous curves was also parked nearby. I didn¡¯t recognize the license plate, but it was probably very expensive. It was time, but boss still hadn¡¯t shown up yet. At this point I was growing impatient, so I took out my phone and acted to call her again. Speaking of which, everyone at the stop including me had noticed that the owner of the sports car was a superbly beautiful woman. She had bright eyes, clean teeth and long hair. Her looks were good enough to compete in a national beauty pageant. The faint smile on her face and the way her hair danced slightly to the wind only increased her charm further and flabbergasted nearly all the young men waiting at the stop. No one was expecting to find such a gorgeous woman in that amazing sports car. ¡­¡­ That was the first time I saw He Yi. Beautiful, outstanding and natural, she split open the muddy pool that was my life and bathed everything in light. Everything except her peerless appearance faded into the background, pulling at my eyeballs like a ray of holy light that descended from the heavens. The beautiful woman didn¡¯t mind the shower of attention she was receiving. However, the corner of her lips curled slightly with dissatisfaction as she called a number. ¡°Doo doo doo¡­¡± My phone rang. When I brought it to my ears, I heard the boss saying, ¡°What¡¯s keeping you, Lu Chen?¡± I was stunned and in disbelief. Was this beauty really the boss I had been working with for almost two years? If that was true, then she had lied to me earlier. She was beautiful enough to shake anyone to the core. ¡°Boss, I arrived a while ago¡­¡± Feeling a bit embarrassed, I walked up to her while still holding my phone. The beautiful woman turned around to shoot me a glance. Then, she smiled and opened the door, saying, ¡°It was you? Hop in then, there¡¯s a place I want to take you to.¡± I climbed into her car while my back was showered by countless sharp gazes of envy and jealousy. They felt like literal swords stabbing into my back. ¡°Boss, I didn¡¯t think you would be so¡­¡± ¡°So what?¡± She turned toward me with a smile. Her eyes were clearly playful. I gulped once and didn¡¯t continue. The woman¡¯s uniform she was wearing had a very low collar, so I had a clear view of pale flesh hidden beneath the fabric. That alone was enough to make my heart throb, much less the ravine that nearly sucked my soul away. It was more than enough temptation to boil up my head. Next to my boss¡¯s collar was an exquisite-looking work badge. Clearly, she was supposed to be working at this time. Her company¡¯s name, ¡°GGS¡± was written in huge font on the work badge, and beneath it was her name, He Yi! What really astonished me, however, was the job title written after her name. It said ¡°Asia Region Vice President¡±! ¡°Boss, your name is He Yi?¡± I asked. ¡°Mn. It¡¯s a good name, isn¡¯t it?¡± She smiled slightly while starting the car. ¡°What do you want to do in the future, Lu Chen? Or should I say, what are your dreams for the future?¡± ¡°My dreams?¡± I thought for a second before laughing. ¡°My dream is to hide in a mountain starting tomorrow and live in happiness. I want to feed my horse, chop up firewood for warmth and travel around the world. Starting tomorrow, I¡¯m going to focus on agriculture, build a big house that faces the sea and let spring come to me¡­¡± ¡°Enough, you!¡± He Yi let out a giggle. ¡°You sure are hopeless. I guess it¡¯s up to me to be your guiding light again! Come on, I¡¯m going to take you somewhere.¡± ¡°Where?¡± I asked a bit worriedly from the front passenger seat. He Yi shot me a mysterious smile and lifted her eyebrows. ¡°It is a place where dreams are realized. The Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild is planning to build a high-level workshop, and it¡¯s probably going to consist of all our main members. You are the first candidate that came into my mind.¡± ¡°A workshop?¡± I felt a little lost. I was alone for the longest time, and now I¡¯m going to be joining a gaming workshop? ¡°Boss, I think I prefer to be¡­¡± I fell silent for a very long time before continuing, ¡°I really don¡¯t think Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls needs someone like me¡­¡± He Yi immediately glared at me and scolded, ¡°Cut the whining and just follow me!¡± I could only shut up as ordered. Everyone who followed He Yi knew about her drive, and the only thing we could ever do was to obey her decision. I didn¡¯t say anything else after that. He Yi was also focused on her driving. Once in a while though, she would sneak a glance at me and smile. After a while, she passed a card to me. It contained a portion of the income I had accumulated in the last half a year or so. The car quickly exited the city area, and the traffic growing thinner by the second. Chapter 2: Inciden Eeek¡­ There was a sudden screech on the road. We saw a woman lying on the ground, her lower body bleeding profusely. She must have been in an accident! ¡°Eh?¡± He Yi frowned and slowed down immediately. ¡°Please, I beg you, please save my wife. She was ran down by a car. Please¡­¡± A middle-aged man about 50 years old ran over while crying. ¡°Please, take her to a hospital.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± He Yi stopped her car without hesitation. ¡°Lu Chen, let¡¯s help them!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I was about to get out of the car when I caught something at the edge of my vision. It was a black car speeding straight at us from an alley! The driver even ran over the road fence! Not good, this smell¡­ a conspiracy! The car was too fast, and there was nothing I could do besides shielding He Yi with my body. Shock appeared on He Yi¡¯s beautiful face. ¡°No¡­¡± BANG! There was a loud noise, and He Yi¡¯s black sports car was knocked straight off the road. The impact was terrible. My mind was blank, and He Yi had collapsed in her seat. A trail of blood slid down her pale forehead. I shook my head with all my might to clear my head. Then, two broad-faced men rushed through the smoke toward us while swearing, ¡°Check if that woman is dead!¡± It really was an attempted murder! I hastily took action. My limbs were unhurt, and my back was only slightly painful. I carried the unconscious He Yi out of the car. ¡°Fuck, she has a guy with her! Get them!¡± The men were holding an iron rod each. They attacked us without any hesitation at all. Thunk! One of the rods hit me squarely on the shoulder. Terrible pain shot straight into my brain. There was very little time to ponder. This place was next to empty in terms of crowds, and very few cars passed by this area. He Yi and I had clearly fallen into an elaborate death trap. I kicked one of the men in the underbelly and made him crouch in pain. Holding He Yi protectively in front of me, I ran toward the road. I could only hope that someone would show up. Pain erupted from my shoulder again. Fresh blood was slowly but surely drenching my white shirt. He Yi was unconscious, and her eyes were tightly shut. Her long eyebrows made her look sad and beautiful. ¡°I will protect her this time. I won¡¯t let her get hurt even if I were to lose my life!¡± I told myself again and again in my head. When I finally stumbled and crawled my way onto the road, I discovered that the heavens hadn¡¯t forsaken us. A private car was just moving toward our direction. I quickly moved to the center of the road to get it to stop. At the same time, the two killers swung their iron rods and rushed at us again. ¡°Open the fucking door!¡± I punched the car window and caused it to crack. The situation escalating, the driver had no choice but to give in. I seized the opportunity to push He Yi into the car before shouting, ¡°Quickly, take her to a hospital!¡± The middle-aged man had no choice but to nod again. Suddenly, his eyes widened with fear. It was because the two burly men had caught up with us. There was no way I was escaping this predicament, so I stood in their way, allowing the car to leave safely. ¡°Fuck! He screwed up our plans! Kill him!¡± The man with knife scars all over his face jumped me with a savage grin on his face. I didn¡¯t put much of a resistance. I had taken too much damage earlier, and was already out of steam. My knees slowly hit the ground. Bang! I felt a burning hot sensation behind the back of my head, and the world spun from beneath my feet. I collapsed heavily on the road after that. Everything was dark. I couldn¡¯t see anything. ¡­¡­ Am I dead? I asked myself that again and again, but there''s was no one to answer my question. Despair and sorrow suddenly overwhelmed me while I was kneeling in the darkness. I felt like I could almost hear my mother¡¯s final words: ¡°Take care of yourself, Lu Chen¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, mom, I broke our promise.¡± ¡°Mom, I¡¯m scared¡­¡± I cried and cried, but I couldn¡¯t open my mouth or make any sound at all. My entire being was engulfed in fear and despair. Suddenly a voice rang beside my ears¡ª ¡°We don¡¯t even know who this kid is. What should we do?¡± ¡°What else? We bury him. Fuck this busybody, he brought this upon himself!¡± I could feel my body sinking deeper and deeper. Soon, my consciousness disappeared completely. ¡­¡­ It was late at night. At the farmland of a quiet, abandoned village, there was a spot that looked like it had been freshly dug. Poosh! An arm suddenly burst out of the earth. I crawled out of the hole and looked down at my soiled hands. I could barely believe that I was alive. How on earth did I survive being buried for so long? Shocked, I turned around and discovered that the hole was only about twenty centimeters deep. The earth also looked incredibly loose. This probably meant that there was enough air for me to breathe even while I was unconscious. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± I groaned as a splitting pain appeared from the back of my head. The blow that knocked me out and nearly took my life was seriously heavy. Still, I was lucky to have survived this. I looked around me and saw a sky full of stars. It was already nighttime. My phone was missing, and my clothes were blood-red. Any movement caused waves of terrible pain to shoot to my brain. Still feeling glad for having survived this ordeal, I couldn''t help but worry about He Yi. Had she been delivered safely to the hospital? Why did those people try to kill her? There were so, so many mysteries that remained unsolved... Never mind, I should get back home first. God knows how long I¡¯ve been hungry considering how loudly my stomach is growling. As I staggered my way onto the road, a new question hit me. Why had I defended He Yi with my body without any hesitation when she was in danger? What on earth was I hoping for? I shook the thoughts out of my head. Who knew what I was thinking at that time? There were very few public transports that traveled through a rural area, and I had to wait for over half an hour before I finally saw one. The driver looked at me like a ghost when I climbed into his bus. ¡°Friend, did you fall into a drain or something?¡± I nodded and smiled at him. ¡°More or less. Rotten luck, trust me.¡± The road back home was bumpy and uncomfortable, and my phone was nowhere to be seen. Luckily, I still had the card He Yi had given me, so my livelihood wasn¡¯t in any danger yet. ¡°Heavenblessed¡± would be starting tomorrow night. Maybe I wasn''t good enough to do whatever I wanted, but earning a living should definitely be within my reach. I touched the wound at the back of my head. It was still hurting a bit. All this time, I couldn¡¯t stop thinking about how I managed to walk out of this whole thing alive. I was struck in the head with a blunt object, and the blow was probably heavy enough to break my skull. Then, I was buried in the ground for god knows how long. Seriously, how the hell had I made it out alive? I looked back at the area where I was buried and noticed that it was an undeveloped area. It looked a lot like a graveyard filled with tiny, short tombstones. A long time later, I suddenly laughed derisively at myself. ¡°Well, who cares as long as I¡¯m alive?¡± ¡­¡­ By the time I finally returned home, the sky was already completely dark. I lived in an apartment that consisted of a bedroom, a living room and a toilet. The monthly rent was 2200 RMB. Yep, if a brother hadn¡¯t helped me out, I would have failed to pay my rent last month. Of course, the cost of that aid was a low-level Divine-grade weapon, a two-handed sword to be exact. That being said, ¡°Spirit of Grief¡± was shutting down in a couple of days, so it was eventually going to become worthless anyway. I walked up the dark stairs and went through the familiar motions of producing my key. Suddenly, a figure rushed out of my apartment. ¡°Fuck, man! What kept you away for so long? And where have you been for the last two days? You weren¡¯t picking up any of my calls!¡± I already knew who the figure was from his voice. Du Thirteen was the best brother I¡¯ve ever had. We were so close that we wouldn¡¯t hesitate to share our precious belongings with each other. Du Thirteen and I were friends since primary school, and we practically shared everything with each other besides our girlfriends. We barely even had any secrets that we kept from each other. Of course, the reason we never shared girlfriends was because one, I never had one to share in the first place, and two, Du Thirteen changed partners faster than a girl changing her clothes. Du Thirteen peered at me through the dim lighting before exclaiming in astonishment, ¡°What on earth happened to you, Lu Chen? Oh right, I heard you were hunted by Candlelight Shadow until you had to delete your account¡­ It¡¯s okay. Right now Candlelight Shadow is like the sun in the sky, and there¡¯s practically nothing he can¡¯t do in the China server. It¡¯s not surprising that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls couldn¡¯t fight against him.¡± I smiled slightly at him and gave him a tap on the shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m fine. Be more optimistic, will ya? Candlelight Shadow may be in his prime right now, but there are no primes that last forever. Besides, it¡¯s just an account deletion; a small matter. Young people should be optimistic, you know?¡± ¡°Optimistic your sister¡­¡± Du Thirteen replied helplessly. ¡°Just who¡¯s consoling who right now¡­¡± ¡°Speaking of which, why are you here, Thirteen?¡± I glared at him. ¡°Tomorrow¡¯s the release day. Why are you here instead of preparing?¡± Du Thirteen took a bite of cucumber before staring at me in astonishment. ¡°Did someone hit you in the head? Heavenblessed releases tonight at 12 am. What do you mean tomorrow?" ¡°What? Today?! What¡­ what date is today?¡± I asked a little dazedly. ¡°Today is the 10th, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°The 10th¡­¡± I was stunned. He Yi and I met on the 8th, but today was the 10th already. Was I unconscious for an entire day? In the ground? How was that possible?! ¡°Hey, bro, are you really okay?¡± Du Thirteen gave me a tap on the shoulder before asking, ¡°What¡¯s with the confusion on your face? Today''s the 10th. Is there something wrong with that?¡± I sucked in a deep breath before smiling at him. ¡°Nothing. Anyway, today¡¯s the day right? So why are you loitering around here?¡± ¡°You heartless bastard!¡± Du Thirteen¡¯s saliva flew everywhere. ¡°I came here because I couldn¡¯t contact you for the past two days! I was worried that you were dead or something! Anyway, I¡¯m going back now that you¡¯re here. I should reach home just barely before 12. I¡¯ll see you in game, alright? Now quickly, what¡¯s your new ID? Is it still Falling Dust?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, I''ll change it this time I think. What about you? What¡¯s your ID going to be?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know either. There are just too many people registering, you know? I wanted to register myself as Brother Cool or Handsome Hero or something, but the chances are pretty low to be honest.¡± ¡°In that case, you should head back first. We can always contact each other after we leave the starting village.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll be leaving. By the way, I brought you a couple hundred grams of sliced beef. I was going to drink with you, but you were quite late. Next time.¡± I looked inside my apartment and saw a bag of sliced beef and a bottle of Erguotou on the table. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a surge of warmth inside my heart. If there was one thing I had gained throughout my life, it was this good brother of mine. Chapter 3: Undead Swordsman I ate about 250 grams of beef and drank a few cups of liquor, but my body still didn¡¯t feel very warm. It was very strange. I checked the time and noted that it was 10:30 pm, meaning that ¡°Heavenblessed¡± would be starting in just one and a half hour¡¯s time. Hundreds of millions of gaming fanatics must be staying close to their gaming equipment and waiting anxiously for the moment; the moment where they enter a whole new virtual reality and create new, immortalized legends of themselves. I turned on the computer and saw the MSN avatar blinking rapidly. He Yi had sent a total of 47 messages while I was gone¡ª ¡°Lu Chen, are you there? I¡¯m at the hospital right now. Where are you¡­¡± ¡°Lu Chen, I¡¯ve been trying to call your phone, but I couldn¡¯t get through¡­¡± ¡°Lu Chen, I couldn¡¯t find you even after I went back to the crash site. Where are you?¡± ¡°Wuuu, please don¡¯t scare me, Lu Chen¡­¡± ¡°Lu Chen, what on earth happened to you? Where are you? Please¡­ I¡­¡± "Wuuu, Lu Chen¡­¡± The sight of these messages made me feel incredibly uncomfortable. My hands were on the keyboard, but I had no idea what I should type. In the end, I arrived at a difficult decision. I wouldn''t contact He Yi. As I am right now, I''m of no help to the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild. It would be better if she forgot about me entirely than drag a burden like me with her. And so, I deleted my MSN account and searched the official website of ¡°Heavenblessed¡±. ¡­¡­ By now, the amount of people waiting online to join the game had reached a whopping number of seven hundred million. It was definitely an unprecedented¡ªand for now, unbeatable¡ªfeat! Besides that, there was a news title presented in large font on the official website of Spirit of Grief: Falling Dust, the genius of an era, suffers a massive defeat before leaving the scene with account deletion. Over thirty thousand people left a reply to the news post. Countless more felt sorry for me. I took another sip of the spicy liquor before smiling in relief. The best way to deal with this fucking life was a pinch of optimism. ¡°Heh, Heavenblessed, here I come!¡± I waited for a while until it was after 11. Then, I put on my gaming helmet. A green flash and a retinal scan confirmed my identity. When I entered the game registration page, I noticed that the opening scene had been added to the page¡ª It was the World Tree, the origin of all life and the protector of the natural laws. But the World Tree started wilting, and the gods were perishing one after another. The entire Heavenblessed Continent was dyed in blood as a terrifying race slaughtered all life that entered its sight. The images changed, and the scene switched to a battlefield in a huge valley. I was immediately stunned by the scene in front of me¡ª There were many armies composed of different races. Weapon clangs never stopped, and the sky was almost blotted out by the banners. The barbarian king clad in heavy armor swung his battle axe and let out a terrifying roar as his tribesmen swung their weapons toward their opponents with all their might. However, their enemies were quick and deadly, and their counterattack penetrated the warriors¡¯ flesh like nothing. The entire place was filled with screams and the tang of blood. Beneath a lionhead banner, the beautiful human queen pulled out her sword and shouted, ¡°Attack!¡± Countless human soldiers responded to the order, heaved their broadswords and charged bravely toward the front. The mages hiding in the dark muttered inaudible chants, their spells, huge fireballs hurling toward their enemies. The battle was growing more and more intense. The battle cries in the valley were deafening, and the stench of blood was thick and ever-present. The human queen grew a pair of beautiful butterfly wings and dove into the battlefield. Wherever her sword danced, countless heads of the undead flew high into the air. However, a fog suddenly descended on the ground, transforming into a mysterious figure. A cold flash later, the human queen collapsed, and her head was held up by her killer. The fog-like undead let out a terrible, angry roar as if commanding all the races to submit to him. The ground was dyed red. The warriors turned into cold, lifeless bodies. In the end, only one human warrior was still standing atop a hill of corpses and cutting the terrifying creatures in half. Drenched in blood but refusing to give up, he raised his sword and roared angrily at the undead leader. The two combatants charged each other at the same time as two Divine Armaments clashed, dominating the spotlight until it engulfed the entire world! ¡°Clang!¡± The ring of metals didn¡¯t die even as everything slowly faded away. Finally, a word slowly rose from the horizon¡ªHeavenblessed! I sucked in a deep breath after it was all over. What an impressive opening scene! It was no wonder that Heavenblessed was claimed a classic that would surpass Spirit of Grief. The promotional cinematic alone was enough to get my blood pumping! My soul slowly flew toward the welcome shrine. A fairy danced in front of me before the melodious, synthetic voice of a woman entered my ears¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Hello, valued user. You are confirmed to be a China server CGL Hall of Famer. Will you carry over your previous ID: Falling Dust? I thought for a second before rejecting the option. Then, I entered a new ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Sounds artistic and poetic, right? It reflects both the sorrow of Roberto Baggio and the heroism of Gabriel Batistuta, and it sounds cool enough to bait a cute lady or two. It truly is one of a kind! In the previous game, after becoming one of the twenty-seven most famous players of the China server, I was gifted with this extremely precious gaming helmet. Two years ago, I was one of the hottest and most powerful players in Spirit of Grief. But life was as unpredictable as the weather, and after a car accident damaged my brain stem, my whole life became delayed by 3 whole seconds. What this meant was that any instruction my brain sent out took 3 seconds to process before the corresponding action took place. Could you imagine how deadly this reaction time was to my life? The most anticipated rising star of the China region perished just like that. The genius became trash, and I became the biggest joke of China¡¯s CGL Hall of Fame. My friends deserted me, and for a time I was at the lowest point of my life. But one woman extended me an olive branch and pulled me out of it. It was my boss, a beautiful, strong and charismatic woman. But I let her down, and the guild lost again and again. In the end, we lost to Candlelight Shadow so badly and thoroughly that our three-thousand-strong guild was slaughtered until only five of us were left. Our opponent was very scary. Candlelight Shadow was proudly known as the ¡°Martial God¡± in the gaming industry. He was also the number one player of the China server. ¡­¡­ I smiled. There was no denying that I was well and truly broken in the previous game. It was true that I was a winner when I entered the CGL Hall of Fame, but the countless defeats I suffered after the car accident also marked me as a loser. It was why He Yi defined me as a ¡°winloser¡±! That was why I named myself ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡±. It was a reminder to myself not to fall into the same pitfall again, just like how Su Qin tied his hair to the ceiling and stabbed himself to study harder! It was now time to confirm my race and class, also my most anticipated part of the registration process. Hmm, I want to become a cool and handsome human knight with high defense and burst. It would also help cover up my deficiency. Heavenblessed was a full-body virtual reality game. There were ten classes to choose from: Warrior, Magic Knight, Mage, Archer, Wanderer, Tactician, Tamer, Priest, Bard and Assassin. They all had their own specialties, but there was nothing I loved more than melee-based classes. A real man should always fight close and personal on the battlefield! A series of character models appeared in front of me. There was an armor-clad Warrior, a horse-riding Magic Knight, a staff-swinging Mage, a bow-wielding Archer, a Tactician, a Priest and so on. The system also scanned the player¡¯s body during the character creation process. I felt a slight pain on my head¡ªsomething like a mosquito bite¡ªand a blood sample was taken from my body. Ding~! System Notice: According to the scan, your heart rate is 30% lower than a normal person¡¯s! System Notice: According to the scan, your body temperature is 70% below the normal standard! System Notice: According to the scan, your blood activity and viscosity is 40% below the normal standard! System Notice: According to the scan, your brain wave activity is 20% higher than a normal person¡¯s! System Notice: According to the scan, your vital signs are 50% weaker than a normal person¡¯s! The notices kept coming, and I was shocked beyond words. What the hell was this? Was my VIP tier gaming helmet actually a counterfeit? It was at this moment the notification bell rang again. Ding~! System Notice: Your physique matches the requirement to obtain a hidden warrior class, Undead Swordsman. Do you accept? I was stupefied for two whole minutes. Then, I looked up and laughed like a madman! ¡°Hahaha, what unbelievable boon! To think I would obtain a secret class even before I entered the game! Undead Swordsman, a melee class with a special race? Only an idiot would reject this offer!¡± I clicked accept without hesitation. Another ding later, my game character appeared before my eyes. He was a cold, stern sword-wielding zombie clad in black armor from head to toe with a bloody war shirt! The design was up to my satisfaction. An involuntary smile crossed my face as I said to myself, ¡°Not bad. Now, I should get ready to enter the game!¡± It was 11:57 pm, less than 3 minutes away from the official start of Heavenblessed. My heart was beating rapidly, and blood was boiling inside my body. The past rewinded itself in my head. Hmph, I will take back everything I¡¯ve lost with my own hands! Time continued to tick down as I waited in the welcome shrine. I¡¯m sure countless players throughout the world are feeling the same eagerness and anticipation as I am. Finally, the long needle of the clock hit 12. The game was now officially released! Ding~! System Notice: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, would you like to enter the game right away? Yes! Light flashed before my eyes, and I entered the world of Heavenblessed. Then, a ding informed me that the first player to enter the game, namely me, was gifted a shot at the lottery. Congratulations! You¡¯ve obtained the super Divine Armament¡ªSword of the Overlord! And then I woke up. Obviously, that was a complete pipedream. ¡­¡­ My eyes were beset by a curtain of endless fog. I heard a quiet sigh from far, far away. ¡°Awaken, oh abandoned dead!¡± Rustle rustle¡­ The sound of rolling soil entered my ears as I dug through the earth covering me with all my might. Finally, I burst through the ground and was immediately greeted with a waft of rot and death. If that wasn¡¯t enough, the person in front of me shocked me even more! I would call him a man dressed in black mage robes, but he wasn¡¯t really a man. His face was rotten, and he was missing more than half of his flesh. The only intact organs on his body were probably the eyeballs rolling up and about in his sockets, and to call it terrifying would be an understatement to say the least. The hand he used to grip the staff was completely rotten, left with naught but white bones. Chapter 4: Super Big-eared Rabbi My first reaction upon seeing the undead mage was: Hm, I should charge and kill him immediately. Maybe I could get his nice-looking staff to drop! I didn¡¯t hesitate to translate my thoughts to action. After touching around a bit and finding nothing to use as a weapon, I swung my fists in an attempt to give the evil undead mage a beatdown. Then, I realized that my arms were bony white! ¡°Fuck!¡± I screeched to a stop and looked at the lower half of my body. The sight of it immediately inspired a hive of goosebumps¡ªthe flesh was completely missing, and the only thing covering my modesty was a stitch of ragged cloth! Oh no. Could it be!? I pulled open the simple pants, looked inside and felt a buzz in my head immediately. My¡­ my little brother had rotten away as well! All I could see were the bones that made up my pelvis! ¡°Hi, little bug. You¡¯ve finally awakened!¡± The undead mage stared at me while chuckling. ¡°Since you¡¯re awake, you should grab your weapon and fight for the domination of the Night Creatures!¡± Ding~! System Notice: The village chief of Corpse Heap Graveyard has gifted you a set of starting equipment: a Rusted Iron Sword and a Tattered Shirt! Ding Dong! After the equipment entered my bag, I brought up the character screen and saw exactly what I got: a shabby sword and a piece of ragged cloth. The Rusted Iron Sword was of course the standard weapon most people started with, and it had an attack power of 0~1. The Tattered Shirt on the other hand gave 1 point of Defense. I equipped both equipment and checked my status screen. I immediately felt like whining like a bitch. I had thought that the Undead Swordsman was an OP class, but in reality it was nothing but cannon fodder! ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Class: Undead Swordsman (Beginner) Level: 0 HP: 100 Attack: 1~2 Defense: 1 Magic Resist: 0 Reputation: 0 Luck: 0 ¡­¡­ Wonderful, my base attack power was 1~1, and my base defense was a big fat zero. If it wasn¡¯t for this Tattered Shirt, a goddamned chicken could probably blow me to kingdom come! It had been less than five minutes since the servers were opened, and a huge amount of players was pouring into the game right now. This was the time where every second counted. I thought about what I wanted to do for a second and realized that running around like a headless fly and leveling was extremely unwise. Corpse Heap Graveyard was also a starting village, but unlike the starting villages most players would spawn in, Corpse Heap Graveyard belonged to a villainous faction! I did what any pretty little skeleton would do and ran around the entire Corpse Heap Graveyard like I owned the place. In the end, I discovered that a half-rotten barbarian was sitting at the bottom of a dead pine tree. He was probably a Night Creature now, but it was clear that he was troubled by something. He was scratching his head so hard that hair was falling off his scalp. The four words, ¡°Corpse Heap Graveyard Guard¡±, were floating above his head. I walked up to him and said in a deep voice, ¡°Is there anything I can help you with, brother?¡± The barbarian looked up at me and said, ¡°Little skeleton, a human scout has discovered our location, and Corpse Heap Graveyard is no longer our paradise. We must attack the human villages with our abandoned dead. Before that though, you must head out of the village and clear out a group of annoying Big-eared Rabbits who are harassing our companions.¡± Ding~! System Notice: You¡¯ve accepted the quest [Kill The Big-eared Rabbits]! (Quest Rank: F-) Description: Kill 20 Big-eared Rabbits and collect 5 Thick Leg Hair. Bring them to the Corpse Heap Graveyard Guard for a reward! ¡­¡­ Abandoned dead? I was a little confused. Does that mean I¡¯m a neutral character who doesn¡¯t belong to either the Silver Moon Alliance or the Night Creatures? Maybe. Well, it isn¡¯t a bad thing. Less trouble, more leveling! Time to head out! The amount of quests in Heavenblessed was as few as the amount of hair on a bald man¡¯s head. It looked like this was the only available quest in the entire starting village. I gripped the Rusted Iron Sword with one hand and walked out of the graveyard. I was immediately greeted by the sight of a huge forest. Just like the guard had told me earlier, a bunch of black-furred Big-eared Rabbits were meandering about outside. The Big-eared Rabbits were generally between Level 1 and 3. It wouldn¡¯t be easy for a Level 0 like me to kill them. Not far away, I could see a couple of Gophers running happily across a green field. These harmless rodents were all Level 1, and even a complete newbie should be able to deal with them without problems. Logically speaking, they were the most ideal targets for leveling at my current status, not to mention that my mind was crippled by a three-second delay. However, I raised my eyebrows and said to myself, ¡°Fuck it, it¡¯s just a Big-eared Rabbit! There¡¯s no way I can¡¯t beat something this weak!¡± Dragging my shabby sword behind my back, I quietly sneaked up to a group of Big-eared Rabbits and observed them closely. I noticed that they were incredibly agile, and their attack speed was also nothing to scoff at; about 1.4 seconds per attack. I might be able to handle a Level 1 Big-eared Rabbit¡¯s attacks, but Level 3... let¡¯s just say the ¡°ecstasy¡± it¡¯d deliver was probably more than I would like. That being said, the Big-eared Rabbit in front of me was only Level 1, so it was the perfect sacrifice to sate my baby¡¯s bloodthirst! Actually, never mind that, this shitty sword is just... I rushed toward the Big-eared Rabbit and allowed habit to take over my movements. Calculating the distance, I thought to attack when the distance between us was about nine meters! This, is prediction! That¡¯s right, prediction was a technique any pro must possess, and it was even more crucial in my case, considering the three-second delay between my body''s reaction and the commands sent out by my brain. That was how I was able to become one of the Top 100 players of Spirit of Grief even after I had been crippled! MISS! But what happened after I attacked exceeded my expectations completely. It was because my shabby sword hit nothing but air! It wasn¡¯t that I had terrible aim, no. It was because my body swung the sword while the Big-eared Rabbit was still seven meters away... Of course I missed! Unfortunately, my movement caught the Big-eared Rabbit¡¯s attention, and after letting out a squeal it pounced straight at me. Its powerful hind legs slapped into my face as if it was stepping into a piece of cow dung! 12! The damage dealt to me by the Big-eared Rabbit appeared in the air. As I thought, it isn''t impossible to fight a Level 1 Big-eared Rabbit with just 100 HP. Rustle Rustle! I took a step back and swung my sword at the same time! Chop! 9! With my pitiful 1~2 Attack, that was about as much damage I could deal with a basic attack, but then again, the Big-eared Rabbit only had 30 HP. It shouldn¡¯t be a problem to kill it with another 3 hits or so. Swoosh swoosh swoosh! I delivered three lightning-fast attacks in a row to the Big-eared Rabbit, but my feet never stopped backing away from it. Thanks to my ingenious movements, the Big-eared Rabbit didn''t manage to land another hit on me before it died. ¡°Squeal¡­¡± The Big-eared Rabbit let out a bloodcurdling scream after its legs were cut off. As it collapsed to the ground, it cried out its last words, ¡°Damn you, Night Creatures! Ah! My leg¡­ my 27 meters per second thick-haired leg!¡± The monster didn¡¯t drop another equipment or item, but I laughed on top of my lungs. ¡°Oh my god, did you catch that? Your daddy Falling Dust is back!¡± The surrounding Big-eared Rabbits looked at me like I was an idiot, but I was too happy to care because the attack I had launched just now made me feel like I had traveled back into the past. Why? It was because the three-second delay had somehow been shortened to just one second! One second was absolutely within my ability to control. I still might not be able to become the best of the best, but I was sure that becoming first-rate was absolutely within my reach! But there is a reason why people say ¡°don¡¯t count your chickens before they hatch¡±, and my manic laughter caused three Big-eared Rabbits to lunge at me simultaneously. One of them was even Level 3, and a single bite from it took 41 points of my HP! 27! 41! 14! 39! I was killed in less than a second, and that was how I lost my virginity in Heavenblessed. My entire body hurt for a second before I revived back in the graveyard. It was then that I discovered that I was fully naked. Apparently, the death had cost me my Defense+1 Tattered Shirt. Feeling like someone had stripped a chunk of flesh off my body, I ran back to where I was killed like the wind. Thankfully, the equipment hadn¡¯t disappeared yet, so I quickly picked it up and put it back on. Then, I lurked around the edges of the forest in search for my next isolated target to kill. My level was too low, so there were no skills I could learn at this time. All I could rely on were basic attacks. Thankfully, my many years of experience taught me how to move and position against a monster. It wouldn¡¯t make a monster miss its attack, but it could minimize the amount of damage dealt. Rustle rustle... I moved backwards quickly while swinging my sword twice. Just like that, I had killed another Big-eared Rabbit. Pop! Oh, I got an item, a Thick Leg Hair to be precise. It was none other than the quest item I was hunting for. I put it in my bag and went searching for my next target. At the same time, I prayed that my next drop would be a high-grade weapon. This shabby sword was so bad that even a Level 1 monster was difficult to kill, and there was no way I was going to challenge a Level 3 Big-eared Rabbit. Well, I could do that, but I would fall behind massively due to inefficiency. A while later, 20 Big-eared Rabbits had been killed by my hands. I was still missing one Thick Leg Hair though. Nighttime arrived, and my clothes were damp because of the environment. The feeling of wet clothes clinging to my bones was uncomfortable to say the least. Before I knew it, I had ventured deep into the forest. Swoosh! I finally reached Level 1 and gained 5 free points after killing my twenty-fourth Big-eared Rabbit. I put them all into Strength. Now that my attack power had reached a respectable range of 4~7, I was finally strong enough to challenge a Level 3 Big-eared Rabbit! Excited, I approached a Level 3 Big-eared Rabbit and ambushed it from behind! Bang bang! My shabby sword passed through the Big-eared Rabbit¡¯s neck¡ªits weak point¡ªtwice. Hitting a weak point added 50% bonus damage! 31! 37! As expected, my damage dealt was now quite considerable after the stat increase! A Level 3 Big-eared Rabbit had 120 HP, and I had shaved off half of that number with my successful ambush. I retreated three meters and swung my sword into the air! 40! Very good, I struck the Big-eared Rabbit¡¯s weak spot again. My breath was caught in my chest for a moment because the Big-eared Rabbit slammed into me and took away 41 HP, but that was the only attack it was going to land before it died. My shabby sword pierced straight into its neck and killed it immediately! Pop! It dropped another Thick Leg Hair, perfect! My quest was complete! That wasn¡¯t all, it also dropped a Basic Health Potion, the high-quality kind that restored 80 HP in one go! I picked up the leg hair excitedly and was about to turn back toward the starting village. However, a chill suddenly creeped up my back. I turned around and saw something, my heart beating wildly. I felt both nervous and excited. A super-huge rabbit with green fur was glaring at me from a thicket. It was clear that this Big-eared Rabbit was different from the others! Level 5 Big-eared Rabbit Leader (F- Rank Boss) I shivered. I couldn¡¯t believe I ran into a boss! Chapter 5: Glowing Chest Armor ¡°An F- Rank boss huh?¡± The corner of my lips curled slightly. I was Level 1, and the enemy in front of me was Level 5. The miss rate of attacks when the level difference was under five wasn¡¯t too high, so killing it wasn¡¯t beyond my reach. After making my mind up, I immediately got ready! Rustle... My feet shuffled across the grass slightly, but the boss immediately reacted and attacked me as quick as lightning. Luckily, I wasn¡¯t too slow myself, and I was able to bend my body out of the way and slash upward at the same time. The shabby sword sliced across the Big-eared Rabbit boss¡¯s stomach! 21! Wow, this rabbit¡¯s defense is pretty high! I quickly deduced that the Big-eared Rabbit had about 2500 total HP. This meant that I had to attack it at least 100 times before I could defeat it! The boss squealed, turned around and swung its tail at me. The tail was short, but it slammed heavily across my back like a steel whip! 61! Pain scorched my senses for a moment. This attack power is a bit too much, isn¡¯t it? I only had 110 total HP right now, meaning that I would die if I took another hit. There was just no way I could beat it right now. I also felt regret because the rules of Heavenblessed turned out to be quite different from Spirit of Grief. This isn¡¯t worth it, I should¡¯ve known better! Since I can¡¯t beat it, I should run away while I still can. If I get killed here, all the time and effort I spent hunting Big-eared Rabbits since Level 0 will have been wasted. I looked around me and confirmed the terrain with lightning speed. I chose to dash toward the road on my right because it had the least amount of Big-eared Rabbits. One boss was difficult enough, another Big-eared Rabbit or two would definitely seal my doom. I ran like the wind while adjusting my steps constantly. Trees, shrubberies, bushes, they were all obstacles that could be used. The boss had to jump around while I traversed the obstacles with the minimal amount of movement. It was almost enough to make up for the gap between our movement speeds. I didn¡¯t stop scanning my surroundings while I was running. Suddenly, I found something that made my eyes light up with joy! There was a thorny forest not far ahead of me. The plants it was composed of were called ¡°Snake Venom Brambles¡±. This particular plant was mentioned in the publicly-released information about Heavenblessed. The Snake Venom Bramble was a deadly plant that inflicted a considerable amount of poison damage to any creature that came into contact with it. A production-focused player could gather them as ingredients and create poison for Assassin players. It was an item any killer must have! Swoosh! I easily leaped over the brambles and landed in an open field. It was only a meter tall, and it was nothing I couldn¡¯t overcome. I carefully avoided touching the poisonous brambles all around me and waited patiently for the boss to come. ¡°Squeal!¡± It was clear that the Big-eared Rabbit Boss was on the verge of going berserk, and was too tired to clear the one-meter-tall brambles just like I did. Unfortunately for it, it was only about as big as a washbowl, and while it was in the air I smacked it right in the head with my shabby sword! ¡°Get down you!¡± I hit the Big-eared Rabbit Boss like it was a ball. As I had predicted, it fell into the brambles and squealed painfully as the poisonous thorns bit into its flesh. Its HP started dropping at a rapid rate. Utilizing my reach advantage to the max, I repeatedly stabbed the Big-eared Rabbit Boss in the ass again and again. It couldn¡¯t do anything to escape because it was small, and it was completely trapped inside the thorny brambles. The more it jumped in pain and panic, the more holes appeared all across its body! It took less than two minutes for the Big-eared Rabbit¡¯s HP to reach the bottom. This was the first boss I¡¯ve ever killed in Heavenblessed, and I felt like my blood was boiling with excitement. I shouted inside my mind: ¡°Drop me something! Please drop a usable weapon for me, mister rabbit!¡± ¡°Wah!¡± The Big-eared Rabbit Boss finally let out a scream and died. Two items were left in its place. Swoosh! The boss donated a generous amount of experience and increased my level by 2. I dumped another 5 free points into Strength and raised my attack power to 7~12. Now this is what I call damage! However, the joy of leveling couldn¡¯t come close to the joy of getting an equipment drop at all. My eyes were wide open as a chest armor with a greenish glow and a big stone that looked like a diamond dropped on the ground. I carefully lifted the chest armor with my sword and pulled it closer. When it finally entered my hands, the equipment window appeared in front of me¡ª Big-eared Rabbit Glowing Battle Armor (Iron-grade) Defense: 9 Stamina: +2 Level Requirement: 2 ¡­¡­ I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the drop was an Iron-grade equipment that provided stat bonuses! In Heavenblessed, an equipment¡¯s grades were split into Common, Iron, Bronze, Steel, Dark Steel, Silver, Gold, Dark Gold, Purple Gold, Spirit, Immortal and Divine. This Iron-grade equipment was almost rock bottom in the hierarchy, but during the early stages it might as well be a divine armor! I immediately put on the chest armor and checked my stats¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Class: Undead Swordsman (Beginner) Level: 3 HP: 140 Attack: 7~12 Defense: 10 I have 10 Defense now, meaning that killing Level 3 Big-eared Rabbits is no longer a difficult task, quite the opposite actually. Moreover, the 2 extra points of Stamina I got from leveling also increased my total HP to 140! For a moment, my heart was filled with pure happiness. At this stage and with this level of defense, it probably wouldn¡¯t be wrong to call me as hard as nails, right? Wait, I almost forgot. The chest armor wasn¡¯t the only thing the Big-eared Rabbit Boss dropped! I lay on the ground and pulled the stone toward me with my hands. Yup, as I thought, it was a legendary magic stone¡ªBig Magic Stone (Quality 77). In Heavenblessed, monsters dropped magic stones instead of gold coins. All monsters with magic in them had a chance of dropping magic stones, and they could be traded to a merchant for cash. There were 5 types of magic stones, namely Small Magic Stone, Big Magic Stone, Phantasmal Magic Stone, Purple Crystal, and Divine Crystal. The higher the quality, the bigger the price it fetched. The Big Magic Stone I got was an item of 77 Quality, so it should be worth a lot of copper! I jumped out of Snake Venom Brambles and went on my way. My appearance had improved much thanks to the shiny Iron-grade chest armor around my torso. At the very least, my ribs were no longer exposed for all to see. Once I got a pair of greaves, shoes, and a helmet that covered up my face, I should finally look decent enough to meet someone. I didn¡¯t get far before a Level 3 Big-eared Rabbit pounced toward me. This time, I didn¡¯t dodge out of the way. Come at me! 2! I nearly snorted when I saw the number leaping off my head. Ten points of Defense were impressive alright, this Big-eared Rabbit almost couldn¡¯t break through my defense despite being at the same level as me. I killed the foolish rabbit in two hits before running back to the starting village. I then sought out the Corpse Heap Graveyard Guard and turned in my quest items: Five Big-eared Rabbit¡¯s Thick Leg Hair! ¡°Very good, young skeleton. You¡¯ve gained my newfound respect!¡± The undead barbarian cackled while slapping me on the shoulder. ¡°Come and take your rightful reward. Everything is for the return of the Night Creatures, and of course, riches and bitches!¡± The undead barbarian¡¯s reply was a literal eye opener. What an impressive and lovable NPC! Speaking of which, is it just me, or does it sound like I¡¯m now a member of the Night Creatures? Ding~! System Notice: You have completed the quest [Kill the Big-eared Rabbits]. You have gained 150 EXP, 1 Reputation and 10 copper! I gulped. This is what I got for all my hard work? Fine, at least I got 150 experience. I should have enough to level up to 5 once I killed a couple more Big-eared Rabbits. The Corpse Heap Graveyard Guard continued, ¡°It also looks like you¡¯ve killed the Big-eared Rabbits¡¯ leader. Well done, the Big-eared Rabbits are no longer a threat. I now have a more important quest for you. Would you like to hear it?¡± That was exactly what I was hoping for, so I nodded repeatedly and said, ¡°Do tell, do tell.¡± ¡°Alright!¡± The guard gripped his battle axe and started. ¡°Outside our town is the vast and seemingly endless Sunshine Forest. Recently, our skeleton brothers sent word that a bunch of Green Praying Mantises had appeared inside the forest. Their physique is huge, and they are armed with sharp blades. You must head to Sunshine Forest, kill 100 Green Praying Mantises and bring back 10 Green Praying Mantis Armblades! Do that, and I shall reward you generously!¡± Ding~! System Notice: You¡¯ve accepted the quest [Green Praying Mantis]! (Quest Rank: F) Description: Head to Sunshine Forest, kill 100 Green Praying Mantises and collect 10 Green Praying Mantis Armblades for the Corpse Heap Graveyard Guard. Mn, very good, an F Rank quest should net me a lot of experience. Instead of heading out in a hurry, I chose to walk deeper into the graveyard. It was at this moment a skeleton merchant with a crooked back appeared before me. I walked up to him and produced the Big Magic Stone dropped by Big-eared Rabbit Boss, saying, ¡°Hey bro, can you tell me how much this is worth?¡± The skeleton shot me a complicated look before complaining, ¡°Do I look like a man to you?¡± I was immediately assaulted by a sea of goosebumps. How the hell was I supposed to tell when she was literally all bones? It wasn¡¯t like she had a pair I could check out and confirm. ¡°Ahem, excuse me, beautiful. Can you tell me how much this is worth?¡± The bony belle finally accepted the Big Magic Stone and gave it a look. ¡°It¡¯s worth 1540 copper!¡± I was stunned. My first quest only rewarded me 10 copper, but this rock fetched me a sum that was far beyond my imagination. I¡¯m so happy! The next second, 1540 copper¡ªor 15 silver and 40 copper¡ªentered my pockets. I guess I was now moderately well-off! I checked if the bony belle had anything to sell and discovered that she had potions. Unfortunately, they were ridiculously expensive. One Basic Health Potion that restored 80 HP cost 50 copper? This is robbery! Still, I acquiesced and bought 20 of them. Without health potions, I couldn¡¯t fight higher-level monsters or obtain more magic stones to sell. One must think long-term when planning, right? ¡­¡­ Now that I was stocked to the brim, it was time for more adventure! I arrived at the rim of Corpse Heap Graveyard killed a couple of Big-eared Rabbits on the way. Again, I dumped 5 points into Strength and raised my overall attack power to 10~17. For now, it looked like Undead Swordsman had a pretty impressive Strength scaling since 5 points had increased my attack power by a range of 3~5. I had checked the introductions to all the classes on the forum before, so I knew that the class with the best Strength scaling was Warrior, with 5 points of Strength increasing their attack power by 2~5. Magic Knight¡¯s was 2~4, and Wanderer¡¯s was 3~4. In a sense, Undead Swordsman was among the better offensive classes. Next, I brought up the ranking list. There were three starting villages in my area, with two under the Light faction and one¡ªnamely mine¡ªunder the Dark faction. Right now, the highest level players in all three starting villages were Level 7, meaning that I was way behind those people. As I thought, there will never be a lack of crazy levelers in any game. I need to work harder. Chapter 6: Mad Dragon Sunshine Forest was a contested territory. Since the decline of the World Tree, the people on the continent had been living in utter misery. The humans, barbarians, elves and succubi had to rebuild their cities to fight back against the Night Creatures, and some of these starting villages could be found around Corpse Heap Graveyard, eating into the Night Creatures¡¯ territory. Sunshine Forest was a high-level training ground outside the starting villages. It was a hotspot for Night Creatures and a place for high-level players to grind experience. According to official data, Sunshine Forest was an area where monsters¡¯ levels ranged from 5 to 12. For players under that requirement, it was inadvisable to enter. Even if a player was Level 5, they were advised to first form a team, because the forest was crawling with many dangers that could prove to be fatal. A skill was unlocked only when a player reached Level 10, meaning that physical damage was the only available source of DPS at this time, even for cloth-based professions like Priest, Mage, Tactician and Bard. It was why melee-based classes were extremely popular in the starting villages right now, while Mages and Priests were given the cold shoulder. That being said, once the player hit Level 10, entered a tier 2 main city and learned their respective skills, Priests¡ªespecially hot female Priests¡ªwould instantly become the most sought-after class. ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t form a team because there was no one suitable for me to team up with. Technically speaking I didn¡¯t belong to the true Night Creatures, and I definitely didn¡¯t belong to the human alliance either. I doubt that the players from the Light faction would be willing to team up with an ugly little skeleton like me. Therefore, I could only grind solo for now. Rustle... The sun was just rising when I stepped on fallen leaves and arrived at Sunshine Forest. Rays of sunlight peeked through the dense leaves and branches, casting uneven shadows on the ground. Everything looked very peaceful. I opened the map. The quest marker highlighted the Green Praying Mantises¡¯ spawn area on the map, so I knew it was just a small distance ahead of me. I was on full alert when I entered the dense forest, sword firmly in my bony hand. It wasn¡¯t long before I suddenly sensed danger! ¡°Hiss¡­¡± A sharp, green blade cut through the air. Something was attacking me! Puchi! Not even my top-tier +9 Defense chest armor was able to stop the attack from penetrating my defense. A huge damage number rose from my head¡ª41! What a guy. Its attack power was insane! I moved in a perfect arc and arrived on the praying mantis¡¯s right side. Then, I stabbed my sword into its body! 31! The damage dealt was okay, mainly because the Green Praying Mantis¡¯s defense wasn¡¯t crazy high. Otherwise, I would have been lucky to break its defense with this shabby sword. A Level 7 monster with less than 300 HP. It shouldn¡¯t take long to grind it down to nothing. ¡°Hiss hiss¡­¡± The Green Praying Mantis hissed loudly as it slowly turned to face me. Then, it swung its twinblades in an attempt to catch me in a pincer. I backed out of its range as smoothly as water before moving behind the Green Praying Mantis, dealing three consecutive strikes in the process. It had been a long time I felt this comfortable leveling up; the superb rhythm I had gotten into made me feel like I was in the zone. Hehe, after being tortured by the three-second brain delay for over half a year, I felt like a fish that had returned to water. I kited in and out to waste the Green Praying Mantis¡¯s attack opportunities while scoring hits of my own. The Green Praying Mantis might be two levels above me, but its death is all but certain. Inside a forest, the spectacle of pinnacle leveling efficiency and tactics were brought to life by a skeleton and a praying mantis. Despite the two-level difference, the entire fight felt incredibly easy. Puchi! After dozens of attacks and a splatter of green blood, the Level 7 Green Praying Mantis finally let out death throes and collapsed to the ground. It dropped a 14 Quality Small Magic Stone¡ªthe lousiest magic stone you could get¡ªthat probably fetched for about 140 copper. It wasn¡¯t much, but raw money was incredibly valuable during the early stages of the game. All of the skills you learned at Level 10 cost money, and not being able to buy it because one was poor would be frustrating to say the least. When I tossed the Small Magic Stone into my bag, I noticed that my experience went up quite a bit. As I thought, the reward for killing a monster that was level-wise superior to you was very valuable. After that, I ventured deeper into the forest and sought out more-isolated Green Praying Mantises to kill. After nearly two hours of hunting, I successfully killed eighty-seven Green Praying Mantises and reached Level 7. After dropping 20 points into Strength, my attack power had also increased to 22~37, making killing a Level 7 Green Praying Mantis incredibly easy. Unfortunately, the deeper I went into the forest, the higher-level they became. In fact, a Level 10 Green Praying Mantis very nearly one-shot me. Left with no choice, I retreated to the outer edges of the forest and hunted monsters that were Level 8 or below. Better safe than sorry. Heavenblessed¡¯s death penalty was very harsh. Once a player reached Level 10, every death would result in the loss of a level. A dead player would turn into a soul after they died, and if they wished to revive on their corpse they could spend a level to do so. They could also revive inside a city, but the cost of that was three levels. It was a twenty-minute journey between here and my starting village, and I had no intention of wasting my time like that. I checked the time and noted that it was over 4 am, but the server was still jam-packed with players. Obviously, a ton of players were still hustling despite the hour. ¡°Mn, I should try to reach Level 10 and grab my class skills before logging out today!¡± I encouraged myself mentally while wandering inside Sunshine Forest. I could head back and complete my quest once I had enough kills. While I was grinding, I suddenly heard someone speaking from afar. It must be a player! I quickly picked up the Small Magic Stone on the ground before diving into a thick bush to conceal myself. The only thing that was visible was my eyes¡ªwait that¡¯s not right, I¡¯m a skeleton right now, so the only thing that was visible were my eye sockets. There was a bunch of rustling sounds, and soon four people trekked out of the forest. There were three men and one woman, and they all looked to be about twenty-five years old. The woman was a Level 7 bard, and the three men were a Level 8 magic knight, a Level 7 warrior and a Level 6 tactician respectively. It was a perfectly standard powerleveling team composition, although, of course, tacticians and bards weren¡¯t useful before they picked up their skills. ¡°Old Three, are you sure that Green Praying Mantis King is here?¡± the warrior asked with clear dissatisfaction. ¡°We¡¯ve been killing praying mantises for half an hour already. These Level 6 praying mantises barely give any experience!¡± The magic knight said calmly, ¡°Boss, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ve got the right coordinates. Half an hour ago, an assassin friend of mine was one-shot by the boss right here. He didn¡¯t want to revive and get killed again, so he chose to revive inside the city. He lost three levels and over two hours of effort as a result.¡± The warrior nodded and replied, ¡°Hmph, I hope you¡¯re right. You¡¯re treating us to a dinner tomorrow if this turns out to be a waste of time, get it?¡± ¡°Hah, no problem!¡± ¡­¡­ The group continued to move swiftly. Less than half a minute later, the magic knight suddenly raised a hand and said loudly, ¡°Watch out, it¡¯s here! I knew it, hahaha!¡± I saw the boss through the leaves too. A huge Green Praying Mantis shrouded in golden glow was standing not far ahead of me. It was swinging its twinblades looking all cool and impressive. I slapped my thighs in regret. If only I had taken a couple more steps! I could¡¯ve discovered this boss first before anyone! That being said, I quickly dismissed the foolish notion. Even if I did see the boss earlier, fighting it would probably result in death. After all, I couldn¡¯t even see the boss¡¯s level. The Level 7 warrior couldn¡¯t stop himself from laughing. ¡°It looks like we¡¯ve struck gold today, brothers! This Green Praying Mantis King is a Level 12 F+ Rank boss and definitely the strongest boss of the starting village! It¡¯ll definitely drop powerful equipment once we kill it!¡± Again, the magic knight said calmly, ¡°Please keep your wits with you, boss. This is a Level 12 beast, and the highest-level player among us is only Level 8. We haven¡¯t even learned skills yet. Our chances of killing it are less than 20%!¡± The warrior let out a cold snort. ¡°We should give it a try even if it turns out to be impossible. It¡¯s not my style to encounter a powerful boss and not do anything about it.¡± ¡°In that case, let¡¯s prepare ourselves for battle!¡± ¡­¡­ After the group had clarified their roles, the magic knight launched the first attack while the rest supported him. ¡°Here I go!¡± the magic knight shouted as he charged toward the Green Praying Mantis King. He swung his rusted spear and stabbed it in the mandible. 27! Cold sweat poured down my head. This defense is just ridiculous! That magic knight was Level 8, but his fully-powered attack could only tickle the boss! ¡°Not good, we¡¯re no match for it!¡± The magic knight retreated in shock, but the Green Praying Mantis King caught him by surprise and landed a slash on his head! 201! That was close, the magic knight had almost been one-shot by the boss. If his class didn¡¯t naturally have high HP, he would¡¯ve died already. Currently, the highest-level player of the starting villages was at Level 9, meaning that this Level 8 magic knight was a top-tier professional compared to the rest. But even he was nothing but a noob before this boss. The magic knight retreated without hesitation after the first attack. The praying mantis moved slowly, so escaping wasn¡¯t impossible. However, the group barely ran a couple of meters before a group of players suddenly entered their field of vision. They looked menacing, and their levels ranged between 4 and 7. They were obviously elite, and their IDs all had the prefix ¡°Mad Dragon¡±. The leader of the group was called ¡°Roaming Dragon¡±. He was a Level 9 magic knight and the highest-leveled player of the starting villages. Roaming Dragon moved to the front and shouted at the group of four. ¡°The Mad Dragon guild is taking over this place, all unrelated people should get out of our way! Don¡¯t wait till it¡¯s too late!¡± Chapter 7: Justice On Heavens’ Behalf The harsh reality of the world was that the strong eat the weak. It was no different in the game. It was not unheard of for some powerful guild to oppress weaker groups. The Mad Dragon guild was definitely the strongest organization of these three starting villages. At a glance, there were at least twenty people, and all of them of high level. Roaming Dragon held a rusty iron spear. He looked at the four people who had been fighting the boss previously, waved his hand and shouted, "No one else here. Clear the field!" Clear the field. This was an aggressive phrase. This meant that they were taking over this place, and all other players had to die! ¡­¡­ "Damn!" The Level 8 magic knight was furious, held up his long lance and shouted, "Fuck! Who are these Mad Dragon guys to demand people to leave the leveling ground?" Another Level 7 warrior was also burning with anger. He raised his sword and said, "At worst, we will all die. Come!" Then he charged forward, his steps rhythmic. He suddenly walked a curved path, his longsword swiping toward the neck of Roaming Dragon. "Ha!" Roaming Dragon shouted in anger, his spear titling and accurately stabbing the warrior''s body. My pupils couldn''t help but contract. This Roaming Dragon''s judgement ability was terrifying, and his attacks were vicious. He was clearly a gaming expert. The originally doomed team was about to be doomed once more. The spear''s tip trembled. Roaming Dragon stabbed the leader of the four-man team to death and sneered, "Kill the other three for me! Remember this lesson, possessing a treasure can be a curse. You do not qualify to discover this boss!" A group of Mad Dragon members surged forward, tearing apart the magic knight and the tactician in an instant. There was only a young female bard left, her face pale, as she stumbled toward the dense forest. This girl was about twenty years old. Her expression was a face of panic as she burrowed deeper into the forest. Her gaze coincidentally met mine. ¡°?!¡± The girl''s mouth was open wide in shock. Maybe my appearance was too frightening. It really was scary to see a skeleton appear out of the forest with a iron sword. Before the girl could react, with a "pfft", a dagger glowing with green light penetrated her chest. That was a Level 8 assassin! Seeing the girl slowly fall down, I was still very calm. The instant her body touched the ground, the attacker behind her showed their true appearance. In a flash, the assassin''s eyes suddenly widened. He had discovered me. Pfft! Sst! With almost all of my power, I landed two strikes. He couldn¡¯t even react before dying. One strike hit his neck, the other, his abdomen. They were both weak spots. ¡­¡­ Roaming Dragon was completely unaware that a person was missing from his team. All of his attention was on the Green Praying Mantis King. He roared, his face flushed, "Brothers, go. Attack in groups. Even if this is a Level 12 boss, we can chip him to death using our numbers. Do not fear dropping levels. For every level lost by dying to this boss, I will pay 500 RMB, haha!" Mad Dragon members¡¯ eyes flashed green as they waved their starting blades and charged over. The drop rate in Heavenblessed was extremely low, and the weapon drop rate was even lower. Mad Dragon had more than twenty people, but they all had Common-grade weapons, none of them with stat bonuses. Rustle... Rushed feet stepped on the grasses within the forest as the crowd charged toward the Green Praying Mantis King. The boss also sensed the arrival of danger. It instantly turned around, its two armblades raised high. It gave a sharp scream, its presence growing as though defending its authority as king! "Go, do not fear!" Roaming Dragon laughed out loud and ordered, "Pay attention to your cooperation and paths. Melee, move in and out at 1.5 second intervals. After attacking, move outside the boss¡¯s range to recover for at least a second. Don¡¯t get greedy, make sure its attacks are futile!" A very professional person! Roaming Dragon continued to raise morale. "Brothers, our Mad Dragon will definitely get famous this time. Even if we cannot become the first guild in China, we must take over Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai region. Hmph. Killing the Green Praying Mantis King today is the first step to our Mad Dragon''s rule!" Everyone was motivated, filled with savagery, their necks and faces flushed as they howled! "Crack!" The boss used a pincer attack, felling a member of Mad Dragon immediately. A beautiful instant kill. The damage number of 421 floated up. I¡¯m afraid this is enough to one-shot any player at present. However, as the group of Mad Dragon players attacked together with their various weapons like iron swords, spears, iron fans, bamboo flutes, sabers, and iron whips, the Green Praying Mantis King¡¯s HP was quickly depleting. After two seconds, another member of Mad Dragon was killed by the boss. Roaming Dragon stood by the side and supervised the battle, his expression changing. As he watched the battle, he couldn''t help but look around, fearing that someone else would appear. If so, Mad Dragon¡¯s mission this time would be for naught. Still hidden inside the forest, my lips curled into a smile. Roaming Dragon may have been experienced, but his judgement this time around was wrong. The greatest enemy in their current situation wasn¡¯t other players, but the boss in front of them that they couldn¡¯t hope to defeat! Roaming Dragon¡¯s analysis was very shallow. By the time the first player died, they¡¯d only chipped away 7% of the mantis king¡¯s HP. At this rate, it would take more than twenty-five people to kill this boss. After all, with every death their damage output would be decreased. Associating one player with 7% was wrong. Simple mathematical deduction, yet the ones participating in the battle were blind to the crux of the matter. Roaming Dragon let himself be blinded by the prospect of valuable loot and forgot this basic logic. The result was as I expected. As the battle continued, Roaming Dragon''s expression was gradually worsening. His eyes widened as he shouted, "Faster, be faster!" He took a deep breath and said, "Leave the boss at low HP. Let me finish it!" I suddenly realized why Roaming Dragon''s level was so high. It was likely connected to this. The person who gave the boss the final attack would obtain 50% experience. Roaming Dragon could easily organize a team to grind high-level monsters. This way, it would be hard for him not to be first in the rankings. "Crack!" The Green Praying Mantis King¡¯s Whirlwind Chop was very powerful and killed more than twenty people in the blink of an eye. When it only had about 10% HP left, there were only four Mad Dragon members left, three warriors and Roaming Dragon. "Dammit!" Roaming Dragon spat. He grabbed his lance and entered the battle. He looked at the Green Praying Mantis King with a cold expression and shouted, "Go to hell, bastard!" "Pfft!" The attack broke through its defense. Roaming Dragon''s attack power was not high, but his aim was true, striking right in the opening between the creature¡¯s scales. Having penetrated soft flesh, the drop in HP would be big. ¡°Ugh!¡± With two thuds, another two warriors died, leaving only Roaming Dragon and one warrior alive. Roaming Dragon rejoiced that he hadn''t been killed. He kept a close eye on the last sliver of HP, his moves vicious as though he wanted to devour the boss whole. Yet suddenly, a change occurred! "Crack!" Cold light flashed. The last remaining Mad Dragon member¡¯s eyes went wide. He had originally been dodging the boss''s attack, but was killed instantly by a sword from the back. The blade struck his weak point, the neck! Roaming Dragon was shocked. He found the attacker was a small sword-wielding skeleton in a glowing armor! "Ha? Who are you?" Roaming Dragon said in anger. "A good samaritan!" "What the fuck do you want?" "Justice on heavens¡¯ behalf!" I smiled brightly, but my grin was slightly terrifying. Ehh, this skeleton face really didn¡¯t do my original, slightly handsome countenance any favors. "Whoosh!" The Green Praying Mantis King tore the air with its blade. Roaming Dragon saw this, and suddenly jumped backwards with a snarl on the corner of his mouth. This attack was perfectly aimed at me. "Trying to get someone else to do your dirty work?" I chuckled, slid on my feet, and easily dodged the attack. At the same time, the iron sword struck Roaming Dragon''s chest from the side! "72!" I was a Level 7 warrior. Roaming Dragon clearly had not expected my attack to be so powerful, or that my reaction and strategy to be so thought-out. "Motherfucker, die!" Roaming Dragon roared and thrust again. I hurriedly pulled back and dodged. Alas, there was almost a second of delay. I was a bit too slow and took a hit. "24!" Roaming Dragon was shocked. His feet quickly carried him away from the boss''s attack range. He licked his lips and said with a smile, "That armor isn''t bad, I want it." I also smiled. "Do you have the life to take it?" Battle ensued, the boss being the focal point of our plans. We kept using techniques such as positional blocking and intercepting to drive each other toward the boss. Roaming Dragon''s reaction speed and skill were pretty good, and with my one-second delay it wouldn''t be easy for me to kill him. "!" Suddenly, I stumbled, and lost my balance. "Chance!" Roaming Dragon leapt without thinking, his spear coming like a surging dragon. I smiled even more. It was just a small opening. Did he have to be so joyful? If he was an expert on the level of Martial God Candlelight Shadow, he definitely wouldn¡¯t have fallen for it! "Ding!" The iron sword locked with the spear. I put pressure on the spear, using the momentum to spin and kick Roaming Dragon¡¯s shoulder. His balance was shaken, making a beautiful arc as he fell into Green Praying Mantis King¡¯s loving embrace. "Damn you bastard!" Roaming Dragon was astounded and shouted angrily, "I will return. If you have balls, do not leave!" "Crack!" The Green Praying Mantis King''s armblades were like grim reapers, harvesting Roaming Dragon¡¯s life. Along with his character, a starting spear dropped, with Attack of 0~1. Naturally, I had no interest in it. "Whoosh!" The iron sword suddenly attacked the soft flesh under the boss''s chin at a difficult angle! "Puchi!" "101!" As expected, a high damage modifier! With a successful attack, I did not get greedy and immediately took several steps back. I flashed to hide among the tree branches, my iron sword flying out again like a poisonous snake! "121!" Another attack to a weak point! In two minutes, under the barrage of attacks, the Green Praying Mantis King was on the verge of death. With the Iron-grade armor, this boss could not kill me instantly. Luckily, I had enough health potions that I managed to withstand! "Hiss hiss..." With a tragic grunt, the Green Praying Mantis King finally died. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations on killing the Green Praying Mantis King. You''ve obtained 7000 EXP and 40 Reputation! Swoosh! After going up two levels, I was already number one. Roaming Dragon, having been killed, had dropped off the position. Looking on the ground, I saw a Big Magic Stone, Quality 98. Haha, I¡¯m rich! Chapter 8: Undead Energy Like a tiger leaping for food, or a dog leaping for shit, I fell to the grass and tightly hugged this longsword. Tears streamed down my face. "Baby, I¡¯ve finally found you!" I held the longsword in my hand. The hilt was covered in green vines and the blade was sharp and flashed with intimidating green light. A cold aura passed into my palm. I looked at its stats. As expected, a good treasure¡ª Forest Green Blade (Iron-grade) Attack: 10~18 Strength: +4 Level Requirement: 8 ¡­¡­ Wonderful, 18 Attack. It far surpassed the starting sword. This green blade was too strong. With the present situation of the starting village, I could dominate the area. At this time, a bell sounded in the air¡ª Ding~! System Announcement (Player Roaming Dragon Shout): Friends, I am the leader of the Mad Dragon guild. I found a Night Creature in the south of Sunshine Forest, a terrifying skeleton warrior. Supposedly a new boss of the starting village. Friends who are strong enough can team up and kill him. ¡­¡­ I stilled slightly. Roaming Dragon was very rich. A system shout would require 5000 RMB from his account. The guy would bear to spend that? Also, he was extremely devious. He described me as a boss. He clearly wanted someone to do his dirty work. I was a player of the Dark faction. Even my name was red for them. Never mind, I won¡¯t stay around long. There is some bad blood between Mad Dragon and me, but there is no need to make more enemies. That wouldn¡¯t be wise. I looked at my experience bar. Level 9, 57%. I''ll wait until I reach Level 10 for class promotion and learn a few combat techniques. If Roaming Dragon wants me wanted, I¡¯ll let him do whatever he wants, but I won¡¯t be keeping him company. With my new green blade, my strength would increase greatly. I would kill my way out of Sunshine Forest, accumulate experience along the way. When I returned to the Corpse Heap Graveyard, I would basically be Level 10. A Level 10 Green Praying Mantis leapt at my face. I swung the green blade without even thinking. With a crack, damage points rose above the mantis''s head. 124! So strong. My attack power of 38~64 didn¡¯t disappoint me! Level 10 monsters usually had around 500 HP, so I could defeat them in roughly four strokes. The refreshing feeling of upgrading my equipment was great! I fought my way out of Sunshine Forest and headed straight toward the starting village. At this time, a system bell rang¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Wind Fantasy" is the first player qualified for class promotion. Rewards obtained: Level +1, Reputation +50 and 1 gold! ¡­¡­ I was slightly shocked. What kind of fierce person would reach Level 10 faster than me? As expected, this was an era of experts! I came to the merchant and took out the Big Magic Stone. The skeleton beauty immediately gaped and sighed emotionally. "Young skeleton, you must be really strong to harvest a magic stone so abundant in magic power. Come, I am willing to buy it for 1980 copper!" I nodded, and sold the four Small Magic Stones as well. As a result, 24 silver was added to my balance. Learning skills should not be a problem now. I once again came to the undead mage. This one was the village chief. Before I left the village, I had to give notice. "Young skeleton, you have grown so quickly. This really fills me with joy!" The village chief tapped my head with his staff and laughed. "Go, there is a wider world waiting for you outside. Your next stop is Floating Ice City. There is a Frost Mound ten miles outside Floating Ice City. Hm, that place will become your shelter. At Frost Mound, you can find the Undead Swordsman Suren. If you take my introduction letter, Suren will accept you as an apprentice!" Pop. The introduction letter fell into my bag. As expected, this was proof of my class promotion. Starting today, I was an undead swordsman aiming for glory and courage as well as riches and bitches! With my breast full of spirit, I stepped onto the path to Floating Ice City, the place where dreams were realized. Floating Ice City, one of the nine tier 2 cities in the China server. Above them were the three major cities. But the names of the three major cities had not been announced yet and on the map, the three major cities were blank. Basically, the players from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions had been allocated to Floating Ice City. This was a geographic distribution method. Opening the world map, the coordinates of Floating Ice City had already appeared. It was about an hour of travel from Corpse Heap Graveyard. There were many starting villages around Floating Ice City, at least ten or so. Also, the elite players of these ten starting villages would all gather inside Floating Ice City. At that time, it would be a prosperous place, overflowing with heroes. I smiled slightly, and stepped onto the road, me and my green blade. Floating Ice City would be the stage where "Falling Dust" would rise again! I traveled along the small gray path, and did not encounter any dangers. If I had seen any human sentinels, I would have hidden far away. These soldiers would not allow anything to escape them, let alone a powerful skeleton soldier like me. Beep! The system gave me a notice: Hello, player Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Because you belong to an abandoned race, you can freely enter the safezones of the Light and Dark factions and not be attacked. However, in combat areas, your affiliation will be that of a devil! Oh, so it was like this. I could still enter cities! But when I thought about it, it didn¡¯t matter. The NPCs in cities wouldn¡¯t give missions to an undead swordsman. It would be better if I just stayed at Frost Mound. There, I could obtain some missions and learn powerful skills! When I thought of skills, I grew teary-eyed. I battled through the night without any skills! I finally reached the point where I could learn them! I immediately started to run. After leaving the region of Floating Ice City, I sprinted into the vast forest. Not long later, a heavy undead presence washed over me, cold wind blew. My goal, the Frost Mound, was right in front of me. This was a sentinel mound for the Dark faction. Stationed there was a relatively weak sentinel group of Night Creatures. Gulp, gulp... There were two blood ponds on either side of the Frost Mound, their contents filled with torn-off limbs, boiling and bubbling. Was this the cafeteria for Night Creatures? At the mere thought, I almost threw up. Even if you kill me, I won¡¯t eat corpses! When I entered Frost Mound, I saw a group of NPCs trading on the outskirts. The undead blacksmiths had exposed white bones as they swung their hammers at hot metal. The undead skeleton of the pharmacy held a potion bottle and gave a snarling smile. When I met his gaze, I felt terrified like I was naked. I carefully walked about the mound and finally found the person I was searching for! An undead warrior completely shrouded in armor appeared, holding a sword flashing with bloody light. He looked around coldly, with a line of words above his head¡ª Undead Swordsman Suren LV-??? Oh, I found my trainer! I walked forward, and handed my introduction letter from the village chief. Suren looked at the paper and said coldly, "Boy, you are about to become my apprentice, and a courageous undead swordsman. You must remember that all of our killing is for the sake of survival. To this end, we can abandon anything, but not pride of the undead!" I nodded. "I know, Master." Suren laughed, walked forward, and put a hand on my bare skull. His voice was solemn. "Awaken, oh sleeping dead, and have your undead energy illuminate the world and upend all laws!" Buzz! Chaos occurred in my mind followed by the echo of a bell¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You have successfully comprehended a talent¡ªUndead Energy! I quickly opened the skill menu. As expected, there was a passive skill¡ª Undead Energy I (Passive): Awakens the undead power sleeping inside the user. Deals additional 5% damage to all living targets. Skill effect increases with level. I was overjoyed. This skill did not look like much, but was in reality extremely powerful. Undead Energy I dealt 5% additional damage. If I reached Level 100, and my talent was Rank 10, then wouldn''t I be able to deal 50% extra damage, or even more? Ecstasy! At this time, Undead Swordsman Suren looked at me with a heated gaze. He laughed and said, "Boy, your potential is very good. Now, I give you the qualifications to become an undead swordsman!" With a "ding", I finished my class promotion and finally became a true undead swordsman! After that, the trainer remained motionless, staring at me. This guy was clearly waiting for me to pay to learn skills. I walked forward and opened the interaction interface. The option to learn new skills was in the middle. I pressed it, three lines of text appearing in front of me¡ª Basic Swordsmanship: Increase hit rate and damage of sword-type weapons. Basic class skill. Death Plunder: When looting a dead body, you have a chance of obtaining additional items. Slayer Slash: Deals 110% damage but lowers attack¡¯s hit rate by 35%. Very good. I finally had an active attack skill. This Slayer Slash looked to be quite powerful. At Level 1, the skill could deal 110% damage. However, the hit rate would decrease slightly. But that was not important. If my attacks were fast and accurate, this bit of hit rate could be made up by control. The fee for learning each skill was 5 silver, I had 24. I was able to learn them all. Two active skills immediately appeared in my skill menu. One was the attack Slayer Slash, the other, Death Plunder. Both were useful. I waved the green blade and silently murmured ¡°Slayer Slash¡±. Immediately, my blade was enveloped with green light that flowed from the handle all the way to the tip! "Puchi!" A small gully was cut in the ground. Ha, the skill effect was pretty good. After leaving Undead Trainer Suren, I strolled around Frost Mound. Even though I was excited about them, I still didn¡¯t go try them out yet. When I came to the outskirts of Frost Mound, I found a sentinel team of five people setting up camp. The undead warrior dressed in white armor was the leader. He was looking into the distance at Floating Ice City, and sighed listlessly. Mn, a quest! I walked forward confidently and said, "Sir, is there something I can help you with?" "Oh, little skeleton!" The sentinel leader looked at me and said, "You see, this graveyard is our home, but recently, a group of evil spirits have invaded our land. I suspect that we are dealing with an Undead Lord. We need to retaliate! Young skeleton! Go around the necropolis and kill fifty weak soldiers. Bring me ten of their fingers. You will be generously awarded!" Ding~! System Notice: You¡¯ve received a quest [Skeleton Finger]! (Quest Rank : F+) Description: Go to the graveyard, kill 50 Skeleton Soldiers, and gather 10 Skeleton Fingers for the Sentinel Leader Fark. ¡­¡­ "Dammit, someone dares to invade our territory?! They are courting death!" Chapter 9: Black Bracers On a desolate graveyard filled with deathly ominous energy. The gravestones stood upright, but the graves were empty. The dead had long been summoned as Night Creatures and joined the forces of the Dark. Yet, even though we were all Night Creatures and part of the same faction, I did not know which faction I had been allocated to. At least, I categorized those that appeared in front of me as enemies. Under the starry sky, bone-white skeletons roamed the graveyard, occasionally letting out low howls. This was the ghostly wail people spoke of. Damaged Skeleton Soldier LV-12 Level 12 skeletons. Mn, I can use them to test my sword! I took a quick step forward, my longsword wrapped in green light falling down and cutting the shoulder blade of the skeleton¡ªSlayer Slash! 147! This skeleton trembled, and stumbled backwards. The power of Slayer Slash was fearsome indeed. I chased, my blade rising again. Cutting and sliding, I hit the skeleton four times, but it did not retaliate at all. This was rhythm, something one had to learn in a realistic game. When you took control of the other''s rhythm, the battle would become one-sided. The trick to rhythm was very simple. When I successfully made my first attack, the skeleton lost his balance and stumbled. At this time, I could not give it time to adjust. Since it was falling to the side, then I would add more force so he could not balance himself. This way, victory was within my grasp. Crack! A sharp sword stabbed into the skull''s eye socket in a critical hit! 228! A respectable number. The Level 12 skeleton fell and left me 75 experience. Also, there was a thread of purple flame left in the air that seemed to be burning quickly. "Hm, what is this?" I was slightly surprised. I reached out and held it in my hand. A string of bells rang by my ear¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Do you want to absorb this Spark of the Undead? This should not be a bad thing. I immediately pressed yes! Swoosh! The purple flame immediately entered my chest. I instantly felt refreshed like I had inhaled two pounds of weed. I felt like I was a completely different person. Strange, it did not increase experience or have any other effect. Was this just a momentary pleasure? I shook my head and said to myself, "Never mind. Nothing lost, pleasure gained." I continued to roam the graveyard. These Damaged Skeleton Soldiers could be considered the lowest-ranking Night Creatures. Their undead sparks were relatively weak. While I did not know what the benefit was, I still absorbed them. It would be a waste to just leave them. I devoured them all! Crack! Another skeleton fell to the ground and dropped a Small Magic Stone. It could probably sell for 1 silver. However, my experience bar had grown greatly. I was at Level 10 85%. If I killed a few more, I would reach Level 11. I¡¯d also gathered 9 out of 10 Skeleton Fingers required. I would soon be able to turn in the quest. I looked at the time. 8:30 Beijing Time. It was already morning. Without realizing, I¡¯ve been playing for seven hours. My results were pretty good. I walked out of the starting village, obtained two pieces of Iron-grade equipment, and could be considered an expert at this early stage of the game. I opened the ranking list. Large numbers of players had entered Floating Ice City. My level wasn¡¯t enough to enter Top 10. Ah, the China server sure is full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons! I inspected the rankings and found the top person in Floating Ice City was called "Wind Fantasy." Level 13. Such a terrifying leveling speed. This guy must be exploiting! Also, the person ranked second was called "Gui Guzi", Level 11. He had a powerful class¡ªUndead Knight. It would appear he was of the same sort as I, the undead race. I was unable to enter the Top 10 ranking in Floating Ice City. This meant that in the entire China server, I could not rank in the Top 100. This was really a tragic thing. But I had to remain open-minded. Levels were nothing. There was no need to be first in terms of level. True experts were those hidden who were extraordinary in their moves and could kill the experts in the Heavenly Ranking in a flash, and not the person with the highest level. ¡­¡­ Crack! The green blade swung through the air. Another Level 12 skeleton fell to the ground and dropped a cracked Skeleton Finger and a Small Magic Stone. At the same time, a golden light fell on my body. I finally reached Level 11! I absorbed its spark and immediately rushed to Frost Mound to turn in my quest items to Sentinel Leader Fark. The skeleton leader held the Skeleton Fingers and laughed out loud. "Good job, little skeleton. Those dirty worms finally know our power! Good, you have protected the honor of the Night Creatures. Come, this is your reward!" Ding~! System Notice: You have completed the quest [Skeleton Finger]. You have received 1200 EXP, 5 Reputation, and a quest reward: "Black Bracers"! I was overjoyed. An equipment reward! My luck was good! Pop! Black wristguard fell into my bag. This was an item with stat bonuses! Black Bracers (Iron-grade Metal Armor) Defense: 8 Strength: +2 Level Requirement: 10 I immediately put on the item with joy. My defense immediately jumped to 18. Now, can I be considered an iron warrior? I grinned. After putting on these bracers, I was covered from wrist to shoulder. I finally looked like an ordinary person. When my level grew higher, and I put on legguards and boots, no one would be able to see I was from the undead race under the cloak. The difficulty of getting a girl as an undead was too high. If I had the best equipment but my skeleton face scared people away, that would be most unfortunate! Suddenly, I was struck with a thought, pulled open my pants and looked¡­ I grimaced, wanting to help the sprout grow. On another thought, why was my level behind others? Firstly, I had wasted too much time in the starting village with PK. I also wasted a lot of time with the Big-eared Rabbit Boss. The boss gave a lot of experience, but not a staggering number. Secondly, I had just recovered from my illness. My three-second delay had just disappeared. I still couldn¡¯t adjust to my nimble responses, and thus my flow was slightly lacking as I leveled. Thirdly, my mind was preoccupied with an image of a certain person. Chapter 10: Asking to Rentshare Whew! Taking off the helmet, I took a deep breath. My body could not quite stand being online for eight hours. Maybe because I had been buried in the soil for so long? It was still drizzling rain outside. It was rare to have such gentle rain in the summer that made people''s hearts ripple. I inwardly marveled. Rain can make my heart ripple? When did I become so sentimental? I went downstairs and entered the small noodle shop. I shouted loudly, "Boss lady, a bowl of sliced beef noodles, dry cut, the five yuan a bowl kind. Remember to put a bit more beef in!" The boss rolled her eyes at me and went to make the noodles. Not long after, a large hot steaming bowl of noodles was delivered in front of me. Yes, since three years ago when Suzhou''s real estate market crashed, the price of food and restaurants had lowered greatly. Pro players like me could finally eat meat everyday. I lowered my head and ate. There wasn''t much beef, just a few pieces sliced as thin as paper. Damn! ¡­¡­ After eating the noodles and drinking the soup, I rubbed my stomach and went upstairs. Already half-asleep, I entered deep slumber the instant my head touched the pillow. In my dream, I was lying on a small mountain of golden coins, pillowed by an enormous Phantasmal Magic Stone, Purple Crystals underneath me. I held a divine Fire Sword in my left hand, a divine Dead Wind Blade in my right. I wore a set of top-tier Ghost Blade Armor. I had my legs crossed as I shouted down, "Can you be more gentle and professional?" "Apologies, Master!" The soft and sweet voice of a female came from my feet. This was a young elf dressed in thin robe that was massaging me, kneeling by my legs. That abundant and tender body was enchanting. Yes, life was good! In the distance, the marshal of the Night Creatures, an undead covered in barbs, knelt on the ground as he trembled all over. He pleaded, "Great warrior, spare me. I came out to make a living, let me go. I have an eighty-year-old mother, a nursing son and wife!" My order came swiftly. "Kill him!" Countless gods descended, and cut the Night Creature marshal into eighty-one pieces. The pieces were strung together and roasted to be shared. As they ate, they shouted "Long Live the King." At this time, a soft voice came by. "Grapes? My king ..." I turned and saw a purple grape held in a small crimson mouth coming toward me. An enchanting fragrance and sweetness entered my mouth. I could not endure it and looked up at the beauty giving me this grape but suddenly stilled. This beautiful face was one that I missed¡ªHe Yi! "!?" I shouted in shock and immediately sat up. "Bo-boss, how can it be you?" ¡¡¡¡¡­¡­ "Lu Chen, dammit! Wake up!" I suddenly opened my eyes. So it was all a dream. The person sweating heavily in front of me was Du Thirteen, my good friend. "What, am I not welcome?" Du Thirteen patted the luggage next to him which had a helmet hanging off the case. He grinned. "I just started my vacation. It¡¯s boring staying at home alone so I came over to live with you. We can play Heavenblessed together, level up together. So good, haha ..." I looked around my room and said, "This is a one-bedroom suite without air conditioning, where will you sleep?" "I will sleep in the living room." "Then you will be responsible for the entire rent..." "Damn! Aren¡¯t you too black-hearted?" Du Thirteen''s eyes widened. "Stop wasting words, what level are you? How about I boost you? I am halfway through Level 9, I can reach Level 10 this afternoon and leave the starting village, haha! Bro, you have three seconds of delay, you should at most be at Level 8, right?" I smiled mysteriously. "Wrong, my present level is¡ª11!" "What?!" Du Thirteen was shocked. "How is that possible? But three-second delay! Even if you managed to keep playing when other people would have given up, how could you level up so quickly?" I took a deep breath and said, "Thirteen, I have to tell you something." "Hm, what is it?" "My reaction has shortened to about seven tenths of a second. I tested it this morning." Du Thirteen was dazed. Suddenly, he erupted in laughter. He was extremely excited, his face flushed. He suddenly hugged me tightly and shouted, "My brother has returned, haha, my brother Falling Dust has returned!" I laughed out loud as well. "Okay, do not be so excited." "How can I not be excited?" Du Thirteen laughed. "My brother is about to return. Haha, the great genius is about to enter the stage. The dancer on the edge of death is about to come to the world! Hm, damn that Candlelight Shadow. So arrogant. The two of us together will overturn his Martial God legend. Martial God my ass!" I pressed on his shoulder and also pressed down his enthusiasm. I smiled slightly and said, "No need. Candlelight Shadow is not in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai area so he will not appear around Floating Ice City. I still have a 0.7-second delay. With such a long reaction time, I can¡¯t win against Candlelight Shadow. Let''s lay low for a while. I didn¡¯t use my previous ID, so Candlelight Shadow can¡¯t find me. When the time is right, I will make him pay for everything he owes me with interest!" "Good, I will always support you!" Du Thirteen patted my shoulder and laughed out loud. "Lu Chen, your delay had shrunk to below one second. To celebrate, how about we go drinking at noon?" "No, I¡¯m going to level in the afternoon. Those with high levels have great advantage in the early stages. Once we are ahead, we can celebrate. In any case, you are living with me now. I can drink with you anytime!" "Haha, alright. I''ll go buy some food at noon, and we will grind for a week without going out!" "Okay!" "Right, I¡¯m aiming for Level 10 this afternoon. Go level by yourself. When I leave the starting village, I¡¯ll go to Floating Ice City to find you. What¡¯s your ID?" "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! What about you?" "Amazing Expert!¡± "..." "Damn you, Lu Chen! Don¡¯t look at me like this..." In reality, Thirteen was a complete newbie, and yet he dared to use a name like this. If I had known, I would have changed my ID to "Beautiful Youth." ¡¡¡¡¡­¡­ At around 2 pm, the pair of us went to the market, buying a lot of instant noodles and frozen dumplings. Then we ate at a Hunan restaurant. When we returned home, we went online separately. I was still in my room while Thirteen was going to live on the sofa in the living room. This boy''s family was actually very good, but he¡¯s had enough of ¡®good¡¯ and decided to live in this dog house with me. 3:30 pm, time to go online! Swoosh! My vision went black. I knew this was my "home"¡ªa grave. Yes. Before a player logged off, they had to find a safe place. Otherwise, their safety could not be guaranteed. Usually, people would buy simple tents from the system NPCs. Ten copper for one that could be used for a long time. But Night Creatures did not have tents. Everyone burrowed into graves to sleep. My grave was near Frost Mound, its gravestone slightly tilted to the side. Rustle... Climbing out of the grave, I looked interestedly at the words engraved on the stone. Grave of Viscount Lot. Damn, no wonder I had such a comfortable sleep. So this was a noble''s grave! However, the characters were too disgusting! Therefore, I pulled out the green blade to erase the engraving and wrote, "One bedroom, asking to rentshare, details in person." Chapter 11: Gui Guzi ¡°Aha, young skeleton, you¡¯re finally back!¡± Sentinel Leader Fark swung his bony arms and said in a silly voice, ¡°Thanks to you killing many Skeleton Soldiers yesterday, the Undead Lord hiding in the darkness has finally shown himself. Right now he¡¯s gathering a bunch of skeletons in the graveyard to taunt us, so head there, kill 200 Cyan Skeletons and collect 20 Cyan Skeleton Fingers for me. You will be rewarded very handsomely!¡± I quickly clicked ¡°Accept¡± while rejoicing at the fact that I was the only player in Frost Mound right now. There was no way a lucrative quest like this would have fallen into my hands otherwise. Ding~! System Notice: You¡¯ve accepted the quest [Cyan Skeleton]! (Quest Rank: F+) Description: Head to the necropolis next to Frost Mound, kill 200 Cyan Skeletons and collect 20 Cyan Skeleton Fingers. But be careful, a powerful Undead Lord has appeared there, and you are no match for him. Escape quickly if you encounter him. ¡­¡­ I was enormously proud of my recent success. 200 Cyan Skeletons? Hmph! I guess I¡¯ll be stuck completing this quest for a while. That being said, it was time to see how Du Thirteen was doing. My noob brother should be done with the starting village by the time I finish this quest. I stopped in front of Undead Trainer Suren to check if there was any new skill to learn. Unfortunately, there was nothing. Suren stared at me before letting out a cackle. ¡°Little skeleton, you may feel hungry after some time, but don¡¯t worry, there is plenty of rotten meat in the necropolis to sate your hunger. Of course, you are free to find something fresher to eat. There are two human towns close to Frost Mound after all, hahaha!¡± Hunger? I suddenly recalled the two blood pools outside of Frost Mound. So it is the undeads¡¯ dining hall! Fuck! My stomach spasmed involuntarily. That¡¯s way too disgusting. I would rather die than eat a corpse! I checked my stat screen and found a satiety meter just as I was told. Right now, my satiety was at 71 points. It should be enough to keep me going for a while. However, my stats would fall drastically once my satiety dipped below 20. I must find something to eat by then! Eh, I can think about that later. At least I can¡¯t starve to death, right? Back to leveling! ¡­¡­ I exited Frost Mound and ran straight for the necropolis. New mobs had already respawned, but instead of the Level 12 Damaged Skeleton Soldiers I had encountered the day before, they were now all Level 15 Cyan Skeletons! They were middle-level undead whose bodies was surrounded by a cyan glow. Level 15 mobs? Not bad! Normally, I wouldn¡¯t be able to challenge them at my current level, but with 3 pieces of Iron-grade equipment¡ªthe Glowing Chest Armor, the Black Bracers, and the Forest Green Blade¡ªthe impossible was now possible! I quietly sneaked up a Cyan Skeleton before ambushing it like lightning! ¡°Slayer Slash!¡± I let out a low cry and activated my skill. A greenish glow surrounded my blade before it struck the Cyan Skeleton squarely on the shoulder! 157! Not bad, my attack power was as impressive as ever! After my initial success, I immediately followed up with two basic attacks. They dealt less damage than Slayer Slash, but they were still pretty good. "Grrr!" The Cyan Skeleton growled in response. Since it was a high-level mob, it launched a counterattack without hesitation! Pu! Its green, bony sword pierced right through my chest. Unfortunately for you, all I have are ribs! You can¡¯t pierce my heart because I don¡¯t have one! 94! However, my composure soon dimmed as I saw the huge number popping over my head. Despite being at Level 11, I only had 230 HP. This meant that the Cyan Skeleton could kill me in just 3 hits. The good news was that the skeleton had great attack power, but lousy movement and attack speed. It was the perfect mob for my ultimate tactic¡ªpummeling my enemies with superior speed! Rustle rustle rustle! I zigzagged my way around the Cyan Skeleton. Despite it roaring again and again, it wasn¡¯t able to turn around fast enough to face me. By the time it moved to one side, I had already moved to the other. All in all, I dodged at least 75% of its attacks. From start to finish, the Cyan Skeleton only managed to strike me twice before I killed it after seven strikes! "Roar!" The Cyan Skeleton died and boosted my experience bar. Moreover, it was kind enough to drop me a 98 Quality Small Magic Stone and a Cyan Skeleton Finger to put me on a good start! I picked up the handsome rewards and threw them into my bag. Then, I went to look for my next Cyan Skeleton. I continued to train leisurely while checking the level ranking of Floating Ice City. It was then that I realized my rank dropped all the way to 127th place. Wow, these people must have grinded overnight while I was asleep. What insane efficiency! The previously highest-level player, Wind Fantasy had dropped to 5th place; currently at Level 14, the player had probably logged off to rest. The previous runner-up, Gui Guzi, had claimed the spot instead. This undead knight was now at Level 16! What a madman! A smile flashed across my face. Well, calm down. Levels don¡¯t mean anything. It isn¡¯t like I¡¯m leveling slowly myself. By the time I¡¯m done with this quest, I¡¯ll have probably reached Level 14 or 15. Levels were important at an early game, but so was the equipment. A high-level player without equipment to match was nothing but an empty shell. Moreover, I also found a familiar ID in the rankings; Hot Sun. It was Xu Yang, the strongest of the four elders of the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild. Xu Yang and I received an invitation at nearly the same time when He Yi was creating Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls a year ago. Together with two beautiful ladies, the four of us were collectively known as the ¡°Sunmoon Stardust¡±. The first word of the title, ¡°Sun¡± was taken from Xu Yang¡¯s ID, and the last word, ¡°Dust¡± was taken from my previous ID. The years slipped by, and after a series of ups and downs, the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild was slaughtered by the Martial God¡¯s guild, ¡°Candle Dragon¡± until five people were left: us four elders and the boss, He Yi. It was a memorable period to say the least. I didn¡¯t think that Xu Yang would reappear in Floating Ice City as the 21st player on the ranking list. Barring any accidents, he would probably serve Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls just like before! An indescribable feeling filled my heart completely. A chuckle escaped my lips when I recalled He Yi¡¯s exquisite face. ¡°Boss, my delay is only 0.7 seconds now. Just you wait, I will prop up a corner of our sky!¡± I made up my mind to become someone prominent in Floating Ice City. Once I succeeded, I would return to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and create a new page of history with He Yi! ¡­¡­ "Grrr¡­" I killed another Cyan Skeleton, absorbing its undead spark and replenishing my spirits. Suddenly, a thought entered my mind. Oh right, I haven¡¯t used the skill ¡°Death Plunder¡± yet, have I? It was a skill that allowed the user to loot a dead body. It might yield me some unexpected rewards. I crouched on the ground and spread my hands. A green halo appeared from my palm and surrounded the Cyan Skeleton¡¯s remains. A ding later, I obtained new loot! Ragged Cotton Quality: Terrible Effect: None Fuck! What a completely useless item! I threw the Ragged Cotton away and searched for my next target. After that, I used Death Plunder on every mob I killed. However, the Cyan Skeletons gave poor loot despite the amazing experience. 95% of the drops were Ragged Cotton, and the remaining 5% was nothing at all. After over an hour, nearly a hundred Cyan Skeletons had perished under my sword. I had also reached Level 13, my experience bar filled by 47%. So far, this leveling speed was impressive! Crack! Again, I absorbed the Cyan Skeleton¡¯s spark and used Death Plunder after killing it. Ding! My eyes widened. An item drop! Big Magic Stone Quality: 41 Fuck, a magic stone?! I couldn¡¯t stop grinning. Magic stone was money, and money was the spring of all life. Once the game was unlocked to a certain point, magic stones would become the lifeblood of many gaming workshops! A Big Magic Stone fetched about 1 to 20 silvers, and at this stage silver was a hot commodity. In the forums, it was rumored that many newbies who reached a city couldn¡¯t learn any class skills because their total wealth was only 1 or 2 silver! They had to leave and farm magic stones! Obviously, the drop rate of magic stones was terrible considering that I had gotten only two magic stones after killing more than a hundred skeletons. Therefore, the fact that Death Plunder could yield magic stones undoubtedly gave me an economical advantage over other players! The spark of joy was continued by even more grinding! I sneaked closer to a nearby Cyan Skeleton and was about to attack it when a sudden chill suddenly gripped my heart! Something¡¯s there! Puchi! I felt a scorching pain behind my head and checked my HP. 207 points gone!? I¡¯d almost gotten one-shot! I reacted swiftly and rolled away to safety. After I got back to my feet and started running, I looked back and felt a spike of terror. The Undead Lord, at least two meters tall, was standing right where I had been just moments ago. Its level was hidden to me. Clearly, it was much, much higher than mine, me almost being one-shot despite two Iron-grade pieces of armor a testament to its crazy-high attack power. Anyone else would have been taken out already. "Hiss hiss¡­" The Undead Lord let out a low and angry wail, obviously displeased with the intruder that was me. Currently, this was his territory. No wonder the quest description said to run if I encountered the Undead Lord, it was definitely not something I could challenge at my current level. It was probably a Level 20 high-rank boss at minimum, the kind that could slaughter anyone and everyone if it had been set loose in a starting village. I trembled in fear but continued to kill more Cyan Skeletons. Right now, nothing was more important than leveling and farming magic stones. Another hour passed in the blink of an eye, and I was now Level 14 and 58%. I should be able to reach Level 15 by the time I turn in my quest. See, I knew that my leveling speed is pretty good! I counted the amount of Cyan Skeleton Fingers I had. 19. I still needed one more. I looked up and found the solution to my troubles, a foolish Cyan Skeleton wandering aimlessly in front of me. I let out a chuckle and jumped toward it. Suddenly, I stopped in midair and rolled into a nearby bush instead. A figure emerged from the forest ahead. It was an undead wearing a brown-yellow armor and holding a pale blue spear. His skeletal face looked incredibly sinister, and there was a line of text above his head¡ª Gui Guzi LV-18 Undead Knight Fuck! He¡¯s the highest-level player of Floating Ice City! My gaze turned several degrees cooler as my killing intent surfaced. It was clear that this newcomer didn¡¯t mean well. Chapter 12: Ironback Bear There is a saying¡ª¡°He who comes surely bears ill will¡±. I had no doubt that this Gui Guzi was gunning for me. Seeing no reason to avoid him at all, I crushed a thorny bush beneath my feet and rustled into his view. I eyeballed him just as coldly before smiling savagely. ¡°What exactly do you mean, brother?¡± ¡°Tch! I¡¯m not your brother!¡± Gui Guzi stared at me coldly and arrogantly before saying, ¡°Tsk tsk, Level 14 and you¡¯re leveling here? I guess you¡¯re not too bad!¡± I spread my arms open. ¡°I¡¯m just average.¡± ¡°Says the third strongest player in Floating Ice City?¡± Gui Guzi sneered. I took his provocation in stride. ¡°You said it, not me. That being said, I¡¯m definitely not going to be satisfied with just the third place.¡± ¡°You¡¯re an arrogant one alright!¡± Gui Guzi lifted his spear and shouted at me, ¡°There can only be one undead player at Frost Mound! Now duel me! Whoever loses will pack their belongings and leave!¡± I shook my head and replied, ¡°My time is precious, and I¡¯ve got none to waste on PK.¡± ¡°What did you say?¡± Gui Guzi said aggressively. ¡°This isn¡¯t how a pro should act! I guess you¡¯re just a noob after all! You don¡¯t even have the courage to duel someone!¡± I immediately raised my eyebrows and retorted coldly, ¡°Is that so? Come at me then. I¡¯ll take you out in one minute!¡± ¡°Haha, it¡¯ll be hilarious if your bark is worse than your bite!¡± Gui Guzi let out a loud laugh and charged, the blade of his spear glowing red. It was Magic Knight¡¯s basic skill, Flame Thrust! Rustle rustle... I moved half an arc away from my original position, causing Gui Guzi to miss his attack. The beautiful ¡°MISS¡± that appeared in the air stunned him completely. ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Gui Guzi¡¯s mouth gaped. ¡°You dodged that? How¡­ how is that possible?¡± Instead of replying, I brought my Forest Green Blade down on his head¡ª ¡°Slayer Slash!¡± The powerful attack sent Gui Guzi stumbling backwards. His HP also dropped drastically. 184! He was lucky that his class was famed for its vast HP pool, or this attack alone would have taken his life. ¡°There¡¯s no way I¡¯ll lose!¡± Gui Guzi was obviously a stubborn man because he charged me again. This time, he swung his spear horizontally, aimed for my side. Dodging it would be incredibly difficult! My mind was delayed by 0.7 seconds, and normal attacks had no charge-up at all. Since it was impossible for me to dodge the attack, I had no choice but to endure it. Of course, I was no gentleman. I immediately retaliated with a swing of my own weapon! 95! 179! ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Gui Guzi gasped repeatedly as he stared at his health bar. He had less than 10 HP left. He shot me a look of disbelief and said, ¡°How¡­ how is this possible?¡± I smiled at him and took action. ¡°You can stay in Frost Mound. This place is big enough to fit two people. But provoke me again, and the only answer you¡¯ll get is death!¡± ¡­¡­ The Forest Green Blade flashed across Gui Guzi¡¯s neck, his eyes growing wide. His body slowly slumped to the ground as the last vestiges of his soul left it. He dropped two small potions after dying. I picked them up and stared at his corpse calmly. Inevitably, all words and actions have their consequences. The price of Gui Guzi¡¯s show of arrogance was death. I went back to leveling and killed another four Cyan Skeletons, which finally dropped me the last Cyan Skeleton Finger I needed to turn in my quest! Happy, I was just about to leave when Gui Guzi climbed back to his feet. He came back to life after his soul returned to his body, but now he was only Level 17. Gui Guzi clearly looked unconvinced by his own defeat. ¡°Next time, victory will be mine!¡± I nodded back at him with a smile. ¡°Feel free to challenge me anytime you wish. Oh right, I live at B1, Frost Mound Outer Graveyard No. 1. Pay me a visit when you¡¯re free!¡± Gui Guzi replied astonishedly, ¡°I live at B2¡­¡± Hah, we¡¯re neighbors? I couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡°Let¡¯s learn from each other from here on out!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Gui Guzi nodded. By now I noticed that Gui Guzi was proud, aloof, but not unreasonable. In fact, I could even call him talented based on the fact that he hadn¡¯t stopped leveling since the beginning of the game. His patience and courage was what made him one of the Top 3 players of Floating Ice City! Of course, crazy levelers were present in every game, and I had played too many virtual reality games to be surprised by this. I returned to Frost Mound and turned in 20 Cyan Skeleton Fingers to Sentinel Leader Fark. He slapped my shoulder and laughed loudly. ¡°Hahaha, very good, little skeleton! You¡¯ve proven your courage and strength yet again. Here, take your rightful reward!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [Cyan Skeleton]. You have gained 2200 EXP and 21 Reputation. You have obtained the quest reward: "Bony Cyan Fan"! My eyes lit up. An equipment! I hurriedly checked my bag and saw a fan with a cyan glow lying quietly at a corner. After I picked it up, its stats appeared before my eyes¡ª Bony Cyan Fan (Iron-grade) Attack: 15~24 Stamina: +1 Tactics: +1 Level Requirement: 15 I wasn¡¯t sure what to say as I stared at the fan. Fans were a Tactician¡¯s weapon, but this particular fan had ridiculous attack power, even higher than my Forest Green Blade! What a waste! That being said, the fan added 1 point to both Stamina and Tactics. Now this was useful! I had studied Heavenblessed¡¯s official data a long time ago and learned that a party leader could activate ¡°stratagems¡± such as Encourage (increases all party members¡¯ Attack by 5%, Tactics Requirement: 20). Stratagems were also known as General Skills. When players reached a certain level, stratagems would become a major factor on the battlefield. It would be basically mandatory for any powerful party to have a leader with a powerful General Skill. In Heavenblessed, Tacticians were born to stratagems like fish to water, because they gained a Tactics point every level. This alone made other classes unable to compare. A Level 20 Tactician would naturally have 20 Tactics, meaning that they could execute Stratagems such as Encourage or Iron Wall (increases party member¡¯s Defense by 5%) even without any equipment. I suppose only a Tactician can bring out the true potential of this Bony Cyan Fan! I tossed the fan back into my bag and made up my mind to make a trip to Floating Ice City when I was free. I planned to sell this Bony Cyan Fan and buy some potions for that money. ¡­¡­ With that done, I looked to Sentinel Leader Fark. It was clear that he had something to say, again. His expression grew even more stern, his voice turned even deeper. He slapped me on the shoulder and began. ¡°Little skeleton, I need to tell you some bad news. Half a day ago, Frost Mound¡¯s best scout, Shaq, passed away on the Frozen Path. I haven¡¯t seen his body myself, but I heard that he had been killed by the Ironback Bear. I want you to head there, kill that damned bear and bring back its head.¡± Ding~! System Notice: You¡¯ve accepted the quest [Ironback Bear]! (Quest Rank: F+) Description: Head to the Frozen Path and kill the Ironback Bear. Bring its head back to Sentinel Leader Fark. Another bounty quest? I happily accepted it. I opened the map and searched for the Frozen Path, and it just so happened to be the path leading to Floating Ice City. It was a dangerous road because both the Light faction and the Dark faction were fighting for it. I could already foresee the dangers I would have to brave. I spent 1 silver and repaired my equipment. Damn, it sure is expensive to repair three pieces of Iron-grade equipment at once! I sold all my magic stones, arranged the contents of my bag for a bit and left Frost Mound through a small path. A terrible smell entered my nose about ten minutes later. What the hell, a headless skeletal soldier lay on the ground not far ahead! I walked up and discovered that it was a half-rotten undead soldier, and his name was Scout Shaq. As I thought, he was the unfortunate soul mentioned in the quest. His sternum was completely shattered, and his head was chewed up pretty badly. He also smelled like decay and death. I couldn¡¯t believe that the Ironback Bear would eat someone like him. It was either starving real bad, or it had one hell of a taste. I stood up and looked around for a bit. I didn¡¯t forget to absorb Scout Shaq¡¯s undead spark. It was weak and tiny, but it was still replenishment for my own undead flame. ¡°It¡¯s over there!¡± My eyes narrowed, and I rushed into the forest beside the road. There was a huge, black bear standing beneath a big tree. It wasn¡¯t a boss, but its level was incredibly high¡ªThorny Ironback Bear, Level 20! My heart clenched up as I swore at a certain Frost Mound Sentinel Leader. ¡°Fuck you, Fark!¡± I checked my own level and calculated the odds. It would be quite difficult to challenge a monster five levels above me, not to mention that my equipment was well below Level 10. My hard-earned early game advantage was completely irrelevant here. Still, I had no choice but to fight it. God, please kindly bless this bear with a quick death! ¡°Hah!¡± I rushed toward the bear and appeared behind it in an instant. Then, I swung my sword downward with all I got! Crack! To my surprise, sparks appeared where the Forest Green Blade had struck. My weapon had completely failed to reach the soft flesh. 21! I felt like I was being taunted by the pitiful damage number I dealt. The Ironback Bear immediately turned around, roared and pounced toward me. For a moment, I was filled with regret. What am I doing? Of course the back of the Ironback Bear is as tough as iron! What a fool am I to let my habits pull me by the nose! I still took a hit despite beating a hasty retreat. It took 107 points off my health bar. I waited for an opening before thrusting the Forest Green Blade forward like a snake. This time, I aimed at the Ironback Bear¡¯s eyes! Puchi! Blood scattered everywhere. Now I definitely broke through its defense! 189! Tsk tsk, attacking a weak point will never be boring. I slid smoothly to its right and slashed at the bear¡¯s gaping mouth. Again, my attack drew blood and scored 157 points of damage! The Ironback Bear¡¯s total HP was only about 1000 or so. Things are definitely looking good for me! Chapter 13: Asura Night fell, moonlight causing the Frozen Path to glisten, as if it was covered in a layer of frost. Pachak! The sound of blade cutting through flesh resounded through the forest. The battle was still underway. I downed my first health pot and kept a close eye on both my health bar and the Ironback Bear¡¯s. A small smile creeped onto my face. It looked as sinister as ever, but it definitely came from the bottom of my heart. A series of attacks later, the Ironback Bear¡¯s death was all but certain. With my current level of speed and movement, killing this Ironback Bear was practically easy. Puchi! The Forest Green Blade penetrated the Ironback Bear¡¯s skull and dealt huge damage¡ª284! The fatal hit caused the blood-drenched Ironback Bear to let out a dying scream before collapsing. A huge magic stone and a pair of green legguards dropped from its dead body, exciting me to no end. Another equipment drop! My luck is off the charts today! I rushed toward it and picked up both items. The Big Magic Stone had a quality of 57 and could be sold for 11 silver! The legguards were leather armor. Bearskin Legguard (Iron-grade) Defense: 7 Agility: +2 Level Requirement: 15 Tsk tsk, leather armor sure is inferior to metal armor in terms of defense. That being said, it was still 7 points of Defense, and this +2 Agility bonus gave me around 0.1% attack speed and 0.2% evasion rate. I had no leg equipment anyway, so there was no reason not to wear it. Swoosh! A swirl of light later, the Bearskin Legguard was covering my thighs. Nice, my beautiful leg bones finally escaped exposure. ¡°Eh?¡± Suddenly, I felt something strange around my ribs and leg area. It was as if something was wriggling inside of them. What the hell is this, a giant maggot? I hurriedly took off my chest armor and inspected my ribs carefully. Thankfully, it was no maggot. In fact, it looked like a strip of flesh was growing in between my ribs. What is going on here? Puzzled but without an answer, I cut off the Ironback Bear¡¯s head as a trophy. I could think about this after I had turned in my quest! ¡°Aha, you are truly courageous beyond measure, little skeleton. You are the rising star of us Night Creatures!¡± The sentinel leader praised me generously before rewarding me with a huge amount of experience. Thanks to this, I leveled up to 16, entered the Top 100 of Floating Ice City again and settled at 97th. During the early stages of the game, level rankings changed very quickly and rapidly. I wondered if the leader of the day before, Wind Fantasy, would cry if he saw that he had fallen out of Top 100 when he woke up. ¡°Don¡¯t be hasty, little skeleton!¡± Suren said patiently and earnestly. ¡°You aren¡¯t strong enough yet. What if the Undead Lord kills you and absorbs your soul spark? Frost Mound doesn¡¯t wish to lose another courageous swordsman¡­¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± I swore in my head before asking, ¡°Trainer, what is the use of the Soul Spark of the Undead? I had absorbed a lot of them.¡± ¡°Oh, this¡­¡± Suren put his hands on his waist and laughed. ¡°The Undead are the core branch of the Night Creatures. We, the Undead, are a martial race, so we don¡¯t only grow stronger as our level increases. Once you have absorbed enough soul sparks, you can evolve into a higher rank warrior.¡± ¡°Higher rank?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Suren nodded and explained, ¡°Right now, you¡¯re just a small skeletal warrior. When new flesh starts appearing on your body, it means that you¡¯ve taken your first step toward evolving into a Bone Creature.¡± ¡°Are Bone Creatures high-level Night Creatures?¡± ¡°On the contrary, they are one of the lowest ranking races there is. Bone Lords and Bone Generals are both stronger than Bone Creatures, even though they are still beings who only fight with their physical bodies. However, if an undead manages to grow past that level, then¡­ hehe, their flesh will regrow completely, and they will look no different from a human. This stage of evolution is called Asura!¡± My mouth fell open as desire filled me. ¡°I can look like a normal person? Haha! Does that mean I¡¯ll be able to enter Floating Ice City and date girls whenever I want to?¡± The undead swordsman shot me a disdainful look. ¡°Grow up, kid. Do you seriously think women would flock to you like birds if you evolved into an Asura? Let me tell you, an Asura is far stronger than you can imagine. Powerful Asuras are like kings who can fight entire nations alone, not to mention that they can evolve further into Asura Kings or even Asura Gods¡­ Heh, that is a level neither you nor I will ever reach in our lifetime!¡± His words only deepened my desires. ¡°A king-like existence? Damn... does that mean I can legally create a harem of three thousand in my own kingdom? Hahaha!¡± Suren clearly didn¡¯t want to waste any time on me anymore. ¡°Train hard, you little brat. Don¡¯t let other Night Creatures absorb your spark. Maybe, just maybe, you have a chance of entering the realm of Asuras. As for myself, that possibility is long gone.¡± ¡­¡­ In the end, I wasn¡¯t able to squeeze any more quests out of him so I decided to farm monsters and level up just like before. There weren¡¯t many quests in Heavenblessed to begin with, and the only reason I got several in a row was because I was the only player in Frost Mound until Gui Guzi showed up. At Floating Ice City, there were probably countless players who, despite being at Level 15, never experienced what it was like to complete a quest in Heavenblessed! I sold all the magic stones in my bag. After a couple hours of hard work, I had earned a total of 27 silver. I guess I could finally be considered somewhat wealthy? I checked my equipment. I had a pair of bracers, a pair of legguards, chest armor, and a weapon. All of them were Iron-grade, basic-level equipment. Truly, this was an era of Iron-grade equipment. That being said, I could probably dominate anyone in Floating Ice City with my current set of equipment. Right now, there were a lot of players who were trading items on the forums. For example, metal armor with only +2 Strength bonus could sell for 100 RMB. It was a testament to how rare the items with stat bonuses truly were during the early stages of the game, not to mention that shops at Floating Ice City only had Common-grade equipment in stock. Of course, all of them were vastly inferior to Iron-grade items. This meant that my whole equipment set could probably fetch me a sum of 400 RMB and above, and this was me being conservative with my calculations. Judging from how rare it was to get a stat-boosting weapon at this stage, it was entirely possible that my Forest Green Blade alone could sell for 400 RMB! I thought for a moment and decided to travel to Floating Ice City first before anything else. As someone who had been dropped inside the borders of such a big city, there was no reason for me not to check it out. I traveled to the Frozen Path again and entered a forest at the path¡¯s end. I avoided any enemies that were over Level 20 along the way. After about twenty or so minutes, I arrived at the forest bordering the walls of Floating Ice City. Unfortunately, my ID was still blood-red in color, and what a vibrant color it was! If anyone saw me right now, I¡¯m sure they would think that I¡¯m a PKer. Floating Ice City¡¯s proud and majestic appearance entered my view. As if winter was the only season they had, the walls of this city were always covered in snow. The palace looked like it was frozen in ice, and the city itself looked like it was built atop a glacier. It was how the city had gotten its name. I carefully sneaked my way through the bushes until I was less than a hundred meters away from the gate. Then, I sprinted 100 meters in just 4.5 seconds. The moment my feet stepped on the very first brick that made up the city, my name changed colors and turned healthy green once more. I was very glad that I didn¡¯t need to hide like a mouse anymore. ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t see many people at the city square. Everyone looked understandably busy since it was only the second day since the game¡¯s release. Even if they had free time, they would rather spend it on leveling and farming equipment. I moved to the center of the square and stood as straight as a stake. Then, I took out the Bony Cyan Fan and shouted, ¡°Level 15 Iron-grade fan for sale! Attack 24, Stamina +1, and Tactics +1! This is just the weapon you need to satiate your adventurous and murderous desires! Suitable for tacticians and priests, this is a beautiful and elegant weapon made just for girls! If you have a wife, buy it for her! If you don¡¯t have one, still buy it and gift it to someone else¡¯s wife! Don¡¯t wait until it¡¯s too late!¡± My shout drew attention from every direction, and it wasn¡¯t long before I was surrounded by a dozen or so people. Chitter-chatter ensued¡ª ¡°Damn! Someone dropped a Level 15 weapon already? And what the fuck is this attack power? Amazing, my weapon only has 1~3 Attack¡­¡± ¡°My god, this weapon is amazing. I can¡¯t believe someone found a weapon that boosts Tactics already!¡± ¡°Is it just me, or does this seller look a little strange?¡± ¡°Not really. His bones grow outside his flesh, that¡¯s all.¡± ¡°...¡± I shouted again at the crowd, ¡°Is there anyone who wants this? I can sell this immediately if the offer is reasonable. Everyone¡¯s piss-poor at the beginning, so if you miss this chance, you ain¡¯t seeing it again!¡± A Level 15 magic knight immediately raised his hand. ¡°2 silver!¡± I glared at him and replied, ¡°Not even my ¡®shop¡¯ is worth that little!¡± The crowd broke out into laughter at the exchange. It was at this moment a young, sincere-looking, Level 16 tactician walked up to me and said, ¡°I only have 11 silver, and this is after me and my two friends pooled our money together. I know it¡¯s still isn¡¯t enough to buy your fan, so I would like to add this as collateral. If you think it¡¯s okay, then let us trade right away. If not, I would still like to make your acquaintance.¡± He produced a pair of black boots and stared at my gorgeous, bony feet. His meaning was as clear as day. I checked out the boots and concluded they were pretty good. They were Iron-grade and their only flaw was their low level. Porcupine Boots (Iron-grade) Defense: 12 Stamina: +3 Level Requirement: 10 My eyes lit up. The best part of these boots was the +3 Stamina bonus, which would give me 30 max HP. As someone who dumped all his stats into Strength, HP was exactly the stat I sought to boost. I stopped to think for a moment. The Bony Cyan Fan was useless to me, and the buyer was willing to trade me 11 silver and Level 10 metal armor boots. It was enough. And so, I nodded and smiled candidly. ¡°Alright, the fan is yours. Thanks for being so candid, brother!¡± ¡°Thank you!¡± The buyer was just as happy with the trade as I was. After all, Tactician didn¡¯t do much damage until later in the game, and a 24 Attack weapon mitigated that shortcoming by a lot. At long last, his teammates could no longer tease him and call him a leecher. When the trade was done, I gained 11 silver and a set of Iron-grade boots. My character was finally fully-clothed. I put on the Porcupine Boots, my Defense rising to 37, and HP to 310. My survivability had skyrocketed thanks to this! Chapter 14: Unyielding Mad Dragon Beneath the bronze-colored walls, a group of five people was standing on Floating Ice Bridge. I knew them well, their IDs all had the prefix ¡°Mad Dragon¡± before their names. The man standing at the forefront was called Roaming Dragon, and he was the first enemy I encountered in this game. I didn¡¯t expect to meet him here after the fight at Sunshine Forest. Roaming Dragon glared hatefully at my Forest Green Blade before sneering at me. ¡°The Iron-grade Forest Green Blade is the 7th strongest weapon on Floating Ice City¡¯s weapon ranking list. If I¡¯m not mistaken, it was also the sword dropped from the Green Praying Mantis King, wasn¡¯t it?¡± I didn¡¯t deny it. Raising my eyebrows, I asked, ¡°Yep. So what?¡± ¡°So what?!¡± Roaming Dragon uttered through gritted teeth before threatening, ¡°Leave the Forest Green Blade now and maybe I¡¯ll spare your life. Otherwise, your days in Floating Ice City are over.¡± I snorted. ¡°Are you joking? Who are you to decide whether I spend my time here?¡± Roaming Dragon suddenly smiled until his handsome face was almost fully-distorted. ¡°Is that so? Why don¡¯t we test that theory then?¡± He then shouted angrily, ¡°Brothers, eliminate this dirty Night Creature!¡± The Mad Dragon members immediately pulled out their weapons. One of them was a Bard, and he pulled up a bamboo flute and played a short tune. Roaming Dragon¡¯s head was immediately surrounded by a green halo. It was Bard¡¯s basic skill, Forge! It was a buff that enhanced the targets¡¯ hit rate by 25%! There was a large number of players standing at the city gate, and the commotion had caught their attention. Many of them were even pointing at me and gossiping. ¡°What the fuck! He¡¯s a Night Creature! You can even see a tinge of red in his ID!¡± ¡°What? Aren¡¯t the Night Creatures our enemies? Why is he here at Floating Ice City?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s kill him! Maybe we can get him to drop the seventh strongest weapon of Floating Ice City¡­¡± The situation was very bad for me. If I stayed here any longer I might not be able to escape intact. That was why I strode imposingly toward the Mad Dragons and pointed toward the direction of breaking dawn, the east. Then, I shouted, ¡°Look, a butterfly!¡± While everyone was looking up, I rushed out of the city without ever turning back. Roaming Dragon immediately gave chase, but warrior-type class like mine had good movement speed. There was no way a low-level magic knight without a mount could catch up. Flustered and exasperated, the twenty-five-year old hedonist shouted, ¡°Brothers, this kid is too cunning! Let us enter Frost Forest together and get the Iron-grade weapon that rightfully belongs to us!¡± Twenty or so people answered his call and chased after me. I arrived at the edge of the forest and vanished into the thick undergrowth in no time. My pursuers could only see the disturbed plants I passed through, but not me. Roaming Dragon led his band of twenty to the edge of the forest. Green with fury, he shouted, ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you¡¯ve touched Mad Dragon¡¯s reverse scale! I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re the goddamned emperor, today I¡¯m ripping you to shreds and skinning you alive, no matter what!¡± I stopped calmly under a lush birch and laughed loudly. ¡°Mad Dragon¡¯s reverse scale? You actually dare call yourselves dragons, you third-rate actors? If you¡¯re mad dragons, then I¡¯m the dragon slayer who¡¯ll pull out all your so-called reverse scales until there is nothing left!¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± Roaming Dragon roared angrily. ¡°Brothers, he¡¯s southeast of us. Head in that direction, kill him and let everyone in Floating Ice City know that the Mad Dragon guild¡¯s rule is inviolable!¡± ¡°Yes, boss!¡± The players quickly rushed at me. I quickly identified their positions and noted that they had organized themselves into a triangular formation. Fighting them head-on would be a bad choice because they had all learned their class skills, and none of these skills was particularly weak. Rustle rustle... A birch¡¯s leaves swayed, and I vanished from my original spot. While I was running, a sense of danger suddenly hit me. Here they come! Swoosh! A cold gleam appeared out of nowhere. Naturally, only an Assassin could pull off an ambush like this. Instead of retreating, I took a lightning fast step to the right and swung my sword at the same time. The glowing blade clashed loudly against the enemy¡¯s dagger. ¡°What?! So fast¡­¡± The dagger wielder looked slightly surprised. He was Level 17, and his ID was ¡°Unyielding Mad Dragon¡±. He looked around twenty years old and a bit childish. His technique wasn¡¯t bad, he just hadn¡¯t reached the level of a first-rate Assassin yet. My eyes turned cold. This man obviously fought for Roaming Dragon, even his ID was a reflection of his guild¡¯s name. I cannot allow him to live! I abruptly shortened the distance between us and swung my sword. Unyielding Mad Dragon clenched his teeth and shouted, ¡°You are courting death!¡± He actually pulled off a beautiful zigzag and dodged my attack! I was astonished. I guess Roaming Dragon wasn¡¯t talking completely out of his ass when he claimed that he would dominate Floating Ice City. At the very least, this Unyielding Mad Dragon was quite skillful. Swoosh! A chill blew toward me as dark green light surrounded Unyielding Mad Dragon¡¯s dagger. It was none other than the Assassin¡¯s Level 10 skill, Cold Blade! Cold Blade increased critical rate by 20% and dealt 125% damage. Puchi! Unable to react in time, the attack hit me squarely in the chest. Luckily, Unyielding Mad Dragon¡¯s dagger was a Common-grade weapon with 3~5 Attack only, or this would have been pretty dangerous. ¡°Die!¡± Unyielding Mad Dragon¡¯s killing intent skyrocketed as he followed up with a swing straight toward my neck. He was an Assassin alright, every strike was made with the intent to kill! My own killing intent was forcefully dragged to the surface. I absolutely cannot allow someone like him to live! Thwack! I kicked him in the arm from a tricky angle and used the momentum to flip myself in the air. Then, I activated my own skill and cut right through him! Crack! Unyielding Mad Dragon stared at me blankly. I had snatched victory from his hands in just the blink of an eye. He was sure that his attack would connect, but not only did it miss, my counterattack killed him instantly. I let out a cold snort as Unyielding Mad Dragon slowly crumbled to his knees and died. Then, I turned away and walked deeper into the forest. At the same time, I realized that there was absolutely no chance I could defeat the twenty or so pursuers behind me unless my brain delay was completely gone. I could hear the yells from a distance. Roaming Dragon and his goons were closing in already. He was at least as skilled as Unyielding Mad Dragon, and he had acquired his class skill already. It wouldn¡¯t be easy to kill him! Eventually, we all entered the inner part of Frost Forest. There were only five people pursuing me now because the rest was either too slow or got entangled with a random monster. ¡°Heh!¡± I abruptly turned around and brandished my sword arrogantly, standing in the middle of a clearing. It was a rather hilarious scene¡ªa tiny skeleton with a sword puffing his chest out like he was an immortal incarnate. Roaming Dragon and his four goons chasing after me saw that I was no longer running. He hesitated. He had witnessed my skills before, and even he didn¡¯t think that he could beat me 5v1. For a time, Roaming Dragon stood where he was and did nothing. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. ¡°Boss, let¡¯s kill him already! He¡¯s one or two Iron-grade pieces away from completing a full set!¡± a short barbarian warrior said in a deep voice. Roaming Dragon continued to frown deeply. It was true that a full set of Iron-grade equipment was tempting, but that also meant that the wearer was nigh unkillable thanks to their extraordinary defense. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh loudly at the hesitant bunch. I pointed a finger at Roaming Dragon and said, ¡°Floating Ice City is one of the nine tier 2 cities of the China server, and most of the players from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai are here. You must be seriously deluded to think that you and your tiny guild can reign over Floating Ice City!¡± I was about to attack them first when an archer from Mad Dragon stumbled into the open while crying, ¡°Boss, it¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s terrible¡­¡± ¡°Calm yourself. What¡¯s going on?¡± Roaming Dragon asked impatiently. The archer quickly moved closer and whispered his message. ¡°Fuck!!!¡± Roaming Dragon exploded into fury. ¡°Wind Fantasy has gone too far this time! Mad Dragon is not to be trifled with! Come, we head to Snowing Forest!¡± ¡°Hey wait, don¡¯t leave¡­¡± I tried to stop them, but Roaming Dragon and his goons vanished in the blink of an eye. Whatever crime that Wind Fantasy committed against the Mad Dragon guild, it seems it¡¯s much bigger than mine... ¡°Sigh, what the heck is this even¡­¡± A bit annoyed by the anticlimactic ending, I turned around and headed toward Frost Mound again. Now that I had exchanged the Bony Cyan Fan for boots and some silver, it was time to check if there were any new quests to accept. I only took two steps when a burning heat suddenly approached my face rapidly. It was a spear imbued with the power of fire! Chapter 15: Fighting Gui Guzi Again Flame Thrust! It was Magic Knight¡¯s first common skill unlocked at Level 10 that dealt additional 15% fire damage at rank 1, and 25% at rank 2. It was a PK trump card in the early stages of the game! Not able to defend myself in time, a sudden jolt of pain shot through my shoulder. It felt like a viper had taken a bite of me. 128! The damage number was shocking, at least compared to my max HP that is. I slid out of my opponent¡¯s attack range. Tightly holding onto my green blade, I fixed my gaze at the other party. It was an undead skeleton player wielding a spear. It wasn¡¯t any random player, but precisely Level 17 Gui Guzi, someone who could absolutely rank in Floating Ice City¡¯s Top 10. ¡°Heh!¡± With an evil chuckle, Gui Guzi lunged his spear at me, clearly wanting to avenge himself. Swoosh! The spear transformed into a piercing cold light, like a snarling angry dragon breaking out of the sea. Even though it was a basic attack, the fundamentals behind it were solid. This Gui Guzi was absolutely skilled! I took half a step back with my left foot as my hand quickly took out a health potion, which I promptly downed. This allowed my shoulder to take in the least amount of damage from this unavoidable strike. At the same time, I blocked the head of Gui Guzi¡¯s spear using my sword¡¯s hilt, and with a turn of my wrist sent my own sword over. ¡°Bugger off!¡± Ding! Sparks flew everywhere as Gui Guzi¡¯s spear was completely jolted away. Shock appeared on his face as my green blade streamed toward his chest like a cold beam. Puchi! Black blood splattered in the air as a huge damage number appeared above Gui Guzi¡¯s head¡ª228! I didn¡¯t bother to give him time to catch his breath and unleashed a flurry of attacks, stabbing my longsword into his chest again and again. Then, I swiftly switched positions, lifted my right leg and kicked the handle of his spear. The heavy force knocked his weapon away, his defense disarmed! An opportunity! Swoosh swoosh! My longsword dove at Gui Guzi¡¯s neck with a stab and swipe. I even activated an additional skill on my second attack. Slayer Slash wrapped my sword in a bundle of light, cutting across Gui Guzi¡¯s neck. ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes went wide. He could only watch on as I destroyed him. As I sliced his neck with Slayer Slash, I growled, ¡°It¡¯s your own fault you died. If you want to avenge yourself, come at me anytime!¡± Plop... Gui Guzi fell to his knees, dying with unwilling eyes. He was an Undead Knight, derivative of Magic Knight, just like I was a subtype of Warrior. His class gave him a ton of HP at the cost of rather low attack power. Once his initial assault failed, I completely took over the momentum and could easily kill him. This, I can say with full confidence. By the time I was done, Gui Guzi¡¯s soul had already scattered. Ding! System Notice: Player "Gui Guzi" has sent you a friend request. Do you accept? Slightly startled, I pressed ¡°Accept¡±, and Gui Guzi immediately appeared in my friend list. He was even my first friend in Heavenblessed. A few seconds later, Gui Guzi sent a message: ¡°Got a question for you.¡± ¡°Ask away,¡± I replied. ¡°The way you PK resembles someone. Are you... Martial God Candlelight Shadow?¡± read Gui Guzi¡¯s yet another message. I was stunned. Candlelight Shadow? The way I PK is similar to the currently illustrious Candlelight Shadow? After thinking about it for a while, I responded, ¡°No.¡± A few seconds later, Gui Guzi answered again. ¡°Then that¡¯s great. Since you¡¯re not Candlelight Shadow, then you¡¯re not invincible. I¡¯ll definitely kill you one day!¡± Speechless, I closed the chat window. I stood up and looked at the night sky of this virtual world, with all the stars filling the darkness above. I couldn¡¯t help but give a quiet laugh. ¡°Is Candlelight Shadow that strong? If my delay wasn¡¯t there, even if it was reduced to three tenths of a second, Candlelight Shadow would be nothing!¡± I sighed and lamented for a while. Dammit. I too used to be a master of a generation, a gaming king. I defeated Candlelight Shadow multiple times in the past, the whole world was in my grasp, but now I¡¯m but a cripple with a delay of 0.7 seconds. Yes, encountering Candlelight Shadow in this state would mean certain death. At this time, another ding sounded. System Notice: Player "Amazing Expert" has sent you a friend request. Do you accept? I laughed in spite of myself. Thirteen had finally left the starting village. After I pressed accept, Du Thirteen immediately opened the voice chat. ¡°Lu Chen, I¡¯m here! Haha, there¡¯s only about three thousand people in Floating Ice City. I should be ranked pretty high, right? ¡°Really? I¡¯ve been here for an entire day¡­¡± I poured cold water on him with a languid laugh. ¡°Shit!¡± Du Thirteen laughed again without any anger. ¡°I¡¯ve accepted a bounty quest by the city gates. I need to kill a boss in Frost Forest. Come help me if you¡¯ve got some time on your hands, I couldn¡¯t form a party.¡± ¡°Mn, give me the location of your quest. I¡¯ll be there soon.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t¡­¡± Du Thirteen hesitated, then spoke a few seconds later. ¡°I¡¯m only Level 10, the mobs here along the way almost killed me. Can you take me there?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I was even more speechless as I strode toward Floating Ice City. Not long after, I saw Du Thirteen. This dumbass was a Level 10 Warrior wearing a set of Common-grade equipment. He was at the city entrance, foolishly looking at the passing female players, drooling at their white thighs. He looked like he couldn¡¯t wait to pounce on their legs and shout, ¡°I¡¯m hungry big sister, feed me, feed me¡­¡± ¡°Thirteen!¡± I yelled from a distance. Du Thirteen quickly found me and dashed toward the edge of the forest. He drooled when he saw my equipment. ¡°Shit! You¡¯re so cool! Iron-grade sword with bonus stats, Iron-grade chest armor, Iron-grade boots, and Iron-grade wristguards. Damn¡­¡± Du Thirteen¡¯s expression then changed into one that needed a good beating. His face still dripping with drool, he asked, ¡°Brother Chen, do you have any weapons, metal armor or leather armor that you¡¯re not using? You can toss them at me.¡± ¡°No, we¡¯ll talk about it when I do.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Du Thirteen posed as a little brother in game. He was well-aware of his own abilities and he was in fact a qualified underling. If his boss were to pick up a cigar, he was the type to rush to light it. If his boss were to look displeased, he would immediately grab a brick and yell at the guy across the street, ¡°Don¡¯t be so arrogant, boy. You think I won¡¯t clap you?!¡± We charged into the forest together. Fortunately, the mobs along the way weren¡¯t too high-leveled. I easily dealt with monsters lower than Level 20 and Du Thirteen leeched experience as he followed by my side. The quest target was a Level 17 Wolfman. With Thirteen¡¯s abilities, fighting against it was clearly courting death. I, however, only took ten seconds to wrap it up. While he was slicing its head off, Du Thirteen praised me without end. ¡°Lu Chen, you¡¯re so strong, so handsome, so sharp! My admiration for you flows like the river¡­¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s best if you talk about how you plan on leveling up,¡± I interrupted. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m heading to Wild Boar Forest in a bit to level up. There are Level 11 Wild Boars there. If I have to kill monsters, it¡¯s faster to level there.¡± ¡°Mn, then I¡¯ll go level alone. Oh right, have you learned your class skill yet, Warrior¡¯s Level 10 skill, Heavy Slash? ¡°Ah? Skill¡­?¡± Du Thirteen put on a lost expression. ¡°What skill?¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± I almost puked blood. I tossed him 10 silver. ¡°Find it in the Class Hall inside the city. Go grind levels after you¡¯ve learned it. Don¡¯t forget to buy some potions too. I¡¯m going to go level now.¡± ¡°Mn, alright!¡± After taking my silver, Thirteen left with a beaming face. I shook my head, and laughed quietly. ¡°Hopeless¡­¡± I came back to Frost Mound and killed a few skeletons around the graveyard. Then, I absorbed their sparks to replenish my undead body. Undead-type monsters had 15% higher stats than live ones. Their attack power and attack speed were extremely high but their experience and drop rate were also 15% higher than the norm. It was a place where the risks were as high as the gains. In a single night, I gained 11 Small Magic Stones and made a decent sum from selling them. At around 4 am, Du Thirteen sent me a message: ¡°Too tired. I can¡¯t hold on, I¡¯m heading off to bed.¡± Standing inside the Night Creatures¡¯ camp, on Frost Mound, I looked at my level¡ª18. I¡¯ve finally reached Level 18 after an entire night of grinding. This was the first time I¡¯ve entered Floating Ice City¡¯s ranking list. I just happened to be in the 99th place. There¡¯s just too many crazy levelers here! I haven¡¯t actually started grinding hardcore yet. Instead, I¡¯ve been spending some time looking up information and maps. I didn¡¯t want to stand out too much this time. If I wanted to rush into the Top 10, that wouldn¡¯t even be a problem for me. This was because first place was again occupied by the Level 20 Wind Fantasy. I wasn¡¯t too far off from that. Then again, my equipment was too good, especially my Iron-grade weapon. I was positive that no more than three people in Floating Ice City stood a chance against me in a duel. After being immensely satisfied with myself, I logged off to get some rest. When I took off my helmet, it was already 4:30, and the sky was slowly lighting up. I went to the bathroom and washed my face. Looking in the mirror, I saw my visage smeared with traces of fatigue. Forget it, I¡¯ll sleep after a shower! I took off my shirt only to discover frightening patches of purplish red on my arms and back. The hell?! I was stunned in place. With a cold, sinking feeling, despair and terror filled my thoughts as a thought formed¡ª Livor mortis! This was livor mortis, something that could only happen to a corpse! Chapter 16: He Yi Pays a Visi My mind was in a mess. I felt like I was going to suffocate. This was definitely livor mortis! I slowly sat down against a corner in a daze, holding my head in my hands. What¡¯s going on? What¡¯s happening to me? I am obviously alive, but why do I have livor mortis? Doesn''t this mean that my body is slowly rotting? This¡­ is impossible. Is this all a dream? Pa! I gave myself a hard slap. It hurt like hell. It was all real. I was afraid to close my eyes. As soon as I did, my thoughts filled with livor mortis and death. I opened them again, but these scary patches of skin were still there. My heart chilled, and I felt my resolve wavering, as if I would break down any minute. Lost in thought, long time passed. ¡°Lu Chen, Lu Chen! What¡¯s wrong?¡± Du Thirteen opened the door. He saw me sitting in the corner in a daze and couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°What happened?¡± I didn¡¯t hide it from him. I lifted my arm and answered with an ashen heart. ¡°Thirteen, I think I¡¯m¡­ already dead!¡± ¡°What?!¡± Thirteen¡¯s eyes were wide open. He grabbed my arm and said with a tremble, ¡°Lu Chen, don¡¯t scare me. Bro, w-what happened to you? How did this happen? Y-you¡¯re definitely just sick¡­¡± Thirteen¡¯s eyes glistened with tears as he looked at my slowly-rotting body. Eyes red, he said through gritted teeth, ¡°Shit, how did this happen¡­¡± I looked up at the ceiling with despair and told him about what had happened in the past few days. After hearing my story, Du Thirteen silently turned around. He came back with a syringe in hand and looked at me. ¡°Bro, I¡¯m not gonna let you die!¡± He extracted my blood and said with a low voice, ¡°I forgot to tell you but my dad¡¯s a specialist at the Provincial Institute of Biology. I¡¯m going to take your blood to Nanjing for a detailed lab test. Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll definitely be okay. I¡¯ll be back tonight¡­¡± I nodded, and said dejectedly, ¡°Thanks¡­ But when you were chasing Tan Xue, I remember you saying that your dad was a banker¡­¡± ¡°Fuck, why do you still remember that? Just wait for me!¡± Du Thirteen went out the door before turning around again. He warned, ¡°Lu Chen, you¡¯d better not die. If you die, I¡¯m going to be fucking lonely!¡± And so, Du Thirteen left. The sky had not completely brightened. For me, a person like him who was widely known to be a lazyass, was actually catching a ride to Nanjing. The sky was overcast when I reached the rooftop of a small building. I looked up, and countless scenes of the past flashed across my eyes. He Yi. I regretted nothing. Grasped in my right hand was a blue book titled ¡°Encouragement¡±. It was a birthday present He Yi once sent me by mail. She said that it was effective in motivating others. If we ever wiped at a boss, it was good at boosting morale. The edges of my mouth curled up. I couldn¡¯t help but smile. The scene of a breezy mountain range with tall grass and flying birds surfaced in my mind. He Yi was gathering herbs and I followed her, staring at her back in a daze. He Yi was a very independent woman. Once she picked a direction, she would head there without hesitation. It was a trait worthy of admiration. At the same time, she was extremely charismatic. Not only was she beautiful in face and figure, she had overwhelming wisdom and courage. If not, how could a delicate woman like her become the GGS Asia Region Vice President? I slowly closed my eyes with a smile. If I die like this, I hope to pass on peacefully. Papapa¡­ It began to rain, fine raindrops gently falling on my face. The weird part was that I had actually fallen asleep, until a scorching pain shot through every part of my body. ¡°Ah¡­¡± After a long sigh, I sat back up and stared at the bizarre scene around me. The rain had stopped and sunlight shone upon my body. It was as though the scary livor mortis had evaporated like water, only leaving behind an acute pain. I felt like I had been put on a stove, that piercing burning pain was not something anyone could endure! I tightened my fists and watched the livor mortis vaporize under the sunshine. There was a phrase that would describe my mood: Pain comes with happiness. In not even ten minutes, the livor mortis had completely disappeared. My skin was white again and it shone like new. The pain had also disappeared, it was like a weird disease that had been cured by sunlight. Tap tap tap tap¡­ The sound of urgent footsteps echoed. Du Thirteen was back. I went downstairs and just happened to encounter Du Thirteen. He was holding a piece of paper covered in tiny words and wore a beaming smile. ¡°Lu Chen, your results are out!¡± ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± I snatched the piece of paper, only to discover that it was all in English. I didn¡¯t know what it said. Thirteen breathed in. ¡°There¡¯s a rare kind of poison in your blood. You can also call it a virus. The formula¡¯s already been analyzed. This kind of virus had never been seen before but its effects are super crazy. It¡¯s able to continuously revive dead cells!¡± ¡°What?!¡± I was shocked. Du Thirteen nodded. ¡°It was the reason behind the livor mortis on your body. This kind of virus is too fierce. Its propagation speed is faster than the life cycle of your cells. It had gone overboard and sped up your body¡¯s metabolism. But don¡¯t worry, my dad made his friends analyze this virus¡¯s characteristics as fast as they could. I already found a way to inhibit its growth.¡± ¡°What way?¡± I asked quietly. ¡°X-ray!¡± Du Thirteen said with full confidence. ¡°This kind of ray might be harmful to the human body but it could restore you back to normal!¡± I nodded and then came to a realization. No wonder sunlight was able to cure me. It was because the sun had X and gamma rays! Du Thirteen took a step forward and patted my shoulder, smiling. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, bro. There¡¯s nothing wrong with your body. In fact, Heavenblessed¡¯s game helmet has a little X-ray radiation. As long as you¡¯re in the game, your body won¡¯t worsen. Not just that, this kind of virus can even strengthen your body!¡± ¡°Strengthen?¡± A bit stunned, I smiled. ¡°Is this the so-called profiting from a disaster? Would I be able to fly around like Superman?¡± ¡°I doubt it.¡± Du Thirteen laughed. ¡°How can that kind of thing happen here on Earth? The strengthening that I¡¯m talking about is just enhancing your muscles and bones. If you were able to beat a normal person before, you can probably beat one and a half people at your current level. Though a random Shaolin monk can still destroy seven or eight of you¡­¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I was speechless, but the dark clouds in my mind had already dispersed. According to Thirteen¡¯s explanation, this virus wouldn¡¯t take my life, and that was enough. ¡°Oh right.¡± Thirteen swallowed. ¡°The scientists there had a discussion about the origin of that virus. From the place of the accident and the age of the virus, they theorized that it was probably produced by dead bodies. The place you were buried just so happened to be an ancient burial complex!¡± ¡°Burial complex?¡± I froze. ¡°What burial complex?¡± ¡°Late Han Dynasty. It was a graveyard for Wu State¡¯s clan descendants, but was razed later on. It was said that when Guan Yu was killed, his head was sent to Wei State but his body was buried there.¡± ¡°No way, why is this sounding more and more mystical?¡± Du Thirteen snickered. ¡°All things in the world are connected by karma. How can you not believe in feng shui and the supernatural described in our metaphysics? You¡¯d better be careful. What if Martial God Guan Yu¡¯s soul enters your body one day and runs around challenging the criminal underworld swinging a butcher knife? Now that¡¯ll be interesting, haha¡­¡± I was speechless as I watched Thirteen clap his hands while laughing. This dumbass was seriously heartless. He could actually joke around at a time like this? At this time, a horn blasted. Standing near the window, Du Thirteen and I could see a black sports car stop downstairs. Ka! The door opened and an absolute beauty got out of the car. Du Thirteen and I were both instantly stunned. I was stunned because this beauty was He Yi, but Du Thirteen was stunned because the girl was seriously hot. He noisily rushed at He Yi and exclaimed while drooling, ¡°Fuck! I saw this super beauty this morning. Tsk tsk, she¡¯s this beautiful and she drives a Lamborghini. I¡­ I have to marry her¡­¡± ¡°Scram!¡± I slapped him back onto the sofa and said solemnly, ¡°Thirteen, do you know who she is?¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°He Yi, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild¡¯s leader, my boss. I didn¡¯t know that she¡¯d find this place!¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Du Thirteen clapped while laughing again. ¡°You little shit, you¡¯ve got good eyes. This He Yi¡¯s beautiful and rich. All the girlfriends I¡¯ve had in the past can¡¯t even add up to her. Tsk tsk, you¡¯re seriously too lucky¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re still joking around?¡± I glared at him. ¡°She can¡¯t know that I¡¯m here¡­¡± ¡°Why?¡± Du Thirteen said with puzzlement. I pointed at myself. ¡°Look at me. My body¡¯s all weird right now. If she knew the truth, she¡¯d blame herself for her entire life.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Thirteen whispered. ¡°Then what do we do?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to hide.¡± ¡°Then what should I say? I gritted my teeth as I made my resolve. ¡°Just say that I¡¯m dead.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Not long after, He Yi knocked and her clear, sweet voice came from the door. ¡°Excuse me, is anyone there?¡± Du Thirteen ran to open the door. He Yi froze when she saw him. ¡°Who... are you? Doesn¡¯t Lu Chen live here?¡± ¡°Lu Chen?¡± Du Thirteen furrowed his brow. ¡°I¡¯m Lu Chen¡¯s friend, why are you looking for him? He Yi looked a bit uneasy and her elegant brows slightly wrinkled. Her tone immediately switched to a commanding one. ¡°Get out of my way!¡± That kind of bearing was probably something that came with being the GGS Asia Vice President. Dumbass Du Thirteen stared blankly and as expected, he obediently moved aside. He Yi entered my apartment. I was hiding in the supply closet, watching what was going on through a slit in the door. Du Thirteen followed her and looked at the book. ¡°Stop searching, Lu Chen¡¯s gone.¡± He Yi¡¯s delicate shoulders suddenly trembled. She turned to Du Thirteen, her beautiful eyes filled with doubt. ¡°Gone? What do you mean by ¡®gone¡¯?¡± Du Thirteen gritted his teeth. ¡°Someone sent me a message three days ago saying that Lu Chen had an accident when he went to meet a friend from a game. He died in the graves of Nanjiao and he¡¯s already been cremated. Who the hell are you? And why are you looking for him?¡± ¡°H-how?¡± He Yi¡¯s beautiful eyes were filled with shock. Her entire body suddenly collapsed, bumping into the table behind her. ¡°Wuu, wuu.¡± Glistening tears slid down her face as she cried. She slowly kneeled, not caring about her snowy legs making contact with dust on the floor. Pa! ¡°Encouragement¡± fell from the table and just happened to land on top of her. Her teary eyes hazily looked at the book she had sent me as a present, her sobs exploding into an uncontrollable wail. Du Thirteen was dumbstruck. He looked extremely uncomfortable as he stood next to her, at odds about whether or not he should help her up. He Yi¡¯s eyes were red and her usually bright face was filled with grief and distress. She cried and cried, hugging ¡°Encouragement¡±, as if the book was the thing she loved the most in her life. Chapter 17: I’m Very Hur Hugging the book ¡°Encouragement¡±, He Yi collapsed to the floor and cried like a baby. Her white shirt was drenched in tears, and her coffee-colored uniform and short skirt hugged her shapely body tightly. The curves peeking out of her miniskirt were one of the major reasons Du Thirteen¡¯s mind wasn¡¯t with him. ¡°Ahem¡­¡± A long time later, Du Thirteen let out a cough and said, ¡°As you can see, lady, Lu Chen is no longer with us. So¡­¡± ¡°I¡­ I¡­¡± He Yi shot Du Thirteen a look. Her eyes were puffy and teary. ¡°Go somewhere else. Leave me alone!¡± ¡°But!¡± Du Thirteen spread his arms helplessly before saying, ¡°But you are disturbing my daily life. Please control yourself.¡± He Yi¡¯s tone grew a little angrier. ¡°Leave me alone!¡± This time Du Thirteen didn¡¯t dare say anything. He Yi¡¯s forceful attitude wasn¡¯t something he could deal with. A very long time later, He Yi finally got back to her feet while still holding the book. She looked around the room yearningly one last time before leaving. Relieved that it was finally over, Du Thirteen knocked on the door and said, ¡°You can come out now, Lu Chen. She¡¯s gone.¡± My expression was ugly when I left the storage room. Du Thirteen knew what I was thinking, so he patted me on the shoulder. ¡°Chin up, this sorrow is only going to last for a moment. Once your body is completely healed, you can return to her and give her a pleasant surprise. Isn¡¯t that right?¡± I nodded. I was surprised that Du Thirteen could say something like that, he normally had no clue how to console others. ¡°Speaking of which, He Yi is incredibly beautiful¡­¡± Du Thirteen praised from the bottom of his heart. I couldn¡¯t help but ask with a laugh. ¡°Oh? How beautiful is she exactly?¡± Du Thirteen hummed to himself for a moment before replying, ¡°She looks like a million dollars!¡± ¡°Not bad, you know how to use idioms now.¡± ¡°Fuck you!¡± ¡°Come on, let¡¯s head downstairs and eat some Suan Cai Yu. My treat. I¡¯ve been starving the whole day.¡± Du Thirteen walked to the window and looked outside. Suddenly, he withdrew his head and exclaimed in surprise, ¡°She¡­ she hasn¡¯t left yet¡­¡± I moved to the edge of my bed and peeked out. As he said, He Yi was still sitting inside her car and lying on top of the steering wheel. Her shoulders were trembling slightly. I couldn¡¯t describe how painful it was for me to see her like this. I felt the impulse to run down the stairs and tell her that although I had been killed, I was still alive. I held back the irrational impulse with all my might. Du Thirteen went downstairs himself to buy some food for the both of us. When the clock reached 11 pm, a woman dressed in a black skirt uniform showed up and consoled He Yi for a moment. Then, she took the driver¡¯s seat from He Yi and drove the Lamborghini away. I recognized the woman. She was Murong Mingyue, one of the four elders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. ¡°So this is how sister Mingyue looks like¡­¡± I muttered to myself. Beside me, Du Thirteen wiped his saliva away before saying, ¡°Wow, her bust is amazing¡­¡± I nodded. Murong Mingyue¡¯s class was Priest, and her eternal motto was: ¡°No one¡¯s starving while this busty lady¡¯s around!¡± I shot him a look before saying, ¡°Keep your imagination to yourself. Neither Murong Mingyue nor He Yi are available to you, get it?¡± ¡°But why?¡± Du Thirteen asked in confusion. ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± I replied without hesitation. ¡°Tch, never mind then. Let¡¯s eat!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± After the two of us had filled up our bellies completely, Du Thirteen asked, ¡°What should we do now?¡± ¡°We log in and level up to 30 to heal our hearts. Don¡¯t forget I¡¯m very hurt right now,¡± I said with an enigmatic smile. Du Thirteen nodded. ¡°Mn, you¡¯re right. When the time is right, let¡¯s create a super guild and dominate the world, wahahahaha! Alright, time to level up to 30!¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you focus on getting to 15 first¡­¡± ¡°...¡± According to Heavenblessed¡¯s official materials, Level 30 was a dividing line where players could officially promote their class to higher rank. It was also known as the second class promotion. Ability to capture and use pets was only available to players at Level 30 and above, which was why countless players were leveling as if their lives depended on it. They all wanted to become the first person to undergo their second class promotion, reap the rewards, and gain powerful pets to aid them in battle as soon as possible. ¡°Hmm, I should get to 30 as soon as possible. The skills I¡¯ll get after my second class promotion will only be stronger!¡± I thought to myself before going online. Swoosh! Once again, I appeared inside the dim, dark confines of my grave. It was pitch-black everywhere except the single ray of light peeking from my tombstone. This hiding spot was just wonderful. Most players in Floating Ice City had to use tents when they logged off, but as a result, they stood out like a sore thumb in a training ground. In my case however, no one would ever suspect that my avatar was hidden in a grave. Rustle rustle¡­ I pushed aside the rotten soil that formed the ¡°entrance¡± to my resting spot and poked my head above the ground. By now, I had absorbed enough undead sparks to reach the level of a Bone Creature, and I had regrown a tiny amount of flesh. I was no longer just a skeleton. Unfortunately, it also made me look even more terrifying, and even I was shocked by my own appearance when I changed the camera angle. Pat pat! I patted away the dust and soil on my knees and tried to leave. Suddenly, a burning wind attacked me from the side! It was Flame Thrust again! Without thinking, I swung my sword and blocked the attack. At the same time, I slammed into my attacker and stabbed him twice through his chest armor with incredible agility. A green halo surrounded my sword as I shouted, ¡°Admit defeat already!¡± Crack! The Forest Green Blade penetrated Gui Guzi¡¯s chest without any resistance. Blood poured out of his wound as a huge damage number popped out¡ª424! It was a critical hit! Gui Guzi¡¯s attempt to defeat me came to an abrupt end just like that. He was unlucky. He would have had a small chance to turn this around if my counterattack hadn¡¯t resulted in a critical hit. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Gui Guzi groaned before collapsing to the ground, his level falling from 20 to 19 again. Does he grind only to lose levels to me? I hugged my sword and waited for him to revive. A few seconds later, Gui Guzi¡¯s soul reentered his body, and he performed a cool-looking kip up to get back to his feet. He pointed his spear at me and asked, ¡°You¡­ are you really not Candlelight Shadow? Why is your technique so similar to his?!¡± I smiled playfully at him. ¡°Is that so? I told you I¡¯m not Candlelight Shadow. Anyway, you should upgrade your equipment before you challenge me again. At least make me feel like going all out.¡± ¡°You!¡± Gui Guzi glared at me. ¡°Who on earth are you? There¡¯s no way I wouldn¡¯t recognize someone with your level of fluidity and rhythm. If you¡¯re not the Martial God then¡­ are you A Speck of Dust? Dark Shadow Drifter? Or¡­ Falling Dust?¡± ¡°No, you can¡¯t be Falling Dust¡­¡± Gui Guzi shook his head. ¡°Falling Dust was crippled two years ago, so it can¡¯t be him. Sigh, what a shame!¡± I smiled. Gui Guzi was a pro himself, and he knew that unlike in real life, a professional player wasn¡¯t someone who mastered the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms or anything of the sort. A pro player was just a normal person like everyone else. What really set them apart from the average person was their absolute mastery over their own rhythm and movement in a game. Long story short, they were well-practiced. I walked toward Frost Mound before stopping to look at Gui Guzi. I asked, ¡°Bro, there¡¯s something I want to know. You¡¯ve lost to me 3 times already. Do you admit defeat?¡± ¡°Of¡­¡± Gui Guzi stared at me coldly and unyieldingly. ¡°Of course not!¡± I nodded. ¡°Very good. You know, why don¡¯t you look at this from another perspective? We can be friends. At the very least, I wouldn¡¯t recommend you coming at my life every time we meet. Also, I¡¯m planning to build a guild in the near future. Don¡¯t you think it would be better if we join hands and sweep Floating Ice City together?¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Gui Guzi trembled before blurting out, ¡°You¡­ you¡¯re willing to team up with me?¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± Gui Guzi suddenly sneered at me disdainfully. ¡°A true pro would never rely on others!¡± ¡°But you¡¯re not a pro.¡± Gui Guzi mulled over my offer for a moment before replying, ¡°For now, I have no such plans. Let¡¯s speak about it again in the future. However, I¡¯m not done challenging you yet. Just you wait, I¡¯ll work hard to catch up to you.¡± ¡°Very good!¡± I turned around while various thoughts danced in my head. Although Gui Guzi¡¯s current skill was perfectly average, he was both determined and talented. All true pros started like this. If I could make Gui Guzi submit to me, he would definitely become a pillar of my future guild. As for my goal of building a guild, I suddenly recalled a memory from the past. The Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and He Yi¡¯s gorgeous face appeared in my mind¡ª A young man and a young woman stood beneath a cyan tree. He was a Warrior, she, an Archer. He Yi looked at me and asked, ¡°Lu Chen, what do you desire?¡± I answered, ¡°Money and women.¡± Clearly dissatisfied, He Yi threw a forceful punch at me, so I corrected my answer to ¡°career and love¡±. This time she gave me an approving smile. Chapter 18: Spiky Skeleton Frost Mound was as cold and eerie as ever. Bronze poles protruded from the ground, devil images engraved onto their surface. The heads of humans, beastmen, succubi and so on were impaled at their ends. Succubi were naturally seductive, and most of them were females. It was also why most succubi in the game were female players. I entered Frost Mound and stopped in front of Sentinel Leader Fark. The moment I spoke to him, the careless skeletal warrior swung his arms and laughed. ¡°Little skeleton, your growth is truly impressive. Seeing your current strength, I¡¯ve decided to entrust you with a very difficult quest!¡± I dipped my head a bit and replied, ¡°Give it to me!¡± ¡°For the past few days, an Undead Lord had been lingering about the Frost Mound Necropolis. Before he died, this Undead Lord was a human noble and a knight. As he has invaded our territory, I would like you to kill him, little skeleton. Of course, this Undead Lord is incredibly powerful, so the strongest undead swordmaster of our camp, Suren, will be accompanying you. However, you¡¯ll need to bring him 40 Spiky Skeleton Fingers first. Otherwise, he won¡¯t agree to help you kill the Undead Lord, Cyan Rain!¡± Ding~! System Notice: You have accepted the quest [Undead Lord Cyan Rain]! (Quest Rank: E) Description: Head to the inner part of Frost Mound Necropolis and kill 200 Spiky Skeletons. Collect 40 Spiky Skeleton Fingers and give them to the Undead Swordmaster Suren. I was very excited. An E rank quest was very prestigious, quite possibly the highest-ranked quest a player could accept at this stage of the game. Heh, it looks like I¡¯m gonna be rich! I entered Frost Mound Camp, bought a couple of pots from an NPC and repaired my equipment. After everything was prepared, I took off to perform my quest! As I plodded along a small forest path, I could see Gui Guzi grinding away at the distance. He was leveling very, very efficiently, killing a skeleton every two or three hits before using some sort of skill to obtain additional experience. I didn¡¯t disturb him. I continued to walk deeper into the graveyard for almost ten minutes until the ground took on a darker shade, and the stench of rot grew thicker. A bunch of tombstones appeared ahead of me. There were ghastly figures all over the place, and I focused my attention on a skeletal soldier that I had never seen before. Sharp spikes were jutting from all over its body, and they were tinged with a chilling green glow. I wonder what¡¯s so exceptional about this Level 21 skeleton? Eh, more action, less thinking. Here I go! I rushed toward the enemy and struck a Spiky Skeleton hard on the shoulder. Crack! The Forest Green Blade sank right into its body. 170! Beep! Combat Log: You used ¡°Slayer Slash¡±, dealing 170 damage to Spiky Skeleton. Spiky Skeleton used ¡°Damage Reflect¡±, dealing 8 damage! Fuck! Damage Reflect? Luckily, 5% was still within my limits. If it was as high as say, 20%, then I could log off and go to bed now. Now that my opponents were higher level, the Forest Green Blade¡¯s attack power was starting to lag behind. It took me almost half a minute to kill a Spiky Skeleton, and it was slower than I would have liked. That being said, the experience from a Level 21 mob was nothing to scoff at. I could see my experience bar bumping up visibly after the kill. At this rate, I would probably reach Level 20 after this quest was complete. I would be one step closer to my goal of reaching Level 30! After killing another 3 Spiky Skeletons, I finally got my first Spiky Skeleton Finger. There was nothing special about it; just a bone that happened to be a quest item. I roamed the forest and continued to search for isolated enemies to kill. The Spiky Skeletons¡¯ attack power was very high, and I took considerable damage even with 37 Defense. Generally, I had to drink 1 health potion for every 3 kills, which meant that I was burning through my money at an astonishing rate. Luckily, I had plenty of silver to spare, and the item drops turned out to be better than I had imagined! Pop! A magic stone appeared after a Spiky Skeleton died a glorious death by my hands, causing my eyes to widen. It was because the magic stone was a Big Magic Stone! I didn¡¯t think that it was possible for a common mob¡ªhigh-level it might be¡ªto drop a Big Magic Stone! The previous 77 Quality Big Magic Stone I had gotten sold for an exorbitant price of 15 silver, and it had a quality of 55. If my calculations were correct, this thing could fetch me at least 10 silver! Haha, I¡¯m rich! I¡¯m rich! I shoved the Big Magic Stone into my bag and went back to killing. Ten minutes later, my good luck loomed again and gave me a 67 Quality Big Magic Stone! This one was even more pricier than the previous one! I kept grinding for another two hours, but I never got another Big Magic Stone after that. I did get 4 Small Magic Stones, though they could no longer be considered valuable at my level. Still, every copper counted, and there was no reason not to keep them. Raw money was a hot commodity in the early stages of the game, and there was still no way to exchange real money for in-game currency. The only way would be to perform an offline trade. But everyone was a noob right now, so how many people could have had luck and skill to accumulate almost 1 gold¡¯s worth of wealth like me? ¡­... It was late into the night, and I was still killing mobs while checking the latest ranking list. Floating Ice City was one of the nine tier 2 cities of the China server, and the gaming elites of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai were all gathered in this place. If I truly wished to establish myself in Floating Ice City, I had to familiarize myself with the players on the list! Beep! I turned a page, and a column of IDs entered my view. These were the Top 10 players of Floating Ice City¡ª NameLevelClass Wind Fantasy 25 Light Wanderer Dominating Mage God 23 Mage Dominating Knight God 23 Magic Knight Dominating Archer God 23 Archer Dominating Warrior God 23 Warrior Hot Sun 22 Warrior Gui Guzi 22 Undead Knight Roaming Dragon 21 Magic Knight Clear Perfume 21 Archer Cloud Sky River 21 Mage For a moment, I was completely speechless. Who would¡¯ve thought that the waters in Floating Ice City were this deep? Also, I was really surprised to find four people from the Domination Clan in the top rankings. Just who were they? So far, it looked like they had the highest chance of reigning over Floating Ice City... But of course, true pros didn¡¯t show themselves until they were ready. Gui Guzi himself was looking to be in high spirits. Despite sleeping for only three hours a day and being killed by me many times already, this crazy leveler was still clinging to the top rankings. He truly deserved the title of crazy leveler. Of course, the ID that caught my attention the most was Wind Fantasy. Not only was Light Wanderer no ordinary Wanderer class, Wind Fantasy¡¯s level was higher than everyone else¡¯s. He was cr¨¨me de la cr¨¨me, and it was revealed in the official forums that Wind Fantasy was among the Top 3 even when compared to all the other players in the nine cities! This person deserved my full attention. He could very well be the biggest obstacle in the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild¡¯s way to Floating Ice City¡¯s domination! I also noticed that the strongest of us four elders, Xu Yang, was at the 6th place of the Heavenly Ranking. It looked like he was grinding like crazy as well! Personally, my impression of the three elders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls wasn¡¯t very good. Half a year ago, on He Yi¡¯s birthday, they had come to me about making a collaborative effort to send a birthday greeting to He Yi. We were supposed to send a syllable each¡ª¡±ha¡±, ¡°ppy¡±, ¡°birth¡± and ¡°day¡±¡ªto her phone and complete the message ¡°Happy Birthday¡±. However, they pulled one over me and didn¡¯t send their message as promised. I was the only one who did my part and sent my message, ¡°birth¡±. You could imagine how He Yi looked at me the next day. I fulfilled the first requirement of the quest pretty quickly, but the drop rate of the quest item was surprisingly low. Despite grinding for almost 8 hours straight¡ªit was morning already¡ªI was still 3 Spiky Skeleton Fingers short. By now, I had killed almost all the Spiky Skeletons there were in the graveyard, and standing at the center of the sea of wilted bones and holding a sword was none other than the Undead Lord I was tasked to kill, Cyan Rain! I dared not attack it yet. I was now Level 20, and I had squeezed my way into the Top 100 again. I grinded for another half an hour and got 2 Spiky Skeleton Fingers in the process. Just one more, and I could drag my trainer over to help! I checked the time and noted that it was 10:30 am. Surprisingly, I didn¡¯t feel the even the slightest hint of fatigue. In that case, let¡¯s continue! ¡­... At the bustling business district of Shanghai, inside a conference room on the top floor of an office building. Eight elites were sitting on two sides of a table and talking about business. The young woman at the farthest edge of the table wore a coffee-colored uniform and a badge with the name ¡°He Yi¡± on it. ¡°Eve? It¡¯s your turn now. What is your opinion on this?¡± a middle-aged man urged. However, He Yi¡¯s attention was completely absorbed by the sky outside the window. Her beautiful eyes were tinged with sorrow. ¡°Eve, what do you think about the decline in performance this month?¡± ¡°Eve?¡± Chapter 19: Young Girl Xinran Pop... Alongside soft thuds, the Spiky Skeletons around me slowly collapsed, leaving their incredibly odorous fingers that I needed to complete my quest. I picked up the bones, tossing them into my bag. I counted them and just happened to have exactly 40! I took a glance at my level, I noticed that I was already Level 20 with 45% experience. This grinding efficiency was pretty nice since I¡¯d been online for 12 hours straight. ¡°Phew! Just the boss left...¡± I looked at the Undead Lord Cyan Rain who was in the distance. It¡¯s about time to go back to bring in reinforcements to kill this boss! But before I moved out, I suddenly felt faint all of a sudden and nearly tumbled. At the same time, the sound of a bell rang past my ears¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Your Satiety has fallen to 20. Please eat or there will be unbearable consequences! Red light appeared on my interface, like when Ultraman¡¯s power was low. I realized that I had forgotten one crucial thing¡ªfood! Floating Ice City¡¯s small merchants all sold food like bread, meat, and so on to replenish vigor, but Frost Mound Camp didn¡¯t. The way Night Creatures ate was very simple, they consumed corpses! Right, the undead race possesses an innate skill¡ªCorpse Devouring! Corpse Devouring would not only replenish vigor by raising Satiety, it could also quickly recover HP. This was the Night Creatures¡¯ natural advantage. My stats were reduced by 50%. My attack, defense, and HP had all already fallen. Rotting human corpses that looked like big steamed buns floated inside a blood pool not too far from me. ¡°Bleh¡­¡± I almost threw up and frowned. Fuck! I¡¯ll never use Corpse Devouring even if you beat me to death! Dragging my weak body with me, I walked out of the necropolis. There was a little human village not too far away. A few low-level NPCs were outside the village planting crops. As long as I killed and consumed any one of these NPCs, I wouldn¡¯t go hungry for twenty-four hours. ¡°No!¡± I gritted my teeth and continued onward. Chomping sounds echoed nearby. I saw a single black-armored Night Creature player chewing on a human corpse. It was none other than that damned Gui Guzi! ¡°How does it taste?¡± I asked as I moved closer. Gui Guzi smiled sinisterly, his mouth dripping with blood. ¡°Not bad, hasn¡¯t been dead for more than twenty-four hours. Still pretty fresh and tender. Wanna eat together?¡± ¡°Scram, I¡¯m not eating!¡± I left with knitted brows. Gui Guzi laughed with relish. ¡°Hmph, you won¡¯t ever become a top expert. You¡¯re too merciful, hahaha!¡± I turned around in anger and glared at Gui Guzi. I infused each of my words with killing intent. ¡°I don¡¯t have some kind of bullshit mercy in my heart but a bottomline. My bottomline!¡± Gui Guzi snickered and then lowered his head to continue ¡°feasting¡±. Wobbling as I walked, I used all my strength to move toward Frost Mound. The deadly Satiety meter suddenly declined even faster. In less than ten minutes, I only had 5 points of Satiety and didn¡¯t even have the energy to walk! Plop! I tumbled onto the grass. It was pouring, and angry streaks of lightning illumed the roiling black clouds in the sky, like a divine oracle rendering judgement on the sinful Night Creatures. I panted heavily, and looked at the grass beneath me in humiliation. I braced myself and took a fierce bite out of the tender grass on the floor! It was intolerable. The bitter and astringent taste began to spread in my mouth¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You have consumed Grass (Quality 1), recovered 0.1 points of Satiety! Fuck! Only 0.1, you¡¯ve gotta be kidding me! My inner cow was about to come out. My mind was suddenly a sheet of white as I hovered between the brink of consciousness. Right at this moment, I heard a voice. It was like a moonbeam shining through the endless darkness¡ª ¡°Big brother, what¡¯s wrong?¡± I slowly raised my head. I saw a round-faced little girl with big sapphire eyes clad in a long purple skirt staring at me from under a tree. She had a basket of mushrooms in her hands. Oh, it¡¯s a loli-gathering mushroom. Shit, no, it¡¯s a mushroom-gathering loli. ¡°Uh¡­¡± I tried to answer, but couldn¡¯t voice any words. My Satiety was too low, but whatever. Starving to death and dropping a level was no big deal. I¡¯d just use a few hours to grind it back. ¡°You¡­¡± The little loli looked at me and suddenly revealed an angelic smile. ¡°Big brother, are you hungry?¡± My head bobbed up and down. The little loli hastily lifted her long skirt, revealing a pair of smooth, wet thighs. When my eyes were about to turn green, she took out a piece of bread and shoved it before me. She said with a smile, ¡°Here, this is my mother¡¯s baking, Oat Bread. It tastes really good, you can have it!¡± I was ashamed of my previous thoughts and quickly snatched the bread! Oat Bread (Quality 100): Rank 1 Consumable. Immediately restores 75 points of Satiety. This is some good stuff! I hurriedly stuffed the bread in my mouth. Even though it was moist, it still carried the scent of a young girl. They said that there was a kind of tea leaves that was immediately placed on a young girl¡¯s chest to dry after it was harvested. Widely spread in Anhui, the tea leaves were called... XXX (Fuck! I forgot their name). But this Oat Bread was pretty much the same, its flavor immensely delightful. A large part of my vigor was instantly restored. This bread was a low-level commodity, but since my level wasn¡¯t all that high either, it replenished a substantial amount of my vigor! Full of energy, I turned around and smiled at the little loli. ¡°What¡¯s your name, little girl?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Xinran!¡± she said in a sweet voice. To be honest, I didn¡¯t need to ask because I could already see the words floating above her head: Young Girl Xinran LV-15. This had to be a pure and harmless little girl if she helped a Night Creature like me, who would normally be put to death by humans. ¡°Xinran, why are you here? Night Creatures often roam this place. What if something bad happened?¡± Xinran blinked. ¡°Mother can¡¯t see anymore and shamans in the village said that freshly-springed mushrooms born from the rain can cure her eyes, so I¡­¡± ¡°Oh I see. Will you come here every day from now on?¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I exposed a smile and slightly moved away from Xinran, afraid that she would be frightened by my face. ¡°Xinran, I can come here everyday for you. Can you give me a piece of bread every time we meet?¡± Xingran nodded, ¡°Okay, big brother. Do you like mother¡¯s bread?¡± ¡°Mn, mn!¡± ¡°Hehe, I got it!¡± I was a bit speechless. This silly girl, she didn¡¯t want anything in return? When I thought about that, I took out a silver coin from my bag. With a flick of my hand, the silver drew a graceful arc and landed in Xinran¡¯s basket. ¡°Take this back to buy some flour. I can¡¯t eat for free.¡± ¡°Mn, okay. Then I¡¯ll be heading back now. Mother will worry.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Like a beautiful butterfly, Xinran skipped across the grass while carrying her basket and soon disappeared from my sight. Sigh, a pure girl like her is truly rare! After my Satiety was restored, I strode into Frost Mound Camp. I arrived before Undead Swordsman Suren and selected the ¡°Learn Skill¡± option. Two Level 20 skills that I could learn immediately jumped out at me¡ª Summon Undead: Summons an undead creature no stronger than the user as a demonic servant. Earth Escape: Escape underground. Movement speed is reduced by 90%, easy to discover. Each skill cost 20 silver. Fortunately, I was a rich man with 92 silver, so I swiped up both skills. Summon Undead was naturally a strong skill. It could summon a combat assistant. Regardless of whether it would be an attacker or just a meatshield, this skill was extremely useful. As for Earth Escape, it should be a life-saving skill. Of course, if one didn¡¯t mind how slow it is, it could also be used for a sneak attack. I activated Earth Escape and my body immediately transformed into several blood-colored vines that dove into the ground. I could see everything that happened above ground but my movement speed was infuriatingly slow. If I tried going to Floating Ice City at this speed, my hair would¡¯ve already turned gray by the time I got there. Something like being able to see what¡¯s above ground while being hidden underground was extremely powerful. An image of multiple thighs immediately took form in my mind. Using Earth Escape to hide beneath Floating Ice City¡¯s gates would allow me to see the cute female elves, succubi, and humans pass by. Their fluttering short skirts and the impressive view would be a kind of cosmic pleasure! Subconsciously, my mind already classified Earth Escape as a precious trump card. At this time, my trainer, Undead Swordsman Suren, looked at my underground self with disdain. He said with a voice full of contempt, ¡°What¡¯re you doing, ya smelly brat? You dare use such a basic Earth Escape here?¡± I quickly canceled Earth Escape. Blood-colored vines shot out from the ground, condensing into a human figure. I then took out 40 Spiky Skeleton Fingers. ¡°Master, I got these from our enemies. Undead Lord Cyan Rain is inside the necropolis!¡± Suren took the skeleton fingers and snorted. ¡°Cyan Rain doesn¡¯t know the meaning of death, to dare enter my territory. I¡¯m going to show him the power of the Night Creatures¡¯ master swordsman! Little skeleton, follow me. I¡¯ll give you a lesson and teach you what the law of the jungle means!¡± I was filled with reverence. ¡°Master, over here!¡± I came to the deepest part of the necropolis again, this time with Suren. All the respawned skeletons along the way were pretty much instantly killed by Suren. Wielding a two-handed broadsword, a light wave of his sword immediately beheaded a Level 22 Iron Skeleton. Awesome! We quickly saw the edges of the graveyard Undead Lord Cyan Rain was guarding. He stood at its center, holding a longsword with a frosty expression. Chapter 20: Weeping Fire Blade To the undead, a graveyard¡¯s blood pool was an extreme extravagance, like a luxurious feast. Standing close to the edges of the pool, I waved my hand. After Summon Undead glowed, a short skinny skeleton crawled out. It shakily stood behind me in a minion-like way. Demonic Servant (Basic) Level: 5 Attack: 15~50 Defense: 20 HP: 150 Properties: Disappears when its master goes offline. The little skeleton bent at its waist and bowed at me but I clearly saw the word ¡°trash¡± across its forehead. Defense 20, Attack 50, with only 150 HP? Could it even survive? I helplessly shook my head. At this time, Undead Lord Cyan Rain had discovered his enemy. He pounced over with a heavy sword in hand, yelling, ¡°Lowly undead, go die in hell!¡± With a mad howl, Suren charged over with his sword! Clang! In the midst of the clash of metal between two strong NPC bosses, one sword was visibly shaken. Clearly, Great Swordmaster Suren held the advantage. Cyan Rain had been knocked away in a single strike! The Undead Lord roared in anger as he thrust his sword into the ground, drawing a fissure more than ten meters. Just when he was about to launch himself back, a streak of green appeared behind him! Pssh! 217! Slayer Slash heavily fell and jolted Cyan Rain. A chunk of his HP immediately dropped. This was a boss! I was not about to miss the chance to get some valuable experience and drop! ¡°Die!" Cyan Rain¡¯s sword swiveled, followed by biting wind! Crack! The sword tore through my defense. Blood splattered everywhere and a huge damage number floated above my head¡ª321! This bastard, he almost one-shot me! My little skeleton servant attacked at this time. It showed me the worth of its life as it was broken into seven or eight pieces with a swing of the boss¡¯s sword. Suren charged again, while I was chugging down potions as fast as I could. The two bosses were locked in a deadly struggle, but it was still Suren who had the upper hand, hacking Cyan Rain into a half-dead state. As for me, who had finally recovered to full health, I took the initiative once more! The tip of my sword floated with threads of bloody mist, a sign of undead energy concentrating on my weapon. Unfortunately for me, it was only effective on living creatures and wouldn¡¯t do anything to an undead lord like Cyan Rain. Crack! I struck again, slicing off almost 200 of the boss¡¯s HP. I was smarter this time and slid away to let Trainer Suren block the hit. After the boss missed, I struck again. My sword rose and fell, Slayer Slash leaving its mark on Cyan Rain¡¯s face this time. ¡°Arghhhh¡­¡± Cyan Rain let out his last throes before dying! Three Big Magic Stones with 97, 98, and 94 Quality. These numbers were considerably high, so they definitely could sell for a good sum. The Undead Lord had also dropped two pieces of equipment. A longsword brimming with bloody light and a dark cyan¨Ccolored cloak-type cape. This made me wild with joy. The great thing about cloaks was the fact that they could cover the face. As long as I willed it, I could completely hide my face from other players. Then, they wouldn¡¯t see that I was actually a skeleton. My hands trembled in excitement as I checked out the stats of the equipment. First was the blood-red longsword. When its stats appeared before my eyes, I nearly went mad! Weeping Fire Blade (Bronze-grade) Attack: 25~40 Strength: +8 Level Requirement: 25 Bronze, it is a Bronze-grade weapon! Hahaha, I¡¯ve struck gold! It had a powerful attack power of 40 and a bonus of 8 Strength. This was absolutely a killer weapon at this stage of the game. My Forest Green Blade only had 18 attack points and was simply a vegetable knife compared to the Weeping Fire Blade. Since the Forest Green Blade could already cause envy, wouldn¡¯t there be an uproar if the public found out about this Weeping Fire Blade? Ecstatic as hell, I put the Weeping Fire Blade into my bag. It required Level 25, but I had only leveled to 22 after killing the boss; I still needed 3 levels. I should be able to equip it after two days of grinding. And then, my DPS will more than double! Still feeling happy, I checked out the stats of the bloody cloak. I instantly froze yet again¡ª Cyanfire Cloak (Bronze-grade) Defense: 22 Stamina: +7 Passive: Increases user¡¯s evasion rate by 0.5% Level Requirement: 25 Damn! Another Bronze-grade item. I really struck gold this time. Its Defense was a scary 22 and it gave 7 additional Stamina. There was even a special attribute that increased evasion rate by 0.5%. Though not very high, a bonus was still a bonus. These two pieces of equipment would seriously make anyone rave with joy. I did my best to restrain my happiness, and also placed it in my bag. Then I chatted with Suren and completed the quest! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [Undead Lord Cyan Rain]. You have gained 4000 EXP and 100 Reputation! Swoosh! I glowed with golden light and leveled again. I was now Level 23, two levels away from wearing the two pieces of Bronze-grade equipment. This was also the first time I¡¯d entered Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking¡ª Name Level Class Wind Fantasy 26 Light Wanderer Dominating Mage God 24 Mage Dominating Knight God 24 Magic Knight Dominating Archer God 24 Archer Dominating Warrior God 24 Warrior Hot Sun 23 Warrior Gui Guzi 23 Undead Knight Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 23 Undead Swordsman Roaming Dragon 21 Magic Knight Clear Perfume 21 Archer Cool! The Heavenly Ranking is like a public bus to me, I can get on whenever I want! Haha! Undead Swordmaster Suren patted my shoulder, admiration in his eyes. ¡°You¡¯re strong, kid. Way stronger than all the other newborn undead trash!¡± I nodded in agreement. Gui Guzi should be sneezing right now, right? Suren then lifted his sword and started walking back to Frost Mound Camp. I followed him and checked out if the sentinels there had any quests to give. Just grinding monsters alone wasn¡¯t as fast as grinding while doing a quest. After returning to Frost Mound, I sold all my magic stones, my funds soaring again. All in all, I had a total of 1 gold and 41 silver! A fierce sense of accomplishment immediately washed over me. At the undead warehouse manager NPC, I used 5 silver to open a personal storage and placed the Weeping Fire Blade and Cyanfire Cloak inside. If I accidentally died and dropped it, I would cry myself to death. A round of equipment repairs and potion buying later, I was ready. It was time to tackle Level 25! I left the camp brimming with excitement. A figure suddenly ran out from the blood pool area clutching a spear, looking rather battered and worse for the wear as he rolled to a stop in front of me. It was Gui Guzi. He had not even a third of his health left. Did someone attack him? Stunned, I quickly drew my sword and ran over while shouting, ¡°What happened?¡± Gui Guzi gritted his teeth and got back up. He drank a health potion before yelling in response, ¡°There¡¯s a group of humans coming from Floating Ice City, claiming that they¡¯re going to purge all the Night Creature players in Frost Mound. Fuck, they¡¯re here¡­¡± Whoosh! The leaves in the forest separated and a spear user rushed out. A row of text floated above his head¡ªRoaming Dragon! Mad Dragon guild! My eyes turned chilly in a second. Nice timing. Mad Dragon¡¯s been way too arrogant as of late. How can trash like them qualify to purge Frost Mound? Even though Gui Guzi wasn¡¯t exactly a friend, Mad Dragon was my enemy so I had to help him! ¡°You!¡± Roaming Dragon roared in rage when he saw me coming before turning around to look at his subordinates. Two warriors shot out from behind him and charged over, each with a Common-grade iron sword in hand. A glossy sheen appeared on their longswords. It was the Level 10 Warrior skill, Heavy Slash! My expression sunk and I stomped, sending grass flying everywhere. My figure turned into an afterimage as I executed a perfect Z dodge no more than three meters away. The two warriors completely whiffed their attacks. They looked at each other in shock. ¡°H-how¡¯s that possible, what the hell were those mechanics?¡± Crack! The green blade heavily struck a stunned warrior¡¯s neck. The blade glowed with green light as Slayer Slash nested itself in the other warrior¡¯s head with a mountainous force. 274! 311! The warrior on the left collapsed with a scream. The one on the right wanted to flee due to his critically-low HP, but also died after I shot forward to finish him off. Gui Guzi¡¯s voice came from behind. ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, watch out for their Assassin¡¯s sneak attack! Their Assassin¡¯s really strong!¡± My heart froze. It¡¯s coming! Swoosh! A sharp gleam came over; it was the proud Level 10 skill of Assassin¡ªCold Blade! My body was like a falling feather as I fluttered half a step to the right in an instant. Cold Blade¡¯s power hit empty air with a huge ¡°MISS¡± as I dodged the blow. ¡°Fuck, how¡¯s this possible?!¡± Mad Dragon¡¯s ace assassin, Unyielding Mad Dragon, hollered in shock but he still retreated at top speed. He had to be experienced to know that an Assassin should fall back and look for another opportunity after failing a sneak attack on a Warrior. However, in the early stages of the game, a low-level Assassin couldn¡¯t turn invisible, nor did he have skills like Eviscerate or Shadow Strike. A failed surprise attack meant that his entire strategy had collapsed. Not retreating would mean death. Just as I was about to give chase, I felt an intense surge of pain in my shoulder. I was shot! Two archers appeared at the edges of the forest, Level 17 and Level 18. Even though they held Common-grade bows, I couldn¡¯t ignore their damage. Full Agility Archers had high attack speed, so another four arrows had already been loosed from their bows! 45! 41! 27! 31! Damage numbers popped into view. Although my defense was high, I couldn¡¯t take such a beating. My HP was limited and I wouldn¡¯t last more than half a minute if this were to continue. I quickly turned around and dashed toward Frost Mound Camp like an arrow in flight. The only way for me to survive was to ask NPC for help. Who knew how many people Mad Dragon had dispatched for their plan? Being able to handle three people was probably my current limit. ¡°He¡¯s running away, after him!¡± Roaming Dragon swung his spear and began to raise his team¡¯s morale. The two archers immediately chased after me with longbows in hand. Agility-based players were relatively fast and they caught up to me in no time. More than ten meters in front of me, Gui Guzi ran as he kept on looking back. He angrily yelled, ¡°What do we do? Are we going to let these bastards destroy our camp?¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± I chugged down a health potion, instantly restoring more than half of my health points. Then, I swiftly turned around and sprinted toward the frontmost archer. I easily attacked with Slayer Slash and and followed it up with a basic attack! Crack! Crack! The sound of my sword ripping apart the leather armor sounded especially soothing to my ears. The archer froze. He had no time to defend himself as consecutive damage numbers bounced above his head before he quickly tumbled to the ground. I charged toward the second archer without making a sound. After skillfully sliding a semicircle around him, I smashed a two-hit combo of basic attacks into his chest! 210! 224! Another insta-kill! ¡°Nice!¡± Although Gui Guzi was shocked, he couldn¡¯t help but burst into laughter. Before he could finish laughing, a dagger tore through the air. The assassin! Crack! 247! Cold Blade¡¯s damage was high. Gui Guzi lost much HP but he unhesitantly stabbed horizontally¡ªFlame Thrust! 274! His attack power wasn¡¯t bad, especially against a leather armor class. It only took one attack to kill that sneaky assassin, but Gui Guzi¡¯s HP was really low. Instead of following up, he ran toward the sentinel NPCs. I followed right behind him. Roaming Dragon brought along 7 Archers, 5 Mages, 3 Priests, 1 Bard, 1 Tactician, and 2 Wanderers, all members of Mad Dragon. That bastard, he could rule a corner of the world with a lineup like that. At least for now, it isn¡¯t something Gui Guzi and I can handle. ¡°Charge!¡± Chapter 21: Wind Fantasy "Quick, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, over here!" Gui Guzi, spear in hand, dashed toward the sentinel camp. If I remember correctly, there are at least seven Level 20 Dark Faction NPCs there. Maybe they can provide some protection for us. In the night, the silhouettes flew by. Half a minute later, I saw the light of the campfire. Next to the basic camp was the extraordinarily mighty Sentinel Leader Fark. He laughed. "Little skeleton, you have come?" The next moment, Leader Fark''s expression drastically changed, "Heavens, humans have found this place? Soldiers, pick up your weapons and kill the intruders!" The entire sentinel camp exploded into turmoil immediately. Seven Level 20 NPC soldiers heaved their weapons and charged into the crowd behind me and Gui Guzi. The Mad Dragon guild, including Roaming Dragon, had twenty people who charged up fearlessly. In reality, they had nothing to fear. Level 20 NPCs and Level 20 monsters were about the same in stats. They were quick to kill. "Kill! Kill those NPCs first, and then kill those two devil bastards!" Roaming Dragon raised his spear and led the charge. Sparks enveloped his weapon, Flame Thrust impaling an NPC soldier, perfectly in sync with the arrow barrage of the three archers behind him. Instant kill! "Damn... archers shooting in unison are terrifying..." Gui Guzi and I stared at each other with shocked expressions. We had never thought of this kind of situation. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Arrows shot with Level 10 skills of the enemy archers weren¡¯t impaired by the nearby woods. In less than half a minute, five NPC sentinels fell into pools of blood, and the damage to Roaming Dragon''s side was almost zero! Roaming Dragon was extremely pleased and laughed out loud. "See, our offense is very strong. Continue to kill, I¡¯ve started recording. When this ends, I will put this video onto the official forums to raise Mad Dragon''s reputation, hahaha!" ¡­¡­ I gritted my teeth and said grimly, "Gui Guzi, we can¡¯t just sit and wait. Prepare an ambush. Let¡¯s kill those seven archers first. I will defeat the four on the right, you get the three on the left!" Gui Guzi was shocked. "Damn, don¡¯t you think too highly of me?" "Stop wasting your breath. Four people is my limit. Just see what you can do about the rest. Go!" I thought for a moment, my legs bending slightly, my body as tense as an arrow string before I suddenly lunged out. Like lightning, I flashed next to the archers on the right and shouted, "Go die!" Whoosh! The green blade sliced across the closest archer''s neck, dealing 274 damage. Instant kill! I quickly turned around. Before the other archers could react, Slayer Slash flashed and instantly pressed against another archer¡¯s neck. A scream later, another one had been slain. The two archers close to me raised their longbows and cursed, "Fuck, this bastard is too arrogant. Kill him!" Before their arrows left the bowstrings, cold wind suddenly blew over. I rushed them in a hurry. Being mere twenty centimeters away, the fear in my target¡¯s eyes was somewhat pleasant. The game mechanics didn¡¯t let Archers fire their arrows with a target within three yards. "Fuck!" This archer was experienced and quickly changed weapons, swapping longbow for a dagger in his bag. It swished through the air and hit my chest plate, creating a faint mark. It only dealt 17 damage. His attack power was just too weak! Whoosh! My sword high in the air, I disappeared from the spot I was standing in. The archer slowly fell to his knees, his eyes wide, his neck seeping with fresh blood. He was running full Agility build, I was a full Strength warrior. Unless I missed my attack, there was only one outcome for him¡ªdeath! "Boys, go, it¡¯s time to guard the honor of our race. For riches and bitches, kill!" His roar resounded in the silence of the night. Sentinel Leader Fark uttered a war cry and led two remaining soldiers to meet Roaming Dragon and the others in battle. It was the honor of these NPCs that won us valuable time to launch an ambush. Ducking the arrows, I downed two health potions and finally reached the fourth archer. Clutching my green longsword, I slid across the ground, making a perfect circle around the enemy and thoroughly confusing him. With two successive blows, he too was killed instantly! Very good. The entire process took less than thirty seconds. It seems my delay is even shorter than seven tenths of a second now! ¡­¡­ On the other side, Gui Guzi had also killed two archers. He was currently chasing and thrusting his spear at the last archer who had less than 20% HP. "Motherfucker, die!" But then, the situation changed. Unyielding Mad Dragon suddenly appeared, his dagger flashing with light as it sliced toward Gui Guzi''s back. "Fuck!" I quickly darted forward, my sword viciously hitting the back of Unyielding Mad Dragon''s head as I shouted, "Unyielding Mad Dragon!" This attack was slowly descending, meaning to attract the other¡¯s attention. Unyielding Mad Dragon had good mechanics. He quickly turned around in shock and moved to the right. He dodged my attack by a hair¡¯s breadth, the big ¡°MISS¡± very vibrant. Gui Guzi, no longer in danger, continued to chase that archer. I rushed toward Unyielding Mad Dragon. This time with my full speed, my longsword drew a cold crescent in the night air. "?!" Unyielding Mad Dragon hurriedly dodged to the right. I couldn''t help but smile. I also dashed to the right, blitzing across the ground, leaving nothing but a gust of wind in my wake. In but a moment, I was once again behind him. Two stabs, including Slayer Slash! 218! 311! Unyielding Mad Dragon looked at the damage numbers. He had not expected my speed to suddenly increase so much. He closed his eyes in despair, his corpse flopping by the edge of a blood pool. ¡­¡­ The course of the battle was completely unexpected to Roaming Dragon. He had been recording all this time, and watched his people die one by one, unable to help. Sentinel Leader Fark was a Level 25 NPC. His HP may have dropped under 25%, but he was enough to give Roaming Dragon a headache. "Gui Guzi, take care of the tactician!" I shouted as I rushed toward the mages. I was struck by three lightning spells and felt numb all over. Fortunately, these mages were not equipped well, and their levels were low. Otherwise, two casts from each would be enough to kill me. After drinking a health potion, I took care of the first mage with a swing of my sword. The other two hurriedly retreated. I ignored them and chased after Roaming Dragon. Out of the blue, two screams resounded. These two mages suddenly died at the same time! "Shit, what happened?!" Gui Guzi''s eyes widened as though he did not believe what he was seeing. My gaze turned cold. "Careful, there''s an expert!" Gui Guzi and I moved closer to each other as we leapt toward Roaming Dragon. The tactician and the bard nearby screamed in succession and slumped to the ground as corpses. They had been killed instantly. It was hard to see at night, we did not even see what their ambusher looked like. "Careful, recover first. He will try to steal the kill!" I looked around coldly as Roaming Dragon fought fiercely against the NPC Sentinel Leader Fark. Crash! Wind rose, clouds rushed. The shrubbery swayed. A white robe suddenly appeared, and instantly attacked. It was a fighter completely shrouded in white. A sharp sword that flashed with silver light stabbed deep into Gui Guzi''s chest! 371! With a horizontal swipe, another damage number appeared¡ª404! Fuck, an instant kill! My eyes widened. I had not expected Gui Guzi to be instantly deleted by someone else! I looked at this expert''s name and understood¡ª Wind Fantasy! The top-ranked expert of the Floating Ice City region! ¡­¡­ Milky white robes with dense silver light. I could not even see his face clearly. "Hmph!" I held my sword and attacked. So what if he was the highest-leveled player? Wind Fantasy rapidly retreated and came beside the NPC leader in a turn of the body. The sharp sword slashed, and immediately chipped away a large portion of Fark''s HP. Such a dominant attack was really astounding. No wonder he had reached the highest level. I sped up and maneuvered to avoid the obstruction of the NPC. In the next moment, I swung my sword horizontally! Whoosh! Wind Fantasy reacted swiftly and ducked to dodge with a shocked gasp. At the same time, his blade drew an arc, headed for my waist! "Such beautiful mechanics!" I couldn''t help but inwardly marvel. This person''s mechanics should be among the best in Floating Ice City. Even though I only had around half a second of delay, I may not be a match for him. Pfft pfft! Two sounds. He and I both were unable to dodge. 274! 265! Our attack power was about the same, evenly matched. But at this time, Roaming Dragon appeared with a malicious expression. His spear came like a poisonous snake. Flame Thrust! I felt a pain at the back of my waist and knew I was hit, but there was no time. Wind Fantasy''s sword flashed like lightning. I felt an enormous pain in my chest and my last bit of HP disappeared. Snap! I turned into a corpse and fell down. My soul was released, and everything became ashen-white. At the moment of my death, something strange occurred. Wind Fantasy did not appear to be grateful to Roaming Dragon. He quickly killed the leader of Mad Dragon. Then, he turned and killed Sentinel Leader Fark with a few blows. He cut off Fark''s skull as though he was doing a quest. After two minutes, my soul appeared in the graveyard, very close to my corpse. Floating nearby, Gui Guzi¡¯s soul was also circling his corpse. He did not dare to revive, because Wind Fantasy in white robes was leaning lazily on a tree nearby and did not show intentions of leaving. Damn, he was going to camp our corpses by himself? "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, what to do?" Gui Guzi sent a message. I gritted my teeth and responded, "Revive together, kill him!" "Good!" Looking at the time, I gazed at Gui Guzi and sent a message. "Watch my hand, when I count from three, we will revive together. Remember, you revive with only 50% HP, so drink a health potion before engaging!" Chapter 22: Spawn Camping ¡°3!¡± I held up three fingers. Strictly speaking, three finger bones with flesh and blood around them. Gui Guzi stared at the great enemy ahead. Once revived, the corpse would immediately stand up. Wind Fantasy was standing nonchalantly ten meters away as though he was waiting for us to come back to life. He did not seem to care about two of us Night Creatures teaming up. ¡°2!¡± I kept calm and prepared to press the revive button. ¡°1!¡± ¡°Revive!¡± Gui Guzi was a kind person to revive with me. The two of us downed a health potion almost in unison and charged from different directions toward Wind Fantasy! "Ha...?" Wind Fantasy seemed to laugh. Suddenly, he charged in a straight line, his white robes flapping in the air, his sword shifting with intimidating light. He first struck at Gui Guzi! "Hmph, fighting me? Come¡ªhaah!" Gui Guzi was a proud person and did not retreat from the attack. Wind Fantasy was daring, using a feint of the sword to make Gui Guzi attack. Then he turned to the side, sliding along the other''s spear¡¯s edge, his sharp sword swiping past Gui Guzi¡¯s neck in an instant. His moves were effortless and flowed like moves of a master. Crack! The sword flashing with silver light cut across Gui Guzi''s neck. A large damage number arose¡ª558! A fatal blow! Bam! Gui Guzi knelt on the ground with a dazed expression. He died again! At the same time, before Wind Fantasy could turn around, my killing intent¨Cfilled Slayer Slash came crashing down. I was like a cheetah, pouncing at my prey. Wind Fantasy was overwhelmed and could only be hit. Slayer Slash hit him square on the shoulder. Puchi! Blood flew, and stained the white battle robes red. Before he could recover, I followed up. My longsword slashed out, its edge burrowing deep into Wind Fantasy¡¯s chest, like a venomous snake! 327! 221! Two successive attacks that used my fluid movements and attack speed to their fullest. Wind Fantasy''s HP bar was emptied. He slowly fell down and lost a level. ¡­¡­ "Hmph, motherfucker... such a painful death for me!" Gui Guzi revived again. He walked forward and kicked Wind Fantasy''s corpse hard. He said, still wishing to continue, "Sand, let''s stay by his corpse. This person ranks first in Floating Ice City, and is still first after dropping a level. Let''s camp him for a day and night, and see if he can still remain number one!" I laughed, and patted his shoulder. "You stay, I¡¯m going to level up. Also, even if you stay by his corpse, I can¡¯t guarantee that you¡¯ll able to kill him ..." I was not being modest. Just now, working together with Gui Guzi, we barely managed to kill this person. If this was a solo battle, I feared my chance of victory was less than 50%! Looking at Sentinel Leader Fark''s corpse, Gui Guzi said, "This non-boss NPC will only be revived after twenty-four hours. We definitely won¡¯t receive any quests today." "Really?" I smiled slightly and did not say anything. I turned around and returned to Frost Mound. I replenished my potions, repaired my equipment, and trodded along the path to the forest In any case, I wanted to get to Level 25 and then see. If I equipped the Weeping Fire Blade and the Cyanfire Cloak, I believed that I would be able to directly match Wind Fantasy. I found a leveling ground on the perimeter of the graveyard. Level 25 Spiky Skeletons. Their attack power wasn¡¯t high, but they gave good experience. With no quests to take, I could use this place to grind a bit. Cluck cluck... A neutral creature appeared ahead of me¡ªWild Chicken. A Level 20 Wild Chicken with low attack power and low HP. I killed it in two blows. Its corpse fell to the ground. I walked forward and used Death Plunder! Ding! System Notice: Congratulations, you received an Egg (Quality 4)! There was nothing else. I ate the raw egg and recovered 4 Satiety. This was much less than Xinran''s Oat Bread. I raised a hand, Summon Undead! Ssss... The Wild Chicken on the ground struggled upright as a grand Wild Chicken skeleton. It became a Level 10 demonic servant and its stats had decreased greatly. This Summon Undead skill was really weak. I continued to level up. After killing skeletons for more than four hours, I finally reached Level 24. At this moment, Du Thirteen sent over a message. "Lu Chen, I''m Level 17. Pretty fast, aren¡¯t I? We''ve been grinding for more than ten hours. Time to log off, eat, and rest!" "Alright, I will log off immediately!" I sprinted back to Frost Mound. The corpses of the Mad Dragon players had been revived and had left long ago. Wind Fantasy was also gone, and at Level 27, he continued to lead the pack. Entering the graveyard, I found Gui Guzi in his grave. He smiled darkly at me. "Off work and returning home?" My heart suddenly jumped and I said with a laugh, "Yes! Are you also going home?" "Yes, good night, sweet dreams!" When I went offline, I found it was three in the afternoon of the following day. However, I still felt refreshed. Seems like the virus afflicting me turned me into Ultraman. My body was all energetic. Of course, after suddenly standing up I still felt a wave of dizziness wash over me, confirming my body was still human. After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I went to the restaurant downstairs with Du Thirteen. We ordered a bottle of Erguotou. This was a Hunan restaurant, and the food was fresh and delicious. The boss lady was a young woman in her thirties with a slender waist and a plump behind, extremely seductive when she walked. In the words of Thirteen, she was "very unrestrained." This was a place that I and Du Thirteen frequently visited. Thirteen drained his cup, his brow deeply furrowed as he looked at the boss lady''s behind. He said with a smile, "Lu Chen, many girls were interested in you, but why did you not even bother with one? What about Tan Xue from the Foreign Languages Faculty? She was clearly interested in you." "Tan Xue, who is Tan Xue?" I drained my cup of liquor and said blankly. "Damn... Du Thirteen glared at me and said, "Third year of uni, Suzhou had a heavy snow. She sent you a message saying ''It is snowing outside, so beautiful, how about we go see the snow together?'' Think, what did you respond with..." I thought for a moment. "What did I respond with? I forgot..." "Damn..." Du Thirteen slapped the table exasperatedly. "You responded ¡®Only an idiot would go out on a cold day like this!¡¯" "Shit!" I slapped the table. "There was something like this?!" Du Thirteen toasted me with a cup of alcohol and said earnestly, "You are no longer young, you should find a woman and settle down. Look at how well I am right now..." "Are you well?" I gave a small smile. "You want to say that you are leaving your affections everywhere, and there is a woman in every corner from Suzhou to Shanghai lying on the bed, softly calling your name?" Du Thirteen stilled. "Dammit, you know what? Yes, just like that. How can you not even have a girlfriend?" I shook my head and said with a faint smile, "Never mind, those don''t suit me." "Don''t suit? Was she not acceptable?" Du Thirteen was helpless. "Tan Xue was the beauty of the Foreign Languages Faculty back then. You rejected her. What kind suits you then..." As he spoke, he seemed to think of something. His eyes lit up. "Yes, a woman like He Yi is the best in the world but... sigh. Bro, can you handle a woman like that?" I looked out the window and murmured, "I never thought about that..." Du Thirteen glared at me. A beat later, he shook his head. "Never mind. You are a piece of wood, just like Tan Xue once said. A piece of wood that will never change!" I couldn''t help but smile. "I can live well without a woman. Let''s talk about our future development plans." Du Thirteen was interested. "Yes, I am about to reach Level 20. When I reach Level 25, I can get a profession. What do you think I should be? Potion making, woodcutting, gathering, blacksmithing, tailoring or¡­?¡± "Up to you, the important thing is making money." "Blacksmithing will definitely be making money in the later stages. I''ll learn blacksmithing." "Mn!" Du Thirteen smiled, looking forward to the future. "Lu Chen, when our levels are high, we should raise our flag and set up our own guild!" "Yes!" I clenched my fist and said, "Create a guild, a dominant guild that ignores justice, rules, and reputation. A guild that farms dominant guilds like Mad Dragon and sweeps through the factions in the Floating Ice City region!" "Haha, my thoughts exactly!" Chapter 23: Wild Bear Hearts I woke up and saw that it was 2 am. This was a good chance to go online and level up. The players online would be drowsy and there would be less people stealing monsters. I grabbed the helmet, connected to the internet and quickly went online. Swoosh! Inside of my grave was completely dark, devoid of light. I clawed through the dirt and spat out the mud in my mouth. It appeared that I would have to buy a tent in the future. It¡¯s not like I could sleep in the grave forever. We were not from the Ancient Tomb Sect, I would not encounter the Little Dragon Girl. Sleeping in a grave was for nothing. I looked at the Heavenly Ranking. First was Wind Fantasy. He was already Level 28 and it seemed like he hadn¡¯t gone offline in quite a while. Everyone under him, all the way to 259th place, was either 24 or 25. First-rate players were too close in levels. No wonder. The players of the Delta Region were always full of heroes. From Lin Fan and Murong Shanshan of the Eternal Moon era, to Frivolous Scholar, Seven-star Lamp of the Spirit of Grief era, the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai region seemed to be the nursery of the gaming kings. Right now, the players of this region were all concentrated in the starting villages around Floating Ice City. It was easy to imagine that the rivalry between strongest guilds was probably most fierce in Floating Cloud City among all tier 2 cities. I followed the path back to Frost Mound. My Satiety meter was at 54, a bit lacking. Maybe I should find something to eat first? I considered it, but cut the divagations short. I¡¯ll just go find Xinran. The little loli definitely has Oat Bread. It¡¯s very hearty, like hardtack. Along the way, I took care of some short-sighted skeletons and did not forget to use Death Plunder to absorb their undead sparks. Obviously, these skeletons only yielded useless ragged cloth. Twenty minutes later, when I came to a patch of lush forest, I heard bell sounds by my ear. Yes, the little loli Xinran had appeared and was harvesting mushrooms here! I walked quickly, charging out of the thicket, and saw Xinran sitting among the grass with two wild rabbits running around happily. As expected of the harmless loli. The two rabbits did not fear her at all. However, my Night Creature presence was so heavy that when I appeared, the two rabbits fled in a flash. Xinran turned around and stood up in joy, saying, "Brother, you finally came!" I walked forward and said with a smile, "Yes, did Xinran bring me bread?" "Yes, I did, I did!" Xinran took out a piece of light yellow bread from her pocket that still carried the young girl''s temperature. I consumed it and my stamina immediately skyrocketed. Oh yes, this is enough for me to fight for twelve hours. "Is there something wrong, Xinran?" "Yes!" She nodded and pointed toward the south. "Brother, I saw a scary old grandpa there. He seems to be injured!" "Oh?" My eyes lit up. The NPC was giving me directions? It had to be a quest. Haha, there was work to do! "Will Xinran accompany me there to look?" I asked. "No, I have to return home, Mother is waiting..." "Oh, then hurry home Xinran!" "Yes." The young loli walked away, gently trodding across the grass, leaving me with a sight of her perfect back. Holding the green blade, I opened the main map and walked south. A short time later, a smelly wind suddenly came. Accompanied by the sound of roars, an enormous black shadow leapt at me! This was a black bear, its eyes blood-red, its mouth wide open as it swiped with its terrifying claws. Forest Wild Bear (Common) Level: 28 A Level 28 creature ready to be killed! Clutching my Forest Green Blade I injected it with undead energy. At Rank 1, Undead Energy skill offered a boost of 5% to damage against living targets. Because I had been killing skeletons around Frost Mound all this time, this skill was practically benched. I could finally put it to good use against this bear! Crack! The sword edge flashed past the wild bear''s eyes. Blood flew, and the first slash caused critical damage¡ª271! "Ha, my attack power is pretty good!" As I smiled proudly, the wild bear leapt, raising its paws and slapping my shoulder. I immediately felt a burning pain. A shocking damage number flew up¡ª154! Damn, my total HP was only 410. I would be killed in three attacks like this! I quickly dodged. Through this one exchange, I could see that the wild bear''s attack speed was slow, but its attack power was high. Its turn rate was also bad. The so-called turn rate was a kind of Agility substat. In simpler words, it was how fast one could turn! I slid on my feet, and immediately came to the side of the wild bear. I struck a vicious blow. By the time the bear turned around, I was already behind its back. Another blow. Sword risen high, Slayer Slash smashed downward! 564! Great, a critical strike! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your skill Slayer Slash has reached Rank 2. Your damage to opponents has increased to 115%, and the hit rate is lowered by 15%! I couldn''t help but laugh. "Haha, my skill ranked up!" As the Forest Wild Bear fell down, there was another ding¡ª System Notice: Congratulations, your talent skill Undead Energy has reached Rank 2. You now deal additional 10% damage to all living targets! Ha, another one! I looked at the proficiencies of the two skills: Slayer Slash (0/2000), Undead Energy (0/2000). It appeared that I could no longer raise its proficiency. A Level 20 player could only grind skills to Rank 2. In order to reach skills¡¯ Rank 10, I would need to be at least Level 100! The higher the skill¡¯s rank, the stronger its effects. This increase provided substantial advantage. It was especially so for offensive skills such as Slayer Slash. At Rank 10, it would increase my damage by 55%. It would be extremely powerful! As the wild bear fell down, I sank down, spreading my fingers to use Death Plunder. In the next moment¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You have plundered Bear Skin (Quality 7)! Bear Skin (Quality 7): Rank 2 material. Requires Rank 2 Tailoring. A thick furry skin appeared in my hand. This was something tailor players would need. It was a high-level material, so I stored it away. I¡¯ll go to Floating Ice City and sell it when I have the time. Usually, monsters would drop materials, but the drop rate was not high, about 2% or so. My Death Plunder skill was extremely powerful. If the monster didn¡¯t drop me something, I could just plunder it. It was a huge advantage in the early stage of the game! I continued to walk forward. More wild bears appeared in the forest ahead. This was an unpopulated part of the forest. Floating Ice City players would need to travel at least an hour to get here, and ordinary players were not willing to spend so much time running to a grinding spot. It was just not worth it. I looked at the map and understood¡ªWild Forest. This was the gathering place of wild bears. After a few steps, a low groan suddenly sounded by my ear. Found it! I took a few quick steps and found an old person leaning against a tree, his chest injured and his clothing stained with blood. He had clearly been attacked by a wild beast. Lying next to him were a bow, a bamboo basket and a spear. From his attire and equipment, he was clearly a hunter. "These damned bears, cursed..." The old man groaned. I went forward and said seriously, "Senior, is there something I can help you with?" My appearance gave the old man a fright. He said in a panic, "You... are you a Night Creature?" My heart jumped. Night Creatures and humans belonged to different factions. After learning that I was a Night Creature, would he still give me a quest? Therefore, I steeled my heart and started to talk relentlessly as I complained, "Oh, don¡¯t even get me started. I originally lived around Floating Ice City, my family had a house and their own fields, but the nobility was so unreasonable and drove me from my home. I wandered to the graveyard and was bitten by a Night Creature. In reality, I am still an innocent youth..." My exaggerated sorrowful story turned the old man teary-eyed. He patted my shoulder and said sincerely, "Good child, no matter if you are a Night Creature or a human, as long as you have a conscience, you are a good person. Do not worry, the Silver Moon Alliance will save you!" I nodded and said, "Old man, what happened to you?" "Oh, don¡¯t even get me started!" The old man sighed and lamented, "I am the only hunter of the village. Originally, I wanted to come here and hunt some mountain pheasants to make some dried meat for the village to pass the winter. I had not expected so many wild bears to be gathered here. You¡¯ve also seen them. I¡¯ve been fighting them for three days, I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m going to die." I shook my head and smiled. "Old man, you don¡¯t need to worry. I will help you out of this forest!" "Really?" The old man''s eyes lit up and he said, "Good, young one. If you help me out of here, I will give you a reward beyond your imagination!" "Ah, you are too polite, we are... did you say reward?" The old man stopped and said, "I am the best hunter within a hundred miles here, and also the best chef. Any food in my hands will become the most delicious thing in the world. If you help me out of here, I will pass two skills on to you¡ªforaging and cooking!" ¡­¡­ In a flash, my heart burst with joy! Before Heavenblessed was formally open, I had studied all the secondary professions. Foraging allowed one to gather all kinds of ingredients, and cooking could turn them into food. Both of these professions were perfectly synergized. However, the game only allowed players to study one secondary profession. This quest really was the greatest of dogshit luck! Alright, I don¡¯t have Thirteen''s luck with women, but I at least have this dogshit luck. I smiled and said, "Old man, how can I help you?" The old man nodded. "My stamina is too low, and I need an exquisite meal to recover. Go kill those bears and gather 20 Wild Bear Hearts for me!" Ding~! System Notice: You''ve received the quest [Wild Bear Heart]! (Quest Rank: E) Description: Help the Hunter Yellowfire recover from his injuries. Kill 200 Wild Bears and gather 20 Wild Bear Hearts to give Yellowfire. You will be handsomely rewarded! ¡­¡­ Standing up, I turned to walk into the forest and started killing monsters. While the Forest Wild Bear had formidable attack power, I had huge advantage in both speed and maneuverability. Players¡¯ turn rate came 50% from Agility stat and 50% from their own skill and mechanics. My Agility wasn¡¯t high, but my combat experience was top-tier. After killing seven bears in a row, I finally got one of the Wild Bear Hearts needed for the quest. It was crimson-red and seemed to be beating still. On top of that, I found five Rank 2 Bear Skins. They seemed to have a high drop rate. I was getting one with almost each Death Plunder. I wandered through the forest alone. These days, I¡¯ve grown accustomed to leveling up alone, so I felt quite good. In the blink of an eye, more than three hours had passed. I had killed over 300 Forest Wild Bears and gathered 250 Bear Skins. However, I still lacked one Wild Bear Heart. Pfft! The blood red hue of Undead Energy enveloped the green gleam of Slayer Slash as my sharp sword cut into Forest Wild Bear¡¯s neck! 327! An attack enhanced with two skills was really strong to have killed this bear in a single attack. With a plop, bright red Wild Bear Heart fell to the ground, along with yet another Bear Skin. Done! I inspected my individual situation. I was just a thread away from Level 25. I had used up nearly all my potions, and my equipment was terribly worn. My Forest Green Blade was about to break. However, I had made fat gains. The Forest Wild Bears had dropped 3 Big Magic Stones and 9 Small Magic Stones. They almost filled my 40-slot bag. This drop rate really was high. Chapter 24: Applesauce I went to the old hunter and took out 20 Wild Bear Hearts from my bag to turn in. I said sincerely, "Old man, I¡¯ve brought what you need!" The old man took the items excitedly. "Young Night Creature, you have moved me. Come, this is just a minor favor!" Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have finished the quest [Wild Bear Heart]. You¡¯ve gained 2500 EXP, 70 Reputation, and the quest reward: "Big Magic Stone" x5! ¡­¡­ Damn! Giving me five Big Magic Stones in one go?! I almost cried. This quest''s reward was really very generous. I looked at the five Big Magic Stones lying in my bag. Their quality varied from 80 to 100. They could be sold for about one gold! A column of golden light fell on me, signifying my level-up. I could now use the Weeping Fire Blade and Cyanfire Cloak. Unfortunately, they were stored at my Frost Mound warehouse so I had to return to be able to equip them. The old man trembled as he held the Wild Bear Hearts and made another request. "Young one, I also need some Fresh Ginger!" I shook. "Fresh Ginger?" "Yes, it¡¯s part of the recipe." "Where can I get Fresh Ginger?" The old man thought for a moment and said, "In the forest two miles southeast of here, there should be some wild ginger. You can gather it there. But before that, you obviously need to learn how to forage." As he spoke, the old man waved his hand and a blue light covered my body¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Hunter Yellowfire wants to teach you Foraging techniques. Do you accept? ¡­¡­ Why would I possibly refuse?! I quickly pressed accept, Foraging immediately joining my skill list. "Go, young Night Creature, experience the joy of foraging!" Ding~! System Notice: You have received the quest [Gather Fresh Ginger!] (Quest Difficulty: F-) Description: Go to Hundred Leaf Forest, and harvest 15 portions of Fresh Ginger for Hunter Yellowfire. ¡­¡­ Foraging had two uses. One was gathering, used for herbs, flowers, and any plant. The other was hunting, that let one procure meat from hunted animals. It was really useful. I and my green blade strolled through the forest, trying to avoid monsters this time. I didn¡¯t have many potions left, and if I fought in this state, that would be the end of me. I didn¡¯t have any Return Scrolls. I could not even run away. Ten minutes later, I entered the legendary Hundred Leaf Forest and avoided the attack area of a pack of Level 30 Wild Wolves. When I came close, I found some scattered wildly growing ginger in the forest. I was a child that had grown up in a rural village. I had seen ginger before. What was sold on the market was the underground root. Protruding from the ground, leaves of ginger looked just like bamboo leaves. I walked forward and used my Foraging skill on the Fresh Ginger¡ª System Notice: You have obtained Fresh Ginger x3, Foraging Proficiency +3! Fresh Ginger, Rank 4 ingredient. Haha, such a nice feeling of accomplishment. I threw the Fresh Ginger into my bag. Five of them together would occupy one inventory slot. Soon after, three slots were taken up by them, marking the fifteenth piece of Fresh Ginger. I quickly returned on my original route, and handed the pile of Fresh Ginger to the old man. He immediately flushed red and took out a small bottle of salt from his pocket. He was going to use the Cooking skill immediately on the spot. He shoved the pieces of ginger into the Wild Bear Hearts and sprinkled salt on it. Then he started a fire and slowly roasted the hearts over it. Before long, fragrant piece of meat appeared in his hands. The old man took out a dagger and cut the meat into strips to slowly taste them. I stood at the side, not in a hurry. After a while, the old man turned to me and said, "Young Night Creature, I am moved by your nobleness. Come, this is your reward!" Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [Gather Fresh Ginger]. You have received 500 EXP, 1 Reputation, and Foraging Proficiency +100! I was overjoyed. This reward was very good, especially the 100 points into Foraging Proficiency. Otherwise, if I had to practice on my own, where would I find enough Rank 1 ingredients to gather?! The old man finished eating and slowly stood up. "Young one, bring me out of this Wild Forest, and you will have finished your mission!" I nodded. "Yes!" Following the predetermined story quest format, the old man slowly walked out. I summoned a Level 20 Wild Bear demonic servant. Even if it couldn¡¯t help much, there was still some use for it. At present, I¡¯ve reached Level 25. On top of that, I could summon a Level 20 meatshield. I basically had nothing to fear from these bears. The way out was unusually smooth. I came out of the forest, and could see the town in the distance. The old man seemed to have come back to life, and laughed joyfully. "Young one, you are very brave and have a sense of justice. Good, I will bestow upon you my greatest skill! Ding~! System Notice: Hunter Yellowfire wants to teach you the Cooking skill, do you accept? ¡­¡­ After accepting, another profession appeared in my skill menu. I broke the limits of the system, and possessed two secondary profession skills. I excitedly sent the old man to the perimeter of the village before furiously running back to Frost Mound and prepared to completely change my equipment! I took out the two pieces of equipment from the warehouse. The Weeping Fire Blade¡¯s edge was shrouded in faint flames, and gave off murderous energy. The Cyanfire Cloak flashed with inky dark cyan color, and gave me an air of mystery! I unequipped Forest Green Blade, and put on the Weeping Fire Blade. Then I put on the Cyanfire Cloak. Immediately, my stats soared¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Class: Undead Swordsman Level : 25 HP: 490 Attack: 104~188 Defense: 61 Magic Resist: 0 Reputation: 274 Luck: 0 As expected, Bronze-grade equipment was so powerful. Just two pieces of Bronze-grade equipment increased my attack power to 188 points, and my HP to 490 points. In this regard, I could even rival Magic Knights like Gui Guzi and their high max HP. In a moment, my confidence soared! At this time, Du Thirteen sent over a message: "Lu Chen, how is your progress?" "Average, how about you?" "I''m good, on my way to Level 20. Right, there is someone at Floating Ice City''s gates selling Applesauce. A portion for 4 silver. What is that for?" Du Thirteen asked. "Anyone buying?" "Yes. Many mages, priests, and bards. The seller can¡¯t keep up with the demand!" "Alright, I understand, continue to level up!" "Good!" I furiously suppressed my joyful surprise. The chance to make money had come! Applesauce was a Rank 1 consumable product of Cooking skill that restored MP. In Heavenblessed, there were no magic potions, only magic consumables. Players could only eat one every minute. This was a necessary item for mages! I opened my cooking skill and a string of recipes entered my sight¡ª Rank 1: Applesauce. Requires: Apple x5, Empty Bottle x1. Restores 100 MP. Rank 2: Glutinous Rice Ball. Requires: Glutinous Rice x15, Chicken Meat x5, Salt x5. Restores 200 MP. Rank 3: Green Pepper Meatball. Requires: Green Pepper x10, Glutinous Rice x20, Chicken Meat x10, Salt x15. Restores 300 MP. Rank 4: White Cut Chicken. Requires: Chicken Meat x20, Salt x10, Fresh Ginger x15. Restores 400 MP. Rank 5: Braised Chicken. Requires: Chicken Meat x30, Salt x10, Green Pepper x15, Garlic x10. Restores 500 MP. Rank 6: Steamed Fish Soup. Requires: Fish Meat x25, Salt x10, Green Pepper x10, Garlic x10. Restores 600 MP. Rank 7: Turtle Soup. Requires: Turtle Meat x20, Green Pepper x20, Fresh Ginger x20, Salt x20. Restores 800 MP. Rank 8: Snow Rabbit Soup. Requires: Snow Rabbit Meat x30, Green Pepper x20, Garlic x20, Salt x20. Restores 1200 MP. Rank 9: Dragonfish Soup. Requires: Dragonfish Meat x20, Green Pepper x25, Garlic x25, Salt x25. Restores 1500 MP. Rank 10: Dragon Soup. Requires: Dragon Meat x20, Green Pepper x50, Garlic x50, Salt x50. Restores 2500 MP. ¡­¡­ Applesauce was a Rank 1 Cooking recipe and it could fetch such a high price? There was no logic in this world! Alright, I have to quickly increase my Foraging and Cooking proficiency and try to make a killing with this secondary profession as soon as possible. At least, I should be the only player who has these two professions unlocked at the same time. I turned to look at the material merchant at Frost Mound. An empty bottle was one copper, and could stack. I bought two hundred, they took up two slots. I opened the forums and found the coordinates for Fruit Forest. Then, I opened the big map. Fruit Forest was south of Floating Ice City, about half an hour of travel from my location. That was a patch of wildly-growing apple trees, but the monsters were all high-level. People rarely dared to gather apples there. This was also a reason for the high price of Applesauce. Of course, it was most likely due to unscrupulous merchants. Otherwise, how could something that only cost a few copper be sold for 4 silver! Carrying the flaming Weeping Fire Blade, and donning Cyanfire Cloak, I hid my face. This way, I looked like a human warrior, and not a hateful Night Creature. I passed through silent forest paths, and reached Fruit Forest in half an hour. I came under a large apple tree and reached out to pluck an apple. Foraging Proficiency +2. Haha, not bad! At this time, a voice came from behind my back¡ª Chapter 25: Fruit Fores I was slightly shocked. I turned to look, and saw a warrior carrying a green blade glaring at me. He shouted coldly, "Fruit Forest is owned by the Shadow Clan. Friend, if you are wise, you will leave. There are many scattered single fruit trees around this map." Shadow Maple LV-23 Warrior I glanced and laughed softly. "Are you joking? Fruit Forest is a public map, not your clan¡¯s. Also, there are so many fruit trees, can you gather them all?" "That''s no concern of yours!" Shadow Maple sneered. "Leave in three minutes or I will send you back to town!" My gaze turned cold. I had not thought that Apples would become a cause for PK. The world had gone crazy. Were people so hard to satisfy? Did they have to step on others to show off their success and strength? Two other players appeared at this time. Shadow Volcano LV-22 Wanderer Shadow Deep Sea LV-24 Archer These people were obviously together, and bullying a lone player like me using their numbers. Shadow Deep Sea looked dismissively at me and said with a smile, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? Tsk tsk, you seemed to have been in the rankings yesterday. The first choice is to join our clan, the second is death. Make a choice!" I laughed. "I choose the second then. With a little twist however¡­ the ones dying will be you!" "Impudent!" Shadow Volcano, the wanderer, furiously waved a long blade flickering with light and charged over. I thought this blade was Iron-grade equipment as the light was very similar to my Forest Green Blade. Sha... With a gust of wind, grass and leaves flew into the air, my figure behind them disappearing from the enemies¡¯ view. As fast as lightning, I blitzed to Shadow Volcano in but an instant. The Weeping Fire Blade burrowed into the other''s chest like a poisonous snake. I pushed hard, the blade penetrating his back, the edge of my sword exploding in a ball of green light. "Slayer Slash!" With a crack, this Bronze-grade longsword seemed to cut Shadow Volcano in half. A high damage number flew up¡ª375! Awesome! "?!" As Shadow Volcano fell down, his expression was one of disbelief. He could not imagine that he, a high-level wanderer, would be instantly killed by someone else! "Motherfucker, the boy dares to kill Volcano!" Shadow Deep Sea shouted, suddenly raising his head. Precision Shot tore through the air, headed straight for me! I raised my chest and tanked the arrow, which dealt 71 points of damage. This archer wasn¡¯t weak. He had to be dealt with first. Otherwise, consequences would be fatal. I lunged, my ferocious attack cutting through the air! 298! The archer was shocked by the powerful damage number. Before he could react, I had already positioned myself next to him and gave another attack! Boom! I was struck from behind by Shadow Maple. I felt a pain in my back and lost 187 HP. My defense also came as a shock to him. "Damn, so tough? Go die!" I turned around as I grabbed Shadow Deep Sea''s dropped wristguards and downed a health potion. Swoosh! Charging murderously toward Shadow Maple, my sword swished through the air with another Slayer Slash. The green hue of my sword illuminated Shadow Maple¡¯s face, accentuating his distorted expression of shock, unwillingness, and fury. Bam! Shadow Maple knelt on the ground. Dead. In a flash, this clan that viewed Fruit Forest as their own was exterminated. I snorted coldly. "I told you not to provoke me. I just wanted some Apples." ¡­¡­ That wristguard was a common white item, an embarrassment to my brand. I burrowed into Fruit Forest. Each apple tree could only be gathered once. Each time, I could pluck 1-3 Apples. Honestly speaking, the yield wasn''t high! Nearby, there was another player gathering with a name starting with Shadow. Seeing me nearby, he immediately dashed away. I didn¡¯t give chase. Waste of time. I spent nearly an hour to empty the forest. I could only wait for the next refresh. My bag was filled with Apples, stacked into bundles of twenty. I had 21 such bundles. I stopped by the edge of the forest and took out the bottles. I activated my Cooking skill, the synthesis interface appearing in front of me. I put in 5 Apples and 1 Bottle, then proceeded with synthesis! Ding~! System Notice: You have created Applesauce x1. Cooking Proficiency +2! A bottle of Applesauce appeared in my bag. Its stats were Satiety +1, MP +100. This was a general consumable for players in the early stages. I continued the process, spending ten minutes to make 80 bottles of Applesauce. I immediately felt a great sense of accomplishment. In this time, many others started coming here to cook. The Shadow Clan¡¯s members were probably afraid and no longer appeared. I walked out and saw many people on the way that were synthesizing. There was a human female called "Beauty Raises Leg¡±. Therefore, a line appeared in my message menu¡ª System Notice: Beauty Raises Leg created Applesauce! System Notice: Beauty Raises Leg created Applesauce! System Notice: Beauty Raises Leg created Applesauce! ¡­¡­ I¡ªdamn! This girl looked very gentle. I wonder what she would think of such a notice. I passed some other fruit trees along the way and gathered a few more dozen Apples. I mass-produced Applesauce. Soon after, with a ding, my Cooking skill reached Rank 2. I could create the Rank 2 Glutinous Rice Balls! As for my Foraging skill, it had reached Rank 2 a long time ago. I was in the earliest group of players, and had beaten my competition by sweeping entire Fruit Forest before masses came, my Foraging skill reaching Rank 3! I came to Floating Ice City. While I had a red name, I relied on my great equipment and entered the city openly, my red name immediately disappearing. I then went to plaza and shouted, "Freshly made Applesauce. One silver per bottle. Mage friends who need them, come and buy, they are cheap!" My price was not high, and less than half of the others¡¯ prices. I just wanted to get some money. Soon, a group of people circled me. Mages above Level 20 only had 300 MP, and a Rank 1 Fire Dragon Spell would use 20 MP per cast. Without magic consumables, there was no way for them to sustain it. As a result, players who teamed up with mages outside would first look at mages¡¯ ¡°supplies¡± before setting out. For this reason, these things were really easy to sell. In just ten short minutes, I got a gold coin. When it came to the last few dozen bottles, I was slightly unscrupulous, and raised the price to 2 silver. Regardless, I managed to sell them all. At this time, someone shouted nearby, "Selling Level 10 no-stat leather armor, Defense 2-8. You''re welcome to buy. Also, buying Rank 1 skins, either from Big-eared Rabbits or Goblins. Paying 20 copper each!" I walked over quickly. This was a Level 17 player called "Dominating Little Tailor" who was clearly specializing in production. Likely a tailor, and from the Domination Clan, the amazing clan that took up half the spots on the Heavenly Ranking. "Bro, do you want Bear Skins?" I went forward and asked with a smile. At the same time, I showed a Wild Bear Skin. This was a drop I took using Death Plunder. I had 250 of them lying in my bag. This player gaped. "Re-really? Rank 2 material..." "Do you want it or not?" I pretended to be irritated. "Yes, of course!" The little tailor''s eyes regained their focus and he said, "One for 50 copper. Brother, how many do you have?" I twisted my mouth. "Really, one for 50 copper? Who are you fooling? Rank 1 furs and skins can be sold for 30 copper. And you want to buy Rank 2 one for 50? Never mind, I won''t sell. I will find someone else!" The little tailor hurriedly stopped me and laughed. "Brother, do not leave. How about you set the price?" I thought for a moment. "Two silver for one..." The little tailor was immediately stunned. He clearly could not accept this price. I smiled slightly, and added, "It''s fine if you do not want it. I have more than two hundred, I¡¯ll just find another buyer!" "What? More than 200?" The little tailor could not keep calm. As a gaming clan, it was very important to monopolize the market in the early stages. If another clan got two hundred Rank 2 skins and trained an super expert tailor, Domination Clan would fall behind. "Bro, wait a minute, okay?" the little tailor pleaded. I nodded and stood at the side. The tailor seemed to be sending a message to his superiors. A moment later, he walked over and said, "2 silver each, we have a deal! How many do you have?" I calculated. "257. Alright, I¡¯ll sell it as 250." "Good!" The little tailor opened the trade window. I provided 250 Rank 2 Bear Skins, he put in 500 silver, or in other words, 5 gold! The transaction was concluded immediately. I now had 7 gold coins in my bag. At present, I could be said to be very wealthy. This Domination Clan was very rich too. The game hadn¡¯t been open for that long and they already had a production-based player who carried around so much gold. I waved my hand and laughed. ¡°Brother, hope we¡¯ll be lucky to meet soon!¡± In reality, I could use the Bear Skins to make money. The price of gold offline had reached 50 RMB per 1 gold. Just by selling Bear Skins, I could earn more than a thousand in a day! Pity that my ambitions were not limited to the Bear Skin. I knew that if I continued to roam and break new ground with my present strength, my assets would not be limited to just that! Behind me, the little tailor whispered, "Bro, may I ask, where... where did you get so many Bear Skins?" I turned and smiled. "No comment. How could I tell this to you, hahaha..." I laughed inside. Even if I told them I had gotten them at Wild Forest, they didn¡¯t have Death Plunder. Would they even get them? ¡­¡­ I came to Floating Ice City''s warehouse and requested to open an official warehouse. But the elf manager said, "You are a Night Creature, so the opening fee is doubled. Your opening fee is 2 gold to open a 100 slot warehouse!" "Damn, so expensive?!" I glared at her, but this female elf only looked at me silently. Fine, I would pay. Who let them be the official party anyway? Chapter 26: Greedy Wolf Card Like a pebble in the lake causing multiple, vast waves to roll out, a huge mob of ravenous warriors, wanderers, and magic knights came over the moment I said that. Equipment in Heavenblessed had a low drop rate, but the drop rate of weapons and accessories was even lower. Current Level 20 players were still using Level 10 Common-grade weapons with 2~7 Attack, which was pretty wretched. ¡°My dude, sell it to me, I¡¯ll buy it for 70 copper!¡± ¡°Give it to me, bro, I offer 3 silver!¡± ¡°I want it, 1 silver!" The noisy crowd of people made a huge racket so I lifted the green blade and shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t bother if you¡¯re offering less than 50 silver!¡± Many people in the crowd immediately quieted. At this time, a group of people walked over. The one in the lead was astonishingly a Level 25 Magic Knight, Dominating the World. It was someone from the Domination Clan. He was pretty high-leveled and the players behind him were all Level 23 or higher. It was clear that they were a high-quality team. ¡°2 gold,¡± Dominating the World stated indifferently. This offer silenced the rest of the crowd. Anyone who was able to have 2 gold at this stage of the game was a madman! I opened the trade window and placed the green blade inside as Dominating the World put in his 2 gold, completing the transaction. I had close to 10 gold now, and I felt like I¡¯ve become a king of gold! After repairing my equipment, I had to buy a few potions. Every one of my expenditures had doubled in this city. It was tragic to say the least. I could only endure it, who told me to stay in someone else¡¯s area? My name immediately became red once I left the city. The appearance of a Night Creature player was no doubt a shock to anyone there. Of course, I ran fast and quickly disappeared from everyone¡¯s view. I searched around for the locations of Rank 2 Cooking ingredients. The Rank 1 Applesauce only added 100 MP. It was enough for Warriors, Magic Knights and Wanderers, but not for classes like Mages and Priests who relied solely on large amounts of MP. If I wanted to make a killing, I¡¯d have to make some Rank 2 consumables. Rank 2 Glutinous Rice Ball. Requires: Glutinous Rice x15, Chicken Meat x5, Salt x5. Restores 200 MP. It¡¯s too demanding! I didn¡¯t just need Glutinous Rice, I also needed Chicken Meat and Salt. I knew where to get Salt. Merchants sold batches of ten, one silver each. It was a tad expensive, effectively increasing the entry level for production players. As for Glutinous Rice, I checked forums. Some players have found some at Wildfire Plains, west of Floating Ice City. Chicken Meat was obvious, I¡¯d just go kill some chickens to get it. There were players in groups of two and three on my way there, but 99% of the players stopped when Level 30 Wild Wolves appeared in the deepest part of the forest. I, however, with my top-tier Bronze-grade equipment, continued onward. My target, the Wildfire Plains. After almost an hour, the trees before me dwindled, replaced by lush grass. Under the scorching summer sun, there were various plants all over the place and myriad flowers in bloom. The entire view was a stretch of red that looked like a huge prairie fire. This was how the Wildfire Plains got their name. Wildfire Plains was a neutral map. A short walk later, I discovered a temporary Silver Moon Alliance camp near the edge of the plains. I didn¡¯t dare to approach. Who knew if those humans would do anything to me? I walked along its periphery for another ten or so minutes before my eyes brightened. A simple Night Creature camp had finally appeared! There was a material merchant, a blacksmith, and a skeleton soldier. And that was it, the entire camp. It was so simple that it was impossible to get any simpler! When I walked up, my eyes scanned the skeleton soldier. It was a common skeleton. Bony as hell and way inferior to a Bone Creature like me with skin and flesh. ¡°Oh, little skeleton from afar, what can I help you with?¡± the skeleton yelled when it saw me. ¡°It¡¯s really dangerous here. You must take care, our enemies are everywhere!¡± I nodded and didn¡¯t say anything. The soldier sat on a human skull. ¡°The wild beasts inside the Wildfire Plains have grown more and more rampant. Our camp has already been attacked three times these past three days. Young Night Creature, can you help us eliminate these wild beasts?¡± The quest came. I was already planning to do that so I nodded decisively. Ding~! System Notice: You have accepted the quest [Eliminate the Wild Beasts]! (Quest Rank: E) Description: Go to the southern part of the Wildfire Plains. You will see many wild Greedy Wolves there. Kill at least 100 Greedy Wolves and collect 40 Greedy Wolf Fangs. Bring them to Undead Soldier Dayi for a very generous reward! The quest was a pretty high E rank so it looked like the levels of the monsters here weren¡¯t too low either. It required me to kill a decent amount too. It seems like today will be a long day of grinding. As I walked into the plains wielding my Weeping Fire Blade, the flames at the tip of the sword made whooshing sounds, making this Bronze-grade weapon particularly attention-catching. My surroundings were completely overgrown. The southern part of the Wildfire Plains had experienced a large fire about half a year ago, causing the area to appear desolate. Bones of wild animals were everywhere and the howl of wolves echoed over. Rustle... I glanced toward the soft noise, discovering two fire-red, giant wolves with eyes already fixed on me. Their eyes were blood-red and their mouths were open, revealing many sharp fangs with drool dripping from them. Wildfire Greedy Wolf (Common) Level: 32 Oh man. It is actually Level 32, this quest is seriously difficult! I cautiously turned but the two Greedy Wolves howled before they pounced over, swift and violent! ¡°Crack crack!¡± Fangs sank into my shoulder with a piercing pain. Even though the Bronze-grade Cyanfire Cloak was draped over my shoulders, it still couldn¡¯t defend against a Level 32 monster¡¯s attack due to the level discrepancy. 124! 132! That¡¯s some high damage! I shifted to the right. The Weeping Fire Blade enveloped in a green light was further enchanted with blood-red energy and heavily slashed the Greedy Wolf on the head. With lightning speed I launched a follow-up. My quick two-attack combo of Slayer Slash and basic attack instantly took half of the wolf¡¯s HP. 381! 312! Undead energy had also ranked up, providing a nice boost of 10%, its strength only growing when coupled with a skill. In fact, using my talent to kill the living monsters here should make it faster and more profitable. It did hurt more than usual since they were seven levels above me, but it was worth it! I still moved without rest, running in circles around one wolf with the other right at my heels. This was a classic tactic when fighting two monsters. Kite one by running circles around the other, constantly attacking the circled one. This would lower the effectiveness of the first monster¡¯s attacks by 50% or more! Crack! After another two strikes, the first Greedy Wolf finally collapsed with a miserable howl. I swept a glance over and saw my experience bar soar. Nice, this is some good experience! Glug! I chugged an HP potion before swinging my Weeping Fire Blade at the second Greedy Wolf. A 1v1 was way easier. I was lucky that I had enough potions and a high Defense of 61. If it were any other person who bumped into these two Level 32 Greedy Wolves, I¡¯m afraid nothing good would come out of that. I rained down simple yet straightforward blows, and the remaining wolf soon died with a miserable wail. My situation wasn¡¯t much better. I was left with 145 HP. If not for my skillful gameplay, I¡¯m afraid I would be the corpse instead. Pop! The second Greedy Wolf dropped something! A glistening Big Magic Stone, a bloody Greedy Wolf Fang, and a fiery red card. A card?! Right, it was a card! I picked it up and froze¡ª Greedy Wolf Card: Rank 1 Card. After use, Attack Speed +5%, Movement Speed +5%. Duration: 30 minutes. Damn, it¡¯s pretty good! I was ecstatic. This increased my combat efficiency by 5%. Since it would last for 30 minutes, it just so happened to help me grind and level up. Not only that, if there were no accidents, this Greedy Wolf Card would be a great tool to use in PK. Though my policy was to grind level and get better equipment in the early stage of the game, avoiding PK as much as possible. Only idiots like the Mad Dragon gang would go around biting people. I held the Greedy Wolf Card in my palm and read, ¡°Greedy Wolf!¡± Swoosh! The card flew and disappeared, becoming a streak of red light that appeared behind the name above my head. It then formed into the shape of a wolf head. It was precisely the effect of the Greedy Wolf Card. Players could only have one card effect on at a time. It took me a while before I realized that I had pretty much wasted the card. The Greedy Wolf Card was a top-tier Rank 1 Card. It could be used during boss fights or a revenge PK but I stupidly used it to grind levels. Using a Greedy Wolf Card was a pretty good way to grind levels. Unless I encountered three Greedy Wolves at once, I would be able to easily deal with anything that came along. Time quickly flew by. Two hours had passed in the blink of an eye and the potions in my bag were nearly out. I was now Level 26 with 89% experience. If there were no accidents, I should be able to reach Level 27 in half an hour. I couldn¡¯t help but feel proud of myself. The faster I got to Level 30, the faster I would be able to catch a pet. Just relying on that Greedy Wolf skeleton behind me wasn¡¯t feasible. Summon Undead was too crappy. It would only become truly useful at a higher rank. Crack! Like a falling meteor, the Weeping Fire Blade drew a perfect arc in the grass-filled ground of the Wildfire Plains. With another miserable howl, another Greedy Wolf had fallen. Pop! Something came out! A Greedy Wolf Fang and something that made my heart race¡ªa red card! I swear this red card wasn¡¯t an RMB note! I quickly picked up the card. Its stats appeared before my eyes after a flash of light¡ª Fire Wolf Card: Rank 1 Card. Skill: Blaze. Charges: 1. I couldn¡¯t hold back my smile. It was a skill-type card. The cards in Heavenblessed were separated into two types, skill-type and buff-type. My luck was pretty good. I hadn¡¯t been at the Wildfire Plains for more than a day, yet I¡¯d already obtained two cards. I continued my grind. Soon, another hour had passed and I had already traveled to the ends of the southern part of the Wildfire Plains. I had collected enough Greedy Wolf Fangs a long time ago. It was also at this time that I finally found the place I was looking for! A verdant valley appeared at the ends of the plains. A fragrant smell assailed my nose when I stepped inside. Nice, the entire valley was chocked full with wild vegetation. There was fresh Glutinous Rice! This was a low ravine with abundant sunshine. Rainwater had formed a shallow lake and that was the condition for Glutinous Rice to grow! I advanced forward and used my skill on the cluster of swaying Glutinous Rice. It was a Rank 2 ingredient so it needed Rank 2 Foraging. That was no problem for me and I quickly finished gathering¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You have obtained Glutinous Rice x3. Foraging Proficiency +3! Sweet! Chapter 27: Army Pouch Under the moonlight of clear night sky, a merry little skeleton was strolling around a ravine. It sometimes paused, causing nearby Glutinous Rice to disappear. The entire scene was harmonious and peaceful. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your Foraging skill has leveled! I looked at the message and an indescribable sense of accomplishment rose within me. Damn, the Ultimate Foraging God and the Ultimate Cooking God is being born, boys! Turning back around, I checked my surroundings and noticed that a third of the ravine¡¯s Glutinous Rice was still there. My bag however, had 37 slots taken up by the stacks of rice, each containing 50, for a total of 1850. Undoubtedly, my bag was filled to the max! If I leave now, won¡¯t I be letting the players after me gather the remaining one-third? No, that¡¯s not my style. I walk my own path, and burn the bridges behind me. Others can¡¯t tread this road. Now that¡¯s what I call domineering! Forget it, what¡¯s the point of saying all that? I should go turn in the quest first. I had to throw away some potions to gather all this Glutinous Rice. I really shouldn¡¯t have done that. I dashed back to the Night Creature camp of Wildfire Plains and turned in the quest items to the soldier. He examined me closely, then laughed out of nowhere. ¡°Oh mighty Asura God, did you send this brave Night Creature adventurer to save the continent? Young skeleton, your strength has earned my respect. Come, this is your reward!¡± Ding~! System Notice: You have completed the quest [Eliminate the Wild Beasts]. You have gained 5000 EXP, 50 Reputation, and quest reward: "Army Pouch"! Swoosh! A golden column of light flooded down from above as I finally reached Level 27, once again rising in the Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking. I was now in the top three, at second place, with Level 28 Wind Fantasy in first! The quest had given me something too, an Army Pouch? I opened my bag. Lying in the only open space there was a little gray bag. I took it out to check it out and was immediately filled with joy¡ª Army Pouch: User will receive an additional 20 bag slots after equipping. A skeleton¡¯s howl rang in the night sky, sounding as if it was both crying and laughing at the same time. I was, of course, laughing. This was simply an item made just for me! It was only a little pouch that didn¡¯t hinder my movements so I immediately hung the Army Pouch at my waist. Then I turned around and headed back to the ravine. I spent a good hour to completely gather all the remaining Glutinous Rice. Like this, it would take at least two or three days for this area¡¯s Glutinous Rice to respawn. It was time to return to the city to make Rank 2 Consumables. I went back the same way I had come. Glutinous Rice Ball. Rank 2 Cooking. Requires: Glutinous Rice x15, Chicken Meat x5, Salt x5. Restores 200 MP. I was still missing a few items. Glutinous Rice was already in my hands and Salt could be obtained from a store. The only thing left was Chicken Meat. Looks like I¡¯d still need to run about. For the sake of riches and bitches, chaaaarge! I had to spend another 2 gold to open another warehouse to deposit all my Glutinous Rice. I had no choice, there were too many production materials. It wasn¡¯t logical not to open another one. After a round of equipment repairs and potion buying, it was time to go. Once I got out of the city, I swiftly moved out while also browsing the official forums. I couldn¡¯t rely on the database for this. Players could only depend on themselves for this kind of information. Several hundred results came out when I searched up Chicken Meat but they were all questions about where to get it. My head hurt. These were the troubles of a pioneer. My eyes suddenly brightened after a long period of searching. A decent post had finally appeared¡ª ¡°The Pet System is about to launch. What kind of pet would you want?¡± Following that, the post elaborated what types of pets would be popular. For example, the Wasps in Poison Wasp Forest, the Green Praying Mantis in Sunshine Forest. Those were pretty good choices and there were also the Pheasants from Wild Pheasant Ridge Right! That was it! Pheasants! Everyone knew that pheasants were just wild chickens. Pheasant Meat was just Chicken Meat, albeit with slightly higher quality! I was excited. Wild Pheasant Ridge, the answer to my troubles! I searched for Wild Pheasant Ridge and the results appeared again. It was approximately 20 minutes west of Floating Ice City. Pheasants were also about Level 30, which meant that it wouldn¡¯t take too long for them to become the mainstream targets for grinding in the future. Getting Chicken Meat while grinding levels would be pure bliss. It was time to set out. To Wild Pheasant Ridge! I passed through the Frost Forest that was still filled with morning mist. The monsters here were only between Level 25 and 30, so they were no longer too big of a threat to me. Not long after, a green area appeared on my map. It was precisely the Wild Pheasant Ridge I was searching for! ¡°Chirp chirp!¡± The sound of pheasants caused me no end in excitement. I drew my sword and rushed forward, pushing aside the greenery. I was slightly stunned when I saw the scene before me. I saw four Level 28 Pheasants close together, like they were holding a meeting. I was currently Level 27, one level below them. Equipped with two Bronze and a few Iron¨Cgrade pieces of gear, I had no fear as I charged over to kill these Pheasants with my sword. In a flash, the group of Pheasants was dead, so I began butchering them using my Foraging skill! System Notice: You have gathered Pheasant Meat x2, Foraging Proficiency +2! System Notice: You have gathered Pheasant Meat x2, Foraging Proficiency +2! System Notice: You have gathered Pheasant Meat x2, Foraging Proficiency +2! System Notice: You have gathered Pheasant Meat x2, Foraging Proficiency +2! This was nice. Not only could I kill monsters, I could also increase my production skill while I was at it. Once I made the MP food, I could then sell it for money. It was three birds in one stone! Suddenly filled with abundant energy, I zipped through Wild Pheasant Ridge like a madman, slaughtering everything in sight. I was the only person here so my rampage went unchecked. Pop! A Pheasant died, dropping a thin axe. I picked it up and checked it out. Nice, Iron-grade¡ª Pheasant Battle Axe (Iron-grade) Attack: 12~24 Stamina: +4 Level Requirement: 20 It was a pretty good weapon. Although its attack power wasn¡¯t as great as my Weeping Fire Blade, it was a godly weapon for players at this stage of the game. Using this weapon to grind levels would absolutely double their efficiency. Pleased, I tossed the Pheasant Battle Axe into my bag. I should ask Thirteen if he has a good weapon once I have to go back to restock. If not, I could just give it to him. As for why I didn¡¯t give him the Forest Green Blade? I needed money then. Learning skills, training them, and so on. Three hours later, I was Level 27 with 57% experience. Killing Level 28 monsters wasn¡¯t too great. I¡¯d already be Level 28 if I was grinding in Wildfire Plains. My bag was full again, this time with Chicken Meat. I looked at the time and saw that it was three in the morning. I wasn¡¯t tired at all though. My blood felt like it was about to boil the moment I thought about all the gold that was going to drop in my lap. At that thought, I wanted to laugh out loud! I was pretty much done with my material gathering now. As I began my journey back to Floating Ice City, I sent Du Thirteen a message. ¡°Got time?¡± ¡°Yeah, what¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Wait for me at Floating Ice City¡¯s eastern entrance.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Once I entered the city, I saw Du Thirteen from a distance. Level 23 Warrior, not bad. I walked forward and looked at the iron sword in his hand. ¡°What are the stats on your weapon?¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Thirteen was a bit dazed. ¡°Common-grade Level 5, 4~7 Attack. Why?¡± I tossed the Pheasant Battle Axe at him. ¡°Use this one. Yours is way too crappy.¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Thirteen caught the battle axe and was immediately overjoyed. He ran up and hugged me. ¡°Lu Chen, I love you, I love you. Hahahaha¡­¡± ¡°Scram, I already have someone I like.¡± I ruthlessly left a footprint on his face. ¡°Oh right, why were you looking for me?¡± Thirteen enthusiastically asked. I traded him 2 gold. ¡°Go buy me 20 stacks of Salt. The system grocer sells them. Once you¡¯ve bought the Salt, meet me at the warehouse. ¡°Oh, got it!¡± Thirteen left with gusto while I stood by the warehouse. I deposited half my Chicken Meat and took out half of my Glutinous Rice. The Rank 2 Consumable, Glutinous Rice Ball, needed 15 Glutinous Rice, 5 Chicken Meat, and 5 Salt. Unlike back when I only needed to use my nimble hands to make the Rank 1 Applesauce, I needed to use 10 MP for each Glutinous Rice Ball. Thirteen soon came back with the Salt. I told him, ¡°Give me 10 stacks first.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± With 10 stacks of Salt in hand, I now had all the ingredients I needed. I immediately opened the Cooking window and placed in the required materials. I pressed the synthesis button and the sound of a system notice rang¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You have made Glutinous Rice Ball x1. Cooking Proficiency +3! Heh, as expected of high-level Cooking! Glutinous Rice Ball: Rank 2 Cooking, instantly restores 200 MP to the user. Tsk tsk, this was definitely going to become a mainstream delicacy! I continued to make more rice balls, eating a Glutinous Rice Ball every time I ran out MP. I didn¡¯t need to be stingy since they were mine anyway. After making them for almost an hour, I finally used up almost all my Chicken Meat and Glutinous Rice. 190 Glutinous Rice Balls appeared in my bag. There were 10 in a stack so I had a total of 19 stacks! It was hard to train Cooking. I used so many materials but only gained 45% experience. I had a long way to go! I happily looked at the consumables in my bag and smiled. ¡°Thirteen, when you¡¯re grinding, have you ever felt that you never had enough MP?¡± Thirteen had a blank face. ¡°What¡¯s MP?¡± ¡°Uh, never mind, you can go back to grinding.¡± ¡°Forget it, I¡¯m tired. I¡¯m going to bed.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± When Thirteen logged off, I went to the center of the city plaza and yelled. ¡°Selling Rank 2 Consumable Glutinous Rice Ball for 10 silver each, 90 silver for a stack of 10. Come buy, come buy! Restores 200 MP! Limited stock, come buy while supply lasts! The surrounding players were all struck dumb¡ª ¡°Rank 2 Consumable? Shit, did I hear wrong? Someone already has Cooking at Rank 2?¡± ¡°Gotta be a liar!¡± ¡°Buy it and you¡¯ll know if it¡¯s true!¡± Someone traded me a few seconds later and gave me 10 silver. I placed in a Glutinous Rice Ball and the guy was shocked once the trade was successful. ¡°Shit! It really is a Rank 2 Consumable! Awesome, who is this guy?!¡± The players around me all scrambled to trade me and I happily accepted their money. I sold 90 Glutinous Rice Balls in not even ten minutes, coming out with 9 gold. Hahaha, I knew I¡¯d make it! Chapter 28: Let’s Meet! A Level 25 warrior clad in blue armor was standing beneath the icy walls and looking at me calmly. He wielded a shiny blade, and his equipment was clearly extraordinary. One might even say that it rivaled my own. The ID floating above his head¡ªDominating Heaven Blade LV-25. I was caught by surprise for a moment. This Dominating Heaven Blade was no ordinary player, and the people standing behind him¡ªthe Level 26 warrior, Dominating Warrior God and the Level 26 magic knight, Dominating Knight God¡ªwere listed on the Heavenly Ranking! Are they from the Domination Clan? I frowned. At this point, it was obvious who this Dominating Heaven Blade was. He was the boss of the Domination Clan and the future leader of the Domination Guild! ¡°Do you have business with me, brother?¡± I asked while showing them a lazy smile. So what if they were a king who covered the sky, or a pro with absolute strength? It didn¡¯t matter to me because... I was just a Glutinous Rice Ball seller. Dominating Heaven Blade smiled apologetically at me and said, ¡°Brother, you were selling Rank 2 Magic Consumables, Glutinous Rice Balls, weren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yep. Would you like to buy them?¡± I asked. ¡°Of course!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade laughed. ¡°I can see that you¡¯re a candid person. That¡¯s right, our clan may be planning an activity or two in the near future, and there are more buyers than there are players with Rank 2 Magic Cooking right now! How many Glutinous Rice Balls do you have, brother?¡± ¡°100, or 10 stacks. It should be enough for 10 Mages or Priests.¡± ¡°Ah? That many¡­¡± Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°I¡¯m willing to buy them all off you. Would you be willing to give me a discount?¡± I nodded. ¡°Sure. Does -10% discount sound alright to you?¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade was clearly caught off-guard by my intent to slaughter his wallet. The Domination Clan planned to reign over Floating Ice City, so they would definitely become an obstacle in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ path in the future. Therefore, any opportunity to weaken them was an opportunity not to be missed! ¡°-10%, huh¡­¡± Dominating Heaven Blade thought for a moment before replying, ¡°Very well, -10% it is. Let¡¯s trade right away!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± I opened the trade window and selected 10 stacks of Glutinous Rice Balls. Dominating Heaven Blade placed his 11 gold coins. Tsk tsk, he¡¯s definitely overflowing with riches! Once our trade was complete, Dominating Heaven Blade asked, ¡°So, brother, are you interested in cooperating with us?¡± ¡°No.¡± I replied indifferently before walking away from Floating Ice City. I was sure that Rank 2 Cooking would become fairly common in a couple of days, not to mention that I wasn¡¯t willing to supply high grade food to my competitors either. By now I was outside of the city zone, and my name had turned red in color. I shot Dominating Knight God a look and asked in a cold tone, ¡°What, you want to fight me?¡± The knight looked hesitant, but Dominating Warrior God rushed me while shouting, ¡°Less talking, more fighting! We¡¯re not afraid of you!¡± Dominating Warrior God raised his sword and attacked me. His footsteps were clean, and his movements were perfectly smooth. I didn¡¯t think that a brawny man like him would be able to move this well. Rustle rustle¡­ I spun on my feet and dodged Dominating Warrior God¡¯s sword strike with inches to spare. Then, I raised my right hand slightly and hit him on the back of his head with a glowing red palm. Slap! 118! My barehanded attack completely broke through his defense! Dominating Warrior God stared at me with wide-eyed astonishment. ¡°You¡­ you¡­ h-how is this possible?¡± It was at this moment Dominating Heaven Blade slowly walked over while chiding his subordinate, ¡°What are you doing, Three? Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is our friend! Calm yourself!¡± ¡°Boss? I¡­¡± Dominating Warrior God couldn¡¯t say anything. In fact, he looked rather ashamed. By now, some of the players around us had recognized us and started pointing fingers, chattering. ¡°Did you see them? They¡¯re all players on the Heavenly Ranking! That one over there is Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, the number two player of today¡¯s Heavenly Ranking! And those three are the experts of the Domination Clan!¡± ¡°Haha, how interesting. Did you guys see how Dominating Warrior God was defeated by Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand in one hit?¡± ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand clearly thinks that the Dominating Warrior God is beneath his attention. He would¡¯ve one-shot his opponent had he used a weapon!¡± ¡°Hah, the Domination Clan has finally met their match!¡± The crowd¡¯s comments caused Dominating Warrior God¡¯s face to turn even uglier. Dominating Heaven Blade immediately let out a laugh and tried to smooth things over. ¡°It¡¯s just a small misunderstanding. Sometimes you make friends with your opponents, right? Your skills are very impressive, brother! You look like a master of the art!¡± I nodded and smiled at him. ¡°Thank you.¡± I turned around and left after that. No one saw my face from the start until the end. The only identifiable feature on my person was my dark cyan cloak. I sucked in a deep breath after I had left the danger zone and entered Frost Forest. Thank goodness no one tried to encourage the crowd to hunt me down, a red name, or I would¡¯ve been in real danger. It was time to return to Frost Mound and accept a quest or two from Sentinel Leader Fark. I wanted to reach Level 30 before anyone, get my second class promotion and catch a pet as soon as possible! I didn¡¯t even bother to kill the monsters on my way back to Frost Mound. However, I noticed that something was wrong when I returned to the zone. Normally, a couple of skeletal soldiers or two would be patrolling around the area, but today everyone was gone. In fact¡­ that idiot Gui Guzi was missing as well! Rustle rustle rustle... When I entered the blood pool zone, someone suddenly sent me a message¡ª Gui Guzi: ¡°Watch out! Wind Fantasy is here¡­¡± Surprised, I looked up and saw everything I needed to understand the situation. Gui Guzi¡¯s lifeless corpse was on the ground, and Wind Fantasy was standing right next to him. The wanderer in white cloak was toying with a dark green dagger, looking like he was waiting for something. Eh? I thought Wind Fantasy is a sword user? I was surprised. Since when did he use a dagger? If there was one thing I was sure of, it would be that Gui Guzi was having a hard time. His corpse was currently at Level 17. Just how many times was he killed to drop this low? I was both impressed and exasperated by Gui Guzi¡¯s stubbornness. He never even sent me a message until I came back. Suddenly, Wind Fantasy noticed me and turned around to stare at me. I felt his gaze settling on my person from behind the white cloak, causing chills to appear all over my body. Beep! He brought out his sword and pointed it toward me. The gesture seemed to say ¡°You¡¯ve finally returned. I¡¯ve been waiting for you.¡± There was clearly no point in talking. Fight! I pulled a skeleton out from the blood pool next to me and successfully activated Summon Undead. I then ordered the little skeleton to charge Wind Fantasy while I lurked around the sides. ¡°Keke!¡± The brave and fearless little skeleton charged Wind Fantasy as ordered even though the latter was pouncing toward it like lightning. His sword was glowing silver with enigmatic energy just like my own was glowing red. Thwack! 415! A shocking amount of damage appeared above the little skeleton¡¯s head. It was killed in a single hit! Staying calm despite the loss, I executed a half-zigzag twice before attacking from opponent from an unexpected direction. The Weeping Fire Blade caught on fire, and a green glow surrounded it¡ªSlayer Slash! Clang! However, a dagger appeared in Wind Fantasy¡¯s left hand, and he blocked the blow with uncanny accuracy. As a result, he only took about half the damage he should¡¯ve received. His counterattack was swift and fierce, and it came from a tricky angle I couldn¡¯t dodge at all. I had no choice but to take the hit. Puchi! 287! His sword plunged straight through my heart. How ruthless! However, I also seized the opening to cut him across the neck. The attack dealt 311 damage, and I followed it up with a backhanded sweep that reduced my opponent¡¯s HP to less than 20%! Wind Fantasy retreated in a hurry after realizing that he was at a disadvantage. I, of course, pressed my advantage and chased after them! Suddenly, something unexpected happened¡ª Wind Fantasy pulled out a blue card from his chest and tossed it at me. The card transformed into falling snow and encased even the ground in ice! ¡°Not good!¡± I felt my heart skip a beat. It was a Skill Card! Bang bang bang! Three icicles suddenly appeared beneath my feet and penetrated my body, dropping me to the ground instantly! Beep! Combat Log: Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± used ¡°Ice and Snow Card¡±! I died and dropped to Level 26. My soul was released from my body as a result. Without any hesitation, I ran back to my body and revived! Swoosh! I charged toward my opponent again and clashed blades with him. During this time, I flung open my palm and threw a red card at him! Fire Wolf Card, Blaze! Boom! A circle of fire appeared around Wind Fantasy. All he managed was a scream before he was burned to death. I had revived so quickly that he didn¡¯t even have a chance to heal himself. Thump! I collapsed to the ground before grabbing the potions Wind Fantasy dropped after his death. Too bad he didn¡¯t drop his equipment. Gui Guzi chose this moment to revive before asking me in a determined tone, ¡°Want to camp him?!¡± I nodded. ¡°Of course! We¡¯ll camp him until the seas run dry, and the stones go soft! We¡¯ll camp him until the end of time itself!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± Gui Guzi responded while clenching his fists angrily. Wind Fantasy¡¯s revive point¡ªanother frozen graveyard¡ªwas a short distance away from here, so it would take at least 10 minutes for his soul to show up. However, he didn¡¯t revive even after 10 minutes had passed. It was probably because he knew that he had no chance against the two of us together. About an hour later, Gui Guzi let out a yawn and said, ¡°Fuck, I¡¯m too tired. I¡¯m going to bed¡­¡± ¡°You!¡± I stared at him furiously. What a hopeless man! How could you sleep after you had been farmed all the way down to Level 17?! That being said, Gui Guzi did look seriously exhausted. Oh well, I can do this myself! And so, Gui Guzi climbed into his grave and went to bed. A while later, a shadow suddenly entered my view. Wind Fantasy had revived! I immediately charged toward him and instagibbed him with Slayer Slash! Wonderful, with that death Wind Fantasy dropped to Level 26 and lost his number one spot! Hahaha! Another moment passed, and Wind Fantasy came back to life again. But this time, he was faster than I was, and he hit me with a lightning fast double strike before I could do anything. The half-a-second delay in my brain was absolutely deadly, and I was killed before I could react at all. I felt like my lungs were about to explode after I had dropped back to Level 25. Upon reviving, I immediately slipped underground with Earth Escape, burst out of the ground and killed Wind Fantasy with a basic attack and Slayer Slash. The murderous exchange continued for a while. Before we knew it, both of us had dropped out of the Heavenly Ranking. I was camping Wind Fantasy¡¯s body as usual when a beep suddenly entered my ears. System Notice: Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± has sent you a friend request. Do you accept? I clicked ¡°Yes¡± after a moment of surprise had passed. A few seconds later, he sent me a message¡ª ¡°Let¡¯s stop here. It doesn¡¯t benefit you or me to PK each other all the way back to Level 0.¡± I gave his message some thought and decided that he was right. I replied, ¡°Sure, but you¡¯ve got to explain yourself. Did you come to Frost Mound again and again because of me?¡± A few minutes later, Wind Fantasy replied, ¡°Of course not. Who the hell do you think you are?¡± Angry, I was about to shoot him a scathing reply when Wind Fantasy interrupted me. ¡°Do you live in Jiangsu? Let¡¯s meet offline!¡± I immediately replied, ¡°I¡¯m in Suzhou. What about you?¡± ¡°Same. Let¡¯s meet up at 3 pm tomorrow at Silver Fir Cafe, the one on the opposite side of Suzhou University of Science and Technology, 1st floor.¡± Wind Fantasy¡¯s reply was clean, direct, and commanding. He revived again. This was the first time we didn¡¯t just kill each other upon contact. I let out a snort and smiled at him. ¡°I¡¯m fine with the meeting, but if you don¡¯t show me your face now you can forget it!¡± Wind Fantasy replied a bit exasperatedly, ¡°Fine!¡± I opened my eyes wide and waited. Chapter 29: Lin Yixin I froze like a statue the instant I saw her. How should I describe her? She had big, round eyes that looked as clear as a lake. They looked pure enough to convince me that she had never seen anything dirty or dangerous in her life, and yet there was no mistaking the hint of womanly intelligence and cunning peeking from behind her gaze. It was as bewitching as it was charming. No one could¡¯ve imagined that Wind Fantasy was a girl, let alone a girl so beautiful that it positively stole the breath in my lungs! ¡°Now let me see your face,¡± Wind Fantasy said as she stared at me grudgefully. I wondered what kind of bond we had after murdering the hell out of each other. I shook my head and replied, ¡°You¡¯d rather not. I¡¯m a Night Creature, and my appearance is quite frightening.¡± ¡°Cut the bullshit and take off your hood already!¡± Her reply left no room for defiance. Nodding, I pulled down my hood slowly and revealed my absolutely ¡°bony¡± face to her. She was obviously frightened by my appearance, but she quickly kept her emotions in check and asked, ¡°You don¡¯t also look like this in real life, do you?¡± ¡°Nah, I look slightly more handsome than this.¡± ¡°Hmph. Alright, remembering that we¡¯re meeting at 3 pm tomorrow at Silver Fir Cafe, 1st floor. You should find me at a table on the right side.¡± ¡°Do you also look like this in real life?¡± I asked. It was a matter of great concern because this would be the second time in my life I would go meet an online friend. My first time was He Yi, and to say that it was a stunning meeting would be an understatement. Naturally, I didn¡¯t want to meet the complete opposite of her if I could help it. Wind Fantasy pursed her lips together into a small smile. ¡°Well¡­ I won¡¯t deny that I adjusted my in-game appearance a little, so you may be a bit disappointed when you see me in real life. But I¡¯m sure I won¡¯t frighten you too much¡­¡± ¡°Alright, see you tomorrow afternoon then.¡± Wind Fantasy bade me goodbye and returned to Floating Ice City. I myself crawled back into my grave. I took off my gaming helmet. I was exhausted after being online for god knows how many hours, so I went to bed immediately after eating a bowl of instant noodles. The next day, I woke up an hour into the afternoon. Du Thirteen was taking a shower and humming all kinds of vulgar tunes in the bathroom. I climbed to my feet and cleaned myself for a bit. Once Du Thirteen was done, we went out to eat lunch. While we were eating, Du Thirteen asked, ¡°So, we¡¯re leveling to 30 after lunch?¡± ¡°Not this time. I have a meeting later.¡± ¡°A meeting?¡± Du Thirteen¡¯s interest was immediately piqued. ¡°Is it a woman?¡± I nodded. ¡°Who is it? Is it He Yi? You¡¯ve got to bring me along if it¡¯s her, haha!¡± ¡°Of course not. It¡¯s Wind Fantasy.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± I nodded and poured water over Du Thirteen¡¯s budding desires. ¡°However, she told me to be ready because she¡¯s no beauty.¡± Understanding exactly what I meant, Du Thirteen patted me on the shoulder and asked, ¡°What time are you two meeting?¡± ¡°3 pm.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll call you at 3:10 pm and say that your house is on fire. All you need to do is answer the call and rush back.¡± I grinned. My brother is a caring man and a veteran! Around 2 pm or so, I went to the post office to send the card He Yi gave me to my dad. On the way, I felt like I was literally dying under the scalding sunlight. The reason I did this was because I had no idea how much longer I could live. The card contained several hundred thousand RMB, and the password was my birthday date. I told my dad that it was my present to him. I felt deeply ashamed and guilty about this, but there was nothing I could do about my condition. After that, I sat under a small bridge and allowed my mind to wander. It wasn¡¯t long before it was almost 3 pm. Time to move! The Suzhou University of Science and Technology wasn¡¯t far from where I lived. In fact, it was incredibly close because I was one of its students just a year ago. I was crippled after I graduated, so I rented a room in a nearby district. I felt a lot of emotions after returning to my alma mater. I missed my idiot friends a lot. Silver Fir Cafe was an elegantly-styled cafe that was opened just recently. Its interior design was pretty high class, and it was a nice spot for couples to show off their love to each other. Of course, this establishment did not offer sexual services. A lot of girls shot me looks after I entered the cafe. Mn, now I¡¯m sure my efforts to improve my appearance this afternoon weren¡¯t in vain... ¡°First floor, the table on the right side¡­¡± I muttered to myself and walked toward my destination. Then, I felt a shudder from head to toe. WTF?! There was only one person on the right side of the entire cafe, and it was a younger schoolgirl that looked like she weighed about 120kg. The poor chair she sat on kept groaning in pain, and she was staring at me innocently... I gritted my teeth and swore in my mind. Fuck! You call this ¡°a bit of adjustment¡±?? You¡­ you look like someone who got crushed by a tank before getting reconstructive surgery! For a moment, my fury scorched all the way to the heavens. All liars should go to hell! I took out my phone and checked the time, 3:02 pm. Please, let these 8 remaining minutes pass by as soon as possible! Pretending to be calm, I walked up to the schoolgirl casually, sat down and looked at her. I asked, ¡°Hey there. How are you doing?¡± The schoolgirl gave me a brilliant smile, the kind where fat was shaking all over the place. She replied, ¡°Hey handsome, what about you? Are you alone?¡± It was at this moment I noticed that something was off. She¡¯s not Wind Fantasy! A waft of fragrance suddenly brushed across my nose and shoulders like ripples across water. When I looked up, I was stunned to find a beautiful girl with bright eyes and clean teeth standing next to me and peering at me. Her long hair danced across the air as she stared at me playfully and scornfully. I rose to my feet in an instant. ¡°What¡­ what¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Are you Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?¡± She was holding a cup of tea. After glancing between me and the schoolgirl, a smile suddenly bloomed across her face like a pool of autumn. ¡°I see your taste is quite special.¡± I felt ashamed, embarrassed, and awkward all at the same time. I didn¡¯t know what to say at all. If there was a hole on the ground, I would¡¯ve crawled inside and hidden myself. She burst out into a giggle before pointing at a seat next to me. ¡°Take a seat. Or would you like to order something?¡± I shook my head. I only had about 2000 RMB left after sending the card to my dad, not to mention that I had a freeloader to feed. She nodded. ¡°Alright, now speak. How do you think we should resolve our dispute?¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple. We just need to stay out of each other¡¯s way from now on,¡± I replied honestly. ¡°Stay out of each other¡¯s way?¡± A bit of disapproval entered her face. ¡°You think that¡¯s still possible after you wrecked the quest I spent ten hours preparing for?¡± ¡°Ah?¡± I was caught off-guard by her reply. ¡°I wrecked your quest?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± The wind beauty nodded. ¡°That sentinel leader revives in ten hours after his first death, so I needed to kill him a second time. Also, I needed to kill him within 10 minutes after his revival, or I would fail my quest. But you¡­ and Gui Guzi wrecked my plans completely!¡± ¡°Is that why you camped Gui Guzi¡¯s corpse?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± She nodded seriously. I couldn¡¯t sense any hesitation or falsehood behind her beautiful eyes. I gritted my teeth and shivered. I can¡¯t afford to piss off this beauty. It was at this moment a series of giggles that sounded like bells came from the entrance. Three beautiful girls entered the cafe, and one of them ran up to Wind Fantasy with a smile. ¡°Yiyi, why didn¡¯t you show up for class this afternoon? Are you here¡­ for a date?¡± She suddenly looked at me, the word ¡°misunderstanding¡± scribbled all over her face. Panicking a little, Wind Fantasy tried to explain herself. ¡°That¡¯s not true, Qingqing! I¡­ I, uh¡­¡± However, she couldn¡¯t find the right words to say. It was like she was literally tongue-tied. I smiled appreciatively at the embarrassed girl before asking, ¡°Hey beautiful, what is Yiyi¡¯s full name?¡± The beautiful girl looked surprised. ¡°Seriously? You don¡¯t know her? Man, you must be really unlucky if you¡¯ve never heard about her. She has been the beauty queen of our university for who knows how many years already. Her name is Lin Yixin, and if I remember correctly she¡¯s called Wind Fantasy in a game¡­¡± Her answer silenced me for a bit. Wait a second, I think I¡¯ve heard this name before... It was then a memory entered my mind. Before I graduated, Du Thirteen often talked about a ¡°goddess so beautiful she could shatter the heaven and the earth with her looks¡±. Was he talking about her? I looked closer and realized that Lin Yixin was actually as beautiful as Du Thirteen claimed. If He Yi was a ¡°stunning¡± beauty, then Lin Yixin was a ¡°shattering¡± one. Sensing my astonishment, Lin Yixin said, ¡°Don¡¯t listen to their nonsense. I¡¯m just a shut-in who loves farming gold, that¡¯s all.¡± I nodded with a smile. ¡°I¡¯m also¡ª¡± ¡°A shut-in?¡± ¡°Come on, I was going to say I like farming gold too!¡± Lin Yixin covered her mouth with a giggle. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s get back to business then.¡± ¡°Alright. So, you were saying?¡± Lin Yixin took a sip of tea before licking her lips once. Every little gesture she made was bewitchingly soothing to look at. She then smiled at me and said, ¡°So¡­ I plan to build a guild in the near future. I would like to invite you to join me!¡± I gave it a thought before rejecting her resolutely. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but no.¡± ¡°Never mind then.¡± Lin Yixin didn¡¯t take offense from my rejection. ¡°We can at least be allies, right?¡± ¡°Yes, that won¡¯t be a problem.¡± I nodded. The girl with a ponytail¡ªLin Yixin¡¯s classmate¡ªinterrupted our conversation again and asked, ¡°Who¡¯s this guy, Yiyi? Is he a player in Heavenblessed too?¡± Lin Yixin nodded. ¡°Yes, Qingqing.¡± The girl named Qingqing held her hand toward me with a smile and said, ¡°Good day to you, handsome! What is your ID?¡± I shook her hand and replied, ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand.¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Qingqing¡¯s mouth fell open. ¡°You¡­ you¡¯re actually the number two player on the top rankings? Hoho, you don¡¯t actually look bad at all. And here I thought all guy gamers were dirty shut-ins!¡± Her good impression of me actually made me feel quite awkward. Thank goodness I spent half an hour to improve my appearance before I came... Lin Yixin said, ¡°Alright, I guess we¡¯re half-friends since we¡¯re friends in game.¡± ¡°Why half-friends?¡± I asked. ¡°That¡¯s because I don¡¯t trust you enough yet,¡± she said directly. ¡°There are plenty of forces lurking inside Floating Ice City, and we need to identify who our greatest enemies are.¡± ¡°And who are they? Mad Dragon?¡± ¡°Tch¡­¡± Lin Yixin snorted disdainfully before answering, ¡°Leave small fries like them out of the conversation, will you? They¡¯re not worthy to be my opponent in Floating Ice City at least.¡± ¡°Who is then?¡± ¡°You and Dominating Heaven Blade.¡± I was extremely flattered by her high praise. I continued asking, ¡°The Domination Clan?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Lin Yixin replied with a smile. ¡°They¡¯re a group of professional players, and they¡¯re going all out in Heavenblessed. We all need to be careful of them.¡± It was at this moment my phone rang. Du Thirteen¡¯s voice came from the other side of the phone. ¡°Lu Chen, it¡¯s bad, our house is on fire! Come home quickly!¡± I looked at Lin Yixin and made my decision immediately. Like I care if a fire or an earthquake is wrecking my house when such a beautiful girl is sitting right in front of me! So I answered, ¡°Call 119.¡± ¡°Fuck¡ª¡± I ended the call before Du Thirteen could finish. Lin Yixin heard everything, so she shot me a disdainful look and said, ¡°I see you¡¯re quite confident in my looks, hmm?¡± I replied awkwardly, ¡°Of course.¡± Du Thirteen called me again a couple of seconds later. I ended the call again. Several minutes later, a man barged into the cafe like a hurricane and shouted, ¡°Lu Chen, you bas¡­ tard¡­¡± Du Thirteen¡¯s voice died away as though he had been frozen solid. Chapter 30: Blockhead ¡°How ungenerous of you, Lu Chen!¡± On the way back, Du Thirteen couldn¡¯t stop talking about Lin Yixin. ¡°Sigh, Lin Yixin is beautiful, isn¡¯t she? Back when she was in her first year she already looked like a flower waiting to bloom, and now she¡¯s positively glistening with loveliness. If I could touch her once, no, kiss her once, I could die happy¡­¡± I shot him a disdainful look before saying, ¡°Look at yourself. You should at least try to aim higher.¡± ¡°Did you ask for her phone number?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°You blockhead!¡± Du Thirteen looked downright resentful at my apparent lack of interest toward women, but I hadn¡¯t forgotten how he elegantly ran into a table after barging into the cafe and meeting Lin Yixin. Du Thirteen was a real monster. Legend said that his birth shocked his father so much that the latter pushed him back into his mother without hesitation. He had had to crawl back out on his own to save his own life. Since then, countless beautiful girls were plagued by the walking disaster called Du Thirteen. ¡°Lu Chen, what were you talking about with Beauty Lin?¡± Du Thirteen asked. ¡°Cooperation.¡± ¡°What kind of cooperation?¡± ¡°How would I know? She¡¯s the one who made the offer.¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± It was night time. I logged back into the game and noted that neither Lin Yixin nor I were in the rankings anymore. It was because we had PKed each other down to Level 25 and fell out of the level race. Still, who would¡¯ve thought that the best player of Floating Ice City, Wind Fantasy, was a devastatingly beautiful woman? At Frost Mound Camp, I repaired my equipment and filled up my bag with potions. Now that I¡¯m wealthy, not even two storehouses of potions can put a dent in my wallet! I walked outside the camp and saw that Sentinel Leader Fark had come back to life. He rubbed his hands together and smiled at me just like before. ¡°You¡¯re here, little skeleton. It looks like you¡¯ve gotten stronger during this time!¡± I walked up to him and replied, ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to your guidance, boss!¡± The NPC had no idea what I was talking about, so he simply sighed and said, ¡°Recently, a bunch of annoying greenskins had shown up at the west side of Frost Mound. They¡¯re noisy, loud, and they even attacked our camp before. We must mount a counterattack right away! Young little skeleton, go to the west side of Frost Mound and find the Green-hatted Goblins. Kill 100 of them and bring back 20 Green Hats to me!¡± I nodded understandingly. It was the classic monster that appeared in every game! The goblin was a green-skinned creature with high agility and attack power. It could be considered quite powerful during the early stages of the game, more powerful than a Big-eared Rabbit at least. Ding~! System Notice: You¡¯ve accepted the quest [The Goblins¡¯ Green Hats]! (Quest Rank: F) I accepted the quest while thanking the fact that I could finally kill something that wasn¡¯t a skeleton. My skill, Undead Energy, had reached Rank 2, and killing living creatures would level it faster. I opened the map and walked a straight path through the forest. A short while later, I reached a wide open area where a Green-hatted Goblin was meandering about at the distance. It was carrying a rusted iron hammer, talking to himself about something I couldn¡¯t understand and shaking its hips while running. It was a performance worthy of the best actor award. Green-hatted Goblin (Common) Level: 33 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Tsk tsk, another high-level mob whose stats I can¡¯t read! I was 8 levels behind the Green-hatted Goblin because I had dropped to Level 25. It was no wonder that this quest was rated as an F rank quest! Never mind that, kill first, think later! Whoosh! I charged the goblin in a straight line while wrapping the Weeping Fire Blade in a blood-colored energy. When I got close to it, cyan light abruptly exploded from the blade. Here comes my signature skill¡ªSlayer Slash II! I struck the goblin squarely in the head and caused a loud clang. Unfortunately, the angle of my attack was a bit off, and I wasn¡¯t able to deal much damage to it. 187! I calmly and swiftly brought my blade upward and stabbed the goblin in the face. Puchi! 312! As I thought, I shouldn¡¯t attack its protected head. The hat had high defense, and I couldn¡¯t pierce it with my current attack power. I lowered my center of gravity and attacked the goblin a couple more times before it finally retaliated with a cry and a swing of its hammer. Unfortunately, it was so slow that it only managed to swing once before it died to my flurry of attacks. Pop! Not bad, my very first goblin kill gave me a Green Hat and a 76 Quality Big Magic Stone. It was totally worth it! Next! Some time later, a familiar figure suddenly entered my view. It was Gui Guzi. This guy had gotten up very early to train his character, and he managed to don his Level 20 equipment again and return to Level 23. It was very impressive. Right now, he was fighting against a Level 33 Goblin, and it was a close one considering that he had to drink a couple of potions and maintain good positioning and movement against it. In the end, he won his fight. ¡°Are you also collecting goblin hats for a quest?¡± I asked. Gui Guzi nodded. I didn¡¯t send him a party invite either. The two of us went back to killing goblins at the clearing. A while later, I turned around and asked, ¡°Gui Guzi, how many times did Wind Fantasy kill you yesterday?¡± ¡°Eleven times I guess, I don¡¯t remember¡­¡± ¡°Do you bear a grudge?¡± Gui Guzi gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly in response. He said, ¡°If only I could skin him alive!¡± ¡°She¡¯s a girl.¡± I kept the reveal brief. Surprised, Gui Guzi fell silent for a moment. Then, he asked, ¡°How does she look?¡± ¡°Fuck off!¡± ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± When it was nighttime, and the moon had risen to the sky, I had collected enough Green Hats to turn in my quest. I ran back to Frost Mound and¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you¡¯ve completed the quest [The Goblins¡¯ Green Hats]! You¡¯ve obtained 4500 EXP and 30 Reputation! Swoosh! Light surrounded me, and I leveled to 27. As usual, killing mobs that were higher level than you was incredibly rewarding. The only problem was that I was burning through my potions way too quickly. Take now for example, I had used up my entire bag of potions in less than 3 hours. This can¡¯t go on! The sentinel leader had no other quests to offer, and my Satiety had fallen to 37. So, I went to the Mushroom Forest. Xinran was gathering fresh mushrooms beneath a tree, and she clearly looked happy to see me. She rushed to my side at almost running speed and smiled. ¡°You¡¯ve finally shown up, big brother! I almost thought you wouldn¡¯t come today!¡± Xinran then took out a piece of Oat Bread from her wicker basket and said, ¡°Here you go, this is for you!¡± I nodded and accepted the bread. After I finished, my Satiety was completely refilled once more. Now I could run around the world for another 24 hours! I then took out a 99 Quality Big Magic Stone and gave it to the girl, saying, ¡°Xinran, here, this is for you!¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± The girl¡¯s pure eyes were filled with astonishment. Her mouth fell open as she muttered, ¡°This¡­ this is a monster¡¯s core! The shaman in the village said that only a powerful warrior can kill a monster and take out their core. Big brother, does this mean you¡¯re a powerful warrior of the Light?¡± Chapter 31: Promise The girl¡¯s eyes were filled with admiration. ¡°So amazing! Big brother, Xinran would like to become a capable priest in the future. Will you take me away from the village and show me the outside world?¡± I nodded. ¡°Sure, no problem!¡± The moment I said that, a melodious ring suddenly entered my ears. Ding~! System Notice: You¡¯ve accepted the quest [Promise]! (Quest Rank: SSS+) Description: Fulfill your promise and help Young Girl Xinran in becoming a priest of the Silver Moon Alliance. I froze like a statue. What is this? How did a small promise like that turn out to be an SSS+ rank quest, a god-level quest?! Did something happen to the system? It has to be, dammit, whoever wrote this game must¡¯ve drank an entire gallon of Erguotou before working! My disbelief aside, the rewards of an SSS+ rank quest could only be amazing. Yeah, I should leave this for now. In-game NPCs grew up very quickly, and Xinran would probably reach adulthood in less than half a month¡¯s time. After that, she could register herself in Floating Ice City¡¯s Priest Academy and begin her new life in a magic academy. I wonder what kind of role will I play when the time comes? I couldn¡¯t help but smile when I thought up to this point. I said to Xinran, ¡°If someone bullies you after you receive your blessing at the cathedral and enter the Priest Academy, you must tell me, okay? I¡¯ll teach them a lesson, no matter who they are!¡± Xinran giggled and smiled like an angel. ¡°Okay, big brother! It¡¯s a promise!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I spent some time with Xinran. She talked about all the interesting events happening around her village, such as a hunter who was bitten by a boar during hunting, a tone-deaf wandering minstrel and so on. All these tales were but a plot device meant to keep the cogs spinning. Although it was incredibly relaxing to talk to a pure and innocent girl like Xinran, I was a professional gamer, not a loli trainer. So, I bade her goodbye and went to Wild Pheasant Ridge. I took out countless pheasants and obtained lots of Chicken Meat. After a trip to Floating Ice City¡¯s storehouse, I traveled to the faraway Wildfire Plains and spent a long time searching for another natural valley. I succeeded, and just like the last time, there was a lot of Glutinous Rice in them. I put them all inside my Army Pouch before I finally traveled back to Floating Ice City. ¡°Thirteen, come here and help me buy some Salt, will you?¡± It didn¡¯t take long for Du ¡°Amazing Expert¡± Thirteen to show up and buy an entire bag¡¯s worth of Salt as requested. I began cooking and magically synthesizing Glutinous Rice Balls out of thin air. Du Thirteen was very impressed. ¡°Lu Chen, these rice balls are so much more expensive than the pancakes and fruits that are sold on the streets¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Instead of replying, the bastard disdainfully shifted his gaze toward the ladies setting up shop in Floating Ice City Square. ¡°Tsk tsk, would you look at that priest! So juicy!¡± Du Thirteen suddenly said while salivating. I followed his gaze and felt my heart skip a beat. That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s Murong Mingyue! Murong Mingyue was one of the core members of the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild and the second strongest elder under He Yi, ¡°The Moon¡±. I didn¡¯t expect to see her here. Under the moonlight, Murong Mingyue wore what looked like a Common-grade gray mage robe. However, it wasn¡¯t nearly enough to overshadow Murong Mingyue¡¯s beauty at all. Her lovable eyes could bewitch a person in a single glance, and she had an innocent look to her that accentuated her beauty. However, those weren¡¯t even her greatest assets. Her greatest asset was the pair of mountains hanging in front of her and looking like they would burst through her mage robe at any moment. It was more than enough excitement to suffocate anyone! Meanwhile, Du Thirteen¡¯s saliva flowed like a river. In fact, he literally looked like he was about to suffocate from excitement. There were only three times Du Thirteen had looked like this: the first time was when he saw the natural and peerless He Yi; the second time was when he saw the exceptional and elegant Lin Yixin, and the third time was, well, now, when he saw the impressively-endowed Murong Mingyue. I shot him a glare before whispering under my breath, ¡°Control yourself, dammit! Fuck, I don¡¯t want her to recognize me!¡± ¡°Oops¡­¡± Du Thirteen finally wiped away the saliva on his mouth before asking, ¡°Lu Chen, I want to chase her!¡± I shot him down firmly. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it!¡± ¡°But why?¡± ¡°Because¡­ fuck, how would I know? You just can¡¯t. Also, weren¡¯t you planning to chase He Yi earlier? Why did you suddenly change your mind?¡± Du Thirteen replied in a helpless tone, ¡°Well, I saw the newspaper and found out that she¡¯s the Asia Region Vice President of GGS. She may even become the president in the near future. Long story short she¡¯s way out of my league, and I¡¯m not foolish enough to pursue the impossible¡­¡± Suddenly, Du Thirteen watched me closely and asked, ¡°Lu Chen, seriously, what is the relationship between you and Beauty Lin?¡± ¡°Uhh, we don¡¯t have one?¡± ¡°Uuuu¡­¡± Du Thirteen groaned sorrowfully. ¡°How is it that you know Beauty Lin, He Yi, and Murong Mingyue¡­¡± He then grabbed me by the neck and started shaking my hand back and forth like a fan. ¡°Talk, dammit! Beauty Lin fell in love with you, didn¡¯t she?¡± ¡°Like hell she did!¡± I pushed his hands away before saying, ¡°Lin Yixin and I are just business partners, that¡¯s all. Our relationship isn¡¯t nearly as impure or complicated as you make it out to be. Just the same, He Yi is the leader, and I¡¯m just the subordinate. As for Big Sis Mingyue, we were just close friends in game¡­¡± Suddenly, a sweet and melodious voice hit me from behind¡ª ¡°So¡­ our relationship is impure and complicated, huh?¡± I turned around and felt my soul leaving my body. I had no idea when, but Wind Fantasy also known as Lin Yixin was standing right behind us. Her white cloak turned back to normal and fluttered slightly behind her. However, it made her long, black hair stand out even more than it already was, and her soft, pale cheeks looked as soft as a bubble. Her purple eyes were especially striking, so beautiful they were that it was difficult to look her in the eyes. Lin Yixin¡¯s equipment was very impressive. She was wearing a uniquely-designed and elegant silver armor that perfectly accentuated her shapely body. The circular shapes that covered her stunning chest caused one¡¯s blood to boil. Below her battle skirt was a pair of snow-white legs covered in dense, metallic runes, and to top it all off she wore a pair of coffee-colored barbarian war boots. There was only way to describe the way she looked right now¡ªa living goddess! ¡°Gulp!¡± ¡°Gulp!¡± I gulped. Du Thirteen gulped. The two of us then shot each other a disdainful look. Lin Yixin smiled. ¡°Hmph hmph, Lu Chen, you¡¯re really¡­ forget it, I¡¯m going back to my quest. Later!¡± Lin Yixin walked past me and headed toward the city gate. She raised her hand and gave a tiny wave without looking back. Du Thirteen and I stayed frozen for a while before we finally regained ourselves and got back to cooking. What could we do, Lin Yixin was just that stunning. Even now, three minutes after Lin Yixin had disappeared, countless players were still staring at the city gate with their mouths opened. There were plenty of perverts who wanted to chase her, but Wind Fantasy was about as famous as the sun in Floating Ice City. Who would dare provoke a powerful woman like her? Some time later, the system rang in my ears¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your Cooking skill has leveled! Phew! My Cooking skill finally reached Rank 3. I can now collect Rank 3 ingredients and cook Rank 3 Consumables! Considering how much Rank 2 Consumables were worth, higher-rank food could only be even more expensive. Too bad no one had reached Level 30 yet so Rank 2 Consumables were good enough for now. But once players crossed that threshold, Rank 3 Consumables would be mandatory to engage in any high-level fights like bosses and PK. Suddenly, my heart started beating rapidly. It was because two familiar people were coming our way! Two players were buying potions at the potion shop next to our stall. The IDs above their heads were incredibly eye-catching to me¡ª Hot Sun LV-26 Warrior Murong Mingyue LV-25 Priest They were none other than Xu Yang and Murong Mingyue! I didn¡¯t even dare to breathe loudly for fear of catching their attention. The duo¡¯s conversation entered my ears while they were walking past me¡ª Xu Yang sighed. ¡°It¡¯s been almost a week since Boss created her account, but she hasn¡¯t even logged in once...¡± Murong Mingyue replied, ¡°That¡¯s because Lu Chen is no longer with us¡­¡± Xu Yang asked, ¡°Did you ask her when she¡¯ll be logging back in? It feels like the entire guild is missing its soul without her.¡± Murong Mingyue sighed. ¡°Let¡¯s be patient, okay? I¡¯ve been consoling Eve almost everyday, but even I don¡¯t know how long it¡¯ll take her to¡­ snap out of her grief¡­¡± The duo eventually vanished into a distant forest. Du Thirteen patted me on the shoulder before saying quietly, ¡°Be strong, brother!¡± I smiled at him and replied, ¡°I¡¯m fine. Now, let¡¯s get back to selling rice balls, shall we?¡± Chapter 32: Forest Python I made over 200 Glutinous Rice Balls and sold them for 10 silver each, or 1 gold per stack. The price tag we put up was honestly on the expensive side, but because the demand was greater than supply we were able to sell everything and make a killing in just half an hour! Floating Ice City was crawling with pros, and there were plenty of guilds and gaming workshops who planned to amaze the world with a brilliant feat. Supplies like these were absolutely critical in securing an early game advantage, but most players either couldn¡¯t find the source of the ingredients or couldn¡¯t win against the mobs that controlled the locations such as the Pheasants at Wild Pheasant Ridge. That was why people who possessed both the strength and the business acumen like me were able to lay claim to this opportunity before anyone else. I checked my bag and counted 34 gold in total. I probably qualified to challenge Floating Ice City¡¯s richest people ranking right now. I passed 10 gold to Du Thirteen and smiled. ¡°Take this and go learn your class skills!¡± ¡°This is a lot!¡± Du Thirteen looked shocked. ¡°It¡¯s fine, just spend the rest on potions.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± After Du Thirteen had stocked up on potions, he formed a team with someone else and left to grind. I left the city myself to choose the location I would make my push to Level 30! In Heavenblessed, Level 30 was undoubtedly a power spike point. Once a player reached it, they would be able to learn more skills and own up to three pets. Pets made battles a lot less time-consuming and troublesome than they were currently. Before doing that though, I opened Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking to take a look. I noticed that the placements had changed drastically again. Name Level Class Dominating Heaven Blade 29 Warrior Inconstant 29 Magic Knight Iron Pardon 29 Warrior Dominating Knight God 28 Magic Knight Dominating Archer God 28 Archer Wind Fantasy 28 Light Wanderer Dominating Mage God 28 Mage Dominating Warrior God 28 Warrior Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 27 Undead Swordsman Clear Perfume 27 Archer I was barely hanging on to the 9th place, and even Lin Yixin was only at 6th because we killed the hell out of each other earlier. Meanwhile, Dominating Heaven Blade had claimed the top spot. As expected, he was no slouch in this game. Someone who could reach Level 29 in such a short time couldn¡¯t be average. Besides that, there were 4 other people from the Domination Clan on the Heavenly Ranking, meaning that half of its spots were taken by Domination Clan. Their sphere of influence must be through the roof right now! I was just about to take my leave when a beep suddenly entered my ears. System Notice: Player ¡°Iron Pardon¡± has sent you a friend request. Do you accept? The notice caught me slightly off-guard. Iron Pardon was looking for me? I confirmed the request and waited for a few seconds. A message soon appeared before me. ¡°Hey there, Broken Halberd. Has your Cooking skill reached Rank 3?¡± ¡°Yes. What is it?¡± I didn¡¯t try to hide my skill rank. ¡°It¡¯s like this, I¡¯d like to buy 50 Rank 3 Consumables from you, the kind that add 300 MP in 60 seconds. You can set the price, but I need them within 24 hours. Think you can manage?¡± I mulled over the offer for a moment. It would be foolish to turn down a client, and so far this Iron Pardon seemed like a guy worth knowing. I replied, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll come to you in 24 hours. Fifty Rank 3 Consumables, 50 silver each. Is that okay with you?¡± Iron Pardon didn¡¯t reply for almost two minutes straight. If I had to guess, he was stunned by the exorbitant demand. Right now there were many players who didn¡¯t even have 10 silver in their pockets, and here I was demanding 50 silver for Rank 3 Consumables. I didn¡¯t think that I was being unreasonable, however. At this stage, the only reason someone would need this many Rank 3 Consumables was to prepare for a boss fight. Priests¡¯ Rank 2 healing skills cost a lot of MP, and without Rank 3 Consumables, they were simply not sustainable. If a priest ran out of mana and the entire team lost their source of heals, they would lose far more than some gold and Rank 3 Consumables. Therefore, rather than an expenditure, it was more of an investment to prevent a bigger loss down the road. As I expected, Iron Pardon replied after a few minutes, ¡°Okay, 50 silver it is. The more, the better. We¡¯ll take however many you¡¯ll have by then!¡± ¡°Alright, that¡¯s settled then. See you later!¡± ¡°See you later!¡± I mulled over my plans for a moment before deciding to hunt for ingredients and experience at the same time. Yesterday, Du Thirteen told me that he only had a couple hundred RMB left in his pockets, so if we didn¡¯t get any income soon, we would both starve. I opened the skill window of my Cooking skill and checked the recipes for Rank 3 Consumables. Green Pepper Meatball. Requires: Green Peppers x10, Glutinous Rice x20, Chicken Meat x10, Salt x15. Restores 300 MP. I had plenty of Glutinous Rice, Chicken Meat and Salt in reserve, so the only ingredient I was missing was Green Pepper. Green Pepper was a Rank 4 ingredient, so it could only be harvested when the player¡¯s Foraging skill had reached Rank 4. Coincidentally, after sweeping through almost the entire Glutinous Rice valley at Wildfire Plains, my Foraging skill had reached Rank 4 as early as half a day ago! I wasn¡¯t the player with the highest Foraging skill, but I was definitely the highest-level player out of all the foragers, and the player with the highest Foraging skill among all of the high-level players. They call people like me ¡°masters of both the pen and the sword¡±, haha! I checked the forums and typed ¡°green pepper¡± into the search box. Public database had already gotten an entry about it. There was only one map in the entire region around Floating Ice City that boasted Green Pepper, and it was Cold Wind Canyon! Cold Wind Canyon was situated very close to the borders at the far south of Frost Forest. It was one and a half hours away from Floating Ice City, and the road to it was riddled with deadly encounters with a variety of monsters. For casual players, this place might as well not exist. They would be killed long before they reached it anyway. That being said, nothing ventured, nothing gained. After making up my mind, I traveled back to Floating Ice City and spent 2 gold on a return scroll. Dammit, that was an entire gold more than it was worth! Right now, return scrolls were a luxury only the wealthy could buy. Those who played this game casually couldn¡¯t afford it at all. After that, I exited Floating Ice City and traveled to Cold Wind Canyon, all the while killing everything that stood in my way. On the way, I encountered Level 30 goblins, Level 32 slimes, Level 27 wolves and Level 31 kobolds. None of them were a match for me, and it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that I left a trail of bodies stretching all the way from Floating Ice City to Cold Wind Canyon. At first, I occasionally encountered a team or two who were going the same direction I was. But the further I traveled, the less frequent the encounters became, and eventually I was the only one left still trekking through the forest. The metal of the Weeping Fire Blade faintly glowed orange. For obvious reasons, a Bronze-grade weapon with 40 Attack was an object of much envy, but my ID was enough to keep any would-be robbers at bay. I am Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, a ranker from the Heavenly Ranking of Floating Ice City. Where would you find someone foolish enough to provoke my wrath? I opened the world map and checked my location. I wasn¡¯t far away from Cold Wind Canyon now. At most, it would take me ten minutes to reach my destination. However, the scenery in front of me suddenly changed into a pitch-black forest. I could even hear ghastly cries from the trees from time to time. It looked like I had reached a high-level grinding zone! For a moment, I felt conflicted and unsure. On one hand, this area was clearly not for a Level 27 player like me. On the other hand, coming this far and going back empty-handed left a bad taste in my mouth. In the end, I decided to take the risk and continued toward Cold Wind Canyon. I had to be brave, for riches and bitches! Ding~! System Notice: You¡¯ve entered the neutral zone, Black Forest! It was just as I thought! I cautiously proceeded further into the forest while gripping the Weeping Fire Blade when I suddenly whiffed in a heavy tang of blood. Something¡¯s attacking me! ¡°Ssss¡­¡± Thanks to the moonlight, I was able to see a python clinging to a tree branch above me. It had an insanely long tongue, and it was looking at me with cold, brown eyes. I could feel my stomach churning underneath its gaze. Forest Python (Common) Level: 35 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Its stats weren¡¯t showing, and its level was way higher than mine! It was too late to run away, so I had no choice but to attack it first! Crash! I ran down the straight path and swung my sword down toward its head. The impact actually caused a shower of sparks and a loud clang before a number rose from its head¡ª146! Fuck! That hit didn¡¯t even take away 10% of its HP! The Forest Python hissed loudly before zooming in for a bite. It was too fast for me to dodge! Crack! I felt like my shoulder was being torn apart. Shit, I got hit¡ª Beep! Combat Log: Forest Python hit you, dealing 217 damage! Not good, this monster¡¯s defense was at least as strong as some bosses¡¯! I hastily took a few steps back and poured a health potion down my throat. The Forest Python was covered in green, scaly armor from head to toe, but its weak points were glowing faintly in silver! To effectively wound a snake, you have to attack it at its weak points. And this python¡¯s weak points are right¡­ there! I charged the python again before my health regenerated completely. Slayer Slash covered the Weeping Fire Blade in a greenish hue, tearing through the air! 414! The Forest Python let out a terrible cry and lost a huge chunk of its HP. Very good, now we¡¯re talking! I moved quickly and ran many perfect arcs around the Forest Python¡¯s head. The Forest Python needed to lock on to its target before it could attack a target, but it couldn¡¯t turn its head around too quickly. This meant that I could juke it again and again. Thwack thwack! 224! 219! The python hit me another two times during the fight, and I was very close to dying. However, I was able to strike the Forest Python¡¯s weak point four times and kill it! Pop! I got two items for my effort. The first one was a 79 Quality Big Magic Stone. The second was a small, green bag that didn¡¯t seem very useful to me at first glance. Forest Python Sac: Rank 3. Contains poison. It looked like a special ingredient used to create certain potions. At any rate it was useless to me, so I tossed it into my bag and decided to sell it when I got a chance to do so. I then extended my hand toward the python¡¯s dead body and used Death Plunder! Ding! A pitch black object appeared in my hands. To my surprise, it was a spear, and a pretty good one to boot! Forest Spear (Iron-grade) Attack: 15~24 Strength: +3 Level Requirement: 24 I couldn¡¯t help but laugh when I saw this. I wasn¡¯t expecting to get this with my looting skill because so far, I had never gotten an equipment drop from Death Plunder on a monster! I threw the Forest Spear into my bag and planned to sell it when I returned to Floating Ice City. The spear¡¯s attack power was pretty good, so I might be able to sell it for a good price! After I calmed down, I looked at the forest in front of me again. If there were Level 35 monsters already at the edge of Black Forest, then the ones deeper inside could only be more powerful. Chapter 33: Golden-scaled Python King The sky looked gloomy, and the forest was silent. A couple of colorful fireflies could be seen dancing in the bushes. A Forest Python died by my hands, its blood staining the glowing Weeping Fire Blade. I couldn¡¯t remember how many Forest Pythons I had killed, but I could see my experience had gone up by a lot. With that grind session I had reached Level 29. ¡°Phew¡­¡± I exhaled and checked the contents of my bag. I had collected 45 Forest Python Sacs thus far, but I still had no idea what they were used for. My original plan was to follow the forest trail leading into the Black Forest and lure out any Forest Python on my way so that I could take them out one by one. However, due to an error in judgement, after wandering aimlessly for 4 hours straight, I had no choice but to admit. I was lost! The map proved helpless, since it didn¡¯t detail any location I hadn¡¯t explored. I only had a vague idea where Cold Wind Canyon lay. I wasn¡¯t alone, however. I had a ¡°fierce¡± skeletal python that looked like it had been built from a dinosaur fossil. It was Level 25 and had high enough Defense to serve me as a tank. It was also the main reason for my survival in this unknown and dangerous environment. A demonic servant conjured with Summon Undead couldn¡¯t be recovered, so its death wouldn¡¯t bother me in the slightest. Suddenly, a ring resounded in my ears¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Player ¡°Dominating Heaven Blade¡± is the first player in Floating Ice City to reach Level 30. Rewards obtained: 3000 EXP and 200 Reputation! Wow, Dominating Heaven Blade is seriously killing it! I let out a small gasp of surprise, but quickly got over it. If Lin Yixin and I hadn¡¯t dueled each other and dropped a couple of levels, the achievement would never have fallen in his hands. Beep! I received a message from Lin Yixin. ¡°There you go. See? Dominating Heaven Blade and the Domination Clan claimed the achievement because we lost god knows how many levels during that duel! They won everything, while we lost everything!¡± Slightly dumbfounded, I replied, ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m not the only one to blame here.¡± Her reply came quickly. ¡°A man should have the balls to take responsibility!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile at that and replied, ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll take responsibility for the two of us.¡± She was probably fuming because it took her about half a minute before she made a reply. ¡°But I haven¡¯t eaten breakfast yet¡­¡± ¡°What does that have to do with anything?¡± ¡°It means I won¡¯t have the energy to beat the shit out of you¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Happy that she had scored one over me, Lin Yixin sent one last smiley face before going silent. I didn¡¯t manage to go far before I suddenly noticed that my environment was slightly different from before. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that most of the grass on the ground had wilted, and the leaves were completely black. It looked like¡­ poison? I looked up and gripped the Weeping Fire Blade tightly. I had a feeling that I had run into a powerful enemy! Rustle! The moonlight was dim, and the night¡¯s wind shook the three branches violently. Before I knew it, a pair of blood red eyes were staring at me from a corner, causing my skin to crawl with goosebumps. If the earlier pythons were tiny snakes, then this one was a true python in every sense of the word. Its body was as big as a tree trunk and fifteen meters long. It had golden scales and a frighteningly huge head, and when it opened its mouth and spat its forked tongue at me, I could smell the blood stench all the way from where I was! Its merciless, beastly eyes stared at me like a predator eyeing its prey! Golden-scaled Python King (E+ Rank Boss) Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skill: ??? I couldn¡¯t see its stats at all, but I was certain that this boss was going to be a tough one. For all I know it might even be Level 40! I groaned miserably in my head. When it rains, it pours. All I wanted to do was collect some Green Peppers, but I just had to run into what might be the forest protector itself in this entire forest. Should I say I was lucky, or unlucky? I gripped the Weeping Fire Blade and glared back at the Golden-scaled Python King with equal ferocity. I¡¯ll fight! I won¡¯t cower in fear! That¡¯s not how I play my game! Behind me, the Cyanfire Cloak fluttered slightly to the wind. Its 22 Defense and +7 Stamina was one of the main reasons I hadn¡¯t bolted off yet. With a total HP pool of 610, it wasn¡¯t completely hopeless. ¡°Hiss hiss!¡± The Golden-scaled Python King continued to flick its tongue in and out as it stared at me. Then, it coiled and shot straight for me like a cannonball, its mouth opened wide! It was incredibly frightening! I sidestepped at the right time and was barely able to dodge the boss¡¯s attack. At the same time, the Weeping Fire Blade burned with the light of Slayer Slash and plunged into its flesh! Crack! My attack hit the boss¡¯s weak point perfectly, and a pleasing amount of damage entered my view¡ª376! That was good news. If I could break through its defense, then killing this boss was definitely possible. However, the Golden-scaled Python King quickly turned toward me and spat a mouthful of poisonous venom. My body immediately felt numb as my HP started dropping drastically¡ª Beep! Combat Log: You are taking poison damage. You are losing 5% HP every 10 seconds! Thwack! 410! Moreover, the monster swung its tail across my chest armor and dropped its durability to almost nothing in the blink of an eye. The boss¡¯s damage was just too much to handle! I chugged a potion and decided to not take this battle head-on. I turned 45 degrees clockwise, bent at my waist and lunged toward a pair of large trees with the speed of a lightning bolt. ¡°Roar!¡± The Golden-scaled Python King pounced toward me again with open jaws. But to my surprise, it caught the trees instead of me and sank its fangs deep into their trunks. The boss struggled with all its might, but its venomous fangs were so long that they nearly penetrated the wood completely. The two large trees shook violently as the python roared and thrashed around again and again. My eyes lit up as the golden opportunity landed in my lap. Who would¡¯ve thought that a boss would make a mistake like this? The heavens were practically helping me out here! I immediately ran up to the boss and attacked its weak point again and again. I also never stayed in one place so that its tail couldn¡¯t get a firm lock on me. Crack crack crack! A few hits later, a pair of golden scales flew into the air. I had successfully broken through the Golden-scaled Python King¡¯s protection and lowered its defense drastically! ¡°Roar!¡± Suddenly there was a boom, and one of the trees was pulled right out of the ground. Then, the Golden-scaled Python King swung its head around and tore both tree trunks to bits. It stared hatefully at me. This annoying little skeleton was a poisonous thorn in its side, and it was beyond the point of rage already. Puchi! 447! I felt a pain around my waist area as the boss took a bite at me. I was lucky it didn¡¯t swallow me whole! I quickly drank another health potion. One more time and I¡¯m dead! The situation was critical, and it was do or die. And so, I activated my Earth Escape skill! Swoosh! I transformed into a ray of bloody light and gradually sank into the ground. Throughout the process, I made sure to keep my breathing shallow. Thank goodness this boss didn¡¯t have good sight, or I would be dead already. My heart beat like a drum as I waited. To my pleasant surprise, the Golden-scaled Python King actually lost interest in me after lingering around for a couple seconds. This is my chance! I hastily drank a couple more health potions and returned to full health. Then, I slowly made my way to a spot between the densely packed trees and the boss. Hmph, you call yourself the king of the forest? Then tonight I¡¯ll make this forest your deathbed! Swoosh! I burst out of the ground in a flash of bloody light, drawing the Golden-scaled Python King¡¯s attention. He quickly aggroed on me again, slithering my way. As I had earlier planned, I immediately ran for the nearby trees! My body was only about 30 centimeters wide, but this Golden-scaled Python King had a body width of 50 centimeters or longer. Just now, I had measured the gap between the trees of this forest; none of them were farther apart than 50 centimeters. I could use this to my advantage! Swoosh swoosh... I darted in between a couple of large trees like lightning. The Golden-scaled Python King might be a boss, but it wasn¡¯t a smart creature. Therefore, every time the boss tried to slither around the trees, all it really did was knock them over. I, on the other hand, was able to dance past them like a fish in water. The Golden-scaled Python King¡¯s angry roars nearly filled the entire Black Forest. Snakes had reverse scales too, and I had torn a couple right off its flesh during the earlier skirmish. It would be stranger if it wasn¡¯t angry. Puchi¡­ Puchi... My attack had shattered the Golden-scaled Python King¡¯s defense earlier, and now its wounds were rubbing against the thorny barks of the trees again and again. As a result, its HP never stopped dropping since the pursuit began. I couldn¡¯t help but smile when I looked at the sorry-looking python. Heh, now this is how a ¡°swimming dragon¡± should look! Time passed bit by bit. The entire Black Forest was turned upside down by our battle. Countless sharp thorns were drenched by the boss¡¯s blood. The terrible stench permeating in the air was vomit-inducing. Still running across the forest, I took out a health potion and restored the HP I had lost. This venomous saliva is truly ridiculous; if I didn¡¯t have plenty of potions in stock I would¡¯ve died from poison already! I paid close attention to the boss¡¯s HP as it dropped lower and lower. After a couple of opportunistic attacks, the Golden-scaled Python King¡¯s HP had dropped from 80% all the way to 15%. It was just about ready to keel over and die. To say that I was excited would be an understatement. If it died, I had no doubt that it would be the first high-level boss to have been bested in Heavenblessed. Its attack power was out of this world, and the only reason I had a chance against it was thanks to my Bronze-grade equipment. If a party were to fight it instead, even their magic knight would have been one-shot instantly! ¡°Hiss hiss¡­¡± A few more minutes later, the Golden-scaled Python King let out a dying hiss. It had long lost its kingly glamor, and it was missing more than half of the scales around its head because of me. Its huge, long body was only a burden in this terrain, and it was only a matter of time before it was put to eternal sleep. When the boss¡¯s HP dropped to a sliver, I immediately charged it without hesitation! Swoosh! Green light surrounded the Weeping Fire Blade, and Slayer Slash dropped down from the sky. I even leaned a little to make sure that the target wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge my ultimate attack. That way, the lowered hit rate of Slayer Slash wouldn¡¯t be a problem. Puchi! Blood flew everywhere, and a huge number popped into view¡ª724! It¡¯s a critical hit! ¡°Roar¡­¡± The Golden-scaled Python King groaned before its final sliver of HP disappeared. Its giant body slowly collapsed to the ground. I did it! Swoosh swoosh! Golden light surrounded me, and I actually leveled up twice in a row, putting me at Level 31. However, my attention was fully-focused on the ground beneath the boss. An equipment drop! Chapter 34: Moon Blade Unable to hold in the ecstasy in my heart, I rushed over and collected both the dagger and the skill book. The Golden-scaled Python King was a high-level boss, so its item drops have to be pretty good, right? The dagger had a silver glow around it, and the blade was streamlined and elegant-looking. The beautiful symbol of a waning moon drifted across the surface of the hilt, but the thing that really astonished me was its stats¡ª Moon Blade (Steel-grade) Attack: 40~75 Strength: +9 Passive: Increases the user¡¯s attack power by 1% Level Requirement: 30 A Steel-grade weapon, it¡¯s actually a Steel-grade weapon! If this dagger isn¡¯t top-rate then I don¡¯t know what is! I had never seen anything more powerful than this since I entered Heavenblessed. With an attack power of 75, this dagger was almost twice as powerful as my Weeping Fire Blade! The only shame here was that the dagger didn¡¯t benefit from my sword proficiency, meaning that I would lose 35% attack power and speed if I tried to use it. The trade-off wasn¡¯t worth it despite the dagger¡¯s quality. Oh well, I guess I¡¯ll just sell this after I head back. It should fetch me a fat sum of money! I tossed the Moon Blade into my bag and checked my second trophy. It was a purple-colored skill book with glowing purple patterns rippling across its surface. It clearly held a tremendous amount of power. Pardon I: Performs a feint attack on the target. Doesn¡¯t do damage, but your next attack will gain 35% attack power and ignore 50% of the target¡¯s defense. Level Requirement: 30. Class Requirement: Melee-based class. For a while, I was frozen like a statue. Pardon?! The first attack might fit the skill name, but the second, not so much. With the ability to ignore 50% of the target¡¯s defense and boost 35% of the user¡¯s attack power, the second attack should really be called ¡°Divine Punishment¡±! Swoosh! Pardon appeared inside my skill window after a flash. Even at Rank 1, the skill already ignored 50% of enemy¡¯s defense and boosted attack¡¯s power by 35%, so I was expecting it to be quite powerful as its rank increased. Henceforth, it would be my ultimate trump card when fighting against any mob or player. My chances of winning should be very high, even if my opponent was the highest-leveled player of Floating Ice City, Dominating Heaven Blade. But first, I should find a monster and test out the skill. I looked around and spotted an unlucky Level 35 Forest Python not far away from me. I immediately strode toward it and swung the Weeping Fire Blade at its head, drawing a purple arc across the air! Pardon! Miss! The attack missed as I expected it to, and a Pardon mark appeared on the python¡¯s body. Next, I followed up with the strongest skill I currently possessed¡ªSlayer Slash! The blade sank deeply into its flesh and caused a shocking amount of damage. 1149! One more strike was all it took to kill the python, the fight ended almost instantly! I couldn¡¯t help but laugh loudly as I stared at its corpse. Oh man, this skill is such a killer move! I should get it to Rank 3 as soon as possible, it would probably be even scarier then! Today¡¯s venture was definitely a profitable one considering that I had gotten a Steel-grade dagger and an incredibly powerful skill book. My luck was definitely off the charts today! I moved back to the Golden-scaled Python King happily and stretched open my palm. I yelled, ¡°Death Plunder!¡± Swoosh! System Notice: Congratulations, you have found Python Scale x25! Twenty-five scales appeared in my bag just like that. The scales were Rank 3 Armorsmithing materials and all of them were of max 100 Quality. It probably meant these materials were extraordinarily good. Metal and leather armors from high-quality materials like this one would probably have special effects like +1% attack power on Moon Blade. One percent may sound inconsequential, but it would become a deciding factor whether the equipment was good or bad in the later stages of the game. A weapon without bonus stats wouldn¡¯t draw any attention, even if it had high attack power. The boss¡¯s body was about to despawn, but there were still a couple of shiny stones on the ground. Damn, I had totally forgotten about the magic stones. Considering where they came from they had to be extraordinary! I bent over to pick up the three stones lying side by side on the ground. They glowed as a mysterious, magical energy flowed into my palms¡ª Phantasmal Magic Stone: Rank 3 Magic Stone, contains powerful magic. Quality: 97. Phantasmal Magic Stone: Rank 3 Magic Stone, contains powerful magic. Quality: 100. Phantasmal Magic Stone: Rank 3 Magic Stone, contains powerful magic. Quality: 99. I spaced out a little when the details of the magic stones entered my mind. Just look at this quality! I knew that the loot of a king couldn¡¯t be ordinary! I was certain that each of these magic stones would fetch at least 5 gold each! To say that I was feeling enormously proud at today¡¯s success would be an understatement. I¡¯ve struck gold! This was definitely a profitable venture through and through! At the current stage, one in-game gold was worth about 100 RMB in real life. If I were to exchange these three magic stones and all the gold in my bag into real money, it would be about equal to a couple months¡¯ worth of a white collar¡¯s salary! After everything was packed and ready, I continued toward Cold Wind Canyon. My strength had entered a whole new level after beating the Golden-scaled Python King, and this Pardon especially was the ultimate trump card for any would-be robber! I pushed away the tree leaves blocking my sight and squinted a little from the sudden brightness in front of me. I was finally out of Black Forest! I moved forward a bit longer and suddenly felt like I had wings beneath my feet. It was because a huge canyon¡ªCold Wind Canyon, the only place in Floating Ice City that produced Green Pepper¡ªhad finally entered my view! Still gripping the Weeping Fire Blade, I charged into the canyon like the wind while taking care to avoid the natives, Level 37 Bloodthirsty Porcupines. At the edges of a forest inside the valley, I soon discovered rows of green plants that were about half a person tall. What else could they be besides the Green Pepper I had been searching for all this time? ¡°Hahahaha¡­¡± Laughing like a madman, I extended an arm toward the plants and executed the Foraging skill. Ding~! System Notice: You have gathered Green Pepper x3, Foraging Proficiency +4! Ding~! System Notice: You have gathered Green Pepper x3, Foraging Proficiency +4! Ding~! System Notice: You have gathered Green Pepper x3, Foraging Proficiency +4! This is too much fun! Despite the size of this canyon, there weren¡¯t actually as many Green Peppers as one might expect. In fact, they were fairly rare compared to the rest of the plants in this canyon. However, I was lucky enough to stumble upon an area with a high concentration of Green Peppers almost immediately! I immediately started collecting the ingredients I needed. Four hours later, almost all of Cold Wind Canyon¡¯s Green Peppers were sitting snugly inside my bag. My Foraging skill had also ranked up to 4 and 56% experience. As a pioneer with a Foraging skill, I had to say that it wasn¡¯t easy to find the resources to rank up my skill at all. For example, if tens of thousands of players with the Foraging skill came here after their rank was sufficient, each of them would only be able to get their hands on a couple of Green Peppers at most before having to wait for them to respawn. It would be an excruciatingly painful process to say the least. I checked my bag again and noted that I was almost completely out of space. Besides my equipment, Magic Stones and several other necessities, almost every slot was filled up with Green Peppers. Each slot in my bag could fill up to 50 of the same item, and 47 of them were occupied at the moment. I had no doubt that these Green Peppers would last me for a very long time to come. After all, I only needed 10 Green Peppers for each Rank 3 Consumable, an acceptable requirement. I happily took out my return scroll and got ready to execute my ¡°get rich¡± plan! Before that, I opened the top rankings of Floating Ice City. I discovered that I still wasn¡¯t the highest-level player despite everything I had gone through. In fact, I was only third¡ª Name Level Class Dominating Heaven Blade 32 Warrior Wind Fantasy 31 Light Wanderer Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 31 Undead Swordsman Inconstant 30 Magic Knight Iron Pardon 30 Warrior Dominating Knight God 30 Magic Knight Dominating Mage God 30 Mage Dominating Warrior God 29 Warrior Dominating Archer God 29 Archer Clear Perfume 29 Archer Whaaat?! Lin Yixin¡¯s leveling speed was truly insane. She was able to keep up with me and reach Level 31 in just the blink of an eye. Just like me, she had probably encountered and defeated a boss during the last couple of hours, or there was no way she could have leveled up this quickly. Done checking the latest top rankings, I crushed the return scroll in my hands! Swoosh! The city was as busy as usual. The square was filled with players looking to trade or form parties with one another. As everyone knew, a bustling crowd was the source of most business opportunities! I walked to the storehouse and stored most of my Green Peppers. Then, I took out some Glutinous Rice, Chicken Meat and Salt before bringing up the cooking window. After selecting 10 Green Peppers, 20 Glutinous Rice, 10 Chicken Meat and 15 Salt, I began synthesizing the goods¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have made Green Pepper Meatball x1, Cooking Proficiency +5! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have made Green Pepper Meatball x1, Cooking Proficiency +5! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have made Green Pepper Meatball x1, Cooking Proficiency +5! It was incredibly fulfilling to witness these Rank 3 Consumables pop into existence in my hands. As of now, I was probably the only player in Floating Ice City, or even the whole China server who could make them! A food that could restore 300 MP in 60 seconds was an absolute necessity for high-level mages due to how the cost and rank of skills were designed. Rank 1 required 10 MP, Rank 2 required 20 MP and Rank 3 skills required 30 MP. Assuming a Level 30 Mage could cast their Rank 3 skill, Ice Blade, every 3 seconds, they would use 600 MP in a minute. Therefore, the only way for a Mage to sustain their damage output without pause was to use high-quality consumables. A Mage who couldn¡¯t cast spells was deadweight trash that no one needed in a party. At the current stage, most Mages bought the relatively-cheap Rank 1 Applesauce to replenish their mana. Only high-level Mages would use Rank 2 or 3 Consumables. Half an hour later, I had 100 Green Pepper Meatballs in my bag. Look at all that money! I opened my friend list and sought out Iron Pardon. I sent him a message. ¡°I have 100 Rank 3 Magic Cooking Consumables, Green Pepper Meatballs, on me right now. Each one costs 50 silver, so this¡¯ll cost you 50 gold in total. Grab your money and meet me at the city square next to the east gate of Floating Ice City. And be quick, I¡¯m only going to wait for you for ten minutes!¡± Iron Pardon replied quickly, ¡°I¡¯ll be there in five!¡± A couple of minutes later, a high-level warrior clad in black heavy armor came over to meet me. It was none other than Iron Pardon himself, the black horse who made it all the way to the Heavenly Ranking! ¡°Man, you¡¯re quick. I didn¡¯t think you would be ready in less than half a day!¡± Iron Pardon laughed. ¡°Brother, you¡¯re working for a gaming workshop, aren¡¯t you? There¡¯s no way you could prepare so many Rank 3 Consumables in such a short time otherwise!¡± I gave him a non-committal smile and said, ¡°Let¡¯s trade!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I opened the trade window and selected 100 Green Pepper Meatballs. On the other side, Iron Pardon generously entered 50 gold to his own trade window. Man, what a pleasant trade this turned out to be! Once the trade was complete, Iron Pardon nodded and left the area. I looked around me and stood still at the center of the square. Then, I started shouting, ¡°Selling a Level 30 Steel-grade dagger with 75 Attack and +9 Strength, a must-buy for any Assassin player who wants to PvP and level! Be the highest bidder and grab it now!¡± I set up my shop and put the Moon Blade on display without a price tag. The crowd immediately surrounded me from all directions, shocked and in disbelief. ¡°Fuck! We haven¡¯t even gathered a full Iron-grade set, let alone a Bronze-grade item. How is this guy selling a Steel-grade weapon already?¡± I had to hide how pleased I was feeling. Considering that I had to fight a boss that was over Level 35 like a dog for half an hour, it was only right that the payout was reasonable. A Level 29 assassin walked up to me and said sincerely, ¡°Brother, I can offer you 20 gold to buy this, but you¡¯ll need to wait for an hour before I can gather the money you need. Is that okay?¡± At the current gold-to-RMB exchange, 20 gold was worth about 2000 RMB. It was a lot of money, but it wasn¡¯t the price I was looking for. This Steel-grade dagger was top-tier, and I wouldn¡¯t be satisfied with any offer that was lower than 50 gold! For a while, I was surrounded by a bunch of salivating assassins and archers, but no one could offer a price that I was satisfied with. I understood why no one could afford it though. At this stage of the game, a Steel-grade weapon might as well be a divine weapon. It was no wonder that its price would be beyond expectations! ¡°Fuck, this dagger is so good. If I have it I¡¯ll be able to carry my wife so much faster¡­¡± ¡°Well yeah, of course a weapon like this is going to be expensive!¡± ¡°I have a feeling that this guy isn¡¯t going to sell it for anything less than ten thousand copper¡­¡± While the crowd was discussing spiritedly with one another, a sweet voice suddenly hit me from behind. ¡°That dagger is mine!¡± I turned around in shock when I realized who the voice belonged to. The first thing that entered my view was a beautiful pair of legs covered in elegant heavy armor. The armored beauty standing behind me was none other than Lin Yixin herself. Chapter 35: Little Chea Lin Yixin¡¯s appearance at the city square was like a rock chucked into a pond. Judging from the stunned looks on everyone¡¯s face, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that her looks had reached murderous levels. She wasn¡¯t even smiling, but the male players around her all looked like they were either drunk or spaced out. Some of them were even staring blankly at her chest... armor and wiping their saliva. I gripped the dagger and got up in disbelief. I asked, ¡°You want this dagger?¡± ¡°Yep. Unless you can''t sell it to me for some reason?¡± Lin Yixin only looked at me once before turning her full attention on the Moon Blade. It was almost as if I was far less attractive than the dagger I was selling¡­ Okay, fine, I admit that a looker like Lin Yixin must¡¯ve met plenty of handsome men in her life. It¡¯s only natural that someone like me isn¡¯t up to her standard. ¡°Of course not.¡± I nodded. ¡°But it¡¯s very expensive. Are you sure you can afford it?¡± A gleam and a smile passed through Lin Yixin¡¯s features. ¡°Did I ever say I was going to buy that dagger?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not buying?¡± I pulled a face. ¡°If you¡¯re not going to buy then why are you wasting my time? I¡¯m busy¡­¡± ¡°Seriously?¡± Lin Yixin glared at me before puffing out her awesome chest. ¡°I¡¯m not buying, but I can give you something of equal value in exchange!¡± ¡°Oh really?¡± My interest was finally piqued. I smiled at her. ¡°What is this item?¡± Lin Yixin shot me a glance. ¡°Come with me!¡± I didn¡¯t think she would try to kill and rob me, so I followed behind her without hesitation. When she turned around, her white cape fluttered and revealed her soft, pale legs for a second. That glimpse of beauty was so stunning that I almost couldn¡¯t breathe! I clutched my chest and reminded myself to be on my guard. I was planning to use the money I earned from that dagger as capital, and I had no intentions of falling for her beauty and be cheated out of my money. Lin Yixin passed right through a small forest inside the city. ¡°Wind Fantasy LV-31¡±. Her ID was as eye-catching as her own person. When we reached a secluded spot, Lin Yixin finally stopped and turned around to face me. She then showed me her palm and asked, ¡°Take a look at this. Do you think it¡¯s worth as much as the Moon Blade?¡± A ring with a reddish glow was sitting in her palm. A bloody shield had been engraved into the metal. It was clearly a high-level item! Lin Yixin curled her fingers a little and brought up its stats. The window hovered in midair like a hologram. Bloody Ring of Protection (Dark Steel¨Cgrade) Strength: +18 Passive: Increases attack by 3% for dark users ¡°Who¡­ who was the poor chap you swindled the ring from?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but ask. ¡°Geez!¡± Lin Yixin glared at me. ¡°What do you mean swindle? Where are your manners? I had to fight a difficult boss carefully for over two hours before I got this ring! Dammit, it¡¯s useless to me because the +3% attack power only applies to dark players!¡± I nodded at her explanation before gulping. Three percent attack power! This ring was an OP accessory that could last until the late game! It was already pretty difficult to get accessories to drop, and top-rate accessories were even rarer. ¡°Hehe. So, do you want this ring?¡± Lin Yixin cocked her head and looked at me, her accidental display of cuteness causing my heart to skip a beat again. I hurriedly cautioned myself. Don¡¯t look at her, don¡¯t look at her, if I fall for the minx there¡¯s no returning from it! I pretended that the ring mattered little to me and replied, ¡°A ring, huh? Well, it¡¯s just a ring. How can it possibly compare to a weapon in terms of practicality? Hmph hmph, you may as well forget about this. I have plenty of buyers anyway!¡± Lin Yixin stomped her foot angrily. ¡°You! Don¡¯t you understand? This ring has way better scaling than that dagger of yours!¡± I replied, ¡°But its requirement is too bizarre. That stat boost only applies to dark players. It¡¯s already going to lose a lot of value when I sell it as a second-hand product, and there are barely any dark players in the game at all. And don¡¯t even get me started about scaling¡­¡± Lin Yixin gritted her teeth and glared at me. ¡°What do you want?¡± I smiled. ¡°I can trade you my Moon Blade for your Bloody Ring of Protection, but I also want gold on top of that. Otherwise, this is a no deal¡­¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± A hint of murder entered Lin Yixin¡¯s features. ¡°You¡­ this is too much!¡± ¡°Calm down or you¡¯ll get wrinkles,¡± I advised. ¡°Dammit¡­¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful face was filled with hesitation for a moment, but in the end she wasn¡¯t able to give up on the dagger. ¡°Fine. How much do you want?¡± I was very pleased that the beautiful girl had submitted to me. I raised two fingers in response to her question. ¡°Two gold?¡± Lin Yixin exclaimed in pleasant surprise. ¡°Alright, deal!" ¡°Come on!¡± It was my turn to glare. ¡°Can you not let your desires get in the way of reality? It¡¯s 20 gold, not 2!¡± ¡°20 gold?¡± Lin Yixin exclaimed in shock before puffing out her chest in anger. ¡°What is this, a robbery? Hmph, I¡¯d rather give you my life than my gold! Wait, that''s not right¡­ you¡­¡± She fell into confusion again. I had to say that the internal struggle of a goddess was quite a sight to see. I smiled as Lin Yixin made all kinds of cute faces such as reluctance, frustration and displeasure. Finally, she looked up and said, ¡°I only have 17 gold right now, so I can only give you 15 gold. You understand I need some gold to buy potions and grind, right?¡± I accepted the offer without hesitation and nodded. ¡°Sure, I suppose I can give you a friend¡¯s discount.¡± Lin Yixin gritted her teeth again and puffed her cheeks at me. She looked so displeased with me, her ¡°friend¡±, that I suspected that she was ready to backstab me if I needed help in the future. I opened the trading window and selected the Moon Blade. Lin Yixin put the Bloody Ring of Protection in, as well as 12 gold. I immediately canceled the trade and stared at her. ¡°15 gold, no more, no less!¡± Lin Yixin shot me a hurt look. Her round, red eyes looked extremely pitiful. I knew in that moment that my opponent was a terrifying one. I couldn¡¯t show mercy no matter what! Still wearing that hurt look on her face, Lin Yixin opened the trade window, put in the Bloody Ring of Protection and 15¡­ WTF? 15 copper?? I stared at her and canceled the trade again. ¡°15 gold is 15 gold, alright? Not 15 silver, not 15 copper. 15 gold. We should strive to become kind and honest people¡­¡± I began tutoring her on the steps to take to become a better person. Lin Yixin nodded and activated the trade window once more. Finally, she put 15 gold in. Trade complete! I happily put on the Bloody Ring of Protection. Hell yes, the 18 Strength the ring gives is just too good! And there is nothing I can¡¯t beat with this 3% attack power bonus! I checked my stats. My attack power had gone up to 132~246. There was probably no one who could rival me in terms of attack power in the whole Floating Ice City. There were two reasons for that. One, Undead Swordsman had great Attack scaling. Two, my equipment was pretty awesome. Lin Yixin held a sword, but slung the Moon Blade around her waist. She shot me a look and said, ¡°Little Cheat¡­¡± I wasn¡¯t sure how to respond. She turned around and gave me a wave. Then, she disappeared into the city. She probably went away to get her class promotion. Oh right, I need to promote too! I bought another two return scrolls and ran straight for Frost Mound. At the cold Frost Mound Camp, my trainer, the imposing Undead Swordsman Suren looked at the sky as if he was watching the stars. I walked up to him and said, ¡°Trainer, I would like to undergo my class promotion!¡± Suren looked down at me and smiled. ¡°You are much stronger than you used to be, little skeleton. Alright, pay me 10 gold, and I¡¯ll allow you to undergo your class promotion!¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± I was shocked. 10 gold? The players in Floating Ice City only needed to do a simple quest to promote their classes. What¡¯s with this preferential treatment? Still, Suren was the only one I could rely on to get my class promotions, and skipping them wasn¡¯t an option. A class promotion was the key to increasing one¡¯s strength. There were powerful class skills that could only be learned after a class promotion, and all skills weren¡¯t capped at Rank 4! I checked my bag. I had 148 gold to begin with, and after swindling another 15 gold from Beauty Lin I had a total of 163 gold. 10 gold was nothing! I paid the money Suren requested and pleased him greatly. He laughed loudly and said, ¡°Boy, in the name of Queen Sophia, I officially grant you the glory of a senior Undead Swordsman!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed your class promotion and became a Bronze-rank swordsman! A small row of text, ¡°Bronze Swordsman¡±, appeared behind my name. If I had to guess, it represented the current rank of my class. As I grew stronger, it would become Silver, Gold and so on. Long story short, the higher my class rank, the stronger I¡¯d be. I talked to Suren again and brought up the ¡°Learn Skill¡± interface. As I thought, there were 3 new skills to learn after I had become a Bronze Swordsman. Awakening I (Passive): Increases EXP gain by 5% Regeneration of the Undead I (Passive): Regenerates 0.1% HP per second Ghost Deity Armor I: Summons the power of the dead and transforms it into armor. Defense +5%. They were all Rank 1 skills, but the effects¡ªespecially Ghost Deity Armor and Regeneration of the Undead¡ªwere pretty amazing. The first one increased my defense, and the second one regenerated my health. If they were already this powerful at Rank 1, I couldn¡¯t even imagine how powerful they¡¯d be at Rank 10. On top of that, ¡°Ghost Deity Armor¡± was one hell of a name! Each skill cost 1 gold to learn, and I paid the price without any hesitation, adding 3 new skills to my skill window. Awakening and Regeneration of the Undead were passive skills, meaning that Ghost Deity Armor was the only skill that showed up on the active skill window. I raised my hand and activated it. A ghastly wail broke out, and a terrifying wave of undead energy surrounded me before transforming into an impressive-looking heavy armor. It made me look cold and stern. The armor turned half-invisible a few seconds later, but it was clearly present and protecting me. Hell yeah! I swung the Weeping Fire Blade once. I could clearly feel myself growing much stronger than before! Suddenly, there was a beep. Du Thirteen had sent me a message: ¡°Fuck! The landlord came over just now for his rent money! What should we do?¡± Fuck! I replied, ¡°Gimme a moment to prepare the money.¡± ¡°Prepare the money?¡± Du Thirteen sounded confused. ¡°It¡¯s exactly what it sounds like. You just focus on leveling up!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Chapter 36: Broken Halberd There were many people who were selling gold in Floating Ice City, but I feared I was the only one who would sell 150 gold in one go. Many people shook their heads. They clearly did not believe people would be willing to purchase 150 gold. This was a considerable sum. Even if 1 gold would trade for 80 RMB, this would be 12000 RMB in total, akin to the quarterly salary of a white-collar worker. Most people could not afford it. At this time, someone shouted from up ahead, "150 gold? You have a deal!" I looked over and found a high-level warrior standing in the crowd in refined armor that was at least Iron-grade. He held a gleaming curved blade, with a line of characters above his head¡ªDominating Heaven Blade LV-32 Bronze Warrior! It¡¯s him?! I stilled slightly. The ambitions of the Domination Clan were clear. It was no secret to anyone that they aimed to rule Floating Ice City one day. And now, Dominating Heaven Blade was coming to purchase gold in person. Tsk tsk, this leader handled everything. Two voices sounded in my mind. This Dominating Heaven Blade would be my future opponent. Should I sell the gold to him or not? After thinking, I decided I would! Why not? I was just using his money to aid my development. He must be a fool with more money than sense. Why not take advantage of him? Hence, I raised an eyebrow and said with a smile, "Friend, how do you plan on paying this sum? Right now, the game doesn¡¯t let us use our bank accounts directly to make transactions.¡± Dominating Heaven Blade shrugged and laughed. "Simple, you tell me your bank account number, I will have someone send it over. At most five minutes. After you receive the money, give the gold to me, isn''t that simple?" I nodded. This person was generous in his spending, and very honorable and forthright in his conduct. This was someone who could attain major accomplishments. Lin Yixin''s apprehensions were correct. In Floating Ice City, Dominating Heaven Blade and the Domination Clan were extremely likely to become our greatest enemy. "Listen well, my account number is 662700200873*******, China Construction Bank. You can arrange for money to be sent, I¡¯ll check online.¡± "Okay, no problem!" Dominating Heaven Blade laughed brightly. "Wait a moment, I¡¯ll get it done immediately!" After about four minutes, Dominating Heaven Blade said, "Done. You can check your bank balance!" "Okay!" I activated the web browser overlay and connected to my bank website. I logged in. As expected, my card which used to have 0.47 yuan now had 12000.47 yuan. This guy really is a fat sheep. "Is it there?" Dominating Heaven Blade asked with a smile. I nodded. "Okay, come, I''ll trade you the gold!" "Good!" Dominating Heaven Blade laughed. "You are joking. Just a mere twelve thousand and you¡¯d run away? I do not care about this minor sum. Also, my reason for trusting you is not because of the small sum but because...¡± "Because of what?" "Because you are Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Hahaha, an expert on the Heavenly Ranking will treasure their ID like their life. In the China server, which of the celebrities like Candlelight Shadow and Falling Dust are not like that?" I nodded and smiled faintly. "It does make sense. Let¡¯s do business in the future. I have to go!" "Fine!" ¡­¡­ I looked at the time. It was about 8 in the morning but I felt no drowsiness. I sent a message to Du Thirteen. "Thirteen, log off. I want to discuss something with you!" "Oh? Alright!" Du Thirteen was about to fall asleep as he leveled up. He hurriedly went offline so he could sleep. Thirteen came to the living room and asked, his face tired, as he sat on the sofa, "What is it?" "That is... " I thought for a moment and said, "How about¡­ we create a gaming workshop?" "What, a gaming workshop?!" Thirteen was stunned. "Yes." I explained, "Heavenblessed is a large-scale MMORPG. We cannot accomplish anything with just us alone. Even killing a boss is very dangerous alone. Therefore, we need to raise our banner and gather warriors underneath, waging war on other factions of Floating Ice City!" By the time I finished my little speech, Thirteen¡¯s blood was boiling, his face flushed. He clenched his fists and said with a smile, ¡°Brother, just say what we have to do. I¡¯ve been waiting to live a carefree life in this world. Say, what experts will we recruit to our workshop?" I thought for a moment. "You, me.¡± "Damn! Just the two of us?" "Yes, temporarily. We can expand later. First, we need to find a new residence.¡± I looked at the sorry state of the one-bedroom apartment of mine, and said exasperatedly, "This place is too small. How about we find a four-bedroom to rent?" Thirteen said, "That would be good, but too expensive. An apartment like that in the city, even the new districts, will cost at least 3000 yuan per month. With a signing deposit, we must have at least 12000 yuan.¡± I nodded and smiled. "Money is not a problem. We can continue to make money in the game. Let¡¯s go right now, let¡¯s find a place and make our first step toward opening our workshop, okay?" "Alright, no problem!" Du Thirteen suddenly stood up, his expression determined and eager. Such a hot-blooded youth. However, what he said next almost caused me to spit blood. "Once the workshop is founded, we can invite a few beautiful players to join. That way... ha, when men and women work together, it will not be tiring!" I glared disdainfully at him. "And it would be best if these women were in the same room as you, hmm?" "Damn, who do you think I am? I, Du Thirteen, am¡­ an upright person! Okay, how about this. One for you, one for me. You¡¯ll get the more beautiful one too...¡± "Get lost!" ¡­¡­ The morning sun hung high in the sky, shining brightly. Two hot-blooded youths who had not slept a second at night sprinted through the streets energetically. This craze went on until afternoon, when they finally stopped. Thirteen couldn¡¯t help but doubt where I had gotten such a huge sum as 12000 RMB from. "Brother, did you go sell yourself last night?" "That is impossible. I am a very chaste person, I could never conduct such business. But I would believe if you did that. I doubt you¡¯d get many clients though," I casually answered. Du Thirteen almost spat blood. We had decided on the location of our workshop, a small building in the new district near the China Resources Vanguard supermarket. It had been built in 2022, and was relatively new. It had four bedrooms like we wanted, and had all necessities. With a rent of 2950 yuan, it was on the cheaper side even. With the current state of the market, it was very hard to find a place like that. "What should we do next?" Thirteen asked. "Recruit our first workshop member!" "Who?" Thirteen''s eyes lit up. "Wind Fantasy... Lin Yixin is not bad. How about recruiting her?" I laughed, and patted his shoulder. "Don¡¯t waste your efforts bro. You won¡¯t be able to get a girl like Lin Yixin. She definitely will look down on us and turn the offer down.¡± "Really?" Thirteen was slightly dismayed and asked, "Then who could we recruit to our workshop? We definitely can¡¯t recruit newbies...¡± I nodded and agreed, "Yes, we don¡¯t need more than one newbie!" "Damn!" Thirteen was so angry he grabbed me, so I pushed him away. With a pitiful tone, he asked, ¡°Then who?¡± "Gui Guzi!" "?!" Thirteen had a stunned expression. "Gui Guzi is a renowned person on the Heavenly Ranking. Are we really able to pull him into our workshop?" "Yes." I nodded. "Don''t worry, I have confidence. Let''s move our stuff to the workshop in the afternoon, sleep, and then plan our next step at night.¡± "Good!" After being busy the entire afternoon, I slowly woke up at three at night after eating dinner and sleeping. I went toward the room on the sunny side and woke up Thirteen. We then ate something and went online! ¡­¡­ Swoosh! I appeared in the grave in Frost Mound, pushing aside the rotten dirt to climb out. I opened my friend list. Gui Guzi was online! I immediately sent a message: "If you are not busy, come to Frost Mound!" "What is it?" "Something good.¡± "Alright, I will come soon.¡± Gui Guzi was a rare expert. While his recent results had been loss and death on every encounter, the opponents he was fighting were me and Lin Yixin. Lin Yixin¡¯s equipment and mechanics were top-class, she had strength to challenge even the Martial God, Candlelight Shadow. After my delay was lowered to half a second, I soared in strength to the point where I could look down on players at Gui Guzi¡¯s level. Gui Guzi was a first-class expert, while people like me, Lin Yixin, and Candlelight Shadow were above even that. Gui Guzi had a hard time fighting me and Lin Yixin, but he could fight many of Du Thirteen''s level. Soon, an undead knight came out of the woods in a black cloak. It was Gui Guzi! "Broken Halberd, what is it?" Gui Guzi asked. I said, "Little Gui, have you thought what guild you will join in the future?" Gui Guzi was furious. "Damn! I hate people who call me Little Gui the most...¡± I also became angry. "Damn! I also hate people calling me Broken Halberd...¡± Broken Halberd sounded like my ** was broken. This name was to be censored. Gui Guzi said, "Why are you asking this?" I said with a smile, "I¡¯ve created a workshop and wanted to invite you to join. If you do not mind, then come. The workshop is in the new district of Suzhou. It has a bedroom, living room and board.¡± "Oh?" Gui Guzi''s eyes lit up but he showed a hint of displeasure. "Why should I join your workshop?" I spread my hands and said with a smile, "Simple, do you want to become a top expert?" "Yes!" Gui Guzi had a burning gaze. "Then if you join my workshop, I can ''teach'' you daily...¡± "Good!" Gui Guzi clenched his fists and said, "One day, I will surpass you and step over you!" "Damn, just think it, don¡¯t say it moron!" The first expert recruited for the workshop was a superman whose goal was to defeat me. I don¡¯t even know if it¡¯s good or bad... I sighed emotionally and told Gui Guzi how to get to Suzhou. Gui Guzi was from Wuxi, and he could pack up and arrive at Suzhou next afternoon on the express train. Very good, our workshop is growing stronger! Chapter 37: Bloody Mercenaries Gui Guzi reached Suzhou in the afternoon. Du Thirteen and I went to the train station to welcome him to show our sincerity. Then, we ate lunch not far from the train station. Spicy chicken wings, it doesn¡¯t get any better than that! Gui Guzi was a twenty-three year old young man named Gongsun Gu. He looked very delicate and refined, much better than Thirteen. Thirteen was extremely extroverted, so he immediately put his hand on Gui Guzi¡¯s shoulder and proclaimed their intimacy."Little Gui, we will be brothers from now!" Gui Guzi''s expression changed. "Yes, Brother B...¡± Du Thirteen was shocked. "Why do you call me Brother B?" Gui Guzi said helplessly, "Thirteen¡­ just put the arabic numerals together...¡± "Holy shit!" Du Thirteen came out of his sorrow and cursed his father inside. ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi¡¯s voice carried a hint of emotion when he entered the apartment with his luggage, "I haven''t stayed in dorms for a long time...¡± Thirteen said angrily, "Dorms your sister! You have a room for your own! This is like treatment for doctoral students. What else do you want?" "Haha!" Gui Guzi finished plugging in the data cord and setting up the game helmet. Then he glanced at the game helmet in my room and couldn''t help but exclaim in shock, "That¡¯s... a VIP helmet?" I nodded. Gui Guzi walked into the room and carefully looked around. He suddenly found the words ¡°CGL Hall of Famer¡ªFalling Dust¡± and turned to stone. A moment later, he looked in disbelief at me and murmured, "Impossible... impossible. Boss Broken Halberd, how can you be... that genius Falling Dust?" I held my water cup and said with a smile, "Calm yourself...¡± Du Thirteen laughed out loud. "Little Gui. He really is Falling Dust, real name Lu Chen. My good friend of more than ten years. This is not fake! Right, don''t you respect him a lot?" Gui Guzi shook his head, "No, I do not admire Falling Dust, I admire Night_chen, that person who defeated the legend of Candlelight Shadow in the Starcraft Tournament!" Du Thirteen was shocked. "You know so much!" I sat on the sofa and licked my lips. I had mixed feelings. My thoughts flashed back to three years ago, to the times I was at my peak¡ª Candlelight Shadow was my archenemy. Four years after release of Spirit of Grief, he would kill me and members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls until we deleted our accounts. There was a reason why he hated me so much. This tale goes back three years... Year 2021, WCG Starcraft Global Finals. Candlelight Shadow, who had come from Korea, defeated three of China¡¯s top gaming experts while wearing a Taiji robe. He ridiculed China and claimed that no Chinese could match him. He even arrogantly invited the Chinese players to challenge him. This ID was the account I had made five years ago on the Haofang platform to smurf. In the last battle of WCG, I successfully killed Korea''s emperor Candlelight Shadow, as an audience member. I created a shock wave, one which eventually led to me being hunted down and subsequently killed. That year, I politely refused the invitation from the famed esports team EM, and joined the Spirit of Grief that Eternal Moon Corporation had developed. The first year, I qualified to enter CGL Hall of Fame, and the second year, unbearable tragedy in a car crash damaged my nerves, crippling me... Candlelight Shadow was one to hold a grudge. After that public humiliation, he had always been resentful and even came to Suzhou University of Technology to massacre the school team. He knew that the ID Night_chen was from there. Before my graduation, I was the main force of the school team, a truly vicious figure, practically unrivaled. ¡­¡­ After learning I was Falling Dust, Gui Guzi''s attitude toward me was completely different. He went forward and looked at me, saying determinedly, "Lu Chen, I know you must feel very aggrieved after deleting your account in Spirit of Grief. But don¡¯t worry, we are companions now. I¡¯ll do my best to help you get your dream of revenge.¡± I laughed. "I do have a dream, but not revenge. This is for our dream, a dream to dominate Floating Ice City, and even the China server.¡± As I spoke, I also looked at Du Thirteen and said, "Since our workshop has three members, then let''s decide the workshop''s name and development plan?" Gui Guzi said, "The workshop¡¯s name will be the future guild''s name. Have you thought of something?" I nodded. "I have a suggestion. ''Bloody Mercenaries¡¯. Because we are both Night Creatures, the color of blood is bound to be associated with us. Also, our funding at the beginning will be a bit tight. We must accept quests in the game to make money. What do you think?" "Bloody Mercenaries... Bloody...¡± Gui Guzi''s eyes lit up and he said with a smile, "A very good name that even makes me think of bloody slaughter on the battlefield. Very good!" Du Thirteen immediately nodded. ¡°Agreed. Three ¡®Yes¡¯, the matter is settled. Our workshop will be called the Bloody Mercenaries Workshop!" "Yes!" After deciding the name of the workshop, next was to plan how to advertise. Du Thirteen went to the game forums to make a post. "The Bloody Mercenaries Workshop is open. Business includes killing bosses, PK, quests, and helping get girls. For further details, contact Du Thirteen.¡± I was a busy person, and was thinking all day about how to make high-level consumables. Gui Guzi was not skilled in communication and was a stoic person. Only Du Thirteen was fitting for the job. Otherwise, it would be such a waste of his talent for chatter. The major points of our plan decided, we printed ¡°Bloody Mercenaries Workshop¡± on an A4 sheet of paper and hung it on our door. We felt like a proper, formal army! Our dinner was a boxed meal. In reality, we did not have much money left. Gui Guzi expressed his understanding. At the same time, he stated that he was also poor, and had left home with 500 yuan. Despite that, he contributed it immediately. It was rare to see such an unselfish child. ¡­¡­ Night, time to go online! Swoosh! My eyes were welcomed by dark shades of gray. This was no doubt the scene of my grave. I climbed out and looked up. Perfect curves and long legs covered by a short light blue skirt assaulted my eyes. Going a bit higher revealed a fit, flat stomach and crystalline female armor wrapping around a pair of proud peaks! "Uh....¡± I swallowed. Who was this, coming to my door? The owner of the legs looked down at me at a forty-five degree angle, saying in contempt, "You finally bear to come online?!" It was Lin Yixin, a pretty girl in the game. She was probably the only one who knew that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand was in this remote place. I reluctantly stood up, and admired the other''s seductive figure inside as I said, "Beauty Lin, why are you here?" Lin Yixin laughed softly. "Little Cheat, do you know what my secondary profession is?" "No.¡± I shook my head and corrected, "Also, I am not a Little Cheat...¡± "You are not a Little Cheat? You almost caused me to not have enough money to buy potions!" Lin Yixin''s eyes were full of rage, as though she wanted to eat me. I quickly changed the topic. "Then what is your secondary profession?" "Herbalist!" Lin Yixin twisted her lips and said, "Let''s go. I am going to a dangerous map today, and need a bodyguard while I gather medicine.¡± "You are a herbalist, and need my protection?" I found it hard to accept this. While gaming with a beauty was an enjoyment, I was a good kid. I couldn¡¯t indulge myself in beauty¡­ at least not all the time. Lin Yixin glanced at me as though she saw through my thoughts. She couldn''t help but laugh. ¡°I¡¯ll be gathering herbs, not flowers, why are you so nervous?¡± "What map? Even you aren''t confident?" I asked seriously. Lin Yixin nodded. ¡°Yes, the Greenstone Mountain Valley to the south of Floating Ice City. A Rank 3 Herb is growing there, Dreaming Grass, essential for making Rank 3 Potions.¡± "Your Herbalism is at Rank 3?" I was slightly shocked. Lin Yixin nodded and smiled, puffing her chest out. She said proudly, "Yes, my Herbalism reached Rank 3 seventeen hours ago! Jealous?" I looked over and said, helpless, "Jealous of what? I¡¯ve reached Rank 4 in Foraging two days ago...¡± "?!" Lin Yixin stomped her foot in anger, but could do nothing. "Right, Beauty Lin,¡± I reminded, "I¡¯ve already joined the Bloody Mercenaries Workshop, so I won¡¯t be your free labor. I can go with you to Greenstone Mountain Valley, but you have to pay me.¡± Lin Yixin stared at me, her beautiful eyes full of disdain. "You! You only think about money...¡± "It''s alright, do you still want me to follow you?" "Yes, why not!" Lin Yixin looked toward the south and said, "It¡¯ll take me like five hours. Each hour will be 2 gold, for 10 gold total. Deal?" "Deal, let''s go!" "Yes, depart!" Lin Yixin pulled me into her party. Ding~! System Notice: Player ¡±Wind Fantasy¡± and ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± have formed a party! Good. Chapter 38: Iron Pardon "This is our first time working together, right?" Lin Yixin asked. "Yes.¡± I nodded. "How about a 50% discount then?" I stepped on the grassy ground, the Bloody Ring of Protection on my finger bone glistening with red light, accentuating the orange glow of my Weeping Fire Blade. My equipment was extremely strong. I turned and glanced at Lin Yixin''s chest armor, asking, "This... is not normal armor, is it?" "Yes.¡± Lin Yixin did not hide and said with a smile, "Level 27 Dark Steel¨Cgrade. 42 Defense, 9 Strength bonus. Not bad, right?" I was slightly shocked and couldn''t help but smile. "Not bad at all. This armor should be top equipment at the current stage. Dark Steel, tsk tsk, it¡¯s way too good. Most people haven¡¯t even seen Steel-grade items yet!¡± "Haha, yes...¡± "So¡­ the last time we fought, your sword had that silver hue. What skill is that?" I asked. Lin Yixin suddenly stopped walking and looked down at me from the top of a small tree. Her beautiful eyes seemed to have a magical power, making people feel as though they were falling and unable to turn away. "Your sword also had a hue, red. What was that?" Lin Yixin asked in return. I took a deep breath and said honestly, "Undead Energy, a Talent, Undead Energy III increases my damage to living targets by 15%.¡± "Oh, that''s how it is. No wonder it gave me such pain...¡± Lin Yixin frowned, and then she smiled. "Since you have asked humbly, then I will be kind and tell you. My skill is Holy Energy. It is the perfect opposite of Undead Energy. Holy Energy III boosts my damage against undead targets by 15%!" My heart jerked. No wonder I lost so terribly last time. This skill was the bane of the undead! When I thought of this, I couldn''t help but look at Lin Yixin. Would this beautiful girl be the second great enemy of my life? "So, is that Holy Energy a Talent of your class?" I asked. "No.¡± "Then how did you learn it?" Lin Yixin smiled and turned to me, saying softly, "Because my race is succubus, and I am a lucky one among the succubi. I was born in a region of glaciers. When I left the starting village and fought monsters, I accidentally fell into an icy cavern. Then I saw a beautiful goddess, and obtained the profession Light Wanderer. I also learned this powerful Holy Energy. Are you satisfied with this answer?" My mouth widened. I closed it after a long beat. "Your experiences are really bizarre... you make me feel as though I need to reread ¡®Demigods and Semidevils¡¯...¡± "Yes!" Lin Yixin smiled. I couldn''t understand the meaning behind her enchanting smile. Was she lying or was she telling the truth? ¡­¡­ Half an hour later, we reached Greenstone Mountain Valley. Stretching out in front of me was an endless mountain range. The lush green forest covered the mountain range, and even the cliff walls of nearby mountain valleys were covered in moss, resembling green stones. Greenstone Mountain Valley was named after this natural phenomenon. I heaved my sword and walked to the base of the mountain as I observed the plants on both sides. "What does Dreaming Grass look like?" I asked. "I don''t know. I''ve never seen it.¡± Lin Yixin laughed softly, her beautiful eyes sweeping across my face. She smiled meaningfully. "Lu Chen, you are really naive...¡± "Naive? Are you cursing me...¡± "No, you are really naive...¡± "Hmph, search for the Dreaming Grass!" I carried the Weeping Fire Blade and entered the mountain valley. Logically, the Dreaming Grass should be in the mountain valley. Lin Yixin quickly followed me like a beautiful butterfly fluttering among the flowers. I had not gone far when the sound of fighting suddenly came from ahead. I could even see the light of skills! A battle! I was very wary, and instinctively blocked in front of Lin Yixin. I pulled out my sword and said, "It seems that someone is already inside...¡± Lin Yixin reached out to gently push me aside. She smiled and said, "I do not need your protection. You just have to protect yourself.¡± After walking a few more minutes, Lin Yixin and I suddenly saw a fight occurring in a clearing while hiding in the forest. There were about fifty players attacking a powerful boss together. This was a human-shaped puppet with a rock head completely covered in green stones. It had a very high level! Guardian of Boulders (D Rank Boss) Level: 35 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skill: ??? ¡­¡­ "Damn! A D Rank boss?" I couldn''t help but exclaim while hiding in the bushes. Lin Yixin whispered as she stood silently by my side, "Yes, a D Rank boss, it¡¯s probably the strongest boss at this time. Hmph, those people brought news and assumed that others wouldn¡¯t catch wind of it.¡± I looked and found that most of the people attacking this guardian of boulders were familiar people. Many of them had the words "Mad Dragon" in their name! "The Mad Dragon guild!" My eyes widened and I said, "How is it...¡± Roaming Dragon held his spear as he directed the battle. One of the melee players nearest the boss advanced and retreated in good order, immediately retreating after striking a blow, fluid and practiced in his movements. This warrior was also someone I was familiar with. Level 30 Warrior, Iron Pardon! Yes, this was the person who had bought large amounts of Rank 3 Consumables from me. I was full of regret. I had never thought that he was someone from Mad Dragon. Otherwise, I would not have given them the precious food needed to defeat this boss! Lin Yixin suddenly poked me with her sword handle and laughed quietly. "Hey, how about we killsteal this boss?" I had a shocked expression. "They¡¯re fighting it right now. You want to steal the boss?" "Yes.¡± She nodded seriously. I was full of righteousness. "Stop that. I came with you so you can gather herbs, and here you are, trying to get me to help you steal the boss. Hmph, I¡¯m a good-natured youth. What? You thought I would do something shady like that with you?" Lin Yixin''s mouth was wide. She looked disbelieving. I pressed my lips together and changed my words. "No, I will do it myself! You just watch from the side!" Lin Yixin grinned and punched me with her fist. "You asking for a beating? Why pretend when you¡¯re originally this way? Work together with me. We¡¯ll try to steal the boss''s EXP. Our party of two will definitely soar in experience then.¡± "Mn.¡± I nodded, looked into the distance and said, "No matter what, we certainly cannot give the D Rank boss to Mad Dragon! Lin Yixin gripped her sword hilt as her eyes fixed on the boss and laughed lightly. "Prepare your strongest killing move. The moment the boss has the last bit of health left, we move out. Don¡¯t you have that Earth Escape skill? Go, we¡¯ll act together!" "Yes!" I gave a shout, turning into threads of blood and sinking into the ground. Then I slowly moved toward the boss at my reduced 10% speed. At the same time, I decided that I had to go all out to steal experience and the loot. I couldn¡¯t let Mad Dragon succeed, or Lin Yixin. I could see that the girl was very wary of me still. When I moved under the boss''s feet, the Guardian of Boulders only had a sliver of health left. Iron Pardon had been forced to retreat by the boss''s arm! Roaming Dragon shouted, "Hold, you have to hold on. Kill this boss. This will be Mad Dragon¡¯s first step toward dominating Floating Ice City!" Alas, Roaming Dragon¡¯s dream was bound to be shattered! Everyone surrounded the boss and attacked. At the moment it was about to fall, something suddenly happened¡ª "Argh!" The stone giant roared, a layer of blood appearing over its entire body! Ding~! System Notice: The Guardian of Boulders has successfully enraged. All stats have increased by 35%. It has summoned a stone armor shell and entered a state of magic immunity for 30 minutes! ¡­¡­ Boom! The stone giant suddenly hit the ground and crushed four Mad Dragon guild players into paste. Thunder rumbled and earth quaked as lightning bolts struck all over. The dozen of nearest players fell to the ground. Only two people were left. One was Iron Pardon, the other, Inconstant. They were both over Level 30 experts that had undergone their second class promotion!! In the party channel, Lin Yixin said, "Don¡¯t be in a hurry to act. The boss enraging is for the best. Have it kill for a while. Ha, we won¡¯t have to act personally to take care of Roaming Dragon.¡± I hid under the ground and said, "Not very possible. Iron Pardon and Inconstant are both players in the Heavenly Ranking. With the two of them here, the boss will definitely die!" "Then...¡± Lin Yixin thought for a while. "Let''s first defeat Iron Pardon and Inconstant, then kill the boss. Do not be polite. These two are all Roaming Dragon''s people. They¡¯re called the Gemini Stars of Mad Dragon. They¡¯ll be our enemies in the future.¡± "Alright!" Holding the Weeping Fire Blade, I suddenly leapt out of the ground like a god of death straight from the pits of hell. With a blood-red glow, I thrust my blade at Iron Pardon¡¯s throat. "What... how is it you?" Chapter 39: Soul Turmoil Armor Roaming Dragon saw me kill Iron Pardon with one blow, and his eyes turned red. He shouted, his expression venomous, "Quick, kill him! We can¡¯t allow this kid to take advantage of our great undertaking...¡± Before I could react, a shadow suddenly appeared behind me with a spear thrust! "Flame Thrust!" 287! The black armor hummed. The Ghost Deity Armor provided an additional 5% Defense, and managed to deflect a lot of damage for me. Burning pain came from my shoulder. The ambusher''s attack power was higher than Gui Guzi¡¯s, dealing so much damage despite the Ghost Deity Armor. I turned and struck a blow like lightning. The attacker shouted, "Eh, so quick!" Crack! Blood spilled. The enemy retreated seeing 317 damage dealt to him. He was the trump card of Mad Dragon, their Level 30 magic knight, Inconstant! "Archers, shoot together!" Inconstant knew that my Weeping Fire Blade was powerful and did not try to face me head-on. He turned around and ordered the surrounding archers to rain arrows on me! Papapa! 45! 71! 49! Three damage numbers flew up in succession. My defense far surpassed the expectations of these archers. Their attack power was good against cloth armor, but had a hard time against metal armor like mine. I flashed out, crushing countless leaves and blades of grass to fly into the air, as I masterfully executed two beautiful Z dodges to avoid their arrows. My Weeping Fire Blade was shrouded in green light as it swung toward Inconstant¡¯s head. If he didn¡¯t die, Lin Yixin and I would have a hard time winning this battle! Inconstant suddenly smiled and shouted confidently, "Holy Shield!" Swoosh! A golden shield rose, shining with light, right in front of Inconstant. My Slayer Slash skill was coming down, Slayer Slash III, with additional 15% damage! Boom! 178! W-what? It only dealt such low damage? I was slightly shocked. I found this line in my combat log¡ª Combat Log: Your skill ¡°Slayer Slash¡± hit ¡°Holy Shield¡± of player "Inconstant". Damage reduced by 50%. Damage dealt: 178! ¡­¡­ The Holy Shield suddenly cracked. Clearly, Inconstant had not thought that my attack would be so strong it would immediately shatter his Holy Shield technique. Gulp! Inconstant swallowed a health potion, and hurriedly retreated, using himself as a lure to draw me into a chase. Then the dozen archers and mages of the Mad Dragon guild could easily kill me in the open. But at this time, a beautiful silver figure suddenly flew out of the forest. The silver streak was as fast as lightning. It was Lin Yixin. This girl, she finally came out! Was the girl crazy? Using a dagger she was not skilled in during PvP. Wasn''t this seeking her own death? But my predictions were completely wrong! In an instant, the dagger in Lin Yixin''s hand was covered in a silver layer of light. She gently raised her arm, and the dagger flashed below Inconstant''s arm. An astounding damage number flew up¡ª714! So... so powerful! I was stunned. Inconstant was a high-level magic knight, and had over 800 HP. Lin Yixin killed him instantly? This was incomprehensible! Lin Yixin glared and she said in anger, "Dumb Lu Chen, what are you dozing off for? Kill the boss!" I immediately gulped down a health potion to remain over 50% HP. There were at least 20 Mad Dragon players. Obviously, Lin Yixin and I could not fight them alone. The best plan at the time was to steal the boss and flee! Whoosh! The Weeping Fire Blade flashed across the neck of an assassin, instantly killing him. My damage was too high for a Level 24 assassin to survive. Lin Yixin gracefully made several dodges, changing her weapon to a longsword. She drew three curves, and crisply killed three archers, reducing my burden by a lot. I clenched the Weeping Fire Blade and charged straight for the boss. My aim was clear. Kill the boss, steal the loot! Roaming Dragon obviously understood my intentions and shouted, "They want to steal the boss. Quick... quick, stop him! The boss has at least 1000 HP. If we can kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand in two rounds, there will be no problems!" I couldn''t help but smile. I brushed past the stone giant boss and struck! "Pardon!" MISS! A big MISS message floated above the giant''s head. Lin Yixin''s mouth was wide. She said angrily, "Whoa, you suck so much. You missed? Watch me...¡± As she spoke, Lin Yixin broke away from the two Mad Dragon warriors and came over. In the next moment, I showed a confident smile. Hmph, Little Girl Lin, watch closely! Crash! A ball of green light wrapped around the Weeping Fire Blade. Slayer Slash, my strongest skill. Let¡¯s use the Pardon buff to kill this boss! I leapt high, my sharp sword drawing a perfect arc in the air. The powerful blow struck the stone giant''s shoulder. Stone flew, and I split the stone giant with one blow! 1992! A giant damage number flew up. Almost everyone present was stunned. At the present time, people who could create 300 damage were first-class experts. But I almost managed to take 2000 HP with one blow. This was so astounding! This was really simple. My Pardon had reached Rank 2 and could ignore 55% of the target¡¯s Defense, as well as increase my Attack by 40%. Also, the huge damage and last sliver of the boss¡¯s HP caused it to be a fatal blow. It was only natural that I dealt 2000 damage! Crash! The stone giant was immediately killed, and dropped several pieces of equipment. There were also stones that flew through the air! This was a D Rank boss. The things it dropped would not be mundane! The rules of Heavenblessed were very cruel. It did not care who the boss belonged to. Whoever gave the last blow would get the boss''s experience. Also, the dropped equipment was not bound and anyone could take it. This meant that one had to be extremely careful and strategic when fighting bosses. Otherwise, they could lose everything. Lin Yixin and I were almost below the boss''s corpse at the same time. The two of us leapt in unison and grabbed. I managed to get two items. Lin Yixin also grabbed two rewards. Also, golden light came from both of us. We had both leveled up! Swoosh! I immediately disappeared, turning into bolts of golden light and entering the ground. This was my unique fleeing skill! Lin Yixin gritted her teeth. ¡°You could take me along. This bastard, running away so quickly...¡± As she spoke, Lin Yixin put the loot into her bag. She pushed away three Mad Dragon guild players with a sweep of her sword. Her white cape fluttered in the air as she fled. Nice, her escape skill isn¡¯t any inferior to mine! Seeing Lin Yixin flee into the forest with a sliver of HP left, I sighed in relief. I slowly moved toward the bushes in my escape state. I flew back to the surface. Coincidentally, Mad Dragon¡¯s archer was searching the area. The Weeping Fire Blade cut through the air. The archer fell to the ground in response. The Slayer Slash was too strong. I also fled. When I sprinted out of the mouth of the valley, I saw Lin Yixin sitting on a green boulder. She looked angrily at me. "Hey, aren¡¯t you too dishonorable? Leaving me, a weak girl, behind and fleeing on your own?" "A weak girl? You?" I glanced at her. Lin Yixin leaned against the boulder with one hand on her sword. She was panting, her chest moving up and down, her white and long legs swaying as they hung from the boulder. In this moment, she was so beautiful. My heart jerked. I said, "You¡¯ve killed and stolen. Don¡¯t even call yourself weak, alright?" "Hmph!" Lin Yixin disagreed but didn¡¯t pursue the matter, asking me instead, "Hey, what did you get just now?" "I haven¡¯t looked yet...¡± "Quick, look!" "Okay.¡± I opened my bag. Two items had appeared in my inventory. One was a black armor, the other, a darkly-shining helmet. Not bad, both were armor pieces! I pointed. The stats of the chest armor flew up in front of my face. I could see it, and so could Lin Yixin¡ª Soul Turmoil Armor (Dark Steel¨Cgrade) Defense: 48 Stamina: +11 Passive: Increases physical attack power by 2% Level Requirement: 32 ¡­¡­ Damn! Such a powerful armor! My eyes went wide, and I couldn''t close my mouth. This was Dark Steel¨Cgrade armor. The trip had not been in vain. Its Defense was super powerful, 48 points. The Iron-grade armor I currently wore had only 9 Defense. Compared to this armor, the difference was like heaven and earth. Also, it had a 11 Stamina bonus, which would give me 110 HP. There was also a 2% physical attack bonus. It could be said that this item was a sacred treasure of any melee player! Lin Yixin''s mouth was open wide as she expressed her amazement, "Not bad...¡± I quickly put on the Soul Turmoil Armor. I had reached Level 32 after killing the boss and could use it! Instantly, all my individual stats tangibly rose. My Max HP reached a terrifying 750 points. My Defense, a powerful 100 points. Archers under Level 30 most likely could not break through my defense. I happily took out the other piece of equipment. It was a darkly-shining helmet shaped like a murderous beast¡ª Beast-faced Turmoil Helmet (Steel-grade) Defense: 28 Strength: +7 Level Requirement: 30 ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, Steel-grade, also very good. Defense of 28, bonus of 7 Strength. While it was much worse than Dark Steel¨Cgrade Soul Turmoil Armor, it was also very good. After all, my head slot was still empty! It was rare to have a helmet so early into the game. Equipping it on my naked head was practically adding 28 Defense! I quickly put on the Beast-faced Turmoil Helmet. Immediately, a dark helmet appeared on my head, and I gave off a murderous air. This helmet also covered my face. As a skeleton, I cared about my appearance. I was very comforted by this item. I finally did not have to look at people with my black eye sockets. I looked at my stats. Defense 128, Attack 258, so powerful! I raised my eyebrows and looked at the girl on the stone, asking with a smile, "Beauty Lin, what about you? What about your equipment...¡± Lin Yixin twisted her lips. "Why would you mention this...¡± "What¡¯d you get?" I pressed. Lin Yixin looked at me grievously and said, "A Level 32 Steel-grade wristguard, a Level 28 Iron-grade staff...¡± "Haha...¡± ¡°You are courting death! You want a beating?¡± Lin Yixin leapt over, holding her sword. I immediately turned and fled. The two of us moved through the forest, and searched to see if there was anything left. Chapter 40: Clear Perfume "The people from Mad Dragon haven''t left yet?" I looked at the blue sky and asked carelessly. In the nearby forest where blue starry flowers swayed, a sweet and clear voice came. "Who knows? You can go see...¡± "Let''s not. PK is not nice.¡± "Ha!" Lin Yixin walked out with a stalk of blue grass in her hand. She laughed softly and said, "I hadn''t expected the Dreaming Grass here, such a surprise...¡± I glanced at her and said, "Little Cheat...¡± "You are the Little Cheat! You cheated 15 gold of living expenses out of me...¡± Lin Yixin excitedly argued back. I didn¡¯t bother to argue. In reality, the 15 gold was black-hearted. I used a Steel-grade item to trade for a Dark Steel¨Cgrade one, and then took additional fee. Only I could do something like this, especially to a beauty like Lin Yixin. ¡­¡­ "How many stalks of Dreaming Grass are here? How much do you need to gather?" I asked. "The more the better. I just gathered 40 stalks...¡± Lin Yixin wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked somewhere else. She was clearly very happy at training her Herbalism. "It''s over four hours...¡± I reminded. "As an honorable member of Bloody Mercenaries, I look down on those who have no sense of time...¡± Lin Yixin glared at me. "I will pay you 3 gold extra, alright?" "Okay boss, you are such a good person~" "You really deserve a beating...¡± Lin Yixin pursed her lips and said, "When I was gathering, I found Green Peppers growing in this mountain valley. Didn''t you learn Foraging?" My eyes lit up. "Really?" "If I¡¯m lying, I¡¯m a dog!" Therefore, I immediately shot into the woods and saw a snarling wild bear! Damn, I was played for a fool by this girl again... I exerted myself and killed the wild bear. Sitting on top of the bear corpse, I looked around, and suddenly found a bunch of verdant plants. It¡¯s¡­ there really were Green Peppers?! Did the official information not say that the Green Peppers were mainly found around Cold Wind Canyon? Never mind. I¡¯ll first gather them! In a few minutes, I got a few dozen Green Peppers. When I walked out of the woods, Lin Yixin was extremely far away, holding her sword as she searched for herbs. She was a diligent girl. The Green Peppers of Greenstone Mountain Valley were not as common as in Cold Wind Canyon, but it was rare to get paid for leveling Foraging. Thus, I was happy to stroll around unrestrained. I had reached Level 32 already, and I didn¡¯t want to increase my strength too quickly. My combat strength was important, and level was just part of it. At present, I valued my money-making ability way more. Ranking up my Cooking and Magic Consumables to Rank 4 would become my greatest asset! I responded, "Are you able to kill that Level 32 quest monster? If so, then accept it. I can¡¯t return right now.¡± A few seconds later, Gui Guzi responded, "No problem, Brother B and I will definitely be able to kill it. This quest monster is only slightly more powerful than the ordinary version, and I¡¯m already Level 27!" "Mn, go, work hard. For the banner of the Bloody Mercenaries!" I motivated him and was joyfully surprised inside. Gui Guzi was definitely a leveling genius to reach Level 27 so quickly! With the Bloody Mercenaries having such an expert, would we even have to worry about being famous in the future? ¡­¡­ In the blink of an eye, another three hours passed. Lin Yixin finally came back, her dress armor fluttering in the wind as she smiled at me. She appeared extremely beautiful. She was just twenty-one years old. In a few years, she would have more dominating presence to her¡­ and then she would become a demoness. "Done?" I asked. "Yes, my bag is full. How about you?" "A few dozen Green Peppers. I''ll stir-fry them with potatoes when we return. Do you want to try it?" "Yes, let''s go back to Floating Ice City!" Lin Yixin took out the return scroll. This was a luxury item only wealthy people could use. It seemed that she was not as poor as she had claimed. I also took out a scroll and crushed it. With a flash of light, I appeared in Floating Ice City''s spawn area. Only Lin Yixin and I were in the enormous teleportation formation. Ahh, everyone was pretty poor. City-return scrolls cost 1 gold. It really was a bit too expensive in the early stages of the game. "My... fee?" I reached out with a hand and said, "Seven hours. In total, 20 gold.¡± Lin Yixin smiled. "Wait a bit. I don¡¯t have the money right now. I¡¯ll have it once I¡¯m done selling potions.¡± "Oh?" I stilled. Lin Yixin went to the warehouse and took out some materials. Then she called someone. Soon, a beautiful female archer appeared, dressed in soft leather armor and holding a green longbow. She walked over with a smile and said, "Heh, Xinxin, you found the Dreaming Grass so quickly?" This girl seemed slightly familiar. The words above her head¡ª Clear Perfume LV-30 Bronze Archer ¡­¡­ Holy, this was Clear Perfume who ranked tenth on the Heavenly Ranking. So Lin Yixin had such a powerful friend! "Handsome, you don¡¯t recognize me?" Clear Perfume smiled at me. "You are?" "Hmph, never mind!" She angrily made a transaction with Lin Yixin. I suddenly remembered. "You¡¯re... Beauty Lin''s dormmate, the one called Qingqing?" Clear Perfume giggled. "You finally have some impression of me. Yes, I am Xinxin''s dormmate, Sun Qingqing, nice to meet you~" I nodded. "Lu Chen, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand.¡± "I know~" Soon, Clear Perfume started to make potions¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Player ¡°Clear Perfume¡± has made Health Potion II. Alchemy Proficiency +3! Ding~! System Notice: Player ¡°Clear Perfume¡± has made Health Potion II. Alchemy Proficiency +3! "Ding~!" System Notice: Player ¡°Clear Perfume¡± has made Health Potion II. Alchemy Proficiency +3! ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin held a red bottle in her hand and smiled at me. "See this, Rank 2 Potion. Each one can instantly recover 400 HP!" "Good stuff!" I exclaimed. Lin Yixin smiled and asked, "You want to buy? 20 silver for one!" "I¡¯ll take twenty!" "Oh boss, you are so generous...¡± Ridiculously enough, I had still not yet gotten my fee yet I was paying 4 gold. However, Rank 2 Health Potions like these were very rare right now, much stronger than the potions that system NPCs sold. A few could save my life. After making 150 potions, Lin Yixin excitedly went to the plaza and shouted, "Rank 2 Health Potions, instantly restore 400 HP. Friends, come buy, 15 silver for one!" I was furious behind her. "Damn, what are you doing? Why did you sell them to me for 20 silver but sell for 15 to others?" Lin Yixin smiled back brightly at me. "Who told you to be so naive...¡± The market for potions was enormous and all of them sold in less than five minutes. Lin Yixin turned and gave me 20 gold with a smile. She also said, "We should continue to work together in the future. When Mad Dragon fights a boss, we will go watch them. How about it?" I nodded. "I¡¯ll be happy to do so!" "But you can not charge me any more fees...¡± Lin Yixin was still pained about her gold. I nodded again. "No problem.¡± "Alright, then I''m going offline.¡± Lin Yixin logged off inside a inn in Floating Ice City. Players had to be in inns when they went offline in the city. Otherwise, they had to go outside the city and set up a tent. ¡­¡­ After leaving Floating Ice City, I intended to capture a pet to play with so I started to study the intricacies of the pet system. As I was studying, Du Thirteen''s call request came with a beep. My heart jumped. Thus far, Thirteen always used messages to contact me. Why was he asking for a voice chat this time? I accepted. Du Thirteen''s deep voice came into my year. "Lu Chen, Little Gui and I finished helping people with that quest, but then I saw something. Should we interfere?" "What did you see?" I asked. "I saw Murong Mingyue, and Xu Yang...¡± "Oh, those two... what about them?" Thirteen said gravely, "Xu Yang and Murong Mingyue seem to be besieged. The enemy has seven people, and they won¡¯t last. I¡¯m asking if the Bloody Mercenaries should help them." "Help them! Add me to the party!" At this moment, my blood boiled. While I had left Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I would not allow anyone to bully their members! On the big map, two orange dots appeared nearby. That was the position of Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen. They were not far, about five minutes of travel away, right in Frost Forest! Chapter 41: Murong Mingyues Invitation A bone-chilling wind blew through the Frost Forest. Eight players were facing one another in a stand-off in the clearing. Clad in red armor and wielding a two-handed broadsword, Xu Yang glared at his enemies before saying coldly, ¡°What is the meaning of this? We got this armor fair and square. Finders keepers. You guys think you just can take whatever you want?¡± Standing behind Xu Yang was a beautiful priest clad in gray robes and a mage¡¯s staff. By itself her outfit was nothing special, but combined with her voluptuous body it was almost like an art of the gods. Her chest was positively trying to burst out of the confines of her robes. The priest was Murong Mingyue, of course. She stared at the people in front of her calmly and smiled. ¡°You can save your breath, Xu Yang. Can¡¯t you see the greed on their faces? They want to take your Bronze-grade armor for themselves. Or at least try. We¡¯re not afraid of you people!¡± Six people stood on the opposite side of Xu Yang and Murong Mingyue. The leader of the group was a warrior called Shadow Maple, and behind him was an archer Shadow Deep Sea, a wanderer Shadow Volcano, and several other people. Their levels ranged from 25 to 29, and it was clear that their equipment was at least Bronze-grade. Shadow Maple took a step forward and smiled. ¡°Oh, Brother Hot Sun, relax, it¡¯s just a saying. How about this. I can offer you 2 gold as payment if you give us your Bronze-grade armor.¡± ¡°2 gold?¡± Murong Mingyue couldn¡¯t help but sneer. ¡°You may as well stop talking and just rob us already. Do you think we¡¯re stupid? Bronze-grade equipment is worth at least 10 gold on the market.¡± Shadow Deep Sea dropped his act on the spot, raised his longbow and aimed an arrow at Murong Mingyue, cackling. ¡°Look, pretty, I never liked hitting girls, but if you keep being stubborn then we¡¯ll have no choice but to do this the hard way. After we kill both of you, we will camp your corpses. Eventually we will get that chest armor!¡± Murong Mingyue gritted her teeth angrily and raised her own staff. However, there was nothing she could really do to these hoodlums. The world of Heavenblessed favored the strong, leaving no room for reason. Rules were a social construct, created by people, so they could be torn down by people too. Those who broke the rules were almost always the voracious type. Shadow Maple suddenly raised his sword, edge of his blade glistening with white light. It was none other than the signature skill of Warrior, Heavy Slash! It was a powerful skill that enhanced attack¡¯s damage by 10%! Shadow Maple was gunning for Murong Mingyue, so Xu Yang let out a roar and charged toward him. He knocked Shadow Maple out of the way and left a cut on his shoulder. 247! Chiang chiang! Shadow Deep Sea fired 2 arrows in a row, hitting Xu Yang in the chest. 178! 201! It was a costly exchange. Xu Yang¡¯s total HP was only around 500. How could he possibly endure this? It was at this moment a beam of holy light landed squarely on him. A green number appeared in the air¡ª+225! It was Murong Mingyue. Her healing output was very impressive! Xu Yang¡¯s HP was still losing HP rapidly, however. Obviously, a single priest couldn¡¯t outheal the damage done by several high-level players. ¡°Die, bastard!¡± Xu Yang swung his broadsword in a domineering fashion, dancing around his enemies like a mad lion, but he couldn¡¯t make up for the difference in numbers. Even with heals and health potions, he was hovering on the edge of death. Meanwhile, Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen were still holding their breaths and watching the battle unfold from their hiding spot. When I saw them, I yelled angrily, ¡°What the hell are you two waiting for? Charge! Annihilate the Shadow Clan!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Gui Guzi took off almost at the same time as me. Du Thirteen lagged behind a bit. Red light surrounded the Weeping Fire Blade. PvP was where my Undead Energy talent shone the brightest. The boost of 15% damage to living targets was nothing to scoff at! Puchi! I swung out the Weeping Fire Blade from a steep angle and hit Shadow Deep Sea directly on the neck. The poor archer collapsed to the ground and died before he could even react. 484! Good! My attack power is downright terrifying after equipping the Soul Turmoil Armor and the Bloody Ring of Protection! I zigzagged toward the enemy priest after killing the archer. The priest was a man with delicate features, and he died under the Weeping Fire Blade with barely any resistance as well. On the other side, Gui Guzi let out a yell and executed Flame Thrust, skewering a mage like a piece of meat to roast. The Shadow Clan¡¯s party was only six men strong, and we had killed half of that almost instantaneously. Better yet, they didn¡¯t even have time to recover from their shock. ¡°Who''s there?!¡± Shadow Maple shouted and turned around. When he saw me, a look of hate immediately overwhelmed his features. ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you bastard! I haven¡¯t even settled my score with you at Fruit Forest yet! Die!¡± Swoosh! Hot fire surged, and Shadow Maple executed the powerful Heavy Slash once more! I chuckled and simply allowed him to hit me on the chest. Bang! 117! Most of the damage from Heavy Slash was canceled out by Ghost Deity Armor, and I had a total 128 Defense thanks to my Steel-grade helmet and Dark Steel¨Cgrade armor. Moreover, I had 750 total HP and Regeneration of the Undead, a self-healing passive. I was, in every sense of the word, a tank. How could Shadow Maple possibly kill me? While Shadow Maple was attacking me, I too swung my sword across his chest. A huge ¡°MISS¡± appeared in the air! He couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°You call yourself a Top 3 pro with this level of skill? What a joke! My evasion rate is pretty high, you know! Fuck you for killing my brothers. Die!¡± In response, I simply curled my lips into a smile. Surprised by my reaction, Shadow Maple wasn¡¯t able to react when I moved closer to him again. Green light wrapped around the Weeping Fire Blade as I executed my strongest technique¡ª Pardon + Slayer Slash! Crack! The attack cut right through Shadow Maple¡¯s chest armor. A huge damage number popped into the air¡ª1448! ¡°Ah?!¡± Shadow Maple¡¯s eyes widened like saucers. He couldn¡¯t seem to believe how much damage I had dealt to him. He glared at me in humiliation before he finally passed away. I kicked him in the chest and knocked his body to the ground. At the same time, I said in the party channel, ¡°Thirteen, Little Gui, don¡¯t say a word, and don¡¯t wait for Hot Sun and Murong Mingyue to thank us. We leave immediately after we clean up the rest of them!¡± The reason I said this was because I didn¡¯t want to speak with Murong Mingyue at all. It was highly likely that my identity would be exposed the second a conversation started. Gui Guzi cleanly took out the remaining two players and was rewarded with a floor of health potions. Shadow Maple even dropped an Iron-grade legguard. Unfortunately, it was a trash equipment with average stats and would sell for at most 10 silver on the market. Du Thirteen and I dutifully picked up everything on the floor before acting to leave. Meanwhile, Xu Yang and Murong Mingyue still hadn¡¯t recovered from the shocking damage I dealt. By the time they finally came to, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen and I were almost at the edge of the forest. ¡°Please wait, my heroes¡­¡± Murong Mingyue caught up to us and asked with a smile, ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you¡¯re Top 3 on the Heavenly Ranking, aren¡¯t you? Thank you so much for saving us. Are you interested in joining Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?¡± A bitter smile sprung to my face as I thought to myself. Oh, Sister Mingyue, what are you saying? I am a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls already¡­ I shot Du Thirteen a look, and he immediately turned around and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but we have our own guild, pretty lady. We¡¯re called Bloody Mercenaries. Why don¡¯t you join us if you¡¯re that interested? Right now the three of us are the only members in the group, and we¡¯re in dire need of a pretty lady like you¡­¡± Surprised by the interruption, Murong Mingyue faced Du Thirteen and smiled. ¡°Haha, I was just joking. Anyway, thank you very much for helping us. If there¡¯s anything you need from us in the future, just give us a call.¡± Du Thirteen looked at the murder weapon hanging in front of Murong Mingyue and gulped immediately. He was just about to make an improper request when I shot him a freezing look. Shivering back into reality, he immediately shook his head and said, ¡°Forget it, didn¡¯t do it to help you. We did it because our factions are at odds. Saving you two was just a coincidence.¡± Murong Mingyue stood there blankly and didn¡¯t reply. I quickly took the opportunity to lead Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen into the forest and vanished from their sight. Later, Xu Yang walked up to her and said, ¡°Mingyue¡­ did you notice?¡± ¡°Notice what?¡± Murong Mingyue turned around to face him. Xu Yang stared thoughtfully at the forest before answering, ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s fighting style is incredibly similar to our old friend¡¯s¡­¡± Murong Mingyue shuddered and blurted, ¡°Falling Dust¡­¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Xu Yang nodded. Murong Mingyue bit her lips and murmured, ¡°But Lu Chen¡­ he¡­ he¡¯s already¡­ Sigh. If only he was still with us. Eve wouldn¡¯t be so sad and beside herself. She had a real chance of becoming the president, but because of her current state that chance is gone now...¡± Xu Yang: ¡°...¡± Meanwhile, the three of us walked side by side through the Frost Forest. ¡°Ahem, so, what is our profit today?¡± I asked. Gui Guzi smiled. ¡°We accepted three requests, earning 5 gold total. How about you, boss?¡± I pondered for a moment before replying, ¡°16 gold.¡± ¡°Wow, we¡¯re rich! Should we celebrate with a drink tonight?¡± Chapter 42: Wasp That night at Suzhou was particularly hazy. Pink lights peeked out of the foot baths in the streets, revealing the legs inside, nearby hawkers doing business as usual. The stalls they set up were called ¡°hawker stalls¡±. You could find anything there, from an intestine to a literal piece of shit, just like in the movie ¡°The God of Cookery¡±. Right now, three youngsters were sitting around a table in front of the hawker stall and chatting with one another loudly. You guessed right, they were none other than Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi and me. Our table was filled with a couple of dishes and a ton of beer bottles. It was one of the highest forms of enjoyment to eat with your friends during such a bustling summer night. ¡°The way boss killed Shadow Maple today was truly awesome!¡± Gui Guzi gulped down a bottle of beer before wiping his mouth. He smiled. ¡°Over 1400 damage in one hit! I bet that kid is feeling doozy right now¡­¡± Du Thirteen asked, ¡°Lu Chen, what is that skill? Why is it so powerful?¡± I put down my chopsticks and smiled. ¡°It¡¯s called Pardon. The first hit is always a miss, as you may have guessed from its name. The second hit however, is boosted and ignores a large portion of the target¡¯s defense.¡± ¡°Haha, no wonder¡­ come, let¡¯s drink one for Pardon!¡± Gui Guzi laughed and raised his cup. We raised our own cups and drank. I wiped the beer off my mouth and smiled. ¡°Bloody Mercenaries are off to a good start! It was our first day in business, and we¡¯ve already earned 16 gold, the equivalent of at least 1000 RMB. Our current income is almost at the same level as the gold collars¡¯, haha!¡± Gui Guzi asked with a smile. ¡°Boss, Brother B and I worked like farm animals, and all we got is 5 gold. How on earth did you earn 16 gold by yourself?¡± I smiled. ¡°What do you do when a silly brunette shows up on your footsteps?¡± Du Thirteen¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You¡¯re talking about Wind Fantasy, Beauty Lin Yixin, right?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Haha, well done, well done¡­¡± Du Thirteen laughed loudly before turning serious all of a sudden. ¡°Lu Chen, do you know that Lin Yixin has a new nickname at Floating Ice City?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± I asked confusedly. ¡°Fruit Knife Goddess¡­¡± Du Thirteen laughed. ¡°What the hell is that¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Du Thirteen paused for a moment before continuing. ¡°But get this: there are a ton of Lin Yixin¡¯s screenshots on the forums, and most of the PvP ones show her taking opponent¡¯s life with a dagger. I don¡¯t know what skill that is, but she¡¯s shatteringly beautiful and she fools around with a dagger. That¡¯s why she¡¯s called the ¡®Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯.¡± Du Thirteen smiled with a dreamy look on his face. ¡°Anyone who manages to win Lin Yixin¡¯s love will have a perfect life. At the very least, I wouldn¡¯t give her away even if someone offered to make me an emperor¡­¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Du Thirteen looked a bit confused. I put down my chopsticks again before explaining, ¡°One, after Lin Yixin and I fought each other and dropped a ton of levels, she realized that she didn¡¯t want an enemy like me and asked to meet me offline. Why do you think she thinks she can resolve our dispute peacefully if we met offline? It¡¯s because she¡¯s incredibly confident in her own beauty.¡± I took a pause before continuing. ¡°Two, Lin Yixin supposedly hired me to guard her while she gathered Dreaming Grass at Greenstone Mountain Valley. However, when we got there the Mad Dragon guild ¡®just happened¡¯ to be fighting a boss at that location. Lin Yixin clearly used me to get what she wants. She¡¯s very smart, and she¡¯s definitely not just the pretty face you imagine her to be.¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Du Thirteen also put down his chopsticks and smiled. ¡°I guess our campus belle is truly extraordinary!¡± I nodded. ¡°That she is.¡± Suddenly, Du Thirteen shot me a lecherous look and said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you chase her, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°What?¡± I was stunned. ¡°Fuck, quit joking, will you? She¡¯s way out of my league, and¡­ ahem. I¡¯m sure we share the same thoughts about myself¡­¡± ¡°Heh, you have to chase her, Lu Chen!¡± Du Thirteen clenched his fists together and pitched dramatically. ¡°Lin Yixin is one of the prettiest, if not the prettiest girl in Floating Ice City. If you control her, you control all the beauties in Floating Ice City. If you control the beauties in Floating Ice City, you control all the women in Floating Ice City. If you control the women in Floating Ice City, you control all the men in Floating Ice City. If you control the men, you control the entire internet. If you control the internet, you¡­¡± ¡°Gulp!¡± Du Thirteen¡¯s rambling came to a sudden stop. It looked like he realized that his rant would go off the rails into a dangerous territory if he didn¡¯t stop. He then looked at me and smiled again. ¡°Anyway, just say it man. Do you like Lin Yixin or not?¡± If only I could hit his mute point. Who wouldn¡¯t like a pure and beautiful girl like her? I couldn¡¯t help but smile when I recalled how cute she looked when I swindled 15 gold off her hands. ¡°See that? You see that lecherous smile?¡± Du Thirteen immediately pointed at me as if he caught me red-handed. ¡°You smile like that, and you say you¡¯re not interested in Lin Yixin?¡± My honor and dignity were at stake, so I immediately refuted his accusation. ¡°How dare you call my warm, spring-like smile lecherous! If you keep talking nonsense¡­ I¡¯ll have you foot tonight¡¯s bill!¡± Du Thirteen immediately stopped talking. I was the one who was keeping him and Gui Guzi fed. The dinner lasted until it was past 10 pm. Full and satisfied, we took a small break after we returned to our house before getting back into the game in high spirits. Swoosh! When I entered Heavenblessed, I appeared inside an inn at Floating Ice City. Today¡¯s goal is very important. I need to catch a pet! Heavenblessed ruled that only Level 30 players and above could own pets, and pets were very important in an MMO. Any common monsters could be captured as a pet, but each had different growth potential. Tamer was a class that was specialized in capturing pets. They could use Sealing Cards to capture and tame them. Of course, other classes could use Sealing Cards to capture pets as well, but their success rate was only 20% that of Tamers. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that Tamer existed only because of pets. In a sense, it shouldn¡¯t even be counted among the ten main combat classes. I didn¡¯t know anyone who was a tamer. Even if I did, there was no way they would capture a pet for me. Humans were naturally selfish, so there was no way a tamer would give up with a top-rate pet they captured to someone else. In this case, I had no one but myself to rely on! I stepped out of the hotel and went straight to the magic shop. I planned to buy a ton of Sealing Cards! That¡¯s right, Sealing Cards were mandatory if one desired to capture a pet. After I entered the shop, a beautiful girl wearing a maid outfit walked up to me and smiled. ¡°Young adventurer, what is it that you need?¡± I nodded at her and replied, ¡°Sealing Cards, please!¡± ¡°Okay. How many Sealing Cards do you need? Each one costs 20 silver!¡± ¡°Fuck, it¡¯s that expensive!?¡± My eyes widened, but there was nothing I could do except pay. I spent 5 gold and bought 25 Sealing Cards in total. When I walked out of the magic shop and returned to the streets, I heard a Level 30 tamer shouting, ¡°I just caught a Level 1 Green Praying Mantis with a base number of 17. 3-star Attack, 2-star Agility! Don¡¯t miss out on this super pet! If you¡¯re Level 30, come immediately and claim your precious pet! The price is only 50 gold!¡± I was absolutely stunned by the price. 50 gold? Is he selling his pet or his dad? How ridiculously expensive... There were three rules to follow when taming pets. Firstly, the pet had to be a Level 1 mob. Secondly, the player had to use a Sealing Card. Thirdly, the player had to be Level 30 or above! Out in the wild, the chance for Level 1 versions of local monsters to spawn was incredibly low. These monsters could then be captured, although the success rate was pitiful to say the least. If not for these two factors, that tamer wouldn¡¯t be asking for 50 gold for such a trash mob. While I was grinding at Wildfire Plains, I actually ran into a Level 1 Greedy Wolf before. Unfortunately, my level was lower than 30 and I had no Sealing Cards on me. Instead of rushing off to catch a pet right away, I decided to check their stats first. Tamer had 5 pet slots, but other classes only had one. Thus, I couldn¡¯t treat this matter lightly. I opened the official website and looked for the Petopia. The stats of all the monsters at Floating Ice City entered my view. Green Praying Mantis Attack ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Defense ¡ï¡ï¡ï HP ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Agility ¡ï¡ï Slime Attack ¡ï¡ï Defense ¡ï¡ï¡ï HP ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Agility ¡ï¡î Wildfire Greedy Wolf Attack ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Defense ¡ï¡ï¡î HP ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Agility ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Sabertooth Tiger Attack ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Defense ¡ï¡ï¡ï HP ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Agility ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Wasp Attack ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Defense ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î HP ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Agility ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Green Praying Mantis was an offensive-type pet, but it was very slow. Slime was your standard tank with 4.5-star HP. Wildfire Greedy Wolf and Sabertooth Tiger were pretty good, but the pet that really caught my eye was the Wasp. It had 4.5 stars in both Attack and Agility. Its Defense and HP weren¡¯t that bad either. It was the best choice for both PvP and PvE in the early game! Alright, the Wasp it is. It¡¯ll be fun to fly everywhere with a wasp and sting countless baddies to death! I checked the official data for a bit and discovered that Wasps were found at the south side of Floating Ice City. Their spawn point was close to Greenstone Mountain Valley, and their level ranged between 35 and 40. Their high level meant that they were out of reach of most casual players, and even players on the Heavenly Ranking might find it beyond their ability to farm. One just needed to look at its Attack star rating to know just how deadly it was! Fortunately for me, I had just obtained the Soul Turmoil Armor and the Beast-faced Turmoil Helmet. This definitely wasn¡¯t an impossible challenge with my new, improved Defense! Chapter 43: Venomous Wasp Fores Wasps could be found at a place called Venomous Wasp Forest on the southern side of Floating Ice City. Venomous Wasp Forest was a scary name, and it didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that Wasps there were venomous. The reason I chose to capture one as a pet was because of its growth potential, and because a high-level grinding zone like that would help my level at the same time. About 45 minutes later, I arrived at the edge of Venomous Wasp Forest. I was just about to enter when I heard a voice from inside the forest. ¡°Boss, are you sure a Level 1 Wasp will spawn at this location?¡± ¡°Of course. Just keep grinding and be patient. It will show up!¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± I pushed aside the leaves blocking my vision and saw a party of four killing mobs inside the forest. They were all above Level 30, and they had undergone their class promotions. Right now in Floating Ice City, the only group strong enough to gather such a powerful party was the Domination Clan! I could see Dominating Heaven Blade standing at the forefront of the party. He swung his sword twice at a Level 34 Wasp and triggered a violent reaction from the mob. Together, the Wasp¡¯s head and the wings were about as big as a soccer ball, and it buzzed very loudly when flying through the air. It had a venomous sting at its posterior, and when it attacked, it would curl to sting the enemy below. Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s face immediately turned a shade of poisonous green after being stung! ¡°Heal me, priest! Thank you!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade swung his sword two more times and killed the Wasp. At the same time, a beam of holy light dropped down on his head and restored half of the HP he had lost immediately. The priest was Level 29. He was clearly bred and raised by the Domination Clan. Crack crack! The priest also healed Dominating Warrior God after he killed another Wasp. Unlike Dominating Heaven Blade, he couldn¡¯t quite solo a Wasp yet, so the support was necessary. ¡°Have you heard what happened yesterday, boss?¡± Dominating Knight God asked. ¡°Maybe, what is it?¡± Dominating Heaven Blade asked. Dominating Knight God withdrew his spear and said, ¡°Yesterday, Mad Dragon gathered nearly a hundred players to defeat the ultimate boss in Greenstone Mountain Valley. However, their raid was destroyed by Wind Fantasy and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand together.¡± ¡°Mn, I¡¯ve heard of that¡­¡± Dominating Heaven Blade smiled. ¡°Roaming Dragon is such a clown. He actually believes he can fight us with his pitiful amount of possession. It¡¯s almost like he¡¯s trying to run himself down. Hmph, Wind Fantasy and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand got lucky this time. Next time, we¡¯ll wreck Mad Dragon ourselves!¡± Dominating Knight God frowned a little before asking, ¡°Boss, aren¡¯t you worried about Wind Fantasy and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand at all?¡± Dominating Heaven Blade couldn¡¯t hold back a snort. ¡°It¡¯s true that Wind Fantasy and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand are both insanely talented, but neither of them is a leader fit to become a king. Unlike our guild, Gods of Destruction, their group is weak and powerless. How can they possibly hope to fight against us in a game the size of Heavenblessed? Our registered members alone number around 2000!¡± Dominating Knight God smiled, glad at his leader¡¯s confidence. ¡°Your analysis is spot-on, boss. In this game, there is no hope for lone heroes to rise to power. Still, I wouldn¡¯t mind recruiting both of them into our clan, especially Wind Fantasy. Tsk tsk, I just realized it last time, but Wind Fantasy is seriously beautiful!¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade couldn¡¯t help but laugh at his brother. ¡°You¡¯re good at everything except this, brother. You would¡¯ve achieved great things already if you weren¡¯t so lustful all the time!¡± I avoided the Domination Clan and chose another path. I wasn¡¯t afraid of them, but my goal here was to capture a pet. I had no intentions of delaying my objective to engage in a completely pointless activity like PK. I headed to the west side of Venomous Wasp Forest. The forest was quite big, and the Wasps there were pretty high-level. They also spawned in concentrated groups, meaning that I could encounter a Wasp for every 2 meters I traveled. A monster¡¯s aggro was triggered when a player came within 4 yards, so aggro was a delicate task here. I couldn¡¯t take action before estimating distance between me and the mob. ¡­... I carefully aggroed a Level 35 Wasp toward me. It¡¯s 3 levels higher than me, but I should be able to deal with it. ¡°Buzz¡­¡± The Wasp was insanely fast. It flew toward me and stung me like lightning! 71! The good news is, I have more than enough Defense to endure its attack! I swung the Weeping Fire Blade once and ¡°missed¡± my target. Then, I followed up with a lightning fast slash and executed a Pardon-empowered Slayer Slash! Puchi! I felt like I was hitting a ball as my blade slammed into the Wasp. A huge number popped into the air¡ª1287! It was a nice amount of damage. The reason it wasn¡¯t killed immediately was because it had around 3000 HP. Its level was just too high. I killed my very first Wasp a moment later. However, I was forced to chug a health potion to restore my HP. Thankfully, Regeneration of the Undead was an incredible skill. Soon I would reach Rank 3, and then it would restore 0.3% of my max HP every second, so it looked like it would restore 1% of my max HP at Rank 10. As a result, I would always regain full health in 100 seconds, and don¡¯t even get me started on the amount of health potions I would be able to cut down on thanks to it! This skill was absolutely irreplaceable for any Undead Swordsman! Over two hours passed in the blink of an eye. It was about 1 am, and I had killed countless Wasps during this time. However, I still hadn¡¯t encountered the legendary Level 1 Wasp. Beep! It was at this moment I received a message from Wind Fantasy. The pretty girl asked: ¡°What are you doing, Little Cheat?¡± ¡°Catching a pet!¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m working on that as well! What are you trying to catch?¡± ¡°A Wasp. What about you?¡± ¡°A lil red hat, hehe¡­¡± ¡°What the hell¡¯s a lil red hat?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± ¡°Nope. Do enlighten me¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯ll cost you 1 gold!¡± A long silence later, Lin Yixin gave up expecting a response from me and sent over an entry¡ª Fire Blade Attack ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Defense ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î HP ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Agility ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Slightly astonished by what I saw, I replied, ¡°Its attack and HP are amazing!¡± Lin Yixin must be snickering to herself right now. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯d be nice if I could catch one that has a base number of 70!¡± ¡°Yeah, how nice it would be if you run into it and accidentally killed it¡­¡± ¡°How about I kill you, you Little Cheat!¡± I laughed loudly at her response and closed the chat window. Then, I looked around me and froze up like a statue. It¡¯s here! God fucking dammit it¡¯s finally here! Just a few steps away in front of me, a Wasp with a beautiful number floating above its head flew slowly across the clearing: Wasp LV-1. A Level 1 Wasp had finally shown up! Overwhelmed by joy, I put away even the Weeping Fire Blade and sneaked toward my target with silent steps. I took out a Sealing Card, locked onto the Wasp and threw the card at it! Swoosh! The Sealing Card suddenly transformed into a giant, magical formation and trapped the little Wasp. It then began the taming process! A green progress bar slowly filled up until it stopped suddenly¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Sealing failed. Process can be repeated 4 more times! My heart clenched painfully. I only had four chances left. If I failed to capture this Wasp by then, it would automatically level up, and all my efforts would have been for nothing! Heavens, please grant me your blessing! Please let me be extraordinarily lucky today! I threw out another Sealing Card at the Wasp, but the little insect continued to buzz around without a care at all. Fail! I gritted my teeth and tried again. Third time¡¯s the charm! Fail! Four time¡¯s the charm? Fail¡­ My resolve was failing as I let out a desperate wail, ¡°Please don¡¯t toy with me like this!¡± I threw out the fifth Sealing Card, wrapping the Wasp in a six-pointed star array. The monster shrank, grew bigger, shrank, and grew bigger again before disappearing in the last moment. A beam of yellow light flew toward me and entered my pet space, taking up my one and only pet slot. I could never obtain another pet unless I released this Wasp. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have successfully tamed Wasp! I hurriedly opened my bag and checked its stats. Wasp Level: 1 Attack: 5 Agility: 6 Stamina: 3 HP: 5 Growth¡ª Attack ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Defense ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î HP ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Agility ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î I calculated briefly in my head and concluded that the total base number of this Wasp was 19, the legendary 19. The strength of a pet was determined by two things: growth scaling and base number, BN. Different types of pets had different growth scaling and vice versa, but the BN of a pet was completely random. The higher the pet¡¯s BN, the stronger it would become in the future. That was how the term came to be coined. Unfortunately, the Wasp I caught only had BN of 19. I didn¡¯t know what to think, so I sent Lin Yixin a message. ¡°Yiyi, what¡¯s your opinion on a 19 BN Wasp?¡± Lin Yixin replied, ¡°Sounds amazing. Raise it¡­¡± Slightly worried, I asked, ¡°Amazing how, exactly?¡± Lin Yixin sent me a smiley face emoji before replying, ¡°I say it¡¯s amazing because it¡¯ll be so much easier for me to kick your ass if you really decide to raise such a shitty pet¡­¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± I turned off the chat window. Dammit, this Wasp is complete trash! What should I do? I had invested too much effort to toss it without a thought, but if I truly wanted to become a super pro then raising a trash like this was completely out of the question. As Lin Yixin had warned me earlier, it would be easy for her to destroy me if I chose to stick with a pet like this. In Heavenblessed, a player could obtain their first pet after reaching Level 30. Once they reached the next level threshold, they would be able to unlock their second pet slot. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, a player could have only up to three pets at the most, but only one could be active at any given time. If a pet died, it couldn¡¯t be resummoned for 10 minutes. Long story short, demand for high-BN pets was greater now than it would be in the future. Meanwhile, the Wasp I caught flapped its wings and flew in circles in front of me. The little thing looked like it was incredibly happy. Troubled, I was just about to leave when a voice came from my right side. ¡°Fuck! He caught a Level 1 Wasp!¡± I turned around and saw none other than Dominating Knight God and Dominating Warrior God. The way they stared at my pet greedily reminded me of the story Dong Zhuo and Diaochan. Chapter 44: Queen Wasp Nes The spawn rate of a Level 1 monster wasn¡¯t high at all. At the very least, Dominating Heaven Blade and his group hadn¡¯t encountered a single Level 1 Wasp up until now. That was why Dominating Knight God and Dominating Warrior God approached me with their weapons at the ready when they noticed that I had already sealed a Wasp. Unafraid, I stared at the duo and smiled suddenly. ¡°What is your business with me, heroes?¡± Surprised, Dominating Knight God returned a smile and asked, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. So, you¡¯ve caught a pet, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I turned around to caress my little wasp on the head before saying, ¡°Tsk tsk, a Wasp has 4.5 stars in both Attack and Agility. It truly is the perfect offensive pet, don¡¯t you agree? Plus, my Wasp has 35 BN. Haha, It¡¯s great isn¡¯t it?¡± Envy immediately dyed Dominating Knight God¡¯s eyes green. ¡°35 BN? That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s crazy!¡± Dominating Warrior God walked closer with his sword and sneered. ¡°Say, friend, are you interested in selling this Wasp?¡± I shook my head without hesitation. ¡°Of course not. I need it myself!¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± The trace of an evil grin flashed across Dominating Warrior God¡¯s face. ¡°I¡¯m willing to buy it for 5 gold. Is this really not negotiable? Just treat this as the beginning of our friendship and a favor to the Domination Clan and the Gods of Destruction guild.¡± I shook my head again. ¡°No way! A Wasp with 35 BN is worth at least 50 gold on the market. Do you think I¡¯m stupid?¡± ¡°In that case, we won¡¯t go easy on you any longer!¡± Dominating Warrior God pulled out his sword and sneered at me. ¡°You can trade us the Wasp now, or be killed 7 to 8 times at minimum. The Domination Clan doesn¡¯t mind camping your corpse for a couple of days, we promise~~ hehe!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. It barely took any effort to bait out their true nature! It was at this moment Dominating Heaven Blade appeared with two archers and a priest. He yelled, ¡°Warrior God, what are you doing? I told you Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is our friend!¡± Dominating Warrior God made up his mind and whispered, ¡°Boss, he caught a Wasp with 35 BN! It¡¯s crazy good!¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± A multitude of expressions flitted across Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s face for a moment. Clearly, he was struggling to choose between me, his ¡°friend¡± and the Wasp with 35 BN. Sadly, I wasn¡¯t as attractive as my own Wasp. Dominating Heaven Blade tightened his grip around his blade and smiled. ¡°Brother, I can give you 50 gold for that Wasp. Do you agree?¡± I replied frankly, ¡°If I don¡¯t agree, you¡¯ll camp my corpse and wipe my ID from Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking, won¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Haha, well¡­¡± I didn¡¯t expect this. Thanks to him, I abruptly recalled that Xu Yang had vanished suddenly from the Heavenly Ranking two days ago. So they were the culprits behind this! ¡°Hot Sun? He offended you?¡± I asked. Dominating Knight God sneered, ¡°Hot Sun, hah! Not only is he suicidal, he doesn¡¯t know how to appreciate kindness at all! He refused to abandon his old guild¡ªsomething something Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡ªand join Gods of Destruction. What¡¯s so good about that third-rate guild anyway? Hmph, those who cannot adapt to the times can only be crushed beneath it!¡± My eyes turned bloody red, my head overwhelmed with anger, my rage burning. I longed to return to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and He Yi even in my dreams. No way in hell I¡¯d allow anyone to blaspheme them! Rustle rustle¡­ I disappeared from where I stood and appeared in front of Dominating Knight God in an instant. Injecting undead energy into the Weeping Fire Blade, I launched one basic attack each at his chest and his neck! 412! 447! Both strikes were targeted at his weak points, so Dominating Knight God died with his eyes open. The possibility that I might attack him despite the number disadvantage never entered his mind until it was too late. I slowly pulled out the blood-drenched blade from Dominating Knight God¡¯s body before saying, ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is not a third-rate guild. Die!¡± Thump... Dominating Heaven Blade and the rest of the Domination Clan clan members realized what I did only when Dominating Knight God¡¯s body had collapsed to the ground. Furious, Dominating Warrior God charged me while yelling, ¡°Rat, how dare you hurt my brother?!¡± Whoosh! Dominating Warrior God leaped into the air and executed the skill ¡°Assault¡±. It was the signature skill of Level 30 Warrior boasting great attack power and a chance to stun a target for 1 second! I looked up at my airborne opponent, a smile flashing across my face. I circled to his back perfectly, dodging out of his attack range and slashing him twice at the same time. The first strike was Pardon, and the second strike was Slayer Slash! There wasn¡¯t even half a second of delay between the two strikes! MISS! 1097! Dominating Warrior God could hardly believe how easily he had been killed by me! Thump! Another body collapsed to the ground. I had killed two Heavenly Ranking pros in the blink of an eye. However, I felt pain beneath my armpit and my back. I was shocked to discover that more than half of my HP was gone! Beep! Combat Log: Player ¡°Dominating Heaven Blade¡± used ¡°Sword Drag Slash¡±, dealing 279 damage! Beep! Combat Log: Player ¡°Dominating Heaven Blade¡± used ¡°Double Slash¡±, dealing 189 and 201 damage! The situation was bad. Dominating Heaven Blade was definitely a top-rate warrior, and not even my Dark Steel¨Cgrade metal armor could protect me from his powerful attacks! What was even worse was that Dominating Archer God just fired ¡°Devil Piercing Arrow¡± at me. Devil Piercing Arrow was the signature second-promotion skill of the Archer class, and it ignored 50% of the target¡¯s armor. It was a killer move against defense-heavy class like Warrior! I backed away quickly and downed a Rank 2 Health Potion, recovering 400 HP in an instant. Thank you, Lin Yixin, I would have died if I didn¡¯t have this! Bang! The Devil Piercing Arrow struck my chest and exploded for 227 HP. This archer had completely broken through my defense. The four enemy players charged toward me to secure the kill, the deadliest among them being Dominating Heaven Blade of course. As expected from the number one player on the Heavenly Ranking, his offensive power was no joke at all. Outnumbered, I would lose if I tried to beat them fair and square! Fighting and retreating, I downed another HP pot and rolled into the trees behind me, hoping to find an opportunity to use Earth Escape to slip underground. But not only did the skill have a one-second cast time, my own brain was still delayed by about half a second. If I couldn¡¯t find a way to stall them for 1.5 second, this battle would probably end badly for me. Dominating Heaven Blade chased me and shouted, ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, is this how you repay the kindness I¡¯ve shown you? I will make you pay for killing my brothers!¡± I snorted and checked the cooldown on Pardon. 45 seconds gone, 15 more to go. Hmph, just watch me drag you down from your throne when these 15 seconds are up, Dominating Heaven Blade! I zigzagged non-stop to avoid Dominating Archer God¡¯s attacks. Heavenblessed was a full virtual reality game, so there was no lock-on system when shooting. People couldn¡¯t just get the target lock and spam skills. Now, the player had to at least aim near the target to hit. After all, it would look ridiculous to shoot in another direction just for the arrow to magically curve to hit the target behind you. Thanks to my movement, at least half of Dominating Archer God¡¯s shots hit nothing but trees. Moreover, thanks to my amazing Defense, his Devil Piercing Arrow was the only attack that I needed to be wary of. Although Dominating Heaven Blade was a top-class player, my movement dizzied him and nearly caused him to run into a tree several times. His movement and control might seem extraordinary compared to a normal player, but his fluidity still had room for improvement. He was definitely just a bit inferior to Lin Yixin. Pardon was almost done refreshing. My eyes almost never left the countdown. 3! 2! 1! It¡¯s off cooldown! I instantly ran an S across the terrain before turning around. Then, I swung the Weeping Fire Blade twice at Dominating Heaven Blade! He never had a chance to evade my Pardon + Slayer Slash combo! Whoosh! Dominating Heaven Blade summoned a powerful wind around himself. The protective barrier around him seemed to work similarly to my Ghost Deity Armor. Unfortunately for him, it wasn¡¯t enough to withstand the divine punishment that came after Pardon! MISS! 987! Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s breath left his lips. Warriors didn¡¯t have the highest HP scaling to begin with, and Dominating Heaven Blade only had slightly over 600 HP. How could he possibly withstand my attack? Thump! Just like that, the boss of the Domination Clan and the leader of Gods of Destruction had died in my hands. I was angry because of Dominating Warrior God¡¯s words, because he said that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was a third-rate guild. To me, it was a name that deserved to be protected with my life. I would never allow anyone to trashtalk it, even if I had to give my life for it. In reality, my situation was absolutely critical. Although I managed to kill Dominating Heaven Blade, the counterattack also gave the archer the opening he needed to shoot me. Dominating Archer God¡¯s Devil Piercing Arrow hit me with incredible force! Bang! 291! I downed another Rank 2 Health Potion the second I was hit. However, the shot knocked me into the air and sent me free-falling like a broken kite! Swoosh! Shock gripped me as my vision turned black. I didn¡¯t realize that there was a giant pit behind the bush I had been standing in! Bang! I fell all the way to the bottom of the pit. When I looked up, I could barely see a sliver of light above me. This pit has to be a hundred meters deep at least! ¡°So, did we do it?¡± someone asked. Dominating Archer God said, ¡°I think so? He probably died from the fall damage. Let¡¯s head back and report our success to the boss!¡± ¡°Okay. Damn this kid is fierce! He was fighting us alone, but it didn¡¯t look like he was using his full strength. Hmph! What a shame that we couldn¡¯t make use of a top-class pro like him!¡± ¡°Pro my ass. He still fell to my arrow in the end, didn¡¯t he?¡± ¡°Haha, you¡¯re definitely the reincarnation of Huang Zhong, brother!¡± ¡°...¡± Not long after, the two players lingering above the pit went away to report to Dominating Heaven Blade. As for me, I was busy looking around me and coming to the realization that this ¡°pit¡± wasn¡¯t as simple as I thought. The rocks on the walls looked completely natural, but I noticed that they were riddled with tiny holes. It almost looked like the pattern of a¡­ hive!? I felt chilled from the bottom of my heart. This is the Venomous Wasp Forest, so can this place really be a hive¡­? I checked the map and felt even colder. The location was ¡°Queen Wasp Nest¡±! Chapter 45: Dark Wasp A zone within a zone! I was overjoyed. My first thought was that I had entered a boss lair. Queen Wasp Nest. This dark and eerie place must be where the Queen Wasp lived. I looked up again, and just like before I saw only a small dot of light shining down from above. This pit was incredibly deep, and it was concealed by the forest. I guess I should thank the Domination Clan for attacking me, because there was no way I would have found this place otherwise. I was regenerating health automatically when I heard a ring. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your skill ¡°Regeneration of the Undead¡± has reached Rank 3! Nice. The skill automatically took effect whenever I wasn¡¯t at max health, so it reached Rank 3 faster than I thought. Now, the skill regenerated 0.3% HP every second. Since my total HP was 750, I was regenerating 2.25 HP every second. Now I feel like a proper undead! Clearly, super regeneration was one of my class¡¯s natural advantages. I tightened my grip around my blade after regenerating to full health and walked deeper into the Queen Wasp Nest! The walls were completely covered in holes, and I could even see wriggling pupae inside of them. It was a terrifying sight. When these pupae reached full maturity, they would transform into Wasps and hunt noobs at Venomous Wasp Forest. Who would¡¯ve thought that I would accidentally fall into their nest? Buzz buzz buzz... Suddenly, I heard a familiar sound in front of me. Here they come! Two patrolling wasps flew toward me at the same time. I was surprised to find that they were different from the wasps I had fought outside. Their heads were round and covered in venomous thorns, giving them the appearance of a fierce tiger. In fact, they were called Tiger Head Hornets, an incredible Level 37 wasp. I gripped my blade and charged them without hesitation! The first attack belongs to me! I swung my sword once and missed beautifully. Then, I followed up with a devastating Rank 3 Slayer Slash! 1489! Seriously? That attack didn¡¯t even delete half of the Tiger Head Hornet¡¯s HP! This Level 37 monster is just too powerful! Swoosh swoosh! The two Tiger Head Hornets screeched in unison before attacking me, sending a wave of burning sensation across my chest. I lost a huge amount of HP, and I was poisoned by the attack! 189! 197! This is bad. I need to end this as quickly as possible! Bloody light wrapped around the Weeping Fire Blade. Undead Energy III gave me 15% damage bonus to living targets , and the Bloody Ring of Protection on my finger gave me another 3% boost. I struck the enemy three times, each stroke of my sword dealing more than 400 damage! 447! 459! 451! Glug! Left with no choice, I drank a Rank 2 Health Potion and regained 400 HP immediately. A normal health potion was completely insufficient in this situation. Lin Yixin and Clear Perfume potion-making skills were really starting to display their usefulness, and I resolved myself to maintain an excellent business relationship with them. Swoosh! I slashed one more time and killed my first Tiger Head Hornet. Now that there was only one enemy left, my life was no longer in danger. With my Rank 2 Health Potions, normal health potions from NPC vendors and Regeneration of the Undead, I could probably kill the last Tiger Head Hornet without dropping below 75% health. Crack! The second Tiger Head Hornet let out a bloodcurdling screech before dying under my blade. It even dropped a 91 Quality Big Magic Stone. Nice, that¡¯s another 18 silver in my wallet! I checked my experience bar: Level 32, 97% full. Those 2 kills actually boosted my experience by a whopping 3%! It was an incredible feeling, and it looked like I could level up once or twice in this Queen Wasp Nest. Of course, I would rather fight a boss and kill it. After all, the experience and items a boss gave were nothing like that of a common mob. Happy, I continued onward and quickly encountered the second group of Tiger Head Hornets. Just like before they came at me as a pair, and I was able to beat them at the cost of one Rank 2 Health Potion. Moreover, I got yet another 88 Quality Big Magic Stone or 17.6 silver, just had to multiply the quality by two. Currently, 1 gold was worth 100 RMB, so this Magic Stone was worth 17.6 RMB. I could buy a dish of Fish-flavored Shredded Pork with this money! I trekked through the dark and silent passages of the Queen Wasp Nest for over an hour, killing countless Tiger Head Hornets in the process. I was now at Level 33 and 25% experience, and the placements on the Heavenly Ranking had changed yet again. After Dominating Heaven Blade was killed by me, Lin Yixin had successfully reclaimed her throne¡ª NameLevelClass Wind Fantasy 35 Light Wanderer Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 33 Undead Swordsman Dominating Heaven Blade 32 Warrior Inconstant 31 Magic Knight Iron Pardon 31 Warrior Dominating Knight God 31 Magic Knight Dominating Mage God 31 Mage Dominating Warrior God 31 Warrior Dominating Archer God 30 Archer Clear Perfume 30 Archer For now, I sat at second place. I wondered where Lin Yixin grinded to increase her level this quickly. Did she hunt yet another boss? I thought about it for a moment before relaxing. Levels didn¡¯t represent a player¡¯s full strength. Suddenly, a beep entered my ears. Lin Yixin had sent me a message. ¡°Hehe, what are you doing, Little Cheat?¡± ¡°Catching Wasps, duh,¡± I replied back sourly. ¡°I¡¯m going to show you something good. Make sure you keep it a secret~¡± ¡°Sure, what is it?¡± A pet entry entered my message box right after. It was the stats of Lin Yixin¡¯s pet. Fire Blade Level: 1 Attack: 10 Defense: 7 HP: 10 Agility: 7 Growth¡ª Attack ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Defense ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î HP ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Agility ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î I was completely stunned. This¡­ this Fire Blade is a bit much, isn¡¯t it? For each stat, the maximum base a pet could start with was 20, meaning that the perfect pet could have up to 80 BN. This Fire Blade had BN of 34, which was over twice the current average BN, 15. What was this nonsense? Absolutely green with envy, I replied, ¡°Why did you send me this¡­ What are you trying to do...¡± Lin Yixin was probably laughing her head off. ¡°To make you unhappy, of course. Hehe, I¡¯m happy if you¡¯re unhappy¡­¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± I closed the chat window and resolved not to speak with her anymore. Any more than this and I¡¯ll die on my feet! Still, it looks like that 15 gold I swindled from Lin Yixin left quite the scar on her heart. Take that, you lucky witch! Haha! After the brief conversation, I went back to leveling and trekked deeper into the Queen Wasp Nest. It wasn¡¯t long before I ran into a new kind of bee. This one had transparent, gold wings and a cyan body. Its sting was openly displayed and dripping with chilling venom. It was as big as a basketball, and I could already imagine how painful it would be to be stung by it. Killer Bee Level: 39 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t see its stats because my level was too low, but it wasn¡¯t like I had another choice besides defeating it. This was a death trap I had fallen into, and the only way to escape it was to defeat every enemy that was standing in my way. Crack! I hit the Killer Bee¡¯s cyan head hard with a Pardoned Slayer Slash. A huge damage number popped into the air¡ª1578! After leveling up, I gained another 5 Attack. It looks like my damage has gone up again. The Killer Bee had about 3300 HP, meaning that the attack had taken away about 50% of its HP. It only managed to retaliate once before I landed a couple more basic attacks and killed it, meaning that I didn¡¯t even have to use a Rank 2 Health Potion. Well, that definitely saved me a lot of money. I checked my experience bar and saw an encouraging boost. The experience dropped by a Level 39 monster was massive, and there was nothing more exhilarating than leveling up rapidly. A lot of players must be hunting Level 20 bears in Frost Forest right now, and here am I hunting Level 39 Killer Bees in a boss zone. I¡¯m so happy~ I continued forward and got a 99 Quality Big Magic Stone on my fourth Killer Bee kill. My luck is absolutely off the charts today! These magic stones alone should earn me a lot of money! It was at this moment I received a message from Gui Guzi. ¡°Boss, I want to consult with you about something.¡± ¡°Sure, speak!¡± ¡°A small group from the Domination Clan¡ªthree players to be exact¡ªhired me and Brother B to kill a Level 27 boss. We had agreed to share the kill experience. But now that the boss is low on health, they want to kick us out of the party and claim all the experience for themselves. What should we do?¡± I smiled and replied, ¡°They¡¯re the ones who broke the rules first. Did you save a record of the dialogue?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Good. Leave the party when the boss is about to die. Then kill it, take the experience and don¡¯t leave behind a single item drop! We can afford to lose the commision fee!¡± ¡°Great, that¡¯s exactly what I was hoping to do. Your approval makes it even better!¡± I slammed my blade into the Killer Bee in front of me and smiled. From the moment I created Bloody Mercenaries, I swore that I wouldn¡¯t allow my people to suffer by the hands of others. There was a saying ¡°Wolves eat meat, dogs eat shit¡±, and we, the Bloody Mercenaries, were a wolf pack made of iron and blood! No one could snatch the meat in our jaws! Over three hours and countless dead Killer Bees later, my experience was 75% full, still Level 33. I had been grinding in this Queen Wasp Nest for almost five hours, and I had finally reached the end of the map. The world in front of me abruptly widened, and I discovered that I had entered a wide temple. Even the background music became intense and exciting. This is clearly the boss¡¯s chamber! Excited, I clenched my blade tighter and entered the temple. No matter how powerful the Queen Wasp is, I swear to slay it even it costs me Thirteen¡¯s humanity! However, my oath was thrown to the back of my mind when I rounded a corner and saw the boss. A dark cyan wasp about 40 centimeters long was flying inside the temple. It had transparent wings that looked as tough as steel, and its body was covered in a layer of thin shell. It emanated a dark light, and the sting protruding from its posterior was shaped like a sharp blade. It looked terrifying to say the least! Dark Wasp (B Rank Boss) Introduction: Dark Wasps are a rare breed in this continent. A long time ago, it was prophesied to be the favored species of the gods. With its super Attack and Defense, a fully-matured Dark Wasp is brutal and bloodthirsty. For the adventurers of Heavenblessed, the creature is the manifestation of the Grim Reaper. Rank B boss, super Attack and Defense? I couldn¡¯t care less! Why? It was because my attention was completely pulled to the line of text hovering above its head¡ª Chapter 46: Super Dark Wasp Buzz! My mind turned completely blank! How¡­ how is this boss Level 1? I had no idea that such a thing existed in Heavenblessed. Does this mean it can be captured as a pet just like any other monster? If my assumption is correct, this Dark Wasp has to be incredibly powerful! I kept my emotions under control and held my breath. Dark Wasp! A Level 1 Dark Wasp! The revelation kept resonating inside my head. The first step was to release the 19 BN trash Wasp I had captured earlier. Swoosh! I took out a Sealing Card and clenched my teeth. A Level 1 boss was pretty weak, so I wasn¡¯t worried about my own safety. However, I was worried that the boss would become Level 2 after five failed attempts. The capture rate of a Level 1 boss must be ridiculously low, and I was not a tamer with increased sealing rate. If I failed to capture this Dark Wasp, I would probably remember this failure for life. For a time, I felt like I was standing at the center of a single-log bridge¡ªthe slightest movement was a source of trepidation for me. That being said, it wasn¡¯t like I had any other choice. The only thing to do here was to act bravely and hope for the best! Swoosh! I tossed the Sealing Card into the air, watching it as it flew above the Dark Wasp¡¯s head and transformed into a cyan formation. It grew smaller and smaller as it pulled the Dark Wasp toward it with a mysterious power. A progress bar showed how long it would take for the sealing process to complete, and I felt like my heart was threatening to leap out of my chest. Thankfully, the system didn¡¯t make me wait long and dinged in less than 2 seconds. System Notice: Sealing failed. Process can be repeated 14 more times! I was a bit surprised by the system notice, 14 times? As I thought, things were different when a boss was involved. My success chance should be much higher than the last time! I took out another Sealing Card and repeated the process. I had plenty of Sealing Cards in stock, so I wasn¡¯t worried about running out and wasting this golden opportunity. Some tamers were so stingy that they only carried 10 Sealing Cards when out hunting. It was a decision they would regret deeply if they ran into a Level 1 boss like me. Swoosh! The Sealing Card flew into the air and circled around the Dark Wasp¡¯s head again. Ding~! System Notice: Sealing failed. Process can be repeated 13 more times! Goddammit, another failure. Again! Meanwhile, the Dark Wasp flew around the temple and did its own thing. It was completely oblivious to the malicious undead creature that was throwing Sealing Cards at it again and again. I felt like my heart was breaking down bit by bit as the system bell rang beside my ears again and again. Ding~! Ding~! System Notice: Sealing failed. Process can be repeated 11 more times! Ding~! System Notice: Sealing failed. Process can be repeated 10 more times! ¡­... Ding~! System Notice: Sealing failed. Process can be repeated 1 more time! Fourteen chances had slipped through my fingers in the blink of an eye. It was do or die! Tears streaming down my cheeks, I kissed the Sealing Card and murmured to myself, ¡°He Yi¡­ Boss¡­ Please give me strength!¡± Swoosh! The Sealing Card transformed into a hexagrammic formation one last time and enveloped the Dark Wasp, shrinking and pulling it unto itself slowly. However, the wasp cried out and escaped the pull temporarily, only to be pulled back into the formation once more. The process repeated itself another four times before the Dark Wasp vanished into the magic formation once and for all! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have successfully tamed Dark Wasp (Boss)! Shock, joy, ecstasy! No words could describe what I was feeling at that moment. If I had to try, I would say that it was like chasing girl you loved for many years, and she walked up to you one day and say, ¡°Dummy, I¡¯ve loved you since a long time ago¡­¡± I checked my pet space and saw the Dark Wasp. When I summoned it and checked its stats, my heartbeat nearly came to a stop. Dark Wasp LV-1 Attack: 18 Defense: 15 HP: 17 Agility: 19 Growth¡ª¡ª Attack ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Defense ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î HP ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Agility ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î My mind went blank again. 6-star Attack? 5.5-star Agility? Holy shit this Dark Wasp is dope as fuck! And would you look at that beautiful BN! 69! It¡¯s way better than Lin Yixin¡¯s Fire Blade! I was absolutely overjoyed. Not only was this Dark Wasp a boss creature with amazing growth, its BN was absolutely amazing. I must have used up all the good luck and karma I had collected in the past 24 years of my life! I brought up the friend list and noticed that Wind Fantasy was still online. So I sent her a message that said, ¡°Beauty Lin, you wanna see something good?¡± A few seconds later, Lin Yixin replied, ¡°What is it? Send it over.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I made a pet entry of the Dark Wasp and sent it to Lin Yixin directly. It took her five full minutes before she finally replied, ¡°Lu Chen, I feel like murdering someone¡­¡± I laughed like a madman while replying, ¡°Mwahahahaha, fight me, bite me!¡± Lin Yixin: ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!¡± Clearly, Beauty Lin had gone completely berserk. Feeling very pleased with myself, I decided to depart for Floating Ice City. There was nothing to grab inside the temple, and I needed to level up my pet as soon as possible. No matter how OP it was, there was nothing it could do at Level 1. Once it caught up to my level, both leveling and PKing would become a lot easier. I crushed a return scroll and teleported back to Floating Ice City. It was overflowing with people even during the night. I checked my Satiety and noted that it had dipped below 40. It was time to fill up my stomach. I walked out of Floating Ice City and ran straight for Frost Mound. Many days had passed inside the game, and I wondered how my little loli was doing. On the way, I cut down any enemies or obstacles standing in my path and named my pet ¡°Wind Fantasy¡±. It was perfect. I couldn¡¯t wait to see Lin Yixin¡¯s reaction. I set the Dark Wasp to follow me and stay out of combat. By the time we reached Frost Mound, my Dark Wasp had reached Level 11 and grown a lot more powerful. Dark Wasp Level: 11 Attack: 128 Defense: 85 HP: 317 Agility: 169 At first glance, it seemed that my Dark Wasp gained 10 Attack, 7 Defense, 30 HP and 15 Agility at every level. That¡¯s impressive! Its stats will be far superior to mine once it reaches Level 33! That being said, we players had the ability to equip items and increase our stats. Moreover, a pet¡¯s stats grew at a fixed rate. If I was wearing a set of top-rate armor, I could one-shot my Dark Wasp even if it shared the same level as me. First thing upon arrival at Frost Mound, I sought out my trainer, the Undead Swordsman Suren. The huge skeleton stared at me and smiled. ¡°Young undead, your growth speed is truly amazing. I¡¯m glad, your addition will bolster our ranks and give us more strength to fight against the invading humans and evil Night Creatures.¡± He then waved his hand and said, ¡°A pack of heartless Hell Windwolves has appeared in the forest to the north of Frost Mound. They are so vicious that they devour humans and undead alike. I want you to punish them for what they¡¯ve done to us, young undead. Kill 400 Hell Windwolves and bring back 100 Hell Windwolf Teeth!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Do you accept the quest [Hell Windwolf]? I chose ¡°Accept¡±. Ding~! System Notice: You¡¯ve accepted the quest [Hell Windwolf]! (Quest Rank: D) Description: Go north of Frost Mound and enter Immortal Trail Forest. Kill 400 Hell Windwolves collect 100 Hell Windwolf Teeth. Bring them back to the Undead Swordsman Trainer Suren for a very generous reward! It¡¯s time to kill some Hell Windwolves! I set out after repairing my equipment and stocking up on potions. But before I headed to Immortal Trail Forest, I stopped at Mushroom Forest to check on Xinran. She wore a blue dress today, and she was picking mushrooms and putting them into her basket. No matter the season, I could almost always find her at this location. Xinran ran up to me excitedly when she spotted me and smiled. ¡°You¡¯re finally here, big brother! You¡¯ve been gone for so long that I thought you vanished somewhere!¡± I smiled at her and replied, ¡°Of course not.¡± Xinran took out an Oat Bread and gave it to me, smiling. ¡°Here, your meal!¡± I accepted the gift and ate it on the spot, but I discovered that my Satiety had only gone up by 50 points. It looked like my appetite had increased along with my level. I passed Xinran a Big Magic Stone and told her to take good care of herself. She was very happy. We chatted for a while, but she left shortly after because she knew that I was busy. After bidding Xinran goodbye, I made way toward Immortal Trail Forest alone. Immortal Trail Forest was a quiet and tranquil forest situated right next to Frost Forest. Legend says that angels once descended on this forest, which was how it got its name in the first place. However, it had been many years since a deity or an angel was sighted. With no one from above to protect them, the people of this land could only fight back against the Night Creatures¡¯ invasion with their own hands. I am neither a Night Creature nor a human. I¡¯m a neutral undead who is slowly growing into a powerful Undead Swordsman! Immortal Trail Forest looked like it was rarely visited, if at all. The Weeping Fire Blade glowed slightly as I trekked through the trees. I paid close attention to both sides of the forest trail I was following because I couldn¡¯t shake off the feeling that something was following me. It was late in the night, and the wind was strong and frigid, as evident from the shaking leaves and branches beside the road. I opened the map and noticed that the zone in front of me was all red. I must be pretty close to the Hell Windwolves¡¯ spawn zone. I sucked in a deep breath and entered the forest. The moment I took a step, a terrible stench suddenly overwhelmed my senses right before a huge, snow-colored wolf pounced toward me. Its mouth was full of saliva, and its teeth shone coldly under the sky. Puchi! Caught off-guard, it bit me for 287 HP before I could do anything. This Hell Windwolf¡¯s attack is pretty high! I turned around and unleashed my own devastating attack. My first attack, Pardon, missed completely, as usual, and I followed it up with an enhanced Slayer Slash! 1754! Chapter 47: Windwolf Greaves Charging forward, I unleashed three basic attacks upon the wolf. The first blow was a thrust, the second a crush, and the third a slash. The three sword techniques were smoothly connected, each attacking different weak point of the Hell Windwolf. I managed to prevent it from unleashing any counterattack! I was overjoyed inside. It felt easy to move and maneuver now. My delay had clearly shortened to about half a second. This was the intuition of a game expert. When the weapon in your hand was matched with great skill, unimaginable feats were within grasp. In reality, I was a complete newbie, but in terms of swordsmanship in the game, I was definitely at the top. Speaking of which, I was just a person who only talked on paper... "Arr, Arr!" The wolf howled as it fell to the flow, turning into abundant experience and a corpse. I walked forward and looked carefully. A Level 38 Hell Windwolf. Such a high level. No wonder it gave me such pain with its attacks. Right now, I wore the Cyanfire Cloak, the Soul Turmoil Armor and the Beast-faced Turmoil Helmet. My equipment was extremely fine. Even so, the Hell Windwolf had taken nearly 300 HP from me with a bite. If this was any ordinary player, they would probably have been bitten to death. I reached out with my fingers and shouted at the wolf. "Death Plunder!" Whoosh! After a bolt of light, an exquisite white wolf skin appeared in my hand. This was the fur of the Hell Windwolf, unusually snowy white, and definitely top material for making high-class pelt items such as GUCCI and LV. Of course, it wasn''t possible to do such business in the game, but tailors could still turn this into good leather armor. Hell Windwolf Pelt (Quality: 81): Rank 3 Leather, can be used to make leather armor. As expected, this pelt was a Rank 3 material. Another windfall! Tsk tsk, the Death Plunder skill looked useless, but was definitely my trump skill for making money in early stages. Especially when I was fighting wild beast monsters. This skill was a sure-fire way to get their skins and sinews! I put away the wolf hide and continued forward. Above my shoulder, the Dark Wasp had suddenly jumped to Level 11 15% experience after hogging a large amount of the Hell Windwolf¡¯s experience. If I spend the night killing the wolves here, the Dark Wasp will reach at least Level 20, and be a worthy addition in my fights. At that time, my combat strength will soar! I raised my hand and shouted, "Rise, undead!" Crash! The Hell Windwolf''s plundered corpse suddenly trembled. Soon, the bones broke out, and a skeleton windwolf half the height of a man appeared. Hell Windwolf (Demonic Servant) Level: 30 Attack: 150~225 Defense: 150 HP: 1000 ¡­¡­ "Haha, let¡¯s go, Fantasy, Windwolf!" I took the Dark Wasp and the skeleton wolf as I advanced. This time, I was confident. With my team of pets, even if I encounter two Hell Windwolves, I can manage! I couldn¡¯t finish this thought before two Hell Windwolves pounced at me. I immediately sent the skeleton wolf at one to tank it with Dark Wasp as support while I took another on my own! "Pardon!" "Slayer Slash!" Whoosh whoosh whoosh... After cleanly defeating the first wolf within five strikes, I turned around and smiled. The skeleton wolf was still grappling with its living brethren while the Dark Wasp danced in the air. It suddenly dived, the stinger on its tail stabbing into the windwolf''s neck and dragging upwards! Puchi! 117! Tsk tsk, its attack power is considerable! My confidence soared as I realized my palpable growth! I went up and defeated the second Hell Windwolf with two blows. After using Death Plunder, another two skins appeared in my inventory. I looked at my demonic servant. Its HP was about done. Therefore, I released it and summoned again. Another impressive skeleton wolf rose from the dead. However, it was extremely taxing on my MP. Each Summon Undead came with 50 MP cost. It required more magic than mages used! Fortunately, I had taken along several bundles of Green Pepper Meatball, so I could replenish my mana as needed. In any case, I didn¡¯t need to be frugal with my own crafts. As a result, my grind became very smooth. The Immortal Trail Forest was almost overrun by Hell Windwolves. They were everywhere, and I was casually killing them. The Hell Windwolves were rich in experience, and even their drop rate was nice. I was getting a magic stone every ten wolves. With my level advantage, I could make a killing just selling these stones! The Bloody Mercenaries already had three loyal members. We were like-minded and united. But what did we lack? Money! If we couldn¡¯t get enough money, the three founders of Bloody Mercenaries would starve to death. ¡­¡­ I leveled up alone and bored. As the pillar of light descended, Dark Wasp¡¯s level also increased. In the blink of an eye, more than four hours had passed. I was completely covered in sweat. I had already gotten the required number of teeth and killed the required number of enemies but I still continued in order to get more skins. Today, I was determined to not return to Frost Mound until I reached Level 35! Just as I was in my killing trance, a message came¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Player ¡°Murong Mingyue¡± has sent you a friend request. Do you accept? ¡­¡­ I stilled. Did Murong Mingyue recognize me? Or did something happen? I looked at the time. It was nine in the morning. Sister Mingyue should have just gotten online. Why had she sought me out? After a moment of thought, I accepted. If I refused, Murong Mingyue would definitely suspect something with her intelligence! Beep! She sent a message: "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, may I ask you something?" "Yes.¡± "Are you Falling Dust?" "No.¡± "Oh...¡± "Anything else?" "Yes!" Murong Mingyue continued, "I heard that you and Gui Guzi have created a mercenary workshop. A friend and I have accepted a quest to kill a Level 32 boss. If it¡¯s not a bother... could you help us? We can discuss the fee. What do you think about 10 gold?" I immediately responded, "A Level 32 boss? No problem. Just wait by the eastern gate bridge of Floating Ice City. I will immediately come with others!" "Alright!" ¡­¡­ I patted my chest and quieted my fiercely-beating heart. Murong Mingyue and Xu Yang must have gotten a quest. This time, I definitely could not show any flaws. Otherwise, if He Yi found me, with my ghastly state both in reality and in the game, how could I meet her? Moreover, I had inwardly decided that I would not return to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls in this life. I would use the name of Bloody Mercenaries to protect Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, hiding in the shadows to protect He Yi and protect our shared dream. Crack! My sword deflected paws of the enemy wolf, cleanly cutting its head off afterward. Swoosh! I successfully reached third place. The first name was Lin Yixin and the second was Dominating Heaven Blade who I had killed. This guy definitely had someone helping him level up. His leveling speed was as fast as the wind! I sprinted back to Frost Mound and found Trainer Suren to hand in the quest items. Suren immediately laughed and said, "Good job, little skeleton, your strength is one people have taken notice of. Come, this is your reward!" Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [Hell Windwolf]. You have gained 7200 EXP, 120 Reputation, and quest reward: ¡°Windwolf Greaves¡±! ¡­¡­ Windwolf Greaves? I was overjoyed. Suren was so good. I had been killing Hell Windwolves for four hours, and had gathered more than 400 skins, but not a single piece of equipment dropped. I hadn''t expected to be lucky and obtain a piece of equipment when I was handing in my quest! I opened the bag. A pair of dark blue greaves lay quietly in the corner¡ª Windwolf Greaves (Steel-grade) Defense: 32 Agility: +7 Level Requirement: 35 ¡­¡­ It is actually Steel-grade, surprising. It added an impressive 32 Defense and 7 Agility. While it didn¡¯t increase my Strength or Stamina that I needed the most, Agility was not bad. Sufficient Agility would strengthen a player in individual battles too! I put on the Windwolf Greaves, and took off the Bearskin Greaves I had put on earlier. My Defense soared by 25, all the way to 165. This level of defense was extraordinary at the present stage. I looked at my equipment. Very good, very sharp. I could show myself in public¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Class: Undead Swordsman (Bronze Swordsman) Level: 35 HP: 780 Attack: 149~273 Defense: 165 Magic Resist: 0 Reputation: 514 Luck: 0 Weeping Fire Blade (Bronze-grade) Attack: 25~40 Strength: +8 Level Requirement: 25 Beast-faced Turmoil Helmet (Steel-grade) Defense: 28 Strength: +7 Level Requirement: 30 Soul Turmoil Armor (Dark Steel¨Cgrade) Defense: 48 Stamina: +11 Passive: Increases physical attack power by 2% Level Requirement: 32 Cyanfire Cloak (Bronze-grade) Defense: 22 Stamina: +7 Passive: Increases user¡¯s evasion rate by 0.5% Level Requirement: 25 Black Bracers (Iron-grade Metal Armor) Defense : 8 Strength: +2 Level Requirement: 10 Porcupine Boots (Iron-grade) Defense: 12 Stamina: +3 Level Requirement: 10 Windwolf Greaves (Steel-grade) Defense: 32 Agility: +7 Level Requirement: 35 Bloody Ring of Protection (Dark Steel¨Cgrade) Strength: +18 Passive: Increases attack by 3% for dark players Level Requirement: 30 ¡­¡­ After sighing over this for two seconds, I sent messages to Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen. "Go to the eastern gate bridge of Floating Ice City, we have a new commission!" I repaired my equipment, saving two gold, and left the Frost Mound with my sword. I walked toward Floating Ice City. In any case, Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen would need half an hour to arrive. Chapter 48: Unrivaled I sprinted to Floating Ice City. There were many players teaming up outside the city. Seeing my red name, many gazes fell on me, some clearly malicious. So I revealed my name. As expected, the words ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± had a deterrent effect. The third-ranked expert of Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking. Many people who had wanted to kill the red name shrank back. I went to the stone bridge at the eastern gates of Floating Ice City. From a distance, Xu Yang and Murong Mingyue were waiting there. Xu Yang was still dressed in armor and holding a sword. Murong Mingyue had changed into a white robe and looked as pure as snow. However, the amused smile on her face and her astounding figure wasted this pure robe. People with clear sight could see that this woman was very strong and should not be provoked. ¡­¡­ "Come here, Brother Broken Halberd!" Xu Yang came over with a smile. I nodded slightly and said in a hoarse undead voice, "I have two fellows. Wait a few moments, they will come soon!" "Good!" Xu Yang''s gaze swept across my equipment. He sighed. "Brother Broken Halberd, your chest armor... the light looks very unfamiliar? What grade is it? Definitely not Bronze or Steel, right?" I smiled and said honestly, "Yes, Dark Steel¨Cgrade, Soul Turmoil Armor. 48 Defense, +11 Stamina. Not bad, right?" Xu Yang nodded. "Haha, very impressive!" I listed my items¡¯ stats. This would arouse trust. The other party was Xu Yang, so I didn¡¯t need to worry about his greed being aroused as well. He wasn¡¯t that kind of person. In my memories, I only had two impressions of this honest big man. One was that he was an honest and forthright person. The second was that he was very loyal to He Yi. This was like me. Even until the end, he did not give up on He Yi and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. At this time, Murong Mingyue walked over, and suddenly smiled mysteriously when she looked at me. She said coolly, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, I heard that you fought the Domination Clan of the Gods of Destruction guild in Venomous Wasp Forest, right?" I nodded and did not speak. Murong Mingyue continued, "Ha, how did you have the courage to challenge five experts on the Heavenly Ranking alone?" I smiled and said in a deep voice, "In reality, being enemies with the top-ranking experts of the Domination Clan doesn''t just require courage.¡± "Oh, what else is needed?" Murong Mingyue asked with a smile. I thought for a moment and said, "Everyone¡­ everyone has a reverse scale, a bottomline. The Domination Clan walked right over it. Even at the risk of death, I will slaughter them all.¡± "Oh?" Xu Yang laughed out loud. "Thank you, Brother Broken Halberd!" I said directly, "That is not very sincere. I am one of the founders of the Bloody Mercenaries, and our aim is to make money. Rather than verbally thanking me, how about you toss me a gold coin?" Murong Mingyue snorted in laughter, and took out a shiny gold coin. She said, "I¡¯ll give, but are you willing to take?" I reached out with my bone fingers, the gold coin landing in my bony palm. I smiled slightly. "If Beauty Murong is willing to give, of course I¡¯m willing to take!" Murong Mingyue stilled and looked dazedly at me. "I really do not understand you...¡± I smiled. It was for the best that she didn¡¯t. Else, there would be no place for me to hide. I asked a thousand, ten thousand times in my mind: "Mingyue, He Yi... has boss joined the game?" But I could not open my mouth. The trouble that would ensue if these words were uttered were too much for me to endure Xu Yang suddenly said, "Mingyue, didn''t Boss say that she''ll be on today? When is she getting on?" Murong Mingyue laughed softly. "Why are you in such a hurry? She has some meetings during the day. She probably will only have time to get on around 8 pm. She¡¯s Level 0 and will be in the starting village. We have to go take her along when the time comes, and try to reach Level 10 to come to Floating Ice City!" "Yes!" Xu Yang put his sword on his shoulders and laughed. "I''m looking forward to it. Once Boss enters Heavenblessed, I¡¯ll be as though I had gained a new spine, full of energy!¡± Murong Mingyue''s eyes darkened and she said with red eyes. "Pity that Lian Xing went overseas to study and Lu Chen... ahh, I hadn''t thought that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would end up like this...¡± As she spoke, Murong Mingyue glanced secretly at me. I immediately turned around and looked at the water flowing below the stone bridge. I gritted my teeth. He Yi''s smile in Spirit of Grief appeared in my mind as she said to the four of us, "Do you know why the guild is called the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? It means us having warrior¡¯s soul, using our life to defend our dreams!¡± Dreams and warrior¡¯s soul... The repeated bloodshed and slaughter. Xu Yang and I had fought at the frontlines for more than a year and did not fail the title of ¡°warrior¡¯s soul¡±. But our dreams were ultimately crushed by Martial God Candlelight Shadow I clenched my fists and swore inside. Candlelight Shadow brought his Candle Dragon guild to Heavenblessed. Soon, I will return all the pain and suffering many times over! ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, two people arrived. It was Du Thirteen and the red-named Gui Guzi. Xu Yang was slightly shocked and said with a smile, "Is a red name the characteristic of the Bloody Mercenaries?" Gui Guzi smiled darkly. "Giant, your flesh must be very hard, and difficult to chew...¡± Xu Yang raised his sword. "I can only apologize for the texture!" Du Thirteen and I laughed. Murong Mingyue said, "Let''s focus on the matter at hand. Come, let us leave. The boss is in a small mountain pass in Frost Forest. Let¡¯s get there before other people arrive!" "Yes!" Our group of five left Floating Ice City. Xu Yang said, "We have four offensive players. We should take a tactician along. Their Encourage and Iron Wall buffs would come in handy...¡± I shook my head. "No need for that. 5% attack power is not necessary. We¡¯ll just go and kill the boss!" "Alright!" We entered Frost Forest. This time, the five of us formed a team, and a relatively strong one. Gui Guzi had reached Level 30, and learned Undead Knight¡¯s Level 30 skills. He should have become much stronger. Xu Yang was a violent warrior. Murong Mingyue¡¯s equipment was pretty complete, so her healing output wouldn¡¯t be bad. As we neared the mountain pass, we saw some players leveling up nearby. Xu Yang grew anxious and shouted, ¡°Let¡¯s go, the boss is just ahead! Don¡¯t let someone else steal it!¡± I nodded and pulled out the Weeping Fire Blade with a clang. I sprinted with Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen following behind me in a triangle formation. "We''re here!" Hidden between the trees was a boss monster holding a spear, his red eyes fixed on our party. Xu Yang rejoiced. "Luckily, those people haven''t found the boss. Otherwise, we would have failed the quest.¡± I glanced at Gui Guzi and shouted, "Start!" Gui Guzi quickly charged forward, stabbing three times at the tree monster with his spear! 157! 176! 159! His actions erased more than five hundred of the boss''s HP. Xu Yang''s eyes were wide as he murmured, "What a strong guy, this Gui Guzi!" This was Death Combo, a skill of Undead Knight. Three successive attacks, each attack equal to 50% ordinary damage. As the skill''s rank increased, the damage would increase as well. The tree monster was a kind of plant-based monster. It possessed a vine-like body. Its arms were powerful and it could launch an endless onslaught of vine spears. It was an extremely powerful long-range monster. Also, this boss was top among the monsters in the forest. Level 32. It could threaten the lives of players under Level 40 like us. Du Thirteen also went forward with his weapon and used a Heavy Slash to take less than 200 HP of the boss. His strength was clearly far from Gui Guzi¡¯s. I arrived, my sword sweeping, feinting and attacking again. Green light wrapped around the sword hilt as the Slayer Slash crashed down! MISS! 1500! Murong Mingyue¡¯s mouth gaped at the first attack missing. She clearly had not expected a Top 3 expert to miss an attack. As the second attack¡¯s 1500 damage floated up, her mouth could no longer close. She clearly had not expected a human player to deal so much damage. Xu Yang roared, colliding with the boss. The Warrior Level 30 skill, Assault, had a certain chance of stunning the opponent! Xu Yang''s attack coincidentally stunned the boss. Gui Guzi and I took the opportunity to attack. In less than half a minute, the boss had lost half of its HP. Murong Mingyue continued to swing her staff, holy light washing over us, replenishing our HP to full. Long time no see, but Sister Mingyue was still full of milk to feed us! We were very smooth in our slaughter. But just as it was about to die, a group of people appeared from the woods behind us! "Them again!" Gui Guzi gritted his teeth. The unwelcome guests were the people from the Shadow Clan, our old enemies! Usually, Gui Guzi and I would not even care about such shrimps. But right now, we were killing a boss. If these people interrupted our rhythm, we may be the ones killed. Murong Mingyue was extremely nervous and asked, "What to do?" ¡­¡­ I pushed the tree monster away with a blow and said, "Little Gui, Thirteen, continue to kill the boss. Leave these people to me!" "But there¡¯s a dozen of them...¡± Gui Guzi hesitated. This guy was not worried about me. He saw potential for some PvP action, and his battle thirst couldn¡¯t be contained. I held the Weeping Fire Blade horizontally and headed toward the members of the Shadow Clan. Behind me, the Cyanfire Cloak flapped loudly. My features turned cold, like a god of death descending onto a mortal plane. ¡°Hmph, how about I show you why I¡¯m unrivaled!¡± Chapter 49: Chanel Shadow Maple charged over, the sword in his hand glistening red. This was a signature melee skill¡ªAssault! I faced him head-on, puffing my chest to tank the blow, while my Weeping Fire Blade drew a beautiful arc behind the target. Boom! The blade accurately hit the back of Shadow Maple''s head, a weak spot. 421 points of damage floated up! Shadow Maple was shocked but I had already turned my body, quickly stabbing his chest. With a spurt, blood gushed everywhere. The top player of the Shadow Clan was dead, his limp body slowly stumbling to the grass, a corpse awaiting revival. Shadow Volcano was furious upon seeing the events unfold, jumping into the action himself. Light flashed on his blade, Wanderer¡¯s Level 20 skill¡ªSword Drag Slash! Sha... Dust billowing under my feet, I took several steps back. Shadow Volcano''s earlier target on my position became useless. He hesitated whether he should continue the technique. If he did, it would surely miss. He froze all over. I wanted to laugh at seeing this. This person''s mechanics were so bad. One had to leave enough room to move when they used their blade. He did not know such simple logic? Accompanied by the cold wind, I came abruptly in front of Shadow Volcano. I stared at him with my undead eyes. Shadow Volcano felt a wave of goosebumps. "What¡­ what do you want?!" MISS! 1280! I did not respond and killed him using Pardon followed by a basic attack. Seeing Shadow Volcano slump to the ground, I sighed inwardly. Rank 3 Pardon is too strong. It¡¯s definitely my trump card in PvP. I suddenly felt pain in my chest. Snap snap snap. It was punctured with arrows. The four archers of the Shadow Clan had all raised their longbows and shot accurately at me. A string of damage numbers flew over my head¡ª 75! 59! 90! ¡­¡­ Any of these attacks wasn¡¯t a problem, but four of these at the same time dealt a significant amount of damage. In almost an instant, I became a porcupine. Moreover, a burning fire dragon suddenly burst out of the ground I was standing on, flames consuming my body. I felt pain all over, as if I was actually burning, losing a huge chunk of my HP in the process! 289! Damn! They have a high-level mage, a powerful one at that! I hurriedly grabbed a Rank 2 Health Potion and drained it. At the same time, I glanced and saw a female mage dressed in black robes, chanting spells. Balls of flame were floating at the tip of her staff, she was the high-level mage! Shadow Chanel LV-32 Bronze Mage A Level 32 mage. It seemed that her staff is Steel or even Dark Steel¨Cgrade. Otherwise, just one Rank 3 Fire Dragon Spell wouldn¡¯t have taken so much of my HP! +312! Tsk tsk, very good. Sister Mingyue is full of milk. Such powerful healing could rank in the top of Floating Ice City. Despite the healing, it was unrealistic to challenge a whole mob of people alone, especially with Shadow Chanel¡¯s attacks being so powerful. One mistake and we would all be dead. Shadow Chanel''s attack power undoubtedly raised the morale of the Shadow Clan. Shadow Deep Sea held his longbow and shouted, "Chanel, give the boy a taste of a few more Fire Dragon Spells. Archers, concentrate your fire on him. I don¡¯t believe we can¡¯t kill this undead swordsman with all of our firepower. Damn, he just had to have a priest helping. Hmph, it is Murong Mingyue of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! We¡¯ll first kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, then it''s Murong Mingyue''s turn! I did not retreat, advancing with a powerful strike to the chest of a casting mage. This young mage didn¡¯t have much battle experience, clearly misjudging our distance, and didn¡¯t understand that he shouldn¡¯t cast spells so close. He could only watch as Weeping Fire Blade stabbed into his chest, drawing blood and sending him straight to the graveyard! Shadow Chanel bit her red lips and said angrily, "Go die! Arctic Rain!" Crash! A small-scale rain of hail came down from the sky. This was a powerful Level 30 Mage skill, an AoE ability! 75! 77! 71! Three successive attacks. Clearly this Arctic Rain was not at a high rank, so its damage was subpar. It was not as good as using a single-target spell like Fire Dragon Spell. I went all in, dashing next to Shadow Chanel in two steps and shouting, "Slayer Slash!" A ball of blue light flashed, and my strongest killing move landed! However, Shadow Chanel suddenly stepped on the ground with a dismissive smile. A golden shield appeared around her, a life-saving Level 30 Mage skill¡ªMagic Shield! Pff! The Slayer Slash softly hit the shield, but was unable to shatter it. However, it had taken away half of its durability, since my attack power was no joke. I pulled my sword and the Magic Shield shattered with a pop! Shadow Chanel stilled, hurriedly retreating as she threw an icicle. Snap! My body froze all over, my movement speed considerably reduced in an instant. My chest was once again struck with multiple arrows, and my HP quickly decreased. I immediately retreated. I hadn¡¯t been able to instantly kill that high-level mage, so it really wasn¡¯t possible to defeat this group on my own. At this time, a comforting voice came over. The tree monster boss finally passed away with a scream! Xu Yang held the boss monster¡¯s vine in his hand and shouted joyously, "Brother Broken Halberd, I''ve finished the quest!" Gui Guzi turned into a shadow and arrived, starting an ambush against the Shadow Clan from the flanks. His spear danced and the Death Combo immediately hit Shadow Deep Sea. Then, he quickly turned and swept two nearby enemies like a cyclone. Tsk tsk, the kid¡¯s growing. As expected of Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ general! Xu Yang also came over, swinging his weapons. My HP quickly filled up with Murong Mingyue¡¯s healing, a Rank 2 Health Potion and Rank 3 Regeneration of the Undead. I thrust into action, my target once again Shadow Chanel. This mage was too big a threat. She could kill Mirong Mingyue in two seconds. Fortunately, she had no breathing room to have done that so far. The Shadow Clan was not an especially powerful clan, especially compared to the Domination Clan. They were even inferior to Mad Dragon. Only Shadow Chanel was truly strong. The others were at most second-class experts, or worse. Under my pursuit, Shadow Chanel did not even have a chance to stop and chant. If she stopped, I might kill her instantly. She had seen the power of Pardon. She didn¡¯t dare take the risk. However, I was not the one to kill Shadow Chanel. The instant I destroyed her Magic Shield, Xu Yang charged over and killed her in two blows! Gui Guzi was madly chasing the stragglers, like a rabid dog chasing chickens. Gui Guzi was famous in the Floating Ice City area, and had once claimed the number one spot in the rankings. Such a powerful person had to have a unique fighting style. His movements were grand yet precise. His attacks were powerful yet clean and brisk. He was much stronger than Thirteen and Xu Yang. Five minutes later, everyone from the Shadow Clan was dead. All of us only had minor injuries and we recovered under Murong Mingyue''s heals. Xu Yang laughed. "So enjoyable, the clowns of the Shadow Clan really sought their own demise this time. Last time, they wanted to steal our equipment, this time they wanted revenge. Their deaths were well-deserved. Haha, this battle was so enjoyable!" I glanced at him and wanted to say my usual response from when we played together, ¡°Enjoyable my ass, I almost died¡±. Of course, I couldn¡¯t say that now. Fortunately, Xu Yang and Murong Mingyue were my customers, and we were just working for them. The client was king, so we had to adjust our attitudes accordingly. Murong Mingyue walked forward and gave me ten gold. She said with a smile, "Thank you so much. This is the fee, do not mind it being so small. Maybe we¡¯ll have a chance to work together in the future~" I put away the gold, nodded and did not say anything. Murong Mingyue was a pretty rich woman. She said such a thing because she was He Yi''s assistant. He Ye was the vice president of the GGS Asia Region. Murong Mingyue''s financial situation was naturally pretty good. Accepting the money, I smiled and bowed. ¡°See you later then!" "Mn!" As I spoke, I gave Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen a look. I took them out of the forest and walked toward Floating Ice City on foot. Murong Mingyue shouted from behind me. "Ah, why don¡¯t you use a return scroll?" I turned and laughed, my voice hoarse. ¡°Gotta save some gold¡­¡± Murong Mingyue stilled, on the verge of saying something, but didn''t speak. ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi walked side by side with me, "Boss Broken Halberd, our grudge with the Shadow Clan has solidified. What do you plan? We are only three people. Their clan has so many people and will definitely cause trouble!" I glanced at him and said gravely, "Little Gui, you can¡¯t just look at the surface. We are few in number but united. The Shadow Clan has many people, but they are divided. Also, their strength is at most second-class, they¡¯re not strong enough to give a headache.¡± Gui Guzi nodded. I followed up, coming clean. ¡°Truth be told, I offended the Domination Clan of Gods of Destruction yesterday¡­¡± "?" Gui Guzi had a surprised expression. I smiled. "Never mind. Some people are just destined to clash with us. If we can¡¯t avoid it, we can only fight!" "Mn!" Gui Guzi nodded, clenching his fists and saying, "No matter what, with us three brothers united, the Domination Clan cannot destroy the Bloody Mercenaries!" "Heh, naturally!" ¡­¡­ We walked back to Floating Ice City. It was 11:30 am in the real world. There were a lot of players in the plaza, shouting all kinds of things¡ª "Team up for Venomous Wasp Forest, Level 30 and above. Missing four!" "Accepting a large amount of Glutinous Rice raw materials. 5 silver per stack, come...¡± ¡°Buying Rank 2 wolf skins, 1 silver each. No limit!¡± ¡­¡­ I walked to the center of the plaza and shouted, "Level 3 Armorsmithing material, the skin of Hell Windwolf. Contact me quickly if you want, I can give a discount when buying in bulk!" After my shout, no one answered. Clearly, there were not many players who had reached Rank 3 Armorsmithing. I groaned and continued to shout. After a long while, my heart was cold. Screw that, I¡¯ll just pack up and go grind! Chapter 50: Extravagant Spending I looked around, discovering that the question came from a Level 27 Warrior. He had a burly build and looked like a black bear that wandered out of the forest. His name was ¡°Lace Skirt¡±. The name was more impressive than the man himself. Lace Skirt came up to me, smiling. ¡°Brother, I heard that you have Rank 3 wolf skin? Not bad, the game¡¯s only been out for a week and someone actually has Rank 3 wolf skin. Can I check out your goods?¡± It was clear that he didn¡¯t really believe that I had Rank 3 wolf skin. I took out a 85 Quality Hell Windwolf Skin and with a wave of my hand, the wolf skin¡¯s properties vividly floated in the air. Lace Skirt looked rather shocked. ¡°Huh? You actually have it?!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I nodded. ¡°How many do you need?¡± Lace Skirt¡¯s gaze swept through the people around us before whispering, ¡°I¡¯ll buy everything you have. I won¡¯t hide it from you, but I am probably the highest-level armorsmith in all of Floating Ice City. My Armorsmithing is already Rank 3. I can make Level 25 Iron-grade leather and chain armors, but I never had the chance because there were no Rank 3 materials on the market. I asked a friend to help me kill high-level Greedy Wolves, but he only got five after an entire day of grinding! And that¡¯s not even enough to make a single leather armor!¡± I laughed inwardly. Level 25 Iron-grade leather armor, damn. That was probably the highest-grade common public could ask for at the current state of the game. He could probably sell them for around 5 gold each. If I let him mass produce it, wouldn¡¯t he be making a gargantuan profit? As such, I stuck my hand in my bag and rummaged around before I took out 100 hides of the Hell Windwolves. I smiled. ¡°I have a lot more. Give me an offer, how much are you paying for one?¡± Lace Skirt muttered, ¡°Brother, let me make myself clear first. I¡¯ve established a gaming workshop and we have a total of eleven people. Our only goal is to become the number one armorsmithing workshop in Floating Ice City. The workshop itself has only just been founded not too long ago. My brothers and I aren¡¯t rich people so when it comes to prices, I obviously want them to be as low as possible!¡± I nodded. ¡°Then give me an offer. How much are you going to pay for one Rank 3 wolf skin? I¡¯ll sell it to you as long as it''s not unreasonable.¡± ¡°Okay! I can only offer 5 silver for each wolf skin.¡± I was stunned when he made his offer. Wasn¡¯t that too far from the price I anticipated? ¡°5 silver is too low.¡± I frowned. ¡°I¡¯d get at least 30 silver each if I sold it to the Domination Clan. I¡¯m absolutely not selling that low, sorry!¡± ¡°Sigh, wait!¡± I thought about it. I could always loot pelts with Death Plunder after killing wild animals, so I had to have an endpoint for them to unload every once in a while. Having a stable demand source was a feasible idea, cooperation was a feasible offer. I quickly added Lace Skirt to my friend list and took out 457 wolf skins. ¡°I have 457 skins, making that a total of 91.4 gold. Since it¡¯s our first time cooperating, I¡¯ll sell it to you for 90 gold!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Lace Skirt quickly traded me 90 gold. Seems like this armorsmithing workshop had some strength. They probably sold a ton of low-level leather armors to make this much money. That kind of business seemed to earn a lot. 90 gold immediately filled my pockets, my balance once again passing 100 gold. Immensely satisfied, I took a while to browse around in Floating Ice City¡¯s plaza. I found two Level 30 tamers selling pets. They were both shouting their prices, locked in a fierce competition. When I took a look around Floating Ice City, I saw more and more Level 30 players. Tenth place on the ranking list was already Level 32. Based on Floating Ice City¡¯s ranking, Level 30 and above players already numbered over a thousand. Having crossed the power spike threshold, all of them were looking for a pet to aid them in their adventures. Pet could assist them passively and was therefore absolutely more useful than a piece of high-level equipment As a result, the pet market was finally blooming, gaining a lot of traction! The two tamers almost spat out their saliva as they shouted¡ª ¡°Level 1 Green Praying Mantis, 3.5-star Attack, 18 BN. The price is only 40 gold. High-level experts, come have a look!¡± ¡°Level 1 Wasp, 4.5-star Attack. An absolute quality product. 19 BN, only 150 gold. Come and get it. I spent an entire day catching this one. Hurry before it¡¯s sold out!¡± There were a few pets in front of the two tamers. One only sold Green Praying Mantises and the other only sold Wasps. Each of them had three pets. Mantises had BNs of 12, 15 and 18. The Wasps, 11, 14 and 19. From the numbers alone, the last Wasp was the most useful. It was just a bit on the expensive side at 150 gold. That wasn¡¯t something even I could take out at this time. I shook my head. Forget it. I was thinking about getting a Wasp pet for Gui Guzi to help him grind. I don¡¯t have enough money at the moment, maybe next time! Just as I was about to turn around, I suddenly noticed a biting cold flame behind me, near the ground. It was actually a flaming sword floating in midair, with two red eyes on its hilt. That¡¯s... a fucking pet? I suddenly realized something. My eyes slowly moved up and saw a pair of snowy thighs. Closely following those thighs was a battle armor with light rotating around it. Its lines were beautiful yet graceful. The owner of those thighs was also incredibly beautiful. A pair of deep eyes brimming with ridicule greeted me. There was only one girl this timely with such a pet. It was undoubtedly Lin ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± Yixin. ¡°Uh, what¡¯s this?¡± I bent down and stepped on the longsword with multiple blood-colored barbs. Lin Yixin answered unhappily, ¡°That¡¯s the Fire Blade I sent you. It¡¯s also a kind of pet. 4-star Attack and 4.5-star HP. High HP and Attack pet with 34 BN. Not bad, huh?¡± ¡°Mn, not bad¡­¡± I nodded. Lin Yixin¡¯s Fire Blade was already Level 17. I then released my precious Dark Wasp, the light buzz of its dark cyan wings resounding.. It was on guard when it saw the Fire Blade and looked as if it was about to attack at any moment. My Dark Wasp recently reached Level 24 and was still rather weak. So weak that I couldn''t bear to let it join me in the previous PvP battle against the Shadow Clan. Its level was too low, it would have easily gotten one-shot. Lin Yixin¡¯s gaze was immediately attracted to my Dark Wasp. Eyes filled with ¡°love¡±, she smiled. ¡°Ohh, that¡¯s the boss Dark Wasp you caught?¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I nodded, and proudly said, ¡°6-star Attack, 5.5-star Agility. Assassin-type pet. Not bad, huh?¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± Lin Yixin shot a smile at me and probed, ¡°Are you selling this Dark Wasp?¡± ¡°No?¡± ¡°Why? I thought you Bloody Mercenaries were even willing to sell your bodies?¡± Lin Yixin widened her sparkling eyes. She looked at me innocently when she said words that nearly made me go berserk. ¡°We don¡¯t sell our bodies¡­¡± I explained. ¡°We Bloody Mercenaries are all righteous people who sell our bodies, not our skills¡­ No! I meant sell our skills, not our bodies!¡± ¡°Oh, I understand. No need to explain¡­¡± Lin Yixin covered her mouth as she laughed lightly. I didn¡¯t know what to say. It was obvious that I made things worse the more I explained. However, there was one thing certain. I would never sell my Dark Wasp. A top-tier pet like that was an asset when I roamed the world as I pleased in the future. How could I possibly sell it this early into the game? Lin Yixin and I chatted beneath Floating Ice City¡¯s icy gate. She asked me if my Bloody Mercenaries were willing to join her guild while I asked her if she wanted to buy gold. In the end, we both declined each other. Fruit Knife Goddess Lin Yixin¡¯s fame had already spread throughout Floating Ice City, so I attracted countless dagger-like gazes when I walked together with her. Walking with a beauty was absolutely a special kind of pleasure and torture. At this time, a party of people on horses strutted over, showing off their might. It was astonishingly the Mad Dragon guild. Sitting at the head of the group was Roaming Dragon. This dumbass was definitely rich. He was already clad in a set of full Bronze-grade equipment that shouldn¡¯t be too far off from what Lin Yixin and I were wearing in terms of quality, but it was obvious that he had bought it all with real money. ¡°Tch¡­¡± A trace of disdain flashed in Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes when she saw Roaming Dragon. She turned back to me and smiled. ¡°I heard you broke off with Dominating Heaven Blade?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I nodded. ¡°They¡¯re complete bullies. Bloody Mercenaries and the Domination Clan have already burned all bridges. Remember to help us out once you¡¯ve established your guild!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like I have any huge conflict with Dominating Heaven Blade¡­¡± Lin Yixin said with a stifled laugh, clearly implying that she didn¡¯t plan to help me. Forget it, I can¡¯t count on a petty woman like her. We watched Roaming Dragon walk up to a tamer. ¡°How much are you selling this 18 BN Wasp?¡± ¡°150 gold!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll buy it for 120 gold!¡± ¡°Deal!¡± Roaming Dragon quickly snatched the Level 1 Wasp and passed it to Unyielding Mad Dragon who was behind him. He really was rich. 120 gold was almost ten thousand RMB and he gave it away just like that. Roaming Dragon stared at the tamer and then suddenly smiled. ¡°What other top-tier pets do you have? Don¡¯t worry about me not having enough money, take them all out!¡± That tamer hesitated for a few seconds before saying, ¡°I also have a Level 1 Greedy Wolf. 4-star Attack, BN 29. It¡¯s really expensive. I¡¯ve been trying to find a customer who can afford it. Can you?¡± The tamer shouted out loud and a hexagrammic array appeared in front of him. A fire-red wolf cub soon appeared. It was indeed a Level 1 Greedy Wolf. Greedy Wolf was already a top-tier attack-type pet that was not any inferior to a pet like Wasp, and its BN was also 29. It was almost as impressive as Lin Yixin¡¯s Fire Blade. One could only imagine how much it would cost. Roaming Dragon looked at the Level 1 Greedy Wolf and his eyes instantly shone. He laughed out loud and said, ¡°There¡¯s not a single pet in Heavenblessed that I can¡¯t buy. This Level 1 Greedy Wolf has a BN of 29 right? Alright, I¡¯ll buy it for 100,000 RMB. I can transfer the money to you right now. Will you sell it to me?¡± Chapter 51: BN 69 Everyone present was stupefied beyond belief. Roaming Dragon did not hesitate to pay 100,000 RMB for a Level 1 pet. How bold was that? Even if that Greedy Wolf was a quality product, it still only had 4 stars in Attack. In the later stages, pets might have 5, 6 or even 7 stars in Attack growth scaling. Although this Greedy Wolf was impressive in the early stages of the game, it would surely lag behind others later on. And yet, Roaming Dragon had actually paid that much money for this kind of transitional pet. There could only be two reasons why. One, he had too much money; two, he had been kicked in the head by a donkey when he was a kid. To be honest, Roaming Dragon really was rich. He got someone to log out to transfer the money and the trade was complete before 10 minutes had gone by, making the Level 1 Greedy Wolf Roaming Dragon¡¯s pet. Luckily, that tamer was an honest person. If it were me, I would¡¯ve immediately logged off and done a hit-and-run. Roaming Dragon had a look of satisfaction once he obtained his top-tier Greedy Wolf. He then noticed me and Lin Yixin. With a raised brow, he asked faintly, ¡°Wind Beauty, why are you together with someone like him?¡± Lin Yixin didn¡¯t answer him. She patted my shoulder with the hilt of her sword and smirked. ¡°Hey, why are you always following me?¡± I almost threw up blood. ¡°I wasn¡¯t following you, it¡¯s all heaven¡¯s will. Fate, get it?¡± ¡°...¡± Lin Yixin glanced at me with disdain in her eyes. Roaming Dragon¡¯s eyes instantly became hazy once he turned to look at Lin Yixin. It was obvious that an absolute beauty like Lin Yixin had done some fatal damage to him. ¡°Wind Beauty, do you have a pet?¡± Roaming Dragon asked fawningly. Lin Yixin pointed at me with her mouth. ¡°What should I eat tonight?¡± ¡°The hell does that have to do with me? It¡¯s not like we¡¯re eating together¡­¡± I almost threw up blood again. Roaming Dragon pointed at his Greedy Wolf. ¡°Wind Beauty, if you don¡¯t have a pet at the moment, how about I give you one? This Greedy Wolf¡¯s BN is pretty high, you can go grind with it.¡± I couldn¡¯t take it anymore and asked Lin Yixin, ¡°Hey, didn¡¯t we steal a boss from the Mad Dragon guild before? Why does this guy seem quite familiar with you?¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful eyes frosted over as she angrily replied, ¡°You¡¯re familiar with him, your entire family¡¯s familiar with him¡­¡± I pursed my lips. ¡°Your sister¡­¡± Lin Yixin glared at me and then expressionlessly swept her gaze over Roaming Dragon. She said indifferently, ¡°I have a pet already. Fire Blade, BN 34. Your Greedy Wolf is just trash in my eyes. Also, stay far away from me. I haven¡¯t paid your Mad Dragon guild back for PKing Qingqing!¡± Lin Yixin then shot me a look and said in a low voice, ¡°Skeleton, hit him with your Dark Wasp and show this kid there are some things money can¡¯t buy!¡± I nodded and waved my Weeping Fire Blade in front of my chest. A hexagram formation appeared, once again summoning my Dark Wasp. Its wings were buzzing, its body was dark cyan, and its stinger gleamed with a cold light, like a sharpened dagger. Anyone with two eyes could see that my pet wasn¡¯t a common one. As expected, Roaming Dragon was immediately shocked. ¡°W-what¡¯s this?¡± Killing intent spread through Lin Yixin¡¯s pretty face. ¡°Stupid Lu Chen, what¡¯s up with your Dark Wasp¡¯s name? You want to die?¡± I ignored the beauty who wanted to kill me and answered Roaming Dragon, enunciating every word. ¡°Dark Wasp, 6-star Attack, 4.5-star Defense, 4-star HP, 5.5-star Agility¡­ BN 69!¡± ¡°W-what?¡± Roaming Dragon¡¯s eyeballs almost bulged out of their sockets. ¡°BN 69? H-how¡¯s that possible, you must be fucking lying!¡± I laughed coldly. With a wave of my fingers, a window of my Dark Wasp¡¯s initial stats at Level 1 instantly flew up. This made not only Roaming Dragon, but even the bystanders at the side, including Lin Yixin, look on with mouths agape. The Dark Wasp¡¯s BN 69 value was too strong and could be considered the only one of its kind in Floating Ice City. Greed in his eyes, Roaming Dragon asked me, ¡°How much are you selling this Dark Wasp for?¡± ¡°Not selling!¡± Lin Yixin answered for me. ¡°Don¡¯t think you¡¯re awesome just by having a bit of money. Hmph. He¡¯s not selling this Dark Wasp even if you offer one hundred mil!¡± Roaming Dragon mumbled, ¡°Will you sell it for one hundred mil?¡± I asked, ¡°Do you have a hundred mil?¡± Lin Yixin gritted her teeth in extreme anger and fiercely pinched my arm. ¡°Bastard, can¡¯t you have the slightest bit of integrity?¡± ¡°If I can actually sell it for one hundred million, we can split it fifty-fifty¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s what you said. You there, can you take out a hundred million?¡± ¡°...¡± In the end, even though Roaming Dragon was one of those privileged rich second-generations, his funds weren¡¯t enough. He could only bring his loyal minions out of the city to grind. I went to the warehouse and made myself two stacks of Rank 3 Magic Consumables for myself. When I returned to the plaza, I discovered that Lin Yixin had not left yet. She sat cross-legged in a stall, selling a few Iron-grade pieces and a Level 25 Common-grade bow with a decent Attack, though it did not have any additional stats. It seemed like she was an industrious and capable girl. This part of her was worthy of praise. I walked up, leaned in a bit and stared at her. Lin Yixin stared back. ¡°What¡¯re you looking at, kid?¡± I smiled. ¡°Still have potions?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Lin Yixin gave me a sly look. ¡°But the potions being made now are all Rank 3 and can instantly restore 600 HP, with a 60-second cooldown. They¡¯re pretty expensive, you know~¡± ¡°How much?¡± ¡°50 silver a bottle!¡± ¡°Fuck, so overpriced!¡± I said with gritted teeth. Lin Yixin said smilingly, ¡°You don¡¯t have to buy them~¡± I thought about it some more, and I concluded that these Rank 3 potions at 50 silver weren¡¯t that overpriced because I had seen others selling Rank 2 potions for 30 silver per. And so, I took out 10 gold. ¡°Then give me 20 bottles!¡± ¡°You¡¯re so generous, boss!¡± Lin Yixin praised as she took the money and gave me the goods. She had so many potions in her bag, though. Wasn¡¯t she afraid of getting killed? Skilled players seriously were too bold. I repaired my equipment, then left the city to grind some more levels. My target, Wildfire Greedy Wolves in Wildfire Plains to level my Dark Wasp. I hoped to do some hardcore grinding to level my Dark Wasp to Level 30 within 24 hours. By then, its stats would be enough to help me in battle. Additionally, I still needed to gather more Glutinous Rice to make Rank 3 Consumables. I wanted to push Rank 4 Cooking as soon as possible. After all, making Rank 4 Consumables was the way of a king. ¡­... I grinded all the way until 6 pm, when Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi wanted to go out to eat. I went to find a graveyard at the edge of Wildfire Plains and squeezed into a masterless grave to rest before logging off. Inside the workshop''s living room, Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi were full of energy. ¡°How are you doing today?¡± I asked. Gui Guzi smiled. ¡°I¡¯m Level 31 and Brother B¡¯s almost Level 30. We also happened to help a few people on some quests that weren¡¯t too time-consuming. Brother B and I made a total of 5 gold!¡± I nodded. ¡°Not bad, not bad. According to the current exchange, 1 gold is about 80 RMB. You two making this much today makes you guys about the same as gold collar workers¡­¡± ¡°How much did you make today, Boss Broken Halberd?¡± ¡°About 100 gold.¡± ¡°...¡± Gui Guzi was stunned. ¡°What did you do to make that much gold? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve been killing people in the wild and selling their equipment?¡± ¡°How¡¯s that possible?¡± I gave him a glance and asked, ¡°Little Gui, you have Undead Knight class, do you have the skill Death Plunder?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Do you have Undead Energy?¡± ¡°No¡­¡± ¡°Shit! What do you even have?¡± ¡°Undead Combo, Undying Shield¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s not bad¡­¡± I sighed inwardly. Gui Guzi also had an undead class like me but he was treated completely differently. He didn¡¯t have Death Plunder which meant that he didn¡¯t have my near-100% chance to plunder skins and hides to make money. ¡­... We ate at an outside food stall like before. I raised my cup and said to the duo. ¡°Let¡¯s toast. We¡¯ll pool our gold together tomorrow and go earn our Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ first profit!¡± ¡°Mn, mn!¡± Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi beamed red and drained their cups in one shot. After eating for a while, I patted my thigh, clock¡¯s hands already showing 7:30 pm. ¡°Let¡¯s head back!¡± Du Thirteen held a barbecue skewer and said, ¡°No, I haven¡¯t finished eating. Why are you so anxious to go back? Got a little lover waiting for you to get back online for a tryst?¡± I glared. ¡°Who do you think I am?¡± ¡°Haha, I¡¯m right. Little Gui, look, Lu Chen¡¯s red¡­¡± ¡°Die!¡± I angrily dragged the two guys back to the workshop and quickly logged on. Swoosh! I appeared in Wildfire Plains and checked the time. It was 7:45 pm. Without a word, I dashed toward Frost Forest. I passed through the thick forest to a village near a rocky mound. That was Starting Village No.1, the place where 10% of Floating Ice City¡¯s players spawned. 8:10 pm. Hidden inside the forest, I checked out the newbies coming out of the starting village but didn¡¯t find the person I wanted to see. Sword in hand, I then headed to Starting Village No.2. I was disappointed. I still didn¡¯t see her. It lasted all the way until 9:30 pm when I arrived at the tenth starting village that I finally saw her. In a quiet village with a row of wooden fences a new human knight appeared. She held a shabby sword in her right hand and a wooden shield in her left. The simple and crude newbie outfit she wore couldn¡¯t conceal her beauty. She had soft, snowy cheeks and her fair neck shone under the moonlight. Beneath her shirt were two shocking protrusions. She indifferently glanced at the Big-eared Rabbits outside and muttered, ¡°Heavenblessed, I¡¯m here¡­¡± The magic knight charged at her first prey, the shabby sword flew, striking a Big-eared Rabbit in the head. As for her own head, a row of words also floated above it¡ª From Water LV-0 Magic Knight Chapter 52: I Heal, You Attack ¡°Eve, you¡¯re finally here!¡± Murong Mingyue gracefully walked over from a little path in the forest with a staff in hand and shot He Yi a smile. ¡°Me and that animal Xu Yang are already Level 30 and you¡¯re only Level 0!¡± He Yi looked at the shabby sword in her hand. ¡°Mingyue, do you have a beginner weapon? This sword¡¯s attack power is only 0~1. It¡¯s too weak¡­¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Murong Mingyue took out a black spear from her bag. ¡°Here, an Iron-grade weapon you can use at Level 5. Attack power 5~12, want it?¡± He Yi¡¯s gaze swept over the spear before she shook her head. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Murong Mingyue was perplexed. He Yi smiled. ¡°Lu Chen once said that swords were the king of weapons in games. Nimble with various forms, they have strong penetration and are good at breaking defenses. Even though I am a Magic Knight, I¡¯ve already decided to only use swords.¡± ¡°Lu Chen¡­¡± Murong Mingyue was stunned. ¡°Eve, don¡¯t be like this¡­ always unable to forget him. We still have to continue with our lives, right?¡± He Yi nodded. The corner of her lips hooked up, revealing a sweet smile. ¡°Of course we have to continue with our lives, but that doesn¡¯t mean we have to forget Lu Chen, right?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Murong Mingyue was a bit speechless. He Yi lifted her snowy face. Seeing the sky filled with moonlight, she said with a faint smile. ¡°That guy said that he would accompany me to the end so even though he¡¯s not here anymore, I still feel like he¡¯s by my side, watching over me!¡± ¡°Really?¡± Murong Mingyue checked out the surrounding forest and smiled. ¡°Lu Chen, you brat, you there? Come out if you are, we all miss you!¡± No one answered. He Yi scolded with a smile, ¡°Alright, don¡¯t speak crazy, you silly girl. Come grind with me. I¡¯ll heal and you attack!¡± Murong Mingyue had a face of disbelief. ¡°What are you using to heal¡­ I¡¯m the priest, okay!¡± He Yi laughed. ¡°Oh¡­ my bad. You heal, I attack¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Murong Mingyue then said, ¡°Wait a while longer, Xu Yang will be here in five minutes. With his damage output, we¡¯ll save half the effort.¡± He Yi nodded. Rustle... Alongside the shaking leaves, a black figure sank into the night. ¡­... I swiftly advanced forward with my sword, arriving back at Wild Pheasant Ridge not long after. I released my Dark Wasp and began my slaughterfest. Pheasants fell one by one beneath my Weeping Fire Blade and my Dark Wasp leveled accordingly. In three full hours, my bag was already stuffed with Pheasant Meat. After a streak of golden light, my Dark Wasp was finally Level 30. I looked at its stats and saw that it had become much stronger than before¡ª Dark Wasp Level: 30 Attack: 342 Defense: 225 HP: 1024 Agility: 505 Growth¡ª Attack ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï HP ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Agility ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Shit, my own Attack was only 273. As expected of a boss-tier pet. 6-star Attack was no joke. Not only was its Attack 342, its Defense was a horrifying 225, higher than mine by 60 points! Its HP was also above 1000, making it a high Attack, high Defense and high HP blood-sucking machine! My Dark Wasp was only Level 30 too. It still had a lot of untapped potential! I grinned. My combat strength soared with my Dark Wasp at my side and my leveling efficiency was at least doubled with its assistance! Since my Dark Wasp had finally grown up, there was no need to hide it anymore. I casually brought it with me to Floating Ice City. After arranging the ingredients, I began to continuously make the Rank 3 Magic Consumable, Green Pepper Meatball! Meatballs repeatedly appeared in my bag until a soft sound suddenly rang¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your Cooking skill has reached Rank 4! Nice! Finally Rank 4! Now I can make Rank 4 food! I opened the Cooking window and the ingredients of the Rank 4 Consumable came into view. White Cut Chicken. Requires: Chicken Meat x20, Salt x10, Fresh Ginger x15. Restores 400 MP. I still had a bunch of Chicken Meat in stock and Salt could easily be bought. I only needed to gather some Fresh Ginger now. I remembered that I also had to gather Fresh Ginger for Hunter Yellowfire¡¯s quest back then but that area clearly didn¡¯t have many of these. It wasn¡¯t enough for me to mass produce White Cut Chicken, so I could only go look for another source of these cooking ingredients. ¡­... After a long search, I finally got a hit. There was a large quantity of Fresh Ginger growing in Butterfly Forest. A grinding zone like Butterfly Forest spawned a kind of magic pet, the Purple Butterfly. It was 3.5-star Magic Attack pet, and the Level 1 kind only spawned near Floating Ice City. Many tamers in the forums complained that Butterfly Forest had been ¡°reserved.¡± It was occupied by none other than the Domination Clan, the core group of the guild Gods of Destruction. Dominating Heaven Blade had already ordered three 15-member grinding teams to lock down Butterfly Forest two days ago. They were all fighters of Level 30 and above. Ordinary players simply couldn¡¯t contend against them and as a result, Butterfly Forest had been taken over, just like that. However, it seemed as though the Domination Clan had yet to capture a Level 1 Purple Butterfly. Hm, Butterfly Forest it is then. I¡¯ll head there in a bit. Hmph. Didn¡¯t the Domination Clan want to reserve it for themselves? Then I¡¯ll head there and take them on for a while. Bloody Mercenaries had already fallen out with them anyway. Dominating Heaven Blade had also declared war against Bloody Mercenaries and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, so I couldn¡¯t avoid this battle. Besides, I was also looking forward to it since Dominating Heaven Blade, Dominating Knight God, and the rest of their group had some skill too. Sometimes I felt better fighting actual opponents. I sent Du Thirteen a message: ¡°Come over to Floating Ice City!¡± Thirteen soon appeared. I traded him 110 Rank 3 Consumables. ¡°Go and sell them for 40 silver each. No discounts. Send the gold to my account in the afternoon and get ready to exchange it for money.¡± ¡°Mn, mn!¡± Du Thirteen nodded happily. He was pretty much an expert at this kind of thing. Back in university, he went by the name ¡°Sly Merchant¡± and had once dragged me along to sell school movie tickets. We made more than 800 RMB in one day just from doing that but I heard later on that many of those movie tickets were fake. I bade Thirteen goodbye and continued to leisurely stroll around the plaza. I suddenly heard someone hawking, ¡°Selling a pet skill book, come buy if you need it!¡± My eyes lit up and I quickly rushed over. I saw a little Level 25 warrior setting up a stall. that only had a light green skill book¡ª Flurry (Phantasmal Creature): Instantly deals multiple fierce hits. Consumes 10 MP. Every attack deals 75% basic attack damage. The higher the skill rank, the stronger the damage. Pet requirement: Level 30. It really is a skill book, a pet skill book! In Heavenblessed¡¯s system regulations, pets had their own skills. Level 1 pets had blank skills and only during their growth period did they have a chance to learn them. The other way for pets to learn skills would be through a purchased ¡°phantasmal creature¡± skill book. Flurry seemed like a good skill for a physical attack pet. It was totally suitable for my Dark Wasp! And so I walked forward and said to the little warrior selling the book. ¡°Bro, how much are you selling this pet skill book for?¡± The little warrior looked at me. ¡°50 gold!¡± ¡°Too expensive. Even learning skills from a mentor would only take 50 silver and you¡¯re selling a book for 50 gold. It¡¯s even a pet skill book too. You trying to cheat me?!¡± ¡°Uh, then how much?¡± The little warrior was obviously feeling a bit guilty. A pet skill book really wasn¡¯t worth 50 gold at all. I held up five fingers and smiled. ¡°This much!¡± ¡°5 gold?¡± ¡°5 silver!¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± The little warrior¡¯s mouth dropped open. ¡°Too underpriced. I¡¯m definitely not going to sell for 5 silver!¡± I shot a glance at him, noticing that he was wearing a low-level Common-grade legguard. I took out an Iron-grade metal armor legguard and said with a smile. ¡°Then 2 gold plus this Iron-grade equipment for your skill book! The little warrior¡¯s eyes brightened the moment he saw the Iron-grade legguard. He hesitated for a few seconds before nodding. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll make the trade. I can¡¯t use this skill book anytime soon anyway. Tamers are such swindlers, wanting a dozen gold for just one trashy Wasp. What a rip-off!" I smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. There¡¯ll be a ton of tamers reaching Level 30 soon. Pet prices will naturally fall once that happens. BN 15 or higher Wasps are decent enough to level.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± The little warrior opened the trade window and the exchange was successful a moment later. I used 2 gold and a trashy legguard for a pet skill book, nice! Even if this book wasn¡¯t worth 50 gold, it was worth at least 10 gold! I opened the pet window and selected ¡°Learn Skill¡±. The skill book then disappeared and ¡°Flurry¡± appeared in my Dark Wasp¡¯s skill window. The details revealed that it truly was a powerful skill¡ª Flurry I: Hits target 2 times with every hit dealing 75% of the user¡¯s basic attack. Flurry II: Hits target 2 times with every hit dealing 75% of the user¡¯s basic attack. Flurry III: Hits target 2¨C3 times with every hit dealing 80% of the user¡¯s basic attack. Flurry IV: Hits target 2¨C3 times with every hit dealing 80% of the user¡¯s basic attack. Flurry V: Hits target 2¨C4 times with every hit dealing 85% of the user¡¯s basic attack. Flurry VI: Hits target 2¨C4 times with every hit dealing 85% of the user¡¯s basic attack. Flurry VII: Hits target 2¨C5 times with every hit dealing 85% of the user¡¯s basic attack. Flurry VIII: Hits target 2¨C5 times with every hit dealing 85% of the user¡¯s basic attack. Flurry IX: Hits target 3¨C6 times with every hit dealing 90% of the user¡¯s basic attack. Thunderswift Flurry: Hits target 4¨C7 times with every hit dealing 100% of the user¡¯s basic attack. Now that¡¯s power! The skill in its early stages was not bad, but it would become amazing at Rank 5 or higher. It had a chance to deal 85% basic damage four times. That was 3.4 times the damage! It could be considered a one-shot skill. At Level 10, Flurry¡¯s name would change to Thunderswift Flurry and could hit 4¨C7 times at full power. On a lucky roll, it would deal seven times the normal damage. Good thing it was a pet skill though, it would be an instant one-shot kill move if it could be used by players! Of course, Rank 10 skills could only be used by players over Level 100. I was only Level 30, so I was a ways away from that point! Chapter 53: If We Die, We Die Together Butterfly Forest was a vast and primitive forest. I passed through the densely-packed trees, closely checking for any changes on the map. The surrounding landscape gradually beautified as butterflies danced in the air. I had finally arrived at Butterfly Forest. Many Domination Clan players were inside the forest. Included among them were Dominating Knight God and Dominating Warrior God but I didn¡¯t see Dominating Heaven Blade. There was also a slight mistake in the information provided. At least 20 Domination Clan players were present, and they had all undergone their second class promotion. This was definitely not something I could provoke. They had at least five of such archers, and their Volley would easily turn me into a hedgehog. Forget it, I don¡¯t have any kind of deep-seated grudge against them in the first place. I only came here to gather Fresh Ginger. Revenge PK was annoying, and it would only delay my leveling and money-making. As a result, I avoided that part of the forest, entering Butterfly Forest from another side. Flap flap flap... I heard a soft sound and to my surprise, I discovered a gorgeous five-colored butterfly fluttering on a branch. It was as big as a washbowl and it wasn¡¯t low-leveled either! Five-colored Butterfly LV-40 It was actually a Level 40 monster. I wouldn¡¯t fight it unless I absolutely had to, but in this case, I had no leeway. It was blocking my path. I summoned my Dark Wasp and then lifted my sword before sweeping over. With neat and efficient strokes, two combos cleanly slashed down! MISS! 1749! Not bad, the Five-colored Butterfly had 3500 HP and I sliced off half of that just now. Before I had time to react, my Dark Wasp had already flown over and stabbed the butterfly two times with its stinger, displaying its new skill, Flurry, for the first time! 508! 622! What a powerful attack! My Dark Wasp didn¡¯t let me down! With a swing of a sword, in perfect sync of a pet and its owner, the Level 40 Five-colored Butterfly was battered to death so hard that it didn¡¯t even have time to retaliate. It gave me a lot of experience. I continued onward. After walking for around ten minutes and killing seven or eight Five-colored Butterflies, I finally arrived at a verdant woodland. A familiar plant was everywhere in sight, it was the Rank 4 ingredient, Fresh Ginger! With my hands open wide, I silently used the Foraging skill. A ¡°ding¡± quickly resounded¡ª System Notice: Congratulations, you have gathered Fresh Ginger x3, Foraging Proficiency +4! Nice, so easy. I was going to be this generation¡¯s Cooking God, and this Rank 4 ingredient was the first step toward my prosperity! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! At this time, a party of people approached. It consisted of two guys and two girls, and I knew some of them! An absolute beauty clad in snow-colored skirt armor wielding a dagger walked in front. Who could it be other than Lin Yixin? In all of Floating Ice City, only the Fruit Knife Goddess would use a dagger while wearing metal armor. The gentle and refined archer girl behind Lin Yixin was her roommate, Clear Perfume. The other players were two young men; Level 31 magic knight, Zi Chuanyu, and a Level 30 warrior, Lifetaking Sword. Both seemed to be high-end players. ¡°Yiyi, are you sure Level 1 Purple Butterflies spawn here?¡± Clear Perfume asked with a smile. Lin Yixin stuck out her plump chest and said with confidence, ¡°Very sure. We¡¯ve checked all the beginner-level magic pets in Floating Ice City already and only this place is left. If you want a magic pet, you can only catch a Level 1 Purple Butterfly, Qingqing.¡± Clear Perfume nodded. ¡°Mn. I¡¯m an archer so I deal enough physical damage. I need a magic pet to help me deal additional magic damage or else it¡¯ll be hard for me to fight monsters with exceptionally high Defense.¡± Lin Yixin swiped the Moon Blade in her hands, its intimidating edge creating a slight ripple in the air. She said with a slight smile, ¡°There are no monsters absolutely immune to physical attacks. If you can¡¯t break through a monster''s Defense, it¡¯s only because your Attack is lacking. The pinnacle I¡¯m chasing is the one where I can cut through any Defense, hehe~¡± Clear Perfume stuck out her tongue and smiled. ¡°Yiyi, you¡¯re still as violent as ever...¡± Lin Yixin smiled with pursed lips. Right at this time, a party of five suddenly came out from another side of the forest, each one with the ¡°Dominating¡± prefix in their name. It was two warriors and two archers, a physical-damage team. The one leading them was none other than one of Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s generals, Dominating Warrior God! The warrior raised his sword, blocking Lin Yixin¡¯s party. He said with a smile, ¡°Sorry everyone, Butterfly Forest has already been taken over by our Domination Clan. Please don¡¯t enter this area to avoid being harmed.¡± It was obvious that Dominating Warrior God had seen that it was a party of the top player, Wind Fantasy, so he didn¡¯t dare act too overbearing, his demeanor slightly polite. If he had come across a low-level solo player, he¡¯d probably say something along the lines of: ¡°The Domination Clan has taken over this area, idlers get the hell out or else I¡¯ll give each one of you a taste of my sword. I¡¯ll kill you all and not give you a proper burial!¡± Clear Perfume was stunned. It was obvious that she never thought that the Domination Clan would be this overbearing. Lin Yixin coldly glanced at Dominating Warrior God. She smiled while continuing to play with the dagger in her hand. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t have any feud with the Domination Clan, right?¡± Dominating Warrior God nodded. ¡°Please forgive me, Wind Beauty. This place has already been reserved by my clan!¡± Lin Yixin did not acknowledge him. ¡°My friend wants to catch a Level 1 Purple Butterfly. We¡¯ll leave once we catch it and won¡¯t disturb your lockdown.¡± ¡°You¡­¡± Dominating Warrior God was left without words. An archer behind Dominating Warrior God smiled with an obscene expression while staring at the snowy peaks on Lin Yixin¡¯s chest armor as he said, ¡°It¡¯s fine if you want to grab a Level 1 Purple Butterfly but¡­ Hehe, how about letting our brothers take a few grabs first.¡± Dominating Warrior God was gloomy. He couldn¡¯t stop him and the other Domination Clan players also revealed vulgar smiles. Both Lin Yixin and Clear Perfume were, after all, top-quality girls. Especially Lin Yixin, this type of devastating beauty that could bring ruin to cities shook the hearts of those male players, making them unable to control their mouths. A layer of frost instantly covered Lin Yixin¡¯s soft snowy cheeks. She coldly said with purple eyes full of killing intent, ¡°If I kill you, Dominating Heaven Blade shouldn¡¯t blame me!¡± ¡°What?¡± Before that archer could react, Lin Yixin had already lunged over, her purple eyes shining with a silver radiance¡ªMoon Gaze! Like my Pardon, the moment Moon Gaze was used, the other party¡¯s Defense sharply fell but it was on the condition that her next attack was from a dagger! ¡°Puchi!¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s dagger had already entered that archer¡¯s chest in a flash, causing a huge damage number to appear above him¡ª1289! What power, as expected of the number one expert on the Heavenly Ranking! ¡°Aghhh¡­¡± The archer let out a wretched cry. He slowly fell to ground and died, just like that. Lin Yixin¡¯s name turned blood-red, signifying her status changing to player killer. ¡°You!¡± Mixed with grief and fury, Dominating Warrior God never thought that Wind Fantasy would dare to attack a Domination Clan member right in front of him. The Domination Clan was like the sun in the sky of Floating Ice City, a power that stood by its words. No other organization had yet dared challenge the Domination Clan but the ¡°Fruit Knife Goddess¡± just had to do so today, using her exquisite fruit knife skills to kill a second-promotion archer. Dominating Warrior God glared at Lin Yixin with blood-red eyes. He angrily roared, ¡°You¡¯re deliberately going against our Domination Clan, aren¡¯t you, Wind Fantasy?!¡± The sound of Lin Yixin unsheathing her longsword rang as she said with a cold face, ¡°So what?¡± Hidden within the forest, I almost yelled out in approval. Lin Yixin¡¯s personality of meeting clashes head-on was admirable. A fight immediately broke out. Lin Yixin rushed over, her longsword slitting the necks of the other two archers like lightning. They too were instantly killed. Both the angle in which she drew her sword and the control of her strength were perfect. This beauty¡¯s seriously strong! Lin Yixin began her ¡°unmatched¡± display as the companions behind her weren¡¯t that strong. The leaves in the forest trembled before a dozen Domination Clan players leapt out. Dominating Warrior God waved his hand and shouted, ¡°Volley! Kill these bastards for me!¡± Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Five second-promotion archers all unleashed their Level 30 skill¡ªVolley! A volley of arrows rained down, each person releasing 3¨C5 individual arrows that flew at different targets. Clear Perfume took several steps back, nocked an arrow, and used Precision Shot! Puchi! The deadly shot took the life of an archer on the opposing side, but Clear Perfume was also hit by five arrows. Although Volley¡¯s single-target damage was not that high, at around 100 per hit, Clear Perfume¡¯s weak archer body couldn¡¯t handle multiple overlapping shots. With a groan, she too fell and became a corpse. Zi Chuanyu and Lifetaking Sword had also been shot into puddles of blood. In the early stage of the game, magic knights and warriors didn¡¯t have high-level armor so they couldn¡¯t withstand the piercing potential of archers¡¯ arrows¡¯ physical damage. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Lin Yixin turned around after killing seven Domination Clan players and was slightly bewildered. ¡°Eh? Where is everyone?¡± She obviously didn¡¯t notice that ¡°everyone¡± had died! Dominating Warrior God showed no mercy before the number one expert on the Heavenly Ranking, Wind Fantasy. He pointed his sword at her and shouted, ¡°Brothers, let¡¯s kill her together! Hmph, what¡¯s so special about being first place on the Heavenly Ranking? Won¡¯t she still die under our might?¡± Arrows flew across the night sky, leaving behind a long trail of cold light. Shock appeared in Lin Yixin¡¯s purple eyes when she immediately understood that she couldn¡¯t block them all. She quickly jumped into the forest, casually killing off a few Level 30 bards before fleeing further away. A surprised yell followed by a ¡°thud¡± made Lin Yixin fall onto the grass. It turned out that she had tripped, the culprit being my leg. Lin Yixin sat on the ground, her beautiful purple eyes flashing when she saw me. She suddenly erupted, waving her white fists at me. ¡°Stupid Lu Chen, you didn¡¯t even help us when we were getting bullied!¡± I spread my hands out. ¡°Qingqing and the others died too fast, I didn¡¯t make it in time...¡± ¡°The Domination Clan people are detestable!¡± muttered the girl through gritted teeth. Dominating Warrior God ran over with a group of archers at this time. Who knew how many high-level Domination Clan players were here in Butterfly Forest. Just these archers alone were scary enough. ¡°They¡¯re here¡­¡± Lin Yixin calmly stated while looking at the surrounding starlight. I stood up and raised my sword, its blood-red light glowing brilliantly. ¡°Heh, are you going to block them for me?¡± As she spoke, a smile hung on Lin Yixin¡¯s face. I loudly shouted with a righteous face. ¡°Watch this¡ªEarth Escape!¡± ¡°Stupid¡­ Lu Chen!¡± Lin Yixin swiftly pounced over, interrupting my Earth Escape. She held my arm and dragged me out from underground, muttering, ¡°You gutless bastard, if we die, we die together!¡± Chapter 54: Dark Wasp Reveals Its Sting ¡°Catch up, quick! Don¡¯t let them get away!¡± Dominating Warrior God¡¯s voice resounded as more and more figures sprinted through the forest. It was obvious that all these people had been drawn over by Lin Yixin. Dominating Warrior God took the lead, his heavy sword in hand, angrily shouting, ¡°Wind Fantasy¡¯s obviously trying to go against Gods of Destruction. Fuck, we have to kill her today and camp her for half a year!¡± In the night, I looked down and saw that the Fruit Knife Goddess had already put away her dagger. She tightly clung to my arm, trying to pull me down with her, her deep purple gem-like eyes twinkling with an odd expression. ¡°You have no principles!¡± Lin Yixin unhappily glared at me. ¡°Haven¡¯t Bloody Mercenaries already fallen out with the Domination Clan? Why aren¡¯t you taking care of them here?¡± My gaze swept over and I sighed. ¡°Fuck! Did you not see how many people they have? There¡¯s at least twenty of them, more than one-third being archers and mages. One ranged attack from each and we¡¯re both dead!¡± ¡°Hmph, then what do we do?¡± The leaves in the forest shook as Dominating Warrior God closed in on us. I quickly took Lin Yixin in my arms and rolled into a nearby shrub. Aside from a surprised exclamation, Lin Yixin no longer dared to retort. The situation at hand was precisely one where our enemies were stronger than us, where any careless move would mean death. I stuck out my head to scout ahead and saw players hurrying about one after another. Sure enough, there were almost ten long-range players. There was even a tactician casting Encourage and Iron Wall. The Domination Clan players¡¯ Attack and Defense had both been boosted by 5%. This buff was nothing to scoff at, especially for those archers; their killing potential was absolutely astonishing under the Encourage buff! ¡°Wuu wuu¡­¡± It was only when Lin Yixin frantically struggled that I realized I was pressing down on her body. The pitiful Fruit Knife Goddess could only struggle and her exquisite chest armor looked ¡°ravaged¡±. Her snowy peaks changed shape after being squished yet they seemed to be able to shake the heart even more than before. I lowered my head and went into a daze, ripples appearing in my heart. Lin Yixin gritted her teeth. After struggling to sit up, she gave me a wordless punch. Bang! 117! Fuck, I¡¯m bleeding. This violent beauty shouldn¡¯t be touched! ¡°You still dare to stare?¡± Lin Yixin glared at me, her purple eyes filled with embarrassment and rage. She pointed her sharp sword at me. ¡°I seriously want to kill you in one shot¡­¡± I put my hands up in the air. ¡°Fuck, I only did that to save you, what are you getting so worked up about?¡± ¡°Hmph¡­¡± Lin Yixin gnashed her teeth upon seeing Dominating Warrior God and his crew not too far away. ¡°Dammit, are we really just going to let those bastards get away like this? They¡­ they even killed my Qingqing¡­¡± I smiled. ¡°Of course not! Don¡¯t forget, our, Bloody Mercenaries¡¯, motto is to fight for justice, rob the rich and give to the poor¡­¡± ¡°Fine, let¡¯s sneak-attack them together and kill those bastards!¡± Lin Yixin clenched her fists and smiled at me, completely forgetting that I had sneak-attacked her just a moment ago. I glanced at her otherworldly face and suddenly laughed. ¡°Beauty Lin, you seem to have forgotten that I am one of the founders of the Bloody Mercenaries. When we Bloody Mercenaries do work, we never do it for free. Me helping you kill these Domination Clan people isn¡¯t a problem, but that will require a fee¡­¡± ¡°A fee?¡± Lin Yixin shot me a murderous look and said angrily, ¡°Stupid Lu Chen, Little Cheat, you still dare to be even more shameless?¡± ¡°5 gold per person. You in?¡± I gave her a price. 5 gold a person was definitely cheap. Based on the strength of these Domination Clan players who were all pretty much experts, I was afraid that 20 gold per bounty wouldn''t even be enough. After all, one had to brave the risk of offending Gods of Destruction. Lin Yixin pondered for a while. ¡°Too expensive. 3 gold per person. You only need to kill 8 of them and I¡¯ll give you 21 gold!¡± I stared at her face for a while before sighing, ¡°Your math¡¯s pretty good¡­¡± Lin Yixin nodded. ¡°Thanks, let¡¯s go!¡± I lifted my Weeping Fire Blade, summoned my Level 31 Dark Wasp, and then said in a low voice, ¡°Alright then, you summon your pet too. Let¡¯s go in from the rear. We have to kill their 5 archers and 4 mages in 5 seconds. Think we can do that, Beauty Lin?¡± Lin Yixin opened her palm and a red magic circle flew up in the air. A Level 27 Fire Blade then appeared right after. She smiled. ¡°Give me the three archers and two mages on the right, you kill the remaining four! ¡°Okay, ready!¡± With a gust of wind, blades of grass flew into the air, our figures disappearing from the spot. Two human figures swiftly flitted through the night. Lin Yixin and I split up in different directions but still attacked the Domination Clan squad from the back like two daggers. I didn¡¯t bother to hide myself as I bolted straight for the nearest archer. With a sweep of my Weeping Fire Blade, two sword strikes landed on his back. 451! 378! Slayer Slash and basic attack were enough to instantly kill the archer. My attack power was, after all, pretty decent. Only an archer who put his stat points into Stamina could survive that. Swoosh swoosh! My Dark Wasp silently flew behind another archer and used Flurry. Once the archer came to his senses, he was slowly falling down to the ground, his HP already dropped to zero. My feet shuffled in a zigzag motion and my sword swept across the neck of a Level 31 mage. He wanted to shout but had no chance to as his throat spurted blood. I then completely turned around, lunging at another archer at the side. He was stunned, and before he could react, my two-move combo already came crashing down. MISS! 1279! Pardon paired with a basic attack is also this awesome! In five seconds, I had killed four people. I looked over and saw Lin Yixin¡¯s dagger sweeping through the air. She then swapped to her longsword and gracefully danced into the crowd like a beautiful butterfly. She also killed three people from the back like I did while her Fire Blade pierced a mage from above. Tsk tsk, this Fire Blade¡¯s not bad at a high level. ¡°Wind Fantasy, s-she¡¯s behind us!¡± someone shouted, finally causing the Domination Clan players to discover that they had been ambushed, eight ice-cold bodies already on the floor. Dominating Warrior God quickly turned around and noticed his team member¡¯s eyes growing dim. A sharp sword burning with firelight was currently slowly being pulled out from his chest. ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, it¡­ it¡¯s you!¡± Dominating Warrior God yelled in anger, charging over with the other magic knights and warriors. Lin Yixin chuckled. ¡°We¡¯ve eliminated the mages and archers so we can attack in peace now!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile. It was a kind of supreme pleasure to play the game with a strong and beautiful teammate like Lin Yixin. I raised the Weeping Fire Blade and went to do my job, dashing toward the nearest person. My longsword thrust forward. Slayer Slash followed by a basic attack tore down the defense of an enemy, smoothly relieving him of his health points. Flustered, Dominating Warrior God used Assault on me! But right at this moment, a huge dark cyan wasp stung him twice from the side, instantly depleting a huge chunk of his HP! 450! 399! Damn, he¡¯s actually still alive after being hit by my Dark Wasp¡¯s Flurry? I flew forward. Dominating Warrior God was currently downing an HP potion with a face full of terror and despair. It was obvious that he never imagined a pet¡¯s attack power could be this powerful. Dominating Warrior God naturally sought to have high max HP and Defense but my Dark Wasp¡¯s attack power was so terrifying that it just had to break his delusions. I charged over, sword raised, and executed two lightning-quick moves. The first attack was Pardon, so ¡°MISS¡± hovered over his head. The second attack was a killing basic attack that made Dominating Warrior God want to cry. It dealt more than 1200 damage, which was enough to instantly kill him, even if he had been at full health. Thud! Dominating Warrior God fell, dropping a green helmet. I immediately grabbed the spoils, raised it up high, and loudly proclaimed, ¡°Dominating Warrior God¡¯s helmet is here. Death to all who dare to resist!¡± The result¡ªthe enemies attacked us with increased fervor. As the saying goes, ¡°heroes are no match for multiple enemies, two fists are no match for four¡±. Even though our equipment and skills were great, we couldn¡¯t go up against the siege of a dozen warriors. We were able to kill one or two in the beginning but after three Level 30 second-promotion priests came over, things got much more difficult. Gulp! I drank a Rank 3 Health Potion, instantly recovering 600 HP and shouted, ¡°Yiyi, dodge!¡± Lin Yixin performed a feint before swiftly retreating back into the forest with me. With tacit understanding, we left our pets to stall for us. Based on our pets¡¯ stats, they wouldn¡¯t be dealt with too quickly. Once we were in the clear, I immediately recalled my Dark Wasp into my pet space. It only had a third of its HP left while Lin Yixin¡¯s Fire Blade was left only with a sliver of HP, narrowly escaping death. If a pet died, it would drop a level. This rule left many speechless, so most people would try to keep their pets alive. ¡°Ahhh¡­ I¡¯m so tired¡­¡± Lin Yixin leaned on a short tree, panting, her lovely hair a bit disheveled as moonlight shone on her bright eyes and teeth. She was breathtaking as her chest moved up and down, allowing me to see spectacular scenery. This pretty girl truly was stunning, a sight to behold. I held out a hand. ¡°I killed a total of 14 people. That¡¯s 42 gold, but I¡¯ll just charge you 40 gold. Thanks for the business, boss!¡± Lin Yixin glanced at me. ¡°Put it on my tab this time¡­¡± ¡°My humble business doesn¡¯t accept credit.¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s killing intent surged. ¡°I just want to pay with credit!¡± I nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll listen to you.¡± ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t have that much gold¡­¡± Lin Yixin smiled. ¡°How about this, I¡¯ll treat you to lunch since you helped me teach those Domination bastards a lesson today.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡°Alright then¡­¡± In fact, I didn¡¯t really intend to take the 40 gold. Bloody Mercenaries and the Domination Clan were going to war sooner or later so I didn¡¯t have to hold myself back. If I instead dragged along a strong ally like Lin Yixin, we would still have great prospects in Floating Ice City. Lin Yixin nodded, ¡°11:30 am tomorrow. Wait for me at Happy House, the Hunan restaurant near the university. Qingqing and I will both treat you.¡± ¡°Mn, can I bring someone?¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the one helping us take revenge, not others. Bringing others along, you think it¡¯s a blind date?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ you¡¯re right. See you tomorrow!¡± ¡°Mn, bye~¡± Chapter 55: Small Capital, Huge Profi Once I was back in Floating Ice City, I immediately set out to make my Rank 4 Consumables. To be honest, I should be the first player in Floating Ice City who could make consumables of such high rank. Their obvious usefulness aside, just being able to make them was enough to shock the masses. I interacted with the NPC at the warehouse to take out a huge number of Salt and Chicken Meat. Since I already had enough Fresh Ginger in my bag, there was no way I wouldn¡¯t make some money out of this. I opened the cooking window and put in the ingredients: Chicken Meat x20, Salt x10, Fresh Ginger x15. I confirmed the synthesis and a mystical ball of magic light flew from my palm¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You have made White Cut Chicken x4, Cooking Proficiency +5! Huh? Four in one go? Overjoyed, I quickly began to make my second batch. As expected, I still obtained 3 White Cut Chicken. This was fragrant cooked chicken meat wrapped in lotus leaves. Each could restore 400 MP, a staple for high-level mages. ¡­... Around half an hour later, I had made a total of 120 Rank 4 Consumables. Each slot contained a stack of 10, so I had 12 stacks. All these were cold hard cash! Standing in the center of the plaza with my game ID concealed, I yelled, ¡°Selling Rank 4 Magic Consumables in bulk. This is some good stuff that can instantly restore 400 MP! Don¡¯t miss this chance! Cheap goods, 80 silver each. Come quick if you need it!¡± It was reasonable to say that this was a crazy era. 80 silver was equivalent to 80 RMB, so who would actually throw away 80 RMB for an mana recovery item? However, a ton of rich people just happened to live in this time. There were those who would spend money for a beauty¡¯s smile, and there were those who would also spend a ton of gold to buy high-rank consumables! Many high-level players came over and surrounded me. Some would only carefully buy one or two, and some would buy five, at the most. It seemed like they were preparing to fight some boss with their friends. Or rather, that much was an obvious fact. High-level magic-based classes, especially priests, would consume about 30 MP with every use of a Rank 3 skill like Holy Light. If they weren¡¯t using high-rank Magic Consumables, their MP wouldn¡¯t last more than 2 minutes, making the chances of a party wipe much greater. In the middle of all the noise, a voice suddenly came from the side. ¡°Brother selling Magic Consumables, can we buy all your goods? How many more do you have left?¡± Stunned, I turned around and saw two high-level players clad in shining metal armor! Iron Pardon and Inconstant. The duo weren¡¯t just popular guys on Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking, they were also the ¡°Gemini Stars¡±, experts recruited by Mad Dragon. I never expected to meet them here. Iron Pardon raised a brow. ¡°It¡¯s you!¡± I smirked. ¡°It¡¯s me. What, you still want to buy them?¡± ¡°Yes, of course!¡± Inconstant said with gritted teeth. ¡°How many Rank 4 Consumables do you have? Hmph, don¡¯t tell me that you don¡¯t want to sell it to us because we fought you in the past.¡± I couldn¡¯t stop smiling. ¡°Revenge is revenge and business is business. Of course I¡¯m not that small-minded!¡± As I said that, I counted the goods in my bag. ¡°I still have 95 left. Since you guys want to buy everything, I¡¯ll give you a special price. One Rank 4 Consumable for 1 gold each!¡± ¡°What?!¡± Iron Pardon got angry. ¡°Weren¡¯t you selling it to those people for 80 silver each?¡± ¡°You guys are special!¡± I said indifferently. Inconstant reached out a hand to block Iron Pardon, who was about to burst. He said in a deep voice, ¡°Here¡¯s 95 gold. Give me 95 of those Rank 4 Consumables!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I happily opened the trade window and placed 95 White Cut Chicken inside while the other party put in 95 gold. With a ding, the trade was complete! Iron Pardon looked dissatisfied. Lin Yixin and I did, after all, steal the boss they had worked hard to kill and now they had to give me money. ¡°Bro, w-what¡¯s this?¡± Iron Pardon said angrily. Inconstant smiled. ¡°Young master has decreed that we must gather 100 Rank 4 Consumables. Don¡¯t bother saying anything else, the gold belongs to the young master anyway.¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± Iron Pardon walked away, fuming. Inconstant gave me a warning look as he coldly smiled. ¡°Business is business. You¡¯d better watch yourself once you¡¯re out in the wild!¡± I ignored him and sent Du Thirteen a message: ¡°Hurry to Floating Ice City and get ready to sell gold!¡± Several minutes later, Du Thirteen arrived and traded me 40 gold, smiling. ¡°We should have a total of 100 gold, right?¡± ¡°Is 100 worth selling?¡± I held out my hand and opened it, causing a huge pile of gold to appear within my palm. 258, a distinct number that showed how much gold I possessed was also visible. ¡°Ha?¡± Du Thirteen was scared silly and then burst into laughter. He patted my shoulder, still laughing like a madman. ¡°You actually have this much gold! Isn¡¯t this around twenty thousand yuan? Hahaha, Lu Chen, Little Gui and I were actually having a headache about how to pay for next month¡¯s rent just a moment ago, you know~¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be too happy. At the current stage, gold¡¯s value will be depreciating by the minute. Hurry up and find a buyer! ¡°Find what buyer, just sell it on the forum¡¯s trade platform!¡± ¡°Oh? It has such function too?¡± ¡°Go go!¡± And so, I went on the official forums and did indeed spot the trade platform. PBC was the intermediary, and it collected a 1% transaction fee. Sweeping my gaze over, I saw many players selling gold there. Just gold coins alone had several thousand pages there. Those more wealthy that posted 50 gold while those who had less sold around 3¨C5 gold to make a bit of money. 1 gold was currently fluctuating between 95 RMB¨C120 RMB. This exchange rate would definitely fall soon after the majority of the player base grew in level, though I had no way of predicting just how low it would dip. I immediately placed 250 gold on sale, priced at 100 RMB for each. This was relatively cheap, unlike those unscrupulous sellers who put theirs up at 145 RMB each. Too overpriced! A ding and a message came not even five minutes after I put my gold on sale¡ª System Notice: Valued user, the 250 gold you put on sale has been sold. After deducting the transaction fee, a total of 24750 yuan has been deposited into your China Construction Bank account: 662700200873*! Nice, the money¡¯s here. I made close to twenty-five thousand in an instant! The Bloody Mercenaries workshop was smoothly developing, the near economic crisis could be considered solved. We could now go out everyday for food and drink and check out the legs of the pretty girls on the street. Bliss! However, I still wasn¡¯t satisfied with my current achievement. I wanted more. I gave the metal helmet Dominating Warrior God had dropped to Du Thirteen. This was a Level 25 Iron-grade item, it was a bit better than Gui Guzi¡¯s helmet. I hung around in Floating Ice City¡¯s plaza for a while, checking out what¡¯s new. There were far more ways to get rich than what I had done before. Standing at the center of the city plaza, I bellowed, ¡°Buying a huge amount of Rank 2 Cooking ingredients! 50 copper for Glutinous Rice, 40 copper for Chicken Meat, I¡¯ll buy out your entire stock! Welcoming friends leveling their Foraging! Not long after I shouted my prices, many players who had been grinding their Foraging Proficiency charged from all around, yelling over one another about how much Glutinous Rice or Chicken Meat they had accumulated. Both of these ingredients were Rank 2, so only those with Rank 2 Foraging could acquire them. At this stage of the game, quite a number of players had reached this rank, and many solo players had no one to sell them to. Without high-level friends who had learned Cooking, they could only sell them off. Five cents a Glutinous Rice, four cents per Chicken Meat, why wouldn¡¯t I take this on? I didn¡¯t plan to make more Rank 4 Consumables. Fresh Ginger was too hard to get and I still had a ton of Green Peppers left from when I was gathering at Cold Wind Canyon. As a result, I decided to make Rank 3 Consumables to grind my Cooking skill to Rank 5 as fast as I could. Quickly seizing the food market and becoming the pioneer of an industry was the way of a king! The Rank 3 recipe required 20 Glutinous Rice and 10 Chicken Meat. According to the price I was going to buy them at, a Green Pepper Meatball would cost 14 silver to make. I would sell it for around 50 silver, so I would make some good profit. All in all, over 200% return of investment. Absolutely profitable. And I was increasing my Cooking Proficiency at the same time! Alright, I¡¯m not going to grind levels today. It¡¯s time to do business! I unceasingly purchased Glutinous Rice and Chicken Meat. There were even some people later on who were selling Green Peppers. I haggled the price down to 50 copper each before buying them, thus procuring all the items needed to craft the food I wanted. I took 30 gold from Gui Guzi, using all of it for manufacturing costs and begun cooking, buying even more ingredients during the process. Du Thirteen stood by my side, selling products as soon as I finished synthesizing. I was busy all the way until midnight. Our group of three originally only had 54 gold, but under our diligent efforts until the wee hours of the morning, our total gold count had reached an impressive 805! This was why businessmen were cool! We earned a huge profit margin with a small starting capital! I gave Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi 200 gold each and took 400 gold for myself. They obviously had no problem with that since I was technically the one doing all the work. The two of them were already delighted with the huge amount they were given. I exchanged some gold for 30,000 RMB. That added with the 20,000ish RMB from the preceding afternoon meant that our Bloody Mercenaries workshop had 50,000 RMB in funds. This was a good start! Holding his gold coins, Gui Guzi said with certainty, ¡°Boss, this kind of business opportunity won¡¯t last long. I bet we wouldn¡¯t make this much money if we were to do it one or two days later!¡± I nodded. ¡°The other players that are leveling Cooking should be reaching Rank 3 soon. Once they¡¯re Rank 3, our profits won¡¯t just decrease, the price of Green Pepper Meatball will plunge as well.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± We were on point. At 1 am in the morning, two other people begun selling Rank 3 Consumables. One of them was the chef of the Domination Clan, Dominating Chef God, and the other was a Level 32 archer from Mad Dragon named Wufangzhai. Both were masters ahead of the masses. I went out to grind some levels till 3 am, when I finally reached Level 36. To my surprise, despite my efforts, I was still about to fall off from the Heavenly Ranking¡ª NameLevelClass Wind Fantasy 38 Light Wanderer Dominating Heaven Blade 37 Warrior Dominating Mage God 37 Mage Inconstant 37 Magic Knight Iron Pardon 36 Warrior Dominating Knight God 36 Magic Knight Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 36 Undead Swordsman Dominating Warrior God 35 Warrior Dominating Archer God 35 Archer Clear Perfume 34 Arche Chapter 56: Little White Rabbi I slowly opened my eyes and lazily got out of bed. Clock slowly woke up, clock ticking at 11:30 am. I entered the living room and briefly washed my face. Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen sat on the sofa drinking water. The blistering summer heat required a ton of water to rehydrate and those two camels went through a plastic barrel of water every two days. ¡°I¡¯m not going to have lunch at the workshop,¡± I said as I put on a light shirt after seeing the hot sunshine outside. Gui Guzi nodded. ¡°Then Brother B and I will have the boxed meals downstairs.¡± ¡°Where¡¯re you going for lunch, Lu Chen?¡± Du Thirteen asked. ¡°Oh, I have an appointment¡­¡± ¡°Who¡¯s treating you to lunch?¡± ¡°Lin Yixin.¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Du Thirteen immediately stood up with, and said excitedly, ¡°We¡¯re brothers for life that share blessings and misfortunes together. You have to bring us along.¡± I said helplessly, ¡°You want to hang out with Lin Yixin?¡± Du Thirteen answered sheepishly, ¡°I just want to eat a good meal¡­¡± I smiled as I spread my hands out. ¡°You can come if you¡¯d like but I¡¯m pretty sure Lin Yixin¡¯s not going to treat you. Up to you.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°Whatever¡­¡± Ten minutes later, the three of us were on the streets. The scorching sun above our heads burnt me so bad that I felt like I was being roasted alive. I clenched my fist and punched two times at the empty air. I was brimming with power, as if my physique really did get strengthened a few times over. The pain accompanied by the sun killing the virus was just a bit hard to bear. Gui Guzi saw my sweaty self throw a few punches and praised sincerely, ¡°Nice moves¡­¡± Du Thirteen smiled. ¡°Seems like you¡¯re someone who knows what¡¯s up. Lu Chen¡¯s move just then was the long-extinct ¡®Doggy Paddle¡¯...¡± Gui Guzi laughed and then changed topics. ¡°You know, Iron Pardon and Inconstant looked like they wanted to eat us yesterday. Mad Dragon really does hate us Bloody Mercenaries but why did they still buy out our Rank 4 Magic Consumables?¡± I smiled. ¡°Simple. Mad Dragon¡¯s about to make a big move soon!¡± ¡°What move?¡± Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen both asked at the same time. I lowered my voice and enunciated every word. ¡°Hero¡¯s Token!¡± Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°The guild certificate, Hero¡¯s Token?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I nodded. ¡°There¡¯s not a single established guild in the China server right now because our levels aren¡¯t high enough yet. The other reason is because no one has gotten a Hero¡¯s Token yet!¡± Thirteen asked, ¡°Where can you get a Hero¡¯s Token?¡± Du Thirteen smiled out of relief. ¡°Then you¡¯re saying that Mad Dragon¡¯s just counting on Roaming Dragon and his groupies to attack a Level 60 boss? Aren¡¯t they delusional?¡± ¡°Not necessarily.¡± I shook my head. ¡°It¡¯s always hard to start something but if there¡¯s one thing Mad Dragon excels at it¡¯s manpower and resources. We can¡¯t compare to them in that aspect. I¡¯m afraid Mad Dragon really will rule over Floating Ice City if Roaming Dragon gets his hands on a Hero¡¯s Token.¡± Gui Guzi snickered. ¡°I just got some first-hand information. Roaming Dragon¡¯s name is Lu Chao. He¡¯s a certain Shanghai organization member¡¯s son. Cough cough, his dad¡¯s Lu Gang¡­¡± ¡°Damn!¡± Du Thirteen and I looked at each other, simultaneously exclaiming in disbelief . We soon arrived at the street in front of the university with the renowned Hunan restaurant ¡°Happy House¡± just nearby. This was a pretty good name and there were a ton of customers inside. Lin Yixin had probably made a reservation or else we¡¯d have to wait until 2 pm to eat. After going inside, I took out my phone and called Lin Yixin. A ringtone sounded from right behind me. ¡°If you want to marry, just marry Wolffy¡­¡± Fuck! I turned around and saw Lin Yixin and Clear Perfume walk in hand in hand. Both were wearing light clothing. Sun Qingqing had on a beige T-shirt paired with a teal blue skirt. She was brimming with youth and looked both pure and adorable. I immediately put her into my class-one-protected-species list. I can¡¯t let a girl like that get defiled by a villain like Thirteen. Sun Qingqing really shouldn¡¯t have appeared with Lin Yixin. It was bad for a beauty to serve as a foil to others. Sun Qingqing was already a top beauty but once she stood next to Lin Yixin, she looked much more ordinary. My eyes lit up when I saw Lin Yixin in a white short-sleeved blouse with a simple bow at her collar. It was just that her clothes swelled at the front. God knows how this little girl developed this well. Her buttons looked like they were about to burst. She was also wearing a black skirt that revealed her long, white legs. This kind of black and white outfit would look normal on other girls but people would sigh at how beautiful it lay on Lin Yixin. Du Thirteen looked at Lin Yixin, mouth agape, like a dried-up fish. He wasn¡¯t able to utter a single word. Gui Guzi was a bit stronger. He only took a few glances before shifting his gaze. ¡°You¡¯re here?¡± Lin Yixin smiled, showing her dimples, and said to a waitress, ¡°Hi, we¡¯re reservation number 48.¡± ¡°Oh, how many people?¡± ¡°Three.¡± ¡°Please follow me!¡± ¡°Alright, thank you!¡± Lin Yixin waved at me to come over and I followed her upstairs. They tapped up the stairs and I saw her the corner of her skirt rise, revealing a pair of white thighs, instantly making my heart rise along. Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi were shoved to a corner of my mind, forgotten. The duo immediately requested to sit at a table near us, and the heavens took pity on them because there really was an open spot close by. Lin Yixin never took a single glance at Du Thirteen or Gui Guzi from the very start, as if they didn¡¯t exist. Once we were upstairs, we sat at a table near the window. I took the menu and smiled at the waitress. ¡°I want this¡­ 75 yuan Dongting Duck and this¡­ 112 yuan Tasty Snake and also this, and this¡­ then the cheaper 80 yuan Special Steamed Fish Head In Chili Sauce¡­¡± ¡°Wah~¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful eyes went wide. Her eyes locked onto me sternly as if her heart was about to burst. Her expression was beautiful but was also destructive, as if she wished to immediately pierce me with a thousand arrows. Sun Qingqing smiled. ¡°Hey handsome, you look like you haven¡¯t had a full meal in ages¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°Yeah, sometimes I do, sometimes I don¡¯t. Being a pro player is a life of sacrifices!¡± Lin Yixin bit her red lips and glared at me. ¡°Hmph. Just wait until you have to treat me next. Stupid Lu Chen, you Little Cheat!¡± I clapped my hands and laughed out loud. Lin Yixin being in a bad mood made me happy. Sun Qingqing looked at me, then at Lin Yixin, and seemed to realize something. She stuck out her tongue. ¡°Lu Chen, don¡¯t make Yiyi angry. Let me tell you, in my whole two years of being classmates with Yiyi, I¡¯ve never seen her treat a guy before. You¡¯re the first, so you should feel proud!¡± ¡°Really?¡± I shot a glance at Lin Yixin. She was still looking at me with a murderous look. I then said, ¡°Miss, can you also get us a big bottle of fruit juice, the 68 yuan kind¡­¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Lin Yixin was near collapse. She looked pitifully at Sun Qingqing and said, ¡°Qingqing, you still have a ton of instant noodles, right?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t throw them away, I¡¯ll be eating those next week...¡± ¡°...¡± Sun Qingqing was speechless. She then tried to smooth things over. ¡°Let¡¯s just talk about what¡¯s happening in the game. Yiyi wants to establish a new guild and you have the Bloody Mercenaries workshop, Lu Chen. We¡¯ve both offended the Domination Clan so we should team up in the future or else the Domination Clan will make our lives difficult.¡± I nodded. ¡°This needs to be considered at length. We need an invulnerable strategy to thoroughly defeat Gods of Destruction!¡± Lin Yixin raised a brow and smiled provokingly. ¡°Are you saying that your IQ is high?¡± ¡°Yeah, you want to say something?¡± I drank my tea, extremely confident. Lin Yixin¡¯s smile was especially sweet. ¡°Let me ask you a few simple questions!¡± ¡°Go on!¡± ¡°How many younger brothers does Aladdin have?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± I was confused. ¡°Aladdin is an Indian, how would I know¡­¡± ¡°Idiot! Twenty-five! Aladdin, Baladdin, Caladdin, etc!¡± ¡°Fuck! This question¡¯s too misleading¡­¡± Lin Yixin covered her smile. ¡°Again, again. Second question: What were Shennong¡¯s last words before he died?¡± Me: ¡°...¡± Lin Yixin smiled even deeper. She pinched a chopstick and pretended to have trouble breathing. ¡°Th-this plant, is¡­ is poisonous¡­¡± Me: ¡°Fuck!¡± Lin Yixin continued with a smile, ¡°Next, third question: Zhao Yun was incredibly valiant at Changban Slope, killing left and right. Li Dian said, ¡®Sir, that white-robed little general¡¯s coming over again!¡¯ Xiahou Dun said, ¡®This is already the seventh time, isn¡¯t he tired?¡¯ Cao Cao replied, ¡®Bastard, is he only going to give up after killing all my men?¡¯ What did Zhao Yun say?¡± Me: ¡°...¡± Lin Yixin was so happy that her beautiful eyes were nearly closed as she smiled. ¡°Zhao Yun said, ¡®That bastard Zhang Fei told me to bring up the rear but his loud voice broke Dangyang Bridge. How am I supposed to go back?¡¯¡± I was dumbstruck. Lin Yixin was well-read. Amazing. ¡°How¡¯s that? What¡¯s your IQ now?¡± Lin Yixin looked at me with a smile. Me: ¡°...¡± Sun Qingqing shook as she laughed and leaned on the table, gasping to breathe. Lin Yixin and I looked at each other, the atmosphere filled with dense killing intent. The dishes came not long after. Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi were sitting not too far away. Seizing this opportunity, Du Thirteen came over and sat next to me with a wine cup in hand. He was pretty skilled at hitting on girls. He looked at the campus view outside the window and said to me with a smile, ¡°Lu Chen, remember when we were still uni students? Those were some happy times!¡± I nodded. Thirteen continued, ¡°I still remember us secretly buying a hot pot back in our senior year. Heh, just when we were worrying about what ingredients to put in, a little white rabbit came hopping over from the student dorm lawns. Aye, it was so fresh and tender, so delicious¡­¡± Thirteen vulgarly smacked his lips. Sun Qingqing¡¯s expression changed. She then turned to Lin Yixin. ¡°Yiyi, that little white rabbit you were raising in freshman year¡­ the truth¡¯s finally been revealed¡­¡± 1. Popular internet meme used when trying to avoid responsibility. Originating from a drunk driver who said his dad¡¯s Li Gang (deputy director of local public security bureau) after hitting two university students. 2. Antagonist of a popular children¡¯s show. 3. Shennong, Farmer God in Chinese mythology, died as a result of his researches into the properties of plants by experimenting upon his own body, after, in one of his tests, he ate the yellow flower of a weed that caused his intestines to rupture before he had time to swallow his antidotal tea Chapter 57: Protoss Genius Du Thirteen observed the expressions, and quickly left our table like lightning once he saw Lin Yixin''s expression wasn''t right. From childhood until now, I had never seen him so agile. Sun Qingqing was smiling brightly and said, "Lu Chen, you and your friend are all from Suzhou Technology?" "Yes." I nodded. "But we graduated half a year ago." "Oh, so it''s like that." I glanced at Lin Yixin. She was also looking at me, her brows furrowed and full of murderousness. I immediately turned and said to her roommate, "Qingqing, the sun is so bright today..." Sun Qingqing: "..." At this time, Gui Guzi came over with a cup of beer and said with a smile, "Beauties, you don''t know? Our Boss Broken Halberd was not an ordinary person back in Suzhou Technology. Remember the WCG that had been held in Shanghai three years ago? Candlelight Shadow represented South Korea in the competition and defeated three of China''s Starcraft Overlords. In the end, he was slaughtered in five rounds by a student. That student was Broken Halberd, called the Protoss Genius¡ªNight_chen!" Sun Qingqing''s mouth was wide in shock. Lin Yixin¡¯s expression also changed. She slowly stood up as she looked at me with her beautiful eyes full of complex emotion. "You... you''re the legendary Protoss Genius, the former captain of the Suzhou Technology team, Night_chen?" Lin Yixin bit her lip and said. My heart shook. Should I admit it or not? Back when I was famous in the world, Lin Yixin would have been around 18 or so. A young general like me who killed the Starcraft Emperor would be an idol for young girls. Maybe she would come into my arms and warm my bed tonight... My desires rippled for a moment. "Yes, but that''s in the past...¡± I waved my hand to look like it didn¡¯t matter. Lin Yixin''s gaze was slightly confused but then brightened, being layered in murderousness like she had used the killing move "Moon Gaze". My heart jumped. Not good! In the next moment, Lin Yixin stood up and leapt toward me, her hands tightly gripping my neck as she shouted through gritted teeth, "So you are Night_chen! Lu Chen, you bastard, I will kill you!" "Ugh...¡± The poor chair was flipped over. I leaned back against the carved window sill, Lin Yixin curled up in my arms like a small persian cat. Of course, she was a very aggressive cat. I had an innocent expression. "Yiyi, what are you doing?!" Lin Yixin gritted her teeth. "You dare to speak?!" "I...¡± Oh, I was so kind. In less than three minutes, Lin Yixin realized. Wasn''t this letting the other benefit? Lin Yixin''s beautiful face immediately turned red. She angrily gave me a punch before jumping backward. I sat up straight, and suppressed my impulses. I said with a frown, "What happened? Why is Yiyi so impulsive?" Sun Qingqing took a sip of tea and giggled. "Lu Chen, do you remember what happened after you defeated Candlelight Shadow?" I shook my head. Sun Qingqing said, "Who is Candlelight Shadow? He¡¯s the Starcraft Emperor of South Korea. A month after you defeated him, Candlelight Shadow found your address, and came to Suzhou with members of the top international team, FIRE FOX. You had already graduated and left the school team. Thus, Candlelight Shadow spent a day slaughtering Suzhou Technology''s Night Team. At the time, Yiyi was the main force of the team so...¡± I glanced at Lin Yixin and suddenly felt some sympathy. Candlelight Shadow had come to Suzhou. With Lin Yixin''s unpracticed skill, she would have been devastated. Sun Qingqing said, "Yiyi would not admit defeat and lost ten rounds in a row. She lost half a month of breakfast to me. Oh, I do not bear to think about it...¡± "So that is how it is...¡± I thought for a moment and said with a smile, "Really. As the saying goes, I did not kill Boren but Boren died because of me...¡± Lin Yixin glared and said angrily, "You dare to speak! You left after defeating Candlelight Shadow and left the mess for us to clean up! I... I really want to burn you as a candle!" I laughed out loud. "How about it? This meal is on me, as an apology to Yiyi!" Lin Yixin weighed this, and nodded. "Alright.¡± I touched my wallet and hated myself for having ordered so many dishes moments earlier. ¡­¡­ On the way home. "Lin Yixin said she wanted to turn Broken Halberd into a candle...¡± Gui Guzi muttered. Du Thirteen said, "Little Gui, you are too dumb. How can you believe a woman''s words? I feel that Beauty Lin values Lu Chen greatly, at least his strength in the game.¡± As he spoke, Du Thirteen was slightly moved, and patted my shoulder. He said with a smile, "Lu Chen, if your Beauty Lin wants to give herself to you, it would be good if our Bloody Mercenaries joined Lin Yixin''s future guild!" I shook my head decisively and said gravely, "Thirteen, this is not possible.¡± "Why... why not?" Du Thirteen was slightly puzzled. I looked at him and emphasized each word, "The Bloody Mercenaries workshop is an independent group. Even if we joined other guilds, there would only be one guild worthy of Bloody Mercenaries joining them¡ªAncient Sword Dreaming Souls!" "Ugh...¡± Du Thirteen looked dazedly at me. Gui Guzi clenched his fists and said, "Lu Chen, I support you! I know some of what happened in Spirit of Grief. People should stand up for their friends. If one day you return to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I am willing to follow you there!" I nodded and smiled. "Thank you!" Du Thirteen said, "We have to plan this for the long term. The Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild doesn''t exist right now. That''s far off. Also, there seems to only be Hot Sun and Murong Mingyue left from the guild¡¯s core. The two of them aren¡¯t enough to establish a guild in the near future.¡± I did not speak. Du Thirteen was right. But with me present, hmph, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would be famous throughout Floating Ice City! Even though I could not honestly meet He Yi and join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls with my present health situation, Bloody Mercenaries and I would do everything to protect her, and help Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls establish themselves in Floating Ice City. ¡­¡­ As soon as we returned to our residence, we went online! Swoosh! My vision was slightly dim, as I was sleeping in a grave. I climbed out and inhaled a breath of fresh air. I couldn''t help but laugh and shouted toward the wild forest like the experts in the movies did, "Passersby, do not cry for my death. If I¡¯m alive, none of you can live!¡± After shouting, I felt very good inside. But at this time, rustling came from a tent by the forest. A beautiful figure burrowed out of the tent. Elegant armor covered her body. She carried a sword and a dagger. Her long hair fell over her cloak and her purple eyes were dazzling. This was Lin Yixin. She had built a tent by Frost Mound before going offline. So arrogant! I reached out and took out a card from my bag, heading toward her. Whoosh! The card flew in the sky to form a bright formation that covered Lin Yixin. A hexagram formation array spun furiously under Lin Yixin¡¯s feet. "Hm?" Lin Yixin''s seductive mouth was open as she looked at the formation at her feet in surprise. A few seconds later, she realized. This was the effect of a Sealing Card! Her face immediately turned red like an apple maturing in autumn. She glared at me and said angrily, "Lu Chen, you want to die? You dare to seal this lady? Do I look like a Level 1 pet to you?¡± I laughed out loud. Lin Yixin had guessed my thoughts. Honestly speaking, I really wanted to seal her and take her along with me all day. She could help me fight monsters, and she was nice to look at. If that was the case, I would die of happiness. "Yiyi, did you come to Frost Mound to find me?" I asked. "Yes.¡± Lin Yixin nodded and did not say anything else. "What for?" Lin Yixin blinked her eyes and said, "To go explore a map together. Are you interested?" I nodded. ¡°What level are the monsters there?¡± "Very high!" "No problem, I have to level up, and by the way...¡± I hesitated and said with a smile, ¡°We can also let our feelings mature as we level up, right?" "Really?" Lin Yixin smiled, two pointed teeth peeking through her grin. This was characteristic of a young female succubus. While they were fangs, they looked adorable; though that didn¡¯t stop me from feeling cold all over at the sight. Lin Yixin was as beautiful as a goddess, but when angered, she would quickly turn into a demon. I have to be more careful. Otherwise, she¡¯ll sell me and make me help her count the money. If it was Thirteen or Gui Guzi, she probably would have done it already. Du Thirteen had no immunity toward beautiful women while Gui Guzi''s head was slightly slow. In Du Thirteen''s words, he was slightly dumb. Gui Guzi was a grinding genius. The difference between genius and talent was dumbness, so in this case, being slightly dumb was beneficial. I asked, "Yiyi, what¡¯s the map? Can you share?" "Sure.¡± Lin Yixin pulled me into her party and then raised her hand. Immediately, a yellowed ancient map appeared in front of me. Lin Yixin''s small hand quickly tapped over it. Blue ripples spread. This was a place far from Floating Ice City called "Ghost Valley.¡± It appeared that it was filled with undead monsters. "Cough cough...¡± I paused and said, "Yiyi, I am skilled at undead attacks, but have no attack bonus on undead creatures. What do you want me for?" Lin Yixin smiled, and looked dismissively at me. She said, her smile reaching her ears, "Do not flatter yourself, I don¡¯t want you, I want your Dark Wasp''s attack power. With it present, we can definitely sweep Ghost Valley in twenty-four hours. Go repair your equipment and prepare to set out.¡± I was slightly speechless. So in Lin Yixin''s eyes, I was less valuable than a Dark Wasp! I finished preparing for battle and departed! Under the light of the setting sun, a small skeleton warrior and a beautiful female battle goddess set off on our journey. What would be waiting ahead for us? Chapter 58: Purple Marquis Walking through the forest path, the moonlight fell down on the ground like hoarfrost. Shadows of the countless trees fell on glistening ground. My Weeping Fire Blade in hand, I strode forward with a calm expression. Lin Yixin was next to me, following and stepping on my shadow. The mountain wind carried cries of wolves and roars of tigers through the range. I looked over at Lin Yixin. Her Fire Blade was floating nearby. It wasn¡¯t slow. Its attack power was strong, likely not too far off from my Dark Wasp. "Soon, Mad Dragon will organize a large group to fight bosses above Level 60," I said after a moment of thought. Lin Yixin laughed softly. "Let them do as they want~" "Would you like Mad Dragon to dominate Floating Ice City?" I turned to look at her. Lin Yixin looked at me and said with a smile, "Aren''t you supposed to be smart? Why don''t you think then? The people who wouldn¡¯t want that to happen are not us, it¡¯s the Gods of Destruction guild. Dominating Heaven Blade will not just idly sit by.¡± "Hm, a reasonable deduction." I nodded and changed the topic. "Beauty Yi, how many experts have you recruited now?" "Oh...¡± Lin Yixin closed her eyes and then her eyes moved away when she opened them. she said with a smile, "Three: Qingqing, Zi Chuanyu, Lifetaking Sword. What about you?" "Two, Thirteen and Gui Guzi...¡± "...¡± Lin Yixin tilted her head at me as though she saw something very amusing. "What is with your look?" I felt my hair raise at her look. Lin Yixin burst into laughter. ¡°In Bloody Mercenaries, you are a solid 9, Gui Guzi a 4, and that Amazing Expert¡­ I feel that giving him a 1 would be a big exaggeration¡­¡± I nodded. "Your evaluation is really pertinent...¡± "Keke~" ¡­¡­ As we walked, shadows flickered ahead, and a grinding group of five appeared ahead. One was a Level 33 warrior called "Purple Marquis". He wore blue armor that looked Steel-grade, his strength was considerable. His party consisted of a Level 32 magic knight, ¡°Reflection¡±, a Level 30 mage called ¡°Guest of World¡¯s End¡±, a priest, and a tactician, who were both Level 29. This team was really strong, and that Purple Marquis and Reflection both seemed to be rare experts! My gaze turned cold and I whispered, "Careful, they¡¯re not friendly!" "Why?" Lin Yixin asked. I smiled. "Beauty Yi, you might be strong, but your experience is lacking. Just look at them. Warrior and magic knight in the front, priest and a mage as support behind them, and at the very back, a tactician. This is clearly a battle formation. Would they take positions if they wanted to just pass by?" "Okay.¡± I strode forward. Suddenly, I raised my sword, perpetually shrouded in orange flame, as red hue spanned across the edge. Living targets ahead, my Undead Energy passive activated! Without a word, Reflection pounced at me with Flame Thrust! My blade moved, and the spear was thrown away with a "ding¡±. My body shook and 100 HP was taken away. This magic knight''s attack power wasn¡¯t low! "Slayer Slash!" I pressed the Weeping Fire Blade against Reflection¡¯s shoulder and dealt 487 damage, but against a magic knight with over 800 HP, it didn¡¯t stop him from retreating with half HP. At this time, cold wind blew over, accompanying arrival of Purple Marquis. He directed his sword toward my waist at a difficult angle. While I could see clearly, the other was so fast, faster than my half-second delay, giving me no chance to even dodge! Pfft! 312! Such great attack power! At the same time, Guest of World''s End chanted a spell. A flaming dragon burst out of the ground, leaping toward my location. It was the Level 20 Mage skill¡ªFire Dragon Roar. My body was immediately bathed by dragon¡¯s flames. A large chunk of my HP disappeared¡ª301! So terrifying. I completely underestimated their strength! The Purple Marquis''s attacks were unusually fierce. After his successful attack, he immediately zigzagged to my other side, and attacked a second time! I had practiced this set of movements during my many years of PvP experience. What followed demonstrated my ability to judge the situation. Before Purple Marquis begun his maneuver, I had already moved. When he slashed with his sword, I backstepped ever so slightly, turned around, and gave him a hearty blow to the back. Crack! 389! Sparks flew. My blow caused Purple Marquis to frown. His HP was about 650. If I added one more blow, he would be killed instantly! The second blow was already midway. His reaction was within my prediction. What I did not predict however, was the pillar of holy light coming down on his location. +224! Damn, he healed him in just a second? This priest is also very powerful! The mage, Guest of World''s End, had already used another Fire Dragon Roar, causing my scalp to prickle. One against five was too difficult. I would be dead within five seconds! The tactician used Encourage and Iron Wall. These two skills could tip the scale. In the early stages of the game, when everyone¡¯s equipment was not very good, a 5% increase in Attack and Defense was very significant. At this time, a silver light flew across the sky, flashing twice! Crack crack! Two soft thuds could be heard. Guest of World¡¯s End fell to the ground, his Magic Shield breaking. So did the priest, his expression shocked, a beautiful face of a woman reflected in his unreconciled eyes. Lin Yixin had finally attacked! When the two caster classes slumped to the ground, the tactician also panicked and hurriedly retreated. Unfortunately for him, my Dark Wasp flew over, its stinger tail stabbing twice. The man was frightened, and an instant later he saw two big damage numbers rising from his head¡ª 456! 512! Either of these hits was enough to instantly kill him. The Level 30 Dark Wasp was clearly too strong, and its attack power was above mine. I grabbed a Rank 3 Health Potion and downed it. Immediately recovering 600 HP, I was invigorated. I quickly shot toward Reflection. The magic knight raised his hand and unleashed his pet, a Level 27 Green Praying Mantis. This pet had high Attack and Defense scaling, but its speed was sorely lacking. It would need 3 seconds after every attack to recover! Crack! The blade of the Green Praying Mantis sliced across my chest armor. With a hum, a layer of black armor light rose off my body with the sounds of ghosts wailing. The Green Praying Mantis''s attack did less than 100 damage. My own Defense was high to begin with, and with a defensive skill like Rank 3 Ghost Deity Armor, the Green Praying Mantis couldn¡¯t pierce my armor. My hand rose and my sword fell with two strikes. One was my ace skill¡ªPardon, and the second was my strongest skill at this moment¡ªSlayer Slash! MISS! 1503! Reflection''s eyes widened. He looked in disbelief that someone had managed to create over 1000 points of damage. Yes, in this early stage of Heavenblessed, this damage was really a rare sight. Bam! Reflection was killed, leaving behind Purple Marquis on his own. Facing the attacks from me and Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis was extremely calm. He looked coldly at the surroundings and snarled, "The first player on the Heavenly Ranking, Wind Fantasy, teamed up with the seventh, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. It seems that this one dying at your hands today is worth it!" I snorted. "Purple Marquis, we haven''t had any interactions before. Why did you attack us first?" Purple Marquis sneered, "Don''t ask so much. Today, it is I, Purple Marquis, and my brothers that are not skilled enough. Hmph, if your pets weren¡¯t so strong, who knows who would have won!" Lin Yixin couldn''t help but laugh. "Really? How about I give you a fair chance. Do you dare to challenge me alone?" Purple Marquis gritted his teeth. "Wind Fantasy, I have no grudge with you. We only want to kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Why are you meddling?" "Oh?" Lin Yixin raised an eyebrow and looked at me. ¡°You have a bone to pick with him?" "He offended my friend, Shadow Chanel!" "Shadow Chanel is your friend?" I raised my eyebrows and said angrily. "Yes, so we are enemies starting today!" Purple Marquis looked angrily at me as he raised his sword and shouted, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you are a popular person on the Heavenly Ranking, do you dare fight me in a fair duel?" Purple Marquis knew that Lin Yixin''s level was high and had a big advantage. He dared to pick on me, the weaker one... "Alright, I will not use my pet.¡± I nodded, held my blade horizontally and invited him with a smile. "Come, Purple Marquis, let me see how much weight your words hold, and if you are strong enough to get justice for your Shadow Clan friend.¡± "Hmph, here I go!" Purple Marquis charged violently in a straight path, like a loosed arrow. When he was five meters away from me, he suddenly shifted course. His body wrapped in red hue, he crashed into my right side. It was the signature Level 30 skill of the Warrior class¡ªAssault! I laughed. This person does have some skill! Sha! Sha! I tapped the ground with my feet, gently floating toward my enemy like a falling leaf, swaying in a beautiful S curve to intercept his charge. In the moment of contact, a slight flick of my sword, a big ¡°MISS¡± appeared over the warrior¡¯s head! In the next moment, Purple Marquis stilled. He had seen the information. My next attack would ignore 60% of his Defense and also boost my Attack by 45%. His party member, Reflection, had fallen to this attack moments earlier, despite being a tankier class with innately higher HP. Purple Marquis was but a warrior. If Reflection couldn¡¯t survive, neither could he. Seeing Purple Marquis just stand there in shock and consternation, I flicked my wrist and canceled Slayer Slash. I turned to Lin Yixin. ¡°Yiyi, let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s not waste our time here any longer.¡± Lin Yixin''s mouth was wide open. She had clearly been given a fright by my amazing movement just now. Her gaze was somewhat strange. "Are you really Falling Dust from Spirit of Grief?" I nodded. "Yes, let''s go!" "Oh...¡± Chapter 59: Killer Wind ¡°You¡¯re pretty charming, aren¡¯t you?¡± Lin Yixin smiled while we were walking by a small, quiet river. She was walking backward with her hands behind her back. Her pale face glowed like silver under the moonlight, and the white cape fluttering behind her complemented her beauty even more. Slightly dazed, I answered her question with a question of my own. ¡°Why would you say that?¡± Lin Yixin smiled again before replying, ¡°Dominating Heaven Blade wants to kill you, Roaming Dragon wants to kill you, Shadow Chanel wants to kill you, and now even Purple Marquis, a guy we just met, wants to kill you as well. If that isn''t proof of your charm, then what is?¡± I laughed openly. ¡°It¡¯s an acceptable amount of popularity, I suppose. I have enemies all over the world, hahaha¡­¡± Lin Yixin shot me a look before hiding a giggle. ¡°Let¡¯s go. The sooner we get to Ghost Valley, the sooner we can level up to 60. Once you¡¯re promoted to a Silver Warrior, you¡¯ll gain a few more life-saving skills that¡¯ll keep you alive.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡­¡­ By the time we reached Ghost Valley, it was already dawn. A ray of sunlight spilled from between the mountains and cast a golden sheen across the forest. Lin Yixin pointed. ¡°Look, it¡¯s right there!¡± As Lin Yixin mentioned, there was a valley not far away toward the front. However, it had a dark and gloomy appearance, and the forest near it seemed to be filled with stale air. Well, I had expected as much. It was called Ghost Valley for a reason. I could already imagine the bad things in store for us. I pressed my fingers together like a daoist and frowned. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Lin Yixin asked. I replied, ¡°The balance of yin and yang has been upset. Six Yin Gods are in power, and the Yang God is missing. The ghosts are rejoicing. This place is an ominous portent!¡± Lin Yixin looked around her nervously before looking down at her own chest. Then, she relaxed and said calmly, ¡°So what? Let¡¯s enter the valley already, you fraud. A quest is waiting for us at the entrance!¡± We continued toward the valley, and as expected, a shabby, temporary camp soon entered our view. The camp looked pitifully simple¡ªstraw sheds propped up by a couple of bamboo¡ªand I could see two scouts sitting around an extinguished, still-smoking bonfire. A half-eaten young boar was impaled on the wood. Lin Yixin walked up to the NPC soldier and smiled sweetly. ¡°Is there anything we can do for you, my lord?¡± One of the soldiers stood up and examined Lin Yixin. He did the same to me, but to my surprise he didn¡¯t notice that I was a Night Creature. That being said, the Cyanfire Cloak did cover me up pretty well, so maybe it wasn¡¯t that much of a surprise. The soldier then added loudly, ¡°Young warriors, please head into Ghost Valley and kill 200 Rotten Corpses and 200 Zombies. Return to me after you¡¯ve completed your quest for a generous reward!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Do you accept quest [Cleanse the Ghost Valley]? (Quest Rank: D+) Both Lin Yixin and I chose ¡°Accept¡± without hesitation. Now that we had gotten our quest, it was time to depart! I took the lead and summoned my Dark Wasp. When Lin Yixin saw its name, she complained, ¡°Lu Chen, change its name. I forbid you from calling it Wind Fantasy¡­¡± ¡°Why should I?¡± I turned around with a smile. Lin Yixin puffed up her chest and replied, ¡°Because there can only be one Wind Fantasy¡­¡± ¡°...¡± It wasn¡¯t really an answer, but I relented and changed its name to F-22. It was a cool name; cool enough to make Lin Yixin laugh at the very least. A terrible stench hit our faces when we entered the valley. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Lin Yixin frowned. ¡°What is this disgusting smell?¡± I answered, ¡°It¡¯s the smell of the undead.¡± Unlike Lin Yixin, I was very familiar with this smell. After all, it was how I smelled when I turned into an undead swordsman. However, the smell disappeared after I absorbed enough Soul Sparks of the Undead, eventually evolving into a Bone Creature. There was no way Lin Yixin would have traveled with me otherwise. A low, ear-piercingly loud growl came from the front. Soon, a ragged figure shambled toward our direction. ¡°Look, it¡¯s a human~¡± Lin Yixin looked very excited to meet another human being. However, her expression quickly changed into fear in the next second. The ¡°human¡± walking toward us wasn¡¯t alive in the slightest. It was a half-rotten corpse, the absolute weakest type of Night Creatures. Its face was riddled with holes and crawling with maggots. It was a horrific sight. Rotten Corpse LV-42 I could see its level. It was 6 levels stronger than me, and 4 levels stronger than Lin Yixin. It wasn¡¯t a difficult opponent. ¡°What are you doing? Go get ¡®em.¡± I shot Lin Yixin a look and urged her to act. She had the Holy Energy skill, so she should have an easier time against undead creatures. Lin Yixin pouted but charged forward. Her sword glowed silver as she approached the Rotten Corpse, and a milky white cyclone suddenly appeared around the blade! Thwack thwack! 412! 427! She did what damage with just two basic attacks?! I rubbed my eyes to make sure they weren¡¯t deceiving me before opening the Combat Log. Written within¡ª Combat Log: Player "Wind Fantasy" activated ¡°Killer Wind Swordplay¡±! Killer Wind Swordplay? I asked in astonishment, ¡°Beauty Yi, is this your skill?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± Lin Yixin glided two meters away from the monster, then engaged it once again with a slash of her sword. She had complete control over the battle¡¯s rhythm. Seemingly reading my mind, she smiled. ¡°When I was just a noob, I killed a dangerous boss and got this Killer Wind Swordplay. It amplifies my base attack and greatly increases my mob-killing efficiency. For example, Rank 3 Killer Wind Swordplay enhances my base attack damage by 15%.¡± I nodded. ¡°No wonder you¡¯re able to level up so quickly.¡± ¡°Now that I¡¯ve answered your question, less talking and more helping! Let¡¯s kill this Level 42 monster without losing any health!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± I and my Dark Wasp attacked the Rotten Corpse together. We were able to kill it almost perfectly with my Pardon and Slayer Slash combo, two basic attacks from my Dark Wasp and one final strike from Lin Yixin. Although the experience of the kill was split between us, I could see an obvious bump in my experience bar. As I had expected, the experience of a Level 42 monster was no joke. Pop! We were off to a good start as a Big Magic Stone dropped from the Rotten Corpse. I picked it up from the ground and checked its quality. ¡°It¡¯s a 91. Say, how should we split the loot? Do we roll the dice?¡± Lin Yixin didn¡¯t even look at the Big Magic Stone. ¡°What¡¯s the fun in that? This one is yours, the next one is mine, and so on. This way we¡¯ll both profit.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s plan wasn¡¯t a bad one. If we rolled the dice, it was inevitable one of us would have more loot than the other. That would only cause an imbalance in the group. The deeper we went, the more Rotten Corpses we encountered. At first, they came at us in twos or threes. Eventually, they started charging us in hordes. Their massive numbers made killing them incredibly difficult. ¡­¡­ Crack! Lin Yixin cut down a Level 44 Rotten Corpse, panting heavily. Her cheeks a little reddened, she said, ¡°I can¡¯t keep this up, Level 44 Rotten Corpses deal too much damage to me. Let¡¯s use our pets to aggro two, otherwise we¡¯ll have to have one tank the mobs.¡± ¡°I told you we should¡¯ve done this from the start, but you said the Dark Wasp was too fragile¡­¡± ¡°Hmph, get moving already!¡± I ordered my Dark Wasp forward to aggro one mob, but five Level 44 Rotten Corpses charged us instead. This is bad! ¡°Quick!¡± I ordered the Dark Wasp to tank three Rotten Corpses while I attacked them from the sides. At the very least, I needed to kill one as soon as possible and reduce the pressure on our backs. Lin Yixin took on one, her Fire Blade occupied another. It was a fierce fight. All of our HPs were dropping constantly. In less than half a minute, my Dark Wasp lost half its HP. These Rotten Corpses were seriously powerful! ¡°Heal up! Don¡¯t be stingy!¡± Lin Yixin shouted when she saw my HP. I hurriedly drank a Rank 3 Health Potion and fought even more furiously. This was the perfect moment to use these pricey little buggers! I killed two Rotten Corpses in a row with Pardon and Slayer Slash before working together with my Dark Wasp to kill the third one, ending our crisis. Lin Yixin also killed the fourth and fifth Rotten Corpses with Killer Wind Sword Skills. She looked incredibly gorgeous when she fought. One hour passed in the blink of an eye, and countless Rotten Corpses had been put to eternal rest under our blades. We had gotten 11 Big Magic Stones as well, and we had both leveled up twice. I was 37, Lin Yixin was 39, still 2 levels ahead of me. I sat down beneath a tree to check my condition and wait for my Dark Wasp to heal up. I also needed a short break after that grueling battle. ¡°Here, some health potions¡­¡± I turned around and saw Lin Yixin standing next to me and holding a bunch of Rank 3 Health Potions in her arms. ¡°W-what is the meaning of this?¡± I felt a little worried. Is this a trap? ¡°You¡¯re about to run out of pots, aren¡¯t you?¡± Lin Yixin said. ¡°Take them, they¡¯re free. We¡¯re a party now, so we shouldn¡¯t split hairs over something this minor.¡± Touched, I accepted her gift and counted 17 Rank 3 Health Potions in total. If I sold them on the market, it would probably be worth around 1000 RMB in total. I couldn¡¯t help but shoot Lin Yixin a glance. I guess she¡¯s a good person after all... I stood up, dusted off my butt and walked up to a dead Rotten Corpse. Then, I absorbed its soul spark. Lin Yixin frowned slightly and asked, ¡°Hey, you¡¯ve been doing this for some time. What is it for?¡± I stretched out my arm and pulled away my wristguard, revealing the reddish skin beneath it. In fact, new skin was starting to grow in some other areas. I guessed I had evolved into a Bone Lord before realizing it; who knows how many undead soul sparks it took to evolve this far. ¡°Eh? You¡¯re growing skin?¡± Lin Yixin opened her mouth in clear surprise. I nodded and smiled at her. ¡°Yep. Once I absorb enough soul sparks, I¡¯ll evolve into an Asura and officially become a human once more. So? You¡¯re looking forward to see my handsome face again, aren¡¯t you?¡± Lin Yixin shot me a playful, teasing look before giggling. ¡°Even if you regained your original appearance, what part of you has anything to do with the word ¡®handsome¡¯?¡± ¡°...¡± Fuck, everything that comes out of this girl¡¯s mouth is poison! ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Lin Yixin received a message. The moment she checked it, a deep frown marred her beautiful face. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­ going to log out for a second.¡± Lin Yixin set down her tent and looked at me. ¡°Give me 10 minutes, okay?¡± ¡°Sure. What¡¯s so urgent?¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t ask¡­¡± ¡°Fine. Come back quickly!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Chapter 60: Creature Holding Stone Some time later, a beep finally entered my ears. System Notice: Your friend ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± is online! Lin Yixin crawled out of the tent beside me with a look of anger on her face. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked. When Lin Yixin glanced at me, she suddenly smiled as if her mood had taken a turn for the better. ¡°Lu Chen, why don¡¯t we both skip dinner tonight so I can treat you to supper at 9?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I stared at her. ¡°You¡¯re plotting something, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I would never.¡± Lin Yixin smiled sweetly. ¡°It¡¯s just a normal supper. Have you never treated someone to a meal before?¡± ¡°Of course I have!¡± I chuckled. ¡°A long time ago, I had to treat Du Thirteen everyday. It felt almost like he was my mistress or something¡­¡± ¡°Geez, how disgusting! You¡¯re really hardcore alright!¡± Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me. I spread my arms and smiled. ¡°Come on, it¡¯s time we got back to leveling!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± As we ventured deeper into the Ghost Valley, the Rotten Corpses were slowly replaced by a new kind of undead creature, the Zombie! Of course, I wasn¡¯t talking about the jumpy, uniformed zombies of the Qin Dynasty. These Zombies were slow-moving undead who hadn¡¯t rotten away and transformed into skeletons. In fact, their muscles were relatively intact. However, their flesh was withered and tattered like torn cotton, and from time to time they would let out a bloodcurdling scream. Zombie LV-45 As I thought, their level is incredibly high! Swoosh! Lin Yixin was already charging toward the Zombie like a silver bolt. Moonlight was shining from her beautiful eyes¡ªit was Moon Gaze! Thud! She accurately pierced the Zombie¡¯s throat before dragging the dagger horizontally, cutting through flesh and critically wounding the monster a second time. Then, she switched to her sword, activated Killer Wind Swordplay and attacked in a frenzy. The Level 45 Zombie was dead before it managed to get in a third hit. Pop! A Big Magic Stone appeared where the Zombie disappeared, and Lin Yixin asked while picking it up, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you fighting?¡± I replied, ¡°Did you have a grudge with this Zombie or something? That seems a bit excessive.¡± ¡°Hmph, I¡¯m just annoyed right now!¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± We continued forward, but the Zombies¡¯ level didn¡¯t exceed Level 46. It was within acceptable limits considering that Lin Yixin and I were both pros with great skill and strength, and we had top-tier pets. Although the mobs¡¯ skills¡¯ attack power was increased to 140% because we were in a party, we were actually leveling much faster than we would have grinding alone. Five hours later, I was Level 38 and Lin Yixin was Level 40. We had killed enough monsters to complete our quest a long time ago. ¡°Okay!¡± We walked side by side as the Dark Wasp flew around my shoulders and the Fire Blade trailed behind Lin Yixin¡¯s cape. Her Fire Blade had reached Level 34, and it had incredibly high Attack, Defense and HP. No wonder Lin Yixin had picked it. My Dark Wasp was even more crazy. At Level 36, its stats were¡ª Level: 36 Attack: 405 Defense: 282 HP: 1204 Agility: 585 It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that my pet¡¯s Attack and Defense stats had completely exceeded my own. In fact, I began to suspect Lin Yixin was keeping me around because of my pet, not me. I asked her this question, and the answer was saddening, as I expected. The Dark Wasp really was the reason she kept me around! When we arrived at the valley entrance, the NPC soldier¡¯s expression turned respectful when we initiated a dialogue with him. He said sternly, ¡°You¡¯ve proven your strength, young and powerful adventurers. Please, accept my meager gift!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [Cleanse the Ghost Valley]. You have gained 8500 EXP, 150 Reputation and the quest reward: ¡°Phantasmal Magic Stone¡± x1! My experience increased, but I didn¡¯t level up. At Level 38, my leveling speed was much slower than before. It would only get harder from now on. I opened my bag and took out a magic stone with a dark glow. It was none other than the Phantasmal Magic Stone of legends, and it had a quality of 100. I smiled at Lin Yixin and said, ¡°1 gold get!¡± Lin Yixin grumbled cutely. ¡°I didn¡¯t get anything¡­¡± ¡°Your luck is shit¡­¡± ¡°Like yours is any better.¡± While we were speaking to each other, the NPC soldier grew serious again and said, ¡°Young, honorable, powerful adventurers of the distant lands, I¡¯m afraid I have to be the bearer of some grave news. A terrible group of undead has occupied an area deep inside Ghost Valley, and they keep launching attack after attack at us. They must be planning to break out of Ghost Valley and attack the human towns beneath the mountains. For the sake of these innocent villagers, I beg you to accept my request.¡± Lin Yixin nodded. ¡°Tell us~¡± The soldier continued, ¡°Please enter Ghost Valley immediately and kill 500 Blood Skeletons and Cyan Skeletons each. But be careful, these powerful undead creatures are brutal and cruel, and they will not allow any living creature to keep their breath. Be on your guard at all times!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Do you accept the quest [Spreading Blood]? (Quest Rank: C-) Lin Yixin and I exchanged a smile with each other. A C Rank quest? This is wonderful! With a bit of luck, we might be rewarded with Steel-grade equipment, or maybe even Dark Steel¨Cgrade! Considering how hot the equipment market was at Floating Ice City right now¡ªa Bronze-grade item could sell for as much as 100 gold¡ªa Level 40 Dark Steel¨Cgrade item could probably sell for 500 gold or 50000 RMB at the lowest! We clicked ¡°Yes¡± at the same time and accepted the C Rank quest! Lin Yixin poked me in the ribs with the hilt of the sword before smiling. ¡°I have a feeling that this quest is going to make the both of us rich. Really. Forget Dark Steel, we may even get Silver-grade equipment from this!¡± ¡°Dark Steel? Silver?¡± I shot her a look. ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re not dreaming? You¡¯re only Level 40 right now. If you wear that in Floating Ice City, I guarantee you that an entire regiment will be following you all day and night to kill you and loot your corpse the second you step out of safezone! Hmph hmph, in my opinion we¡¯d be lucky to get a Bronze-grade item even¡­¡± Lin Yixin shot me a look herself and smiled. ¡°You don¡¯t have any ambition whatsoever¡­¡± The two of us returned to the Ghost Valley and killed many Rotten Corpses and Zombies along the way. Although a lot of new mobs had respawned while we were gone, I intentionally avoided them because we were on another quest right now. It would be a complete waste of time to kill these mobs when they contributed nothing to our quest. Lin Yixin agreed with me. We traveled side by side without a word. ¡­... It didn¡¯t take long to reach the inner area of Ghost Valley. The environment grew darker, and the ground looked like it was covered by a layer of bloody soil. It clung to our boots, and the way it made a wet, sticky noise every time we stepped on it made us feel like we were stepping on real flesh. It was an uncomfortable experience to say the least. Still, Lin Yixin was far more disturbed than I was. I was a Night Creature, and I was used to the terrors hiding in Night Creatures¡¯ domain. ¡°Beauty Yi, wait¡­¡± I suddenly came to a halt. ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a monster!¡± ¡°Where?¡± ¡°To your right!¡± Lin Yixin looked right according to my instruction and let out an exclamation of surprise. ¡°It can conceal? Show yourself!¡± She swung her sword angrily at a nearby bush, and a blood-red skeleton appeared to both of us. It was completely naked, and it was dragging a rusted, bronze-colored sword behind it. Blood-red light shone from its eye sockets, and it charged Lin Yixin after letting out a bloodcurdling scream. Blood Skeleton LV-47 Tsk tsk, a 9-level gap? Even I would have some trouble if I had to solo a Level 47 mob alone. I stared at the Blood Skeleton and said, ¡°Yiyi, he¡¯s staring at you like you¡¯re a piece of meat.¡± Lin Yixin giggled. ¡°It¡¯s okay. He stared at you first, didn¡¯t he?¡± ¡°Fuck, how dare you stare at me like a piece of meat! Die, you rat!¡± I charged toward the Blood Skeleton and hit it with Pardon immediately. The Dark Wasp and the Fire Blade also rushed in to aid me. The Blood Skeleton¡¯s HP quickly dropped like a rock, and out of the three of us the Dark Wasp did the most damage. Its Flurry skill was especially powerful, occasionally proccing the 3-hit combo, dealing over 1000 damage at Rank 3. Its insane burst was a source of great envy in Lin Yixin, and she swore to get a Flurry skill book for her Fire Blade when she returned to Floating Ice City. My experience went up a lot after taking down my first Blood Skeleton! I had to say that this Blood Skeleton had insanely high HP. It was rare for a Level 47 monster to boast over 5000 HP. If someone were to use it as a meatshield, it would definitely play the role of a classic main tank considering its high HP and Defense. More and more Blood Skeletons fell to our blades as we continued forward. The process of leveling was always invigorating, and for this journey in particular there were two things that I enjoyed the most. The first one was my experience bar filling up at a tremendous rate, and the second one was Lin Yixin¡¯s chest bouncing up and down as she slaughtered the mobs with ease. Half an hour later, Lin Yixin wiped the sweat on her face and smiled. ¡°How many gold do you currently have, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°51. Why?¡± ¡°I can sell you something good for only the price of 10 gold. Do you want it?¡± The way she smiled gave me a bad feeling, but in the end I was able to suppress my impulse. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Here!¡± Lin Yixin opened her hand and revealed a purple crystal. The item¡¯s stats flew into the air and transformed into golden characters¡ª Creature Holding Stone: Can be used to hold a Level 1 Phantasmal Creature. Disappears after use. I couldn¡¯t look away from the crystal. ¡°Fuck, what¡¯s this for?¡± Lin Yixin smiled. ¡°Stupid~~ Isn¡¯t it obvious? This Creature Holding Stone allows you to hold a Level 1 pet without using up your pet slot. You can then sell it to someone else. This way, you can earn the same cash as tamers do without having to be one!¡± I didn¡¯t hesitate in the slightest. ¡°I¡¯ll buy one for 10 gold!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± After the trade was complete, I asked, ¡°Where did you get something like this, Yiyi?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a privilege unique to the Light Wanderer class. Once a week, I can sacrifice 100 Reputation to obtain two Creature Holding Stones from my trainer. I would never sell this if I wasn¡¯t tight on cash lately.¡± ¡°Mn, that¡¯s great!¡± We continued to farm mobs after the chitchat. This time, we encountered a new type of undead creature that was covered in cyan rocks from head to toe. It was clearly the Cyan Skeleton! Both the Cyan Skeletons and the Blood Skeletons spawned only in the inner area of the Ghost Valley. Cyan Skeletons were the protectors of this area, and their Defense was extraordinarily high. However, their Attack and Agility were only so-so. While we were in the middle of a battle, Lin Yixin suddenly froze and stopped moving. An unusual gleam shining in her eyes, she slowly pointed a finger at a nearby monster and muttered, ¡°Lu Chen¡­ look¡­ what¡­ what is that?¡± I shot a glance down the direction she was pointing and froze up myself. It was a freshly-spawned Cyan Skeleton, and if that was all I wouldn¡¯t be as surprised as I was. The key was the line of text floating above its head. Cyan Skeleton LV-1 Chapter 61: Fruit of Pregnancy ¡°Level 1, it¡¯s a Level 1 mob!¡± Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t control her own excitement. Her delicate shoulders were shaking slightly, and her beautiful eyes were shining with pleasant surprise. I hurriedly fished out a Sealing Card from my inventory and smiled. ¡°Beauty Yi, this is a competition of luck! Let¡¯s see who can capture this Cyan Skeleton first!¡± ¡°Sure!¡± Lin Yixin gripped the Creature Holding Stone with one hand and brought out her own Sealing Card with the other. It looked like she had come prepared, and thanks to the Creature Holding Stone she had sold me earlier I too could capture a second pet. After selecting the Creature Holding Stone as the sealing space, I tossed out the Sealing Card and watched it spin in a circle in midair. It transformed into a hexagram, wrapping around Cyan Skeleton¡¯s head. Lin Yixin also tossed out her own Sealing Card, its six-pointed star formation overlapping with my own. It really was a competition of luck! The hexagram formations spun swiftly as the Level 1 Cyan Skeleton became locked in a struggle of power against the formations. It kept growing and shrinking repeatedly. Suddenly, my heart skipped a beat. It was because the Level 1 Cyan Skeleton disappeared. It worked? On the very first try? I looked at my Creature Holding Stone and saw nothing! I turned around to check Lin Yixin, and the girl was staring blankly at her own Creature Holding stone with her mouth agape. I saw a shrunken Cyan Skeleton trapped inside the translucent crystalline walls, looking curiously at its surroundings! ¡°Fuck!¡± I gritted my teeth for a second. She was already blessed by the goddess of beauty, but apparently the goddess of luck was watching over her as well! Is she trying to kill me with envy!? ¡°Well, what are you waiting for? Let¡¯s see its stats!¡± I urged. Lin Yixin finally broke out of her reverie and nodded. She waved her hand, and a stat window appeared from inside the Creature Holding Stone. Cyan Skeleton Level: 1 Attack: 7 Defense: 10 HP: 10 Agility: 9 Growth¡ª¡ª Attack ¡ï¡ï¡ï Defense ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Agility ¡ï¡î ¡­¡­ My god, its Defense scaling is 5 stars. No wonder it was so difficult to kill. It even has 4.5 stars under HP. This Cyan Skeleton is seriously tanky. ¡°It even has 36 BN! This is a top-tier pet!¡± Lin Yixin smiled. I nodded. ¡°Do you plan to level this Cyan Skeleton? You¡¯ll have to give up on your Fire Blade though.¡± It was a sharp and accurate analysis. I nodded and smiled at her. ¡°In that case, let¡¯s sell it and make a killing after we return to the city!¡± ¡°Mhm!¡± Lin Yixin looked down at my empty Creature Holding Stone before smiling. ¡°Lu Chen, if we¡¯re lucky enough to run into another Level 1 mob before we head back, I won¡¯t try to compete with you.¡± ¡°Mn, thanks!¡± ¡°Hehe, you¡¯re welcome~¡± ¡­¡­ We went back to killing mobs after that. The poisonous plants growing in the valley should be a terrifying sight to most people, but to Lin Yixin this place was a paradise. She was a herbalist, and her Herbalism was now Rank 4 thanks to all the precious herbs growing in this Ghost Valley. ¡°Lu Chen, protect me while I collect this Seven-star Flower¡­¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡°Lu Chen, help me collect these Four-leaf Lotuses...¡± ¡°Fuck, I don¡¯t have the skill!¡± ¡°Geez, you¡¯re so useless¡­¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± A few minutes later, Lin Yixin took me to a short plant with verdant leaves and said, ¡°Here, this is a legendary Rank 4 Herb, the Ashless Wood!¡± ¡°Ashless Wood? What is that?¡± I asked a little curiously. Lin Yixin gave me a smile before collecting the wood. ¡°There¡¯s a passage in the Compendium of Magic that goes like this: ¡®To the south of Flame Mountain lies a plant called the Ashless Wood. Growing up in a fiery environment, it cannot be blown down by any storm.¡¯ This is the plant the passage was referring to. If you burn it, it won¡¯t leave behind any ash at all. Magical, isn¡¯t it?¡± I nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s burn it!¡± ¡°Do you have a fire?¡± She smiled at me. I glanced at her. The girl was bending downward to collect the plants, and I noticed that the way her armor wrapped around her smooth white chest and the ravine in the middle was truly amazing. So yeah, I did have a fire, burning inside of me. Too bad I couldn¡¯t bring it outside. Lin Yixin turned red when she saw my dazed reaction. She scolded, ¡°I¡¯m hungry, go find something to eat!¡± Surprised, I asked, ¡°Food? I haven¡¯t bought any. Didn¡¯t you bring any bread with you? I¡¯m pretty sure Floating Ice City sells it.¡± ¡°I never carry those things unless they drop from another player¡­¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± I checked my own Satiety and noted that it was only at 35 points. I wouldn¡¯t last more than 3 hours at this rate, and Lin Yixin was faring no better than I was. We both needed to find something to eat as soon as possible. When Lin Yixin was done collecting the herbs, she looked at the forest around her and smiled. ¡°There is a fruit in the plant called the Flora Fruit. Sweet and rich in water, it¡ª¡± ¡°¡ªimpregnates anyone who consumes it. That¡¯s why it is also known as the Fruit of Pregnancy.¡± ¡°Go to hell!¡± Lin Yixin threw an annoyed punch at me before saying, ¡°Come on, let¡¯s kill some skeletons while we search for something to eat at the forest over there. It¡¯ll be embarrassing if the Top 2 players of the Heavenly Ranking die from starvation¡­¡± ¡­¡­ I entered the forest and took out a Level 47 Blood Skeleton who happened to be in my way. A pop later, it dropped a Big Magic Stone and a card! ¡°Huh? A card¡­¡± Pleasantly surprised, I picked up the card and shared its tooltip with Lin Yixin. Blood Skeleton Card: Increases the user¡¯s HP by 15%, restores 15 HP per second. Duration: 30 minutes. Lin Yixin stuck her tongue out before smiling. ¡°This is great. You can use it during a boss battle or PvP!¡± I nodded and tossed the Blood Skeleton Card into my bag. I happened to already have Regeneration of the Undead, a powerful recovery skill. If I use this card, my survivability will rise to a new height! As we moved deeper into the forest, Lin Yixin suddenly took out her dagger and used it to dig something out of an old tree. It was a slug. She smiled at me and said, ¡°I saw someone eating this while I was doing survival training in the wild. Come here, Lu Chen, this is my treat¡­¡± I felt my stomach churn in disgust. ¡°I don¡¯t feel like it right now, so you should eat it yourself¡­¡± Lin Yixin giggled and shook off the slug on her dagger. No way she was going to eat something like this. I looked up and watched the wildlife going about their lives on the trees. More specifically, I was looking at the sparrows chirping at the top of a huge tree. I asked, ¡°Let¡¯s shoot a couple of birds and roast them¡­¡± Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me. ¡°Using what? Do you have a gun or a sling?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Neither.¡± ¡°Hmph, I knew it¡­¡± ¡°But we can make a sling right now!¡± I cut off a Y-shaped tree branch from a tree and smiled. ¡°Now I just need two rubber bands, and we¡¯ll have our super accurate sling!¡± ¡°Rubber band?¡± Lin Yixin looked a bit confused. ¡°Where are we going to get that?¡± I stared wordlessly and meaningfully at her shoulder and chest area. All bras had rubber band in them, and two shreds were all I needed. Lin Yixin was a smart girl, so she understood my meaning immediately. She immediately stomped her foot in anger. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it! I¡¯m not wearing one!¡± I asked, ¡°Really?¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s cheeks were completely red. ¡°Go to hell. Say that again and I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Suddenly a rustling noise came from the forest, and a Bloodthirsty Porcupine emerged from a bush. It was a Level 45 beast, thick-skinned, and it was covered in spikes from head to toe. It was probably the only thing that could survive in an undead-filled valley like this. ¡°Here comes our dinner¡­¡± I rushed over and aimed a Pardon + Slayer Slash combo at his head. The Dark Wasp came to help as well. ¡°Roar¡­¡± The wild porcupine collapsed. I spread my palm and shouted, ¡°Death Plunder!¡± Swhoosh! Porcupine hide with many spikes protruding from it was added to my inventory. The wild porcupine¡¯s body was full of quality meat, and Satiety-wise it was even more valuable than the pigs that were bred in pig farms. The setup took me a while. I built a wooden frame and propped the porcupine above it. Then, I gathered some dry wood and placed it underneath. Having finished the grill, I got ready to start a fire. Start a fire¡­ fire... I suddenly returned to my senses. Dammit, how the heck am I going to barbecue anything without fire!? Lin Yixin snorted from the side when she saw this. ¡°I guess it¡¯s my time now. Out of the way!¡± While saying this, she walked up to the porcupine, opened her hand and chanted. ¡°Fireball!¡± Crackle! The dry wood started burning vigorously. I was very surprised by her skill though. ¡°Yiyi, where did you learn this?¡± ¡°You really are dumb¡­¡± She shot me a sideway glance before smiling. ¡°There¡¯s a place at Floating Ice City where players can learn a bunch of skills that are available to all players. However, these skills can only go up to Rank 2 at most.¡± ¡°Oh I see, I¡¯ll pick up Fireball after I get back to Floating Ice City¡­¡± ¡°Hmph hmph!¡± I began barbecuing the meat. Although we had no oil, salt, onion, ginger, cumin or anything of the sort, the meat itself was 100% natural and devoid of growth hormone. It didn¡¯t take long for a wonderful fragrance to start spreading through the air. I poked the burning branches a bit with the Weeping Fire Blade. Lin Yixin sat beside me and watched the flames with a smile on her face. Her beautiful eyes were filled with anticipation. It took a while, but the meat was finally cooked. Lin Yixin sliced a piece of meat with her dagger and took a bite. She laughed. ¡°It¡¯s burned¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, burned meat is crispier. Don¡¯t hold back!¡± I myself tore off a huge chunk of meat out of the porcupine and stuffed it ravenously into my mouth. Of course, I knew my manners, so I made sure to cover my mouth with my arm as I ate just like Lin Daiyu when she was rinsing her mouth. It wasn¡¯t because I was embarrassed or trying to act gentlemanly, however. I was a Bone Lord, and it didn¡¯t take much imagination to know that a half-skeleton was ugly especially when he was eating meat. I had no intentions of scaring away Lin Yixin with my horrifying appearance. She was a beautiful and strong companion, not to mention that losing her would mean lowering my leveling speed by a lot. After my Satiety slowly returned to full, I stood up and said, ¡°We¡¯re incredible, Yiyi. The two of us actually ate an entire porcupine!¡± Lin Yixin shot me a dumbfounded look before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s kill some Blood Skeletons and level a bit longer. It¡¯s almost time to turn in our quest.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± The moment we returned to the combat zone, a Blood Skeleton growled and charged toward us. ¡°Ah!¡± ¡°Ah!¡± Lin Yixin and I became frozen at the same time. Was today really our lucky day? The tiny skeleton staggered more than it walked. A line of text hovered above its head. Blood Skeleton LV-1 Chapter 62: Blood Skeleton ¡°This one¡¯s mine¡­¡± I said while producing a Sealing Card. Lin Yixin immediately hugged her sword and leaned against a rock, giggling. ¡°Do your best! If you fail 5 times in a row, that Level 1 Blood Skeleton will level up!¡± I nodded. A Blood Skeleton was a top-tier defense-focused pet. If I could catch it, it would earn a fortune for Bloody Mercenaries! Swhoosh! I tossed the Sealing Card into the air as it turned into a hexagram formation. It spun quickly beneath the Blood Skeleton and glowed brightly with magic, pulling its target into the sealing space. ¡°Hiss hiss¡­¡± The Level 1 Blood Skeleton hissed quietly. It clearly wasn¡¯t going down easy. Ding~! System Notice: Sealing failed. Process can be repeated 4 more times! I clenched my teeth and threw another card! Ding~! System Notice: Sealing failed. Process can be repeated 3 more times! Ding~! System Notice: Sealing failed. Process can be repeated 2 more times! In that moment, my complexion was as white as death¡¯s. Is this cutey destined to pass me by? Lin Yixin raised her eyebrows slightly and smiled. ¡°Your luck really isn¡¯t too good. Do you want to give up your last chance to me? I can give it back to you if I succeed.¡± ¡°No need, I can do this myself!¡± I tossed the Sealing Card again, its magic struggling to pull the Blood Skeleton unto itself. Finally, it vanished completely from our sights! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have successfully captured Blood Skeleton! ¡­¡­ I did it! I almost leaped into the air in joy. I held up the Creature Holding Stone as the Blood Skeleton looked around blankly from inside. Then, I brought up its stats window. Blood Skeleton Level: 1 Attack: 7 Defense: 9 HP: 10 Agility: 8 Growth¡ª¡ª Attack ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Defense ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï HP ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Agility ¡ï¡ï¡î ¡­¡­ Holy shit, this guy has 5 stars in both Defense and HP! Even its Attack is half a star higher than Lin Yixin''s Cyan Skeleton. Agility is an entire star higher as well! This is wonderful! Lin Yixin leaned in, checking out the Blood Skeleton herself. She smiled. ¡°Congratulations on getting a prize that¡¯s worth 50000 RMB at minimum! It would be a crime to sell it for anything less than 500 gold!¡± I nodded. ¡°Your Cyan Skeleton can¡¯t go lower than 400 gold as well.¡± Lin Yinxin giggled. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go. We need to turn in our quest and grab our supper. It¡¯s already late.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± We killed a couple more skeletons before realizing that we really didn¡¯t have any time to spare. It was past 8 pm already in real life. Thus, Lin Yixin and I returned to the valley entrance and turned in our quest to the NPC soldier. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [Spreading Blood]. You have gained 12000 EXP and 450 Reputation! ¡­¡­ Swoosh! I barely reached Level 39 as golden light enveloped me. Lin Yixin herself was still stuck at Level 40. ¡°Time to go back to Floating Ice City. We need to list our pets for sale!¡± I grabbed a return scroll and exchanged a nod with Lin Yixin. Then, we teleported back to the city. ¡°Where should we list it?¡± I asked. Lin Yixin pointed toward the south and said, ¡°The auction house is over there. A lot of tamers consign their pets to the auction house for sale too.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± We ran to the auction house. I paid 2 gold as the consignment fee and consigned the Creature Holding Stone holding the Blood Skeleton under the pet category. There were 17 other pets waiting to be sold besides ours¡ª4 Green Praying Mantises and 7 Wasps with an average BN of 20. They were incredibly common since the tamers most likely kept the best pets to themselves. After all, one of the key factors to be successful in this game was personal strength. I set the minimal price for the Blood Skeleton to 400 gold. Once the consigned object was confirmed for bid, players had 10 hours to place their bids. After this period of time passed, the highest bidder would obtain the Blood Skeleton. The instant the Blood Skeleton was confirmed for bid, a melodious ring resounded throughout Floating Ice City. Ding~! System Announcement (Trade): Player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± has listed ¡°Blood Skeleton¡± for auction. 3.5-star Attack, 5-star Defense, 5-star HP, 2.5-star Agility, 34 BN. Starting bid of 400 gold. All players are welcome to make a bid! ¡­¡­ ¡°Oh?¡± Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t help but smile at the announcement. ¡°Your Blood Skeleton must be really good, or it wouldn¡¯t have triggered an automated announcement. Only items that had reached a certain level of value would get a free announcement from the system~¡± I nodded, deriving great pleasure from this pleasant surprise. Free advertisement by the system was incredibly rare and difficult feat to replicate in practice. I didn¡¯t think I would be able to trigger one. Lin Yixin put up her own Cyan Skeleton for bid, and the system rang again. Ding~! System Announcement (Trade): Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± has listed ¡°Cyan Skeleton¡± for auction. 3-star Attack, 5-star Defense, 4.5-star HP, 1.5-star Agility, 36 BN. Starting bid of 300 gold. All players are welcome to make a bid! As expected, both skeletons were valuable enough to impress the system. Although there was a 5% trading fee on all auctioned items, listing it at auction ensured price bumping and competition. Therefore, ultimately the system favored the player, especially when it promoted the goods as well. Lin Yixin checked the time and said without looking up, ¡°Meet me in front of the eastern gate of the university in half an hour.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Is there a problem?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s just, it¡¯s been many years since I¡¯ve waited for a girl in front of a gate¡­¡± Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t suppress a smile. ¡°Come on, are you really embarrassed by this?¡± I scowled at her briefly before saying, ¡°My stomach will never be embarrassed as long as you¡¯re the one who¡¯s paying the bill!¡± ¡°How low can you get? Well, see you~¡± ¡°Mn.¡± We entered an inn in Floating Ice City and logged off after that. ¡­¡­ It was a hot night in summer, so I thanked my lucky stars that we had moved to a new house with air conditioner in every room. When I entered the living room, I saw a bunch of empty food boxes on the table. Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi had already finished their dinner, but they left all the cleaning to me. I cleaned things up a little and dumped all the food boxes and trash bags downstairs. Then, I went outside and walked straight toward the eastern gate of the Suzhou University of Science and Technology. I put on a Semir brand T-shirt and came to a stop at the transport station in front of the eastern gate. Then, I plunged my hands into my pockets and waited for the university¡¯s campus belle to come out and receive me with an exaggerated pose. At the security room, the security guard watched me closely as if I was a random thug on the streets. Occasionally, groups of students would walk out of the campus for some fun in the cybercafes or some fun with the girlfriend. Then there were the shameful little shits who carried thick, black-covered books with them while keeping their heads bowed. They even lowered their caps to make sure that no one could see their faces. I glanced at their books and noticed that the title read ¡°A Classic of Xuanhuan, VRMMO: The Legendary Thief.¡± Hmph hmph, I know that¡¯s a pirated copy. That poor author must not be earning any money at all... I waited for a moment, but Lin Yixin was taking longer than I expected. There was no way I missed her either; she was the kind of person who turned heads wherever she went. Just as I was thinking this, the beauty I was waiting for finally showed up. She wore a white dress, and she was holding a handbag. She had appeared from a tree-lined avenue. I walked up to her and asked concernedly, ¡°Are you tired?¡± Lin Yixin shot me a look of astonishment. ¡°What are you plotting?¡± ¡°Hah. Where are we eating? Should we ring a car?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Lin Yixin arrived at the roadside and waved her hand a little. A black sedan immediately moved next to her before rolling down the windows. A middle-aged man nodded at her, and after a short conversation that I couldn¡¯t hear Lin Yixin beckoned me. ¡°Come on, get in the car!¡± I looked at her suspiciously before glancing at the front of the car. I know that triangular logo, it¡¯s Mercedes-Benz! What was the relationship between the driver and Lin Yixin? She couldn¡¯t be¡­ The more I thought, the more confused I became. When I sat next to Lin Yixin, she looked at my face and wore a complicated expression. ¡°What on earth are you thinking?¡± ¡°Nothing¡­ where are we going?¡± I asked. ¡°Land of Sweet Dreams.¡± Lin Yixin leaned lazily against her seat and cocked her head toward me. Cunning dancing in her eyes, she smiled. ¡°It¡¯s the best restaurant in the entire Suzhou District. Tonight I¡¯ll show you what a real meal is~¡± A bit of hesitation crept into my voice. ¡°Is it very expensive?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s definitely not cheap.¡± Lin Yixin let out a short laugh before closing her eyes slowly. She looked very tired for some reason. The way her breasts rose up and down slightly shot tingles up my spine. I abruptly looked up and saw the driver staring at me very suspiciously through the back mirror. He seemed to be extremely concerned for Lin Yixin¡¯s well-being. The driver let out a cough and drove onto an overpass. Then, he asked, ¡°Xin¡¯er, aren¡¯t you going to introduce your friend to me?¡± Lin Yixin ¡°oh¡±-ed affirmatively before looking at me. ¡°He¡¯s a friend, a gamer in Heavenblessed. He¡¯s not someone you need to know.¡± The middle-aged man snorted once before saying, ¡°Look, I¡¯m not trying to be strict, but you really should be careful when making friends.¡± Lin Yixin nodded obediently before raising her eyebrows suddenly. ¡°Hey, let¡¯s get off the overpass!¡± ¡°What for?¡± ¡°Leave the car keys to me and go home on a public transport yourself.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°Is there a problem?¡± ¡°No.¡± We drove off the overpass and stopped next to a transport stop. Then, the middle-aged man got out of the car and allowed Lin Yixin to take over as the driver. When she shot me a glance, I wordlessly moved to the front passenger seat. We got on the overpass once more. This time, Lin Yixin and I were alone. ¡°Who was that?¡± I tried for a while, but I just couldn¡¯t hold back any longer. Lin Yixin looked at me and smiled. ¡°Not telling!¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± My heart beat like a racehorse. Even now, I was still wondering about the nature of Lin Yixin¡¯s relationship with that middle-aged man. Some time later, I asked another question. ¡°Yiyi, does this car belong to that middle-aged guy?¡± ¡°Hey you!¡± Lin Yixin scowled at me and scolded. ¡°You can stop guessing already, it¡¯s not what you think. That¡¯s all you need to know, get it?¡± ¡°So, what is the model number of this car? It looks pretty cool!¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s the latest MB-100.¡± ¡°MB-100£¬MB¡­¡­¡± ¡°MB-100? Mother bucker¡­¡± I laughed. ¡°We didn¡¯t need to travel this far for a meal, you know.¡± ¡°Heh, is that so?¡± Lin Yixin smiled but didn¡¯t say anything else. The car entered an industrial zone, and soon we came to a stop in front of an elegant-looking restaurant. We booked an open-air table next to the dining hall. There was a group of young people enjoying what looked like a birthday drinking party inside the dining hall. Among them, there was an impressive-looking young man wearing branded clothes from head to toe drinking from a wine glass and holding a woman with a heavy makeup in his arms. The people around him often referred to him as ¡°Young Master Le.¡± Chapter 63: The Young Master Lin Yixin and I sat on opposite sides of the table, staring at each other for a moment. ¡°Say something, please?¡± I turned my head away suddenly. The way her beautiful eyes were staring at me made me felt like my thoughts were completely exposed. It was an incredibly uncomfortable feeling. Instead of answering, Lin Yixin grabbed her handbag and took out a black, rectangular gift box. It looked like it was made of sandalwood, and the workmanship was exquisite. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± ¡°It¡¯s my gift to you.¡± Lin Yixin raised her eyebrows slightly into a smile. ¡°So? I¡¯m a good friend, aren¡¯t I?¡± ¡°A gift?¡± I put my hand on top of the box and pulled it toward me. Then, I asked, ¡°Can I open it?¡± ¡°Mn, do as you please~~¡± Lin Yixin lazily sucked on a straw of the drink she had ordered moments prior. ¡­¡­ I checked out the box briefly before opening the cover. A silvery-white smartphone wrapped in silk cloth lay inside the box. It looked like it was of very high quality! ¡°Hmm¡­¡± I hummed for a moment before asking, ¡°Did you fall for me, Yiyi?¡± ¡°Fall for you?¡± Lin Yixin snorted. ¡°Who the hell do you think you are?¡± ¡°Then why are you giving me a smartphone? It looks very expensive too,¡± I said. Lin Yixin nodded. ¡°Yeah, Nokia Platinum Phablet TC72 is a limited edition smartphone made from pure platinum. If you look at the screen, you¡¯ll notice that there are diamonds on it. Real diamonds.¡± I stared fixedly at the smartphone. ¡°How much does it cost?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Lin Yixin thought for a moment before smiling. ¡°It¡¯s over 200000 RMB at least.¡± I weighed the smartphone in my hands and found it quite heavy, so I said, ¡°This brick of a phone can literally wear out a pocket. Only an idiot would use something like this¡­¡± Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t suppress her laugh. ¡°Exactly! Only an idiot would buy a phone like this!¡± ¡­¡­ Suddenly, we heard an exclamation of surprise. It came from none other than that handsome youngster who was celebrating his birthday, ¡°Young Master Le¡±! Young Master Le looked incredibly excited by our presence. Holding a wine glass in his hand, he immediately walked over in a straight line and smiled modestly at Lin Yixin. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you would come, Yiyi. Didn¡¯t say you weren¡¯t going to participate in my¡ª¡± Lin Yixin cut him off immediately. ¡°Li Le, who do you think you are? How dare you call me Yiyi! Also, I¡¯m here to eat supper with him, not to join your birthday party.¡± Li Le was stumped for words for a second before he looked at me. He also noticed the platinum smartphone in my hand. ¡°Okay then, classmate!¡± Li Le suddenly smiled as a trace of jealousy rose in his eyes. ¡°This TC72 is my gift to you, so¡­ why did you give it to something like him?¡± Ahem, this fucking snob. So what if I¡¯m wearing a Semir T-shirt and a pair of fake leather shoes? Lin Yixin replied indifferently, ¡°Li Le, you said it yourself; this is your gift to me. In that case, I can do whatever I want with it, can¡¯t I? I told you very clearly this morning that I don¡¯t care about your gift at all, but you just had to give me this TC72. So, I have no choice but to give it to someone else.¡± ¡°But¡­ t-that smartphone costs 240000 RMB¡­¡± Li Le stuttered with widened eyes before he turned to glare at me. He said angrily, ¡°Boy, you¡¯ll return it to her if you know what¡¯s good for you! Do you really think someone like you is worthy of this smartphone?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile at his comment. Unafraid by his threat, I stood up and towered over him with my superior height. I replied, ¡°You¡¯re right, this TC72 is pretty but useless. I don¡¯t think I deserve a piece of trash like this myself. Even my counterfeit smartphone has more functions than this shit!¡± While speaking, I slipped the expensive smartphone into my pocket. Li Le saw exactly what I was doing, so he exclaimed angrily, ¡°Then why are you keeping it to yourself!?¡± ¡°That¡¯s because I¡¯m planning to give it to someone else. Is there a problem?¡± I retorted with ease. There was nothing fake behind my smile at all, and clearly I wasn¡¯t the fool Li Le thought me to be. ¡°You!¡± Li Le didn¡¯t say anything after that. He went back to his seat with a look of hatred on his face, a couple of his followers following behind him. A while later, I complained, ¡°I wonder what¡¯s taking the restaurant so long¡­¡± Lin Yixin nodded. ¡°Yeah.¡± It was at this moment a waitress close to Li Le and his people¡¯s tables suddenly let out a surprised scream. I saw everything. One of Li Le¡¯s friend, a young man who dyed his hair red had copped a feel of the waitress¡¯s butt, and the girl, despite being furious, dared not take it out on her customer because she was young and inexperienced. She looked to be only about twenty years old. The drunkards grew even bolder, and one of them pushed the waitress from behind. She was groped the second she toppled into another drunkard¡¯s lap. ¡°Wh¡­ what are you doing??¡± The waitress screamed and ran away after struggling out of her molestor¡¯s grasp. However, the waitress was beautiful, and Li Le¡¯s gang was bolder than I thought. The redhead actually started chasing the waitress sloppily while the rest of the gang cheered. ¡°Take her, Young Master Feng, take her! You go man!¡± I frowned. Do they think they own this place or something? They weren¡¯t the only guests in Land of Sweet Dreams. It was at this moment Lin Yixin rose to her feet and kicked a chair straight at the redhead. The chair hit the redhead squarely on the leg and caused him to faceplant on the ground. His nose started bleeding as he struggled to climb back to his feet. It was a sorry sight. I thought ¡°oh no¡± inside my head. Lin Yixin¡¯s heroism might have just put us in the line of fire ¡°Stay out of this, Lin Yixin!¡± Li Le rushed over and yelled. Not faltering in the slightest, Lin Yixin raised her eyebrows and said, ¡°Li Le, you and your friends are truly the scum of society. Don¡¯t you agree, Lu Chen?¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°Yeah, more or less¡­¡± Furious, Li Le clenched his fists and attacked us suddenly. He swung his glass in an attempt to splash us in wine. However, I was faster than he was. I raised my hand and swept his arm away with lightning speed. Slap! Thanks to my quick reaction, the wine splashed all over his face and clothes instead. His white shirt immediately turned dark red in color. ¡°Fuck! My¡­ my Armani shirt!¡± Li Le grew even angrier. He looked heartbroken by the sight of his dirtied brand shirt. At this point, the pack of scoundrels Li Le called friends rushed over aggressively and yelled, ¡°Who are these idiots who offended you, Young Master Le? Bastard, are you tired of living or something?¡± Every one of these people was drunk and red-faced, but some of them looked pretty muscular and formidable. They could probably become martial champions even back in the ancient times. Li Le threw his glass at the floor and shattered it to a thousand pieces. Then, he shouted angrily, ¡°Go beat his ass, everyone!¡± My eyes turned chilly. ¡°Beat your own ass, bastard! I¡¯m here to eat, not to fight!¡± After that, I glanced sideways at Lin Yixin and lowered my voice. ¡°Girl, are you inviting me to dinner or a fight? I can¡¯t believe you dragged me into this¡­¡± Lin Yixin moved closer to me and lowered her voice as well. ¡°You¡¯re a Bloody Mercenary, aren¡¯t you? This Li Le has been pestering me for almost half a year already, he¡¯s driving me insane! Beat his scummy ass and I¡¯ll pay you 100 gold¡­ excuse me, 100 RMB for your troubles!¡± ¡°Are you serious? Let¡¯s focus on escaping first!¡± That was all I managed to say before the hooligans screamed and rushed toward us with swinging fists. These are the kind of people who would take a knife or two for a brother. I charged forward and sent a yellowhead flying to the back with a kick to the stomach. Then, I threw a punch and dropped another person to the floor. Du Thirteen was right, the unusual virus had somehow enhanced my body, and I felt like my arms were filled with power. Although I couldn¡¯t fight a whole group of people myself, three or four drunkards shouldn¡¯t be beyond my ability to take down. Li Le hatefully grabbed a beer glass from nearby and swung it at my head. Whoosh! He missed, however. I was so fast that I surprised myself. If I hadn¡¯t dodged out of the way, that attack would¡¯ve drawn blood already. This Li Le was seriously cruel. Li Le pointed at me and shouted angrily, ¡°You deserve to die, you bastard! How dare you snatch my woman!¡± But before he could say anything else, Lin Yixin KO¡¯d him with a beautiful kick. ¡°Holy shit, that was amazing¡­¡± I exclaimed in admiration. But Lin Yixin simply rolled her eyes exasperatedly at me before whispering, ¡°What are you waiting for, idiot? Let¡¯s run already!¡± She grabbed my hand, and we ran toward the exit like the wind before she even finished talking. The hooligans chased after us and swung their fists wildly, prompting me to rush over to Lin Yixin and hold her protectively in my arms. Fists met flesh as my back exploded into pain! ¡­¡­ We stumbled out of the entrance, and Lin Yixin dragged me toward the shrubberies right in front of the restaurant. Even after we managed to give them the slip, we could hear the hooligans swearing loudly from somewhere. Plop! I sat on the grass and panted heavily. ¡°I¡¯m so tired. What kind of dinner is this?¡± Lin Yixin also sat down on the grass before shooting me a silent stare. Then, she broke into a giggle and leaned against my chest. Her delicate shoulders were shaking from mirth, and the unique scent of a woman entered my nose. ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± I grumbled. Lin Yixin looked up and nodded seriously. ¡°You have no idea how happy I was to see Li Le swimming in wine!¡± ¡°Do you hate him that much?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t hate him, I loathe him!¡± Lin Yixin clenched her teeth and said, ¡°Li Le is the top dog and an unrepentant bully in the university. Half a year ago, he even spread a rumor and called me his girlfriend, that bastard! I was never able to find a chance to teach him a lesson, until now.¡± I looked down at my shirt. The back of my clothes was drenched in alcohol, and it was hurting slightly from the beating I took earlier. God knows how many punches I took for Lin Yixin just now. ¡°Hmph!¡± I snorted loudly. Noticing the change in my attitude, Lin Yixin carefully pulled at my sleeves before whispering, ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s my fault¡­¡± I was angry. ¡°Fuck, I got hit! It¡¯s been three years since I took a beating like this!¡± Lin Yixin was angry as well. ¡°Hmph, so what? Didn¡¯t you hear what he said? That idiot actually called me his woman! I¡­¡± Lin Yixin stomped her foot to show just how angry she was. I raised my eyebrows at her reaction and said, ¡°And what does that have to do with me? I got beaten for nothing! I didn¡¯t even get the dinner you had promised!¡± Lin Yixin shot me a frustrated look before struggling with herself for a little. Suddenly, she said, ¡°Hmph! Fine¡­ I guess¡­ I can let you kiss me for your troubles¡­¡± Wait, really? My heart started racing at 180 beats per minute. Lin Yixin closed her eyes and waited. I could see her eyelashes shakingly slightly beneath the dark sky, and her lips looked incredibly beautiful and lovely. She looked incredibly afraid for some reason. I wasn¡¯t sure if I should get angry or laugh at her reaction. I had no idea what this girl was thinking at all. I moved my face closer. I felt like I could hear my own heartbeat inside my ears. The girl in front of me was the campus belle, and I could see from her lidded eyes and vulnerable look that she was feeling incredibly nervous. Her breathing was rapid, and her breasts looked like they could explode out of her clothes at any moment. She was so beautiful that I couldn¡¯t breathe! I myself felt like I was about to die from nervousness as I moved even closer. This was my first kiss, I wondered if it was the same for her. I was just about to kiss her when Lin Yixin suddenly opened her eyes. Fuck, she¡¯s changing her mind! ¡°Lu Chen, can we not kiss after all?¡± she asked and blinked like I was the one who did her wrong. I felt like throwing up blood at that moment. ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Lin Yixin said apologetically, ¡°I¡­ When I was much younger, I told myself that my first kiss is reserved only for the one I like¡­¡± Judging from her reddened cheeks, her excuse was highly believable. At the same time, I thanked my lucky stars in my head. Who would¡¯ve thought that that a bewitching fairy like her hasn¡¯t kissed anyone yet? Now, I have a new life goal! I asked, ¡°Don¡¯t you like me?¡± Lin Yixin stared at me expressionlessly and said, ¡°Can you tell me one attractive point about yourself?¡± I thought for a couple of minutes, but as she said I couldn¡¯t seem to find anything that would attract her to me. In the end, I had no choice but to give up. ¡­¡­ ¡°Why don¡¯t we go get our supper, Lu Chen?¡± Lin Yixin smiled gently. ¡°I¡¯m fine with anywhere that isn¡¯t Land of Sweet Dreams.¡± ¡°Hmm, how about we go eat some rice noodles?¡± Chapter 64: Professional Booster Next to a small restaurant near a corner of the industrial zone, a luxurious Mercedes-Benz was parked. A man and a woman were eating rice noodles and sweating bullets inside the restaurant. Lin Yixin looked at the price and asked, ¡°Lu Chen, why do you think these Crossing-the-bridge noodles are 6 RMB more expensive than others?¡± I didn¡¯t look up from my food. ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe it¡¯s because the toll is included in it!¡± ¡°Pu!¡± The diners around us spat out their food at the same time. Halfway through the meal, a sense of loss suddenly caught up to me. ¡°Yiyi, didn¡¯t you say you were going to treat me to a meal at Land of Sweet Dreams? How did it turn into a noodle bowl that costs only ten or so RMB¡­¡± Lin Yixin advised patiently, ¡°A person should be frugal with their funds.¡± My face was drained of blood. ¡°You¡­ you¡¯re driving a Mercedes-Benz and you¡¯re telling me to be frugal? You probably burn two noodle bowls worth of money each time you step on the gas!¡± Lin Yixin smiled. ¡°You think I¡¯m rich? This car is mine, true, but I¡¯m actually so poor I¡¯m almost at the point where I have to beg on the streets. Worse, you came around and swindled dozens of gold from me, sigh¡­¡± ¡°Right, keep crying about how poor you are¡­¡± Lin Yixin pursed her lips lightly before changing the subject. ¡°Hey, do you know that that Li Le we beat up just now is also at Floating Ice City? He¡¯s even gathering a bunch of hooligans in hopes of building a powerful guild.¡± ¡°Trash,¡± I said indifferently. Lin Yixin giggled in agreement. ¡°Exactly. You should still be careful though. Li Le may be lacking in every other area, but money isn¡¯t one of them.¡± I gave her a nod and a confident smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s true I¡¯m incomparable to him in terms of family background and assets right now, but in the game I have a million ways to send him to hell!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± ¡­¡­ Late in the night, 10 pm. After the black Mercedes-Benz stopped beneath my apartment, I got out of the car and said, ¡°Thanks for tonight.¡± Lin Yixin rolled down the car window and smiled at me. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to invite me upstairs?¡± I replied while grinning, ¡°Feel free to join me, but you won¡¯t be going anywhere else tonight if you try.¡± Caught off-guard by my reply, she stuck her tongue at me and smiled. ¡°Forget it then. Goodbye!¡± She started up the car and drove away like the wind. Apparently, she was really worried that she wouldn¡¯t get back in time. By the time I went upstairs and returned to the workshop, Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi were already asleep. There was a slip of paper on the table that said, ¡°Boss, sleep soon. We have work tomorrow at 6 in the morning!¡± I smiled as I stared at the note. It felt pretty good to have a brother or two in the family. Du Thirteen was the first person to enter my life half a month ago. After him, it was Gui Guzi and Lin Yixin. That sense of loneliness I had been feeling was long gone. I took a bath and went to bed. ¡­¡­ When I woke up the next day early in the morning, Du Thirteen had bought us some deep-fried dough sticks and sesame seed cakes. I drank some plain water and cleaned up my portion of the breakfast. ¡°It¡¯s really early. What¡¯s the job?¡± I checked the time and saw that it was only 6:30 in the morning. Gui Guzi said, ¡°Last night a guild contacted us about clearing a high-level quest. They also asked us to boost a Level 21 player at least 5 levels in 10 hours. They¡¯ll pay us 100 gold for it!¡± I was surprised. ¡°100 gold for just 10 hours of work? This guild seems very rich!¡± Gui Guzi nodded. ¡°That¡¯s why we¡¯re logging in earlier than usual. I¡¯m not sure Brother B and I have the firepower needed to complete this job, so I¡¯m asking for your help, boss!¡± I smiled. ¡°No problem. Where are we meeting?¡± ¡°The eastern gate of Floating Ice City!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± I logged in after finishing breakfast. Swhoosh! After appearing inside an inn in Floating Ice City, I went to repair my equipment first. Then, I stocked up on some common potions. I still had plenty of Rank 3 Health Potions from Lin Yixin, so this was adequate preparation. A beep suddenly entered my ears. Someone named ¡°Life of Luxury¡± had sent me a friend request. It was such a cool and luxurious ID that I felt like giving them a thrashing. I added the stranger as a temporary friend, so that his ID would be deleted after he logged out and accepted the call request that came a couple of seconds later. He said, ¡°Brother, I saw the Blood Skeleton you¡¯ve put up at the auction house. Is it possible for me to make you a better offer and buy it off your hands directly?¡± ¡°Oh really?¡± I walked to the auction house and checked the latest bid. The Blood Skeleton¡¯s price reached 743 gold, so I replied, ¡°The latest bid is 750 gold. How much do you plan to offer me?¡± ¡°What? 750 gold¡­¡± Life of Luxury was clearly caught off-guard by the price tag. Some hesitation later, he made up his mind and said seriously, ¡°I can offer you 1000 gold for the Blood Skeleton. Is that okay?¡± ¡°No problem. Bid 1000 gold now, and I¡¯ll confirm the transaction right away!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± The reason Life of Luxury called me directly in the first place was probably because he was afraid that someone would offer a higher bid than what he could afford. At 5-star HP and Defense, my pet was way better than the Wasps and Green Praying Mantises listed. About 10 minutes later, the latest bid refreshed into 1000 gold. I immediately confirmed the transaction. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, player ¡°Life of Luxury¡± has bought your item ¡°Blood Skeleton¡± for 1000 gold. 950 gold is transferred to your account after a 5% trading fee is deducted! ¡­¡­ I checked my bag and saw over 1000 gold inside it. Now I¡¯m really rich, haha! I logged into Heavenblessed¡¯s official trading platform and split 900 gold into 9 transactions. Then, I set the price tag to 90 RMB per 1 gold. The value of gold was already depreciating, so I had to sell it while it was still worth something. After all, gold wasn¡¯t nearly as stable as the currency it could be changed to, RMB. After everything was set up, it was just a matter of waiting for the money to enter my Chinese Construction Bank card! Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi chose this moment to arrive at Floating Ice City and add me to the party. After I clicked ¡°Yes¡±, another beep followed. System Notice: Player ¡°Young Master Le¡± has joined your party! Young Master Le? A bit of doubt entered my mind. Why does it feel like I¡¯ve heard this name somewhere? I was treated to a great surprise when I arrived at the floating bridge at the east gate of Floating Ice City. A Level 21 warrior was standing next to Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi. His ID was Young Master Le, and he was a brawny barbarian clad in an Iron-grade metal armor. His pale and handsome face didn¡¯t mesh well with his body, however. The barbarian was none other than the Li Le who had gotten a faceful of red wine by me, followed up by a KO kick from Lin Yixin, also known as Young Master Le. The surprise turned to pleasure when the realization hit me. At this day and age, anyone who called themselves ¡°young master¡± was either crazy or stupid. The world is unexpectedly small, isn¡¯t it? Who would¡¯ve thought that Li Le would become our employer? Hmph hmph, I¡¯ll slaughter him good. There¡¯s no better target than someone who was confirmed to have more money than sense! I strode over to the group, and Gui Guzi immediately raised his hand and called out. ¡°Haha, our boss is here!¡± Li Le turned around and saw a man clad in black metal armor and dark-cyan cloak walking toward him. Unfortunately for him, I had no face to reveal my true identity. He only knew that I was Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, a famous player in Floating Ice City and a frequent visitor of the Top 3 placement of the Heavenly Ranking. Li Le nodded and greeted me, ¡°Hello, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!¡± I nodded in return before replying, ¡°Let¡¯s go. Show me the quest location!¡± ¡°Yessir!¡± Gui Guzi performed as ordered, and to my surprise the place we were heading to was Ghost Valley. Li Le was planning to farm Blood Skeletons and Cyan Skeletons to level up his character? If he hadn¡¯t hired Gui Guzi and me, his only fate at that location was to be getting one-shot by everything he came across. ¡°All you need to do is to kill 1000 Blood Skeletons and 1000 Cyan Skeletons. Also, the mobs might drop some cards. Those belong to me as well!¡± Li Le said in a cold and arrogant tone. Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen frowned immediately. They clearly didn¡¯t like his attitude as well. I gripped the handle of my blade and said coldly, ¡°In this business, the cards belong to the biggest damage contributor. We agreed to your terms, but don¡¯t forget that the terms only stated we would help you gain 5 levels in 10 hours. You will respect the deal, won¡¯t you?¡± My tone allowed no rebuke, and Li Le was stunned by my firmness. He nodded. ¡°F-fine then. The cards are yours. I¡¯ll just take the experience¡­¡± I sneered. I could already see that he was the kind of person who feared the strong and bullied the weak. He clearly knew that he was weaker than me, and he dared not challenge my authority. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Li Le urged. But Du Thirteen spoke up. ¡°Wait, we¡¯re still missing one person!¡± I wasn¡¯t sure who he was speaking of, but I didn¡¯t question him. A few minutes later, a beautiful and sexy priest entered our view. It was Murong Mingyue! What¡¯s going on? Since when did she get together with Du Thirteen? Thankfully, Murong Mingyue cleared up my confusion the moment she arrived. ¡°As promised, I¡¯ll heal you all for ten hours for 1 gold per hour. Don¡¯t you dare go back on our deal once it¡¯s done, hmph hmph!¡± I see, Du Thirteen invited her to be our healer. The cost to hire her was surprisingly low, however. 1 gold per hour was way too little for a second-promotion priest like Murong Mingyue. That being said, partying with us meant that she would level up much quicker than usual. That must be one of the reasons why she was willing to accept such a paltry condition. Four damage dealers and one priest. A class high-DPS five-man party was formed just like that. ¡­¡­ We trekked through Frost Forest. I took the lead, Gui Guzi guarded Li Le, and Du Thirteen watched our back. Gui Guzi was a Magic Knight; a tank among the defensive professions, so he was the ideal choice to protect someone. Holding a staff in her hand, Murong Mingyue caught up to me and walked together with me. I shot her a glance and smiled. ¡°Priest, you should leave the front to the warriors. You¡¯ll be safer if you stay at the back.¡± Murong Mingyue smiled back and replied, ¡°It¡¯s fine, these small fry can¡¯t do anything to me!¡± After that, she cocked her head and smiled at me meaningfully. ¡°So, Sinks Into Sand, how much did you get from selling that Blood Skeleton?¡± ¡°1000 gold.¡± I didn¡¯t try to hide my profit from her. ¡°Everyone calls me Broken Halberd, so why do you call me Sinks Into Sand?¡± ¡°Heh, I just enjoy calling you that, that¡¯s all~¡± Chapter 65: Undying Shield Ghost Valley was eerie and terrifying. I walked at the very front with my sword in hand and my Dark Wasp buzzing beside me. The pet was extremely intelligent. Although it was like a little engine most of the time, it was silent when attacking. Murong Mingyue followed me and suddenly asked, ¡°Sinks Into Sand, did you already give that Blood Skeleton to the buyer?¡± I nodded. Murong Mingyue chuckled. ¡°It was just a bit too expensive. I was actually planning on buying it for a friend of mine who just entered the game.¡± I knew she was talking about He Yi, so I said, ¡°It¡¯s not necessary. At this stage of the game, pets need to have good DPS. Even though the Blood Skeleton has high HP and Defense, its attack speed is low. Leveling a slightly worse Wasp is better than leveling a Blood Skeleton, let alone the fact that a Blood Skeleton sells for 1000 gold while a Wasp isn¡¯t even worth 10. Hmph, only a rich idiot would take out that much money to buy a pet with trash DPS.¡± Murong Mingyue stifled a giggle. ¡°Right, right~¡± At this time, Li Le¡¯s face looked very bad. A few seconds later, a Level 34 mage rushed out from the forest and immediately caught up to us. It was actually Life of Luxury, the guy I had sold my Blood Skeleton to! Life of Luxury had a face full of excitement. Waving a Creature Holding Stone at Li Le, he yelled, ¡°Hahahaha, Young Master Le, I did it, I bought the Blood Skeleton!¡± After he said that, Life of Luxury was stunned when he saw me. ¡°Oh? Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you¡¯re here too?¡± I nodded, then shot a glance to the side. Li Le¡¯s face was the color of pig liver. When Murong Mingyue saw this unfold, her smile grew even wider. She was desperately trying to suppress her laughter. The immense effort caused her entire body to shudder all over, and her trembling chest could cause thoughts to run wild. Life of Luxury left after he delivered the Creature Holding Stone. Li Le put the stone in his bag. This guy was gutsy as hell. He actually dared to carry an item worth 100,000 RMB around everywhere at Level 21. If he died and dropped it, the loss would be huge. A thought flashed through my mind. Bloody Mercenaries could totally kill Li Le here and when he dropped the Creature Holding Stone, that would be at least 500 gold worth of income. On second thought, it was a pity but there were some things a gentleman couldn¡¯t do. Forget it, the Bloody Mercenaries were a team that showed their worth in blood, not money. We didn¡¯t need to do lawless things like that. After bypassing the areas with Rotten Corpses and Zombies, we headed straight to the grinding zone with Blood and Cyan Skeletons. The monsters there were all Level 45 and higher. From afar, Blood Skeletons could be seen in groups of twos and threes, pacing back and forth on the grassland. ¡°We are!¡± I nodded. Brimming with confidence, I drew out my Weeping Fire Blade with a clang. ¡°But¡­¡± Murong Mingyue was somewhat hesitant. ¡°Sand, you¡¯re our highest level but you¡¯re only Level 39 and after you is Gui Guzi at 37. The rest of us are all ten or more levels lower than these monsters, how do we kill them?¡± I turned around and whispered. ¡°Easy. I and my Dark Wasp will form an attack team. We can take on 1-2 Blood Skeletons. The rest of you form another team with Gui Guzi as the main tank and damage dealer. Beauty Murong, you just focus on healing.¡± Murong Mingyue¡¯s eyes went wide. She had no choice but to nod in the end. ¡°Then¡­ we¡¯ll try it. If we can¡¯t handle it, we¡¯ll just lure them one by one, but even this way our leveling will be a little slow.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I raised my sword and went up as my Dark Wasp swiftly lured a Blood Skeleton. That skeleton ran over, yelling while dragging a bronze sword. The sword arced with a slant and struck down from above! Crack! The bronze sword grazed my armor and a hum sound instantly resounded. Black light appeared on the surface of my mighty armor, then disappeared right after. That was my Rank 3 Ghost Deity Armor. This powerful defensive skill could already decrease damage taken by a great margin. It was also what I relied on to solo a Level 47 Blood Skeleton. 187! Not a very high damage number appeared above my head. Murong Mingyue¡¯s beautiful eyes grew round. She said in shock, ¡°Damn, your Defense is really high for a Level 47 monster to only hit you for that much. Your total HP is around 800 too. It¡¯s nuts that a warrior has this much HP¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t hold back my smile. An even more shocking scene soon appeared. I lifted my sword and used Pardon + Slayer Slash, shaving off 1987 of the Blood Skeleton¡¯s HP. My Dark Wasp had also flown in as well. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Flurry instantly dealt three hits, and the last one was critical! 689! 701! 1674! The Blood Skeleton let out a miserable howl. It had been instantly killed! Murong Mingyue was petrified. It was obvious that she had been leveling with Xu Yang, who was decent, but not an expert player, for far too long. As a result, she couldn¡¯t accept the top-level damage I was dishing out at that moment. Gui Guzi also lunged forward at this time. His spear shot out and Flame Thrust took off 400 of the Blood Skeleton¡¯s HP. Even though that number was far from mine, Undead Knight was originally a class with heavy emphasis on HP and Defense. Attack power wasn¡¯t his forte and this special trait was completely revealed soon after. The Blood Skeleton roared and attacked Gui Guzi with its copper sword. Gui Guzi didn¡¯t dodge as a black shield floated above him. It was his unique gatekeeper skill¡ªUndying Shield! Puchi! The copper sword did not penetrate Undying Shield and two numbers appeared¡ª 312! +47! When he lost 312 HP, he also recovered 47 HP. I knew that this was the special feature of Undying Shield. It could absorb a portion of the attack damage and convert it into user¡¯s HP. At Rank 3, it healed for 15% of the damage taken. This wasn¡¯t that overpowered, but once Undying Shield reached Rank 10, it would probably be able to convert 50% of the damage taken into HP. Then, killing an undead knight like Gui Guzi would be hard as hell! Gui Guzi¡¯s overall strength was impressive. His attack power could rank within the Top 100 of Floating Ice City but his survivability was absolutely in the Top 3! Murong Mingyue was even more shocked. Her mouth dropped open as she muttered, ¡°Why are all these Bloody Mercenaries more OP than the next¡­¡± Du Thirteen laughed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, compared to them, I¡¯m still a normal person.¡± After saying so, Du Thirteen let out a yell and attacked a monster with his sword! 74! When the damage number flew, Murong Mingyue¡¯s beautiful eyes swept over. She answered with an indifferent smile, ¡°You¡¯re not normal either. You¡¯re even worse than a normal person¡­¡± Du Thirteen looked like he really wanted to cry. Li Le stood not too far away, coldly watching us. He originally wanted to strike up a conversation with Murong Mingyue to flirt with her, but who knew that Murong Mingyue was also an experienced gal. She immediately saw through the playboy and didn¡¯t reply to any of his words. She didn¡¯t even bother to look at him. Li Le could only sensibly stand in place and quietly leech experience. With me and Gui Guzi¡¯s DPS, our clearing speed was pretty high. Murong Mingyue had even summoned a Wasp to level it. The Wasp had 4.5-star Attack growth, which made it a king among offensive pets at the current stage. Priests lacked offensive potential, so for Murong Mingyue Wasp was an ideal choice. ¡­¡­ I went offline at around noon to have my lunch break and rested for an hour before going back online to continue the grind. I grinded all the way until 3 pm. Following a streak of golden light, Li Le reached Level 27, gaining a total of six levels, which was above our commission quota. ¡°Alright, give us the gold.¡± I turned around, my voice toward Li Le cold. He hesitated briefly and then traded me 100 gold. At this point, Murong Mingyue was Level 36, Gui Guzi was Level 38, and I had reached Level 40, finally breaking through that huge threshold! I opened Floating Cloud City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking. I was a bit surprised. More than half a day had passed yet my ranking didn¡¯t rise at all. It had dropped instead. The other experts in the Heavenly Ranking were definitely solo grinding at a high efficiency rate¡ª NameLevelClass Wind Fantasy 42 Light Wanderer Dominating Heaven Blade 41 Warrior Dominating Mage God 41 Mage Inconstant 40 Magic Knight Iron Pardon 40 Warrior Dominating Archer God 40 Archer Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 40 Undead Swordsman Dominating Warrior God 39 Warrior Clear Perfume 39 Archer Gui Guzi 38 Undead Knight ¡­¡­ I had already dropped to seventh place. It was as if I had fate with this number. Since the beginning of the game, I was the person who occupied seventh place the longest. Lin Yixin had been close to Level 41 the day before, and now she was already Level 42 due to today¡¯s efforts. She still had a good lead with Dominating Heaven Blade closely behind her. Half of Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking was basically taken over by the Domination Clan. Lin Yixin and Clear Perfume were a team, while I and Gui Guzi belonged to Bloody Mercenaries. This kind of ranking was pretty good to a non-top gaming workshop like us. Murong Mingyue took out a return scroll and said with a smile, ¡°Send me a message the next time you need me~¡± I gave a slight nod. Sister Mingyue had actually forgotten about the 10 gold fee and was going to head back to the city. I shot a smile at Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen. ¡°Get ready to go back, let¡¯s go drinking tonight!¡± Li Le coldly snorted. ¡°Tch!¡± Our Young Master Le then arrogantly walked into the not-so-distant forest. Gui Guzi yelled, ¡°Hey, don¡¯t run around like that, we¡¯re not responsible if you get yourself killed!¡± Li Le said disdainfully, ¡°I¡¯m gonna gather some herbs. You guys can leave. I don¡¯t need your protection!¡± Du Thirteen laughed. ¡°Careful to not step on crap, there¡¯s a ton of wild bears that shit in the forest¡­¡± Li Le¡¯s disdain grew even more. ¡°Pooh, so fucking vulgar!¡± Right at this moment, Li Le¡¯s entire body suddenly froze in place. A blood-red dagger swept across his neck, followed by a dark red damage number¡ª371! Ambush! Level 20 Assassin skill that could stun the target for 1 second! Chapter 66: Fake Phone ¡°Shit!¡± Gui Guzi and I instinctively drew our swords and swiftly dashed over. It didn¡¯t matter who had killed Li Le. As long as someone killed our Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ client during the period of our task, they were ignoring our prestige! Cough cough, let¡¯s pretend we have some prestige for the time being! A human figure swayed and the person who had killed Li Le appeared. The name was extremely familiar¡ªUnyielding Mad Dragon, Mad Dragon¡¯s ace assassin had actually appeared here! ¡°Tch!¡± Unyielding Mad Dragon had already seen me and Gui Guzi. He quickly reached out and placed the Creature Holding Stone and the several pieces of equipment into his bag while grinning. ¡°Come and get it if you¡¯ve got the guts to!¡± I and my Dark Wasp arrived at his side the very next moment. Its stinger gleamed with a cold light as it came stabbing from the sky. Unyielding Mad Dragon was incredibly calm. He reached into his robes, found some fluorescent powder and threw it to the ground, disappearing from our sight. It was a Level 30 Assassin skill¡ªVanish! It was hard to forcefully break invisibility, especially when players at this stage of the game didn¡¯t have many AoE skills. MISS! MISS! Gui Guzi and I both missed. The only thing left in the area was Li Le¡¯s corpse, Unyielding Mad Dragon was nowhere to be seen. I stepped on the ground then suddenly turned around, sweeping a horizontal slash with my Weeping Fire Blade! Whoosh! The invisible Unyielding Mad Dragon dodged. Even though I couldn¡¯t see him, I could clearly feel the movements of the wind. My mind was incomparably clear at this time, and my senses at this time seemed to be sharper than ever before. Found him! I yelled, ¡°Little Gui, 25 degrees northeast, now!¡± Even though Gui Guzi was a bit dimwitted at times, his reactions were fast inside the game. He had already moved by the time I voiced the last syllable. His spear shot out as fast as lightning, like a divine dragon bursting out of the sea! Puchi! A sliver of blood spurted out, causing the hidden Unyielding Mad Dragon to come out of his concealment. My senses were spot-on. ¡°Fuck, how?!¡± Unyielding Mad Dragon raged, then turned around to run. He never imagined that Du Thirteen would already be blocking his rear with a mighty air. Thirteen pointed his sword at him and smiled. ¡°Give up now, kid!¡± Crack! I dashed over and easily struck from the back. Assassins had very limited HP, so it only took a strike each from me and Gui Guzi to end him. When Unyielding Mad Dragon fell, the Creature Holding Stone dropped again. This thing¡¯s drop rate is seriously high! The three of us formed a circle around it but none of us went to pick it up. ¡°How are we going to deal with this Blood Skeleton?¡± Du Thirteen asked. I shook my head. ¡°No need. He¡¯s the one who died and dropped it. Giving it back to him is just us meddling in his business.¡± ¡°Then what?¡± ¡°Yeah, what should we do?¡± Du Thirteen was also at a loss. I thought for a moment, then said, ¡°We can¡¯t sell this ourselves. Let¡¯s do this: Thirteen, you take it and go sell it anonymously. Once the price passes 600 gold, just sell it. Don¡¯t be greedy!¡± Du Thirteen nodded. ¡°Okay. What do we do with the money earned?¡± ¡°Confiscate it and make it our workshop¡¯s operational funds. Mn, it¡¯ll basically be our food expenses!¡± ¡°Haha, no problem!¡± Du Thirteen originally wanted to keep the Blood Skeleton and level it himself but what I said earlier changed his mind. Leveling a meatshield pet at this stage of the game wasn¡¯t too bright. It would still be okay for a powerful damage dealer with a small HP pool like Mage, but Warrior should forget about it. I looked at the two corpses on the ground. Unyielding Mad Dragon and Li Le laying there head-to-head like a pair of good brothers made me smile. Li Le was a second generation rich boy and Unyielding Mad Dragon¡¯s boss, Roaming Dragon, was also a rich family¡¯s young master. Those two would definitely end up fighting with each other, which would make Floating Ice City¡¯s future events much more interesting. At around 5 pm, Du Thirteen anonymously sold the Blood Skeleton on the online trading platform. Someone bid 700 gold, a sum which was promptly exchanged into 80 RMB per. I also sold my 900 gold, causing my personal account to reach almost 100,000 RMB. Due to the transformation caused by the virus, my brain delay had already been shortened to about 300 milliseconds. It was a pretty big feat I¡¯ve achieved in Heavenblessed. I looked at my account balance and heaved a sigh. Fate was a fickle thing. If I had my current reaction time, I wouldn¡¯t have been repeatedly killed by Candlelight Shadow, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls wouldn¡¯t have ended up in such dire straits. Speaking of which, this could be said to be a blessing coming out of misfortune. After narrowly escaping death, my body had been strengthened and my brain activity had gotten much stronger. It was just that I wasn¡¯t sure if I could be called human any longer, especially when I woke up to see red patches of skin, or grunted in pain due to the burning pain under the sun. My medical state kept me from returning to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and motivated me to develop Bloody Mercenaries in the shadows. It was the best way to protect them, protect my home, protect the place I missed and longed to return to. I went offline, clock approaching dinner time. I sat on the sofa in the workshop¡¯s living room, recording Bloody Workshop¡¯s daily cash flow on a notepad with a ballpoint pen¡ª Sold Blood Skeleton a first time, 1000 gold, converted to 76950 yuan Accepted a mission (Leveling Li Le to 27), 100 gold, converted to 7600 yuan Sold Blood Skeleton a second time, 700 gold, converted to 53200 yuan Total revenue: 137750 Expenses: Breakfast 12 deep-fried dough sticks, 5 sesame seed cakes. Total of 17 yuan. Lunch at Sichuan restaurant, 287 yuan. Total expenses: 304 yuan Today¡¯s net profit: 137346 I read it over, Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi nodded, not seeing any issues with my summary. I then said, ¡°Since there are no issues, let¡¯s go to the bank. We¡¯ll open an account for each one of us. Bloody Mercenaries will be distributing our first paycheck.¡± Gui Guzi said, ¡°Boss Broken Halberd, you were the one who caught the Blood Skeleton so it really shouldn¡¯t be added to our workshop¡¯s account.¡± I shook my head and smiled. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m good as long as I have enough money to use. What do I need so much for? It¡¯s not like I can bring it into my coffin.¡± Gui Guzi laughed. ¡°Then how do we distribute the pay?¡± I already had a plan in mind so I bluntly said, ¡°Half of the total income will be deducted and treated as the workshop¡¯s operational funds. Thirteen will be in charge of that. We¡¯ll split the remaining half into three equal parts, one for each of us. What do you say?¡± Du Thirteen was stunned. ¡°You¡¯ll be making a huge loss, Lu Chen. Since you put the most effort in the workshop, you should get the most¡­¡± I shook my head. ¡°No need to say anymore. This is our workshop¡¯s starting period. I don¡¯t want to be too selfish. Besides, a Blood Skeleton pet sells for 70-80 thousand. A gaming geek like me won¡¯t even have the time to use that money. It¡¯s better if we all split it and send some money home so our families feel at ease while we have fun playing, right?¡± Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen nodded in agreement. At this time, Du Thirteen saw the smartphone in a paper bag next to my hand. It was the pure platinum TC72. His eyes immediately lit up and he couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Lu Chen, when did you change phones? This phone¡­ looks so awesome and cool. Tsk tsk, what¡¯s it made of? It¡¯s so heavy, it must''ve been expensive, right?¡± I casually smiled. ¡°It¡¯s a fake made from aluminum. Why? You like it?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Then take it, treat it as an early present for your 25th birthday.¡± ¡°Haha, really?¡± Du Thirteen was delighted and grabbed the TC72. I smiled. ¡°Of course. Go ahead and use it. It''s not like it was that expensive. But¡­ ahem, when you¡¯re about to scrap it, you can go to a jeweler for an appraisal. Maybe it¡¯ll get you some money, haha¡­¡± Du Thirteen was a bit suspicious. He held onto the TC72 and fondled it lovingly, treating it like it was a girl he had been chasing for years, refusing to let go even if he died. Before dinner, we went to the bank and did all the appropriate transfers. I used my name to open a public account and handed it over to Du Thirteen after depositing 70,000 RMB. He would be in charge of any of the workshop¡¯s expenses from now on. It was like he had officially become our workshop¡¯s financial manager. Gui Guzi kept calling him ¡°Manager B¡± but Du Thirteen felt like he was being called ¡°Manager Bitch¡±. Once everything had been settled, we began heading to a nearby Hunan restaurant. It was precisely the Happy House in front of the university. The food there wasn¡¯t bad back when we were here with Lin Yixin. Having eaten our fill, we returned to the workshop and continued to work hard! Swoosh! I appeared in Floating Ice City. I looked at my level and hurriedly went out to grind. Rank 3 skills could gain proficiency and reach Rank 4 once players reached Level 40. It¡¯d be best if I leveled Ghost Deity Armor, Pardon, and Slayer Slash as soon as possible! At this time, the sound of a bell rang¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± wants to voice chat with you. Do you accept? After accepting, Lin Yixin¡¯s voice sounded. ¡°Hi~ Lu Chen, good evening!¡± I was on guard. She sounded so nice, that was definitely not good! ¡°Beauty Yi, if you¡¯ve got something to say, just say it¡­¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s bell-like laughter came over. A few seconds later, she said, ¡°Lu Chen, I saw Li Le today this afternoon. Hehe, his depressed expression was really interesting~¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s great¡­¡± ¡°Oh right, I heard that you took Li Le out to grind this morning?¡± Lin Yixin seemed to inadvertently ask. I said in a low voice. ¡°He didn¡¯t recognize me. Besides, the requests of our Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ clients take priority. Taking him out to level is very normal. We serve the people, you know!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you mean ¡®serve the money¡¯?¡± Lin Yixin uncovered my secret in one go. I laughed. ¡°Yiyi, you came to chat with me instead of leveling today. What, you missing me already?¡± ¡°Go to hell, who¡¯s missing you?!¡± Lin Yixin then said indignantly, ¡°Alright, I¡¯m going to level. Bye!¡± I hung up and was secretly happy inside. I looked around at the players of Floating Ice City, thinking that I was probably the only person here who dared to openly tease the Fruit Knife Goddess like this. Chapter 67: Coldmoon Rose A bolt of lightning tore the sky and black clouds roiled, both signs that a downpour was about to descend. The Weeping Fire Blade in hand, I swiftly bore my way through the little road in the forest with my Dark Wasp. Players around Level 30 could be seen on both sides of the path, teaming up to kill the monsters there. There was no hesitation in their actions even though a storm was approaching. Their determination to level up could not be shaken by unfavorable weather conditions. I checked my experience. I was Level 40 at 24%. I had to get to Level 50 as soon as possible. Only at Level 50 could my skills reach Rank 5, which would let me challenge Level 60 bosses. Otherwise, I could forget about getting a Hero¡¯s Token. Bloody Mercenaries couldn¡¯t just operate with us three forever. We could only attract long range attackers like archers, mages, and support players like priests, tacticians, and bards after establishing a guild. A strong guild should have good, balanced composition of classes. Beep~! Du Thirteen sent me a message: ¡°Lu Chen, I feel that our Bloody Mercenaries should have a priest. We¡¯re all a bunch of melee damage dealers that need to be healed. Not having our own exclusive priest sucks.¡± I replied, ¡°You have someone in mind?¡± ¡°Not at the moment. But I¡¯m asking for your opinion right now. Should we pick a girl or boy for our priest?¡± ¡°Is there a difference?¡± ¡°Yes! I was planning on recruiting two people. A female priest and a female mage, or a female archer. If we do that, our workshop won¡¯t have any problems leveling or killing bosses.¡± I thought for a while, then replied. ¡°If we can, we should try to recruit a male priest and a male archer. With women, trouble would start too easily. We are a proper gaming workshop, we don¡¯t need to deal with these messy things. I really want our workshop to become one of the best.¡± Du Thirteen did not respond until several minutes later. ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right. I¡¯ll go look around first. If I really can¡¯t find guys, then I can only reluctantly pick girls. Haha¡­¡± I was a bit speechless. It may be hard to find three-legged toads nowadays, but two-legged men were everywhere on the streets! In fact, this was all because of me. There was an intangible resistance in me that was against girls joining our Bloody Mercenaries workshop, though I myself did not know why this was so. ¡­¡­ Reflection Hills was an extremely vast zone within a mountainous forest. Wild animals were everywhere and evil spirits ran amok. This was a grinding paradise for high-level players, and hell for newbies. I saw a succubus archer girl wielding a longbow jumping out of the shrubbery in the forest. She was Level 34, and as a succubus, she enjoyed an innate advantage¡ª5% boost to accuracy, perception and detection abilities. Furthermore, succubi were petite and very nimble. They were the best choice for archers. Lin Yixin was also a succubus but she chose to be the close-range type, becoming a legendary female battle god. Even though this succubus archer wasn¡¯t as beautiful as Lin Yixin, she won in the mature charm department. Leather armor hugged her lustrous body, revealing her curves. The graceful way she walked on the path while carrying her longbow would invoke a deep impression in any man¡¯s mind. Coldmoon Rose LV-34, Bronze Archer. Her level is pretty high. Well, at least high enough to run about this high-level map. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t continue onward! Hey, handsome!¡± the archer girl shouted, with heavy emphasis on the words ¡°handsome¡± too. I turned around, my terrifying face concealed by my cloak smiling. ¡°Why, pretty girl?¡± Coldmoon Rose was stunned, then answered right after, ¡°A really dangerous map is up ahead, Reflection Hills. The mobs there are already Level 45, so if you go any deeper, nine out of ten times, you¡¯ll die. How about we team up and kill some Forest Leopards? I have a quest to kill them, I can share it with you.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile. After a brief exchange, she seemed more like a little girl who wanted to drag me along to grind. I shook my head and said apologetically, ¡°Sorry but I¡¯m not here to do quests. I¡¯m here to forage. You should see that I¡¯m a forager.¡± The archer girl nodded with a smile. ¡°Alright then, since you¡¯re going in despite knowing the dangers, good luck!¡± When I was turning back around, I accidentally saw a vicious glint flash in her eyes. I faintly sensed that something was wrong but I didn¡¯t know what was amiss so I just continued onward with my Weeping Fire Blade. Who cares what she was scheming. With my pet and I together, who in Floating Ice City could stop us?! ¡­¡­ Not too long after, a burst of mountain wind erupted in the forest, followed by the howl of a wolf. Two cyan-colored giant wolves then appeared before me. They were just like the succubus girl had described. Hill Wolf LV-45 I took a deep breath when I saw the two Level 45 mobs advance. I shouldn¡¯t be too pressured by these two! I commanded my Dark Wasp to attack the wolf on the left while I lifted my longsword and aimed at the Hill Wolf on the right. I ran and then slid toward it, back ramrod straight, two attacks immediately landing on its head! MISS! 1792! Pardon and Slayer Slash were so strong that even a Level 45 monster would instantly lose half its HP. ¡°Argrrr!¡± The Hill Wolf snarled then swept its claws down. I quickly retreated but was still hit by its claws. My chest instantly warmed as a chunk of my HP fell. 184! The Ghost Deity Armor surfaced yet again, as if I was protected by a ghost. If it weren¡¯t for this skill, I¡¯m afraid a swipe from this giant wolf would have shred at least 250 of my HP; that would be dangerous. The Hill Wolf¡¯s attack speed far surpassed the Blood Skeleton¡¯s and its attack power also wasn¡¯t too bad either. Overall, its DPS was around 2 times higher. Since I didn¡¯t have a priest with me, I had to be extra careful against such a high-damage monster. Things could get ugly otherwise. My sword swept again and landed two more hits on the Hill Wolf¡¯s head. I arced around its left side, evading its attack. After waiting for my basic attack cooldown, I once more brandished my sword to chop at it twice while chugging a small health potion. ¡°Wuuu¡­¡± The Hill Wolf collapsed with a miserable howl, killed by six lightning-quick strikes, but my HP had also fallen by a third. The Hill Wolf¡¯s damage was way too scary. A health potion along with Regeneration of the Undead quickly restored my HP back to full. My Weeping Fire Blade risen high, I charged at the Hill Wolf occupied by my Dark Wasp. It didn¡¯t even take me a minute before two Level 45 mobs have fallen under my blade! The Dark Wasp¡¯s health regen was really fast, faster than mine at the very least. As long as it was continuously killing monsters, it didn¡¯t need to be healed. After all, its HP and Defense were both pretty high. I spread my fingers and shouted at the Hill Wolf corpse, ¡°Death Plunder!¡± The skill flew and a cyan colored wolf skin appeared in my hands¡ª Hill Wolf Skin: Rank 4 pelt. Very nice, I¡¯m about to get rich again. Rank 4 pelt was a required item used to craft Level 30¨C40 Iron and Bronze¨Cgrade leather armor. Tailors at this stage of the game were at high ranks already, so it wouldn¡¯t take long for the market to be saturated with Rank 4 pelts and hides. I had to seize the chance to make a profit before that! I loved Death Plunder to death. It was simply the number one skill for me to get rich! After I put away the two pieces of Hill Wolf Skin, I continued on my way. The surrounding forest was a field of dusk, the ground littered with multiple animal footprints. Some of them were even larger than mine! I raised my head and my eyes brightened. A simple and crude Night Creature camp was not too far ahead of me. There were five NPCs standing there, blankly looking around. I quickly walked over with vigorous strides, filled with energy. Good thing that I was already a Bone Lord. Even though I was a neutral creature, in the eyes of ordinary Night Creatures, I was one of them, so they would be relatively close with me! ¡°Oh, esteemed lord, you have actually deigned to come to this wild land¡­¡± When I came close, a Night Creature assassin holding a dagger walked over and knelt on one knee. ¡°Your presence here has allowed us to believe that Queen Sophia has not abandoned us pitiful undead. She must have sent you over to tell us about our victory, right?¡± I nodded, then said some random nonsense, ¡°Queen Sophia ordered me to tell you that our empire will soon rise again!¡± ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± The few skeletons in the camp danced in joy, every one of them excited beyond compare. Only the long-bearded undead prophet inside the tent remained silent. I glanced over and discovered that this undead elder was this temporary camp¡¯s highest authority. A series of words floated above his head¡ªHill Commander. He tottered over with his magic staff and said with a quivering voice, ¡°Esteemed lord, you¡¯ve seen it too. We¡¯ve been besieged by the wild beasts here for almost a half a year. Many of our undead have been torn into pieces. We must eradicate the wolves in this wilderness or else our Night Creature camp will fall apart!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Do you accept the quest [Kill the Hill Wolves]? (Quest Rank: D) Description: Patrol the surroundings and kill at least 200 Hill Wolves. Collect 40 Hill Wolf Fangs and give them to the Hill Commander for a very generous reward! ¡­¡­ I accepted the quest and left to kill Hill Wolves. These kinds of Level 45 monsters weren¡¯t just good for grinding. I could also plunder Rank 4 pelts and complete a quest. Three birds in one stone, that was efficient grinding! Bringing along my Dark Wasp and Weeping Fire Blade, I meandered along the border of the hills in the forest, killing every wild wolf I encountered. If I was lucky, they would drop a Big Magic Stone. If I wasn¡¯t lucky, I could still plunder a Rank 4 fur. This way of grinding made me very happy. Around two hours passed in the blink of an eye. At least 300 Hill Wolves had died beneath my blade because there were 312 pelts in my bag, along with 14 Big Magic Stones and 40 Hill Wolf Fangs. The quest was complete and the surrounding Hill Wolves had almost all been eliminated by me. They were no longer a worrisome threat to the camp. I returned to the temporary base of Night Creatures and turned in the Hill Wolf Fangs. The old skeleton was so excited that he nearly fell apart. Quest items in hand, he said emotionally, ¡°These inhumane wild beasts have at last been served justice! Honorable undead, you shall receive a generous reward!¡± Ding~! System Notice: You have completed the quest [Kill the Hill Wolves]. You have gained 8400 EXP and 240 Reputation! ¡­¡­ Swoosh! A golden pillar of light washed over me and I reached Level 41. I clawed my way up to the fourth place of the Heavenly Ranking in just short four hours. Continue, continue, let¡¯s climb to third place! Chapter 68: Hill Protector God Ding~! System Notice: You¡¯ve accepted the quest [Traitorous Blood Shadow Army]! (Quest Rank: C-) Description: Enter Reflection Hills and kill 100 Blood Shadow Skeleton Warriors. This traitorous army is very strong so you must take care. Cruel and ruthless, they are hostile to Night Creatures and humans alike. They will attack any target that poses a threat to them. ¡­¡­ Quest in hand, I left, Reflection Hills my destination. After all, I didn¡¯t come here to grind, my main objective was foraging the Rank 5 Cooking ingredient¡ªGarlic. I saw multiple conical hills within a dense forest in the skies above. This was a kind of mystical phenomenon that shouldn¡¯t appear in real world, but there was nothing impossible in the game. This hill zone was one example of it. I raised my head and looked up at them, afraid that these hills in the sky would randomly fall down. If that happened, even a Bone Lord like me would instantly become meat paste. The hills were still part of a mountainous region. I heard a fierce tiger roar, and, sure enough, a fierce, blood red tiger pounced out of the forest, giving me a scare. Once my eyes swept over, I calmed¡ª Hill Tiger LV-47 Still okay, it¡¯s only a Level 47 wild animal. I lifted my sword and met it head-on, unleashing Pardon followed up with Slayer Slash, alongside my Dark Wasp¡¯s 3-hit Flurry. Two seconds later, I struck again with a basic attack, felling this Hill Tiger in three seconds. Death Plunder netted me a Rank 4 Tiger Skin, also a type of pelt. Its usage was not much different from wolf skin¡¯s. I continued on. As I went deeper and deeper, the surroundings began to change. Little wooden houses appeared between the ridges of the hills. These were all the living quarters of the local hunters. At this moment, a few undead-type monsters had also appeared on the map. Blood Shadow Skeletons! These were high-level skeletons that shone with red light. They were at least Bone Creatures, so I couldn¡¯t help but feel happy. The undead sparks provided by these Bone Creatures had to be abundant in energy. If I could rise to the level of Bone General and eventually reach Asura, my handsome face would finally be preserved. Things like picking up girls and killing enemies would no longer be a problem. Blood Shadow Skeleton Warrior LV-50 A Blood Shadow Skeleton Warrior was standing not too far away, blankly looking around while screaming at random times. I stealthily closed in with my pet, and sent my cannon fodder in first! With three swhooshing sounds, my Dark Wasp pierced through half of the Blood Shadow Skeleton¡¯s HP. I lunged over and used Pardon. With another two strikes of my sword, the first Blood Shadow Skeleton Warrior collapsed into pieces with a loud bang. Pop! I picked up the Big Magic Stone. It was 100 Quality. It seems like the quality of magic stones increases with the level of mobs they dropped from. My experience bar had also soared by 1%. It looks like it won¡¯t be a problem for me to reach Level 42 here. I found another Blood Shadow Skeleton Warrior, this time deciding to strike first. Its response was to roar and swing its battleaxe! Bang! The battleaxe fell on my shoulder, pain shaking me at the very core. Ghost Deity Armor resurfaced, but it too was shaken, its vibrations letting out a high-pitched hum. The opponent¡¯s attack power was really high! 315! I was speechless once I saw that number and quickly retreated. It¡¯s better to let my Dark Wasp take the tank role. It had already reached Level 39. With 307 Defense and 1294 HP, its survivability was higher than mine, and by not-so-small a margin too. Though to be fair, the problem stemmed from my equipment. If I was wearing a full set of Silver-grade armor, my pet wouldn¡¯t even be in the same league. I let out a helpless sigh. At the current stage of the game, barely anyone in the game had Dark Steel¨Cgrade equipment, let alone Silver-grade that was one grade above it. According to my guess, only bosses over Level 50 could drop Silver-grade equipment. I didn¡¯t even know if the first piece of Silver-grade equipment would land in my hands. Now that made me really worried! I took down this Level 50 Blood Shadow Skeleton Warrior with my Dark Wasp, obtained a useless rag after using Death Plunder, and then absorbed its undead spark. After all that, I went to search for my next target. Blood Shadow Skeleton Warriors were individually scattered all around the map. It was, after all, a high-level monster. If they came in groups, a solo player like me wouldn¡¯t be able to deal with them. I was sure that if I lured three of these at the same time, both me and my pet would be dead meat. A single hit from the skeleton could take third of my health, or about sixth of the Dark Wasp¡¯s. Thankfully, both I and my pet were offensive damage dealers and we could kill them quickly and efficiently. Otherwise, potion expenditure during lengthy fights would spell my doom. If current players wanted to grind here, the best way would be having ten mages stand in a row and use Fire Dragon Roar together to instantly kill a Blood Shadow Skeleton. Two rounds would be enough and there wouldn¡¯t be any deaths either. It was just that this strategy would be too cumbersome on their MP. Unleashing a Rank 4 Fire Dragon Roar required 40 MP and a Level 40 mage only had about 800 MP, which meant that they could only fire a few rounds before they were completely out. Maintaining their leveling speed would require many Magic Consumables. And these happened to be extremely expensive. As a black-hearted Cooking God, I would love it if anyone employed such tactic. Time to continue. I needed to find the place where Garlic grew. Upon return, I would start mass producing Rank 5 Magic Consumables to make some dirty money! I looked at my skill window and saw that my Cooking skill was still at Rank 4, but the proficiency bar was at 96%. I could easily reach Rank 5 by the time I went through the ingredients in my warehouse. Hmph, I was certainly the only hero in all of Floating Ice City who could make Rank 5 Consumables! I continued my search while killing numerous Blood Shadow Skeleton Warriors on my way and finally found the Garlic I needed. Rank 5 Garlic grew everywhere in this dark valley! As a gaming shut-in, I had a profound knowledge of a spice like garlic. This was because wherever I lived, I would always plant a few garlic bulbs. When I logged off in the evening, I would always crack an egg and add some garlic leaves when I cooked my noodles. This kind of delicacy was something only a shut-in would have experience of. I began gathering. My Foraging was Rank 5 and my Cooking was Rank 4. Quite proud of my achievements, I stretched out a hand and used my Foraging skill to gather the Garlic¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have gathered Garlic x3, Foraging Proficiency +5! Continue, all clusters of garlic are nearby! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have gathered Garlic x3, Foraging Proficiency +5! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have gathered Garlic x3, Foraging Proficiency +5! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have gathered Garlic x3, Foraging Proficiency +5! ¡­¡­ In about half an hour, almost all the Garlic in this remote valley had been gathered. My bag was now filled with high-rank ingredients. I had a total of 40 stacks of Garlic, and I had even thrown away some low-quality Big Magic Stones. In terms of profit, even a max-quality Big Magic Stone was 20 silver, while a stack of Garlic could help me make five Rank 5 Magic Consumables. One would sell for at least 50 silver, so it was child¡¯s play to calculate their worth. I smugly looked at my bag full of Garlic and chuckled. Time to turn in the quest. After I turn it in and head back to the city, see how a Cooking God like me strut through the market! I glanced at the map. Guess I¡¯ll pass through the canyon. This was the shorter route. There would be too many detours if I went back the way I¡¯d come, and the Blood Shadow Skeleton Warriors I had killed along the way have probably respawned by now. There¡¯s no point in me wasting my time on them. I had already risen to Level 41 91% and forgotten to eat my midnight snack. It was now 3 am. I was most likely going to stay up all night today. I checked out my friend list and saw that both Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi¡¯s names were lit. These two guys were tacitly going to stay up late with me. They were too kind! Lin Yixin¡¯s name was also lit, no wonder why her level was still as high as ever. I looked around and saw that many people in Floating Ice City were already Level 40. The next race to Level 50 would be intense. Everyone was scrambling to reach Level 50 and kill a Level 60 boss. If someone dropped a Hero¡¯s Token, they would be pioneers who established the first guild in Floating Ice City, reigning supreme! As I passed through the valley, I discovered something didn¡¯t feel quite right when I approached the central region. Why was the little hill in front of me moving? Yes, that thing was actually moving! Realization dawned on me in the next instant. This wasn¡¯t even a little hill but a monster, a gigantic golem. Good lord, what level could this thing be? It was a huge stone giant with green vines crawling all over its body. It moved extremely slowly. When it swung its stone arms, crunching sounds could be heard due to the friction. The stone giant¡¯s head was at least six meters wide and when it turned, its black, innocent eyeballs moved about. Hill Protector God (Silver Rank Boss) Level: 60 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? ¡­¡­ I was immeasurably shocked. Even though I couldn¡¯t see all of the boss¡¯s stats, what I saw was enough. This boss had broken away from the F-SSS rank division and was a magnificent Silver Rank boss. The equipment it dropped would already be the best of the best. Was a Level 60 boss something I could take on? I felt happy and a bit tickled for a moment. I had the same kind of feeling when Lin Yixin lifted her face to let me kiss her that night. At that time, I was pleasantly surprised but also nervous. Kiss her? I didn¡¯t dare to. Don¡¯t kiss? But I wasn¡¯t willing to do that either! These kinds of conflicting feelings could tear one apart! A huge, magnificent boss was right before me. If I went to fight it, the chances of me winning were below 1%. But I wasn¡¯t willing to give up. This Hill Protector God¡¯s level was so high. If I was able to cross the bridge of 19 levels and kill it, its drop rate would at least be doubled and the chances for a Hero¡¯s Token would be huge. I tightened my grip around Weeping Fire Blade. Forget it, let¡¯s just go. YOLO! I dashed over. My Dark Wasp zoomed in before me and ruthlessly stung at the boss¡¯s thigh! Crack! 44! Shit! My Dark Wasp¡¯s attack power is so high but it only dealt such pitiful damage? I-isn¡¯t this too exaggerated? If it were me, how much damage could I deal? Let¡¯s try it! My sword swung down as I executed my strongest combo: Pardon + Slayer Slash! MISS! 1009! Not bad, Rank 3 Pardon lowered the boss¡¯s Defense by 60% and raised the user¡¯s attack power by 45%. Being able to deal 1000 damage was already really good. Meanwhile, the Dark Wasp had attacked the boss when it had 100% of its Defense, and couldn¡¯t break through it. ¡°Roar!¡± The Hill Protector God discovered enemies in its territory and was immediately enraged. It roared and turned around. Its huge fist swung down and landed right on top of my Dark Wasp. Bang! 1448! My pitiful Dark Wasp shrieked. It had actually been instantly killed. Even though it had more than 300 Defense, it had still been one-shot so how could my 165 Defense self endure that? I swiftly retreated, fleeing at top speed. The Hill Protector God was in hot pursuit. Although it wasn¡¯t fast, it chased me at the same speed I ran. One person and one stone dashed through the wilderness. As I ran, I thought about how I could deal with this Level 60 boss. A flash of inspiration appeared in my mind. Got it. The canyon that I was gathering at was very narrow. There was no issue if I entered but this stone giant could forget about it. It couldn¡¯t even squeeze a fist inside. Since this was the case, I should take that chance! With a plan in mind, I ran back to where I came from and went inside the canyon. ¡°Roar¡­¡± The Hill Protector God angrily roared as it chased after me but it was soon stuck between two hills. Furious, it randomly swung its fists around, causing rubble to fly about. I took advantage of this and went forward. I struck the stone giant¡¯s ankle and then quickly retreated. ¡°Hahaha!¡± I couldn¡¯t hold my laughter. This was my chance! At this rate, I could totally kill this Level 60 Hill Protector God here. For a moment, the prospect of countless gold coins and high-grade items flitted across my eyes. ¡­¡­ Yet at this time, multiple blue dots suddenly appeared on my map. Those are¡­ players? My level was pretty high, so I could spot lower-leveled players on my map. A huge number of players was coming over! I couldn¡¯t fight the boss anymore, or else I¡¯d definitely die. Anyone would want to kill such a high-level boss. I wouldn¡¯t be able to reap the rewards! When I thought about that, I firmly used a skill¡ªEarth Escape! Swhoosh! I became a streak of red light and entered the ground, vanishing in place. The stone giant was disoriented when it lost its target and started wandering outside the canyon. ¡­¡­ Several minutes later, a party appeared in my field of view. A hot succubus archer girl wielding a longbow walked in front. It was none other that the Coldmoon Rose I had encountered before entering the canyon! A group of people appeared behind Coldmoon Rose and three people were at the forefront¡ª Roaming Dragon! Iron Pardon! Inconstant! Chapter 69: Thunder God’s Stampede ¡°The boss is here, it really spawned!¡± Roaming Dragon rushed into the valley. Unable to suppress his excitement, he couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°Don¡¯t aggro the boss yet, wait until we¡¯re all here before attacking. Warriors, magic knights, and wanderers in the front row get ready. Back row, mages and priests, must follow closely. Archers, get ready to use Devil Piercing Arrow!!¡± Coldmoon Rose swung her hips as she gracefully walked to Roaming Dragon¡¯s side with her long legs. She smiled charmingly. ¡°How is it? See, I told you, a Level 60 boss really did spawn in this canyon. Hmph, and you didn¡¯t even believe my scouting abilities. I saw the boss spawn with my own eyes, you know~¡± Roaming Dragon laughed. He reached out and lightly patted her round butt below the leather armor. He smiled rather vulgarly. ¡°I know you¡¯re amazing. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll reward you once we defeat the boss!¡± Coldmoon Rose smiled before she walked toward the formation in front with her longbow. She said in a loud voice, ¡°Archers take care. Once we start fighting the boss, all second-promotion archers listen to my commands. Once we fire off our Devil Piercing Arrows, lock down the boss as your target and use Volley!¡± I was shocked. This Coldmoon Rose was vicious. If the archers used Volley, there would be no way for me to remain close to the boss. My invulnerability from Earth Escape would be canceled and I would immediately become a porcupine! Roaming Dragon walked forward. ¡°Rose, why use Volley? Even though Volley is powerful, its single target damage is not that great.¡± Coldmoon Rose¡¯s face darkened. ¡°A player has already entered Reflection Hills before we came. It was a warrior.¡± ¡°Oh, what¡¯s his name?¡± ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, the 5th guy on the Heavenly Ranking!¡± ¡°What, him?¡± Roaming Dragon¡¯s sword-like eyebrows slanted down as his voice turned cold. ¡°That kid was here before us? Fuck! If I catch him, I won¡¯t let him live a good life!¡± Iron Pardon said with a low voice, ¡°Boss, do you remember Greenstone Mountain Valley? Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy broke our defense together and snatched our boss. I remember that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand has an Earth Escape skill that¡¯s similar to an Assassin¡¯s stealth. We have to guard against that. We can¡¯t make any mistakes this time or else we¡¯ll fail again.¡± Roaming Dragon nodded. ¡°I understand, I¡¯ll control our rhythm when we fight the boss. Hmph, it¡¯ll be invulnerable!¡± Roaming Dragon¡¯s expression became sinister when he said that. His hatred overflowed as he tightened his fist and shouted, ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy humiliated me and I¡¯m gonna pay it back ten times over! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand dares to provoke Mad Dragon so we¡¯ll kill him back to Level 0. As for Wind Fantasy, hmph¡­¡± Iron Pardon said with locked brows, ¡°Boss, stop thinking about playing women. Let¡¯s first plan how we¡¯ll defeat the boss with the least amount of deaths. If too many of us die, I¡¯m afraid we won¡¯t have enough people alive once the boss is low. If we get ambushed then, I¡¯m afraid not even ten or twenty of us will be able to block an expert like Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!¡± Roaming Dragon nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I got it!¡± He then shouted, ¡°Level 30¨C35 priests and mages, come over. Every one of you will get 10 Rank 3 Magic Consumables. Those above Level 35 come over too. You guys will also get 3 Rank 4 Magic Consumables. Deal as much DPS as you can and don¡¯t be stingy with the food. We can just buy more! Seems like Roaming Dragon¡¯s going all out. He really wants to be the first to get a Hero¡¯s Token and dominate Floating Ice City. I obviously couldn¡¯t allow this to happen. If Mad Dragon got big in Floating Ice City, whether it was the Bloody Mercenaries workshop, Lin Yixin¡¯s future guild, or even Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, we would all be affected. After all, Roaming Dragon¡¯s impression of us was already as low as hell. I couldn¡¯t be kind in this war for Floating Ice City. When enemies meet, only those with courage win. Let¡¯s see which one of us is tougher! A magic knight wielding a spear walked out from Mad Dragon¡¯s formation. It was precisely Inconstant, one of the Gemini Stars. He voiced his concerns. ¡°Boss, this monster is Level 60 and the majority of us are only Level 30. This would usually make our miss rate over 90%. If we attack like that, will we really be able to kill this Level 60 Hill Protector God?¡± Roaming Dragon answered with raised brows, ¡°Stop being so pessimistic, the hell are you scared of? We¡¯ve mobilized 500 people for this. Look at Floating Ice City, or even the entire China server. Which guild has this strong a lineup? Hmph, even if we miss 90% of our attacks, as long as we have 50 people that can hit it at all times, killing this boss is only a matter of time.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± Inconstant¡¯s eyebrows furrowed. ¡°Boss, have you taken the boss¡¯s HP regen into account? The Hill Protector God is a giant-type creature. Its Defense, Stamina, and HP regen are the highest in Heavenblessed. In my opinion, our chances of killing this boss are below 30%. Why don¡¯t we go kill a Level 50 boss? With our manpower, we¡¯d have a success rate of 80% or higher!¡± Roaming Dragon¡¯s face instantly frosted over. He said furiously, ¡°Just focus on the assault formation, you punk! Don¡¯t concern yourself with stuff like decision-making. You think I don¡¯t know killing this boss will be hard? Or maybe you don¡¯t know what dropping a Hero¡¯s Token would mean! Mad Dragon would already have a foothold in the China server. Rising to the Top 3 of the Guild Ranking would also be a possibility. I¡¯ve thought about it more than you did.¡± ¡°Yes¡­ I understand.¡± Inconstant could only walk to the frontlines with his spear. He was also one of the main tanks in this boss fight this time. ¡­¡­ Hidden deep inside the canyon, I couldn¡¯t help but laugh inwardly. There was a world of difference between the strength of players at this stage of the game and a Level 60 boss. I could only assume Roaming Dragon had not realized this fact yet. If 500 people rashly ran over, the chances of a complete wipe were huge. In around ten minutes, the damage I dealt to the boss previously had long been recovered to full. Next up was probably Mad Dragon¡¯s human wave attack. Clank! Roaming Dragon drew his sword and yelled, ¡°Like a mad dragon bursting out of the sea, we must advance onward! Brothers, for the glory and honor of our Mad Dragon guild, go, use our blood and flesh to forge tomorrow¡¯s brilliance!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but acknowledge that this guy was a pretty good leader. Or at the very least, he was pretty good at boosting morale. Accompanying the guild leader¡¯s shout, the densely-packed Mad Dragon guild moved out. There were around a hundred melee players at the very front. Like ants, they charged at the stone giant boss¡¯s feet. Behind them was a typical echelon formation. The archers shot their Devil Piercing Arrows which ignored 50% heavy armor Defense. The boss was precisely a heavy armor¨Ctype monster. A huge number of damage numbers floated. MISS! 1! MISS! MISS! 1! ¡­¡­ There were a lot of misses with some 1s here and there. I nearly laughed out loud when I saw those numbers. Even though they could ignore half of the boss¡¯s Defense, Mad Dragon¡¯s archers still couldn¡¯t break through its Defense and could only deal 1 damage. This was too amusing. I want to see how they¡¯re going to take down this Hill Protector God! At this time, an enormous flaming dragon shot out from the ground. It roared and twisted itself around the stone giant¡¯s body. It was the Mage class¡¯s high-level spell¡ªFire Dragon¡¯s Roar! 145! 112! 98! 157! A string of numbers popped up and I was shocked once again. What a strong magic attack. I miscalculated. The stone giant¡¯s Defense might be high but heavy armor¡¯s natural bane is magic. Archers couldn¡¯t break through its Defense but mages can ignore a big part of it. Reevaluating my stance, it really was possible for Mad Dragon to kill this boss. I clenched my fist, already having prepared my heart to fight to the death. Mad Dragon absolutely could not receive the boss¡¯s drops, no matter what. If they did, who knew how unrestrained Roaming Dragon would become. And this guy, if not kept in check, would be the very embodiment of the word ¡°annoying¡±. The Hill Protector God finally revealed its might as a Silver Rank boss. With a roar, it lifted its hill-sized leg and suddenly stomped! Bang! The stomp caused sparks of lightning to flit from the point of contact. Snakes of electric current razed everything in a 5x5 square, instantly killing seven or eight Mad Dragon players. Combat Log: Hill Protector God used ¡°Thunder God¡¯s Stampede¡±! It was impressive, alright. A new hope rose in my heart. As long as this boss killed all of Mad Dragon¡¯s warriors, the mages, archers, and priests in the back would be easy pickings without the tanks to hold the line. The priests there didn¡¯t even get a chance to do anything. The moment the Hill Protector used an attack, it was all instant kills. That wasn¡¯t surprising at all. How could these players that weren¡¯t even Level 40 escape death if even my Dark Wasp had been one-shot? A giant arm swung and was followed by miserable cries. Yet another three magic knights were swatted flying and turned into ice-cold corpses in the air. Having dealt with them, the boss jumped into the air. Two stone fists held each other as they came crashing down. Boom! Another seven or eight warriors became meat paste! I stared, dumbstruck. Good thing I didn¡¯t try to engage this boss in the open field. It would only take one Thunder God¡¯s Stampete to turn me into mincemeat. Before five minutes had passed, around a third of the boss¡¯s HP was gone. Not many of Mad Dragon¡¯s one hundred melee players remained. There were only a few left that didn¡¯t dare to go up. As for Mad Dragon¡¯s Gemini Stars Iron Pardon and Inconstant, they had long been crushed to death by the boss. Roaming Dragon raised his longsword and shouted, ¡°Brothers that have died, hurry back immediately after reviving. We will take turns wearing out the boss. Archers and mages, dish out all the damage you can! Where are the tacticians and bards? Buff the archers and mages with Encourage and Valor!¡± Encourage, Tactician''s area of effect skill, increased the attack power of all surrounding party members by 5%. Valor, Bard¡¯s single-target skill, increased the attack power of targeted players by 10%. Tactician and Bard were both support classes. In terms of buff skills, Bard¡¯s buff was better but it was only for one target while Tactician could buff the entire party. ¡­¡­ Ten minutes later, the boss only had around 25% HP left but it had already gone berserk. After wiping out the melee, the stone giant ran around using Thunder God¡¯s Stampede¡¯s at the group of mages and archers. One stomp had a decent range and it took a while for the effect to disappear. The speed at which the boss¡¯s HP fell was slowing substantially as Mad Dragon¡¯s DPS was getting lower and lower. ¡°1, 2, 3¡­ 75, 76, 77¡­¡± Mad Dragon still had 77 people remaining and they were all long range-classes like mages and archers while the boss¡¯s HP was soon reaching the 10% mark. Chapter 70: World of Ice and Snow Autumn wind rustled, and yellow leaves lay lifelessly on the ground. Suddenly, the stone giant boss executed Thunder God¡¯s Stampede again, killing four archers and blowing countless leaves into the air. Roaming Dragon retreated from the boss again and again, afraid to get anywhere close to it. He knew he would be lucky to escape half-dead if he tried. Standing spread-legged in the wild grassland, Coldmoon Rose slightly lowered her center of gravity and pulled her bowstring into a full draw. A soft cry later, the Devil Piercing Arrow slammed into the stone giant¡¯s eyes like a meteor. Pu! 275! What amazing damage! Roaming Dragon couldn¡¯t help but cheer. ¡°Well shot, Rose! A couple more shots like that and we¡¯ll be close to killing the boss! Once we become the first group to kill a Level 60 boss in the entire Floating Ice City, it¡¯ll only be a matter of time before we overtake the Domination Clan!¡± Coldmoon Rose raised her thin eyebrows and giggled. ¡°I got it. If everything goes well, this Hill Protector God is definitely ours for the taking!¡± A few more minutes passed by peacefully, and the Hill Protector God¡¯s HP had dropped to 5% or so. It would die in at most a minute or two. Roaming Dragon couldn¡¯t suppress the excitement on his face. Suddenly, his expression became twisted with hatred as he said, ¡°Once this boss is dealt with, I¡¯m going to kill all the experts on the Heavenly Ranking at least once! Wind Fantasy? Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? They all deserve to die!¡± ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! A red light burst out of the ground and took on a human shape in an instant. It was me finally reaching the perimeter of the canyon and taking action! ¡°Huh? What¡¯s that¡­¡± I stabbed a Level 35 archer right through the chest armor before he could react. I easily tore apart his high-level leather armor and dealt an incredible amount of damage. 407! I turned my blade and killed him instantly with my second strike! At the same time, a cyan shadow pounced toward two archers like lightning and unleashed a series of consecutive attacks. They slowly collapsed to the ground without being able to retaliate at all. Crack! By the time my Wasp killed the archers, I was already pulling my sword out of some mage¡¯s chest. He died with his eyes open, the corpse¡¯s pupils still dilated in fury. It had only been five seconds since I showed up, but three archers and a mage had already died under my and Dark Wasp¡¯s attacks. ¡°It¡¯s him?! It¡¯s¡­ Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!¡± A priest retreated swiftly and messaged Roaming Dragon immediately, but I quickly caught up to him, destroyed his magic shield in one hit and took his life with another! Eyes threatening to burst into flames, Roaming Dragon raised his sword and shouted, ¡°How dare you show your face, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Mages, one-shot the bastard with Fire Dragon Roar!¡± I sneered and zigzagged my way toward another archer before retreating. He tried to kite me, but he forgot that his back was facing some shrubberies and came to a sudden stop instead. I took more than half his HP in one hit, and my Dark Wasp easily took his life with one sting. Roar! By now, the mages had summoned seven flaming dragons into existence. It was Mage Level 20 skill, Fire Dragon Roar! Pleased with the completion of the spells, Roaming Dragon laughed at me and said, ¡°There¡¯s no way you can survive seven Fire Dragon Roars at once!¡± My own lips curled into a smile as I slipped behind a shrub before emerging again in less than half a second. I then swung my sword and cut down two mages in a flash. The remaining mages wore dumbfounded looks on their faces. It was because the spell they had spent 2 seconds to cast had suddenly vanished without warning! Roaming Dragon looked just as confused as they were. ¡°What happened?¡± Coldmoon Rose clenched her teeth and answered, ¡°He¡­ he knows this!? This technique is called LoS break! If a mage loses sight of the target mid-cast, the skill will automatically be canceled! He broke the line of sight with these shrubberies! This guy is no ordinary pro!¡± Roaming Dragon¡¯s eyes threatened to fall out of his eye sockets, but there was nothing he could do to stop me. Shrubberies as tall as people were everywhere in this valley. I was able to maximize the effectiveness of my movement and positioning thanks to these natural obstacles, and I zigzagged across the terrain like a fish in water. The Weeping Fire Blade glowed coldly like the Grim Reaper¡¯s scythe, and every time it flashed, someone¡¯s life was reaped. In a blink of an eye, all seven mages had been killed. At the distance, I could see the stone golem had taken advantage of my distraction and slaughtered Mad Dragon until they only had a dozen or so people left. However, the boss only had a sliver of HP left, threatening to keel over and die at any moment. I looked around before fixing my gaze on Roaming Dragon. Cut the head off a snake, and the body will die! Roaming Dragon seemed to have noticed my intention because he immediately backed away from me. At the same time, three archers took his place, pulled their bows and fired Devil Piercing Arrows at me! Thud thud thud! 134! 127! 110! Every single hit managed to pierce through my Defense. They were Mad Dragon¡¯s best archers, not a single one of them was a noob! At the same time, a sinister smile appeared on Roaming Dragon¡¯s face as he took out a light blue card and tossed it into the air. The card transformed into ice and snow, engulfing half the valley in a white blizzard! Ding~! System Notice: Player ¡°Roaming Dragon¡± used the card ¡°World of Ice and Snow¡±. Affected by the environment, your movement speed and attack speed are slowed by 50%. The environmental effect lasts for 5 minutes! ¡­¡­ Damn, he got me! Roaming Dragon laughed like an actual madman before shouting, ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, I spent 50 gold on this card just for you! I¡¯m willing to spend any amount of money if it means ending your life!¡± Fire Dragon Roar, Penetrating Arrow and Meteor hit me as I retreated with difficulty. I stared helplessly at my falling HP and drank a Rank 3 Health Potion right before the killing blow, recovering 600 HP immediately. At the same time, I opened my palm and shouted, ¡°Dark Wasp!¡± A hexagram formation glowed brightly with magic as the Dark Wasp answered my call and zipped toward the archers and mages who were attacking me. The interruption lowered their damage output by a considerable margin. I just needed one second, one second and I would be able to use Earth Escape! The enemy mages killed my Dark Wasp and my HP had fallen to 100. However, the distraction of my pet bought me the well-needed second of respite! Swhoosh! The moment my body melted completely into the ground, I moved at full speed toward the boss still rampaging above. Right now, half of the valley was affected by the card ¡°World of Ice and Snow¡±, and I was the only person who was buffeted by the spell. It would be incredibly disadvantageous for me to clash against them directly on the ground! My HP recovered swiftly as I checked the situation above the ground. Hill Protector God was on its last legs, but less than ten players of the Mad Dragon guild were still alive. They were barely holding their formation together, and they could die at any moment! The Dark Wasp was dead, and I couldn¡¯t resummon it after such a short time. I will have to kill this boss myself. My only shot at victory was Pardon. It was a skill that greatly lowered my target¡¯s Defense, and right now it was my ultimate trump card! Roaming Dragon exploded after I made my escape, wasting his 50 gold for nothing. Eyes bloodshot and mouth fuming with anger, he roared, ¡°Motherfucker! Focus down the boss and try to get Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand if you can! He must die! Bastard! Bastard!!!¡± Coldmoon Rose pulled her bow and fired at the boss. Since all the mages were dead, she was the Mad Dragon guild¡¯s highest DPSer right now. I slowly made my way toward the boss while thanking my Rank 3 Health Potions profusely. I would¡¯ve died if it wasn¡¯t for them, and I still had a couple of them in my bag right now. Lin Yixin had gifted them to me for free, so really I should be thanking her. I spent almost a minute making my way underneath the boss¡¯s feet. My HP had recovered to full thanks to my pots and Regeneration of the Undead. The strongest female archer of the Mad Dragon guild, Coldmoon Rose, suddenly eyed a patch of ground coldly and fired five arrows in a row. It was Archer¡¯s signature skill, Volley, and it seemed to be at least Rank 3! Thud! 57! Unfortunately, I was struck by one of the arrows. A flash of bloody light later, I was forced out of the underground. ¡°He was there. Kill him!¡± Roaming Dragon shouted, but he was surrounded by archers. It was impossible for them to one-shot me, so Coldmoon Rose said coldly, ¡°You go!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± Roaming Dragon raised his blade and charged me. He had finally overcome his fear of death. Ignoring his attack completely, I ran toward the boss and swung Pardon at it. Then, I followed up with a deadly Slayer Slash! MISS! 1208! Fuck! The boss still isn¡¯t dead after that?! Eyes bulging with disbelief, I swung my sword at the boss again. However, the Hill Protector God was already bringing down his right leg on me. It was the Thunder God¡¯s Stampede! I¡¯m so dead! I groaned on the inside, but didn¡¯t hesitate to unleash my final attack! Crack! 147! It was a pitiful amount of damage, but as it turned out the boss had only had that much HP. A heaven-piercing roar later, the Hill Protector God was finally dead! Swoosh swoosh! I leveled up twice in a row and hit Level 43. I was now at the same level as Lin Yixin! I wasted no time in leaping into the air and grabbing everything the boss dropped. A quick glance at my bag revealed a couple of Phantasmal Magic Stones and two pieces of equipment¡ªa pair of war boots with a dark glow, and a sword that looked like it was covered in a sheen of ice. Neither of them looked like ordinary items! That was all the time I could afford before I had to tear my eyes away from my bag. After all, six archers and a maddened Roaming Dragon were attacking me! ¡°Die!¡± Roaming Dragon used Flame Thrust and penetrated my chest with his spear. Huh, his attack power is quite impressive! 287! Hmph, if Roaming Dragon had taken action just a bit earlier, I might not have had the chance to kill this boss. There were arrows everywhere, leaving me no space to dodge, so I had not choice but to suffer the attacks. Both my Pardon and my Rank 3 Health Potion were still on cooldown, and the valley was still under the effects of Roaming Dragon¡¯s card. Worse, both my movement speed and attack speed were drastically lowered. I was at my rope¡¯s end. Pu! Coldmoon Rose¡¯s Devil Piercing Arrow hit me for 217 HP. They finally managed to kill me. ¡­¡­ My vision turned black, and I collapsed to the ground. When my soul rose from my body, I immediately checked what I lost and was pleasantly surprised by my discovery. The two items I had gotten from the boss were still in my bag. I had lost some potions, consumables, three Phantasmal Magic Stones and four stacks of Garlic. However, all the important items were still there. Roaming Dragon had to be the most devastated person in the world right now. He spent a fortune to kill the boss, but almost all the profits fell into my lap. He must be out of his mind right now, haha! Chapter 71: Ghost Ice Soul Who would¡¯ve thought that my moment on the number one spot of Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking would only last for three seconds? This is ridiculous! My soul appeared in a nearby graveyard. It would take only twenty minutes to travel back to Reflection Hills, but I didn¡¯t dare to revive immediately because Roaming Dragon was sure to camp my corpse. But if I chose to revive inside the city, then the punishment would be three levels instead of one. That was completely unacceptable. Left with no choice, I chose to revive where my corpse was. I could use Earth Escape the moment I resurrected. There was no way Roaming Dragon¡¯s band could maintain constant twenty-four-hour vigilance without slipping up here and there. One instant of negligence and I would be able to revive and make my escape! I returned to Reflection Hills as a soul, and it was just as I thought. Roaming Dragon was standing guard next to my body, and Coldmoon Rose was holding her bow and looking left and right. If I tried to revive now, she would definitely Volley me out of the ground. Her control and accuracy were excellent, and she had already caught me once while I was lurking beneath the boss. She was also Roaming Dragon¡¯s woman. What a waste of such a good body! ¡­¡­ Anyway, they were still on their guard. I had to be patient and wait for my opportunity! ¡°Fuck!¡± Roaming Dragon swore like a sailor as he ran rings around my corpse. He would¡¯ve strung my corpse into the air and whipped it if the game would allow it. Unfortunately for him, Heavenblessed didn¡¯t have such a ridiculous setting, so a player¡¯s corpse was inviolable. Coldmoon Rose consoled him, ¡°Calm down, our people are on their way already. They¡¯ll show up in at most half an hour. Once we have the entire map under lockdown, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand will not escape our grasp!¡± Roaming Dragon let out a cold snort and sat down on a nearby rock. He still looked resentful and angry. Coldmoon Rose swayed her hips and sat down gently on his thighs. Then, she smiled seductively. ¡°Don¡¯t be angry, okay? Sometimes you win and sometimes you don¡¯t. Plus, you still killed him in the end, didn¡¯t you?¡± Roaming Dragon finally exhaled, but his eyes were still bitter. ¡°I wonder what were the two items dropped by the boss. Dammit, he took both of them! But¡­ I don¡¯t think I saw Hero¡¯s Token there!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, the boss didn¡¯t drop a Hero¡¯s Token, so calm down, okay?¡± Coldmoon Rose wrapped her arms around Roaming Dragon¡¯s neck and rubbed her breasts against his arm. She really was a seductive and lecherous woman. But this was the moment I was waiting for! Their time together was their most distracted moment and my best chance to make my escape! Swhoosh! I revived and consumed a health potion to restore myself to full health immediately. Then, I immediately ran toward the exit. ¡°He revived, he revived!¡± An archer shouted before firing Volley at me. None of his arrows managed to hit me, but it was such a hasty and uncoordinated attempt that I didn¡¯t dare to slip underground either. Roaming Dragon grabbed his sword and charged me. Coldmoon Rose also grabbed her bow and darted between the trees like a speedy cheetah! I ran like my life depended on it, throwing all caution to the wind. Suddenly, Roaming Dragon released his own pet. It was a blood-red Level 27 Wildfire Greedy Wolf, and it wasn¡¯t even fully mature yet. I laughed on the inside and set loose my own Dark Wasp. Although it had dropped a couple of levels, it was still very powerful. The Dark Wasp buzzed toward the Wildfire Greedy Wolf and gave it a Flurry to the face. The attack actually one-shot Roaming Dragon¡¯s pet. Panicking, it took three full rounds from the archers, Roaming Dragon and Coldmoon Rose to finally take down the Dark Wasp. However, my pet managed to kill two of the archers in the process, meaning that only six people were left in their group. I couldn¡¯t help but swear inside my head as I tried to shake off the six-man group behind me. Coldmoon Rose and Roaming Dragon¡¯s combat skills might not be anything special, but their tracking skills were downright legendary! While I was ahead, I took the momentary respite to check the equipment I had gotten from the boss. The first item was a pair of metal armor war boots. They were well-forged, well-designed and the bloody runes floating near the edges looked very special. I practically salivated when I saw their stats. Stormy War Boots (Silver-grade) Defense: 55 Strength: +18 Stamina: +15 Passive: Increases user¡¯s movement speed by 0.5% Level Requirement: 45 ¡­¡­ These Silver grade metal armor boots are amazing! They had higher Defense than even my Dark Steel¨Cgrade chest armor, but what really attracted my eyeballs were the bonuses, 18 Strength and 15 Stamina! Every level-up, player would get 5 stats points to allocate, and this pair of boots gave 33. They basically gave its wearer 6 levels worth of stats! Saying they were amazing would be a severe understatement! Even better, they gave the wearer 0.5% movement speed. It was a small boost, but it wasn¡¯t negligible. For example, if I was wearing this pair of boots now it would only be a matter of time before I outran my pursuers. Very pleased with my first finding, I put the Stormy War Boots back into the bag and checked out my next loot. It was a lustrous sword with cryptic runes floating above its blade. It had a grave, no-nonsense design, and it was clearly made for slaughter! I waved my hands and brought up the sword¡¯s stats. My mind immediately went blank. Ghost Ice Soul (Gold-grade) Attack: 115~150 Strength: +25 Stamina: +20 Passive: Increases user¡¯s ice-based attacks by 7% Level Requirement: 50 ¡­¡­ A Gold-grade weapon! An actual Gold-grade weapon! I felt like my heart was about to leap out of my throat. At this stage of the game, this weapon was practically a Divine Armament. Not only was its Attack four times greater than my Weeping Fire Blade¡¯s, it also gave its user 45 stat points. Moreover, it boosted power of any ice-based attacks by a whopping 7%. This item alone could turn an average player into a top-tier pro! I put the Ghost Ice Soul back into my bag and thanked my lucky stars again. If the sword had dropped when I was killed, I would¡¯ve regreted this loss of opportunity for the rest of life! The exit was now right in front of me. I continued to run full speed toward it. But just as I was about to reach the exit, I suddenly felt a cold gleam making its way toward me. It was the Assassin skill, Cold Blade! Crack! 187! Damn, what a powerful attack! I glanced sideways, and a face scrunched up in rancor entered my view. It was none other than the greatest assassin of the Mad Dragon guild, Unyielding Mad Dragon! ¡°Die, motherfucker!¡± Unyielding Mad Dragon ran toward me with shocking speed. When he passed through my sides, an unbearable pain exploded from my waist area and lowered my movement speed drastically! Beep! Combat Log: Player ¡°Unyielding Mad Dragon¡± used ¡°Poisoned Weapon IV¡±. Your movement speed is reduced by 35% for 12 seconds! Shit, he learned Poisoned Weapon already? I couldn¡¯t help but swear in my head. At this point, the situation was absolutely disadvantageous for me! Unyielding Mad Dragon didn¡¯t dare to get too close to me because he was worried about my Pardon skill. It would¡¯ve been a piece of cake for me to one-shot a low-HP assassin like him. Thus, he took out a black card from his bag and tossed it into the air instead. Thunder assaulted my ears for a moment before three lightning bolts dropped right on top of my head! Bang bang bang! 176! 198! 201! It was a Thunder Beast Card, an offensive-type Skill Card that dealt massive damage to its target. God knows how much money Unyielding Mad Dragon had spent to buy it! It was a deadly attack, and my HP hit rock-bottom in the blink of an eye. I quickly downed a Rank 3 Health Potion to stay in the fight. If this situation continued, I would run out of options very, very soon! By now, Roaming Dragon, Coldmoon Rose and the remaining members of their party had caught up to me. They looked absolutely livid, and all they wanted to do right now was murder the shit out of me. In that moment, I made peace with the fact that I would have to die again to my enemies. Clearly, this ambush wasn¡¯t going to end perfectly like it did in the past. Coldmoon Rose was about to catch up to me and I had been poisoned by Unyielding Mad Dragon. Swhoosh swhoosh! She fired a Penetrating Arrow and a Devil Piercing Arrow at me the moment she got into range. Then, she followed up the attack with a harsh Volley. Clenching her teeth and fuming in anger, Coldmoon Rose said, ¡°How dare you kill-steal our boss, you bastard! You will die without a grave to your name!¡± Man, this woman is seriously wicked. No wonder she¡¯s a pair with an equally wicked man like Roaming Dragon. I guess birds of a feather really do flock together. I stumbled out of the valley with arrows in my back. My HP was dropping right before my eyes, but there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. 100, I only have 100 HP left! 50! I¡¯m not even at 50 HP! It¡¯s all over... Just as I was about to be consumed by despair, the thick undergrowth in front of me suddenly trembled unnaturally. It looked like someone was about to come out. Rustle! A pure white figure with long, white legs pushed her way out of the undergrowth. She wore a glowing chest armor and a pair of boots. She gripped a sword in her right hand and a dagger in her left. Her hair was dancing in the air, her eyes looked like stars in the sky, and her smile looked as sweet as honey. The beautiful girl in front of me was none other than the number one player on the Heavenly Ranking of Floating Ice City, Lin Yixin! ¡°Hoho~ what a pitiful appearance.¡± Lin Yixin giggled while covering her mouth. ¡°Come on, tell me already. Where are your bullies?¡± I was just about to say something when I took an arrow to the back of my head and lost 44 HP. It was Coldmoon Rose¡¯s basic attack! My HP couldn¡¯t be any lower than it was right now. Beautiful eyes suddenly brimming with killing intent, Lin Yixin pulled out her sword and shouted, ¡°Charge! Kill them all!¡± The undergrowth shook even harder, and a dozen or so high-level, second-promotion players burst into the open and charged behind Lin Yixin. Coldmoon Rose got caught in Lin Yixin¡¯s Moon Gaze and suffered a series of random blows. Retreating hastily, she exclaimed in panicked surprise, ¡°Wind Fantasy, wh-what are you doing?¡± ¡°What?¡± the beauty replied. ¡°Why are you helping Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? What is the relationship between you two?¡± Coldmoon Rose was hoping that Lin Yixin would reconsider and stay out of this. After all, all she and Roaming Dragon wanted was the loot, Stormy War Boots and Ghost Ice Soul, I had stolen from them. However, Lin Yixin looked back at me with a smile before curling her lips. ¡°There¡¯s nothing between us. I just don¡¯t like your style¡­¡± Sword surrounded by holy energy, she fell atop Coldmoon Rose in a crushing blow and killed her without mercy. Thump! Roaming Dragon was also dead. A still-quivering arrow was stuck to his neck, and it belonged to none other than Clear Perfume, the number one archer on the Heavenly Ranking and Lin Yixin¡¯s friend, Sun Qingqing. ¡­¡­ The battle was over in less than three minutes, and not a single one of the remaining Mad Dragon guild members managed to get away. Lin Yixin had brought a lot of pros with her besides Clear Perfume such as Zi Chuanyu and Lifetaking Sword. They were all top-rate players in Floating Ice City. It looked like Lin Yixin was the leader of this group. She walked toward me and opened her palm, smiling. ¡°Give it to me?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± I asked blankly. Lin Yixin narrowed her eyes and giggled. ¡°I know that the Hill Protector God was killed by your hands, and I know there¡¯s a chance a Level 60 boss might drop a Hero¡¯s Token. If you got it, I want the right to buy it off your hands first before anyone else.¡± ¡°It didn¡¯t drop¡­¡± I spread my arms and said. Lin Yixin moved her palm closer¡ªit was literally touching my chest at this point¡ªand smiled wider. ¡°Maybe so. But I still saved your life, didn¡¯t I? Don¡¯t you think you should pay me some gold as thanks?¡± Chapter 72: Blood Shadow Bracers Unlike the last couple of times we traded, I generously put 50 gold into the trade window. The gold exchange rate dropped drastically from 100 to 80 RMB in just the last two days, and now it was only worth 70 RMB or so. Therefore, I didn''t have any problems giving Lin Yixin 50 gold for her troubles. It was nothing compared to Silver-grade boots or Gold-grade weapon I had in my bag right now. The Ghost Ice Soul was especially amazing. If I were to put the Gold-grade sword on sale, I was certain that it would sell for at least 5000 gold. It would be an unimaginable amount of money. Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open when she saw how much I was offering her. It took her a while to say, ¡°Lu Chen¡­ I was just kidding. You seem way more serious than what I would normally expect from you¡­¡± I smiled at her and said, ¡°Help yourself, seriously. I¡¯m really grateful that you saved me this time.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± She blinked once, and a gleam flitted across her eyes. She moved closer and asked right next to my ears, ¡°Tell me the truth. What exactly did the boss drop?¡± I sucked in a deep breath. If I looked down, I could see the beautiful ravine between Lin Yixin¡¯s ¡°hills¡±, and if I breathed I could smell her youthful scent. Working hard to calm myself and my heartbeat, I said, ¡°I got a Level 45 Silver-grade metal armor boots, a Level 50 Gold-grade two-handed sword, and a couple of Phantasmal Magic Stones. That¡¯s all¡­¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Lin Yixin stared at me with widened eyes. She looked really cute like this. ¡°Silver... and Gold-grade?!¡± Lin Yixin sounded very impressed. ¡°Quick, show me their stats!¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I showed her the stats of the equipment, and her astonishment grew even bigger. She murmured like she was stunned, ¡°That sword is¡­ amazing¡­¡± ¡°I know right?¡± I nodded. It was at this moment Lin Yixin took two steps backward and held her dagger in a reverse grip. She smiled at me and said, ¡°Lu Chen, aren¡¯t you afraid that I will kill you and grab this loot for myself? You should know that a Gold-grade weapon will remain invaluable for a very long time to come. It¡¯s practically a Divine Armament at this stage of the game~~¡± But I was certain that she wouldn¡¯t attack me, so I smiled and replied fearlessly, ¡°Why would I? Do it if you can. I¡¯ll just go to your dorms and take you as my compensation¡­¡± ¡°Geez!¡± Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me in exasperation and laughter. ¡°Fine, fine. If there¡¯s nothing else, I and my people will be leaving for a quest.¡± ¡°What quest?¡± ¡°We¡¯re heading to Reflection Hills to kill an undead miniboss. That¡¯s why I brought this many people in the first place. Normally, I alone am enough, you know?¡± ¡°Beauty Yi, are you planning to establish a guild soon?¡± I asked. She nodded. ¡°Of course. How am I going to fight against Mad Dragon and Gods of Destruction without one? Even you have the Bloody Mercenaries workshop, don¡¯t you? I¡¯m the one who¡¯s falling behind here.¡± ¡°Haha, how can my Bloody Mercenaries possibly compare to your group?¡± Lin Yixin smiled and shot me a meaningful look. Then, she turned her back toward me and said, ¡°Alright, we¡¯re leaving. Take care and don¡¯t die to a mob~¡± Fuck, do I look like a noob who would make such a mistake? I snorted, but Lin Yixin had already entered Reflection Hills. Her white outfit somehow made even someone of her stature look heroic. She truly was a beautiful, attractive and outstanding light wanderer! I turned around and went on my way. It was time to turn in my own quest, and if I stayed any longer, the Mad Dragon guild would be all over me again. This was the early game, and no one had invincible gear. It might be possible to kill seven or eight people with skill and accumulated in-game advantages, but fighting dozens of people solo could only end in one way. I reached the Night Creatures¡¯ temporary camp and turned in the quest item. Seized by deep emotion, the old skeleton looked up and thanked the heavens. ¡°O¡¯ great and selfless Queen Sophia, your eternal light shall illuminate every corner of the continent!¡± Ding~! System Notice: You have completed the quest [Traitorous Blood Shadow Army]. You have gained 12000 EXP, 450 Reputation and quest reward: ¡°Blood Shadow Bracers¡±! ¡­¡­ This quest rewards equipment?! Overjoyed, I opened my bag in a hurry and find a pair of blood-red bracers lying quietly in a corner. I took them out, checked their stats, pleasantly surprised to find that it was a Dark Steel¨Cgrade item! Blood Shadow Bracers (Dark Steel¨Cgrade) Defense: 35 Strength: +9 Level Requirement: 40 It was a pretty good item and much better than the Iron-grade bracers I was wearing. They gave 35 Defense and 9 Strength. Compared to 8 Defense and 2 Strength of my previous bracers¡­ there was nothing to compare. I equipped the bracers immediately, and my whole arm, all the way to my palm, was covered by blood-red armor. I was now a bonafide high-level warrior, and my Defense had increased drastically. ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Class: Undead Swordsman (Bronze Swordsman) Level: 42 HP: 850 Attack: 173~312 Defense: 195 Magic Resist: 0 Reputation: 1780 Luck: 0 ¡­¡­ My total Defense was still lower than my Dark Wasp¡¯s, but it was much better compared to most warriors out there. Those people were currently gathered at the forest camps outside Floating Ice City, shouting, ¡°Level 30 high-DEF tank applying to be MT, 120 DEF, totez solid¡­¡± I let out a sigh of relief and set my sights on Level 45 so I could put on the Silver-grade boots. This was probably the first Silver-grade to drop from a boss in Floating Ice City¡¯s domain. This item was sure to make passersby want to PK me on sight. Of course, they wouldn¡¯t know I had a Level 50 Gold-grade sword, else who knows how many people would hunt me to the ends of the world. I took out a return scroll and crushed it. I wanted to go back to Floating Ice City and relax by making some Rank 5 Magic Consumables first! Swhoosh! The first thing I did upon returning to the bustling city was store the Stormy War Boots and the Ghost Ice Soul in the warehouse. Then, I took out a huge amount of food ingredients, made 50 Rank 4 Green Pepper Meatballs and reached Rank 5 Cooking! After that, it was time to make some Rank 5 Consumables! Braised Chicken. Requires: Chicken Meat x30, Salt x10, Green Pepper x15, Garlic x10. Restores 500 MP. Salt could be purchased, I still have a lot of Green Peppers, and I just finished gathering a bunch of Garlic. The only food ingredient I¡¯m lacking is Chicken Meat. For now, I guess I have no choice but to buy it from other players. I walked to the center of the square and shouted, ¡°WTB Chicken Meat, 50 copper each, or entire stack for 25 silver! Make offers now if you wish to trade. I only need 20 stacks!¡± A group of foragers who had been waiting to sell their Chicken Meat since a long time ago immediately rushed toward me while yelling, ¡°Buy my Chicken Meat or I¡¯ll burn your whole goddamn family, fucker!¡± I chose the foragers who looked pleasant to the eye and bought 50 stacks of Chicken Meat in one go. It was cheaper than expected¡ª4 stacks for 1 gold¡ªand in my hands, they were destined for much greater things. Rank 5 Consumables were worth a lot, to say the least! Now that I have all the ingredients, it is time to cook! Ding~! System Notice: You have made Braised Chicken x1. Cooking Proficiency +5! Ding~! System Notice: You have made Braised Chicken x3. Cooking Proficiency +5! Ding~! System Notice: You have made Braised Chicken x1. Cooking Proficiency +5! Ding~! System Notice: You have made Braised Chicken x2. Cooking Proficiency +5! ¡­¡­ I was shocked. As it turned out, there was a chance to proc 3 products per craft when Cooking skill reached Rank 5! Ha! Haha! I¡¯m rich! The ingredients were majority of the crafting costs, and this reduced my effective cost per product by a lot! I could finally mass produce Magic Consumables! I observed the process carefully and concluded that the chance of getting 3 Braised Chickens was about 20%, chance for proccing 2 was about 30%, and half the crafts ended in a single product. All in all, it was incredibly worthwhile. It took 50 MP every time I used the Cooking skill, so I quickly ran out of MP after several uses. But instead of waiting for my MP to regenerate itself, I ate a Rank 4 Consumable and continued synthesizing. I had made them myself, so I was free to use them however I liked. I ran out of Chicken Meat ten minutes later, so I went out to buy more before getting back to work. The process repeated itself until I ran out of Green Pepper some time later. Half an hour later, I finally used up all 37 sets of the Garlic I had gathered earlier that day. The cost of purchasing additional Green Pepper, Chicken Meat and Salt was shocking¡ªa whopping 45 gold in total! However, the result was well worth the cost. I now had 389 Braised Chickens in my bag, a wonderful Rank 5 delicacy that hadn¡¯t even shown its face on the market yet! There was basically no mage who would complain about a Magic Consumable that restored 500 MP in one go, but my real target market were the priests. Mages at least had Magic Recovery skill to recover MP when they hit Level 50, but priests had no choice but to rely on Magic Consumables. At higher levels, no one wanted a priest who couldn¡¯t afford to sustain their healing output. At the current stage, most priests in Floating Ice City relied on Rank 2 Glutinous Rice Balls¡ªa Magic Consumable that restored 200 MP with a 60-second cooldown¡ªto sustain themselves. Unless they used their MP frivolously, it was enough for most situations. Moreover, many foragers and cooks had hit higher ranks, so Glutinous Rice Balls were no longer the rare and precious food they had been a week earlier. They now cost 50 copper each, a paltry sum of money that was affordable to all but the poorest of players. Naturally, my Rank 5 Braised Chickens weren¡¯t meant to be sold to Level 20 priests. No, they were meant to be sold to high-level priests and mages at Level 35 or above, such as Dominating Mage God who had reached Level 42. There was no way he was able to keep up with his MP consumption unless he was being fed Magic Consumables of Rank 4 or higher! Everyone in the Domination Clan seemed pretty rich. I¡¯m sure they can afford all the consumables they could ever want. I brought up the chat window and messaged Du Thirteen. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Du Thirteen replied, ¡°Little Gui¡¯s leveling¡­ there¡¯s a girl who¡¯s also leveling nearby¡­ you wanna come and take a look? She¡¯s really fresh¡­¡± ¡°Get lost!¡± I was a fool to expect better from Thirteen. I replied, ¡°Come to Floating Ice City right away. I have a mission for you!¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯m coming right away!¡± There was a flash of light from nearby. It was Du Thirteen teleporting over using a return scroll. Face flushed with redness, he asked, ¡°So, what¡¯s this new mission, Lu Chen?¡± I brought up the trade window and selected Braised Chicken. ¡°How much do you think this would sell for, Thirteen?¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Du Thirteen stared fixedly at the Braised Chicken and murmured, ¡°My god, it¡¯s a Rank 5 Magic Consumable. You¡¯re crazy, Lu Chen. There are barely any Rank 3 Cooks in Floating Ice City, and here you are making Rank 5 Magic Consumables already¡­ if I¡¯m not mistaken, we can sell this for at least 80 silver each!¡± I nodded approvingly and said, ¡°You have a good eye. Right now, Rank 5 Magic Consumables are luxury items that only the richest can afford, and only the best priests and mages would use. Let¡¯s use this to our advantage and sell them for a gold each! I¡¯ve made a ton of Braised Chicken, and since you¡¯ve been doing nothing this whole day, your quest is to sell everything I give you!¡± I passed 350 Braised Chickens to Du Thirteen. I left a couple for myself just in case I might need them in the future. Besides that, I also gave him a couple hundred Rank 4 pelts to sell, but unlike the Braised Chickens, I gave him freedom to set whatever price he chose. I also told him to sell them 20% below the market price so we could barter away our gold as quickly as possible. Gold would only continue to drop in value, and there was no point being too attached to it. Du Thirteen was an expert in duping women and merchants, not to mention that he enjoyed the work. He happily made his way to the square to work his magic. I smiled and prepared myself to level up to 45 in 24 hours. I wanted to equip the Silver-grade Stormy War Boots before anything else! 1. Main Tank Chapter 73: Night Creatures’ Venom Frost Mound. Undead Swordsman Suren laughed at me while swinging his bony arms. ¡°Young undead, your growth has truly been an eye-opener to me. Who would¡¯ve thought that you would become a Bone Lord in less than two months? This is great news, the Night Creatures shall be joined by a powerful warrior very soon!¡± Then, Suren¡¯s eyes turned serious as he continued, ¡°However, a threat from the distant lands is approaching us, and our enemies are everywhere on this continent! Young undead, we must grab our weapons and kill them if we wish to survive in this world. We will pave a path of blood and usher a new age! But for now, a group of evil undeads has recently occupied a ridge to the south called Crow Ridge. An old friend of mine lives there, and he asked me for help in a letter I got two days ago. Head to Crow Ridge immediately and investigate the situation over there.¡± Ding~! System Notice: Do you accept the quest [Crow Ridge]? (Quest Rank: C) I instinctively shivered with anticipation. Another C rank quest? This is perfect. This is what I need to boost my level! I accepted the quest and put Frost Mound Camp behind me. Then, I opened the world map and searched for Crow Ridge. This eerie-sounding leveling zone was situated not far away to the south of Floating Ice City, and on the map the entire area was dyed in red color. Clearly it wasn¡¯t an area that was meant to be crossed, and most players heeded the warning because the Greedy Wolves outside of Crow Ridge alone were already Level 40 or higher. As of now, an average player had no hope of beating something that strong. ¡­¡­ Beneath the moonlight, a small skeleton fitted himself with a powerful set of equipment. He wore a dark Cyanfire Cloak on his shoulders, Soul Turmoil Armor around his upper body, and Beast-faced Turmoil Helmet on his head. He held a sharp blade that glowed like fire regardless of the time, and the arm holding the blade was covered with a crimson metal wristguard, making it look like it had been dyed with blood. It was none other than Blood Shadow Bracers the little skeleton had obtained not long ago. Buzzing, my Dark Wasp flew up, down, left, right and diagonal again and again until I felt like killing it with a flyswatter. I had changed its name from ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± to ¡°F-22¡± after Lin Yixin¡¯s strong protest, but later on I thought it sounded too imperialistic. So, I changed its name again to ¡°Little White Rabbit¡±, a good name that allowed the imagination to roam. I ran across the dangerous Wild Bear Forest. I encountered many players from Floating Ice City while I was making way toward Crow Ridge, and quite a couple of them looked tempted to PK me for my equipment. In the wild, my blood-red ID marked me as a killable target, and anyone with a pair of discerning eyes could tell that my items were rarities with stat bonuses at minimum. I sneered. Man, everyone wants a piece of me these days. Swhoosh! I openly revealed my full ID. Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-42 Bronze Undead Swordsman. Hmph hmph, I welcome anyone who has a death wish! I propped the Weeping Fire Blade on my shoulders and walked past them with a smile on my face. As I thought, no one dared to lift a finger against me. I was the number three pro on the Heavenly Ranking, and at this point I was pretty famous in Floating Ice City thanks to the legendary feats I had committed. For example, I had worked together with the Fruit Knife Goddess, Wind Fantasy, to snatch a boss from right under Mad Dragon¡¯s nose. I had also single-handedly defeated several top-tier pros of the Domination Clan, including the leader himself, Dominating Heaven Blade. When I neared the outer edge of Crow Ridge, a couple of Level 41 and 42 Greedy Wolves showed up, as expected. However, with my Dark Wasp, these mobs were no longer any threat to me; I could just one-shot them. Unfortunately, I would still wear down my weapon and lose durability¡­ not that it stopped me at all. After clearing out the Greedy Wolves, I stepped into Crow Ridge. A vast sea of morning fog covered my sight. It was almost impossible to see anything that was two or three steps away clearly. As I and my Dark Wasp felt our way carefully, soft, ghastly wails would occasionally make their way to our ears. Crow Ridge was definitely an ominous place. Suddenly, my Dark Wasp flapped its small wings and and hissed violently toward a certain direction. It must¡¯ve sensed a powerful opponent. I raised my eyebrows and ordered, ¡°Take ¡®em out, Little White Rabbit!¡± My Dark Wasp immediately charged forward and plunged its sting into something that I couldn¡¯t see behind the fog. When I raised my sword and charged into the fog myself, I discovered that the enemy was a monstrous woman with a translucent body and very messy hair. It looked like it was sculpted from a block of crystal, and it screamed like a wraith as it wrestled against my pet. Night Banshee Level: 45 Attack: 120~245 Defense: 180 HP: 4000 Introduction: Once a female human, her soul was possessed by the devil. These vengeful ghosts who can¡¯t enter the cycle of reincarnation are doomed to roam the wilderness forever. Eventually, they become incredibly violent and destructive. ¡­¡­ Level 45? It¡¯s just the mob I was looking for! I raised my sword and charged forward to support my Dark Wasp. I successfully dealt massive damage with a lightning-quick Pardon + Slayer Slash combo and elicited a bloodcurdling scream from the Night Banshee! MISS! 1894! The mob was almost within one-shot range after my Dark Wasp attacked it with 3-hit Flurry. One quick basic attack later, the Night Banshee took 445 damage and died! Swhoosh! The Night Banshee faded way, turning into a stream of light that flew into me, boosting my experience. It also dropped a 55 Quality Big Magic Stone. Tsk tsk, how shoddy. I would be lucky if it managed to fetch a price of 10 silver. I opened my palm and shouted, ¡°Death Plunder!¡± Ding~! System Notice: You have obtained Ragged Cloth! A rotten piece of cloth appeared in my hands, and I threw it away like the rubbish it was. The cloth landed beautifully atop of the Dark Wasp¡¯s head, causing it to struggle like its very life depended on it. By the time it finally tore the cloth to shreds and broke free, I had already absorbed the Night Banshee¡¯s soul spark and left to search for my next target. I wandered around Crow Ridge for about an hour or so before the blazing hot sun finally dispelled the fog completely. It was a barren and rather uninteresting place with human skeletons littering the ground and rows of crows standing atop wilted tree branches. I spotted a couple of dilapidated houses atop a distant mound. They were literally wobbling due to the harsh wind that was blowing against their walls. Hmm, if I have to guess, Suren¡¯s old friend probably lives in one of those houses! I nodded confidently to myself before fighting my way toward the house with my pet. Hordes of Level 45 banshees or Level 45 skeleton mooks stood in my way, but their end was one and the same¡ªdeath, and their undead sparks taken by yours truly. Bang! I kicked open the wooden door of the rightmost house and looked inside. Manners? I¡¯m a Night Creature, not a gentleman. The little house was completely empty. This probably meant that my target was in the next building. I went to the second house and gave its rotten door a gentle push. To my surprise, it fell inward and split in half on the floor! Damn, the door had crumbled at the slightest touch. Does it mean I¡¯m a jinx or something? A terrible stench assaulted my nose the moment I entered the building. I even heard a strange swallowing noise coming from inside. What I saw stunned me into silence¡ª A corpse that barely qualified as an undead was tied to a long table. The reason I said this was because the corpse was struggling quite visibly against its binds. Its stomach was covered in stitches, and its face was that of a middle-aged man. Its eyes were completely rolled to the back of its skull, and it was screaming with a face filled with pain. A test tube filled with some sort of green liquid was secured right above his chest. Working beside the corpse was an old man with white hair and a rosy complexion. He was shaking the green liquid inside his gooseneck flask, and the line of text floating above his head read ¡°Court Alchemist, Shuy¡±. Shuy turned purple when he saw my arrival. He murmured, ¡°Are¡­ are you a high-rank Night Creature? How¡­ how did you find this place?¡± ¡°You seem quite afraid of Night Creatures?¡± I asked. Shuy uttered through gritted teeth, ¡°Those damn monsters are responsible for turning the living into the living dead! I would burn their bodies and scatter their ashes in the abyss if I could!¡± I replied, ¡°Relax, I¡¯m not a Night Creature. I¡¯m just an aimless undead searching for the courage to live on despite having lost my living body.¡± Shuy finally relaxed and nodded. ¡°Alright, young undead. How did you find this place?¡± ¡°My teacher, the Undead Swordsman Suren asked me to come over and help you out.¡± ¡°Aha, that old fellow? Now that I think about it, he¡¯s been dead for over 50 years, hasn¡¯t he? I didn¡¯t think he would still remember me. In that case, student of Suren, I have a very difficult quest that I would like you to accomplish for me!¡± ¡°Mn. Tell me.¡± Shuy put down the flask he was holding and pointed at the undead on the table. ¡°As you can see, I¡¯m performing an experiment. Night Creatures have the ability to transform humans into destructive beings that are neither living nor dead. Hmph! In that case, I, the Court Alchemist, will attempt the opposite and return a Night Creature to the realm of living! ¡°Is that so?¡± I put my hand over the undead¡¯s nose to see if he was well and truly dead. But to my surprise, the damn thing tried to take a bite from my hand! Clank! However, the metal covering my hands was more than adequate protection against the sudden attack. Instead of biting off my fingers, the undead lost two of its incisors instead. I looked at Shuy and asked, ¡°Esteemed master, is this the result of your research?¡± Shuy scratched his head and laughed. ¡°This is just a minor accident, young man. Although a Night Creature¡¯s bite can cause a human to catch the plague and transform into a Night Creature, you were already dead in the first place. Naturally, you have nothing to worry about.¡± I nodded. ¡°What should I do?¡± Shuy let out a cough before declaring, ¡°At a small town approximately 500 meters to the south of Crow Ridge, a group of vile Night Creatures has built a giant stove to cook the bodies of the dead and spread the plague. You will head there immediately, kill them all and fill this flask with the venom in their stove! If you can accomplish this without dying even once, I will bestow a generous reward upon you. Now, make haste, young undead!¡± Ding~! System Notice: You have accepted the quest [Night Creatures¡¯ Venom]! (Quest Rank: C) Description: Head to the town to the south of Crow Ridge. Kill 1000 Vile Imps and collect one Night Creature Venom Sample for Court Alchemist Shuy. Be careful, imps boast great numbers and offensive power. They can tear you to pieces! Chapter 74: Coldmoon Rose’s Invitation After exiting Crow Ridge, I followed a narrow and winding road to the bottom of the ridge. According to the map, there should be an occupied human town not far to the south. On the map, the zone looked so red it might as well be black, meaning that it was extremely dangerous to a player of my level. I checked the time. It was past 11 pm. Looking at my friend list, Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi were still fighting, while Lin Yixin and Murong Mingyue had already gone offline. I suddenly felt like visiting He Yi to see how she was doing. This wasn¡¯t the first time I was seized by such an impulse, but even if I managed to gather the courage, what would I even say to her? ¡°Boss, take me as your lover since I died for your sake¡±? I was not immune to wealth or poverty, but I did have a bottomline. I had always tried to rely on myself and not become a burden to others. I was unwilling to live on someone else¡¯s charity or owe others. After all, it was the only way I could be true to myself and lead a carefree life. ¡­¡­ In the middle of a nearby town, I saw a huge cooking pot with venom, bits of flesh and white bones churning inside. The thick, greenish liquid boiled and bubbled before evaporating into a column of deadly smoke. The cooking pot was surrounded by a horde of low-level Night Creatures called Imps, a type of evil humanoid monsters. They had short, crooked bodies less than a meter tall, and their blood-red skin made them look like midgets whose skin had been completely peeled off from their flesh. However, unlike midgets, their expressions were ruthless, and would occasionally let out incomprehensible cries while swinging the sticks in their hands. As I sneaked my way into the town, I spotted a lone Imp doing exactly that. It was Level 46, and it was perfect fodder to level up my character. ¡°Get him, Little White Rabbit!¡± The Dark Wasp heeded my call and zipped toward the Imp like lightning. Three consecutive hits later, the Level 46 Imp had lost two-fifths of his HP. At Rank 3, Flurry was a truly powerful skill. The Weeping Fire Blade rose and fell squarely on the Imp¡¯s body. Pardon and Slayer Slash easily took away its remaining HP. Swhoosh! An impressive stream of experience flew into my chest and bumped by experience bar a little. At this rate, my bar would fill up after cleaning the entire area. I would probably hit Level 44 once I turned in the quest too. I spotted a group of three Imps not far away from me. They wouldn¡¯t be as easy to kill as this lone Imp, but I didn¡¯t hesitate too long before coming to a decision¡ªkill! Imps were sociable creatures. If a group of three was too much for me, I could give up on the quest anyway. Luckily, the situation was far from hopeless. I couldn¡¯t challenge three Level 46 monsters alone, but my boss-tier pet, the Dark Wasp, helped even out the odds. Though I definitely still needed to plan out this battle carefully and ensure that the Dark Wasp never fell below half HP. Otherwise, it would mean the death of me. A term suddenly flashed across my head. ¡°Luring¡±! Luring was a simple concept, but it was definitely worth the time to polish. Normal luring only reduced the number of aggroed mobs, whereas true luring reduced the amount of damage a player would take. Splitting my attention into two, I took control over both myself and my Dark Wasp before progressing carefully. Now that I think about it, I suppose this counts as dual multitasking? Of course, this level of multitasking was nothing to me. Back in the days, I had crushed Candlelight Shadow, the so-called ¡°Starcraft Emperor¡±, I had to do four different things at the same time. That was something he wasn¡¯t willing to accept even to this day. The Dark Wasp flew forward, paused for a second and deleted 40% HP from an Imp using Flurry. Under my control, it quickly flew to the right and dodged the attacks of the other two Imps. At the same time, I charged the wounded Imp from behind and killed it in three strikes. The Dark Wasp was fast, and it was able to sting the Imp in front of it before the Imp¡¯s aggro was transferred to me, dealing an impressive 754 damage. Not only did I follow up the attack like a shadow and slashed at the back of the Imp¡¯s head repeatedly, I purposely positioned myself so that the third Imp couldn¡¯t get to my Dark Wasp. This basically meant that the Dark Wasp and the second Imp were locked into a one-on-one fight. As a result, it was able to regain most of the HP it had lost just by regenerating normally. Crack! The Dark Wasp stopped escaping after I had cut down the second Imp. Together, we ended the third Imp¡¯s life in under 10 seconds! ¡°Aoo¡­.¡± The Imp let out a scream of pain and died. The entire battle took less than two minutes to conclude, and the Dark Wasp only lost 19% HP. I didn¡¯t lose a single health point. All in all, it was an excellent fight. I was sure no one in Floating Ice City could achieve such teamwork and synergy between the master and their pet. I sucked in a deep breath to compose myself. Multitasking two things at a time demanded a lot of brain power, and back in Spirit of Grief one minute was enough to tire me completely. But now, after two minutes of intense multitasking, all I felt was an unprecedented level of energy, calmness and clarity of mind. It looked like my mind had transcended to a whole new level. Suddenly, a cheer broke out from behind me. ¡°Beautiful! This is the first time I¡¯ve seen such excellent control! You really are one of the best pros in Floating Ice City, if not the best!¡± I turned around and found a sexy succubi archer standing behind me. She was a member of the Mad Dragon guild and Roaming Dragon¡¯s woman, Coldmoon Rose! Honestly, I was surprised to see her here. What is an archer who isn¡¯t even Level 40 yet doing at this place? Is she suicidal or something? I turned my back against her and moved on to the next group of Imps without hesitation. Right now, my current goal was to increase my level as quickly as possible. Once I leveled up to 50, I would be able to wield the Gold-grade Ghost Ice Soul and unleash its early-game potential to the max. Coldmoon Rose was clearly bothered by me ignoring her, so she stomped her foot and asked, ¡°Hey, what¡¯s wrong with you? You robbed me of my boss back at Reflection Hills, and now you¡¯re not even looking at me when I¡¯m talking to you?¡± I turned around, pressed the brim of my hood and smiled at her. ¡°Leave while I¡¯m still in a friendly, non-murderous mood. Otherwise, I make no promises about controlling my impulse.¡± Coldmoon Rose was stunned by my reply for a second. Then, she started laughing to the point where her breasts were bouncing wildly under the leather armor. As I thought, it would be wise to stay away from this seductress. ¡°Are you kidding me? You really think I¡¯m afraid of a man¡¯s impulse?¡± Coldmoon Rose giggled lovingly at me. ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, feel free to come all over me if you can. Show me what your ¡®impulse¡¯ looks like, or are you all bark and no bite? Hmph!¡± I chuckled. ¡°Forget it, you¡¯re Roaming Dragon¡¯s woman. I won¡¯t touch you.¡± ¡°Why? Is it because you¡¯re afraid of him?¡± Coldmoon Rose curled her lips seductively. I shook my head indifferently and replied, ¡°No. I simply don¡¯t want to get my hands dirty¡­¡± ¡°You!¡± Slightly angry, Coldmoon Rose said, ¡°Listen well, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. The Mad Dragon guild¡¯s fate is to hang above Floating Ice City like the afternoon sun, so on behalf of Roaming Dragon I am here to offer you two options. One, you can keep trying to fight us, but we swear to PK you and your friends¡ªGui Guzi, Wind Fantasy and everyone else¡ªdown to Level 0! Two, you can cooperate with the Mad Dragon guild. With your support, Mad Dragon will become even more invincible than we already are, and¡­¡± Coldmoon Rose puffed her chest out a little and smiled seductively. ¡°If you come to Mad Dragon, I will have someone to talk to. What do you think? I¡¯m currently at Shanghai if you want to meet me~¡± I laughed on the inside. What is this? The carrot or the stick? I put the Weeping Fire Blade on my shoulder and laughed loudly. ¡°Sis, seriously, tell Roaming Dragon to send someone else over if he really plans to win me over with a honey trap. Tell me, what else are you worth besides two flabs of fat? Hmph, I¡¯ve met far prettier women than you, so stop polluting my eyes and stay out of my sight!¡± ¡°You!¡± Coldmoon Rose flew into a humiliated rage. ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you¡¯re making your life harder than it needs to be! I thought you were an okay person, but you¡¯re really just a savage!¡± I sneered at her and shot right back. ¡°Savage? I¡¯m savage only when I¡¯m dealing with people like Roaming Dragon and you. Neither of you are deserving of humility from me!¡± ¡°You!¡± Absolutely furious, Coldmoon Rose drew her bow in an attempt to unleash the powerful Devil Piercing Arrow! The temperature in my eyes dropped several degrees colder, and I dashed toward Coldmoon Rose like an invisible shadow. By the time she was done channeling her spell, I was already right in front of her. Even the Dark Wasp was floating behind her and blocking her path of retreat. Coldmoon Rose¡¯s level was so far behind mine that there was no way she could resist at all. Bang! I reversed my grip on the Weeping Fire Blade and hit Coldmoon Rose hard on the shoulder. Collapsing on the ground with a painful groan, she glared at me hatefully and said, ¡°Im¡­ impossible, there is no man who can resist my wiles. You cannot possibly be a man¡­¡± Her comment made me feel like vomiting blood. ¡°Say that to yourself and your whole family! Hmph, I admit that you¡¯re young and beautiful, but so what? Your beauty is second-rate at most¡­¡± I was speaking from the bottom of my heart. Maybe I would¡¯ve thought that Coldmoon Rose was a top-tier beauty half a year ago, but after seeing He Yi and Lin Yixin? She really was nothing special compared to them. I held up Coldmoon Rose¡¯s sharp chin with my forefinger and smiled. ¡°A woman can be proud, but not arrogant; headstrong, but not unreasonable; flirtatious, but not fickle; forceful, but not intolerant.¡± I got up and shot her a cold look. ¡°Never show your face to me again, or I promise I won¡¯t be merciful next time!¡± Chapter 75: Elemental Barrier Coldmoon Rose got up from the grass while gnashing her teeth together in anger. It reminded me of a joke. A farmer went to visit a prostitute, and the prostitute said, ¡°It costs 10 to do it once on the grass, 20 on the chair and 50 on the bed.¡± The farmer gave her 50, and she smiled. ¡°It seems like you¡¯re a tasteful person, sir!¡± But the farmer said, ¡°What the hell are you talking about? I want to do it 5 times on the grass.¡± ¡­¡­ The Weeping Fire Blade continued to glow faintly as it diced an Imp¡¯s head to pieces. Having killed the fourth Imp, I looked at my experience bar; it had risen considerably. Dark Wasp was at 65% HP after the battle, but I was still completely untouched. All things considered, it was a pretty good result! Right now my reaction time was about 400 milliseconds at most, whereas an average person¡¯s was around 300 milliseconds. This meant that I would soon return to my peak state from before the first accident, although I was still a ways away from top pros out there. Through conditioning their brains and superior connection latency, some geniuses could reduce their effective reaction time to even 100 milliseconds. Vegetable Tofu Soup, Frivolous Scholar and Candlelight Shadow were all legendary pros at this level. Still, my condition IS steadily improving. The virus might be bringing me burning pain whenever I¡¯m under the sun, but it also helped me out of a low point in my life. Turns out this illness isn¡¯t all bad after all! I¡¯m sure that my brain delay would eventually return to the normal state, 200 milliseconds, or even lower in the near future! I continued to train and coordinate my and my pet¡¯s movements. It gave me a lethargic feeling of rebirth, as some of the skills I had long forgotten because of my crippling delay were slowly returning. I was on my way to recovering to my peak form. Some more grinding later, Pardon, Slayer Slash, Undead Energy and Regeneration of the Undead all reached Rank 4. Killing mobs became even easier than before, and my experience just kept on rising. In less than three hours, after countless Imps had fallen to my blade, a beam of golden light marked my ascension to Level 43. I was now only one level behind the highest-leveled player in the game, Lin Yixin, though I was still at third place. Coldmoon Rose didn¡¯t return after being sent away. She knew there was no point. Even if she could rally a couple hundred members to cut me down, I had a top-tier skill like Earth Escape and could retreat safely. More importantly, she knew I had returned to Floating Ice City, so she also knew that the equipment from the boss wasn¡¯t on my person. Therefore, there was no point in mobilizing so many players just for me to maybe drop a level. I looked at my experience bar and saw that it was 97%. I should be able to level up to 44 and be on equal footing with Lin Yixin after turning in this quest. Still, I was sure that she would leave me in the dust again the moment she came back online. Her Killer Wind Swordplay was incredibly powerful and greatly increased her leveling efficiency. Moreover, Lin Yixin wanted to build a guild of her own, so she would definitely do everything in her power to maintain her number one spot in the Heavenly Ranking. After all, who wouldn¡¯t want to join a guild that was commanded by the strongest player in Floating Ice City? An involuntary smile crossed my face when I thought about Lin Yixin. The girl was both a friend and a rival to me. Our relationship was slowly but surely growing more complicated over time. I left the town and headed to Crow Ridge. Upon returning to the small house, the Court Alchemist Shuy narrowed his eyes at me before laughing. ¡°Young undead, you truly are as powerful as you look. Come, this is the reward you deserve!¡± Ding~! System Notice: You have completed the quest [Night Creatures¡¯ Venom]. You have gained 14500 EXP, 550 Reputation and the quest reward: ¡°Elemental Barrier¡±! ¡­¡­ Huh? I got an equipment reward?! I hastily opened my bag and found a colorful, lustrous shield was sitting at a corner of my bag. It seemed to be of pretty high quality! My mind turned blank when I checked its stats. Elemental Barrier (Dark Steel¨Cgrade) Defense: 72 Block: 7% Stamina: +9 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 1% Level Requirement: 35 ¡­¡­ What the hell? I didn¡¯t expect to see such amazing stats on a Level 35 item! It has more Defense than even my Silver-grade war boots, this is amazing! In Heavenblessed, the only class that could equip shields was Magic Knight. It was why they were certainly going to be the tankiest class in the future, with highest HP and Defense. They were the obvious choice for the main tank in a party too! If this is what a Level 35 Dark Steel¨Cgrade looks like, I can imagine how overpowered higher-level shields will be. All classes have their unique characteristics, I suppose. For example, Warriors like me relied on explosive power of two-handed swords to gain an advantage. Yep, this Elemental Barrier is seriously fantastic. I can sell it at Floating Ice City or gift it to Gui Guzi! I tried chatting with the NPC a bit longer, but he didn¡¯t have another quest to offer me. Disappointed, I had no choice but to return to Floating Ice City. Swhoosh! It was 8 am when I appeared at the city square. Most hardworking players had already come online and rubbing shoulders with each other at the auction house. It was a bustling scene. I went inside and sold two Iron-grade cloth armors I had in my bag. They dropped while I was killing the Imps, and they were worth dozens of silver at most. I sent a message to Gui Guzi and asked, ¡°How¡¯s your shield right now?¡± Gui Guzi replied excitedly, ¡°Brother B and I got a Level 39 Dark Steel¨Cgrade shield after we killed a boss last night. It has 65 Defense and +11 Stamina. Amazing, right?¡± Well, that¡¯s a downer. I guess I sell the shield to some other Magic Knight. I was just about to submit it when a melodious voice rang beside me. It was a familiar voice that I had been longing to hear all this time. ¡°Mm¡­ Mingyue, this is a bit expensive, isn¡¯t it? A 100 gold price tag on a Level 25 Dark Steel¨Cgrade Shield? Did poverty get too deep into this seller¡¯s head?¡± ¡­¡­ I turned around in shock and found two beautiful girls standing next to a trade window. One of them¡ªas well-endowed and beautiful as ever¡ªwas Murong Mingyue, and the other one was a Level 29 female magic knight. Her equipment wasn¡¯t very impressive, but she wielded a black spear, and she wore an elegant, black chest armor that tightly hugged her body. Her curves were in no way less impressive than Murong Mingyue¡¯s, and the smile on her face accentuated her already attractive looks even more. She looked beautiful and charming even though all she was doing was standing and observing the equipment that had been put on sale. As for the line of text floating above her head¡ª From Water LV-29 Magic Knight ¡­¡­ He Yi! It¡¯s actually He Yi! I sucked in a deep breath while my heart beat like it was about to explode. This was the second time I saw He Yi in Heavenblessed, and she still looked as gentle and natural as ever. Even her most careless smile was enough to make the world swoon on their feet. Murong Mingyue said, ¡°Eve, can we cut to the chase already? You¡¯ve been carrying around this Level 4 Common-grade shield since forever! Even if your goal is to cut down on expenses, this isn¡¯t the way to go about it, not to mention that your wealth goes up and down by the hundred thousands every second in the real world. Ask yourself: do you really lack 100 gold? Right now this Level 25 Dark Steel¨Cgrade shield is the best shield in the auction house. I admit it¡¯s a bit expensive, but it will boost your Defense by a lot and make my job as a healer a lot easier.¡± But despite Murong Mingyue¡¯s advice, He Yi still couldn¡¯t come to a decision, her pursed lips and knitted eyebrows a portrayal of her internal struggle. A while later, she ultimately said, ¡°Forget it, I¡¯d rather grind for one!¡± Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t know what to say. ¡°Seriously? How long do you think that¡¯ll take¡­ Eve, you are the boss of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, you know. You can¡¯t still carry a Level 4 shield with you¡­¡± He Yi: ¡°...¡± I finally mustered my courage and greeted them using the low, raspy voice that was unique to a Night Creature, ¡°Hi, Beauty Murong. Do you still remember me?¡± Murong Mingyue was caught off-guard by my greeting. He Yi¡¯s bright gaze also made me feel a bit uncomfortable. ¡°It¡¯s you, handsome?¡± Murong Mingyue smiled. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to see you here. So? What do you want to talk about?¡± I took out the Elemental Barrier and said, ¡°I got this shield just this morning. I heard that your friend needs this, and we are friends, aren¡¯t we? So I¡¯ve decided to sell this to you cheap!¡± ¡°Oh? Let me see¡­¡± After Murong Mingyue saw the shield¡¯s stats, her mouth fell open as she exclaimed, ¡°My god, it¡¯s a Dark Steel¨Cgrade shield! And these stats are just¡­ crazy¡­¡± She looked up at me and asked, ¡°Sinks Into Sand, this shield is very expensive, isn¡¯t it?¡± I gave her a smile. ¡°Make me an offer and I¡¯ll sell it to you. I can¡¯t use this shield anyway.¡± Murong Mingyue¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Does that mean you¡¯ll sell it to me even if my offer is 1 gold?¡± I was speechless. ¡°Come on, that¡¯s too cruel¡­¡± He Yi giggled softly before saying, ¡°How about 20 gold then?¡± This Dark Steel¨Cgrade shield was worth 100 gold at minimum, but He Yi¡¯s pure and flawless smile was too much for me to bear. Oh well, if He Yi wants to slaughter my purse, what can I do besides accept my fate? The shield was a lucky quest reward anyway. I might as well give it to He Yi as a reunion gift. I nodded slightly and said, ¡°Alright, 20 gold it is!¡± He Yi exclaimed in shock. She clearly didn¡¯t expect me to agree to this. Murong Mingyue¡¯s mouth was agape when I passed the shield directly into He Yi¡¯s hands and said, ¡°Now, give me 20 gold so I can log out. I¡¯ve been online since last night so please be quick¡­¡± He Yi nodded and gave me 20 gold, and the losing trade was complete. I waved my hand once and walked out of the auction house. ¡°Wait¡­¡± He Yi chased me out of the auction house, but I was already entering a nearby inn. By the time she reached the inn, I had already begun logging out, my character fading out of existence. He Yi stared at me with watery eyes, murmuring, ¡°It¡¯s not him? It¡¯s not him¡­ right¡­¡± I hadn¡¯t logged out completely when she said this, so my heart ached as the system counted down the seconds. Just how much longer will it take for my body to go back to normal so that we can reunite in real life? I returned to the real world in pain. It was already late morning. Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen had logged out as well. We ate a quick meal outside before returning to our workshop and falling asleep in our beds. In my dreams, He Yi¡¯s exquisite face seemed to appear to me. As the blurry images floated inside my head, I could see her tears, hear her laughter and smell the fragrance of past time. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had been the thing that tied our hearts together. It cursed us with eternal longing and many wounds, but we still persisted like fools who didn¡¯t know what regret meant. ¡­¡­ Chapter 76: Its Time To Shoot, Sensei! Scorched under the summer sun, many cars could be seen on the roads, and the street stalls had already opened. Du Thirteen, half-naked to show off his muscles, flirted with girls in short skirts on the street. He was extremely lonely. "Good legs!" Thirteen clapped and laughed. "If only I could touch them.¡± Gui Guzi gulped down half a bottle of beer and said, "Brother B looks really perverted...¡± I nodded, and chugged half a bottle as well to express my accord for Gui Guzi¡¯s words. "Thirteen, how much did we earn from last night''s business?" I begun inquiring about the workshop''s income. Du Thirteen thought and said, "350 Rank 5 Magic Consumables. I raised the price slightly and sold them for 408 gold. You gave me more than 300 pelts, they all sold for 40 to 60 silver each, netting 150 gold. In total, 558 gold. I exchanged everything at the trade platform and converted it at 55 RMB per gold rate. Taking away the bank fees, we got 30383 yuan and 10 cents!" I nodded and said in praise, "Good, you are really skilled at doing business.¡± Gui Guzi asked, "A declining business?" Du Thirteen said, "You know too much...¡± I laughed and raised my bottle of beer. "Come, let''s toast to the first big revenue of the workshop!" "Good!" The beer bottles clinked together, and gave off the sparks of youth. We ordered several dishes, things like braised fish, spicy duck, and potatoes with green pepper. They were all good dishes to drink with. We managed to finish two cases of beer, about seven or so bottles each. We felt extremely tipsy. Gui Guzi leaned back in his chair and grinned. "I didn¡¯t expect to encounter two good friends after surviving my great illness...¡± Du Thirteen raised his empty bottle and tried to drink. He asked, "Little Gui, what great illness?" Gui Guzi said, "Acute appendicitis, almost died. I logged on just a day after my surgery. My body was too weak, my measured vitals were all low. And so, I got the Undead Knight class.¡± I asked in concern, "Are you alright now?" "Yes, no problem. Thanks, boss.¡± Gui Guzi laughed and said, "Right, Boss Broken Halberd, you got Undead Swordsman, what happened to you?" I stilled. Du Thirteen was about to speak when I interrupted him and said, "Nothing really. I had a bad cold that day, and my situation was similar to yours.¡± Gui Guzi put down the beer bottle and said, "That''s good. The three of us will live a century, and make the Bloody Mercenaries famous throughout China. Ha, we can¡¯t let anything happen to us. We have to keep on living and bring calamity to others!" I nodded and smiled. "No problem. Let''s toast; to our long life!" "Cheers!" "Cheers!" I used a chopstick to support his tottering head and said, "Thirteen, you¡¯re drunk. How could Lin Yixin be here?" "Look, it is her...¡± Du Thirteen stood up and pointed to the other side. As expected, there was a beauty standing next to a booth, dressed in a dark brown uniform and a short skirt. Her long white legs looked alluring. She seemed to be waiting for something, holding a bag in her hand, as she looked into the distance. Du Thirteen took a few stumbling steps. I feared he would end up under the bus, and hurriedly grabbed his arm. But the guy waved his arm and shouted toward Lin Yixin, "Beauty Lin, such a coincidence, are you also eating street food?" Lin Yixin heard him and looked over at us. She looked both amused and exasperated. I felt extremely awkward. I pulled Thirteen back as I cursed, "Damn, street food your mom! She drives a Benz, why would she eat street food!" But it was too late. Lin Yixin was already looking at the incoming cars, crossing the street as her hair gently waved in the wind. "Hm? Lu Chen, such a coincidence!" Lin Yixin stood in front of me with a smile. She sniffed hard, her brows furrowing immediately, and said, "How much did you drink?" I used my intoxication and looked at this young beauty, saying with a smile, "Not much, not much, drunk after three jars...¡± Lin Yixin said exasperatedly, "Go die, don¡¯t try to throw poetry at me!" At this time, a black Lexus stopped on the road. The window came down. A young man with delicate features smiled and said, "Lin Yixin, how come you''re on the other side? Let''s go, we¡¯re shooting at 7 pm!" "Oh, coming!" Lin Yixin responded. She said to me with a smile, "You worked really hard last night, right?" At the side, the boss of the stall gaped. Such a beautiful girl praising me for my work last night? Who knew what she meant? Lin Yixin continued, "Continue to work tonight. I forgot to tell you that I reached Level 46 today. You are too slow...¡± "Damn!" I was speechless. Her leveling speed was terrifying! I glanced at the young man in the Lexus, twisting my mouth and asking, "Beauty Yi, are you going to work? What kind of work?" In my memories, ¡°shooting¡± was something very particular actors, like Sola Aoi, would say. Thus, I felt slightly uncomfortable. What was Lin Yixin doing? Was this bright-eyed beauty in that profession? I reached a terrifying conclusion. Seeing my expression of despair, Lin Yixin gritted her teeth in anger. She suddenly went forward and grabbed my collar, saying angrily, "You bastard. Hm, if you have the time, come with me and see for yourself!" I was bewildered. "You don¡¯t mind me watching?" Lin Yixin''s gaze could kill people. "Who cares! Come with me!" As she spoke, Lin Yixin pulled me into the car. Du Thirteen was shocked. "Lu Chen... Damn! Lu Chen is being kidnapped...¡± Bang! Extremely drunk, Gui Guzi held half of his cracked beer bottle, pointing at the auntie baking sweet potatoes on the other side of the street and shouted, "Damn! You dare kidnap our Boss Broken Halberd? Don¡¯t get cocky. You think I won¡¯t cut you?" Lin Yixin sat next to me and watched the comedy outside. She was speechless. "Are these the core members of the Bloody Mercenaries? What kind of species are you raising...¡± I was even more speechless. I shouted out the window, "Gui Guzi, Thirteen, go back and sleep, or level up!" Gui Guzi said, "Boss Broken Halberd, take care.¡± Du Thirteen lamented, "This meal is on me again, damn...¡± ¡­¡­ The Lexus flew onto the bridge and headed for the technology park. I felt my head was heavy and dozed off against the seat. Lin Yixin glanced at me and muttered, "Are you even an expert? One day you¡¯ll be sold without even realizing...¡± Some unknown period of time later, someone shook my arm. I looked up. Oh, I fell asleep on Lin Yixin''s shoulder. Her face was bright red as she pointed at her shoulder, sobbing. ¡°My new clothes!" Damn! There was a wet streak on Lin Yixin''s dark brown uniform. I asked, "What is that?" Lin Yixin gave me a soft punch and said, "Someone''s drool. Quick, get out of the car!" After leaving the car, I appeared on a plaza with a tall building ahead. The words "VITRA" were engraved on the wall. After a moment of thought, I said. ¡°This logo looks familiar.¡± The young driver said, "VITRA, a famous international clothing branch. It entered Chinese market two years ago, and is very popular on the market.¡± I murmured, "No wonder. I''ve only seen it in the mall before...¡± Lin Yixin covered her mouth and laughed softly. "Stop wasting words, go!" "Go where?" "Go see me shooting~" I followed Lin Yixin. We came to a brightly-lit photoshoot inside VITRA. Two photographers with long hair came forward and looked oddly at me. Then they asked Lin Yixin, "Little Lin, who is this?" Lin Yixin thought and said, "No one important. What styles are we shooting today?" "Oh, fourteen new styles. Let''s try to finish them all in two hours.¡± "Good!" Lin Yixin took a new set of clothes and entered the changing room. A few minutes later, she walked out. Her appearance made the entire room light up. She wore a pink dress. While it wasn¡¯t necessarily that pretty on its own, it looked unspeakably beautiful and intoxicating on Lin Yixin. I realized my mistake. Lin Yixin''s work was not like Sensei Aoi¡¯s, she was just a normal model. Tsk tsk, this VITRA really had good eyes to pick a beauty like Lin Yixin to be their model. Really good eyes! Lin Yixin transformed and dazzled the eyes like a beautiful fairy with this change of clothes. I was lost for words, and the photographers were singing praises next to me. Lin Yixin would always have a beautiful smile when she faced the camera, but when she glanced over at me, she would look irritated. An hour and a half later, it was done! Lin Yixin changed back into her normal clothes. She walked next to me and said, "Let''s go, time to go back...¡± I nodded. "Mn.¡± At this time, a photographer came over and said, "Lin Yixin, uh... our boss wants me to ask, are you willing to sign a long-term agreement with VITRA? Will you be our image spokesperson?" Lin Yixin turned and smiled sweetly. "No, didn''t you sign 040?" "Uh... haha, you really aren''t willing?" The photographer looked straight at Lin Yixin, and said, "The yearly contract is worth 500,000 RMB. This is a very high salary for a student. You really won''t consider it?" Lin Yixin smiled and shook her head. "Bye!" As she spoke, she pulled my sleeve and ran out. I asked as I walked, "Why don''t you agree? 500,000 a year!" Lin Yixin said, "No reason. Even if I¡¯m farming gold, I¡¯ll earn more than that each year. Why should I sign with them? I¡¯ll have to obey others, and VITRA''s boss is an old Italian. His mere look makes my hair stand on end...¡± I laughed. "Who made you so cute...¡± "Oh?" Lin Yixin suddenly stopped outside the building and looked at me with a smile. "Am I really cute?" I nodded and said, "Yes. Many years ago, I knew this one girl, Sister Feng, who was also as cute as you¡­¡± "You... are asking for a beating!" Lin Yixin waved her fists. I dashed off, reaching the speed of 9.5-second hundred-meter dash like nothing. With the beauty chasing me, we made it to the bus stop and inserted our coins to return home. 1. Former AV idol. Chapter 77: Shadow Dancer Even at night, the city was bright. The enchanting sky above made for a beautiful blanket for an equally striking city. This was what I saw on the bus. I turned and asked Lin Yixin behind me, "Why don''t you drive?" Lin Yixin said, "I¡¯m saving on gas, it¡¯s too expensive. I told you I was very poor. You don''t believe me. If I wasn¡¯t poor, I wouldn''t have come to be a model.¡± I made a sound of acknowledgement and said, "Come to the front, I have an empty seat next to me...¡± "No!" Lin Yixin snorted and looked warily at me. "I didn¡¯t eat dinner tonight or else I would¡¯ve beaten you up. So embarrassing. How many times did you go to the washroom in half an hour?" I smiled awkwardly. "Alcohol just flies through the stomach...¡± "Hmph!" Soon, a young child, six years old or so, sat next to Lin Yixin. The child looked up at Lin Yixin and said, "Older sister, you are so beautiful!" Lin Yixin was extremely happy. "Thank you, little friend!" I turned and said, "Little friend, do you think that this older brother is handsome and a good match for this sister?" The little friend said innocently, "Uncle, you are not handsome at all...¡± Lin Yixin burst into laughter. I could not suppress my anger. I lamented the present, reminiscing about the glorious past. "I had once been called ¡®proud friend of all hooligans, two iron fists that beat up the old, weak, and sickly¡¯!" At this moment, we stopped at the traffic light. Beside the road, a golden retriever was humping a small white-haired dog happily right next to the Golden Eagle Mall. The little friend asked, "Older sister, what are those two dogs doing?" Lin Yixin flushed, thought about it, and said, "They are fighting!" I glared at her speechlessly. "What are you looking at, do you want to fight?" Lin Yixin demanded loudly. I did not say a word, and just looked at her. Lin Yixin''s face grew redder. She gritted her teeth as though she was thinking of a reason to kill me. ¡­¡­ When I returned to the workshop, it was already 9 pm. Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi were already sleeping in their rooms. My head cleared on the trip with Lin Yixin, so I logged in instead. I will first use the night to reach Level 45 to wear my Silver-grade war boots! Whoosh! Even during the night, Floating Ice City was still prosperous and busy, many small stalls filling up the streets. I left the inn and strolled through the roads paved with white stone. The plaza by the eastern gate was a very busy business area with heaps of people selling materials and equipment. There were also some second-promotion tamers selling their pets as well. After repairing my equipment, I bought potions. I took the Level 45 silver boots out of the warehouse and placed them in my bag. I had to reach Level 45 equipment with the next quest! It was time to depart. My goal was the Violet Forest behind Frost Mound. The map was solid red. Typically, that meant the monsters there were of very high level. I was strong now, and I also had my Dark Wasp that was even stronger. Grinding there shouldn¡¯t be that big of a problem. I opened the world map, and sprinted with the Dark Wasp. My crimson red name rippled over my head. My cloak flapped in the wind. As I moved past with my sword, the ground cracked. There was no doubt that I was devastatingly handsome in the game. I passed Frost Mound and talked a bit with Trainer Suren. I did not have any new skills to learn. There were few skills that could be learned from the trainers to begin with. As players increased in level, they had to get the higher-level skill drops from monsters or bosses. Therefore, one¡¯s strength couldn¡¯t be associated with just level anymore. Players had to have strong skills too. For example, Lin Yixin. While she was only Level 46, she possessed the super skill Killer Wind Swordplay. This skill alone would let her reach Level 100 without a care. Not a long time later, I stepped into Violet Forest. The surrounding scenery became exceptionally dark and lifeless. Shasha... The withered fallen leaves moved, and a rotten scent came with the ghostly wails in the wind. Everything seemed to tell me that this place was extremely dangerous. I frowned and continued forward. I didn¡¯t make it far until a black shadow pounced at me It was an undead knight. However, its level seemed relatively low and its bone spear had been broken. It wore a crude, damaged leather armor that didn¡¯t help much with its defenses. Sitting on a white bony horse covered in rusty armor, its blood-red glistening eyes glared at me! Undead knight. While it may be low tier mobs on this map, it was still very hard for me to defeat at my current level. I had to be careful. Otherwise, I would be easily defeated. Violet Undead Knight Level: 49 Attack: 240~320 Defense: 200 HP: 4200 ¡­¡­ I was already Level 44 so I could read the monster''s status window. This undead knight''s stats were slightly higher than mine in both Attack and Defense. It had more than four times my HP. If I met it head-on, I could only fight it to a standstill with my skill advantage. Even if I did manage to kill it, I wouldn¡¯t have much HP left. I mentally ordered the Dark Wasp to attack while I took a detour and attacked from the side! Whoosh! The Weeping Fire Blade cut at the side of the Violet Undead Knight, causing a large MISS. Then I rapidly swung again, my blade covered in green light rather than red this time. A Rank 4 Slayer Slash came down! 1465! Yes, not bad. However, my damage had decreased greatly. My attack power clearly could not keep up with my level. While the Weeping Fire Blade was sharp, it only had so much attack power. I had to quickly reach Level 50 and change it to my Gold-grade sword¡ªGhost Ice Soul. Then I would be able to kill this undead knight in two blows! After receiving high damage, the Violet Undead Knight roared furiously. He turned and suddenly stabbed, his spear covered in thick flames. This was clearly the most basic of Magic Knight¡¯s skills, Flame Thrust! Puchi! My chest felt a pain at being struck. The light of the Ghost Deity Armor flashed around me and hummed. A large damage number flew above my head¡ª287! I was stunned to see this. Despite the protection of the Ghost Deity Armor I still lost so much HP. The attack power of this Level 49 undead monster wasn¡¯t a joke! The Dark Wasp took the opportunity and stung twice. I slashed with a basic attack of my own. As soon as my attack landed, I retreated out of range so that the next attack would be targeted at my Dark Wasp. I had already ascertained that Violet Undead Knight would have 2.5-second delay between its attacks. Since my delay was lower than half a second now, I could take it down without receiving any damage. As for the Dark Wasp, it served me as an offensive meatshield. Who coded this Dark Wasp to have such high HP? Crack! My sword brushed past the chest armor of the undead knight, and caused 314 points of damage. This Level 49 undead knight finally fell down off the horse with a scream. It was dead! Pop! A Big Magic Stone dropped. I quickly put it away, and reached out with my palm. Death Plunder. I didn''t even get a hair. The next thing to do was naturally absorb the undead spark. Taking advantage of this opportunity to kill undead monsters, I had to quickly grow, and reach the realm of Asura. Until then, my undead face couldn¡¯t be considered handsome. My experience bar grew by a lot. The experience from challenging a high-level monster alone was indeed abundant. I took my sword and walked deeper into the Violet Forest, more Violent Undead Knights entering my view soon after. All of them were Level 49 or 50. I lured a single Level 50 monster and killed it, albeit with some difficulty. I lost half of my HP, and the Dark Wasp only had 30% HP left. I decided to only hunt Level 49 knights instead. After I reached Level 45 and equipped Stormy War Boots, my Defense would increase and I would hunt Level 50 ones easier. All of this was possible thanks to my skill and mechanics in fighting, as well as skillful dodging right at the attack intervals of monsters. A reasonable estimate for my dodge rate would be about 75%. If this was an ordinary player using a ¡°direct¡± method to kill these monsters, they would probably return to town after a few knights. I, making full use of my high Defense and high HP regeneration of the Dark Wasp, could grind there for a long time, and wouldn¡¯t leave until my stock of health potions run out. After killing a dozen undead knights, my experience had increased by 15%. It was so pleasant. With this leveling speed, I probably could reach Level 45 in two hours. After I put on the Stormy War Boots, I could challenge Level 50 monsters on my own. As I fought, I entered deep into the Violet Forest. After killing two more Level 49 Violet Undead Knights and absorbed their undead sparks I suddenly heard sobs of a young female in the bushes. Immediately, my heart jumped. I felt suspicious. This Violet Forest is filled with high-level undead monsters. Could human NPCs survive here? Even if they did, they would definitely be undead monsters. This caused me to think of the naga in the Hundred Grass Garden. A beauty that hid behind the walls and called you was not really a beauty. You only saw her beautiful face, and not her lower snake half. However, I was a dead man. I wouldn''t worry so much. Could someone kill me again? Thus, sword at the ready and Dark Wasp by my side, I strode into the forest bushes. I pushed the branches away and saw the wails¡¯ source. The sight stunned me. On the ground, under the starry sky, a young girl in leather armor lay on the grass under the trees. Her skin was white, and her hair long and red. It was a succubus. She had the same pointed ears and adorable fangs as Lin Yixin. However, her pupils were not purple but an intimidating red! Lying by her side was an exquisite longbow, clearly high-level. This was an archer NPC! Shadow Dancer Xue Wei LV-55 Night Creature General Rank NPC Chapter 78: Xue Weis Reques The archer girl looked up at me, her bloody eyes indifferent. She said softly, "Undead from afar, what did you see?" I nodded. "I saw a girl on the grass and you seem¡­ wounded?" My gaze landed on her chest where there was blood. A glowing dagger was inserted into her skin, the blood dripping onto the grass. The grass immediately withered upon contact. This told me this NPC young female was not very pure. Her blood was so toxic it could siphon life. This was a trait of high-rank Night Creatures¡ªthe living couldn¡¯t even come close! "Yes.¡± Xue Wei nodded and said quickly, "Those horrible traitors dared to wound me... wuuwuu, I failed the mission Queen Sophia had given me!" My eyebrows rose. Who is this Queen Sophia? Therefore, I asked, "Who is Sophia?" Xue Wei laughed and said, "You are an undead and don¡¯t know Sophia? Alright, I will tell you. Sophia was originally a succubus, but after a mishap, she became a Night Creature. She is the greatest Night Creature on the continent. In our tumultuous times of war, Sophia is leading millions of our brethren against the invasion of humans and elves!" I nodded. So she¡¯s the leader of the Night Creatures! Who cares? I¡¯m neutral anyway. I will follow whoever feeds me. I work for whoever can give me experience and rewards! I bent down and crouched in front of Xue Wei. I inspected her wound and asked, "How can I help you?" "My injury is very serious and I need to recover quickly...¡± Xue Wei said, opening her red lips. "Maybe, if you bring me a living person, their fresh meat can let me recover...¡± I stilled and suddenly stood up. I said decisively, "Sorry, I would never do such a thing.¡± Xue Wei looked at me in surprise and suddenly smiled. Her smile was bright and she said, "Well spoken! Young warrior, you remind me of my former stubborn self. In the first century after my death, I have never harmed a single innocent human.¡± "Oh?" I was quite surprised. "Don''t Night Creatures all eat corpses?" Xue Wei smiled and shook her head. "You should know that Night Creatures are divided by rank and strength. High-rank Night Creatures have principles. That would be Queen Sophia or I. We never go against our principles.¡± "Then why are so many Night Creatures committing atrocities across the continent, massacring human towns like a plague?" Xue Wei looked deeply at me, a hint of praise in her beautiful blood eyes. She said, "Yes, those Night Creatures are senseless. Or rather, they belong to the other of the two camps. One camp consists of friendly Night Creatures, who only want to survive. The other kind are evil, violent, and bloodthirsty, the mutual enemy of the Silver Moon Alliance and the Blood Dance Legion!" "Blood Dance Legion?" I was relieved. "Are you one of the higher-ups of the Blood Dance Legion?" Xue Wei did not hide and smiled. "Yes. I, Shadow Dancer Xue Wei, am the commander of the Blood Dance Legion¡¯s first corps!" I immediately knelt down on one knee in front of her and gave an oath of loyalty. "Boss, allow this one to be promoted. I¡¯ve been bullied at Frost Mound and came close to death many a time. I am willing to join the Blood Dance Legion and fight injustice for our continued existence!" Xue Wei laughed. "Alright, as your trial to join our faction, you must complete my mission first. It will be very difficult!¡± I nodded. "Alright, speak!" Xue Wei looked into the distance with a profound gaze. ¡°I need to absorb a large number of undead sparks to heal. Go kill at least 500 Violet Undead Knights, and use this bow to absorb their undead sparks. Once you¡¯re done, bring it back to me. I will reward you generously!" Ding~! System Notice: You have received the quest [Shadow Dancer''s Request]! (Current Quest Difficulty: C+) Description: Kill 500 Violet Undead Knights, absorb their undead sparks, and give them to Shadow Dancer Xue Wei. You will be rewarded! ¡­¡­ I got a quest! Finally, after waiting all this time, I saw the hope of joining the Night Creatures¡¯ faction! Actually, there were many quests at Frost Mound that required me to kill human citizens. I had not accepted any of them. I really didn¡¯t want to do things that went against my heart. This Blood Dance Legion was a separate faction within the Night Creatures. It was a perfect place for me! At least, I would no longer have to eat corpses. That was disgusting. Only someone with strange tastes and slow to adapt like Gui Guzi would eat those. Originally, I was killing the Violet Undead Knights to level up. Now, I got a quest for them. Two birds with one stone! ¡­¡­ Around 2 am, after killing some Violet Undead Knights, a ray of light washed over me. I was finally Level 45! I immediately opened my bag and took out the Stormy War Boots. I had yearned for this Silver-grade item for so long! I could finally equip it! Stormy War Boots (Silver-grade) Defense 55 Strength: +18 Stamina: +15 Passive: Increases user''s movement speed by 0.5% Level Requirement: 45 ¡­¡­ I looked at the stats. Very good, especially the 0.5% increase in movement speed. This made me feel very pleased. Normally, boots wouldn¡¯t increase basic speed. Bonus to movement speed was extreme. In the current stage of the game, all players moved at the same rate. And now, I had an extra 0.5%. While the difference was really small, I would be able to do things like hit-and-run! I took off the Porcupine Boots and put on the Stormy War Boots. Immediately, my feet glowed and all my stats increased¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Class: Undead Swordsman (Bronze Swordsman) Level: 45 HP: 1030 Attack: 191~345 Defense: 238 Magic Resist: 0 Reputation: 2840 Luck: 0 ¡­¡­ I¡¯m so great. Fifteen points of Stamina meant a boost of 150 HP. It allowed me to break through the barrier of 1000 HP. It really was terrifying. Even the strongest magic knights may not have such high HP. On top of that, 18 Strength added 11~18 points to my Attack. My Defense surpassed 200 points for the first time. I had completely transformed! I turned around and found a Level 50 Violet Undead Knight to fight. This time, it was much easier. When I was hit, I only took 200 damage. Also, my HP was higher, so Regeneration of the Undead had become even stronger. Tsk, tsk. One Silver-grade item was enough to make me so strong. If I put on Ghost Ice Soul, wouldn¡¯t I become too OP? The mere thought of it filled me with a sense of longing. I need to reach Level 50 as soon as possible! The second I equip Ghost Ice Soul, I will be unstoppable I continued to kill, looking like a grinding machine that did not know what fatigue and sleep were. It wasn¡¯t until 8 am that I felt a hint of tiredness. However, the results were clear. I had leveled up to 46 and 12%. Numerous Violet Undead Knights fell under my sword. I had long ago finished the quest, but with their rich experience, I couldn¡¯t bear to finish and leave. "Haa...¡± I sighed in relief. After killing another knight, I looked into my bag. It was filled with magic stones, I had more than thirty of them. Time to finish. After turning in the quest, I will basically catch up to Lin Yixin. As I returned to the forest, Shadow Dancer Xue Wei was still leaning against the tree, the wound in her chest terrible. She looked weakly in my direction. As an ancient player with abundant experiences in countless games, I naturally knew that NPCs in a game like Heavenblessed would scale along with players¡¯ levels. Xue Wei might be only Level 55 at the time, but she would soon grow into a powerful boss-level NPC. Once I reached Level 100, Xue Wei would probably be a Epic Rank 120 boss. I grabbed the longbow and handed it to Xue Wei, saying, "I have gathered sufficient undead sparks on there, is it enough for you to recover?" Xue Wei nodded, her white hand touching the bow¡¯s string. Immediately, blood-red undead sparks permeated her body and the girl¡¯s wounds visibly healed. The healing effect of these sparks was truly powerful. Compared to my Regeneration of the Undead, her technique was divine! A moment later, when Xue Wei''s wounds had mostly healed, she smiled happily. "Young Warrior, thank you for your help in healing me. As one of the commanders of the Blood Dance Legion, I, in the name of Shadow Dancer Xue Wei, give you a reward. Thank you for all you have done. Fight on!" Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [Shadow Dancer''s Request]. You have gained 14400 EXP and 375 Reputation! ¡­¡­ My experience soared, prompting me to immediately open the Heavenly Ranking. It refreshed every three seconds anyway. As expected, I jumped to the top spot! I was finally first for once! Lin Yixin and I were at the same level, but I still had more experience. I had no doubt in my mind she would surpass me once I went to sleep. Dominating Heaven Blade was also a leveling maniac, closely behind us two. He was also at Level 46. He probably would surpass me soon. If I wanted to keep the top position, I couldn''t sleep and had to continue grinding. I thought about it and discarded the notion soon after. There¡¯s no point. Level isn¡¯t everything. I¡¯ll move slowly but steadily. What matters most is my individual strength. Dominating Heaven Blade may have a high level, but so what? Can he even take my Pardon-empowered attack? If not, then he was nothing to me. Shadow Dancer Xue Wei smiled and stood up with her longbow. ¡°Young warrior, if you have the chance, I hope you will come to Blue Moon Island and formally become a member of the Blood Dance Legion. May we meet again!" As she finished speaking, Xue Wei disappeared from the forest like an elf, astoundingly fast. I shook my head. In the information published on Heavenblessed''s forums, Blue Moon Island was a high-level map. Before reaching Level 100, I wouldn¡¯t want to go there, unless I had a death wish. Chapter 79: Working Together When I awoke from dreamland, it was already dark outside. I looked outside the window and enjoyed the scenery for a moment. Nighttime tended to arrive very early during the summer, and dusk had painted the city in beautiful scarlet. The neon lights were starting to come to life as well. After getting up from my bed and washing myself for a moment, I entered the living room and saw a couple of empty food boxes on the table. Apparently, Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi had finished their meal and gone online already. My stomach growled and demanded dinner. ¡°Dammit, Thirteen should¡¯ve bought one for me as well,¡± I grumbled to myself and walked into the kitchen. I boiled water and cooked a pack of instant noodles. Hmph, this bit of trouble is nothing to me! Ten minutes later, a wonderful bowl of instant noodles had entered the battlefield. I sprinkled some chopped onion, added an egg and gave it a sniff. It smells so good! Hmph hmph, so what if my brothers haven¡¯t bought me a meal? There are other delicacies at the same level! My phone chose this exact moment to ring. The name shown on the screen was ¡°Wind Fantasy¡±! Oh, it¡¯s a phone call from Lin Yixin! Still holding onto the cooking pot with my instant noodles, I accepted the call and asked, ¡°Hello, you looking for me, Beauty Yi?¡± Lin Yixin asked, ¡°Have you eaten dinner already? If not, I can treat you. Wanna join me?¡± I flipped the pot over and dumped all of its content into the basin. ¡°No I haven¡¯t. Where are you?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s meet at Silver Fir Cafe.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ I headed out and went to Silver Fir Cafe. Lin Yixin was sitting at table 2, close to the side of the cafe as usual. ¡°I thought you said dinner? Are we supposed to drink tea until we¡¯re full?¡± I asked. ¡°There are snacks too, you know.¡± Lin Yixin smiled. I spent a moment to check her out. Lin Yixin had put on a purple lattice blouse and a pair of black hot pants tonight. Her long, exposed legs looked extremely attractive. ¡°Snacks aren¡¯t enough either since I¡¯ll get hungry during the night. Well, I can¡¯t compete with a day grinder like you.¡± I spread my arms and smiled. ¡°How about this: we head to Happy House and enjoy some Hunan cuisine. My treat.¡± But Lin Yixin shook her head and said, ¡°If we¡¯re heading there then I want to be the one who foots the bill!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I was surprised. ¡°Not taking advantage of a good offer? That¡¯s not like you!¡± ¡°Get lost!¡± Lin Yixin burst into laughter. ¡°Am I that bad normally? I¡¯m a good girl who helps the needy, fights for justice, and supports the weak, you know, unlike a certain someone.¡± ¡°Hmph hmph! You mean you need my help, right?¡± I smiled at her. Lin Yixin responded with a nod and small smile of her own. ¡°Mn.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll hear you out, and we¡¯ll eat after that.¡± Lin Yixin straightened herself and got serious, unaware of the great pressure her demeanor was exerting on my bearing. While I was sneaking involuntary glances at her firm breasts, Lin Yixin snorted and said, ¡°Did you know, Lu Chen? I heard that Mad Dragon¡¯s about to do something big during the day. Something real big!¡± ¡°They¡¯re planning to invade the royal palace of Floating Ice City and kill the NPC king?¡± I asked. Lin Yixin laughed, exasperated. ¡°Don¡¯t interrupt and listen to me!¡± ¡°Fine.¡± ¡°So. Roaming Dragon has been spending the last few days politicking instead of leveling, and after spending huge wads of cash he finally managed to gather enough players to form a party that¡¯s one thousand strong. I heard he¡¯s planning to kill a Giant Cave Monster at Violet Camp, and since this boss is Level 70, the chance of it dropping a Hero¡¯s Token is pretty high. So I thought¡­¡± Lin Yixin looked at me and smiled beautifully. I understood her intentions completely. I frowned a little and asked, ¡°How many people do you have?¡± ¡°I can gather around 100 people or so.¡± Lin Yixin pursed her lips and said, ¡°We have pros like Qingqing, Zi Chuanyu, and Lifetaking Sword, but the rest are mostly students from our university. There aren¡¯t many high-level players who joined me of their own accord¡­¡± ¡°Frankly, that isn¡¯t even nearly enough manpower to threaten Mad Dragon¡¯s thousand-man party,¡± I pointed out. Lin Yixin nodded with a smile. ¡°Correct. That¡¯s why I wanted to work together with the Bloody Mercenaries. How many people do you have?¡± ¡°Er, three¡­¡± Upon seeing the dumbfounded expression on Lin Yixin¡¯s face, I smiled. ¡°Quality is more important than quantity. I dare say that our Gui Guzi alone is worth a thousand players!¡± ¡°That I¡¯m aware of. It¡¯s one of the main reasons I sought you out.¡± Lin Yixin sipped her red tea a little before continuing, ¡°How about this. You and Gui Guzi join my party temporarily for this one job. If we manage to steal Hero¡¯s Token from the Mad Dragon guild, I¡¯ll pay you a share of the profits. What do you think?¡± I waved her down and said, ¡°I don¡¯t need that percentage. All I want is the Hero¡¯s Token!¡± Lin Yixin glared at me furiously. ¡°Seriously?! There¡¯s literally only three people in your workshop! What can you even do with the Hero¡¯s Token? It¡¯s a complete waste of a good item!¡± I mulled over her counterargument for a moment and had to concede that she was right. For now, Bloody Mercenaries didn¡¯t have enough players to meet the minimum requirement, so even if we got the Hero¡¯s Token there was nothing it could do except accumulate dust. Moreover, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls hadn¡¯t yet formed a core of players to make full use of the Hero¡¯s Token. And finally, the last guild I wanted to have the Hero¡¯s Token was Mad Dragon. So, I gave Lin Yixin a nod and said, ¡°Fine. But before that, how much do we get if you acquire a Hero¡¯s Token?¡± Lin Yixin raised a finger and smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll give you this much~¡± ¡°Fuck! You think you can order me around with 1 gold?¡± I slapped the table and rose to my feet. Lin Yixin fumed in anger at my reaction. ¡°Go to hell! Do I look that stingy? It¡¯s 1000 gold, not 1 gold! Think over it, will you?¡± ¡°1000 gold?¡± I was a bit caught off-guard to be honest. ¡°You have that much gold?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Lin Yixin nodded. Then, she bit her lips and moved closer toward me, smiling. ¡°I had to sell all my family property and even my dowry to gather this much. Don¡¯t you think I¡¯ve sacrificed too much already?¡± My heart skipped a beat as I stared at her face. I need to avoid eye contact or I¡¯ll be seduced by this temptress before I know it! ¡°Okay, deal!¡± I extended my hand for a handshake, and Lin Yixin spent several seconds thinking about something before accepting it. The soft, smooth feeling of her hand was so enchanting that I only managed to separate my palm from hers after around five seconds or so. I could see that Lin Yixin¡¯s cheeks were rosy despite the dim lightning around us. ¡°Come on, it¡¯s time for dinner. You said you¡¯d treat me!¡± she exclaimed. ¡°If I remember correctly, you¡¯re the one who called me and asked me out¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care, you promised to treat me, and a man¡¯s word is unbreakable, right?¡± ¡°Aiya, it¡¯s such a beautiful night. Why don¡¯t we eat at a food stall and enjoy the scenery?¡± We went to Happy House for dinner. After sending Lin Yixin off with 300 RMB, I returned to the workshop around 10 pm. It was almost time to carry out our plan. I logged into the game and contacted Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen immediately. When I told them in brief what we were about to do tonight, their excitement immediately rose by many degrees. I knew that we were a bunch of robbers at heart! Violet Forest was the place I had been grinding the night before. However, the mobs in that area were of such high levels that even I didn¡¯t dare to venture deeper. If Level 50 Violet Undead Knights could appear at the outer edge of the forest, then I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if there were Level 70 or even Level 80 monsters deeper inside. In retrospect, it wasn¡¯t surprising that the boss the Mad Dragon guild was planning to kill was Level 70. For all his flaws, I had to admit that Roaming Dragon had guts. The first failed boss raid didn¡¯t affect him in the slightest and he had even organized a new party almost immediately to challenge another boss. Still, wasn¡¯t it a bit too much for him and his people to challenge a Level 70 boss? Compared to his attempt to kill the Level 60 Hill Protector God, this one looked even more suicidal. Well, who cares. I¡¯ll head over and take a look first. If we can take on the boss then all is well. Even if we can¡¯t, we should be able to do considerable damage to the Mad Dragon guild. When I arrived at Frost Mound, I saw that Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen were already waiting for me. ¡°Boss, you¡¯re here.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I looked at the distant, swaying forest and said, ¡°Lin Yixin and her forces will show up in about half an hour or so. The payment for our services is very high this time. If a Hero¡¯s Token drops as expected, our commission will be 1000 gold!¡± ¡°Ah? Isn¡¯t that too high?¡± Du Thirteen exclaimed in astonishment. Gui Guzi frowned. ¡°But this is a Hero¡¯s Token we¡¯re talking about, the first in Floating Ice City, the China server or maybe even the entire world. Frankly, I feel like we¡¯re not getting paid enough for our service. This Hero¡¯s Token has to be worth at least ten thousand gold.¡± I nodded approvingly at his analysis. ¡°I know, but that¡¯s the most money Lin Yixin can afford to pay us.¡± Du Thirteen immediately grinned and said, ¡°You see that? Our Lu Chen is starting to care for Lin Yixin¡­¡± ¡°Go to hell, I am not!¡± ¡°Your whole face is red, stop denying the truth already¡­¡± ¡°Get lost! My face is not red¡­¡± While we were arguing with each other, a group of players suddenly emerged from the forest trail. The person leading at the forefront of the group was none other than the beautiful female warrior, Lin Yixin! ¡­¡­ ¡°You¡¯re here.¡± I walked up to meet her. Lin Yixin nodded. ¡°Bring up your party screen. I¡¯ll add you and Gui Guzi into the main party!¡± ¡°Oh? What about our Amazing Expert?¡± I pointed at Du Thirteen behind me. Lin Yixin said, ¡°Eh, I guess he can enter the substitute party. Who is he anyway? I thought I counted everyone¡­¡± Du Thirteen vomited blood on the spot. After joining the party, I noticed that it was made up of some pretty amazing players! Party Leader: Wind Fantasy LV-47 Party Members: Broken Halberd Sinks into Sand LV-46, Clear Perfume LV-43, Gui Guzi LV-43, Zi Chuanyu LV-41 Four out of five of our party members were players in the Heavenly Ranking. The Domination Clan was probably the only other group who could assemble such a line-up. I glanced sideways and checked out Zi Chuanyu. As a magic knight, both his metal armor and his spear looked extremely well-made. He looked at me and Gui Guzi with deep eyes, but there was neither excessive arrogance nor humility in his gaze. I had to admit that he was the real deal. It was impressive of Lin Yixin to recruit someone like him as her subordinate! Clear Perfume, an archer, was wearing a full set of stat-boosting equipment herself. The leather armor she was wearing accentuated her petite figure well and made people feel like spoiling her. Gripping her bow and smiling at me, she greeted, ¡°Hi, Lu Chen.¡± ¡°Hi, Qingqing¡­¡± I returned the smile. Gui Guzi was shocked. ¡°The boss is too familiar with them. Something is wrong!¡± Clear Perfume checked the time and smiled. ¡°It¡¯s 11:24 pm. We will set out from the east side of Violet Forest where the Violet Trail is. It¡¯s a bit of a long journey, but we should reach the center of Violet Forest around midnight or so. That¡¯s where the Level 70 boss, Giant Cave Monster, is hidden. Barring any surprises, the Mad Dragon guild will begin their raid midnight sharp. There¡¯s no harm arriving sooner than later.¡± I said, ¡°They have a thousand players. Not even a Level 70 boss can deal with numbers like that. At most, the battle will be over in 30 minutes, so I suggest we make haste immediately!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Chapter 80: Nichang The moon looked like a sickle in the sky, the calm of the night disrupted by animalistic howls in the distance. We blitzed through the center of Violet Forest, heading toward a battle that would shake the entire map. Gripping the Weeping Fire Blade, I took the lead thanks to the Stormy War Boots adding 0.5% to my movement speed. My Dark Wasp sat atop my shoulder as silent as a northern goshawk that was scouting its prey, but even the lack of activity couldn¡¯t hide the huge sting at the end of its posterior. Although Lin Yixin really wanted to pet it, its intimidating appearance was ultimately too much for her to handle. Black aura surrounded Gui Guzi as he gripped his spear with a stern look on his face. It was his unique skill ¡°Undying Shield¡±, an ability that could make even me jealous. Of course, potential-wise, my Ghost Deity Armor was in no way inferior. A skill that could boost Defense by 35% would be incredibly overpowered in the late game. Gui Guzi¡¯s Undying Shield was an unkillable meatball, whereas my Ghost Deity Armor was an impenetrable block of steel. On the second thought, I liked the Ghost Deity Armor more than the Undying Shield if I had to choose between the two. The mere imagination of my enemies¡¯ expression when they hit me for single digits was fulfilling. Behind Lin Yixin, her subordinates emerged from the forest in succession. Clear Perfume leaped and landed perfectly on a tree branch. Her long, elvish ears raised attentively. She turned around and whispered, ¡°Yiyi, they¡¯re right in front of us. It¡­ doesn¡¯t sound like they¡¯ve started yet!¡± White cape fluttering behind her back, Lin Yixin strode forward and put a hand over her sword handle. She stared into the dark and mysterious forest in front of her before laughing softly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, this operation is secure. Our numbers are small, and no one here is a stranger. Also, Roaming Dragon doesn¡¯t know that we¡¯re gunning for him, right?¡± Clear Perfume nodded. ¡°Yes, that should be the case. But¡­ Yiyi, what do we do if we are discovered?¡± ¡°What else can we do?¡± Lin Yixin pulled out her sword a little and smiled. ¡°We charge and kill them all. That is the only way!¡± It was at this moment Zi Chuanyu walked up to Lin Yixin and whispered, ¡°Lin Yixin, about these¡­ Bloody Mercenaries. Are they really reliable?¡± At the front, Gui Guzi was lying on the ground, watching the Mad Dragon guild¡¯s players closely. His figure blended perfectly with his surroundings and made him look like a stealth expert. Du Thirteen and I were standing together. Thirteen said, ¡°Shit, I swear I¡¯m gonna smash the stall of the guy who sold us our boxed meals if he shows up again. The order was Pepper Steak, but it was 99% green bell pepper, 0% steak and 1 goddamned caterpillar that had me fooled for a second!¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°Er¡­¡± Lin Yixin didn¡¯t know what to say to Zi Chuanyu. In the end, she smiled. ¡°Well one and a half of them are reliable, so you don¡¯t need to worry too much.¡± I heard everything, dammit. I can¡¯t believe she called me a half! Lin Yixin walked up to me and asked, ¡°When do you think we should act, Lu Chen? If we act too soon, the boss may have too much HP for us to handle. If we¡¯re too late, we might miss the opportunity to steal the boss.¡± I replied. ¡°Hold. We can decide after they¡¯ve begun. Look closely. There¡¯s a party surrounding the boss now, but they haven¡¯t made a move yet.¡± ¡°Oh, really?¡± Lin Yixin stood on her toes to get a better look, unintentionally revealing a flawless, pale neck in front of me. It was a color that could drive a man insane. ¡°Careful, they might see us. You¡¯re stretching your neck like a penguin¡­¡± I teased her. Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me before countering. ¡°If I look like a penguin, then you look like a seal who failed to get a mate during winter¡­¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± Lin Yixin smiled vibrantly. ¡°You still have a long way to go to beat me¡­¡± ¡­¡­ A noise suddenly broke out from the front. Rustle rustle... A venomous spike suddenly appeared from the ground and cut a deep, straight line through the grass. The ground started rumbling and as if something was trying to burst through the ground. The venomous spike looked like the fin of a shark, and it made the creature crawling to appear to the surface looked even more intimidating! ¡°The boss has appeared!¡± Lin Yixin said softly before crouching and hiding behind a dark bush. I remained where I was, standing tall amidst the trees with my cape aflutter. My attire was dark-colored, so it would take a very, very discerning eye to spot me in the middle of the night. My hidden racial ability as a Night Creature might also be at work. The players on the ground looked a lot more alert when the giant beneath their feet started ¡°swimming¡± around. A 17-man party was surrounding the boss¡¯s ¡°fin¡± when it took action. They belonged to a different clan, and their IDs were ¡°Friendship of Heavens¡±, ¡°Friendship of Kings¡±, ¡°Friendship of Devils¡± so on and so on. They were only around Level 35, so there was nothing they could do against the Level 70 boss. Friendship of Heavens stared frigidly at the Giant Cave Monster¡¯s fin as he shouted, ¡°Watch out, brothers! The boss is about to emerge! Dammit, where did these people come from?¡± The crowd behind the Friendship Clan was none other than Mad Dragon¡¯s thousand-man party. They were everywhere, and they looked incredibly menacing. Wielding a spear, Roaming Dragon walked at the front of the group. He was accompanied by the sexy Coldmoon Rose and behind them were the so-called Gemini Stars of Mad Dragon, Inconstant and Iron Pardon. They were high-level melee players and they were one of our key targets. If they were gone, there was basically no one else in the Mad Dragon guild who could threaten us. Roaming Dragon lifted his spear and shouted at the Friendship Clan. ¡°This is a Mad Dragon guild event. All unrelated people should leave immediately!¡± Friendship of Heavens turned around and said angrily, ¡°What do you mean? Our clan has waited 10 hours for the boss to spawn! Are you going to rob us of our opportunity?¡± Roaming Dragon¡¯s face turned chilly. ¡°Rob you? I¡¯m being polite here. Ask yourself if the likes of you can even leave a scratch on the boss.¡± Startled, Friendship of Heavens uttered through clenched teeth, ¡°Fuck you, you think you¡¯re something just because you have great numbers?¡± Roaming Dragon sneered as Iron Pardon walked toward Friendship of Heavens. The latter pulled out his sword and growled, ¡°Column 1, follow me and annihilate these people! Main tanks, get ready to lure the boss out of its hidey-hole!¡± A dozen of elite players raised their blades and rushed toward the Friendship Clan. It was clear that they were planning to clear the area by force. ¡°You¡ª¡± Friendship of Heavens didn¡¯t think that the Mad Dragon guild would act so decisively. Iron Pardon stabbed the man right through the chest before he managed to say more than a word, killing him instantly. It was to be expected, however. Iron Pardon was an extraordinarily powerful Level 45 warrior, and Friendship of Heavens was only Level 36. The Mad Dragon guild¡¯s daring came in full display as bloodcurdling screams cut through the air. The Friendship Clan was neatly annihilated in less than three minutes! After that, Roaming Dragon ordered his people to spread out and get ready. It was a Level 70 boss after all. Even a thousand-man party could fall if they fought carelessly! ¡­¡­ ¡°What is your opinion on the Mad Dragon guild¡¯s current strength?¡± Lin Yixin asked with a smile. I didn¡¯t notice when she had moved back to my side. I looked at Roaming Dragon, Iron Pardon and Inconstant before commenting lightly. ¡°Their fangs are bared, and they¡¯re looking to die!¡± Zi Chuanyu asked, ¡°Should we attack them now, Yiyi?¡± Lin Yixin shook her head. ¡°No, let¡¯s wait until their numbers go down a little.¡± Suddenly, there was a huge noise followed by a series of rumblings. The boss was finally going to appear! Bang! Huge crevice appeared in the ground, shooting up so much dust that it covered the sky. The Level 70 boss chose a flashy fashion to appear in alright. It was a giant scorpion with six long legs and a pair of black, venomous arms. Its huge, long tail swayed left and right like a chain whip, and it was as big as a small hill. Every move it made caused the ground itself to shake. Giant Cave Monster (Silver Rank Boss) Level: 70 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Introduction: The divine beast of the Violet Empire. After the Violet Empire fell, their king was cut into pieces, their people were slaughtered, and their divine beast was murdered. Some time later, evil shamans summoned the creatures of hell and resurrected the divine beast to use as a puppet. ¡­¡­ ¡°It really is a Level 70 boss!¡± Lin Yixin said while clenching her fists. Her shoulders were shaking slightly, and her moonlit face was filled with excitement. If there was one thing we shared between the two of us, it would be our lust for battle. At the distance, the Giant Cave Monster waved its arms like a pair of scissors and cut down a dozen or so warriors instantly. Bang! One of them¡ªInconstant¡ªwas knocked into the air by the attack. His HP was low, but he didn¡¯t die because the Holy Shield improved his Defense by a lot! ¡°Attack! Mages, archers, give it everything you got!¡± Roaming Dragon waved his arms while shouting, ¡°Priests, heal as you see fit! Don¡¯t worry about MP, I have enough supplies to sustain all of you!¡± Countless fireballs rose and landed on the boss¡¯s head. The Giant Cave Monster roared and spun back and forth like a windmill, killing the tiny players that were harassing it. Its HP was slowly but surely decreasing, however. At the back, an entire row of beautiful bards was chanting and applying buffs to the mages and archers. Forge: Increases hit rate by 25%. Valor: Increases Attack by 10%. Bloody Battle: Increases Defense by 10%. Nichang: Increases critical rate by 25%. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin and I exchanged a look and saw the astonishment in the other person¡¯s eyes. We had underestimated Mad Dragon! Roaming Dragon had come well prepared. He wasn¡¯t just a wealthy man¡¯s son, he was also a rare gaming pro! Formation-wise, Mad Dragon¡¯s arrangement was practically perfect. The warriors, magic knights and wanderers gallantly ran up to the boss and sacrificed themselves its attacks. The real pain however, came from the buffed mages and archers at the back. Each and everyone of them was supported by a high-level bard, so their individual prowess was greatly enhanced. Some of the Level 40 archers were even dealing considerable damage to the Level 70 boss! Pu! 741! An amazing number suddenly popped up above the boss¡¯s head. It was the work of a Level 42 archer! A small smile appeared on Lin Yixin¡¯s face, and I immediately knew that she had set her eyes on that light red¨Ccolored bow that made this damage possible. Chapter 81: Good Luck Heavily-armored warriors charged toward the boss only to be torn by its tough pincers. The Giant Cave Monster attacked once per 2 seconds, and there wasn¡¯t a single player who could withstand its attacks. But still, 2 seconds was a lot, it was just too slow! Roaming Dragon had become much wiser since our last meeting. If this situation continued, the Level 70 boss would fall in less than 15 minutes! I muttered to myself while frowning, ¡°This doesn¡¯t look too good¡­¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s expression was just as stern as mine. She asked softly after hearing my mutter, ¡°What do we do? The situation is extremely disadvantageous toward us. Roaming Dragon put several parties on the outside so that no one can disrupt them. Our chances are dwindling.¡± I nodded. ¡°Their combat rhythm is pretty much perfect right now. If we don¡¯t disrupt it, we¡¯ll become the losers of this battle.¡± In this case, I was a lot more experienced than Lin Yixin because I was a veteran in VRMMO games. Lin Yixin probably hadn¡¯t dabbled in this type of games until Heavenblessed, so she couldn¡¯t compete against me in certain areas no matter how talented or intelligent she was. ¡°Charge them from the right and distract the players on the outside for a moment. I¡¯ll use this opening to assassinate their high-level archers and mages. Our chance will arise if their DPS falls behind!¡± I looked at Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful face and voiced my thoughts. Lin Yixin looked a little confused. She stared at the black mass not far in front of her and said, ¡°Me? Wouldn¡¯t I be shot into a porcupine the moment I revealed myself? Isn¡¯t this a little too dangerous?¡± I nodded. ¡°Your chances of survival will be extremely low!¡± ¡°Then why are you making me do this?¡± ¡°Because I would fare even worse than you. You¡¯re a Wanderer, right? You have a lot of Defense thanks to Protective Aura!¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± Lin Yixin slowly pulled out her sword and looked into the distance. She said quietly, ¡°Lu Chen, I can tear a hole in their right side, but only for 30 seconds. I can¡¯t guarantee anything more than that. Are you sure you can slip into their formation during this time?¡± ¡°Mn, no problem. Go!¡± ¡°Alright~¡± Lin Yixin and I split up and went our own ways while our people watched our backs. Not bothering with pretences, Lin Yixin charged and launched a direct attack against the enemy. Milky-white Killer Wind surrounded her blade before passing through two mages in a beautiful arc, killing them instantly. Lin Yixin then forced her way into the middle of their formation and swung her blade twice, claiming another two archers¡¯ lives in the process. ¡°Ambush! We¡¯ve been ambushed!¡± The formation at the Mad Dragon guild¡¯s party panicked. Clearly, Lin Yixin¡¯s aggressive movements had put a lot of pressure on them. Rustle rustle... 541! It was an unquestionable one-shot! The moment the tamer was dead, a small, green totem on the ground vanished into thin air. It was a Detection Trap that could negate my Earth Escape! I noticed this earlier, but the Mad Dragon guild¡¯s party only had 3 tamers despite being thousand men strong. Moreover, this Level 41 tamer was the strongest out of all of them. Now that he was dead, no one could detect me anymore! Swhoosh! My body turned into red light and sank into the ground. I activated Earth Escape the second the tamer was killed, so swiftly and sneakily that most of the present players didn¡¯t even realize what had transpired before my figure was already gone. Lin Yixin was pulling off a wonderful distraction with her Killer Wind Swordplay and her natural beauty. It was no wonder that everyone¡¯s attention was on her. Suddenly, a cold beam hit Lin Yixin¡¯s shoulder and caused a blood spurt. Damn, that Devil Piercing Arrow is strong! This was the first time Lin Yixin took this much damage since the start of the fight. The skill had broken through her Defense entirely. Some distance away, an Archer was pulling her bow and aiming at Lin Yixin. It was none other than Coldmoon Rose, Mad Dragon¡¯s best archer! ¡°Tch!¡± Lin Yixin clenched her teeth and downed a health pot. Then, she charged toward Coldmoon Rose! My eyes widened. Is she trying to kill Coldmoon Rose while surrounded by all these people? That¡¯s crazy! Coldmoon Rose was no newbie. Backing away rapidly, she fired a Volley at Lin Yixin and worked together with her allies to shoot her down. 123! 41! 12! 4! 7! A bunch of numbers popped above Lin Yixin¡¯s head. She was losing HP way too quickly! I couldn¡¯t help but shout in the party channel, ¡°Are you crazy, Lin Yixin!? Get back now! You¡¯ll die if you proceed further!¡± Instead of talking, Lin Yixin changed her weapon into a dagger. She was going to use her trump card! It was at this moment a Level 42 magic knight stood in front of Coldmoon Rose and yelled, ¡°Protect!¡± Knightly Protect was an incredibly powerful skill that nullified 100% of the melee damage dealt to its target. In return, the caster would be taking double damage during the skill''s duration! What a hero. He¡¯s literally throwing his life away to protect Coldmoon Rose! ¡°Hehe¡­¡± Lin Yixin actually chuckled in this situation. A silver glint that looked as clear as the moon itself entered Lin Yixin¡¯s purple pupils. It was none other than her signature skill, Moon Gaze! Crack! The magic knight collapsed the very instant the dagger reached him. His eyes were filled with shock. He didn¡¯t think that the legendary Fruit Knife Goddess actually had the ability to one-shot any opponent she faced! 2024! The damage number rising from the magic knight¡¯s head was impressive. Moon Gaze guaranteed that Lin Yixin¡¯s attack would always hit a weak point, and Knightly Protect doubled the damage taken by the caster. It was no wonder that even a tanky magic knight was one-shot. ¡°Hoho~¡± Lin Yixin laughed in the team channel. ¡°Lu Chen, I¡¯ve completed my mission. Good luck!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I relaxed after Lin Yixin slipped back into the forest with a sliver of HP left. Light wanderers are seriously powerful. Now, it¡¯s showtime! ¡­¡­ The ground was alight with moonlight. As I slowly slithered into the enemy formation using Earth Escape, I saw three mages and two archers dishing out damage at a nearby shrubbery. I felt a tinge of pleasure when I saw their levels: 42, 41, 40, 40, and 43. They are all high-level players, and they are all as good as dead! ¡°Focus fire! Haha, we¡¯re doing so much work, everyone!¡± The Level 43 mage laughed while throwing a Fire Dragon Spell. ¡°Not only does our squad have the highest DPS out of all the teams, our damage is four times the second team¡¯s! Hahaha, give it your all, everyone! If you run out of mana then use some Magic Consumables! There¡¯s no need to hold back!¡± An archer also laughed while firing a Volley. ¡°This Level 40 Dark Steel¨Cgrade bow is truly powerful. The proc chance is only 1%, but when it does proc, it¡¯s worth 10 times the basic attack of another player!¡± ¡°Haha, did you guys notice Wind Fantasy trying to take a share of our pie just now? How delusional. She may be number one on the Heavenly Ranking, but she is nothing to the Mad Dragon guild. Hmph hmph, we should send her an invitation letter and ask her to become our ¡®mistress of the fort¡¯ after we¡¯ve gotten a Hero¡¯s Token and built a guild, hahaha!¡± ¡­¡­ I laughed inwardly. Fools, if you want Lin Yixin to become the ¡°mistress of the fort¡± you should at least be stronger than her. There is no way someone as competitive as her would submit to weaklings. Anyway, it was time to act! Swhoosh! I burst out of the ground and returned to human form. Then, I plunged my blade into the nearest mage¡¯s chest! 558! It was a one-shot! I turned around and attacked another mage, dealing 490 damage this time. He also died in one attack. It was incredibly MP-consuming to cast consecutive spells on a boss, so these mages didn¡¯t even turn on their Magic Shields in order to conserve MP. They were just asking to be killed. Not wasting even a single moment, I opened my palm and summoned the Dark Wasp with a flash of hexagram magic formation. It stung a Level 41 archer three times consecutively with Flurry, the poor guy joining his friends in the afterlife. Now, the only ones left around me were a Level 42 archer, a Level 43 mage, and 5 bards. But since Bard was a support class with zero offensive skills, I just ignored them entirely. ¡°How¡­ how did you come here?¡± the Level 43 mage exclaimed in shock as he stomped the ground, surrounding himself in a magical shield. At the same time, he fired Fire Dragon Spell at me. 289! Damn, so powerful! I clenched my teeth and forced my way through the flames. The Weeping Fire Blade started glowing red like it was a black reaper that would devour all lives. The Mage ran and looked back at me with a sneer. ¡°My Magic Shield is Rank 4, there¡¯s no way you can break through it. Just stand there and await your death!¡± But I was faster than he was thanks to the 0.5% movement speed boost of my Stormy War Boots. I caught up to him in the next moment and cut him twice with lightning speed! MISS! 1279! Pardon tore through his Rank 4 Magic Shield like nothing. The mage was utterly speechless as my blade sank into his chest! Pop! The dead mage dropped a shiny ring that I picked up before charging the Level 42 archer. He was currently being chased by the Dark Wasp, and he had less than half HP left. The archer wanted to kite my pet, but he quickly discovered that it was way faster than he was. It could¡¯ve been the other way around had I given it the command. I rushed toward him and checked out the light purple bow he was wielding. I sneered and raised my blade. Crack! I zigzagged toward my opponent and stood in the way of his retreat. The archer practically ran himself into my Weeping Fire Blade before slumping to the ground, dead! Pop! A bunch of Magic Consumables, pots and a piece of equipment appeared. The item had a faint purple glow. Seriously? The bow really dropped? Hell yeah, what dogshit luck! I¡¯m rich! I grabbed the bow and only the bow. Leaving the pots and Magic Consumables behind, I leaped between the trees and dodged a rain of arrows. I still got hit here and there, but it was nowhere close enough to put me in danger. The Earth Escape skill finished its cooldown, so I slipped into the ground once more. Operation success! Chapter 82: Bow of the Fire Elf Pa pa pa... Six arrows consecutively pelleted into the forest like a machine gun. Coldmoon Rose had surprisingly brought along a few archers. She coldly stated, ¡°Volley, attack at will. We must find that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Hmph, once we establish our Mad Dragon, the first two people we¡¯ll destroy are Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy! They¡¯re too hateful!¡± I found her words funny. Mad Dragon was exceptionally overbearing. In Floating Ice City, they cheated the weak but feared the strong. They never dared to provoke the Domination Clan yet would inconsiderately massacre other forces. They would lock down entire maps, kill people there and make them drop their items. There was nothing Mad Dragon wouldn¡¯t do. If a guild like that were to be destroyed, their demise would be well-deserved! After slowly moving out of the inner forest area, I burst out from the ground with a ¡°swhoosh¡± and a flash of red light. Lin Yixin immediately came over with a smile. ¡°Lu Chen, I saw it¡­ were you the one who got that bow?¡± ¡°Yes, I plan to sell it for a good price¡­¡± Lin Yixin said pleadingly, ¡°Don¡¯t, just sell it to me¡­¡± ¡°You can¡¯t even afford it¡­¡± ¡°...¡± I took the bow out of my bag. With a brush of my hand, the longbow¡¯s stats window flew up amidst the trees¡ª Bow of the Fire Elf (Dark Steel¨Cgrade) Attack 42~71 Agility: +15 Passive: 1% chance to ignore Defense Level Requirement: 40 ¡­¡­ Damn! It really was not too shabby a bow. 71 Attack was nothing to complain about and it even added 15 Agility. To archers, not only could Agility increase Attack, it would also increase critical rate and attack speed. For Archer players, it was absolutely the best statistic. For them, 15 Agility was like getting 3 levels. No wonder this Level 42 archer was so strong even a Level 70 boss had been shaken by it! Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful eyes were a bit hazy. She gazed at the Bow of the Fire Elf with misty eyes and said in a small voice, ¡°Not too shabby¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°Of course. If a Level 40 archer had a bow like this, they¡¯d be much stronger!¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡± Lin Yixin raised her head to look at me. Her pretty face had a soft smile, instantly alerting me. This was the so-called honey trap! I casually threw the Bow of the Fire Elf at the Du Thirteen behind me. ¡°Hold onto it for me. Don¡¯t give it away¡­¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Du Thirteen answered, then continued to chat with Clear Perfume. Not even half a minute later, the bow was in Clear Perfume¡¯s hands. The girl smiled gleefully. ¡°Brother Thirteen, give the bow to me, okay?¡± Du Thirteen¡¯s entire body jolted. ¡°I can¡¯t, this is Lu Chen¡¯s. Even if you want it, you have to fork over the money!¡± ¡°How much?¡± ¡°At least 200 gold!¡± ¡°I only have 200 silver¡­¡± I gritted my teeth, itching to kick Thirteen flying. This guy seriously had no prospects. He couldn¡¯t even resist a honey trap of Clear Perfume¡¯s caliber. My firm resolution to resist Lin Yixin was in vain. ¡°Oh, success¡­¡± Lin Yixin shot me a smile. ¡°Thanks, Lu Chen¡­¡± I waved a hand. ¡°Forget it. Don¡¯t fuss over it. We¡¯ll have to cooperate later to kill that boss so we can¡¯t let a bow break our relations.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± In all honesty, I was only able to get this Bow of the Fire Elf due to Lin Yixin¡¯s cover. I wouldn¡¯t have had a chance otherwise. Seeing Clear Perfume¡¯s hopeful expression, I couldn¡¯t bear to keep it to myself anyway. If I gave it to her, our Bloody Mercenaries would have more of a bargaining chip over the equipment that the next boss drops. Oh right, there was a ring in my bag too. It had been dropped by that mage. I wonder what it is! I quickly fished out the ring. After a flash of light, its stats came into view. Nice, it is actually a Dark Steel¨Cgrade item. That team sure had some good items! Life Ring (Dark Steel¨Cgrade) Strength: +12 Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 2.5% Level Requirement: 40 ¡­¡­ It actually gives the user 2.5% more HP. This is some good stuff. This ring was a rare quality item, especially for classes that had high HP and Defense. That Level 43 mage was really stingy. Instead of keeping it to himself, he could¡¯ve sold it or given it to a Magic Knight friend. This ring on a mage was simply a waste of potential! When I thought about it, the most suitable person for this ring wasn¡¯t me but the high-Defense-high-HP Gui Guzi. Moreover, I already had the Bloody Ring of Protection. As such, I turned around and threw the Life Ring at Gui Guzi. ¡°Wear it. Once we move out, run to the front with Undying Shield!¡± Gui Guzi looked at the Life Ring and was petrified with shock.. He strongly nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t let you all down!¡± Lin Yixin found a few priests to mainly heal Gui Guzi and three bards that would buff me, herself, and Gui Guzi with Forge, Valor, Bloody Battle, and Nichang. Lin Yixin lightly smiled. ¡°Too bad we don¡¯t have a bard over Level 40 with us or else we¡¯d be even stronger with their Level 40 single-target skill¡ªHomecoming¡ªthat buffs Defense by 15%!¡± I nodded. Classes like bards and tacticians would definitely become even more important come end game. Strong bards and tacticians especially would become game changers. After all, their buffs were powerful. Even ordinary player could fight experts when buffed with many high-level buffs! ¡­¡­ In Violet Valley, Mad Dragon¡¯s boss battle was already at its climax. That Giant Cave Monster hadn¡¯t let me down. It raised its claws and swiped forward, summoning an intense firestorm. Everything within the range of 10 yards had been instantly turned to ash, Mad Dragon¡¯s strongest party of archers and mages along with it. Roaming Dragon lifted his spear and said angrily, ¡°Team 90 through 120, go. Don¡¯t let the boss tear through our defense line. Don¡¯t be afraid, everyone. For our Mad Dragon¡¯s glory and honor, for our dream of ruling over the world, a true man would gladly give his life on the battlefield. What¡¯s so scary about dying?!¡± Roaming Dragon continuously boosted morale and compelled his troops to go forward. But due to the instigations from me and Lin Yixin, the Mad Dragon guild was a bit flustered. They knew that Floating Ice City¡¯s 1st and 2nd place experts were watching them from nearby, so how could they fight the boss at ease? Whoosh whoosh whoosh¡­ The firestorm was incredibly intense and the Mad Dragon players couldn¡¯t block it at all. They died one after another, and not even twenty minutes later, they had less than 200 people remaining. Such high casualty rate was something I didn¡¯t anticipate. Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes closely followed the boss¡¯s health bar. She whispered, ¡°Lu Chen, should we go now? The boss is already at around 10% HP!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I nodded, then looked to Gui Guzi. ¡°Bro, you¡¯re up!¡± Gui Guzi excitedly raised his spear, smiling. ¡°Alright, follow me. We¡¯ll first destroy Mad Dragon¡¯s effective strength.¡± Lin Yixin smiled. ¡°Mn, we¡¯ll be in charge of killing people and Lifetaking Sword will be in charge of bringing people to intercept the boss. This means that even though we have a hundred people, we¡¯ll have at most 50 PvPing, the rest will be taking the boss.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± ¡­¡­ Clang! Lin Yixin drew her longsword and pointed to the front, shouting, ¡°For Snowy Cathaya, charge! Kill everyone from Mad Dragon!¡± With her fluttering long hair and armor, Lin Yixin looked charmingly beautiful with a heroic air. There was not much else to say. As long as she stood in front, there would be countless men yelling while charging forward behind her. At times, a beautiful commander was far better than any potential material reward. Swhoosh! Green leaves swayed as Gui Guzi took the lead in charging out. He swung his spear and yelled, ¡°Bloody Mercenaries are moving out! All unrelated people move, get out the way!¡± I couldn''t hold back my smile. This guy¡¯s too cute! Charging forward with my sword, I tightly followed. Lin Yixin brought Clear Perfume, Zi Chuanyu, and the rest of her group to the other side of Gui Guzi. With Gui Guzi as the tip of our blade, we stabbed into Mad Dragon¡¯s formation with great momentum. This was no longer a wild ambush from two or three people but a large scale war between two guilds! ¡°Ahhhh!¡± Flames burned as Gui Guzi thrust a spear at a Level 41 mage, attacking a place with no resistance like my very own Zhao Zilong... Roaming Dragon quickly came to his senses. He realized that it wasn¡¯t just Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy coming over. There were more Heavenly Ranking people, as well as nearly one hundred elite players. They stabbed themselves into Mad Dragon¡¯s rear, causing Roaming Dragon great discomfort. Although he was being attacked on all sides, he wasn¡¯t willing to give up the boss. Since he wasn¡¯t willing to abandon the boss, he had to attack it, but that wasn¡¯t possible either. He only had 200 people and they were still getting demolished by the boss at this very moment. Our timing was impeccable, causing Roaming Dragon to have an urge to die! ¡°Charge!¡± The tip of my sword slashed at the neck of a mage. After the instant kill, my Dark Wasp also descended from the air and swiftly zipped through the crowd, killing single players. This boss-tier pet was seriously awesome. Lin Yixin¡¯s Fire Blade was much worse in comparison. It took two stabs to kill a leather armor archer whereas my Dark Wasp could one-shot anyone unless they wore metal armor. The battlefield was in chaos. Clear Perfume stood in place, firing arrows left and right at the mages, bards, and tacticians present. She had become a long-range slaughter god with the newly-acquired Bow of the Fire Elf in her hands! ¡°Kill! Instakill Gui Guzi!¡± Roaming Dragon loudly commanded. As a result, fireballs, wind blades, and arrows all flew toward Gui Guzi¡¯s Undying Shield. Multiple damage numbers jumped into the air but healing light continuously flashed above Gui Guzi¡¯s head. He tottered like a tilting doll but he just refused to die. In just five minutes, Mad Dragon had been utterly defeated! This was a result nobody would have expected. Gui Guzi¡¯s frontward charge had attracted the majority of their firepower and Undying Shield showed off its abilities. With the addition of a few priests behind him that were constantly healing him, the kid¡¯s HP stubbornly lingered around 25% and refused to drop below. I bet Roaming Dragon hates this undead knight to death. Chapter 83: Hero’s Token A single error in tactics could mean losing the entire battle. The moment Roaming Dragon realized that forcibly trying to kill Gui Guzi had been the wrong decision, he regretted so hard that his intestines turned green. He looked around him and noticed that everyone had been slaughtered. Only he, the commanding officer, was alive. Inconstant and Iron Pardon had been killed by a combination of Clear Perfume¡¯s arrows and Fire Dragon Spells of our mages. As for Coldmoon Rose, she had encountered Lin Yixin. The latter took special care of her, disposing of her in a single blow. Against a powerful expert like Wind Fantasy, Coldmoon Rose had no chance at all. Roaming Dragon¡¯s eyes turned blood-red. Standing in place, he madly shouted, ¡°How can this be? How is this possible? H-how can a ragtag group like you win against Mad Dragon?¡± Pa! An arrow that glinted with cold light accurately struck Roaming Dragon in the throat. Clear Perfume showed no mercy, an arrow and Fire Dragon Roar later, Roaming Dragon fell, leaving potions and consumables behind. Time for the boss! Lin Yixin shouted, ¡°Be careful. Long-range players, DPS at will. Melee, be mindful of the boss¡¯s position, do not draw aggro!¡± I smiled. ¡°The boss¡¯s aggro is already a mess, how could we even draw it?¡± Lin Yixin flushed red. ¡°Stop it. I¡¯ll say what I want. How can you disagree?¡± ¡°Yo, so fierce. You want to fight?¡± I said with a smirk. Lin Yixin¡¯s face instantly reddened even more. She looked like a red apple as she glared at me in anger. ¡°Hurry up and go be the main tank¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to die, how about you go¡­¡± ¡°...¡± That was a Level 70 boss, you know! I would definitely get one-shot. The only person on the field that could block a move was Gui Guzi, I totally didn¡¯t want to become cannon fodder! Gui Guzi went up with Undying Shield activated. The skill guarded his upper body and his defensive power sharply rose. Like a rainbow, his spear arced, thrusting into the boss¡¯s head! Puchi! 17! Cough cough, seriously... The boss was rather disdainful toward the ant named Gui Guzi. It instead went in a different direction, straight for Clear Perfume. The moment the archer released her defense-penetrating attack, the boss noticed her! ¡°Ah? Qingqing¡­¡± Lin Yixin instantly charged over. It was clear that the relationship between her and Sun Qingqing was pretty good. I did the same, though not to rescue a damsel in distress, but because Sun Qingqing was our highest DPS. If she were to die, we might fail to kill the boss. Moon Gaze! Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful eyes were veiled by a layer of lustrous light as she flung her dagger! Puchi! What¡¯s this?! I stared in complete shock and quickly checked the logs¡ª Combat Log: Player "Wind Fantasy" used combo skill "Moon Gaze + Extreme Break". Giant Cave Monster¡¯s Defense has been lowered by 80%, max HP has been lowered by 25% for 30 seconds! ¡­¡­ Extreme Break? Moon Gaze? A combo skill? My worldview had collapsed. Lin Yixin was far stronger than I had thought! With the boss¡¯s Defense lowered for 30 seconds, this was our big chance! I lifted my sword and yelled, ¡°Everyone attack, let¡¯s kill him in half a minute, attack!¡± My sword rose and Pardon fell, tightly followed by a powerful Slayer Slash! MISS! 3984! The great damage number startled everyone present. Even though it was a critical hit, the damage itself was still surprising. The result of the four ace skills Moon Gaze, Extreme Break, Pardon and Slayer Slash made the boss howl wretchedly. A large chunk of its health bar had been chipped away! Following my impressive attack, I immediately retreated, my reactions shockingly quick! Bang! An extremely toxic tailbone stabbed into the ground, creating a big hole. Like I had expected, I had already drawn the boss¡¯s aggro. Fortunately, my dodge was fast enough or else I would¡¯ve been fatally impaled. My Dark Wasp did its best to deal damage. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh, it attacked three times! The boss¡¯s HP quickly fell under everyone¡¯s attacks. Even before the 30 seconds of debuff are over, it will die any minute now! I suddenly felt a chill and hurriedly yelled, ¡°All archers cover the area around the boss with Volley, now!¡± Clear Perfume¡¯s eyes were as swift as her hands and she shot out a rain of arrows! Pew pew pew! Arrows repeatedly exploded in the air and two black figures tumbled to the ground. Cold-blooded Mad Dragon, Mad Dragon Little Seven. They were Mad Dragon assassins! Fuck, as expected. Roaming Dragon still left a move like that. Who knew how many Mad Dragon assassins were lurking inside Violet Forest. I just remembered that in the previous thousand-man party, I hadn¡¯t spotted a single assassin! Arrows fell like rain and the assassins stealthed in the surroundings were being shot dead one after another. But the boss was about to die! Lin Yixin cleanly landed a blow! Crack! 874! The Giant Cave Monster¡¯s enormous hill-like body tottered, then fell, followed by numerous streaks of golden light. Me and Lin Yixin were in the same party and were given a huge amount of experience. I rose two levels and reached Level 48 while Lin Yixin leveled to 50! The boss died. Equipment drop! Hero¡¯s Token! I ran over at top speed. I had already seen a dazzling token fall from the air. That had to be the Hero¡¯s Token! Just as I was about to grab it, another hand came out of nowhere and stuffed the Hero¡¯s Token into their bag. It was none other than Unyielding Mad Dragon, Mad Dragon¡¯s ace assassin! Swhoosh! Unyielding Mad Dragon activated Assassin¡¯s unique skill, Swift Dash. His speed increased as he blitzed into the forest, leaving a trail of afterimages. He had gotten the Hero¡¯s Token, and maybe even some of the equipment drops! I couldn¡¯t let him get away or else our beautiful ambush would¡¯ve ended up in vain! I chased after him with my sword but my Dark Wasp was even faster. I absolutely could not let him use Vanish or else we¡¯d all die from regret! Lin Yixin and I ran shoulder to shoulder, gunning for Unyielding Mad Dragon while ignoring the attacks from Level 52 skeleton mobs around us. Swift Dash only lasted 15 seconds, and its caster only had a sliver of HP left. Clearly he had been hit by Clear Perfume and had been lucky enough to survive. ¡°Bzzz¡­¡± Like a little helicopter, my Dark Wasp approached from the air. Right when it was about to catch up to him, Unyielding Mad Dragon had already raised his hand and vanished in a fume of fluorescent powder! My Dark Wasp lost its target and could only fly back. My heart went cold as Lin Yixin and I ran over. We swept the surroundings and tactfully lifted our swords and drew two straight lines. Our swords swept through the air and drew continuous arcs above the grass, covering ten meters in a flash. Pa! Got him. Unyielding Mad Dragon¡¯s invisibility was forcefully cancelled! ¡°Die!¡± I brought my sword down, Pardon already activated earlier. Unyielding Mad Dragon had no choice but to watch on with an aghast face. Pop! Something dropped! My quick hands reached out and a shining Hero¡¯s Token fell into my grasp. Got it! Lin Yixin also seemed to have obtained something as she looked at me with a smile. Once we revealed the things we got, I realized that Unyielding Mad Dragon was too generous. He had pretty much given us the things we needed! Hero¡¯s Token: Rank 3 item. Owner of Hero¡¯s Token can go to the city¡¯s governor and establish a Rank 1 guild at the cost of 1000 Reputation! The item I had obtained was precisely the thing we needed the most. Lin Yixin had a black shield that glowed with a dark light. It looked pretty high quality. Cave Barrier (Silver-grade) Defense: 195 Block: 15% Stamina: +14 Strength: +12 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 1.5% Level Requirement: 48 ¡­¡­ ¡°Damn¡­¡± I swallowed my drool. This was a strong late-game item for Magic Knight class. It outright gave an extra 195 Defense and a huge block chance. A magic knight equipped with such a shield would definitely be a force to be reckoned with! I stared at the shield and Lin Yixin stared at the Hero¡¯s Token in my hand. Both our gazes were filled with desire and I felt embarrassed once I met her eyes. What did we even look like with those scorching gazes. I thought about it, then said, ¡°Yiyi, I¡¯ll give you the Hero¡¯s Token, but you need to pay us a 1000 gold commission and give me that shield. My buddy Gui Guzi really needs a Silver-grade shield like that.¡± Lin Yixin nodded after some thinking. ¡°Mn. Alright, but I don¡¯t have that much gold on me. Let¡¯s talk about it once we¡¯re back!¡± ¡°Alright.¡± ¡­¡­ We walked back together into the valley. Clear Perfume, Zi Chuanyu, Gui Guzi and the others were currently cleaning the battlefield. Tons of players had died, dropping a ton of pots, equipment, and consumables. ¡°Qingqing, Zi Chuanyu, how much gold do you guys have?¡± Lin Yixin asked when she walked up. ¡°I don¡¯t have enough gold so you guys have to pool some together. Once we get the Hero¡¯s Token, we can establish our guild!¡± Clear Perfume smiled excitedly. ¡°Yiyi, a Hero¡¯s Token dropped?¡± Lin Yixin nodded with a smile and proudly stuck out her chest. ¡°Of course. With me personally taking charge, a little fish like Unyielding Mad Dragon was nothing. But the Hero¡¯s Token is with Lu Chen and he¡¯s blackmailing me¡­¡± Clear Perfume lightly smiled. ¡°Alright, we can talk about your grudges later. Let¡¯s get the Hero¡¯s Token first. I have 200 gold on me, the money we were going to use yesterday to buy pots.¡± Zi Chuanyu said, ¡°I have 400 gold here. Lin Yixin, is that enough?¡± ¡°Yes, thanks!¡± Lin Yixin traded me 1000 gold after saying thanks and then opened her little white hand. ¡°Alright, gimme my Hero¡¯s Token¡­¡± ¡°And my Silver-grade shield¡­¡± I countered. Lin Yixin pouted. ¡°Shame on you, are you afraid I¡¯ll go back on our deal?¡± I nodded seriously. ¡°Mn, of course I¡¯m afraid. Didn¡¯t you do that the night you fought Li Le? Else I would¡¯ve long¡­¡± ¡°You!¡± Sun Qingqing asked with a smile, ¡°Long what, Lu Chen?¡± Lin Yixin stomped her feet with a red face. She threw the Silver-grade shield at me. ¡°Give me my Hero¡¯s Token!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± After taking advantage of her, I finally gave her the Hero¡¯s Token. To be honest, the one who truly benefited from all of this was Lin Yixin. The first Hero¡¯s Token was, after all, priceless. Only when you¡¯ve taken the lead in the game would great prospects await you. How could the worth of a mere Silver-grade shield be on the same level as Hero¡¯s Token? Hmph, even if it was a Gold-grade, Dark Gold¨Cgrade, or even Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Spirit-grade, or Immortal-grade item, how could they compare to the very first Hero¡¯s Token! ¡­¡­ I turned around and tossed the Silver-grade shield at Gui Guzi. ¡°Hurry up and store it when you return to the city. You can equip it when you reach Level 48.¡± Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes rolled backward. He fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth. Du Thirteen was shocked. ¡°Lu Chen, why did Little Gui faint? Did he eat some rat poison?¡± Chapter 84: Ice Ray Ding~! System Announcement: Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± has successfully established China¡¯s first guild ¡°Snowy Cathaya". Rewards obtained: Level +3, Strength +10, Luck +1, and reward item ¡°Snow Shadow Sword¡± (Level 50 Silver-grade)! ¡­¡­ The melodic sound of a bell echoed in the skies above Floating Ice City and lasted for a long time. I raised my head to look in the direction of the city. Floating Ice City¡¯s first player-made guild had finally been created. As the player who established the first guild, Lin Yixin¡¯s rewards were plentiful. Three levels, permanent increase of 10 Strength, 1 Luck and a Level 50 Silver-grade sword. As I had expected, the value of Hero¡¯s Token was way beyond a Silver-grade shield. Beep! Du Thirteen sent me a message: ¡°Too bad, if we had taken the Hero¡¯s Token and established Bloody Mercenaries, the Snow Shadow Sword would¡¯ve been yours, Lu Chen!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile at that thought. Forget it, a Gold-grade Ghost Ice Soul still lies in our warehouse. I don''t need that Snow Shadow Sword. I replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Thirteen. We¡¯re only three people. If it weren¡¯t for Lin Yixin¡¯s hundred-man party, we wouldn¡¯t even have gotten the Hero¡¯s Token. Besides, we¡¯ve already agreed in advance to give it to them. We have to keep our promises. Without trust, we won¡¯t survive, you know. Besides, it isn¡¯t like Hero¡¯s Token is some godly item. We can just get another. Once we do, it won¡¯t be too late to make a guild anyway.¡± ¡°Mn, got it. What are you going to do now?¡± ¡°Leveling, rushing to 50!¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go level too with Little Gui.¡± ¡°Sure. Don¡¯t bother with earning money in the next few days. Focus on leveling first!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ I closed the chat window and then swept my sword to kill a Level 52 Violet Undead Knight. A pillar of golden light fell onto my head. Level 49. I was only 3% away from it after killing the boss earlier, so that didn¡¯t take long. If I continue working hard, I will get Level 50 by tomorrow morning! I opened Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking and discovered that the level discrepancy had widened¡ªNameLevelClass Wind Fantasy 53 Light Wanderer Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 49 Undead Swordsman Dominating Heaven Blade 47 Warrior Clear Perfume 46 Archer Gui Guzi 46 Undead Knight Dominating Archer God 46 Archer Dominating Mage God 46 Mage Dominating Warrior God 46 Warrior Inconstant 45 Magic Knight Purple Marquis 45 Warrior ¡­... I heaved a sigh of relief, then thought about Purple Marquis. That person¡¯s mechanics and equipment were pretty good. He had definitely gone somewhere to grind to reach Level 45. This guy was also a talent though it was too bad that I couldn¡¯t use him. He seemed to have a close relationship with the Shadow Clan which I had already fallen out with. The official forum was loaded with discussion threads. I browsed as I killed the mobs nearby. There was a long golden title at the top of the homepage¡ªFloating Ice City¡¯s Goddess Wind Fantasy Establishes China¡¯s First Guild¡ªSnowy Cathaya! The thread read: Floating Ice City Heavenly Ranking¡¯s 1st place, female expert Wind Fantasy, teamed together with the 2nd place expert, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, and challenged the mighty Mad Dragon guild. Both sides warred in the Violet Forest with Wind Fantasy and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand ending up to be the victor. Mad Dragon was defeated and had even lost Heavenblessed¡¯s first Hero¡¯s Token, thus losing the qualifications to become overlord of Floating Ice City! That made me smile. Seems like I took some of Lin Yixin¡¯s light, huh. I might become famous in the China server. One thing was certain though¡ªFruit Knife Goddess Lin Yixin was at the peak of her fame, her popularity slowly dimming Martial God Candlelight Shadow¡¯s light! I opened the thread and read through the responses¡ª 1st comment (Lakeside Falling Leaf): Wind Fantasy¡¯s so awesome. She¡¯d actually snatched the first Hero¡¯s Token from Mad Dragon¡¯s rubbish group. 2nd comment (Love To Sing And Dance): I heard that it was Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand who got the Hero¡¯s Token. Wuuwuu, Brother Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, do you still remember the girl from the starting village? 3rd comment (Spicy Sprite): Sure he does, pretty good skills for that low a price. 4th comment (Hidden Night): Aaah, Beauty Fantasy, go out with me! PS: 5th commenter¡¯s my son! 5th comment (Heavenblessed Administrator¡¯s Police Dog): Woof woof woof... ¡­¡­ A quick glance noted that there were over ten thousand responses not even twenty minutes since Lin Yixin had established Snowy Cathaya. 50% or more of these comments were asking Lin Yixin out, and 49.9% were people mocking one another. The remaining tenth of a percent were comments acknowledging my strength¡­ four fifths of that from girls who wanted to date me. I stroked my terrifying skeletal face, somewhat speechless. I wondered if they would want to date me after seeing my disgusting face. But there was one good thing about Heavenblessed. The moment a player locked in their identity helmet, it would automatically distinguish their gender so there absolutely wouldn¡¯t be a tragedy like finding out the girl you had an online relationship with turning out to be a man many years later. I collected myself and continued my grind! One man, one sword, and one wasp strolled into the depths of Violet Forest. Since my level had risen, I now dared to challenge monsters around Level 55. Ghost Deity Armor was Rank 4 and increased my Defense by 14%. If I added the HP regen from Regeneration of the Undead, staying alive was no longer an issue. It was just that my DPS was a bit low! Right. Level 55 Violet Undead Knights had approximately 5000 HP but my basic attacks only dealt 250~350 damage. The Weeping Fire Blade¡¯s attack power was not enough for my level anymore. It was imperative for me to swap to the Gold-grade Ghost Ice Soul! Moreover, my main combat skills were only Pardon and Slayer Slash. I didn¡¯t have any other active attack skills other than those two. This caused my overall DPS to be low. Compared to Lin Yixin who had Killer Wind Swordplay, my damage output would be considered great if it was even 75% of hers! I had to get to Level 50 quick. Every class could learn new skills from their trainer once they reached Level 50. I have to grind to Level 50 by tonight or I¡¯m not going to sleep! Determining my plan, I continued to grind. Even though my damage output was low, my Dark Wasp¡¯s attack power was still thankfully significant. My Dark Wasp was already Level 47. Its Attack, Defense, and HP stats had increased substantially and its DPS had long surpassed mine. With an ace pet helping me fight, the difficulty of me reaching 50 had greatly decreased! As I was leveling, I heard a beep. It was a message from Lin Yixin: ¡°Still not sleeping?¡± ¡°Nope, I¡¯m rushing Level 50 tonight!¡± ¡°Hoho~~ Good luck, then. I¡¯m going to sleep, so tired~~¡± ¡°Mn, go ahead!¡± Her name went dark. In our united assault against Mad Dragon, Lin Yixin¡¯s attitude toward me seemed to have gotten much better. She didn¡¯t act like I owed her a ton of money anymore. The night was endless. I didn¡¯t know how many people were crazily leveling like me. The reason why I picked Violet Forest as my place to grind was because the undead mobs here gave high enough experience and their loot table wasn¡¯t too bad either. The other reason was that the place yielded a great number of Soul Sparks of the Undead. I had to quickly reach the level of Bone General or Asura. Only then would I dare show myself to the world. I¡¯ve been hiding under that hood for far too long. ¡­¡­ Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi had not logged off yet. They were probably also hoping to get to Level 50 as fast as they could so the Bloody Mercenaries could quickly rise. I grinded all the way to 8 in the morning. I couldn¡¯t remember how many skeleton knights I had killed but I successfully leveled to 50 in a golden streak of light and could finally learn new skills! I returned to Frost Mound and approached Undead Swordsman Suren with large strides. ¡°Young Night Creature, your growth is astonishing!¡± Suren laughed heartily. ¡°It appears that you are already strong enough, so let me teach you some unique skills!¡± Swhoosh! An interface window opened, displaying the few skills I could learn¡ª Ice Ray: Deals an additional 15% ice damage and lowers target¡¯s movement speed by 50%. Lasts for 10 seconds. Energy Amplification: Increases the user¡¯s Magic Resist. Blaze: An all-out attack that deals additional 20% fire damage. ¡­¡­ Ice Ray and Blaze were both trademark skills of Level 50 melee players. I had long seen them in the officially-released data. I could only learn one out of the two skills because they mutually conflicted with each other. Ice Ray¡¯s attack power was a bit lower but it had a movement speed reduction effect. Blaze had no effect but it was very strong and was a one-shot type of skill. After thinking over and over again, I chose Ice Ray. Compared to a one-shot skill, I liked a crowd control skill like Ice Ray better. As long as my mechanics were good enough, Ice Ray was the superior choice. In a duel between two experts, a one-shot wasn¡¯t very likely to happen but a skill that lowered an opponent¡¯s speed like Ice Ray would make them wish to die! The other important reason was the fact that my destined weapon at Level 50 was the Ghost Ice Soul. It enhanced ice attacks by 7%, so it had good synergy with Ice Ray. It was pretty much a godly weapon created for that skill! Every skill cost 10 gold. It was a tad overpriced but it was still acceptable! Ding~! System Notice: You have learned Ice Ray I! Ding~! System Notice: You have learned Energy Amplification I! ¡­¡­ Two Rank 1 skills acquired, I swung my Weeping Fire Blade, icy sheen concentrated on my sword. An icy arrow condensed at the tip of my sword and shot forward. It cut through the air and stabbed a large hole through the wooden stake, leaving an icy streak in its wake. It was too strong. If anyone were to get hit by that, it¡¯d be weird if they didn¡¯t become a block of ice! Energy Amplification was a passive skill that could greatly increase the user¡¯s magic resistance. It was a necessary skill to learn because I would die a miserable death if I were to encounter a mage later in the game. I¡¯d already experienced Fire Dragon Spell and Fire Dragon Roar previously. They really made people want to cry! Mn, time to go to Floating Ice City¡¯s warehouse to retrieve the Ghost Ice Soul! Chapter 85: One Against Many Swhoosh! The return scroll¡¯s magic power flew me back to the city. Tons of players that had already gotten up early in the morning were pouring into the city. Once they bought enough pots and consumables, they stood in the city plaza, yelling for party to level up or farm equipment. I went straight to the warehouse manager and withdrew the Ghost Ice Soul. An intimidating chill immediately entered my palm the moment I held it in my hand. I felt refreshed, it really was a divine weapon! Ghost Ice Soul (Gold-grade) Attack: 115~150 Strength: +25 Stamina: +20 Passive: Increases user¡¯s ice attacks by 7% Level Requirement: 50 ¡­¡­ I swapped the Weeping Fire Blade with the Ghost Ice Soul and my stats instantly shot up! ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Class: Undead Swordsman (Bronze Swordsman) Level: 50 HP: 1280 Attack: 311~505 Defense: 238 Magic Resist: 120 Reputation: 2840 Luck: 0 ¡­¡­ My attack soared and broke through the 500 mark in one go. This Attack was enough to exterminate any metal armor player in one strike! My HP had also risen to 1280 and was not much lower than full HP build magic knights¡¯! Energy Amplification¡¯s results were now visible. My original 0 Magic Resist soared to 120 now. Faced with magic attacks, I could mitigate their damage by quite a bit! I swung my Ghost Ice Soul and saw a layer of dense icy air around the edges of the sword that gave it a terrifying sheen. This really was a rarely seen good weapon! I was happy. With the Ghost Ice Soul, I should be unrivaled in Floating Ice City, right? Even if my opponent was the Level 53 Lin Yixin, she might not necessarily be my match. I looked into my inventory, two Iron-grade items that had dropped from Violet Undead Knights inside. I should quickly sell them and head to sleep! When I arrived at the auction house, the Level 40 magic knight next to me was currently checking out shields to buy. He muttered, ¡°Fuck, a big place like Floating Ice City doesn¡¯t even have a slightly better shield? Do they have no shame putting up a Level 17 Steel-grade shield for sale? This Floating Ice City barely has anything good!¡± I swept my gaze over. It was a middle-aged player that seemed to have come from another tier 2 city, evident from his disdain for Floating Ice City. At this time, a warrior named Dominating Martial King chuckled, approached the man and said, ¡°Who said that Floating Ice City doesn¡¯t have good shields? Brother, what do you think about this shield?¡± ¡°How is it?¡± the magic knight said with interest. Dominating Martial King opened his palm and the image of a very familiar shield floated up¡ª Elemental Barrier (Dark Steel¨Cgrade) Defense: 72 Stamina: +9 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 1% Level Requirement: 35 ¡­¡­ I was shocked and a sudden thought came to mind. Wasn¡¯t this the Elemental Barrier I sold to He Yi? How¡­ how could there be another shield that looked the same? Could¡­ could there be two exact same shields? I hid my ID and walked up. ¡°Bro, is this shield strong?¡± ¡°Yeah. What, even a warrior like you wants it?¡± Dominating Martial King said with a laugh. ¡°No, I¡¯m just curious. A strong shield like this should¡¯ve at least dropped from a Level 50 boss, right? Do you have the shield on you?¡± Dominating Martial King laughed. ¡°What Level 50 boss? This dropped from a little leveling party. Heard it was a pretty magic knight who dropped it. I don¡¯t have it on me. If you guys want it, I can call my brother to bring it over right now!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I suppressed my anger and asked with a smile, ¡°This shield isn¡¯t in Floating Ice City? Where¡¯d it drop? I also want one, haha!¡± Dominating Martial King laughter became even more brilliant. ¡°Forget it, you¡¯ll die if you go there alone. I heard that party had a really strong warrior and a priest. They¡¯re being camped right now, think it dropped during some PvP in Silver Moon Valley. It¡¯s hilarious though. A small party of three actually dared to challenge our Domination Clan. Aren¡¯t they just tired of living?¡± ¡°Silver Moon Valley?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes.¡± I nodded, then turned around with my sword and began to leave. Dominating Martial King hurriedly shouted, ¡°Hey, bro, you don¡¯t want the shield anymore?¡± ¡°Nah, I¡¯ll farm one myself!¡± ¡°Hahaha, you idiot. Where the hell could you farm a Dark Steel¨Cgrade shield like this alone?¡± I ignored the mad laughter behind me and swifty charged out of Floating Ice City. Opening the world map, I saw that Silver Moon Valley was at the edge of Floating Ice City¡¯s Frost Forest. ¡­¡­ I was anxious as hell. He Yi had probably been PKed by them. With her low level, how could she possibly resist Domination Clan¡¯s high-level players? I almost cracked my teeth from how hard I was gritting them. Memories of our old days came to mind. Scenes of me and He Yi going against powerful enemies popped up one after another. At that time, we lost more than we won. I wasn¡¯t able to protect He Yi in Spirit of Grief but even if I wasn¡¯t by her side now in Heavenblessed, I couldn¡¯t tolerate anyone bullying her! Ten minutes later, the lush Silver Moon Valley came into view. A brightly lit silver moon shone from overhead but I wasn¡¯t in the mood to appreciate the pretty scene. I rapidly dashed into the valley, completely ignoring the Level 45 mobs around me. I had already released my Dark Wasp on the way here. As though it had sensed my fury, it silently followed me. Not long after, several small blue dots appeared on my map. It was the group of PKers. In the forest, a dozen or so Domination Clan players were standing in groups of twos and threes. Xu Yang and Murong Mingyue¡¯s corpses lay on the floor and He Yi¡¯s body was a short distance away. Her beautiful face was perfectly still and there was a bloodstain on her chest. She had already been killed. From Water LV-34 She had probably just equipped the Dark Steel¨Cgrade Elemental Barrier after reaching Level 35 and was noticed by these Domination Clan players when she got here. It was the reason why they attacked her! I felt like someone had slashed me in the chest. I didn¡¯t hide my name and revealed it. In the cold wind was a row of bright, blood-red words¡ª Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-50 Bronze Undead Swordsman There was not a single Domination Clan expert below level 40 under the tree. All of the present experts followed the same naming pattern. They were Dominating Archer God, Dominating Mage God, and Dominating Knight God. The shield equipped by Dominating Knight God was precisely the Elemental Barrier that had been dropped by He Yi! Dominating Knight God played with the shield and smiled. ¡°I heard that From Water is the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? A former young genius, Falling Dust¡¯s boss? Hahaha, Falling Dust has been crippled since long ago and this From Water is no longer worth much. Brothers, continue spawn camping them and make sure that Hot Sun and Murong Mingyue drop their entire equipments!¡± Dominating Mage God chuckled. ¡°Alright, their gear is pretty good. Hmph, and here I was wondering how strong that Hot Sun was. I easily made him kneel in two Fire Dragon Roars!¡± Dominating Archer God laughed. ¡°How can a third-rate guild like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls go against our Gods of Destruction? Hmph, how can they compare to the guild our Domination Clan made? Let¡¯s use Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls today as an example to let Mad Dragon and Snowy Cathaya know who¡¯s the real ruler of Floating Ice City!¡± ¡­¡­ My fury burned when I heard that. Those bastards! Swhoosh! I charged out of the cover of the forest lightning-quick and directly arrived before Dominating Mage God! ¡°What?!¡± Dominating Mage God was stunned. He used Magic Shield on reflex but just as Magic Shield was about to activate, my longsword had already lashed out. The Ghost Ice Soul transformed into a cone of ice and stabbed into Dominating Mage God¡¯s chest, completely shattering both him and his Magic Shield! ¡°Ice Ray!¡± 897! A super-high damage number appeared as Dominating Mage God slowly fell to his knees. His eyes were filled with shock, as if he couldn¡¯t believe that not even his Magic Shield saved him from an instant death. I slid through the ground as I angrily swiped my sword horizontally! Bang! Drawing a beautiful arc in the forest, I hacked Dominating Archer God who had no time to dodge! Puchi! 1208! I one-shot another one. The Ghost Ice Soul¡¯s attack power was too high. 505 Attack was comparable to a Level 60 boss and was not something most players at the current stage of the game could bear. My Dark Wasp rushed over, killed a high-level Domination Clan player in three rapid motions, and was then bombarded to death by the mages and archers. It was, after all, just a pet. Its Defense wasn¡¯t overpowered, so it couldn¡¯t withstand their barrage. However, right when those dozen or so people killed my Dark Wasp, I had already drifted to the right like a ghost. My sword dancing in circular motions disrupted the calm of the forest. My all-out attacks killed them all instantly! In three minutes, the bodies of more than ten Domination Clan players littered the ground. Only Dominating Knight God was left. He glared at me and shouted, ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, what¡¯s the meaning of this?¡± Leaving his question unanswered, I dashed up with Pardon! MISS! 1983! Another one-shot. Even an expert like Dominating Knight God had a hard time escaping the fate of being one-shot! In the blink of an eye, a corpse landed on the floor. I leaned against it and waited for He Yi, Xu Yang, and Murong Mingyue to revive. I also knew that there definitely were more than a dozen Domination Clan players in the area. More would be gathering here soon. The Domination Clan absolutely wouldn¡¯t put up with my rampage here. As expected, the chaotic sound of footsteps came over. Soon, another dozen Domination Clan players had come. It was rare to see this many people online so early in the morning! ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s over there, kill! Protect second and third brother so that they can revive!¡± A Level 41 magic knight immediately rushed up! I dodged with great agility, simultaneously putting myself in a position to attack. My eyes were cold as I thrust with my new Level 50 skill¡ªIce Ray! Puchi! 874! Killed another one! My opponents were many so I couldn¡¯t go easy on them. I quickly summoned my Dark Wasp and charged in without hesitation. My longsword sweeping through my enemies¡¯ flesh, one could vaguely make out a shape of a blossoming flower amid the chaotic battle. Gulp! I downed a health potion but it still couldn¡¯t stop my HP from depleting. Once I hacked down the last magic knight, his spear also pierced my chest and we both died at the same time. Ding~! Chapter 86: Protec Swhoosh! My soul was revived at the graveyard of Silver Moon Valley. It was surprisingly close to my body, only 10 minutes at most! I immediately floated toward my body. By the time I reached the forest, I noticed that He Yi, Xu Yang, and Murong Mingyue¡¯s bodies had changed positions again. They must¡¯ve been killed again after reviving! I gritted my teeth and charged. Die! Swhoosh! The moment I came back to life, my blade cut through a mage¡¯s throat for 800 damage. The attack was of course fatal, and I simultaneously sent my Dark Wasp after two nearby archers! The rest of them didn¡¯t matter. Right now my first priority was to kill everyone who had the power to threaten me! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ At first, Domination Clan¡¯s players kept reviving at half health, but I cut them down again and again until no one dared to revive for a time. Obviously, their souls were nearby, planning a coordinated mass respawn. Crack! I stabbed the Ghost Ice Soul into the soil beneath my feet and shouted at my surroundings in a domineering fashion, ¡°Revive now and prove to me that the Domination Clan is invincible in Floating Ice City if you have a real pair in your pants! I¡¯ll show you that you¡¯ll never be the top dog of anything, you bastards!¡± Dominating Knight God, Dominating Mage God, Dominating Archer God and a couple more players fell for my provocation and revived as I expected them to. They were the main force of this party, so at least 10 other players chose to revive along with them! ¡°You are too arrogant, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Die!¡± Dominating Knight God charged forward and thrust his spear at me like a pouncing dragon. I met his charge head-on and changed my footing at the last second, drawing a beautiful arc on the ground while lowering my center of gravity. His spear thrust passed harmlessly above my shoulder, but my Ghost Ice Soul slammed into his chest like a ray of aurora. I dragged my blade across the man¡¯s flesh. Just like that, his body split apart! ¡°Ah!¡± Dominating Knight God¡¯s scream was absolutely chilling! I didn¡¯t pause to catch my breath for even a moment, my mind blinded by murderous fury since a long time ago. I thrust my sword forward to catch Dominating Mage God, and although the man tried to zigzag out of the way, I was just a bit faster. When my blade touched his Magic Shield, I pushed harder, thrusting my sword in and activated Ice Ray. It penetrated both his shield and the man himself! Crack! I felt a chill behind my back as Dominating Archer God hit me with a Devil Piercing Arrow. His attack had pierced through my Defense completely. It hurts! 418! Pu! I swung my sword downward and literally split Dominating Archer God in half. Behind me, the Dark Wasp killed three players before it was finally taken out. I seized the opening to launch another two attacks, killing everyone and resetting the battle once more. Crack! I stabbed the Ghost Ice Soul into the soil again and stared at my surroundings coldly. My dark cyan cape fluttered lightly behind my back, and my metal armor was drenched in blood. I must look like a devil who was glaring at the bodies it murdered! About ten minutes later, another group of people came back to life. Crack! Crack! I cut down two players in a row, but the third player to revive was someone I could never kill. It was a beautiful magic knight with a pair of exquisite eyes and a small mouth. She looked like she wanted to say something, but was unsure where to start. He Yi had finally revived! Swhoosh swhoosh! Xu Yang and Murong Mingyue had revived as well. ¡°It¡¯s you, Sinks Into Sand?¡± Murong Mingyue looked a bit surprised by the identity of their savior. He Yi didn¡¯t move a muscle. All she did was stare at me as if she wanted to see through me! Light flashed all around us at this moment. Dominating Archer God, Dominating Knight God, Dominating Mage God¡ªa total of 15 people had revived and surrounded us once more. This is bad! I held my blade horizontally and said solemnly, ¡°You guys break through the southeast while I draw their attention with my pet. Don¡¯t let them camp your body no matter what, you¡¯ll lose levels too quickly that way!¡± I tossed He Yi her Elemental Barrier while adding, ¡°Here, your shield!¡± Startled, He Yi stared at me with as her mouth opened slightly. She still didn¡¯t know what to say. ¡°Go!¡± The Dark Wasp attacked players at the southeast direction under my control. I myself charged straight toward the leaders of the enemy group, Dominating Archer God, Dominating Knight God and Dominating Mage God! I half zigzagged toward Dominating Knight God and successfully baited out his thrust. I didn¡¯t give him any chance to recover and killed him in one strike. Thud thud thud! However, the kill came at the price of three arrows to the chest. I had a total of 1270 HP, and that attack just took over 500 HP! Their damage is way too close for comfort! Seeing that Dominating Mage God was casting Fire Dragon Roar, I chugged a health potion and thrust my sword at his chest before he had the chance to finish the chant. An icy spear piercing his body, he slumped to the ground, the third time Dominating Mage God succumbed to my Ice Ray! Level 50 skills are just fucking insane! Coupled with the Ghost Ice Soul, they crushed these Level 40 players like they were nothing but ants! I prayed that I wouldn¡¯t lose the Ghost Ice Soul if they managed to kill me. It would pain me for months if that was the case! Moreover, as long as the Ghost Ice Soul wasn¡¯t lost, I could keep one-shotting them even if I fell to Level 40. In a deadly dance of swordplay I hacked down one enemy after another. My HP was falling rapidly and I had to drink HP potions and rely on Regeneration of the Undead, Earth Escape and a variety of techniques to stay alive as long as possible. Unfortunately, I died when there were still 3 enemies left. Turning around I could see He Yi collapsing to the ground. At her level, there was just no surviving an attack from a Level 42 mage. Swhoosh! My soul revived at the graveyard again, and I rushed to the forest like a madman. The second I reached my body, I came back to life and killed the three campers with a Slayer Slash, an Ice Ray and a basic attack. After that, I downed HP pot, returned to full health and waited for the Domination Clan to revive once more. By now, the ground of this part of the forest was completely drenched in blood. Stepping on top of Dominating Knight God¡¯s dead body and gripping the Ghost Ice Soul, I looked down on the world like a proud devil. Swhoosh! Behind me, a beautiful figure came back to life once more. He Yi stared blankly at my back while muttering, ¡°It has to be him¡­ it has to be¡­¡± Murong Mingyue also came back to life at the same time and whispered to her, ¡°Eve, what are you talking about?¡± On the verge of tears, He Yi pointed at me and cried out, ¡°He¡¯s Lu Chen, he has to be Lu Chen¡­ I¡­ I can feel it. He¡¯s the only one in this world who can¡­¡± He Yi ran up to me and cried loudly, ¡°Lu Chen, why are you avoiding me? Why? Do you have any idea how¡­ how¡­¡± Bitterness and pain filled my heart completely. Should I tell He Yi my true identity? But I recalled the discoloration of my skin and that shocking virus report. Could I really stay by her side like I used to? Nothing was the same as it had been before. The darkness had become my only refuge. Even a ray of sunlight was enough to make me shiver with pain. I turned around and employed the hoarse voice of a Night Creature. ¡°Beauty, you got the wrong person. I¡¯m not¡­ Lu Chen, whoever that is.¡± ¡°No, you have to be him!¡± He Yi stared deeply at me. Her eyes were covered in tears, and her breasts were bouncing constantly because of how emotional she was. She looked incredibly beautiful even though her metal armor was in tatters. I sighed. ¡°Leave quickly. I already told you that I¡¯m not the person you¡¯re looking for.¡± I abruptly unveiled my cloak and revealed to her my horrifying face. ¡°Ah?!¡± He Yi took two steps backward in shock. Still in tears, she shook her head and murmured, ¡°How can this be¡­ how can this be¡­¡± Murong Mingyue walked up to He Yi and supported her. Then, she looked at me and snorted. ¡°Bastard, what are you scaring Eve for?¡± I said seriously, ¡°Cut the nonsense and use the return scroll now before the Domination Clan revives!¡± Murong Mingyue took out a return scroll and passed it to He Yi, but He Yi simply stared at me blankly like it was the only thing she knew how to do. Her face was completely covered in tears. Swhoosh! A streak of red light cut through He Yi. She collapsed slowly to the ground as the return scroll fell from her body. It was a hostile assassin. Absolutely furious, I charged forward and sent the assassin¡¯s head flying. All around me, the Domination Clan came to life once more. Eventually, Xu Yang died, and so did Murong Mingyue. Thus, I fought alone, and died once again. I revived and killed them all, only to be overwhelmed by their mass respawn not long after. Three hours passed by in the blink of an eye. It was now past 10 am in the morning, and I had dropped all the way to Level 45. At this point, I was breathing quite heavily even though I was still gripping the Ghost Ice Soul. I had lost Soul Turmoil Armor and Beast-faced Turmoil Helmet twice in a row, but I was always able to kill Dominating Knight God and reclaim my equipment. Therefore, the only real loss I suffered was 5 levels. The Domination Clan fared much worse compared to me. Dominating Knight God, Dominating Mage God, and Dominating Archer God had all lost at least 10 levels on average, and they were completely out of Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking. The rest of the players had also lost countless levels by my hand. Most of the players mentally collapsed and completely logged out near the end of the battle. They had never seen such a bitter battle in their whole lives, and to say that I fought with no regard for my life at all would be a massive understatement. Although Dominating Knight God and his brothers were just as crazed as I was, it didn¡¯t change the fact that I had somehow managed to camp their bodies¡ªall twenty or so top-tier pros of the Domination Clan¡ªby myself, for an entire in-game night! At 10:20 am, Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen finally showed up at Silver Moon Valley and came to my aid. When Gui Guzi took out Dominating Archer God with his Death Combo and saw me, his eyes actually turned watery. It was because I was climbing out of a pile of corpses while looking the sorriest I had ever been since I entered Heavenblessed. He asked, ¡°Brother, you¡­ did you have to do this?¡± I gave him a small smile and kept my silence. A few minutes later, another beautiful figure appeared from Silver Moon Forest. Lin Yixin had come online to help me with a couple dozens of Snowy Cathaya players. I was completely drenched in blood, red droplets dribbling off my Gold-grade sword. My equipment was in complete tatters, and I stood on top of a pile of corpses looking like I would keel over and die at any moment. Lin Yixin stared at me with shock and admiration before she walked up to me and supported my shoulder. ¡°Have¡­ have you gone crazy? It¡¯s too early in the morning for something this big. What drove you to do something like this?¡± I shot her a tired smile and turned to look at He Yi¡¯s body behind me. Lin Yixin was an intelligent woman. She quickly figured out parts of the truth and said, ¡°Is¡­ is she the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Is she the reason you aren¡¯t willing to join the Snowy Cathaya?¡± I nodded before whispering, ¡°I¡¯m exhausted. See you later¡­¡± I took out a return scroll and teleported back to Floating Ice City. Now that Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, Lin Yixin and Snowy Cathaya had arrived, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Xu Yang were finally safe. I supposed I barely completed my mission. I dared not, and wouldn¡¯t, face He Yi again. The crushing look in her eyes made me feel worse than anything that had happened to my own person. ¡­¡­ ¡°Phew!¡± Chapter 87: Silver Moon Devil I finally woke up from my deep slumber well past 7 pm. I got up from my bed and pulled open the curtain, looking outside the window. It was raining. Rainwater splattered against the glass and turned into a watery web. The refraction of the city¡¯s neon lights looked bewitchingly beautiful. I sucked in a deep breath and got off my bed. Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi were awake when I entered the living room. There were eight cold or steaming dishes on the table, and Du Thirteen was carrying two cases of beer at once into the room. I had to admit that he was freakishly strong and useful. Du Thirteen laughed loudly when he saw me. ¡°Haha, our devil has finally awakened!¡± ¡°Devil?¡± I felt a bit confused. Gui Guzi nodded before turning on the counterfeit PC in the room that was worth about 2500 RMB. He explained, ¡°Your last night¡¯s fight rocked the entire Floating Ice City, you know. You¡¯ll see once you check out the official forum!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I walked over and took a look. A bloody sword and a bold, cursive line of text had dominated the leading news on the home page. ¡°The devil fights to the death at Silver Moon Valley. Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand challenges the Domination Clan!¡± Beneath the title was a short passage. ¡°This early morning, the second-ranked player on the Heavenly Ranking of Floating Ice City, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, issued a challenge to the second-ranked guild of Guild Ranking, Gods of Destruction. He fought 21 first-rate pros from the Domination Clan alone, but he slaughtered them all and claimed the unquestionable victory. From now on, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s infamous name shall reverberate throughout the China server!¡± Beneath the thread title was an image of me wielding Ghost Ice Soul, standing atop a pile of corpses. I looked incredibly grave and chilling in the image, especially since my killing intent was fully internalized. There was a line of text attached to the image. ¡°No matter what reason he had to challenge the Gods of Destruction guild alone, it took more than courage to perform such a feat!¡± I exhaled. ¡°What an exaggeration. Who made this, I¡¯m going to go kick their asses! The Domination Clan also killed me five times, you know¡­¡± Gui Guzi smiled and clicked another headline. It contained a high definition video. ¡°You don¡¯t know yet, do you? While you were duking it out with the Domination Clan, a Level 34 assassin was hiding nearby and livestreaming the whole battle. The whole thing is three hours long, and it currently has over three hundred million views. Haha, you really should¡¯ve added the words ¡®Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ to your name. Our workshop would¡¯ve become famous overnight!¡± Du Thirteen nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right, it¡¯s rumored that Dominating Archer God, Dominating Knight God, and Dominating Mage God got a severe tongue-lashing from Dominating Heaven Blade, and that they were inches away from being kicked from the guild directly. Dominating Heaven Blade is a prideful man who single-handedly built a super guild that is inferior only to Candle Dragon, and he always believed that he could do anything he wanted in Floating Ice City. I¡¯m sure he never expected you to slap them in the face this hard.¡± My eyes turned cold as I took a seat. ¡°They shouldn¡¯t have provoked Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls if they wanted to avoid this. Hmph, I don¡¯t care if they¡¯re the number one or number two guild in China, anyone who dares to bully Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will not escape my wrath!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Du Thirteen pondered for a moment before asking, ¡°After you logged out, I saw Murong Mingyue, Xu Yang, and a beautiful knight called ¡®From Water¡¯ reviving. She¡¯s He Yi, isn¡¯t she?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I looked into the night outside the window and asked, ¡°Thirteen, do you think I should meet He Yi now and confess everything?¡± Du Thirteen gave me a pat on the shoulder before asking, ¡°Do you love He Yi?¡± Startled and unsure how to answer, I fell silent for a long while before saying, ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± ¡°Sigh¡­¡± ¡°You know that the virus inside your body is incredibly unstable. How about this: delay your decision until a month later. My father should¡¯ve made some progress by then, and you can meet He Yi once the virus has stabilized. If it acts up after you meet her, if something were to happen to you again, she¡¯ll have to go through all that pain a second time. A man who hurts a woman may have done it out of love the first time, but a repeat offender can only be a bastard.¡± I nodded. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s do that. One month! Let¡¯s work hard and turn Bloody Mercenaries into a famous workshop during this time. Besides that, we¡¯ll do our best to support Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and turn it into a Top 3 guild in Floating Ice City!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡°Oh right, what are you planning to do after logging in, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°Grinding.¡± ¡°Haha, I guess I should¡¯ve expected that. The five levels you dropped should keep you plenty busy in the next two days.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, those from the Domination Clan lost even more levels. Dominating Archer God, Dominating Knight God and Dominating Mage God all fell off the Heavenly Ranking because of me, so overall it¡¯s actually a win for me, haha!¡± ¡°Haha, that¡¯s true!¡± ¡­¡­ A simple dinner later, I logged into the game. Swhoosh! I checked my equipment after appearing in Floating Ice City¡¯s inn. Everything was pretty much wrecked, so I immediately went to the repair merchant and spent almost 3 gold to fix everything. Ghost Ice Soul¡¯s durability was especially low, less than 10% after all that killing, so it was incredibly expensive to repair. Although I was only Level 45 right now, I could keep using the Level 50 Gold-grade sword as long as I didn¡¯t remove it from my equipment slot. The same rule applied when repairing the blade. All I needed to do was speak with the repair merchant to get it fixed. Next, I brought up the friend list. Murong Mingyue wasn¡¯t online. But Wind Fantasy was, so I sent her a message that said, ¡°Yiyi, are you free?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I want to buy some high-rank potions from you. Is that fine?¡± ¡°Sure, turn around.¡± ¡°Ah?¡± I turned around and was surprised to find the beautiful Light Wanderer standing on the stairs behind me, her beautiful eyes full of cunning. Lin Yixin had put on a new set of equipment. She was wearing a glowing chest armor, and the silver patterns on the metal wrapped perfectly around her astounding breasts. A pearl necklace clung around her neck, and some parts of her legs were peeking out of her armor. She looked as amazing as ever! Lin Yixin giggled when she saw the dumbfounded expression on my face. ¡°Hello? I thought you wanted to buy some pots? Qingqing can make Rank 4 Health Potions now, the kind that restore 800 HP in one go. Do you want some? It¡¯ll cost you¡­¡± I smiled and walked up to her. ¡°Yiyi, we are close friends, aren¡¯t we? Gimme a discount, will you? I¡¯m so poor I almost couldn¡¯t afford to repair my equipment. I even have to grind back all the levels I lost last night. Please take pity on this poor, broken man!¡± Lin Yixin snorted exasperatedly. ¡°Save your breath, there isn¡¯t anyone in the world who¡¯s poorer than me right now. How many Rank 4 Health Potions do you want? I can give you a group discount!¡± I thought for a moment before answering, ¡°In that case, gimme a hundred. It¡¯ll be cheaper that way!¡± ¡°Mm, that¡¯s a bit much¡­¡± Lin Yixin stuck her tongue out at me before smiling. ¡°I don¡¯t have that many. How about 50? I need to save some for myself you know.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine. How much?¡± Lin Yixin rested her chin on her fist. She looked like a butcher who was evaluating her prey. A few seconds later, she said, ¡°I guess I can sell it to you for 50 silver each, 25 gold for 50.¡± ¡°That¡¯s still a bit expensive. How about 20?¡± ¡°Fine, fine. Come with me~¡± Lin Yixin didn¡¯t haggle with me this time. After we made our way to the warehouse manager, she took out 50 Rank 4 Health Potions, traded them to me and asked, ¡°Lu Chen, can I ask you a question?¡± ¡°Sure?¡± Lin Yixin looked at me meaningfully before asking, ¡°If you knew me first before you knew From Water, would you have agreed to join Snowy Cathaya?¡± I was caught off-guard by the question, and not sure how to answer. ¡°What are you waiting for? Give me an answer already,¡± Lin Yixin urged. I could see a hint of hope behind her beautiful eyes. Therefore, I nodded and gave her a smile. ¡°Sure, why not? Snowy Cathaya is a wonderful umbrella on its own, and it has a leader as beautiful as you. If one day you suddenly went crazy and decided to fall in love with me, I would be the happiest man on Earth¡­¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s surprise lasted for a second before her cheeks reddened rapidly. She said furiously, ¡°Do you want to die, bastard? I¡­ I wouldn¡¯t fall in love with you¡­¡± She suddenly pulled out her Snow Shadow Sword and said, ¡°I challenge you to a duel!¡± I replied, ¡°If I win, you¡¯ll come back with me to the Bloody Mercenaries and be my ¡®mistress of the fort¡¯¡­¡± ¡°Go to hell!¡± Lin Yixin withdrew her blade and gave up. ¡°You have leveling to do, right? You¡¯re eight levels behind me. It won¡¯t be an honorable victory even if I beat you the way you are now!¡± I let out a laugh and nodded. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m leaving then. Oh right, thank you for coming to help me this morning. I¡¯ll treat you to a meal when I¡¯m free!¡± ¡°Oh, in that case I¡¯m free tomorrow afternoon!¡± Lin Yixin smiled excitedly. Without looking back at her, I added, ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me? I said when I¡¯m free, not you!¡± The pretty girl stomped the ground angrily. ¡°Screw you!¡± ¡­¡­ I laughed loudly as I exited the front gate. Wind Fantasy was pretty much a goddess in Floating Ice City, and maybe even the China server. Not only was she incredibly powerful, she was a shatteringly beautiful woman. Meanwhile, I was a Night Creature who lurked in the darkness, and I had just gotten myself an ominous moniker, ¡°Silver Moon Devil¡±. Our partnership was like a crossover between light and darkness, comedic to say the least. The reason I said that was because everyone around me was shooting me looks and pointing at me when I bade Lin Yixin goodbye. ¡°Fuck, he¡¯s that guy who soloed three of the Domination Clan¡¯s top pros last night? Fuck, he¡¯s an acquaintance of Wind Fantasy? Fuck, this world is so unfair!¡± Naturally, I couldn¡¯t care less about their gossip. Right now the most important thing to me was regain Level 50 and grind my skills all the way up to Rank 5. Only then would my strength truly cross a new threshold. I brought up the world map and tried to find a good place to level. A while later, I decided that Violet Forest was the best choice! The Violet Undead Knights lurking around Violet Forest were between Level 49 and 55, a perfect range for a solo-leveler like me. Although I was only at Level 45, the Gold-grade two-handed sword, Ghost Ice Soul, was more than enough to make up for my inferior level. My offensive power was stronger than ever before, and the Dark Wasp was a good tank that was a powerhouse in its own right. Chapter 88: Meeting Mingyue Again It was late at night, and an aura of death spread across the silent Violet Forest. Crack! My blade sliced all the way through Violet Undead Knight¡¯s spear, skull, and shoulder in an instant. A beam of golden light shrouded me as I leveled up to 47. As usual, the experience gained for killing monsters that were many levels above me was incredible. Since I was alone, all of that bonus experience was mine. On top of that, my new passive skill, Awakening, increased my XP gain even further. My body convulsed as if new flesh had grown around my bones. I put down my hood and checked out my own reflection using a pool of spring water. My flesh had basically regrown in full, and my face no longer looked as scary as it used to. However, my complexion was still incredibly pale. Ding~! System Notice: You have ascended to a new rank, Bone General! ¡­¡­ Good. If I had any doubts as to whether I had truly ascended to a new rank before, the system notice made it all too clear. I had reached the apex of Bone Creatures. The next step was to become the legendary Asura! Asuras had complete bodies of flesh, so I would finally be able to take off my hood and show my face to the world. I continued to fight my way through the forest, killing all high-level Violet Undead Knights I encountered. Crack crack! I froze my enemy with Ice Ray before following up with a Slayer Slash. Two damage numbers rose from the knight¡¯s head. 874! 901! Another basic attack from me and my Dark Wasp respectively, and the Level 55 mob was killed in less than 3 seconds! I couldn¡¯t help but smile as I stared at the Ghost Ice Soul. This Gold-grade sword was seriously amazing. It was basically a must-have, be it for PvE or PvP! I continued to grind away until it was past 9 am. I had leveled up again and reached 49 during this time, meaning that I was one step away from returning to Level 50! This leveling speed was absolutely insane! It was at this moment I received a message. Beep! It was from Murong Mingyue. ¡°Are you there, Sinks Into Sand?¡± ¡°Yes, what is it?¡± ¡°I want to thank you for everything you did this morning¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡± Murong Mingyue paused for a moment before replying, ¡°Eve is very sad. She still thinks that you¡¯re him. Tell me, are you really not him?¡± ¡°Mingyue, I¡­¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re not Lu Chen because I¡¯m never going to believe that in a million years. There¡¯s no one in the world besides that dumb boy who would fight that hard for He Yi. You¡¯re also the only one who could make He Yi drive all night without sleep just to search for you¡­¡± ¡°...¡± This time, Murong Mingyue called me directly and smiled at me. ¡°Alright, you¡¯ve finally admitted it, haven¡¯t you?¡± ¡°She did just now.¡± ¡°Sister Mingyue, please don¡¯t tell the boss about me yet. Let¡¯s meet up. I¡¯ll wait for you at Silver Fir Cafe, it¡¯s on the opposite side of Suzhou University of Science and Technology.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll log off right now!¡± ¡°See you in 20 minutes!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Murong Mingyue was clearly excited to confirm that I was still alive. It could only be good news to He Yi. I took off my helmet, brushed my teeth and went outdoors. It was a hot summer day, but I put on a black coat and wore a hat to keep my head fully hidden from the sunlight. I then walked across the streets quickly before entering Silver Fir Cafe. A couple of minutes later, a red A8 stopped by the road next to the cafe. Murong Mingyue in her uniform walked out of the car and burst into Silver Fir Cafe while still holding her car keys. It took her only a glance to spot me sitting at the corner. ¡°It¡¯s really you!¡± Murong Mingyue walked up to me excitedly and hugged my shoulders, smiling. ¡°I¡¯m so, so glad. Thank goodness you¡¯re fine, Lu Chen!¡± Embarrassed by her reaction, I pushed her away gently before saying, ¡°What do you want to drink, sis? It¡¯s my treat.¡± My nose was assaulted by the scent of her perfume. ¡°A cup of coffee, please.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I ordered two cups of coffee as she sat down on the opposite side of me. This was the first time I saw Murong Mingyue up close, and I had to admit she was an excellent beauty in her own right. Her face looked like polished jade, and her skin looked smooth and white. Her eyes glowed with spirit, and her extraordinarily huge breasts looked like they would burst out of her white blouse at any moment. She truly deserved her title as the number one priest of Heavenblessed. ¡°So, how have you been, Lu Chen?¡± Murong Mingyue asked with a smile while stirring her coffee with a spoon. I shook my head and said in a somewhat bitter tone, ¡°It¡¯s¡­ been a passable month, I guess.¡± ¡°Why do you say that?¡± Murong Mingyue was a bit surprised by my reaction. ¡°You¡¯re number two on the Heavenly Ranking, and there¡¯s no one in Floating Ice City who doesn¡¯t know your name. If this is just ¡®passable¡¯, then what should the rest of us do, die in shame like the noobs we are?¡± I couldn¡¯t laugh at her joke, however. I said quietly, ¡°Sister¡­ do you know why I didn¡¯t let boss know that I¡¯m still alive?¡± ¡°Why?¡± Murong Mingyue stared at me in astonishment. ¡°Do you remember the first and last time I went out with boss? That time someone tried to murder her?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± Murong Mingyue nodded and cleared things up for me. ¡°GGS is a huge international corporation, and Eve was appointed as the Asia Region Vice President. The president of GGS passed away not long ago due to old age, and a replacement was going to be chosen among the three vice presidents. However¡­ the vice president at Shanghai got greedy and tried to have Eve murdered. He¡¯s in prison now, naturally. Oh right, you were hurt during that murder attempt, weren¡¯t you? What happened to you after that?¡± I gave her a painful smile and said, ¡°I wasn¡¯t just hurt that day. I died.¡± ¡°Died?¡± Murong Mingyue was caught off-guard by my reply, but she quickly giggled and said, ¡°What are you talking about? If you are dead, who am I talking to? Please don¡¯t make fun of me!¡± ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± I said in a calm and indifferent tone. ¡°Can you please sit next to me?¡± ¡°Huh? Sure¡­¡± Murong Mingyue looked a bit confused, but she still got up and sat next to me. I took off my hat and pulled up the sleeves of my coat. These damnable patches of discolored skin reared their head again because I hadn¡¯t been exposed to the sun these last couple of days! Murong Mingyue was an experienced and knowledgeable woman, so she immediately recognized what the discoloration was and fell silent. She couldn¡¯t say anything for a very long time. After collecting herself, she muttered, ¡°What is going on, Lu Chen?¡± I leaned back against the sofa and said indifferently, ¡°I was asleep¡ªdead¡ªunder the soil for a whole day and night that day. Some time later after I woke up, I discovered that my body was starting to develop hypostasis. All the signs pointed toward me being dead, but after an examination it was discovered from a blood sample that an incredibly complicated virus had somehow gotten inside of me. Amazingly, it has the ability to revive a person¡¯s dead cells continuously. It is the only reason I¡¯m still alive right now, but¡­ I have no idea how long this situation will continue. I don¡¯t know when I¡¯ll die for real.¡± Murong Mingyue clenched her fists together and felt herself tearing up when she heard this. She murmured again, ¡°What¡­ what should we do? Lu Chen, come back with me! Eve will find a way to treat you!¡± I asked, ¡°How? I¡¯ll die if the virus is eliminated.¡± ¡°But¡­ but you being all alone out there is just¡­ Eve and I will not¡­¡± Murong Mingyue clamped a hand over her mouth and shed tears of sorrow. ¡°We won¡¯t allow you to die alone no matter what.¡± I smiled. ¡°I¡¯m not alone, really. I have two amazing brothers, and I have friends like Wind Fantasy.¡± ¡°Then why won¡¯t you return to Eve¡¯s side?¡± Murong Mingyue looked at me hopefully. I sucked in a deep breath before answering, ¡°I don¡¯t want her to be sad.¡± ¡°Are you serious?¡± Murong Mingyue abruptly rose to her feet. ¡°Are we pretending she¡¯s not already as sad as she could be? How will keeping this a secret remedy this?¡± I stood up as well and replied to her firmly, ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of death, but I am afraid of making her stay with me and wait for death to overcome the both of us! That is a life neither He Yi nor I deserve to lead!¡± Murong Mingyue shuddered all over as realization hit her. Finally acknowledging my stance, she nodded. ¡°So¡­ what are you planning to do in the future?¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m expecting some progress on the research of the virus in about a month or so. Once my condition stabilizes, I¡¯ll seek out you and the boss myself. Is that fine?¡± Murong Mingyue nodded again. ¡°Alright. And what will you do before that?¡± I said calmly, ¡°I¡¯ll fulfill my promise and help He Yi and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls rise to the top once more. I won¡¯t rest until Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls become a Top 3 guild in Floating Ice City, at the very least!¡± ¡°Mn. Your body is going to be fine during this time, right?¡± I nodded and gave her a smile. ¡°Yeah. This virus is afraid of sunlight, so if I catch some sunlight every day I may even be able to live forever.¡± Murong Mingyue broke into a laugh. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re joking at a time like this.¡± ¡°Hehe¡­¡± I thought for a moment before sitting back down. ¡°Sis, seriously. Promise me you won¡¯t tell boss about this until the time is right, please?¡± ¡°I promise.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll work from the shadows and help boost our guild to greater heights. You and Xu Yang need to work hard as well. The entire reason I built Bloody Mercenaries in the first place is to help Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, so I promise I will return one day. As for the rest, I¡¯ll be counting on you and Xu Yang.¡± ¡°Mn, no problem.¡± Murong Mingyue smiled at me. ¡°Eve gave me a half-a-year holiday, so my current focus is on Heavenblessed.¡± ¡°Oh right, where is Lian Xin?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know either. I heard she left the country some time ago, and I haven¡¯t been able to contact her. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll seek us out once she returns though.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Murong Mingyue¡¯s excitement finally got the better of her. ¡°Doom and gloom aside, I¡¯m really glad that you¡¯re still alive. Eve will be overjoyed when she learns about this.¡± I smiled. ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°It¡¯s amazing you still have the heart to smile, you heartless little flirt,¡± Murong Mingyue said in an exasperated tone. ¡°I¡¯ve seen how sad Eve was after she lost you. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll become the happiest woman in the world the day you show yourself to her!¡± ¡°Hehe, I will.¡± ¡°Alright, it¡¯s a promise. And don¡¯t you forget what you promised us earlier!¡± Murong Mingyue suddenly stood up again and gave me a hug. She pressed her face to my chest and whispered, ¡°You promised Eve you¡¯ll walk with her, with all of us, to the very end¡­ you¡¯re not allowed to leave this early into our lives, you hear me¡­?¡± Chapter 89: Beiming Xue I went back online after nighttime arrived. Swhoosh! My vision was covered in fog until I appeared at a graveyard that was close to the Violet Camp. As a brave warrior of the Night Creatures, it was my motto to never buy a tent if there was a graveyard nearby. Money was precious after all. First, I looked at my experience bar and noted that it was almost empty. I could definitely stand to do better. Next, I brought up the Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking and noticed that the Top 10 spots had changed drastically. Dominating Heaven Blade and Dominating Warrior God were the only players from the Domination Clan who still clung onto their spots. The rest had dropped out of sight due to the incident in the morning. NameLevelClass Wind Fantasy 54 Light Wanderer Dominating Heaven Blade 52 Warrior Clear Perfume 51 Archer Gui Guzi 51 Undead Knight Purple Marquis 50 Warrior Beiming Xue 50 Dark Archer Dominating Warrior God 49 Warrior Zi Chuanyu 49 Magic Knight Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 49 Undead Swordsman Yun Biyue 49 Mage ¡­¡­ Shit, the competition is so fierce! All the players ranging from the 7th to 24th are at Level 49! If I had taken my time and come in an hour or two later, I would¡¯ve fallen out of the Heavenly Ranking myself! No no no, this can¡¯t happen. I am the pillar of the Bloody Mercenaries, and it¡¯s my duty to show my face on the Heavenly Ranking! I might not be able to enter the Top 3, but I mustn¡¯t fall out of the Top 10 no matter what! The grind continues. Level 50 comes before anything else! I summoned the Dark Wasp and pounced toward a nearby Violet Undead Knight, killing it in less than 5 seconds. The Ghost Ice Soul was a Level 50 Gold-grade weapon, and its attack power was crazy-high. It almost felt like I was chopping vegetables, not a horde of deadly Level 55 mobs. That was true for the opposite case too actually, but the difference was that I was too fast for them to kill me before I killed them. Pop! The very first mob I killed dropped a Big Magic Stone. I threw it into my bag and went searching for my next target. All the while, the Dark Wasp buzzed excitedly at the activity. A while later, I received a system notice: Your friend ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± has come online! Oh? It¡¯s been an entire day. What took her so long to log in? I was about to send her a greeting message, but to my surprise she messaged me first. ¡°Lu Chen, Qingqing told me she saw you dating an extremely sexy woman at Silver Fir Cafe this morning. Is that true?¡± ¡°Er¡­¡± I replied quickly, ¡°It wasn¡¯t a date, okay? It¡­ it was just a normal meetup...¡± Lin Yixin turned on voice call and laughed. ¡°You can stop explaining now. I¡¯m not the United States Pacific Fleet, and it¡¯s not like your date has anything to do with me.¡± ¡°Then why are you asking in the first place?¡± I countered. Caught off-guard, Lin Yixin stuttered for a couple of seconds before replying, ¡°I was just curious why someone that pretty would want to date someone like you.¡± ¡°Fuck. Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me!¡± ¡°Heehee¡­¡± Lin Yixin was happy, and I had no way to deflate her good mood. What could I do, call her poor and ugly? God would probably smite me himself if I actually said that to her face. I turned off the voice call and went back to grinding! One by one, I and my sword cut down skeletal knights of Violet Forest. I didn¡¯t forget to absorb their undead sparks. At the current stage of the game, evolving on the path of the Night Creatures didn¡¯t give me any substantial benefits aside from revitalizing my appearance, but I knew that such an expansive system wouldn¡¯t remain just a cosmetic feature forever. Once I reached a certain threshold, it was sure to boost my stats! Crack crack! I dealt over one thousand damage and killed my target with a Pardon-empowered Slayer Slash. Having spent so much time here, I had developed a surefire method to kill higher-leveled mobs. I would open with an Ice Ray and a basic attack, slowing my target. Without waiting for the 6-second cooldown to finish, I would kill the enemy with Pardon and Slayer Slash! This PvE method was safe, comfortable and completely worry-free! Rustle rustle... Suddenly, a bush about ten meters away from me shook unnaturally for a second. I shot it a sideways glance but didn¡¯t react visibly. Instead, I expanded my consciousness toward that direction. I felt someone watching me, a first-rate pro no less because I didn¡¯t sense them at all prior to that rustling. Their level must be pretty close to mine, or they would¡¯ve shown up on my map already! Who is it? I was sure they weren¡¯t friendly at the very least. After all, a friend would¡¯ve shown themselves and joined me in my leveling effort already. So, an enemy. I have enemies in every corner of this world. Who could it be? Maybe Dominating Heaven Blade? I had repeatedly humiliated the Domination Clan at Silver Moon Valley, so logically Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s hatred toward me must run as deep as bones. While I expected him to set up an ambush for me in the near future, he wasn¡¯t the type of person to challenge me to a solo fight. In fact, kings and leaders in general do not do solo battles. For example, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan almost never challenged an enemy general to a one-on-one fight. It was because the benefits of winning¡ªraising the army¡¯s morale¡ªcame with similarly substantial drawbacks. Without pause, I moved to another corner of the forest and went back to grinding. The stalker seemed to have vanished and retreated as well. Mn, I must be so good that they weren¡¯t able to find an opening to attack me. Hahaha! ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a cold beam of light tore through the darkness! Thud! An arrow imbued in darkness energy slammed into my chest before wobbling violently. There was so much force behind the attack that I nearly fainted from the pain! 415! A huge damage number rose from my head. What incredible power! I dragged my sword behind me and charged toward the opposite direction of where the arrow came from. Leaving the enemy¡¯s line of sight was my first priority. They could see me, but I couldn¡¯t see them. That was an incredible disadvantage that had to be dealt with as soon as possible! Rustle rustle... I ran across the forest fast enough to whip the still grass on the ground into a frenzy and overcame three obstacles in a row. Finally, I arrived at the spot I had predicted earlier! As expected, an archer leaped out of their hiding and backed away rapidly. At the same time, they raised a bow and fired a Volley with lightning speed! MISS! 217! MISS! 228! What formidable attack power! I had lost more than half my HP before I even got close enough to touch a single hair on their body. Had this enemy shown up at Silver Moon Valley this morning, the situation could¡¯ve been completely different. Crack! I crushed the branch beneath my feet and bounced toward the opposite direction again. A couple of rapid turns later, I appeared behind my opponent like a ghost. The entire maneuver had taken only the blink of an eye to complete, and my mind felt as still as an ancient pond, yet as active as the turbulent sea. It was a level of control Gui Guzi had been seeking for a long time. ¡°Ah?!¡± My opponent clearly wasn¡¯t prepared for my level of speed and prediction. They let out a cry of surprise and tried to retreat, but I had already gotten close enough to close our distance to around 3 meters. Archers couldn¡¯t perform long-ranged shots at this distance, and an archer who allowed a melee class to get this close to them was basically a dead archer. I was stunned when I saw my attacker. She was a beautiful girl who was around 18 years old. She had a petite body wrapped in pure black leather armor, and she had a pair of long, pale legs that carried her nimbly through the forest. She was staring at me in shock and disbelief, and the line of text above her head said, ¡°Beiming Xue LV-50 Dark Archer¡±! ¡­¡­ Fuck! It¡¯s the sixth player on Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking, Beiming Xue! Whoosh! I grabbed Beiming Xue by the elbow and pulled her toward me. Then, I held the freezing Ghost Ice Soul right up against her pale neck, accidentally drawing a bit of blood despite my control. The sword was so sharp that it was beyond the ability of an archer like Beiming Xue to endure. ¡°Who are you?¡± I asked in a low tone. ¡°I don¡¯t think I know you. Why did you ambush me?¡± Beiming Xue stared coldly at me before replying, ¡°I was just testing you, that¡¯s all!¡± ¡°A test?¡± I released her and stood tall and proud. ¡°What exactly do you mean?¡± Beiming Xue smiled. ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is a frequent visitor of Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking¡¯s Top 3. Last night, he single-handedly annihilated the pros of the Gods of Destruction guild, and was nicknamed the Silver Moon Devil ever since. I would like to make his acquaintance, but I must know if his reputation is deserved before I make that decision!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile at her reply. ¡°So? Have you come to a decision?¡± Beiming Xue smiled at me before starting, ¡°Control: first-class. Weapon: first-class. Defense equipment: second-class. Skill: undetermined. Personality: third-class. In conclusion, you score 7 marks in total.¡± ¡°Oh? Does that mean I pass?¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s 7 out of 100.¡± Beiming Xue burst into laughter when she saw my dumbfounded expression. I asked, ¡°You still haven¡¯t told me your reason to come here.¡± Beiming Xue bit her lips and said, ¡°Have you heard of the Venomous Wasp Forest incident three days ago?¡± ¡°Three days ago, Venomous Wasp Forest¡­¡± I slapped my head in realization. ¡°I do remember. I heard that Dominating Warrior God teased a beautiful archer and got PKed twice as punishment. However, the shameless bastard then gathered seven or eight lackeys, ganged up on her and camped her corpse, right? Haha, the leader of the Domination Clan, Dominating Heaven Blade, is a tool, and it seems like his lackeys are no better!¡± Beiming Xue nodded with a smile. ¡°You may have already realized, but I am that archer.¡± I wasn¡¯t surprised. Considering how much trouble she put me in just now, there was no way a second-rate player like Dominating Warrior God could survive a fight against her. I thought for a moment before asking, ¡°But I still don¡¯t understand what that incident has got to do with you ambushing me. Dominating Warrior God¡¯s the one who teased you, not me!¡± Beiming Xue fumed. ¡°Are you pretending to be an idiot, or are you actually an idiot? We both made enemies out of the Domination Clan, and the guild supporting them, Gods of Destruction, is the second biggest guild in the China server. If we don¡¯t work together, we won¡¯t be able to live in Floating Ice City anymore.¡± Finally realizing her intention, I walked up to her and extended my right hand. Then, I smiled gently at her and said, ¡°Welcome to Bloody Mercenaries, Beiming Xue!¡± Startled, Beiming Xue couldn¡¯t say anything for a while. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Chapter 90: Desperate Gambi I had already made up my mind. Beiming Xue was a Dark Archer with amazing strength and beauty. She would be a great addition to Bloody Mercenaries, and it would be like someone had buffed us with Encourage, Forge, Valor, Homecoming, Iron Wall, and other skills! Who were Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen? They were the kind of people whose attack power, hit rate, tenacity, willpower, and facial skin thickness would skyrocket if a beautiful girl were to join the workshop! To them, it would be like welcoming their second spring! Man, I¡¯m such a wise leader! Practically speaking, our workshop had been in dire need of a powerful long-ranged player since a long time ago. We were especially in need of a young and mostly honest girl like Beiming Xue. ¡°P-please give me some time to prepare¡­¡± Beiming Xue¡¯s cheeks were red as she said, ¡°This will be the first time ever I leave my home!¡± I asked, ¡°We¡¯re ready. What else do you need?¡± ¡°How many people are there in the Bloody Mercenaries?¡± Beiming Xue asked carefully. ¡°Three.¡± ¡°Are there girls in your workshop?¡± ¡°There will be once you join us.¡± Beiming Xue immediately looked nervous. ¡°I¡¯m the only girl? What if someone bullies me?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll protect you!¡± ¡°What if you bully me?¡± This time I didn¡¯t know how to answer. Suddenly, I felt something warm gripping my hand. Beiming Xue had finally accepted my hand with a smile. ¡°I¡¯m just joking. I¡¯m not so young and inexperienced!¡± I asked, ¡°Alright. What is your name, and where do you live?¡± ¡°My name is the same as my ID, Beiming Xue. I live in the Xishan District, Wuxi.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s actually pretty close. You and Gui Guzi come from the same hometown. When are you coming over to Suzhou?¡± ¡°Give me half a month. As I said, I would need to prepare¡­¡± ¡°Alright. From today onward, you are an official member of the Bloody Mercenaries workshop!¡± ¡°Right!¡± ¡­¡­ I was extremely excited by the good news, so I added Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, and Beiming Xue into a party to introduce everyone to each other. ¡°Wow, Beiming Xue? Isn¡¯t¡­ isn¡¯t she that amazing archer on the Heavenly Ranking?¡± Du Thirteen shouted. He stared at Beiming Xue¡¯s avatar on the party screen and smiled. ¡°Hello, Beauty Beiming!¡± Beiming Xue smiled back at him. ¡°Hello!¡± Gui Guzi asked, ¡°Boss, do you know Beiming Xue?¡± I replied with a smile, ¡°I didn¡¯t until just moments ago. I¡¯ve successfully invited Beauty Beiming to join Bloody Mercenaries, so from today onward we¡¯re all family. She¡¯ll be meeting up with us in real life in half a month.¡± Gui Guzi smiled in high spirits. ¡°This is great news! Our workshop has always lacked a powerful long-ranged DPS, but now that is no longer an issue. Welcome to Bloody Mercenaries, Beiming Xue!¡± Beiming Xue was a very polite girl. She greeted everyone with a smile on her face. I said, ¡°Since Beiming Xue just joined our workshop, why don¡¯t we organize an event of sorts and deepen our relationship with each other?¡± ¡°Sure, I¡¯m fine with anything!¡± Du Thirteen said. Of course he¡¯s fine with anything, he could run through a hill of blades or swim in a sea of fire if it meant spending time with pretty girls. Beiming Xue smiled. ¡°What a coincidence, I just accepted a quest that can be shared with up to five people. Let¡¯s do this quest together, shall we?¡± ¡°Sure!¡± A short while later, the system dinged to notify us that the quest was being shared. It was a quest to kill a Level 50, B Rank boss at Violet Forest. It was definitely a lucrative bounty quest! After Beiming Xue had shared the quest with us, she stuck out her tongue and smiled at me. ¡°To be honest, this wasn¡¯t a quest that I could complete myself, but with you and Gui Guzi around that is no longer the case! Thank you, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!¡± I nodded and returned the smile. ¡°Just call me Lu Chen in the future.¡± ¡°Oh? Is that your real name?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Alright, sure, hehe!¡± ¡­¡­ Half an hour later, Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen both arrived at Violet Forest. After the official introductions were over, Du Thirteen started staring at Beiming Xue with shining eyes. Beiming Xue was naturally beautiful, and the leather armors of this game were designed to look sexy to begin with. Therefore, the combination was more than enough to unsettle Du Thirteen¡¯s fickle determination. Thus, I walked up to Du Thirteen and warned him in a low tone, ¡°Thirteen, stop staring at her like that! I¡¯ll annihilate you if you dare lift a finger against Beiming Xue when she comes to our workshop, you hear me!?¡± Du Thirteen nodded repeatedly. ¡°Rabbits don¡¯t eat the grass around their nest. I understand that much!¡± In front of us, Beiming Xue snorted as if she could hear our conversation. Oh right, I forgot that Archer has extraordinary senses and perception. It makes sense that her listening ability would be cream of the crop. The four of us started venturing into the forest. The Bloody Mercenaries workshop was steadily growing, and excluding Du Thirteen we were now three ace-level players strong. Gui Guzi was an invincible tank, I was a powerful melee attacker, and Beiming Xue was a long-ranged killer. All we needed now was a priest, and our party would basically be complete. Of course, I had no intentions of recruiting a token member into our group. Murong Mingyue was a good choice, but she was a busy woman and she belonged to He Yi. Therefore, I had to hunt for my priest somewhere else. ¡­¡­ Violet Forest was a dying place where the dead was strong, and the wind was often mingled with ghastly wails. Hordes of Violet Undead Knights roamed the area ahead of us as we journeyed deeper and deeper into the forest. The knights further in were Level 57 and very powerful, but were nothing but a minor inconvenience for our elite party. ¡°I¡¯ll be the tank!¡± Gui Guzi gripped his Silver-grade shield and charged straight toward a Violet Undead Knight. Bang! The skeletal knight thrust its spear toward Gui Guzi and hit his shield with great momentum. Sparks flew off as metal screeched against metal! 174! +35! Beiming Xue was stunned by Gui Guzi¡¯s performance. ¡°Wow! Gui Guzi¡¯s Defense is amazing!¡± Gui Guzi was incredibly pleased by her compliment. Du Thirteen went to test out his own mettle, but all he got was a brush with death. I charged forward and swung the Ghost Ice Soul, executing my infamous Pardon + Slayer Slash combo! MISS! 1984! The incredible damage I dealt stunned everyone to silence as usual. Not to be outdone, Beiming Xue fired two consecutive arrows of her own toward the enemy! Bang bang! 664! 573! Her attack power was as impressive as ever. It looked like the Dark Archer class was hiding some incredible offensive power! So I asked, ¡°Lil Beiming, does your class buff your attack power?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Beiming Xue gave me a smile. ¡°My innate talent boosts my dark-based attacks by 25%. However, this number is fixed and won¡¯t change even if I level up. Also, why are you calling me Lil Beiming?¡± ¡°You are only eighteen, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Well, I suppose I can be considered ¡®little¡¯ when compared to three men who are approaching their thirties...¡± ¡°Hahaha!¡± The three of us laughed madly when we heard the comment, and Beiming Xue wondered if she had made a mistake. ¡­¡­ A long time later, we finally cleared out all the skeletons in the area. Swoosh! A golden beam of light surrounded me, and I finally returned to Level 50 once more. Grinding mobs at an even higher level made for truly fast leveling! The way Beiming Xue was holding her bow made it look like she was gunning for the moon. She crouched slightly and darted into the forest like lightning. Then, she suddenly came to a pause beneath a huge tree and warned us, ¡°Watch out, the boss is here!¡± ¡°Pull it and come back immediately!¡± I shouted. ¡°Got it.¡± Beiming Xue drew her bow and fired a powerful, unseeable arrow at the boss. Then, she ran all the way back until she was standing next to me. We stared into the forest together and waited for the boss to appear. Bang! The tree she was standing beneath just a moment earlier abruptly broke into two as a boss surrounded in blood-red light emerged into view. It wore a pitch black cape and wielded a sword. It was also riding a skeletal warhorse. It was a leader-type boss of the Night Creatures! Crimson Hell (Dark Steel Rank Boss) Level: 50 Attack: 250~425 Defense: 240 HP: ??? Introduction: He used to be a royal bodyguard of the Violet Empire. After he was corrupted by the Night Creatures, Crimson Hell turned into a bonafide devil, his hands forever drenched in blood. ¡­¡­ I thought for a moment before saying, ¡°425 Attack is a bit weaker than I expected. Be careful, everyone. Lil Beiming, Thirteen, don¡¯t try to fight the boss up close. Gui Guzi and I will take turns tanking the boss. Summon your pets and get ready for battle!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± My Dark Wasp was already buzzing in excitement. Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen were using Wasps too, except one had 24 and the other 17 BN. It was a pretty sorry sight to be honest. On the bright side, Beiming Xue¡¯s pet was a magic-type, offensive-oriented Level 47 Purple Butterfly. It was incredibly rare, and the only other person I vaguely recalled had the same pet was Clear Perfume! ¡°Go!¡± The Dark Wasp, Gui Guzi, and I charged the boss at the same time! Ice Ray! Pu! The sword pierced the boss¡¯s chest and shaved some HP off its health bar! 749! The boss didn¡¯t overlevel me so much that it had a natural advantage over me, so the damage was impressive to say the least. It felt incredible to go through a boss monster¡¯s defenses! Again! Pardon + Slayer Slash! MISS! 1789! While the boss was slowed by Ice Ray, everyone attacked the boss with all their might. Gui Guzi launched Death Combo the second he got close, three Wasps stung it repeatedly, and Beiming Xue fired arrow after arrow, each dealing massive damage to the boss. 583! 550! 610! The Purple Butterfly rose into the air and started glowing, as if illumined by magic. It then unleashed many fireballs at the boss, also dealing considerable damage. Our party¡¯s DPS was so high it was borderline ridiculous, and the boss lost over 5000 HP, or one tenth of its total HP, in ten seconds¡¯ time. This meant that the boss only had 50000 HP at most. Cheeks red, Beiming Xue shouted excitedly, ¡°Wow, we¡¯re killing it so fast!¡± Bang! The boss swung his sword and hit Gui Guzi in the head, but Gui Guzi gritted his teeth and endured it thanks to the effects of the Undying Shield. It would take only a few minutes to take out this boss, so this bit of damage was nothing. ¡°Damned humans, I will feed on your flesh until there¡¯s nothing but bones!¡± Crimson Hell roared angrily, his sword exuding red light. Here comes his killer move! Puchi! Gui Guzi took several steps back as blood spurted from his body. The attack clearly dealt a tremendous amount of damage! 987! What the hell happened? Shocked, I checked the combat logs and found an entry¡­ Combat Log: Crimson Hell used ¡°Desperate Gambit V¡± and hit player ¡°Gui Guzi¡±, dealing 987 damage! ¡­¡­ Desperate Gambit?! ¡°Little Gui, come back! I¡¯ll tank him while you heal yourself!¡± I shouted. Gui Guzi nodded. Chapter 91: Crimson Cloak ¡°Desperate Gambit?¡± Both our eyes lit up at the same time. The boss nearly one-shot Gui Guzi just now, and his Desperate Gambit was only at Rank 5. It proved just how powerful the skill was! Beiming Xue smiled lightly. ¡°Yeah! I was going to sell this and earn some money, but I think I should contribute something now that I¡¯m a member of Bloody Mercenaries.¡± I nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right, there¡¯s no reason to benefit others over your own family. How about this, I¡¯ll pay you 200 gold for your skill book using our operational budget. Is that enough for you?¡± ¡°Ah? 200 gold? That¡¯s a lot of money¡­¡± Beiming Xue stuck out her tongue in reply, but didn¡¯t forget to shoot a Devil Piercing Arrow at the boss. ¡°Then that¡¯s settled. We¡¯ll discuss who¡¯s the best fit for this Desperate Gambit after the boss is killed.¡± ¡°Okay~¡± We turned our focus back onto the boss. Gui Guzi was currently low on HP, so it was my and my pet¡¯s turn to act as the tank. Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen¡¯s Wasps had poor Defense and lousy base numbers, so they were out of the question. Although both pets were over Level 40, their HP and Defense only amounted to 65% of the Dark Wasp¡¯s. Just from that one could see how important base numbers were for a pet. Puchi! I sank my sword into the boss¡¯s neck and pushed harder. The Ghost Ice Soul exploded with the green light of Slayer Slash and sliced right through! 1870! Hell yeah! Pardon is such an amazing skill! ¡°Roar¡­¡± Crimson Hell let out his death throes as his body slumped to the ground, his worthless life of carnage coming to an abrupt end. A couple of items and magic stones dropped from his body, so I supposed that his life had been worth something after all. Beiming Xue stood where she was and waited. Clearly, she was as wise as she was beautiful. Instead of hurrying to pick up the loot, she left the decision to her party leader. I nodded in my mind and confirmed once again that recruiting Beiming Xue was a wise decision. From this day onward, Bloody Mercenaries were no longer lacking in DPS. I was the party leader, so I walked up to the loot and held everything in my arms. Then, I turned around and smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll be keeping these 5 Phantasmal Magic Stones so I can sell them later and put the gold in our treasury. Besides that, the boss also dropped three items. Come take a look! If it fits, take it. If it doesn¡¯t, we¡¯ll sell it for more gold.¡± ¡°Mn, mn!¡± Beiming Xue nodded with a smile. I checked the items I was holding. The first loot were dark-colored leather wristguards with a reddish glow. The second drop was a shiny steel spear, and the third item was a black leather cloak. I waved my hand once and brought up the wristguards¡¯ stat window. Crimson Wristguards (Dark Steel¨Cgrade) Defense: 40 Agility: +13 Level Requirement: 50 ¡­¡­ It was a fairly impressive stat-boosting item. 13 Agility bonus was useful for both archers and assassins, but the 0.7% hit rate made it way more useful for archers. Archer skills were incredibly stat-reliant in the sense that 35% of their accuracy depended on player skill and accuracy, and 65% depended on the archer¡¯s hit rate. Without good stats, it was impossible to hit anything even if the archer was the incarnation of Li Guang himself, the Arrow God. Therefore, I passed the Crimson Wristguards to Beiming Xue and said, ¡°You¡¯re an archer, so these wristguards are yours.¡± Beiming Xue smiled sweetly. ¡°Thank you, Lu Chen!¡± ¡°No problem, you deserve it.¡± The next item was a silvery spear. My heart skipped a beat as the possibility that the spear might be Silver-grade entered my mind. I waved my hand, and my expectations were met. Coral Spear (Silver-grade) Attack: 70~105 Strength: +14 Stamina: +18 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 2% Level Requirement: 50 ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, 105 Attack? This Silver-grade spear is amazing! It also added 18 Stamina. This weapon was clearly designed with Magic Knight in mind! Right now Gui Guzi had high survivability but low offensive power because he was lacking a good weapon. Every time he leveled up, he allocated 3 points to Strength and 2 points to Stamina. This meant that he wasn¡¯t actually lacking in either HP or Attack department. If he had a good weapon, he could become a powerful attacker, a defender, or both! I tossed the spear to Gui Guzi and smiled. ¡°Little Gui, catch!¡± Gui Guzi caught the weapon hastily. His face was flushed with excitement. ¡°Thank you, boss!¡± ¡°Hah, you¡¯re welcome!¡± Beiming Xue also laughed. ¡°Can I address you as boss too, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°Do as you wish!¡± Finally, it was time to check out the third drop. A quick check revealed that it was a black cloak with amazing stats, meaning that we struck gold in our mini excursion today. Crimson Cloak (Dark Steel¨Cgrade) Defense 37 Agility +12 Passive: Increases user¡¯s evasion rate by 1% Level Requirement: 50 ¡­¡­ It was yet another Dark Steel¨Cgrade leather cloak that added 12 points of Agility. Just like with the wristguards, it was the perfect stat boost for archers, assassins and other Agility-based classes. Normally, archers and assassins only allocated points into Stamina and Agility. Agility boosted player¡¯s attack power, attack speed and defenses slightly, so it was the best natural stat for archers and assassins. Clearly, this equipment was also going to Beiming Xue! I tossed the cloak to the beautiful dark archer and smiled. ¡°Lil Beiming, that¡¯s quite the haul you got today, don¡¯t you say? Two Level 50 Dark Steel¨Cgrade items and 25 Agility in total! That has to add at least 20 points to your Attack, am I right?¡± Beiming Xue nodded with a smile. ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± The cloak appeared behind her immediately when she equipped it. It greatly accentuated her cold beauty to the point where it transcended her race, and she looked like a hunter who lived and breathed the forest with her bow by her side. She was so stunning that Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen forgot to speak for a time. I couldn¡¯t help but smile at her. ¡°Beiming, are you attending university?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m in my first year right now.¡± ¡°How will you study if you come to Suzhou?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I deferred my studies about two months ago, so I have an entire year to explore Suzhou. I haven¡¯t been there before, so I¡¯m looking forward to it~¡± ¡°Alright then!¡± Now that the loot had been fully distributed, Beiming Xue took out a crimson skill book from her bag and showed it to everyone. She smiled. ¡°This is the skill book for Desperate Gambit. Who wants it? Er, at Rank 1 it increases attack damage by 10% and lowers the target¡¯s Defense by 5%. At Rank 2, it increases attack damage by 20% and lowers the target¡¯s Defense by 10%. It¡¯s very powerful!¡± I pondered for a moment before replying, ¡°Both Gui Guzi and I can use this. Should we roll the dice?¡± But Gui Guzi shook his head without hesitation. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m building my character to have a perfect balance of Defense, HP and Attack, but you are building fully offensive, right? This skill book is clearly a classic offensive-type trump card, and it¡¯ll only be wasted on someone like me. It can only display its full power in the hands of an attacker like you.¡± We were too close for pretenses, so I said, ¡°Alright. In the future, any offensive-type skill book we get is mine, and any defensive-type skill book we get is yours.¡± ¡°No problem!¡± I accepted the skill book from Beiming Xue and gave her 200 gold in return. Swhoosh! The skill book vanished from my hands, and a new skill appeared in my skill list. It was as amazing as Beiming Xue said: At Rank 1, the damage boost was 10%, but at Rank 10 the damage boost was a whopping 150%, meaning that it was 1.5 times more powerful than a critical hit! It was much, much stronger than Slayer Slash, so it looked like I would be changing my standard combo to Ice Ray + Slayer Slash for the slow debuff, followed up by Pardon + Desperate Gambit for one-shot in the future. We left together to turn in our quest. To our surprise, Beiming Xue¡¯s headquarters was also Frost Mound. It was only now that we realized that Beiming Xue was a Night Creature herself. Maybe it was because she was a female player, but her appearance was nothing like the walking abominations that were Gui Guzi and I. Her skin was perfectly flawless. ¡°Lil Beiming, how did you come by this class?¡± I asked. Beiming Xue gave me a naive smile. ¡°Well¡­ almost everyone in my family has a congenital heart disease. On the launch day, I got a bit too excited and fainted right after I created my character. Thankfully, the game equipment detected my condition and sounded the alarm, so I survived after being sent to the hospital¡­¡± It was a terrifying story. ¡°Fuck, please don¡¯t get too excited when you come to Suzhou!¡± Beiming Xue smiled. ¡°I might get just a bit excited if you¡¯re a handsome man in real life, boss¡­¡± I looked at Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen. Then, I patted my chest in relief and said, ¡°Well, that¡¯s a relief because there are no studs in Bloody Mercenaries.¡± Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen cried rivers of tears while Beiming Xue hid a giggle behind her hand. A while later, Beiming Xue asked, ¡°Boss, are you planning any more events in the near future?¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong, is your login time erratic?¡± ¡°No, I just want to know. I often log into the game after 5 pm.¡± ¡°Okay. Everyone should work hard to increase their levels for the next couple of days. Actually, I¡¯m just going to set a goal for you all: I want Gui Guzi to reach Level 55, Du Thirteen to get Level 50, and Beiming Xue, Level 55, in three days. After that, we should find a priest so that Bloody Mercenaries can officially challenge bosses that are Level 60 and above. Our ultimate objective is to score a Hero¡¯s Token in half a month¡¯s time!¡± ¡°Oh, okay! Sure!¡± Beiming Xue smiled innocently. ¡°I missed being part of a team. I¡¯ll work hard to increase my level as instructed. You all should work hard too!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Chapter 92: Bloodspine Wolfking ¡°Beep beep¡­¡± It was very early in the morning when my phone suddenly rang. Dazed and half asleep, I grabbed it and saw a name on the screen: Murong Mingyue! Eh? Why is she calling me this early in the morning? ¡°Hello?¡± I asked after answering the call. ¡°What up, sis? It¡¯s really early¡­¡± Murong Mingyue¡¯s voice was urgent. ¡°Lu Chen, I need you and your group right now. Xu Yang and I encountered a Level 60 boss at Greenstone Valley, but there are only five of us, and we don¡¯t have a super main tank and DPS. Please help us because I don¡¯t think we can beat it ourselves. We can officially start rebuilding Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls if the boss drops a Hero¡¯s Token!¡± My mind instantly came awake. Fuck, they stumbled onto a Level 60 boss just like that? That¡¯s some amazing luck... I immediately rolled off the bed and said seriously, ¡°I¡¯m waking my guys right away. Don¡¯t tell anyone else about this and keep an eye on the boss until we arrive!¡± ¡°Okay. How many people do you have?¡± ¡°Four!¡± ¡°Ah? Are you sure that¡¯s enough?¡± ¡°It¡¯s enough. Just wait for us!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ I had always been quite confident in our workshop¡¯s strength, but after Gui Guzi obtained a Silver-grade shield and a Silver-grade spear yesterday, his stats were among the best of the best in Floating Ice City, and his total HP was literally peerless. Besides that, Beiming Xue and I were among the absolute best DPSers out there, and we had been focusing on grinding XP in the past couple of days. Therefore, our chances of beating a Level 60 boss successfully wouldn¡¯t be lower than 40%! I knocked on Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi¡¯s doors loudly while yelling, ¡°It¡¯s 6 in the morning and we have a mission! Get yourselves a cup of water and go online right away!¡± ¡°Oh!¡± My brothers displayed a superhuman level of professionalism and finished everything they needed to take care of in ten minutes. Next, I called Beiming Xue on the phone. It took a while before someone answered the call. ¡°Hi. Who¡¯s this?¡± ¡°Lil Beiming, it¡¯s me, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!¡± ¡°Oh! Heehee, what¡¯s so urgent, boss? It¡¯s quite early in the morning.¡± ¡°Log into the game, I¡¯ll explain the rest there. We have a mission!¡± ¡°Oh, a mission this early? Alright, gimme half an hour!¡± Her request caught me off-guard. ¡°Half an hour? Why?¡± ¡°Well, I need to put on some light makeup first¡­¡± ¡°Er, maybe not this time. Light makeup won¡¯t add any in-game stats, you know? Just drink a cup of water and get online, it¡¯s really urgent¡­¡± ¡°Oh. Okay¡­¡± ¡­¡­ After the summons were complete, I rushed back into my own room, connected to the internet and went online! Swhoosh! It was at this moment Murong Mingyue sent me a message: ¡°You¡¯re finally up!¡± ¡°Coordinates!¡± ¡°The exact coordinates are (12972, 30984) at Greenstone Valley, Floating Ice City area. Move north of the city. You will eventually reach a valley. You should see us once you enter and make a couple of turns!¡± ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll arrive in half an hour!¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be waiting for you. There were a couple of parties grinding here earlier, but thankfully none of them noticed the boss. Right now we¡¯re grinding nearby and keeping everyone from moving close to its coordinates.¡± ¡°Got it. Be careful.¡± ¡°Oh. Hehe, this is nothing~¡± ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, all four of us had arrived at the eastern gate square of Floating Ice City. I took the chance to check out everyone¡¯s level. Sitting at Level 52, Gui Guzi had the highest level among us. Beiming Xue followed closely behind him at Level 51. I was Level 50, and Du Thirteen was Level 47. All things considered, our party was pretty powerful. ¡°Let¡¯s go. Full speed ahead!¡± I took the lead and charged out of the gates. Du Thirteen was the only one whose ID didn¡¯t turn as red as blood. We were Night Creatures, so our presence here was about as dissonant as a group of bandits in a village. At first, some players felt like testing their mettle against us and earning a quick buck. But the moment Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, and I revealed our IDs, those players shrank as quickly as they came as a matter of course. Who in their right mind would dare to attack a group made up of three dark-based, Heavenly Ranking pros anyway? We reached Greenstone Valley in almost no time at all. I had come here once with Lin Yixin and stolen a boss from right under Mad Dragon¡¯s nose. In fact, I had obtained my Beast-faced Turmoil Helmet and Soul Turmoil Armor here, so it wouldn¡¯t be a stretch to say that I was rather familiar with this particular zone. It was where I had carried out my great escape after all. Rustle... Beiming Xue kept a constant watch on our surroundings as we ran across the grass. Her bloody eyes were fully awake and alert. Any archer with good natural senses was a good archer, and this one possessed particularly amazing beauty and offensive power! We switched up our formation a little so that Gui Guzi was running at the forefront instead of me. He was the shield of our party and probably the strongest tank in Floating Ice City right now due to his Undying Shield skill. I couldn¡¯t help but feel proud as I watched Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue. In the past, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild was slaughtered by Candle Dragon because we never had real pros in our ranks. But today, the Bloody Mercenaries workshop alone had Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue, two miraculous gaming pros in their own right. I was sure that our tragic history would not repeat itself a second time. Hmph, I will turn Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls into a sun in Heavenblessed in a year at most. I¡¯ll make our enemies quake in fear when they hear our name! I swore an oath inside my mind. It was the one goal I would do anything to achieve! ¡­¡­ A couple of blue dots appeared in front of us not long after we entered the valley. It was Murong Mingyue¡¯s group. There were five members in total, and their party formation was acceptable. Xu Yang was the main tank, Murong Mingyue was the healer. They also had a male mage and a male archer. The last member of the party was a female bard who looked around twenty years old. She wasn¡¯t bad-looking, but compared to Murong Mingyue she was unremarkable to say the least. I was a bit disappointed that He Yi wasn¡¯t anywhere, but I guessed she had work to do. It had always been like this; sometimes she was so busy that she didn¡¯t log in for a whole week. ¡°Finally!¡± Murong Mingyue let out a clear sigh of relief when she saw us. She walked up to us and asked, ¡°The boss is inside the valley ahead. Do you need us to reorganize our party?¡± I nodded. ¡°Thirteen will join your party, and you will join mine. Our party will be the main force of this raid, and we already have all the MT and DPS we need. The only thing we lack right now is a healer.¡± ¡°Alright. Xu Yang, you are the party leader now!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Murong Mingyue sent me a party invitation, and I accepted it after kicking Du Thirteen out of the party. He went to Xu Yang¡¯s party with a sad look on his face. Xu Yang took the lead and led us into the valley. It was then a giant wolf with barbs on its back emerged into view from a distance. It was none other than the boss we were setting out to kill! Bloodspine Wolfking (C Rank Boss) Level: 60 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Introduction: This beast has taken countless lives in Greenstone Valley, and someone even put up a bounty for it at Floating Ice City. Unfortunately, the Bloodspine Wolfking is a savage monster, and no one has ever dared to take up the challenge. ¡­¡­ ¡°A C Rank boss, huh¡­¡± I thought for a moment. ¡°Yep.¡± Murong Mingyue stood next to me and smiled. ¡°So? Do you think it¡¯ll drop a Hero¡¯s Token?¡± I replied without hesitation, ¡°It could, but the rate is pretty low. The chance of a Silver Rank boss dropping a Hero¡¯s Token is around 5%, so the chance of a C Rank boss dropping one is probably less than 1%.¡± ¡°In the end we can only pray for good luck, huh?¡± Murong Mingyue gave me a smile. She was already an attractive woman in the first place, but her voluptuous figure made sure that you would never be able to throw her to the back of your mind completely. One only needed to look at the reaction of Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen to know that this sexy, older sister¨Ctype priest was a maneater through and through. Thankfully, Xu Yang and I knew her long enough to be immune to her charms, and we both knew that it was incredibly unwise to offend a woman like her. With Murong Mingyue¡¯s level of experience and skill, she could toy someone to their deaths and they would never realize until it was too late. Chiang! I unsheathed the Ghost Ice Soul with a smile. ¡°Gui Guzi will be our tank, so just focus on healing him, Beauty Murong. The rest of you, take care not to draw too much aggro to yourself. Lil Beiming, you should control your DPS as well. I promise I won¡¯t let an OT happen as long as everyone carries out their job properly.¡± Gui Guzi held up his shield and swung his spear. He was ready to attack the boss. It was at this moment the Level 44 bard asked, ¡°What should I do, handsome? How would you like me to apply my buffs?¡± I liked her attitude. Unlike most pretty faces who led their parties to their doom because they were too arrogant for their own good, this one showed me the proper respect I deserved as a veteran. I thought for a moment before replying, ¡°Pretty, you can apply Valor to me, Forge to Beiming Xue, and Bloody Battle to Gui Guzi. Oh right, you¡¯re above Level 40. That means you¡¯ve already learned Homecoming, a skill that adds 15% Defense, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Leave that for the main tank too!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± After the work distribution was complete, the bard got to work immediately. She seemed like an efficient player, swinging her staff and putting buffs on everyone in almost no time at all. Now all she needed to do was wait until it was time to refresh the buffs. ¡­¡­ ¡°Little Gui, go!¡± Gui Guzi charged and slammed his shield into the Bloodspine Wolfking¡¯s head. Then, he swung his spear and attacked the boss with a Death Combo. His presence was immense, and his movement was fluid. Gui Guzi was starting to look like a real pro now. It only took an instant for the boss to lock onto Gui Guzi. By the time I reached them, the boss had already thrown a fierce swipe at Gui Guzi¡¯s body! Bang! It was a powerful attack, and Gui Guzi endured it with gritted teeth. Three different numbers popped up above his head in succession. 564! +113! +374! Murong Mingyue¡¯s healing was as effective as it was instantaneous. Gui Guzi was practically back at full health already! Back then, a Level 60 boss had one-shot me and the Dark Wasp like it was nothing. But now, Gui Guzi had good equipment, high level, and even a bard buffing him with Homecoming, a super skill that increased a target¡¯s Defense by 15%. Unless he got one-shot by the boss or Murong Mingyue stopped healing him, I had no doubt that we could defeat this boss! The bard¡¯s mouth fell open as she exclaimed, ¡°Gui Guzi¡¯s Defense and HP regen are amazing¡­ I can¡¯t believe he¡¯s going toe-to-toe with a Level 60 boss!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh a little. This shouldn¡¯t be a surprise at all. It was my turn. I zipped past the boss and drew a line across its flesh with the Ghost Ice Soul. I executed both Ice Ray and Slayer Slash almost and the same time. 774! 672! Another basic attack was all it took to draw the boss¡¯s aggro on me. It was a given, Gui Guzi¡¯s DPS was much lousier than mine after all. I withdrew rapidly as Gui Guzi moved in to intercept the boss. A series of jabs later, the boss¡¯s aggro was drawn back to him again. I moved in again and executed my killer move! Swhoosh! Pardon! MISS! And now, a new move¡ªDesperate Gambit! Swhoosh! The blade glowed deep red before sinking deep into the wolfking¡¯s neck. It was an attack that drew painful yelps even from a Level 60 boss! 2087! Beiming Xue seized her chance to fire several arrows in a row. It amounted to around 1000 damage in total. The bard¡¯s jaw hit the floor as she murmured, ¡°Heavens, each member in this party is crazier than the last¡­! What¡­ what ridiculous power!¡± Chapter 93: Yamete Swoosh! I sensed danger the moment the boss raised the barbs on its body. Not good, it looks like it¡¯s about to unleash a powerful move! The last Level 60 boss, Hill Protector God, had an incredibly powerful move called Thunder God¡¯s Stampede. This Bloodspine Wolfking was also a Level 60 boss, so I should¡¯ve expected it to have a similar killer move as well! ¡°Gui Guzi, defend! Everyone else back off! An AoE attack is coming!¡± I shouted and backed off quickly. However, Murong Mingyue couldn¡¯t escape because she was standing too close to Gui Guzi! Eyes widening, she waited for the inevitable to arrive. ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I clenched my teeth and burst into action. I charged toward Murong Mingyue and pushed her to our backline. At the same time, I turned around and expanded the cloak behind my back completely. The Bloodspine Wolfking finally unleashed its killer move and fired all the spikes on its body, razing everything within 20 meters. Beep! Combat Log: Bloodspine Wolfking used ¡°Thousandfold Penetration¡±! ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud! My back turned numb as three spikes penetrated my back in succession! 411! 397! 421! My HP instantly hit rock bottom, but thankfully Murong Mingyue raised her arm and enveloped me in a beam of holy light, restoring over 400 HP! I quickly turned around to check the party. It was bad. Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen¡¯s Wasps had died to the attack, and my own Dark Wasp only had a sliver of HP left. Even Gui Guzi looked battered because the attack had taken away four-fifths of his HP! That wasn¡¯t all. Xu Yang had been killed because the attack was too much for him to withstand. The second party¡¯s mage and archer were also dead because they reacted too slowly. Du Thirteen escaped with his life because he never got close enough to be hit in the first place, and Beiming Xue was the only one who escaped the deadly assault in time by backflipping into the forest behind her. ¡°That was too close¡­¡± Murong Mingyue stuck out her tongue before glancing at Xu Yang¡¯s corpse. She couldn¡¯t stop herself from kicking him playfully and saying, ¡°Sigh, Xu Yang is such a noob¡­¡± Unsure what to say about her action, I drew the boss¡¯s aggro to myself and bought Gui Guzi some time to recover. I was the offtank after all, it was my job to prevent a party wipe! Thankfully, that AoE attack was basically the Wolfking¡¯s last-ditch effort. Now, beating it was only a matter of time. The raid continued uneventfully after that near party wipe. Since Murong Mingyue kept both my and Gui Guzi¡¯s HP above 75% at all times, we were never in any real danger. I must say that her healing skills were very impressive. ¡°Awoo¡­¡± Finally, the Bloodspine Wolfking let out a dying howl and perished gloriously to our blades! Swhoosh! System Notice: Congratulations, you have gained Wolfking Pelt x20! ¡­¡­ Pleasantly surprised, I checked my bag to find a shiny stack of golden wolf pelts. I gave them a cursory check, and I wasn¡¯t disappointed! Wolfking Pelt (Quality: 100): Rank 5 material, can be used to create Silver-grade leather armor. Any equipment created using this material will receive bonus of +9 Agility, +1% critical rate, or +7 HP! Damn, a special material that adds stats? That¡¯s amazing! It didn¡¯t take long for me to decide that this was a material I couldn¡¯t sell. The best thing to do here would be to hire a high-level armorsmith and forge an amazing armor for Beiming Xue. It would greatly enhance her attack power and survivability, and in a game like this there was nothing more important than increasing my group¡¯s strength! Thus, I tossed the stack of Wolfking Pelts back into my bag. It was at this moment Murong Mingyue walked up to me and picked up the loot on the ground. Unfortunately, her beautiful face was marred by disappointment. ¡°Sigh, we¡¯re still not getting a Hero¡¯s Token. It only dropped a Silver-grade cloth armor and two Steel-grade metal armors.¡± I took a look. The cloth armor was an elegant-looking robe. Its milky-white color symbolized purity, and it enhanced a player¡¯s healing effect by 0.8%. This equipment was clearly designed for a priest. I moved closer to Murong Mingyue and chuckled softly. ¡°Sis, this one¡¯s yours. If you put it on even you can pretend to be pure¡­¡± Murong Mingyue rolled her eyes at me. ¡°I am pure. Why would I need to wear this and pretend? That being said, this robe does have some pretty good stats, and I¡¯m not about to turn down a good offer. Now, how do you want to distribute these two metal armors?¡± ¡°The wristguards go to Xu Yang, and the boots go to Amazing Expert. Is that okay?¡± ¡°No problem!¡± After that, Murong Mingyue gave me all the Phantasmal Magic Stones and 200 gold to boot. With a smile, she said, ¡°This is yours. No need to be courteous, you have to consider the wellbeing of your own men, am I right?¡± I obeyed her wish. I didn¡¯t want other people to recognize that we were acquainted anyway. After that, I turned around and declared to Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, and Du Thirteen, ¡°Alright, our quest today is a resounding success, and this here is the loot we got! Come now, let¡¯s head back to the city and grab our breakfast. After that, we get back to leveling!¡± Everyone nodded, and I logged off after returning to the city. ¡­¡­ I logged back into the game after finishing breakfast. I strolled the squares of Floating Ice City in hopes of finding a high-rank armorsmith who could forge a good leather armor for Beiming Xue. I had taken a gander at her equipment, and while her bow and cloak were pretty good, everything else was not up to par. The only reason she made it into Top 10 was because of her racial traits, class advantage, and excellent mechanical skills. There were at least a hundred armorsmiths at the square, and many were looking to purchase high-quality materials. However, the best armorsmith I found thus far was only Rank 4. It wasn¡¯t nearly good enough to make use of my Wolfking Pelt. For a moment, I was troubled by the lack of results. Is allowing these precious pelts to collect mold in the warehouse my only choice? Suddenly, a refreshing voice reached my ears from the right. ¡°Bronze-grade Coral Chest Armor for 5 gold each! First come first serve, if one is fake, I shall compensate you for ten of them!¡± The voice immediately caught my attention. I had heard of this Coral Chest Armor before. It was a Level 50 Bronze-grade item, and the materials necessary to make it were rather simple. Its Defense was low, and it only added 4 points of Agility. Naturally, it wasn¡¯t going to sell now or ever. However, the armorsmith who could forge a Coral Chest Armor had to be at Rank 5! It was evident from the armor¡¯s Level 50 requirement! I turned around and found an uncle sitting alone at a corner. He was a Level 48 priest with patchy facial hair, and his expression was scrunched into a look of resignation. The lines on his forehead seemed to contain many untold stories and hardships, and his game ID was called ¡°Yamete.¡± I strode up to him, crouched and looked him in the eye. I asked, ¡°Your armorsmithing skill is Rank 5, am I right?¡± Yamete¡¯s murky eyes cleared up. ¡°I see that you¡¯re a shrewd person, brother!¡± I smiled slightly at his response before replying, ¡°I may have a business proposition for you.¡± ¡°Speak.¡± I showed him all 20 of my Wolfking Pelts before saying, ¡°This is the raw material. I¡¯ll pay you 10 gold if you can forge me a Silver-grade chest armor. What do you think?¡± Yamete frowned. ¡°This pelt is but one of the many materials I would need to make a chest armor, among materials like Refined Steel, Velvet Thread, Obsidian and so on. The biggest problem would be the Rank 5 Obsidian. It fetches 100 gold or even more on the market. If all you¡¯re offering is 10 gold, then I¡¯m sorry to say that I cannot accept your proposition.¡± I asked, ¡°Do you have Obsidian right now?¡± ¡°I do, but that¡¯s for my own use. I¡¯m collecting materials necessary to make a Silver-grade cloak, cloth armor. Sorry.¡± ¡°I see. It¡¯s okay. Sorry to disturb you!¡± ¡°Hehe. See you!¡± Slightly disappointed, I turned around to leave. I still have a long way to go before I can forge a chest armor for Beiming Xue, it seems! But I barely took a few steps before I heard a loud voice from behind me. ¡°Fuck! How many times do I have to fucking tell you that this spot belongs to our guild? Are you leaving or not? If you don¡¯t, don¡¯t blame us for PKing you when you step out of the city! Seriously, how fucking shameless can you be?¡± I turned around in haste, and I saw Yamete being surrounded by four players. Their IDs had the prefix ¡°Mad Dragon¡± in it. Clearly, they were part of the Mad Dragon guild. ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± Yamete asked solemnly. ¡°We mean exactly what you¡¯re seeing right now.¡± The crowd parted to give way to a high-level Warrior. It was none other than the ace warrior of the Mad Dragon guild, Iron Pardon. Shooting Yamete a cold look, he said, ¡°What the hell were you thinking making excuses after excuses every time we sent you a guild invitation? Are you looking down on us or what?¡± Iron Pardon then took out a pitch black stone from his lap and sneered, ¡°This is what you were waiting for, am I right?¡± Shock overcame Yamete¡¯s expression as he stuttered, ¡°H-how did you get that Obsidian?¡± Iron Pardon laughed loudly. ¡°How did we get it? We set up an ambush and one-shot that idiot friend of yours, that¡¯s how! Unluckily for you, he dropped the thing you needed the most!¡± Yamete rose to his feet furiously and shouted, ¡°Fuck your mother, Mad Dragon!¡± Iron Pardon sneered again, ¡°You¡¯re the one who insisted on drinking a forfeit. Our Mad Dragon still needs a high-level armorsmith, and it¡¯s not yet too late for you to join us. If you refuse us again, I¡¯d advise you to fuck off from Floating Ice City as far away as you can. There is no place left for you here anymore!¡± Yamete¡¯s chubby face was completely distorted by anger, but he had nowhere to vent it at all. He was a high-level priest, but he was hopelessly outnumbered and outmatched. How could he possibly fight against them? Iron Pardon swept a glance at his guild members before laughing. ¡°Yamete, I don¡¯t have time to waste on you. Guys, it¡¯s time to head out and grind again! As for you, just try and take a step out of the city. I promise I¡¯ll have your corpse camped for at least a week!¡± Yamete gritted his teeth so hard that they bled. His eyes were burning with fury. ¡­¡­ As they had said, Iron Pardon¡¯s group left the city. Whoosh! However, Yamete also got to his feet, grabbed his shabby-looking staff and chased after them. Clearly, he wasn¡¯t willing to give up his Obsidian without a fight. My eyes weren¡¯t clouded by emotion like Yamete¡¯s, and it didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that it was a bad move, literally and figuratively. A Level 42 assassin was stealthed, following right behind Yamete. Clearly, Iron Pardon wasn¡¯t joking when he declared that he would camp Yamete¡¯s corpse for a whole week if he dared to step out of the city. The Mad Dragon guild was both powerful and crazy enough to commit such an atrocity. Chapter 94: Recruiting Outside the city near the edge of Frost Forest, Iron Pardon suddenly stopped walking and turned around to look at Yamete. He couldn¡¯t help but laugh loudly. ¡°You actually came after us? What an idiot! Brothers, kill that blind fool and teach him a lesson!¡± The assassin that had been trailing behind Yamete launched into action the second he received his order! ¡°Ah?¡± Yamete let out a cry of surprise. He just realized that he walked right into the trap his enemies had set up from him. In a sense, Iron Pardon wasn¡¯t wrong to call him an idiot. At the very least, Yamete¡¯s brain wasn¡¯t as big as his humongous head might suggest. Puchi! But before the assassin could activate Cold Blade and cut down Yamete, he shuddered, looking down in disbelief. A cold, eerie blade was protruding from his chest, and it was none other than my Ghost Ice Soul! Hmph hmph, Yamete¡¯s level wasn¡¯t high enough to see through the assassin¡¯s stealth, but that wasn¡¯t the case for me. Level 42 assassin¡¯s figure was as clear as day to me within 7 meter radius. Pop! The assassin died immediately and dropped a bunch of common potions. I waved a hand and summoned my Dark Wasp into existence. Then, I shot a hostile look toward the dozen or so Mad Dragon guild players. Since the assassin had died by my hands, my ID obviously turned blood-red in an instant. It was of no concern to me, however. I was a Night Creature of the neutral faction, so the protection of the city extended to me as well. Iron Pardon glared at me hatefully. If looks could kill, he would have killed me many times over. He shouted angrily, ¡°What is the meaning of this, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? This is none of your business!¡± I stepped on the assassin¡¯s corpse and chuckled. ¡°If there¡¯s a bump on the road, why not remove it? You think I¡¯m meddling? No, I just can¡¯t stand watching a bunch of noobs abusing their power and bullying others, that¡¯s all.¡± ¡°Are you calling the Mad Dragon guild ¡®noobs¡¯?¡± Iron Pardon looked absolutely furious. I smiled in return and said, ¡°Oh my, sharp of you to notice that. You¡¯re smarter than I thought.¡± ¡°Fuck you!¡± Iron Pardon was furious, shouting at his guild members, ¡°Brothers, kill that bastard! I heard he got the moniker ¡®Silver Moon Devil¡¯ or ¡®Reaper¡¯ or something after he farmed Dominating Knight God, Dominating Archer God, and Dominating Mage God at Silver Moon Valley. Hmph! Let¡¯s expose his true colors and show he¡¯s nothing but a fraud!¡± I quickly verified the enemies¡¯ numbers and classes as they charged toward me. Five warriors, two mages, two priests, one archer, and one tactician. Very balanced and meta composition! Swhoosh! I simply raised my eyebrows and said, ¡°Cut the crap, will you? It¡¯s way too late to say those things now anyway. Heal me if you¡¯re a real man!¡± Yamete¡¯s eyes suddenly brightened. ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s kill them all, brother!¡± ¡°Heh!¡± I was already charging toward the enemy by the time he answered me. To be honest, I wasn¡¯t too worried about the situation because the enemy only had two mages and one archer. After all, my Defense was high, I had the Ghost Deity Armor skill, and a high-level priest to support me. The only real threat to me was long-range damage, and they didn¡¯t have nearly enough firepower to put me down! My first target was Iron Pardon. He was the greatest threat out of all these people! I turned the edge of my blade without warning and pounced at the ace warrior of Mad Dragon. Ghost Ice Soul became covered in a sheen of ice as I got ready to activate Ice Ray! ¡°What?! A Level 50 skill?¡± Iron Pardon didn¡¯t dare treat me lightly. He forcefully twisted his body out of the way to avoid a direct blow. Unfortunately for him, he couldn¡¯t predict my next move. The second we brushed past each other, I suddenly sped up and caught up to him from behind. Then, I swung the Ghost Ice Soul at his body! Ice Ray! 589! Slayer Slash! 542! Fuck, Iron Pardon¡¯s Defense is surprisingly high. I didn¡¯t expect to hit him for so little despite using 2 killer moves in a row. The enemy priest tossed a heal at him, and he was out of immediate danger! ¡°Heh, die!¡± Iron Pardon suddenly charged toward me and swung his sword across my neck. It was a ruthless attack to say the least. With no hesitation, I bent my body so that his attack would hit my shoulder. At the same time, I stabbed the Ghost Ice Soul into his back! Puchi! 531! Nothing could save him this time. Both his level and equipment were slightly inferior to mine, so his defeat was sealed. Thud! Iron Pardon slowly dropped to the ground and passed away. Thud thud! Two Devil Piercing Arrows hit my chest as the enemy archer finally took action. At the same time, a Fire Dragon Roar engulfed my body before I could react. I had lost over 700 HP after taking three long-ranged attacks in a row! Swhoosh! +298! But to my surprise, a beam of holy light enveloped me and healed me for almost 300 HP. I was overjoyed. Yamete¡¯s healing power might not be comparable to Murong Mingyue¡¯s, but it was still pretty impressive. Yamete¡¯s support boosted my confidence tremendously. At first, my plan was to rescue Yamete and escape. But now? I¡¯m going to kill them all and leave afterward! Crack rack! I charged toward the Level 41 magic knight and relieved him of his life in two strikes. At the same time, my Dark Wasp flew toward their backline, like a flying guillotine. They died shortly after. The enemy tactician¡¯s pet finally reached me. A huge, lumbering Praying Mantis swung its giant armblades! I smiled and thrust my sword right through its chest. Then, I pulled my weapon horizontally and activated Desperate Gambit! 894! It was a one-shot! This Praying Mantis had such terrible growth and BN value that it wasn¡¯t worth mentioning at all. At a certain level, the difference between it and my Dark Wasp would be as huge as the vast expanse between heaven and earth. Bang bang bang! I shuddered as three warriors attacked me and rattled the Ghost Deity Armor. But in reality, I lost only 100 HP or so. Unfortunately for them, my Defense was a bit too high for them to handle right now. My icy blade danced soundlessly across the air and slaughtered all three warriors where they stood. At the same time, my head flashed with the light of healing. Yamete¡¯s healing was very impressive, and not once have I fallen below half HP. The enemy priest on the other hand was having a bad time because he barely had any chance to heal anyone at all. My Ghost Ice Soul was so powerful that almost all my opponents were one-shot, denying him the chance to heal anyone. ¡°Fuck! He¡¯s too powerful. What should we do?¡± the priest asked the tactician with a stern look. But the tactician was just as stunned as he was. There was no one left for him to use Encourage on. I smiled at them and said, ¡°You run, duh? Unless you have something else in mind?¡± The priest and the tactician bolted into Frost Forest like they had just escaped the death row. They were so nimble that they could put any archer or assassin to shame. ¡°Hahahaha¡­¡± Yamete laughed joyously after his enemies scattered like rabbits. He walked up to me and gave me a pat on the shoulder. ¡°Thank you for helping me, brother!¡± I gave him a smile and picked up a black piece of Obsidian lying on the ground. ¡°I still would like to forge a Silver-grade chest armor for a friend. How much is this Obsidian? I¡¯ll buy it off you!¡± Yamete immediately stared at me. ¡°Buy it? Are we not brothers? This Obsidian is yours, and I¡¯ll forge your armor for free!¡± ¡°No way, I don¡¯t want to take advantage of you!¡± Yamete laughed at my response. ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m affiliated with anyone. I was having fun making armors in Heavenblessed, and I would¡¯ve continued to have fun if these trash hadn¡¯t suddenly decided to harass me a few days ago!¡± ¡°Are you a solo player?¡± I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Yes.¡± Yamete nodded strongly. ¡°I am. It¡¯s been three years since I graduated from university, but I wasn¡¯t able to hold down a job. I couldn¡¯t bear to stay at home, so I decided to leave and make something for myself. It so happens that Heavenblessed was launching, so I decided to invest all my savings into it. I swore I would become the best armorsmith in Floating Ice City!¡± I asked carefully, ¡°Are you planning to join a gaming workshop?¡± ¡°If it¡¯s worth my time, then maybe I¡¯ll consider it,¡± Yamete said proudly. I asked, ¡°What about mine?¡± Yamete shivered before shooting me a complicated look. ¡°The famous Bloody Mercenaries of Floating Ice City are willing to accept me? A subpar priest who only knows how to forge armor?¡± I nodded encouragingly. ¡°That¡¯s right. Setting aside your profession, Bloody Mercenaries are in desperate need of a priest right now. You have great potential, but what I really value is your courage to stand up to a super-sized guild like Mad Dragon. You are exactly the kind of person we¡¯re looking for.¡± Clenching his fists together, Yamete suddenly clasped his hands and bowed toward me. ¡°It would be disrespectful of me to turn down such an invitation. Please allow me to serve you, leader.¡± I laughed loudly and patted him on the shoulder. ¡°Starting today, you are a member of Bloody Mercenaries. Speaking of which¡­ when is the soonest you can move to our workshop? We¡¯re based in Suzhou, New District.¡± ¡°I see. I live in Shanghai. I¡¯m totally free, so just give me some time and I¡¯ll come over right away. It¡¯s almost time for me to pay my rent anyway. Fuck my landlord man, all he thinks is ways to increase my rent. Well, he can increase it all he wants after I¡¯m gone. Those ingrates care for nothing besides money!¡± ¡°Haha. Well¡­ the day after tomorrow then. Take your time to pack your stuff tomorrow, and come over the day after tomorrow. Our workshop covers both room and board, although we don¡¯t offer benefits such as pension funds and so on.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, 90% of the companies in the city don¡¯t provide that anyway.¡± ¡°Alright! Here are the pelts. Tell me if you need anything else, I¡¯ll gather the materials for you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, all I need is this Obsidian.¡± After Yamete accepted the Obsidian and the Wolfking Pelts, he moved next to a furnace and asked, ¡°Leader, this Silver-grade chest armor will be a leather armor, and you clearly don¡¯t need such a thing. Who are you forging this for?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s for an archer in our workshop. She¡¯s a real beauty~¡± ¡°An archer?¡± Yamete smiled. ¡°She must have followed you for a very long time then. Otherwise, I can¡¯t imagine why you would forge a Silver-grade item for her¡­¡± ¡°Nah, she joined us just a day or two ago.¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Chapter 95: Mamate ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked. ¡°N-nothing¡­¡± Yamete gave me a smile as he worked. ¡°I¡¯m just very glad that I¡¯m joining Bloody Mercenaries. I think I won¡¯t regret this decision for as long as I live.¡± I smiled back. ¡°Of course. No one in Bloody Mercenaries will regret this!¡± ¡­¡­ Yamete was sweating like a pig. It took a lot of time and effort to forge a Silver-grade item, but it was also the proof of its value. I sent Beiming Xue a message. ¡°Lil Beiming, are you free?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Come to the smithy at the eastern gates then!¡± ¡°Oh, okay!¡± A few minutes later, the beautiful dark archer appeared at the eastern square and walked straight toward me. She waved at me from a distance. ¡°Boss, I¡¯m here~¡± I nodded at her. Beiming Xue looked at Yamete and cocked her head curiously. She smiled. ¡°Boss, what is this uncle doing?¡± I shook my head. Yamete looked up with tears streaking down his cheeks. ¡°Pretty, I¡¯m only 25 years old. How am I an uncle?¡± Beiming Xue blinked. ¡°But you really do look like one¡­¡± I nodded in agreement. Yamete might only be 25 years old, but he had a thick beard, a round figure and a kindly expression that only a grandmother would have. Even a blind person would¡¯ve agreed that his potential to become an uncle was massive. A few minutes later, Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi also showed up after hearing that a new member had joined our workshop. Du Thirteen¡¯s arrival marked the beginning of Yamete¡¯s tragedy. Du Thirteen grabbed Yamete¡¯s shoulders and said affectionately, ¡°Brother, welcome to Bloody Mercenaries! From this day onward, we live and die together!¡± As he looked over Yamete once, he asked, ¡°Ah, you¡¯re a wet nurse. So¡­ how would you like us to address you?¡± Yamete said, ¡°Just call me Brother Te!¡± But Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi, me, and even Beiming Xue shook our heads in unison. Du Thirteen then said, ¡°Your nickname should be Mamate!¡± Everyone clapped and cheered loudly when they heard this, imprinting the glorious nickname into Yamete¡¯s soul once and for all. Du Thirteen had come up with countless nicknames in the past, but this was the only one that I was truly satisfied with. It was because it was a perfect fit for Mamate! Tears pouring down his cheeks harder than ever before, Mamate went back to work until the system finally let out a melodious beep. Ding~! System Notice: Player ¡°Yamete¡± has created ¡°Bloody Wolfking Chest Armor¡±! ¡­¡­ The black leather chest armor in Mamate¡¯s hands looked like it was tinged with blood. He waved his hand and its stat window appeared before our eyes. Bloody Wolfking Chest Armor (Silver-grade) Defense: 55 Agility: +21 Stamina: +15 Passive: Increases user¡¯s fire resistance by 1% ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, what an amazing chest armor! Overjoyed, Beiming Xue accepted the chest armor and smiled brightly. ¡°Thank you, Mamate!¡± Mamate¡¯s tears continued to fall with no end in sight. Gui Guzi smiled. ¡°This is great. With Yamete¡¯s addition, Bloody Mercenaries finally have three melee fighters, one long-range DPS and one healer. Our formation is finally starting to look a bit meta!¡± I nodded. ¡°Yamete is coming to Suzhou the day after tomorrow. Lil Beiming, if you don¡¯t mind, why don¡¯t you come the day after tomorrow as well?¡± Beiming Xue was wearing her new chest armor and beaming with joy, so she nodded without hesitation. ¡°Sure, no problem. I was already packing my stuff this morning anyway.¡± Du Thirteen lowered his voice and asked, ¡°What¡¯s the sudden hurry?¡± I replied to him in an equally low voice, ¡°If they come together, we don¡¯t need to treat them separately! It¡¯ll save us money!¡± ¡°Damn¡­¡± ¡­¡­ After that, we went to Ghost Valley together and grinded until evening. When it was dinnertime, we went our separate ways and logged out. As usual, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen and I sat at the usual food stall and talked about everything. We looked like young, ambitious scholars of eld. And thus we spent our evening eating until it was past 8 pm and the sky was turning completely dark. Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen had already gone back upstairs, but not me. As the leader of the workshop, one of my many glorious duties was to buy mosquito-repellent tablets for the group. ¡°Beep beep¡­¡± My phone suddenly rang while I was on my way to a shop. It was a call from Murong Mingyue! ¡°Hey there, sis. What¡¯s wrong, is there something new you want to talk about?¡± I asked. Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t sound too good. ¡°It¡¯s not me, it¡¯s Eve.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with her?¡± ¡°Sigh¡­¡± Murong Mingyue sounded depressed. ¡°She got herself completely drunk after she was done meeting the last client of the day. We¡¯re at a bar called the Rambler Bar at the Central Road, and she¡¯s refusing my attempts to take her home. Can you come over and help, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°It will be fine. Eve is so drunk she¡¯s one step away from knocking herself out. She won¡¯t remember that you were here.¡± ¡°Mn. Give me some time. I¡¯ll arrive in half an hour!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I stopped a taxi and told him roughly where Rambler Bar was. The car took off as fast as lightning. When I arrived, I saw a lot of youngsters going in and out of Rambler Bar. Business was absolutely booming, and it looked like a lot of youngsters enjoyed coming here to relax and have a good time after work. I walked into the bar as well and looked around for Murong Mingyue and He Yi. ¡°Over here¡­ Lu Chen!¡± Not far away, Murong Mingyue called out to me and waved at me from a sofa. I strode toward her and found He Yi lying next to Murong Mingyue. Her hair ran down her chest like a waterfall. She was wearing a black outfit and a white blouse on the inside. The miniskirt beneath her waist did an amazing job outlining her beautiful curves. Murong Mingyue gave me a weak smile. ¡°She wasn¡¯t feeling too good today because her negotiation with the client didn¡¯t go too well. That¡¯s why she dragged me over and drank herself silly. As you may have noticed, I can¡¯t carry her home myself.¡± I looked at He Yi. She was leaning against Murong Mingyue¡¯s shoulders, and her long lashes were trembling slightly. She looked like she might fall asleep at any moment. I walked up to her and held her steady. Then, I asked gently, ¡°Boss?¡± Instead of opening her eyes, He Yi smiled cutely and said, ¡°Mingyue, bring me another one, please¡­ I want the 83¡­¡± Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t know if she should get angry, laugh, or both. ¡°83? Give it up, girl. We¡¯re going home!¡± ¡°Lu Chen, please carry Eve out of here while I go grab our car at the parking lot. I promise I¡¯ll return in 5 minutes tops. Just wait for me at the entrance, okay?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± After Mingyue left, I tried to lift He Yi to her feet. However, she thwarted my efforts by leaning deeper into my lap. It almost felt like alcohol was oozing out of her pores. Given no choice, I wrapped my arm around her waist and held her steady and walked her out of the bar. The night wind of the streets jolted me awake and made He Yi open her eyes after a groan. As beautiful as ever, she looked at me with eyes that were as brilliant and as deep as the stars. She smiled at me and said, ¡°Lu Chen, why¡­ why are you here?¡± I didn¡¯t say anything. I knew that morning come, she wouldn¡¯t remember all of it anyway. In the next moment, He Yi pressed her face against my chest and cried loudly like a little girl. Tears streaming down her face, she sobbed, ¡°What took you so long¡­ I miss you so, so much¡­ I¡­¡± I nearly cried myself as I hugged her. The people around us were shooting us astonished looks. I pressed my head against He Yi¡¯s hair, smelled the thin fragrance of her hair and felt a million emotions swirling inside of me. At this point, my shoulder was warm and wet. He Yi cried again and again as if she was venting all of her frustrations and longing. A few minutes later, she finally quieted and fell asleep in my arms. Murong Mingyue showed up with the A8 and opened the back door. Then, she said, ¡°Come on up. I¡¯ll drive you back home once Eve is taken care of.¡± I nodded, put He Yi in the car and sat next to her. I could feel He Yi¡¯s face burning as she leaned against my shoulders. In her sleep, He Yi looked incredibly beautiful and at peace. The way the moonlight kissed her cheeks was especially attractive. I couldn¡¯t help but wonder about the creator who gave birth to such a beautiful woman, and what right or luck I had to know a girl like that Murong Mingyue said while driving, ¡°Can you accompany Eve for a while tonight? You¡¯ll be lonely if you stay at the lakeside villa all by yourself. Eve has barely ever smiled since the day of the incident, you know that?¡± I nodded. ¡°Sorry.¡± Murong Mingyue chuckled at my reply. ¡°Don¡¯t be. You¡¯re the one who saved Eve. Did you know? She regrets what happened to you immensely. In fact, it¡¯s almost as if Eve lost sight of her life after losing you. Not only did she keep making mistakes at work, her own life had fallen into chaos.¡± I murmured, ¡°What should I do then?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± Murong Mingyue sighed. ¡°We all care for each other, and we all wish for the other person to lead a better life while working toward that goal ourselves. But no matter how hard we try, there will always be tears and sadness. Maybe this is just how life is.¡± I smiled at her. ¡°Things will get better.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Half an hour later, the car slowed to a stop next to a lake. We had arrived at He Yi¡¯s house. It was a villa in the middle of a lake; the kind that cost tens of millions at the minimum! I supported He Yi as we walked upstairs. Lighting was dim, but I didn¡¯t turn the lights on. I simply put her on her bed and pulled the blanket over. Murong Mingyue walked into the room beside He Yi¡¯s and lay down on the bed. I guessed she wanted to give us some space to ourselves. I slowly sat next to He Yi as I watched her face. I felt like my heart would fill up so long as I could listen to her quiet breathing, watch her and feel her beside me. As the stars outside the window started to dim a little, He Yi suddenly started crying in her sleep. She curled up into a fetal position looking like a wounded kitten. I got up to my feet and pressed the back of my hand to her cheeks. Then, I called out to her softly, ¡°He Yi¡­ Boss¡­¡± It was only then He Yi quieted and sank into deep slumber once more. I looked at the stars and noted that the sky was growing brighter from the east. The clock just passed 4 am. I left the villa and called a taxi to fetch me back to the workshop. I didn¡¯t belong here anyway. ¡­¡­ Later in the morning, 9 am. I received yet another call from Murong Mingyue. I could hear the sobs behind her voice. ¡°Lu Chen, Eve woke up and cried to me saying she dreamed about you last night. Uu, she said she misses you¡­¡± I felt something in my nose and turned to face the bright, blue sky outside the window. Chapter 96: Meeting Beiming Xue for the First Time ¡°I use ''Drowning in Pleasure''!¡± ¡°I counter with ''Invulnerability''!¡± ¡°''Die''!¡± ¡°I use ''Dodge''!¡± Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen were neck-deep in Legends of the Three Kingdoms when I woke up and walked into the living room. ¡°Go prepare yourselves, you two. Beiming Xue and Mamate will arrive at Suzhou around 3 pm. We should welcome them personally to show our sincerity!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Du Thirteen put down his cards with a smile. ¡°Oh right, what level are you right now, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°52. What about you guys?¡± ¡°We¡¯re more or less the same. We can grind about a level and a half a day.¡± I checked the time and said, ¡°It¡¯s almost time. I¡¯m going to take a bath first. Let¡¯s head out in half an hour!¡± ¡°That¡¯s sooner than I expected.¡± ¡°You kidding me? Our workshop can¡¯t afford a car. Calling a cab is our only option.¡± ¡°...¡± When I entered the bathroom and took off my clothes, I felt a chill swirling at the bottom of my heart. I didn¡¯t know when it appeared, but a bruise had formed around my arm. It looked like my body was starting to show new symptoms. Swish! I pulled open the curtain and allowed the sunlight to shine on my arm. A moment of piercing pain later, the bruise quickly faded into nothing. I let out a sigh of relief and leaned against the icy walls of the bathroom. As cold water washed over my body, I started recalling everything that had happened since the day I started Heavenblessed. Laughter suddenly escaped my throat. So what if I only have a few years, months, or even days left to live? I will make this virtual world tremble beneath my feet, and carry Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to the top no matter what! ¡­¡­ The three of us reunited downstairs after we were done with our business. We then called a taxi, headed straight for the railway station. The trains Beiming Xue and Mamate took should arrive at Suzhou within the same hour, so greeting both of them at the same time wasn¡¯t a problem. At the passenger exit, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, and I stretched our necks and looked around. ¡°The next train should be Beiming Xue¡¯s. She should be arriving any time now.¡± I checked the time of my received message and nodded. ¡°Yep, this is definitely the one!¡± Thirteen asked, ¡°What should we do if Lil Beiming doesn¡¯t recognize us?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, she met you in the game, hasn¡¯t she?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± A sea of passengers was pouring out of the train. Summer break had arrived, so a lot of students were returning home or paying their friends and relatives a visit. Unfortunately for us, it made it a lot harder to spot our target. ¡°Fuck!¡± Du Thirteen and I exchanged a glance with each other. The girl in black stockings is our Lil Beiming? Gui Guzi walked up to her and asked in a low tone, ¡°Hey there, pretty. Do you need a guide?¡± Beiming Xue turned around to face him. ¡°How much will it cost to go to the New District?¡± ¡°Just 5 RMB!¡± Gui Guzi opened his palm. Beiming Xue nodded carefully. ¡°Okay. Speaking of which, are you a bad person?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not!¡± ¡°Oh, I see¡­¡± Beiming Xue shot me a glance as I walked up to them. She asked, ¡°And who is this guy? Do you guys know each other?¡± Gui Guzi grinned at her. ¡°Oh, he¡¯s one of our company¡¯s employees. It¡¯s his job to carry the customer¡¯s bags. Just treat him like an assistant.¡± Beiming Xue immediately passed all her bags to me. I was tempted to roll my eyes, but I simply accepted the bags and said, ¡°Lil Beiming, you should wear a longer skirt¡­¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Beiming Xue¡¯s mouth fell open. Her eyes suddenly glowed in high spirits as she smiled at me. ¡°Are¡­ are you... boss?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± I pointed at Gui Guzi and said, ¡°This here is our meatshield, Gui Guzi, the undead knight!¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Du Thirteen also joined us with a smile. ¡°I¡¯m Amazing Expert, one of Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ warriors.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Beiming Xue stared at him with wide, innocent eyes. ¡°But I thought the boss is our only warrior?¡± Du Thirteen: ¡°...¡± Gui Guzi laughed loudly. ¡°What were you expecting to happen? It¡¯s your own fault for chasing skirts instead of contributing every time we have a mission!¡± I checked the time and asked, ¡°Beiming, Mamate will be arriving in half an hour. Let¡¯s wait for him to join us and return to the workshop together, alright?¡± ¡°Sure, you¡¯re the boss!¡± ¡°Hehe.¡± Beiming Xue was obviously a fashionable girl, but that didn¡¯t mean she was irresponsible. I was glad. It would be troublesome if she was an irresponsible girl who brought boyfriends back to the workshop every day or two. I leaned against the handrail and started chatting with Beiming Xue. Of course, I didn¡¯t forget to keep a firm grip over her belongings. ¡°Boss!¡± Beiming Xue stared at me with a bright expression. ¡°You look surprisingly okay for someone who always hides his face in the game!¡± Her comment put an awkward smile on my face. The thing with the word ¡°okay¡± was that it was cunning in nature. It could be good or bad. ¡°How old are you, Lil Beiming?¡± I asked. ¡°19. What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Oh nothing, just making small talk.¡± Beiming Xue giggled at my reply. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you ask me if I have a boyfriend, boss?¡± I spread my arms. ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter, Bloody Mercenaries don¡¯t discriminate between girls and women. Also, I¡¯m not Du Thirteen. I would never ask something like that.¡± ¡°Mu¡­¡± Beiming Xue pursed her lips and made a noise to show her displeasure. It was at this moment Du Thirteen walked over with a bag of ice creams and asked, ¡°So, do you have a boyfriend, Lil Beiming?¡± The only girl in our workshop froze like a statue. Some time later, she whispered to me, ¡°Boss, you really are his brother¡­¡± I snickered. Du Thirteen and I knew each other since the day we wore open-crotch pants. I could guess the exact number of hair he has on his body, to say nothing of his behavior. A while later, a huge man with a curly beard all over his face appeared at Suzhou railway station. He had a lazy and harmless smile on his face. It was none other than Yamete, the healer we were all waiting for! His real name was Ma Dai. It was a very courageous name. ¡°Welcome to Suzhou, Mamate!¡± I walked up to him, extended my hand and introduced myself. ¡°My name is Lu Chen, and my ID in Heavenblessed is Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. In Bloody Mercenaries, I am the Chief of Rooms, Head of Trash Management, and Assistant Head of the Sub-District. You may address me as Head Lu from here on.¡± Yamete laughed loudly and shook my hand. ¡°Please take good care of me, Head Lu. I¡¯m a 25-year-old shut-in, and this is the first time I¡¯ve ever traveled this far to live in a city. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll be troubling you lots from here on.¡± I gave him a nod. ¡°Don¡¯t mention it. We are brothers, aren¡¯t we?¡± It was at this moment a smiling Beiming Xue walked up to us and asked, ¡°Mamate, are you really only 25 years old? You look old enough to be Lu Chen¡¯s uncle even though he¡¯s only a year younger than you.¡± ¡°Uncle¡­¡± Yamete¡¯s face twitched once before he forced out a smile. ¡°You¡¯re Beiming Xue, right? Here¡¯s a sweet from your uncle. Be a good girl, will you?¡± His smile was so vulgar that Beiming Xue actually took a few steps back. She nervously clung to my arm and said, ¡°Boss¡­¡± I consoled her. ¡°It¡¯s a joke, all members of Bloody Mercenaries are upstanding gentlemen. Alright, we¡¯ve dilly-dallied long enough. Let¡¯s head back and get you both settled in first. Once the rooms are assigned and the luggages are in place, we¡¯ll go for dinner and celebrate your arrival. No one is allowed to go home without getting drunk tonight!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± ¡­¡­ I relaxed when we finally arrived at the workshop and set down Beiming Xue¡¯s luggage. I was sweating like a dog, to be honest. The amount of stuff a girl could bring with her on her travels was unreal. Yamete exclaimed in pleasant surprise when he walked into the workshop, ¡°Wow, it¡¯s so vast!¡± I nodded. ¡°It¡¯s a house with four rooms and a living room. The rent will be deducted from our operation funds.¡± ¡°Okay. How should we assign the rooms?¡± Yamete asked. The hearts of every man in the room skipped a beat as they turned to look at Beiming Xue. It was obvious that everyone was concerned with the only girl in the workshop, a beautiful one no less. ¡°Ahem¡­¡± I cut off their delusions before they could take form and declared, ¡°Beiming Xue will stay in the eastmost room, and I will sleep in the room next to hers. Thirteen and Mamate will share a room in the westmost room, and Gui Guzi, the room next to theirs. An extra bed should do the work.¡± Beiming Xue smiled sweetly. ¡°Okay!¡± Gui Guzi looked perfectly calm. He was more concerned about ways to improve himself in the game rather than room distribution. Du Thirteen was disgruntled, complaining and objecting to the split of course, while Mamate looked at him with a kindly, fatherly expression on his face. I knew then that there would be no problems with our room distribution. I helped Beiming Xue set up her gaming equipment such as installing the wires while she hung her clothes inside the wardrobe. It only took her a moment to fill it up completely. I could almost mistake her room for a dress shop. I looked up and called out to her. ¡°Beiming, you are connected to the internet now.¡± ¡°Okay. Thanks boss!¡± Beiming Xue smiled in reply. She was currently folding a pink bra. I froze for three full seconds before I smiled in return and ran out of the door. Behind me, Beiming Xue giggled like a silver bell. ¡­¡­ It was past 7 pm in the evening when we headed out. Our destination was Happy House, Qin Lan Hall. The table was covered in delicious food, and I even ordered two bottles of high-quality white spirit. Beiming Xue got a glass of fruit juice, of course. Beiming Xue¡¯s appetite rose as she stared at the food. She said while holding her chopsticks, ¡°It¡¯s been a long while since I ate outside. There¡¯s nothing like a restaurant¡¯s food!¡± I shot a look at her thin arms and smiled kindly. ¡°Don¡¯t hold back. You need to add some meat to your bones¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Mamate laughed loudly at our exchange before holding up his glass. ¡°Alright, should we drink one to Bloody Mercenaries and our bright future?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± We clinked our glasses together and downed the contents in one gulp. Alcohol was an amazing thing that could get people drunk and loosen the mask a human normally wore to hide their true self. It was no wonder that the saying ¡°in vino veritas¡± existed. About three rounds later, everyone¡¯s face was more or less red. Clearly, everyone except Beiming Xue was a little drunk. Mamate wrapped his arm around Du Thirteen¡¯s shoulders and said, ¡°I¡¯ve always been alone before this, so I¡¯m really glad that I got to make a sister and brothers like you all! Would you like to go for another round, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± My stomach was positively burning after downing another glass of alcohol. Man, this thing is seriously strong! I suddenly decided that now was the time and got up to my feet. Gripping my glass tightly, I declared with a serious expression, ¡°Brothers and sisters, there is something I must tell you all before we continue!¡± ¡°Oh?!¡± Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi, and Mamate all looked at me with surprise. Beiming Xue also looked at me and asked, ¡°What is this about, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°I want to tell you all the reason I founded our workshop in the first place!¡± ¡°I see. What is it?¡± Yamete asked with a wide-eyed look. I answered, ¡°If you played Spirit of Grief before, you probably remember a player named Falling Dust¡­¡± ¡°Falling Dust?¡± Yamete¡¯s eyes turned serious. ¡°Are you talking about that forgotten genius? The player who was given high praise by Lonely Grave?¡± Chapter 97: The Oath I nodded. ¡°To tell you the truth, I am Falling Dust¡­¡± Beiming Xue didn¡¯t look surprised. She smiled. ¡°I should¡¯ve known from the start. Lu Chen and Falling Dust share almost the same characters, and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is so strong that even the three first-rate pros of the Gods of Destruction guild couldn¡¯t stop him. Hmph hmph, you¡¯re at least at Candlelight Shadow, Dark Shadow Drifter, or A Dust¡¯s level. In fact, you¡¯re comparable to the former Heavenly King of Spirit of Grief, Frivolous Scholar!¡± Yamete was also rubbing his palms together and laughing loudly. ¡°You¡¯re right, I did notice that Lu Chen¡¯s strength is extraordinary. There can¡¯t be more than five people in the entire China server who can kill a Gemini Star, Iron Pardon, in one exchange!¡± I smiled at their responses and said, ¡°I guess I don¡¯t need to explain that part of my history then. What I¡¯m trying to say is, the reason I built Bloody Mercenaries isn¡¯t to make ourselves famous or become the strongest guild in China.¡± ¡°What for then?¡± I sucked in a deep breath before continuing, ¡°This is all for an oath I made¡­¡± Beiming Xue blinked once before replying intelligently, ¡°I understand now. Boss, you¡¯re talking about Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, am I right?¡± ¡°Mn. She was the one who helped me and stayed by my side when I was at the lowest point of my life. I knew then that there was no one more important to me than her. Besides that, we share the same dream, the dream to push Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to the top and make it the strongest guild in the world!¡± I stared at the celestial bodies outside the window and murmured. ¡°I promised her that I would walk with her until the very end¡­ so I must fulfill our promise and make Ancient Swords Dreaming Souls famous throughout China!¡± Beiming Xue, Yamete, Gui Guzi, and Du Thirteen were all moved by my words. They rose to their feet in unison and raised their glasses. Yamete swept a glance at everyone before declaring, ¡°Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ soul lies in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. For better or for worse, the five of us will fight hand-in-hand, defeat any foe who stands in our way and keep your oath, together!¡± Well said! I held up my glass gratefully and said, ¡°Thank you all for supporting me. From this day onward, the soul of Bloody Mercenaries will be to defeat any foe who stands in our way of keeping this oath! Now, let us drink to our workshop, to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and to our future career and dreams!¡± Clink! Our glasses and our hearts clinked together. The world didn¡¯t know it yet, but it turned out that we really did have the power to make China tremble beneath our feet and challenge the world for the pinnacle. The wheels of fate moved in unison, this moment engraved in the annals of Heavenblessed¡¯s history. No one could stop us anymore. Du Thirteen salivated at the story. Gui Guzi felt like he was about to flutter to the heavens. While the trio were having the time of their lives, Beiming Xue leaned lazily against her chair and rubbed her tummy. ¡°I¡¯m so full¡­¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°Yeah, me too. Urk¡ªI need to go to the toilet. Please watch over them while I¡¯m gone.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I needed to let loose a little. After drinking an undefined number of white spirit glasses, as well as two cases of beer with the boys, I felt like I was about to float away into the sky. ¡­¡­ I clung to the clean, white walls of the toilet and wobbled unsteadily at the center. My mind felt dizzy, and a while later I collapsed at the flower vases placed next to the washwas basins. I leaned against the wall, closed my eyes and smiled a little. I was so tired and sleepy that I thought that a small nap wouldn¡¯t hurt. It would be pretty poetic to wake up the next morning and chant a poem to the lady who swept the toilets. ¡°Where will I be when I recover from insobriety tonight? Moored by a riverbank planted with willow trees, caressed by the morning breeze and the lingering moon.¡± I was halfway to lala land when someone suddenly pushed me on the shoulder. At the same time, a melodious voice entered my ears. ¡°Hey, Lu Chen! Why are you sleeping at a place like this?¡± I opened my eyes and saw a beautiful girl through the hazy lighting. Her smooth, pale face looked as delicate as glass, and her beautiful eyes caused my heart to race a little. She was wearing a sky-blue plaid shirt and a coffee-colored mini skirt. It was a fresh and sweet combination that outlined her excellent curves perfectly. ¡°Hmm?¡± I rubbed my eyes. ¡°Lin Yixin? Why am I dreaming about her¡­ Nah, like that would ever happen. It looks like today¡¯s the day I stepped on some dog shit¡­¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s face turned murderous in an instant. She grabbed my collar with one hand and asked, ¡°What¡¯s your room? I¡¯ll carry you back. Sigh, if we run into a familiar face don¡¯t even think to tell them that I know you!¡± I shivered and woke up in an instant. It¡¯s not a dream! If this was a dream there¡¯s no way I would feel the soft, smooth sensation of her hand this clearly! I barely got to my feet and leaned against the wall. Cocking my head at Lin Yixin, I asked, ¡°Why are you here, Yiyi? I didn¡¯t think we would be destined to meet in the toilet¡­¡± Snorting in exasperation, Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me and said, ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re smiling in this situation! Stop dilly-dallying and tell me what¡¯s your room already.¡± ¡°My room is Shui Yun Hall¡­¡± ¡°Be serious! My room is Shui Yun Hall, not yours!¡± ¡°Any room will do in that case¡­¡± ¡°...¡± I wasn¡¯t trying to make fun of her. I seriously couldn¡¯t remember my room at the moment. Lin Yixin bit her lips softly before relenting, ¡°Never mind. Why don¡¯t you come sit with us for a while? I¡¯ll help you find your room later¡­¡± ¡°Oh! Thank you, Yiyi! You¡¯re such a good person!¡± ¡°...¡± Lin Yixin stared at me for a second before shaking her head. ¡°You¡¯re hopeless. Can you walk on your own? If not, I¡¯ll support you.¡± ¡°Of course I can. Look how steady I am!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I immediately knocked over a huge vase and drew the attention of a hall manager. He ran over and said, ¡°Miss, is this your friend? One vase costs 250 RMB!¡± Lin Yixin calmly fished out 300 RMB from my pockets and smiled sweetly at the manager. ¡°Here, you can keep the change.¡± ¡°...¡± I shot her a glance, and she glared right back at me. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? It was your own fault, wasn¡¯t it?¡± I said with a pained look on my face, ¡°The current exchange rate of gold to RMB is only 1 to 40, you know? It¡¯s so hard to earn money these days¡­¡± ¡°Cut the nonsense and follow me!¡± Lin Yixin put my arm around her neck while saying, ¡°And don¡¯t run into any more vases, thank you¡­¡± Technically, Lin Yixin was in my lap right now, so I was threatening to melt when her scent entered my nose, and her pale neck swayed back and forth at the corner of my eyes. She pushed open the door to the Shui Yun Hall, and there were a dozen or so people sitting inside. They all looked like university students. ¡°Eh? Who¡¯s that, Lin Yixin?¡± a male student asked. Lin Yixin put me down on a nearby chair while replying, ¡°It¡¯s a random dude I found in the bathroom. We should find his companions and let them escort him out of our room later!¡± Sun Qingqing cocked her head at me before laughing. ¡°You¡¯re pretty lucky today, Yiyi. A trip to the toilet, and you brought back the leader of Bloody Mercenaries?¡± The guys in the room exclaimed in shock, ¡°Ah? He¡­ he¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Does he look different than you expected?¡± ¡°Not at all!¡± I opened my eyes and glanced back and forth between Lin Yixin and Sun Qingqing. ¡°Is¡­ is the Snowy Cathaya guild having a gathering or something?¡± Lin Yixin replied in an annoyed tone, ¡°Today¡¯s Qingqing¡¯s birthday, and you¡¯re lucky enough to stumble upon it. Have you prepared a birthday present?¡± I checked the insides of my pockets before producing a lighter. ¡°This is the only thing I have¡­¡± ¡°Geez!¡± Sun Qingqing laughed. ¡°Well, I suppose lighting the candles won¡¯t be a problem at least.¡± It was at this moment someone knocked on the door. A beautiful girl stood at the entrance and asked nervously, ¡°Excuse me, have you seen my boss around here?¡± I smiled. Beiming Xue had come looking for me. Beiming Xue quickly spotted me sitting next to Lin Yixin. She walked over excitedly. ¡°Boss, is that you?¡± I nodded and replied, ¡°You¡¯re here, Beiming!¡± Suddenly, Beiming Xue spotted Lin Yixin because I was sitting right next to her. Her hair poured down her shoulders like a waterfall, and her plaid shirt couldn¡¯t quite hide the awesome mounds in front of her. All Lin Yixin did was glance at Beiming Xue, but somehow she managed to make herself look even more amorous and beautiful than before. Beiming Xue stopped in her tracks like a deer in headlights. Beiming Xue was very attractive herself, but even she couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit of pressure. Originally, Lin Yixin was leaning toward my shoulder to say something into my ears. However, she stopped moving when Beiming Xue suddenly entered the room. But to the young girl, our postures and expressions were suggestive to say the least. Therefore, Beiming Xue puffed up her chest and stared Lin Yixin in the eye, asking, ¡°Who are you?¡± Lin Yixin was twenty-one, only two years older than Beiming Xue. However, she was a lot more refined than the latter. She stood up graciously and answered with a smile, ¡°I am... Lin Yixin. My in-game ID is Wind Fantasy. What is your name?¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Beiming Xue¡¯s mouth fell open as she exclaimed in admiration, ¡°You¡­ you¡¯re Wind Fantasy? You¡¯re¡­ very beautiful¡­¡± ¡°Thank you, thank you~¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s smile was as sweet as it could be. ¡°And you?¡± Beiming Xue walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. Then, she said seriously, ¡°I am Beiming Xue, a new member of Bloody Mercenaries. My in-game ID is also Beiming Xue!¡± ¡°Ah?¡± This time it was Lin Yixin¡¯s turn to be surprised. ¡°Are you the dark archer on the Heavenly Ranking of Floating Ice City, that Beiming Xue?¡± ¡°That¡¯s me!¡± Beiming Xue nodded strongly. Chapter 98: Ancient Thunder Temple Lin Yixin¡¯s jealous tone of voice made Beiming Xue stand there at a loss. I stood up. ¡°Let¡¯s go back, Beiming, it¡¯s getting late. We have to go online at 7 am to level!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Beiming Xue obediently nodded and followed behind me. Her short skirt swayed, attracting the lingering gazes of the men of Snowy Cathaya. I inwardly scolded them. These dumbos, they¡¯re still not satisfied when they¡¯re eating dinner with a super beauty like Lin Yixin. A man¡¯s penchant for beauty was truly endless. Before I got out the door, Lin Yixin suddenly called me. ¡°Lu Chen?¡± ¡°Hm?¡± I turned. ¡°What¡¯s up, Beauty Yi?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ What¡¯s up next for your Blood Mercenaries? Or should I say, what are you planning to do next?¡± ¡°Grind to Level 60 for third promotion!¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Lin Yixin laughed. ¡°Alright then.¡± ¡­¡­ We returned back to our room, bringing along Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi, and Yamete. Then I went to pay the bill. It totaled around a thousand. Too extravagant! At 10 pm, we came back to the workshop. Beiming Xue went to take a shower and us remaining four men went to Yamete¡¯s room to play Legends of the Three Kingdoms¡ª Mamate: ¡°Haha, ''Southern Barbarian Invasion''!¡± Du Thirteen: ¡°Invade your sister, this card¡¯s clearly ''Drowning in Pleasure''!¡± Gui Guzi: ¡°I use ''Attack'' on Mamate!¡± Mamate: ¡°Fuck, you even dare to kill my ''Xia Houdun''? ''Attack'' then!¡± Du Thirteen: ¡°Wait, wait, I want ''Goddess Luo''!¡± Mamate: ¡°Goddess your sister, you picked ''Zhang Fei''!¡± Du Thirteen: ¡°Shit!¡± We played all the way until midnight, took cold shower, then went to our respective rooms to sleep. ¡­¡­ After eating breakfast early in the morning, all members of Bloody Mercenaries enthusiastically went online to grind. Mamate, Du Thirteen, and Gui Guzi formed a party while I and Beiming Xue went solo. With our damage, making a party would only hinder our progress. In Floating Ice City¡¯s eastern gate plaza, I checked out my current progress. Level 53 24%. The higher my level, the harder it would be for me to increase it. Past Level 50, leveling speed would plummet so much that finding a new grinding spot would become imperative. I needed to reach Level 60 as soon as possible. Those who reached their third promotion first would definitely be rewarded by the system! I walked out of Floating Ice City while browsing through the official forums but I couldn¡¯t find a leveling map suitable for me. With my level at 53, killing Level 55¨C60 mobs would profit me the most. Violet Forest was not a good leveling spot for me anymore. The best would be a map with Level 55¨C60 mobs and a field boss so that I can get some valuable items while grinding levels. Two birds with one stone so to speak. A beep suddenly sounded when I was in a daze. Someone sent me a message. Their name sparkled. It was actually Wind Fantasy and the message was sent in clear font: ¡°Lu Chen, what¡¯re you doing?¡± I looked at the distant forest and replied, ¡°Going to grind.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Lin Yixin paused for a few seconds before sending a second message. ¡°There¡¯s a high-level map in the depths of Frost Forest and I want to bring someone along with me. Want to come?¡± ¡°Why aren¡¯t you bringing a priest?¡± ¡°Priests don¡¯t do any damage and that map has a high requirement on one¡¯s ability. Aside from you, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s another person in Floating Ice City suitable for me to bring there! Also, the mobs in this map are all Level 55 and higher, which fits our level. I bet if we grind through the entire map, we¡¯ll reach about Level 60. Of course, this depends on whether or not you can kill them.¡± ¡°Oh, I see!¡± I was ecstatic. I got what I wanted so easily. Lin Yixin was too delightful! ¡°Let¡¯s party up, I¡¯ll be there soon!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± Beep! System Notice: Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± wants to invite you to their party, do you accept? After I pressed yes, I entered our party of two. Lin Yixin¡¯s current position was outside Floating Ice City, just a few minutes from me. That orange dot on the map quickly moved and she appeared at the outskirts of the forest in three minutes. She was still in a pure snow white gown holding the Snow Shadow Sword, her soft cheeks forming a smile. She wore a brand new silver chestplate that outlined her attractive curves and a white tassel hung below the outfit, somewhat hiding her suffocatingly beautiful legs. ¡°Gulp!¡± I involuntarily swallowed as my heart secretly pounded. This little vixen could steal souls. I can¡¯t look anymore. If I look any longer, I¡¯ll be conquered and want to kneel. Floating Ice City¡¯s forums had thousands of daily posts asking to date Wind Fantasy. Many rich men would reveal their identity and family background and fight each other on the forums but none of those wastrels would dare provoke Lin Yixin in game. She was, after all, number one on Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking. She had both looks and power, as the faction behind her was Floating Ice City¡¯s very first guild, Snowy Cathaya. Those who had ideas about her needed to consider those facts. I glanced at Lin Yixin and shook my head. Those immoral designers that made female armors were truly celestials! Lin Yixin glared at me. ¡°You weren¡¯t drunk when you went back home last night, were you?¡± ¡°How¡­ how could I be¡­¡± My heart thumped. Why was she asking this? ¡°Actually, our Bloody Mercenaries have five members now. You¡¯ve seen Beiming Xue, and the others are guys, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, and Yamete. Beiming Xue has her own room¡­¡± When I looked at her again, Lin Yixin was already walking into the forest with the Snow Shadow Sword. She glanced back with a smile. ¡°Why are you explaining this to me? Besides, you living with a girl doesn¡¯t have anything to do with me, right?¡± I nodded. ¡°Right!¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± Lin Yixin rolled her eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll bring you to a godly leveling ground. You¡¯d better not tell anyone about it!¡± ¡°What kind of a place is it?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll know when you get there!¡± I released my Dark Wasp while Lin Yixin also released her Fire Blade. We entered the forest with our guard up. The deeper we went, the more land we saw. Frost Forest was a map without bounds and there were monsters everywhere, with the majority being wild animals. On our way there, the mobs grew stronger, from Level 30 Wild Wolves to Level 60 Pythons. I looked around and discovered that Lin Yixin and I were the only players here. It was already a deserted land since Level 60 mobs were no joke. Even parties with an average of Level 40 wouldn¡¯t survive there. In fact, there weren¡¯t that many such parties in Floating Ice City in the first place. A few minutes later, we entered a clearing. The place looked as if all the trees around had been chopped down. Ahead of us I could see a building protruding into the sky. A tall pagoda stood in the forest clouded in white mist. No wonder why I couldn¡¯t see it from afar! I gazed up at this structure, inwardly surprised. This ancient tower had a total of five floors, with each floor at least ten meters tall. It seemed as though it was piercing through the skies as lightning scuttled down around the pagoda like legendary dragons of yore, shaking it. It looked terrifying to say the least! Startled, I grabbed Lin Yixin¡¯s arm. ¡°Yiyi, when we go up, just one lightning bolt will burn us to a crisp. Look, this tower¡¯s completely covered in lightning¡­¡± Lin Yixin glanced back at me and smiled. ¡°What are you scared of? You dare to go against tens of Domination Clan experts but you¡¯re scared of a little grinding zone?¡± ¡°This is different¡­¡± Lin Yixin burst into a giggle. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I was in the first floor of this Ancient Thunder Temple last night. As long as your reaction speed is fast enough and your head¡¯s not muddled, you won¡¯t get hit by lightning.¡± ¡°Oh, I see. Then let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I walked in front. After going up the stairs, I pushed open the Ancient Thunder Temple¡¯s heavy iron doors with open palms. The doors buzzed as they grinded against the floor, dust falling on our heads. Who knows how long this temple had been gathering dust for... ¡°Wait...¡± Seeing the dust-filled air, I turned around. ¡°Are you sure you were here yesterday?¡± Lin Yixin turned around and looked at the distant forest. ¡°The scenery isn''t too bad~~¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± I used more force and the door fully opened. I smelled something foul, then was immediately thrown out. I flew backward into the air and Lin Yixin shouted in surprise before flying out with me due to the large attack range. Bang! Both of us landed on the ground. My neck was in pain and a howl sounded. A large blood-colored dog pounced on my body and bit off nearly 300 of my HP! ¡°Scram!¡± My leg abruptly kicked out. The huge, blood-red dog miserably howled when knocked away. My damage was still pretty good. If I hadn¡¯t been ambushed, I wouldn¡¯t have been in this wretched state. Lin Yixin crawled up from the grass. With gritted teeth, she charged at the big dog with her sword. At this time, I finally had the chance to look at the monster¡¯s details¡ª Hellhound Level: 57 Attack: 240~420 Defense: 320 HP: 5500 Skills: Flurry Dance, Roar Introduction: Guardian of the Ancient Thunder Temple¡¯s first floor. The nightmare of all adventurers, Hellhounds come from the sinking Abyss and possess immense power. ¡­¡­ Level 57 monster, it can¡¯t be left alive! Lin Yixin and I unleashed our attacks at the same time. Moon Gaze + Extreme Break, Pardon + Desperate Gambit. When our combo skills fell, the Hellhound howled and lost most of its HP. But at this moment, a golden light suddenly appeared on the Hellhound¡¯s forehead. A powerful skill¡¯s coming! Papapapa! Four consecutive hits. The Hellhound unleashed four attacks, two at me and two at Lin Yixin. I lost 300 HP! Flurry Dance: Can hit several targets multiple times with power equivalent to physical damage skills. Another lightning quick strike came from each one of us and the Hellhound died before our pets had time to react. I spread out my hand and tried for additional loot with Death Plunder! Chapter 99: There’s A Ghost Behind You ¡°It¡¯ll be great if a Flurry Dance skill book dropped¡­¡± Lin Yixin said hopefully as she looked at the Hellhound¡¯s corpse. I tossed the Hellhound Pelt into my bag. ¡°Flurry Dance doesn¡¯t seem to be a skill that players can learn. Who can even take a burst of 7¨C8 attacks from you?¡± ¡°You¡¯re right!¡± Lin Yixin laughed. Her pretty gaze shifted to the doors of the Ancient Thunder Temple. ¡°Lu Chen, let¡¯s go in. Let¡¯s start our adventure!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡­¡­ I came before the Ancient Thunder Temple again with the Ghost Ice Soul in hand. ¡°Beauty Yi, hurry. I bet other players will find this place within three days and by that time, the Ancient Thunder Temple¡¯s boss and experience won¡¯t exclusively belong to us anymore.¡± Lin Yixin nodded, ¡°Mn, let¡¯s go!¡± We went inside the ancient temple together and saw stone totem pillars everywhere. Every one of them protruded from the ground like sharp blades and the broken stone paved ground was filled with stretches of red liquid that looked like bloodstains or already dried blood moss. I opened the minimap but I couldn¡¯t get a complete picture of the ancient temple¡¯s first floor. My small field of vision was only about 100 yards and there was only one path in front of us that led deeper inside. There, many Hellhounds turned around, their red eyes fixed on us, the intruders. Lin Yixin said in a quiet voice, ¡°Careful.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Right when I took a step forward, a half-meter-thick bolt of lightning suddenly struck the ground in front of me, the stone floor grinded into dust. Thank God it was 1.5 meters away or else I¡¯d have died on the spot. Far from where we stood, countless lightning bolts descended upon the temple¡¯s first floor. Too scary, no wonder it is called the Ancient Thunder Temple! My head felt numb as I took in the sight of the endless torrent of lightning. I quietly muttered, ¡°What do we do? The random lightning strikes seem to have no pattern at all. Forget about killing mobs, I¡¯m afraid we¡¯d get sent back to the city by the lightning by the time we even get to kill a few Hellhounds.¡± Lin Yixin did not answer me. Her eyes looked deeply into the distant darkness. Her lips opened slightly, then curled around two minutes later into a smile. ¡°Figured it out yet, Lu Chen?¡± I nodded. ¡°Yes!¡± Lin Yixin smiled. ¡°Even though there¡¯s no pattern in where the lightning lands, there is a faint trace of lightning at the place where one is about to fall. The delay between the mark and lightning strike isn¡¯t more than 2 seconds, but it¡¯s enough to serve us as an early warning. As long as we react fast enough, we can easily rush to the fifth floor!¡± ¡°Right!¡± ¡°Use your pet to lure the mobs and don¡¯t move as much as possible. Only move to a secure spot if your position is about to get hit by lightning. Today¡¯s grind isn¡¯t going to be an easy one. We have to keep our concentration at 100% the entire time. The slightest lapse in focus will spell our demise.¡± Lin Yixin nodded. ¡°Mn, got it. You be careful too. We¡¯ll each pick a side to go in. Don¡¯t spare a single Hellhound!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I walked along the right wall. Lightning struck once every 5 seconds and each bolt lasted 2 seconds. The early warning lasted a second and delay between it and the strike was another 2 seconds. As long as we stayed focused, with our reaction speeds, there wouldn¡¯t be a problem if we stayed here the entire day. Not too far away, a Hellhound was slowly moving about. My Dark Wasp flew at the speed of lightning, aggroed the mob, and came back under my command. I used my Dark Wasp as a meatshield. It was already Level 50 and its Defense and HP far surpassed mine. The Hellhound dealt less damage to it than me and as a pet, the Dark Wasp¡¯s HP regen was 500%. It could recover to full in just five minutes. This way, I was saving a lot of potions. Crack! The Ghost Ice Soul transformed into a cone of ice and pierced a hole through the Hellhound¡¯s belly. Ice Ray did more than 700 damage and greatly reduced the dog¡¯s movement speed. A Slayer Slash after, the monster took additional 800 damage. A single engage allowed me to deal almost 1600 damage. After the quick attack, I swiftly retreated and made my Dark Wasp take on the brunt of the monster¡¯s damage. Five seconds later, my skills were off cooldown and I engaged again. Pardon landed with a large MISS, bloody light spanning across the edge of my Ghost Ice Soul. It was my newly-acquired Desperate Gambit III! 2098! Sweet, now that¡¯s satisfying! On another side, Lin Yixin let out a snort while still in combat. She seemed unhappy about how incredible my Pardon was. Her Moon Gaze + Extreme Break combo was a bit worse than that but her Killer Wind Swordplay allowed her DPS to stay on par with mine. My Dark Wasp was better than her Fire Blade by a grade, so by the time I disposed of my first Hellhound, Lin Yixin¡¯s had around 20% HP left. The Fire Blade emitted intense flames like a killer demon blade and riddled the Hellhound with holes, but its attack power was much inferior to my Dark Wasp¡¯s. While my Dark Wasp could deal at least 1000 damage to these monsters, the Fire Blade could only deal around 300 per hit. It was inferior both in base attack and skills! I felt happy inside. My Dark Wasp¡¯s growth stars and BN were too great. This pet had been totally worth catching! A few seconds later, I lured over a second Hellhound and killed it with my Dark Wasp! But at this time, a crackling sound came from beneath my feet. A faint trace of electric light flashed past, a sign that lightning was about to strike! Even though she was more than ten meters away, Lin Yixin still discovered my situation. She shouted, ¡°Watch out!¡± Swhoosh! I took two steps back and retreated a meter away. Lightning flashed and instantly fell, right on the head of the Hellhound I was attacking! ¡°Howl!¡± The Hellhound cried out as an astonishing damage number appeared above its head¡ª3021! Damn. Even if this mob had no magic resistance, it shouldn¡¯t have taken this much damage, right? In this case, if a player were to get hit, they¡¯ll die nine out of ten times! This wasn¡¯t a bad thing for me though. The lightning would increase my grinding efficiency. I slashed once more and the Hellhound died just like that. We received full experience from that! ¡°Not bad~¡± Lin Yixin smiled from afar. ¡°We can exploit that as much as we want. Use your positioning to lure Hellhounds into the lightning spots. Let¡¯s get 3 levels today!¡± I secretly agreed and involuntarily smiled. If we grind like this, our leveling speed will at least double. It¡¯s a system bug anyway, it¡¯ll be a waste if we don¡¯t take advantage of it! I ran forward again and lured a Hellhound while paying close attention to the area within 3 yards of me. The moment a lightning spot appeared, I lured the monster there. The third Hellhound collapsed with the help of a lightning strike and even dropped me a Big Magic Stone! Tsk tsk, this bug is pretty incredible! I was secretly overjoyed. My leveling speed would definitely soar tonight and the lightning above was my number one weapon! Of course, this kind of bug could only be utilized by first-rate players like us. If we were replaced by Du Thirteen, I¡¯m afraid that he¡¯d get struck by the lightning while trying to lure the mob over. I gradually advanced onward. Lin Yixin and I weren¡¯t in a hurry since the first floor of this Ancient Thunder Temple had plenty of mobs. Each was a bump to our experience bars, so we thoroughly cleaned them up. ¡­¡­ Two hours passed in the blink of an eye. I was now Level 53 and at 49%. I gain around 12.5% an hour, so fast! Grinning from ear to ear, Lin Yixin was also as glad as I was. Our DPS was high in the first place, so it¡¯d be weird if our grinding speed wasn¡¯t ridiculous when partied up. In fact, in this Ancient Thunder Temple, my overall DPS was around 40% higher than hers. My Dark Wasp¡¯s attack power spoke for itself and my Undead Energy was amazing when it came to killing living creatures. Lin Yixin¡¯s Holy Energy was unable to show its effects on a blood and flesh creature like the Hellhound. Rustle... After swiftly advancing several steps forward and evading the falling lightning, I came to Lin Yixin¡¯s side. She was currently pulling out the Snow Shadow Sword from the body of a Hellhound. Blood spurted out as the last remaining Hellhound of the temple¡¯s first floor drew its last breath. I pointed at the dark steps in front of us. ¡°That¡¯s the way to the second floor, how about we head up?¡± Lin Yixin blinked. ¡°The first floor doesn¡¯t have a boss?¡± ¡°Nope!¡± ¡°How do you know?¡± ¡°The official map data says so. You can search the Ancient Thunder Temple if you don¡¯t believe me. It¡¯s just that it doesn¡¯t have a public location and coordinates, which means that we¡¯re the first people to have come here.¡± ¡°Oh, I see¡­¡± Lin Yixin opened the official data and shot me a dimpled smile afterwards. ¡°The Ancient Thunder Temple is a feudal gravesite. There¡¯s a boss on every floor after second, so third, fourth and fifth. Fifth floor¡¯s boss is precisely that feudal lord. Hoho, good. Let''s quickly make our way to the third floor!¡± ¡°Mn, let¡¯s take it one at a time.¡± ¡­¡­ I walked up the steps with Lin Yixin and her Snow Shadow Sword closely behind me. The surroundings were pitch-black and a cold wind blew. The sound of ghosts crying and the howling of wolves sometimes brushed over. I suddenly stopped in my tracks. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you moving?¡± Lin Yixin asked. ¡°Don¡¯t grab my cloak¡­¡± ¡°Oh, I¡­ I was afraid that you¡¯d slip!¡± Lin Yixin released her hold on the corner of my cloak. I couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡°Are you scared?¡± ¡°No! What would I be afraid of¡­¡± Lin Yixin puffed out her ample chest and looked at me in defiance. I smiled. ¡°There¡¯s a female ghost with a three-foot-long tongue behind you!¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Lin Yixin jumped into my arms on reflex. The fragrant aroma of a woman assaulted my nostrils as I held onto her shoulder. With a smug smirk, I countered, ¡°Still want to say you¡¯re not scared?¡± Lin Yixin raised her head and glared at me. ¡°You bastard, you dare scare me? Hmph, you¡¯re dead meat!¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s pretty eyes suddenly filled with shock. Her voice quaked as she said, ¡°Lu Chen¡­ there¡­ there¡¯s a ghost behind you¡­¡± I put my hands on my hips and laughed. ¡°Haha, who are you trying to fool!¡± Swhoosh! Chapter 100: Blade Demon ¡°Ow ow¡­¡± My head smacked onto the stone floor while my arm was being hugged by Lin Yixin. Her situation was even more miserable than mine, since she had smashed into a nearby stone pillar and was yelping in pain. Swhoosh! An electric light suddenly flashed on the ground below me! Not good! I sprang up and used all my energy to roll away with Lin Yixin in my embrace! Crackle! Lightning fell and the Fire Blade let out its dying throes. It had instantly died. My Dark Wasp had thankfully escaped that calamity because it had followed me. Lin Yixin struggled to stand. With a bright red face, she said in an annoyed tone, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I pointed at the charred ground. ¡°You almost got struck by lightning¡­¡± ¡°...¡± I walked several steps forward before retrieving my Beast-faced Turmoil Helmet. My equipment had actually been forcibly sent flying by a monster. I wondered what sort of thing had that kind of strength. Lin Yixin gazed up at the end of the steps and deeply breathed. ¡°The second floor¡¯s mobs seem really strong!¡± ¡°Did you see what it was?¡± I asked. Lin Yixin¡¯s lips moved, but she only gave a vague answer. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to describe it. It¡¯s just really ugly, as ugly as a ghost. It was holding two sharp blades in its hands so it shouldn¡¯t be too low-leveled!¡± I nodded, then ran back up to the second floor with my sword and swiftly struck at the black figure in front of me! Ice Ray! Puchi! My longsword that became a cone of ice tore through the black figure¡¯s Defense. Blood splattered as a layer of frost condensed on my opponent¡¯s body. At this time, my field of view had also cleared up. Due to my arrival, the area had lightened up and the thing before me was truly as Lin Yixin described, ugly. But it wasn¡¯t your typical ugly! A triangular head and two eyes brimming with cruelty. Skin akin to fish, clad in scale armor. Though its head wasn¡¯t too large, it had a long neck and a stooped body with a back full of barbs. Grasped in each hand was a sharp blade glinting with cold metallic sheen. It seemed to be a valiant general carrying an army banner, but it was just that it was disastrously hideous. I glanced at the little beauty behind me. Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes were fraught with killing intent, shockingly beautiful. I looked to my front again. This monster was just so damn ugly. The contrast between beauty and ugliness was huge. Love could turn people crazy! Blade Demon Level: 59 Attack: 250~480 Defense: 300 HP: 5700 Skills: Cleave, Brutality Introduction: Guardian of the Ancient Thunder Temple¡¯s second floor. Ever since they were tamed by the Thunder General, these strong Blade Demons have become emissaries of death, the nightmare of all adventurers. ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck, whose brain got knocked out¡­¡± I lifted my sword and jumped into fray. The Ghost Ice Soul was flooded by dense blood-red energy and abruptly smashed onto the Blade Demon¡¯s head. A powerful strike, right after I used Pardon. 2219! Lin Yixin was left speechless. She swung her Snow Shadow Sword, snowflakes following its wake, and hacked away a chunk of its remaining HP. My Dark Wasp charged forward and stung thrice, followed by the Fire Blade¡¯s one attack, ending this Level 59 Blade Demon¡¯s life. It collapsed to the floor with a wail, only having attacked once before its sudden demise. I stepped on its corpse and used Death Plunder but came out empty-handed. ¡°This Blade Demon¡¯s Attack is really strong but its Defense is inferior to the first floor¡¯s Hellhounds. It¡¯s a glass cannon type of mob so I don¡¯t think we should split up. Attacking together will help us minimize damage taken!¡± Lin Yixin nodded. ¡°Mn, okay!¡± The Blade Demon had low Defense so it would basically die under one round of attacks from me and Lin Yixin. Luring another one over wouldn¡¯t be an issue either, and the experience gained from it would be amazing. My experience bar rose by 1% after 2¨C3 Blade Demons, a satisfying leveling speed indeed. After a while, Lin Yixin stopped, then sighed softly. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked. ¡°I told Zi Chuanyu, Qingqing, and the rest to form a party and come here but I didn¡¯t expect that they wouldn¡¯t even be willing to stay at the first floor. They think that the lightning formation here is too complicated, and that leveling here is too hard if a moment of carelessness can spell their doom¡­¡± ¡°Haha, I guess so!¡± Lin Yixin raised her head to look at me and then suddenly said, ¡°It¡¯s 1:30 pm already. We should be having lunch at this time. Always trying to dodge the lightning is a bit tiring. Let¡¯s log off and continue after lunch?¡± I nodded. ¡°We¡¯ve pretty much killed almost all the mobs on the second floor. Let¡¯s kill two more and get me to Level 54 before we go.¡± ¡°Mn, alright~¡± In the blink of an eye, two Blade Demons fell to the ground, followed by a pillar of golden light. I actually reached Level 54 after killing these two! Lin Yixin followed the second floor¡¯s map to a corner and was searching around for a while before she suddenly said with a happy smile, ¡°Lu Chen, over here!¡± ¡°What, found the boss?¡± Lin Yixin pointed at a smooth spot on the stone floor. ¡°No, look. There are no signs of this spot being hit by lightning at all. Mn, we can set up a tent and log off right here!¡± I was stunned. ¡°Dammit!¡± ¡°What?¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s gaze shot over and smirked. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t bring a tent?¡± I nodded. ¡°Right, I¡¯ve always been sleeping inside graves so I¡¯m not used to bringing along tents.¡± Lin Yixin was speechless. ¡°You¡¯ve always been sleeping inside graves? That¡¯s pretty unique. Forget it, I have an extra single-use tent here with me. Take it!¡± ¡°How could I possibly do that?¡± I said bashfully as I took the tent. ¡°If you¡¯re embarrassed, give me 1 gold.¡± ¡°Ah, today¡¯s moon is so round¡­¡± ¡°...¡± I put up the tent next to hers and logged off after I went inside. ¡­¡­ The workshop¡¯s living room was very quiet. There was a boxed meal on the table. Already cold sweet and sour spare ribs were inside. To be honest, I didn¡¯t really like spare ribs and I liked eating sweet and sour things even less. Right at this moment, my phone rang. It was Lin Yixin. ¡°Hello? What¡¯s up, party leader?¡± I asked with a smile. Lin Yixin let out a giggle, then said grumpily, ¡°Lunchtime is over so the dining hall¡¯s closed. You got somewhere to eat in your area?¡± ¡°Yeah, Happy House¡­¡± ¡°Too expensive!¡± ¡°No problem. If you treat me, I won¡¯t think that it¡¯s too expensive.¡± ¡°...¡± After talking it over, we decided that she was asking me out, but I would be treating her. That was to repay a favor. Lin Yixin could grind in the Ancient Thunder Temple alone but she took me with her. My leveling speed soared when I went there, so I really owed her a good meal. After all, a meal only cost 100 or 200 yuan. At the rate I was leveling, if I got to Level 60 early and went through the third promotion, my gains would be much more substantial than that. I would maintain my level and gear advantage, and if a Gold or Dark Gold¨Cgrade item dropped, selling it would net me tens of thousands! I went out and once I reached Happy House, I saw Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful figure appear on the campus woods¡¯ small path in the distance. She was making her way here on foot instead of using that Benz. Seems like she was so broke she didn¡¯t even have gas money. I walked up and greeted her, ¡°Beauty Yi, no parasol? Getting tanned wouldn¡¯t be good¡­¡± Lin Yixin smoothed her lips into a smile. ¡°No need. I think I¡¯m too pale, getting a little tan would be good.¡± My head was drenched in sweat. This girl¡¯s seriously arrogant! ¡°Eh? Why aren¡¯t you using a parasol?¡± Lin Yixin looked at me with a smile. I shook my head. ¡°No need, today¡¯s 36 degree sunshine feels great¡­¡± ¡°Oh, really?¡± Lin Yixin smiled meaningfully, then said, ¡°Let¡¯s go. We need to finish eating fast so we can get to the third floor. There¡¯s a boss there!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I walked with her on the little path off campus. ¡°Actually, it''d be best if we had a priest to kill the third floor¡¯s boss. It¡¯ll be too dangerous otherwise. The second floor¡¯s Blade Demons are already Level 59 so the third floor¡¯s boss will definitely be over Level 60. We¡¯ll enter a world of pain if that is the case.¡± ¡°Yeah, but a priest wouldn¡¯t be too willing to come to the Ancient Thunder Temple. There¡¯s no pattern to the lightning and they¡¯d be scared of dying if they weren¡¯t fast enough. I asked a few priests but none of them want to come. They also said¡­¡± She suddenly stopped talking and angrily kicked a pebble on the floor. ¡°What else did they say?¡± ¡°They also said that unless I agree to eat with them, they won¡¯t come¡­¡± A trace of killing intent leaked out from Lin Yixin as she tightened her fist. ¡°What do those garbage think I am? So hateful¡­¡± I laughed. It seems like Lin Yixin eating with me was already giving me a lot of face. ¡°Forget it, it¡¯s fine if we don¡¯t have a priest. A priest at the current stage of the game only heal for around 200 and we both have more than 1000 HP. We¡¯d either get one-shot by the boss or kill the boss ourselves so a priest wouldn¡¯t matter much. Never mind, never mind.¡± I comforted her and almost believed my own lies. But Lin Yixin felt good hearing that and shot me an extremely sweet smile. ¡­... Happy House, first floor. It was already 2 pm but there were still quite a few people here eating lunch. Lin Yixin and I sat at a two-seat table and ordered a few dishes. The total was around 150 RMB, a tolerable range. I planned to use the workshop¡¯s funds to pay this bill. Lin Yixin was still Snowy Cathaya¡¯s guild leader so me treating her to a meal furthered our relationship. It could be considered public relations. The dishes soon arrived. I ate like a mess while Lin Yixin remained aloof. When she saw my appalling table manners, she quietly uttered, ¡°Slow down, my bass¡­ I haven¡¯t even gotten a good look at it before it was gone. Wuuwuu, Lu Chen you brute, let¡¯s order a few more¡­¡± When we were eating, a few people that looked like students were also having lunch, chattering on. The skinny guy of their group with bared arms said, ¡°Did you guys hear that Dominating Heaven Blade took the Domination Clan to Frost Forest? I heard that a boss spawns there.¡± Another person answered, ¡°Dominating Heaven Blade wants a Hero¡¯s Token so bad he¡¯s gone mad. He has killed five bosses over Level 50 in half a week but he¡¯s so damn unlucky that he hasn¡¯t gotten the token still.¡± ¡°Haha, heard that he¡¯d also been killed by Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand in Silver Moon Valley during one of those nights. How amusing!¡± A guy in a red shirt asked, ¡°Have you guys decided yet? Do we join Snowy Cathaya or Gods of Destruction? Or Mad Dragon¡­¡± That skinny guy smirked. ¡°Why think? Join Mad Dragon. As long as you join their main 200-unit core, you can earn at least 2000 RMB!¡± ¡°Haha, right, let¡¯s join Mad Dragon!¡± ¡­¡­ Chapter 101: Burning Leather Cap ¡°Is the Mad Dragon guild that popular?¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s long eyelashes fluttered as she voiced the same question that was bothering me. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I answered while digging into my rice, ¡°but we don¡¯t need to care about them. Those who only care about attaching themselves to a powerful guild with no regard for anything else can only be cowards and weaklings anyway. I don¡¯t think either of us needs someone like that, do we?¡± Lin Yixin nodded with a smile. ¡°Fair enough. Anyway, after lunch, we should head back to the Ancient Thunder Temple. In fact, let¡¯s eat a bit more and skip dinner later. With luck, we may just be able to clear out the entire zone in 24 hours. What do you think?¡± ¡°No problem! Waiter, another bowl of rice please!¡± ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ One hour later, I reached the workshop and logged back into Heavenblessed! Swhoosh! In a flash, I appeared on the second floor of the Ancient Thunder Temple. Some distance away, a couple of Blade Demons had already respawned. The respawn rate of these monsters was between 2 to 4 hours, so I estimated that the zone could fit around 400 players or so. Right now though, the whole place was mine and Lin Yixin¡¯s. I climbed out of the tent as it disappeared behind me. Lin Yixin¡¯s name was darkened in the party list, so she probably hadn¡¯t come online yet. Girls were troublesome like this. I couldn¡¯t be sure, but it was entirely possible that, just like Beiming Xue, she had to put on some light makeup before logging into the game. Did she seriously think it would give her some endurance aura or increase her stats? I pulled back the flap to Lin Yixin¡¯s tent and watched her. She was curled up peacefully in her sleep, and her face seemed to glow with a holy radiance due to the moonlight shining from the temple¡¯s window. Her battle dress dangled from her shoulders, and her long legs were leaning against the Snow Shadow Sword. Right now, she looked like a beautiful and indolent cat. ¡°Gulp!¡± I swallowed. To say that her sleeping posture was irresistible would be a massive understatement. She was the goddess in every male Chinese player¡¯s heart, and her captivating appearance was right in front of me. As her teammate, all I could do was not allow my instincts to overcome me. It was at this moment Lin Yixin let out a lazy moan and opened her eyes. The second her purple eyes landed on me, she froze. ¡°What are you trying to do?¡± She glared at me warily. I replied as calm as a millpond, ¡°Just making sure a Hellhound hasn¡¯t kidnapped you¡­¡± Lin Yixin snorted but didn¡¯t question my obvious lie. Instead, she voiced her concerns in puzzlement. ¡°Strange. If I remember correctly, a tent is supposed to be invulnerable and inaccessible after the player has gone inside and logged out of the game.¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open after she heard my explanation. She blinked her eyes and said, ¡°I guess I should avoid partying with you too frequently from now on. What should I do if you ambush me in my sleep?¡± ¡°What are you talking about¡­¡± I extended a hand to her. ¡°Stop dilly-dallying and come out already! It¡¯s time we tackle the third floor of this temple!¡± ¡°Hehe~¡± Lin Yixin gave me a smile before slapping my hand away. Then, she crawled out of her tent while holding the hem of her cape. Unlike mine, her tent was reusable, so she put it in her bag for future use. I looked around us before asking, ¡°A couple of Blade Demons have respawned on the second floor. Should we clear them out before heading to the third floor?¡± But Lin Yixin shook her head. ¡°We can decide that after we take out the boss. Right now, our first priority is to enter the third floor as soon as we can. This moment someone finds this place, it won¡¯t be our secret leveling ground anymore. What if someone overtakes us and defeats the boss because we had wasted too much time? It would be the regret of a lifetime.¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. To the third floor then!¡± ¡­¡­ I rushed up the third floor as a cold wind blew past me. Unlike last time, I was ready for the ambush and let my Dark Wasp lead the way. This way, I wouldn¡¯t be killed by the mobs as soon as I entered the third floor. As expected, the Dark Wasp suddenly got hit out of nowhere and lost over 500 HP, the sheer force behind the attack throwing it a couple meters backward. Then, two shadows gripping a long blade each showed up and charged toward it. ¡°What incredible attack power!¡± I exclaimed in surprise before waving a hand at Lin Yixin. ¡°Time to go, Beauty Yi! I don¡¯t want to lose my pet to these mobs!¡± ¡°Oh!¡± We split up and took on a mob each. I attacked the mob on the right, while Lin Yixin and her Fire Blade attacked the mob on the left. When I got close, I finally got a clear look of the mob that had attacked my Dark Wasp. It was an undead type monster with a rotting face and disheveled hair. It wielded a rusted blade, and it kept screaming on top of its lungs as it whaled away at my pet. Its attack speed was incredibly high, and my Dark Wasp lost nearly half its HP in less than 10 seconds. Thunder Blade Guard Level: 61 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: These mighty warriors who once served under the Thunder General had transformed into territorial ghosts who repel all who try to invade their territory. Having lost all their conscience and humanity, these once loyal podao soldiers are now nothing but slaves to the forces of evil. ¡­¡­ Their levels were so high that I couldn¡¯t even identify their stats, but I could be sure that they were high¡ªespecially their Attack! Crack! I channeled Slayer Slash after shooting an Ice Ray through the Thunder Blade Guard¡¯s chest. Then, I cut through its undead body for 762 HP. Six seconds later, I unleashed my strongest combo, Pardon + Desperate Gambit, and left the Thunder Blade Guard with less than half HP. On the other side, Lin Yixin was dancing around her target like a jade butterfly and scoring strike after strike. Somehow, she was able to maximize her damage output and avoid all enemy attacks using her pet. Besides that, Lin Yixin¡¯s Snow Shadow Sword was glowing with silvery holy energy. While my unique power was mostly useless on the third floor, it was the exact opposite for Lin Yixin. ¡°Lu Chen, if your pet doesn¡¯t have enough HP then block the enemy¡¯s attack yourself. I brought a lot of health pots with me, so go all out and don¡¯t hold back! I¡¯ll trade them to you later!¡± ¡°Oh? Do they come with a price tag?¡± ¡°Hmph! All you care about is money!¡± Death Plunder didn¡¯t yield any loot after we took out the two Thunder Blade Guards, but their undead soul sparks were quite bountiful. I absorbed them all for my own use. Now that the battle was temporarily over, Lin Yixin walked up to me and brought up the trade window. ¡°Here, these are for you. No need to hold back!¡± Whoosh! She gave me 50, or 5 whole stacks of, Rank 4 Health Potions, the kind that restored 800 HP in one go. With these, there was absolutely nothing in this Ancient Thunder Temple that could threaten us besides the boss! I was stunned by her generosity. ¡°This is too much. I¡­¡± Lin Yixin smiled. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I brought 20 stacks of Rank 4 Health Potions with me today. Hmph, I refuse to believe this isn¡¯t enough to last through the entire temple!¡± ¡°I suppose it¡¯s only right I repay this favor properly¡­¡± I thought for a moment before trading 20 stacks of Rank 5 Braised Chickens to Lin Yixin. ¡°Here, have some Magic Consumables. Use them as you wish!¡± Surprised by my gesture, Lin Yixin burst into laughter. ¡°Huh¡­ how did you know I use a lot of MP? Moon Gaze costs me 3 MP per usage, and Extreme Break 5 MP per usage. If I activate my Killer Wind Swordplay, then it¡¯s 1 MP for every attack. Honestly, it¡¯s crazy how much MP I use in battle¡­¡± ¡°Is that so? I was just repaying the favor. I didn¡¯t think you would actually need them¡­¡± ¡°Hehe. Let¡¯s continue then. I actually brought 50 Rank 2 Glutinous Rice Balls with me, but why would I use them when I can eat Rank 5 Magic Consumables instead?¡± ¡°Haha. In the future, you supply the HP pots while I supply the MP consumables every time we grind together.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Lin Yixin suddenly gave me a push and took a step backward herself. Right after that, a thunderbolt cut across the sky and struck the ground we were standing on just a moment ago. Cold sweat poured out of my head for a moment. That was too close! Lin Yixin pursed her lips in dissatisfaction when she noticed my stunned expression. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? It¡¯s not like you to forget something this basic.¡± I stared at her exquisite face for a moment before shaking my head. I thought to myself. You¡¯re the reason I got so distracted I missed the warning, you little minx. I gave her an embarrassed smile before replying, ¡°Well, what can I do if she lightly veils the moon like clouds¡­¡± Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me. ¡°And floats about like snowflakes blown by the wind? That¡¯s your excuse for being distracted? Really?¡± We exchanged a knowing smile with each other before going back to the grind. Although the Thunder Blade Guards were pretty strong, Lin Yixin and I were no slouches ourselves. Moreover, our equipment, skills, and even our pets were among the best of the best, so grinding in this location wasn¡¯t impossible. The battle plan went like this: First, we lured a straggling guard over. Then, we worked together to kill it in half a minute while our pets took turns tanking the brunt of the damage. In general, the rewards were well worth the cost. Although Lin Yixin¡¯s Fire Blade was no offensive powerhouse, it had pretty good Defense and HP. It was also several levels higher than my Dark Wasp, so it functioned wonderfully as a tank! Pop! Some time later, one of the Thunder Blade Guards we killed dropped an item, to our surprise. It was a roundish leather helmet that rolled back and forth on the ground for some reason. I picked it up and inspected its stats. Burning Leather Cap (Steel-grade) Defense: 35 Agility: +9 Passive: Increases user¡¯s HP by 100 Level Requirement: 50 ¡­¡­ ¡°Not bad. It¡¯s top-tier among other Level 50 leather armor pieces, and it even gives 100 HP. This is a treasure for all assassins and archers!¡± I praised. Lin Yixin nodded in agreement. ¡°You¡¯re right. Keep it, we can sell it at the auction and split the money after we get back.¡± ¡°Alright!¡± I threw the Burning Leather Cap into my bag and went back to work! The Thunder Blade Guards were higher level and yielded more experience. Naturally, the pleasure of killing them was greater as well. Three hours passed in the blink of an eye. Lin Yixin and I had almost cleared out the entire third floor except the final stretch. If our guess was correct, the boss of the third floor was waiting for us behind the corridor leading toward a patch of darkness. The long corridor was the entrance to the fourth floor of the Ancient Thunder Temple, so the boss of the third floor had to be the gatekeeper; it was impossible to enter the fourth floor without killing it first. As we entered the corridor carefully, the world before us suddenly grew a lot brighter. We saw about 50 Thunder Blade Guards surrounding what seemed to be a giant cage at the center. The cage was covered in seals, and a giant shadow seemed to be trapped inside it. It looked like a devil waiting to be set loose so that it could destroy the world! ¡°That¡¯s the boss!¡± Lin Yixin exclaimed excitedly. I nodded in acknowledgment. ¡°We need to be careful. Let¡¯s clear out the mobs first before we attack the boss. It¡¯d be suicide to attempt it now.¡± ¡°Yeah. Let me be the lure!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I was confident enough in Lin Yixin¡¯s abilities to entrust her to this delicate task. Someone of Lin Yixin¡¯s caliber would never make a mistake like a certain Du Thirteen. I remembered that one time he somehow taunted an entire lair of mobs to attack us... Rustle rustle... Eyes wide open, Lin Yixin carefully approached the boss area. But before she could do anything, a series of rustling noises and a loud voice boomed from the entrance of the third floor¡ª ¡°Gahaha. Finally, we made it to the third floor!¡± Chapter 102: Encounter My heart skipped a beat when I heard the noises. Fuck! Someone just had to climb up the third floor right before we began the boss battle! Swhoosh! Lin Yixin was an intelligent girl, so she knew that we couldn¡¯t possibly defeat the boss before the newcomers made it to us. She swiftly returned to my side and stared at the entrance to the third floor. I grabbed Lin Yixin¡¯s arm and pulled her into a recess at the edge of the corridor. We could still see outside, but not the other way around. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t they be able to spot us?¡± Lin Yixin asked while looking up at me. ¡°Impossible!¡± I shook my head without hesitation. ¡°I checked this area carefully when we cleared out the mobs just now. There¡¯s no way they can see us unless they get within 5 yards, and our levels are so high there are only a few players that would have us appear on their map!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Lin Yixin relaxed and crouched slightly. She put her hands on her knees, raised her bum a little and put all her concentration on the newcomers¡¯ movements. Lin Yixin was watching the scenery outside, but to me, she was the scenery. ¡­¡­ A group of people entered the main hall after a series of rustling noises. ¡°It¡¯s them!?¡± Lin Yixin and I exchanged a glance with each other. The newcomers were none other than our old enemies, the Domination Clan and the so-called second best guild of the China server, Gods of Destruction! Dominating Heaven Blade wielded a huge, bloody blade and wore a cyan metal armor. The imposing-looking Level 55 warrior observed the floor with a dark frown on his face. ¡°Why are there so few mobs on the third floor? It¡¯s almost as if¡­ someone had cleared out this place before us. There are even corpses on the floor. Fuck! Someone got here before us!¡± Dominating Knight God walked up to Dominating Heaven Blade and said in a serious tone, ¡°But that¡¯s impossible, boss. I just caught wind of this location!¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade snorted coldly. ¡°Our Gods of Destruction guild is strong, but never forget that there is always someone better than us. Didn¡¯t Broken Halberd Sinks into Sand just camp you lot for a whole night? How many times do I have to tell you not to underestimate your enemies?!¡± Dominating Knight God hurriedly agreed with his boss. Meanwhile, Dominating Archer God leaped nimbly to the center of the hall before saying, ¡°Boss, the lightning strikes in this area are even denser than on the last floor. We need to be careful!¡± ¡°You¡¯re right!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade nodded in agreement. ¡°Keep our formation and watch out for any signs of a lightning strike. Don¡¯t aggro any mobs until we¡¯re sure that there aren¡¯t anyone else on this floor! If we¡¯re going to kill all three bosses in this temple, we cannot allow any player to interfere with our raid!¡± ¡°Understood!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but groan inwardly. The Domination Clan¡¯s strongest elites were on the hunt this time, and there were 21 of them including Dominating Heaven Blade, Dominating Warrior God, Dominating Knight God, Dominating Mage God, and Dominating Archer God. No matter how strong Lin Yixin and I were, we couldn¡¯t possibly take them down all by ourselves. I looked down to see what Lin Yixin was doing. She was watching the Domination Clan seriously, biting her lips and thinking about something behind those gleaming eyes of hers. She seemed to be coming up with a cunning plan to defeat our foes. ¡°What should we do?¡± I asked. Lin Yixin answered, ¡°We need to attack them first. We¡¯ll die if they get a jump on us!¡± ¡°Alright, how should we do it?¡± ¡°You take the lead, and I¡¯ll cover our rear¡­¡± ¡°Why am I always the one who takes the lead?¡± ¡°Because you have Earth Escape, duh!¡± ¡°Hmph hmph¡­¡± She had me at a disadvantage, but I didn¡¯t object to her plan. ¡°In that case, wait for my signal before you attack, Yiyi!¡± ¡°Oh? What are you planning to do?¡± Lin Yixin smiled at me. I clenched my fists and said, ¡°I¡¯m going to take out their long-range players first. What do we have to fear from the likes of Dominating Heaven Blade once they lose their support?¡± ¡°Hehe. Off you go then. I¡¯m ready anytime!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± ¡­¡­ In a bloody flash, I drilled into the ground. Since the floor of the Ancient Thunder Temple was completely made of rocks, I felt like I was slapped by a brick the moment my face phased into the ground. I clung to the edges of the walls because the lightning strikes were less frequent around these areas. Considering how slow I was moving after using Earth Escape, I might not be able to escape a lightning strike even with full warning. Everything depends on my luck now! On the ground, the Domination Clan was moving incredibly slow as well. They didn¡¯t dare scatter or move carelessly because there were lightning strikes all over the place. One misstep and they would die in droves. I checked my pet space and noted that the cooldown on my Dark Wasp was already over. Alright, I can unleash it anytime! Dominating Mage God, Dominating Archer God, and a couple of priests, mages, bards and tacticians stayed at the back of the formation. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Dominating Archer God was the only archer in the group. I doubted that the mages could put too much pressure on me before I killed them all. Suddenly, Dominating Heaven Blade sensed something and said, ¡°Warrior God, move to the back and secure our backline!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Dominating Warrior God ran all the way to the back of the party. At the same time, Dominating Heaven Blade kicked a warrior to the side while shouting, ¡°Watch out!¡± Boom! A lightning bolt struck where the warrior had been standing a moment earlier. His face was ashen with fear; he was this close to turning into literal ash after all. Dominating Archer God couldn¡¯t stop himself from clicking his tongue. ¡°Shit, this map is fucking insane. There were over three hundred of us when we came, and now there¡¯s only twenty-one left!¡± Dominating Warrior God echoed in agreement, ¡°Yeah, this map is pretty insane. If you¡¯re slow, then this map is nothing but a death trap. It makes me wonder who was it to get to the third floor before us. They killed so many Level 61 mobs too. It¡¯s crazy. Who else is capable of something like this besides the Domination Clan?¡± Dominating Mage God laughed. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s your dream girl?¡± A vulgar smile immediately sprung to Dominating Warrior God¡¯s face. He licked his lips disgustingly before saying, ¡°Wind Fantasy, huh? That is definitely possible. Who else in Floating Ice City has the power to saunter through the Ancient Thunder Temple like she owned the place?¡± Dominating Mage God chimed in. ¡°How about this, if we manage to score a Hero¡¯s Token and build our guild for real, I¡¯ll ask the boss to visit Snowy Cathaya and propose a marriage to Wind Fantasy on your behalf. The two of you are a good match, and I doubt they would dare to turn you down. Haha!¡± Dominating Warrior God chuckled with his palms open. ¡°A proposal? That would be too childish, wouldn¡¯t it? No, I mean it this time, I¡¯m gunning for Wind Fantasy both in the game and in real life. I heard that she is as beautiful as she is in the game, hehe¡­¡± ¡°Hah! You want her in both realities, huh?¡± ¡°Why not, right?¡± ¡°You have a point, but keep your eyes on the sky you idiot! Incoming!¡± ¡­¡­ The group was enjoying a cheerful conversation with each other when Dominating Mage God¡¯s eyes suddenly widened. ¡°Five? Are you okay?¡± Dominating Warrior God asked in astonishment. I answered his question by pushing my blade, piercing through Dominating Mage God¡¯s chest. I had attacked Dominating Mage God and one-shot him with a basic attack almost immediately after I returned to the surface. The reason I was able to do this was because the careless idiot didn¡¯t turn on his Magic Shield, believing himself to be impervious just because he was surrounded by his comrades! That being said, even if he was cautious enough to keep his shield up at all times, I could simply break it with Ice Ray before closing the distance and kill him with a second strike right upon engage! Swhoosh! The Dark Wasp appeared like lightning and one-shot another mage with a Flurry. At the same time, I charged toward Dominating Warrior God and savored the infinite fear writhing behind his pupils! ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is here¡­¡± I slashed at his head twice before he could even finish speaking! MISS! 1987! It was yet another one-shot. Dominating Warrior God simply didn¡¯t have the Defense or HP to tank a Pardon-empowered Desperate Gambit! I ran circles around the enemies¡¯ backline while waiting for my skills to finish their cooldowns. Six seconds were all I needed. Of course, my Dark Wasp didn¡¯t have such concerns and killed one backliner every time it attacked. Dominating Heaven Blade finally realized what was going on and shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t let him escape!¡± Swhoosh! He was surprisingly fast for someone his caliber. He was a blade user and thus clumsier than your standard sword user, but his attacks were much stronger as a consequence! I smiled and took two steps backward. Dominating Heaven Blade could¡¯ve caught up to me, but he chose to stop in his tracks instead! Boom! A lightning strike hit the ground between us. Had Dominating Heaven Blade tried to charge me, he would¡¯ve been hit by the lightning strike and turned into a crisp. Unfortunately for me, he was smarter than he looked. A player who could still pay attention to the warnings and avoid a lightning strike despite chaotic situation was without a doubt first-rate. I took a quick turn to the right and unleashed Ice Ray and Slayer Slash, killing Dominating Archer God and another mage! After that, I took one final turn and ran away in a straight line. Absolutely furious, Dominating Heaven Blade tried to run after me. However, he had to stop when two lightning strikes hit the ground behind me. Fireballs flew across the air and killed my Dark Wasp. However, the opening was all I needed to turn into a ray of bloody light and sink into the ground. I slowly swam toward Lin Yixin after my figure was concealed. Now that Dominating Archer God was dead, the enemy party had no archers to speak of. Since they didn¡¯t bring along a tamer who might¡¯ve been able to detect me using a detection totem, I was completely safe under the ground. While Dominating Heaven Blade was screaming furiously into the air, Lin Yixin counted inside the party channel. ¡°One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight¡­ Wow, you took out eight players all by yourself! Well done, Lu Chen~~¡± Her reaction was exasperating to say the least. ¡°Stop watching and get ready! Dominating Heaven Blade is going to charge toward your direction. Watch out and don¡¯t get one-shot, you hear?¡± Lin Yixin smiled confidently. ¡°Relax, I¡¯m going to charge them from the front and drink a pot at the same time. If you attack them from behind at the right time, I¡¯m sure there¡¯s nothing Dominating Heaven Blade and his warriors can do to me!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡­¡­ Dominating Heaven Blade pounced toward the direction I led him to like a hawk. Because his level was fairly high, he spotted Lin Yixin waiting at a corner almost immediately. He shouted, ¡°It is you, Wind Fantasy!¡± Lin Yixin walked out with the Snow Shadow Sword by her side and her clothes fluttering to the wind. At that moment, she almost looked like a goddess. Wearing an attractive smile on her face, she said, ¡°What a coincidence, Dominating Heaven Blade. We meet again!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade stared at her icily before swinging his blade at her. ¡°Fortune favors the bold, Wind Fantasy! Stand your ground and don¡¯t move, all of you! I¡¯ll test her mettle myself!¡± Chapter 103: Lightning Formation The night wind gusted. On the third floor of the Ancient Thunder Temple, lightning fell everywhere, creating an awe-inspiring scene. Dominating Heaven Blade heaved his blade, his gaze deep as he looked at the opponent in front of him. Threads of golden light appeared on his blade. Dominating Heaven Blade suddenly shouted, and a blood-colored ring of light appeared under his feet! War Cry, Warrior Level 40 skill. It could increase attack power by 5%. A common widely-used skill. Hidden in the shadows in front of Dominating Heaven Blade was a young beauty. Small snowflakes swirled around the longsword in her hand. Her blade''s edge flickered with silver light. She looked with a smile at Dominating Heaven Blade, dismissing the leader of Gods of Destruction. In reality, Lin Yixin, as the leader of Snowy Cathaya, could match the other. Whoosh! I pulled out the game''s recording tool and started to record the entire event. It was rare for the leaders of two factions in Floating Ice City to duel. I could not miss such an opportunity. Dominating Heaven Blade jerked his lips and said, "Wind Fantasy, do you know? I did not want to be enemies with your Snowy Cathaya, but...¡± Lin Yixin laughed softly. "Really? Then, if I do not want to be enemies with you, will you allow me to continue grinding here?" Dominating Heaven Blade stopped breathing. He clearly had not expected Lin Yixin to say such a thing. At this time, Dominating Knight God''s gaze swept ahead. His eyes lit up and he said in a low voice, "Big brother, the third floor¡¯s boss is just ahead. It seems they plan to kill it. Its level is above 60!" Dominating Heaven Blade shook. His sense of justice did not hold. He raised his blade and said loudly, "There is no path of retreat left. You and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand worked together to kill so many of my brothers. In the battle of Silver Moon Valley, you had your people block the reinforcements. Otherwise, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand would have died thousands of times. I haven''t settled that score with you yet!" As he spoke, Dominating Heaven Blade raised his head and shouted toward the sky. Layers of golden light wrapped around his armor, and entered, making his armor flow with light. Steel Protection, another Level 40 Warrior skill. It could increase one''s Defense by 15%. This could be called the ultimate skill of that class. However, the increase in Defense was fixed, so the skill¡¯s potential was much worse than my Ghost Deity Armor¡¯s. After Ghost Deity Armor reached Rank 10, it would boost my Defense by at least 35%, something a second-rate technique like Steel Protection couldn¡¯t hope to rival. "Wind Fantasy, today, I will destroy your legend of invincibility. Haha, prepare to die!" Dominating Heaven Blade was extremely confident and arrogant. Dominating Heaven Blade had an awkward expression and said angrily, "Don''t waste words. Will you fight?" Lin Yixin tilted her head at him and asked with a smile, "Where¡¯s your pet? I don¡¯t want to take advantage of you.¡± Dominating Heaven Blade snorted, and summoned a black bird pet with a wave of the hand. I looked and my jaw dropped. This was a Pheasant, a very ordinary pet. However, Dominating Heaven Blade''s Pheasant was slightly different. Its feathers were of multiple colors. It should be similar to my Dark Wasp, a boss-tier pet. Lin Yixin laughed suddenly as she pointed at the pheasant. She covered her mouth and said, "Hey, Dominating Heaven Blade, what are you doing? You are the leader of a super guild, why do you use such a second-rate pet? What is this, a Pheasant? As expected, birds of a feather do flock together...¡± Dominating Heaven Blade forced through gritted teeth, "This... this is a Mountain Pheasant, wildlife of the ancient era. If you don''t believe me, go look at the Classic of Mountains and Seas. This isn¡¯t just any pheasant like you¡¯re claiming!" Lin Yixin laughed. "I don''t care. I only have one question for you, oh mighty guild leader of Gods of Destruction. As the second largest guild in the China server, why don''t you dare to challenge Candlelight Shadow?" "That... that is my business!" "Coward!" Lin Yixin pointed at Dominating Heaven Blade. "You are always hiding. You fear Candlelight Shadow, you fear that Candle Dragon will destroy Gods of Destruction, right?" "Who... who said that?" Dominating Heaven Blade glared. "Gods of Destruction has not yet reinforced our foundation. When I recruit a few more first-rate experts, we will easily flatten Candle Dragon!" "Hmph, excuses!" Lin Yixin changed the topic and said, "Your equipment and skills are not much yet you have leveled up so quickly. Did you hire someone to level you up?" "I have not, do not slander me!" "Really?" Lin Yixin smiled brightly and asked, "Recently, there is a cheating group in the game who rely on levelers and PK to get rich. Gods of Destruction is behind that, is it not?!" "N-no. Do not speak nonsense!" "Hmph!" Lin Yixin held her sword with both hands as she leaned back against the rock wall and said, "Did you eat lunch today?" Dominating Heaven Blade and his followers turned to stone. A few seconds ago, Dominating Heaven Blade pointed at Lin Yixin and shouted angrily, "I see through you. You are just stalling for time, aren¡¯t you?" Lin Yixin pulled out the Snow Shadow Sword and said with a smile, "So what?" Dominating Heaven Blade gritted his teeth. ¡­¡­ "Hey, Lu Chen you bastard, what are you doing...¡± In the party channel, Lin Yixin said angrily, "This miss worked so hard to speak such nonsense and gain time, but you¡¯re just hiding there and not moving! Attack soon...¡± I was surprised. "Attack what? Aren''t you going to fight Dominating Heaven Blade one on one?" "You¡¯re so freaking dumb...¡± Lin Yixin was exasperated. "Only an idiot would fight him one on one. It''s been almost ten minutes. Dark Wasp''s death cooldown is finished. Attack from the rear and kill a few more of them. I¡¯ll use the chaos to kill Dominating Heaven Blade. This will be a perfect ending!" I sighed in shock. "Yiyi, you are too devious...¡± "Not devious, intelligent!" ¡­¡­ While I slightly scorned Lin Yixin¡¯s plan, I was more than happy to help her achieve it. I looked at my skill slots. The button to resummon the Dark Wasp had lit up again. My pet had dropped a level but it didn¡¯t lose much of its stats. When summoned, it would still be my invincible killer wasp! I saw the opportunity and decisively acted! Whoosh! I charged out of the ground. The Ghost Ice Soul pierced through one mage''s Magic Shield, taking its caster along to the afterlife. I opened my left hand. The light of the magic formation flashed. The Dark Wasp appeared and immediately attacked the enemy backline at my orders. Once it flew over, the enemy forces¡¯ formation was in complete shambles. I swung my arm, my blade swiping across the neck of another mage. At the same time, my Dark Wasp pierced through Level 45 warrior¡¯s armor, swiftly following up and killing him in but an instant! In five seconds, we killed another 3 people! Before the engage, the Domination Clan had 13 people, but now there were only 10 left! Crack! Dominating Knight God slowly fell to his knees. In front of him, Lin Yixin looked expressionlessly at her victim. Her Moon Gaze and Extreme Break combo was used best against HP-heavy cows like this Domination Clan¡¯s magic knight. Bang! The moment the Dominating Knight God fell down, Lin Yixin flashed to the other side. Her Snow Shadow Sword carried the light of the Killer Wind Swordplay as she attacked alongside me, penetrating another warrior''s chest. Lin Yixin''s aim was obvious. She wouldn¡¯t fight Dominating Heaven Blade head-on and would kill all of his followers first! Dominating Heaven Blade''s eyes grew red as he shouted, "Block Wind Fantasy, I don''t believe so many of us cannot kill just two people!" Three warriors leapt toward me, but I took three quick steps back! Boom! Boom! Two bolts of lightning fell down. Instantly, two warriors knelt, their empty eyes cooked from the inside. I had seen it clearly. I had been controlling my Dark Wasp, avoiding lightning bolts and attacking our enemies. I was doing the same on my side. My APM was through the roof at this moment! In Heavenblessed, there was an unwritten mechanics standard, APM! APM or Actions Per Minute originally came from mechanical games. It was a meter of actions performed in a minute. Nowadays, APM¡¯s meaning slightly changed and became standard for VR mechanics. Moving, stepping, attacking, stopping, using skills. Each miniscule action that required input counted. The number of inputs added to the overall APM value. Usually, the higher someone¡¯s APM, the faster their brain, and the more frequent their moves! Heavenblessed had a system for measuring APM. Usually my APM would hover around 100 or so. It wasn¡¯t high or low. But during PvP, my APM would jump. Candlelight Shadow was a freak of nature in this department. His APM always remained around 200, and no one in the China server could rival him. ¡­¡­ The battle on the third floor of the Ancient Thunder Temple was sure messy, but without a doubt only Gods of Destruction players were dying. With Lin Yixin''s Rank 4 Health Potions, there was basically no way for me to die. The Domination Clan only had a few melee fighters left, all ranged players taken out beforehand. They couldn¡¯t pose any threat to me or Lin Yixin. Crack! The blade flashed by Lin Yixin''s arm. The beauty took several steps back. A high number jumped out of her head¡ª421! "Ugh, so strong!" Lin Yixin retreated, still shocked at the others'' attack power. No wonder Dominating Heaven Blade dared to fight Lin Yixin alone. That long blade was definitely extraordinary. With a weapon second only to a divine weapon at this stage of the game, Dominating Heaven Blade could afford to be arrogant. Whoosh! With a beautiful spin attack, Lin Yixin killed a warrior chasing her from behind. She looked with a serious expression at Dominating Heaven Blade. The final battle was starting! Whoosh! Light flashed past Dominating Heaven Blade''s head. Lin Yixin and I passed by each other, and I found a hint of pique in her beautiful eyes. MISS! 2017! Dominating Heaven Blade slowly knelt down. The light of the Desperate Gambit shone on his forehead. Crash! A large pile of potions dropped, and also a glowing weapon, the one that Dominating Heaven Blade had just been holding! I was overjoyed and smiled at Lin Yixin. Chapter 104: Tiger Courage Blade It was a blade-type weapon that shone with cyan light. When I held it in my hand, a bone-chilling cold energy entered my palm. It was surely not ordinary. With a wave of my hand, the stats of the blade appeared. Tiger Courage Blade (Silver-grade) Attack: 70~115 Strength: +18 Stamina: +15 Passive: Increases user''s Strength by 5 Level Requirement: 50 ¡­¡­ Great. A Silver-grade weapon with an upper limit of 115 Attack. No wonder Dominating Heaven Blade had the guts to challenge Lin Yixin! A blade-type weapon. Classes specialized for it were Wanderer, Magic Knight and Warrior. These three classes would receive a 15% damage bonus when using such weapons. Swords however would only receive such bonus when wielded by Warrior or Wanderer. Spears were best used by Magic Knight and Wanderer. One could say that Wanderer class had an advantage here, because they could use all kinds of close-combat weapons. However, Wanderer had a fatal weakness. Their Defense and HP scaling was abysmal. While their damage was formidable, they lacked survivability in the late game. Also, their skills would expend health points to increase damage, damaging both them and their enemy. Holding the Tiger Courage Blade, I asked, "How do we share this?" Lin Yixin glanced at this good weapon and asked with a smile, "Do you have friends that can use this?" "Both Gui Guzi and Amazing Expert can.¡± "Then you take it.¡± ¡°?" My mouth agape, I said in shock, "Are you sick?¡± Lin Yixin blinked. "Sick?" "If you aren¡¯t sick, why are you so generous...¡± "Ha...¡± She laughed softly and said, "Very simple. Last time, we worked together and got the first Hero''s Token of Heavenblessed. But our efforts were spearheaded by Bloody Mercenaries. I am a kind person. 1000 gold cannot buy a Hero''s Token, so on this treasure hunt I will let you take the good things as compensation!" I nodded, but felt slightly discomforted. Lin Yixin rationalized her position by making it business, no feelings attached. When a beauty like her said nothing about her feelings, it was a very hurtful thing. ¡­¡­ I put the Tiger Courage Blade into my bag. This Silver-grade weapon was pretty good. I would give it to Du Thirteen later so he could erase the label of noob from his forehead. With a good weapon, even someone green like him would be stronger. I looked at the boss and his group of underlings in the distance, and asked, "How do we approach this?" Lin Yixin said matter-of-factly, "Let''s first lure the surrounding trash mobs away, then jointly kill the boss. What else?" I thought and shook my head. "No way!" "Why?" Lin Yixin''s eyes widened. Lin Yixin nodded in agreement and asked, "Okay then, what do you suggest we do?" A thought flashed through my mind. I said, "Lure the mobs away, kill the boss. Then we lure the mobs to block the entrance to the fourth floor. This way, with so many monsters packed together, even if they come in, they will have a very hard time luring them away. They¡¯ll have to do it slowly not to aggro too many at a time. Their progress will be very slow, and the slightest mistake will result in death!" "Yes, this is a good idea, but it¡¯s too difficult!" Lin Yixin looked into the distance and said, "You know that Heavenblessed''s monsters have good AI. Their aggro range will be high. If you aren¡¯t careful, you¡¯ll be surrounded and killed.¡± I laughed. "What are you laughing about?" Lin Yixin glared at me. "Do you have no confidence in me and yourself?" I said. Lin Yixin gritted her teeth, clenched her fists and said, "Alright then, let''s try it. First find a point to block. Otherwise, we will die!" "Yes, I was paying attention!" I pointed to the right and said, "There¡¯s a narrow passageway there. We can exploit the fact that this boss moves pretty fast. You lure the boss and its minions. I will take the boss¡¯s aggro from you and lure him into that passageway. Then, with my pet I¡¯ll deal with the boss. You will stand guard at the entrance to the passageway. It¡¯s only about one body wide. If you can last, we will succeed.¡± Lin Yixin nodded, a hint of intelligence flashing through her eyes. She suddenly asked, "We will be cut off by monsters in that passageway. Even if you kill the boss, how do we get out?" I was stunned. I hadn''t thought of this. Lin Yixin was happy and gave me a smug look. "You have an idea?" I asked. "Of course!" Lin Yixin smiled. "Don''t forget my class is Light Wanderer. I can ride mounts. Because of that, I have a Level 50 skill called Knockback Slash. Its damage is only 50% of a basic attack¡¯s, but it can push enemies back and stun them, making way.¡± "Oh? Not bad. I haven''t seen you use it before...¡± "Tch!" Lin Yixin glared at me. "How many times have you grinded with me? Why would I show you all of my cards¡­¡± ¡°...¡± The two of us looked at each other for about three seconds. We turned our faces away in unison. "Let''s begin!" ¡­¡­ I pulled up the system minimap and circled a few red dots on it. I said, "These are the best spots. Just walk along this path, it will minimize damage taken!" Lin Yixin nodded. "Okay!" In the next moment, Lin Yixin darted away, her movements extremely light. With a few jumps, she was at the outskirts of the monster horde. Her blade swung lightly and she immediately shattered the cage! Boom! The cage turned to pieces. An enormous black shadow roared and broke free of the restraint like a demon god descending on the mortal plane! "Come back!" I shouted. Lin Yixin sprinted past the points that I had pointed out with a few dodges and reached my side. Her beautiful face was only a dozen centimeters away from me. The corners of her lips were curved up as she gave a charming smile. "Your turn!" As she finished speaking, she brushed past me, and the boss came at me. This was half-man half-beast holding a battle axe. His entire body was covered in thick scars. His face distorted into a snarl. He flashed his enormous fangs, like a wild boar¡¯s. This image was in stark contrast with the cute succubus fangs of Lin Yixin. Barbaric Axe Warrior Delai (Silver Rank Boss) Level: 60 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: Barbaric Axe Warrior Delai was originally the leader of the beastman tribe. Later, he was captured by the Thunder General, and, sealed in darkness, became his puppet. ¡­¡­ Damn, with my Level 54 I still couldn¡¯t see its stats, but I could see that his fangs were pretty sharp! I swung my sword, red energy surging through the edge. Pardon + Desperate Gambit. Having jumped before the attack, they both landed the boss¡¯s shoulder! MISS! 1986! A large damage number flew up and undoubtedly caused my aggro to soar to the top. The warrior immediately turned my way and charged! I carefully moved toward the entrance of the passageway and darted in. As Lin Yixin had said, AI was very intelligent, and it easily followed me without losing target outside. "Dark Wasp!" My adorable Little White Rabbit jumped out of the hexagram formation as I darted through the passageway. Luckily, while the boss¡¯s Attack was extraordinary, its speed wasn¡¯t up to par. It was much slower than my Dark Wasp. Here¡¯s my chance! Silver light flashed. The Fruit Knife Goddess came with a large group of monsters. Her boots slipped along the stone tiles and accurately stopped by the small entrance to the passageway. She brandished her sword and stood in the middle as if to say ¡°none shall pass¡±. I said loudly, "You have the entrance covered?" "Yes, you can focus on killing the boss!" "Good!" I quickly sprinted and mentally ordered the Dark Wasp to attack. It gave three successive attacks on the boss''s head. The Dark Wasp stung and collided against the boss¡¯s helmet, causing sparks to fly off, as if its stinger was also made of metal! Three hits from Flurry didn¡¯t manage to pull the aggro I had gotten with my earlier attack. On the fourth attack however, the boss finally changed targets, and his battle axe crashed down on Dark Wasp hard! 748! The damage it dealt was terrifying, but my Dark Wasp was a Level 51 boss-tier pet. Its HP neared 1700, so this damage didn¡¯t matter that much. Also, I could have used Dark Wasp¡¯s superior agility to dodge the attack, but I wanted to see the boss¡¯s damage, and if there¡¯s any one-shot potential. The result was better than expected. This Barbaric Axe Warrior couldn¡¯t instantly kill my Dark Wasp, and it was of no threat to me either. My Rank 5 Ghost Deity Armor was not just for decoration! "Be careful...¡± Lin Yixin glanced and said with a smile, "Don¡¯t die. That would be embarrassing!" I said, "You block the entrance, and use your Fire Blade to manipulate the boss''s movements. This will relieve my burden a bit." "Okay!" The Fire Blade flew over, and zig-zagged under Lin Yixin''s control. It blocked the boss until it lost its temper. I was extremely pleased. Killing bosses with such a smart teammate was a pleasurable experience. Yes. Killing bosses with Thirteen was a kind of torture, something that could not be publicly shown. With the current setup, I could attack while the boss was attacking my Dark Wasp. When it turned to me, my Dark Wasp would be the one attacking. If we made a mistake and I was hit, I could just drink a potion. With my level of control, it was no longer close-quarter combat but a hit-and-run. Several times, the boss¡¯s battle axe would ignite and burst into flames, clearly his skill¡¯s visual cue. However, the cast failed at its infancy. With more than 1 yard of distance between us, the boss¡¯s skill was canceled. Lin Yixin blocked the entrance and endured attacks of the mobs outside. With the narrow corridor, she had no problems fighting one-on-one. She had high stats and countless potions. Her level was close to the monsters¡¯, so she would be hard-pressed to even die in this situation. ¡­¡­ In the blink of an eye, half an hour had passed by. Under my incessant chipping, Barbaric Axe Warrior Delai¡¯s HP finally reached zero! Crack! The Ghost Ice Soul plunged into the boss''s chest, blood spurting everywhere. With an unreconciled roar, the Level 60 Silver Rank boss finally fell! Chapter 105: Bloody Purgatory Cloak Two streams of experience flew toward me and Lin Yixin. A flash of golden light later, I leveled up to 55, and Lin Yixin leveled up to 58. Just like before, we led in the Heavenly Ranking of Floating Ice City, but our advantage only widened! ¡°So?¡± I asked while staring at the loot on the ground. Lin Yixin sent a Thunder Blade Guard flying before answering, ¡°You can keep them for now. We¡¯ll talk about distribution after we enter the fourth floor!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I quickly tossed all the Phantasmal Magic Stones and equipment into my bag before rushing to Lin Yixin¡¯s side. Clicking my tongue at the sea of monsters all around us, I asked, ¡°So, how are you planning to get me out of here?¡± Lin Yixin blinked once at me before replying, ¡°I¡¯m going to Knockback Slash to cut a path through the enemies. Just stay close to me!¡± ¡°How fast is the traveling speed of your ¡®Knockback Slash¡¯?¡± ¡°Just be quick on your feet¡­¡± ¡°...¡± I had a bad feeling that I couldn¡¯t quite put a finger on. For some reason, Lin Yixin was staring at me like she was mourning a dead man¡¯s portrait on an altar. ¡°You ready? Here I go!¡± Lin Yixin turned around as a shower of light burst from the Snow Shadow Sword. She swung at a row of Thunder Blade Guards and knocked them backward, and at the same time she glided through the temporary hole she created in the encirclement like a beautiful meteor. The speed at which she was traveling clearly wasn¡¯t normal. She was using a skill! ¡°What about me? Don¡¯t leave me alone!¡± Panicking, I ran out of the encirclement too while waving madly at Lin Yixin. ¡°Save me, Beauty Yi¡­¡± However, Lin Yixin herself was busy running for her life with a long, long tail of monsters behind her. I could only rely on myself this time! I shouted, ¡°Earth Escape!¡± My body transformed into several rays of bloody light and entered the ground. Now that I was Level 55, monsters could no longer detect me as easily as they had done before. I cautiously made my way to the staircase leading to the fourth floor while sticking to the edges of the walls. By now, the orange dot that represented Lin Yixin had already disappeared from my map. There were two possibilities. One, she was killed by the monsters. Two, she had entered the fourth floor. Since the chances that she got killed were incredibly tiny, it must have been the latter. Unfortunately for me, a group of Thunder Blade Guards was surrounding the entrance to the staircase. It took me a while before I finally found a way to get through. If I wanted to, I could¡¯ve touched the monsters as I moved beneath their feet. To say that I was nervous would be an understatement. Thankfully, the Thunder Blade Guards never detected me. I let out a sigh of relief when I arrived at the staircase! She turned around to stare at the empty staircase. After sniffing the air once, she smiled and said, ¡°Come out! I know you¡¯re here!¡± Swhoosh! I burst out of the ground and regained my human form. I asked, ¡°How did you know I was here?¡± ¡°Because you stink, that¡¯s why!¡± ¡°...¡± I glanced at the entrance to the fourth floor and Lin Yixin¡¯s HP, grinning. ¡°Heh. What happened to you? Are there a lot of monsters on the fourth floor?¡± ¡°What? No!¡± Lin Yixin stuck her tongue at me. ¡°A lightning strike caught me by surprise, that¡¯s all. You know, I came back down on purpose to rescue you. Don¡¯t you think your comment is a little too heartless?¡± ¡°There are no monsters at the entrance to the fourth floor?¡± ¡°Nope. I¡¯m a puppy if I lied to you!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± However, the moment I stepped on cold, hard granite, goosebumps immediately crawled all over my body! A dozen or so spear wielding, eyeless monsters were guarding the entrance, and their empty eye sockets were terrifying to say the least. The undead creatures raised their spears and attacked me the second they noticed me! ¡°You liar! What the hell are these things?¡± I berated Lin Yixin in the party channel, and she replied. ¡°Arf arf arf arf arf arf¡­¡± In that moment, I felt like taking my own life to cleanse the shame of having fallen for such an easy trick. After summoning the Dark Wasp to tank some hits and still getting hit 4 times in succession, I finally escaped back to the staircase. Lin Yixin stared at my HP¡ªI only had one-third left¡ªand giggled happily. ¡°You did well to survive, Lu Chen!¡± I glared at her for a moment before asking, ¡°Be serious. What should we do? The way up is chock-full of monsters.¡± ¡°Easy!¡± Lin Yixin puffed up her chest proudly. ¡°We send our pets up first to tank a few hits while we focus fire on a mob or two. The we rinse and repeat until a way is clear. We should do it within 3 tries. Our pets will probably die a couple of times in the process, but it doesn¡¯t matter. They level up pretty quickly after all!¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll take the lead!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Thanks to the Ghost Deity Armor, I was without a doubt the better tank between the two of us. The Dark Wasp entered the fourth floor and sped past the monsters¡¯ heads using its flight advantage. While they were distracted, I attacked a Thunder Blade Guard and drew its attention to me while Lin Yixin charged it from behind. Moonlight glowing from her purple pupils, she unleashed Extreme Break on the enemy after switching to a dagger! 1904! While the Level 62 Thunder Blade Guard was staggered by the massive blow, I leaped forward and unleashed my own killer combo! Pardon! MISS! Desperate Gambit! Desperate Gambit had reached Rank 5, so its attack damage was boosted by 50%. It was much stronger than Slayer Slash! Crack! The reddened Ghost Ice Soul slid across the mob¡¯s neck with a soft noise. The damage it dealt however, was absolutely stunning¡ª3827! ¡°Roar¡­¡± Two skills and one basic attack later, the Level 62 monster shamefully perished under our combined might! Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes widened at the success before she smiled brightly. ¡°That¡¯s amazing! We truly are unrivaled if we work together!¡± I nodded in agreement. Extreme Break already lowered a monster¡¯s Defense by a lot, but combined with Pardon, another skill that lowered Defense, it wasn¡¯t that surprising that Desperate Gambit, a powerhouse of an offensive skill in its own right, was able to deal almost 4000 damage to a Level 62 monster. We took the opportunity to kill another two Thunder Blade Guards. My Dark Wasp had long since fulfilled its duty and perished, and I didn¡¯t dare send it too far away for fear that it would bring even more Thunder Blade Guards toward us. It would achieve the exact opposite of what we were trying to do right now. ¡°Our HP is running low. It¡¯s time to retreat!¡± I said while knocking back a Thunder Blade Guard. ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s go!¡± The two of us backed into the staircase in unison and rested. The staircase between the third floor and the fourth floor was technically a zone of its own, and the mobs were programmed not to enter a foreign zone. What this meant was that the mobs on the fourth floor wouldn¡¯t try to go down to the third floor, and vice versa. It was a common bug in the game players often exploited to their own advantage. Actually, now that I think about it, it probably didn¡¯t count as a bug. It was common sense to anyone who had played a VRMMO before. ¡°Let¡¯s wait until my Dark Wasp can be resummoned!¡± A pause later, I took out the loot we got from the Level 60, axe-wielding boss we had killed earlier. We might as well check it out while we waited for our cooldowns! The boss dropped a total of 6 Phantasmal Magic Stones, so I gave three to Lin Yixin and kept the remaining three to myself. Besides that, the boss also dropped Silver-grade wristguards and a crimson cloak. Barbaric Wristguards (Silver-grade) Defense: 65 Strength: +15 Agility: +20 Passive: Increases user¡¯s attack speed by 1.2% Level Requirement: 55 ¡­¡­ Bloody Purgatory Cloak (Silver-grade) Defense: 70 Strength: +18 Stamina: +15 Passive: Increases user¡¯s evasion rate by 3% Level Requirement: 55 ¡­¡­ Two Silver-grade items? It looks like our combined luck wasn¡¯t bad at all! Both Silver-grade pieces of metal armor in my hands, I asked, ¡°Yiyi, both of ¡®em are Silver-grade, so let¡¯s take one each, okay? Which one do you need?¡± Lin Yixin thought for a moment before answering, ¡°The wristguards I¡¯m currently wearing are Bronze-grade so I guess I¡¯ll take the wristguards!¡± I nodded. ¡°That¡¯s perfect, my cloak is also Bronze-grade. I would¡¯ve changed it out a long time ago if I could. This Bloody Purgatory Cloak is mine then!¡± ¡°Yep!¡± Lin Yixin equipped the Barbaric Wristguards the moment I gave them to her. Her pale, delicate hands and even her fingers immediately became wrapped by elegant-looking metal. Whoever designed Heavenblessed clearly knew what they were doing. The same equipment could accentuate entirely different qualities depending on the gender of the person who was wearing it. To quote a line from a song, ¡°The sun-kissed lad looks as strong as a mountain, the powdered lass looks as pretty as the water.¡± Just like Lin Yixin, I switched out my Cyanfire Cloak and equipped the Bloody Purgatory Cloak immediately. My image instantly became much graver. My metal armor was black and red to begin with, and the bloody cloak only made me look that much more imposing! Of course, my appearance wasn¡¯t the only thing that was upgraded. It was a Silver-grade piece of equipment after all. ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Class: Undead Swordsman (Bronze Swordsman) Level: 55 HP: 1420 Attack: 326~525 Defense: 295 Magic Resist: 175 Reputation: 5840 Luck: 0 ¡­¡­ My HP had increased to 1420, and my max Attack was a whopping 525! The power of an all-Strength build on an undead melee class was starting to show, not to mention that I also had 295 Defense. It was a huge step toward becoming an unkillable monster! Lin Yixin was admiring her own new equipment. The Barbaric Wristguards were a surprisingly perfect match with her small, tender hands. They provided great protection to her hands, but didn¡¯t cover her arms and shoulders. Once again, the genius of Heavenblessed¡¯s designers was on full display. On a pretty girl like Lin Yixin, the mere sight of her exposed arms was enough to make any man or woman shiver with anticipation! My eyes shifted a little, and I stared at the metal-covered mounds beneath her shoulders. The ravine between her pale breasts was like an irresistible abyss that made the imagination run wild. Sigh, my eyes suffered, and my soul writhed in agony every time I grinded with Lin Yixin! ¡°Hello, my eyes are up here.¡± Suddenly, Lin Yixin noticed something and watched me with wary eyes. I immediately looked up and said, ¡°Tonight¡¯s moon is so beautiful¡­¡± Finding my reaction funny and exasperating, Lin Yixin hit me once on the shoulder as punishment before saying, ¡°Alright, time to get back to work and sweep through the fourth floor. Our new equipment should make our jobs a lot easier. Be careful though, the mobs on the fourth floor aren¡¯t that much stronger compared to the ones on the third floor, but there are definitely more danger zones and lightning strikes than ever before. One misstep and it¡¯s a free trip back to the city!¡± I nodded. ¡°Okay. It¡¯s 4:30 pm right now, so let¡¯s try to take down the boss on the fifth floor before 10 pm. If we finish in time, you can treat me to supper at Happy House¡­¡± Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t stop herself from smiling. ¡°How dare you. I¡¯ve never met a guy who makes a girl pay for his meals like it¡¯s the most natural thing in the world. Is your face made from diamond or something?¡± ¡°You pay too much attention to the unnecessary details. Come on, let¡¯s get to the fourth floor and kill the boss already. I can¡¯t wait to get my Hero¡¯s Token!¡± ¡°You want to build a guild too?¡± ¡°Nah, I just want to get one, that¡¯s all. This one¡¯s mine since I gave you the last Hero¡¯s Token, okay?¡± ¡°Fine. There¡¯s no guarantee that a Hero¡¯s Token will drop though. The chances of a Silver Rank boss dropping a Hero¡¯s Token are less than 10%. We got lucky last time, but who knows? Hehe~¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter even if it doesn¡¯t drop, we still get a lot of experience out of this venture. Level 60 should be within your reach once we take out the next two bosses!¡± Chapter 106: Worm Mother Two hours passed by in the blink of an eye. It was over 7 pm in the night before we knew it. As expected, Lin Yixin and I were able to clear out the entire fourth floor of the Ancient Thunder Temple without trouble. We gained a lot of experience, but not enough to level up, experience required to level up was so high. Pop! A Big Magic Stone hit the ground and rolled next to Lin Yixin¡¯s feet. She picked it up and threw it into her bag, saying, ¡°You could¡¯ve gone to heaven, but no, you just had to choose hell. Welcome aboard then, little one!¡± ¡°What¡¯s your experience at now?¡± I asked. ¡°Mmm, I¡¯m at Level 58, 97%. It should take another ten minutes of grinding at most to level up!¡± ¡°Well, the boss is the only mob left for us to kill. Once its dead, we are sure to level up. I will get 56, you 59!¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡­¡­ After dodging an innumerable amount of lightning strikes, we arrived at the end of the fourth floor. ¡°Where¡¯s the boss?¡± While Lin Yixin was looking left and right in confusion, I suddenly grabbed onto her arm and pulled her backward. ¡°Watch out!¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± An extraordinarily huge and ugly creature burst out of the ground Lin Yixin was standing on a moment ago and crawled into the open. It resembled a jellyfish, and it had a soft, turquoise body that spread across the floor like a carpet. It was staring at us with a pair of eyes the size of a mung bean! ¡°Fuck, what is that!?¡± Lin Yixin asked loudly while staring at the boss. ¡°How should I know? Get ready, this is the boss we¡¯re looking for!¡± A line of text floated above the gigantic creature¡¯s head: ¡°Thunder Lair Worm Mother¡±. It was without a doubt the boss of the fourth floor! It was a Level 62 Silver Rank boss that we knew nothing about; neither its stats nor its attack moves. Without a priest to support, neither Lin Yixin nor I was absolutely confident in our ability to defeat it. ¡°Be careful, don¡¯t let it one-shot you!¡± Lin Yixin warned as she shot me a glance. I responded with an acknowledging nod. ¡°You too.¡± Then, the two of us charged with our pets at the boss without hesitation! Swhoosh! Lin Yixin pulled out her dagger and channeled an incredible amount of power into the blade. Pupils glowing like the moon itself, she unleashed Moon Gaze and Extreme Break upon the boss¡¯s defenseless body! I readied my own sword and timed my own attack to match Lin Yixin¡¯s. The second Extreme Break was unleashed, I dished out my own attack combo: Pardon + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 2453! Huh? How did I do so much damage when it wasn¡¯t even a critical hit? It looks like this boss has pretty low Defense! Lin Yixin activated Killer Wind Swordplay and attacked the boss more furiously than before. The two of us and our pets were able to deal almost 10000 damage in just a couple of seconds! The boss¡¯s HP finally dropped a little. Holy shit, this boss has got to have at least 100k HP if my math is correct! ¡°Huh?¡± Suddenly, Lin Yixin frowned and let out an exclamation of surprise. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I looked at her. ¡°Why isn¡¯t the boss retaliating?¡± ¡°I know, I¡¯m just as puzzled as you are¡­¡± The boss showed no signs of retaliation even though we were giving it the trashing of its life. What¡¯s going on here? Is it a free boss or something? I was wrong, however. A strange, splashing noise came from inside the boss¡¯s body, and it suddenly started twitching rapidly! ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s astonishment grew even deeper. I paid no heed to it and kept attacking, however. Whatever this boss was doing, all we needed to do was attack it until its HP reached zero and it died. It was a rule no boss could escape from! Pwoot pwoot¡­ The boss suddenly raised its posterior and spat out something that looked like a mudball; an egg. The moment the egg cracked open, and a dozen or so green worms the size of humans started crawling toward us like giant cockroaches! They were actual enemies that we had to kill to survive! Thunder Larva Level: 60 Attack: 120~240 Defense: 50 HP: 100 Description: The children of the Thunder Lair Worm Mother. Their attack speed is incredibly high. ¡­¡­ ¡°So disgusting¡­¡± Lin Yixin commented while tugging the corner of her lips. ¡°Their Attack is so-so, but their numbers are crazy. If you¡¯re not careful and get surrounded they might kill you,¡± I warned. Lin Yixin chuckled. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of. Just watch me!¡± She charged toward the larvae and cut through them like butter. The foremost Thunder Larva let out a death screech before collapsing into a pool of sticky green liquid. Again, it was incredibly disgusting. These larvae were Level 60, but their HP, Defense and EXP were shockingly low. There was no point in trying to farm them at all. Pwoot pwoot pwoot... The Thunder Lair Worm Mother continued to ¡°give birth¡± to her children very rapidly, and soon Lin Yixin and I were trapped in a sea of larvae. It was literally impossible to escape now even if we wanted to. The larvae kept biting at our boots and dealing around 5 to 10 points of damage at a time. A single larva was not a threat, but a hundred or even a thousand of them attacking us at once told a completely different story! We finally realized the boss¡¯s true power. It was a goddamned infinite spawn-type boss! ¡°Shit, we¡¯re gonna be buried if this continues!¡± I drank a Rank 4 Health Potion while complaining. But Lin Yixin smiled confidently. ¡°It¡¯s not the end yet. You and your pet just focus on killing the boss and leave the rest to me¡­¡± ¡°Oh? I take it that you have a plan?¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Lin Yixin nodded and downed an HP pot to stay alive. Then, she took out a red card from her bag and smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll show you what I¡¯m made of. Rank 4 Skill Card, Sea of Flames!¡± She tossed the card into the air, and it transformed into a magic circle that rained fire all around us! Ding~! Combat Log: Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± used ¡°Fire Fox Card¡± with ¡°Sea of Flames¡± effect, dealing 25 magic damage per second to all surrounding enemies for 60 seconds! ¡­¡­ 25 magic damage? What can that possibly¡ª My thought was cut short when I realized that a bunch of numbers were rising from the larvae¡¯s head continuously. 55, 57, 62, 63¡ªsince the larvae took around 50 to 70 damage every second, and it only took a moment for ¡°Sea of Flames¡± to annihilate all of them! ¡°What do you think?¡± Lin Yixin was positively glowing in high spirits and confidence. ¡°Quickly, I only have 5 Fire Fox Cards, so we need to kill this Thunder Lair Worm Mother in 5 minutes tops. Each one of these costs gold, you know. Hmph hmph, I knew they would be useful someday!¡± I was both stunned and impressed. ¡°Are you a trash collector or something? If this boss didn¡¯t happen to have such a gimmick, this card is practically trash among trash¡­¡± Lin Yixin smiled uncaringly. ¡°So what? I love collecting cards. At least half my warehouse is filled with cards, you know!¡± What else could I say after hearing that? Only a rich person could afford a hobby like this! The Sea of Flames effect scorched everything within a certain range except me and Lin Yixin, so the boss couldn¡¯t do anything against us, no matter how many larvae it produced at a time. We exploited the temporary respite to the max and dished out all the damage we could give. Without the larvae to harass us, the Thunder Lair Worm Mother couldn¡¯t even hold out for five minutes! I chanted repeatedly inside my mind when the boss¡¯s HP hit rock bottom, ¡°Come to me, Hero¡¯s Token! I love you!¡± Pop! The Thunder Lair Worm Mother died and dropped a number of items. Unfortunately, the Hero¡¯s Token wasn¡¯t among them. Not only that, there were only a couple of Phantasmal Magic Stones and two incredibly average¨Clooking equipment! Swhoosh swhoosh! Still, the experience we gained from her was enough to carry us over to the next level. I had to say, this excursion had truly been a profitable one! I felt my tears welling after I picked up the equipment and checked their stats¡ª Lionheart Spear: Bronze-grade, 32~75 Attack, Agility +5. Level Requirement: 55 Birchwood Shield: Iron-grade, 27 Defense, Strength +2. Level Requirement: 55 ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open when she saw the equipment¡¯s stats. She laughed. ¡°This is a tragedy alright¡­¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°I know right? Just what the hell is this shit? You dare call yourself a boss, worm mother?¡± Lin Yixin giggled. ¡°Hey, at least it gave a lot of experience. At our level, where else could we get 25% in less than 5 minutes?¡± ¡°Fair enough. Let¡¯s move on to the fifth floor then. A Hero¡¯s Token has to drop eventually!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡­¡­ When we entered the fifth floor, we discovered that the mobs¡¯ levels were even higher. This time, our opponents were Level 65 Thunder Knights. It was a type of horse-riding undead knight with high HP, high Defense, and average Attack. They definitely didn¡¯t hit like a truck, but it took a bit more effort than usual to kill. In any case, with EXP yield like this, an extra bit of effort was a small price to pray. I was in the sweet zone when I suddenly received a message from Du Thirteen: ¡°Lu Chen, you¡¯ve been fighting for a whole day. Do you want to log out and rest for a bit? Little Gui, Mamate, and I had already booked a spot at a restaurant downstairs. We¡¯re gonna be eating some Sichuan fish. Do you want to join us?¡± I replied immediately, ¡°Nah, I¡¯ll pass. I¡¯m busy clearing a grinding zone right now. Just leave me and go have fun!¡± ¡°But Lil Beiming complains that she hasn¡¯t seen you for a whole day and night. Your little sister is about to turn into a grudgeful wife, you know.¡± I smiled at the joke and replied, ¡°In that case, tell Beiming that I¡¯ll join everyone for breakfast tomorrow.¡± ¡°Alright. We¡¯re heading downstairs now. Take care of yourself and don¡¯t work too hard, okay?¡± ¡°I got it. Now go. You can pay for the meal using our operation funds!¡± ¡°Understood!¡± Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, Yamete, and Beiming Xue¡¯s IDs turned dark in my friend list. However, I noticed that Murong Mingyue was still online and leveling at a tremendous pace. She was now one of the highest-leveled priests in Floating Ice City, and it seemed like she was pouring a lot of effort into the game. Had she finally awakened to her gaming lust and made up her mind to become the best wet nurse she could be? I couldn¡¯t help but feel glad by the fact that all our efforts were looking like they would pay off very soon. Once Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had officially founded a guild, Bloody Mercenaries would naturally join them when the time was right. When that happened, the dream of rising to the top in Floating Ice City would no longer just be a pipedream. Unlike before, I had the loyalty of first-rate experts like Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue. The new Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would reach unprecedented heights! ¡­¡­ It was dark and quiet outside. The arms of the clock had already passed 9 pm. The fifth floor of the Ancient Thunder Temple was a series of circular corridors that led to a huge hall at the end. The final boss we had to face was most likely the legendary Thunder General! Chapter 107: Thunder General My equipment was of pretty high quality, all things considered. I had a Gold-grade weapon, two Silver-grade, two Dark Steel¨Cgrade and three Steel-grade items. The number of people who shared my level of equipment in Floating Ice City could be counted on one hand, so I was confident that I had the strength to farm the mobs on the fifth floor of Ancient Thunder Temple. The Thunder Knights¡¯ iron-padded hoofs shook the man-made floor beneath us, but they weren¡¯t really a big threat to me or Lin Yixin. In general, we had no reason to lose a 2v1! The Thunder Knight was a Level 65 Night Creature, so its experience yield was already 25% higher than an average mob¡¯s. Moreover, since their levels were much higher, the experience boost was just obscene. A little past 10 pm, Lin Yixin¡¯s experience bar already reached 35%. She was so excited that she decided to grind till morning to reach Level 60 and get her third class promotion! I stared at my own experience bar¡ªLevel 56, 57% full¡ªand said, ¡°I lost so many levels that day, but it looks like I¡¯m finally returning to the Top 3~¡± Crack! Lin Yixin cut down a Thunder Knight in front of her with a beautiful combo before replying, ¡°Do your best. You need to be stronger than this if you wish to gain a solid footing in Floating Ice City!¡± I nodded. ¡°Thank you, Beauty Yi.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Lin Yixin looked at me, her beautiful purple eyes tinged with a bit of confusion. ¡°What are you thanking me for?¡± ¡°If you didn¡¯t team up with me and come here, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to level up this quickly¡­¡± ¡°Hehe, you¡¯re welcome!¡± Lin Yixin waved her pale hand once before adding, ¡°Don¡¯t forget to treat me to supper later!¡± ¡°Yeah. It would be even better if the final boss dropped a Hero¡¯s Token!¡± ¡°If that is the case, you will owe me an entire month of suppers¡­¡± Lin Yixin said. Bewitched by her attractive smile, I lost control of myself and thoughtlessly blurted out, ¡°No problem. I¡¯ll even treat you to a lifetime of suppers if you want to!¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Lin Yixin gaped at me and panicked a little. Once she collected herself, she rolled her eyes and me and chided, ¡°Cut the nonsense already, will you? We need to clear out all the mobs before 10:30 pm and defeat the boss later. Let¡¯s become the first party to clear this Ancient Thunder Temple!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡­¡­ Several minutes later, Gui Guzi¡¯s name lit up in the friend list. They must have finished eating dinner already. He sent me a message that said ¡°Boss, I saw Murong Mingyue and From Water at the eastern square of Floating Ice City!¡± ¡°Oh? What are they doing there?¡± I replied quickly. ¡°Oh. Got it¡­¡± ¡°Yeah. Anyway, I¡¯m going back to the grind!¡± ¡°Sure!¡± I ended the call and felt a bit of emotion welling inside of me. Neither Sister Mingyue nor He Yi had given up on our collective dreams after all. We might not be working together, but we were all working hard to realize that dream in our own way. I asked Lin Yixin while killing the Thunder Knights, ¡°Beauty Yi, how goes the recruitment for Snowy Cathaya?¡± She smiled a little before replying, ¡°Why do you want to know? Do you want to join my guild or something?¡± ¡°Nah, you are overthinking it!¡± ¡°...¡± But Lin Yixin didn¡¯t get angry at my rejection. She even smiled at me before replying, ¡°Well, we¡¯re currently at max capacity. It can¡¯t be helped, a Rank 1 guild can only accomodate 200 members at most, so we¡¯ll have to wait until the guild reaches Rank 2 before we can recruit more.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at her reply. ¡°This isn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing, isn¡¯t it? I¡¯m sure that all the members you recruited are elites who can take on ten average players on their own, am I right?¡± ¡°Yo, someone¡¯s gotten a bit smarter than he used to be, I see.¡± Lin Yixin cocked her head at me before asking, ¡°So, when are Bloody Mercenaries establishing their guild?¡± ¡°For now, we have no such plans!¡± ¡°I see!¡± Lin Yixin looked a bit put down by my reply, but she quickly recovered and said, ¡°Things should be done one step at a time, I guess. Snowy Cathaya may be the first official guild in Floating Ice City, but we lack the foundation Gods of Destruction started with, and most of our members don¡¯t really know one another. It will take time to wear them in. Seriously though, the max member limit for a Rank 1 guild is so low! 200 isn¡¯t enough at all!¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I nodded in agreement. It was true that the guild member limit in Heavenblessed was extremely limited. For a Rank 1 guild, the max limit was 200 members. For a Rank 2 guild, the max limit was 1000 members. A Rank 3 guild could have up to 2000 members, a Rank 4 guild could have up to 5000 members, and finally a Rank 5 guild could have up to 10000 people. There was no Rank 6. If a guild wished to participate in a big war, anything under Rank 5 was below the acceptable standards. ¡­¡­ Crack! Two fierce strikes later, the last Thunder Knight in the temple finally fell to our blades! At the distance, a war general clad in dark cyan metal armor suddenly appeared at the center of the hall in a flash of darkness. He was kneeling on the ground on one knee and holding a broadsword that was crawling with lightning. His long, black hair hung messily at the edges of his helmet like weeds, and the man himself was as silent as death. ¡°It¡¯s the boss!¡± Lin Yixin exclaimed in surprise. I echoed her response with a nod. ¡°Yeah, it looks like the final boss of the Ancient Thunder Temple has finally appeared! Yiyi, your level is higher than mine. Can you see its stats?¡± Lin Yixin nodded and brought up the boss¡¯s stats with a wave of her hand. Thunder General Dio (Silver Rank Boss) Level: 68 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: Thousand Mirage Slash, Icy Crystal Armor, Thunderous Hell Introduction: Dio was the ultimate commander of the Violet Empire. After losing the battle against the Night Creatures, he was cruelly murdered and strung at the top of the Ancient Thunder Temple by his executioners. His undying spirit was eventually resurrected in an unholy manner, and he was transformed into a violent and murderous devil as a result. ¡­¡­ The exact Attack and Defense eluded us even with Lin Yixin¡¯s level, but the description of the boss was more than enough to make me gasp in shock. Judging from the fact that he was Level 68, it was entirely possible for his Attack to reach the realm of four digits. He could probably one-shot Lin Yixin and me with a basic attack, and that wasn¡¯t even considering his three skills! Still staring at the boss, Lin Yixin asked me in a soft voice, ¡°So, should we teleport back or give it a try?¡± A grin spread across my mouth. ¡°Are you afraid, Beauty Yi?¡± ¡°Tch! Of course not!¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes turned serious. ¡°Let¡¯s do it then. Worse comes to worst, we die and lose a level!¡± I nodded and replied just as seriously, ¡°It¡¯s not my style to run away when a boss appears in front of me. Kill or be killed! It¡¯s the boss¡¯s misfortune to have run into us, not the other way around!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Her resolve rekindled, Lin Yixin gripped her Snow Shadow Sword and asked, ¡°How should we go about this though?¡± I observed the terrain for a moment before saying, ¡°There¡¯s no way we can fight it head-on, we would be lucky not to get one-shot immediately. Therefore, the only way for us to beat this boss is to use the terrain!¡± ¡°The terrain?¡± Eyes sparkling with intelligence, Lin Yixin giggled and replied, ¡°You mean the lightning formation?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± I nodded seriously. On the way to the fifth floor, we ran into a lightning formation that was unlike any other lightning zone we had braved through thus far. The lightning strikes were much more frequent and condensed, and we actually utilized this to our advantage by luring mobs into it along with my Dark Wasp. Since my pet was fast and had high HP, I didn¡¯t have to worry about a random attack one-shotting it, though the same tactic would¡¯ve failed miserably if the bait was a player. ¡°But who should be the one to draw aggro?¡± Both Lin Yixin and I fell silent for a moment. It was because there was no way for the bait to survive this boss battle. The Level 68 boss was a lot stronger than we were, so much so that even a simple bump could potentially end our lives. In the end, we arrived at a wise decision. Our pets would bait the boss to its death while we sat at the sidelines, mourning them and their gallant sacrifice. Lin Yixin calculated the boss¡¯s position in her head while saying, ¡°My Fire Blade might be one-shot by the boss, so the Dark Wasp needs to hold its aggro once it dies. While the boss is distracted, we¡¯ll lure it into the lightning formation and hasten the boss¡¯s death as much as possible!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I nodded, and our pets flew toward the boss immediately. The Dark Wasp buzzed arrogantly, and the burning blade that was Lin Yixin¡¯s Fire Blade slashed fearlessly across the boss¡¯s torso! Thud! The Thunder General immediately awakened from its slumber and rose to its feet, roaring. ¡°Ah! The light of daybreak is about to appear from the horizon. Damned traditionalists, I will soak the flag of the Night Creatures with your blood!¡± No one expected lightning to shoot down from the sky all of a sudden. My Dark Wasp took two hits and died before it even managed to land an attack. 1509! 1473! The Fire Blade fared even worse than the Dark Wasp. It was zapped into literal dust before a damage number even appeared above its head! Stunned, Lin Yixin gritted her teeth and said, ¡°OMG, this boss is cheating! Run, Lu Chen¡­¡± I didn¡¯t need her to tell me that; I was already on the run the second our plan went awry. Gripping its thunderous sword, the Thunder General chased after us and roared. ¡°Tiny humans, your stench is disgusting and your blood is moist. Ah, I will feast on your flesh and blood until only the bones are left!¡± Suddenly, Lin Yixin said with shocked eyes, ¡°Lu Chen, we¡¯re dead¡­¡± ¡°What? Why do you say that?¡± ¡°We forgot to memorize the pattern of the lightning strikes¡­¡± ¡°...¡± It was too late for regrets at this point, and the Thunder General¡¯s broadsword was literal seconds from electrocuting our asses. Lin Yixin and I threw all caution to the wind and charged straight into the 100x100 yard lightning formation. Countless lightning bolts rained around us, seemingly at random! Crack! I skidded to a stop before a bolt of lightning could hit me. I dodged the second and third lightning bolt too. That was my limit however, because eight bolts of lightning struck me squarely in the head while I was still in midair! ¡°Ah?¡± A flash of white light later, the lightning formation claimed its first victim! Swhoosh! My soul reappeared inside a desolate graveyard. Three seconds later, Lin Yixin¡¯s soul appeared next to me as well. ¡°So, what should we do, leader?¡± I asked. ¡°We try again!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± The two of us floated all the way to the fifth floor and saw the Thunder General standing at the edge of the lightning formation. Unfortunately, the boss had enough sense to not follow us to our deaths. ¡°How should we kill him?¡± Lin Yixin asked with a smile. ¡°If we don¡¯t deal any damage to him, we won¡¯t be rewarded with any experience.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do it!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Chapter 108: Thunderous Hell ¡°Did you notice, Beauty Yi? Unlike all the lightning zones we encountered since we came to this temple, this lightning formation isn¡¯t random at all!¡± Lin Yixin nodded. ¡°434, am I right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, it¡¯s 434!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but shoot her another glance as I said this. It was impressive how quickly she had discovered the pattern! The lightning of this formation always struck three particular spots in consecutive order. Then, after the fourth lightning bolt fell, it would go back, striking the same spots in reverse order. However, there was a three-second gap between the first three lightning strikes and the fourth lightning strike, so anyone who tried to make a beeline through the formation would only meet their demise. Therefore, the secret to stay alive was to stay at the fourth spot and wait for first three lightning bolts to arrive, then move back to the third spot to avoid the fourth lightning bolt, just return to the fourth spot when lightning bolts fell in reverse order on the first three spots. Only a player with incredible reaction time could pull this off! I was pretty confident in my ability, however. My brain delay was now almost the same as a normal person¡¯s¡ªaround 0.3 to 0.4 seconds¡ªand I now knew how the pattern worked. I should be able to pull this off. Chiang! I pulled out the Ghost Ice Soul and said, ¡°It¡¯s do or die. Yiyi, you wait here while I challenge the boss.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Lin Yixin smiled. ¡°Give it a try. I¡¯ll go next if you fail in the attempt. It will be unfair for you if you¡¯re the only one who keeps losing levels.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I nodded. My impression of Lin Yixin suddenly became a little better. What a bro! Buzz... My Dark Wasp flew straight toward the Thunder General and hit him with a Flurry. I was exactly 5 yards away from the boss, and it was the perfect distance to draw the boss¡¯ aggro after my pet dies! The Thunder General roared angrily and raised his broadsword into the air. When he brought it down, the sword suddenly split into five sword beams and hit the area in front of him like a fan. With nowhere to hide, the Dark Wasp was struck by the attack! Puchi! 1289! Combat Log: Thunder General Dio used ¡°Thousand Mirage Slash V¡±, dealing 1289 damage to your pet ¡°Little White Rabbit¡±! ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck!¡± I inwardly cursed. A boss with an AoE skill? No wonder it¡¯s a Silver Rank boss! The Dark Wasp flew toward me under my control like the wind, but this Thunder General was much, much faster than all the bosses we had fought earlier. He caught up to the Dark Wasp and swung his sword once, dealing over two thousand damage and killing it in the blink of an eye! The boss turned his attention to me, and his avatar turned blood-red on my HUD. Here he comes! Rustle rustle... ¡°Boom boom boom!¡± Three lightning bolts dropped from the sky and hit the Thunder General as he chased me. Three damage numbers rose above his head in succession! 2287! 2173! 2396! Very good! The boss only had around 100k HP or so, meaning that I could absolutely finish this battle in five minutes if I timed it all perfectly. The fourth lightning struck in the blink of an eye! I backed away and jumped to the next row of lightning spots right after the lightning blocking my way had dissipated. Behind me, the boss was chasing me down and trying to kill me despite the lightning strikes. Suddenly, Lin Yixin called out to me from afar. ¡°Watch out, Lu Chen! Behind you¡­¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Fuck, a Thunder Knight! A Thunder Knight had respawned right behind me! Was a dev watching me right now and trying to screw me over or something? One foot on the floor, I spun around like a top and jumped to a different row of lightning spots. Both the Thunder Knight and the boss tried to chase me down, but unfortunately for the Thunder Knight it was killed by a lightning strike before it even took two steps toward me. It even dropped a Big Magic Stone, but of course no one dared to pick it up at this time. ¡­... Two minutes passed, and the boss had less than 25% HP left. It was losing health very rapidly! My mind was as calm as a lake, and I could see the lightning formation in my head like a Go board. I knew exactly when a lightning would strike a certain spot and how I should move to dodge it perfectly. Even I was surprised by my own skill. When had I become so skilled? I was certain that I hadn¡¯t been this skilled even when I was at peak form. Did the virus really change my body somehow? Suddenly, the Thunder General raised his warblade to the air and declared, ¡°Oh great laws of death, I, Dio, a general of the Night Creatures, surrender my faith in exchange for a Thunderous Hell!¡± I turned pale when I saw this. Not good, the boss is about to unleash its ultimate! I tried to run, but it was already too late. The floor I was standing on suddenly caved in, turning into a carpet of fire, thunder still rumbling menacingly above my head. Two lightning strikes later, I was freed from the mortal coil! Beep! Combat Log: Thunder General Dio, used ¡°Thunderous Hell¡±, dealing 1389 damage! Beep! Combat Log: Thunder General Dio, used ¡°Thunderous Hell¡±, dealing 1347 damage! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The second my soul reappeared at a nearby graveyard, I hurriedly rushed toward the top. I was a soul right now, so the respawned monsters couldn¡¯t harm me. Lin Yixin¡¯s voice rang from the party channel. ¡°Lu Chen, should I go?¡± ¡°Yeah! Don¡¯t give the boss time to recover!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± However, I heard a soft cry in just half a minute, and Lin Yixin¡¯s avatar suddenly turned as transparent as a ghost. I waited for a moment, and Lin Yixin¡¯s soul soon caught up to me. ¡°What, you died already?¡± I laughed. Lin Yixin glared at me for a second before pursing her lips in slight frustration. ¡°The lightning formation is just too difficult¡­¡± ¡°You couldn¡¯t keep up?¡± ¡°Mn¡­¡± ¡°Ahahahaha!¡± I laughed heartlessly as Lin Yixin swung her fists at me all the way until the fifth floor. The Thunder General had retreated to the edge of the lightning formation and regained 20% health since I last saw him, sitting at 37%. Damn, his regeneration speed is way faster than mine. ¡°Here I go!¡± I pulled out the Ghost Ice Soul and sent the Dark Wasp toward the boss again. Just like before, the Dark Wasp played the role of cannon fodder used to relay the boss¡¯s aggro to me. I then ran into the lightning formation, and reproduced that wonderful state of mind. In the zone, I danced amid the lightning formation¡¯s spots like a bloody shadow. No matter how many lightning bolts roiled around me, they were never able to catch me. The Thunder General looked incredibly pissed, probably because he had never bore witness to such a shameless tactic until now. However, there was nothing he could do to stop me. My heart slowly crept up my throat as the boss¡¯s HP dropped lower and lower. You are my last hope of a Hero¡¯s Token, Dio! 9%! 8%! ¡­¡­ 3%! 2%! 1%! A death scream later, the Thunder General collapsed on his knees and perished inside the lightning formation. At the same time, multiple golden beams started showering above our heads. We actually leveled up more than once! Pop! Countless items appeared where the boss was killed, and among them was a shiny, gold-colored token. I was overjoyed. It had to be a Hero¡¯s Token! I waved my hand and threw everything into my bag. Finally, I retreated out of the lightning formation. ¡°Yes! We finally did it, hehe!¡± Lin Yixin laughed excitedly. ¡°I guess you¡¯re not too bad, Lu Chen¡­¡± I shot her a sidelong glance and complained, ¡°Are you kidding me? I was a former Heavenly King, you know¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ve only heard of Frivolous Scholar and Vegetable Tofu Soup. I¡¯ve never heard of you¡­¡± Lin Yixin opened her beautiful eyes wide and innocently poked holes in my heart. However, I was too happy to take offense this time, so I said, ¡°Let¡¯s return to the city, Beauty Yi. We can check the loot once we reach the warehouse next to the eastern gate!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± We took out our return scrolls and teleported back to Floating Ice City in a flash. Then, we ran straight toward the warehouse. I shared my bag¡¯s contents with Lin Yixin and smiled. ¡°Look, I haven¡¯t claimed anything yet. All of the boss¡¯s loot is inside here¡­¡± But Lin Yixin blinked once and asked, ¡°OMG, why is there a Disposable Diaper in your inventory??¡± ¡°Er, I got it when I was looting a corpse. I forgot to discard it¡­¡± ¡°...¡± I felt like crying as Lin Yixin stared at me with disbelieving eyes. Then, I took out the loot and made a quick count. The boss had dropped 14 Phantasmal Magic Stones, 7 Big Magic Stones, and 3 pieces of equipment. There was a bloody spear, a silver ring and a purple necklace.The pendant of the necklace was shaped like a purple moon with silver light in it. It almost looked like the essence of the moon itself! Excited, I touched the bloody spear first and read its stats to Lin Yixin. Stonecrush Spear (Silver-grade) Attack: 75~140 Strength: +20 Stamina: +17 Passive: Increases user¡¯s hit rate by 3.5% Level Requirement: 60 ¡­¡­ It¡¯s a Silver-grade weapon! Hell yeah! The equipment had a higher level requirement than my Ghost Ice Soul, so even though its grade was inferior it wasn¡¯t too far behind in terms of attack power. It was an incredible weapon to say the least. I asked, ¡°How much Attack does the Snow Shadow Sword have?¡± Lin Yixin said, ¡°It¡¯s not as good as this spear.¡± ¡°Do you want it then?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because it looks ugly.¡± ¡°...¡± I decided to deal with the Stonecrush Spear later and threw it into my bag. Next, I picked up the silver ring and brought up its stats. It wasn¡¯t embedded with diamonds, but the shape of a bow was engraved into the metal. It was incredibly dazzling to look at! Dark Moon Ring (Silver-grade) Agility: +21 Stamina: +17 Passive: Increases critical rate of all ranged attacks by 7% Level Requirement: 60 ¡­¡­ Speechless, Lin Yixin and I stared at each other for a time. This Silver-grade ring was even better than the spear. It gave its user a total of 38 stat points, or 7 levels worth of stats, and it boosted the crit rate of one¡¯s ranged attacks by 7%. Crit rate was incredibly important to ranged class players because it practically doubled one¡¯s attack damage! This ring was a godsend for any archer! ¡°Oh, Lu Chen~~¡± I came alert the moment Lin Yixin¡¯s sweet voice entered my ears like candy. It was clear that she wanted to give this to her own friend, Clear Perfume! In the past, I would¡¯ve given the ring to her without hesitation, but now Bloody Mercenaries now had our own archer, with a powerful dark archer class no less. This ring was very important to Sun Qingqing, but the same could be said to Beiming Xue as well. It was enough to boost her to a new height of power! ¡°Why don¡¯t we check out the third item and decide later?¡± I asked. Lin Yixin nodded. ¡°Okay.¡± Chapter 109: Moonshade Necklace The third and last item we had gotten from the Thunder General was a dazzling necklace with a crystalline, purple crescent for a pendant. It looked extremely beautiful, and both Lin Yixin and I were certain that its extraordinary design would be matched with similarly amazing properties! Moonshade Necklace (Gold-grade) Strength: +28 Stamina: +25 Passive: Increases user¡¯s holy attacks by 9% Level Requirement: 60 ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck!¡± I couldn¡¯t stop myself from swearing. This Gold-grade necklace is insane! It boosts the user¡¯s holy attacks by a whopping 9%! Moreover, the Fruit Knife Goddess right next to me deals exactly that type of damage! All she needed to do was inject her weapon with the Holy Energy skill! It looked like chaos was about to descend on Floating Ice City. Oh no. If Lin Yixin got this necklace, how could noobs of Floating Ice City possibly escape her wrath? Lin Yixin stared at the Moonshade Necklace for a long time before looking down at her own necklace. It was a simple and ordinary Iron-grade necklace. I was watching her as well, or more specifically the shapely mounds that were covered by her chest armor and the pale ravine that could suck a person¡¯s soul right out of their body. ¡°What are your plans for this necklace, Lu Chen?¡± Lin Yixin asked. I touched my own neck before smiling. ¡°The poor need it more than the rich, don¡¯t you agree? You at least have a necklace to wear, but look at me. My slot is still empty even though I¡¯m over Level 50.¡± ¡°Uuuu¡­¡± Lin Yixin clearly wasn¡¯t planning to give up on the necklace though, so she puffed up her chest and said, ¡°Fine, you win. I¡¯ll foot the bill for our supper later¡­¡± I smiled. She could treat me to a whole month of meals at Happy House and it still wouldn¡¯t be enough to make up for the true value of this Moonshade Necklace. But Lin Yixin did die twice to the last boss, and the only reason she stayed behind was to help me obtain a Hero¡¯s Token. All things considered, she had done right by me the best she could. So, I held up the Moonshade Necklace to Lin Yixin and said, ¡°Yiyi, you can have the necklace. However, the Dark Moon Ring, Hero¡¯s Token, and the magic stones are all mine!¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Lin Yixin gaped at me for a moment before smiling. ¡°You bastard, this is daylight robbery. Your offer is utterly unreasonable, there¡¯s absolutely no reason I should accept this¡­¡± ¡°Heh¡­¡± I chuckled knowingly and waited. Cheeks rosy, Lin Yixin finally gave up and said, ¡°I guess I have no choice but to accept this unfair offer. Come on, give me my Moonshade Necklace already¡­¡± And just like that, the trade was complete! I sneaked a glance at her assets before packing the equipment and singing in a soft voice, ¡°Moon boat, oh moon boat, you fetched a girl into my cradle¡­¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s face flushed red immediately as she turned to face me. She asked murderously, ¡°What the hell are you singing?¡± I spread my arms and answered innocently, ¡°What are you talking about? It¡¯s a children¡¯s song. It looks like you¡¯re more corrupted than you look¡­¡± ¡°Grr¡­¡± Lin Yixin stomped her foot furiously but couldn¡¯t do anything to me. My beloved Fruit Knife Goddess had turned as red as an apple by this point, and I was so happy at my successful attempt at teasing her that I almost fainted on the spot. ¡°Alright, it¡¯s time we log out and get ready for supper. I¡¯ll see you at the first floor of Happy House in half an hour!¡± I changed the topic in time. Had I continued teasing Lin Yixin, there was a high chance she would go berserk and challenge me to a battle to the death. ¡°Mn.¡± Lin Yixin nodded and logged out at an inn. I didn¡¯t log out yet. First, I brought up the friend list and sent Beiming Xue a message: ¡°Lil Beiming, you busy?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m repairing my equipment. What¡¯s the matter, boss?¡± ¡°Come meet me at the warehouse, will you?¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± Half a minute later, the beautiful dark archer walked up to me with a smile and asked, ¡°So? What is it? It¡¯s almost midnight¡­¡± I took out the Dark Moon Ring from my bag and tossed it to her, smiling. ¡°I got an item you can use. Here, it¡¯s yours¡­¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Beiming Xue was stunned when she saw the ring. As her expression changed from surprise to joy, she lost her usual composure and dove into my arms suddenly, laughing. ¡°Boss, I love you!¡± Embarrassed, I pushed her away gently before giving her a smile. ¡°I love you all too. Now go work your heart out and keep up the grind¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Before she left, I passed the Stonecrush Spear to Beiming Xue so she could give it to Gui Guzi. After that was done, I checked Murong Mingyue¡¯s ID in the friend list and noticed that she hadn¡¯t logged out yet. It was surprising considering how late it was. I sent her a message that read: ¡°Sis, come meet me alone!¡± ¡°Where are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m at the warehouse right now!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± A few minutes later, Murong Mingyue showed up at the distance. She was as attractive and curvaceous as ever. ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Lu Chen?¡± I turned away and took out the Hero¡¯s Token. Then, I said, ¡°Give me your hand!¡± ¡°Okay?¡± Murong Mingyue looked a bit confused, but she extended her hand to me as I asked. Making sure to cover up the Hero¡¯s Token completely with my hand, I passed the item to her and whispered, ¡°Stay calm, okay? Tell boss to create our guild as soon as she can!¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Murong Mingyue trembled when she finally saw what I put in her palm. Her eyes immediately shone with pleasant surprise. ¡°Lu Chen, you¡­ you got a Hero¡¯s Token?¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I nodded with a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t tell boss that I¡¯m the one who gave it to you, obviously. Just say that a noob accidentally fumbled the price tag while you were at the auction house and you bought it immediately.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± Murong Mingyue replied excitedly. ¡°Eve is in India and should have just gone to sleep. I¡¯ll call her right now and get this done! Hehe, we can finally establish our guild!¡± ¡°Yeah. Do your best, I¡¯m logging out now. I haven¡¯t eaten supper yet!¡± ¡°You¡­¡± Murong Mingyue stared at me like she had something to say. ¡°Lu Chen, take good care of yourself, you hear me?¡± ¡°I know. See you later, sis!¡± ¡°Bye~¡± I ran back to the hotel and checked my level. I had dropped to Level 55 after dying twice to the last boss, but it gave so much experience that I was back at Level 58, and Lin Yixin, Level 59. It looked like both of us were going to reach Level 60 very soon. Anyway, it was time to log out! ¡­¡­ ¡°Phew¡­¡± I took off my gaming helmet and sucked in a deep breath. As I thought, prolonged submersion was incredibly tiring. I felt like my body was about to fall apart! But there was no time. Lin Yixin promised that she would treat me tonight, so I hurriedly got to my feet and put on the nearest clothes I could find. Finally, it was my turn to slaughter her wallet! Before I headed out, I checked the time. 10:50 pm was just the time to have supper! I ran all the way to Happy House. Lin Yixin was already standing at the entrance and waiting for me by the time I reached the restaurant. Her acquaintances would know that she was the campus belle of Suzhou University of Science and Technology. The strangers though, they might actually think that she was a new waitress at Happy House! ¡°You¡¯re late¡­¡± Lin Yixin looked at me. ¡°I know,¡± I replied honestly. ¡°Go take our order already, I¡¯m so hungry I could die¡­¡± Lin Yixin grabbed my sleeves and dragged me into the restaurant, drawing smiles on the faces of the beautiful waitresses around us. Thank goodness this was a restaurant and not a hotel, or they might actually draw the wrong conclusion. We sat down at a corner and ordered a ridiculous amount of food. Then, we ate until sweat trickled down our faces. We asked for the bill after we were done eating, and the meal cost over 300 RMB. This time, Lin Yixin footed the bill without any fuss. I supposed that the Moonshade Necklace was just that amazing; it was to the point where even an iron cock was willing to pay with its feathers. It was past midnight at this point. Suddenly, Lin Yixin let out a cry. ¡°Oh no¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°The campus dorms close at midnight. I can¡¯t return to campus anymore¡­¡± She looked at me worriedly. I gave her a reassuring smile and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll keep you company.¡± ¡°That is exactly what I¡¯m afraid of¡­¡± ¡°Fuck, am I that scary?¡± ¡°Hehe!¡± When we walked out of the restaurant, Lin Yixin shot me a smile and said, ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve broken the rules and stayed out at night. Sigh, I guess my perfect record is finally blemished¡­¡± Unsure what to say, I changed the topic and asked, ¡°Where should we go next?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Well, you have two choices. One, you can stay at a hotel. Two, you can come home with me.¡± Lin Yixin stared at me meaningfully before smiling. ¡°Can I choose neither? Neither of those choices makes me feel safe at all¡­¡± Given no other choice, I relented. ¡°How about a cyber cafe then? That¡¯s a public area.¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right!¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s features brightened immediately. ¡°Let¡¯s go to Xue Feng Road, shall we?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± The entertainment facilities close to the university were located at the crossroad of Xue Feng Road and Xue Yue Road. Both of these streets had a tale behind them. Xue Yue Road was known to students as Xue Yue (Studious Moon) Road, but its actual name was Xue Yue (Romance) Road. As its name might suggest, it was a pleasure district where prostitutes lined up the whole street in search for customers and cheap spas were abundant. Since the prices were cheap and the services were professional, Du Thirteen invited me multiple times to join him and have a ¡°good¡± time there. I never accepted his invitations though. Xue Feng Road used to be a street that dealt in computer hardware, but it was eventually taken over by countless cyber cafes and bars. Not only was it a gaming heaven for students, it was said that three Counter Strike teams, five professional Warcraft 4 teams and seven professional Starcraft 2 teams had taken up permanent residence at this street. As a result, Xue Feng Street became a cradle for future kings of e-sports, and it wasn¡¯t uncommon for new stars to show their skills at this place! Back in the days I was called ¡°Protoss Genius¡±. Naturally, I had spent quite a lot of time making a name at this street. I asked Lin Yixin, ¡°Yiyi, what do you say we go play some Starcraft and own some noobs?¡± Lin Yixin glanced at me from the side and smiled. ¡°You haven¡¯t touched Starcraft in years. You sure you still have it in you?¡± ¡°Of course I do. Why wouldn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°In that case, let¡¯s go!¡± We opened the door to a cyber cafe called ¡°Night Shift¡± and were immediately greeted by the clacks of keyboards and the swearings of people who were playing Starcraft. ¡°WTF! He threw back my assault again! Who the hell is this Zerg anyway, he just keeps ambushing me and attacking my backline! It¡¯s disgusting!¡± ¡°Fuck yeah, I finally reached 250 APM!¡± ¡°I¡¯m looking for a pro to challenge! The reward for beating me is one girlfriend!¡± ¡­¡­ Eyes shining and rubbing my palms together suspiciously, I chuckled. ¡°Did you hear that, Yiyi? If I win, I get to own a girlfriend!¡± Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me and didn¡¯t say anything. After we turned on two PCs, I got up to my feet and called out, ¡°Who was the guy who wanted a pro challenge just now? I accept your bet!¡± A student with dyed red hair immediately rose to his feet with a smile. ¡°Yo! So, how do you want to do this?¡± I asked, ¡°Before that, where¡¯s your girl?¡± A beautiful girl answered my call and stepped beside him. She punched him embarrassedly in the arm and whispered something I couldn¡¯t hear with a smile on her face. It was probably just a joke between boyfriend and girlfriend. ¡°A bet works both ways, brother. Where¡¯s your girl?¡± the red-haired student asked. I immediately grabbed Lin Yixin and pulled her over. ¡°Here, here she is¡­¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Chapter 110: Night Ou Cheeks red, Lin Yixin punched me angrily in the arm before threatening me in a murderous tone, ¡°If you dare lose this game I¡¯ll make sure you¡¯re dead!¡± I gave her a smile and said, ¡°Of course not. I couldn¡¯t even bear to part with you.¡± Lin Yixin grumbled for a second before sitting beside me to watch the match. The red-haired guy¡¯s ID was ¡°Night_Yun¡±. I didn¡¯t realize that he was a member of the university¡¯s e-sports team. Lin Yixin blinked when she saw the ID and said, ¡°Heavens, you absolutely mustn''t lose to him, Lu Chen! I¡¯ve seen this ID before, he¡¯s the current captain of the university¡¯s Starcraft team¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°Relax, Yiyi. If I lose, I swear to practice for 16 years and get you back from his clutches no matter what!¡± ¡°Go to hell! Enter your ID already!¡± I typed in a familiar ID: Night_chen! ¡°Eh? He¡¯s a part of our university too? Why haven¡¯t I seen him before?¡± the red-haired student exclaimed in surprise. I sneered. When I was the captain of the university team, you were just a kid holding a girl¡¯s hand and eating cotton candy! I picked the race I was best with, Protoss. While I haven¡¯t played Starcraft 2 in a long time, I did keep an eye on the latest patch updates. That was why the game returned to me as easily as breathing. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to find my old rhythm at the beginning, so my opponent was able to defend himself against my rush. Lin Yixin immediately panicked and started choking me. ¡°Aaah, don¡¯t you dare lose dammit¡­¡± I almost lost my breath. ¡°Calm down, Yiyi, I¡¯m still warming up here¡­¡± Lin Yixin dropped back to her seat and grumbled while staring intently at the monitor, ¡°You do this and you call yourself an expert? Candlelight Shadow must¡¯ve consumed half a year of melamine-laced milk powder to lose to the likes of you¡­¡± I had no retort for that... A short while later, I successfully ambushed my opponent¡¯s attack squad and slaughtered them all. Positively glowing at my success, Lin Yixin slapped my shoulder once and said, ¡°You did well this time¡­¡± I grinned. ¡°Is that a joke? If I had accepted the invitations to join a professional Starcraft team back then, I would¡¯ve become one of the kings of the Starcraft scene already¡­¡± Lin Yixin retorted, ¡°Be careful, if you talk too big you might just sprain your tongue¡­¡± Half an hour later, after an infinite amount of harasses, feints and micromanagement, my opponent finally lost and typed ¡°GG¡±. Cheers broke out inside the cyber cafe since dozens of people were watching our duel as well. It was an exciting battle to say the least. The red-haired student rose to his feet and looked at me. He asked, ¡°Who are you, really?¡± I raised my eyebrows and responded curtly, ¡°Who do you think I really am?¡± The guy¡¯s girlfriend immediately looked nervous when she heard this. A lot of people started fanning the flames and urging the red-haired student to honor his bet, but I was a shy person at heart. There was no way I could muster the courage to ask for the hand of his girlfriend. It was at this moment a fatty barged through the door in panic and shouted, ¡°The police are making their rounds! Run while you still can!¡± ¡°Rounds?¡± Lin Yixin stared at me in confusion. ¡°Yep, rounds.¡± I nodded before explaining, ¡°Cyber cafes aren¡¯t supposed to do business after midnight, so we have to run before police arrives. Quickly!¡± We were in such a hurry that we ran to the backyard without footing our bill. After the gate was unlocked, the students and we scattered into the night like ghosts. It was a summer night, but the streets were a bit cold without the sun hanging above our heads. As we walked side by side, Lin Yixin wrapped her arms around herself before asking, ¡°Well, we¡¯re out in the cold again. What do we do now?¡± I suggested. ¡°Do you want to go to a 24-hour bar?¡± She immediately glared and chided me. ¡°Hey, watch yourself. First, you made me spend the night out. Then, you took me to a cyber cafe after midnight. Now you want me to go gambling with you? Just how many school rules do you want me to break before you¡¯re satisfied?" I laughed. ¡°In that case, you can come to my place and sleep in my room. I¡¯ll just share a room with Gui Guzi for the night.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t wanna!¡± Lin Yixin shook her head. ¡°There¡¯s a pervert in your workshop who stares at both men and women with lecherous eyes! There¡¯s no way I¡¯m going there!¡± I was one hundred percent certain that she was talking about Thirteen. Poor guy! A while later, Lin Yixin called out to me quietly, like a cat. ¡°Lu Chen, I want a cold drink¡­¡± ¡°Sure. Give me a minute!¡± I went into a convenience shop and bought a cold drink for both of us. But when I returned, I suddenly saw Lin Yixin arguing heatedly with another person! The troublemaker was a middle-aged man. Sitting inside his black Chevrolet, he beamed at Lin Yixin and asked, ¡°Miss, how much for a night?¡± Lin Yixin was confused by the question. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Come on, do you really need me to point out to you that you¡¯re dressed up so pretty and standing next to a road? You get me, I get you, so let¡¯s get straight to the point, shall we? 2000 RMB, what say you?¡± Lin Yixin finally understood what he was talking about. She immediately walked up to the middle-aged man and left a high-heel mark on his door, flashing her pale leg for a second. Then, she started shouting at him and calling him a scum of society, a degenerate, a scoundrel, and other terrible names that didn¡¯t match her sweet voice at all. All the while, the middle-aged man was stunned by the outburst and couldn¡¯t react at all. I quickly ran up to her and took her arm before she went too far. At the same time, I shot a furious glare at the middle-aged man myself and shouted, ¡°Are you fucking blind, scumbag? This isn¡¯t the street for the likes of you! Fuck off to the spas if you need a woman that much!¡± The middle-aged man tried to muster a retort, but I was already raising my fists and threatening to beat down on him if necessary. Frightened, he quickly drove off and vanished into the distance. Meanwhile, Lin Yixin was still jabbing a finger at the back of the middle-aged man¡¯s car and swearing furiously. She was like a powder keg that exploded at the slightest spark. Scary. I criticized myself inwardly for leaving a girl alone in the streets during the middle of the night¡ªeven if it was just a few minutes¡ªand apologized to her. After I surrendered my portion of the drinks, Lin Yixin finally broke into a smile once more. ¡°Lu Chen, tell me, am I dressed up like a prostitute?¡± ¡°Not at all.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Lin Yixin cocked her head at me. ¡°It almost sounds like you have experience. How many prostitutes have you seen?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ not many, actually.¡± My thoughts went into the distant past. ¡°Back in those days, all the guys in my hostel were either dating girls, organizing get-togethers, or chasing skirts outside the school or something. I never joined them though¡­¡± ¡°What did you do while they were gone then?¡± ¡°Playing games, duh¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Lin Yixin shot me a surprised look. ¡°But how could you not go if your classmates insisted?¡± ¡°I just made up excuses and turned their invitations down, that¡¯s all.¡± ¡°For example?¡± ¡°¡®I¡¯m allergic to women¡¯.¡± ¡°...¡± ...... Lin Yixin let out a sigh as the night breeze lifted her hair a little. She actually looked a bit lonely as she stared at the waning lights of the city. Some distance away, a foot spa with pink lighting was doing business as usual. As the sounds of people yelling and women giggling came out of the building, the two of us shared a knowing smile with each other. ¡°Heh¡­¡± What is life? Living, is. We kept walking without bothering to count just how many streets we had passed along the way. Some time later, Lin Yixin rubbed her eyes lazily and asked, ¡°Let¡¯s find a place to rest, shall we?¡± Shocked, I blurted, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t I be the one to ask that question?¡± ¡°Oh you!¡± She rolled her eyes at me. ¡°Who¡¯s overthinking things now? I mean that my legs are tired, and I want to find somewhere to sit down for a moment¡­¡± I pointed toward a public transport stop. ¡°We can sit there.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Lin Yixin walked over to the stop, straightened her skirt for a bit before taking a seat. Under the moonlight, her angelic beauty and her devilish curves combined together to make a little white flower that only bloomed only during the night. She looked so beautiful that all the strangers who happened to pass by the stop couldn¡¯t help but shoot admiring looks at her. I sat down next to Lin Yixin and stared at the distant lights as well. I didn¡¯t say anything. The two of us just sat there and did nothing, unwilling to break the moment of silence, return home, or go anywhere for a time. ...... A while later, Lin Yixin whispered to me. ¡°Hey, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡°Can I ask you a question?¡± ¡°Mn. Shoot away.¡± She stared at me with those beautiful eyes and asked, ¡°Lu Chen, you¡¯re a genius at gaming. I¡¯m sure a lot of people have told you that. But what I want to know is... why do you play games?¡± I thought to myself for a moment. ¡°Why, huh¡­¡± ¡°Mn. Why do you play games? Is it for money, or validation?¡± I smiled and threw the question back at her. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, why do you play games, Yiyi?¡± Caught off-guard, Lin Yixin looked down at her feet and answered after a while, ¡°I play games to¡­ prove that I¡¯m better than others, I think. Or maybe it¡¯s because of something else. I¡¯m not sure. What about you? Why do you play games?¡± I let out a sigh and stared at the murky sky above us. Then, I gave her my answer. ¡°The greatest joy of playing games isn¡¯t to become the strongest or the most invincible character in a game. It¡¯s to be strong in front of your friends and use that strength to protect your friendships, or perhaps even love.¡± ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin pressed her lips together and stared at me expressionlessly for several seconds. Then, a smile suddenly sprang to her face, and she said, ¡°That answer isn¡¯t too bad, I guess. It¡¯s getting really late, and I really want to find a place to rest my feet. Can you escort me to Green Tea Inn? It¡¯s next to the university.¡± ¡°Ooh, are we sharing a room tonight?¡± I asked. Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me and chided, ¡°Of course not. You can sleep in your own apartment!¡± ¡°Alright then. You sure you¡¯re fine staying at a hotel by yourself?¡± ¡°Not a problem!¡± Green Tea Inn was right next to Lin Yixin¡¯s university, and I accompanied her all the way to the reception hall. The receptionist was a guy about 25 years old, and when he saw that Lin Yixin was the one paying for the room under her resident ID, he immediately stared at me with an inexplicable look on his face. The room was on the third floor, and I accompanied Lin Yixin all the way to the entrance to her room. After she went inside, she turned back and shot me a smile. ¡°Go to sleep soon. It¡¯s going to be another day of hard grinding come tomorrow.¡± I nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve always been a hard worker.¡± ¡°Oh right, I forgot!¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Lin Yixin blinked once and said, ¡°Lu Chen, I¡¯m not sure if you noticed, but I saw a purple skill book in your bag when we were splitting the loot.¡± ¡°Huh? Was there a purple skill book?¡± I smacked my own head. I guessed I was so distracted by the equipment and the Hero¡¯s Token that I didn¡¯t even notice. Lin Yixin smiled at my reaction and said, ¡°It¡¯s fine, I wasn¡¯t going to claim that skill book anyway. Let¡¯s just say that it¡¯s my gift to you. Well, bye¡­¡± I didn¡¯t react to her words. I simply stood there and stared at her. Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t stop herself from giggling. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Are you actually planning to come in and take a seat?¡± I broke out of my reverie and hurriedly shook my head. ¡°No, no. I¡¯m going home. Don¡¯t forget to send me a message after you¡¯ve returned to the campus tomorrow.¡± ¡°I know. Now go home!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I walked out of the hotel and walked all the way back to the entrance to my district. From time to time, I would look back at the tall building that was Green Tea Inn and feel as if I had left something behind. Chapter 111: Thousand Mirage Slash Early morning the next day. I opened my eyes and noticed that the window glass was covered in fine drops of rain. It was raining again. I counted with my fingers and realized that autumn was coming. This could very well be autumn¡¯s first rainfall. I swiped my phone. There was a text message sent one hour ago from Lin Yixin: ¡°Back on campus. Went to a probability theory lecture in the morning. All is well!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile. I slept really well last night and didn¡¯t seem to be worried about her. I looked at the time. 8:30. Time to get up. After I washed up, I saw Beiming Xue coming back with a big bag of cold drinks. She smiled at me. ¡°You¡¯re finally awake, Lu Chen!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I sat on the sofa and poured out a cup of warm water. ¡°Lil Beiming, have you gotten used to living here yet?¡± Beiming Xue nodded. ¡°Aside from not understanding the Suzhou dialect, yes!¡± I smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, I don¡¯t really understand it either, haha!¡± ¡°Haha~¡± Beiming Xue put away the cold drinks, grabbed a tricolor cup, and sat down next to me, smiling. ¡°Boss Lu Chen, something huge happened yesterday!¡± ¡°Oh? What happened?¡± ¡°Two guilds were established in Floating Ice City!¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± I was slightly startled. ¡°Which two?¡± ¡°Gods of Destruction and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± I thought for a moment. I was the one who gave Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls their Hero¡¯s Token so that wasn¡¯t surprising, but I didn¡¯t expect Dominating Heaven Blade to be this fast. They had been annihilated by us in Ancient Thunder Temple in the afternoon yet they actually got a Hero¡¯s Token in the evening and established a guild! Beiming Xue pretended to drink as she secretly looked at me with a smile. ¡°Boss, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ Hero¡¯s Token had something to do with you, right?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t just assume things without any proof¡­¡± Beiming Xue chuckled. ¡°Really? But their current core is just Murong Mingyue and Hot Sun. Their guild leader, From Water, is still at a really low level. A group like that trying to obtain Hero¡¯s Token would be a hellish task. You¡¯re the only person in this world who would give them a Hero¡¯s Token and you dare say it has nothing to do with you?¡± I looked at the 19-year-old girl next to me in shock. My mouth curled into a smile. ¡°Beiming, don¡¯t be so smart. Be careful or else no one will want to marry you~¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t I get married if I¡¯m smart?¡± ¡°Generally speaking, a man wouldn¡¯t want a woman that¡¯s smarter than him. If he married a really smart woman, his remaining days would be intolerable.¡± ¡°Oh, really?¡± Beiming Xue gave me a fierce look. She suddenly asked, ¡°Boss, is Lin Yixin smart enough? If she insists on marrying you, will you reject her?¡± ¡°Ah?¡± ¡°Hmph, hmph~~ I look down on you, boss!¡± Beiming Xue said with a giggle. ¡°Beiming, what have you been busy with lately?¡± I asked. ¡°Oh, busy making money! Gui Guzi and I are in charge of farming high-level beast pelts, Mamate is in charge of crafting armor, and Du Thirteen is in charge of the sales channel. We¡¯ve sold 17 Steel-grade leather armor pieces and 8 Steel-grade metal armor pieces in two days, making a total of 314 gold!¡± Beiming Xue was visibly excited. It was the first sum of money she made herself so her being that happy was a matter of course. ¡°I¡¯ve talked it over with Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen, we¡¯re going to get Mamate¡¯s Armorsmithing to Rank 6 in a week so that he can start crafting Level 60 equipment. It¡¯ll be super profitable in half a month!¡± I nodded. ¡°Not bad. Good luck. I¡¯m also leveling right now. I¡¯ll give all the extra pelts I get to you guys. Also, tell Du Thirteen that Mamate¡¯s Armorsmithing is a decent source of gold. Give 40% of the profit to Mamate and split 40% with the rest of you. Add the remainder to the workshop¡¯s operational funds.¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Beiming Xue¡¯s little mouth widened as she said in shock. ¡°How can we do that? Boss, I heard that back when you were making consumables to earn money, you barely left any money for yourself. Most of it went to the workshop!¡± I smiled. ¡°That¡¯s fine. As a single person, what do I need so much money for?¡± Beiming Xue blinked at me. ¡°Find someone to marry and buy a house?¡± I clenched my fists. ¡°Screw your house!¡± ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ Breakfast eaten, time to get online! Swhoosh! I appeared inside an inn in Floating Ice City. Not caring about anything else, I hastily opened my bag and sure enough, saw a glossy purple skill book in a corner! Lin Yixin saw the book but didn¡¯t say anything. Sigh, what a kind-hearted girl! I took out the book and its properties came into view¡ª Thousand Mirage Slash: Propels several streams of sword aura. Deals 75% of basic attack damage. Damage increases with skill rank. Cooldown: 15 seconds. MP Cost: 50. Level Requirement: 50. Class Requirement: Melee. Skill Requirement: Sword-type weapon. ¡­¡­ My eyes instantly turned red. This was an awesome skill! I raised my hand and the skill book transformed into starlight that went into my body. An additional line appeared in my skill window¡ªThousand Mirage Slash I! Thousand Mirage Slash I: Attack Range 1 yard. Attack power 75%. Cooldown: 15 seconds. Cost: 50 MP. I rubbed my eyes and confirmed that its attack range really was only 1 yard. Fuck, isn¡¯t this a melee skill?! Then again, its range would surely increase after ranking it up. This skill is bound to become godly at max rank! When I learned the skill, I felt somewhat guilty. Lin Yixin should have a share of this Thousand Mirage Slash. Forget it, I¡¯ll make it up to her in the future! I checked my Level. 58. Very nice. I was in the Top 3 of Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking¡ª NameLevelClass Wind Fantasy 59 Light Wanderer Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 58 Undead Swordsman Dominating Heaven Blade 57 Warrior Gui Guzi 56 Undead Knight Purple Marquis 56 Warrior Beiming Xue 56 Dark Archer Clear Perfume 56 Archer Dominating Warrior God 55 Warrior Zi Chuanyu 55 Magic Knight Light Cloudmoon 55 Mage ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin was still in the lead. I knew that once she finished listening to that pain in the ass probability lecture, she¡¯d definitely rush to Level 60 in the afternoon and complete her third promotion! Fruit Knife Goddess Wind Fantasy had already become crazy popular in Floating Ice City. It being a household name wouldn¡¯t be too big of an exaggeration. She had her own guild that consisted of all sorts of experts. On top of that, she possessed extraordinary personal strength, virtue, and looks. This beauty was truly one of a kind. Retired master Hellfire even claimed on the forums: ¡°Whoever gets this girl will get the world!¡± When I thought about that, I shook my head. It¡¯s best to not think about it too much. Lin Yixin might not even like me, and even if she did, I couldn¡¯t tolerate her. She had the face of an angel but was a beautiful vixen on the inside. Her attractive and refined self absolutely could not be the gentle and gracefully restrained type. My heart wouldn¡¯t be able to endure it if she was superior. I took the Ghost Ice Soul and repaired my equipment, then bought more pots. It¡¯s time to take a risk and go to a new map. I should also think about getting my Cooking to Rank 6. Everyone¡¯s levels were swifting rising and it wasn¡¯t feasible to rely on Rank 3 and 4 Magic Consumables to make money anymore. Only if I aimed for a high rank of Cooking could I stay ahead of my competition and reap a fortune. I opened the skill menu and checked Cooking. I only needed a little more to reach Rank 6. The Rank 6 Magic Consumable was Steamed Fish Soup and its ingredients weren¡¯t your ordinary ones¡ª Steamed Fish Soup. Requires: Fish Meat x25, Salt x10, Green Pepper x10, Garlic x10. Restores 600 MP. ¡­¡­ Salt could be bought from an NPC, Green Peppers could be obtained at a low cost, and I still had a lot of extra Garlic. If I needed more, I could buy it as well. I was only missing Fish Meat. I still haven¡¯t seen any foragers selling Fish Meat on the market so it seems like I have to go fetch it myself. I thought about it for a moment. If there¡¯s water, there¡¯s fish. My common sense was too spectacular! I opened the world map. Skimming over it for a while, I finally found a place with water inside Floating Ice City¡¯s domain. It was in the distant south. A vast body of water covered more than 50% of the entire map. The China server was located in the middle of the world server¡¯s three continents. More than 100 kilometers south of Frost Forest was the sea with spring blossoms, the place I needed! I tapped the map and a thumbnail appeared. A line of words floated above it¡ªSilverscale Coast! Since there are fish scales in the name, there has to be Fish Meat too! After confirming my destination, I packed my luggage and started my journey! Walking out of the city, I saw a gathering of around 20 players with serious faces. They were all experts around Level 50 and a beautiful guild emblem appeared on their shoulders. The blood-colored longsword stood above their shoulders, cold and aesthetic. The designer of this logo had to be He Yi, because they were part of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! I saw the beautiful guild emblem, then looked at my obviously visible shoulder. I was filled with envy. When will Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ emblem appear on my arm? The group of players stood with grave faces and in front of them was a beautiful Level 45 magic knight¡ªFrom Water! He Yi leveled really fast. Clad in heroic metal armor, her left arm was covered with a bracer and held a shield. It was the Elemental Barrier I had sold to her. The other hand wielded a shining longsword. It looked to be of the Dark Steel¨Cgrade. She walked to the front of the group. ¡°Is everyone here?¡± He Yi asked. At the side, Xu Yang nodded. ¡°All 25 are here, boss!¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°Alright, then get ready to set out! Today is our guild¡¯s first campaign. Work hard to kill every mob in your way, walk with no fear!¡± Twenty-five expert players instantly lifted their swords and yelled, ¡°Yes, guild leader!¡± He Yi nodded in satisfaction and smiled. ¡°Since you all have your consumables and pots, we can move out!" Chapter 112: Spearfish Players could be seen at every corner of Frost Forest. As the biggest forest region inside Floating Ice City¡¯s domain, Frost Forest had all kinds of monsters. It was a great place for players to grind, gather herbs, forage, and procure pelts. It was paradise for Level 30¨C70 players at the early stage of the game. The enormous number of Chinese players was world-famous. Half a month after the game¡¯s release, Heavenblessed boasted 180 million registered players. That number had been divided into nine tier 2 cities, 20 million each. This was why the low-leveling areas were currently jam-packed with people. A trailblazer like me couldn¡¯t find a grinding zone without walking for at least an hour or two. ¡­¡­ My trek through the Frost Forest felt like it would never end. It took me 30 entire minutes to finally arrive at the sea region on the map. Whoosh! The forest parted and the scene in front of me brightened. The sea breeze brushed over as a notification came. System Notice: You have entered a neutral zone¡ªSilverscale Coast! Far away was a boundless azure ocean and the extensive coast I was standing on was like a belt that encircled Frost Forest. Monsters of all sizes were crawling above the sea coast, waiting for a traveling adventurer to kill them! I was looking for Fish Meat, so I naturally had to find some shallow waters. A few steps later, I suddenly discovered a dark red region on the map. It wasn¡¯t too big, but it made my heart jump. A temporary NPC camp? If so, I shouldn¡¯t act too hasty in killing the mobs. Provisions had to be prepared in advance before an army moved out. I had to check out that temporary camp. It wasn¡¯t too late to get a few quests before going to grind some levels. My bloody cloak fluttered in the wind, my Ghost Ice Soul tightly in my grasp. I was brimming with a cold aura as I strode past the grove of trees. My eyes brightened. A simple and crude NPC camp had appeared in the open space of the forest. They weren¡¯t Night Creatures, nor were they humans. They were fully-armored dark-type NPC soldiers and the leading NPC wielded a sharp sword. He had blue skin and his eyes were blood red. Blood Dance Legion! Too similar. There wasn¡¯t much of a difference between Shadow Dancer Xue Wei and this guy. Even though the Blood Dance Legion¡¯s high-level warriors were considered undead, their bodies were intact, especially their eyes. That bloody color contained deeply-harbored grief. A single glance was all it took for others to fall in! The head NPC was at least a high-rank Blood Dance Legion member. A row of lines floated above his head¡ª Wandering Blade Dakara (Bronze Rank Boss) Level: 65 ¡­¡­ I walked up to him. Before I even got a word in, Scout Captain Dakara had already hoisted his longsword and angrily denounced, ¡°Who dares trespass into the Blood Dance Legion''s territory?¡± ¡°I am an adventurer from Frost Mound!¡± I drew my longsword, ready to battle. I didn¡¯t expect Dakara¡¯s attitude to suddenly change. He withdrew his sword and smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve heard of you. Young warrior, you¡¯ve saved Lord Shadow Dancer Xue Wei in an ancient ruin before, haven¡¯t you? She has mentioned you many times!¡± I was slightly shocked. My luck¡¯s not bad, I met a friend of a friend! As such, I approached the group. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Lord Xue Wei has already retreated deep into the mountain range with her troops in defense. Those damn Night Creatures tried to eradicate every one of us. Utterly detestable! I was sent to patrol this beach by Lord Xue Wei but I never imagined that I would encounter a group of mutated creatures. So troublesome¡­¡± Dakara put on a worried frown. That was my cue. ¡°Is there anything I can help you with?¡± ¡°Oh, it''d be great if you could help me out!¡± Dakara broke into laughter. ¡°The depths of the sea have recently been churning with a strange power, causing many creatures to grow in strength. Look, you see all those golden crabs on the beach? Those crabs are extremely violent. Help me kill some of them!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Do you want to accept the quest [Crystal Crab]? (Current Quest Rank: B) Yes! Ding~! System Notice: You have accepted the quest [Crystal Crab]! Description: A large number of golden crabs has appeared near the sea area of the Silverscale Coast. Please be careful and kill 1000 Crystal Crabs. Find Wandering Blade Dakara after completing your quest for a generous reward! ¡­¡­ Alright, quest received! I turned around and left the Blood Dance Legion camp. At the same time, I now had a clear understanding of the factions in this world. Heavenblessed had three major forces. Humans, barbarians, dwarves, elves, succubi, and many other races formed the Silver Moon Alliance and represented the power of light. Masters hidden in the darkness commanded the Night Creatures and represented the power of darkness. The Blood Dance Alliance led by Blood Dance Magnificence Sophia was the third force. It was a branch separated from the Night Creatures that only sought survival, and could be considered a neutral faction in the battle between the Silver Moon Alliance and the Night Creatures. This is the path I will be treading. Joining the Blood Dance Legion, but also taking quests of the other two factions. Three birds with one stone, that is the king¡¯s way! I summoned the Dark Wasp and set foot near the coast. Not too far away was a golden crab. It was about one-third the size of a human and held its pincers up high. The crab¡¯s entire body was bright and transparent, like crystal, clearly the reason for its name! I was already Level 58 so I had no problem inspecting its stats¡ª Crystal Crab Level: 65 Attack: 375~420 Defense: 350 HP: 5850 Skills: Flurry, Rend Introduction: Silverscale Coast¡¯s mutated species, possesses strong attack power and fast recovery. ¡­¡­ As a Level 65 monster, the Crystal Crab¡¯s attack and defense was normal. At least it was something I and my Dark Wasp could handle with ease. I rushed up to make the first move¡ªPardon + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 2011! Desperate Gambit¡¯s blood red light struck the Crystal Crab right on its head, bringing out a high damage number with one strike. The crab launched a decisive counterattack. It raised its enormous pincers that began to glow gold and swiftly attacked me 4 times. Flurry! My Rank 5 Ghost Deity Armor hummed when I was struck. The crab¡¯s attack power wasn¡¯t low as 4 damage numbers appeared above my head¡ª 245! 228! 232! 229! Shit, almost 1000 HP gone in a flash! Scared out of my mind, I speedily retreated. I noticed that the Crystal Crab¡¯s Flurry skill was at Rank 6 which meant that it could instantly attack 4 times. No wonder my soul almost flew out! My Dark Wasp advanced and hit it 3 times, shaving off almost 2000 HP. I pounced over right after! ¡°Jiejie¡­¡± The Crystal Crab died with a screech. This thing¡¯s DPS was nice but its Defense and HP could only be considered ordinary. The Crystal Crab¡¯s attack power should also be ordinary, but its Flurry VI was nuts. Just this one skill alone completely transformed this mob¡¯s damage potential! After chugging down a potion, I drank a smaller dose to slowly recover my HP. At the same time, the scene of the previous battle appeared in my mind. The Crystal Crab¡¯s Flurry was instantaneous but there was about half a second of charge-up. Even though it was very short, it didn¡¯t escape my eyes. In that case, I could rely on my skill to dodge the initial hit. Otherwise, I would need to drink a potion after each crab, and I couldn¡¯t bear this kind of expenditure! I¡¯ll test it out first! I plundered the crab but it didn¡¯t even give me a single hair! I went searching for my next target. Not far away from me were two Crystal Crabs, walking left and right on the beach! I dashed over and lifted my hands into Pardon¡¯s stance, skill activation alone aggroing the mobs! Just when it was time for me to attack, I quickly took two steps back and cancelled my cast. The Crystal Crab that had already moved swung four times in the air, causing four beautiful MISSes to pop up. Haha, success! Even with its strong DPS I can still force it to miss! I was super excited. Now that I cheated the Crystal Crab out of its Flurry skill, it couldn¡¯t threaten me anymore. If I attacked together with my Dark Wasp, we could finish off a Level 65 Crystal Crab in about 10 seconds. Adding the time it took to find a mob, I could kill like 2¨C3 in under a minute. Not only would this complete my quest fairly fast, my leveling speed would soar! I might even reach Level 60 and undergo my third promotion within the next 2 days! Several hours passed in the blink of an eye. My Dark Wasp was now the same level as me, Level 58. It couldn¡¯t gain experience anymore because in Heavenblessed, a pet¡¯s level could not surpass its owner¡¯s. This way, Level 10 players couldn¡¯t spend RMB to buy a Level 100 pet to act cool. Whoosh! The Ghost Ice Soul separated into two sword auras and struck down, jolting the Crystal Crab! 557! Tsk tsk. A Rank 1 Thousand Mirage Slash¡¯s attack wasn¡¯t that great. Its attack range was also only 1 yard so I had to focus on increasing its rank. It was bound to become much better later on. However, using Thousand Mirage Slash even once consumed 50 MP. The current cost was devastating. Thankfully, I was a chef that could make his own Magic Consumables, else I wouldn¡¯t even be able to afford increasing this skill¡¯s proficiency! I continuously slaughtered my way through, forgetting the time until I heard a notification. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your skill Thousand Mirage Slash has reached Rank 2! Haha, proficiency needed for Rank 2 wasn¡¯t much, it ranked up so quickly! I looked at Thousand Mirage Slash¡¯s tooltip again. Rank 2 boosted its attack power to 80% but it was still two sword auras. However, the range was increased to 2 yards, so it could no longer be considered merely a melee skill So exciting. Continue! Chapter 113: Charge Spearfish. Another organism that liked shallow waters. About half a meter long, it had a lengthy shape and looked no different from an ordinary fish. The only difference was the mouth and nose portion of its body protruding outward, making it look like a spear, hence its name. This thing¡¯s attack power was pretty good, but it was still a fish! Shallow Water Spearfish Level: 65 Attack: 405~470 Defense: 320 HP: 6000 Skills: Thrust Introduction: Silverscale Coast¡¯s mutated species, possesses strong attack power and fast recovery. ¡­¡­ It was also a Level 65 creature but its stats were greater than the Crystal Crab¡¯s, especially that 470 Attack. It wasn¡¯t any inferior to my own. If an ordinary Level 50 player were to come here, the chances of them getting one-shot by it were high. When it came to me, however, with the Ghost Deity Armor and my Dark Wasp to help tank a bit, I could barely manage grinding in this place. ¡°Die!¡± I dashed up and used my signature combo, Pardon + Desperate Gambit while my Dark Wasp used its lightning-fast Flurry. After a round of attacks, the Spearfish lost about 70% of its HP. Let me emphasize, our combined DPS was really something. The Spearfish rose up in rebellion. Its spear-like body shot forward, taking out a chunk of my Dark Wasp¡¯s HP! 447! Nothing much, onward! Several seconds later, the Spearfish softly landed in the water after a muffled shriek and dropped a shining Big Magic Stone. Seems like this mob¡¯s more generous than the Crystal Crab! I immediately activated my Foraging skill on the Spearfish¡¯s carcass¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have foraged Fish Meat x10! ¡­¡­ Nice, I got 10 Fish Meat in one go. My trip wasn¡¯t in vain. My heart bloomed when I saw Crystal Crabs and Spearfishes all around me. It felt great. I could gather ingredients and kill crabs here to reach Level 60 and get my third class promotion. This really was a perfect leveling strategy. I continued my grind and prioritized Spearfish. My main objective in coming to this Silverscale Coast was to gather Fish Meat anyway. The quest was just a bonus. Spearfish yielded a bit more experience than the Crystal Crabs too. My quest widget told me that I had already killed more than 800 Crystal Crabs. I only had a few to go to complete the quest. Noon came in the blink of an eye. Beep! Beiming Xue sent me a message: ¡°Time for lunch, boss!¡± ¡°Oh, got it, be right there!¡± After dealing with the Crystal Crab in front of me, I retreated into the edges of the forest and took out a newly-bought tent. Like I was doing survival training in the wild, I went inside the tent and logged off. ¡­¡­ ¡°Oh, what¡¯s the occasion? Why do we have so much for lunch?¡± I asked. Beiming Xue carefully took out a takeout box from a plastic bag while smiling. ¡°Today¡¯s a good day! A Silver-grade staff dropped when we were farming in the morning. Guess how much we sold it for!¡± ¡°How much?¡± ¡°700 gold!¡± Beiming Xue giggled. ¡°Even though gold has depreciated greatly, 700 gold could still get us around 14000 RMB. That¡¯s why we¡¯re celebrating!¡± Du Thirteen licked his lips. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve eaten meat¡­¡± I glared at him. ¡°Eaten meat? What kind are you talking about?¡± ¡°You know what I mean¡­¡± Du Thirteen said with some slight bitterness. ¡°It¡¯s been a month since I touched a girl¡¯s hand ever since I teamed up with Lu Chen to form Bloody Mercenaries¡­¡± I grinned. ¡°You can go touch Mamate¡¯s hand¡­¡± Du Thirteen went cold. Mamate tenderly looked at Du Thirteen. ¡°Darling¡­¡± ¡°Pfft¡­¡± Gui Guzi spat out his drink. Beiming Xue asked, ¡°You didn¡¯t log off even once this morning, boss. What were you doing?¡± ¡°Oh, I was farming to rank up my Foraging and Cooking skills. I need to up my money-making game!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I sat down and Beiming Xue immediately gave me a bowl of whitebait soup. ¡°Boss, drink a little more. Your damage will increase~¡± ¡°Oh, really?¡± I said with a smile. Du Thirteen¡¯s head dropped. He was speechless. ¡°Lil Beiming¡¯s been here for so long but I¡¯ve never seen her give me soup. What a difference. Is Lu Chen more handsome than I, Mamate, and Little Gui?¡± Beiming Xue stuck out her not-very-developed chest. ¡°Because he¡¯s the boss. His DPS is high too, what about you?¡± Du Thirteen: ¡°...¡± The moment she mentioned game stats, Thirteen was at a loss. It was obvious that his gaming talent was below average. As for the other members of Bloody Mercenaries, Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue were first-rate experts and even Mamate was a powerful healer. The pressure on Thirteen was huge. However, Thirteen¡¯s true battlefield had never been PvP in the wild but the business world and relationships. The rest of us weren¡¯t as great as Thirteen when it came to that. After being choked for a while, Thirteen said, ¡°How about we go to a bar tonight? We can¡¯t stay cooped up in the workshop all day playing games or we¡¯ll become shut-ins!¡± I nodded. ¡°No objections.¡± Gui Guzi said, ¡°I¡¯ve never been to a bar before¡­¡± Mamate replied, ¡°I¡¯m going if everyone else is going.¡± Beiming Xue¡¯s shut-in stat wasn¡¯t too high. She¡¯d actually been to bars quite often. It was easy to tell from how she dressed. Beiming Xue was a fashionable girl while Gui Guzi always dressed in well-ironed western clothes, like he was going to an interview. Du Thirteen dressed like a punk while I and Mamate dressed like¡­ uh, laborers. Du Thirteen grinned. ¡°Then it¡¯s decided. We¡¯ll have dinner at 6, go out at 7, and come back at 10. How¡¯s that sound?¡± ¡°No problem, you¡¯ll be in charge of things like the workshop¡¯s outdoor activities. It¡¯s good to forget about the game sometimes.¡± The way I said it sounded like I was giving Du Thirteen an organizing committee mission. Thirteen nodded happily. ¡°Okay, it¡¯s settled then. I¡¯ll tell you guys to get off at 6!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± ¡­¡­ Having finished eating lunch, it was time to continue grinding online! Just as I killed two Spearfish, the sound of a bell that spread throughout Floating Ice City¡¯s domain rang from overhead¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± has completed the promotion quest and successfully promoted, becoming Floating Ice City¡¯s first Silver-rank player. Obtained the title ¡°Silver Wanderer¡±, and as the first third-promotion player, obtained reward: Level +1, and reward item: ¡°Burning War Boots¡±! ¡­¡­ Damn, Lin Yixin got her third promotion so fast and even got some pretty good rewards! I sent her a message: ¡°What¡¯re these Burning War Boots?¡± She sent a reply several seconds later: ¡°Level 60 Silver-grade boots. Good luck. Maybe the second third-promotion player would also get a Silver-grade equipment as a reward!¡± ¡°Mn, I¡¯ll go grind now. Talk to you later!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Time quickly went by. I could forage about 5¨C10 Fish Meat per Spearfish. If I was lucky, Death Plunder could also get me 10 Fish Meat. As a result, ingredients gradually accumulated in my bag and replaced the potions that were there previously. I left 10 slots for Big Magic Stones and once they were filled, I didn¡¯t bother looting anymore. 100 Fish Meat made up a stack so their value far surpassed the Big Magic Stones. That I was certain of. I grinded all the way until 3 pm. With a ¡°shoosh¡±, a golden light dropped from the sky and I reached Level 59, one level away from 60. My third promotion was near! At this time, I had already killed enough Crystal Crabs. I thought about turning the quest in, but decided against it.. I¡¯ll grind until 6 and then turn in my quest. It¡¯d be a waste of leg power if I had to go back and forth. I endured all the way until it was almost 6. I was now Level 59 37%. At this speed, I only needed 6¨C8 hours until I hit 60! Beep! Du Thirteen sent a message: ¡°Bro, it¡¯s time to get off. We¡¯ll go have fun at a bar after dinner!¡± ¡°Oh, be right there!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± ¡­¡­ It was time. I slaughtered my way through the siege of monsters as fast as I could and headed straight for the Blood Dance Alliance¡¯s temporary camp. I turned in the quest to Scout Captain Wandering Blade Dakara and the red-eyed high-level undead immediately burst into laughter. ¡°Great! Brave young warrior, your strength has earned my respect. Come, here are your rewards!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [Crystal Crab]. You have gained 37500 EXP, 400 Reputation, 5 gold, and quest reward: "Charge"! Hm? Charge?! I was pleasantly surprised. I hastily opened my bag and found a green skill book inside. I quickly took it out. It really was the quest reward¡ªCharge skill book! Charge: Angrily charges at the enemy and stuns for 1 second. Level Requirement: 50. Class Requirement: Melee. Required Strength: 350! ¡­¡­ I was covered in cold sweat when I saw the skill. So overpowered! Not only was its effect overpowered, its requirements were over the top as well. It actually required Level 50 players with 350 Strength. Good thing I was full-Strength built and my equipment also gave me some added Strength, else I really wouldn¡¯t be able to meet those hard conditions! Yes, learn! Swhoosh! The Charge skill turned into streaks of starlight, entered my body, and appeared in my skill menu! Charge: 5¨C40 yard range. Cost: 20 MP. Chance to stun the target for 1 second. It was basically an ambushing or intercepting trump card. Charge was the signature skill of the melee classes, but the book itself had to be farmed, which was why tragic warriors like Dominating Heaven Blade, Iron Pardon, and many others who had reached Level 50 still didn¡¯t have it. Chapter 114: Hyena Charge was no doubt a preemptive trump card. Being a melee fighter without Charge was a total handicap! I locked onto a nearby Crystal Crab and used Charge! Whoosh! As if four engines had been revved, I turned into a streak of lightning and shot out, instantly appearing before the Crystal Crab. Without the poor creature even realizing what was happening, a mark appeared above its head, signifying stunned state. Pardon! Desperate Gambit! Both skills were instantly cast and when I turned to disengage, I saw the Crystal Crab waving its huge pincers at the air, rippling out four gorgeous MISS messages. Tsk tsk. A one-second stun was just too amazing. It would let me kill mobs without getting damaged at all! I finished the crab, calmed down, then ran to the edge of the forest to set up a tent. Time to log out! ¡­¡­ The other four were already waiting inside the workshop¡¯s living room. Like before, Gui Guzi looked like he was going to an interview, Du Thirteen dressed like a hooligan, Beiming Xue was in a T-shirt and short skirt while I and Mamate just looked unremarkable, one wearing Jeanswest and the other, Semir. ¡°Where should we go for dinner?¡± I asked. ¡°Anywhere, going to a bar is more important tonight!¡± ¡°Okay.¡± And so we had dinner in a small roadside restaurant. When the sun set, and it was 7:30 pm in the evening, our group arrived at the only bar in the area: Hot Club. It was a bar with a youthful concept. Those who would come there were either students or people like us. The inside lighting was dreamy and we saw a few charming girls sitting near the counter the moment we went in. We found a table and took our seats. A waitress walked over and asked for our order. Beiming Xue¡¯s beautiful eyes swept over and she suddenly smiled. ¡°Beauty, we¡¯re not ordering anything yet. Can you come back in ten minutes?¡± The waitress nodded. ¡°Alright~¡± ¡°Lil Beiming, what are you planning?¡± I asked. Beiming Xue immediately stood up and moved her seat to side beside me. She reached out and pointed with a finger. ¡°Gui Guzi, Brother Thirteen, Mamate, go sit on the sofa in front of us. Let¡¯s play a game!¡± Du Thirteen asked, ¡°What game?¡± ¡°Brain teasers. I¡¯ll be with Lu Chen and you three will be another team. Each team will ask the other questions. Best of three. Whichever team loses will foot the bill. How about it? You up for it?¡± Du Thirteen laughed. ¡°Haha, Lil Beiming you¡¯re seriously asking for it. Brain teasers are a cinch for someone who reads a ton of books like me!¡± ¡°Okay, let¡¯s begin!¡± Beiming Xue took out her cellphone and lightly slapped the table. Smiling with crafty eyes, she said, ¡°First question. Please listen carefully. What is a man who is trusted to guard a woman''s chastity without fail?¡± Mamate said, ¡°Is it someone homosexual or asexual?¡± Gui Guzi nodded continuously. ¡°Mamate¡¯s smart!¡± Beiming Xue indifferently answered, ¡°No, an eunuch!¡± ¡°Damn¡­¡± Du Thirteen was angry. ¡°My turn. Please listen carefully. A bear without a tail is called a tailless bear. What is a bear without a dick called?¡± Beiming Xue calmly answered, ¡°Mother bear!¡± ¡°Damn¡­¡± 1:0! Beiming Xue beamed and continued. ¡°Second question. Please listen carefully. Brother Thirteen transmigrated to the North Pole and encountered a polar bear. How can he handle the polar bear without a weapon?¡± Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi, and Mamate stared blankly. Beiming Xue gently smiled. ¡°He can pee out a sword¡­¡± ¡°Damn¡­¡± They were about to go mad. Since it was their last chance, Du Thirteen stifled his anger and said with a clear voice. ¡°Second question. Please listen carefully. After going to the toilet, do you use your left hand or your right hand to wipe your peepee? Beiming Xue was immediately stunned and her face flushed red. I smiled. ¡°It¡¯s better to use toilet paper¡­¡± ¡°Oh~no¡­¡± They had been totally destroyed. Du Thirteen¡¯s party suffered a 2:0 defeat. We began to order. Beiming Xue wanted two glasses of fruit juice. I ordered two bottles of beer and some snacks. All this was billed to Du Thirteen. He was in charge of our workshop¡¯s finances anyway so he should have quite a bit of money in his pockets. Du Thirteen couldn¡¯t accept his loss and wanted a rematch with Beiming Xue. I spoke out, ¡°Your brain teasers are too vulgar, it¡¯s better to chat about some pure things!¡± Mamate nodded repeatedly. ¡°Right, pure things!¡± The three of them looked at me but I was also at a loss. I glanced at Beiming Xue and said a bit helplessly, ¡°It seems like aside from Beiming, we don¡¯t have anything beautiful and pure¡­¡± ¡­¡­ As a result, the five of us played cards all the way until 9 pm. My phone suddenly rang with my jingling ringtone. I checked the throbbing screen and found a familiar name on the screen, Wind Fantasy. It was Lin Yixin. ¡°What¡¯s up, Beauty Yi?¡± ¡°Lu Chen, why didn¡¯t I see you online tonight?¡± ¡°Oh, I went out with everyone to relax¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re taking a bath?¡± ¡°Fuck, where the hell did your mind wander off to? We¡¯re at a bar! What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± Lin Yixin giggled. ¡°I just wanted to remind you that you should quickly level up. Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s leveling really fast. If you let him get to Level 60 and the third promotion first, you¡¯ll regret it¡­¡± ¡°Mn, I¡¯ll be back soon!¡± I hung up and discovered four pairs of eyes that were up to no good staring at me. ¡°Fuck, why are you looking at me like that for?¡± Beiming Xue smiled. ¡°Lin Yixin?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡°You guys have a good relationship¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯re you trying to say?¡± Mamate rubbed his round belly and smiled like a deputy military adviser. ¡°Your Highness, I saw a ton of people on the forums praising Wind Fantasy, Lin Yixin, saying that this girl had both brains and beauty. They also said something like ¡®Whoever gets this girl will get the world¡¯. How about you work hard to get her so our plan of Bloody Mercenaries revitalizing Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls can move up in schedule¡­ In short, go get ¡®em!¡± I shot him a glance. ¡°Do you really think a girl like Lin Yixin can be wooed that easily?¡± Mamate shook his head. I spread my hands and smiled. ¡°That¡¯s why you shouldn¡¯t even think about it. It¡¯s unrealistic, so we should be thinking about our future goals and objectives.¡± Mamate said, ¡°I need to reach Rank 6 Armorsmithing as soon as possible. You¡¯re also pushing Rank 6 Cooking, right Lu Chen? Once both are Rank 6, our workshop¡¯s funds won¡¯t be a problem.¡± I nodded. ¡°Then work hard. Let¡¯s buy our workshop a dedicated car first. What do you think?¡± Beiming Xue smiled happily. ¡°Of course that¡¯s great. If our workshop has its own car, we don¡¯t need to squeeze in public transport and get taken advantage of by weird uncles¡­¡± ¡°...¡± We all turned into stone. ¡­¡­ By the time we returned to the workshop, it was already 10 pm, but none of us were sleepy, so we all logged on and got ready to grind. Swhoosh! I appeared at Silverscale Coast and made my way out of the tent. My waist was sore and my back hurt. Not sleeping in a grave really made me feel unwell! Let¡¯s not rush to kill mobs. I¡¯ll go head over to the NPC Scout Captain. He had a hesitant expression yesterday, as though he wanted to say something. He definitely still had a quest to give me, else he wouldn¡¯t have worn that expression.. As expected, the moment I arrived, Dakara spread his hands and let out a loud laugh. ¡°You¡¯re here, young warrior! A few Savage Hyenas have recently appeared in Silverscale Coast¡¯s forest area. Unlike your average hyenas, they have the power to tear through armor. These hyenas are a huge hindrance to our patrols and I hope you can help me out. Kill 500 Savage Hyenas and I will generously reward you!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Do you want to accept the quest [Savage Hyena]? (Current Quest Difficulty: B) I accepted the quest and it appeared in my active quest list. I opened the map and a dense expanse of red appeared in the nearby forest area. It was precisely the hyena territory. As long as I went there and killed 500 of them, reaching Level 60 shouldn¡¯t be much of an issue by the time I turned in my quest. The Ghost Ice Soul was suffused with a dim red color. This was the passive effect of the Undead Energy skill. Even though Lin Yixin had Killer Wind Swordplay to boost her grinding speed, my Undead Energy gave me a boost in many places, whether it be crab, spearfish, or hyena. Undead Energy V offered an increase of 25%, it was nothing to scoff at! I looked in my bag. There were 37 stacks of Fish Meat and then some, for a total of over 3700, easily enough to make a ton of Rank 6 Magic Consumables. The only thing left for me to do was to rush to Level 60! I passed through the forest filled with early morning mist. Distinct sounds of low yelps traveled to my ears. I had already entered hyena territory. An agile feature suddenly pounced over before I had even taken a few steps. As I had predicted, it was a red-eyed dog covered in red and yellow spots. Its teeth were unusual, like steel knives hanging by its lips. Thick saliva dripped down its fangs¡ª Savage Hyena Level: 65 Attack: 415~450 Defense: 340 HP: 6200 Skills: Rend Introduction: Silverscale Coast¡¯s mutated species, possesses strong attack power and fast recovery. ¡­¡­ It¡¯s still a Level 65 monster, no pressure! I quickly moved out of the hyena¡¯s attack range and struck it on the head! ¡°Awoo¡­¡± With the appearance of a 765 damage number, the hyena no longer dared to underestimate me but my next move gave me an even bigger ecstasy. Ice Ray + Slayer Slash smashed into its head, causing even higher damage numbers to float¡ª 894! 912! My Dark Wasp followed up with a 3-hit Flurry. After my 6-second cooldown was over, I swiftly lashed out with Pardon and Desperate Gambit to end the Savage Hyena¡¯s life! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your skill Desperate Gambit has reached Rank 5! ¡­¡­ ¡°Haha, finally Rank 5!¡± I opened the skill details. Desperate Gambit V increased attack damage by 50% and lowered the target¡¯s Defense by 25%. Coupled with Pardon, it was the ultimate tool of murder! I looked at the Savage Hyena on the floor. Death Plunder! Pop! A dog pelt appeared in my bag. It was a Rank 5 pelt. Very nice, I¡¯ll give it to Mamate when I¡¯m back. I cruised through the forest area of Silverscale Forest and killed all the way to 3 am, when I finally reached Level 60, a pillar of golden light washing over me. Chapter 115: Silver Swordsman Frost Mound was your standard Night Creature encampment with mists of death, disgusting stench and hordes of puppeteered skeletons dumping fresh bodies into the blood pools. Everyone was about as chilling and terrifying as you could imagine. I frowned a little at the familiar sight. If my trainer, the Undead Swordsman Suren, wasn¡¯t here, I wouldn¡¯t have returned to this god-forsaken place. I entered Frost Mound and found my trainer standing tall atop a withered hill while holding a bloody sword. ¡°You¡¯ve returned, young skeleton.¡± My trainer greeted me first. I walked up to him and said, ¡°Trainer, I would like to request a class promotion!¡± ¡°Alright, you have the necessary strength anyway. Perform a quest for me, and I¡¯ll grant you the opportunity to promote your class!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Do you accept the third class promotion quest [The Heart to Protect]? (Quest Difficulty: A) ¡­¡­ Huh? What¡¯s this? Surprised, I clicked ¡°Accept¡± and saw¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You have accepted the third-promotion quest, [The Heart to Protect]! Description: Head to the town next to Frost Mound and seek out Young Girl Xinran. She seems to be thinking about something. ¡­¡­ What? Is that it? All I have to do is to seek out the loli I haven¡¯t met in a long time, Xinran? I almost couldn¡¯t believe that this was my third-promotion quest, an A-rank quest no less! What a joke! Once I was done packing my stuff, I began traveling to Xinran¡¯s town. I had been to her town before, so it took me less than ten minutes to reach it. The forest town was as peaceful as usual. I could see a couple of women returning to the town with basketfuls of gathers above their heads, and hunters carrying longbows and game like hyenas or rabbits on their shoulders. Holding the Ghost Ice Soul in one hand, I covered my face with the Bloody Purgatory Cloak and strode into the town fearlessly. I searched for Xinran up and down until finally, I saw her doing something at the corner of a small building. Time passed very quickly in the game. Two years had passed since I last saw Xinran, and she had turned from a 15-year-old loli into a beautiful 17-year-old girl. Despite only wearing a simple robe, her face was pretty, her neck was pale, and her skin was flawless. It was clear that the girl was born pretty. Standing next to a wooden dummy, Xinran swung a round, wooden staff and muttered to herself, ¡°Oh great God of Light, please bless me with your sacred light¡ªRecovery!¡± Swhoosh! Faint light fell from the sky and landed around Xinran. She had actually mastered a basic Priest skill! I walked up to her and called out to her softly, ¡°Xinran?¡± She turned around slowly until she saw who I was. Pleasantly surprised, she exclaimed, ¡°Is that you, big brother?¡± ¡°I¡¯m doing pretty good!¡± Xinran walked up to me happily and grabbed my wrist. ¡°I knew you would come back, big brother! You promised me you would take me to the Holy Temple in Floating Ice City to receive the blessing of the holy light and become a great priest of the Silver Moon Alliance when I¡¯m all grown up, right?¡± ¡°Yes, I did. Are you ready?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m ready. Let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± Now that I had met Xinran, my quest updated itself and displayed a new line of text: ¡°Protect Xinran until she reaches Floating Ice City and becomes a priest. She must survive, or this quest is considered a failure!¡± Hmph hmph, even if this wasn¡¯t a quest, I wouldn¡¯t allow any harm to come to her. After all, who could bear to harm such a cute and kind-hearted girl like her? With Xinran by my side, we walked out of the town together and headed straight for Floating Ice City. Considering Xinran¡¯s walking speed, we would arrive in an hour at most! ¡°Big brother, are the teachers in the Priest Academy of the fierce sort?¡± Xinran asked while holding my hand. I ordered the Dark Wasp to clear the path while shaking my own head. ¡°Of course not, the lech¡ªI mean, the lecturers of the Priest Academy are all models for others to follow. They are smart, responsible, and respectful to everyone, regardless of status. They also don¡¯t charge you an exorbitant fee for books, delay classes, or inflict corporal punishment to students. They are the trailblazers of the education industry!¡± The longing and hopefulness in Xinran¡¯s eyes increased as I calmly described to her everything about the Priest Academy. Of course, I knew jack shit about the actual place, I was just describing my experience back when I was in Suzhou University of Science and Technology. For example, I told Xinran that there was an adventurer¡¯s inn next to the Priest Academy called ¡°Green Tea Inn". I also told her that there was a mysterious, sacred temple next to the Priest Academy called ¡°Xuehai Karaoke Box¡± where bards gathered together to sing all the songs on the continent. Xinran¡¯s smile grew wider and wider as she listened intently to my lies. Fifty or so thorny minutes later, we finally arrived at Floating Ice City. The grand, tier 2 city looked like an immovable giant even on the world map. Countless wars had failed to bring down its mighty walls even to this day. Xinran followed me closely as we entered the city together. She stared at her surroundings with both curiosity and fear: clearly, she had never seen such a huge city in her life before, and she was feeling incredibly uncomfortable. Xinran was beautiful, so there were some players who couldn¡¯t help but sneak glances at her. Thankfully, I looked powerful enough to dissuade any fools from attempting to court her. The Holy Temple was surrounded by high-level well-armored guards. To be honest, I was a tad intimidated by their presence as we entered the place. If these NPCs realized that I was an undead, I was sure that they would do everything in their power to remove my existence from these grounds. After we entered the main hall, we saw eight high-level priests standing in a row inside the temple. At the center of them was an archbishop whose level was completely invisible to me. The way he watched me with those deep, impenetrable eyes made me feel as if he had seen through my disguise completely. ¡°My lord, my sister would like to become a priest!¡± I walked up to him and declared fearlessly. The archbishop turned his gaze toward Xinran for a moment before speaking in an unsteady voice. ¡°Child, you have a pure heart, but your soul is hidden too deep. If you truly wish to become a Priest of the Light, you may visit this temple again in three days. I shall arrange a trial for you then!¡± Xinran was so afraid that she didn¡¯t even dare look the archbishop in the eye. Her head bowed, she said, ¡°Yes, elder. I¡¯ll return in three days.¡± The archbishop nodded and motioned for us to leave. I couldn¡¯t stop myself from glaring at him for a moment. How dare a mere NPC act like he is worth a million dollars? Once I gather a full set of divine equipment, the first person I¡¯m going to chop like radish is you, old man! My poor Xinran... It wasn¡¯t until we stepped out of the Holy Temple and went far, far away that Xinran finally let out a sigh of relief. She patted her pubescent chest and said, ¡°Big brother, that elder was absolutely terrifying. I thought you said the teachers of the priest academy weren¡¯t fierce?¡± I shook my head. ¡°They aren¡¯t. This archbishop may look kind-hearted on the outside, but he¡¯s really a monster on the in¡­ oh, oops. Excuse me, I mean the other way around.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Really!¡± I smiled at Xinran and said, ¡°Come, I¡¯ll escort you home. There are too many bad guys in Frost Forest!¡± ¡°Okay. Thanks, big brother~~¡± Another hour later, I safely delivered Xinran back to her town. She smiled at me and asked, ¡°Where do you live, big brother?¡± ¡°I live at Frost Mound. It¡¯s a temporary camp!¡± ¡°Oh, I see. Will you accompany me to my trial in three days too?¡± ¡°Of course I will!¡± ¡°Okay, it¡¯s a promise!¡± ¡°It¡¯s a promise.¡± The system dinged again after that, and my quest ¡°Promise¡± was updated in my quest list. I must admit that I had no idea what was going on with this SSS+ Rank quest at this point. Oh well, better focus on the present. Now that my third-promotion quest is complete, it is time to return to Frost Mound and learn some new skills! I ran all the way back to Frost Mound and turned in my quest to Undead Swordsman Suren! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the third promotion quest [The Heart to Protect]. You have gained the title ¡°Silver Swordsman¡± and your level is increased by 1! Swhoosh! The moment I leveled up, the system dinged the entire Floating Ice City. Ding~! System Announcement: Player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± has completed the quest and successfully promoted, becoming Floating Ice City¡¯s second Silver-rank player. Obtained the title ¡°Silver Swordsman¡±, and as the second third-promotion player, obtained reward: Level +1, and reward item: ¡°Burning Dagger¡±! ¡­¡­ Huh? Burning Dagger? It¡¯s from the same set as these Burning War Boots Lin Yixin got, isn¡¯t it? I opened my bag in a hurry and found a glowing dagger inside. It was Silver-grade, and its level requirement was high! Burning Dagger (Silver-grade) Attack: 90~145 Strength: +24 Agility: +20 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 2% Level Requirement: 60 ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. This dagger didn¡¯t shame its grade alright, not only was it powerful enough to rival other long-bladed weapons such as swords and spears, it even boosted its wielder¡¯s attack power by 2%. This equipment was practically made for Assassins. However, the only person I knew who could utilize this dagger was Lin Yixin. Lin Yixin¡¯s trump card was Moon Gaze and Extreme Break, and the prerequisite to that combo was a dagger. The stronger the dagger, the stronger these skills, so it was obvious Lin Yixin would want to have a powerful dagger. I snapped a screenshot of the Burning Dagger and sent it to Lin Yixin. Although she wasn¡¯t online yet, there was no harm in sending her a message: ¡°I''ll go to sleep at 4, so please don¡¯t contact me until noon, thanks¡­¡± Now that that was done, it was time to learn some skills! I spoke with Suren, and a dialogue box appeared before my eyes. Enhanced Bones: Increases Defense by 100. Immortality: When HP reaches zero, 1% chance to revive at full HP. Undead Aura: Gives all surrounding undead creatures +7% Attack, +15% recovery speed, +5% movement and attack speed, and +1% resistance to all forms of magic. ¡­¡­ I was pleasantly surprised. Level 60 skills are no joke, it seems. This is amazing! Enhanced Bones was a passive skill that increased my Defense. It was the key to becoming a walking fortress in the future. Undead Aura was even better, however. It passively buffed the stats of all undead creatures around me. If I planned to grind levels with Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue in the future, my presence alone would bump up their stats! It would be like having a bard with Encourage and a tactician with Forge at once! Of course, the strongest skill of them all was the second skill on the list, Immortality. A 1% chance to revive on the spot with full health? If this isn¡¯t an RNGesus skill, I don¡¯t know what is! Chapter 116: Steamed Fish Soup Immortality, Enhanced Bones, and Undead Aura. All three skills were so good that I forgot the world around me for a while. As I thought, the new skills didn¡¯t disappoint me. Any one of them could¡¯ve increased my strength by leaps and bounds. Although there were no active offensive skills this time, I was fine with it. After all, I had acquired a lot of offensive techniques through other means. Pardon + Desperate Gambit was my ultimate one-shot combo! Ice Ray + Slayer Slash was my ultimate CC combo! Thousand Mirage Slash was even more amazing because it was the first physical damage AoE skill I had ever seen in Heavenblessed. Although its rank was a bit lacking right now, it was only a matter of time before its attack power and attack range increased dramatically. Its might would astound the world and make my opponents wish they were dead, especially since I¡¯m the kind of player who put all stats into Strength! Every skill cost 50 gold to learn. There was no negotiating here. I stared at Suren. While his bones were white, his heart was as black as charcoal. Thankfully, I had saved up quite a bit of money for myself, so I paid him 150 gold and learned all three skills. They were seriously expensive though. Right now 1 gold was worth around 20 RMB, so 150 gold was basically 3000 RMB. It was a nightmarish cost for anyone who prioritized grinding experience! The moment I learned Undead Aura, a bloody hexagonal formation fell from the sky and landed at my feet, my body at the center. The partially-visible magic array was the range of my buffing aura, although it was only effective on undead players and creatures. To be honest, it was a bit of a huge flaw. Next, I activated Immortality! ¡°Roar!¡± A soul suddenly appeared out of nowhere, enveloping me and entering my body. It looked and felt like a guardian spirit. Hmm, a 1% chance to revive at full HP, huh? I guess I should practice my faith a lot more often from now on. I brought up my friend list and contacted Yamete. ¡°Mamate, I have over 200 Rank 5 pelts with me. You want them?¡± Mamate replied quickly, ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I need right now! I love you, Lu Chen!¡± I felt chills all over my body. Mamate¡¯s love was too much for me to handle! I crushed a return scroll and appeared in Floating Ice City¡¯s teleportation formation in an instant. I saw Mamate making armor at the square not far away from here. I ran up to him and selected the hundreds of pelts in my warehouse. Then, I dumped them all to Mamate. His eyes widened in surprise at my giant collection of random skins and pelts, so he couldn¡¯t help himself and asked, ¡°Holy shit! Where do you get so many pelts, Lu Chen?¡± Mamate¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°In that case, please collect as many as you can and give them all to me. Gui Guzi and Lil Beiming spent a whole night farming pelts, but you easily outdid them in just a couple of hours! Anyway, I¡¯m going to rely on you guys to farm as many pelts as possible and give them all to me. I¡¯ll buy the ores I need and get my Armorsmithing to Rank 7!¡± ¡°Everyone¡¯s working hard, eh? I promise I¡¯ll farm some pelts whenever I¡¯m free!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­... After bidding Mamate goodbye, I went away to carry out some black-hearted cooking business! I bought dozens of stacks of Salt and threw them into the warehouse. Then, I sat next to the warehouse manager and went about my business. The Rank 6 Magic Consumable, Steamed Fish Soup, required the following ingredients: Fish Meat x25, Salt x10, Green Pepper x10 and Garlic x10. I had enough Fish Meat to last me for a month, and Salt could be bought for cheap at the stores. I also had some Green Pepper and Garlic left in the warehouse, meaning that I could start making Steamed Fish Soup right away! I brought up the cooking screen and selected 25 Fish Meat, 10 Salt, 10 Green Pepper and 10 Garlic. Then, I clicked ¡°Confirm¡±! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have made Steamed Fish Soup x5. Cooking Proficiency +5! I did it! Several Rank 6 Magic Consumables appeared inside my bag. Each of these could restore 600 MP to a player, and it was going to become the new sweetheart of all the mages at the current stage of the game! Also, I wasn¡¯t expecting one set of ingredients to yield a total of 5 Steamed Fish Soup per craft. I¡¯m rich! I continued to make more Steamed Fish Soup, and I wasn¡¯t surprised to find that I could consistently craft 5 Steamed Fish Soup with just one set of ingredients. When 10 of the same Magic Consumables were created, they automatically bundled into a stack. In just the blink of an eye, I had created 20 stacks of Steamed Fish Soup and greatly increased my Cooking Proficiency. Not long after however, I ran out of Green Pepper, and I had to restock at the local foragers. Luckily, every forager had reached Rank 3 at this point, and since it was really easy to find Green Pepper in the wild and bring it back to the city, its price had fallen drastically. For the mere price of 2 gold I bought 25 stacks. 2 gold was worth 40 RMB, maybe 50 RMB at the very most, and it would probably take a player ten whole hours to gather this many Green Peppers. With that hourly wage, it could only be called hard labor. Still, it was their own fault for not getting to the appropriate rank fast enough to surpass their competitors. If you couldn¡¯t be the first, someone else would, and take all the profits that came with it. ¡°First come first serve¡± had been the king of all business principles since forever. Another crazy round of cooking later, I finally used up most of my ingredients to create 74 full stacks, or 740 Steamed Fish Soups. It was a devastating number of Rank 6 Magic Consumables to say the least, and I was certain that it would dominate 50% of the market at the minimum the moment I started selling them! I wasn¡¯t in a hurry to make the rounds, however. It was currently 4:50 in the morning, and Floating Ice City was almost a ghost city at this time. I should wait until peak hour before making the sale! Now that I had finished everything I could possibly do for the day, I sent a message to Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Du Thirteen, and Mamate. ¡°It¡¯s time to rest and go to sleep, everyone. Let¡¯s get up and resume work after noon!¡± Gui Guzi: ¡°Got it, boss!¡± Beiming Xue: ¡°Thanks for the hard work, boss~¡± Du Thirteen: ¡°Woohoo! Work¡¯s over!¡± Mamate: ¡°Okay!¡± Beiming Xue really was a considerate person! It wasn¡¯t long before everyone¡¯s IDs turned dark. I also went to an inn and logged out of the game. After getting a glass of water, I lay on my bed and fell asleep immediately. ¡­¡­ Inside my dream, I opened my eyes and found myself standing in the middle of a lively, fantastical forest. I was clad in a bloody battle armor, a pitch black cloak and wielding a divine weapon. I looked imposing and impressive at the same time. A young girl carrying a basket walked up to me, gave me a big ya pear and smiled. ¡°Do you want to eat a pear, big brother?¡± ¡°Oh, you¡¯re¡­¡± I stared at her. ¡°Are you Xinran?¡± She stared at me and didn¡¯t say anything. Suddenly, both her face and her figure started changing without a warning. Her unimpressive breasts became a lot more impressive, and her face had changed into someone else¡¯s. ¡°Sis?¡± I exclaimed in surprise. Still smiling, Mingyue shook her head and underwent a transformation yet again. The elegant-looking woman asked with a smile, ¡°Will you walk with me until the end, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°Boss¡­ He Yi?¡± I blurted. She spread her arms, hugged me and pressed her smooth, pale face against my chest. However, as a breeze blew past the two of us, I looked down and saw that the girl had changed her appearance once more. The gorgeous girl in my embrace looked at me with playful eyes and teased. ¡°Confess now, you Little Cheat. Who are these poor girls who fell for your tricks?¡± ¡°Ah? Lin Yixin¡­ Yiyi. It¡¯s you?¡± I was both stunned and petrified at this point. Was this just a dream, or my subconsciousness trying to tell me something? ¡­... It was at this moment I felt someone shaking my elbow. ¡°Boss, wake up. It¡¯s 12 already¡­¡± I opened my eyes and was greeted by a shocking sight. The whole gang was inside my room, and everyone was staring at me with widened eyes for some reason. Gui Guzi said with a concerned look, ¡°Boss, did you have a nightmare or something? It looks like you were sweating a lot. Even your pillow is completely drenched¡­¡± Beiming Xue shot my pillow a look before giggling aloud. ¡°I can prove to you that that¡¯s saliva, not sweat.¡± Du Thirteen was also laughing and rubbing his palms in agreement. ¡°Judging from the amount of saliva, Lu Chen must have been dreaming about girls, haha!¡± ¡°Of course not!¡± I hurriedly defended myself. Mamate said with a kind expression, ¡°Lu Chen, you are the founder and the strongest player in Bloody Mercenaries. You can tell us if you really need that sort of release, you know. Lil Beiming is a kind girl, she¡¯ll help you. As the saying goes, the goodies should be kept within the family, am I right?¡± Redfaced, Beiming Xue glared at Mamate and said, ¡°Why¡­ why the hell would I help him with that!? Do you want an arrow to the face that much?¡± I let out a cough and said, ¡°Alright, enough. It seems like our workshop needs a new rule starting today. Anyone who teases Lil Beiming about that again will have to wash the toilets for half a year!¡± The gang immediately fell silent after that. ¡°Now, get out.¡± ¡°Huh? Why?¡± ¡°Because I want to change my clothes?¡± The nosy bunch scattered like birds, and I spent half a minute reminiscing the weird dream I had earlier. He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Lin Yixin and even Xinran had appeared inside my dream for some reason. What was going on here? Scientifically speaking, anyone who appeared in my dreams was probably important to me. Did that mean that Lin Yixin was very important to me as well? Who knows? I shook my head to clear my mind a little. At the very least, I knew that both He Yi and Murong Mingyue had an important place in my heart. I knew that half the reason I entered Heavenblessed was to prove myself, and the other half was for their sake. ¡­... We went downstairs and ate lunch at a fish restaurant. At 1 pm sharp we returned to the workshop and got back to work! Swhoosh! I ran to the potion shop the moment I appeared inside the inn. Then, I contacted Du Thirteen and threw my entire stock of Rank 6 Magic Consumables to him. ¡°Remember, Rank 6 Magic Consumables are luxury items right now, so anything less than 50 silver each is a no sale. That being said, if the buyer decides to buy them in bulk, you can give them a 10% discount.¡± ¡°Okay. Just leave it to me!¡± Du Thirteen promised while patting his chest. When he looked at the goods though, he couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°700 Rank 6 Magic Consumables... You¡¯re insane, you know that?¡± I laughed at his praise and said, ¡°Once everything is sold, we¡¯ll split the money with everyone and enjoy double portions of everything!¡± Chapter 117: Aroused The two of us acted separately. I repaired my equipment and bought as many potions as I could. As the person with the highest level in the workshop, and overall the strongest person, I had to maintain my advantage. Bloody Mercenaries required a powerful representative, just like Snowy Cathaya. As the top guild of Floating Ice City, the representative of Snowy Cathaya was their leader, Wind Fantasy. She, as the Fruit Knife Goddess, pushed Snowy Cathaya to the top of the Guild Ranking! I was in a similar position. Before I returned to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Bloody Mercenaries had to establish their own guild. I would then act as their representative! They say people come when you think of them. Thus, in front of me stood a beautiful female warrior dressed in silver armor, her Fire Blade pet behind her shoulder. Who could it be except Lin Yixin? "Lu Chen, I''ve waited a long time for you...¡± she said in slight displeasure. I took a step forward and said with a smile, "What? A few days and our Beauty Lin misses me?" Lin Yixin laughed. "Who misses you? I only missed that amazing dagger...¡± Damn. I just knew that my charisma couldn''t compare to that evil dagger! "Okay, give me a price,¡± the beauty said. "500 gold!" "Let me faint, are you trying to cheat me? I admire you so much, and you¡¯d still bear to do such a thing to me.¡± Lin Yixin looked pitiful. Her beautiful eyes swept my face and she said with a smile, "I¡¯ll only agree to one price, 25 gold!" I was stunned. "Damn, you just want to rob me...¡± "No, it¡¯s because of our friendship...¡± "Alright, 25 gold, but I also get a kiss!" I said with a smile. Immediately, Lin Yixin''s beautiful face flushed red. She looked down, her long eyelashes flickering. Her face grew redder, that enchanting beauty heart-shaking to see. Finally, Lin Yixin lifted her eyes. She tilted her head at me, and said with a smile, "Alright, if you dare, do it." As she spoke, she raised her face slightly, her eyes closed. I shook all over. Damn, there were thousands of gazes focused on this Fruit Knife Goddess right now. Could I kiss her? If I did, I would undoubtedly become a legend. Who was Lin Yixin? She was the goddess of Floating Ice City, Wind Fantasy, the goddess in the mind of millions of male players. If I kissed her in public, I might be instantly killed by several powerful groups of simps when I left my home. That result would be terrible! "What, you don''t dare?" Lin Yixin seemed to see through me and walked forward with a smile. She stood on her tiptoes and said softly by my ear, "How about, after we go offline, we find a place without anyone else and I let you kiss me?" I shook again. Damn, I was not her match, at all! "Hold on, Lu Chen. Remember, you are a real man!" a voice called out in my mind. Another voice countered, "Don''t listen to him. There is only one true man in China! Lu Chen, submit. Lin Yixin is a good girl, one in a thousand years. To be conquered by her would not be an embarrassment!" The two voices fought each other! In the end, I shook my head and struck a pose. I said, "Beauty Lin, I will sell it to you for 25 gold, give it to me!" Lin Yixin laughed. "Good, I won''t let you suffer a loss. It''s just that my money is tight because all of it went into the guild. When I get more gold, I will definitely pay you back!" I knew that these words were definitely for nothing but I did not care. Last time, Lin Yixin had accompanied me to the Ancient Thunder Temple. The worth of that Hero''s Token was much higher than this Burning Dagger. I took the Burning Dagger out of my bag. This dagger of flame glowed with a burning light. It had a sharp edge and was extremely powerful. It was a divine weapon for mid-level Assassin class players. But in Lin Yixin''s hands, it might have more use. She possessed skills like Moon Gaze and Extreme Break. Not long ago, she had undergone her third promotion. Who knew what other powerful skills she had learned. In conclusion, this beautiful girl would always give people surprises. After handing the Burning Dagger to Lin Yixin, she gave me 25 gold. The transaction was complete! Whoosh! The dagger disappeared and appeared at Lin Yixin''s waist. She could use it at anytime with Extreme Break or Moon Gaze. "Alright, I''m going to level. See you later!" I waved my hand and was about to leave. But at this time, Lin Yixin suddenly had an angry expression. Her avatar entered a state of remote conversation as though she had encountered something. I returned, looked at Lin Yixin and asked, "What happened?" "Hmph!" Lin Yixin gritted her teeth and said angrily, "They are too much, they are such bullies!" "What happened? Hey, don¡¯t ignore me, okay?" "Yes...¡± Lin Yixin glanced at me and said, "A ten-person leveling team of Snowy Cathaya went to Falling Geese Mine and is fighting. Qingqing is among them!" "Who dares to touch Snowy Cathaya?" "Who else, Mad Dragon. There are more than thirty of them. Mad Dragon took over Falling Geese Mine and they aren''t allowing players from other guilds to mine there!" "Then go and help rescue Qingqing and the others...¡± "Yes!" Lin Yixin passed by me as her long hair fluttered. She raced toward the south of Floating Ice City. Soon, I followed. She looked back and smiled. "Hey, what are you following me for?" I said solemnly, "I am just going there to watch. Also, leveling up in the south of the city is pretty good. I heard there¡¯s a place called Greedy Wolf Forest there. I¡¯ll kill some wolves for pelts.¡± "Alright, then you can just watch~" "Of course!" Snowy Cathaya was the top guild of Floating Ice City. I did not believe a mere Mad Dragon was a match for them. I did not plan to fight at all. I really meant it, I was just going to kill Greedy Wolves and rank up my Immortality, Undead Aura, and Enhanced Bones skills while procuring pelts for Mamate. ¡­¡­ Moving at full speed, Lin Yixin''s white cloak fluttered along with the wind. I could see her long white legs underneath the cloak. Below that were her metal combat boots, which made her look not only beautiful, but majestic. Looking at her was pure pleasure. Snap! Suddenly, I was tripped by a tree vine. I flipped through the air, but managed to lightly land on the ground thanks to my unparalleled body control and high Agility. After a stumble, I continued to sprint. Lin Yixin looked back and said exasperatedly, "Don''t just look at me, look at the road. Oh, you are really asking for a beating.¡± I nodded and focused on the road. In less than ten minutes, the forest where Falling Geese Mine was located appeared in sight. Lin Yixin pointed with a finger and said, "In three minutes, we will reach Qingqing and the others. Join my party?" I shook my head. "No, I''m just here to watch, not to help, why add me...¡± "Great!" Lin Yixin glared angrily at me. With a clang, she pulled out the Snow Shadow Sword and laughed. "Fine, if you don''t help, then I will just rely on myself!" Whoosh! Lin Yixin suddenly accelerated, her beautiful figure flashing into the forest and disappearing in a blink. As a qualified connoisseur of all things beautiful and a faithful spectator, I followed using my sensitive sight. My Stormy War Boots crushed countless blades of young grass as I made my way toward the mining area. Falling Geese Mine was a mid-level mine in Floating Ice City. One could gather beginner ores like Copper and Iron. There were also some intermediate ones like Silver, Obsidian and so on. These were all necessary materials for making weapons and armor. As a result, mid-level mines like this were fated to be the targets of competition between major guilds. Snowy Cathaya was the first guild set up in Floating Ice City, and Mad Dragon was the loudest. Their young master was also the wealthiest, and they had the most people. Falling Geese Mine was just a nucleus of the fight between the two guilds. In the future, there would be more fights in other similar regions. Eventually, this virtual world would be embroiled in war. ¡­¡­ The mine pit appeared in the forest. The entrance was deep and guarded by several Level 70 Werewolves. This map appeared to have not been explored. Honestly speaking, Level 70 monsters like this had really high Attack. Ordinary players wouldn¡¯t dare engage them, so the place was largely untouched. In a clearing of the forest, two groups of people were facing off. Clear Perfume held her longbow, and was dressed in elegant leather armor. The mark of Snowy Cathaya floated on her shoulders. It was a beautiful mark in the shape of a green leaf. Behind Clear Perfume were nine Snowy Cathaya players that were all about Level 50 or so. It looked like they had come there to explore and encountered Mad Dragon. Mad Dragon''s side was full of people, Roaming Dragon among them. Also, Inconstant and Iron Pardon were both present. That strong archer, Coldmoon Rose, was curled up beside Roaming Dragon. There were more than a dozen players around Level 50. At the present stage, they could all be considered high-end players. After a cursory glance, I was worried for Snowy Cathaya. The two side''s strengths were not on the same level. Although Lin Yixin, a third-promotion player, was here to help, Snowy Cathaya had less people. The other side had people like Inconstant and Iron Pardon. With their numbers, they could crush the other side. Roaming Dragon took a step forward, holding a shining spear. He said loudly, "Mad Dragon does not want to fight Snowy Cathaya. We¡¯ve reserved Falling Geese Mine a month ago. I hope you can understand it and leave the mine to us!" Clear Perfume¡¯s expression remained unchanged as she responded coolly, ¡°A month ago, Heavenblessed wasn¡¯t even out yet...¡± Chapter 118: Burn Paper for You Facing Mad Dragon Dominator''s pressure, Zi Chuanyu of Snow Cathaya unsheathed his sword and shouted angrily, "Mad Dragon is nothing. Just clowns. If you have the balls, come. Let¡¯s see who is afraid of who?!" Roaming Dragon gently swung his spear and smiled faintly. "Everyone, see, it is not Mad Dragon challenging Snowy Cathaya, but Snowy Cathaya looking down on Mad Dragon. Hmph, I cannot accept such humiliation!" As he spoke, Roaming Dragon pointed forward with a finger and shouted, "Brothers, kill these people and steal Falling Geese Mine from their hands!" ¡­¡­ The battle immediately erupted. The high-level players of Mad Dragon leapt like wolves. Clear Perfume and the other Snowy Cathaya players were in danger! Whoosh! The cold arrow was like a star. Clear Perfume shot an ice arrow and froze Mad Dragon Dominator. Behind her, three mages chanted together and three fire dragons burst out of the ground in unison. The sounds of explosions came incessantly. Mad Dragon Dominator was a Level 53 warrior but couldn¡¯t endure the onslaught. He knelt and passed away in the fire. Roaming Dragon snorted and moved forward. His moves were fierce. After a stab, his long spear was shrouded in thick flame. This was the Level 50 signature skill of all melee classes¡ªBlaze! Puchi! The eyes of a Snowy Cathaya mage widened, his chest penetrated by Roaming Dragon''s spear. An astounding damage number rose above his head¡ª1024! So powerful. I hadn''t seen Roaming Dragon for many days, and he had become so strong! At the same time, Coldmoon Rose attacked. The arrow fell like a meteor on Clear Perfume''s shoulder. The powerful Devil Piercing Arrow caused Clear Perfume''s HP to drop really low. ¡°Mmph¡­¡± Clear Perfume managed to steady herself after taking several steps back. She pulled out the arrow and exchanged arrows with Coldmoon Rose. At the same time, she shouted loudly, "Priests, feed me~" But the priests could not heal her as Iron Pardon came like a ghost. His sword flickered with two twirls, the Heavy Slash + Ice Ray combo engulfing the mage. Was there any hope for survival? Clear Perfume gritted her teeth. "Detestable!" Level 50 players were terrifying, especially those that had learned Blaze or Ice Ray. They were as powerful as gods, and low-level players could not match them. Facing the successive deaths of several Snowy Cathaya players, Roaming Dragon''s handsome face started to twist with pride. He laughed loudly. ¡°I¡¯ll be damned! Don¡¯t let anyone go. Let¡¯s show them who is the strongest guild of Floating Ice City! Kill, kill them all!" Clear Perfume suffered multiple hits. If she didn¡¯t have many Rank 5 Health Potions, she would have perished long ago. ¡°Wuuu...¡± Clear Perfume retreated as she fought. Unyielding Mad Dragon''s dagger followed her like a shadow and posed the greatest threat. In a blink, they entered a meadow. Clear Perfume sprinted but suddenly tripped. She fell to the ground. When she looked back, Roaming Dragon and the others had arrived. "Haha, don''t try to run, you cannot escape my grasp!" Roaming Dragon clenched his fists and laughed wildly, "A core expert of Snowy Cathaya is just so-so. Today I will...¡± Suddenly, Roaming Dragon could not speak, his eyes filled with shock. Iron Pardon, Inconstant, and the others had cold faces as they looked angrily in the direction of the forest. Rustle... The leaves shook, and silver light flashed. A beautiful figure came out of the forest, it was the legendary Fruit Knife Goddess Wind Fantasy. Her exquisite armor covered her beautiful body. Her majestic legs delineated youthful curves. She held a sword swirling with snowflakes, and her long hair billowed. Her beautiful purple eyes stared peacefully at the group. Clang! Lin Yixin pulled out the Snow Shadow Sword and helped Clear Perfume off the ground. Then she looked at the others, and said, "This is Mad Dragon¡¯s aim? Bully those who are lesser in number?" Roaming Dragon snorted. "Beauty Fantasy, it is great you are here. Today, we will settle our debts and obtain justice for our Mad Dragon guild!" Lin Yixin''s lips curved to display a dismissive and proud smile. "Why bother with words? Isn¡¯t that just plain savage PK? Come, I want to see just how much skill you have!" Her weapons unsheathed, Lin Yixin did not have any fear fighting one against many. Her beautiful purple eyes were filled with calmness and ease. I sighed inwardly. This beauty was a weirdo, especially in the gaming world. She was beautiful, smart, and good at learning. She improved at a godly speed. She had all kinds of talents. It was inevitable that she would create a strong guild like Snowy Cathaya. Roaming Dragon''s hesitation only lasted for a few seconds. Suddenly his gaze grew cold. He shouted, "Everyone, kill her together!" Swhoosh! Iron Pardon flashed by, and started the recording function at the same time. He had such great hopes of defeating Wind Fantasy. Up until now, no one had truly defeated Lin Yixin, at least no one had any video evidence of it. If Iron Pardon managed to defeat Lin Yixin, and posted the video on the forums, he would be famous in Floating Ice City, and even the China server! Lin Yixin did not retreat and bravely moved forward. The moment the two of them crossed, she suddenly changed gears, and retreated rapidly. Iron Pardon was caught off-guard and his Ice Ray hit the ground! Snap! An ice flower bloomed on the ground, its sight startling Iron Pardon. When he lifted his head, he saw Lin Yixin''s beautiful face, and a pair of murderous purple eyes. Swhoosh! A bolt of blood red flew above Lin Yixin''s head and created a damage number¡ª372! Damn, she had yet to hit the target and lost HP? I couldn''t help but sweat for Lin Yixin. In the next moment, my doubts disappeared. Lin Yixin held her sword horizontally as she passed by Iron Pardon. Her sword was wrapped in blinding light. As the two passed each other by, Iron Pardon''s pupils contracted. He uncontrollably knelt on the ground, and his long HP bar had disappeared! Beep! Combat Log: Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± used ¡°Do or Die¡±, dealing 1674 damage to player ¡°Iron Pardon¡±. Player ¡°Iron Pardon¡± has died! ¡­¡­ It was Do or Die! This was a third-promotion skill of the Wanderer class. By sacrificing 25% of their HP, the player could increase their next attack¡¯s damage by 75%! As she turned, Lin Yixin''s robes flew in the wind like snow. Her beautiful face was calm. She gulped down a health potion, and replenished the HP she had just lost. At the same time, Unyielding Mad Dragon and Inconstant pounced over! Lin Yixin snorted and welcomed them. With swift footwork she attacked from the right side. She raised her Snow Shadow Sword, causing it to glisten with mysterious light. Crashing down, powerful energy descended! "Mount Hua Strike!" 875! Another third-promotion Level 60 skill. Inconstant was hit and retreated, his face pale. Puchi! The sound of defense breaking came. Lin Yixin''s body swayed slightly and sank into a short stun. Unyielding Mad Dragon was attacking! The dagger flew and Lin Yixin''s HP dropped¡ª 234! 178! 312! ¡­¡­ In a blink, she lost more than 50% of her HP. With a snap, Coldmoon Rose''s Devil Piercing Arrow came and forced Lin Yixin to retreat. Luckily, she recovered from the stun status. Unyielding Mad Dragon had a murderous expression as he gave chase with his dagger. Whoosh! A dagger appeared in Lin Yixin''s hand. She said with a small smile, "Let me teach you how to properly use a fruit knife." "?" Unyielding Mad Dragon was startled and caught off-guard when Lin Yixin dashed in front of him. The Burning Dagger sank into his neck but she did not use Moon Gaze or Extreme Break. She ended Mad Dragon guild''s trump assassin in one blow! I shook my head as I watched. Such failures. Unyielding Mad Dragon was strong enough, but he feared Lin Yixin''s strength too much. His mental state was a disadvantage. If he had the same confidence and pride as Lin Yixin, he probably wouldn''t have lost so quickly. Clear Perfume had recovered her HP and hurriedly raised her bow to help. In the distance, Zi Chuanyu and the others had been killed. It was too difficult to fight when outnumbered. Bang! A loud explosion sounded. Lin Yixin, who was abusing Inconstant, was ambushed. Roaming Dragon''s Blaze hit her back. She dropped more than 500 HP and was about to die! I quickly said in the party channel, "Beauty Lin, my turn?" "No!" Lin Yixin retreated and said stubbornly, "This time, I will take care of Snowy Cathaya''s matters. Lu Chen, do not help!" "Oh, alright. Next year''s Tomb Sweeping Day, I will burn paper for you...¡± ¡°...¡± The shortcoming of the Wanderer class was exposed. A few minutes later, Lin Yixin had killed several enemy experts, but her own HP was always dangerously low. Bang! After a powerful Ice Ray, Lin Yixin flew into the air. Snap! I had been watching the battle with my fists clenched. A beauty fell from the sky, covered in the ice blossoms from Ice Ray. She only had a thread of HP left, and coincidentally landed in front of me. "Oh, and you say you are strong...¡± I shook my head. Lin Yixin said angrily, "You are being sarcastic right now?" At this time, Inconstant, Roaming Dragon, and the other three warriors from Mad Dragon charged over and were shocked. They saw an undead player in fine armor and a blood-colored cloak holding an icy sword kneeling on one knee in front of Lin Yixin and helping her up. "Fuck, that¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" Roaming Dragon''s eyes turned red. He shouted, "Let¡¯s go, kill this bastard!" The group of five charged. I smiled, and suddenly raised my hand. In the next moment, the sword fell. With a whoosh, three sharp sword energies formed and the attack covered four yards in front of me. Chapter 119: Blaze Greedy Wolf The sword energies split the air, and dust flew. It was the official debut of Thousand Mirage Slash. Roaming Dragon and the others were my lab rats this time. The five of them were covered by the sword energy, and the damage numbers continued to jump¡ª 785! 649! 669! 831! 1458! If that wasn¡¯t enough, one of them was a critical hit. Inconstant grunted and passed away. Originally, Lin Yixin had already taken away a large chunk of his HP. After being attacked by Thousand Mirage Slash, he had no reason to live. Roaming Dragon had a third of his HP left. He held his spear and almost turned to stone. He said in a trembling voice, "A... AoE skill... how is this possible?" Lin Yixin was also staring at me, her mouth similarly agape. It was an astounding matter for a melee-class player to have an AoE skill! Rustling sounded in the forest. Suddenly, a powerful energy flew out! Bang! Roaming Dragon was hit. He lost the last third of his HP, passed away, and covered the ground in potions and some Rank 4 Magic Consumables. The ambusher was Clear Perfume who had fled and returned to help. Coldmoon Rose looked around. The remaining three warriors were already crippled. The priests in the back could not keep up. Facing me, with full HP, and my Dark Wasp, they had no chance of victory! "Retreat!" Coldmoon Rose ordered. She swiftly disappeared into the frost. Archers were really quick at running away! ¡­¡­ ¡°Gulp!¡± Lin Yixin drained another potion and got half her HP back. She laughed and said, "Finally safe. Lucky I did not drop a level...¡± I asked, "Does Snowy Cathaya have high-level miners?" "Yes!" Lin Yixin smiled. "Lifetaking Sword and Zi Chuanyu are both miners..." I laughed. "Really? The main force of your guild are miners? Yiyi, you look like an unscrupulous mine owner who had caught slaves and made them slave away in the mines...¡± "Is that so? Do I look so cruel?!" Lin Yixin made a threatening gesture. Clear Perfume giggled and walked forward, saying, "In any case, this time, it was due to Lu Chen''s help. Otherwise, Yiyi and I would have dropped levels. Lu Chen, how can we thank you?" I opened my mouth and then stopped. Lin Yixin seemed to have read my thoughts and quickly said, "Qingqing, stop talking. Lu Chen is such a generous person...¡± I said, "Since the two of you want to thank me, then I cannot refuse. How about you invite me to dinner?" "Ah?" Lin Yixin and Sun Qingqing seemed to ponder if they should agree. I quickly said, "Great, you guys are very kind! It''s decided. Tonight at 6, Happy House, see ya...¡± Leaving behind the shocked Lin Yixin and Sun Qingqing, I turned and went to the Greedy Wolf Forest in the south. I would practice my skills, and also get some pelts for Mamate to craft with. Our workshop¡¯s Armorsmithing would become our trademark! I did not walk far when I saw Lifetaking Sword coming with nearly a hundred Snowy Cathaya experts. They did look like they owned the Falling Geese Mine. Having a guild was so great. One could pull a hundred people easily. The creation of the Bloody Mercenaries guild was an urgent matter. Otherwise, we could not match large guilds like Mad Dragon and God of Destruction. Never mind, I will first get some wolf pelts! ¡­¡­ Passing through the forest, I walked about fifteen minutes or so. A clearing filled with gray mist appeared in front of me. The howls of wolves came incessantly. I carefully proceeded forward. Turning around a bush, I saw many enormous wolves, half my height, ahead! Blaze Greedy Wolf Level: 68 Attack: 420~500 Defense: 350 HP: 6500 Skills: Bite, Burn Introduction: Nightwalkers of the quiet forest, these Blaze Greedy Wolves possess strong affinity with the fire element. Their attacks will also burn, causing many adventures to not dare enter Greedy Wolf Forest rashly. ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, these Blaze Greedy Wolves were much better than the Wildfire Greedy Wolves of Wildfire Plains. Their Attack and other stats were much stronger. They were the enhanced version of the Wildfire Greedy Wolf. Level 68. As a third-promotion Level 60 Silver Swordsman, I was more than qualified to grind them for experience! Not too far or too near, I used Charge! Swhoosh! Like lightning, my powerful momentum caused the nearest Blaze Greedy Wolf to be stunned. My Ghost Ice Soul rose, and two successive attacks came like lightning¡ªIce Ray + Slayer Slash! Pfft! The Ice Ray attack broke the defense of the Blaze Greedy Wolf, and caused a layer of frost to form. Its movement speed decreased greatly. After I finished my combo, I quickly retreated and let my Dark Wasp take the lead. The Blaze Greedy Wolf''s 500 Attack wasn¡¯t just for show. If it hit me, it would hurt like hell. Even though I possessed the Ghost Deity Armor, Enhanced Bones, and Regeneration of the Undead, I could not face it head-on. I was alone, there was no wet nurse to feed me. The Blaze Greedy Wolf had high stats but the Dark Wasp was a boss-tier pet and wasn¡¯t in any way inferior. I looked at my bag. I had a thick stack of Sealing Cards. Very good, if I encounter a Level 1 Blaze Greedy Wolf, I will seal one to sell! Third-promotion players had an additional pet slot, for a total of 2. Therefore, I could get another powerful pet in addition to my Dark Wasp. This was a new opportunity to get rich! Crack! My sword flashed. The Blaze Greedy Wolf hit the ground with a muffled grunt, dropping a 25 Quality Big Magic Stone. I didn''t even pick it up. It wouldn¡¯t net me much, but it would still take up an inventory slot! I opened my hand, and shouted, "Death Plunder!" Snap! A wolf pelt shining with firelight landed in my hand. I looked at the stats and was shocked¡ª Blaze Greedy Wolf Pelt: Rank 5 Armorsmithing material. Armor crafted with this item will receive a bonus of 2% Agility or 1.2% critical rate. ¡­¡­ Tsk, tsk, very good! I was overjoyed. The pelts of these wolves could increase stats. In this case, if I spent a few hours gathering pelts here, and had Yamete craft a huge batch of powerful leather armor, couldn¡¯t I sell it en masse? The profit would be huge. Assassins and archers didn¡¯t have really good equipment yet. With my new-found motivation, my killing speed was even higher. Using my three-step strategy, I could kill a wolf while taking minimal damage, if any at all. First step: Charge to stun. Second step: Ice Ray followed up with Slayer Slash for movement speed debuff. Third step: Pardon and Desperate Gambit for burst damage. That would usually end the fight. It was easy to kill monsters that way, the entire fight would only take ten seconds or so. As a result, my experience gain skyrocketed. It felt amazing! Whoosh whoosh whoosh! As the wolf pelts were stacking up in my bag, the Dark Wasp reached Level 60. Suddenly, the pleasing bell of a system notice rang. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your pet Dark Wasp has comprehended a special skill¡ªWasp King Poison! ¡­¡­ "Hm? Wasp King Poison?" I hurriedly opened the stats for the Dark Wasp. As expected, other than the combo skill, there was another green poison liquid skill. I opened it to look. So strong! Wasp King Poison: 15% chance of poisoning the target. Decreases target¡¯s remaining HP by 0.1% per second. Effectiveness halved against bosses. The effect lasts for 600 seconds! I almost turned to stone. This Wasp King Poison was a god-tier skill for killing bosses. While it would only lower current HP by 0.1% every second, if it accumulated, there was a chance to wear the boss to death. I calculated. Each second would reduce current HP by 0.1%. Then if something was poisoned for an hour, it would drop 31% HP in total, and 52% in two hours. Basically, after three to four hours, with poison and some attacks, any boss would be killed! I was extremely excited and patted the black head of the Dark Wasp. I praised, "Brother, I''ll rely on you to kill bosses in the future!" The Dark Wasp buzzed around and ignored me! Whatever! I walked toward another monster. The Dark Wasp attacked with a pop and exploded a green poisonous sac. The stinger flickered with green light, and turned the Blaze Greedy Wolf into a green wolf. While not much HP would drop in a minute, it was very pleasing to see. As expected from my boss pet Dark Wasp! Like this, I continued to kill until it was 5 in the afternoon. Beep! Lin Yixin sent over a message: "Little Cheat, didn''t you want me and Qingqing to invite you to dinner? Shouldn¡¯t you be logging off then?" "Oh, right away!" I quickly answered. I looked in my bag. More than 200 Rank 5 pelts. Easy money! I took out the returning scroll and crushed it. I returned to Floating Ice City and sent a message to Mamate. "Come to the plaza by the eastern gates!" "Alright!" Half a minute later, Mamate''s plump body appeared. He asked, "Lu Chen, what is it?" I took out more than 200 Blaze Greedy Wolf Pelts and said, "Here, I got these yesterday afternoon. It¡¯s a bonus-granting material. Anything you are missing?" Mamate immediately froze and stared at the pelts in excitement. He suddenly grabbed my arm. "Damn, Boss! You are my superstar. I was just worrying that I had no top-grade skins to craft a bestseller. Aiya, great, haha! Come here, lemme give you a kiss...¡± I pushed Mamate''s large face aside and said, "I''m going out for dinner tonight. Don''t wait for me. You decide how to use the pelts!" "Yes, alright!" Mamate put away the pelts and skipped away, as happy as though he had picked up gold. It appears that these Rank 5 pelts are pretty good. Otherwise, a grandmaster armorsmith like him wouldn¡¯t have lost his composure. At this time, Du Thirteen sprinted over with joy and laughed. "Bro, we¡¯re rich! Today, our workshop''s operational revenue has skyrocketed!" I was moved. The Rank 6 Steamed Fish Soup had been sold! "Speak, how much did you sell?" "All of it!" Du Thirteen was red in the face as he said, "The best Magic Consumables on the market are only Rank 4 or 5. Once I appeared with Steamed Fish Soup, buyers swarmed me. I had to increase the price! Over 2 gold each! I managed to sell them for over 1500 gold total! Then I exchanged it in the afternoon. I have almost 50000 RMB on my card! Lu Chen, we should think about what brand of car we will buy for the workshop!" I laughed. "Let''s talk later. I''m going offline, I got something going on!" Chapter 120: Flower Room Happy House, 7 pm. I was sitting carefully in my seat and sneaking glances at the two lively girls sitting opposite me. Lin Yixin and Sun Qingqing were currently staring at the menu and agonizing over tonight¡¯s choice of meals. For this evening, they both dressed in fashionable youthful outfits. ¡°When are Bloody Mercenaries founding their own guild, Lu Chen?¡± Lin Yixin asked out of nowhere. ¡°I¡¯ll do that the second I get a Hero¡¯s Token!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Lin Yixin nodded with a smile. ¡°It won¡¯t be easy though. The drop rate of Hero¡¯s Token is already insanely low, and bosses between Level 60 to Level 70 are also very rare at this stage of the game. It would take both skill and good karma to find another Hero¡¯s Token this soon~¡± Sun Qingqing said, ¡°Lu Chen definitely has the skill to make it happen, but his karma? That¡¯s a different story¡­¡± I asked, ¡°Why do you say that? It almost sounds like you¡¯re questioning my moral standing.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because I am!¡± Sun Qingqing planted both hands on her waist and interrogated me out of nowhere. ¡°Two days ago, Yiyi didn¡¯t return to the campus for the whole night after she went for supper with you. What did you do to her during this time? Speak honestly!¡± I shivered and looked at Lin Yixin immediately because she was the only one who could clear my name. But not only did she not help me, she complained pitifully to Sun Qingqing like I actually did something to her, ¡°Qingqing, I¡¯m telling you he¡¯s a monster. You need to help me¡­¡± What the fuck¡­ I groaned on the inside and tried to explain myself, ¡°Qingqing, nothing happened, seriously!¡± Sun Qingqing paid no heed to my plea and uttered murderously, ¡°You¡¯re still denying it after everything?¡± I looked at Lin Yixin and noticed her smiling like a fox and pretending to look outside the window. She was clearly enjoying my suffering while sipping her fruit juice. Well, you asked for it! Steeling myself, I said, ¡°Sigh, I didn¡¯t want to do it, you know. Everyone here is as pure-hearted as a virgin after all. But Yiyi¡­ she said she was tired and didn¡¯t want to go back to the campus, so I had no choice but to take her to Green Tea Inn¡­¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Sun Qingqing gaped at me and her best friend for a moment. Finally, she looked at me and asked, ¡°She, uh¡­ didn¡¯t experience any discomfort, did she?¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s face immediately turned as red as an apple. She slapped the table¡ªnot too loudly since it was a public area¡ªand shot me a look of concealed murder before whispering to Sun Qingqing, ¡°Come on, Qingqing, you¡­ do you really think I would go to a place like that with a guy I¡¯ve barely known for a couple of weeks?¡± But Sun Qingqing¡¯s shock only deepened. ¡°Ah? You didn¡¯t even rent a hotel room? You went straight to Lu Chen¡¯s apartment?¡± I shot her a glare. ¡°Come on, you can at least try to act a bit better¡­¡± ¡°Like I care about your opinion¡­¡± Sun Qingqing still looked a bit worried, however. ¡°Yiyi, do you feel like throwing up lately?¡± Lin Yixin was this close to bursting into tears when she heard that. She wrapped her arms around Sun Qingqing¡¯s shoulders and said, ¡°Qingqing, I beg you, can you please not let your imagination run wild? We¡¯re not even going out, there¡¯s no way I would, you know, also¡ªahhhh, forget about it. If you still can¡¯t believe me I¡¯ll let you run a full body checkup after we return to the dorms¡­¡± ¡°Ah? A full body checkup?¡± My jaw hit the floor as all kinds of exciting scenes started blooming inside my mind. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin¡¯s phone suddenly rang and cut off everyone¡¯s antics. From what I could tell, it was a guy on the other side of the phone. ¡°%&#@%&*&...%¡± ¡°What? How did this happen¡­¡± Lin Yixin exclaimed in surprise. ¡°%&#@%&*&...%¡± ¡°Hmph, how dare him!¡± Lin Yixin cursed angrily. ¡°%&#@%&*&...%¡± ¡°Sigh. We¡¯ll talk later, okay? I¡¯m having dinner right now.¡± ¡°...¡± Lin Yixin finally hung up the call and looked at me. ¡°There¡¯s going to be a fourth guild in Floating Ice City in an hour or so.¡± I asked, ¡°What? Who is it? Is it Mad Dragon, Wild Sand Alliance, or maybe even Eternal Friendship? Eternal Friendship has been pretty famous for the past couple days.¡± ¡°You are wrong on all accounts¡­¡± Lin Yixin replied with an inexplicable expression, ¡°It¡¯s Flower Room¡­¡± ¡°Excuse me? Flower Room? What the hell is that...¡± I was completely confused. Sun Qingqing came to my rescue and cried out, ¡°I know! It¡¯s Li Le¡¯s gang, am I right? A while ago, I heard Li Le and his friends talking about creating a ¡®Flower Room¡¯ in the office at Mingzhi Building. It¡¯s actually real?¡± Lin Yixin nodded. ¡°It is. I heard that someone in Floating Ice City found the fourth Hero¡¯s Token and started a public auction at the eastern plaza. Roaming Dragon wasn¡¯t present at the time, so Li Le spent two million RMB and won the bid¡­¡± ¡°Fuck, two million?¡± I gasped audibly. ¡°This Li Le sure doesn¡¯t care about money!¡± But Lin Yixin smiled a little and said, ¡°So what if he got the Hero¡¯s Token? Li Le is a talentless little snob who¡¯s worth nothing without his family. Flower Room? I can¡¯t believe he actually fancies himself as another Casanova¡­¡± Her comment put a smile on my face. ¡°But I heard that Li Le had never had a lack of women. It is true in a sense, don¡¯t you think?¡± Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me before pointing out, ¡°You mean those below-20-IQ girls who turn starry-eyed when they see a BMW and faint when they meet someone handsome? He can collect as many of them as he wants, it won¡¯t change the fact that he¡¯s nothing more but a vase collector, am I right?¡± I shivered. As expected of our virtuous and talented Fruit Knife Goddess, she had hit the nail right on the head. The truth of the matter was just as she said, Li Le¡¯s so-called Casanova lifestyle was nothing but a farce. Sun Qingqing also nodded in agreement. ¡°Correct. There was a girl in the foreign language class that Li Le tried to chase, but he never succeeded. Our Yiyi never once looked at him in the eye either. Even you can be a gentleman if compared with Li Le, Lu Chen!¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I rubbed my nose. ¡°Why does that sound like not really a compliment?¡± ¡°It is a compliment, trust me, hehe~¡± ¡°...¡± I changed the topic and asked, ¡°Should this Flower Room worry you, Yiyi?¡± Lin Yixin shook her head immediately. ¡°Of course not. Sure he has a Hero¡¯s Token, but he¡¯s an empty shell with no real support beneath him. Frankly, I¡¯m more worried about Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon. These guilds have both wealth and power. They¡¯re the real enemies we¡¯ll eventually have to face in the future.¡± I nodded. ¡°Bloody Mercenaries will establish their guild in a month at most!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Sun Qingqing smiled yearningly. ¡°So, Snowy Cathaya and Bloody Mercenaries will be working together to fight against Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon, huh?¡± ¡°That is the case. Hmph, that reminds me of Mad Dragon trying to snatch our mine shaft away from us. Once the guild recovers in two days¡¯ time, I¡¯m going to show them that I¡¯m not to be trifled with!¡± Lin Yixin clenched her fists together and declared menacingly. She was completely serious. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. The three male guests sitting at the table next to us looked like three drakes in heat as they shot admiring looks at Lin Yixin while trying to suppress their laughter at her cutesy antics. ¡°Laugh some more, and I¡¯ll throw you out of the window.¡± Lin Yixin tried to glare at me, but she couldn¡¯t hold herself back from smiling a little. ¡°...¡± We chatted as we ate, and it was past 8 pm that our dinner finally came to an end. Lin Yixin footed the bill before following Sun Qingqing to the roadside. They looked damn good in their skirts, I had to admit. Sun Qingqing turned around to look at me. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to send us back to the campus, handsome? There are a lot of bad guys on the streets, you know¡­¡± I looked around and spotted a grandma who was selling sweet potatoes, a grandpa who was selling roasted chestnuts, and a couple of kindergarteners riding on tricycles. She was right, this road was full of dangers, so I nodded. ¡°I shall obey the ladies¡¯ request. This is a good opportunity to check out which dorms you are living at too!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Lin Yixin stared at me warily. ¡°What do you need that information for?¡± I spread my arms innocently. ¡°What else? To avoid getting lost when I come looking for you in the future!¡± ¡°Hmph hmph!¡± Lin Yixin stopped talking after that. After buying CoCo milk tea for themselves, the girls slowly made their way back to the university. I bought a can of Tsingtao for myself and followed behind them like a shadow. When we reached the campus entrance, I immediately straightened my collar and tidied my hair. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Lin Yixin cocked her head in puzzlement. I explained, ¡°I¡¯m trying to make myself look more like a student. Randoms like me aren¡¯t normally allowed into the campus.¡± Lin Yixin burst into laughter. ¡°How old do you think you are? Come on, no one¡¯s going to stop you. The campus guards are infamous for their laxness.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Lin Yixin and Sun Qingqing walked side by side after we entered the campus. For some reason, I felt a little happy as I stepped on the campus lawn. Suddenly, we heard two honks from the roadside. A black convertible drove up to Lin Yixin and Sun Qingqing, and the driver was none other than the man we were badmouthing a moment ago, Li Le! It was practically impossible not to recognize his good looks, his frivolous behavior, his shallow attitude, and his punchable smile! ¡°What a coincidence, Lin Yixin!¡± Li Le greeted her with a wide smile on his face. Lin Yixin frowned, strode to the garden path and pulled me out from behind a flowerbed. She then clung to my arm and said with a smile, ¡°Where were you, sweetheart? Did you enjoy a good time while I was gone?¡± I shuddered at her fake words before whispering, ¡°The hell? Don¡¯t you think that was way too corny?¡± Lin Yixin retorted with a smile, ¡°Of course I do, can¡¯t you feel the goosebumps on my arms?¡± It was pretty dark outside right now, but I could see the rosiness on Lin Yixin¡¯s cheeks as clear as day. I declared, ¡°I don¡¯t mind being your meatshield, but it¡¯s gonna cost you!¡± ¡°1 gold per hour. Old customer, old prices!¡± ¡°I think I¡¯m worth more than that.¡± ¡°I can find someone else to replace you if you¡¯re unwilling¡­¡± ¡°What was I saying earlier? Of course I¡¯ll escort you, my lady.¡± ¡­¡­ Li Le glared at me from inside his black convertible, but he managed to retain a semblance of grace and smiled at Lin Yixin. ¡°Beauty Lin, I almost forgot to tell you that I built a guild called ¡®Flower Room¡¯ just an hour ago. Now, we¡¯re both the signboards of our university. Would you like to ally with my guild when you log into the game?¡± Lin Yixin replied off-handedly, ¡°You almost forgot? Are you sure you didn¡¯t purposely drive all the way over to tell me this?¡± Li Le nearly choked on his own spit when he heard Lin Yixin¡¯s retort. With an awkward expression, he said, ¡°I uh, I¡¯m just here to tell you that, that¡¯s all. I wish for peace between Snowy Cathaya and Flower Room. If Snowy Cathaya needs anything in the future, just tell us and we¡¯ll do our best to support you!¡± Lin Yixin snorted softly, but didn¡¯t give him an answer. I laughed quietly at her and said, ¡°The implied message here is that the beautiful leader of Snowy Cathaya, namely you, must agree to become his girlfriend if Snowy Cathaya were to garner any support from Flower Room. Did I get it right?¡± Lin Yixin scolded me. ¡°Go to hell. It¡¯s impolite to expose the other person¡¯s intentions right in front of their faces, you know!¡± ¡°...¡± We finally arrived at the female dorms, giving Li Le no more opportunity to stick to us like a gum beneath our shoes. My mission passed with flying colors, I checked the time before shouting, ¡°7 minutes, Yiyi. Don¡¯t forget to send me 7 gold after you go online, got it? See ya~¡± Chapter 121: Xinran’s Death By the time I returned to the workshop, it was already past 10 pm. So instead of grinding for levels, I purchased some food ingredients such as Garlic, Green Pepper and Chicken Meat and made some Rank 5 Magic Consumables for sale. It wasn¡¯t a lot of money, but I was okay with covering some of my living expenses. I went to bed at midnight. From here on, I promised myself not to stay up late unless there was a guild event. The next day, early morning. ¡°Black Threads, Black Threads!¡± Yamete¡¯s slightly unhinged voice entered my room from outside. ¡°Does anyone know where I can buy some Black Threads! It¡¯s the only material I¡¯m still lacking to make a level 50 Dark Steel¨Cgrade leather armor¡­¡± Du Thirteen suggested, ¡°Maybe buy some common threads and put them in ink?¡± Gui Guzi also chipped in. ¡°Or you can try casting a spell. Just say these magical words: Sink into darkness, you threads!¡± Beiming Xue: ¡°...¡± It was at this moment I walked out of the room and said, ¡°Calm down, I know a place where you can buy some Black Threads.¡± ¡°Really? Where?¡± Mamate¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± I thought for a moment before replying, ¡°Yeah, I think there¡¯s an NPC at Frost Mound that sells Black Threads. You won¡¯t be able to buy them by yourself though. Just leave it to me, I¡¯ll make the purchase once I log into the game. How many do you want?¡± ¡°40 stacks, please!¡± ¡°Not a problem. Just wait for good news at Floating Ice City.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I logged in after eating breakfast. Swoosh! I set out immediately after repairing my equipment and stocking up on potions. It took me only fifteen minutes to pass through Frost Forest and arrive at Frost Mound. It was quite early in the morning, so the morning fog hadn¡¯t dissipated yet. The frozen domain of death was chock-full of undeads, and I could smell the disgusting blood pools long before I saw them. Beep! Lin Yixin sent me a message: ¡°Lu Chen, I found legguards that boost dark attacks. You want them? I can sell them to you cheap!¡± ¡°Oh? Send me a screenshot, please!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± A few seconds later, I opened the screenshot Lin Yixin had sent me. I was surprised by how good they were. Silver-grade! Bone-shatter Legguards (Silver-grade) Defense: 70 Strength: +24 Stamina: +20 Passive: Increase user¡¯s dark attacks by 50 Level Requirement: 60 ¡°Fuck, this is amazing¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Where did you find such powerful Silver-grade legguards, Yiyi?¡± ¡°Well, Qingqing and my people challenged a Level 65 boss around 6 am in this morning, and they almost got party wiped. So, they wanted me to act as the tank and the DPS. This is my reward for helping them out¡­¡± ¡°It can¡¯t be cheap, right?¡± ¡°100 gold!¡± ¡°OMG, have a heart please¡­¡± ¡°200 gold then. That¡¯s the most I can afford!¡± ¡°Deal. Where are you right now? I¡¯ll bring it to you right away.¡± ¡°I¡¯m at Frost Mound right now.¡± ¡°Okay, see you!¡± I was very pleased with this unexpected boon. No matter how you cut it, 200 gold for such powerful Silver-grade legguards was a sweet deal through and through. Not only did they give 70 Defense, 24 Strength and 20 Stamina, they added 50 damage to all dark attacks. It was worth even more than plus 50 Strength! This equipment was only average to Lin Yixin, but it was a god-tier item to me! Hopeful and excited, I ran all the way toward Frost Mound. It was at this moment a sorrowful ring suddenly entered my ears. Ding~! System Notice: You have failed the quest ¡°Promise¡± (SSS)! What? I failed a¡­ quest? What¡­ what¡¯s going on? I rubbed my eyes just in case I was seeing things, but there was no denying it. The quest had turned dark gray in my quest list. Somehow, my Epic-rank quest with Xinran had ended in failure! Did something happen to Xinran? I suddenly had a bad feeling about this. I passed through a forest and heard a strange, crunchy noise all of a sudden. A Night Creature was currently feeding next to a blood pool. I knew the NPC¡¯s back well, it was none other than my trainer, Undead Swordsman Suren! I quickly ran up to him to see what he was doing. I was utterly shocked by what I saw. A beautiful girl was lying on the grass next to the blood pool. She was dead, and her face was full of fear. Worse, her arm had been stripped off its flesh. It was the work of Suren. Xinran¡­ She was Xinran... I felt like my heart was being twisted by a knife. A Night Creature had consumed Xinran! There was a tiny bamboo basket on the ground, and its contents¡ªbread and fruits¡ªwere all over the place. It was what Xinran was staring at until the moment she died. Xinran once told me that she would visit me at Frost Mound, but now... Fury suddenly exploded from my heart like a volcano. I pulled out the Ghost Ice Soul and growled. ¡°You damn monster! I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Swhoosh! I struck Suren¡¯s head with Pardon and Desperate Gambit! MISS! 1478! Shit! His Defense is really high! ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Suren abruptly turned around and slashed me with his sword as quick as lightning. His blade sank deep into my shoulder! 907! The burning pain in my shoulder was nothing compared to the pain in my heart, however. Xinran¡¯s body flashed across my vision, and my eyes turned as red as blood. I glared at Suren hatefully and growled again. ¡°I will kill you!¡± Suren sneered at my comment, ¡°Little skeleton, did you forget that I¡¯m your trainer? How can you possibly defeat me?¡± I drank an HP pot and summoned my Dark Wasp. Then, I charged Suren again without a second thought. My mind was filled with only anger and the desire for revenge at this point. ¡°You damned lowly Night Creature! Madness has overtaken you!¡± Suren cursed me before raising his sword high. He shouted, ¡°Sword Spirit Slash!¡± Boom! A red beam poured down from above, and I was one-shot before I could do anything. Beep! Combat Log: Undead Swordsman Suren used ¡°Sword Spirit Slash¡±, dealing 2284 damage! You have died! ¡­¡­ It was a critical hit! My soul departed my body and appeared in the nearby graveyard. Suren faced toward me and sneered, ¡°You still have pity in your heart? Someone like you will never become an Asura. Challenge me again anytime you want, I¡¯ll always be waiting at Frost Mound!¡± Swhoosh! I revived on the edge of the graveyard, but Suren had already gone back to Frost Mound. I couldn¡¯t go after him now because it would be suicide. I needed my friends to kill him! I couldn¡¯t begin to describe my feelings as I turned to look at Xinran. This was the girl I swore to protect, but not only did I fail to fulfill my promise, she was killed because of me. I crouched on the ground and carried her body in my arms. A lump came into my throat, and a tear slid down my cheeks and landed on Xinran¡¯s chest. I wasn¡¯t expecting it. Undead creatures like me could shed tears? Maybe... With Xinran¡¯s body in my arms, I walked unsteadily to a silver fir tree, pulled out the Ghost Ice Soul and dug a hole on the ground. Then, I put her inside and buried her. When her face was the only thing that was still visible, I knelt beside her grave and carressed her cheeks. I said softly, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Xinran, I¡¯m sorry I failed to fulfill my promise¡­¡± My heart was in tatters, but I made one last promise to her. ¡°Xinran, I swear I¡¯ll kill Suren and take revenge for you!¡± I completed the burial and got back to my feet. Just like that, a once pure and beautiful spirit fell into eternal slumber beneath a silver fir tree. ¡­¡­ For a long time, I was quiet and distracted. Finally, I sensed someone behind me and turned around to find a beautiful warrior. It was none other than Lin Yixin, and for some reason she was staring dazedly at me. ¡°When did you come, Yiyi?¡± I asked. ¡°I was here since a long while ago¡­¡± She stared at me and asked, ¡°This girl¡­ was she killed by Suren?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡°But Suren is your trainer. If you kill him, you won¡¯t have a place to promote your class and learn new skills anymore¡­¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. I will find a way.¡± I clenched my fists and said in a low tone, ¡°A true man does not surrender himself to rot!¡± Lin Yixin smiled and looked at the tree overshadowing the both of us. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a snowy cathaya! Do you know why I named my guild ¡®Snowy Cathaya¡¯, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°It¡¯s because snowy cathaya is a plant that grows in the coldest of regions. No matter how cold the weather gets, it always manages to persevere one way or the other. I want to be like a snowy cathaya myself. I want to be able to persevere and always walk the path I choose, no matter what hardships I have to face along the way¡­¡± Lin Yixin turned her gaze to Xinran¡¯s grave solemnly before asking, ¡°How are you planning to take revenge?¡± I sucked in a deep breath before replying, ¡°I need your help. I¡¯m going to summon Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, and Yamete as well!¡± ¡°Are you¡­ planning to purge the entire Frost Mound?¡± Lin Yixin looked at me in surprise. I nodded. ¡°Today, I finally understood the line that separates good and evil. Good can hurt me, but evil can also hurt those around me.¡± ¡°You¡­¡± Lin Yixin stared at me with a strange glow in her eyes. A while later, she smiled and said, ¡°You¡¯re saying goodbye to the Night Creatures?¡± ¡°I am!¡± I nodded strongly. ¡°And I will never turn back!¡± ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll support your decision.¡± Lin Yixin smiled. ¡°Now, go call your friends already. Just for today, I¡¯ll act as your accomplice for free and purge this evil place from the surface of Heavenblessed!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± ¡­... I brought up the chat window and sent a message to Gui Guzi, Yamete and Beiming Xue: ¡°If you¡¯re all done resupplying then come to Frost Mound immediately. Do not take more than 20 minutes!¡± A while later, everyone showed up on time as promised. Beiming Xue looked surprised to find Lin Yixin beside me, so she asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong, boss?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I¡¯m going to purge Frost Mound today. Beiming, your trainer isn¡¯t here, is he?¡± ¡°Nope, he¡¯s in a valley far away from here!¡± I nodded in acknowledgment. ¡°Good. Gui Guzi, what about yours?¡± Gui Guzi answered, ¡°He¡¯s not in Frost Mound either. He¡¯s at a wasteland outside. It¡¯s fine!¡± ¡°Got it. Gui Guzi, you¡¯re the tank. Mamate, you¡¯re the healer. Yiyi and I will find a way to launch a sneak attack and get in!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Lin Yixin pulled out her Snow Shadow Sword and pointed at the scouts patrolling the perimeter. ¡°These NPCs are only Level 60. Let¡¯s take them out first!¡± Gui Guzi let out a war cry and charged toward the scouts. At the same time, Beiming Xue jumped onto a thick branch with incredible agility and concealed herself behind the greenery. It was a perfect spot to launch ranged attacks at the enemy. Chapter 122: Murder ¡°Attack!¡± The moment Gui Guzi launched his attack, Sentinel Leader Fark shouted in anger, ¡°Dammit, we¡¯re under attack! Warriors of the Night Creatures, raise your weapons and fight!¡± Thud! A black Devil Piercing Arrow hit the sentinel leader in the throat, and Lin Yixin showed up beside him with a dagger. Moonlight illuminating her beautiful figure, she hit Sentinel Leader Fark with Moon Gaze and slammed her dagger into his chest with Extreme Break! It was my turn now. I fired Ice Ray and Slayer Slash at the sentinel leader! Bang bang! 1754! 1890! Extreme Break had diminished my opponent¡¯s Defense, so my attacks became a lot stronger than before. Sentinel Leader Fark had lost most of his HP in just a few rounds of attacks, and that was without counting Beiming Xue shooting her arrows at lightning speed and hitting the enemy¡¯s weak point without fail! She was like a killer in the dark! ¡°Ah! I will be back, evil humans!¡± Sentinel Leader Fark roared before perishing. By now, twenty or so NPCs had surrounded Gui Guzi, Lin Yixin and me, and the damage they dealt quickly outdid Mamate¡¯s ability to heal us. Everyone¡¯s HP was falling rapidly, and he couldn¡¯t afford to focus his healing on just one person. I shouted in the party channel, ¡°Lil Beiming, use Volley!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Beiming Xue immediately fired a Rank 5 Volley at the enemy, hitting eight separate warriors with eight separate arrows. The staggered Night Creatures immediately started chasing after her, although it didn¡¯t look that they were going to catch up to her anytime soon. Rustle rustle¡­ I took a few steps backward to search for the perfect angle to unleash my skill. Then, I shouted, ¡°Thousand Mirage Slash!¡± A vast sword aura split into three separate attacks and hit all the skeleton warriors that were attacking us. Their HP dropped in unison as damage numbers popped above their heads. 1194! 1087! 1201! ¡­¡­ I had to admit that this Thousand Mirage Slash was pretty amazing when used against multiple enemies. Considering that it was already this powerful at Rank 3, I could hardly wait for the skill to reach Rank 10. The Level 60 NPCs collapsed one after another in just the blink of an eye. It was the result we expected; their levels were low, and we were very powerful. A few minutes later, Beiming Xue returned without even breaking a sweat. Gui Guzi asked, ¡°Lil Beiming, where are those eight NPCs?¡± She smiled. ¡°I took them all out, of course.¡± Yamete immediately gave her a thumbs-up. ¡°Awesome!¡± ¡­¡­ I looked toward Frost Mound and said, ¡°We¡¯ll attack from the left side and take out the barbarian warrior first. Then, we¡¯ll kill the material vendor!¡± Got it!¡± The kills went successfully. None of these production-based NPCs such as the material vendor or potion vendor were able to put too much pressure on us. The same couldn¡¯t be said for Undead Swordsman Suren though. He was the most powerful warrior in the entire Frost Mound, and his level was so high I didn¡¯t even know what level he was. It wouldn¡¯t be an easy fight! After killing 12 NPCs in a row, I stopped in my tracks and ordered, ¡°Let¡¯s take a rest and wait until we¡¯ve recovered!¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Gui Guzi turned back and looked at me in surprise. If my eyes could shoot fire, they would¡¯ve done so already. I glared hatefully at Suren standing in front of his wooden house but kept a cool tone. ¡°The greatest enemy is about to show up. Don¡¯t let your guard down, this NPC is so powerful that a party wipe isn¡¯t an impossibility¡­¡± ¡°What? Party wipe?¡± Beiming Xue widened her eyes in surprise. ¡°Who is this boss? Why are you so wary of him?¡± I sucked in a deep breath before replying, ¡°He¡¯s my trainer¡­¡± ¡°What?!¡± Beiming Xue¡¯s mouth fell open. ¡°But why would you want to kill your own trainer, boss? How are you going to learn a skill in the future?¡± I stared at Suren coldly before replying, ¡°I will find a way. Anyway, this NPC must die today, or I won¡¯t be able to face my conscience ever again!¡± Beiming Xue nodded and stopped asking anymore questions. She simply smiled and said, ¡°Your enemy is our enemy, boss. If you think he¡¯s deserving of death, then we shall carry out your order. But is he really as powerful as you think?¡± ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s a boss-tier NPC, and he¡¯s over Level 75 at the minimum since neither Yiyi nor I can see his stats. Also, this boss could one-shot me, so¡­¡± ¡°What? He one-shot you?¡± Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°He definitely sounds like a dangerous guy. If he can one-shot you, he can probably one-shot me as well¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re fine, you have the Undying Shield, right?¡± Lin Yixin said with a smile. Gui Guzi shot a wary glance at her. ¡°You¡¯re not planning to kill me again, are you?¡± Lin Yixin replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯re still useful to me. I never kill noobs I can use for something~~¡± Tears started pouring down Gui Guzi¡¯s cheeks. Gui Guzi was undoubtedly a Top 3 player within Bloody Mercenaries, but Lin Yixin also had the right to call him a noob. Gui Guzi was a first-rate player, but Lin Yixin was among the best of the best. He still had a long way to go, and his control especially needed a lot of work. ¡­¡­ Yamete ate two Rank 6 Magic Consumables and restored his MP to full. Then, he said with a nod, ¡°Alright, my MP should last for 5 full minutes. Should we begin?¡± ¡°Alright!¡± I grabbed the Ghost Ice Soul and walked to the front. ¡°Let our pets draw his attention while we find opportunities to attack. Do not engage him for too long or he might one-shot you!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Gui Guzi and Mamate both had Wasp for pets. Beiming Xue¡¯s pet was a Purple Butterfly, one that could deal magic damage. The Dark Wasp flew toward Suren from a slanted angle while Lin Yixin¡¯s Fire Blade attacked from the front! All five pets unleashed their attacks at the same time! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Suren¡¯s HP immediately dropped a bit after the Wasps plunged their stings into his body. The undead swordsman immediately turned furious and launched a sweep attack! Bang! A dazzling red flash later, both of the normal Wasps were one-shot at the same time. The level gap was simply too huge! ¡°Fuck, his Attack is insane¡­¡± Gui Guzi inwardly groaned but charged Suren anyway with Undying Shield turned on. The very first skill he used was his Level 50 skill, Blaze. Fire wrapped around the blade of his spear as the weapon stabbed into Suren¡¯s chest. 347! The attack was okay, but it would take more than this to defeat Suren. My Dark Wasp also unleashed its skill, Wasp King Poison! Puchi! A greenish, poisonous liquid splashed Suren all over and took effect immediately. It really was an amazing skill! ¡°Huh? What¡¯s that?¡± Beiming Xue exclaimed in surprise. ¡°It¡¯s called Wasp King Poison, a Level 60 skill. It slowly decreases the target¡¯s HP!¡± ¡°That¡¯s pretty rad!¡± Swinging his spear around, Gui Guzi stabbed Suren again and again to draw his attention. Although Mamate had been healing Gui Guzi all this time, the latter was still taking too much damage. Gui Guzi only had around 2000 total HP, but he was losing almost 1000 HP from a single basic attack even after Undying Shield had reduced the damage taken by 25%. That being said, he was definitely the tankiest player out of us. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to call him the Undying Knight. So far, Gui Guzi was also the only player I wasn¡¯t confident I could one-shot with Pardon. In fact, it was close to being an impossible feat. Had he been a member of Mad Dragon or Gods of Destruction, he would¡¯ve been a great thorn in our side. Bang! Suddenly, Suren activated Sword Spirit Slash and knocked Gui Guzi a little off balance. A long, deep wound had appeared across his chest, and his HP was almost gone. ¡°Watch out!¡± I tried to block Suren¡¯s way, but it was too late. Before Mamate¡¯s healing could even reach Gui Guzi, Suren had run up to him like lightning and struck a death blow. A couple of potions and a shiny shield appeared from where Gui Guzi¡¯s corpse used to be. I picked up the shield and yelled, ¡°Mamate, heal me!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Now it was my turn to feel pressured. The good news was that Ghost Deity Armor boosted my Defense by a lot. With the support of a priest and constant potion chugging, I should be able to endure Suren¡¯s attacks for a while. Meanwhile, Lin Yixin was attacking Suren like a hurricane with Killer Wind Swordplay and Holy Energy. Every hit scored at least a thousand damage. Lin Yixin was certainly our highest DPS since Holy Energy was incredibly effective against the undead. Not even I could outdamage her right now. ¡°Keep attacking! This boss doesn¡¯t have too much HP!¡± Lin Yixin cried. She was right. Suren was an NPC and not an actual boss, so his total HP was only around 50k or so. As long as we attacked him with all we got, we should be able to kill him in around three minutes! However, Suren also had the highest Attack out of all the enemies we had encountered thus far. He was so horrifyingly powerful that he could two-shot even Gui Guzi! Suddenly, Suren fired an Ice Ray at me! Bang! The impact was so powerful that I crashed through the wooden house like a cannonball. I was completely disoriented for a time! God dammit, I didn¡¯t know Ice Ray could be this powerful! Just what kind of monster is he? I shook my head and collected myself. But by the time I rose to my feet and charged Suren again, the undead swordsman was already plunging his sword into Yamete¡¯s chest! The frail priest was easily one-shot! Even Lin Yixin was clutching a bleeding shoulder and barely holding herself together. She only had a sliver of HP left. This battle wasn¡¯t even over, and we were on our last legs already! ¡°Don¡¯t stop! The boss only has ten thousand HP left!¡± Lin Yixin hadn¡¯t given up yet, however. She climbed back up on her feet and glared at Suren with fury. Thud! A Devil Piercing Arrow answered her call and exploded on Suren¡¯s head, dealing 654 damage. Beiming Xue¡¯s attack was as amazing as usual! However, Suren shouted and glowed red all of a sudden. He was going to Charge her! ¡°Beiming, watch out for Charge!¡± Chapter 123: Resurrection In just the blink of an eye, three out of four pillars of my workshop had died. Angry, I pointed the Ghost Ice Soul at Suren and hit his back with an Ice Ray! Pu! The attack pierced his flesh and caused his back to freeze over. At the same time, I executed Slayer Slash and hit him again on the shoulder. The attack went through like a hot knife through butter. 1784! Thank goodness! It¡¯s a critical hit! Lin Yixin then ran up to Suren like the wind with a glowing dagger. The Fruit Knife Goddess was about to unleash her wrath! Moon Gaze! Extreme Break! The boss lost a huge chunk of HP, his Defense greatly lowered. This is my chance! I took a couple steps back before pouncing toward Suren with Pardon and Desperate Gambit! MISS! 2479! An impressive number appeared above the boss¡¯s head, but the words that tumbled out of Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth were ¡°Lu Chen, watch out!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Suren abruptly turned around and slashed me with a glowing, bloody sword. It was another Sword Spirit Slash! Puchi! For a moment, I felt like my body was being torn apart. My HP hit rock bottom in an instant! Did I die? But I didn¡¯t. In fact, my HP suddenly returned to full in an instant! What¡­ what¡¯s going on? Lin Yixin was just as shocked as I was, but a quick look at the combat log revealed the truth: Player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± died. Player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± triggered ¡°Immortality¡± and revived with full HP! I couldn¡¯t believe my luck. I actually triggered that 1% chance to revive with full health on the spot? I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°Rest in peace, you evil, unrepentant bastard!¡± I swung the Ghost Ice Soul downward and executed the Thousand Mirage Slash. At the same time, Lin Yixin dashed past Suren and tore apart his final defenses with the Snow Shadow Sword. Finally, Suren was killed by our combined efforts! ¡­... Thump! Suren dropped to his knees and stared at me in disbelief. He questioned me as if he still couldn¡¯t believe that I was doing this. ¡°Why¡­ just why?¡± I put my sword to his neck and replied, ¡°For the lives that were lost!¡± Crack! Suren¡¯s head flew into the air, and the undead swordsman trainer was dead, once and for all. Lin Yixin let out a sigh of relief and stared at me. She didn¡¯t say a word. I announced in the party channel, ¡°Alright, mission complete! The boss is dead, but nothing has dropped unfortunately. Little Gui, I¡¯ll give you back your shield in a while. Now, go back to whatever it was you were doing, everyone!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Lin Yixin leaned against the snowy cathaya tree and watched me with a thoughtful expression. A while later, she walked up to me, put a hand on my shoulder and asked softly, ¡°What is all this for, really? Are you sure you won¡¯t regret this?¡± I nodded. ¡°I won¡¯t let levels, trainers, or rewards shackle me anymore. I¡¯ve been living under somebody else¡¯s design for too long already. It¡¯s about time I begin living as myself.¡± Lin Yixin gave me a ¡°mn¡± of acknowledgment and fell silent again. ¡­¡­ Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, the quest ¡°Promise (SSS)¡± has been reactivated. Please summon Young Girl Xinran¡¯s body immediately to enter the next phase! ¡°Huh?¡± Summon Xinran¡¯s body? What does that mean? Could it be¡­ I could revive Xinran? The skill ¡°Summon Undead¡± in my skill list was shining brightly. Was this the work of the system? Could I seriously ¡°summon¡± her back to life? A thread of hope reentered my heart. I wished from the bottom of my heart that Xinran could come back to life again, but at the same time I didn¡¯t want to disturb her rest. In the end, I gritted my teeth and made up my mind. I¡¯ll resurrect her! I waved my hand and said, ¡°Summon Undead!¡± Swhoosh! The world turned dark as a bloody beam penetrated the clouds above our heads and into the tiny grave. It was unusually grandiose considering how my Summon Undead usually worked. The soil covering the grave suddenly moved a little, and a small, lightless skeleton suddenly burst through the earth and appeared in front of me. It was shocking to say the least. The skeleton¡¯s level was very low, and it seemed to be staring at me with its empty eye sockets. It was silent. I didn¡¯t know what to say myself. It was at this moment the system dinged again. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations. You have obtained a permanent demonic servant, Xinran! ¡­¡­ Ah? Flabbergasted, I checked the text floating above the little skeleton¡¯s head and saw the name, ¡°Xinran¡±. Did this mean that Xinran could only ¡°live¡± as a skeleton from now on? I held back my anger and brought up her stat screen. Xinran (Epic Unknown) Level: 1 Attack: 32 Defense: 31 HP: 29 Agility: 30 ¡­¡­ Good lord, what kind of pet was this? Or maybe it wasn¡¯t a pet at all! ¡°Xinran¡± had 122 BN at Level 1. Level 1! In Heavenblessed, the highest BN a pet should be able to achieve was 80. What on Earth is going on here? I fell silent for a very, very long time. In the end, I put her back into my pet space; Xinran¡¯s current appearance was too much for me to bear. The beautiful girl who once lived was now just a naked skeleton. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin turned away and leaned against the snowy cathaya again. Wrapping her hands around her chest and looking at me, she asked, ¡°What do you plan to do after this?¡± I gave her a nod and replied, ¡°I guess I¡¯ll just treat her like another pet and train her to the max level,150!¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s gaze shifted to the ground. ¡°But why?¡± ¡°Because I failed to fulfill the promise I had made to her. It¡¯s the least I can do.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡°Yiyi, are you okay? Why are you repeating yourself?¡± I asked. Lin Yixin bit her lips before answering, ¡°Nothing, I¡¯m just feeling a bit distracted, that¡¯s all. It¡¯s time you leave and grind your levels. I need to upgrade my skills to Rank 6 as quickly as possible myself!¡± ¡°Mn. Thanks again, for everything.¡± ¡°Hehe. See you!¡± Lin Yixin bade me goodbye and vanished into the forest. ¡­.. I turned around and looked at Frost Mound. This was probably the last time I saw this place, and after killing Suren, my reputation among the Night Creatures had fallen all the way to the negatives. From this day onward, any Night Creature I ran into would probably attack me without a question. Oh well, that''s more than enough thinking for the day. It''s time to get back to the grind! I teleported back to Floating Ice City and returned Gui Guzi his shield. Then, I brought up the official map and searched for my next leveling ground. It would be best if the place also had high-level ingredients that I could forage. At my current level, give me a warehouse of ingredients and I could generate tens of thousands of RMB in a single night! Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to find such a convenient location despite a long search. As I was walking out of the city, I suddenly noticed a group of people who were shouting for party members. The party leader was a Level 55 barbarian warrior with a glowing battle axe and a bright set of armor. He was clearly an excellent player in his own right. Right now though, the dude was shouting on top of his lungs. ¡°Is there anyone who wants to grind at Chaos Ice Cave? Then come join us! We¡¯re looking for well-equipped players who are over Level 50, and have picked up their Level 50 skills! We are currently missing a good DPS and a healer! Also, please make sure you are fully stocked on Health Potions and Magic Consumables!¡± Chaos Ice Cave? Over Level 50? Sounds like a good map for me! I came to a stop and brought up a search bar. After entering the text ¡°Chaos Ice Cave¡±, a passage immediately appeared before my eyes. Chaos Ice Cave: Situated at the edge of the frozen region of Silver Moon Forest. It contains a huge amount of Rank 5 and 6 ingredients, herbs, precious stones and ores. It is a paradise for strong players looking to increase their level or gather materials. However, entry is only for those who can defeat the guardian of the cave. Otherwise, players won¡¯t be teleported into the map. My eyes lit up. The location sported Rank 5 and 6 ingredients, so that meant I could forage Garlic and Fish Meat there. Right now, both food ingredients were still very useful to me, and the average monster level of the map was Level 65. It was a boatload of experience for someone my level. Yep, this is the spot I was looking for! I checked the coordinates. It was situated at the edge of Silver Moon Forest, as the description said. Silver Moon Forest was a vast forest behind Floating Ice City. The forest itself was bigger than even Floating Ice City. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that this map was going to be contested by many high-level players very soon! I need to get there first before someone overtakes me! I restocked my supplies and bought some Sealing Cards. Then, I took off toward Chaos Ice Cave! I didn¡¯t bother with the mobs I encountered on the way to Chaos Ice Cave. I was currently at Level 61, and the EXP yield of a Level 60 mob simply wasn¡¯t that attractive to me anymore. The best mob I could kill right now would be at Level 66¡ª5 levels ahead of me to grant me that EXP bonus, but still quite easy to kill overall. ...... The trip to Chaos Ice Cave was a long one. After running for over an hour and traversing more than half the map of Floating Ice City itself, I finally arrived at the edge of the Silver Moon Forest. The forest was filled with snowy cathayas. The entire place was filled with snow. Every step of mine caused the snow under my Stormy War Boots to crunch. The valley I entered was tiny, but snow stretched all around, and many icicles dangled down the frozen trees'' branches. I followed the map¡¯s instructions and trekked across the valley just in time to find a giant with a battle axe standing at the very end. He had green skin and was about twice as tall as I was. He glared at me with bloodshot eyes before asking in a dumb-sounding voice, ¡°What are you trying to do at Chaos Ice Cave, brat?¡± I looked at the pseudo-NPC. He didn¡¯t attack a player on sight, and he could be talked to. ¡°I wish to enter Chaos Ice Cave!¡± ¡°Hahaha, you¡¯ll have to ask for my axe¡¯s perquest first!¡± Ding! System Notice: Do you accept the Green Giant¡¯s challenge? If you succeed, you will obtain a ¡°Proof of Trial¡± and be allowed to enter the Chaos Ice Cave for 6 hours! ¡­¡­ Oh? There¡¯s even a time limit? I smiled. I loved this kind of map where only the truly skillful and powerful were allowed to enter. Everyone else could enter a staring contest against the Green Giant for all I care. I clicked ¡°Accept¡± and began the challenge! Swhoosh! The scenery around me changed as I was pulled into the trial grounds. The Green Giant gripped his battle axe and stood in front of me. Glaring at me and waving his arms about, he laughed loudly and said, ¡°Foolish adventurer, come and taste the strength of a mountain!¡± A quick glance brought up the Green Giant¡¯s stat screen¡ª Green Giant (Elite) Level: 70 Attack: 420~550 Defense: 400 HP: 12000 Skill: Slayer Slash, Desperate Gambit, Flurry Chapter 124: Chaos Ice Cave I gasped involuntarily when I saw the Green Giant¡¯s amazing stats. Not only were his Attack, Defense and HP all much stronger than the usual mob¡¯s, he had three skills in total. It was no wonder that he was considered an elite. I had personally tasted the terrifying power that was Desperate Gambit myself, and this Green Giant probably had a Flurry at Rank 6, meaning that he had a chance of triggering 2 to 4 consecutive attacks in one attack. Mn, there is definitely a chance of me being one-shot! A timer appeared in my HUD, counting down seconds to the battle. ¡°3!¡± ¡°2!¡± ¡°1!¡± I waved my hand and summoned the Dark Wasp. I might not have been able to beat the Green Giant alone, but with the support of my pet the only outcome there could be was certain victory! ¡°Go, my Dark Wasp!¡± The cannon fodder flew straight toward the enemy while I followed behind it like a shadow. The Green Giant only has 12000 total HP, so it should definitely be possible to end this fight quickly! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! The Dark Wasp triggered Flurry, but it only procced 3 attacks. Still, it was enough to shave over a thousand HP from the Green Giant¡¯s health pool and poison him with the Wasp King Poison, turning his already green skin even greener than before. Considering how powerful it was as an attacker, it was definitely worth going through all that trouble to capture it back then! The Green Giant shouted angrily, ¡°You lowly creature!¡± A green glow appeared around his battle axe as he swung the weapon at the Dark Wasp¡¯s head! 447! His attack power was definitely impressive. My pet had almost 500 Defense, but the attack still took a big chunk of its HP. Anyway, it was my turn now! The Ghost Ice Soul turned into a dazzling icicle before plunging into the Green Giant¡¯s chest. Then, as my blade was enveloped in green light, I returned the Slayer Slash he had attacked my Dark Wasp with right back! 789! 914! My Undead Energy gave me quite the boost in the attack department, and the Silver-grade Bone-shatter Legguards I had gotten from Lin Yixin added 50 damage to attacks of the dark element. Right now, my Attack was definitely higher than my pet¡¯s! Swhoosh! The Green Giant changed targets swiftly as his axe flashed gold. It was the visual cue for Flurry! I was ready for this, and my brain delay was hardly crippling these days. I was already backing off by the time the Green Giant raised his battle axe high. The Green Giant swung his axe four times in a row, but I was able to dodge them all perfectly with some quick feet shuffling. As I thought, Rank 6 Flurry can proc four attacks at a time! If the attack had hit me, I might¡¯ve been one-shot, even with 1680 HP! Pardon! Desperate Gambit! The Green Giant shuddered as two damage numbers appeared above his head¡ª MISS! 1985! Haha, I love how much damage I¡¯m doing! But the Green Giant was already swinging its axe toward me before I was done enjoying my own handiwork. The reddish glow surrounding the axe made it clear that he was using Desperate Gambit! Bang! My chest erupted in pain as the battle axe struck flesh. However, a dark glow appeared and negated much of the damage I just received. Ghost Deity Armor was a godsend at Rank 5. 746! Yep, it was as I had suspected. The fact that a Rank 6 Desperate Gambit had only dealt this little damage to me was a clear sign of improvement. In fact, after putting on the Bone-crush Legguards, my base Defense was now a whopping 395 points. Combined with Ghost Deity Armor, my ability to tank damage was at least as good as my Dark Wasp¡¯s, if not higher! In other words, my survivability had completely exceeded the Dark Wasp¡¯s at this point. Regeneration of the Undead regenerated my HP, Energy Amplification increased my Magic Resist, and Enhanced Bones increased my Defense. At the current stage, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to call me a walking fortress. This was especially true considering the high demand for good items right now. Most first-rate pros only had a single piece of Silver-grade equipment, and those who possessed two could do whatever they wanted in Floating Ice City. I, however, had a Gold-grade sword and three pieces of Silver-grade equipment. There was literally no one in the entire city who had better equipment than me. It was the main reason why I had been able to take on a dozen or so top-rate Domination Clan players and come out victorious. When indoors, you rely on your brothers to take care of you. But when outdoors, equipment is what makes the world answer to your beck and call! I drank an HP pot and returned to full health immediately. Meanwhile, the Green Giant only had half his HP left after the Dark Wasp and I worked together to deal over 5000 damage. The latter half of the battle was incredibly simple. After dodging the enemy¡¯s Flurry again and ravaging him repeatedly with the Ghost Ice Soul and Dark Wasp, the Green Giant lost all its HP and collapsed to the ground with a scream. He then looked at me proudly and declared, ¡°Boy, you passed the test only because I didn¡¯t get a good night¡¯s sleep. Anyway, come and claim your Proof of Trial!¡± Ding~! System Notice: You have obtained ¡°Proof of Trial (Chaos Ice Cave: 6 hours)¡±! ¡­... I was teleported back into the frozen valley after I accepted the silver writ from the Green Giant. The mob had returned to the cave entrance, and all I needed to do now was give him the proof to enter the Chaos Ice Cave for six hours. I had a relatively easy time beating the Green Giant, but I couldn¡¯t help but wonder how the others would¡¯ve fared. The Green Giant was a Level 70 elite mob with great stats and even greater skills such as Flurry. I was able to dodge all of his Flurry because I had fast reaction and good prediction skills, but what about the others? I highly doubted that there were more than ten people in the entire Floating Ice City who could dodge his Flurry with absolute certainty, and more than five who could beat the gatekeeper. Lin Yixin and Dominating Heaven Blade had a chance of beating the Green Giant solo. Beiming Xue and Clear Perfume had the range advantage and could probably shoot the Green Giant down before it reached them. Everyone else though, it was impossible to tell. Anyway, this Proof of Trial was also the proof of my strength and moral character. I didn¡¯t need to justify the life I fought by my own hands to anyone. Now then, it¡¯s showtime! Swhoosh! The Proof of Trial vanished, and I was teleported into the Chaos Ice Cave. The proof was untradeable because someone would¡¯ve tried to farm and sell them for say, 100 RMB each. The daily income from the sale would¡¯ve been insane! The interior of the Chaos Ice Cave was dazzling and beautiful. The entire map was made out of ice, and it felt like I was treading inside a giant crystal. There were icicles everywhere, and the ones suspended on the ceiling looked as sharp as swords. I could imagine them piercing and killing a player if they decided to fall for some reason. I opened the map and saw a long corridor. The location was named ¡°Chaos Ice Cave, First Floor¡±! Not far away, I spotted a couple of frosty animals about half my height that were jumping around the area. Their level wasn¡¯t particularly high. Chaos Snow Cat Level: 65 Attack: 375~480 Defense: 350 HP: 6000 Skills: ??? Introduction: A creature that lives on the first floor of the Chaos Ice Cave. These snow spirits are incredibly violent and will attack any living creature on sight. ¡­¡­ These mobs were only Level 65, and their Attack was way weaker compared to the Green Giant. I could probably kill them with way less effort and HP lost! But instead of killing them immediately, I explored the whole area once and found a human guard standing at the corner of an ice cave. He was clad in armor, and he was trying to start a fire to keep himself warm, I presumed. The text floating above his head said ¡°Soldier Hanson¡±! I walked up to him and found the man tearing up and staring at the moonlight shining down from the top floor. He murmured to himself, ¡°Ah, my beloved, I¡¯m going insane. I¡¯ve been trapped in this god-forsaken place for almost half a year, and I don¡¯t want to live by eating these smelly cats any longer¡­¡± I was absolutely certain that this NPC was a quest giver. It wouldn¡¯t be displaying nearly as much melancholy otherwise. When Soldier Hanson noticed me, he exclaimed in surprise, ¡°You¡­ you are?¡± I looked at the mark of Floating Ice City on my arm and said, ¡°Oh, I¡¯m an adventurer from Floating Ice City. Is there anything I can help you with?¡± The cloudiness behind Hanson¡¯s eyes immediately cleared up significantly. He said joyfully, ¡°An adventurer from Floating Ice City? That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s wonderful! I can¡¯t believe that you found this place! The day of freedom has finally arrived!¡± Hanson then declared loudly, ¡°Warrior from the distant lands, the fact that you are here is already proof of your courage. There is something I would like you to achieve for me.¡± I nodded. Hanson said, ¡°The natural order of Chaos Ice Cave has been upset. The cave is divided into three floors in total. I need you to kill at least 100 evil creatures on each floor, and collect 10 Cat Claws, 10 Polar Bear Paws, and 10 Ice Wolf Teeth for me. Do that, and I¡¯ll finally be able to leave this god-forsaken place. I promise to reward you generously as a token of my gratitude!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Do you accept the quest ¡°The Evil of Chaos Ice Cave¡±? (Current Quest Rank: A) ¡­¡­ An A-rank quest? Some of these mobs must be pretty powerful. There was no free lunch in this world, and the risk must be proportional to the reward. I clicked ¡°Accept¡± to confirm the quest. Finally, it was time to kill some monsters! Luckily, the quest requirement wasn¡¯t too strict, or I might not be able to complete the quest before 6 hours were up. Still, I ¡®d like to at least try and clear out the whole place in 6 hours! With the Dark Wasp by my side, I pounced toward the nearest Chaos Snow Cat and attacked it with Ice Ray! Puchi! The freezing effect of my skill was half as effective as usual, but it was to be expected. The snow cat was an ice-element monster after all. Despite being called a cat, the Chaos Snow Cat wasn¡¯t cute in the slightest. It whaled on my Dark Wasp as if it had rabies, leaving wounds all across its body. Luckily, its attack was low enough to be negligible, unlike the damage my Dark Wasp and I were inflicting to it in return. In less than 10 seconds¡¯ time, the Chaos Snow Cat was as dead as a dodo. Pop! A short, stumpy claw fell to the floor, and when I picked it up it was exactly what I was expecting to see, the Cat Claw! I threw it into my backpack and continued along my rampage! The Chaos Snow Cats fell one after another as I killed my way through the first floor of the Chaos Ice Cave. In the process, I realized the place was filled with riches. The ore reservoirs here were much bigger and more varied than the ones at that so-called Fallen Geese Mine! I spotted Copper, Iron, Gold, Silver, Bright Silver, Purple Gold and more. Practically all kinds of beginner to intermediate-grade ores could be mined from this place. Tsk tsk, if a high-level miner were to enter this place, they would probably faint from happiness. But it looked like the first floor offered no ingredients. I would have to go to the second or third floor to get some. Chapter 125: Chaos Necklace Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your pet ¡°Xinran¡± has gained a talent boost in the Netherworld and an item, ¡°Skeletal Wristguards¡±! ¡­¡­ ¡°Huh?¡± I was stunned. The little skeleton slowly walking out of the summoning formation was still Level 1, but her bones had become a lot more complete than before. Besides that, I could see high-quality black wristguards around her wrists... Once again, my common sense was being challenged. Since when could a pet gain items in the Netherworld? W-was this a bug or something? But I quickly thought better of it. Xinran¡¯s quest was an SSS Rank quest after all, so I guessed that a bit of unusualness was to be expected. However, the fact that her level was still one proved that she could obtain equipment and even increase her talent in the Netherworld, but not levels. She would need my help in that department. I gave the skeleton a nod and greeted her. ¡°Hi, Xinran?¡± But she simply stared at a distant Chaos Snow Cat and growled menacingly. She seemed to be aware that the Chaos Snow Cat was a very dangerous foe, and she wasn¡¯t wrong. The Chaos Snow Cat could definitely send her back to the Netherworld in one hit. I ordered the Dark Wasp to fight the Chaos Snow Cat. In a 1v1 situation, it only took 20% HP for my pet to kill the Chaos Snow Cat, but of course I wasn¡¯t going to let it do all the hard work on its own. Without a priest, even a calculated battle of attrition wasn¡¯t sustainable if the HP loss was quicker than anticipated. Two Chaos Snow Cats and a shoosh of golden light later, Xinran had reached Level 2. As I thought, her stat growth was far higher than the Dark Wasp¡¯s! I went back to grinding. Low-level pets tended to level very quickly, and Xinran reached Level 7 in no time. However, she didn¡¯t respond to my orders at all! Me: ¡°Xinran, can you attack that cat to the right?¡± Little Skeleton: ¡°...¡± Me: ¡°Xinran, can you give me a smile?¡± Little Skeleton: ¡°...¡± Me: "Xinran, have you forgotten about me?¡± Little Skeleton: ¡°...¡± In the end, I gave up. Maybe this extremely egocentric skeleton wasn¡¯t the gentle and kind-hearted loli I knew at all. Maybe she had moved on after I killed Suren and took revenge for her. I shook my head and went back to the grind. Each player could learn one type of production skill, and while I was lucky enough to pick up two, a third one was truly beyond my reach. Therefore, I had no choice but to give up on the rich minerals that filled the entirety of the first floor. What can you do? Sometimes some things on the path of life are just destined to pass you by! The end of the first floor was a staircase made out of ice. I walked up and reached the second floor without a hitch. ¡°Roar roar!¡± My vision turned dizzy all of a sudden. It was because a Frost Polar Bear had punched me the moment I entered the second floor! Still, I supposed that I should count myself lucky. Not everyone gets to ¡°eat¡± a legendary dish that was meant only for the rich, you know? 298! Once again, Ghost Deity Armor proved itself to be an incredible skill. Despite having a higher level than me, the polar bear couldn¡¯t even hit me for 300 damage. Right now I had almost 1700 HP, and I couldn¡¯t feel any pressure fighting against an enemy who couldn¡¯t take away more than 20% HP in one hit. The Dark Wasp charged forward, poisoned and flurried the polar bear¡¯s ass like it had done this a million times in its life. I took my own revenge by imbuing my weapon in green energy and eliciting a yelp from the polar bear with Slayer Slash. The polar bear died in the blink of an eye, and it dropped a quest item, a Polar Bear Claw. I supposed that my luck was pretty good right now. Unfortunately it wasn¡¯t a food ingredient. I wish I could make a Bear Paw Soup or something that instantly restored 10000 MP! The Frost Polar Bear was a Level 68 monster, so it offered even more experience than the Chaos Snow Cats. Naturally, I was full of motivation. Sometimes the mobs would drop a Big Magic Stone or two, but I didn¡¯t pick them up. As a Cooking God who thought ahead, there were only two things that could capture my attention right now: cooking ingredients and beautiful women. Everything else was as ephemeral as the fleeting clouds to me. Around seven or eight dead Frost Polar Bears later, I reached the center of the floor where I discovered a lot of food ingredients. Unfortunately, there were a lot of Green Peppers and Garlics, but no Fish Meat. Without Fish Meat, I couldn¡¯t create more Steamed Fish Soup to sell. What meaning is there to life if it doesn¡¯t involve making a lot of money? Swhoosh! I used Death Plunder and looted the pelt off the Frost Polar Bear. It was a Rank 6 pelt, meaning that Yamete could use it to create Level 60 cloth armors. Another hour or so passed in the blink of an eye, and I had reached the end of the second floor. I had added over 200 Rank 6 Frost Polar Bear Pelts to my backpack, and I had collected the Polar Bear Paws necessary to fulfill the quest a long time ago. As I looked behind me, I noticed that a lot of polar bears had respawned on the floor. It would seem that the map¡¯s respawn time was pretty short. It was a great map for leveling. Unfortunately, I was equally certain that this map was a key area that many ambitious players would like to take over as soon as possible. It would be wiser to take what I wanted and move on! After foraging all the Green Peppers and Garlics, I left the second floor and entered the third floor! The third floor of the Chaos Ice Cave was populated by Level 70 Frost Battle Wolves. They were ferocious animals that were as tall as a human, and their Attack, Defense and HP were high enough to drive anyone mad. Unfortunately for them, their pelts were also Rank 6, so I had no choice but to leave none alive. As I was progressing forward, I suddenly received a message from Murong Mingyue. ¡°Lu Chen, you there?¡± ¡°Mn. What¡¯s up, sis?¡± ¡°Do you know any map that we can grind for high-level ores? Gold, silver, etc. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls needs a mine so that Xu Yang can upgrade his Mining skill, and a colleague of mine his Blacksmithing skill.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The numerous ores on the first floor entered my mind, so I replied, ¡°Form a team and come to the edge of Silver Moon Forest. The coordinates are (27854, 19833)!¡± ¡°Wow, that¡¯s pretty far¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, it takes about an hour of travel from Floating Ice City. But you should come over because the first floor of the map¡ªit¡¯s called Chaos Ice Cave¡ªis filled with ores. It should be enough to push a miner all the way from Rank 4 to 6.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Really. Why would I lie to you?¡± ¡°In that case, we¡¯ll head there immediately. Are you there right now?¡± ¡°Mn. I¡¯ll come out and help you once you arrive!¡± ¡°Okay~¡± Excited by the news, Murong Mingyue left the chat to prepare while I went back to killing Frost Battle Wolves and collecting wolf pelts. Since Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had Xu Yang and a blacksmith, weapons shouldn¡¯t be a problem for the guild in the future. I might as well spend the extra effort and help Xu Yang rank up his Mining skill as much as possible! I observed the third floor for a moment and found a ton of unusual plants. Too bad I didn¡¯t know how to gather herbs. However, I knew exactly one beautiful woman who was an expert in this department! I sent a message to Lin Yixin: ¡°Herbalist Lin, how interested are you in a super herb gathering spot?¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s reply came quickly: ¡°You know one?¡± ¡°Yep. The coordinates are (27854, 19833)!¡± ¡°Okay. Just gimme a minute. I still have two stacks of potions to sell!¡± ¡°...¡± Dammit, she¡¯s busy with business? What a waste of my gesture of love. I stopped conserving my pots so I could clear out the third floor as soon as possible. Less than two hours later, I reached Level 62. During my grind I had collected over five hundred Rank 6 pelts. It should be enough for Yamete to improve his Armorsmithing skill. It was time to turn in my quest, but I soon realized that the way back was clogged by monsters. This is the time I use my ultimate skill! I shouted, ¡°Divine talent¡ªMap wipe!¡± Absolutely nothing happened at all. Fine, I¡¯ll do this the mundane way instead. I muttered ¡°Earth Escape¡± and went underground. Then, I slowly crawled my way back to the first floor! By the time I reached the first floor, the density of mobs had become a lot more threatening than before. I carefully weaved my way to the entrance before revealing myself to the NPC, Soldier Hanson. Then, I turned in the items necessary to complete the quest: 10 Cat Claws, 10 Polar Bear Paws and 10 Ice Wolf Teeth! ¡°Ah!¡± Hanson rose to his feet agitatedly while clutching the quest items. ¡°Young warrior, you are amazing! I can¡¯t believe you actually killed all those powerful monsters! Come, this is the reward you deserve!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest ¡°The Evil of Chaos Ice Cave.¡± You have gained 150000 EXP, 700 Reputation and the quest item, ¡°Chaos Necklace¡±! ¡°Oh? A necklace¡­¡± I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn¡¯t expecting an A-rank quest to reward me with a necklace! I hurriedly opened the backpack and found a shining necklace. It had a blood-red heart for a pendant, giving it a murderous appearance. I waved my hand, bringing up its stats screen. I was shocked. Chaos Necklace (Silver-grade) Strength: +27 Stamina: +25 Passive: Increases the user¡¯s Attack by 4% Level Requirement: 60 ¡­¡­ Cool! A necklace that adds Attack was top-tier to say the least! In Heavenblessed, the chances of a necklace or a ring dropping were incredibly low, much less an awesome one that added a whopping 4% to Attack. Most people were incredibly disappointed when they discovered that their Bronze or Dark Steel¨Cgrade necklaces had useless bonuses like 4% fire resistance or 3% accuracy. In my case I hadn¡¯t even seen the shadow of one even though I was past Level 60 already. It was a testament to the item¡¯s abysmal drop rate. The moment I equipped the necklace, my stats skyrocketed to a whole new level! ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Class: Undead Swordsman (Silver Swordsman) Level: 62 HP: 1900 Attack: 378~621 Defense: 402 Magic Resist: 228 Reputation: 20895 Luck: 0 ¡­¡­ At the current stage of the game, 621 Attack, 402 Defense and 228 Magic Resist should be pretty impressive. If I threw in Enhanced Bones and Ghost Deity Armor into the equation, then my actual Defense was probably around 800 points or so. My sky-high stats were enough to make most melee players wail in despair! It was almost time for my ¡°guests¡± to show up, so I left the Chaos Ice Cave and appeared next to the Green Giant. I looked pretty impressive in my blood-red cloak, my shining armor and my Ghost Ice Soul, if I do say so myself. Holding my head high, I waited for Murong Mingyue, Xu Yang and Lin Yixin to arrive. Chapter 126: Brute-type Soft Sister Outside Snow Valley, a group of people wound their way toward the Chaos Ice Cave! The leader was familiar to me. At closer look, this was an old enemy, Purple Marquis! Presently, Purple Marquis was a popular person in Floating Ice City. Ranked fourth, he had refined steel armor and wielded a sharp blade. His expression was slightly dark as he moved with steady steps toward the Chaos Ice Cave! Damn it, such bad luck. A group was coming at this time when Xu Yang and the others were arriving! Undoubtedly, Purple Marquis wanted to monopolize the Chaos Ice Cave. They probably didn''t know that I had already gone through it. While the monsters in Chaos Ice Cave were not rare resources, the herbs and ore within were relatively valuable. Especially at the start of the game, the ores were even more precious! Countless thoughts flashed through my mind. However, the first thing I had to do was to conceal myself. There were more than a dozen high-level players behind Purple Marquis. If we really fought, I may not be their match, especially since Purple Marquis was among their ranks. His mechanics were good, his movement sharp, and his level was close to mine. Just him alone was troublesome. If the archer behind him started shooting arrows at me, I wouldn¡¯t survive! I retreated slightly, turning into a stream of bloody red energy, merging into the ground. At this time, Earth Escape was my lucky star! ¡­¡­ Beep! Murong Mingyue sent a message:"We are arriving in five minutes. Lu Chen, how about I add you?" "Yes!" I responded and received an invitation. After accepting, I joined a three-person party: I, Xu Yang, and Murong Mingyue. "Oh, it''s Brother Broken Halberd!" Xu Yang laughed and greeted me. Murong Mingyue said, "Sinks Into Sand, ignore this idiot. Describe the situation of Chaos Ice Cave?" I nodded and said, "You must obtain a rite of passage to enter Chaos Ice Cave. To get it, you must defeat a Level 70 elite monster, so there are not many people with the strength to enter Chaos Ice Cave.¡± "Oh? Then how will we enter?" "No problem. Come over and we will take it. Also, prepare for PvP. Purple Marquis has brought a group of the Shadow Clan around the Chaos Ice Cave. I think he came for the cave. Everyone, be alert!" "Oh, yes, alright!" "Can you give me party leader?" "Oh?" Murong Mingyue was surprised but gave me the position of party leader. After accepting, I immediately sent an invitation to Lin Yixin. Several seconds later. Beep¡ª Party Notice: Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± has joined the party! ¡­¡­ "?" Xu Yang was shocked. "Beauty... Beauty Wind. Why... Why are you joining our party?" Lin Yixin was silent for a few seconds and asked, "Who are you?" "?!" Murong Mingyue generously sent a greeting. "Hi, Beauty Fantasy, nice to meet you. Are you coming for the Chaos Ice Cave?" "Yes!" Lin Yixin laughed. "So it is Murong Mingyue, the legendary beautiful priest of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Haha, pleased to meet you too. Remember to give me some buffs later~~~" "No problem!" It was easy for women to get acquainted. Even though they had not interacted much previously, Lin Yixin clearly had a good impression of Murong Mingyue. Similarly, Murong Mingyue felt that Lin Yixin, this famed Fruit Knife Goddess of China, was very strong in the game, and her beauty was great. Beep! Murong Mingyue sent over a message: "Lu Chen, tell me honestly. What is your relationship with this Wind Fantasy. Have you gotten her already?" I was torn between laughing and crying. I responded, "Sis Mingyue, do not worry so much. She and I are just friends, we aren''t at that point!" Murong Mingyue stilled. A few seconds later, she sent a message: "It¡¯s for the best¡­ I can see that this girl is not ordinary. You might not be able to handle her. Your body might recover, but your personality won¡¯t change. If you want a girlfriend, find one in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Eve is the brute-type, Lian Xin is the soft-type. If you want a brute-type soft girl, you can find me~~" I almost spurted out. As expected, after more than a year, Murong Mingyue was still the same and would always tease when she saw a handsome man. In the past, just a few words could cause a pure young man to be unsettled and anxious. This was one of Murong Mingyue''s greatest traits. She could move easily around the business world with this smooth and clever method. After becoming He Yi''s assistant, in the GGS Asian Region, she, Murong Mingyue, was a famous person! Of course, all of that she had told me by herself. As to what the reality was, I had no way of knowing. Maybe she was just an ordinary front desk receptionist. After struggling a while, I responded, "Sis Mingyue, are you about to arrive? Don¡¯t be in a hurry to approach. You and Xu Yang meet up with Lin Yixin. There may be PvP soon. With Lin Yixin joining, our chances of victory will double.¡± "Yes, understood. Be careful!" "Alright~" ¡­¡­ At this time, Purple Marquis was leading a group of people over. All of them had names with the word "Shadow.¡± These were my old enemies, and also Xu Yang and Murong Mingyue''s old enemies. We had not clashed just one or twice. Our grievances run deep. Purple Marquis held his sword and walked forward. After talking for a while, he returned and said, "We must kill the Green Giant to obtain a trial certificate. We can then enter the Chaos Ice Cave for 6 hours. How about I go first?" "Alright!" The people behind him nodded in unison. They clearly respected Purple Marquis greatly. After all, the experts on the Heavenly Ranking were all popular people, like the superstars of real society. Many players chased after stars. For example, Lin Yixin. As a beautiful female player, Lin Yixin''s influence in the Floating Ice City was unrivaled. If she waved her arm and called, Snowy Cathaya would be full of talent and no one could rival them! Purple Marquis quickly started the battle, his figure disappearing with a whoosh, teleported to the trial space. About two minutes later, Purple Marquis reappeared. He raised the trial certificate in his hand and laughed out loud. "Nothing major. Come, go try!" "Alright!" The members of the Shadow Clan went to try. After several seconds, one of the players on the outside had an ugly expression. "Purple Marquis, this is bad. They did not defeat the Green Giant and... were sent back to Floating Ice City, dropped one level...¡± "?" Purple Marquis was shocked. He shook his head and said, "Are they too green? Never mind, then you return as well. I will go look around by myself and level up my Mining skill!" My heart jerked. Damn, this guy is a miner? This was not good. I had called Xu Yang over to mine. If Purple Marquis went into the Chaos Ice Cave first, wouldn''t Xu Yang have come for nothing? I could not disappoint my brother. This was a principle of my life! "Attack!" I held my sword and erupted out of the earth. The Ghost Ice Soul headed like lightning for Purple Marquis, immediately turning into an icy spike that crashed onto the warrior¡¯s shoulder. Buzz! The earth-colored armor around Purple Marquis took form. This was a Warrior defensive skill¡ªSteel Protection! However, the Steel Protection could only increase Defense by 15%, so it was much worse than my Ghost Deity Armor. Basically, even Rank 4 Ghost Deity Armor was on that level. Currently, my Ghost Deity Armor was at Rank 6 and offered a boost of 18%. It also stacked with the 100 Defense of my third-promotion skill Enhanced Bones. Clearly, in terms of Defense and survivability, Undead Swordsman class was much superior to the ordinary Warrior! 487! The Ghost Ice Soul attack wasn''t able to draw too much blood. Purple Marquis''s equipment was extraordinary, and he could be called a strong enemy! "Ha, it''s you?!" Quickly turning around, Purple Marquis looked at me. He snickered, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? I was itching to fight you but I didn''t think you would come to me!" "Really?" I smiled and the Ghost Ice Soul came like a snake. Purple Marquis''s expression turned cold and he used a combo attack¡ªAssault + Heavy Slash! 347! 332! My powerful Defense was greatly effective. The Ghost Deity buzzed. As Purple Marquis created two attacks in succession, I raised Ghost Ice Soul. Pardon! MISS! A large MISS arose. Purple Marquis¡¯s expression twisted. The Pardon skill had become my trademark long ago and had a legend on Floating Ice City''s forums. Once the Silver Moon Devil used Pardon, his enemy¡¯s life would be reaped. "Hmph!" Purple Marquis suddenly changed targets. His figure suddenly dashed away and immediately stunned a low-level snowman mob 14 yards away. He actually... actually charged at a monster to avoid the attack after my Pardon? I grimaced inside. Damn, Purple Marquis was very fast and had learned the Charge skill. This person was as troublesome as expected! Without hesitation, I also used Charge. This could be called a Charge combo. Before Purple Marquis could react, he was already stunned. Just like the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. The pitiful snowman mob did not even realize the situation before dozens of targets appeared. "How... How is this possible? Purple Marquis looked directly at me, his eyes filled with shock and unwillingness. He was shocked that I knew a high-level skill like Charge, and was unwilling to die like this! Crack! Desperate Gambit came down, and Purple Marquis knelt with a grunt. ¡­¡­ In reality, Purple Marquis and I were not archenemies. However, our two clans had too many grievances. I could only kill on sight. If I didn¡¯t, I would be the one dying. Also, so what if I killed him? Chapter 127: He Yis Sense of Direction Volley! Pa pa pa. Several consecutive shots sounded as Rank 5 Volley unleashed 7 arrows. The hit rate was high, and four arrows accurately struck me. The damage numbers flew chaotically. Fortunately, each attack only created about 100 points of damage. With my Defense and Ghost Deity Armor, the other could not easily break through. Once Purple Marquis was killed, the Shadow Clan was in chaos. There were only three people left, one of them Shadow Deep Sea. He relied on his long-distance skills to attack me. One of the other two was a bard and the other, a tactician. Neither of them had formidable offensive power. "Die!" I raised my sword and dashed toward Shadow Deep Sea. If I killed this high-level archer, there would be nothing left for me to fear. But after a few steps, I was stunned by the scene in front of me¡ª Out of blue, a low-level little skeleton with steel wristguards stumbled over, barely able to keep steady and roared, charging at Shadow Deep Sea. Its bone sword rose. Crack It sliced past the other''s greaves and created a laughable damage number¡ª5! The little skeleton never listened to my orders and always ran around randomly when leveling up. But just now, when Shadow Deep Sea was attacking me, the little skeleton risked its life to attack Shadow Deep Sea... Suddenly, I had a feeling and instinctively murmured, "Xinran, is this you?" The little skeleton looked back, its face unspeakably terrifying and snarling. Immediately a thousand and one voices echoed in my mind. This is not Xinran, this is not Xinran. Snap! Shadow Deep Sea shook his bow and crushed the little skeleton into powder with an arrow. Then he jumped backward and shouted, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you trash. Just wait, the Shadow Clan will get revenge!" Before he finished speaking, a sword ray flashed! Crack! A sword swirling with snowflakes passed through Shadow Deep Sea''s chest, creating over 700 points of damage. He had been instantly killed! The moment Shadow Deep Sea knelt down, the attacker was revealed. This was a beautiful female warrior. Who else could it be except Lin Yixin? There were only a few people in Floating Ice City who were able to kill an archer like Shadow Deep Sea so easily. Looking at Shadow Deep Sea''s corpse, Lin Yixin pouted. "This guy was speaking so arrogantly just now...¡± "I heard nothing...¡± "He seemed to have called you trash...¡± "Shove it!" "Keke~" Behind Lin Yixin, the beautiful priest Murong Mingyue appeared along with the powerful Xu Yang. The warrior and the priest were a reasonable choice for a party. "You came?" I spread my hands and smiled. "Yes!" Murong Mingyue nodded and said, "Let''s start leveling, and then have Xu Yang go mine inside!" "Alright!" Xu Yang went forward to submit the quest for the trial space. I hurriedly blocked him and said, "Wait first!" "What is it, Broken Halberd?" Xu Yang said in surprise. I asked, "Level 70 elite monster, its Defense and Attack power are both above yours. Are you confident you can win? If you cannot, you will drop a level!" "?" Xu Yang was surprised. "Damn! I am just over Level 50. How can I kill a Level 70 elite monster?" Whoosh! At the side, Lin Yixin had teleported into the trial space. Before Xu Yang finished speaking, Lin Yixin had been transported back with a paper scroll in hand. She murmured, "So this is the Proof of Trial...¡± Immediately, Xu Yang wanted to die. They were both elite players, but why was the disparity so great? Murong Mingyue smiled, walked forward, and said, "Sinks Into Sand, since you called me and Xu Yang over, I think you must have a way for us to obtain trial certificates, right?" "Yes!" I nodded seriously, and pointed at the Dark Wasp flying around my shoulder. I said, "This is a boss-tier pet, super high BN, Defense, Attack and HP. I¡¯ll give it to you. With its help, you shouldn''t have a problem killing the Green Giant. Xu Yang will just need to help it a bit. Beauty Mingyue, you can just heal it and let it do all the work.¡± "Alright!" Murong Mingyue nodded happily and suddenly said, "But we are only second-promotion players and have one pet slot, what to do?" "No problem. First, give your pets to me. When you get the trial certificate, you can take it back!" "Yes, alright!" Murong Mingyue smiled. "Let''s do this!" At this time, Xu Yang showed a hint of wariness and pulled Murong Mingyue''s sleeve. He said in a low voice, "Murong, are you crazy? How can you trade your pet to someone else? That¡¯s the pet we worked hard to raise...¡± Murong Mingyue rolled her eyes at him and said, "Use your dumb head to think. He¡¯s willing to lend a boss-tier pet like the Dark Wasp to you. What is your Wasp worth compared to it?" "Ugh....¡± Xu Yang thought for a moment and agreed with Murong Mingyue''s statement. ¡­¡­ Consequently, Murong Mingyue traded her Wasp to me and then I handed the Dark Wasp to her. Heavenblessed''s rules allowed for trade of pets, but only ones that were within 10 levels of the owner. Otherwise, they could not be summoned. Now, Murong Mingyue, a Level 55 priest, had a Level 62 Dark Wasp. Both of them wouldn¡¯t have any problems challenging the Green Giant. As expected, a minute later, Murong Mingyue came back with a Proof of Trial. The Dark Wasp had about 75% HP, and recovered to full HP with two healing spells. Mingyue was so strong! Then, the Dark Wasp was traded to Xu Yang. Murong Mingyue added a healing spell to the Dark Wasp. It would recover a certain amount of HP over 30 seconds. While not much, it was some help nonetheless. Xu Yang was a violent warrior with full focus on Strength. His Attack was extraordinary. With the Dark Wasp as a meatshield and cooperating with his own attacks, he could just brute force his way through. I believed he would have no problems. However, a minute later, Xu Yang came out, but not the Dark Wasp! "You got the Proof of Trial?" I asked. Xu Yang had an ashamed expression. "I did. But... Broken Halberd, your Dark Wasp died...¡± I smiled. "No problem. Pets level up quickly, I don''t care!" "Yes, thank you!" He traded the Dark Wasp back to me. Xu Yang and Murong Mingyue went into the Chaos Ice Cave together. I looked around and found Lin Yixin had disappeared. I inspected the party information and found that she was already on the second floor of the Chaos Ice Cave. What kind of speed was this? She probably didn''t fight monsters on the way and just forced her way through! "I will leave the party first. Qingqing wants to add me!" Lin Yixin said. "Yes, go ahead!" "Alright!" After a beep, a party notice came: Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± has left the party! ¡­¡­ I remained outside. Just as I was planning whether I should get another trial certificate, I received a notice, I couldn¡¯t obtain a trial certificate within 24 hours! Damn, there was nothing for me to do today! In the party channel, I said helplessly, "Beauty Mingyue, you level up in there. Players can only enter once per day. I can¡¯t go in anymore.¡± Murong Mingyue laughed and said, "Oh, alright. Xu Yang has already started to mine!" "Then I¡¯ll take my leave." "Oh. No, wait!¡± Murong Mingyue smiled and said, "Eve just told me she¡¯s come. She is in Silver Moon Forest but seems to be lost. I will add her to the party. Bring her here, please?" I stilled. He Yi also came? "Add her then...¡± "Alright!" A few seconds later¡­ Party Notice: Player ¡°From Water¡± has joined the party! ¡­¡­ I looked. He Yi had been working hard recently and reached Level 48. At the current stage of the game, Level 48 magic knight could be considered to be an intermediate or even high-level player. Of course it was mostly due to the hard work of Xu Yang and Murong Mingyue. To gain others¡¯ respect, He Yi had to have a high level. I opened the big map. There was a small orange dot in Silver Moon Forest. She wasn''t far from here, just about fifteen minutes. I summoned the Dark Wasp. The little skeleton silently stayed in the pet space and the interface showed that it temporarily could not be summoned. Who knew what that little skeleton was doing in the Netherworld. I sprinted my way through. The flora of Silver Moon Forest was beautiful, as though each plant was competing in beauty with the flora nearby. The scene was accentuated by purple sparrows flying amid the trees. After more than ten minutes, my location almost merged with He Yi''s orange dot. We were very close! I pushed aside the dense branches and suddenly saw a beautiful knight standing in a forest clearing. She held a sharp sword, her long hair swaying in the wind. She wore elegant silver armor which delineated her beautiful figure. Her chest was almost bursting through her clothes. Her cloak swayed behind her, stretching over half of her long legs. He Yi. It really is He Yi! In Floating Ice City, the only female player that could rival Lin Yixin in beauty was probably He Yi! In the forest, He Yi looked around in confusion as she muttered, "Mingyue said it was here. The coordinates are so close, why is this not right? Which way is south... Oh, what kind of map is this? Heavenblessed is terrible. I will go back and talk to Ling Xue and Ling Yue. What kind of map did they design? Shouldn''t a game''s map have a path that goes all the way???" He Yi raged against the system, her beautiful eyes full of anger. I found this amusing and suddenly thought of something Murong Mingyue had once said. He Yi was famed for her terrible sense of direction. Once, a president of the main company came to Shanghai, and He Yi drove the car to the airport to get him. But she made thirteen circles around the center and couldn''t find the exit of the elevated road. In the end, she received the beautiful moniker of "Miss Central Thirteen". In the game, He Yi''s lack of direction was on full display, and frequently would make people vomit blood. ¡­¡­ Holding the Ghost Ice Soul, I walked out of the forest behind He Yi. I smiled faintly and said, "Hi, Eve!" He Yi suddenly turned around. Finding it was me, her beautiful eyes filled with hope. Chapter 128: Who Will Fight Me He Yi looked directly at me, her mouth wide, but unable to say a word. I looked at her and said calmly. "I heard you were lost. Murong Mingyue told me to find you.¡± "Oh...¡± He Yi lowered her head, her gaze flashing. She did not look at me. Maybe because I had not reached the stage of Asura, my voice was still so low and hoarse. It was very different from reality, so she did not recognize it. I slowly turned around and had the Dark Wasp open the way. Looking back, I said, "Come with me. The monsters in Silver Moon Forest are high-level. Your level is so low¡­ just don¡¯t die.¡± "Yes.¡± He Yi nodded and said, "I have something I want to ask you.¡± "Yes, what is it?" "How did you meet Murong? Why¡­ are you so familiar with each other? Also, why do I feel you are avoiding me and never accept my friend requests?" He Yi''s words struck my heart like lightning bolts. I did not know how to respond, and almost turned to stone. I couldn''t stammer out a word. "Hmph...¡± He Yi smiled and said, "I am not stupid. Mingyue is not strong enough to get a Hero''s Token. Why are you helping her?" "I...¡± I still could not give an answer. Under He Yi''s beautiful eyes, all my defenses have been thoroughly broken. "Hm, let me guess...¡± He Yi looked at me and said with a smile. "Mingyue''s relatives are all in America, you cannot be her kin. Then there is only one reason left, you¡ªare courting Mingyue?" "?" My mouth gaped. I hurriedly said, "You... Don¡¯t misunderstand. There is no such thing!" He Yi giggled. "See, you panicked! How could you be so good to her otherwise? Tell me, what do you like about her?" "I really have no intentions toward her...¡± I continued to explain. He Yi raised her delicate brows in disbelief. "Fine, don''t believe me.¡± I spread my hands and continued to walk forward. He Yi followed me closely. When we were close to the Chaos Ice Cave, I finally couldn''t resist asking, "Okay now. Your level isn¡¯t high enough and you cannot enter the Chaos Ice Cave. Why did you even come...¡± "?" He Yi''s eyes were wide as she looked in shock at me. A few seconds later, she said helplessly, "This map has a level limit?" "Yes, you must kill a Level 70 elite monster to enter. Can you do so?" "No...¡± ¡­¡­ The two of us were stuck outside the map. He Yi hugged her sword and leaned against the cold granite, her beautiful eyes moving around my body. This made me have a feeling that I could not hide any secrets from her sight, and she saw everything. I felt slightly uncomfortable and said, "Then wait for Hot Sun and Murong Mingyue. I¡¯m returning to the city. If you need me, find me!" He Yi looked at me with wide eyes. She didn''t say anything and nodded minutely. Whoosh! When I returned to Floating Ice City, it was filled with people. Coincidentally, Yamete sent over a message: "Lu Chen, quick, come to the Holy Temple, I have something good to show you!" "Oh, on my way!" I sprinted over with my sword and found Yamete, Du Thirteen, and Beiming Xue. All three had excited expressions. "What is it?" "Look at this!" Mamate came over with a fiery-red leather armor flashing with light in his hand. I took it and noticed Mamate¡¯s unique mark. The armor¡¯s stats were unusually good¡ª Greedy Wolf Armor (Steel-grade) Defense: 40 Agility: +18 Stamina: +7 Passive: Increases the user''s Agility by 2% and critical rate by 1.2% Level Requirement: 50 Creator: Yamete ¡­¡­ I laughed. "Mamate is mighty to craft a leather armor with such high stats. Tsk, tsk, a leather armor like this can be sold for at least 100 gold, right?" Yamete nodded. "Yes! Lu Chen, do you know what these Greedy Wolf Armor are made out of?" "Pelts?" "Yes, they were made from the pelts you had given me. They¡¯re amazing. I made so many leather armors. Although not all of them came out as good as this, there are entire batches of them!" Yamete was very excited and produced more than a dozen pieces of leather armor with a wave of his hand. They were all Greedy Wolf Armors, but all had different stats. The Defense ranged between 35~42 points and added between 15~20 points of Agility while the Stamina bonus was around 7 points. The best one had 42 Defense and 19 Agility. From its stats alone, it could rival Silver-grade equipment! "Lu Chen, you decide. What should we do with this batch?" Yamete laughed and said, "Do we sell it or use it ourselves? Lil Beiming doesn''t need them, her chest armor is better.¡± I thought for a moment and said, "Sell, and raise funds for the workshop. Right now is a good chance to make money. We have to plan for the future. Otherwise, we won''t even have bread to eat in the future!" "Alright!" Du Thirteen was excited and immediately wanted to leave, but Beiming Xue pulled him back by the collar in front of me. "What is it, Beiming?" I asked. Beiming Xue said, "There is a new notice on the forums posted just moments ago. Did you see it?" "What notice?" We all asked in unison. Beiming Xue smiled. "The major cities are going to hold a regional tournament, team fights. Five people. With nine tier 2 cities, there will be nine champions. The rewards are bountiful. I even heard that one of the rewards is a certain Hero¡¯s Token!" My eyes lit up. "Really?" "Yes!" I hurriedly opened the forums. As expected, on the front page of Heavenblessed''s official website, there was a banner with the words "Who Will Fight Me" written in golden characters, and with the diagram of a sword. Following that was a string of words, "All servers of Heavenblessed, in total 129 cities have launched an event at the same time¡ª[Who Will Fight Me]! This was a tournament for teams of five. Single-elimination format. Teams that win the championship will receive generous rewards. I was not concerned with anything else, but if the championship reward was a Hero''s Token like Beiming Xue said, this was what the Bloody Mercenaries needed the most. Once we had a Hero''s Token, we could create our guild, and our Bloody Mercenaries would formally have our own faction and people! I opened the thread, and my eyes lit up. As expected¡ª [Who Will Fight Me] Rewards for reaching 1/8 finals: Level +1, Reputation +1000, one prize lottery draw, maximum reward: Dark Steel¨Cgrade equipment! [Who Will Fight Me] Rewards for reaching quarterfinals: Level +2, Reputation +2000, one prize lottery draw, maximum reward: Silver-grade equipment! [Who Will Fight Me] Rewards for reaching semifinals: Level +2, Reputation +2500, one prize lottery draw, maximum reward: Gold-grade equipment! [Who Will Fight Me] Rewards for 2nd place: Level +3, Reputation +3000, one prize lottery draw, maximum reward: Gold-grade equipment! [Who Will Fight Me] Championship team reward: Player Level +3, Reputation +5000, one prize lottery draw, maximum reward: Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment! ¡­¡­ Damn! The rewards were so great. Compared to this, a third-promotion reward was nothing! Immediately, I confirmed my goal. This time, I had to get first in the Floating Ice City region for the ¡°Who Will Fight Me¡± tournament. If we got first place, all of us would rise three levels and get a good piece of equipment. If we were lucky, we could even get a legendary Dark Gold¨Cgrade item! What was a Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment you say? At the current stage it was akin to Divine Armaments! Just me having a Gold-grade weapon was enough for people like Purple Marquis to lose all their courage. If I had a Dark Gold¨Cgrade item, wouldn''t I become invincible? "Finished reading?" Beiming Xue asked with a smile. "Yes.¡± I nodded. "Any thoughts?" Beiming Xue asked. I clenched my fists and said with a small smile, "The championship of Floating Ice City is ours!" Beiming Xue''s smile grew sweeter. "Yes, boss is so domineering. Floating Ice City¡¯s championship spot is ours!" Yamete said, "Gui Guzi is leveling up. We should push hard. Levels will be of major importance in such competition. Also, Lu Chen, have you thought of our line-up?" I smiled slightly. "There are only five people in the workshop. Do I have any choice?" "Haha...¡± Therefore, it was officially confirmed that the five people of the Bloody Mercenaries workshop would attend the Who Will Fight Me competition. Undoubtedly, there would be thousands of teams in Floating Ice City fighting to attend this contest. It was much harder to get any results than we imagined. The China server was always a place with hidden dragons and crouching tigers. There were numerous experts hiding in the deep woods, and hiding their skills and names. But once a tournament like Who Will Fight Me appeared, these experts hiding in the darkness would float to the surface. Floating Ice City was also the server for the Delta region. It had produced Heavenly Kings like Vegetable Tofu Soup and Frivolous Scholar. The place was not lacking experts. This first tournament since the start of Heavenblessed would be full of turmoil and fights between tigers and dragons! I smiled. The chance to create a legend had arrived! ¡­¡­ The forums had exploded. Who Will Fight Me had created enormous waves like a bomb. In the last month, everyone had been busy leveling up. It was like concealing a sword for ten years, and finally having a chance to display it. This tournament came at the perfect time, not a day too early or late! On one of the top posts on the forums was Dominating Heaven Blade. He was extremely aggressive and the contents of his post were like so¡ª "I, Dominating Heaven Blade, represent Gods of Destruction in our promise to all the fans that our core members will form a five-person team and claim the throne of the Floating Ice City. Gods of Destruction will become the champions of Who Will Fight Me at any price. No one can stop us!" Chapter 129: Leader Is Amazing Gods of Destruction was ranked second in the China Server, just below the first, Candle Dragon. They were the strongest in the Floating Ice City region, so everyone must have thought championship really would fall into their hands! Unfortunately for them, the Suzhou-Zhejiang-Shanghai region was full of heroes. All kinds of large organizations appeared. The Shadow Clan, the Friendship Clan, and so on. Mad Dragon aside, even Snowy Cathaya and Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ main teams would be enough to deal with Dominating Heaven Blade. I really didn¡¯t understand what gave him confidence to make such bold claims. ¡­¡­ After dinner, Lin Yixin called me. "Lu Chen, you saw the Who Will Fight Me tournament? We can register after 12 tonight. What do you think?" "What do you mean ¡®what do I think¡¯?" I asked. Lin Yixin laughed. "How about we join together. Join my team and we¡¯ll definitely get the Floating Ice City¡¯s championship!" I turned back to look at Beiming Xue''s earnest gaze. My heart trembled and I said, "Beauty Yi, let¡¯s not. I am the Bloody Mercenaries workshop¡¯s leader. If I joined under Snowy Cathaya¡¯s name, it would be a miracle if I wasn¡¯t looked down on!" "Oh, so that''s the case...¡± Lin Yixin''s tone was disappointed. She said with a smile, "Then never mind, I can only search for another strong player to join Snowy Cathaya if you don''t come.¡± "Oh? Another strong player... you have a candidate?" "I do!" I was shocked. "Who is it?" "Purple Marquis!" "?!" I was even more surprised. "Purple Marquis is a member of the Shadow Clan, how will you get him?" Lin Yixin laughed softly. "Just watch!" Then Lin Yixin quickly hung up on me. This conversation had not been very pleasurable. ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, there was another phone call. This was from Murong Mingyue¡ª "Lu Chen!" "Sister Mingyue!" "I have something...¡± "Who Will Fight Me?" "Ah! How do you know?" Murong Mingyue laughed softly and said, "Just now, Eve confirmed the five people from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls who will participate!" "Oh, who? You and Xu Yang were selected?" "Yes, I and Xu Yang along with three high-level players the guild has recruited. They are all pretty strong, about equal to Xu Yang. Eve wants us to get at least into Top 8 and make Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls famous in Floating Ice City. Otherwise, our guild''s ranking will never increase!" I laughed. "Since you have confirmed the candidates, Sister Mingyue, why did you phone me?" "Oh, just to tell you...¡± Murong Mingyue said quietly. "I kept on thinking if you could return, with a Heavenly King expert like you, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls can definitely reach the Top 3 of Floating Ice City, no?" "Yes, I know. That¡¯s why I¡¯m calling you to complain!" ¡­¡­ After chatting for a while, Murong Mingyue reluctantly hung up. She said she was going with He Yi and Xu Yang to eat. Recently, they¡¯ve established the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls workshop. It was said to take up an entire floor of an office building. Eve was extremely charismatic and had invited many experts from China''s VR games to help. In reality, on the Guild Ranking, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had recently broken into the Top 100, and was much better than the second-rate faction it used to be. I took a deep breath and looked at the darkness outside. I was filled with longing. If nothing had happened to my body, maybe I would be with He Yi and eating street food right now? What kind of fortune that would be, a good fortune I didn''t even dare to dream about. In the night, I continued to grind Greedy Wolf Forest for wolf pelts. Mobs there were pretty high-level, so I could get good experience as well. I was busy for most of the night but didn''t reach Level 63. Experience needed to level up has become pretty ridiculous, and it would only be worse as time went on. At least Yamete was happy. I bought some high-grade ores from Xu Yang at a low price. Having received a large supply of ore and pelts, it only took two nights for Yamete¡¯s Armorsmithing to reach Rank 6. He was the first to do so in Floating Ice City. I managed to make it to three in the morning. I still hadn''t reached Level 63 and could only go to sleep. Falling into deep slumber, I didn¡¯t wake up until noon. Doo doo... The phone sounded. It was Lin Yixin''s number¡ª "Hey, what is it, Beauty Lin?" "Come out.¡± "What is it?" I rubbed my eyes and asked lazily. A murderous air came from the speaker. "Don''t waste your words. Would I ask you out to eat you? Stop asking and come out!" "Ugh, alright...¡± I quickly got out of bed, took a shower and changed into fresh clothes. On the street, the sunlight was bright and exceptionally painful when it shone on me. I was very uncomfortable with the waves of burning pain. ¡­¡­ Silver Fir Cafe. When I entered, I saw two beautiful girls sitting by a round table nearby. It was Lin Yixin and Sun Qingqing. There was also a man of about 25 years old with hick brows. Sun Qingqing was already standing up and waving at me. "Handsome, over here~~" I quickly walked over, my gaze sweeping past Lin Yixin and Sun Qingqing before landing on this man. Who would be with Lin Yixin? "Oh, you came?" Lin Yixin said with a smile. I nodded. "When a beauty summons, I dare not to disobey. As a condition of the summoning, will you pay for lunch?" "Yes.¡± Lin Yixin nodded and smiled. Then she pointed at the man and introduced, "Lu Chen, this is the new expert joining Snowy Cathaya, Purple Marquis!" "What, Purple Marquis?!" I paled. Purple Marquis also looked in surprise at me because Lin Yixin was introducing, "This is Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Top 3 expert of Floating Ice City!" Thunder roared and lightning flashed as me and Purple Marquis stared and tried to kill each other with our eyes. In the end, nothing happened to either of us. Lin Yixin shut us down. "Stop glaring, sit down!" Lin Yixin ordered. Purple Marquis was a member of Snowy Cathaya and sat down. I stood proudly by the table. I wasn''t a member of Snowy Cathaya and didn''t have to obey. Lin Yixin stood up and pulled at my arm to sit down. She said with a smile, "Look at you, just because you fought a few times? What, you¡¯re a man but can¡¯t smile and let bygones be bygones?¡± I whispered, "Yes, but you¡¯ve just recruited Purple Marquis yet already met up with him in real life. Aren¡¯t you afraid of being deceived?" Lin Yixin grinend and whispered, "I''ve known a Little Cheat like you for many days and have not been deceived. What can Purple Marquis do to me?" I smiled helplessly. Lin Yixin was amazing to be able to recruit a proud expert like Purple Marquis. This was definitely not something that beauty could accomplish. It required intelligence paired with beauty. So I asked in a low voice, "Yiyi, how did you win him over?" Lin Yixin poked out her tongue and laughed. "I didn''t. I convinced Shadow Chanel to join Snowy Cathaya and he followed...¡± "What? Shadow Chanel, isn''t she an expert of the Shadow Clan?" "Yes.¡± Lin Yixin nodded and smiled. "While we fought before, there was no conflict of life and death. The Shadow Clan had considerable friction with Mad Dragon and Gods of Destruction recently, so I recruited their entire clan. From now on, you cannot kill the players of the Shadow Clan you see, because they are my people...¡± My gaze moved to Purple Marquis. He had been glaring at me this whole time. Clearly, the hatred between us runs very deep, and could not be easily resolved by Lin Yixin''s words. "Stupid Lu Chen, you don''t give me any face...¡± Lin Yixin looked resentfully at me and whispered, "I''m the leader of Snowy Cathaya. Previously, I promised Purple Marquis that I would resolve the conflict between the Bloody Mercenaries and the Shadow Clan. If you don''t give me face now, you¡¯re dead meat...¡± I laughed and looked up. Facing Purple Marquis, I said honestly, "The Shadow Clan and I had clashed at Fruit Forest, but please believe me when I say they were the ones who threw the first punch. Later on, I interfered because the Shadow Clan attacked Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ Hot Sun and Murong Mingyue. Coincidentally, both of them are my dear friends, so I had to intervene!" Pausing, I said with a smile, "So, Brother Purple, I only hope that you can forgive everything that occurred before. Since you are joining Snowy Cathaya today, and this girl Wind Fantasy and I have an extraordinary connection, we have to resolve our differences. As long as the Shadow Clan doesn''t challenge Bloody Mercenaries and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls in the future, we will pretend none of that ever happened. What do you say?" The speech was decent and appropriate. But Lin Yixin clenched her fists under the table and said angrily, "Dammit Lu Chen, ¡®this girl Wind Fantasy and I have an extraordinary connection¡¯?" I smiled in dismissal. Purple Marquis was not a vengeful person and nodded refreshingly. He took a cup of beverage from the table and said, "Since this is the case, then I will represent Shadow Chanel, and the Shadow Clan of Snowy Cathaya to shake the hands of Bloody Mercenaries in peace. The past matters were merely misunderstandings. I hope that Brother Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand will not keep them in mind!" I raised the cup in front of me, touched the cups together and drained mine. I licked my lips and clicked my tongue. "Damn, this red wine is so sweet...¡± Lin Yixin looked at me with large eyes. "Hmph, this is my watermelon juice, who told you this is red wine?!" "...¡± It required apology, juice, and some nice words to finally calm the beauty down. Purple Marquis saw this and laughed. "I thought that our leader Wind Fantasy is a very strong and independent woman. I had not expected her to be like this...¡± "Like what?!" Lin Yixin raised her eyebrows. Her domineering presence flared up. In a flash, she turned from a cute girl into the beautiful leader of Snowy Cathaya, Wind Fantasy. Chapter 130: Amazing General When I returned to the workshop, it was already 1 pm. Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Du Thirteen, and Yamete were all waiting for me in the hall. "Lu Chen, you''re finally back!" Du Thirteen said. "What is it?" I asked. "Register to attend Who Will Fight Me!" Du Thirteen glared and said. "Damn, don''t tell me you forgot. Whenever you see a beauty, you lose your soul...¡± "No way, I never forgot...¡± I glanced over everyone and said, "Let''s go online. Meet up at the eastern gate plaza of Floating Ice City. Then we¡¯ll go to the city arena to register!" "Mn, mn!" Beiming Xue nodded and laughed softly. ¡­¡­ We all went online. Swhoosh! I still appeared in Floating Ice City''s inn and sprinted out. I found Du Thirteen and the others were already in the city. Gui Guzi was dressed in refined armor. He had a shield on his left arm, a spear in his right hand. He wore a majestic crimson cape. Beiming Xue was still dressed like a standard beautiful archer, a black leather chest armor with beautiful lines that drew out her just-grown curves. Her chest armor was very short, and her flat stomach was like a white plain. The armor tightly wrapped around her hips. It was extremely seductive. Her black cape gave her a hint of coldness. Beiming Xue''s longbow shone with a murderous sheen, a sign of its extraordinary Attack. One glance was enough for all to see that this archer was amazing. Compared to Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue, Du Thirteen and Mamate were much less impressive, but still looked good. At least, they could be considered average. They could definitely join us in the tournament if they fought alongside me, Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue. Mamate would only be responsible for healing and Du Thirteen¡­ would do whatever he wished!! "Add boss to the party and give him leader.¡± Beiming Xue turned to Gui Guzi. Gui Guzi was an aware boy and quickly added me to the party and appointed me as its leader. I nodded and said, "Let''s go, brothers, to the arena. After registering, we will have three days until the tournament proper. Try to level up as much as possible in the meantime. Our goal is clear¡ªnothing except defeating all enemies and becoming champions of Floating Ice City will appease us!" Gui Guzi smiled and nodded. "Yes, we¡¯re going to claim the throne and dominate the seas!" Beiming Xue added, "Then the brothers will form a convent! Oh, no, sisters form a convent...¡± Everyone laughed and walked together toward the city square of Floating Ice City. Floating Ice City was a tier 2 city that was home to a variety of species. While the king was human, elves, dwarves, barbarians and other races all lived in the city. They had achieved peace between the races. "Woah, so many people...¡± The arena was already filled with people. Countless players had come together to register. The arena was filled, and even the street outside was crowded. I relied on my strength, grabbed Mamate''s arm with my left hand, and Beiming Xue with my right as I squeezed in. I had high-level and great strength so I managed to make my way through. Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen both had melee fighter classes so they followed me without issues. Having high Strength was pretty handy in such situations. All the mages and archers could only be pushed around. No wonder fighter classes would become gods in the late game. A strong melee player would be able to single-handedly dominate the entire enemy camp! I finally managed to make it to the NPC manager of the arena. There were about twenty NPCs that could register. The hall about two miles long was filled with players. I moved forward and said to the NPC, "My team will attend Who Will Fight Me!" The NPC immediately nodded. "One gold per person to participate!" "Alright!" Five gold in total, that was nothing! Ding~! System Notice: Player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡±''s team successfully registered for the Who Will Fight Me tournament. The tournament will be held in three days. Please be online in time. Lateness will result in disqualification! ¡­¡­ "Success!" Beiming Xue pouted. She looked around at the crowds and said with a smile, "Boss, you don''t know. Look at all these people. Is it very easy to squeeze in? A young girl squeezing onto a bus, the subway, you understand...¡± Mamate looked pervertedly at Beiming Xue. "Lil Beiming, are there always strange uncles pressing at your chest accidentally?" Beiming Xue looked with wide eyes at Mamate and then hugged my arm. She pointed at Mamate and said, "Boss, see, this kind of gaze. The strange uncles on the subway always have this kind of gaze when they purposefully brush on me...¡± I grinned. "Does Mamate frequently do this?" Yamete immediately cried, turning into an uncle. I took out a return scroll and quickly left this crowded place. The next moment, we appeared at the eastern gate. That¡¯s where we had bought them, so the destination was set as such. Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue, the two dark players, went to a high-level map to level up. They needed a healer so Mamate volunteered. Du Thirteen stubbornly wanted to chase skirts and went to find a party outside the city. ¡°Level 53 Divine General looking for a high-level party. Silver-grade weapon, 3 Dark Steel¨Cgrade items, one Steel-grade. 450 Attack, 1350 HP, 285 Defense. Anyone?" Immediately, several beautiful female players came and surrounded Du Thirteen, each of them seemingly parched. "Brother General, come to our team. We are missing a high DPS MT, come join us, we offer all kinds of benefits!" I felt a toothache watching the women twist around. Were people so desperate for experts in these trying times that even Du Thirteen was so popular? 450 Attack, 1350 HP and 285 Defense was high? Then me, with 620 Attack, 1900 HP and 400 Defense, would probably get kidnapped by this group of women to level up. When I thought of this, I shuddered all over. Looking at Du Thirteen¡¯s happy face, I knew he was enamoured. However, these beautiful women had no reason to be happy. Never mind. When they see Thirteen¡¯s peerless battle sense and mechanics, they would die before the smile could leave their faces. Amen! ¡­¡­ Thirteen chased his happiness, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, and Mamate went to fight. I would step on my own unique path. I had defeated Trainer Suren. For me, the most important thing was not to level up, but to find my place. Which faction did I belong to? Come Level 100 and my fourth promotion, I would need a new trainer. Level 100 was a major power spike. It was a dividing line between players. The difference would be like heaven and hell. I had to tread carefully. I opened the map and searched for a leveling ground. Soon, I made my decision¡ªEternal Song Forest! The official data said: Eternal Song Forest, east of Floating Ice City and west of Sky City. A forest that was the old site of the Violet Empire. Any player who had read some of the game information knew that Heavenblessed Continent had originally been called Spirit of Grief Continent. A calamity had come, and the main cities of the humans, elves, and beastmen were destroyed. Only the glacier lands of the eastern continents had survived. It was said to have been protected by a goddess. The beings that remained on the continent reproduced, and finally returned to the continent, creating the strongest allied empire in history¡ªthe Violet Empire! But the Violet Empire only lasted for a thousand years when it was invaded by the devils. Under the surge of unknown power, countless Night Creatures spread, and turned the powerful Violet Empire into dust. The Night Creature armies consumed almost 80% of the continent. Later, the human hero, Dante, and the elven queen, Wil, entered an alliance to fight the Dark Faction, an agreement that would be known as ¡°Treaty of Elves¡±. In the end, the Heavenblessed Continent finally saw light. Humans, elves, succubi, barbarians, and other races took up their weapons, and fought for their survival by forming the Silver Moon Alliance. The name of the alliance had existed for tens of thousands of years. It seemed to become the immortal symbol of the union of humans and elves. Looking at the official data, I took a deep breath. According to my judgement, Blood Dance Alliance was the only place I could join. Silver Moon Alliance would never accept an undead into their ranks, and the Night Creatures have labeled me a traitor. In this vast world of Heavenblessed, I could only find peace at the neutral Blood Dance Alliance! On the large map, there was an orange dot in the middle of Eternal Song Forest. That was not a color for the Night Creatures. It should be the base of the Blood Dance Alliance. I had to go and see. ¡­¡­ I opened my bag and looked. Health potions, food and tents I had could last me for 3 days without returning to the city. Chapter 131: Blood Dance Magnificence My surroundings turned dark after I stepped into Eternal Song Forest. My Dark Wasp had incredible movement speed at Level 62, and it kept blitzing left and right like a lightning bolt. However, it was clearly lacking in discipline despite being a boss-tier pet¡ªhow dare it fly in front of its master! ¡°Ahem¡­¡± The Dark Wasp instantly understood my meaning and returned to my side, flying behind me with a dejected look. Hmph hmph, you¡¯re only allowed to take the lead when you¡¯re acting as cannon fodder. Just like how the news anchor never announces the section chief before a bureau chief. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the Dark Wasp buzzed loudly. It seemed to be warning me about something! Clang! I pulled out my sword and observed my surroundings carefully. It seemed like we had entered into the inner section of the forest. Pu! A black figure burst out of the ground in front of me without warning. When the dust settled, I noticed that it was a high-level warrior clad in black metal armor and holding a sword. Glaring at me with its blood red pupils, the Night Creature with terrible breath shouted angrily, ¡°How dare you intrude upon my territory, you filthy animal! Die!¡± As I beat a hasty retreat, I quickly realized that I couldn¡¯t see its stats. Undead Swordsman of Eternal Song (Elite) Level: 70 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: Slayer Slash, Enhanced Bones, Regeneration of the Undead Introduction: A devil that lurks atop the ruins of the Violet Empire. Forever alert, these undead swordsmen hide beneath the ground to ambush any distant traveler that enters their territory. They forbid anyone from entering the ruins of the Violet Empire. ¡­¡­ Fuck! This mob has the same class as me? That being said, my skills seemed to be much stronger than his. One, Slayer Slash was a pretty shoddy offensive skill at my level. Two, the enemy undead swordsman didn¡¯t have Ghost Deity Armor, a skill that greatly enhanced one¡¯s Defense and could¡¯ve given me a lot of trouble. Three, Regeneration of the Undead was a percentage-based regeneration skill. The higher one¡¯s max HP, the more useful the skill became, so Regeneration of the Undead was most useful when a player¡¯s max HP reached tens of thousands. Until then, its usefulness was situational at best, and nonexistent at worst! I ordered the Dark Wasp to block the undead swordsman before putting 5 yards between me and the enemy. Then, I used Charge and unleashed Ice Ray and Slayer Slash while the mob was stunned! Swhoosh! 789! 943! The numbers weren¡¯t bad at all. Enhanced Bones alone probably added 100 points to the enemy¡¯s Defense, so the fact that I still managed to do over 800 damage per attack was a testament to my extraordinary strength. As I thought, the enemy¡¯s weapon suddenly glowed green right after the stun was over. It was the prelude to Slayer Slash! Puchi! The bone sword hit the Dark Wasp hard in the head and elicited a terrible screech from it. 985! Tsk tsk, what amazing Attack! I hurriedly ordered the Dark Wasp to back off a bit. Then, I took its place and attacked the undead swordsman with all I got. The moment 6 seconds were up, I unleashed my second attack combo, Pardon and Desperate Gambit! By now Desperate Gambit was Rank 6, meaning that my attack was boosted by a whopping 60%! It didn¡¯t take a rich imagination to know how powerful the attack was going to be! MISS! 2459! Hell yeah! If I were to say that this elite undead swordsman had impressive Attack, then my own was straight off the charts! That wasn¡¯t to say that the elite mob wasn¡¯t giving me any trouble, though. It hit me twice in a row and shaved over a thousand HP from my health bar, so I had no choice but to stick the Dark Wasp in its face again before continuing the murder! The Level 70 mob had 14000 HP, so the fight actually lasted for almost a minute. A bit of excitement actually started creeping into my limbs as the mob grew weaker and weaker... Crack! Finally, my sword flew across the elite mob¡¯s neck and took its life! ¡°Ah! I will come back to life and take revenge, you lowly worm!¡± Fuck, I can¡¯t believe this undead swordsman didn¡¯t forget to trashtalk me even during its final moments! Pop! The undead swordsman dropped a Big Magic Stone and nothing else. The chances of an elite mob dropping an item were pretty high, but this one yielded nothing at all. I guess my luck is a bit cloudy today. I opened my hand and executed Death Plunder, and a broken armor piece was all I got. Wow, what a useless piece of trash, literally and figuratively. I moved on to absorb the elite mob¡¯s undead soul spark, and strength suddenly filled the entirety of my chest. Now this was befitting of its elite status! Even ten sparks of Level 70 common mobs wouldn¡¯t compare to this one elite¡¯s Soul Spark of the Undead! Right now I was a Bone General; just one stage away from the legendary Asura. I couldn¡¯t even imagine how happy I would be once I became an Asura and my body was finally remade! I worked harder and actively searched for the next elite undead to kill. Not only did they yield powerful soul sparks, the experience they gave was massive as well. My experience had risen visibly after the kill, and there was nothing more pleasurable than watching one¡¯s experience bar increasing! As I thought, it didn¡¯t take long for me to run into another elite undead swordsman. I had already recovered to full health, and the Dark Wasp was almost fully recovered as well. It was the perfect time for a battle! Looking at the time, I concluded that I could kill one elite undead swordsman every 3 minutes or so. From an EXP grinding perspective, this wasn¡¯t slow at all! ¡­¡­ Over half an hour later, I had taken out about a dozen of the elites. However, unable to hold back my curiosity any longer, I allowed my feet to bring me to the orange-red color region on the map. I had to check out the Blood Dance Alliance, or the itch in my heart wouldn¡¯t go away! I killed another two elite mobs on the way before I got extremely close to the orange-red region. I pulled apart the leaves that were blocking my vision, and suddenly I was looking at rows and rows of camps on a flat plains. The outer edge of the campsite was surrounded by tough-looking wooden fences, and it looked like daytime even from a distance because lamp fire was everywhere. Occasionally, a neigh or two would break out from somewhere inside the camp. Now this was what a powerful army should look like! A short distance away, I could see a dozen or so sentries on the lookout for any signs of disturbance or danger. They all wore the same line of text above their heads: ¡°Blood Dance Alliance Soldier¡±! I knew it. This was a large camp of the Blood Dance Alliance! I hurriedly ran up to the sentries. Man, it feels so good to be home! After killing my own trainer and wandering aimlessly for a while, I had finally found a new faction to join! However, I didn¡¯t make it too far before two Blood Dance Alliance Horsemen rode up to me, making sure to block me from the front and behind. They yelled, ¡°Who are you?¡± I pulled out the Ghost Ice Soul, my weapon glinting with cold, malicious intent. Ever since I was reborn, I swore that I would never allow anyone to bully me ever again, so how dare these motherfucking NPCs bark orders at me. They must be tired of living! ¡°Great warriors, I¡¯m just passing by¡­¡± The words slipped out of my mouth before I could control myself. I had never resented my own cowardice more than that moment. Suddenly, an imposing voice reached us from a distance. ¡°Wait. Who is this person? Bring him to me!¡± ¡­¡­ A female NPC clad in blood-red armor and a fiery cloak walked out of the camp. She had blood-red pupils and lively long hair. Her sword at the ready, she approached us, her majestic and beautiful aura unable to be concealed. What really surprised me however, was the name floating above her head: ¡°Blood Dance Magnificence Sophia¡±! I rubbed my eyes and looked again, but there was no mistake. The beautiful female warrior standing in front of me was none other than the supreme commander of the Blood Dance Alliance, Blood Dance Magnificence Sophia! One of the horsemen rode up to her before rolling off the saddle and kneeling on one knee. He said respectfully, ¡°Your Majesty, an undead swordsman has appeared inside the camp. I suspect that he is a spy of the Night Creatures from Floating Ice City!¡± Sophia waved off his suspicion and said indifferently, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t jump to conclusions before confirming the facts. Bring him to me!¡± ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡± Still holding my sword, I was herded in front of Sophia by the NPC soldiers. I watched her calmly, but I couldn¡¯t see her stats or her level; it must be way higher than mine. ¡°Speak, undead. Why have you come to this place?¡± Queen Sophia asked coolly. I replied in a calm tone, ¡°I am here because I wish to join the Blood Dance Alliance.¡± ¡°Oh? And why would you want to join us?¡± ¡°Because I have nowhere else to go.¡± ¡°And why is that?¡± Sophia didn¡¯t let up in the slightest. ¡°I¡¯m an undead, Your Majesty. The Holy Priests of the Silver Moon Alliance wouldn¡¯t tolerate my existence. Besides that, I killed Undead Swordsman Suren who resided at Frost Mound, so I¡¯m a traitor to the Night Creatures. That is why I have nowhere else to go, and why the Blood Dance Alliance is my only choice left.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± Sophia suddenly stared at my eyes and asked, ¡°You used to be a member of Frost Mound, weren¡¯t you? Suren must be your teacher then. Why did you kill him?¡± I clenched my fists involuntarily before replying in a cold tone, ¡°I killed him because I wish to protect lives that shouldn¡¯t be harmed. I don¡¯t wish to see the killing spread any more than it already has!¡± A hint of gladness immediately glinted Sophia¡¯s eyes. She smiled at me and said, ¡°In that case, welcome to Blood Dance Alliance, young undead. From here on, you are one of us!¡± Sophia walked up to me and put her hand on my shoulder. Then, she said in a solemn tone, ¡°Oh slumbering laws and powers, I, Sophia, Blood Dance Magnificence, am willing to bestow upon him the right to live and rise above all the slaughter, desires, power and abuse. For the World Tree¡¯s revival, and for no more lives to be lost in this cruel world!¡± Swoosh! A golden light rushed to the air, and the dazzling emblem of the Blood Dance Alliance appeared on my shoulder. I was finally with a faction again, and since the Blood Dance Alliance was a neutral faction, it should no longer be too much of a problem for me to enter cities. If I was lucky, I might even be able to trade with some Night Creature NPCs! Anyway, an opportunist like me goes whichever way the winds of profit blow! It was at this moment a beautiful figure leaped out of the forest and landed almost soundlessly inside the camp. It was clear that the unknown person was incredibly nimble. She was an archer with a longbow behind her back. ¡°Huh? It¡¯s you?¡± The newcomer looked very surprised to see me, and I could say the same to her myself. It was none other than the female NPC I rescued back at Violet Forest, Shadow Dancer Xue Wei! Xue Wei looked pleasantly surprised to see me. Sophia couldn¡¯t help but ask her, ¡°Xue Wei, you know this person?¡± ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡± Xue Wei turned to face her liege with a smile. ¡°Your Majesty, he is the Night Creature warrior I told you before, the one who helped me back at Violet Forest¡­¡± ¡°Heh, that¡¯s great! In that case, I¡¯ll leave him in your hands!¡± ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡± ¡­... Xue Wei smiled at me. ¡°Our camp is facing a huge problem right now, and we can use your help. Are you free right now?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± Chapter 132: Tempest Shadow Xue Wei sucked in a deep breath and pointed at the forest. ¡°You¡¯ve probably seen it with your own eyes, but the reason we spent half a year building a poor fortress like this was to recover our homeland and rebuild the Violet Empire on the soil of Eternal Song Forest!¡± ¡°You want to recover your homeland?¡± I asked in surprise. ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Xue Wei watched Queen Sophia¡¯s departing back seriously before continuing, ¡°Did you know that Sophia used to be the princess of the Violet Empire? Unfortunately, even she was turned into a Night Creature during the invasion that destroyed the empire. But we didn¡¯t surrender our souls to the darkness.¡± Xue Wei clenched her fists and declared, ¡°That is why we wish to return to our homeland and drive out all the evil creatures that occupy Eternal Song Forest. We will build a new undead country where there is no killing or oppression. There will only be eternal power and law.¡± I opened the map before saying, ¡°Eternal Song Forest is huge, but it is located between Floating Ice City and Sky City. You must be aware that both of these cities are under control of the Silver Moon Alliance, right? Founding a country here would be like digging a hole on another person¡¯s land. Moreover, Sky City is a huge city that belongs to humans. Did Her Majesty not realize that her dream, grand as it is, won¡¯t be easy to make true?¡± Xue Wei smiled. ¡°Of course she did. That¡¯s why Her Majesty sent me to speak with the current monarch of Sky City. The good news is, my diplomatic quest was a relatively successful one. The Silver Moon Alliance and Blood Dance Alliance agreed that we share the same short-term objective, and that is to repel the Night Creature Legion¡¯s invasion. Not only would our efforts to rebuild the Violet Empire go undisturbed, they might even send us aid once in a while.¡± I nodded with a smile. ¡°How peaceful. It¡¯s just like me visiting Mad Dragon and showing Coldmoon Rose the care she deserves every once in a while¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Unsure how to respond, Xue Wei changed the topic and said, ¡°Anyway, what I wanted to tell you is that we¡¯ve sent our army to take out the evil undeads who inhabit this land. However, we are seriously lacking in manpower right now, so I would like you to assist in the effort as well!¡± ¡°Tell me!¡± Xue Wei pointed at the forest. ¡°A huge number of undead swordsmen have appeared inside Eternal Song Forest, and these well-trained undeads are very powerful. I need you to head there, kill 200 undead swordsmen and collect 40 Skeletal Fingers for me!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Do you accept the quest [The Threat in Eternal Song Forest]? (Quest Rank: A+) Description: Head to Eternal Song Forest and kill at least 200 undead swordsmen. Bring 40 Skeletal Fingers to Shadow Dancer Xue Wei for a generous reward! ... Xue Wei nodded. ¡°Add them to our warehouses!¡± ¡°Yes, my lord!¡± I guess I no longer have any business here. Time to go do my quest! I checked out my character screen and saw that a new faction-based military rank window had appeared. Right now, I was just an insignificant Skeleton Soldier at the bottom of the hierarchy. Skeleton Soldier Kill Points: 0 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 1% Skeleton Horseman Kill Points: 150 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 2% Steel Guardian Kill Points: 400 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 3% Ash Knight Kill Points: 1000 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 5% Phantom Knight Kill Points: 2500 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 7% Huntsman Kill Points: 7000 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 9% Bloody General Kill Points: 20000 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 11% Netherworld Knight Kill Points: 50000 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 13% Shadow God General Kill Points: 120000 Positive Effect: Reduces experience required to level up by 15% ¡­¡­ I was stunned. Nine military ranks? Although the effect wasn¡¯t particularly impressive, especially at the beginning¡ªeven at the highest level, it only granted the player a 15% EXP reduction¡ªit was still pretty useful at the late game. For example, assuming that I and another player were grinding at the same speed, it would take me 85 days to level up, and it would take the other 100 days. Moreover, I gotta say, these titles sound pretty cool, especially Huntsman, Netherworld Knight and Shadow God General. It was the perfect prefix to have when dating girls. ¡­Or not, actually. It seemed like all the beautiful women around me were immune to this kind of stuff. For example, He Yi was the Asia Region Vice President of the GGS company. She was immune to fancy-sounding titles since a long time ago. Lin Yixin was famously known as the Fruit Knife Goddess. Considering her naming sense, it didn¡¯t take a genius to know that she cared little about titles as well. Murong Mingyue might actually like this, but unfortunately for me, my love for her was completely platonic. Anyway, it was time to stop fantasizing and get back to my quest. I needed to accumulate ¡°Kill Points¡± to increase my military rank, and I had a feeling that it was given when a quest related to the Blood Dance Alliance was complete. Once I completed this quest, I would know if my suspicion was correct or not. ¡­¡­ The only thing present in Eternal Song Forest was a terrifying silence. The Level 70 elite mobs were like mines that only triggered when you entered their territory, so I had no choice but to roam the forest aimlessly like a ghost. That being said, I had killed enough undead swordsmen to know their behavior, and could secure a kill without any danger. At the beginning, I wasn¡¯t able to kill a Level 70 elite mob without it chewing out a huge chunk of HP from the Dark Wasp. But now, neither of us dropped below 75% HP anymore. I felt a bit bored as time passed by, so I brought up my friend list to see if there was anyone I could chat with. But Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue were busy, and after looking around for a bit the ID ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± kept drawing my eyes like a magnet. In the end, I gave up trying to resist and contacted her. I sent Lin Yixin a message: ¡°Hi, beauty!¡± Lin Yixin replied in no time: ¡°Hi, gangster!¡± ¡°...¡± When I was done being stupefied by her reply, I sent her a voice call request which she accepted immediately. Her sweet voice immediately entered my ears. ¡°Hey, you doing okay?¡± ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡± Lin Yixin smiled. ¡°Normally, I¡¯m the one who contacts you, not the other way around. So? What is it that you want to talk about?¡± My heart skipped a beat. ¡°I-it¡¯s nothing. I just wanted to hear your voice, that¡¯s all¡­¡± ¡°Why does it sound like you have an ulterior motive?¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s voice grew wary. ¡°Haha, what are you saying¡­¡± Suddenly, I heard a rustling sound from the other side of the call. Occasionally, I could hear some ugly ugly squeals and the sound of metal cutting into flesh as well. So I asked, ¡°What are you doing, Yiyi?¡± ¡°Grinding levels, of course~¡± She smiled again. ¡°Level 69 Giant Goblins are such a pain in the ass to kill. That being said, they give a lot of EXP¡­¡± ¡°Goblins, huh¡­¡± ¡°Yep. Do you want to join me?¡± ¡°I-it¡¯s fine¡­¡± Smiling, I was about to give her a reply when I suddenly felt a wind rushing toward me. Alarm bells immediately rang all over my head. I think a pro has sneaked up on me! Thud! My shoulder burned hot and painful as a bright spear cut sliced through the flesh. The fiery glow on the metal made it clear that it was the signature skill of a Magic Knight, Flame Thrust! 398! I instantly lost a chunk of my HP. What a powerful attack! I slid two steps to the right and dodged the next attack with practiced ease. Then, I abruptly turned around and ordered the Dark Wasp to enter battle mode. However, a burst of fire caught me off-guard and hit me squarely in the chest! Pap pap pap pap! 157! 173! 161! 168! I instantly took another 600 damage or so and fell to half HP. I couldn¡¯t believe how much HP I lost even though I had Ghost Deity Armor on at all times. The enemy must have a lot of Attack! Finally, I got a clear look at my attackers. The one who landed multiple attacks on me was a pet, more specifically a fearsome-looking Wildfire Greedy Wolf. Its owner was a magic knight wrapped inside a black cloak and holding a spear. The man looked like he was about 30 years old, and he was grinning at me with a cold look on his face. The text hovering above his head stated: Tempest Shadow LV-61 Silver Knight ¡­¡­ As it turned out, I was ambushed by a third-promotion player. Worse, the dragon on the magic knight¡¯s shoulder was an emblem I was all too familiar with. Could he be Tempest Shadow, a key general of Candle Dragon¡ªthe number one guild of the China server¡ªand the legendary Tempest War God? A closer look later, my suspicion was more and less confirmed! Tempest Shadow was a powerful player who moved from Korea to China to serve under Candlelight Shadow. He spent half a year in competitive e-sports before moving on to VRMMO games. Today, he was one of the most popular players in the China server! But why was he here? I thought both Tempest Shadow and Candlelight Shadow were in another tier 2 city. Glug! I drank a health potion and recovered most of my HP. Perhaps he thought that it was beneath him to interrupt me, but Tempest Shadow simply watched and sneered at me. ¡°I heard that there were two top-tier pros in Floating Ice City called Wind Fantasy and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, but I¡¯m disappointed. Your reaction speed is much slower than the Martial God¡¯s!¡± I gave him a smile and asked, ¡°Tempest Shadow, did you spend seven to eight hours traveling all the way from Dawn City just to duel against me and Wind Fantasy?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± An arrogant smile crept onto Tempest Shadow¡¯s face. ¡°All the number ones in the China server belong to our guild, and you are nowhere near good enough to challenge a pro like Candlelight Shadow. You and Wind Fantasy will learn the gap that separates you and Heavenly King experts once I defeat the both of you!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh with scornful eyes when I heard his declaration. Tempest Shadow asked coldly, ¡°What are you laughing at?¡± I said calmly, ¡°Did you just try calling Candlelight Shadow a Heavenly King?¡± ¡°What? He is a Heavenly King, isn¡¯t he?¡± Tempest Shadow was a diehard worshipper of Candlelight Shadow, or he wouldn¡¯t have left Korea for China in the first place. Still, I had to admit that he wasn¡¯t all bark and no bite. Chapter 133: Armor Breaking Spear Tempest Shadow exploded in anger. ¡°How dare you! Who do you think you are? Hmph, is this your way of telling me that your mouth is the only functional organ you have? How disappointing!¡± I lifted the Ghost Ice Soul and chuckled in response. ¡°I promise you you won¡¯t be disappointed starting now!¡± I locked onto Tempest Shadow and executed Charge immediately! ¡°Heh!¡± Tempest Shadow was no noob, and the start-up delay of low-rank Charge was too long. By the time I made a move, he had already dashed behind a shrubbery. It was a high-level technique meant to break line of sight, thus canceling a targeted skill! As expected, my Charge instantly lost its target and canceled on its own. However, I did not let my character stop and I kept running, my blade swung at the shrubbery ahead! Pu! Blood spewed out of Tempest Shadow¡¯s shoulder. The Ghost Ice Soul was unbelievably sharp, and it easily cut through the enemy¡¯s shoulder armor and scored the first blood of the duel. 415! ¡°What?! What amazing Attack¡­¡± Tempest Shadow was shocked by the amount of damage he took from a basic attack, but I was a bit surprised myself that 415 HP only amounted to 15% of his HP. This meant that Tempest Shadow had 2500 total HP or above, and his Defense wasn¡¯t weak either. His overall strength was probably higher than Gui Guzi¡¯s! ¡°Hah!¡± Tempest Shadow thrust his spear as quick as lightning. It was the Level 50 offensive melee skill, Blaze! Pu! 587! The attack plunged into my chest, but I didn¡¯t falter and countered with Ice Ray and Slayer Slash. Again, Tempest Shadow was shocked by how quickly and smoothly I had combined two different skills into a combo. His reaction was understandable. Not many players had good reaction, and those who could combine two skills into one and execute them within half a second were even fewer. 608! 714! Ice started forming around Tempest Shadow¡¯s shoulder, meaning that Ice Ray was working as intended. The man started turning a bit purple since he had lost over 1700 HP in just three hits. He could definitely die if I landed another combo on him! I was certain that Tempest Shadow had investigated me before showing up in Floating Ice City. He must know that my most powerful combo was Pardon + Desperate Gambit, not Ice Ray + Slayer Slash. Unless he was at max health, there was no way he could survive the burst! Suddenly, Lin Yixin¡¯s voice entered my ears. ¡°Kick his ass, Lu Chen! He thinks he can cause trouble in Floating Ice City just because he has the backing of Candle Dragon? What a fool!¡± ¡°OMG, you¡¯re still in the call?¡± ¡°Of course I am! There¡¯s no way I would miss such a good show~! Come on, turn on screen share already!¡± ¡°Heh¡­¡± Tempest Shadow watched me with a cold expression. His pet, the Wildfire Greedy Wolf was glaring and baring its fangs at me, but my Dark Wasp also buzzed near the ground and raised its sting menacingly. I gripped the Ghost Ice Soul tightly and activated the Ghost Deity Armor again with a growl. The dark, half-transparent armor formed around me, and the Bloody Purgatory Cloak fluttered silently behind my back. Anyone who saw me right now would know that my latest title, the Silver Moon Devil, was well-deserved. Finally turning serious, Tempest Shadow snorted coldly and said, ¡°Out of the nine tier 2 cities in China, you and Wind Fantasy are the only ones the Martial God sees as true threats. Today, I, Tempest Shadow will defeat you where you stand, but feel free to turn on your own recorder if you¡¯re confident enough in your strength. One of us will become famous throughout China when this duel is over!¡± I shook my head slightly and chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re wrong. I¡¯m just a nameless unknown in the China server, so you won¡¯t become famous even if you defeat me. Similarly, my name won¡¯t be on every Chinese player¡¯s lips just because I defeated you. Why don¡¯t you go and tell Candlelight Shadow to come over himself? Killing him would at least bring me some fame...¡± ¡°Fuck you, you arrogant bastard!¡± Tempest Shadow¡¯s eyes turned harsh as he charged me. His Wildfire Greedy Wolf was also flanking me from the right. His pet was my real focus because it knew Flurry. I had to kill it if I wished to isolate Tempest Shadow and maximize my chances of winning. My mind made up, I charged toward Tempest Shadow and swung my sword at his head! ¡°Heh!¡± The corner of Tempest Shadow¡¯s mouth curled scornfully as if he knew what I was planning from the start. Slanting his body slightly, he abruptly dashed to my right and swung his spear toward my waist. Everything happened in the blink of an eye. Zigzagging twice and deviating slightly from my original path, I was able to twist my body and hold Ghost Ice Soul in the path of his swinging spear! Clang! Sparks flew everywhere as blade clashed against blade. ¡°What?!¡± Tempest Shadow was stunned by his failure to hit me. He wasn¡¯t expecting me to react so quickly or predict his movements so accurately. I didn¡¯t miss the opportunity to activate the skill, Charge! This time, my target was his pet, the Wildfire Greedy Wolf! Swhoosh! Stunned, the Greedy Wolf couldn¡¯t do anything as my Dark Wasp showed up under my control. It executed Flurry and landed four hits in a row, claiming almost all of the Greedy Wolf¡¯s HP! One last basic attack later, Tempest Shadow¡¯s pet perished easily under my blade. Now that it was a 2 on 1, my chances of victory just skyrocketed! I turned around without hesitation and charged Tempest Shadow alongside the Dark Wasp. The recorder was recording everything, so I needed to annihilate Tempest Shadow in the most impressionable fashion possible. Tempest Shadow was one of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s main generals, so destroying him would be the same as slapping Candlelight Shadow in the face. I am going to enjoy this thoroughly! Still in shock, Tempest Shadow retreated and drew a magic formation with his spear. A couple of blue flashes later, a huge, dark green Praying Mantis crawled out of thin air! Bastard! He has a second pet!? Poison-bladed Praying Mantis LV-57 A new pet slot was unlocked when a player reached Level 60 and completed their third promotion, so this guy must be filthy rich to be able to buy a fully-matured, Level 57 pet so quickly after turning 60. At Level 57, a player could only have one pet at most, so whomever sold this Level 57 Poison-bladed Praying Mantis to Tempest Shadow must¡¯ve been incredibly well-compensated for their loss. After all, selling a pet this powerful was like selling half a life! Tempest Shadow looked pleased with himself as he raised his spear and attacked me again. At first, he was coming at me in a straight line. But when he got close to me, he suddenly changed directions and sped up drastically! ¡°Shoot!¡± I cursed because I noticed that Tempest Shadow was targeting my Dark Wasp. His spear abruptly glowed brightly and plunged into my pet¡¯s body! Puchi! 1027! Fuck, so strong! Beep! Combat Log: Player ¡°Tempest Shadow¡± used ¡°Armor Breaking Spear¡±, dealing 1027 damage to your pet ¡°Dark Wasp¡±! ¡­¡­ While my Dark Wasp was off-balance, the Poison-bladed Praying Mantis showed up just in time to land a flurry of deadly blows on its head. 278! 281! 264! 299! So strong! This Poison-bladed Praying Mantis must have high growth and BN value! My pet¡¯s HP almost hit rock bottom in just the blink of an eye. The situation was extremely disadvantageous for me right now. I gripped my sword and tried my best to remain calm. The moment the Dark Wasp regained its balance, it immediately stung the Poison-bladed Praying Mantis! Pah! 745! If there was one thing I couldn¡¯t nitpick about my Dark Wasp, it would be its attack power! I moved and slapped the Poison-bladed Praying Mantis head with Pardon. Then, I followed up with a lightning fast Desperate Gambit! MISS! 2784! Empowered by the bloody power that was undead energy, the Ghost Ice Soul hit the Poison-bladed Praying Mantis¡¯s head like the hammer of Thor. One hit was all I needed to send it collapsing to the ground with a scream! Pfff!! Tempest Shadow was no fool, so he stabbed the Dark Wasp while I was busy. My pet screeched and returned to my pet slot after it was killed. The duel had turned into a one-on-one fight again. Tempest Shadow had lost both of his pets, and my Dark Wasp was dead as well. Both of us were almost at full health, so I supposed that one could call this a fair duel. ¡°Heh, Pardon¡¯s cooldown isn¡¯t short, is it?¡± Tempest Shadow sneered slightly. ¡°I¡¯ll kill you before its CD is up and show the entire Floating Ice City that their so-called Silver Moon Devil is nothing but a fairytale!¡± ¡°Come at me then!¡± I taunted him. Tempest Shadow charged me as he promised, but instead of moving in a straight line he zigzagged three times to confuse me. Every move he made was deadly and worth watching because he could speed up, change directions, or use a skill at any time he wanted and catch me off-guard. He even weaved in and out of hiding and used obstacles to break my line of sight, making it harder to get a target skill off. It was a high-level technique, and his execution was excellent. Whoosh! Wearing a dark look on his face, Tempest Shadow abruptly cut his elegant dance short and dashed toward my right. His spear leaped toward my right shoulder like a flaming tongue. ¡°Heh!¡± I turned my waist slightly and charged toward Tempest Shadow from a 25 degree angle. I caught the shaft with my left hand and swung the Ghost Ice Soul at his face with my right at the same time! Swhoosh! Tempest Shadow ducked under the attack with incredible speed and raised his right leg, successfully landing a heavy kick in my stomach! Bang! 122! His attack power was pretty impressive. Even without a weapon, he was able to break through my Defense! But before Tempest Shadow could be pleased with himself, I abruptly changed the direction of my swing and cut him fiercely across the neck. That was a weak spot! I also activated Slayer Slash as quickly as I could. The green light slipped into his neck like a venomous snake! 1175! Hell yeah, take this! When a weak spot was struck, the enemy took about 75% more damage than normal. It wasn¡¯t too far behind a critical hit, and in that moment Tempest Shadow was undoubtedly at a disadvantage. However, his eyes were scarily calm. He abruptly withdrew his spear, spun around and thrust his spear toward me again! Fuck! A reverse strike? He was moving too fast. It was impossible for me to dodge it with a 0.4-second delay! Pff! 1478! Chapter 134: Tempest War God I downed a HP pot quickly and rammed into Tempest Shadow instead of pulling away. Spears had a longer range compared to swords, so I absolutely couldn¡¯t allow him to make distance between us. One successful elbow strike later, I plunged the Ghost Ice Soul into his chest! Tempest Shadow¡¯s eyes widened in shock. ¡°This¡­ rhythm... Who¡­ who are you? You¡­ you¡­¡± I said calmly as I watched him, ¡°Tell Candlelight Shadow to come himself if he really wants to test the strength of the best players in Floating Ice City. What¡¯s the point of sending cannon fodder who¡¯ll amount to nothing?¡± The light of Ice Ray erupted from my weapon! Puchi! Ghost Ice Soul penetrated Tempest Shadow¡¯s body completely, and the Tempest War God, a famous player who was also an entree of last year''s CGL Hall of Fame, collapsed to his knees and died under my sword, just like that. Unfortunately, he only dropped a couple of potions. ¡­... ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Lin Yixin sounded a tad disappointed. ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± ¡°I thought this Tempest Shadow was 19th on the CGL Hall of Fame last year, so why is he so weak? This makes no sense!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile at her comment. ¡°Yiyi, you shouldn¡¯t believe the CGL Hall of Fame blindly. Let¡¯s put it this way: right now, you are worthy of joining the CGL Hall of Fame yourself. That¡¯s why it¡¯s always better to judge a player¡¯s strength with your own eyes than blindly worshipping the famous players. Back when I was at my peak, there were at most three players in the China server¡¯s Hall of Fame who could threaten me!¡± ¡°Oh? Who are they?¡± I sucked in a deep breath before replying, ¡°Frivolous Scholar, Lin Fan and Murong Shanshan.¡± Lin Yixin muttered enviously, ¡°I want to be a Heavenly King too¡­¡± I immediately dashed her hopes and dreams. ¡°Give it up, that¡¯s not a corner you belong to.¡± ¡°You bastard!¡± Lin Yixin ranted up a storm on the other side of the call, but physically she couldn¡¯t do anything to me. It was a wonderful feeling! I gave her a friendly warning. ¡°Take care of yourself, Yiyi. I¡¯m not his only target. He seemed to have found a way to track another player¡¯s coordinates. If that wasn¡¯t revenge for back then and he was just testing me, he must also be gunning for you.¡± Lin Yixin said, ¡°It¡¯s fine. He can show his face around me all he wants, it won¡¯t change the fact that he¡¯s going to die under my blade!¡± ¡°Haha!¡± I ended the call, saved the recording and entered the official forums of the China region. Then, I uploaded the video and titled it: ¡°Tempest Shadow War God¡± of Dawn City travels to Floating Ice City to challenge ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡±. Video below! I didn¡¯t add anything else besides the title and the video. True strength didn¡¯t need excessive boasting and embellishment to be clear for all to see. 1st comment: All hail Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! He hasn¡¯t let down Floating Ice City! 2nd comment: Tempest Shadow must have a lot of free time on his hands. Isn¡¯t Candle Dragon¡¯s main base at Dawn City? Did he come all the way here just to humiliate himself? 3rd comment: I support Tempest Shadow! Candle Dragon is the best! This Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand must¡¯ve cheated somehow. How despicable... 4th comment: Guy above me, what do you get if you drag out the word e? You get an eeeeeeeeeediot! 5th comment: Candle Dragon lost a ton of face this time, haha! Who would¡¯ve thought that the mighty Tempest War God would be defeated so easily? How shameful! 6th comment: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is so handsome. Wanna date? ¡­¡­ There were all kinds of replies, but most of the commenters were in support of me. Candle Dragon was currently the strongest guild in China, so they were arrogant and overbearing toward others. It wasn¡¯t just them, however. When an organization was weak, they would preach humility and respect to others. When they were strong, they would forget themselves and get drunk on their own power. Ironically enough, progress of our civilization hadn''t changed this trait of humanity since eld. That was why Candle Dragon lacked the bearing of the previous top guilds such as Sword & Rose or Snow Moon. They might be dominant in China right now, but their rule was nowhere as kingly. However, that didn¡¯t mean I wasn¡¯t worried. The fact that Candlelight Shadow had sent Tempest Shadow to challenge Lin Yixin and I meant that we had caught the Martial God¡¯s attention. It wasn¡¯t something either of us needed right now. Snowy Cathaya, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and Bloody Mercenaries were all in the early stages of development right now. We didn¡¯t have enough professional players as well. If Candle Dragon decided to target us or worse, launch an army across the border, we would be caught in a life and death struggle. No matter how well we fared, it wouldn¡¯t change the fact that we would be at a great disadvantage. We might be wiped out before we ever had a chance to grow. Candle Dragon became the strongest guild in the China server two years ago, and they had over ten thousand professional players. To quote Candlelight Shadow himself, ¡°Candle Dragon is big, and my generals alone number over a thousand. What do I have to fear in Heavenblessed Continent?¡± It was clear what Candlelight Shadow was setting out to do. He wished to unite the China region and call himself the king of China! ¡°Heh¡­¡± An unconscious smile sprang to my lips as I thought to himself. ¡°So what if you have thousands of generals, Candlelight Shadow? Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will crush your legend with our own hands!¡± ¡­¡­ My heart steeled with determination. I will take revenge against Candle Dragon! I will not relent until I have dismantled Candle Dragon and killed Candlelight Shadow so many times he is forced to delete his account! I waited for a while, but Tempest Shadow still hadn¡¯t come back to life. He was probably afraid that I would camp his corpse, so I left the area, whispered ¡°Earth Escape¡± and returned back to his body, watching. Swhoosh! Tempest Shadow revived and looked around him for a moment. When he saw that there was nothing, he immediately downed a HP pot and cursed to himself. ¡°Fuck! I underestimated my enemy¡­ but this Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is ridiculously good. His PvP tactics and combo chains are almost as good as Candlelight Shadow¡¯s. But how is that possible? Since when did Floating Ice City have such a top-tier player? Frivolous Scholar or Lin Fan can¡¯t have made a return¡­ right?¡± He thought for a moment before shaking his head. ¡°No, it¡¯s not possible. Lin Fan is over thirty years old now, so it¡¯s unlikely that he''d still retain his old reaction speed. Frivolous Scholar is the person in charge of the Asia Region in Eternal Moon Corporation, so there¡¯s no way that he would participate in his own game and fight for the top spot himself. Maybe¡­¡± Tempest Shadow shuddered. ¡°Maybe Falling Dust has made a comeback??¡± A few seconds later, he shook his head. ¡°No, that¡¯s impossible. It would be a miracle if Falling Dust¡¯s managed to turn pro with this severe disability of his, let alone beat me... but who else could it be? Who else was a Heavenly King besides those three?¡± Tempest Shadow remained troubled until his HP had returned to full. He then looked toward the west and sucked in a deep breath. ¡°Wind Fantasy, coordinates (27466, 8472). Hmph hmph, here I come! Let¡¯s see if this Floating Ice City really is as dangerous as it seems! Show me what you got, Fruit Knife Goddess!¡± I let out a sigh of relief when Tempest Shadow finally vanished into the night. Finally, I could level up in peace, although Lin Yixin might be in a bit of trouble. I sent her a message: ¡°Yiyi, Tempest Shadow is heading your way right now. You¡¯re at coordinates (27466, 8472) right?¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Lin Yixin looked very surprised. ¡°He actually knows my exact coordinates? You¡¯re the one who told him, weren¡¯t you? Admit it already!¡± ¡°Do I look that bored to you?¡± ¡°Oh well. He¡¯s free to do what he wants. Worse comes to worst, my name turns a bit redder, that¡¯s all. If someone like you can beat him, then I can too.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t come crying to me if you lose, girl!¡± ¡°Hmph! I will prove my worth with my own strength!¡± I could practically imagine the arrogant look on Lin Yixin¡¯s face. Mm, the shapely breasts, that cute look of defiance. I could stare at her all day if I could. No, no, I shan¡¯t be overly obsessed with the opposite sex. Time to get back to the grind. ¡­¡­ It was a pleasure killing undead swordsmen since they gave a ton of EXP and even some items. In just an hour or so, I had gotten three Bronze-grade drops. Frostbone Handguards (Bronze-grade) Defense: 39 Strength: +7 Level Requirement: 60 Frostbone Legguards (Bronze-grade) Defense: 43 Agility: +8 Level Requirement: 60 Frostbone War Boots (Bronze-grade) Strength: +10 Level Requirement: 60 They were all part of the Frostbone set, and they all fell under the metal armor category. However, the stats they gave were absolutely pitiful. Any melee player who had managed to reach Level 60 at this stage of the game was a top-rate player who probably wouldn¡¯t bother with such shabby equipment. Only ordinary players would buy such a thing, but they wouldn¡¯t reach that level until like half a month later. After all, not everyone had the luck or skill to obtain powerful Dark Steel or Silver¨Cgrade equipment! In fact, most normal players would consider themselves lucky to obtain several Dark Steel¨Cgrade items for themselves by the time they made it to Level 60. Silver-grade? A luxury they couldn¡¯t afford. Gold-grade? Who was that, a god? Mm, I should probably toss these items into the warehouse for now and sell them later. Suddenly, I heard a beep from the system. Lin Yixin had sent me an URL along with a message: ¡°Look at this, Lu Chen. Don¡¯t forget to praise me~~¡± ¡°Ah?¡± I was confused until I clicked the link and entered a thread on the official forums. It was created by Lin Yixin herself, and it was titled: ¡°Tempest Shadow War God¡± of Dawn City travels to Floating Ice City to challenge ¡°Wind Fantasy¡±. Video below! I clicked the Play button and watched the video with growing astonishment. As expected, Tempest Shadow tracked down Lin Yixin and sneaked up on her just like he had done to me earlier. He actually brought her low and was about to succeed when Lin Yixin fully committed to using Do Or Die + Extreme Break combo to one-shot the poor bastard with 2900 damage! I couldn¡¯t help but shake my head. Tempest Shadow must¡¯ve accumulated quite the bad karma during his previous life or something. It was one thing to lose to me, and another to be toyed with by Lin Yixin! The APM since the start of the battle were recorded in metadata. Both players scored really high in that department. Tempest Shadow Average APM: 237 Peak: 312 Lin Yixin Average APM: 324 Peak: 404 ¡­¡­ Holy shit, 404 APM? It meant that Lin Yixin¡¯s movement, footsteps, attacks, pauses, spell casts and so on combined to form a total of 404 actions per minute! On average, she was performing around 7 actions per second! Of course, that was just her peak value. In that one moment, Lin Yixin had drastically outperformed her opponent in terms of brain activity. I looked at my own fight against Tempest Shadow and felt a bit ashamed. During the 27 seconds I fought Tempest Shadow, my average APM was 312, and my peak APM was 397. This meant that I was slightly behind Lin Yixin in terms of brain activity. That being said, high APM didn¡¯t automatically translate to excellent skill. In VRMMO, there were many incredible players whose APM entered the range of 500 or even 600 for a time, but not one had ever managed to become a true master of the craft. In fact, the two strongest players in the history of Eternal Moon Corporation¡¯s games had never had a peak APM of over 400. Chapter 135: Man-eater Flower Graveyard ¡°Clap clap clap¡­¡± I responded to Lin Yixin¡¯s thread. ¡°Impressive, goddess. You¡¯ve won my heart¡­¡± I was replying using my own ID, ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡±, of course. I couldn¡¯t use a dummy account because I had logged into the forums from inside the game. My reply attracted plenty of attention as I expected it to. Since my reply was among the first ten replies, someone quickly made a scathing accusation. ¡°How did you reply to this thread so quickly? Were you spying on our goddess all day long?¡± I couldn¡¯t refute it. Lin Yixin replied with an ellipsis, and a bunch of people immediately replied, ¡°We get you¡­¡± And that was how a perfectly normal friendship was embellished into an adulterous relationship. Anyhow, I logged out of the forums and went back to grinding. Staying cooped up on the forums all day was boring! ¡­... Four hours or so later, I had killed enough undead swordsmen and obtained enough Skeletal Fingers to fulfill the quest requirement. It was time to turn in the quest. I returned to the temporary camp at Eternal Song Forest, and this time no one tried to stop me like last time. It was because I had the emblem of the Blood Dance Alliance on my shoulder. In the eyes of these NPCs, I was now one of them. There was a big, imposing tent at the center of the camp. It was where Queen Sophia was living. Shadow Dancer Xue Wei was standing just outside the tent with her longbow at the ready. I walked up to her and turned in the quest. ¡°Hehe, I knew you wouldn¡¯t let the queen or me down!¡± Xue Wei smiled approvingly at me before continuing, ¡°Young warrior, you have completed a difficult quest as a member of the Blood Dance Alliance. This is the reward you deserve!¡± Ding~! System Notice: You have completed the quest [Eternal Song Forest¡¯s Menace]. You have gained 120000 EXP, 1000 Reputation and 80 Kill Points! Congratulations, you have gained the quest reward, ¡°High-grade Army Pouch¡±! ... High-grade Army Pouch? Surprised, I looked inside my backpack and found a new item. It was a purple bag, and it was a lot bigger and spacier than the Army Pouch I had gotten at Wildfire Plains. High-grade Army Pouch: 100 slots. I was overjoyed. What a godsend! I never felt like I had sufficient inventory space, especially when I was out foraging for ingredients. My old Army Pouch only had 40 slots, but this High-grade Army Pouch had 100 slots! It was exactly what I needed right now! I hurriedly changed my current bag for the new one. Only one Army Pouch could be equipped at a time, and with this new bag I could carry a total of 120 items with me. I could just imagine how much my wealth would grow if I came back with a full bag. I made up my mind to surpass her level in the next two days to come. At the very least, Bloody Mercenaries wouldn¡¯t look bad if we were unlucky enough to be paired up with Snowy Cathaya during Who Will Fight Me. ¡­... Rustle¡­ The little skeleton finally answered my summons and appeared to me. I had been trying to summon her for the last couple of hours, but she had disobeyed my order for some reason until now. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your pet ¡°Xinran¡± has gained a talent boost in the Netherworld and an item, ¡°Frost Iron Spear¡±! ¡­¡­ My eyes widened at the notification. As reported earlier, the little skeleton was now holding a glowing spear instead of a bone sword. It looked like my pet was changing her equipment faster than I was, not to mention that this Frost Iron Spear was clearly no ordinary weapon. Moreover, her attack scaling was much higher than the Dark Wasp¡¯s. She was only Level 21, but she had 350 Attack already. The Dark Wasp had at most 250 Attack when it was at her level. ¡°Ah¡­¡± Shadow Dancer Xue Wei suddenly stared at the little skeleton in shock. I thought I even saw a trace of fear and respect behind her eyes. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked. ¡°No, it¡­ it¡¯s nothing¡­¡± Xue Wei shook her head, but she couldn¡¯t help but glance at the little skeleton again. ¡°I thought I felt a terrifying domain power, but¡­ it was probably just my imagination. There are no divine experts on this continent anymore¡­¡± Instead of probing further, I asked, ¡°Is there anything else I can do to help you?¡± ¡°Well, since you asked!¡± Xue Wei smiled at me before continuing, ¡°We have a small sentinel outpost directly south of Eternal Song Forest. However, it is currently under attack by the Night Creatures and in need of a powerful warrior to bolster their defenses. Please, protect that sentinel outpost and ensure that it doesn¡¯t fall into our enemies¡¯ hands, young warrior!¡± Ding~! System Notice: You have accepted the quest [Reinforcing the Sentinel Tower]! (Current Quest Rank: A) Description: Head to the south of Eternal Song Forest where the Man-eater Flower Graveyard lies. A sentinel tower belonging to Blood Dance Alliance is under attack by the Night Creatures. Defend the sentinel tower for 3 hours and wait for reinforcements to arrive! ¡­¡­ Beep! A countdown timer appeared in my window. It said, ¡°2:59:59". A timed quest? Wonderful! All I need to do was ensure that the sentinel tower doesn¡¯t switch hands for three hours, and the quest will automatically be completed. Though there¡¯s no telling how difficult the quest will be... There was no time to waste, so I gripped my sword and started running toward the south. The Man-eater Flower Graveyard wasn¡¯t too far away from where I was. On the map, it was presented as a jade-green region. However, the areas around the graveyard were blood-red in color. It was a warning to the player that the area was extremely dangerous and deadly. Surprisingly, Xinran was following behind me. I didn¡¯t put her back into the pet summoning space, however. She couldn¡¯t assist me in battle as she was, but she could leech some EXP and grow a couple more levels. To be honest, I wanted to see if she would change once her level grew higher. While I was running, a rabbit suddenly ran across the path in front of me! Puchi! However, it barely lasted a fraction of a second before it was replaced by a colorful flower bud, leaving behind only a pool of blood and a couple of rabbit fur. The flower bud was wriggling and contracting as if chewing something. Clearly, the flower bud had consumed the rabbit! Man-eater Flower Level: 70 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: Poison Introduction: The guardian of the Man-eater Flower Graveyard, this brutal and venomous flower eats flesh to survive. ¡­¡­ I looked around for a different way, but there was none. I was sure that I would encounter a lot more Man-eater Flowers along the way. I guess I have no choice but to do this the hard way! Shiing! I pulled out the Ghost Ice Soul, ordered the Dark Wasp forward and charged! Swhoosh! I appeared in front of the Man-eater Flower in a flash and plunged my sword into its stem. Red liquid that looked like blood instantly flowed madly out of the wound. Ice Ray also caused ice to appear all over the Man-eater Flower¡¯s body, freezing it and slowing down its attack speed drastically. The Dark Wasp flew forward and hit the Man-eater Flower four times in a row. Flurry was seriously impressive at Rank 6. This was just the first round, and the two of us had deleted over half of the Man-eater Flower¡¯s HP. Splash¡­ Suddenly, the monster opened its mouth and revealed its insides. It was completely covered in sharp thorns and disgusting liquid. Moving at lightning speed, it tried to catch me and swallow me whole! I knew that it would do this, however. The moment it opened its mouth, I jumped sideways to a safe spot. Thud! The Man-eater Flower missed me completely and hit the ground instead. The impact was so huge that dust flew all over the place, its sharp teeth sinking deep into the ground. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a chill behind my back. Holy shit, if a human got bitten by this thing, they would literally break in half, wouldn¡¯t they? I suddenly recalled the day I saw some couples holding roses while I was strolling the streets. They probably thought the gesture was very romantic and heartwarming. I wondered how they would feel if the rose suddenly opened its ¡°mouth¡± and bit a certain something in half when they were inside a hotel and enjoying their sexy time. I¡¯m sure it would be pretty hilarious. I executed Pardon and Desperate Gambit on the Man-eater Flower while impure thoughts ran rampant inside my mind. It let out one final growl before falling flat on the ground. Pop! The mob dropped a quality 92 Big Magic Stone. Not bad! I picked up the Big Magic Stone and aimed my open palm at the mob as usual. Death Plunder! Swhoosh! I was surprised. A bottle filled with greenish, poisonous liquid appeared in my hand. Man-eater Flower Poison: Rank 6 ingredient, one of the essential poison-crafting ingredients for Assassin. ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, I wasn¡¯t expecting to get an Assassin-exclusive item from the mob. In Heavenblessed, assassins were natural born killers and poison-makers. During the later stages of the game, most of their skills had something to do with poison, such as Blind, Poisoned Weapon, Crippling Poison and so on. Assassinating and poisoning others were the nature of this class. However, I didn¡¯t know any assassins whom I would call an acquaintance, much less friends. There were no assassins in Bloody Mercenaries or Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls either. Oh well, I guess I can keep this and see if there¡¯s any demand for it back at Floating Ice City. In the future, I might want to recruit a top tier assassin into Bloody Mercenaries. After all, it was essential for a party to have an expert who was good at scouting, dealing damage and picking off single enemies. I tossed the Man-eater Flower Poison into my bag and continued forward. So far, it wasn¡¯t a hassle to kill a single Man-eater Flower. It had taken me less than half a minute to kill another Man-eater Flower. They gave a passable amount of EXP. That being said, it would be terrible if any one of these monsters managed to take a bite out of me. Not only would I lose a ridiculous amount of HP, I would be poisoned and turned as green as a leaf. That would be a really ugly sight. After killing an innumerable amount of Man-eater Flower and reaching the inner depths of the graveyard, a simplistic sentinel tower made out of stone soon entered my view. It looked like it would crumble at any moment, and it was currently being attacked by a dozen or so skeletal monsters. The mobs were literally hitting the tower with their bony swords while two Blood Dance Alliance undead soldiers tried to chase them away. The one on the ground was a warrior, and the one inside the tower was an archer firing arrow after arrow from above! Pop pop... Unfortunately, the archer didn¡¯t have very good aim. His arrows kept sliding in-between the ribs of the skeletal soldiers and dealing absolutely no damage at all. Meanwhile, the Night Creature¡¯s skeletal soldiers howled and they swung their bony swords at the walls like crazy. Once their weapons were destroyed, they started swinging their arms, and once their arms were destroyed, they ramming with their heads. It was only after they cracked their own skulls that they finally stopped moving. Chapter 136: Deterrence Crack! Underneath the tower, my sword fell on two low-level skeletal soldiers. These mobs were only Level 60 with very low Defense and HP. It barely took any effort to kill all of them. Inside the tower, the two Blood Dance Alliance soldiers were pleasantly surprised by my timely assistance. When they saw the emblem on my shoulder, they laughed heartily and said, ¡°Princess Sophia didn¡¯t give up on us after all! This is wonderful. The flag of the undead will flutter forever on this continent!¡± I didn¡¯t expect the two skeletons to react this excitedly, so I kept quiet and let them enjoy the moment. A few minutes later, a low-level undead priest walked up to us with empty eyes. Her name was ¡°Priest Lassi¡±. ¡­... The undead archer was apparently the commanding officer of the sentinel tower. He laughed heartily when he saw the priest. ¡°Oh, beloved Lassi, you¡¯re finally here! I guess our Man-eater Flower Sentinel Tower is finally safe now!¡± The priest nodded before replying in a chilly tone, ¡°Captain Weiss, I had been rushing over since I received the message from Raleigh Town. However, it looks like I still underestimated the ferocity of these monsters!¡± The archer said, ¡°Yeah. If it wasn¡¯t for the help of this traveling warrior, we might have lost the tower already.¡± The priest NPC nodded again. ¡°There are three human towns behind this tower, so we absolutely cannot lose control of it. If the Night Creatures break our defenses, the innocent people living in those towns will be slaughtered without question. Princess Sophia would never want this to happen!¡± I was a bit surprised by her reaction, so I asked, ¡°Why is the Blood Dance Alliance protecting the towns of humans?¡± The female priest stared at me with her empty eye sockets until I felt a chill crawling up my spine. Finally, she said in a quiet and bitter tone, ¡°The Blood Dance Alliance is the home of the undead, but we were all humans before we became this way. It is precisely this attachment and our unwillingness to see our kin be slaughtered that led us to creating the Blood Dance Alliance. No matter what the nobles of Floating Ice City think of us, we are willing to fight to our last breath to ensure humanity¡¯s survival!¡± I nodded and felt growing respect toward the Blood Dance Alliance¡¯s goal. It looked like I had joined the right faction. Those alive should always be aiming to protect something, or they were no different from walking corpses. ¡­... An unpleasant screech suddenly came from the distance. The caws soon joined into one shrilly melody. The archer Weiss exclaimed in shock, ¡°Heavens, are these the Flying Shadows?¡± I turned around and questioned him. ¡°Flying Shadows? What are those?¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I groaned on the inside. How am I going to defend this place from a couple thousand mobs? More screeches came from the distant forest while I was thinking of a way. Then, a black mass of things started flying our way. They looked like birds, but were much bigger than any bird that I knew of. A closer look revealed that they were in fact a bunch of rotten corpses with wings behind their backs. They could probably be mistaken as fallen angels, but in the end they were just rotten corpses who were blessed with a good name¡ªFlying Shadows! I swept my gaze across the incoming wave and successfully read the stats of the first few Flying Shadows at the forefront¡ª Dried-up Flying Shadow Level: 62 Attack: 250~375 Defense: 240 HP: 2400 Skills: Thrust Introduction: When a lightweight human dies, the devils take their bodies and transform them into flying monsters. These creatures are known as ¡°Flying Shadows¡±, and can be encountered everywhere on the Heavenblessed Continent. Their name alone strikes fear into the hearts of countless humans. ¡­... As Weiss mentioned, their attack power was incredibly low. In fact, it was low enough that it probably wouldn''t be able to pierce my Defense at all! I checked my own stats again. I had 402 base Defense and 100 extra Defense from the skill Enhanced Bones, so they added up to a total of 502 Defense. At Rank 6, Ghost Deity Armor further boosted my Defense by 18%, so my effective Defense stat was at about 592. I wasn¡¯t completely invulnerable, but I was sure that they couldn¡¯t pierce my Defense, no matter what! Full of confidence, I turned to face the undead NPCs behind me. ¡°I¡¯ll stop them. Priest, can you heal me while I keep these Flying Shadows at bay?¡± The female priest nodded. ¡°No problem. Be careful!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I sighed. If Murong Mingyue was here, I wouldn¡¯t need to worry about my safety. Her healing was out of the world after all. A few seconds later, a huge amount of Flying Shadows descended from the sky and flooded the sentinel tower in an instant! I couldn¡¯t help but shiver when a rotting stench entered my nose. Standing in front of the entrance with the Dark Wasp at my left and Xinran to my right, I raised the Ghost Ice Soul slightly before yelling, ¡°Thousand Mirage Slash!¡± Swhoosh! The metal sang as an intimidating glow suddenly exploded from the tip of my sword. A moment later, four dazzling sword beams flew toward the sky and enveloped everything within 6 yards of me! It was the Rank 6 Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! My sword beams hit a horde of Flying Shadows, causing a ton of numbers to appear above their heads. 1274! 1183! 1287! 2512! ¡­¡­ Not only did Thousand Mirage Slash utterly ravage the enemies, I even got a couple lucky crits in and one-shot some of the Flying Shadows outright. At Rank 6 the skill was plenty powerful already, but these Level 62 mobs with low HP and Defense made it look even more fearsome! An entire horde of Flying Shadows had lost more than half their HP after just one Thousand Mirage Slash, but of course these sinister-looking flying corpses weren¡¯t going to stand around and wait for me to kill them. They swung their bony spears and stabbed me from every corner, but their attack power was so low that they rattled my Ghost Deity Armor, but failed to pierce it at all. The column of numbers rising above my head only added to the hilarity of the moment. 13! 9! 14! 11! Not one of the attacks managed to deal over 20 damage, but this was a 3D space, and the spears were literally raining on me from nearly every direction. It only took a moment for me to lose over hundreds of HP. Swhoosh! The beautiful NPC priest behind my back finally started healing me. Although the numbers weren¡¯t exactly impressive, I had potions to heal myself if necessary and Regeneration of the Undead. It wasn¡¯t an impossible battle of attrition. Thousand Mirage Slash was an OP skill, but not because it had incredible range and power, but because its cooldown was only 15 seconds. 15 seconds later, I unleashed Thousand Mirage Slash again and sent an entire horde of Flying Shadows plunging to the ground. Hell, it felt I was wielding a goddamned flamethrower. A ton of EXP started flying my way and filling up my experience bar at a visible rate! I was overjoyed. It was like farming free EXP. Although the Flying Shadows didn¡¯t drop anything impressive¡ªit was mostly Big Magic Stones that weren¡¯t worth a lot these days¡ªit was incredibly exhilarating to watch my experience climb upward like a rocket. Plus, I had a High-grade Army Pouch now. I might as well make good use of my new item space. The attacking Flying Shadows numbered around 1500, and it took me over an hour to finally kill all of them. The intense battle caused all of my equipment to drop below 50% durability, especially the Ghost Ice Soul. Thousand Mirage Slash was an extremely costly skill both in terms of MP and durability, and after the battle my weapon was down to 27% durability, and I had almost run out of high-rank Magic Consumables! Damn. I wasn¡¯t expecting 10 stacks of high-level Magic Consumables to be insufficient. Normally, I didn¡¯t carry any Magic Consumables on my person at all. There was still one hour left before the quest was complete, and I prayed that the third and hopefully final wave wouldn¡¯t be another horde of enemies like the Flying Shadows. Even if I somehow managed to make my potions last until the end of the battle, my weapon was definitely not going to last the whole fight. In Heavenblessed, weapons lost their Attack once their durability dropped to zero. It would be as if I was fighting bare-handed. I would be more useful watching the Dark Wasp fighting on its own if that happened. After nearly two hours of intense battle, I had reached Level 63, 98% full. Moreover, I had finally surpassed Lin Yixin. NameLevelClass Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 63 Undead Swordsman Wind Fantasy 63 Light Wanderer Dominating Heaven Blade 62 Warrior Purple Marquis 61 Warrior Gui Guzi 60 Undead Knight Beiming Xue 60 Dark Archer Clear Perfume 60 Archer Dominating Warrior God 60 Warrior Shadow Chanel 60 Mage Light Cloudmoon 59 Mage ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin was the same level as me, but her experience percentage was lower than mine. This ranking had never looked so beautiful to me as in this moment! I needed to work hard so that Lin Yixin wouldn¡¯t have a chance to snatch the throne from me again. At the very least, I didn¡¯t want the same disaster to happen again, climbing to the top only to be kicked down before I managed to warm the seat with my butt. I suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves galloping our way. Behind me, the archer Weiss exclaimed in shock and terror again, ¡°Oh no! Are¡­ are these the Violet Knights? Heavens, I can¡¯t believe that the elite warriors of the Violet Empire had all been turned into the puppets of the undead¡­¡± I squinted at the horizon and saw a group of horsemen galloping our way. There were about a hundred of them, and they were all Level 70 or so. This wasn¡¯t the first time I encountered this type of mob. They had average attack but good Defense and HP, meaning that they were tanky enough to be annoying to kill. Thankfully, their numbers were still manageable. ¡°What should we do?¡± the archer NPC asked dumbly. ¡°These horsemen were all former elites of the Violet Empire, but now they have been transformed into the vanguard of the evil undead. This is terrible!¡± But I ignored his lamentations and focused on absorbing all the undead soul sparks on the ground. There were Flying Shadows all over the place, and I could feel the spark inside of me growing stronger and stronger. I could deal with the undead knights after I absorbed everything! Suddenly, I felt a warmth spreading from inside my heart. My energy started howling, and my muscles started twitching like crazy. In that moment, I felt a powerful aura building inside of me. I think¡­ I think I¡¯m about to undergo an evolution! Swhoosh! A red light burst into the sky, and I was overflowing with energy. The ground was shaking from the commotion! Ding~! Chapter 137: Virus Flare-up Asura! I had finally completed the evolution necessary to transform from a Night Creature into a higher-rank undead! I pulled down the hood on my head and adjusted the camera angle for a bit. A handsome face immediately entered my view. It was a man clad in glowing armor and fluttering battle robe with a sharp blade in his hand. Despite looking stern and unruly, his eyes looked as clear and as deep as a lake. ¡°Heh¡­ hehe¡­¡± I laughed dumbly for a second while all sorts of emotions churned inside me. I, Lu Chen, could finally show my true appearance to the world! I was sorely tempted to screenshot my current appearance and send it to He Yi right away, but I held back the impulse immediately. It wasn¡¯t time yet. But I would show He Yi my true appearance one day. I would show her that Falling Dust had returned not as Lu Chen, but as Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Still overjoyed, I opened the skill window to see what the evolution had brought me. The first skill in the list was a passive skill. Deterrence: Strikes fear into the hearts of all undead units within 5 yards of the player and reduces their stats by 25%! ¡­... WTF!? I was so stunned I didn¡¯t move for a time. This ¡°Deterrence¡± is absolutely ridiculous! Not only does it ¡°strike fear¡± into nearby undead units, it reduces all their stats by a whopping 25%! 25%! If a mob had 1000 Attack, then they would be left with 750 Attack after they got near me! It is incredible to say the least! My confidence grew by leaps and bounds. No matter how powerful the Violet Knights were, there was no way they could defeat me after their Attack, Defense and HP were reduced by 25%. Just like the Flying Shadows, I doubted that they could pierce my Defense! Mn, this ¡°Deterrence¡± is absolutely OP! Ambition filled every corner of my heart. If an Asura was already this powerful, then what would I get for my next ascension, Asura King, or an even higher stage of evolution, Asura God? Would I literally be able to defy the heavens if I reached that level of power? Anyway, right now my ability was super effective against any undead. Previously, my grinding speed was far lower than Lin Yixin¡¯s because my Undead Energy skill was ineffective against the undead. But now that I had Deterrence, the situation had been flipped around completely. Holy Energy was strong, but Deterrence was even stronger! Bzz! I reapplied Ghost Deity Armor and faced the charging enemies. Over a hundred Level 70 Violet Knights were galloping at me, looking like they could crush anything beneath their hooves! I gripped the Ghost Ice Soul tighter and smiled confidently. ¡°Prepare for battle!¡± The Violet Knights reached me in the blink of an eye. The moment they entered within 5 yards of me, their body immediately became dyed in light purple. It was a sign that Deterrence was working and that their stats were largely decreased. Tsk tsk, to call this skill useful would be an understatement, especially when the opponents were Night Creatures. In fact, players were expected to fight against Night Creatures most of the time. Over 80% of the mobs on the world map were Night Creatures, and the remaining 20% were wild animals and other miscellaneous creatures. I raised the Ghost Ice Soul and summoned a Thousand Mirage Slash at the dozen or so Violet Knights charging toward me! Boom! A bunch of numbers rose from the mobs¡¯ heads. 1284! 1193! 1220! ¡­... Very good. The Violet Knights originally had 6000 HP, but after their stats were reduced by 25%, they only had 4500 HP left. It would be much easier to kill them all! Ice Ray! My longsword turned into an icicle and stabbed into a Violet Knight, turning into an ice sculpture and deleting much of its HP in an instant. A couple more basic attacks later, the Violet Knight was as dead as a doorknob! My experience bar filled up visibly after the kill. Level 70 mobs gave a ton of experience! The NPCs behind me weren¡¯t idle either. The Priest healed me whenever I was low, and the Archer fired arrow after arrow into the Violet Knights and drawing painful howls from them every time he scored a hit. I purposely kept the Dark Wasp on my right and the little skeleton on my left. Directly behind me was the sentinel tower. This meant that I only needed to fight 3 monsters at a time. Before Deterrence, the Violet Knights¡¯ Attack was pretty deadly. After Deterrence, it was no longer a matter of concern. I had to admit that I got really lucky getting Deterrence at the exact moment I needed it. Without it, I might not have been able to withstand the Violet Knights¡¯ charge! I wondered if the skill was effective against bosses. If it was, then it was absolutely a godsend. If it wasn¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t be disappointed either. After all, bosses usually were governed by their own rules. Every Violet Knight who attacked the sentinel tower was slaughtered in less than half an hour, including the 200 or so reinforcements that came later. Again, Thousand Mirage Slash was a key component in a PvE battle like this. Every time I used it, my DPS immediately broke ten thousand. It was incredible to say the least! Moreover, after fighting all day long, I finally leveled up to 64! Beep! Lin Yixin sent me a message: ¡°How are you leveling up this quickly? Are you a mule or something?¡± I laughed. The Fruit Knife Goddess was finally panicking. I immediately sent her a reply: ¡°I¡¯m grinding mobs, duh. Wanna join me? I can level you up for the cheap price 500 gold an hour!¡± ¡°...¡± Unable to muster any effective retort against my taunt, Lin Yixin simply said, ¡°I¡¯ll take my sweet time, thank you. Do your best, you need that Hero¡¯s Token more than I do anyway¡­¡± ¡°Yeah. The first prize of the competition is mine for sure!¡± ¡°...¡± Maybe Lin Yixin thought that my arrogance was insufferable, but she went back to her grinding and didn¡¯t reply. ...... All of a sudden, a red light on the game window started flashing. At the same time, I heard a familiar ding. Ding~! System Notice: Your vital signs are too low. You will be ejected from the game in 10 seconds! ¡­¡­ ¡°Ah?¡± I was confused. What¡¯s going on? What did it mean by ¡®vital signs are too low¡¯? Although the message seemed pretty random, I wisely took out a tent and logged out of the game. The second I took off my helmet, I immediately felt like my body was on fire. When I looked down at my body, I nearly flew into a blind panic. I had no idea when it had happened, but my skin had turned from pink to purple, and my blood vessels were swelling like they would burst open at any moment! ¡°AH!¡± I screamed involuntarily at my condition. The virus¡¯s flare-up was swift and damning, and I wasn¡¯t sure how much time I had left! I felt despair as my consciousness started blurring. I hurriedly grabbed my phone and called Du Thirteen¡¯s number. ¡°Hello? Lu Chen?¡± Du Thirteen sounded confused. After all, he was literally in the room next to mine. ¡°Thirteen, get¡­ get over here¡­ now¡­¡± ¡°Ah? What¡¯s wrong¡­¡± But I had lost even the energy to speak. My phone slipped from my hand and hit the floor with a thunk. I myself collapsed heavily on the bed, unable to hold myself up any longer. A few seconds later, Du Thirteen kicked open the door to my room and rushed in with a worried look. The moment he saw me, he turned as white as death. ¡°Lu Chen¡­ Lu Chen! What happened?¡± Yamete, Beiming Xue and Gui Guzi also rushed in in the next moment. Everyone was similarly speechless when they saw my condition. I was on the verge of losing consciousness, and my body felt like it would explode at any moment. Hot tears streaking down my cheeks, I held Du Thirteen¡¯s hand in a death grip and said in a trembling voice, ¡°Thirteen¡­ my brother. If I die, please keep the gang together and fulfill the promise I made to He Yi. Please accompany He Yi to the last moment. This is the only thing I ask of all of you¡­¡± Du Thirteen shivered like a leaf as tears poured out of his eyes. ¡°Lu Chen, I¡¯ve never seen you cry in my life¡­ so don¡¯t¡­ I¡¯ve only ever had one brother in my whole life, and you¡¯re not allowed to skip life like a truant! You¡¯re not allowed to die, you hear me!?¡± Gui Guzi rushed forward and grabbed Du Thirteen¡¯s wrist. ¡°What¡¯s going on? What¡¯s happening to boss?¡± Du Thirteen gritted his teeth and pulled out his phone. ¡°Save the questions for later and let me call for help¡­¡± Beiming Xue dropped next to the bed and gripped a blood vessel on my elbow tightly as if it would stop it from bulging somehow. However, she quickly discovered that she was only making it look worse. Beiming was so worried that tears started sliding down her cheeks like a waterfall. They felt warm when they hit my body. Yamete walked toward with a deep frown. ¡°What else are we waiting for? Let¡¯s send him to the hospital already!¡± Du Thirteen immediately waved him away while shouting, ¡°Shut up! Send him to the hospital? He¡¯ll die from the pain before he gets there! Just shut the hell up and let me do my thing!¡± Everyone was stunned. No one had expected the gentle man to have a side like this. The moment the call connected, Du Thirteen immediately started describing my condition to the receiver. It was impossible to tell what the person on the other side was saying, but two minutes later Du Thirteen ordered loudly, ¡°Bring all the ice in the freezer and pour them over Lu Chen¡¯s body! Quickly!¡± ¡°Ah? Okay¡­¡± Beiming Xue and Gui Guzi quickly went away to grab the ice. I felt slightly better after they put ice on my body. It was like falling into an ice cave during summer. ¡°Okay¡­ what should we do next?¡± Beiming Xue looked back and forth between Du Thirteen and me in worry. ¡°Boss still isn¡¯t improving¡­¡± Du Thirteen nodded. ¡°I know. We¡¯ll carry Lu Chen downstairs in half an hour. He will be transported to Nanjing for treatment!¡± ¡°Mn, okay!¡± ¡­... It was a torturous wait. By the time half an hour was almost up, all the ice had melted and I was boiling up again. Finally, the ambulance I was supposed to get into had arrived, and my friends carried me downstairs to be picked up by a couple of people dressed in white uniforms. The strangers asked, ¡°Is he the one who caught the LC virus?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Du Thirteen nodded before adding, ¡°We would like to accompany him as well!¡± The staff stared at everyone for a moment before nodding. ¡°Come in!¡± I was injected with something the moment I got carried into the ambulance. A sense of dizziness hit me, and I fell into a deep slumber. ¡­... I didn¡¯t know how much time had passed. All I knew was that I was at Nanjing when I opened my eyes again. I was surrounded by medical devices, and there were tubes connected to every part of my body. To be honest, I felt like fainting again when I saw the sci fi¨Cesque scene. It was the kind of experience you should never have the misfortune of experiencing unless it was through a display screen. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± I groaned because my body was hurting pretty badly, and the noise I made immediately alerted a couple of nearby specialists. ¡°He¡¯s awake!¡± Chapter 138: Labor Pains "Lu Chen...¡± Du Thirteen squeezed out an ugly smile. If he went with this appearance to pick up girls, he would definitely fail. My voice was extremely weak. "Thirteen, how long do I have left?" At these words, Du Thirteen almost burst into tears. He held my hand, his eyes red. "Don''t worry, you will live long, enough to get both Lin Yixin and He Yi...¡± I didn''t know if I should laugh or cry. I murmured and said, "Don''t speak nonsense...¡± Du Thirteen looked at the tubes on my body, his eyes full of sadness, "Bro, where¡¯d you bury your feelings? Can you still find them?" I sighed. So what if I found them? In my current state, what could I promise them? ¡­¡­ At this time, Du Thirteen''s father, or Daddy Thirteen, came over with a stack of folders. He said, "Actually, Little Lu''s poison can be resolved!" "Oh? How, dad, why didn''t you tell me?" Du Thirteen''s eyes shone. Daddy Thirteen shook his head. "But it''s too difficult!" "Why?" Daddy Thirteen looked at me and Thirteen and said, "Lu Chen''s blood has merged with the virus, and worsened. In order to resolve this, we have to find the antibodies. Through a month of analysis, we finally got detailed information on the virus. Antibodies should exist, but the probability of them appearing in someone¡¯s blood are miniscule. Probably only one person in two hundred million has the needed antibodies!" "Then we will go find...¡± Du Thirteen said urgently. Daddy Thirteen shook his head. "Son, is this so simple? Should I go find two hundred million people, get their blood to test, and then find the antibodies?" Du Thirteen''s expression dimmed. He stood there dazed. But less than a minute later, he suddenly jumped up and shouted, "Dad, there is a way!" "What?" Du Thirteen was radiant. "Heavenblessed! Heavenblessed! I remember that when picking our characters in Heavenblessed, they took a bit of blood for verification. The blood information is recorded in the Chinese headquarters of the Eternal Moon Corporation. China has millions of players, maybe someone will have the antibodies. If we contact the Eternal Moon Corporation, we can make the antidote, correct?" Daddy Thirteen shook his head depressedly. "No, I already thought of it and contacted the Eternal Moon Corporation. But they firmly refused. That information is private customer information. With the Eternal Moon Corporation''s reputation at stake, they will not divulge any information. Give up, they have their principles!" "Principles? What nonsense principles?!" Du Thirteen was furious. "I don''t believe it. I¡¯ll go to Shanghai tomorrow afternoon and ask for the data from the Eternal Moon Corporation''s people!" "Son!" "Yes!" "Help Lu Chen dress. If we isolate the antibodies from serum and make an antidote within 72 hours, he will be fine.¡± "Alright!" Du Thirteen was very excited. He helped the other workers pull out all kinds of tubes from me and dress. When I walked off the operating table, I felt dizzy but fine otherwise. This research center was very advanced. Thirteen had not lied. His father was a great expert. ¡­¡­ In the conference room, when I and Du Thirteen arrived, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi and Mamate were already present. There were also some leaders of the research center present. The atmosphere was serious. Daddy Thirteen made a phone call and time passed quickly. "Here, the vice president of the Eternal Moon Corporation is already outside the research center! Should we go together to welcome them?" "Alright!" I adjusted my clothes and did my best to not look so disheveled. Beiming Xue carefully held my arm and looked worriedly at me. In the hall, a group of people were pushing open the door and entering. Immediately, me, Du Thirteen, Mamate and Gui Guzi were stunned. No one had expected the vice president to be a young woman, and a beautiful one at that. While she was not as stunning as He Yi, she was enchanting, a smile on her face, and she looked very approachable. "How are you!" This beautiful vice president went forward and shook hands with the leader of the research center. She said with a smile "I am the vice president of the Chinese branch of Eternal Moon, Qin Yun. Everyone can call me Qin Yun.¡± The research center leader nodded. "President Qin, please come in to sit and talk!" "Yes, alright!" Qin Yun had a strong presence as she led her subordinates into the guest hall first. This was how a successful woman should look. Previously, I¡¯ve only ever seen He Yi exude such a noble presence. Entering the hall, Qin Yun sat down, and looked over us. She said with a smile, "About the blood serum, actually, I can make the decision.¡± Beiming Xue''s eyes lit up and she begged, "Sister Qin Yun, save Lu Chen...¡± Qin Yun grinned. "I know. I wouldn¡¯t have come otherwise.¡± Qin Yun looked at me and smiled faintly. "Falling Dust, do you remember me?" I was slightly puzzled. Suddenly, light flashed and I said in shock, "You... you are WSL''s Zhi Yun''er, the captain of Snow Moon?" "Haha, yes, it''s me!" Qin Yun laughed softly. "It''s been more than two years, and Spirit of Grief has formally left the stage of history. The WSL event that time was spectacular. As a beginner, you were able to stop Candlelight Shadow from reaching the Top 16. You were famous in the China server.¡± Beiming Xue''s mouth was wide in shock. "??? Boss Lu Chen once defeated Candlelight Shadow?" Du Thirteen laughed. "Not once. When Candlelight Shadow was in his peak, Lu Chen could step on him as he wished. But then an accident happened, and Lu Chen was crippled...¡± Qin Yun smiled and said, "Let''s talk about business!" "Yes!" The research center leader said, "President Qin, are you willing to give the blood information of the China server players to us?" "Yes.¡± Qin Yun nodded seriously and said with a smile, "However, we can only do this, and give the blood data of the registered 270 million players to you. If you find a suitable candidate, you must go contact them yourself. None of this will have anything to do with the Eternal Moon Corporation.¡± "Yes, thank you, this is great!" The research center leader excitedly went to hold the beautiful president''s hand but Qin Yun dodged with a smile. She said, "Us workers will transfer the information to you. I will leave, I have a lunch appointment with someone~" "Oh, thank you, we are very grateful!" We sent Qin Yun out the door. She got into a black car and disappeared onto Nanjing Street. ¡­¡­ The staff from Eternal Moon held a computer and checked with the machine of the research center. They quickly found an appropriate serum sample. About two in the afternoon, shouts came from the research center. "Found it, found it. Haha, there definitely is a suitable serum!" Yet the staff of Eternal Moon demanded confidentiality and would contact them privately. As a result, even I don''t know who had provided blood to me. After a call, Daddy Thirteen came over and said, "Found them, but they asked us to keep it a secret. We will go get the serum this afternoon...¡± "Oh? No reward?" I asked. "No!" Daddy Thirteen shook his head. "Their only requests are secrecy and your information.¡± "My information?" "Yes.¡± I was slightly puzzled. Who was it that had the serum? Daddy Thirteen sighed and said, "Taking 500cc of blood at once is something most people will not agree to, especially when they do not ask for any reward. I suspect that this person knows Lu Chen.¡± "Who would it be...¡± I was very bewildered, and sat silently on the chair. ¡­¡­ There was a helicopter delivery. About six in the evening, 500cc of blood was delivered. I started a blood transfusion in the research center. Based on the analysis, after the blood was transferred, my virus would be basically defeated. This made me happy and worried. Happy because I could live like ordinary people, worried because if the virus disappeared, would my terrifying three-second delay return? Lying on the hospital bed, I watched the bright red blood flow into my body. I was filled with emotion. This torturous virus was finally going to disappear? Daddy Thirteen stood at the side with a notebook and said, "Lu Chen, you will stay three days in the center for observation. If there are no side effects, you can return to your normal life~" I nodded and smiled. "Thank you, uncle!" "Haha, it should be me thanking you!" Daddy Thirteen looked deeply at me and said, "I rarely am with Thirteen and don''t have much control over him. Fortunately, you are there. In Thirteen''s mind, you are a brother and an idol. You have many good traits Thirteen doesn''t have so I feel safe that Thirteen is with you, and can conduct my research with peace of mind.¡± I laughed. "Uncle, you are giving me too much credit.¡± "Haha, you...¡± Daddy Thirteen shook his head and smiled, walking away. ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue came in with a cup of milk tea and sat down next to me. She asked with a smile, "Boss, are you in pain?" I nodded. "Labor pains...¡± Beiming Xue was speechless. "Labor pains are what pregnant women have during labor...¡± "...¡± "Boss, can you guess who gave you the serum? Why would they give you 500cc for free, without asking for even a cent?" I thought for a moment. "Either they are my friend, or they don''t lack money. I''m not sure who it is, but this person must have type B blood just like me.¡± "Oh oh~" Yamete walked in and said, "Tomorrow noon there will be prelims for the Who Will Fight Me Tournament, and finals the day after. Two days total. Lu Chen, what should the Bloody Mercenaries workshop do?" I thought and said, "I still have to remain under observation. You four return and form a four-person team. I believe with Lil Beiming and Gui Guzi''s strength, in addition to Mamate, you can definitely enter the Top 64. I will do my best to return to Suzhou the day after tomorrow to attend the finals.¡± Chapter 139: One Against Five Next day at noon. There was a fine notebook placed in front of the sickbed. Daddy Thirteen ordered, "You can only watch for two hours at time. Pay attention to your rest!" As a result, this was a tragedy. For hardcore players like me that spent more than 12 hours online each day, having me face the empty room was a kind of torture. I opened the notebook and looked at Heavenblessed''s official forums. The Who Will Fight Me preliminaries would start at 1 in the afternoon. I could not go online and so Gui Guzi was the temporary leader. I hoped that the four-person team could successfully reach the Top 64. Otherwise, our previous efforts would have been in vain. However, to my shock, the Heavenly Ranking of Floating Ice City had changed considerably. Lin Yixin and I were Level 64, and Dominating Heaven Blade was Level 63. Also, Lin Yixin had not overtaken me yet. Strange. On the site of Floating Ice City was a banner¡ªWho Will Fight Me is formally open! Where will the laurels land? Who will be the king of Floating Ice City? Then there was a series of popularity poll with players to vote for and see who was the most popular for being the champions. Without any surprise, Snowy Cathaya''s main team was ranked first, the Gods of Destruction team led by Dominating Heaven Blade was second, and the third, Mad Dragon¡¯s team led by Roaming Dragon. The Bloody Mercenaries were ranked pitifully at 6th. Damn it, the other teams must have gotten fake votes! Snowy Cathaya Members: Wind Fantasy (Leader), Shadow Chanel, Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume, Scattered Rain Gods of Destruction Members: Dominating Heaven Blade (Leader), Dominating Warrior God, Dominating Knight God, Dominating Archer God, Dominating Mage God Mad Dragon Members: Roaming Dragon (Leader), Iron Pardon, Inconstant, Coldmoon Rose, Mad Dragon Sweetie Peach Garden Members: Indigo Collar (Leader), Moon Scar, Soft Nocturne, Wheel Shadow, Painted Skin Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Members: Murong Mingyue (Leader), Hot Sun, Spring Mud, Night Sorrow, Moon Shadow Bloody Mercenaries Members: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Leader), Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, Yamete, Amazing Expert Soul Combat Robes Members: Song of Cloud and Water (Leader), Crimson Ghost, A Green Foot, Battle Soul Metal Wings, Battle Soul Heaven Palace Lover''s Place Members: Yellow Springs (Leader), Duanmu Xuan, December Youth, Monster, Flower Pinching Finger Eternal Friendship Members: Friendship of Gems (Leader), Big Head Shrimp, Wind Listener, Wanrong, Cold Wind Flower Room Members: Young Master Le (Leader), Life of Luxury, Purple Daylight, A Dot of Red from Pinggu, Winds of Jiangnan ¡­¡­ Also, Lover''s Place, and Peach Garden, who had been unknown previously, appeared. When I searched their average player ranking, they were not low. These were the experts hiding in the shadows. Wealthy young master Li Le¡¯s team was near the top, ranked ten. I didn''t know how good the four people he had recruited were. In conclusion, I hoped that Bloody Mercenaries would not encounter these teams in the first few rounds. Otherwise, they would be at a disadvantage fighting 4 on 5, and could be easily eliminated in the prelims. Beep beep... The phone sounded. I looked and it was Lin Yixin''s number. After pressing pick up, Beauty Lin''s beautiful voice came over. "Lu Chen, you animal, how come you haven''t appeared for a few days?" Lin Yixin''s voice was slightly accusing. I laughed, feeling warmed. Regardless of whether she was accusing or cursing, she was willing to call me and this meant she thought of me. Was there anything happier than having a beautiful woman think of you? "Haha, Yiyi, you miss me?" "Miss you, yeah right... " Lin Yixin said angrily. "Who Will Fight Me is about to start. You aren''t online yet? I was planning to have Snowy Cathaya and Bloody Mercenaries fight in the finals. Where are you fooling around?" "No, I am in Nanjing...¡± "Oh, Nanjing?" Lin Yixin was slightly shocked and said, "Oh, you went to Nanjing to find a girl, yes? I heard that the sisters of Stone City are very open and beautiful...¡± "Damn, what are you thinking of? Am I that kind of playboy?" "Heehee, you are~~~" Facing Lin Yixin''s laughter and mockery, I was exasperated. I slowed my voice and said, "I don¡¯t think I can get online today. Yiyi, work hard. I hope that Snowy Cathaya will win and get the Hero''s Token. Sell it to me for 1000 gold. Old customer, old price..." "Whoa, with how much has gold devalued, you are shameless to even say such things! Right, if you cannot be online, will the Bloody Mercenaries still participate in Who Will Fight Me?" "Yes, today''s only the prelims. The four of them are attending. With their strength, I believe reaching the Top 64 is not a problem. I will return to Suzhou tomorrow and will arrive for the finals.¡± "Yes, that''s good!" Lin Yixin laughed. "Alright, that''s it. I''m hanging up, bye bye~~" "Bye~" After hanging up the phone, I continued to pay attention to the official website and focused my attention onto the Bloody Mercenaries'' schedule. After confirming, the entire page became the Bloody Mercenaries team and their grouping. Five members, four were lit up, meaning online. My card was dark, what a tragedy. The grouping was chaotic. No one knew how many teams from Floating Ice City were participating. But after the calculations, Bloody Mercenaries needed to win fifteen matches to reach the Top 64. It could be seen how many players were in the China server. As time grew close, the first lineup was released. When I saw the others'' levels, I laughed. It was five little friends, their highest level being 42. With such levels, I thought any person of the Bloody Mercenaries could challenge their entire team. In Heavenblessed, when the disparity in levels was over 20, then there was basically not much suspense in the battle. The difference in level brought along a suppression of stats. Low-level players would have a higher chance of missing their attacks. Basically, when Level 40 players were fighting Level 60, no matter how good their equipment was, they would have a terrifying miss rate of at least 50%. I clicked to spectate. The page in the computer quickly jumped into the field. I put my hand on the fingerprint reader on the notebook. After confirming my identity, I could log onto the spectating system as Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Swhoosh! The scene jumped into the area. I saw Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, Mamate and Du Thirteen standing in the area. While the enemy was a group of newbies, the four of them still maintained their calm and respect toward their opponent, and did not put on any arrogance or expert aura. "Whoa, boss is watching!" Beiming Xue saw my name on the screen and said with a smile, "Gui Guzi, give command permissions to boss!" "Yes!" Gui Guzi nodded. The next moment, a pop-up appeared on my screen. "Do you accept the status of team commander?" After confirming, my name became red on the spectator page. Now, any word that I typed out would turn red, and remind every person who was fighting. "Boss, any instructions?" Beiming Xue asked with a smile. I smiled and quickly typed. "Just kill this team as you wish, they won¡¯t give you any trouble.¡± "Yes, then let me!" Beiming Xue was eager and said with a smile, "You guys don''t move. Give all five to me!" "Oh, alright!" Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi and Mamate were happy to be idle. Watching the strongest archer of Bloody Mercenaries perform was quite good. Beiming Xue was not fully grown yet, but she had a good figure and considerable strength. A battle of an archer beauty like here was bound to be a pleasurable watch, much better than a battle of dark ominous fighters like I or Gui Guzi. As a result, during the countdown to battle, Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi and Mamate all moved backward, leaving the beautiful archer standing at the front. However, the five enemies did not dare to underestimate their opponent. They recognized this dark archer, ranked sixth on Floating Ice City''s rankings. The Level 61 Dark Archer Beiming Xue. Who wouldn''t know her? Beiming Xue held the longbow in her hand, laughing as she taunted her enemies. "Come, don''t be polite!" The countdown finished and the battle started! The five opponents charged together. Beiming Xue''s eyes moved and she calmly moved backward to the right. At the same time, she notched her arrows, quickly guessing their locations. A string of arrows flew out. This was the AoE skill of archers¡ªVolley! Volley was a painful skill. It had no aim assist at all, relying on the player''s own aim. An expert archer could have each arrow strike their target while a newbie could miss every arrow. Beiming Xue clearly belonged to the former, and had reached a certain level of understanding of archer mechanics. Otherwise, I would not have recruited her into the Bloody Mercenaries! Rank 6 Volley would release 8 arrows! Pa pa pa... A string of explosions. All 8 arrows struck. The enemy archer and assassin fell to the ground, killed by the Volley. The disparity in level was too great. Beiming Xue''s Volley only dealt 50% to 70% of basic attack damage, but that was enough to instantly kill her opponents! Precision Shot! Penetrating Arrow! Another two shots, and the five people had all died, their bodies falling to the ground. The entire battle had only lasted 6 seconds! Ding~! System Notice: The Bloody Mercenaries team has won! ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue cheered, and shouted toward the air and the screen, "Boss, am I great? Am I great?" Chapter 140: Tofu Diamond Team The Bloody Mercenaries easily won the first match, using just their dark archer to win. Also, it was a decisive victory, knocking out the opponents in 6 seconds. I bet the enemy team wanted to die from shame. They were still in the arena, and waiting for the next opponents. I searched the results. Snowy Cathaya, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Gods of Destruction, Mad Dragon and the other popular teams had won. They had not encountered much trouble. This was reasonable. Even if Floating Ice City was filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons, there was no reason they were so unlucky to encounter hidden experts in the first match. That was stuff of legends. ¡­¡­ Several minutes later, the other battles finished and the second round started! Whoosh whoosh whoosh... White light flashed. Five players flashed and were sent into the arena. They were much stronger this time, two Level 48 warriors, two archers, one Level 42 and one Level 49. The highest was the Level 55 priest. Pity, if this was a mage, the entire team would be much stronger. After the first round, many of the minor teams had been eliminated. This team was clearly much stronger than the previous team and was worthy of attention. As a result, I typed a line, "All of you together. Take care of them in half a minute!" "Alright!" Gui Guzi held a spear and also activated Undying Shield with a shout. Beiming Xue raised her longbow slightly, the string flickering with threads of bloody energy. That was the result of the Undead Energy skill. As dark-type players, both I and Beiming Xue had this skill. Gui Guzi, the poor child, only had the Undying Shield. This was probably due to our classes. Swordsmen and archers focused on attacking while Gui Guzi, an undead knight, was focused on defense and protection. Undying Shield was more useful to him than Undead Energy. But I was extremely lucky and obtained the powerful Ghost Deity Armor on top of my Undead Energy, a skill that could rival his Undying Shield. As a result, my skills combined Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue''s trump skills, I was versatile and could be a tank or a DPS. Yes, long live Undead Swordsman! The second battle was chaotic once it started. Beiming Xue''s Devil Piercing Arrow + Penetrating Arrow immediately killed one of the warriors. Then it was a harsh Volley with a rain of arrows that distracted the enemy players. Gui Guzi went forward with his spear, a round of Death Combo to kill the other warrior. Du Thirteen raised his sword and killed the two enemy archers. As expected, victory was determined in half a minute. This team, which was only Level 48 on average, had no power to resist. They quickly finished their journey in the Who Will Fight Me tournament. I had a smile, leaning against the bed and watching the battles, my initial worry changing to pleasure. Even without me, the Bloody Mercenaries four-man team was so strong, almost indestructible as they reached the fourteenth round. They had encountered some strong opponents, and relied on their steady mechanics and teamwork to tear apart the opponent''s attacks. About five in the afternoon was the fourteenth round, the second to last. After winning this one, and the next, they would reach the Top 64 of Floating Ice City! "Let¡¯s go!¡± I typed into the spectating screen. Beiming Xue held her longbow and smiled. "Boss, don''t worry. We will win!" "Mn!" The next moment, the opponents appeared, a team of five assassins. They were all dressed in leather armor, and each person held a coldly-flashing dagger. Their gazes were dark as they looked at Beiming Xue and the others. Du Thirteen gripped his longsword. "Damn, how to fight? Once they all stealth, and focus on killing one, we are done for...¡± Beiming Xue looked calmly in the direction of the opponents and said, "I will use Volley to disrupt their concealment, Gui Guzi will charge immediately and kill at least two assassins upon contact. Otherwise, this battle will be hard...¡± "Okay!" The four gripped their weapons and waited warily during the countdown¡ª 3! 2! 1! The moment the countdown ended, the five assassins all went into stealth, escaping into the void! "Damn!" Du Thirteen cursed. Beiming Xue calmly pulled her bow into the shape of a full moon. In the next moment, a powerful Volley flew. The eight arrows shot in different directions! Snap snap! Two soft sounds. As expected, Beiming Xue managed to find two assassins with her keen battle sense. Gui Guzi immediately arrived, his spear moving. One assassin immediately knelt. With Gui Guzi''s strength, it was not a problem to one-shot an assassin with Death Combo. Unfortunately, the other assassin threw fluorescent powder and then disappeared again! My heart raised. I quickly typed. "Mamate, dodge right, Thirteen, follow Mamate. In three seconds, use War Cry. Force those assassins out. Make sure Mamate doesn¡¯t die!" The two people immediately acted according to my orders. Yamete quickly moved and Du Thirteen followed. After three seconds, he was glowing red, and shouted into the sky. This was a special melee skill, War Cry. It was a skill that increased attack by 5% for all teammates within 5 yards. Of course, this skill had another use. It could take enemies out of concealment, just like a Lion¡¯s Roar! Whoosh whoosh whoosh Three figures were taken out of stealth. As expected, the three assassins were attempting to kill Yamete first. After killing the priest, their chance of winning would be greater. Their plan was good. "Dammit...¡± Yamete put a healing spell on himself with a swing of his staff. Two pops came from behind him. He had clearly been struck with the enemy''s Cold Blade attack twice. That healing spell came just in time. Otherwise, he would have died! Gui Guzi charged back, his spear sweeping and forcing an assassin away. A red light flashed through the air, this was Beiming Xue''s Devil Piercing Arrow. With a "bang", the first assassin player shook, and was stunned senseless. A basic attack later, Beiming Xue claimed his life. Good, the situation had turned. Four against three! Yamete threw a recovery spell to Gui Guzi and then fled for his life. He took out a health potion and quickly recovered to full HP. The assassins chased after Beiming Xue and Gui Guzi, especially Beiming Xue. This super strong long-range DPS was their bane. Just a basic attack of hers would take away half of their HP. Their captain shouted, ¡°Damn, is this an archer? What kind of attack power is this...¡± I laughed. What an unlucky child you were to encounter Beiming Xue. Not everyone could withstand Rank 6 Undead Energy. In the end, Du Thirteen killed the last assassin. The battle ended! Ding~! System Notice: The Bloody Mercenaries team have won the battle and entered the Top 128 of Floating Ice City! ¡­¡­ Very good. We¡¯ve successfully reached Top 128. Just one more round and we would qualify into the finals. Beiming Xue held her arrow and said with a smile, "Boss, review our battle?" "Yes.¡± I quickly typed. "Thirteen, your movements are slightly lacking, you lack decisiveness. You have to do your best to be ahead of the opponent, and use your body to shield your teammate. You cannot follow them, you lose the initiative. Mamate¡¯s positioning is very good. Gui Guzi, your killing attacks lack smoothness. Lil Beiming¡¯s long-range attacks are very good. Everyone, keep up the good work and win the next match!¡± "Alright!" Du Thirteen smiled. "However, we don¡¯t have to be very worried about the next match. They are¡­ very strong¡­ haha, look at their team...¡± I opened the brackets and found the Bloody Mercenaries'' next opponent. I was dumbfounded¡ª Tofu Diamond: Tofu Cauliflower LV-47 Archer Tofu Small Shrimp LV-45 Archer Tofu Loach LV-48 Archer Tofu Live Fish LV-50 Archer Tofu Old Duck LV-44 Archer Damn, a team of long range attackers, and all archers. But their levels were low. This kind of team was very shameless. Undoubtedly, they were able to reach the Top 128 based on their rounds of attacks. With concentrated fire, they could kill all their opponents, and thus made their way to Top 128! But I was not worried at all. When this type of team encountered the Bloody Mercenaries, they could just die! This was because the Bloody Mercenaries possessed the tankiest player in Floating Ice City¡ªUndead Knight Gui Guzi! Gui Guzi had the Enhanced Bones, Undying Shield, and other skills. His Defense was extremely high. Undying Shield could absorb a lot of damage, so he was practically unkillable. Also, all of them were under Level 50. Even if they were Level 60 third-promotion archers, I feared that they wouldn¡¯t be able to kill Gui Guzi. Coupled with Mamate¡¯s healing, there was no reason our team shouldn¡¯t win! Therefore, I laughed softly and typed, "Good luck. I will return to Suzhou tomorrow afternoon to fight together with everyone.¡± "Alright!" As I spoke, I left the spectating system. The following battle was clear and I did not have to pay attention. What was more worthy of attention was the situation of the other teams. Chapter 141: For Bravery I found Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and switched arenas to see how skillful their team was. Other than Sister Mingyue and Xu Yang, the other three people seemed to have been headhunted by He Yi using high salaries from other places. At this time, they were the core force of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Before the Bloody Mercenaries returned, I had to judge these new recruits. At least, I had to have my Bloody Mercenaries workshop¡¯s people maintain an advantage. Otherwise, our group would have no standing in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Whoosh! My eyes lit up and then I entered the spectator mode for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. There were 970000 people watching. Terrifying! However, it could be seen that these animals were not here because of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and their performance. They were there because of the most beautiful priest of Floating Ice City, Murong Mingyue. This pretty priest had always been the dream lover for male players. Contrary to these animals, I did not pay attention to Murong Mingyue''s beauty. In reality, it was because I had seen her too much before. Also, I hugged her the last time we met in Silver Fir Teahouse. I didn¡¯t have the need to look at the other''s chest like those animals and drool. That was in poor taste. I paid attention to the other three people in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Spring Mud, Level 60 warrior. Night Sorrow, Level 61 archer. Moon Shadow, Level 60 warrior. This time, He Yi had worked hard to recruit talent. These three were all third-promotion high-level players. Adding on Xu Yang and Murong Mingyue, this team lineup could stun Floating Ice City! Spring Mud looked about twenty eight or so. He was dressed in armor, had a longsword, and his gaze was deep. There was a faint smile at the corners of his lips. He was not a simple person! Night Sorrow, like Spring Mud, was also about 28 or so. He held his longbow and his gaze was cold and calm. Moon Shadow was different from the other two people. He had a frivolous smile on his lips. He looked at a female priest on the opposing team and laughed from afar. "Hi, Beauty, will you leave me your Q number after we finish the battle?" The priest flushed red, stomping her foot and cursing, "Disgusting...¡± I was speechless. Spring Mud and Night Sorrow could be considered talents, but my first impression of Moon Shadow was very bad. I felt this person did not come to play games, but was a playboy who took joy in getting girls. I looked down on a person like this. In the next moment, the system countdown started, and the battle was about to begin¡ª Spring Mud was extremely aggressive and held the sword at the front. He squeezed Xu Yang to the side and said with a smile, "Brother Xu, how about staying behind me. The frontline is the territory of warriors!" "Ha, really?" Spring Mud laughed and said, "Right now, your DPS is not even 40% of mine. Tsk tsk, as expected, you are a brave warrior...¡± Xu Yang had a fiery personality and could not withstand such scorn. His face gloomed and he angrily retorted, "Spring Mud, damn you! Do not think you are so great because you have a little skill. I don''t know where you were when I founded Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" Spring Mud sneered. "What, still thinking of relying on your old accomplishments? Let me tell you, us three of the Ego workshop joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls together. Boss He Yi personally invited us into the guild. What, you have a problem with her decision? If not, how about you come with me outside the eastern gates after the tournament ends?" Facing the other''s challenging words, Xu Yang was about to explode and cause an internal conflict. Murong Mingyue frowned slightly, coughed and said, "Xu Yang, stop fighting! Also, Spring Mud, stop talking as well. We are all members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, there¡¯s no point comparing DPS. That doesn''t mean anything. Eve dislikes discord in the guild. If she didn¡¯t have to fly to India you¡¯d both get a lashing as well!" "Hee...¡± Spring Mud showed a smile that he thought was very cool and said, "Mingyue, I know!" Murong Mingyue frowned and an expression of disgust flashed across her face. The battle immediately started. Spring Mud held his sword and charged at the front. He suddenly attacked a warrior with his sword wrapped in burning flame. But this was not the Blaze skill. It was some kind of swordplay skill. The blade cut at an angle into the other''s body. The warrior howled, his HP dropping significantly! 822! Such great attack power! This Spring Mud clearly had some skill. No wonder Xu Yang was so miserable. It appeared that Spring Mud belonged to the type that had talent but no virtue. There were many people like him in virtual games. Candlelight Shadow was the same, full of talent, but extremely arrogant. Spring Mud followed up with another blow. In just one engage, the Level 58 enemy warrior was instantly killed by the new addition to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Xu Yang charged over and was about to kill the archer, but before he could get the job done, cold light flashed by. It was Charge! Its user was no one else but the Level 60 warrior Moon Shadow. The charge stunned the enemy archer. He raised his sword and two quick blows later, the archer was dead! The archer Night Sorrow pulled his bow and shouted, "Ice Volley!" Pa pa pa... He shot eight arrows in a row. Astoundingly, all the arrows were ice arrows. This skill variation was bound to be very strong. The ice arrows had a passive ability to reduce speed. After the round of arrows, the remaining three players were all slowed, their HP greatly reduced. Spring Mud and Moon Shadow were like wolves charging into the sheep herd. In less than half a minute, they killed all the opponents! Strong, very strong! My brows furrowed. I looked at the three people on screen. Spring Mud, Moon Shadow, Night Sorrow. These three were astoundingly strong. With these three people, Bloody Mercenaries would be met with some resistance if they returned to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Right now, what I was thinking wasn''t when I would return to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, but how should I protect Beiming Xue, Du Thirteen, and the others after returning. They weren¡¯t cunning. Their naive selves would be defenseless. As the honorary boss of the Bloody Mercenaries, I had to think of some things ahead of others. Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations [Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls] team for officially reaching the Top 64 of Who Will Fight Me! ¡­¡­ The system started to give notices, each team that entered the top 64 being commended once¡ª System Announcement: Congratulations [Snowy Cathaya] team for officially reaching the Top 64 of Who Will Fight Me! System Announcement: Congratulations [Peach Garden] team for officially reaching the Top 64 of Who Will Fight Me! System Announcement: Congratulations [Bloody Mercenaries] team for officially reaching the Top 64 of Who Will Fight Me! System Announcement: Congratulations [Gods of Destruction] team for officially reaching the Top 64 of Who Will Fight Me! System Announcement: Congratulations [Flower Room] team for officially reaching the Top 64 of Who Will Fight Me! System Announcement: Congratulations [Mad Dragon] team for officially reaching the Top 64 of Who Will Fight Me! ¡­¡­ All of the popular teams had advanced to the Top 64, and today''s tournament finally ended after a day of fighting. Tomorrow, Floating Ice City would have a great battle! I looked at the official forums. The tournament for the Top 64 would start at 1 in the afternoon! "Lu Chen, go rest!" A beautiful researcher appeared. She had been taking care of me these days so we had become familiar with each other. "Tonight at 8, the doctors will come inspect you. If there are no abnormalities, we will send you off to Suzhou tomorrow!" ¡°Oh, thank you!" I nodded and smiled. She took the computer from my hand and said with a smile, "You gaming experts can''t live without a computer. I think you shouldn''t bother getting a girlfriend, just marry a computer!" I laughed softly. "Fine. But it has to have a good setup. At least eight-core CPU, 64 GB RAM, huge NVMe drive...¡± "Oh my~" She lowered the bed and tucked in my blankets. She said, "How about you sleep for a while. Even two IV tubes can¡¯t stop your mouth...¡± I laughed and lay down. After she left, I couldn''t sleep. I took out my phone and sent a message to Murong Mingyue: "Are you free now? Can I call you?" A few seconds later, Murong Mingyue called. After accepting, a pleasing voice came over¡ª "Lu Chen, what is it? Right, I didn''t see you attend the Bloody Mercenaries matches this afternoon. What happened, hmm?" "Cough cough, nothing. Something came up and I decided to let them gain some battle experience. Sister Mingyue, I called to chat about the main forces of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls.¡± "Oh...¡± Murong Mingyue seemed to have guessed that I would say these things and laughed. "Spring Mud, Moon Shadow, and Night Sorrow were originally the main force of a workshop called the Ego workshop. They were a group of people based in Floating Ice City. They¡¯ve garnered some fame and Eve thought they were pretty good so she invited them to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls.¡± I nodded. "So that''s how it is. But when I watched your battle, I found that Spring Mud seems to be in conflict with Xu Yang...¡± "Yes.¡± Murong Mingyue said helplessly, "I don¡¯t get you men. You seem to be born to fight. Yesterday, in the work area, Xu Yang almost fought Spring Mud and the others...¡± I was silent for a few seconds and said, "Sister Mingyue, what does boss think about this?" "Eve doesn¡¯t know about it at the moment. She flew to India for a regional meeting, and will return in about three days. If she knew the situation, the world would be in chaos. I plan to quench the fire by the time she gets back. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls lack talent so much right now, and my hands are tied. Lu Chen, if only you were here~~" I looked at my healing body and said with a smile, "Don''t worry. I¡¯ll return soon. It won¡¯t be long. Work hard, Sister, Mingyue!" "Yes yes! Right, are you attending the Top 64 tournament tomorrow?" "Yes, of course, definitely!" "Okay, see you then!" "Alright, see you tomorrow!" ¡­¡­ Chapter 142: Hall of Justice The researchers confirmed my body seemed to have recovered and after a night of sleep I could finally leave. I got in the car around 6 am. It would take me about five hours to get from Nanjing to Suzhou. If I left early, I would be able to catch the tournament in the afternoon. After sitting down, I swung my fist. My punch was still strong. Even though the virus seemed to have been eliminated, my body¡¯s strengthening hadn¡¯t faded. If nothing happened, my brain delay would be very small, and my reaction time would be in line with normal people. In other words, when PvPing, my brain was no longer a disadvantage. With my current strength, I had returned to my peak from back when I was Falling Dust. My next step¡ªreach levels Falling Dust has never reached and cross the gap between me and Candlelight Shadow. At noon, I finally reached the workshop. I sent the driver back. Beiming Xue was already waiting downstairs. She pounced at me, spread her arms and jumped into my embrace, her eyes misty. With a smile she said, "Boss, you finally returned...¡± I was slightly embarrassed. I softly patted Beiming Xue''s back. "Beiming, don¡¯t cry. Haven¡¯t I returned? Let''s go. I don¡¯t feel any pain, I¡¯m as healthy as a bull. This afternoon, I can join you all in the tournament!¡± "Mn, alright!" Beiming Xue wiped her tears. Mamate and Du Thirteen also came downstairs and were very jealous. Mamate said, "Brother B, if the two of us returned from a great illness, do you think Lil Beiming would give us an excited hug?" Du Thirteen shook his head and said sincerely, "People are different. Look at your lecherous smile. You should be grateful if Lil Beiming didn¡¯t throw a brick at you!" Mamate immediately started to cry. Gui Guzi came downstairs with a spoon and said, "Come up. I¡¯m making authentic West Lake Fish in Vinegar Gravy. Beiming, help Boss upstairs and taste my cooking!" I glared. "Dammit Little Gui. You came down while cooking? We¡¯re on the fifth floor!¡± Beiming Xue sniffed hard. "No wonder I can smell something burning. Brother Gui, do you want to invite us to eat fish tender on the inside and burnt on the outside?" "Shit!" Gui Guzi charged back upstairs with his spoon. Everyone laughed. Returning to the workshop felt like a dream. I felt reborn. I looked down at my healthy arms and clenched my fist. I rejoiced surviving such a close brush with death. It was all thanks to the person who donated me their blood. However, I would probably never learn their identity. The research center kept it under tight lockdown. I sighed and leaned back onto the sofa, saying softly, "Whoever you are, thank you...¡± ¡­¡­ In the end, we bought food from a restaurant downstairs. We quickly finished our meal and checked the time. 12:51. Time to go online to join the finals of Who Will Fight Me! I rubbed my palms and said with a grin, "Fuck, Lu Chen¡¯s back, Who Will Fight Me!" Beiming Xue smiled and pushed me into the room. "Quick, get online or we won¡¯t make it...¡± "Oh oh!" I quickly entered my room, connected the gaming equipment and got online! Swhoosh! I appeared in the Man-eater Flower Graveyard near Eternal Song Forest, the place I did my quest last time. Damn! My EXP had grown a small bit, clearly the reward from the quest last time. I had managed to guard the sentry tower for three hours. I looked at the Heavenly Ranking of Floating Ice City. Damn, I had dropped from 1st place all the way down to 4th! These people are maniacs! They have been probably grinding non stop even after the tournament yesterday! Their diligence is to be admired! NameLevelClass Dominating Heaven Blade 65 Warrior Wind Fantasy 65 Light Wanderer Purple Marquis 64 Warrior Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 64 Undead Swordsman Gui Guzi 63 Undead Knight Beiming Xue 62 Dark Archer Clear Perfume 62 Archer Dominating Warrior God 62 Warrior Shadow Chanel 62 Mage Dominating Mage God 61 Mage ¡­¡­ Dominating Heaven Blade had quickly leveled up and reached the top. Lin Yixin seemed to be slacking and dropped to 2nd place. Purple Marquis was catching up in 3rd place. With my two days of absence, I dropped to 4th. Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Clear Perfume and the others had all caught up. Shadow Chanel, this old enemy of mine, also appeared on the ranking. However, she had joined Snowy Cathaya and become Lin Yixin¡¯s subordinate. She probably wouldn¡¯t fight me if we met again. The Heavenly Ranking of Floating Ice City was basically monopolized by Snowy Cathaya, Bloody Mercenaries and Gods of Destruction. Of the Top 10, Lin Yixin¡¯s guild had 4 spots, my workshop had 3 and Dominating Heaven Blade also had 3. The situation was relatively balanced. I didn''t think for too long and took out a return scroll. I have to return to Floating Ice City! Whoosh! When I appeared at Floating Ice City, I immediately went to repair my equipment. I threw all the items in my bag into the warehouse and prepared my bag for the battle. I had to make room, haha, for all the system rewards for my championship! At this time, a burst of bell sounds came by my ear¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Your tournament fight is about to begin. Do you confirm your attendance? You will be transported to the battle arena. Confirm! White light flashed by. My body was transferred by mysterious magic power into another space, and I appeared in a 100x100 yard arena! White light flashed around me. Beiming Xue, Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi, and Yamete all appeared! "Haha, Lu Chen is here! I sense it, my body is filled with power...¡± Du Thirteen laughed. Mamate teased. "You are just too green. With a super expert like Boss Lu leading the way, of course you¡¯d be filled with power!¡± Beiming Xue covered her mouth and laughed softly. ¡±Let''s go see who our first opponent is today!" "Mn!" As the team leader, I pulled out the tournament UI. Our next opponent''s information appeared on the screen¡ª Hall of Justice: June Yellow Springs LV-60 Warrior Serene Moon LV-60 Archer Heaven Rebel LV-59 Assassin Straying Apart LV-60 Magic Knight Heaven Rend LV-60 Warrior ¡­¡­ "Wow, another brute-force team with no priest!" Beiming Xue poked out her tongue and said with a laugh. Gui Guzi asked, "Boss Broken Halberd, what do you think of these people?" Accompanied by countless lights, the players of Hall of Justice arrived. Three melee fighters, one long-range archer and an assassin. Average level of 60. Four of them have undergone third class promotion. They couldn¡¯t be easily dismissed. I shook my head and said, "Not that great. Two of them have lecherous gazes. Look, they are looking at Lil Beiming...¡± Shiing! Du Thirteen pulled out his sword and said, "Fuck, that Heaven Rend and Straying Apart are too perverted. They dare to look at Lil Beiming. Everyone, don''t stop me. I¡¯m gonna go at ¡®em!" I spread my hand. "Go. We won¡¯t forget to put two chrysanthemums on your grave next year...¡± "Chrysanthemums...¡± Du Thirteen shuddered all over. "Never mind. Let¡¯s kill them once the battle starts...¡± Mamate said, "Fuck, don¡¯t waste the idle time to chat and laugh. Think about how you¡¯ll kill them. They¡¯ve gone through their third promotions, they can¡¯t be dismissed. Just a few Blazes or Ice Rays and we will be killed.¡± Beiming Xue laughed softly. "It can kill you, Mamate, but Boss Lu does not fear attack power of that degree...¡± Mamate continued to cry. As a healer, he had a duty to heal others, and also a profound understanding of all the ways he could be killed by others. Priests¡¯ HP and Defense scaling was the same as mages¡¯, but they didn¡¯t have skills like Magic Shield, and they were pretty much dead once anyone got close. Gui Guzi looked over inquiringly and said, "Boss, how will we fight?" I was the team leader, and the most skilled strategist in the team. I had participated in all kinds of competitions, including Eternal Moon''s last game Spirit of Grief''s final competition, WSL. It was in that great battle that I defeated Candlelight Shadow of the Candle Dragon team and stopped their legend in the Top 32. They¡¯ve always hated me for that. Unfortunately, I got injured in a traffic accident before the tournament¡¯s finals. I missed a great chance to reach the peak of my life, and had to forfeit the tournament. Compared to WSL, this Who will Fight Me was naturally not much. I smiled and said, "After the countdown finishes, Mamate will throw a HoT skill on Gui Guzi and flee for his life. Beiming will halt their advance with ranged attacks. Gui Guzi will spearhead through the middle, and Thirteen will attack from the right side. I will break through the left flank!" "Okay!" Everyone gripped their weapons and prepared to attack. The system started the countdown¡ª 3! 2! 1! Start! Gui Guzi shouted, and activated Undying Shield before charging at the front. He was like a god of death, exuding an intimidating presence that subconsciously startled the opponents for half a second without them even realizing. Straying Apart charged with his sword and said with a laugh, "That dark archer is mine. No one will steal her from me, or I will fight them!" Heaven Rend held a spear and shouted, "No, the girl is mine, you wanna die?" At this time, Beiming Xue pulled her longbow, her expression frosty. A Volley came down. She used the Bow Spin technique to change the trajectory of the arrows. Seven arrows were headed for the bickering duo. Pop pop pop... Beiming¡¯s aim was true, and the arrows hit their mark. Heaven Rend and Straying Apart lost huge chunks of their HP. Their faces turned pale and they immediately stopped bringing up the topic of girls. A strong girl like Beiming Xue was not someone that they could win over! "Rend, Straying, careful! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is coming!" June Yellow Springs warned in a loud voice but it was too late. I slid through the stone tiles of the arena, having gotten close enough for attack maneuvers. The Ghost Ice Soul rose high, ready to reap the lives of the enemies! Thousand Mirage Slash! 1. User Interface Chapter 143: Cornfield Love Clang! The Ghost Ice Soul suddenly gave a sharp hum. In the next moment, the blade turned into five sword energies that cut into the enemy formation. The three people, Straying Apart, Heaven Rend, and Heaven Rebel, were all within the six-yard range and were struck! Boom! Dust flew. Thousand Mirage Slash fell like lightning without giving them any chance to react. The three screamed. Among the sword beams, three damage numbers flew up¡ª 984! 1008! 1274! The assassin Heaven Rebel didn''t even have time to react. He turned into a white light and flew out of the arena with a shout, dead. Straying Apart and Heaven Rend had lost at least 75% of HP. They hurriedly stumbled back and plopped on their butts. Beiming Xue pulled the string of her bow, another Volley unleashed. Her beautiful face was murderous. "What¡¯s wrong? Didn¡¯t you want a girl like me?" Pa pa! The rain of arrows landed. The two melee fighters didn¡¯t even have to let out screams before they became hedgehogs and were ejected in two streams of white light. On the other side, Gui Guzi was fighting the warrior June Yellow Springs. His spear was shot out like a ferocious dragon, and his Flame Thrusts tormented the other person. The two of them both used Blaze at the same time. This was the Level 50 trump-card common skill for melee classes! Its damage potential was great! 984! 453! +136! I had to say that Gui Guzi''s Rank 6 Undying Shield was very powerful, absorbing 30% of the damage taken. June Yellow Springs took 453 of his HP but the shield recovered 136 of that. In reality, the attack did only 317 damage, and couldn¡¯t even be mentioned in the same breath as Gui Guzi¡¯s almost-four-digit damage. Beiming Xue followed up and impaled June Yellow Springs with a Devil Piercing Arrow of her own, eliciting a painful growl from the ejected player. After this, there was only the archer, Serene Moon, left. As the last player standing, the enemy was not our match and was soon hunted down by our pets. The archer¡¯s pet didn¡¯t even have a chance to attack once. After its master died, it returned to their pet space on its own. Sometimes, it didn¡¯t matter how strong the pet was, as long as the master wasn¡¯t up to par. 1:0. We successfully killed this hoodlum team called Hall of Justice. Soon, we went into the second round and everyone was sent into the arena. Whoosh whoosh... White light flashed. The five enemies appeared. Heaven Rend and Straying Apart looked very eager at Beiming Xue from a distance and said, "If our team had such a beautiful girl, how amazing that would be...¡± As they spoke, the two looked together toward June Yellow Springs. Immediately, June Yellow Springs shuddered, "Damn! I... I only like women. You two, get out!" Heaven Rend raised his eyebrows and said, "We need to kill their damage dealers first. I and Straying will deal with Broken Halberd, while the three of you will surround Beiming Xue. I don¡¯t believe we will be stopped in Top 64. We are a super seeded team...¡± Straying Apart said, "What¡¯s the use in giving ourselves a title... let''s not be killed together by Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand''s AoE attack...¡± June Yellow Springs gripped his sword hard and said, "Follow me and attack. Let''s first kill Beiming Xue and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. We can¡¯t give them any opportunities. Also, Rend, Straying, pay attention to that Thousand Mirage Slash. If you get instantly killed, go die!" "Alright!" After they finished discussing, we had not made any noise at all. In reality, while their armor and levels were good, they were just second-class experts. They were inferior to players like Dominating Knight God and Dominating Warrior God. They could not pose much of a threat to the Bloody Mercenaries. In the blink of an eye, the second round began! "Kill!" Straying Apart and Heaven Rend charged toward me, waving their weapons. June Yellow Springs led the other two people to charge toward Beiming Xue, their objectives obvious. Beiming Xue smiled. She moved back quickly in small steps as she said with a smile, "Boss, let''s do a pincer attack~" I instantly understood and suddenly moved, merging with Beiming Xue''s path. Immediately, the enemy five were in chaos because their paths were going to collide! Beiming Xue raised her longbow, and two arrows landed on Heaven Rend and Straying Apart. I raised the Ghost Ice Soul, Thousand Mirage Slash descended, and covered June Yellow Springs and the other two people! This was not a very high-level tactic. Beiming Xue and I just exchanged enemies. The enemies had not expected their targets to change and were caught off-guard! Boom! Thousand Mirage Slash landed. Two white lights flashed. The enemy archer and assassin were instantly killed. June Yellow Springs only had a thread of HP left. He took his pet Wasp and downed a potion, prepared to fight for his life. I welcomed him, the Ghost Ice Soul moving swiftly. June Yellow Springs slowly fell down, his expression reluctant. Straying Apart and Heaven Rend were being played with by Beiming Xue and her long-range attacks. Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen did what they should, using Blaze to dispatch the pair to the afterlife. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your team [Bloody Mercenaries] has successfully reached the Top 32! ¡­¡­ "Haha, we won!" Du Thirteen was extremely excited. He raised his longsword and laughed. "Hahaha, we won. Our Bloody Mercenaries reached the Top 32!" As a result, the rest of us looked coolly at him. We did not understand why he was so excited. It was just Top 32. Thirteen touched his nose and started to compose himself. We also waited calmly for the arrival of our next opponent. Gui Guzi felt some anticipation and said with a smile, "If we win the next match, we¡¯ll enter the Top 16. The Top 16 fights will be held in the big arena, one battle at a time. We have to make a show there. It would be best if we became champions. That way, Bloody Mercenaries can recruit many first-class experts once we establish our guild!¡± I nodded. "Little Gui is correct. This is a great chance for us. If the Bloody Mercenaries want to rise quickly in Floating Ice City, Who Will Fight Me is the key to success! Yamete rubbed his hands and licked his lips. "You make me feel excited...¡± "Damn!" ¡­¡­ I opened the Who Will Fight Me interface. The battles for the Top 64 were ongoing. Seventeen teams had already reached the Top 32. Snowy Cathaya led by Lin Yixin, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls led by Murong Mingyue, Gods of Destruction led by Dominating Heaven Blade, and Mad Dragon led by Roaming Dragon were among them. In the Top 16, it would likely be a fight between titans and the truly spectacular parts of this Floating Ice City tournament will start! Soon, the system notified me our next opponents had been set. In the sky above me, there were lines of words¡ª Cornfield Love: One Corn LV-60 Mage Two Corn LV-60 Mage Three Corn LV-61 Mage Four Corn LV-61 Mage Moan LV-60 Mage ¡­¡­ Du Thirteen shuddered. "Damn! A team of five mages? This... is so strong?" Gui Guzi had a cautious expression and said, "A freakish team! This is a super-freakish team. Five mages, all of them third-promotion players...¡± I thought for a moment. "Third-promotion players possess a super strong single-target attack skill¡ªIce Dragon Howl. It can increase magic damage by 75%. Once the five of them cast together, they can instantly kill one of us.¡± Beiming Xue blinked her eyes and said, "In other words, we will definitely suffer losses in this match?" "Yes!" I nodded. "Little Gui and I will be cannon fodder and attempt to kill 2¨C3 mages. The rest will be up to Lil Beiming and the rest of you!" "No problem, don''t worry!" Everyone exchanged looks, our gaze full of agreement and trust. A workshop could not lack trust in each other''s strength in the long run. I had absolute confidence in Beiming Xue''s long-range attacks, Gui Guzi''s close combat power and Defense, and Mamate''s healing abilities. Similarly, the three of them respected my strength, and even revered it. My strength was above the three of them. As for Du Thirteen''s strength, everyone ignored it. In reality, in this tournament, we¡¯ve been prepared to fight 4v5 since the very beginning. A few seconds later, accompanied by white light, the five-person team appeared! The four corns were male mages about twenty or so. They should be students. The other was a female mage called "Moan¡±. She looked alright, but did she not know the meaning of her name? Thinking of the cornfields, then moan, I suddenly blushed... Beiming Xue tilted her head and looked at me. "Boss, why are you blushing?" "Cough cough, you must be seeing things... prepare for battle!" "Oh oh!" The system started the countdown and we also held our breaths. Our opponents this time were not weak. Mages were natural killers of warriors, and warriors were natural killers of mages. This battle would completely depend on bravery and strength, and who was more decisive. 3! 2! 1! Start! Gui Guzi immediately charged out first. The five mages started chanting together. In the next moment, their magic power surged, turning the sky blue. Five magic vibrations from their respective ice dragons plunged down from the skies and smashed into Gui Guzi¡¯s head, immediately causing five damage numbers to float up! 935! 1050! 980! 1110! 1220! At the same time, there was a string of green damage absorbing numbers¡ª +280! +315! +294! +333! +336! After the damage ended, Gui Guzi shook slightly and turned into dots of light. He had been instantly killed! Chapter 144: Song of Cloud and Water I took a deep breath, and activated the Charge skill. I locked onto the only mage that had yet to cast his Magic Shield! Swoosh! I immediately arrived, my sword already in motion. A basic attack was enough to kill him! I turned around, and Thousand Mirage Slash roared out! Boom! Three mages were immediately engulfed by the AoE attack, but three MISS messages appeared over their heads. While the skill didn¡¯t do any damage to them, it was far from useless. After all, it had completely worn down their Magic Shields. I quickly chased the retreating mages, their faces full of shock. Before they could recover their posture, my Ghost Ice Soul flashed before their eyes, covering their vision with its intimidating sheen! Slayer Slash! Ice Ray! 1203! 2304! Another critical hit! Peachy! I had dealt with three mages. On the other side, Beiming Xue''s Devil Piercing Arrow flew out, and pinned the fourth mage to the walls of the arena. Du Thirteen and Mamate''s eyes were red as they shouted revenge for Gui Guzi and tore apart the fifth mage! 1:0. We were ahead! Gui Guzi was once again transferred into the arena. He wiped away cold sweat from his forehead and said with a smile, "That gave me a fright. This group of corn has strong magic attack. That Ice Dragon Howl is so fucking scary. They instantly took almost three thousand HP from me, terrifying!" I smiled. "It''s alright, we won!" Gui Guzi nodded. "Ugh, Boss Broken Halberd''s attacks and movement are so extraordinary. If you weren¡¯t there, the four of us would have undoubtedly been defeated!" I shook my head and smiled. "Everyone has to work together in a battle like this. One or two people are basically useless. But Little Gui, what is your Magic Resist? Why did the Ice Dragon Howl take so much of your HP?" Gui Guzi was slightly embarrassed. "It¡¯s a bit shameful. I only have 90 Magic Resist. What about you, Boss Broken Halberd?" I looked and said, "228 Magic Resist. Ghost Deity Armor improves both physical and magic defenses, so my overall stat should be at about 269.04 points.¡± "Whoa~~" Beiming Xue gaped. "Boss, your mental calculation is so amazing~~" I moved the system calculator back into the interface and said with a smile, "No kidding, I was a merit student in elementary school!" Beiming Xue''s eyes were dazzled, and her reverence reached even greater heights. Mamate and Du Thirteen drooled at the sight. This girl looked so adorable and innocent... At this time, white light flashed and the five mages appeared again. The second round was about to start! I gripped my longsword and said, "If we win this, we¡¯ll enter the Top 16!" I looked in praise at him. The kid had learned to think. He might really grow into a tactical genius in the future. "This time, I will be the bait. Gui Guzi will charge. Beiming Xue, take the opportunity and use Volley to break one or two of their Magic Shields. Once they¡¯re down, Gui Guzi will rush in and kill them!" "How will you be the bait?" Beiming Xue looked at me. I rubbed my chin and said with a smile, "Just watch, mountain men have their own tricks!" Du Thirteen glared at me. "Old man Zhuge?" "Get lost!" ¡­¡­ In the blink of an eye, the system started the countdown. The second round was about to start. I quickly pulled out the local map from the system tools and locked onto the five mages¡¯ positions. I put in the distance of 40 yards. A red circle was highlighted on the map. It was their attack range. "Kill!" I suddenly pulled out my sword and charged, directing the Dark Wasp to attack as well. The other people in the team also released their various pets. There was a Pheasant, a Green Praying Mantis, a Wasp, a Purple Butterfly. So colorful, like a circus! Looking at me charging over, One Corn had a smile on his face. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you are courting death!" Ice Dragon Howl! The five mages casted the spell together. The skill of a third-promotion mage was extremely domineering and even the sky overhead changed color! Yet just as I moved a few yards forward, I made a beautiful turn and accelerated. I neared the borders of the highlighted area on my map and successfully left their effective attack range. Theoretically, when a mage¡¯s target left their range without breaking line of sight, their spell¡¯s accuracy would be greatly reduced! Five ice dragons slammed down from the sky! Boom boom boom! MISS! MISS! 563! MISS! 497! Three Ice Dragon Howls missed altogether, and my Magic Resist was higher than Gui Guzi¡¯s to begin with. The five enemy mages gaped. "Damn, you could do that?" Beiming Xue was mouth was agape as well. "Boss, so... so strong~~" I smiled. "You have to use the system tools well...¡± "...¡± Gui Guzi charged out. The mages¡¯ Ice Dragon Howl was a high-CD skill, they would need at least 10 more seconds. This timeframe would be hell for them. They couldn¡¯t do anything to Gui Guzi and his Undying Shield with their fireballs and fire dragons! "Mamate, heal Little Gui, don''t mind me!" I took out a health potion and charged again. In reality, Mamate knew the healing priority and didn¡¯t even plan on healing me in the first place. Glug! A large health potion downed, my HP almost recovered to full! Beiming Xue''s Volley with Bow Spin¡¯s mechanics managed to break through two enemy mages¡¯ Magic Shields. Gui Guzi charged forward, and used Death Combo to kill one person instantly. My Dark Wasp, also flew over and stung the other unshielded mage to death with Flurry. Swoosh! I dashed in front of the third mage, and started with Pardon and Desperate Gambit! MISS! 1209! Very good. Not only did my Desperate Gambit eat through the entire hit point pool of the Magic Shield, it also dealt 1209 damage to mage on top of it. His HP couldn¡¯t be over 1000, so I was sure it was an instant kill! Pa pa pa... The remaining duo¡¯s pets were attacking Gui Guzi, but his defensive equipment was not weak by any means. Holy light flashed, Mamate healing their damage. Gui Guzi could deal with the pets on his own. Crack crack! I lashed out with two strokes of my sword and finished the picture of slaughter! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your team [Bloody Mercenaries] has successfully reached the Top 16! ¡­¡­ Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations [Bloody Mercenaries] team for successfully reaching the Top 16 of Floating Ice City¡¯s Who Will Fight Me! ¡­¡­ Nice, there was a system announcement. Our workshop was also the first team to reach Top 16. This was free advertisement for us. How considerate of them! A few seconds later, successive system announcements popped up. The popular guilds all reached the Top 16¡ª System Announcement: Congratulations [Peach Garden] team for successfully reaching the Top 16 of Floating Ice City¡¯s Who Will Fight Me! System Announcement: Congratulations [Gods of Destruction] team for successfully reaching the Top 16 of Floating Ice City¡¯s Who Will Fight Me! System Announcement: Congratulations [Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls] team for successfully reaching the Top 16 of Floating Ice City¡¯s Who Will Fight Me! System Announcement: Congratulations [Snowy Cathaya] team for successfully reaching the Top 16 of Floating Ice City¡¯s Who Will Fight Me! ¡­¡­ I murmured. "Beauty Lin is out of form. They were fifth to reach the Top 16 phase. Did they encounter some super-strong team?" I looked at the tournament recordings. Lin Yixin''s last opponent was not that strong, yet they took so long. Really... Ding~! System Notice: Your team has reached the Top 16. Will you immediately enter the main arena and wait for the Top 16 tournament to begin? Confirm! With a flash of magic light, I was transported into another arena, the largest arena of Floating Ice City. There was a dignified stage in the center, and spectator stands were all around. No one was in the audience yet, but the place would be filled once all Top 16 teams joined the arena. When everyone appeared, they could talk with each other. Then teams would go onto the stage to fight, and get eliminated until the champions of Floating Ice City was chosen! Swoosh swoosh! Beiming Xue and Gui Guzi appeared nearby and immediately ran toward me. On the other side, there was a female priest. That was Murong Mingyue. She had a beautiful knight with her, and it was none other than He Yi! As a participating team, once they reached the Top 16, they could appoint 1¨C3 players to act as part of their team. In reality, it was more like three free tickets. That was most likely how He Yi had entered. But shouldn¡¯t He Yi be in India right now? Being online at this time, considering time zones¡­ Not easy. I looked in the direction of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and thought. At this time, a sweet voice came from behind me. "Hello, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" I turned and found a female knight behind me. She was pretty, had good equipment and an exquisite long blade. She looked at me with a smile. "Hello, I am the leader of Soul Combat Robes, Song of Cloud and Water. May I ask if you''d be willing to join Soul Combat Robes? I promise to raise Soul Combat Robes to become a Top 10 guild in China!" Was she here to recruit? What a pity for her beautiful face. I turned to the other side and found Lin Yixin''s beautiful figure. I walked over with a smile. "Beauty Lin, you¡¯ve also made it through?" Behind me, Song of Cloud and Water almost turned to stone. She murmured in shock, "Damn, ig-ignoring me?" Chapter 145: Flower Room Bloodbath Lin Yixin looked at me with a smile. "You also qualified? Not easy, huh. I thought that you would break your halberd in the prelims...¡± "Fuck...¡± I was almost instantly shut down by Lin Yixin¡¯s words and my face turned grave. Looking at me, Lin Yixin grinned and laughed. She covered her mouth and said, "Lu Chen, guess. Will Snowy Cathaya and Bloody Mercenaries join forces in the finals?" I stretched out my index finger and led patiently, "Yiyi, you really want to join forces in the finals?" "Yes, I have been waiting for a public chance to beat you up...¡± Lin Yixin laughed. I was used to her and continued to say solemnly, "Join forces in the finals. This term has great meaning. Only two beings that make up a whole can join forces when they meet in the finals. It¡¯s like family. Yiyi, if it¡¯s as you say, do you want to be part of my family? Alright, I don¡¯t mind adding you to my household registry...¡± Lin Yixin immediately froze. She found she had fallen for my trap and her face flushed red. She waved her fist and said, "Little Cheat, you dare make a verbal trap for me. Hmph, come here, I¡¯m gonna kill you!" At this time, Purple Marquis and Zi Chuanyu who were behind Lin Yixin pulled out their swords and said, "Leader, don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll kill him for you!" Behind me, Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen also pulled out their weapons, and said with a smile, "What, Snowy Cathaya thinks that Bloody Mercenaries is a joke?" Clear Perfume laughed from the side. "Ah, a beauty brings forth calamity, a beauty brings forth calamity...¡± Lin Yixin laughed and looked into the distance. "Oh, it is so lively today, I really want to stand on the winner¡¯s stage...¡± I looked at her long neck and enchanting smile. Sigh, just like Sun Qingqing said, a beauty is a calamity! ¡­¡­ Soon, the Top 16 brackets were announced. They appeared on the large screen and immediately caused drooling¡ª Upper Bracket: Lover''s Place VS Heaven Fortune Snowy Cathaya VS Flower Room. Peach Garden VS Rivers and Lakes Eternal Friendship VS VVS Lower Bracket: Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls VS Personal Guard Soul Combat Robes VS Gods of Destruction Bloody Mercenaries VS Thunder and Wind Plum Wine VS Mad Dragon ¡­¡­ "How are the matches? I don¡¯t understand...¡± Gui Guzi was slightly confused. With his intelligence, he needed to expend some effort to understand. Du Thirteen patted Gui Guzi''s shoulder and patiently said, "Little Gui, do not pursue attack power in your future build. Switch to intelligence. That¡¯s your end-game build~~" "Yes!" Beiming Xue nodded and said with a smile, "Just four matches, everyone, let¡¯s go!" I laughed. It was easier said than done. All of the teams that we would encounter next were strong teams that managed to make it to the Top 16. There were definitely going to be hard battles ahead! "The first match is about to start!" Beiming Xue glanced at the tall stage and said with a smile, "There are a lot of people watching the battle right now...¡± I glanced over. Yes, there were over 20 million players watching. As expected of Floating Ice City, the biggest central city of the China server! Compared to the eight other tier 2 cities, Floating Ice City''s competition was much stronger. There was Gods of Destruction that was in the Guild Ranking, then Snowy Cathaya, Bloody Mercenaries, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Mad Dragon, and some up-and-coming recently established guilds. From now on, the Who Will Fight Me tournament would be a battle of tigers and dragons. The first match was Lover''s Place VS Heaven Fortune. I wasn''t familiar with these two teams, and I was too lazy to watch. The winner of these two would definitely encounter Snowy Cathaya. Under the blade of the Fruit Knife Goddess, could they survive? After a hard ten-minute battle, victory was determined. Lover''s Place knocked out Heaven Fortune 2:0. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin held her longsword and smiled slightly. "Students, prepare for battle!" In the next moment, the list of the two teams appeared on the screen on stage¡ª Snowy Cathaya: Wind Fantasy (Leader), Shadow Chanel, Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume, Scattered Rain Flower Room: Young Master Le (Leader), Life of Luxury, Purple Daylight, A Dot of Red from Pinggu, Winds of Jiangnan ¡­¡­ I smiled. Spectacular. The two teams were both school teams of Suzhou Tech. Li Le had been pursuing Lin Yixin but had never made any progress. I didn¡¯t know what would happen in the fight between these two teams. However, I could vaguely make out a smell of dynamite in the air. Lin Yixin disliked Li Le greatly. Li Le always tried to take Lin Yixin for himself. This battle could be a closure of sorts. If he won, he would take Lin Yixin as his wife. Otherwise, he would have to leave her alone. Whoosh... Light flashed, and the members of both sides stepped onto stage. On Lin Yixin''s side, Purple Marquis and Lin Yixin were fighters, and Shadow Chanel was a super mage. Clear Perfume was a strong archer while Scattered Rain was a soft-looking priest. On Li Le''s side, their average level was 5 lower. Only that assassin, Purple Daylight, and the mage, Winds of Jiangnan, had higher levels. Barring no accidents, they would not withstand Snowy Cathaya. Lin Yixin¡¯s team was filled with first-class experts that could not be stopped! Once the battle started, Lin Yixin pointed forward with her sword and shouted, "Kill them!" The Flower Room¡¯s assassin, Purple Daylight, immediately tried to enter stealth but was shot by Clear Perfume¡¯s Volley. Purple Marquis immediately followed up with a Charge and killed him with a swing of his sword. Winds of Jiangnan chanted a spell. Fire Dragon Roar charged toward Lin Yixin. The light wanderer remained composed and tanked it. Chugging down a potion, she closed the distance. Winds of Jiangnan had no chance and slumped to the ground, dead. The mages of the both teams clashed, and Li Le¡¯s fair-weather friend, Life of Luxury, was sent out of the battlefield by Shadow Chanel''s Ice Dragon Howl. Lin Yixin killed A Dot of Red from Pinggu quickly, and lunged at Li Lie, pressing the Snow Shadow Sword to Li Le¡¯s chest, her smile bright. "Li Le, give up already, you failure!" Puchi. Right through the heart. Lin Yixin immediately killed the enemy leader. Li Le''s level was too low. Trash! As another player who entered the game late, He Yi was much more professional. She knew that her level would drag everyone down so she gave up and watched instead. Li Le was not so perceptive. The result, clean 2:0. Snowy Cathaya knocked out their opponent. Flower Room, as one of the guilds near the Top of Floating Ice City, left the Who Will Fight Me tournament like this. It was really tragic. Li Le was killed twice by Lin Yixin. Despite the disparity between the two being so great, he still looked like he wouldn''t give up. Lin Yixin was so angry she was gritting her teeth and wanted to kill him again. There was no much suspense in the next two battles. Peach Garden took away Rivers and Lakes with a 2:0, and VVS defeated Eternal Friendship 2:1. Soon, it was time for the second half of the Top 16 phase to begin. ¡­¡­ The first match was Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls VS Personal Guard. By the stage, He Yi held a sword in one hand and propped the other on her waist. Her expression was strict, and her brow furrowed as she gave the last orders before battle. Murong Mingyue did not look serious at all, covering her mouth and saying something with a smile. Xu Yang couldn''t help but laugh out loud. Night Sorrow, Spring Mud, and Moon Shadow still looked arrogant as though they looked down on everyone present. White light flashed. The five members of the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were sent into the field. The Bloody Mercenaries paid close attention to this battle because everyone knew that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was the guild we were about to join. "Boss, you see that Spring Mud, Night Sorrow, and Moon Sorrow look so arrogant, are they very strong?" Beiming Xue blinked and asked me. I didn¡¯t know how to respond for a moment and could only laugh softly. "Hard to say.¡± Gui Guzi''s eyes grew cold and said, "These three are the top dogs of the Ego workshop. A year ago, I encountered them when playing in Spirit of Grief. These three are skilled and have good mechanics. At the time, I was definitely not a match for them. Ego workshop did not have many members, but had a good reputation among professional players because of their strength. I hadn''t expected them to merge into Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls.¡± Yamete sneered, "Their members were recruited, but maybe not their hearts. In my view, these people are rebellious and likely would not follow anyone but He Yi.¡± Du Thirteen had a serious expression and said, "This makes me think. If we return to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, we will undoubtedly clash on many occasions with the Ego workshop!" Beiming Xue stuck out her tongue and said, "So what should we do? Not return? I feel that Sister He Yi and Sister Murong Mingyue are both good people...¡± I laughed. "Of course.¡± Then I regained my seriousness and said, "We can¡¯t make it hard for He Yi and Sister Mingyue once we return. We must prove ourselves and become champions so that these three can¡¯t say anything!" "Yes!" Everyone clenched their fists and looked solemn. Chapter 146: I Am Supreme ¡°I am supreme in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!¡± Spring Mud waved his sword and shouted arrogantly, ¡°Feel free to challenge me if you think otherwise! The Ego workshop will show you exactly how we¡¯re going to carry Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to the top!¡± Moon Shadow wore an equally arrogant smile on his face, and Night Sorrow glared at the audience like they were a stain on his shoe. Hot Sun clenched his fists and glared at the trio with anger. Some distance away, Murong Mingyue met my eyes a bit helplessly and embarrassedly. But I could also see hope in her eyes, the hope that I might be able to change things one day. I sucked in a deep breath. A person could be prideful on the inside, but not on the outside. Clearly, the Ego workshop was way too arrogant for their own good. At this rate, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were probably going to be eliminated in the next round. It was because their next opponent was the Gods of Destruction team led by none other than Dominating Heaven Blade himself. That man and his team wasn¡¯t to be underestimated under any circumstances! Behind me, Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue watched the trio quietly and disdainfully. Frankly, I understood their sentiment completely. Ego workshop¡¯s behavior was contemptible to say the least. In my memory, only hedonistic brats like Roaming Dragon and Li Le would act like this over every little achievement. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls wasn¡¯t going to claim the first place with the likes of Spring Mud, Moon Shadow and Night Sorrow. Even if they somehow defeated Gods of Destruction, they weren¡¯t going to survive Bloody Mercenaries. There was no way Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue were going to go easy on them just because they belonged to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! ¡­... ¡°I guess Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls isn¡¯t all bark and no bite¡­¡± Lin Yixin muttered to herself as she stared at the stage with a complicated expression. However, her grip on the Snow Shadow Sword only increased further. Not far away, the leader of Soul Battle Robes, Song of Cloud and Water raised her blade and said, ¡°Everyone, it¡¯s time to deliver Gods of Destruction their wake-up call. Do you still remember our catchphrase?¡± The four participating players immediately pulled out their weapons and chanted, ¡°We will fight a hundred battles in every corner of the world! Our warrior soul will not rest until it returns to the robe!¡± Song of Cloud and Water nodded with a smile. ¡°Very good! Now let¡¯s head to the battlefield!¡± ¡­... Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Multiple players were teleported onto the stage in beams of light. The match was Soul Battle Robes VS Gods of Destruction. It was going to be another clash of the strong! I shook my head. ¡°That¡¯s highly unlikely. A gap of 4 levels across all players isn¡¯t bridged that easily. Moreover, it looks like players of Soul Battle Robes are a bit too excited right now. Just look at how calm and confident Dominating Heaven Blade is acting. This is how a victor looks like!¡± Gui Guzi nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right. Their chances of winning are just too slim!¡± The battle had already begun while we were talking to each other. Dominating Heaven Blade attacked first and stunned the enemy magic knight for 1 second using Assault. Then, he slashed the enemy across the head with Blaze! 1284! It was a ridiculous number. The magic knight was dead before the priest even had a chance to heal him. Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s attack power was just too high! Dominating Knight God also launched his own Charge while Dominating Archer God interrupted the enemy mage¡¯s chant with a Volley. One Penetrating Arrow later, the mage was nailed to the wall and killed. Song of Cloud and Water was surprisingly ferocious. Not only did she clash against Dominating Heaven Blade head-on, she was able to throw him back several steps with her own Blaze. Unfortunately, she could hardly win this when all of her teammates were dead already. ¡°Hmph, I¡¯m going to kill all of you!¡± shouted Song of Cloud and Water, unwilling to surrender despite being the only one left. Dominating Mage God smiled and chanted. ¡°O¡¯ great Ice Goddess, please awaken from your slumber and awaken the sleeping dragon. Please grant me the strength to seal everything in ice¡ªIce Dragon Howl!¡± Boom! A huge ice dragon appeared from the sky and hit Song of Cloud and Water like a lightning bolt. The girl shivered slightly as a shocking number popped from her head¡ª2114! It was a one-shot! It was both an unbelievable and worrying sight. Not even a high-level magic knight like Song of Cloud and Water could survive a critical hit from such a spell! Outside the stage, many of the audience were watching the battle with gaping mouths. No one was expecting the battle to end this quickly because Soul Battle Robes was the 14th guild on the Guild Ranking. Who would¡¯ve thought that the gap between them and the 2nd guild, Gods of Destruction, was this big? Dominating Heaven Blade waved his weapon around carelessly, believing that his victory was entirely natural. His teammates from the Domination Clan were also quite famous in Floating Ice City for some time, so this round won them a lot of claps. A trace of anger flashed across Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes as she stared at the Domination Clan. She smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s been a while since we taught the Domination Clan a lesson, but I didn¡¯t think they would grow this powerful so quickly!¡± I was aware that Gods of Destruction was one of the reasons Beiming Xue joined Bloody Mercenaries in the first place. If Dominating Warrior God hadn¡¯t driven her into a corner, she would never have joined an unfamiliar workshop as rashly as she did. Of course, the other reason she joined us was because we were the only force in the entire Floating Ice City who dared to butt heads with Gods of Destruction openly. Most factions simply didn¡¯t possess our level of courage. I patted Beiming Xue lightly on the shoulder and smiled back. ¡°Cool down, Beiming. We¡¯ll probably be fighting Gods of Destruction in the semifinals, so you¡¯ll have your chance to enact your revenge while tens of millions of people watch. Wouldn¡¯t that be enjoyable?¡± Beiming Xue nodded and planted her face on my shoulder as if it was the most natural gesture in the world. ¡°Mn. Please take responsibility and beat Gods of Destruction for me, boss¡­¡± Not far away, Lin Yixin glared daggers at me as she huffed and puffed. ¡°Hmph, I knew he¡¯s a lecherous, despicable and irresponsible hoodlum!¡± I shivered and pushed Beiming Xue gently away from me. I had no intentions of overstepping my boundaries and building an overly intimate relationship with my co-workers. Many years ago, A Thousand Years of Achievement fell into shambles and left a major stain in the gaming industry precisely because their leader was unscrupulous with his relationships. I wasn¡¯t nearly foolish enough to follow in his footsteps. Clear Perfume smiled and said something I couldn¡¯t hear to Lin Yixin. The latter giggled but didn¡¯t look like she was too angry. The second round was over while all this was going on. Gods of Destruction defeated Soul Battle Robes 2:0, and there was nothing Song of Cloud and Water could do, no matter how angrily she stomped her foot against the ground. Their march was stopped at the quarterfinals. The next match was Bloody Mercenaries VS Thunder and Wind. It was time for us to show our mettle! Shiing shiing! Du Thirteen and I pulled out our weapons at nearly the same time. ¡°Time to go, brothers and sisters! Let¡¯s dismantle those middle-aged uncles of Thunder and Wind!¡± Some distance away, Murong Mingyue smiled and gave us a thumbs-up. ¡°Do your best, Sinks Into Sand! Bash their face in!¡± Even He Yi gave me a tiny, unbearable smile. Not only was she one of the two shiniest highlights in the entire stadium, she was the only woman whose looks was on par with the Fruit Knife Goddess, Lin Yixin. Her arrival caught many male players off-guard since few people were aware that Floating Ice City was graced by a gorgeous magic knight like her. Her smile especially was something that could linger in a person¡¯s memory for a lifetime! Many years later, some perverted middle-aged man might wake up from his dream and cry into the blankets, saying, ¡°That was the day From Water of Floating Ice City had smiled at me, year 2025. Uuuuuu, I should¡¯ve summoned the courage to confess to her that day!¡± After we received a system notice, we were all teleported into the stage in unison! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... We stood in a row facing toward the players of Thunder and Wind. Our information was displayed for everyone to see. Bloody Mercenaries team: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-64 Beiming Xue LV-63 Gui Guzi LV-63 Yamete LV-60 Amazing Expert LV-60 Thunder and Wind team: Number One LV-61 Soul Mage LV-60 One Rides as Thousands LV-61 Great Shot LV-60 Gong Shang Xue Zhi Yu LV-61 ¡­... ¡°Fuck!¡± I groaned. ¡°They have a Level 61 bard. This will be troublesome¡­¡± Gui Guzi frowned deeply. ¡°Boss, what skills does Bard get at Level 60?¡± ¡°Bard¡¯s third-promotion skills are Divine Valor and Death Match. Divine Valor increases the target¡¯s Attack by 20%, and Death Match increases the target¡¯s Defense by 20%. As I said, this is going to be troublesome.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Everyone was aware that the game was still in the early stages, and the gap between equipment wasn¡¯t nearly so big that it was impossible to close. After all, even my Gold-grade weapon was considered an extremely precious ¡°divine weapon¡± even though it was just a single grade higher than others¡¯ weapons. Naturally, the powerful buffs a bard could apply to their allies could easily change the tides of a battle. The Ghost Ice Soul was an incredible weapon, but it only added 7% damage to my ice attacks. Meanwhile, a bard could cast Divine Valor on any target and buff their Attack by 20%! For many people, it was next to impossible to beat a team with such a powerful support. Du Thirteen asked, ¡°So, how should we fight this, Lu Chen?¡± I pondered for a moment before saying, ¡°Bards have a weakness; their buffs are automatically canceled if they are killed. If we kill her, everything else will fall to our lap naturally.¡± All five of us immediately glared at the pretty woman named ¡°Gong Shang Xue Zhi Yu¡± with murder. ¡°Eh? Achoo!¡± The poor woman shivered and sneezed on the spot. I continued. ¡°I¡¯m going to Charge her the moment the battle begins. Lil Beiming, use Volley to halt their advance and force them to the defensive. Gui Guzi, work together with Beiming. Thirteen, come with me to kill the bard!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Everyone gave me strong nods of acknowledgment. The countdown began, but thankfully we weren¡¯t the only ones who were nervous as hell. The loli plus four uncles on the other side of the battlefield hadn¡¯t batted an eyelid since they were teleported in! 3! 2! 1! Start! I immediately charged toward the enemy bard, but she was faster than I thought. Somehow, she was able to move out of my Charge range and applied the image of a war god onto her archer, Great Shot. The man¡¯s Attack instantly went up by 20%. Shit, this isn¡¯t good! Great Shot had already let loose a Penetrating Arrow while I was cursing inwardly! Pop! Mamate¡¯s Spell Shield was destroyed by the attack. It wasn''t nearly as durable as mages¡¯ Magic Shield. Mamate is in danger! Great Shot drew his bow again and shouted, ¡°Break!¡± This time, he fired a blood-red arrow at Mamate again. Desperate Gambit? WTF? Desperate Gambit can be applied to ranged attacks as well? Chapter 147: Feeder I decided to switch targets and kill the archer first! I immediately locked onto Great Shot and activated Charge! Swhoosh! During the one second Great Shot was stunned, I slashed his head with Slayer Slash and Ice Ray! 985! 1107! It was an instakill. An archer with Divine Valor buff would have given us too much trouble and had to be disposed of ahead of time. I sent my Dark Wasp after the enemy bard, but again she proved herself to be extremely competent. She raised one hand and applied a shielding light onto her magic knight and increased his Defense my 20%! It was Death Match! The magic knight, One Rides as Thousands roared like he was high on drugs and fought against Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen. His swings and jabs were so powerful that Du Thirteen actually faltered and had to fall back! Puchi! A Flame Thrust skewered Du Thirteen and killed him. Turns out One Rides As Thousands wasn¡¯t lacking in the offensive department either! Gui Guzi shouted his own battle cry and hit One Rides As Thousands with a Death Combo. 227! 284! 225! However, the damage he did was shockingly poor. After his Defense was raised by Death Match, One Rides As Thousands was practically unkillable by conventional means. Gui Guzi was a pretty good attacker, but not even he was able to do much against the magic knight! One Rides As Thousands drank an HP pot right in front of Gui Guzi before bursting into laughter. ¡°Is this all the legendary Undead Knight can do? Die!¡± Gui Guzi didn¡¯t give up and clashed valiantly against One Rides As Thousands again, but... Boom! The sky turned dark, and an Ice Dragon Howl dropped down from the sky! The powerful spell struck Gui Guzi dead on, and before he could do anything, a Rank 6 Fireball exploded against his body. The enemy mage was single-handedly turning this fight in One Rides As Thousands¡¯ favor! ¡°Die!¡± Gui Guzi had already lost a ton of HP after tanking two spells in a row, and the enemy magic knight¡¯s Blaze only made things worse. Gui Guzi had never lost this badly since the start of the tournament! Suddenly, he heard a shout from behind him. ¡°Little Gui, out of the way!¡± My weapon glowed red with undead energy. The moment Gui Guzi dashed to the side, I took his spot and slashed One Rides As Thousands twice as quick as lightning! So what if he had Death Match and 20% extra Defense? He was still going to die! Pardon ¡°missed¡± its target as intended. Then, a bloody Desperate Gambit hit the magic knight like a truck! MISS! 2954! One Ride As Thousands stared at his empty HP bar in disbelief. He never thought that he would be one-shot even after he was buffed with Death Match! One Rides As Thousands died. It was also around this time that Beiming Xue broke through the enemy mage¡¯s Magic Shield and killed him with two basic attacks. The enemy warrior was clearly no match for me, and he died in shame after he hit me twice and dealt less than 600 damage. Now, Beiming Xue, the enemy bard, and I were the only ones left on the battlefield. Gui Guzi had died under a Fire Dragon Roar not long ago because no one was around to heal him. However, bards had no offensive power to speak of, and Beiming Xue and I were both powerful attackers in our own right. This round already belonged to Bloody Mercenaries. The pretty bard, Gong Shang Xue Zhi Yu, gave us a helpless smile before surrendering. ¡°We lost!¡± She conceded the round! The system announced our victory as the bard was teleported out of the stage. One more point and we would join the Top 8! Swhoosh! After we returned to the edge of the stage, Gui Guzi asked seriously, ¡°How should we fight the next round?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s kill that bard first.¡± Du Thirteen suggested. ¡°Those bastards fight like they¡¯re high on aphrodisiac after she buffed them. It¡¯s too much to handle!¡± But I shook my head and said, ¡°No, that won¡¯t work. Their bard is extremely skillful, and she knows her distance extremely well. It won¡¯t be easy to kill her. They even predicted that we would prioritize killing her, which was why we got led by the nose almost the entire fight just now. We made a tactical mistake, or this would¡¯ve been a much easier fight.¡± Mamate asked, ¡°What should we do then, Lu Chen?¡± I clenched my fists and smiled confidently. ¡°It¡¯s simple. The bard is just a support. Even if her buffs were five times stronger than what they are now, she¡¯s useless if she has no one to apply them to. Their archer is clearly their strongest physical attacker, and their magic knight is their strongest defender. All we need to do is delete their archer from existence before he can do anything, and the match is ours!¡± ¡°Yeah, boss is wise!¡± Beiming Xue nodded repeatedly. ¡°It¡¯ll be nice to not lose Mamate so early into the fight again. It feels terrible to fight without a healer behind you, right Gui Guzi?¡± Mamate wept. And so did Gui Guzi. ¡­... The second round was about to begin, and both teams were teleported onto the stage again. Just like before, a serious atmosphere hung above everyone¡¯s heads as we glared at our respective opponents in silence. The system started counting down. The fight was about to begin! Charge! This time, I set my sights on the enemy archer. He¡¯s not getting the chance to hurt my men again! Great Shot clearly wasn¡¯t expecting me to target him right from the start. My Charge landed successfully and stunned him for one second! Slayer Slash! MISS! Fuck, his evasion must be pretty high. I wasn¡¯t expecting to miss my skill. But it didn¡¯t matter, because I still had Ice Ray! Puchi! The Ghost Ice Soul turned into an icicle and penetrated my opponent¡¯s chest, dealing a whopping 1102 points of damage! Archer¡¯s HP scaling was barely any better than Mage¡¯s, and Great Shot only had around 1000 HP. He couldn¡¯t withstand my Rank 6 Ice Ray at all! Great Shot groaned and collapsed to his knees. Panicking, the enemy bard applied both her Divine Valor and Death Match on the magic knight instead. It was in fact the right decision. One Rides As Thousands had pretty good Attack and Defense in the first place, so he was positively ravaging our formation with his Wasp after the female bard turned him into a mini god of war! After Great Shot was killed, I immediately set my sights on the enemy mage! My Dark Wasp flew straight to the mage and unleashed Flurry, destroying his Magic Shield right away. He tried to escape, but he didn¡¯t expect me running at him from the side with my weapon already poised to strike! 973! It was a basic attack, but it was a one-shot nonetheless! The combination of Undead Energy and my Ghost Ice Soul made me a living reaper to all cloth-armor players! Next, I moved onto the middle-aged warrior. Actually, their entire team was made up of middle-aged adults, and I felt terribly sorry for destroying them because it was rare to find people who embraced gaming so wholeheartedly at their age. But it was either them or us, and I wasn¡¯t going to give up on the first place or the precious Hero¡¯s Token that came with it. My Pardon and Desperate Gambit hit the uncle at nearly the same time and dealt 2253 damage. He was one-shot as I expected him to be. His Defense was much poorer than the magic knight¡¯s. At this point, the only players left in the enemy team were the magic knight and the bard. Right now, One Rides As Thousands was fighting against Gui Guzi, but this time Yamete was alive to keep the latter healthy. Although One Rides As Thousands had Divine Valor and Death Match, Gui Guzi was able to fight him like a champ. In fact, the Magic Knight didn¡¯t have nearly enough healing to make full use of his buffs. His HP was dropping like a rock, and it was only a matter of time before he was killed on his feet! Thud! Beiming Xue took him out of his misery with a Devil Piercing Arrow. The bard shook her head with a smile and forfeited the round again! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your team [Bloody Mercenaries] has entered the quarterfinals! ¡­... Swhoosh! Beiming Xue cheered after we were teleported out of the stage; an understandable reaction considering that this was a fight way harder than all the previous ones. We had lost three players during the first round, and Du Thirteen still died during the second round even though we were whooping our opponent¡¯s asses. I turned toward Du Thirteen and asked, ¡°How¡¯d you die just now, Thirteen? I didn¡¯t even notice¡­¡± Du Thirteen replied, ¡°I ate a Fireball while you were wrecking the mage¡­¡± ¡°Fuck! Seriously?¡± Beiming Xue giggled. ¡°Thirteen¡¯s a feeder, huh?¡± Tears immediately started pouring down Du Thirteen¡¯s cheeks. Beiming Xue quickly added. ¡°Gui Guzi and Mamate didn¡¯t get any kills either. Boss took out nearly everyone on his own¡­¡± Gui Guzi and Mamate wept again. ¡­... The last match of the Top 16 matches was Plum Wine VS Mad Dragon! Mad Dragon¡¯s team was led by their guild leader, Roaming Dragon. He was accompanied by the so-called ¡°Gemini Stars of Mad Dragon¡±, Iron Pardon and Inconstant; the charming Archer Coldmoon Rose, and finally a cute-looking priest called Mad Dragon Sweetie. Coldmoon Rose and Mad Dragon Sweetie were standing next to Roaming Dragon and holding his arm. Roaming Dragon himself was clearly enjoying the moment. It was not a sight for sore eyes. ¡°Man, Roaming Dragon is one happy man¡­¡± Beiming Xue saw my envy and smiled. She walked up to me and grabbed my right arm, saying, ¡°Are you happy now, boss? Though, I guess we¡¯re still lacking one person¡­¡± Mamate walked up with perfect timing and grabbed my left arm. He grinned at me and said, ¡°Now you¡¯re definitely happy, aren¡¯t you?¡± Me: ¡°Fuck¡­¡± ¡­... The battle began shortly. Roaming Dragon had above-average equipment, skill and tactical acumen, not to mention that he was accompanied by fierce generals like Iron Pardon, Inconstant, and Coldmoon Rose. Mad Dragon crushed the Plum Wine team with barely any effort and became the last team to join the Top 8! The Top 8 teams were finally decided. Their names and the match-ups were displayed on the big screen. Upper Bracket: Lover¡¯s Place VS Snowy Cathaya Peach Garden VS VVS Lower Bracket: Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls VS Gods of Destruction Bloody Mercenaries VS Mad Dragon ¡­¡­ Chapter 148: Lover’s Place Quarterfinals Round 1, Lover¡¯s Place VS Snowy Cathaya! Lover¡¯s Palace was unimpeded on their way up to that point. They had an extremely strong bard and the rest of their members were similarly strong. Their chances of winning were high. Snowy Cathaya on the other hand, was a super guild led by the Fruit Knife Goddess. Snowy Cathaya¡¯s momentum had already overshadowed Gods of Destruction. Even though the two large-scale guilds had yet to directly battle, Gods of Destruction looked slightly worse after a few small comparisons. After all, Fruit Knife Goddess Lin Yixin¡¯s fame had already surpassed Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s. There were many people in Floating Ice City who didn¡¯t even know who he was, but there was no one who hasn¡¯t heard of the name ¡°Wind Fantasy¡±. Lin Yixin slowly walked over and rolled her eyes. ¡°I¡¯m fighting in the quarterfinals soon and you don¡¯t have anything to say to me?¡± I nodded. ¡°Hope you win immediately...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin rolled her eyes and took her team into the arena. The greatly anticipated quarterfinals had officially begun! Lin Yixin was clearly much more serious this time. She had even devised a strategic plan before the battle which was totally not in line with her random slashing around. I nodded. ¡°Mn, good. Lover¡¯s Place has given Lin Yixin some pressure¡­¡± As a man, a completely straight man, I actually hoped that the strong and domineering girl would lose. But on the other hand, I wouldn¡¯t be able to bear her defeated expression if she really did lose. Women really were natural enemies of men. They would either conquer you or be conquered. ¡­¡­ On the stage, snowflakes fluttered from the Snow Shadow Sword Lin Yixin held across her chest. Purple Marquis and Zi Chuanyu stood guard on either side of her while the long range attackers Clear Perfume and Shadow Chanel stood behind them at the ready. The system began its countdown and the match instantly began! Level 60 bard December Youth elegantly unleashed two buffs, Divine Valor to his leader, Yellow Springs, and Death Match to the warrior Monster. Yellow Springs was a Level 61 warrior. He lunged over with a yell but his sword remained in place. He had been stunned by a quick Charge from Purple Marquis. I couldn¡¯t help but acknowledge that Lin Yixin had good eyes. This Purple Marquis truly was a rare expert! Lin Yixin swept forth, her eyes glowing with a layer of moonlight and she swung her dagger out. Moon Gaze followed up with Extreme Break! Crack! When the blade flashed past, Yellow Springs let out a groan and a terrifying damage number floated above his head¡ª1745! A one-hit kill that simply gave the opponent no chance to recover their HP! Volley! Bard December Youth gave out another buff, Nichang, and this time it was to the archer, increasing his critical rate by 25%! Four consecutive shots from Flower Pinching Finger¡¯s Volley were surprisingly critical hits. That was some dumb luck! It was one Volley yet it had disrupted Snowy Cathaya¡¯s battle formation. Purple Marquis and Zi Chuanyu had been pushed back by the arrows and were left with half their HP. They had to rely on drinking pots and healing to recover it. Lin Yixin¡¯s pretty face turned cold. She lifted her sword and charged into enemy lines with Killer Wind Swordplay, forcing Flower Pinching Finger and the mage Duanmu Xuan to fall back. I looked at the intense battle happening on the stage and let out an involuntary sigh. Lin Yixin really was a genius. At a disadvantage, she took the matters into her own hands. The opponent used a Nichang-buffed Volley to disrupt her square formation but she relied on her own abilities to break their defense and slaughter her way into the enemy team. Zi Chuanyu and Purple Marquis regrouped and charged forward. Clear Perfume also unleashed a Volley to support them and Shadow Chanel used Ice Dragon Howl to send Flower Pinching Finger off the stage. However, the other team¡¯s warrior Monster and mage Duanmu Xuan launched a joint attack of Blaze and Ice Dragon Howl on Lin Yixin! Lin Yixin was sent off the stage amid her shock! The Fruit Knife Goddess had been killed? This scene immediately left many stunned. Nobody dared to believe that Wind Fantasy had been killed in the quarterfinals. How was that possible? I too was left in disbelief. My mouth fell open. I mumbled, ¡°How¡¯s that possible? T-the speed of that attack, Yiyi should¡¯ve been able to dodge that¡­¡± Gui Guzi nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve experienced Lin Yixin¡¯s skills. With her advanced judgment and reaction speed, dodging those two attacks shouldn¡¯t have been a problem¡­¡± Beiming Xue blinked. ¡°Then how¡¯d she get hit?¡± Du Thirteen tightened his fist. ¡°Beauty Lin probably sacrificed herself for the win. Didn¡¯t you see how aggressive her charge was?¡± I frowned and thought to myself. This makes no sense. With Lin Yixin¡¯s personality, even if she charged more aggressively, she still would¡¯ve saved herself some leeway to fall back on. Something must have happened. However, this round was still a win. Purple Marquis and Zi Chuanyu fought with all their strength while the long-range attackers controlled the field with their suppression. They didn¡¯t bring out their priest, opting for a brute-force strategy. It wouldn¡¯t make sense if they didn¡¯t win! Swhoosh! Once she returned back on the stage, Lin Yixin was silent and didn¡¯t look so well. The second match soon began! The second battle was surprisingly similar to the first. Lin Yixin charged into enemy lines and was blasted out by another Ice Dragon Howl and Blaze combo but still won in the end. Snowy Cathaya became the first team to enter the semifinals! However, this was even stranger than before. What¡¯s with Lin Yixin? Why was her reaction speed so bad? She was even slower than me in the past. She was at least 1.5 seconds late to move, else she would¡¯ve easily escaped the range of Ice Dragon Howl, it had a very long cast time! ¡­¡­ I walked to Lin Yixin and smiled. ¡°Yiyi, what¡¯s wrong with you today? Why are you so desperate?¡± Lin Yixin breathed out, then smiled back. ¡°Nothing, I just¡­ don¡¯t feel well today¡­¡± I leaned forward with a grin. ¡°Yiyi, is it¡­ that time of the month for you?¡± Lin Yixin immediately flushed red and glared at me. ¡°None of your business! You seriously can imagine anything¡­¡± As she said that, Lin Yixin raised her first and punched me in the chest hard. ¡°You bastard!¡± I was stunned, and my chest ached. Lin Yixin¡¯s too heavy-handed! Still somewhat dazed, I wondered why she sounded kind of bitter. Did it have something to do with me hugging Beiming Xue earlier? Could Lin Yixin... I found it laughable. ¡°Yiyi, you¡¯re so petty!¡± Lin Yixin deeply stared at me. A hint of grievance flashed past her beautiful purple eyes as she said faintly, ¡°Actually, I¡¯m not petty¡­¡± I froze, bewildered. Lin Yixin smiled. She stretched out a snow-white finger and poked at my chestplate. ¡°Go, your people are waiting for you to stabilize their morale. You are in the quarterfinals already, you¡¯d better not get eliminated!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± I nodded. When I went back, I felt somewhat unsettled. In fact, my heart¡¯s been a mess lately. It would act up every time I saw He Yi or Lin Yixin. Some call it nerves, some call it the emergence of spring, and some may also call it the ripplings of love. Who knows! ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue laughed lightly. ¡°Boss, you¡¯re just going over to Beauty Lin¡¯s place and accept her teasing?¡± I was a tad embarrassed. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Look over there!¡± Beiming Xue pointed at the spectator stands north. She smiled with pursed lips. Sis Murong Mingyue looks murderous!¡± I took a glance and saw Murong Mingyue and He Yi looking our way. He Yi was calm but Murong Mingyue fiercely glared at me with clenched fists, as if what I and Lin Yixin had done was a bit too intimate. Sigh, I¡¯m in trouble again! It was good that the second round of the quarterfinals was about to start. Peach Garden VS VVS! This matchup had no suspense. Peach Garden displayed their strength and mightily slaughtered their opponent two times. Even though VVS was by no means weak, they couldn¡¯t resist at all! Du Thirteen was speechless after he saw the results. ¡°Isn¡¯t VVS too weak? They got 2:0¡¯d so easily.¡± Beiming Xue shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not VVS that¡¯s too weak, but Peach Garden that¡¯s too strong! Didn¡¯t you notice that Peach Garden¡¯s team coordination was really good? Every member on their team has smooth mechanics and they¡¯ve been controlling the rhythm of the battle since the start. That¡¯s why VVS appeared so weak¡­¡± I stared deeply at Peach Garden¡¯s five-man team. Floating Ice City¡¯s hidden dragons had appeared. This Peach Garden had already become a popular contender for the championship. They would meet Snowy Cathaya next, and this made me worry for Lin Yixin. Could she win against the powerful Peach Garden in her current state? I¡¯m afraid her chances aren¡¯t that high! ¡­¡­ Quarterfinals Round 3, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls VS Gods of Destruction. Yet another strong vs strong showdown! Off-stage, He Yi tightened her fists. Her beautiful eyes closely watched the battle on the stage. She was obviously worried about this competition because Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had never reached this far before. The furthest we made it in Spirit of Grief¡¯s WSL a year ago was Top 128. Before I joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I created my own team for the WSL and placed in the Top 16. I had even destroyed Candlelight Shadow¡¯s team in the Top 32. But that glory only belonged to the ID Falling Dust, not Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I always felt guilty about that. After joining Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I didn¡¯t bring any honor whatsoever to the guild. This was my chance. If Bloody Mercenaries were able to become the champions in Who Will Fight Me, then I¡¯d take my strong team along with me and valiantly return to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, bringing it glory! ¡­¡­ At this time, the two teams had already teleported into the arena. Spring Mud stood at the frontmost position in the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls team. He raised his sword and coldly snorted at Dominating Heaven Blade. ¡°Gods of Destruction? If you guys are gods, then I¡¯m killing some gods today!¡± Chapter 149: Humiliation The two sides faced each other on the big screen¡ª Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls: Spring Mud LV-60 Warrior Night Sorrow LV-61 Archer Moon Shadow LV-60 Warrior Hot Sun LV-60 Warrior Murong Mingyue LV-60 Priest Gods of Destruction: Dominating Heaven Blade LV-65 Warrior Dominating Warrior God LV-63 Warrior Dominating Knight God LV-61 Magic Knight Dominating Archer God LV-61 Archer Dominating Mage God LV-62 Mage ¡­¡­ It was clear that the core members of Gods of Destruction were not easy pickings. I had killed them so many times at Silver Moon Valley that they fell off the Top 10 ranking, but it only took them a short period of time to shoot back up. They¡¯d even undergone their third class promotion! In contrast, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ five-man team was lacking in level. In front of Dominating Heaven Blade who was currently the highest-leveled player at 65, anyone present would feel the difference in levels when fighting against him. On top of that, these people had decent mechanics and skill. This was a bad sign for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It all depended on how much of a presence the Ego workshop had! Spring Mud¡¯s expression was gloomy. He said indifferently holding his longsword, ¡°Brothers, our opponent this time is more problematic than before. Fuck, this Dominating Heaven Blade guy¡¯s not easy to deal with!¡± Night Sorrow couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡°It¡¯s easy, concentrate our firepower and kill Dominating Heaven Blade first to destroy their morale. We¡¯ll settle the rest after!¡± Moon Shadow nodded. ¡°Okay, Gods of Destruction is only a paper tiger. They¡¯re not worthy of our Ego workshop¡¯s attention! Hmph, we¡¯ll destroy Gods of Destruction this round, get rid of Bloody Mercenaries next round, and defeat Snowy Cathaya in the finals! We¡¯re the champions!¡± ¡°Right!¡± Spring Mud smiled ambitiously. ¡°We¡¯ll let Boss He Yi see that our Ego workshop¡¯s way stronger than that Falling Dust she still hasn¡¯t forgotten about! Our Ego workshop will complete the quest that Falling Dust couldn¡¯t!¡± Murong Mingyue¡¯s icy voice came from behind them. ¡°Be quiet! If you guys dare slander Falling Dust again, I promise that Eve will immediately kick you out of the guild. Don¡¯t think that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls can¡¯t go on without you!¡± Spring Mud was stunned and his face became a little ugly but he still squeezed out a smile. ¡°Beauty Murong, don¡¯t be mad. We were just joking, don¡¯t be offended, haha~¡± Murong Mingyue was expressionless. ¡°You can joke around but don¡¯t touch Eve¡¯s reverse scale. In fact, you guys are nothing compared to Falling Dust.¡± ¡°...¡± Murong Mingyue nodded. ¡°Good!¡± ¡­¡­ The system began its countdown. Dominating Heaven Blade and his underlings finished discussing their strategy and prepared to battle! ¡°3!¡± ¡°2!¡± ¡°1!¡± Battle start! Dominating Heaven Blade raised his sharp sword and hollered, ¡°Die, you rats!¡± Although overbearing, he wasn¡¯t bluffing at all. In the next second, Dominating Heaven Blade suddenly charged straight at Murong Mingyue! It was obvious that his first kill target was Murong Mingyue! Spring Mud yelled, ¡°Not good, protect the priest!¡± Archer Night Sorrow repeatedly nocked his bow and icy arrows swiftly flew out. This was his signature skill¡ªIce Volley! Ice Volley was stronger than the average variation. Not only did it deal nice damage, it had a movement speed debuff. With its range and area of effect, it was absolutely an ace CC skill! Unfortunately, Dominating Heaven Blade saw through it. He quickly changed directions twice, consciously dodging two ice arrows. His speed and mechanics were superb! Dominating Heaven Blade made an abrupt turn and a raging flame billowed on his blade¡ªmelee trump card¡ªBlaze! ¡°Oh no, Night Sorrow¡¯s their target!¡± By the time Xu Yang shouted, it was already too late. Night Sorrow was focused on releasing a Devil Piercing Arrow and ate a direct Blaze from Dominating Heaven Blade. He was on the brink of death! Sha sha... Night Sorrow¡¯s own reaction speed was just as great. He retreated two steps back on the limestone floor and dodged Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s incoming blow. Too bad that he didn¡¯t notice the opponent¡¯s follow-up. The sky suddenly went dark and the power of a giant ice dragon plunged down from above¡ªIce Dragon Howl! The sound waves brought about from a dragon caused Night Sorrow to slowly kneel to the ground. His HP was completely gone. He had been wiped by Dominating Mage God¡¯s Ice Dragon Howl! Spring Mud was angered. He rapidly charged forward, longsword raised and similarly enveloped in thick flames¡ªBlazing Sword! Pa! 987! Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s HP plummeted. He released his pet and used it to obstruct Spring Mud¡¯s pursuit, dodging in a zigzag, then disengaged entirely and downed a health potion. Spring Mud and Moon Shadow quickly chased after him with a few pets right behind them. At this time, Dominating Archer God who had yet to make a move this whole time suddenly exploded. Rank 6 Volley rained from the sky, boring holes through Spring Mud, Moon Shadow, and Xu Yang. ¡°Die!¡± Dominating Knight God dashed over. His spear shook as he unleashed Flame Thrust with Blaze. Moon Shadow didn¡¯t react fast enough and died! Dominating Archer God calmly nocked an arrow and shot out an Ice Arrow. Ice Arrow¡¯s movement speed reduction was even stronger than Night Sorrow¡¯s Ice Volley! Thunk! Tail feathers swayed but the arrow itself did not go through Spring Mud¡¯s chestplate. With his movement speed greatly lowered, Dominating Mage God¡¯s second Ice Dragon Howl descended. Not wanting to be one-shot, Spring Mud looked up with an unreconciled expression, but was powerless to change his fate. Dominating Warrior God and Xu Yang fought each other and Murong Mingyue continuously healed as support. In fact, even when Murong Mingyue used her instant heals, she wasn¡¯t able to reverse the situation. The opponent¡¯s coordination and mechanics were in fact extraordinary. The Ego workshop¡¯s mentality simply wasn¡¯t on the same level as them. This especially applied to Dominating Heaven Blade. His commands were shrewd and experienced. It wasn¡¯t something this young Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls team could deal with. Two streaks of white light scattered as both Xu Yang and Murong Mingyue were both sent off the stage. Dominating Heaven Blade nabbed the first victory with a dominant lead! ¡°Hmph!¡± Hugging his blade in hand, Dominating Heaven Blade said a bunch of nonsense and laughed, ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? A third-rate guild dares to participate in the struggle for Floating Ice City? Forget it. Ego workshop? In my opinion, it should be called Pussy workshop. You guys are too lousy. Don¡¯t bother coming out to make fools of yourselves with your shabby skills. Hahaha!¡± Spring Mud was angered. ¡°Motherfucker!¡± He looked like he was about to fly back on the stage when a dignified female voice came over. ¡°Spring Mud, shut up! We can lose the battle but we can¡¯t lose our composure!¡± ¡°Ugh. Yes, boss¡­¡± The only person who could control an enraged Spring Mud was He Yi. From afar, He Yi¡¯s face was expressionless, but it appeared helpless and weak. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ dream had once again been shattered in Who Will Fight Me. My heart ached slightly when I saw this. Right when I was about to go there to comfort her, Beiming Xue unexpectedly held my arm in place and shook her head. Her meaning was obvious. ¡°Hmph!¡± I looked at Dominating Heaven Blade with gritted teeth. ¡°If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls lose this round, I¡¯m gonna humiliate this bastard Dominating Heaven Blade in the semifinals!¡± Beiming Xue and Gui Guzu both nodded. ¡°Agreed!¡± ¡­¡­ Not long after, the second match between Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Gods of Destruction began. Spring Mud revised their strategy and swapped targets to Dominating Mage God. Dominating Mage God¡¯s attack power was super impressive in the last match. He practically reaped a life every time he made a move. He was like a long-range nuke. If he wasn¡¯t dealt with fast, the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls team could only wait to get swallowed up by his Ice Dragon Howl one by one. As soon as the match started, Xu Yang yelled and pounced in from the right, bypassing Dominating Heaven Blade who stood at the forefront, his weapon aimed at Dominating Mage God! Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s gaze swept over and he chuckled. Dominating Knight God blocked the assault. As Xu Yang accordingly attracted the enemy¡¯s attention, Spring Mud and Moon Shadow attacked the opponent¡¯s mage from the opposite direction. The archer Night Sorrow was this entire competition¡¯s crux! Ice Volley! Papapa... Eight arrows were randomly unleashed, but three of them flew toward Dominating Mage God as if they were conscious. The accuracy of this Night Sorrow was praiseworthy! But who would¡¯ve thought that Dominating Mage God had long anticipated this. He slid backward, past the 5 yard area of effect of Volley. Out of the three arrows, two missed and the last struck Dominating Mage God¡¯s Magic Shield. It couldn¡¯t break the shield so the mage naturally did not take any damage whatsoever. Dominating Heaven Blade laughed loudly, then intercepted Moon Shadow and Spring Mud with Dominating Warrior God! Clang clang! After a couple of sword strikes, Moon Shadow was swiftly disposed of by Dominating Heaven Blade and Dominating Warrior God¡¯s dual Blaze combo. Meanwhile, Spring Mud had been sniped by Dominating Archer God¡¯s Ice Arrow. His movement speed had been lowered by at least 40%. Ice attacks were just too overpowered in PvP. This was also why I had picked Ice Ray instead of Blaze. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Without even needing the other team¡¯s three warriors to move out, one Dominating Archer God alone was enough to kill Spring Mud. Spring Mud wasn¡¯t weak, it was just that he had been completely toyed with. When he chased, Dominating Archer God retreated, then continued to attack! He had actually been one-upped by his opponent¡¯s kiting skills in the quarterfinals! Too humiliating! My face felt unbearably hot. Xu Yang died under the joint attack of several people. Murong Mingyue directly forfeited right after. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ entire strategy had been completely overthrown by their opponent. Moreover, it was clear that Xu Yang had been pushed aside in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. For a warrior, getting forced out of the attacking team was an even bigger humiliation. The big screen showed the score¡ª2:0. This was how Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls bade farewell to Who Will Fight Me. Murong Mingyue¡¯s eyes were red when she left the battlefield, like she wanted to cry. He Yi patted her shoulder and consoled her with a few words. Next match, Bloody Mercenaries VS Mad Dragon! Mad Dragon was an old enemy. Roaming Dragon and his groupies were decently strong but it was a pity that they just had to go up against our Bloody Mercenaries! Once we were all on the stage, Beiming Xue used Volley and I made my move. Pardon + Desperate Gambit instantly killed Iron Pardon while Gui Guzi killed Inconstant with the assistance from Yamete. We took the win with barely any suspense at all. Roaming Dragon angrily yelled off-stage, ¡°I¡¯ll pay you back in the next Who Will Fight Me!¡± Next up were the semifinals! The matches of the semifinals were displayed on the big screen. The system had automatically adjusted the matches. The first round of the semifinals was Bloody Mercenaries VS Gods of Destruction! ¡­¡­ Chapter 150: Fighting Gods of Destruction Shiing! I drew my sword and laughed out loud. ¡°Dominating Heaven Blade, prepare to die!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade endured my arrogance with venomous eyes. It was clear that his anger had not reached the point of making him lose all reason because he knew that I had the power to provoke Gods of Destruction. Although the current Gods of Destruction line-up was strong, they only had a 50% chance of winning against the Bloody Mercenaries! Gui Guzi smiled while holding his spear. ¡°Alright, time for payback!¡± Beiming Xue smiled provocatively at the few players that weren¡¯t too far from us. ¡°Dominating Archer God, want to learn archery from me?¡± Dominating Archer God was shaken. ¡°Fuck¡­¡± It was obvious that Dominating Archer God had lost yet again when it came to momentum. Beiming Xue was a dark archer, a prime long-range attacker, and a hotshot in Floating Ice City. If someone were to mention the number one archer of Gods of Destruction, people may not even know who they were talking about. However, everyone knew the dark archer from Bloody Mercenaries. Who told her to be a girl, and a pretty girl with strength and good looks to boot. Lin Yixin walked up and patted me on the shoulder, smiling. ¡°Hey, good luck. Go avenge your old family!¡± I nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not gonna let Gods of Destruction have it easy!¡± Lin Yixin giggled with expectant eyes. ¡°Go, then!¡± In the distance, Murong Mingyue clenched her fists and nodded at me. The meaning was apparent. Regain the spotlight. We were going to become members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls sooner or later. If we snatched the win, it would mean that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls hadn¡¯t truly lost. ¡­¡­ System Notice: Entering the arena! Several streaks of white light later, our two parties of five appeared in the arena. The greatly-awaited semifinals were about to start! Below the competition interface was the audience messaging system. It was crazily flooded right now. There were several hundred, if not thousands of messages being refreshed every second. It was simply too hard to get through all of them! I stopped the rampant stream of words and noticed with a glance that most of the messages were more or less the similar to these messages¡ª ¡°Interesting, the Silver Moon Devil actually encountered his old enemy, the Domination Clan, in the semifinals. Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand solo killed so many of their main force back then, I wonder what will happen now?¡± ¡°Go, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, go! Destroy those Gods of Destruction bastards!¡± ¡°Go, Beiming Xue, go! I love you! If you win the championship, I¡¯ll marry you~~¡± ¡­¡­ As the number two of the China server¡¯s Guild Ranking, Gods of Destruction really were strong, strong to the point that everyone knew about them. Dominating Heaven Blade was unconcerned. He looked at me coldly and suddenly said, ¡°The time for revenge has come! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, aren¡¯t you very strong? I want to see just how strong you are now!¡± I smiled faintly. ¡°I¡¯m not that strong, but I alone am enough to kill those four little brothers of yours. I have four teammates with me now too, so getting rid of you all is a piece of cake!¡± ¡°Heh, braggart!¡± Dominating Knight God waved his spear. ¡°Watch how I get rid of you all!¡± ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue spoke in the team channel. ¡°Seems like they¡¯ve made some preparations. What do you think they¡¯ll do first, boss?¡± I thought about it, then answered, ¡°If I¡¯m not wrong, Dominating Heaven Blade wouldn¡¯t target Gui Guzi first. He has almost 3000 HP and his Undying Shield is at Rank 6, while they only have one mage that deals magic damage. Trying to kill Gui Guzi like that is seeking death so they must be aiming at the player among us that deals the highest damage but has the lowest survivability!¡± Beiming Xue stuck out her tongue and smiled. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be troublesome to me?¡± I nodded. ¡°Mn, you know how to kite, right? Let¡¯s use Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s previous strat. You kite, and the rest of us intercept them in the middle. Lay them to waste!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± ¡°Mamate, pay attention to when you swap heal targets. Give Lil Beiming a slow HoT spell first!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ By the time we determined our gameplan, the system had already begun its countdown. 3! 2! 1! Let¡¯s go, revenge time! Dominating Heaven Blade wildly swung his sharp blade and shouted, ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, I¡¯m coming!¡± Mn, how mighty! Unfortunately, even though Dominating Heaven Blade shouted his challenge at me, he summoned his pet and lunged at Beiming Xue! I couldn¡¯t help but smile. Just as I had expected! Beiming Xue¡¯s longbow trembled. Its bowstring glowed with blood-red undead energy, Volley let loose! Bang bang bang bang... Each arrow struck their target as Dominating Warrior God, Dominating Knight God, and their posse were all affected. I summoned my Dark Wasp and commanded it to chase after Dominating Mage God. Since it was a boss-tier pet, ordinary pets couldn¡¯t compare to it so a single Dark Wasp was enough to keep that powerful mage in check. It alone was enough to weaken him by at least 75%. The moment his shield broke, he¡¯d die! I locked on Dominating Heaven Blade and used Charge! Swhoosh! I dashed over and Dominating Heaven Blade was immediately stunned in place. His face was brimming with shock. It was obvious that he¡¯d never imagined that I¡¯d already learned Charge! The truth of the matter was obvious. Charge was a powerful interception CC skill, a trump card for melee fighters, especially in the early stages of the game. Heaven Rend writing on forums that Charge was a trash skill was just ignorant rubbish. Ice Ray! Slayer Slash! Pff pff. Ghost Ice Soul¡¯s attacks were so sharp that they instantly stabbed two open holes in Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s breastplate. Two high damage numbers also flew up with their appearance¡ª 875! 882! Oh? Still not dead? A high-level warrior¡¯s HP and Defense were nothing to scoff at! If it was my former self, the enemy would¡¯ve had time to get a heal in or drink a potion thanks to my brain delay. It was impossible now though. The 6-second skill cooldown was not yet over so I directly struck out with a basic attack, accurately slicing through Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s neck! 593! Unable to endure my three-hit combo, Dominating Heaven Blade crumpled to the floor with a groan. He finally fell because Warrior didn¡¯t have as much HP and Defense as Magic Knight. ¡°One!¡± I smiled and swiftly ran toward Dominating Knight God. He was currently chasing Beiming Xue but he was pretty much running in circles. It was like he was trying to touch a slippery mermaid and continuously failed to grasp it. Whoosh! I quickly arrived. Dominating Knight God¡¯s HP had already been whittled down to half by Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi. He got scared stiff when he saw me. ¡°Fuck, the situation¡¯s grave!¡± I smirked. ¡°It is grave indeed!¡± Once my 6-second cooldowns were up, I hit him with my combo¡ªPardon + Desperate Gambit! The light from Undead Energy and Desperate Gambit overlapped, turning the Ghost Ice Soul into a bloody streak that pierced Dominating Knight God¡¯s body with great momentum! MISS! 2653! This was no doubt an instant kill. If Dominating Knight God was at full health, he totally had a chance to survive my Pardon-empowered Desperate Gambit. Too bad for him, he wasn¡¯t! ¡°Two!¡± I continued my hunt with a smile still plastered on my face. Gui Guzi sent a Blaze at Dominating Warrior God¡¯s head while Beiming Xue turned around and nocked an arrow, shooting it at the tearful Dominating Warrior God. I came at just the right time. I raised my sword and accurately slashed through his throat with the tip of my sword! Puchi! Blood splattered everywhere, bringing along a huge damage number¡ª1001! Got another one! ¡°Three!¡± My smile intensified. Beiming Xue said with laughter in her voice. ¡°Wah, boss, aren¡¯t you too shameless? We were busy fighting for almost half the day but you just came over to steal our kills¡­¡± ¡°So what, bite me¡­¡± I turned and picked up my speed. I charged at Dominating Archer God and swung down my sword! ¡°Four!¡± Dominating Mage God screamed from the distance. He had actually been stung to death by my Dark Wasp! ¡°Five¡­¡± I was a bit speechless. In this match, all five members of the enemy team had died by my hands? Ace! Beiming Xue stopped moving and looked around. ¡°Eh? Where¡¯s Brother Thirteen and Mamate?¡± Gui Guzi answered, ¡°They were killed by Dominating Archer God and Dominating Mage God¡­¡± ¡°I actually didn¡¯t notice¡­¡± ¡°You must¡¯ve flown too high when you were kiting¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Du Thirteen and Mamate were sent outside the arena with tear-stained faces. ¡°We did good this match, let¡¯s keep this rhythm going into the next round¡­¡± Gui Guzi spoke somewhat helplessly, ¡°Boss, take it easy. If you go into your ¡®unrivaled¡¯ mode, none of us will have room to show off¡­¡± Du Thirteen agreed, ¡°Right, don¡¯t start out with Charge or else it¡¯ll be too easy for us to kill them!¡± I raised an eyebrow. ¡°You¡¯re talking about killing difficulty when you got killed yourself?¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Gui Guzi said, ¡°Right, at least keep their leader Dominating Heaven Blade alive. We¡¯ve never experienced how powerful Dominating Heaven Blade is¡­¡± ¡°Really? Alright then, I¡¯ll leave Dominating Heaven Blade alone in the next match. If you guys get slaughtered, fuck¡­ I¡¯ll kill myself!¡± ¡°...¡± The second match soon began. Everyone was once again sent into the arena. Dominating Heaven Blade had a frosty expression on his face while the Dominating Warrior God and Dominating Knight God also exuded dense killing intent. ¡°It looks like we have to take this seriously!¡± Dominating Warrior God licked his lips. ¡°Beiming Xue, you¡¯re mine. Don¡¯t even think about running¡­¡± Beiming Xue gave him the finger. ¡°Get lost, you¡¯re not Wang Leehom or a rich second-generation young master!¡± Dominating Warrior God: ¡°...¡± The system began to count down. Gotta get ready to move out! 3! 2! 1! The instant the countdown finished, Dominating Heaven Blade hollered, ¡°Come at me if you got the guts!¡± I ignored him, locked onto Dominating Knight God, and used Charge! Whoosh! I instantly moved 31 yards and successfully stunned Dominating Knight God. Since my level was higher, my stun chance against him neared 100%. I wasn¡¯t worried about missing. Ice Ray + Slayer Slash + basic attack! 1009! 874! 642! Dammit. Dominating Knight God still had around 20% HP left after my three-hit combo. This guy¡¯s HP hardly loses to Gui Guzi¡¯s. Moreover, the moment he got hit, Dominating Knight God activated the skill Health Recovery! It was Magic Knight¡¯s unique skill, restored 25% HP over 10 seconds. This was the reason why magic knights were the kings of tanks; they were just too damn hard to kill! Chapter 151: Bloodbath Covered in ice and slowed by my Ice Ray, Dominating Knight God moved as slow as a snail. Ghost Ice Soul¡¯s attack speed was around one basic attack per 2 seconds, and every hit deleted at least 600 to 700 from his HP bar. He couldn¡¯t escape me, let alone withstand the damage he was taking! Glug! Dominating Knight God downed an HP pot and tried launching a counterattack. He swung his spear horizontally and stepped into a Flame Thrust! Pu! 175! Words couldn¡¯t describe how ugly Dominating Knight God¡¯s expression was when he saw how little damage he had dealt to me, and I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle in my mind: Fuck, you thought I was easy because I¡¯m a warrior, didn¡¯t you? But noooo, I¡¯m not just any warrior. I¡¯m an undead swordsman, a hidden class whose strength is nothing like anything you¡¯ve ever seen before! Six seconds passed in the blink of an eye. I swung my blade across Dominating Knight God¡¯s body and unleashed Desperate Gambit! 1307! I didn¡¯t use Pardon because Dominating Knight God had less than 30% HP. Desperate Gambit alone was enough to kill him. Thump! Dominating Knight God collapsed to his knees, but he wasn¡¯t even looking at me. He was smiling at something behind me. Feeling a skip in my heartbeat, I turned around and was shocked by what I saw! Fuck! Where the hell did Gui Guzi, Mamate and Du Thirteen go? It was a stupid question. The trio managed to one-shot the enemy¡¯s archer, Dominating Archer God, but the price was their own lives. Dominating Heaven Blade and Dominating Warrior God had killed all of them without mercy. That wasn¡¯t all. The enemy had decided to change tactics mid-way and focused down my Dark Wasp instead of chasing Beiming Xue, and my poor pet was focused down in no time after taking an Ice Dragon Howl to the face. It meant that Bloody Mercenaries were the one at a number disadvantage now. It was Beiming Xue and I versus Dominating Heaven Blade, Dominating Warrior God, and Dominating Mage God. Because I wasn¡¯t around to keep Dominating Heaven Blade at bay, the man actually popped off and took down two and half of our teammates almost single-handedly! He had undoubtedly proven himself to be a first-rate pro with excellent control and power in this battle! ¡°Boss, save me¡­¡± Beiming Xue¡¯s kiting was starting to grow a bit disoriented, and to be honest I was feeling a bit disoriented myself. I knew we were underestimating our enemy from the start, and I allowed it because it was a good opportunity to teach those conceited bums a lesson... ¡°Beiming, this way!¡± I opened up a path while yelling, ¡°Shoot Dominating Mage God while I cover for you!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Of course, I wasn¡¯t going to let that happen. Swhoosh¡­ Dominating Warrior God suddenly altered his movement speed and direction and zigzagged toward me. He¡­ he¡¯s employing a maneuver? Is he trying to outplay me? Me? Haha, I couldn¡¯t have asked for a better outcome! As the Stormy War Boots hit the ground like a thunder wave and sent bits of stones flying, I vanished from where I was and appeared at an empty spot 4 yards ahead. Then, I swung my blade horizontally toward Dominating Warrior God! Clang! Sparks flew everywhere as metal clashed against metal. My attack had cut off Dominating Warrior God¡¯s premeditated strike before he even managed to draw his blade! ¡°Fuck! How¡¯s this possible!¡± Full of astonishment, Dominating Warrior God tried to back away from me. I smiled at his reaction. Dominating Warrior God was ten years too early to be challenging me in terms of positioning and prediction! I caught up to him and used Pardon this time. Then, I followed up with a basic attack. MISS! 1493! Dominating Warrior God wasn¡¯t at full health in the first place, so he collapsed in defeat after taking the hit. Suddenly, I felt a burning pain from behind my shoulder. Dominating Heaven Blade had ambushed me! My back was literally on fire as he slashed me again, rattling my Ghost Deity Armor! 784! 497! I lost more than half my HP in just an instant. I hurriedly dashed to the right while downing a health potion to recover 800 HP. ¡°Heh, prepare to die, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s eyes were full of anger. It was an understandable reaction. Back at Silver Moon Valley, I slaughtered his generals again and again. At the Ancient Thunder Temple, Lin Yixin and I wiped him and his party¡¯s ass, smearing his name with shame. It was the kind of humiliation no leader of a guild as big as Gods of Destruction could endure. He attacked me again, and this time Ice Dragon Howl was falling toward my head as well! There was absolutely nowhere I could dodge to! Boom! I felt as cold as ice as the Ice Dragon Howl deleted 894 HP from my HP bar. Shit, Dominating Mage God¡¯s Attack is too high! Dominating Heaven Blade let out a roar and cut my chest open at the same time! 743! Oh no. There was nothing worse in a PvP battle than allowing the enemy¡¯s ace to recover! But a streak of icy light appeared just at the right moment and sank into Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s chest. Beiming Xue¡¯s assistance couldn¡¯t be any more well-timed! I seized the opportunity to regain my balance and twist my body. I stepped a half-arc across the floor and appeared behind Dominating Heaven Blade almost instantly! ¡°Ah? What?!¡± My blade had sunk into his back before he even managed to turn around to face me! Puchi! 846! Then, I twisted my sword again and unleashed Slayer Slash. The green glow ate away at Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s HP and dealt 1109 damage! It was absolutely lethal. The guild leader of Gods of Destruction collapsed to his knees just like that. I planted my foot on Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s back and pushed him all the way to the ground. Then, I zigzagged toward Dominating Mage God like a lightning bolt with my blade at the ready, never staying at one place for more than an instant, preventing him from ever getting a lock-on for Ice Dragon Howl! Ice Dragon Howl took a long time to cast, and it wasn¡¯t laser-guided. Naturally, it couldn¡¯t be used on a fast-moving target. I arrived in front of the mage and brought my blade down like the hammer of Thor! Puchi! I wasn¡¯t able to deal any damage to him, but the attack was enough to shatter his Magic Shield into smithereens! Not one to let a chance slip through her fingers, Beiming Xue landed on one foot, drew her bow to full and fired a Penetrating Arrow straight at Dominating Mage God! Puchi! Dominating Mage God¡¯s eyes widened as the attack blew him away like a kite with its string cut. A bloody hole appeared where his chest used to be. It was clear that the attack had taken his life! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your team has entered the final! 2:0, Bloody Mercenaries bathed Gods of Destruction in blood! Haha, what a perfect description for the occasion. Gods of Destruction had been calling themselves the kings of Floating Ice City for the longest time, but today, the Bloody Mercenaries workshop served them a rude awakening, and with a harsh slap to the face too! Times are changing, and the birth of a new king is nigh. But whoever that might be, it will never be Gods of Destruction! Swhoosh swhoosh! When Beiming Xue and I reappeared at the edge, Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi and Mamate ran up to us in tears. ¡°You guys are amazing, we thought for sure that we¡¯re going to lose¡­¡± Beiming Xue stroked her hair while smiling. ¡°You guys are useless. How did you even die this quickly¡­¡± Gui Guzi shrugged helplessly. ¡°It¡¯s not like I wanted to die. I had to take two Blazes, one Ice Dragon Howl, one Devil Piercing Arrow and seven or eight basic attacks nearly at the same time. Poor me, Mamate¡¯s healing couldn¡¯t keep up at all¡­¡± I shot them a stern look and asked, ¡°Do you still think that leaving Dominating Heaven Blade alone was a wise decision?¡± Du Thirteen shook his head. ¡°Absolutely not. We should¡¯ve just let Lu Chen kick his ass from the start. Damn that bastard, I can¡¯t believe he killed me with just two basic attacks. Mamate was even worse, he and his shield got rekt in one hit¡­¡± Mamate growled angrily at him. ¡°Fuck, would you shut up about that already? It was so embarrassing¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°It¡¯s fine Mamate. Tens of millions of players in all of Floating Ice City got to see how you got one-shot along with your shield, but it¡¯s totally fine Mamate.¡± Mamate immediately burst into tears once again. ... It was at this moment Snowy Cathaya walked up to us. Lin Yixin gave me a smile and said, ¡°Congratulations on entering the final, Bloody Mercenaries. Do kindly wait for us to meet you there!¡± I nodded. ¡°Do your best, Beauty Yi. Try not to miss our date in the final and kick Peach Garden¡¯s ass!¡± I purposely emphasized the word ¡°date¡± and was rewarded with a pair of red cheeks. Lin Yixin shot me a glare before leaving the stage with her subordinates. At the distance, Murong Mingyue gave me a nod and sent me a message: ¡°Well fought, Lu Chen~~¡± I smiled and replied, ¡°You praise me too much, sis¡­¡± Murong Mingyue asked, ¡°Anyway, when are you returning to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Eve still can¡¯t forget about you, you know. She even said that we wouldn¡¯t have lost to Dominating Heaven Blade if you were here¡­ She also said that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s fighting style is extremely similar to yours¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s because I am Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, duh¡­¡± ¡°Hehe. Anyway, please consider how you would like to announce your return. Once your mind is made up, don¡¯t forget to give me a call!¡± ¡°Mn. Got it¡­¡± I hung up and looked toward the distance. He Yi was sitting at a corner with a lonely look on her face. Hair dancing to the wind, she stared at the players on the stage and pursed her lips for a moment. Then, to my shock, she actually leaned down on her knees and started sobbing quietly. It was to the point where her delicate shoulders were shivering slightly. Murong Mingyue walked over to her and patted her comfortingly. Then, she wrapped her arms around her. Feeling like a knife was twisting inside my heart, I chose to walk up to He Yi. Beiming Xue didn¡¯t stop me this time, although she followed behind me closely with Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen not far away as well. I stopped in front of He Yi. My voice was actually shaking a bit from the anxiety. ¡°Hey¡­¡± He Yi abruptly looked up and stared at me in shock. Her pale face was covered in tear streaks. Words actually failed me for a moment. It was at this moment Spring Mud and Moon Shadow walked up to me and growled, ¡°What are you doing, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? This is our territory, not yours! Get out of our face!¡± It was clear that the trio was full of hostility toward me. I didn¡¯t even know why they were acting like this. Shivering, I stared at He Yi and murmured, ¡°Eve, I¡­¡± Chapter 152: The Defeat of Snowy Cathaya Suddenly, Moon Shadow rushed over and attacked me with Blaze! Bang! Caught off-guard, I got knocked back a couple of steps and lost around 500 HP. There was even a crack on my shoulder armor. His character notwithstanding, his attack power was definitely impressive! Furious, Gui Guzi retaliated with a thrust of his own spear! Puchi! Moon Shadow took a Death Combo to the chest and got knocked back himself. But unlike me, he only had a sliver of HP left. Gui Guzi¡¯s attack was clearly nothing to be scoffed at as well! Murong Mingyue hurriedly applied an instantaneous heal to Moon Shadow. However, her expression was ugly. Beiming Xue grabbed my elbow with a frigid expression and uttered, ¡°Boss, it¡¯s clear they don¡¯t welcome us. Let¡¯s not sully our eyes with the sight of the Ego Three and leave already!¡± Spring Mud pointed his sword at Beiming Xue and shouted angrily, ¡°Say that again, bitch!¡± Gritting my teeth, I pulled my right arm away from Beiming Xue and punched Spring Mud right in the face, dealing over 300 damage. Then, I followed up with an arrogant Pardon! MISS! My sword glowed blood-red, but I didn¡¯t follow up the attack and kill Spring Mud with Desperate Gambit. The guy looked as pale as death, however. He knew he would die no matter what if I chose to act. Staring at the stunned Spring Mud, I said, ¡°Insult my men again, and I¡¯ll wipe you from the surface of Floating Ice City!¡± Finally, I grabbed Beiming Xue¡¯s hand, turned away and walked back to Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ waiting zone. On the way back, I frowned deeply without saying a word. Beiming Xue whispered beside me and said, ¡°Sorry, boss¡­¡± ¡°You have nothing to apologize for¡­¡± I shook my head and smiled at her. ¡°It wasn¡¯t your fault.¡± ¡°I know, but, we¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine¡­¡± I sucked in a deep breath to clear my mind. For now, it didn¡¯t look like we would be returning to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls anytime soon. The three heads of the Ego workshop had become the biggest obstacles to our return. Although He Yi looked moved just now, she wasn¡¯t able to confirm my identity. The fact that she stood through the whole exchange earlier without lifting a finger showed just how out of sorts she was. That was why I didn¡¯t want to burden her even more than she already was. She was the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and it was her duty to treat her subordinates with respect. If she hired the Ego workshop only to ditch them like dirt because of us, the fallout was sure to impede the growth of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I won¡¯t deny that I felt wronged, but I was no longer a child either. I could no longer act as I pleased without considering the consequences. The reputation and stability of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were more important than me returning to my old guild immediately. I thought for a moment before replying, ¡°There¡¯s no need to be hasty. Let¡¯s focus on winning this competition and founding our own guild. Once our strength is greater, we can return to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls anytime we want to. I want the world to know that I, Lu Chen am not working to earn a living, but to fulfill my promise. I am a king, not a servant!¡± Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, Beiming Xue and Yamete turned red with excitement. They clenched their fists and echoed my words, ¡°That¡¯s right! We are kings, not servants! Even if we must return to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, we will become the pivot that carries our guild to the top!¡± ...... The second match of the semifinals, Snowy Cathaya versus Peach Garden, was yet another must-watch. On one hand, Snowy Cathaya was a well-known powerhouse in Floating Ice City. On the other, Peach Garden was a new force that showed a lot of potential during the tournament. The general information of the players on both sides was displayed on the screen. Snowy Cathaya: Wind Fantasy LV-65 Light Wanderer Purple Marquis LV-62 Warrior Clear Perfume LV-63 Archer Shadow Chanel LV- 62 Mage Scattered Rain LV-58 Priest Peach Garden: Indigo Collar LV-62 Warrior Moon Scar LV-61 Assassin Soft Nocturne LV-61 Bard Wheel Shadow LV-62 Archer Painted Skin LV-62 Mage ¡­... Both sides were pretty much equal in terms of strength. In fact, Peach Garden had a slight advantage over Snowy Cathaya because their priest had yet to undergo the third class promotion! Everyone paid close attention to the stage as the countdown began. Out of everyone in Peach Garden, their third-promotion bard was the one who worried me the most. Bards were notoriously terrible during the early stages because they had poor Attack, poor Defense and poor healing abilities. Their key skills also had to be farmed from boss drops too. However, if a third-promotion bard managed to assemble all of their skills, then they were absolutely a force to be reckoned with. Considering that Soft Nocturne had made it all the way to the semifinals, she must¡¯ve had all of her third-promotion skills already. Right now, Peach Garden was undoubtedly Snowy Cathaya¡¯s greatest obstacle. Lin Yixin clearly thought the same thing as me because she charged the bard the moment the match began! Soft Nocturne was a woman around 25 years old, and she reacted quickly to Lin Yixin¡¯s assault. Retreating toward the back playing her dark green zither, she applied Divine Valor to her leader, Indigo Collar, before following up with Death Match. With a 20% buff to both his Attack and Defense, Indigo Collar¡¯s strength was nothing like before! Lin Yixin was an intelligent woman. The moment the situation changed, she adapted immediately and ordered, ¡°Marquis, kill Indigo Collar!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± But before Purple Marquis could finish his sentence, Indigo Collar surprised everyone and activated Charge. His target was none other than Purple Marquis himself! I felt my heart sink inside my chest. Oh no, this is going to be bad... As I thought, Indigo Collar immediately swung his blade twice at Purple Marquis the moment the latter got stunned. It was Blaze and Desperate Gambit! 1245! 1310! Holy shit! He actually managed to one-shot Purple Marquis? I had to keep my surprise from showing on my face. Indigo Collar might only be Level 62, but thus far he had proven himself to be a super black horse. It was no coincidence that he was able to kill Purple Marquis in a single exchange. Even if he hadn¡¯t received the two buffs, Purple Marquis would have been one or two hits away from death anyway! A player¡¯s core strength was defined by several factors like equipment, pet, skills and so on. Just the fact that Indigo Collar had Desperate Gambit deserved my respect already! But the worst had yet to come. The enemy mage had somehow made his way to the borderline before casting an Ice Dragon Howl at Clear Perfume. It was a direct hit! Thud thud thud... Clear Perfume fired a Volley and chased the mage away, but her HP was almost empty! Peach Garden¡¯s archer, Wheel Shadow, acted at the perfect moment and fired a volley of arrows into Snowy Cathaya¡¯s formation. One of the shots unfortunately hit Clear Perfume and killed her there and then! Swhoosh! It still wasn¡¯t the end of Snowy Cathaya¡¯s misery. Faint red light flashed next to Shadow Chanel, and the assassin, Moon Scar, appeared and thrust his dagger forward three times in a row! The first two attacks, Cold Blade and one basic attack tore apart Shadow Chanel¡¯s Magic Shield, and the third and final strike, Eviscerate, hit Shadow Chanel directly. His movement was smooth like water. MISS! MISS! 1092! An assassin was the bane of any class who donned cloth armor, not to mention that Eviscerate ignored 25% of the enemy¡¯s Defense. Shadow Chanel was only able to cast one Ice Dragon Howl before she was one-shot by Moon Scar. Crack! Meanwhile, Lin Yixin finally managed to kill a double-buffed Indigo Collar with Moon Gaze and Extreme Break, but it was hardly enough to turn the tide of battle around. After all, she was the only one still alive in her team! Meanwhile, Peach Garden still had Moon Scar, Wheel Shadow and Painted Skin. They were all third-promotion players as well. ¡°Oh no, Beauty Lin is going to lose¡­¡± Du Thirteen clenched his fists. I gritted my own teeth and said, ¡°Not yet. There¡¯s still hope¡­¡± On the stage, Lin Yixin hadn¡¯t given up either. She charged Wheel Shadow as the archer backed away trying to kite her. Behind her, the assassin followed her like a shadow, searching for an opportunity to end her life. Suddenly, Lin Yixin turned around and killed Moon Scar in one strike. However, she also took a shot from Wheel Shadow, and worse, Painted Skin¡¯s Ice Dragon Howl was coming for her! Roar! The roar seemed to affect Lin Yixin, slowing her down just enough for her to get hit even though she was already mid-dodge. The spell immediately deleted a huge chunk of her HP! ¡°Uuuu¡­¡± Lin Yixin groaned unhappily at her failed dodge before lifting the Snow Shadow Sword and charging toward Painted Skin again, but the damned mage was uncannily quick. He actually started kiting her back and forth like he was an archer, toying with her as he worked together with Wheel Shadow to chip away at her HP! I clenched my fists together and uttered, ¡°Fuck!¡± Beiming Xue also opened her eyes wide. ¡°Damn those bastards, how dare they fool around with Beauty Lin like this¡­¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s shoulder had at least seven arrows stuck to it. Her snow white cloak was completely drenched in blood. She still hadn¡¯t given up on chasing down her opponent, but she was always one hair away from hitting them. In the end, she was killed by a powerful Devil Piercing Arrow. I actually felt a twinge of pain in my heart when Lin Yixin collapsed helplessly to the limestone floor. 0:1! The first round went to Peach Garden. Beside me, Gui Guzi commented with a frown on his face, ¡°Why do I feel like Lin Yixin isn¡¯t herself today? She¡¯s normally sharper than this¡­¡± I didn¡¯t say anything. The second match was practically a copy of the first. The experts of Peach Garden weren¡¯t inferior to Snowy Cathaya in the first place, and Lin Yixin herself looked completely out of form today. She was always just one millimeter away from hitting her opponent. In the end, Peach Garden pulled an upset and defeated Snowy Cathaya 2:0! ¡­... Swhoosh! Lin Yixin was the last one to be teleported out of the battlefield. She looked incredibly tired. I walked up to meet her, and she looked up and gave me a smile. It made me hurt on the inside. I had never seen her looking this forlorn since I knew her. ¡°A-are you okay, Yiyi?¡± I asked softly. ¡°Mn. I¡¯m fine¡­¡± Lin Yixin shook her head slightly before sitting on the steps next to her. Setting the Snow Shadow Sword beside her, she said, ¡°Lu Chen, first place has nothing to do with Snowy Cathaya now¡­ I was going to throw the final and give up the Hero¡¯s Token to you, but I guess I lost my chance to show off¡­¡± Touched, I replied, ¡°You didn¡¯t have to. We will claim the Hero¡¯s Token with our own hands. You don¡¯t have to throw anything.¡± Lin Yixin raised her eyebrows and regained some of her usual vigor. She smiled. ¡°Hah, don¡¯t pretend you weren¡¯t afraid of me kicking your ass. And don¡¯t you get chauvinistic with me, hmph. If I wasn¡¯t out of form today, there was a chance Snowy Cathaya could¡¯ve beaten Peach Garden¡­ Seriously though, they¡¯re very good. Their overall strength is even better than the Gods of Destruction team''s. Be careful. If you lose the final, Bloody Mercenaries are sure to lose face¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we will win for sure!¡± ¡°Mn. Now go¡­¡± Chapter 153: Brute Force The next match appeared on the big screen. Before we knew it, it was already the final of the ¡°Who Will Fight Me¡± tournament! Peach Garden: Indigo Collar LV-62 Warrior Moon Scar LV-61 Assassin Soft Nocturne LV-61 Bard Wheel Shadow LV-62 Archer Painted Skin LV-62 Mage Bloody Mercenaries: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-64 Undead Swordsman Beiming Xue LV-63 Dark Archer Gui Guzi LV-63 Undead Knight Yamete LV-60 Priest Amazing Expert LV-60 Warrior ¡­... Level-wise both teams were pretty similar, and everyone had finished their third promotions. The key difference lay in the fact that Peach Garden had a high-level bard, and Bloody Mercenaries had three top-rate dark players. Both sides had good reasons to be wary of each other. Swhoosh swhoosh... Ten players were teleported into the tournament stage about 25 yards away from each other. They were free to make any last minute adjustments until the countdown hit zero. Once the barrier disappeared, both sides would meet one another in a clash of metal and blood. The young warrior, Indigo Collar was gripping his blade and watching us with a half-smile. Behind him, the assassin Moon Scar was bending slightly so that he could enter stealth at any moment. They were definitely not someone we could underestimate. Their battle stances, class synergy, and teamwork were better than any other opponent we had encountered thus far. Snowy Cathaya¡¯s defeat hadn¡¯t been entirely undeserved. Even if Lin Yixin had been in top form, their chances of winning still wouldn¡¯t exceed 50%. As I watched the five enemies in front of me, I couldn¡¯t help but think that the waters of the gaming world run too deep. Who knows how many more experts like the ones before me were training in the mountains and waiting for their moment to shine? The reason I was never able to become as arrogant as Roaming Dragon was because one, I just wasn¡¯t born or raised that way, and two, I had never thought myself to be insurmountable. Peach Garden hadn¡¯t lost a single match all the way to the finals, and not even Snowy Cathaya, the guild of the Fruit Knife Goddess, was able to halt their footsteps. They were destined to become a powerful force in Floating Ice City, and who knows, maybe Peach Garden was plotting the same thing as us. Maybe we both wanted to use this competition as the stepping stone to further our conquest! Indigo Collar clutched his sword and smiled at me. ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, huh? Heheh, I didn¡¯t think we would run into you and your men in the final! Whatever the outcome of this final may be, know that you have my sincere respect. You are the only person in the entire Floating Ice City who has the courage to challenge Gods of Destruction alone. Even I am not that courageous¡­¡± Indigo Collar chuckled. ¡°That being said, I¡¯m not giving up the first place of this competition to anyone. I¡¯m sorry, but the Bloody Mercenaries are going to die just like Snowy Cathaya!¡± Behind me, Beiming Xue raised her bow and retorted, ¡°You talk big for someone who got lucky. Do you really think you would stand here had Wind Fantasy been in her best shape?¡± Indigo Collar smiled uncaringly. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. When it comes to five-man matches, I¡¯m certain that Peach Garden is unsurpassed in Floating Ice City. Like it or not, you are not winning this fight!¡± Beiming Xue was panting with rage. So young and innocent. She had a long way to go before she could truly master her own emotions. Gui Guzi asked in the team channel, ¡°How should we fight this, boss?¡± I replied, ¡°They have a third-promotion bard, and that¡¯s very scary. Act as you see fit, but always remember to focus-fire whoever their bard applies her buff to. Lil Beiming, you¡¯re the crowd control of our team. Anyone you shoot, we¡¯ll prioritize killing them before anyone else. Mamate, protect yourself. Move backward if you think the situation demands it. Get it?¡± They all nodded and said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to tell us¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Ah, fuck them. Let the final match begin! The system began its countdown. 3! 2! 1! Start! Soft Nocturne, the enemy bard, took action the second the battle began. First, she played the zither twice and applied Divine Valor and Death Match to Indigo Collar. Then, she applied an instant buff on the archer, Wheel Shadow, that increased his critical rate by 25%. What a crazy lass! ¡°Die!¡± I raised my sword and charged straight at Indigo Collar. This warrior had 2 buffs on him, so I had to be the one to stop him. No one else in Bloody Mercenaries could deal with a 20% stat increase! ¡°Heh!¡± Indigo Collar gave me an eerie smile at me before charging toward me like a bull. I smiled right back. After I recovered from my illness, my brain lag was actually reduced to the point where I was slightly above the average person. Plus, I had predicted that he would use Charge on me! Rustle rustle¡­ I slid 5 yards to the right in one smooth motion. Indigo Collar withdrew his lazy, arrogant smile when his Charge completely missed me! Here¡¯s my chance! I launched a Charge of my own seeing the enemy failing. After many days of observation, I discovered a fatal flaw in the skill. There was about half a second of pause when a player reached the end of a Charge. While the player could still attack like normal, they were rooted at the spot for that split moment. Considering my current reaction speed, half a second was enough for me to whatever I needed! Crash! I swung the Ghost Ice Soul twice at Indigo Collar¡¯s shoulder the moment I stunned him. I had made up my mind to brute-force him down before he could recover. The bluish glow of Ice Ray and the greenshine of Slayer Slash hit their target at nearly the same time! 679! 873! Unfortunately, Indigo Collar survived the combo. 20% extra Defense was just too much! Despite being down to 10% HP, Indigo Collar calmly retaliated with a harsh Blaze to the torso. It was a smart plan, using Blaze to create a path of retreat. Unfortunately for him, I chose to tank the attack head-on! Boom! Fire scalded my chest as a pale red number popped from the wound. 783! Tsk tsk, what an impressive amount of damage! Of course, the price of wounding me wasn¡¯t cheap. Appearing next to Indigo Collar with lightning speed, I brought my sword upward and stabbed him right in the armpit. The attack tore through his metal armor and left a nasty wound! 645! Indigo Collar groaned in frustration. The HP he gained from drinking an HP pot was gone just like that. ¡°Fuck!¡± Indigo Collar was enraged by the fact that he was the victim of a one-sided slaughter even though he was the one with all the buffs on him. He was about to swing his sword and perform a retaliatory attack, but to his surprise I suddenly dashed to the right and revealed a beautiful archer with a fully-drawn bow behind me! Beiming Xue loosened her fingers and fired a Devil Piercing Arrow straight at him! Thud! The arrow punched into Indigo Collar¡¯s chest with the power of a meteor. The double-buffed warrior collapsed to the ground and died just like that! I downed a health potion and looked around me. Noticing danger, I immediately leaped toward the side! Boom! An Ice Dragon Howl hit the ground where I was standing a moment ago. The spell had literally missed me by millimeters! After the enemy wasted a powerful spell, I sent my Dark Wasp after their ranged attackers. Painted Skin and Wheel Shadow had also summoned their Wasps in retaliation and sent them after me. While I was dodging out of harm¡¯s way, Beiming Xue fired a Volley at the enemy pets before Gui Guzi swung his spear horizontally across the air. The combined attacks killed both Wasps on the spot. These beginner-level pets were just too fragile to be of any real use! Wheel Shadow gritted his teeth and fired two skills at me streaking through the air. He even managed to fire one final basic attack after the Penetrating Arrow and Devil Piercing Arrow! 345! 410! 224! What incredible damage! His strength was probably not too far behind Beiming Xue. These players truly deserved to be called the dark horse of this competition! ¡°Mamate, feed me!¡± My shout earned two Holy Lights from Mamate. The moment my HP was back to full, I raised my sword and charged my opponents again! At this point, the fight was completely advantageous toward Bloody Mercenaries. Despite spending their strongest attacks on me, Wheel Shadow, Painted Skin and Indigo Collar weren¡¯t able to delete me from the battlefield. In that moment, their fate was as good as sealed. Swhoosh! Moon Scar, the assassin, finally emerged in a red flash and executed an attack combo consisting of Cold Blade, Eviscerate, and a basic attack. Knowing his attack power, there was no cloth-armor player he couldn¡¯t one-shot! Caught off-guard, Yamete groaned before collapsing to the floor. Du Thirteen let out an angry roar and stabbed Moon Scar in the back, successfully dealing 476 damage to the assassin. Seriously, warriors had all the advantage when dealing with assassins in the open. Moon Scar didn¡¯t turn around to face him. Instead, he tossed fluorescent powder and forcefully entered stealth once more! Unfortunately for him, this was the moment Du Thirteen chose to show his worth. First, he unleashed a War Cry and knocked Moon Scar right out of his stealth. Then, he ran up to the assassin and stabbed him with a Blaze. 742! It was a slaughter. For the first time in ¡°Who Will Fight Me¡±, Du Thirteen claimed a kill of his own. Peach Garden was in a bad spot after they were down two carries. Their remaining players didn¡¯t give up, however. The archer, Wheel Shadow, shouted, ¡°Painted Skin, keep Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand at bay with Fireball while I slow him with Ice Arrow! Now!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Painted Skin started casting his Fireball while Wheel Shadow fired a frosty arrow at me. Ice Arrow was a crowd control skill that couldn¡¯t be learned from a class trainer. That was why the skill book cost a fortune in Floating Ice City. Even to this day, there were barely a handful of archers who managed to pick up the skill. My movement speed was slowed to a crawl as ice covered my body. There was almost nothing I could do. Painted Skin kept firing Fireball after Fireball at me, dealing over 200 damage with each hit. If the situation was allowed to continue, my death was all but certain! Gui Guzi rushed toward them while shouting, ¡°Beiming, end this fight now!¡± He swung his spear and unleashed Death Combo on Painted Skin, killing him instantly. On the other side, Wheel Shadow got destroyed after he suffered two rapid arrows from Beiming Xue and one final hit from Du Thirteen. The straggling bard was the only enemy player left on the battlefield. Knowing that she had no chance at winning, Soft Nocturne smiled helplessly and chose to forfeit! 1:0! Chapter 154: Unkillable War God Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... After the round was over, everyone was teleported out of the stage temporarily. Peach Garden seemed to be very close with the teams Lover¡¯s Place and Thunder and Wind. The reason I said this was because they were talking with Indigo Collar and his teammates about something I couldn¡¯t hear. Bloody Mercenaries weren¡¯t lonely either. The players of Snowy Cathaya walked up to us to have a chat. Of course, Purple Marquis and Zi Chuanyu might not necessarily be on good terms with us, but what could they do? I was good friends with their beautiful leader. All they could to do was protect her and guarantee her safety! I shot Lin Yixin a glance before asking, ¡°What do you think about our fight?¡± ¡°You know how to give it your all¡± was Lin Yixin¡¯s evaluation of me. I smiled. Of course I was giving it my all, it was the only way to compensate for our lack of buffers. Without a Level 60 third-promotion tactician with Encourage or Iron Wall, prolonging the battle was practically suicide. Gui Guzi said, ¡°We were lucky that boss managed to halt Indigo Collar in his tracks. Otherwise, he would¡¯ve smashed through our formation and killed Lil Beiming and Mamate. The consequences would¡¯ve been unimaginable!¡± Beiming Xue nodded. ¡°They¡¯re probably going to change their tactics though. If we don¡¯t plan the next fight carefully, they¡¯ll probably even the score and push this to a third round.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± I agreed with Beiming Xue. ¡°We hold the advantage now, so the best case scenario here is winning the next round and ending the match on a high note. If we lose to Peach Garden, we won¡¯t be able to face the third round with the right mindset.¡± Gui Guzi clenched his fists and declared, ¡°Then let¡¯s win the next round and take out Peach Garden. We¡¯ll show them who¡¯s the real king of Floating Ice City!¡± ¡°Haha, that¡¯s right. Anyway, it¡¯s almost time!¡± I raised my sword and summoned a rousing speech. ¡°There¡¯s a handsome reward and a great dinner waiting for everyone if we win this competition, so do your best!¡± ¡­... Lin Yixin had just enough time to shoot me a disdainful look before we were teleported onto the stage once more. It was the last and final round. If we win, our workshop¡¯s name will be etched onto the flags of Floating Ice City forever! Swhoosh swhoosh¡­ The enemy team was teleported onto the stage as well. Indigo Collar still looked calm and collected despite losing the first round. He was a great opponent for sure, a player whose individual PvP skills were probably on par with Dominating Heaven Blade. He was in between Lin Yixin and the likes of Gui Guzi and Purple Marquis. ¡°Who will the bard buff this time?¡± Beiming Xue said with a smile. ¡°Mn!¡± The countdown toward the heart-throbbing final round began. 3! 2! 1! Start! Gui Guzi and I immediately rushed to the left and right side of the stage respectively, ready to assault the enemy¡¯s ranged players at a moment¡¯s notice. It was a defensive formation that also gave us the flexibility to go on the offensive if needed. Indigo Collar let out a chuckle before shouting without warning. After he applied War Cry to himself, he ran straight toward Beiming Xue! ¡°Fuck! That¡¯s a bit rash, isn¡¯t it?¡± Du Thirteen stood in front of Beiming Xue and raised his sword protectively. Gui Guzi and I also withdrew our formation consciously to surround and kill Indigo Collar. However, Indigo Collar suddenly activated Charge and sped up toward his target! This time, he wasn¡¯t aiming for me! Shit, Mamate¡¯s in danger! I turned around in haste, but it was already too late. Indigo Collar stunned our only healer and ended his life in a single strike. Du Thirteen was the next closest person to Mamate, and he panicked almost immediately when he saw Indigo Collar up close and personal. Before I could fix his mistake, Indigo Collar turned around decisively and attacked Du Thirteen with a Blaze and a basic attack. The poor guy was killed before he could move a muscle! Swhoosh! I finally reached Indigo Collar after Du Thirteen fell. The moment he got stunned by my Charge, I immediately punctured his back with Ice Ray and Slayer Slash! 984! 873! Indigo Collar wasn¡¯t buffed this time, so he was dead by the end of my combo. However, I couldn¡¯t feel the slightest joy because we had fallen for Peach Garden¡¯s trap. Indigo Collar was just a bait, not the enemy¡¯s main strength! ¡°Ah¡­¡± I heard a soft cry from behind me. It was Beiming Xue. I more or less guessed what happened before I even looked back. That¡¯s right, the main threat right now was their archer, Wheel Shadow! Wheel Shadow¡¯s stats had skyrocketed after he received Divine Valor and Death Match, and his Volley gave Beiming Xue a lot of trouble. Worse, the enemy mage, Painted Skin had already locked onto her with Ice Dragon Howl! Boom! Beiming Xue was devoured by ice and snow instantly. Thankfully, she managed to fire one last Volley for the team before she was killed! The situation was rapidly deteriorating as Gui Guzi and I became the only players left on the battlefield. The enemy had sacrificed only one player to kill three of us, so we were the one who were at a great disadvantage right now. Gui Guzi was currently being attacked by four Wasps at once, and without a healer to help him, he was getting dangerously low on health. ¡°Fuck!¡± I sent the Dark Wasp after the enemy mage, Painted Skin. Even if it couldn¡¯t kill him, my hope was that it could keep his DPS down to a minimum. I myself charged toward the enemy archer, Wheel Shadow! ¡°Little Gui, don¡¯t die! Wait for me to clean up the rest!¡± I shouted. Gui Guzi drank an HP pot and shouted back, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, just leave it to me!¡± In reality, Gui Guzi had endured nearly all of the enemy attacks since the start of the battle. Heck, he was lucky his face hadn¡¯t swollen up like a pig¡¯s head. One more Ice Dragon Howl from Painted Skin, and he would probably drop dead on his knees. Wheel Shadow was surprisingly calm and decisive even though his opponent was me. He actually started zigzagging away from me while firing shot after shot at my torso, chipping away at my HP as much as he could before I reached him! I felt a chill in my heart as my HP dropped again and again without me being able to do anything at all. Wheel Shadow had Ice Arrow and Devil Piercing Arrow, and currently there was no warrior in the world who could take this much beating for long! I checked my skill CD. There were still 12 seconds before Charge was ready! I quickly realized I couldn¡¯t allow this to continue. If I continued to allow the enemy to lead me around by the nose, it was only a matter of time before I followed in Lin Yixin¡¯s footsteps! Eyes sharpening with focus, I changed targets and went back the way I had come from. I sped up and reached Painted Skin in the blink of an eye! Swhoosh! Crack! ¡°Ah?!¡± Not expecting me to show up this quickly at all, Painted Skin took a sword to the chest and lost his Magic Shield immediately. I immediately followed up with the most explosive skill I currently had in my repertoire¡ªDesperate Gambit! Painted Skin slowly collapsed to his knees. His life ended in a flash of red. On the other side, Gui Guzi was charging the enemy bard with barely any HP left. However, the latter kept firing Magic Missile after Magic Missile to reduce his HP as much as possible before he could reach her! Moreover... Swhoosh! The enemy assassin appeared in a flash of red and unleashed Ambush and Shadow Strike! Gui Guzi was stunned for 2 whole seconds, and three hits later he was murdered into oblivion! I groaned at the unfortunate timing and charged Moon Scar even though Wheel Shadow was still taking potshots at me. This fight was as good as sealed if I allowed the enemy to land a stun on me! Noticing my movement, Moon Scar smiled disdainfully at me before flinging out a pack of fluorescent powder and vanishing into nothing. ¡°Get over here!¡± I shouted angrily and swung my sword horizontally. It was a gamble. I was gambling on the chance that Moon Scar would charge me instead of backing away. It wasn¡¯t a baseless gamble because I could sense their desperation to take me out of commission since the start of the fight! Puchi! My gamble proved to be true when a shower of blood gushed from where my sword should¡¯ve struck thin air. Moon Scar had decided to run at me in a moment of recklessness, and he was rewarded with a basic attack that knocked him out of his stealth and a Slayer Slash that ended his life! Now, the enemy team only had two players left. Unfortunately, I was completely alone¡ªeven my pet had died under enemy fire¡ªand my opponent was sending their two remaining Wasps after me. I swung my sword twice and deleted the little buggers from existence. Hmph hmph, as if pets with lousy growth could threaten me! I ignored the bard even though she was applying all of her remaining buffs¡ªForge, Valor, Bloody Battle, and so on¡ªonto Wheel Shadow and attacking me afterward. Once Wheel Shadow was dead, my chances of turning this around would be much bigger. However, my HP was less than a thousand right now. This was after I used an HP pot to heal myself! Thud! An Ice Arrow hit me and covered me in ice, dealing 342 damage and slowing me. Fuck, Wheel Shadow was practically a god now that he had been given all the possible buffs! Without even bothering to kite me this time, Wheel Shadow fired another Devil Piercing Arrow at me. The skill was a huge counter to metal armor players because it ignored 50% of that particular type of Defense! Feeling as if a beast had taken a bite off my chest, my HP dropped drastically again! 615! Shit, I¡¯m just about ready to scrape the bottom of the barrel! I watched my skill list closely as the icon representing Charge finally lit up. About motherfucking time, dammit! Swhoosh! I blitzed through the stage like lightning and knocked Wheel Shadow into a stun. The Ghost Ice Soul glowing red with power, I swung my sword downward and unleashed Pardon and Ice Ray! MISS! 1894! The Ghost Ice Soul turned into a huge icicle that penetrated Wheel Shadow¡¯s chest and came out from the back. The archer could do nothing but watch the icicle protruding from his chest with helplessness and frustration. Awesome! The main threat is finally dead! However, I turned around only to find a Magic Missile flying toward me. The enemy bard, Soft Nocturne, hadn¡¯t given up yet because she noticed how close to death I was. Even she could kill me if she kept attacking! She was right. I only had 34 HP right now! 31! And now I only had 3 HP¡­ I had given up in that moment. There was still some time before my potion finished refreshing, and my enemy was 20 full yards away from me. There was no point rushing her or backing away either since they achieved pretty much the exact same results¡ªdeath. Swhoosh! The final Magic Missile flew toward me. No matter how low her Attack was, she had to be able to delete 3 HP, right? The Magic Missile tickled my chest like a mosquito bite. Mn, it was still 31 points of damage... But I didn¡¯t die. Light flooded my senses for a moment, and the system rang melodiously beside my ears¡ª Beep! Combat Log: Player ¡°Soft Nocturne¡± damages you for 31. You have died! Ding! System Notice: Congratulations, the skill ¡°Immortality¡± activated and revived you with full HP and MP! ¡­¡­ Chapter 155: Flame Dragon Gauntlets Immortality! While it was only a Rank 6 skill and had a 6% chance of proccing, Immortality could truly turn the situation around at a time of life and death like this. I was able to write the Bloody Mercenaries onto the victor''s flag! Ding~! System Announcement: Player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡±, and their team [Bloody Mercenaries] have become champions of the ¡°Who Will Fight Me¡± tournament! System Announcement: Player ¡°Indigo Collar¡±, and their team [Peach Garden] have become runners-up of the ¡°Who Will Fight Me¡± tournament! System Announcement: All players that reached the Top 16 will receive system rewards within 30 seconds! ¡­¡­ Whoosh! I was sent outside the arena. Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi and the others leapt toward me, grabbing my shoulders and laughing. "Lu Chen, you¡¯re too cool! You won 1v4, so cool!" "Huff...¡± I inhaled deeply and said, "Damn, my revival skill procced. Am I really that lucky?¡± Lin Yixin walked forward and said, "Your turn to treat us?" "No problem!" A joyful matter like this was truly refreshing. Thirty seconds had almost passed. I wonder what kind of reward the system would give. The richer the better! I watched the countdown. Finally, it came¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± led their team [Bloody Mercenaries] to become champions and was the most valuable player in the tournament. Rewards obtained: Level +3, Reputation +5000, Luck +3, Hero¡¯s Token! Whoosh! A reward window popped up and the orange screen flashed in front of me. Countless characters quickly changed and waited for me to make a draw! I reached out and pressed the confirm button. Instantly, there was another pleasing ring¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± has obtained ¡°Flame Dragon Gauntlets¡± (Dark Gold¨Cgrade)! Then there was a string of rings¡ª System Announcement: Player ¡°Beiming Xue¡± has obtained ¡°Heavenly Cry Bow¡± (Gold-grade)! System Announcement: Player ¡°Indigo Collar¡± has obtained ¡°Boundless Helmet¡± (Gold-grade)! System Announcement: Player ¡°Moon Scar¡± has obtained ¡°Demon Killing Dagger¡± (Gold-grade)! System Announcement: Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± has obtained the ¡°Forbidden Wind War Boots¡± (Gold-grade)! ¡­¡­ Due to the rules of the tournament, items of the Gold-grade and above would be announced by the system to the public. Silver and Dark Steel¨Cgrade items would be skipped! As the person who did the most damage in the tournament, and the champions¡¯ leader, I managed to get a Dark Gold¨Cgrade item. Undoubtedly, I was definitely the greatest beneficiary of this tournament! Flame Dragon Gauntlets (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Defense: 125 Magic Resist: 85 Strength: +35 Stamina: +40 Passive: Increases the user''s Defense by 5% Passive: Increases the user''s critical rate by 4% Level Requirement: 65 ¡­¡­ Such a strong item! It was truly worthy of being a Dark Gold¨Cgrade item. 125 Defense, 35 Strength and astounding 40 points of Stamina. On top of that, 5% Defense and 4% crit rate passives. Each of these stats would be impressive on its own. Combined together in one item, they were more than amazing. Under Level 100, this gauntlet would undoubtedly be divine! I looked at my current arm slot item. Blood Shadow Bracers. 35 Defense, 9 Strength. The difference between them was like night and day! The system rewarded me with three levels, so I was Level 67 now. I quickly took off the Blood Shadow Bracers and put on my new gauntlets. Dark Gold¨Cgrade! Also, this might be the first Dark Gold¨Cgrade item in Floating Ice City! In a flash, my hands and forearms were completely covered by the crimson red armor that flashed with dark golden light. Fire sprouted out. These Flame Dragon Gauntlets were so amazing. I opened my individual stats. Just one Dark Gold¨Cgrade item was enough to completely transform me¡ª Class: Undead Swordsman (Silver Swordsman) Level: 67 HP: 2350 Attack: 413~675 Defense: 502 Magic Resist: 313 Reputation: 25895 Luck: 3 ¡­¡­ My HP had reached 2350, even better than most magic knights. My attack power was a powerful 675. Adding on the different effects, my actual attack power should be above 800, and I would be able to kill any mage of similar level instantly with a basic attack. My Defense reached 502. Adding on the Ghost Deity Armor, and Enhanced Bones, it probably wasn''t any lower than 700. I would be tankier than magic knights. Most importantly, my Magic Resist was now above 300. Just these gauntlets added 85 points. It would appear that the importance of high-grade defensive equipment has become way higher at this stage of the game! In Heavenblessed, only equipment of Gold-grade and above could boost Magic Resist. In late-game large-scale battles, AoE attacks of the mages were the main tool of carnage. Without high Magic Resist, melee fighters would be destroyed by the time they reached the casters¡¯ base. In conclusion, the stats of these Flame Dragon Gauntlets were enough to be top in Floating Ice City, much better than Beiming Xue''s Heavenly Cry Bow. However, that Heavenly Cry Bow had a very high Attack. I could imagine that just this bow would allow Beiming Xue to completely transform! "Thirteen, Little Gui, what did you get?" I asked around after calming my emotions. Du Thirteen said, "I got a pair of Silver-grade legguards, not bad, much better than my original ones~" Gui Guzi waved a pair of boots in his hand and grinned, "High-level Silver-grade war boots. Great. I was missing high-level equipment like this. Now my Defense is strengthened!" Mamate opened his hands. This was a light purple skill book. He had a grimace. "Damn, what is this? I¡¯m a priest but they rewarded me with a book for archers...¡± "?" We were all shocked and crowded over to look. Then we instantly laughed. Evil Spirit Volley: Gather dead souls on the arrow and then shoot them out in a volley, dealing great damage to the target. Cooldown: 10 seconds. Level Requirement: 60. Class Requirement: Archer. Race Requirement: Undead. ¡­¡­ Mamate was speechless. Everyone had gotten good rewards, but only he was so unlucky to get a skill book! Evil Spirit Volley could shoot out arrows containing soul power. This was no doubt a powerful skill, but its requirements were stupid. It required archers, and also undead ones? Who knew how many undead players this Heavenblessed Continent had? So far, I had not seen many. If I met any, I would¡¯ve recruited them into Bloody Mercenaries. Evil Spirit Volley was a powerful move, as though it had been created just for Beiming Xue, except it had been given to the wrong person. Beiming Xue gazed at the skill book, her gaze hopeful. She whispered, "Mamate, could you give me the skill book? I''ll... I''ll trade you the Heavenly Cry Bow, ok?" Mamate cried. "If I take your Heavenly Cry Bow, boss will throw me off the building...¡± Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen laughed heartlessly at the side. I coughed and patted Mamate''s shoulder. I said, "We are one family, why the pretenses? How about this. Mamate, you give Evil Spirit Volley to Lil Beiming, then... oh, then you take 20000 RMB from the workshop''s operational funds. Does anyone have any objections?" Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen shook their heads. "No problem, this decision is very wise!" Mamate cried silent tears, and held Beiming Xue''s hand. "Lil Beiming, you are the best to me...¡± Beiming Xue slapped Mamate''s hand away. "Ha, boss is giving 20000 to you, not me... Mamate, you dare take this opportunity, I look down on you!" Mamate continued to cry. In the next moment, Evil Spirit Volley appeared in Beiming Xue''s hands. It turned into a light that streamed into her body. She had clearly learned it. She decisively nocked an arrow. Beiming Xue faced the unpopulated stands, and fiercely unleashed Evil Spirit Volley. The arrows flew through the air, each of them giving off the images of ghosts at the arrowheads and hit the spectator stands! Boom boom boom! Stone shards flew everywhere, this attack was immensely powerful! Gui Guzi laughed in shock. "Damn, such great destructive power. Does it replace Volley in the slot?" "Yes.¡± Beiming Xue nodded. "It replaces Volley. Evil Spirit Volley is a Rank 6 skill, eight arrows, hoho. Its only drawback is MP usage. One Evil Spirit Volley uses 60 MP. In the future, I will have to rely on boss...¡± Beiming Xue walked over and grabbed my arm. She said with a smile, "Boss, you have to support me in the future...¡± I shuddered. I felt Lin Yixin''s gaze from nearby. I turned around, and saw her eyes filled with murderous intent. She held the Snow Shadow Sword, and was looking angrily at me as though she would draw her sword at any moment and kill me! On the other side, Murong Mingyue looked over casually, the disdain in her eyes growing. "Cough cough...¡± I pushed aside the excited Beiming Xue and said, "Alright, leave all your consumables to me!" "Okay, okay...¡± At this time, the system notified that all players would be sent out of the arena in 60 seconds! Gui Guzi looked at the time and said, "It''s 7 pm. How about we go offline and eat now?" I thought and said, "Yes, but wait a bit. We need to go to the royal palace and register our guild, then I¡¯ll make a post on the forums. We can go eat after all that!" "Alright!" We flew out of the arena. The five of us were still in a party as we headed toward the Floating Ice City palace in the distance. If we wanted to create a guild, we had to take a Hero¡¯s Token to the NPC king and request it. That way, our organization would be sanctioned by the law and would be recognized by NPCs when we met them in the wild¡¯s temporary camps, saving us their scornful gazes. Chapter 156: Recruiting The spring wind blew. The tree leaves on either side of Floating Ice City swayed. It was rush hour and the streets were filled with players. This city was the most prosperous city among the nine tier 2 cities of the China region. It was also fated to be the city with the fiercest competition. We had to create our guild as soon as possible, recruit many people, and gain enough strength to compete with other guilds! Therefore, this Hero''s Token from the Who Will Fight Me tournament was priceless! We sprinted into the palace. When we entered the hall, two high-level NPC guards holding spears glared at us. I appeared calm and led the four behind me in front of the king. The man was large and looked strong. His metal armor was imposing and he wielded a giant broadsword. He was clearly the type of king who ruled his city with his martial prowess. "Great King...¡± I called out. Beiming Xue pulled my cloak. "Boss, the wording is not good. It sounds like how the little demons in the Journey to the West talk to the demon kings...¡± I nodded and changed my speech. "My king!" Beiming Xue said, "This sounds like the stupidly loyal subjects in medieval times...¡± I was furious and pointed at the king NPC. "Fuck, I want to create a guild!" The king retained his composure and ignored the first word. He nodded and said, "Give me a Hero¡¯s Token and expend 1000 Reputation, and your guild shall be created!" I took out the Hero''s Token and used up 1000 points of Reputation. My guild was about to be created. I entered the words "Bloody Mercenaries" into the screen! Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± on creating the guild ¡°Bloody Mercenaries¡±! ¡­¡­ And¡­ nothing else. No rewards at all! Fuck, only the first three people to create their guilds received rewards. I was too late! Forget it. I, Dominating Heaven Blade and Lin Yixin were all in the Top 3 of Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking. There was no need for me to fight over the top spot. The highest-flying bird is shot first. Claiming 1st place would only put a big target on my back. It would be very annoying. "Boss, quick, let me join the guild~~" Beiming Xue walked over, requesting to join the guild. I pressed confirm and Beiming Xue became one of the members. A golden empty placeholder appeared on her shoulder. Yes, we had not confirmed the emblem for the Bloody Mercenaries. I then added Gui Guzi, Mamate, and Du Thirteen into the guild. I set all four of them as the commanders of the four corps. I myself became the leader. Then we started to discuss what kind of emblem we should use. "A portrait of a beauty? This will be more attractive...¡± Du Thirteen suggested. Beiming Xue nodded. "Right, let''s get a better one! I feel that the emblem of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is pretty good. A bloody, mighty sword. How about we use that emblem?" "Ok!" I decisively accepted Beiming Xue''s suggestion. I downloaded Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ emblem from the Guild Ranking and used a built-in tool to paint the background behind the ancient sword completely blood-red. This way, the emblem would look more murderous and fit our Bloody Mercenaries more! Bloody Mercenaries were Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' guardians after all, shedding blood to protect our dreams and warrior souls! Soon, the new emblem was set up. A long bloody sword appeared on our shoulders. Now, we all looked like veterans of countless bloody battles! Gui Guzi laughed. "Ha, our guild emblem is so stylish! Right, boss, Rank 1 guilds can accept 200 people. When will we start accepting?" I thought for a moment and said, "If we recruit in the city square, it will be chaotic and hard to find strong experts. I¡¯ll go to the forums later. Most experts browse the forums looking for info. Yeah, we¡¯ll do that. You go offline guys, I¡¯ll join you soon...¡± "Alright!" They went to the inn and prepared to go offline. Before I went offline, I logged onto the forums and used the ID Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand to make a post¡ª[Recruiting] Bloody Mercenaries has been established! The contents of the post were as follows: After nearly a month of battle, the Bloody Mercenaries guild has finally been established. We do not fear any other guild in Floating Ice City. We only pursue our own gaming dreams. No matter if it is Snowy Cathaya, Gods of Destruction, or Mad Dragon, we will kill anyone who challenges us! If you have a dream of conquering the world, then join Bloody Mercenaries! Requirements: Third-promotion, good equipment, at least one Silver-grade item. Melee, archers and mages preferred! If you want to join and fit the requirements, please send me a personal message. We will hold a meeting at nine o¡¯clock at the plaza by the city¡¯s eastern gates. After I sent the post, I looked it over. This post was relatively ordinary but in order to accentuate our domineering presence I used the three strongest guilds of Floating Ice City as imaginary enemies. Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon were already enemies, and so it was fine. But I also added Snowy Cathaya. At least it showed we didn¡¯t fear them either. As for the future beating I would get from Lin Yixin, I was fine with it, as long as she spared my face... I went offline to nourish my body. I¡¯ve been fighting the whole day in Who Will Fight Me, constantly at high intensity. I was almost completely spent! When I went offline, my phone rang. It was Murong Mingyue''s number! "Sister Mingyue!" "Lu Chen, you became the champion!" Murong Mingyue''s tone contained undisguised happiness and pride. In reality, Bloody Mercenaries becoming the victors were the same as Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls winning, just that no one knew about it. "Haha, of course. We have the strongest long-range attacker and the strongest meatshield. It would be strange if we didn¡¯t win," I said proudly. Murong Mingyue laughed and suddenly said, "In reality, you¡¯d be enough.¡± "Ugh...¡± After a moment of silence I added, ¡°You¡¯re overpraising me, Sister Mingyue...¡± Murong Mingyue giggled. "You little brat, you dare speak such nonsense. Right, Eve told me to apologize to you. That... Spring Mud, Moon Shadow, and Night Sorrow had gone overboard...¡± "Is boss alright?" "Yes, she should have gone to Mumbai Airport now and will return tomorrow.¡± "Oh! Right, the Bloody Mercenaries guild has been created. I¡¯ll do my best to recruit a group of strong experts to bolster my strength. This way, Bloody Mercenaries and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls can help each other. Sister Mingyue, what do you think?" "It''s good,¡± Murong Mingyue said with a smile, "but I don¡¯t care about all that. I only care about one thing: when are you coming to see me and Eve?" I thought for a moment. "Let''s wait. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s appropriate now. The three heads of the Ego workshop, Spring Mud, Night Sorrow, and Moon Shadow bear too much hostility toward me. I¡¯m afraid that we¡¯ll cause internal conflict in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls if the Bloody Mercenaries return.¡± "Yes, I thought of this as well...¡± Murong Mingyue was slightly apologetic and said with a smile. "Eve went in person to recruit these three. It appears that she has to be the one to resolve this. In reality, these three are extremely proud, and may not even listen to me. Everything depends on Eve!" "Alright, when we resolve this problem, I will return with Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi and the others!" "Yes, it''s a deal!" I hung up and took a deep breath. This was really a problem! I had recovered from my illness, and my face in the game had become handsome. I could go see He Yi. But then people like Spring Mud and Moon Shadow appeared. If the discord was not managed, some unpleasant things would occur if I rashly went there. It was not the result I wanted if He Yi would be embarrassed. Never mind. I was going to eat. Being a rice weevil with a dream was life! ¡­¡­ There were no good places so we went to eat a dry pot. When we returned, it was 9 pm sharp. We went online to recruit people! Whoosh! I appeared in Floating Ice City''s inn. I looked at my personal messages and found more than 400. They were all player requests! These were searchable. When I selected a name, I could see the other''s stats and equipment! Floating Ice City was a prosperous city so the players were all high in level. On the rankings, almost all the Top 1000 players had undergone the third promotion. In Floating Ice City alone, there were 467 Level 60 players. The difference was really tight! I came to the plaza by the eastern gate. Today, the plaza was very busy. There were many high-level players with formidable equipment waiting and chattering. They had all come due to my and Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ reputation! On the forums, I got another moniker¡ªUnkillable War God. The despicable forum moderators even made it into a badge and added it next to my name. So shameless... Beiming Xue and Gui Guzi were already at the center of the plaza. Several high-level players were surrounding them, asking, "Handsome Gui, Beauty Xue, what conditions do we have to satisfy to join Bloody Mercenaries? Please accept us. We¡¯ve all offended people from Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon. If the Bloody Mercenaries don''t accept us, we¡¯ll have to kill ourselves...¡± I was speechless. Damn, what kind of people were so eager to join Bloody Mercenaries? Was our guild a refugee alley for people to hide from Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon? But after giving it some thought, it no longer felt that bad. People who dared to offend Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon would not be ordinary. Which of these players wasn¡¯t elite among the players? Even if they were not elite, they had dignity and pride. These were the people that Bloody Mercenaries needed! Chapter 157: Greedy Wolf Forest Military Mobilization "Wait, wait for our boss to get here!" Beiming Xue explained with a smile. Gui Guzi pulled out his spear and said, "Damn, if anyone else dares to randomly touch me, I will kill him...¡± I walked forward, extremely amused, and said, "Everyone, quiet down!" "Boss is here!" Beiming Xue said. I nodded and said, "A Rank 1 guild can only accept 200 people so they must be the best of the best. In the future, they will be the core players of the Bloody Mercenaries. We must carefully select these 200 people. Today, I won''t level up and pick from everyone here, how about that?" The players nodded. Those not involved all left. I pointed and said, ¡°You there, Level 61 mage, do you want to join Bloody Mercenaries?" "Yes!" The mage came forward, holding a staff and said, "Two days ago, I killed Coldmoon Rose of Mad Dragon, and that woman has put out a bounty for me!" "You have a recording?" "Yes!" I watched the recording. This guy had killed Coldmoon Rose once, and it did not look fake. Coldmoon Rose didn¡¯t look out of sorts either. I nodded. "Welcome to the guild. We are one family now!" The mage was overjoyed. The guild emblem of the Bloody Mercenaries appeared on his shoulder. He immediately caressed the light of the emblem with joy in his eyes like it was his son. Then the second player, a Level 60 magic knight, came forward and said, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you are my hero. I always thought that Gods of Destruction would dominate Floating Ice City, but you changed my thoughts. Therefore, I want to join Bloody Mercenaries!" I glanced at his equipment. Three Silver-grade items, two Dark Steel¨Cgrade. Not bad. Accepted! ¡­¡­ The guild channel gradually became busy, filled with purely third-promotion players! At the same time, I contacted nearly a hundred people from my personal messages. I had verified and selected them personally and it was their time to join the guild! Mamate was an experienced gamer and said with a frown, "Boss, there may be spies from Mad Dragon or Gods of Destruction among them. If we rashly accept them, wouldn''t they cause trouble?" I smiled and patted Mamate''s shoulder. "People''s hearts are made of flesh. If we treat people sincerely, I don''t believe those 007s will continue to work for Mad Dragon and Gods of Destruction!" "Ha, treat people sincerely!" Mamate smiled and said, "I finally understood how Lonely Grave called Falling Dust ¡®worthy of the Heavenly King title¡¯. Just your presence is something that people like Candlelight Shadow and Seven-Star Lamp cannot compare to!" "Yes yes!" I was busy the entire evening until 11 before finally getting 200 people. The guild was filled with talented people, all third-promotion players. When I told the news to Lin Yixin, she gaped in shock. Even Snowy Cathaya did not have such forces! Right, this was a prime example of ¡°the later ones come ahead¡±. I wouldn¡¯t just recruit seconds that other guilds had left behind! Throughout the night, I, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and the others did not rest. We started our first guild activity. The players in the guild did not go to sleep either. We swept through a corner of Frost Forest, got to know each other and deepened our relationships as guildmates. ¡­¡­ I drowsily got out of bed. It was already 2 pm. Doo doo... My cell phone rang. It was Lin Yixin''s number. After connecting, I answered with a laugh, "Yiyi, what¡¯s gotten you anxious enough to call me?" Lin Yixin said, "You¡¯re still laughing? Your old family, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, is in danger!" "What''s the situation?" I suddenly sat up. Lin Yixin said. "Do you know Greedy Wolf Forest?" "Yes, I do. What is it?" "Oh, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls set up a hundred-man team to level up in there, but this morning, they were attacked and many died. They fought until noon. Murong Mingyue, Hot Sun and the others were killed once or twice. From Water was not willing to keep on fighting and ordered her guild to leave, giving up Greedy Wolf Forest.¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s explanation was short and simple, but it didn¡¯t stop my blood from boiling in anger. "Damn, which short-sighted guild dares to offend Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Fuck, they¡¯re courting death!" Lin Yixin laughed softly. "Don''t be so excited. How many factions in Floating Ice City dare to challenge Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and come out on top?" "Yiyi, who are they? Who has the gall...¡± "Mad Dragon, haha~~" I clenched my fists. "Fuck, it''s Roaming Dragon. No wonder!" Roaming Dragon had bought a Hero''s Token at a high price and established his guild. While the guild could only hold 200 people, Mad Dragon itself had at least a thousand members still outside the guild. They had necessary strength for He Yi to order retreat. If they were any weaker, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would not have chosen to leave. Lin Yixin said slowly, "Greedy Wolf Forest has been found to have Greedy Wolves whose pelts add stat bonuses. Thus, Mad Dragon started taking over the forest a few days ago. Later, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls came over and the two had friction and a battle occurred. While Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have left, some of them are being spawn camped...¡± I thought for a moment. "There¡¯s still people being spawn camped?¡± "Yes.¡± Lin Yixin smiled. "From Water made a public post on the forums and stated that since Mad Dragon had taken over Greedy Wolf Forest, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls going in were in the wrong and broke the unspoken agreement. They could only swallow their pride...¡± I nodded. He Yi''s actions were correct. A large guild had to maintain a good image to recruit different talents. But if it was me, I definitely would not have forgiven Mad Dragon so easily! "Mn, got it...¡± I said. "Oh? Your tone is not very friendly. What do you want to do?" Lin Yixin asked with a smile. I said, "Since He Yi¡¯s not willing to fall out and fight with Mad Dragon, Bloody Mercenaries will take this task upon themselves! That Roaming Dragon fucking dares to touch Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? I will uproot his guild from Floating Ice City. Bloody Mercenaries will do what Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is not willing to do!" Lin Yixin gave a bell-like laugh. I also laughed. "Yiyi, why are you so happy?" "I was just waiting for your words!" "What do you mean...¡± Lin Yixin stopped laughing and said, "Let''s work together? Greedy Wolf Forest is surrounded by valleys and only has one entrance. You lead the Bloody Mercenaries players in, and I¡¯ll lead Snowy Cathaya to guard the entrance. If necessary, we can work together and take care of Mad Dragon''s players in one swoop. How about that?" I was shocked. "You hate Roaming Dragon this much?" "Of course!" Lin Yixin''s tone was murderous. "This bastard said that I was someone''s mistress and the only reason I had a high level was because my man hired people to level me up. This shameless and despicable person has stained my good name. I want to dig up his ancestor''s graves!" I shuddered upon hearing this. Damn, a beauty like Lin Yixin really cannot be offended. She¡¯s terrifying! "Alright, wait for me online. In an hour, I¡¯ll gather people and go get revenge for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I hung up, put on my clothes and charged into the hall. I tapped out the beat for "General''s Command" on the table, shouting, "Bloody Mercenaries, gather your troops, quick. Everyone wake up!" The guys slowly came out of the dreamland. Beiming Xue wore a short T-shirt, the shirt barely covering her shoulders, revealing the white skin underneath her neck. "Boss, what is it?" I glanced at her and said, "Put your clothes on, your bra is showing...¡± "?!" Beiming Xue frantically covered herself, immediately flushing beet-red. "What is it?" I nodded. "This morning, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players were spawn camped by Mad Dragon in Greedy Wolf Forest and were forced to retreat. We can¡¯t let this slide. Let¡¯s quickly grab a bite before we go online. We¡¯ll go to Greedy Wolf Forest and uproot Mad Dragon after we¡¯ve gathered our forces!" Gui Guzi clenched his fists and laughed. "No problem. We have two hundred high-level players. We do not fear Mad Dragon''s rabble!" "Yes!" We ran downstairs to get some Lanzhou Noodles and charged back upstairs. We didn¡¯t even wipe our mouths before going online! Swhoosh! I appeared in the inn. Gui Guzi walked over and said, "Boss Broken Halberd, I just texted some people, and everyone has gathered outside the city by Frost Forest. Should we go over now?" "Alright!" I unsheathed the Ghost Ice Soul, summoned the Dark Wasp, and charged out of the city with Gui Guzi. At the same time, I sent a message in our guild chat: "Is everyone here?" Immediately, the guild boiled over¡ª "Haha, finally saw Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand alive!" "Boss, you are here!" "Boss, quick, tell us who we are going to kill? My axe is thirsting for blood...¡± ¡­¡­ I gaped. What kind of group was this? Bloody Mercenaries looked like a gang. I sprinted toward the forest. In the distance, there was a group of people. Du Thirteen held his longsword and said, "Lu Chen, there are 187 people in the guild, but 11 couldn¡¯t come. We have 176 people at the ready. Should we go?" I nodded, raised my sword and shouted, "Brothers, our friends were attacked by Mad Dragon. They¡¯ve always thought themselves to be the strongest guild in Floating Ice City. Today, we shall slaughter them and show these bastards who the real overlord of Floating Ice City is!" Everyone burst into cheers. "We pledge to follow our guild leader and slaughter Mad Dragon down to the last!" ¡­¡­ "Such a group of hot-blooded youths...¡± Beiming Xue giggled. Mamate nodded. "We need this ignorant and fearless courage...¡± Gui Guzi: "...¡± I held my sword and raised it toward the north. I said loudly, "Greedy Wolf Forest. Charge!" Shiing shiing shiiing! Everyone unsheathed their weapons, gleaming with silver murderous sheen. Following my orders, the group headed toward Greedy Wolf Forest. Chapter 158: The Battle of Greedy Wolf Fores Greedy Wolf Forest was a source of Rank 5 materials¡ªBlaze Greedy Wolf Pelts. The leather armor created by this kind of fur would receive a bonus of 2% Agility and 1.2% critical rate. Therefore, in order to enhance the strength of their archers, the leaders of many guilds set their eyes on Greedy Wolf Forest, their natural habitat. The forest became a battlefield of major guilds who wanted to progress, eventually leading up to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Mad Dragon crossing blades here. In the end, the former guild was slightly weaker, and He Yi could only leave, her troops defeated. ¡­¡­ Whoosh whoosh whoosh... The leaves of Frost Forest shook. A group of well-equipped players flashed across, heading to the woods behind. "Boss, we¡¯ll arrive in ten minutes!" Beiming Xue looked at the map and warned. I nodded. "Send orders to the teams; wait a bit at the valley entrance. We will attack together!" "Yes!" Not long after, a narrow valley entrance appeared ahead. It was about 20 yards wide, and a few dozen people could block it. Beep! Lin Yixin sent a message: "Lu Chen, my people are already outside. Have you reached your spot?" I looked into the distance and saw the forest littered with countless dots. Many Snowy Cathaya players were at the perimeters, just five minutes away. I smiled. Lin Yixin was just too adorable. She wasn¡¯t going to outright help us in the battle but she was going to help us ¡°secure kills¡±. How unreliable! I immediately responded. "We¡¯re going in. Guard the entrance. Don''t let any Mad Dragon members leave. I dare them to rest in the city!" "Yes!" The plan was a go. Depart! We came to the edge of the valley. Shiing. I pulled out my sword, pointed into the valley, and shouted, "Brothers, charge with me. Kill everyone who is related to Mad Dragon! Show no mercy!" The Bloody Mercenaries players pulled out their weapons and shouted, "Kill!" I charged into Greedy Wolf Forest first. Behind me, Du Thirteen, Beiming Xue, and Gui Guzi followed. As the leader and the four corps commanders, it was necessary that everyone was on the front lines. If one did not have such bravery, they had no need to stay in Bloody Mercenaries. The packed players flooded into the forest, the Bloody Mercenaries emblem forming an ocean of blood, as though heralding the inevitable slaughter! "There are people ahead!" Beiming Xue said cautiously. Gui Guzi sneered, "Five people, a small leveling team with an average level of 55!" I raised my sword. "Kill!" I dashed over, and activated Charge from afar! Whoosh! Boom! Three successive damage numbers jumped out¡ª 987! 1002! 2164! The last hit was a crit to boot. I managed to instantly kill the priest, the mage, and the magic knight! Du Thirteen was shocked. "Fuck, why¡¯re you so fierce, bro...¡± Beiming Xue gaped. "Boss is too strong. No wonder he managed to fight several people in Who Will Fight Me and still win...¡± Even more importantly, the Bloody Mercenaries players behind me all gaped. A moment later, they roared. "Leader is great! So strong!" I laughed. I achieved my goal. I used my strength to prove to everyone that joining our guild had been the right decision. The morale of our guild would increase greatly, and with their boosted confidence, so would their strength. As the troops swept by, eight or so Mad Dragon teams at the perimeter of Greedy Wolf Forest were met with a calamity. They were overwhelmed before they even had a chance to react. Puchi! A silver spear stabbed into the chest of a magic knight. Gui Guzi used his Death Combo and killed his enemy in one swoop. His troops cheered on his brilliant display. Very good. Our guild is very strong! Finally, after we killed several dozen of Mad Dragon''s idle players, we came close to the center of Greedy Wolf Forest. It was an enormous clearing, Mad Dragon¡¯s base of operations. Looking from afar, I could see at least 200 of Mad Dragon¡¯s high-level players farming Greedy Wolves. In reality however, they were guarding the nearby leveling teams. They were waiting for people to challenge them and fight! I looked over. Almost all the higher-ups of Mad Dragon were present! Roaming Dragon, Coldmoon Rose, Iron Pardon, Inconstant. The core players of their guild were standing at the side, chatting pleasantly. Whoosh whoosh... The leaves shook. The frontline players of the Bloody Mercenaries were all hiding in the bushes. While we had not practiced our formations, everyone here was an experienced player. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have undergone their third promotion so fast ahead of everyone else. They were all elite, and in the future, we would rely on them to conquer the world. "Leader, what to do?" a magic knight holding a spear asked. I looked into the distance and said, "All of you, release your pets. Let the pets charge ahead and act as a cover. We will charge afterward. Mad Dragon has several thousand people, but only 200 here. The others are nearby, grinding. If we can destroy their entire core, we can make Mad Dragon crumble!" "Alright!" In the next moment, magic flashed. Everyone summoned their pets. I stopped breathing in the guild. Then I shouted. "Now, lock onto any person ahead and order your pets to attack!" Immediately, the pets moved together. 176 pets, all of different sizes, shapes and colors. Wasps, Purple Butterflies, Greedy Wolves, Skeletons, Pheasants, Lightning Mice, Mammoths even. The colorful display resembled a circus that moved with astounding momentum! I pulled out my sword and shouted, "Now, charge!" I suddenly stood up, cutting through the branches with my sword. I charged out with a group of Bloody Mercenaries players. At the side of the forest, an entire column of red players moved up. Finally, the slaughter started! ¡­¡­ "What is the situation?" In the distance, Roaming Dragon paled. "Fuck, where¡¯d so many pets come from? Quick, prepare to defend!" A group of Mad Dragon magic knights raised their shields. The defensive formation quickly took form. This proved that Mad Dragon wasn¡¯t as garbage as Li Le¡¯s Flower Room! I was at the forefront and charged straight at Roaming Dragon. Coldmoon Rose gritted her teeth and shot a Volley at me from afar! Pa pa! Two arrows struck home and met a humming Ghost Deity Armor. But it was pointless, I had 20 priests behind me healing. It was hard for me to die, even if I wanted to! "Kill!" When I got close, I raised the Ghost Ice Soul and immediately used Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! The sharp blow almost created a bloody hole in the other''s camp. Ghost Ice Soul''s attack power was so strong, adding on my Undead Energy skill, it almost halved the HP of the knights on the front lines. The mages and archers behind them were immediately killed, however! "...¡± Screams arose. Just a single Thousand Mirage Slash killed at least 10 cloth or leather armor players, but it failed to break their defense line! I pressed my sword, turning it horizontally and swung again! Clang clang clang... The Ghost Ice Soul swept across the row of shields, creating bright sparks. Five magic knights grunted and their HP dropped again! At this time, Beiming Xue shouted, "Boss, bend down!" I immediately understood and bent down. I used this chance to sweep past the opponents¡¯ ankles. Obviously, it was not fatal. The fatal attack was about to come! Beiming Xue pulled the string of her longbow. The beautiful dark archer gathered undead energy at the arrowheads and immediately shot eight arrows. This was the Evil Spirit Volley she had just learned! Whoosh whoosh whoosh... The arrows sliced across the sky and fell into the enemy camp like meteors. The first few magic knights grunted and their HP dropped! Boom boom boom... Evil Spirit Volley was of the explosive type and had some splash damage. It could also ignore a little bit of Defense. It was no wonder that a string of large damage numbers soon floated up¡ª 1023! 1183! 1096! 1074! ¡­¡­ I was slightly speechless upon seeing this. After Beiming Xue learned Evil Spirit Volley, she could be called the queen of long range! If Beiming Xue had known this move in the Who Will Fight Me tournament, I wouldn¡¯t have had to risk my life in the last battle. I could just have her use Evil Spirit Volley and charge in with Gui Guzi to collect the heads! The astounding AoE properties of the attack shocked everyone. In a flash, the players of Mad Dragon experienced the power of Beiming Xue. All five of the high-level magic knights at the front were dead. The priest''s healing couldn¡¯t keep up because they died so quickly! Now, the frontlines were lost, and the mages, archers, bards, and tacticians were exposed to the weapons of the Bloody Mercenaries! Gui Guzi waved his spear and laughed. "Lil Beiming is so strong. Brothers, kill them all!" At this time, Roaming Dragon''s expression finally changed. He hadn''t expected the first wave of Bloody Mercenaries to be so strong. The "Iron Wall" formation he had worked hard to devise was not even worth a blow from the Bloody Mercenaries, it was torn to shreds in seconds! Whoosh whoosh... Two figures flashed by. The Gemini Stars of Mad Dragon moved out. Iron Pardon''s blade stabbed into the chest of a Bloody Mercenaries assassin. He shouted, "Die!" Blaze exploded, it was an instant kill! Chapter 159: Little Bra Beiming Xue smiled and said, "Gui Guzi, kill Inconstant, 1, 2, 3!" The Devil Piercing Arrow + Penetrating Arrow came at almost the same time. In but a moment, Inconstant was pinned in place, sky above him changing color. Two third-promotion mages of Bloody Mercenaries released Ice Dragon Howl in unison! The opportunity has come! Gui Guzi thrust with his spear. Death Combo! Boom boom boom... Under the barrage, a dozen priests were unable to save Inconstant. The strongest meatshield of Mad Dragon was killed by Bloody Mercenaries like this! Iron Pardon gritted his teeth. "Fuck!" Iron Pardon drove away the warrior in front of him with a sweep of his sword and charged toward Beiming Xue. In a melee battle like this, making a decision to charge through despite the risk to take out the other party¡¯s main DPS meant that his calm and judgement were top-notch! Pity, I had seen through him! "Charge!" Immediately, I turned into a shadow and lunged forward, appearing before him in a flash. A large ¡°stun¡± symbol appeared on his forehead. I had one second! Ice Ray + Desperate Gambit! 1002! 1483! My two trump skills were almost instant, with only about 0.15 seconds between them, which was also my present delay time. Of course, this timeframe wasn¡¯t enough for even Candlelight Shadow to cast an instant heal, let alone the newbie priests of Mad Dragon. With a grunt, he fell to the ground. The Gemini Stars of Mad Dragon had been killed, just like this! Roaming Dragon immediately stomped his feet. He hadn''t expected his formation to collapse immediately. He would never have dreamt of this result. All of his ambitions went up in smoke. Despite the reality check, he was still unable to give up. He shouted, "Hold on, hold on! Our brothers on the perimeter are coming over to help!" I pointed with my sword and said, "Brothers, kill them in ten minutes!" Of course, this was not just a threat. Bloody Mercenaries did possess such strength. Mad Dragon guild was a clan guild. The Mad Dragon Clan¡¯s players were not very strong. About 95% of players had not reached the third promotion. Third-promotion players in the Mad Dragon guild were rare treasures. In Bloody Mercenaries however, all players were such treasures! The gulf between us was great and unfathomable! The ocean could hold a hundred rivers! I always knew that while a clan could be strong, they couldn¡¯t win against those who recruited the best of the best. The Mad Dragon guild was proud and unwilling to recruit unrelated players. Eventually it held their potential back. Bloody Mercenaries were different. We took on all strong and reliable players! ¡­¡­ Boom boom boom... Eight consecutive arrows exploded in the crowd. Ghosts lingered around. Beiming Xue''s Evil Spirit Volley became the brightest star of the battle today. Its extraordinary power and its splash property tormented Mad Dragon. Gui Guzi was brave and charged at the front. Weirdly enough, his HP was always full. Of course, this was not the end of his terror. Bloody Mercenaries had two third-promotions bards that didn¡¯t forget to apply Divine Valor and Death Match buffs to him. With his Attack and Defense increased by a huge margin, he was capable of fighting against entire armies. I was jealous upon seeing this. "Water, can I get a buff too?" Excellent Water, a female Level 61 bard. I found her on the forums. She was about twenty years old, warm and gentle, and became the target of many male players when she entered the guild. The brothers that spoke words of love in the guild chat were getting more and more shameless. Seeing me say this, Excellent Water said with a smile, "Leader, I gave my buff to Amazing Expert~" I looked at Du Thirteen who was busy flirting and gritted my teeth. "To him? What for? Just transfer the buff to me...¡± "Yes, alright!" The bard''s buff skill could only be given to one player at a time. This was the difference between Bard and Tactician classes. The former could buff one person with many buffs, the latter could buff crowds. However, Bard¡¯s buffs were stronger, they were literally double that of Tactician! Soon, I received Divine Valor and Death Match as well. My Defense and Attack were increased by 20%. I felt invincible. Even if I fought Gui Guzi, I felt that I could kill him in two rounds. First, I would use Ice Ray + Slayer Slash. This would take at least 2000 HP from Gui Guzi. He would absorb 35% and recover 700 HP. There would be 2000 HP left. Then I would use a Pardon + Desperate Gambit. As long as I killed him in one hit, Undying Shield¡¯s absorption wouldn¡¯t help him. Of course, this was just an example. Gui Guzi and I were on the same side so we never got a chance to fight again. But he had been slightly disobedient recently, wanting to challenge me for the title of ¡°the workshop¡¯s strongest¡±. I needed to find an opportunity to beat some sense into him. ¡­¡­ The situation was completely one-sided. Bloody Mercenaries was brutal, cutting and slicing everything they could, including Coldmoon Rose''s chest armor. An assassin sneaked toward Yamete. The moment he attacked, Beiming Xue shot him. He fell to the ground and cursed, "Fuck! I knew you¡¯d have a helper. You trash priest. Do you have balls to fight me 1v1?" Yamete charged forward with his staff and beat the anemic assassin to death. As he swung, he said, "Little brat, you dare to look down on your grandpa???" Everyone clapped and laughed. Roaming Dragon saw the situation was irreversible. Under the protection of some knights, he retreated with a poisonous gaze. He shouted, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, I will remember this. Just wait, Mad Dragon will get revenge!" I pointed at Roaming Dragon and ordered without changing my expression, "Gui Guzi, lead ten teams of five and chase Roaming Dragon. Everyone else, come with me. We will sweep through Greedy Wolf Forest!" "Yes, leader!" Gui Guzi gave chase with 50 people. Roaming Dragon only had a dozen people, without any mages and priests. It was unlikely that they could escape. The Ghost Ice Soul flashed with bloody light. About half of the people behind me had red names. My name was red to begin with. Regardless of whether I had a red name, as a neutral race, I could enter the cities of the humans and the Night Creatures. This feeling was like those fraudsters that stole the wealth of the people and fled the country. I felt extremely embarrassed. There was a team of a hundred people grinding near the border of Greedy Wolf Forest. They were working hard killing wolves, planning to get a few dozen pelts to craft top-tier leather armor with critical rate bonus. Unfortunately for them, the core of their guild was already dead, and these people were nothing to write home about. I charged immediately, and acted as the main focal point. Regardless of the other''s archer and mage attacks, Ghost Deity Armor was extraordinary, letting me basically ignore physical attacks of ordinary players! Then with a clear roar, an Ice Dragon Howl sound! I hadn''t expected a third-promotion mage here. That Ice Dragon Howl descended from the heavens. I didn¡¯t bother to dodge and just endured it! 247! The damage number flew up. The Ice Dragon Howl hadn''t even taken away 10% of my HP! Haha, my 313 points of Magic Resist were not for naught! The other mage was stunned. The assassin by his side murmured, "Fuck, seriously? Big brother''s Ice Dragon Howl is able to take away 1000 HP from a Level 60 Greedy Wolf, but can¡¯t even chip away 300 from Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? Is there any order in the world...¡± In the next moment, I used the Ghost Ice Soul to tell him what the natural order of the world was! In this world of sword and magic, the one with the hardest fists was the natural order! "Kill!" I charged into the crowd, drank a potion, and started a slaughter! Bang bang bang! Beiming Xue''s Evil Spirit Volley once again caused fear among the enemy ranks. With a single Volley, she could kill 8 people and halve HPs of all the surrounding players. This damage potential was just too domineering! I wrapped around the side, turned around and used Thousand Mirage Slash, perfectly engulfing all the players with half HP! Boom! Screams arose and a dozen players fell to the ground. This wonderful teamwork caused the Bloody Mercenaries players to gasp, and the Mad Dragon players to lose their souls. They didn''t dare to resist, and almost surrendered. The player leading them shouted, "They¡¯re too strong, brothers. Flee!" The group quickly retreated toward the entrance of the mountain valley. I smiled. Very good. Wind Fantasy of Snowy Cathaya and her sword were waiting there for them. Good luck to them~~ ¡­¡­ Soon after, Gui Guzi came back with his group and smiled confidently. "Boss, we did it. Including Roaming Dragon, all 27 of them died at the base of the mountain. Not even one escaped!" I nodded. "Young man, you have a great future. I admire you and will promote you to Commander of a Hundred Horses...¡± Gui Guzi was speechless. "I want a salary...¡± "Each month, go to Du Thirteen and get ten pecks of rice~" ¡­¡­ Once everyone gathered, we counted our troops. We came with 176 people, and after a series of battles, there were 124 left. Many people had been killed. However, compared to Mad Dragon, our losses were not much. At a cost of 52 people dying once, we completely routed Mad Dragon¡¯s thousand-man army! Chapter 160: Reunion After the mission was complete, Gui Guzi ordered everyone to take over Greedy Wolf Forest. I didn¡¯t stop him. For third-promotion players, Greedy Wolf Forest was a safe and experience-rich leveling zone. It was the reason why Mad Dragon fought so hard to monopolize it in the first place. ¡°Boss, should we ¡®reserve¡¯ this place for ourselves?¡± Gui Guzi asked. I stared at the horizon before shaking my head. ¡°No, it¡¯s a distasteful practice. You can ban players from Mad Dragon from training here, but let¡¯s go no further than that. Also, contact Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and tell that Greedy Wolf Forest is available for grinding¡­¡± ¡°Got it!¡± ¡­... After the battle ended, the players of Mad Dragon didn¡¯t dare to revive immediately. Those that did used their return scrolls immediately and were teleported to the city. They had pretty much lost all their courage. Bloody Mercenaries didn¡¯t have many players, but each and every one of them was brave and strong. Those serving under my dark generals, Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue, were especially powerful and impossible to stop by the likes of Mad Dragon. I walked out of the valley with my sword in tow. Outside the valley, the stragglers were being split into three groups and cut down accordingly. In the distance facing toward Floating Ice City, a group of Mad Dragon players almost two hundred strong tried to fight their way back in and take back Greedy Wolf Forest, but they were stopped dead at the perimeter by a line of Snowy Cathaya players. Beneath the banner, the beautiful leader of Snowy Cathaya, Wind Fantasy pressed a hand to her sword and smiled tauntingly at a sea of enemy players. Her eyes looked amazing, and her hair was dancing lightly to the wind. ¡°Didn¡¯t Mad Dragon say that they would annihilate all forces in Floating Ice City and reign supreme? Well, we¡¯re waiting. Try and annihilate us if you can!¡± The Mad Dragon players were so intimidated by the mighty Fruit Knife Goddess that not one of them dared to meet her challenge! Lin Yixin was a goddess, but she was no goddess of mercy. Raising her sword, she cried out to her men, ¡°Kill anyone with the words Mad Dragon in their name! Leave no one alive!¡± The players behind her charged toward the Mad Dragon players and dealt a lethal blow despite being outnumbered two to one! Under the effects of Lin Yixin¡¯s ¡°beautiful leader aura¡±, their killing intent, tenacity, rage, courage and morale were absolutely off the charts! There was no chance this second-rate reserve force could defend themselves from the onslaught of Snowy Cathaya¡¯s elite troops. Even the main force of Mad Dragon would¡¯ve collapsed under their might! Sensing an opportunity, I turned on the recorder and recorded ten full minutes of the best moments of the battle! Lin Yixin didn¡¯t take part in the battle. She simply stood atop a small hill and enjoyed the show from above. In fact, she had become a spiritual leader in more ways than one. All she needed to do was show her face, and her subordinates would fight to their death without question! I felt a bit of complex emotion welling inside me. He Yi was also a leader like this. Back in Spirit of Grief, the reason many of our guild members stuck together through thick and thin was mostly because of her. Now that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was rebuilt, I was sure she could build something amazing with her personal charm! Suddenly, I realized that Lin Yixin wasn¡¯t standing on the small hill anymore. I tried looking around for her until I felt a small, tender hand patting me on the shoulder. Lin Yixin spoke from behind me, ¡°You have too much time on your hands, don¡¯t you, running all the way here just to grab some footage¡­ Seriously, you have none of GX¡¯s talent but all of his perversion...¡± I turned around and stared at her. ¡°How am I perverted?¡± Lin Yixin puffed up her chest and said, ¡°Oh you¡¯re really asking? And where are you looking right now? You can¡¯t even control yourself long enough to refute me properly!¡± A motley ray of sunlight had pierced through the tree leaves and landed perfectly between her breasts. It was so dazzling and attractive that my eyes kept being drawn toward the spot, no matter how hard I tried to smother the urge. It was almost as if there was a mysterious gravitational force affecting my eyes! Sigh. Is Lin Yixin really a goddess? Why do I feel like she¡¯s more like a beautiful minx who steals people¡¯s souls away? ¡°Gulp¡­¡± I swallowed once before replying, ¡°Well¡­ okay fine, I¡¯m a pervert. But how can you blame me when¡­¡± Lin Yixin pursed her lips and turned her back on me. ¡°How am I supposed to not treat you with disdain when you act like this¡­¡± I smiled and walked up to her. We stood shoulder-to-shoulder and watched the distant battles taking place beneath our feet. Some time later, my eyes moved involuntarily toward Lin Yixin again as I asked, ¡°Yiyi, are you actually a goddess?¡± Lin Yixin stared into my eyes for a moment before smiling. ¡°If I¡¯m a goddess, then it is not my destiny to marry a mortal. I will hide in an unknown corner of the secular world, shine like the stars of the night, and smile in a way no mortal could ever resist. Then, I will become immortal.¡± Her smile grew mysterious. ¡°Do you still think I''m a goddess now?¡± I shook my head immediately. ¡°I¡¯ve never thought that. ¡®Minx¡¯ fits you way more¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re a minx¡­¡± Lin Yixin punched me lightly, but she was clearly smiling from ear to ear. ¡­... The battle lasted for half an hour. When the dust was settled, Mad Dragon suffered the worst defeat since the founding of their guild in the hands of Bloody Mercenaries and Snowy Cathaya. Nearly everyone in their guild had been killed at least once! After that, Lin Yixin left and went back to grinding. Literally having too much time on my hands, I was about to find my own leveling ground when I received a phone call from real life. Oh well. I took out a tent, went in and logged out from the game! By the time I returned to the real world and grabbed my phone, the call had already turned into a missed call. It was Murong Mingyue. I called back and got a response immediately. ¡°What is it, sister?¡± I asked. Murong Mingyue said, ¡°Eve just returned to Suzhou, Lu Chen¡­¡± ¡°Oh, I see¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± I could almost see Murong Mingyue smiling from the other side of the phone. ¡°Eve told me this morning that she dreamed about you again. She said she saw you covered in blood, and¡­ and she cried until her whole pillow was wet with tears¡­¡± Murong Mingyue let out a sigh before continuing, ¡°Eve just can¡¯t forget about you, so I think it¡¯s about time you meet her. Don¡¯t you think so as well?¡± I nodded unconsciously. ¡°I agree, but I¡­¡± ¡°No more buts!¡± Murong Mingyue cut me off before I could continue. ¡°Eve will be performing an inspection at GGS¡¯s industrial zone around 3 pm today. You know, the electronics factories not far away from the university? You¡­ you should come. If you show up, I¡¯m sure Eve will become the happiest woman in the world~~¡± I considered her suggestion for a moment. ¡°3 pm?¡± ¡°Mn. What is there to hesitate about?¡± ¡°I¡¯m worried that¡­¡± ¡°Ai!¡± Murong Mingyue sighed. ¡°Lu Chen, sometimes it¡¯s better not to think too deeply. You are far more important to Eve that those three from the Ego workshop could ever be. Don¡¯t you know? Just say the word, and she¡¯ll sweep them out of the doorsteps immediately for you. She won¡¯t even hesitate.¡± Locking my brows into a deep frown, I replied, ¡°Just give me a few more days. I¡¯m planning to expand Bloody Mercenaries until we have 1000 high-level players. When that happens, I¡¯ll return to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, okay? This way, I¡¯ll be able to rise to boss¡¯s expectations, and I¡¯ll have enough capital to throw down with the Ego workshop!¡± Murong Mingyue couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡°You little... Alright, fine, do whatever you want. I¡¯m just informing you that Eve will be visiting Suzhou New District around 3 pm later, and it¡¯s completely up to you whether to visit her or not. Who knows, maybe she¡¯ll have to fly back to the head office in the US as soon as tomorrow. Maybe you won¡¯t be able to meet her for at least another half a month. But who cares? It¡¯s not like you miss her anyway¡­¡± Tap! Murong Mingyue hung up on me, leaving me to stare blankly into thin air. I don¡¯t miss her? Of course I do... ¡­... It was 3 pm, and my heart felt as restless as a racehorse. I was sitting in the living room. The hot tea I poured for myself some time ago was completely cold. Creak¡­ Beiming Xue opened her door and walked out of her room. She was wearing a loose T-shirt. Surprised to see me in the living room at this time, she asked, ¡°Boss, why aren¡¯t you online? It¡¯s broad daylight!¡± I gave her a smile and said, ¡°Nothing. I¡¯m just a bit tired and felt like walking around for a bit¡­¡± ¡°Oh, really?¡± Beiming Xue smiled brightly. ¡°Then take me with you, okay? I feel suffocated too whenever I stayed inside the game for too long~~¡± It felt like the excuse I needed. Why wouldn¡¯t I take a member of my workshop out on a relaxing walk once in a while? Right? Right. I¡¯m totally not using this chance to meet a certain beautiful leader! So, I nodded quickly and replied, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go right away!¡± ¡°Mn mn!¡± Beiming Xue walked up to me and held my elbow with a smile. ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°Er, Lil Beiming, isn¡¯t this a... gesture between couples only?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, we can pretend to be a couple...¡± I gave up and nodded. What else could I say after that? Since Lil Beiming was way younger than me, I¡¯ll just think of this as taking my younger sister on an outing. The sun hanging bright and hot on the sky, we headed out and began strolling down the streets. I had an ulterior motive, but Beiming Xue was as innocent as one could get. Smiling at the shops beside the streets, she talked to me about all kinds of things from her hometown. I nodded from time to time in response to Beiming Xue, but my eyes were completely glued to the factory some distance in front of me. The name ¡°GGS¡± was written in large font right at the entrance. The main hall of the factory area seemed to be unusually busy. He Yi was probably somewhere inside, wasn¡¯t she? It was at this moment I noticed a black sports car at the parking lot. It was a Lamborghini, the same car He Yi had driven over to fetch me that day. I remembered that it was her favorite car. Yes, He Yi was definitely somewhere inside. We stopped at a roadside stall and bought two packs of cold drinks for ourselves. Beiming Xue looked back and forth between me and the factory. Finally, she declared with great certainty, ¡°Boss, you¡¯re seriously distracted, you know that? Is it because your crush is inside that factory?¡± Caught completely off-guard, I tried to cover up my embarrassment. ¡°Wh-what are you talking about? Stop talking nonsense...¡± ¡°Hmph! Like hell I am. Your acting skills are even worse than Gui Guzi¡¯s!¡± Unable to refute her statement, I kept quiet and pretended to be a mute! ¡­... I felt a little touched as I watched Beiming Xue drinking her cold drink. However, a gigantic explosion suddenly hit our eardrums like a truck, and the ground shook like there was an earthquake. BOOM BOOM BOOM! A series of explosions later, smoke started rising from all over the factory. There was fire everywhere around the main hall! ¡°Wh¡­ what¡¯s going on?¡± My voice shook as I rose to my feet. I felt like someone had stabbed me in the heart. Beside me, the old man that sold us the cold drinks exclaimed in fear and shock, ¡°Damn! The factory¡¯s boiler must¡¯ve exploded to cause this much commotion.¡± ¡°A boiler explosion?¡± My eyes turned bloodshot instantly. Before I knew it, I was already running toward the factory. Behind me, Beiming Xue shouted, ¡°Boss, where are you going? It¡¯s dangerous!¡± I hastily stopped in my tracks and shouted back. ¡°Lil Beiming, stay there and wait for me, okay!?¡± After that, I ran toward the factory again. ¡­... The explosions hadn¡¯t ended, and there was thick smoke everywhere. The main hall was in complete shambles, and all kinds of dangerous fumes spread through the place. I could see people wailing amidst the fire. I could see ruins where entire roofs had been blown off and scattered across the ground. There was dust everywhere, and I could barely see through it. People were panicking. There were many people running outside toward safety and even more lying on the ground and groaning in pain. It felt like someone was torturing my heart as I half-fell and half-climbed my way into the burning building. The smoke was so thick that I could barely open my eyes, and none of the wounded I checked was the person I was looking for. Dead! So many dead! Living people were literally dying right in front of my eyes, and yet I was powerless to help them! The fire spread wildly and uncontrollably. They looked like they were about to devour everything. My heart felt like it was burning to ashes as well as I collapsed to my knees and cried at the sight of the infinite flames in front of me. I shouted, ¡°Boss! He Yi! He Yi¡­¡± ¡­... Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice behind me. ¡°I knew it¡­ I knew you were still alive¡­¡± Chapter 161: A Dream Come True He Yi was both shocked and overjoyed to see me. She tried wiping her tears, but they just wouldn¡¯t stop flowing out of her tear ducts. Her eyes looked very misty as a result. ¡°Is that really you?¡± I was still kneeling on the floor when He Yi staggered toward me. Suddenly, she shivered, closed her eyes and broke into tears. ¡°I thought you were gone forever, I thought¡­¡± ¡°Boss, I¡­ you¡­¡± Suddenly, I noticed that her shoulder was hurt. Something had cut through the fabric of her black uniform, and a dangerous amount of blood was gushing out of the wound. Moreover, her right arm was hanging in a way that suggested that it was broken. In fact, now that I got a good look at it, the white sleeve covering her arm was completely drenched in blood. ¡°Uuuu¡­¡± He Yi looked up and closed her eyes. Tears kept pouring down her cheeks and dripping on my shoulder when suddenly, she suddenly turned limp and collapsed into my arms. Did she¡­ faint? ¡°Boss?¡± Holding He Yi, I glanced at the spot she had climbed out of earlier and saw something frightening. Apparently, she had been held down by a concrete slab with rebars sticking out of the surface before I came. Some parts of the slab were smeared with blood. I couldn¡¯t even imagine the courage it took to pull herself free and climb back to her feet. The fire was spreading insanely quick, and I could barely find my bearing as I held He Yi in my arms. I shouted, ¡°Sister Mingyue!¡± But no one replied, so I gritted my teeth and ran out through the fire! The fire continued to spread, and soon half the district was covered in smoke. Outside the main hall, a lot of firemen were organizing the evacuation effort. When Beiming Xue saw me, she immediately ran out of the crowd, passed the blockade line and stopped in front of me, ¡°Boss! Boss, are you okay?¡± I nodded and smiled tiredly at her. ¡°I¡¯m fine¡­¡± Then she saw He Yi, and her mouth fell open. ¡°Boss¡­ Who is she? She¡¯s so beautiful¡­¡± ¡°She¡¯s He Yi,¡± I said simply before shouting at the crowd. ¡°Ambulance! We need an ambulance! Quickly¡­¡± A couple of paramedics rushed toward me. I put He Yi on the stretcher and tried to pull away, but I quickly discovered that one of her hands was gripping my wrist very, very tightly. It was impossible to break free. One of the nurses clenched his teeth and made a snap decision. ¡°Can you come with us?¡± ¡°Sure!¡± As I climbed onto the ambulance, Beiming Xue shouted from behind me, ¡°Boss! What about me?¡± I gave her a nod and said, ¡°Come see me at the hospital.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± ¡­... The ambulance turned on the siren and zoomed toward the municipal hospital. A doctor who was busy disinfecting the wounded glanced at me and asked, ¡°Are you her boyfriend?¡± I shook my head in a daze. ¡°I¡¯m going to disinfect her wounds now.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I gave him a nod before asking, ¡°Doctor, is she doing well?¡± ¡°Her blood pressure is normal, and her heart rate is stable. She¡¯s a bit agitated, but her wounds are all superficial¡­¡± ¡°I see.¡± I relaxed. Suddenly, I recalled Murong Mingyue. She had probably attended the inspection with He Yi. Did she escape safely? I took out my phone and called Murong Mingyue. To my surprise, the call went through. She was crying on the other side on the phone. ¡°Lu Chen, where are you? There was an accident in the factory just now, and Eve is caught up in it¡­ Uuuu, I couldn¡¯t find Eve, I couldn¡¯t find her anywhere¡­¡± Touched by her compassion, I smiled and gave her the good news. ¡°Boss is fine, sister. She¡¯s with me right now. We¡¯re on the way to the municipal hospital. She only has some minor injuries.¡± ¡°Oh! Ah¡­¡± Murong Mingyue was so surprised and overjoyed that she could barely form a coherent sentence. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m coming over right now!¡± ¡­... It didn¡¯t take long before we reached the hospital, and some inspecting, disinfecting and bandaging later, He Yi¡¯s treatment was more or less done. However, she still hadn¡¯t woken up yet. I stayed by He Yi¡¯s side and watched over her after she was transported into a sick ward. I couldn¡¯t not watch her anyway since she was still gripping my wrist tightly. Bam! Someone threw open the door loudly. It was Murong Mingyue. She was dressed in a coffee-colored uniform, and her face was etched with worry. The moment she saw He Yi on the bed, she asked me in an urgent tone, ¡°How is Eve, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°She¡¯s stable. I¡¯m just waiting for her to wake up.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s great!¡± Murong Mingyue took a seat next to the bed before looking at me and He Yi. A while later, she started, ¡°So, how did you find Eve? Tell me everything.¡± I rolled my eyes at her. ¡°Is this really the time to make fun of me?¡± ¡°Hehehe¡­¡± A small smile appeared on Murong Mingyue¡¯s face. ¡°Our Lu Chen has finally found to courage to come home!¡± I nodded. Now that I had appeared in front of He Yi, it was only a matter of time before Bloody Mercenaries returned to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. He Yi let out a silent groan, probably because her wounds were still hurting a little. But more importantly, it meant that she was awake. Murong Mingyue and I turned around at the same time. We immediately saw Eve staring at the both of us with wide eyes. ¡°Boss¡­¡± ¡°Eve¡­¡± Murong Mingyue and I murmured at the same time. He Yi abruptly sat up and hugged me like her life depended on it. She didn¡¯t say a word, but the tears drenching my shirt told me everything I needed to know. Murong Mingyue was stunned by her reaction. She gave He Yi a couple minutes of silence before letting out a cough. Finally waking up from her stupor, He Yi¡¯s cheeks immediately turned red with embarrassment. It only took her a short while to regain her cool. She was the GGS¡¯s Asia Region Vice President. She could summon the necessary self-control if she wanted to. He Yi stared into my eyes and said angrily, ¡°Where have you been these past few weeks?¡± Unsure how to answer her question, I looked down on my feet instead. Murong Mingyue laughed and helped me out. ¡°He¡¯s been busy leveling up, of course. He¡¯s now Top 3 of Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking, and he¡¯s founded a guild called ¡®Bloody Mercenaries¡¯. Are you satisfied with this answer, Eve?¡± He Yi pressed her lips together and stared at me even harder than before. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me that you were Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand back then?¡± I shivered. She still remembers that? Women truly are petty creatures. More importantly, how the hell am I going to answer this? I looked at Murong Mingyue with SOS flashing behind my eyes. The latter hurriedly bent down and grabbed He Yi¡¯s shoulder, smiling. ¡°Eve, you¡¯re acting like you¡¯re interrogating a suspect! He might run away again if you keep this up!¡± He Yi opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something. She looked at me again and asked, ¡°Lu Chen, you ran into the fire to save me. Weren¡¯t you worried that you might die?¡± I looked away and said, ¡°Aiya, tonight¡¯s moon is so nice¡­¡± ¡°...¡± He Yi finally pursed her lips and gave up. She looked at Murong Mingyue and said, ¡°Can you call the head doctor over?¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Murong Mingyue went away, and soon an old doctor with white hair walked in and asked, ¡°Is there anything I can help you with?¡± He Yi nodded and asked, ¡°How soon can I check out of the hospital?¡± The doctor replied, ¡°We need to observe you for a day before we discharge you, so that will be tomorrow.¡± He Yi said, ¡°I would like to check out today!¡± ¡°But¡­¡± The doctor wanted to say something, but after seeing the determination in He Yi¡¯s eyes he gave up and nodded. ¡°Alright, today it is. Have you¡­ paid your medical bill yet?¡± Murong Mingyue spoke up. ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± ¡­... A while later, Murong Mingyue dealt with everything and came back. He Yi struggled to her feet and touched the gauze covering her shoulder for a bit. She gave me a reassuring smile and said, ¡°It only hurts a little. Mingyue, can you grab a set of clothes from the car for me?¡± ¡°Mn!¡± A few minutes later, Murong Mingyue with a brand new set of underwear, blouse and uniform. Apparently, He Yi kept some spare clothes just in case they came in handy. Accepting the clothes, He Yi smiled at me and asked, ¡°What are you waiting for? Or are you planning to watch?¡± Feeling a bit embarrassed, I let out an awkward laugh and walked to the window. Soon, I heard a bunch of rustling sounds behind me. About ten minutes later, He Yi said, ¡°Alright, I¡¯m done. Lu Chen, come over and support me!¡± I turned around and noticed that He Yi had tossed her blood-drenched clothes into the trash bin. She looked like a whole new person. Murong Mingyue stared at the trash bin in puzzlement. ¡°Why did you bleed so much when your wounds were superficial at worst?¡± He Yi explained, ¡°I guess I was too healthy...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡­... I walked up to her and allowed her to grab my elbow. She smiled at me and said, ¡°Should we go?¡± ¡°Where to?¡± Murong Mingyue asked. He Yi said, ¡°I want to visit Lu Chen¡¯s workshop right now!¡± ¡°But¡­¡± Murong Mingyue held up her phone. ¡°The president just gave me a call. He wants you to return to the US tomorrow. He even booked a ticket for you already¡­¡± ¡°But I¡¯m hurt right now.¡± ¡°He wants you to receive treatment in California¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m tired and I want to take a break. Tell him I¡¯m applying for a week of leave.¡± ¡°He said he¡¯ll give you the entire year off if you promise to work off this month¡­¡± ¡°Tell him I¡¯m retiring then¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Given no other choice, Murong Mingyue tossed her phone into the trash bin. ¡°Okay then, I guess the president can go fuck himself¡­¡± He Yi: ¡°...¡± ¡­... He Yi kept clinging to my elbow affectionately as we went downstairs. To me, this was one of the happiest moments of my life. Every time I saw the smile on He Yi¡¯s face, my worries and troubles seemed to disappear of their own accord. Inside the lift, a bunch of male nurses was staring at He Yi with a loving look in their eyes, a gaze that would be filled with murderous intent the moment it shifted to me. It was nothing though. I had already made up my mind to suffer gazes like these since the day I went on a date with Lin Yixin. Since He Yi was as beautiful as her, it was only natural that people would look at me with jealousy. Doo doo¡­ My phone rang all of a sudden. It was Beiming Xue. ¡°Boss, which hospital you¡¯re in right now? We¡¯ll call a cab and rush over right away!¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m coming home right now!¡± ¡°Oh? Okay¡­¡± I hung up the call. We were on the ground floor, and we spotted He Yi¡¯s black Lamborghini almost immediately. It was just way too cool and eye-catching of a car to not notice. Murong Mingyue drove while He Yi and I sat at the back. It was a brand car, and its engine was as powerful as was advertised. The trip to my apartment didn¡¯t take a long time. Chapter 162: Hanting Express Gui Guzi bowed his head but kept sneaking glances at the black Lamborghini. ¡°Wow, the driver¡¯s a girl! Tsk tsk~~¡± Du Thirteen snorted disdainfully. ¡°Tch! A woman who drives a brand car like that has to be a rich kid or the mistress of some rich bastard!¡± Mamate suggested. ¡°You guys wanna show her what we think after she drives past us?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡­... Unfortunately, the car slowed to a stop in front of them and foiled Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen¡¯s plans, but that was just the beginning. They were shocked when Murong Mingyue climbed out of the driver¡¯s seat. Their shock turned to disbelief when He Yi appeared from the passenger¡¯s seat and refreshed their view of women. Finally, when I exited the car after He Yi, the duo turned to stone completely. A while later, Gui Guzi finally muttered, ¡°Fuck! The woman isn¡¯t the mistress, our boss is¡­¡± I walked up to him and slapped him across the head. ¡°What the fuck are you talking about!?¡± Murong Mingyue and He Yi chuckled together. Beiming Xue blinked once at the new arrivals before smiling. ¡°Boss, can you introduce them to us?¡± I gave her a nod and pointed at He Yi. ¡°She¡¯s the leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and our future boss. Her ID is ¡®From Water¡¯, and her real name is He Yi. You can also call her by her pen name, Eve, if you want to.¡± He Yi nodded and gave everyone a refreshing smile. ¡°Good day, everyone!¡± Everyone nodded back in unison. Mamate and Du Thirteen especially looked like their breath had been stolen away from their lungs. Next, I pointed at Murong Mingyue. ¡°She¡¯s the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Murong Mingyue. Her real name is the same as her in-game ID.¡± Everyone nodded again, but this time their reaction was a bit reserved. One didn¡¯t need to see to know that the owner of a Lamborghini was anything but ordinary, especially when they were as beautiful as Murong Mingyue and He Yi. Gui Guzi and Yamete were shut-ins, so naturally they had never met a woman like that in their lives. Du Thirteen had a fair bit of experience, but none of his female friends could be classified as successful women. As for Beiming Xue, she was just a girl, and there was a world separating her and women like He Yi or Murong Mingyue. ¡°Do you want to come up and talk?¡± I suggested. Still holding onto my arm, He Yi nodded. ¡°Mn!¡± ¡­... We all went up. It was a good thing we bought two new sofas for the workshop recently, because there were barely enough seats to accommodate all of us. However, no one knew how to begin the conversation as we clustered around our tiny table. In the end, it was Beiming Xue who broke the ice and smiled. ¡°Sister He Yi, how did you come to know our boss?¡± ¡°What happened after that?¡± Beiming Xue asked curiously. Murong Mingyue replied expressionlessly, ¡°We got on Candlelight Shadow¡¯s kill list and got hunted all over the world too.¡± ¡°...¡± He Yi straightened her skirt before suddenly rising to her feet. She stared at each and everyone of us seriously before saying, ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has rented an office slash hostel building at the New District, and we¡¯re planning to hire 100 professional players as our core. If you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯d like to invite you all to join us!¡± Dazed and startled by the passionate offer, everyone in Bloody Mercenaries looked at me and waited for my decision. I was the backbone of our workshop, and clearly they had made up their mind to follow my lead no matter what my decision was. Murong Mingyue asked me, ¡°What do you think, Lu Chen?¡± I mulled over the offer for a moment before answering, ¡°We can join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, but I don¡¯t want to disband Bloody Mercenaries. Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue and I will join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, while Du Thirteen will stay behind in Bloody Mercenaries and keep the guild together. Does that sound like a reliable plan to you?¡± ¡°It is!¡± He Yi nodded with a smile on her face. ¡°So, when are you guys planning to move over?¡± ¡°Move over?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right~~¡± He Yi said. ¡°I paid a ten-year rent up-front for that building and created a private IT company. If Bloody Mercenaries are moving to the company hostel, then Mingyue and I will be there as well.¡± Murong Mingyue smirked meaningfully at me. ¡°It¡¯s your chance to live together with beautiful women! Plus, Eve and I are planning to hire more pretty and professional female players in the near future¡­¡± Du Thirteen¡¯s eyes lit up like a pair of light bulbs. ¡°Lu Chen, this isn¡¯t the time to pretend to be a saint. Just accept the offer already¡­¡± I let out a cough before replying, ¡°Cool your jets, brother. From what I know, there is a serious lack of beautiful and professional female players in this landscape. Even if such players do exist, they¡¯re almost certainly lacking in looks, body shape or both.¡± Murong Mingyue immediately jumped to her feet and patted He Yi on the shoulder. ¡°Are you implying that Eve and I aren¡¯t beautiful?¡± I nodded. ¡°Of course not. But to call you two pros would be a travesty...¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± Murong Mingyue shot me a look before saying, ¡°Anyway, this shouldn¡¯t even be a choice, right? Just pack your things and I¡¯ll send someone to drive you all to the company tomorrow. The company has a private cafeteria, a private recreational area, and more. It¡¯s much better than what you have here at least¡­¡± I fell into deep thought again before I finally said what was really stopping me from accepting the offer right away. ¡°I know you mean well, but¡­ I¡¯m worried about the Ego workshop.¡± He Yi raised her eyebrows at this. ¡°The Ego workshop? Those people, hmph!¡± Murong Mingyue said, ¡°Even if we pretend Bloody Mercenaries didn¡¯t win first place in the ¡®Who Will Fight Me¡¯ tournament, you just wiped out Mad Dragon yesterday. If even you aren¡¯t qualified to join us, then who is? Don¡¯t worry, Eve and I will personally vouch for Bloody Mercenaries. Worse comes to worst, we¡¯ll kick the Ego workshop out of our doorstep!¡± He Yi nodded. ¡°Yes. We hired the Ego workshop to work for us, but that is the extent of our relationship. Unlike them, you¡¯re one of us¡­¡± The last of my worries solved, I finally nodded. ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll officially join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and head to your company hostel tomorrow. Boss, you and I should make a joint announcement tonight and declare that Bloody Mercenaries is a sub-guild of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls from now on!¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°Mn!¡± ¡­... He Yi wasn¡¯t willing to leave even after we had dinner, and it took everything Murong Mingyue had to change her mind. If our workshop literally didn¡¯t have a spare room to accommodate her¡ªwhich Murong Mingyue pointed out repeatedly until He Yi gave in¡ªI suspected that she would¡¯ve stayed the night here. When nighttime I arrived, I logged into the official forums and contacted He Yi. A while later, He Yi posted a thread with the title: ¡°The Return of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ Divine General!¡± It was a bombastic title. I clicked open the thread to find the passage: ¡°It has been a month or so since the start of Heavenblessed, but our Divine General, Falling Dust, has finally returned to us! Falling Dust had changed his ID to ¡®Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯, and he and his guild, Bloody Mercenaries, will be officially joining Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! I hereby promise on my name that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will fight and bleed to the last drop to defend the honor of our city borders and server!¡± I quickly pasted my own statement that I had prepared a while ago and claimed the first post before anyone else could: ¡°I¡¯ve decided to bring Bloody Mercenaries under the banner of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls after some consideration. Be it yesterday, today or tomorrow, we swear to always defend the honor of our guild! We will slay anyone who challenges it even if we have to travel a thousand miles to carry out our vengeance! Please support us for many years to come, and thank you everyone for reading this!¡± The thread lasted three minutes in obscurity before it was gilded and stickied! Countless players responded to it. 2nd comment: No wonder Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand fought all seventeen pros of Gods of Destruction alone back at Silver Moon Valley! It was all for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Holy shit, this is how a real man should act, people! It¡¯s just like From Water says, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand truly is their greatest Divine General! 3rd comment: Haha, it¡¯s getting spicy here in Floating Ice City. Now that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Bloody Mercenaries have merged as one, they¡¯re the equal of Snowy Cathaya and Gods of Destruction. Will there be a Three Kingdom drama taking place in Floating Ice City in the near future?¡± 4th comment: You¡¯re overthinking this, 3rd commenter. My Fruit Knife Goddess is invincible! 5th comment: I agree with the comment above. Wind Fantasy, I love you~~ ¡­... Whoever was monitoring the forums worked quickly and efficiently, because it only took a couple more minutes for He Yi¡¯s thread to be added to the headlines. The clicks were endless, and it wasn¡¯t long before the entire China server was talking about the merger between Bloody Mercenaries and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It was exactly what He Yi and I was hoping to see. Both our guilds were now famous throughout the China server, and that could only be a good thing. After that, Bloody Mercenaries formed a party and farmed wild bears hanging around at the edge of Frost Forest. The goal was to collect some high-level pelts for Yamete to craft some armors. However, we didn¡¯t burn the midnight oil because we were moving out of our apartment starting tomorrow. The drifters had returned home, and they now had a truckload of capital to play with. I was filled with hope for the future. We could hardly wait to achieve something big under the name of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! I logged off at exactly 11:30 pm and lay down on the bed. It was at this moment I received a phone call. Doo doo... I checked the number and noticed that it was He Yi. She had asked for my number right before she left. I accepted the call and greeted her, ¡°Good evening, boss~¡± He Yi let out a chuckle before asking, ¡°Have you packed your stuff yet, Lu Chen?¡± I shot the belongings lying next to my bed a glance before nodding. ¡°Yep. Everything¡¯s ready!¡± ¡°Good. Your rooms are 003¨C007. I¡¯m not going to go into details, you can see for yourself when you come here tomorrow. If there¡¯s anything you¡¯re dissatisfied with, talk to me and we¡¯ll work it out.¡± ¡°Got it. Speaking of which, who¡¯s staying in 001 and 002?¡± ¡°I and Mingyue. Is there a problem?¡± ¡°Not at all. Quite the contrary¡­¡± ¡°Hehe.¡± He Yi chuckled again. Suddenly, she let out a sigh before asking quietly, ¡°How¡­ how have you been during this time?¡± I recalled everything that had happened since that fated day. The virus, the pain. It was a recollection of things that I would rather forget. ¡°Not very good, to be honest¡­¡± I replied. He Yi fell quiet for a moment, giving me the impression that she wanted to say something but didn¡¯t know where to start. A while later, she finally said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± ¡°Come on, let¡¯s talk about something else. This is way too heavy for both of us right now¡­¡± I said with a smile. He Yi hummed in agreement before saying, ¡°Can you guess where I am right now?¡± I was surprised. ¡°Where are you?¡± ¡°Go to the balcony and look to the other side of the street~~¡± ¡°Ah?¡± I got up and walked to the balcony. I immediately spotted He Yi¡¯s sports car beneath a street lamp and the woman herself leaning against the car. She waved at me twice with her left hand while holding her phone with her right. I was speechless. ¡°It¡¯s almost midnight. Why aren¡¯t you back home yet?¡± ¡°Go back? I¡¯m on my own right now, and I don¡¯t feel like going back¡­¡± He Yi laughed. ¡°I booked a room at a nearby hotel, and I¡¯ll be staying there for the night. I¡¯ll guide you to the company myself in the morning. What do you think?¡± I asked, concerned, ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s safe? Where are you staying?¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m staying at Hanting Express. It¡¯s right next to the university¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Wait a second. Didn¡¯t Lin Yixin stay at a hotel next to the university as well? Chapter 163: IT Exper The next day, He Yi and Murong Mingyue were already waiting in their cars at the bottom floor of the apartment building before the sun had even risen yet. I suggested that we should dress ourselves formally, so all the guys wore black suits with ties. Gui Guzi¡¯s tie was too tight, so when he asked me a question he looked as red as a tomato. ¡°Boss, why the heck are we dressing up like we¡¯re going on an interview?¡± ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have dozens of professional players already, and since we¡¯re the ¡®standing army¡¯ it stands to reason that we look the part. You don¡¯t want them to think that you¡¯re part of the cleanup crew, do you?¡± Gui Guzi pointed at Beiming Xue. ¡°Even so, it doesn¡¯t make sense for Lil Beiming to dress up like a hostess¡­¡± I turned around and looked at Beiming Xue. The girl was wearing a one-piece dress that stopped short just above the knees and an office uniform that clung tightly to her chest and abdomen. They outlined her growing body perfectly, her round, shapely butt especially so. I kept calm and said, ¡°She looks more formal this way. Plus, doesn¡¯t it look great on her? Do you like them, Beiming?¡± Beiming Xue nodded. ¡°I do! But boss, the bra is seriously too small. It¡¯s a bit suffocating to be honest.¡± ¡°Endure it. I heard that a financial crisis is coming our way, so any cloth we can save will contribute to the construction of our country!¡± ¡°...¡± ¡­... He Yi was still driving her sports car, but Murong Mingyue had driven over a minivan. It was the perfect vehicle to tow our luggages, although it gave her the appearance of a worker of a moving company. Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, and Yamete were unscrupulous men, so their belongings weighed less than 5 kg, including gaming helmet, that alone weighed 2.5 kg. My luggage was a little more normal and weighed around 10 kg. But our luggage was nothing compared to Beiming Xue¡¯s... Hers weighed 100 kg in total. Down the stairs, Murong Mingyue¡¯s mouth fell open in astonishment as she loaded our belongings into the minivan. ¡°Beiming Xue, you have so much stuff~¡± ¡°Yes, sister Mingyue~~¡± ¡°What is this? An aeroplane chess? A nylon divine beast? Even a frying pan? Whoa, why are carrying these with you¡­¡± Murong Mingyue felt like vomiting blood just looking at the random assortment of items. Beiming Xue explained, ¡°The aeroplane chess is for brother Gui Guzi, it¡¯ll do wonders for his IQ. The divine beast Caonima is for brother Du Thirteen, and the frying pan is for boss so he can cook noodles during the night¡­¡± Murong Mingyue nearly fainted from the incredible explanation. Hoping to find someone with a more normal luggage, she picked up a small bag that belonged to Yamete and poured out its contents. It turned out that the bag was filled with erotic CDs; the complete works of Sora Aoi, Kaede Matsushima and more! I picked up a couple of CDs and nodded seriously. ¡°But he does work in the IT industry. He¡¯s a salesman of the IT industry to be exact¡­¡± ¡°You call selling pornographic CDs working in the IT industry?¡± ¡°Of course. By the way, you can buy 0.5 kg worth of porn for just 5 RMB. Would you like to round up that number and buy a kilogram off my hands?¡± Murong Mingyue looked absolutely livid. She was about to give me a piece of her mind when He Yi walked in on us and saw the CDs. At first she was surprised, but she quickly recovered and smiled at me. ¡°Is there anything here that you would like to recommend me, Lu Chen?¡± Yamete, Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen pretended to vomit blood in unison. After all the luggages were loaded into the minivan, Murong Mingyue took off with my subordinates. I was the only one who received the emperor¡¯s treatment and had my boss drive me to our new accommodation herself. As the car moved slowly toward our destination, I watched the bustling streets outside the window and smiled a little. ¡°Boss, do you still remember the first time I became your passenger?¡± He Yi nodded. ¡°Yeah, that was a close one. Thank goodness no lives were lost that day.¡± Her wording caught me off-guard. Did He Yi not know that I was dead at the time, and that I was alive now only because the virus had resurrected my cells? Well, that¡¯s fine too. I would prefer that she never learned about this. ¡°That car was totaled, wasn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yeah, it was¡­¡± He Yi said regretfully before pressing her lips together. ¡°Ten million RMB gone just like that. After that, I applied for a new car from the company and got this¡­¡± I shouted ¡°WTF!¡± inside my head before turning to look at her shoulder. ¡°How are your injuries? Do you want me to drive?¡± He Yi tilted her head to the side and smiled. ¡°Is that okay?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± ¡°Alright then.¡± He Yi parked the car beside the road before unfastened her seat belt. She got out of the car and walked to the front passenger seat while I climbed over to the driver¡¯s seat. The car hummed steadily and strongly as I drove it back on the road once more. I easily caught up with Murong Mingyue¡¯s minivan. ¡°Damn! What an amazing car. I¡¯ve got to buy one after I earn some cash¡­¡± He Yi giggled. ¡°You want it? I can give it to you as a gift~~¡± I side-eyed her and turned down the offer. ¡°No way, I don¡¯t want to be called a gigolo!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you look nothing like a gigolo at all¡­¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...Why am I not happy to hear that?¡± He Yi let out a snort before leaning into the passenger seat and sighing. ¡°It feels good to have someone to rely on¡­¡± ¡°Someone to rely on?¡± I asked in confusion. ¡°Mn.¡± He Yi nodded and stared at the sky outside the window. She started explaining, but it almost sounded like she was talking to herself. ¡°When everyone treats you with artificial affection, when everyone wants something from you, it¡¯s hard to pass a day without worrying about something. That feeling only gets worse when you realize that there isn¡¯t anyone around you that you can trust. It¡¯s such an exhausting way of life¡­¡± He Yi tilted her head again and smiled at me. ¡°Lu Chen, we were separated for a whole month before we saw each other again. It¡¯s been a bumpy ride, hasn¡¯t it?¡± I smiled back. ¡°A bumpy ride? More like a relentless storm.¡± He Yi snorted before straightening herself. ¡°The future of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is looking much brighter with Xu Yang, Mingyue and now you and your Bloody Mercenaries. Do you have any plans about developing our guild?¡± I thought for a moment before starting, ¡°Right now, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has two key advantages. One, my brain delay is gone, and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is among the best of the best in Floating Ice City. In fact, I¡¯m practically invincible in a one-on-one fight. What this means is that my account has become a symbol that everyone will think of when they think of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Two, Bloody Mercenaries currently have two irreplaceable generals, the Undead Knight Gui Guzi and the Dark Archer Beiming Xue. if we nurture them well, they will become the swords that carve out the future of our guild!¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah~¡± He Yi stared at me intently before smiling. ¡°You will always be my one and only Divine General though!¡± I felt like my cheeks were burning. In a sense, it was unbearable to receive praise straight to the face. ¡°Boss, if you praise me again I just might crash into something¡­¡± ¡°...¡± ¡­... He Yi pointed at an office building when we arrived at the edge of Suzhou New District Science & Technology Industrial Park. ¡°Here, our base is on the tenth floor of this building!¡± A bit of emotion welled inside of me. After so many years, I¡¯m finally a proud occupant of an office building! As we carried our luggages up the building, the security guard recognized He Yi and greeted her respectfully, ¡°President!¡± He Yi gave him a nod and dragged me by the sleeve. She was injured, so I didn¡¯t make her carry anything. Unfortunately, that meant that I was covered in items from head to toe, my lovely frying pan literally hanging in front of my chest like a mirror armor. The elevator door opened when we reached the tenth floor. We were immediately greeted by the sight of a powerful-looking man wearing a suit and a pair of sunglasses! Murong Mingyue walked right up to the man and let out a cold snort. ¡°Move your butt and carry the luggages, Xu Yang!¡± WTF? How is he Xu Yang? The guy I remembered was a northern lad with a big body and an even bigger heart. Since when was acting cool his thing? Before I could think anything else, Xu Yang walked up to me and gave me a big hug. He laughed heartily and said, ¡°You sure took your time, Lu Chen. Have you finally decided to come back to us?¡± He Yi and Murong Mingyue smiled softly at our reunion, but I was too busy being choked alive and turning red for all the wrong reasons to care. Behind me, Du Thirteen was being sandwiched by the elevator door repeatedly because I was standing at the entrance. ¡°Ah! Ah! Ah!¡± ¡­... ¡°Here, take this pan for me!¡± I threw the frying pan into Xu Yang¡¯s arms, and the big man gasped. ¡°Out of the fire and into the frying pan? Is this how you treat your friends?¡± Murong Mingyue scolded him, ¡°Enough. We can talk after we get them all settled in!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Our rooms were lined up nicely next to each other. There were 50 rooms facing toward the sun on this floor, and they had all been renovated into living spaces. Normally, 2 or 3 people were meant to stay in one room, but since everyone in my Bloody Mercenaries was a commander we all got a room to ourselves. It was a nice arrangement. I entered my room. With 40 square meters of space, it was bright, spacious and renovated pretty well. It almost looked like a hotel room. He Yi walked in and opened the curtains. She then turned around to smile at me. ¡°So? Do you like it?¡± I nodded repeatedly as a matter of course. ¡°Absolutely~¡± After I was done setting down my belongings and arranging everything, He Yi led me out of the room and pointed at the two empty rooms next to me. ¡°This is Mingyue¡¯s room, and this is my room. We haven¡¯t moved our stuff over yet, but everything should be done around late afternoon. We can eat dinner together later!¡± Emotions welled inside me as I watched He Yi. I felt like I was in a dream, to be honest. Right now, she looked so beautiful that it was almost unreal. ¡°Boss, you were always busy back then. How did you find the time to do all this?¡± I asked. He Yi looked away as if she was searching for a reason. A few seconds later, she answered, ¡°I¡¯ve been working for many, many years, and I felt like taking a moment to rest and spending the next few months playing games, that¡¯s all. Is that a good enough reason for you?¡± Surprised, I nodded. ¡°Well, of course¡­¡± Suddenly, Murong Mingyue walked up to us and complained, ¡°The people at the head company aren¡¯t going to like this, you know. You¡¯re no different from a freeloader right now!¡± He Yi puffed up her chest proudly. ¡°So what? They can fire me if they dare~~¡± Murong Mingyue¡¯s lips curled. ¡°You win¡­¡± And so, Bloody Mercenaries officially joined the base of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. He Yi acted as our guide and took us everywhere. Besides the living area, there was a buffet area, an outdoors and indoors activity area, and even a private bar. Surely the money would flow like a fountain if they just hired just a couple of pretty waitresses. We¡¯re all shut-in gamers, it¡¯s only natural to enjoy a couple of drinks and good music at a bar after a good day of grinding. ¡­... When we turned a corner, we suddenly saw a couple of familiar faces. Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen and I immediately turned serious. Chapter 164: First Clash ¡°It¡¯s you?!¡± Spring Mud¡¯s eyes turned cold before he turned toward He Yi with a frown. ¡°Boss, why have you brought back Bloody Mercenaries?¡± He Yi said calmly, ¡°We posted a thread in the forums about our merger last night. Didn¡¯t you see it?¡± ¡°We did not!¡± Spring Mud declared loudly before saying, ¡°Boss, I feel you didn¡¯t think this through properly¡­¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see a reason why Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls can¡¯t be independent and grow strong on our own, so why must we invite a hot potato like Bloody Mercenaries into our midst? Let¡¯s not forget that they¡¯ve made enemies out of Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction, and who knows how many more guilds in Floating Ice City. It just doesn¡¯t make sense to let them join us!¡± Spring Mud spoke as if agreeing with him was the only right way. ¡°Boss, please reconsider this decision!¡± But before anyone could say anything, Xu Yang raised his eyebrows and yelled at him angrily, ¡°Shut your pie hole! Lu Chen is one of the guild¡¯s four founding elders and a core member from the very beginning! How dare you talk such nonsense in front of us!¡± Angered, Spring Mud shouted right back, ¡°You have no right to say anything, Xu Yang! Not only are you trash in the game, you¡¯re a parasite who only knows how to feed and give nothing in return! If you weren¡¯t a founding elder you would¡¯ve been kicked out the guild a long time ago! Don¡¯t even try to lord over me just because you have seniority, I¡¯m sure the boss knows better than anyone who here has the real power to carry the guild to the top!¡± ¡°You¡¯re the one who should shut up, you dog!¡± I took a step forward and defended Xu Yang. ¡°Who the fuck do you think you are, Spring Mud? You think you have the right to slander Xu Yang? In case you didn¡¯t know, morals are the foremost quality we judge before we accept anyone into the guild! If I was in charge, I would¡¯ve kicked a piece of shit who slanders his own teammate like you out of our doorstep already!¡± Xu Yang shot me a grateful look before staring at Spring Mud angrily again. Behind Spring Mud, Moon Shadow said angrily through gritted teeth, ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? You standing up for Xu Yang? Why don¡¯t you look at yourself in the mirror again before deciding if you have any right to stand up for anyone?¡± Behind me, Gui Guzi finally lost his cool and let out a cold cackle. ¡°Excuse me? Bloody Mercenaries have defeated Mad Dragon, took down Gods of Destruction, destroyed Peach Garden in the Who Will Fight Me tournament, and no later than yesterday slaughtered thousand-man army of Mad Dragon in Greedy Wolf Forest under boss¡¯s leadership! We are the ones who wiped your asses after you left behind a shitty mess you couldn¡¯t clean up yourselves! And you think we don¡¯t have the right to stand up for Xu Yang?¡± Gui Guzi laughed loudly before pointing straight at Moon Shadow. ¡°I dare you to 1v1 me then, here or inside the game! The loser will shut the fuck up and obey the winner! So? What are you waiting for? Make your pick!¡± Gui Guzi¡¯s challenge caught Moon Shadow off-guard. For starters, Gui Guzi had both the psychological and physical advantage over Moon Shadow. He wasn¡¯t a tall guy, but he had well-trained muscles and he could hit a switch and turn into a ferocious wolf if the situation called for it. People like him were the kind of enemies you didn¡¯t want to make if at all possible. In game, the difference between Moon Shadow and Gui Guzi was even bigger. Moon Shadow was a warrior that dealt physical attacks, while Gui Guzi was a knight whose Defense and HP completely countered melee classes. There wasn¡¯t even a shred of chance Moon Shadow could defeat the legendary Undead Knight at all. ¡°Gulp¡­¡± In the end, Moon Shadow swallowed and stopped talking. ¡­... He Yi didn¡¯t say a thing throughout the verbal exchange. At the end of it, He Yi said calmly, ¡°Shut up and get back to leveling, all of you.¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am!¡± Gui Guzi nodded. Spring Mud, Moon Shadow and Night Sorrow also nodded reluctantly. ¡°We¡¯re leaving then!¡± When the crowd dispersed, a trace of disappointment flashed across He Yi¡¯s eyes before she smiled at me. ¡°Too bad the argument didn¡¯t escalate to boiling point¡­¡± I was surprised. ¡°What do you mean? What would you have done if it did reach boiling point?¡± ¡°I would¡¯ve gotten all the justification I need to kick them out of the guild, of course.¡± He Yi smiled one last time at me before going away to the reception desk. I sucked in a deep breath as I watched He Yi¡¯s back. I had predicted this before we came, but it seemed like the path ahead of Bloody Mercenaries was full of thorns. Our first step was to silence all dissenting forces within the guild peacefully, but that no longer seemed possible with the three heads of the Ego workshop. Their arrogance was so blinding that it was unlikely that we would ever be able to convince them to work with us and build Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls together. Heck, they don¡¯t even respect the strong, or they wouldn¡¯t have been foolish enough to provoke Gui Guzi. ¡­... Someone knocked on my door after I returned to my room. It was Murong Mingyue and Xu Yang. ¡°Hmph, I¡¯m so pissed!¡± Murong Mingyue sat down angrily on my bed. Xu Yang also took a seat on a nearby chair and said, ¡°Those three really are too proud for their own good. They¡¯re literally the living stereotype of arrogant bastards!¡± I gave him a smile as I leaned against the window. ¡°Xu Yang, you must¡¯ve suffered a lot while they were here, didn¡¯t you?¡± Xu Yang nodded. ¡°Yeah¡­ screw them!¡± I held up a tea cup and added, ¡°Do you know why they attacked you and only you before we came? Do you know why they didn¡¯t attack Mingyue, for example?¡± ¡°Wait, really? I thought¡­¡± Xu Yang looked a bit confused. Murong Mingyue chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s quite simple, really. Before today, you were the only man in the senior management of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. That¡¯s why Spring Mud tried everything he could to drive you away¡­¡± ¡°But why? Wait, is it because he sees me as a threat?¡± ¡°Heh. Of course not, not in the sense you think anyway¡­¡± Murong Mingyue glanced at me intently before saying, ¡°Did you know that Spring Mud placed a bouquet of roses on Eve¡¯s office table a couple of days ago? Surely you understand why he did it.¡± I frowned unconsciously. ¡°Spring Mud is interested in boss?¡± ¡°Yep!¡± Murong Mingyue giggled. ¡°Xu Yang is a guy, and he¡¯s very close to Eve. If Spring Mud wants to isolate Eve and win her heart, the first thing he must do is drive Xu Yang out of the picture. Unfortunately Xu Yang is an idiot, and he fell for even the smallest attempt at provocation. Not even Eve can do much about this.¡± ¡°Oh, I see¡­¡± I said, but I wasn¡¯t sure what to say about this. Again, Murong Mingyue shot me a meaningful glance before smiling. ¡°Say, do you think Spring Mud would target you now that you¡¯ve returned in style as ¡®Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯, leader of the fearsome Bloody Mercenaries?¡± Xu Yang looked shocked. ¡°Mingyue, are you implying that Spring Mud and those bastards would attack Lu Chen and Bloody Mercenaries now?¡± She laughed. ¡°Who knows? When jealousy strikes, nothing is impossible!¡± I spent a few seconds with my thoughts before asking, ¡°Sis, how many third-promotion players do we have right now?¡± ¡°Hmm, about fifty or so? What¡¯s wrong? What are you planning?¡± ¡°Make a table of their data¡ªcontact number, address, class, level etc¡ªand send it to us. Each one of us should then take 9 members each on a leveling trip tonight. Besides that, we should add them to our friend list and really socialize with them. Do you understand? If we can¡¯t hold onto 9 members each at the minimum, I¡¯m worried that we¡¯ll lose them in the future!¡± Murong Mingyue¡¯s mouth fell open. ¡°Lu Chen, are you thinking that¡­¡± I nodded and confirmed her suspicions. ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m worried that the Ego workshop might try to instigate our players to leave us. If they succeed, all your efforts will be for naught!¡± Murong Mingyue bit her lips and nodded strongly. ¡°You¡¯re right! It¡¯s about time we plan ahead and avoid the worst. But what if Xu Yang and I can¡¯t convince them to listen?¡± I smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi and I will be taking on 10 members ourselves. Bloody Mercenaries are the champion of the ¡°Who Will Fight Me¡± tournament. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be able to win their hearts over and hold onto 30 elite players at the minimum. Idol worship is incredibly common in games after all!¡± Murong Mingyue smiled sweetly at me. ¡°It feels so good to have you here~~¡± I smiled back. ¡°And I will never leave again.¡± Xu Yang glanced back and forth between the two of us before asking, ¡°Are you two confessing to each other?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you have something to do?¡± Murong Mingyue and I said in unison. Xu Yang: ¡°Fuck, fine, I¡¯ll go make some instant noodles, geez¡­¡± ¡­... After dinner, I set up my game equipment and went online! Swhoosh! I appeared inside an inn and brought up the guild page. Most of our players had already learned about the merger, and everyone looked pretty excited. ¡°Leader, I heard that Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and you are already leaving for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Is that true?¡± ¡°I heard that the leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is an incredible beauty. Please tell me that¡¯s true!¡± ¡°Leader, please come visit us whenever you can!¡± It was a situation that needed to be dealt with swiftly and decisively, or it might cause a lot of problems down the line. So, I cleared my throat and said, ¡°Brothers and sisters, we aren¡¯t departing to Ningguta to work as slave miners, so you don¡¯t have to worry about us. We¡¯re joining them to hold up the banner and provide them with our support, that¡¯s all. The three of us will always be members of Bloody Mercenaries, and again, there¡¯s nothing to worry about. While we¡¯re gone, please work together with the new leader, Amazing Expert, and grind that guild EXP. Let¡¯s increase our Guild Rank to 5 as soon as possible so we can finally recruit ten thousand people and take a piece of the world for ourselves!¡± My speech got a hearty laugh out of everyone. After that, I appointed Du Thirteen as the guild leader of Bloody Mercenaries and left the management of the guild to him and Mamate completely. This was a test of Du Thirteen¡¯s mettle. A man who relied on flowery words and a handsome face to worm his way through life forever would never be respected. Beep! I received a message from my beautiful leader, From Water. He Yi had gone online as well. ¡°Lu Chen, please lead Beiming Xue and Gui Guzi to the eastern square so I can add them, thank you~~¡± ¡°Got it!¡± I sent a message to Beiming Xue and Gui Guzi before running to the eastern gate¡¯s plaza myself. Soon, the strongest trio of Bloody Mercenaries appeared together and drew the gazes of countless admirers. ¡°Holy shit, do you see that? That¡¯s the team that won the ¡®Who Will Fight Me¡¯ tournament, the ¡®Invincible Black Army¡¯! The Undead Swordsman Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, the Undead Knight Gui Guzi, and the Dark Archer Beiming Xue! Damn, they¡¯re all so amazing!¡± Chapter 165: Reach The Top He Yi¡¯s appearance caused a small commotion as the players of Floating Ice City shot her admiring looks. Everyone said that the Fruit Knife Goddess, Wind Fantasy was the prettiest woman in Floating Ice City, but who would¡¯ve thought that the leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was every bit her equal? Whoosh whoosh¡­ A clear breeze blew up her milky-colored cape and her beautiful hair. He Yi was clad in silver armor, and the metal linings clinging tightly to her breasts only served to accentuate her already amazing curves. But that didn¡¯t matter. What really mattered was that He Yi was petrifying men wherever she looked. In a sense, the smile on her gentle face and the flowing light in her eyes were as deadly as a Medusa¡¯s gaze. ¡­... ¡°Am I beautiful?¡± He Yi stopped in front of me and lifted her cape a bit. She looked like a princess knight the way she was acting. I nodded. Gui Guzi nodded. Our leader was absolutely one of the deadliest players in existence if we judged by beauty alone. It was to the point where I suspected that the whole reason Candlelight Shadow went after us like a madman back in Spirit of Grief was because of He Yi, not me. He Yi licked her lips and smiled. ¡°Stop looking and join the guild already. I just cleared out three slots for you guys!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± I nodded and sent her a join request. At the same time, I asked her, ¡°Boss, the guild hasn¡¯t reached Rank 2 yet, has it?¡± ¡°No, but we¡¯re almost there. Let¡¯s work hard tonight and get it to Rank 2 before bedtime!¡± ¡°Okay, not a problem!¡± A while later, the three Dark Musketeers appeared in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and caused a massive wave of commotion of our own. ¡°Oh god, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand really is joining us? I can¡¯t believe I finally got to meet a CGL pro in person, the former Falling Dust himself no less. Ah, my world is falling apart¡­¡± ¡°Beiming Xue is here too? Wahahaha, that¡¯s awesome! Our archers will finally have a backbone we can rely on! Beiming Xue, I love you¡­¡± ¡°Gui Guzi is here as well! Brother Gui, you¡¯re my idol! There¡¯s no one who¡¯s tankier than you, my super tank! The way you keep your enemies at bay while they poke holes all over your body during the competition is the shit, man~~¡± ¡°Tsk tsk, now that the champions of ¡®Who Will Fight Me¡¯ have joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Floating Ice City is all but ours to take! Hell yeah!¡± ¡­... I had to say though, the three battles at Silver Moon Valley, Who Will Fight Me, and Greedy Wolf Forest had made Bloody Mercenaries bloody famous in Floating Ice City. In fact, we were now more famous than Mad Dragon and even Gods of Destruction, the so-called second best guild of the China server! Of course, it would be a lot easier to eliminate Gods of Destruction if I could persuade Lin Yixin and her Snowy Cathaya to help us. However, Beauty Lin was also a temperamental woman, so I wasn¡¯t sure who she would destroy if I carelessly dragged her into our war. She could easily decide to annihilate Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ asses if she felt like it one day. It wasn¡¯t even a small possibility, or at least that was what my subconsciousness kept telling me for some reason. That being said, the entire Floating Ice City would quake if the Fruit Knife Goddess decided to make a move, so I supposed it didn¡¯t really matter in the end. ¡­... He Yi looked incredibly pleased after accepting three fearsome generals into her guild in one go. Smiling brightly and beautifully, she asked, ¡°Say, you were planning to form a party and go on a leveling trip, right? Which party is yours? Can I join you?¡± I nodded. ¡°Of course. I¡¯ll reserve one slot for you and take just eight people!¡± ¡°Great!¡± According to the rules in Heavenblessed, a player before his third class promotion could form a 5-man party, a third-promotion player could form a 10-man party, a fourth-promotion player could form a 20-man party, and finally a fifth-promotion player could form an insane 100-man party! I messaged inside the guild chat. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go on an adventure and grind some levels. Anyone would like to join me? Flash your IDs if you want to join me.¡± A minute later, more than seventy players out of the ninety plus who were online were flashing their IDs. These people must have so much free time on their hands that their balls were hurting from inactivity. I picked some names and messaged again. ¡°Level 60 warrior Chaos Moon, Level 61 magic knight Alexander, Level 61 priest Moon Dew, Level 61 warrior Wolf Fang, Level 61 archer Shangri-La, Level 61 tactician A Broken Smile, Level 60 mage Singing to Wine, and Level 60 mage Moonlight Stone. Come to the eastern gate so I can add you to the party. Our leader, From Water, will be joining me as well. Let¡¯s go farm some EXP for the guild!¡± All the chosen players were expressing their excitement in the guild chat. Beauty Chaos Moon: ¡°Hoho, did the handsome guy just say my name? He did, didn¡¯t he?¡± Beauty Moonlight Stone: ¡°Just give me some time to kill one last mob and I¡¯ll show up right away. Heehee, take this! Ice Dragon Howl~~¡± Beauty Moon Dew: ¡°Anyone thirsting for some heals?¡± A Broken Smile: ¡°Haha, this is perfect! I just learned the Level 60 Tactician skill called Intimidate. It reduces the stats of all enemy targets by 5%! I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be very useful for grinding!¡± Shangri-La: ¡°Wow, there are so many beautiful girls in this party. I¡¯m sure tonight¡¯ll be a night of happiness¡­¡± ...... Rolling my eyes at the last comment, I said, ¡°Dating is not allowed during grinding. Anyone who breaks the law will be shot at by our firing squad for ten whole minutes!¡± The joke got a laugh out of everyone. While I was socializing with the grunts, Murong Mingyue, Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue also formed their own parties and made the atmosphere even livelier than it already was. It was the sign of a good guild environment. He Yi walked up to me and said, ¡°It looks like your reputation as a CGL Hall of Famer and a top player is doing wonders so far, Lu Chen. It¡¯s so good to have you back. Before your return, I wasn¡¯t sure the guild had the power to take on a super guild like Gods of Destruction, but now? Hehe, it¡¯s only a matter of time~~¡± I smiled back and nodded. ¡°Yeah, Gods of Destruction are so-so at best. If their numbers weren¡¯t so ridiculous, I could¡¯ve beaten them solo¡­¡± ¡°Is that a boast?¡± I curled my lips and replied, ¡°Sure, why not? The words boasting and bragging are actually synonymous with absolute confidence, you know?¡± ¡°Now you¡¯re just spinning it to make yourself look good~~¡± ¡°Hehe, come on, it¡¯s time to add our members into our party!¡± "Mn!¡± He Yi and I walked side by side. When I put a hand on my sword, I felt like a super bodyguard for some reason. I was He Yi¡¯s Divine General as she said, and I adored the nickname because it was the goal I had been working toward since a long time ago. The fact that my efforts were recognized made me happier than I would admit openly. A breeze hit us when we arrived on the stone bridge at the eastern gates, and my Bloody Purgatory Cloak fluttered slightly in the wind. He Yi watched me as she asked with a smile, ¡°What is your plan to do after this, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Surprised by her question, I replied without hesitation, ¡°To keep you company, of course~¡± ¡°Oh? To do what, exactly?¡± ¡°To conquer all our enemies and reach the top of the world, of course!¡± I declared forcefully and raised my sword like a knight swearing fealty to his princess. He Yi giggled before nodding at me. ¡°Very good. Then let us begin our conquest right here at Floating Ice City!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± I thought for a moment before saying, ¡°The power structure in Floating Ice City is still a bit unclear at the moment, but I think we can consider Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon as our direct competitors, and Peach Garden the knife in the darkness we need to watch out for. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll rise to the surface very soon, and if I¡¯m not mistaken they¡¯re even scarier than Gods of Destruction was!¡± ¡°Mn. And what about our allies?¡± He Yi blinked once, knowing or unknowingly left me speechless for a moment. It took a while of thinking before I finally said, ¡°For now, we have no allies. Maybe Snowy Cathaya¡­?¡± ¡°Got it. If we can make an ally out of Snowy Cathaya, we¡¯ll be able to truly establish ourselves as a powerhouse in Floating Ice City. If we don¡¯t, Gods of Destruction may just destroy us and devour the whole city in one go!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± I looked at the land across the bridge and smiled. ¡°We may be hanging around in Floating Ice City for another month or so before the super cities open. Speaking of which, which city do you think we should join: Sky City, Wind City or Vanished God City?¡± He Yi said, ¡°I¡¯m fine with whatever. You can decide!¡± ¡°In that case, let¡¯s wait until we get more info~¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­... It didn¡¯t take long before eight people with a beautiful ancient sword around their shoulder area showed up. They were the elite players we had been waiting for! Chaos Moon was a high-level warrior with great looks and great equipment. Her skill was yet to be determined. Moon Dew was a high-level priest with great looks and great equipment. Her skill was yet to be determined. Moonlight Stone was a high-level mage with average looks and average equipment. Her skill was yet to be determined. A Broken Smile was a high-level tactician, possibly the best tactician the guild had right now.Unfortunately, he still wasn¡¯t good enough to be of use. A tactician was best deployed during group fights, especially during the latter stage of the game where a fifth-promotion tactician could apply their buffs to a hundred players. It didn¡¯t take much to imagine how much destruction a tactician could cause just by buffing his allies with Encourage and increasing their Attack. As for the rest, they were walk-ons that didn¡¯t deserve a close examination. In reality, our party only really needed priests, mages and archers. As for melee fighters, He Yi and I alone were enough to handle anything! He Yi¡¯s level wasn¡¯t very high. She was Level 55 and she hadn¡¯t reached her third class promotion yet. Still, I could see that she had been grinding very seriously as of late. After our ten-man party was formed, it was time to depart! Our party composition was scientific, or in other words, acceptable: 5 melee fighters, 2 mages, 1 priest, 1 archer and 1 tactician. This party had someone who could use Encourage and Intimidate, tanks, long-ranged attackers and Ice Dragon Howl spammers. Unless we ran into a super boss or something, there was practically no middle-level grinding zone we couldn¡¯t handle Chaos Moon asked me a question, ¡°So, where are we going, brother Broken Halberd?¡± The muscles in my face twitched for a second. She must be a natural socializer; not many people would address the other person as their ¡°brother¡± during their first meeting. I opened the world map and mulled over the available choices for a moment. A while later, I said, ¡°How about we head to Silverscale Coast?¡± Chapter 166: Running Into Flower Room Again Chaos Moon¡¯s mouth fell open in shock. ¡°I heard that Silverscale Coast was a forbidden zone where the mobs are densely packed and inhuman, the kind that bites your dick the moment it gets in range. Are we absolutely sure we¡¯re heading there?¡± I nearly coughed blood when I heard her comment. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of. I was grinding there even before I did my third class promotion, and now we¡¯re nearly a whole party of third-promotion players. Come on!" ¡°Okay!¡± Chaos Moon nodded. I turned around, and suddenly I noticed that He Yi was staring at me sadly. ¡°You¡¯re looking down on me because I haven¡¯t gotten my third promotion yet, aren¡¯t you¡­¡± ¡°Absolutely not. I simply remind myself not to be like you when I see you, that¡¯s all¡­¡± ¡°...¡± A good laugh later, I assigned our tactician, A Broken Smile as our new party leader. Only the party leader could use their stratagems, and while A Broken Smile¡¯s Intimidate could only reduce his targets¡¯ stats by 5%, it was better than nothing at all. I looked at my own Deterrence: reduce the stats of all nearby undeads by 25%. Now this was a skill. Compared to this, the Tactician¡¯s Level 60 signature skill was practically trash, muahahahaha~ I enjoyed myself for a bit before heading out of the city with He Yi. ¡­... A short while later, we arrived at a sea shore. A cool breeze brushed against our faces, and the waves broke against the shores. Crystal Crabs were crawling all over the place. I pointed at the mobs and said, ¡°Why don¡¯t we kill some Crystal Crabs?¡± Beauty Chaos Moon curled her lips and complained, ¡°That¡¯s so boring, it¡¯s not like we can eat them for dinner. Why don¡¯t we go to Greedy Wolf Forest and kill some Greedy Wolves? The Greedy Wolf Cards they drop are pretty cool to use~~¡± I said, ¡°The crabs drop pretty good loot too. The last time I was here, I got a Charge skill book!¡± ¡°Oh really? Let¡¯s go kill some crabs then!¡± Beauty Chaos Moon changed her mind immediately. Charge was the trump card of every melee fighter, and the skill wasn¡¯t readily available to everyone during the initial stages of the game. Therefore, anyone who found a Charge skill book could become a super pro immediately! Suddenly, I noticed that He Yi was looking like she wanted to say something. So I asked, ¡°What¡¯s the matter, boss?¡± He Yi stared at me her her big, bright eyes and asked, ¡°What is Charge?¡± ¡°Puu¡­¡± All nine of us threw up blood in unison! But this was the He Yi I know. It didn¡¯t take me long before I recovered my senses. ¡°Well, Charge is¡­¡± I tried to come up with a proper explanation. ¡°Charge is a skill where you tackle the enemy, and they go crazy. Get it?¡± ¡°...¡± For some reason, the girls looked like they were going to go crazy first. Anyway, we finally started killing crabs after that brief but comedic interaction. Swinging his battle axe and charging a Crystal Crab like a madman, Alexander the Magic Knight shouted, ¡°Do you dare accept a duel to the death, traitor?¡± The Crystal Crab immediately launched a Rank 6 Flurry to his face, deleting most of his HP in the blink of an eye. 589! 642! 593! 621! Alexander was so shocked that he actually forgot to move out of the way. I immediately charged the crab so that Beauty Moonlight Stone could heal our unfortunate magic knight back to full health. At the same time, I raised the Ghost Ice Soul and unleashed my signature combo, Pardon plus Desperate Gambit! MISS! 3254! The Dark Wasp also contributed a Flurry of its own. One more basic attack later, the crab was annihilated from existence! Pop! Ooh, lucky. I grabbed the magic stone and tossed it into Alexander¡¯s hands. Beauty Chaos Moon¡¯s mouth fell open again in astonishment. ¡°OMG, this contrast is ridiculous. Alexander, what the hell are the stats of your shield? Just look at Mr. Handsome over there, the crab nearly one-shot you, while he one-shot the crab¡­¡± Alexander scratched his head in shame. ¡°Bah, it was just a mistake in execution. The sand was slippery here, you see¡­¡± ¡°The sand. Slippery. Yeah, right¡­¡± Beauty Chaos Moon was speechless, and so was everyone else. I suggested, ¡°Anyway, why don¡¯t we add each other as friends and farm some guild EXP together when we¡¯re free? The sooner Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls reach Rank 5, the sooner you¡¯re conferred as the founding figures of our guild!¡± Everyone laughed and did exactly as I said. He Yi also shot me an approving look from the side. I had always preferred my guild to be united and would take measures to ensure that that was the case, but I was even more motivated than usual after Spring Mud, Moon Shadow and Night Sorrow showed clear hostility toward Bloody Mercenaries. We had already made our comeback, so we might as well make sure that the possibility of mass desertion died long before it could ever be conceived. After that, I demonstrated to everyone how to kill a Crystal Crab perfectly. The first step was to bait the enemy into using their Flurry and dodging it perfectly. Although it took a bit of skill to execute, it was absolutely within the limits of a normal person. All they needed was a bit of practice. In fact, it was possible to reduce the window of error to less than 0.2 seconds. He Yi glanced at me and asked, ¡°How are you forcing the mob to miss its attack, Lu Chen?¡± Everyone else was shooting me inquisitive and admiring looks as well. Clearly, they didn¡¯t know that it was possible until today, and they all wanted to hear me talk about my experience. It was because I was a former CGL Hall of Famer, and all CGL Hall of Famers were considered legends in China¡¯s VRMMO history. People respected us no matter where we went! I cleared my throat and started with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s very simple. First, you need to judge the distance between you and the crab. The crab is aggroed the moment you get within 5 yards of it. Our movement speed is about the same as the crab¡¯s, so you need to back off the moment this distance reduces to 2 yards. This way, you¡¯ll never enter within 1 yard of the crab, which is the distance where a melee attack is used. With proper prediction, it doesn¡¯t take any effort to dodge its Flurry!¡± The three melee fighters in our party, Beauty Chaos Moon, Alexander and Wolf Fang all stared wide-eyed at me, looking like they learned a lot from my teachings. Now that they knew the theory, it was time to get practical. Unfortunately, the results were mostly horrible. Beauty Chaos Moon was the only one who barely managed to translate my teaching into results, although she still got hit 3 to 4 times out of 5 due to lack of practice. Compared to me, she had a long way to go. It was because the time taken for the crab to unleash Flurry was a bit long, meaning that I could dodge it 100% of the time! It was at this moment Beauty Chaos Moon looked at He Yi and smiled. ¡°Guild leader, do you want to give it a try?¡± He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open. ¡°Ah? Me?¡± ¡°Yep. You and Lu Chen are very close, right? Surely you know the technique as well?¡± He Yi grew excited. ¡°You¡¯re right. I¡¯ll give it a try then!¡± I, on the other hand, was incredibly worried. I hurriedly pushed a Rank 5 Health Potion into He Yi¡¯s hands and instructed her. ¡°Be ready to drink it at any moment¡­¡± He Yi nodded and began moving. Our beautiful leader dashed forward resolutely and merged into the beautiful scenery behind her! The next second, she ate four hits and ran back with tears in her eyes. Thank goodness she drank the HP pot I had given her without hesitation, or she would be dead already! ¡°Lu Chen, why did the crab pinch me even though I haven¡¯t attacked it yet?¡± He Yi asked while staring at her leg. As she said, there was now a pincer mark on normally flawless skin. What could I say? At her current level of skill and knowledge, it was simply asking too much of her. All I could do for her right now was one-shot the crab and take revenge for her... ¡­... Everyone had a good time killing crabs except maybe me, because He Yi insisted that I taught her how to dodge its Flurry until she succeeded. I had a feeling I was going to drop dead from exhaustion before our crew cleaned up the entire seashore. I stuck the Ghost Ice Soul into the wet sand and panted like a dog, but I had to admit that it was the happy kind of exhaustion. Her back leaning against my side, He Yi stared at Beauty Chaos Moon and the others and smiled. ¡°Wow, it¡¯s so nice to get EXP without having to do anything¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile at her remark. ¡°Does it really feel that good?¡± He Yi nodded seriously. ¡°Of course! My life¡¯s goal is to enjoy life and do nothing like a rice weevil for as long as I live!¡± I sighed. ¡°Damn, that is an amazing goal to have¡­¡± ¡°Right~¡± He Yi smiled at me. ... Suddenly, a group of twenty flamboyant-looking players or so appeared at the distance. A magic knight stepped out of them and shouted from the edge of Silverscale Coast. ¡°Flower Room will be leveling here for a while. All unrelated players must leave this place immediately!¡± Anger burned inside my heart when I heard that. This had to be one of the most abhorrent things to happen in MMO history. There was nothing more solo players including myself hated more than a bunch of fuckers showing up and using their number advantage to lay waste to a leveling zone, leaving nothing behind for everyone. Splash! But He Yi rose to her feet even faster than I did and walked straight toward the group with her sword in hand. Courtesy of the sea breeze, my heart raced a little every time her white legs peeked out from behind her cape. He Yi raised her sword and declared quietly, ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is using this area. You will not disturb our peace.¡± Beauty Chaos Moon and the rest of our party members arrived in the nick of time. We were a ten-man party, and nine of us were third-promotion players. I couldn¡¯t find any reason to be afraid of them. Another man walked out of the party of twenty, and it was none other than the so-called Young Master Le, Li Le. The leader of Flower Room wore a frivolous smile on his face as he watched He Yi from head to toe. Then, he clicked his tongue pervertedly. ¡°Tsk tsk, it looks like the rumors are true after all. The leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls really is some top-tier shit. I wonder how you¡¯ll taste in my mouth¡­¡± Behind Li Le, the mage called Life Of Luxury cackled loudly. The dude was Level 60 already, and if I wasn¡¯t mistaken he had already picked up Ice Dragon Howl. Life Of Luxury raised his magic staff and shouted, ¡°Leave now if you know what¡¯s good for you. Otherwise, we don¡¯t mind kidnapping your leader and making her our trophy, hahaha!¡± Everyone in Flower Room started laughing as well. Well, I should¡¯ve expected this. Birds of a feather tended to flock together. It was at this moment I walked out from behind my party members and stopped next to He Yi. I pulled out the Ghost Ice Soul and stared at them disdainfully. ¡°I dare you to repeat what you said again.¡± ¡­... ¡°Ah?!¡± Chapter 167: Destruction I¡¯d never thought the first battle after returning to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would come so quickly! I couldn''t suppress my excitement, especially when facing a person like Li Le. He would be even more pleasing to kill. Also, this would increase morale and strengthen the bonds between the core players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. The people of Flower Room were slightly flabbergasted. No one had noticed me in the party and thought they could act domineering. Now that they mounted a tiger, there was no way to get off. In the next moment, Li Le''s eyebrows rose. He said, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, we once worked together. What do you mean by this?" I put my hand on the sword hilt and said in a low voice, "Repeat what you just said. You are going to steal the leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to be the mistress of your fort?" Li Le''s expression was grave as he said coldly, "Don¡¯t act so overbearing!" "So what if I am?" I raised a hand, and summoned the Dark Wasp. Then I pointed forward with my sword and shouted, "Brothers of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, kill. Show these bastards the true meaning of power!" I recklessly charged ahead. I had confidence I could last through several rounds of their attacks. My Ghost Deity Armor was not a decoration! Whoosh! The Charge skill locked onto Life of Luxury and instantly stunned him. My sword moved and a basic attack sliced across Life of Luxury''s neck! 1104! Mages were too weak! Accompanied by a scream, Life of Luxury''s eyes went wide and he died. He couldn¡¯t even survive a single one of my attacks! Also, his intelligence was too lacking. He was so frugal with his MP that he didn¡¯t even put up a Magic Shield after the battle started. He wouldn¡¯t have died so quickly otherwise. After the third-promotion mage was dead, there were no major threats on the other side! Li Le was furious. "Kill him, archers, Volley! Mages, Fireballs!" Seven or so melee fighters flooded over, including Li Le. I laughed softly, pivoting to my right and running in a straight line. I cleverly moved to the side of the other''s camp and suddenly accelerated. I then reached the mages and the archers. My sword exploded with light! Thousand Mirage Slash! Clang... Among the crisp sound, the Ghost Ice Soul turned into six blinding sword energies that dove into the crowd. There was an earth-shaking roar and six large gullies were created in the ground. Sand and earth flew everywhere. Nine archers and mages fell to the ground, with different damage numbers flying up¡ª 1245! 1103! 997! 1342! They were almost all instant kills. Flower Room didn¡¯t have many people that had reached third promotion, and couldn¡¯t endure a single blow under Ghost Ice Soul! "Fuck!" At this time, Chaos Moon lunged with a horizontal slash of her own. Blaze! Boom! Li Le was thrown back. Before he could react, he was struck with another Devil Piercing Arrow and his HP fell below half! A beautiful figure arrived. He Yi held a sharp sword and said with a smile, "Leave this cripple to me!" Her sword rose. Before Li Le could react, He Yi''s powerful Blaze fell directly on his head. Flames charged into the sky accompanied by a scream. Li Le fell beneath He Yi''s Blaze, turning into a cold corpse waiting for revival. Tsk tsk, while He Yi''s mechanics and battle sense were so bad it bordered madness, her attack power was quite good. She was the leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and her equipment was either entirely composed of Dark Steel and Silver¨Cgrade items. Her overall strength was still above average. The only shortcoming was that He Yi''s level was low. After third promotion, her combat prowess would be pretty good. Behind me, there was the roar of the dragons. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' mages were continuously using Ice Dragon Howls to defeat their enemies while I acted as the MT on the side. Ghost Deity Armor hummed under the arrows and the blades but no attack was of much threat. My 502 Defense was so strong that the enemy warrior¡¯s Blaze could only deal 200 damage. This kind of Defense was enough to be a torture for these people. As a result, after losing the initiative and without the advantage of top players and the halo of the CGL Hall of Famer, Flower Room was defeated in three minutes. More than twenty people were killed, all of their corpses littering the ground. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls suffered no casualties. The greatest loss was that my HP was below 50%, and He Yi''s HP 45%. After drinking a health potion and getting heals from a priest, we would be basically fine. He Yi held her sword as her gaze moved around the corpses. She asked with a smile, "Lu Chen, are we going to camp them?" I thought and said, "Forget it. Let''s move toward the shore on the left and go grind. I¡¯m worried about them mass-reviving in a moment of distraction and ambushing us. We will lose the initiative, and while we would win anyway, we may suffer some losses. We wouldn¡¯t want that.¡± He Yi nodded. "Yes, then we will strategically move?" Beauty Chaos Moon said with a smile, "In support of leader and Brother Broken Halberd''s decision, we will move slightly. That way, if this group decides to come, we will know and just wipe them!" I gazed at He Yi and said, "Boss, your name is red. Let''s go, we need to at least wash your name...¡± "Yes.¡± He Yi bent down to pick up a pair of metal wristguards from Li Le''s corpse. She said with a smile, "Not bad, Dark Steel¨Cgrade. Who needs this?" The warrior Wolf Fang scratched his head and said, "Boss, mine are just Iron-grade right now...¡± "Damn...¡± I sucked in a breath. So strong. He used Iron-grade equipment all the way to Level 60. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was full of talents! However, this was not a rare thing. After all, I also reached my third promotion with some shitty items. I could also be considered a talent~ He Yi smiled as she threw the wristguards to Wolf Fang and said, "There¡¯s a staff there. Can someone go take it and see what grade it is?" The priest Moon Dew walked forward, picked it up and smiled, "A Level 48 Dark Steel¨Cgrade. Boosts magic attacks by 2% and adds 50 points to healing.¡± He Yi nodded. "Mn, then it¡¯s yours. You¡¯re our only priest.¡± "Okay!" Very good. Flower Room''s visit allowed some of our members to grow in strength. As expected of a proletariat team. We had no guns or cannons, so the enemies brought them to us. ¡­¡­ Our entire team moved about 500 meters away and then continued to level up on the beach, killing Crystal Crabs and Spearfishes. I made sure to forage Fish Meat. Once we returned I would make Rank 6 Steamed Fish Soup and make some extra money at the side! On the side, taking advantage of a second of breather, I looked at He Yi standing on a small dune, her hand resting on her blade as she directed the battle in a beautiful and authoritative manner. "Magic knights, don¡¯t just stand around. Charge! Mages, heal. Oh, no, wanderers heal! Wait that¡¯s not right.You there, just heal! If the team wipes it¡¯ll be your fault!" Everyone continued to fight after throwing up blood! The warrior Wolf Fang said, "Dear Boss, we should have the magic knights tanking, mages in the back and priests healing. You can¡¯t just randomly give orders...¡± He Yi glared. "Are you doubting my command abilities?" Wolf Fang shook. "We all listen to you! Boss is wise!" The magic knight Alexander laughed mercilessly, pointing at Wolf Fang and saying, "Boy, you are too cowardly. You are so afraid of women. Boss is a woman in the end, have some manly backbone! Hahaha...¡± Whoosh! Silver light flashed by. With a bang, a silver shield slammed into Alexander''s face and slowly slid off. Alexander''s face was flattened, and his nose was bleeding. The shield, yes, seemed to be He Yi''s. "What, you also want to taste the power of the Holy Shield?" He Yi said with a smile. Alexander was full of regret and asked for mercy on one knee. "Boss, I was wrong, I will listen to you!" I gaped on seeing this and murmured, "Ah, is this one of those Empress Simulators?" He Yi glanced at me and I immediately shut my trap. I gathered Fish Meat and sprinted toward another pile of dead Spearfishes. Chaos Moon poked out her tongue at me as she swung her sword. "Whoa, boss is vicious. Lu Chen, was she like this back in Spirit of Grief?" I nodded and smiled. "Get used to it. Boss is the classic example of ¡®goddess tongue and sharp heart¡¯. Wait, no, ¡®sharp tongue and goddess heart¡¯...¡± Clearly, He Yi was a very strong woman. She would never change what she thought. The only time she had changed was when I told her that Treasure Hunter had not been made well. Then she gathered the capital to invite Teacher Bi to film "Treasure Hunter 2" and received the best picture award at the Golden Rooster Film Festival. In the IT world, He Yi was a legend, an beautiful and moving legend. At a young age, she used her talents to squeeze into the higher levels of GGS, and became the vice president of the Asia region. Under her command, their GNS software usage in India, Japan, China and other countries surpassed Microsoft. This was why He Yi had such power in GGS. When I thought of this, I looked back and found He Yi had come to my side and was bending down to see me gather Fish Meat. She asked with a smile, "Lu Chen, is this the Foraging skill?" "Yes!" He Yi pouted. "Pity that my MP is so low. Otherwise, I¡¯d have needed you to supply me with food...¡± "No problem~" "Right, I¡¯m two rooms away from you. Are you going for a night snack? My skill at boiling frozen dumplings is the best in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" I shuddered. "Alright, honestly, my skill at making instant noodles is the best in Blood Mercenaries...¡± Chapter 168: Betrayal About three in the morning, the system notified with a ding: Congratulations, your guild has successfully reached Rank 2! ¡­¡­ Okay, we finally managed to reach Rank 2 after grinding for an entire night. The player limit was increased to 1000 members, and we could finally recruit on a large scale! He Yi had a pleased expression and said with a smile, "Alright, the guild has enough experience. Prepare to go offline and rest. We will recruit in Floating Ice City tomorrow and first fill all 1000 spots!" "Yes!" I nodded and took out a city return scroll. After returning to Floating Ice City, I went to the inn to go offline. He Yi sent over a message: "Should I go to your room or will you come to mine?" I thought and responded, "I will go to yours.¡± "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I took off my helmet after going offline and walked out of the room. The hallways were quiet at night. I was slightly afraid. If someone saw me sneaking into our beautiful boss¡¯s room at night, what would they think? Knock knock... I lightly knocked on the door. He Yi quickly opened and a beautiful face appeared in front of me with a smile. "Come in." "Mn.¡± After just half a day, He Yi''s room had become unusually clean. It looked like a room from a high-end hotel, but the bed was slightly messy with piles of clothes atop. It appeared she hadn''t had the time to put them away. He Yi opened the fridge and took out frozen dumplings. Fuck, she really called me over to eat dumplings! I sat anxiously on the sofa by the window and looked at He Yi''s back. I felt extremely emotional. Was this beautiful woman the person I missed this past month or so? I had to say that He Yi was an exceptional woman. Just a simple shirt and a tight skirt made her so alluring. Her hair poured down from her shoulders, her neck was long and white, and the skin above her collar was white. Her twin peaks seemed like they would burst from her shirt and her short skirt wrapped around a beautiful body with voluptuous curves. I couldn''t help but turn my gaze away. If I didn¡¯t, I¡¯m afraid my breathing would turn erratic. ¡­¡­ "Hey...¡± Suddenly, there was noise next to me as He Yi sat down and said with a smile, "What¡¯s up, not feeling good?" "I¡¯m okay.¡± I turned to look at He Yi. My heart beat rapidly. This feeling was strange, and oddly similar to when I was together with Lin Yixin. He Yi looked at me, her beautiful eyes hiding complex emotions. Her eyes became misty. He Yi looked at me, tears slipping down her face, her eyes full of grief and resentment. I panicked. "Boss, you...¡± Quietly, I said, "Sorry...¡± He Yi suddenly stood up, still full of resentment. "Du Thirteen knew you were alive, Mingyue knew you were alive. They all knew you were alive, only I was kept in the dark. You colluded together to lie to me! Was it... fun?" I stood up and kept apologizing. "Boss, we didn''t do it on purpose. Sorry...¡± He Yi bit her lips and sat down in the corner. She hugged her legs and buried her face in her arms as she sobbed. My feelings could only be called complex. While I had hoped to protect her and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, the things I¡¯d done hard harmed both her and myself. Walking next to He Yi, I slowly bent down, and opened my arms to hug her shoulders. I whispered, "It''s all in the past. No one will work together to deceive you from now on. Boss, don''t cry, alright?" He Yi continued to cry, as awfully as she had in the bar that night, as though she wanted to vent all her emotions. ¡­¡­ After a long while, I sniffed. "Boss, your dumplings seem to be cooked...¡± He Yi turned away and slowly stood up. She wiped her tears and said softly, "Right, you wait here.¡± After a while, the dumplings were brought over and I was stunned. "These are... rice balls?" I carefully asked. He Yi put her hands on her hips. "Dumplings!" "But they look round...¡± "They are just round!" "I''ve never seen frozen dumplings like these...¡± "That is because you are ignorant~" He Yi glared at me with her beautiful eyes. "Taste it, I worked so hard for an entire night to make them...¡± "You made them?" I glared at her and said with a smile, "I thought you only knew how to make a public class...¡± He Yi glared at me, her eyes murderous. "If you don''t eat, I will immediately make you finalize!¡± I shuddered. "I¡¯ll eat, I¡¯ll listen to boss!" I took a bite and confirmed these were indeed dumplings with celery and beef stuffing. They were delicious and I ate a few more. He Yi stood next to me with a smile. At some time, she silently bent down, her hands on my knees and extremely intimate to me. At this time, the door suddenly opened¡ª Crash! Murong Mingyue appeared at the door, and stilled upon seeing the scene. But she walked in and said, "Heavens, you two still have the leisure to eat a night snack here?" He Yi''s smile faded and she asked, "Mingyue, what is it?" Murong Mingyue had a panicked expression and said, "Stop talking, get online immediately, they¡¯re fighting!" "Fighting?" He Yi was bewildered. "Who is fighting who?" "Spring Mud, Moon Shadow, and Night Sorrow have gathered about twenty people in the guild and are fighting with Xu Yang and the others at the clearing outside Floating Ice City''s eastern gates. For some reason, everyone involved is from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, it is a mess!" "What?!" He Yi suddenly stood up, her face distorted with anger. "How dare they! Go online, immediately. Lu Chen, you too, we need you!" "Yes!" I quickly put down the bowl and chopsticks and sprinted back to my room to go online! Swhoosh! After appearing in the inn, I charged toward the eastern gate without a word. At the same time, I accepted He Yi''s party invite and found Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue, and Gui Guzi already in the party. With me, the five of us were most likely the strongest five-person team our guild could muster. I knew that the powerful return of Bloody Mercenaries would cause internal conflict, but I hadn''t expected Spring Mud and the others to lose their composure so quickly and burn their ties now. As quick as it may be, their motivations could be imagined. Spring Mud, Moon Shadow and Night Sorrow had originally planned to be the main support for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. At least, they would be the core force for the guild. But due to the return of Bloody Mercenaries, their status in the guild was challenged, and they finally exploded. Their melee fighters, Spring Mud and Moon Shadow, were much weaker than me and Gui Guzi. Their archer, Night Sorrow, could not compare to Beiming Xue at all. The sudden return of Bloody Mercenaries violently crushed their dreams. If the situation was allowed to continue, they would join the ranks of cannon fodder, instead of generals! On the bridge by the eastern gate, we met up. "Boss, you and Sister Mingyue in the rear, Gui Guzi and I will be at the front. Beiming Xue, pay attention to suppressing attacks. Do not attack first!" "Alright!" Our group charged out of the gates. In the distance, there was a group of people at the border of Frost Forest, all of them with the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls emblem! He Yi followed me closely with her sword, her beautiful eyes filled with fury. She said coolly, "Lu Chen, I am promoting you to Vice Leader, you make all the decisions!" "Alright!" The next moment, there was a ding¡ª System Notice: You have been promoted to Vice Leader! The emblem on my shoulder changed along with my rank. It was much more majestic than an ordinary member¡¯s! ¡­¡­ At the clearing, Spring Mud, Moon Shadow, and Night Sorrow were leading a group of people and attacking another group of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls members. The other group was led by Xu Yang, who had about 20 members behind him, all of them with low HP. Clearly, in terms of strength, Xu Yang could not compare to the three heads of the Ego workshop. "Haha, Xu Yang, just admit defeat, why struggle?" Spring Mud looked at Xu Yang with great disdain. "You cannot even be considered an average player. You want to grow Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Forget about it. I think that you should follow us and build a new guild. Then, maybe I will be in a good mood and reward you to be a leader of some small team, hahaha!" "Pah!" Xu Yang''s eyes were furious as he shouted, "You dog! You forgot how disheveled you were the day you came to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Now you pull members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to backstab us. I spit on you! I¡¯ve seen shameless people, but I¡¯ve never seen someone as low as you!" Spring Mud''s turned cold. "You idiot, die!" As he spoke, Spring Mud''s sword slowly produced threads of flame. This was his most accomplished skill¡ªBlazing Sword. It swiped toward, seemingly unstoppable! At this time, I arrived and immediately activated Charge! Whoosh! Just as Blazing Sword was going to cut into Xu Yang''s body, it suddenly turned to smoke as the skill power dissipated. Spring Mud entered a stunned state, his expression the picture of shock. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?!" Moon Shadow was shocked and took multiple steps back along with Night Sorrow! I didn¡¯t kill Spring Mud. I threw an Ice Ray at his chest, using a string of cold icicles to force him back! 984! I gave chase and swung Ghost Ice Soul. Pardon! MISS! The large words flew up. Spring Mud''s face was grave as he furiously moved back. I didn¡¯t give chase this time. If I wanted to kill Spring Mud right now, he wouldn¡¯t escape my grasp. I opened my hand, and the Dark Wasp was summoned. The Level 67 Dark Wasp was very strong, and could defeat a high-level well-equipped Level 70 warrior. Xu Yang had a grateful expression. "Lu Chen, you''re here!" I nodded. "Yes, boss and Sister Mingyue are also here.¡± The crowd made way, letting He Yi get close to the encirclement. She looked around coldly, I and Xu Yang moving to her left and right side respectively, like two bodyguards. Chapter 169: Cleaning House "You want to leave Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?" He Yi said authoritatively. Spring Mud said coldly, holding his sword, "Yes, Eve, we have decided to leave!" "Therefore, you are taking the original members of our guild, backstab us, and will join another guild?" He Yi''s tone was murderous. Spring Mud frowned and then shouted, "Backstab? Eve, your words are so disappointing! The Ego workshop joined Ancient Sword with grand ambitions. What did we get in the end? Constant contempt and suspicions? Your guild is too small, so small it cannot contain us!" He Yi suddenly smiled. "It''s not my guild that is small, just your minds. From the day you joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, you were at odds with Xu Yang. You think I did not see it? The Ego workshop, you three are pretty egotistical to publicly headhunt people from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" Spring Mud had nothing to say and said, "In conclusion, our departure from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is settled. Also, we have contacted Chaos Moon, Moonlight Stone, Singing To Wine, and others. They¡¯ll be here soon too. Hmph, let''s see their attitude and if your Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls really has people''s hearts.¡± "What?" He Yi was shocked, her eyes angry. "You dare dig at my corners?!" Spring Mud raised his eyebrows. "Once Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand returned, you never gave us another look. If so, why can''t we dig at Ancient Sword''s members? Hmph, let me tell you, we brothers have packed up our luggage and will leave the workshop tomorrow. You can go recruit whoever you want!" He Yi bit her lips in anger, her shoulders trembling slightly. I walked forward and said slowly, "Boss, don''t worry. The soldiers may flow like water, but the base is made from steel. Even if they leave, we can recruit new experts. Also, I believe in Chaos Moon, Moonlight Stone, and the others!" I asked loudly, "Spring Mud, you are going to take these people and leave Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. What''s the next step? Build your own guild or join another?" Moon Shadow said, "We¡¯ve received an invitation from another guild!" "Oh?" I smiled. "Then let me guess, the guild that invited you must be either Mad Dragon or Flower Room. They must have promised you a yearly salary, at least above two hundred thousand a year, correct?" Moon Shadow was shocked. "You! How¡¯d you know?" I was disdainful. "Their usual tactics. I can only wish you good luck then!" Spring Mud snorted. "Save your pretenses. If you hadn¡¯t forced us, we wouldn¡¯t have left Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Just wait and see. After we join Flower Room, we will slaughter Bloody Mercenaries!" My gaze turned cold. "Flower Room? Slaughter Bloody Mercenaries? Haha, this is the best joke I¡¯ve heard this year. Ego, huh? Yeah you really are egotistical, to the point of stupidity!" ¡­¡­ Chaos Moon walked at the front and said, "Spring Mud, why did you call us here?" Spring Mud smiled and said, "Chaos Moon, we are planning to leave Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It¡¯s no longer a place for us. I admit that Eve is a good leader, but her subordinates are jealous of capable people. Our Ego workshop will not be used by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, so I plan to take everyone and join Flower Room. They are also a major guild of Floating Ice City. Young Master Le has promised at least a 100000 RMB salary if we join Flower Room. We can become professional players!" Chaos Moon, Moon Dew, and the others stilled slightly. "Join... Flower Room?" Chaos Moon looked at me and He Yi, asking, "Leader, Brother Broken Halberd, is there really such a thing? You agree to us going to Flower Room?" He Yi smiled beautifully. "You think I¡¯d agree?" "I don¡¯t think so...¡± Chaos Moon smiled and turned back to ask, "Moon Dew, Moonlight Stone, are you two willing to follow Spring Mud, or follow our beautiful boss and Brother Broken Halberd?" Moon Dew pouted and said, "I just want to have fun with everyone. Also, I am very happy in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Didn¡¯t we kill these newbies like an hour ago? I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything wrong with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and I¡¯m really happy and fulfilled here. People are concerned for me and I can heal them in return!" I thought to myself. Good speech! At this time, Spring Mud, Night Sorrow, and Moon Shadow''s expressions grew ugly. Spring Mud said lowly, "Chaos Moon, what are you saying? Did you forget that three days ago we hunted a boss together? I even took a blow for you!" Chaos Moon''s expression turned cold. "Spring Mud! You leaving Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is your matter, and has nothing to do with me. There is the ancient saying that one should die for ones that put trust in them. Ever since Eve personally invited me to join, I swore to never betray her. This is my principle. It has nothing to do with self-interest and the situation. Even if one day, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls only has myself left, I have one thing you don¡¯t¡ªa sense of honor!" Spring Mud had a pale expression and was in despair. Shing! I pulled out my sword, pointing it toward Spring Mud. There were twenty people there, all from our guild. "Okay now. We won¡¯t blame you for being persuaded by Spring Mud. If you still consider yourself a member of our guild, move away. Otherwise, don¡¯t blame us for killing you!" He Yi followed me and said with a laugh, "Young students that have made mistakes can come back to be lectured. Otherwise, you will be punished with our blades!" It had to be said that He Yi was a smart woman. My words were like a sharp blade, but her words were like a gentle wind. We had a nice ¡®good cop bad cop¡¯ synergy. A few seconds later, many players moved away from behind Spring Mud, leaving behind only the three leaders of Ego workshop and nine others! Murong Mingyue moved next to my ear, "The rest of them are hopeless. They were also in the Ego workshop, and are very loyal to Spring Mud!" I nodded and quickly kicked these twelve out of the guild, including Spring Mud who was a corps commander. Hmph hmph, who let me be Vice Leader? With my position I could do whatever I wanted! In a flash, these people all left Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I raised my sword and shouted, "Kill, don''t leave anyone alive. From now on, they are enemies!" In the face of self-interest, friends could become enemies, and enemies could become friends. But a person that had betrayed you once, regardless of self-interest, could no longer be worked with. Once Spring Mud and the others left Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, they could never turn back... Clang clang clang... The group all pulled out their blades. I was faster, already in Charge animation! Whoosh! I stunned Spring Mud, and then unleashed my combo attack¡ªPardon + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 2874! Spring Mud shook. Before he could even react, he was instantly killed! Gui Guzi went forward with his spear, and used Death Combo to break through Moon Shadow''s shield. The latter immediately lost over half of his HP. Then came the real punisher. Beiming Xue unleashed Evil Spirit Volley! Whoosh whoosh whoosh... The arrows enshrouded in ghostly images flew toward the enemy. Moon Shadow and Night Sorrow were within range. While the Volley skill¡¯s arrows were extremely chaotic, the skill became extremely accurate under Beiming Xue¡¯s control. Boom boom boom! The arrows exploded in the crowd. Moon Shadow was already low on HP, and died with a grunt after being struck with an arrow. Night Sorrow was left with just a sliver of HP, and hurriedly drank a health potion. He returned an Ice Volley of his own! But Ice Volley¡¯s damage was too low to be of any relevance. Gui Guzi and I just ran forward and took three arrows each like they were nothing. With a swing of my sword, Night Sorrow fell to his knees. Xu Yang was furious and leapt forward with his sword, his Blaze killing one enemy. He didn¡¯t even have a chance to vent before Spring Mud and his group of traitors were slaughtered to the last! A dozen corpses were laid out on the ground, I stabbed Ghost Ice Soul into the soil and sat down next to a tilted tree, grinning at everyone. "It''s late. Go back to sleep. I¡¯ll spawn camp them. Don''t call me up to eat until it''s twelve tomorrow!" Everyone laughed. Xu Yang walked forward and said, "Lu Chen, let me accompany you. These bastards are too arrogant!" I nodded. I couldn¡¯t not let Xu Yang spawn camp . Before Bloody Mercenaries joined, Xu Yang was alone supporting the founding elder faction. The Ego workshop caused great pain to him. Now that his frustration turned into anger, he was willing to spawn camp them for 24 hours if possible. Players couldn¡¯t stay in their soul state for long. I¡¯ve heard two hours was the limit, after which they¡¯d be automatically revived in the city. If they logged out instead of reviving, they would drop three levels. If they revived in the city, same. This was a difficult choice, especially to third-promotion players like Spring Mud, Night Sorrow, and Moon Shadow. The cost of dropping three levels was terrible. I was very stubborn about spawn camping. Since they dared to betray us, then they had to suffer the consequences. Beiming Xue and Gui Guzi also remained. With the four of us here, we¡¯d have no problems taking care of Spring Mud and the others. ¡­¡­ He Yi and Murong Mingyue yawned and went offline to sleep. The night was long, and this was a painful and joyful process. Beep! A message came, the name of its sender was moving. Wind Fantasy! After several days, Lin Yixin finally proactively sent a message to me. I opened the message and was flabbergasted¡ª The message from Wind Fantasy: "Little Cheat, you finally gave up and became a sugarbaby?" I didn''t know whether to laugh or cry. I immediately requested a voice call. "Yiyi, what sugarbaby?" Lin Yixin laughed softly. "Ha, you don''t admit it. You''ve returned to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Also, I went to your original workshop''s address to find you but no one¡¯s there!" Chapter 170: Mission Against Traitors "I... I wanted... I wanted...¡± Lin Yixin stammered for a while but could not finish her sentence. My heart rippled and I asked, "You missed me?" Lin Yixin was quick in her words this time. "Yes, I wanted to beat you up!" "...¡± The additional words were enough to cause me grief. ¡­¡­ Seeing me remain silent, Lin Yixin laughed and said, "I know that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have a base of operations. You, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and the others must be there!" "Oh, so you do know...¡± I felt slightly guilty. "Then why were you searching for me?" "No, I just wanted to confirm if you were alive or not. How about it, does this miss have enough concern for you?" Lin Yixin said with a chuckle. I was speechless. "It is so late, but you¡¯re not sleeping yet?" "No, grinding!" "Dorms shut down routers for the night. Are you using an internet cafe connection?" Lin Yixin was speechless. "Internet cafe? I¡¯m not you, the legendary ''overnight cafe male''. Why would I go to an internet cafe? The school recently, um, was unanimously asked to keep the internet connection alive.¡± "Oh, that''s good.¡± "Alright. I¡¯m going to level up, you continue whatever it is you¡¯re doing. Speaking of which, what are you doing?" "Spawn camping!" "OMG, shame on you. Spawn camping is so detestable!" "Look who¡¯s talking. You spawn camped Gui Guzi''s corpse for an entire night." "That was my persistence in fighting the Dark faction...¡± "And I¡¯m just vile, bullying the weak and ill...¡± "Heehee, you do have some brains~" "...¡± ¡­¡­ I closed the chat. Lin Yixin went back to grinding. I¡¯m guessing that her level would soon return to the top of Floating Ice City. I didn¡¯t have a skill as broken for consistent grinding as her Killer Wind Swordplay. I was at a bit of a disadvantage. I¡¯d still do my best to maintain my position in the Top 3 though. As the de facto leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I had to maintain my level advantage. As the guild¡¯s banner, I had to represent. After waiting for about half an hour, one of the players in front of me revived. It was an archer from the Ego workshop! Players would revive with just half HP, so the moment he tried to get up, Beiming Xue shot him with a lightning-quick arrow! Bang! The archer flew back like a kite with a broken string. He immediately lost all HP, killed in an instant! I sprinted with my sword. I had a feeling that they would collectively revive! As expected, in the next moment, about seven people revived together. They must have counted down together. Yet the moment of revival, Spring Mud shouted, "Shit, dodge!" Rustle... Whoosh! The Ghost Ice Soul¡¯s light turned into six sword energies that fell into the crowd. All the recently revived players were instantly killed, including Spring Mud! With just half HP, they couldn¡¯t survive a single Thousand Mirage Slash. I had to admit, they were really unlucky to cross me of all people. Beiming Xue stood in the distance, her Evil Spirit Volley arriving with a howl. The powerful explosion caused the remaining people to fall to the ground. in an instant, the eleven players were once again in their soul state! Xu Yang was speechless. He said, "Fuck, you two are too strong, can you at least give me a chance to get a hit in?" I smiled. "Just be faster next time!" "...¡± We continued to spawn camp. Soon, Xu Yang said, "A brother in the city saw Spring Mud and the others reviving! Tsk tsk, Spring Mud dropped to Level 55. He was actually willing to revive like that!" I sheathed my sword and smiled. "Ok, the mission against the traitors is done. We can rest!" "Yes!" We entered the city and went offline! ¡­¡­ I slept deeply and only woke up around noon. Knock knock knock... Murong Mingyue knocked on the door and shouted, "Lu Chen, are you addicted to sleep or something? The sun¡¯s high in the sky, get up!" I hurriedly changed my clothes, washed up and opened the door. Murong Mingyue was sitting on a sofa nearby. She immediately stood up and said, "Let''s go, we¡¯re going downstairs for coffee and food~" "Don¡¯t we have our own cafeteria upstairs? Why go downstairs to eat?" I asked. Murong Mingyue smiled. "Eve¡¯s not used to the food in the cafeteria. Let''s go, she¡¯s already downstairs ordering for three. You must go.¡± "Alright.¡± It was great when someone was paying for the meal. I¡¯ve always dreamt of drinking and eating for free everyday. ¡­¡­ I had thought the cafe downstairs only sold coffee. I hadn''t expected there to be food as well. He Yi was sitting there, dressed in a dark dress. She appeared serene and demure when she slightly smiled, her two dimples enchanting. I sat down facing He Yi and looked at the food in front of me. I laughed. "Boss, why eat this here... I think the braised ribs and the spicy fish in the cafeteria are good...¡± He Yi pouted and said with a smile, "That¡¯s because you have strong tastes...¡± I glanced at the plate again. Fruit fried rice with huge shrimp. Damn, would this be enough? Seems like I have to make noodles when I return. I bent down and shoveled in the fried rice in a few moves. He Yi and Murong Mingyue appeared shocked. "Wow, how long has it been since he ate?" I wiped my mouth and started to taste the fruit juice. It wasn''t much better than fresh orange juice, and too sweet. ¡­¡­ Murong Mingyue forked a piece of fish and said, "Lu Chen, how did it feel to spawn camp last night, good?" I smiled. "Speaking of spawn camping, that night in Silver Moon Valley was the best. Yesterday, there were only 12 people, and many of them newbies. In Silver Moon Valley, there were multiple Heavenly Ranking pros. They were fierce, and posed more of a threat to me. Several times, when I revived, I was instantly killed. So exciting...¡± Murong Mingyue laughed softly. "I¡¯m afraid only people like you would consider something like that exciting." He Yi looked at me with red eyes. "That time, I had a feeling it was you. But you denied it. Hmph¡­ I¡¯m so angry...¡± I felt slightly embarrassed. Murong Mingyue hurriedly smoothed matters over. "Eve, don¡¯t bother thinking too deep into it. Hasn¡¯t Lu Chen returned? Heehee, the late Falling Dust wasn¡¯t that strong. Lu Chen is completely different. Even without Lian Xin, he alone is enough to support all of us. Hoho, I can already see our guild shining greatly in future competitions!" He Yi nodded and said with a smile, "Yes, in any case, everything else is secondary. As long as Lu Chen is back with us, safe and sound...¡± I felt slightly warm. My appetite increased, so I ordered another meal. ¡­¡­ He Yi ate a bit and was quickly full. She sucked on the straw and looked at me with a smile. "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls took in 800 people today, we¡¯re full now.¡± "Oh? How is the quality of these eight hundred?" "10% are third-promotion players, the lowest among the rest is Level 55. We didn''t accept anything under that.¡± "Mn, not bad!" I nodded and asked, "What are the standards?" Murong Mingyue smiled. "Male players, those with strong bodies and a sense of justice preferred. Female players, those with large chests and no brains preferred...¡± I was speechless and accidentally glanced toward Murong Mingyue''s chest. It was cold in the fall but the weather was still warm. Murong Mingyue was wearing a low-cut T-shirt and a sweater. The result could be imagined. Her curves were even more evident, and immediately became the focus of many players. No wonder company workers had been stretching their necks and drooling in the elevator just now. Meeting my gaze, Murong Mingyue''s face flushed red but she puffed out her chest and said, "Why look at me? While this sister has assets, this sister also has brains. Don''t lump me together with those idiot women...¡± I hurriedly shook my head. "I¡¯d never! I know that Sister Mingyue is exceptionally intelligent.¡± He Yi grinned. "Alright, don¡¯t talk about such degenerate things whenever you meet up. How about we talk about something sophisticated and refreshing?" "Hm?" "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ development is going well. Lu Chen, what do you think we should focus on in the future?" I put down my cup and said with a smile, "I¡¯m not the one to decide the development direction. I also have to worry about the development of Bloody Mercenaries. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' specific development plan should be devised by boss and Sister Mingyue. As for me, Gui Guzi, and Beiming Xue, the three of us only joined to put you in the limelight. It would be best if matters of the guild didn¡¯t affect our progression!" He Yi nodded. "Yes, I think the same. The three of you will be the backbone of our guild. Your leveling cannot be impacted. Otherwise, we will lose our advantage of top-tier experts!" Murong Mingyue said, "Really? Even if Lu Chen, Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue do not participate, we have Chaos Moon, Moonlight Stone, and other first-class experts...¡± He Yi laughed softly. "Those people can deal with Mad Dragon and Flower Room. But Mingyue, do you feel they can last against Candle Dragon?" I nodded as well. "Yes, only top-tier first-class experts can face Candle Dragon. Otherwise, we won¡¯t be able to match people like Candlelight Shadow and Tempest Shadow. Their guild alone has five CGL Hall of Famers. This force is indeed strong enough to rule the China server.¡± Murong Mingyue suddenly gulped down juice and said helplessly, "Alright, I didn¡¯t think you two still had a grudge against Candle Dragon and Candlelight Shadow. It appears you are thinking further than me.¡± I chuckled and said, "If we don''t kill Candlelight Shadow, I can¡¯t prove my return!" He Yi pursed her lips, her eyes filled with longing. "Yes, after being pursued by Candlelight Shadow for nearly a year, I¡¯ve had enough!" Murong Mingyue said, "I just don''t know which city Candlelight Shadow will use as their development base. Maybe it¡¯d be Vanished God City...¡± "Ignore him. We¡¯re choosing Sky City as our base. If Candle Dragon dares to come, then we will face them. Even if we¡¯re in a different city, we will eventually cross blades sooner or later!" "Right!" ¡­¡­ After lunch, we all went back online. Chapter 171: I Hate You Swhoosh! I appeared in Floating Ice City''s inn. Immediately, as I came online, there was a series of bells ringing above Floating Ice City¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Guild ¡°Flower Room¡± has officially declared war on ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡±! ¡­¡­ Ah, it appears that Spring Mud, Moon Shadow, and Night Sorrow had reached the nest of Flower Room after leaving our guild. From when virtual games started to develop to now, there were so many gaming workshops, large and small, good and bad. For example, people like Li Le, had weak battle sense, mechanics, tactics, and game knowledge. But he had money, so he had no problems recruiting experts and starting his own gaming workshop. Most of the gaming workshops relied on teamwork to make some money, but some workshops were bound to incur losses and be used for some young master to have fun. Flower Room was undoubtedly one of the latter. That I was certain of. I didn¡¯t say anything, and moved Flower Room into the enemy list. With our two guilds at war, our players would see each other as red in the wild. There would be no spoken words, just instant slaughter upon meeting! I walked out of the inn and found Li Le and the others on the plaza by the eastern gate. There were about 40 players of them grouped together. Spring Mud, Moon Shadow, and Night Sorrow were standing proudly next to Li Le with respect and reverent expressions. Li Le held a sword as he proudly walked forward and laughed. "Today, Flower Room welcomes Spring Mud, Moon Shadow, and Night Sorrow into our midst. They have performed spectacularly in the Who Will Fight Me tournament. Now, the four of us are our brothers. How can we not get revenge for our brothers? Hmph, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have done them wrong, so they can¡¯t call our actions injustice!" Spring Mud said, "Leader, don''t worry. We will turn Flower Room into an iron lion, we won¡¯t disappoint you!" Li Le nodded. "The three of you managed to prop up Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Hmph, if not for you, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would not have reached their current heights. As the saying goes, ¡°After the cunning rabbit is dead, the dog is cooked¡±. From Water went overboard this time. Starting today, the three of you are elders of Flower Room. We will work together to create the legend of Flower Room and slaughter Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to the last!¡± "Alright!" Having a parade was a glorious action. But having a parade on the eastern gate plaza looked like a monkey circus. ¡­¡­ I repaired my armor, and then toured around the nearby stalls. I looked inside my bag. I didn''t have many potions and needed some more! "Young hero, buy my potions! Our Lin''s Shop is reputable. If you buy my potions, I¡¯ll pay you ten for one fake!" a middle-aged man shouted at me. I was helpless. "Rank 4 potions are too weak. If I encounter a boss, I will die...¡± "Damn, don''t you know to put two into your mouth at the same time?" the man shouted. I also spat blood. Two? I wasn''t a GM, could I ignore the potion cooldown? At this time, a sweet voice came from behind me¡ª "Hey, Lu Chen...¡± I turned around and found Clear Perfume standing by the wall at a stall filled with all kinds of potions, including Rank 6 Health Potions! Everyone knew that these pots could restore 1500 HP in one gulp. They were even better than priests, and were absolutely necessary for fighting bosses or leveling up! "Qingqing!" I smiled and said, "You are also selling here?" "Yes, to get living expenses...¡± I glanced at the Rank 6 Health Potions at the stall and said with a smile, "It doesn''t appear as simple as just for living expenses? Tsk tsk, more than three hundred bottles¡­ Is Lin Yixin crazy? She likely hasn''t leveled up and has been gathering herbs all this time. Otherwise, where could she have found so many high-rank herbs to make these potions?¡± Clear Perfume smiled and nodded. "Yes, Yiyi worked hard these days. She has been gathering herbs the entire night, and only went to sleep about an hour ago.¡± I was slightly moved and said, "Why is Yiyi working so hard? She needs money?" "Yes, it appears so. Yiyi and I are splitting this fifty-fifty. She provides the herbs, I make potions and sell them. We each get half of the money...¡± I smiled. "Lin Yixin is a money miser, a gold fanatic...¡± Clear Perfume burst into laughter. "Yes, Yiyi is like you say!" "Oh..¡± I stuck out my lips. "Such a pity. Yiyi is awake at night and sleeps during the day. It¡¯s hard to even meet her...¡± Clear Perfume looked meaningfully at me and laughed softly, "Stop that. It¡¯s too easy if you really sincerely want to see Yiyi. I can make an appointment for you, and you can invite her to eat. She¡¯ll be very happy~~!" "Never mind. Money''s been tight recently. I¡¯ll ask her when I have money...¡± "I look down at you!" Clear Perfume laughed. "You don¡¯t understand the feeling of holding the phone and waiting for a call.¡± "What do you mean?" "Nothing, are you going to buy potions? I¡¯ll give you a discount since we¡¯re buds, only 120% of the price!" "...¡± I looked at the potions at the stall and said, "How much are you selling these potions for?" "10 gold for 1! With my special discount, only 12 gold each!" Clear Perfume looked seriously at me and said clearly. My facial muscles twitched. "Qingqing, are you trying to cheat your friends?" "Yes, I cheat people like you!" Forget it. 12 gold. Based on the present market exchange rate, one gold was about 1 RMB. It would really reach this price in the future. Eventually, the game company would adjust prices of item repairs and NPC shops to maintain this rate. After all, it made for really easy accounting... Rank 6 Health Potion, restores 1500 HP. One gulp is 12 RMB. It was more expensive than Nutri-Express! With a face of disdain I raised two fingers. "Gimme twenty!" "Okay!" Clear Perfume threw the packaged potions to me. "Thank you for your patronage. 240 gold. Anything else I can help you with?" I swallowed. I had been scammed. I looked at the other items in the stall. These 20 Rank 6 Health Potions could only be used when fighting bosses. I had to have something else when killing ordinary monsters. My HP was too high. Low-rank pots and recovery powders the NPC potion shops sold were of no use to me. "How much for Rank 5 pots?" I asked. Clear Perfume laughed. "4 gold for one, 36 gold for a stack. 324 for 10 stacks since you¡¯re buying in bulk. But with your discount, 388 gold and 80 silver!" I took out the gold and looked deeply at her. "Qingqing, I hate you...¡± Clear Perfume laughed. "Oh Lu Chen, but I love you...r gold, hahaha~~" It appeared that Lin Yixin''s friends were not easy to get along with. In the future, I had to reduce our interactions. Otherwise, I would be robbed out of my skin! Immediately, 628 gold left my pockets. I only had 200 gold left in my bag. This was also the remainder of the money I had gotten selling Rank 6 Magic Consumables. I waved at Clear Perfume and said, "I''m going!" "Hey, Lu Chen ~~" Clear Perfume suddenly called me and then stopped speaking. "What is it?" I turned around. She pursed her lips and whispered, "Recently, Yiyi hasn''t been in a good mood. If you have time, could you meet her? Every time she teases you her mood gets better for a while... I was shocked. "Fuck, this is building one''s pleasure on someone else''s pain. How about no?" "You have to!" "Alright, 500 gold!" "You!" Sun Qingqing stomped her foot. "Stupid Lu Chen, Yiyi was right about you. You are a gold fanatic!" I laughed and turned to leave. I raised my right arm. "I¡¯ll contact her when I¡¯m free. Qingqing, don''t worry for nothing!" "Oh... ooh!" ¡­¡­ I passed the city gates and found three Flower Room players nearby. Their names were red and they were looking warily at me. My name was hidden. Unless they actually knew me, they should not recognize me. There were many warriors in Floating Ice City dressed in a blood-red cloak and black armor. "Look, he¡¯s from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and their vice leader at that!" An ugly assassin snickered. "Brothers, go get him. If we record, we can trade for a lot of gold from Young Master Le. Quick, if we miss this, we won''t have another chance!" And so the other two players followed, entering Frost Forest along with me. I turned my camera angle and quickly saw their info¡ª A Level 54 assassin, a Level 59 magic knight, and a Level 60 mage! The only threat would be Ice Dragon Howl from the mage, but his items didn¡¯t seem particularly powerful. He probably wouldn¡¯t do more than 300 damage to me. In the face of my 2350 HP, it was nothing. After entering the forest, I opened one of my hands. A magic hexagram formation flashed on the ground. The Dark Wasp leapt out, its buzzing sound was like a requiem. Behind me, the three Flower Room players followed closely. I immediately discovered the assassin was already attacking! His dagger shone with a cold gleam. Cold Blade! Clang! I had already drawn Ghost Ice Soul and let him get close. I used my precise judgement and parried his attack. The damage was minimal¡ª21! Heavenblessed put much emphasis on individual skill. If a player used their weapon to precisely block their opponent¡¯s attack, the damage would be decreased by 20¨C90%. Of course, it also depended on the Strength stat. If you had 1000 Attack and your opponent had 100, parrying with your blade wouldn¡¯t really do much. ¡­¡­ Rustle... The difference in power was great. The assassin was driven back by my sword blow and left behind a long mark on the grass. His pupils contracted and he shouted, "This isn''t good. He¡¯s the leader of Bloody Mercenaries¡ªBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" Chapter 172: Myriad Poison Cave The magic knight¡¯s eyes were harsh. ¡°So what if he¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? Everyone¡¯s equal in death! Old Three, use Vanish and then Ambush once Old Four freezes him. While he¡¯s stunned, Old Four will cast Ice Dragon Howl on his pet! He can¡¯t deal with us all at the same time!¡± I calmly rushed toward the assassin and swung my blade toward his neck. He wants to vanish? I¡¯ll grant him his wish and make him vanish permanently! But to my surprise, the assassin suddenly held his dagger in front of his chest and hid his face within his arms. He looked like an oval egg for a second. Bang! The Ghost Ice Soul hit the assassin¡¯s dagger, but he was calm and confident despite suffering what should¡¯ve been a fatal blow. At the same time, a blue glow appeared around his body, a sign that he had successfully defended against my strike! 175! Fuck, what a blunder. I wasn¡¯t expecting this brat to know a defensive skill! Beep! Combat Log: Player ¡°Bridge Above Water¡± uses ¡°Guard¡±, reducing damage taken by 80%! ¡­¡­ Fuck, it¡¯s a defensive skill! In Heavenblessed, defensive skills were unique abilities that could reduce all physical damage taken by 50% to 90%. It was the ultimate life-saving skill. Unfortunately, a player couldn¡¯t draw any aggro when using it, so tanks couldn¡¯t just spam it during boss fights. That being said, it could do wonders in PvP against melee players and archers. Currently, defensive skill books were very rare, but that should change once Heavenblessed entered the latter stages. Everyone had to get a defensive skill eventually. After the assassin had defended against my attack perfectly, he said with an arrogant chuckle, ¡°Is this all the legendary Unkillable War God can do? Then die!¡± He swung his dagger toward the right side of my body! At the same time, the enemy magic knight rushed at me from a different direction. The blade of his spear was glowing brightly! It was Flame Thrust! But what really surprised me was that the mage knew the Ice Arrow Spell. After the Dark Wasp was slowed, he immediately fired an Ice Dragon Howl straight toward my head! In for a penny, in for a pound. Time to slaughter my enemies! I suddenly stopped in my tracks and spun around like a whirlwind, hitting the assassin¡¯s head with a basic attack. His defensive skill was still on cooldown, so there was nothing he could do to save his life! 984! It was an easy one-shot! Chiang! At the same time, the magic knight¡¯s Flame Thrust hit my shoulder and shook my armor a bit. However, shock quickly entered his eyes in the next moment. ¡°Ah? This is¡­ Pardon!¡± MISS! 2983! Finally, the angry mage hit me with an Ice Dragon Howl, but it only dealt 298 damage. I was on point when I thought it wouldn¡¯t deal more than 300 damage to my Magic Resist! The Dark Wasp flew toward the mage after the slow CC affecting it finally wore off. I also activated my own Charge and stunned him! It took one attack to destroy the mage¡¯s Magic Shield and another to end his life. Aaand done! The dead players dropped a generous sum of pots and Magic Consumables. The magic knight especially dropped a whopping total of 47 Rank 5 Health Potions, saving me a ton of gold! I picked up the loot leisurely since I was in no hurry to leave the area. If the trio decided to come back to life, I could always kill them a second time. It was no trouble to me! After I had picked up everything, I continued on the path, headed toward Violet Camp, the Blood Dance encampment located at the edge of Eternal Song Forest. Both the leader of the Blood Dance Legion, Sophia, and Shadow Dancer Xue Wei were there, and I was a warrior serving directly under their banner. I figured that it was about time I reported in and pledged my loyalty. As for how I would be going about that, who cares? The important thing here was that I could receive some quests, earn some cash and level up quickly! ¡­... I left the dark undergrowth of Eternal Song Forest behind and entered a clearing. The last time I was here, the perimeter of Violet Camp was surrounded by wooden fences and abatis. Now, a row of tall stone walls had been built beyond the original fences. Clearly, their technology had improved and they¡¯ve proudly entered the era of the Stone Age! Princess Sophia had made a wise tactical decision. She had solidified the defenses of her base first before expanding outward. The plan was to occupy Eternal Song Forest and Violet Forest to eventually rebuild the Violet Empire in its place. Unlike the Great Leap Forward, her plan was a lot more realistic and practical. There was less of a chance of something really bad happening because they didn¡¯t try to aim too far too soon. I walked into the encampment and found the undead around me carrying themselves in a solemn manner. A group of undead horsemen were just leaving the camp, probably leaving the camp on a scouting mission. Everything seemed to be clear and in good order so far. I checked my Blood Dance army rank and noted that I was only at the second rank, Skeleton Horseman. I¡¯m going to have to work harder to increase my rank! It was at this moment an orderly walked up to me and asked, ¡°Undead from the distant lands, may I know why you¡¯ve come to our camp?¡± I shot the guy a disdainful look. Hmph, how dare he act aloof around me when he hadn¡¯t even grown a full set of bones. To prove his mistake, I pulled down my hood and revealed my handsome face and my bloody eyes. Sigh, although I looked a lot cooler since I had leveled up and become an Asura, my eyes still bloody and kinda scary. I even scared He Yi by accident again just yesterday. Man, I¡¯m such a sinful man~~ The orderly immediately saluted me when he saw my true appearance. ¡°What is your business here, my lord?¡± I proudly walked deeper into the camp while asking, ¡°Have you seen Shadow Dancer Xue Wei? Where is she?¡± ¡°She¡­¡± The orderly suddenly dropped to his knees and said in a trembling voice, ¡°Lord Xue Wei was gravely injured. She¡¯s resting inside her tent right now!¡± ¡°What? Gravely injured?¡± I raised my eyebrows menacingly. ¡°Who¡¯s the bastard that hurt her?¡± ¡°Allow me to take you to her, my lord!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I followed the orderly to a quiet but elegant little house deep inside the camp. The orderly then stood next to the entrance and said, ¡°Lord Xue Wei is inside!¡± I nodded, pulled aside the curtains and walked in. I was immediately greeted by a heartbreaking sight! Shadow Dance Xue Wei normally looked heroic and lively, but today she was lying on the bed with a haggard face and a dim look in her red eyes. Her shoulder was covered in blood, black blood, that was giving off a terrible stench! Princess Sophia was inside the house too. She gave me a nod and said, ¡°You¡¯re here!¡± ¡°I am.¡± I walked up to her and asked directly, ¡°What happened to Xue Wei? What can I do to help?¡± Sophia said, ¡°A few days ago, Xue Wei was ambushed when she led a squad of 100 horsemen through Night Creatures¡¯ domain. She was gravely injured, but the worst part is that she was afflicted by a curse by an undead shaman. The curse is continuously spreading toxin throughout her body!¡± Sophia looked worried. ¡°If her condition continues to deteriorate, she¡¯ll probably become a true Night Creature and lose the last bit of her conscience¡­¡± Suddenly, Xue Wei opened her eyes and grabbed my bracer tightly. She said in a crying voice, ¡°I don¡¯t want¡­ I don¡¯t want to lose my conscience. I don¡¯t want to become one of the walking dead or those terrible things. My¡­ my family wouldn¡¯t want me to turn into them¡­¡± I sucked in a deep breath and asked, ¡°How can this undead toxin be cured??¡± Sophia frowned slightly. ¡°There is a way, but it is an incredibly dangerous journey. Sigh¡­¡± I puffed up my chest and declared with confidence, ¡°Just tell me. I¡¯m not afraid of any danger, it is all like a walk in the park to me¡­¡± Princess Sophia nodded and said, ¡°At the southernmost border of the Floating Ice City domain, amid the tall mountains, there is said to be a cave called Myriad Poison Cave. It is said to contain a huge collection of poisons from all over the continent, and that a terrifying devil dwells inside of it. However, the legend also claims that a Heavenly Poison Snow Lotus, a herb that can cure any toxin or poison, grows inside Myriad Poison Cave. If you can obtain it, I¡¯m sure it can cure the undead toxin that¡¯s tormenting Xue Wei!¡± Princess Sophia stood up and put her hand on my shoulder. She said softly, ¡°Young warrior, I will grant you a generous reward if you can bring me the Heavenly Poison Snow Lotus!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Do you accept the quest [Myriad Poison Cave]? (Current Quest Rank: A) ¡­... An A-rank quest? Hell yeah! I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll profit a ton from this! Excited, I accepted the quest without hesitation. Ding~! System Notice: You have accepted the quest [Myriad Poison Cave]! Description: Head to the southernmost area of the map of Floating Ice City and find Myriad Poison Cave. Venture to the lowest floor, find the Heavenly Poison Snow Lotus and retrieve it for Princess Sophia for a generous reward! However, be warned that the cave is filled with devils and deadly gases. Death penalty will be doubled! ¡­... WTF! Penalty will be doubled? So I¡¯ll lose two levels and twice as many items upon death? Damn, if I fail to complete this quest I can¡¯t even imagine the consequences I will suffer! According to the quest hint, it could be shared to at most five players, meaning that it would probably be a very bad idea to perform this quest solo. At the very least, I was sure I would die a horrible death if I tried to do this without a priest. I should find some helpers and form a five-man party before I tackle this quest. ¡­... So, a five-man party. This meant that I needed to find 4 other players. I would definitely need a priest, and Murong Mingyue was the obvious choice here. Her healing was higher than Yamete¡¯s, and she was pretty enough that her presence had the same effect as a Tactician¡¯s Encourage, but with double the boost. Next, I would need a long-ranged attacker. Beiming Xue and her Evil Spirit Volley would be perfect for killing grouped up mobs. That makes three of us. A mage was necessary just in case the party runs into a mob that was resistant to physical attacks. The guild¡¯s third-promotion mage, Moonlight Stone, was my first choice since she had good skills and good equipment. At the very least, she wouldn¡¯t be a burden to the party! I wasn¡¯t sure who to choose to fill up the last party slot however, so a while later I decided that I would bring He Yi along. She could earn some much-needed experience and maybe even an equipment she could use if we were lucky. I needed to beef up our beautiful leader as much as possible so that the other guilds wouldn¡¯t have the opportunity to talk shit about her. Moreover, He Yi was even prettier than Murong Mingyue was, so her being in the party would be like an Encourage that buffed everyone¡¯s Attack by 20%. How could anyone say no to that? ¡­¡­ My mind finally made up, I started sending messages to all my future party members. ¡°Hey everyone, I have a quest here that can use your help. You wanna join me? If you¡¯re free then come to the eastern plaza of Floating Ice City!¡± It wasn¡¯t long before I got a couple of replies. Beiming Xue: ¡°Okay boss, gimme three minutes!¡± He Yi: ¡°I¡¯m coming right now!¡± Murong Mingyue: ¡°Hoho, you finally have a use for me~~¡± Moonlight Stone: ¡°Brother, did my magical muscles catch your fancy?¡± ¡­¡­ After responding to all of them, I took out my return scroll and got ready to tackle Myriad Poison Cave! Chapter 173: Myriad Poison Sandworm It was late afternoon above the bridge at the east gate of Floating Ice City. I was leaning against the stone railing with my hood pulled down temporarily. I looked mysterious and murderous with my bloody cape fluttering behind my back, my armor glowing and my expression stern and serious. He Yi and Murong Mingyue started commenting on my appearance as they walked toward me. ¡°Eve, Lu Chen grew up a lot in the past two years, am I right? Two years ago, he looked like a greenhorn on his first day of society. Now, he actually looks mature¡­¡± He Yi nodded repeatedly. ¡°Yeah, yeah! He also looks a lot more handsome than before!¡± ¡°OMG, is that the only criteria you recognize in your head? You disappoint me, Eve¡­¡± He Yi: ¡°...¡± ¡­... A while later, Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone showed up as well. Beiming Xue was wearing a high-grade leather armor and wielded a glowing bow. Her eyes were smiling as she walked toward me. ¡°Hey boss! So, what¡¯s the zone we¡¯re going to tackle? Is it worth the trouble?¡± I waved my hands and said, ¡°Absolutely. We can sit back and live like champs for half a year after we tackle this zone!¡± ¡°...¡± Beauty Moonlight Stone glanced at me and Beiming Xue before saying in an envious tone, ¡°Heavens! Both your pupils look so cool! I want to dye my pupils red too, dammit!¡± Beiming Xue simply smiled at the compliment. Feeling very pleased on the inside, I comforted her by pointing at He Yi. ¡°It¡¯s fine, look! She has black pupils, but she¡¯s still a gorgeous lady, isn¡¯t she?¡± He Yi smiled sweetly at the compliment. I was sure that the praise made her happy. Murong Mingyue curled her lips and pushed her way toward me until my fingertip touched something soft. I immediately pulled back my hand as quick as lightning. Undead like me and Beiming Xue had red pupils. Gui Guzi was still a skeleton right now, so he didn¡¯t have any eyeballs to speak of. The topic reminded me of Lin Yixin. She was a succubus, so her pupils were purple in color. However, it only brought out her astounding beauty even more! I raised my sword and added everyone in the party. Finally, I said, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°Mn mn!¡± He Yi said, ¡°Lu Chen, don¡¯t forget to share the quest with us!¡± ¡°Oh, right!¡± A ¡°ding¡± later, the quest was shared with the girls. All four of them exclaimed in surprise at once. Beiming Xue: ¡°Wow, an A-rank quest?¡± He Yi: ¡°This one looks like it¡¯ll be a challenge¡­¡± Murong Mingyue: ¡°Heehee, this quest looks like it¡¯ll keep me full for the next three years to come!¡± ¡­... He Yi asked, ¡°Lu Chen, are you sure our party can handle this? A few days ago, Mingyue, Xu Yang and I tried to complete a B-rank quest, but we got party-wiped midway¡­¡± I wasn¡¯t sure what to say. ¡°Er¡­¡± He Yi: ¡°...¡± I smiled. ¡°We have a slightly more ¡®scientific¡¯ party formation this time, so don¡¯t worry. Things are as perfect as it can get with me and my Dark Wasp as the tanks, Mingyue as the healer and Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone as the ranged DPS!¡± He Yi blinked. ¡°What about me?¡± I considered my words carefully before replying, ¡°I think you should just sit tight and leech EXP until you¡¯re 60, boss. Don¡¯t forget that your equipment isn¡¯t too strong yet. Do you have at least 500 Defense?¡± He Yi¡¯s cheeks turned red. ¡°I¡¯m almost there. I have 397 Defense to be exact¡­¡± ¡°OMG, your Defense is even lower than mine! You should¡¯ve upgraded your shield a long time ago!¡± ¡°Mn, well, I don¡¯t have anything better to switch to, so...¡± I nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll try to kill as many bosses as possible. If we¡¯re lucky enough to get a high-grade metal armor or two, you can have them first before me!¡± He Yi smiled back. ¡°Okay, sure. Let¡¯s go!¡± ¡­... We left Floating Ice City¡¯s borders and trekked through a small forest path. Our destination¡ªsouthernmost part of the city domain. The starting point of the quest was situated at the edge of the world map. In fact, any further than that and we would be entering the world map of a completely different server. But of course, the option to cross to another server wasn¡¯t available yet at this time. The entire trek took more than two hours. It was so long that the girls were sticking their tongues out. Murong Mingyue wiped the sweat on her forehead and complained, ¡°What is this, an expedition? By the time we reach Myriad Poison Cave it¡¯ll almost be time for dinner already¡­¡± He Yi shook her head. ¡°We can skip dinner. I need to lose some weight anyway¡­¡± I looked back and forth between He Yi and Murong Mingyue. On one hand, He Yi had a perfect body shape. Her legs were round and long, and her breasts were curvaceous. They were in perfect harmony like heaven and earth, so her desire to lose weight made absolutely no sense to me. On the other hand, Murong Mingyue¡¯s breasts were a little too big for her own good. Yeah, she¡¯s the one who needs to lose some weight! So I said, ¡°I think you got it mixed up, boss. Someone else should be losing her weight, not you.¡± Murong Mingyue immediately smacked my head with her staff. ¡°What¡¯s that? Did you just say I¡¯m too fat, you little brat?¡± He Yi shook her head while giggling. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have provoked a woman who eats nine meals a day¡­¡± I clutched my forehead and complained, ¡°You could¡¯ve told me sooner!¡± ¡­... In the end, we¡ªor more specifically the girls¡ªdecided that we would all skip dinner and lose some weight in the process. We could change our minds after we entered Myriad Poison Cave and figured out the situation. They ignored my opinion on the matter completely. Although I was displeased by the girls¡¯ tyranny, it was 1v4, and there was nothing I could say or do to change their minds. I swallowed my indignity and endured. Meanwhile, a couple of ferocious wild bears appeared in front of us while we were passing through a palm tree forest. Their names were blood-red, and their growls were a cacophony of deafening roars! ¡°It¡¯s a Level 70 mob! Everyone watch out, especially you, boss!¡± I warned. He Yi shot him a slightly reproachful look before whispering to him, ¡°Please don¡¯t call me boss in the future!¡± ¡°But what should I call you then?¡± ¡°You can call me by my name, or you can call me Sister Yi. Either one is fine!¡± ¡°Sister Yi? Ahem, I don¡¯t know why but that sounds weird to me for some reason¡­¡± ¡°In that case you can just call me Eve. I don¡¯t like how distant the word ¡®boss¡¯ sounds, you know?¡± He Yi smiled at me. ¡°Also, it might mislead others into thinking that I¡¯m the boss of the Axe Gang. Do I look like an axe gangster to you?¡± I looked at her as she asked me to. Unfortunately, the timing was the absolute worst because she was bending downward and unintentionally showing off to me the indescribable sight of her breasts pressing against her armor. Is it just me, or am I in danger of turning into stone? ¡°Hmm?¡± He Yi looked down at herself and turned red immediately. She rolled her eyes at me before saying, ¡°Alright, enough slacking! Go open up the way for us. We¡¯re almost at Myriad Poison Cave already!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I concentrated my mind and walked to the forefront. After cutting down the wild bears blocking our way, we continued to journey deeper into the forest. As we continued forward, I noticed that the greeneries around were starting to look wilted and dead. Soon, the entire forest started looking sickly and purple in color. He Yi was right. We were definitely getting close to Myriad Poison Cave! Suddenly, He Yi pointed toward the front and said, ¡°Look, Myriad Poison Cave is over there, right?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± According to the quest marker, the cave was right in front of us. It was an incredibly dark cave, and no one knew what dangers we¡¯d be facing. I was the tankiest person in the party, so I went to the front and braved the unknown like a proper vanguard. When I got close to our destination, I discovered that the entrance to Myriad Poison Cave looked like a neglected graveyard on a hill. It was just big enough to fit an average-sized person. Had I called Yamete over instead of Murong Mingyue, he might not be able to fit through the gap. Swhoosh! Murong Mingyue waved a hand at me and cast a Regeneration spell, a HoT skill with long duration. It was the perfect skill for an extended fight. ¡°Go, Lu Chen! We¡¯ll cheer from the back!¡± Murong Mingyue laughed. He Yi and Beiming Xue shouted at the same time, ¡°Be careful!¡± The two girls glanced at each other warily right after that. I knew that two tigers couldn¡¯t live on the same mountain¡ªunless they were of the opposing gender! ¡­... I went straight into the cave with the Dark Wasp and my Ghost Ice Soul at the ready. The Ghost Ice Soul was a Gold-grade weapon, so it glowed just bright enough to illuminate a small area. The cave was extremely dark and wet, and there were colorful grasses growing all over the place. I knew they were poisonous without even needing to check. They were way too colorful to be an ordinary breed. A while later, my vision finally brightened, and my feet hit flat ground. I had entered a new zone! Ding~! System Notice: You have entered an evil zone, Myriad Poison Cave, First Floor! Ding~! System Notice: The terrain effect ¡°Myriad Poison¡± is now in effect. As a result of inhaling poisonous gas, you lose 10 HP per second! ¡­... Okay, this zone is ridiculous. A player would lose 100 HP if they lingered in the zone for 10 seconds, 600 HP if they were here for a whole minute. I was lucky that I was a warrior class, and my skill ¡°Regeneration of the Undead¡± basically canceled out the negative status, but what about a mage like Moonlight Stone? She only had around 900 HP at most. She would die from the poison in less than two minutes! It looked like Murong Mingyue would be under a lot of pressure this time. ¡°How is it, Lu Chen? Is it dangerous down there?¡± He Yi called out to me from the entrance. I sucked in a deep breath before explaining, ¡°Everything¡¯s clear, Eve. Feel free to come in. But be careful, this place is covered in poisonous gas, and we¡¯ll lose 10 HP per second just by staying here. Sis, you¡¯ll need to keep an eye on our HP and keep us healthy at all times. It would suck to drop dead from this condition!¡± Murong Mingyue replied, ¡°Okay, got it. We¡¯re coming down now!¡± I heard a bunch of rustling noises from behind me, and a couple minutes later all four beauties entered the Myriad Poison Cave¡¯s first floor. Their eyes opened wide as they surveyed their surroundings. ¡°This place truly deserves its name¡­¡± He Yi pointed toward the front and laughed. ¡°Look, there¡¯s an insect over there that looks like a centipede!¡± I immediately moved to the front of the party and looked. The insect was about two meters long, and its whole body was coated in a hard shell. Its face was as ugly as it could get, and its legs looked as tough as steel. Shit, the way it looked and the way it was twisting about reminded me of a fusion between a cockroach and a centipede! A quick glance revealed the mob¡¯s stats to me. Myriad Poison Sandworm Level: 70 Attack: 420~550 Defense: 400 HP: 6500 Skills: Bite, Poison Spit Introduction: A terrifying creature that thrives on poisonous land, this deadly insect can attack its opponent with the venom it stores inside its body. It is a low-rank guardian of Myriad Poison Cave. Chapter 174: Sandworm Swarm ¡°A Level 70 mob with a max Attack of 550!¡± A chill came over my heart as I turned around to face the girls. ¡°Mage, priest, watch out. An Attack this high can more or less one-shot you if you¡¯re not careful. Shields up, and keep an eye on your surroundings!¡± Murong Mingyue and Moonlight Stone nodded while He Yi said, ¡°Lu Chen, draw the aggro and let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Together with the Dark Wasp, I locked onto the Myriad Poison Sandworm and charged it like a lightning bolt! Swhoosh! It was a successful stun. At Level 67, I was strong enough that my skills had a very low miss rate, even when facing a mob of a higher level. Ice Ray! Slayer Slash! 875! 904! The sandworm lost a chunk of HP as my sword plunged into its flesh. On the other side, my Dark Wasp executed its Flurry and landed four hits in a row! 703! 696! 721! 742! Awesome. Having a Dark Wasp with Flurry was like having a divine weapon! The others weren¡¯t idle either. Beauty Moonlight Stone cast her Ice Dragon Howl, and Beiming Xue fired seven or eight arrows using her Evil Spirit Volley, blasting the hell out of the Myriad Sandworm. Five arrows struck true and deleted most of its HP in the blink of an eye! Murong Mingyue¡¯s mouth fell open. ¡°Holy shit, this DPS is a bit much, isn¡¯t it?¡± Meanwhile, the Myriad Poison Sandworm finally broke free from the stun and swung its claws across my chest armor! 398! Tsk tsk, its Attack really was nothing to scoff at! But that wasn¡¯t all. The sinister-looking killer worm suddenly opened its mouth and spat a jet of greenish fluid at my head. I was poisoned! Beep! Combat Log: Myriad Poison Sandworm used ¡°Poison Spit¡±. You have been poisoned, and will lose 10% of your current HP over 6 seconds! ¡­... WTF? 10% HP in 6 seconds? This is a lot deadlier than the Dark Wasp¡¯s venom. The only difference was that it damages its target faster because it had a shorter period! ¡°Beiming Xue, heal Lu Chen! Wait I mean, Moonlight Stone, heal Lu Chen! Wait that¡¯s still not right, I mean, Mingyue, heal Lu Chen!¡± He Yi finally got it right on the third try. Even without He Yi¡¯s order, Murong Mingyue herself had cast an instantaneous heal on me almost reactively. The number ¡°+578¡± appeared above my head and instantly filled my HP to full. Murong Mingyue was undoubtedly one of the best healers in Floating Ice City, and it was a pleasure to be able to grind levels with her. She always had a copious amount of milk at the ready, literally or figuratively. Swhoosh! Beiming Xue fired a Devil Piercing Arrow that struck the Myriad Poison Sandworm¡¯s head perfectly. A series of dying hisses later, the first Myriad Poison Sandworm we¡¯d ever fought finally died and dropped a bunch of loot! Pop! He Yi glanced at it once before smiling. ¡°Lu Chen, you¡¯re the party leader here, so you decide how we split up the loot.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± I walked up to the dagger and picked it up from the ground. I then brought up the stat screen so that everyone could take a look at it. Poisoned Blade (Dark Steel¨Cgrade) Attack: 65~120 Agility: +24 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Agility by 11 Level Requirement: 60 ¡­... Hey, it¡¯s not a bad dagger at all! I turned around and checked their opinion. ¡°So, a Dark Steel¨Cgrade dagger with a max Attack of 120. It¡¯s not bad, and we can probably sell it for around 500 RMB on the market. What do you girls think?¡± He Yi pressed her lips together for a moment before smiling. ¡°None of us is an assassin, so it¡¯ll be a waste to keep it. Why don¡¯t we sell it cheaply to our guild members when we¡¯re done with this map?¡± I nodded. ¡°Okay!¡± The dagger might not be particularly impressive¡ªit was way weaker than the Silver-grade dagger Lin Yixin was using¡ªbut it was still good enough to transform a common assassin into a good one. Selling it within the guild would improve the interaction between our members and improve our strength, so there were no downsides here. Murong Mingyue said, ¡°For fairness¡¯ sake, we¡¯ll split the money we get from the sale in five. This way, everyone gets a share of the pie.¡± Beauty Moonlight Stone and Beiming Xue had no more objections to offer after Murong Mingyue said that. In fact, the only one here we needed to worry about was Moonlight Stone because Beiming Xue was part of my crew. She always followed my lead, and the chances that she would commit something despicable were next to nil. I threw the dagger into my bag and put it to the back of my mind. Barring some exceptionally bad luck, this wouldn¡¯t be the first and only equipment we got. There were no Jonahs in our party, and we were clearing a map that was considered difficult even for our level and skill. It would be ridiculous if we didn¡¯t get any OP equipment from this trip. We stepped across the wet ground and continued deeper into the cave. The ground was covered in poisonous grass, and poisonous gas was everywhere in the air. Everyone was losing 10 HP every second, and the only thing standing between us and death was Murong Mingyue. She hadn¡¯t stopped healing us with minor healing spells since we entered this cave, and she probably had it the hardest out of all of us thus far. ¡°This isn¡¯t looking good, I don¡¯t think I have enough Magic Consumables to last us the whole trip,¡± Murong Mingyue said before shooting He Yi a worried look. ¡°Eve, how many Magic Consumables did you bring for me again?¡± He Yi checked her bag before replying, ¡°I¡¯ve brought 10 stacks of Rank 5 Magic Consumables. Is that enough?¡± ¡°It will be very challenging¡­¡± Murong Mingyue pouted. ¡°What should we do? It¡¯ll take several hours at least just to travel back and forth for supplies. We¡¯ll all be past our bedtime by the time we come back¡­¡± I chose this moment to walk up to her confidently and produce my Rank 6 Steamed Fish Soup. I smiled at her and said, ¡°Take this, sis. And don¡¯t worry about running out of stock. I have more than enough Magic Consumables to last you through the whole thing!¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Murong Mingyue¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up. ¡°Rank 6 Magic Consumables? Heavens, Lu Chen. Where on earth did you get this?¡± I laughed. ¡°Is that a joke? You should¡¯ve asked around for my nickname. Back in those days everyone hailed me as the ¡®God of Cookery¡¯! I brought 40 stacks of Rank 6 Magic Consumables with me this time, so just eat to your heart¡¯s content!¡± He Yi giggled a little. ¡°Why do you bring so many with you anyway?¡± I explained, ¡°I was only going to bring 5 sets for Beiming Xue, but then I remembered that there are a ton of mages and priests out there who might be desperate for supplies while they¡¯re grinding in the wild. I¡¯m sure they wouldn¡¯t mind me lending them a helping hand even if I upped the price of my Magic Consumables by 50% or even 150%...¡± He Yi and Murong Mingyue goggled at me in disbelief before saying in unison, ¡°You¡¯re despicable, Lu Chen!¡± ¡°Hahahaha¡­¡± I laughed while rubbing my hands together like an evil merchant. Beiming Xue put a palm to her forehead and sighed. ¡°You see? My life is forfeit now. All I can do is stick to my boss and hope for the best~~¡± Moonlight Stone laughed uncontrollably at our antics. It didn¡¯t take long for her to blend into our party completely. ¡­... We marched on. As it turned out, the only mobs that existed at the first floor of Myriad Poison Cave were Myriad Poison Sandworms. At first they only appeared in pairs or trios, so we could just lure them to us one by one and kill them all. But the further we went, the greater their numbers became, and soon we arrived at a stretch of open land that was overflowing with Myriad Poison Sandworms. There had to be hundreds of them at the minimum. ¡°What should we do?¡± He Yi asked seriously. ¡°We either make a do-or-die charge or return to the city for dinner. Make your choice!¡± Murong Mingyue said expressionlessly, ¡°Send Lu Chen in¡­¡± I shook my head immediately. ¡°Hell no! There¡¯re enough of them to kill me with just a spit each¡­¡± It was at this moment Beiming Xue suggested, ¡°Why don¡¯t we find a choke point somewhere, draw them to that location and kill them with our AoE skills? Boss has Thousand Mirage Slash, I have my Evil Spirit Volley, and Sister Moonlight Stone has her Level 30 AoE spell Arctic Rain, am I right? We should be able to slaughter everything that comes our way with ease and level up much faster than before!¡± Murong Mingyue mulled over the idea. ¡°It sounds good, but who¡¯s going to draw the mobs in? And where should we set up our choke point?¡± ¡°If I remember correctly, Lu Chen is pretty good at this, am I right?¡± He Yi smiled at me with hope and deep trust in her eyes. I nodded reassuringly. ¡°We can do this at the corner we just passed through. There is a stalagmite formation over there that¡¯s blocking the corner and providing a lot of cover. All we need to do is to assign one to three people at key locations, and everything should proceed smoothly. I¡¯ll be the main tank, and sis will be my healer. Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone, give it everything you have while I hold the line.¡± ¡°How are you going to draw the mobs in though?¡± ¡°It¡¯s easy. My Dark Wasp is a flying pet, and the Myriad Poison Sandworms won¡¯t attack an airborne target if I make it fly above their attack range. It should be able to lure them all over without losing any health. Just leave it to me.¡± He Yi nodded. ¡°That¡¯s settled then. But before that, let¡¯s go check the choke point and see if it¡¯s actually usable!¡± I smiled reassuringly at her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I was watching our surroundings even before we came here. It¡¯ll be perfect, just wait till you see¡­¡± ¡°...¡± As I had said, the corner of this map was perfect for our purpose. Almost all games had a ¡°bug¡± like this that the player could exploit, and even if the game designers actively tried to avoid making them to minimize player exploits, they weren¡¯t infallible gods who could account for everything. Bugs would always exist no matter how many closed betas there were, it was all a matter of putting in the effort to spot them. I started assigning my party members into various positions. The stalagmites here were crawling with poison ivy, but I still motioned the girls to step into the formation and said, ¡°Sis, Beiming Xue, and Moonlight Stone, stand here. Eve, stand here¡­¡± ¡°Ohh!¡± I hadn¡¯t intended for it to happen, but the sight of several curvaceous beauties side by side to one another was magnificent to say the least. Murong Mingyue and He Yi for example, were almost sandwiching each other. He Yi was looking at the mini map when she asked, ¡°Why are there two empty spots still?¡± I answered, ¡°That is correct. One of the spots is for the Dark Wasp, and the other one¡¯s mine!¡± He Yi smiled at me. ¡°Got it. Now go!¡± ¡­... I made a quick trip back to the front and discovered that there were a lot more Myriad Sandworms that I had initially imagined. There had to be at least 400 of them just loitering about the open ground. Hmph hmph, this should be fun. I couldn¡¯t wait to see my experience bar fill up like a rocket! The Dark Wasp flapped its wings and flew toward the front. Thanks to my careful control, it hovered just 4 yards above the ground, just close enough to draw aggro, but not so close that the sandworms could attack it. This is how you aggro a sea of mobs without losing even a point of HP! Chapter 175: Ring of Hymn My heart beat like a drum as I ran back to my party, and it was impossible to tell if it was due to excitement or fright. Could we really handle this many Myriad Poison Sandworms by ourselves? However, I quickly calmed down and told myself that we had Beiming Xue, a super damage dealer and Murong Mingyue, a super healer. ¡­... Meanwhile, the girls were still waiting for their party leader to return at the choke point. Suddenly, Beiming Xue smiled and said, ¡°Ah, he¡¯s back!¡± At first He Yi was beaming at the announcement, but was quickly overcame by surprise when she looked at the minimap. ¡°OMG, just how many sandworms is Lu Chen pulling toward us? The area ahead of us is chock-full of ¡®em...¡± Murong Mingyue¡¯s mouth had also fallen open. ¡°Shh, it looks like shit just got real¡­¡± Whoosh! I showed up at this exact moment. In fact, I almost tripped head first into He Yi¡¯s lap because I was running too quickly. Catching me with her free left hand, He Yi smiled at me and asked, ¡°Are you okay?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± I nodded and ordered the Dark Wasp to lower its altitude, plugging a gap between the stalagmite formation several paces away from me. Now that He Yi, the Dark Wasp and I had formed a frontline where the Myriad Poison Sandworms couldn¡¯t get through unless they killed one of us, the three beauties behind us were free to rain havoc without having to worry about being attacked. Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue tried to send out their Wasps, but I stopped them quickly. ¡°Recall your pets!¡± Murong Mingyue asked, ¡°Why though?¡± ¡°Because¡­¡± I barely had enough time to point at the poor things before they were torn to shreds by the Myriad Poison Sandworms. ¡°Never mind. I don¡¯t know why the flowers are so red either¡­¡± He Yi raised her blade and declared seriously, ¡°Prepare for battle!¡± Dumbfounded, I hurriedly stopped her. ¡°Boss, Eve, it¡¯s better if you don¡¯t move. If you accidentally draw aggro, Sister Mingyue won¡¯t be able to heal both you and me. Just let me be the tank, okay? All you and the Dark Wasp need to do is stand between the gap and don¡¯t move¡­¡± He Yi pursed her lips unhappily. ¡°Fine. It¡¯s so not cool to be a weakling~~¡± I gave her a reassuring smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I promise you we¡¯ll get you up there once we cleared out a couple more high difficulty zones!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± The sea of sandworms finally reached us. However, every last one of them was slithering toward the Dark Wasp because it was the one who provoked them earlier. It looked like they wouldn¡¯t be satisfied unless they make the Dark Wasp pay by tearing it to shreds. I activated Ghost Deity Armor, raised the Ghost Ice Soul and summoned six shiny lights of death into existence. They hit the swarm perfectly and caused a ton of numbers to pop up. 1042! 1123! 1034! ¡­... At the same time, Beiming Xue launched an Evil Spirit Volley and sent 8 arrows flying into the swarm. They exploded like mini-bombs and dealt splash damage to everything that was caught within the blast radius. So good! Beauty Moonlight Stone also raised her staff and used Arctic Rain. It was a Level 30 AoE spell, so it did only around 20% the damage a normal single-target spell would do. The ridiculous damage¡ªand I don¡¯t mean that positively¡ªwas the reason why mages almost never used it during PvP or grinding. However, in this scenario where the skill could hit more than 5 enemies and slow them down slightly, it was absolutely worth having it. At least 30 Myriad Poison Sandworms were caught in the spell, so Moonlight Stone¡¯s current damage output was only inferior to Beiming Xue¡¯s and my own! The Myriad Poison Sandworms swarmed toward me. According to my calculations, only three sandworms should be able to attack me at the same time, but even then I was taking an insane amount of damage. Three hits and a Poison Spit were all it took to delete 1247 HP from my health bar! Swhoosh swhoosh! But Murong Mingyue¡¯s heals were very timely. I was surrounded by two flashes of holy light, and¡ª +742! +447! Tsk tsk, two heals and I was almost at full health... Man, it feels so nice to have a wet nurse who knows what she¡¯s doing~~ Thousand Mirage Slash¡¯s cooldown was 15 seconds, and Evil Spirit Volley¡¯s cooldown was 10 seconds. Neither skill took particularly long to recharge, so we were visibly thinning down the swarm even though it had only been two minutes since the start of the battle. Our DPS was so awesome that Moonlight Stone had to voice her shock. ¡°OMG, our EXP is flying like crazy! I¡­ I¡¯m so happy!¡± Even He Yi was looking like she had overdosed on happiness. The sight of her EXP bar soaring was just that uplifting. However, I was in a bit of a pickle. Some time later, Murong Mingyue couldn¡¯t keep up with the damage that was being dealt to me! She said anxiously, ¡°What the hell, what¡¯s wrong with my crit rate today? Even the mobs crit more than I do! Lu Chen, what should I do? You have less than one-third HP left and I don¡¯t have enough to put you back in the green!¡± I nodded. ¡°It¡¯s okay, sis!¡± I grabbed a Rank 5 Health Potion from my bag and restored 1000 HP to myself instantly. One big heal for Murong Mingyue later, I was at full health again! Beiming Xue laughed. ¡°A Rank 5 Health Potion? You¡¯re a bigger spender than I thought, boss!¡± I smacked the sandworm blocking in front of me to the side and laughed back. ¡°Well, what did you expect? Any player who chooses to play a heavy armor class should be prepared to splash some cash!¡± Murong Mingyue exclaimed in admiration, ¡°Your Defense is insane, Lu Chen. I doubt even Gui Guzi with his shield is tankier than you¡­¡± I didn¡¯t say anything because she was right. I was tankier than Gui Guzi thanks to my Ghost Deity Armor, not to mention that my general¡¯s greatest flaw was his subpar equipment and his lack of Magic Resist. That being said, his ability to absorb damage and heal himself with his Undying Shield were still an incredible advantage he had over most people. Even Lin Yixin admitted that she would have to spend a teensy weensy more effort to kill the current Gui Guzi~~ We continued to bombard the Myriad Poison Sandworms and drop them like flies, but it took us around half an hour to kill most of them. Finally, only a couple low health sandworms were left near the end of the slaughter! The Dark Wasp and I charged them while Beiming Xue assisted us from behind with her Evil Spirit Volley. We easily cleaned up the remaining mobs with ease! Swoosh! A beam of golden light surrounded me as I ascended to Level 68. Who would¡¯ve thought that I would gain this much EXP in so little time? Now this is how you grind experience efficiently! Murong Mingyue, He Yi, and Moonlight Stone leveled up twice after the battle because their levels were lower. Everyone looked overjoyed and excited by their reward. The space in front of us was filled with shinies. Big Magic Stones were everywhere after we mowed down hundreds upon hundreds of mobs. We barely paid any attention to them however, because who cares about Big Magic Stones when you can ooh and aah over equipment instead? That¡¯s right, there were at least ten items lying on the ground, or rather the poisonous grasses, by the end of the battle. Still, I was aware that a Level 70 common mob would drop at best a Dark Steel¨Cgrade item. Only a boss or a Level 100 common mob had a chance of dropping a Silver-grade equipment. He Yi lifted a fiery red spear and said, ¡°Look, this one¡¯s Steel-grade with 125 Attack. It¡¯s not too bad, right? We can sell it in the guild after we get back!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± On the other side, Murong Mingyue let out an exclamation of surprise. She was holding a shiny ring and smiling from ear to ear. ¡°It¡¯s a ring that improves healing output! This is awesome!¡± Swhoosh! She brought up the ring¡¯s stat screen and surprised us a bit. It was as good as she said. Ring of Hymn (Dark Steel¨Cgrade) Stamina: +20 Intelligence: +14 Passive: Increases user¡¯s healing by 7% Level Requirement: 60 ¡­... He Yi gave her a smile and said, ¡°Mingyue, this is definitely a ring that you can use, so take it!¡± ¡°Okay. Thanks boss~¡± Murong Mingyue equipped the ring immediately, improving both her healing output and survivability at once! We gathered the rest of the equipment and put it in my bag. There were 2 Dark Steel¨Cgrade, 11 Steel-grade, and 13 Bronze-grade items in total. They were all high-level equipment¡ªespecially the Dark Steel¨Cgrade and the Steel grade ones¡ªI expected them to make big bucks in the market. As for the Bronze-grade equipment, they were most likely going to be sold at the NPC shops. Murong Mingyue consumed a Magic Consumable to restore her MP while I moved to the front of the party again. I brought up the minimap before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s go! A bit further and we¡¯ll reach Myriad Poison Cave¡¯s second floor!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± However, we didn¡¯t go far before the ground suddenly started shaking beneath us! ¡°Earthquake?¡± He Yi gripped my arm tightly while glancing left and right. I simply stared toward the front with a calm smile on my face. ¡°No, it¡¯s not. See, there¡¯s our chance. I knew there would be a boss on this floor!¡± The ground churned visibly in front of us. Something was moving toward us from underground! I ran toward it and plunged the Ghost Ice Soul straight into the earth! Puchi! The attack drew a spurt of green blood and a screech of pain from the creature hiding beneath the surface. It burst into view, revealing itself to be an extraordinarily large Myriad Poison Sandworm about 5 meters long. Crawling out on its 12 steely legs it turned its ugly head toward our direction and glared at us hatefully with its blood-red eyes! Myriad Poison Sandworm King (Silver Rank Boss) Level: 70 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: After absorbing various poisonous gases and undergoing many transformations, the king of the local sandworms has become a powerful demonic creature. Now, it rules over the Myriad Poison Sandworms residing in the first floor of Myriad Poison Cave. ¡­... I couldn¡¯t read its stats, but I knew that it was a Level 70 Silver Rank boss. It meant that it wasn¡¯t impossible to kill at my current level! I rushed forward and fired an Ice Ray straight toward its body! Bang! The boss withdrew unto itself and blocked my attack with its steely scales! 127! I exclaimed in shock when I saw the paltry amount of damage I dealt. ¡°Fuck! No way! There¡¯s no way my skill dealt this little damage!¡± Beiming Xue pointed at the boss and yelled, ¡°Boss, I think the sandworm king is using a defensive skill!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Encouraged by Beiming Xue¡¯s words, I ran forward again and executed Slayer Slash! Bang! This time I noticed a light bluish shield covering the boss when the skill hit its body, proving that Beiming Xue¡¯s earlier observation was correct. The same thing had happened when the assassin of Flower Room had blocked my attack! At the same time, Beiming Xue fired her own Devil Piercing Arrow, the one that ignored 50% of the target¡¯s Defense! Thud! 97! However, the amount of damage she did was so small that we were one shock away from turning into stone. What the hell was this boss, and how did it block our attacks like they were nothing? ¡­... Suddenly, the sandworm king drew back the twin blades attached to the sides of his head before slicing me across my chest armor, sending a wave of intense pain to assault my senses! 754! Chapter 176: Poison Beautifly ¡°Watch out!¡± Murong Mingyue shouted as she healed me back to full health. He Yi watched the sandworm king with an enigmatic smile on her face. Her beautiful pupils looked as deep as a starry night. ¡°The boss¡¯s shell is almost impervious, so we need to find its weak point and attack it!¡± He Yi¡¯s words made my eyes light up. She must be right! The sandworm king raised its head and attacked me again with its twin blades. Its face was covered in tiny pores and wriggling hair, and at the center of its savage countenance was a bloody, gaping maw that looked like it was used to shred a person into pieces before feeding on them! I ran away from the boss while shouting, ¡°Lil Beiming, trying shooting the boss in its mouth!¡± Beiming Xue fired a Penetrating Arrow right as I was finished speaking! Bang! This time, the attack dealt a whopping 1289 damage! It was as He Yi said, we needed to target the boss¡¯s weak points specifically to kill it! ¡­... Murong Mingyue said, ¡°Lu Chen, draw aggro and try to tank as much damage as you can. While the boss is busy beating the shit out of you, Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone will attack its mouth!¡± I exclaimed in shock, ¡°Fuck, why do I suddenly feel like I was born under an unlucky star?!¡± Murong Mingyue nodded affirmatively. ¡°All baits are like that¡­¡± I retreated until I saw a chance to go on the offensive myself. Attack, attack, attack! If I had to be a bait, then I¡¯m going to be one who made life a living hell for the boss! The Ghost Ice Soul glowed with undead energy as I executed Pardon and Desperate Gambit in succession! Puchi! I struck the sandworm king perfectly in the mouth and caused more green blood to spill out of its mouth. The Ghost Ice Soul was an incredibly sharp weapon to begin with, and Desperate Gambit cut through its tough shell like a hot knife through butter! MISS! 4762! Shit, I even got a critical hit? Woo! Behind me, the girls fell quiet for a moment before Beiming Xue finally complained with a pout, ¡°Will boss die if he doesn¡¯t show off one time?¡± The Dark Wasp also flew toward the sandworm king and unleashed a deadly Flurry on its mouth, deleting almost 3000 HP in four hits. To say that it was powerful would be an understatement here! The sandworm king had around 60k HP, but it didn¡¯t have a level advantage over me because we were only two levels apart. Without the stat penalty that a level advantage imposed, the sandworm king was strong, but not strong enough to one-shot me, especially with Murong Mingyue keeping me healthy at all times. We absolutely could take down this boss without losing a single person! I smiled when I saw the sandworm king¡¯s remaining HP. ¡°Get ready, everyone. Let¡¯s hope that the boss would drop something good!¡± The girls were incredibly excited. A Level 70 Silver Rank boss had a chance of dropping even a Gold-grade item! Clang! My sword cut through the sandworm king¡¯s mandible one last time before it collapsed. It actually looked a bit like a shrimp the way its tough shell lay disorderly on the ground. Pop... A bunch of items lay scattered across the ground. There were a dozen or so Phantasmal Magic Stones alone. High-level bosses are such a generous bunch! Besides that, the boss also dropped a shiny metal armor wristguard and dark-blue cloth armor legguards. They both looked pretty good! I picked them up and brought up their stat screens. Azure Wolf Wristguards (Silver-grade) Defense: 115 Magic Resist: 50 Strength: +24 Stamina: +20 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 40 Level Requirement: 60 ¡­... It was incredibly good for a metal armor equipment. It was rare to find wristguards with 115 Defense, let alone ones that added 40 Defense on top of that. With a total of 155 Defense, in terms of Defense alone, they were superior to my Dark Gold¨Cgrade Flame Dragon Gauntlets! I tossed it straight into He Yi¡¯s arms and smiled at her. ¡°I have Dark Gold¨Cgrade wristguards already, so these are yours, boss. You should be around Level 60 by the time we¡¯re done with Myriad Poison Cave, and you¡¯ll be able to do your third class promotion!¡± He Yi¡¯s eyes lit up with joy. ¡°Really? You¡¯re giving top-tier Silver-grade wristguards to me?¡± Everyone nodded while Murong Mingyue said, ¡°Lu Chen already has better ones and the rest of us can¡¯t equip metal armor. Just take them!¡± He Yi accepted the gift gratefully and nodded. ¡°Thank you, everyone. Let¡¯s keep up the good work!¡± The second equipment, the cloth armor legguards were a Level 60 Dark Steel¨Cgrade item that boosted its user¡¯s magical attacks by 5%. Again, it unquestionably belonged to the only mage in our party, Moonlight Stone. We counted 15 Phantasmal Magic Stones after we picked up everything, so we split it among ourselves and got three each. These magic stones were still worth a lot of gold, and since gold equaled money, no player could say no to them. We continued forward and killed a Myriad Poison Sandworm or two on the way. Finally, we reached a deep, dark hole with a bit of light peeking out of it. It was the entrance leading to Myriad Poison Cave¡¯s second floor! He Yi looked at the hole and asked in puzzlement, ¡°Are we heading to the second floor underground?¡± I nodded. ¡°Does this mean that Myriad Poison Cave is a duplex?¡± ¡°...¡± I had no idea how to respond to the inane question, so I said, ¡°Wait for me here for a bit while I head downstairs. Who knows what kind of monsters might be waiting for us at the second floor?¡± ¡°Oh, okay. Go do your thing!¡± I crouched a little and leaped into the hole, wind roaring against my ears. It didn¡¯t take long before my feet hit solid ground, and I progressed deeper into the cave. The light grew brighter and brighter, and soon the world in front of me opened up to reveal a whole new zone. The system dinged once to notify me that I had arrived at the second floor of Myriad Poison Cave. But I didn¡¯t respond to it. It was because I was too busy staring at the sight in front of me. Flap flap flap... About ten yards away from me was a beautiful girl floating in midair. She had a beautiful face, a curvaceous body, and she was almost fully naked besides the key areas being covered up by a leaf. She held a sword that looked like it was made out of a pine tree branch in her hand, and she had a pair of colorful butterfly wings behind her back. As she flew across the air, all I could think of was how beautiful she looked! ¡°What the fuck is this¡­¡± I murmured to myself. Suddenly, I heard a rustling sound behind me. The girls had come down from the first floor, and they too were caught off-guard by the sight of the butterfly woman. A while later, Murong Mingyue smiled and said, ¡°I was wondering why Lu Chen wasn¡¯t saying anything after he came down, but now we know he¡¯s too busy appreciating the view. Still, you know she¡¯s just a mob, right Lu Chen? Her body shape is also average at best. If you want to see something better, you can visit Eve while she¡¯s taking a bath¡­¡± He Yi turned beet red immediately and kicked Murong Mingyue. ¡°Geez, what are you even saying?¡± Beiming Xue glanced at the mob¡¯s breasts before looking down at her own. She started making weird, sad noises. Beauty Moonlight Stone felt no pressure whatsoever. I finally broke out of my reverie and read the monster¡¯s stats¡ª Poison Beautifly (Elite) Level: 72 Attack: 450~640 Defense: 380 HP: 4500 Skill: Slayer Slash, Charm Introduction: Poison Beautifly is a poisonous creature born with a humanoid face and a humanoid body. It is incredibly beautiful, and it can scatter pink poisonous powder that charms its target and immobilizes them. ¡­... ¡°It¡¯s an elite¡­¡± I sucked in a deep breath and said, ¡°640 Attack! This is going to hurt for sure, not to mention that it has the ability to charm its target. What a conundrum this is¡­¡± He Yi rolled her eyes at me. ¡°Come on, you¡¯re the only one who would fall for something like that. I¡¯m pretty sure that the rest of us are immune, right girls?¡± Everyone voiced their agreement and expressed their disdain toward my lack of self-control. Seriously though, I was just expressing my honest feelings. I¡¯m just a young man who had just recently awakened to the concept of love! It was only natural to let one¡¯s imagination wander after seeing something this¡­ liberating. The fact that I didn¡¯t salivate on the spot should be more than enough proof that my self-control was off the charts! Beiming Xue asked, ¡°How should we kill it?¡± I suggested cautiously, ¡°Lil Beiming, shoot a Poison Beautifly and lure it to us. I¡¯ll intercept it halfway and try to kill it before it ever gets the chance to do anything!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Beiming Xue drew her bow and fired her arrow! Thud! 784! The arrow hit the Poison Beautifly squarely in the chest. As I thought, Beiming Xue was overcome with jealousy. I couldn¡¯t sense an ounce of mercy from that shot at all. ¡°Ah! Grovel beneath my feet, you damnable creature!¡± The Poison Beautifly shrieked angrily before charging Beiming Xue with her wooden sword raised. While she was distracted, I activated Charge and zipped toward her like lightning! Swhoosh! Successfully stunning the Poison Beautifly, I then followed up with a merciless Pardon + Desperate Gambit combo! MISS! 2984! I swung at the Poison Beautifly and deleted another 1094 HP from her health bar, meaning that the Poison Beautifly had taken over 4500 damage since the start of the engagement. The mob turned out to be a classic glass cannon type, so it let out a scream and died before it was able to do anything! Pop... A Big Magic Stone and a dark green shortbow dropped to the ground. When I picked it up, I was surprised to find that it was a Dark Steel¨Cgrade weapon! Scout¡¯s Shortbow (Dark Steel¨Cgrade) Attack: 45~108 Agility: +17 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Agility by 8 Level Requirement: 60 ¡­... ¡°Hehe, not bad!¡± I laughed. ¡°This should be encouragement enough to any archer within the guild who hasn¡¯t reached Level 60 yet!¡± He Yi nodded. ¡°There aren¡¯t many good weapons during the early stage of the game, so all things considered this shortbow is pretty good in its own right. I¡¯m sure someone in the guild will buy it off our hands in no time!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± I tossed the shortbow into my bag and went searching for my next target. Unlike on the first floor, there was more than one type of mob to be found at the second. Besides the Poison Beautifly, there was also a scary elite mob called ¡°Venomous Twin-headed Snake¡±. As its name might suggest, the mob had two snake heads, and its scales were brown. It had a huge chance of paralyzing its target with each bite! What this meant was that the second floor was a lot more dangerous even though there were less mobs than on the first floor! Swhoosh! A Poison Beautifly flew over and scattered puffs of pink powder! Beep! Combat Log: Poison Beautifly used ¡°Charm¡±, reducing your movement speed and attack speed by 50%. Your HP regeneration has been reduced to 0. ¡­... Holy shit, this ¡°Charm¡± is way more powerful than I expected! He Yi and Murong Mingyue were caught in the powder as well. Luckily, Beiming Xue acted quickly by drawing the Poison Beautifly¡¯s attention to herself and killing it with some good kiting. But that wasn¡¯t the end of the battle. A Venomous Twin-headed Snake had sneaked up on her from behind and clamped its jaws around her white legs before anyone realized it. It was only the first bite, but the paralyze activated, CCing Lil Beiming for 3 seconds straight! God damn, there is danger everywhere in this place! I charged the Venomous Twin-headed Snake and saved Beiming Xue from her predicament. Chapter 177: Scorpion King Midnight, Myriad Poison Cave, Second Floor. It had been five or six hours since we entered the second floor. The corpses of Venomous Twin-headed Snakes and Poison Beautiflies littered the narrow, winding cavern we were in. Nobody knew how many elite mobs we had killed, only that our levels had skyrocketed since the beginning of the battle! As the highest damage dealer of the party, I was currently sitting at Level 69, 17% EXP. When I first entered Myriad Poison Cave, I was at Level 67, 81% EXP. It was obvious to everyone that leveling only got harder and harder, so my current leveling speed was absolutely nothing to scoff at! Swoosh! A beam of golden light surrounded He Yi as she leveled up to 60. She was the lowest-leveled player in our party, and now she was finally qualified to undergo her third class promotion! Swhoosh... There was another flash of light, and a pair of wristguards with fire running across their surface wrapped around He Yi¡¯s arms, drastically improving her Defense. These were the Azure Wolf Wristguards. They were the first step of He Yi toward becoming a high-Defense magic knight! Murong Mingyue smiled. ¡°Tsk, it¡¯s past 1 am already. Are we going to finish this quest or what?¡± He Yi nodded and smiled back. ¡°Of course! A chance to grind experience like this doesn¡¯t come very often, and we can¡¯t let Lu Chen and his amazing quest down, can we?¡± ¡°But staying up late will cause endocrine dyscrasia¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s only today,¡± I consoled her. In the end, Murong Mingyue curled her lips and acquiesced, ¡°Fine. Let¡¯s keep killing then!¡± ¡­... ¡°Hiss hiss¡­¡± After a Venomous Twin-headed Snake died, I opened my palm and cried out ¡°Death Plunder¡± softly. Three brownish scales entered my hand in the next moment. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have foraged Venomous Snake Scale x3! I took a look. It was a Rank 6 armor crafting material, and it added 5% poison resistance when applied to a leather armor. Not bad. 5% poison resistance means slightly more survivability and recovery after being stabbed by Assassin''s Poisoned Weapon. Long story short, with enough poison resistance, anyone could become impervious to any poison. He Yi also took a look at the crafting material before smiling at me. ¡°Is it useful?¡± I nodded. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll keep this for Yamete. I¡¯ve collected almost a thousand of them, and he should be able to create a lot of poison-resistant leather armor pieces.¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°Mn!¡± Speaking of which, we were almost at the end of the second floor. Beiming Xue let out a yawn before complaining in disappointment, ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like there¡¯s a boss on the second floor, does it?¡± But I looked around and found a partially hidden red dot on the mini map. It wasn¡¯t too far away from us! I pointed to the south and declared, ¡°Everyone, boss battle ahead! Please restore yourselves to full immediately!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± The girls were surprised, but they obeyed my orders and started chugging HP pots and Magic Consumables. I had proven my gaming knowledge and prediction abilities many times throughout the quest, and in a sense it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to claim that I had completely conquered them with my hardcore experience and technique. Mentally speaking, of course. Gripping the Ghost Ice Soul, I carefully scouted ahead with the Dark Wasp beside me. When I turned a corner, I immediately saw a crouching giant about 50 yards away from me. The distance was why it didn¡¯t attack me immediately, not to mention that I was hiding behind a clump of poisonous bushes anyway, so it couldn¡¯t possibly spot me even if I was close enough to draw aggro. I suddenly felt a soft feeling behind me. It was He Yi grabbing my arm, leaning on me and poking her head out of the wall to check out the boss. She looked like a pretty little thief. ¡°Yah, so big¡­¡± He Yi exclaimed in admiration. I nodded. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s big, isn¡¯t it?¡± Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone also poked their heads out around this time. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at the comedic sight of ourselves before joking, ¡°If an enemy was waiting for us right here, they could probably kill five birds with one stone if they sliced our necks from top to bottom!¡± He Yi snorted before patting me on the shoulder. ¡°Time to go. We¡¯ll cheer for you from behind!¡± I raised my Ghost Ice Soul and boldly strode forward. It was only a boss. Why would I have anything to fear from the symbol of wealth and divine items? Come at me, my new challenger! But I was starting to feel weak in the knees when I had shortened our distance to 30 yards or so, and the reason was very simple. The fucker was a three-meter tall giant scorpion with a pair of huge pincers that looked like they were made of steel, and a body that looked like it was clad in greenish armor. But none of these characteristics came even close to being as terrifying as the scorpion¡¯s tail, a venomous sting that literally glowed with a green light and looked sharp enough to pierce pretty much anything. I didn¡¯t want to imagine how much ¡°ecstasy¡± it would bring to be stung by it! Myriad Poison Scorpion King (Golden Rank Boss) Level: 72 Attack: 550~750 Defense: 620 HP: 100000 Skills: Slash, Poison Sting, Poison Needle Storm Properties: 100% poison resistance, 45% magic damage resistance, 25% physical damage resistance Introduction: The scorpion king transformed into a terrifying creature after absorbing an unfathomable volume of poisonous gas into itself during its reign in Myriad Poison Cave. It is said that those who killed the Myriad Poison Scorpion King will obtain a tenacious armor and a poisonous blade. ¡­... I snorted at the introductory text and shared its stat screen inside the party channel. At the same time, I laughed. ¡°It looks like this boss has a 100% chance to drop an armor and a weapon. Do your best, everyone! I¡¯m ready anytime you guys are!¡± Murong Mingyue said, ¡°Lu Chen, this Myriad Poison Scorpion King¡¯s Attack is no weaker than yours! You¡¯d better be careful!¡± ¡°Mn. It¡¯s no shame to admit that its Attack is totally higher than mine!¡± I raised my sword and laughed again. ¡°Come out, everyone. Beiming Xue, use Evil Spirit Volley to lure the boss over. I¡¯ll use Charge to intercept it midway. Sis, please make sure you focus your healing on me. I¡¯m sure this boss won¡¯t be as easy as the last one, so be ready to die once or twice for the cause!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± The girls stopped hiding themselves and got to open ground. Following my orders, Beiming Xue drew her bow to its fullest, 8 iron arrows nocked. All of them were shrouded in ghastly souls whose bloodcurdling screams made my scalp tingle. Be it in terms of visual effects or actual power, Evil Spirit Volley was one of a kind! Thud thud thud¡­ Beiming Xue ¡°flicked¡± arrow after arrow at the boss in front of her. Bow flicking was an advanced technique that tested archer¡¯s reaction speed and judgement. Just like Volley, the direction of Evil Spirit Volley¡¯s arrows was completely random. As a result, it was up to the player to use the bow flick mechanic when shooting the arrows to correct their path and shoot their intended target. With a skill that fired 8 arrows in just two seconds, it wasn¡¯t an easy feat to perform at all! However, Beiming Xue was a strong, mechanically-skilled player, and bow flicking was a piece of cake to her. The average player¡¯s hit rate was less than 20%, but Beiming Xue consistently hit over 50% of her shots! Six out of eight arrows she fired struck the boss dead-on and erupted like mini bombs across its surface, causing the purple flames and energy shockwaves all over its shell. Every shot dealt at least 200¨C300 damage to the boss! Damn, the scorpion king¡¯s Defense was very impressive! ¡°Roar!¡± The Gold Rank boss roared and awakened from its slumber. It started rushing toward Beiming Xue like the wind while clapping its pincers like they were the scissors of death. ¡°Everyone, watch out!¡± Beiming Xue jumped a couple steps backward and fired another shot at the boss, a Devil Piercing Arrow this time. The girl was still young, but her skill and movement were starting to look like a true bow master¡¯s! ¡­... I immediately charged the boss and drew its attention to me instead. All of us would die if I failed to maintain its aggro on me! Swhoosh! A successful stun later, I dragged my sword ruthlessly across the scorpion king¡¯s shell. I could see that its armor was thinner around the head, so I was sure that I had struck a weak point! Ice Ray! Slayer Slash! 784! 822! As I thought, my attacks penetrated most of its Defense. Although it was still largely weakened by the enemy¡¯s protective shell, it wasn¡¯t an impossible foe to kill! Icicles started forming around the scorpion king¡¯s shell thanks to Ice Ray. I wasn¡¯t able to aggro the boss yet, but Ice Ray slowed its movement speed massively and gave me the opportunity to attack it a few more times. Finally, the gigantic creature stopped chasing after Beiming Xue and swung its pincer toward me. Very good. Had I chosen Blaze as my skill during Level 50, our party would have been in danger already. Clearly, Ice Ray was the skill to pick for a control-type melee fighter! Splash! While the boss was swinging its pincer, it activated Slash and hit me on the shoulder! Clang! Sparks burst out from the point of contact and sent tremors throughout my body like a drum. My shoulder burned like something had torn through my flesh. Heaven knows just how powerful this scorpion king was! 1237! Four digits! An incredible amount of damage! He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open in surprise. ¡°Heavens, this boss can hit Lu Chen for four digits? This¡­ this is starting to look a bit dicey. Kill the bastard!¡± Beiming Xue continued to rain arrows on the boss, Moonlight Stone cast her Ice Dragon Howl again and again. Unfortunately, the amount of damage they were able to deal was fairly limited, especially Moonlight Stone, since the boss had a property that negated almost half of the magic damage she was dealing. This meant that Beiming Xue and I were the only real damage dealers in our party right now! The Dark Wasp attacked the boss 4 times in a row and deleted about 2000 HP from its health bar. Not bad, my pet! It was doing far more damage than Beiming Xue at the moment at least! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Murong Mingyue did everything she could to put me in the green, but this boss¡¯s Attack was beyond her ability to manage. Every time it hit me, it dealt around 500 to 1000 points of damage. If the sucker managed to get a critical hit, I didn¡¯t even want to imagine what would happen to me! ¡°Lu Chen¡ªLu Chen I can¡¯t keep you alive¡­¡± Murong Mingyue yelled mid-battle. Turning around in a hurry, I ordered the Dark Wasp to take a hit for me while I drank a Rank 6 Health Potion! +1500! Tsk tsk, super potions are the best! Look! I¡¯m back at full health again! Chapter 178: Poison Needle Storm Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t even know where to begin. ¡°Eve, you can attack the boss! As long as Lu Chen doesn¡¯t retreat and reset the boss¡¯s aggro, it will never attack you!¡± He Yi nodded and rushed at the boss like a beautiful silver butterfly. She was a lot more beautiful than the Poison Beautiflies on this floor! Crack! Her blade cut through the boss''s posterior. As usual, He Yi¡¯s attack was absolutely on point. 117! ¡°OMG, is my Attack really that lousy?¡± He Yi complained with a displeased look. Murong Mingyue gave up. ¡°Just come back. You¡¯re practically taunting the boss at this point, and it won¡¯t be funny anymore if it actually gets angry¡­¡± He Yi went away, and it was back to me fighting the boss alone. The Dark Wasp was doing okay, but everyone else¡¯s pets were decorations at best. Although the Wasp was heralded as the king of offensive pets during the early game, here they couldn¡¯t even do enough damage to pierce through the boss''s Defense. The two-digit damage they dealt made me feel like crying on their behalf. I shouted to boost everyone¡¯s morale. ¡°This fight¡¯s turning out to be a slog, but if we win it doesn¡¯t matter, does it? Keep it up, everyone! We¡¯re definitely on the right track!¡± The girls nodded in agreement, but not the boss. It suddenly rushed me and stabbed my shoulder armor with its sharp, poisonous posterior! Puchi! Blood spilled all over the place. A wave of numbness and near-lethal dose of pain made me feel like I was about to join my ancestors in heaven! 1102! Beep! Combat Log: Myriad Poison Scorpion King used ¡°Poison Sting¡±, dealing 1102 damage to you. You have been poisoned, and you will lose 100% of your max HP over 30 seconds! ¡­... Fuck! This is bad! I¡¯m going to lose all my HP in 30 seconds? I pulled out an HP pot and drank it immediately. At the same time, I started running away from the boss. I absolutely couldn¡¯t take any more damage until this poison effect was over! Murong Mingyue gritted her teeth as she cast heal after heal on me. Everyone saw the combat log in the party channel, so they knew that they had to do everything in their power to keep me alive. If the main tank died, then it¡¯d only be a matter of time before the party got wiped. Thirty painful seconds later, I was hovering around 245 HP. The boss had already crushed the Dark Wasp and the Wasps into pancakes while I was busy running for my life. There just wasn¡¯t much a low-rank pet could do now that everyone¡¯s equipment and levels were so much better than before! The Myriad Poison Scorpion King charged me again. Clearly, it wasn¡¯t going to give me too much time to heal myself! Swhoosh! +765! Murong Mingyue said urgently after healing my HP to over 1000, ¡°Go, Lu Chen!¡± I drank a Rank 6 Health Potion the moment its cooldown was up! +1500! And just like that, I was almost back to full health. It feels so nice to be rejuvenated again! I rushed toward the boss and dished out my signature combo: Pardon + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 2247! Go Pardon! The Myriad Poison Scorpion King had high Defense, but I was still able to deal a lot of damage thanks to this skill! After the temporary crisis caused by the boss''s skill was over, the situation stabilized and returned to normal. Suddenly, Murong Mingyue shouted, ¡°Oh no! I¡¯m about to run out of Magic Consumables! I won¡¯t be able to cast any spells if I don¡¯t get any supplies within a minute! GG!¡± He Yi exclaimed in shock, ¡°OMG, why are you only saying it now?¡± Murong Mingyue smiled apologetically. ¡°Sorry, I was a bit too engrossed in the fight. Please go to Lu Chen and grab some supplies for me, will you? Be careful!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I sent the boss stumbling half a step backward as He Yi ran toward me. Then, I quickly passed 10 stacks of Rank 6 Steamed Fish Soup to He Yi and smiled. ¡°Be careful¡­¡± ¡°Mn¡­¡± He Yi giggled before running back to Murong Mingyue. What a shame that our beautiful leader was nothing more but a porter right now. Ten minutes later, the boss''s HP dropped to less than 10%. This was important because many high-rank bosses would enter a berserk state or transform to make intruding players¡¯ lives into hell. ¡°Roar!¡± The scorpion king let out an angry roar before transforming its shell into sharp needles. It was going to unleash its power again! I shouted urgently, ¡°It¡¯s Poison Needle Storm, an AoE skill! Back off now!¡± The girls obeyed my order and backed away from the boss quickly. Three seconds later, the boss finished channeling its skill and roared a second time, unleashing a storm of needles to its surroundings! Boom! An ¡°exhilarating¡± feeling erupted across my body as the needles turned me into a human porcupine. 120! 114! 119! 110! 109! ¡­... I was hit by 30 needles at least. No one could¡¯ve survived this without heals! Thankfully, I didn¡¯t lose my cool completely even though I was stunned by the massive damage I took. I drank a Rank 6 Health Potion right before my HP would¡¯ve hit zero, and I barely lived through the deadly assault. I checked the party screen and was glad to find that everyone¡¯s avatars were still lit. Unfortunately, my HP had almost hit rock bottom again despite the HP I gained while chugging my Rank 6 Health Potion. To call the boss''s AoE skill deadly would be the understatement of the day. Had the girls retreated even a second slower, this fight would end in a party wipe without question. No words were exchanged as I ran toward Murong Mingyue, and Murong Mingyue ran toward me. We both understood that we would die if I wasn¡¯t healed up in time! If it was just me, I wouldn¡¯t mind dying once or twice. But I wasn¡¯t alone, and my entire party would be wiped if I died here! But the boss was chasing me, and it didn¡¯t look like I would reach Murong Mingyue before it reached me. Left with no choice, I unleashed my trump card and clicked a skill I hadn¡¯t clicked in a long time! I choose you, little skeleton Xinran! Swhoosh! A red flash of magic later, Xinran was summoned to this world from the Netherworld. However, she looked a lot different from what I remembered. She was covered from head to toe in a mix of random equipment. She wore a copper pan, a snake scale armor that looked like it had seen much better days and a rusty pair of war boots. She also had a rusty iron spear in her hand. What even was this epic appearance? There were so many things I wanted to say, but didn¡¯t know where to start! Even stranger was the fact that Xinran had somehow aggroed the boss away from me the second she appeared. The scorpion king looked visibly shaken and afraid when it saw the little skeleton. A second later, it charged her and swung its giant pincers straight at her head! Puchi! I couldn¡¯t help but close my eyes. By the time I opened them again, Xinran had already gone back to my pet space, leaving behind only a green helmet on the floor. She died just like that after her epic appearance, but she also bought me three seconds of delay before the boss turned its attention back to me. It was just what I needed to stay alive! My Summon Undead skill was gone. It was almost as if the skill was consumed by Xinran after I summoned her. Swhoosh swhoosh... +756! +882! Murong Mingyue¡¯s ridiculously powerful healing spells flashed and washed over my body. Finally, I was no longer in danger of dying! I turned around and attacked the boss again with the Ghost Ice Soul. Ice Ray penetrated the boss''s tattered body like it was nothing, and Slayer Slash left an even deeper gash across the boss''s body! 1743! 1904! WTF? How did I deal so much damage?! For a second I was too stunned to move... Even the girls were staring at me with gaping mouths. He Yi murmured in disbelief, ¡°OMG, our Lu Chen is seriously too powerful. Is this what they call a wild Ultraman?¡± Mingyue nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. The only other possibility is that his salt level is too high and it doubled or even tripled his stats¡­¡± Ouch, I feel like someone just shot me through my heart. In reality, I wasn¡¯t any stronger than I was before. It was the boss who had become weak. It looked like the boss had used up all its armor after turning them into needles and firing them at us, which was why its Defense had dropped like a rock. It was literally at death¡¯s door now! Thud thud thud... Beiming Xue fired another round of Evil Spirit Volley and hit 7 arrows out of 8 this time. Every hit deleted at least 1000 HP from the boss''s health bar, further reinforcing my belief! A couple more hard-hitting blows later, the scorpion king finally let out a dying roar and collapsed to the floor. At the same time, countless items burst out of its dead body! Swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Murong Mingyue and Moonlight Stone both leveled up from its death. Unfortunately, the death of the Level 72 Gold Rank boss only netted me enough experience to reach Level 69, 22%. At this stage, the amount of experience I needed to level was too ridiculous! Just like before, I was given the right to loot the boss''s body. I thought my luck wasn¡¯t too bad, so Gold-grade equipment shouldn¡¯t be out of my reach. Plus, this scorpion king was a high-level Gold Rank boss, so its drops couldn¡¯t be bad, right? I walked up to the boss and kicked away the giant pincer blocking my way. I found a bunch of Phantasmal Magic Stones and three shiny items lying snugly on the ground. The first item was a shining sword, the second item was a metal armor with light flickering across its body, and the third item was a greenish ring. They all looked pretty good! Besides the equipment, the boss also dropped a purple skill book. In my opinion, it was the most valuable drop of the bunch by far! The girls walked over to check out the loot as well. Everyone¡¯s eyes were filled with excitement. I picked up the sword first and brought up its stats screen. The girls¡¯ mouth immediately fell open in disbelief. Abyssal Sword (Gold-grade) Attack: 135~180 Strength: +30 Stamina: +25 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 5% Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 3% Level Requirement: 62 ¡­¡­ Holy shit! The sword boosted its wielder¡¯s Attack by 5% and max HP by 3%, two stats that were absolutely essential to a Warrior class player. In fact, the only class that desired HP more than Warrior was Magic Knight. For them, HP and Defense took priority, and Attack was secondary! I felt my heart tearing apart as I stared at the Abyssal Sword. On one hand, the weapon was even stronger than the Ghost Ice Soul, and the devil on my shoulder was shouting, ¡°I want~ I want~ I want~¡± into my ears. On the other hand, my angel reminded me that He Yi needed this sword more than I did. She was the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and the symbolism behind owning a mighty weapon was even more important than the practical uses it provided. It wasn¡¯t only that. He Yi was almost Level 62 already, and I¡¯m sure she would reach Level 62 right after we cleared out the zone and completed the quest. She would be at the perfect level to equip this sword! Chapter 179: Abyssal Ring The next moment He Yi looked at me and asked, ¡°Lu Chen, your Ghost Ice Soul isn¡¯t as good as this Abyssal Sword, right? How about we make a trade?¡± I gave it some thought before shaking my head. ¡°Nah, it¡¯s fine. You should have this weapon instead. My Ghost Ice Soul is inferior to this Abyssal Sword, but it¡¯s only by ten Attack or so. You on the other hand need to get strong as soon as possible. You don¡¯t want our guild to be a laughingstock because of you, right?¡± Murong Mingyue also agreed with my opinion, ¡°He¡¯s right. The master should wield the Divine Armament, not the other way around! Eve, you should take this Abyssal Sword!¡± I nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m about to hit Level 70 anyway, so I might as well hunt for a Level 70 weapon!¡± Even Beiming Xue joined in on the persuasion. ¡°Sister He Yi, just take it. The Abyssal Sword is great, but Lu Chen really doesn¡¯t need it¡­¡± Finally, He Yi sucked in a deep breath and smiled at all of us. ¡°Okay, okay, I¡¯ll take this Abyssal Sword, but all four of you are going to get a 20K increase in salary this month. Don¡¯t try to stop me¡­¡± I laughed immediately. ¡°Why on earth would we stop you from giving us money?¡± He Yi rolled her eyes at me cutely before accepting the sword. She took her time to caress it before finally putting it back into her bag. Nice. This was a huge step forward in our plan to promote He Yi to a powerful war goddess. Sure, she was incomparable to Lin Yixin in terms of skill, but at least her equipment wouldn¡¯t be too far behind. My heart skipped a beat when I recalled Lin Yixin. I should treat her to lunch or something tomorrow. As for the excuse, me winning the ¡°Who Will Fight Me¡± should be more than enough. ¡­¡­ I moved on to check the second item dropped by the Myriad Poison Scorpion King, and everyone was surprised again. Abyssal Chestplate (Gold-grade) Defense: 145 Magic Resist: 90 Strength: +30 Stamina: +24 Passive: Increase user¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist by 10% Level: 62 ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, a 10% increase to Defense and Magic Resist? If this chest armor doesn¡¯t count as awesome, then I don¡¯t know what does! Also, the Abyssal Chestplate was in the same equipment set as the Abyssal Sword. There was no equipment set bonus, but they still looked good together! I tossed the Abyssal Chestplate into He Yi¡¯s hands and said with a smile, ¡°Good things come in pairs. Catch¡­¡± He Yi made some weird noises, but all I could tell she was so happy she could faint. She even lost control of herself and gave me¡­ and everyone else a kiss on the cheek, but she kissed me first, and that was important! Ah, a kiss from my beautiful guild leader¡­ I¡¯d better watch out for my heart rate! The last equipment was a greenish ring. Again, it didn¡¯t fail to surprise us. Abyssal Ring (Gold-grade) Strength: +35 Stamina: +27 Passive: Increases user¡¯s melee attacks by 5% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 40 Level Requirement: 65 ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, this ring was practically made for me! Clutching the ring, I looked around me and said, ¡°This ring boosts melee physical attacks, Strength, Stamina, and Defense, so yeah¡­ ahem¡­ you all know what I¡¯m about to say...¡± Murong Mingyue snorted. ¡°Oh you, just take it already. You¡¯re the highest damage dealer out of all of us. It¡¯s only natural that you get something out of this!¡± I nodded and smiled at her. ¡°Sis, you understand me too well¡­¡± ¡°Oh, yes. In and out.¡± Murong Mingyue smiled dangerously at me, sending a shiver down my spine. ¡°I can¡¯t talk to you when you¡¯re like this!¡± He Yi giggled and pointed at the purple book on the ground. ¡°What¡¯s up with that skill book?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I picked up the skill book, its tooltip window appearing to everyone in the party channel¡ª Crushing Blow: Destroys the enemy¡¯s defense with a crushing blow and deals double the damage. Only effective against targets who are using a defensive skill. Level Requirement: 65, Class Requirement: Warrior, Magic Knight, Wanderer My brain literally blanked out for a second when I saw the description of the skill book! God damn, I never thought I would get this skill book here of all places! The next time someone uses a defensive skill in front of me, I swear I¡¯ll play them like a fiddle! He Yi nodded at me with a smile. ¡°Well, I need a few more levels before I can learn this skill, so this is obviously yours, Lu Chen¡­¡± I learned the skill immediately and watched my skill list increase by one. I already feel the adrenaline rushing through my veins! Next, considering that the rest of the girls didn¡¯t get anything from the boss, I pointed at the Phantasmal Magic Stones on the floor and said, ¡°Eve and I won¡¯t be taking these. You girls split it among yourselves, okay?¡± Murong Mingyue accepted my offer without hesitation. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s split the stones as soon as possible and get to the third floor already. Heavens, it¡¯s so late already. I just hope we can finish this before the sun rises¡­¡± While the girls were happily splitting the loot among themselves, I put on the Abyssal Ring and enjoyed the sight of my stats rising. ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Class: Undead Swordsman (Silver Swordsman) Level: 69 HP: 2640 Attack: 452~720 Defense: 542 Magic Resist: 319 Reputation: 29850 Luck: 3 ¡­¡­ At Level 69, I had 2640 HP, 720 Attack and 542 Defense. This was incredible for a warrior, and I was sure that there was no one in the entire city who had a higher Attack than me. Undead Swordsman had great strength scaling, and I¡¯ve decided to specialize in offense rather than defense! I checked the quest details before walking to the front of the party. ¡°I need the Heavenly Poison Snow Lotus to cure Shadow Dancer Xue Wei¡¯s ailment, and this herb is said to reside at the bottom of Myriad Poison Cave, or namely its third floor. This means that all we need to do is find the herb on the third floor, we don¡¯t have to fight the final boss of this zone.¡± He Yi nodded. ¡°Yes, Myriad Poison Cave only has three floors. Also, it¡¯s standard practice to encounter a boss on the third floor of a dungeon, and I¡¯m sure that this one is going to be even stronger than that scorpion king we just killed!¡± Murong Mingyue pouted and complained a little, ¡°We should¡¯ve brought more people with us, to be honest. This would be so much easier if we had a 20-man party with us.¡± I shook my head. ¡°It¡¯s unnecessary. It¡¯s harder to command a lot of people, and they¡¯d all die anyway if the third boss also has an AoE skill like this scorpion king.¡± ¡°Okay, okay. Now can we get to the third floor already? I¡¯m so sleepy I could die¡­¡± Murong Mingyue said. We exchanged a smile with each other before departing to the third floor! After we passed through the only passage leading to the third floor, we entered a completely new zone. Ding~! System Notice: you have entered an evil zone¡ªGhost King Palace! ¡­¡­ Huh? Judging from the name of the zone alone, it looked like it was on a different level from the previous two zones. This should be the final map of Myriad Poison Cave! The Ghost King Palace wasn¡¯t as desolate as the previous two floors, but it was filled with poisonous gas, and the floor was covered in poisonous purple moss. Our war boots felt as unsteady as ice skates as we walked on top of them. Thud... Murong Mingyue slipped and fell on the ground immediately after she took the first step. As I walked up to her and pulled her back up to her feet, she complained, ¡°OMG, this zone truly is as evil as it says¡­¡± That was one way of putting it. As I turned around, He Yi almost slipped as well, but she plunged her sword into the ground just in time to catch herself. Considering her usual performance, she had some surprisingly good reflexes... It didn¡¯t take too much walking before we encountered a hooded person holding up a stone lantern. A solemn atmosphere loomed over them like a shadow. ¡°Hey, it¡¯s a person! Do you think it¡¯s an NPC?¡± Murong Mingyue chirped excitedly. But a cold breeze blew off the person¡¯s hood to reveal the terrifying face of a skeleton! ¡°Yuck!¡± Murong Mingyue swore through gritted teeth. ¡°Even skeleton Lu Chen was more handsome than him!¡± He Yi raised her sword with a smile. ¡°Less talking, more fighting! Now that I¡¯m Level 60, I want to participate in the battle as well!¡± I nodded. ¡°Of course. Go get ¡®em!¡± He Yi¡¯s equipment was now a lot better than before. The Azure Wolf Wristguards gave her a boost in Attack, Defense and HP, so it shouldn¡¯t be a problem for her to deal with an average mob. Once she reached Level 62 and put on the Abyssal Sword and Abyssal Chestplate, she could even tank a boss head-on and kill it! ¡­¡­ The Ghost King Palace was an eerie and scary place. Monsters carrying stone lanterns were everywhere. Although the flame in their lanterns had been gone for countless millennia, these monsters continued to patrol the hallways to this day. Ghost Lantern Guard (Elite) Level: 75 Attack: 485~625 Defense: 500 HP: 14000 Skills: Crush, Blood Rage, Lantern Swing Introduction: The guardians of the Ghost King Palace. Once the subordinates of the Myriad Poison Ghost King, they continued to serve their master loyally and protected the Ghost King Palace for thousands of years. These lantern-swinging guardians possess great attack power, and it has been thousands of years since anyone has heard of them. ¡­¡­ ¡°Watch out, 625 max Attack is no joke!¡± I warned. He Yi moved toward a Ghost Lantern Guard and swung her blade horizontally! Clang! The attack sent the Ghost Lantern Guard stumbling backward. At the same time, a damage number popped above the mob¡¯s head¡ª374! Hmm. Without the Abyssal Sword, the amount of damage He Yi could do was limited at best. In fact, it couldn¡¯t even match up to Beiming Xue¡¯s damage. That being said, the situation would be reversed once she equipped the two Level 62 Gold-grade items. After all, Magic Knight was a melee class that scaled with Strength. Angered by the unprovoked attack, the Ghost Lantern Guard roared angrily before retaliating with a swing to the chest. ¡°Ah?¡± Of course He Yi wasn¡¯t going to let it hurt her precious body, so she took a step backward and parried the attack at the same time! Clang! 387! Chapter 180: Ghost Lantern Wristguards Whoosh! Charge arrived in the blink of an eye and I quickly stood in front of He Yi. Activating Ice Ray, I aimed Ghost Ice Soul at the Ghost Lantern Guard¡¯s head. But the withered undead suddenly waved its stone lantern before it and its entire body curled backward. It was actually the animation for a defensive skill! Ding! Following a light sound, the Ghost Ice Soul struck the defense shield. An unremarkable damage number flew up¡ª214! Fuck, it really was the legendary defensive skill that made damage taken only do around 10-50% of what it originally dealt. Even me, with my attack power, only did this little damage! Murong Mingyue pouted. ¡°Whew, is this an ironclad monster? Just one defensive skill can make it this overpowered....¡± I chuckled. ¡°Die!¡± With a twist of my wrist, the Ghost Ice Soul was sent out again. The edges of my sword glowed with a golden sheen. This was precisely my new skill¡ªCrushing Blow! ¡°Crush!¡± In an instant, my longsword lightly jumped up from beneath the monster¡¯s weapon. Crushing Blow had successfully broken open the enemy¡¯s defense with a sweep. The Ghost Ice Soul hummed, then turned into several streaks of sword light that penetrated the monster¡¯s abdomen, inflicting a damage number much higher than any basic attack! 2104! Tsk tsk, so strong! He Yi blinked in surprise. ¡°So that¡¯s Crushing Blow?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± I nodded. ¡°With this skill in my arsenal, whoever dares to use a defensive skill is just asking for it!¡± Crushing Blow¡¯s 1-second cooldown was short so I could crush whoever tried to defend. It was the so-called natural bane of defensive skills. This skill was like a shield-breaking sledgehammer and was pretty much the king of attacks to a certain extent! The monster¡¯s IQ was limited. Not even 5 seconds after I crushed its defense, it adopted another defensive stance after smashing 500 of my HP away with a swing of its lantern. To be honest, if I didn¡¯t learn Crushing Blow, I would definitely be hopping mad about now. It was bound to be frustrating if someone beat you across the head and turtled up once you tried to retaliate. That kind of playstyle was super shameless. Since I had Crushing Blow, I didn¡¯t need to use my Ice Ray + Pardon + Desperate Gambit combo, thus saving their cooldowns. I could just continuously use Crushing Blow! Bang... Not even 10 seconds later, after two Crushing Blows and a few basic attacks from me, coupled with an Ice Dragon Howl from Moonlight Stone, the Ghost Lantern Guard died. Defensive skills were ineffective against magic so Ice Dragon Howl would still hurt like hell. Swhoosh! The Ghost Lantern Guard fell in a flash and my experience bar rose a little. Level 75 elite mobs seriously gave a ton of experience! Pop! The first monster dropped an item! A pair of pitch-black wristguards glowing with firelight silently lay on the stone floor. I picked it up and couldn¡¯t withhold my shock. ¡°Yo, it¡¯s Dark Steel¨Cgrade. This elite monster¡¯s terrific¡­¡± ¡°Oh, what are its stats?¡± He Yi asked with a smile. I reached my hand out and swiped, projecting its stats into the air¡ª Ghost Lantern Wristguards (Dark Steel-grade) Defense: 115 Strength: +20 Stamina: +9 Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 100 Level Requirement: 70 ¡­¡­ It was a really good pair of Level 70 wristguards for melee classes. 20 Strength was equal to four levels of stats and it could even increase max HP by 100. These stats were universally needed by all three melee classes. I asked, ¡°How do we deal with it?¡± He Yi¡¯s beautiful eyes swept over it. She answered with a smile, ¡°Its level requirement is too high. How many months would it take for us to reach Level 70? Let¡¯s just sell it in the auction house and divide the gold among us.¡± ¡°Okay£¡¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I nodded in approval. ¡°I love making money from the auction house¡­¡± The girls also shyly voiced out, ¡°Us too!¡± I was speechless. ¡­¡­ I tossed the Ghost Lantern Wristguards into my bag and continued on, seeking the next Ghost Lantern Guard! Ghost King Palace had a ton of monsters. Once we neared the end, large numbers of Ghost Lantern Guards appeared. Due to our respect and fear toward their defensive skill, we didn¡¯t lure over entire groups. I could only break one defensive stance a time, so Beiming Xue¡¯s Evil Spirit Volley would deal far less damage to the others. Our chances of finishing them all would also decrease. As such, we lured them over one by one. My Crushing Blow defeated countless Ghost Lantern Guards and since they were Level 75 elite monsters, our leveling efficiency wasn¡¯t slow at all! Ghost King Palace was a ring-shaped map. We followed a rugged path as we killed our way forward. Based on what the map revealed, as long as we continued advancing, we¡¯d reach Ghost King Palace¡¯s core. That place was an eye-catching bloody red. It was obvious that the final boss was there. Our game plan was to kill our way there, eliminate the boss, loot some equipment, and get the Heavenly Poison Snow Lotus so we can turn in our quest. Before I knew it, we had been grinding until 8 in the morning. Thanks to the generous amount of experience gained, the girls were still excited while they dispatched the monsters. This was especially true for He Yi. By the time we cleared half the map, she had already reached Level 62 and immediately changed into her Abyssal Chestplate and equipped the Abyssal Sword. Swhoosh swhoosh... Two streaks of light flew past and my beautiful boss¡¯s chest armor transformed into an exquisite dark-colored metal armor with a faint golden luster. It looked graceful and luxurious but it didn¡¯t lack a heroic air. The streamline design on the chest area looked like two green leaves that held up a pair of suffocating peaks. The beautiful ravine between them would make another want to fall and sink in. The lousy sword He Yi had been using as a weapon had also been swapped out. The Abyssal Sword was a Level 62 Gold-grade weapon with a much higher attack power than my Ghost Ice Soul. It had a faint, dark luster and a plain blade, except the fuller was shining with magic runes swirling around it. Anyone could tell at a glance that this sword was by no means ordinary. In that moment, boss¡¯s beautiful face was filled with happiness. She loved the Abyssal Sword to bits and then glanced at her chest armor. ¡°Wah, so cool¡­¡± I asked, ¡°How are your stats now?¡± ¡°524 Defense, 645 Attack, 3240 HP. What do you think? Am I strong or what?¡± He Yi answered with a smile. I was stunned. Fuck, how was this only strong? Her Defense was not lower than mine, her Attack was only a little inferior, and her HP advantage was even more apparent now! Then again, with skills like Ghost Deity Armor, Enhanced Bones, Regeneration of the Undead, and some others, my survivability rate was still higher than He Yi¡¯s. This won¡¯t change unless she obtains a high-level Gold-grade shield that increased her chances of blocking. Only then would she be harder to kill than me. I nodded. ¡°If you¡¯re lucky enough to get a good shield, you¡¯ll be really strong, Eve!¡± He Yi lightly smiled with dimples while holding the Abyssal Sword. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll make those guys see me in a new light! Let¡¯s enter the inner palace and kill the boss¡­¡± ¡°No need to rush, we¡¯re still in the outer ring¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Slowly but surely, we continued onward. It¡¯d be a waste if we skipped these Level 75 Ghost Lantern Guards that yielded a ton of experience. ¡­¡­ At 9 am, a sound rang past my ear. Beep! System Notice: Your friend ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± has come online! My heart stirred. Lin Yixin had finally logged on after a whole night? I immediately sent her a message: ¡°Yiyi?¡± ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Lin Yixin replied. I threw my shyness out the window. ¡°I miss you¡­¡± ¡°Well I want to beat you!¡± I laughed and sent another message: ¡°Yiyi, I¡¯ve been questing all night long so I¡¯ll probably wake up in the afternoon. Let¡¯s go out for dinner tonight.¡± Lin Yixin asked: ¡°Let¡¯s get this straight first, whose treat?¡± ¡°Me, duh!¡± ¡°Okay, then I¡¯ll reluctantly agree!¡± ¡°Alright.¡± After a while, Lin Yixin suddenly sent me another message: ¡°Wow, what map are you in? How did you reach first place on the Heavenly Ranking?¡± I was secretly delighted. ¡°Heaven¡¯s mysteries must not be revealed!¡± ¡°Hmph, hmph. Just you wait. I¡¯ll be sure to snatch first place when you¡¯re sleeping!¡± Lin Yixin sent an incredibly provoking line and then added a cute smiling emoji right after. Very good. She was willing to say that out loud, which meant that she was sure she could do it! I assume that Lin Yixin also had a grinding quest like my Myriad Poison Cave or else she wouldn¡¯t have had the courage to say she¡¯d pass me. After knowing her for so many days, I knew that although Lin Yixin was arrogant, she wasn¡¯t one to speak empty words. ¡­¡­ We agreed to meet on the first floor of Happy House at 7 pm. Lin Yixin would reserve the seats and I¡¯d be paying the bill. I basically didn¡¯t care about it since I had made so much gold and exchanged it for quite a lot of RMB that treating a girl out wasn¡¯t an issue. I continued grinding and slowly walked inward from the perimeter. Crack! My sword rose, unleashing Crushing Blow. The Ghost Ice Soul turned into several streaks of sword light and pierced through a Ghost Lantern Guard¡¯s body. The bright golden light was very dazzling to the eye. Pop! A Big Magic Stone rolled far away. Murong Mingyue had to chase it into the distance. Once she caught it, she placed it between her breasts and walked back. That Big Magic Stone¡¯s must be thrilled to be between a beauty¡¯s snowy mounds. It¡¯s probably having a nosebleed. I pointed ahead with my sword. ¡°Here¡¯s the Ghost King Palace¡¯s core area. Let¡¯s go in and see if this Ghost King really has three heads and six arms to have so many minions guarding its door! ¡°Mn mn!¡± I took the lead position with my Dark Wasp. Ghost King Palace¡¯s core area was an attic filled with toxic gas. Multiple seals were pasted on its door and there were a ton of crisscrossing iron chains too. This was obviously a forbidden area! I rushed up and slashed horizontally! Clang! My strike easily crumpled the iron chains. The sharpness of a Gold-grade weapon truly was extraordinary. Chapter 181: Knight’s Outrage Whoosh whoosh... A cold wind whistled by, and faint, ghastly wails could be heard within. Goosebumps quickly surfaced all over my body. I turned around. ¡°Sister Mingyue, you go in first!¡± Murong Mingyue¡¯s foot flew out. ¡°Cut the bullshit, go in!¡± Pow! Being forced to enter really wasn''t a good feeling! The moment I stepped into the Ghost King¡¯s hall, I only felt that the surroundings were eerie. The space around me was devoid of light. I could only see things within 5 yards, and that was when I relied on the illumination of my Ghost Ice Soul. Behind me, the girls followed me in and the inside of the hall instantly brightened! Fuck! Everyone was startled when they saw the scene in the hall! A person clad in pure black armor sat above a gleaming golden throne. His hands were poised at its center holding a sword, his expression gloomy. Venom-corroded pus littered his face and even his sword hand was not spared from the noxious wounds as fishy smelling blood followed his sword hilt and flowed down. Anyone seeing this would lose their appetite. This person was the legendary Poison Ghost King! Beside the Poison Ghost King danced two Poison Beautiflies that slowly sat on each one of his legs. Graceful and lithe, they hugged the Poison Ghost King¡¯s arm and twisted their bodies until they resembled the S letter. He Yi gaped, stupefied. ¡°H-how debauched¡­¡± I nodded in agreement. These two Poison Beautiflies were not ordinary monsters, they both were Level 75 minibosses! In front of them were four Venomous Twin-headed Snakes and four Ghost Lantern Guards, bringing the total monster count to 11. I was certain that they would all attack the moment we made our move. What¡¯s scary was the fact that there were two minibosses in the mix and I couldn¡¯t even read the boss¡¯s information. His introduction was vague too¡ª Poison Ghost King (Dark Gold Rank Boss) Level: 75 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: Originally a human empire''s corps commander, his body suffered the corrosion of disease and evil spirits brought about by a battle against the Night Creatures. After falling from grace, he became a devil. With a body brimming with noxious fluids, he brought fierce poisonous creatures into submission, becoming the king of Myriad Poison Cave. ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue couldn¡¯t help but suck in a cold breath of air, her eyes filled with doubt. ¡°How¡­ how do we handle a line-up like this?¡± I gazed at the 11 faraway monsters. ¡°The boss is too strong and has too much HP. Killing him first is not very realistic but choosing to kill those elite monsters feels like a waste of firepower. I think we should aim for the two minibosses first!¡± He Yi also blankly stared at me, her beautiful eyes overflowing with curiosity. I thought about it, then answered, ¡°Let¡¯s do this. Everyone go summon your pets. We¡¯ll let a few Wasps fly to the front and make them leave the moment they aggro the boss. In the meantime, I¡¯ll send my Dark Wasp out to attack a Poison Beautifly and lure it here. Then we do it again. We¡¯ll sacrifice levels of our pets twice to eliminate the minibosses! Clang! He Yi drew the Abyssal Sword, her exquisite face filled with decisiveness. ¡°Then we¡¯ll do that. Everyone get ready!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± The party began to summon their pets. They were all Wasps, and only mine was a Dark Wasp. ¡°Once I finish counting down from 3, make your pets fly over and immediately go south the moment you aggro the boss!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± The air was a field of buzzing noises as the Wasps flew out. They were still 5 yards away from the boss and had already attracted its aggro. The Poison Ghost King immediately stood up with his sword in hand and roared in anger, ¡°Damnable creatures, you dare trespass in my territory? You are courting death!¡± As he said that, the Poison Ghost King¡¯s minions and mistresses madly rushed at the Wasps. By the time the mobs moved, our pets had already made their way south. Swhoosh! The Dark Wasp arrived at the speed of lightning and stung the slower Poison Beautifly on the shoulder four times with its stinger, instantly stealing aggro! This miniboss Poison Beautifly let out a shrill shriek. ¡°Grovel beneath my feet, damnable intruder! Boom! One strike tore out a large chunk of my Dark Wasp¡¯s HP but it didn¡¯t continue fighting anymore and instead flew back. I immediately used Charge when it neared our party. Whoosh! In the blink of an eye, the Poison Beautifly appeared in front of me. I was so close that I could clearly see the greenery of her jiggling meaty peaks but I had no time for compassion as my trademark Ice Ray + Slayer Slash combo descended upon her head. 1246! 1137! Even though it was a miniboss, the Poison Beautifly¡¯s HP and Defense were still really low. Killing it would be as easy as chopping vegetables. At the back, Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone fired their skills. Evil Spirit Volley and Ice Dragon Howl revealed their divine might! Another beautiful figure soon arrived. He Yi came and lifted her sword. The Abyssal Sword struck the Poison Beautifly on the shoulder with a blazing power! 987! Tsk tsk, He Yi¡¯s attack power really was amazing. For a magic knight to deal close to a thousand points of damage, her Attack was probably higher than Gui Guzi¡¯s now. The Poison Beautifly¡¯s HP sharply fell under the barrage of attacks. She had about 40k HP total, so there was no way that she could handle this kind of torment. As a result, she flew into a rage and hacked out twice. I and He Yi each took a strike! 557! 679! Sure enough, my Defense was comparatively higher. Ghost Deity Armor hummed when it was hit and lowered received damage by a significant margin. Murong Mingyue healed us and everyone dished out all their damage. The Poison Beautifly then suddenly stopped attacking and began to swing its body charmingly. Its eyes glowed with golden light as it looked at us with ill intent! Beep! Combat Log: Poison Beautifly used the skill ¡°Beauty¡¯s Charm.¡± You have been charmed! Attack speed, movement speed, and max HP reduced by 50%! ¡­¡­ Fuck, it even lowered my max HP by 50%? I was the only person in the party afflicted with Charm. He Yi who was next to me wasn¡¯t affected at all. The hell was this, was it only effective on male players? ¡°Hoho, Lu Chen¡¯s self-control sucks!¡± Murong Mingyue said with a giggle. Killing intent spread across He Yi¡¯s face. She ruthlessly struck the Poison Beautifly on the head. ¡°You dare charm my people¡­ die!¡± A series of random blows later, we safely dispatched this Poison Beautifly with the support from Murong Mingyue¡¯s heals! This took a total of around three minutes. I looked into the distance again. The Poison Ghost King still had another little mistress left but none of his little brothers were missing. Up next was an execution of the same strategy we used. Seven minutes later, everyone¡¯s pets were resummoned. One more time! We did nearly the same thing as before and got rid of the Poison Ghost King¡¯s other mistress without any mishaps. Only the super boss and his 8 elite henchmen remained. ¡°What do we do now?¡± He Yi asked. I answered after some thought, ¡°Do our best and kill all the monsters near the Poison Ghost King with our AoE skills. I¡¯ll take aggro and lure the main boss away with my Dark Wasp. Sister Mingyue, make sure to not go all out on your healing or else the aggro will shift to you. Remember to wait at least 6 seconds after using your instant heal and AoE heal before you heal me again. I¡¯ll drink health potions in the meantime!¡± Murong Mingyue nodded. ¡°Got it!¡± When it came to my battle plans, no one had a voice of dissent in our party. He Yi used to say that there weren¡¯t many people who were my match when it came to strategy. Back when I had my brain delay, I was pretty much an armchair strategist, but things have changed now. Whether it was my strategies or my mechanical skills, both had become phenomenal. In fact, humans always had room for growth. I was still struggling with my brain delay in the later stages of Spirit of Grief. From then on, my tactical comprehension and mechanics had already reached a higher level. I was no longer that genius youth who only relied on my innate game talent to laugh at the world. ¡­¡­ In the back, the girls were arranged into a line while He Yi followed me to the front. I suddenly turned around with a smile after we walked a few steps and placed my hand on He Yi¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Boss, you will be the secondary meatshield. Just stay in place here. I¡¯ll lure some mobs over in a bit and once I can¡¯t handle it anymore, you use Knight¡¯s Outrage to help me out¡­¡± ¡°Ah?¡± He Yi¡¯s little mouth dropped open. She looked at me, then at the hand on her shoulder as her beautiful face instantly flushed red. She nodded with a smile. ¡°Alright, you be careful now!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± I strode over with my sword in hand. Once I was around 10 yards from the boss, I decisively activated Charge! Swhoosh! I shot out and stunned the Poison Ghost King before immediately running away. I only had 1 second to escape! The Poison Ghost King¡¯s 8 little brothers trailed behind me. Under my command, my Dark Wasp swiftly flew over and unleashed Flurry. It left four marks on the Poison Ghost King¡¯s head but it didn¡¯t steal aggro. The Poison Ghost King instantly recovered and chased after me. It was fast and it struck a blow from afar. Crack! My back chilled when I saw a damage number floating above my head¡ª1024! Good lord, this guy¡¯s too overpowered! My soul almost scattered in fright. The Venomous Twin-headed Snakes and Ghost Lantern Guards behind me were randomly pounding and biting. In just a few seconds, my HP had plummeted to one-third! Clang! The Dark Wasp fierce stung again, finally drawing the Poison Ghost King¡¯s aggro this time. It turned around and slashed at the Dark Wasp. Despite the Dark Wasp¡¯s Defense, it had lost more than 1100 HP! Fortunately, it was already Level 69 with 2450 HP so it could still endure a second hit. The Dark Wasp¡¯s weak Defense and HP were now exposed. With a Dark Gold¨Cgrade weapon and a few Gold-grade pieces of equipment, my HP reached 2640. In comparison, my Dark Wasp only had 2450 HP. It leveled alongside my equipment upgrades but aside from its strong attack power, everything else had fallen behind. But I had no other choice. Quality pets in Heavenblessed had always been rare. They were random encounters. I could only take it slow. Maybe one day lady luck would one day bestow a true god-tier pet upon me! As I swapped camera angles, I controlled the Dark Wasp to run in a different direction while I myself headed toward He Yi! Puchi! A Venomous Twin-headed Snake bit me again, chomping off more than 300 of my HP. Worse than that was the fact that I got poisoned. My HP began to wildly drop! I lifted my head and saw a beautiful knight with a gorgeous face and an enchanting figure coming at me. Her sharp longsword raised, she dashed into the horde of monsters and shouted, gathering aggro! Knight¡¯s Outrage! Chapter 182: Envenomed Strike The Venomous Twin-headed Snakes used Bite while the Ghost Lantern Guards randomly swung at her with Lantern Swing. He Yi¡¯s HP almost hit rock bottom in just 10 seconds. This kind of battering was too intense! I swiftly retreated several steps back and chugged another health potion from my bag! +1500! Murong Mingyue¡¯s heals had also arrived¡ª +679! +804! I was healed to full in the blink of an eye. Now that I¡¯m safe, it¡¯s time to move out! I raised my sword and executed the ranged Thousand Mirage Slash. My sword hummed, then unleashed six resplendent sword beams that came down, like judgement from the skies above. All 8 elite monsters were suddenly hit and a string of damage numbers flew up¡ª 1204! 1172! 1098! ¡­¡­ I had to admit that Thousand Mirage Slash was super strong. A single move allowed me my DPS to reach almost ten thousand! Beiming Xue pulled her longbow, her gaze sharp. Eight Evil Spirit Volley arrows were consecutively shot out, each revealing an especially terrifying image of a ghost wrapped around their arrowheads. They exploded into the group of monsters, causing a chain of countless damage numbers to fly up. Evil Spirit Volley was by no means weak. Each attack was strengthened severalfold and every arrow had splash damage. Based on my observations, it dealt at least 20% in splash damage. This meant that if the volley hit its target and dealt 1000 damage, the mobs around it would get hit for 200. In this case, since the target area was densely packed with monsters, some of them weren¡¯t even hit but lost more HP than they would have, had they been shot directly! Evil Spirit Volley was no doubt the king of multitarget attacks at the current stage of the game, comparable to my Thousand Mirage Slash even! Moonlight Stone waved her staff, casting Arctic Rain. The movement speeds of all 8 monsters had been reduced to the point where He Yi was able to escape. Her pretty face was filled with shock. ¡°Whew, I almost died there¡­¡± I came forward and smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you won¡¯t die with us here!¡± ¡°Mn, mn!¡± He Yi turned around and drank a health potion and then relied on Murong Mingyue¡¯s heals to quickly recover her HP. I aggroed the monsters and ran around in circles, making sure to attack any monsters that I had lost aggro on so that they wouldn¡¯t trouble with Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue. Those at the scene could be considered excellent players as they flawlessly cooperated with each other. We chipped away at the eight monsters¡¯ hit points, eventually killing them all within five minutes! Pop pop! These stones didn¡¯t sell for much gold. They weren¡¯t even enough to cover my potion expenditures. Everyone here mostly used Rank 5 Health Potions or Magic Consumables that were expensive as hell. Dammit! ¡­¡­ ¡°Heh, only the final boss is left¡­¡± He Yi exhaled, her face breaking out into an enchanting smile. I nodded. ¡°This is a Level 75 Dark Gold Rank boss. It has a ton of Attack and I bet even I wouldn¡¯t be able to block a blow. In a bit, bring out all the damage you can do. May god bless us in these trying times and help us kill the boss or else we¡¯ll be in a lot of trouble! Murong Mingyue said, ¡°Lu Chen go first. Everyone ready your pets, they¡¯ll block at least two hits for us. Moonlight Stone, don¡¯t use Ice Dragon Howl anymore, focus on slowing it with Arctic Rain. Though it only reduces speed by 25%, it still will lower the boss¡¯s overall strength, so Lu Chen and Eve will take less damage. If our tanks die, we are certain to wipe!¡± The girls nodded. During the days when He Yi wasn¡¯t there, Murong Mingyue had always been the commander of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. They all trusted her orders and though He Yi had returned, she was still stiff and couldn¡¯t compare to Murong Mingyue when it came to games. This was why I wholeheartedly wanted to make He Yi a beautiful super knight. This plan was a bit wild and in fact, it was against natural order itself. But I took pleasure in going against natural order. Doing something that would naturally succeed wasn¡¯t all that interesting. ¡­¡­ ¡°Ready, go!¡± I calmly held the Ghost Ice Soul in my grasp and coldly gazed at the lone Poison Ghost King sitting on his throne. He was the only one remaining. This was our chance! Charge! Whoosh! My figure swept over and instantly arrived before the boss. As soon as I successfully stunned him, I unleashed Pardon + Desperate Gambit. MISS! 2874! Hm, almost 3000 damage. That wasn¡¯t too shabby but if Lin Yixin was here, her Moon Gaze + Extreme Break would weaken the boss¡¯s Defense even further. I bet I could deal over 4000 damage then! Forget it, what am I thinking about her for. She was the beautiful guild leader of the mighty Snowy Cathaya and we were just ordinary friends. Asking her to come over to do some quests was not a problem but thinking about her all day was a huge one! I laughed inwardly at the thought. Lin Yixin¡¯s sweet smile floated in my head. It was impossible to get rid of and it wasn¡¯t something that could be erased with willpower alone. Whoosh! A layer of green light suddenly enveloped the sword in the boss¡¯s hand and my heart chilled. Shit, is it going to kill me with poison? The sword fell straight down, dropping down with a great force! Clang! I used the Ghost Ice Soul to parry the blow, but it was ignored due to the enormous difference in strength between us. The boss¡¯s sword still landed on my shoulder and I instantly felt a burning numbness as my HP sharply declined! Beep! Combat Log: Poison Ghost King used "Envenomed Strike", dealing 1452 damage. You have been poisoned, and will lose 1500 HP over 15 seconds. ¡­¡­ Fuck, 100 HP per second! Isn¡¯t this too severe? I grabbed a Rank 6 Health Potion without any hesitation. My life and death depended on this potion! ¡°Gulp!¡± +1500! My HP immediately recovered to full and I then relied on Murong Mingyue to heal the rest. This was all we could do. If I couldn¡¯t resist a blow, then this boss really was unstoppable! Who knew that the Poison Ghost King would all of a sudden shout. Golden lines soon appeared on its longsword. This intro was all too familiar! Not good, that¡¯s Death Combo! The Poison Ghost King¡¯s target wasn¡¯t me, but He Yi who was right next to me. The sword swung out four times. If they all hit, He Yi would definitely die! I moved hastily and knocked my shoulder against He Yi¡¯s chest. By the time I heard He Yi¡¯s surprised exclamation, she had already been sent flying. Before I had yet to indulge in the feeling of my shoulder touching her breasts, I was hit from behind by the boss! I helplessly looked on as my HP fell in huge chunks and practically disappeared! 1093! 1029! 1104! 1209! Swoosh! A red light shot upward into the air and my near-depleted health bar suddenly filled to full! Immortality! At this moment, wild Ultraman, iodized salt merchants, Mianyang¡¯s super sound wave; all these amazing existences possessed my body. I was reborn at this critical moment and revived to full! Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue¡¯s hearts were in their throats when they originally saw me die. They shrieked, but stopped halfway and instantly flushed red when they realized that I hadn¡¯t died. ¡°Wah, the Unkillable War God revived¡­¡± With wide eyes and an upright posture, I looked toward Murong Mingyue¡¯s excited face and trembling breasts, clearly enunciating every word. ¡°Feed me, quick!¡± Fucking hell, if I don¡¯t get healed in time, the boss is gonna kill me again! ¡­¡­ Clang clang clang¡­¡± After a few clashes against the boss, he dealt as much damage to me as I did to him and I could only watch on as the durability of my equipment continuously fell. Good thing there was a little priest like Murong Mingyue behind me giving me lots of milk or else I wouldn¡¯t have the slightest chance of winning. He Yi closed in but I quickly voiced my dissent. ¡°Don¡¯t come, Eve. Someone will definitely die once the boss unleashes Death Combo!¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± He Yi stood in place and began spectating the battle in a relaxed manner. The corner of her lips curled into a bewitching smile, looking like a weak, prideful princess. He Yi asked, ¡°Lu Chen, are you sure you can take on the boss¡¯s next Death Combo? That skill¡¯s cooldown doesn¡¯t seem too long.¡± I nodded. ¡°Yes!¡± After I said that, it really did come again! Swhoosh! Gold runes appeared all around the boss¡¯s sharpsword. It slowly lifted its sword. What was sure to follow after was a storm of attacks! I calmly fixed my gaze on the boss¡¯s movements. If I dodged now, the boss might not use Death Combo and I wouldn¡¯t be able to cheat this skill. But if I dodged too late, I would eat all four strikes. I could only dodge right when the boss finished locking on its animation. Mn, there should be around a 0.2 second window of opportunity, which was around the limit of a human body¡¯s reaction time. Swish swish... I shifted two steps back and the boss¡¯s sword nearly sliced my nose when it descended. MISS! MISS! MISS! MISS! ¡­¡­ ¡°Haha, too cool!¡± He Yi was so happy that she was stamping her feet. ¡°Our Lu Chen truly is an unrivaled expert to have been able to dodge even that!¡± I raised my sword and continued fighting the boss. I answered with a smile without turning my head around, ¡°Boss, don¡¯t lie¡­ There are at least ten active players in China who can dodge like that!¡± ¡°Oh? Go on¡­¡± ¡°First off, Candlelight Shadow and his four subordinates¡ªTempest Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, God¡¯s Dance, and Transient Smoke and Clouds. All five of them are experts in the CGL Hall of Fame and are top-class when it comes to mechanics. Dodging this kind of attack wouldn¡¯t be a problem for them.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°Floating Ice City has two other people who can make this boss miss its Death Combo!¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Wind Fantasy and Dominating Heaven Blade¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Chapter 183: Moon Love Bang! The Poison Ghost King landed a swift and painful Envenomed Strike on my shoulder, tearing through my flesh, causing my entire body to shake in pain. Fuck, it was a critical hit! 2245! The boss then swung his greenish, poisonous sword again and caught me and the girls behind me in a sword aura! The Envenomed Sword Aura! Boom! I was dizzy for a moment. There was no Immortality to save me this time! Swhoosh! There was a flash, and I appeared as a soul at a nearby graveyard. Behind me, He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Moonlight Stone also met the same fate. Beiming Xue was the only one who was still clinging to her life! ¡°Fuck!¡± He Yi complained angrily, ¡°This boss is way too powerful! I can¡¯t believe a critical hit was all it took to one-shot me¡­ I even lost my Azure Wolf Wristguards¡­¡± I spread my arms in a helpless gesture. ¡°What can you do? He¡¯s a Dark Gold Rank boss!¡± Murong Mingyue interrupted us. ¡°Less talking, more reviving! The boss has less than one-third of his HP left, so let¡¯s kill it already and call it a day!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Inside the party channel, Beiming Xue said, ¡°Guys, please hurry up! I¡¯m kiting the boss but I don¡¯t know how long I¡¯m going to last¡­¡± We all saw how fast the Poison Ghost King had been moving earlier. He was at least as fast as Beiming Xue, so it made sense that he was giving her a lot of trouble, not to mention that he was a Dark Gold Rank boss who managed to kill four of us and knock us down a level! Thankfully, players moved a lot faster in soul form, so it would take us at most 5 minutes to return to the third floor. Since Beiming Xue was still alive and kicking, the boss shouldn¡¯t have regenerated too much health yet. Thud thud... The moment we rushed back to the Ghost King Palace, we saw Beiming Xue making a mad dash for safety and just barely dodging a deadly swing from the boss. High-Agility classes were incredibly powerful in this regard! I ran up to Beiming Xue and stood in front of her. Staring at the boss, I said, ¡°Well done. Leave the rest to us!¡± I summoned my Dark Wasp and used Charge immediately! Swhoosh! Then, I unleashed Ice Ray and Slayer Slash, chipping away almost 2000 HP in an instant. At the same time, holy light flashed around my body again and again. Murong Mingyue wasn¡¯t saving her MP at all. Beiming Xue ran up to He Yi and returned the Azure Wolf Wristguards to her. She smiled and said, ¡°Sister Eve, here¡¯s your equipment~¡± He Yi accepted the wristguards and returned the smile. ¡°You¡¯re amazing, Beiming. You actually managed to stall the boss for almost five minutes¡­¡± ¡°Hehe¡­¡± The battle went very smoothly this time. I was prepared when the Poison Ghost King used the Envenomed Sword Aura again, so its powerful skill hit nothing but air. Puchi! I plunged my sword into the boss''s chest for the last time and ripped it horizontally through his flesh using Desperate Gambit! 1803! A long and terrible death scream later, the powerful Poison Ghost King finally reached the end of his life¡¯s road! Swoosh swoosh swoosh... The Dark Gold Rank boss gave so much EXP that everyone leveled up once after its demise. Even I had returned to Level 69, although the death earlier kind of reset my earlier efforts. It would be a piece of cake for Lin Yixin to outlevel me today. Pop pop pop... As usual, the boss dropped a ton of items after he collapsed to the ground. I ran up to him, kicked his arm out of the way and stared at the small hill of loot sitting quietly atop the poisonous floor. The Phantasmal Magic stones alone numbered over thirty, and there was a new crystal that I had never seen before in the game until now. I picked it up and realized that it was the legendary Purple Crystal. Tsk tsk, this thing is definitely a lot more precious than a Phantasmal Magic Stone! ¡°Oh? Is that a Purple Crystal?¡± He Yi smiled at me and said, ¡°I read about it in the database before, and it¡¯s quite expensive. An NPC will buy a 100 Quality Purple Crystal for 100 gold!¡± I checked the quality of the Purple Crystal I was holding and said, ¡°This one¡¯s a 97, so it¡¯s probably worth 97 gold.¡± As I was saying this, I subconsciously threw the Purple Crystal into my bag. It wasn¡¯t until I saw the long stares the girls were giving me that I realized my mistake. He Yi let out a giggle before commenting, ¡°Ahem, maybe you should exercise a bit of self-restraint next time?¡± I replied in shame while taking out the Purple Crystal, ¡°Sorry, it was pure reflex¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see what kind of equipment the boss dropped, shall we? It¡¯s almost 10 in the morning!¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I walked up to the boss and swept everything the boss dropped into my arms. There were a total of 4 equipment pieces and 2 skill books. The first item was a darkly-glowing chest armor. The second was a helmet with a bloody luster. The third item was a bright necklace that looked like it was made of pure water, and the last item was a longbow with wavy light surrounding it! ¡°I have a feeling that one of these babies is going to be Dark Gold¨Cgrade!¡± I said. He Yi burst into a giggle before urging me. ¡°Quit teasing us and show us the stats already!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I selected the chest armor first and waved a hand over it. When the stat screen appeared before everyone¡¯s eyes, the girls immediately let out a gasp. Purgatory War Armor (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Defense: 175 Magic Resist: 140 Strength: +42 Stamina: +40 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 7% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Resist by 4% Level Requirement: 70 ¡­¡­ 175 Defense, 140 Magic Resist, 42 Strength and 40 Stamina? Holy shit, I didn¡¯t think that an equipment at this stage of the game could have such amazing stats! There was nothing more a warrior loved than Strength and Stamina¡ªit would be the opposite if it boosted Intelligence and Agility instead¡ªnot to mention that the equipment also had passives that boosted the user¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist even further! My heart was racing in excitement. I had to rub my eyes repeatedly to confirm that they weren¡¯t playing tricks for me! The stats provided by the Level 70 Dark Gold¨Cgrade metal armor almost outstripped anything I had ever equipped in the past. I looked at my Soul Turmoil Armor and took note of its paltry 48 Defense and 11 Stamina. There was no comparison. I was almost ashamed that I had cherished the Soul Turmoil Armor like my own kid... Staring at the Purgatory War Armor¡¯s stats, He Yi said, ¡°I¡¯m only Level 62, and you¡¯re Level 69. This is a Level 70 metal armor, so it¡¯s yours, Lu Chen.¡± Murong Mingyue giggled from the side. ¡°You¡¯re too reserved, Eve. I thought you were going to roll for this equipment even though Lu Chen is the main damage dealer and tank of the party, and you¡¯re just the freeloader¡­¡± He Yi¡¯s cheeks turned red. ¡°Come on, I¡¯m not an unreasonable person. Anyway, this chest armor is yours, Lu Chen!¡± I nodded and tossed the Purgatory War Armor straight into my bag. I wasn¡¯t a fan of fake courtesies and pretenses. ¡°Thank you all!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s move on to the next loot, shall we?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± This time, I waved my hand across the bloody helmet. The moment the stat screen appeared, everyone turned into stone once more. Purgatory War Helmet (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Defense: 145 Magic Resist: 100 Strength: +37 Stamina: +35 Passive: Increases user¡¯s hit rate by 15% Passive: Increases user¡¯s physical defense by 3% Level Requirement: 70 ¡­¡­ Fuck me, another Dark Gold¨Cgrade item? It was even a part of the Purgatory equipment set! I¡­ I¡¯m rich! My strength was going to skyrocket the moment I hit Level 70! I took a look at my experience bar. I was the one who scored the last hit on the Poison Ghost King, so I got a lot of experience as a result. I was sitting at Level 69 and 91% experience, and I should be close to, or rather certainly will be Level 70 after turning in this quest. Hell yeah! I murmured as I looked back and forth between the Purgatory War Armor and He Yi. ¡°Eve, boss, what do you think?¡± He Yi rolled her eyes at me before replying, ¡°What else? Just take it, you lucky man¡­¡± ¡°Leader is great! Leader is wise!¡± ¡°...¡± Still overjoyed by the loot I had gotten from this boss fight, I went on to check the necklace that glowed like the moonlight. It had a crescent-shaped pendant, and it looked incredibly beautiful. The girls were clearly enchanted when they saw how pretty the necklace was. Well, that¡¯s women for you. There was nothing they loved more than shiny and pretty stuff! Moon Love (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Strength: +45 Stamina: +42 Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 20% Passive: Increases user¡¯s HP regeneration by 50% Property: Female Only Quest Trigger: ??? Level Requirement: 65 ¡­¡­ Fuck! This necklace was as mysterious as it looked... Everyone was speechless for a moment. The necklace gave over 80 free stats and boosted its wearer¡¯s max HP by 20%, as well as HP regeneration by 50%. Clearly, this equipment was meant to be worn by a magic knight, a Level 65 female magic knight to be exact. Well, there was no way I could wear this even if I was tempted by its stats and passives! I waved the necklace once and asked everyone¡¯s opinion. ¡°This necklace gives amazing stats and triggers a quest after you put it on, and I¡¯m almost certain it has something to do with its name, Moon Love. Since it boosts Strength, Stamina, max HP and HP regen, it should be worn by a magic knight¡­ does anyone have a problem if I give this to Eve?¡± The girls looked reluctant, but only because the necklace looked incredibly beautiful, not because they were tempted by the stats. He Yi looked dazed as she accepted Moon Love. Her eyelashes were trembling, and her mouth was opened as if she wanted to say something. In the end, she looked at everyone and said, ¡°This necklace is too precious for me to take without giving something back even if it is made to be worn by a magic knight. So¡­¡± He Yi thought for a moment before continuing, ¡°I¡¯m going to pay everyone 50000 gold as compensation. Is that okay?¡± Boss was the boss. 200k RMB out of the bank and she didn¡¯t look fazed in the slightest... Murong Mingyue curled her lips. ¡°Eve, you don¡¯t need to act like this. Didn¡¯t Lu Chen nab 2 Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment for himself just a minute ago?¡± ¡°But Lu Chen¡¯s the main carry of the party, and I¡¯m the freeloader¡­¡± I gave her a reassuring smile when I saw the conflicted expression on her face. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s just do as the boss says, okay? She¡¯ll pay us 50000 gold each in exchange for Moon Love!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Chapter 184: Purgatory Bow As it turned out, He Yi enjoyed hoarding gold even more than I did. My bag had only ever held two thousand gold at once. Hers however had a total of three hundred and sixty thousand gold! How else could you describe her beside the words ¡°rich and wealthy¡±? She wasn¡¯t worried that gold¡¯s value would deprecate over time at all! He Yi gave everyone 50k gold each as promised, and at this point of time, it was worth roughly fifty thousand RMB in real life. Everyone liked making quick buck like this, and for Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone, it was the perfect gift to take back to their parents and show their filial piety. The last equipment drop was a bow. I tossed it into Beiming Xue¡¯s hands without even bothering to check the stats. No one had an objection to offer. She was the only archer in the party, she was the second-highest damage dealer, and her performance in Myriad Poison Cave left nothing to be desired. If her beautiful Evil Spirit Volley hadn¡¯t dominated everyone¡¯s eyeballs, then her ridiculous DPS would be the last straw that broke the camel¡¯s back. The bow was made from dark blue divine iron, but I couldn¡¯t tell what the bowstring was made of. It was covered in wavy light, and the aura it exuded was calm but powerful! Beiming Xue¡¯s pupils were colored with joy the moment she received the bow. She literally blanked out for five seconds or so before she finally snapped out of her reverie and showed us its stats. Purgatory Bow (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Attack: 145~190 Agility: +42 Stamina: +37 Passive: Increases user¡¯s long-ranged attack power by 10% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Agility by 22 Level Requirement: 70 ¡­¡­ ¡°Wha¡­ what an amazing bow¡­¡± He Yi and Murong Mingyue¡¯s mouth fell open in shock. Even I had to swallow my surprise. Godddamit, I really need to switch out Ghost Ice Soul the second I find something better. This Purgatory Bow had 40 more Attack than my sword, and that was considering that bow-type weapons were designed to be 25% less powerful than sword-type weapons, that were 25% less powerful than axe-type weapons. Yeah, this bow is way better than my Ghost Ice Soul... Besides that, this Purgatory Bow also added 64 Agility and 10% long-ranged attack power. I could only imagine how hard Beiming Xue¡¯s arrows would hit after she equipped the weapon! I checked her level. She was Level 69 like me because unlike the four of us who had died, she didn¡¯t drop a level in the boss fight. He Yi smiled faintly. ¡°Lil Beiming is probably the number one archer in the China server, isn¡¯t she? Hehe, that¡¯s great~~¡± Beiming Xue smiled at the compliment but said, ¡°Number one? No, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m there yet, not until I beat Transient Smoke and Clouds of Candle Dragon!¡± ¡°Transient Smoke and Clouds!?¡± He Yi exclaimed in astonishment. Today, Transient Smoke and Clouds was practically a god in the hearts of the Chinese players. He was an incredible player who had kited countless legends to their deaths, and he was the guiding light in the hearts of every wannabe archer in China. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to call him a milestone... I couldn¡¯t help but curl my lips when I saw the competitive spirit shining in Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes. ¡°Transient Smoke and Clouds isn¡¯t that good, really. Just train for another half a year and I guarantee you¡¯ll slaughter him like a lamb¡­¡± Beiming Xue nodded before asking me with a smile, ¡°Boss, have you ever fought Transient Smoke and Clouds in Spirit of Grief?¡± ¡°Yeah, I ran into him twice during WSL 2022 and destroyed him both times¡­¡± ¡°Wow! Boss, you¡¯re amazing!¡± Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes were filled with adoration. Then Murong Mingyue interrupted and said, ¡°The next year in the same event, someone got kited like a dog and forfeited the match¡­¡± ¡°Fuck, can you not dampen my spirits, sis¡­¡± I rolled my eyes at her before clenching my fists. ¡°If Transient Smoke and Clouds showed his face in Floating Ice City today, I¡¯m seventy percent sure I¡¯d kick his ass!¡± ¡°Why not a hundred?¡± ¡°It will be a hundred percent after I equip the Purgatory War Armor and Purgatory War Helmet!¡± ¡°Boo boo~¡± ¡­¡­ He Yi said, ¡°Lu Chen, there are still two skill books to go through, right? Let¡¯s distribute them quickly so we can get some much-needed rest!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± I took out the skill books and touched them gently, bringing up the stat screen. Freezing Arrow: Shoots an arrow imbued with the power of ice. Deals massive damage to the enemy and slows down their movement speed and attack speed drastically. Class Requirement: Archer, Tamer. Level Requirement: 60. Rock Shield: Summons a rock shield to protect yourself. Increases Defense by 20% and reduces all damage taken by 5%. Class Requirement: Magic Knight, Wanderer. Level Requirement: 60. ¡­¡­ Fuck me! Two third-promotion special skill books!? I felt like spring had come to us as my eyes widened in shock. Who would¡¯ve thought that one Level 75 Dark Gold Rank boss would increase our strength this much? Freezing Arrow was obviously a super crowd control skill. Once Beiming Xue learned it and equipped the Purgatory Bow, there was no one in the world she couldn¡¯t kite to her heart¡¯s content. Rock Shield was even stronger though. 20% increase in Defense and 5% damage reduction from all sources was like having a third-promotion Bard following you and buffing you with Death Match all day and night. It was the kind of skill every magic knight would dream to have! Beiming Xue was part of the family, so I tossed the skill book into her hands like the overprotective brother I was. The girl learned the skill so quickly that it was almost as if she was afraid that someone would contest her for the ownership of the skill book. ¡°Hoho, this is great! I finally have a slow of my own!¡± Beiming Xue couldn¡¯t keep her smile off her face. I asked, ¡°How much does Freezing Arrow slow exactly?¡± ¡°It¡¯s 25% at Rank 1 and 60% at Rank 10. Pretty good, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s great! At Rank 7 the slow should be around 50%, so you should rank it up as quickly as possible!¡± ¡°Mn mn!¡± Beiming Xue was beaming like the sun. It was incredibly important for an archer to have a skill that could slow down the enemy. For example, if Beiming Xue had Rank 7 Freezing Arrow before we fought the Poison Ghost King, we might have been able to avoid that party wipe. A 50% slow was nothing to scoff at! After that, I picked up the Rock Shield book and turned to He Yi. ¡°Boss? This is another magic knight skill. Here, take it¡­¡± He Yi bit her lips hesitantly. ¡°This is a pretty rare skill book, isn¡¯t it? Should¡­ should we leave it to Gui Guzi instead? He¡¯s the symbolic tank of our guild, so I think it¡¯ll be better if he learns this.¡± But I shook my head and smiled at her reassuringly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Gui Guzi already has Undying Shield, and according to system limitations, a player can only use one shield-type skill at a time, no matter how many they have learned. Therefore, it¡¯s better if you learn it instead. Moreover, don¡¯t forget that Gui Guzi hasn¡¯t participated in this trip. It doesn¡¯t make sense for him to have it over you, no matter how you slice it.¡± Murong Mingyue also joined in and said, ¡°That¡¯s right. You wanted to become strong, didn¡¯t you? That chance is now sitting right in front of you. The Abyssal Sword, Abyssal Armor, Azure Wolf Wristguards, and now Rock Shield. Who would¡¯ve thought that we would find all the components necessary to create a top-tier magic knight in a single night?¡± I nodded repeatedly. ¡°Exactly. Don¡¯t hold back on our account, boss!¡± ¡°O¡­ okay then¡­¡± He Yi accepted the skill book and learned it. After it transformed into a blue light and entered her body, a new skill was added to her skill list. The next moment, He Yi let out a cute cry and activated Rock Shield. A brilliant magic formation appeared beneath her, and blue rocks started flying all around her. By the time she turned around to face us, the rocks had joined together to form a gorgeous-looking, semi-transparent blue shield! ¡°Hehe, done!¡± Finally, I tossed the Phantasmal Magic Stones, the Purple Crystal and everything else into Murong Mingyue¡¯s hands with a smile. ¡°You girls split this up like the last time. I¡¯m gonna go find the quest item I came here for!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± But He Yi surprised me by saying, ¡°I know where it is. Look behind the Poison Ghost King¡¯s throne, Lu Chen. That tiny purple flower behind it is probably the Heavenly Poison Snow Lotus you¡¯re looking for.¡± I ran to the back of the throne as instructed and found exactly what I was looking for on the wall. There was a purple lotus growing at the center of the poisonous grass, and it was none other than the Heavenly Poison Snow Lotus! Ding~! System Notice: You have obtained the Heavenly Poison Snow Lotus! ¡­¡­ ¡°Okay, quest complete. Let¡¯s return to Floating Ice City and turn it in!¡± ¡°Mn mn!¡± We crushed the return scrolls in our hands and teleported back to Floating Ice City. Then, I led the way and ran straight for the Violet Camp of the Blood Dance Legion. Since it was a neutral faction, I thought it was probably fine for He Yi and the others to accompany me. Outside the city, the wind of spring carrying the scent of open plains entered my nostrils. As I was passing through, I spotted a large group of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players¡ªan army of probably a thousand¡ªhaving a post-mission evaluation at the edge of the forest. I saw fully-armored Xu Yang planting his sword into the ground and admonishing the group. ¡°Last night we went to Greedy Wolf Forest on a level grinding event, and I don¡¯t need to tell you what a disaster it was. Color me curious, but do you actually want to stay in Ancient Swords Dreaming Souls or not?! Don¡¯t think I didn¡¯t notice some of you taking it easy and letting your guildmates do all the hard work! I saw archers who pulled their bowstrings but didn¡¯t shoot a damn thing, mages who only threw Fireballs all day long, warriors who were too scared to charge into the fray, guys who were too busy chatting up girls and people who fought each other over one Small Magic Stone! I told you all before that you have a responsibility to the guild, and this is how you guys act? You call yourselves professional players, so where the hell is your professionalism?¡± The entire group was as silent as death. Murong Mingyue and He Yi could barely hold in their laughter, but Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone were already laughing their asses off. I was pretty happy to see this though. This was why Xu Yang was a core member and a spiritual leader of Ancient Guild Dreaming Souls! He might not be a good player by any means, but he was honest, just, loyal, and brave. A man like him was crucial in bringing up the unity and morals of our guild. Chapter 185: Ironclad Defense It was a beautiful March outside Eternal Song Forest. The air of spring pleasantly tickled the nose, and butterflies danced across the air. I led He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone to the encampment of the Violet Empire¡¯s Blood Dance Legion. A column of undead cavalry was racing across the open ground before us and shattering the quiet afternoon with their hooves. He Yi watched the squadron of skeletal knights and skeletal horses nervously as she asked, ¡°Have you been here before, Mingyue?¡± Murong Mingyue shook her head. ¡°This is my first time.¡± ¡°Those undead won¡¯t attack us, will they?¡± ¡°How would I know? Lu Chen¡¯s the only one who can answer that!¡± I turned around and gave them a reassuring smile. ¡°Relax, this is a neutral encampment, so they won¡¯t attack you unless you attack them first. Also, you¡¯re with me right now, and they wouldn¡¯t dare attack a uh¡­ junior officer of the Blood Dance Legion¡­?¡± ¡°OMG!¡± After a round of chatter, we had already entered the encampment. As expected, no one had tried to stop us. We found the small tent where I had last seen Shadow Dancer Xue Wei. I was immediately greeted by the sight of the worried Princess Sophia. ¡°Ah? You¡¯ve returned, young warrior?¡± Sophia immediately rose to her feet with a look of pleasant surprise. I nodded and took out the Heavenly Poison Snow Lotus. ¡°Your Majesty, my companions and I have brought you what we promised. We have found the Heavenly Poison Snow Lotus for Xue Wei!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Sophia accepted the little flower and crushed it carefully into powder. Then, she covered Xue Wei¡¯s wounds with it. It was incredible, but the poison tormenting Xue Wei immediately started dissipating the moment it came into contact with the Heavenly Poison Snow Lotus. The black blood immediately started to turn red, and Xue Wei¡¯s face regained their color once more. Although she was still weak and tired, Xue Wei opened her eyes and smiled at me. ¡°Thank you!¡± I nodded back. ¡°You¡¯re welcome!¡± Princess Sophia turned toward me and said joyfully, ¡°Young warrior, you have fulfilled your promise and proven your courage by killing the terrible Poison Ghost King. Xue Wei has also experienced rebirth due to your efforts. You are undoubtedly the hope of the Blood Dance Legion, or rather, the Violet Empire itself! Come and receive the reward you deserve!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your party has completed the quest [Myriad Poison Cave]. You have gained 95000 EXP, 7000 Reputation, 1250 gold and the quest reward, ¡°Guard¡±! ¡­¡­ Swoosh! I opened my bag and took out a blue-colored skill book. It was the defensive skill book the quest had given me! Guard: By assuming an airtight defensive stance, you reduce all incoming damage by 50% to 90%. Cooldown: 3 seconds. Class Requirement: Any. Level Requirement: 10 ¡­¡­ I learned it immediately and watched my skill list grow by one. From now on, when I was facing the right kind of boss, I could block any attack that I couldn¡¯t evade in time and reduce the damage I took by at least 50%. What a great and practical skill this is! Besides that, I also took out the two awesome items I had gotten from Myriad Poison Cave¡ªthe Purgatory War Armor and the Purgatory War Helmet. I could equip them now that I was at Level 70! Swhoosh swhoosh! I equipped both the armor and helmet. The Purgatory War Helmet had a rugged design, but it was clearly of fine quality. The barbs on my shoulder were shaped like vertical blades, and the jagged edges gleaming in front of my chest looked both cool and deadly. Coupled together with my Bloody Purgatory Cloak, I looked like the incarnation of the Grim Reaper! At this point, anyone could judge from my appearance alone that I was clad from head to toe in top-tier equipment, but they still wouldn¡¯t be able to guess just how deadly I was. The stat boosts the two Dark Gold metal armor gave me was positively insane! I brought up my character screen and was stunned to speechlessness by my own stats. ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Class: Undead Swordsman (Silver Swordsman) Level: 70 HP: 3300 Attack: 473~755 Defense: 780 Magic Resist: 562 Reputation: 36850 Luck: 3 ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, my HP was greater than a first-rate magic knight¡¯s, and my Attack was out of this world as usual. Besides that, I had a godly 780 Defense and, what¡¯s even better, 562 Magic Resist. From here on, Ice Dragon Howl would no longer be haunting me in my sleep! After I was done admiring myself, I put away the Beast-faced Turmoil Helmet and the Soul Turmoil Armor. These items were worth some gold on the auction market. The Dark Steel¨Cgrade Soul Turmoil Armor especially could probably be sold for a couple hundred gold at least! The girls also got a reward from the quest. Murong Mingyue was having fun with her new staff. It was a Gold-grade staff that gave her a lot of extra magic attack and a healing boost of 120. It was a pretty amazing priest weapon all in all. Beiming Xue also leveled up to 70. She was holding her new Purgatory Bow and notching an arrow with ice energy circulating around the arrowtip. It was her new skill, Freezing Arrow. He Yi smiled at me and said, ¡°I¡¯m Level 64! Just a bit more, and I¡¯ll enter the Top 100 Heavenly Ranking of Floating Ice City!¡± ¡°Mn. Keep it up!¡± I yawned. While I was checking my system notices, I noticed that I had also gotten a huge boost in rank in the Blood Dance Legion. I was now a Rank 4 Ash Knight. I wonder, what¡¯s the military equivalent of this rank in real life, company commander or battalion commander? Well, whatever. At any rate, it is way better than being a Skeleton Soldier! The girls were so excited that they wanted nothing more but to find another Myriad Poison Cave and ransack it from top to bottom. Unfortunately, a special zone like this would only become active when some player got a quest related to it, and since we¡¯ve already activated Myriad Poison Cave once, it would be at least half a month before we could challenge the Poison Ghost King again. As for finding another awesome zone like that, where would we even begin? These special spots didn¡¯t just grow on trees. In the end, they listened to my suggestion and logged out of the game. We had been at it for 24 hours straight. Any longer than that and someone might actually die from this. I was what Lin Yixin called a ¡°overnight cafe male¡±, so this wasn¡¯t my first rodeo. The girls though most likely hadn¡¯t developed the endurance necessary for this kind of hustle. After we logged off, we went to a restaurant downstairs and ate some random food. Then, we staggered back to our rooms and slept like a log. ¡­¡­ Maybe it was because I was too tired, but I had an inane dream. I was sitting on a golden throne above the clouds while holding an unknown divine weapon and wearing a shiny battle armor. A beautiful woman with white wings¡ªclearly an angel¡ªwas sitting on my thigh, and she said to me sweetly, ¡°Godking, your servant missed you so much for the past few days!¡± I wrapped my hands around her amazing waist and felt a surge of courage in my lungs. Looking down at the mortal realm from above, I sneered. ¡°These grandmafucking devils must be tired of living to go against me, the Floating Cloud War God! Hmph! Just wait till I smite them with my divine punishment! Tremble in fear, mortals!¡± I was having a lot of fun when a beautiful figure suddenly cut through the clouds and flew toward me. It was a female warrior wearing the same type of armor as I was. She kicked me to the floor and stepped on my fourth lumbar spine vertebra before commenting, ¡°Hmm? I wasn¡¯t expecting to see you here...¡± I screamed like a pig in a slaughterhouse. ¡°Yiyi, why are you here?¡± Lin Yixin increased her strength. ¡°Hmm? I wasn¡¯t expecting to see you here¡­¡± ¡°Aahh! Yiyi, a gentleman uses his mouth and not his fist!¡± All Lin Yixin did was look down on me expressionlessly and crushed my poor vertebra even harder. ¡°Hmm? I wasn¡¯t expecting to see you here¡­¡± I lost control and screamed. ¡°Aahh, I¡¯m sorry, I should¡¯ve given you a call sooner!¡± Finally, the corner of Lin Yixin¡¯s lips turned upward. ¡°Hmph!¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°Hah!¡± I abruptly rose up from bed. Thank god it was just a dream, no, a nightmare! I grabbed my phone and checked the time. Fuck, it¡¯s 6:30 already? My dinner with Lin Yixin was in half an hour at most! If I was late, my nightmare might actually come true! I flew off the bed and sprinted into the bathroom. I washed my face, brushed my teeth and took a shower, all under 10 minutes. I put on a T-shirt and finally rushed out of the door! I was in the hallway when someone called out to me, ¡°Hey, Lu Chen! Where are you going?¡± I turned around and found a smiling Murong Mingyue. She clearly just had a bath since her hair was wet. ¡°Er, I have a dinner to catch and I¡¯m about to be late, so talk to you later!¡± I was about to leave in a hurry when Murong Mingyue grabbed my arm and stopped me. ¡°Look at you, you look like you lost your soul or something. Hmm, wait¡­¡± A mysterious smile crossed her lips as she raised her eyebrows. ¡°Do you have a dinner date with Lin Yixin?¡± My heart skipped a beat. ¡°Fuck, how did you know?¡± ¡°Hmph hmph!¡± Murong Mingyue curled her lips proudly. ¡°Do you know how many top-class beauties there are in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? If Eve is number one, then I¡¯m number two. Even Beiming Xue, Moonlight Stone and Chaos Moon are young and beautiful in their own right. How dare you eat out when you¡¯re surrounded by so many girls!¡± ¡°Eat out? Is that how you use that term?¡± I nearly threw up blood hearing that. ¡°Anyway, cut the chitchat and come with me!¡± I grabbed Murong Mingyue¡¯s hand and dragged her downstairs. In the elevator, Murong Mingyue was struggling and complaining, ¡°Why are you dragging me with you?¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m out of time, I need you to drive me to the university right now¡­¡± Murong Mingyue¡¯s mouth fell open. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s low, man. You¡¯re eating out and you want me to drive you there? OMG, someone give me a block of tofu so I can kill myself¡­¡± I stared into her eyes and said sincerely, ¡°Or you can give me your car keys and I¡¯ll drive there myself. Not that I¡¯d mind...¡± Having ran out of rants to say, Murong Mingyue tossed her car keys to me. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare crash my car, you hear? It took me half a year¡¯s income to buy this A8, and unlike Eve, I don¡¯t have the wealth to trash a Lamborghini every week or two. If I crashed a Lamborghini I¡¯d have to work as someone else¡¯s mistress for the rest of my life¡­¡± I rolled my eyes at her. ¡°Fuck, like there¡¯s anyone in the world who can make the mighty Murong Mingyue his mistress!¡± Murong Mingyue giggled. ¡°There¡¯s you¡­¡± ¡°I can¡¯t afford you, dammit!¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, I can afford you¡­¡± ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ I drove straight toward the university after the verbal thrashing from Murong Mingyue. However, I got stuck in a freaking traffic jam! I checked the time and swore. Fuck rush hour! I drove up a highway and detoured back down to the main street. I then made a mad dash for Happy House. Doo doo¡­ Chapter 186: The Moonlight Is Pretty I rushed into the hotel and saw a girl waving at me from the corner of the lobby. It was Clear Perfume¡ªSun Qingqing. I walked over immediately, but couldn¡¯t see Lin Yixin anywhere, so I asked, "Qingqing, where¡¯s Lin Yixin?" "Yiyi said that she had something suddenly come up, and couldn''t come...¡± Sun Qingqing pressed her lips together and said slowly. My heart immediately sank to the bottom. "Damn, something suddenly came up...¡± I could not disguise my disappointment and sat down dispiritedly. Sun Qingqing burst into laughter. "Lu Chen, you¡¯re so smart in the game, so why are you so easy to fool in real life?" "Hm?" I was slightly surprised. I heard footsteps come behind him, and when I looked back, I discovered a beautiful woman holding three milk teas and glaring at me. Damn, Lin Yixin... My mood immediately changed to rapture. I hurriedly pulled the chair beside me and said with a smile, "Yiyi, you¡¯re here?" Lin Yixin snorted and her gaze moved around my body. In the end, she put down the milk teas, and gathered her skirt to sit down next to me. As a result, Lin Yixin and I were sitting together, with Sun Qingqing sitting alone on the other side. Sun Qingqing was discontent and muttered, "Yiyi, why are you sitting with him?" Lin Yixin pouted. "He pulled the chair in invitation. If I ignored his gesture and sat elsewhere, he might be embarrassed and decide to jump through the window.¡± "No worries. This is the first floor.¡± "That¡¯s true...¡± ¡­¡­ At this time, a waitress came over with the menu and Sun Qingqing went to order happily. I turned around and faced Lin Yixin. I found she was looking at me with her lively eyes, her beautiful face having a trace of bashfulness and unease. "Yiyi, have you been well recently?" I asked softly. Lin Yixin blinked her eyes and turned away, not willing to look at me. She whispered, "Not bad. Long story short, same old same old...¡± I said, "A few days ago in Who Will Fight Me, your performance was inconsistent. What happened there? Were you ill?" Lin Yixin looked down, her eyes full of sorrow. She murmured, "Yeah, I may have been a little uncomfortable¡­¡± I said, "I''m buying dinner today, do you feel better?" Lin Yixin pouted, murderousness rising on her face. "Hmph, how can my mood be better? I¡¯m so angry. I hadn''t expected you to really lead Bloody Mercenaries into Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. You really were willing to do it and gave the empire that Bloody Mercenaries built to someone else!" "That¡¯s... actually...¡± I stammered, not knowing how to explain. Lin Yixin immediately blushed. "I am not!" "Then why are you angry?" "I...¡± Lin Yixin stammered and was unable to speak. She turned to the window. "The moonlight tonight is really pretty...¡± I turned to look. "Moonlight? It''s cloudy today, and was raining when I came...¡± Bang! Lin Yixin lightly kicked me. Alright, I¡¯ll keep quiet. ¡­¡­ Sun Qingqing took a sip of tea and said with a smile, "Lu Chen, what is your position in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?" "Vice leader.¡± "Oh, this is very good~" Sun Qingqing said with a smile, "Since you returned with a core force like the Bloody Mercenaries, it would be unreasonable to not make you the vice leader. Also, your workshop aside, with Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s fame in the China server, it would be unreasonable to not grant you the position of vice leader.¡± Lin Yixin glanced at me and asked, "Lu Chen, what plans do you have for the future development of Floating Ice City?" I thought for a moment and said, "The present situation is not very clear. You''ve also seen it. Gods of Destruction has many members, and will maintain an absolute advantage. Also, Mad Dragon is willing to spend money to recruit many experts. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has become a Rank 2 guild. With the entry of the Bloody Mercenaries, they are expanding quickly. Snowy Cathaya has accepted Purple Marquis and the Shadow Clan. Their reputation has increased greatly. Based on the present situation, it would be a quadrumvirate.¡± Lin Yixin smiled faintly and said, "Yes, then what are your plans?" I pointed at myself and then at Lin Yixin, saying, "Since I am sitting here, then it proves that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya are allies, right? We should work together, and overthrow Gods of Destruction!" Lin Yixin''s clear eyes looked at me and then at Sun Qingqing. She suddenly smiled and said, "Alright, since we are allies, then what are our future plans?" "Yes.¡± I took a sip of tea and said, "Very simple, we will not be active or passive!" "Not active or passive? What do you mean?" Lin Yixin asked. I said, "Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls need to work on our development and quickly increase our guild ranks to recruit more expert players. This way, we may face Gods of Destruction head-on. In this regard, we will not be passive. But on the other hand, we will not provoke enemy guilds and will maintain a low profile. This way, we will not be active.¡± "Yes, there¡¯s some merit to your words...¡± Lin Yixin held her milk tea, and looked at me with her beautiful eyes. She said, "Lu Chen, you look like you have concerns?" I stilled and nodded. "Yes!" "What are you concerned about?" "Peach Garden!" "?" I said gravely, "In the Who Will Fight Me tournament, we saw only the corner of this faction. Peach Garden is definitely hidden. I fear that they have a deeply established player base in Floating Ice City, but they haven¡¯t come out yet. Right now, Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls together can fight against Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon. Our strengths are about equal. At this time, Peach Garden''s attitude will determine everything. Which side they will join will mean the other side loses!" Lin Yixin pressed her lips together and sighed. She said with a smile, "Alright, it appears that we need to test Peach Garden''s attitude.¡± "Yes, I also have such thoughts.¡± Lin Yixin thought for a moment and then looked at me. "How about this? I will try to make an appointment with the leader of Peach Garden, Indigo Collar. He¡¯s from Shanghai. If possible, the two of us will meet with him in person. Otherwise, we won¡¯t show our sincerity.¡± I said, "If you want sincerity, we have to go to Shanghai in person.¡± Lin Yixin smiled. "No need, Indigo Collar is only a potential threat. In reality, I do not think too highly of him. If he comes to Suzhou and I am willing to meet him, then I have given him face!" "...¡± I was speechless. I looked at this beautiful woman next to me, this legendary Fruit Knife Goddess. Her presence was really tremendous! After a while, the food was brought over. Because it was my treat today, Sun Qingqing had been ruthless. There was food from the sky, from the water, and from the wilderness. I tsked. "Damn, there¡¯s even wild chicken?" "Yes!" Sun Qingqing nodded and said, "I originally wanted to order a wild silkie but there aren''t any. Eat this for Yiyi to get more nutrients...¡± I looked at Lin Yixin and smiled maliciously. "More nutrients... Beauty Lin is pregnant?" Lin Yixin turned to stone and then she flushed. She hit me hard. "Little Cheat, you¡¯re the one pregnant, you¡¯re pregnant everyday!" The couple at the neighboring table laughed. The man said, "Wife, do you see. Technology is so developed now even a man can get pregnant, and everyday. We should go to the fertility department at the city hospital...¡± The woman nodded. "Yes, you have to work hard tonight ..¡± ¡­¡­ Hearing them talk, Lin Yixin blushed even more and glared angrily at me. I said seriously, "Yiyi, you are so beautiful. If you have a baby, it¡¯s bound to be just as beautiful!" Lin Yixin was speechless and looked at me. Sun Qingqing asked, "Lu Chen, what is your blood type?" "B.¡± "Oh, Yiyi is B as well...¡± Sun Qingqing was very excited. "Then, then... since you are both type B, will your child¡¯s blood be 2-B type?" "Screw you!" Lin Yixin and I shouted at the same time. ¡­¡­ Our food and drinks ultimately amassed to 700 RMB. It really hurt me. There was no place to get this bill reimbursed, and I could not shamelessly go find He Yi and say, "Boss, I went to meet a girl, this is our bill totaling 700 RMB, could you pay it for me?" Our dinner finished at 8 pm and we headed out. Lin Yixin looked at the sky and said, "Qingqing, shall we shop? I want to buy a new pair of shoes...¡± Sun Qingqing nodded. "Yes, let''s go to S-M Mall, it''s about two kilometers from here, should we walk?" Lin Yixin opened her mouth. "But it¡¯s so far¡­ how about we drive?" The two beauties turned to me, their gazes drilling holes in my lowered head, trying to find a crack in the ground. "Alright, I drove here, I will take you there...¡± "Good, so you are self-conscious~" When the two women saw my borrowed A8, they were shocked. Lin Yixin looked at me with a smile. "Nice, Lu Chen. After becoming a sugarbaby you got your own car...¡± My teeth grit, I forced out, "Fuck, I borrowed it, I haven''t bought my own car yet!" "Haha, let''s go!" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin sat next to me while Sun Qingqing sat in the back and listened to music. The car slowly moved onto the road. Lin Yixin leaned against the seat. She did not put on her seatbelt and looked at me with her head tilted. She said with a smile, "Lu Chen, are you Level 70?" "Yes. I¡¯m awesome, right?" "So what, I¡¯m also Level 70!" "...¡± I stepped on the gas. "Damn, how did you level up?" "Simple, I spent an entire day sweeping through Immortal Trail Forest¡¯s Demon Rebel Tower...¡± "...¡± Looking at this woman next to me, I felt stunned. How could a girl have such astounding talent in the game? Chapter 187: Together with Dreaming Souls At a woman''s shoe store. I stood there like a pillar that Lin Yixin could cling onto as she put on new shoes. "How is it?" she asked with a smile. I said, "Too expensive...¡± "You¡¯re not paying for them!" At this time, the salesperson walked forward and said with a smile, "Miss, your shoes are very beautiful but... the heel is too tall. How about we change for a similar style with a lower heel. This way, your boyfriend won¡¯t be under too much pressure...¡± My heart shook. Alright, a misunderstanding! Lin Yixin didn¡¯t correct the salesperson and said with a chuckle, "It¡¯s okay!" She smiled at me. "He is in adolescence, and will have his second puberty. Maybe he will grow as tall as Yao Ming...¡± Tears streamed down my face. Then Lin Yixin bought this pair of shoes with a 10-centimeter heel, turning this tall beauty even more extraordinary. The tragedy was that Lin Yixin was tall to begin with. After putting on the heels, she was about shoulder to shoulder with me. The salesperson looked at me sympathetically. Sun Qingqing walked over from another shoe store and smiled. "Yiyi, are you done?" "Yes!" Lin Yixin nodded. "Let Lu Chen drive us back to uni. This way, we can save our cab fare. Haha, see how frugal we are...¡± I was expressionless. "A person who spent 9000 RMB on shoes cannot speak of frugality!" The two women giggled. The three of us walked out of the door. The moment we walked out of the mall, a middle-aged man with a steady walk came out, dressed in a formal suit. There were two young men behind him. The middle-aged man''s eyes immediately filled with shock. He looked at Lin Yixin. "Xin''er, why are you here?" Lin Yixin was shocked and then her gaze filled with anger. She snorted. "Why can''t I be here?" The middle-aged man''s gaze turned cold. He looked at me. "Hm? Who is this boy?" "Any of your business?" Lin Yixin walked forward and wrapped a hand around my arm. She said intimately, "Little Cheat, let''s go back to campus.¡± I shuddered, and felt a ball of flesh push on my arm. The girl really had a good figure and the softness almost made me faint. Lin Yixin gave me a murderous gaze and said lowly, "Go, you wuss!" "Alright.¡± I nodded, and brushed past this middle-aged man with Lin Yixin. Sun Qingqing nodded at the middle-aged man. "Uncle...¡± "Mn, Qingqing...¡± ¡­¡­ After we went far, Sun Qingqing followed. Lin Yixin released my hand in relief which disappointed me slightly. "So tell me, who is that uncle?" I asked. Lin Yixin pouted. "Don''t ask. That''s better for you...¡± "...¡± Seeing me and Lin Yixin about to fight, Sun Qingqing hurriedly said, "Lu Chen, that uncle is Yiyi''s old man...¡± "Fuck!" "To greet Uncle...¡± The beauty gritted her teeth .¡±Ooooh¡­ you¡¯re such a wuss. I¡¯m gonna kill you. Why greet him, people like him are not worth your time!" "Damn...¡± Clearly, Lin Yixin and her father were at odds. Forget it. This isn¡¯t something I should know. The less I know, the better. ¡­¡­ On the way back, I had been frightened when I started to drive and occasionally glanced at Lin Yixin. Lin Yixin tilted her head toward me and was amused. "You look like a quail. What is it? Just ask what you want. Don''t hold it in or it¡¯ll burst inside...¡± As if given amnesty, I quickly asked, "Your old man let you down? Why do you have such an attitude?" Lin Yixin leaned back and inhaled deeply. Her chest rose and fell dramatically. "Other than this, you can ask anything else,¡± Lin Yixin said. I pursed my mouth. "Your mother''s surname...¡± "Lin...¡± Clear Perfume: "...¡± When I returned the two girls to their university, it was already ten in the evening. The campus was silent, and only some students were walking along the paths reading their books. The car moved slowly. Lin Yixin tilted her head to look up at the stars, pouting and silent. Clear Perfume held her phone and pressed wildly. I didn''t know if she was texting her boyfriend. I asked, "Yiyi, are you going to be online tonight?" Lin Yixin nodded. "Tomorrow¡¯s the weekend so I¡¯m going to stay up all night grinding. Why? "Oh, let''s meet at the plaza by the eastern gate. Sell me some more Rank 6 potions. I''ve used up what I bought last time...¡± "?" Clear Perfume''s eyes widened. "Didn¡¯t you buy potions from her just yesterday? You used 20 Rank 6 Health Potions in a single day?" "Yep!" "You drink them like water..." Clear Perfume was shocked. Lin Yixin smiled. "Qingqing, business coming to our door is a good thing! Lu Chen~ We don''t have any in stock right now. Let me gather some more herbs and craft them. You can make a reservation. How much?" I thought, and said, "100!" "Oh? That is 1000 RMB, a big order. Boss, you¡¯re so generous!" "...¡± After stopping the car, Lin Yixin got out and smiled at me. "We can get 100 Rank 6 potions by tomorrow, at the latest. See you tomorrow, boss!" "Mn!" I nodded. I found several female students coming across. When they heard Lin Yixin call me "boss¡±, their faces turned green. "Heavens, even the school flower is finding a man outside. What kind of world is this...¡± Lin Yixin gashed softly but she couldn¡¯t wash herself clean. She glared at me, flushing red. "It¡¯s all your fault!" I spread my hands and said, "That had nothing to do with me...¡± "Dang it!" Lin Yixin walked lightly and waved her fist to punch the window. She said angrily, "Stupid Lu Chen!" I put down the window and looked at her with a smile. "Yiyi, go upstairs. Don''t worry, I¡¯ll be thinking of you...¡± Lin Yixin was in chaos, her face red. She raised her foot and kicked the A8. Shit! This was Murong Mingyue''s car. If it was damaged, I had to pay. I pressed on the gas and dashed forward. In the rearview mirror, Lin Yixin looked at the back of the car, and her beautiful face showed a spectacular smile. ¡­¡­ When I returned to Ancient Sword''s base, it was around 10 pm. My biological clock was in chaos. I didn''t know whether it was because of this or teasing Lin Yixin that I was extremely excited and not drowsy at all. It seemed like I had no choice but to go online and level up. The hallways were completely silent. I slipped into my room and went online! Swhoosh! I appeared in Floating Ice City''s inn. When I walked out, I repaired my equipment and inspected my bag. I replenished some of the slow recovery health potions and organized some of the equipment in my bag. Once I arrived at the auction house, I put them all up for sale. I saw my gold amount out of the corner of my eye. Good. I have more than fifty thousand, and He Yi was happy to get a strong item. She finally released the relief fund. For disaster victims like me whose allowances didn¡¯t exceed 1000 RMB, a donation of 50000 RMB was like charcoal gifted in snow! Without hesitation, I transferred money to my account through the official website. I immediately felt like I was a rich person. Very good. Starting today, I can order two bowls of soymilk every morning, drink one and pour one out! Beep! A message came from Beiming Xue: "Boss, you¡¯re online?" "Yes, what is it?" "Bloody Mercenaries have reached Rank 2 and are gathering at the eastern gate of Floating Ice City. Do you want to come for an inspection?" "Sure, I¡¯ll be right there!" It was a good thing that our guild had reached Rank 2. With additional slots for 800 fighters, we could help Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls gain a foothold in Floating Ice City! I dashed out of the city and saw a patch of red in the distance. It was the color of Bloody Mercenaries'' emblem. There was a large group of people uniformly standing there by the forest. Gui Guzi held a spear, and stood at the front of the troops. The current leader of Bloody Mercenaries, Amazing Expert Du Thirteen, was looking down coldly at everyone, a hand on his sword. I never knew that this boy could look quite authoritative when he pretended! ¡­¡­ "Boss Broken Halberd is here!" Gui Guzi laughed and said. I strode forward and smiled at everyone. "Brothers, good evening!" The Bloody Mercenaries members all had smiles and reverent expression. "Good evening, boss!" Beiming Xue saw this and laughed lowly to Gui Guzi. "How is it? Brother Lu Chen hasn''t returned to the guild for a long time, but his reputation and trust surpasses the acting leader...¡± Du Thirteen''s facial muscles twitched. "Lil Beiming, will removing the word ¡®acting¡¯ make you lose a piece of flesh?" Beiming Xue puffed up her chest and said, "Yes, I will lose a piece of flesh. Look at how balanced my figure is. Where can I lose some flesh?" I glanced at her chest and laughed softly. "Anywhere but here...¡± Beiming Xue had an amused look, "Stupid boss, even you are laughing at me!" "Cough cough, be serious, we¡¯re making an inspection!" I walked forward and pulled out my sword with a clang. I looked at the hundreds of Bloody Mercenaries players in front of me and said loudly, "Brothers, right now, Floating Ice City has many factions. Gods of Destruction, Mad Dragon, Flower Room, Peach Garden, Snowy Cathaya, and our Bloody Mercenaries. We do not know who our allies and enemies are. In a situation like this, we must strengthen ourselves and wait for changes. So, as everyone is working to improve themselves, you must think of ways to increase our place in the Guild Ranking. Whether Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will be famed throughout the world will depend on whether our Bloody Mercenaries are strong enough!" Basically, everyone in the world knew that Bloody Mercenaries was an internal organization of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, so everyone pulled out their weapons and shouted, "Together with Dreaming Souls, our Ancient Swords paving the way!" ¡­¡­ Du Thirteen went forward and laughed lowly. "How¡¯s the slogan? He Yi told me it during dinner...¡± I nodded. "Mn, not bad. Let''s dismiss them and go level up!" "Okay!" Chapter 188: Solokill Gui Guzi stood with his spear and asked, ¡°Boss Broken Halberd. Are you saying that Bloody Mercenaries are Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ academy?" I immediately shook my head. "That would be a grave mistake!" "Why so?" Du Thirteen was shocked. I smiled. "Because Bloody Mercenaries is not an academy branch of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, but their essential, core organization. Let''s put it this way. If Ancient Dreaming Souls are the sword, then we, Bloody Mercenaries, are the edge of the blade. It¡¯s what they rely on to tear through the enemy¡¯s armor and defenses!" Du Thirteen was relieved and said, "Brother Xu Yang told me to gradually move the strong players of Bloody Mercenaries into Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Should we do that?" I smiled. "No way!" Gui Guzi laughed. "Yes, if we give the elites of Bloody Mercenaries to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, who will be the main force of the guild?" I nodded. "This is not a question of fighting for power. One guild cannot conquer the world alone. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is low on strength, they need the help of a protector like Bloody Mercenaries. Just like I said in the past, our principles will not change: we will crush the world beneath our feet and stay true to our oath!¡± Then I paused and continued, "Now, we have kept our oath, but it doesn¡¯t mean we will do whatever higher-ups of Ancient Sword will tell us to. Why should we give our strongest people to Xu Yang? Ha! How about I get him drunk and convince some strong tacticians to join Bloody Mercenaries instead!" "...¡± Beiming Xue smiled, her dimples showing. "Boss, boss, we are all in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. In reality, Bloody Mercenaries really need a top-class expert!" "Yes, let''s take it slowly. Thirteen, Mamate, you have to be focused and not miss any of the talents you can recruit. Of course, the requirement is that this person will be useful and loyal to us.¡± "Understood!" ¡­¡­ Beep! Murong Mingyue sent a message: "Are you leveling up?" "No, what is it?" "A fight broke out in the wild, you coming?" "Yes, add me to the party!" "Alright!" Soon, He Yi sent a party invitation. With a beep, I joined the party. The nine-person party was full with my addition. I opened the large map and the locations of those people were in an area near Wild Pheasant Ridge. I had wanted to party up with Gui Guzi, and Beiming Xue, but they had gone to level up with Mamate and Du Thirteen. In the end, I could only go off on my own. In the party channel, some players said excitedly, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is coming?" "Yes,¡± I replied simply. "Why are you guys fighting?" I frowned. "Is Flower Room purposefully looking for conflict with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Eve, didn''t you identify yourself?" He Yi said exasperatedly, ¡°I said I am the leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡­ and got hit two more times¡­¡± "Fuck, they dare? Wait for me!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I sprinted and reached Wild Pheasant Ridge in less than fifteen minutes. He Yi and Murong Mingyue were standing on top of a small hill in the distance. Right now, He Yi was dressed in new armor and a milky white cape flapped behind her as she held the Abyssal Sword in her hand. Adding on her beautiful face and amazing figure, she would rank in the Top 3 beauties of Floating Ice City... He Yi did not have many people with her, at most a dozen. It seemed like she didn¡¯t want to call too many people over. In reality, this decision was very wise. In these early stages of the game, leveling up was priority. A wise leader wouldn¡¯t pull their members from grinding and would rather persevere and deal a fatal blow when ready. Only idiots like Li Le and Roaming Dragon would go around with hundreds and thousands of people each day to steal grinding zones like bandits. There was a group of 40 players from Flower Room at the bottom of the hill, including Li Le and Life of Luxury. On top of that, the three heads of the Ego workshop¡ªSpring Mud, Moon Shadow, and Night Sorrow¡ªwere among them. These three had become three of the most important five figures of Flower Room. With their important decisions, they didn¡¯t hesitate to challenge their old master. Could they get any more shameless? I sprinted up the hill. The Dark Wasp flew out as I opened my hand, already in a combat mode. "Lu Chen, you came!" He Yi said with a smile. I nodded. "Yes, boss, you worked hard. Leave the rest to me!" "No, I need to kill a few. Just now, this group mounted a strong attack and almost killed me. Fortunately, Mingyue''s heals are strong.¡± "Oh...¡± I looked at He Yi. Her shoulder armor showed traces of war and there were numerous holes in her cloak. She had clearly endured a hard battle, and her items¡¯ durability had dropped by a lot. Once her items worn out like her cloak, they would no longer provide any stats. Murong Mingyue glared at me. "Brat, where is my car?" "Oh, in the parking lot. But it received a fine at the university. Mingyue, you have to go on time to pay it, otherwise, there will be further penalties...¡± "Damn...¡± He Yi smiled faintly. "Lu Chen, does the company need to give you a car?" I shook my head. "Why, even Xu Yang has a Buick...¡± Murong Mingyue was surprised. I smiled. "No need. I plan to buy it with my own money. That way, it will feel more fulfilling, no?" He Yi gave a praising glance. "Yes, alright!" ¡­¡­ At this time, Li Le was looking up from the bottom of the hill. He suddenly pointed and shouted, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you¡¯re the bastard that was with Lin Yixin!" Murong Mingyue looked at me and then at He Yi. She pressed her chest. "You are about to be exposed...¡± He Yi smiled silently as though she didn''t care. I walked forward, and pointed with my sword, saying, "So what if it was me? If you have balls, come kill me. Otherwise, stop talking from down there!" Li Le''s face twisted in fury as he snarled. "Lin Yixin is fated to be my girlfriend, no one can steal her away! Brothers of Flower Room, listen! Attack, and hack Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand''s corpse into pieces!" Li Le erupted in fury after just a few words. His boiling point was too low. Lin Yixin was the sore point in his heart. According to Clear Perfume, Li Le was a famed bachelor of the school, handsome and wealthy. He never lost to people in terms of his background and parents. He managed to get the beauty of the language department, the beauty of the electrical department and so on. Only the most beautiful girl of the university, Lin Yixin, made him feel defeated time and time again. She never spared him a glance, and even her father seemed to overshadow his. Therefore, Li Le wanted to vent his anger on me. However, he seemed to have chosen the wrong target. In the game, I did not fear people like him. In reality, I also did not fear him. Bloody Mercenaries had a thousand brothers. Why would I fear him? In terms of power, He Yi was the vice president of GGS Asia Region. She had many connections in Shanghai, and Beijing. I had nothing to fear from his father either! Hmph hmph, right now, I had a strong army, and also people higher up, no, people behind me. I had no reason to fear Li Le! Moonlight Stone spoke, "Two of our warriors just charged down and didn''t come back. Lu Chen, be careful! Flower Room''s members are very strong and managed to kill our warriors in a single strike. This is why we have been at a standstill with them until now.¡± I laughed. "Don''t worry. These people, in my view, have price tags stuck to their heads...¡± He Yi was speechless. She chuckled. "Alright, go quickly!" I shouted, and sprinted down, locking onto the enemy leader¡ªYoung Master Le! Whoosh! The powerful skills immediately sliced into the enemy camp. Li Le was stunned. His snarling face was no longer handsome but terrified. Life of Luxury was shocked. "Priests, all healing on the leader!" I sneered. "Heal? Dream on!" I swung my sword for two blows¡ªPardon + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 3219! Li Le''s equipment was very good but still unable to stop my powerful attack. There was no way around it. A powerhouse with three Dark Gold¨Cgrade items was not someone he could afford to offend! I was very pleased seeing Li Le slowly slump to the ground. Murong Mingyue''s voice comms sounded in my ear. ¡°Lu Chen, come back after securing the kill, don¡¯t linger there for too long!" I ignored her. I swung my sword and cut through the neck of an archer, dealing 1754 damage. The archer''s eyes widened, not expecting to be killed instantly by a basic attack. Arrows descended upon me like rain. Several high-level melee fighters swung their swords at me. Five Blazes almost hit my body at the same time. Blaze was the ultimate single-target burst attack, not inferior to Desperate Gambit in the slightest. If I faced them head-on, I would be seriously injured, or even killed! I suddenly held the Ghost Ice Soul in front of me, and then let my robe flutter behind me¡ªGuard! Boom boom boom... Tongues of flame hit my body, creating a huge cloak of fire behind me. An intangible blue light blocked much damage though. The damage numbers jumped up¡ª 75! 43! 39! 17! ¡­¡­ Everyone was stunned at the resulting numbers. The defensive skill alone would reduce damage taken by 50¨C90%! They could die from shame now! Of course, I also had three Dark Gold¨Cgrade items and my Defense was at staggering 780 points. Adding my Rank 6 Ghost Deity Armor¡¯s subsequent 18% boost, Enhanced Bones, 10% Defense from Purgatory War Armor and Purgatory Helmet, my actual Defense was way above 1000. They couldn¡¯t do anything to me! Chapter 189: The Battle of Wild Pheasant Ridge The Ghost Ice Soul turned and then shone with light. After the 6-second cooldown finished, I immediately used Thousand Mirage Slash. Six 6-yard streaks of sword energy came out of the blade and covered the area in front of me. Coincidentally, Flower Room¡¯s players were standing right there! Over a dozen mages, priests and archer closely knit together were hit by the attack! Boom! A lot of dust was blown into the air, but I could still see many four-digit numbers floating up. They were almost all instant kills. Only a Level 62 archer was retreating with a thread of HP. His Defense must have been good to tank Thousand Mirage Slash, but he only had a drop of HP left. I could brush past him and he¡¯d keel over and die. Suddenly, a rain of arrows came from behind me. The third-promotion archers of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls finally attacked with their Volley. Murong Mingyue charged forward. She raised her staff and a holy light shield covered my head. I felt warm all over, and my HP went up a large chunk! +1098! Tsk tsk, healing above a thousand. Murong Mingyue was one of the top priests of Floating Ice City! The scene grew almost comical. The leader of the Flower Room was killed in one round, and the two vice leaders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I and Murong Mingyue, were in the fight. Behind us, the beautiful leader, He Yi, charged into the crowd with her Abyssal Sword and killed two archers consecutively. The enemy arrows clinked off He Yi''s shield, unable to break through. Her equipment could be considered very good now. "Concentrate your attacks, kill the priest first!" Spring Mud''s gaze turned cold as he charged toward Murong Mingyue! Murong Mingyue looked across and laughed. "Traitor, you want to kill me?!" Spring Mud stilled. I was already charging out with Ghost Ice Soul in a basic attack! "Hmph!" Spring Mud reacted quickly. As he moved back, he held his sword horizontally in a posture for a defensive skill. Tsk tsk, I hadn''t expected this guy to also get a defensive skill book too. Were the rumors on the forums true? Had Li Le really spent tens of thousands of RMB to buy a defensive book? And he gave it to Spring Mud instead of learning it himself? Geez, he was placing way too much importance on this guy! Ding! The Ghost Ice Soul''s blade collided with the enemy sword, creating a burst of sparks. Guard succeeded! 287! This damage number was something that the enemy could withstand! Spring Mud''s eyes were full of dismissal. "Ha, you are only this capable?" As he spoke, he suddenly moved forward, his sword rising in the trump card of all melee classes¡ªBlaze! In a flash, my feet moved back and I raised my blade horizontally! Ding! 142! The surrounding players were dumbstruck at the show of skill. Fighting before them were two top players who could smoothly switch between offense and defense. This level of fluidity was not something ordinary people could achieve. Contempt in Spring Mud¡¯s eyes grew stronger. After he finished his attack, he immediately moved back, his sword held in front of him once again in a defensive skill stance. Guard had a cooldown of three seconds. In other words, he could use it as he pleased every three seconds. This was the power of this skill. He Yi''s eyes moved and she snorted. "Lu Chen, slaughter him!" "Yes!" I leapt forward, my sword flashing with the light of Pardon. Immediately, Spring Mud''s dismissive gaze faded. My Pardon move had made me famous in Floating Ice City. This was my trademark move that no one dared to look down on! In midair, I suddenly changed my skill. The blood color on Ghost Ice Soul''s blade faded and turned gold. My attack was swift and sharp! ¡°Crushing Blow!¡± Spring Mud couldn¡¯t react in time. His eyes filled with shock, he could not withdraw his Guard. He could only watch as the Ghost Ice Soul broke through his defensive skill and dealt almost double the normal damage! 2763! In a moment, Spring Mud''s HP disappeared, his eyes disbelieving and unreconciled. He had not expected to be so easily killed while using a defensive skill! Pa pa pa... 214! 227! 243! Three ice flowers exploded on my chest. Three arrows hit the Purgatory War Armor and caused Ghost Deity Armor to hum as well. In the distance, there was an archer shooting repeatedly. This was the former member of Ancient Sword, one of the three heads of Ego workshop, Night Sorrow. This person''s Volley skill had leveled up into an Ice Volley which could greatly decrease movement of the target. He was originally a strategic genius, but pity that he followed the wrong person and went to Flower Room with Spring Mud! If I couldn¡¯t use a person like him, then he could only be killed! The Dark Wasp gave chase under my command. I could temporarily ignore Night Sorrow. The boss-tier pet would be enough of a headache to take him out of the picture for now. In the meantime, I had to quickly kill the other players of Flower Room. The faster I killed, the less Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls members we would lose! "Vice leader, behind you!" an Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls warrior shouted. At the same time, my body shook. Flame erupted on my shoulder. Someone had used Blaze behind my back. So cool! 475! The attack power was exceptional. Another main fighter of Flower Room! I turned around and moved away from the other''s blade. I looked. As expected, it was Moon Shadow, the third head of the Ego workshop. He had also been a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Pity, he also joined my enemy. I didn¡¯t know what benefits they were promised, maybe the place was full of good food and beauties like Li Le had advertised. Moon Shadow''s movements were elegant and he quickly changed paths. He immediately blocked my way, and raised his sword for a strike! Crack! The blade cut at my shoulder armor and dealt more than 300 damage. His attack power is good! However, after one attack, Moon Shadow lost his momentum. As he spun around, he discovered that I had changed direction, and moved to his flank. The Ghost Ice Soul gathered power and attacked! Desperate Gambit! 1653! One strike left him with only a sliver of HP. I pulled my sword back in a reverse strike! Crack! 984! Securing another kill, I dispatched two of the three heads of the Ego workshop. In the distance, Night Sorrow only had half of his HP left. He was helpless against the Dark Wasp. He shouted, "Quick, let''s kill the pet together, fuc-¡± Before he could finish the sentence, he suddenly let out a terrified scream, seemingly horrified by the mark that had appeared on his shoulder. A beautiful figure flashed past. It was He Yi. Pfft... Blood sprayed, and Night Sorrow fell to the ground. He Yi''s hair flew in the wind, her cloak flapping behind her, and her face unblemished by dust as she looked coolly at the remaining Flower Room players. She laughed softly. "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is no longer the same as it used to be. If you want to bully us, go ahead. Flower Room may have three heads of the Ego workshop, but Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have Falling Dust and Bloody Mercenaries. We are not afraid of you!" Flower Room''s members were stunned. Maybe they had been conquered by the beautiful leader''s charisma or by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' ferocious counterattack that they all gave up on fighting back. Some of them took out return scrolls and left, and others just fled. The hill was a mess. Some Pheasants were slowly respawning in the distance. The ground was covered in potions and equipment. Due to my appearance, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls possessed a sharp blade that tore apart the enemy defense, and completely defeated Flower Room! In reality, Flower Room, while it had been created early, had not been managed well. Li Le was willing to spend money, but wasn''t tolerant of people. He was not as good as Roaming Dragon. Also, Li Le found the wrong target to pursue in Lin Yixin. His future could be imagined. The Fruit Knife Goddess would frequently take the elites of Snowy Cathaya and slaughter grinding parties of Flower Room, making it very hard for them to develop. It could be said that among the large guilds of Floating Ice City, Flower Room¡¯s fate was the most tragic. They tried to find the easy targets but found Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls instead. Weren''t they just seeking their own death? After the battle, we cleaned our spoils and counted our people. We had killed 27 enemy players in battle, including the leader Li Le, Life of Luxury, and the three heads of the Ego workshop. The core strength of their guild had been flattened. On Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' side, there were no great losses. But three assassins had overextended. Moon Shadow had killed one. Life of Luxury''s Ice Dragon Howl had killed another. The last one had been shot to death by Night Sorrow. In conclusion, this was a battle of the few winning against the many. The enemy attacks had almost been all concentrated on me from the start, but with my three Dark Gold¨Cgrade items, my Defense was like stone. On top of that, I had a powerful healer like Murong Mingyue behind me. With potions to drink, it would be hard for me to even die. Looking at the mess around me, Murong Mingyue couldn''t help but smile. "Eve, why do I have a feeling that this is the first victory of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?" He Yi laughed softly, her enchanting dimples appearing. "Yeah, that seems to be the case. In the past, we were evenly matched. Now that Lu Chen has come, the situation has completely turned...¡± Murong Mingyue held her staff and smiled. "Yes, Lu Chen is a Top 3 pro on the Heavenly Ranking, and his equipment is so good. Don¡¯t forget: top experts have an enormous impact in group battles!" "Yes!" He Yi nodded and said, "I¡¯m so tired. You level up, I''m going to bed...¡± "? Didn''t you sleep for a long time during the day?" "Sleep what? Just when I fell asleep in the morning, the head office called. Those idiots made me talk to them for three whole hours before they finally understood the project...¡± Murong Mingyue was speechless. "Alright, go to sleep! Never mind, I¡¯m also going offline, let''s sleep together...¡± He Yi glared at her. "What do you want?" "Hee hee...¡± Murong Mingyue laughed. "Keep you company...¡± He Yi glanced at her. "No need. I can¡¯t afford to offend someone like you who rolls the blankets away at night!" "...¡± ¡­¡­ As a result, the two beauties both went to the city to rest after bidding me goodbye. As I was planning to see which map to go grinding to, a message came. The sender was Fruit Knife Goddess Lin Yixin¡ª Chapter 190: Ten Times The Fee Seeing the message, I felt an unspeakable anger. I quickly responded: "Fuck! What do you mean ¡®selling yourself¡¯?" Lin Yixin sent over a smiley face. "What? Bloody Mercenaries have always accepted commissions. Isn''t that selling yourself?" I was speechless. I opened the voice system and said, "Speak, what is it?" Lin Yixin laughed and said, "What kind of attitude is this? Don''t worry, I won''t have you rob people, and I don¡¯t have any malicious intent toward you. Any more problems?" I nodded and said, "Our workshop has three don''ts. One, no business with Mad Dragon and Gods and Destruction. Two, no bullying of the old and sick. Three, no exploiting or cheating. Beauty Lin, please respect our professionalism. Don''t say that we are selling ourselves, okay?" Lin Yixin laughed softly. "Alright, definitely not breaking any don¡¯ts here. Why would I need you to bully the old and sick anyway? I can do that myself, right?" "Damn. So what¡¯s up?" "Well, Qingqing and the others have received a quest to clear out a cave. It¡¯s a hard quest, and there¡¯s a final boss there that they couldn¡¯t kill. They called me for help, but my Defense and HP are not enough, so I called you instead. What¡¯s your Defense right now?" "Over 700.¡± "WTF. Come here!" "Let''s first discuss the price...¡± "Kill that boss for us and I¡¯ll give you 1 gold!" "Deal!" "...¡± Lin Yixin was slightly surprised. Subconsciously, I had a feeling I owed her. I just didn¡¯t know what I owed her for. In any case, I¡¯d help her kill this boss and make up for it. Soon, Lin Yixin sent a party invitation. With a beep, I entered the party. There were eight people: Clear Perfume, Shadow Chanel, and other higher-ups of Snowy Cathaya. However, warriors like Purple Marquis and Zi Chuanyu were not present. Only Lin Yixin, a light wanderer, was an armored class. No wonder she had to call another warrior for help. When I entered the team, Clear Perfume said with a laugh, "Brother Broken Halberd is here. Everyone, welcome him~~" The other players flooded me with their respects. Only Shadow Chanel snorted. Clearly, she still remembered the ¡°misunderstandings¡± between me and the Shadow Clan. Women always held grudges. I looked at the map. Their dots were in the middle of Frost Forest so I went straight through and met up with them in the forest. It was morning in the game, and the mist spread through the green forest. A thin cloudy layer hung in the air, dressing the forest in a white gauze dress. My war boots stepped on the wet grass as I raced along the way, startling many birds. Whoosh... ¡°Mmmm mmmm¡­¡± The beauty struggled but could not break free of the vines. She looked adorable. In the next moment, she swung her sword and cut all the vines in her anger. I gaped at the sight. "Yiyi, what are you doing?" Lin Yixin glanced up at me, and blushed. She said, "Nothing, why did you also come this way?" "Isn¡¯t it because I saw you here?" "I¡¯m only gathering herbs, the quest location is in the east...¡± "Fuck...¡± Lin Yixin looked at me with an amused gaze. "Alright, then follow me. We¡¯ll go after I finish collecting these herbs.¡± "Alright.¡± Lin Yixin couldn''t help but look at me a few times. She made a sound of surprise. "Lu Chen, you changed your helmet and chest armor?" "Yes, how observant of you!" "What grade?" "Dark Steel, trash, let''s go~~" Lin Yixin tilted her head and couldn''t help laugh. "The light from these items doesn¡¯t look like Dark Steel grade. You think I¡¯m so easily fooled?" "Alright, Dark Gold...¡± "?" Lin Yixin"s mouth dropped. "Wait, both of them are Dark Gold¨Cgrade? With your Flame Dragon Gauntlets from the tournament, wouldn¡¯t that mean you have three Dark Gold¨Cgrade armor pieces?" I nodded. "Right, what about it? Consider joining Bloody Mercenaries. You will be well fed. I can make a position of leader¡¯s wife for you...¡± Lin Yixin looked amusedly at me and said, "But the present leader of Bloody Mercenaries is some Amazing Expert. Are you willing to give me up to him?" My heart throbbed. Of course I wasn¡¯t. Fuck. As expected, I wasn¡¯t a match for Lin Yixin in a verbal spar. I originally planned to tease her, but I was teased in response and my heart surged. I had been utterly defeated. Du Thirteen was my brother. However, giving this beauty to him... this... definitely not, over my dead body! ¡­¡­ I passed through the forest with Lin Yixin and killed my way through an area with Level 75 monsters. These parts were unpopulated. There were bright red herbs growing all over the small hill here. Lin Yixin plucked one and said with a smile, "Look, this is the Rank 6 herb¡ªBloody Flower. If we gather some more, there are enough ingredients to make several hundred Rank 6 Health Potions. One hundred of them are yours.¡± I nodded. "Work hard on gathering then.¡± Lin Yixin glanced and said with a smile, "I will, but you have to kill the surrounding monsters and clear the way. You¡¯ll get some experience too...¡± I was speechless. "Fuck. I¡¯m the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and you make me do such dirty work...¡± Lin Yixin giggled and puffed up her chest. She said proudly, "I¡¯m the leader of Snowy Cathaya. What, is a vice leader serving the leader not the natural law?" I blurted out, "Isn''t serving laying down part of the duties...¡± "You want to die?!" Lin Yixin looked murderously at me, her eyes exasperated and amused. "Hurry up and gather, there''s not much time. Girls should sleep early. See, your sleep schedule has been hectic these last few days. Don¡¯t be surprised if your next period is slightly delayed...¡± "...¡± Lin Yixin shook her head helplessly. "Alright, o¡¯ Ally of Girls, I¡¯ll listen to you this time, and go to sleep after this quest.¡± "Damn...¡± I was given another grand nickname. Ally of Girls. Truly a dazzling moniker. ¡­¡­ Soon after, I and the Dark Wasp swept the hill clear of monsters. Lin Yixin cleaned the hill out of herbs. Her mood visibly brightened. She said, holding her sword, "Lu Chen, let''s go to this A- quest¡¯s location!" "Mn!" The two of us moved shoulder to shoulder rapidly through the forest. We reached a hilly area. In the distance, Clear Perfume, Scattered Rain, Shadow Chanel and other women were present. This team had eight members, all of them female and all of them top-tier beauties. Obviously, Lin Yixin was the best. Other than me, there was a male archer about twenty or so who looked directly at Clear Perfume as though he had ulterior motives. I saw this and didn''t say anything. Clear Perfume glared angrily at me and sent a message: "Hey, Lu Chen, what''s with your gaze?" "Nothing? What...¡± "Hmph, you think I can¡¯t see it? Your smile¡¯s so perverted. Why would Yiyi be together with a guy like you... Tell me, what are you smiling about? Otherwise, I will tell Yiyi you are flirting with Chanel...¡± "WTF! Alright, fine. I just feel that little archer bro seems to like you?" Clear Perfume looked speechlessly at me and waved a hand. "He¡¯s not to my taste...¡± Lin Yixin looked back. "What taste?" "No, nothing...¡± Clear Perfume and I said together. Lin Yixin: "...¡± I hurriedly changed the topic and asked, "Could we share the quest?" "Of course!" In the next moment, the quest sharing interface appeared. I confirmed and received the quest rank. This was a quest sent by a patrol team from Floating Ice City. The quest rank was A-. We were to head to Hundred Peak Mountain to kill a group of rebel beastmen. This should be a very profitable quest. "How much of the quest have you completed?" I asked. Clear Perfume said, "About 60%. There¡¯s five camps. We went through three but the last two are too hard. The six of us couldn¡¯t do it so we called you and Yiyi to help.¡± I immediately turned and glared at Lin Yixin. "Didn''t you tell me that only the final boss was left?" Lin Yixin had a calm expression as she looked up at the sky and said, infatuated, "The clouds in the sky sure are beautiful...¡± "Fuck~~" I couldn¡¯t get off the pirate ship once I got on board so I could only kill along with them. However, this quest''s rank was very high, so its rewards could only be generous upon completion. Therefore, I said, "If this is the case, then the commission fee for this task will be tenfold!" Lin Yixin nodded with a smile. "As you wish.¡± Clear Perfume was shocked. "Yiyi, really? Tenfold... it¡­ isn¡¯t it too unreasonable? Bloody Mercenaries'' fee is notoriously high...¡± Lin Yixin giggled. "No problem. ¡®Tenfold fee¡¯ is just 10 gold...¡± Clear Perfume was even more shocked. "Wow, that¡¯s even more unreasonable...¡± As she spoke, she turned to me, her beautiful eyes wide. "Lu Chen, be honest. You only wanted 1 gold? This isn¡¯t normal! Do you have some unspoken intentions toward our Yiyi? Are you using this quest to take her as yours?¡± Immediately, I sweated. "Fuck, your imagination¡¯s quite vivid, huh?" Lin Yixin was even more speechless. "Alright, go to the zone, don¡¯t speak nonsense!" ¡­¡­ Chapter 191: Keeping A Dog There were three damaged beastmen camps amid the peaks. The camps were crude, about a dozen huts, with a large pot hung in the middle. The fire under it had been extinguished long ago. The soup in the pot was cold, and revealed a row of white ribs with flesh. I couldn¡¯t tell whether they originally belonged to an animal or human. Both were possible. I was slightly excited and rubbed my hands. "I''ve never seen what beastmen in Heavenblessed looked like. I am very excited...¡± Clear Perfume said, "Green skin, thick and crude with fangs, like a barbarian!" I nodded and smiled, saying, "Qingqing, do you know? The barbarians are actually the product of reproduction between beastmen and humans. Mutations across generations caused beastmen traits to fade away, eventually letting them live among humans. However, each barbarian has a hidden instinct. If they encounter danger, it will stimulate their hidden beastly nature. Then, their Attack, Defense, and HP will multiply and become unstoppable!" Lin Yixin glanced at me, the corners of her mouth rising. She said with a smile, "Don''t speak nonsense. I''ve only seen your beastly nature...¡± "When did I show my beastly nature?" "You killed your trainer. Isn¡¯t that beastly?" "WTF. But you helped that time...¡± "I was just helping the tyrant. I didn¡¯t eat or sleep well in the days after.¡± "...¡± Just as we were discussing when the barbarian players in Floating Ice City would expose their beastly nature, we reached the fourth beastman camp. In the distance, smoke rose into the sky as beastly howls sounded in the valley. Everyone hid in the bushes and looked closely into the distance, preparing our attack strategy. "Fuck, they keep dogs?" I turned and asked. I found Lin Yixin''s face clearly in front of me. She was looking behind me. When I turned around, our faces were closer than 10 centimeters apart! I¡¯d never observed this bright-eyed beauty at such a close distance so I couldn''t help but take another look. I swallowed my saliva. Lin Yixin was both amused and exasperated. She kicked me and said, "You¡¯re still looking?" "Yes, they keep dogs. Everyone, prepare to throw meat buns...¡± I was speaking nonsense. Lin Yixin gritted her teeth. "What dogs? Those are the werewolves among the beastmen. Look closely. Do your eyes see anything clearly except women?" I looked and indeed, it was a werewolf! Covered in fur all over, he had a wolf''s head and a human''s body. He wore crude armor, and held an enormous black blade. It looked like a chopping saber. The wolf head was snarling, and the fangs dripped with saliva. Its brown eyes betrayed its hunger for flesh. I sighed in shock. "These werewolves are so handsome...¡± "Damn...!" Ignoring my ranting, Lin Yixin pointed at the other side and said with a smile, "Lu Chen, look, werewolves are nothing. There are porcupine beastmen there!" "?" I looked over and found several human-porcupine hybrids in the grass, using tree branches to pick their teeth. Their heads looked like pig¡¯s, but with many spikes protruding outward. It must have been really hard to live with such a head. A sin to live really! Clear Perfume laughed. "There¡¯s more over there! Snake people in the east!" Accompanied by hissing sounds, several slender figures appeared. These were snakemen. They all had four limbs, two hands holding a spear, as they slithered to move. They were covered in scales. Their heads were scary, neither that of human, nor snake. They were constantly flicking their tongues. Lin Yixin pressed her lips together and thought for a moment. "They are all Level 72 elite monsters. Everyone, be careful. Werewolves have high attack speed but low Defense. Porcupines have strong Attack and Defense, but are slow all across the board. Snakemen have high miss rate.¡± I looked at her. "You seem to know a lot about beastmen." The beauty puffed out her chest like a proud little princess. "Of course, one has to know their enemy to win!" Shiing! Lin Yixin pulled out her sword and said with a smile, "Prepare to attack. We¡¯ll first take care of the werewolves from the flank and then take care of the porcupines, leaving snakemen for the end. In short, divide and conquer!" "Okay!" Lin Yixin was a natural leader. Other than the motivation of being a beauty, she had her unique strategic understanding that was enviable. ¡­¡­ I went forward with my longsword and said, "Lure ten monsters at a time. We can deal with them faster then!" "You tired of living or something?" Lin Yixin asked. I smiled faintly. "Scattered Rain will pocket heal me. When I lure the monster horde over, Qingqing will use Volley. Chanel will use Arctic Rain for an AoE attack. The slowing CC will guarantee my safety.¡± As I spoke, I sprinted forward. After making a circle, eleven werewolves charged with their enormous black blades, screaming, "Those damnable humans are coming again!" I deliberately gathered the monster horde, and suddenly turned around for a Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! The six sword streaks fell into the monster horde. All of the werewolves shook. Damage numbers between 1000 and 2000 popped up above their heads. There were even two critical attacks that reached nearly 3000 damage! Clear Perfume, Shadow Chanel and the other women gaped. No one had imagined my attack power and attack range to be so strong. I immediately pulled all the aggro. The blades of the werewolves fell down and surrounded me. Clang clang clang. Numerous attack numbers flew up¡ª 113! 98! 91! 102! ¡­¡­ The women were shocked by these kinds of damage numbers. Lin Yixin couldn''t help but pout. "But these werewolves have over 600 Attack. How can¡­ how can they not even break through Lu Chen¡¯s Defense?" I was pleased inside. They definitely had never thought that my Defense was 780 on paper, but 1000 with all the passives I had. 600 Attack VS 1000 Defense. The result was obvious, it would be a wonder if they could break through! Scattered Rain constantly fed me. Adding on my own recovery and potions, I could afford to be extremely arrogant, fighting in the very middle of the horde. Clear Perfume and the other archer started to use Volley, and Lin Yixin quickly joined me, quickly melting monsters¡¯ HP with Killer Wind Swordplay. The fight was quick, we killed the eleven werewolves in under three minutes! Clear Perfume was shocked. "Damn, so you can grind like this...¡± Scattered Rain smiled. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand''s Defense is too high. If it was anyone else, they would¡¯ve been killed in the monster horde. I¡¯ve seen many warriors that were killed because they underestimated their enemies...¡± Lin Yixin looked at the experience bar, poked her tongue out, and said, "It¡¯s rising so fast. Lu Chen, you are so beastly, like an animal. This leveling up efficiency far surpasses me on my own!" I glanced at her. "Hurry up, and go to sleep early!" "Mn.¡± Just like this, the eight-person party swept the beastmen camp. The agile werewolves were easy to kill as their attack power was not high. Those porcupines with their high attack power were really a headache. They would swing their heavy hammers, and just one blow would take at least 200 of my HP. With the women behind me, I didn''t dare to use the defensive skill. If my aggro reset in the defensive stance and transferred to them, they would suffer. Luckily, Scattered Rain''s healing abilities were good enough, even if her heals were slightly inferior to Murong Mingyue¡¯s. Right now, my equipment and defensive prowess were really impressive. With the addition of Ghost Deity Armor, I was like a small metal fortress. Monsters of similar levels to me, even though they were elite, could not decisively break my defenses. After our battle, there were many Big Magic Stones that were dropped, as well as some Steel and Bronze¨Cgrade equipment. I didn¡¯t take any of them, and just let myself be beaten by monsters and beat them as well. Lin Yixin waved a Steel-grade shield in her hand and asked, "Lu Chen, a Level 60 Steel-grade shield, do you want it? You could take it back to your master to gain merit~~" My face convulsed. "No need, my master has a stronger shield...¡± "Hmph!" Lin Yixin glanced at me and said, "You came over to help on this quest and don''t want anything? You took neither equipment nor magic stones. Your fee was also pitifully low. Do you really have no ulterior motives?" I glanced at her and said, "You are my motive. Is this answer satisfactory?" Clang! Lin Yixin drew out her sword. "You want to duel?" "Fuck...¡± I rubbed my nose and said, "Forget it. I¡¯m just a side character today, only here to get experience. This quest should reward a lot of experience. I won''t take anything from the boss either. You can split it among yourselves.¡± I deliberately swept over Lin Yixin''s equipment. It couldn''t keep up in terms of grade anymore. She still used her Silver-grade Snow Shadow Sword which was even worse than He Yi¡¯s Abyssal Sword. She still had three Gold-grade armor pieces. That¡¯s all she relied on. Compared to other players, this was good, but compared to my Purgatory set, it was greatly inferior. That couldn¡¯t be allowed to continue. The legendary Fruit Knife Goddess should have strong weapons and armor! Once we completed this A- rank quest, maybe the boss would drop some useful armor and melee weapon. I would happily give them to her. These were my true thoughts. However, in the eyes of the women, I seemed to have come for Lin Yixin, and just for her beauty. ¡­¡­ Chapter 192: Shining Battle Axe I looked at the direction Clear Perfume was pointing to and saw a giant wielding two axes deep inside the camp. His face was covered in scars, and his skin looked as rugged as an old mandarin orange peel. Clearly, the beastman had a thick face and extraordinary Defense. Besides that, he was about two people tall, bald-headed and clad in a lustrous black armor. The pair of fangs beneath his lips were literally glinting like gold beneath the sunlight. Wild Roar Golden Fang (Gold Rank Boss) Level: 72 Attack: 520~700 Defense: 650 HP: 72000 Skills: ??? Introduction: After the collapse of the Cartier Continent, the beastman clan split into tens of thousands of smaller tribes and scattered to every corner of the Heavenblessed Continent. These tenacious beastmen obeyed different leaders, and they led a life of violence and murder in order to survive. Wild Roar Golden Fang was a powerful beastman warrior who climbed through the ranks and ultimately became the tribal chief. His twin axes reaped the lives of many human warriors. ¡­¡­ I clicked my tongue and said, ¡°Would you look at that Attack! I wonder how it feels to be hit by his axes¡­¡± Lin Yixin blinked cutely as she stared at the boss. Suddenly, she asked me, ¡°Do you think his fangs are made of real gold? If we can pull it off and sell it at a store, it should be worth a lot of money, right?¡± I nodded. ¡°Yeah, that battle axe looks nice too. If we¡¯re lucky enough to get a drop and sell it to the auction house, I guarantee you it¡¯ll sell for at least 20000 gold!¡± ¡°Wow, 20000 gold?¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes turned dreamy for a second. Clear Perfume shot us both disdainful looks. ¡°Fuck, you guys are such gold fanatics¡­¡± Shadow Chanel interrupted calmly, ¡°Shall we begin? The boss may be a bit too much for our boss to fight directly, so Broken, go tank that bastard!¡± The corner of my mouth twitching, I looked at Lin Yixin and asked, ¡°WTF, come on. Can you please ask your guild member not to call me ¡®Broken¡¯...¡± Lin Yixin replied helplessly, ¡°It¡¯s her freedom to call you whatever she likes.¡± ¡°...¡± Gripping the Ghost Ice Soul and carrying the Dark Wasp with me, I strode toward the boss while calling out to our healer, ¡°Beauty Scattered Rain, keep an eye on my HP and keep me pumped, yeah?¡± Scattered Rain nodded. ¡°No problem. I have enough Magic Consumables to keep pumping until you¡¯re done!¡± Lin Yixin: ¡°...¡± Clear Perfume: ¡°...¡± Shadow Chanel: ¡°...¡± Anyway, once I got to about 35 yards away from the boss, I readied my sword and charged the boss! Swoosh! I zipped toward the boss with lightning speed and stunned it successfully. Then, I threw out my opening combo, Ice Ray and Slayer Slash! 1104! 1207! The Golden Fang boss immediately rose to his feet and swung his axes. He shouted loudly, ¡°Come at me, you damned invaders! For the honor of our race and for the pride of the beastmen, I will fight to the very end!¡± Suddenly, the boss''s battle axes became covered in flames. Then, he stared at my shoulder and attacked! ¡°Lu Chen watch out!¡± Lin Yixin shouted from behind me, seemingly sensing the power behind the boss''s attack. It was a fact that the difference between a 700-Attack boss and a 700-Attack elite mob was day and night, and their attack moves normally contained stats that were hidden from the player¡¯s view such as increased damage, defense piercing and so on. A 700-Attack elite mob might not be able to break through a good player¡¯s Defense, but a 700-Attack boss might just be strong enough to make them dance like his bitch! I immediately raised the Ghost Ice Soul, crouched and assumed a defensive stance with lightning speed! Bang! The flame-covered battle axe hit my Ghost Ice Soul with a resounding clang. The fact that blue light was surrounding me meant that I had executed the move properly. 313! Nice. The fact that the boss only managed to deal this little damage to me was a testament to the power of the skill! However, using a defensive skill also cost me aggro, so the boss moved away from me and attacked Lin Yixin instead! Swhoosh! Behind me, Lin Yixin suddenly sped up and dodged the attack perfectly. A huge hole appeared when the boss''s axe hit the ground with a loud crack. Tsk tsk, this Golden Fang boss sure got some muscles! Lin Yixin¡¯s snow-colored cape flapped behind her as she ran behind the boss and stared at him with glowing eyes. It had been a long while since I saw Moon Gaze! A dagger appeared in her hand. The Fruit Knife Goddess is about to show off her power! Puchi! The dagger pierced the back of the boss''s head as Lin Yixin activated Extreme Break. Then, she followed up the attack with a vicious swing of her sword! 3473! I praised her prowess in my head: Whew, what incredible burst damage! When I noticed that the boss was chasing after Lin Yixin, I hurriedly ran up to him and executed my own signature combo, Pardon + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 4208! Extreme Break already reduced the boss''s Defense by a lot, and Pardon only added to his misery. It was only natural that I would be able to deal this much damage. But Scattered Rain and Clear Perfume weren¡¯t used to this seeing this kind of damage, so their mouths fell open as they gasped. ¡°These two are so amazing¡­¡± Even Shadow Chanel looked astonished before she caught herself and snorted. ¡°Hmph, that show-off!¡± ¡­¡­ After Lin Yixin fell to half health, and the Dark Wasp and I did a considerable number to the boss, I was finally able to pull aggro back to myself. In all seriousness, Lin Yixin really needed to upgrade her Defense considering that the boss was able to delete almost 2000 HP with just two basic attacks. Of course, this was only because Lin Yixin¡¯s opponent was a Level 72 boss. The fact was that not even a top-tier player like Dominating Heaven Blade or Gui Guzi would¡¯ve fared much better than her in this case. During the early game, a boss was usually defeated by bodythrowing a shitton of players at it. For example, Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction and Flower Room all used the renowned ¡°human wave¡± tactic to throw their melee fighters at the boss to keep its attention while the long-range attackers shot at it until it was dead. The loot was then distributed to a certain melee fighter to create an ace tank. Finally, the ace tank would replace the cannon fodders and participate in future boss fights. In general, every guild used the same tactic during the beginning of the game. As for me, my trip to Myriad Poison Cave gave me just enough loot to ¡°graduate¡±the Main Tank Academy so to speak. From now on, I could face any boss below Level 80 without fear as long as I was supported by a couple of priests! ¡­¡­ The battle went smoothly besides a couple of hitches here and there. The boss''s deadliest skill was no trouble to me, and I suffered no stat penalty due to level suppression because I was only two levels below the boss. Besides that, my stats were high enough that I could facetank Golden Fang without any problem, not to mention that it simply lacked the power to delete 3300 HP in one go. While Scattered Rain was healing me, she said, ¡°I never thought you can fight a boss like this. In the past, every boss fight was like a scene from the Great Escape where meatshields are used and discarded like toilet papers. I guess the legendary Unkillable War God¡¯s the real deal after all!¡± Lin Yixin deleted a huge chunk of the boss''s HP before replying, ¡°Little Rain, you wanna try not healing our Unkillable War God and witness his immortality in action?¡± ¡°That sounds like a great idea!¡± I yelled at them, ¡°Fuck, quit playing around! The boss is about to die!¡± I doubled the ferocity of my attack. I might have forfeited the loot, but I never said I would forfeit the kill experience. If I could get the last hit on the boss, the experience I would get would be several times higher than otherwise. I let out a laugh as the Ghost Ice Soul glowed brightly. ¡°Yiyi, you ready for the final blow? Let¡¯s see who gets the last hit of the boss!¡± Lin Yixin nodded and stared at the boss''s health bar, calculating. ¡°Hmm, how much is 15% of 70000 HP? 20k? If I use Moon Gaze and Extreme Break, I could probably hit for 6000 HP. That should be enough, right? Right!¡± My eyes turned as wide as saucers. ¡°Your math is amazing¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome~~¡± Lin Yixin executed her combo as promised, but unfortunately for her, the boss still had a small shred of HP left! I followed through and executed my own Pardon + Desperate Gambit! ¡°Roar roar¡­¡± Wild Roar Golden Fang let out a cry and perished. At the same time, it exploded into a shower of items and increased my experience by a lot; around 25% or so. Amazing! ¡°Eh? It actually dropped an axe?¡± Lin Yixin exclaimed in surprise before lifting one with her arms. ¡°Wow, it¡¯s so heavy¡­¡± I gave the weapon a look. The long axe was almost longer than Lin Yixin herself, so of course she wasn¡¯t going to use this in battle. It was more suitable for a barbarian, which Floating Ice City had no shortage of. Every day, these barbarian warriors hogged a corner of the gates and bounced their pecs in an attempt to seduce female passersby. In fact, I was planning to pick a barbarian race myself, but not because I wanted to flex my powerful pecs, but because I wanted their sexy chest hair! ¡°Lu Chen, do you want it? It¡¯s a Gold-grade axe¡­¡± Lin Yixin asked with a smile and shared the stat screen with me. Shining Battle Axe (Gold-grade) Attack: 125~170 Strength: +25 Stamina: +20 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Strength by 40 Level Requirement: 65 ¡­¡­ Damn, another weapon with a higher Attack than the Ghost Ice Soul, one that adds 40 points of Strength no less! It was an excellent item for sure! I stared at the Shining Battle Axe pressing up against Lin Yixin¡¯s chest and gulped visibly. What or who exactly was I gulping to? Who cares? It wasn¡¯t like I could have either of them. I gave my word earlier that I wouldn¡¯t take any loot for myself, and I wasn¡¯t a man who broke a promise, especially in front of six beautiful girls. I had no need for a lifetime of scorn. ¡°Thanks, but I don¡¯t need it¡­ axes are too heavy and unwieldy for me. This is best left to those brawny players who only know how to swing at the general direction of the enemy¡­¡± I said. Lin Yixin nodded with a smile. ¡°Very well, I¡¯ll sell this cheap to Zi Chuanyu. His skill is breathtakingly bad, and this is the perfect weapon for him!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I nodded. A leader who took good care of their subordinates was a good leader. I wasn¡¯t surprised that Lin Yixin would give the axe to Zi Chuanyu. Chapter 193: Wild Roar Silent Silver Wristguards (Gold-grade) Defense: 105 Strength: +27 Stamina: +25 Passive: Increases user''s physical attack power by 3% Level Requirement: 65 ¡­¡­ It was a pretty good pair of wristguards despite it being of the Gold grade. It increased two useful stats, and it came with a passive that boosted physical attack power by 3%. Lin Yixin stared at the beautiful silver wristguards with clear fondness, but she cocked her head at me and asked with a smile, ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to roll for the ownership of these wristguards, Lu Chen?¡± I immediately raised my arm to show off the fiery, bloody gauntlet I was wearing, the Dark Gold¨Cgrade Flame Dragon Gauntlet. ¡°See this? My wristguards are way better than these Silent Silver Wristguards. It¡¯ll just be a waste of slot in my bag, so take it, Yiyi.¡± Lin Yixin shot me a grateful look and equipped the wristguards, causing them to appear and wrap around her white arms. The elegantly designed metal extended from the elbow all the way to the fingers, making them look both majestic and beautiful. ¡­¡­ ¡°Alright, not bad for a boss!¡± Lin Yixin looked around a bit more before saying, ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure the boss dropped a skill book earlier. Where is it?¡± I looked doubtful. ¡°Are you sure you weren¡¯t seeing things?¡± ¡°You¡¯re doubting my eyesight? How rude!¡± Lin Yixin complained right before she spotted something on the grass in front of her. Pleasantly surprised, she rushed toward it and picked up a sky blue-colored skill book. ¡°Hehe, I knew it dropped a skill book!¡± Curious, I said, ¡°What is it? Tell us!¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Everyone gasped when the contents of the skill book appeared before us¡ª Wild Roar: Let out an animalistic roar and buff the physical attack power of all allied units within 5 yards by 15%. Duration: 30 minutes. Does not stack with Bard¡¯s buffs such as Valor, Divine Valor and so on. Class Requirement: Warrior, Magic Knight, Wanderer. Gender Requirement: Male. Race Requirement: Barbarian, Undead, Beastman. Level Requirement: 70 ¡­¡­ Everyone stared wide-eyed at the skill screen for a time. Lin Yixin was the first person to break the silence and said, ¡°Wild Roar¡­ 15% increase to attack power¡­ male¡­ barbarian¡­ fuck¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at her. Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me. ¡°What are you laughing at, bastard? Are you that happy I¡¯m not qualified to learn this skill?¡± I nodded seriously. ¡°Oh, definitely. I¡¯m happy every time you¡¯re unhappy, Yiyi¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m gonna kick your ass!¡± So she rubbed her hands against her combat skirt before giving me the skill book. ¡°Er¡­ do you want this skill book, Lu Chen?¡± Who wouldn¡¯t want a skill that increases their attack power by 15%? It was as good as having a super powerful weapon! I nodded repeatedly and said, ¡°Of course I want it!¡± ¡°I can give you this on several conditions¡­¡± Lin Yixin smiled. Right this moment, Lin Yixin looked like a beautiful fairy who was tempting the hero with her treasure, saying, ¡°What are you waiting for, dear warrior? I am yours if you¡¯ll eat this magical apple.¡± Then, the fairy shamelessly claimed the hero for herself. Staring at Lin Yixin, I asked cautiously, ¡°What conditions?¡± She stretched out two fingers and said sweetly, ¡°It¡¯s very simple. One, you must buff me with the skill whenever I ask you to. Two, you can¡¯t buff anyone else while the skill is active. Three, you must come over and help me immediately when I¡¯m losing a PvP fight. Four, you will buy me breakfast regularly. Five¡­¡± ¡°Wait a fucking minute!¡± I hurriedly interrupted her. ¡°Your list of conditions doesn¡¯t match your hand gesture! Also, this sounds less like a gift and more like a slave contract!¡± At this point, I was one hundred percent certain that the cute girl in front of me was the wicked fairy of legends, and all she needed was a skill book to charm her target to submission, magical apples be damned. That being said, the skill book was simply too good to pass on! ¡°Does that mean you¡¯re unhappy with my conditions?¡± Lin Yixin put her hands to her waist and stared at me with dissatisfaction. I immediately shook my head and replied, ¡°I¡¯ll do anything if you give me the skill book, party leader!¡± ¡°Hoho, very good~~¡± Lin Yixin finally tossed me the skill book before walking up to me. Then, she smiled and whispered into my ears, ¡°Five, you are mine from now on. You¡¯re not allowed to like anyone else besides me!¡± I shivered. ¡°I¡­¡± Lin Yixin watched my expression for a moment before a trace of disappointment flashed across her eyes. Then, she curled her lips and said, ¡°Well, what are you waiting for? Learn the skill now and gimme a roar!¡± ¡°Got it.¡± I used the skill and added a new skill to my skill list. Although Wild Roar didn¡¯t stack with Bard¡¯s Divine Valor, it provided the same boost, so it was like having a third-promotion Bard with me at all times! Even better, the skill could be applied to a number of allies as long as they were within 5 yards of me when I used skill! In that sense, it was way better than Divine Valor! ¡°Come over, everyone!¡± Lin Yixin stood next to me before calling out to her guild members. Clear Perfume and Scattered Rain didn¡¯t hesitate to follow her instructions. Shadow Chanel hesitated for a moment until she noticed that the male archer behind her had been staring at her for a while now. Shivering, she immediately rushed over and stood next to Lin Yixin. After everyone was ready, I activated the skill and felt a tremendous surge of power welling inside of me. My body turned red in color, and I felt like I had to let the energy out somehow. The next moment, I raised my head and let out a tremendous shout. A light spread out from my body and enveloped the seven players standing next to me, buffing their attack power by 15% for 30 minutes. Just like that, the party¡¯s strength had soared to a whole new level! After I activated the skill, I looked back and saw Lin Yixin staring at me in confusion. ¡°What the hell are you doing? I asked you to use the skill, not shout like a pig to slaughter¡­¡± I felt so embarrassed I could die. I glared at her and retorted, ¡°That¡¯s just how the skill works! What does it have to do with me!?¡± ¡°Hmph hmph, you just wanted to vent, didn¡¯t you? It must be because you¡¯ve been suppressing your desires for too long!¡± She pressed me further. I steeled my resolve and smiled back. ¡°Oh yes, you¡¯re totally right. From now on, I promise I¡¯ll roar at you every time I see you¡­¡± Caught off-guard, Lin Yixin hurriedly stepped away from me before pulling out her sword, declaring, ¡°Come on! Let¡¯s go take out the fifth beastman encampment!¡± ¡­¡­ We heard beastial roars around the hills from time to time. While Clear Perfume was passing through a thicket, she suddenly turned around to face me before asking a question. ¡°Say Lu Chen, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls established a club-style base at the New District after you returned, right? If you don¡¯t mind me asking, what¡¯s the salary of a Heavenly King¨Clevel star like you? It¡¯s got to be a lot, right?¡± I stopped in my tracks after hearing the question. It might sound funny, but I actually didn¡¯t know the answer to that question. Lin Yixin shot me a glance before replying expressionlessly, ¡°Let me guess, you never spoke about this with your boss before¡­¡± I could only nod in agreement. ¡°That¡¯s right, I never spoke to my boss about my salary. In fact, the four of us Bloody Mercenaries are the only ones who don¡¯t have our pay stated in black and white.¡± If I remembered correctly, both Murong Mingyue and Xu Yang were paid a monthly salary for their services. Murong Mingyue¡¯s salary was 50k RMB a month, and Xu Yang¡¯s salary was 30k RMB a month. In fact, The three heads of the Ego workshop had been paid a higher salary than our two elders before they left Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Spring Mud¡¯s monthly salary was 70k, Moon Shadow was 60k and Night Sorrow was 50k. Unfortunately for them, their greed was insatiable, and they ultimately left Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls for Flower Garden. Who knew how much Li Le was paying them now. As for the Bloody Mercenaries, it didn¡¯t look like He Yi had any plans to pay us a monthly salary. All she gave us was a place to live and the power to rule over the entire guild besides her. I had asked Murong Mingyue about this before, and she said, ¡°Eve doesn¡¯t pay you because she doesn¡¯t want to interfere with your operations. You¡¯re still the leader of Bloody Mercenaries, and you aren¡¯t forced to take Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls into consideration when you make your profits, form parties and so on. Basically, you have full autonomy!¡± It was exactly what I wanted. Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue might not mind helping out Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls in an event or two, but it was only a matter of time before they got tired of the forced participation. Expert-level players often preferred individual freedom over organization, and they got annoyed easily something was actively interfering with their schedule. ¡­¡­ Back to the present. Clear Perfume was still staring at me with a smile and asking, ¡°Come on, tell us already. How much is From Water paying you per month?¡± I shot back a question. ¡°Why do you want to know? What are you planning, Qingqing?¡± She replied in a surprisingly serious tone, ¡°If From Water isn¡¯t paying you more than 80k per month, then I¡¯ll override Yiyi¡¯s authority this one time and buy you out of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! What do you say?¡± ¡°Ah?¡± I was stunned. Lin Yixin scolded her friend. ¡°Be serious, Qingqing. I have no plans to buy this guy. Even if we managed to kidnap him to our guild, his heart still belongs to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It¡¯ll be crazy to keep someone like that, not to mention that Snowy Cathaya has no need for lone wolves. He¡¯s only really useful during tournaments like ¡®Who Will Fight Me¡¯¡­¡± I was used to Lin Yixin¡¯s ¡°scathing¡± remarks by this point, so I just pretended not to hear them. That being said, I was a bit disappointed that I, the king of the undead, meant so little to her. The failure was mine to bear. A short while later, we finally arrived at the last beastman encampment. However, everyone including the girls was stunned by the sight in front of them. ¡°What¡­ what¡¯s this?¡± ¡­¡­ The giant valley in front of us was filled with taurens. Every one of them was two Yao Ming tall, and they were covered in black hair from head to toe. They had terribly ugly heads, and their eyes were blood-red in color. Their muscles were thick enough to shame Schwarzenegger to death, and they wielded totem poles that looked like giant hammers at a distance. The beastial runes floating above the totems made it clear that the weapons were magically enhanced. Chapter 194: Tauren ¡°Gulp¡­¡± I stared at the chest hair hanging in front of a tauren¡¯s chest and gulped. Lin Yixin looked back and forth between me and the tauren horde before saying, ¡°Only a real man can handle these muscular taurens. Lu Chen, go!¡± I exclaimed in shock, ¡°You¡¯re giving me too much credit! I¡¯m not the only real man in China!¡± Clear Perfume asked while staring at the taurens, ¡°Are they powerful?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I nodded and shared the tauren¡¯s stat screen in the party channel. Tauren Warrior (Elite) Level: 75 Attack: 550~675 Defense: 700 HP: 15000 Skills: Splash, Smash, Crush Introduction: Considered excellent warriors among beastmen, Tauren Warriors have extraordinarily powerful physique and defense. They smear thick layers of bark extract over their skin to protect themselves from most blade damage, and there is nothing their magically-enhanced totems and amazing strength can¡¯t crush. Legends say that Taurens are the guardians of the Beast God, and they are the most elite tribe of the beastman clan. ¡­¡­ Clear Perfume curled her lips and chided us. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you two? Sure, its Attack and Defense are stronger than normal, but it doesn¡¯t look like anything special. Did you forget that you¡¯re the two strongest players of Floating Ice City?¡± Lin Yixin turned away and stared at distant trees swaying with the breeze of spring, so I explained, ¡°Of course we can kill them without trouble if that is all there is to them, Qingqing. Not even our priest would feel any pressure whatsoever. But did you see what skills they have? Smash is a skill with a high chance to ignore one¡¯s Defense. Crush is a CC skill. Splash is even worse because it means the taurens deal splash damage when attacking. What if Yiyi and I are caught in seven or eight splashes at once? Even we would be one-shot in an instant!¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Clear Perfume stuck her tongue out at the taurens in the valley before saying, ¡°These taurens are that powerful?¡± Lin Yixin smiled a little. ¡°Well, we¡¯re going to have to deal with them one way or another. Qingqing, shoot the taurens and lure them over one by one. Lu Chen, you¡¯re the tank. I¡¯ll act as the coordinator.¡± ¡°Got it!¡± I nodded strongly before instructing Clear Perfume. ¡°Qingqing, remember, lure only one tauren to us at a time, and no more than three if there really is no choice, okay? I know it¡¯ll be slow, but it¡¯s always better to be safe than sorry. Any more than that and it¡¯ll be really dangerous.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Clear Perfume raised her bow and notched an arrow. She smiled at us and said, ¡°You guys ready?¡± ¡°Ready!¡± An arrow cut through the air and struck a Tauren Warrior squarely at the chest. There was so much force behind the Devil Piercing Arrow that its reddish chest hair was literally quivering! Gripping her sword tightly, Lin Yixin smiled and said, ¡°I thought bulls are supposed to moo, not roar. It sounds so terrible¡­¡± ¡°Hmph hmph~~¡± I charged at the Tauren like lightning and stunned it instantly. Then, I followed up with Pardon and a basic attack that was empowered by undead energy! MISS! 2984! Very good, the Tauren Warrior¡¯s 700 Defense was practically nonexistent before my Rank 6 Pardon! The tauren roared angrily and retaliated with a mighty swing to my shoulder. It wouldn¡¯t be possible for me to dodge this attack! Bang! Fuck, it hurts! That one strike would¡¯ve brought me down to one knee if I hadn¡¯t supported myself with the Ghost Ice Soul! It was at this moment the Dark Wasp and Fire Blade appeared and launched an attack at the same time! However, the Tauren Warrior ignored them and swung its totem at me again with bloodshot eyes! 342! That was the damage I took, but both the Dark Wasp and the Fire Blade got caught in the splash damage and suffered some injuries as well. 248! 441! Meanwhile, Lin Yixin stabbed the tauren in the neck and followed up with a swing of the blade. The two attacks deleted nearly 2000 HP from the elite mob¡¯s health bar. ¡°What an amazing amount of splash damage¡­¡± Lin Yixin stuck her tongue exasperatedly. ¡°It¡¯s got to be 40% or above, or our pets wouldn¡¯t be battered this badly!¡± I nodded while hitting the tauren at its weak spot. Every hit dealt at least 1000 damage to the mob. It was actually quite easy to determine what the weak spot of a monster was in the game. For example, these taurens covered themselves in slippery bark extract. If I were to attack the Tauren Warrior at these protected spots, I would deal less than 80% damage at most. However, there was no bark extract beneath the Tauren Warrior¡¯s armpits, meaning that I could deal full damage if I attacked them there. In a PvP battle, players who wore cloth armor and leather armor had no weak spots to speak of. However, it made no difference to a player with high offensive power like me because they were going to die in a hit or two anyway. As for players who wore metal armor, the gaps between the armor, the holes between a chain mail, the areas not protected by the legguards, the exposed neck, the waist and so on were all considered as weak spots. A player who hit their opponent in these spots accurately would deal between 20% to 50% more damage than normal. This game design added more depth to PvP, and a true pro would always strive to shield their weak spots from their opponent through excellent movement, positioning and dodging. In the past when I clashed against Candlelight Shadow, neither of us were able to hit each other¡¯s weak spots because we were too good at keeping them protected. It was why our duels always turned into a battle of attrition where one of us was eventually cut down by a cumulative amount of basic attacks. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle... Lin Yixin had a very unique way of moving. After landing two successful strikes on the Tauren Warrior, she moved away from it to avoid taking unnecessary damage. The way she backed away while still facing toward me somehow made me think that she was a super model or something. Clear Perfume was whittling away at the Tauren Warrior¡¯s HP from the distance one shot at the time. Although she wasn¡¯t able to pierce its Defense as thoroughly as Lin Yixin or me, it was still pretty good damage. Besides that, Shadow Chanel also found an opening to fire a disgustingly powerful Ice Dragon Howl that tore 1500 HP from Tauren Warrior¡¯s health bar because it was wearing metal armor. Her incredible magic power made her one of the indispensable damage dealers of our party! I had to admit that Lin Yixin was a charismatic person. Experts like Shadow Chanel and Purple Marquis weren¡¯t exactly easy to recruit. I had no doubt that both of them would become the central pillars, or even the key generals of Snowy Cathaya in the future! A good general was difficult to find, and it was no different inside a game. Some reputable experts could easily gather a fanbase around them without trying. Currently, there were a ton of fanbases in Floating Ice City, and one of them belonged to our almighty Fruit Knife Goddess. They were mostly made up of Lin Yixin¡¯s fans; people who would scour the internet for her PvP videos or talk about her on the forums just like the fans of a celebrity. They were all an invisible force that could be used to do many things. For example, I¡¯m sure that these people would do everything in their power to help Lin Yixin if she decided to employ their services someday. There were also the Unkillable War God fans, Dominating Heaven Blade fans, Gui Guzi fans, Purple Marquis fans, Beiming Xue fans and so on. Everyone had their own favorite expert. So if a guild were to recruit say, ten top-tier experts and declare an expansion with these people at the helm, one could just imagine how much surge into the guild just to support their idol. In a game, the absolute best pros might as well be gods! Heavenly King¨Clevel experts like Lin Fan and Frivolous Scholar especially were practically gods among gods. If one day these two decided to make a return to gaming, I¡¯m sure they could gather millions of supporters overnight just by verifying their identities and posting a thread on the forums! As for me, well okay, I¡¯m not really a Heavenly King expert. At the very least, my achievements were inferior to Lin Fan and Frivolous Scholar¡¯s. But that¡¯s fine, because my era is only just starting! I¡¯m absolutely going to make it to the top in Heavenblessed! ¡­¡­ ¡°Roar roar¡­¡± The Tauren Warrior finally let out a death scream and collapsed to the floor. To my surprise, it dropped a Phantasmal Magic Stone, a drop that was an entire tier above a Big Magic Stone. Right now, a 100 Quality Phantasmal Magic Stone could be traded for exactly 1 gold, or in real life currency, 1 RMB... Gold was losing value at an insane rate lately because the players were higher level now. The amount of magic stones they were able to farm was growing higher each day. It was why the repair cost, learning cost, potion cost and so on were all increasing lately. It was all part of the game company¡¯s plans, of course. From here on, 1 gold would probably always exchange for 1 RMB and vice versa. I picked up the Phantasmal Magic Stone and tossed it to Lin Yixin. ¡°Here, your gold¡­¡± Lin Yixin: ¡°Mn¡­¡± We continued to execute our game plan and killed the Tauren Warriors one by one. Since they were the elite warriors of the beastmen, their numbers weren¡¯t so daunting that we expected to be stuck here for a very long time. There were less than a hundred of them, and at our level of offensive power it basically took only a minute on average to kill one of them. About an hour or so later, there were only a couple of taurens still alive in the encampment. They refused to budge from the deepest end of the camp, or more specifically a bloody stone fort that looked like the commander¡¯s camp. There was a halberd outside the camp with a rotten human head spiked to the blade and a red flag at the center. It was none other than the flag of the beastmen! Lin Yixin stared at the commander¡¯s camp and smiled slightly. ¡°Mn, the last boss''s probably inside that building. This quest should be complete once we kill it!¡± I raised my sword and said, ¡°No problem! Let¡¯s go!¡± But suddenly, Clear Perfume interrupted both of us. ¡°Wait!¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Just give me a minute¡­¡± Clear Perfume was lifting up her sharp ears and staring toward the outside of the valley for some reason. A while later, she said, ¡°I¡¯m sensing a lot of people running toward us!¡± Lin Yixin gave an ¡°oh¡± of acknowledgement before chasing her gaze, asking, ¡°Who are they?¡± ¡°They¡¯re going to reach us very soon!¡± I asked Lin Yixin, ¡°Is this Qingqing¡¯s racial talent? Enhanced perception?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡°...¡± A while later, a group of people appeared outside the valley just as Sun Qingqing said. Lin Yixin shot a glance at the group before whispering, ¡°Let¡¯s find a hiding place for now!¡± We immediately rushed into a nearby forest and ducked under cover. Then, we watched and waited for the unknown intruders to show up. Rustle rustle¡­ A group of people ran into the valley at high speed, and I recognized the player leading at the front almost immediately. It was the second player on Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking, Dominating Heaven Blade. The heavily-armored Level 70 warrior was wielding a sharp blade, and his eyes looked both sharp and stern. Chapter 195: Settling Scores Coming to a stop, Dominating Heaven Blade checked the surroundings and found a bunch of tauren corpses on the ground. He swore coldly, ¡°Fuck! Why aren¡¯t they here? Was the intel bad after all?¡± Dominating Warrior God shook his head. ¡°Impossible. They wouldn¡¯t run unless they knew we were coming! But that doesn¡¯t make sense either. Our assassin had been tailing them from beyond their field of view, so how could they possibly know that we¡¯re coming?¡± Clang! Dominating Heaven Blade pulled out his blade and split a nearby rock into two. He declared angrily, ¡°Listen up! Snowy Cathaya took Moonlight Forest from us, and they¡¯re not getting away with the slight for free! Keep your guard up and search the area! Wind Fantasy and her goons must still be around here somewhere!¡± Dominating Warrior God nodded in response. ¡°Boss, are you sure you want to officially declare war against Snowy Cathaya?¡± Dominating Heaven Blade replied with eyes that were overflowing with killing intent. ¡°Hmph! Snowy Cathaya¡¯s the one who took Moonlight Forest from us first, so we¡¯re only returning the ¡®favor¡¯. Starting today, Snowy Cathaya is the enemy of Gods of Destruction! Only one of us will be left standing in the end!¡± The corners of Dominating Warrior God¡¯s mouth turned upward. ¡°In that case, can I make a request, boss?¡± A sneer spread across Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s face. ¡°You want Wind Fantasy? Hmph, I heard that she¡¯s currently living in Suzhou. Once Snowy Cathaya is destroyed, feel free to seek her out there. Of course, it¡¯s up to you whether you can get her or not.¡± Dominating Warrior God¡¯s smile grew even more vulgar than it already was. ¡­¡­ Inside the forest, Lin Yixin gripped her sword tightly and glared at our enemies like she could burn them alive with her gaze. ¡°Dominating Heaven Blade! Dominating Warrior God! If there¡¯s one thing they¡¯re right about, it¡¯s that only one of us will be left standing in the end! The bastard wants to look for me in Suzhou? Let him try! Someone will be carrying him out on a stretcher when I¡¯m done with him!¡± I stared at her. ¡°Just to be sure, but how are you going to deal with him exactly? The violent way or the non-violent way?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Well, I wouldn¡¯t want you to ¡®suck¡¯ the life out of him, if you get what I mean¡­¡± ¡°OMG! You¡¯re making fun of me at a time like this?¡± Lin Yixin glared at me for a moment before sighing. ¡°Anyway, what should we do next?¡± My eyes turned serious as I shot the party a question. ¡°How many people know that you¡¯re leveling here?¡± Clear Perfume answered, ¡°We spoke about it one time in the guild channel.¡± I sucked in a deep breath and declared, ¡°Well, it¡¯s confirmed then. Snowy Cathaya has been infiltrated by enemy spies!¡± Shadow Chanel exclaimed in shock, ¡°But¡­ but how can that be?¡± I nodded. ¡°Yeah. What are you planning to do, Yiyi? Do you want to root out the spies?¡± ¡°No, leave them. I have a use for them when the time is right.¡± Lin Yixin faced toward the Gods of Destruction team again and said, ¡°Right now, they are our biggest, most immediate problem. How do you suggest we take them out?¡± I replied, ¡°We jump out of our hiding spot and kill them, duh¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me. ¡°I know you¡¯re strong, but what do you think your chances of winning are if you have to fight against Dominating Heaven Blade, Dominating Knight God, Dominating Arrow God, Dominating Mage God and Dominating Warrior God alone?¡± I ran the thought in my head before answering, ¡°0%...¡± ¡°Good to know that your self-awareness is still working properly¡­¡± Lin Yixin gave me an exasperated smile before saying, ¡°I¡¯ll ask around in the guild and check if I can mobilize the closest forces we have!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful face slowly turned chilly. ¡°Fuck¡­ the leveling squad closest to us is at Wild Boar Forest. That¡¯s at least an entire hour away from here!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡°I guess there¡¯s no way we¡¯re beating them then. You won¡¯t blame me if I tell Dominating Heaven Blade I¡¯m just a cheerleader, will you? Maybe he¡¯ll overlook me and let me live¡­¡± Lin Yixin gritted her teeth and swung her fist threateningly at me. ¡°And you call yourself a friend?¡± ¡°We still have time to teleport back to the city.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Lin Yixin hesitated for a moment before glancing at Gods of Destruction and the commander¡¯s camp. The boss was right there. They were one step away from claiming the quest reward. She just couldn¡¯t find it in herself to give up after coming this far. ¡°No, Snowy Cathaya and Gods of Destruction are eternal enemies¡­¡± Lin Yixin declared and glared angrily at Gods of Destruction. I smiled. ¡°Very good. If you don¡¯t clash against one another, there won¡¯t be a conflict for Bloody Mercenaries to profit from¡­¡± ¡°Despicable¡­¡± Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me again before saying, ¡°Anyway, can you cut the bullcrap already and tell us what to do? Dominating Heaven Blade only brought 30 players with him. They¡¯re all elites, but their low player count is still something we can exploit!¡± I hid a chuckle before lowering my voice. ¡°Excluding you and me, Qingqing and Shadow Chanel are the only ones in our party who can deal some damage. You know that, right?¡± ¡°Uuuu¡­¡± Completely out of ideas, Lin Yixin got so anxious that she was stomping her feet. However, she couldn¡¯t come up with any usable plan at all. It was so funny that I rubbed my palms together and chuckled. Lin Yixin stared at me. ¡°You¡¯re laughing at a time like this? Wait, does that mean you have a plan?¡± I nodded. ¡°Yep!¡± After speaking to my own guild, I learned that Beiming Xue and Gui Gizi were leading a hundred-man party and leveling at a forest just a couple of kilometers away from here. It would only take them around ten minutes to reach us! So I pulled up my friend list and sent a message to Beiming Xue: ¡°Lil Beiming, tell your hundred-man party to stop leveling and lead them to these coordinates (23409,11670) right away. Dominating Heaven Blade and his elite goons are about to attack Snowy Cathaya here. Catch them from behind and annihilate all of them!¡± Beiming Xue replied almost immediately after she got the message. ¡°Okay, Gui Guzi and I will be coming immediately. Don¡¯t die until we get there, boss!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°Reinforcements?¡± Lin Yixin smiled. ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± I nodded. ¡°Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue are rushing over with a hundred-man party, and they¡¯ll be arriving in around ten minutes!¡± ¡°Good!¡± Lin Yixin smiled and gripped her sword happily. ¡°Then let¡¯s attack them when the reinforcements are about to show up. We¡¯ll catch them in a pincer and annihilate them all!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡­¡­ Not far away, the party led by Dominating Heaven Blade was on the move again. Dominating Arrow God was firing at a couple of Tauren Warriors and drawing their attention when he said, ¡°Boss, why don¡¯t we kill all these taurens first? It also looks like there¡¯s a boss inside that stone fort. Seeing that Wind Fantasy isn¡¯t here, I¡¯m sure she caught wind of us somehow and ran away before we arrived. But it¡¯s not all bad, right? This¡¯ll be the first time we steal a boss from under Snowy Cathaya¡¯s nose, hahaha!¡± Dominating Knight God nodded in agreement. ¡°He¡¯s right, boss. Let¡¯s just wipe out the mobs outside so we can lure out the boss!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade smiled, but his eyes were stone cold. ¡°Don¡¯t be childish. Do you really think Wind Fantasy¡¯s the type to give up this easily? Do you really think she could build Snowy Cathaya into a super guild if she was really all breast and no brains?¡± ¡­¡­ The fact that Dominating Heaven Blade was treating Lin Yixin this seriously was proof of her strength. I let out a light cough and sneaked a glance at Lin Yixin. Her perfect slopes looked like they were threatening to spill out of her armor piece, not to mention her thin waist and long legs. The gods must really love her to bless her with such an amazing body. ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Lin Yixin glared at me, but she couldn¡¯t hide the embarrassment in her purple pupils. ¡°Bastard, don¡¯t tell me you thought that I¡¯m all breast and no brains?¡± I shook my head and said in a small voice, ¡°Of course not, our Yiyi is as smart as they come. Besides, you¡¯re not big¡ª¡± Thud! Quick as lightning, Lin Yixin threw a heavy punch at me before puffing up her chest in anger and shame. ¡°You bastard, you Little Cheat! Say another word and I¡¯ll light a sky lantern under you! What do you mean I¡¯m not big¡­¡± My heart was racing, and my face was red. She¡¯s so cute I¡¯m not sure where to start. It was at this moment a shout came from the distance, ¡°Boss, I see them! They¡¯re hiding¡ª¡± Swhoosh! Before he could finish his sentence, an iron arrow cut through the air and punctured the mage¡¯s throat. It was a one-shot! Clear Perfume withdrew her bow and commented calmly, ¡°Oh mother. They¡¯ve found us¡­¡± Clang! Lin Yixin pulled out her sword and walked out of her hiding place resolutely. The way her hair swayed to her movement and her milky white cape fluttered behind her back, she really looked like a war goddess in every sense of the word. Lin Yixin then pointed her sword at Dominating Heaven Blade and declared defiantly, ¡°I heard Gods of Destruction is going to declare war on Snowy Cathaya. I hope you won¡¯t come to regret your decision, Dominating Heaven Blade!¡± Everyone looked surprised. They didn¡¯t expect her to be hiding this close to them and remain undetected for so long. It was part of the game¡¯s design, however. A player hiding in a complicated terrain wouldn¡¯t be shown on the minimap. Dominating Warrior God smiled vulgarly at her before licking his lips. ¡°Tsk tsk, you¡¯re looking more and more beautiful each day, pretty. It¡¯s not everyday the high-level members of two big guilds get to meet each other in a god-forsaken beastman camp like this, so it must be fate that has brought us together!¡± The temperature in Lin Yixin¡¯s expression dropped several degrees lower. ¡°Get out of my sight. You think you¡¯re worthy to speak to me? Tell Dominating Heaven Blade to show his face already!¡± Dominating Warrior God turned red with anger. Clearly, he couldn¡¯t stand being looked down upon by the goddess he admired. Most men were like that. Dominating Heaven Blade stepped out with his giant blade in tow. Watching Lin Yixin coldly, he said, ¡°I guess we may as well spill it all out today. That¡¯s right! There can only be one king in Floating Ice City, and it was always a matter of time before Gods of Destruction and Snowy Cathaya clashed against each other! Let¡¯s settle our score right here and now, Wind Fantasy!¡± Lin Yixin sneered at him. ¡°You want to settle the scores? Okay! You can start by taking your own life¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Dominating Heaven Blade nearly choked on the retort. He said indignantly, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to do this, but Snowy Cathaya just wouldn¡¯t back down! Hmph! You¡¯re not going to cry injustice when we wipe you out with our superior numbers, will you?¡± Lin Yixin smiled lightly and planted her sword on the ground. ¡°Well, what are you waiting for? Show me what the ¡®gods¡¯ of the Domination Clan are made of! You understand that it takes a special kind of stupid to call yourself the second strongest guild in China without anything to back it up, right?¡± Her merciless remark pierced right through Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s heart. While it was true that Gods of Destruction was the second strongest guild in China during the end game of Spirit of Grief, their achievements in Heavenblessed weren¡¯t nearly as boastworthy. Although they were still a force to be reckoned with, their best players had already fallen behind their competitors in terms of pure skill and power. Today, they couldn¡¯t even call themselves the strongest guild in Floating Ice City. Snowy Cathaya, Bloody Mercenaries, Mad Dragon, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and more. Everyone was trying to carve a spot for themselves in Heavenblessed, and in this world Gods of Destruction needed great reputation and an even greater strength to come out ahead of all their competitors. Unfortunately for them, they had proven themselves to be inferior again and again every time they clashed against Snowy Cathaya or Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. ¡­¡­ Chapter 196: You’re Not Worth My Time The fight was about to break out at any moment. It was then Lin Yixin looked to her side and said, ¡°Hey cheerleader, how much longer are you planning to wait?¡± ¡­¡­ Responding to her call, I stepped out of the cover with the Ghost Ice Soul unsheathed. My Purgatory War Armor gleamed menacingly under the sunlight, and my Bloody Purgatory Cloak was fluttering in the wind. Since my face was fully hidden by the Purgatory War Helmet, I almost looked like a murderous knight from hell. Then Lin Yixin shattered my composure by muttering to herself, ¡°There he goes with his act again¡­¡± I almost tripped and faceplanted into a nearby bush. WTF! Who on earth do you think I¡¯m acting like this for? I¡¯m just trying to buy time for Snowy Cathaya! Dominating Heaven Blade definitely bought my act, however. ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?¡± I pulled up the visor of my helmet and smiled at him tauntingly with red eyes. ¡°Yep, it¡¯s me. How have you been doing, Dominating Heaven Blade?¡± Dominating Heaven Blade nearly choked himself again when he heard my greeting. It took him a long while to recover himself. ¡°Why are you here? Why aren¡¯t you guarding your leader, From Water?¡± ¡°Oh? That¡¯s an interesting question.¡± I asked him, ¡° Is there a reason I should be guarding my boss right now? She¡¯s not even online at this moment.¡± Dominating Heaven Blade looked very hesitant. After glancing back and forth between me and Lin Yixin, he let out a cough and said, ¡°Look, Gods of Destruction and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have always stayed out of each other¡¯s way, haven¡¯t we? In fact, I don¡¯t mind allying with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Together, we can achieve great things in Floating Ice City, don¡¯t you think? With that in mind, there¡¯s no reason for you to get involved in a private feud between Gods of Destruction and Snowy Cathaya, am I right?¡± I sucked in a deep breath and asked, ¡°You can stop beating around the bush and state your request clearly, Dominating Heaven Blade.¡± Dominating Heaven Blade looked surprised. He probably expected me to turn him down immediately. Dominating Warrior God couldn¡¯t stand someone talking so bluntly to his leader, so he raised his sword and said, ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? Hmph! The Gods of Destruction guild is declaring war on Snowy Cathaya due to private reasons, and we have no intentions of offending Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls in any way. Therefore, we want you to stay out of this fight! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you¡¯ll accept our leader¡¯s generous offer if you know what¡¯s good for you!¡± I smiled and spread my arms. ¡°Is that it? That¡¯s easy!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Does that mean you won¡¯t interfere with this fight, and that you¡¯ll let us settle our score with Snowy Cathaya one-on-one?¡± I turned back to face Dominating Heaven Blade before nodding. ¡°From Water is my superior and the leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I¡¯m just the vice leader. Therefore, I don¡¯t have the right to decide the direction of our guild, let alone get them involved in a war they have no stakes in, so yes, I promise you Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will stay out of this.¡± Lin Yixin immediately stomped her feet in anger. ¡°Stupid Lu Chen, you¡¯re actually going to leave me to die?! Oooh, I misjudged you!¡± Clear Perfume looked astonished by my decision. The bit of goodwill Shadow Chanel developed toward me while we were fighting side by side evaporated and turned into disdain once more. On the other hand, Dominating Heaven Blade and Dominating Warrior God looked pleased by this. The former let out a laugh and said, ¡°Wonderful! In that case, I hereby declare that Gods of Destruction and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are eternal allies from now on. If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players are in danger, Gods of Destruction promise to do their utmost to help them, and vice versa. We swear to never go back against our oath!¡± Lin Yixin bit her lips before mumbling, ¡°Stupid Lu Chen, don¡¯t you see yet? Dominating Heaven Blade just wants to isolate Snowy Cathaya and kill us before we grow too strong for them to beat. Once we¡¯re gone, their next target will be Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Even a three-year-old kid would understand this! Your intelligence truly has no bottomline to speak of!¡± Shiing! Suddenly, I pulled out my Ghost Ice Soul and pointed it toward Gods of Destruction. Then, I made a stunning declaration. ¡°Therefore, as the leader of Bloody Mercenaries, I officially declare war on Gods of Destruction!¡± ¡°What?!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade shook in disbelief before shouting at me, ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?! Are you playing me for a fool?¡± I smiled at him and said, ¡°Exactly. As I¡¯ve said before, I am just the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and I have no right to decide their fate. On the other hand, I am the leader of Bloody Mercenaries, and I¡¯m the one who gets to decide who my guild points their swords at! Starting this day, Bloody Mercenaries officially declare war on Gods of Destruction! You want to destroy Snowy Cathaya? No problem! But you must step over our dead bodies first!¡± Everyone in Gods of Destruction ground their teeth in fury. They looked like they wouldn¡¯t wait to grind me to dust and scatter my ashes. I shot Lin Yixin a sidelong glance and found her smiling sweetly at me in gratitude. Finally understanding what was going on, Clear Perfume looked at Lin Yixin and smiled gently at her. Shadow Chanel¡¯s opinion of me changed yet again as she shook her head in exasperation. ¡°This scoundrel. I just can¡¯t see through him¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Utterly infuriated, Dominating Heaven Blade sneered at me, ¡°I heard you were Falling Dust in Spirit of Grief, a former Heavenly King? I guess Lady Luck has abandoned you completely, or you wouldn¡¯t try to stop us with that measly guild of yours. Very well, I don¡¯t mind telling you that Gods of Destruction have at least 50 sub guilds and a hundred thousand players under our banner! What do you possibly have that could stop us, huh?!¡± I smiled. ¡°Oh, stop boasting about your numbers already. So what if you¡¯ve gathered ten thousand sheeps? They¡¯re still going to be eaten by the wolf in the end! I don¡¯t need to tell you something that simple, do I?¡± ¡°What? You¡¯re comparing us to sheep?!¡± An incredulous Dominating Warrior God couldn¡¯t stop himself from laughing. ¡°Your boast is even worse, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! You and your pathetic guild are the sheeps who are waiting to be slaughtered by us, not the other way around! Are you even hearing yourself, you foolish joker!?¡± Dominating Warrior God then turned toward Lin Yixin and said in a sincere tone, ¡°Beauty Wind Fantasy, I¡¯m not going to deny that I like you a lot, and I¡¯ve never said this to any woman I¡¯ve encountered in my life. We may be friend, foe or stranger in the future, but I just want you to know that I like you, and that you¡¯ll always have my undying love!¡± Lin Yixin watched him calmly before asking a question, ¡°Do you really understand what it means to have undying love? I don¡¯t think so. You don¡¯t even understand the meaning of perseverance.¡± Dominating Warrior God let out a small snort. ¡°As I said earlier, I just want you to know that I like you, whatever your opinion of me may be. Before we fight, I would like to ask you a question on behalf of Gods of Destruction: is Snowy Cathaya interested in an alliance with us? If you are, there is no one in Floating Ice City who can stop us. It would not be a pipe dream to slaughter Bloody Mercenaries, Mad Dragon, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Peach Garden et cetera and take over Floating Ice City once and for all.¡± ¡°Hehe¡­¡± Lin Yixin smiled. In that moment, her smile looked especially intoxicating. ¡°You said you like me, didn¡¯t you? Then why is this sucker the one who¡¯s standing in front of me, ready to defend the honor of Snowy Cathaya to the death and not you?¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s smile grew wider when she pointed a finger at me. I couldn¡¯t stop myself from complaining, ¡°Fuck, who are you calling sucker? I don¡¯t suck at all¡­¡± Clear Perfume and Shadow Chanel giggled at our antics. ¡­¡­ Dominating Heaven Blade glared hatefully at us. ¡°So what if Bloody Mercenaries and Snowy Cathaya are on the same boat? That only makes it easier for me to sink you both!¡± Clear Perfume suddenly spoke up with a smile, ¡°Hah! A cherry boy like you could never understand the relationship between our leaders!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade looked taken aback. ¡°Excuse me? Who are you calling a cherry boy? Right this moment, I have seventy lovers at my beck and call, if not more!¡± Clear Perfume sneered at him disdainfully. ¡°Oh yeah? If you¡¯re that confident, can you tell me the name of one girl who¡¯s on your bed because of your character, not your money?¡± Dominating Heaven Blade fell into thought for a moment, but it looked like Clear Perfume¡¯s impression of him was spot-on. Meanwhile, Dominating War God was swearing loudly in envy, ¡°Motherfucker! The rumors can¡¯t be real, can it? Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy are actually acquaintances in real life?¡± Clear Perfume confirmed his suspicions with a nod. ¡°Sure. In fact, Mr. Handsome over here just treated me and Beauty Wind Fantasy to dinner a couple of hours ago! What¡¯s wrong, are you jealous?¡± Dominating Warrior God immediately pointed his sword at me. ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, I challenge you to a one-on-one duel!¡± But I shook my head and responded uncaringly, ¡°You¡¯re not worth my time¡­¡± ¡°You!¡± Dominating Warrior God was so furious he nearly puked blood. Finally losing his cool completely, Dominating Heaven Blade raised his blade and ordered, ¡°Brothers, get ready to attack!¡± Lin Yixin smiled. ¡°Finally, we get to the good part. I was thinking that you would never stop yapping, or are you waiting for reinforcements to show up?¡± ¡­¡­ The battle was about to break out when a loud noise suddenly came from the entrance of the valley. An entire company of well-equipped players with the symbol of a blood-red sword on their shoulders spilled out of the forest and charged toward Gods of Destruction. It was none other than the reinforcements we had been waiting for! Leading at the forefront, Gui Guzi raised his spear and laughed at his enemies. ¡°Dominating Warrior God, I heard you wanted a one-on-one duel? How about I stand in as your opponent instead? After all, you¡¯re seriously not worth my boss''s time!¡± On another side, a beautiful girl wielding the Purgatory Bow darted to a nearby shrubbery in search for the best angle to land hell on our enemies. A moment later, she raised her hand and whispered, ¡°Archers, go!¡± Dozens of archers appeared behind her like shadows. Everyone¡¯s arrows were notched and ready to go. Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s party immediately turned as pale as death. After all, what was supposed to be a quick and easy search-and-destroy quest had suddenly turned into an unfavorable engagement against a hundred-man team, and that wasn¡¯t even accounting for the fact that Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue were the ones who were leading them. The gap between two sides had become insurmountable in the blink of an eye. The archers Beiming Xue brought with her were especially deadly. Everyone of them was a third-promotion player, and their combined attack power could only be described as formidable! Pointing her hand at Gods of Destruction, Beiming Xue smiled and declared the attack order. ¡°Ready¡­ loose!¡± Ashen-faced, Dominating Heaven Blade beat a hasty retreat while shouting, ¡°Brothers, dodge!¡± ¡­¡­ Woop woop woop woop¡­ The sounds of dozens of arrows being loosed at once was incredibly melodious. The arrow rain¡ªespecially Beiming Xue¡¯s Evil Spirit Volley¡ªexploded amid the group like bombs instead of arrows, and the core of our enemy¡¯s backline, the mages and priests, were one-shot in an instant. Once again, Beiming Xue had proven herself to be a formidable long-range attacker. Leading whatever remaining troops he had, Dominating Heaven Blade tried to make a break for the exit at the back of the valley. Dominating Mage God kept firing one Ice Dragon Howl after another while shouting, ¡°Brothers, retreat!¡± Suddenly, Dominating Mage God¡¯s body turned still! Puchi! Chapter 197: Make An Example Dominating Mage God''s eyes widened. He slowly looked back and said, "It''s you...¡± Crack! With a crisp sound, the sword turned and tore into Dominating Mage God''s body. An incomplete corpse gradually fell down and turned cold. The moment that Dominating Mage God fell down, it revealed the person behind him. This was a warrior dressed in shining armor and of high level. The name above his head told me who he was¡ª Indigo Collar LV-68 Silver Warrior Guild Position: Leader of Peach Garden (Rank 1 Guild) ¡­¡­ I raised my arm. "Stop!" Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi and the others stopped giving chase. Lin Yixin also raised her arm. After her order, Shadow Chanel and the others stopped their pursuit. The situation had changed. Gods of Destruction had wolves behind them and tigers in front. They had been slaughtered by Bloody Mercenaries and their retreat was blocked by Indigo Collar''s Peach Garden. Two days ago, Indigo Collar had gotten his first Hero¡¯s Token and successfully created the Peach Garden guild. He had made a major recruitment at the western gates of Floating Ice City, and developed quickly, but encountering him here was something that none of us had imagined. Lin Yixin and I stared at each other, puzzled about the situation. It was hard to say whether Peach Garden was a friend or foe. ¡­¡­ Indigo Collar slaughtering Dominating Mage God with a single blow was undoubtedly a show of force for Gods of Destruction. Their best mage wasn¡¯t even worth a single blow. He was clearly showing Dominating Heaven Blade that their strength ran much deeper than the cherry boy had predicted. Papa... Blood dripped off the blade. Indigo Collar smiled with a hint of dismissiveness. He waved his hand, and a group of people appeared behind him, including the assassin Moon Scar, the archer Wheel Shadow, the mage Painted Skin and the bard Soft Nocturne among them. These people were all top players, and could fight one against ten! Dominating Heaven Blade took two steps back in shock. He pointed at the other, looking with a cold gaze and saying angrily, "Indigo Collar, what the fuck is the meaning of this?" Indigo Collar smiled coolly. "Beating a drowning dog, what else?" Dominating Heaven Blade looked behind him. Bloody Mercenaries and Snowy Cathaya were clearly on the side of wanting to kill him. Right now, enemies ahead and behind him was not the result Dominating Heaven Blade wanted. Dominating Heaven Blade took a deep breath and looked at Indigo Collar. He said, "Gods of Destruction have always remained neutral toward Peach Garden, yet you have attacked me today. What do you mean by this? Is this the standard conduct of Peach Garden?" "I have my own principles and standards.¡± I raised my eyebrows and said, "What, Indigo Collar, you want to fight Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?" Lin Yixin didn¡¯t give up an inch and said with a smile, "It is very lively now. Peach Garden, so low-key in the past, is coming out of the shadows with a bang. The competition in Floating Ice City is growing more spectacular~~" Indigo Collar looked at us and didn''t say anything. However, he did not disguise the pride in his eyes. This guy finally showed his colors. Once Peach Garden created their guild, they dismissed me and Lin Yixin, their attitudes clearly showing ¡°I am the only one in the world¡±. "Kill, don''t leave any Gods of Destruction members behind!" Indigo Collar waved his arm. Almost a hundred elite players charged out from behind him and swept toward Gods of Destruction. Dominating Knight God charged with his spear. He was covered in arrows and gave an angry shout, "Fuck, Peach Garden, you are vicious. Just wait and see. I¡¯m gonna gather everyone from Gods of Destruction and kill you bastards!" Before he finished speaking, Indigo Collar moved forward, and briskly swung his sword toward Dominating Knight God''s neck. He slashed out, Blaze sparkled, and a high damage number rose¡ª1540! Tsk tsk, a few days no see, and Indigo Collar''s attack power had increased greatly! Once Dominating Knight God died, the strongest barrier of Gods of Destruction disappeared, and their defense formation was torn apart. The Ice Dragon Howls constantly crashed on them from above. Dominating Archer God fell immediately. Dominating Warrior God tried to use Charge but was killed by the numerous archers. Gods of Destruction had elite members but they did not have powerful stats, and couldn¡¯t charge into the enemy camp in a large battle like this. They were unable to create any momentum against Peach Garden''s force of nearly three hundred people. Dominating Heaven Blade had a serious expression. Arrows stuck out from all over his chest. He felt down, kneeling on the ground on one knee. His sword stuck into the ground. He held his head high, unwilling, his HP nearly empty. Indigo Collar took a step forward and swung his sword! Crack! A tragic line of blood appeared on Dominating Heaven Blade''s neck. His HP completely disappeared and he finally fell to the ground. The remaining players of Gods of Destruction lost all their morale after their leader died and decided to calmly accept death. ¡­¡­ In a battle less than five minutes long, thirty-something Gods of Destruction members were all dead. Indigo Collar held his sword and sneered. "The top guild? They¡¯re nothing special...¡± As he said this, Indigo Collar looked toward me and Lin Yixin. He smiled slightly. "How about Snowy Cathaya, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Peach Garden work together to erase Gods of Destruction from Floating Ice City?" Lin Yixin remained silent and just looked coolly at Indigo Collar. I pointed at Dominating Heaven Blade''s corpse and said, "We wanted to kill this person. You clearly stole our kill and spoils.¡± Indigo Collar laughed. "No problem, Dominating Heaven Blade''s drops are on the ground, yes? Peach Garden won''t take any one of them. You can take them all!" Indigo Collar shouted, "Brothers, let''s go level up. We will kill Dominating Heaven Blade and the others after they revive!" As sudden as a spring wind, Peach Garden strutted away majestically. ¡­¡­ Gazing at the backs of these people, I said lowly, "It appears that trying to be on good terms with Indigo Collar and recruiting them to be allies is not plausible.¡± Beiming Xue blinked and said, "Boss, didn''t that person just say to work together to kill Gods of Destruction? Why is it not possible?" I smiled. "Lil Beiming, your thoughts are too naive. Just now, why did Peach Garden kill Dominating Heaven Blade in front of us? Their action is not just to impact Gods of Destruction, but also to show Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. They only have one goal, make an example to intimidate us.¡± Lin Yixin nodded, her purple eyes filled with intelligence. She said with a smile, "Yes, Indigo Collar is not a simple person. I have a feeling this person has more ambition than Dominating Heaven Blade, or rather, he is more proud than Dominating Heaven Blade!" As I spoke, Lin Yixin turned to me and asked with a smile, "Lu Chen, what kind of tactic would you use against someone like this?" I thought and said, "Punch them until they are crippled and docile!" "Mn.¡± Lin Yixin was in great agreement and smiled brightly. "Hmph hmph, Indigo Collar killed Dominating Heaven Blade in front of us today, clearly to make a show for us. This is good. I felt that Gods of Destruction was unable to withstand a single blow. Now that Peach Garden has appeared, the battle for Floating Ice City has finally started!" I coughed and said, "Let''s continue our quest. Kill the boss, and go to sleep. What time is it...¡± "Yes!" I sent 50 Bloody Mercenaries players to guard the corpses of Dominating Heaven Blade and the others. We couldn¡¯t let them revive when we were fighting the quest boss. Also, I had Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and her group of archers and mages come help kill the boss with their long-range damage! This time, it was completely volunteer work. Even I didn''t get much payment. But this was nothing. With Gui Guzi and I as meatshields, and a large group of people attacking together, no boss would be able to withstand it. We quickly cleaned out the minor monsters around the command tent with our group attacks. I held the Ghost Ice Soul and went to lure the boss. When I opened the bloody door curtain, a noxious odor came. I saw an enormous table in the tent, with countless kinds of fruits and a half-cooked wild boar. On the side, an enormous black bull-headed monster was eating, a boar leg in his hand and spittle flying everywhere. Stomper Dirk (Tauren Tribal Chief) (Dark Gold Rank Boss) Level: 75 Attack: 500~750 Defense: 600 HP: 105000 Skills: ??? Introduction: Ever since Cartier Continent fell, the beastmen split into thousands of branches that filled each corner of the Heavenblessed Continent. These resilient beastmen have different leaders, and kill for their survival. Stomper Dirk, chief of this tauren tribe, possesses great power, and has killed countless human heroes with his axe. ¡­¡­ Fuck, a Dark Gold Rank boss. It¡¯s bound to drop great equipment! The tauren boss suddenly sniffed and said in a rough voice, "I smell the scent of undead souls. What has come to visit my territory?" As it spoke, it looked up, its dark brown eyes filled with golden light as it looked directly at me. It suddenly grew angry and charged over with its battle axe. It shouted angrily, "Damned undead, you dare to interrupt my lunch, die!" Boom! Chapter 198: Moonlight Sword "Mmph...¡± With a muffled grunt, I rolled among the rubble. The tauren boss charged, swinging his axe, his eyes filled with fury. But in the next moment, he was dumbstruck. There were players all over the place, and more than a dozen archers! Lin Yixin charged forward, her eyes shining with moonlight. Moon Gaze! Extreme Break! After two attacks, she quickly retreated. Fortunately, she got the boss''s aggro. Beiming Xue ordered, "Attack at will. Unleash Devil Piercing Arrow at full power!" Immediately, a large group of three-promotion archers nocked their arrows to their bows and the arrows flew out with the twanging of the bowstrings. They all hit the boss''s head and chest. Devil Piercing Arrow could ignore 50% of the target''s Defense. The tauren boss''s Defense had been shattered by Lin Yixin''s Moon Gaze and Extreme Break, so his Defense stat couldn¡¯t exceed 500. That being the case, the archers¡¯ attacks became extremely effective! Bang bang bang! A series of stunning numbers appeared¡ª 984! 874! 942! ¡­¡­ In just a moment, 15% of the boss¡¯s HP had been deleted. My blood heated up upon watching this. As expected, it was easier with so many people. Under the barrage of so many archers, even a Level 75 Dark Gold Rank boss would die quickly! Yet the situation was not as optimistic as I imagined. Lin Yixin''s Extreme Break only remained effective for 15 seconds. Then the boss''s Defense returned to normal, and our archers¡¯ damage tanked to 100¨C200. Those with subpar equipment couldn¡¯t deal more than double digits! Whoosh whoosh whoosh... Scattered Rain quickly filled up my HP and shouted, "Falling Dust, go rescue Gui Guzi, he''s not going to last...¡± I turned to look back and found Gui Guzi''s round shield filled with holes from the boss''s enormous axe. He had less than a third of HP. The tauren boss was really living up to his rank, his long-handled axe was well-guarded and powerful. Even Gui Guzi''s Defense was not enough to block him for a minute! I locked onto the boss and activated Charge! Whoosh! I immediately arrived and successfully stunned him. I laughed and said, "Little Gui, come back when you¡¯re full HP!" "Alright!" Gui Guzi was a gaming genius, ferocious and decisive. He was clean and brisk in his mind and mechanics. If his innate talent was on the same level as Lin Yixin¡¯s, I bet he¡¯d become a Heavenly King himself in just a year. In the blink of an eye, the tauren boss regained his senses. His axe trailed a string of fire as it swung down toward my shoulder! Guard! In a flash, I abandoned my defensive stance and readied my sword for the incoming blow! Parry! Ding! A crisp sound. The axe of the tauren boss hit the Ghost Ice Soul and created a spray of sparks. My arm felt numb. The parry was successful but I still lost 448 HP! Mn, the parry successfully decreased the damage by half. In other words, the boss''s basic attack would deal almost 1000 damage each time. No wonder Gui Guzi wasn¡¯t able to last too long. Instead of retreating, I summoned the Dark Wasp. Go! Ice Ray shot through the openings in the battle axe and pierced the boss''s chestplate with a hiss. It quickly created a string of icy flowers that encased the boss in ice. Its movement speed and attack speed both dropped. Ice Ray was extremely powerful when used against strong enemies, surpassing its alternative¡ªBlaze! Behind me, a bunch of eerie ghastly arrows flew by and hit the boss''s chest. Beiming Xue''s Evil Spirit Volley had reached Rank 7 and she could fire 9 arrows. I saw 7 of them hit their mark. So strong! Beiming Xue''s bow flicking was almost completely mastered. She was most likely among the top of the China server. The divine archer under Candlelight Shadow¡¯s command, Transient Smoke and Clouds, would hit 7 or 8 arrows of a 9-arrow Volley. Bow flicking was an exquisite technique. Expert archers would be amazing if they could hit their target 5 times. Ordinary archers could only count on 2 or 3 arrows hitting the target. The skill was just that inaccurate and disorderly! In Eternal Moon Corporation''s games, Transient Smoke and Clouds should be the top archer. Beiming Xue had to surpass him to claim the throne. However, we were disregarding the retired kings. Snow Moon¡¯s Magic Cube of Fate had also been a super archer. Even the Heavenly King Frivolous Scholar was an archer, but his archery¡­ yeah, never mind. His archery was even worse than mine. ¡­¡­ Before Evil Spirit Volley faded, Beiming Xue''s next arrow came. It carried a hint of icy luster! Bang! The arrow accurately hit the boss''s neck and frost quickly spread through its body! Freezing Arrow, Beiming Xue''s newly-learned arrow skill had great effect on decreasing speed! The boss''s movement speed and attack speed decreased in tandem, and the effect could be prolonged. The boss became even easier to kill now. With its movement speed decreased, I had no difficulties keeping aggro. With lower attack speed, its attacks would also be less frequent, which meant that the overall damage I¡¯d have to bear would similarly decrease. Against this boss slowed by Freezing Arrow, I felt as if I had been buffed by some super bard! With me standing alone at the front and seven or so priests healing me from behind, the rest of the fight was extremely smooth! Among the damage dealers, Lin Yixin and I were the highest contributors. However, I had three Dark Gold¨Cgrade items that boosted my stats by a significant margin, so my attack power was higher than hers! Crack! Even the most ordinary of my strikes took 1146 HP from the boss! Lin Yixin quickly followed up but saw only 742 floating up. As if stunned by her failure to best me, she muttered with a helpless expression, "OMG, the Snow Shadow Sword is too weak already. Silver-grade equipment can¡¯t keep up with our growing levels...¡± I nodded and smiled. "You¡¯re right, but don¡¯t worry. If this tauren boss drops a sword, I won¡¯t fight over it and will gladly give it to you!¡± "But will this tauren drop a sword?" "What are you afraid of? The wild chickens outside the starting village can drop a staff. One-kilogram wild chickens can¡¯t hold a two-meter long staff, can they?" "...¡± Lin Yixin"s face turned red and she glared at me. "Focus on killing!" ¡­¡­ Three minutes later, the boss''s HP was near the bottom and it was about to die. My heart moved, and I gave a look to Lin Yixin. She understood. With a smile, she suddenly turned and slid to the right of the boss. Her sword swept horizontally and drew a beautiful crescent with holy light. However, she did not find anything. I chuckled, and raised the Ghost Ice Soul, making two consecutive slashes¡ªPardon + Thousand Mirage Slash! MISS! 1454! 3405! Popping into existence, two black figures slumped to the ground, dead! Damn, so there were assassins waiting here to pick up equipment. So devious! Pardon''s effect would only affect one of the targets. Thus, only one of them received such high damage. Also, the two of them were guildless. But since they were Level 64 assassins, it was impossible for them to not be recruited by some guild by now. Therefore, there was only one explanation. Their faction didn¡¯t want us to know who they belonged to! "Hmph!" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes filled with a hint of fury. She whispered, "They thought we wouldn¡¯t be able to find out like this? Are they looking down on us?" I swung my sword and cut hard on the boss''s waist. I successfully took away the tauren boss''s remaining HP! "Aoooo...¡± The Dark Gold Rank Boss fell with a scream. It dropped a pile of Phantasmal Magic Stones, Purple Crystals, and several shining pieces of equipment. I saw that among them was a sword flashing with moonlight, very beautiful, something that women would fall in love with at first glance! Fuck. As expected, a beautiful girl like Lin Yixin was favored by heavens. When she needed a weapon the most, a sword like this really dropped. It would be perfect if the sword was Gold or Dark Gold¨Cgrade. Silver-grade with a high level requirement would also be fine. "Lu Chen, quick...¡± Lin Yixin sprinted over and urged. Clearly, she suspected there may be other assassin players hiding and preparing to steal equipment! I put all the spoils into my bag! Seeing the boss fall, Beiming Xue smiled. "Boss, we are leaving?" "Mn.¡± Beiming Xue immediately turned around and said to the Bloody Mercenaries players behind her. "Students, our volunteer time is finished. Continue to level up!" The group left without asking for wages. Such a valuable trait ~~ The other people in the team crowded over and Lin Yixin came even closer, wrapping a hand around my arm. She smiled and said, "Lu Chen, let''s look at the sword...¡± "Oh...¡± I hurriedly opened the bag and took out the sword. The longsword shone with moonlight and had an icy presence. Cryptic runes floated on the surface of the blade, making it seem mysterious and beautiful. The lines of the sword were elegant and nimble, refined and exquisite. Clearly, it wasn¡¯t of ordinary craft, its power was bound to be extraordinary! My hand trembled. I could feel that a super strong weapon was about to be revealed! I reached out with my sword. The stats of the longsword floated in the air. Immediately, everyone around was dumbfounded¡ª Moonlight Sword (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Attack: 195~320 Strength: +45 Stamina: +38 Passive: Increases the user''s physical attack power by 10% Passive: Increases the user''s attack speed by 8% Property: Moonlight, has 15% chance of 20% splash effect Level Requirement: 70 ¡­¡­ My eyes were wide and I inhaled sharply. "WTF, max Attack of 320? This is more than two times the Attack of my Ghost Ice Soul. 10% physical Attack, 8% attack speed, damn! Three passive effects, 15% chance to deal splash damage? Fuck, did it have to be this overpowered...¡± Lin Yixin''s eyes never left the Moonlight Sword. She reached out to caress the blade. After a while, she finally lifted her head to look at me, "Little Cheat, do you remember what you just said?" I said firmly, "Nope, completely forgot!" "...¡± Chapter 199: Devil Spirit Hall ¡°#%£¤#%#&#£¤@#¡­¡± After many uneasy and brutal scenes¡ª- In the mountain valley, the warrior dressed in heroic red armor was on the ground. A beautiful young woman was stepping on his abdomen, holding a longsword shining with moonlight. She looked down on the bruised little warrior with a blood cloak and smiled sweetly. She asked happily, "Lu Chen, are you really giving me the Moonlight Sword?" "I''ll listen to you in everything, just release me!" The little warrior on the ground wailed, without any of an Asura''s authority and air. He hugged the beauty''s leg. "The Moonlight Sword is yours, and I am also yours. Sign here if you accept this! Just spare me, o¡¯ great hero!" ¡­¡­ "Alright~~" Lin Yixin smiled and lifted me up from the ground. As I was brushing off the dust, she suddenly came forward and hugged me, laughing softly. "Thank you, Little Cheat...¡± I stilled, and seemed to turn to stone. When I was able to react, Lin Yixin had already released me, turning back to her normal state if you discount the tinge of red on her face. Clear Perfume murmured, "Wow, adultery in broad daylight. How can you guys ignore us like that?" Shadow Chanel said, "What do you mean by adultery? I only see a shameless undead being beaten up. Leader, I support you. Beat him with more force next time. If you need my help, don''t be embarrassed and tell me. My friends, Purple Marquis, Shadow Maple and the others really want to beat up Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand...¡± Clear Perfume glanced at Chanel. "You really don¡¯t see it?" "See what?" Chanel blinked and asked. Clear Perfume sighed. "So pure. If I were a man, I would definitely marry you...¡± "...¡± ¡­¡­ I rubbed off the footprint on my abdomen and said anxiously, "Fuck, so dangerous. I thought I¡¯d be forced to delete my account... Yiyi, you¡¯re too brutal. You won¡¯t find a husband that way!" Lin Yixin glared at me. "So what if I can¡¯t marry. I¡¯m happy this way~~" I smiled bashfully. "Actually... if you and I aren''t married after ten years, I can help you and sign my name as your spouse. Really, it''s nothing...¡± Clear Perfume was shocked. "Damn, he dares to even joke about this. Lu Chen is going to die!" Chanel nodded. Lin Yixin turned to look at me. Her purple eyes were complicated. She sighed and said helplessly, "If you dare to tease me again in front of my guild, I will carve your name onto the tombstone...¡± "...¡± I nodded, joyous inside. The hidden meaning was that Lin Yixin didn¡¯t mind me teasing her in private. This was good. It would be a fortunate thing to be together with a stunning beauty like her all the time, whether it was me teasing her or her teasing me. I looked at the time. It was deep into the night. I said, "Let¡¯s head back to the city and go sleep. Try to fix your schedule!" Lin Yixin nodded, and took out the return scroll to crush. She disappeared in front of me. Swhoosh! When I returned to Floating Ice City, I heard a string of system notifications in the sky above the city¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players. The fifth Level 70 player of Floating Ice City has appeared, officially activating the map "Devil Spirit Hall". The Devil Spirit Hall is located below the Holy Temple of Floating Ice City. There is a daily entry limit of 10 players. Players need to be Level 60 and pay 1000 gold per entry. Inside, experience gained and drop rate will be increased by 10%. Also, the boss of Devil Spirit Hall¡¯s ninth floor has a 100% chance to drop a Divine Martial Token. Upon use, a Divine Martial Token unconditionally increases guild¡¯s rank by 1. Devil Spirit Hall will officially open tomorrow at 14:00! ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin was not far ahead of me and had also stopped walking. I went forward, and muttered, "A Divine Martial Token unconditionally increases guild¡¯s rank by 1. Damn, this is really good. If you get three Divine Martial Tokens, the guild will reach Rank 5, you can enroll 10000 soldiers and sweep through the China server...¡± Lin Yixin smiled. "The gaming company is shameless to have such an idea. Only ten people can enter the Devil Spirit Hall. Everyone will be competing. I bet there¡¯ll be rivers of blood at the entrance before it even opens...¡± I nodded. "Yiyi, what do you think?" "Haha...¡± Lin Yixin looked at me and laughed dumbly. She said, "What else? I¡¯m taking my Moonlight Sword and killing my way in tomorrow. I¡¯ll cut whoever stops me into pizza slices!" "...¡± My face convulsed. Thinking of being cut into angled slices like pizza, that would be terrible. I hurriedly said, "I¡¯ll be online at about one or so tomorrow. Let''s cooperate. At the very least, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya''s members should not kill each other.¡± "Mn!" Lin Yixin smiled. "Then I am going to sleep.¡± "Alright...¡± Lin Yixin suddenly turned around and said, "Right, there is something else I need to tell you.¡± "Yes, what is it?" "The two assassins that ambushed us planning to steal the boss''s spoils have been identified!" "Oh, let me see!" Lin Yixin nodded and opened her right hand. With a whoosh, a bunch of letters floated above her palm. The information about the two assassins floated in front of me. Life of Prosperity, professional assassin. Entered the game on the first day. From Jiangsu''s Yan City. Once worked for Peach Garden and left two days ago without joining any faction. Life of Protection, professional assassin. Entered the game on the first day. From Jiangsu''s Yangzhou. Left Peach Garden a day ago, and didn''t join any other faction. ¡­¡­ I frowned. "Both of them were originally from Peach Garden? Hmm, Life of Protection is from Yangzhou. We come from the same place, such karma...¡± Lin Yixin laughed softly. "Your hometown is in Yangzhou?" "Yes, what about it. Guys from Yangzhou aren''t bad!" I showed off the muscles on my arm. Lin Yixin burst into laughter. "Be serious! These two people were originally from Peach Garden. Don''t you find it suspicious?" "Of course!" I smiled faintly. "It is clear that Indigo Collar had planned to attack our two guilds a long time ago. However, the temporary situation is that Gods of Destruction are stronger than Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Therefore, Indigo Collar planned for us to work together and then defeat both of us to dominate Floating Ice City.¡± Lin Yixin smiled and asked, "Is Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' alliance strong enough?" I shook my head. "Not at the moment.¡± "Then how can we strengthen our alliance?" "Marry me.¡± "Go die, you want another beating!" Lin Yixin waved her fist, wanting to punch me, but I grabbed her hand in time. I laughed. "Yiyi, go sleep early. Peach Garden ambushing our boss is only due to conflict of interest. Don''t mind it too much. In the end, we need to establish ourselves in Floating Ice City. Fighting against other factions was inevitable anyway, so let¡¯s take it slow. Now go sleep!" "Mn.¡± Lin Yixin nodded, and turned around, leaving behind a beautiful figure. Her name quickly faded and she went offline. I replenished my potions and repaired my equipment before preparing to go offline. I had to get up early tomorrow. The Devil Spirit Hall would open in the afternoon. No matter what, I had to get in, and then reach the ninth floor to kill the boss and get a Divine Martial Token to have Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls reach Rank 3. A Rank 3 guild could hold two thousand people at maximum, multiplying its power. In the early stages of the game, it was easy to recruit unaffiliated experts. Current recruitment would have a huge effect on our future development! ¡­¡­ Smartly, I took my tent and headed for the Holy Temple on my own. I walked along the passageway of the Holy Temple until a plaza appeared in front of me. It was about the size of a soccer field. At the end of the plaza were two guards. I talked with the guards. There was a grayed out option to pay 1000 gold to enter Devil Spirit Hall. And so, I threw the tent next to the guard, and shamelessly planned to go offline. When I got online, I would be right next to him. Even if there were many players nearby, how could I not squeeze my way through? I was overjoyed. Nice. I entered the tent and went offline! ¡­¡­ I took down the helmet and inhaled deeply. The time in the game was enjoyable but it couldn¡¯t replace reality. I opened the window and greedily inhaled fresh air. The game had become a part of my life. I need to take advantage of my youth and enjoy life! The hallway was quiet. Everyone was either online or asleep. The dorms were full of snores, but the security booth''s light was on. I looked back. Murong Mingyue and He Yi''s rooms were dark. They should be asleep. I went back to my room and made instant noodles. I sweated in the process, so I took a shower and went to bed. It was already 3 am. But I couldn¡¯t fall asleep. After more than an hour, I had a wild thought. Is Lin Yixin asleep? I smiled at the thought. I took out my phone and sent a message to her: "Your posture isn''t right. Get up and lay down properly!" After a few minutes, Lin Yixin sent me a message: "I¡¯m gonna kill you!" Chapter 200: Chaotic Battle I didn¡¯t know how long I slept for. Voices traveled in from outside the door. It sounded like Xu Yang was having a talk with our players¡ª Xu Yang: ¡°What are your dreams?¡± Player A: ¡°I want a pretty girlfriend, one that¡¯s gentle and sensible.¡± Player B: ¡°I want to turn this base into an internet cafe. I¡¯ll be the boss!¡± Xu Yang: ¡°Scram!¡± Player C: ¡°I want to smoothly pass CET-4 so I can graduate." Xu Yang: ¡°...¡± Player D took a long time to think about it before he answered, ¡°Have safe sex without incident for a year.¡± Xu Yang¡¯s response was drawn out. ¡°Daaaaaaamn¡­¡± ¡­¡­ I checked the time. It was 1 pm, still an hour before the Devil Spirit Hall map opens! I turned myself over, got up, and quickly washed up. After tossing on some clothes, I rushed out the door. I madly dashed downstairs and ordered a quick meal from a cafe. I shoved it down at the speed of light and went back up! My phone suddenly rang while I was in the elevator. Lin Yixin¡¯s number showed on the screen¡ª ¡°Hello? What¡¯s up Yiyi?¡± I was a little nervous. This girl wasn¡¯t here to scold me for harassing her last night with my text, right? Fortunately, she didn¡¯t mention it. ¡°Lu Chen, have you heard the news about the Devil Spirit Hall?¡± ¡°What news?¡± ¡°Seriously? You just woke up?¡± She was speechless. ¡°The Holy Temple¡¯s stuffed to the brim. A huge crowd of third-promotion players are in there waiting for space. I bet there are thousands of people there and I have a feeling that they¡¯ll start killing each other before the map¡¯s even opened.¡± I asked, ¡°What do you plan to do?¡± Lin Yixin answered, ¡°Use force. I¡¯ve already gathered Purple Marquis, Qingqing, and Shadow Chanel. We¡¯re about to kill our way in and fight for a good spot in the Spirit Hall plaza. We want at least one or two of us going in!¡± I took a deep breath. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m getting on too. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is probably going to be there too.¡± ¡°Yeah, then¡­ if we¡¯re lucky, we¡¯ll meet again in Spirit Hall!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± I hung up. Time to get on! Swhoosh! The scene before me flashed and then I saw a sliver of dusky light from the curtain of my tent. The noisy sounds of players yelling at one another came from outside¡ª ¡°Shit! Which shameless bastard put up a tent here? Fuck, you could do that¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s nothing, I¡¯ve been in line since midnight. It wasn¡¯t easy! Fuck, you¡¯re cutting in line! Die!¡± ¡°Scram! Eat my Blazing Slash!¡± ¡°Get out of here, taste my Whirlwind Slash!¡± ¡­¡­ It was exactly as Lin Yixin had anticipated. A killing spree was happening before Devil Spirit Hall was even opened. A player was invulnerable inside a tent so the guys outside couldn¡¯t do anything to me. Tsk tsk. This wasn¡¯t too bad. There was still half an hour before the Devil Spirit Hall opened. I¡¯ll just wait here until then and charge out at 2 pm, all the way to the 9th floor and get the Divine Martial Token after killing the boss! This Divine Martial Token was extremely important to everyone. After all, Rank 2 guilds needed a huge amount of experience to reach Rank 3. It would take at least half a month to get there, which meant that the Divine Martial Token would allow guilds to be half a month ahead in development. They would be able to recruit another 1000 elites for a total of 2000 players. Only players inside the guild could be relied on since members outside that haven¡¯t joined the guild yet had limited loyalty. The one who obtained the Divine Martial Token would also steal the initiative in Floating Ice City. For that reason, all big guilds assembled to get a Divine Martial Token. Beep! Murong Mingyue sent me a message: ¡°Lu Chen, you¡¯re finally online. Eve and I have formed a party outside but we can¡¯t squeeze in. What do we do?¡± I immediately sent a party join request and heard a beep soon after. When I joined the party, I saw that the leader was He Yi and the party members were Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Chaos Moon, Moonlight Stone, and some others. It was an assembly of 10 of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ top experts! Gui Guzi said, ¡°Boss is here!¡± Beiming Xue was surprised. ¡°OMG, why¡­ why does the map say that boss is inside the Spirit Hall plaza?¡± I answered shyly, ¡°About that¡­ I set up a tent in the Spirit Hall plaza before logging off last night¡­¡± ¡°OMG¡­¡± Murong Mingyue giggled. ¡°You¡¯ve even thought of this idea. You¡¯re something else alright, so shameless¡­ What should we do next? Charge in together?¡± He Yi laughed softly. ¡°We don¡¯t need to be that anxious.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Murong Mingyue asked. ¡°Simple. In a little while, five minutes before the Devil Spirit Hall is about to open, the players outside will definitely go nuts and chaos will ensue. We don¡¯t need to be anxious. Let¡¯s stand by a corner and gun straight for the Spirit Hall plaza in the final minute.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but praise her. ¡°Smart!¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°You¡¯re flattering me~¡± Gui Guzi voiced out, ¡°I¡¯m also in favor of this. Charging in too early will only result in meaningless casualties!¡± Beiming Xue laughed lightly. ¡°Look guys, isn¡¯t that Mad Dragon? Wah, they¡¯ve brought along a hundred-man team. Does Roaming Dragon want to wash the Spirit Hall plaza in blood?¡± Murong Mingyue: ¡°Look to the west. Flower Room also has a ton of people. Our traitors Spring Mud, Night Sorrow, and Moon Shadow are there too~~¡± He Yi said calmly, ¡°Keep a low profile and observe the situation.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± ¡­¡­ He Yi¡¯s plan was wise. Even though more men meant more manpower, in this half an hour before the opening of the Devil Spirit Hall, this place was absolute hell. So what if Mad Dragon formed a hundred-man team? Once they enter the plaza, they¡¯d get drowned in the spit of the solo players there. It was better to bring out the fewest and most elite members possible. Only then would the losses suffered not be that great, with the greatest chance of success too. Lin Yixin was also a smart person. She only formed a ten-man team. If they were able to get in, good. If not, they¡¯d enjoy the show. ¡­¡­ A fight was already underway outside the tent. Two factions were duking it out. The area was littered with the glows of Ice Dragon Howls, Blazes, and Ice Rays. Everyone here was a third-promotion player so the scenery was exceptionally gorgeous. Bards played tunes like Valor and Homecoming on their zithers, giving their melee players additional buffs. Bang! With a spark of Blaze, a random warrior fell to the ground. Before the killer had yet to feel proud of himself, he instantly died beneath two Ice Dragon Howls! At the rear, several people were shouting, ¡°Fuck, that kid dashed straight to the guard¡¯s side. Let¡¯s go everyone, kill him! Get ready to snatch some equipment!¡± Boom boom boom! In a barrage of Magic Missiles and Volleys, the two NPC guards at the side were already engulfed in a sea of fire. The funny thing was that those two NPC uncles still kept calm and chatted about the weather with cigarettes in their mouths¡ª ¡°Hi, Snake. Let¡¯s head to the tavern in the western city for some ale after we finish our shift in this damned place. I heard that the girls in Red River Basin have skin as smooth as silk. They cost 10 gold a night, what do you say?¡± the vulgar uncle said with a laugh. The other NPC guard curled his lips. ¡°Our monthly salary is only 1 gold. Isn¡¯t that almost a year¡¯s worth of wage? Tiger, you sure you wanna do that?¡± The uncle answered with a determined look, ¡°What¡¯s gold in the face of women? You¡¯d better listen to me or else you¡¯ll regret it once you¡¯re old. You¡¯ll regret not climbing into that woman''s ivory bed!¡± ¡°Alright, Tiger. You sure are the light of my night life. We¡¯ll head there right away after our post, partner. I can¡¯t wait!¡± ¡°Alrighty!¡± ¡­¡­ I was speechless. Why were these game producers so obscene? These lines, mhmm, they¡¯re admirable if I listen to them but a minor wouldn¡¯t feel the same! Pandemonium broke out in the world outside my tent. Huge groups of players rushed in and huge groups of players died, dropping all sorts of equipment. There were Bronze-grade, Steel-grade, Dark Steel¨Cgrade, and even some Silver-grade items on the floor, turning the crowd¡¯s eyes red. Everyone forgot the basic human principles of morality and civilization, greed and desire distorting their minds. The sound of multiple people yelling soon followed. ¡°Fuck! There¡¯s a Silver-grade bow, fuck, that¡¯s mine! That¡¯s mine. Fuck, who stabbed my ass with their sword, I¡¯ll kill ya!¡± In the end, a Silver-grade bow triggered a massacre. Several hundred players entered a slaughterfest and were cut down like wheat on a farm. At this time, the sound of a bell rang in my ears¡ª Ding! System Notice: Your tent¡¯s remaining duration is up, please cancel your tent state immediately! ¡­¡­ A countdown screen then appeared. My tent had 10 seconds left before it disappeared! Fuck! My scalp went numb. I was sitting right next to the guard uncle, which was also right at the center of the concentrated firepower. I would die tragically the moment my tent disappeared. I might even get instantly killed by those Ice Dragon Howls! I had to remain steadfast at this critical juncture or else I¡¯d die! I kept my cool and drew the Ghost Ice Soul. I charged out the instant I canceled the tent¡¯s effects. A dagger-wielding assassin welcomed me with a glistening Cold Blade! ¡°Die!¡± I thrust my sharp, cold sword forward. Blood gushed out from the assassin¡¯s chest as my sword penetrated his chest. It was an instant kill. The best items on his body were Dark Steel¨Cgrade so it was impossible for him to withstand a single blow from the Ghost Ice Soul! Up ahead, a group of players shouted, ¡°Another one¡¯s appeared, go! Kill him!¡± As if they had gone mad, these players couldn¡¯t distinguish friend or foe. The moment they saw an expert, they wanted him dead. After all, if an expert died, they would drop their equipment. A Silver-grade equipment was worth a small fortune. ¡°Heh!¡± A confident smile rose on my face. I raised the Ghost Ice Soul high in the air. Sword light flashed, and it appeared¡ªRank 7 Thousand Mirage Slash! Clang! The tip of my sword transformed into seven beams of bright sword energy that covered the sky before plunging down! Boom! A series of damage numbers flew up as several players died under my skill. Only a few melee players had some HP left but they all ran away in panic. I retreated to a corner, revealed my name, and coldly looked at the crowd. ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck! It¡¯s him¡­ it¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks into Sand, the legendary Unkillable War God¡­¡± The group finally recovered a thread of reason. No one dared to go up again. After receiving the reward from the beastmen tribe¡¯s quest, I was already Level 71 with three Dark Gold¨Cgrade pieces of defensive equipment. They all knew that none of them were a match for me, so no one ran at me. Of course, the main reason was prestige! Chapter 201: Unaware of The Oriole Behind Swhoosh! The Dark Wasp appeared in a flash of magical light. At Level 71, it looked like an oversized soccer ball that floated in the air. It was pitch black in color, and it had a venomous sting that looked like it might puncture an opponent¡¯s vitals at any moment. Right now I needed both manpower and petpower. The more, the better! So, I tried summoning the little skeleton next, Xinran! However... Ding~! System Notice: Your pet ¡°Xinran¡± has refused your summon! ¡­¡­ WTF! I stared at my skill button with a flabbergasted expression. What an unorthodox pet she was! I never thought that a contracted pet had the ability to refuse its master¡¯s summon. What was keeping her anyway? I tried again! Ding~! System Notice: Your pet ¡°Xinran¡± has refused your summon! ¡­¡­ Again! Failed. Again! Failed. Again! Failed again! At this point I was getting anxious, so I tapped the summon button 12 times in a row. Finally there was a whoosh of magical energy, and a hexagram formation appeared on the ground in front of me. At the center of the magic formation was a black hole that led to the Netherworld, and it was there my little skeleton appeared. She was Level 45, but she was clad in armor from head to toe. She wore a glowing purple armor and held a shining spear in her hand! ¡°Xinran?¡± I could hardly believe that the little skeleton was my own pet. If anything, she looked more like a high-level undead warrior. It was such a bizarre sight that I couldn¡¯t help but call out her name. The little skeleton turned around and watched me with her empty eye sockets. Then, dragging her spear across the ground, she walked up to me and stared at me as if she wanted to know why I had summoned her. At this distance, I could see a pair of soul flames dancing inside her eye sockets. I returned the look she gave me and said, ¡°What are you staring at? Come over to me. There are a lot of people who are trying to kill me¡­¡± The little skeleton let out a tiny snort before throwing her spear next to my feet. It was as if she was expressing her disdain to my conundrum through her attitude. I could almost hear her talking in my head: ¡°You threw 12 golden medals slash imperial edicts in my face, summoned me all the way from the Netherworld, and you tell me that my opponents are a bunch of little shits who haven¡¯t left their mother¡¯s wombs? Are you fucking kidding me? Who do you think I am, Yue Fei of your Emperor Gaozong of Song?¡± Fuck, what should I even say to this kind of attitude? Is this how modern pets act these days? I looked down and picked up the iron spear. Another disdainful snort later, the little skeleton fell in line as well. Finally, she was acting more like a proper pet. At the distance, a bunch of players were glaring at me like they could drill holes in my body. So far though, they hadn¡¯t made a move probably because me and my pets made a bizarre combination. A man, a Dark Wasp and a disobedient skeleton that was somehow clad in full armor? No one knew exactly how powerful I was just by looking at me. Whatever they might think of me, I was feeling pretty insecure myself. If these people suddenly grew balls and fired their Ice Dragon Howls at me, there was literally nothing I could do about it except to accept my fate and die. After all, Thousand Mirage Slash¡¯s cooldown was short, but it was there nonetheless. For a second, I pretended that my Thousand Mirage Slash had no cooldown and imagined what would have happened¡­ hmph! What could these people possibly do to me? I could¡¯ve fought my way out of here and escorted He Yi and Murong Mingyue from the back myself! I hid at a corner, relaxed my body into a nonchalant posture and kept my expression purposefully cool and blank. As I thought, none of the players felt the desire to challenge my authority, especially since I wasn¡¯t participating in the battle for the Spirit Hall plaza. And why would they, when we didn¡¯t even share a conflict of interest? Moreover, everyone knew that I was the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and the leader of Bloody Mercenaries. Who would be stupid enough to challenge the leader of a guild with real skill and power? ¡­¡­ It was at this moment the outside turned noisy. A group of people were fighting their way into the plaza, and their shotcaller¡¯s voice was very familiar to me. It was none other than the hundred-man party of Mad Dragon, led personally by Roaming Dragon, Iron Pardon, Inconstant, Coldmoon Rose and more. They slaughtered almost all the players blocking the passageway, and almost no one was able to put up any notable resistance whatsoever. They made it all the way to the plaza. Leading at the front of the group, Roaming Dragon raised his spear and shouted, ¡°Mad Dragon is aiming to take 5 spots in the Devil Spirit Hall, no more, no less! Open up the way and let us through, or we will cut you down without mercy!¡± At the same time, Iron Pardon and Inconstant raised their weapons and took out the players standing in their way in two hits. Their arrogance was laid bare for all to see. Coldmoon Rose on the other hand, was smarter than those two. She only ever used her powerful Devil Piercing Arrow to kill isolated assassins or archers, and she never used her Volley. Volley was an AoE skill, and it took effort to control the direction the attack landed in. In a setting like this, it was practically impossible to not hit a random target. One Volley from Coldmoon Rose, and I guarantee that the bachelors unlucky enough to be caught in the attack would rise up like an unstoppable storm and end Mad Dragon¡¯s hundred-man party in just an instant! It was at this moment a Level 65 warrior clad in imposing armor stepped out of the group of bachelors and stared defiantly at Mad Dragon. He looked to be about 40 to 50 years old. ¡°Is this a joke? Only 10 people can enter Devil Spirit Hall per day, and your guild wants to take 5 spots for yourself? Do you think we¡¯re invisible or something? Plus, why should we give you 5 spots in the first place? We all have a right to enter the Devil Spirit Hall!¡± The guy got a ton of support, and the horde of bachelors started ridiculing Mad Dragon for their tyrannical behavior from every direction. Some even started ¡°greeting¡± their women and their family. ¡°Shut up!¡± Roaming Dragon gritted his teeth and shouted angrily, ¡°Shut up, you motherfuckers! Open up the way, or die!¡± The warrior shouted right back, ¡°You¡¯re the one who should die! You want gangster? I¡¯ll show you gangster! Brothers! Let¡¯s kill this cuckold and teach him his rightful place!¡± It was yet another free-for-all. This time, it was Bachelors VS Mad Dragon! Luckily for Mad Dragon, their warriors were surrounding their priests, mages and archers in a protective circle, and once the tamers summoned two pets at once and attacked the bachelors, the fight quickly devolved into a stalemate. It looked like I had vastly underestimated Roaming Dragon¡¯s ability to command his guild members and create a tactical formation. For a time, swords and magic danced all over the place. An innumerable amount of players were dying by the second, and the plaza was drenched in blood in just the blink of an eye. I checked the time and noted that there was still 15 minutes before the Devil Spirit Hall officially opened. Man, these people sure knew how to have fun! It wasn¡¯t long before Mad Dragon¡¯s players started decreasing drastically. Panicking, Roaming Dragon shouted, ¡°Rose, send a message to the guild and tell them to send over another group of players. These fuckers, I refuse to believe I can¡¯t deal with a bunch of untrained rabble!¡± Coldmoon Rose nodded, but her eyes betrayed a hit of exasperation. It looked like she had noticed as well that Mad Dragon¡¯s excessive aggression had resulted in the exact opposite of what he wanted. ¡­¡­ Mad Dragon¡¯s reinforcements didn¡¯t arrive in time to help Roaming Dragon out of his pickle. Instead, a Mad Dragon archer suddenly rushed into the scene and shouted in a panic, ¡°Boss, the dozens of brothers we placed outside were all annihilated by the enemy¡­¡± Roaming Dragon exclaimed in shock. ¡°Goddamn sonuvabitch! Who¡¯s the fucker who killed my men?!¡± ¡°Flower Room, it¡¯s Flower Room¡­¡± A group of players poured into the entrance as if on cue, and the leader was none other than the rapier-wielding Young Master Le. He was accompanied by his warriors, Spring Mud and Moon Shadow; his archer, Night Sorrow and his mage, Life of Luxury. The elites of Flower Room were all here, and their accompanying members numbered almost a hundred. Their entrance was practically as flashy as Mad Dragon¡¯s just now! ¡°Hahaha, get ¡®em boys! Purge all forces that don¡¯t belong to us from this plaza!¡± Li Le laughed loudly. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Roaming Dragon was feeling uncomfortable to say the least. He roared angrily at Li Le with bloodshot eyes, ¡°Fuck you, Li Le! How dare you kick a man when he¡¯s down!¡± Li Le sneered at him, ¡°Lu Chao, I¡¯ve been wanting to fuck you over since day one! You¡¯re just a Mad Dragon, and you act like you own the world! Even worse, you looked down on us, Flower Room! Hahaha, I dare you to fight me now, Lu Chao! I can¡¯t wait to see you die!¡± Roaming Dragon looked like his veins were about to burst. Mad Dragon was actually stronger than Flower Room, but they came too soon and they were foolish enough to provoke the gathered bachelors. Caught in a pincer, it was only a matter of time before they were wiped out completely. Li Le continued to laugh loudly. ¡°Here, I¡¯ll give you a free lesson today: the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind! Get it, you fucking trash? You love telling people that I¡¯m just a rich guy who built his guild with money, don¡¯t you Lu Chao? Today, you¡¯re going to learn with your body that I¡¯m both rich and intelligent!¡± ¡°Your grandma has better brains than you!¡± Roaming Dragon raised his spear and rushed Li Le. Spring Mud immediately met him midway and stopped him in his tracks! Chiang! The impact was so strong that both sword and spear wielder slid away from each other. Li Le raised one hand and ordered, ¡°Spring Mud, there¡¯s no need to engage him by force. Archers, rain arrows on him!¡± However, Li Lie¡¯s joy barely lasted for a couple of minutes before a Flower Room player rushed up to him and shouted, ¡°Boss, it¡¯s bad! The enemy has slaughtered every last one of our archers!¡± Li Le exclaimed in shock. ¡°Fuck, who is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s Gods of Destruction! Dominating Heaven Blade and his men are here!¡± ¡°Dammit!¡± Li Le clenched his fists before pointing at the right corner of the plaza. He shouted, ¡°Keep fighting and occupy that corner! Get ready to turn back and hold off Dominating Heaven Blade once we reach that corner!¡± Hah, it looks like the young master claim of intelligence wasn¡¯t completely a hoax. They would die one hundred percent if they stayed at the passageway, but it was a different story if they managed to burrow deeper inside the plaza. But a sinister smile spread across Roaming Dragon¡¯s lips as he raised his hand. ¡°Brothers, give ¡®em everything you got and keep Flower Room from getting through the staircase! I can¡¯t wait to watch him die with my own eyes!¡± This time, it was Li Le¡¯s turn to turn as red as a pig¡¯s liver. Behind Flower Room, a group of brave warriors cut their way to the passageway. Dominating Heaven Blade wielded a huge blade as usual, and he was accompanied by Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God and his usual entourage. He laughed loudly, ¡°Did I hear something talking about stalking mantises and clever orioles just now? How interesting! I wonder who¡¯s the real oriole here, hahahaha¡­¡± My blood was boiling from all the excitement going on around me. How could I not? It didn¡¯t matter how many chunks of meat the guilds bit off each other¡¯s asses because it would only benefit Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya in the end! Chapter 202: Mad Slaughter Swhoosh! My body dissolved into several rays of bloody light and seeped into the ground. A war was about to break out, and the best thing I, a spectator, could do was slip underground and hide from everything. No one would notice me, and Earth Escape wouldn¡¯t cancel on its own unless I was hit by a physical or magical skill. There weren¡¯t many people at the corner of the plaza I was occupying, so it was highly unlikely that I would get hit. If someone was that bad at the game that they would throw a random skill at a spot where no one was, then I supposed I would grant them the honor and send them back to the city personally. ¡­¡­ The Spirit Hall plaza was illuminated by dark energy. It was a domain of the undead, so a thin fog of death energy was covering the blue floor. Players were pouring into the plaza by the second, and the sound of war boots striking against the floor was loud and frantic; a subtle expression of the absolute chaos on the surface. Dominating Heaven Blade waved his sword and yelled loudly, ¡°Charge, my brothers! Kill absolutely everyone in front of you! All 10 spots of the Devil Spirit Hall are belong to us!¡± His greedy declaration sent a shiver down my spine. What kind of appetite was that? He was practically looking down on every guild and expert in Floating Ice City! Dominating Archer God let out a roar and fired a Rank 6 Volley. The indiscriminate attack fell on the crowd and deleted three of Flower Room¡¯s bards immediately! Dominating Knight God activated Blaze, wrapping the tip of his spear in flames. Then, he charged into a horde of enemies and thrust it into a tactician¡¯s chest, killing his target instantly! Dominating Mage God was even more impudent than his brothers were, gathering his powerful magic and summoning an ice rain upon his targets. All the players caught within the spell started losing HP by the second, and the skill range was so huge that there was nowhere the players of Flower Room could hide even if they wanted to! Furious, Li Le pointed at Dominating Mage God and shouted, ¡°Archers, give me some Volleys and kill that mage! Fuck ¡®em up!¡± Thud thud thud! The archers loosed their arrows at Dominating Mage God as he commanded. However, every single shot was deflected by his Magic Shield! The strength of the Magic Shield scaled with mage¡¯s Attack. Not only was Dominating Mage God incredibly high level, his equipment was also among the best of the best. For example, I could tell from a glance that his magic staff was either Gold-grade or Dark Gold¨Cgrade because it was surrounded by a golden glow. The mage laughed arrogantly after Li Le¡¯s archers failed to penetrate his Magic Shield. ¡°Hahaha! You noobs dare even dream of ruling Floating Ice City? What a joke! Come kill me if you dare, but don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you that the price of failure is death!¡± ¡°Unbelievable. Under no circumstances should a mage be allowed to channel a goddamn Arctic Rain under fire. I could almost believe that this was staged if I hadn¡¯t seen it with my own eyes! Hmph! Beiming Xue would¡¯ve turned that braggart into a pincushion in a couple of Devil Piercing Arrows at most¡­ and what is even there to brag about anyway? Flower Room is hardly a worthy opponent¡­¡± Suddenly, He Yi called me through the party channel: ¡°Lu Chen, how are things going over there?¡± ¡°Oh, the people are having the party of a lifetime~~¡± I laughed. ¡°Give me a second and I¡¯ll share you the live feed. But don¡¯t come in yet, okay? Wait until the dust is settled before you make the attempt!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± A few seconds later, I shared the live feed with my whole party. The girls¡¯ mouths fell open in shock when they saw it. He Yi: ¡°OMG, it¡¯s so chaotic! I can¡¯t even tell who¡¯s fighting who right now, wow¡­ my brain¡¯s all jumbled up¡­¡± Murong Mingyue nodded in agreement. ¡°Same here. I recognize Young Master Le though. Since when did he grow big enough balls to fight both Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon at the same time? So cool, so brave! This guild has a bright future ahead of them¡­¡± I rolled my eyes at her sarcastic remark. ¡°Fight? More like get stuck between a rock and a hard place. Just watch, Flower Room is going to be the first guild to get wiped¡­¡± Beiming Xue said, ¡°Where¡¯s Spring Mud, Moon Shadow and Night Sorrow? I still can¡¯t believe those idiots left us and joined Flower Room to this day. Should I go in there and kill them myself?¡± I hurriedly stopped her. ¡°No need, they¡¯re going to die one way or another, so why sully your own hands with their blood? Be patient. Once it¡¯s time I¡¯ll come over and support you from inside.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± ¡­¡­ Time passed little by little. As expected, Flower Room collapsed under the combined fire of Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon, and their one hundred-man party was wiped just like that. Spring Mud was turned into a porcupine and died under a hail of arrows. Moon Shadow was fending off an endless sea of enemies when two swords pierced his body from two sides. Puchi! The man could do nothing except let out a painful groan and die. The two attackers who took Moon Shadow¡¯s life together came face to face with each other, and they were none other than Iron Pardon and Dominating Warrior God. These two warriors were long-time foes, and they PKed one another whenever the opportunity presented itself. As if in mutual agreement, they spat at each other¡¯s faces. ¡°Pooh!¡± Night Sorrow tried to kite Coldmoon Rose, but he seemed to have forgotten that the latter was Roaming Dragon¡¯s woman. Her level and equipment were nothing to scoff at, and her attack power was even higher than Night Sorrow¡¯s. She wasn¡¯t alone either. He quickly lost steam after taking heavy fire from Coldmoon Rose and another archer, and when he was at half health, a magic knight closed the gap and impaled him with a spear! Puchi! 902! Roaming Dragon pulled out his spear slowly with a savage smile on his face. He sneered at the falling man and said, ¡°Trash. From Water must¡¯ve lost her mind when she hired you to be the core of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It¡¯s no wonder you were swept out her doorsteps the moment Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and his gang returned to the guild. You truly are trash of the trash!¡± Night Sorrow¡¯s eyes were spitting fire, but he couldn¡¯t deny reality. In the end, all he could do was fall to the ground and turn into a cold, lifeless corpse. Li Le was completely dumbfounded. He was so shocked that he even forgot to swing his blade. Funnily enough, he was the last man standing in his whole party. Dominating Heaven Blade pointed his blade at Li Le and smiled. ¡°Kill yourself. It would dirty my blade to kill trash like you!¡± Li Le stared straight into Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s eyes and shouted, ¡°Fuck! Your! Mother!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade responded by cutting open his throat and replying, ¡°There¡¯s no one I hate more than trash who talks shit about my mother!¡± Finally, Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon officially came face to face with each other after Li Le was killed. Roaming Dragon raised his spear and shouted loudly, ¡°For the honor of Mad Dragon, the glory of your brothers, and the beloved behind your back! Kill them all! Down with Gods of Destruction!¡± In response, Dominating Heaven Blade sneered back and said, ¡°Prepare to fight!¡± Dominating Knight God and Dominating Warrior God charged forward in unison and clashed against the Gemini Stars of Mad Dragon. They dished out whatever skills they had¡ªBlaze, Ice Ray and so on¡ªsuccessfully knocking each back a few steps. One HP pot later, they charged toward each other again! I checked the time. There was only 8 minutes left before the Devil Spirit Hall finally opened! Mad Dragon was down to 50 people or so after the prolonged battle. To say that they were having a hard time would be an understatement. Although Roaming Dragon had given up trying to fight the normal players and devoted all of his strength to Gods of Destruction, he still fell short of the mostly fresh team of Gods of Destruction. In the end, he had to wave his spear and shout, ¡°Retreat to the right wing and hold your ground!¡± Mad Dragon started retreating systematically. If they focused solely on keeping themselves alive at the right wing, there was still a chance they could squeeze a man or two into the Devil Spirit Hall. After all, Gods of Destruction had only brought a couple hundred players with them, and that wasn¡¯t enough manpower to occupy the entire plaza, not to mention that the two guards were only about ten meters away. Only speed mattered once the time was up. The first ten players who talked with the NPCs and paid 1000 gold would be granted access to Devil Spirit Hall! After that, the fight would turn into a battle royale between the ten players. There was only one boss and one Divine Martial Token, and only one player was going to get away with the ultimate prize. As the name of the hall might suggest, the path to the ninth floor was destined to be paved in blood. Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s eyes shone dangerously when Mad Dragon started retreating. Unrelenting, he waved his sword and shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t give them any room to breathe! Knight God, Warrior God, follow me! We¡¯ll secure the NPCs and keep any foreign force from getting close!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Gods of Destruction were domineering if nothing else. Even their strategy was cutthroat and decisive. But before they could carry out their plan, the situation at the entrance suddenly grew hectic once more. A new force was trying to make it into the plaza, and it was none other than the Peach Garden led by Indigo Collar and co. Peach Garden and Gods of Destruction were destined to be enemies, and neither was going to have an easy time until a clear victor had emerged. Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s eyes burned with fury. He shouted, ¡°One hundred men, follow me as I engage Indigo Collar! That wretched tramp is going to pay everything he owes with interest!¡± ¡­¡­ Indigo Collar didn¡¯t bring too many players with him. In fact, his party was a hundred man-strong at most. It took 1000 gold¡ªthat was 1000 RMB in real life¡ªto enter the Devil Spirit Hall, the same amount of money the average white collar could earn in a week. Who in their right mind would spend that much money on a ticket with unclear payback unless they had absolute confidence in their abilities? It took only an instant for Peach Garden and Gods of Destruction to engage one another. Soon, the battle turned so chaotic that it was nearly impossible to identify friend or foe. At least thousands of players were duking it out on this tiny little plaza, and the meat grinder consumed all lives indiscriminately. Moreover, there was a restriction on the plaza that massively extended the time it normally took for players to resurrect themselves, so once you died you basically missed your chance to enter the Devil Spirit Hall. Time passed very quickly. There were only three minutes left on the clock in the blink of an eye. I said seriously, ¡°It¡¯s almost time. Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, you guys are the vanguard. Attack the left side while I support you from the inside!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Gui Guzi sounded incredibly excited. He was probably itching to rock and roll since the beginning of the battle. Well, I was a game addict myself, so I understood his feelings completely. It would be stranger to feel nothing after seeing the absolute madness that was happening on the Spirit Hall plaza. Fighting was the entire point of playing a game like this! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I burst out of the ground and resummoned the Dark Wasp. I tried summoning Xinran again, but just like before, she refused to come out. Oh well, the Dark Wasp and I should be enough! I cut the air in front of me with my sword and took off. With my body glowing with red undead energy and my bloody cloak fluttering behind me, I charged toward the entrance while shouting repeatedly, ¡°Out of my way!¡± At the same time, I revealed my ID for all to see. There was no one in Floating Ice City who didn¡¯t recognize it. Shockingly, I reached the edge without killing a single person. Suddenly, an assassin with an arrow stuck to his chest flew toward my direction, prompting me to jump out of the way in a hurry. By the time he hit the ground, he was already dead. A girl holding a longbow ran up to me with a smile. ¡°Boss, we¡¯re here!¡± He Yi was right behind Beiming Xue. As usual, she looked as beautiful as a fairy. Beside her, our number one priest Murong Mingyue followed the girls closely and healed Beiming Xue to full health with a wave of her wand. Gui Guzi gave me a nod. Right now, his head looked more like a pincushion than a human head. He complained to me in a grudgeful tone, ¡°Fuck, do you know how many archers are shooting arrows from outside? Those bastards must take pleasure in murder¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°Alright, alright, get in already!¡± ¡­¡­ As we made our way back in, a new force cut open a bloody path behind us and caught up to us. The leader was a girl wearing metal armor and wielding a sword that positively glowed with moonlight. Who else could it be but our famous Fruit Knife Goddess? Lin Yixin ran up to us with her generals¡ªPurple Marquis, Clear Perfume et cetera¡ªin tow. When she saw that Gods of Destruction had already secured the area around the NPC guards, she couldn¡¯t help but frown. ¡°Damn, Dominating Heaven Blade is such a bastard. A 10-0-0 formation? How shameless¡­¡± Standing at the center of the crowd right next to the NPC guard, Dominating Mage God laughed loudly at her. ¡°Beauty Wind, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, do you want to help test out the strength of our formation? If you¡¯re scared then maybe you should just go back where you came from, hahaha¡­¡± I immediately turned around and gave Beiming Xue an order. ¡°Lil Beiming, kill him!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Beiming Xue started drawing her bow, but before she could do anything else two purple arrows suddenly cut through the air! Thud! The first arrow tore right through Dominating Mage God¡¯s Magic Shield. The second arrow left a huge hole in the middle of Dominating Mage God¡¯s chest! ¡°Ah? Ugh¡­¡± Dominating Mage God¡¯s eyes tuned as wide as saucers. He couldn¡¯t believe that someone had one-shot him! I turned to stare at Beiming Xue in astonishment, but she returned the same look and shook her head. ¡°It wasn¡¯t me¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Everyone turned toward the direction the arrows came from and saw four players standing on top of the stairs. Dominating Mage God¡¯s killer was a Level 72 archer clad in elegant leather armor. He held a purple bow in his hands, and the line of text above his head read: Transient Smoke and Clouds LV-72 Silver Archer City: Dawn City Guild: Candle Dragon Chapter 203: Battle of the Gods ¡°Wh¡­ what the heck?¡± Dominating Heaven Blade stared at the newcomers in astonishment and gulped. ¡°Why are they here? How did Candle Dragon hear about this this quickly?¡± Dominating Heaven Blade wasn¡¯t the only one who was surprised. Roaming Dragon, Indigo Collar and everyone else were staring at the uninvited guests with gaping mouths as well. ¡­¡­ Besides the Level 72 god-tier archer Transient Smoke and Clouds, the other three players had revealed their IDs as well. Tempest Shadow LV-71 Silver Knight Blue Sky Scar LV-72 Silver Warrior God¡¯s Dance LV-71 Silver Mage ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade clenched his teeth tightly. ¡°Did I miss an important day on the calendar or something? Why are the Top 4 pros of Candle Dragon here?¡± That¡¯s right, these four players were none other than the divine generals of Candlelight Shadow. The reason everyone was stunned wasn¡¯t just because they were famous, but because they had the strength to support their reputation. Candle Dragon was the most formidable guild to ever exist in games made by Eternal Moon Corporation because they were led by five active CGL Hall of Famers, four of whom were standing right in front of us. As of now, there was no one in the entire China server who had this many CGL Hall of Famers in their guild! As the saying goes, ¡°beware of Greeks bearing gifts¡±, and it didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that the four war gods of Candle Dragon had come for the Divine Martial Token. Maybe it was because Floating Ice City was the only one that spawned a Divine Martial Token, but it was so delicious that even Candle Dragon smelled it all the way from Dawn City. The fact was the whole party except Candlelight Shadow had made the trip to a completely different city and dealt Gods of Destruction a humiliating blow, killing Dominating Mage God in one strike. ¡°Gulp!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade swallowed again and forced himself to calm down. ¡°What is the meaning of this¡­ Candle Dragon? Did Gods of Destruction accidentally offend you somehow?¡± Tempest Shadow stepped out and pointed his blade at Dominating Heaven Blade. The armored magic knight sneered contemptuously, ¡°Save the bullshit, old man! You had fun taunting us on the China forums, hadn¡¯t you? Well, we¡¯re giving you the opportunity to realize those taunts right now! The four of us are the only ones who came to Floating Ice City today. Come fight us if you dare!¡± Dominating Warrior God stepped out and shouted angrily, ¡°Fuck you, you think you can challenge all of Floating Ice City with just the four of you? Just how much more arrogant can you get?¡± Suddenly, Tempest Shadow froze when his sword pointed toward a girl. The sweet smiling girl was none other than Lin Yixin herself! ¡°Hmm? It¡¯s you!¡± Tempest Shadow exclaimed in shock before lowering his sword in a hurry. Lin Yixin gave him a small smile before sighing. ¡°What a world we live in these days. Even a loser can act like he owns the world¡­¡± Tempest Shadow¡¯s face turned red. ¡°Quit¡­ quit spreading your lies!¡± The rather beautiful mage standing behind Tempest Shadow, God¡¯s Dance took half a step forward and sneered disdainfully at Lin Yixin. ¡°Tempest Shadow, is she that Wind Fantasy who killed you some time ago? She doesn¡¯t look like all that special, except her looks. Did you fall for her honey trap? Is that the real reason you lost to her?¡± Transient Smoke and Clouds laughed loudly. ¡°Dude, what is wrong with you? How could you even think to kill such a beautiful girl? Oh well, as your brother it¡¯s my responsibility to take revenge for you. I promise I¡¯ll make her wish she never lived!¡± This time, it was Blue Sky Scar who spoke arrogantly, ¡°Cut the nonsense and focus. There are only two minutes left before the Devil Spirit Hall opens, and don¡¯t forget that we¡¯re here for the Divine Martial Token, not her!¡± ¡°We know. Ready when you are!¡± ¡­¡­ But before the four war gods of Candle Dragon could act, a beautiful figure dashed toward them first. Holy shit, it¡¯s Lin Yixin! Is she planning to fight all of them herself? ¡°Heh! Keep her busy and be ready for the one-shot!¡± Tempest Shadow backed away and allowed Blue Sky Scar to take his place. When Lin Yixin reached Blue Sky Scar, she swung her sword at his head and dealt 1194 damage immediately, deleting half of the arrogant warrior¡¯s health pool in an instant and giving him quite the fright. ¡°Holy shit, her attack power is crazy. Watch out, everyone!¡± In retaliation, Transient Smoke and Clouds drew his purple bow and fired an Freezing Arrow at her. Pa! Despite Lin Yixin¡¯s attempt to dodge the shot, it still hit her in the arm and encased her entire shoulder in ice. Boom! At the same time, God¡¯s Dance fired an Ice Dragon Howl at Lin Yixin. The girl was caught dead-center in the blast. 1054! That wasn¡¯t even the end of it. After taking a few steps back, Tempest Shadow lowered his center of gravity and dashed toward her like a lightning bolt. It was the Charge skill! Shit! Lin Yixin might be one-shot if I don¡¯t do something to help her! Shiing! I was the only one among the stunned crowd who pulled out my weapon and ran to Lin Yixin¡¯s aid without hesitation. However, it turned out that my aid wasn¡¯t really all that necessary. When the storm of ice dissipated and revealed Lin Yixin again, she calmly took half a step backward¡ªjust enough to dodge Tempest Shadow¡¯s Charge¡ªlowered her center of gravity and transformed into a lightning bolt herself! Damn, Lin Yixin had her own Charge now! Swoosh! Her target was the great mage, God¡¯s Dance. It was clear what Lin Yixin was planning: kill the mage first and disengage her attackers later! The corner of God¡¯s Dance¡¯s lips turned up. ¡°Heh, the little girl wants to kill me?¡± In response to the Charge, God¡¯s Dance swung her staff in one practiced motion and fired an icicle. ¡°Ice Blast!¡± Everyone was expecting Lin Yixin to break her Charge and dodge out of the way, but she did the opposite and held steady. When God¡¯s Dance acted to dodge to the right, Lin Yixin dashed past her and performed a beautiful mid-turn, anticipating God¡¯s Dance retreat path and slashing her when they were just one yard away from each other! Swoosh! The Moonlight Sword split the air in half and shattered God¡¯s Dance¡¯s Magic Shield like an egg shell! Stunned by Lin Yixin¡¯s unexpected movement and attack power, God¡¯s Dance drank an HP potion and continued to retreat. However... ¡°Heh~¡± God Dance exclaimed in surprise when Lin Yixin gave her a confident smile and summoned a dagger to her hand. The next second, she blew past God¡¯s Dance like a cannonball, and the dagger vanished. Shasha¡­ Lin Yixin¡¯s last dash was so powerful that she skidded several meters across the stone floor. However, she managed to remain standing, and blood was dripping down the hand she used to hold the dagger earlier. God¡¯s Dance¡¯s blood. The mage was standing at the staircase and channeling the energy for her next Ice Blast, but she would never complete her spell because there was a dagger sticking out of her chest. The dagger was plunged so deep that only the hilt was visible, and blood was gushing wildly out of her chest. A late but inevitable damage number popped above her head¡ª1704! Puchi! God¡¯s Dance slowly collapsed to the ground as she stared at Lin Yixin in front of her. Her eyes were filled with disbelief and resistance. How did she get one-shot? Since when did Floating Ice City have a miraculous female fighter like her? ¡°Little Wu!¡± By the time Tempest Shadow and Blue Sky Scar recovered from their shock, God¡¯s Dance had already turned into a cold, lifeless body. Swhoosh! Meanwhile, Transient Smoke and Clouds fired his fifth shot at Lin Yixin. Transient Smoke and Clouds was a top-tier archer, and his accuracy was almost perfect. His fighting style was ruthless and thorough, which was why Lin Yixin didn¡¯t bother dodging his attacks after the first shot. She knew she wouldn¡¯t be able to do it. Transient Smoke and Clouds¡¯ battle rhythm was even better than Beiming Xue¡¯s, and it was nearly impossible to dodge his attacks! By now, Lin Yixin had almost run out of HP. She was just a fragile wanderer after all. One Ice Dragon Howl and a couple of Freezing Arrows were all it took to bring her low even after she had chugged an HP pot. A smile of resignation spread across Lin Yixin¡¯s lips. ¡°Is this it?¡± It wasn¡¯t. Her body suddenly flashed twice with holy light, and she regained half her health pool in just an instant. Two of Floating Ice City¡¯s best priests, Murong Mingyue and Scattered Rain had finally joined the battle as well. Swhoosh! While all this was happening, I set my sights on Tempest Shadow and activated Charge! ¡°What?¡± Tempest Shadow let out a cry of astonishment when I stunned him. ¡°It¡¯s you?¡± Without a word, I swung my Ghost Ice Soul and launched my strongest combo at him! Pardon + Desperate Gambit, go! MISS! 3207! To my surprise, I failed to one-shot the bastard. It looked like Tempest Shadow had grown a thicker skin since he was unceremoniously sent back to Dawn City! Still, it would only take me one more basic attack at most to kill him! But before I could do just that, Blue Sky Scar charged my flank while he was glowing with red light. He shouted angrily at me, ¡°You¡¯re back, Falling Dust?!!¡± Boom! I shook from the impact when Blue Sky Scar knocked me back a couple of steps. The bastard even managed to stun me for 1 second! It was the Assault skill, a skill that had a high chance to stun a lower-leveled player for 1 second. Unfortunately, the guy was one level higher than me, so I was at a severe disadvantage! Blue Sky Scar attacked me with a Blaze and a basic attack while I was stunned. Not only did he choose the most efficient method to dish out his damage, his movement was as smooth as water. He definitely deserved to be called a CGL Hall of Famer! 945! 427! Unfortunately for him, I still had over half my HP even after he got two free strikes on me. Once Moon Dew cast two heals on me, I was almost at full health again! Blue Sky Scar exclaimed in astonishment, ¡°Shit, his Defense is really high!¡± That¡¯s right. The black halo surrounding my metal armor, the Ghost Deity Armor, increased my Defense by so much that the damage taken was overall about 30% lower. As a result, Blue Sky Scar¡¯s Blaze failed to dish out even four digits of damage! It was at this moment a beautiful figure appeared behind Blue Sky Scar and hit him on the shoulder! Clang! 847! The new challenger was none other than He Yi herself. I supposed she just couldn¡¯t hold herself back any longer. It took an incredible amount of courage to get involved in a battle of top experts like this, and even Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and Xu Yang were so entranced by the battle that they had forgotten to move. Not He Yi though. Fearless and determined, she joined the front lines and brought the Abyssal Sword to bear once more! Blue Sky Scar sneered at her as he retreated, ¡°From Water? It¡¯s you again. Hehe, did you switch classes to Magic Knight because you got slaughtered one too many times in Spirit of Grief?¡± He took two steps backward, chugged an HP pot and charged right back at her. He raised his sword high into the air and shouted, ¡°Die!¡± Bang! Chapter 204: Blue Sky Scar Clang! Sparks flew everywhere as metal clashed deafeningly against metal. A huge damage number appeared above He Yi¡¯s head¡ª784! ¡°What? Impossible¡­¡± Blue Sky Scar was astonished. He wasn¡¯t expecting his full power to deal so little damage to He Yi. Back in Spirit of Grief, the same strike could¡¯ve one-shot two He Yis with ease. Had their fates been reversed after they moved to Heavenblessed? In fact, He Yi had become much harder to kill after she obtained the Azure Wolf Wristguards and the Abyssal Chestplate. Her Abyssal Sword was also pretty good. With powerful Gold¨Cgrade items at her disposal, it wouldn¡¯t be wrong to claim that her equipment was overall better than even Blue Sky Scar¡¯s. Besides that, Rock Shield was a super powerful passive defensive skill that turned her into walking a fortress. It would be stranger if Blue Sky Scar still managed to pierce her Defense after all the massive upgrades. Unafraid of anything because of her tankiness, He Yi moved closer to Blue Sky Scar and thrust the Abyssal Sword forward! Puchi! Not only did her Blaze break through Blue Sky Scar¡¯s Defense, it even left behind a bloody hole at the center of his chest. It was a critical hit! 1852! Blue Sky Scar¡¯s HP dropped below one-third of his health bar. Slightly caught off-guard by the unexpected series of events, he beat a hasty retreat and regrouped with his allies. I wasn¡¯t going to let him get away, but Lin Yixin rushed up to me and caught my cloak before I could charge forward. She said angrily, ¡°Stupid, it¡¯s almost time to enter the Devil Spirit Hall! If we don¡¯t go now it¡¯ll be too late!¡± I relented and allowed her to drag me toward the two NPC guards. Of course, I caught He Yi¡¯s hand and pulled her with me as well. I checked the time and realized that there was only ten seconds left in the clock! Practically everyone was running toward the entrance. Even Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow and Transient Smoke and Clouds had given up on showing off and ran in a straight line to the NPCs! A player must be within three yards of the NPC guards to initiate dialogue with them. Right now, the area around them was completely devoid of players if you exclude the hundreds of bodies littering the ground. Roaming Dragon¡¯s eyes bulged excitedly. ¡°Go go go! We need to claim at least three spots for ourselves!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade was also charging like a madman. It was almost as if the burly guards were naked ladies. It was at this moment Blue Sky Scar ran over and raised his sword decisively, shouting, ¡°Out of the way, or even better, die! Origin Energy Slash!¡± Boom! The magically enhanced slash was an AoE skill! A rain of deadly aura blades started raining from the sky. The indiscriminate attack dealt a ton of damage to everyone. 764! 842! 771! Clearly, Blue Sky Scar was past the point of caring about his professional reputation. Everyone was going all out because they know exactly how valuable a Divine Martial Token was. Who cared about mere titles when there was in-game profit to be made, one that could be easily turned into cold, hard cash? Lin Yixin swung the Moonlight Sword casually and cut down two Mad Dragon players to her left and her right. Just like that, we were now the closest people to the NPC guards. Still holding He Yi with my left hand and wielding the Ghost Ice Soul with my right, I ran my target like the wind. We absolutely must have the best spot possible! It was at this moment Lin Yixin called out to me. ¡°Lu Chen, turn around and use Thousand Mirage Slash now!¡± I had never doubted her judgment, and I didn¡¯t plan to start now. I did as she said and unleashed my Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! The ridiculously powerful AoE skill spread out and descended on top of the group of players behind us. They were mostly Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction and Peach Garden players. Some warriors were lucky enough to survive the skill with a sliver of health or avoid most of the energy blades. Some mages also survived because their Magic Shields were active. However, most non-metal armor couldn¡¯t withstand the rain of destruction and died without so much as a squeak. That one skill caused a gulf to appear between us and the next group of players. At this point, there were only three seconds left on the clock! Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow were planning to tackle the NPC guard on the right, but Lin Yixin, He Yi and I were able to get there first. Three seconds were hardly enough time to get rid of us, so they gave up and charged toward the NPC guard on the left instead. Just like us, they cut down around four to five players blocking their way before they reached their target. 3! 2! 1! It was time! I let go of He Yi¡¯s hand and shouted, ¡°Eve, talk with the NPC now! Sis, move faster! I¡¯m going in¡­¡± That was all I managed to get out before I finished speaking to the NPC and paid 1000 gold! Swhoosh! My vision darkened all of a sudden. When I came back to my senses, I was inside a pitch black map already. The name of the zone was: ¡°Devil Spirit Hall, Underground First Floor¡±! Yes, I got in as expected! There was no such thing as an entrance in this zone. Instead, the players were teleported into random locations. I brought up the map screen and realized that the first floor of the Devil Spirit Hall was shaped like a rectangular coffin. Right now, I stood at one of its ends!! Meanwhile, it was chaos all over the party channel. Chaos Moon: ¡°Waaaa, I¡¯m too late! Why can¡¯t I talk with the NPC¡­¡± Moonlight Stone: ¡°Aaaaah, that¡¯s because it¡¯s me you¡¯re trying to initiate dialogue with, stupid~~¡± Xu Yang: ¡°Oh no, I¡¯m too late¡­¡± Gui Guzi: ¡°Fuck, stop hogging the way, Chaos Moon!¡± Beiming Xue: ¡°OMG, I can¡¯t even get close because of you all!¡± He Yi: ¡°Wuuu, forgive me god, I was the closest player to the guard and I still couldn¡¯t get in¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Seriously? What happened? I asked her with a dumbfounded expression, ¡°Eve, how did you not make it in?¡± ¡°I forgot I didn¡¯t have enough gold. I dumped almost all of it into the guild¡¯s warehouse just this morning¡­¡± ¡°...¡± GG, neither of our magic knights managed to make it in. Suddenly, I heard Murong Mingyue speaking to me. ¡°Lu Chen, are you inside yet? I¡¯m at the westmost area of the map. What about you?¡± ¡°Ah? You managed to get in, sis?¡± It was a pleasant surprise for sure. ¡°Mn!¡± ¡°Thank goodness! A priest will be mighty helpful!¡± I said happily, ¡°Hang in there, I¡¯m coming right away. I think Lin Yixin got in as well, so we should form a party after we meet up with each other.¡± ¡°Okay. But come quickly, there are monsters around me. I¡¯m scared¡­¡± ¡°Mn!¡± A priest¡¯s offensive power was incredibly limited. Discipline and Flaming Touch might be effective against Big-eared Rabbits, but high-level mobs were a completely different story. He Yi said through the party channel, ¡°Take good care of Mingyue, Lu Chen. Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and I are going away to grind some levels. Leave the party anytime you want!¡± ¡°Got it~¡± I left He Yi¡¯s party and created my own. Then, I sent a party invitation to both Murong Mingyue and Lin Yixin. Several seconds later, they appeared in my party list and showed up as two orange dots on my mini map. The good news was that Lin Yixin and Murong Mingyue were very close to each other. Pleasantly surprised, I immediately sent Lin Yixin a private message: ¡°Yiyi, do you see Murong Mingyue¡¯s coordinates? Head over there and protect her, will you? It shouldn¡¯t take too long for me to reach you both!¡± But Lin Yixin teased me. ¡°Fuck, why should I take care of your mistress?¡± ¡°What mistress?? I don¡¯t even have a girlfriend yet¡­¡± ¡°Fine, fine, I see her already, so hurry up. I was thinking of ambushing her from behind and killing her, you know?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Anyway, hurry up. We still don¡¯t know who the other seven players are, and it¡¯ll be unwise to let them group up with one another. I doubt we¡¯ll be able to fight seven players by ourselves!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡­¡­ I summoned my Dark Wasp and pulled out the Ghost Ice Soul. It¡¯s time to grind! I checked my surroundings first before I began. The Devil Spirit Hall was dark and humid. Not far away, I spotted a couple of armored skeleton guards shambling their away across moss-covered stone floors. The way their tattered boots barely made a sound even though they were dragging their feet was both unsettling and eerie. Spirit Hall Skeletal Soldier (Common) Level: 60 Attack: 420~550 Defense: 370 HP: 5500 Skills: Death Cry Introduction: The border guardian of the Devil Spirit Hall. ¡­¡­ It was incredibly weak. So weak, in fact, that I didn¡¯t want to kill them. They gave very little EXP, and they weren¡¯t challenging to fight at all. I passed them right through the center before moving on. The radius of aggro was reduced when a mob was of lower level than the player. For a Level 60 mob, I would need to get within 4 yards for it to attack me. It was a good thing for both of us. The spirit hall was incredibly dark, and my vision range was reduced to just 10 yards or so. Anything beyond that was blurry and unclear. Crunch... I saw a figure running past a stretch of land in front of me. The crunching noise was probably due to their boots crushing the human bones on the floor. I didn¡¯t know who they were, nor did I care when there were two beautiful women waiting for me. The good news was that the map was pretty small. I could run around the whole area in a minute at most. Swhoosh! I suddenly saw a sheen of moonlight in front of me. Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful face emerged from the darkness, and Murong Mingyue was right next to her. The two girls seemed to be having a great time chatting to one another. ¡°You¡¯re here!¡± ¡°Yeah. Did you see someone running just now?¡± ¡°We did. It was Dominating Heaven Blade. He seemed to be searching for the entrance to the next floor!¡± Murong Mingyue asked, ¡°Should we clear out the mobs on this floor?¡± ¡°No, we should search for the entrance to the next floor too! Let¡¯s go straight to the ninth floor and take out the boss!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Lin Yixin let out a cry of surprise, ¡°Guys, look. There¡¯s a small head icon on the map screen. If you click it, it shows you everyone¡¯s information and coordinates in the spirit hall!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I did what she said and was greeted by a list of players: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-71 Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall First Floor (124, 417) Wind Fantasy LV-71 Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall First Floor (125, 419) Murong Mingyue LV-71 Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall First Floor (127, 415) Dominating Heaven Blade LV-71 Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall Second Floor (73, 55) Blue Sky Scar LV-72 Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall Third Floor (4, 91) Tempest Shadow LV-71 Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall Third Floor (9, 112) Transient Smoke and Clouds LV-72 Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall Third Floor (12, 99) Dominating Knight God LV-69 Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall Second Floor (66, 287) Not A Fish LV-65 Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall Second Floor (67, 224) Indigo Collar LV-69 Current Location: Devil Spirit Hall Second Floor (70, 217) ¡­¡­ I sucked in a deep breath before voicing my astonishment, ¡°Fuck, Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow and Transient Smoke and Clouds are so fast! They¡¯re on the third floor already!¡± Lin Yixin said, ¡°Dominating Knight God, Not A Fish and Indigo Collar are very close to each other on the second floor as well. Maybe they¡¯ve decided to party up with each other?¡± But Murong Mingyue giggled and corrected her. ¡°Try refreshing the player list again.¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Lin Yixin did as she said and realized that Not A Fish¡¯s ID had turned gray. Someone had killed him! ¡°Who¡¯s the killer?¡± ¡°Who knows?¡± Chapter 205: The Gods’ Ambush Things were pretty silent on the first floor. As we silently approached the northeast corner of the map, we saw a narrow stairway that led further down. We could probably reach the second underground floor if we went down there. Gripping the Ghost Ice Soul, I stuck my head closer and tried to see what was below us. ¡°Damn, it¡¯s completely pitch-black. What to do?¡± Lin Yixin kicked me from behind. ¡°Get your ass down there and you¡¯ll know what to do naturally!¡± Boom! I fell down the stairway with outstretched arms, but thankfully it wasn¡¯t a long fall. The first and second floors were only three meters apart at most. Things were still pretty dark in here, and the floors were covered in eerie white bones. Clearly, they were the remains of NPC adventurers who had tried to challenge this map. Level 60 mobs might not matter to us players, but they could be absolutely deadly to some NPCs. The only source of light in the map was the dim light of the torches on the walls. I had no idea how long they had been burning, only that a scorched smell was tickling my nose. I looked up and saw a bunch of ancient drawings on the wall. They were all traditional drawings of beautiful women, or more specifically naked ladies with big bottoms stroking their hair coquettishly. In some sense, this absolutely qualified as art. The more I looked, the happier I became. I couldn¡¯t help but point a finger at one of the drawings and laughed. ¡°Hahaha, I had no idea that succubi bottoms are this round. They even have a short tail above it! So cute¡­¡± Lin Yixin gritted her teeth in anger because her chosen race was a succubus. She glared at me and said, ¡°I see you¡¯re a man of culture. Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you that the Divine Martial Token might be taken by Blue Sky Scar, Transient Smoke and Clouds and Tempest Shadow if we dilly-dally for too long. Actually, if you like these drawings so much, why don¡¯t you stay here until the end of time?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°Relax, Beauty Yi. I doubt the boss on the last floor is going to be a small fry. It¡¯s true that Blue Sky Scar and his goons are strong, but they¡¯re also way too arrogant for their own good. How are they going to challenge the boss when they haven¡¯t even brought a priest with them? Who knows, they may be all dead by the time we reach the ninth floor!¡± Lin Yixin shot me a disgruntled look and snorted, but didn¡¯t say anything. I guessed that she tacitly admitted that my logic was right. Murong Mingyue was so engrossed with the drawings that she accidentally ran into me. I immediately felt something big and soft enveloping my arm. ¡°Huh?¡± I let out a cry of surprise. Lin Yixin asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Murong Mingyue hurriedly took two steps backward and said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. Let¡¯s not waste any more time and look for the entrance to the third floor!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± We walked carefully and tried to avoid the mobs on the second floor as much as possible. They were just Level 62 common mobs that gave little EXP and had poor loot table. There was just no incentive for us to fight them. We barely took a couple of steps before a pitch-black cave appeared in front of us. It was the entrance to Devil Spirit Hall¡¯s third floor! Just like before, I walked at the front while the two girls followed behind me. While we were walking down the stairs, Murong Mingyue asked, ¡°Blue Sky Scar and his friends are on the fifth floor already. Dominating Heaven Blade and Indigo Collar are both on the fourth floor, and their coordinates are pretty much right next to one another. I think they¡¯re¡­ fighting each other?¡± I smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s check the list again in a few minutes. I have a feeling that someone¡¯s about to die very soon.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± We entered the third floor, and the mobs were now Level 64. Again, neither Lin Yixin nor I were interested in such lousy mobs. Murong Mingyue was interested, but she couldn¡¯t beat them. A few minutes later, Murong Mingyue suddenly cried out. ¡°Fuck!¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong, sis?¡± I turned around to ask. ¡°Check the coordinate log. It seems like Indigo Collar couldn¡¯t defeat Dominating Heaven Blade and was forced to escape to the fifth floor. However, he vanished the second he entered the place¡­¡± I checked the coordinates of the Candle Dragon party carefully before gasping in realization. ¡°Fuck! Those bastards are lying in wait at the exit to the fifth floor and ambushing anyone who passes through! So despicable! This behavior is unbefitting of their status!¡± Lin Yixin giggled. ¡°Come on, this is normal. No one here is a small fry after all. Plus, who cares if they¡¯re CGL Hall of Famers? One swing is all it takes to kill any of them¡­¡± Murong Mingyue burst into laughter. ¡°Beauty Lin is bursting with confidence, I see!¡± Lin Yixin returned the smile before saying, ¡°Thank you¡­¡± Their dynamic caught me a little off-guard. ¡°Since when did you two get so close to each other?¡± ¡°Huh? Are we?¡± ¡°...¡± God, women are such unfathomable creatures! ¡­¡­ When the three of us arrived at the fourth floor, we immediately saw Dominating Heaven Blade fighting against a group of green ghosts at the distance.They were all Level 68. When Dominating Heaven Blade saw us, he immediately drank an HP potion and ordered his pet to attack faster. He was trying to clear out all the mobs before we reached him. We didn¡¯t try to kill him while his hands were full. Why would we need to use trickery, when the chances of Lin Yixin and I killing Dominating Heaven Blade were infinitely close to 100%? If we really wanted to kill him, we could just walk up to him and take revenge for all the players he had killed at the plaza. Murong Mingyue raised her magic staff warily. ¡°What should we do, Lu Chen? Should we kill Dominating Heaven Blade?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Not yet!¡± After Dominating Heaven Blade was done, he actually walked right up to us and said, ¡°Guys and girls, I believe that this is the time we put our grudges behind us temporarily. As you may have noticed already, Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow and Transient Smoke and Clouds have set up an ambush at the entry to the fifth floor. Anyone who enters their sights carelessly will be one-shot without mercy!¡± Lin Yixin nodded affirmatively. ¡°No need to emphasize something even an idiot could tell. What do you want to do?¡± Dominating Heaven Blade clenched his fists and said angrily, ¡°Candle Dragon has gone too fucking far this time. The fact that they sent four of their best players to snatch the Devil Spirit Hall from us shows how little they think of Floating Ice City! As I said earlier, I think we should put our grudges behind us, join forces and dismantle their trap together!¡± I smiled at his suggestion before asking, ¡°And how do you suggest we do that?¡± Dominating Heaven Blade shot me a glance and smiled. ¡°We all know that your Defense is insane, and that is without accounting for your Ghost Deity Armor. So this is my plan: You will go down first and attract their firepower. Out of all of us, you are the only one who can endure their combined attacks and not die. Then, Wind Fantasy should go down next as the DPS and work with you to take out one of them. Finally, Murong Mingyue and I will enter the fifth floor and focus down their archer, Transient Smoke and Clouds. Her healing will keep all of us alive and prevent us from being kited to death. After that, everything should go quite smoothly.¡± I hid a laugh. In theory, his plan was pretty sound. He wanted me to go down first, Lin Yixin second and himself third. I was the bait who was going to set off the trap, so my HP would definitely be low. Lin Yixin might be able to kill one or even two enemies if everything went smoothly, but her health would fall pretty low as well. If Dominating Heaven Blade decided to backstab us during this time, it was entirely possible for him to destroy me, Lin Yixin and the CGL Hall of Famers all at once! Oh yes, in theory his plan was very sound. Unfortunately, it was also so fucking obvious that even a blind man could tell what he was plotting! So I let out a laugh and said, ¡°The plan¡¯s pretty good, but there are some flaws that I need to point out!¡± ¡°Oh? What do you mean?¡± A hint of excitement flashed across Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s expression. I pointed my chin toward Lin Yixin¡¯s direction before saying, ¡°Beauty Wind Fantasy is a great DPS, but she¡¯s a wanderer. This means that her effective HP is lower than a warrior¡¯s. Therefore, I believe that you should be the second player to go down the stairs. I have full confidence in your Attack and Defense stats¡­ of course, you are free to decline my plan. We just won¡¯t be working with each other, that¡¯s all.¡± Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s facial muscles twitched. Clearly, he liked this plan far less compared to his original plan. Unfortunately for him, he had no choice but to accept, since I was already PMing Lin Yixin in secret: ¡°Yiyi, let¡¯s kill him if he rejects the plan, okay?¡± Lin Yixin replied magnanimously, ¡°As long as you¡¯re happy~~¡± In the end, Dominating Heaven Blade forced a smile on his face and replied, ¡°Okay then. Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand will go down first, I¡¯ll go second, Beauty Wind Fantasy third and Beauty Murong fourth. Who should we focus down after we reach the fifth floor?¡± I answered, ¡°Let¡¯s kill Blue Sky Scar first. His attack power is higher than both his allies¡¯!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± ¡­¡­ I walked to the forefront while PMing Lin Yixin at the same time, ¡°Yiyi, if Dominating Heaven Blade tries to kill me you absolutely have to murder him, okay? Don¡¯t let me die¡­¡± Lin Yixin responded with a smile, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will make your death count¡­¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± Everyone¡¯s coordinates were visible on the map, and I was sure that our ambushers had already noticed us. I held my breath and used a fiery red card. It was the Blood Skeleton Card that increased its user¡¯s max HP by 15%. I should be able to survive just a bit longer with this. Lin Yixin also secretly used a Greedy Wolf Card, increasing her own attack speed and movement speed by 5%. The big battle was near, and we all had to be at our absolute best. ¡°Roar!¡± I used Wild Roar and buffed everyone¡¯s Attack by 15%. Dominating Heaven Blade didn¡¯t get the buff because he wasn¡¯t a party member. There was nothing he could do even though I did it right in front of his face, though. After all, our cooperation was temporary, and neither of us had any reason to trust him. Rustle rustle¡­ I continued to walk down the cordierite-made stairs until I saw a ray of light in front of me. Then, I sent my Dark Wasp toward the front without any hesitation. My Dark Wasp was a boss-tier pet with a respectable amount of HP and Defense, so it made perfect sense to waste the enemy''s firepower with it. Swoosh! The Dark Wasp flew fearlessly to the fifth floor, but when it was met with fire and lightning the second it entered the map. My poor pet was killed instantly, and its killers were none other than Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow. ¡°What? A pet!¡± By the time Blue Sky Scar let out his cry in surprise, my Ice Ray had already hit him in the back of his heart! Puchi! My sword left a shocking wound behind Blue Sky Scar¡¯s back. At the same time, a damage number appeared above his head¡ª1108! The Blue Sky War God was prepared to die the moment he was wrapped in ice, but that didn¡¯t mean he was going to go down without resistance. He chugged a Rank 6 Health Potion and instantly restored himself to full health! Whoosh! I dashed past Blue Sky Scar like an icy wind and turned around as quickly as I could. Then, stepping toward him like a lightning bolt, I activated Pardon and swung the Ghost Ice Soul! MISS! Blue Sky Scar¡¯s face was full of shock. He could do nothing when my follow-up attack hit him squarely in the chest! 2257! Unfortunately, the attack wasn¡¯t enough to one-shot him. However, Dominating Heaven Blade showed up just in time to slash Blue Sky scar across the head, shouting, ¡°Blue Sky War God my ass! Die!¡± Chapter 206: Dog Eat Dog Dominating Heaven Blade smiled sinisterly. ¡°Heh, die!¡± He pulled his blade out of Blue Sky Scar¡¯s body and sped up the latter¡¯s death. The poor dude probably never thought that he would die to Dominating Heaven Blade one day. Dominating Heaven Blade was the leader of the second strongest guild in China¡¯s Guild Ranking, but his real expertise lay in his ability to win people over to his side. Gaming skill¨Cwise, he wasn¡¯t even close to a top-class pro like Blue Sky Scar, so you could just imagine how frustrating it was for the latter to die by Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s hand. ¡°Roar roar!¡± Suddenly, a giant wolf covered in flames pounced toward me. It was Tempest Shadow¡¯s pet, a Wildfire Greedy Wolf with incredibly high BN value and a top-class pet during the early stages of the game. Pu pu! The Wildfire Greedy Wolf bit and tore into my flesh, hitting me twice and dealing 234 and 272 damage! That was depressing, for Tempest Shadow that was. I had so much Defense that most pets wouldn¡¯t have enough attack to pierce it completely, so all things considered, it was still pretty amazing that his Wildfire Greedy Wolf could reach triple digits with each attack. Meanwhile, Lin Yixin finally appeared at the entrance of the fifth floor. Wielding a sword that was bathed in moonlight, she pounced straight for the enemy¡¯s sniper and divine archer, Transient Smoke and Clouds! ¡°Tempest Shadow, kite formation!¡± Transient Smoke and Clouds shouted and started moving consciously toward the back. At the same time, he fired two arrows at my chest and deleted a sizable amount of HP! 754! 421! Holy shit, I was positive that his bow ignored a certain percentage of Defense. Otherwise, there was no explaining the amount of damage he had done to me. I had almost a thousand Defense, and I still lost over a thousand HP in just two basic attacks. No wonder he was able to one-shot Dominating Mage God through his Magic Shield. I moved to the forefront and ran toward Transient Smoke and Clouds with all I got. If we didn¡¯t kill him as quickly as possible, if he was allowed to kite us all over the place, he might just be able to turn this fight around single-handedly, or at least make life hell for all of us! But Tempest Shadow caught me first like a ferocious blaze. Eyes burning with fury, he slashed me twice with a Blaze + Flame Thrust combo! His attack was so fast that I wasn¡¯t able to dodge any of them! 845! 712! Unbelievable, he was nothing like the time I dueled against him. One misstep, and I might just die to the two war gods! Lin Yixin called out to me, ¡°Careful, Lu Chen! Don¡¯t you die on me¡­¡± Transient Smoke and Clouds was as slippery as a loach. Lin Yixin stuck to him like a gum on his shoe, but she was never able to catch him with her sword. Not only was he leading Lin Yixin by the nose, he was also running in a circle around me. Every time he found an opening, he immediately fired a shot and made my life hell. Dominating Heaven Blade shot us a glance before skidding to a sudden stop. While chugging a health potion, he called out to Murong Mingyue behind him. ¡°Beauty Murong, what are you waiting for? Heal me up so I can help them!¡± Murong Mingyue gritted her teeth but didn¡¯t obey his order. Instead, she ran forward and gathered silver energy around the tip of her staff. It was impossible to tell if she was planning to heal me or Lin Yixin. A ruthless gleam peeked out of Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s eyes. The man looked like he was about to kill someone! I immediately said inside the party channel, ¡°Sis, watch out! Dominating Heaven Blade is probably planning to kill you!¡± ¡°Mn, I know!¡± Murong Mingyue was a smart woman. She was running along the walls to put some distance between herself and Dominating Heaven Blade. However, she never strayed too far that she was completely out of range of me and Lin Yixin. Thud thud! I took another two arrow shots, and when I checked my HP bar I felt cold sweat pouring down my back. I only had 34 HP left! Murong Mingyue shouted anxiously, ¡°Lu Chen, stop running forward, dammit! I can¡¯t heal you from here!¡± I looked behind me where Tempest Shadow was chasing. As I thought, my HP was so low that the bastard had dropped all pretense of caution and was running toward me at full speed. In fact, he was less than 10 yards away from me. As a top-class long-range attacker, Transient Smoke and Clouds¡¯ ability to control the distance between himself and his target was as natural as breathing. He was able to maintain a 35 to 40-yard distance between me and himself as he ran from Lin Yixin, the best range for an archer to rain hell on his target! However, this also meant that I could break free of his control anytime I felt like it! Suddenly, I changed direction and charged toward Tempest Shadow! Swoosh! I hit the warrior like a lightning bolt and caused a stun icon to appear above his head. His eyes were full of killing intent, however. I had almost run out of HP, and one strike was all it took to kill me! Unfortunately, I would have to disappoint him. I drank the HP potion I had readied a while ago, and a green number that shattered his heart appeared above my head. +1500! It was another Rank 6 Health Potion. High-level potions were absolutely critical in a PvP battle like this! At the same time, I swung my Ghost Ice Soul and executed my signature combo, Pardon + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 2845! I wasn¡¯t able to one-shot Tempest Shadow. He was a high-level warrior, and he still had over 1200 HP even after the combo. His max HP was even higher than He Yi¡¯s! Crack! I naturally followed up with a basic attack and deleted 744 HP from Tempest Shadow¡¯s health bar. At the same time, I swiftly positioned myself right behind him. The moment he broke out of his stun and turned around, I followed his rotation and circled almost perfectly to his back again! He wasn¡¯t able to see me! ¡°What?!¡± In that instant, Tempest Shadow readied himself for death. He knew that I was right behind him! I wasn¡¯t going to wait 6 seconds for my cooldown to finish, so I thrust my sword forward and stabbed him in the back! The blade of my sword and a copious amount of blood immediately burst out of his chest! 857! Just like that, Tempest Shadow was dead before he even had a chance to drink his health potion! I watched Tempest Shadow calmly as he slowly collapsed to the ground. With his death, three out of four of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s War Gods had been killed. Hmph hmph, the legendary ¡°Martial God¡± must be dreaming when he thought that he could rob Floating Ice City¡¯s fortune for himself! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! +889! Meanwhile, Murong Mingyue finally reached me and restored more than half of my HP. Thank the heavens! I guess I¡¯m not going to die in this dastard spirit hall after all. However, the crisis wasn¡¯t over yet. A Tiger Head Hornet suddenly appeared out of nowhere and attacked Murong Mingyue four times in a row! It was the Flurry skill! Thud thud thud thud! Although the Tiger Head Hornet failed to do any damage, the attack popped Murong Mingyue¡¯s priest shield! ¡°Hah!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade shouted and swung his sword at Murong Mingyue. In the end, the vicious leader of Gods of Destruction had revealed his true nature and tried to assassinate our only priest. ¡°Sis!¡± I rushed toward Mingyue without any regard for myself, but I could do nothing but watch as the blade entered her body! 1293! A huge damage number popped above his head, but what happened next completely caught me off-guard. Somehow, Murong Mingyue wasn¡¯t dead despite taking that amount of damage, and with a sliver of health left she was able to retreat just in time and pull herself back to 700 HP! WTF? How did a priest manage to survive a direct attack from Dominating Heaven Blade? Despite my surprise, I decided that the why could come later. I swung my sword and unleashed Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! A rain of aura blades enveloped both Dominating Heaven Blade and his pet. The Tiger Head Hornet screeched and died instantly, and the guild leader himself had lost over 1200 HP. He retreated non-stop even though his eyes were burning with anger. I grabbed Murong Mingyue¡¯s hand and put myself in front of her. Then, I pointed my sword at Dominating Heaven Blade and sneered at him. ¡°Is this what you call a ¡®cooperation¡¯? A person can only sink so low, especially when you¡¯re the guild leader of Gods of Destruction, Dominating Heaven Blade. How are you not ashamed of yourself?¡± Dominating Heaven Blade simply sneered back and chugged a health potion to heal himself. While retreating, he said, ¡°You are the victor of this fight, so I¡¯ll leave this Devil Spirit Hall to you!¡± After that, he retreated out of sight and actually ran all the way back to the first floor. ¡­¡­ I frowned. To be honest, I couldn¡¯t rest easy until Dominating Heaven Blade was well and truly dead! ¡°Hey, have you seen Beauty Lin?¡± Murong Mingyue asked me suddenly. I shook my head and replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± I called out to Lin Yixin inside the party channel. ¡°Hey Yiyi, how¡¯s the situation? Did you kill Transient Smoke and Clouds yet?¡± ¡°He kited me to death¡­¡± Lin Yixin said sadly. Shocked, I immediately pulled out my sword again and shouted, ¡°Fuck! How dare that bastard kill our Yiyi! What are his coordinates? Let see how much that so-called divine archer really weighs!¡± ¡°Hehe. Am I that important to you?¡± A voice suddenly reached us from the distance, prompting Murong Mingyue and I to turn around. It was Lin Yixin holding the Moonlight Sword and walking leisurely toward us. As usual, her body was downright amazing, and the way her snow-colored cape fluttered behind her back only accentuated her beauty even more. I exclaimed in pleasant surprise, ¡°You¡¯re alive? That¡¯s great. Where¡¯s Transient Smoke and Clouds? Did you kill him after all?¡± But Lin Yixin shook her head and said, ¡°No, he managed to escape. The mobs on this floor are pretty high-level, and his movement speed is pretty high. He managed to teleport back to the city before I caught him.¡± I checked the map and saw that ¡°Transient Smoke and Clouds¡± had turned gray. Right now, there were only four players left in the entire Devil Spirit Hall, namely the three of us and the lone representative of Gods of Destruction, Dominating Heaven Blade. I didn¡¯t need a brain to know that the fucker was planning to ambush us while we were busy dealing with the boss! ¡°What should we do?¡± Lin Yixin asked. I pondered for a moment before deciding, ¡°Let¡¯s head to the ninth floor, kill the boss and grab the Divine Martial Token first!¡± ¡°But what about Dominating Heaven Blade?¡± Lin Yixin pursed her lips worriedly. ¡°It¡¯ll be annoying if he causes trouble while we¡¯re busy engaging the boss.¡± I smiled confidently. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have a plan!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Lin Yixin smiled at me before nodding. ¡°Alright, if you say so. Let¡¯s go!¡± ¡­¡­ Just like before, the three of us circled around the mobs and went all the way down to the eighth floor. It was at the center of the map where we found the entrance to the ninth floor. I walked down the stairs with Lin Yixin and Murong Mingyue behind me. When we reached the bottom, I shouted. ¡°Wait, don¡¯t go just yet!¡± I pointed at the area around the entrance and said, ¡°Yiyi, follow me. You and I are going to run back and forth around this area. Don¡¯t stop until I tell you to.¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Lin Yixin sounded confused. ¡°But why?¡± ¡°We¡¯re going to lure Dominating Heaven Blade over and kill him here!¡± Chapter 207: Death Shade Right, if we continuously move back and forth, Dominating Heaven Blade will think that we are fighting the boss. He won¡¯t be able to sit still and his curiosity will get the better of him. With our attack power, it won¡¯t be an issue for me and Lin Yixin to instantly kill him the moment he rears his ugly head! Murong Mingyue was speechless when she saw me and Lin Yixin excitedly running back and forth while keeping a look out for Dominating Heaven Blade. ¡°Should we forget about it? Even the ceiling knows that you guys are planning an ambush. How could Dominating Heaven Blade not know this?¡± Lin Yixin smiled lightly. ¡°No problem, he¡¯ll come!¡± I also nodded. ¡°Yes, he¡¯ll definitely come!¡± Mingyue asked, ¡°Why are you two so sure?¡± Lin Yixin stopped, then looked up, her smile still intact. ¡°Simple. Dominating Heaven Blade really needs this Divine Martial Token to raise his guild¡¯s morale! Think about it, how many people want this Divine Martial Token? Even Candle Dragon from Dawn City couldn¡¯t resist mobilizing its forces for it. Since that¡¯s the case, the value of this Divine Martial Token will be even higher. This token is a symbol of absolute strength!¡± I nodded. ¡°Right. If we get the Divine Martial Token that everyone in Floating Ice City wants, tons of experts will come join us!¡± Murong Mingyue looked relieved. She suddenly asked, ¡°Then if we get the Divine Martial Token, how are we going to allocate it? Will it go to Snowy Cathaya or Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?¡± I looked at Lin Yixin. ¡°Let¡¯s roll for it?¡± Lin Yixin pursed her lips before breaking out into another smile. ¡°Forget it, I¡¯ll consider this a return in favor. You helped me get the Moonlight Sword last time so I won¡¯t be taking any drops this time. The Divine Martial Token will go to Lu Chen. He¡¯ll decide who it goes to.¡± I was in a happy and shocked daze. Happy because Lin Yixin was so generous, shocked because I felt like her last sentence had some hidden meaning. Murong Mingyue gave me a meaningful look and sent me a PM: ¡°Little brat, what did you do to make Beauty Lin act so nice to you? Also, did you notice? She was sounding you out. What a clever girl. That was a beautiful mind attack!¡± Somewhat embarrassed, I said, ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything, I just treated her sincerely¡­¡± Murong Mingyue shot me a glare. ¡°Hmph!¡± Lin Yixin looked at me, then looked at Murong Mingyue. ¡°Are you guys PMing each other?¡± ¡°No, no!¡± We answered together on reflex. Expectation flooded Lin Yixin¡¯s clear eyes as she gave a carefree laugh. ¡°Look, Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s coordinates have changed. He¡¯s on the seventh floor now, oh, no, he¡¯s on the eighth now. He¡¯s thinking about whether or not to come in now¡­¡± I drew my sword. ¡°Don¡¯t be too anxious, he¡¯s probably going to release his pet to probe around.¡± ¡°What else? Kill his pet then run at Dominating Heaven Blade and kill him. Him still being in the Devil Spirit Hall means we can''t fully concentrate on killing the boss.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± We waited for a long time, like we were out fishing. But this Dominating Heaven Blade was a cunning fish. He calmly waited for 5 whole minutes before he took the bait. It was because he knew that if he didn¡¯t come out now, the boss might be dead already, and the Divine Martial Token would escape his clutches. ¡°He¡¯s here!¡± Accompanied by a buzzing sound, Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s Tiger Head Hornet charged in at top speed! I quickly struck the Tiger Head Hornet on the head! 1452! It didn¡¯t die right away but Lin Yixin also swung her Moonlight Sword at nearly the same time! 1798! Fuck. Lin Yixin¡¯s attack power was higher than mine because of the Moonlight Sword. This was a terrible feeling. My Ghost Ice Soul could no longer keep up with my demands. I needed a higher-grade weapon as soon as possible. The loot tables of Heavenblessed¡¯s common mobs were so damn poor, and the bosses were so hard to come by. Dropping a weapon was hard in itself, and there were so many different types to begin with. Spears, swords, sabers, fans, flutes, axes, bows, and more. Hoping for a sword to drop was just a pipe dream! Lin Yixin raised an eyebrow. ¡°Quick, Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s running away!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade knew that he fell into our trap the moment the Tiger Head Hornet died! I ran up to the eighth floor and decisively used Charge once I spotted the leader of the Domination Clan. Whoosh! I charged straight like an arrow and stunned him. I raised my sword and perfectly unleashed my combo. Pardon + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 2974! I deleted almost 80% of his HP in that strike. Dominating Heaven Blade soon recovered from his stunned state but didn¡¯t bother to stay for a chat as he continued to flee after chugging an HP pot. This made me smile. A beautiful figure flew past me. It was Lin Yixin activating her own Charge. Against a double Charge combo, Dominating Heaven Blade had no way to survive. Crack! The Moonlight Sword flashed with light and Dominating Heaven Blade fell to his doom beneath its blade. ¡°Hmph¡­¡± Lin Yixin picked up a pair of wristguards from the floor. ¡°Silver-grade. I finally got an item after killing so many people. Candle Dragon¡¯s people are no fun. They came to Floating Ice City from so far away but they didn¡¯t even leave a present before they left¡­¡± I was speechless. ¡°You left behind a splendid PvP recording. I already uploaded the video of us killing Blue Sky Scar, God¡¯s Dance, and Tempest Shadow on the official forums. Candle Dragon wants a share of Floating Ice City¡¯s pie, so we should properly humiliate some of their people. Hmph hmph, CGL Hall of Famers are nothing worth mentioning~~¡± Lin Yixin glanced at me. ¡°Hitting someone already down? Too despicable!¡± ¡°Alright, let¡¯s concentrate on killing the boss now!¡± A weight named Dominating Heaven Blade off my mind now, I went back to the Devil Spirit Hall¡¯s ninth floor with the girls behind me. This was a ring-shaped maze with a blood-red patch at its center. That patch of red was clearly the boss. The monsters here were Bloody Ghosts as high as Level 72. They were a specter-type mob. Their piercing attacks didn¡¯t threaten me nor Lin Yixin at all. We also had a super healer in Murong Mingyue so our journey to the boss was pretty smooth; we killed our way there, summoned our pets, and got ready to face the boss. ¡­¡­ We would arrive at the boss once we turned the corner. I moved closer and stuck my head out for a look but quickly retrieved it with an ashen face. ¡°How is it, how is it?¡± Lin Yixin asked. My voice trembled. ¡°A group of naked succubi are taking a bath there¡­¡± A reddish hue immediately appeared on Lin Yixin¡¯s face but she quickly grew excited. She nudged my shoulder. ¡°Then let¡¯s hurry and go check them out.¡± Murong Mingyue also looked excited. ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s check them out!¡± I glanced at both of them. What the hell?! We all walked out together. The spacious ninth floor¡¯s core area didn¡¯t actually have any naked succubi girls. There was an armored undead warrior instead. Though maybe I shouldn¡¯t say undead because ¡°he¡± didn¡¯t even have a body. It was only a shade floating in the air. There was nothing inside but something was wearing that armor. Two bloody lights that shone from the helmet were clearly the boss¡¯s eyes. Death Shade Sagelight (Dark Gold Rank Boss) Level: 80 Attack: 650~870 Defense: 700 HP: 180000 Skills: ??? Introduction: Death Shade Sagelight was originally an honorable human knight on a mission. When the Night Creatures invaded, this human hero lost his life. An evil undead shaman took his body and refined it, turning him into an enslaved shade. Once his former relatives and lover turned to dust, the Death Shade¡¯s soul finally stopped resisting and thereby became a part of the Night Creatures. He guards the depths of the Devil Spirit Hall while secretly plotting to topple the human regime. ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck! A Level 80 Dark Gold Rank boss¡­¡± I complained with a hint of bitterness, ¡°Upper limit of 870 Attack, that¡¯s stronger than any other boss I¡¯ve ever gone up against. How are we going to fight this?¡± Lin Yixin raised the Moonlight Sword. ¡°What are you afraid of? With me and Sister Mingyue here, you think we can¡¯t kill this Level 80 boss? Get ready, we¡¯ll finish this in 10 minutes!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I let out a low roar and Wild Roar¡¯s effect covered us, giving everyone 15% more attack power. After that, I unhesitantly charged at the boss! Whoosh! I arrived at the speed of lightning and successfully stunned it. I was Level 71 so this Level 80 couldn¡¯t yet ignore my attacks. A bit lower than that and my hit rate would plummet, and this fight would be a world of suffering! I raised the Ghost Ice Soul and suddenly pushed. ¡°Ice Ray!¡± Puchi! The longsword pushed aside the boss¡¯s armor and focused all of its frost power on the ¡°body¡± underneath. Death Shade¡¯s movement speed would naturally decrease upon hit! A pair of bloody eyes glared at me and Lin Yixin. Death Shade raised its longsword that was brimming with undead energy and shouted, ¡°Damned humans. You¡¯ve actually made it here. You¡¯re asking for it!¡± Bang! A violent strike landed on my shoulder. I felt a tearing pain and saw my HP plummet! 1402! Murong Mingyue was shocked. ¡°Fuck, it took a huge chunk of HP from Lu Chen in one attack? W-what kind of boss is this? Isn¡¯t it too OP¡­¡± I said hurriedly, ¡°Stop talking already, feed me!¡± Lin Yixin took this chance to approach. A layer of moonlight covered her purple eyes and executed Moon Gaze with Extreme Break on the boss right after! 2754! Tsk tsk, our Little Lin here has some superb attack power! Hitching a ride on the Defense debuff from Extreme Break, I turned around and pounced back with my sword. Pardon + Desperate Gambit landed, shaving off a good amount of the boss¡¯s HP. MISS! 3457! In the next instant, the boss¡¯s HP plunged again. Extreme Break lowered a target¡¯s Defense by 80% and max HP by 25%. This meant that I dealt 3457 damage to its lowered HP. When the effect wore off, the remaining HP would be scaled back to 100% HP, so technically, my attack did more than 3457 damage there! This was the Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯s unique skill. Suppress the enemy¡¯s HP first and then deal a flurry of attacks. This kind of drastic, rapidfire attack style was very original. Even pros at the level of Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow couldn¡¯t withstand that kind of beating! ¡°Alright Lu Chen, you are back at full HP, hurry and aggro the boss!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Our pets also began to attack at the same time, as per usual. Lin Yixin came over and spread her hands, revealing a bunch of HP pots. ¡°Here, 20 Rank 6 Health Potions. Drink them at will, don¡¯t die now!¡± ¡°Do they come with a price tag?¡± ¡°No, this is a donation!¡± Nice, free pots! Chapter 208: Thunder Slash "Haah! Die, brat!" Death Shade''s furious shout echoed in the ninth floor of the Devil Spirit Hall. His bloody longsword was raised and quickly came down, aimed at my chest! "Careful!" Lin Yixin hurriedly turned toward me. I pulled the Ghost Ice Soul quickly back to my chest, moving back slightly and immediately activating the Guard skill! Clang! When the boss''s sharp blade and Ghost Ice Soul collided, sparks flew, and forced me to take several steps back! Beep! Combat Log: Death Shade Sagelight used ¡°Thunder Slash¡±, dealing 2284 damage. You used ¡°Guard¡±. Damage reduced by 74%. Damage taken: 594! ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin''s mouth widened. "Damn, your aggro is reset. Lu Chen, you horrible person...¡± The boss quickly changed targets, its sword sweeping toward Lin Yixin. A basic attack struck the beauty''s shoulder and took away 1200 points of health. Obviously, Lin Yixin lacked powerful Defense-boosting skills like Ghost Deity Armor, so she was at a severe disadvantage when it came to her survivability. I took several steps back to pull 5 yards away from the boss. I quickly activated the Charge skill. Whoosh. Like an arrow, I pinned the boss to its spot. I swung the Ghost Ice Soul repeatedly, Ice Ray followed up with Slayer Slash finally returning the aggro to me. Lin Yixin had a hard time tanking the monster. Whoosh whoosh whoosh... Murong Mingyue''s healing was the greatest support for us. With the addition of potions, I could fight this Level 80 Dark Gold Rank boss to a standstill. However, the boss defied our expectations! ¡­¡­ "Quick, the boss only has less than a third of its HP!" Murong Mingyue said excitedly. "Lu Chen, Beauty Lin, work hard. In five minutes, you will get the Divine Martial Token, and maybe a Dark Gold¨Cgrade item!" I looked at the boss''s longsword and said with a smile, "Heh, if the boss''s sword would drop, that would be great...¡± "Do you have such good moral standing?" Lin Yixin glanced at me. "Hmph hmph, just watch!" After I finished speaking, Death Shade suddenly raised its arm, now shining with bloody red light as he looked up into the sky and chanted, "The fallen black purgatory, please obey my summon. Absorb the strength of the purgatory spirit, heal wounded limbs. In the name of Death Shade Sagelight¡ªTenacity of the Dead!" Whoosh! A pillar of red light fell from the sky and landed on Death Shade''s forehead. In the next moment, his HP suddenly rose¡ª +45000! ¡­¡­ "Damn!" Murong Mingyue gaped. "Recovering 25% HP in one go, what is this? This... isn¡¯t this Tenacity of the Dead skill too OP?" Lin Yixin took a deep breath and looked toward me. "What to do?" Lin Yixin smiled. "Alright!" We continued to kill. It was extremely dangerous and Death Shade''s two blows almost killed me instantly. Fortunately, I had used the Blood Skeleton Card and my HP had increased by 15%, reaching 3800. Even if the boss still had a big deadly attack up its sleeve, I could still survive. Also, with the powerful healing of Murong Mingyue, it would be hard to die! Clang! The Guard skill could greatly weaken the physical attacks of the boss. If the boss used a skill, I would block it. Otherwise, if it hit me with a skill and was lucky to get a critical hit, I might die. Lin Yixin felt wronged when she saw this. "Sob sob, I¡¯ve been trading in Floating Ice City for three days, and haven''t yet found a defensive skill book, I hate this...¡± I smiled. "If you want to buy a defensive skill, remember to also get Crushing Blow. This way, when you are facing other players with defensive skills, you will be invincible.¡± "Mn!" As we fought, we found that the boss had not used Tenacity of the Dead all this time. Our opportunity seemed to have arrived! Lin Yixin glanced and said with a smile, "Just now, when the boss was using the Tenacity of the Dead, its MP seemed to have been halved so this Tenacity of the Dead skill sacrifices 50% MP in exchange for 25% HP. Lu Chen, let''s fight quickly, and get the boss''s sword for you!" "Okay!" As we fought, there was suddenly a beep. Murong Mingyue sent a message: "Lu Chen, Beauty Lin is willing to kill the boss for us for free, and without even wanting the Divine Martial Token. How about we give the boss''s experience to her? This way, we show our sincerity, no?" I smiled and nodded at Murong Mingyue, silently agreeing. She smiled at me, and continued to fight the boss! ¡­¡­ Soon, Death Shade''s HP once again was less than a quarter. He appeared on the verge of dying. We didn''t have to worry that he would heal again. Lin Yixin''s judgement had been correct. The boss had lost the ability to recover. "Yiyi, the boss''s experience is yours," I said. "Why?" Lin Yixin was surprised. "The Divine Martial Token is mine, so the boss experience is naturally yours. It wouldn¡¯t be fair otherwise. Don''t forget the time when I helped you kill a boss and asked for the Wild Roar skill book. Just accept it and don¡¯t make it difficult~¡± "Okay...¡± Lin Yixin blinked her purple eyes at me. She didn¡¯t understand and nodded with a smile. "Alright, I only want the boss experience, everything else is yours!" Based on the rules of the game, the player who killed the boss directly would receive over 40% of the total experience. Killing a Level 80 boss like this would probably be enough for Lin Yixin to level up. ¡­¡­ I carefully observed the boss''s HP. After a few minutes, it was about to reach the bottom and I shouted suddenly, "No, use Extreme Break!" Lin Yixin nodded. A sharp dagger appeared in her hand that she thrust into the boss''s neck. Then she switched to the longsword for a powerful blow! 3218! Accompanied by screams, Death Shade Sagelight, this tragic human hero was sent into the bottomless purgatory, dead for good. Crash! As expected of a Level 80 Dark Gold Rank boss. It dropped a large pile of things. At the same time, two pillars of golden light fell on Lin Yixin¡¯s forehead. She actually leveled up twice! Of course, Murong Mingyue and I also received a lot of experience, enough to level up! The Heavenly Ranking of Floating Ice City immediately changed¡ª NameLevelClass Wind Fantasy 73 Light Wanderer Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 72 Undead Swordsman Purple Marquis 71 Warrior Clear Perfume 71 Archer Dominating Heaven Blade 70 Warrior Beiming Xue 70 Dark Archer Gui Guzi 70 Undead Knight Shadow Chanel 70 Mage Indigo Collar 70 Warrior Dominating Mage God 69 Mage ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin once again became first on the Heavenly Ranking while I was second. Purple Marquis, who had been working hard on leveling up, was third. We had killed Dominating Heaven Blade, making him drop to the fifth place. The rest of the ranking was full of famous players of Floating Ice City! "Quick, the Divine Martial Token!" Murong Mingyue leaned over and searched next to the boss''s body. She raised her right hand. It was a golden token. She immediately threw it to me and said with a smile, "Lu Chen, how about you use it?" I took the token and nodded with a smile. "No problem!" Divine Martial Token: Upon usage, the current guild¡¯s rank will increase by 1. Player Level Requirement: Level 70. Guild Position Requirement: Leader, Vice Leader. Guild Rank Requirement: 4 or below! ¡­¡­ I confirmed the use of the Divine Martial Token. In the next moment, a string of bells echoed above the sky of Floating Ice City. Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± for successfully using Divine Martial Token. ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡± is thereby upgraded to Rank 3! "Haha, great. There''s also a system announcement!" I was excited. The system announcement had Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' name in it. It could be considered free advertisement, and a very strong one at that. What would the players that saw this system announcement think? Undoubtedly, everyone would think that Falling Dust of the CGL Hall of Fame had returned, and joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, fending off the attacks of the other warriors to become the ultimate winner! Lin Yixin pouted. "Alright, see what the boss has dropped?" "Right!" I nodded at Murong Mingyue. "Sis, loot the corpse, quick~~" "Oh!" Murong Mingyue pushed aside Death Shade''s leg and patted around with her hand. Then she blushed. I asked, "What did you touch?" "Something hard...¡± Murong Mingyue continued to be embarrassed. I was speechless. When this super priest with the name of Breast Goddess decided to be obscene, she was amazing. In Floating Ice City, Lin Yixin and He Yi were the goddesses in men''s hearts due to their beauty. Murong Mingyue, just based on her assets, was able to form a triumvirate with them. This was a skill in itself! Lin Yixin''s face was also red. She said, "What is it, pull it out...¡± Me: "...¡± Murong Mingyue had enough fun and pulled her hand back with a chuckle. When her hand moved out from underneath the boss, my heart suddenly started to pound¡ª I saw it! I saw it! That was a longsword shining with bloody light. I remembered clearly, just a few moments ago, I was beaten up by this sword! Murong Mingyue smiled sweetly and so did Lin Yixin. "Sigh, this really is a matter of moral standing. Lu Chen, what kind of luck do you have today?" Murong Mingyue looked at me with a smile, and threw the sword in a beautiful arc to land in my arms. Chapter 209: Tenacity of the Dead The blade shone with brilliant light, and looked like a bloody rainbow. There were horrific runes along the blade, and eerie ghosts circulating the blade. Just holding the hilt caused me to feel a bone-chilling energy pour into my body. This sword had to be far stronger than the Ghost Ice Soul. I reached out and the stats appeared in front of me. Immediately the two beauties¡¯ jaws dropped, both of them lost for words¡ª Miracle Purgatory Sword (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding ¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 250~475 Strength: +55 Stamina: +48 Passive: Increases user''s Attack by 17% Passive: 20% of the damage will be dealt as splash damage Property: Level Requirement reduced by 20 Outstanding Property: 5% chance of activating ¡°Purgatory Slash¡±, dealing huge damage to the enemies in front Level Requirement: 80 ¡­¡­ A while later, Lin Yixin pressed her lips together and murmured, "I''ve seen the official information about Outstanding equipment but I thought it was exaggerated. I didn''t expect such powerful items to actually exist...¡± Murong Mingyue was puzzled. "What¡¯s Outstanding equipment?" Lin Yixin smiled and explained. "It''s simple. Ordinary equipment is divided into normal grades; Gold, Dark Gold and so on. But among items of the same grade, there is a very small chance for an item to get the ¡®Outstanding¡¯ classification. These weapons have stats 10¨C50% higher than ordinary weapons of the same grade!" As she spoke, Lin Yixin pointed at the Miracle Purgatory Sword in my hand and said with a smile, "Here, Lu Chen''s sword is a 3-star Outstanding item. That means its stat will be 30% higher. If it was 5-star instead, it would have had 50% higher stats. This kind of weapon is very rare, and extremely powerful. However, the scariest thing about these items isn¡¯t their stats, but the Outstanding Properties!" I looked in shock at the sword in my hand and said, "Yiyi, you are talking about this 5% chance of activating ¡®Purgatory Slash¡¯?" "Yes!" Lin Yixin nodded. "Clearly, this is an AoE attack, and its power will definitely match your Thousand Mirage Slash. This Outstanding Property will be stunning in both PvE and PvP, and is sure to bring you unexpected surprises!¡± "Damn, Yiyi, you know so much, you are the Heavenblessed Encyclopedia...¡± "Stop that. You should treat us to a meal!" Lin Yixin looked at me, hand on hips and said irritably, ¡°Oooh, a 3-star Outstanding weapon, how should I despise you...¡± Murong Mingyue giggled. "Alright, this weapon has the special property of lowering the level requirement by 10. Lu Chen, can you equip it?" "Yes!" Class: Undead Swordsman (Silver Swordsman) Level: 72 HP: 3590 Attack: 640~1120 Defense: 780 Magic Resist: 562 Reputation: 39850 Luck: 3 ¡­¡­ My attack power was now above 1100. Adding on the item passives and buffs, my actual attack power should be above 1500. Just the Miracle Purgatory Sword alone added 17%. Its effect was truly divine! I was pleased. A 3-star Outstanding weapon was enough for me to reach Level 100 without changing, and maybe even Level 120. So great! I summoned the Dark Wasp. Lin Yixin was surprised. "The fight is done, why summon your pet?" "To test the blade!" I said coolly and raised the sword to swing at the Dark Wasp''s head. I immediately created an attack damage over the limit¡ª2184! Fuck, a basic attack almost killed the Dark Wasp instantly?! On one hand, the Dark Wasp couldn¡¯t keep up with my needs. On the other hand, this 3-star Outstanding weapon was too strong! Witnessing my brutal conduct, Lin Yixin and Murong Mingyue expressed their scorn. "I don''t know what sin it committed to end up as his pet...¡± I snickered and said, "Any more drops? Sis, continue to touch it. Maybe you¡¯ll find something hard again, hahaha!" Murong Mingyue glared at me, and continued feeling for loot. Soon, a pair of combat boots shining with cool light appeared in Murong Mingyue''s hand. I reached out to touch and the stats appeared¡ª Death Shade War Boots (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Defense: 170 Magic Resist: 125 Strength: +42 Agility: +39 Passive: Increases user''s movement speed by 4% Level Requirement: 70 ¡­¡­ Mn, good boots. They greatly boosted both Defense and Magic Resist, and also had a 4% movement speed buff. They were very precious. Even 1% boost would make any boots sought-after, and they had quadrupled that. With this buff, one could be unrivaled in both chasing and fleeing. Out of the thirty-six strategies, the best one was to retreat. Running faster than anyone was more useful than anything else! Looking at the war boots, Murong Mingyue asked, "Which of you two wants these?" I looked down at Lin Yixin''s boots and my gaze unconsciously trailed upward, along the white legs. The beauty¡¯s tone turned murderous in an instant. "What are you looking at?" "What grade are your boots?" "Level 70 Gold-grade, why?" "Oh, then the Death Shade War Boots are mine. Mine are Level 45 Silver-grade!" "...¡± Lin Yixin exasperatedly glanced at me. "Alright, take them~~" I excitedly took the Dark Gold¨Cgrade boots and put them on. My Defense and Magic Resist both experienced a significant boost. Also, I could run away faster! Very good. My Defense had reached 900. A piece of Dark Gold¨Cgrade armor was truly awesome. I now had five Dark Gold¨Cgrade items in total: Flame Dragon Gauntlets, Death Shade War Boots, the Purgatory War Armor, the Purgatory War Helmet, and the Miracle Purgatory Sword. I had become the king of gear in Floating Ice City. No one was my match when it came to gear. And in terms of mechanics and skill, I bet only one person could match me¡ªthe Fruit Knife Goddess. I should begin my campaign to become king! As I reveled at my equipment, Murong Mingyue managed to find a cape. Level 75 Dark Steel¨Cgrade. I ignored it. After that, Murong Mingyue made a squeak and her face was overcome with shock. "What is it, sis?" I teased. "Did you... really touch it?" "No, I felt this...¡± Murong Mingyue pulled her hand back with a purple-red skill book in her palm. She said with a laugh, "It seems that Lu Chen really has to treat everyone to a meal this time!" "What is it?" Looking at the light of the skill book, my heart started to beat rapidly. Murong Mingyue smiled, and touched. The stats of the book jumped out. Immediately, Lin Yixin and I turned to stone¡ª Tenacity of the Dead: The undead who struggle to survive in the purgatory possess extraordinary willpower. With the aid of a mysterious spell, sacrifice 50% of your MP to recover 25% HP instantly. Class Requirement: Warrior, Magic Knight, Wanderer. Race Requirement: Undead, Dark Elf, Dark Beastman. Level Requirement: 70. ¡­¡­ "Fuck, Tenacity of the Dead...¡± My throat tightened, and I swallowed blindly, my heart seemingly stopped. This would instantly return 25% HP. Wasn¡¯t it too OP? Also, the cost was only 50% MP. This requirement was too lax. Melee classes had pitiful MP to begin with. One Rank 5 Magic Consumable was enough to fully restore it. The side effects of this Tenacity of the Dead were almost negligible! With Tenacity of the Dead, I¡¯ve finally achieved true immortality! I took the skill book with a grave expression. "What are you thinking about instead of learning it?" Lin Yixin looked at me with a smile. I nodded and said, "Nothing, I just wanted to silently thank Guo Jia before learning it!" "Damn!!!" With a whoosh, the skill book disappeared, and a new entry appeared in my skill list¡ª Tenacity of the Dead: The undead who struggle to survive in the purgatory possess extraordinary willpower. With the aid of a mysterious spell, sacrifice 50% of your MP to recover 25% HP instantly. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Can only be used when HP is less than 50%. Another constraint. I had to be under 50%. Reasonable though. This way, the skill wouldn¡¯t be too OP. The skill wasn¡¯t invincible that way. Around 50% HP, if the enemy was strong enough to kill me instantly, Tenacity of the Dead was useless. What I had to do was increase my HP so no one could take over half of my HP in a single blow. That way, I would become unkillable. A two-minute cooldown wasn¡¯t bad. All things considered, I could almost challenge a Dark Gold Rank boss on my own now. Hahaha, my solo leveling journey was about to begin! I looked at Murong Mingyue and asked, "Anything else?" "Magic stones...¡± Murong Mingyue moved aside the boss''s leg and I saw all kinds of precious stones on the ground. Big Magic Stones, Phantasmal Magic Stones, and even the legendary Purple Crystals! We divided up the stones. We had accomplished our goal and were about to go our separate ways! I took out a return scroll. "I''m off!" "Mn!" The two girls nodded. The next moment, I appeared in Floating Ice City and went to repair my equipment. I looked at my level¡ª72. I wasn¡¯t in a hurry to level up. My goal was to remain in the Top 5. I didn¡¯t need the 1st place. A tall tree would be the first to cut down. Lin Yixin shared my sentiments, but fate pushed her way into the top spot. It was very painful for her, and she was mad at Dominating Heaven Blade for being so slow at grinding. Truth be told, he was diligent and hard-working, but we had killed him at the Devil Spirit Hall. In reality, the Devil Spirit Hall map was done for. While it would open once a day, the boss had been killed, and it would only respawn every two weeks. With no Divine Martial Token opportunity, there was just experience left there. The Divine Martial Token was the sole reason so many people had come. ¡­¡­ Consequently, I sat on the stairs of the Holy Temple of Floating Ice City, the Outstanding Miracle Purgatory Sword leaning against my side. I summoned the forums system and submitted the upload of me and the Fruit Knife Goddess working together to kill the four War Gods of Candle Dragon. The title of the post was a large sentence¡ª Chapter 210: Carrot Garden Yes, this title was sensational enough and served as a great excuse for Lin Yixin and my malicious PvP. Haha! Ding! System Notice: Your post has been highlighted! Ding! System Notice: Your post has been stickied! ¡­¡­ Very good. The forums moderators were as sharp as usual. Anything controversial would be immediately highlighted and pinned to the top. Also, among the eight people in the battle, five of them were active CGL Hall of Famers. The importance of the battle could be imagined! I cut the video into three parts, the final product being just a few minutes long. Within a few minutes, the thread¡¯s views exceeded a hundred thousand, and it had thousands of replies. It was extremely popular¡ª 1st comment (Snow Thorn): Haha, I was waiting for the video. Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand uploaded it himself, so strong!! 2nd comment (Drunken Night Sorrow): Such an exciting battle! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy worked together to protect the honor of Floating Ice City! 3rd comment (Ink Pupil): Brother Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, could you privately message me? 4th comment (Do Not Forget): There''s a girl flirting with Broken Halberd already, hahaha! 5th comment (Happy Son): This battle is so vivid. Candle Dragon, as the top guild of the China Server, seems to have been embarrassed this time? They came to Floating Ice City from afar to get the piece of the pie. Did they think Floating Ice City has no experts of its own? Hahaha, the Fruit Knife Goddess and the Silver Moon Devil deserve their reputation! 6th comment (Innocent): I will confess. I am from Dawn City. Ten minutes ago, Candlelight Shadow lectured the four War Gods on the plaza. Hahaha, so funny. He didn''t dare to go and had his cannon fodder march to their deaths! 7th comment (Martial God Is Invincible): You are speaking nonsense. Candlelight Shadow just had something to do IRL and couldn¡¯t go. If he went to Floating Ice City, hmph, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy would have ugly deaths. 8th comment (Flowing Water): Tsk tsk are you Candlelight Shadow''s fanboy? Piss off. He has never fought Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy. Don''t just randomly throw words around! ¡­¡­ Clearly, the forums players were split into two groups. One group supported Floating Ice City, and were mostly displeased with Candle Dragon. The other side supported Martial God¡¯s faction. As the top guild of the China server, Candle Dragon had members all over China. They were almost the symbol of China¡¯s VRMMO world. Naturally, they had many fans. I smiled. Hmph, Candle Dragon was at the peak, huh? Well, legends were meant to be broken. No one knew where the future of the China server lay. ¡­¡­ I chose two high-EXP spots to make the most of my time foraging. I entered the forest and summoned the Dark Wasp. On another thought, I summoned again. The light of magic formation flashed, and a little skeleton, Xinran, appeared again! This time, she had changed her boots. The current ones appeared to be of Dark Steel¨Cgrade. The little skeleton still held a long silver spear in its hand and was fully covered in metal armor. Its purple eyes stared at me as though asking, "What do you want to do now?" I snorted. "Stop looking at me. I am helping you level up. You¡¯re not even Level 50, it¡¯s embarrassing for me~~" The little skeleton did not object to my goodwill. Consequently, me and my two pets entered the forest. As we passed Greedy Wolf Forest, we saw Xu Yang leading a group of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players and farming guild EXP. He laughed. "Brother, work hard! See that? It¡¯s Falling Dust who has gotten us the Divine Martial Token. Haha, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will definitely have a spot in Floating Ice City. Even if Candle Dragon comes, we will dye the sands with their blood. Hahaha, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are growing stronger, yes, yes~~" ¡­¡­ Immortal Trail Forest. This map had recently been revamped, becoming a high-level grinding zone after Redcap Goblins had come. They were small monsters in red helmets and armed with kitchen knives which they would furiously swing around while shouting wildly. Because they were Level 75, Immortal Trail Forest was dominated and no players of Floating Ice City dared to go close. I led the Dark Wasp and the little skeleton to the border of Immortal Trail Forest. Nearby, there was a Redcap Goblin walking closer with a kitchen knife. Seeing me approaching, it let out a sharp scream and thrust its knife in my direction as it charged! Whoosh! I activated a Charge of my own, and immediately CC¡¯d the level 75 mob. The 3-star Outstanding Purgatory Sword came crashing down on the red helmet! Crack! The sharp sword took away a large chunk of the goblin''s HP and also a piece of the helmet. 2174! Tsk tsk, this attack power was so enjoyable! The Redcap Goblin looked at me with hostility and swung its knife madly, shouting, "Yayaya, damned monkey, get out of Immortal Trail Forest, you are not allowed to invade my carrot garden!" Without a word, I used a Pardon + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 4274! Immediately, the Redcap Goblin was flattened by the Purgatory Sword and fell down, still muttering, "Invader, return my carrot...¡± Rumble rumble... The red metal helmet rolled to my feet. I picked it up and to my surprise, it was also an item¡ª Goblin''s Red Helmet (Iron-grade) Defense: 40 Strength: +5 Passive: Increases user''s Defense by 5% Passive: Decreases user''s max HP by 5% Level Requirement: 65 ¡­¡­ Damn, what is this? Increasing Defense by 5% was a strong stat. But decreasing user''s max HP was stupid! I speechlessly threw the helmet into my bag. Never mind, I¡¯ll sell it once I go back to Floating Ice City. It was still a high-level item. Maybe I could get a few gold. Right now, gold was money. Five gold was 5 RMB. If I took 5 one yuan coins, I could ride the bus around Suzhou! I fought my way in and killed countless goblins. My attack power was really so strong. I could defeat a Level 75 goblin in a few strikes. Adding on the Dark Wasp''s attacks, I could also do instant kills! The little skeleton kept on watching the battle. Golden light constantly fell on its body; it was leveling up quickly. Soon, a lush farm appeared in front of me. Within the rich soil were thick and long... carrots! Damn, there were really carrots. Were carrots spring plants? Fuck, never mind! I hurriedly charged and gathered a carrot. As expected, it was an item with stats¡ª Special Immortal Trail Forest Carrot: Addition to consumables. Increases crafting result¡¯s effects by 20%. ¡­¡­ Damn, it increases the effect? I looked in my bag. I had the necessary ingredients. Maybe I should just make one? I chose the necessary ingredients for Rank 5 Braised Chicken, added a portion of carrots, and soon, the delicious magic consumable was ready! Braised Chicken (+20%): Rank 5 Magic Consumable, instantly restores 600 MP to the user. ¡­¡­ Success. As expected, it increased the effect by 20%! Ordinary Rank 5 Braised Chicken could only restore 500 MP, and my craft could recover 600, just like Rank 6 Magic Consumables. In other words, if these carrots were added to Rank 6 Steamed Fish Soup, would it instantly restore 720 MP? So good. People will be all over this! Also, if I was going to frequently use Tenacity of the Dead to recover HP in the future, I would need high-rank consumables. My mind was made up. I stood in the center of the carrot garden, held my sword, and shouted toward a large group of Redcap Goblins. "All of you, go away. This carrot garden is mine!" Immediately, the goblins were startled and came charging with their kitchen knives. "This hoodlum wants to take over our carrot garden. Kill him for our home!" Bang bang bang bang... After an inhuman beating, the goblin army was defeated. My Thousand Mirage Slash was enough to kill them, and their attack power was just a tickle to my 900 points of Defense. Crack! I swung the Purgatory Sword randomly like cutting fruits and vegetables. The goblins were Level 75 monsters and gave considerable experience. The group surrounded me, so they were easy to kill. Whoosh! Suddenly, the Purgatory Sword turned cold and its Outstanding attack procced. In the next moment, when I raised the sword to attack, the blade shone with a cold gleam, sounding with wails of ghosts.The sword shone ever brighter, eventually releasing a long streak of sword energy that covered an area about 30 yards in front of me. Its range far surpassed my Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! The earth shook. The goblins screamed, and many damage numbers flew up¡ª 2987! 3002! 3128! ¡­¡­ Awesome. The attack power of this Purgatory Slash was also far stronger than that of the Rank 7 Thousand Mirage Slash! I was extremely pleased. The proc rate of the Purgatory Slash was 5%. Not high, but not low, enough for my leveling efficiency to skyrocket! I hacked right and left into the mob of monsters. These Level 75 goblins couldn¡¯t do anything to me. When my HP dropped under 50%, I raised my left hand that was covered in red light. In the next moment, Tenacity of the Dead was cast on my body! +898! Tsk tsk, 25% healing effect. It was not very strong in the early stages, but when everyone was near Level 150, maybe the upper limit of HP would be in the tens of thousands, or maybe even exceed a hundred thousand. At that time, Tenacity of the Dead adding 25% would be twenty to thirty thousand HP. What kind of healing spell could rival this? Even now, the effects were not game-changing, but more than enough against these goblins, since they couldn¡¯t break through my Defense. Their attacks dealt double-digit damage, sometimes not even reaching ten. The feeling was exhilarating! I fought until midnight to take over the carrot garden. Then I went offline, grabbed a bite and returned to grind. In the wee hours, I returned to the city with a bag half-full of carrots. Then I purchased ingredients during the night and made numerous Rank 5 and 6 Magic Consumables with effects boosted by 20%. My Cooking skill even reached Rank 7, and I could now make Rank 7 Magic Consumables. I needed Rank 7 Turtle Meat for that but I didn¡¯t know where to get it from, so I temporarily put it at the back of my mind. Chapter 211: Returning Home The next day, I woke up in a daze and realized that it was already past 11 am. I was so busy roleplaying as the God of Cookery that I lost track of time. As a result, I slept like a rock until now. I checked my phone and suddenly felt sleep leaving my head in an instant. It was October 17, the day my mother had passed away. I hurriedly got out of my bed, washed myself, put on some nice clothes and got out of my room. ¡­¡­ ¡°Lu Chen! Want to eat lunch together at noon?¡± Xu Yang popped out of nowhere to slap me on the shoulder. I turned down his offer with a shake of my head before asking, ¡°Do you know where sis is right now? Is she online or offline?¡± Xu Yang thought for a second before answering, ¡°I saw her going downstairs with boss just now. She was asking if you¡¯ve woken up yet, and I told her you could easily sleep until late afternoon if you felt like it. They left after that.¡± ¡°Okay. I need to go, so don¡¯t wait on me!¡± ¡°Fuck, how about a drink in the afternoon then?¡± ¡°Next time!¡± ¡­¡­ I pulled out my phone as I hurried downstairs. Then, I called Murong Mingyue¡¯s number. The call connected after two dial tones. ¡°How are you awake already, Lu Chen? Didn¡¯t Xu Yang say that you¡¯ll be sleeping until late afternoon?¡± ¡°Yeah, I woke up earlier than usual. Where are you right now, sis?¡± ¡°I¡¯m having lunch at the coffee shop downstairs. What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Wait for me. I¡¯m coming over right now!¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± I hurried downstairs. When I entered the coffee shop, I saw two beautiful girls chatting to each other at a corner facing toward the sun. They were none other than He Yi and Murong Mingyue. I walked toward them in a straight line before sitting down next to He Yi. Then, I said, ¡°Sis, can I borrow your car later this afternoon?¡± ¡°Oh, are you going on a date again?¡± ¡°What? Of course not. I¡¯m going home this evening. I¡¯ll come back tomorrow.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± He Yi looked at me in surprise before asking, ¡°How long has it been since you went home?¡± ¡°Three months.¡± He Yi pursed her lips before smiling. ¡°You know what, why don¡¯t I drive you there myself?¡± Caught off-guard, I said hurriedly, ¡°You don¡¯t have to, boss. You¡¯re busy, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°How many times do I have to tell you not to call me boss?¡± He Yi shot me an disapproving look. ¡°Surely you can think of something better?¡± Murong Mingyue smiled. ¡°Just call her sis then. Eve¡¯s only a year older than you anyway.¡± He Yi smiled happily. ¡°Mn, mn! I¡¯m going to enjoy this one. C¡¯mon, what are you waiting for?¡± I opened my mouth and tried to call her by the new nickname. ¡°Si¡­ si¡­¡± But the word just wouldn¡¯t come out of my mouth. Finally, He Yi rolled her eyes and me and said, ¡°Call me sis and I¡¯ll treat you to lunch.¡± ¡°Sis!¡± ¡­¡­ I must¡¯ve given a hundred excuses as to why He Yi shouldn¡¯t waste her time on my trip and focus on her own things, but I ultimately wasn¡¯t able to change her mind. Murong Mingyue stared at He Yi. ¡°Didn¡¯t you always complain that you¡¯re busy since your cash flow goes up and down by the hundred thousands every second? Since when are you free enough to accompany Lu Chen on his family visit?¡± He Yi giggled. ¡°This a self-sponsored holiday trip, yep. Also, Lu Chen¡¯s home is at Yangzhou, and it¡¯s the autumn season right now, the perfect season for holiday trips!¡± Murong Mingyue puffed up her magnificent chest and said, ¡°I want to go too¡­¡± ¡°No can do. You need to stay behind and farm EXP with everyone. The sooner our guild reaches Rank 4, the better¡­¡± ¡°Fuck! You¡¯re the hiberdating type! I¡¯ve finally realized your true nature, Eve!¡± ¡°Hehe, no, it¡¯s just you overthinking things!¡± I got a light breakfast at the coffee shop before returning to the workshop. I didn¡¯t pack anything with me. He Yi on the other hand, put on a new set of clothes and brought a set of change with her. Our preparations done, we left the building. Inside the elevator, He Yi and I leaned against opposite walls and stared at each other. Maybe it was because He Yi spent so much time working that she was more comfortable in uniforms than anything else, but she was still wearing a kind of uniform even after she got changed. Her new clothes looked like a flight attendant¡¯s uniform, except it was purple and its design was more natural. It looked very stylish on her. ¡°What are you wearing? Are you trying to check if I have a uniform fetish?¡± I asked in a quiet voice. He Yi smiled slightly. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m just used to wearing uniforms, that¡¯s all. Casual wear makes me feel the opposite of comfortable.¡± I said, ¡°How about this. When we get back to my hometown, I¡¯ll pick a casual wear for you at a retail store in Yong¡¯an Town myself. I promise it won¡¯t be over 100 RMB. What do you think?¡± He Yi burst into giggles. ¡°Of course. Will you buy it for me?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I checked her out again and rediscovered how good He Yi looked in a uniform. She wore a white blouse on the inside, and the buttons holding it together looked like they would burst at the seams due to how full and round her breasts were. The tight skirt was just long enough to cover her knees, and it fitted nicely around her round bottom and accentuated her curves perfectly. Again, she looked absolutely stunning in the getup. ¡°How much is your uniform?¡± I asked. He Yi answered, ¡°Not much.¡± ¡°And that is¡­?¡± ¡°400k.¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± ¡°My company found someone to make ten custom sets for me¡­¡± I got it, I got it. I¡¯ll save myself some dignity. My 100 RMB female casual wear can go kill itself for all I care¡­ ¡­¡­ We walked out of the company and grabbed He Yi¡¯s car. It was still the black Lamborghini. ¡°Gulp!¡± I swallowed visibly before asking, ¡°Sis, you do know that my hometown is in a rural area, right? Are you sure you want to drive there in a sports car that costs over ten million RMB?¡± A small smile spread across He Yi¡¯s lips. ¡°In that case, do you want me to drive a bus? I only have a class C license though¡­¡± ¡°Never mind then. Let¡¯s go?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± We took off. He Yi sped up the highway, headed straight toward Yangzhou. I was feeling a bit nervous, so I kept looking outside the window. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Are you nervous?¡± He Yi asked with a smile. ¡°No¡­¡± ¡°If so, why are you gripping the handbrake?¡± ¡°...¡± Somewhere along the way, I shot He Yi a sudden question. ¡°Sis, do you know where my house is? You seem pretty confident for some reason.¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open in surprise, but she quickly turned it into a smile and asked, ¡°What is your home address?¡± ¡°Fengle Village, Yong¡¯an Town, Yangzhou.¡± ¡°Yong¡¯an Town¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Have you actually heard of it before?¡± ¡°Oh no, it just reminded of the Yong¡¯an Pawn Shop in Chinese Paladin 3. It¡¯s where Jingtian and Tangxue met each other.¡± ¡°...¡± The rest of the journey passed by in silence, and we arrived at Yong¡¯an Town at around 3 pm. There was still a ways to go, however. My house was about 2.5 kilometers away. The town was bustling with people. It was incredibly crowded, to say the least. He Yi drove slowly until she suddenly stopped the car. After rolling down the car window and buying a cotton candy, she passed it to me with a smile and said, ¡°You look unhappy about something, so here¡¯s a candy from your big sis. I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll cheer you up in no time¡­¡± Me: ¡°...¡± The car had to stop repeatedly because of the bustling crowd. A couple of minutes later, the engine let out some strange noises before stopping completely! ¡°Ah? Did it break down?¡± I exclaimed in surprise. He Yi got off the car, pulled up the hood and took a quick look. A while later, she smiled helplessly. ¡°Looks like it. Is there a 4S shop somewhere around in the area?¡± ¡°Of course not. There is a repair show just ahead of us, but I don¡¯t know if they have the balls to repair a Lamborghini.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s head there and ask them to tow our car.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± It didn¡¯t long before the sports car was towed into the repair shop. A while later, the driver who towed our car told us. ¡°We¡¯ll do our best. Honestly, this car is way too expensive for the likes of us. If we weren¡¯t the only repair shop in the area, we would have left it in someone else''s hands.¡± He Yi asked, ¡°How long will it take to repair it fully?¡± ¡°It can be as quick as ten minutes, or as long as twenty four hours!¡± ¡°...¡± I leaned against a nearby truck and laughed. ¡°Man, it¡¯s been a pretty unlucky year so far!¡± He Yi was also chuckling. ¡°Yeah, this year has definitely been a tumultuous one.¡± After that, she shot me a long look before asking, ¡°Why don¡¯t you head back home first? I¡¯ll drive over once the car is repaired. I know where your address is now anyway.¡± I was going to turn down her offer, but then I recalled that father was living alone in the house. I¡¯d better head back home and tidy things up a bit so that He Yi wouldn¡¯t mistake my house for Mars or something. Thus, I nodded and said, ¡°Okay. Call a cab if the car still isn¡¯t fixed by 5 pm. Luckily for us, this town isn¡¯t so backward that there aren¡¯t any cabs at all.¡± ¡°Got it. Now go, I¡¯ll just kill some time in that KFC!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡­¡­ After sending He Yi to the KFC and confirming that the place was safe, I called a cab and returned home. The car slowly stopped in front of the entrance of Fengle Village. It was late afternoon, and there was barely anyone around the area. The sky started darkening, and a few minutes later, a light rain started falling from the sky. The soil slowly turned wet beneath my shoes, I sucked in a deep breath and began walking back home. It was still raining when my house finally entered my sight. The garden looked unattended and overgrown. I spotted the lone jujube tree in the garden where I used to strike jujubes with a bamboo stick. It was one of the greatest joys of my life when I was still a young boy. Many years had passed since those days, and the jujube tree was long dead. The old tree was surrounded by overgrown weeds, and its dead barks were tattered by the passage of time. I could still remember the days mother put me on her shoulders and watched me hitting the jujubes with a bright smile on her face. There was a tingle in my nose, and I almost broke into tears. It had been many years since both mother and the jujube tree had passed away. Rain ran down my cheeks as I pushed open the rusted gates to my home. I immediately spotted my father¡¯s desolate figure. He was sitting on a wheelchair, sawing a piece of wood. My father was a carpenter. Everyone called him Carpenter Lu. He never stopped doing his part even after mother had passed away. Alone. I was planning to become a carpenter myself, but he insisted on sending me to a university. As a result, the world lost a first-rate carpenter and gained a third-rate, unemployed science student. I walked up to him and called out to him softly, ¡°Dad¡­¡± Father looked up and stared at me. His eyes had been growing muddier and muddier as time took its toll. Suddenly, he smiled widely at me and said, ¡°Lu Chen, you¡¯re back! Don¡¯t just stand there in the rain, come in! Why didn¡¯t you call me first that you are coming back?¡± He put down his tools and pushed himself into the house. Then, he beckoned me to come inside. I accepted the towel he passed me and wiped the wet stains on my face. I couldn¡¯t tell if they were rainwater or tears. My heart was racked with guilt. I should be staying in the house and keeping father company, but how could I? A young man like me should be striving to improve my work and career, not the other way around. Father smiled at me before saying, ¡°Today¡¯s your mom¡¯s death anniversary, and I was going to tell you to visit another time if you were too busy. I couldn¡¯t get to your phone, though. Did you change your card again because your phone bill is overdue?¡± I chuckled like a fool before nodding. ¡°Yes, I changed my card.¡± ¡°Are you hungry? Should I make something for you to eat?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not hungry. Dad, you should rest.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯ll only take a minute.¡± Father entered the kitchen regardless of my attempts to change his mind. A while later, he came out with a bowl of noodle soup with sprinkled onion and two eggs. I really wasn¡¯t hungry, but I still picked up my chopsticks and gave the meal a bite. It was very fragrant and the taste was rich. Father went back to his room for a short while before he came out with a small bag. Then, he took out a card from a pocket. It was none other than the card I had gotten from He Yi before sending it back home. Father placed the card on the table before producing a tattered bankbook. He smiled. ¡°I haven¡¯t used the money in your card. It¡¯s a pretty competitive world out there, and houses are very expensive these days. Do you still remember our neighbor, Little Hei? He had a few girlfriends, but they all broke up with him because he couldn¡¯t afford a house of his own. Lu Chen, you¡¯re 24 already. It¡¯s about time you buy a house for yourself.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve saved up around eighty thousand RMB over the years, and they should be able to help you a little. I¡¯m too old already, and this is all I can do for you. You¡¯ll have to pay for the rest of the house yourself after the down payment.¡± ¡°Oh right, your third aunt¡¯s son, Little Lin was diagnosed with leukemia some time ago, so I lent her about forty thousand RMB. Otherwise, I would have been able to give you more money. I heard that the houses in Suzhou are very expensive. If you really can¡¯t afford it, why don¡¯t you come back to Yangzhou and buy a house here?¡± ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t control my tears any longer. They slid across my cheeks and fell into the bowl. Chapter 212: Sweeping The Grave By the time I finished the noodles, the rain had already stopped. The garden was overgrown with weeds. There was no way father could clear them out in his condition. Thus, I put down the chopsticks, grabbed the spade and went to clear them out. Sitting in his wheelchair, father watched me work with a smile on his face. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before there was a knock on the door. ¡°Who is it?¡± Father asked. There was no response, but I knew immediately who was outside the door. I immediately dropped the spade and opened the rusted door. As expected, it was the world-class beauty in purple uniform. She looked up and down before teasing me. ¡°You are aware that a Heavenly King and weeding is an odd combination, right?¡± I let out a chuckle before saying in a soft voice, ¡°They can call me whatever they want, but here, I am only my dad¡¯s son.¡± ¡°Hehe.¡± He Yi stepped into the house after that. I noticed that she was purposely wearing her badge in the open. What is she planning? When father saw He Yi for the first time, he thought that his eyes were playing tricks on him. After giving them a rub and confirming that he wasn¡¯t seeing things, he asked, ¡°You are¡­?¡± He Yi stopped in front of father and smiled respectfully at him. ¡°Uncle, I¡¯m Lu Chen¡¯s boss. Did you forget about me already?¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Father¡¯s eyes lit up in recognition. ¡°Are you that girl who came to visit half a month ago?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± I had not heard about this. ¡°You¡¯ve been to my house, Eve?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± He Yi pursed her lips as her eyes turned red. ¡°I thought you were gone at the time, so I checked your household register and came here. I was going to take uncle to Suzhou to take care of him, but he wanted to stay here, so I had no choice but to give up.¡± Father smiled at He Yi and asked, ¡°Are you an acquaintance of Lu Chen, young lady?¡± ¡°Yep!¡± He Yi smiled back before pointing at me. ¡°I¡¯m his boss. In the company, he must address me as boss~~¡± I was stunned. Seriously, what on earth is He Yi planning? A hint of relief broke out of father¡¯s expression. ¡°So Lu Chen is working now?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± He Yi showed off her badge before smiling. ¡°Look, it¡¯s a GGS software company. I¡¯m the department manager, and Lu Chen¡¯s a core member of our department. Also, GGS is an international company and one of the Top 500 companies in the world!¡± Father looked really relieved. ¡°Hehehe, good. I¡¯m very glad. I¡¯ve been worried that Lu Chen would have an unstable job and lead an unstable life. Oh right, manager, why are you still standing outside? Come in and take a seat. You shouldn¡¯t have come all the way to this small village¡­¡± I didn¡¯t know what to say. Giggling, He Yi stuck her tongue at me before she grabbed my arm and pulled me into the living room behind father. I couldn¡¯t believe I had missed something this obvious. How careless of me. Father was very cordial with He Yi. ¡°Manager, I don¡¯t have anything besides a couple of countryside dishes to offer you during your visit. I hope you don¡¯t mind!¡± He Yi nodded with a smile. ¡°Of course not, uncle.¡± I asked her quietly, ¡°Has the car been fixed already?¡± ¡°No, they told me to go back in the morning. I came on a motorized tricycle, it was unbelievably bumpy¡­¡± ¡°...¡± The chat went on for a little while longer before I rose to my feet. ¡°Dad, I¡¯m going to sweep mom¡¯s grave.¡± ¡°Oh, sure!¡± He Yi also rose to her feet in a hurry. ¡°I¡¯ll come with you!¡± But my father asked in surprise, ¡°But manager, why would you want to visit his mom¡¯s grave?¡± ¡°I... er¡­¡± He Yi turned red as her lies finally caught up to her. She glared at me, and I hurriedly said, ¡°She¡¯s been cooped up in the city all day and night, and she felt like checking out life in the countryside and breathing some fresh air to relax.¡± Father¡¯s puzzlement faded away. ¡°Ah, I see. See you later then!¡± ¡°Bye!¡± ¡­¡­ The second I stepped out of the house with He Yi, I let out a deep sigh of relief. He Yi was also breathing rather heavily after the fright my father gave both of us. She laughed. ¡°Wow, that was scary. I had no idea what to say just now. Thank goodness you¡¯re a quick-witted person, Lu Chen¡­¡± I stared at her expressionlessly. ¡°Fuck, that was a do-or-die situation, you know?¡± ¡°Hehe!¡± He Yi giggled in a rare moment of embarrassment. After that, she said, ¡°Anyway, you were going to sweep auntie¡¯s grave, right? Should we buy some paper money first?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± We arrived at a small shop. The owner was an old auntie past 60. She smiled at me when she saw my face. ¡°Aiyo, you¡¯re Carpenter Lu¡¯s son, Lu Chen, right? You haven¡¯t been home in a while, have you?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I nodded. ¡°I would like to buy some paper money, please.¡± She nodded, but jolted in surprise when her gaze strayed from me to He Yi. ¡°Ah?! Is it just me, or does she look like a star on TV? Lu Chen, is she your girlfriend?¡± ¡°I¡­ er¡­ well¡­¡± Having no idea how to answer the question, I wasn¡¯t able to give an answer no matter how much I stuttered. But He Yi grabbed my arm affectionately and smiled brightly. ¡°That¡¯s correct! We¡¯re visiting a grave after this, so can you please get our paper money quickly, auntie?¡± ¡°O-okay!¡± The shop owner broke out of her reverie and immediately got to work, but that didn¡¯t stop her from lavishing He Yi with praises such as, ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a prettier girl than you¡±, ¡°Are you actually a celebrity?¡±, ¡°Not even celebrities are as beautiful as you¡± and so on. He Yi was so delighted that she looked like she wanted to slaughter a chicken and became sworn sisters with the auntie on the spot. ¡­¡­ The road beneath our feet eventually turned uneven and muddy. Mother¡¯s grave was set at an empty place outside the town. The shoes He Yi was wearing didn¡¯t count as high heels, but they were still high enough to make the trek hard for her. She could barely keep her balance every couple of steps, so I had no choice but to hold her with one arm. Frankly, we looked like a pair of passionate lovers on a countryside date. ¡°Lu Chen, uncle isn¡¯t doing too well lately. The responsibility is on you, you know!¡± He Yi berated me. I replied, ¡°I know, but my father¡¯s world is completely different from mine. He could never join our world, just as we could never join his. It¡¯s not something that can be forced.¡± ¡°You can still improve his material life. Didn¡¯t I give you a lot of money earlier? Why didn¡¯t you spend them on uncle? It doesn¡¯t look like his life has changed at all since I last saw him, so of course I¡¯m going to berate you for it.¡± ¡°Wait, what? You mean the card? Is there a lot of money in it?¡± ¡°What? You don¡¯t know?¡± He Yi looked at me in astonishment. ¡°I thought there¡¯s only like 200k in it? That¡¯s about how much we got from selling our equipment in Spirit of Grief, right?¡± ¡°OMG!¡± He Yi stared at me before punching me on the shoulder. ¡°You stupid, there¡¯s 4 million inside that card! You¡¯re telling me you haven¡¯t even checked it all this time?!¡± ¡°Urk¡­¡± I fell quiet. As it turned out, neither my dad nor I had checked the contents of the card. There was no way he wouldn¡¯t mention it otherwise. He Yi smiled at me, exasperated. ¡°Sigh, I don¡¯t even know what to say anymore¡­¡± I grabbed her hand and gave her a pained smile. ¡°Thank you, Eve¡­¡± ¡°...¡± He Yi stared at me blankly for a few seconds before she caught herself and looked down in embarrassment. Then, she said quietly to me, ¡°Let¡¯s not keep auntie waiting any longer.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡­¡­ The sun was starting to set at the horizon, and the night¡¯s chill was starting to enter the air. My mother¡¯s grave was located between a pair of fields and a nearby river. ¡°This is it.¡± I stopped in front of the grave and stared at a smiling photo of my mother. For a time, I was filled with an indescribable sense of emotion. He Yi murmured beside me, ¡°Auntie was so beautiful¡­¡± My nose tingled, and I crouched to light up the paper money. The sound of burning crackled silently beside my ears. I was only 16 when my mother passed away. I was at the age where I was most rebellious, and I couldn¡¯t remember how many times I made her cry with my rowdy behavior. She didn¡¯t support my decision to play Starcraft competitively, nor did she agree with my apparent addiction to games. However, she never cared any less about me because of her disapproval, and she never stopped calling my name even during her final moments. Eight years had passed since then. Every time I thought back to the past, all I felt was a mixture of complex emotions and a sharp guilt for my irresponsible behavior. I left home to participate in a Starcraft league tournament, leaving my mother heartbroken as a result. By the time I came back, she was already gone forever. I didn¡¯t know how far my dreams would take me, but I knew that my mother¡¯s love for me had never left my side. I just didn¡¯t know how to appreciate it when I was younger. I was so engrossed in my memories that I almost didn¡¯t notice that the flames were burning my hand. The only response I could muster was the streaks of tears flowing down my cheeks. Drip¡­ drip... The paper money was wet with my tears. ¡°Lu Chen¡­¡± He Yi called out to me softly. I looked away to wipe away my tears, but to my surprise, He Yi hugged me and said, ¡°It¡¯s okay now. Whatever happened in the past is in the past. I¡¯m sure auntie is watching you from the heavens, and she wouldn¡¯t want to see you sad, would she?¡± I nodded. ¡°I¡¯m fine, Eve. I really am.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± While waiting for the paper money to burn completely, He Yi smiled at me and said, ¡°Would you like to say something to her?¡± I nodded again and turned to the gravestone. ¡°Mom, I¡¯m a working man now. Look, this here is my boss¡­¡± He Yi couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°Well, if living at the base counts as working then I suppose that I am your boss.¡± Then, He Yi put away her smile and said seriously, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, auntie. Lu Chen is pretty forgetful sometimes, but I promise you I¡¯ll take good care of him!¡± Something tells me that I should probably stop her from talking further, but I''m not quite sure why... We returned home after the visit was over. I slowly walked out of the gloom that cast a shadow over my heart. ¡°Lu Chen, you got a lot of rewards after killing the boss at the ninth floor of Devil Spirit Hall, right? I was going to ask Mingyue about it this morning, but I kept forgetting because of work.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I nodded. ¡°It was a pretty sizable reward. I got a Level 80 Dark Gold¨Cgrade sword with the Outstanding attribute, a pair of Level 70 Dark Gold¨Cgrade boots, and an HP recovery skill book that is usable by undead players only. It looks like my solo grinding won¡¯t be ending anytime soon.¡± He Yi smiled beautifully at me. ¡°Why grind alone when you have friends? Bring me with you, I want the EXP¡­¡± ¡°Actually, you have the strength to solo grind an average map now, sis.¡± I returned the smile. ¡°Your only problem is your offensive power. Your defense is perfect, but without an AoE skill or a powerful offensive skill, you won¡¯t be able to grind as efficiently as you¡¯d like.¡± He Yi replied, ¡°It¡¯s fine. Slow and steady wins the race, the skills will come to me eventually. Once we head back tomorrow, I¡¯ll grab Mingyue and grind somewhere with her. I¡¯ll try to hit Level 70 as soon as possible!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡­¡­ It was night. The stars looked pretty dim tonight, and gentle moonlight passed through the window. Chapter 213: Absolute Uni It was very late. I tossed and turned in my bed but couldn¡¯t fall asleep. Dinner had been prepared by my second aunt, who lived just next door. There was an incredible variety of countryside dishes such as scrambled egg with garlic moss, braised chicken and so on. He Yi was very happy. She said that it was impossible to eat something like this in the city. My thoughts were a mess as I stared at the ceiling. Did He Yi fall asleep already? I had no idea. What about Lin Yixin? She must have fallen asleep by now, right? Maybe. Or maybe she was burning the midnight oil and grinding away. She must¡¯ve left me behind in the dust already! ¡­¡­ Somehow I managed to fall asleep, and it was daybreak by the time I opened my eyes again. After I was done washing myself, I saw He Yi standing at the balcony, closing her eyes and breathing deeply. The way her breasts went up and down made my heart race a little. ¡°What are you doing?¡± I walked up to her and asked. He Yi smiled but didn¡¯t open her eyes. She said, ¡°I¡¯m inhaling the morning¡¯s fresh air, of course. Do you think you can find such high quality air in our highly-polluted Suzhou New District?¡± I nodded. ¡°Of course not. It¡¯s been two years since I saw a single bird in the New District.¡± He Yi finally opened her eyes and stared at me. The spirit in her eyes was positively charming. ¡°Lu Chen, my car is still at the town, and it¡¯s a long way away from here. I tried calling a cab but couldn¡¯t find one so far. What should we do?¡± It was a problem. I replied, ¡°It¡¯s fine, we¡¯ll find a way after we finish breakfast. Worse comes to worst, I guess we can walk there. It¡¯ll only take less than an hour¡­¡± ¡°What? An hour of walking?¡± He Yi gaped at me before smiling again. ¡°I don¡¯t walk too much, you know. Ten minutes is enough to make me pant as hard as a puppy. Are you sure you want to make me walk for an entire hour?¡± I was speechless. ¡°Then I¡¯ll carry you all the way to Suzhou on my back. That fine with you?¡± ¡°Why not! Let¡¯s do it!¡± ¡°...¡± After we went downstairs and finished breakfast, I gave my father a different card with 50k RMB in it. It was about 50% of what I had earned in Heavenblessed thus far. I told him that he should spend it on daily expenses, and that he didn¡¯t need to save up anymore. I even returned him everything he had given me earlier. I now had sizable achievements in Heavenblessed, and it was only a matter of time before my earnings grew to a couple million. Meanwhile, He Yi was standing at the doorway, worried. ¡°What should we do? Are we seriously walking all the way back to town?¡± It was at this moment my father put down his chopsticks and smiled. ¡°Fret not, manager. I made a call just now, and transport will be arriving in ten minutes!¡± ¡°Really?¡± He Yi bounced excitedly. ¡°Thank you, uncle!¡± He Yi and I stood at the door and waited. About ten minutes later, our private transport finally showed up. It was a super heavyweight with an engine that tutted rapidly like a machine gun! He Yi¡¯s eyes turned into saucers. ¡°A two-wheel tractor? Oh, my, god~~¡± It was as He Yi said, a two-wheel tractor. The small open trailer of the tractor was filled with bundled stalks. They looked pretty sturdy. Father smiled at us with his palms pressed together. ¡°Your third uncle was going to drag these soybean stalks to the west side of the town, so I told him to give you a lift. It¡¯s going to be a slightly uncomfortable trip, but it¡¯s still better than walking, right?¡± He Yi and I exchanged a look with each other. In the end, we both burst into laughter. While giggling, He Yi said, ¡°Why not? I¡¯ve sat in Rolls-Royce, Porsche, and limited edition Audi, but I¡¯ve never tried a two-wheel tractor before. It¡¯ll be a, uh, great experience. Should we go, Lu Chen?¡± I nodded cheerfully. First, I carried over a ladder and propped it against the tractor. Then, I supported He Yi carefully and got her up to the top of the soybean stalks. The soybeans hadn¡¯t been dehulled yet, so the stalks were filled with soybeans. Some of the pods were cracked and formed tiny thorns that weren¡¯t sharp enough to pierce the skin, but still made for a painful experience to sit on. He Yi was wearing a uniform and a short skirt, so at least part of her bare legs were directly exposed to these thorns. After trying to find a comfortable position to no avail, she laughed. ¡°It¡¯s so prickly! What to do, what to do?¡± I moved to the center of the stalk pile and sat down like it was my throne. I gave He Yi a smile and said, ¡°Eve, do you want to sit next to me?¡± ¡°But it¡¯s going to hurt a lot¡­¡± I thought for a moment. ¡°What should we do?¡± A light bulb flashed above He Yi¡¯s head when she stared at me. ¡°Can you press your feet together so I can sit on them?¡± ¡°You¡¯re going to break my legs like that!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not that heavy!¡± He Yi shot me a glare before chiding, ¡°Now less talking, more action!¡± I curled my lips but obeyed the command. After He Yi gathered her skirt and sat carefully on my thighs, I grabbed her arms to prevent her from falling. The danger was very real, and it was hardly the time to get embarrassed over skinship. At the driver¡¯s seat, my third uncle called out to me. ¡°Lu Chen, we¡¯re leaving! You guys ready?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± I bade my father goodbye, and the tractor started moving. The engine made ¡°tut-tut¡± noises, and thick smoke exited the exhaust pipe. It didn¡¯t seem all that dangerous when the tractor was on standby, but that changed immediately when it started moving, and the stalk pile started shaking like an earthquake. He Yi immediately turned green with fright and clung to me as hard as she could. I myself was holding onto a rope behind me with one hand and keeping a tight hold around He Yi with my other arm. The road was bumpy. Our ride was equally as bumpy. By now He Yi was completely pale, clinging to my neck and letting out strange squeals of fear like her life depended on it. She didn¡¯t even care if her expensive uniform might be wrinkled or tattered after this. For a time, I could feel her soft, round breasts pressing against my chest. It was as suffocating as it was wonderful. Whoever designed this uniform had my utmost respect because the fabric did nothing to insulate the sensation at all. He Yi was so frightened she could faint. I was so happy I could faint. About ten minutes later, the tractor finally got on an even road and shook far less than it had before. It was only now He Yi dared to look up from my shoulder. I could see rosiness coloring her cheeks. The moment she saw my expression, she immediately punched me in exasperation and amusement. ¡°How can you laugh in this situation?¡± I laughed loudly. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought that our leader would look like this one day¡­¡± He Yi groaned with reddened cheeks. ¡°This has got to be one of the most embarrassing days of my life.¡± Still keeping my hand around her waist, I laughed. ¡°Sis, you were clinging to me so tightly¡­¡± ¡°Right back at you!¡± He Yi chided. ¡°This ride is a bit too frightening for the likes of me. I guess I prefer the stability of a Lamborghini more¡­¡± I replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll reach the town in at most half an hour.¡± Suddenly, I caught a hint of fatigue peeking out of He Yi¡¯s expression before she placed her face gently on my shoulder. She murmured, ¡°If only this ride could last forever¡­¡± ¡°Hmm? What did you say?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing. I¡¯m just a bit tired, that¡¯s all. We should reach Suzhou around afternoon or so, so let¡¯s get back to grinding around late afternoon!¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Personally, I wanted this old, noisy machine to keep running until the end of a lifetime myself, but unfortunately that was impossible for very scientific reasons: the tractor would more or less run out of oil by the time it reached the town. The diesel produced in Changzhou was great, but unlike water, it wasn¡¯t an unlimited resource! Thud! When we finally reached our destination, I jumped to the ground and extended a hand to He Yi. She slowly crawled to the edge of the pile and grabbed my hand before leaping off herself. I caught her firmly before putting her gently on the ground. Not far away from us, a bunch of non-mainstream brats with dyed hair were staring at us with wide eyes. They seemed incredulous that a beautiful and stylish woman like He Yi would ride on a shabby tractor. He Yi shot them a glance before asking, ¡°What are you looking at?¡± The brats immediately started shaking. I led He Yi to the repair shop, and just like the driver had promised yesterday, the Lamborghini was functional again. It was time to go! ¡­¡­ Our journey back to Suzhou New District was a safe and uneventful one, and we reached the company after 11 am. Murong Mingyue was already waiting at the entrance when we showed up. She immediately walked over to open the door for us when she saw us. After He Yi walked out of the car, Murong Mingyue asked with a smile, ¡°So, how was your trip? Was it an exciting rural adventure?¡± He Yi recalled the special ¡°car¡± she rode on this morning and nodded seriously. ¡°Absolutely!¡± ¡°Eh?¡± But Murong Mingyue misunderstood her meaning and picked out a soybean shell from He Yi¡¯s hair. She exclaimed in astonishment, ¡°WTF, guys, there¡¯s a reason people do their business in a corn field, not a soybean field. Soybeans are barely 40 centimeters tall, and you couldn¡¯t even hide a leg beneath them, seriously¡­ sigh, everyone starts off as a virgin, I guess. Remember, find a corn field the next time you do it again outside¡­¡± He Yi immediately turned red. ¡°What the hell are you talking about? It¡¯s not what you think! This soybean shell got stuck in my hair because¡­ because¡­¡± He Yi couldn¡¯t think of a reasonable explanation, so she threw the question to me instead. ¡°You tell her where the soybean shell came from.¡± I replied casually, ¡°The wind blew it into her hair.¡± Murong Mingyue looked at the sky. ¡°Of all the reasons you could think of¡­¡± After that, she wrapped an arm around He Yi¡¯s shoulder and smiled. ¡°So, Eve. Gimme the juicy details about last night. You and Lu Chen were sleeping in the same room, weren¡¯t you?¡± He Yi replied through gritted teeth, ¡°Another question, please. And no, we didn¡¯t sleep in the same room last night!¡± ¡°Fine. Did Lu Chen¡¯s father agree to you two dating each other?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Okay, okay, since you look like you¡¯re about to hit me I¡¯ll ask another question... did you use protection? It¡¯d be unfortunate if you came home with a little Eve or a little Lu Chen, right? These days it costs over ten thousand just to have a baby!¡± He Yi finally lost control and exploded. ¡°One more word and I¡¯ll annihilate you, girl! Hmph, protection? Medical fees? Do I look like I can¡¯t afford a measly ten thousand RMB? Oh wait, correction, nothing happened so I didn¡¯t need to spend that money in the first place¡­¡± Oh dear. Let¡¯s rescue her before she digs herself a deeper hole. I walked up to her and grabbed her hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go have our lunch at the coffee shop, sis. Just ignore sister Mingyue, you know that she¡¯s the queen of gossip¡­¡± Murong Mingyue chased after our backs. ¡°No, take me to lunch too¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Late afternoon, I logged into the game. Swoosh! When I appeared in Floating Ice City, I summoned the Dark Wasp and activated Ghost Deity Armor. I raised the Miracle Purgatory Sword and took a moment to admire the weapon. 475 Attack? Oh, you beautiful little thing. Which ace should I bully today, I wonder? I checked my friend list and saw that He Yi and Murong Mingyue were both online. However, Lin Yixin¡¯s ID was surprisingly darkened, and she was at Level 74. Tsk, she did spend a whole night leveling her character while I wasn¡¯t around! She must be sleeping like a pig now, wasn¡¯t she? Beep! Suddenly, I received a message from Beiming Xue: ¡°Boss, you free right now? Gui Guzi, Mamate, Du Thirteen and I accepted a quest some time ago, but we need help killing the last boss, another tank and heavy DPSer. Can you help us?¡± I replied gladly, ¡°Okay, add me to the party anytime!¡± Chapter 214: One True Love Beep! When I entered the party, I saw exactly Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Du Thirteen and Yamete in the party list. It was the return of the original five Bloody Mercenaries. ¡°Haha, hey boss!¡± Gui Guzi asked after a laugh, ¡°So, how was your trip home yesterday? I heard that the leader went home with you as well. Did you make any progress?¡± Slight embarrassed, I answered, ¡°Nope. Where are you guys anyway?¡± ¡°We¡¯re at Cyan Wolf Boneland, a small map at the northmost part of Frost Forest. A Level 75 Dark Gold Rank boss just spawned there recently, and lucky for us we found it before anyone else. We¡¯re watching it right now, but it¡¯d be better if you made haste and got here as quickly as possible. We¡¯ll engage the moment you arrive!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± I gripped the Purgatory Sword and ran at full speed. It would take about half an hour for me to reach Cyan Wolf Boneland from where I was, and I was fairly confident that no one would dare snatch a boss from right under Beiming Xue and Gui Guzi¡¯s noses during these 30 minutes. Half an hour later, I passed through Frost Forest and saw four tiny orange dots on my mini map immediately. The dots represented Beiming Xue and the others. The map they were in was a cyan-colored region full of death and gloominess. There were a ton of wolf carcasses on the ground, each the size of a goddamned elephant. It looked like the wolves here were ridiculously huge. There were both old and new carcasses. I saw maggots crawling inside the older ones and swarms of flies flying around the newer carcasses. The buzzing noise caused an uncomfortable churn inside my stomach. Crack crack... My Death Shade War Boots crushed a bone beneath my feet as I strode into the map in a straight line. But suddenly, I sensed someone ahead of me! I slowed down and trod carefully. Soon, I saw a group of ten people appear at the edge of a hill. They were clearly in a party, and the unique symbol that identified a player as a party leader was floating around the shoulder of a red-haired barbarian warrior. He wielded a battle axe, and his equipment looked pretty good. Level 64 was pretty good at this stage, and the ID floating above its head was: One True Love LV-64 Warrior Guild: Flower Room Guild Position: Corps Commander ¡­¡­ It was someone from Flower Room? What a small world we live in! Technically speaking, there was no river of blood between Bloody Mercenaries and Flower Room that could only be quenched with death. The problem was that there was a complicated relationship triangle between Lin Yixin, Li Le and I, and our guilds were caught up in the mess as a result. These days, we were practically sworn enemies. Beside him, a Level 61 archer asked, ¡°One True Love, are you sure we can beat them?¡± ¡°Of course. There are ten of us, and we have three third-promotion archers and two third-promotion mages. We¡¯ll one-shot their archer with Ice Dragon Howl while two of our warriors keep Gui Guzi busy. Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand isn¡¯t here anyway, so there¡¯s nothing to worry about! Let¡¯s kill the boss first and deal with the aftermath later!¡± The archer licked his lips vulgarly and said, ¡°I heard that the dark archer of Bloody Mercenaries, Beiming Xue, is incredibly beautiful and sexy. Leave her to me, I want to exchange shots with her, if you get what I mean!¡± One True Love smiled disdainfully at him. ¡°That woman is mine. Don¡¯t you even think about touching her.¡± ¡°What? Do you know her?¡± the archer asked in astonishment. One True Love replied with a sneer, ¡°Know her? I¡¯ve been searching for her for god knows how long! Anyway, get her in the red but don¡¯t kill her. I want to confirm if she¡¯s the one I¡¯m looking for first!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ I was caught off-guard by the conversation. What are they saying? How did this One True Love know Beiming Xue? I asked inside the party channel, ¡°Beiming, do you know a guy with an ID called One True Love?¡± ¡°No. Why are you asking, boss?¡± Beiming Xue answered in a surprised tone. ¡°You don¡¯t? Oh well, never mind then!¡± ¡°Why aren¡¯t you here yet, by the way?¡± I sucked in a deep breath before answering, ¡°A ten-man party from Flower Room has had their eyes on you. They have 3 archers, 2 mages, 2 warriors and 1 priest. Beiming, be careful. They have you down as their number one target.¡± Beiming Xue replied, ¡°Okay, got it. We¡¯ll hide ourselves and ambush them here.¡± ¡°You do that. I¡¯ll follow them from behind and catch them in a pincer when you¡¯re ready!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ I followed the Flower Room players closely, but made sure not to get too close. If I used Earth Escape there was no way I could catch up to them, but if I followed them too closely the chances of being exposed were much higher. Thus, I chose to maintain around 100 yards of distance between myself and the enemy party. This way, I could reach them in 15 seconds at most if a battle were to break out! I also used the opportunity to inspect their gear closely. All of the archers had above-average equipment, and the two mages were even stronger than they were. One of them was Level 68, and the other Level 69. On average, they were all high-level players. Maybe I would be able to tank a couple of Ice Dragon Howls to the face and still fight, but there was no way Beiming Xue and Mamate could do the same! The battle broke out ahead of me while I was still in deep thought. Gui Guzi had charged out of his hiding spot and thrust his spear into the chest of the foremost warrior! Puchi! 1748! It was a critical hit, but unfortunately it still wasn¡¯t enough to one-shot the enemy warrior. The guy probably had around 2000 HP, and after chugging a health potion he regained 1200 HP. One True Love looked pissed. He rushed toward Gui Guzi and hit his shoulder with his battle axe! 1274! +445! Undying Shield was truly impressive. 35% of the enemy¡¯s damage was negated just like that! At the same time, a green number +884 appeared above Gui Guzi¡¯s head. Man, Mamate¡¯s healing power had been improving a lot lately! One True Love sneered disdainfully and clashed blades with Gui Guzi. His party¡¯s gear was pretty good, and he still had the number advantage. Despite the successful ambush, it was still unclear who was going to be the final victor. It was at this moment Beiming Xue fired her Evil Spirit Volley! Boom boom boom boom boom! Three of the shots hit One True Love squarely on the chest and dealt around 1200 damage in total. His HP hit rock bottom in just an instant! Here¡¯s our chance! Gui Guzi charged him and executed Blaze! However, One True Love surprised us by assuming a defensive stance! Ding! 127! The warrior managed to defend himself perfectly from the skill. What a tragedy! Gui Guzi¡¯s mouth fell open. ¡°Fuck, it looks like I need to get a defensive skill book as soon as possible¡­¡± ¡°Gulp!¡± One True Love drank a health potion and readied himself for the next bout, but a series of bloodcurdling screams suddenly rang from behind him. ¡°Aaaaah¡­¡± ¡­¡­ It was me swinging the Purgatory Sword like lightning and unleashing Slayer Slash, Ice Ray and a basic attack at three different archers in succession! 1742! 1831! 1290! All three archers collapsed after taking fatal damage. Their pets also vanished automatically and returned to their pet space. Right now, my attack was so high that there was no leather armor class in the world who could take a hit from me, not unless they could gather a full set of Dark Gold¨Cgrade leather armor. Even then, they were still going to die in two hits at most! I ran after a mage while my Dark Wasp zoomed toward another. I swept my sword horizontally and launched another basic attack! Crack! The attack failed to deal any damage, but it did tear down the mage¡¯s Magic Shield. Not letting the opportunity slip by, I followed up with a bloody Desperate Gambit! Puchi! The attack almost cut the poor player in half. A huge damage number floated above his head¡ª1987! ¡­¡­ The enemy was completely caught off-guard by my appearance. One True Love turned around in a hurry while shouting, ¡°Fuck! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is here!? Who¡¯s the fucker who collected the intel? How can you make such a fundamental mistake!?¡± Before he could say anything else, Gui Guzi pounced toward him and swung his spear horizontally! Clang! The attack hit One True Love¡¯s head and knocked his helmet to the ground. His red hair spilled into the air as he glared at Gui Guzi hatefully. ¡°Come at me if you have balls, bastard! I¡¯m not afraid of you!¡± I had just finished cleaning up the rest of his party, and I was about to end his life myself. Suddenly, Beiming Xue let out a cry of astonishment and stared at One True Love with a complicated expression on her face. Gritting her teeth and breaking into tears all of a sudden, she grabbed her bow and aimed at One True Love, shouting, ¡°Die, you bastard!¡± Swhoosh! One True Love smiled the moment the Devil Piercing Arrow left its bow. ¡°Beiming Xue, you really are at Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡­¡± Pu! The arrow took away his last bit of health and killed him on the spot! ¡­¡­ It was a perfect victory even though it was 5 versus 10. However, I wasn¡¯t able to take joy from the success at all. It was because Beiming Xue¡¯s spirit had suddenly taken a nosedive, and her eyes were lacking her usual spirit. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Beiming? Do you know him after all?¡± I asked gently. Beiming Xue bit her lips and gave me a nod. But she shook her head right after that and said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing, boss. Let¡¯s finish the quest, shall we?¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen exchanged looks with each other, but none of them said a word. There was no point in prodding if Beiming Xue wasn¡¯t willing to tell us about it. We hit the boss with Gui Guzi and I as the tank. Everyone was stunned by my Defense. Killing the Level 75 boss was almost too easy since there were five of us, and its HP dropped incredibly quickly. However, I noticed that Beiming Xue wasn¡¯t doing too well. Normally, she would find ways to improve her DPS, but now she was just pulling her bow mechanically. The boss died. A Dark Gold Rank boss was practically a god at this stage of the game, so everyone was delighted by the kill. Besides that, the boss dropped a Gold-grade shield that we gave to Gui Guzi, Level 70 Gold-grade leather wristguards that we gave to Beiming Xue, and a Dark Gold¨Cgrade ring that increased its wearer¡¯s max HP by 18%. It was absolutely one of the absolute best rings out there. They were going to give it to me, but I turned it down and gave it to Gui Guzi instead. ¡­¡­ After we killed the boss, Beiming Xue pulled out a return scroll and smiled at us. ¡°I¡¯m going to head back first, okay? I¡¯m feeling a bit uncomfortable today¡­¡± I returned back to the city as well because I noticed that Beiming Xue was acting a bit unusual. I was the one who made her come here all the way from Wuxi to join us, so it was my responsibility to protect her wellbeing. If something happened to Beiming Xue while she was staying in Suzhou, I wouldn¡¯t be able to forgive myself for the rest of my life. After I logged off, I walked to Beiming Xue¡¯s door and gave it a light knock. I called out to her softly, ¡°Beiming?¡± Creak... The door opened. Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes looked a bit reddened and wet. She greeted me weakly, ¡°Boss¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Chapter 215: Love In the end, I wasn¡¯t able to find out more because Beiming Xue refused to speak after that. My excessive concern drew Murong Mingyue¡¯s attention, however. ¡°Lu Chen, can you come over for a moment? There¡¯s something I need to talk to you about.¡± Murong Mingyue pulled me by the sleeves and dragged me to a nearby bar regardless of my protests. Once we sat down at a corner, she shot me a question. ¡°Did you notice something isn¡¯t quite right with Beiming Xue as of late?¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I nodded strongly. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with her?¡± Murong Mingyue cupped her wine glass before explaining, ¡°I saw her vomiting inside her room this morning, but nothing seems to be coming out of her mouth. Besides that, she¡¯s been getting up later and later recently. Do you know what that means?¡± I shuddered. ¡°Is she hitting her second puberty?¡± ¡°Oh, you!¡± Murong Mingyue punched me lightly before saying very seriously, ¡°You probably don¡¯t get it, but I do. If I¡¯m not mistaken, then Beiming Xue is probably¡­ pregnant!¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± My mouth fell right open. ¡°How is that possible? I asked her about her relationships when she first came to Suzhou. How can she get pregnant when she didn¡¯t even have a boyfriend?¡± Murong Mingyue smiled at me. ¡°You fool. Do you think you can guess a girl¡¯s thoughts completely during your first meeting? Maybe she had a failed relationship in the past. Maybe it was the main reason she decided to come to Suzhou, to begin her life anew. But she didn¡¯t realize her previous relationship had resulted in her getting pregnant, and since this is probably her first time she didn¡¯t dare to talk to anyone about this at all¡­¡± I stared intently at her for a moment. ¡°I see¡­ say, sis. Is it just me, or does it sound like you¡¯ve experienced this yourself?¡± Murong Mingyue got angry. ¡°You brat! Of course not, I just met a lot of young girls in the company who had had the same experience. Hmph! I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m still a virgin, okay¡­¡± ¡°Holy shit, I cannot believe you just said that!¡± Murong Mingyue puffed up her chest fearlessly. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I? It¡¯s the truth, isn¡¯t it? I¡¯m never afraid to telling the truth!¡± I took a seat in dejection. ¡°Anyway, back to Beiming Xue. What on earth should we do about her? Even if I understand her circumstances now, I¡¯m still a guy. It¡¯s not right for me to ask her about this directly¡­¡± Murong Mingyue thought for a moment before smiling. ¡°Should I find an opportunity to speak to her about it? Indirectly, of course.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± ¡­¡­ Suddenly, we heard a noisy commotion from outside. It seemed to be an argument of sorts. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Let¡¯s head out and take a look!¡± Murong Mingyue rose to her feet. Beiming Xue looked like she was about to collapse on the spot. Delicate shoulders trembling and tears streaking down her cheeks, she pointed a finger at the young man and cried out, ¡°Get lost! Get lost!¡± One True Love frowned at her. ¡°Ah Xue, won¡¯t you come back with me? You can¡¯t be happy to be a stranger in a strange place¡­¡± Beiming Xue bit her lips and suddenly cried loudly. ¡°How dare you say that to me with a straight face! Why didn¡¯t you think of me when you were sleeping with another woman? Why didn¡¯t you think about my feelings when you manipulated Zhang Qing and made her lie to my face?¡± While saying this, Beiming Xue leaned against a wall and sobbed. ¡°You don¡¯t know how to love someone at all. It¡¯s all just a tally to you. Go away, I don¡¯t have feelings for you anymore¡­¡± ¡°Ah Xue, how can you criticize me like that?¡± ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen were around too, but they didn¡¯t get involved with the argument. After all, this was Beiming Xue¡¯s private business, and it wasn¡¯t their right to interfere thoughtlessly. But I wasn¡¯t able to hold myself back. I pushed aside the forming crowd and walked up to Beiming Xue. ¡°Beiming, what¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Boss¡­¡± Beiming Xue looked at me sadly and helplessly. Beiming Xue was both angry and terrified of One True Love, and the moment she saw me she jumped straight into my lap and cried like a broken dam. One True Love¡¯s eyes instantly turned hateful. He stared at me and asked coldly, ¡°You¡¯re the one who swindled her to Suzhou, weren¡¯t you? What is your goal, you goddamned scum?¡± I looked at him but didn¡¯t say anything. But One True Love took my silence as a gesture of submission and jabbed his finger at us, sneering, ¡°I knew it. You¡¯ve already slept with him, haven¡¯t you?¡± Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes turned furious. ¡°Get lost!¡± I sucked in a deep breath and gently pushed Beiming Xue to Murong Mingyue. Then, I spun around and punched the motherfucker right on the cheek! Bang! The punch was about as solid as it could be. You could almost hear his jaw dislocating from his bones. One True Love collapsed like a rock, but he struggled to his feet and jabbed his finger at me again. He shouted incoherently, ¡°Fuck¡­ your mother, how dare you fool around with my woman! Just you wait, I¡¯ll¡­ make you pay for what you¡¯ve done!¡± Without a word, I grabbed his collar with my left hand and punched his stomach with my right! Pu! His face turned purple as the air exited his lungs. His expression became even more distorted and sinister-looking than before. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that he was a real hooligan in real life. Sigh, god knows how Beiming Xue even fell for him in the first place. Three punches later, the man could do nothing but pant heavily on the floor. His face was covered in blood, and one of his front teeth had dropped to the corridor. He could no longer even speak without sounding like a leaking bagpipe. Gui Guzi chose this moment to walk up to One True Love and kick him again and again in the body. One True Love was lucky that Gui Guzi was wearing a pair of sports shoes, not leather shoes. He actually could¡¯ve died from the sheer force behind the kick if it was the latter. I stared at the gasping One True Love before saying coldly, ¡°Enough, Little Gui.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Still angry, Gui Guzi kicked One True Love one last time before finally backing off. I sneaked a glance at Beiming Xue and noticed that she had calmed down slightly. Clearly, she meant it when she said that she no longer had any feelings for One True Love. There was no way she could watch us beat the living shit out of him without reacting otherwise. It was at this moment Du Thirteen asked me, ¡°What should we do now?¡± I replied, ¡°Call 120 and send him to the hospital. I¡¯ll talk to the police and pay the fine if they come asking for questions.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± One True Love wasn¡¯t alone, but his goons quickly realized we outnumbered them by a lot. Worried about their own wellbeing, they hurriedly picked up One True Love and rushed out of the building without even demanding the medical fee. Murong Mingyue frowned at their departing backs before letting out a quiet sigh. ¡°Ai¡­¡± ¡­¡­ I supported Beiming Xue all the way to her room and tried to put her on the bed. However, she kept clinging to me and cried so much that it felt like my whole shirt was drenched with her tears. Patting Beiming Xue¡¯s back lightly, I whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t be sad anymore, Beiming. Everyone is destined to make a lot of choices in their life, and yes, you made a mistake that one time. But it¡¯s not a mistake worth being sad about. You¡¯ll use it as a learning experience and be wiser in the future, right?¡± ¡°Mn¡­¡± Beiming Xue agreed, but she still couldn¡¯t stop crying. I caressed her hair before asking her the question. ¡°Beiming, tell me. Are you pregnant?¡± Beiming Xue looked up and stared at me in panic. I gave her a reassuring smile before wiping the tears on her cheeks. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the hospital tomorrow and get an abortion. Only then, you¡¯ll truly be able to start afresh.¡± Beiming Xue nodded through her tears. ¡°Boss, why did I run into him first before I run into you? Why couldn¡¯t I have met you earlier? Maybe I wouldn¡¯t have made such a foolish mistake otherwise¡­¡± I laughed. ¡°That¡¯s because I was a pretty bad person myself at the time! Everyone has to go through a period of growth before they become mature, right?¡± ¡°But you¡­¡± Beiming Xue stared at me timidly. ¡°You are just so much better than him. Even a hair on your body is a million times better than that bastard. What was I thinking? I can¡¯t believe I was stupid enough to fall for that kind of person¡­¡± I laughed again. ¡°Foolish girl, that kind of ideal person you¡¯re imagining literally doesn¡¯t exist in this world. Now, pick yourself up and get some rest. Tomorrow, I¡¯ll accompany you to the hospital. After that, let¡¯s come back and greet everyone with a whole new Beiming Xue, okay? In my memory, Lil Beiming is a confident and sunny girl whose shine can¡¯t be diminished by anything!¡± Beiming Xue watched me and tried to give me a smile. However, the smile eventually gave way to her sobbings, and tears spilled out of her tear ducts again. Meanwhile, Murong Mingyue was standing next to a window and staring outside. She let out a sigh. No one except herself knew what she was thinking. ¡­¡­ When nighttime arrived, and He Yi heard about this after returning from a meeting, she immediately came to me. ¡°Lu Chen, come over for a minute!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Now!¡± ¡°Oh, okay!¡± I wasn¡¯t in the mood to log into the game anyway, so I followed He Yi out of my room until we reached a dark corridor. He Yi¡¯s beautiful face was slightly blurry because of how dim the lighting was. She stared at me and asked seriously, ¡°I heard that Beiming Xue is pregnant. Is that true?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡°I also heard that the baby is yours. Is that true?¡± ¡°WTF? Who said that?!¡± I almost shouted. He Yi let out a snort before putting a hand on my shoulder. ¡°Relax, I won¡¯t mind even if it¡¯s true. We¡¯re all young people, and who hasn¡¯t made a mistake in their life? Still, I gotta ask: are you keeping the baby or not?¡± I felt a sudden urge to kill myself as she watched me with her head tilted. I uttered through gritted teeth. ¡°I already told you that the baby isn¡¯t mine. Did sis spout nonsense into your ears again?¡± ¡°Huh, it really isn¡¯t yours?¡± ¡°Of course it isn¡¯t! It hasn¡¯t even been a month since we knew each other, not to mention that I¡¯ve always thought of her as a younger sister, not a love interest! Do you really think that poorly of me?¡± He Yi smiled at my vehement denial and nodded. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll trust you for now. What are you planning to do?¡± I thought for a moment before answering, ¡°I¡¯ll accompany Beiming Xue to the hospital tomorrow and get her an abortion. She cannot have this child no matter what, do you agree?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± He Yi said with a distant look. ¡°Beiming Xue is still so young. Her entire life would be ruined if she had a child now. Speaking of which, how are you planning to introduce yourself when you take her to the hospital?¡± ¡°Her older brother, I guess?¡± ¡°What a good older brother you are¡­¡± ¡°Oh come on, it¡¯s not what you think!¡± ¡°It so is!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not¡­¡± ¡°It is!¡± I let out a sorrowful sigh. If only a man¡¯s responsibility was just earning enough money to buy a house... ¡­¡­ The next day, I woke up much earlier than usual and ate breakfast. When it was past 9 am in the morning, I borrowed Murong Mingyue¡¯s car and drove Beiming Xue to the municipal hospital. The nurse at the register was quite pretty, and she asked me a question, probably because I was pretty handsome myself, ¡°Which department are you registering for, handsome? Urology or gastroenterology?¡± Chapter 216: Pregnant My Ass After registering, we went to the seventh floor where the gynecology ward was. There was a young temporary nurse standing at the front desk of the gynecology ward. She looked to be about 20 years old, and her looks were so-so. ¡°Good day to you both. Are you here to see the doctor?¡± the nurse asked. I nodded and passed her Beiming Xue¡¯s medical record. Then, she asked us, ¡°What would you like to check about?¡± Beiming Xue turned purple and grabbed my arm timidly. I tried to remain calm as I answered, ¡°Accidental pregnancy¡­¡± ¡°Oh, I see. Please come with me!¡± I tried to follow her, but the temporary nurse turned around and said, ¡°No, I¡¯m talking about your girlfriend, not you. She is your girlfriend, right?¡± ¡°No¡­ I er¡­¡± I hesitated for a moment, but in the end I steeled myself and nodded. ¡°Mn.¡± Right now, Beiming Xue was as twitchy as a frightened kitty, and she needed someone to support her. That responsibility fell on me, now. I didn¡¯t mind losing a bit of reputation if it would give her comfort. ¡­¡­ A while later, Beiming Xue returned to me with her medical record. ¡°Boss, I¡¯m going to take a blood test¡­¡± ¡°Mn.¡± She clung to my arm again, and we went downstairs again to where the medical examination ward was. Suddenly, I heard a soft cry behind me. ¡°Lu Chen?¡± Surprised, I spun around and found a beautiful girl standing at the first floor and staring at me. She was holding a stack of receipts. It was none other than Clear Perfume, also known as Sun Qingqing! ¡°Ah, It¡¯s actually you? Why are you here?¡± Sun Qingqing looked very excited. Embarrassed at the situation, I threw the question back at her. ¡°Well, why are you here?¡± ¡°Oh, I came with Yiyi.¡± ¡°Lin Yixin?¡± I shivered. Fuck me, she¡¯s not here to deal with accidental pregnancy as well, is she? My stomach was positively swelling with worry when Lin Yixin showed up at this exact moment. She was clutching her left arm like she had her blood taken, and her sleeves were rolled up to her shoulders, exposing the pink flesh beneath. Her mouth fell open when she spotted me. For a time, it was as if time itself had frozen for the both of us. ¡°Ahem, this is a good time as any for a confession, don¡¯t you think?¡± Sun Qingqing said with a playful smile on her face. Lin Yixin glared back and forth between me and Beiming Xue. Then, she read the receipt in my hand and exclaimed in astonishment, ¡°Gynecology? And this checkup¡­ Lu Chen, you!!!!¡± Panicking, I tried to explain myself. ¡°Yiyi, please don¡¯t misunderstand, I¡¯m not¡­ I er¡­ fuck, how am I going to¡­¡± Unfortunately I was in full panic mode, and I couldn¡¯t get a proper explanation out no matter how I tried. I froze like a statue. Lin Yixin also froze like a statue before she stared at me with big, sorrowful eyes. ¡°Hmph! Lu Chen, you¡¯re a bastard! I was wrong about you!¡± At this point, I felt like killing myself. I hurriedly walked up to Lin Yixin and grabbed her shoulders. ¡°Yiyi, this really is a misunderstanding! The truth is¡­ ah, goddammit. I¡¯ll tell you about it later, okay? Let¡¯s meet up during lunch.¡± But Lin Yixin glared at me with red eyes before saying, ¡°Forget it!¡± Then, she turned away and left me behind. Sun Qingqing stuck a tongue at me before saying, ¡°Oops, Yiyi got mad. Anyway, we have business at the dermatology ward. If you¡¯re not done yet by the time we come out, we¡¯ll come over and apologize to you!¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± ¡­¡­ Words couldn¡¯t describe how bewildered and speechless I was feeling as Lin Yixin vanished from my sight. Beiming Xue stared at me before letting out a giggle. ¡°You love her a lot, don¡¯t you, big brother?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°You at least care for her a lot, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Double nope!¡± ¡°Hmph hmph. Whatever you say!¡± Beiming Xue¡¯s medical examination took about an hour or so to complete. After that, we accepted the medical report and went upstairs again. The chief physician was an old woman about seventy years of age. She stared at the medical report for a moment before looking at me. ¡°Is she your girlfriend?¡± ¡°Yes. Anyway, can we have the operation before lunch, doctor?¡± I asked urgently. To our shock, the doctor replied with a serious expression, ¡°What operation? Your girlfriend is perfectly fine. She isn¡¯t pregnant at all.¡± ¡°Ah??¡± My mouth fell open. ¡°But why does she feel like vomiting every day?¡± ¡°That¡¯s because she has gastroenteritis. I can prescribe her some medicine; I used to be in gastroenterology before I transferred.¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I was stunned. Beiming Xue was also stunned. Suddenly, she opened her arms and hugged me so tight that I felt like suffocating. ¡°Thank god, big bro, thank god¡­¡± Tears streaked across Beiming Xue¡¯s cheeks. ¡°I¡¯m not pregnant, I¡¯m not pregnant with that bastard¡¯s child¡­¡± Well, one of us is happy at least. Not only did we go through all this trouble for ultimately nothing, I even got into a bad misunderstanding with Lin Yixin. Fuck my life. ¡­¡­ When we were back at the corridor, I asked Beiming Xue softly, ¡°Beiming, did you do that with that guy without protection?¡± ¡°Do what?¡± ¡°What else? I¡¯m talking about¡­¡± Beiming Xue turned red. ¡°I don¡¯t know. He was having a hard time at the time, so I let him stay in my house for a while. It was during that time we had some intimate moments¡­¡± I asked, ¡°Intimate moments?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡°What kind of intimate moments, exactly?¡± ¡°Hand holding, kissing.¡± ¡°...You think that¡¯s enough to make you pregnant?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t go any further with him?¡± ¡°He wanted to take off my clothes, but I rejected him. After that, I ran to Suzhou without telling him.¡± ¡°Fuck me!¡± ¡°Big brother Lu Chen, boss¡­ why are you swearing?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Still crying like a bitch, I looked for the dermatology ward. I finally understood why that One True Love came all the way to Suzhou for Beiming Xue. It was because he didn¡¯t get what he wanted in the first place. I wasn¡¯t sure what was worse, his dogged persistence or Beiming Xue¡¯s fatal innocence. Either one was too much for a shut-in like me. ¡­¡­ After Beiming Xue registered at the gastroenterology ward, she sneaked glances at me until she could no longer hold herself back anymore. She asked softly, ¡°Big bro, can I confess something to you?¡± ¡°Oh? What is it? I was a bit distracted because my head was filled with Lin Yixin. She sucked in a deep breath before explaining, ¡°His name is Chen Sheng. We were high school schoolmates. We were a very normal couple at the beginning, but Chen Sheng later dropped out of school and and struck out on his own for about two years or so. We weren¡¯t close, but we were still boyfriend and girlfriend in name. However, one day my opinion of him changed drastically when I realized that he was doing drugs!¡± ¡°Doing drugs?¡± I frowned. ¡°No wonder he looks like he needs to have his teeth kicked in¡­¡± Beiming Xue smiled. ¡°At the time, I was already unsure if I still had feelings for him. Maybe I still stuck with him because of the promise I made to myself a long time ago. After that, Chen Sheng tried to take me to a hotel, but I really didn¡¯t want to go with him. It was that day I officially fell out with him.¡± I rubbed my temple for a bit and leaned against the chair. ¡°But he didn¡¯t give up on you, and you didn¡¯t want to have anything to do with him. So it turned into a war of attrition, am I right?¡± ¡°Mn, more or less¡­¡± Beiming Xue pursed her lips. ¡°I didn¡¯t feel anything for him anymore, but it also made me feel like I had betrayed him. He refused to budge, and I was really troubled for a time¡­¡± I frowned a little before asking, ¡°Beiming, are you sure you feel absolutely nothing for him anymore?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Beiming Xue nodded seriously. ¡°That¡¯s not all. I find him absolutely repulsive these days. Maybe it was because I was too young back then, but I wasn¡¯t able to see him for what he was a couple years back. It was only now I realized just how loathsome he is¡­¡± I let out a cough and lowered my voice, ¡°So, did you or did you not do it with him?¡± Beiming Xue blinked once before holding my hand. ¡°Boss, can you tell me something? Do¡­ do you get pregnant after you hug someone and kiss them?¡± To say that I was petrified would be an understatement. A long time later, I finally asked, ¡°How on earth did you survive your biology class?¡± ¡°Our teacher was a new female graduate, and she put us on self-study because she was too embarrassed to teach that particular class. We spent the whole lessons playing Legend of the Three Kingdoms as a result¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Oh my god, so it was a female teacher who was the cause behind all this. Not only did her negligence result in a bunch of ignorant students, my reputation was dragged through the mud because of it! Goddamn, motherfucking sonuvabitch, this literally cannot get any more embarrassing for me! ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue was called into the ward while I was busy drowning myself in my sorrows. A while later, the doctor prescribed her some medicine and told her to rest properly. We went to the dermatology ward, but Lin Yixin and Sun Qingqing were long gone. On the way back home, I pulled out my phone and called Lin Yixin¡¯s number. The call connected after two dial tones, and I heard Lin Yixin say from the other side of the phone, ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Mn, about just now¡­¡± Lin Yixin suddenly laughed. ¡°You don¡¯t need to explain anything, a good life needs no explanation. Beiming Xue is an obedient, cute and beautiful girl. I perfectly understand why you would have an affair with her.¡± My complexion was quickly turning into a shade of blue. ¡°What the hell are you even talking about? It¡¯s really not what you think¡­¡± Lin Yixin giggled again. ¡°Seriously, you don¡¯t need to explain anything to me, I understand!¡± ¡°And what did you ¡®understand¡¯, exactly¡­¡± ¡°You prefer older women, am I right? Lil Beiming is way too young to catch your attention, so tell me, how far have you gone with Murong Mingyue?¡± The flames of war had spread to Murong Mingyue before she even realized it. Not sure whether to laugh or cry, I said, ¡°Yiyi, seriously, can we not talk about this anymore? I¡¯ve made up my mind to move out of the gaming base and find my own place to stay. Surely this is enough to clear me of any suspicion, right? Actually, why are we talking about this when I¡¯m not even in a relationship with anyone, this is ridiculous¡­¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s chuckle entered my ears. ¡°Oh? You sure you¡¯re going to move out of the gaming base?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I nodded strongly. Lin Yixin hmmed for a moment before replying, ¡°Actually, I was planning to move out of the dorms myself. The campus turns off their electricity at midnight, and the battery of my gaming helmet only lasts for 30 minutes. I hate it when I get the notification that I need to log out within 30 minutes!¡± Suddenly, Lin Yixin asked me sweetly, ¡°Do you want to rent a house together?¡± I was tempted, but I said, ¡°That would be¡­ inappropriate, don¡¯t you think?¡± Lin Yixin burst out in laughter. ¡°Of course it¡¯s inappropriate! Like I would trust a womanizer like you! Hmph hmph, I¡¯m moving out with Qingqing and that¡¯s that!¡± I let out a long sigh of resignation. Well, I should¡¯ve seen this coming a mile away. There was no way an opportunity this fantastic would land in my lap. ¡°Lu Chen~~¡± Lin Yixin suddenly called out my name. ¡°Hmm? What?¡± ¡°Get back to grinding as much as you can. I heard a rumor that Heavenblessed will have a massive update after the first player reaches Level 80, and it seems like it has something to do with the Tactician class.¡± ¡°Oh, really? Where on earth did you hear something like this?¡± ¡°That is none of your business. Just focus on grinding for now!¡± ¡°Got it.¡± ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m heading home. Let¡¯s¡­ meet again in the game, shall we?¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ After I hung up the call, Beiming Xue blinked and asked me from the front passenger¡¯s seat, ¡°Big bro, are you moving out of the base?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I nodded seriously. ¡°You¡¯ll be moving out with me as well.¡± Chapter 217: Rebuilding the Workshop ¡°Live together?¡± My heart skipped a beat as I shot Beiming Xue a sidelong glance. ¡°Why do you have to put it like that? I mean, it¡¯s technically true, but the meaning¡¯s completely different.¡± Beiming Xue turned red and lowered her head. ¡°I don¡¯t mind if it¡¯s you, boss¡­¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± I stopped her before she could go any further. ¡°Your brain must¡¯ve short-circuited or something! Anyway, there are two very simple reasons as to why I want to move out of the base.¡± ¡°What are they?¡± Beiming Xue looked at me with a hopeful expression. ¡°One, I¡¯m not very used to the operating style of a club. When the number of people in an organization grows past a certain threshold, the efficiency of work being done starts dropping drastically. It is a fact that it takes nearly an hour just to form a party these days, so I personally think we can do much better as a smaller workshop. Two, I don¡¯t want any harm to fall on you. I¡¯m sure that Chen Sheng isn¡¯t done with you yet, and sure, there are more than enough people here to protect you at almost all times. But as the saying goes, it¡¯s better to have been robbed than have a robber waiting for a chance to rob you. Not to mention this guy may be able to find an opportunity to harrass you and disrupt your daily life. That would be terrible, am I right?¡± Moved by my concern for her safety, Beiming Xue sniffled once before placing her face on my shoulder. ¡°Big bro, do you treat every girl this good?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Of course not. I¡¯m the reason you came to Suzhou, so I have a responsibility to ensure your wellbeing.¡± Beiming Xue smiled. ¡°How many ¡®sisters¡¯ do you have exactly?¡± I trembled from head to toe. ¡°Does it matter? They¡¯ve all wed themselves to tears¡­¡± ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ It was night. A total of eight core members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had gathered including Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Yamete and so on. He Yi was leaning against the window and watching the lights outside with a distant look on her face. The way her hair swayed when a breeze touched her hair on occasion was a sight I could watch until the end of times. For some reason, I thought I saw a glimmer of uncertainty behind her eyes. It was at this moment Murong Mingyue passed He Yi a cup of hot coffee. ¡°Here¡¯s your drink, leader!¡± ¡°Heh¡­¡± He Yi accepted the coffee and finally looked at me. ¡°Are you sure about this, Lu Chen?¡± I nodded seriously. ¡°Mn. There are too many people in the gaming base, and life here is hectic and fast-paced. Personally, I prefer a slower and more relaxed lifestyle.¡± Murong Mingyue looked between me and Beiming Xue. Then, she said, ¡°Will you be taking Beauty Beiming with you as well?¡± ¡°Yes, because you know¡­¡± I started hesitantly. I wasn¡¯t expecting her to say something like that. ¡°What request?¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°I still have another half a month or so before my holiday runs out, so is it okay if I move in with you while I¡¯m still here? Just like you, it¡¯s been a headache for me to manage the base day and night.¡± Murong Mingyue said hurriedly, ¡°If you¡¯re going to stay with Lu Chen then I¡¯m coming as well!¡± Xu Yang interrupted in shock. ¡°Wait a second, who¡¯s going to manage the base if you¡¯re all gone? Trouble is bound to happen if the base is left without a head¡­¡± He Yi put down her cup and smiled at him. ¡°Xu Yang, I officially appoint you as the CEO of the base of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Club! From this point onward, you are responsible for everything in this place!¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Xu Yang¡¯s jaw hit the floor. You could probably stuff an elephant inside his mouth if you tried. Shocked and happy, he stared at He Yi and clarified, ¡°Boss, did I hear you right? Am I finally going to be an officer?¡± He Yi nodded at him with a smile. ¡°Yeah. Your salary will be doubled, and you¡¯ll need to submit a report to Mingyue every week. If that¡¯s okay with you, then it¡¯s settled. You¡¯ll be in charge of everything inside the base.¡± Xu Yang was positively bursting with joy. ¡°A CEO! I¡¯m a CEO! The title alone sounds cool as hell! The highest post I¡¯ve ever gotten was a door locker at primary school, but now I¡¯m finally successful enough to report back to my dad!¡± The girls all burst out in giggles at his display of happiness. However, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, and Yamete looked a bit lost. Gui Guzi asked, ¡°Boss, if you¡¯re moving out with Lil Beiming, what about us?¡± I thought for a moment before asking, ¡°Would you like to come with me as well?¡± Gui Guzi looked both wanting and reluctant. His reservation was due to He Yi, the club president herself, and Murong Mingyue¡¯s choice to move out with me. He would have to restrain himself around them, not to mention that living together with multiple girls was bound to cause a number of inconveniences. He Yi smiled. ¡°Actually, I think Gongsun Gu, Du Thirteen and Ma Dai should stay in the base. Xu Yang will be alone after we¡¯re gone, so it¡¯ll be great if you can hang around to support him. There are only so many people who are of the same mind as us¡­¡± Du Thirteen smiled. ¡°Leader, we have no problems supporting brother Xu Yang, but¡­ you¡¯ll need to give us positions to match our authority¡­¡± He Yi chuckled. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s easy. In fact, I¡¯m going to assign all of your positions right away. Gui Guzi, you¡¯re the manager of the base¡¯s tactics department. From now on, you¡¯ll be responsible for planning our strategies. Du Thirteen, you¡¯re the manager of the logistics department. Do familiarize yourself with your new environment as much as possible while I clear things up for the former manager. Speaking of which, you¡¯ll be in charge of the purchase department as well. Be sure to submit a report to Xu Yang every week. As for Ma Dai, hmm, I guess you can be the manager of the human resource department. The base can accommodate a total of 200 members, and they are the core strength of our guild. You¡¯ll be responsible for adding, removing or replacing them as you see fit.¡± A pause later, He Yi continued, ¡°I will increase your salary to 15k RMB per month. Murong Mingyue and Xu Yang will inform you three on the exact details of your posts and responsibilities hidden therein later . I¡¯ll ask a lawyer to draft your contracts right after this meeting, and you should be able to sign them in three days¡¯ time.¡± He Yi¡¯s decision couldn¡¯t be considered wise, but everyone could hear the determination in her voice. Gui Guzi accepted his appointment gladly. Du Thirteen accepted his appointment gladly. Mamate also accepted his appointment gladly. The matter was settled then. Beiming Xue, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and I would be moving out of the gaming base and living in our own accomodation. It was at this moment Xu Yang rubbed his nose and said, ¡°So in the end, the final result is Lu Chen robbing us of the three prettiest women in our base?¡± I was embarrassed, so I bowed my head and kept my mouth zipped up tight. Murong Mingyue laughed. ¡°Lu Chen was only going to take Beiming Xue away, okay? Eve and I are the ones who insisted on throwing ourselves to the wolf. It would be more apt to call this a beautiful misunderstanding.¡± He Yi chided her. ¡°Throw ourselves to the wolf? You couldn¡¯t find a better way to describe this?¡± Xu Yang smiled at me. ¡°So, when are you leaving, and what kind of accommodation are you looking to rent, Lu Chen?¡± I mulled over the question before replying, ¡°I¡¯m just going to look for a normal apartment with a rent under 5000 RMB. Anything more than that may be a bit too much for me to handle. I¡¯m not going to use my savings to pay off the rent.¡± Xu Yang nodded, but he said, ¡°I¡¯m going to have to remind you that an apartment with a monthly rent of 5000 isn¡¯t really all that impressive. Boss usually lives in secluded villas, you know? Are you sure she¡¯ll be able to adjust to her new home?¡± His question caught me off-guard. I didn¡¯t know what to say to that. But He Yi came to the rescue and said, ¡°So what if it¡¯s only 5000 a month? When I entered society at the age of 19, I¡¯ve lived in 400 RMB rooms before, the kind that don¡¯t even have a bed. I can still remember the windows creaking every time there was a stronger wind. If I could live in a place like that, why would I mind living in an apartment that costs 5000 RMB a month?¡± Xu Yang nodded in relief. ¡°In that case, all is well!¡± It was at this moment Murong Mingyue stared at me and said meaningfully, ¡°Ai, do you even understand how big of a sacrifice Eve is making, you sinful man! If the higher-ups ever learned about this, I guarantee you that their jaws would hit the floor with a clang¡­¡± I looked at He Yi, and the girl turned slightly red. ¡°What are you talking about¡­¡± Murong Mingyue giggled before urging me, ¡°Well, what are you waiting for? Start looking for an apartment online!¡± ¡°Oh, right!¡± I turned on the computer and searched for a bit. I quickly spotted a Bailuwan 7th Project that just finished less than half a year ago. The apartments were all brand new, and they weren¡¯t far away from the base or the university. There were both sales and rental advertisements, and I noticed that the rental fee for a 4-bedroom apartment was 7200 RMB per month. It was pretty expensive. There were a total of 8 such apartments that were still available. I hesitated. The apartment seemed perfect, but it also exceeded my estimated cost. So I frowned and started searching again. ¡°Fuck, is there anything else that¡¯s below 5000? Let¡¯s see¡­¡± Suddenly, I felt someone putting a hand on my shoulder. It was He Yi sticking her face close and staring at the monitor. She gave me a smile before saying, ¡°7200 a month isn¡¯t too bad considering how insane apartment prices are these days. Our new workshop could definitely earn 7200 gold a month, right?¡± ¡°New workshop? Are we forming a new workshop?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± He Yi smiled at me before whispering beside my ears. ¡°Three beautiful girls are going to form a new workshop with you. You¡¯re not going to object to that, are you?¡± My beautiful leader¡¯s hair tickled my face and my heart. ¡°No¡­ nope¡­¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°It¡¯s settled then. With this, the core workshop of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is officially reformed. I¡¯m not planning to invest any capital into this besides the initial rent. This way, our workshop could develop freely on its own. What do you think, Lu Chen?¡± I nodded and declared confidently, ¡°Considering our current strength, earning a living in Heavenblessed is no problem at all, so I guess 7200 a month isn¡¯t really that much. Anyway, if we¡¯re all in agreement, I¡¯m gonna book the apartment. Okay? Okay. Now, gimme your online bank account number so I can pay the three-month deposit, Eve¡­¡± He Yi fell speechless for a second before turning toward Murong Mingyue. ¡°You, give me your online bank account number¡­¡± Murong Mingyue: ¡°What sin did I commit during my previous life to deserve this¡­¡± ¡­¡­ The apartment was booked, and the deposit was fully paid at around 7 pm. We also called the proprietor and settled the deal. We could move into the place at 8 pm at the earliest. I was in no hurry to move into my new accommodation, but for some reason the girls¡ªespecially He Yi and Murong Mingyue¡ªwere. Miraculously, they even managed to finish packing their belongings in less than 20 minutes. We loaded our belongings onto Murong Mingyue¡¯s A8 and He Yi¡¯s Lamborghini and left that very night. Most people weren''t even aware of our departure, but it was fine as long as we didn¡¯t abandon the guild inside the game. As the leaders of our guild, we didn¡¯t have the luxury to abandon our posts whenever we felt like it. The handover was officially completed at 8:30 sharp. The landlord was a middle-aged uncle who looked to be around 40 years old or so. When he gave us the keys, he stared at the girls for a moment before muttering from the bottom of his heart, ¡°Wow, these girls are beautiful and classy. They must be the daughters of some famous families or something¡­¡± I was dumbfounded by how old-fashioned his thinking was. These days, anyone with enough worldly experience would look classy. He Yi and Murong Mingyue were both impressive businesswomen in their respective industries, and their successes were evident in the way they carried themselves. Beiming Xue was a young woman who recently finished high school, so she possessed an innocent-like quality. ¡­¡­ I was given the room closest to the front door. It was almost as if I was assigned to be the apartment¡¯s guard. He Yi¡¯s room was right next to mine, and Murong Mingyue¡¯s next to hers. Beiming Xue¡¯s room was on the opposite of ours. By the time we finished setting down everything and connected to the internet, it was past 11 pm in the night. I clapped my hands together and declared, ¡°Let¡¯s go to sleep earlier and wake up at 7 am in the morning! It¡¯s time to work hard and grab a piece of the world for ourselves!¡± Chapter 218: Stayfree Workshop Thump thump thump! A violent knocking on the door woke me up from sleep when it was still early in the morning. It was Murong Mingyue calling out to me, ¡°Lu Chen, time to wake up and grab your milk!¡± Fuck! I swiftly climbed to my feet and put on my clothes. When I walked outside and got to the living room, I immediately saw a glass of milk on the coffee table. I shot a glance at Murong Mingyue. She was wearing a pink, low-cut T-shirt and arranging a stack of brand new fashion magazines by the sofa. The way her enormous breasts rippled after every movement was astounding to say the least. I glanced back and forth between the cup and Murong Mingyue, but in the end I wasn¡¯t able to hold myself back from asking, ¡°Sis, is this¡­ yours?¡± Murong Mingyue stared at me blankly for a couple of seconds before turning beet red. She rose to her feet angrily. ¡°No! What are you thinking? It¡¯s something we ordered from downstairs! Now drink it already! Starting today, we¡¯re drinking a glass of milk and eating cake for breakfast every morning!¡± I was shocked. ¡°But my preferred breakfast is deep-fried dough sticks and hot pepper soup¡­¡± Murong Mingyue uttered through gritted teeth. ¡°Can you drink the milk already?¡± ¡°Mn¡­¡± Before I could take a seat, He Yi walked out of the kitchen with a tray of evenly cut cake. As I thought, breakfast had already been prepared, and it was by none other than the two beautiful senior executives of GGS Asia, He Yi and Murong Mingyue. There probably weren¡¯t many men who ever got to enjoy such an amazing breakfast in their lives, and I was happy to declare that I was among the fortunate ones. After I had washed myself properly, I rubbed my hands together and sat next to He Yi. To my surprise, she was wearing a blue lattice one-piece shirt and a brown short skirt. It was a refreshing look that dialed down the professionalism, but dialed up the friendliness. She actually looked more like the girl next door than the impressive vice president of GGS she actually was. I couldn¡¯t help but look at her repeatedly, and she seemed to have caught on to my attention. She gave me a light smile and said, ¡°Seen enough yet? Come on, don¡¯t keep your food waiting.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I glanced to the other side of the table. Beiming Xue was wearing a milky jacket and her usual black stockings. ¡°You girls disturbed my sweet dreams last night. I could hear your laughter all the way from my room. What were you girls chatting about in Beiming Xue¡¯s room until 1 am anyway?¡± Murong Mingyue smiled lightly. ¡°We were talking about reproduction, that¡¯s all.¡± ¡°Reproduction?¡± ¡°Pregnancy and stuff¡­¡± ¡°WTF!¡± I nearly spat out the cake I was eating. I pressed further. ¡°So, what was the conclusion of that discussion?¡± I shivered at the revelation before coughing lightly to hide my embarrassment. It wasn¡¯t like I hadn¡¯t noticed myself that Beiming Xue probably hadn¡¯t done that with anyone. I just wasn¡¯t expecting such a drama to happen to someone in my life, much less be a participant of said drama myself. Beiming Xue¡¯s choice of attire did make her look like a loose girl sometimes, but in reality she was someone who defended her chastity so fiercely that I could almost imagine the walls she put up when Chen Sheng had tried to get on her bed. The guy must¡¯ve been rebuffed like never before. Today, Chen Sheng was a Flower Room player and thus a subordinate of Li Le. Truly, what a small world we live in. First, there was the complicated relationship between Li Le, Lin Yixin, and me. Then, there was the complicated relationship between Chen Sheng, Beiming Xue, and me again. Finally, our guilds¡ªSnowy Cathaya, Flower Room and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡ªwere dragged into our conflict as well. I wondered if I should murder Chen Sheng¡¯s ass the next time I see him, or sit down and have a good chat with him about the ridiculous situation we were both in. But no matter what the future had in store for us, one thing was certain¡ª, Chen Sheng was destined to be the loser. Despite being a couple with Beiming Xue for many years, he had never been successful in taking the last step. The poor guy even named himself ¡°One True Love¡±. If he wasn¡¯t a failure, who was? If I was Chen Sheng, I might have killed myself to wipe the shame from my memory! ¡­¡­ ¡°What are your plans, Lu Chen? Will you be joining us in our grind?¡± He Yi asked. I thought for a moment before shaking my head. ¡°Nah, I think I¡¯m going solo for a bit. I¡¯m going to check if the undead factions have any quests, farm some EXP and become the first player to reach Level 80!¡± I looked at the three beauties around me and smiled at them. ¡°With Eve as the tank, Beiming Xue as the DPS and sis as the healer, I¡¯m sure you can wipe any map at your level.¡± He Yi smiled brightly. ¡°I think so too!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Murong Mingyue took out a notebook and spread it across the table. She wrote down today¡¯s date and smiled at me. ¡°This is our workshop¡¯s quest column. Everyone is required to record their gains before 10 pm at night and contribute 25 percent to the shared treasury. What do you all think?¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°Mn, the sooner we can gather the money to pay the rent, the better¡­ also, why don¡¯t we register a new bank card under He Yi¡¯s name? This is our workshop¡¯s capital, so it¡¯s best if we have it down in black and white.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± He Yi smiled pleasantly before taking out a green card from her bag. ¡°This ICBC card has been registered just recently, and it doesn¡¯t have any money on it yet. The password¡¯s 123456. Mingyue, I leave this in your care.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Beiming Xue was drinking her milk, and she put down her glass temporarily to ask, ¡°Big bro, our previous workshop was called Bloody Mercenaries, and now it¡¯s joined up with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. What should we call our new workshop then?¡± Her question stumped me immediately. I muttered to myself, ¡°What should we call our new workshop? Maybe we can just call it Bloody¡ªnah, that¡¯s not good, we have Eve and Mingyue now. Ancient Sword is clearly not good either, we¡¯re a workshop that is detached from our gaming base. It¡¯s gotta be a new name¡­¡± Murong Mingyue puffed up her chest confidently and declared, ¡°Let¡¯s just call it Mingyue workshop¡­¡± I shot a glance and snickered. ¡°Who do you think you are? There¡¯s no way we can use your name¡­¡± He Yi also nodded in agreement. ¡°That¡¯s right, you¡¯re just a healer. You can¡¯t be the face of our workshop. It should be a whole new name, but what?¡± Beiming Xue tried. ¡°We have three girls and one boy here, so how about we call ourselves¡­ the Emei Sect?¡± ¡°Pu!¡± I accidentally spat out the water in my mouth. ¡°Why on earth would you want to be a bunch of Daoist nuns? Absolutely not.¡± Beiming Xue blinked. ¡°Well, there are three girls in the workshop, so¡­ do you have an idea, big bro?¡± ¡°I wonder¡­¡± I thought for a moment when a light bulb suddenly appeared above my head. I declared confidently, ¡°From now on, our name is Stayfree workshop¡­¡± ¡°Pu!¡± This time, it was the three girls who spat out their drinks. The living room dissolved into chaos for a moment. ¡­¡­ In the end, we weren¡¯t able to come up with a good name everyone was satisfied with, so we decided to put it on the backburner and tackle it another time. I logged into the game after breakfast was over! Swhoosh! I checked my level after I appeared in Floating Ice City¡¯s inn. Due to Beiming Xue¡¯s matter the day before, I had dropped to the fourth place of the player ranking. NameLevelClass Wind Fantasy 74 Light Wanderer Clear Perfume 73 Archer Purple Marquis 73 Warrior Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 72 Undead Swordsman Dominating Heaven Blade 72 Warrior Beiming Xue 71 Dark Archer Gui Guzi 71 Undead Knight Shadow Chanel 71 Mage Indigo Collar 71 Warrior Dominating Mage God 71 Mage ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin was still number one, and Clear Perfume probably had just finished some epic quest line since she leveled up twice in a single night, entering the Top 3. As of now, the entire podium of the Heavenly Ranking belonged to Snowy Cathaya In other words, they were as dominant as the sun in Floating Ice City! There were four Snowy Cathaya players, three Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players, two Gods of Destruction players and one Peach Garden player on the Heavenly Ranking. It was the world of the Top 4 guilds of Floating Ice City! I checked the contents of my bag for a bit. I didn¡¯t have much of anything, but my gold count did go up by ten thousand or so. It was the sum I got after selling the random assortment of top-tier equipment I had gotten during my adventures. The income was good. Thanks to my high level, awesome equipment and solo grinding, I was able to earn a couple thousand RMB a day. Thank you very much for the gold~~ After I was done admiring myself, I checked my skill list next and noted that my Cooking was now Rank 7. Very good. It was time to find some Rank 7 ingredients to grind and reach Rank 8! As the average level of players increased, so did the MP expenditure of the top-tier mages. The most basic of Rank 7 spells cost 70 MP, and such mages¡¯ total MP was around 2000. They would literally run out of mana with a few high-rank Fireballs. Therefore, Rank 6 Magic Consumables were no longer enough to meet their needs. It was time to look for something better. I brought up the official database and searched for the term ¡°Turtle Meat¡±. The only information I found was: Frost Turtle: A wild monster between Level 75 and 85. They can be spotted at the freshwater lakes to the southwest of Floating Ice City. Their diet consists of fishes and prawns, and their bodies are extremely tough. Empowered by the power of ice, they are capable of firing magic attacks at their enemies. ¡­¡­ Very good, I should be able to gather a ton of Turtle Meat if I hunt down these monsters! Right now I had no idea where I could find a quest to do anyway, so I might as well check out the west side of Floating Ice City. I opened the world map and saw all of Floating Ice City. Some portions of the giant map were open for access, and others were concealed, including the freshwater lakes that were supposed to be at the southwest side of the map. Not even the names of the concealed locations had been revealed to the players. However, I could spot a blue area in that region. I was sure that it was the lake I was looking for. It was only a 50-minute journey away from where I was, but to most players it was too much running and not enough grinding. Most players would choose to travel to a leveling ground at most 20 minutes away, because it seemed foolish to spend an hour traveling instead of fighting monsters. I repaired my equipment, bought some pots and checked my bag again. I still had some of the Rank 6 Health Potions Lin Yixin had given me last time, and they should be enough for my trip even if I happened to run into a boss. Plus, my Defense was awesome, and Tenacity of the Dead could instantly restore 25% of my HP. Soloing a boss below Level 80 shouldn¡¯t be entirely out of the question for me. I ran along a small trail across Frost Forest as nighttime arrived. The forest grew increasingly wetter as time passed, and dew was starting to form on the leaves and branches. The slightest touch would cause them to splash against my flesh and induce a cool, icy sensation. I aspired to maximize my gains as much as possible, and if nothing else, gather as much Turtle Meat as I could before returning to Floating Ice City. If I added some carrots to the mix, I could even cook special Turtle Soups that gave 20% more MP than normal. For example, a Rank 7 Magic Consumable could restore 800 MP in one go, so a 20% increase would make it almost 1000 MP. That should be enough to satisfy the needs of Level 70 mages! Chapter 219: Dragonfall Lake In the new workshop, Beiming Xue and I were the gold farmers. As a super metal armor knight, He Yi¡¯s equipment¡¯s repair costs were exorbitant. We simply couldn¡¯t trust her with farming items to make money. Murong Mingyue, on the other hand, was a priest that used MP like water. The cost of the required Magic Consumables wasn¡¯t something any ordinary player could possibly afford. This was also the reason why there weren¡¯t many high-level priests and mages in Floating Cloud City. They were the two money-burning classes, so without a strong backer helping them with expenditures, it was impossible to raise them to a high level. In this case, my responsibilities were greater than usual. I had to quickly show the Cooking God¡¯s money-making potential and make a few more consumables for sale to provide for the three girls at home. ¡­¡­ Half an hour later, I arrived at the borders of Frost Forest. The roars of high-level Greedy Wolves came from afar, blood-red dots of light flashing within the greenery. Those were the eyes of the Greedy Wolves. Although these Level 75 mobs had a decent drop rate and experience, no players at the current stage of the game would dare to come here. Greedy Wolves were pack monsters that traveled in groups of three or more. The average player level nowadays was between 50¨C60. In Floating Ice City, third promotion players were considered experts and there were only a handful that were Level 70 and higher. Unless they were one of the Top 10 on the Heavenly Ranking who could barely manage to grind Level 75 Greedy Wolves, typical parties probably had a 90% chance of dying here. I continued onward until I suddenly heard sounds of battle from up ahead. I quickly ran closer and brushed aside the dense leaves around me. To my surprise, a 20-man party was standing in an open space, fighting against a few frenzied bears that were Level 75. Wild Bears were famous for their explosive power. They had extremely high Attack, but they also were on the slower side. In terms of overall DPS, even wolves dealt more damage in comparison. Bang! A paw fiercely swatted down, forcing a broadsword-wielding warrior back several steps. This Level 70 warrior was pretty good himself since he instantly went up again after getting pushed away. With a sweep of his sword, Blaze closely locked onto the Wild Bear, attracting its aggro. Though more than 700 of his HP had been slapped away, the fight was pretty safe with three priests at the rear giving him heals. I frowned. Fuck, is this the famous ¡°meeting enemies on a narrow road¡± or what? How¡¯d I meet them here? The Level 70 warrior was none other than Spring Mud, and hidden behind him were other high-level players of his guild. However, one figure among them caught my undivided attention. It was One True Love! One True Love had already returned to Wuxi after his trip to Suzhou? Beiming Xue was as pure as paper. Although One True Love was in a convenient position, he couldn¡¯t get her. The only thing that resulted from his trip was an imprint of my fist on his face; quite a tragedy. However, I wasn¡¯t in the wrong. As a hooligan that could only put on airs and flirt with girls, he totally didn¡¯t deserve Beiming Xue! ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t take any action and just watched the group grind. To be honest, I¡¯m not really a PvP enthusiast. As long as they don¡¯t bother me, I won¡¯t bother them either! Haha! I observed them at a close range and listened in on some of their conversation¡ª One True Love: Haha, Brother Spring Mud¡¯s so strong, We couldn¡¯t fend off these Wild Bears with the few of us but you can tank it all by yourself! Your Defense and HP are so high, as expected of our Flower Room¡¯s number one meatshield!¡± Spring Mud was in a good mood. ¡°Yeah, they are not bad. I got a Level 65 Gold-grade weapon and a Level 63 Dark Gold¨Cgrade armor yesterday. My Defense is over 600 now so these Level 75 Wild Bears are nothing to me!¡± One True Love grinned. ¡°Awesome!¡± Spring Mud¡¯s strike jolted the Wild Bear back. He then turned around and asked, ¡°Chen Sheng I heard that you went to Suzhou for Beiming Xue? You actually know that dark archer?¡± One True Love¡¯s expression sharpened. He shouted, ¡°That little bitch!¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Spring Mud¡¯s gaze turned cold. One True Love¡¯s lips curled as hatred flashed in his eyes. ¡°When I went to Ancient Sword¡¯s base, I found out that Beiming Xue was no longer the Beiming Xue I knew. She¡¯s actually with Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand now. Hmph, boss is right, women are indeed fickle creatures. I seriously regret not forcibly making her mine!¡± Spring Mud coldly laughed. ¡°Rape? Is that even interesting? Hmph, I¡¯m gonna get that bastard Lu Chen sooner or later. Fuck. Does he think he¡¯s Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ savior or something? I¡¯m gonna let From Water, Eve, know that Lu Chen is nothing!¡± One True Love gritted his teeth. ¡°Spring Mud, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is Flower Room¡¯s number one enemy, right?¡± Spring Mud nodded. ¡°Right, I can¡¯t wait to fucking destroy the shit out of Lu Chen, Gui Guzi, and Xu Yang. If I don¡¯t avenge myself, I swear I¡¯m not human! The Ego workshop has never suffered this kind of humiliation. I¡¯ll take back whatever they owe me twofold! One True Love¡¯s eyes were filled with excitement. ¡°Spring Mud, just from those words alone, we¡¯re brothers from now on!¡± ¡°Haha!¡± Spring Mud killed the Wild Bear with his next strike and said coldly, ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is currently at its peak because it¡¯s already at Rank 3. We need to be patient. Don¡¯t worry, our guilds will clash sooner or later. Don¡¯t forget, our guild leader Young Master Le is a student at Suzhou Tech. He¡¯s set his sights on goddess Wind Fantasy, and she also has a good relationship with Lu Chen. We have both new and old grudges with him, so this debt can only be paid in blood!¡± One True Love nodded, but a hint of worry slithered through his eyes. ¡°Why hasn¡¯t our leader arrived yet with reinforcements? It wasn¡¯t easy for us to find a new map. We can¡¯t let anyone snatch it away.¡± Spring Mud smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯ll take one hour max before a thousand-man team comes charging over. The tower in the lake is ours, no one can snatch it from us!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± ¡­¡­ My heart skipped a beat. Tower in the lake? What map is that? What do they mean? Whoosh! I summoned the Dark Wasp. I¡¯ve made my resolve to exterminate them all. One True Love, Spring Mud, and their team numbered only twenty people. No matter how powerful their mages were, they didn¡¯t have any high-level archers. With an element of surprise on my side, I should be able to kill them all. Traitor Spring Mud aside, that Chen Sheng was complete trash. Who did he think our Lil Beiming was? Rape? That little piece of shit. Enough was enough! However, I had second thoughts when I realized that I couldn¡¯t deal any fatal damage to their guild, even if I disposed of their small team. Even then, I would be met with their first important full-force mobilization. It had something to do with that ¡°tower in the lake¡± thing. I wondered if it was a high-level map. It has to be, or else Li Le wouldn¡¯t be moving a thousand-man team here. After weighing in the pros and cons, I finally made my decision. I¡¯ll keep these guys alive first. It¡¯d be brainless to alert the enemy before the time was ripe. I might be a bit hot-headed at times, like when Beiming Xue was getting bullied by Chen Sheng, but I was still able to control myself in the game. I have to hit them where it hurts, and I don¡¯t have to make a move now. ¡­¡­ Once I made up my mind, I opened the world map and saw a lake region in front of me. The tower had to be somewhere there. I circled around the party and then made a run for it. Not even ten minutes later, the faint smell of fresh lakewater floated over. Ding~! System Notice: You have entered a neutral map¡ªDragonfall Lake! ¡­¡­ I parted the forest leaves and a boundless lake came into view. The lakeshore was full of reeds, with enough cattails to make a forest. The lakewater rippled under the moonlight, reflecting clear water. I grimaced. Players entering a water region could swim, but if it was deep enough, a breath meter would appear. Once said breath meter ran out, a player would drown. This lake was extremely deep. The chances of dying were high if I went in! I gazed into the distance and could faintly see an island in the middle of the lake under the moonlight. On the island was a lone, pitch-black, tower. That was the tower in the lake! There was no doubt that it was an unexplored map. There was no data on the official forums when I searched Dragonfall Lake or this tower in the lake. I shouldn¡¯t worry yet. Since I couldn¡¯t find a passageway, then those guys from Flower Room wouldn¡¯t find it either. I didn¡¯t dare to walk around the lake. It¡¯d be too easy for me to get discovered. With Spring Mud¡¯s shrewdness, there had to be assassins patrolling the lake. My intentions would be exposed the moment I was found. I traveled through the forest area beside the lake and encountered some tree fairy¨Ctype monsters there. I pretty much ignored most of them by circling around. Those that I couldn¡¯t, I cut down. In tandem with my Dark Wasp¡¯s damage potential, killing a few trash mobs under Level 80 wasn¡¯t too hard a task. Ten minutes or so later, a little bloody patch suddenly appeared in front of me on the map, making me wild with delight. I finally found a temporary NPC camp beneath the mountain range. I started a mad dash through the dense forest and to my surprise, the crude camp before me wasn¡¯t a Night Creature encampment, but a Blood Dance Legion one! An aged skeleton mage stood under a simple tent and on both of his sides stood armored undead knights. There was also an alchemist sitting by a furnace concocting some kind of smelly potion. All of the four NPCs¡¯ shoulders were adorned with the emblem of the Blood Dance Legion. I also had the same one on my shoulder but I was way cooler because I had Blood Dance Legion¡¯s, Floating Ice City¡¯s, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯. Neatly lined up in a row, they made me look like some five-star general. The old skeleton mage trembled in place as it leaned on its bone staff. It looked at a loss and a line of words floated above its head. Prophet Bly (Dark Gold Rank Boss) Level: 85 Chapter 220: Frost Turtle Sweet, it was a high-rank Blood Dance Legion NPC, a Dark Gold Rank boss at that. Aside from Princess Sophia and Shadow Dancer Xue Wei, he should have no rival when it came to his rank at the current stage of the game. Of course, an NPC¡¯s level would be updated along with game development and story progression. Sophia might be only Dark Gold Rank now but it wouldn¡¯t be long until she reached the Legendary or even the Divine Rank. I was excited to see Prophet Bly. I¡¯d actually encountered an NPC in this lousy map that even birds wouldn¡¯t take a shit on. This smelled like a super quest. My chance to get rich is here! Prophet Bly¡¯s eyes were turbid as he listlessly looked at the tall tower at the center of the lake. He sighed. ¡°If we cannot obtain the Devil Suppressing Sword, how will we explain ourselves to Princess Sophia?¡± At his side, an undead knight said in a silly voice, ¡°Don¡¯t worry my lord, we can go to a human village and get a shoddy blacksmith to make a blade. He¡¯ll engrave the words ¡®Devil Suppressing¡¯ on it and we can report back to Princess Sophia then!¡± Prophet Bly shook, stunned at his subordinate¡¯s idea and shook his head. ¡°Alfredo, you are from an ancient and distant eastern kingdom. Some things aren¡¯t as simple as you think they are.¡± The knight was also stunned by the prophet¡¯s response. This is my chance! I quickly went forward and the knight immediately drew his sword and shouted, ¡°Who goes there? You dare trespass into the Blood Dance Legion¡¯s frontline stronghold?¡± I almost laughed out loud. This shabby encampment could be called a stronghold? Prophet Bly hurriedly blocked him. ¡°Stand down, Alfredo. This warrior is a part of our Blood Dance Legion. He might even be a sentinel sent by Princess Sophia herself.¡± I was a bit speechless. I¡¯ve already reached the fourth military rank of the Blood Dance Legion, and the title of Ash Knight hung above my head. Hence, how could this old guy ignore me like this? I walked over and answered with faked respect, ¡°Lord, I come from a Blood Dance Legion encampment. May I help you with anything?¡± Prophet Bly shot me a glance and then helplessly shook his head. ¡°Sigh, Princess Sophia had actually sent us a skinny skeleton warrior. It will be difficult to complete this task!¡± Fuck you! I secretly cursed him. I took off the Purgatory War Helmet and my handsome face appeared in front of Prophet Bly. More importantly, my eyes glowed with bloody light, a sign that I was a high-rank undead. Furthermore, my skin was intact and I had all five of my facial features. The old man instantly jolted. ¡°Ah?! I-it¡¯s an Asura. Heavens, another Asura has appeared in the Blood Dance Legion. How wonderful! Brave warrior, I am assured now that I know about your Asura identity! Yes, there is a very important matter waiting for you to complete it!¡± I nodded. ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± Prophet Bly¡¯s expression dimmed. ¡°Princess Sophia is on the eve of recovering our lost land. She is rebuilding the Violet Empire in the Violet Forest but the devil energy there is too dense. We need a divine sword to purge it, and the Devil Suppressing Sword that sits at the top of the Devil Sealing Tower is precisely that. We need that sword for the resurrection of the Violet Empire. Only with its divine powers can we subdue the spread of the Night Creature plague. I took a deep breath and hesitated, somewhat worried. This old man¡¯s not going to give me a hellish quest, right? Like I had anticipated, Prophet Bly raised his bony hand and smiled. ¡°Young warrior, your task is very simple. You just need to enter the Devil Sealing Tower, kill all the devils inside and bring me the Devil Suppressing Sword. Then, you will be generously rewarded!¡± This quest really was hellish. I¡¯m supposed to kill all of these devils that needed to be suppressed by a divine weapon? Isn¡¯t he thinking too highly of me? Prophet Bly gave me a doubtful look that also questioned my capabilities. ¡°However, before then, you must complete a different quest. Only then can I send you over to the island at the center of the lake.¡± I nodded. ¡°Go on!¡± Prophet Bly pointed at the skeletons behind us. ¡°It has been half a year since we¡¯ve stationed ourselves here and we haven¡¯t eaten anything at all. Look at these pitiful children, they¡¯ve starved to the point of being only bones. Princess Sophia prohibits us from taking a single human life but perhaps you can find some food for them. Dragonfall Lake has many Frost Turtles. They are vicious creatures that have already killed three of our scouts. Kill a few, at least 500, and bring me their legs. I will give you a decent reward!¡± I was delighted when I heard the quest details. Very nice, it wanted me to kill Frost Turtles. This meant that I could forage some Rank 7 Cooking ingredients while completing a quest! Moreover, it seemed that this quest had to be completed for me to be sent to the island in the middle of the lake. The only other option was a long swim. Whether or not the breath meter was enough aside, this lake was called ¡°Dragonfall¡±, and the name must have some implications. Obviously, a scary creature was hidden in its depths. Heavenblessed gathered the best players from all around the world, and no name was random and without a reason. At this time, Prophet Bly spoke again. ¡°Go at once, young warrior. News from our scouts have arrived, saying that a human army has appeared in the forest at the other side of the lake. They have stationed themselves there and there must be some high-level mages among them. Perhaps they too are trying to get a share of the Devil Sealing Tower. You must hurry!¡± I was startled. Fuck! So it wasn¡¯t an exclusive quest. The human faction had their own camp and a similar quest to gain entry to the Devil Sealing Tower. I had to hurry this time or else those bastards from Flower Room might get there first. My quest for Devil Suppressing Sword might even fail! The Blood Dance Legion was considered a part of the Dark faction and the Light faction that was on the other side of the lake was Floating Ice City¡¯s royal army. Both factions had set up a temporary camp by the shores of Dragonfall Lake and the struggle between them reflected my current race against Flower Room. I couldn¡¯t let Flower Room get on this first. My workshop would fall behind. Even though Spring Mud and his pals couldn¡¯t be considered first-rate experts, if they entered the Devil Sealing Tower or even complete their quest and get a few Dark Gold¨Cgrade super equips, they would become an even greater threat! Though me and Lin Yixin didn¡¯t care about a second-rate guild like Flower Room, we had to suppress them early on. Delaying it would be extremely foolish. Ding~! System Notice: You have accepted the quest [Frost Turtles]! (Current Quest Rank: A-) Description: Many powerful wild turtles are situated at the shores of Dragonfall Lake. These fierce turtles fire Freezing Arrows to harm others. Prophet Bly requests that you kill at least 500 Frost Turtles and gather 50 Turtle Legs. After handing them over, you will obtain the following reward: Devil Sealing Tower Proof of Trial x1, Frost Ring, Rank 8 Health Potion x10! ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, the quest rewards were actually laid out in the open. Not bad! I¡¯m assuming the Devil Sealing Tower Proof of Trial is something like a teleport scroll that could send me to the center of the lake. As for the Frost Ring, since its stats were temporarily unknown, I couldn¡¯t tell if it was good or bad. But Rank 8 Health Potions, those words made me tremble from head to toe. That¡¯s some good stuff! Rank 6 Health Potions could instantly recover 1500 HP, so Rank 8 Health Potions had to at least instantly recover more than 2000 HP. Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t even make these babies, and I¡¯d get 10 bottles that could absolutely guarantee my victory in the future boss battle! Just thinking about it filled me with joy. Time to slaughter some turtles! I walked along the lake as I moved forward and didn¡¯t see anything after walking for almost five minutes. This left me a bit unhappy. I couldn¡¯t have been tricked by that NPC, could I? The Purgatory Sword in my hand flashed with light. This Outstanding weapon was seriously too strong. It topped the list of Floating Ice City¡¯s Weapon Ranking the moment it appeared in this world, its overall evaluation points were seven times higher than the second-place weapon!! Behind my sword was a Level 70 Dark Gold¨Cgrade spear and its owner¡¯s name was concealed, just like mine. We were similar in that we didn¡¯t want our treasures to be exposed. Nowadays, a single divine weapon¡¯s value far exceeded any other pieces of equipment. Letting others know that the first place¡ª3-star Outstanding Miracle Purgatory Sword¡ªwas just asking to be relentlessly chased by bounty hunters. Of course, I wasn¡¯t afraid of them, but I was worried that it would tire me out and cut into my grinding time. Whoosh! A blue light flew out from the water onto my chest, condensing into strands of frost. The first Frost Turtle had appeared! 489! Its attack power wasn¡¯t too shabby. Since it came from the water, I didn¡¯t hesitate to walk into the water with my sword pointed out! Boom! Thousand Mirage Slash ravaged the water, causing a gigantic turtle to appear. It was a meter wide with a black outer shell and with thick ice energy floating above its head. These Frost Turtles are huge! How is this a freshwater turtle? It can totally be a sea turtle! Frost Turtle Level: 75 Magic Attack: 520~680 Defense: 450 HP: 7000 Skills: Freezing Arrow Introduction: A wild turtle with a violent temper. Appears near the edges of the Dragonfall Lake. Having regularly submerged itself in the lake¡¯s cold waters since early adulthood, a huge amount of frosty energy is contained within its body, making the Frost Turtle a terrifying frost magic user. ¡­¡­ ¡°Die!¡± I summoned the Dark Wasp. A pet and its master then pounced over together! The Purgatory Sword struck down, speedily unleashing my Ice Ray + Desperate Gambit combo! 2764! 3129! Hell yeah! Now that I had an Outstanding weapon, my attack power shot through the roof. Its damage potential wasn¡¯t something this Level 75 could defend against! It was almost one-shot. The Frost Turtle slowly fell three strikes later, its dead body floating belly-up on the lake¡¯s surface. Pop! A Turtle Leg, one of the quest items I needed, dropped. I picked it up and tossed it in my bag and then spread both my hands. The Foraging skill flashed and I heard a ¡°ding.¡± Chapter 221: Frost Ring Very good, I got 5 Turtle Meat in one go. In that case, I wouldn¡¯t waste too much time around Dragonfall Lake farming Turtle Meat. Experience gained from a Level 75 mob was still alright and it was fairly easy to kill. The main point of completing this quest was to obtain a Devil Sealing Tower Proof of Trial and 10 Rank 8 Health Potions. Instantly recovering 2500 or so HP was definitely amazing! ¡­¡­ At a tranquil lakeshore overgrown with weeds was an undead swordsman, continuously cutting down nearby Frost Turtles, barely pausing at all. After a while, I had a strange inkling that I had forgotten something. Oh right, why not summon Xinran to grind her some levels? I stood in place and opened my palm. Magic light flashed and a blood-red magic formation appeared on the ground in front of me. I shouted, ¡°Xinran, come on out!¡± Swhoosh! The ground nearby slightly trembled alongside a surging bloody light. An arm covered in steel scale armor emerged from the black hole at the center of the magic formation. A visibly petite body then jumped out and steadily landed on the grass with a crash. I nearly couldn¡¯t see her. Ding~! System Notice: After training in the Netherworld, your pet ¡°Xinran¡± has gained Talent +7, Comprehension +5, Intimacy +0, and obtained the Goldscale Armor Set due to successfully killing the Netherword¡¯s Land-traversing Dragon! ¡­¡­ I was instantly stunned. Was it still that little skeleton Xinran who stood before me right now? Almost every part of its body was covered in luminous fish scale armor. The golden helmet completely covered the face, making it appear indistinct. I didn¡¯t know if it still looked like a little skeleton. It held a blood-red spear in one hand and a silver cape on its back that slightly fluttered to the lake¡¯s cool breeze, making her look mighty and powerful. Xinran (Unknown) Level: 65 HP: 6500 Attack: 850~1200 Defense: 900 Magic Resist: 750 Skills: ??? Introduction: An unusual creature that possesses strong domain powers. ¡­¡­ At the end of my shock, I checked Xinran¡¯s stats and was stunned once more. How powerful is she?! Her Attack was even higher than mine, and yet her Defense and Magic Resist weren¡¯t particularly inferior. While I couldn¡¯t see her skills, I was sure they wouldn¡¯t be too shabby either. Her HP was also at 6500. This little skeleton seemed to have passed me in strength already. What has it been doing these days in the Netherworld? How was it leveling so fast? Her equipment upgrades were even faster. Seems like her journey in the Netherworld is all smooth sailing, huh. I was speechless. This humanoid pet was now stronger than I was. These thoughts churned in my head but then I realized that the little skeleton had never really listened to me anyway, unless it wanted to do something anyway. Forget it, let¡¯s try! I pointed at a nearby Frost Turtle. ¡°Xinran, kill it!¡± Whoosh... The little skeleton turned its head and observed me with what seemed to be a hint of disdain. In the next second however, it charged at the Frost Turtle with its spear! Bang! The spear glowed with starry light. A giant black hole condensed out of the spear¡¯s edge and smashed itself on the Frost Turtle, instantly eliciting a groan. Beep! Combat Log: Your pet ¡°Xinran¡± used ¡°Soul Devouring Spear¡±, dealing 4471 damage to Frost Turtle! ¡­¡­ The tip of the spear quivered as Xinran followed up with another thrust! 2649! She killed the Frost Turtle in two hits... An instant kill too! I watched on, astonished. When did my little skeleton become this powerful? Its DPS was so great that it could toss me a few streets away! After killing the Frost Turtle, the little skeleton turned around. It slammed the spear on the ground with its other hand on its hip, the cape behind it fluttering with the wind. It glanced my way, as if asking me ¡°Am I cool or what?¡± I was a bit speechless when I saw the little skeleton¡¯s proud appearance. Yes, it was powerful enough but I didn¡¯t know if it would continue to obey my orders. If the little skeleton was as obedient as the Dark Wasp, then my overall strength had definitely shot up. After all, this little skeleton¡¯s current stats were too amazing. Having it with me was not much different than having Fruit Knife Goddess Lin Yixin by my side. In fact, it was probably even stronger than that! I pointed at another Frost Turtle nearby and gave out my second command. ¡°Xinran, go deal with that one too!¡± The little skeleton snorted, lifted its spear, and charged at the second Frost Turtle. It used the same combo¡ªSoul Devouring Spear and basic attack. Another instant kill! Swhoosh! A golden light fell and the little skeleton was now Level 66. Killing monsters with higher levels could only yield extraordinary experience. It was just one level but Xinran¡¯s stats rose even higher than before. This was some terrifying growth potential. I had mixed feelings about this. God knows what the hell Xinran was or why it was this strong. If we went by normal pet growth rate, Xinran¡¯s main four stats of Attack, Defense, HP, and Magic Resist would be enough to get a 10-star rating, and it would have at least 200 BN too... When Xinran came out, it was very obedient all the way until I ordered it to kill its 174th Frost Turtle. ¡°Xinran, go kill that turtle!¡± I said, pointing at yet another turtle. The little skeleton glared at me. Bang! It tossed its spear into the lake water and tightened its armored fists, like it wanted to beat me up. ¡°Ah?!¡± I quivered, then raised my sword. ¡°I¡¯ll just go by myself¡­¡± After cutting down the last Frost Turtle to complete my quest, the little skeleton reached Level 67. The hunt was over and I got 5 more Turtle Meat from Death Plunder. I checked my bag. I had 52 full stacks of Turtle Meat, each stack containing 100, for a total of 5200 Turtle Meat. This should be enough to last me for a long time. The quest items¡ªTurtle Legs¡ªwere also in a neat pile and ready to be delivered! I brought the Dark Wasp and little skeleton along to the temporary undead camp. From afar, Prophet Bly resembled a pillar as he stood there. A happy smile surfaced on Bly¡¯s face once he saw me. His smile was so damn ugly and his cheekbones were almost about to crack. Suddenly, when he saw little skeleton Xinran behind me, Bly couldn¡¯t help but take a few steps back. He said in a hoarse voice, ¡°How is this possible¡­ how is this possible¡­¡± The little skeleton¡¯s face was covered by the helmet so only two penetrating eyes gazed at Prophet Bly. It growled lowly and Bly, as if he had received some sort of command, regained his bearing. He walked forward with his magic staff, patted me on the shoulder, and smiled. ¡°Brave warrior, you have proven your courage and strength, convincing me that you have the power to make huge contributions to the Blood Dance Legion! Come, these are now yours and they will assist you on your new journey!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [Frost Turtles]. You have gained 65000 EXP, 2000 gold, 1500 Reputation, and the quest reward: ¡°Devil Sealing Tower Proof of Trial¡± x1, ¡°Rank 8 Health Potion¡± x10 and item reward: ¡°Frost Ring¡±! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! A golden light fell on my body and I reached Level 73. The quest reward items had also appeared in my bag at this time. So generous! The Devil Sealing Tower Proof of Trial was a blood-red scroll that could teleport me to the magic formation below the Devil Sealing Tower, on the island in the middle of the lake. Like I had expected, Rank 8 Health Potions were amazing goods that could instantly recover 2500 HP. There were 10 of them. It wasn¡¯t a big number so I had to use it sparingly. I couldn¡¯t use it willy-nilly, I had to save them for important battles. My total HP didn¡¯t reach 3600 so this Rank 8 Health Potion could instantly restore 70% of my HP. In a sense, it was even stronger than the god-tier skill like Tenacity of the Dead! There was also the Frost Ring in the bag. I took it out and felt a cool sensation in my palm. The ring was rough and covered with frost. A frosty arrow slowly rotated above it, emitting an intimidating cold air. Frost Ring (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Agility: +45 Stamina: +42 Passive: Increases user¡¯s ranged physical attack power by 20% Passive: Increases user¡¯s HP regeneration by 10% Level Requirement: 70 Class Requirement: Archer ¡­¡­ Fuck! Such a top-tier ring but it could only be equipped by archers! 20% Attack, 10% HP regen, and two stats boosted by more than 40 points. This Frost Ring was definitely a god-tier ring for archers. It was Dark Gold¨Cgrade too. At this current stage of the game, if an archer had a ring like this, their overall power would explode! I didn¡¯t even need to think. This ring was Beiming Xue¡¯s. I tossed the Frost Ring in my bag and continued to talk to the NPC. Prophet Bly looked at me, his expression and tone of voice heavy. ¡°Young warrior, you must be very careful when you are sent to the Devil Sealing Tower after using the Proof of Trial. Devils run amok there. Whether the Devil Suppressing Sword can be retrieved, whether you can begin a new era for the lost Violet Empire, it all depends on you!¡± I nodded, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, leave it to me!¡± Ding~! System Notice: You have accepted the quest [Devil Sealing Tower¡¯s Divine Aspirations]! (Current Quest Rank: S-) Description: Enter the Top floor of the Devil Sealing Tower, kill the Purgatory Devil Monarch, and take the Devil Suppressing Sword to Prophet Bly to receive a generous reward. You must take care, however. There are numerous devils in the Devil Sealing Tower and countless heroes have fallen within the tower throughout history. The top floor¡¯s Purgatory Devil Monarch is ferocious and cruel so you must be careful. Take the Devil Suppressing Sword and leave once you kill the Purgatory Devil Monarch. ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, an S rank quest. I¡¯ve struck gold! And it couldn¡¯t be shared too. As expected of an OP quest! However, I shouldn¡¯t rush into Devil Sealing Tower yet. It¡¯d be best to go back to Floating Ice City and thoroughly prepare. Besides, my bag was full of Turtle Meat. I¡¯d rather not drop it. Dropping the Dark Gold¨Cgrade Frost Ring would hurt me even more. It was much more important than even the 52 stacks of meat. Chapter 222: Devil Sealing Tower Whoosh! I appeared in the teleportation formation of Floating Ice City. The Dark Wasp flew around my shoulders while little skeleton Xinran held her spear and followed closely behind like a bodyguard. Of course, I felt this bodyguard was not very reliable. How reliable was a bodyguard that could kill me in a single blow anytime... I sent a message to Lin Yixin: "Hey, you there?" Lin Yixin''s name was lit up but I wasn''t sure if she was in Floating Ice City. Beep! Lin Yixin answered, "I am, what is it?" "Are you in Floating Ice City?" "Yes, just came back to resupply, why?" "Have any Rank 6 Health Potions to sell?" Lin Yixin opened the chat toll and her bell-like laugh came over. "Of course not, I have none for sale~~" I felt a great headache. "Yiyi, I¡¯m in a hurry. Share some of your own stock?" "Alright...¡± Lin Yixin smiled. "I shouldn¡¯t be under any pressure when I go leveling. I have 87 potions in my bag, how many do you want?" "85...¡± "Damn, you want me to die?!" Lin Yixin said exasperatedly. "Leave me some more. I''ll sell you 60, I need some for myself.¡± "Okay, fine. Come to Floating Ice City''s plaza to trade!" "Alright!" Soon, the Fruit Knife Goddess''s beautiful figure appeared from the direction of the southern gate, drawing gazes of many nearby male players. I couldn''t help but take another look. Lin Yixin had changed her equipment, and her smile was exchanging. She wore silver armor which closely followed her curves. Underneath the armor plates, her long legs were in small boots. A silver glittering cape floated behind her and she was astoundingly beautiful. "Tsk tsk...¡± I couldn''t help but sigh. "Yiyi, you are a rare beauty...¡± Lin Yixin glanced at me and said, "Why are these words so frivolous? You are a fickle man. I haven''t seen you for two days, tell me, which girl did you seduce now?" "Fuck! Just trade me the pots!" "Hehe....¡± Lin Yixin put 60 potions into the trade interface. She was a scammer like usual. After the trade finished, she smiled sweetly. "Lu Chen, you are so rich~~" I glanced at her. "Alright, I have a few hundred gold here. How about you come with me, and all of it will belong to you...¡± "Tch!" Lin Yixin glared at me. "Stupid Lu Chen, you think this lady here is so cheap?" I smiled. "I don''t care if you are cheap as long as there¡¯s a price. Quick, how much money for you to agree?" "What do you want to do?" Lin Yixin looked warily at me, her eyes full of schadenfreude. I waved my hand. "A person needs a worthy life goal. Tell me, don''t let me continue to live aimlessly." Lin Yixin giggled. "Alright, we¡¯ll talk about it when you are worth hundreds of millions...¡± "...¡± "What, afraid?" Lin Yixin tilted her head at me and smiled sweetly. I lifted my Purgatory Sword, and said, "The word afraid doesn''t exist in my vocabulary. Hmph, just wait. One day, I will become rich, and continue to store gold...¡± Lin Yixin smiled and didn''t speak. She waved her hand. "Alright, farewell. I¡¯m also going to store gold. When I make a hundred million gold, I¡¯ll buy you and beat you up everyday for enjoyment!" "Damn~~~" ¡­¡­ To others, Lin Yixin, was the Fruit Knife Goddess, but to me she was a white angel, a potion goddess, a reliable and steady potion provider. For gaming fanatics who frequently walked on the border of death like me, this was more important than anything. After getting the potions, I sent a message to Beiming Xue: "Are you free?" "Yes, what¡¯s up? Sister Mingyue, Sister Eve and I just left Floating Ice City. What is it, boss?" "Return to the city, I have a good item for you that will greatly increase your grinding speed. Meet at Floating Ice City''s warehouse manager.¡± "Alright!" After a few seconds, the teleportation formation flashed. A beautiful figure gracefully walked out, Beiming Xue with the Purgatory Bow and shining armor. She said with a smile, "Big bro, what¡¯s that good item?" I took the Frost Ring out of my bag and handed it to her. "My luck was explosive today and I got this for completing an A-rank quest. Here, I don''t need it, it¡¯s for you!" "Ah?!" Beiming Xue''s mouth gaped, and she didn¡¯t know what to say. Her gaze landed on the Frost Ring. When she saw the stats for the ring, she fell into disorder and stuttered out, "Ah? Big bro... this, this ring is so good! How can you give the equipment you won to me?" I smiled and put an arm around her shoulder, saying with a smile, "Beiming, you¡¯re already calling me big bro. Why would I be frugal with my sister? Also, this ring increases ranged physical attacks by 20%. It is so powerful and almost custom-made for you. If you get an item boosting melee attacks, remember to save it for me...¡± "Oh...¡± Beiming Xue was still in a daze. She looked up at me. "Big bro, this ring can be sold for at least ten thousand RMB. Are you sure you are giving it to me?" "Mn.¡± "Big bro...¡± "What is it?" "You are a thousand times better than a person like Chen Sheng...¡± "This praise insults me~~" "...¡± After putting on the Frost Ring, Beiming Xue''s damage potential increased greatly. She seemed unable to express her inner excitement and joy, giving me an enthusiastic hug on the spot. She was not tall enough so her small body was almost completely in my arms, her feet off the ground. Hugging the girl, I didn''t know whether to laugh or cry. I patted Beiming Xue''s shoulder and said, "Alright, you can let me go, people will misunderstand.¡± "Mn.¡± Beiming Xue left me, her red eyes misty. She was crying. She wiped her tears with her hand and said, "You know, big bro, I¡¯ve joined the society a long time ago. I¡¯ve only suffered hardship in these years, no one has ever been so good to me, everyone tells me I¡¯m very stupid...¡± I patted my chest and said with a smile, ¡°Okay now. The person standing in front of you is very stupid. Gather enough idiots, and no one will dare say they are stupid. Let those smart people scheme among themselves!" "Yes!" Beiming Xue nodded and said with a smile, "Big bro, Sister He Yi and Mingyue are calling me, can I go?" "Go, I also need to level up!" Beiming Xue left through the gates of Floating Ice City, waving her hand. To be honest, after using a powerful ring like the Frost Ring, Beiming Xue''s long-range attack power would increase by at least 25%, and it would help them immensely in their next grinding session. Our workshop was actually very formidable. The three main female members were all beauties, and would become the center of attention wherever they went. Also, all of them were very strong, and even the weakest of them, He Yi, had gear good enough to cover her flaws. She had the Abyssal Sword, the Abyssal Chestplate and the Azure Wolf Wristguards. Three items of the Gold grade. With the addition of a skill like Rock Shield, He Yi could be considered among the Top 10 magic knights of Floating Ice City. Of course, in a PvP scenario, He Yi''s overall strength would barely reach the Top 100. She needed more training. ¡­¡­ Having bought potions and giving away the Frost Ring, I departed without delay! I took out the Devil Sealing Tower Proof of Trial and crushed it! Whoosh! A powerful magic erupted and immediately swept me away, causing me to vanish on the spot. As I moved through the fabric of spacetime, I could only see vague images of stars. After a few seconds, I was standing just below the Devil Sealing Tower. Under my feet was wet soil. It had clearly just rained here. I looked up. The tall Devil Sealing Tower pierced the sky. I was still standing within the magic formation that teleported me to the tower. I had to hurry and climb it! I gripped the Purgatory Sword and summoned Xinran and the Dark Wasp. Both of them followed me up the stone stairs of the tower, that were clearly affected by the passage of time. A single step was enough to make them crumble. I looked up. The metal gates to the first floor of the Devil Sealing Tower had completely decayed. The metal spikes had already corroded and lost their former sharpness, seemingly merging together with the rest of the gates. There were many paper seals pasted all over the center of the gates, as if holding them shut. Even after millions of years they still served their purpose. I could see a faint magical gleam, unsure of whether the sealing formation¡¯s power had faded yet. Holding the Purgatory Sword, I looked up at the Devil Sealing Tower and took a deep breath. I had to ascend it. Regardless of what was locked within, I had to enter and kill it! I pressed my hand to the metal gates and pushed lightly. It did not budge. Instead, a dark wind came and blew me back, causing me to stumble to the ground! I was shocked inside. The sensation was so clear. While this was just in the game, I felt as though there was a female ghost with messy hair and no face in indigo robes standing behind me. My hair stood on end and I felt as though I¡¯d faint. I stood up and looked at the metal gates. I gritted my teeth. I¡¯ve already come here, and used the Proof of Trial. How could I retreat? Also, the monsters in the Devil Sealing Tower were bound to be strong. This meant that there was astounding wealth contained in there. Maybe I could use that Devil Suppressing Sword? Despite my grand dreams, all I had was a grand obstacle in front of me. I looked at the metal gates and wondered what method I should use to open those seals. ¡­¡­ The little skeleton next to me couldn¡¯t stand it anymore. With a low groan, it charged forward with its bloody spear wrapped in a whirlwind and in a thrust! Boom! Chapter 223: Devil Beetle My eyes widened as I stared at the little skeleton. Why so impulsive? After the little skeleton broke through the gates, it stood there as though it was waiting for me to enter. Shasha... I stepped back onto the stairs and used my 3-star Outstanding Purgatory Sword to clear the way. I believed the monsters on the first floor would not be too much of an obstacle to me. The Dark Wasp buzzed and followed me into the first floor. ¡­¡­ Ooooooo... Accompanied by the wails of ghosts, my sight darkened. The first floor of the tower was a vast hall, slightly dim. I opened up my map. It was small, but I could see a spiral passageway in the visible part of it. The place was actually a maze. "Ha, a maze?" I smiled. I was the best at mazes! I advanced with my sword. After a few steps, the first monster appeared in front of me. It was a large insect flying in the air, completely covered in black armor. There were spikes growing out of the wings which moved rapidly. The head of the insect was like a fly¡¯s, but there was a poisonous proboscis serving as its mouth. Devil Beetle (Elite) Level: 75 Attack: 650~780 Defense: 600 HP: 14400 Skills: Paralysis Attack, Poison Spit Properties: 75% immunity to all magic Introduction: Devil Beetles are poisonous insects born and living in dark environments. After millions of years of evolution, they eventually developed frightening offensive power, as well as venomous properties. To prevent further evolution, court mages caught all the Devil Beetles and locked them in the Devil Sealing Tower. The insects ultimately became the guardians of the tower¡¯s first floor. ¡­¡­ Level 75 elite, Attack nearing 800, still bearable. My Defense was over 900. Under the protection of Ghost Deity Armor, Level 75 monsters like this could not do much damage to me. However, the Devil Beetles¡¯ strength lay not in their attacks or defensive abilities, but in their venomous and paralyzing attacks. These two were powerful CC skills. Even the strongest fighter would die if swarmed by them and chain CC¡¯d. I immediately used Charge! Whoosh! Instantly coming in front of the Devil Beetles, I swung my sword horizontally, activating Pardon and Desperate Gambit in an instant! MISS! 10082! Great. Managed to get a critical hit. Awesome! With another basic attack that shaved off 2453 HP, the Devil Beetle had lost the majority of its HP despite being a Level 75 elite! ¡°Bzz bzz bzz¡­¡± With a hiss, the beetle launched at me, his proboscis flashing gold! Bang! 274! It hit my chest, but I didn¡¯t feel any pain, just waves of numbness¡­ I can¡¯t move! Beep! Damn, I was paralyzed! The feeling was really uncomfortable. After letting me get beaten up by the beetle, the little skeleton finally came to my rescue. It thrust its spear, easily penetrating the Devil Beetle¡¯s shell. A huge number rose¡ª4845! Fuck! Why didn''t the little skeleton attack earlier, and instead waited for me to get beaten up before acting? I turned around in puzzlement. The little skeleton snorted, and looked down, ignoring me. The Devil Beetle was killed but didn''t drop anything. However, its EXP yield was abundant. I gripped Purgatory Sword once again and advanced. More and more Devil Beetles appeared in the passageway. I didn''t dare to use Charge on the groups ahead and instead chose to lure them one by one. As a result, my progress was really slow. At this time, I heard a ¡°beep¡±. A message came from Gui Guzi: "Boss, have you seen the news from Floating Ice City?" "Hm, what news?" "Someone in Flower Room leaked a new map¡ªDragonfall Lake. Supposedly, there is some ¡®Devil Sealing Tower¡¯ in the middle of the lake, yet an undiscovered secret. Many people are gathering there. Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction, and Peach Garden are all going. Entire armies are doing quests around to get Proof of Trials!! "Fuck!" I was shocked inside. So things like this really spread thousands of miles. Many players were already eyeing the Dragonfall Lake? This was not good, not good at all. Was my plan to sweep through the Devil Sealing Tower all for naught? I looked at the swarm of Devil Beetles in front of me and devised a plan. I sent a message to Gui Guzi. "Tell Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls not to participate. Focus on leveling up!" "Yes, alright!" Gui Guzi did not ask for the reason and continued to grind at Greedy Wolf Forest with Mamate. I took a few quick steps, passing through the Devil Beetle swarm. At the same time, I summoned the little skeleton back into the pet space and left the Dark Wasp outside. The Devil Beetles were flying monsters, but their movement speed was not high, barely enough to keep up with me, so I wasn¡¯t in any danger. After moving a circle around the swarm, I had about 50 Devil Beetles behind me, as I sprinted toward the entrance of the Devil Sealing Tower. Whoosh! With a flash of red light, I activated Earth Escape, all of the aggro transferring over to my Dark Wasp.. Without a sound, I ordered my Dark Wasp to get even closer to the entrance. The swarm of Devil Beetles flew right behind it, surrounding it and almost killing it under paralysis. Standing on the perimeter of the swarm, I recalled my pet! Whoosh! The Dark Wasp came back, safe! Seeing the dozens of Devil Beetles guarding the entrance to the Devil Sealing Tower. I laughed. With the narrow space between the broken gates, only one person could enter at a time. Regardless of who came in, they could only be paralyzed and die the instant they came in. The mere thought of it filled me with joy! At this time, another message came, this from Lin Yixin: "Lu Chen, do you know about Devil Sealing Tower? How about we team up and meddle?" I smiled. "Yiyi, I¡¯m already in it.¡± "Oh? You... have so many enemies, they will undoubtedly pursue you. How about I join you to help?" "No need. Other than me, no one can enter!" "Oh? What do you mean?" "Let me take a picture for you...¡± "Alright~" I got a picture of the Devil Beetle swarm surrounding the entrance, and sent it to Lin Yixin. A few minutes later, Lin Yixin sent back: "You¡¯re too evil...¡± Hahaha! I felt great and continued to advance. This way, the Devil Sealing Tower was almost my own private leveling site. The entrance was blocked, and there was only one spot they could enter through. The mages at the current stage of the game didn¡¯t have Flash so regardless of who tried to enter, they could only die. Even Candlelight Shadow, the top player of the China server, couldn¡¯t do anything! I started to fight! Devil Beetles fell under my sword, and the guild channel of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was in chaos¡ª Xu Yang: "I told you not to go to Devil Sealing Tower. It''s a waste of time. So many people are fighting there. How many monsters can you even kill? It¡¯s better to stay in Frost Forest and grind Greedy Wolves, increasing our guild EXP.¡± A Broken Smile: "Haha, I am next to Dragonfall Lake, it¡¯s so busy. So many people are killing Frost Turtles. The Frost Turtles get instakilled the millisecond they appear. I wonder how long it will take these people to get the necessary quest items.¡± Chaos Moon: "Hee hee, I saw so many Mad Dragon players planning to go through the water. Iron Pardon led many people and tried to swim. At the third of the way, they all drowned. It was so hilarious~~" Moonlight Stone: "I heard that Flower Room went early, it seems... Spring Mud is about to get all the quest items...¡± Singing to Wine: "Yes, one of my classmates is in Flower Room. Supposedly, after Spring Mud got the quest items, he gave them all to their leader, Young Master Le. He seems to want Young Master Le to go in first, and be the first person to enter the Devil Sealing Tower!" Gui Guzi: "...¡± Shangri-La: "How about we go as well? How can we miss such a huge event?" At this time, He Yi finally spoke¡ª From Water: "Quiet down. Did you not hear Xu Yang? We will continue grinding at Frost Forest. Dragonfall Lake is too dangerous, we won¡¯t get any benefits even if we go!" He Yi spoke, and immediately a group of people said, "Leader is wise, we will listen to you!" Therefore, consensus was reached. In Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, three people''s orders were very effective. One was me, the other He Yi, and the last, Murong Mingyue. My strength was evident. I was the leader of the Who Will Fight Me¡¯s champion, and I was the famous Unkillable War God. Also, I was a celebrity present on Floating Ice City''s Heavenly Ranking. Also, everyone knew now that I was Falling Dust, a member of the CGL Hall of Fame. It was hard for other people to match my reputation and influence. He Yi was the leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and she now had equipment to match her status. Even more importantly, she was a super beauty. In the game, other than divine weapons, it was beauties that were the most powerful. He Yi didn¡¯t talk too much, but when she did, her orders went unquestioned. She was like a spiritual leader of the guild. As for Murong Mingyue, well, as the most famous female priest of Floating Ice City, Sister Mingyue once again proved that those well-endowed were kings. ¡­¡­ Several minutes later, as everyone was chatting happily, a system announcement came¡ª System Announcement (Player ¡°Young Master Le¡± Shout): Damn! Which bastard lured so many Devil Beetles to the entrance of Devil Sealing Tower? I was instantly killed the moment I entered! Immediately, I almost burst into tears out of laughter. Li Le had become the first sacrifice for my monster trap. Karma! Beep! Lin Yixin quickly sent me a smiley-face, and then a message: "Lu Chen, sometimes, you are so adorable...¡± Fuck, what is this? However, I was very pleased at having trapped Li Le. Chapter 224: Golden-armored Devil Beetle Crack! The Purgatory Sword cut through the head of a Devil Beetle. Beside me, little skeleton Xinran was paralyzed, standing still. Suddenly, my arm felt cold as my Outstanding weapon skill procced! Whoosh! A bloody sword energy exploded, ignoring my cooldowns and dealing another powerful attack right after ! 3764! Accompanied by hissing screams, the Devil Beetle fell down, dropping a 71 Quality Big Magic Stone. I didn¡¯t pick it up of course, it wasn¡¯t worth much. I looked at the time. More than an hour had passed, and there were innumerable Devil Beetles who had fallen under my Purgatory Sword. I continued to advance. There were hidden doors everywhere in the dim Devil Sealing Tower. All of them had paper seals stuck to them. Under the night wind, the paper seals would sway slightly. The scene was quiet, but terrifyingly foreboding. Whoosh whoosh... A different sound suddenly came from ahead. I looked closely and found a shadow-like ghost, with bloody eyes and lowly wailing. I was shocked. Is this the second monster of the Devil Sealing Tower? Soul of Vengeance (Elite) Level: 75 Magic Attack: 620~700 Defense: 500 HP: 12000 Skill: Ghost Fireball, Fearful Wail Properties: 25% immunity to all damage Introduction: A soul of vengeance, once an elite human fighter. These brave knights had fallen here. Since their king didn¡¯t acknowledge their honor, their souls couldn¡¯t pass to the other side, unreconciled, wailing in sorrow. Eventually, they turned into devils themselves, and became the guardians of this floor of the Devil Sealing Tower. ¡­¡­ Magic monster. It had 700 Magic Attack. Not low by any means, even more so against an armored class like me. Currently, I had nothing to fear from physical monsters, as they could rarely break through my Defense provided they were at a similar level. However, Magic Attack was different. Since magic was 100% more effective versus heavy armor, its damage would be doubled, and have no problem piercing my Magic Resist! On the battlefield, melee players were the main frontliners, leading the charge, ferocious and invincible. Mages however were their bane. Under the onslaught of several high-level mages, trapped within a chaotic world of fire and ice, those who survived would join the annals of history as heroes. Others would be forgotten, with nothing but bones left! I looked around. There was only one Soul of Vengeance. It could be killed! I locked on and started a Charge! Whoosh! I immediately reached the Soul of Vengeance and swept with the Purgatory Sword. I used a Pardon + Desperate Gambit combo to start! MISS! 5728! However, I still thought the damage was strangely low. After thinking about it, I found the reason! I roared into the air. The Wild Roar skill activated. The buff icon of Wild Roar flashed again. No wonder Pardon + Desperate Gambit could only deal 5000+ damage. My super 15% buff had expired. Having buffed myself, I charged again, this time a basic attack shaving off 3000 HP from the Soul of Vengeance. So sharp! Half of my equipment was already of the Dark Gold grade, and I had an Outstanding weapon. My attack power was extraordinary as expected. If it was so against Level 75 elite monsters like the Soul of Vengeance, it would be the same against mages. I guessed that even top-tier casters like Dominating Mage God would crumble under one blow of my Purgatory Sword, and die in the second! At this stage of the game, I was at an advantage. Presently, mages did not have life-saving skills like Blink and Freeze. Thus, when warriors fought mages, they had an advantage. Of course, 99.99% of melee class players did not have the Charge skill and would have a difficult time fighting mages. Mages with good mechanics would not allow you to get close, and use a string of ice spells to freeze you to death! At this time, the little skeleton charged forward and thrust its blood-red spear. The weapon¡¯s tip flashing, it burrowed into the Soul of Vengeance, decisively putting an end to his battle! "My king, this vassal is dead, honor is my life!" the Soul of Vengeance shouted and slowly fell down. The shadowy figure faded into a human knight''s body. However, it was extremely rotten. Strictly speaking, this was the body of an undead knight. I thought back to the monster''s words. Honor is my life. I suddenly thought of myself. In my case, gold was my life! In this fickle era, one had to stay true to their heart. I had to guard precious things around me, and then push Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls onto the throne. Then, I could start my revenge campaign against Candle Dragon! I smiled faintly. In the China server, there were many people who swore to overthrow the Candle Dragon Guild. However, who had more confidence than me? Never mind. I''ll let Candlelight Shadow live a few more months in Dawn City. When the super cities open up in the future, the show will be on! ¡­¡­ I killed Souls of Vengeance along the way, working together with the little skeleton and the Dark Wasp. That basically didn¡¯t leave any chances for the unreconciled souls to vent. Of course, their attack power was formidable. A Ghost Fireball could take 500 of my HP. Fortunately, the little skeleton''s Soul Devouring Spear could disrupt casts. After a few engages, it learned, and would only act when the hostile Soul of Vengeance started to gather a fireball. It made the grind much easier, and me much safer. Half an hour later, I had killed countless Souls of Vengeance. I opened the small map, and saw that I was in the last section of the Devil Sealing Tower¡¯s first floor. Just a bit more and I would enter the second floor. As I reached that thought, what I had expected appeared in front of me. A boss monster! This was a large golden insect covered in a golden carapace. Its wings vibrated like steel. It was curved slightly, and there was an enormous stinger coming out of its posterior. It looked extremely vicious. It looked like a stronger and gilded version of the Dark Wasp! Golden-armored Devil Beetle (Gold Rank Boss) Level: 75 Attack: 720~920 Defense: 700 HP: 150000 Skills: Paralysis Attack, Poison Spit Properties: 100% immunity to magic damage Properties: Defense +40% Introduction: A poisonous insect that is born and lives in the dark. After millions of years of evolution, they eventually developed frightening offensive power, as well as venomous properties. The apex of their kind is the Golden-armored Devil Beetle. To prevent further evolution, court mages caught all the Devil Beetles and locked them in the Devil Sealing Tower. As the leader of its kind, the Golden-armored Devil Beetle became the ultimate ruler of the Devil Sealing Tower¡¯s first floor. The insects ultimately became the guardians of the tower¡¯s first floor. ¡­¡­ I looked at the boss''s stats and was shocked inside. Fortunately, my class was a melee one. This boss was completely immune to magic! 100% immunity. If a mage had come instead, they would likely be crying. Also, it had a bonus of 40% Defense. All in all, its Defense was 980. In reality, only five people in the entire Floating Ice City could break through its Defense, and I was one of them! Let¡¯s begin! I gazed at the little skeleton behind me and said, "Xinran, I¡¯m going first, you follow. Once the boss casts its paralyzing attack, you use the Soul Devouring Spear to disrupt the cast, okay?" As I spoke, I patted the little skeleton''s shoulder. "Xinran, work hard~~" The little skeleton looked up at me. All I could see under the helmet were her bloody eyes, riddled with confusion. ¡­¡­ I locked onto the boss and started a Charge! Whoosh! I immediately arrived at the target, my sword already risen high. I initiated with my strongest combo¡ªPardon + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 3750! As expected, the boss¡¯s high stats diminished my damage by a lot. Fortunately, I could still break through its Defense. Thus, killing this Golden-armored Devil Beetle would not be a problem. Though truth be told, it was just a Gold Rank Boss. I shouldn¡¯t have any problems dealing with it on my own. The Golden-armored Devil Beetle gave a sharp scream, its wings buzzing, its body curled and flying at me, trying to impale me with its stinger. The attack created a spray of sparks as it hit the Purgatory War Armor. I felt a slight pain but not much damage! 321! As expected, the level disparity was not high, so even a Gold Rank Boss couldn¡¯t damage me greatly! I started a fierce barrage after this initial attack. The Purgatory Sword sliced the Golden-armored Devil Beetle''s HP. The little skeleton chaotically ran around it, poking many holes in its body. ¡°Gulp!¡± After killing for about a minute, I drank a health potion. The boss had lost about 25% HP. It appeared that I would be able to kill it in less than 5 minutes. I concluded that my stats were truly too high. I only used five Rank 6 Health Potions to defeat a Gold Rank boss, relying on my passive healing and Tenacity of the Dead to recover the rest. It saved me a lot of money! A few more minutes passed. My killing blow pierced through the Golden-armored Devil Beetle, taking away the last thread of its HP. Done! ¡°Kee kee¡­¡± The Golden-armored Devil Beetle died with a scream and dropped a huge pile of spoils! I smiled. Very good. The battle was comfortable, no one could steal the items from me, and I didn¡¯t have to worry about nearby assassins trying to ambush me. All of them would have been stung to death at the entrance. With 3 yards between the gate and the horde of Devil Beetle, I didn¡¯t need to fear any assassin in Floating Ice City making it through. Not a single assassin had the ability to sneak past Level 75 Devil Beetles yet! I flipped through the spoils. I threw the high-quality Phantasmal Magic Stones into my bag. There were also some items. I glanced at them, but they weren¡¯t particularly impressive¡ª Venom Wristguards: Level 70 Silver-grade, Defense 100. Increases poison resistance by 1% Gold Leather Hat: Level 70 Dark Steel-grade, Defense 55. Increases agility by 0.6% Forest Dagger: Level 70 Silver-grade, Attack 75~90. Increases attack power by 1%. ¡­¡­ In conclusion, all three were trash items. If they were put at a stall, they would be a gem, but shameful if sent to the auction house. I felt extremely conflicted. I was disappointed as I touched the boss''s body again. Suddenly, my eyes lit up, and a dark gold ring appeared! I¡¯ve struck gold! From the color, this was clearly Dark Gold¨Cgrade item. Theoretically, a Gold Rank boss should not drop Dark Gold¨Cgrade items but there were exceptions, about a 1% chance. High-level Dark Gold Rank bosses would also have a chance of dropping Gold-grade items. This time, I was just lucky! I held the ring in my hand, and touched it. Immediately, my heart jumped, it was a dark gold equipment¡ª Paralysis Ring (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Strength: +50 Stamina: +45 Passive: Increases user''s melee attack power by 7% Properties: In melee combat, there is a 5% chance of paralyzing the enemy for 3 seconds Level Requirement: 70 Class Requirement: Warrio Chapter 225: Gargoyle My happiness was as abrupt as a sudden clap of thunder on a clear day. The Gold Rank boss dropping a Dark Gold¨Cgrade item was fine, but it was actually the legendary ¡°minor divine artifact¡±! Right, these items had appeared in Heavenblessed¡¯s forums before. Though Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment were only high-grade items in the early game, tons of OP items were hidden among them. This Paralysis Ring was one such example. 5% chance of paralyzing the target. It was a powerful CC, and it lasted for 3 whole seconds! It was no doubt a divine item at this stage of the game! In the vast history of gaming, there was a hugely popular game called Legend of Mir, and the Paralysis Ring there was a divine artifact that had a 20¨C50% chance to paralyze. This meant that if you hit 10 times, pretty much 2¨C5 of the hits would proc the CC. The item became the herald of the dark era, and whoever wielded it was a god among men!! The Paralysis Ring in my hand was nerfed hard by Heavenblessed. It only had a 5% chance, but it was still pretty good in its own right. 20% chance would be too OP, and such an item should only appear once the players passed Level 120. More importantly, this Paralysis Ring added a good amount of stats. 50 Strength, 45 Stamina, and additional 7% to melee damage. Those were the stats I needed, and this ring could totally replace my old Bloody Ring of Protection, though the latter had been given to me by Lin Yixin. It had some sentimental value¡­ I¡¯ll just keep it in the warehouse! Every player could wear a ring on each hand. I took off the Bloody Ring of Protection and replaced it with the Paralysis Ring. A dark gold ring appeared on my finger and emitted a bit of demonic energy, so I decisively hid its visual effects. My hands armored by fiery wristguards looked much better. As soon as I equipped it, my stats soared yet again¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Class: Undead Swordsman (Silver Swordsman) Level: 73 HP: 4050 Attack: 678~1175 Defense: 900 Magic Resist: 692 Reputation: 42850 Luck: 3 ¡­¡­ My HP had reached the 4000 mark and my Defense was now 900. If I added the Ghost Deity Armor skill¡¯s passive effect, I¡¯d be a tanky ass warrior. Only a few melee players in Floating Ice City could rival me in terms of survivability. Gui Guzi with his Undying Shield active wasn¡¯t my match either! Pleased as hell, I chucked the other pieces of equipment into the bag. Next up was the second floor. I¡¯d better kill all the bosses here quick and make myself scarce. I¡¯ll let Dominating Heaven Blade and Roaming Dragon fight over this place while not telling anyone that the bosses here had already been killed. It had the same feeling as stealing watermelon on a hot summer day. I¡¯d steal their stuff and they wouldn¡¯t even know it. Feels so good~~ I checked out the empty staircase leading to the Devil Sealing Tower¡¯s second floor. I glanced at the little skeleton. It was obvious that I should make it go up first in case the entrance was littered with mobs. I didn¡¯t want to randomly die in vain. Who would expect the little skeleton to wear a vigilant expression. It leaned against my back, showing no signs of bravery! No choice then. My Dark Wasp shall go first! My Dark Wasp was an honest pet. If I gave it an order, it followed it to the letter. The little helicopter flew up the stairs and I kept my eye on the pet bar. Good, still full HP. The second floor¡¯s entrance had no monsters. I went up the dusty staircase to the second floor. When I entered the map, I smelled a hint of lime, a smell that would frequently accompany newly-built school buildings. Of course, this was a misperception. I bet nobody had entered this ancient Devil Sealing Tower for thousands of years. Those construction workers that love to save on materials would never come to a place they could never profit from. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The scene before me cleared at once and the second floor map also became much clearer as well. It was a complicated corridor that eventually led to the third floor. It was darker up front and became increasingly more dusky, until it was nearly pitch-black. Fortunately, I had the light emitted by the Purgatory Sword. The sword itself throbbed with traces of lightning, illuminating my surroundings. Tsk tsk, a high-level Outstanding weapon really is outstanding, huh! Rustle... A noise came from up ahead. I focused my gaze and saw a second-floor monster about 20 yards away! It was a mob covered in poisonous spikes. It looked like a standing turtle and the spikes on its shell glowed with green light. On its front side however were disgusting spiky tentacles that wiggled like alien tentacles. In short, it¡¯s best if I kill them fast because they were so freaking gross! Poison Spike Devil (Elite) Level: 78 Attack: 700~850 Defense: 450 HP: 12000 Skills: Poison Spike Protection Introduction: A highly-toxic insect covered in spikes. It has an extremely high attack power and quick reproduction rate. After being summoned to the Devil Sealing Tower by a mysterious magic, it became the guardian of devils. It is best to not approach these filthy things, the spikes on their bodies can stab anyone. ¡­¡­ Poison Spike Devil. In brief, high attack but low defense and HP. A glass cannon, so it shouldn¡¯t be too hard to get rid of! I dashed forward, Charge! Whoosh! My sword trembled as Ice Ray and Desperate Gambit fell and cut through the air! 3298! 3514! As expected of a low-Defense mob. It only had 450, so it couldn¡¯t withstand my Purgatory Sword¡¯s torment. Only two strikes and nearly half of its HP was gone. The little skeleton came up, dealing more than 4000 damage in a single thrust. Just when it was about to die, pain shot through my entire body. A few spikes struck my forehead. Beep! Combat Log: You have been damaged by Poison Spike Devil¡¯s ¡°Poison Spike Protection". You have lost 250 HP! Combat Log: You have been damaged by Poison Spike Devil¡¯s ¡°Poison Spike Protection". You have lost 250 HP! Combat Log: You have been damaged by Poison Spike Devil¡¯s ¡°Poison Spike Protection". You have lost 250 HP! ¡­¡­ I lost 750 HP in just 3 seconds! The Dark Wasp charged up with a sting, finally killing the Poison Spike Devil! I was dumbfounded. Was this Poison Spike Protection an AoE DoT? Each second lowered HP by 250. So good! It was even better than the Purgatory Sword¡¯s 20% splash damage! Only, I''ve never gotten the chance to test out the Purgatory Sword¡¯s splash damage attacks. The levels of the mobs in the Devil Sealing Tower were really high. The first floor¡¯s Devil Beetle had a paralysis attack so I couldn¡¯t aggro entire groups of them. The second floor¡¯s Poison Spike Devil was the same. If I completely surrounded myself with a group of Poison Spike Devils, I would die a porcupine in no more than 2 minutes. After we killed that Poison Spike Devil, I looked into the distance. More than ten Poison Spike Devils were walking back and forth, looking like they were sleepwalking. I had to take advantage of this!. ¡°Pfee!¡± When I whistled, my clever cutie pie quickly flew out and circled around them. As a result, around 20 Poison Spike Devils charged over together. I controlled them to fly toward the second floor entrance and it accurately flew in the only space there. Its HP was at rock bottom and it looked at me, waiting for me to recall it. But a tragedy ensued. I was a bit too late and the Dark Wasp was immediately stabbed to death by the Poison Spike Devils¡¯ Poison Spike Protection. I didn¡¯t bother watching anymore. I gave little skeleton Xinran a smile and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go grind!¡± The little skeleton was still staring at the Dark Wasp¡¯s corpse, as if asking me, ¡°We¡¯re just gonna ignore it? Aren¡¯t you a bit too unappreciative?¡± I didn¡¯t explain. A tough life couldn¡¯t be explained or else the little skeleton would think me despicable. In any case, the Dark Wasp could be resummoned in 10 minutes. There was no need to worry! And so, I took the little skeleton along and I killed my way through. To be honest, even though my Dark Wasp had a 6-star Attack growth, it still couldn¡¯t be used. Its attack power paled in comparison to the damage I and the little skeleton could dish out! I should get another summonable pet. The Dark Wasp¡¯s stats were still considerably strong but that only applied to normal players. It was too weak compared to a full 6-piece Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipped high-level player like me. In fact, it was no problem for me to go up against around 5 Dark Wasps! Less and less Poison Spike Devils appeared as we pressed onward, replaced by statues that neatly lined up on both sides of the path. I carefully kept a look out as I advanced forward. The moment I got close, I really felt some movements. Cracking noises sounded and the statue split in half. An undead warrior with ferocious features charged at me with a hooked saber in hand. It raised the hooked saber and shouted, ¡°You dare trespass on my king¡¯s terrority? Die!¡± I sneered. ¡°You dare despise me? Die!¡± Gargoyle (Elite). Level 78. A lower attack power than the Poison Spike Devil, but its Defense and HP were much higher. I had to use absolute strength against it, else there would be a possibility of me dying. I activated Charge! Whoosh! In the blink of an eye, I came before the Gargoyle and the Purgatory Sword hacked it twice, shaving off 30% or so of its HP. The little skeleton also charged up, with a Soul Devouring Spear and basic attack, deleting around 40%. Damn, our combined attack power was outrageous. Our sharp blades cut this Level 78 elite monster like it was cabbage! The Gargoyle gave a generous amount of EXP. Coupled with how fast the little skeleton leveled, by the time 1 pm came, it had already reached Level 70. A few more days of grinding and matching my level wouldn¡¯t be an issue. I happily continued the slaughterfest and saw my EXP bar rise. It was a delightful process to say the least. Though it did hurt me inside when these Gargoyles dropped a ton of Big Magic Stones and I didn¡¯t pick them up. A magic stone could allow me to make a little money but I couldn¡¯t raise the three beautiful girls in the workshop with a bunch of rocks. Poor old me had to bear the heavy burden of throwing these magic stones away! Right then, I heard a beep. It was a message from He Yi: ¡°Hey, it¡¯s afternoon already. You¡¯re not going to log off to grab a bite?¡± I thought about it, then replied: ¡°Nah, I¡¯m going to continue until it¡¯s time for dinner¡­¡± He Yi didn¡¯t know whether to laugh or cry: ¡°Alright, then let¡¯s head to a buffet since you¡¯ll be more hungry come dinner.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± ¡­¡­ I closed the chat window and continued my killing spree! Swhoosh! I reached Level 74 with a flash of golden light when it was a bit past 2 pm. This place really was a super quick grinding zone! There were only a handful of Gargoyles left within my line of sight. However, the little skeleton revealed a vigilant expression, glaring into the distance. There was a huge stone statue there. Clearly, it had to be very strong. I understood in an instant. Good, the Devil Sealing Tower¡¯s second floor boss was about to appear! Chapter 226: Ghost Formation A few more dead Gargoyles later, I noticed that the huge statue at the end of the second floor seemed to be an armored warrior holding a really long weapon sealed in stone. I wondered what kind of weapon it was. I knew one thing for sure though. No matter what it was, this boss was in no way inferior to the first floor¡¯s Golden-armored Devil Beetle! The cogs in my head turned. If I wanted to see the boss¡¯s level and stats, I would have to lure it over. But to do that, I¡¯d have to break open the stone layer on its body. The moment the boss broke out, it would undoubtedly use its attack skill. It¡¯d be ugly if I got instantly one-shot. I had to leave things like that to a cannon fodder! My mind made up, I immediately looked behind me. The little skeleton instantly turned away while the Dark Wasp flapped its wings. It looked at me excitedly, like a dog wagging its tail. I pointed a finger. ¡°You, then. Go, Little White Rabbit!¡± My Dark Wasp took off, buzzing, and jabbed the huge stone statue three times with its stinger. Three huge misses flew up. These stupid things were immune to attacks when they were still stone. Due to the Dark Wasp¡¯s attack, the boss was instantly aggroed. The floor in the hall started trembling and dust fell from overhead. The layer of stone on the boss began to crack and fall off, exposing its pitch-black metal armor. The boss moved its hand, crushing the stone on his weapon into fine powder. It was actually a blood-red hooked spear! This kind of weapon was cooler than most. It had to have huge attack power, and the hooked part brought along additional utility to it, making it an ace weapon for knight-type classes! I tightened my grip on the Purgatory Sword but remained calm. If that weapon drops after I kill him, I¡¯ll be rich! I locked my gaze on the boss, its stats appearing before me 3 seconds later¡ª Gargoyle King (Dark Gold Rank Boss) Level: 78 Attack: 850~975 Defense: 800 HP: 165000 Skills: Petrifying Attack, Ironclad Armor, Ghost Formation Properties: Critical rate increased by 20% Introduction: The Gargoyle King was once the prince of a small duchy on the Heavenblessed Continent. After experiencing the mayhem of the Night Creatures, the duchy was enslaved. Its brave warriors were killed, refined into stone statues while its pitiful prince was enslaved by an evil undead mage, eventually becoming the Gargoyle King. He, whose soul has been consumed by anger and thoughts of revenge, had become a powerful existence in the Devil Sealing Tower. ¡­¡­ As expected, his stats really were much higher than the Golden-armored Devil Beetle¡¯s. Especially those skills, each sounded cooler than the last! He even had a 20% critical rate boost. I had to be careful when fighting this boss. Even a single moment of carelessness could spell my doom! The Gargoyle King had a mighty presence. When he saw the light of day again, he waved his hooked spear and yelled, ¡°Damned humans, you dare trespass on my territory? You seek death!¡± The spear suddenly shot out and stabbed onto the Dark Wasp¡¯s head with a two hit combo! 1784! 1428! My poor Dark Wasp only had 2650 HP so it was doomed. I could only hear its cry as it got one-shot! I raised my Purgatory Sword and growled, ¡°Let¡¯s go, Xinran!¡± Ding! System Notice: ¡°Deterrence¡± has successfully activated, lowering Gargoyle King¡¯s stats by 15%! Tsk tsk. Deterrence activated! Very good. The chances of me killing this boss have increased. I love undead monsters! Swhoosh! As soon as I buffed myself with Wild Roar I activated Charge, instantly arriving before the Gargoyle King. My stun succeeded, and I began executing my Ice Ray + Slayer Slash combo! Deterrence¡¯s aura was visible beneath my feet. A dense frost aura formed on the tip of the Purgatory Sword as it heavily struck the boss on the head. The Purgatory Sword then glowed green as a Rank 7 Slayer Slash sliced down! There was almost no pause between my attacks. 2458! 2109! Fuck, what a letdown! I checked out the boss again and saw that he glowed with a steel sheen. It was actually that Ironclad Armor skill. It could increase its Defense by 17%. No wonder I only deal this little damage even with my spectacular Purgatory Sword. This boss¡¯s Defense was way higher than the Golden-armored Devil Beetle! But it was still fine since I had broken through its Defense anyway. What tragedy would it be if I dealt double-digit damage, or see just a single digit! Frost completely covered the Gargoyle King¡¯s body. Its movement speed had been reduced by Icy Ray. Instantly enraged, its spear swept over with the miserable wails of ghosts concentrated on its head. An attack skill! I reflexively raised my left arm to block it and bent backward like a bow stretched taut, going into the Guard stance! Ding! The defensive blue light barrier formed around my body and my Guard was a success! 372! Not bad, considering the fact that I would''ve taken at least 1000 damage otherwise. Before I even had time to feel happy about it, I suddenly realized that I couldn''t move my body. Cracking sounds came from my legs as a layer of stone covered them. Petrification?! Beep! Combat Log: Gargoyle King used ¡°Petrifying Attack¡±, dealing 372 damage. You have been petrified, Defense increased by 100% and cannot move for 5 seconds! ¡­¡­ Fuck, I got petrified. So OP! I hurriedly gave an order, "Fall back, Xinran. Let me take the aggro!" Xinran lifted its head and looked at me. With a slide of its feet, the little skeleton retreated a few dozen yards away. Damn, it sure was quick when running away! With Xinran so far away, I was the only one who could aggro the boss now. The gargoyle was whaling on my petrified self, its spear trembling, continuously pumping out damage numbers. 109! 102! 110! ¡­¡­ Hahaha, good. Being petrified increased my Defense by 100% and with Ghost Deity Armor and Enhanced Bones, my Defense should probably be above 2000 now. As a result, even this powerful Level 78 Dark Gold Rank boss could not break through. My Defense was downright scary, so scary that even Gui Guzi''s jaw would drop to the floor if he saw this! The petrification CC only lasted 5 seconds, so I was soon able to move. The instant the stone on my body crumbled I seized that chance to execute Pardon and Desperate Gambit to the boss¡¯s neck! MISS! 4231! Very good. Pardon''s might was unavoidable but it was even more impressive paired with the Rank 7 Desperate Gambit. The boss roared in anger and the spear struck like a poisonous snake. This time, his aim was true. 745! A heavy blow, but still within my limits. I moved with the Purgatory Sword and slammed the boss on the neck a few times. Almost every hit struck a weak point. Xinran also charged up at this time. She thrust her weapon out, Soul Devouring Spear directly taking away 4000 HP! ¡°Gulp!¡± I downed a Rank 6 Health Potion and¡°+1500¡± appeared above my head. This short scuffle was enough for me to understand my enemy. The Gargoyle King¡¯s Attack was amazing but he was pretty slow. Especially its turn rate. He turned really slowly and his attack range was only 180 degrees to its front. Its weakness was instantly revealed when I ran behind it. I could completely control the rhythm and make him dance in the palm of my hand! Clang clang clang! I went all out and the Purgatory Sword struck out damage numbers above 2000. After taking consecutive hits from the boss, Xinran now stood at a distance and waited for a chance to deal a sneak attack! Bang! The Paralysis Ring on my armored finger suddenly glowed, proccing its effect! The Gargoyle King instantly froze in place, paralyzed for 3 seconds. Haha, this ring was phenomenal! I launched several lightning-fast chain attacks, all aimed at its weak points and then slid behind the boss. I slashed, ruthlessly piercing his cape and dealing 2245 with the back attack. By the time he recovered from the CC, a huge chunk of his HP had disappeared. He tried to pierce me with his spear but then realized that I was continuously circling around him, sticking closely to his back. Of course, this kind of action required a really high level of judgement and reaction time. Even I didn¡¯t have 100% success rate. Clang! Eventually, I made an error, the boss activating Petrifying Attack the moment it spotted me. I instantly assumed the defensive stance. Although a large portion of the damage had been dispersed by Guard, I was still petrified. The Gargoyle King was furious. A series of attacks still couldn¡¯t vent his anger so he pointed his spear at the sky and yelled, ¡°Oh great laws of purgatory, please grant me the power to destroy everything. I, Surari the Third, seek the Ghost Formation!¡± The big move is here! I was still in the petrified state. I felt like dying. Ghost Formation. The name itself was cool as hell so wouldn¡¯t I die if I was directly hit? Ghost Formation had a channel time and I still had 2 seconds on my petrified state. I was so close to the boss that by the time my CC wore off, Ghost Formation would activate. Dammit, I¡¯m actually going to get hit by a delayed attack, so disgraceful! Papah! Right when the petrification wore off, the ground began to tremble. Countless blood-red ghosts combined into multiple bloody sword beams that broke out from the ground. They shot into the sky and indiscriminately attacked the surroundings! Pain tore through my body as my HP plummeted¡ª 1202! 1183! 1104! ¡­¡­ Fuck, my HP had almost reached rock bottom in the blink of an eye! I ran as if my life depended on it. While leaving the effective range of the Ghost Formation, I took out a Rank 8 Health Potion, chugged it and used Tenacity of the Dead at the same time. +2500! +1012! Very good, I was almost restored to full, though I was still being hit by the ghostly energy attack coming out of the ground. When I got out of its range, I only had about one-third of my HP left. That was way too close! Ghost Formation was too overpowered. It lasted for 60 full seconds, but since I happened to have a recovery skill myself, my HP was now past the halfway mark. The instant Ghost Formation was over, I rushed in with Xinran, opening with Charge and hacking away a good amount of the boss¡¯s HP. It was relatively safe this time around. I did my best to delay the boss¡¯s attack pattern to avoid unnecessary damage and barely managed to finish him off without losing any HP! Swhoosh! Light suddenly glowed. The Purgatory Sword¡¯s Outstanding skill activated again on the Gargoyle King. The Purgatory Sword directly slashed down from above! 3765! Chapter 227: Leaf of Eternity I walked up to pick up my spoils of war, my mood instantly refreshed! I kicked aside the Gargoyle King¡¯s thigh and found a few items and a large amount of stones beneath. There were about 7 or 8 Phantasmal Magic Stones in there and I took them all. I could still sell these for several hundred gold. If the funds in the workshop were all squandered by the girls, this gold could let us eat boxed meals for a week. I secretly admired myself for my farsightedness. I took a look at the equipment the boss had dropped, each item disappointing me more than the last. Glimmering Gloves: Level 75 metal armor, Silver-grade, Defense 97, Attack +1% Ephemeral Cloak: Level 75 metal armor, Dark Steel¨Cgrade, Defense 65. Increases melee evasion rate by 0.5% Morning Daymist War Boots: Level 75 metal armor, Steel-grade, Defense 50. Increases movement speed by 0.2% ¡­¡­ Damn, this Gargoyle King was something alright. The equipment it dropped were all mediocre items only seen at stalls with goods laid out on the floor. In fact, they were almost even worse than those. The first floor¡¯s Golden-armored Devil Beetle dropped better stuff than this. Just as I was feeling gloom, I suddenly saw a glint coming from somewhere on the ground. A careful look later, I saw it was a dark gold sheen of an item! Right under the boss¡¯s dead body too! My elation skyrocketed as I kicked with all my strength. The boss¡¯s body rolled into the distance and I saw that exact blood-red spear the boss had been using but on the ground. The edges of its head was adorned with metal hooks, so its Attack would surely be out of the ordinary! I picked up the spear and its stats jumped in my face. It gave me a nice surprise¡ª Bloodbreak Spear (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Attack: 175~280 Strength: +45 Stamina: +37 Passive: Increases the user¡¯s Attack by 4% Passive: 10% chance to deal an additional attack Level Requirement: 75 ¡­¡­ It was actually a Dark Gold¨Cgrade weapon. Though it was a tad worse than He Yi¡¯s Abyssal Sword, it was still considerably great in its own right. 280 max Attack with two bonus stats and even a 10% chance dealing an additional attack. This was practically another 10% Attack increase passive. I took the Bloodbreak Spear and tossed it in my bag. Mn, I¡¯m not going to sell a good weapon like this for the time being. I¡¯d just be looking for trouble if Dominating Knight God or Inconstant were to buy it. It¡¯s better if I throw it at Gui Guzi when I get back to the city. That kid had amazing survivability but his attack power was a little lacking. As a leader, I couldn¡¯t be biased or I¡¯d garner contempt. With the second floor done, onward to the third! Rustle... At my side, little skeleton Xinran stepped on the grass, eyes brimming with vigilance as it looked around. It coldly looked at me while holding its spear, then looked at the surroundings again. As I slowly walked forward, I was secretly surprised. Were there no monsters here? That¡¯s good then, it meant that I could go directly to the fourth floor and kill the final boss there, finish the quest and finally eat dinner. Just when I was feeling happy at my schedule moving up, a withered vine half the size of a person suddenly moved. A pair of eyes appeared on the wood between the vines, shocking me. Tsk tsk, that was actually a fucking monster! Treant. That was the legendary treant. It waved its short twiggy arms and gave a low bellow. It glared at me and began running at me! I drew my sword. Just a trash mob, why should I be scared of it?! Charge! Whoosh! I arrived before the dried vine and slashed out, instantly deleting around 25% of its HP. That was some sharpness. It was also at this time that I saw the monster¡¯s name¡ªWithered Vine Guardian, Level 80 elite monster. Passable Attack and Defense, but its HP was relatively high. It would be a waste of effort to kill them. Of course, that only applied to ordinary players. The Purgatory Sword in my hand was a 3-star Outstanding weapon. Though the Withered Vine Guardian¡¯s HP and Defense were stronger than usual, it wouldn¡¯t impact me too much. Pa! The Withered Vine Guardian¡¯s short arms struck my shoulder for 175 damage. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at this. What is this? Its damage is so weak, is it insulting me? I randomly swung my sword and soon the Withered Vine Guardian was dead. Pop! Something seemed to have dropped. I checked and saw that it was a Big Magic Stone. Forget it. My fingers spread open, I did my usual dead body search¡ªDeath Plunder! Swhoosh! Unlike the venom on the first floor or the ragged cloth from the second floor, it was a rather useful thing¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have obtained ¡°Leaf of Eternity¡± x5! ¡­¡­ Five leaves appeared in my hand. Tsk tsk, tree leaves? Actually, they weren¡¯t tree leaves but very high rank herbs, Rank 8! Leaf of Eternity was the material needed to make the indispensable Rank 8 Health Potion. It seems I can gather a lot of them here, huh? Good, I¡¯ll make these a contribution to Lin Yixin! I looked at the third floor¡¯s monsters. There were so many Withered Vine Guardians. They had weak Attack that could barely break through my Defense. Killing this kind of monster should be relatively easy. This was my chance to kill groups of monsters! I looked around and quickly chose a spot to farm them. It was a narrow space in the corner. Time to start! I told my pets to stay in place and charged out. Weaving a beautiful S through the monster horde, I attracted the aggro of every Withered Vine Guardian and brought the ocean of mobs back to the little corner. Pa! My cape knocked against the wall and by the time I stood in place, the Dark Wasp and the little skeleton had already joined me, taking spots at side and blocking the space. Now I could only be hit by one mob at a time! The Withered Vine Guardians rushed over. Since the little skeleton and Dark Wasp didn¡¯t have the aggro, the entire mob flooded the surroundings. They all paced back and forth, unable to attack. Mn, preparations are ready. Time to work! I used Wild Roar to increase my attack power by 15%. The Purgatory Sword in my hand quivered as I concentrated all my power into it. Thousand Mirage Slash sprang into the air! Boom! 2549! 2474! 2239! ¡­¡­ Numerous damage numbers jumped. This honestly wasn¡¯t all. The damage numbers that surfaced were only a part of the overall damage. The moment my skill came down, all the Withered Vine Guardians in the area seemed to have instantly lost half their HP. This was definitely not from losing just 2400 HP. The overall damage had to be around 10000! As I had expected, the Purgatory Sword¡¯s 20% splash damage effect would cause the monsters around the damaged target to suffer 20% in splash damage. The monsters in Thousand Mirage Slash¡¯s attack range overlapped each other so the overall damage dealt was terrifying! Tsk tsk. Thousand Mirage Slash plus 20% splash damage had far surpassed Mage¡¯s Arctic Rain or Archer¡¯s Volley. If Floating Ice City¡¯s mages and archers knew that a warrior like me could kill monsters like this, I¡¯m afraid most of them would want to die. A Rank 7 Thousand Mirage Slash¡¯s cooldown was low, only 15 seconds. The second round¡¯s coming! Boom! The monsters fell down together and a dense white stream of experience flew at me. Swhoosh! Golden light fell. I hit Level 75! Very good. Just a small fight against a group of mobs and I leveled up. Again! Two Thousand Mirage Slashes were enough to kill an entire pack of Withered Vine Guardians. The experience gained was abundant as hell, and it only took 30 seconds to do so. Ever since I started playing Heavenblessed, I¡¯ve never killed monsters so brilliantly before. I was almost certain that no one in the entire China server had such an effective grinding method. After all, I had the 3-star Outstanding Purgatory Sword and the Outstanding property to match its grandeur. Even 5% splash damage would be enough, but 5% was too lame compared to a whopping 20%. The 300 or so horde of Withered Vine Guardians quickly met their maker and I used Death Plunder on every corpse. Each Withered Vine Guardian gave 5¨C8 Leaf of Eternity. A hundred leaves made a stack and I soon had 20 stacks of Leaf of Eternity. Good thing my additional bag was a High-grade Army Pouch that gave me 100 more slots, for a total 120. With such abundant space in my bag I could continue with the grind! I didn¡¯t bother to rest after killing the horde of Withered Vine Guardians. I ran out again and soon aggroed another huge mob of monsters in this maze-like room. There were at least 500 of them this time. My entire vision was full of monsters, making my blood boil! I was sucking on a Rank 6 Health Potion already. Good thing I had these bad boys, else I wouldn¡¯t be able to kill monsters this way. Even though their attack power didn¡¯t amount to much, it¡¯d still be pretty scary if they all stacked on me! Another point worth mentioning was that I wasn¡¯t solely relying on my pots to grind. Tenacity of the Dead helped, and Regeneration of the Undead helped even more. Rank 7 Regeneration of the Undead recovered 0.7% HP every second. I had a total of 4000 HP so that was 28 HP every second. In other words, I¡¯d recover 280 HP in 10 seconds, and 1680 HP in a minute. This was some impressive regeneration that would shame any other class! The closer we got to the later stages of the game the more apparent my Undead Swordsman¡¯s superiority shone. This was a good omen! I stood in place, surrounded by a huge number of Withered Vine Guardians, and continued the slaughter. I was constantly using Thousand Mirage Slash, causing all the nearby Withered Vine Guardians to let out their death throes as their souls dispersed. I soon annihilated these Withered Vine Guardians and got 40 more stacks of Leaf of Eternity, forcing me to throw away a few Phantasmal Magic Stones. I had no choice. I had to leave space for potions and consumables. I had to use my Magic Consumables since Tenacity of the Dead used up 50% of my MP each use. Since melee classes had low mana points, I could do with low-rank consumables. That didn¡¯t change much though, regardless of rank they took up the same number of slots. I also brought along some food too or else I¡¯d starve to death in this Devil Sealing Tower. ¡­¡­ I continued my grind until it was 8 pm. I''d finally cleared the entire third floor by then. I had 100 full stacks of Leaf of Eternity now. For this one herb, I had practically tossed out everything aside from equipment drops, pots, and high-rank Magic Consumables. Of course, I also left a return scroll behind. I continued making my way onward and like I had expected, the path to the Devil Sealing Tower¡¯s final floor was blocked. A gigantic tree vine monster sat at the center of the road. Two pitch-black eyes glared at me and waved its countless arms like the Thousand Hand Guan Yin. Chapter 228: Change Vine Demon King (Dark Gold Rank boss) Level: 80 Attack: 550~800 Defense: 1100 HP: 400000 Skills: ??? Introduction: The Vine Demon King evolved from a thousand-year-old vine who has the ability to attack its enemies with countless vines, but is permanently rooted in one place. Vine Demon Kings have existed deep inside forest areas for tens of thousands of years, and the strongest among them was sealed in the third floor of the Devil Sealing Tower to serve as a guardian. ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t help but laugh when I saw the Vine Demon King¡¯s stats. It was a Level 80 Dark Gold Rank boss, but it only had 800 Attack. Was it created to put all other Dark Gold Rank bosses to shame, and not in the positive sense? It had ridiculously high HP and Defense, but this was exactly the kind of boss I loved! I lifted the Purgatory Sword and charged the boss confidently! Whoosh! MISS! But to my surprise, I had failed to stun the boss. Still, I didn¡¯t let the failure slow me and transitioned into an Ice Ray + Slayer Slash combo! 1784! 1450! Tsk tsk, its Defense is truly amazing! I was barely able to pierce it and do some damage! Looking incredibly angry, the Vine Demon King retaliated by swinging its arms at me. But instead of evading or parrying the attack, I simply let it hit me in the body! 387! Ghost Deity Armor rattled under the impact, but the actual damage dealt to my person was so weak that I could practically ignore it. Man, the bosses of the Devil Sealing Tower had so far proven themselves to be extremely ¡°benevolent¡± creatures. The Golden-armored Devil Beetle had shit stats in general, so it was incredibly easy to kill. The Gargoyle King had a low turn rate, so it was possible to bully it to death with good positioning and maneuvering. The Vine Demon King, on the other hand, was your standard meatshield. Killing it was just a matter of time. The fight continued like this for a time. It was an incredible feeling to watch the boss''s HP decrease while I chugged my potions and kept myself constantly in the green. Lin Yixin had given me reserves, and that plus my original stock totaled up to 90 Health Potions or so. It should barely be enough to last me the whole tower crawl. Although the Vine Demon King didn¡¯t have high Attack, it was very tanky. At the rate I was wearing it down, I estimated that it would cost at least 30 Rank 6 Health Potions before I finally killed it. Ten whole minutes later, the Vine Demon King let out a death scream and collapsed in shame. Its gigantic body crumbled and exploded into many items! The Phantasmal Magic Stones were thrown all over the place, so I decided to grab the equipment drops first. But the last item was something else. It was a dark gold¨Ccolored long bow! I picked up the bow and gave it a look. It looked like it was made from pure gold, and a powerful energy was flowing from the bow and into my arm. I waved my hand ones and brought up the stats screen. It was as good as I thought it would be! Golden Scale Bow (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Attack: 70~240 Strength: +50 Agility: +42 Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 20% Level Requirement: 75 ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, the bow had 240 Attack. It was even better than Beiming Xue¡¯s Level 70 Dark Gold¨Cgrade Purgatory Bow, albeit only slightly. This Golden Scale Bow was the only good item dropped by the Vine Demon King. I already knew what I wanted to do with it. I took a screenshot of the bow and sent it to Beiming Xue: ¡°Lil Beiming, what do you think of this bow? Do you want it?¡± Beiming Xue let out a cry of astonishment before asking, ¡°Where did you get it, big bro?¡± ¡°The Devil Sealing Tower, of course!¡± ¡°Oh, that place¡­¡± Beiming Xue smiled. ¡°Anyway, I think I prefer my Purgatory Bow. Although this Golden Scale Bow has pretty good stats, it only has a base Attack of 70. That means that its overall offensive power is actually lower than my Purgatory Bow. Besides that, it adds 50 points of Strength instead of Stamina, and increases its user¡¯s max HP by 20%. I won¡¯t deny that its passive is incredibly powerful, but ultimately the most important stat to an archer is Attack, not HP. Even if my max HP is off the charts, I still wouldn¡¯t be able to take two hits from a warrior like you, could I?¡± I smiled. As expected of the archer I chose, she had found the flaws of the Golden Scale Bow almost immediately. At first glance, this Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment looked incredibly impressive, but its true value was so-so at best. It was better as a decoration than an actual weapon. After confirming that Beiming Xue had no use for this bow, I hung up and made up my mind to put it up for auction at Floating Ice City. A Level 75 Dark Gold¨Cgrade weapon was a reserve weapon most high-level players could use at this stage of the game, and who knows, I might even be able to sell it for an obscene amount of money! I continued toward the fourth floor after throwing the Golden Scale Bow into my bag. It was the last floor of the Devil Sealing Tower, so I should be at the top after this last flight of stairs! A familiar ring entered my ears when I entered the fourth floor of the map. Ding~! System Notice: You have entered the boss map, General Hall! ¡­¡­ Fuck! The General Hall? I was surprised by how small the top floor of the tower was. It was only as big as a basketball field, and there were spinning runes at the center of the map. It was also there that I spotted a bunch of mobs. There were four Level 80 elite mobs clad in greenish metal armor, and they seemed to be guarding a pure black coffin. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, the Purgatory Devil Sovereign I was tasked to kill was lying in it. I glared at the four guards and fell into thought for a moment. These lackeys needed to die first because I couldn¡¯t afford to be distracted by them when the boss made its appearance. Moreover, there was no such thing as a second chance in this tower. If I failed even once, I wouldn¡¯t be able to enter it a second time. As usual, I sent the Dark Wasp forward to act as bait. It wasn¡¯t long before all four elite mobs were pouncing toward me. The good news was that the boss wasn¡¯t awakened by the disturbance! ¡°Die!¡± The edge of the Purgatory Sword was covered in bloody light as I charged into the middle of the guards and spun like a top. Waves of bloody energy struck out at my enemies and cut them into mince meat in just the blink of an eye. I might be 5 levels below these elite mobs, but there¡¯s still nothing they can do to me as long as they are not a boss. All four elite mobs died in less than three minutes. The boss was the only one left now! ¡­¡­ I kept my sword pointed toward the coffin as I slowly approached it. Suddenly, the entire Devil Sealing Tower started shaking as a ray of bloody light burst out of the coffin! Thud! A huge hand that was covered in metal pushed away the lid of the coffin. Then, an intimidating giant slowly rose to his feet and stared at me. The boss was a mighty-looking general with a thick and bloody cape draped over his shoulders. He was holding a glowing sword that matched his size¡ªmost likely the Devil Suppressing Sword¡ªand his armor had jagged lines and edges that resembled draconic armor. He looked ridiculously cool in that outfit. I hurriedly took a couple of steps away from the boss. I was shocked that I couldn¡¯t see its stats at all. Purgatory Devil Sovereign (Dark Gold Rank Boss) Level: 85 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: Purgatory Devil Sovereign was a Holy Dominion warrior. His soul succumbed to darkness because he had murdered countless people in his life. He was summoned back to life as a bloodthirsty general by a Night Creature leader hidden deep within the darkness. Tens of thousands of years ago, a human empire successfully defeated him and sealed him inside the Devil Sealing Tower in exchange for the lives of 21 Holy Dominion warriors and 14 dragon horsemen. Today, Purgatory Devil Sovereign has lost most of his strength to the passage of time, but is still an incredibly scary foe. ¡­¡­ I sucked in a deep breath. If there was one thing I was certain about, it was that this boss had incredible stats! Fortune favors the bold, and it was do or die in this tower! ¡°Die!¡± I activated Charge and hit the boss like a lightning bolt. Then, I swung my Outstanding Purgatory Sword straight at its head! Bang! MISS! 2275! Fuck! Even after Pardon had mitigated most of the boss''s Defense, I was only able to deal around 2000 damage or so. Worse, 2000 HP was barely a tick in the boss health pool! He was way tougher than that Gargoyle King I had fought earlier! I contained my shock and gritted my teeth. A sinister smile spread across the dark face beneath the helmet. ¡°Hehe, die, you lowly undead adventurer!¡± He swung his sword at me as he spoke. I hurriedly backed away from him and raised my sword defensively! Clang! Unbelievable! The attack actually broke my defensive stance and caused it to mitigate a lot less damage than usual! Not only that, the boss''s level was so high that my Deterrence was completely ineffective against it! 1298! It was bad. The boss was far stronger than I initially imagined! The Dark Wasp flew forward to buy time for me, but all it took was one casual swing from the Purgatory Devil Sovereign to send it back to my pet space! It was clear that I couldn¡¯t fight this boss head-on. Worse, his movement speed and turn rate were absolutely higher than mine. Unlike the Gargoyle King, he couldn¡¯t be dealt with by just quick maneuvers! I kept backing away while observing the terrain around me. Suddenly, my eyes lit up. I think I found an exploitable area! There was a window where a bit of light entered from outside. It was only big enough to fit a human, and there was no way Purgatory Devil Sovereign could squeeze through it. I was delighted. As the saying goes, never give up hope and one will find a way eventually! I ran toward the window and leaped into the opening. Now, I was surrounded by thick walls on both sides. A boss NPC would never damage the building, right? But Purgatory Devil Sovereign disappointed me and swung its sword horizontally. The bricks collapsed under his swing easily like he was cutting tofu! I immediately raised the Purgatory Sword and activated Thousand Mirage Slash! It was my only chance. I had to kill it with Thousand Mirage Slash before the boss could get his hands on me! But was that even possible? One hit from Thousand Mirage Slash only dealt about one thousand damage. It wasn¡¯t even enough to nullify his regeneration... ¡°Die! Die!¡± The boss continued to hack away at the walls like crazy. Bits of stones were flying all over the place. Suddenly, he stopped swinging and grabbed my arm with his big hand! ¡­¡­ Suddenly, something completely unusual happened! Swhoosh! A magnificent red light illuminated the entire hall, and my little skeleton suddenly appeared behind the boss. She raised her spear and spoke in a shockingly melodious voice, ¡°Let him go¡­ let him go!¡± Swhoosh! She thrust her spear forward and hit the Purgatory Devil Sovereign squarely in the back! 127984! It was a ridiculous amount of damage to say the least. At that moment, I found that I didn¡¯t know that little skeleton at all. What on earth is she? Enraged, the boss turned around and retaliated with a mighty swing of his own. NPC battles had always been intense! Clang! There was a shower of sparks, and the little skeleton¡¯s helmet was knocked off her head. The night¡¯s breeze carried her black hair into the air, and her beautiful face came under the moonlight. Her blood-red eyes were full of sorrow and anger. ¡­¡­ My knees buckled and hit the ground before I realized it. Chapter 229: Purgatory Scepter Xinran¡¯s pitch-black hair was glowing under the moonlight. She was staring at me wordlessly and emotionlessly while holding a bright spear. A long time ago, she had black eyes that looked like black jewels. But now, it was dyed completely blood-red in color. Ding~! System Notice: Your SSS Rank quest [Promise] has entered the next stage. Xinran has awakened from her hibernation, and 10% of her soul has been resurrected! ¡­¡­ What? Soul resurrection?! I stared wide-eyed at the beautiful girl in front of me, but her former innocence had been replaced by a kind of killing intent and pressure that only an elite undead creature could have. Xinran stared back at me expressionlessly before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s kill him. Quickly!¡± Although this Xinran clearly wasn¡¯t the beautiful girl in my memories, we currently shared the same goal. I didn¡¯t know why she wanted to kill this Purgatory Devil Sovereign, but I was going to kill him and loot his body anyway. One way or another, I was going to get the Devil Suppressing Sword and complete my quest! ¡­¡­ ¡°Hah!¡± I activated Wild Roar, and both Xinran and I had our Attack boosted by 15%. The beautiful girl stared darkly at Purgatory Devil Sovereign, and the giant stared right back at her. Suddenly, he asked in a loud voice, ¡°Who are you? Why do you have the power of the Dark Domain?¡± Instead of answering, Xinran simply thrust her spear forward like she was unleashing a crazed dragon! ¡°Hmph!¡± Purgatory Devil Sovereign snorted coldly before crouching slightly and raising his sword horizontally in front of him. Holy shit, he is assuming a defensive stance! Naturally, I wasn¡¯t going to let him succeed. Considering how much HP this boss had, it would probably take me months to kill the sonuvabitch the proper way. The main DPS of this boss battle was without a doubt Xinran. Also, I suspected that NPC battles didn¡¯t take Attack or Defense stats into account, so it was possible they could deal hundreds of thousands of damage in just one hit! Reacting as quickly as lightning, I activated the one skill that could interrupt the boss in time¡ªCharge! Whoosh! I hit the boss in the blink of an eye, and this time Purgatory Devil Sovereign was stunned properly. Then, I flicked my wrist and unleashed Crushing Blow! Bang! My blade destroyed the boss''s defensive skill and dealt a massive amount of damage¡ª3219! But my damage was nothing compared to Xinran¡¯s. Purgatory Devil Sovereign failed to guard because of me, so the tip of her spear reached the boss¡¯s chest without resistance and stabbed right through! Puchi! Furious, Purgatory Devil Sovereign summoned a rain of blades and shouted loudly, ¡°I don¡¯t care who you are, but I¡¯m going to kill both you and that ant!¡± Fuck! It¡¯s an AoE attack! Bang bang bang! But Xinran blocked in front of me and took three hits in a row! Her HP instantly fell to less than 20%! 178434! 183948! 173446! God damn, the battles between NPCs are just too scary! Xinran smiled despite the savage expression on Purgatory Devil Sovereign¡¯s face. ¡°Hehe. He may be weak, but he is no ant. Die, you fallen devil!¡± She abruptly raised her spear again and summoned lightning around it. The weapon instantly grew several times bigger before she stabbed Purgatory Devil Sovereign in the chest once more! 198042! The deadly attack almost deleted all of the boss''s HP. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t enough to kill him, and his retaliatory strike turned out to be even stronger than her powerful skill! He swung his sword and struck Xinran squarely in the shoulder! 219843! Xinran was powerful, but she had also only awakened recently. She let out a groan when her HP hit zero, and she stared at me with her blood-red eyes before she transformed into a ball of white light and returned to my pet space. This was my last chance. It was either me or him! I charged toward the boss in a straight line and swung my sword twice: Pardon + Desperate Gambit! Crack! MISS! 8904! Fuck, I even got a critical hit?! Even better, the attack was actually enough to end the Dark Gold Rank boss¡¯s life. Once his gigantic body hit the ground with a loud thud, he exploded into a bunch of equipment drops and items, and to my pleasant surprise, my body was surrounded by a pillar of golden light twice in quick succession. I actually leveled up twice! Very good, I had reclaimed the top spot in the Floating Ice City Heavenly Ranking. This is awesome! I checked my pet space, but I couldn¡¯t summon Xinran again. The credit for this kill was undoubtedly hers. I bent downward to grab the items Purgatory Devil Sovereign had dropped. The first thing that caught my eye was a huge, bright sword. To no surprise, it was the legendary weapon I was looking for¡ª Devil Suppressing Sword (Earth Divine Armament) Introduction: Quest item, stats are currently locked. ¡­¡­ The sword was a quest item, so obviously I couldn¡¯t use it for myself. I threw it into my bag and wondered what I would get after turning in the weapon. I checked the rest of the loot but didn¡¯t pick up any of the Phantasmal Magic Stones on the ground. One, they weren¡¯t worth a lot of money. Two, I had a hundred stacks of Leaf of Eternity in my bag for Lin Yixin. I was sure that they were worth a lot more than the Phantasmal Magic Stones. Lin Yixin better pay good money for this, because I am NOT giving them away for free. Besides the quest item, the boss also dropped shiny red legguards and a ghastly-looking magic scepter. I was sure that the loot was going to be incredibly awesome because one, they were the only two player-equippable items the Level 85 boss had dropped, and two, the game company would be flooded by spit if the loot of a Level 85 boss turned out to be Iron-grade. I grabbed the legguards and felt a cool sensation assaulting my palm. Then, I waved my hand and brought up its stat screen. They were as incredible as I thought they might be. Purgatory Legguards (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï) Defense: 225 Magic Resist: 175 Stamina: +50 Strength: +48 Passive: Increases resistance to all types of magic by 9% Passive: Increases user¡¯s physical attack power by 3% Outstanding: 4% chance to avoid an attack Level Requirement: 75 ¡­¡­ Fuck! A Level 75 Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment, and an Outstanding one no less?! At first glance, a 4% chance to avoid an attack didn¡¯t look very impressive, but in practice it was an incredible passive be it versus mobs or players. Just imagine if you were lucky enough to trigger the passive once or even twice during a battle! That might just tip the scales of the battle against your opponent. These days, everyone knew that success was a function of both personal strength and luck. Besides that, these Purgatory Legguards also came with two incredibly powerful passives. The first passive boosted Magic Resist by 9%, the second increased physical attack power by 3%. Again, the numbers at first glance didn¡¯t look very impressive, but they were exactly the kind of stats any melee-class would very much like to have. This would boost my survivability by a ton and my damage output slightly. It looked like I was getting closer and closer to my dream of being a fully decked out, divine warrior! I replaced the Silver-grade Bone-shatter Legguards with these new legguards without hesitation. My stats immediately skyrocketed¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Class: Undead Swordsman (Silver Swordsman) Level: 77 HP: 4350 Attack: 702~1205 Defense: 1050 Magic Resist: 875 Reputation: 45850 Luck: 3 ¡­¡­ Outstanding items were amazing! Although these legguards were only one-star Outstanding, they boosted my max HP to 4350, and my Defense to 1050. I was living the dream of jack of all trades, master of all, with high Defense, high HP and high Attack! I was so happy that I felt like basking in the joy of my new upgrade forever! But I couldn¡¯t. There was still one more item to check, and I could do my victory dance after I checked it out. The scepter was surrounded by spirits and dark, gray runes. It felt less like a scepter and more like a murder weapon that was coated in blood! I waved my hand again and brought up its stats screen. It was so impressive that I almost lost my breath. Purgatory Scepter (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï) Magic Attack: 190~355 Intelligence: +52 Stamina: +42 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 12% Passive: Increases Magic Shield¡¯s durability by 40% Outstanding: User gains the skill ¡°Snowstorm¡±, a targeted AoE skill with large damage. Level: 75 ¡­¡­ Holy shit! What is this scepter! Two-star Outstanding, ridiculous Magic Attack, unbelievable passives and even a new AoE skill?? Any mage who got their hands on this Purgatory Scepter could probably dominate the world with their eyes closed! I swallowed. Thank goodness that I was the one who got this scepter, not my enemies. I couldn¡¯t imagine how the normal players of Ancient Swords Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya would fare if this scepter had fallen into the hands of someone like Dominating Mage God or Life of Luxury! I was very, very delighted by the loot I had gotten from Purgatory Devil Sovereign. Although the Level 85 Dark Gold Rank boss only dropped two items, their value outstripped literally every equipment I knew of to date! I quickly came to a decision. The Purgatory Legguards were mine to keep, and the Purgatory Scepter would be put up at the auction house. It was the first pot of gold our new workshop would earn, so I was going to maximize the profits even if it killed me! Chapter 230: Smart, Wise, Magnanimous, Ambitious I looked at the time and noted that it was past 8 pm in the evening. Although I was used to this lifestyle, the health indicator informed me that my real body¡¯s fatigue was almost at 54%. Not everyone had what it takes to undergo such high intensity grinding and boss battles. Still, it was undoubtedly a great achievement to clear out the Devil Sealing Tower in such a short time! The rewards I had obtained were equally as impressive. The most valuable loot of them all was undoubtedly the 2-star Outstanding weapon, Purgatory Scepter. Right below it were the 1-star Outstanding Purgatory Legguards and the insanely powerful Paralysis Ring. Third, 100 stacks of Rank 8 Leaf of Eternity, and finally fourth were the Level 75 Dark Gold¨Cgrade Bloodbreak Spear and the Level 75 Dark Gold¨Cgrade Golden Scale Bow. All in all, my journey today could be summed up in one line: my efforts had finally borne fruit! I planned to give Gui Guzi the Bloodbreak Spear and sell the Golden Scale Bow and Purgatory Scepter. ¡­¡­ Right now, I¡¯m sure that a lot of people were still killing mobs and doing quests at Dragonfall Lake to obtain the Devil Sealing Tower¡¯s Proof of Trial. Unfortunately for them, their toil was guaranteed to end in disappointment. It would take at least another 48 hours for the elite mobs to respawn, and probably ten to fifteen days for the bosses to respawn. Ding~ System Notice: You have obtained the Devil Suppressing Sword. Would you like to teleport to Prophet Bly¡¯s camp immediately? ¡­¡­ What? Did the system just offer to save me some walking? Hell yeah! I clicked ¡°Yes¡± and was teleported to the edge of Dragonfall Lake immediately. The undead camp was less than two meters away from me, and Bly was standing right there. After I took out the Devil Suppressing Sword, Prophet Bly grew so agitated that he grabbed my shoulders and declared loudly, ¡°Well done, oh young and brave warrior! Princess Sophia is sure to name you the ¡®Violet Hero¡¯ for this magnificent achievement!¡± I shivered. Why did I feel like I had heard this before? ¡°Well done, comrade Lu! You¡¯ve innovated our production and improved our technology! The Party Secretary is sure to name you the ¡®Planting Expert¡¯ for this glorious achievement!¡± After taking the Devil Suppressing Sword, Prophet Bly held the sword in front of his chest and caressed the blade with his right hand. The old man was literally trembling from head to toe and shedding tears of joy. ¡°After so many years, the divine sword has finally returned to the Violet Empire once more. With this, we¡¯ll finally be able to cut down those damnable Night Creatures and rebuild our capital city!¡± After that, Prophet Bly looked at me and said, ¡°Young undead, you¡¯ve accomplished a near-impossible quest. Come and accept your rightful reward!¡± Ding~! ¡­¡­ Swoosh! I leveled up again as a flash of golden light enveloped me. I was now Level 78 and just 2 levels away from the 80 mark! Besides that, my military rank in the Blood Dance Legion also increased! Ding~! System Notice: You have obtained the title ¡°Phantom Knight¡±. The title reduces the experience needed to level up by 7% and increases your Blood Dance Legion command power by 1! ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, not bad at all. I wasn¡¯t sure what ¡°command power¡± meant¡ªit probably enhanced my attack power in some ways¡ªbut it wasn¡¯t something to rack my brains over. The answer would come to me naturally. My role was basically over after this. Prophet Bly would be delivering the Devil Suppressing Sword to Princess Sophia and claiming all the credit for himself, and I would get nothing except what he had already given me. It was a tragedy really. I did all the hard work, and he got all the benefits. I didn¡¯t mind though. These days, everyone who worked as a salaryman was basically toiling away to the benefit of someone else. Beep! Suddenly, I received a message from Murong Mingyue: ¡°The night¡¯s cool, and the moon¡¯s bright. You wanna go eat at a buffet, Lu Chen?¡± Smiling, I replied immediately, ¡°Of course. Give me 5 minutes to log off, will you? You, boss and Beiming Xue can log off first. See you at the living room!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I started to feel hungry after sending Murong Mingyue off. Now that I thought about it, I hadn¡¯t eaten or drank anything since breakfast. That wouldn¡¯t do. Not even a literal iron-man could handle such a long period of deprivation. I crushed the return scroll and teleported back to Floating Ice City immediately. It was currently the busiest hour of the day. According to the news, the Shanghai server would let out groans of pain everyday at 8 pm sharp since it was so busy. Since tens of millions of players were playing the game at the same time, it was practically mandatory for the servers to be linked up at least once every three days. It was because one server couldn¡¯t possibly handle this much data flow at the same time. Anyway, I made a beeline to Floating Ice City¡¯s auction house and sought out the master auctioneer. First, I took out the Golden Scale Bow and set the bottom price to 10000 gold. When I turned the item in to the auctioneer, a ding suddenly entered my ears. System Notice: The equipment you submitted is good enough to enter the Top 100 of the city¡¯s equipment ranking. Would you like to activate ¡°Public Auction¡±? Would you like to announce your player ID? ¡­¡­ I was pleasantly surprised by the notice. It¡¯s really looking like I¡¯m gonna be rich this time! I declined to announce my player ID. It was generally not a good idea to boast your wealth. Then, I set the Golden Scale Bow to go on auction 180 minutes later. This should be enough time for most archers to spread the news like wildfire, increase competitiveness and raise the price even more as a result! After I was done setting up everything, I clicked ¡°Yes¡± on the final confirmation screen. Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that player XXXX has put up the Golden Scale Bow (LV-75, Dark Gold¨Cgrade, 240 Attack, Strength +50, Agility +42, Max HP +20%) for auction. The item will enter the bidding phase in 3 hours. All interested players, please proceed to the auction house and take your numbers before the auction starts! ¡­¡­ Haha! I wasn¡¯t expecting the system to put up such a huge advertisement for me! But I supposed that I should¡¯ve expected it. It was one of the many ways Eternal Moon Corporation cashed in on their game after all. It would be a bad idea to allow auctions set up by private organizations to grow more famous than theirs, so they took measures to ensure that they were always ahead in the game. Besides that, a 5% fee was incurred every time an item was transacted through the auction house. It was just one of the many proofs that gaming companies were just as vicious and greedy as the other companies out there. But of course, this was nothing compared to the countless tolls that were set up throughout the highways of China. The Golden Scale Bow was hardly the most valuable item I planned to auction today, however. This time, I submitted the 2-star Outstanding Purgatory Scepter and set the bottom price to 100k gold. I didn¡¯t put an upper limit. Just like the Golden Scale Bow, I set the auction to begin in 3 hours! As expected, another announcement reverberated through the skies of Floating Ice City after I confirmed the Purgatory Scepter for bidding. Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that player XXXX has put up the Purgatory Scepter (LV-75, Dark Gold¨Cgrade, 2-star Outstanding, 355 Magic Attack, Intelligence +52, Stamina +42, Magic Attack +12%, Magic Shield Durability +40%, Skill: Snowstorm) for auction. The item will enter the bidding phase in 3 hours. All interested players, please proceed to the auction house and take your numbers before the auction starts! ¡­¡­ Obviously, the Purgatory Scepter was the real focus here. To explain the value of a 2-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade scepter, all you needed to do was point out that 99% of the players out there hadn¡¯t even seen a Dark Gold¨Cgrade item, let alone one with the Outstanding rating. Going by that line of thought, who wouldn¡¯t be excited by the emergence of a 2-star Outstanding Purgatory Scepter? There were almost a hundred players around me when I submitted the scepter, and as expected all of them had frozen up like a statue the moment the public announcement was made. When they finally recovered themselves, they looked at each other in shock. ¡°WTF! Did I hear that right? Did someone seriously put up a 2-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade weapon for auction? Unbelievable! How on earth did someone find an Outstanding item at this stage of the game? They must be incredible!¡± To avoid becoming the center of the attention, I hid my player ID and nodded in agreement like everyone else. Then, I said, ¡°Yeah, that guy had to be an incredibly smart, wise, magnanimous and ambitious player!¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Everyone glared at me like they wanted to kick my ass. In fact, I was pretty sure there would be a brawl if my gear wasn¡¯t good enough to dissuade them! ¡­¡­ I ran out of the auction house feeling very pleased with myself. I shall come back three hours later to collect my money! I checked my bag and noted that I still had a hundred stacks of Leaf of Eternity. If they hadn¡¯t taken up most of my bag space, I would¡¯ve been able to return with a couple more valuable items and sell them as well. In other words, it was time to slaughter Lin Yixin¡¯s wallet! I wouldn¡¯t be able to face the champ who had toiled away at the Devil Sealing Tower that was myself otherwise! I brought up the friend list and saw that Beauty Lin was online. I immediately sent her a message: ¡°Hi, pretty~¡± She replied just as quickly: ¡°Hi, stupid~¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± I replied in righteous fury. ¡°I promise that the next half of your life will be full of regrets if you don¡¯t return to Floating Ice City in the next 30 seconds!¡± Lin Yixin didn¡¯t reply, but in less than 10 seconds the teleportation circle flashed silver and admitted a beautiful light wanderer. It was none other than Lin Yixin, of course. Her head was covered in a couple of maple leaves, and there was blood on the blade of her Moonlight Sword. Clearly, she was either PvPing or killing mobs right until the moment she saw my dire message. Chapter 231: Making a Loss I tried to glare at the beautiful girl, but a smile broke across my face instead. ¡°Eh, it¡¯s nothing big actually. It¡¯s been a while since our last meeting, so I wanted to ask you how you¡¯ve been doing these past few days.¡± ¡°Hah?!¡± Lin Yixin gaped at me for a moment. Then, she started punching me on the shoulder. ¡°You bastard! I can¡¯t believe you made me teleport all the way back for this! Heavens, I had the Forest Wolves all to myself, and now I have to travel all the way back there! You¡¯d better pay me for the 1-hour journey you cost me¡­¡± Chuckling, I held her Moonlight Sword at bay with my left hand and took out a leaf from my bag with my right. ¡°What do you think this is, Yiyi?¡± ¡°Hmm?!¡± Lin Yixin blinked once before grabbing the leaf for a closer look. Her eyes quickly widened in shock as she turned to stare at me. ¡°How¡­ how on earth did you get a Rank 8 herb? There shouldn¡¯t be anyone with Rank 8 Herbalism. Even mine is only at Rank 7...¡± I smiled. ¡°Gimme a price, Yiyi. How many leaves are you willing to buy off my hands? Don¡¯t forget, you can use this to make Rank 8 Health Potion; the kind of good stuff that heals 2500 HP in one go!¡± Lin Yixin stared at me for a moment before smiling back. ¡°Hmph hmph, you don¡¯t actually have that many Rank 8 herbs in your stock, do you? You may be able to fool an idiot like this, but I¡¯m immune to such half-assed tactics!¡± I chuckled again and said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you come closer, Yiyi?¡± ¡°What for?¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s gaze turned wary. ¡°I swear, if this is you trying to take advantage of me I¡¯ll hang you on top of the Floating Ice City¡¯s War God Statue and set you ablaze¡­¡± ¡°Fuck, of course not. What the hell are you thinking?¡± I grabbed her shoulder and pulled her to my side. Then, I shared the contents of my bag. A hundred stacks, exactly 10000 Leaves of Eternity were just sitting inside, waiting to become at least 1000 Rank 8 Health Potions. It would be like a bomb was set off in the middle of the square if a thousand Rank 8 Health Potions were to appear in the market of Floating Ice City right now. We could even make a brand out of it just like Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd! ¡°Ah!!!!¡± Lin Yixin exclaimed in shock and disbelief when she saw the herbs. She looked at me and asked, ¡°Lu Chen, I don¡¯t want to say this but¡­ you haven¡¯t exploited a bug to get these herbs, have you? Aren¡¯t you worried that Eternal Moon Corporation will hunt you down for this? I heard that the Eternal Moon Vice President of the China branch, the retired Windy Snow, used to be an incredible player. You may not be a match for her¡­¡± I gritted my teeth. ¡°Fuck, do I look like someone who¡¯d exploit a bug like that? Don¡¯t you forget that I¡¯m a CGL Hall of Famer!¡± Dumbfounded, I said, ¡°Er¡­ let¡¯s get back to talking business, shall we? Anyway, I have a 100 stacks of Leaf of Eternity. How much are you going to offer to buy them?¡± Lin Yixin turned back toward the Rank 8 herbs and muttered reluctantly, ¡°I want it all, obviously, but where am I going to get the gold to buy it in such a short amount of time? I don¡¯t have enough money even if I were to convert all the money I currently have to buy them. My car is a used car, so it won¡¯t be enough to cover the purchase either. What should I do¡­¡± I nearly vomited blood when I heard her complaints. ¡°Fuck, just give me a price now and I¡¯ll sell them to you if it¡¯s acceptable. I don¡¯t want to be the guy to force you into taking drastic measures!¡± Lin Yixin burst into a giggle before tilting her head at me. ¡°Drastic measures?¡± ¡°You know what I mean¡­¡± ¡°No I don¡¯t!¡± ¡°Your offer, please!¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Putting her left hand to her sword and her right hand to her chin, she thought for a moment before answering, ¡°I must admit that it¡¯s seriously hard to come by a Rank 8 herb right now, so this is my offer. I would like to buy them for 5 gold a piece or 500 gold a stack. That makes 50k gold in total for 100 sets. Are you fine with that?¡± I thought for a moment before nodding. ¡°Yeah, sure. Do you have 50k gold or 50k RMB on you right now?¡¯ Lin Yixin spread her arms and smiled at me. ¡°Nope¡­¡± ¡°Fuck, what was the point of making an offer you can¡¯t afford?¡± Lin Yixin smiled. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t want to make you think that your herbs are worth less than they actually are! Right now I only have 30k RMB or so, and that is without considering my expenses. All in all, I only really have 10k RMB or so to spare. So, can I write you an IOU for now? I¡¯ll pay you the full sum after I have earned enough money...¡± I sucked in a deep breath and stared at her until she blushed. She chided me a little. ¡°What are you looking at?¡± ¡°You¡¯re aware that not even amateur swindlers are that blatant about their intentions, right? The most impressive part is how unfazed you look despite it¡­¡± ¡°Hehe. Look, I swear on my personality that I will pay you back in full in a week. But I need you to give me these 100 stacks of Leaf of Eternity now. Please?¡± Lin Yixin was practically begging at this point. She even shared her bag contents with me and said, ¡°See? I only have three thousand gold or so right now. I¡¯m so poor that I might not even have the money to repair my equipment tomorrow. There was a quest that I had placed in the backburner because Qingqing hasn¡¯t hit the level requirement yet. Once she levels up in a couple of days, we should be able to complete the quest, sell the loot and pay you back with the money we got¡­¡± It looked like this was literally everything she got right now, and I supposed it was unrealistic to ask her to marry me with just 100 stacks of Leaf of Eternity. Oh well, 50k and a favor from the Fruit Knife Goddess herself wasn¡¯t a bad deal, I suppose! So, I brought up the trade window and dumped all 100 stacks of Leaf of Eternity on it. On Lin Yixin¡¯s side, she tossed a copper and giggled a little. ¡°Here¡¯s the deposit!¡± ¡°...¡± The trade failed because Lin Yixin didn¡¯t have enough bag space. In the end, I had to follow her to the warehouse and perform 4 successive trades, 30 at a time! After the transaction was finally over, I asked, ¡°Well, I¡¯m going for dinner. What about you, Yiyi?¡± ¡°Dinner?¡± Lin Yixin blinked at me before smiling. ¡°I already ate dinner three hours ago. You¡¯re playing a bit too much, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Eh, I guess. Well, I¡¯m going!¡± ¡°Mn. Bye bye~~¡± After I bade Lin Yixin goodbye, I summoned Gui Guzi and tossed the Level 75 Dark Gold¨Cgrade Bloodbreak Spear to him. The weapon was even stronger than the Golden Scale Bow, and I estimated that it was worth 20k RMB at least if I had turned it into the auction house. Teary-eyed, Gui Guzi promised solemnly, ¡°Boss, I¡¯ll treat you to a whole week of beef steaks after I earn enough cash¡­¡± I shivered. OMG, he can¡¯t think that a beef steak is fancy, can he? It looks like it''s time to update my workshop¡¯s common sense! I noticed that I was 10 minutes late after sending Gui Guzi away, so I quickly logged out and took off my helmet. I sucked in a deep breath. It was incredibly tiring to game for a prolonged period of time, and my stomach was rumbling like a drum. I put on a set of new clothes and walked out of the room. The three girls were already dressed up and waiting for me in the living room. ¡­¡­ ¡°What took you so long, Lu Chen? Were you trying to woo a girl or something?¡± Murong Mingyue questioned me. I was dumbfounded. ¡°Woo a girl in ten minutes? Are you sure you¡¯re talking about girls, not kindergarten children?¡± Beside Murong Mingyue, He Yi rose to her feet with a smile. ¡°Alright, alright. Let¡¯s go get dinner already, shall we? It¡¯s been a while since I went to a buffet¡­¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I nodded, but I couldn¡¯t help but stare at He Yi a couple seconds longer than was polite. Once again, my beautiful boss managed to make me admire her from the bottom of my heart. She normally wore uniforms that gave her the air of an office lady, but tonight she was wearing a white jacket, a coffee-colored short skirt and a pair of brown leather boots. The pale legs beneath the fabric were attractive to say the least. Also, the temperature was cooler as of late, so her outfit made her look both beautiful and charming. ¡°Hehe, do I look good?¡± He Yi gathered her skirt on purpose as a smile crept up on her face. What else could I say before a top-class beauty like her? I nodded and complimented her, ¡°Mn. You¡¯re beautiful no matter what you wear, sis¡­¡± Murong Mingyue shot me a disdainful look and teased me. ¡°I know that she¡¯s your boss, but you don¡¯t have to be that blatant with your compliments. Also, did you forget that Beiming Xue and I are here as well?¡± I gave her a nod and complimented her, ¡°You¡¯re pretty, your whole family¡¯s pretty¡­¡± ¡°...¡± He Yi giggled at our antics. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go!¡± ¡­¡­ We entered Murong Mingyue¡¯s A8 with me as the driver. On the streets, the girls were the flower, and I, the fresh leaves that complemented their beauty. At least I wasn¡¯t so ugly that I might be compared to the dirt on the ground. Beiming Xue sat on the front passenger seat, while He Yi and Murong Mingyue sat in the back. She stared at my face for a moment before bursting into a giggle. ¡°Big bro, you look so serious when you¡¯re driving. Your side view actually reminds me of a celebrity!¡± He Yi asked interestedly, ¡°Who?¡± I chanted inside my head. ¡°Wang Leehom! Wang Leehom! Wang Leehom!¡± Beiming Xue: ¡°He reminds me of Ng Man-tat!¡± ¡°POOO¡­¡± The cola Murong Mingyue was drinking burst out of her mouth and onto my collar. He Yi immediately took out a tissue and wiped my clothes and my face as clean as she could. This time, it was Murong Mingyue¡¯s turn to be dumbfounded by her reaction. ¡°Eve, is it just me, or does it look like you¡¯ve practiced this a thousand times in the past?¡± He Yi was silent. Everyone fell silent as well. ¡­¡­ Home Late Restaurant was the only somewhat high-class buffet restaurant in the area. Each meal was priced at 200 RMB per person, and it was one of the places that Du Thirteen and I swore to visit at least once in our lives. We entered the restaurant and submitted our tickets. The moment I saw the endless variety of food in front of me, I charged toward the table and threw every kind of meat into my plate like my life depended on it. Golden crabs, deep sea fish, rabbits. Not one slice of green could be spotted on my plate at all. I checked out He Yi¡¯s plate when I sat down next to her. My first thought was that it was way too eco-friendly. Murong Mingyue seemed dumbfounded by the mountain of meat I had placed on my plate. She said, ¡°Lu Chen, are you sure you want to eat so much meat in one go? Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you if you¡¯re full in just a couple of minutes! Remember, it costs 200 RMB just to get inside this place!¡± Her worries were unfounded. ¡°Relax!¡± There was about a kilogram of meat on my plate, and I finished it all in no time. Then, I got to my feet and went hunting for new food. All three girls were shocked by my capacity. While I was busy chowing down my food, my phone suddenly rang without warning. I gave it a look. It was an unknown number from Beijing. ¡°Hello, who¡¯s this?¡± ¡°Hello, is this Falling Dust?¡± Chapter 232: Luo River God of the Capital I was slightly shocked. I didn¡¯t know this number. Who in Beijing knew my phone number? Even my father didn''t know my phone number, only the few people closest to me. This included He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue, Du Thirteen, Yamete, and the others. Of course, Lin Yixin was among them, but I didn''t know what category to put her in. "I am Lu Chen, you are?" "Oh, hello. I am a female mage from the southernmost city of the China server, Ice Moon City. My ID is ¡®Luo River God of the Capital¡¯. I think you¡¯ve heard my name, Falling Dust." I stilled. Honestly speaking, I had heard of this ID. In the later stages of Spirit of Grief, the ID of Luo River God of the Capital had been known as the top female mage of the China server, and remained invincible in Cool Breeze City. The city had even managed to last a year against the Candle Dragon led by Candlelight Shadow. However, Luo River God of the Capital retired, and Candlelight Shadow naturally dominated. "Of course, who wouldn''t know Beauty Luo?" I smiled and added, "Have you called me because of an important matter?" "Yes!" Luo River God of the Capital laughed and said, "There is a 2-star Outstanding high-level staff at Floating Ice City. You know anything about it? I¡¯ve been thinking. In all of Floating Ice City, there were only a few who could drop such a staff. And today, the only high-level map that was discovered was the Devil Sealing Tower. Dominating Heaven Blade was outside the Dragonfall Lake, Wind Fantasy was leveling in some forest. Dominating Knight God and the others were with Dominating Heaven Blade, Indigo Collar chose not to enter the tower. With this simple elimination process, the only person who could get the Purgatory Scepter and has 4 characters in their name is you, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" I stilled. This woman was terrifying, her intelligence might rival Lin Yixin¡¯s! However, I was not very wary of Luo River God of the Capital because she was an enemy of Candlelight Shadow, and so was I. The enemy of an enemy was my friend. Faced with her questioning, I smiled and said honestly, "Yes, the Purgatory Scepter is mine. Does Beauty Luo want to buy it?" She laughed softly. "Of course, I am already Level 78, and have been leveling on my own in Ice Moon City. However, my staff is only a Level 65 Dark Gold¨Cgrade, much worse than this Purgatory Scepter, so I want it. Also, in the China server, I am the only one who can make this scepter show off its true might!" I laughed. Yes, Luo River God of the Capital was also a member of the China CGL Hall of Fame, and ranked in the upper half, above even Candle Dragon¡¯s mage, God¡¯s Dance. But because she had retired too early, she had vanished from people''s minds. As the River God was once again descending onto the mortal soil, great waves would surely rock Ice Moon City! "Falling Dust?" "Yes.¡± "Could you cancel the auction of the Purgatory Scepter? I am willing to pay a high price!" Luo River God of the Capital was speaking in a soft voice, close to pleading. I frowned and said, "It''s not that I don''t want to cancel, but the auction has rules. If I cancel the auction, especially of items of high prices, then the seller will be punished severely. There is a reduction in reputation, and I can¡¯t use the auction system for 60 days. The punishment is too severe for me to tolerate. So, Beauty Luo, come to Floating Ice City to attend the auction. I will cheer for you in secret...¡± Luo River God of the Capital laughed helplessly. "You little... cheer me on. You mean cheer me to up the price?" "Haha, no no, I¡¯d never...¡± "Oh!" Luo River God of the Capital laughed. "Never mind. It seems that I must spend 5000 gold to buy a teleportation scroll from the main city to Floating Ice City. In any case, I will definitely get the scepter. Even if someone else buys it, I¡¯ll have a way to get it for myself!" I shuddered all over. This woman could not be offended, she was too possessive! "Alright, Falling Dust, that''s it!" Luo River God of the Capital smiled and said, "Ice Moon City and Floating Ice City are at the two extremes of the China server. I heard that you have rebuilt Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Let''s team up against Candle Dragon!" "Yes, good luck!" "Yes, bye!" ¡­¡­ I hung up and gulped down wine. He Yi had gotten the wine from the workshop. Supposedly, it was a few thousand per bottle. I felt this was too luxurious and pricey, but He Yi told me some CEOs in China would drink wine that cost fifty thousand per bottle. Compared to them, I was very frugal. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. The world was truly unreasonable. Murong Mingyue smiled and asked, "Who was it?" "Luo River God of the Capital!" "Oh? She¡¯s also come back?" "Yes!" Murong Mingyue laughed softly, "Ha, it looks like Heavenblessed''s China server is growing more interesting. Lu Chen, you''ve returned, Wind Fantasy¡¯s a rising star, Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s working diligently, and even Luo River God of the Capital has returned. Haha, I want to see how Candlelight Shadow will dominate!" I couldn''t help but laugh. "The future situation is easy to imagine. It will definitely not be dominated by a single person. Candle Dragon may be strong, but not strong enough to order all of us around. Also, I don¡¯t plan to ever work with them. The moment I created Bloody Mercenaries, I¡¯ve already had a plan!" "What plan?" He Yi laughed and asked. I clenched my fists and said, "Before the national wars begin, I will erase Candle Dragon from the China server!" "Haha....¡± He Yi laughed softly and gave a praising gaze. Murong Mingyue said, "Why do these words sound like a boast?" I shook my head and laughed. "Those that achieve great things need ambition. They dare to think and do, they go as far as they can see!" "Yes yes, eat up first!" ¡­¡­ After eating quickly and drinking some wine, I was slightly dizzy. Inside, I thought about the two items I was auctioning off. I had to return on time, and see the day I would become rich! I looked at the time. It was 11 at night, about half an hour left before the auction of the Golden Scale Bow. I could imagine the news on the auction of these two items must have spread through the nine main cities of the China server. Many people would have spent lots to buy a super teleportation scroll to come to Floating Ice City to participate. I went out of the restaurant. Feeling the cold autumn breeze, I calmed down. He Yi stood next to me and looked into the distance, saying, "The night is so quiet. Are you going online after returning?" "Mn, I am going to the auction house to see the situation!" "Okay, I am going as well!" "Okay!" Ultimately, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue were also curious about my auction, so our entire workshop went together. Sitting in the car, I opened the window, letting wind blow in. I sat in the back, looking up at the starry sky and said, "The situation of Heavenblessed is growing more complex and interesting. There are all kinds of experts. We need to take the opportunity and get famous, making Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls into an epic guild!" "Yes!" He Yi nodded and smiled. "Right, we haven''t finalized the name of our workshop. How about we call it the ''Storm workshop''. How about it, very imposing...¡± My eyes lit up. I said, "A workshop in Shanghai seems to have registered with this name. Let''s use another one, how about ¡®Frost Cloud workshop¡¯?" "Frost Cloud? Is there some meaning behind?" He Yi asked. I nodded. "Frost, like ice, is hard and unyielding. There is an ancient saying¡ªfrost, the time for heaven to kill! Therefore, the frost itself symbolizes slaughter. Some people say white dew is frost. Also, a mighty person of the Jin Dynasty once wrote: ¡®those with pure intentions are as clean as frost, their aspirations reach the clouds¡¯. All of this is the meaning of ¡®Frost Cloud¡¯.¡± Murong Mingyue laughed and turned the wheel, saying, "Alright, so this name is quite good. Eve, how about we settle this and find someone to make our Frost Cloud workshop official?" He Yi nodded. "Okay, I have no problem with it.¡± I looked outside the window and smiled slightly. He Yi looked at me, surprised. "Why the smile?" "Actually... the words Frost Cloud has another meaning...¡± "Oh, what is it?" He Yi laughed as though she was interested. I looked up into the sky and said, "There are four whites in the world¡ªthe clouds in the sky, the frost on the ground, the behind of beauties, and cabbage!" "Damn!" The women blushed. He Yi couldn''t resist punching me and said, "You¡¯re getting worse!" Murong Mingyue said, "Maybe it¡¯s his true nature. Oh, we met a bad person!" ¡­¡­ I gave two suggestions, and the women seemed to like the second one more. Thus, the matter of our workshop¡¯s name was settled. Frost Cloud workshop. It only proved the beauties¡¯ pale complexion. ¡­¡­ When I returned to the workshop, it was 11:30 pm. The auction would begin in a few minutes . Everyone charged into their rooms and went online! Swhoosh! I appeared in Floating Ice City''s inn and sprinted out to the auction house. There, I found a sea of people. I was too late to even reserve a booth. But at this time, I heard a ¡°ding¡±. System Notice: Dear player, because you are selling a high-grade item, you have the privilege of a VIP booth. Your room is 001! Very good. Seller had such a privilege! I was sent into the booth. This was the centermost booth in the auction house. If I looked down, I could see the crowd, as well as the auction ladies. Chapter 233: The Fight at the Auction House I invited He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue into my party, granting them access to the VIP room, which they soon appeared in. 72 seconds until the auction starts! The enormous auction hall was filled to the brim, bursting with people. Even those below Level 60 were here just to enjoy the spectacle. There was no other reason for them to come here. Ordinary players like them couldn¡¯t afford the Purgatory Scepter or the Golden Scale Bow. Also, the stats for the two items were freakish. I didn¡¯t even know how many eyes in Floating Ice City and even the entire China server my items have attracted. Maybe even Candlelight Shadow had come! ¡­¡­ "Bang!" The bell sounded. They were preparing to start! On the stage, an NPC auctioneer raised a longbow in her hand. This was the Golden Scale Bow. She said loudly, "Golden Scale Bow, LV-75, Dark Gold-grade. Attack 240, Strength +50, Agility +42, increases 20% of max HP, base price 10000 gold. Bidding starts now!" The Golden Scale Bow appeared on the system interface, and roused many gasps from Archer players. A longbow with 240 Attack could turn an ordinary archer into a powerful one. It was a treasure that many players could only dream of! Quickly, a Level 71 archer raised a hand and said, "20000 gold!" Before he finished, someone else shouted, "30000 gold!" The bid from each player was confirmed by the system. If the player didn¡¯t have enough gold in their account, they couldn¡¯t bid at all. After a minute of fervorous bidding, the Golden Scale Bow''s final price stopped at 52500 gold, and was worth the same in RMB. This was about the true price of the longbow. Money was not paper. Even the wasteful young masters had to think for a moment. On the stage, the auctioneer said, "Player Spring Wind Drizzle 52500 gold, once!" "Player Spring Wind Drizzle 52500 gold, twice!" Seeing the transaction about to be confirmed, my heart rose to my throat. Why were there no spendthrifts?! At this time, a voice came from a VIP room. "80000 gold!" He Yi walked to the window and looked. She laughed. "Oh? Now that¡¯s someone familiar.¡± Indeed, the person on the other side of the auction house was the leader of Mad Dragon¡ªRoaming Dragon Lu Chao. He had money, and no one dared to compete with him. Coldmoon Rose leaned against Roaming Dragon, and smiled sweetly as though she was praising him. Roaming Dragon, his arm around the beauty, smiled even wider at her words. His hand covered in armor moved under Coldmoon Rose''s cloak. Roaming Dragon looked up and saw me, his gaze turned cold. He shouted, "Hmph, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" I stared and stabbed the Purgatory Sword into the ground, gripping it with one hand. I sneered, "Roaming Dragon!" I took a deep breath. This guy was competing with women! In relation to the workshop''s reputation, we could not lose in equipment or women! I didn''t turn around, and grabbed next to me. I immediately got someone to lean to me. I looked down. Fuck, it was Murong Mingyue. I looked down, and her chest was suffocating! Murong Mingyue froze, but then discovered Roaming Dragon''s action. She smiled, and leaned her face against my chest, pretending to curl into me. I released the sword, and wrapped around He Yi''s shoulder with my right arm. He Yi didn¡¯t struggle and smiled next to me, looking into the distance. Roaming Dragon lost again. He only had Coldmoon Rose next to him. On his right side was Iron Pardon who was hard to touch. Also, in terms of quality, while Coldmoon Rose was a good beauty, she was nothing compared to He Yi who was the beauty guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and famed throughout the world, nothing that Coldmoon Rose could rival. If that wasn¡¯t enough, Murong Mingyue was the most beautiful priest of Floating Ice City, and also someone way beyond Coldmoon Rose. Thus, Roaming Dragon let go of his woman, and I released the grasp on my two beauties. In reality, I was about to be thrown out. At this time, someone else raised the price of the Golden Scale Bow to 100000 gold! Roaming Dragon was furious and looked out the window, waving his fist and shouting, "Hey! Which bastard is competing with me? I will have this bow. If I learn who raised the price, I will kill them!" Everyone was shocked. The leader of Mad Dragon was so domineering! Bidding again, Roaming Dragon shouted the price of 150000 gold, which became the final price. Undoubtedly, the bow would belong to Coldmoon Rose. But I wasn''t worried. Beiming Xue could fight five archers of her skill on her own! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your auction item ¡°Golden Scale Bow¡± has been successfully sold for 150000 gold. After deducting the intermediary fee, you received 142500 gold! ¡­¡­ Haha, so great. More than 140k gold instantly entered my account! Without hesitation, I opened the exchange system, and converted it all to RMB on my personal card. As an accomplished young man, I had to save as much as possible. Buying a home or marrying required money! Then came the auction of the Purgatory Scepter! On the stage, the auctioneer raised a glowing staff and shouted, "Purgatory Scepter, Level 75, Dark Gold¨Cgrade, 2-star Outstanding weapon. 355 Magic Attack, Intelligence +52, Stamina +42. Increases Magic Attack by 12%. Increases Magic Shield¡¯s durability by 40%. Additional skill¡ªSnowstorm. Players, please bid!" ¡­¡­ When the stats of the Purgatory Scepter appeared on the interface, the crowd gasped. A 2-star Outstanding item. Its stats alone would be enough for it to rank second on the Weapon Ranking, just below my Purgatory Sword! It was silent for a moment as though many people were hesitating. The ones that would truly bid would not start early. That was for unimportant people to do! A few minutes later, Dominating Heaven Blade appeared, holding his enormous blade up. He shouted, "120000!" He Yi grinned. "It seems that Dominating Heaven Blade wants to get Dominating Mage God a divine scepter!" I laughed. "Of course. In the past, Gods of Destruction had seven or so names in the Heavenly Ranking. But now, Dominating Heaven Blade and Dominating Mage God are the only ones left. For a core expert like Dominating Mage God, Dominating Heaven Blade would definitely spare no effort to help him!" Murong Mingyue leaned against the window, her arms crossed across her chest. She said, "Hmph, I heard that Dominating Heaven Blade is only a small boss in the real world and doesn¡¯t even have ten million of liquid assets. He will definitely not spend too much on his subordinate. Unlike Roaming Dragon and Li Le, Dominating Heaven Blade achieved his present status with his own ability...¡± "Yes!" I nodded and said, "Dominating Heaven Blade used to be a warlord of an era. Pity he was born in Floating Ice City. Floating Ice City has Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Lin Yixin''s Snowy Cathaya. This means that Gods of Destruction can¡¯t do as they please, and will struggle to even keep a place for themselves.¡± Beiming Xue blinked her eyes and asked, "Is this like that saying about how decline is always inevitable after great prosperity?" ¡°Roughly the same!" Someone else shouted at this time. It was someone from VIP booth 5 nearby. Another familiar voice. Who could it be except Li Le? Li Le was not buying a weapon for a woman, but for his friend, Life of Luxury. In reality though, it was still just a fair-weather friend! Li Le made his bid, and with a high price of 200000 gold. Dominating Heaven Blade''s face was grave. He pointed at Li Le and shouted, "Flower Room, don''t think you are amazing because you have money. Even if you get the Purgatory Scepter, so what? Unless your mage doesn''t leave the safezone, it¡¯s only a matter of time before he gets killed!" Dominating Heaven Blade did not have much money and could not win against a young master like Li Le who had tens of million for his living expenses each year. He could only endure the money, but not the blade. The fights in the game were not related to real life. No matter how much money you had in real life, you had to follow the rules of the game. In the game, strength was king in combat. Clearly, Li Le could not compare to Dominating Heaven Blade in this! At this time, Roaming Dragon shouted again, "300000 gold!" "Fuck!" Li Le was furious. "500000 gold!" The two seemed to lock horns! I sat by the window, hugging the Purgatory Sword and smiled. "Tsk tsk, fight fight. Raise the price, I¡¯m gonna buy a car!" He Yi and Murong Mingyue were speechless. Beiming Xue laughed. "Big bro, I also want a vehicle!" "Mn, I¡¯ll buy you a Giant!" "...¡± ¡­¡­ The bidding was fierce in the auction house. If PvP was allowed within the city, I feared that Roaming Dragon would have taken Iron Pardon and Inconstant to fight Flower Room. "700000!" Li Le shouted. "900000!" Roaming Dragon counterattacked. Li Le was about to keep calling when he suddenly closed his mouth. Roaming Dragon laughed. "What, no more bidding?" Li Le''s eyes flashed. "I don''t have enough gold in my bag. I¡¯ll go buy more at the trade platform, don''t you fucking leave!" Roaming Dragon laughed. "Idiot! Who¡¯s gonna wait for you? I only have 950000 gold. Tough luck, idiot! The Purgatory Scepter¡¯s mine!" At this time, a figure appeared at the auction house entrance. It was a beautiful mage with a glowing staff. She smiled and declared right upon entering, "1000000!" Chapter 234: Hell Blaze The incomer was exactly who I had been waiting for all this time. There was a shining row of words above the female mage''s head¡ª Luo River God of the Capital LV-78 Silver Mage Guild: Purple Lily Guild Position: Leader City: Ice Moon City ¡­¡­ Finally, the legendary Luo River God of the Capital appeared! And her starting bid was a million gold too. No one had expected the 2-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade scepter to reach such a high price, myself included. Ordinary players would not have prepared so much gold because the trade platform needed time to convert. Roaming Dragon and Li Le gritted their teeth. Both of them did not lack money, but judgement. They had underestimated the Purgatory Scepter''s great impact! Luo River God of the Capital coming in late with a million gold bid silenced everyone. "Player Luo River God of the Capital bids 1000000 gold, once!" "Player Luo River God of the Capital bids 1000000 gold, twice!" "Player Luo River God of the Capital bids 1000000 gold, thrice!" "Transaction confirmed!" The auctioneer readily finished the transaction and took away 5% of their commission. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your auctioned item ¡°Purgatory Scepter¡± was successfully sold for 1000000 gold. After deducting the intermediary fee, you received 950000 gold! ¡­¡­ Very good. I got 950k RMB in one go. It seemed that Luo River God of the Capital wasn''t just an amazing person in the game, she was also worth millions in real life! I quickly converted all the gold in my account into RMB. I would have the money in my bank account in about an hour. The Golden Scale Bow and the Purgatory Scepter made me almost 1.1 mil RMB. Tsk tsk, if I could go through Devil Sealing Tower a few times, becoming a millionaire was not a dream! ¡­¡­ I joyfully thought of many things as I looked down. I saw that a bloody staff had appeared in Luo River God of the Capital''s hand. This was the Purgatory Scepter she had just bought. She looked around with disdain in her eyes. From this, it could be seen she was a proud woman. Just as she was about to leave, Roaming Dragon, Iron Pardon, Inconstant, and others appeared, blocking her path. "Beauty, could you wait for a moment?" "What?" Luo River God of the Capital looked at Roaming Dragon with a dismissive smile. She said coolly, "Mad Dragon? You seem very active in the forums, saying you will dominate Floating Ice City or something...¡± Roaming Dragon was slightly embarrassed and said with a smile, "Luo River God of the Capital, a member of the CGL Hall of Fame. Greetings, I am the leader of Mad Dragon. I¡­ have something I don¡¯t know if I should say.¡± Luo River God of the Capital smiled. "So if I tell you not to say it, will you leave?" "Haha!" I laughed inwardly and said, "Roaming Dragon is planning to make ties with factions from other cities now? It appears he has great battle foresight. He knows that fighting in Floating Ice City is just temporary and the true war is around the corner.¡± Murong Mingyue grinned. "Boys with great foresight like this are to Sister Feng¡¯s taste.¡± "Yes~~" He Yi nodded in agreement. I was speechless and continued to look down. Facing Roaming Dragon''s question, Luo River God of the Capital was casual. She took a deep breath and said, "Is Purple Lily¡¯s direction something the likes of you should be concerned about?" "This...¡± Though rebuffed, Roaming Dragon said, "Beauty Luo River God, you are a smart person, you should understand the benefits of gaining another ally. I represent Mad Dragon and look forward to allying with your guild, advancing and retreating together, dividing the world!" "Haha....¡± Luo River God of the Capital suddenly laughed, her chest moving. She raised the Purgatory Scepter and said with a smile, "Advance and retreat together? Alright, let me rephrase. Do you dare to become enemies with Candle Dragon? If you don''t, don''t ally with Purple Lily, you are not worthy! Also, I can tell you where Purple Lily is going. After the cities open, my Purple Lily will go wherever Candle Dragon goes!" "...¡± Roaming Dragon was silent for a moment. He didn''t dare to speak. Being enemies with Candle Dragon was no laughing matter. Even with the many factions surfacing in China, Candle Dragon was still undisputed number one and had many allies in Dawn City. Once the main cities opened, could Mad Dragon offend such a behemoth? When Roaming Dragon looked up, he found that Luo River God of the Capital had already walked away, her disdainful laughter lingering in the air. ¡­¡­ It appeared this Hall of Fame mage was proud, and had every qualification to be so. I led He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue out of the auction house. "Someone from Ice Moon City bought the Purgatory Scepter...¡± He Yi laughed softly. "This time, Dominating Heaven Blade, Roaming Dragon, and Li Le should be very disappointed, huh." I nodded and smiled. "Of course.¡± Murong Mingyue suddenly pointed into the distance and said, "Look, there seems to be something going on by the eastern gate bridge?" "Oh?" Everyone looked and found a group of people surrounding one person. They all had Flower Room¡¯s guild emblem. The person being surrounded was no one else other than Luo River God of the Capital. She held the Purgatory Scepter and looked calmly at the group of players who had malicious intent. Among Flower Room members, Li Le held his longsword and said, "I don''t care what CGL Hall of Fame you are a part of. Don''t think you can take the Purgatory Scepter out of Floating Ice City. If you are wise, leave the staff behind, I will give you a million gold. Otherwise, don''t blame us for being rude!" Luo River God of the Capital smiled. "Hmph, interesting!" As she spoke, she raised the Purgatory Scepter and said, "Actually, I could just use a return scroll to immediately return to Ice Moon City. But since you are so overbearing, let¡¯s meet outside the city. If you have the balls, come. I don¡¯t fear your numbers!" As she spoke, Luo River God of the Capital floated out of the city, her fire red magic robes disappearing out the gates. Li Le pointed with his sword. "Go, kill this woman. The Purgatory Scepter has to be dropped. That is Floating Ice City''s treasure!" Immediately, Flower Room players flooded out, each of them wearing a greedy expression. ¡­¡­ "Should we go help?" He Yi asked. I shook my head. "Let''s first look and see. Since Luo River God of the Capital is so fearless, she must be confident in her chances of defeating Flower Room. Otherwise, would she dare to be so bold?" "Okay!" The members of the Frost Cloud workshop hid their IDs. Beiming Xue and I were above Level 70, Murong Mingyue was Level 68, and He Yi was 64. We all had relatively high levels, so it would be hard for others to detect us if we hid our names. Of course, we could do nothing about being discovered based on appearance. He Yi was especially eye-catching. She wore metal armor and held the Abyssal Sword. Her face was flawless, and her cape made her appear both handsome and beautiful. Her attire itself was enough to loudly proclaim her to the others. In all of Floating Ice City, who except the beautiful leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would be such a beautiful female knight? Outside the city, grass flew. Murderous intent hung in the air. Luo River God of the Capital stood in the field, holding the Purgatory Scepter flashing with bloody light. She looked calmly at the people surrounding her. As a member of the CGL Hall of Fame with ranking higher than even God''s Dance, Luo River God of the Capital''s strength was unquestionable. Now, I was going to witness her might with my own eyes! Flower Room players had their hands on their sheathes, just waiting for the order! Shiing! Li Le pulled out his sword and shouted, "Everyone, together, kill her!" Immediately, Flower Room members pulled out their blades. The knights and warriors charged at the front. The archers pulled out their bows, and battle instantly commenced! Luo River God of the Capital smiled, and suddenly stomped her foot, her Magic Shield popping into existence. Her Purgatory Scepter increased its durability by 40%, so with her own magic power bonuses, it was hard to imagine how tough the magical barrier was. One thing was for certain¡ªsomeone like Li Le couldn¡¯t easily break through this shield. "Kill!" A Level 64 magic knight charged the front, holding a spear, and stabbed hard toward Luo River God of the Capital. "Hmph!" Accompanied by a cold laugh, the female mage moved slightly to the side. Burning light gathered in her left palm and she sent it out without delay. Exploding Flame Spell! 2974! A big damage number flew out. This was definitely not a critical hit, just a basic Exploding Flame Spell that was enough to kill a Level 64 magic knight with good equipment! With a scream, the magic knight slowly fell to the grass, covered in flames. The scene was stunning! "Woah, such high attack power...¡± He Yi gaped beside me. Clearly, everyone was shocked. A mage''s attack power reaching such heights was nuts. Li Le''s eyes turned blood-red. He said furiously, "Archers, shoot together!" Luo River God of the Capital reacted quickly, and started to swing her staff as the archers attacked. A huge expanse of icy rain fell into the crowd. Although Arctic Rain was a low-level spell, she had trained it to Rank 7. Adding on the Purgatory Scepter''s attack bonus, the damage was terrifying! A string of damage numbers above a thousand appeared. In the blink of an eye, the archers of Flower Room fell to the ground. A few dozen people had been killed in an instant! However, a group of knights, assassins, and warriors had reached Luo River God of the Capital and attacked! Luo River God of the Capital was not in a hurry. She raised her scepter high and shouted, "Hell Blaze!" Boom! The earth around her split apart like a volcano erupting. Flames sprouted up, and all of the surrounding melee players were set ablaze! 2198! 2084! 1742! ¡­¡­ A series of damage numbers flew up, further proving Luo River God¡¯s terrifying strength. With just two Hell Blazes, she easily killed hundreds of Flower Room members! Glug! Chapter 235: Authentication Boom! Hell Blaze caused the earth to tremble. This powerful attack was even more stunning in the hands of Luo River God of the Capital. The earth split apart, flames spurted, and burned the dozens of melee Flower Room players into dust. They fell to the ground, limbs trembling, and turned to corpses. Li Le''s eyes turned bloodshot. "Archers, what the fuck are you doing? Shoot her!" The archer players were confused. Luo River God of the Capital could be called the top mage of the China server. She raised the Purgatory Scepter, and Arctic Rain once again wreaked havoc among the crowd. She did not stop moving, constantly retreating as she kept herself beyond the attack range of the archers. Her Arctic Rain was a continuous spell so the archers of Flower Room could not take a step forward. The flow of the battle was completely in her control! "Hmph hmph..." Luo River God of the Capital reached the border of the forest. She held the Purgatory Scepter, her face full of disdain and said with a smile, "How about it, Young Master Le. You want to learn more of this miss''s tactics?" Li Le shuddered. He looked behind him at the ground covered in Flower Room corpses. This was completely unimaginable. A single top-tier mage was enough to make his guild unable to take even a single step forward!! Spring Mud said angrily, "Boss, I''ll go!" "Alright!" Gaining Li Le''s permission, Spring Mud charged and activated Charge toward Luo River God of the Capital in the distance! Whoosh! He charged quickly but hadn''t expected Luo River God of the Capital to react even faster. She lightly jumped into the bushes nearby, causing his skill to lose target and be cancelled. Then, she took a step back, her Purgatory Scepter raised high. Her eyes were murderous. "Who the hell are you? Die!" Exploding Flame! Flame Attack! After two powerful attacks, Spring Mud stared with wide eyes as the flames consumed him! 2673! 1987! Spring Mud fell down, after a single round of attacks. He was not her match at all! "What..." Li Le had a shocked expression, his voice trailing off. His body trembled. Facing the CGL Hall of Famer, Luo River God of the Capital, Li Le felt an endless sense of powerlessness. The hundreds of subordinates behind him did not seem to be of help. Even if he somehow managed to get her once, the price would be almost his entire guild, clearly too great a price. ¡­¡­ "This Luo River God of the Capital... is almost invincible!" He Yi looked at me and smiled. "Lu Chen, if you were to chase after her, what would you do?" Beiming Xue nodded and said, "This woman is terrifying. Her control of the rhythm is almost at brother''s level. Her attacks and defenses flow together. Li Le cannot kill her at all." I smiled. "Yes! In the game, fluid switching between attack and defense is most important. If you practice more, your own rhythm will be invulnerable, and you¡¯ll have become an absolute expert. Battles between pros are all about who can break the opponent¡¯s rhythm first..." He Yi pressed her lips together, her eyes confused. Murong Mingyue said, "I am a priest. I know the rhythm to heal but I don''t know anything else." "This is enough." "Haha..." ¡­¡­ In the distance, Luo River God of the Capital took out a return scroll and held it in her hand. She smiled. "Young Master Le, do you still want to fight? If not, I am leaving. My guild is waiting for me to manage it!" Li Le clenched his fists, with no word to offer. He didn''t dare to attack. Just Luo River God of the Capital was enough to rob Flower Room of their bravery. Also, she had held the Purgatory Scepter, a 2-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade weapon. Everyone knew how terrifying its stats were. Otherwise, Luo River God of the Capital would not have spent so much money to buy it. At least, with this scepter, the beautiful mage would have no problem conquering Ice Moon City with Purple Lily. Crack! Luo River God of the Capital crushed the return scroll and smiled at us. "Falling Dust, really. I was almost robbed in your territory and you didn¡¯t lift a finger!" I smiled. "I couldn¡¯t bear to disrupt your performance!" "Haha!" WIth a whoosh and a flash, Luo River God of the Capital returned to Ice Moon City. She had gains from her trip to Floating Ice City. She gained the Purgatory Scepter and killed more than a hundred Flower Room experts, gaining fame for Purple Lily. This was one of the strategies for development. "Damn!" Li Le clenched his fists and watched as Luo River God of the Capital left, unable to do anything. He turned and found the Frost Cloud workshop members watching from afar. His eyes turned venomous as though he wanted to put the blame on us. Shiing! I suddenly pulled out the Purgatory Sword, smiled and pointed at Li Le. "What, want to fight to the death?" "Ugh..." Li Le''s gaze was dark and cold, but he did not say anything, pulling out a return scroll instead. "I¡¯ve no time to waste with you people. Brothers, return to the city, we¡¯re going to level up!" Lights flashed, and Li Le led the Flower Room players back to the city. Beiming Xue poked out her tongue. "They are afraid~~" He Yi grinned. "Of course. Lu Chen has the Purgatory Sword which is even stronger than the Purgatory Scepter. Li Le should be able to see this. Also, there are four of us, filling the classes. If Li Le is smart enough, he will know what is important." I looked at the time. "It''s late, let''s go offline and get up early tomorrow. Eve¡¯s necklace had a quest on it. Have you done it?¡± "Oh right!" He Yi nodded. "It¡¯s a level 65 quest that can be shared with four other people. I haven''t done it, waiting for you to have time. What, you are free now?" "Yes, let''s do this quest tomorrow morning!" "Alright!" We returned to Floating Ice City, entered the inn, and went offline! ¡­¡­ I took off the gaming helmet and opened the notebook by my bed. He Yi had set this up for everyone, one for each member of the Frost Cloud workshop. It was pretty good, and it got on the forums really fast. I opened the door and found everyone in the hall. I said, "Sister Mingyue, c¡¯mere!" "Oh?" Murong Mingyue put down the juice she held and came over, gathering her short skirt. She said, "What is it?" I pointed at the computer screen and said, "Right now, after selling the Golden Scale Bow and the Purgatory Scepter, I have over 1.1mil RMB. Based on the rules of the workshop, 25% will become the workshop''s operational funds, so tell me our bank number so I can make the transfer now!" "Oh! Wait a moment..." Murong Mingyue turned around and said, "Eve, Beiming Xue, come here as well!" "Hm?" The two girls in the room walked over in surprise, unaware what was going on. I sat by the bed and opened the bank. Murong Mingyue handed a card to me, and then explained to He Yi and Beiming Xue with a smile, "Today, the total value of the auctioned items was 1100000 RMB. Lu Chen is transfering 25% of that into our operational funds. You two, watch and learn. Lu Chen is taking 25% as operating capital for the workshop. You two act as witnesses. Our Frost Cloud workshop should get on track." "Mn!" He Yi nodded. "Later, prepare to log onto the China Gaming Workshop website. I have notified the officials that Frost Cloud workshop will register in a while." "Alright!" Under the gazes of the three women, I transferred 275000 RMB into the workshop account. The transaction was quickly finalized and I still had nearly a million left for myself. Not much, but not little. Then, I opened the CGW website and searched the name ¡°Frost Cloud. As expected, our name was registered. The official leader of the workshop was He Yi¡¯s ID, From Water. It also had 2 guilds listed as affiliates¡ªAncient Sword Dreaming Souls and Bloody Mercenaries. Temporarily, He Yi was the only member of the workshop. I clicked ¡°Add¡±, and a retina authentication system appeared. I looked at the notebook''s scanner and heard a beep¡ª System Authentication: Player Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (LV-77, Undead Swordsman), will you join the Frost Cloud workshop? I confirmed and saw a notice: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand has successfully joined the workshop. The workshop now had 2 members. Also, due to my addition, the workshop points increased by 23794! He Yi''s points were 4164, about a sixth of mine. The point system was closely connected to a player''s reputation, ranking, and equipment. In other words, the stronger the person in the game, the more points they would add to a workshop upon joining. Without any accidents, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s points probably surpassed fifty thousand! Murong Mingyue also participated in the authentication. After a beep, she successfully joined, and increased the workshop points by 5098, slightly higher than He Yi. Beiming Xue was even better. After authentication, she increased the workshop by 17654 points. As a result, our Frost Cloud workshop had a total of 50710 points. I checked the official ranking. Our Frost Cloud workshop entered Top 10 of the China region, right at the tenth place! The first place was Candle Dragon. They had ten people, and their points neared 200000. As expected, six CGL Hall of Famers added a lot of points. The workshop system would allow between 1 and 10 people. Workshops couldn¡¯t exceed 10 members. If that were the case, they would be an illegal organization. Every gamer knew it. After settling the workshop matter, we had become a certified organization! He Yi put a hand on the table and said with a smile, "Come, to make Frost Cloud workshop famous, for the glory of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, let''s work together!" I put my hand over He Yi¡¯s, Murong Mingyue above mine, and Beiming Xue at the top. The four of us smiled at each other, everything unspoken. Just as we were going to sleep, girls couldn¡¯t help but speak some nonsense¡ª "Aiyaya, Lu Chen, tell me what it felt like to touch Eve''s hand?" ¡°I didn¡¯t feel a thing!" "What about mine?" "So smooth and tender...¡± Chapter 236: Karinshan In the morning, when I opened my eyes, I found it was raining outside. As expected, autumn was a rainy season. The fine droplets of rain hit the windows that flowed down like threads. I could hear soft wind, and the muffled sound of thunder. Going out in such weather wasn¡¯t advised, so it¡¯d be best to stay at home and level up. I got out of bed, washed up, and found Murong Mingyue heating up milk. "Morning, sis!" "Morning!" "Where is Eve and Beiming?" Murong Mingyue said, "Beiming has gotten up and is dressing. You are welcome to look. Eve went downstairs, to buy breakfast she said.¡± "Oh?" I was surprised. "Didn''t we buy an oven and bread? Why go buy breakfast?" Murong Mingyue glared at me. "Didn''t you say you liked soymilk and fried dough sticks for breakfast? Well, Eve went to buy them. Such a heavy rain, and the vice president of GGS is looking for soymilk...¡± "Damn~" I was speechless and grabbed an umbrella. "I''m going downstairs to wait for her. Where¡¯d she go?" "Lindun Road.¡± "Oh, I''m going then!" "Okay!" I hurriedly left. The streets were filled with office people going to work. The wind and rain were strong. All of Suzhou seemed to be shaking. I walked along the curb. Soon, He Yi''s beautiful figure appeared in sight. She wore a black dress and a white blouse. and appeared extremely beautiful. She held a bag of fried dough sticks and soymilk and was walking through the rain without an umbrella. Her leather shoes clacked on the path for the blind! Fuck, what is this?! I darted forward and used the umbrella to cover her, asking, "Boss, why don''t you have an umbrella...¡± He Yi looked up at me with a joyful smile. Her hair was soaked, and even her long eyelashes had droplets on them, like dew. The rain flowed down her cheeks. She pointed at the distant road and said, "There, the umbrella abandoned me...¡± I looked. As expected, there was an upturned umbrella with broken ribs being blown by the wind into the flowerbed. Evil~~ I looked at He Yi''s soaked state and felt my heart clench in pain. I hurriedly reached out to wipe the rain off her face. Looking down, I found that her clothing was also wet, her shirt red and pasted to her body, revealing snowy peaks. "Cold?" "I¡¯m fine...¡± He Yi said and sneezed. I laughed and reached out to put an arm around her shoulder, saying, "Walk quickly and take a hot bath or else you¡¯ll catch a cold.¡± "Mn!" He Yi laughed softly, leaning back in my arms, and returning with breakfast. When we passed by the residence entrance, the guard gave me a stunned gaze. The gaze grew heated, as though it would penetrate through He Yi''s clothing. He almost came over to inquire. The sound of rain, flowing water, and He Yi''s bell-like laughter mixed together, creating a symphony, the best I¡¯ve heard in my life. The Ninth Symphony was nothing compared. ¡­¡­ We returned to the workshop. He Yi went to take a bath. Everyone waited for her before eating breakfast. The fried dough sticks had been wrapped well, and weren''t wet from the rain at all. Murong Mingyue said enviously, "When will Eve be this good to me? I would have no regrets in life...¡± He Yi glared at her. "Eat quickly, you talk too much!" Beiming Xue was speechless. She shook her head and drank milk. ¡­¡­ After breakfast, 8 am sharp, we went online! Swhoosh! I appeared in the inn of Floating Ice City, and left, my hand already on the Purgatory Sword. I repaired my equipment and checked my bag. I didn''t have enough potions and needed a resupply. I looked at my friend list. Lin Yixin was not online, so I had no supplier to ask. I could only buy Rank 6 potions on the plaza. Amazingly enough, the price was even better than Lin Yixin¡¯s. The world truly made no sense. We had such a deep friendship after all. Beep! System Notice: Player ¡°From Water¡± is inviting you to the party, do you accept? After confirming, I joined and found He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue all present. He Yi asked, "The quest can be done by five people. Should we find another person?" Murong Mingyue: "Up to you.¡± I said, "What is the quest difficulty?" "A+!" "Oh?!" I thought for a moment and said, "He Yi and I are enough to serve as main tanks. Beiming Xue with me will be enough for DPS. Sister Mingyue is our healer. I also have Wild Roar for buff, so we don¡¯t need a buffer. A+ quest shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡± "Alright! Let''s meet up at the eastern gate bridge of Floating Ice City!" ¡­¡­ After I finished preparations, I quickly sprinted to the gathering point. I saw the three of our workshop beauties already waiting on the bridge. The breeze blew, and He Yi''s cape fluttered in the wind, her metal armor wrapped around her beautiful figure. Her snowy white skin was breathtaking. Beiming Xue was still dressed in leather armor with a black cape. She held the Purgatory Bow, brimming with murderous air, but a sweet smile still hung on her face. Murong Mingyue, well, nothing needed to be said. Her pure white robes wrapped around her proud figure, and her chest seemed about to burst out of her clothing. It was truly worrisome. Would Sister Mingyue have problems moving about in the game? In reality, my worries were unwarranted. Murong Mingyue, as one of the best priests in Floating Ice City, had good movement and mechanics. She had great advantages too. Facing female opponents, she could kill them with her measurements. If she encountered male opponents, a flirty look was enough. "We are all here!" He Yi walked forward and smiled. "Prepared to activate the quest trigger?" I nodded. "Yes, let¡¯s go!" He Yi''s glowing necklace suddenly flashed. A pleasing system bell sounded¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Your team has accepted the quest [Moon Love]! (Current Quest Rank: A+) Description: In the Stalagmite Graveyard south of Floating Ice City, there is a tragic legend. Supposedly, Princess Karinshan of the Floating Ice Empire died here fighting the invasion of the undead. Her body was buried in the Stalagmite Graveyard, and guarded by the soldiers of the empire. Deep at night, the travelers passing by can hear sad sobs coming from the graveyard. Travel to Stalagmite Graveyard, enter at any price, and investigate! ¡­¡­ The quest description appeared in front of us. Everyone was shocked. He Yi said, "Our quest is to search for something in the graveyard?" I shook my head. "I don''t know. Let''s go and see. The map already shows the quest location. It''s not far from Floating Ice City, and not a grinding zone. It appears we won¡¯t have to kill any monsters this time.¡± Murong Mingyue laughed softly. "That may not be true. Have you seen A-rank quests that don''t require killing monsters?" "No!" "Haha, let''s go!" We left, passing through the woods toward the Stalagmite Graveyard. Because it wasn''t a leveling ground, not a lot of players went there. However, I had my doubts about the quest. Go to the graveyard and ¡°enter at any price¡±? Was there something stopping us from entering? As we traveled, I passed 20 high-rank Magic Consumables to Murong Mingyue and said, "Sis, eat sparingly, I''m almost beggared by you...¡± "Haha, really? People like you cannot afford a woman...¡± Murong Mingyue gave a glance and giggled. "If you can''t even afford me, what about another woman~~" He Yi glanced at her and smiled. "Don¡¯t you imply anything!" "I know, boss!" As we spoke, the woods in front of us suddenly widened. There was a row of crosses covered in ropes. Clearly, they had been used to hang prisoners in the past. On the other side of the path was a graveyard. The insignia of Floating Ice City''s king could be seen on a sculpture in the middle of the graveyard. On either side there were steles, each inscribed with achievements of a king. On the border of the graveyard I could see many fully-armed guards, one almost every few steps. I didn¡¯t understand why the city needed so many people to guard a graveyard? He Yi went forward, and then suddenly stopped, pointing ahead. "Look, isn''t that Princess Karinshan''s tomb?" Everyone looked. As expected, there was an inconspicuous tomb there in the corner of the graveyard covered in green plants. Magic runes floated on the tombstone¡ªTomb of Floating Ice City''s Princess Karinshan The Third! Then there was the story of Karinshan''s life¡ª In Heavenblessed 7114, the undead invaded. The insane Fire Dance Magnificence Pernilla led the undead army to attack the human lands. The Floating Ice Kingdom, at the border of Heavenblessed Continent, was the first to bear the brunt of the invasion. Floating Ice City was surrounded, and at the time of life and death, Princess Karinshan led 5000 of her cavalry to break through the encirclement, going to Sky City and requesting twenty-thousand-strong reinforcements to return to Floating Ice City. Of course, when Princess Karinshan returned with the army to force the undead army to retreat, Floating Ice City had already fallen. Chapter 237: Infiltrator ¡°Heavenblessed 7114¡­ Heavenblessed 7114¡­¡± I repeated the phrase thoughtfully. He Yi turned to me and asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°Do you remember what year it was when we entered the game?¡± ¡°No, what year was it?¡± ¡°It was Heavenblessed 8124.¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open. ¡°Are you saying that Princess Karinshan has been dead for over a thousand years?¡± ¡°Exactly!¡± I nodded strongly. ¡°Why would someone station an entire battalion of soldiers around a person who has been dead for a thousand years? This is seriously strange.¡± Murong Mingyue said, ¡°Let¡¯s head over there and see for ourselves!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I nodded and pulled out the Purgatory Sword. Then, I led the party to Princess Karinshan¡¯s tomb. It was at this moment a file of guards ran up to us and blocked our way. The captain of the group pulled out his sword and declared loudly, ¡°Who are you people? This is an important place to the royal family. Outsiders are not allowed!¡± Everyone stopped in their tracks as I walked up to the captain. ¡°Sir, we are the adventurers of Floating Ice City. There has been some unusual incidents in this area, so we were ordered to investigate Princess Karinshan¡¯s tomb.¡± But the guard captain shouted, ¡°Cut the bullshit, there is nothing for you here! Now leave, or you will pay with your life!¡± My eyes turned cold as I raised my own sword. ¡°You¡¯re not going to let us pass? It looks like our suspicions were right. You are hiding some dirty secret in this place!¡± ¡°Damn you, you insolent brat!¡± The guard captain raised his sword and shouted, ¡°Warriors of Floating Ice City, kill these insidious adventurers and remove the threat to our city!¡± Not only did the name of every NPC soldier around us suddenly become blood-red in color, it was changed to ¡°Floating Ice City Infiltrator¡±! Floating Ice City Infiltrator (Common) Level: 75 Attack: 550~620 Defense: 500 HP: 7000 Skills: Slash Introduction: The first war against the Night Creatures embroiled the entire Heavenblessed Continent and lasted for nearly a century. After the races and the empire joined forces to fight back against their common enemy, the Night Creatures retaliated by planting a devilish curse in countless brave warriors. Although the blood of humans still ran inside their bodies, their souls have fallen under the control of the undead mages. ¡­¡­ He Yi raised her own sword with a smile. ¡°No wonder they wouldn¡¯t let us get close to Princess Karinshan¡¯s tomb. Let¡¯s kill these traitors and get on with the quest!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± I rushed toward the guard captain and slashed. Thousand Mirage Slash! Clang! The sword beam divided into seven and rained on top of the enemies, dealing massive amounts of damage. 3098! 3174! 3426! ¡­¡­ The skill was powerful, but it was nothing compared to the splash damage. Entire files of soldiers collapsed to the ground and died because of how the splash damage stacked on all nearby targets. Murong Mingyue and He Yi were stunned by my successful attack. ¡°Damn, your attack power is getting a little too ridiculous, Lu Chen¡­¡± I gave them a smile before dashing into the mobs. There were about 300 soldiers in the area, and at this rate we should clear them out in less than ten minutes! He Yi activated Rock Shield and protected herself in a circle of cyan rocks. At the same time, she swung her Abyssal Sword left and right and cut down the enemies attacking her where they stood. She never even bothered to dodge or block the attacks that went her way. Besides that, Beiming Xue was getting stronger and stronger. She fired a round of Evil Spirit Volley into a group of soldiers, and the splash damage from evil souls was more than enough damage to make our enemies¡¯ lives a living hell. Murong Mingyue stuck exclusively to the back and healed us very conservatively. Our party really didn¡¯t need that much healing with He Yi and I as the tanks, not to mention that careless healing would actually result in too much aggro, eventually bringing our party down. ¡°You damn traitors! I¡¯ll kill all of you!¡± The guard captain pounced toward us. He was the strongest mob of the group; a Level 75 Bronze Rank miniboss with average attack power and only 40k HP. He was nowhere strong enough to put even a drop of sweat on our faces! I locked onto the guard captain and used Charge! Whoosh! After he was stunned, I followed up with an Ice Ray + Slayer Slash combo! 3298! 3181! This miniboss was seriously pitiful. Its Defense was even lower than the normal players out in the wild. After the miniboss was slowed down by Ice Ray, I dealt another two basic attacks to him while waiting for my cooldowns to finish. After 6 seconds, I immediately used my most powerful combo, Pardon + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 11904! Very good, my attack actually exceeded 10k damage. Even if it was because of a critical hit, it was still a testament to my strength! My whole party was also buffed with Wild Roar. 15% increase in attack power was nothing to scoff at. While I was slashing at the enemy, a cold chill suddenly entered my arms. It was the Outstanding property of the Purgatory Sword, Purgatory Slash! Boom! There was an explosion of light, and the ground in front of me was split in half by a deep gulf. Tongues of flames were escaping from under the ground. The guard captain swayed on his feet and hit the ground, dead. Behind him, a group of common mobs also couldn¡¯t endure the powerful attack and died where they stood. The fragile defense line surrounding Princess Karinshan¡¯s tomb was destroyed by our four-man party just like that. Crack! The battle was over when He Yi¡¯s cut off the head of the final infiltrator. I picked up the loot dropped by the boss and gave it a look, but there was nothing that caught my eye. All the items were all Bronze-grade, and they were all trash. I dumped them all into my bag and didn¡¯t spare them a second glance. ¡­¡­ We stopped in front of Princess Karinshan¡¯s tombstone. Murong Mingyue asked, ¡°How should we go about this?¡± Frowning, I replied, ¡°We might have to enter the princess¡¯s tomb if we don¡¯t find anything outside. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re scared?¡± Murong Mingyue puffed up her awesome chest fearlessly. ¡°Why would I be?¡± I smiled. ¡°Cut it out, are you trying to shame Karinshan back to life with your breasts?¡± ¡°...¡± After circling around the princess¡¯s tomb once, I made up my mind and placed a hand on the giant cyan boulder that acted as the door. ¡°Let¡¯s go through the front door and see what this tomb has in store for us!¡± I tried to push the boulder out of the way, but to my surprise it didn¡¯t budge in the slightest. ¡°Fuck!¡± I glared at the rock before calling for help. ¡°Sister Yi, can you help me with this?¡± ¡°Sure!¡± He Yi was a melee fighter, and she allocated her stat points following a 4:1 ratio between Strength and Stamina. As a result, she was actually an offensive magic knight rather than a defensive one. The two of us combined our strength and pushed with everything we got. I was using every bit of strength in my body, and He Yi¡¯s face was red with exertion. Finally, the boulder slowly rolled out of the way. Rumble rumble rumble... The black cave leading into the tomb was open after a series of grinding noises. A series of ghastly wails could be heard from inside the tomb, and bright red runes were drawn directly on the cave walls. They certainly looked like they were drawn with human blood. I entered the cave and used the Purgatory Sword¡¯s shine to light the path ahead. He Yi, Beiming Xue, and Murong Mingyue followed closely behind me one by one. We didn¡¯t encounter any mob along the way. The interior of the tomb was unusually complicated, and it took two whole minutes of walking before we finally arrived at the tomb hall. Spider webs were everywhere, and a rotten stench permeated the air. Princess Karinshan¡¯s crystal coffin was placed at the center of the hall, and the stony floor it was placed on looked incredibly tough and smooth. I also spotted unfamiliar, glowing runes on the surface of the floor. It was a hexagram magic formation. I wasn¡¯t quite sure what was going on here. Whoosh¡­ As a cold wind brushed against our skin, we could hear silent, dreadful laughter of a woman. It was a chilling experience to say the least. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± He Yi walked up to me quickly and grabbed my arm, whispering, ¡°This place is scary!¡± I smiled reassuringly at her before patting her icy hands. ¡°Relax, it¡¯s just a game setting. I think a boss might appear in this tomb very soon. Once we take it out, our quest will be more or less complete.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Just like He Yi, Murong Mingyue was slightly afraid of the eerie background. She asked me with eyes that were filled with worry, ¡°How should we investigate this place, Lu Chen? The game designers aren¡¯t expecting us to touch Princess Karinshan¡¯s body, are they?¡± I nodded. ¡°If there¡¯s nothing else, we¡¯ll have to. Something is strange about all this though. Princess Karinshan is a high-level NPC and a great commander, so it doesn¡¯t make sense for her to kill herself. If she really was that weak-minded, she would never have had the courage to lead five thousand cavalry out of Floating Ice City and break through the encirclement!¡± He Yi smiled at me with starry brilliance in her eyes. ¡°Mn, I think so too. There must be something about this quest that we¡¯re not seeing yet!¡± I placed a foot inside the magic formation while we were talking to each other. Suddenly, our surroundings started shaking, and the magic formation that was supposed to be inert lit up with power. Blood started seeping out of the ground and wrapping around the crystal coffin! ¡°Look! What is that?!¡± He Yi hurriedly pointed at the crystal coffin. Without warning, rays of golden starlight flew out of the crystal coffin and gathered into one in the sky. About half a minute later, they converged into a sword-wielding female warrior wearing golden armor and a blood-red cape. The beautiful woman was staring straight at us with her deep, black eyes, and her hair was fluttering slightly behind her back! ¡°Pri¡­ princess Karinshan?¡± My voice was actually shaking. The transparent figure floating in front of us was none other than the legendary princess of the empire, the courageous and wise Karinshan herself! Clearly, the image was just a fragment of her soul. There was no way she could¡¯ve gotten out of the sealed coffin otherwise. Besides that, there was line of text floating above her head¡ª Karinshan Level: ??? Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Chapter 238: Karinshan’s Reques Princess Karinshan¡¯s soul slowly opened her eyes and stared at us. Her pair of black, beautiful pupils were filled with both enigma and sorrow. She asked quietly, ¡°Young infantrymen, are you the warriors of Floating Ice City?¡± I stepped to the front of the group and nodded. ¡°Mn!¡± Karinshan let out a sob before asking another question. ¡°Is Floating Ice City doing well? What¡­ what year is it now? Has Heavenblessed Continent been reborn from the ashes of war?¡± I shivered. Poor Karinshan seemed to know nothing at all. This time, He Yi walked next to me and said clearly, ¡°It is Heavenblessed 8125 right now, and the Silver Moon Alliance seems about equal to the Night Creatures in strength. The war has never stopped.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Karinshan let out a long sigh before staring at her own palm. She whispered tearily, ¡°I¡¯ve been sealed here for a thousand years? What¡­ what happened to my home while I was gone¡­¡± I asked, ¡°What is going on, princess? Your tombstone says that you have taken your own life at the foot of Floating Ice City. If that is true, why is your soul at this place?¡± ¡°Me, taking my own life? Hehe¡­¡± Karinshan tried to chuckle, but it quickly turned into sobs again. ¡°I would never take my own life. Even now, I still desire to protect my people and my home. It was all a ploy by Undead Magus Cardilla. He used a forbidden curse of the dead to rip my soul out of my body and seal it in this place. My real body is trapped in the basement beneath the royal court of Floating Ice City!¡± ¡°What?!¡± I was shocked. I wasn¡¯t expecting to unearth such a huge conspiracy when I chose to take part in this quest. After all, who would¡¯ve thought that the wise and courageous Princess Karinshan herself would fall to the curse of a devious magus and be sealed in a place like this for a thousand years? After crying for a moment, Princess Karinshan suddenly asked us a question, ¡°Young warriors, do you know who is the monarch of Floating Ice City right now?¡± I thought for a moment before answering, ¡°I think¡­ I think it¡¯s Cardin The Third¡­¡± Some time ago, I read that someone had accepted a quest from the king on the forums. I had never met the old man myself, though. I was an undead, a member of the neutral faction. Therefore, I was reluctant to approach the royal palace unless absolutely necessary. What if the king was accompanied by a Holy Magus or two? I would be burned into a crisp if they discovered my identity. To my surprise, Karinshan shivered visibly when she heard my answer. ¡°Wh¡­ what?! Royal father is still alive¡­ after a thousand years? How¡­ how is that possible?¡± Shing! I pulled out my sword and asked her solemnly. ¡°Give us the order, Karinshan. What do you want us to do?¡± Gripping her own sword, Karinshan gritted her teeth as determination returned to her features. She stared at us and said, ¡°For the past couple centuries or so, no adventurer has ever dared to venture into this place until today. You are both my and the city¡¯s hope. We must kill Cardilla, reclaim the city, and rescue it from the clutches of darkness!¡± I gave her a nod of acknowledgment before voicing my worries. ¡°Princess, your soul and body were separated due to Cardilla¡¯s curse, correct? In that case, is there a way for you to come back to life?¡± Karinshan wiped away her tears and nodded. ¡°Yes, I still have some power in me. Time has frozen for me ever since my soul was ripped away from my body. As long as they reunite, I should be able to come back to life. However, I didn¡¯t think that Floating Ice City would still be in the clutches of the Night Creatures after so many years!¡± Karinshan fixed her gaze on us. ¡°I have a very dangerous mission for you all. Floating Ice City and I are counting on you now!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Will you accept the follow-up quest, [Karinshan¡¯s Request]? (Current Quest Rank: S-) ¡­¡­ Fuck, S-rank? At this point, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to call this an Epic-rank main quest! Everyone in the party chose ¡°Yes¡± in unison. A melodious ding later, the main quest entered our quest screens. Ding~! System Notice: You have accepted the quest [Karinshan¡¯s Request]! (Current Quest Rank: S-) Description: Karinshan believes that Cardin The Third is already dead. You must head to the royal palace, find Cardin The Third and kill him. Besides that, you must find Princess Karinshan¡¯s sword, the Blade of Kings. Kill Cardin The Third with this sword, and the Undead Magus Cardilla who is possessing will perish as well. But be careful, Cardin The Third possesses incredibly powerful undead magic. He can summon an endless amount of lost souls with his devilish scepter. The Blade of Kings is buried beneath the red maple tree at the back garden of the royal palace. ¡­¡­ He Yi blinked and smiled after she finished reading the quest description. ¡°This quest isn¡¯t easy at all¡­¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± I nodded with a sigh. ¡°We must first slip into the royal palace and dig out the Blade of Kings. Then, we need to seek out Cardin The Third and kill him. Finally, we need to bring Princess Karinshan¡¯s body back to this tomb and revive her. Only then will this quest be considered complete.¡± Murong Mingyue waved her staff and said, ¡°No time to dilly-dally! Let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± We all used a return scroll in order to save time. After we teleported back into Floating Ice City, we ran straight toward the royal palace. ¡­... The royal palace was situated at the center of the city. Elite cavalries could be seen practicing their horsemanship and attack movements on a plaza, and their roars were loud enough to send shivers down one¡¯s heart. No one could possibly imagine that this seemingly peaceful city was really a poisonous thorn the Night Creatures had planted at the edges of the Light faction. If Cardin The Third were to mutiny against the empire, Sky City would most likely become its first victim. Undead magi were incredibly scary. These fallen mages were willing to annihilate everything in their pursuit of infinite power. If the right opportunity were to show itself, Floating Ice City¡¯s armored cavalry would attack Sky City and kickstart an endless civil war within the human race. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle... A couple of leaves were crushed beneath our boots as the royal palace appeared not far away from us. He Yi looked a little worried when she saw how heavily guarded the fortified structure was. ¡°What should we do? I don¡¯t think we can get in without a pass...¡± I frowned. I couldn¡¯t think of a good idea to get in either. Suddenly, we saw a platoon of soldiers herding a group of ragged prisoners toward the palace. I quickly ran up to the officer-in-charge and asked, ¡°Sir, why are you escorting these prisoners into the palace? Wouldn¡¯t it be easier to just execute them?¡± The NPC officer was a man with a big beard. There was a small crack at the center of his armor, and a bit of fiery red hair was peeking through the cracks. He laughed loudly after turning toward me. ¡°You didn¡¯t know? Our king, Cardin The Third, is a man who possesses infinite lifespan and power. However, there is a thousand-year-long family law that requires these death row prisoners to be executed by the king himself. That is why we bring them into the palace! It is so they may receive his holy judgment!¡± His answer made me chuckle a little. Standing beside me and holding my arm, He Yi also let out a giggle. She whispered, ¡°Unless I¡¯m sorely mistaken, these death row prisoners are brought to the undead magus so he may absorb their souls and extend his lifespan. I heard that evil mages who cultivate the forbidden longevity arts usually sacrifice living beings to perform these rituals.¡± I teased her with a smile. ¡°You know too much, Eve~~¡± ¡°Hmph hmph!¡± He Yi smiled, but didn¡¯t say anything. Suddenly, the death row prisoners at the front started struggling and caused a small commotion. The big-bearded officer immediately waved his leather whip and yelled, ¡°Do you want to die? You dare cause trouble in front of me, Lord Drew? Do it again, and I¡¯ll send you to the wilderness and make you dig coal for the rest of your life!¡± Frightened, the prisoners immediately controlled themselves. I seized the opportunity and persuaded the big-bearded officer, ¡°Sir, it looks like these prisoners are a rowdy bunch, and you don¡¯t seem to have enough hands to keep the situation fully under control, do you? Why don¡¯t I and my group help you escort your prisoners into the royal palace? By the way, here¡¯s some copper for you to buy some good ale and wet your throat. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re tired of having to serve those annoying nobles all day and night!¡± I said copper, but I really stuffed about 100 gold into the big-bearded officer¡¯s hand. As I thought, he immediately broke into a wide smile and gave me a pat on the shoulder. ¡°Young warrior, I sense a bright future ahead of you. Take your friends and follow me!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± He Yi and the girls were dumbfounded by my success. ¡°OMG, how on earth did that work?¡± I shrugged. ¡°The game devs wouldn¡¯t design an impossible quest. In fact, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if there were at least a thousand pre-planned ways to slip into the royal palace. Anyway, let¡¯s go¡­¡± We quickly caught up to the big-bearded officer and entered the royal palace with him. Then, we slipped away while he wasn¡¯t looking and started sneaking toward the back garden. I instinctively bent lower and walked slower as we made way toward our destination, but He Yi grabbed my cape and pulled me upright again. ¡°Don¡¯t act like a thief, you¡¯ll only draw more suspicion like this. I bet we¡¯ll be a lot safer if we pretend like we actually belong here. Just imagine that you¡¯re the royal administrator or something¡­¡± I almost vomited blood at her analogy, but her method proved to be very effective. We were all combat-type players, so we didn¡¯t look too different from the guards who were patrolling the place. Miraculously, we were able to reach the back garden without any incident at all. ¡­¡­ ¡°Look, the Blade of Kings should be over there!¡± Beiming Xue suddenly pointed toward the front. There was a giant red maple tree inside the back garden, and it was clearly the tree where the sword was buried in. We could finally do what we came to do after we dug the weapon out of the ground! When we ran toward the tree, we were spotted by two female attendants from the distance. They immediately grew suspicious of our motives, and when I actually started digging the ground with the Purgatory Sword, their beautiful faces suddenly turned much uglier. A pair of fangs appeared at the corners of their mouths, and they shouted at us in fury, ¡°You dare steal the Blade of Kings? Die!¡± Whoosh whoosh¡­ As it turned out, the two female attendants were actually demons. They screeched like banshees and pounced at us! Bang bang! Beiming Xue immediately nailed them to the fake mountain at the back garden with two successive arrows. Then, she followed up with an Evil Spirit Volley. Not to be outdone, He Yi ran over and swung the Abyssal Sword twice, cutting off their rotten heads and sending them rolling a long way across the floor. Chapter 239: The Blade of Kings Clang! After digging for a while, a golden spark appeared as if the Purgatory Sword just hit something. I hurriedly pushed aside the rest of the soil until I saw the golden hilt of a sword. The symbol of the sun, moon, rain, and snow floated above the hilt. It was also surrounded by incomprehensible ancient runes. ¡°Is this the Blade of Kings?¡± He Yi dropped to one knee and observed the sword closely. I nodded. ¡°Most likely. Time to pull it out and teach Cardin The Third a lesson.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I grabbed the hilt and pulled strongly. To my surprise, the sword didn¡¯t budge in the slightest! But how was this possible? I had allocated all my stat points into Strength, and combined with my current equipment, I had over 500 Strength in total. This sword couldn¡¯t possibly be so heavy that not even 500 Strength was enough to lift it, right? He Yi clicked her tongue once before smiling. ¡°Why don¡¯t you dig deeper? Maybe something¡¯s keeping the Blade of Kings in place.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I continued digging until the sword was completely unearthed. As it turned out, the reason I couldn¡¯t pull out the Blade of Kings was because it was a sealed weapon. It was suspended vertically in midair and surrounded by a hexagram formation. It had wrapped around the Blade of Kings like a spider web and affixed it to the ground! Murong Mingxue asked, ¡°What should we do now?¡± I gritted my teeth and said, ¡°What else? I¡¯m going to pull it out of the seal by force!¡± ¡°Oh!¡± I rose to my feet and put away the Purgatory Sword. Then, I grabbed the hilt of the Blade of Kings with both hands, planted my feet firmly on the ground and pulled with almost all the strength inside my body! Crack¡­ crack... Some of the shackles between the magic formation and the sword were shredded thanks to my efforts. Still, I was positively sweating from the exertion, and I felt like I was trying to lift a thousand-kilogram rock. Veins popping on the sides of my head, I growled, ¡°Goddammit, would you come out already!¡± Bang! The blade abruptly came free in one smooth motion. It was supposed to be a joyous occasion, but we were all distracted by a sudden earthquake that rocked the entire Floating Ice City. Besides that, dark clouds came out of nowhere and blotted out the sky completely, and rays of bloody light shone down from above, enveloping us. Swhoosh swhoosh... The Blade of Kings was shining with a golden light. It was also letting out a hum that suggested that it was very excited for some reason. A closer look revealed that it was a stat-less quest item just like the Devil Suppressing Sword. The girls were surprised by the unnatural scene to say the least. Staring at the bloody light in the sky, He Yi narrowed her eyes and said worriedly, ¡°Things just got real, Lu Chen¡­¡± Instead of replying, I raised the Blade of Kings to the air. It fired a beam of golden light into the sky, penetrating the clouds blocking its path and bringing a bit of light back to the darkened city. A ding that reverberated throughout Floating Ice City immediately followed the phenomenon. Ding~! ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck!¡± I was dumbfounded by the lines of text I was reading. ¡°These game devs are so shameless! There¡¯s no way we could¡¯ve known that a quest would trigger a Floating Ice City update patch! It¡¯s GG if we fail to complete this quest now¡­¡± A small smile appeared on He Yi¡¯s face. ¡°Well, what are we waiting for? Let¡¯s attack the royal palace and kill Cardin The Third before it¡¯s too late! If we fail, we¡¯ll lose levels and Princess Karinshan won¡¯t be able to come back to life. We need to take responsibility for our actions!¡± Nodding affirmatively, I ran toward the palace with the girls right behind me. The Blade of Kings was a stat-less quest item that was only useful against Cardin The Third, so I put it away and took out my Purgatory Sword once more. The name of the patch was ¡°Return of the King¡±. Naturally, it had to be referring to Princess Karinshan. She was a royal princess and an outstanding commander of the human race. Once the Undead Magus Cardilla was killed, it wasn¡¯t hard to imagine that Princess Karinshan would take over as the new ruler of Floating Ice City. As it turned out, the sky wasn¡¯t the only thing that changed after the Blade of Kings was pulled out. The names of all the guards standing guard outside the palace hall had turned blood-red in color, meaning that they were all the puppets of the Night Creatures. It was impossible to kill Cardin The Third without going through them first. Beiming Xue asked, ¡°Should we kill them one by one or all at once?¡± I gritted my teeth before replying, ¡°It¡¯ll take too long if we kill them one by one. Summon your pets and find a choke point!¡± To my surprise, He Yi pointed toward the east and said, ¡°There¡¯s a triangular space at the edge of that fountain. If we stand at the edges, we can force them to approach us from one direction only!¡± I nodded while feeling glad on the inside. It looked like all that grinding did improve He Yi¡¯s gaming skills after all. I instructed the girls to get into position while the Dark Wasp and I aggroed the mobs. The Death Shade War Boots boosted my movement speed by 4%, so my job was a lot easier, especially since the guards weren''t particularly fast to begin with. I weaved in and out of the hordes of mobs like a shade as my bloody cape fluttered behind me. Drawing aggro was a skill that demanded great foresight and decisiveness, especially when luring a huge number of mobs. An unskilled and hesitant player could very easily walk to their death and drag their entire party down with them. A few minutes later, I had successfully aggroed most of the guards who were protecting the palace. There were at least thousands of them, and every single one had red eyes and an evil aura that marked them as a puppet. Frankly, they could be mistaken as skeletons if they didn¡¯t still have a human body. I skidded to a stop next to He Yi and positioned the Dark Wasp where I wanted it to. It was time to activate the meat grinder! When the horde of guards were about to hit us, Beiming Xue kickstarted the counterattack by firing an Evil Spirit Volley. The explosions of evil energy dealt an insane amount of splash damage caused the guards to let out painful screams. The Floating Ice City Traitor Guard was a Level 80 elite mob with 900 Attack, 600 Defense and 24000 HP. As expected of elite NPCs, they were much stronger than your usual Level 80 monsters. Their 900 Attack especially could pose a threat even to me. Clang clang clang! I took three consecutive hits to the shoulder, each strike dealing around 300 damage. I had lost almost a thousand health in a single bout. Thankfully, Murong Mingyue was right behind me, so close that I could literally feel her softness pressing up against my back. A couple of quick heals later, I was back to full health once more! It would be impolite not to reciprocate their ¡°kindness¡±, so I immediately raised my sword and activated Thousand Mirage Slash! The sword beam split into seven and fell on top of the horde. A series of damage numbers appeared above their heads¡ª 3012! 2987! 2864! ¡­¡­ The skill dealt both direct damage and splash damage, so every mob caught within the blast took way more damage than one might¡¯ve expected, losing over 10k HP in one go. It was such a ridiculous amount of damage that the girls¡¯ mouth fell open in shock. Murong Mingyue: ¡°Oof, Lu Chen is seriously OP. He¡¯s a warrior, but he has an AoE skill that also deals splash damage because of his weapon. Right now, Wind Fantasy is probably the only player in the entire Floating Ice City who can match up to him. If we were to upload a video to the forums, I¡¯m sure that a lot of warriors would want to kill themselves in shame.¡± Beiming Xue laughed. ¡°Well, it¡¯s a good thing that big bro is strong. I wouldn¡¯t have come all the way here to join him otherwise~~¡± He Yi didn¡¯t say anything, but the beautiful smile on her face was enough to bewitch a man for a very, very long time. ¡­¡­ While fending off the seemingly endless horde of enemies, a chill suddenly entered my arm without warning. I immediately swung my weapon in front of me! Purgatory Slash! The guards were all going to die anyway, but the poor guy in front of me now was especially unlucky. Purgatory Slash dealt even more damage than the Thousand Mirage Slash, so one mighty attack later almost all the guards in front of me collapsed to a sea of both direct and splash attacks. An innumerable amount of EXP entered my body and visibly filled up my EXP bar! Everyone was happy with how fast our experience was soaring up. Murong Mingyue let out a laugh and said, ¡°From here on, the Frost Cloud workshop should grind together more often and work to place all our members among the Top 100 in China!¡± ¡°Hear, hear!¡± I checked my ranking. Right now, I was Level 78, and my experience bar was 72% full. Although I was number one in Floating Ice City, I was only 7th in all of China. The first spot currently belonged to Luo River God of the Capital, who sat at Level 79 and 23% experience. Her level was higher than even Candlelight Shadow¡¯s! As I thought, China¡¯s server was crawling with hidden talents. They might be nameless at this stage of the game, but once the global wars began they could absolutely destroy any small cities unfortunate enough to place next to theirs, and even stand equal to the strongest nations out there. I had full confidence that these hidden players would be able to carve a foothold for themselves, at the very least. Still, this ranking was useful for comparing player levels, but not much else. For example, I¡¯m sure that the best players of Candle Dragon were doing their best to grind their levels right now, and some of them might even outstrip Lin Yixin in this regard. But in an actual fight, their leader, Candlelight Shadow himself, might be the only player in their entire guild who could fight our Fruit Knife Goddess head-on. It had already been proven that their so-called Tempest War God or Blue Sky War God were no match for our Lin Yixin at all. Besides that, I had every reason to believe that there were many more godly players besides Lin Yixin who were training in the mountains¡ªmetaphorically speaking¡ªand building up their strength silently. Although they hadn¡¯t entered the CGL Hall of Fame, they were at least as good as any active CGL Hall of Famer. Finally, the game was just beginning, and anything could happen during this time. I suspected that the list of CGL Hall of Famers was going to change drastically once we entered the late stage of the game. For example, I had no doubt that Lin Yixin was going to become a CGL Hall of Famer. Beep! Coincidentally, Lin Yixin sent me a message while I was thinking about her: ¡°OMG, did you actually trigger an update patch, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°Mn!¡± ¡°Man, you¡¯re so lucky. Don¡¯t forget to bring me with you next time!¡± ¡°Well, we¡¯ll see¡­¡± She sent me a pout emoji to express her dissatisfaction. Then, she fell silent and went back to grinding. ¡­¡­ We were still killing the guards blocking our way when a melodious ring resounded across the gray sky of Floating Ice City again. Ding~! Chapter 240: War at the Capital A couple of dings followed immediately after the first system announcement¡ª Ding~! System Announcement (War Report): Floating Ice City Border Commander Stark has answered Princess Karinshan¡¯s summons! He is leaving his fortress with 50000-strong Black Cavalry to quell the insurgency at Floating Ice City! Ding~! System Announcement (War Report): Floating Ice City Border Commander Ziyan has answered Princess Karinshan¡¯s summons! She is leaving her encampment with 70000-strong Frost Army to quell the insurgency at Floating Ice City! Ding~! System Announcement (War Report): Floating Ice City Border Commander Lintus has answered Princess Karinshan¡¯s summons! He is leaving Wind Moon Fortress with 40000-strong Scarlet Wolf Army to quell the insurgency at Floating Ice City! ¡­¡­ The three consecutive announcements were all the players needed to hear to know that a new ruler was about to be seated on the throne of Floating Ice City. It was surprising that Princess Karinshan still commanded this much influence even after she was declared dead for an entire millennium. The wise and courageous princess had definitely been loved by her people, but that wasn¡¯t all the reason the NPCs had reacted so decisively. I had heard that Cardin The Third was a cruel and tyrannical king, and that the quests players were receiving around the city were often about nobles oppressing the common folk. In a sense, it was unsurprising that the city was corrupt knowing that an evil and greedy undead magus was in control. Besides that, I quickly checked the database and discovered a small rumor that Cardin The Third had been leading a rotten life for the past millennia or so. It was said that he demanded a virgin to be brought to his palace everyday to satisfy his sexual needs. Of course, this part of the history was considered ¡°unofficial¡±. If someone were to check official annals of Floating Ice City, they would discover that the twenty-thousand-word-long text was blotted out by asterisks. ¡­¡­ Boom! I got lucky and was able to let loose another Purgatory Slash. An entire group of low HP guards immediately dropped to the ground and turned into experience! Behind me, Murong Mingyue laughed melodiously. ¡°Faster, faster! There are only a few of them left now! We¡¯re the first warriors to answer the call to arms, so maybe Princess Karinshan will grant us noble titles once she reclaims the throne from that undead magus!¡± I rolled my eyes at her. ¡°Sis, you¡¯re dreaming again.¡± I swung my sword repeatedly and focused on killing the mobs as quickly as possible. Murong Mingyue was a super priest, so I didn¡¯t need to worry about running out of potions. Moreover, the Purgatory Sword would occasionally trigger its Outstanding skill and delete a large number of enemies from existence, speeding up our grinding even further! The ground was completely covered in glittering pieces of gear and various items. I said, ¡°We¡¯ll spend one minute to loot the battlefield, no more. Be ready to enter the palace once the time is up!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Everyone got to work immediately. A Level 80 elite mob would only drop items at the Dark Steel grade at best, so there was no point in hoping for a Silver-grade item, even in the mountain of corpses we just killed. Dark Steel¨Cgrade items weren¡¯t really all that impressive these days and could only sell for several dozen of gold, maybe a hundred. That was of course if they didn¡¯t have powerful passives like boots increasing movement speed, wristguards increasing attack speed, or weapons with lifesteal. Lifesteal in particular was so rare that I hadn¡¯t encountered a single item with this attribute. Players who had such items could probably be counted on one hand. We continued forward after taking all the equipment and magic stones we could take. As usual, I stood at the forefront of the party with the Dark Wasp in tow, but this time I also used Summon Undead to call Xinran over to my side! Ding~! System Notice: Your pet "Xinran" has refused to fight for you! Dammit, she¡¯s throwing a tantrum again? One more time! Ding~! System Notice: Your pet "Xinran" cannot be summoned! ¡­¡­ Fuck! What on earth is going on here? Absolutely annoyed, I tried again and finally got a response. The magic formation glowed brightly before a black hole appeared at the center of it. It looked like an entrance that led straight to the Netherworld. Suddenly, a black figure leaped out of the hole and stood next to me. She was a small female warrior covered in leather armor from head to toe. Ding~! System Notice: Your pet ¡°Xinran¡± has killed the Skeletal T-Rex while adventuring in the Netherworld and obtained the Dragonbone Spear (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, max Attack 750, Strength +70, Stamina +65. Increases user¡¯s attack power by 24%, pet-exclusive)! ¡­¡­ I was floored. Holy shit, not only was this Dragonbone Spear a Dark Gold¨Cgrade weapon, its stats were way higher than my Purgatory Sword¡¯s. The unfortunate part was that it was a pet-exclusive equipment, and it was something Xinran had gotten on her own when she was gone. Just who on earth was Xinran? Why did she have so many secrets? But it was no time for idle thought, so I said quickly, ¡°Cardin The Third is possessed by Undead Magus Cardilla. If we don¡¯t kill him, Floating Ice City will be stuck in darkness for a long time to come.¡± As a small breeze lifted Xinran¡¯s hair a little, she pushed her helmet up to reveal her blood-red eyes. ¡°Is that so? Whatever¡­¡± Whatever? What kind of attitude is that? Her lukewarm response annoyed me, but on second thought I supposed I understand why she was acting like this. Xinran was an undead creature, and she probably couldn¡¯t care less who was going to become the ruler of Floating Ice City. But I do, because it was either completing the quest successfully and getting a generous reward, and failing it and suffering a three-level penalty! There was no way I was falling back to Level 75 after everything I have done to come this far! Murong Mingyue glanced at Xinran before commenting, ¡°I heard you had a humanoid pet earlier, but I had no idea she was this beautiful!¡± I laughed. ¡°But of course!¡± Xinran raised her head and stared at me coolly, so I changed the subject and said, ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go find that Cardin The Third already. Let¡¯s see if he has any bite behind his bark!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± I walked to the front of the party as usual before taking off. He Yi was running on my left, Xinran on my right, and Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue behind the three of us. Highly motivated by our successes so far, we charged toward the palace hall with all the confidence in the world! ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle¡­ My eyes turned cold when I stepped on a leaf in the palace hall. It looked like the enemy knew that we were coming. Cardin The Third was looking down at us from his throne, and he was surrounded by a dozen or so angry-looking NPC generals. One of them raised his spear and charged toward us, shouting, ¡°You damned adventurers, how dare you defile the royal power of Floating Ice City! Die!¡± It was just a Level 82 miniboss. He wasn¡¯t all that powerful at all! I let out a shout and activated Wild Roar. Everyone including Xinran had their Attack increased by 15%! Then, I met the general head-on and activated Charge! Whoosh! I hit the general in the blink of an eye and thrust my sword right through his chest. Then, I executed Ice Ray and Slayer Slash. He had around 50k HP, but it only took one combo to deal 5k damage, taking 10% of his HP. Clearly, he was a poor excuse for a boss! He Yi buffed herself with Rock Shield before attacking the miniboss with Flame Thrust, piercing him and dealing 1987 damage. He Yi¡¯s attack power was certainly growing more and more delightful everyday. Not even a Level 82 miniboss was able to endure her attack now! However, an icy voice interrupted our rhythm all of a sudden. ¡°You two, out of my way!¡± The moment I sensed a gust of wind behind me, I hurriedly jumped to my left, hugged He Yi and rolled out of the way. The Dragonbone Spear was just centimeters away from my back when it struck the miniboss right between the throat! Puchi! 190944! The miniboss dropped to the ground and died. It was a one-shot! Xinran withdrew her spear slowly and expressionlessly. Her eyes were harsh, and her lips were pursed tightly as she stared at the blood gushing out of the general¡¯s fatal wound like a fountain. ¡­¡­ ¡°Heavens, how¡­ how is this possible?¡± He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue¡¯s jaws hit the floor because they hadn¡¯t seen Xinran devastating an NPC like I did that day. The miniboss was easy, but he would¡¯ve kept us busy for a while. But thanks to Xinran, the poor bastard didn¡¯t even get to attack once before he was one-shot by her! Of course, I had never thought of Xinran as a pet from the beginning, just as she had never thought of me as her master or ¡°tamer¡±. Our relationship was a mystery to say the least. Cardin The Third suddenly rose to his feet and raised a bony, jade-like scepter into the air. Then, he shouted, ¡°Warriors, kill these traitors for the glory of the empire!¡± The generals responded to his cry and attacked us all at once. A quick count told me that there were 17 of them. That was way too much for us to handle at once! He Yi stood protectively in front of Murong Mingyue before saying, ¡°Watch out, everyone! Beiming Xue, don¡¯t attack too frequently or Lu Chen might lose aggro. Mingyue, stand by for now until Lu Chen has killed a couple of them!¡± I groaned inside my head. It wasn¡¯t an impossible task, but I absolutely needed Xinran¡¯s help to pull off this feat. Otherwise, this fight would be incredibly difficult to say the least. Thankfully, Xinran seemed incredibly pissed off for some reason. She charged a miniboss of her own accord and slaughtered him in two strikes, but she also took a couple of hits as a result. She glared at me. ¡°It¡¯s your turn!¡± Her order caught me off-guard, but I didn¡¯t hesitate. Charging into the fray, I raised my sword and activated Thousand Mirage Slash, drawing all the minibosses toward myself! I swung my sword all over the place. At this point, speed was way more important than efficiency. Hopefully, my splash damage would be good enough to kill at least a couple of them! Minibosses had their own skills, and they didn¡¯t hesitate to wrap their blades in fire, ice, wind or earth powers before beating the shit out of me. My HP dropped drastically as pain seared my senses! 785! 812! 887! ¡­¡­ My HP almost hit rock bottom in just an instant. Thank goodness I had over 4000 HP, or these bastards would¡¯ve killed me already! I pulled out a HP potion and drank it immediately! +2500! Woohoo! Long live Rank 8 Health Potions! However, the worse had yet to come. An icicle suddenly appeared from the distance and hit me squarely in the chest, turning me into a block of ice in an instant! 1294! What incredible magic attack! This was definitely the attack of a boss! Everyone looked. Cardin The Third was slowly walking down his throne with eyes that were full of hatred. Laughing scornfully at us, he said, ¡°Damned adventurers, you will pay the price of blood for your insolence and recklessness!¡± Suddenly, Cardin The Third and Xinran locked eyes with each other. They let out an exclamation of surprise in unison. Chapter 241: Magic Piercing Slash Cardin The Third¡¯s face suddenly turned sinister. Wisps of dark energy started circling around him until he was completely covered in souls. His aura suddenly changed to that of an evil undead mage, and the flesh on his face looked like it would fall off at any moment. I could even see some white bones peeking through the crumbling flesh. Cardin The Third raised his scepter vigorously and shouted angrily, ¡°Are you still fighting for the weak, Xinran? You truly are the shame of the gods of hell!" Xinran¡¯s eyes turned chilly as she raised her own spear. ¡°You dare to insult me, filth? Die, Cardilla!" The next moment, Xinran pounced toward Cardin The Third, gathered a coat of bloody energy around her Dragonbone Spear, and thrust it toward her enemy! ¡°Hehe¡­" But Cardin The Third chuckled sinisterly while waving his scepter. ¡°Dark Tongue Shield!" Swhoosh! A shield of pitch-black light appeared and blocked the attack completely. It looked like the energy of the spear was absorbed into the shield. Cardin The Third¡¯s laughter grew even more savage. ¡°Hahaha, your seal isn¡¯t fully undone, is it? It looks like I, Cardilla, can finally perform a meaningful service for the Hell Legion! How much glory do you think killing a traitorous goddess is worth, Xinran?!" Xinran retorted through gritted teeth, ¡°Get lost!" She kicked the ground and launched herself into the air, lunging at Cardin The Third. With a flip of her body, she squarely hit him on the shoulder with a kick! Bang! 8954! The kick was powerful enough to sound a bang, its sheer blunt power throwing Cardin The Third several steps back. In fact, it was so powerful that it shredded the fabric around his shoulder area and revealed the white bones beneath. However, the undead mage was no weakling himself. A quick chant later, his wounds were healed by a surge of dark energy. Raising his scepter to the air, Cardin The Third also known as Undead Magus Cardilla started chanting a new spell. ¡°I, Cardilla, offer a contract to the evil spirits slumbering in the depths of hell! Rise and obey my will¡ªRoar of the Hellhound!" ¡°Roar roar!" Two high-level summoned beasts came into existence. They were giant, blood-colored beasts about two meters tall, both endowed with a long fiery tail. These savage-looking hellhounds also had a sharp horn on their forehead and two rows of sharp fangs with viscous saliva dripping from them. The look in their eyes made it clear that they wanted nothing more than to shred Xinran into pieces. I couldn¡¯t help but be worried for Xinran. These summoned undead creatures looked incredibly powerful, and according to the undead magus, most of Xinran¡¯s power was still sealed. It was impossible to tell if she was strong enough to beat the two summoned creatures right now. ¡°Roar!" Calm and collected, Xinran raised her Dragonbone Spear at the last moment and spun like a top, her bloody cloak whipping loudly behind her. ¡°Lotus!" Crack crack crack... Both hellhounds suffered massive damage when the counterattack hit them¡ª 23487! 29873! 24646! ¡­¡­ One of the hellhounds let out a screech and died, its head completely pierced by the Dragonbone Spear. The other hellhound was thrown back against a stone pillar. However, the screeching beast had managed to snap off a piece of Xinran¡¯s armor, still chomping on it viciously despite the blunt force trauma. With only a few bites it devoured the piece of dark metal completely. Although Xinran came through the fight unharmed, she had lost a small portion of her shoulder armor, her pale, unblemished skin visible through the hole. As I had thought, the hellhounds¡¯ attack power was nothing to scoff at. Xinran was already starting to fall into a disadvantage. Cardin The Third laughed loudly and raised his scepter again. ¡°Xinran, I can summon countless more hellhounds like that, but you¡­ how many can you kill before you fall completely? Hahaha! Still, I¡¯m curious: why have you awakened once more? What made you open your eyes again?" Suddenly, Xinran turned toward me and looked me in the eye. I thought I saw a flash of sadness behind those pupils. ¡°What are you waiting for? Are you going to just watch while he kills me?" I shivered once before swinging my sword and sending a miniboss flying. ¡°I¡¯ll help you the moment I take out this small fry!" ¡°Mn. I¡¯ll wait for you!" Xinran launched herself toward Cardin The Third again before she finished her sentence. This time, she avoided the hellhound¡¯s attack and focused on attacking the undead magus. Obviously, Xinran and Cardin The Third¡¯s battle would be going on for a while. Therefore, our party¡¯s job was to kill the miniboss as quickly as possible and help Xinran take out Cardin The Third. At the same time, I was wondering if this was all part of the game developers¡¯ design. Had we come without Xinran by our side, we would one hundred percent be killed already. Did this quest become available to me only because Xinran was my ¡°pet"? Before I could think any further, Murong Mingyue healed me thrice in succession to full health and prompted me to charge into the fray again. I kept swinging the Purgatory Sword left and right and dealing the most amount of damage to the enemies out of everyone. Even the pets were out in full force. Stat-wise they weren¡¯t of much use at all, but they could hold off an enemy for a while and keep them busy. No one, not even me, could handle multiple minibosses attacking me at once. Seven to eight healing spells later, some of the minibosses started ignoring us and charging toward Murong Mingyue. Our beautiful priest immediately turned pale. ¡°What should we do? Any of these minibosses can break my shield in two hits! What do we do!?" Beiming Xue replied calmly, ¡°Sister Mingyue, back off for the moment while I draw their aggro!" ¡°Mn!" While Murong Mingyue was running to the back, Beiming Xue raised her Purgatory Bow and fired an Evil Spirit Volley. It immediately became apparent that she was better than most archers out there. A Rank 7 Evil Spirit Volley discharged 9 arrows at random directions, but in Beiming Xue¡¯s hands 6 of the shots hit her targets perfectly as if they were laser-guided or something. Four of the minibosses immediately switched targets again and charged toward Beiming Xue. Again, I knocked back the mob blocking my way before yelling, ¡°Beiming, leave the mobs to me!" ¡°Okay!" Beiming Xue ran like the weightless wind until all four mobs appeared in front of me. The moment they joined the original group of mobs who were already attacking me, I immediately raised my sword and activated Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! I successfully dealt a ton of damage to the minibosses and aggroed them all. I kept moving around the hall while the Dark Wasp buzzed all around me, using good positioning and blocking to reduce the amount of damage I took as much as possible. As a result, only two minibosses were able to land a hit on me while the rest wasted their time chasing me all over the place. To my surprise, He Yi was able to keep track of my movement and get in the way of the minibosses who were trying to reach me, buying me even more time and safety as a result. Her growth gladdened me greatly. He Yi was an intelligent woman in her own right, and today she proved that there was nothing in the world she couldn¡¯t learn as long as she set her mind to something. That being said, Beiming Xue was even more skillful than He Yi was. She kited the minibosses with me in mind, so while I was keeping the minibosses busy at the center, she ran rings around them and pumped them full of arrows! ¡­¡­ About five minutes later, the generals finally dropped dead and turned into dust. They were all undead creatures who had somehow slipped into the human city through various concealment techniques. Words couldn¡¯t even begin to describe how scary they were. I didn¡¯t expect the minibosses to drop anything good, so I didn¡¯t even bother to gather the loot on the ground. I was only at 25% HP when I took out the last miniboss, so I said urgently, ¡°Heal me to full, sis!" ¡°Got it!" Murong Mingyue ate a Magic Consumable and waved her staff again and again. I was at full health again in less than 10 seconds! Finally, it was time to take out Cardin The Third! Boom! Meanwhile, Xinran had thrust her spear forward and fired an energy beam. The energy beam pierced through a gem on the throne and hit Cardin The Third squarely on the chest, carving a black wound on his chest and eliciting a painful groan from his throat. His earlier confidence was all but gone at this point. But Xinran wasn¡¯t faring much better than him either. She had killed god knows how many hellhounds during the 7 minutes we had taken to clear out the generals, and even now Cardin The Third was still summoning more undead creatures. The armor covering her waist was completely shredded, revealing the smooth and pale belly. The armor covering her chest was also threatening to fall apart completely and revealing the glorious mounds beneath. Finally, her cape had been shredded into ragged cloth by the hellhounds, further indicating how worn out she was. I locked onto Cardin The Third and activated Charge! The corrupted king was swinging his scepter and chanting, ¡°I, Cardilla, offer a contract to the soaring birds who dream of destruction¡ª" Unfortunately for him, I managed to stun him before he could finish his spell, the Purgatory Sword plunging deep into his chest. ¡°You can stick that up your sister¡¯s ass!" MISS! 12894! I wasn¡¯t expecting to deal this much damage even though I had triggered a critical hit and hit a weak spot at the same time. The undead magus was this fragile only because Xinran had completely shredded his dark shield. Thud! Beiming Xue¡¯s Freezing Arrow hit the boss accurately and greatly slowed both his movement and attack speed! Shocked, Cardin The Third waved his scepter again. ¡°I, Cardilla, offer a contract to the endless devils slumbering beneath the abyss¡ª" Once again, the poor bastard was interrupted by a blue slash between his neck. Magic Piercing Slash! The attacker was none other than our beautiful leader herself, He Yi! Puchi! 3987! Chapter 242: Light and Darkness Cardin The Third became enraged after his skill was interrupted twice in a row. He actually started swinging his scepter at us! Thud thud! Both He Yi and I felt a scorching pain when his scepter cut across our chests! 1764! 2109! We were about to cry foul when we saw how much damage he had dealt to us in just one hit. It made no sense for a mage to have this much physical attack! Could he be one of those legendary close-combat mages? But I shook my head immediately. That couldn¡¯t be right, and speaking of which, I hadn¡¯t checked the boss''s stats until now. Considering how much damage he had dealt to Xinran, it made no sense for him to be a weakling. I stared at Cardin The Third and summoned his stat screen. What I saw immediately drained the blood from my face. Ruler of Floating Ice City Cardin (Purple Gold Rank Boss) Level: 90 Magic Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: The Cardin Family was a famous family during the later period of Spirit of Grief. Countless heroes had emerged from the family and fought against the undead. But after the Dragon Domain was turned into a wasteland, the final protectors of the human race, the Dragon Speakers, perished one after another. The cracks of hell were once again opened, and countless evil spirits took control of the continent. After a series of terrible battles, the Cardin Family barely managed to secure a patch of free land and establish the kingdom known as Floating Ice City. However, a thousand years ago, an evil undead magus managed to seize control of Cardin The Third''s body and turn him into a powerful puppet. ¡­¡­ Holy shit, it¡¯s a Level 90 boss, a Level 90 Purple Gold Rank boss no less! I couldn¡¯t see his stats at all, but it didn¡¯t take much imagination to estimate how high they were considering that the boss was twelve levels ahead of me. No wonder he was able to make my life a living hell with just one low-level spell! There was no way we could beat this boss at our current strength. Xinran¡¯s help was absolutely necessary if we were to have any shot at completing this quest at all. Swhoosh! Xinran once again fired a bloody beam from the Dragonbone Spear and deleted over forty thousand HP from the boss''s health pool. By now, the corrupted king had lost over three-fourths of his HP, and he should die in less than half a minute if Xinran kept attacking! However, Cardin The Third waved his scepter again and shouted angrily, ¡°O¡¯ depraved purgatory of darkness, heed my call and heal my wounds with the strength of your fallen souls. In the name of Cardilla, I cast¡ªTenacity of the Dead!" Swhoosh! +160000! ¡°Attack!" It was looking to become a war of attrition, but there was nothing we could do except fight to the last. No one could¡¯ve predicted that the boss would also have Tenacity of the Dead. He Yi and I ganged up on the boss again after downing an HP potion each. Beiming Xue continued to slow him down with Freezing Arrows. In a battle like this, Freezing Arrow was a godly skill because it reduced the boss''s casting speed by 35% or more! Cardin The Third immediately channeled another spell after Tenacity of the Dead by stabbing his scepter into the ground in front of him. Suddenly, a ton of icy blades burst out of the earth and attacked everyone! ¡°Watch out!" I grabbed He Yi and tried to dodge out of the way, but I was too late. Pain exploded from my legs as the icy blades punched through my legguards. Behind me, Murong Mingyue let out a cry of surprise. ¡°Not good¡­" Pacha! Murong Mingyue slowly collapsed to the ground as an icicle penetrated her body. She became the first player in our party to die since the start of the quest! Everyone started panicking after we lost our priest. He Yi and I dropped to low health, and Beiming Xue was barely keeping out of harm¡¯s way because she had high agility. 1784! 1698! The boss''s magic attack was just too powerful for us to handle; he hadn¡¯t even used a single target spell except that one time he attacked me! I highly doubted that He Yi or I was going to survive if he decided to switch to single-target spells instead! ¡°Hmph!" Eyes full of anger, Xinran snacked the boss right in the head before chanting, ¡°Xinran offers a contract to the blades of death slumbering beneath the depths of hell. Awaken and devour everything¡ªIce Scythe!" Crack! Icicles burst out of the blade of the Dragonbone Spear and transformed into a humongous, bloody scythe of pure ice, cutting apart Cardin The Third¡¯s flesh and bones and taking off an entire half of a shoulder. A horrific stench assaulted everyone¡¯s nostrils as a shocking column of damage numbers appeared above his head¡ª 107462! 118754! 127467! ¡­¡­ The energy dealt over 300k damage in one go and completely emptied Cardin The Third¡¯s HP. But for some reason, he was able to grip onto Xinran¡¯s spear and laugh sinisterly, ¡°My life is fueled by bottomless darkness! I am immortal thanks to it! Xinran, you are a denizen of hell yourself. Do you really think you have the power to kill me?" Xinran cried out in shock, ¡°You!?" Suddenly, there was a flash of red light outside the palace hall, followed by the appearance of a female warrior. She was clad in golden armor from head to toe, and she was holding a sword with one hand. She slowly entered the hall and dropped to one knee. ¡°How have you been, royal father?" ¡°What¡­ you¡¯re¡­ Karinshan?! How is this possible?!!" Cardin The Third shouted angrily, ¡°I sealed your soul inside the tomb! How can you possibly be here?" Karinshan raised her head and glared at him. ¡°Cardilla, you bastard! How much longer are you planning to torture my father?" Cardin The Third couldn¡¯t stop himself from laughing sinisterly. ¡°And why shouldn¡¯t I torture your useless father as revenge, Princess Karinshan? You were the one who defeated Lord Pernilla, weren¡¯t you? Hahaha, it excites me to think that the once mighty King of Floating Ice City is now as weak as a three-year-old child! At any rate, there¡¯s no way you people can kill me! Just sit here while the Night Creatures plot their vengeance!" Still holding onto Xinran¡¯s spear, Cardin The Third suddenly raised his scepter and shouted, ¡°I, Cardilla, offer a contract to the evil spirits slumbering in the depths of hell! With my life as the cost, heed my call and bring forth a forbidden spell of hell¡ªCalamity Meteor!" I cursed in my head. ¡°This is bad! Is he planning to destroy the entire Floating Ice City?" Cardin The Third laughed loudly. ¡°Hahaha, the forbidden spell I cast with my life as the price is powerful enough to destroy the entire Floating Ice City! Once the barrier is gone, the Night Creatures will immediately attack Sky City and Wind City! This is the end of the alliance between humans and elves!" ¡°Damn you!" Xinran coated her palm with a sheen of dark energy and slammed it into Cardin The Third¡¯s neck. However, he still refused to die even though black blood was spilling out of his wound! Xinran was using the power of darkness, and it looked like Cardin The Third was surprisingly resistant toward it! By now, the sky had turned blood-red in color. Then, countless burning meteors parted the clouds, raining destruction on the entire city! BOOM! A wall outside the palace and a group of guards rushing in from outside were crushed by a falling meteor. Even further away, more meteors were falling from the sky as if heralding the start of the apocalypse! The entire Floating Ice City was shaking under the massive spell! Ding~! System Announcement (Player Roaming Dragon Shout): What the fuck are you doing, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? If you¡¯re going to fail a quest, then fail it by yourself! Don¡¯t drag the entire goddamn city with you! If the quest is beyond your level, you shouldn¡¯t have accepted it in the first place, you trash! ¡­¡­ I was a bit dumbfounded by the shout. To be honest, I didn¡¯t think that it would affect the other players of Floating Ice City until now. Beiming Xue consoled me. ¡°Big bro, just ignore that guy. He knows how to taunt, but he doesn¡¯t know how to lift a hand to change his situation. You¡¯re the one who¡¯s working to save Floating Ice City¡­" He Yi also nodded. ¡°Mn. At the very least, we had done our best." ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Princess Karinshan rose to her feet and shouted at me. ¡°Quickly! Kill Cardilla with the Blade of Kings, or the entire city will turn into rubble!" Shivering with realization, I quickly pulled out the Blade of Kings and raced toward Cardin The Third like an arrow. The blade was glowing with holy energy, so I was certain that the weapon could deal a fatal blow to a master of the dark arts like Cardilla! Puchi! The sword penetrated flesh as I slashed Cardilla¡¯s wounded shoulder. The point of contact between the sword and flesh let out smoke, as if his flesh was burning! ¡°Argh¡­" Cardilla screamed in pain. The blow was clearly effective, not to mention that the quest already specified that the Blade of Kings was necessary to kill the undead magus. ¡°Hah!" Xinran launched a powerful kick straight at Cardilla¡¯s chest and sent a cyanish shadow flying out of Cardin The Third¡¯s body. It was none other than Cardilla¡¯s soul energy. The evil undead magus was so proficient at the dark arts that he was able to live even without a body. Thump! Cardin The Third¡¯s eyes turned murky as he dropped to his knees. When he looked up and saw Princess Karinshan, he summoned whatever strength he had left in his dying body and formed an ugly smile. ¡°Karinshan, my daughter, is that you? I¡¯m sorry I¡¯ve made you suffer for such a long time¡­" Karinshan dropped in front of her father and cried, ¡°Royal father!" Cardin The Third lifted his hand in hopes of touching his daughter¡¯s face, but his wilted hand started turning to ash right in front of their eyes. Looking away from his dissolving arm, he stared at Karinshan one last time before saying, ¡°I recognize you, my daughter. You are forever the pride of my life¡­" After that, Cardin The Third¡¯s body dissolved completely and turned into a small hill of yellow ash. ¡­¡­ ¡°Aaahhhh¡­" Karinshan cried like a baby as she knelt on the ground. She kept trying to hold onto the yellow ash that was once her father, but a powerful wind from outside was slowly but surely blowing it all away. No matter how she tried to cover the ashes with her own body, there was no stopping the cold wind from scattering the memory of Cardin The Third until all that was left was nothing. ¡­¡­ Behind her, the battle still wasn¡¯t over! Chapter 243: World Famous Generals ¡°Xinran, are you really going to kill me?!" Cardilla abruptly stopped in his tracks and glared at her murderously. He shouted, ¡°Are you really going to give up on your godhood just to keep one Floating Ice City and these lowly humans alive?" Xinran replied indifferently, ¡°I had given up on godhood the day I destroyed the Holy Domain and saw the suffering of humanity, witnessed Fia¡¯s death at the foot of the Nether City, and saw the souls of the dead being crushed against their will! I will not walk the same path as those abominations!" Cardilla whipped his hand to the side and pulled out a dark sword from thin air. He laughed sinisterly at her while saying, ¡°Haha, you don¡¯t deserve to be a god, traitor! I, the protector of the Netherworld, shall end your sinful life!" ¡°Heh¡­" Xinran actually smiled a little. ¡°Come at me!" ¡­¡­ Rumble! Suddenly, the entire royal palace started shaking, seemingly for no reason. A general on a black warhorse rode in with a brigade of soldiers. He raised his spear and shouted, ¡°Stark of the Black Cavalry Legion at your service, princess!" Karinshan turned around and stared at the general with complicated emotions of fear and hope. She shouted urgently, ¡°Retreat from Floating Ice City now! This isn¡¯t a battle you can fight!" Unfortunately, it was too late. Cardilla raised his hand to the sky and shouted, ¡°Meteor, come to me!" BOOM! A burning meteorite fell from the sky and landed in the middle of the human soldiers. Almost a hundred poor souls were either crushed into a sticky mess or burned into ashes, and even more people were sent flying by the impact. Clearly, Cardilla wasn¡¯t someone the normal soldiers could fight against. Normal undead mages were already given leadership positions in the Night Creature faction, but undead magi were given control over entire armies. It was because they had the power to match the authority, and Cardilla was the prime example of it. Cardilla laughed loudly, seeing the burning flesh and hearing the bloodcurdling screams. ¡°How does it feel, Xinran?" Xinran merely sneered at him. ¡°Cardilla, do you seriously think that you can weaken my resolve by killing these human soldiers?" ¡°You!" Cardilla was shocked. He didn¡¯t expect Xinran to remain this cool-headed even after that gory display. It was almost as if the deaths of those soldiers had nothing to do with her at all. Suddenly, Xinran acted and tossed out her spear. It turned into a bolt of lightning that looked like it could penetrate anything. Cardilla gritted his teeth and summoned two dark shields in a row, but the spear penetrated both of them before plunging into his chest. Swhoosh! Xinran grabbed the heart immediately and smiled. ¡°Cardilla, your undead soul spark truly is an ugly thing." Cardilla¡¯s shock grew even bigger. ¡°You dare to kill me, Xinran?!" ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I?!" Xinran clenched her hand around the purple heart, causing it to deform and the circulating souls to screech in pain. Cardilla couldn¡¯t help but laugh loudly. ¡°Do you know what price you have to pay to destroy an undead magus¡¯s soul spark? It may be nothing when you¡¯re at your full strength, but your godhood is mostly sealed right now! The moment you destroy my soul, the backlash will crush your fragile godhood as well!" Xinran smiled again. ¡°So what? I¡ªdon¡¯t¡ªcare!" Bang! Xinran clenched her fist with all her might. Cardilla¡¯s soul spark finally exploded with a loud bang, and his body turned into dust as let out his death throes. However, Cardilla¡¯s death resulted in a hellish scene no one was expecting! Rumble! The earth beneath the royal palace suddenly split asunder, and lava started pouring all over the place. The royal palace was crumbling all around us, rubble from the roof falling onto our heads! I hurriedly grabbed He Yi and Beiming Xue and pulled them out of the building. But Xinran was immobilized where she stood. Countless bloody tentacles had emerged from the ground¡ªno, from hell itself¡ªand wrapped themselves around her legs. At the same time, a shrill wail resounded beside everyone¡¯s ears, ¡°Come and be destroyed, Xinran¡­" ¡°What?" Xinran¡¯s surprise quickly turned into shock. After pushing both He Yi and Beiming Xue out of the crumbling building, I hurriedly turned back to save Xinran. However, giant rocks were falling from my head at every second, and blood-red lava was all over the place. One misplaced step, and I would fall into hell and be burned into a crisp! I swung the Purgatory Sword, shattered a giant rock falling toward me and made my way toward Xinran. She stared at me with grim determination. ¡°Leave me! The cracks of hell are about to open, and if you don¡¯t leave they¡­ they¡¯ll kill you!" Unbothered by her persuasion in the slightest, I crossed the sea of flames and finally arrived next to Xinran. I tried to tear apart the bloody tentacles with my bare hands, but they were surprisingly tough despite their appearance. I immediately changed tactics and cut Xinran loose with the Purgatory Sword. The shaking suddenly grew even worse as a deep, dark tunnel appeared beneath both our feet. I could see lightning and an infinite abyss on the other side of it. The terrifying scene made me feel as if the apocalypse was about to devour both of us alive. ¡°What is that?!" I exclaimed in shock. ¡°The cracks of hell!" Xinran gritted her teeth and pushed me suddenly, shouting, ¡°Watch out!" Boom! Suddenly, a sword made of pure, dark light burst out of the cracks of hell and penetrated Xinran¡¯s chest armor. It instantly shattered into pieces as she groaned and collapsed weakly into my arms. ¡°Ru¡­ run¡­" Xinran stared at me helplessly as blood dripped from the corner of her lips. I hurriedly picked up Xinran and ran outside. The black hole behind me was growing bigger and bigger, and it wasn¡¯t long before it grew powerful enough to swallow the entire royal palace! ¡­¡­ Thump! I crashed heavily at a grassy land outside the royal palace with a grievously wounded Xinran still in my arms, feeling like I had just run a marathon. Although the giant sword had already vanished, the wound it left behind was as visible as day. Besides that, her metal armor was still falling off her body and revealing the unblemished skin beneath. He Yi and Beiming Xue were dumbfounded by the sight. None of them said anything for a time. Meanwhile, Stark exclaimed in shock as he watched the vanishing palace with Karinshan beside him, ¡°Heavens, is this the end of the thousand-year history of Floating Ice City?" Karinshan said calmly, ¡°Send word to Sky City, Wind City, and Vanished God City and tell them to send over their Holy Domain magi as soon as possible. If we don¡¯t seal these cracks of hell quickly, it is only a matter of time before they devour the entire continent!" ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!" Stark climbed onto his warhorse and galloped away. ¡­¡­ ¡°Uuuu¡­" Xinran¡¯s body felt as hot as fire for some reason. After letting out a groan of pain, she pressed her cheeks to my chest and murmured, ¡°Big brother, I don¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t want to remember¡­ please take me home¡­ Uuuu, Xinran wants to go home, Xinran misses mommy¡­" A tear slid down her cheeks when she suddenly raised her hand and touched my face. She whispered, ¡°Big brother, you¡¯re not a Night Creature anymore, are you? Xinran is so, so scared that you¡¯ll turn into them¡­" I felt a tingle in my nose. Did the Xinran I know finally return? I bent slightly and wrapped her naked body with the Bloody Purgatory Cloak. Then, I started walking toward the exit. Behind me, He Yi asked, ¡°Where are you going, Lu Chen?" I said, ¡°I¡¯m going to fulfill a promise. Eve, you should go to Princess Karinshan with the others and take your reward. I¡¯ll see her myself after I¡¯m done with this!" ¡°Okay!" ¡­¡­ I started running toward Frost Mound after I stepped out of the palace. A lot of players were staring at me when I passed through the eastern square. ¡°Who is that? Why is he carrying a beautiful NPC? Wait¡­ is it just me, or is she naked?!" A lot of people started following behind me. Some of them even flashed their weapons and threatened me, ¡°Hey kid, stop right there and put down that girl, or I will teach you a lesson!" I simply displayed my ID and freed an arm to pull out the Purgatory Sword. I then said in a low tone, ¡°You can try if you want to die!" Everyone fell silent after that. I was the number one player on the Floating Ice City Heavenly Ranking and the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. How many players truly dared to challenge me? Xinran¡¯s home was located in a village not far away from Frost Mound. I didn¡¯t know if her mother was still alive, but I still carried her into the village. Right now, my appearance looked the same as any human warrior out there, and the only real thing that stood out was my bloody eyes. That being said, this could be explained away as my racial attribute. For example, Lin Yixin had purple eyes because her chosen race was a succubus. There were countless other unusual things on this continent, and it was impossible to explain them all in one sitting. The villagers looked as busy as usual. The hunters were bringing in prey from outside, and the women were gathering fruits and grains. Everything looked quiet and peaceful. ¡°Ah!" A hunter carrying a wild boar suddenly exclaimed in surprise, ¡°Heavens, isn¡¯t that Xinran? Xinran is back, Xinran is finally back!" I hurriedly asked him, ¡°Uncle, do you know where Xinran¡¯s house is?" "It¡¯s the last house on this path. Just walk straight ahead and you¡¯ll find it. Oh right, who are you to Xinran?" ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m just an adventurer from Floating Ice City. I was tasked to bring her home." ¡°Oh, I see. Well, I shan¡¯t delay you any longer, sir!" I ran toward Xinran¡¯s house after bidding the hunter goodbye. Soon, a small, normal house entered my view. When I got close to it, I suddenly heard the nearby women saying, ¡°Xinran is finally home, but¡­ it¡¯s such a shame that her mother passed away just a month ago¡­" Xinran couldn¡¯t stop herself from crying when she heard this. She struggled free from my arms and curled into a ball at a corner of the house like a frightened deer. She kept sobbing again and again, ¡°Mother¡­ mother¡­" I wanted to say something to console her, but I didn¡¯t know where to begin. Suddenly, purple light appeared from Xinran¡¯s pure white skin, and a gigantic magical formation enveloped us both. Ding~! Chapter 244: Purple Dragon Howl Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" is the first player to reach Level 80 and trigger the new update patch 1.20 "World Famous Generals". It will be updated alongside the Floating Ice City¨Cspecific update patch, "Return of the King". Player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" obtains the following reward: Luck +2, Level +3, and "Purple Dragon Howl"! ¡­¡­ My mind turned blank for a second. Two system messages in a row, and the first player to reach Level 80 in the entire China! I never thought that the day I would become famous would come so soon! Not only was I now Level 83, I also got an item out of the achievement. I wondered what Purple Dragon Howl was exactly. Was it an armor, a weapon or something else? At any rate, it sounded cool as heck! I opened my bag in a hurry and found no new armor or weapon whatsoever. However, I did find a purple skill book I had never seen before. Holy shit, it¡¯s a skill?! I pulled it out of the bag and waved my hand across it. The details of the skill it provided immediately appeared in front of me. Purple Dragon Howl (Legendary): gather a large amount of purple dragon energy and discharge a draconic howl to deal massive damage to your enemies. Skill Requirement: 100% HP and 100% MP. Upon usage, the player then enters "Weakened" state for 3 seconds, their Defense reduced to 0. Cooldown: 12 hours. Level Requirement: 80. Class Requirement: Warrior. Luck Requirement: 5. Reputation Requirement: 30000! ¡­¡­ Fuck, if this isn¡¯t a godly skill, I don¡¯t know what is! Not only is it an AoE skill, I bet that its damage was out of the world. There was no way its skill requirements would be this stringent otherwise. Even better, I met all the requirements already! I was Level 83, a warrior, with 7 Luck and over 50K Reputation, muahahahaha! I activated the skill book, making it disappear. Immediately, a new skill was added to the list. Purple Dragon Howl I: Attack +20% ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, a 20% Attack boost at Rank 1? Could it possibly boost my Attack by 200% at Rank 10? What in the world? That being said, the skill had a 12-hour cooldown. It would take at least a year or two to get it to Rank 10. Still, that wasn¡¯t a problem. I had all the time in the world right now. Speaking of which, the server was supposed to undergo a 10-hour maintenance in 30 minutes, and that time was almost up already. I might as well go out and test my new skill! Before I left, I turned to look at Xinran. She was still curled into a ball at the bed corner. I walked up to her and gave her a hug. "Xinran, I need to leave now. I¡¯ll come back and see you in a while, okay?" "Mn. Bye, big brother¡­" Xinran didn¡¯t look up. She was still sobbing to herself. ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take too much running before I found a bunch of Level 80 Wildfire Greedy Wolves. They were common mobs, and they had about 10k health or so! I ran toward the mobs and lured a bunch of them to me. Then, I put some distance between myself and them before turning around. Purple Dragon Howl took about one to two seconds to cast. The spell would cancel itself if I was interrupted during this time, so I couldn¡¯t afford to get hit even once. Purple Dragon Howl was finally unleashed. A tremendous amount of energy suddenly swelled inside my body, making me feel like I would explode if I didn¡¯t direct it toward something. The next second, the energy gathered at the tip of my Purgatory Sword and transformed into a purple dragon, ready to be fired at a moment¡¯s notice. It looked like the skill gave me the freedom to hold the energy for a moment and fire it at any direction I wished! How wonderful! How humane! The potential of this skill was endless! I swung my sword at the Wildfire Greedy Wolves charging toward me. The purple dragon immediately took off toward my target! "Roar!" The purple dragon swelled bigger as it let out a mighty roar. It engulfed the Greedy Wolves and dealt an insane amount of damage¡ª 10874! 11667! 12271! ¡­¡­ Hmm, it looked like the skill had some base damage of its own, not just the 20% boost. Otherwise, there was no way it would deal over ten thousand damage per target. By the time the purple dragon had finished its rampage, over 50 Greedy Wolves were killed by the skill. However, some of them managed to avoid a direct hit and continued to run toward me. Even worse, I was assaulted by a sudden sense of dizziness and exhaustion! Ah shit, I forgot that I would enter a "Weakened" state for 3 seconds and lose all of my Defense! I was as fragile as a chicken during this time! I hurriedly retreated and raised the Purgatory Sword defensively in front of me. Guard was the only skill that could keep me alive now! The Greedy Wolves finally reached me and swung their claws. But¡ª 765! 213! 1! 984! 2! ¡­¡­ Hahaha, 1 damage? Guard truly was an incredible skill! ¡°Glug!¡± I downed an HP potion and healed myself. Three seconds had passed, and I had recovered from the "Weakened" status. My Defense had also returned to normal, meaning that the Greedy Wolves couldn¡¯t threaten me anymore. After killing the last few mobs, I received a message from He Yi: "Lu Chen, we¡¯re logging off now! The server maintenance is about to start!" "Got it. I¡¯ll be logging off as well!" I set down a tent at the entrance to Xinran¡¯s village. I guess you could say that, game-wise, I would be staying the night there. ¡­¡­ I checked the time after I returned to the real world. It was past 5 pm, and I had to skip lunch in order to complete the quest. That being said, the reward was pretty sizable. Not only did I leap from Level 78 to Level 83, I gained a new trump card called Purple Dragon Howl. It was such an amazing skill that I bet it was one of the kind in the entire server right now. Its value was immeasurable in a PvP war, especially when the enemy had formed a defense line. I bet that it would tear them apart as if they were paper!! Very delighted with today¡¯s reward, I stepped out of the room and found the girls fully dressed up as if they were about to go out. "Are we going somewhere?" I asked. "Yep, we¡¯re going to the base!" He Yi smiled at me. "We¡¯ve decided to invite the core players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to dinner tonight. Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi, Yamete, Chaos Moon, and so on will be attending as well." "Oh, that sounds fantastic. I wonder what I should wear¡­" "I thought you only had two sets of clothes?" Murong Mingyue teased me. "Fuck~~" I rolled my eyes, but she had a point. I was a normal man, so there were only three sets of clothes in my wardrobe at most. But so what? I¡¯m not a prostitute, I don¡¯t have to dress up and attract customers! We took off after I was done tidying myself. I was the driver tonight, and I overtook countless cars on the elevated highway with Murong Mingyue¡¯s powerful A8. Countless drivers spat at me because of it. The venue was a hotel, or rather a restaurant, called Zhongtian Business Hotel. It was in the city center. Only twelve of us were attending, so the expenses were fairly small. Besides, Murong Mingyue was the one who would be paying for the meal. She was He Yi¡¯s assistant, and she was entrusted with a fair amount of economical power, so to speak. Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, and the others were already waiting for us when we made it to the restaurant. Du Thirteen walked up to us with a smile. "Finally, our glorious leaders are here! Now can we get some food on the table already? I¡¯m so hungry I could die!" "Fuck!" I punched him once before laughing. "How have you been in the past few days?" Du Thirteen laughed. "Not bad, not bad." Gui Guzi added in a timely manner, "Oh yes, he¡¯s doing well alright. He tried to invite Chaos Moon to a date, but was turned down. Then he tried to make a move on Moonlight Stone and got the same treatment. Brother B¡¯s casanova legend was completely destroyed as a result¡­" I couldn¡¯t help but exclaim in surprise, "Really? He was a legend back in our school days though. He used to go through girlfriends faster than I went through my bed sheets!" He Yi giggled. "Why does it sound like you¡¯re the one who¡¯s going through your bed sheets too quickly?" "Ahem¡­" I coughed embarrassedly before looking at Du Thirteen. "Seriously, how did you fail? Both Chaos Moon and Moonlight Stone are pretty good girls. It shouldn¡¯t be hard for you to hook up with them." Du Thirteen curled his lips but didn¡¯t say anything. It clearly was a silent plea that he would rather forget the experience. But Yamete dashed his hopes and laughed loudly. "Allow me! When Thirteen tried to woo Chaos Moon, she asked him: what good points do you have? Are you as rich as Li Le, as skillful as Lu Chen, as tough as Gui Guzi, or as brave as Xu Yang? You don¡¯t even have Yamete¡¯s fluffy tummy, do you? Why should I go on a date with you?" He Yi and Murong Mingyue burst into a giggle. Our Chaos Moon had quite the bizarre tastes for men, it seemed. It was at this moment Chaos Moon and Moonlight Stone showed up together. "What are you laughing about?" "Nope, nothing at all!" Everyone shook their heads in unison. He Yi leaned against me and said in a soft voice, "If Chaos Moon meant what she said, I doubt she¡¯ll ever find her ideal boyfriend." I nodded. "Yeah." ¡­¡­ We entered our room and sat around a large table. The four of us from Frost Cloud workshop and the eight key players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls totaled 12 people. Xu Yang had booked all the dishes even before we showed up. He had worked under He Yi and Murong Mingyue for a long time, so he wasn¡¯t completely ignorant about certain things. For example, assuming he hadn¡¯t booked the dishes, and Gui Guzi had gotten his hands on the menu. "What is this Clear Sky exactly? Ah, it¡¯s stir-fried bok choy¡ªwait, WTF!? How can something so simple cost 88 RMB? I¡¯m not eating at this place!" Of course, it was equally pointless to berate the waiter about the exorbitant price. They would claim that the aroma of wine permeating from the bok choy was because it was imported from overseas and soaked in grape wine before preparation, but in reality we all knew that the chef simply added several drops of Erguotou to the pan to give it the flavor. These days, there was nothing you could buy that didn¡¯t have some level of bullshit slapped on top of it. He Yi broke out a couple of red wines for everyone after the dishes were set on the table. It was exactly 500 RMB per bottle; not so expensive that it seemed completely wasteful, but not so cheap that it didn¡¯t fit someone who called herself the vice president of GGS. At the very least, it was potent enough to knock the likes of Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, and Yamete out cold. He Yi raised her glass and declared with a happy smile on her face, "The first glass of the day goes to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and our dreams of conquering the virtual world! Cheers!" "Woohoo!" Chapter 245: Flexible Three rounds of drinks later. Gui Guzi put an arm around my shoulders and asked me, "Boss, the new patch should be out very soon. Have you checked the expansion yet?" I nodded. "Mn, they¡¯ve leaked some of the information ahead of time." "Oh?" He Yi moved closer. Even Du Thirteen, Chaos Moon, and Beiming Xue was asking, "What is it about, exactly?" "Fuck, why are you asking me? Can¡¯t you just check it yourself?" "Of course we can¡¯t! We don¡¯t have access to the private data!" Chaos Moon complained, "Eternal Moon Corporation has always been tight-lipped about their data, and even when they loosened up they never revealed more than the tip of the iceberg. Officially, information regarding the ¡®World Famous Generals¡¯ patch is only going to be revealed after the servers go back up, but I heard that CGL Hall of Famers can access them earlier in their private databases." He Yi nodded in agreement. "That¡¯s right, we normal players don¡¯t get to have such a privilege. Since your new ID has been updated in the CGL Hall of Fame, you are the only one in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls who can read them." I couldn¡¯t help but grin proudly. "Fuck me, I didn¡¯t realize I¡¯m that awesome¡­" Rolling her eyes at my antics, He Yi prodded me with her shoulder before urging, "Less flaunting, more talking. Everyone¡¯s waiting!" "Mn!" Gui Guzi exclaimed in surprise. "Fuck! Does that mean even non-Tactician players can become leaders and Encourage the whole party?" I nodded with a smile. "That¡¯s right, that¡¯s the gist of it. Therefore, this patch is a boon to all non-Tactician players! However, don¡¯t forget that Stratagems can only be learned after you meet certain requirements. If I remember correctly, your Tactics stat needs to be at 20 for the Level 20 Stratagem, Encourage, and 40 for the Level 50 Intimidate. Other classes have barely any Tactics to speak of, so it won¡¯t be easy to fulfill these requirements.¡± Du Thirteen spat. "Fuck, this is bullshit! I¡¯m almost Level 70 and my Tactics is still a big fat zero, fuck~~" I laughed. "I know right? My own Tactics is a big fat zero because I wasn¡¯t trying to collect equipment that gives Tactics. From here on, we¡¯re going to have to watch out for top-tier items with Tactics bonuses." I couldn¡¯t stop myself from chuckling. "Of course you can. But if I¡¯m not mistaken, the drop rate of equipment that gives Tactics is going to skyrocket after the patch officially launches, so as long as you grind hard, you¡¯ll get the necessary stat eventually and become a top-tier expert." Holding a glass of liquor, Murong Mingyue shuffled up to He Yi and asked with a smile, "Is this patch really that important?" I nodded. "Of course! In the past, players had to slot in a Tactician in their 5-man party just so that they could use Encourage when they could¡¯ve had another damage dealer instead. That¡¯s a 20% loss of damage potential. But now that non-Tactician players can learn Encourage as well, the combat dynamic will be completely different than before. Tacticians will now be much weaker in small-scale PvP, and players will be able to grind levels a lot more efficiently than before. Right?" Murong Mingyue licked her lips and smiled seductively. "Well, it does sound logical, so I¡¯m just going to assume that you¡¯re right. Anyway, you wanna go for another round?" "Sure!" I poured a glass of cola for myself and clinked glasses with her. Then, Murong Mingyue drank all of her alcohol in one gulp. Hmm, I just realized that the "big boobs no brains" formula wasn¡¯t a complete fallacy. It was applicable in certain scenarios. This dinner was also a get-together to improve the unity of our guild¡¯s core players. In fact, we would be holding an event like this once or twice every month. After dinner was done, everyone started chatting to each other in smaller groups or playing games such as Legends of the Three Kingdoms. The atmosphere was absolutely great. Chaos Moon dragged me away to a table where Murong Mingyue, Xu Yang and He Yi were waiting to play Three Kingdoms. He Yi smiled when she drew the ¡®Emperor¡¯ card. "Hoho, I¡¯m the Emperor! Which unit should I choose, I wonder¡­" I suggested. "¡®Sun Quan¡¯ is a good choice. He has a lot of health, and he has ¡®Balance of Power¡¯. It¡¯s a great unit!" "Nah, he¡¯s too ugly for my taste. I choose ¡®Diao Chan¡¯¡­" "Fuck~" I was dumbfounded by her pick, but I didn¡¯t say anything because I had drawn a ¡®Rebel¡¯ card, meaning that only one of us would be coming out alive this match. Personally, I would¡¯ve rather drawn the ¡®Loyalist¡¯ card, but luck didn¡¯t care for one¡¯s preference. Suddenly, I noticed that Xu Yang was shooting me a wretched smile. Fuck, could he be a Rebel like me? The game officially began after the cards were distributed! Xu Yang was an impatient man, and he hadn¡¯t changed his ways for this game. He chose Lu Bu as his general and attacked his Emperor immediately! "Attack! No one can stop me!" It would take two "Dodge" cards to cancel the attack. Unable to do anything, He Yi could only shoot me a grudgeful look as she lost 1 HP to Xu Yang. I pretended I didn¡¯t see it and drew another card. Sensing that everyone was plotting something sinister inside their belly, Murong Mingyue glanced at me and raised an "Attack" card. "Come and face your sis in battle, Lu Chen!" I tossed out a "Dodge" casually. "Easy." Murong Mingyue selected Zhang Fei and attacked me again. "Hehe, can you dodge a second time?" But my general was Zhao Yun, and I had nothing to be afraid of. I slapped an "Attack" card on top of Murong Mingyue¡¯s hand before rubbing my palms together. "Flexibility is my greatest strength!" It was Chaos Moon¡¯s turn. After giggling and activating Lady Zhen¡¯s ability, the "Goddess of Luo", she was able to draw 11 cards in a row before her luck finally came to an end. It was so ridiculous that Xu Yang and I had to stare at her with eyes as wide as saucers. After that, Chaos Moon equipped her weapon and began her assault. She threw out 5 "Attack" cards in a row and annihilated poor Xu Yang in an instant. He let out a tearful scream before flipping over his identity card. He was a Rebel just as I had predicted earlier! I was the only guy left in the game, so the girls immediately joined forces and took me out next, successfully killing yet another Rebel. Finally, Chaos Moon defeated Murong Mingyue and unveiled her identity card. Oh my, she was a Traitor! He Yi couldn¡¯t stop herself from sighing. "Ai, what a terrible Emperor I am. To think that three out of four elders are either Rebels or Traitors!" Murong Mingyue giggled. "Alright, alright, next game!" ¡­¡­ It was past 10 pm by the time we realized that it was getting really late. Everyone needed a rest after the exciting night, not to mention that we had to wake up early and check exactly what had changed after the new patch was up. Although Floating Ice City Palace had almost been utterly destroyed by Cardilla during yesterday¡¯s epic battle, I expected it to be rebuilt once the system maintenance was complete. Surely this was enough time for Princess Karinshan to build a new palace, right? Everyone had been drinking, so none of us could drive, be it for safety or legal reasons. In the end, Murong Mingyue had to make a call to the GGS company at Suzhou and ask a driver to send us back home. It was really late when the members of the Frost Cloud workshop finally made it back home. He Yi and Murong Mingyue had drunk a lot of liquor, so their cheeks were completely red. Not only that, the drunkards absolutely refused to climb out of their seats. In the end, I had to put their arms around my shoulders, carry them all the way upstairs before finally dumping them on the sofas. I locked the door and went downstairs again because Beiming Xue was still sitting unconsciously inside the car. In a sense, she was unlucky that she had us as her friends. He Yi and Murong Mingyue were at least experienced drinkers due to the necessities of the business industry, but Beiming Xue was just a young woman who had graduated not too long ago. There was no chance she could¡¯ve kept up with Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi. I opened the car and carried Beiming Xue in my arms. She naturally wrapped her arms around my neck before smiling at me. "Big bro?" "I¡¯m here." I locked the car and carried her upstairs while dealing with her drunken antics patiently. Once all three women were properly set down on their bed, I closed the door, took a bath and sank into oblivion immediately after my head hit the pillow. After an entire day of work and pleasure, I was so tired I could die. ¡­¡­ Countless images passed through my head as I dreamt. I was in a town, standing on a broken bridge, its tiles like chessboard, black and white. My Purgatory Sword in hand, I looked down and saw a girl standing in the middle of the river. It was Xinran. The bare-footed girl was washing her skirt and giggling like a bell. Suddenly, the ground split apart without warning, and both the river and Xinran fell into hell. I tried to grab her before she fell, but my entire body felt as heavy as lead. I could barely move, much less rush to her side and save her. Before I could do anything else, the ground split apart again in a shower of blood and spat out Xinran. She was now wielding the Dragonbone Spear and clad in black armor. Worse, she was staring at me full of killing intent for some reason. Then, she rushed toward me and stabbed me with her spear! "Xinran?" I called out. The only response I got was a scorching pain in my chest. Suddenly, I felt a warm body behind me. When I turned around, I saw a female warrior charging toward Xinran and swinging her sword horizontally. "Get lost!" "Bang!" Xinran was knocked far, far away from me. I stared at my rescuer in shock. "Yiyi, is that you?" Lin Yixin stared at me. "What are you doing, stupid!" "I¡­" ¡­¡­ The dream suddenly faded away, and I returned to reality once more. I scratched my scalp without opening my eyes, feeling the throbbing pain inside my head. Ah shit, I should¡¯ve known that alcohol would make a mess of everything. Suddenly, I heard a tiny whimper right beside my ears. I shivered from head to toe. Is¡­ is that a woman¡¯s voice I just heard? But why is there a woman in my room? I tried to move my arm to no avail. I quickly discovered that it was because something hot and soft was pressing down against it. Oh my god, did I fall asleep with a girl in my arms? But how was that possible? I remembered clearly that I went to bed alone! I looked down and saw two awesome puppies barely held together by a T-shirt. They were squeezed together in such a way that blood rushed into my head in an instant. Looking up, I was greeted by the sight of a beautiful face and a breathtaking, dimpled smile! Chapter 246: General Ranking He Yi¡¯s eyes were closed. Her long eyelashes faintly quivered as she slept rather peacefully. Thoroughly experiencing this kind of soft warmth almost left my bones melted. I didn¡¯t dare move. I stretched my neck and gulped, swallowing a mouthful of saliva. What do I do? What do I do? I looked down and saw He Yi¡¯s otherworldly face leaning to the side. Her red lips were within reach. This kind of huge temptation could drive a man crazy. Two angels were fighting in my mind as two voices on my shoulders argued with each other¡ª Inner Voice A: Lu Chen, do you love He Yi? If you do, go kiss her! Inner Voice B: Lu Chen you bastard, are you sure you love her? If you¡¯re not sure, don¡¯t hurt her! Inner Voice A: Love is not a cup of water or a biscuit. You can¡¯t just wait until you confirm it. If you do, it will get cold... Inner Voice B: Lu Chen, you have to take responsibility for your actions! Inner Voice A: Lu Chen... ¡­¡­ In the end, Inner Voice A¡¯s "What if in 50 years you regret not having the guts to kiss her?" steadied my resolve. I don¡¯t want to regret it! Alright, I¡¯ll kiss her. It¡¯s not like she¡¯ll get pregnant from a kiss. He Yi shouldn¡¯t mind it either, right? I lowered my head and slowly inched toward He Yi¡¯s lips. A light fragrance immediately hit my nose and heart nearly hopped out of my chest. The girl in my arms was the He Yi I used to dream about. She was also the GGS Asia Region¡¯s Vice President. I was about to kiss a girl like that! Right then, I suddenly realized something. He Yi was staring at me with her beautiful eyes open wide in surprise. She was the picture of innocence. Fuck... I complained inwardly. My current posture was seriously awkward right now, it was a position where I was about to kiss her. When I saw her expression, I was already wishing that there was a hole for me to hide in! "What were you planning to do?" He Yi asked with a ghost of a smile. "I¡­" I faltered for a while but still couldn¡¯t come up with a good answer. He Yi giggled, and then suddenly moved forward. Her red lips lightly pecked my cheek and left. I froze again for a long time. By the time I regained my senses, my first words were, "Eve, why are you on my bed?" "Ah?" He Yi opened her mouth as her pretty face instantly flushed. She glanced around, embarrassed, and blurted, "This really is your room¡­" "What happened?" I asked, my heart in my mouth. Was this He Yi¡¯s way of expressing ¡®the boss beauty rewarding her meritorious staff in bed¡¯? No, no. That¡¯s too far-fetched. He Yi would never do an absurd thing like that. He Yi didn¡¯t know how to answer my question. She pulled at my blanket and covered her face. I lowered my head and saw that my covers were a mess. He Yi was hiding her own face but she couldn¡¯t hide her beautiful figure. Both her slender legs were on top of the bed while her captivating round butt was wrapped under a coffee-colored uniform short skirt. Mn, even if she was an ostrich, she was still a pretty ostrich. He Yi finally steeled herself and poked her head out of the blanket. She looked at me and said, "Alright, I¡¯ll answer you. I wanted to drink water last night so I went out to get some. Then¡­ then, I went into the wrong room¡­" "Ah?" I gaped, then eyed the bedside cabinet. Sure enough, He Yi¡¯s milky white cup was there! "Mm¡­" Face still red, He Yi gave a lazy stretch and then quietly lay back on the bed. She turned toward me and smiled. "It sure is a peaceful morning¡­" I almost puked blood. "You¡¯re still so calm?" "Why shouldn¡¯t I be calm?" I pointed at the right side of the bed. "Have I ever advertised that I wanted to rent out half my bed? And, fuck! You¡¯ve even stolen most of my blanket. No wonder it was so damn cold last night!" He Yi¡¯s pretty face was still red as she glared at me. "Oh, no wonder I felt like someone was hugging me from behind last night. Hmph, and there was a hand randomly touching around too. It must''ve been you!" "Ah?!?" I froze again. It took me a while to reply. "T-that¡¯s just a natural reaction from feeling cold. I really didn¡¯t do anything¡­" "I know." He Yi smiled. "My clothes are still worn properly. Actually, this isn¡¯t really much. It¡¯s no different from two people falling asleep next to each other on a sofa. Don¡¯t think too much into it." I nodded, but I secretly cried in bitterness inside. He Yi smiled. A long time later, I asked, "Did I really randomly touch you last night?" He Yi giggled and gave me a deep look. "That¡¯s not important. What¡¯s important is, do you want to touch?" I howled inside, soundly defeated by He Yi¡¯s words. I had been stripped of my helmet and my armor. It seemed like I had never won against this beautiful girl before. "Hm? It¡¯s only six. It¡¯s still early¡­" He Yi checked my phone and then entered my blanket again. "Then let¡¯s sleep a bit more¡­" To be honest, at 1.5 meters, this bed was already not that big. He Yi going in my blanket was basically the same as her entering my embrace. I immediately felt like I was electrocuted as a warm, soft body entered my arms. I couldn¡¯t hug her and I couldn¡¯t not hug her. "Ah¡­" He Yi gently exclaimed. Her face was boiling red as she turned toward me. "You have a reaction!" I howled in my mind again. I¡¯m a normal person, you know. It¡¯s fine if we ignore that a beautiful woman was sleeping with me but she was even randomly moving around. How could I not feel perky? Besides, it¡¯s morning, morning!! In order to not make a huge mistake, I hurriedly sat up and leaned against the headboard. I reached over for my cup and drank all its contents. "What the World-honored One has explained as the view of self, view of person, view of sentient being, and view of life span, are actually not a view of self, view of person, view of sentient being, or view of life span. Therefore they are called view of self, view of person, view of sentient being, and view of life span¡­" "What are you mumbling?" He Yi asked with a smile. "The Diamond Sutra¡­" "WTF!" I was about to fall into depravity so I wanted to recite some scriptures to calm my mind. He Yi also sat up and ran her hands through her hair. "Alright, stop reciting the scripture. You¡¯re going to wake up Mingyue and Beiming Xue with the noise. Well, turn around, I¡¯m going to get out of bed." ¡°Why? It¡¯s not like you¡¯re going to take your clothes off." "Good point~" He Yi turned around after she got off my bed. "I¡¯ll go buy breakfast, want anything in particular?" "Nah, I¡¯ll go buy it. You can go take a bath." "Alright!" ¡­¡­ He Yi stood next to the door and opened it. She carefully stuck her head out and checked for any signs of activity. Once she discovered that no one was outside, she immediately shot a smile at me before she dashed back in her room. I sighed. At least we weren¡¯t exposed! Mn, there wasn¡¯t anything to expose anyway. It was all a beautiful misunderstanding. Leaning on my bed, I took a deep breath and couldn¡¯t help but laugh. I¡¯ll probably remember this beautiful misunderstanding for life, huh. ¡­¡­ I got out of bed, washed up, and went straight downstairs. I asked Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue what they wanted and they said KFC. Alright then. I can¡¯t help but say that the dough sticks there were too short. This kind of thing might be good for our Japanese friends but I strongly recommend China¡¯s KFCs to make their dough sticks longer. I bought vegetable congee and the like. By the time I returned to the workshop, the girls were already dressed elegantly. They¡¯d also put on some light makeup, making them look even prettier. I sat in front of them and couldn¡¯t help asking, "You guys aren¡¯t even planning on going out today, and I bet you guys will be grinding the whole day. Why would you still put on makeup? Does the makeup increase your stats?" He Yi smiled. "Yeah, it even raises our Luck stat. The drop rate doubles too, you want to put some on too?" "Fuck¡­" I trembled from head to toe. "Forget it, I¡¯d better just stay bare¡­" "Bare¡­" The girls looked like they wanted to throw up. Murong Mingyue gave He Yi a sideways glance and smiled. "Eve doesn¡¯t even put on makeup when she goes to the company, I wonder why she would wear it at our workshop?¡± Beiming Xue smiled. "A girl will doll herself up for her beholder. I¡¯m assuming she wants a certain someone to see it." He Yi ignored us, bending down to drink the congee. I asked again, "What about you two? Why do you put on makeup?" The other two girls expressionlessly drank their congee and no longer raised their heads. Me: "..." ¡­¡­ By the time we finished breakfast, it was already 8 am. Time to get online! Swhoosh! The sound of the system¡¯s bell rang after I appeared outside Xinran¡¯s little village¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Please be informed that the Floating Ice City domain map has been refreshed once again. The royal city has been moved to the canyon south of Frost Forest. The original Floating Ice City has been engulfed by the cracks of hell, becoming a new map¡ªEye of Hell. At the same time, the ¡°World Famous Generals¡± patch has officially launched. Players can now check the General Ranking! ¡­¡­ General Ranking? I quickly opened the list of rankings and really did see a new General Ranking, along with Equipment Ranking and the usual level Heavenly Ranking. I checked the Top 10 of Floating Ice City¡¯s General Ranking¡ª NameLevelCommand ValueBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 8314249Wind Fantasy 7911653Purple Marquis 7810546Dominating Heaven Blade7810076From Water708907Clear Perfume788874Beiming Xue798764Shadow Chanel787968Indigo Collar777847Gui Guzi787709 ¡­¡­ Fuck, what was this ranking based on? He Yi was actually in the Top 5. Was it also scored based on beauty? After a careful observation, I was relieved to find that this command value number was based on numerous factors. Included among them was level, equipment, stats, Tactics stat, Luck stat, and so on. It was a comprehensive mix. The strongest player would thus have the highest command value. He Yi was wearing multiple Dark Gold¨Cgrade items, so it¡¯d be strange if her command value wasn¡¯t high! But what was the use of this General Ranking? There was no explanation on the official page. Forget it, it¡¯s not like that has anything to do with me. First place it is then, not like it gives me any special benefits. ¡­¡­ I examined my bag contents. Alright, I have enough provisions, time to enter the village and see how Xinran has been. Just as I was about to move out, I heard a beep. It was a message from Lin Yixin: "Did you see the General Ranking?" Chapter 247: Second Promise "Yeah, I¡¯ve seen it but I don¡¯t get it. What¡¯s this General Ranking used for? You know something, Beauty Yi?" I replied. Lin Yixin answered me a few seconds later, "You¡¯ve asked the right person. In the China server, there¡¯s not many aside from me who know what this General Ranking is used for." "Oh, do tell." Lin Yixin opened the voice chat and said, "It¡¯s faster if we talk instead of typing." "Mn, go on!" "The General Ranking is our city¡¯s player power ranking. Before tier 1 cities open, the Top 3 of each tier 2 city¡¯s General Ranking have a chance to trigger something every time they level up¡­" "Oh? Trigger what?" I laughed. "It must be very tempting, right? Would I get rewarded with a beautiful servant girl every level?" "I¡¯m not too sure about the specifics but just stay in Floating Ice City¡¯s Top 3 anyway." Lin Yixin huffed and puffed. "How disappointing, you can only think about beautiful girls. If you want beauties, just go choose from the forums¡¯ Beauty Ranking¡­" "Ah? There¡¯s a Beauty Ranking too? "Yeah, and it¡¯s made by the forum users too, hehe!" I was amazed and quickly opened Floating Ice City¡¯s official forums. Sure enough, there was a huge pink title on the front page that said: Floating Ice City¡¯s Beauty Ranking! Wow, there seriously are people who have nothing to do but to rank beauties? I was immediately stunned once I opened it¡ª NameLevelAppearanceTemperamentCharmTotalWind Fantasy7910101030From Water701010929Murong Mingyue7499927Beiming Xue7999826Little Heavenly Fragrance Master3389825Clear Perfume7888723As Before5177822Shadow Chanel7878621Kitty CAT4567518Coldmoon Rose6866618 ¡­¡­ I took a closer look and discovered that the person who had made this ranking was well-versed in beauties. As the Fruit Knife Goddess, Lin Yixin''s name was like a bright sun in the China server. In the eyes of the China server¡¯s male players, she was a goddess-like existence. She had full marks in terms of appearance, temperament, and charm. There was nothing to criticize. He Yi¡¯s appearance was no inferior to Lin Yixin, nor was her temperament. In these areas she scored full marks, but her charm got her only 9 points. It was probably related to her in-game strength. If He Yi possessed a CGL Hall of Famer¡¯s mechanics and battle awareness, I bet she too would score full marks. Murong Mingyue was 3rd place. Her charm was at 9, which was no less than He Yi. The reasoning behind this was obvious, she was the China server¡¯s number one Breast Goddess. This flashy name had long belonged to her. There were some other names I didn¡¯t recognize and there was even a Level 33 female player on there too. Oh well, it¡¯s not like all beauties were talented and beautiful. People like Lin Yixin were rarities that were hard to come by. ¡­¡­ "Mn." Lin Yixin teased, "Which of Floating Ice City¡¯s ten great beauties do you fancy?" "The first!" "Hmph, you hypocrite!" "Alright, all of them¡­" "Hmph, hmph, the truth is out! Speak, how did the Frost Cloud workshop come to be? You really did bring out all the beautiful women to go live with them¡­" I shuddered. "It¡¯s not what you think!" "Oh please!" Lin Yixin smiled. "Whatever. You living with someone doesn¡¯t have anything to do with me. Uh¡­ I¡¯m gonna go level. You should too. Don¡¯t forget to pay close attention whenever you level up, there might be a nice surprise waiting for you!" "Mn!" I nodded. "Yiyi, when was the last time we met?" "Um, maybe less than a week ago?" "When are we meeting again?" "Why?" "I miss you¡­" Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t help but laugh. She said in a menacing tone of voice, "You want a beating? Hmph, if you want to meet, you gotta wait for an opening in the schedule~~" "I¡¯m free right now!" "I mean my schedule!" "..." Followed by a bell-like laughter, Lin Yixin closed the chat window. She said that she was going to help Clear Perfume make some potions. Not long after, a large quantity of Rank 7 Health Potions entered the market! ¡­¡­ I¡¯ll just forget about that General Ranking for now. The Beauty Ranking was easier to understand. Of Floating Ice City¡¯s ten great beauties, first place usually ate out with me while second to fourth place lived with me. It was reasonable to say that my happiness index ought to be one of the highest in Floating Ice City because of that. I¡¯m going to use the power of this happiness to desperately grind some levels! Xinran¡¯s village was not too far ahead of me. I¡¯d best go see her first! I only had the Dark Wasp in my pet list right now. Xinran¡¯s portrait had disappeared. Even though I wasn¡¯t too sure about who she was, I was certain that she was an important figure in the Netherworld. Otherwise, it wouldn¡¯t make sense for her to be that strong and abandon me, her former master... The early morning mist lingered, making the entire forest area moist. A golden beetle covered in dew was slowly crawling atop of a branch and a wild black rabbit dashed through the forest like lightning. Everything appeared to be at peace. Carrying the Purgatory Sword, I advanced onward into the village. Upon entering, the villagers gave me friendly smiles and some even greeted me, "Young man, you¡¯re here again!" I nodded back as I headed toward Xinran¡¯s home. I was given a scare when I arrived. Xinran had taken off her black armor and wore a long white dress, as if she had returned to her former loli state. She looked sweet and pure again. "Big brother, you¡¯re here!" Xinran immediately welcomed me when she saw me and tugged at my hand. "Xinran made really tasty Oat Bread, want a taste? It smells really good~~" My heart skipped a beat as I quickly nodded my head. I entered her house and noticed that it was already tidied. I looked all over but couldn¡¯t find Xinran¡¯s metal armor, nor did I spot the Dragonbone Spear anywhere. Could Xinran have decided to renounce the dark overnight? While I nervously munched on that thought, Xinran suddenly sat beside me and tugged at my arm. Grinning, she asked, "Big brother, do you still remember our previous promise?" I nodded, "Do you still want to become a priest in Floating Ice City?" "Yeah!" Xinran earnestly nodded. "This is my wish, and also my mother''s wish. Since mother has already left me forever, Xinran must fulfill mother¡¯s final wish and enter Floating Ice City¡¯s Holy Temple. I must become an excellent priest and fight the Night Creatures to death!" Ding~! System Notice: Your SSS rank quest "Promise" has reactivated. Do you accept? ¡­¡­ Was there even a ¡°No¡± option? I quickly pressed "Yes" and the quest reactivated. The description remained the same. Bring Xinran to Floating Ice City and find the bishop at the Holy Temple there to make Xinran a priest. After many twists and turns, Xinran died and was resurrected. Even though I vaguely sensed that something had changed, this quest could still be continued! "Yay! Big brother, let¡¯s go after breakfast, okay?" Xinran leaned against my leg as she pleaded while tugging my hand. I nodded, "Alright!" The Oat Bread smelled great and the taste was similarly superb. I only ate one slice and my Satiety gauge was already maxed out, sitting firmly at 100%. I could probably fight for several hours without needing to eat anything. Breakfast finished, I patted my hands together and held the Purgatory Sword. "Let¡¯s go, Xinran." "Mn!" Xinran lightly walked over and held my hand like a helpless bird. Once we walked out of the village, I summoned the Dark Wasp. Though its growth potential wasn¡¯t amazing anymore, it could still kill a few ordinary mobs of the same level. At the very least, with the Dark Wasp¡¯s protection, our journey through Frost Forest should be relatively safe. After thinking about it some more, I couldn¡¯t help but find it funny. This Xinran was no longer the Xinran from before. Even though she still wore her pretty dress like before, the power welling inside her body was something else. Forget these trash mobs, even if a Level 100 boss were to come here, Xinran could easily smack it to death! This was because I couldn¡¯t see Xinran¡¯s level anymore. The three huge question marks next to her name were quite the fright. If a Level 83 player like me couldn¡¯t see her level, how strong was she now? We followed a little path and a clearing suddenly appeared before us. An enormous pillar stood in front of the village and beneath it were firewood remains. The pillar itself had been burnt black. It seemed like someone had been burned at stake there. I could still see soot-covered shackles wrapped around the pillar. It was unlikely that the whole setup was meant for roasting meat. Xinran took a look at the scorched iron pillar and gritted her teeth. "Big brother, let¡¯s leave this place, okay?" "Mn!" I dashed away, bringing Xinran along with me and soon saw the newly-constructed Floating Ice City ahead of us. It was about a kilometer away from the old Floating Ice City and looked as stately as the former city. In fact, I wouldn¡¯t doubt it at all if even the bricks used were copied over as well. As for Floating Ice City¡¯s original location, that had already become a black hell. No one dared to go there. "We¡¯re here!" I lead Xinran through the eastern gate bridge into the royal city. From afar, we could see the dignified Holy Temple ahead of us. It was precisely the direction we were heading toward. "Halt!" Two guards walked over and pointed their spears at us, shouting, "Who dares to trespass in the royal city?" Xinran subconsciously hid behind me. I drew my longsword and flashed the Floating Ice City emblem on my shoulder. "I am an adventurer of Floating Ice City. Any problems, gentlemen?" The two NPC guards immediately glanced at each other. In the next second, they withdrew their weapons and said respectfully, "So it is my lord. In that case, there¡¯s no problem at all!" I was flabbergasted to say the least. Was it because I had helped Princess Karinshan, which boosted my prestige in Floating Ice City? Forget it, I¡¯ll go in first! Chapter 248: Ten Deacons The walls and floor of the Holy Temple were embellished by glowing runes and ancient symbols. A hymn was playing in the distance. It was the holiest place of the human faction¡¯s Church of Light. At the very least, the denizens of Floating Ice City saw the priests of the Holy Temple as the representatives of light and divinity. Tap tap tap¡­ My Shade War Boots struck crisply and rhythmically against the floor as I walked toward the heart of the temple with steady footsteps. From another person¡¯s standpoint, I probably looked like a murderer with the Purgatory Sword in my hand and a bloody cloak behind my back. Xinran was holding my hand and bowing her head. She was either thinking about something or avoiding my gaze. "Xinran?" "Hm?" "Are you scared?" I asked. Xinran looked up at me with an inscrutable expression on her face. In the end, she shook her head and said, "No, I¡­ I¡¯m just feeling a bit anxious, that¡¯s all¡­" "Anxious? Is it because you can finally become a priest of the light?" "Hehe, maybe¡­" ¡­¡­ We continued until we ran into a dozen or so templars wielding heavy swords. They were led by a templar captain called Templar Captain Buck. He raised his hand and stopped us in our traps, "Halt! This is the temple¡¯s sanctuary, and it is not open to the public! If you have any business with our high priests, please seek them outside the temple!" I swallowed. Outside the temple? I don¡¯t think I saw anyone like that outside the temple just now. I was so focused on leading Xinran into the temple that I didn¡¯t even consider the idea. "Xinran, would you like to acquire your class outside the temple instead?" I asked. Xinran looked at me and implored in a pitiful manner, "Big brother, I wish to meet the archbishop himself. He is the only one who can teach me the true essence of the light¡­" I was slightly taken aback. The true essence of light? Hmph hmph, that didn¡¯t sound like something Xinran would say. Still, I turned around and asked Templar Captain Buck, "My younger sister would like to meet the archbishop in person and implore him to teach her the light. Is that okay?" I licked my lips and added before he could reply, "I¡¯m an acquaintance of Princess Karinshan, you know. I helped her kill Undead Magus Cardilla during the battle to retake Floating Ice City!" "Oh?!" Templar Captain Buck looked at me with new respect. "You are that young warrior Princess Karinshan often talks about? Haha, that is wonderful! In that case, I will speak to the archbishop about your request myself. He prefers to meditate in peace and silence, so he doesn¡¯t normally see anyone unless it is for something important!" I nodded at him with a smile. "Thank you!" "Please wait here!" I nodded. "No problem!" I turned around to hold Xinran¡¯s little hand again before saying, "Let¡¯s go, Xinran!" "Mn, big brother!" The corner of Xinran¡¯s lips turned up a little as she nodded. It was a smile, a smirk, meaning of which eluded me. ¡­¡­ There was holy light circulating inside the interior of the main hall, meaning that this place was probably very important to the Church of Light. Floating Ice City was one of the kingdoms situated near the border between the Light faction and the Dark faction. Therefore, it made sense that the power of light here was denser than in most places. A magus whose hair had turned completely white was seated at the center of the main hall. He was holding a scepter with light circulating around it, and a glowing, azure-colored gem at the top. I could sense the immense power residing within, as if the power welling in the gem would break out at any moment. The magus was none other than the archbishop himself, Alves Dias! I couldn¡¯t even see his level. This meant that he was Level 100 or higher, an NPC I couldn¡¯t kill no matter what I did at this stage. Of course, that was a purely hypothetical comparison. He was my faction¡¯s NPC, so why would I possibly want to kill him? In fact, I might even need him to give me a super heal if I happened to be on the verge of death one day. Archbishop Alves was also accompanied by ten red deacons. ¡°Deacon¡± was a religious occupation only a powerful worshipper could undertake. They were the messengers of the gods, and they had the ability to see through a person and declare an oracle. They were very important inside a church, and they were second only to the archbishop! This time, I could see their stats screen. All 10 Red Deacons were Level 95 Dark Gold Rank bosses, and I had no doubt they could one-shot me if four or five of them attacked me at once. ¡­¡­ I entered the main hall and faced the leaders of the Light faction fearlessly. Archbishop Alves looked at me before asking in a trembling voice, "Young hero, are you the man who revived Princess Karinshan and killed the evil Undead Magus Cardilla?" I nodded. "Yes, I am!" "If I may ask, what business do you have with the church?" The archbishop smiled widely at me. I took half a step to the side and showed Xinran. "My sister worships the power of the light, and she wishes to become a priest of the Silver Moon Alliance. I would like you to perform a holy baptism on her yourself!" "Oh?" Archbishop Alves looked at Xinran and smiled at her. "Would you kindly raise your head, young girl?" "Mn." Xinran replied and looked up slowly. Her exquisite countenance was completely devoid of expression, and her black eyes were slowly turning red! Her transformation shocked me. Something clearly wasn¡¯t right! "Heavens! You! Who on earth are you!" The archbishop suddenly lost all his composure and started shaking uncontrollably. Pointing a wilted finger and Xinran, he roared, "Why!? Why do you possess such tremendous power of darkness? Show yourself, heretic!" Xinran¡¯s eyes opened and turned red completely. A powerful breeze whipped her hair into the air, and her long dress crumbled into dust when dark energy surrounded her. When she emerged from the darkness, she was clad in the same black armor and bloody cape I saw her in last time when we were fighting Undead Magus Cardilla. Finally, she made a grabbing motion with her hand and brought out the vanished Dragonbone Spear! I took two steps backward before shouting loudly, "Xinran, what are you doing?!" Xinran didn¡¯t answer me. Instead, she directed her full anger at Archbishop Alves and shouted angrily, "Old man, you¡¯re the one who burned a woman on a stake at Frost Mound Town half a year ago, aren¡¯t you?!" Alves replied just an angrily, "Woman? Burned on a stake? You mean that heretic who disobeyed gods¡¯ will? Hmph! Her death was well-deserved!" Xinran gritted her teeth, tears dripping down her cheeks. She said murderously, "That¡­ was my mother! How dare you burn her to death! Who do you think you are, old man? Why do you think you have the right to take another person¡¯s life on behalf of the gods? I will kill you and avenge my mother!" "Pui!" Alves was past maintaining his image at this point. He raised his scepter menacingly and declared, "I know your face, you evil hellspawn!" Energy circulated around Xinran as she glared at the archbishop with eyes full or murder. "I come from hell, but I am no hellspawn. Besides, your identity means nothing to me! Archbishop or not, I will kill you with my own hands, old man!" Suddenly, she turned toward me and asked expressionlessly, "Will you help me?" I was completely confused by the sudden situation, to be honest. I didn¡¯t know how to answer her. In the end, she smiled lightly and said, "Nevermind, I shouldn¡¯t have asked this of you in the first place. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m important to you, right?" "I¡­" I was conflicted. I gripped my sword, but I still couldn¡¯t say a word to her. It wouldn¡¯t be right to help either side. ¡­¡­ Alves suddenly waved his scepter and shouted, "Deacons, summon the templars to the main hall now! We cannot let this girl leave this place alive! I sense a hellish power inside her¡­ a power so great that it rivals even the fallen angels themselves! Kill her, and our temple will be famous throughout the entire empire!" The ten deacons pulled out their swords immediately. Outside the main hall, Templar Captain Bark and a whole squadron of templars rushed in with their sword at the ready. The Templars were Level 90 elite NPCs, and Buck was another Level 95 Dark Gold Rank boss. As I am now, I doubt I can take more than a few hits from him. The ten deacons shouted and acted in unison. They all launched a lightning bolt at her! "Hehe¡­" The girl let out a soft laugh before launching into action. A streak of sharp wind energy about ten centimeters thick appeared at the edge of the hellish weapon as it suddenly glowed, as bright as the sun. Anyone with two eyes could see it was a powerful weapon in its own right. The next second, she landed in the middle of the crowd and launched a devastating cyclone of death at all the enemies around her. Four Red Deacons were turned to mincemeat in just an instant! I opened my eyes as if this was the first time I saw this side of her. Xinran had to be powerful beyond imagination to be able to kill four deacons in one strike. Pu pu¡­ Light burst out of her spear again as two deacons flew into the air, a giant hole in both of their necks. Their eyes bulged as if they couldn¡¯t believe that they had died just like that. Crack... However, a deacon managed to swipe his blade through Xinran¡¯s cloak and cut a hole in her war boots, marring her pale leg with a deep, bloody wound. At the same time, Archbishop Alves raised his scepter and chanted loudly, "I, Alves Dias, offer a contract to the great God of Light. Please give me your holy light and burn this hellish beast to dust¡ªHoly Spell!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! A golden light pierced through the roof and hit Xinran directly! "Ah¡­" Chapter 249: Devil Hun There were a couple of questions that I had asked myself many times in the past: Why do we live? What am I afraid of? I was afraid of poverty, but I could never escape it. I was afraid of loneliness, but I couldn¡¯t escape that as well. In the end, I managed to find my own answer. There were many people who taught me many things since I was young, but this one was something that I had learned completely on my own¡ªI will do what I want to do even if the sky were to fall on my head! ¡­¡­ "Aaaah¡­" Xinran continued to scream in pain as the holy light burned more and more of her body. But even in her condition, she was able to stab the eighth Red Deacon right through the chest! Archbishop Alves was still sustaining the holy spell even though his face was growing paler and paler over time. Clearly, the forbidden spell was eating away at his energy and his life! I raised the Purgatory Sword and stared at him with chilly eyes. Charge! Whoosh! I was beyond caring who he was or what level he was at. At this moment, nothing else mattered besides saving Xinran! MISS! The skill missed, but that was within my expectations. The archbishop¡¯s level was just too high for me! Anxious, I backed up several steps before raising my sword again. I shouted, "Purple Dragon Howl!" Swhoosh! Purple energy gathered at the tip of my blade before taking the image of a giant purple dragon. Then, I threw both the dragon and my sword at the archbishop! Puchi! The Purgatory Sword stabbed into his Magic Shield as Purple Dragon Howl came active. Three seconds later, the Magic Shield actually crumbled into nothing under the devastating spell! I charged him again and grabbed the hilt of my sword firmly! Zzzt! Under the cover of the Purple Dragon Howl, I pulled out my sword and slashed with him Pardon, followed by a critical basic attack! MISS! 7654! The boss''s level was way higher than mine, but he was a mage. He mainly relied on his Magic Shield to tank damage, not his physical Defense! The archbishop¡¯s spell was finally interrupted after my attack connected. "Ugh¡­" Not letting the golden opportunity pass her by, Xinran extinguished the last of the holy flames on her body and stabbed the ninth Red Deacon in the chest. Then, she extended her arm and shouted, "Storm!" Boom! A giant wind blade appeared out of nowhere and engulfed the last Red Deacon before he could do anything. He was only able to let out a scream before he was shredded into a mess of flesh and bones. Bloody tang hung in the air of the holy sanctuary for a time. ¡­¡­ "Watch out, big brother!" Xinran suddenly cried out to me. I looked up and saw a savage expression on Archbishop Alves¡¯s face. He raised his scepter and shouted loudly, "Even the legendary hero is just an accomplice of the devil. It looks like I must tie you to the iron stakes of Floating Ice City and burn you myself!" Boom! A cold chill suddenly rushed toward me. I wasn¡¯t expecting the archbishop to know Ice Blast, much less be thrown into the air by the spell like a ragged doll. When I checked my health, I was shocked and frightened to see that I had less than 100 HP left! 4321! What a monster! He almost one-shot me! I hurriedly climbed to my feet and healed myself with Tenacity of the Dead and a Rank 8 Health Potion. Two green numbers appeared on my head instantly. +1102! +2500! Just like that, I was back at full health. Unfortunately, as amazing as my recovery ability was, I couldn¡¯t outheal the archbishop¡¯s damage all the time! Xinran looked at me for a long time before saying, "Keep the templars busy while I kill Alves. I promise you he¡¯ll be dead within a minute!" "Got it!" At this point, I was in the same boat as Xinran. My relationship with the Silver Moon Alliance was torn into pieces, and I had no idea if I would be able to walk out of Floating Ice City alive. Hell, would the return scroll in my bag even work if I used it right now? From the moment I made up my mind to help Xinran kill the archbishop of the Holy Temple of Light, I had become the sworn enemy of Floating Ice City. That, I had absolutely no doubt of. I turned toward the templars as their names turned blood-red in color. I summoned the Dark Wasp and pointed my sword at them with a cold expression. Templar Captain Buck said, "Young warrior, you saved Princess Karinshan¡¯s life, and I have no wish to become your enemy. Back off now so we may kill that devil behind you!" I shook my head and replied in an indifferent tone, "She is not a devil." "How so? She has the blood of ten Red Deacons on her hands!" Buck shouted almost on top of his lungs. I glared at him and shouted right back, "If that¡¯s your criterion, then why aren¡¯t you calling your own archbishop a devil? Why is he allowed to burn innocent people at stakes!? Is it because he has authority over others? Does that mean you¡¯re allowed to kill anyone as long as you have higher authority?" "I¡­" Buck couldn¡¯t say anything. He was clearly one of those extremely straightforward types who had zero talent or skill in debates. It took him a long while to recover and say, "Archbishop Alves is the most famous prophet in the Floating Ice City. As the oracle and the messenger of the gods, it is his duty to punish evil and slay evil spirits on the gods¡¯ behalf! Hmph! Those evil spirits all deserved to die!" His retort abruptly made me recall my own death. Burning with fury, I shouted at him, "On the gods¡¯ behalf? Those gods can go fuck themselves! If they¡¯re so great, then why didn¡¯t they slay evil themselves? Who said the undead must be evil, and who gave you the right to enact punishment upon them?!" "We¡­ we¡­" Again, Buck couldn¡¯t say anything except turn red in the face. In the end, he raised his sword and shouted, "Templars of the Holy Temple, slay the evil spirit that is encroaching upon our sanctuary and kill anyone who tries to stop us!" ¡­¡­ In the end, our differences could only be sorted out through violence. I charged Buck without hesitation and clashed swords with him. However, the knockback was so powerful that I was launched into the air. The impact was so huge that the pillar my back crashed into actually cracked a little! Buck walked toward me with eyes full of anger. "Are you really going to betray the human alliance? Or maybe, you¡¯re not even a human in the first place?" I patted away the dust on my equipment and stood straight. Then, I opened my eyes and revealed their true color. They were red as blood, just like Xinran¡¯s, a sign that I was a high-rank undead. Behind Buck, a templar pointed his sword at me and yelled, "Look, Captain Buck! His eyes are blood-red in color! The only creatures with this eye color are the molten dwarves of the distant mountains or high-rank undead! He is no dwarf, so he has to be a high-rank undead! He has been hiding under our noses all this time!" Buck turned furious. "No wonder! you are a filthy undead yourself! Prepare to die!" I clenched my teeth and shouted, "Go fuck yourself, idiot Buck!" The Purgatory Sword turned cold in my hand. It was a sign that I had triggered its Outstanding property! I immediately fired Purgatory Slash at Buck, eliciting a painful groan from the man¡¯s throat and deleting a huge chunk of his HP! 4102! Tsk tsk, what an impressive damage! It¡¯s almost as good as a Pardon-empowered attack! At the same time, the Dark Wasp flew toward Buck and stung him, causing the man¡¯s complexion to turn a horrible green. He was poisoned! The Dark Wasp was on a roll today! Unfortunately, Buck wasn¡¯t the only enemy in the temple. The templars swarmed the little wasp like tidewater and deleted it from existence in just a couple of hits! Soon, I myself was knee-deep in enemies as I tried to fend off hostiles from every angle. I didn¡¯t try to kill any of them because it was plainly an impossible task. I might have over 1000 points of Defense, but there was no way I could defeat all these Level 90 elite mobs before they killed me. My HP started dropping, the loss accelerating with each passing moment¡ª 375! 411! 398! ¡­¡­ Even a swarm of ants could kill an elephant if there were enough of them, and these templars were no ants. They kept raining judgement on my undead ass like I was that one thing blocking their way to heaven! I was down to one-third of my HP and panicking when a powerful wind suddenly passed me by. Everyone except me was sent tumbling across the ground. I turned around in a hurry and saw Xinran. She was the one who manipulated gusts of wind with her left hand and saved me just now. In her right hand was the bloody head of Archbishop Alves! Heavens, she actually managed to kill that bastard in less than one minute. Just who on earth was she? Why did she have the power to crush a human elite like they were nothing? I stared dumbly at her until she said, "Well? What are you waiting for?" "Ah?" I broke out of my reverie and charged out of the temple. My name was blood-red even though I was inside the city, meaning that any player could PK me despite this place being a safe zone! I shot Xinran a sideways glance and saw her picking up the archbishop¡¯s scepter. She then ripped off the gem and tossed the scepter to a side. "Hmph!" ¡­¡­ The moment I appeared at the eastern plaza, almost every player turned to stare at me. "WTF? How is a red name inside the city? Wait a second, this ID looks familiar¡­ The heck? Isn¡¯t he Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, the number one player of Floating Ice City?" At the same time, the system dinged and announced the verdict. Chapter 250: Wind Singer I felt my heart clenching a little. Shit, I had a bounty on my head! Every NPC and player in Floating Ice City will be trying to kill me! Countless messages entered my mailbox in the next ten seconds or so. Lin Yixin: "OMG, what did you do again?" He Yi: "Where are you right now, Lu Chen? Do you need me to gather our men and protect you?" Murong Mingyue: "What did you do to make the system send out a bounty announcement, brat? Did you try to flirt with Princess Karinshan?" Beiming Xue: "Big bro, what happened?" Du Thirteen: "Come to Silver Moon Valley! We have a five-hundred-man Bloody Mercenaries party over here. No one will dare to lay a finger on you!" Xu Yang: "Fuck! Where are you, Lu Chen? You should come to Wildfire Plains, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ main force is here killing wolves. Do you want me to send our men over to fetch you?" ¡­¡­ As it turned out, I had pretty good connections, but I didn¡¯t want to trouble them right now. We all had electric bills to pay, and I couldn¡¯t possibly make everyone waste their time to help me. Swhoosh! I activated the special effects of all the equipment I was wearing: the Purgatory War Helmet, Purgatory War Armor, Flame Dragon Gauntlet, Death Shade War Boots, and the 1-star Outstanding Purgatory Legguards. Dark gold light effects circulated around all my equipment¡ªan indication that all of my equipment were Dark Gold¨Cgrade¡ªand my 3-star Outstanding Purgatory Sword glowed the brightest of them all. Everyone could see that I was a super expert with a set of outstanding equipment. Most players were intimidated by the reputation I had built for myself, not to mention that my new ID had replaced my old one in the CGL Hall of Fame. Besides that, I was backed by two giant guilds, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Bloody Mercenaries, and I was the vice leader of our alliance with Snowy Cathaya. There were very few people in Floating Ice City who would choose to ignore all the warning signs and harm me. However, very few didn¡¯t mean nonexistent! At the distance, I saw a Level 71 Gods of Destruction warrior glaring at me and seemingly talking to himself. He was probably talking to someone on the communicator. The sight sent shivers down my spine. This was bad. It wouldn¡¯t be long before my coordinates were revealed to everyone, and knowing how decisive and cruel Dominating Heaven Blade was, he wouldn¡¯t stop until I was dead. Seriously, this is getting really bad! ¡­¡­ Behind me, Xinran shouted at me, "Let¡¯s go! I can sense a lot of powerful auras approaching us! Dammit, I think there¡¯s even a dragon knight in this city!" "A red name inside the city? The arrogance! Brothers, let¡¯s kill him and grab his equipment!" A Level 65 barbarian warrior with a battle axe yelled and charged toward me. He was also followed by three Level 65 or so players who were clearly his in-game pals. It looked like they wouldn¡¯t stop until I was dead on my feet. Well, there was only one thing to do in this situation. Fight! Clang! Unsheathing the Purgatory Sword, I met the barbarian warrior head-on and unleashed Desperate Gambit! 3219! The sword sank into his neck and dealt over 3000 damage. There was no way a Level 65 warrior could have more than 3000 HP unless he had items of the Dark Gold grade, and Desperate Gambit was my strongest offensive skill. Even without Pardon, it was powerful enough to one-shot him! My breath stopped for a second when a Devil Piercing Arrow hit me in the chest and dealt 276 damage. Not bad! Swhoosh! At the same time, an assassin ran toward me along a circuitous path before bringing up his dagger to hit me beneath the armpit. It was a tricky move to pull off while moving at high speed, meaning that the assassin had to be a hardcore player or even better. I smiled. I wasn¡¯t expecting to run into a player like this on a shabby bridge! I swung my weapon and turned my body a little. The blade of the Purgatory Sword appeared right in the dagger¡¯s path and stopped it dead in its tracks, resulting in a successful parry. His Cold Blade failed to do any damage to me at all! The eyes behind the masked features widened into shock. Clearly, the assassin hadn¡¯t expected me to react this quickly and accurately. By the time he came to, my sword had already passed through his chest! "Ugh¡­" The assassin collapsed to his knees and died inside the safe zone. His eyes were filled with unwillingness and shock. Hmph hmph, the price for showing off his inferior skill in front of me is death! After that, I quickly moved to the backline and killed the enemy archer and priest as well. This 4-man party was physically incapable of threatening me. Behind me, Xinran was starting to stagger a little. I already knew that she was heavily injured, but her chest armor was drenched in blood, her arms were marred by multiple slash wounds, and even her legs were covered in scratches here and there. Her calf especially had a bloody hole in it, courtesy of a Red Deacon¡¯s attack earlier. It was the main reason she was limping right now. I had to hide my shock. There were two reasons Xinran managed to kill an Archbishop and ten Red Deacons in such a short time: one, she was absolutely stronger than them. Two, she made risky, costly moves so that she could end the battle as quickly as possible. Had she chosen to fight it out slowly, both of us would¡¯ve perished under the templars¡¯ blades already. I turned around and grabbed Xinran¡¯s arm. "Quickly!" "Mn!" We crossed the bridge and continued toward the exit. However, we soon saw hundreds of NPC guards waiting for us at the gate. The good news was that they were only Level 80 or so, so they weren¡¯t as deadly as the templars were. "Xinran, you run ahead while I cover for you!" I charged forward with my sword at the ready. Xinran called out from behind me, "Be careful!" ¡­¡­ Ahead of me, the guard captain commanding the NPC guards pulled out his sword and shouted, "That evil spirit is coming toward us! warriors, let us carry out Princess Karinshan¡¯s order and defend Floating Ice City, our home, from danger! Attack!" "Attack!" As the guards started charging toward me, I raised my sword and activated Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! The unfortunate guards who were caught in the blast immediately screamed in pain. A column of amazing damage numbers started scrolling above their heads. 2985! 3012! 3094! ¡­¡­ Thanks to the Purgatory Sword¡¯s splash damage, that one skill was all it took to delete half of the NPCs¡¯ HP. It was amazing! That being said, low-level NPCs like these were set to be 20 levels above the average level of the city¡¯s players, meaning that on average, the players of Floating Ice City were around Level 60 or so. I was leagues ahead of the normal players, and I was clad from head to toe in top-tier Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment. Naturally, these normal NPC guards were of no threat to me. Of course, high-level NPCs such as the templars could still destroy me easily. I cut down the enemies left and right until my sword suddenly turned cold in my hand, I immediately swung it at a large group of NPCs and opened up a wide path with the Purgatory Slash. While I was keeping the NPCs busy, Xinran managed to slip out through another path before vanishing into the edge of Frost Forest. My quest complete, I hurriedly broke away from the enemies and restored my HP to over 50% with a Rank 6 Health Potion that restored 1500 HP and Tenacity of the Dead. Behind me, the guard captain was still sticking to my back like a gum on my boots and annoying the heck out of me. So, I turned around and fired Ice Ray at him! Puchi! The moment the guard captain was slowed, I immediately ran a couple of steps forward before escaping into the ground! Swhoosh! The aggro I had accrued disappeared when my figure vanished completely into the ground. The guard captain raised his sword and shouted loudly, "Damn you for protecting an evil spirit! You are the shame of Floating Ice City! One day, I will kill you with my own hands!" "Hmph!" I let out a sneer before moving a couple of steps toward Frost Forest just to be safe. Then, I emerged from the ground and ran straight into the forest. "Xinran? Xinran?" I looked around and cried out softly until someone suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me into a bush. It was none other than Xinran herself. "Quiet!" Her complexion was deathly white, and her wounds were incredibly serious. A terrible slash wound on her shoulder was bleeding profusely even now. Hurt by her terrible appearance, I supported her shoulder and said, "How can I help you? Xinran? Tell me, please¡­" Xinran laughed a little. "It¡¯s fine, this is nothing. I had suffered worse wounds than this while I was training in the Netherworld." "The Netherworld?" I sucked in a deep breath and asked her a question that I had cooped up in my head for a long time. "Xinran, who on earth are you? Or is it still a secret?" "Ah?" Xinran looked at me for a long time before bowing her head slightly. "I¡¯m sorry¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­" "It¡¯s fine. Just, who on earth are you?" "I¡­ I¡­" Xinran looked like she wanted to say something, but she suddenly burst into tears and buried her face into my chest. She cried loudly as she said, "That isn¡¯t the fate I wanted, big brother. I don¡¯t want to recall the past, I don¡¯t want to¡­" I caressed her hair gently. "Don¡¯t cry, Xinran. Can you tell me what happened to you?" Xinran nodded with sorrowful eyes. "I¡¯m not Xinran. This body is just a host for my soul. I¡¯m an old soul who has existed for tens of thousands of years, so long that I almost can¡¯t remember my past¡­ When Xinran was three years old, I possessed her body, destroying her soul. Then, I sealed myself and forgot everything. That was why I thought that I was Xinran¡­ Uuuu¡­" Chapter 251: Is That All You Go ¡°Wind Singer?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Xinran nodded lightly. ¡°I lost most of my memories and strength when I sealed myself away. Although I¡¯m doing my best to regain my strength, there is no changing the fact that my memory is fragmented. Not even I know who I was in the Netherworld now.¡± Xinran suddenly clutched her head and let out a groan of pain. Then, she looked up at me and apologized. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry I used you to slip into the holy temple and kill Alves. I made you commit treason.¡± I didn¡¯t say anything because frankly, it was a pretty serious situation. From here on, NPCs from Floating Ice City would attack me on sight, meaning that I wouldn¡¯t be able to enter the city anymore. In fact, depending on how widespread the bounty was, I might even be barred from all tier 1 cities I might find in the future. I wouldn¡¯t be able to resupply inside a city, participate in auctions, and more! Xinran immediately started crying when she saw that I was silent. ¡°I know I did you wrong, but those damned attendants of the gods burned mother on a stake! Uuuu¡­ mother couldn¡¯t even see anymore, there¡¯s no way she could withstand that kind of pain. If I was the one who sinned, then why was mother the one who got punished for it¡­¡± Of course I could understand her anger, and with understanding came forgiveness. I gave her a hug and asked, ¡°What are you going to do after this?¡± Xinran sucked in a deep breath and took out a gemstone. It was none other than the gemstone on top of the archbishop¡¯s scepter. ¡°This is the Devil Suppressing Stone, a treasure of ancient times and the weapon of the gods a long time ago¡­ Do you know of Princess Sophia of the Violet Empire, big brother?¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Xinran looked at the horizon before continuing, ¡°When I escaped from Hell, I swore never to return to that domain where only darkness exists. But as an undead, it is my natural duty to defend the pride of my race, so I would like to deliver this gemstone to Sophia and help her rebuild the Violet Empire. It would be a kingdom made up of neutral undead only; a true kingdom of the undead. It wouldn¡¯t invade humans, but it would defend itself from all those who wish to trample on its right to live on in this world.¡± I nodded. ¡°Very well, let us head to the Blood Dance Legion¡¯s encampment right now!¡± "No!" But Xinran grabbed my arm and blinked at the sky. "We need to wait just a bit longer. I could sense a powerful aura rushing toward us, and I¡¯m too injured to fight against it." "Mn." I was just done talking when a dragon¡¯s roar resounded throughout the sky. Suddenly, a huge red dragon emerged from the distance at a low altitude, a warrior in red armor and with a dragonspear atop. He was scanning every inch of the ground from his vantage point! That was what was written in the Heavenblessed chronicles at least. Xinran nodded before replying, "That¡¯s right. The Dragon Domain was destroyed before year 8125, and that incident marked the beginning of the Heavenblessed calendar. Almost ten thousand years had passed since that day. Since Dragon Speaker Binglan had sealed herself in ice in the vast, frigid mountains at the edge of the continent, no one was able to get close to her. Left without a leader, the Dragon Knights decided to spread out and entrench themselves in a human empire of their choice. It is incredibly expensive to raise a dragon, so naturally only the rich empires could afford to keep them around. From what I know, there are more than 10 Dragon Knights in Floating Ice City. Right now, I¡¯m not strong enough to fight any of them." I nodded understandingly before smiling at her. "I don¡¯t think I¡¯m a match for them either¡­" Xinran burst into a giggle. "It¡¯s fine, big brother. You may not be very powerful right now, but I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll surpass them in the future!" "Mn!" After that, I waited until the Dragon Knight was gone before I lent Xinran an arm and started moving again. The Blood Dance Legion wasn¡¯t too far away from where we were, but it was still almost an hour journey. It was going to be an excruciating one, because I could already see Gods of Destruction players scouring the forest in search for me. Every team was at least fifty men strong, they clearly knew they needed vastly superior numbers to kill me. I clenched my teeth and swore under my breath, "Fuck, what a bastard! I should¡¯ve known that Dominating Heaven Blade would hit a man when he¡¯s down!" The guild wasn¡¯t the biggest threat though. The real threat was the cavalry that just blazed past us outside of Frost Forest, the Black Cavalry Legion led by Commander Stark. They were about a hundred man strong, and they were all Level 85 elite bosses. Both of us would be in grave danger if we were to stumble onto them, so we absolutely had to avoid the open plains at all costs. I highly doubted that Xinran could help me the way she was right now, not to mention that this was probably an escort quest. Right now, my job was to deliver Xinran safely to the Blood Dance Legion encampment. I decided to stick with Blood Dance Legion since Floating Ice City had decided to ditch me. Both Princess Sophia and Shadow Dancer Xue Wei were incredibly powerful NPCs, and Blood Dance Legion might even have their own dark Dragon Knights, meaning that they might not necessarily be inferior to Floating Ice City. At any rate, if I didn¡¯t find myself a new home as soon as possible, the only fate for me was death. We ran through the forest while avoiding our pursuers. If Xinran wasn¡¯t so grievously injured, we would¡¯ve been able to make better time. ¡­¡­ More than half an hour later, we finally reached the edge of Eternal Song Forest. I sucked in a deep breath. Finally, the Blood Dance Legion¡¯s encampment was in sight. Unfortunately, trouble chose this exact moment to hit us! A group of Gods of Destruction players appeared at the distance, and the leader of the party was none other than my old enemy, Dominating Warrior God. Not only was he a skillful, well-armed and lustful player, he was the only person in the entire Floating Ice City who would try to woo the Fruit Knife Goddess. Every day, he would post a confession thread on the forums in hopes of melting the icy heart of Lin Yixin one day, not knowing that the girl was too busy fooling around with Sun Qingqing to even check the forums. "Hahaha, talk about windfall!" It was too late to hide since Dominating Warrior God already saw me. He laughed while pointing his sword at me. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, I¡¯m finally going to wet my blade with your blood! So, how does it feel to be wanted by the system itself? You think you¡¯re great just because you managed to break out of Floating Ice City and escape, don¡¯t you? Sure, that is an achievement few people will ever achieve, but you¡¯re still going to die in my hands today!" I sneered, pulled out the Purgatory Sword and walked toward them. If they want to fight, then a fight is what they¡¯ll get. Xinran stood behind me but didn¡¯t move. It was possible that she was too weakened to help me even if she wanted to. A vulgar-looking assassin walked up to Dominating Warrior God at this moment and said, "Brother, I heard that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy know each other in real life. They even have meals together all the time. Do you think he might have gotten one over on you?" "What?!" Dominating Warrior God pulled out his sword and shouted angrily at me, "How dare you touch my woman!" I burst into a laugh. "Geez, can you be any more stupid than this? Anyway, if you wanna fight, then cut the bullshit and fight me already!" "You are courting death!" Dominating Warrior God shouted, "Bards, buff me now!" Swhoosh swhoosh! Divine Valor and Bloody Battle later, both his Attack and Defense were increased by 20%. Besides that, a high-level tactician also buffed him with Sprint, a general skill that buffed a player¡¯s movement speed by 5%. It was very useful in PvP. Wait a second. Is Dominating Warrior God planning to fight me alone? Deeply amused, I pointed my sword at him and said, "Alright, come at me. Stop wasting my precious time!" "Heh!" Emboldened by the buffs, Dominating Warrior God raised his sword and activated Charge. Well, most high-level warriors had gotten the skill one way or another, and Dominating Warrior God was a core player of Gods of Destruction. I should¡¯ve expected that he would have this skill by now. I responded immediately with Earth Escape! Swhoosh! My timing was perfect. I dissolved into several wisps of bloody light and slipped into the ground just before Dominating Warrior God could hit me, resulting in a MISS. Charge rooted a player for 1 second upon reaching the destination and during this time I had already burst out of the earth and hit him with Ice Ray! However, Dominating Warrior God abruptly curled in on himself and put his sword in front of him. Is this¡­ Guard? Clang! Our two swords clashed and sent sparks all over the place. He actually successfully guarded my skill and reduced the damage taken to just 112. It looked like he was getting better and better! "Haha, die!" Dominating Warrior God launched a counterattack immediately. Seeing that his blade was wrapped in flames, it had to be the Blaze skill! I can¡¯t allow myself to take the full damage no matter what! Afraid to take a risk, I raised the Purgatory Sword and used Guard myself! Clang! 1! Very good, it was such a successful Guard that the attack only dealt 1 damage to me! Stunned but not fazed, Dominating Warrior God immediately followed up with a basic attack. I withdrew the stance and retaliated with a swing of my own, parrying the sword away. Both of us took a step backward after the clash of blades. But I was faster than Dominating Warrior God, and I was able to launch an attack before he could! Dominating Warrior God jumped backward and swung his sword in a half-arc. He actually managed to parry my counterattack as well! Behind him, all 49 Gods of Destruction players were stunned by the sight in front of them. No one thought that our battle would be this fierce, or that neither side would lose less than 200 HP despite having exchanged a few blows. It was a level of skill beyond their imagination, level they wouldn¡¯t believe until they saw it with their own eyes. Of course, Dominating Warrior God wasn¡¯t actually that skilled. I just couldn¡¯t concentrate fully because I was worried about Xinran, and he was stronger than usual because of his buffs. "Haha, is that all you got, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? Again, again!" Dominating Warrior God¡¯s morale was sky-high as he thought he was able to fight on par with me. I smiled. "You want to die?" Swhoosh! My sword glowed with the light of Pardon! Wary, Dominating Warrior God hurriedly backed away and assumed a defensive stance again! Hmph, Guard again? I immediately followed up with Crushing Blow! Unable to react in time, Dominating Warrior God could do nothing but suffer my counterattack in shock! MISS! 5192! ¡­¡­ Chapter 252: One Man Army "Fuck, he killed our boss! Attack! Kill him now!" A Gods of Destruction archer shouted on top of his lungs and rushed me with a party of elite players. Oh well. I wasn¡¯t surprised because I knew that they were going to try and roll me over with numbers one way or another. If I managed to survive this, we should be able to reach the Blood Dance Legion encampment. Swhoosh! The Purgatory Sword was bathed in bloody light. At Rank 8, Undead Energy increased my damage dealt to living targets by 40%, and it was a useful tool that I had been relying on since the start of the game! My blade shivered a little as boundless undead energy circulated through it. I charged forward and swung it horizontally in front of me, causing 8 sword energies to appear in the air and rain down on my enemies in an arc. Thousand Mirage Slash had a range of 8 yards or so, so tens of Gods of Destruction players were caught in the blast! Boom! The skill instantly annihilated all the players who were caught in the blast. Even the melee fighters whose classes should prevent them from being one-shot died because of the following splash damage. Screams filled the air for a time. The ground was covered in holes, and countless potions and items littered the forest floor in the aftermath. My greatest trump card went into cooldown just like that. Technically speaking, Purple Dragon Howl was stronger, but its cooldown was way longer than Thousand Mirage Slash. The battle would be long over before I got to use it again. I pounced toward the group and swung my sword like lightning. An Ice Ray and a basic attack later, two archers collapsed with a gaping hole in their chest. I wasn¡¯t afraid of powerful warriors, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for long-range attackers, especially those with long-range crowd control skills that kept me from being able to do what I could do. For example, Archer¡¯s Devil Piercing Arrow ignored 50% of my Defense, and magic damage was my bane! Crack crack! That one dash cost me seven or eight slash wounds to the arm. Clearly, these players were no small fries. Unfortunately for them, I only lost 500 HP or less because none of them was strong enough to pierce my Defense. Some of them even dealt 20 or so damage only, a pathetic number to say the least. "Charge him!" Three warriors activated Charge in succession and dashed toward me like lightning. It would be bad if I got chain-stunned by the enemy, even though I was Level 85 and they were Level 68. The huge level gap between us meant that the chance of me getting stunned was only 50% or so, but I still didn¡¯t want to take any chances, there were seven or eight Ice Dragon Howls already heading my way. No one could survive such a magical bombardment, no matter how strong they were. Rustle rustle... "Ah?!" The warrior was completely confused when the powerful strike caused him to veer off course. Even better, he stopped in front of his two allies and caused their Charge to cancel on its own! MISS! MISS! Very good, the chain stun crisis was overcome just like that! But it wasn¡¯t without a cost. Four Ice Dragon Howls landed on top of my head at the same time and dealt a number of damage¡ª 278! 312! 347! 943! That wasn¡¯t good. One of these mages had a high enough level that he almost deleted a thousand HP from my health bar. He had to die if I were to survive this encounter! I opened my palm and conjured a magical formation. "Dark Wasp!" The Dark Wasp flew out of the hexagram formation like a loosed arrow and charged straight toward a Level 75 mage called Dominating Soul, the one who had done the most damage out of his fellow mages. I couldn¡¯t allow him to keep blasting away at me! I took out a Rank 6 Health Potion and drank it. At the same time, I moved to the right side of the enemy party and attacked again. The archers tried to kite me, but unfortunately for them I had locked onto the farthest archer from me and activated Charge. I reached him in an instant and plunged my sword into his body! Puchi! 3128! After the successful kill, I spun around elegantly slashed the second archer across the throat, dealing 2456 damage and one-shot him as well. Still not pausing to catch my breath, I moved smoothly to the back of the third archer and penetrated his chest with Desperate Gambit! I was in the zone after killing three high-level archers in a row. I was able to kill another four archers and five mages, all the while staying ahead of the enemy warriors and pets who were trying to catch me with good movement. Tenacity of the Dead allowed me to restore a huge chunk of my HP instantly, Ghost Deity Armor was a solid skill that increased my Defense drastically, and Wild Roar gave me extra 15% attack power. I was like a god of death drilling holes into the 50-man party from every direction! 1198! My body turned cold again as an Ice Dragon Howl struck me and put me in the red. Dominating Soul was attacking me again after killing my Dark Wasp, and his powerful spell had an immediate effect on the battle! I really needed to deal with him as soon as possible! "Gulp!" +2500! I downed a Rank 8 Health Potion, making my heart ache. There was no replenishing this precious potion until Lin Yixin could produce more! I stabbed an assassin right through the chest while he was halfway unleashing his skill, Cold Blade. His level was too low, and his technique too inferior. I had seen through his stealth even before he got close to me. It was like he was asking me to be put out of his misery! Suddenly, a cold chill entered my grip from the Purgatory Sword. Finally, I had triggered the weapon¡¯s Outstanding property! Rustle rustle... I adjusted my posture on a grassy land and swung out my sword. The Purgatory Slash flew straight toward my enemy! Boom! The group of melee players charging toward me collapsed to the ground. The Purgatory Slash was even stronger than the Thousand Mirage Slash, so there was no chance they were going to survive the attack. Luo River God of the Capital was able to wipe the floor with the entire Flower Room because she had a 2-star Outstanding Purgatory Scepter, so it shouldn¡¯t be impossible for me to do the same with this 50-man party using my 3-star Outstanding Purgatory Sword! The reason I didn¡¯t say that it was a sure thing was because as a melee class, I barely had any AoE skills at all. Unlike mages, I couldn¡¯t destroy entire armies with the flick of a hand. The 50-man party was reduced to less than 10 after the Purgatory Slash, but they still hadn¡¯t given up the assault. It was because I was around half health right now, and it would be some time before I could drink a potion again. This was their one and only shot left to kill me. Dominating Soul glared at me and licked his lips before shouting, "Don¡¯t stop, brothers! So what if he¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? A CGL Hall of Famer he may be, he is just as human as you and I! He¡¯s not an actual legend, and he¡¯ll still get hurt if he eats an Ice Dragon Howl to the face! And look, the sword he¡¯s wielding is most likely the number one weapon on the Weapon Ranking of the China server, the Purgatory Sword! If we kill him and loot the sword, we can sell it for at least 5 million or more! You could buy a villa with that kind of money! If you kill the legendary Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you¡¯ll get all the women and gold you can possibly want in your life! This is the battle to fight if you wish to spread your name through the entire world!" I was surprised. This guy sure knows how to uplift a man¡¯s spirit! Swhoosh! The corner of my lips turned up slightly as I stared at them. "Come at me then, I dare you. The Purgatory Sword is yours to take if you opportunistic bastards can kill me." "Attack!" The last few warriors of the party activated Charge under Dominating Soul¡¯s command! I checked my status and noted that I was currently sitting at 1875 HP. Dominating Soul could hit me for 1000 with his Ice Dragon Howl, and if the spell turned out to be a critical hit he could one-shot me. Worse, there were a couple of lousy archers peppering me with arrows from a distance. It was honestly almost too much even for me. I glanced sideways and saw Xinran leaning against a bamboo tree with her mouth slightly agape. She was staring at the sky blankly, and her chest wound was still bleeding profusely. Shit, she was still feeling the effects of Archbishop Alvis¡¯s holy spell. There was no way she could help me when she looked like she was on the brink of death herself. I had no one but myself to rely on in this battle. Besides that, I couldn¡¯t afford to be delayed here any longer. Dominating Soul must¡¯ve sent my coordinates to Dominating Heaven Blade already, and this whole place would be swarmed by thousands of players in less than 10 minutes. It would be the end for me if that happened. I could afford to lose 10 levels, but not the Purgatory Sword, the Purgatory Legguards, or both. I would literally have suicidal thoughts if that happened! I locked onto Dominating Soul and activated my own Charge! Whoosh! My figure rushed toward Dominating Soul like a shadow. However, he was already backing away even before I activated the skill, seemingly predicting that I would target him this time. The Charge missed completely as a result but I was so fast that I was able to get close to him for an instant. The moment my Charge reached the end, I immediately thrust the Purgatory Sword forward and activated Desperate Gambit! MISS! The Magic Shield absorbed all the damage at the cost of its existence. Dominating Soul wouldn¡¯t be able to summon another Magic Shield during the next few seconds! I checked the skill list and got excited by what I saw! I raised the Purgatory Sword again, locked onto the escaping Dominating Soul and unleashed Thousand Mirage Slash! 2437! Dominating Soul let out a muffled groan before collapsing to the ground. Unfortunately, he only dropped a floor of potions and nothing else. Considering how much damage he could do to me, there was a high likelihood that any equipment he dropped would be top-tier! Chapter 253: Shadow Dancer Elite Cavalry Crack! The last player died with a painful groan as my sword tore through his flesh, spurting a fountain of blood. Not one of them tried to beg for mercy or escape. This alone proved that Gods of Destruction was a respectable opponent, or at least this party was. I sheathed my Purgatory Sword and ran back to Xinran. She was groaning a little when I reached her; her wounds were starting to deteriorate. Archbishop Alves''s holy spell was so terrifying that it was actually damaging her body from the inside! My heart ached when I saw black blood pouring out of her wounds. I lifted her off the ground and said, ¡°Just hold on a little longer, we¡¯re almost at Princess Sophia¡¯s encampment! I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll have a way to save you!¡± Xinran was incredibly weak. She pressed her cheeks against my neck as a hot tear slid down her cheek. I looked at the sky and saw that it was cloudy, lightning bolts striking down from time to time. Was this what they call divine judgment? Was the crying girl in my arms truly a devil? Who gave Alves the right to enact divine judgment upon others, and who gave him the right to sentence another person to death? Terrible anger rose from the bottom of my heart. This world was filled with injustice from the start, and there was oppression and bullying wherever you looked. Only a kindergartener would believe that the world was a place where everyone was equal to one another. God wouldn¡¯t save you when you were facing injustice and bullying. The only way you could save yourself was to cut apart the darkness with your sword and bring light to your world once more! As I stared at Xinran, I was starting to understand why she had betrayed the Netherworld. She was unstoppable from the moment she found something that was worth protecting with her life. ¡°Big brother, I¡¯m scared¡­¡± Xinran suddenly let out a sob and said, ¡°I just want to be Xinran, that¡¯s all. I¡­ I don¡¯t want to be ¡®Wind Singer¡¯, I don¡¯t want to kill people, and I don¡¯t want any harm to come to those who are close to me¡­¡± I nodded and replied gently, ¡°Sleep and leave the rest to me, Xinran¡­ I promise you that everything will be okay, alright?¡± Xinran closed her eyes as she burst into tears. Ding~! System Notice: You have made new progress in your SSS-rank quest [Promise]. Your relationship with Wind Singer Xinran has improved! ¡­¡­ I barely noticed the system notice as I held Xinran tight and resumed my run. If I didn¡¯t leave this place as soon as possible, Dominating Heaven Blade was sure to show up with his band of elites. When that happened, not even wings could save me from destruction. Beep! It was at this moment I received a message from Lin Yixin: ¡°Hey, how are you doing? Gods of Destruction are hunting for you everywhere. What do you want me to do?¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Lin Yixin fell silent after that. I didn¡¯t know what she was planning, but I wouldn¡¯t be surprised by anything she did starting this moment. She was no ordinary girl, and I had full confidence in her ability to astound me. ¡­¡­ Nighttime soon arrived, and Eternal Song Forest became shrouded in darkness. I was still running across the dewy forest, but this time with growing anxiety. Xinran¡¯s injuries were getting worse by the minute, and it was getting to the point where she was starting to turn delirious. If she didn¡¯t seal away most of her power, she wouldn¡¯t be afraid of a mere holy spell, right? Sigh. Suddenly, the world opened up in front of me, and I could hear the neighs of warhorses in the distance. Did we finally reach Blood Dance Legion¡¯s camp? Excited, I burst into the clearing with my bloody cape flapping behind me. However, my heart quickly sank like a rock. A large group of players was standing not far ahead of me. They were players, and they all wore the same symbol on their shoulder. It was Gods of Destruction, and there were almost a hundred of them! ¡­¡­ To say I was flabbergasted would be an understatement. Fuck, who would¡¯ve thought that I would walk right into an ambush one day? Escaping was impossible considering how many enemy archers and mages there were, not to mention that I was moving much slower than normal because I was carrying Xinran. However, there was no way in hell I was leaving her behind and escaping myself either. Shiing! Dominating Knight God walked out of the formation and pulled out his sword. Then, he shouted at me, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you had fun killing our people earlier, didn¡¯t you? Do you really think that we are toys you can fool around however you like? Fuck you! Your death will wash away the shame we suffered today!" I put Xinran down at the edge of the plain. Then, I pulled out the Purgatory Sword and smiled fearlessly. "If it¡¯s a war you want, then it¡¯s a war you¡¯ll get. I¡¯m not going down without a fight!" A muscle on Dominating Knight God¡¯s face twitched. "Are you really going to declare war on us? Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls versus Gods of Destruction?" "Why not?" I said casually with cold eyes. "Now fight me already. I¡¯m used to dealing with my problems with my fists anyway!" "Fuck, what arrogance!" Dominating Knight God raised his sword and shouted, "Brothers, it is time to wipe out the first player on the Heavenly Ranking! He has AoE skills, so spread out and surround him in a circle! mages and archers, do not clump into groups as well! Mages, spam your Ice Dragon Howl! Archers, don¡¯t waste your MP except on Devil Piercing Arrows! Warriors, I want you to surround him from twelve different directions and block his retreat completely! Today will be the day Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is wiped from Floating Ice City!" I had to hide my surprise. Dominating Knight God turned out to be smarter and bolder than Dominating Warrior God. At the very least, he was leagues ahead of Dominating Warrior God in terms of tactics. People like him had always been and would always be incredibly difficult to deal with! My gaze swept across the crowd calmly while my blade glowed faintly with bloody energy. A 1vs100 battle was about to begin. I was free of hesitation because I knew that I was going to lose no matter what. It was always going to be a fool¡¯s errand to challenge a hundred-man party alone, although I would have had a good chance to win if I still had Purple Dragon Howl. The skill was designed specifically for situations like this, and if the enemy players chose to pack themselves closely in one place I could even kill a hundred of them in one go. Unfortunately, I had already used that skill several hours ago at the Holy Temple, so that was that. ¡­¡­ The blades gleamed, and the wind howled. Suddenly, the silence was shattered by the sound of thundering hooves. A cavalry had burst into the opening from a corner of the forest, and they were all undead units. Not only were the undead knights and warhorses armed to the teeth, there were at least a thousand of these elites. The symbol of the Blood Dance Legion glowed in the night like beautiful violets. The leader of the cavalry unit was a beautiful girl wielding a bloody bow. Unlike the soldiers she led, she was riding on top of a huge and heavily-armored skeletal battle wolf that let out a shrill howl and charged toward me under the girl¡¯s order! I recognized the face of the female rider. I couldn¡¯t help but blurt out, "Xue Wei?" "Ah? It¡¯s you?" Xue Wei exclaimed in shock, "Why are you here?" I shook my head. "It¡¯s a long story. Why are you here?" Xue Wei answered with a frown, "The scouts reported a powerful human cavalry making their way through Eternal Song Forest. I was worried that it might be a preemptive attack from Floating Ice City, so I brought my elite cavalry here to protect our base. I wasn¡¯t expecting to meet you here, and¡­" Xue Wei glanced at the Gods of Destruction party before smiling. "Am I mistaken, or are you in trouble?" I nodded and looked back at Xinran. To my surprise, she was covering her wounded chest with one hand and pointing at the Gods of Destruction party with the other hand. She ordered, "Xue Wei, kill these people now!" "Ah?!" Xue Wei¡¯s mouth fell open in shock. "La¡­ Lady Wind Singer? Heavens, I didn¡¯t realize that you were here as well!" Xue Wei immediately raised her arm and growled, "Cavalry, charge!" The undead cavalry immediately charged toward Gods of Destruction as ordered. "Fuck, what the hell is going on?" Dominating Knight God was flabbergasted. He had no idea what was going on. Normally, NPCs wouldn¡¯t attack players, let alone massacre them without provocation. However, Gods of Destruction had unwittingly injected themselves into the conflict between two factions, so this battle could only end in a tragedy for them. Still, their fate was better than mine. I had to escape Floating Ice City with every NPC and player in the world chasing behind my back because I had betrayed the human kingdom for Xinran. However, my opinion immediately changed when I saw what happened to the Gods of Destruction party. Yeah, they are definitely worse off compared to me. The undead cavalry consisted entirely of Level 90 elite mobs, the subordinates of Shadow Dancer Xue Wei herself. They were probably on par with the templars of the Holy Temple. The battle was completely one-sided. Forget defending themselves, they couldn¡¯t even block the NPCs¡¯ initial charge. The thousand-man army of Level 90 elite NPCs tore through their defense line like a tsunami breaking through the dam, or a fire consuming the forest whole! The battle was over in the matter of minutes. All that was left on the ground was potions and equipment. I was going to loot it all, but before Xue Wei¡¯s knights even got to slow down, a new army suddenly emerged from the distance. It was none other than the Black Cavalry Legion led by Commander Stark himself! "Formation!" Xue Wei cried out as her elite cavalry rushed to obey her command. The undead knights pulled out their blades and quickly fell into an assault formation. At the forefront, Stark raised his sword high into the air and kept galloping until he and Xue Wei¡¯s cavalry were just a hundred meters away from each other. He abruptly came to a stop and ordered, "Stop!" Xue Wei urged her skeletal battle wolf forward before raising her own bow. She said angrily, "Blood Dance Legion and Floating Ice City have always minded their own business until tonight. Why are you here, you black-faced man?" Stark¡¯s surprise lasted only for an instant before he pointed at Xinran and me angrily. "These two killed Archbishop Alves, so they are the sworn enemies of Floating Ice City! I won¡¯t kill you because you don¡¯t belong to the Night Creatures¡¯ faction, little girl, but if you don¡¯t move aside now I swear the Black Cavalry will flatten your camp tonight!" "The arrogance!" Xue Wei raised her arm and cried, "Shadow Dancer Elite Cavalry, prepare for battle!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a draconic roar shook everyone¡¯s ear drums. I looked up and immediately saw a huge red dragon circling the sky! Chapter 254: Clash Stark couldn¡¯t help but laugh when he saw the Dragon Knight. He raised his arm and shouted, ¡°Prepare to engage, Harell! Our friend from the Blood Dance Legion is eager to taste the strength of the five great Dragon Knights of Floating Ice City!¡± In the sky, the Dragon Knight replied with a respectful smile, ¡°Yes, my lord. For the glory of the kingdom!¡± The fire dragon let out an earthshaking roar and raised its head. I could see jets of fiery breaths exiting his mouth. It was clearly a high-level dragon that could unleash its breath, and it didn¡¯t take a genius to imagine how much damage it could cause to a ground army. It wasn¡¯t a gamble the Blood Dance Legion could take. ¡­¡­ Xue Wei narrowed her eyes into chilly slits. ¡°Harell the Fire Dragon Knight, one of the five great Dragon Knights of Floating Ice City? Hmph, I wasn¡¯t expecting to see your true face!¡± Harell raised his dragonspear and smiled. ¡°Oh, this is just the start of your ¡®pleasant surprises¡¯. Teno, Pias, Bruce and Tia will also be arriving very soon. Speaking of which, that is the girl who killed the archbishop, right? Hmph! She must die even if she¡¯s the legendary Wind Singer herself!¡± Xue Wei smiled. ¡°Is that so? Then please show me your power, Dragon Knight, assuming that you haven¡¯t lost it all after you lost your instinct and became a pet of the nobles! You¡¯d better not disappoint me!¡± She successfully taunted Harell into a rage. ¡°Pet? Pui! We¡¯ve only left the Dragon Domain and returned to our homes to protect the land of humans! How does that make us pets of the nobles?¡± Xue Wei drew an arrow from behind a back. It was an arrow that looked as illusory as a phantom. Still sitting on top of her battle wolf, she aimed it at Harell the Fire Dragon Knight and started focusing her dark powers onto the arrow. Anyone could see that it was a powerful skill from the special visual effects alone! Furious, Harell urged his dragon to charge Xue Wei while raising his own spear. ¡°Die in your futile struggle, undead!¡± ¡°Break!¡± Harell fired a deadly beam from his dragonspear at the same moment Xue Wei let go of the nock of the arrow. The beam struck her battle wolf squarely in the head, eliciting a painful howl from the creature and causing it to leap backward in pain. That one attack was all it took for the Dragon Knight to deal a severe blow to her mount. At the same time, Xue Wei¡¯s arrow sank into the fire dragon¡¯s mandible and successfully tore a hole in it despite the toughness of its dragon scales. When red scorching blood dripped from the wound and fell to the ground, the grass it landed on immediately burst into flames. As it turned out, the fire dragon literally had fire circulating inside its body, as even its blood was hot enough to burn. What a terrifying creature! Xue Wei urged the battle wolf to turn around the moment she realized that the fight wasn¡¯t going her way. ¡°Quickly!¡± ¡°Roar!¡± Her mount growled in acknowledgement and slipped into the forest in no time. ¡°Planning to escape? Do you really think it¡¯s going to be that easy?¡± Harell urged his own mount to chase after Xue Wei. As he hovered above the forest and gathered another powerful beam at the tip of his dragonspear to strike down Xue Wei, something unexpected happened. Rustle rustle... Countless shadows suddenly shuffled beneath the leaves. They were all wearing form-fitting leather armor, and they all had long hair that reached the shoulders just like Xue Wei. In fact, their gorgeous purple eyes marked them all as succubi. It was a trap! An entire squad of succubi archers had been lying in wait inside the forest all this time, and their bows were already fully drawn and ready to be let loose! Standing behind the archers, Xue Wei pulled out her sword and shouted, ¡°Shining Archers, loose!¡± Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! It looked as though a swarm of locusts was loosed at the Fire Dragon Knight and his dragon. Succubi were natural-born archers, so almost all of their arrows hit their target perfectly. Although they failed to penetrate its armor, the powerful impact still elicited a painful howl from the dragon! ¡°Roar roar¡­¡± Not only that, the powerful volley actually caused the dragon to lose its balance and crash into the forest. It was able to flap its wings and get back to its feet almost immediately, however. It was a dragon after all. ¡°Pui¡­¡± Harell spat out the grass in his mouth before asking angrily, ¡°Are you taunting me, Xue Wei?¡± Xue Wei pointed her sword at him with a smile. ¡°Try and kill me if you can. My Shining Archers may not be strong enough to shoot through a dragon¡¯s armor, but you¡¯re not a dragon, are you?¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± Harell let out a cold snort but didn¡¯t deny it. It was because he knew that what she said was true. Dragon Knights heavily relied on their dragons to fight, and without one they were at most a high-level foot soldier that even I could engage directly. Of course, this Fire Dragon Knight¡¯s level was far higher than mine, so I was no match for him even if he was without his dragon. ¡­¡­ The Fire Dragon Knight¡¯s unexpected fall enraged Stark, the commander of the Black Cavalry greatly. He immediately raised his sword and shouted, ¡°Knights, prepare to charge!¡± The tension immediately shot up several degrees as both sides started assuming positions and formations under their commanders¡¯ orders. It looked like a big battle was about to break out at any moment! It was at this moment a beautiful female warrior with a white cape suddenly appeared at the distance on a white horse. After she got off her mount, she gripped her sword and walked over with a face devoid of expression. Shocked by the woman¡¯s arrival, Stark rolled down his own mount and dropped to one knee immediately. ¡°Your Majesty, you didn¡¯t need to come yourself!¡± That¡¯s right, the newcomer was none other than Princess Karinshan herself. Right now, she was worshipped like a god in Floating Ice City because she was the reason the kingdom was still standing to this day! ¡°What are you doing here, Stark?¡± Karinshan asked with a small frown. Stark replied, ¡°Your Majesty, that girl over there slipped into the Holy Temple and killed Archbishop Alves. Not only that, she even took away the Devil Suppressing Gemstone from the Soul Suppressing Scepter. That is why my troops and I are trying to hunt her down and take back the gemstone. However, we weren¡¯t expecting Xue Wei of the Blood Dance Legion to interrupt our pursuit!¡± Karinshan pressed her lips together before glancing at Xinran and me. A bit of hesitation crept into her features before she asked, ¡°That girl killed Archbishop Alves?¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct, Your Majesty!¡± Stark implored passionately. ¡°From what I gathered, that girl is no normal human being. She is very likely an evil spirit who had escaped from the cracks of hell. Not only that, the templars of the Holy Temple claimed that she could be a sovereign of the Devil Domain. We need to eliminate her as soon as possible!¡± But Karinshan rejected his request calmly, ¡°Blood Dance Legion has never interfered with our business, and vice versa. I see no need for us to wage war against one another!¡± She then walked past Stark and grabbed the hilt of her sword. Exuding natural pressure, she asked, ¡°Which one of you is Xue Wei?¡± Shadow Dancer Xue Wei urged her mount out into the open before dropping to the ground. Gripping her own bow, she replied, ¡°I am. Are you¡­ the legendary princess of Floating Ice City, Karinshan?¡± Karinshan nodded before asking her a question, ¡°What is the goal of the Blood Dance Legion?¡± Although Xue Wei was caught off-guard by the question, she quickly responded, ¡°Our goal is to rebuild the Violet Empire, protect the dignity of the undead and push against the invasion of the Night Creatures!¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Karinshan smiled. ¡°It sounds like we share the same goal then. In that case, shall we work together to defend the southeastern lands of Heavenblessed Continent and shatter the destructive power of the Night Creatures?¡± ¡°You are wise, Your Majesty!¡± Xue Wei smiled. ¡°As for Xinran¡¯s matter, I hope that you will make a righteous decision, Your Majesty!¡± Karinshan nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve more or less investigated the ins and outs of the incident. Archbishop Alves has killed countless civilians in the past decade or so to absorb the power of faith in their souls. I don¡¯t fault Xinran for killing him!¡± ¡°I see. Thank you, Your Majesty!¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome. By the way, please send my greetings to Princess Sophia when you return. Also, I would like to meet her personally on a future date so that we may discuss how to push back the Night Creatures together!¡± ¡°Understood. I promise to bring your message to the princess!¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡­¡­ When Karinshan turned away, a hint of killing intent flashed behind her eyes. Whatever the outcome of the negotiation, it didn¡¯t change the fact that Xinran had killed her archbishop and undermined the royal authority of Floating Ice City. She was only compromising because of the greater good; she knew that only one of the two factions would be left standing if they were to wage war against each other now! ¡°Your Majesty, we cannot let this go like this!¡± Stark pleaded angrily. Karinshan¡¯s response was a harsh rebuke. ¡°Are you going to refuse my order, Stark? Withdraw your troops and return to your fortress now, or you will be punished by the laws of the empire!¡± ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡± Forcing himself to swallow his anger and indignity, Stark turned his back on us and ordered, ¡°Black Cavalry Legion, retreat!¡± ¡­¡­ The army of Floating Ice City retreated like tidewater, but Karinshan herself didn¡¯t leave immediately. Instead, she walked up to me and Xinran before smiling at me. ¡°I apologize for what happened to you; this is all just a misunderstanding. Floating Ice City needs a hero like you, and I hope you won¡¯t blame Stark for what he did. He acted like this because Archbishop Alves had taught him several martial techniques a long time ago.¡± She then stared at me for a while before continuing, ¡°I still believe that the people who had the courage to enter my grave and wake me from slumber are good and trustworthy!¡± I nodded and thanked her. ¡°Thank you for overlooking my moment of rashness, princess!¡± ¡°Hehe!¡± Karinshan nodded with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s okay. Floating Ice City is still your home!¡± Then, she walked up to me and put her hand on my shoulder. She declared, ¡°I, Karinshan, officially pardon you from your crimes!¡± Ding~! System Announcement: The bounty on the player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± has been officially canceled! ¡­¡­ Haha, this is amazing! It was just a false alarm after all! Princess Karinshan is such a bro! After that, Princess Karinshan went back on her horse and galloped away, the elite cavalry of Floating Ice City following closely behind her. ¡­¡­ Staring at Princess Karinshan¡¯s shrinking back, Xue Wei commented indifferently, ¡°What a character. Her bravery and intelligence rival that of Princess Sophia. It looks like it¡¯s only a matter of time before Floating Ice City rises to power!¡± After that, she turned toward Xinran and asked concernedly, ¡°Lady Wind Singer, are you okay?¡± Xinran shook her head and said weakly, ¡°I¡¯m fine!¡± I immediately walked up to them both and supported Xinran. ¡°Xue Wei, let¡¯s head back to the camp and find a doctor for her right away!¡± Chapter 255: Frost Snowball Edge of Eternal Song Forest, Blood Dance Legion Camp. We all rushed into the camp. In my arms, Xinran¡¯s face was deathly white, and her breathing was incredibly weak at this point. ¡°Your Majesty, Your Majesty!¡± Xue Wei shouted as she ran toward the commander tent. A beautiful succubus warrior opened the tent flap and walked out, and it was none other than Princess Sophia herself, the supreme commander of the Blood Dance Legion. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Xue Wei?¡± Sophia asked with a frown. ¡°Your Majesty, look!¡± ¡°She¡¯s¡­¡± Sophia stared at the unconscious Xinran for a while before shuddering. ¡°Heavens! I¡¯ve heard of her legend while I was honing myself in the Netherworld. She¡¯s Lady Wind Singer in the flesh¡­¡± After that, Sophia actually dropped to one knee in front of me. ¡°My lady?¡± she asked softly. I hurriedly replied, ¡°Xinran was struck by Alvis¡¯s holy spell, and her life is in grave danger right now. Can we please treat her immediately, Your Majesty? I¡¯m worried that it¡¯ll be too late if we delay any longer!¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Stunned, Sophia hurriedly turned around and ordered, ¡°Guards, tell the great witch doctor to come over immediately!¡± ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡± The guard climbed up a skeletal warhorse and rode away. Sophia allowed me to enter her tent and put Xinran on top of a bamboo bed. A short while later, an elderly undead in magician robes walked in, put a hand above Xinran¡¯s forehead and summoned his magic. A few seconds later, the glow ended and he opened his eyes again. ¡°Your Majesty, there is an extremely powerful seal inside Lady Wind Singer¡¯s body. Not only did the holy spell reinforce the seal, it severely burned her insides. I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t do anything about this holy energy!¡± ¡°What? What do you mean ¡®I¡¯m sorry¡¯?!¡± I grabbed the front of his robe, put my sword to his throat and shouted angrily, ¡°If you let her die I¡¯ll dismantle your bones myself!¡± The great witch doctor let out a helpless sigh. ¡°Young warrior, I want to save Lady Wind Singer as much as you do, but I don¡¯t have the most critical ingredient that is necessary to save her life, the Frost Snowball. If someone could retrieve it, I could use its petals to dispel the damage done by the holy spell.¡± My eyes lit up. ¡°Oh? The Frost Snowball you say? Where is it? I¡¯ll go find it right away!¡± The great witch doctor nodded. ¡°Princess Sophia should know where it is!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± She then looked at me and said, ¡°Young warrior, the Frost Snowball can be found at the icy plains to the north of Floating Ice City. There, you will find a ten-thousand-year-old Frost Snowball in a valley called Hundred Flower Valley. It is a dangerous place where wild animals and strange creatures roam free, but you still must find it and bring it back to us!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Do you accept the quest [Frost Snowball]? (Current Quest Rank: A+) I accepted it without hesitation! Ding~! System Notice: You have accepted the quest [Frost Snowball]! (Current Quest Rank: A+) Description: Head to the icy plains situated at the northmost area of Floating Ice City and find the Hundred Flower Valley. Then, procure the Frost Snowball and bring its petals back to Princess Sophia for a generous reward. Be warned that a dangerous threat is hidden deep within Hundred Flower Valley. You should find some companions to help you before making your journey. Party size limit: 5! ¡­¡­ Very good, it is a quest that can be done with a party of five! I shot one last glance at Xinran before exiting the camp in silence. The sky was just turning bright when I was outside again. At the time, I had no idea how big of a commotion I had caused in Floating Ice City. Beep! I received a message from Xu Yang: ¡°Fuck man, Floating Ice City is going to be noisy for a while¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Fuck, you didn¡¯t know?¡± Xu Yang turned on his chat window and laughed. ¡°Dominating Heaven Blade gathered over two thousand elite players to search for you in Frost Forest, but Wind Fantasy responded by gathering a thousand or so Snow Cathaya elite players and attacked him! It was a ferocious battle!¡± I was astonished. I knew I told Lin Yixin to do whatever she wanted, but this was still more hot-headed than what I usually expected from her. Intercepting Gods of Destruction with an army of her own? There truly was nothing in this world she was afraid to do! Xu Yang laughed before continuing, ¡°After that, boss thought that we couldn¡¯t let our ally fight by themselves, so she ordered Gui Guzi to attack Gods of Destruction from behind with over two thousand Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls elite players, and Du Thirteen to attack from the sides with over a thousand Bloody Mercenaries elite players. In the end, Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s men were driven to Wild Pheasant Ridge and annihilated there¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but let out a laugh myself. ¡°Hehe, I see that everyone is giving it their all today!¡± ¡°Hell yeah!¡± Xu Yang laughed. ¡°But aren¡¯t you the same? There was a video of your fantastic battle against Dominating Warrior God¡¯s 50-man party on the forums, you know. Who would¡¯ve thought that you would annihilate them single-handedly? Hahaha, I¡¯m sure that there¡¯s no one in the world who will dare to look down on our guild after this!¡± I nodded. ¡°Mn. Anyway, I¡¯m going to tackle the latter half of this quest. You should go back to whatever you¡¯re doing!¡± ¡°Okay, do your best!¡± ¡°Yeah, you too!¡± ¡­¡­ After ending the call with Xu Yang, I quickly contacted He Yi and said, ¡°Boss, add me to your party, will you?¡± ¡°Okay!¡± A beep later, my party list was filled with the names of all the members of the Frost Cloud workshop: Me, He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue. It was a crazy powerful party to say the least. ¡°So, how was it Lu Chen? Is that loli okay now?¡± Murong Mingyue asked with a smile. It seemed like she had learned everything about my quest. I answered, ¡°Mn. But she¡¯s grievously injured, and I need to complete a quest to rescue her.¡± ¡°Oh, I see!¡± Murong Mingyue giggled. ¡°Sigh, it looks like this loli is the only one who can dial up the heroism in our Lu Chen besides Eve!¡± I rolled my eyes at her. ¡°What are you talking about? I would do the same for all of you!¡± ¡°Hmph hmph, I wonder. Anyway, share us the quest already, will you? What rank is it?¡± ¡°A+!¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± He Yi exclaimed in astonishment. ¡°That high? Are the four of us really enough to tackle this quest?¡± I pondered for a moment before answering, ¡°MT shouldn¡¯t be a problem with me and Eve around, but our DPS is a bit lacking. Lil Beiming alone won¡¯t be able to dish out enough damage, so we need another melee or ranged DPS that¡¯s at least on par with her. Otherwise, this won¡¯t be an easy quest even for us. Without enough damage, we won¡¯t be able to hold our own ground or minimize the damage taken from mobs.¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°That is a difficult request. Right now, there are only a handful of people in the entire Floating Ice City who are the equal of Lil Beiming. Lu Chen himself is one, but who else falls under that criterion?¡± Murong Mingyue replied, ¡°Well, I can think of one person, but I have no idea if she¡¯ll deign to join us or not. She is as beautiful as the sun after all~~¡± ¡°Fuck, just say it already, sis. Who are you talking about?¡± ¡°I¡¯m talking about the Fruit Knife Goddess, Lin Yixin of course!¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Lost your nerve already?¡± Murong Mingyue giggled tauntingly. I gritted my teeth. ¡°Of course not, I¡¯m just asking her to participate in a quest, right? It¡¯s not like she¡¯s not going to get her share of experience. Plus, our guilds are allies, it¡¯s perfectly normal for the elite players of our guilds to grind levels or organize events together, right? I¡¯ll contact her immediately.¡± He Yi giggled. ¡°Then go!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ I brought up my friend list, clicked at Lin Yixin¡¯s avatar and selected the voice call option. A couple of minutes later, a sweet voice came from the other side of the call. ¡°Hello? What¡¯s your business? Speak quickly, I¡¯m busy you know!¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± I rolled my eyes at her. ¡°Busy with what?¡± ¡°Camping Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s corpse, duh. Just you wait, I¡¯m going to murder him until he¡¯s completely out of the Heavenly Ranking. He won¡¯t ever dare to mock our alliance again after this!¡± ¡°Right, corpse camping, of¡ªwait, who did you say you were camping? Dominating Heaven Blade?¡± My mouth fell open. ¡°Fuck, are you sure you want to do this?¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Lin Yixin giggled. ¡°I¡¯ll camp anybody I can kill even if it¡¯s Candlelight Shadow himself. This is nothing!¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s still boring to camp a body, right? Why don¡¯t we do something a bit more refreshing instead?¡± Lin Yixin sounded a bit excited. ¡°Ooh, what is it?¡± ¡°You can join my party and help me complete a quest~~¡± ¡°OMG, you¡¯re so shameless! How is that refreshing? If that¡¯s refreshing then I should call Qingqing buying a fried dough stick for breakfast an unprecedented event already!¡± ¡°No, this is different, this is a A+ rank quest with a 5-man party size limit! So? What do you say? Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you, but this quest might just reward us with an Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade weapon or even an Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade weapon!¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± I could see a struggle breaking out behind her purple eyes inside the video call window. She was clearly tempted by the offer. In the end, she said without hesitation, ¡°Party me now!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± He Yi passed the party leader position to me, and a ding later a system notice popped up: System Notice: Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± has joined your party! ¡­¡­ ¡°Okay, done! I¡¯ve successfully invited Beauty Yi to our party!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°It¡¯s getting late, so share the quest with all of us already. Let¡¯s try and finish this before dinner is over!¡± I was dumbfounded by her optimism. ¡°That is unlikely since this is an A+ rank quest. We¡¯ll be lucky if we manage to catch supper by the time it¡¯s all over.¡± All the girls let out a cry of surprise when I shared the quest with them. It was because they noticed that the coordinates were much, much farther away than what they were expecting. It was at the northmost area of the map, and it would take at least two hours to reach it on foot! ¡°Oh no, it¡¯s too far away¡­¡± Murong Mingyue sounded a little shocked. But Lin Yixin simply smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. When we get there it''ll be the perfect time to grab lunch¡­¡± ¡°Right¡­¡± Chapter 256: First Confrontation As a result, just like Lin Yixin had predicted, it was noon by the time we walked out of Frost Forest, the standard time for lunch. "Let''s go to a buffet? Hurry up..." Murong Mingyue suggested. I said, "These people are black-hearted rip-offs. Everything there is high-end, and it costs 400 RMB per person!" He Yi looked helplessly at me. "You can¡¯t just eat abalone each time..." "..." Walking in the blossoming forest, I gazed at Lin Yixin and asked, "Yiyi, what are you going to do for lunch?" Lin Yixin blinked. "Other than the cafeteria, do I have another choice?" Beiming Xue said with a smile, "How about sister Lin Yixin comes with us to the buffet? The roasted hare there is delicious~~" I was lost for words. This isn''t good. The atmosphere is too awkward, something isn¡¯t right. He Yi was silent. Lin Yixin held her Moonlight Sword and kicked the grass, peeking at me. A beat later, I said, "Uuh... the buffet is at XX Road Number 78, not far from Suzhou Tech. You can drive there and we¡¯ll meet there!" "Alright!" Lin Yixin nodded happily and asked, "Your treat?" "Ah?" He Yi smiled. "Yes, yes, Lu Chen''s treat today. Recently, he made more than a million by selling the Purgatory Scepter but didn¡¯t buy us anything. This can¡¯t be allowed!" "Yes, yes!" Therefore, the girls agreed on the sentence for my wallet. ¡­¡­ I took out the tent to go offline. Soon, five tents were lined up in the forest clearing. "Whoosh!" I took off the helmet and took a deep breath. My entire morning was spent in excitement and nervousness. First was the quest. Xinran had killed the powerful archbishop, been pursued by the templars, and then Gods of Destruction before being chased by the NPC army of Floating Ice City, and even a Dragon Knight joined the fray. The matter was nothing short of exciting! In reality, I was too weak right now. If I thought myself strong, why couldn¡¯t I take on a Dragon Knight? Even then, while Dragon Knights were powerful, they weren¡¯t the strongest! ¡­¡­ The noon sun hung in the zenith, making outside pretty hot. I left the workshop with three girls by my side. On the street, the three beauties attracted looks more than anything else. Murderous gazes came from all directions, causing my hair to stand on end. He Yi held my hand as a habit. Beiming Xue was the same. One girl on the left, one girl on the right. My boss and a little sis. Murong Mingyue walked with her hands behind her back, her chest almost bursting through her shirt. The middle school students riding by on bikes all sighed, pointing and saying, "Oh, so big..." Murong Mingyue pressed her lips together. "Lu Chen, give me your coat!" "Why?" "Because I say so, just take it off!" He Yi held my arm and looked up at me with a smile. "How about we go get money first and then you treat us to lunch?" "Alright!" I took off my coat and threw it to Murong Mingyue. Murong Mingyue hugged the coat to her chest to conceal it. Oh, Beiming Xue was so embarrassed! I looked and met Beiming Xue''s gaze. The girl blushed and said, "Big bro, what are you looking at?" "Nothing, Beiming is so pretty today!" "..." I accurately judged Beiming Xue¡¯s size. Yes, B++. Enough, but inadequate when standing next to Murong Mingyue and He Yi. He Yi''s figure was extremely balanced but her chest was around 34C or so, perfect Eastern measurements. As for Murong Mingyue, she was much larger. I felt like 34D wouldn¡¯t even be enough for her. Since Beiming Xue was like this, the other little girls without the goods would also be instantly killed! Fortunately, I felt no pressure. Facing Murong Mingyue''s teasing gaze, I said coolly, "What are you looking at, I''m flat-chested..." Murong Mingyue pouted. "Flat-chested. I just fear your cup size is bigger than Eve. That would be terrible." I was exasperated. "..." ¡­¡­ I passed by the bank to take out a few thousand in cash to put into my pocket. I suddenly felt rich and followed the girls to wait by the restaurant door. A few minutes later, a black Mercedes stopped at the front. The door opened. It was Lin Yixin! I pointed at the car. "There are no parking spots there. You will be fined." Lin Yixin laughed. "No matter. A fine isn¡¯t that big a deal, and the parking fee in the lot may not be that much less anyway..." "Damn!" ¡­¡­ I bought five tickets, and the five-person team entered the quest known as the "buffet¡±. This time around, we were all brute DPSers. We hadn''t eaten much in the morning and were extremely hungry. We took plates, found empty seats and began stuffing ourselves. The restaurant provided some cheap red wine and unlimited beer. However, none of us were willing to drink alcohol. We had to perform an A+ rank quest this afternoon. Alcohol would not increase stats, and would only slow our reaction time. For gaming experts like Lin Yixin and I that relied on precise maneuvers and mechanics, it was a serious matter. Therefore, if I ever got drunk and went online, I would just hang around town, sell some stuff and flirt with girls. I wouldn¡¯t ever go out of the city. Otherwise, I could encounter someone like Dominating Heaven Blade and lose. A player¡¯s condition was important. Using a fork and knife to cut a hard piece of unknown meat, Lin Yixin''s eyes were filled with hope. However, she couldn¡¯t cut through, and I was exasperated. I handed over single-use gloves. "Here, grab it and eat. I fear by the time you finish this piece, we will have finished our meal!" "Oh, oh!" She put on the gloves, and held an entire joint of meat in front of her. Her large eyes blinked. She looked at the joint and didn''t know where to start. He Yi couldn''t help but laugh and asked the waiter, "What meat is this?" "Oh, this is a pure wild boar leg. The meat is delicious, extremely chewy." The waiter was staring at He Yi''s face and then he looked at Lin Yixin. He seemed to be comparing which girl was more beautiful. But he didn''t reach a conclusion, his expression conflicted. I asked Lin Yixin. "Yiyi, need me to feed you?" Lin Yixin shook her head and said with a red face, "No! I¡¯ve been independent since elementary school!" "Really..." Seeing Lin Yixin bite on the boar and her greasy lips, I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. "Oh right, thank you very much for your help this morning. I had been wondering why Gods of Destruction only had a hundred people when they stopped me. Turns out Snowy Cathaya intercepted them on the way." Lin Yixin elegantly wiped her mouth with a tissue and gave a dimpled smile. "You¡¯re welcome, just a minor matter. Since Snowy Cathaya has decided to work with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls against enemies, then we have to fight the same enemies. Also, just for the meal, I have to help you~~" I laughed. "Oh, Snowy Cathaya''s hundreds of players dropped levels and equipment just for this 400 RMB buffet? Yiyi, you never do such unprofitable business..." Lin Yixin glanced at me. "Never mind. Ever since I met you, I¡¯ve only ever done unprofitable business. Oh, I met such a bad person!" I was speechless. "Aren¡¯t you ashamed to even say that? My wounds are still bleeding after you stabbed me with these potion prices the last time!" "Really? I look down on you..." Lin Yixin said with a smile. Murong Mingyue said, "Yes, after Lu Chen was stabbed by you, his wounds were hard to heal. Everyone here¡¯s bled once a month, three to five days each time..." Me: "..." Murong Mingyue almost killed us instantly. He Yi pushed a cup of juice in front of me and said, "In conclusion, Floating Ice City is very chaotic, and the factions are all itching to make a move. On the surface, the enemy factions are Gods of Destruction, Flower Room, Mad Dragon. The hidden factions are Peach Garden, Soul Combat Robes, and others. But as long as Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya work together, our alliance is unbreakable!" As she spoke, He Yi raised her cup and said, "Come, with tea as wine, toast to our alliance!" "Alright!" Lin Yixin smiled and toasted He Yi. She smiled faintly. "Sister He Yi, may I say something I''ve always wanted to say?" He Yi stilled. "What?" Lin Yixin took a sip of tea, put down the cup and lazily leaned back in her chair in a stunning display of beauty. She slowly said, "I¡¯ve known Lu Chen for a long time, and know a bit about the past of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Truthfully, I¡¯ve always been curious what kind of person the leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was, what kind of woman a shameless person like Lu Chen would swear loyalty to. I finally understand now..." Lin Yixin looked deeply at He Yi and said, "Extraordinary presence, reliable and calm, talented and beautiful. All these words seem tailored for you. Sister He Yi, you are so beautiful too. No wonder Lu Chen, this lusty, cowardly, shameless person would never leave you..." I couldn''t help but say, "Damn, praise He Yi all you want, but why trash me at the same time..." Lin Yixin looked at me with a smile as though she was very pleased with herself. He Yi burst into laughter. "This... I¡¯d accept these compliments from other people, but if the speaker is Beauty Lin, I really don''t dare, I¡¯m not confident..." Murong Mingyue said, "Yes, on the Beauty Ranking of Floating Ice City, Beauty Lin is first, and Eve is second..." "Oh, these rankings mean nothing!" Lin Yixin continued to battle the wild boar meat. I held a half-pound lobster and said, "Eat quickly, we¡¯re heading to Hundred Flower Valley this afternoon. The quest rewards are bound to be great!¡± Chapter 257: Your Aimer In front of the restaurant, I watched Lin Yixin drive away in the car and shook my head. "Such a great appetite." Murong Mingyue gently bumped my arm. "Stop looking, she''s already far away. Let''s return. By the time we walk back, Lin Yixin should be near her dormitories.¡± "Mn." ¡­¡­ As we walked along the street, I saw He Yi deep in thought as she walked next to me. "What is it?" I asked. He Yi pressed her lips and said, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya''s relationship is very good, right?" "Yeah!" I nodded and said, "We have the same goals and enemies. Also, Beauty Lin just joined us for lunch offline. Either way, our relationship is strong.¡± He Yi blinked and halted. After a while, she said, "We allied together out of mutual interest. Then, if we defeat Gods of Destruction, Mad Dragon, and Peach Garden, only Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will remain in Floating Ice City. Will we fight then?" "This..." I stilled and then gently patted He Yi''s shoulder, feeling relieved. "Don''t worry. I think that the super cities will open before we completely destroy Gods of Destruction. Once the three main cities¡ªSky City, Vanished God City, and Wind City¡ªopen, status quo will naturally change. At that time, we might have to ally with Snowy Cathaya to fight other factions. The road is long, and Snowy Cathaya will be our ally from start to finish!" "Yes." He Yi smiled. "That would be best. We need to set up meals together often from now on." "Oh, that¡¯s easy. Didn¡¯t you hear what Beauty Lin said before leaving¡­?" "What did she say?" "Call me when you go out to eat." "..." ¡­¡­ After returning to the workshop at 1:30 pm, we immediately went online to start the quest! Swhoosh! It was night in the game, and my view was hazy. Streaks of moonlight penetrated the gaps in the tree crowns. The surroundings were silent as fireflies danced beautifully through the grass. I crawled out of my tent and looked around, holding the Purgatory Sword. I discovered the players in the surrounding tents were awake, and seemed to have logged on already. Whoosh whoosh whoosh... The tents disappeared, replaced by beautiful girls. The three women of the Frost Cloud workshop were the first to come online. Lin Yixin was the last. We dusted off the grass and soil on our clothes and prepared to depart! I walked at the front. The team was such a scientific combination. One undead swordsman, one light wanderer, one magic knight, one priest, one dark archer. We had Attack, Defense, and HP. The only thing we truly lacked was a magic DPSer! I couldn''t help but lament, "Our workshop needs a super strong mage. Otherwise, we won''t be able to defeat high-Defense monsters." Murong Mingyue said, "I haven''t seen Lian Xin in a long time, I miss her so much. I don''t know how the girl¡¯s doing now. Before she left, the person she was most reluctant to part with was you, Lu Chen. She even left you a multi-purpose tablet in the company, saying it was a gift!" I was surprised. "Hm? Tablet? Why did I never hear of it?" "Oh, the logistics director lost it. That bastard, Eve fired him the next day..." "Damn!" I looked at He Yi. This vice president was really a butcher! ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin held the Moonlight Sword and walked quickly to my left, listening to us chat. I felt that she was a bit unusual. Suddenly, there was a beep. A message from Lin Yixin: "Hey, stinky Lu Chen, you call me over for a quest. I came to your help, and now you ignore me and just chat with your beautiful boss. If you dare ignore me again, you¡¯re so dead..." I laughed and tilted my head toward Lin Yixin. She was looking at me with anger in her purple eyes. Startled, she shouted, "What are you looking at?!" "Nothing, nothing..." I didn''t dare to tease her in a situation like this. He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue were all here. It wasn¡¯t appropriate. If I dared to publicly tease Lin Yixin, the next time we went offline I would be thrown out our fifth-floor window by the three girls in the workshop. The consequences of that would be quite severe. I sent a message to Lin Yixin: "Yiyi, you ate so much today, the plate was covered in bones~~" Lin Yixin flushed and glared at me. She sent a message: "You ate a lot! Hmph, you drank more than ten bowls of soup, I look down on you!" I responded, "Speaking of which, what the two of us ate together may not equal what Sister Mingyue ate..." "Exactly!" Lin Yixin expressed her agreement. Then she and I looked together at Murong Mingyue. Murong Mingyue was shocked. "Hm, why are you two looking at me like this?" I hurriedly said, "Nothing! Sister Mingyue, you look so beautiful today!" "Really?" Murong Mingyue chuckled. "Where?" "Legs..." "Really?" Murong Mingyue looked down and found her beautiful legs were revealed due to the cut in her robes. She was shocked. "Damn, where are my legguards?" He Yi was speechless. "Not in your bag?" "As expected..." Murong Mingyue quickly put on the legguards. But they were still too short. Graphic designers made it just too sexy. Everyone liked that. ¡­¡­ The five-person team passed through the forest. It was boring so we continued to chat about the past. "Oh, I remember when I first came to Suzhou, there was no one close. I didn''t even have the money for my next meal. I was so pressed I was almost forced to become an escort..." Murong Mingyue laughed and glanced at He Yi, saying, "I spent my last yuan to go online for half an hour. I sent my last resume and was selected by Eve, this intelligent hero!" He Yi was expressionless. "I truly met a bad person!" Murong Mingyue puffed out her chest and said confidently, "What, am I not an exceptional worker? Just like my resume said, I can eat hardship, and was often rewarded in school!" He Yi grinned. "Remove the last word from ''I can eat hardship'' and then it is close to the truth. Also, the awards you received during school were mostly ¡®another free bottle¡¯ from Master Kang Ice Tea. You only told me after you started working. The resume was full of traps..." "..." Everyone turned to stone. I suddenly wanted to know what the people working at GGS were doing all day. Were they always chatting? Someone like Sister Mingyue became the assistant to the vice president. There was no reason in the world! At this time, Lin Yixin suddenly said, "Everyone, our quest map has appeared!" "Oh?" I looked ahead. As expected, the surrounding scene had changed. The long grasses turned into an icy plain. The scenery in front of us was filled with heaps of snow. The temperature sharply dropped, and before we knew it, snow was falling on our heads. "I knew it, we¡¯re already in the Ice Plains..." He Yi opened the map and looked, saying, "Hundred Flower Valley is in the center of the Ice Plains, about ten more minutes of travel!" Beiming Xue nodded and then suddenly sneezed, unable to tolerate the temperature. Looking at her thin leather armor, I was speechless. She was too focused on her looks and how charming she¡¯d look. Great. Now she¡¯ll freeze in her leather armor. "Maybe lower the sensation meter?" I suggested. "Otherwise, you won''t be able to withstand the cold, especially wearing just leather and metal armor." Murong Mingyue tightened her robe, and covered most of her exposed skin. I glanced at her and asked, "Sis, you cold?" She shook her head. "No." "Then take off your outer robe for Beiming Xue to wear..." "Fuck!" Murong Mingyue glared. "You heartless brat. You only care about your younger sister, with no regard for your older sis!" Lin Yixin and He Yi laughed. I held the Purgatory Sword and walked at the front. After about five minutes, an exciting patch of green suddenly appeared in the snowy world. Yes, the map confirmed that the name of the map at these coordinates was the Hundred Flower Valley we were looking for. It was in this desolate place! "Aow Aow!" Two Snow Wolves sprinted over through the snow. They were Level 85 elites with extremely high attack speed and power. No wonder this place looked so devoid of life. No players would even get close to such mobs at the present stage of the game! I locked onto one wolf, and quickly activated Charge! Whoosh! During the momentary stun, Ice Ray and Slayer Slash fell down. Snap snap, the Snow Wolf wailed as its HP plummeted twice in quick succession¡ª 3764! 3872! Just two blows deleted over half of the Snow Wolf''s HP. With a basic attack came another drop in HP. It was almost enough. Even a Level 85 elite didn¡¯t have any advantages over me. Stat-wise, it couldn¡¯t even compare to me, dressed in Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment. On the other side, Lin Yixin used Charge to lock onto the next Snow Wolf. She lunged forward and stabbed a dagger into the Snow Wolf''s eyes. She then swung the Moonlight Sword. The wolf howled, and died faster than mine. Damn, Lin Yixin is so strong! I couldn''t help but look at her. Her equipment was almost all of the Dark Gold grade. With her powerful Moon Gaze and Extreme Break, her burst damage was still higher than me. It was to be expected. As a result, Lin Yixin glanced at me. "What are you looking at?" "Hm, your Aimer is showing..." "Ah?!" Lin Yixin hurriedly looked down. In the next moment, she flushed red. "Stinky Lu Chen, I don''t need to wear that in the game. What Aimer are you even talking about¡­ Also, I don¡¯t wear Aimer..." He Yi: "..." Murong Mingyue: "..." Beiming Xue muttered, "Ahh, seems like our efficiency will not be even nearly as high as I imagined..." Chapter 258: Mountain Spider Cold wind blew. Fighting through the howling wind and dense snow, I quickly cleared out all nearby Snow Wolves. I looked in the direction of Hundred Flower Valley and said, "Let''s go, we can enter the quest map now!¡± "Mn!" Everyone walked carefully. If even the monsters on the perimeter were Level 80, we could not imagine what level the monsters inside were, but one thing was certain¡ªthere would be many powerful elites! ¡­¡­ Our robes fluttered in the wind. I stepped into the Hundred Flower Valley, scenery around me suddenly changing. I seemed to enter another world. The wind and snow vanished. The flowers bloomed in the warmth. This was completely different from the outside, as though there was some kind of boundary separating the two worlds! "Wow..." The girls followed in. Beiming Xue said, "The scenery here is so beautiful! No wonder it¡¯s called Hundred Flower Valley, so beautiful..." Lin Yixin nodded. "Yes, it¡¯s very beautiful. Icy plains outside, but eternal spring here. What could that mean?" I said gravely, "This means that Hundred Flower Valley is not safe, and even has hidden dangers." "Why so?" He Yi asked. I smiled. "The Aranya Temple of A Chinese Ghost Story was desolate, but there were pavilions and towers with many beauties. What does that mean? Something so uncharacteristic can only mean something is wrong. This place is not simple. The monsters inside might be much stronger than the ones outside!" "Yes!" Lin Yixin nodded cautiously and said, "Everyone, be careful. We traveled far to get here. Don''t get killed instantly." "Yes, move out!" I walked at the front, along the path, entering through the valley entrance. The moment I formally stepped into the valley, the system bell rang¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You have entered a mysterious region¡ªHundred Flower Valley! ¡­¡­ Damn, a mysterious region? I was speechless and opened the small map. I found that the structure of Hundred Flower Valley was like a sheep''s intestine, extremely twisted and winding. The destination had snow-capped mountain ranges on both sides. The difficulty was one that present players could not handle. In a sense, it was an insurmountable zone but because we needed the Frost Snowball, we had to fight our way through it! Seeing the map¡¯s layout, Lin Yixin was excited, her eyes wide. She smiled. "Haha, it seems like there may be high-rank herbs here!" ¡°Good luck!" I said. Then me and my Dark Wasp proceeded forward. After about ten meters, I saw no monsters and was curious. I turned back to look and said, "Why aren''t you summoning your pets?" He Yi laughed softly. "My Wasp is almost Level 70 but only has 400 attack power. If we encounter Level 70 or 80 monsters, they won''t be able to defend, why even let them out..." Murong Mingyue smiled. "Only Lu Chen''s Dark Wasp is likely useful. A boss-tier pet like that can break through the mobs¡¯ Defense..." I looked at the Dark Wasp and almost cried. "In reality, the Dark Wasp is much more useless. It can kill normal monsters, but it can¡¯t pierce through the Defense of bosses. In the end, it only diverts attacks..." Beiming Xue laughed softly. "At this time, as the elite monsters become more common, players¡¯ levels can¡¯t keep up anymore. If I¡¯m correct, the super cities will be opened soon. With them, new pets with new tiers should be introduced too." "That¡¯s right!" I agreed wholeheartedly and continued forward. Suddenly, He Yi darted forward and grabbed my shoulder, exclaiming, "Careful, something¡¯s coming!" "Oh?" I followed in the direction of He Yi''s finger and heard rustling from the grasses. Something was quickly coming through the grass. As expected, something appeared! "Let me!" I swung the Purgatory Sword and activated Charge. I did not lock onto the target, but judged the direction and speed of the target''s movements to target the location it would reach in 0.5 seconds. Otherwise, if I locked onto it for Charge, the possibility of a MISS would be much higher. It was strategy. Sometimes, fights were won with brains, not brawn. Without brains, some players would be at a disadvantage. Whoosh! I turned into an afterimage and separated the grass. With a bang, I locked onto the target and swung my sword down! Crack! 2209! Wow, my basic attack only created this much damage. The monster''s Defense is high. Much stronger than most of the current metal armor players! After the attack, I took two steps back, and tried to use Pardon! At this time, the monster suddenly jumped up and caused the girls to pale¡ª This was an enormous spider, as big as a roulette wheel, about a meter or so in diameter. It was completely black, had eight legs, and was covered in disgusting hair. Its head was small with two blue eyes that stared directly at me. Its mouth was open, and it seemed to be moving its tongue. Even though I had been prepared, this disgusting monster gave me a fright, to say nothing of the girls. We had seen spider monsters before, but never such a disgusting and terrifying one! There was no doubt that our team''s combat power was greatly decreased against this monster. He Yi and Lin Yixin were not willing to fight at the front. Only Beiming Xue would suppress her disgust and use long-range attacks to help me. It was my fate to shoulder most of the responsibility. I looked, and the spider''s stats appeared to our party. As expected, a high-level monster! Mountain Spider (Elite) Level: 87 Attack: 850~1050 Defense: 700 HP: 15500 Skills: Venom, Spiderweb Introduction: Mountain Spider. These mysterious webweavers have existed on the continent for tens of thousands of years. They are extremely vicious and hostile to all living beings. Their venom and web are extraordinarily powerful. The human empires tried countless times to send knights to exterminate the spiders, but never achieved any satisfying results. ¡­¡­ I gaped. Damn, a Level 87 elite had over a thousand Attack. Was there any reason in the world? As I had expected, the monsters in Hundred Flower Valley were different and much stronger than the ones from outside! Lin Yixin stared at the mountain spider and suddenly said, "Hm, this Hundred Flower Valley never appeared on Floating Ice City''s world map. Is this a warning sign that the super cities are about to open? Maybe, that Hundred Flower Valley can be considered a part of the map of the super main cities?" My thoughts shifted and I struck away the Mountain Spider, nodding. "Possible. This Hundred Flower Valley is within the snow region. Logically, this map is so far away that it¡¯s beyond the regions of Floating Ice City!" Murong Mingyue raised a hand to give me a healing spell and said with a smile, "Alright, then we can experience the power of the super map monsters first. Lu Chen, take care of this Mountain Spider faster. One elite monster is delaying you for so long. How can you call yourself the strongest of Floating Ice City?" I grimaced inside. "Damn, who said I am the strongest of Floating Ice City? I don¡¯t need to be the strongest, other people can be if they want to..." The tallest tree would be the one first chopped down. When one¡¯s power didn¡¯t reach the apex, it was better to stay inconspicuous and wait for the best time to attack when dealing with a powerful opponent. That was the correct path! Clang clang clang! The Purgatory Sword slashed the hard carapace of the spider like it hit steel. Sparks even flew. This thing''s Defense is too strong! However, even then it could not stop the sharp Purgatory Sword. The 3-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade weapon was not a fake. Just the attack power alone was boosted by 17% with it equipped, and I had a hidden class with amazing Strength scaling in which I put 5 points every level. In terms of attack power, no one was a match for me. In reality, undead beings all had talent bonuses. Other than undead energy, undead beings and players dealt 5% piercing damage. In other words, undead players could ignore 5% of the opponent¡¯s Defense. It was a racial trait all other classes envied! High Strength scaling, unique talents, and skill advantage. These factors sealed my fate as a high-Attack warrior. Otherwise I would be just wasting Undead Swordsman¡¯s potential! Clang! More sparks flew. The first Mountain Spider finally gave an ear-piercing wail and fell down, dropping many things! I walked forward and grabbed my spoils. This was a 98 Quality Phantasmal Magic Stone. I hadn''t expected an elite monster to drop one. It was pretty valuable. Even the smallest of such stones was worth several gold and in real world currency, it alone was enough to eat a good breakfast. The Mountain Spider also dropped a glittering blood-red jewel. When we saw the stats, we were given a fright¡ª Mountain Spider Blood Sac: A high-rank medicinal ingredient. Increases the effect of Health Potions by 20%! ¡­¡­ Increases the effect of Health Potions by 20%? My eyes went wide. It was the same as my profession¡¯s carrots. Very good. 20% was a lot. Rank 8 Health Potion could restore 2500 HP, make it 3000 if that item were to be added to the mix. At this stage of the game, it might as well be some kind of divine medicine! Lin Yixin walked forward and whispered, "Uh... how about you give me this Mountain Spider Blood Sac? I need it..." I nodded. The other girls had no objections. Our workshop didn¡¯t have any alchemists, so there was no use in keeping this. We could sell it back at the city, but since Lin Yixin spoke, I would definitely give it to her. Handing the Mountain Spider Blood Sac to Lin Yixin, I said, "Let''s fight quickly. There will be many Mountain Spiders ahead. Yiyi, help kill, and don''t just tread along looking pretty!" Chapter 259: Choke Point Group Kill Crack! The Moonlight Sword gleamed with milky white sheen. Killer Wind Swordplay cut a Mountain Spider in half. With a plop, two crystal-like blood sacs landed on the grass. Excited, Lin Yixin bent down and threw them into her bag. "Hehe, Rank 8 Health Potions will soon flood the market!" Lin Yixin puffed up her chest and said, "I¡¯ve gathered large amounts of Rank 8 herbs. I¡¯m just waiting for Qingqing to get her Alchemy to Rank 8. Once they do, with these blood sacs, the Rank 8 Health Potions we make will be very easy to sell, right, Lu Chen?" I shook my head. "No. Rank 8 Health Potions are priceless right now, they have yet to even appear on the market. In my opinion, you should keep the first batch to yourself rather than have bastards like Roaming Dragon and Li Le buy them. Recently they¡¯ve been hunting bosses, they will have high demand for high-rank potions and consumables." Lin Yixin thought for a moment and said, "Okay. This time we can make about 2000 potions. Does your workshop need any?" He Yi became interested. "Oh? 2000? Of course we do. The only problem is how many you¡¯d be willing to sell us. Beauty Lin, any limitations for us?" Lin Yixin smiled. "That depends on the price. Rank 8 Health Potions are not cheap!" I said, "How much per bottle? "Hm, about 50 gold per bottle..." Lin Yixin looked at me with a sweet smile. "However, you provided me with so many Leaves of Eternity. To repay you, the Frost Cloud workshop can buy them for 30 each, how''s that?" "Alright!" I nodded and smiled. "Then, Yiyi, our workshop will reserve 500 Rank 8 Health Potions for now, the kind enhanced with the Mountain Spider Blood Sac, how about it?" "Yes, no problem!" Lin Yixin smiled. "500 is completely possible. 15000 gold total!" "Do you need a down payment?" "No need!" "Okay!" After our discussion, we continued to kill monsters. ¡­¡­ We proceeded forward, soon reaching the first clearing filled with beautiful flowers in full bloom. But as we neared the edge of the clearing, the girls paled, their gazes filled with shock! Glug! I looked at the clearing and swallowed. This small area was filled with Mountain Spiders. The ground was covered in milky white round balls like mushrooms after the spring rain. They looked delicious, and I wondered if I could gather them and cook them with eggs. "What are those..." He Yi gripped the Abyssal Sword and looked at the white balls. Lin Yixin blinked. "I don''t know...." Murong Mingyue said, "Lu Chen, do you know?" Beiming Xue looked at the Mountain Spiders strutting around their eggs. She swallowed and said, "Brother, what do we do?" I hesitated. A few seconds later, I said, "There are spiders all over the place. If we kill them one by one, we will be here until evening. In my opinion, we should just group them up and kill them with AoE. It will be much faster. My Wild Roar will buff everyone!" "Yes!" Lin Yixin expressed her agreement. "We must stay at one place and kill all of them. Otherwise, it won¡¯t be that efficient.¡± Murong Mingyue asked, "Where should we stand though?" Lin Yixin and I pointed in unison toward the right. "There, that stone cliff!" ¡­¡­ Yes, not far from us, there was a steep cliff with a small natural ravine, creating a triangle between the walls. It was clearly an obstruction point intentionally hidden by the game developers. All maps would have such spots, and it was up to the players to find them. This was a good place. If three positions were held down, there was enough space for 3¨C7 players to dish out damage without being harmed. The players inside would have good visibility too, about 135 degrees. The place was very good for mass-killing monsters! I looked over and said, "Yiyi, you go with the others and hold one spot. Leave the two spots outside to me. I will have my Dark Wasp lure the monsters over. It can fly, so the spiders won¡¯t be able to kill it!" Lin Yixin''s eyes widened. "Stop that, did you forget Mountain Spiders¡¯ skills? Spiderweb. It can entangle flying creatures and kill them. Dark Wasp can¡¯t go, it will die!¡± "Damn it, it appears I must go in person!" I said, "Sister Mingyue, use a HoT skill on me. I''m going to lure monsters!" Lin Yixin giggled. "Yes, be careful and prepare to drink potions at any time. Also, do not attack the Mountain Spiders or you will be webbed!" "Understood!" Murong Mingyue raised her staff and applied a HoT skill. It would keep healing me every few seconds over a certain period of time. It was the pride of the Priest class. ¡­¡­ I activated the Ghost Deity Armor again. With a loud hum, bloody light covered my body before turning into black metal armor, increasing my Defense significantly! I took a deep breath. So many Mountain Spiders. What kind of masterful movement would I need to safely come back? The girls seemed confident in me and didn''t worry that I would die in the pile of spiders. It seemed my reputation as a CGL Hall of Famer greatly bolstered their faith in me. This unconditional trust was moving. Whatever obstacle was before us, they believed I could do it. Although this alone wouldn¡¯t make me feel pressure, I felt a sense of responsibility. Either way, I couldn¡¯t fail and get killed by these spiders. It would be too embarrassing! Four of the Top 10 beauties of Floating Ice City were looking at me. If I failed, I would lose a lot of face. I will not allow it! The system tools made it possible to carefully analyze screenshots. I noted all monsters¡¯ positions. I put in 7-yard aggro distance, and the system tool automatically created a path that appeared in my mind. Unless a spider moved and blocked my path, the probability of success was close to 100%! Swhoosh! I stepped on the pebbles on the ground, and passed through the empty spaces between the spider packs like a thread passing through a needle. My movement was extremely swift, with no hesitations. There were too many monsters close together. There was only around half a second to react. One misstep and I would be surrounded, and no one could save me! "Hiss hiss..." The Mountain Spiders came like the tide, their mill-stone sized bodies quickly climbing, not much slower than me, some of them even faster. This caused me to move without turning my head back to look. If I turned my head, I would be surrounded. Fortunately, I had determined the path before entering. I wasn¡¯t a person that let feelings cloud my judgement in the game. Carefully adjusting my steps, I ran three circles before I aggroed all the spiders. I dashed for the cliff, tide of spiders behind me. "This way, quick!" In the triangular ravine, the beautiful girls were standing there in a dazzling display. He Yi and Lin Yixin were standing side by side outside. The scene was straight out of a painting. Two super beauties of Floating Ice City, or even the most beautiful players of the China server, standing side by side and holding the fort! Seeing this, I quickly took a screenshot. Yes, I have to immortalize this unforgettable scene... "Make some space for me!" I shouted. He Yi immediately moved a yard right, and I came with the group of spiders, stopping precisely between He Yi and Lin Yixin. I quickly turned around, pulling out the Purgatory Sword and said, "Prepare your strongest AoE skills to kill the monsters!" "Hehe, the massacre begins!" Lin Yixin pulled out the Moonlight Sword. He Yi raised her Rock Shield and Abyssal Sword, facing toward the sea of spiders. Everyone went all-out, unleashing their ultimate skills! Lin Yixin swung the Moonlight Sword, every swing boosted with Killer Wind Swordplay, causing the Mountain Spiders to screech in pain. Right after stopping, I drank an HP potion and turned around. My sword already risen high, Thousand Mirage Slash crashed down. Clang! The sword energy split into eight streaks that covered the swarm! Boom! A large amount of damage numbers floated up, causing great damage to the Mountain Spider swarm¡ª 2985! 3021! 3188! ¡­¡­ About 3000 points of damage. This was terrifying with the 20% splash damage of the Purgatory Sword. The actual damage output was almost twice that. With just one round of attacks, the spiders near the center lost 10000 HP. Second attack, Ice Ray! When I swung my sword, my arm felt cold. Haha, what bullshit luck! Purgatory Slash! Boom! Long sword energy exploded out of the blade and ripped into the monster swarm, causing another round of enormous damage numbers to float up¡ª 4174! 4098! 4234! ¡­¡­ That was of course doubled by the splash damage. With the two attacks, many of the Mountain Spiders had been immediately killed, crashing to the ground. Numerous blood sacs, as well as Phantasmal and Big Magic Stones dropped. Our experience bars flashed as the bump on them was visible to the naked eye. Whoosh! Holy Light fell on my head. Murong Mingyue''s laughter came from behind me. "Our Lu Chen is too strong. You have to take me along when you level up..." Chapter 260: Earth Mouse Seeing me fight, He Yi and Lin Yixin couldn''t help but feel pleased. "Lu Chen, when did you learn Thousand Mirage Slash?" Lin Yixin pouted. "Why don¡¯t I have an AoE skill..." "I know right!" He Yi nodded. "Melee players usually don¡¯t have AoE skills. I keep feeling like I am missing something. I kill monsters so slowly..." I sank into distant memories and thought back. I looked up and said, "Yiyi, remember when we were in Ancient Thunder Temple together? The last boss was the Thunder General. His signature skill was Thousand Mirage Slash. Coincidentally, I dropped this very skill book. I asked you if you wanted it and you generously gave it to me..." "Ah?!" Lin Yixin had a shocked expression that soon morphed into deep regret. "Why was I so stupid then..." "Who knows..." I smiled and comforted her. "No worries. If we kill more bosses and do more quests, we can get a melee AoE skill book sooner or later. The game is about effort. The more effort you put in, the sooner the system will eventually repay you." "Right, right, let''s first finish this quest!" ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue was silent, her expression grave, as she pulled the string of the Purgatory Bow and sent Evil Spirit Volley into the monster swarm. Excluding me, Beiming Xue was our strongest DPS. Her Evil Spirit Volley had the splash property. As the nine arrows fell into the spider swarm, the damage was redirected to the surrounding insects, eliciting sharp screeches. At the front of the team, I, Lin Yixin, and He Yi had enough Defense to tank the Mountain Spiders. They were just Level 85 elites, and couldn¡¯t be too strong. We also picked a good position that would only let us face only one or two Mountain Spiders at a time. With Murong Mingyue''s healing abilities, she could easily keep our HP above 75%. All in all, we were really safe. Swoosh Swoosh! My luck exploded and rewarded me with two 5%-chance Purgatory Slashes in quick succession. They tore through the air and landed amid the tide of spiders. Splash damage sealed the deal, killing many Mountain Spiders, leaving their blood sacs, magic stones and items in their wake. I looked at the time. We had fought for almost half an hour, and our experience had increased by nearly 20%. Our clearing speed was very good! Pity that the Mountain Spiders were about finished. Otherwise, if we fought through the night, I could get really close to Level 90 tonight... "Work to kill the last Mountain Spiders!" I raised my sword. Pardon + Desperate Gambit! Crack! 5401! A Mountain Spider immediately fell to the ground, a rich stream of experience flowing over, causing my body to warm. A pillar of golden light fell on my head. I leveled up! Ding~! ¡­¡­ "Hm, 42 Tactics?" I was surprised. "Players over Level 80 receive Tactics points when leveling up?" Lin Yixin shook her head. "No, the system setup is like this. After players reach Level 80, they will get 1 Tactics every two levels. Tacticians get 1 Tactics per level. You are Level 84, so the system has given you 42 Tactics. You can now learn low-rank General Skills..." "Here, I have a stratagem book, do you want to learn..." Lin Yixin took out a yellow skill book from her bag. I glanced at it and was speechless. Encourage: Increases all party member¡¯s attack power by 5%. Usage Requirement: 20 Tactics. ¡­¡­ "Um, this is a skill that tacticians learn when they reach Level 20?" I asked. "Yes, do you want to learn?" Lin Yixin laughed softly. "I spent a lot to buy this book..." I said expressionlessly, "Have you spent more than 1 gold? Hmph, I won¡¯t use this low-level skill. Just 5% attack power, it''s too low. My Wild Roar boosts attack power by 15%, Encourage is much worse..." Lin Yixin pouted. "Never mind, I will leave it for myself..." As I spoke, He Yi killed a Mountain Spider and gold light washed over her. Soon after, Lin Yixin reached Level 80 and received 40 Tactics. Without hesitation, she used the skill book and asked me for party leader. She used the skill, boosting all of our attack power by 5%! Damn, so Encourage and Wild Roar stacked? Very good. Now, each of us had a 20% boost to our Attack. It was like having a high-level bard buffing us with Divine Valor. So good! ¡­¡­ Seeing Lin Yixin''s General Skill, Murong Mingyue laughed. "It seems that the age of military generals dominating in Heavenblessed''s servers have arrived..." "Yes!" I swung the Purgatory Sword and killed the last few Mountain Spiders. During the fight, my experience rose by 30%, and all the girls leveled up at least once. The experience was abundant! We began sweeping the battlefield clean. According to our earlier agreement, Lin Yixin took nothing but the Mountain Spider Blood Sacs. Actually, their value was even higher than normal items¡¯. No one wanted the stones so we turned our attention toward the equipment. I walked over and picked up a metal helmet. Iron-grade trash. I threw it away. Basically, I would only look at Steel or Dark Steel¨Cgrade items. After sweeping the battlefield for nearly five minutes, I found four items that could be considered pretty good. I showed them the items, and all beauties were dumbstruck and screaming in protest, "Lu Chen, how did you pick such good equipment?!" Watcher Wristguards: Level 75 Dark Steel¨Cgrade metal armor. 84 Defense. Increases user¡¯s HP by 4%. Blood Battle Helmet: Level 75 Silver-grade. 102 Defense, 4 Tactics. Increases user''s Defense by 2%. Silver Scale Legguards: Level 75 Silver-grade. 100 Defense, 3 Tactics. Increases user''s attack power by 1.2%. Patrol Leather Boots: Level 75 Dark Steel¨Cgrade. 85 Defense, 2 Tactics. Increases Magic Resist by 0.4%. ¡­¡­ Yes, three of the four items had Tactics bonuses. Just from this alone it could be seen that the era of generals had begun. Tactics bonuses were definitely nice. The stat on its own could decide extra properties granted by players¡¯ General Skills. For example, if a player with 0 Tactics used the elementary Encourage, it would only increase attack power by 5%. But if a player with 100 Tactics used the same skill, it would buff for additional 100x1%x5%. Basically, its effect would be doubled. Each point of Tactics increased General Skills¡¯ effects by 1%. If a player had 200 Tactics, Encourage would increase attack power by 15%! What did this mean? This meant that although non-tacticians could enjoy General Skills, the natural advantage of tacticians could not be replaced. In large teams, having a high-level tactician as the party leader would be a significant advantage and nothing could change it. Non-tactician players wouldn¡¯t buy items with additional Tactics, it just wasn¡¯t viable. In conclusion, when choosing high-rank items, people would prioritize items that offered Tactics boosts along with powerful stats. General Skills could even be used when in the party alone. In the future, high-Tactics players could buff themselves with 20% Encourage. It wouldn¡¯t be a problem, and their attacks would be terrifying! The World Famous Generals patch was coming. Foot soldiers that didn¡¯t aspire to become generals didn¡¯t even deserve to be foot soldiers! ¡­¡­ I raised the items in my hand and asked, "You want these trash items with Tactics bonuses? Take them then, they won''t be sold for much..." The girls weren¡¯t very interested. He Yi twisted her mouth. "You take them, we won''t take them. Continue, this Hundred Flower Valley must have some bosses. Let¡¯s see if they drop some items with high Tactics boosts! "Mn!" Holding the Purgatory Sword in one hand I munched on a Magic Consumable in the other. Using Thousand Mirage Slash consecutively was heavy on my MP usage, increasing my need for Magic Consumables. I felt my 120-slot bag was starting to look a little small. How convenient would it be to have endless space in my bag¡­ Unfortunately, such items were Divine-grade items and weren¡¯t something within my reach right now. Also, my bag had 120 slots, and the girls only had 50 each, forcing them to be as frugal as possible! We passed through the spiders¡¯ clearing, cracking the eggs on our way through. Beiming Xue said, "How about we burn all the eggs?" Lin Yixin shook her head. "No, the rest can grow. Later when we come back we might have more Mountain Spiders to kill. Just now, we got 2400 blood sacs in an hour. They¡¯re seriously some good stuff, we¡¯ll be sure to come back~~" I was speechless. "The Mountain Spiders have been cursed for three lifetimes to encounter you..." "Hmph!" We continued to advance. After cleaning out their nest, Hundred Flower Valley had almost no Mountain Spiders. Surely we would meet other creatures as we ventured deeper. Not far ahead we saw a mouse about the size of a fist. It was completely green, and squealed as it swung its short tail. "Woah, so adorable~~" Lin Yixin giggled and walked over with her Moonlight Sword. She reached out and greeted the mouse. "Hey, little one, where¡¯s your mother?" I was shocked. "Yiyi, she is the mother..." "What?!" The little mouse suddenly turned around, body flashing with magic light as though it was casting. In the next moment, an enormous meteor fell down! Boom! 453! Lin Yixin retreated, the meteor making a bloody mark on her shoulder. She was shocked. "This little mouse was so vicious..." I was speechless and the picture of the small mouse appeared in the air¡ª Earth Mouse (Elite) Level: 90 Magic Attack: 820~945 Defense: 500 HP: 12000 Skill: Meteo Chapter 261: Hellish Rockfall "Earth Mouse is a Level 90 magic-type elite mob with the Meteor skill." There was a bloody wound on Lin Yixin¡¯s delicate shoulders, but it disappeared immediately after Murong Mingyue healed her to full health. I smiled as I stared at the Earth Mouse. "It looks like we¡¯re going to be dealing with mice next. Tsk tsk, look at that magic attack. One Meteor is probably all it needs to send Yiyi to heaven¡­" Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me. "Tch, you¡¯re the one who¡¯s going to heaven!" "Now, everyone ready? Here I go!" I locked onto the Earth Mouse and activated Charge! I appeared in front of the rodent in the blink of an eye and swung the Purgatory Sword twice. An icicle appeared at the tip of my sword as Ice Ray exploded on my target! 3762! 3895! Mn, this Earth Mouse was a magic glass cannon, as I expected it to be. I had only hit it twice, but it had lost more than half its HP already. With a third hit, its HP was in the red! "Squeak squeak!" Fearing for its life, the little mouse waved its tail and caused gusts of wind to surround it all of a sudden. It was the skill animation of Meteor! No way I was going to let it cast it though! I swung my sword horizontally and hit it with a basic attack again. This time, the blade of my sword turned golden, and the Earth Mouse suddenly froze in its tracks and turned golden as well. It was the paralysis effect of my Paralysis Ring! Very good, I liked that this status effect could interrupt channeled spells as well! One last hit later, the Level 90 elite mob dropped to the ground and died. The kill yielded an incredible amount of experience even for me, a Level 84 Undead Swordsman, not to mention the girls who weren¡¯t even Level 80 yet. Whenever a player killed or partook in killing a higher-leveled mob, the experience they got was much bigger as well. It was a welcoming reward to say the least. However, the Earth Mouse didn¡¯t drop any items. That was a bit frustrating. Thus, I pointed my palm toward its corpse and cried out, "Death Plunder!" Ding~! System Notice: You have obtained "Earth Mouse Pelt" x4! ¡­¡­ I gave the 4 pelts that magically appeared in my hands a look. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they were a Rank 7 material. Pelts had always been the bottleneck of crafting metal and leather armors, and this one was even more scarce, being of such a high rank! I should try to collect as many of them as possible and give them to Yamete later. He would be happy to use them to upgrade his Armorsmithing skill! We readjusted our party a bit to maximize efficiency. Lin Yixin and Beiming Xue were our first "mini-party¡±. Lin Yixin would use Extreme Break to lower the mobs¡¯ Defense, and Beiming Xue, Evil Spirit Volley and Frost Arrow to end the mob¡¯s life. He Yi and I were the second mini-party. Thanks to the new assignment, our grind efficiency was almost double that of before. Finally, Murong Mingyue would stand between our mini-parties and heal whoever was low on health. There was little to no danger after the adjustment. Meteor was a channeled spell, and both Lin Yixin and I had enough explosive power to one-shot the enemy almost every time. As a result, Murong Mingyue wasn¡¯t under too much pressure. "Be careful with your aggro! It will be a troublesome fight otherwise!" I said. "Oh really? What do I do if I accidentally aggro too many of them?" My eyes widened when I saw seven or eight Earth Mice chasing after Lin Yixin. The girl actually looked excited. "Sorry, but they were just too close to one another! Help me!" "Fuck!" I felt like spitting blood, but there was nothing I could do except engage the mobs. I stunned one with Charge, drew the attention of another with a basic attack and kept the third busy with the Dark Wasp. That was all I could do though, any more than this and I would die under the assault. MISS! 6724! Luckily, my attack was incredibly powerful. I cut down the first Earth Mouse with Pardon and a basic attack. Then, I jumped on the second Earth Mouse together with the Dark Wasp. At the same time, two Meteors hit me squarely at the head! 387! 393! That wasn¡¯t too bad! Sitting at 4420 HP, I was an absolute unit compared to other warriors. Even the best magic knight who had dumped all their stat points into Stamina to boost their HP shouldn¡¯t be much tankier than I was! A chaotic moment later, we ultimately managed to suppress the impudent mice. I used Death Plunder on all their corpses while the girls took a moment to restore themselves. Lin Yixin gulped a health potion while Murong Mingyue ate a Magic Consumable to restore her MP. "That was a bit of a harrowing fight. Our party is strong, but not even we can deal with more than 10 Earth Mice in one go without risks¡­" Lin Yixin stuck her tongue out at me with a smile. I smiled back. "You can try!" Murong Mingyue said, "Alright, let¡¯s get back to business. This is going to be a bit of a slog since we can¡¯t kill them en masse. We need to work faster, or we may not be able to finish this Hundred Flower Valley by the time morning arrives!" "Yeah!" We went back to the grind. To be honest, it could be a bit boring sometimes, but thankfully I was accompanied by four gorgeous beauties. Killing Earth Mice was very boring, but killing them while enjoying the serious expression on everyone¡¯s faces? That was a lot more interesting. I continued to hack away at an Earth Mouse with the Purgatory Sword. Three hours passed by in the blink of an eye, and before I knew it it was past 5 pm. Crack! 13764! A Pardoned Desperate Gambit was powerful enough, but the Earth Mouse in front of me was unlucky enough to suffer a critical hit as well. Its HP dropped from 100 to 0 before it realized what happened! Pop! I smiled. Looks like it finally dropped something! Then, my eyes widened suddenly. Am I seeing right? It¡¯s a goddamn purple skill book! The girls also goggled at the item. "Eh? What is it? I didn¡¯t know elite mobs could drop skill books!" I picked up the book and spread it open in my palm. The next moment, its stats appeared as a hologram. Hellish Rockfall: Summon a large amount of meteors in a 10x10 yard area to strike down at the enemy. Skill Requirement: 500 Magic Attack. Class Requirement: Mage, Priest, Bard, Tactician. Level Requirement: 75! ¡­¡­ "Ah¡­" He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open. "An AoE magic skill? And it looks really strong too¡­" I shot everyone a look before saying, "I don¡¯t need to tell you girls how valuable this skill book is, do I? I checked the database just now, and the chances of an Earth Mouse dropping this skill book is 0.0001%. Our karma must be off the charts today. If I¡¯m not mistaken, it¡¯s the first Hellish Rockfall skill book in the entire game, so what should we do with it?" He Yi looked at me and Murong Mingyue before a bit of playfulness entered her eyes. She said, "You know, why don¡¯t we use this opportunity to create a priest with high Magic Attack? We all have potions, and we don¡¯t really need too much healing¡­" Beiming Xue nodded. "Yeah, Sister Mingyue should learn this skill book. She still doesn¡¯t have a powerful offensive skill, and Discipline is not something you want to use forever even for a priest." I agreed with them, but the Frost Cloud workshop wasn¡¯t the only one who was grinding this map. I should also check with Lin Yixin and see if she would like to partake in the loot. "Yiyi, what do you think?" Lin Yixin pursed her lips before replying, "Let¡¯s give it to Sister Mingyue. It is what we need right now anyway. If we get a chance to grind the mobs en masse, this Hellish Rockfall will definitely be useful!" "Okay!" I pushed the skill book and 20 sets of high-rank Magic Consumables into Murong Mingyue¡¯s hand. "Sis, use this to your heart¡¯s content, okay? Try ranking up this skill as quickly as you can!" "Mn!" Murong Mingyue nodded while beaming like the sun. During the early game, it was difficult for a priest to come by an offensive skill, let alone an AoE skill. In fact, 99% of the time, this privilege was reserved for mages only. Therefore, this was a really happy coincidence... A flash later, Murong Mingyue had learned the skill. I immediately turned around and charged an Earth Mouse, saying, "Sis, use that skill now! I want to see how good it is!" "Okay!" Murong Mingyue giggled and waved her staff as I asked her to. Milky white energy surrounded her as a small patch of the sky suddenly turned dark. Then, countless tiny meteors fell from the sky and hit the Earth Mouse and the surrounding area! It was an incredibly beautiful animation to say the least! 347! 328! 331! I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. "A triple-hit skill? That¡¯s awesome! You should grind it as much as possible especially since your Magic Attack is stronger than an average mage¡¯s! Oh right, what is your Magic Attack right now?" "524~747. Why are you asking?" "Holy shit, that¡¯s high¡­" I was a bit shocked to hear that, to be honest. Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth also fell open slightly. "Yeah, that¡¯s seriously amazing. Even our best mage, Shadow Chanel, only has a maximum Magic Attack of 780. To think that a priest would almost beat her¡­" Beiming Xue giggled. "Well, Sister Mingyue¡¯s equipment is pretty amazing!" "That¡¯s true¡­" ¡­¡­ That was true. Murong Mingyue had accompanied us on many journeys already, and we gave her every magic equipment we got. It was no wonder that her equipment was amazing! "Anyway, let¡¯s finish this as soon as possible, it¡¯s almost dinner time! At the very least, we need to clear this area of Earth Mice completely. I don¡¯t want to grind this map until tomorrow morning!" "Yeah!" We met almost no challenge at all as we made our way forward. Murong Mingyue spammed her Hellish Rockfall at every opportunity to rank up the skill, and the fist-sized meteors made life a living hell for any Earth Mouse that crossed our path. Half an hour later, Murong Mingyue was greeted by a delightful ding from the system. She puffed up her awesome chest and said proudly, "Hoho, my Hellish Earthfall is Rank 2 now!" "Show us!" She waved her magic staff and summoned a hail of meteors. The meteors were much bigger this time; they were about the size of a soccer ball. Naturally, they hit the mobs even harder than earlier! The girls chatted happily with each other at the back while I scouted ahead. It looked like we had killed all of the Earth Mice in the valley because I couldn¡¯t see any after our last kill. Suddenly, I froze in my tracks when I parted a bush that was blocking my sight. I saw fire, but nothing was burning. Maybe it was more accurate to say I saw a beautiful mouse with fiery fur. ¡­¡­ Chapter 262: Firelight Mouse "What is that¡­" Lin Yixin muttered, but couldn¡¯t say another word. "Ah?!" He Yi was equally shocked. She didn¡¯t even realize that she had dropped the Abyssal Sword. Murong Mingyue rubbed her eyes to confirm that her eyes weren¡¯t playing tricks for her. Finally, she said in a dumbfounded manner, "It can¡¯t be¡­" Beiming Xue was also muttering, "Level 1¡­ Level 1¡­" ¡­¡­ That¡¯s right, it was a boss, and at Level 1 too! What did that mean? It meant that the Dark Wasp¡¯s era was finally going to pass. This boss was supposed to be close to Level 100, but now it was reduced to a Level 1 baby instead. If a player managed to capture it and train it to Level 100, its attack would be equal to that of a Level 100 boss. That was a scary prospect! I looked at the fiery mouse, and its stats appeared in our party feed. Firelight Mouse (S Rank Boss) Level: 1 Introduction: Firelight Mouse is an old and legendary spirit animal. It is said to possess incredible fire manipulation ability, and it was once the leader of the devilish rodents. Today, it is one step away from extinction. ¡­¡­ "An S Rank boss¡­" I fished out a card from my bag while salivating from the mouth. This was the moment my Sealing Cards have been waiting for! This Firelight Mouse was clearly a magic-type pet. It was the dream pet of any metal armor player! But before I could do anything, the girls turned toward me in unison. "Lu Chen, we want it too. What should we do¡­" Caught off-guard, I said, "If you¡¯re that desperate, then I guess Eve can have Monday and Tuesday, Yiyi Wednesday and Thursday, sis Friday and finally Lil Beiming Saturday. Sunday is an off day since I need to recharge¡­" The girls were completely confused up until they realized the joke I had played on them. The Moonlight Sword, the Abyssal Sword, the Purgatory Bow, and a magic staff hit me square on the face at the same moment "Do you want to die, Lu Chen? This is not the time to make a joke like that!" Lin Yixin complained with reddened cheeks, "The third and fourth day of a week? You sure give me a lot of credit, bastard¡­" He Yi stared at the ground with an enigmatic smile on her face. Murong Mingyue was still raising her magic staff and staring at me. "Why do I only get one day when Beauty Lin and Eve get two?" "..." Beiming Xue said with reddened cheeks, "I¡¯m included as well? I¡­ I guess Sister Mingyue can have my day then¡­" I let out a laugh and pushed aside the weapons pressing against my face. Then, I waved the Sealing Cards in my hands and said, "Alright, be serious now... anyway, everyone here has Sealing Cards, right? Let¡¯s all try to seal it together. We only have 15 chances since the Firelight Mouse will level up after that, so everyone gets 3 chances each. Are you ready? Ready, set¡­" He Yi grabbed my arm before saying, "I don¡¯t have a Sealing Card. Give me three, please!" "Sure!" I threw 10 Sealing Cards into her hands since she might be able to use it in the future. After all, no one could predict if they might encounter a capturable Level 1 boss-tier pet! After that, we all threw out our Sealing Cards at the same time! Swhoosh! All five Sealing Cards floated above the Level 1 boss. The oblivious mouse was too busy biting a nut to care. The Sealing Cards transformed into huge magical formations that wrapped around the rodent. It shrank like it was about to be absorbed into the hexagram array, but it was able to break out in the end. The process repeated itself five times in a row. Everyone was staring at the Firelight Mouse. They looked so nervous that they might forget to breathe! I held Lin Yixin¡¯s hand and sent her a message: "Relax, Yiyi. Your hands are literally shaking, you know?" Lin Yixin stared at me with an exasperated smile before shaking off my hand lightly. Then, she responded with a message of her own: "Do you want to die? Your beautiful leader is right in front of you¡­" I stared at the front and pretended not to notice the reply, righteousness written all over my face. As a result, Lin Yixin gritted her teeth and stared at me with a murderous look. All five Sealing Cards eventually vanished into nothing. As it turned out, no one managed to catch the Firelight Mouse the first time! I took out my second Sealing Card and uttered, "Dammit, again!" "Yeah!" The girls tossed out their second Sealing Card in unison and froze, too tensed to draw breath just like before as they stared at the struggling mouse. The Firelight Mouse was both cute and powerful, so they all wanted to claim it for themselves. This time, the Firelight Mouse struggled even harder. It was even screeching loudly! Swhoosh! Suddenly, the Firelight Mouse vanished into a magic formation. Could it be that the sealing was successful? I hurriedly checked my pet space, but there was only the Dark Wasp. It wasn¡¯t me! Lin Yixin looked at me and shook her head. It wasn¡¯t her either. Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue exchanged a glance with each other before we all turned to look at He Yi. The beautiful guild leader grabbed her sword from the ground and said, "Alright, let¡¯s get back to the grind¡­" "Hell no! Show us the Firelight Mouse¡¯s stats now!" the girls complained in unison. He Yi giggled at their reaction before bringing up the Level 1 Firelight Mouse¡¯s stats¡ª Firelight Mouse (S Rank Boss) Level: 1 Magic Attack: 29 Defense: 25 HP: 24 Agility: 28 Growth¡ª¡ª Magic Attack ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Defense ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î HP ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Agility ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î ¡­¡­ Everyone was speechless for a time. Hundred Flower Valley was a whole new map alright; the power of this pet was completely off the charts! Despite being a Level 1 creature, the Firelight Mouse¡¯s stats were already very impressive. It had an insane BN of 106, meaning that it was leagues ahead of my Dark Wasp! Besides that, its growth was so powerful that it was downright OP. 7.5-star Magic Attack, 6.5-star Defense, 7-star HP and 7.5-star Agility? It was a magic jack of all trades, but not in the bad way! I could already imagine its future as a walking magic fortress! "So, how is it?" He Yi smiled. I gave her an approving nod and said, "It¡¯s OP as hell. You can raise it until the endgame if you want to, especially since you are a metal armor player. A powerful magical pet is exactly what you need!" "Mn!" He Yi nodded before saying, "Unfortunately, the Firelight Mouse only has a Fireball spell at the beginning, and it¡¯ll run out of mana in just a few uses. Still, once its level is higher, it can learn an AoE spell and join the grind too¡­" We all nodded and smiled at her, happy for her success. He Yi was the weakest player of the workshop, so the Firelight Mouse was the perfect unit to make up for her lack of skill. In fact, I thought from the start that she was the most suitable player out of all of us to inherit the Firelight Mouse. After all, we all had excess in firepower except He Yi. ¡­¡­ "Let us continue, shall we? Let¡¯s see what else is waiting for us ahead!" I continued forward with He Yi to my left and Lin Yixin to my right. It was a delightful feeling to say the least. I noticed that we had entered the latter half of the map as we progressed. After killing a bunch of Mountain Spiders and Earth Mice, we finally saw a mob that wasn¡¯t an animal! We got up a small hill and looked down. There was a sea of plant-type mobs at the valley floor. The mob was a walking vine plant with beautiful white flowers growing on the stems. However, a closer look would reveal that its stems were covered in sharp, poisonous thorns, putting it under the "look but don¡¯t touch" category. Vine Flower (Elite) Level: 92 Attack: 820~1000 Defense: 850 HP: 22000 Skills: Poisonous Thorn, Wrap Introduction: The protectors of the ancient forest, these Vine Flowers absorb power from the earth, grow thorns on their stems and summon vines to entangle their prey. Countless human warriors have perished under their beautiful exterior, making it the most fearful hunter of the wild. ¡­¡­ "It¡¯s a Level 92 elite mob with average Attack but incredible Defense and HP¡­" I said, "I also wonder how its poison attack and ¡®Wrap¡¯ work exactly." Lin Yixin smiled. "Why don¡¯t you lure one over so we can give it a look?" "Mn!" I ran down the hill and charged the outermost Vine Flower. One Ice Ray and Slayer Slash later, the mob had lost almost 5000 HP. As I thought, it was much tougher than both the Mountain Spiders and the Earth Mice! Thud! I felt a pain in my chest. I was poisoned, but the movement slow debuff was within acceptable limits. Time to return! I took a few steps back, but the Vine Flower suddenly started shaking violently. Then, a bunch of vines burst out of the ground beneath my feet and wrapped around my Death Shade War Boots in the blink of an eye. I can¡¯t move! Beep! Combat Log: You have been rooted by Vine Flower¡¯s ¡°Wrap¡±. You cannot move for 4 seconds! ¡­¡­ WTF, 4 seconds? There¡¯s no way I can aggro the mobs like normal this way. Considering how many mobs there were, 4 seconds of root was enough to kill anyone! It was at this moment a beautiful figure rushed past me and attacked the Vine Flower. She dished out her signature Moon Gaze + Extreme Break combo, and I followed up with a Pardon + Desperate Gambit of my own. The Vine Flower had 22k HP, but not even it could withstand the combined might of our skills. It collapsed to the ground and dropped a small white flower! Lin Yixin looked pleasantly surprised. "Wow, a Vine Flower Petal? This is great, hehe¡­" She picked it up and threw it into her bag. I asked, "Is that an alchemy ingredient?" "Mn, a Rank 8 alchemy ingredient no less. Before this, I had to compete with a whole horde of uncles just to gather some of them. I had no idea that they dropped them here. This is wonderful!" Murong Mingyue walked up to us and said, "You can¡¯t see the end of these Vine Flowers. It looks like we need to bait them to a choke point and AoE them down, or we can fight them until next month and still not be done. I¡¯m sorry to say this, but not even you and Beauty Lin can kill them fast enough to make up for the time lost killing them one by one!" "Yeah!" I nodded. "Let me give it another try!" Chapter 263: Please Control Yourself Everything was ready except the crucial element. I observed my surroundings for a moment until I found the spot I was looking for. I pointed at the needle bushes to our south east and said, "How¡¯s that spot for a choke point?" Lin Yixin glanced at it before replying, "I don¡¯t like it. It can be used as a choke point, but it¡¯s extremely tight. If our formation gets hit harder than expected, the players at the back will be knocked into those needle bushes. It will hurt¡­" Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue nodded at the same time. "We strongly disagree to be poked!" I smiled. "Eve, I and Yiyi all have high Strength, and those Vine Flowers only have 1000 Attack. There¡¯s no way they can knock us over, so you two have nothing to worry about!" He Yi said, "Let¡¯s clear out the Vine Flowers at the choke point and lure the rest with the Dark Wasp after we¡¯re done!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Three Vine Flowers were occupying the choke point we chose, and we had to deal with them first before we could AoE them down. I chose this attack method because the earlier test revealed to me that the Vine Flower¡¯s root effect didn¡¯t affect my ability to attack or interrupt my skills. This was good. The Vine Flower¡¯s Attack was average at best, and all three of us frontliners had good equipment and good defensive skills such as the Ghost Deity Soul and Rock Shield. Our enemies wouldn¡¯t be able to pierce our Defense, so all we needed to do was maximize our damage output. By now everyone knew just how powerful my Thousand Mirage Slash, Purgatory Slash and the 20% splash damage were. It was the perfect counter to tanky mobs such as these. Had I chosen to fight the Vine Flowers one at a time, the girls would probably mob me themselves, especially after they experienced the thrill of AoEing down the Mountain Spiders and soaking up experience like crazy. I charged the first Vine Flower! Whoosh! Once it was stunned, I executed Ice Ray and Slayer Slash to remove a huge chunk of HP from its health bar. The Vine Flower immediately rooted me with Wrap after it recovered its poise, but it didn¡¯t matter because Beiming Xue had fired two arrows at it. Surprisingly, overtaunt happened, and the Vine Flower charged toward her instead. I could do nothing except watch because I was still rooted at the spot! "Fuck, don¡¯t attack yet Lil Beiming! Wait until I take its aggro back again¡­" It took three seconds for rooting to finish and for me to rejoin the battle. On the other side, Lin Yixin and He Yi were dealing with a Vine Flower each. A couple of minutes later, all three Vine Flowers died and dropped a couple of Rank 8 alchemy ingredients. After I used Death Plunder on all of them, I got another extra 5 Vine Flower Petals. Lin Yixin was positively beaming at my success. But Murong Mingyue immediately turned around to look at me and Lin Yixin. Then, she said something ridiculous, "Lu Chen, did you touch Beauty Lin just now?" Lin Yixin turned completely red. She was no match for the invincible tease master. I rolled my eyes at Mingyue and said, "Fuck, sis, you¡¯re really¡­" "Yeah, yeah. Now go lure the mobs with your Dark Wasp already!" "Why should I do it? You guys have Wasps too, right?" "Because we might party wipe if we do it wrong!" In the end, I couldn¡¯t refute the statement. Lin Yixin¡¯s Fire Blade couldn¡¯t fly high enough to escape being hit, and He Yi¡¯s Firelight Mouse was Level 3 and ground-based. It was the last pet we should send to lure the mobs to our choke point. I took a couple of steps toward the sea of Vine Flowers and released the Dark Wasp from my pet space. Then, I took control of it and made sure that it was flying about 2 meters away from the ground. It was just low enough to draw their attention. Not long after, the entire "forest" started chasing after it! "Heavens!" He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open. "I thought there was a forest there, but¡­ the whole area was made up of Vine Flowers!" I was pretty astonished myself. I counted thousands, if not tens of thousands of Vine Flowers as they chased after the Dark Wasp. Our joy was equal to our shock, however. The more Vine Flowers there were, the more experience we were going to get. This was going to be a good day for sure! A beautiful smile blossomed across Lin Yixin¡¯s lips as she watched the shuffling sea of Vine Flowers. "Oh my, would you look at these walking bags of experience! It looks like I¡¯m going to hit Level 82 today. Lu Chen, this quest of yours is seriously fruitful!" "Mn!" I nodded. We wouldn¡¯t have come this far to grind if the quest hadn¡¯t pointed out this location for us. Thanks to the quest, we were now treated to a feast of experience that would drive a normal person to madness! He Yi smiled a little and walked up to me. "Right now, the only thing I¡¯m worried about is our supplies. Are we sure we have enough pots? It would suck if we ran out of them halfway¡­" I checked my bag and said, "I have 70 sets of Rank 7 Magic Consumables. We ain¡¯t running out of MP in the next two weeks at minimum. What about the HP pots?" Lin Yixin replied, "We¡¯re fine. I brought 40 sets of Rank 7 Health Potions with me, the kind that restore 2000 HP in one go. Anyone who runs out of pots can come to me for more!" "Mn!" I stared at the Vine Flowers and said, "Now I¡¯m worried about something else. What if there are so many mobs that our weapons run out of durability?" The girls burst into giggles. "That would be great, wouldn¡¯t it? Literally running out of durability because there¡¯s too much reward to reap¡­" Finally, the Dark Wasp had successfully aggroed all the Vine Flowers. To say that there were too many of them would be an understatement! I hastily pulled out my sword and backed a few steps. I ordered, "Get into positions, everyone! It¡¯s time to battle!" "Mn!" We all retreated into the corner we had cleared out earlier. Lin Yixin, He Yi and I stood at the frontline, and Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue stood in the back. He Yi also summoned her Firelight Mouse, and it just so happened to be standing right next to Murong Mingyue¡¯s feet. When the mouse looked up, Murong Mingyue gathered the hem of her skirt instinctively and asked, "Eve, what is your mouse looking at?" He Yi couldn¡¯t help but laugh. Did she think that the Firelight Mouse was sneaking a peek at her underwear or something? "You worry too much. This Firelight Mouse is a female¡­" He Yi explained. "And how would you know that?" "That¡¯s because it¡¯s been chirping all this time. It wouldn¡¯t be making this kind of sound if it was a male¡­" He Yi¡¯s explanation annihilated everyone present. She turned slightly red when she saw our expressions and added embarrassedly, "Fine, fine, I¡¯ll control myself. Please continue¡­" ¡­¡­ The first group of Vine Flowers had arrived. I ordered the Dark Wasp to fly behind me while the aggro was still in effect. Then, Lin Yixin, He Yi and I attacked the mobs in front of us! I raised the Purgatory Sword and unleashed Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! All the Vine Flowers in front of me started shaking violently. The skill dealt around 3000 damage to all the mobs caught within the skill radius, but the splash damage hurt them even more and dropped their HP to 40% or so. In total, I dealt around ten thousand damage to each mob. It was pretty good damage considering how much tougher they were compared to the Earth Mice. After that, I kept swinging my sword in hopes of triggering its Outstanding property. Purgatory Slash was even stronger than Thousand Mirage Slash, and it was the most powerful grinding skill I had right now. Behind us, Beiming Xue drew her bow and unleashed an Evil Spirit Volley. The indiscriminate attack destroyed the Vine Flowers and caused their wilted jaws to hit the floor hard. He Yi didn¡¯t have any special offensive skill to speak of, but every time she swung her sword a Vine Flower was sure to scream in pain. Her Attack was now pretty high, and she was actively seeking out weak points to attack even though this was just a normal PvE battle. She quickly discovered that their eyes and mouth area were the best spots to inflict maximum damage to the enemy. Murong Mingyue raised her staff, but instead of healing us she summoned a black cloud and a rain of stones from the sky. The meteors hit the mobs like crazy and dealt an incredible amount of damage even though Priest¡¯s Magic Attack scaling was inferior to Mage¡¯s. 703! 678! 724! ¡­¡­ I had to keep my surprise from showing. Her skill was only at Rank 2, but it was already dealing around 2000 total damage to one target. If Murong Mingyue got her Hellish Rockfall to Rank 8, she could literally take over as a damage dealer of a party and delegate the healer role to Yamete. Of course, there was another reason Murong Mingyue¡¯s skill was dealing so much damage. Vine Flower was considered a heavy armor mob, so it took about 50% to 100% extra damage from magic attacks. That was why the Mage class would always be the king of farming. There were just way too many heavy-armored mobs out there! To put this into perspective, Undead Swordsmen, Undead Knights, Stone Giants, Rhinos, melee players and even goddamned Goblins who were a tad bigger than their regular versions were considered heavy armor entities! It was why Mage was a blessed class, and those with AoE spells and high Magic Attack were beauties skinny-dipping in a sweet pool of happiness. Of course, mages weren¡¯t without a weakness. Their Defense was so fragile they could hardly take a hit. If a top-class melee fighter was able to close the distance between them, the only thing the mage could do was give up and die. This was why our Fruit Knife Goddess was able to one-shot God¡¯s Dance, the strongest mage of Candle Dragon, at the Devil Spirit Hall. That being said, that hadn¡¯t been a result of class advantage or power disparity. God¡¯s Dance was just dead the moment she failed to escape out of Lin Yixin¡¯s range in time. Lin Yixin was just that good. The hilt of my sword turned cold in my grasp. Here it comes! Purgatory Slash! Bang! The blade aura hit the mobs like a truck and dealt ridiculous damage. At least hundreds of Vine Flowers had died under the skill like cut wheat. Everyone was pleased, to say the least, as countless streams of experience flowed into our bodies at once. "Chirp chirp~~" Meanwhile, the Firelight Mouse was chirping and firing a couple of Fireballs into the sea of mobs. To my surprise, it was able to do almost 100 damage per hit. It was thanks to the experience it had absorbed during this battle. It was now Level 20, and its Magic Attack was a lot stronger than before! I smiled. "Eve, I think your Firelight Mouse will level up to 50 by the time we finish all of them!" "Oh? That would be nice!" He Yi smiled back. "It¡¯ll automatically learn a fire-attribute AoE skill at Level 50!" "Yeah!" Chapter 264: Root Protector Boom! A streak of swordlight swooped across the heads of the Vine Flowers and dealt a ton of damage to all of them, and that wasn¡¯t even accounting for the splash damage! Purgatory Slash, or should I say an Outstanding weapon, was just godly at this stage of the game! After getting the Purgatory Scepter and returning to Ice Moon City, Luo River God of the Capital had been leveling at an insane rate. She was now Level 85 and the indisputable highest-leveled player in all of China, higher than even Candlelight Shadow himself! But of course, Candlelight Shadow was still the most popular player. Although Floating Ice City was full of outstanding players, and Lin Yixin and I both had the potential to replace him, as the saying goes, Rome wasn¡¯t built in a day. It would take slow and steady effort to outperform Candlelight Shadow in the popularity department. ¡­¡­ The number of Vine Flowers was absolutely insane, and they all had high HP and Defense. However, the experience they yielded was equally generous, so everyone was having a very good time. An hour later, Murong Mingyue¡¯s Hellish Rockfall ranked up again with a ding! "What rank is it now?" I asked, "Man, it¡¯s going up like crazy!" Murong Mingyue giggled. "I know right? It¡¯s already Rank 5! I love AoE skills with short cooldowns!" She raised her staff and cast yet another Hellish Rockfall. The meteorites had grown to half a meter in diameter, and they were all covered in fire. The damage they dealt was as impressive as their animation effect. 1445! 1532! 1440! ¡­¡­ It was wonderful. Her DPS was actually starting to creep up close to Beiming Xue¡¯s. That being said, it was only because the Vine Flower was a heavy armor mob. If that were the Earth Mice we had fought, then there was no way in hell Murong Mingyue¡¯s DPS could ever rival Beiming Xue¡¯s. As the battle continued, the Purgatory Sword¡¯s durability dropped all the way from 87% to 54%. It was terrible, to be honest. Only three hours had passed since the start of this battle, but my weapon had already lost 33% durability. This battle was trying to murder my weapon! Thankfully, the Vine Flowers continued to fall in droves until finally, only a couple of them were left in the entire valley! Swoosh! A golden column of light enveloped me as I leveled up to 85. The rest of the girls had gotten a couple of levels as well! I opened the Heavenly Ranking of Floating Ice City and took note of the changes: NameLevelClass Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand85Undead Swordsman Wind Fantasy82Light Wanderer Beiming Xue81Dark ArcherDominating Heaven Blade80WarriorPurple Marquis80WarriorClear Perfume80Archer Shadow Chanel80Mage Gui Guzi79Undead Knight Indigo Collar79Warrior Murong Mingyue79Priest ¡­¡­ "Hey sis, you¡¯re in the Top 10 now¡­" I let out a cough before speaking up. Murong Mingyue looked pleasantly surprised. "Ah? Really? Hehe, that¡¯s awesome! This is the first time I got onto the Heavenly Ranking!" "Yeah. Let¡¯s keep this up!" I fired another Purgatory Slash and killed off the last Vine Flower with everyone. It was past 8 pm at this point, so I asked if the girls would like to have dinner before we continued. Surprisingly, no one was in the mood to have dinner, and instead, they all insisted we grab supper after clearing out Hundred Flower Valley completely. I agreed, of course. Starving and burning the midnight oil were my specialties. We took a moment to scour the battlefield for loot. The Vine Flower was a Level 92 elite mob, so the loot it dropped wasn¡¯t too shabby. For starters, there were a ton of Rank 8 alchemy ingredients. I was forced to use Death Plunder on every Vine Flower corpse because Lin Yixin wanted them. It took over 20 minutes before we finally finished plundering the battlefield. Lin Yixin held her bag half-full of herbs with a joyful look on her face. My own bag was filled with a dozen or so top-tier items I couldn¡¯t use such as weapons that added Attack, armors that added Defense, and miscellaneous items that added Tactics. Long story short, I collected all the good stuff that could actually be turned into profit. ¡­¡­ "Alright, we¡¯re almost at the end of Hundred Flowers Valley. Let us continue!" With the Purgatory Sword in hand and the Dark Wasp by my side, I stepped on the path once more and continued our journey. Not far away from me, He Yi was crouching on the ground and extending a hand to her Firelight Mouse. She said affectionately, "Come on up, little fellow!" "Chirp chirp!" The Firelight Mouse and climbed up her hand nimbly. A second later, it had climbed up to He Yi¡¯s shoulder and ran around happily. I shot it a glance before asking, "What level is it, Eve?" "47. A bit more and it¡¯ll hit Level 50 and learn a new AoE skill!" "Oh, that¡¯s good. It should definitely hit Level 50 by the time we complete this quest!" "Mn!" In front of us, Lin Yixin suddenly stopped in her tracks and lifted up her sharp ears. Purple pupils staring straight toward the front, she said warily, "Did anyone feel that? There¡¯s danger up ahead!" I tensed up a bit myself. Succubi had excellent senses, so I trusted her judgment. We took a few more steps forward before we heard a strange noise coming from underground. Before we could check out what it was, countless vines burst out of the ground and wrapped around my legs instantly. There were at least a dozen or so tenacious vines all around us, and I couldn¡¯t even move a step! Beep! System Notice: You have been attacked by the Root Protector. You are inflicted with Bleed and Root. You will lose 50 HP per second for 60 seconds! ¡­¡­ "Ah! Lu Chen?!" He Yi cried out and tried to rush to my side, but she barely managed to take a few steps before she was wrapped in vines as well! Lin Yixin narrowed her eyes. "The boss can¡¯t attack unless we¡¯re inside its attack radius, so it has to be somewhere close by! Let¡¯s find it as soon as possible!" She gripped her Moonlight Sword and tried to circle around He Yi and me, or more specifically the boss''s attack radius, but she underestimated just how wide it was. She still got caught despite her best attempts to avoid the vines. Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue froze where they stood, but they failed to escape their fates as well. All five of us were trapped by vines a second later! Everyone was losing 50 HP per second, and this status effect would continue for 60 seconds! This was bad! ¡­¡­ "What on earth is this Root Protector?" He Yi said angrily, "How did it get all of us?" I replied, "It has to be the boss, the big bad wolf among the Vine Flowers. The disgusting part is that we¡¯re rooted and losing health, we don¡¯t even know where it is!" "What should we do?" Lin Yixin asked. "I don¡¯t know¡­ sis, heal anyone who¡¯s low on health¡­" "Some of you are too far away from me!" It was at this moment I noticed that every vine binding my limbs had some sort of durability bar on them. My eyes lit up. Could it be that this skill wasn¡¯t completely immune to player intervention like most boss restriction skills? I immediately attacked a vine with the Purgatory Sword! Crack! Two vines crumbled immediately under my attack. I was right! These vines couldn¡¯t withstand even a basic attack from me! Excited, I shouted my discovery to everyone. "The vines have a durability bar! If you cut them all you can free yourself before 60 seconds are up! Quickly, this is an impossible fight unless we drag the boss out of its hidey hole!" "Ohh!" Lin Yixin and He Yi immediately obeyed my order. As I expected, one hit was all it took for them to slash the vines apart. They did have pretty good Attack, so it took them little time to free themselves. Meanwhile, I had slashed apart the vines completely and regained my freedom. I looked around and spotted a particularly dense thicket. Considering that it was the only greenery in the entire stone-riddled valley, I was almost certain that something was up with that thicket. The boss could very well be attacking us from there! I charged toward the thicket, but I barely managed to take a couple of steps before I was caught by the vines again! "Holy shit, this is so annoying!" The vines didn¡¯t just entangle us, they also pressed the barbs on their stems deeply through the gaps of our armors, burrowing into our flesh. It was how it was dealing damage to us; sucking our blood out of our veins like the Old Demon of Black Mountain! So disgusting! Cutting all the vines down, I ran toward the thicket, locked onto a grassy area and activated Charge! It wasn¡¯t the time to hesitate because the threat of a party wipe was very real if I couldn¡¯t find the boss as quickly as possible! Whoosh! The moment I got close, the ground started rumbling. As I thought, I was finally able to activate the boss! Rumble¡­ Dust flew everywhere as the ground shook. The earth in front of me cracked as if something was trying to crawl onto the surface. Then, a gigantic creature suddenly burst out of the ground! It was a tree demon with an incredibly thick trunk and vines instead of branches. They danced in the air like a thousand snakes. Seriously, it looked incredibly disgusting! "It¡¯s finally out. Get ready, everyone!" Lin Yixin tried to use Charge, but she was entangled right before she was about to take off. She groaned in frustration as she began hacking away at the vines again. I stared at the boss and shared its stats screen in the party channel¡ª Root Protector (Dark Gold Rank Boss) Level: 92 Attack: 1050~1120 Defense: 950 HP: 285000 Skills: Group Wrap, Thorn Burst, Root Crush Introduction: A creature of the earth that has lived long enough to turn demonic. The Root Protector transformed into an evil treant that would kill anything that intrudes upon its territory. Since ancient times, it has guarded Hundred Flower Valley and killed countless adventurers with its sharp thorns and thick roots. ¡­¡­ Chapter 265: Root Crush I nodded, I had to bring the healer and ranged attacker over or we wouldn¡¯t be able to kill this 280k HP boss with just us melees. Crack crack crack... The tip of the Purgatory Sword flashed as it swiftly chopped again at the twisting vines beneath us. This boss was so annoying, it was probably going to wrap us like this until the battle was over! Once I broke free, I charged the boss without any hesitation. This Root Protector was a tall tree that had turned into an evil spirit. The simplest way to attack its main body was to attack its trunk. Anyone a little common sense would know this. My sword swept over, slamming down an Ice Ray followed up with Slayer Slash! 3721! 3559! Ice Ray transformed into an icicle that pierced through its tree trunk. Frost energy concentrated and quickly froze the boss, greatly reducing both its movement speed and attack speed. Its Group Wrap skill should be immensely impacted now. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t actually tell how long its roots were underground. He Yi was still wrapped up behind me and wasn¡¯t in the best of moods. She complained as she hacked away at the roots, "Why do other people kill monsters while I have to be a woodcutter?" A distance away, Lin Yixin had already cut the vines on Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue. The girls were making their way over! My attack was still relatively effective. In order to deal with me, the boss no longer used Group Wrap. However, two thick tree arms appeared on either side of the trunk. They were at least a meter in diameter and especially nimble as they whipped up and down! I hastily curled my body and assumed the Guard stance! Bang bang! 37! 450! Even though my guard was successful, one of the attacks still deleted almost 500 of my HP, sending me into a daze. This Root Protector¡¯s attack power really is impressive! I launched my counterattack right away. The moment Pardon came down, my sword glowed with blood-red light and I hacked with a Rank 8 Desperate Gambit! MISS! 6001! Not bad, that damage is enough to leave the boss hurting! But in the next second, the boss¡¯s thick arms whipped me twice. Guard had a cooldown of 3 seconds, so I could only eat those attacks! 1198! 1274! A scorching pain came from my shoulder. The thick vine-arm was covered in thorns and nearly turned me into a human pincushion. My HP had already almost reached rock bottom. This boss¡¯s DPS is too high! I can¡¯t wait for Murong Mingyue¡¯s heals, I gotta save myself! Tenacity of the Dead! +1105! And a Rank 8 Health Potion! +2500! Alright, I got most of my HP back, again! I swung the Purgatory Sword and the boss jolted. A layer of golden light covered its upper body, rendering it motionless! Beiming Xue was a picture of calm. "No, it got paralyzed by big bro¡¯s Paralysis Ring!" "Haha, not bad!" ¡­¡­ I was also ecstatic as hell. Nobody will think that the Paralysis Ring was useless now. Even though the paralysis only lasted 3 seconds, those 3 seconds were still valuable. Taking advantage of these 3 seconds, the girls ran over. Murong Mingyue shook her staff and healed me to full! Very good. The strongest lineup was about to move out! Lin Yixin swiftly closed in and smiled. "Use your strongest burst in this second!" Swhoosh! A moonlit shine flashed in her purple eyes as the beautiful Fruit Knife Goddess took out a short dagger and stabbed it onto the tree trunk. When she pulled it out, Extreme Break had already activated! For 15 seconds, the boss¡¯s Defense was lowered by 80% and its max HP was also lowered by 25%. This was why Extreme Break was so awesome. Its combat control capability was something others did not have. Tons of experts had been subdued beneath this skill since the start of Heavenblessed. Forget about Gui Guzi, even CGL Hall of Famers like me, God¡¯s Dance, and Tempest Shadow had to watch themselves when up against Extreme Break. I checked my cooldowns. They were finally over and I immediately rained down a combo of Slayer Slash + Ice Ray + basic attack! 5895! 5574! 4523! Sweet, after the boss¡¯s Defense fell by 80%, it was so easy to deal damage! Lin Yixin also unleashed her strongest attacks. Two strikes came out and she shaved nearly 10k HP off of it. He Yi had also arrived by then. She swung the Abyssal Sword, attacking with Flame Thrust + Magic Piercing Slash! 3981! 4003! Pretty good, even He Yi¡¯s DPS was high now. Under the effects of Extreme Break, this Root Protector had become too weak. Unfortunately, good things never last long. In the blink of an eye, 15 seconds had already passed! "Hiss, hiss!" A chapped mouth appeared on the Root Protector¡¯s body. It opened its copper colored eyes and said in a low voice, "Damnable humans, I¡¯m going to fight you till death. Your greed will inevitably kill all life. I won¡¯t tolerate you wanting to cut down the forest due to your selfish desires. Desertification and sandstorms will inevitably swallow everything whole!" I was shocked. "Damn, this boss is an environment activist!" "Mn!" Lin Yixin nodded, but because she didn¡¯t pay attention, she was hit by a random whip from the boss! Pow! The Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯s body swayed as the damage number "1784" appeared above her head. She looked at me with a pained expression. "I-it hurts!" The boss¡¯s other arm met He Yi¡¯s shield with a thump and took 1214 HP from her! As expected, He Yi¡¯s survivability was higher than Lin Yixin with the Rock Shield buff! Murong Mingyue yelled from the rear, "My heals won¡¯t be enough, use your pots!" "Mn!" He Yi and Lin Yixin both drank a potion and barely escaped danger. This boss¡¯s attack power was just too high. Even I felt pressured in front of its 1120 max Attack with my Rank 8 Ghost Deity Armor, let alone the two girls. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Murong Mingyue¡¯s precise heals were relieving. "Kill!" He Yi attacked the boss again but now that the boss wasn¡¯t under Extreme Break¡¯s effects, her damage left onlookers speechless. 234! 187! "Ah?!" He Yi¡¯s jaw fell to the floor. "How¡¯s this possible, I can¡¯t even break its Defense¡­" I couldn¡¯t help but smile. "That¡¯s normal. You¡¯re a magic knight and your build isn¡¯t fully Strength-focused either. The boss¡¯s level is so much higher than yours too. Eve, look for an opportunity to fall back. Let me and Beauty Yi do the damage!" "No, I want to deal my share of the damage too!" "Mn!" He Yi¡¯s perseverance this time was praiseworthy. Even though she was somewhat lacking in the damage department, her Defense was solid. With her taking some of the boss¡¯s attention upon herself, the danger for Lin Yixin would greatly decrease! From afar, Beiming Xue repeatedly drew the Purgatory Bow as her Freezing Arrows pierced through the wind, massively decreasing the boss¡¯s attack speed and thus controlling the battlefield. To be honest, it was a good thing we had Beiming Xue here, or else we would¡¯ve been dead already. The boss¡¯s attack power was just too horrifying! This Root Protector¡¯s Defense was also a high 950. With undead energy added to the Purgatory Sword, my basic attacks could deal almost 2000 damage to the boss. That was pretty decent damage, but Lin Yixin¡¯s basic attacks only did around 900 damage while He Yi only dealt around 200! The strength of this boss was scary since even He Yi could barely break through. If this Root Protector was tossed into Floating Ice City, I bet no one in Mad Dragon could break its Defense. They could only rely on ranged attacks that would lead to countless casualties and even then, the chances of them killing it would still be abysmal! Crack! The Purgatory Sword swept over and paralyzed the boss again. Murong Mingyue continued to give us her reassuring heals, healing more than half our HP. She gasped, "This boss is so hard to kill¡­" I nodded. "Stay on your toes!" He Yi¡¯s Firelight Mouse chirped and waved its short arms in the air, pelting the boss with multiple fireballs that dealt close to 500 damage. Its magic attack really was pretty good. In fact, its DPS was higher than He Yi¡¯s herself! Right, the boss being a heavy armor type was a huge variable. We were a party of physical damage dealers so we feared this kind of heavy armor type boss the most! The boss suddenly awakened at this time and used Thorn Burst. Numerous wooden spikes that resembled the edges of a sword protruded from the ground, dealing damage to players in its surroundings. It wasn¡¯t the first time either, he had used it several times already! 874! 1021! 1542! Lin Yixin, He Yi, and I were all given a good stabbing and the truth was revealed. I had the highest Magic Resist, Lin Yixin second, and He Yi, the lowest among us. A magic knight was naturally like this. As a metal armor class, it was the most afraid of magic attacks. Of course, it would be a different story once they get a hold of Divine-grade armor. By then, they would fear nothing. "Drink your pots and continue attacking, don¡¯t retreat!" I swung the Purgatory Sword and bellowed. Wild Roar activated and the two girls beside me sweetly smiled. Lin Yixin used her General Skill, the low-level Encourage, that could raise everyone¡¯s attack power by 5%. Lin Yixin had 40 Tactics at the moment so after conversion, her General Skill¡¯s effects were increased by 40%, giving everyone a 7% boost instead. Stacked with my Wild Roar, the entire party¡¯s attack power was increased by 22%. If it weren¡¯t for these buffs, I doubt He Yi could even do double-digit damage to the boss. If that happened, our beautiful guild leader would definitely be depressed. Pa! A huge chunk of the tree smashed on my face. Fuck, this was the 17th time. Root Crush only targeted the highest DPS and since Purgatory Slash activated a few times for me, there was no doubt that I was the damage MVP in this party. I had been whipped the most out of everyone here. Murong Mingyue just so happened to not want to protect me. She healed He Yi and Lin Yixin instead of me. Because I had Tenacity of the Dead, she was barely concerned about me anymore. Chapter 266: Prayer Scepter "Please don¡¯t enrage¡­" Lin Yixin stared at her health bar¡ªshe only had less than 30% HP left¡ªwith a worried look on her face. It wasn¡¯t an unfounded worry. If the boss chose to enrage now, we might not be able to defeat it. Thankfully, despite the sadistic whippings the Root Protector had been delivering our whole party, it never entered an enraged state. The girls grew increasingly excited and expectant as its HP kept dropping. I, Lin Yixin, He Yi, Beiming Xue; our party was made up of some of the absolute best damage dealers in Floating Ice City, but the tenacious plant was able to endure another fifteen minutes of beating before it finally reached its last legs. If the Root Protector didn¡¯t count as a high-HP high-Defense boss, then I didn¡¯t know what could possibly earn this title. Swhoosh! The Purgatory Sword shuddered in my grip for an instant before firing off Purgatory Slash! It penetrated the Root Protector¡¯s trunk completely! 4783! Finally, the boss that stopped us in our tracks for god knows how long let out its last scream as its gigantic body toppled to the ground with a loud thud! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Behind me, the girls all leveled. My own experience went up by 35%! ¡­¡­ "Finally!" He Yi wiped the sweat on her face in relief. Then, she smiled at me and said, "Can you check the loot for us, Lu Chen?" "Yeah!" I walked up to the boss''s corpse and cut apart the tree trunk that was blocking my way. But to my surprise, there was a nest of angry little treants beneath the wood. Waving their arms and glaring at me, they charged me before my brain could process what I was seeing! "Fuck!" I jumped a couple of steps backward and unleashed Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! One angry slash later, the little treants all died under my attack. And that was how the Root Protector¡¯s lineage came to an end. I walked up to the boss again and kicked away its broken limb. This time, I was greeted by the sight of many shiny items. It had dropped a couple of items and a dozen or so Phantasmal Magic Stones. I tossed all the magic stones to the girls so that they split them among themselves. The Root Protector netted us three equipment drops in total: dark red leather wristguards, a silver scepter, and a golden ring. Besides that, it also dropped a high-quality purple skill book from the looks of it. Not wanting to delay the suspense any longer, I carried all the loot in my arms, turned toward the girls and brought the gear drops¡¯ stat screens one by one. First, the red leather wristguards. Assassination Wristguards (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Defense: 105 Agility: +50 Stamina: +48 Passive: Increases user¡¯s critical rate by 3% Level Requirement: 80 ¡­¡­ "I know¡­" I threw the Assassination Wristguards at her and said, "Beiming Xue is the only leather-armor player in our party, so this clearly belongs to her. I trust that everyone is okay with this?" Lin Yixin, He Yi, and Murong Mingyue all shrugged. I was the loot distributor, it was my responsibility to distribute the loot. They were okay with my decisions as long as I didn¡¯t make an unfair claim on a loot myself. We moved on to the silver scepter. The shining item looked pretty good, and no one was disappointed when I brought up its stats screen. Prayer Scepter (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï) Magic Attack: 220~360 Intelligence: +55 Stamina: +48 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 10% Passive: Increases user¡¯s healing output by 25% Outstanding Property: Reduces the cooldown of all healing spells by 50% Level Requirement: 80 ¡­¡­ "Heavens, an Outstanding weapon!" Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful eyes widened. "This Prayer Scepter is quite similar to Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s Purgatory Scepter, and it''s not even too far behind in terms of Magic Attack. Even better, this is a priest weapon with a 50% cooldown reduction for all healing spells, so it basically doubles the healing power of any healer. What an amazing Outstanding Property¡­" I nodded. "Yeah. This Prayer Scepter may only be a one-star Outstanding weapon, but its true value isn¡¯t inferior to the Purgatory Scepter in the slightest. Hahaha, Sister Mingyue has finally entered her prime!" Murong Mingyue smiled sweetly. "Yeah. After all those sleepless and tireless nights, I finally found a weapon that¡¯s treating me well¡­" The way she phrased it silenced us all until I threw the Prayer Scepter into her hands. She immediately switched out the shabby staff she had been using and equipped her new weapon. The Prayer Scepter had a dignified appearance, and its Magic Attack wasn¡¯t too far behind the Purgatory Scepter. Not only was Murong Mingyue¡¯s healing power boosted considerably, her Hellish Rockfall had also become a lot more powerful than before. Long story short, this one scepter had risen our party¡¯s offensive and defensive power to a whole new level! Finally, we moved onto the third item . It was a dark gold ring that, if I wasn¡¯t mistaken, was most likely a Dark Gold-grade accessory. The Root Protector had to be a kind boss at heart, because it wasn¡¯t everyday that you could find a boss that dropped three top-tier items in one go. I placed the ring in my palm as its stat screen appeared in the air. The girls immediately let out exclamations of admiration. Ring of Wind and Moon (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï) Strength: +52 Stamina: +50 Passive: Increases user¡¯s physical attack power by 9% Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 10% Outstanding Property: Attack speed +25%, 40% chance to ignore the Stun effect Level Requirement: 80 ¡­¡­ It was just a few lines of text and numbers, but it was enough to leave us all slack-jawed. Was it legal for a Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment to be this powerful? The two passives alone¡ª+9% attack power and +10% max HP¡ªwould¡¯ve made 99% of the players of Floating Ice City cry like babies, but it even had an Outstanding Property of +25% attack speed! This ring was positively OP in the hands of any physical-attack player at this stage of the game! Speaking of which, there were a couple of physical-attack players in this party, and all of us were trying very hard not to salivate in front of our friends. The ring wasn¡¯t just powerful, it was beautiful and elegantly designed. Finally, there was a diamond-like gemstone at the center of the metal, and it was the thing that slayed the hearts of all the girls in my party. I swallowed my saliva before asking with a smile, "So, how should we decide the ownership of this ring? Sis is the only one who can¡¯t use this. Should we roll the dice?" Lin Yixin stared at me with hazy eyes. "Must we?" He Yi was also staring at me with great desire in her eyes. "Yeah, rolling for this feels incredibly cruel. Those who don¡¯t get it will feel absolutely terrible¡­" Beiming Xue curled her lips and said, "I give up. I just got the Assassination Wristguards, and I know better than to ask for more. Plus, this Ring of Wind and Moon increases max HP, it¡¯s clearly more suited for a melee class." I nodded. "Beiming is such a good girl¡­" After Beiming Xue forfeited, only Lin Yixin, He Yi, and I were left. I checked my equipment. The Paralysis Ring was a Dark Gold¨Cgrade accessory that was just as good as the Ring of Wind and Moon. The Abyssal Ring was also pretty amazing. Thus, resisting the pain in my heart I forfeited as well. "Well, both my rings are already pretty powerful, so I¡¯ll leave this one to you both¡­" Both girls looked at me with a dazed expression on their faces and added great pressure to my shoulders. Well, it was only natural. One of them was the guild leader of Snowy Cathaya, and the other the guild leader of Ancient Swords Dreaming Souls. Besides that, they were both incredibly beautiful women. Only one will be walking away from this catfight the victor, hahaha! "You should roll for it," I suggested. They agreed because neither of them could think of a better way to decide the ownership of the ring. Lin Yixin started first by activating the roll system and throwing her dice. A long while later, the dice finally stopped at a total of 17 points! "Uuuu¡­ what happened to my karma¡­" Lin Yixin groaned cutely. It looked like she was about to say bye bye to the Ring of Wind and Moon. He Yi threw her dice next, and it stopped at a total of 14 points. My beautiful leader immediately shivered all over. "Agh, the adage that there will always be someone better than you is true¡­" I couldn¡¯t help but smile at her reaction. "Mn, it looks like Eve¡¯s luck isn¡¯t online today. This Ring of Wind and Moon is Beauty Lin¡¯s!" Lin Yixin rubbed her eyes in disbelief. Finally, she thanked everyone solemnly. "Mn, thank you for giving me this ring, everyone. I¡­ I promise to work hard and do as much DPS as possible for the party¡­" I nodded. The Ring of Wind and Moon appeared around her finger in the next moment, and it looked so beautiful on her that the rest of the girls couldn¡¯t help but admire her. I was going to console them, but in the end I decided against the thought because Lin Yixin was around. It would be terrible if she slayed me in a fit of jealousy. Hmm, now that I think about it, would she get jealous over something like this? Probably not, and even if she was jealous she would never admit it... Only the last boss loot was left, now. The skill book was deep purple in color, the color of a legendary skill. I was sure that it would be incredibly valuable even before I checked its contents. A flash later, the skill book¡¯s stats appeared inside the party channel: Profound Ice Armor: Form a protective armor with the power of frost. Increases the user¡¯s physical defense by 5%. When the user suffers a melee attack, slightly reduce the attacker¡¯s speed. Level Requirement: 80. Class Requirement: Wanderer, Warrior. ¡­¡­ Fuck, it¡¯s a protective skill! Everyone fell silent and stared at each other for a time. A couple of seconds later, I said, "Sister He Yi already has Rock Shield, and I already have Ghost Deity Armor. As we all know, you cannot have more than one of the same type of protective skill. Since Beauty Lin is the only one who doesn¡¯t have one yet, I think we should give this to her. What do you all think?" He Yi smiled cheerfully. "Mn!" Lin Yixin also looked very excited. "Profound Ice Armor? Looks like an incredibly powerful skill. This is so much better than Wanderer¡¯s Protective Aura¡­" "Take it and learn it right away. Even I feel sorry for how fragile you are¡­" "Oh¡­" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin accepted the skill book and learned it immediately. From now on, the Fruit Knife Goddess was no longer a glass cannon. Her legend had become even more perfect than before. Seriously though, this Root Protector was such a bro. Although it had given us a hard time, it also rewarded us with a normal Dark Gold¨Cgrade item, two Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade items, and a powerful skill book. It had single-handedly carried our party¡¯s overall strength to a whole new level! I looked into the distance and brandished the Purgatory Sword. "Let¡¯s go, we are very close to the finish line!" Chapter 267: Flower Fairy Rustle rustle¡­ My Death Shade War Boots stepped on grass and stones as the light of dawn broke through the clouds and entered my eyes. A new dawn had arrived inside the game. "Ah, wait¡­" Lin Yixin suddenly stopped in her tracks with a complicated expression. "What¡¯s wrong?" I asked. "I¡¯m hungry¡­" "My god, you ate almost half a pig during lunch not long ago! How on earth are you hungry again¡­" I expressed my sincere confusion to her. She shot me a grudgeful look before replying, "I¡¯m talking about in-game Satiety, stupid. How long do you think we¡¯ve been fighting? My Satiety is about to drop below 30." He Yi also suggested with a smile, "I¡¯m feeling a bit hungry as well. Why don¡¯t we rest for a bit and wait until it¡¯s morning before we continue? Just in case we fight another boss like the Root Protector, our prospects will be much better than before." "True." So I found a large rock, sat down and stabbed the Purgatory Sword into the ground. Then, I took out the rations I had bought from Floating Ice City and started eating. It was bread. You could buy it from any NPC vendor, and basically every player had to eat at least 10 loaves of Coarse Bread to maintain their Satiety meter. Everyone started munching bread for a bit. Even Lin Yixin was kneeling on the beautiful grassland and eating slowly like a lady. Out of all the consumables in the game, food was the one thing that had a long animation when consumed. The designers were probably afraid that some hasty players would accidentally choke themselves to death. A few minutes later, I clapped my hands and said, "Phew, it¡¯s amazing you can eat dozens of loaves of bread in one gulp! This game knows what it¡¯s doing!" Lin Yixin stood up and agreed, "Same here. I ate a dozen or so too¡­" I looked at the flat stomach beneath her armor and teased her. "That being said, your stomach should really be bulging like a pregnant lady after eating so many loaves in one go¡­" Lin Yixin immediately turned red and glared at me. "I am not pregnant!" Even Murong Mingyue joined me on the teasing. "Of course you aren¡¯t, you just learned the Profound Ice Armor, didn¡¯t you? That skill has birth-control effects, you know?" He Yi and Beiming Xue burst into giggles. Lin Yixin turned redder before urging, "Come on, let¡¯s get back to the grind already!" I nodded and looked around me. "You know, this place is really beautiful. If we run into another secluded place like this, we should have a picnic like this again¡­" Suddenly, a meaningful smile blossomed across Murong Mingyue¡¯s lips. "All of us together?" "Of course!" "Are you sure you¡¯re planning a picnic, not outdoor sex?" "..." I fell silent for a moment before replying, "I can¡¯t talk to you when you are like this¡­" "Hoho~~" ¡­¡­ We went back to our journey. We were nearing the end of Hundred Flower Valley, but I was still worried about Xinran. Her injuries were so serious that even the great witch doctor of the Blood Dance Legion couldn¡¯t do anything to help her. Worse, she could only begin to heal after I brought the Frost Snowball¡¯s petals back to her. I was anxious to say the least. Besides, what if she left me after she healed completely? A sense of loss permeated in my heart the moment I thought of it. We didn¡¯t walk for long before Beiming Xue said, "Oh, I spot a mob right ahead of us! Flower Fairy? That¡¯s a pretty nice name!" I perked up in excitement. "Flower Fairy? That sounds wonderful! I wonder if I can catch one as a pet¡­" Standing atop a hill, Lin Yixin laughed at me and said, "Do it if you want. No one will stop you!" I got up the hill myself and shivered in terror when I saw the true form of the so-called Flower Fairy. It wouldn¡¯t even be an exaggeration to say that it had left a shadow in my heart. The mob was called "Flower Fairy", and it was a humanoid creature, but there were several problems. One, its face was an amalgamation of Sister Feng and Sister Furong. Two, its body was "perfect" if you believed that having a waist size equal to the sum of your bust size and hip size was "perfect¡±. Besides that, it wore a shirt that was sewn from leaves, a flower on top of its head, and an oversized red gown around its shoulders. Finally, it wielded a stone axe as a weapon, and it had roots instead of legs. Its movement speed was incredibly slow. Flower Fairy (Elite) Level: 95 Attack: 920~1080 Defense: 1000 HP: 25000 Skills: Poison Powder, Ice Thorn Introduction: A type of fairy that lives deep within the forest. They possess both stunning beauty and incredible attack power. Several thousand years ago, the human nobles sent their elite guards into the forest in hopes of capturing Flower Fairies as their playthings. However, the fairies turned out to be far stronger than they imagined, and countless human soldiers were killed as a result. ¡­¡­ I was absolutely stunned by the mob¡¯s introduction. "There are actually nobles who want to capture these things and turn them into their playthings? Sisters beyond, just how depraved do you have to be to even consider such a thing¡­" He Yi shot me a glance. "Didn¡¯t you just say you want to catch one as a pet a minute ago?" "Nope! You misheard me!" I pulled out my weapon and said, "Anyway, I¡¯m going to test their strength!" "Go!" I activated Charge and stunned the nearest Flower Fairy to me. I immediately followed up with my usual combo, Ice Ray + Slayer Slash. 2451! 1890! Fuck, what amazing Defense! The Flower Fairy was Level 95, meaning that it was even stronger than the Vine Flowers we had fought earlier. Besides that, it had an amazing 1080 Attack, nothing to scoff at! Speaking of which, my combo accidentally tore apart the Flower Fairy¡¯s clothes, so she swung her battle axe at me and swore angrily, "You will pay the price of blood for your lust, despicable human! Die!" I blurted in shock, "Big sis, I swear I¡¯m not interested in you in the slightest!" Crack crack! She hit me twice in the row on the shoulder as sparks flew everywhere. Holy shit, it hurts! 478! 503! At this point, it was pretty much confirmed that a Flower Fairy¡¯s attack power was equal to a Level 75 Dark Gold Rank boss. This wouldn¡¯t be an easy area to clear! I turned my sword around and attacked her twice! The Flower Fairy immediately responded by crossing her axes in front of her chest. It looked like a Guard, but that was perfect for me! I quickly changed tactics and brought my blade up in a Crushing Blow! 5034! Haha, she would be savoring this Rank 8 Crushing Blow for a long time in death! A couple more slashes later, I successfully killed my first Flower Fairy. I felt so tired I could collapse on the spot, but the experience it gave was so amazing that the girls immediately requested that we kill all the Flower Fairies within the area. After all, the point of doing quests was to get experience and level up. It would be a waste to leave them untouched, especially since we didn¡¯t know when we would run into another leveling ground like this in the future. That being said, there were at least thousands of Flower Fairies in this part of the valley, and they were much stronger than the Vine Flowers. I wasn¡¯t sure if we had the power to hold a choke point and kill them en masse. So I said, "This is going to be a hard one. I don¡¯t think even I could handle two Flower Fairies attacking me at once." Lin Yixin nodded. "True. Their Attack is just too high." He Yi¡¯s eyes twirled for a second before she smiled suddenly. "Actually, I think we can do this. The frontline, namely the three of us, don¡¯t need to attack. We can just stand at the front and use Guard repeatedly. The backline, Murong Mingyue and Beiming will be our main damage dealers this time. Also, my Firelight Mouse is Level 52 now, so it now knows a fire-type AoE skill. It is perfect for these wood-type heavy armor mobs." I smiled. "Okay, let¡¯s do as Eve says and give it a try. Honestly, I didn¡¯t want to leave these huge bags of experience myself!" "Mn!" He Yi smiled back. "Also, let¡¯s try to clean them all up in two hours so we can grab supper. We haven¡¯t eaten or drank anything since afternoon, and that isn¡¯t good for the body." "Yeah!" It wasn¡¯t difficult to find a usable choke point. We found a triangular depression on the walls that was perfect for our purpose. The Flower Fairies were incredibly slow, and their only other gimmick was poison. However, their toxin wasn¡¯t even as deadly as the Mountain Spiders¡¯, so I decided to lure the mobs myself instead of using the Dark Wasp. It was faster this way! I darted across the sea of Flower Fairies for a while before returning to the choke point. It wasn¡¯t long before they started swarming toward us. It was a joyous moment, however. They were all walking bags of experience after all! "Ready!" I stopped in between He Yi and Lin Yixin, spun around and used Guard immediately. The entrance could only accommodate five Flower Fairies at most, and three of them were swinging their axes at me like crazy. However, the damage they dealt to me was completely negligible thanks to Guard! He Yi and Lin Yixin did the same. The three of us formed a solid defensive line at the choke point so that none of the mobs could get to our backline. This time, Murong Mingyue roleplayed the powerful mage instead of the powerful healer. She summoned waves of falling meteors that hit the Flower Fairies for an incredible amount of damage. 1874! 2010! 1987! ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, Murong Mingyue¡¯s amazing Magic Attack is starting to show its true powers. Once Hellish Rockfall hits Rank 8, any heavy-armored unit that underestimates her will be crying rivers of tears. Naturally, Beiming Xue wasn¡¯t idle either. She fired a Evil Spirit Volley into the mob and triggered a bunch of critical hits. She was doing her utmost to defend the pride of the party¡¯s number one damage dealer. He Yi¡¯s pet was also pulling its weight. The boss-tier Firelight Mouse was waving its tail and firing one spell after another as its small body was completely covered in flames. A sea of fire engulfed the Flower Fairies and dealt continuous damage just like Murong Mingyue. Although it only dealt half her damage, it was still incredibly powerful considering its level. At Level 80, it would be the equal of a mage stacked with top-tier equipment! For a time, the Flower Fairies¡¯ screams filled the air. The Firelight Mouse¡¯s AoE spell was already a pain to deal with, but it was just the beginning of their misery. Murong Mingyue used Hellish Rockfall again and again until the sky was full of falling rocks, and the ground was covered in fire, and if that wasn¡¯t enough Beiming Xue¡¯s Evil Spirit Volley caused absolute devastation wherever it struck. Perhaps the worst part was the fact that their only path toward their tormentors was blocked by three melee fighters in Guard stance, and they just couldn¡¯t get through no matter what they tried. I would be crying myself if I was one of these pitiful mobs. Not one to let go of an opportunity, I abruptly canceled my Guard and launched Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! Chapter 268: Rain of Fire "Chirp chirp¡­" From the way the Firelight Mouse was shaking its butt, you would never imagine that it was the culprit behind the inferno burning the Flower Fairies alive. It was getting a bit boring, so I said, "The Firelight Mouse is a fire-type creature, right? I wonder if you can barbecue it if you put it above a bonfire¡­" Murong Mingyue replied, "It¡¯s worth a shot!" Lin Yixin also looked very excited. "Do it! Do it!" Shocked, He Yi defended her pet immediately. "Not now! At least do it after this battle is over¡­" Beiming Xue said, "Hey, are you guys watching the guild chat?" "What¡¯s wrong?" "Xu Yang and Du Thirteen have been fighting Gods of Destruction with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Bloody Mercenaries the whole day¡­" "OMG!" I checked the guild chats. It looked like everyone was having one helluva time over there. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had declared war on the Gods of Destruction due to yesterday¡¯s incident, and as a result, the two guilds were locked in both minor and major GvGs for an entire day! After war was declared, the ID of the players of the enemy guild would turn red in color, meaning that you could fight them any time you wanted. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was the only Rank 3 guild in Floating Ice City right now, and it had an active player count of 2000. Therefore, it was now strong enough to fight Gods of Destruction on even footing! Murong Mingyue said, "Men are all battle maniacs, hmph! I can¡¯t believe those idiots made our guilds drop an entire day of grinding to fight Gods of Destruction. They must¡¯ve been kicked in the head by a donkey¡­" I smiled placatingly. "It¡¯s fine once in a while, isn¡¯t it? It can get boring spending the whole day doing nothing but grinding, you know." He Yi giggled. "You were expecting support from Lu Chen? You said it yourself¡ªmen are all battle maniacs, and he is no exception. If he wasn¡¯t doing Xinran¡¯s quest, he probably would¡¯ve gone to hunt Dominating Heaven Blade himself!" I stared at my Purgatory Sword with a smile. "Dominating Heaven Blade? Forget it. Not even three Dominating Heaven Blades would be a match for me, though they might have a slim chance if all five of their best experts attacked me together¡­" "OMG, that¡¯s a rather bold claim, don¡¯t you think?" Murong Mingyue stared at me. I smiled but didn¡¯t give her a reply. Surprisingly, it was Lin Yixin who came to my defense. "He¡¯s right, you know. He has a full set of Dark Gold¨Cgrade gear, a 3-star Outstanding Purgatory Sword, and an absolute advantage in terms of skill. Gods of Destruction couldn¡¯t one-shot him even if they tried, so it isn¡¯t an exaggeration to say that he¡¯s way ahead of Dominating Heaven Blade." "Anyway, let¡¯s get this over with. I¡¯m so hungry¡­" "Yeah¡­" ¡­¡­ The ground was littered with bodies, and I was sitting at Level 85, 74%. I would definitely level up to 86 after we killed the final boss and turned in this quest! Seriously, this quest was so rewarding that it was almost cheating! We swept the battlefield and collected all the loot. The Flower Fairies mostly dropped Level 85 Dark Steel or Silver-grade equipment. Right now, there was no market for these items because only a handful of players had hit Level 80. However, the situation would turn a hundred and eighty degrees in half a month at most. Not everyone would have the chance to kill a boss in hopes of getting Gold or Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment. We left the Big Magic Stones behind, even those with 100 Quality. After all, who would want something that sold for 20 silver at most? At least the Phantasmal Magic Stones were still selling for tens of gold each. My bag was quickly filled with a ton of great items. It was an exhilarating feeling to say the least. I watched the map as I walked at the front of the party. We were only a short way away from the end now. I could feel an unnatural chill seeping into my bones, and I could see a white-colored flower on a cliff at the end of the path. If i wasn¡¯t mistaken, it was the Frost Snowball we were looking for! "It¡¯s the quest item!" Beiming Xue pointed. I nodded with a smile. "Yes, finally. We still need to check if a boss is guarding it, however. Let¡¯s move! It¡¯s almost 10 pm already!" "Yeah!" We ran until we arrived at the foot of the mountain range. Then, our eyes goggled at a certain creature right beneath the Frost Snowball. It was a vicious-looking boss with a long, lizard-like body and hooves for its feet. Its ugly head was shaped like a dragon¡¯s, but for some reason it had a pair of hands right below its neck. One of its hand was pressing against the ground like an extra foot, and the other holding a long weapon that was shaped like a trident or a spear, clearly not an ordinary weapon! King of Destruction Dogus (Purple Gold Rank Boss) Level: 95 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: A demonic creature from hell, Dogus is a destructive monster who once slaughtered an entire human legion with its powerful soul-stealing spear. When Princess Karinshan and her elite troops attempted to hunt it down, they only managed to force it into the arctic lands as the creature managed to dig its way into the ground and escape. Many years later, he returned to the surface and became the king of Hundred Flower Valley. ¡­¡­ "A Level 95 Purple Gold Rank boss¡­" I gulped once before asking, "It looks pretty tough. What should we do?" Shing! Lin Yixin pulled out her Moonlight Sword and smiled confidently. "What else? We kill it." He Yi said, "Let¡¯s devise a plan first. It¡¯s not a good habit to fight a war without preparation, not to mention that this Dogus is called the King of Destruction. It¡¯s never a good idea to underestimate a boss with a title like that¡­" I replied, "It¡¯s impossible to come up with anything specific since its stats and skills are invisible, so we¡¯ll stick to the old plan: I¡¯ll keep the boss busy while you all damage it. Beiming Xue, don¡¯t forget to use Freezing Arrow to keep it under control. At least it doesn¡¯t have underlings that we have to deal with." "Mn!" "Alright, get ready to Charge, frontliners. I¡¯m first, Yiyi second, and Eve third. Let¡¯s maximize our CC efficiency!" "Yeah!" I raised the Purgatory Sword and let out a growl, buffing everyone with Wild Roar. Then, I locked onto the boss and activated Charge! Whoosh! MISS! I reached the boss in just the blink of an eye, but all I got was a big fat MISS. It was to be expected, though. Both its level and rank were pretty high after all! Stunned or not, the boss was going to die here one way or another! Beside me, Lin Yixin had also joined the fray. It looked like she expected her Charge to MISS as well because she immediately unleashed Extreme Break the moment she hit the boss, drastically reducing its physical defenses! I immediately followed up with Pardon + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 17568! Hell yeah, I got a critical hit on my first strike! It looks like today is my lucky day! But at the same time, I was chilled to see that our combined attacks¡ªover 25k damage in total¡ªdeleted less than 5% of the boss''s HP only, meaning that the King of Destruction had at least 500k HP. This wouldn¡¯t be an easy fight! "Damned humans!" Dogus raised his spear and swung it down. "I sentence all of you to death! Die for your greed and your hypocrisy!" My hands were covered in cold sweat. His spear had come to a sudden stop just when it was about to hit me. Miraculously, He Yi had managed to stun the boss briefly with her Charge! I took two hasty steps backward before circling to the boss''s right flank. Two basic attacks later, a paralytic feeling suddenly shot up my arm. Eh? It¡¯s the paralysis effect! Thank heavens for three seconds of hard CC! Everyone dished out as much damage as they could during this short but valuable opening. The boss was still affected by Extreme Break, so it was losing HP rapidly! At the distance, Beiming Xue was flicking her bow and maximizing the damage output of her Evil Spirit Volley. Even Murong Mingyue had decided to fire a Hellish Rockfall first and heal later! A bunch of hits later, the boss''s HP finally dropped to 90% or so. What the heck, it¡¯s so much tougher than the usual bosses! "Lowly humans, die!" The boss abruptly moved again and thrust its spear at me. It was so fast that I couldn¡¯t even Guard in time! Puchi! A despairingly high amount of damage rose above my head as pain shot through my body¡ª2874! It was too much. The boss could kill me in two or three hits at most! This is insane! I wasn¡¯t the only one who was losing HP, however. Both He Yi and Lin Yixin shivered as they took splash damage¡ª 1293! 1293! This was the most dangerous part of it all. The King of Destruction was plenty powerful already, but his basic attacks also did a whopping 45% splash damage! It was one disaster after another! Lin Yixin shouted, "Sister Mingyue, heal Lu Chen first! He¡¯s going to die¡­" I wanted to say I wasn¡¯t going to, but excessive stubbornness would only lead to death and level loss! Swhoosh swhoosh! +1045! +1238! Murong Mingyue¡¯s heals were swift and effective. Her cooldown-reducing Prayer Scepter was starting to show off its true power! However, the boss was still very powerful. It swung its spear twice and silenced Lin Yixin and He Yi immediately. 2764! 3102! Lin Yixin almost died, and He Yi lost two-thirds of her HP, all in two basic attacks and the splash damage that came with them! It looked like the boss was completely out of our league right now! Crack! Lin Yixin dished out one last attack before retreating out of range. Chugging a HP potion down her throat, she shouted, "Lu Chen, Sister He Yi, let¡¯s engage it one by one! Its splash damage is just too powerful for us to attack it together!" "Mn!" He Yi retreated and left me behind. Murong Mingyue immediately focused all her healing on me. Still, the boss was insanely powerful. Even after a 150% increase to her healing powers, I was just barely surviving its powerful swings! Every hit that struck my body felt so painful that I wanted to die! 2894! 3001! I drank an HP potion immediately and healed for 2500 HP! +2500! I barely managed to cling onto life while Murong Mingyue continued to heal me. Of course, I wasn¡¯t just standing there and letting it hit me for free. Sometimes I would trigger a Purgatory Slash, and sometimes I would trigger my ring¡¯s paralysis effect. Whatever I did, I aimed to slow down the rate I was dying by even little. Even so, the situation was way too precarious for my liking! "Roar! You damned human foot soldier!" Dogus suddenly roared and coated his spear in a sheen of bloody light. I immediately fell into despair! 6784! It was a critical hit and a one-shot¡­ Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have triggered "Immortality VIII" and revived with full HP! ¡­¡­ Awesome! At Rank 8, the skill only had an 8% chance to trigger on death, but it still activated and saved my life. Meanwhile, He Yi and Lin Yixin were trying and failing to keep the aggro I just lost. If I didn¡¯t regain its attention soon, a party wipe was all but certain! I immediately activated Charge and hit the boss like a bolt of lightning! Whoosh! It was a successful stun. It looked like the goddess of luck was smiling upon me again! Chapter 269: Heavenstealer’s Boots The sky suddenly darkened, dark clouds roiling. The next moment, countless red hot meteors passed through the clouds and hit the ground with thunderous speed. Sparks flew everywhere, and the splash damage they dealt was positively astounding. "Oh no¡­" It was too late to say or do anything at this point, and as I looked at the girls I saw that they were smiling bitterly as well. Everyone had realized that it was impossible to escape from the boss''s huge AoE magic spell. Beiming Xue didn¡¯t give up. She fired a couple of Evil Spirit Volleys in an attempt to interrupt the boss before he could finish his spell. She failed, however. A few seconds later, a gigantic meteor exploded in the middle of our party and made me feel like my body was being torn apart. Several damage numbers appeared above all our heads¡ª 5478! 8752! 9034! 8467! 14846! Just like that, we were party-wiped. He Yi had the most HP out of all of us, but it wasn¡¯t enough to take a critical hit. We were one-shot without being able to resist at all! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! We all appeared at a graveyard inside Hundred Flower Valley as souls. After opening my map and taking a look, I said, "We can get there and revive in two minutes. We can¡¯t allow the boss to regenerate too much HP!" "Mn!" While we were running, Murong Mingyue said with a smile, "I wasn¡¯t expecting to get party-wiped like this. Also, this is the first time I see Beauty Lin in her soul form¡­" Lin Yixin let out a cute groan before saying, "It¡¯s fine, I actually die pretty often, you know? You can¡¯t walk the riverside without getting your feet wet¡­" "Hehe¡­" We could see our bodies strewn across the tattered ground and the boss was standing proudly with its head high from a distance. The King of Destruction had regenerated at least 20% HP while we were dead. It was now sitting at 30% HP or so, but it was fine. As long as it didn¡¯t use its ultimate skill again, we still had a chance of beating it! I said inside the party channel, "After I count down to zero, everyone revives and uses Charge at the same time, okay? As for you, sis, you need to eat a Magic Consumable immediately. Otherwise, you won¡¯t be able to heal us in time!" "Okay!" I stopped next to my body before looking downward. Hmm, this is not a good look for the legendary Unkillable War God at all. My body looks like a cockroach that was flattened by a slipper. Swhoosh! My eyes lit up, my revival a success. After I picked up the Purgatory Helmet I dropped after the death, I immediately activated Charge! MISS! The Charge was still a failure, but my sword tore through the boss''s Defense and dealt over 3000 damage. Even better, a golden flash indicated that I had successfully paralyzed the King of Destruction! The girls also came back to life and took action with grim determination. Again, He Yi miraculously stunned the boss and deleted several thousand HP from the boss''s health bar with a couple of basic attacks. Her DPS was pretty good, all things considered. Players only revived with 50% HP and MP, so the pressure on Murong Mingyue was pretty high. The good news was that she had the Prayer Scepter, so she got everyone to full health in a short time. Just like before, Beiming Xue fired a couple of Freezing Arrows to keep the boss slowed. "Arghhh, damned humans, I will crush you all to pieces!" The King of Destruction abruptly activated another skill and brought down its front hooves. A huge wave of red energy bathed over us. It was War Stampede! 1784! 2017! 1674! All three of us frontliners took a sizable amount of damage and were forced to drink a potion to survive. Even Murong Mingyue was hard-pressed because of how powerful the boss was. A different priest would¡¯ve gotten us party-wiped already. "Lu Chen got the aggro. Beauty Lin, Eve, feel free to retreat anytime you feel like it! Don¡¯t let the boss get splash damage on you!" Murong Mingyue said, causing Lin Yixin and He Yi to back off immediately. She was right. This boss was meant to be dealt with one tank or at most, two. Any more than that and they would only be a burden to the party. Thankfully, I had an insane amount of Defense. Although my HP wasn¡¯t as high as He Yi¡¯s, I was still tanky enough to hold off the boss for a while. Lin Yixin employed the hit-and-run strategy. Every time her skills were up, she would immediately unleash them on the boss before running away. She gave it no chance to deal any splash damage to her whatsoever. He Yi employed the Charge tactic, spamming it off CD. If the boss was stunned, then she would attack it a couple of times before running away. If she failed, she would skip the first step and proceed to sprint away. She knew that she wasn¡¯t as skillful as Lin Yixin, so she didn¡¯t dare to tempt fate. A few minutes later, the boss''s HP dropped to around 10% again. In that moment, I felt like my heart was about to jump out of my throat. Please do not use that skill again! The King of Destruction had to really dislike failing to meet the expectation of his audience, because he raised his spear and shouted again when his HP dropped to 10%, "O¡¯ mighty god of fire, please grant me the power to destroy everything¡ªRain of Fire!" I couldn¡¯t stop myself from screaming, "Fuck, he actually did it¡­" At this point, it was clear that the King of Destruction was programmed to use Rain of Fire whenever his HP dropped to 10% or so. The sky was cloudy. We were mere seconds away from being bombarded by a hail of super meteors with no avenue of escape! It was at this moment a beautiful knight ran toward the boss without hesitation. It was none other than He Yi herself! "Knight¡¯s Outrage!" Knight¡¯s Outrage was a self-sacrificing skill that forced every mob within the skill radius to attack the skill user! As expected, the King of Destruction canceled the spell midway and turned its ugly head toward He Yi. Then, he stabbed her twice in a row! 2764! 5218! ¡­¡­ Fuck! It was a critical hit! Even with Rock Shield, He Yi wasn¡¯t able to block the powerful chain attack. Just like that, our leader collapsed to the ground and died right before our eyes! "You bastard!" A nameless anger rose in my heart as I hacked away at the boss''s flesh like I would turn it into mincemeat. But He Yi¡¯s sacrifice didn¡¯t buy us much time. Less than ten seconds later, the King of Destruction raised his spear and started chanting his ultimate spell again! At that moment, even I was feeling a sense of despair. Was the boss programmed to keep using Rain of Fire after dropping below 10%? If that was true, then how on earth are we going to beat it? Suddenly, Lin Yixin snapped me out of my daze with a shout, "It¡¯s do or die! Lu Chen, use your Purple Dragon Howl now!" At the same time, she ran toward the boss and executed Extreme Break in the blink of an eye. The boss''s Defense was reduced by 80% as a result! I backed off a few steps, ate a Magic Consumable to return to full MP and shouted, "Sis, heal me!" Swhoosh swhoosh! I was at full health one instant heal later. I immediately clicked the skill button with the icon of a giant purple dragon on it! "Roar!" A tremendous amount of draconic energy surrounded me before focusing at the tip of my blade. Then, I sent the energy flying straight toward the King of Destruction! "Roar roar!" The purple blast engulfed the boss and ravaged its whole body. It did an insane amount of damage¡ª 10874! 11847! 10423! ¡­¡­ Even I was shocked by the amount of damage the skill was doing, though it was only thanks to Lin Yixin¡¯s Extreme Break. The boss didn¡¯t have nearly enough HP to withstand it! Finally, the gigantic monster that was the King of Destruction collapsed to the ground! Swhoosh swhoosh! All four of us leveled up once and regained our lost levels! "Aaah¡­" Lin Yixin wiped the sweat on her face while looking like she was going to break down emotionally. "Uu, we finally took down that boss. It was so, so powerful¡­" I nodded. "Yeah, it was a Purple Gold Rank boss. It would be stranger if it wasn¡¯t this powerful!" Murong Mingyue said, "Let¡¯s wait a minute for Eve. We can loot the body once she arrives!" "Yeah!" He Yi had used Knight¡¯s Outrage to interrupt the boss and bought us some time. Waiting for her was the least we could do to repay her chivalrous spirit. ¡­¡­ While we were waiting, Murong Mingyue suddenly curled her lips at me and asked, "Hey Lu Chen, Eve died to save you, you know? Shouldn¡¯t you show some grief at least?" I nodded and walked up to He Yi¡¯s corpse. Then, I dropped to one knee and started crying, "Sob sob, boss, I didn¡¯t want to see you off like this¡­" Swhoosh! Suddenly, my beautiful leader came back to life and blinded me with her long, white legs. At the same time, a dignified voice rang above my head, "What the hell are you doing¡­" I quickly jumped to my feet and said, "It¡¯s nothing. Anyway, let¡¯s loot the boss, shall we? It¡¯s really getting late!" "Mn mn!" He Yi followed behind me as we walked up to the boss. Just like before, they left the looting to me probably because they thought that I had lucky hands. It was a fact that almost all the loot that passed through my hands was pretty amazing. I heaved the King of Destruction¡¯s metal hoof into the air before dropping it to the side. There, I found a pile of items lying snugly on the ground underneath his body. First, I filtered the magic stones from my mind. Then, I looked for equipment and found a shiny spear, a bloody cape, and a pair of dark red-colored war boots. Finally, I found a skill book with purple light surrounding it! I couldn¡¯t help the smile on my face. "I wonder if a Purple Gold Rank boss would drop a Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment? Hahaha, how exciting!" Lin Yixin also looked excited. "I know right? Anyway, move your ass already, how much longer are you going to make us wait?" He Yi nodded in agreement. "Yeah, do it now!" The girls insisted, so I had to comply. I carried the equipment in my arms and stared at the war boots first. The stat screen that popped up in front of us was stunning to say the least. Heavenstealer¡¯s Boots (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Defense: 120 Agility: +50 Stamina: +52 Passive: Increases user¡¯s attack speed by 10% Passive: Increases user¡¯s movement speed by 5% Level Requirement: 85 ¡­¡­ Chapter 270: Ice Flame Slash Unfortunately, Heavenstealer¡¯s Boots were a pair of leather boots. Even though their stats made me, Lin Yixin, and He Yi drool, it was a leather item. It wouldn¡¯t be nice of us to demand it with Beiming Xue¡¯s hope-filled eyes staring at us. I couldn¡¯t disappoint my little sister like that, right? ¡°These boots are Lil Beiming¡¯s. No one has any objections, right?¡± I placed the Heavenstealer¡¯s Boots in front of Beiming Xue and almost stuffed it in her bag before asking that question. He Yi and Lin Yixin were speechless as they glared at me with hidden bitterness. They probably thought I was favoring Lil Beiming a bit too much. In order to disintegrate that social contradiction, I quickly picked up the second item dropped by the King of Destruction. It was a blood-red cloak. I brushed my hand over it and its stats transformed into motes of light before condensing in the air, surprising all the girls present¡ª Skydusk Cloak (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Defense: 185 Magic Resist: 150 Stamina: +52 Strength: +55 Passive: Increases user¡¯s evasion rate by 12% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 3% Level Requirement: 85 ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, what a cape. This Dark Gold¨Cgrade item had strong stats with evasion rate and it even boosted Defense by 3%. Even though 3% wasn¡¯t much, it was still pretty good in its own right. Capes usually didn¡¯t have percentage-based Defense bonuses and everyone knew that VRMMOs were all about the accumulation of stats. 3% didn¡¯t look like much but if you had more pieces of equipment like this, the total would be quite significant. Experts could be made overnight with just one piece of gear. Endlessly accumulating stats and experience was the true way of a king! I curled my lips. ¡°This is a metal armor item. Let¡¯s go, He Yi, Yiyi, we¡¯ll roll for it!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± The two girls nodded happily. I threw the dice. ¡°27!¡± He Yi also tossed it, and it landed on 18! Lin Yixin had a sweet smile on but was shocked silent when she rolled a 5. She looked our way and pursed her lips. ¡°Good thing we¡¯re all in the same party. If we joined different parties and rolled these numbers, we¡¯d all be miserable¡­¡± Hands still on the Skydusk Cloak, I nodded. ¡°Right right, good thing I rolled with you guys or else I wouldn¡¯t get a single item with 27 points¡­¡± The two girls: ¡°...¡± Light flashed behind me when I equipped the Skydusk Cloak. An even wider blood red cloak appeared over my back, and looked more austere in the light of the night. My stats also rose considerably since it was much stronger than my old Silver-grade cloak¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Class: Undead Swordsman (Silver Swordsman) Level: 85 HP: 4760 Attack: 764~1285 Defense: 1165 Magic Resist: 1025 Tactics: 42 Luck: 7 ¡­¡­ My Attack shot straight to 1300 while my Defense also neared 1200. I had almost 5000 HP and was exactly like an unrivaled foot soldier who continued to advance! The last item was a shining spear. The blade of the spear was surrounded by supernatural energy while the design itself looked elegant and refined. It was the same spear the King of Destruction held in his grasp! In fact, I had been eyeing it the entire fight. This spear was the item I was looking forward to the most! I took a deep breath. ¡°This baby could probably climb to first place in the Weapon Ranking. Look closely everyone!¡± The girls were shocked when I posted its stats in the party channel. Their jaws literally dropped to the floor. No one would expect that this Level 95 Purple Gold Rank boss would actually drop such an excellent weapon!! Soul Stealing Spear (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï) Attack: 275~480 Strength: +60 Stamina: +55 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 14% Passive: 4% life steal Outstanding Property: 10% chance to trigger the Soul Steal effect. Target will not be able to use any skills for 5 seconds Level Requirement: 85 ¡­¡­ Fuck! It was of the Purple Gold grade, and Outstanding at that! Lin Yixin and I looked at each other in dismay. This spear was seriously OP! I took another deep breath and opened Floating Ice City¡¯s Weapon Ranking. Oh, my Purgatory Sword was still firmly guarding its topmost position but this Soul Stealing Spear had jumped straight up to the second place. It was only a few hundred points worse than my Purgatory Sword. In fact, this spear¡¯s attack power had already surpassed the Purgatory Sword. It was just that its quality was a bit inferior. My Purgatory Sword had 3 stars while the Soul Stealing Spear had only 1. The difference was obvious. I lifted the spear and asked, ¡°How do we split this spear?¡± Lin Yixin hesitated for a long time before she voiced out, ¡°Uh¡­ I¡¯m not really used to using spears. How about you split it with Sister He Yi?¡± I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m not used to using spears either and spears don¡¯t give warriors a 25% weapon mastery bonus either. It¡¯s better to just give it to Eve. Magic knights actually have a 25% damage bonus when they use a spear. This Soul Stealing Spear is so strong that it¡¯ll be a waste if we don¡¯t use it¡­¡± Beep! He Yi sent me a message: ¡°Lu Chen, this isn¡¯t good. We have three melee players so how could I alone get the Purple Gold¨Cgrade weapon?¡± I replied while smiling. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. How could a player at Lin Yixin¡¯s level lack weapons? Just look for a way to make it up to her. Besides, the Soul Stealing Spear is, like its name implies, a spear, so it should go to someone of your class anyway.¡± ¡°A-alright then¡­¡± He Yi had mixed emotions about this but she still took the Soul Stealing Spear in the end. Once she reached Level 85 and equipped this spear, she would definitely become a versatile magic knight that could both attack and defend. She might even be a little stronger than Gui Guzi! Of course, since Gui Guzi was currently grinding somewhere with Chaos Moon, Yamete, and Moonlight Stone, he should also have the chance to fight a high rank boss so his equipment ought to be no less inferior. To be honest, their party was just a bit weaker than ours. It was no laughing matter. Our party was strong as hell. We had the Fruit Knife Goddess, the Unkillable War God, the Breast Goddess, the Dark Archer. Any one of us could make Floating Ice City tremble. Meanwhile, He Yi was a hot, super beautiful knight and she was strong now. Our strength was high enough to make people mad. Everyone¡¯s eyes then fell onto that skill book. It was purple so it had to be another good skill! I secretly sighed. This King of Destruction was only here to give us gear and once he accomplished his mission, he probably felt like he might as well give us a powerful skill too, huh. I was still lost in my thoughts but I was immediately struck dumb when I opened the skill book. Ice Flame Slash: Uses the power of ice and flame and condenses it into a sword aura that sweeps the enemy in front, dealing huge damage over a huge area. There is also a chance of inflicting the ¡°Wounded¡± effect, weakening healing spells used on the target by 50% for 10 seconds. Level Requirement: 80. Class Requirement: Magic Knight, Warrior, Wanderer. ¡­¡­ We all stared blankly at the skill book. It was actually a physical AoE skill, and even one that could massively reduce heal effects. This was an important skill for smallscale PvP in the wild. One Ice Flame Slash could convert groups of players into little crybabies. I glanced at Lin Yixin and noticed that she was also looking my way. Her watery eyes were beautiful beyond compare. I glanced at He Yi and saw that there was a faint smile on her face. Beep! He Yi sent me another message: ¡°It¡¯s already too much for me to take the Soul Stealing Spear. How about you give Lin Yixin the Ice Flame Slash skill book? Else, Snowy Cathaya will think that our Frost Cloud workshop is horrible!¡± I gave a nod and immediately turned around. I placed the book in front of Lin Yixin. ¡°Eve took the Purple Gold¨Cgrade weapon and I have Thousand Mirage Slash as my AoE skill, I¡¯ll give this Ice Flame Slash to you, Yiyi!¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s glistening eyes stared at me. I felt a bit embarrassed so I dumped the book on her and said, ¡°There are also some stones here so let¡¯s split them up. Get ready to head back to the city to turn in our quests, everyone. We can go eat afterwards, I¡¯m starving¡­¡± ¡°Mn, mn!¡± Lin Yixin tapped to learn the skill and the Ice Flame Slash skill book disappeared. In our trip here to Hundred Flower Valley, Lin Yixin had definitely reaped huge profits. Not only did she learn a powerful protective skill, Profound Ice Armor, she¡¯d even gotten a powerful AoE skill like Ice Flame Slash. The Fruit Knife Goddess was even more perfect now. ¡°Show us the skill, Yiyi.¡± I said. ¡°Okay!¡± Lin Yixin nodded. The Moonlight Sword in her hand exploded as she suddenly brandished her weapon. An enormous sword instantly formed at the tip of her sword. It was a bright icy longsword that was at least 20 yards long and a meter wide. Surrounding in dense, intense flames, it slashed down! Bang! Dust flew in the valley as everything within 5x25 yards was destroyed. This skill¡¯s form is so cool! He Yi gaped, then gasped in admiration. ¡°Wow, what a pretty skill¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t stop my smile from coming out. I whispered in her ear, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, you¡¯ll have a skill like that in the future too.¡± ¡°Mn, mn.¡± The beautiful leader nodded in response. I shouted, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s head back to the city and get ready to turn in our quest!¡± As I said that, I took out a return scroll, about to tear it apart! Lin Yixin swiftly turned around and grabbed the return scroll in my hand. She said with an angry smile, ¡°Stupid, you haven¡¯t even gathered the Frost Snowball¡¯s petals yet and you¡¯re just going to bring that face of yours turn in the quest? You¡¯re not even that handsome so how can Xinran be cured with just your face?¡± I glared at her. ¡°Alright, my mistake, I forgot. But you didn¡¯t have to be that mean. Even if I¡¯m not as handsome as Li Le, I¡¯m still a tad better than Mamate¡­¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have his beer belly¡­¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± ¡­¡­ I climbed up a cliff, using the Purgatory Sword to jab at the rock face under the gaze of the girls. Once I reached the area with the Frost Snowball, I reached out to gather the snowballs and a bone-piercing chill entered the palm of my hand. Tsk tsk, this is some nice stuff! After I finished gathering, I looked down. So high. My head felt a bit woozy and my imagination went wild. If I lose my footing, would the girls catch me and then be concerned about me? Maybe someone might come over at night to serve me in bed or something. I couldn¡¯t hold in my laughter. Forget it, that was just my mind going places. Though if I got caught by a martial champion, I¡¯d be miserable. I pulled out my Purgatory Sword and easily fell to the ground! Bang! Chapter 271: Explosion Necklace I rose to my feet while cupping the Frost Snowball¡¯s petals in my hands. "Alright, let¡¯s go grab our reward!" Everyone crushed a return scroll and teleported back to Floating Ice City¡¯s square immediately. Before we set off, we repaired our equipment and restocked our potions just in case someone tried to PK us on our way. Then, we moved out of the city and ran toward the Blood Dance Legion¡¯s camp. About half an hour later, we arrived at the edge of Eternal Song Forest. He Yi seemed a bit hesitant as she stared at the imposing undead structures just ahead of us. Gripping the Abyssal Sword, she asked, "Hey, can anyone tell me if it¡¯s safe to enter that encampment? We are players of the human faction, right?" Lin Yixin nodded. "That¡¯s true. Let¡¯s keep an eye out. It¡¯d be humiliating if we got killed because we didn¡¯t consider something so simple!" I let out an involuntary laugh. "Relax, no one would touch a hair on all of you while I¡¯m around." He Yi curled her lips before saying, "Why do I feel like your phrasing is quite strange?" Suddenly, Lin Yixin pointed a finger at NPC camp and said, "Look, an NPC cavalry is heading our way!" It was none other than the Shadow Dance Elite Cavalry under Xue Wei. If there was one thing I was certain about these powerful undead knights, it was that they would be of great help to the Violet Empire when the latter was formally established once more. I highly doubted that we would be able to do anything if they decided to attack us. Clang! I pulled out the Purgatory Sword and ran forward to meet them. The Skydusk Cloak flapped behind me as I charged myself with imposing air. ¡­¡­ When the cavalry saw me, some of them immediately got off their horses and greeted me respectfully, "You¡¯re back, my lord! Princess Sophia and Lord Xue Wei are all waiting for you. Please seek them out with your companions as quickly as possible. Lady Wind Singer¡¯s injuries are getting worse and worse as we speak!" "Mn!" I nodded at him before calling out to the girls. "Quickly!" "Alright!" We were able to enter the camp safely with the elite cavalry leading at the front. A large group of undead was surrounding the commander¡¯s tent including Sophia and Xue Wei. I walked up to them and found Xinran floating above the ground. She seemed to be supported by the light shining from the overlapping magical formations beneath her body. It looked like the great witch doctor had erected them to extend Xinran¡¯s life as much as possible. "Have you completed your mission, young warrior?" the great witch doctor asked shakily after he saw me. I immediately took out the Frost Snowball from my bag and passed it to him. "Is this what you were looking for?" "Mn!" Princess Sophia nodded gladly. "This is a joyous occasion indeed. Thank you for completing a near-impossible quest, warrior. Come and receive the reward you deserve! May the glory of the undead be with you always!" Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [Frost Snowball]. You have gained 240000 EXP, 4000 gold, 4500 Reputation and the quest reward: "Explosion Necklace"! ¡­¡­ Huh? There¡¯s an equipment reward?! Pleasantly surprised, I opened my bag and found a dark gold necklace lying inside it. Heavens, my luck today really was extraordinary. I wasn¡¯t expecting to get a Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment as a quest reward! I checked its stats and wasn¡¯t disappointed. It was a Dark Gold¨Cgrade necklace! Explosion Necklace (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Strength: +54 Stamina: +48 Tactics: +12 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 7% Level Requirement: 85 ¡­¡­ My eyes grew as wide as saucers. I thought I was pretty lucky to get a Dark Gold¨Cgrade necklace already, but these stats were even better than what I imagined initially! Not only did it give a lot of stat points, it also boosted the wearer¡¯s Defense by 7% and Tactics by 12. No warrior could do without Tactics if they desired to become a mighty Famous General! Since ancient times, which famous general wasn¡¯t a master of the pen and the sword? Xiang Yu¡¯s martial prowess was unparalleled during his time, and the tactical skills he displayed during the Battle of Julu were so famous that it formed the Chinese idiom we knew today as "break the cauldrons and sink the boats¡±. Zhao Yun was a powerful general who could fight his way in and out of an army single-handedly, and he was also smart enough to devise strategies that won him every battle he fought. Four times Yue Fei led offensives into northern China, and each time he was successful due to his martial and tactical prowess. No famous general who had their names immortalized in the annals of history was a slouch. It was no different inside a game. No amount of good equipment and level could help you if you couldn¡¯t strategize to save your life. Long story short, Tactics was very important the further you got into the game. Whether a player could become a commander of multiple armies depended heavily on how much Tactics they had. The higher one¡¯s Tactics stat was, the stronger their General Skills would be. During the late game, high-level players could form a hundred-man party or even a thousand-man party. If you had a couple hundred Tactics points, a high-level Encourage could easily double or even triple your party¡¯s offensive power. It was powerful to say the least! I switched out the Silver-grade Chaos Necklace I had been wearing and equipped the Explosion Necklace. My stats immediately rose drastically. ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Class: Undead Swordsman (Silver Swordsman) Level: 85 HP: 5060 Attack: 727~1315 Defense: 1325 Magic Resist: 1175 Reputation: 50350 Tactics: 54 Luck: 7 ¡­¡­ My HP finally exceeded 5000, and my Attack and Defense had also experienced a sizable increase. I suppose I can call myself a novice tactician now that I have 54 Tactics, haha! When I looked around, I discovered that the girls were all smiles as well. "You¡¯ve all gotten your quest reward too, right? What item did you get?" I asked. Lin Yixin smiled. "I got a ring that gives me +7% Attack and +3% attack speed. Are you jealous?" "I sure am¡­" He Yi answered, "I got Dark Gold¨Cgrade metal armor boots. They have pretty good Defense and increase my movement speed by 3%. I¡¯m wearing them already¡­" I looked down and saw a pair of golden boots wrapping around her legs. They looked incredibly beautiful, and the stats they provided were amazing as well. Beiming Xue got a Gold-grade shield. Since it was slightly weaker than He Yi¡¯s shield, she was planning to sell it and use that money to buy some cosmetics. Murong Mingyue had the worst luck out of all of us since she only got a Gold-grade necklace. Just like Beiming Xue, she was planning to sell it. While we were busy checking our equipment, the great witch doctor crushed the Frost Snowball with his bony hands and squeezed out a trickle of silver liquid above Xinran¡¯s chest. The girl¡¯s wound immediately started frosting and healing slowly. It was amazing how effective the flower was. The violent purple energy tormenting Xinran had been swept clean in just the blink of an eye. "Uuuu¡­" Xinran groaned a little before murmuring, "I¡¯m scared, big bro¡­" Shivering, I immediately walked up to her and held her tiny hands. "Are you feeling better, Xinran?" "Mn." Xinran still hadn¡¯t opened her eyes, but she said to me weakly, "I¡¯m sorry for making you worried¡­" "It¡¯s nothing at all..." I shook my head and gave her a smile. "What matters is that you¡¯re fine now!" "Mn." ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Xue Wei walked up to us and said, "Let¡¯s head out and give Lady Wind Singer some time to rest!" "Yeah!" I and the girls walked out of the entrance. The NPCs and even Xue Wei dropped to one knee before declaring loudly, "We will obey your imperial edict, Your Majesty! For the glory of the Violet Empire!" "Very well!" Sophia nodded gladly before raising her sword into the air. She declared, "The Devil Suppressing Sword and the Devil Suppressing Stone shall form the foundation of our new empire!" "Long live Princess Sophia!" "Praise Princess Sophia!" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin looked at me while the NPCs were chanting excitedly. "Should we kneel before Princess Sophia and wish her well too? Something like eternal youthfulness?" I shot her a glance and smiled. "This has nothing to do with us. We¡¯re just small fries, you know¡­" "Oh¡­" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a ding resounded throughout Floating Ice City. Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that players ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡±, ¡°Wind Fantasy¡±, ¡°From Water¡±, ¡°Beiming Xue¡±, and ¡°Murong Mingyue¡± have triggered a major questline, [Reestablishment of the Violet Empire]. The reestablishment war will begin at 12 pm sharp tomorrow, and all players are invited to take part in it. Glory points will be awarded during the battle, and the Top 10 players with the most glory points will have a chance to obtain extraordinary equipment, pets or skill books! ¡­¡­ Amazing! It looks like we triggered a major quest that involved all the players in Floating Ice City! Lin Yixin smiled at this. "It looks like everyone¡¯s going to be busy tomorrow afternoon!" "Yeah." He Yi nodded in agreement. "Let¡¯s log off and head to bed soon. Tomorrow, we¡¯ll aid Blood Dance Legion in reestablishing the Violet Empire with the same party. What do you think?" Lin Yixin replied, "Sure! That¡¯s a promise! By the way, it¡¯s almost 11 pm at night already, so where are we going for supper? You aren¡¯t going to treat me to cup noodles, are you?" I shook my head. "Of course not, we haven¡¯t even eaten dinner yet. It¡¯ll be a shame to end the night on a sour note. How about we meet up at the buffet restaurant we went to this afternoon? I saw that they are open at night as well¡­" "Okay. See you all later!" "Mn!" We crushed another return scroll and teleported back to Floating Ice City. Then, we logged out of the game. ¡­¡­ "Phew!" I took off my gaming helmet and exhaled deeply. After the battle of Hundred Flower Valley, Frost Cloud workshop had become a lot stronger be it in terms of equipment or levels. Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue, and me especially were absolutely dominating the Top 3 spots of the Heavenly Ranking. We could definitely afford to enjoy supper while Dominating Heaven Blade and everyone else tried to catch up to us! We headed out of the apartment. The cool breeze accentuated the smell of autumn in the air. "Doo doo doo¡­" Chapter 272: Filler Chapter I was surprised. Why is she calling me? Shouldn¡¯t she be getting ready to head out and eat supper? I accepted the call, and Lin Yixin¡¯s urgent voice came from the other side of the phone. ¡°Shit, I can¡¯t get out!¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°The school gates are closed at 11, and the guards refused to let me out. They say that it¡¯s not very safe lately¡­¡± ¡°What to do, what to do...¡± I licked my lips. ¡°I know, why don¡¯t you stuff your face with some crispy noodles from the supermarket? You can enjoy some fresh meat buns when tomorrow arrives!¡± ¡°You¡¯re the one who should stuff your face with crispy noodles, bastard¡­¡± Lin Yixin made some cute whiny noises. ¡°No seriously, what should I do? Think of a way, Lu Chen! I don¡¯t wanna eat crispy noodles, I can¡¯t go about a meal without meat!¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± I gritted my teeth and thought for a moment before suggesting, ¡°If I remember correctly, some parts of the university walls aren¡¯t very high. There is a section near the drains to the southeast of the campus where the walls are only 1.5 meter tall. You can climb out from there if you want to; Du Thirteen and I often used that route when we wanted to go to a cyber cafe.¡± ¡°It¡¯s still too tall, and I¡¯m alone you know¡­¡± Alarm bells immediately rang inside my head. The next second, Lin Yixin proved my danger senses correct. ¡°Why don¡¯t you come over and help me, Lu Chen? I promise it won¡¯t take too long¡­¡± I turned my head a bit and saw He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue all looking at me. Murong Mingyue¡¯s lips curled a little into a smile. ¡°Sounds like Beauty Lin is in a bit of trouble?¡± I nodded. He Yi also smiled and said, ¡°Beauty Lin is our staunchest ally, so it¡¯s our responsibility to destroy any obstacle in her path, or make one so we can destroy them¡­¡± I almost spat blood after hearing that incredible logic, but I managed to rein myself in and reply to Lin Yixin, ¡°I¡¯m coming. Just give me a moment!¡± ¡°Okay, be quick. I¡¯ll be waiting beside the phone booth!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± ¡­¡­ I hung up the phone and faced the girls. They were all staring at me and waiting for me to give a full explanation. ¡°Er¡­ the university gates are closed, and the guards forbad Lin Yixin from leaving on the grounds that it isn¡¯t too safe as of late. So my plan is to send you guys to the restaurant first and fetch Lin Yixin later. It shouldn¡¯t take too long, the university is very close to the restaurant after all. I¡¯ll be back in ten minutes at most¡­¡± Murong Mingyue smiled dubiously. ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s enough time? Ten minutes?¡± I rolled my eyes at her but didn¡¯t give her a reply. Seriously, there are better times than now to make a joke. He Yi is right here! If she has a problem with this, then we may as well cancel this supper completely. ¡°Mn!¡± I chose Murong Mingyue¡¯s car because He Yi¡¯s Lamborghini was way too powerful. It literally felt like the vehicle was about to take off to the sky when I stepped on the gas, and I didn¡¯t dare tempt fate with my current driving skills. After sending the girls to the buffet restaurant, I immediately moved to Suzhou University next. ¡­¡­ It was unusually quiet tonight. There were very few cars tonight, and after circling twice around the university I decided to park the car next to the public transport stop. Murong Mingyue was the one who was responsible for paying the violation ticket anyway, so it wasn¡¯t my problem even if I got fined for this. I took out my phone and called Lin Yixin¡¯s number. ¡°I¡¯m here. Where are you right now?¡± ¡°The southeast side of the school, duh! There¡¯s a row of abandoned phone booths here!¡± ¡°Oh, got it!¡± I knew the place she was referring to immediately. Those phone booths were relics from a different time, and no one used them anymore after mobile phones had become affordable to the public. I walked across the soft grassy ground and headed toward the walls. After I set my eyes on a certain spot, I broke into a sprint, grabbed onto the top of the wall with one hand and crossed over the wall with ease. Yep, my physical skills are getting better and better! ¡°Ah, ah¡­¡± When I landed inside the campus, I heard a coquettish moan from the silent trees. I immediately knew what was going on. These lovebirds must be having a helluva good time! I didn¡¯t make a sound, of course. I fitted my right hand into my pocket and nonchalantly stepped onto the cobblestone path. Even from a distance, I was able to spot Lin Yixin immediately as I ran toward the phone booths. Standing beneath a street lamp, the girl looked absolutely gorgeous with her hair covering her shoulders, her face shining like snow underneath the light, and her eyes shining like stars when she saw me. No words could describe how beautiful she looked when she broke into a run herself. Meanwhile, I found myself a bit dumbfounded after finally figuring out why she had insisted that I come over myself. She was wearing a knee-length skirt, an attire that was clearly unsuitable for climbing walls. ¡°You sure took your time¡­¡± Lin Yixin curled her lips at me. ¡°I waited for a long time, you know!¡± ¡°Yep!¡± I nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go. He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue are all waiting for us at the restaurant!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± We walked side by side as we reentered the forest. The couple was still going at it hard to the point where they were panting in exertion. Lin Yixin flushed red in an instant, and when I cocked my head to look at her all she had to offer was a wordless glare. She managed to convey her killing intent even though she was silent; as expected of the guild leader of Snow Cathaya. When we finally arrived at the wall, Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t help but whine. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that it was only 1.5 meters tall? This is almost 2 meters¡­¡± ¡°No it¡¯s not! Now come on!¡± I leaped up the wall easily before extending a hand to her. ¡°Here, I¡¯ll pull you up!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I felt a smooth, warm sensation when Lin Yixin grabbed onto my hand. Man, it felt so good to touch a girl that I nearly fell off the wall myself. A series of combined efforts later, Lin Yixin barely managed to climb onto the wall. However, her skirt had also ridden up to her thighs as a result. Tsk tsk, Lin Yixin had an amazing body if nothing else! Still sitting on the wall, I asked as if it was the most natural thing in the world, ¡°Need my help?¡± Lin Yixin stared at me. I could sense a bit of wariness and playfulness behind her eyes. It looked like she figured out that I was hoping to cop a feel of her smooth thighs. In the end, she shook her head and said, ¡°It¡¯s fine. Now that I¡¯m up, the rest is easy. I can jump down myself!¡± ¡°Hmm? Well, okay¡­¡± I nodded. Eyes filled with determination, Lin Yixin jumped off the wall like nothing could shake her resolve. I recalled to the female warriors I often saw in war dramas and thought that their expression was similar to Lin Yixin when they were faced with a do-or-die situation. However, their motives were drastically different. Those warriors jumped for the sake of freedom and equality, while Lin Yixin jumped for the sake of food. Talk about disparity. I should educate her on patriotism when we have some time to ourselves. However, Lin Yixin let out a yelp of pain when she hit the ground! ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I immediately jumped off the wall as well and checked on her. She was clutching her ankle and staring at me aggrievedly, ¡°I sprained my ankle¡­¡± ¡°Really!?¡± My eyes widened. ¡°I thought you were a pro!¡± ¡°I¡¯m wearing high heels, okay!¡± ¡°Oh, no wonder. But why the heck are you wearing high heels in the first place?¡± ¡°What do you think!?¡± Lin Yixin shot me a hurt look, but I still couldn¡¯t for the life of me figure out why she wore high heels on a night out. She can¡¯t be wearing them for me, right? Nah, of course not. I know full well I¡¯m nowhere good enough to make an excellent girl like her dress up for me. I got on my knees and checked her ankle. It was swollen and most definitely sprained. ¡­¡­ ¡°What do you want to do? Should I send you to the hospital?¡± ¡°No, I want food!¡± It was as if her life¡¯s obsession was food and nothing else. I asked, ¡°Are you sure? Your leg looks pretty bad, you know?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± She nodded. ¡°You drove here, right? Give me your hand and carry me to your car. It¡¯s just a sprain, it¡¯ll be fine after I put some ice on it.¡± ¡°Well, okay!¡± I looked at Lin Yixin and froze for a second. Her cheeks were red, and she was glowing under the moonlight. The longer I stared at her, the more attractive she became. It was to the point I actually forgot what I was going to do. ¡°Hey, what are you waiting for?¡± She rolled her eyes at me. ¡°Right!¡± I put her arm around my neck, and we started walking toward the car. But we hadn¡¯t taken more than a few steps when Lin Yixin suddenly let out a cry and lost her balance. She had to cling onto me to even stay standing. ¡°My foot hurts. I can¡¯t even touch the ground with it. What do we do now?¡± ¡°Fine, fine, I¡¯ll carry you¡­¡± I swept her into my arms before running toward Murong Mingyue¡¯s A8 like the wind. Surprisingly, she didn¡¯t feel too heavy. It seemed like the enhanced strength the virus gave me hadn¡¯t left my body yet. Lin Yixin didn¡¯t say anything. She simply buried her face into my chest and trembled slightly for some reason. Her face was completely red. ¡°Yiyi, what is your most favorite food?¡± ¡°Meat!¡± ¡°Damn, your desires are so basic!¡± ¡°Hmph hmph!¡± ¡°By the way, Yiyi¡­¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°You should go on a diet. My arms are getting sore¡­¡± ¡°Die!¡± Lin Yixin punched me with everything she got. I opened the front passenger door and threw her in. When the Fruit Knife Goddess smiled at me from her seat, it felt like the most beautiful smile I had ever seen in my life. I hurriedly shook the image out of my head. Focus, Lu Chen! Remember that she¡¯s a minx, don¡¯t let her steal your soul! ¡­¡­ After calming myself through a series of meditative stances, I finally started the car and drove toward the buffet restaurant. As expected, everyone was still waiting for us. They rushed up to us immediately when they saw that I was supporting Lin Yixin. ¡°What happened to her, Lu Chen?¡± He Yi asked. I answered, ¡°She sprained her ankle while we were climbing over the campus wall¡­¡± ¡°What¡­¡± He Yi looked impressed. She didn¡¯t think Lin Yixin would go this far. Meanwhile, Lin Yixin looked incredibly embarrassed by all the attention she got. ¡°Let¡¯s forget about the unhappy stuff and focus on food, shall we? By the way, who¡¯s paying tonight?¡± All the girls looked at me at once, causing a shiver to run down my spine. I supposed I could afford it seeing as I still had a lot of high-rank gear that I could sell at the auction for a couple thousand RMB or so. Fine, I¡¯ll pay! Suzhou¡¯s nightlife was surprisingly busy even though it was just a medium city. It was almost 12 am at night, but there were still a tonne of people at the buffet restaurant and a huge variety of food selection. Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t walk, so I basically had to play the waiter and bring her any food she wanted. A couple of rounds later, I came to the conclusions that all women were carnivores these days. The carrots I had kindly put on the table were completely untouched. I sat down and asked while drinking my soup, ¡°I know this is probably a pointless question, but is everyone satisfied with our run at Hundred Flower Valley?¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Murong Mingyue nodded. ¡°Of course! Eve got a boss-tier pet and a Purple Gold¨Cgrade Soul Stealing Spear, so she¡¯s the biggest winner out of all of us. Sister Lin got two skill books¡ªProfound Ice Armor and Ice Flame Slash¡ªso she¡¯s not too far behind either. I got the Prayer Scepter, you and Beiming Xue got a couple of top-tier items, and all of us rose a couple of levels since the start of the quest. We all died once, sure, but it would take Dominating Heaven Blade and the rest of our competitors at least a whole week of mad grinding before they could catch up to us!¡± ¡°Heh, that¡¯s right!¡± Lin Yixin said happily. It was at this moment He Yi shot Lin Yixin¡¯s leg a glance before saying, ¡°Luckily, it doesn¡¯t seem like your bones are damaged, but it¡¯s still pretty swollen. There¡¯s no way you can get back to the campus like this, can you? Would you like to stay a night at our workshop, Lin Yixin? Beiming Xue can sleep with me.¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Chapter 273: Unreliable Merchants He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue enthusiastically invited Lin Yixin to the workshop for the night. As a result, I felt as though I was completely seen through. Fortunately, everyone was tired. We washed up and went to sleep, Lin Yixin in Beiming Xue''s room next to mine. I originally planned to lay in bed and let my mind roam about. As soon as my head touched the pillow however, I fell into deep slumber. The next morning, I woke up to eat. "Sis, where is Lin Yixin?" I asked. Murong Mingyue glanced at me. "She returned an hour before you woke up." "Oh? So early..." "Early? It¡¯s nine o¡¯clock..." ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ After eating breakfast, I quickly went online. The siege on Night Creatures of Violet Forest was planned for noon. Players could join the fight and accumulate glory points by killing monsters. Top ten contributors would receive rewards. Although there were no specific details, they were bound to be good. Otherwise, the system wouldn¡¯t mention ¡°extraordinary¡± items and pets. I went online at 9:30, too early. If I logged in at 11, I would get to the camp just in time for siege. But now, it was too late to go grind somewhere as well. Thus, I went to the eastern plaza of Floating Ice City and began selling some of the good items I had gotten from Hundred Flower Valley¡¯s quest. I was eager to see how much gold they would net me. These were mostly level 70¨C85 Dark Steel or Silver¨Cgrade equipment, suitable from intermediate to expert players. Those wealthy people who only wanted Gold and Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment wouldn¡¯t even spare them a glance. My sales unexpectedly turned out pretty well. In less than an hour, I had sold more than half of my stock. At high prices too! One Level 75 warrior lingered in front of my stall. He was a barbarian with an open chest armor, a hairy chest, and leopard-ringed eyes. He held a battle axe and looked hatefully at me. He pointed at a Level 75 Silver-grade helmet on the stall and said, "Boy, how much is this +7 Tactics helmet?" I took a look and said coolly, "Brother, based on your extraordinary appearance and bearing, I will give it to you cheap¡ª5000 gold." "What? This Silver-grade item is worth 5000 RMB?" The barbarian warrior was shocked. I gave a small smile and said calmly, "Look. This is an item that boosts your Tactics by 7! Normal helmets do not add any Tactics. Do you know what this means? You cannot underestimate the value of 7 Tactics. If your Encourage is boosted by a great margin and you boost your party¡¯s Attack by 1000%, 7 Tactics will be a further 7% boost. General Skills can be used on up to 19 party members, so it will be a 70% boost. Let me ask you, don¡¯t you think you¡¯re robbing me by buying a helmet that boosts your party¡¯s attack power by 70% for measly 5000 gold?!¡± "Ah? !" "Alright, have a good day!" I saw him off with a smile. 5000 gold to me. Oh, business was so good these days, especially when encountering customers with all brawn and no brain. After another while, a Level 71 mage stopped in front of my stall. She looked at Level 70 Dark Steel¨Cgrade wristguards and said weakly, "Handsome, what are you selling these wristguards with 3 Tactics and 2% Magic Attack increase for?" I looked and asked, "This is a very good item with two bonuses. It can even be considered several levels above normal Silver-grade items of a similar level. Name a price, I¡¯ll sell if it¡¯s suitable!" The little mage had eyes filled with affection and said, "I really want these wristguards, but I don''t have enough money. I only have 240 gold. Can I buy them for 240 gold? If I get it, I will be able to learn Encourage and will become the party leader after reaching Level 80. I can lead my roommates to level up then..." I smiled. "Alright, I¡¯ll give you a friendly discount. 200 gold is enough. Leave 40 gold to buy food for yourself. Magic Consumables are not cheap these days!" "Ah? Thank you, thank you..." The little mage was extremely grateful and bought the wristguards. ¡­¡­ I looked at my stall. There weren''t many items left. I had nearly thirty thousand gold in my bag. If I converted it, it would be thirty thousand RMB. Tsk tsk, it was very profitable to go through high-level maps with high level and good equipment, especially by using a choke point to kill monsters. The monster drop rate was low, but if you killed more, good equipment would eventually drop. Passive stats of items differed. Some Dark Steel¨Cgrade items had even 4% Attack boosts. Being the best bang for buck, the market for these items was even higher than for Gold-grade equipment! Beep! A message came from Du Thirteen: "Lu Chen, what are your plans for the Violet Empire quest? Will you fight with us, or make a party with He Yi and Beiming Xue? Bloody Mercenaries and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have organized almost a thousand people each and plan to go together. In total, we will have around 2000 people.¡± I thought and responded. "I''ll decide based on the situation. Right now, I don''t know where Skull Castle is. Let''s see what this reestablishment war is about before we make major decisions. Most likely you and Xu Yang will lead the guild to the frontlines while Frost Cloud workshop will be a flex team, moving between objectives." "Okay, we are going to depart. Are you coming soon?" "Yes, good luck, get us some items!" "Haha!" ¡­¡­ I closed the communication system and looked up, seeing two beautiful legs in front of me, the robes flying in the wind. Such a seductive priest robe! Murong Mingyue looked down at me. "You haven''t finished yet?" "No, less than 10 left." "So slow, I finished selling the items in 10 minutes..." I was stunned. "Damn, really? Sis, you are divine. How did you do it?" "Hundred gold market. Each equipment for 100 gold. They were gone almost instantly. Hahaha..." "Fuck!" I glared at her. This wastrel made a hundred gold market. Some of these Dark Steel and Silver¨Cgrade items could be sold for thousands! Thousands! What a waste! Beep! He Yi invited me to the party. After joining, I found Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue were both in. "What is the situation? Are we going to do the quest with just us four?" I asked. "Yes, is it alright?" He Yi said. "Sure!" I nodded and said, "You and I for MT, Sister Mingyue and Lil Beiming as DPS, Sister Mingyue for healing. The team is perfect..." Murong Mingyue giggled. "Hehe, I¡¯m multi-purpose." "Yes." "Right, do we call Beauty Lin?" Murong Mingyue smiled meaningfully at me. "Beauty Lin just learned Ice Flame Slash. It¡¯s an AoE skill, very suitable for farming monsters. Also, Lu Chen, if you ask her you will most likely pull her in..." He Yi did not speak and just typed ellipses into the team chat channel. I stilled and said, "No, Lin Yixin isn''t really a member of the Frost Cloud workshop. Her true identity is the leader of Snowy Cathaya. She has many subordinates who need her to be the leader. It would be inappropriate of us to call her for such a huge quest as this one." "Oh, alright!" Therefore, it was decided that us four would be doing the quest together as the Frost Cloud workshop. By maximizing our efficiency we were hoping to enter Top 10 and get the super rewards. Super equipment, super pets, and super skill books. It all sounded tempting! "Gather at eastern gate plaza, coordinates (98, 102). Hurry up guys! The quest starts at 12!" "Alright!" A few minutes later, the girls appeared in my sight. He Yi held the Abyssal Sword and wore elegant and refined knight armor. She was already Level 78 and would quickly reach the ranks of Level 80 experts. Beiming Xue was Level 82, and the third player on the Heavenly Ranking. Murong Mingyue was Level 80, and the only priest in the Top 10. I looked at He Yi. The beautiful leader''s equipment wasn''t much worse than mine right now. The metal armor wrapped around her beautiful curves and a bright chain hung between her chest. Her hair was blowing in the wind. Her face was stunning as she looked at me with a faint smile and bright eyes. "Cough cough..." I clearly sensed my heart speeding up. He Yi and Lin Yixin were both my nemeses. Once I looked at them for over 5 seconds, I would easily be distracted, and my calm and ease would disappear. I glanced at He Yi and said, "Sister Yi, let me tell you good news!" "Oh oh!" He Yi heard me call her Sister Yi and smiled even more sweetly. She asked, "What¡¯s the good news, Lu Chen?" "Heavenblessed''s rules. Level 60 for third promotion, Level 100 for fourth promotion. I read that after Level 100, Magic Knight and Wanderer classes get a mount slot and can learn how to ride horses. You will become a true knight then..." "Hoho, so good!" He Yi laughed. "I''ve waited so long for this day..." "You¡¯re just Level 78, don¡¯t be happy just yet..." I poured a bucket of cold water on her. He Yi glanced at me and said, "Alright, are you prepared? Are your items repaired, health potions stacked, consumables at the ready, high-rank cards in the pockets?¡± "Yes!" I looked into my bag. I had enough potions, just not a lot of high-rank ones. I had an abundance of Magic Consumables. As for cards, I had several Greedy Wolf Cards that would increase attack speed, and some Blood Skeleton Cards that could increase max HP. They were good when used to fight bosses. "Alright, depart!" I led the girls out of Floating Ice City. We could see players forming parties right outside. The city housed millions of people, so at least a few million would participate in the war for reestablishment of the Violet Empire. After all, it was a quest with its own system announcement. Participation rate would be high. Chapter 274: Skull Castle This extremely domineering shout caused all of us to stop walking and turn around. We found a team walking out of the forest. The leader was One True Love, a corps commander of Flower Room. He had a few dozen people behind him, all of them Level 70 and above. Beiming Xue''s expression turned ugly and her gaze cold. "Chen Sheng, bastard, what do you want?" Chen Sheng laughed coldly and looked at me with jealousy. He said angrily, "Beiming Xue, you found a new man so you forgot the old? Ha, women truly are disloyal beasts!" Beiming Xue was furious and raised her Purgatory Bow. "Stop bothering me, you bastard!" ¡­¡­ I was silent. I pulled out the Purgatory Sword with a clang and walked toward One True Love. Honestly speaking, I didn''t think much of the dozens of people behind him. At least, I could kill One True Love, and then manage to retreat with the support of the girls behind me! One True Love sneered. At this time, an archer behind him pulled his bow taut and said angrily, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, if you dare to take one more step, I won''t be polite!" Our swords were drawn and our arrows nocked. Was there any need for words? Bang! Like lightning, the arrow created sparks on the Purgatory War Armor. But since they had no real power behind them, they only created a few laughable numbers, one of them, ¡°37¡± hanging above my head. At the same time, I laughed, "Flower Room only has archers of this level? Do you not dare have stronger ones?" One True Love took a step forward, swinging his sword with a Blaze skill! I faced it, and parried the other''s attack without any technique. Then I used a basic attack and left a deep bloody mark on the stalker¡¯s chest! 2753! Almost an instant kill. We were both high-tier melee fighters, but One True Love''s HP was only above 3000, greatly inferior to my own. His face white from shock, One True Love found that the disparity between us had only grown larger. Bang! The Purgatory Sword pressed to One True Love''s chest. I said, "Let me tell you something. Beiming Xue is my little sister, and I won¡¯t let anyone harm a hair on her. If you dare bother her again, I can promise you that you will beg for easy death!¡± Then I pushed my sword. One True Love fell to his knees, eyes felt with despair, anger and discontent. But he couldn¡¯t do anything. The disparity between us was a gulf that could not be crossed easily. ¡­¡­ "Fuck, Brother Sheng is dead!" A barbarian warrior waved his battle axe and said angrily, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is too much. Do they think Flower Room is weak? Brothers, attack. There are only four of them here, we have thirty. We can kill them!" Then the crowd charged! "Alright!" The girls responded with action. In the next moment, Evil Spirit Volley exploded into the crowd. Murong Mingyue swung her Prayer Scepter. Meteors fell from the sky and covered a large area. The Flower Room players running at the front immediately fell to their knees. Melee players had a hard time against the meteor spell. Every hit dealt 2000 damage, for a total of 3 hits. Nearly 6000 damage was not something they could withstand. While Murong Mingyue was a priest, her powerful magic wasn''t fake. The Prayer Scepter''s Magic Attack was higher than the Purgatory Scepter¡¯s. Hellish Rockfall was no longer at a low rank, so it became a torture for them. He Yi held her sword and stayed at the front. The Firelight Mouse squeaked behind her, summoning a sea of fire to block the front, throwing the Flower Room people into even more despair. ¡­¡­ There were a lot of deaths and injuries among the thirty. Then another group of people came out of the forest. The leader was dressed in metal armor and held a flashing spear. He suddenly held up his spear and said, "Brothers, stop fighting, do not create unnecessary casualties here!" The incomer was the leader of Flower Room, Li Le. His ID was "Young Master Le¡±, truly an irritating name. An archer shouted, "Leader, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand killed Brother Sheng. He is too arrogant. If we don''t kill him today, how can Flower Room have any face left to keep our status in Floating Ice City?" Li Le''s eyebrows rose and he shouted, "Shut up! Does Flower Room''s status in Floating Ice City depend on you? Chen Sheng is my brother. I will get revenge for him. Hmph!" Li Le walked forward, hundreds of elite players behind him. He pointed at me with his spear and said, "Lu Chen, with the quest coming up, let''s not cause an unnecessary fight. But it is a fact that my good brother, Chen Sheng, had been repeatedly killed by you. I, Li Le, swear to get revenge!¡± I smiled. "Stop speaking viciously. If you want to kill me, do it now. I can kill you now and then go do the Violet Empire reestablishment quest." "Damn!" Li Le shouted in rage. Then he talked quietly with two players behind him. Beiming Xue''s long ears moved. She said with a smile, "Li Le is asking the people around him when Spring Mud, Night Sorrow, and Moon Shadow will come over..." Archers really had powerful hearing. Didn''t Li Le know to chat inside his party channel? "Lu Chen, what to do now?" He Yi asked. I put my sword back into the sheathe and laughed softly. "If this is the case, let''s go to the Violet Forest. While the four of us can defeat the hundred without a problem, we would need a lot of potions and our names would turn red. If our negative karma is too high, we can suffer great losses if we die!" "Alright!" He Yi said to the other side, "Li Le, since no one wants to waste time, then we will end the matter today and go first!" Li Le stilled. He clearly hadn''t expected our attitude to change so quickly and hadn''t reacted in time. He only sent us off with a blank look. ¡­¡­ Four high-level players flashed through Frost Forest. Violet Frost was not far, just on the other side of Frost Forest and adjacent to Frost Mound. When we passed by Frost Mound, we found the Night Creature NPCs had been killed. My former teacher, the Undead Swordsman Suren, had not been respawned, which was originally the cause for my lack of trainer. Fortunately, there was still some way to go until Level 100 for the fourth promotion. I would get a trainer sooner or later. I didn''t believe that Blood Dance Legion would not have a trainer if I did well. In many novels, the smart and talented protagonists would be fought over by many old experts looking for legacy disciples, and eventually be imparted with a lifetime of martial knowledge. I looked at the corpses of the NPCs in Frost Mound. Beiming Xue poked out her tongue and said, "Ah, I camped here for a few days at the start. Floating Ice City''s players massacred this place!" "Yes." I nodded with a smile. "Frost Mound is inside Frost Forest and close to Floating Ice City. It¡¯s also not far from one of the major cities¡ªSky City. Bloodshed should be commonplace. The remote corners of the continent with no human in sight are the natural habitat for the Night Creatures!¡± "Yes, let''s go, it''s almost time!" "Alright!" ¡­¡­ Soon, we reached Violet Forest. At a distance, in an enormous open valley in the forest, there was a dark black castle, extremely majestic, and appeared bigger than Floating Ice City! Ding~! System Notice: You have stepped into the evil spirit map¡ªSkull Castle! ¡­¡­ Very good, our objective was in sight! I stood on the mountain peak and looked down into the valley. I saw numerous human players streaming in. On the other side, Blood Dance Legion''s corps had arrived, their bloody emblems melding together, their banners fluttering in the wind. Under the main banner, Princess Sophia rode a black horse, her hand resting on the sword hilt. By her side was Xue Wei on a white skeletal wolf, looking down at Skull Castle. Seeing the spectacular scene in the valley, the girls behind me gaped¡ª- Beiming Xue said, "Wow, so many people, this battle looks just like the epic battles in the movies..." I laughed. "There are millions of people participating, not including the NPC soldiers. This scale is really epic!" He Yi pulled out the Abyssal Sword and said, "Let''s go down. We can¡¯t fall behind. We should strive to get as many war points as possible!" "Yes, let''s go!" I charged down the peak first, the three girls sprinting behind me. In the valley, Skull Castle stood tall. I chose the east side of the city where there were fewer players and only some scattered NPC cavalry. Once the Night Creature monsters in the city came out, we could earn more points. If the Night Creatures did not come out, then it would be even better. We would fight our way in and clean this Skull Castle out! Soon, when we reached the city, we finally sensed the vastness of the stronghold. We looked over. The tall city walls were guarded by spear-wielding high-rank Night Creature soldiers. There were even succubi archers with longbows and full quivers on their backs. I looked back and saw Beiming Xue''s quiver only had eight arrows left. I said, "Beiming, how many arrows did you bring? Make sure there are enough..." Beiming Xue laughed. "Big bro, don''t worry, how could I make a mistake in something so basic? Half of my bag is filled with bundles of arrows, enough for 10 hours of constant attacking. Also, even if I run out, can¡¯t I just kill a few archers from Mad Dragon and Gods of Destruction?" I was speechless. Chapter 275: Skull Swordsmen Skull Castle was a Night Creature city that stretched for miles. The shape of the city resembled a human skull, making it appear cruel and terrifying. Right now, as the Night Creatures¡¯ base of operation hidden deep in the continent, the fortress was like a poisonous thorn in the side of the Silver Moon Alliance. Blood Dance Legion''s Princess Sophia had originally been the princess of the Violet Empire. For the survival of the neutral undead, and to defend the glory of her empire, she had the responsibility of eradicating this city as soon as she gained the power to do so. Once Karinshan managed to successfully take over the Floating Ice City, with her intelligence and decisiveness, she would also not allow Skull Castle to exist. People would not allow enemies to be close to them. While Karinshan was also wary of Blood Dance Legion, the threat from the Night Creatures was too great. As a result, Karinshan made a wise decision! 11:55, minutes away from noon. Sound of hoofbeats came from the south of the valley. Large cavalry crossed the border of Skull Castle, banners flapping in the wind. Under the most illustrious of them was a beautiful female knight, none other than the princess of Floating Ice City, Karinshan! ¡­¡­ My gaze moved to the other side. Not far to our right, a group from the Gods of Destruction guild appeared. Their high-level fighters brandished their weapons and walked at the front. All of their armors were adorned with the emblem of their guild. Dominating Knight God walked to the front of the formation and shouted, "This area has been taken over by Gods of Destruction. Friends who want to kill monsters go somewhere else. Gods of Destruction thank you for your cooperation!" His words were overbearing but polite. Therefore, some single players, or small teams, left. People had to bow their heads. Gods of Destruction had thousands of people, all of them high-level players. They were in formation, with hundreds of fighters ready to hold the line and clear the way, their mages and archers behind them. Sprinkled in the formation were priests, and assassins had been scattered around the area long ago. No doubt, some of them were close to us. "Hmph, Gods of Destruction are really arrogant!" He Yi laughed. "This is nothing, all the large guilds are like this. Haven''t you noticed the southeast of Skull Castle has almost been taken over by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and the Bloody Mercenaries? Xu Yang and Thirteen have big appetites. They want to take over about an eighth of the leveling area. Hmph, I don''t know if they will be able to swallow it!" He Yi looked over and laughed softly. "Up to them, as long as they are happy!" "Yes, as long as they are happy!" Many people recognized us and gasped¡ª "Wow, aren''t these four from the Top 10 workshop, Frost Cloud workshop of Floating Ice City?" "Tsk tsk, they really are. Frost Cloud workshop has recently been rising quickly. Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, and From Water. Each of them are strong, and their average strength is greater than Candle Dragon workshop¡¯s!" "Haha, I finally saw From Water in person. So beautiful. The rumors are true. In Floating Ice City, only she can compare with Wind Fantasy in beauty!" "Look, look, the person beside From Water is Murong Mingyue. My Breast Goddess Sis...¡± ¡­¡­ Someone was already drooling. I was speechless. I looked back at Murong Mingyue and said, "Breast Goddess Sis, hello...¡± Murong Mingyue glared at me. "Brat, even you call me this!" There was a ding as the system bell rang out pleasantly above Skull Castle, its sound lingering in the air for a long while¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that the Violet Empire reestablishment war is about to begin. During this time, you will receive 1 point for killing Rank 1 monsters, 2 points for Rank 2, and so on. Killing high-rank bosses will result in more points. The guardians of Skull Castle have sent the army outside the city walls, please be on guard! Upon death, players won¡¯t be allowed to resurrect within the Violet Empire¡¯s borders for 10 hours! ¡­¡­ At this time, the thick heavy doors of the huge, dozens of meters wide, gates began to open with audible creaks. Through the slit between the gates one could see a group of five-meter-tall wolfmen spinning the wheels. The chains moved, and the gates slowly opened. Clearly, the first wave of monsters was about to arrive! "Crash...¡± The moment the doors opened, a group of skeleton soldiers with shields and swords came out, each of them laughing eerily with characteristic ¡°kekeke¡± laugh. Their stinky mouths opened and although not much could be seen, the sight was disgusting. The girls shook in disgust. Seeing their reaction I comforted them with a smile, "Don''t find it disgusting. The Night Creatures are all like this. Don¡¯t you want extraordinary equipment?" "Yes!" "Then prepare to kill!" "Alright!" Behind me, a group of lone players crowded over. Most of them were intermediate players between Level 65 and 70. Yes, they might be able to stop the first few waves, but it was hard to say for the rest. But the existence of these people could at least provide cover for Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue. This was good! When the skeleton soldiers came close, I could see their stats¡ª Skull Swordsman (Common) Level: 75 Attack 550~690 Defense 450 HP 6500 Skills: Slash Introduction: Grunts, Rank 1 guards of Skull Castle. These Skull Swordsmen, once in eternal slumber, had been summoned by the Night Creatures and became lowly servants. Their fate can only be described as pitiful. ¡­¡­ "What kind of stats are these...¡± He Yi laughed. "Their Attack is only 690, are they insulting us?" I laughed. "It is time to farm some points. Skull Swordsmen should net 1 point each. Get ready everyone. Sis, don¡¯t bother healing, just use Hellish Rockfall. Pay attention and use the ¡®peaceful¡¯ PvP mode not to attack other players...¡± "Yes, I know!" Murong Mingyue casually summoned many stones with her hand that fell into the monster crowd, causing a stunning scene¡­ ¡­because the entire group was instantly killed! Fuck, was this still a priest? Everyone was stunned. I charged into the monster swarm with my sword. I could not let her continue to do this. Otherwise, no one would be able to get any points. I aimed for a densely-packed monster area, and swung my sword. Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! Under the split attacks, a large group of Skull Swordsmen fell to the ground, all dead! Immediately, beeps sounded and there was a string of system notices¡ª System Notice: Congratulations, you killed a Skull Swordsman, +1 war point! System Notice: Congratulations, you killed a Skull Swordsman, +1 war point! System Notice: Congratulations, you killed a Skull Swordsman, +1 war point! ¡­¡­ I immediately earned 78 war points. One Thousand Mirage Slash could kill so many, a sight to behold. Possessing an Outstanding weapon made me feel like I could rule the world. My sword moved, and I used Slayer Slash! Bang! 6754! I immediately killed a skeleton soldier. No wonder Thousand Mirage Slash would instantly kill them. Under the attack power of the Purgatory Sword, these monsters with only 450 Defense points were too weak! At this stage, the players that I was enemies with were all over Level 60. The melee players had at least 600 Defense. Archers had their kiting skills, mages had their Magic Shield, so they weren¡¯t that easy to kill. These mobs however were run-of-the-mill melee players with laughable Defense that couldn¡¯t even dodge! Killing them was pure bliss! I slashed left and right, each blow dealing more than 5000 points of damage. Adding on the 20% splash damage, it was terrifying, and half the work for twice the effect. I immediately cleaned a patch of monsters! Beiming Xue used the Evil Spirit Volley with a smile on her face. Clearly, she was very pleased with her damage output. Soon after, He Yi led Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue to charge. The four members of the Frost Cloud workshop looked like an unstoppable force, throwing the entire army of little skeletons into disarray. Joyful days passed quickly. The Skull Swordsman corps were cleaned up in less than half an hour. The Floating Ice City players were not weak, and were eager to get these war points. This felt like fighting monsters around starting villages. "Kill them all to get points!" Murong Mingyue laughed happily. I looked at my stats. I had about 1000 war points and asked, "Sis, how many war points do you have?" "Over 2000." "Damn...¡± ¡­¡­ Nearby Dominating Heaven Blade led a group of people from the Domination Clan and was very happy as they killed the skeleton soldiers. He felt that he was invincible. Dominating Knight God held his spear and said eagerly. "Boss, it seems like Skull Castle is just like this. The NPC army hasn''t moved and is just waiting for us players to flatten it! How about I take a few dozen of our players and see if I can get into the city? Maybe there are more Skull Swordsmen there!" Dominating Heaven Blade nodded. "Be careful!" "Alright!" Immediately, Dominating Knight God swung his spear and said, "First Corps, come with me. We are going to probe Skull Castle!" A group of 50 followed Dominating Knight God, reaching the city walls with the gates right in front of them. Dominating Knight God¡¯s face flushed red. "Haha, prepare to kill!" But at this time, numerous Night Creature archers appeared on the tall walls, all of them black-skinned succubi undead. They pulled their bows tight, raining arrows on the group! The arrows rained down, piercing through the metal armor. The 50 people from the Gods of Destruction fell down with screams, covered in arrows. Each arrow dealt 1000 damage, some even exceeded 2000. These succubi archers were much stronger than the Rank 1 monsters like Skull Swordsmen! ¡°Glug!¡± +2000! Dominating Knight God gulped down a health potion. He had some arrows stuck in him as he fled back out of the danger area. He was the only one to return. The players not from Gods of Destruction laughed. This time, Gods of Destruction, called the second guild in the China Servers, really embarrassed themselves. Chapter 276: Makeshift Formation After a while, Beiming Xue wiped the sweat off her forehead and asked, "How come the second wave isn''t coming?" "Wait a moment!" I was contacting Lin Yixin. "Yiyi, what is the situation with Snowy Cathaya?" Lin Yixin responded, "There¡¯s a Skull Swordsman boss that we¡¯ve surrounded. We should be able to defeat it in a minute. What, you are in a hurry?" "No, no, take your time..." There would be a boss in each wave of monsters. Lin Yixin and the others were lucky for the first boss to appear where Snowy Cathaya was. ¡­¡­ Less than half a minute later, the system bell rang¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± for successfully killing the King of Skulls. 100 points are awarded to the player! Damn, so many points. We had to steal the next boss! I looked over and found Dominating Heaven Blade and the others were looking over. Hmph hmph, if the boss appeared close to the Frost Cloud workshop, I bet that he wouldn¡¯t hesitate acting. At this time, the second wave from Skull Castle had come out. These were a group of small honeybees flashing with a sickly light. Killer Bees, Level 77 common monsters. They were slightly stronger than the Skull Swordsmen but because they were still common monsters, they weren¡¯t particularly hard to deal with. I stood at the front. My Thousand Mirage Slash landed, and killed numerous Killer Bees. My points grew again. However, because the monsters were not of high levels, my experience gain was almost minuscule. I could not rely on this to level up. The system didn¡¯t take very good care of its high-level players. The first few waves of monsters were used to feed low-level players. The Skull Swordsmen and the Killer Bees all gave rich experience to players under Level 70! After fighting for half an hour, the Killer Bee army had been cleared. Buzz buzz... A sound came from nearby. An enormous Killer Bee descended into Gods of Destruction camp. Fuck, Dominating Heaven Blade had good luck. The second boss appeared right in their area! "Brothers, attack!" Dominating Heaven Blade pointed with his sword. A crowd charged over to happily fight the Level 79 Silver Rank boss. Beiming Xue glanced in that area and said, "Big bro, how about we go over and steal that boss?" I shook my head. "No need, it''s too early. A Level 79 Silver Rank boss won''t drop anything good. Just give it to them!" "Yes!" A few minutes later, the boss was killed by Dominating Warrior God. He received 200 points. I made it onto the point ranking¡ª NameLevelPointsMurong Mingyue805402Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand854783Wind Fantasy834402Dominating Mage God804108Purple Marquis804023Beiming Xue823874Shadow Chanel803765Clear Perfume803495From Water803321Dominating Archer God782987 ¡­¡­ In conclusion, the Frost Cloud workshop members were all in the Top 10. This was a sign of strength, enough to humiliate Dominating Heaven Blade and his people! ¡­¡­ Soon, the gates to Skull Castle opened again. The third wave arrived, a group of Mountain Spiders of considerable strength! I was shocked. Damn, what kind of boss was the castellan of Skull Castle? They had so many Mountain Spiders, such taste! I looked. The stats of the Mountain Spider entered my sight. I was inwardly shocked. The game designers were so shameless! Mountain Spider (Elite) Level: 79 Attack: 820~950 Defense: 650 HP: 14500 Skills: Venom, Spiderweb Introduction: Mountain Spider. These mysterious webweavers have existed on the continent for tens of thousands of years. They are extremely vicious and hostile to all living beings. Their venom and web are extraordinarily powerful. The human empires tried countless times to send knights to exterminate the spiders, but never achieved any satisfying results. ¡­¡­ So they jumped from Level 77 common monsters to Level 79 elites. How could they make monsters¡¯ Defense, Attack and HP increase by so much at once? Many players will be met with misfortune now! Just as I expected, the surge of Mountain Spiders came. Many players around Frost Cloud workshop raised their weapons with laughter. They did not realize how terrifying this wave was. Some higher-leveled players shouted, "Return, the third wave is super strong, they are elites!" The noobs who couldn¡¯t see the monsters¡¯ levels dismissed this notion. "Elite your sister. They are definitely common trash monsters. The points are ours!" The Mountain Spiders came in a sweep. Thousands of players were swallowed by the Mountain Spiders before any reinforcements could come to their help, every death tragic. The Mountain Spiders'' terrifying mouths bit at the corpses. This kind of design was something only Eternal Moon Corporation''s designers could think of and implement. Level 79 mobs wouldn¡¯t be much if that were a small wave. However, these spiders literally covered the ground and the sky! No matter how strong people were, they would die if surrounded. When I thought of this, I grew nervous and said, "Line up, the melee players at the front. Block the Mountain Spiders. Mages and archers prepare to attack from the backline. Priests, don¡¯t be skimping now. Heal the fighters in the front with low HP. Everyone, together!" My shout showed clear results. The disorganized mob of lone players and small teams formed a line of defense. Soon, a not-very-strong defense line took form. It would hold the Mountain Spiders back for a short while. I guarded in front of Beiming Xue, and opened my friend list. I sent a message to Gui Guzi: "Little Gui, get 500 high-level players from Xu Yang, all professions, and come to my coordinates to help. Otherwise, the monsters will tear an opening here!" Gui Guzi quickly replied, "I will go to Xu Yang immediately and get there within half an hour!" "Alright!" ¡­¡­ I closed the chat. The first wave of spiders had arrived. My sword moved, and Thousand Mirage Slash broke through the air, generating many critical hits. The splash effect managed to kill a dozen Mountain Spiders in an instant. Murong Mingyue added a Hellish Rockfall and killed many spiders with low HP. I said in the party channel, "Damn, I¡¯m a DPS and yet it¡¯s sis reaping all the points. That just makes no sense..." Murong Mingyue laughed softly. "Alright, alright, i will treat you to a meal..." A few seconds later, Murong Mingyue used the Hellish Rockfall to crush the Mountain Spiders. My Purgatory Sword suddenly roared, and Purgatory Slash tore out! Boom! White light flew with numerous instant kills. Alright, this time, I benefited from Murong Mingyue. Killing elites felt too good! Yet the good did not last for long. The attacks from Level 79 Mountain Spiders were not weak. After a few bites, the melee players at the front could not last. Screams arose. Melee fighters below Level 70 didn¡¯t have high enough Defense to persevere! I looked around. The defense line was about a hundred meters long. Only Gods of Destruction could hold the spiders off. As for my side, the shortcomings of lone players compared to the elite was exposed. We would soon collapse! "Hold on!" I shouted. But I couldn¡¯t stop the collapsing crowd. The Mountain Spiders flooded in, biting at the player corpses like a black ocean. "We''re done..." Murong Mingyue frowned. "Let''s retreat or we¡¯ll be killed here..." I gritted my teeth. "Alright!" But at this time, I heard something behind me. I turned around and saw Shadow Dancer Xue Wei putting away her bow and pulling out a sword instead, riding over on her white skeletal wolf. Her sword tore and killed the Mountain Spiders. On the other side, almost a thousand Shadow Dancer riders came to help us. Such high-rank undead were very strong, and Mountain Spiders couldn¡¯t stop them! "Why did they come here?" I looked back suspiciously. He Yi said with a small smile, "I think it must be the last quest. Your amity with Shadow Dancer Xue Wei surpassed a certain threshold so she came on her own to help us, right?" "Hm, maybe..." Xue Wei approached us and said with a smile, "You came!" "Yes!" I nodded. Xue Wei smiled. She turned back to the cavalry and shouted, "Line up, stop these evil spirits. Remember, you are undead fighters, and glory is deep within your bones. Although void of life, we have our own reasons to fight for glory and survival!" Clang clang clang... The cavalry put their swords back into their sheathes and pulled out their spears, thrusting in unison toward Skull Castle. The horsemen remained motionless and waited for the Mountain Spiders to arrive. I was shocked inside. This must have been set up for the players. The NPC soldiers would not compete for the first waves and leave the frontlines to us so everyone had a chance to kill monsters. At this time, Gui Guzi came over, with a group of elite Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players. Chaos Moon, Moonlight Stone, Shangri-La, Moon Dew, and other elite players all followed. It appeared that the high-level players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had all come with Gui Guzi. I opened the guild chat channel. Inside, Gui Guzi shouted, "Leader and the two vice leaders are surrounded on the other side of the castle. Who will go rescue them with me?" As a result, he took only 500 elites but I was confident that they all were extraordinarily strong. This was the result that I, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, and so many others had worked for. In the future, we would rely on these people to dominate the world! Chapter 277: Pure Love "Boss Broken Halberd, we¡¯re here!" Gui Guzi led the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players over. Chaos Moon swung her sword, and killed the Mountain Spiders at the front, saying, "Lu Chen, you asked for reinforcements so soon?" "Yes!" I nodded and pointed. "Have 100 heavy armor classes form a defense line of at least a hundred meters wide. Mages and archers stay in the back. Priests, pay attention and heal. Little Gui, did you bring enough priests?" Gui Guzi said, "I took over a hundred high-level priests from the guild. Xu Yang almost cried!" "Alright!" ¡­¡­ Under my direction, the hundred heavy-armored people spread out in a line, and managed to block the focal point of the Mountain Spider assault. The entire area was held by two groups, Gods of Destruction and my group of random players. Now that Gui Guzi brought 500 elite players, I no longer had to worry about an ambush from Gods of Destruction. Even if we fought openly, we may not lose! Clang clang clang... The players at the frontline pulled out their weapons. The swords and armor were distinct, with the emblem of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls connected together. I felt some pressure. We had to stop the attack of the monster army because behind us, millions of Floating Ice City players were itching to see the performance of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. If we could win them over, we could create a legend! In the history of the game, all teams that became legends had experienced a classic battle. In the Eternal Moon era, Lin Fan led the Loss Garden to attack Nelo City. All the surrounding servers trembled. In the time of Spirit of Grief, Frivolous Scholar led Snow Moon to war as well. Recounts of his amazing schemes and ferocious battles filled these pages of VRMMO history. Today, I wanted to take this opportunity to push Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to the top of the China server. Even if we couldn¡¯t create a legend today, we would at least make our name sung and sighed over. Skull Castle, reestablishment war of the neutral undead, was the first battle where Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would show our strength to the world! Thinking of this, I immediately sent a message to Xu Yang: "Are you able to hold on?" "Yes, Flower Room is also here!" "Alright, send everyone from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to the east of Skull Castle. Gather up and hold on!" "Ok, is this boss¡¯s decision?" Xu Yang was slightly doubtful. I was only the vice leader. Only He Yi could make a decision for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I looked back. the beautiful leader was fighting with a Mountain Spider using her Abyssal Sword. Seeing me look at her, she asked, "What?" I said, "Give me military command. I want Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' command in this Violet Empire reestablishment war..." "Yes!" I nodded. In the previous Spirit of Grief, I was only willing to be a vanguard general in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and not the general in charge of tactics and strategy. Now, after turbulent changes in both game and real life, I seemed to have transformed and no longer hesitated. I wanted to become the leader of the battle! A few seconds later, Xu Yang sent a message: "Okay, Lu Chen, boss has made you the marshal general. I am coming immediately..." "Haha!" I could sense the importance that He Yi placed on me. Xu Yang''s loyalty to He Yi far surpassed our friendship. Then I sent a message to Du Thirteen: "Thirteen, lead the Bloody Mercenaries over to the east side of Skull Castle. There are too many monsters here, we need to hold it!" "Alright!" Du Thirteen didn¡¯t say another word and moved out. I was the founder of the Bloody Mercenaries and had absolute command over the guild. My influence even surpassed Du Thirteen, the de facto leader! ¡­¡­ The weapons danced and the Mountain Spiders died in swathes. After waves of Mountain Spiders, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' camp showed amazing resilience. Despite their line being broken through several times, they managed to recover every single time. The quality, unity, and teamwork in the face of adversity stunned the surrounding players. I stood at the center of the frontline. Gui Guzi was on my left, He Yi on my right. The three of us became the players'' mental support. When Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls members saw me use Thousand Mirage Slash and Purgatory Slash to eradicate the swarm of Mountain Spiders, their blood boiled, their morale soaring! In the gaming era, godlike experts would inspire reverence. ¡­¡­ Twenty minutes later, two other groups came. Xu Yang led Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' group that numbered well over a thousand. Du Thirteen came with the Bloody Mercenaries players, about 1700 players. Under my orders, the two came together. Turned out Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had 1957 people, and Bloody Mercenaries 1734. With a total count of 3691 people, our strength was considerable! "Warriors, to the front!" Xu Yang raised his sword and shouted, "Protecting your fellow guildmates is the natural duty of warriors. Use your bodies to guard Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' honor. Use your swords to show everyone Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' strength!" Under Xu Yang''s orders, the formation expanded again. More than a thousand melee players came to the front. This time, the frontline was five layers thick. Those Night Creatures would likely need to expend great numbers to break through. Also, 700 elite archers, 800 high-level mages and hundreds of priests were behind them! Boom boom! The tacticians summoned their drums, and used their Stratagems¡ªEncourage! Beautiful bard players played their instruments, adding highly efficient buffs to the melee players! Whoosh! I felt warm. All kinds of buffs were being applied to me. Combat Log: Player ¡°Pure Love¡± used ¡°Divine Valor¡±, increasing your Attack by 20%! Combat Log: Player ¡°Pure Love¡± used ¡°Death Match¡±, increasing your Defense by 20%! Combat Log: Player ¡°Pure Love¡± used ¡°Nichang¡±, increasing your critical hit rate by 20%! Combat Log: Player ¡°Pure Love¡± used ¡°Forge¡±, increasing your hit rate by 25%!! ¡­¡­ Fuck, I had become invincible in an instant. All my stats increased, and my individual strength reached another level. As expected, high-level bards were the king of buffs! Pure Love was a 21-year-old girl. She¡¯d joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls a week ago. I had once asked her, "You¡¯re a rare high-level bard in Floating Ice City. You can join any guild you want. Why did you choose to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?" "I have a dream." "What dream?" "I want to marry a CGL Hall of Famer..." I was immediately stunned. "Candle Dragon has more Hall of Famers, and they are stronger..." Pure Love looked irritably at me. "Stronger than you but not as handsome as you, or more handsome than you but not as strong. Therefore, I chose Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I want to see if I can get the Protoss Genius Night_chen..." I had nothing to say to that. Murong Mingyue said that girls like that were everywhere. I would be worn out to death if I tried to convince each and every one. Also, I couldn¡¯t let this pure and adorable high-level bard go. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls needed bards like this! I was fated to be unable to satisfy Pure Love''s needs. Even if I had to choose, I would choose between He Yi and Lin Yixin, the two that would make my heart speed up. Of course, whether they wanted me was another matter. In short, life was all about choices, and I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. ¡­¡­ Crack! My sword rose and I killed the last Mountain Spider. I looked ahead. Skull Castle was the color of blood that gave it a sinister and murderous look. I wondered what strong monsters would be in the next wave. The third wave consisted of Level 79 elites already. Floating Ice City¡¯s side had lost many players! He Yi glanced at me and said, "Such great losses..." "What great losses?" "Those small teams!" He Yi looked around and said, "Lu Chen, have you noticed that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ side had teams of lone players, but they are almost all gone now? They¡¯d been killed by the Mountain Spiders. There¡¯s a lot of low-rank potions and items on the ground too..." I nodded. Indeed, their deaths were reflected on the number count! Half an hour ago, the system interface showed that 12750000 people had entered Skull Castle. But now, after the enormous Mountain Spider attacks, there were less than 2 million left. There were not many players who could be on the front lines. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' camp had not moved at all, and was like an immovable fortress in front of the power of darkness! I stretched my neck and looked toward the Gods of Destruction camp. They¡¯d also suffered great losses and had lost about 20% of their original 4000 players. In comparison, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ losses were smaller, because our first-rate players were very strong! I¡¯d been fighting about 20 meters in front of the camp, attracting attacks from numerous Mountain Spiders. Under the healing of the priests in the rear, I was in no real danger. He Yi and Gui Guzi were both powerful magic knights of Floating Ice City. The two of them had stood with me in the monster swarm, constantly using Knight''s Outrage to lure monsters over. Then, numerous mages used Arctic Rain to clean up the swarm. The slaughter was enjoyable and the weaker players weren¡¯t in as much danger. As a result, our losses were almost negligible. This time, most players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls saw my AoE skills for the first time. Thousand Mirage Slash, Purgatory Slash. Both of them were stunning and caused Pure Love to become even more determined. She walked up to me and He Yi before saying, "Lu Chen, do you have a girlfriend?" I shuddered. I looked at He Yi. She smiled with dimples and didn''t speak. She looked at me, and seemed to be waiting for an answer too. I shook my head. Pure Love immediately smiled happily. "Alright, I will be your girlfriend!" "Damn..." I muttered under my nose. "Damn..." Xu Yang also said, his voice low and long, extremely bitter. "Damn..." Yamete looked at Pure Love''s figure and almost cried. "Lu Chen is so lucky. So many girls. Why hasn''t anyone confessed to me?" Du Thirteen glanced at him. "Confess to your belly?" "Fuck, screw you!" Mamate hurriedly pulled his robe to hide his beer belly. Pure Love was still waiting for me with wide eyes. As I remained ashamed to the point of death, a spike suddenly popped out of the ground! Oh, yes! Chapter 278: Underground Lurker Pu! A row of sharp, black spikes suddenly burst out of the ground and threw a whole column of warriors into the air. Despite their toughness, the attack still poked holes all over their bodies. A couple of them were even one-shot outright! "The boss is here!" Xu Yang pointed toward the front and yelled, "Archers, loose! Drag that boss out of its hole!" The archers immediately responded to his order and launched a rain of arrows at the ground in front of them. However, the cheap arrows that cost only several coppers per either missed completely or dealt a series of 1s at a particular area. I crunched the grass beneath my foot and launched myself toward the area where the archers did damage. One second later, I made an educated guess and plunged my Purgatory Sword into the ground, unleashing Ice Ray! Swhoosh! Ice appeared around my weapon before they merged together into an icicle and pierced into the ground. The skill had a reasonable amount of attack distance, so it should be able to hit the boss! Puchi! 2876! As I had expected, Ice Ray did quite a bit of damage to it. What I wasn¡¯t expecting however was the ground beneath shaking and splitting apart like some giant was about to emerge from the ground. Holy shit, this boss is way bigger than I expected! I withdrew myself from the area just in time to avoid a pair of steely pincers bursting out of the ground. The moving, cragged pincers were spinning like the drill of a boring machine. I noticed that they looked very similar to a scorpion¡¯s pincers, and my educated guess was proven the moment the boss emerged fully from the soil. The giant scorpion had a pair of femurs that were as big as tree trunks, a pair of spinning pincers, an ugly head and three pairs of walking legs that gave it a surprising amount of agility. It stared at us with a pair of greedy little eyes as it raised its tail and poisonous sting menacingly. Underground Lurker (Dark Gold Rank Boss) Level: 80 Attack: 880~1090 Defense: 700 HP: 175000 Skills: Strangle, Poison Spit, Wild Swallow Introduction: These venomous lurkers of the underground were turned into assassins after they fell under the control of the Night Creatures. They often lurk beneath the human domain to spy or assassinate a key target. ¡­¡­ "The boss is out! Attack!" I shouted as I activated Charge. The boss was only Level 80, and its Attack 1090. At my current Defense it couldn¡¯t deal nearly enough damage to threaten me, so I was just going to face-tank it and kill it where it stood! Whoosh! The stun was a success, and I quickly followed up with Pardon and Desperate Gambit! MISS! 5654! Not bad. With my current Attack, the Underground Lurker¡¯s 700 Defense might as well not exist! The boss''s counterattack was weak to say the least. Its attacks only dealt around 300 damage to me, and 500 damage to Gui Guzi and He Yi. He Yi had Rock Shield, and Gui Guzi had Undying Shield. They were also super tanks with over 6000 HP, so there was no way in hell the boss would kill them in the foreseeable future. The rest of the guild weren¡¯t content to just sit by and watch, so they all tossed in their own DPS as well: Fireballs, wind blades, meteors, icicles, arrows, at-will magic spells and so on. The giant scorpion was a Level 80 Dark Gold Rank boss, but it was absolutely ravaged like a common mob. No matter how angrily it roared, there was no changing the fact that it was going to die today! Clang! My Purgatory Sword turned cold in my hands when I happened to hit one of its pincers. I immediately unleashed Purgatory Slash! Bang! The skill penetrated the boss and ended its life right there. Green liquid spilled all over the place as its humongous body hit the ground. It was both terrible and disgusting. Pop pop pop... He Yi picked up the equipment it had dropped, gave them a look and tossed them into Murong Mingyue¡¯s arms. She said, "Put them all in our guild warehouse. Once this quest is over, we¡¯ll distribute the best equipment to those with the highest contribution." "Okay!" In this regard, He Yi¡¯s decision was very fair and praiseworthy. It was always important to be fair, especially when everyone was watching you. Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" for successfully killing the Underground Lurker. 300 points are awarded to the player! ¡­¡­ Very good, that was another 300 points into my pocket! Not far away from us, the Gods of Destruction group was guarding the southeast corner. It so happened they were right next to us. From the way Dominating Knight God and Dominating Warrior God were shooting us jealous looks, you would think that they were plotting to destroy us and the boss at the same time. Unfortunately for them, our courageous general, Xu Yang was standing right at the intersection point where our guilds might have clashed with a whole group of archers ready to let loose their arrows at a moment¡¯s notice. Naturally, Gods of Destruction dared not commit suicide. All Dominating Heaven Blade could do was stare at us with displeasure. He surely knew that Gods of Destruction might not be strong enough to deal with the current Ancient Swords Dreaming Souls, especially since all our greatest experts were present. Even if Frost Cloud workshop were to be excluded from the equation, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls still had Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Moonlight Stone, Pure Love and other extremely good players. It would¡¯ve taken a considerable amount of effort to beat them. With our workshop however, their chances were abysmally small. Murong Mingyue couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. "Yo, Dominating Heaven Blade is beginning to raise his men¡¯s morale¡­" I nodded. "Yeah, this middle-aged man doesn¡¯t know when to quit!" Dominating Heaven Blade was obviously a man who knew how to endure. If this was Li Le or Roaming Dragon, they would¡¯ve charged us and died like dogs already. But not Dominating Heaven Blade. He was a patient man who could choose to stay his hand completely if an excellent opportunity didn¡¯t present itself. It was this predatory tenacity that kept his guild strong despite having to live under the shadow of Candle Dragon. Otherwise, they would¡¯ve been wiped out from China a long time ago. ¡­¡­ We had to wait a while before the gates of Skull Castle finally opened again. It was the Night Creature Legion¡¯s fourth counterattack! I turned pale when I heard the sound of horse hooves. I immediately raised my sword and growled, "Watch out, brothers! We absolutely must give our all if we are to survive this wave!" Gui Guzi also turned pale at my words. "What monster is this wave made of?" I stared at the distance as I revealed the answer. "Night Creature Cavalry!" Du Thirteen asked, "Are they that OP, Lu Chen? You look like a frightened quail¡­" I smiled at him. "There aren¡¯t any Level 100 magic knights or wanderers in China yet, so everyone is fighting on foot. Without a spearwall, high-level cavalry can absolutely annihilate a foot soldier. That will be our fate if we don¡¯t give it our all!" "Fuck! They are that OP¡­" Du Thirteen said as his mouth fell open. He then raised his Ghost Ice Soul and shouted, "Brothers of Bloody Mercenaries, unsheathe your weapons and prepare for battle! We will defend this position even if this is the last thing we do!" A huge group of gangster-like fighters immediately raised their weapons and laughed in response. "Let¡¯s go! Today is the day we poke some undead anus!" A horde of undead cavalry rushed out of Skull Castle, but to our surprise they took their time to assemble themselves beneath the city instead of attacking immediately. Soon, an entire formation of Level 81 elite mobs was ready to charge us! Sitting at 980 Attack, 750 Defense and 18000 HP, these undead cavalrymen were as powerful as they were tanky! Skull Cavalry (Elite) Level: 81 Attack: 850~980 Defense: 750 HP: 18000 Skills: Charge, Trample, War Stampede Introduction: These undead cavalrymen who protect Skull Castle used to be the elite cavalry of the human empire. When the Night Creatures invaded, an endless plague turned them all into walking puppets, and they became a major obstacle in the human race¡¯s efforts to push back the Night Creatures. ¡­¡­ In front of the line of cavalrymen, around every ten steps or so were their leaders. They carried red banners behind them and wielded mighty-looking spears. They were Level 81 minibosses, and they were a lot deadlier than the other riders! There were at least 1000 of these "Blood Armored Cavalry Leaders¡±. They would be the blade that punched through our defenses. If we wished to defeat this wave, we would have to get rid of their leaders first! "Watch out, everyone. This wave isn¡¯t going to be easy¡­" He Yi said while gripping the Abyssal Sword. Beside her, Chaos Moon nodded before asking, "What should we do?" He Yi turned at me, and I narrowed my eyes sharply before pointing my sword toward the front. "All warriors over Level 78, I want you to lock onto a Blood Armored Cavalry Leader and stun them with Charge. Archers and mages, I want you to destroy these minibosses before they can reach our formation!" "Yes, sir!" All the high-level warriors raised their swords and held their breaths in waiting. Right ahead of us, one of the Blood Armored Cavalry Leaders raised his spear and shouted in a way only a Night Creature could, "Warriors of Skull Castle, it is time to defend the pride of the Night Creatures. For the dead who are wailing in hell, let us crush everything in our path, be it corporeal or illusory! Charge!" The cavalry troops abruptly took off and galloped toward us en masse. As they swarmed toward us like a tsunami, the Blood Armored Cavalry Leaders raised their spears and rode at the forefront. They cackled madly as their lips warped into a distorted grin! "Hmm¡­" Chaos Moon couldn¡¯t help but take half a step away in hesitation. She seemed to be frightened by the minibosses¡¯ ugly faces. At least He Yi remained calm. She smiled easily and said, "Chaos Moon, I¡¯ll take the one on the left. The one on the right is yours¡­" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Chapter 279: Temporary Alliance Whoosh! I bolted toward a Blood Armored Cavalry Leader and stunned him in the blink of an eye. When ice suddenly enveloped the surface of my blade and turned into an icicle, I stabbed the miniboss right through its chest and caused black blood to spill out. 3786! I wasn¡¯t done yet. Shrouding my blade with green light, I dragged my sword horizontally, dealing yet another deadly blow to the miniboss. 3459! But the Blood Armored Cavalry Leader had a lot of HP. Its wilted eyeballs growing increasingly savage, the monster swung its spear and scored a long dent across my beautiful Purgatory War Armor. The good news was that it wasn¡¯t able to pierce my Defense largely, and the attack only dealt about 400 damage or so. I retreated as I fought so that the miniboss would enter the range of my archers and mages. An endless hail of arrows and ice magic immediately rained down on the poor guy and dealt all kinds of damage. Despite having almost a hundred thousand HP, the miniboss was killed in less than half a minute! Pop pop pop... The miniboss dropped a couple of items, but I had no time to check them out, so I just threw them all into my bag before charging the next Blood Armored Cavalry Leader! ¡­¡­ As war raged across the battlefield, a pair of fat, big-eared giant beasts appeared atop the walls of Skull Castle. They swung their war hammers at the war drums made from Dilong skin continuously as fire covered the sky that began turning blood-red. Beneath the city, countless Skull Cavalry and players clashed against one another. The battle at the eastern wall alone was terrible enough to turn anyone¡¯s blood ice cold. The Skull Cavalry¡¯s charge was stunningly powerful, and their blades were sharp enough to penetrate most players¡¯ armor. They tore countless low-level players to shreds, and there were enough bodies to make a literal river of blood. Up until now, there were at least millions of bodies strewn around the entire city. Clang clang clang! He Yi swung her sword three times in quick succession and knocked back a Blood Armored Cavalry Leader with amazing grace. Protected by her Rock Shield, she spun around and followed up with a continuous thrust at another miniboss''s head. Our beautiful guild leader was proving her strength before her guild members by soloing two minibosses herself! "Eve, come closer to me!" Murong Mingyue called out to her while swinging her scepter and healing He Yi back to full health. On the other side, Gui Guzi was also activating Undying Shield and keeping a Blood Armored Cavalry Leader completely tied up. Every time he swung his spear, the miniboss screamed in pain, and the banner behind its back shuddered visibly from the impact. It shouldn¡¯t take much longer for him to defeat that miniboss. The battle was worryingly desperate, and the only way to win was absolute power. Night Creatures were infamous for their offensive power, so the only way to obtain true victory was to end their unholy life once and for all. ¡­¡­ Clang clang! After cutting down a Skull Cavalry in two hits, I stepped on its chest and looked around me. The sky was completely covered by smoke, and people were dying with each passing second. I couldn¡¯t help but gasp at the horrible sight before commenting in the party channel, "This doesn¡¯t look too good for us¡­" He Yi followed my gaze before echoing in agreement, "Yeah. It¡¯s a total collapse!" Even Gui Guzi was shocked by the disaster happening around him. "Fuck, what is going on¡­" ¡­¡­ The enemy¡¯s cavalry troops hadn¡¯t just hit our guild, of course. All the guilds next to us were also attacked by a seemingly endless horde of Skull Cavalry led by a small number of Blood Armored Cavalry Leaders. Their defense line¡ªespecially those small, unknown guilds¡ªlooked pathetically weak, and they completely crumbled upon first contact. The charge and the blades of the Skull Cavalry were so deadly that they practically trampled the player factions in just the blink of an eye! It wasn¡¯t long before most of the player factions around us were beaten back by the enemy. Soon, we were the only ones left who were still a couple thousand strong and fighting against the Skull Cavalry. Some of our players looked a bit shaken and demoralized as a result. I saw it all and ran all the way to the edge of our formation. Then, I unleashed Thousand Mirage Slash and charged straight into the enemy formation. Lifting the Purgatory Sword into the air, I shouted, "Brothers of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, it is time to defend the honor of our guild! Remember those people who called us a sham? Now is your chance to silence their mouths with the blades in your hand! Stay brave, and attack!" Xu Yang also raised his sword and shouted, "Follow Lu Chen and attack!" Du Thirteen, Chaos Moon, Beiming Xue and more also charged the enemy. The plan was to attack the left and right wing while still keeping the Skull Cavalry directly in front of us at bay. If we simply defended and did nothing else, it was only a matter of time before the enemy devoured us all with sheer numbers! The minibosses had all been killed by our top experts, so the only enemies we had to defeat were the Level 81 cavalrymen. Naturally, they were a lot easier to deal with! Boom! I unleashed a Purgatory Slash into a group of mobs whenever it triggered its Outstanding property, and thanks to the extra splash damage, not even the healthiest of the Skull Cavalry could tank all the damage. An entire horde of mobs was one-shot by the skill, further lifting the morale of our troops. Encouraged by my fearless charge, the players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls shook off their hesitation and launched their own counterattacks. Countless Arctic Rains, Ice Dragon Howls, Volleys and more rained on the enemies while the fighters fought tooth and nail to keep our battle line intact. Our formation was as tough as a steel fortress, and not even the Skull Cavalry could break through this iron wall. The only other force who still hadn¡¯t fallen at the eastern wall was Gods of Destruction. At the distance, I could see Dominating Heaven Blade defending a hole in his guild¡¯s formation while shouting, "Stay strong, brothers! We are the king and protector of Floating Ice City! We have no reason to retreat!" "Aahh¡­" Beside him, two Level 70 warriors screamed and collapsed to the ground after a Blood Armored Cavalry Leader used Flame Thrust on them. The skill was deadly to say the least. One look told me that Gods of Destruction had around 1500 players left. The only good news was that they were all elite players. The strongest of them all, Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God and so on were hanging at the front and attracting the minibosses¡¯ attention to buy time for the players behind them to shoot them down. The corpses strewn across the edges of the ongoing battle were thick enough to form walls of flesh, and they all had the Gods of Destruction¡¯s emblem on them. It was bad, really bad. If even the second best guild on China¡¯s Guild Ranking was doing this badly, everyone else could only be faring much worse. Pu pu¡­ Another two Gods of Destruction warriors died after being stabbed right through the neck. Four Red Armored Cavalry Leaders were attacking their defense line, and it looked like their formation would collapse at any moment now! I gritted my teeth and turned around. "Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, follow me! I also want some mages, priests, and archers! We¡¯re going to join forces with Gods of Destruction and form a unified defense line across the entire eastern wall!" Gui Guzi looked surprised. "You want to save Gods of Destruction, boss?" I nodded seriously. "We must if we wish to hold out a little longer. If we don¡¯t save them, there¡¯s no way they¡¯ll be able to endure the next wave. Failing the quest to reestablish the Violet Empire will cost us far more than what we¡¯ll lose to protect Gods of Destruction!" "Okay!" Xu Yang, Chaos Moon and even He Yi and Du Thirteen joined me. Soon, all the elites of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had assembled into a group before charging under my command! Murong Mingyue waved her scepter and summoned her falling meteors. Hellish Rockfall was such a useful skill in this situation; it only took two consecutive casts to kill an entire horde of Level 81 monsters! I was at the forefront of the charge and tanking most of the damage coming our way. When we finally got close to Gods of Destruction, I immediately raised my sword and unleashed Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! The sword aura split into eight before landing on the mobs and dealing an innumerable amount of damage. In fact, the longest streak of sword energy nearly cut off the tip of Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s nose before it slaughtered all the Skull Cavalry in front of him! Facial muscles twitched on Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s visage as he stared at me and the dead enemies. Then, he said, "Thank you for assisting us, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" I nodded and said, "Dominating Heaven Blade, tell your men to spread out and form a line with us. If we continue fighting on our own, it¡¯s only a matter before we all die! These monster waves are far stronger than any of us had anticipated!" "Mn!" Dominating Heaven Blade raised his sword and shouted, "Spread out the line and form up with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! We absolutely must hold on, you hear me!? Also, tell our brothers who are still inside the city to come assist us, and that includes those who just came online!" "Yes, boss!" Dominating Knight God nodded and carried out the order. ¡­¡­ 20 minutes later, the Skull Cavalry finally dwindled into nothing. Countless Big Magic Stones and low-level equipment littered the ground, and everyone was excited. Somehow, we managed to defeat the fourth wave despite how powerful it was! I turned around and smiled at what I saw. Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi, and Xu Yang were covered in blood. Their weapons were equally dirty. That had been an absolutely desperate battle, but Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had been able to hold onto the initiative almost from the start to the end! That was the only reason we were able to weather the Night Creature¡¯s fierce assault! I checked the battle window and noticed that the number of players in the Violet Empire faction had decreased again. Less than five hundred thousand players had survived that terrible battle! "A new boss has spawned!" Xu Yang reported. "Yeah, Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Wind Fantasy is leading Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume, and Shadow Chanel against it. It¡¯s a Level 83 Dark Gold Rank boss!" "Mn!" I nodded affirmatively before ordering, "Then let us take this moment to catch our breaths. All those who are out of pots, resupply now and prepare for the next wave!" Meanwhile, He Yi asked with a frown, "Just how many waves are there?" "Who knows¡­" Chapter 280: Do Your Best, Big Bros A while later, everyone heard a ding¡ª System Announcement: Congratulations to player "Purple Marquis" for successfully killing the Shadow Flyer. 300 points are awarded to the player! ¡­¡­ Damn, the boss of the fourth wave was killed by Purple Marquis? He Yi, Murong Mingyue and I exchanged glances with each other. It would seem that Snowy Cathaya wasn''t lacking in outstanding talents at all. Purple Marquis normally concealed his abilities, but he had great skills, high level and top-tier equipment. In fact, his individual skill was on par with Gui Guzi¡¯s at least. Thanks to him, much of Lin Yixin¡¯s burden was lifted off her shoulders. More importantly, Purple Marquis was similar to Xu Yang in that he always reciprocated favors and his loyalty was undying. Just a week ago, it was rumored that Dominating Warrior God personally sought out Purple Marquis in Suzhou and promised him a whopping monthly salary of 100k RMB if he agreed to join Gods of Destruction. Not only that, he offered to make him the vice leader of Gods of Destruction. To everyone¡¯s surprise, Purple Marquis turned him down. "I will only serve Lin Yixin this lifetime," he said. After Dominating Warrior God went back to Shanghai, Gods of Destruction never tried to steal Snowy Cathaya¡¯s generals again. He wasn¡¯t even the only person to turn down a tempting offer. Li Le had attempted to recruit her other general, Zi Chuanyu, and was met with the same response. One had to wonder just what magic Lin Yixin possessed to enchant her generals so. The kind of loyalty that surrounded her was so thick that it was probably unparalleled in all of China. Even the retired pro, Seven-Star Lamp, had to post a thread and state, "If Song of Cloud and Water was even half as attractive and courageous as Wind Fantasy was, Soul Battle Robes would¡¯ve returned to the top a long time ago¡­" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, a lot of Floating Ice City parties had regathered around us: solo players, temporary 5-man parties and even thousand-man guild parties. If there was one thing China wasn¡¯t lacking, it was manpower. Countless people had died just now, but now almost a hundred thousand players were forming up at the eastern walls of Skull Castle again! Moreover, He Yi had improved by leaps and bounds since she started training seriously. Not only was her equipment much better than before, her individual skills were growing as well. Heck, this might even be the first time in years He Yi played any game this seriously. It was to the point where she used her annual leave and pushed aside her real work at GGS. It didn¡¯t take a genius to notice that He Yi was working very hard to improve herself, and her efforts were clearly paying off. She was sliding toward the peak of second-rate experts, and she was only one step away from being first-rate. One big battle, or should I say one evolution, was all she needed to become an expert with both beauty and skill! ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a group of well-equipped and high-level players cut through the crowd and appeared between Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It looked like they would be taking around 50 meters of the defense line. It was none other than the Top 10 guild on the Guild Ranking of Floating Ice City, Soul Battle Robes! A breeze blew past my face as a delicate-looking female knight walked toward me. She had a spear in her hand and the emblem of the Soul Battle Robes on her shoulder. She stopped in front of me and smiled a smile only she thought was attractive. A line of text floated above her head: Song of Cloud and Water LV-77 Silver Knight Guild: Soul Battle Robes Guild Position: Leader ¡­¡­ Damn, it¡¯s this girl again? Apparently she was the guild leader of Soul Battle Robes now. Her guild was at Rank 2, and she commanded nearly a thousand brave warriors. She was not to be underestimated. A pair of dimples appeared around her cheeks as Song of Cloud and Water said, "Long time no see, Falling Dust! I wasn¡¯t expecting to meet you here! Anyway, it looks like you¡¯re doing pretty well in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, but would you like to develop even further in Soul Battle Robes? If you join us, you¡¯ll still be the vice leader, and you can ask for any monthly salary you want. What do you think?" I stared at the city walls and swore seriously, "Fuck those giant beasts on the city walls man¡­ Their Encourage buffed the mobs¡¯ Attack by at least 25%. I was wondering why these Level 81 elite mobs hit so much harder than they should be! If only we had a couple of godly archers who could pick off all those bastards from here, someone like the mythological archer Houyi!" He Yi suggested, "Maybe Lil Beiming can give it a try?" I shook my head. "Nah, Lil Beiming¡¯s a girl, her arm strength isn¡¯t enough to shoot through their tough skin. She¡¯s not Huang Zhong, you know." She giggled at my response. At the side, Song of Cloud and Water stared at me while shaking, "He¡­ he ignored me again¡­" Two high-level warriors walked up to her and said, "Leader, he¡¯s literally the soul of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. There¡¯s no way he would join Soul Battle Robes." Song of Cloud and Water bit her lips before shooting me an upset look. "Hmph, just you wait! You will be mine one day!" After that, the little girl walked away, stomping her feet in anger. ¡­¡­ After she was out of earshot, Murong Mingyue glanced at me. "Man, our Lu Chen sure is a popular man, isn¡¯t he? Even a loli wants to take you for herself. I knew that you were a predator who would assault any woman who goes your way, young or old!" I glared at her. "WTF, I am not a predator! And what do I have anything to do with this? She¡¯s the one who threw herself at me!" He Yi giggled again. Murong Mingyue replied, "Eve, you¡¯d better keep a close eye on him. I can see that he¡¯s popular as hell right now, and if you¡¯re not careful he might just be stolen by someone else. Even if we overlook the little girl in Soul Battles Robes, let¡¯s not forget that Beauty Lin wants him for Snowy Cathaya too¡­" I curled my lips and declared, "You can save your energy, sis. I will not abandon He Yi." He Yi shot me a long look before saying, "I will remember what you said¡­" Unable to read the mood at all, Xu Yang interrupted, "Boss, I will never abandon you as well!" All He Yi had to offer him was a dumbfounded expression. Finally, the war drums started beating again. The fifth monster wave was about to begin! ¡­¡­ Creak¡­ creak... As the heavy iron gates slowly opened, a pack of black shadows appeared from behind the bloody fog. When the mobs got close enough for us to see, we were shocked to find that they looked like some sort of mongrel with metal armor and bloodshot eyes. Their feet thudded loudly against the ground, and their mouths looked big enough to swallow an entire pig whole. Their name was especially cool. Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolf (Elite) Level: 83 Attack: 880~1020 Defense: 700 HP: 17000 Skills: Rend, Swallow Introduction: A kind of Greedy Wolf with sharp claws, sharp teeth and dangerously-high offensive power. It is usually spotted in packs inside ancient forests. Once, the human empire sent an elite squad to the borders to clear them out, but they were the ones who got annihilated instead. Since then, the name "Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolf" strikes fear in the hearts of countless people. ¡­¡­ Clang! I pulled out the Purgatory Sword and pointed toward the front. I yelled, "Students, the next battle has come to us! In the name of Ancient Sword, we will never retreat!" Behind me, all the high-level players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls also pulled out their weapons and raised it into the air. Blade gleaming intimidatingly with the light of dawn, they shouted in unison, "In the name of Ancient Sword, we will never retreat!" The powerful shouts reverberated for a long time beneath Skull Castle, and our "soul" was almost complete. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had become sacred in our players¡¯ hearts, and soon would become something they would sacrifice even their life for! He Yi pursed her lips and shot me an encouraging smile. Well, I was a male undead player, and my voice was loud and awe-inspiring. Besides that, I was a CGL Hall of Famer, and that title wasn¡¯t something He Yi, for all her management skills, could compete with. Therefore, I was the best candidate to say something inspiring to raise our troop¡¯s morale. On the other hand, Snowy Cathaya didn¡¯t have a famous player like me, so Lin Yixin had to be the one to cheer them up. When I imagined her stepping on an undead cavalry¡¯s corpse, lifting her Moonlight Sword into the air and shouting something cool in her sweet, passionate voice¡­ hmm? It¡¯s not bad either, is it? ¡­¡­ "Huff! Huff! Huff!" The Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolves swarmed us like a tsunami. They were constantly salivating, their eyes were utterly brutal, and they looked like they wanted nothing more but to slaughter us to the last. They were Level 83 elite mobs with an upper Attack limit of over 1000. They were definitely going to be trouble even for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, not to mention the rest of the guilds. Everyone held their breaths and gripped their weapons tightly. He Yi was standing to my right, and Gui Guzi to my left. I could hear Gui Guzi swallowing loudly as his eyes shone with excitement! Du Thirteen was now well-equipped and level to match his gear. He also showed his character as a leader and fought courageously in battle just now. Du Thirteen and I played many games together in the past, but this was the first time he truly felt like a pro. It was no wonder his face was red, and his heart was beating wildly with excitement! ¡­¡­ Clang! Not far away, the small but beautiful leader of Soul Battle Robes also pulled out her sword and declared in a cutesy voice, "We will fight a hundred battles in every corner of the world! Our warrior soul will not rest until it returns to the robe! The time to defend our honor has come, so do your best, big bros!" "Pff¡­" Countless people burst into laughter at once. Holy shit, is this guild really okay? Thank goodness I hadn¡¯t gone to Soul Battle Robes, or I would be too busy coughing out my lungs in laughter every time she "cheered us on"! Meanwhile, Dominating Heaven Blade was standing at the front and staring at the incoming enemies sternly. Behind him, countless archers and mages were just waiting for the mobs to enter their range so that they could unleash hell on them. But when the ugly, snarling faces of the dangerous wolf pack actually got close, everyone had to swallow a bit of fear down their throats. Heaven knows how painful it would be to be bitten by these goddamn animals! Chapter 281: Powerful Cards "Roar roar roar!" The cacophonous howls of the Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolves assault our ears as the beasts surged toward us. The distance between the player and monster factions was shortened to just a hundred steps in the blink of an eye! Rustle rustle¡­ Stepping on the bloodstained ground, I walked forward until I was four or five yards away from the battle line. I was trying to draw as many Greedy Wolves to myself since I had 1165 sheet Defense and Ghost Deity Armor which made me, for all intents and purposes, a 1350 Defense warrior. These wolves probably couldn¡¯t pierce my Defense, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the players behind me. 1020 Attack was just too high for most of them! Clang! I pulled out the Purgatory Sword. The Outstanding weapon kept ringing melodiously as it glowed with a blinding light. Behind the battle line, Beiming Xue drew her bow and stared toward the distance, calculating. The moment the Greedy Wolves entered the ideal range, she immediately shouted with a crisp voice, "Archers, aim high¡­ fire!" Thwish thwish thwish thwish... Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls still had almost a thousand well-organized archers, and iron-tip arrows rained on top of our enemies like locusts with every twang of the bowstring, swishes lingering in the air. "Far Shot" was a skill that made an archer aim about 45 degrees relative to the ground before releasing the notch. Although the archer wouldn¡¯t be able to lock on a target, effectively making it a random attack, it was still a trump card that gave an archer the power to kill an enemy from a mile away. Of course, you would have to be very lucky to hit a target that far, so the skill was situationally useful at best in most scenarios. But in a large-scale battle like this, it was one of the most critical skills an archer could have. Almost a thousand of archers released their arrows at once under Beiming Xue¡¯s orders, and the deadly projectiles rained on top of the incoming mobs with almost 100% accuracy! Thud thud thud... The arrows tore through the Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolves¡¯ Defense, sank deep into their flesh, and dealt a ton of random damage. However, it wasn¡¯t enough to stop their charge. Arrows still sticking out of their bodies, they kept running until they were close enough to pounce toward us in a rage! I charged forward toward the forefront Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolf and unleashed Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! Eight sword auras hit the pack of mobs in front of me and caused them to squeal in pain. Most of them died immediately due to the insane amount of splash damage the skill did, increasing my war point count dramatically. This was the fifth wave, and every mob yielded around 5 points. I have to become MVP of this event! 78! 102! 101! ¡­¡­ As I thought, they could barely pierce my Defense. They dealt so little damage that HP potions, Regeneration of the Undead and Tenacity of the Undead were all I needed to stay alive throughout the fight! It was like I had transformed into an impenetrable frontier fortress, drawing away at least 20% of the enemies¡¯ firepower away from my battleline. It was easy for me to kill the mobs too because I was knee-deep in Greedy Wolves, and my Purgatory Sword had 20% splash damage. Every time I attacked, a couple of Greedy Wolves took damage at once. My killing efficiency was drastically improved to say the least! Behind me, He Yi, Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, Beauty Chaos Moon and the rest of the defenders were protecting our backline. Xu Yang and Du Thirteen still needed some healing to stay alive, but He Yi and Gui Guzi felt absolutely no pressure whatsoever. The good news was that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls lost very little men during the first few waves, and our priest number was very healthy. As a result, it turned out to be a very easy battle. Even Murong Mingyue had changed roles to a damage dealer temporarily and dished out one Hellish Rockfall after another. Her DPS was amazing, and it would¡¯ve been even better if she could move out of the defense line and rain hell on the main bulk of the horde. It was too risky though. He Yi¡¯s Firelight Mouse was also having a field day behind the shield formation. Tail flickering with flame, the little mouse kept chirping and jumping at the same spot as it cast Sea of Flames again and again, roasting the enemy mobs alive. Yep, it¡¯s getting scarier and scarier as its level increases! ¡­¡­ "Roar roar!" A pair of Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolves pounced toward a Level 72 warrior, launched four Rends in total and one-shot the poor guy. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t strong enough to halt the Greedy Wolves¡¯ advance. Priests¡¯ heals had cooldowns, so there was bound to be a window of opportunity for the mobs. If someone was caught with their pants down in that short period, all they could do was pray they were tanky enough to survive, or die! Beauty Moonlight Stone shouted, "Someone replace him now! We cannot allow a gap to appear in our formation!" "We¡¯re out of melee fighters!" someone shouted in response. "Use someone¡¯s pet to fill the gap then!" A Level 71 Tamer stepped out and dropped a tanky Wild Bear right in front of the two Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolves. For a second, everything seemed to be back to normal when one of the Greedy Wolves suddenly opened its mouth. Then, it shocked everyone by devouring the giant bear whole! Beauty Moonlight Stone¡¯s mouth fell open. "Is¡­ is that a one-shot?" Beiming Xue fired an Evil Spirit Volley, and thankfully one of her arrows hit the low health Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolf. The mob died, dropped a couple of magic stones and spat out the poor devoured bear! Beiming Xue immediately shouted after seeing this, "If you have a melee pet, don¡¯t use it! These mobs have the ability to devour pets!" "Fuck¡­" Gui Guzi snorted angrily on the other side. "I was wondering why my little Wasp was missing!" I laughed and produced a Wildfire Greedy Wolf card from my bag. Upon usage, my attack speed immediately went up by 5%, enabling me to inflict even more pain to the Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolves around me. Every time I unleashed a Thousand Mirage Slash, the powerful sword auras threw them into the sky, painting the scene into a mini-apocalypse! Pop! Countless gear drops and miscellaneous items dropped from the Greedy Wolves, but what really caught my attention was a black card about five yards in front of me. I immediately rushed toward it, picked it up from the floor and gave it a look. What I saw excited me immediately¡ª Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolf Card: Increases user''s attack speed by 20%, movement speed by 10%. Duration: 30 minutes. Level Requirement: 80 ¡­¡­ Fuck, it¡¯s absolutely amazing! 20% attack speed and 10% movement speed? One might even call it an OP card! As expected of a drop from a high-level Night Creature! I immediately threw it into air and activated it, replacing my Wildfire Greedy Wolf Card. The moment my attack speed and my movement speed increased, I felt as light as a butterfly and as quick as an eagle! Hell yeah! My DPS skyrocketed as I continued fighting alone in the clearing, cutting down wolves like weeds. The scene cemented my godly status in the hearts of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players! Unfortunately, not everyone was as strong as I was. Each of our frontline fighter had to handle two or three Greedy Wolves at the same time, so casualties were inevitable. In fact, only our first-rate players had the power to tank one or two unlucky crits in a row! Luckily, all of our main damage dealers were still alive. The mages were dishing out their Arctic Rains and the archers were firing their Volleys, so no Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolf that assaulted us could survive for longer than 30 seconds. Moreover, the mobs dropped more than enough equipment and experience to make up for the losses, meaning that the longer Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls survived, the more benefits we would gain in the process. In fact, many of our players had already leveled up once or twice since the start of the battle. Even if they were to die now, they had already been compensated for their loss! However, the rest of the players around us weren¡¯t faring nearly as well. The smaller guilds and smaller parties couldn¡¯t even take a solid hit; their defense lines were shredded into pieces the second the Greedy Wolves hit them. They were so weak that it was almost a massacre. Even worse, the mobs¡¯ numbers were so huge that merely looking at their fight induced despair! I looked to my right and was shocked to find that Soul Battle Robes was suffering huge losses as well. The long-standing guild was doing their best to weather the assault under Song of Cloud and Water¡¯s leadership, and they all fought like suicidal maniacs even though they were losing massive numbers of frontliners by the second. Hmm, Soul Battle Robes wasn¡¯t too bad, to be honest. If their players¡¯ average level wasn¡¯t 5 below ours and their equipment wasn¡¯t much worse, they should¡¯ve been able to survive this assault. Gods of Destruction players were doing equally bad as them. Dominating Heaven Blade was knee-deep in Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolves and covered in blood as he fought at the forefront. All around him, his men were dying in droves. The wolves¡¯ 1020 Attack was just too high for them to handle, and the mobs¡¯ attack speed was impressive to boot. With this DPS, no wonder they were doing badly. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Xu Yang ordered loudly, "Right wing, steady yourselves and find opportune moments to aid Soul Battle Robes! Do not allow them to crumble too quickly, or we¡¯ll soon be attacked from two sides!" "Yes, commander!" Xu Yang nodded with a smile. The beautiful emblem on his shoulder marked him as the guild¡¯s corps commander, and anyone who made it to this position was wise, knowledgeable, capable and strong! I asked Gui Guzi, "Little Gui, how are the other three battlefields doing?" Gui Guzi pierced a Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolf through the throat before answering seriously, "It¡¯s not looking good at all, to be honest. The south of Skull Castle is still doing okay since they are guarded by Snowy Cathaya, Thunder and Wind, and Personal Guard. But the north is guarded by Mad Dragon and Flower Room, and you can imagine yourself how well they¡¯re doing. The west is guarded by Peach Garden, River and Lakes, and Eternal Friendship, and their situation is just as bad as the north¡¯s. Even Indigo Collar is putting his neck on the line just to survive the assault." Chapter 282: Breaker Time trickled by as the situation became even more terrible than before. The Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolves¡¯ Attack was just too high, absolutely not something players at the current stage of the game could bear. I, along with Gui Guzi, He Yi, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, and some other high-level warriors ran back and forth. We ran to places that had gaps in formation, pretty much wherever we were needed. Thanks to our joint efforts, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls pulled off a successful defense every time a Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolf was about to break through. When I saw the Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolves¡¯ numbers slowly dwindling, I let out a breath of relief. "Ah, so tiring¡­" He Yi smiled. "True true. How many waves do you think are left?" "No clue¡­" ¡­¡­ A battle report came from afar¡ª The south part of Skull Castle had been successfully defended under Snowy Cathaya¡¯s command. The losses were disastrous, however. Snowy Cathaya had lost about 50% of their troops and only had about 1000 elites left. The north part of Skull Castle had also been successfully defended but this time it was by the combined efforts of Mad Dragon and Flower Room. It was just a pity that both guilds had been nearly decimated in the progress. Mad Dragon had less than 200 people while Flower Room seemed to not even reach 100. Led by Indigo Collar, Peach Garden was to the west part of Skull Castle. Their resistance against the monster wave finally allowed us to completely wipe out the Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolf¡¯s legion. Though it was regrettable that Peach Garden only had 500 left after the battle. Our losses were too heavy this time around. ¡­¡­ I checked the game interface at the top left corner of my view. There were only around 70k Floating Ice City players that had chosen the Violet Empire side. I doubt that this number could defend against the sixth monster wave! He Yi and Murong Mingyue looked at me. The two girls could clearly see that the situation was not favorable as they asked the same question at almost the same time. "What do we do?" I sucked in a deep breath. "We can¡¯t fight this¡­" He Yi turned and gazed into the distance. She smiled, her beautiful eyes flashing with intelligence. "We have no other choice but to gather all of Floating Ice City¡¯s forces. The player base will defend one direction and we¡¯ll leave the other three to the NPCs. The Blood Dance Legion hasn¡¯t made a move yet. They¡¯re the main force of the army. We¡¯re just passersby that are here to collect some points!" "Alright, I¡¯ll contact Snowy Cathaya! Sis, you make contact with Peach Garden!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I opened my friend list and sent Lin Yixin a voice chat request. "Beauty Yi!" "Oh¡­" Lin Yixin sounded downcast. "What¡¯s wrong?" "We lost too many¡­" "Oh? How many people do Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have left?" "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Bloody Mercenaries should have a total of 2000 or so people left. We still have most of our mages and archers so DPS shouldn¡¯t be a problem. It¡¯s just that too many of our melees died so it¡¯ll be hard to hold out." Lin Yixin laughed: "Got it. I¡¯ll be there with my guys soon!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I turned around and was greeted by Murong Mingyue¡¯s smile. "It¡¯s settled. Even though Indigo Collar sounded really unwilling, he still decided to bring over Peach Garden¡¯s 500 people due to our dire circumstances. Those are all elite players you know, the ones that can fight ten on one!" I nodded. "Mn. In fact, I¡¯m also really strong. I can fight a hundred on one!" "Big bro! Hold your chin up before your mouth runs away from you!!" "Haha~~" Not long after, the figure of a beautiful warrior appeared in the southern wilderness littered with mountains of corpses. Clad in silver armor, her war boots stepped past bloody puddles as her cape fluttered behind her. It was a sight to behold. Behind her, however, was a huge group of murderous-looking high-level players and floating above each one of their shoulders was Snowy Cathaya¡¯s emblem! "Mn, Snowy Cathaya¡¯s here!" He Yi¡¯s gaze swept over. "Lin Yixin doesn¡¯t seem to look all that happy¡­" "Yeah, our casualties are just too high!" Lin Yixin came over with Zi Chuanyu, Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume, and Shadow Chanel. When she saw Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ neat formation and sunshine morale, she couldn¡¯t help exclaiming, "Heavens, Lu Chen, those Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolves are so strong, how is your formation still this intact?" I smiled. "Nothing much, I¡¯m just stronger!" "Fuck!" Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me. "Well, spit it out, what should we do for the next wave?" I shot a glance at Snowy Cathaya¡¯s 1000 or so people. They were actually relatively still orderly. Melee players numbered around 400, which was even a higher number than what Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had. This violent little girl¡¯s guild specialized in melee fighters. Fuck, she sure had some foresight. The main frontline force in future wars were precisely the close range combatants. Warriors could serve as the infantry defense line while magic knights and wanderers could serve as the cavalry that would break through enemy formations once they could ride mounts. It was a perfect assembly! I looked at the giant beasts pounding war drums on the city walls and said, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has preserved the bulk of its attack power so it should fulfill the role of the central army. Snowy Cathaya can protect the left flank and the right flank will be left to Peach Garden, Gods of Destruction, Flower Room, and the rest. What do you think? Any problems?" Lin Yixin nodded. "You have the most troops so you have the final say!" I couldn¡¯t hide my smile. Talking to a pretty girl with brains really saves me so much trouble! ¡­¡­ Not long after, Gods of Destruction, Soul Battle Robes, Peach Garden, and some other groups formed the right wing defense line. Floating Ice City¡¯s player faction seemed to have never united like this before. This was sure a moment to treasure, however brief it may last. I¡¯m afraid that once we¡¯re finished with this Violet Empire reestablishment war, everyone will be embroiled in the flames of our own internal city guild battle yet again. He Yi gazed at the city. "Eh? Isn¡¯t this wait time a bit too long? Why hasn¡¯t the fifth wave boss come out yet?" Lin Yixin smiled. "Sister He Yi, the boss has already appeared in the south. It¡¯s currently being attacked by Princess Karinshan¡¯s personal guards. I¡¯m afraid we can¡¯t do anything about it." "Mn¡­" He Yi looked a bit disappointed so I comforted her, "Don¡¯t worry about it. A Level 83 boss wouldn¡¯t drop any quality items. It¡¯s actually good for us since we can just wait for the next wave!" "Right, right, try to take advantage of her so we can reduce our casualties¡­" Lin Yixin smiled as she outlined her battle plan. After she said that, everyone turned in her direction. She couldn¡¯t help but flush bright red. She returned to Snowy Cathaya¡¯s formation and shouted, "What are you all looking at, show me your skills! The next wave will be here soon!" At this time, Xu Yang had already instructed Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ players to sweep through the battlefield. There was no doubt that the guild would have much more quality equipment after this war was over! So we wouldn¡¯t lose too much of the equipment, He Yi ordered 20 huge bag space players that she trusted to immediately return to the city and store the equipment. They would run back to the battlefield afterward. That way, we were sure to increase our gear average after the battle. As for how we would distribute them, that had been put off until the war ended. ¡­¡­ Several minutes after, the system¡¯s bell sounded in the air¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that the third-to-last wave of Skull Castle¡¯s counterattack is about to appear. The commander boss of this wave is Breaker?Derry! "It¡¯s finally here!" Breaker? That¡¯s a new term. What the fuck is that? The giant beasts behind the city walls pulled the iron chain handles, and the sound of gates opening greeted us again. The heavy iron gates were slowly being opened and the third-to-last wave of monsters finally appeared! Densely packed figures appeared in the thick fog. It was actually a group of humanoid soldiers wearing black capes. Every one of them was clad in metal armor and holding a sharp sword. It was just that the small chinks in their helmet revealed their terrifying skeletal appearance, exposing their identity. Even if they wore clothes like humans, they were no different from walking corpses. Breaker (Elite) Level: 85 Attack: 850~1050 Defense: 800 HP: 20000 Skills: Break?Attack, Break?Defense Introduction: Skull Castle¡¯s Rank 6 guardian. These Breakers were originally templars of human churches but these valiant soldiers had become the undead¡¯s puppets several thousand years ago. After being eroded by evil energy, they comprehended a completely different power and have become a branch of the Night Creature faction¡¯s main army. ¡­¡­ Beauty Chaos Moon spoke her thoughts out loud. "Breakers¡­ what do you guys think?" I answered, "Their skills look special. I wonder what Break?Attack and Break?Defense are¡­" He Yi: "Talk after we kill them!" "Mn!" Breakers had extremely high movement speed and their attacks were lightning-quick. Since I stood at the forefront of the formation, I naturally became their target. Two Breakers rushed at me together. They lifted their longswords in the air and the tip of their swords glowed with bloody light as they yelled, "In the name of the Breakers, receive your judgment¡ªBreak?Attack!" Clang clang! I didn¡¯t bother dodging it and ate both their blows. A biting pain immediately came from my shoulder as two damage numbers flew up in the air. 578! 672! My face instantly frosted when I saw those numbers. I softly spoke in the guild channel, "Frontline fighters be careful. Break?Attack is an increase of base attack power. It¡¯s really strong. priests, get ready to cast heals in any moment. Don¡¯t let our melee players die. Mages and archers, use your AoEs. No matter how strong they are, hold your ground!" After that, I dished out two strikes at a Breaker¡¯s head! 3278! The first strike hit its target but the second dealt less damage because that Breaker slightly retreated and used its longsword to block its front as it shouted, "In the name of the Breakers, receive your judgment¡ªBreak?Defense!" Ding! 732! Fuck, this Break?Defense was actually an active defensive skill? Shit, this was going to be hard. These elite Breaker mobs could attack and defend. Since that was the case, archers would deal a limited amount of damage to them. With my Attack, I only dealt 700+ damage to them so it would be considered good enough if archers dealt double digit damage! At the same time, countless screams sounded near the front of the formation. More than ten melee players had already died due to the Break?-Attack skill. So strong¡­ It was a one-shot skill on par with my Desperate Gambit! ¡­¡­ At another side, as soon as the Soul Battle Robes guild¡¯s camp made contact with the Breakers, they utterly collapsed! Chapter 283: The Martial God Descends Soul Battle Robes was absolutely not the only guild that was being routed by the mobs. Besides Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, Gods of Destruction, and Peach Garden, everyone was either routed or in the process of being routed. The Breakers were so powerful that the normal players didn¡¯t even qualify as cannon fodder, much less anything else. "Break?Defense!" The Breaker was defending, so I immediately unleashed a Crushing Blow in response! 7894! That wasn¡¯t all. The handle turned chillingly cold in my hand, so I immediately swung out, unleashing Purgatory Slash into the crowd. Since the skill came right after Crushing Blow, its attack power was much stronger than usual! A group of Breakers shivered as a ton of damage numbers appeared above their heads¡ª 8943! 9024! 8874! ¡­¡­ It was an unquestionable one-shot thanks to the splash damage. This Outstanding property was just that powerful in a game like this! After gaining a ton of war points, I opened the quest list again and noted that I had replaced Murong Mingyue as the new king of the hill¡ª NameLevelPointsBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand8628942Murong Mingyue8128754Wind Fantasy8424569Dominating Mage God8120145Beiming Xue8320064Purple Marquis8119874From Water8117997Shadow Chanel8117654Clear Perfume8115785Dominating Archer God8014765 ¡­¡­ Both my AoE skills¡ªThousand Mirage Slash and Purgatory Slash¡ªascended to the one-shot level thanks to the Outstanding property of my weapon. It was also the main reason I was able to claim the top spot of this war so far! Murong Mingyue was second thanks to her Prayer Scepter and Hellish Rockfall, and Lin Yixin third because her attack power was amazing and she had gained a new AoE skill recently. As for everyone else, their standings only changed slightly. Beiming Xue went up by one spot, and He Yi went up by two spots. It was probably because her Firelight Mouse was stronger than ever. Yeah, this magic-type pet with ridiculous BN value was just way too OP! Whoosh! I unleashed Thousand Mirage Slash and killed another group of Breakers. Most of them couldn¡¯t react in time to use their defensive skill at all, and even if they could, my Crushing Blow would counter that easily. One slash later, a corner of the sky suddenly darkened without warning. I looked to the left of our battle line, and I saw an icy sword beam wrapped in burning flames rising into the air before slamming down on top of a ton of mobs! Boom! Blood spilled everywhere as the Breakers crumbled unanimously before the awesome power. Yep, it was none other than the Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯s new AoE skill, Ice Flame Slash. The skill had some amazingly beautiful effects, and it probably wouldn¡¯t take long before it became her new defining symbol... ¡­¡­ The ground rumbled as Floating Ice City¡¯s forces finally charged the Breaker Legion! On the other side, Sophia of the Blood Dance Legion also raised her sword and ordered her army to attack. Both the Shadow Dancer Elite Cavalry and the Shining Archers moved out in unison; the cavalry troops charging the enemy formation and the Shining Archers providing cover fire with impeccable accuracy and speed! The war finally began in full force. Fierce battles were being waged on all four sides of Skull Castle! ¡­¡­ "Hold! Hold!" Indigo Collar barked, but the seemingly endless amount of Breakers still managed to overwhelm their defense line. In fact, the situation was swiftly devolving into a literal massacre when dozens of warriors were annihilated in almost an instant, and a hole was physically torn apart in their defense line. Nearly 500 Peach Garden mages and archers were killed because of that one failure! The war was terrible and costly. No one had seen this coming, had predicted that this big-scale siege quest would be this difficult. ¡­¡­ Time passed bit by bit. Soul Battle Robes and Peach Garden had already been wiped out from the surface of the battlefield. Gods of Destruction weren¡¯t doing so hot either. Their numbers had dwindled down to a horrifying one hundred players or so, and they were barely clinging onto life and sticking to the right side of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls like a piece of gum. But this time, we couldn¡¯t afford to help them because we were in grave danger ourselves. The Breakers were just too powerful, and all around me frontliners were dropping like flies! As more and more holes appeared in our defense line, huge numbers of Breakers slipped to our backs and started massacring our archers and mages en masse! Eyes turning red with urgency, Beiming Xue retreated while shouting, "Archers, retreat together with me! The ones at the back should kite the enemies, and the ones at the front should plug the holes as much as they can!" Unfortunately, there was really very little room to maneuver in a chaotic battle like this. There were mobs all over the place, and the Breakers switched aggro so quickly that it was very difficult to kite them. I shouted, "Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, go grab the men and save our archers and mages! We absolutely cannot lose what little firepower we have left!" Xu Yang looked shocked. "But what about this fight?" "Just leave it to me!" "Got it!" Xu Yang immediately ran to our backliners¡¯ rescue with a hundred-man party. Standing at the frontlines, I healed myself with Tenacity of the Dead, chugged a health potion and resummoned the Dark Wasp the instant its cooldown was up. He Yi was fighting right next to me. We were surrounded by so many Breakers that everyone was starting to lose hope. Snowy Cathaya was faring even worse than us. The Breaker Legion was so powerful that even Lin Yixin had to run around with low health and unleash Ice Flame Slash only when the opportunity presented itself. There was barely anyone left who was still alive in her guild, and the floor was covered in layer upon layer of bodies, equipment, potions and magic stones! Boom! As I unleashed a Thousand Mirage Slash, the hilt of the Purgatory Sword suddenly turned cold in my grip. I immediately turned around to swing out the Purgatory Slash and one-shot almost a hundred mobs at once, greatly relieving the pressure on the players around me. The terrible battle still wasn¡¯t over yet. Every second felt like a minute, and a minute, an hour. Ten minutes later, we finally saw the end of the battle. Our pressure was greatly alleviated thanks to Floating Ice City and Blood Dance Legion joining the battle and drawing away a large number of Breakers. A while later, when only a hundred or so Breakers were left, we launched an all-out attack and killed them all in one go. I checked the interface. There were only less than 1800 players left in Floating Ice City now! ¡­¡­ "Please calculate the number of survivors¡­" He Yi said while stabbing her sword to the ground and pulling back her hair. She was covered in blood, and she looked pretty tired. Xu Yang nodded before reporting back, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls still has 342 players, and Bloody Mercenaries 77 players¡­" "Fuck¡­" I muttered as my heart turned icy. Holy fucking shit, this sixth wave alone nearly destroyed our entire guild. I couldn¡¯t even imagine what would happen when the seventh wave arrived. Snowy Cathaya also had less than 200 surviving players. The three of us made up almost half of all the surviving players in Floating Ice City. The other guilds only fared even worse than we did. Indigo Collar was the only surviving player of Peach Garden. Song of Cloud and Water and a seven-man party were the last players left in Soul Battle Robes. Her eyes were red with tears. Dominating Heaven Blade and 21 players were all that were left of Gods of Destruction. They didn¡¯t even have a priest to keep them healthy. At this point, everyone was starting to lose hope. The boss of the sixth wave hadn¡¯t shown up yet, and we were all hoping that it would never appear. Considering how few of us were left, even a single boss might be too much for us. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a Snowy Cathaya wanderer ran up to Lin Yixin and said urgently, "Guild leader, I have bad news to report!" Lin Yixin asked seriously, "What is it?" The Wanderer pointed toward the east and said, "A group of high-level players just showed up from that direction. I don¡¯t think they¡¯re from Floating Ice City, and their leader¡¯s level is so high that I couldn¡¯t see it¡­" "How many are they?" I asked. The wanderer looked at me before answering, "There are about 500 of them, and they all have Dawn City¡¯s emblem on their shoulders!" "Are you fucking kidding me? Dawn City?!" I abruptly turned toward the east and stared at the forest blocking my sight, and soon a huge group of foreign players emerged from the foliage as the Wanderer said. The leader of the group was carrying a flaming sword and wearing red metal armor. He looked both imposing and powerful. He was followed by two high-level warriors, one high-level archer and one high-level mage. I knew all of their IDs! "Motherfucker!" I gritted my teeth and glared angrily at the leader of the group. No one could fail to recognize the swaying name above his head¡ª Candlelight Shadow LV-85 Silver Warrior Guild: Candle Dragon Guild Position: Leader "Fuck! Candlelight Shadow is here¡­" Xu Yang growled. Everyone¡¯s eyes turned steely with apprehension. No one was expecting the Martial God himself to descend upon Floating Ice City, much less at a critical moment like this! Behind Candlelight Shadow stood the CGL Hall of Famers, Tempest Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, Transient Smoke and Clouds, and God¡¯s Dance. There might be less than five hundred players in their party, but it looked like all their elites were here! My eyes darkened as my sword shivered in my hand. I looked down at my sword and chuckled a little. "Hehe, are you excited too?" My nemesis was standing right in front of me. The quest, the reward, the danger; they faded from my mind as if they were never there. Right now, all I wanted to do was to kill Candlelight Shadow! ¡­¡­ "Lu Chen¡­" He Yi suddenly grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to reality. She shook her head at me and said, "Calm down. Our numbers are small right now, and Candlelight Shadow is clearly looking for an opportunity to strike us at our weakest moment!" "Mn." I nodded. Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume, and the rest of her people also joined our group. Soon, every elite in Floating Ice City had gathered in one place. ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow was as powerful as usual. The flaming sword in his hand was either an extraordinary Dark Gold¨Cgrade or even a Purple Gold¨Cgrade weapon! The enemy players walked arrogantly toward us until they were just 10 meters away. Finally, Candlelight Shadow raised his sword and shouted, "Stop!" Dominating Heaven Blade was the first to respond to Candlelight Shadow¡¯s clear display of arrogance. He said, "Why is the master of Dawn City visiting Floating Ice City?" Candlelight Shadow simply curled his lips and said, "Get out of my sight. You are not worthy of talking to me!" Chapter 284: The Battle Between The Bes Dominating Heaven Blade instantly turned livid with anger. He was the leader of Gods of Destruction and a hero in the gaming world, but Candlelight Shadow didn¡¯t give him any face at all. He had shut him down arrogantly like he was talking to a child. "Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s a bit too much, Fang Zhuo?" Dominating Heaven Blade glared at Candlelight Shadow and gritted his teeth angrily. If he didn¡¯t get back some face, he wouldn¡¯t be able to show himself in Floating Ice City any longer. "Heh!" The corner of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s curled into a disdainful smile. "And what are you going to do about it? Declare war on Candle Dragon? Do it then!" "You!" Dominating Heaven Blade gritted his teeth even harder, but he didn¡¯t dare to blow his top. Candle Dragon was powerful, and he had neither the power nor the courage to challenge them. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, he looked like he wanted to find a hole on the ground to hide in. ¡­¡­ I walked straight toward Candlelight Shadow and stared at him with cool eyes. Smiling a little, I said, "Dominating Heaven Blade, you¡¯re a busy man, aren¡¯t you? You should organize your men and prepare for the next assault!" "Er, o¡­ okay!" Dominating Heaven Blade immediately turned around and left after I gave him a way out. Meanwhile, Candlelight Shadow sneered at me disdainfully, "Level 86 and the Purgatory Sword in less than half a year¡¯s time. You¡¯ve truly given me a pleasant surprise, Falling Dust!" I pointed my sword at him and smiled. "This is just the beginning of a string of pleasant surprises, Candlelight Shadow!" "Hmph!" ¡­¡­ The air beneath Skull Castle was thick with the cold of autumn and well-concealed killing intent. On one side stood the so-called strongest player of China, the Martial God Candlelight Shadow. On the other side stood one of the best CGL Hall of Famers in Spirit of Grief, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. The grudge that lasted since the Spirit of Grief era all the way to Heavenblessed was about to erupt in full force! "Lu Chen¡­" Lin Yixin called out to me from a distance. She looked like she wanted to say something. Candlelight Shadow raised his sword and shouted, "Candle Dragon, this is a fight between me and Lu Chen! No one is to interfere with this fight, you hear me!?" "Yes, leader!" Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, and everyone else replied in unison. I also raised my Purgatory Sword and growled, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, do not interfere with this fight! I won¡¯t forgive anyone who does!" He Yi stared at us, her face half hope and half worry as she gripped Murong Mingyue¡¯s hands tightly. Murong Mingyue herself was staring at me and Candlelight Shadow with deep worry. ¡­¡­ "Come!" "Flatten? Are you sure you have the power to do that?" I growled and charged toward Candlelight Shadow like a ghost, but I was running normally instead of using Charge like I would normally do. It was because the skill was only really effective against first-rate experts or below. A peak expert like Candlelight Shadow would know how to counter it perfectly, not to mention that he could exploit the time it took to charge the skill up and put me at a severe disadvantage. Swhoosh! Ice appeared around my blade as I thrust my weapon at his chest. Expression changing, he lifted his sword upward and somehow parried my offensive skill! As a result, he only took 54 damage. His Defense must be very high, not to mention that he was surrounded by some sort of light-based armor. It was clearly a defensive skill. "Heh, eat this!" The counterattack was swift and fiery. I gritted my teeth, shifted to the right like lightning and parried the attack perfectly. I took 71 damage as my body shook slightly from the impact. As I thought, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Attack was really scary! "Damn you! Die!" He snarled as the Blade of Divine Flame suddenly jumped toward me like a venomous snake, sharp rocks shooting out of his weapon! I bent my body backward and somehow pulled off a Guard despite the near-impossible timing! Ding! This time, my arm was numb, and my entire body was shaking¡ª Combat Log: Player "Candlelight Shadow" used "Rock Thrust¡±. You successfully guarded and took 478 damage! ¡­¡­ It was an unthinkable amount of damage considering that I had guarded successfully. I would¡¯ve lost at least 1000 damage otherwise! Expression darkening, Candlelight Shadow followed up with a lightning-quick Crushing Blow! But I was faster than him, and I was able to cancel my Guard, bend down a little and launch a Desperate Gambit! The Purgatory Sword glowed bright red as it sailed toward its target! "Heh!" Candlelight Shadow jumped two steps backward and guarded successfully! 457! He lost almost 500 HP from the attack just like me, but the real threat was the Crushing Blow that I executed right after Desperate Gambit! It was a premeditated move, of course. I predicted that he would Guard my Desperate Gambit, so I immediately switched to Crushing Blow the second my weapon connected! It all happened in less than 0.2 seconds! But Candlelight Shadow was able to react just as swiftly and cancel his Guard. Both of us praised each other¡¯s skill in our heads when the Crushing Blow hit air, and the text "MISS" appeared above Candlelight Shadow¡¯s head. Now this is what you call true PvP! Meanwhile, everyone was watching the legendary battle with bated breaths and feeling like they had been introduced to a whole new world. Some had also turned on their recorders so that the momentous moment wouldn¡¯t be remembered in memory only! ¡­¡­ "Break!" 1347! 1411! Candlelight Shadow and I scored a basic attack as we passed by each other. So far, besides the very first exchange, neither of us were able to find a real opportunity to use our skills because of how fast the battle was going. Most skills took time to cast, and even physical attack skills had a short casting time between 0.1 to 0.4 second. That was already too long for players like us. I took 1347 damage, and Candlelight Shadow 1411 damage during that exchange. In a sense, one could say that my skills and my equipment were slightly better than his. However, the advantage was so miniscule that it might as well not exist. I was still withholding my Pardon because I had no confidence that I could one-shot the bastard. In the case where your opponent was a top-tier expert, it was best to save your most powerful skill for the best opportunity. Otherwise, you were just opening yourself to an all-out attack during that period while your key skill was still in cooldown. Candlelight Shadow shared my thoughts as well. If he couldn¡¯t guarantee a one-shot, he would rather save the skill until my HP dropped sufficiently! I did have another ace up my sleeves, namely Purple Dragon Howl, but it took way too long to cast and it could be interrupted by any attack. Moreover, Candlelight Shadow was probably saving his Charge for this exact moment. It would be suicide to use it in a situation like this! It was at this moment the players of Candle Dragon including Tempest Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, Transient Smoke and Clouds, and so on raised their weapons into the air and shouted, "Martial God! Martial God! Martial God!" Candlelight Shadow smiled arrogantly and said, "It looks like you¡¯re the only one who¡¯s worth a challenge in this entire city, Falling Dust!" I smiled back. "Man, you¡¯re such a chatterbox. Can we get back to fighting already? I still have a quest to complete!" "Tch!" Candlelight Shadow let out a growl and buffed his Attack and critical rate slightly with War Roar. At the same time, a beautiful bard walked out of Candle Dragon¡¯s troops and applied Forge, Divine Valor, Death Match, and more on him! My own buffs hadn¡¯t run out yet, but Beauty Pure Love still walked up to me to refresh them and add the rest of the buffs that I was missing. It was so that I could face the Martial God at my absolute best! ¡­¡­ "Let¡¯s end this!" Candlelight Shadow shouted with murder in his eyes as we both charged. Right before we were going to run into each other, both of us backed away, changed direction and zigzagged past each other at the exact same time. We both lost some HP as our blades struck the other person¡¯s armor! "Die!" There was very little time to think in a fight as intense as this! Candlelight Shadow and I had been running in half-circles or zigzag patterns in hopes of maneuvering to the enemy¡¯s back and dealing a fatal blow from there, but neither of us were successful due to the other party¡¯s cautiousness and skill. Our movement and grasp of combat rhythm especially were world-class! Pu pu... We exchanged blows again, and I lost another 1457 HP. The moment my HP dropped to 1784, Candlelight Shadow immediately charged me with murder in his eyes! I hurriedly moved backward and lifted a hand into the air. A column of bloody light surrounded me as I used Tenacity of the Dead! +1265! I didn¡¯t stop there. Rank 8 Health Potion! +2500! By the time I had restored myself to full health, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s killer move had also arrived. When the Blade of Divine Flame burned brightly and swept across my shoulders three times in a row, I actually felt like I was about to be one-shot! Beep! Combat Log: Player "Candlelight Shadow" used "Blazing Purgatory Slash" and hit you 3 times! 1462! 1389! 1441! The triple strike deleted almost all of my HP in one go! That wasn¡¯t the end of it. Candlelight Shadow followed up with another killer move that he had been holding back until now and swung his sword downward in an overhead strike. The energy on his blade suddenly split into a fan of flames and shattered even the ground beneath my feet. It was his AoE skill! Earth Shattering Slash! I only had a moment to react. I immediately raised my sword in front of me and used Guard! 245! Thankfully, the Guard was almost perfect. Somehow I managed to survive his killer combo! Candlelight Shadow burst through the smoke and charged toward me, a sinister smile etched on his handsome face. "You may have gotten stronger, Falling Dust, but you are still going to die!" But an instant later, he was surprised to see a smile on my face. It was the smile of a predator who caught his prey in a bind! "What?" Before he could react, I unleashed Desperate Gambit and swung the Purgatory Sword at his neck, a weak spot! 2987! The attack deleted 60% of his HP immediately. I then rode on the momentum and followed up with a basic attack! 1439! Now Candlelight Shadow was low on HP. Finally, I backed about seven to eight steps away from him and raised my sword into the air! Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! Dust flew all over the place as Candlelight Shadow backed away and downed an HP potion to heal himself. Unfortunately, not only did he fail to escape out of Thousand Mirage Slash¡¯s range, my sword handle turned cold at the best possible moment! Purgatory Slash! Boom! It was an attack that should¡¯ve taken his life, but Candlelight Shadow was able to surround himself with energy and assume a Guard stance! 2453! His eyes were bloodshot from the powerful blow, but he still didn¡¯t die! ¡­¡­ Both of us stood at opposite ends of the smoking battlefield as moonlight surrounded us. Both our health bars were almost completely empty, but a winner still hadn¡¯t been decided yet. Chapter 285: One Versus Two I backed a few steps before calling out to Murong Mingyue. ¡°Sis, feed me!¡± Candlelight Shadow also nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll fight again once we¡¯re at full health!¡± Holy light surrounded me, and I was back to full health in less than 10 seconds. No one was stronger than Murong Mingyue in Floating Ice City when it came to healing power. On the other side, Candlelight Shadow had also returned to full health. He pointed his sword at me and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± ¡­¡­ I walked toward Candlelight Shadow while watching him calmly. I would have to find a way to bait him into a death trap, or this fight could go on and on endlessly. It would be terrible if the seventh wave began, and I was still tied up with Candlelight Shadow. Looking as proud as ever, Candlelight Shadow gripped his burning sword with his right hand and opened his left palm. A hexagonal magic formation suddenly appeared on the ground as the growl of a tiger came from the center. Then, a gigantic black figure suddenly leaped out into the open. ¡°Roar roar!¡± It was an armored tiger about half a person tall. It looked big enough to swallow a goat whole! Candlelight Shadow said indifferently, ¡°This is the Heaven-devouring Tiger. It has 8-star Attack, 7.5-star Agility and 112 BN. Where is your pet?¡± I gritted my teeth. I never thought that he would use his pet, and this Heaven-devouring Tiger was as good as He Yi¡¯s Firelight Mouse. As of now, it was the strongest single-target physical-type pet that we knew of. Earlier, Candlelight Shadow and I were about equal in strength. Now though? My chances of winning had just dwindled to almost nothing! Still, I wasn¡¯t the kind of person who gave up without a fight. I opened my own palm and summoned the Dark Wasp. Swhoosh! The Dark Wasp appeared from the hexagram and buzzed around excitedly until the moment it saw the enemy Heaven-devouring Tiger. The coward actually flew behind me and hid itself from view! "Fuck!" I glared at my pet. I knew that it wasn¡¯t good enough to match the Heaven-devouring Tiger, but this was just embarrassing! Inside the party channel, Beauty Chaos Moon said, "Candlelight Shadow hadn¡¯t caught this Heaven-devouring Tiger in the wild. The pet egg dropped when a guild at Dawn City killed a Level 90 Purple Gold Rank boss, and Candlelight Shadow spent 1.5 million RMB to buy it off their hands. I didn¡¯t think its level would be this high though¡­" He Yi asked, "How confident are you of beating Candlelight Shadow now, Lu Chen?" I shook my head before replying, "My chances of winning are less than thirty percent, to be honest¡­" I replied without hesitation. "Absolutely not. I would rather die fighting than resort to such a tactic!" "..." Murong Mingyue looked speechless. "This is for your own good, you brat! If you die and lose only a level then whatever, but what if you also lose your Purgatory Sword? It would be terrible, wouldn¡¯t it?" ¡­¡­ I never got to answer her because Candlelight Shadow was already charging toward me. Emboldened by his pet¡¯s superiority, he kicked off our second battle with a powerful Blazing Purgatory Slash! I guarded it immediately! 347! 412! 386! Thankfully I managed to Guard in time. While we were fighting one another, the Dark Wasp charged the Heaven-devouring Tiger in an attempt to buy me some time. However, it only took one hit for the tiger to swat it to the ground! A 5-hit Flurry later, my poor pet was wiped from the surface of the Heavenblessed Continent! Candlelight Shadow started laughing loudly, but I seized the moment of distraction to launch my counterattack! The Purgatory Sword glowed brightly with red light! "Heh!" Candlelight Shadow did the right thing and assumed a Guard stance. However, it was a bluff! The red light was just the visual effect of undead energy, not Desperate Gambit! The color of the energy surrounding my blade turning yellow, I immediately executed a Crushing Blow! Shocked, Candlelight Shadow canceled his Guard immediately! But I canceled the skill again and executed Pardon and Desperate Gambit instead. This time, he had no time to react to my attack at all! MISS! 3702! ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow¡¯s face turned deathly pale. The only reason he didn¡¯t die to my follow-up attack was because he backed away in time to drink a health potion. He dropped his carelessness completely now that he had witnessed the true power of Pardon. Instead of attacking me himself, he let his Heaven-devouring Tiger do the dirty work while he moved around to recover his HP. The worst part was that the tiger had a ridiculously high Attack, and every hit deleted about 500 HP or so from my health bar. In less than half a minute, the tide had completely turned to Candlelight Shadow¡¯s favor! "This is the end, Falling Dust!" Candlelight Shadow charged me again and swung his sword. It was the Earth Shattering Slash! The AoE skill threw me back and deleted yet another chunk of HP from my health bar. I could die at any moment! Thud... Suddenly, I felt my back touching something soft and warm. By the time I turned around to look, a beautiful figure had already moved past me! Moon Gaze! Extreme Break! The combo plus one basic attack hit the Heaven-devouring Tiger right in the head and deleted over 75% of its HP! The Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯ burst damage was terrifying to say the least! ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow hurriedly recalled his pet to avoid it being killed. But not only was he not frightened by Lin Yixin¡¯s intervention at all, he laughed like a madman and said, "Hahahaha! It is you, Wind Fantasy! You and Falling Dust are the two strongest players in Floating ice City, am I right? Very well, come at me so I can defeat you where you stand!" Everyone looked shocked. What an arrogant man! He actually wanted to 1v2 Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy! It would be utter madness if he didn¡¯t have the skill and confidence to back it! ¡­¡­ The fight was climbing toward a whole new climax. Of course, we weren¡¯t going to turn down his arrogant offer to fight us one on two because his pet had put us at a severe disadvantage. He was the one who insisted on challenging our golden combo, so it would be a shame not to meet his expectations! I asked, "Do you think we can win, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes looked like pools of water. "No?" "What? Why do you think the two of us can¡¯t beat him together?" I exclaimed in shock. Lin Yixin giggled. "You are the reason that we might lose." "Fuck!" I glared at her, stupefied. Lin Yixin giggled at my reaction. "Alright alright, less bullshit, more fighting. You did pretty well just now, so as long as you don¡¯t fall off we¡¯ll definitely win!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Before we started, I spent some time to remake my Ghost Deity Armor. That fight just now broke my skill; it was a testament to Candlelight Shadow¡¯s strength. I used Wild Roar again to buff Lin Yixin¡¯s Attack by 15%. Besides that, Lin Yixin joined my party and activated her own Encourage, buffing both our Attack by another 7%. Finally, Snowy Cathaya¡¯s bard wisely applied all her buffs to Lin Yixin while Murong Mingyue healed me to full health again. Now that everything was ready, it was time to begin! Lin Yixin asked inside the party channel, "Should we kill Candlelight Shadow first or his pet?" I replied, "That Heaven-devouring Tiger is extremely powerful, and when you fight Candlelight Shadow you can¡¯t afford to be distracted too much. How about this: you keep him busy while I take out his pet!" "Okay!" Lin Yixin blinked and smiled at me. "I promise to keep Candlelight Shadow busy for 15 seconds, but you absolutely must kill that Heaven-devouring Tiger during this time. Any longer than that and you¡¯re dead, get it?" "Fuck, 15 seconds only? Have a bit more confidence, will you?" ¡°...¡± It wasn¡¯t that Lin Yixin wasn¡¯t confident in her abilities, of course. There just weren¡¯t many people who could survive 15 seconds facing Candlelight Shadows at all. ¡­¡­ "Come!" Candlelight Shadow shouted and pounced toward us with his pet. Lin Yixin and I split up before we charged toward our respective targets. As if we had discussed this beforehand, Candlelight Shadow was also targeting Lin Yixin specifically because he knew that it was impossible to one-shot me. Our earlier duel had more than proven that fact. Not only did he need his pet to kill me, he wouldn¡¯t be able to do it in 60 seconds flat! Ding! Lin Yixin spun 360 degrees around and parried Candlelight Shadow¡¯s attack almost perfectly. Despite knowing how powerful her opponent was, she stepped closer toward her opponent and slid to his right. Then, she stabbed him in the back with her dagger like lightning! Extreme Break! 3365! Shocked by the amount of damage she caused, Candlelight Shadow hurriedly backed away and swung his weapon twice to force Lin Yixin to cancel her follow-up attack. While she was keeping Candlelight Shadow busy, I slapped the tiger with a Pardon + Desperate Gambit combo and a basic attack! MISS! 5784! 2240! The Heaven-devouring Tiger dropped to almost no health in the blink of an eye. At the same time, Lin Yixin¡¯s Fire Blade flew over from the distance and plunged into it like a bloody lightning, dealing over 700 damage and completing the one-shot! Shocked, Candlelight Shadow launched a Blazing Purgatory Slash at Lin Yixin in an attempt to kill her immediately! Lin Yixin made a snap decision in that moment. Instead of guarding, she dashed toward the right in an attempt to avoid the attack! She still got hit twice though! 1784! 1873! MISS! The third strike was a MISS not because she dodged it, but because Candlelight Shadow canceled his skill halfway to use Crushing Blow! That was how he was planning to kill Lin Yixin! But the girl saw through his intent completely and survived with a sliver of health! Shit, what a smart girl! "Quickly, I can¡¯t hold on any longer!" Lin Yixin retreated while drinking a health potion! I quickly took her position and swung at Candlelight Shadow with a Slayer Slash. Then, I lowered my center of gravity and thrust forward into an Ice Ray! Fast-paced PvP was always a sight to behold. Candlelight Shadow reacted lightning-fast by parrying the Slayer Slash and assuming a Guard stance to block the Ice Ray. As a result, my double strike only managed to delete around 1000 HP from his health bar. But no matter how fast he was, he couldn¡¯t escape my third skill, Crushing Blow! It was a premeditated move, and there were no signs that I was going to use the skill at all. Even better, its cooldown was practically nonexistent, like Guard¡¯s. It was a zero-delay skill that a player could use anytime. 2104! Crushing Blow was always a refreshing skill to use when it connected. Before Candlelight Shadow could recover from his shock, Lin Yixin crept up to him from behind and hit him with another basic attack. It was our turn to be surprised, however. Despite being pincered from both directions, he was able to drink a potion, maneuver to a suitable position and unleash his AoE skill! Earth Shattering Slash! 1764! 1983! I was fine, but Lin Yixin almost ran out of health again. I had no choice but to take up her spot and send Candlelight Shadow backing away with a swing of my sword. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Candlelight Shadow put his sword away and said, "This is where we end our fight." I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. "Oh no you don¡¯t, not until you give us your life!" My nemesis clearly hadn¡¯t come here to enjoy the sights, but I didn¡¯t care one way or another. After all, the plot would unravel itself if he was dead! What Martial God, what number one player in China¡¯s server? Chapter 286: Old Grudge "What are you doing, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?!" Tempest Shadow and Blue Sky Scar immediately stepped out and shouted harshly. I said indifferently, "Killing Candlelight Shadow, duh. What, you have a problem with that?" They looked surprised. They were both CGL Hall of Famers, but I had treated them like they were beneath my notice. That was the truth. They were both better than top-tier players, but they really weren¡¯t much of a threat to me. Candlelight Shadow though; it would be a shame if I couldn¡¯t get something off his body to commemorate his visit here today. That Blade of Divine Flame would be perfect. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a group of assassins ran over from the distance. They all had a draconic symbol on their shoulder, meaning that they belonged to Candle Dragon. "Leader!" The assassin ran up to Candlelight Shadow before saying in a low tone, "Luo River God of the Capital is crossing over to Floating Ice City from the borders! She also brought almost a thousand of her guildmates! I¡¯m pretty sure she¡¯s coming for us!" Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes turned cold. "Fuck, that woman sure knows how to show up at the lousiest timing!" The man turned around and shot me and Lin Yixin a fierce glare. Then, he shouted, "Purple Lily has somehow caught wind of our presence, so we need to leave now to avoid being caught in a pincer! Don¡¯t worry! There are plenty more chances to remove Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, and Purple Lily in the future!!" All 500 or so Candle Dragon players took out their return scrolls and crushed them. I charged toward Candlelight Shadow, but I was one step too late. The bastard stared at me coldly as he teleported back to Dawn City in a shower of stars! ¡­¡­ "Fuck!" I swore out loud and clenched my fists. Lin Yixin immediately walked up to me and consoled me with a soft smile. "Why are you unhappy? Candlelight Shadow failed to get anything from us. To them, not winning is the same as losing, am I right?" I nodded before breaking into a smile. "See, I told you we can beat him if we work together." Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me. "Boo, boo. It was a two on one and we barely got one over him. I¡¯m honestly surprised you can smile like this." I laughed. You can¡¯t win all the time as long as there¡¯s competition, and this time Candlelight Shadow got one over me because his pet was better than mine. That was fine. Once I got an amazing pet of my own, I would turn the tables on him. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment the iron gates of Skull Castle opened once more. The seventh wave had finally begun. Ding~! System Notice: All players, please be informed that the second-to-last wave of Skull Castle¡¯s counterattack is about to appear. The commander boss of this wave is Orma the Skullbreaker! ¡­¡­ "Just two more¡­" Suddenly, countless players burst out of a forest and ran toward us. They were led by a beautiful mage holding a bloody scepter in her hand. It was none other than the leader of Purple Lily, Luo River God of the Capital! The lily emblem glowing on her players¡¯ shoulder made them look like a garden of flowers. It was quite the beautiful sight. Xu Yang turned around in alarm and raised his sword. "Are they friend or foe?" I hurriedly put a hand on his shoulder before saying, "Calm down, we can act after they¡¯ve clarified their intentions!" "Mn!" He Yi walked out of our formation and met Luo River God of the Capital with a smile. "Hello, Beauty Luo. What business do you have here?" The mage looked around before asking, "Where is Candlelight Shadow and Candle Dragon?" "They ran away." "Ran away?" She looked a bit disappointed. "OMG, I brought almost a thousand players with me and they got away? What a shame¡­" He Yi looked astonished. "Do you have a grudge with Candlelight Shadow or something?" "Yeah, I¡¯m absolutely going to kill him one day!" Luo River God of the Capital revealed her intention without hesitation. He Yi smiled. "Well, since you¡¯re already here, do you want to help us attack Skull Castle?" ¡°Sure, why not!" The mage waved her Purgatory Scepter and shouted, "Purple Lilies, attention! Assume formation and prepare for battle!" Luo River God of the Capital hadn¡¯t come alone, and quite a lot of them were first-class players. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to call them the elites of Ice Moon City. If Candle Dragon was the king of Dawn City, then Purple Lily was the king of Ice Moon City. I bet it was a lot of fun to stand at the top of the less populated tier 2 cities! "Where are your people, by the way? Why are there so few of you?" the mage asked. I answered, "They¡¯re all dead, of course!" "All dead??" Luo River God of the Capital turned blue immediately. "Is¡­ is it okay if I change my mind?" "Of course not. The bowstring is drawn, and the arrow must fly." ¡°...¡± Despite her misgivings, Luo River God of the Capital turned out to be a better person than I thought. She actually chose to fight with us and face the hell that was the second last monster wave! ¡­¡­ "Oh right, did you guys fight Candlelight Shadow when he showed up?" Luo River God of the Capital asked suddenly. Lin Yixin said, "Yep, Lu Chen accepted Candlelight Shadow¡¯s challenge and fought him one on one!" The mage¡¯s eyes widened. "What was the result?" "He lost!" "Ah?" I smiled and added, "She¡¯s right, I lost to Candlelight Shadow. His pet is just too much for me to deal with. But then Beauty Wind Fantasy joined me for the second round, and that time we managed to beat Candlelight Shadow." Luo River God of the Capital nodded. "The two of you are able to beat Candlelight Shadow together? That¡¯s amazing!" Lin Yixin¡¯s cheeks were red with embarrassment. "Are you taunting us?" But Luo River God of the Capital replied with a dead serious expression, "Absolutely not. I know full well how deadly that bastard is. Not only is his equipment and pet better than most people¡¯s, his skill and technique are rivaled by only a handful of players. In fact, pick any three active CGL Hall of Famers to fight Candlelight Shadow 3 on 1, and I guarantee you they¡¯ll lose ten out of ten times! Falling Dust here is the only exception!" Both Lin Yixin and I were caught off-guard by Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s explanation. We knew that Candlelight Shadow was powerful, but we didn¡¯t know that he was that powerful. There was no reason for us to disbelieve her. He Yi asked, "If you know he¡¯s that strong, why are you butting heads with him, Beauty Luo?" Luo River God of the Capital smiled. "He is talented, but he is also a terrible human being. Hmph, I¡¯m not stopping until I pay him back for what he did to me back then! It¡¯s either Purple Lily or Candle Dragon. Only one of us will be left standing in the end!" What she said piqued my curiosity. "What did he do to you?" Luo River God of the Capital shot me a glance. "It¡¯s unsightly for a top-class pro to grow excited from gossip¡­" "But I¡¯m not a top-class pro!" ¡°...¡± In the end, Luo River God of the Capital didn¡¯t tell us what happened between her and Candlelight Shadow, so we started our own private discussion inside the party channel. A riveting talk later, we all agreed that Candlelight Shadow probably dumped Luo River God of the Capital and took her child with him, so she ventured all the way to the Heavenblessed Continent to take revenge. That child could be either Tempest Shadow or Blue Sky Scar. ¡­¡­ Finally, the seventh monster wave appeared from the gates. We couldn¡¯t see the monsters due to the thick night fog at first, but a bunch of giant earth lizards quickly burst into our view a moment later. The Earth Lizard was a big wild-type monster with a high level and suffocatingly powerful stats¡ª Earth Lizard (Elite) Level: 88 Attack: 920~1100 Defense: 750 HP: 22000 Skills: Rend, Poison Spit, War Stampede Introduction: A monstrously strong Rank 7 guardian that lives in the forest depths. After the Earth Lizards were summoned by darkness and enslaved by the Night Creatures, they became one of the many guardians of the cities of the dark. ¡­¡­ "Fuck, a max Attack of 1100? This is getting really ridiculous¡­" I gasped. This is really bad. How on earth are we going to defend ourselves from tens of thousands of Earth Lizards? Xu Yang, Du Thirteen and everyone pulled out their weapons and shouted, "We fight to the end!" I gave them an affirmative nod before ordering, "Tighten our defense line and form a circle! We can¡¯t fight for ourselves any longer!" Luo River God of the Capital also ordered her players to form battle formations just in time to defend themselves against the rampaging lizards. The moment the mobs hit the players, they immediately raised their front claws and hit the ground! Boom! Bloody energy tore the ground apart, and all the players who were caught within the skill range started losing HP dramatically! Motherfucker, this War Stampede is too much in a battle like this! At this rate, our remaining army will be routed in less than half an hour! I hurriedly charged into the horde and unleashed Thousand Mirage Slash and Purgatory Slash. I didn¡¯t release my Dark Wasp because it would die before it could do anything useful. Meanwhile, Luo River God of the Capital waved her scepter and cast her spells. When it came to AoE skills, no one was greater than the classic high-level mage. Every mob caught within the spells took at least 3000 damage per hit, and it took her two or three casts at most to annihilate an entire horde. At this rate, she would enter the Top 10 after this battle was over! Bang bang bang! At first, the frontliners were able to hold out for a moment. But the War Stampedes kept coming, and the wave seemed endless. Eventually, the frontliners started dying faster and faster until it looked more like a bloodbath than an actual war! Murong Mingyue used AoE healing spells at the beginning, but she quickly realized that she wasn¡¯t doing nearly enough to offset the damage being done. So she focused all her healing onto He Yi and I instead. Even then, we had to drink health potions repeatedly or risk collapsing ourselves. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya weren¡¯t the only ones who were being massacred. Purple Lily had lost over half of their numbers less than ten minutes after the battle began! Luo River God of the Capital looked like she wanted to say something, but she swallowed all her grievances and focused all her energy on killing the Earth Lizards instead. Another ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye, and the number of lizards were overwhelmingly bigger than the number of players. Although we had killed thousands of Earth Lizards, it was clear that we would be routed first before them. Boom! While I was firing a Thousand Mirage Slash and killing an entire horde of Earth Lizards, Lin Yixin shouted at me, "Lu Chen, we can¡¯t hold out any longer. This is too much¡­" I looked back and saw only a dozen or so players behind me. Dominating Heaven Blade, Song of Cloud and Water, Indigo Collar and many more were long dead, and even Du Thirteen, Chaos Moon and a few more familiar faces had vanished. I had no doubt in my mind that this war would end with the complete annihilation of the player faction. "What should we do?" Lin Yixin asked urgently. Chapter 287: Cyan Water Helme Thirteen of us¡ªLin Yixin, He Yi, Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, Purple Marquis, me and so on¡ªformed a small circle around our priests and mages. "Eve, drown them in fire with your Firelight Mouse!" I said to He Yi. She nodded. "Mn!" A moment later, the Firelight Mouse chirped and engulfed the Earth Lizards in a sea of flames. Although it was nowhere as powerful as Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s AoE spells, it persisted on the battlefield for a short time and did continuous damage to any enemy that was caught in it. This was incredibly important because the Earth Lizards kept hissing and trying to get to the Firelight Mouse, but they weren¡¯t able to because their path was blocked by our frontliners. The Earth Lizards were neither a groundhog nor a pangolin, so all they could do was hiss and run around like headless chickens. "Fuck, I can¡¯t believe that worked¡­" Luo River God of the Capital looked stunned, but this was hardly the first time Lin Yixin, He Yi and I had employed this tactic. Back at Hundred Flowers Valley, we had used choke points repeatedly to defeat enemies we shouldn¡¯t be able to defeat with our small numbers. Sometimes, it was stupid not to exploit a mob¡¯s weakness or magnify your own advantage. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, a seemingly endless amount of Earth Lizards was still surging out of Skull Castle and devouring everything within sight. The army of Floating Ice City was fighting a tough battle under the leadership of Princess Karinshan. On the other side, Queen Sophia and Shadow Dancer Xue Wei of the Blood Dance Legion were also doing their utmost to kill the Earth Lizards. So far, the Shadow Dance Elite Cavalry and Shining Archers were the standouts of the war. At the eastern side of Skull Castle, the last 19 players of Floating Ice City were being surrounded by a skin-crawling amount of Earth Lizards. They were relying completely on their mages and their archers to thin out the sea of flesh around them little by little. Bang bang bang! A couple of Earth Lizards took a Hellish Rockfall from Murong Mingyue and died, but I frowned and said, "Sis, this is too slow. The second Big Bang will happen by the time we kill all of them." He Yi asked, "What are you suggesting then?" I thought for a moment before saying, "I think I¡¯m going to attack them¡­" Luo River God of the Capital said, "You can try¡­" I nodded and fired a Thousand Mirage Slash right away. I¡¯m not afraid! Boom! As I thought, my skill deleted huge chunks of HP from an entire group of lizards and even one-shot a couple thanks to the splash damage. However, that also caused the Earth Lizards to change their target to me and slap me with their claws. Every time they used War Stampede, I and everyone around me suffered huge damage! That mistake nearly cost Murong Mingyue¡¯s life! "Fuck!" Having dropped to half health due to my earlier blunder, Lin Yixin shot me a grudgeful look and said, "Are you trying to kill us?" Not knowing how to reply, I looked at Xu Yang and said, "I¡¯m going to head out, so take over my position. Otherwise, this really will take forever!" "Got it!" Xu Yang walked over and summoned a pet to take over my spot. Then, I locked onto a distant Earth Lizard and activated Charge! Whoosh! I stopped around 25 yards away from the formation, a safe enough range where a priest could heal me whenever they wanted to. At the same time, Beauty Moon Dew spoke up with a smile. "I don¡¯t have an AoE damage skill, and I¡¯m pretty free right now. Should I focus on healing you, vice leader?" I nodded and smiled back. "Sure. Thanks, Moon Dew!" I started fighting. First, I swung the Purgatory Sword at an Earth Lizard and deleted over 7000 HP with Pardon and Desperate Gambit. The skill also dealt almost 2000 splash damage to all surrounding enemies. Too bad the splash damage only triggers once, or this would be a slaughter! After that, I took out a Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolf Card and buffed myself, increasing my attack speed and maximizing my attack efficiency! I still had a dozen or so Heaven-devouring Greedy Wolf Cards in my bag. When the sixth monster wave was over and everyone was busy sweeping the battlefield for loot, this card was my first loot priority. It wasn¡¯t everyday you ran into the perfect grinding item that buffed your attack speed by 20%, so the more the better. The faster my attack speed, the higher the chance to trigger Purgatory Slash. In less than a minute, I was able to fire Purgatory Slash twice and one-shot a ton of Earth Lizards. The feeling of gaining abundant experience and war points was exhilarating! Swoosh! A golden flash enveloped me, and I leveled up to 87. I was now two levels higher above even Candlelight Shadow! Pop! Not far away from me, I saw a dying Earth Lizard dropping a card and rushed to pick it up. Its effect was surprisingly good. Earth Lizard Card: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 12%, regenerates 3 HP per second. Duration: 30 minutes. ¡­¡­ It was an item that increased one¡¯s Defense and health regeneration speed. Unfortunately, the latter effect was absolutely inferior compared to my Regeneration of the Undead. I had 5080 HP, and my Rank 8 Regeneration of the Undead restored 0.8% health or 41 HP per second. It was one of the reasons why I wasn¡¯t afraid to run into the monster horde alone. Swhoosh! A column of holy light enveloped my body at this moment. It was Moon Dew¡¯s 5-second-CD big healing spell! +2245! Tsk tsk, her healing power turned out to be better than I thought. If we took away the Prayer Scepter, she was on par with Murong Mingyue. No wonder she was known as the number one public use priest of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Ah, the term "public use priest" was used to refer to priests who could fit into any party. Moon Dew was a gentle and kind-hearted girl, and our guildmates often asked for her help whenever they encountered a difficult boss or a quest. Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t fall under this category because she was a vice leader and He Yi¡¯s personal assistant. Besides that, she was currently Frost Cloud workshop¡¯s private priest, so she usually didn¡¯t involve herself with the guild¡¯s party quests. Plus, it was weird and embarrassing for normal guild members to ask the vice leader herself to be their priest. Right now, Murong Mingyue was playing the role of a damage dealer and doing very well at it. She kept eating Magic Consumables and unleashing Hellish Rockfalls on her enemies. We also had Beauty Moonlight Stone, one of the better mages of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Her magic attack was nothing to be scoffed at, and her Arctic Rain did considerable damage to all the Earth Lizards within a ten-yard circle! Apparently Lin Yixin had had enough of me hoarding all the fun to myself, because when I turned around to check out our battle formation, I discovered that her Fire Blade had replaced her spot, and she herself was fighting alone at a different spot. Her Defense had increased massively ever since she obtained the Profound Ice Armor. Not only that, every time the Earth Lizards hit her, they would suffer a chilling debuff and lose a massive amount of attack speed and movement speed. Boom! A blade of ice wrapped in flames landed on a group of monsters and dealt massive amounts of damage. Knowing how high Lin Yixin¡¯s Attack was, the skill was like a divine skill in her hands. Even better, my Thousand Mirage Slash had a 15-second cooldown, but her Ice Flame Slash could be used every 10 seconds. Every time she used the skill, the Earth Lizards would scream in pain. Thanks to Lin Yixin and I, the offensive power of our group was almost double of what we had earlier! Gui Guzi was jealous. "Sigh, I should get an AoE damage skill myself." Xu Yang laughed loudly before patting his shoulder. "Give it up, boy. You¡¯re a tank, and you¡¯ll always be one. I¡¯ve never seen a magic knight who pumps 2 Strength and 3 Stamina every level and has high attack damage. You are a defensive type of player anyway. Just keep doing what you¡¯re doing and stop dreaming about becoming the next Lu Chen or Beauty Wind Fantasy. You can¡¯t possibly out-damage someone who drops all their skill points into Strength." "Fuck, I swear I¡¯ll become OP one day¡­" Gui Guzi still looked frustrated. He Yi gave him a soft smile and said, "And you will become OP when you finally find an AoE damage skill. For now, focus on blocking the mobs and nothing else." "Yes, boss, you¡¯re the boss¡­" He Yi was the leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, so Gui Guzi wasn¡¯t going to disobey her as a matter of course. In fact, He Yi had more presence in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls than I did. The reason was very simple. I was just a general who knew how to lead on occasion, but she was the true ruler and soul of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Level 88 elite mobs made for a fun game to say the least. They gave so much experience that nearly everyone in our party had leveled up at least once. Beauty Moonlight Stone and Beauty Moon Dew especially had leveled up twice in just an hour! I couldn¡¯t remember how many Thousand Mirage Slashes, Purgatory Slashes and basic attacks I¡¯ve launched at the enemies. All I knew was that my experience was rising at a ridiculous rate. Almost another 20 minutes later, the last group of Earth Lizards to the east side of Skull Castle was finally eliminated. This had been an incredibly difficult battle. Although no one had died thanks to our makeshift "choke point", we used up a lot of supplies and lost a ton of durability! Beiming Xue checked her bag and commented, "Not good, I¡¯m almost running out of arrows¡­" Murong Mingyue looked at me. "Lu Chen, can you give me some Magic Consumables, please?" I passed 10 stacks of high-level Magic Consumables to Murong Mingyue, 10 stacks to Luo River God of the Capital and 5 stacks each to Beauty Moon Dew and Beauty Moonlight Stone. As a result, I was almost completely out of Magic Consumables myself. I stared at the mountain of Earth Lizard corpses around us. Countless equipment drops, magic stones and cards littered the floor. "Let¡¯s sweep the battlefield quickly!" "Mn!" I ran a circle around the area and added around forty to fifty high-level, top-tier items into my bag. I even found a Level 80 Silver-grade helmet called "Cyan Water Helmet" that added 11 Tactics and 3% Defense. It was the best loot I had found out of everything I picked up so far. I was one hundred percent sure that it would sell for almost ten thousand RMB on the market. Powerful equipment was always in demand, not to mention extraordinary items like this. Behind us, a new group of players from Floating Ice City joined the battlefield. They were all middle to low tier players around Level 60 to Level 75. They didn¡¯t show their faces earlier probably because they were scared of the mobs, but now... Were they trying to be the oriole or something? I frowned. "We¡¯re almost out of Health Potions and Magic Consumables. There¡¯s a 99% chance we won¡¯t be able to stop the last wave unless we find some supplies somewhere!" ¡°Supplies?" Lin Yixin bumped me on the shoulder with a smile. "What are you talking about? Our supplies are right there!" Chapter 288: Barbaric Rend "No! I never killed the old, sickly, women or children¡­" "Tch!" Lin Yixin glared at me. "Where the hell did your mind wander off to? I wasn¡¯t even telling you to kill and rob people. I was only suggesting that you go buy some supplies from them." "Oh, I see. If that¡¯s the case, they¡¯ll be better off being killed." "..." At this time, He Yi shouted, "Look, something¡¯s approaching. Is it the seventh wave¡¯s boss?" Everyone gazed into the distance. He Yi¡¯s guess was on point. A humongous black shadow was racing over from afar. It was a reptile 4 to 7 times bigger than an Earth Lizard. It was practically a moving fortress. "Fuck, how cool would it be if I could catch it to use as a mount¡­" Gui Guzi licked his lips. Beming Xue turned and said. "It¡¯s a big lizard so there¡¯ll be tons of pimples on its back. Gui Guzi, you don¡¯t feel that it¡¯s disgusting to sit on?" I smiled. "No problem, Little Gui¡¯s always been that hardcore!" Gui Guzi smiled noncommittally. "Prepare for battle. There are only 19 of us so I don¡¯t know how many casualties we¡¯ll suffer to kill this boss!" I walked to the front with my Purgatory Sword and faced the crowd. "Form two attack teams. All dropped items will be distributed based on roll. What do you think?" Lin Yixin and Luo River God of the Capital nodded. This meant that my idea went through; the rest were my people. ¡­¡­ "Melees, alternate your Charges. Please pay close attention to your safety and allow Lu Chen to be the first point of focus!" Lin Yixin said loudly. And so I was pushed to the front line. The huge lizard had already charged over within the fog and its stats appeared before my eyes¡ª Orma the Skullbreaker (Purple Gold Rank Boss) Level: 90 Attack: 1020~1350 Defense: 1000 HP: 500000 Skills: All-round Sweep, War Stampede, Barbaric Rend Introduction: King of the Rank 7 guardians. Beast King Orma was an incredibly strong lizard that lived deep within a forest. After being summoned by the power of darkness, the huge Earth Lizard¡¯s entire race became the servants of the Night Creatures. This Earth Lizard King had always guarded this city shrouded in darkness. ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t help gasping when I saw its stats and said in the party channel, "Watch out everyone, the boss has a max Attack of 1350. Melee fighters aside, other classes will definitely get one-shot. Even a mage with Magic Shield active might not withstand a single blow. Everyone spread out and prepare for battle!" "Alright!" Luo River God of the Capital nodded. By then, I¡¯d already locked onto the boss and activated Charge! Whoosh! I arrived before the Lizard King in the blink of an eye and saw it raise its head, mouth open. The stun would only last 1 second so I quickly made my move. MISS! 3014! Even though I had used Pardon, I still couldn¡¯t break a substantial amount of its Defense. Its overall HP was 500k too. It was going to be a tough foe! Crack! The moment the boss recovered from the stun, I had already sent down a basic attack and the Paralysis Ring¡¯s effects procced. I¡¯d successfully paralyzed the boss for 3 more seconds! The melee players behind me all used Charge one after another. Lin Yixin, He Yi, Purple Marquis, Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, and the rest all consecutively unleashed Blaze, Flame Thrust, Extreme Break and the like, instantly deleting a small chunk of the boss¡¯s HP pool! From afar, Beiming Xue let go of the string and fired her special Volley, arrows infused with evil spirits hitting Lizard King right on the head. She then swapped to Freezing Arrow to slow the boss! Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s attack was even more violent. She waved the Purgatory Scepter and multiple Ice Dragon Howls descended from the sky, each dealing close to 4000 damage to the boss. Tsk tsk, this kind of magic attack is seriously strong! Murong Mingyue gave up attacking and went back to healing the melee players who weren¡¯t at full health. It was the most logical decision since killing this boss didn¡¯t require pure DPS. It needed huge heals for us to survive, since the boss¡¯s vast HP pool made this fight into a battle of attrition. Brute force wouldn¡¯t be enough to solve this problem. Our advantage lay in teamwork and strong healing abilities. Once the boss recovered from the paralysis, it immediately lifted a claw and heavily slapped me on the shoulder. I felt a scorching pain and before I could do anything, the surroundings were filled with bloody light. It was the visual effects of War Stampede! 1505! 1634! 1847! ¡­¡­ I took 1505 damage, and the melee players nearby all took damage. Gui Guzi, Lin Yixin, and a few of our close range fighters had also lost a chunk of HP. Luckily, Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew quickly replenished our losses, though barely managing to do so. However, the Lizard King soon started attacking again. It curled up like a coiled snake! "What¡¯s going on?" Lin Yixin gaped as she looked at the boss with astonishment. He Yi was shocked. "Not good, it¡¯s an attack animation!" "Huh?" Gui Guzi was also shocked. Half a second later, the Lizard King suddenly extended its body and rapidly swiveled its body. Its long tail struck everything around it at the speed of lightning, dealing tons of damage to the surrounding players! All-round Sweep! Pow pow! I was whipped twice by its tail and I saw my HP crazily drop. 1643! 1742! No way. None of our melee players were spared this time and all got hit! "Fuck!" Zi Chuanyu was forced several steps back. His HP was already rock bottom but the boss pounced forward and swiped him on the chest with its claws, leaving behind a tragic scar! 3120! Fuck, our first death had appeared. Zi Chuanyu slowly fell to his knees, our first casualty in the ancient ruins, and became an ice-cold corpse. ¡­¡­ "Gulp!" As I chugged a health potion, I charged at the Lizard King. I swung my sword, landing a Slayer Slash + Ice Ray combo, and successfully drew its aggro. The frightened Purple Marquis¡¯s face was ashen. If I was a second too late, he would¡¯ve been the next to fall. "Quick, heal Lu Chen!" Lin Yixin shouted. "The rest of the melees, don¡¯t approach. The boss¡¯s All-round Sweep skill is too strong. It can easily one-shot you!" "Alright!" replied Gui Guzi and Xu Yang. In fact, that All-round Sweep skill damaged everyone twice. Even I was hit for 3000+ damage. Xu Yang, however, stood a bit further away so he had only been hit with the first sweep while Gui Guzi survived thanks to this Undying Shield. Even a first-rate warrior like Zi Chuanyu had been instantly killed, so there was no need to mention others. I absolutely wasn¡¯t the person with the highest survivability rate. Gui Guzi and He Yi both had higher Defense than me but I was still the person most suited to be the tank in this fight because I had enough Attack to aggro the boss. If the boss were to go out of control, our powerful but few long-range attackers would be massacred and our chances of victory would go in the dumps. The Lizard King roared and continuously swiped at me with its claw. Every hit struck the Purgatory War Armor with a bang and tore through my HP, though it was immediately healed back up by our two priests at the rear. The Lizard King¡¯s claws then glowed with a bloody hue and another fierce attack skill came¡ª Barbaric Rend! Crack! Crack! Pain shot through my chest. The boss¡¯s claws were like swords as they tore through the Purgatory War Armor¡¯s Defense and swiped me thrice with its claws! 2485! 2395! +2728! 2487! I was instantly scared out of my wits. Fuck! This three-hit combo can totally one-shot me. Thank god for Murong Mingyue¡¯s timely +2700 Greater Heal. I¡¯d be a dead man otherwise! I used Tenacity of the Dead to get some of my HP back and Moon Dew used a few minor healing spells. With our efforts, we barely managed to drag my HP to the safe 3000 HP threshold. Fuck, this Barbaric Rend was probably a move that ignored Defense. I couldn¡¯t have been reduced to such a state with my 1165 if it didn¡¯t! I began to pay attention to the effects that happened before the boss unleashed its skills. 20 seconds later, the Lizard King¡¯s sharp frontal claws glowed with a trace of bloody red. I¡¯d prepared in advance this time as I slightly retreated and assumed the Guard stance! Bang bang bang! The claws landed on the edge of the Purgatory Sword. My Guard was successful. I wondered if the boss would feel hurt because of how pitiful its damage to me was¡ª 384! 40! 401! Murong Mingyue could instantly heal back this type of HP loss. I immediately lost aggro after that so I swiftly launched my counterattack. Ice Ray + Desperate Gambit + basic attack. Three-hit combo later I regained the boss¡¯s aggro. With this pattern I could be said to have grasped the battle¡¯s rhythm. With just me standing in front of the boss, the entire process seemed relatively safe. ¡­¡­ Behind me, a group of bystanders watched the show. Gui Guzi stared with wide eyes. " Fuck, as expected of our CGL Hall of Famer boss. The way he switches between offense and defense is hard to follow¡­" He Yi laughed. "Of course! Lu Chen¡¯s the only person who can fight 1 on 1 with Candlelight Shadow!" Lin Yixin booed, "I just didn¡¯t get a chance to fight him 1 on 1 earlier¡­" He Yi responded with a gentle smile, "Mn, you¡¯ll get a chance next time!" Purple Marquis¡¯s chin fell to the floor as he watched the ensuing battle. "Fuck! Is Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand even human? He can even solo a Purple Gold Rank boss¡­" Clear Perfume: "That¡¯s because he¡¯s getting healed. If he wasn¡¯t, he wouldn¡¯t last 10 seconds." "Haha, you¡¯re right!" ¡­¡­ Watching on from an even greater distance was a large group of Floating Ice City players. Among them were a few from Flower Room and Mad Dragon that seemed to want to rush the boss. Lin Yixin and He Yi caught them in their sights and turned around at the same time. The two beauties drew their swords, pointing them at the group of people. "What, you guys want a taste of death?" Fuck... The two beautiful guild leaders came at them together. One was Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Fruit Knife Goddess and the other was the leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. In terms of momentum alone, they lost to none. That eager group of Mad Dragon and Flower Room players were immediately struck dumb. One among them shook his head. "N-no¡­" He Yi and Lin Yixin smiled knowingly and stabbed their swords on the ground. They stood outside the crowd like two beautiful war goddesses that defended our rights to this boss. Chapter 289: Dragon Fang Shield Time passed slowly. I did not disappoint anyone and kept hold of the boss''s aggro. This time, everyone was fighting together but still needed almost 20 minutes to slowly whittle down the boss¡¯s HP bar. This Lizard King¡¯s survivability was in a league of its own! "The boss is about to die!" Lin Yixin had an excited expression and said, "Purple Gold, please drop Purple Gold~~" My right arm felt cold. Purgatory Slash is coming! Boom! The sword energy penetrated the lizard¡¯s head and caused a huge damage number to float up¡ª11094! Very good. The last attack was a critical Purgatory Slash! Accompanied by screams, this Level 90 Purple Gold Rank boss¡¯s savage and greedy life came to an abrupt end. As it was falling down it dropped a huge pile of equips, Phantasmal Magic Stones and their higher tier equivalent¡ªPurple Crystals. These rare stones were essentially money. Supposedly, one Purple Crystal would cost between 10¨C1000 gold. This meant a 99 Quality Purple Crystal could be sold for 990 gold, almost a thousand RMB! ¡­¡­ "Finally done!" The crowd walked over to see the dead boss. Lin Yixin even kicked the boss''s leg and said to He Yi, "That All-round Sweep hurt like hell¡­¡± He Yi nodded. "True, true..." The men were stunned. I looked at the two girls with my bruised face and said, "It hurt you? I was being whipped by it for 20 whole minutes! Can you imagine how miserable my life was?" The two girls laughed and pushed me forward. "You are the hero, go look at the items. No one will object to you touching the corpse!" "Alright!" I didn''t care who would object, and kicked aside the lizard king''s claw. I dug out the pile of Phantasmal Magic Stones and Purple Crystals and threw them to He Yi. "Eve, you divide the stones!" "Okay!" This time, there were Purple Crystals, so everyone chose to roll for them. Their price was much higher than Phantasmal Magic Stones¡¯, so everyone wanted a piece of the pie. Everyone wanted to get rich in the game! The results were tragic. I didn¡¯t manage to get any, He Yi got three, and with high quality to boot. Lin Yixin got two. There was no reason in the world. Rich were only getting richer, and the poor ones had to roll for cheap stuff like the Phantasmal Magic Stones. ¡­¡­ Then I raised the equipment that the boss had dropped. There were four items. Metal wristguards, a battle axe, a shield, and a glittering gold necklace. Then there was a green book. It didn''t look like a skill book, so I wasn¡¯t sure what it was. First, I picked up the glistening metal wristguards. I touched it and their stats appeared¡ª Lizard King Wristguards (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Defense: 150 Magic Resist: 125 Strength +47 Stamina: +50 Passive: Increases user''s Defense by 3% Level Requirement: 82 ¡­¡­ Mn, very praiseworthy wristguards. Much stronger than the Flame Dragon Gauntlets I wore. I raised the wristguards and said, "I am starting the roll system. All melee players can participate. Everyone, don''t be polite, the highest roll gets it. This is all down to luck!" While I said this, I wailed inside, "Heavens, let me roll 100. I want these wristguards too~~" Yet the heavens did not follow my will. I rolled 91. Relatively high, but after everyone¡¯s rolls, it turned out that there was someone better. Snowy Cathaya''s Purple Marquis used his transcendent luck of 97 to snatch the wristguards. The other people were disappointed, and Lin Yixin looked bitterly at me. Beep! Lin Yixin sent a message: "Why didn¡¯t you hide these wristguards? We could roll for them ourselves after finishing the quest..." "Damn, I¡¯m not like you..." I glared at her. Lin Yixin chuckled and said, "Quick, there are more items to split!" "Right!" I looked at the battle axe blazing with light. It appeared very good. When the stats appeared, the surrounding melee players were stunned¡ª Lizard King Battle Axe (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Attack: 150~325 Strength: +37 Stamina: +44 Passive: Increases user''s physical Attack by 20 Passive: Increases the splash effect by 6% Level Requirement: 82 ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, a Level 82 Dark Gold¨Cgrade axe. Very good. Its upper Attack was 325, equal to Lin Yixin''s Moonlight Sword, and better than He Yi''s Abyssal Sword. Of course, He Yi had a super strong Soul Stealing Spear in her warehouse. She could equip it after reaching Level 85. Also, after the Violet Empire reestablishment war was over, if the quest rewards were as abundant as I expected, she had a real shot at soaring straight to 85 from her current 82. This time, there were 19 people who had managed to survive the waves of the Skull Castle siege. Everyone''s levels had shot up greatly. Without a doubt, Heavenly Ranking of Floating Ice City would change dramatically. I looked at the Lizard King Battle Axe and said, "Although it is a specialized equipment for melee classes and barbarians, all magic knights, warriors, and wanderers can use it. Let''s roll?" "Alright!" The crowd wanted to burn incense and pray to the gods to up their luck a bit. This Lizard King Battle Axe''s stats were so strong that if it was sold, its price would exceed thirty thousand RMB. Such a fortune was a dice roll away. Sometimes, life was a gamble! Pa pa pa... The dice rolled around on the ground. Soon, the numbers popped out of the system screen. I had 41, no hope at all. He Yi got 11, and Lin Yixin 17. These two were some unlucky girls. In the end, Xu Yang''s luck skyrocketed, and he took the Lizard King Battle Axe with 100 points. Good. Xu Yang was a warrior, and his race was barbarian. This kind of brutal manly class could cause young girls to tremble, and young women to fall in love. With this awesome battle axe, Xu Yang would become the idol of middle-aged and old women. Recently, a large group of older female players had appeared in the game. They supposedly focused on barbarian warriors like Xu Yang. They thought that men should have chest hair and large bodies. Only those could be called true men. They would get exchange addresses and do all kinds of¡­ transactions. I looked sympathetically at Xu Yang and wondered if this guy was involved. Xu Yang held the battle axe and was overjoyed. But when he met my gaze, he shuddered. "Lu Chen, what are you thinking about?" "No, nothing, is the weapon good?" "Yes, it¡¯s not bad, wahahahaha~~" Xu Yang laughed wildly. Honestly speaking, since the start of the game, this guy had never held such a high-level weapon. In the previous game, his best weapon would rank in the 5000s of the server. This Lizard King Battle Axe was amazing, and could rank in the Top 50 or even Top 10 of the China server! Would I end up a volunteer again? The Lizard King was whipping me for 20 whole minutes, and my face was all bruised. In the end, would I only get two Phantasmal Magic Stones to show for it? Was my life this miserable? I took out the third item. It was a simple and thick azure shield. A snarling beast face was engraved into the surface of the shield. The engraving was bright. The shield clearly wasn¡¯t ordinary. As I touched the shield, its stats jumped into the air¡ª Dragon Fang Shield (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Defense: 300 Magic Resist: 185 Strength: +50 Stamina: +48 Passive: Increases user''s Defense by 10% Passive: Increases user''s physical evasion rate by 7% Level Requirement: 85 ¡­¡­ Immediately, everyone''s expressions froze. While this was only a Level 85 Dark Gold¨Cgrade item, its stats were insane. Its Defense and Magic Resist were super-high, and there was even a 10% Defense boost. This shield could turn a weak knight into a steel board! Shield-type equipment could only be worn by magic knights. There were only two knights present, He Yi and Gui Guzi. I couldn¡¯t be biased and said, "Eve, Little Gui, you two roll. The winner gets the shield!" He Yi shook her head. "No need, I forfeit. Give it to Gui Guzi. I am so weak. This shield will only be of effect in his hands!" I laughed. I understood He Yi''s intentions. If Gui Guzi got the Dragon Fang Shield, it would create a super strong meatshield player for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Also, this was a sign that He Yi was not yet confident in the game. Although she said this, I still hoped she would use this shield and get stronger. Gui Guzi immediately revealed his upright character upon hearing He Yi and said, "Boss He Yi, no need. Let''s roll. If you want me to selfishly take this shield, I would rather leave Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" "Ah?" He Yi paled and hurriedly said, "Alright, let¡¯s roll..." Damn, they¡¯re so harmonious! The roll was heartbreaking. Gui Guzi''s 87 lost to He Yi''s 90. Consequently, He Yi got a second Level 85 item just waiting for her to level up. Then she would officially become a meatshield to beat up. I handed the Dragon Fang Shield to He Yi and smiled without saying anything. Whether it was Gui Guzi or He Yi, I was happy because they were both my people! The last equipment was a glittering gold necklace. There was an arrow-shaped pendant which flashed with light. Transient Necklace (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Agility: +55 Stamina: +51 Tactics: +15 Passive: Increases user''s ranged Attack by 9% Passive: Increases user''s dark Attack by 5% Chapter 290: Range Immediately, the eyes of two girls lit up. They looked lovingly at the necklace. Over 50 Agility, 9% ranged Attack bonus, and 5% added to dark attacks. Even more importantly, it had 15 Tactics. Honestly speaking, Beiming Xue was the most suitable person for this necklace. However, there were two archers in the team. One was Beiming Xue, the other Snowy Cathaya''s Clear Perfume. The two girls were both popular archers of Floating Ice City, akin to divine existences in the eyes of other archer players. Also, the necklace was so beautiful with its arrow pendant. If a heart was added, it could be called the "Cupid Necklace¡±. Wasn''t something like this the favorite of female players? ¡­¡­ I coughed and brought the necklace out into the open, and both of the girls immediately wanted to touch it."Beiming, Qingqing, roll for it. It¡¯s specialized for archers, others shouldn¡¯t have any need for it." "Yes!" The two girls rolled. The results quickly appeared with a great difference¡ª7, 99! Damn! I was overjoyed inside. Beiming Xue must have been very good to steal this awesome necklace with a 99 roll! Lin Yixin tilted her head, and stared at me with wide eyes. She watched my expression, feeling certain I couldn''t help but laugh. But the girl underestimated me. I¡¯d been gaming for so long that I learned how to hide my emotions a long time ago. I had perfect control over my facial muscles. If she could see my emotions, hmph, hmph, how could I survive? I glared at Lin Yixin and whispered, "Damn, Yiyi, what the hair are you looking at?" "Yeah, I¡¯m just looking at some hair..." Lin Yixin giggled. Damn, I was one-upped again! However, I was still happy. The necklace floated into Beiming Xue''s hands under the system¡¯s control. There was only one item left. This was a green book of a shape different from skill books. It looked extremely special! "What is this?" He Yi blinked and asked. I shook my head. "No clue. We¡¯ll know when we see it!" I reached out and the book¡¯s information appeared in front of me¡ª Range: Stratagem. Increases range of Archer¡¯s distance attacks by 25%. Level Requirement: 80. Class Requirement: Archer. Requirement: 60 Tactics. Will use one stratagem slot upon use. ¡­¡­ Damn, a stratagem?! Lin Yixin gaped and said, "Wow, such a strong stratagem! 25% higher range. Seems like a stratagem that lets you kill enemies before they can even attack?" I nodded. I was very shocked. "With 25% range, an archer can be outside the range of melee players¡¯ Charge and just stay at a distance and kite until they are dead. Fuck, why are there skills like this?" "Yes, exactly!" I smiled. "Only archers can learn this stratagem. Qingqing, Beiming, roll for it again, okay?" Beiming Xue nodded. Sun Qingqing shook her head. "No, I won''t roll for this book." Lin Yixin asked, "Why, Qingqing?" Sun Qingqing smiled. "Yiyi, I don¡¯t have enough Tactics. I don¡¯t have a single item with Tactics stat bonuses, so I¡¯m sitting at 41. Ahh, I didn¡¯t get the 15 Tactics necklace in the previous roll too. If I got it I would learn it... Lin Yixin grinned. "Alright, it''s fine if you pass on it. Just remember to have Beauty Beiming to treat you to a meal next time!" Beiming Xue nodded. She had benefited greatly and there was no reason not to be happy. Right, she was a young girl, and didn''t have the practice I did in not showing emotions. Consequently, Beiming Xue became the greatest beneficiary of the Lizard King kill. She obtained a powerful necklace, and also a powerful stratagem book. Even without teammates, if she set up her own party and activated the stratagem, she could still increase her range by 25%. Extremely powerful! Why was range so important? The reason was simple. One of the greatest factors in PvP was range. Mages and archers fought by distancing themselves. Otherwise, they would never become legends. Close-combat mages? Battle mages? Stuff of legends. Even in modern war, attack range was very important. Why did aircraft carriers have deterrent effects? Because they could attack from afar. When your warships on the ocean weren''t yet close to the carrier, they would have been shooting at you for an hour. Also, there was the refined defense system, for example, Zeus... This name was so domineering. Shield of ¡°Zeus¡±. Sooo domineering. If my country could invent a defense system like this, I would suggest to have it called ¡°Fuxi Shield¡±. Then it would also be domineering~~ Ahem, but I digress. I looked down at Lin Yixin''s expression. She pouted and glared at me, clearly discontent. Clear Perfume was Lin Yixin''s best archer and hadn''t benefited at all. She¡¯d clearly lost out on a lot! ¡­¡­ I looked at Lin Yixin. She looked at me and sent a message: "The two of us.... are too tragic. We killed the boss and didn''t get anything..." "Stop it. Didn¡¯t you get two Purple Crystals?" I glared at her. "Me, I only have a Phantasmal Magic Stone, and I¡¯ve been battered by the boss for 20 minutes. Do you see the word ¡®tragedy¡¯ written on my face?" Lin Yixin laughed. "Alright, alright, let''s rest, the last wave is coming!" He Yi asked. "How do we fight the last wave?" I thought and said, "Don''t fight, we can¡¯t win in the first place. If we can¡¯t use a choke point for the last wave, we will die here if we stay!" Beiming Xue asked, "Then what do we do?" "See the situation at the NPC side. If we join them, try to see if we can benefit somehow!" "Mn!" We reached an agreement. When we weren¡¯t strong enough, we would go see how the NPCs were doing. If we attacked and relied on the NPC foot soldiers as a defense, it was possible. We were only 18 now. Eighteen against thousands or tens of thousands of monsters was impossible unless we were Huang Feihong. I led the group around the eastern walls. When we reached the west, I saw Shadow Dancer Xue Wei directing large numbers of Shadow Dancer guards to set up formations. Ahead of the cavalry, undead soldiers held their swords and heavy shields to form shield walls to block the attacks from the monsters. Creak... creak... Accompanied by the sound of gears squeaking, the enormous beasts on the city walls opened the gates again. Finally, the last wave of monsters were about to arrive! Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that the last wave of Skull Castle¡¯s counterattack is about to appear. The commander boss of this wave is Iron Skull General¡ªWind Fury! ¡­¡­ I pulled out the Purgatory Sword and laughed. "Finally, the last wave. I wonder what it is!" Lin Yixin laughed softly. "Everyone, be smart. It''s fine if NPCs die, but don''t let yourselves die. Rely on NPC fighters to cover yourself. Those undead soldiers have shields, I¡¯m so envious~~" He Yi held the Abyssal Sword, and stood behind a group of undead soldiers. She seemed to have no intentions of leading an assault. In reality, she didn¡¯t have AoE skills, and wasn''t suited to a charge. She was primarily to cover her pet using its Firewall attack. The Firelight Mouse had reached Level 81 after fighting for almost 10 hours, about the same level as He Yi. Its fire magic attacks were so powerful the pet became He Yi¡¯s magic weapon to deal with monsters en masse! Beiming Xue closely followed me and focused on killing monsters with me. Murong Mingyue was slightly bewildered. She followed Xu Yang, Gui Guzi and the others in hiding in a corner of the Blood Dance Legion. Her course of action should revolve around using Hellish Rockfall to kill monsters and gain points. I opened the window of Violet Empire reestablishment war and saw that small changes had occurred to the point ranking¡ª NameLevelPointsBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand8759043Wind Fantasy8541874Murong Mingyue8434474Beiming Xue8531773From Water8230745Purple Marquis8328742Shadow Chanel8327464Clear Perfume 8326452Luo River God of the Capital8525143Dominating Mage God 8120145 ¡­¡­ I was ranked first with an absolute advantage. Lin Yixin had surpassed Murong Mingyue to become second. In the seventh wave, Murong Mingyue had focused primarily on healing. Otherwise, she would have stood a chance. Dominating Mage God and Dominating Archer God were both dead, so their ranks had dropped. Luo River God of the Capital, who came from Ice Moon City, had caught up and reached the Top 10. If there were no surprises, I shouldn''t have any problems being first in the event this time. What would the quest reward be? I looked forward to it. Super skill book, or a super pet. The best would be super armor, the kind that would level up with me so I wouldn¡¯t ever have to switch it. Of course, these were all just dreams unless something was wrong with the developers¡¯ brains. ¡­¡­ Smoke and mist spread. In the next moment, enormous shadows charged out of the mist, the earth shaking. The last wave from Skull Castle finally arrived! I saw evil earth dragons completely covered in armor. They were sprinting over like they were flying, spearheading at us with an enormous horn on top of their snarling heads. With their momentum, a hit from just one would be no doubt terrifying! Skullbreaker Land Dragon (Elite) Level: 92 Attack: 970~1190 Defense: 850 HP: 40000 Skills: Swallow, Dragon Stomp, War Crush Introduction: A Rank 8 guardian. These powerful land dragons possess some of the dragon race''s bloodline. They are proud and powerful. After the Dragon Realm turned to ruins, they became disloyal to Dragon Speaker Bing Lan. They became the servants of darkness, and ended up becoming mortal enemies of humans and elves. Chapter 291: Starfall "Damn, a low-rank dragon..." I took a deep breath. The last monster wave really was as cool as I thought. A boss like a land dragon had come out. Being of draconic bloodline, their stats were really powerful. Level 92 elite, 1190 Attack, much higher than attack of bosses of similar level! Also, these land dragons possessed two super skills, Dragon Stomp and War Crush. While I didn¡¯t know their effects, just their names sufficed to conclude they were strong. ¡­¡­ "The Swallow skill again..." Gui Guzi gulped and said, "It seems that we don''t need to summon pets. Otherwise, they will be immediately swallowed and killed!" I laughed. "Even without Swallow, there''s no need to summon them unless your pet''s BN exceeds 100. They won¡¯t deal any damage to Level 92 dragon elites otherwise!¡± "Ugh...." Clang! Queen Sophia pulled out her sword and looked forward. "For the honor of the undead, for the glory of the Violet Empire, warriors, kill!" The undead soldiers of the Blood Dance Legion pulled out their swords and roared toward the swarm of land dragons. In response, the swarm of land dragons screamed, also extremely piercing to the ears. It was somewhere between a dragon¡¯s and a lizard¡¯s roar, extremely unpleasant! In the next moment, the land dragon swarm attacked. The two sides clashed. The undead soldiers all slashed with their longswords, their bone swords banging on the land dragons¡¯ heads but couldn''t do much damage. The land dragons'' counterattack was brutal and cold-blooded! Boom! The land dragons raised their front paws and suddenly dropped down. Immediately, bloody light shone, forming an AoE of 5x5 yard. This was the Dragon Stomp skill. With each step, a dozen surrounding undead warriors would shake and their HP would drop! The land dragons¡¯ attack power was too high. Used together with the Dragon Stomp, they were almost invincible on the ground! And that wasn¡¯t the end of it. Five seconds later, the land dragons used their second skill. They raised their heads up high, then used them to crash into the ground. Rubble flew and sprayed everywhere, dealing great damage to surrounding enemies! War Crush. It had powerful splash properties, much stronger than my Purgatory Slash¡¯s, at least 75%! Behind me, the group of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players looked at each other. Xu Yang said, "Fuck, the monsters are so strong, do we still need to fight?" I held the Purgatory Sword and said, "Melee fighters, get your buffs. Ranged players, farm as many points as possible. More points mean better rewards when the quest ends. Everyone, keep this in mind!" Before I finished, Luo River God of the Capital had already begun her assault. Snowstorm fell into the land dragon swarm and tore through them. The enormous lizards couldn¡¯t break through the sturdy formation of the Blood Dance Legion, and naturally couldn¡¯t do anything to Luo River God of the Capital. At this time, mages and archers were so fortunate. ¡­¡­ I sprinted to the frontline, the Purgatory Sword flashing with intimidating light. I used Thousand Mirage Slash. Immediately, eight streaks of sharp sword energy fell and caused strings of damage to float up. While the land dragons had 850 Defense, it wasn¡¯t much of a barrier to me. After Thousand Mirage Slash, the monsters had less than 50% HP. I just needed another attack. Fifteen seconds later, another Thousand Mirage Slash caused an entire swarm to die. Magic stones, equipment, and treasures littered the ground. No one dared to pick them up, as seconds after they were trampled by the swarm of surrounding land dragons that filled the void. The frontmost dragons used Dragon Stomp, one of them hitting me! 657! This damage was bearable but Dragon Stomp was an AoE skill. When the dragons at the front all used it, splash effects would overlap, and my HP plummeted. In less than 30 seconds, my HP dropped under 50%. Behind me, He Yi''s voice came. "Moon Dew, ignore everything else, focus on healing Lu Chen. He¡¯s the main DPS, he can¡¯t die!" "Okay!" Moon Dew appeared behind me. She carefully maintained the healing distance, precisely 35 yards. The holy light made me feel comfortable all over. Very good. I could survive with a healer, no matter how strong the Dragon Stomp skill was! I attacked at full power with Thousand Mirage Slash. The Purgatory Sword gave me face, and procced Purgatory Slash several times within a few minutes. The land dragon swarm roared endlessly, and my points shot up. This was the last battle. I had to earn as many points as possible! Not far away, Lin Yixin also appeared on the frontline. The Moonlight Sword shone with milky light as an icy sword energy wrapped in flames descended from the sky, dealing damage to a vast area. At the same time, Lin Yixin took three hits from Dragon Stomp. Fortunately, she had her own priest from Snowy Cathaya behind her, making sure she could continue fighting! As for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, and the other melee fighters could only watch. They had no will to go up and fight. We didn''t have enough priests and they didn''t have AoE skills. If they joined, they would just waste heal spells¡¯ cooldowns. Even He Yi didn''t join the fray and only used the Firelight Mouse to repeatedly cast Firewall from the backline. The land dragons wailed amid the fire, and He Yi¡¯s points kept rising! Everyone was jealous. It was very fortunate to have a pet with such a powerful AoE! Also, there were ten thousand newly-arrived Floating Ice City players gathered on the east side of Skull Castle, determined to line up and welcome the attacks of the land dragons. But their thinking was too naive.The land dragons almost instantly tore apart their defense line completely. It was a massacre. Countless land dragons rampaged through the player camp. Dragon Stomp, War Crush and other skills exploded in the crowd, causing a cacophony of screams to echo out. It was a terrible sight! ¡­¡­ At a time like this, no one could spare attention for others. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls itself had almost been completely wiped and didn¡¯t have enough men to save them. In conclusion, this Violet Empire reestablishment quest was extremely surprising. Many people lost by coming and dying right after. They didn¡¯t reap any benefits at all. But those who survived gained plenty. Their levels shot up, and there was a rich quest reward waiting! Boom! Thousand Mirage Slash fell into the monster swarm and so did Lin Yixin''s Ice Flame Slash not far off. The two sword energies wove together and caused the monster swarm to scream. Streams of experience flew to me. Lin Yixin and I were in the same party, so the experience was shared. However, there were too many land dragons. It looked like they were endlessly swarming from the gates of Skull Castle. God knows how many more there were! A battlefield almost a thousand meters wide and dozens of meters long was filled with never-ending roars of land dragons. The numbers of this last wave of monsters were terrifying! ¡­¡­ Soon after, the eastern side was lost, the players there all dead! Under the Violet Empire banner, Queen Sophia frowned and pointed east, ordering, "Xue Wei, lead a group of cavalry to attack the eastern gates. Also, send two undead magi. Use spells to flatten this city filled with sin and evil spirits at any cost!" "Yes, Your Majesty!" Bow in hand, Xue Wei rode away on a white bone warhorse. A cavalry unit followed their leader, slashing their way through the land dragon swarm. Soon after, two old undead in mage robes reached the eastern gates of Skull Castle under the protection of the cavalry. The two of them raised their staves and the world immediately changed color. Sand flew and stones moved. A vast amount of magic power surged, and the light of an enormous magic formation appeared in the city! The two magi chanted together, "O¡¯ Earth Spirits aslumber in the mist and rain, please listen to my summons. I offer a contract with my magic power as the cost to summon a spell to destroy all¡ªStarfall!" ¡­¡­ Whoosh! Thunder boomed in the sky. The enormous magic formation seemed to turn blood-red like a door in the sky. In the next moment, burning meteors passed through the cloud layer and fell toward the eastern gates of Skull Castle. The attack¡¯s range was huge, living up to its name, covering almost half of Skull Castle! Boom boom boom! The enormous meteors fell on top of the monster swarm, creating powerful shock waves, like after a nuclear explosion. Screams of the land dragons mixed with the rumbling earth. This spell did not distinguish between targets, killing many land dragons but also many cavalrymen. This cost could not be avoided. Xue Wei looked up into the sky and didn''t even frown. Boom! One meteor fell on the gates and tore them apart, causing rocks and rubble to spray into surroundings. Accompanied by a sky-shaking roar, the eastern gates of Skull Castle shattered. The gate had fallen! Then another meteor fell. One of the giant beasts on the city walls raised its stone hammer and roared at the meteor that fell perfectly in the giant beast¡¯s mouth! Puchi! In the next moment, burning fire rampaged the beast¡¯s body, eliciting mad screams from it as it was hurled off the walls and into the swarm, crushing numerous land dragons. ¡­¡­ Watching the distant battle, Beiming Xue gaped. "Such strong undead magi. Do you think mage players can also get this strong?" I shook my head. "Maybe..." Fuck, if mages really mastered a spell like this, they would be the nightmares of all melees. Who the hell could block a skill like that? ¡­¡­ At this time, a bloody light appeared between the two magi! Puchi! That was a sharp bloody blade that swiped across the necks of the two magi. Chapter 292: Pathfinder War Boots A few cavalrymen charged over, slashing around. They managed to hit a Night Creature assassin in a black cape. "Keekee..." The assassin fearlessly raised their dagger and slit a throat of a nearby guard, then charged toward the undead magi again. The two magi laughed, forming a Magic Shield and said, "Lowly assassin, you think you can stop us?" Ice Blast! One of the magi stopped controlling the spell and hit the quickly moving assassin with an Ice Blast, causing thick frost to form around the ambusher! Crack! A figure flashed by. Shadow Dancer Xue Wei raced by, her sword shining as she cut off the assassin''s head. She grabbed the head and raised it, shouting toward the city, "Iron Skull General Wind Fury, come out and fight me!" The world was silent. Answering Xue Wei was a wild counterattack of even more land dragons. Skull Castle was in danger, and the Night Creatures were fighting for their lives! ¡­¡­ The fierce fighting appeared to be endless. The land dragons continued to swarm. On the Blood Dance Legion¡¯s side, countless Shining Archers pulled their bowstrings, their arrows aimed at the land dragons¡¯ eyes. This way, the attack would be more deadly, and would also make it harder for the dragons to perform their Dragon Stomp and War Crush skills, decreasing the pressure on the undead warriors on the frontlines. In the distance, the attacks of the Floating Ice City army were also unusually strong. Princess Karinshan rode a white horse and wielded a sword as she led the Black Wind Cavalry to charge in and out of the land dragon swarm. Her figure, a dot of white in the sea of black, looked stunning. Princess Karinshan was not like Sophia. She liked fighting in person. This was likely the reason Karinshan had such a high reputation in the human camp! Whoosh! The Purgatory Sword unleashed Purgatory Slash. A vast streak of sword aura tore through the air and elicited mad roars from the hurt dragons. Beiming Xue''s Evil Spirit Volley constantly attacked, causing lots of pain to the dragon army. The splash effects of Evil Spirit Volley were evident, even more so in a large-scale fight. This in tandem with Beiming Xue¡¯s even more formidable range made her a long-range killing god. In terms of raw attack power, Clear Perfume could only be jealous. Even though they were both top archers of their respective guilds, the difference was evident. ¡­¡­ Time slowly passed. Soon, another group of players appeared under Skull Castle, and they had high levels. They were Chinese players of the other main cities. Because my quest activated a major plot point and a large-scale war for reestablishment of the Violet Empire, something other cities didn¡¯t have, everyone wanted their piece of the pie. But Candlelight Shadow''s scheme failed at this very step. My brain activity was back to the level of normal people, or even a bit higher. I had recovered to about 90% of my peak condition. Consequently, without pets, Candlelight Shadow couldn¡¯t gain any advantage at all. Once he brought his pet out into the open, Lin Yixin knew I wouldn¡¯t be able to win so she stepped in. And thus another step of his plan failed. As a result, Candlelight Shadow could only leave, heartbroken. I looked at the newcomers in the distance. There were no people I knew or CGL Hall of Famers. They were just coming to take a slice, and couldn''t pose a threat to the 18 of us. There were also so many land dragons that everyone had to take up arms. Only mentally handicapped people would engage in PK at this time. ¡­¡­ "Kill!" The leader of the king guild from Thunder City, a Level 86 magic knight, raised his spear and shouted, "Protect the honor of the king. Protect the lands of our brothers from Floating Ice City. For points, kill!" Damn, those last words exposed their intentions. Charitable people were nowhere to be seen these days... The heroes all chased the deer. The screen showed that the number of the players who had entered the borders of the Violet Empire had risen to two hundred thousand. This war had been going on for a long time. Long enough for players of the surrounding cities to come. Not everyone was as rich as Candlelight Shadow. Those 500 people must have bought the 1000 gold main city teleportation scroll to come here. Luo River God of the Capital was not the same. Ice Moon City was not far from Floating Ice City. She only had to run for about 3 hours. He Yi followed closely behind me, looked at me, and said, "There are more outsiders, will they fight us?" "It shouldn¡¯t be the case..." I looked into the distance and said, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' reputation has always been good. Except for offending Candle Dragon, we have always loved peace and not fought for world domination, right?" "Yes." I smiled, and my gaze grew cold. "In Heavenblessed, we are fated to offend many people. The path to sovereignty is paved with flesh and bones of others. We will try to befriend some guilds. Those that we can¡¯t bring to our side, we will kill, like Mad Dragon and Flower Room!¡± "Ha, right, right~~" He Yi smiled sweetly. She looked at her level and said, "I wonder if I can reach Level 85 after this quest finishes. Soul Stealing Spear, Dragon Fang Shield..." I laughed. "Yes, it should be about enough. Even if you can¡¯t reach Level 85, you can reach it by killing a few more monsters. Also, your Firelight Mouse is a killing machine, you have so many points. If you reach Top 5, you won''t have much problem reaching Level 85!" "Mn, alright!" He Yi stopped speaking and stood near me with a smile. The Firelight Mouse chirped and threw fireballs into the monster swarm, burning the land dragons. ¡­¡­ Time slowly passed. It took almost three hours to finish the land dragons. It was around early morning that the number of land dragons slowly began to dwindle and the fight finally reached the conclusion. Crack! My sword killed the last nearby land dragon. I jumped onto its corpse and surveyed the surrounding. Damn, what am I doing? I have to clean up the battlefield. I¡¯m almost out of potions and consumables. If I don¡¯t make use of my 120-slot bag to make up for my losses, I¡¯ll be disappointed! I didn''t pick any gear drops. Monsters of this level would drop at most Silver-grade weapons. Anything below that wasn¡¯t even worth a glance. In fact, only the corpses in front of us yielded any loot. Monsters killed by NPCs wouldn¡¯t drop a thing. Otherwise, latecomers would be able to reap too much benefits! I quickly found 22 blood-red cards amid the big pile of spoils of war. Barring any surprises, they should be land dragon cards, and their buffs should be very strong¡ª Land Dragon Card: Increases user''s Attack by 18%, Defense by 7%, HP recovery by 100%. Duration: 60 minutes. Tsk tsk. Even without the 18% Attack and 7% Defense buffs, it doubled HP recovery. This alone made it OP. In synergy with my Regeneration of the Undead, its potential would reach even greater heights. This card was precisely what I needed for prolonged battles against swarms of enemies. If I got a few more of them, I could use my notorious choke point tactic to farm monsters without needing help from a priest. I could level up by myself! I was pleased, and put all the Land Dragon Cards into my bag. These were my own spoils. No one could touch them! I continued to look. The Phantasmal Magic Stones were not tempting at all. Primarily, I wanted to see if there were any worthwhile items. I wasn''t disappointed, and found some gems in the pile¡ª Snarling Skull War Boots: Level 80 Silver-grade. Defense 120, Strength +37, Stamina +41, Tactics +6 Broken Bone Wristguards: Level 80 Dark Steel¨Cgrade metal armor. Defense 95, Strength +45, Stamina +38. Increases user¡¯s max HP by 11% White Bone General Cape: Level 82 Silver-grade. Defense 124, Strength +41, Stamina +25, Tactics +9 Pathfinder War Boots: Level 80 Silver-grade metal armor. Defense 130, Strength +40, Agility +39, Tactics +5. Increases user¡¯s attack speed by 4% and attack power by 7% ¡­¡­ Quite a few items even. These Pathfinder War Boots were the best. 40 Strength, 39 Agility, 4% attack speed increase, and 7% attack power increase. On top of that, 5 Tactics. They were tailor-made for melee fighters that prioritized attack. Although they were only of the Silver grade, their stats were higher than at least half of Dark Gold¨Cgrade items of its level! At a conservative guess, these Pathfinder War Boots would be worth at least ten thousand gold! I looked and threw the Pathfinder War Boots into my bag. I was overjoyed. I had at least 70 good items in my bag. If I set up a stall in Floating Ice City, or threw them to the auction, I could get really rich, really quick. I would rely on these items to buy myself my own car in the Frost Cloud workshop! At this time, Lin Yixin, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and the other girls had finished cleaning up the battlefield. All of them wore enchanting smiles. There was no doubt that the 18 of us had split up numerous pieces of equipment, and each and every one of us had bags full of good items. It was up to luck who had gotten the best! "Lu Chen, see, isn''t my ring good? Level 80 Dark Steel¨Cgrade. Increases attack power by 5% and attack speed by 1%!¡± Lin Yixin showed me a ring. I showed her the Pathfinder War Boots. Lin Yixin: "..." Xu Yang laughed, holding a heavy sword. "Bro, look at this. I just picked it up. Level 80 Silver-grade Increases user¡¯s Attack by 8%, so strong!" I showed him the Pathfinder War Boots. Xu Yang: "..." Murong Mingyue held a shield and giggled. "Boy, look what this sister has picked up. This is the manifestation of luck and beauty. Level 80 Silver-grade. Increases user¡¯s Defense by 8%!" I showed her the Pathfinder War Boots. Murong Mingyue: "..." Chapter 293: Into the City As I vowed to guard the Pathfinder War Boots with my life, the last land dragons were being taken care of by the cavalry. However, the boss of this wave still hadn¡¯t appeared. The originally dignified Skull Castle was in tatters. The city walls were covered in scorch marks, and a large part of the walls had been turned to ruins by the spells of the undead magi. The two magi had to rest after casting their spells, their mana used up. No one knew how long it would take them to recover Gazing at the disheveled city walls, He Yi laughed. "Everyone, guess what will happen next?" Lin Yixin was bewildered. "What, the boss will appear?" I shook my head. "No, we will have to go into the city to find that Iron Skull General Wind Fury. He should be the top dog of Skull Castle, and will be very strong!" "Yes, yes~~" ¡­¡­ At this time, little princess Karinshan of Floating Ice City raised her sword in the distance. Facing the tattered walls, she shouted, "Go, take down Skull Castle!" Immediately, Sophia''s expression turned cold under the Violet Empire banner, and said, "Karinshan wants to steal the city?" Shadow Dance Xue Wei said, "What to do, Your Majesty?" "Send the order to attack the city!" Sophia''s face was full of determination. "Hmph, we cannot allow Skull Castle to fall into Karinshan''s hands. Otherwise, we will lose our last land to establish ourselves!" "Yes!" Xue Wei sent the order and the Shadow Dance Elite Cavalry charged toward the falling Skull Castle. Finally, the battle between the Blood Dance Legion and the Floating Ice City army was about to start! In Heavenblessed, the AI of the NPCs was very advanced. They were not like children. You give me candy? I give you candy. Good, we best friends forever now! At this time, when interests of their respective races were concerned, Sophia and Karinshan would fight over the city! ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin and He Yi looked at me and asked, "What to do?" Clang! I drew the Purgatory Sword and said, "Let''s get onto the city walls before the NPCs and see if there is anything we can get to first. Also, it would be best if we get the first dibs on the boss. This way, we may get some drops. If the NPCs kill it, we get nothing!" "Yes, let''s go!" Lin Yixin charged with her sword. Damn, the girl was too impulsive! He Yi and I were not willing to fall behind and also charged toward the city walls. A group of undead warriors had just built a wall-scaling ladder that was currently being used by some low-level NPC soldiers charging up the walls. Of course, archers of the Night Creatures wouldn¡¯t miss such a golden opportunity, so they rained arrows on the ascending warriors. Poked with many holes, the undead warriors fell down amid frantic screams. I raised my arm to block the arrows for the two girls as I kept a potion in my mouth. "WTF, why me first?" "Just because." He Yi''s gaze was determined. Lin Yixin glared at me and hesitated to speak. In the next moment, I understood. Oh, female player robes always revealed the legs. If the girls went ahead, and I was climbing under them, wouldn¡¯t the smallest gust of wind be enough for me to enjoy a beautiful scene? I looked at He Yi and Lin Yixin, and the two beauties were looking at me. My thoughts moving, I muttered inwardly to myself: Hmph, hmph, so what if you don''t let me see. I will see sooner or later, and in reality... As I thought, I shot up the ladder. A few steps later, thud thud thud! I facetanked three arrows that dealt 700 damage. It wasn¡¯t much, but the arrows¡¯ momentum was strong enough to make me fall down! Boom! I lay in the mud, sprawled out. I looked up. The two girls looked at me, trying to suppress their laughter. They looked like they would get an internal injury from holding it in. I then climbed up the ladder again. After a few steps, I was once again a porcupine and fell back to the ground. Damn, such an embarrassment! "Let''s wait..." I dusted off the mud and said, "Let''s wait for the NPCs to go up, and bear the brunt of the attack. It¡¯s so hard to go up now..." The two girls laughed. Lin Yixin smiled, and her chest trembled as well. She said to me, "I really thought that you were so strong you couldn''t be killed. And yet you were soundly defeated by some shitty Night Creature archers..." He Yi laughed softly. "Yeah, their attack power is so low too! Don¡¯t forget, you are clad fully in high-level metal armor!" My gaze turned cold. It appeared I couldn''t let the two girls look down at me! I turned around and stepped onto the ladder. Behind me, He Yi said, "Don''t be in a hurry, there is a NPC soldier on the ladder!" Who cared about him! I shot up, and stepped onto the waist of an NPC undead warrior. I stepped onto his shoulder with my left foot, and his hand gripping the ladder with my right foot. He screamed, and moved his limbs. I ignored it and stepped on his head to scale the city walls! At the top, I found three archers. Level 90 elites. They would be enough to torment Dominating Knight God, but weren¡¯t much against me. My 1165 Defense wasn¡¯t just for show. Each arrow would only deal 300 damage. It was nothing! Thousand Mirage Slash! The attack caused the swarm of archers to tremble, but also attracted all the aggro. Thankfully, there were a lot of Blood Dance Legion soldiers on the walls, so the aggro dispersed soon after. A few seconds later, two beautiful figures appeared on the walls. He Yi and Lin Yixin had come up. Lin Yixin charged with her sword, and killed two low-HP archers. Then she shouted, "Lu Chen and I will hold the surrounding monsters. Sister He Yi, summon the Firelight Mouse and burn the archers. If we secure the high ground, the base is as good as ours!" "Alright!" He Yi summoned the little mouse that started to exert power on the city walls. The dark archers screamed, bathed in fire. Soon, some other people charged up the city walls. Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, and Moon Dew appeared. Very good. Two priests. We could fight for a long time! Moon Dew instinctively locked onto me, and healed me first. I became even more unrestrained and attacked the archers. Everyone knew the range of archers was between 5¨C40 yards. They couldn''t shoot too far away and couldn''t pull their bow fully at a close distance. Therefore, Lin Yixin and I smartly kited around the archers. The dark archers'' attack was inconsequential to us. Murong Mingyue didn''t even heal us and used Hellish Rockfall. While her attack power couldn''t compare to the undead magi¡¯s spells, it was good for killing monsters! The four walls of Skull Castle were facing powerful attacks. The friendly players from the other eight main cities of the China server were fighting to be first, chanting ¡°for points, for women¡± as they charged up the walls, each of them fearless as they fought in the final battle of this war. On the city walls, I was fighting at all sides, and killed all the Night Creature archers nearby before having the chance to look around. I saw the city was empty. The land dragons, the Breakers and the other powerful dark beings had been sent out and killed, leaving behind just these archers. And now, even they were almost all dead. Three ear-splitting thuds sounded in the distance. Karinshan''s troops had pushed the three enormous beasts off the gate wheel. Skull Castle was slowly being taken over. I opened the war point ranking and felt proud. I was so great. The Frost Cloud workshop and Bloody Mercenaries were great too. In the Violet Empire reestablishment quest, we had pushed Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls toward the throne of Floating Ice City! Snowy Cathaya was likely the only one who could compete with us! NameLevelPointsBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand8882074Wind Fantasy8667456Murong Mingyue 8555859Beiming Xue 8642634From Water 8341947Luo River God of the Capital 8740217Purple Marquis8436362Clear Perfume8435284Shadow Chanel8434642Dominating Mage God 8120145 ¡­¡­ I continued to lead with a great advantage. Everything was due to Thousand Mirage Slash and Purgatory Slash, and the 20% splash effect of the Purgatory Sword! Lin Yixin and Murong Mingyue were behind me, and He Yi was also doing pretty well, right behind Beiming Xue. Of course, the greatest was Luo River God of the Capital. She had come late, and managed to reach the sixth place. High-level mages were too strong! Undoubtedly, I was the MVP of this quest. Now, we had to see if the best-case scenario would come true. That is, I kill the final boss. This way, my rewards would be even better, and I¡¯d be even more happy! ¡­¡­ Inside the city, a large group of players from Thunder City charged toward the main hall of the city. The final boss should be there if there were no surprises! He Yi said, "Let¡¯s go kill the boss?" I waved my hand. "No hurry. The boss isn¡¯t so easy to kill. Let''s go down the city and gather together. Who knows if these people from Thunder City won¡¯t stab us in the back!" "Okay!" Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, Purple Marquis, Shadow Chanel and the others gathered. We made a temporary party with me as the leader. We were the strongest boss-killing team. Of course, no one knew how powerful the final boss was. Maybe we wouldn¡¯t even be enough to take a bite. Who knew! At this time, there was a boom. A crack exploded in the main hall. A fierce sword energy broke through the air, slicing Skull Castle in half. On the path of the sword energy, the players from Thunder City were turned to dust, including that leading guild leader. No matter how strong, he couldn¡¯t block the boss''s attack! "Fuck..." Chapter 294: Earth’s Fury We got off the walls and gathered inside the city. No one dared to go further than that. Boom! A sword beam erupted from inside the great hall of Skull Castle again and sliced it into four separate pieces. The sinister-looking structure quickly crumbled into ruins. "Run, the boss is coming!" A Level 84 mage with an active Magic Shield shouted while he was running away from the ruins. Judging from the emblem on his shoulder, he was a player from Daybreak City and a guild leader no less. He and his guild members managed to enter the royal palace first, but the boss surprised everyone by exiting its own lair. As a result, they encountered the boss just as they were entering the great hall. Swhoosh! A blood-red sword energy blast hit the mage and the players surrounding him, tearing his Magic Shield apart and one-shotting all of them! ¡­¡­ "Fuck¡­" Xu Yang growled. "This is one OP boss!" He Yi took two steps backward and grabbed my wrist as if she was afraid that I would let my impulsiveness get to my head and get myself killed. She was overthinking things. The boss was clearly powerful, and I had neither the intention nor the confidence to tank it. At most, I might take advantage of the chaos around me to do something. Meanwhile, Lin Yixin was standing atop the edge of a shattered wall while surrounded by Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume, Shadow Chanel and other Snowy Cathaya experts. The Fruit Knife Goddess looked so impressive in her battle robes that a ton of players forgot their surroundings. Literally. I said that because some of them actually forgot to run away from the boss and got murdered by its destructive sword aura! A cold wind blew against our skin as a high-level undead general finally came into full view. He wore a craggy dragonskin armor that glowed, and a white cape behind his back. He wielded a translucent sword, and a black metal helmet covered his face completely. The imposing boss coldly stared at the invaders with his blood-red pupils. "Are you here to kill me, foolish human adventurers? Come at me then. My Arctic Storm will drink every last drop of your blood!" The boss roared and raised his weapon. The sword was probably the "Arctic Storm" he was talking about, and it seemed like a wind-based weapon. I had no doubt that it had insane attack speed, and it was at least a Purple Gold¨Cgrade weapon. How enviable! After we got close enough to the boss, its stats screen entered our vision¡ª Iron Skull General Wind Fury (Epic Rank Boss) Level: 100 Attack: 1320~1550 Defense: 1200 HP: 2400000 Skills: Nightmare Strangle, War Crush, Earth¡¯s Fury ¡­¡­ "Fuck¡­" I sucked in a deep breath and shuddered after I was done reading its stats screen. He was an Epic Rank boss, putting him above Dark Gold Rank and Purple Gold Rank bosses, and his stats reflected this rank well. Not even I was confident that I could take a strong hit with 1550 Attack behind it, not to mention that its health was a ludicrous 2.4 million HP. How could we possibly take this boss down? Stunned by what she was seeing, He Yi looked at me and asked, "What should we do?" Clearly, this was one of those bosses whose stats were available for view regardless of the level disparity. On another side, Xu Yang raised his weapon and growled, "It doesn¡¯t matter. Let¡¯s kill it and complete this quest already!" I glared at him. "You¡¯ll die if you go now." "But¡­" Xu Yang gritted his teeth. "What should we do then?" "We wait for an opportunity to present itself." "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Just because we chose to wait didn¡¯t mean that everyone else had arrived at the same conclusion. A group of ten thousand players poured in from the north of Skull Castle and charged fearlessly toward the boss under the command of three guild leaders. Their emblems marked them as players from Samgharama City. The first guild leader wielding a battle axe shouted on top of his lungs, "Strike fearlessly my brothers, for your brave charge will earn a valuable attack opportunity for the rest of your comrades! For the honor of our guild and our mission as warriors, charge!" The second guild leader wielding a bow also shouted, "We will not be underestimated by the players of Floating Ice City and Dawn City! Let this battle be the battle that spreads the tale of our absolute strength to the world! Once the super cities officially open, the warriors of Samgharama City shall unite as one and conquer Heavenblessed together!" The boss was glaring at us at the beginning, but he looked like even he couldn¡¯t stand the sheer arrogance of the players from Samgharama City. He turned around angrily and fired a sword aura at them! Bang! The sword aura traveled a ridiculous distance and slaughtered every player in its path, but that was just the beginning. After counter-charging and landing in the middle of the unfortunate group of players, he hit the ground with its sword and discharged a wave of lightning attack, killing everything within a 5-yard radius. Again, not one person was able to survive the powerful skill! My jaw was about to hit the floor. That stupidly long-ranged attack seemed to be the boss''s unique trait, and the skill he used to kill that group of players was the close-range AoE skill, "War Crush¡±. This motherfucker was ridiculously OP, and he was just an Epic Rank boss. I would probably give up and head home already if he was a Divine Rank boss. ¡­¡­ The black-armored undead general swung his wind-based sword and slaughtered the players to his heart¡¯s content. His attack speed was insane, and the cooldown on War Crush was only 7 seconds. Every time the boss used it, any player within 5 yards was instantly torn into pieces by a burst of thunder and lightning. The skill truly deserved its name! Lin Yixin stared wide-eyed at the boss for a moment before murmuring, "What an insane boss. Look at its DPS, it¡¯s going through those players like a lawn mower¡­" I nodded. "Yeah, let¡¯s wait a bit longer before we jump in¡­" "Mn." Not far away, Queen Sophia of the Blood Dance Legion was holding the Devil Suppressing Sword with her right hand and the Devil Suppressing Stone with her left hand. A bit of killing intent peeked out from behind her eyes as she stared sternly at Wind Fury. On the other side, Princess Karinshan was sitting atop a white warhorse beneath the banner of the Silver Moon Alliance. Her eyes looked as calm as water, but the elite cavalry troops around her were clearly waiting for her command. One word, and they would charge and attack Wind Fury until they drew their last breath. Of course, none of the NPCs had made a move yet, probably because it was a rule set by the system. If the players really couldn¡¯t deal with the boss, then the NPCs would take over and defeat it. Otherwise, it would be sad as fuck if the NPCs got all the loot, and the players got nothing. Unfortunately, it looked like the player faction was going to disappoint Sophia and Karinshan. As of now, it looked like no one could threaten Iron Skull General Wind Fury, in the slightest! Despite having sacrificed a massive number of frontliners to buy time for the backliners to do damage, the results were heartbreaking to say the least. The boss had a whopping 1200 Defense, so most of the archers dealt less than 10 damage per hit. Those who did more than that could be considered super experts already. The mages fared slightly better, but even their strongest single-target spell, Ice Dragon Howl, couldn¡¯t do more than 50 points of damage. The boss had both amazing Defense and Magic Resist! ¡­¡­ "Lowly adventurers, you will be reincarnated in the depths of hell! Now accept the embrace of the great Night Creatures!" Wind Fury let out a roar and flew into the sky all of a sudden. Hovering in the air, he raised the bloody sword and surrounded it with bloody flames. The longer the boss charged it, the greater the pressure we felt from the weapon. The boss was clearly preparing his ultimate move! When he finally gathered enough energy to make the Arctic Storm look like a mini red sun, Wind Fury shouted and thrusted its weapon into the ground! Swhoosh! The energy-filled sword plunged into the ground like a nuclear bomb dropped on the place where the players were gathered. Everything within 200 meters of the sword started crumbling as an unbelievable amount of energy started erupting from underground. The ground shook like it was the prelude to the apocalypse! Earth¡¯s Fury! A chain of explosions began as the sky darkened, and the earth wailed like evil spirits. Countless Samgharama City players turned white in shock as the earth beneath their feet cracked apart and covered them in flames! 5836! 8643! 9044! ¡­¡­ The devastating damage one-shot absolutely everything within his range. The skill damage was based on the user¡¯s Attack, which was why it was incredibly deadly in the hands of Wind Fury. If Murong Mingyue was the one who executed this skill, then it might not be powerful enough to kill even a chicken! The entire northern square of Skull Castle was blasted into rubble. Over ten thousand players were annihilated in just the blink of an eye. This Epic Rank boss had single-handedly all but wiped out almost every player from Samgharama City! Everyone was stunned and pissing their pants after witnessing the boss''s insane power. For a time, no one dared to enter its range and draw its wrath again! It was time. I pulled out the Purgatory Sword steadily and smiled. "Eve, Yiyi, Mingyue, Moon Dew, it¡¯s our turn now!" He Yi and Lin Yixin followed me closely as I walked toward the boss. Murong Mingyue asked, "Isn¡¯t this just suicide? How are we going to beat a boss like that?" I replied, "Do you want super equipment or not? If your answer is yes, then join us. If your answer is no, then you won¡¯t get even a hair when it¡¯s over¡­" Murong Mingyue finally stopped hesitating and jogged after us, her robes flying and her chest bouncing up and down. The incredibly erotic scene alone could suffocate a lesser man! Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Purple Marquis, Shadow Chanel, and everyone else also followed us toward the boss. This was the final battle. If we succeeded, then some of us would benefit greatly from the loot. If we failed, then at least we died together! ¡­¡­ A bunch of other tier 2 cities¡¯ players continued to watch from afar while we were approaching the boss. They all wore astonished looks on their faces. "Hey look! Aren¡¯t those the famous expert players from Floating Ice City?" "Yeah, I see Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Wind Fantasy, From Water, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and Purple Marquis! Do you think they can beat the boss?" Chapter 295: Invincible We walked up to the low-leveled leader of the Night Creatures, Iron Skull General Wind Fury, until we were less than ten steps away from him. His back was facing toward us, but his fluttering white cape, craggy dragonskin armor and the air cyclones swirling beneath his feet still put immense pressure on us. In that moment, I even felt an illogical, subconscious urge to look up to this boss, as if it was a great figure of sorts. Rustle rustle... Wind Fury abruptly turned around and glared at us with his bloody eyes. ¡°Are you here to die as well?¡± ¡­¡­ The question caught Lin Yixin off-guard, but she clenched her teeth and activated Charge immediately. ¡°So what if we are!?¡± Swhoosh! I hurriedly activated my own Charge because I couldn¡¯t let her fight the boss alone. But all our efforts accomplished were two beautiful MISSes. His level was so high he was immune to our CC! Surging with killing intent, Wind Fury slashed Lin Yixin right across the shoulder! Pu! A shocking amount of blood entered my vision, and I knew immediately that Lin Yixin had suffered a grievous blow! 4107! What a monster! Lin Yixin only had around 4500 HP, but the boss still nearly one-shot her with a basic attack! It was so powerful that it almost contradicted all logic! ¡°Die!¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s pretty little face almost turned purple when the boss swung its sword at her a second time. However, a golden light suddenly paralyzed it right before it could hit her! It was the Paralysis Ring showing its true power. Although the boss could ignore skills¡¯ CC components through sheer stats, it couldn¡¯t ignore passive combat effects such as paralysis. I seized the opportunity to fire an Ice Ray! Pu! 1765! I felt like crying when I saw the pitiful amount of damage I did. If even I, with my impressive attack power, could only do so much, then it was no wonder those pitiful archers couldn¡¯t do more than 10 damage! I heard two twangs behind me, and two arrows plunged into the boss¡¯s body. It was Beiming Xue¡¯s Freezing Arrow, a skill that could reduce the boss¡¯s movement speed by a significant margin. However, since our opponent was an Epic Rank boss, the slow debuff was reduced by at least 70%! Wind Fury glared fiercely at me. The instant the paralysis effect vanished, it immediately raised the Arctic Storm into the air and slashed the ground apart with reddish power! The earth trembled as lightning surged toward me. It was yet another War Crush! War Crush¡¯s range was 5 yards, and it was impossible to dodge because it had a channeling time of 0.5 seconds at most! I might be able to move 2 to 3 yards in 0.5 seconds, but 5? It was literally impossible. Stance¡ªGuard! Bang bang bang! The thunderous triple-hit attack made me feel like my body was being torn apart. At the same time, three damage numbers appeared above my head¡ª 1208! 567! 1004! ¡­¡­ Fuck, I lost that much HP even after guarding. No wonder even those Level 85 magic knights had dropped like flies! The boss¡¯s attack power is seriously fucking insane! My head flashed twice with holy light as Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew healed me, but I was only alarmed by their actions. Guard reset aggro, and heals were very ¡°attention-grabbing¡± to say the least! They¡¯re in danger! It was as I had predicted. The boss immediately gave up on me and charged toward Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew instead! Swhoosh! He Yi activated Charge and blocked the boss¡¯s path. It was impossible to tell if she was confident or nervous, but she tried to delay the boss by zigzagging twice in front of it. Her movement was inexperienced and unpracticed, but she still managed to delay the boss by around 1 second! Lin Yixin finally arrived at the boss¡¯s side and plunged her dagger into his dantian, eyes gleaming with the power of Moon Gaze. Even I felt pain just staring at the powerful attack! 3074! Extreme Break was as powerful as before, it seemed! The aggro was now transferred to Lin Yixin, but she wasn¡¯t strong enough to defend against its attack. I fearlessly ran up to the boss and executed Pardon + Desperate Gambit combo! MISS! 11054! Very good, a critical hit at a critical moment! So far I was thoroughly enjoying my good karma, not to mention that Pardon on its own was amazing at taunting any enemy. If the skill name wasn¡¯t enough of an explanation, just imagine someone pardoning you for your sins and then stabbing you in the back at your weakest moment. It would be more strange if such a disgusting skill didn¡¯t generate a huge amount of aggro. Of course, the boss¡¯s retaliatory strike was no less deadly than my own. It had hit me with Nightmare Strangle, a ghastly skill that dealt 50% extra damage to all living players. But of course, I was an Asura of the undead race. It wouldn¡¯t be able to crush me as easily as it did to the poor players earlier... Thud! The skill left a scorching pain across my head and dealt 3764 damage! Not letting up on the offense, I continued to throw out every skill in my repertoire¡ªSlayer Slash, Ice Ray, everything¡ªso as to keep the boss completely focused on me. If an OT were to happen again, the priests might not be so lucky as to escape death a second time. When that happens, it¡¯s GG. ¡°Glug!¡± I chugged a health potion and kept fighting! Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, Purple Marquis and the rest also surrounded the boss and did their thing for a time! ¡°Argh! You are courting death!¡± Wind Fury suddenly shouted and unleashed War Crush again! ¡°Guard!¡± I shouted, but it was too late. He Yi was the only one who guarded in time because she knew from the start that she was unsuited to be a damage dealer. Unlike He Yi, Purple Marquis had pretty good damage, but he couldn¡¯t withstand the War Crush. He slowly collapsed to the ground and died under the powerful lightning strike! Xu Yang fared even worse. He barely managed to say ¡°Fuck!¡± before he turned into a cold, lifeless corpse as well. Gui Guzi survived the longest out of all of them. He had the highest HP, and he had Undying Shield, so¡ª 4054! +1621! 5248! +2099! 5427! ¡­¡­ His Undying Shield was Rank 8 now, so 40% of the damage he took was converted into HP. Unfortunately, despite having almost 8000 HP, he ultimately wasn¡¯t tanky enough to withstand the full barrage of War Crush. He too shouted ¡°Fuck your sister!¡± before collapsing to the ground! Nearly all of our fighters in our party were killed by that one attack. Only Lin Yixin, He Yi and I had survived the attack. He Yi was still doing okay, but Lin Yixin was low on health and had to run back to her priest again after dishing out one last Extreme Break! I couldn¡¯t but shout, ¡°Eve, Yiyi, just stay at the sidelines for now! That War Crush is too powerful, so it¡¯s best if I tank it alone! If I happen to OT, then the two of you absolutely have to keep it busy until I drag the aggro back to myself with Pardon! This is the only way we might have a chance to kill the boss!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± The girls nodded obediently in unison and flooded my heart with pride. Who wouldn¡¯t be if they successfully made the two most famous guild leaders in Floating Ice City obey their command? Of course, that was only because my order was correct. If I made an error in judgment, it was entirely possible that the beauties would turn me into a sky lantern and light me on fire instead. At the very least, Beauty Lin had been looking for an opportunity to do just that for quite some time now. ¡­¡­ While I was fighting, He Yi walked to a group of nearby players and raised her sword into the air. She said, ¡°I am the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Is there any priest who would like to join us?¡± At least 20 priests were shaken by her offer. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was pretty famous these days even on the national scale, especially since the legendary CGL Hall of Famer, Falling Dust, had returned to the guild. The guilds that were on the rise always had the most interesting stories to tell, and plenty of people were tempted by the opportunity to be part of that legend! At least dozens of priests requested to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls immediately. The rest declined because they knew that their levels were too low. He Yi wasted no time in adding all 27 priests into Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Then, she said, ¡°Right now, Lu Chen is fighting the boss alone. All you need to do is to heal him from afar. If you run out of Magic Consumables, tell me and I¡¯ll provide you with some!¡± The priests immediately nodded and followed our beautiful guild leader to the frontline. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh inside my head. What a smart girl! I thought she had gone away to recruit a couple of experts to help me, but no, she only recruited priests to heal me! It was in fact the right call. I could tank the boss as long as the priests kept healing me, and as long as I didn''t die, killing it shouldn¡¯t be too big of a problem. Moreover, there were so many priests that the aggro would be all over the place, meaning that it was actually easier to keep the boss¡¯s attention on me. The moment the healing began, holy light flushed my body and kept me above 50% at all times. It was fun as hell to have 29 priests doing everything in their power to keep me alive. Suddenly, I was reminded of the classic formation of 1 heavy armor player at the frontline and 9 priests in the back. I finally got to experience the legendary and invincible 10-0-0 formation myself! While I was bathing in holy light, Lin Yixin pulled another twenty or so priests into the party to heal me! Now it was impossible for the boss to one-shot me unless it crit me twice in a row! Oh shit, it could one-shot me if it crit me twice in a row. Shivering with apprehension, I hurriedly produced a card from my bag! Root Protector Card: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 45%. Duration: 30 minutes. ¡­¡­ The card was one of the boss drops at Hundred Flower Valley. I had stolen this particular loot for myself without telling anyone. Now that I thought about it, it was a rather shameful thing to do, wasn¡¯t it? Swhoosh! The card flew into the air and increased my total HP to 7126. Now I had enough health to tank a couple of basic attacks or even survive a War Crush without Guard¡­ probably. Oh well, not like I''ll test if my calculations are correct. Better safe than sorry! Chapter 296: Nine Great Sovereigns Twenty-seven minutes passed by in the blink of an eye. The battle was still ongoing because the boss had over 2 million HP, and this was despite Beiming Xue and Shadow Chanel helping me from the backline. If I had to fight this boss alone, it could easily take more than an hour. Max HP wasn¡¯t that big of a problem here, passive HP regen was! Suddenly, something changed! Wind Fury leaped into the sky and raised his bloody sword, bloody flames surrounding it and waves of energy pressing down on our shoulders like a mountain. The cooldown on the boss''s ridiculously broken skill, Earth¡¯s Fury, had finally finished! "Fuck!" My eyes widened, but I couldn¡¯t say anything. Should I run? It would be a futile attempt. Its range was simply too high. There was nowhere for me to escape at all! We all witnessed how devastating Earth¡¯s Fury was earlier. The girls were all opening their mouths in shock and despair. "Is it over? In the end, an Epic Rank boss is too much for us¡­" Lin Yixin lowered her Moonlight Sword and bowed her proud head. If even the Fruit Knife Goddess had given up, what could the rest of the players possibly do? Beiming Xue ran to the bottom of the boss and fired an Evil Spirit Volley in hopes of interrupting its ultimate skill. However, she was a Level 86 archer, and Wind Fury was a Level 100 Epic Rank boss. Her last ditch effort was destined to end in failure. MISS! MISS! MISS! ¡­¡­ The girl stared at the boss with equal frustration and despair. It was a cruel and despairing sight to say the least. He Yi hadn¡¯t given up yet. She summoned a shield to her left hand and stood in front of Murong Mingyue. It looked like she was hoping to guard the boss''s ultimate attack. Shadow Chanel, Moonlight Stone, Moon Dew and the rest of the girls didn¡¯t even bother using a defensive skill. They simply gave in to despair and waited for the boss to kill them. Shadow Chanel: "I can¡¯t believe it¡¯s going to end like this. I just can¡¯t accept it¡­" Beauty Pure Love buffed me with a Death Match before saying, "Take care, Lu Chen. I¡¯ll see you later¡­" I shook my head helplessly. "Thank you, but it¡¯s no use. No one can survive Earth¡¯s Fury¡­" ¡­¡­ The world was dark, and everyone was feeling like they had hit rock bottom. No one liked to wait for death to overcome them. Suddenly, a bolt of red lightning cut through the sky and hit Wind Fury with meteoric power! Even more shocking was the fact that the impact had canceled Wind Fury¡¯s ultimate skill and sent it crashing into the ground like a cannonball! "Heavens, what is that?" ¡­¡­ "Xin¡­ Xinran. Is that you?" I murmured in astonishment. I hadn¡¯t seen Xinran ever since the contract between us had been dissolved, but she should¡¯ve returned to full health after the Frost Snowball quest, and from the looks of it she was a lot stronger than the last time I saw her. No way she could¡¯ve interrupted Wind Fury¡¯s ultimate skill and knocked him to the ground otherwise. When Xinran¡¯s gaze matched mine, she bit her lips a bit unnaturally before whispering, "Are¡­ are you doing well?" I nodded while lowering the Purgatory Sword. I was going to Guard and heal myself with Tenacity of the Dead and an HP potion when Earth Fury hit me. I never gave up until the last moment; it was my biggest principle when fighting bosses and other players. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment the sorry-looking Wind Fury burst out of the ground he had been knocked to, got up to its feet and stared at Xinran with cold, hateful eyes. It growled, "Wind Singer! It is you, traitor of the Hell Shrine and shame of the Purgatory!" Xinran looked at Wind Fury indifferently before replying, "Silence, you filthy creature. How can I betray something that I never cared about one bit in the first place? And who do you think you are to criticize my actions? There is only one law in the Purgatory, and that is survival of the fittest. And as far as I¡¯m concerned, you aren¡¯t fit to survive today!" "Pooh!" Wind Fury spat on the ground furiously before saying, "You think you can beat me? Hahaha! You were wounded by Lord Lin Na and the Sovereigns, and you had to seal away your own power to escape Bing Lan¡¯s detection when you passed through the cracks of hell and escaped into the Heavenblessed Continent. Do you really think you¡¯re still the terror you used to be?" Xinran sneered, "You will know that very soon, won¡¯t you?" Xinran gently dropped to the ground in front of me and lowered her spear. She then asked me quietly, "Would you like to kill Wind Fury with your own hands?" I was surprised. Was she offering me the boss¡¯s loot and experience? This is wonderful! "Mn!" "Then let us kill him together!" "Okay!" I stayed behind Xinran as I gripped my sword tighter. Xinran was the main striker here, not me, not to mention that the priests behind me were too stunned by the sudden change of events to heal me. There was no way I could survive 10 seconds in Wind Fury¡¯s hands without healing, and that was with me overestimating my abilities! Xinran ran toward Wind Fury and plunged her spear right through the boss''s chest. A ridiculous damage number popped above its head¡ª 290774! Hah, this is why I love NPC battles. Every strike felt like it could be the last! However, Wind Fury let out a sinister laugh and gripped the shaft of the spear with his gauntlet. Then, he moved closer, grabbed the loli and swung his sword at her! He wasn¡¯t a general of Hell for nothing! Swhoosh! The Arctic Storm hit only an afterimage, however. Somehow, Xinran had reappeared behind Wind Fury, grabbed the blade of spear and pulled it through the general¡¯s chest just like the time she fought Cardilla! Not only that, the entire spear was covered in tiny wind blades, and they cut a literal bowl-sized hole in his chest! It was an amazing amount of damage! "Heh, Wind Singer!" Wind Fury abruptly spun around and swung his sword downward in War Crush. At the same time, he shouted, "Wind Shackle!" Swhoosh! A magical rune suddenly appeared beneath Xinran¡¯s feet. It turned into many arm-sized wind dragons that wrapped around her! "Oh?" Xinran couldn¡¯t help but laugh. "You¡¯re trying to beat me with wind, Wind Fury?" Xinran stretched her body, puffed up her awesome chest and disintegrated the power holding her down completely. Then, bloody eyes brimming with pride at her own strength, she raised her left hand and summoned the exact same type of power! "Wind Dragon Break!" The powerful attack turned Wind Fury¡¯s right arm into bits. I felt a ripple in my heart as the sword clattered on the ground. Hell yeah! I wonder if it is a Divine-grade weapon! "Now is the time!" Xinran shouted at me as killing intent burned deep within her eyes. Wind Fury¡¯s HP had dropped to the red, and his right arm had been crushed by Xinran. There was no better time to kill him than now! I rushed forward and swung the Purgatory Sword at his neck! Pardon + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 9043! Not dead yet? One more basic attack! 4084! Wind Fury¡¯s Defense had been shredded so much that two hits were all it took to remove the last chunk of his HP! "Aaahh¡­" Wind Fury screamed as he slowly collapsed to his knees. Eyes overflowing with hatred and reluctance, he shouted, "Wind Singer, you will answer for your sins and be punished! Lord Lin Na and Lady Sophie will avenge me! Watch as the vengeful flames of hell turn every corner of this continent into dust, Xinran!" Xinran replied calmly, "Rest in peace. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." ¡­¡­ Xinran¡¯s parting words to Wind Fury turned out to be true because the hell general¡ªeven his sword, the Arctic Storm¡ªliterally turned into dust right after she said that. It pained me deeply to see such a powerful weapon scattering into nothing, but at least the boss dropped some loot! I rushed forward and grabbed everything. There were too many players around here, and I wasn¡¯t going to risk an assassin stealing them. That would be a real tragedy. ¡­¡­ At the same time, a melodious ring resounded throughout Floating Ice City¡ªno, wait, the entire China server! Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" for successfully killing Iron Skull War General Wind Fury! 10000 points are awarded to the player! Skull Castle has fallen, and the major questline [Reestablishment of the Violet Empire] is a success! Therefore, the three tier 1 cities of the China server will be unlocked! The server will enter maintenance in 30 minutes that will last until tomorrow noon. Moreover, we are announcing the warm-up Night Creature faction patch update, ¡°Nine Sovereigns of the Night Creatures¡±¡ª Lin Na the Purgatory Ruler Sophie the Snow Minstrel Linda the Whisperer Ovia the Bloody Finger Opero the Nightwalker Strela the Dark Magma Coldblade the Infinite Storm Skullblood the Earth Devourer Thunder the Blade of Death ¡­¡­ Everyone was overwhelmed by the sudden news for a time. A new patch was coming, and the tier 1 cities¡ªSky City, Wind City and Vanished God City¡ªwere about to be opened! I couldn¡¯t wait! The opening of the tier 1 cities meant that player shops, guild territories and other popular as hell systems would be introduced as well. The age of conquerors was right around the corner! ¡­¡­ Chapter 297: Obsidian Dragonscale Armor I opened my bag. Wind Fury had dropped a total of five items: a resplendent dagger, a cape with metal linings and snowflakes floating around it, a black metal armor, a fiery red cloth armor helmet, a black, round egg, but I had no idea what it was. On top of that, it dropped two skill books and dozens of Purple Crystals. This Epic Rank boss dropped us a ton of items! Lin Yixin, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue, Shadow Chanel, Luo River God of the Capital approached me from behind. Our party was overflowing with yin energy because all the guys such as Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, Purple Marquis and so on were dead. I was literally the last male in the party. "What did the boss drop?" Lin Yixin could barely suppress her excitement. "An Epic Rank boss had to drop a Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment, right? It had to!" I nodded. "Let¡¯s hope so!" I took a moment to check the party list before saying, "So, we only have 3 melee fighters, 1 archer, 3 priests, and 2 mages left in the party?" "That¡¯s right! Besides the three of us, everyone else is a cloth-armor class," Lin Yixin said with a wink, although she really didn¡¯t need to. The boss had dropped two metal armors, and they were definitely going to me, Lin Yixin or He Yi. Those who weren¡¯t in the party didn¡¯t fall under our consideration, of course. It was one thing to share the loot of an elite mob and another to share the super loot of a Level 100 Epic Rank boss. At that point it was no longer generosity, but sheer idiocy! ¡­¡­ We formed a circle as I took out the first item. It was a resplendent straight dagger surrounded by cold energy and killing intent. I had no doubt that it was a high-grade weapon, and as expected, the girls¡¯ jaws hit the floor when I brought up its stats screen¡ª Heavenstealer (Purple Gold, Outstanding¡ï) Attack: 240~455 Strength: +60 Agility: +55 Passive: Increases user¡¯s attack power by 11% Passive: Ignores 30% of target¡¯s Defense Outstanding Property: 25% chance to activate "Heavenstealer" and steal a buff from the target Level: 90 ¡­¡­ "Fuck! An Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade weapon?!" I exclaimed in shock as my eyes turned as wide as saucers. You call this a dagger? This shit was as powerful as my 3-star Outstanding Purgatory Sword, and it ignored 30% of the target¡¯s Defense! You could literally use it as a sword and it wouldn¡¯t make a difference! I checked the party list again. Everyone else besides Lin Yixin, He Yi and I were cloth-armor or leather-armor classes, meaning that this dagger was useless to them. I shot Lin Yixin a sideways glance and noticed that Lin Yixin was beaming at me. At the same time, she put her left hand on my shoulder and her right hand on her sword. Was this the Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯s so-called attempt at seduction? Thus, I shot the crowd a sweeping glance before saying, "This Heavenstealer is pretty good, and Beauty Wind Fantasy is the only one out of us who uses a dagger. I don¡¯t think we need to roll for this. Do you?" Everyone except Luo River God of the Capital nodded immediately. They were either Ancient Sword Dreaming Sword guild members or Snowy Cathaya guild members after all. Completely outnumbered, the mage had no choice but to nod. "Sure, no problem¡­" Lin Yixin immediately grabbed the Heavenstealer and played with it like she had found a new toy. "You have no idea how much Attack this dagger gives me, Lu Chen. Hehe, I can feel myself growing stronger¡­" I shot her a look. "It couldn¡¯t possibly give you more Attack than the Moonlight Sword, right? It¡¯s only 11% after all!" "That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong!" Lin Yixin giggled. "A few days ago, I did a quest called ¡®Equipment Sharing¡¯. Thanks to that, I can now equip a sword and a dagger at the same time. This means that I¡¯m getting bonuses from both the weapons!" "WTF!" I was stunned. If what she said was true, then she was close to being completely broken. The dagger increased her attack power by 11% and her Strength by 60, the ultimate stat all melee warriors dreamed of getting! The next equipment I pulled out was the cape with snowflakes on it. Its stats screen appeared in the air¡ª Snow Domain Cloak (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Defense: 225 Magic Resist: 180 Stamina: +52 Agility: +45 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 4% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Resist by 12% Level Requirement: 90 ¡­¡­ Mn, not bad at all. Although it didn¡¯t give any Strength, its passives increased one¡¯s Defense by 4% and Magic Resist by 12%. It was an amazing boost to any fighter¡¯s survivability! I looked at my Skydusk Cloak and noted that it was in no way inferior to this Snow Domain Cloak, so I said, "My cloak is better, so, you and Yiyi should roll for this, Eve!" "Mn!" The two girls nodded and rolled the dice. A few seconds later, Lin Yixin was the proud owner of a new Dark Gold¨Cgrade cloak. She was barely holding in her bursting joy because she didn¡¯t want to make He Yi angry. I moved on to the third item. This one was a black metal armor with craggy edges at the front; probably the very same chest armor Wind Fury was wearing. I loved deadly-looking designs like these. I waved a hand across the equipment, and the girls¡¯ jaws hit the floor again. Obsidian Dragonscale Armor (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï) Defense: 325 Magic Resist: 280 Strength: +65 Stamina: +62 Tactics: +17 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 14% Passive: Increases user¡¯s resistance to ice-based magic by 27% Outstanding Property: Absorbs 10% damage taken as health Gender Requirement: Male Level Requirement: 90 ¡­¡­ My heart stopped beating for a second. A super armor! A super armor is here! Even if I were to pretend that the Obsidian Dragonscale Armor¡¯s Outstanding Property was the only thing going for it, being able to absorb 10% damage taken as health was still amazing as hell. Moreover, it gave me a total of 127 stats, 17% Defense and 27% resistance to ice magic! All these stat boosts and passives were pretty godlike already, but the item also came with 17 Tactics! But what really made me snicker on the inside was that the equipment had a gender requirement. Let me see¡­ oh well, seems like I¡¯m the only male in this party, muahahaha! I did everything in my power to hold in my laughter. Remember, Lu Chen, a professional player is calm at all times! Standing side by side, Lin Yixin and He Yi stared at me for a moment before saying in perfect unison, "Just laugh if you want to. What¡¯s the point of holding it in and giving yourself internal injuries?" "Cough cough cough¡­" I sucked in a deep breath before looking at everyone. "So, can I take this? We don¡¯t need to roll for this, right?" Luo River God of the Capital nodded. "Of course. You are the one who tanked and dealt the most damage to the boss, and logically the best reward should go to the best player of the fight. Hehe, the system is fair this time!" "Yeah!" The level requirement for the Obsidian Dragonscale Armor was Level 90, and I wouldn¡¯t be able to equip it for now. It wasn¡¯t a problem though. When the quest rewards were distributed, I should hit Level 90 without any problems! It was time to check the fourth item. This one was a fiery red cloth-armor helmet¡ª Blazing Crown (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Defense: 128 Magic Resist: 95 Intelligence: +52 Stamina: +48 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 7% Level Requirement: 90 ¡­¡­ It was an amazing cloth-armor equipment. Most helmets didn¡¯t give offensive stats, and 7% was over the expected average. Whoever got this would definitely be one happy mage. So I said, "This is a mage equipment, so we can exclude the priests. Would the two of you like to roll for this?" Luo River God of the Capital and Shadow Chanel nodded. One moment later, Luo River God of the Capital claimed her prize, leaving Lin Yixin to console a sad, sad Shadow Chanel. The fifth item wasn¡¯t really an equipment drop, but a black, round egg. No one was sure what it was, but our astonishment was no less greater than before when I brought up its tooltip¡ª Snow Domain Windchaser (Purple Gold Rank Mount, Pet Egg): A kind of warhorse that is frequently sighted at Snow Domain, it possesses incredible drought resistance and tenacity. As it usually avoids human settlements, not many people have seen it on the continent. It increases the rider¡¯s attack power. Level Requirement: 100. Class Requirement: Wanderer, Magic Knight. ¡­¡­ "WTF, a Purple Gold Rank mount?" I murmured in a daze. Lin Yixin and He Yi were beaming like the sun. Out of everyone who was present, they were the only two players who were qualified to roll for the Snow Domain Windchaser. Its name alone identified it as an amazing mount. I could already imagine how cool someone would look to ride it. I groaned in my head. Lin Yixin was a Wanderer, and He Yi was a Magic Knight. It so happened that both these classes were granted the ability to equip mounts faster than any other classes. As for me? I was just a lowly foot soldier. When will I be able to equip a mount of my own, I wonder? "Well, let¡¯s roll for it. Whoever rolls the highest score gets the pet egg!" "Mn!" The girls nodded and rolled the dice. A second later, He Yi walked away with a silly grin on her face. As it turned out, the system was fair. Lin Yixin had already obtained the Heavenstealer and the Snow Domain Cloak, so this Snow Domain Windchaser went to He Yi instead. ¡­¡­ Now that the five items were all distributed, it was time to look at the skill books! That¡¯s right, there were two of them! Heavens above, please give me a powerful skill! Apparently the heavens did hear my plea, because the purple skill book I unveiled first was so good I could faint¡ª War Crush: Attack the ground with your weapon and cause a small earthquake and lightning burst. Damages all enemies within a 5-yard radius three times. Cooldown: 7 seconds. Level Requirement: 90. Class Requirement: Warrior. ¡­¡­ Holy shit! It¡¯s Wind Fury¡¯s signature move, War Crush! Everyone had witnessed the powerful skill in action just a moment ago. The two girls were speechless for a time. Lin Yixin: "Sister He Yi, does Wanderer count as Warrior?" He Yi shook her head. "Nope. Does Magic Knight count as Warrior?" Lin Yixin also shook her head. Chapter 298: Milky Way Bow That¡¯s right, out of all the fighters in the party, I¡¯m the one true warrior because Swordsman was a subclass of Warrior, and by extension, the Undead Swordsman class was as well. Lin Yixin was a Light Wanderer, and He Yi was a Magic Knight. They might be melee fighters, but they weren¡¯t actual warriors. I clutched the War Crush skill book and said, "This is mine too¡­" The girls, the priests, the mages and the archers all looked depressed. Wind Fury was a metal armor boss, and most of the equipment he dropped had nothing to do with them. Of course they weren¡¯t going to be satisfied with the loot. Murong Mingyue said sadly, "Sigh, it looks like I¡¯m not going to get anything this time." I shook my head. "Nah, did you forget about the war point reward?" Oh right, there was another purple skill book that I hadn¡¯t checked yet. The moment I brought up its stats screen, the girls immediately gaped at it in shock. We got lucky this time¡ª Grip of the Compassionate: Heal a target 3 times in a row. Each consecutive heal is 40%~60% more effective than the last. 10 second cooldown. Level Requirement: 80. Class Requirement: Priest ¡­¡­ Murong Mingyue¡¯s eyes lit up immediately. Ask, and ye shall receive! This "Grip of the Compassionate" was absolutely one of the greatest single-target healing spells a priest could have. A priest¡¯s value lies in their Healing Per Second, HPS, especially the main healer of a powerful MT! Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew rolled for the loot, and the score was 99 points versus 14 points. Murong Mingyue happily took the skill book and learned it immediately! ¡­¡­ While they were having fun, I brought up the quest list and noted that the ranking was still there¡ª NameLevelPointsBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand8885423Wind Fantasy8669042Murong Mingyue8556634Beiming Xue8647654From Water8344767Luo River God of the Capital8744364Purple Marquis8437657Clear Perfume8436284Shadow Chanel8436114Dominating Mage God81 20145 ¡­¡­ It was the same ten players I had seen the last time. The only thing that changed was their order. There was a countdown happening in the system window. Moreover, Princess Sophia had just arrived at the ruined great hall of Skull Castle and plunged the Devil Suppressing Sword into the ground with a shout. The earth immediately started shaking, and the weather grew turbulent again. Dark clouds covered the sky, occasionally torn apart by thick bolts of lightning. Whoosh whoosh whoosh... This cursed land was destined to be saved, and the wielder of the Devil Suppressing Sword, Sophia, would undoubtedly become its new master! At the distance, Princess Karinshan of Floating Ice City gripped her sword and stared at Sophia with steely determination. She was about to walk toward Sophia when she suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked above her! "Ah¡­" Karinshan hastily took a few steps backward and she stared fearfully at the beautiful figure staring down on her from the sky. It was none other than Xinran herself. "You are the princess from Floating Ice City. I¡¯ve heard of you. This is the land of the Violet Empire, so it belongs to its royal descendants as a matter of course. Sophia is now the owner of this land, and I wish to see the newly established Violet Kingdom share a peaceful relationship with Floating Ice City. If you insist on breaking the peace, then do not blame me for summoning the warriors of the Netherworld and bath Floating Ice City in blood!" Karinshan bit her lips in silent frustration, but she couldn¡¯t say anything. Xinran clearly wasn¡¯t going to back down, and Karinshan was aware that she might not be able to win against the Wind Singer. In the end, she could only turn around to face her troops and shout, "Warriors of Floating Ice City, withdraw!" "Yes, Your Majesty!" Black Cavalry Commander Stark shouted the retreat orders, and the army of Floating Ice City turned around and marched back toward their own city, finally sounding the end of this devastating war. The good news was that the united forces of man and the good undead were ultimately able to seal away the evil spirits on this land, and a new kingdom was soon to be reborn. Suddenly, a new ding resounded across all the cities¡ª Ding~! Player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" has reached the first place, and is named the MVP of this war with 85423 points. Reward: Level +3, Luck +5, "Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf Pet Egg" (Epic Rank Pet) Player "Wind Fantasy" has reached the second place with 69042 points. Reward: Level +2, Luck +3, "Armor of the Snowflake Unicorn" (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï) Player "Murong Mingyue" has reached the third place with 56634 points. Reward: Level+2, Luck +3, "Necklace of the Swaying Stars" (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï) Player "Beiming Xue" has reached the fourth place with 47654 points. Reward: Level +2, Luck +2, "Milky Way Bow" (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï) Player "From Water" has reached the fifth place with 44767 points. Reward: Level +2, Luck +2, "Galaxy Bracelet" (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï) ¡­¡­ Everyone was dazzled by the list of rewards. Not only did the system reward us with levels, the war points were also converted into insane amounts of experience. Long story short, I had leveled up another 4 times and reached Level 92 in one go! No one was expecting the quest reward to be this amazing. Candlelight Shadow and I were the same level when he showed up at Floating Ice City. Now? I was 7 levels ahead of him! Sure, he was good enough that 7 levels weren¡¯t a gap he couldn¡¯t close, but he must be feeling humiliated right now. I checked my bag and saw a cyan-colored pet egg with a purple sheen. So this is an Epic Rank pet egg, huh? I wondered how powerful it was and whether it could measure up to He Yi¡¯s Firelight Mouse. It probably could. It was the reward for the MVP, right? Lin Yixin, the runner-up, got a 2-star Outstanding metal armor, so my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf had to be way more valuable than that! I looked around me and found the girls beaming with joy. The Top 10 players all had gotten special rewards, and almost everyone in the party had gotten good equipment drops. Even if they didn¡¯t, they still got a huge amount of experience for their efforts. Anyone who managed to survive until now had to have at least leveled up once for their efforts, not to mention that they also got the privilege of looting the battlefield. Long story short, everyone¡¯s rich! I asked to see Lin Yixin¡¯s Level 90 Purple Gold¨Cgrade metal armor, and it was almost as good as my Obsidian Dragonscale Armor. The only difference was that it had slightly less Defense. From now on, the Fruit Knife Goddess wasn¡¯t just a glass cannon anymore. She was a powerhouse with amazing offense and defense! Next, I turned to Beiming Xue. She had equipped a bow with a dark sheen, and it looked a lot cooler than the Purgatory Bow. "Beiming, how good is this Milky Way Bow?" Beiming Xue replied with a sweet smile, "It has a max Attack of 505, which makes it much stronger than the Purgatory Bow. It also has an amazing property; a 5% chance to trigger ¡®Cloud Piercer¡¯, a skill that does massive damage in a line. It¡¯s amazing, isn¡¯t it?" "Yeah!" I nodded in agreement. Cloud Piercer sounded similar to my Purgatory Slash, and it had a 5% chance of triggering with every basic attack. Considering that bow users had high attack speed¡ªabout one basic attack every 1.5 seconds to 2 seconds¡ªshe could launch at least 30 basic attacks in a minute. That should translate to about one or two Cloud Piercers per minute. Yep, it¡¯s amazing alright! Murong Mingyue was happily equipping a silver necklace around her neck. It was the Outstanding Necklace of the Swaying Stars. There was a gem where the pendant was, and it looked as deep and beautiful as a star. The way it swayed back and forth between Murong Mingyue¡¯s awesome breasts was especially distracting, although the girl herself couldn¡¯t care less of course. From what she told me, the necklace increased her healing output by 30%. It was powerful to say the least! He Yi obtained a Purple Gold¨Cgrade, 1-star Outstanding bracelet. It required Level 85 which she now fulfilled.. Both her Attack and her Defense went up drastically after she equipped it. Our beautiful guild leader is definitely growing stronger with each passing day! ¡­¡­ Speaking of which, I was Level 92, so I could equip my Obsidian Dragonscale Armor and learn War Crush immediately. Awesome! Ka! I changed my equipment and put the Purgatory War Armor in my bag, planning to give it to Gui Guzi or Du Thirteen. If they already had something better, then I would sell it in the market as usual. It didn¡¯t matter to me either way! My appearance changed a little¡ªbut for the better¡ªafter I equipped the Obsidian Dragonscale Armor. For one, I now looked scarier and more attractive. The draconic patterns on the chest armor already looked pretty deadly, but combined with my bloody Skydusk Cloak it gave me the appearance of a war god from hell. The Purgatory Sword of course accentuated the look even further. A thick energy appeared around me and solidified around my skin. It was a visual effect that was meant to portray a drastic increase in Defense. I hurriedly brought up my stat screen and was shocked by what I saw. Man, I am so powerful right now¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Class: Undead Swordsman (Silver Swordsman) Level: 92 HP: 5350 Attack: 770~1375 Defense: 1335 Magic Resist: 1165 Reputation: 72769 Tactics: 71 Luck: 12 ¡­¡­ My Defense was 1335, meaning that no ordinary fighters could pierce my Defense unless they had special skills that ignored it such as Lin Yixin¡¯s Extreme Break. Otherwise, I could clean up an entire battlefield with just a priest or two... Oh right, I shouldn¡¯t forget about the skill book! I took out War Crush and learned it immediately. After the book dissolved into light and entered my palm, a new powerful skill appeared in my skill list! It looked like the skill only took 5 MP to cast. Very good, I like it that most fighter-type skills consume very little MP! After that, I tapped the skill button and activated the skill! A scorching hot energy immediately gathered around my blade, and before I knew it I had already leaped two meters into the air and in mid-swing. The Purgatory Sword hit the ground with a loud bang, shattering the earth and causing lightning to burst out of the ground, dealing continuous damage to all targets within the skill range! "Wow, that special effect is so cool¡­" Lin Yixin praised me honestly and admiringly. He Yi was also stunned by my awesome display, but she didn¡¯t know what to say to describe her feelings. ¡­¡­ Murong Mingyue said, "Lu Chen, I don¡¯t know how we can not suspect you of wrongdoing after this. Did you know that there was a 19-year-old girl in Guangdong who traveled all the way to Shenyang and slept with her guild leader for a week, just to get a Gold-grade scepter? Someone as handsome as you could literally abuse your privileges behind our backs!" Chapter 299: Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf Everyone¡¯s expressions shifted, creating a subtle atmosphere. Shadow Chanel looked at Lin Yixin. "Guild leader¡­ you¡¯ve also seemed to have slept with Lu Chen before, am I right? I heard it from Purple Marquis¡­" Lin Yixin was shocked. Her face flushed red as she answered in a fluster, "N-no, I haven¡¯t. How could I have done a thing like that? Why would I do that for a mere Gold-grade item¡­" Chanel smiled. "So you¡¯d be willing if it was Purple Gold¨Cgrade?" "I¡­" Lin Yixin argued with a stammer, "How could I?! I¡¯m not that type of person¡­" Lin Yixin then looked at He Yi and Murong Mingyue. He Yi was also startled. "Me neither!" Murong Mingyue calmly smiled. "Alright, if Lu Chen¡¯s willing to give me a Purple Gold¨Cgrade item, I¡¯ll consider it¡­" I only had one Purple Gold¨Cgrade item, which was the 2-star Outstanding Obsidian Dragonscale Armor. It was my precious baby so forget one week, I wouldn¡¯t even if it was a year! I tightly clutched my chest armor and vigilantly watched Murong Mingyue. "You want to snatch my Dragonscale Armor?!" Murong Mingyue was embarrassed and indignant when she saw my actions. "Screw you!" ¡­¡­ At this time, Beiming Xue who had been calm the entire time said, "Big bro, didn¡¯t you get a Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf? See if you can hatch it. The server maintenance will be here soon, let¡¯s check out what it looks like before then!" "Mn!" I snapped out of my reverie and hurriedly took out the pet egg. It needed a contract to hatch and the so-called contract was just dripping a drop of blood onto it. I lightly pricked my finger with the tip of the Purgatory Sword and dripped it on the cyan pet egg! Ssss... Resplendent golden light flashed, causing cryptic golden runes to appear on the egg, shortly followed by a soft cracking sound. A fine crack appeared on the top of the egg. The contract was successful! "Wah, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s hatching!" the girls said excitedly as they crowded around me. I was also really excited. I put the pet egg on the ground and waited for the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf cub to crawl out of it by itself. Ahem, biologists would probably be freaking out right now at the game company since wolves were actually mammals. Crack! Crack! Pieces of eggshell were peeling off amid the cracking noises. A cyan-colored paw appeared between the cracks of the egg and quickly pushed out. I immediately saw a cub with two gem-like black eyes biting at the edge of the eggshell, clumsily splitting it in half! Crack! I got mad. "Fuck, I¡¯m your master!" Lin Yixin did her best to hold her laughter. She reached down and took the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf in her arms. She smiled tenderly. "Good little wolf, to have come to big sis. Oh? Are you hungry?" The little wolf knew no shame as it placed its head between the beauty¡¯s chest armor. It softly replied, "Aoo, aoo, aoo," making the rest of the girls giggle. Lin Yixin was suspicious. "Is it hungry?" I nodded. "Mn, it probably wants some milk¡­" "Fuck¡­" Lin Yixin flushed crimson and handed the little wolf to me. "You feed it yourself!" "..." ¡­¡­ I received the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf without a word and then tossed it a piece of bread. The bastard sniffed it and refused to eat! He Yi gently reminded, "Wolves eat meat." "Mn, I know¡­" Was this the so-called "a leopard can¡¯t change his spots"! I totally get it! I glanced around and noticed a land dragon corpse that hadn¡¯t disappeared yet. I threw the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf out in a beautiful arc and after spinning 1080 degrees in the air, it fell right on top of the land dragon¡¯s neck injury. The wolf cub sniffed with its nose, stood at attention, and began to forcefully gnaw at the corpse. As expected, it had a meat-eating instinct from birth! The girls laughed as they watched the little wolf act stupidly adorable. "Oh right, Lu Chen, how are the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s stats? Share them with us," Lin Yixin commented. "Mn." I opened the pet space. Aside from the Dark Wasp, I had an extra cyan-colored wolf head icon. This was the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. When I opened its stats page, the Level 1 Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s stats screen gave me a shock. Once I shared it, the girls were also stunned into silence¡ª Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf (Epic Rank Boss) Level: 1 Attack: 50 Defense: 47 HP: 45 Agility: 50 Growth¡ª Attack ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Defense ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î HP ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Agility ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î ¡­¡­ Everyone was frozen solid. It took a full half minute before Lin Yixin finally rubbed her eyes. She asked in an incredulous voice, "Isn¡¯t this too OP¡­" He Yi nodded. "9.5-star Attack growth, 8.5-star Defense, 9-star HP, 9.5-star Agility, with a total BN of 192. It¡¯s so much stronger than my Firelight Mouse. Is this Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf a legendary divine beast? It¡¯s too OP¡­" Murong Mingyue: "Oh no. With a pet like that, some girls might even offer their bodies for an entire year¡­" Beiming Xue giggled. I said with a glare, "This pet is already bound to me so it¡¯s untradeable. Sorry, there¡¯s no chance for you to trade your body for it!" Murong Mingyue looked at me grudgingly. "Then that Dark Wasp¡­" The Dark Wasp wailed, afraid of becoming a trade item. Of course, I was a pro with amazing self-discipline. I was still able to keep my cool in front of the immensely endowed beauty. My tolerance was great. I was a man of simple tastes, modest and open-minded, and so on. All in all, for a super strong pet like the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf, I had to withstand any kind of temptation and befuddlement! After having exchanged blows with Candlelight Shadow, it had been clear that my brain delay recovered to that of an ordinary person¡¯s. I wasn¡¯t at a disadvantage against Candlelight Shadow and the only reason why I lost was because of his pet. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Heaven-devouring Tiger was just too damn strong. It¡¯d killed my Dark Wasp in two slaps back then! I needed to use the top-tier Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf against a pet like that. Hmph, hmph, I¡¯m gonna do my best to get my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to Level 100 as soon as possible. By then, if I encounter Candlelight Shadow again, who knows who would win! ¡­¡­ At this time, the system beeped twice. There were 3 minutes left before the server shut down! I glanced at both Lin Yixin and He Yi and we all reached a consensus. We were going to return to the city and set up a tent near Floating Ice City¡¯s teleportation formation before logging out. When the server got back online, we were to immediately teleport ourselves over to the main city we wanted to develop in and see if there was any profit to be made. Like quests, stores, NPCs, etc. There were all kinds of opportunities that could let us improve and we couldn¡¯t let a single one slip away! The girls took out their return scrolls and were ready to set off! I grabbed the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf but the damn thing was still tightly chomping on the land dragon¡¯s neck. It whimpered, like it wasn¡¯t willing to leave until it finished eating the entire land dragon. "Fuck!" Mad as hell, I yanked the wolf by the tail, threw it into the pet space, and quickly dug out a return scroll. I crushed it, returning to Floating Ice City with a whoosh. Tents were set up everywhere near the teleportation formation, leaving me heartbroken! "WTF, what¡¯s this¡­" Lin Yixin grumbled. I found a precious opening with my swift eyes and immediately set up a tent with my quick hands. Mission accomplished! Lin Yixin glared at me. "There¡¯s nowhere else to put a tent. What do I do?" "You can sleep with me. The system has a setting where two players of a different sex that meet the friendship requirements can share a tent together to go offline regardless whether or not they have a marriage certificate¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s pretty face went red. "Hmph, who wants to sleep with you. I¡­ alright, what is the friendship point requirement?" I almost puked blood. "Just come in and try it!" "Oh?" Lin Yixin was a bit suspicious, but who told her to not have a parking spot? She bent down in front of my tent and sniffed with wrinkled eyebrows. "Whoa, what¡¯s up with this smell? Why does it smell like a dead rat in here?" "Does it?" I took a deep breath, then felt relieved. "I¡¯ve always been living in a grave so this is a grade higher than before. Just deal with it." "Alright." Lin Yixin squeezed into the tent. Like I had expected, we grinded so long together that our Intimacy had reached the requirements. Not too far away, Shadow Chanel glared at us. "And you said you¡¯ve never slept with him. Look at yourself, leader, you compromised just for tent usage rights¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s face was red. "How else can you catch a tiger cub without entering the tiger¡¯s lair¡­" Shadow Chanel smiled. "Mn, you¡¯re right! If you don¡¯t go in there, there really wouldn¡¯t be a tiger cub inside." Lin Yixin¡¯s face became even more redder. She glared at me. "This is all your fault!" "Like hell it is!" I lay down inside the tent and got ready to log out. "Yiyi, I¡¯ll rent you half my bed. You¡¯d better not cross the halfway line!" Lin Yixin got angry. "You wanna die?!" Swhoosh! The Moonlight Sword came at me but I decisively logged out. The Moonlight Sword swept past my face and my screen already showed the offline interface. Nice, I dodged a calamity. That girl¡¯s seriously fierce. She was still bold enough to take out her sword when she was on someone else¡¯s bed! Mn, no wonder so many guys liked her to bits... ¡­¡­ I took off my gaming helmet and let out a long sigh. That wretched reestablishment war was finally over. At the same time, it triggered the opening of the super cities. This time, it could be said that out of the China server¡¯s nine tier 2 cities, Floating Ice City had pretty much moved the entire server forward! Candlelight Shadow, Luo River God of the Capital, and other CGL Hall of Famers had also appeared in Floating Ice City. Under this kind of siege, we¡¯d still actually relied on our own strength, allowing Floating Ice City to take the final boss kill. I gotta say that we fought this war spectacularly! Knock knock! I heard someone knocking on my door. Murong Mingyue spoke from the other side, "Lu Chen, come out, Eve¡¯s calling for you!¡± Chapter 300: Warsky Alliance The girls were all waiting when I put on my clothes and walked to the living hall. They were all wearing serious expressions on their faces. "What¡¯s wrong? Are you girls deciding what to have for supper?" I asked. He Yi shook her head. "Right now there¡¯s something more serious than that. The super cities will be unlocked tomorrow, but we still haven¡¯t decided which one to settle ourselves in." I pondered for a moment before asking, "I would like to hear about your thoughts first." Murong Mingyue took a seat and turned her notebook around so I could read it. "Here. China has three tier 1 cities, namely Sky City, Wind City and Vanished God City. All three cities are set at the center of Heavenblessed Continent in a triangular formation, and they are surrounded by powerful enemies from every direction. Choosing the right city is very important because it¡¯ll decide how we develop our guild in the future." He Yi nodded. "Also, we need to post a thread at the guild channel of the forums after we make our choice. Otherwise, our guild members may travel to the wrong city." I stared at the screen for a moment and weighed the pros and cons. Finally, I said, "Sky City is the closest city to Floating Ice City, and it¡¯s quite close to the newly established Violet Empire as well. In my opinion, we should settle in Sky City. That is the best place to grow our power." "Is that your final decision?" He Yi asked with a smile. I said, "Should we check with Xu Yang, Gui Guzi and the rest first?" Murong Mingyue shook her head. "No, it¡¯s fine. They already called me and said that they¡¯ll leave all the decision-making to Eve and you. All they want to be responsible for is the part where they attack and kill our enemies." "Okay then, Sky City it is!" "Mn!" He Yi plopped her butt next to me and clicked the link to the guild channel. As expected, plenty of guild leaders were already making their announcements¡ª Candlelight Shadow: Candle Dragon will be marching into Wind City, and anyone who is brave and courageous is invited to join us! Candle Dragon will become the protector god of the northern gate to China! Indigo Collar: Peach Garden will be marching into Wind City, and all Chinese heroes are invited to join us. We don¡¯t have any lofty goals, but we swear to defend the bond between brothers to the last! If one of us gets harmed, then all of us will respond! Luo River God of the Capital. Purple Lily will be advancing into Wind City. Anyone who wants to kick Candle Dragon¡¯s ass is welcomed to join our guild! Roaming Dragon: Mad Dragon will be advancing into Sky City, and anyone who is ambitious is invited to join us! Our motto is: "There is no strongest, only the stronger!" ¡­¡­ "Fuck!" I swore. "Luo River God of the Capital is seriously obsessed¡­" Murong Mingyue sighed. "She must hate Candlelight Shadow to follow him to Wind City even though it isn¡¯t the best possible choice she could make. Also, I¡¯m surprised that Peach Garden would choose to enter Wind City. Tsk tsk, it¡¯s going to be really lively over there¡­" He Yi giggled. "That¡¯s true, but not as much as Sky City is going to be. Look here, Miss Murong. Sky City is where all the truly powerful guilds are gathered. Nearly 20 out of the Top 50 guilds have chosen to move into Sky City besides us, and our old enemies such as Mad Dragon and Flower Room will be here as well. Now this is what we call real competition." Beiming Xue stuck out her tongue and joked, "Say, we¡¯re pretty famous now, aren¡¯t we? Do you think these guilds will gang up on us?" He Yi nodded seriously. "That is a possibility¡­" The realization had struck me as well. There was the saying "the shot hits the bird that pokes its head out", and we were undoubtedly that bird right now. We couldn¡¯t even keep a low profile because we had a ton of famous players such as Gui Guzi, Murong Mingyue, Chaos Moon, Moonlight Stone, Xu Yang and He Yi in our guild, and that was without accounting for existing enemies such as Mad Dragon and Flower Room. Who knows if they would choose to kick us while we were down, or incite other guilds to attack us? Murong Mingyue said calmly, "I suppose it¡¯s wise to find a powerful and trustworthy ally sooner than later¡­" Beiming Xue and He Yi immediately looked at me. "Why are you all staring at me like that?" Beiming Xue smiled. "Big bro, you should contact Beauty Lin and check with her which tier 1 city Snowy Cathaya is moving to. If possible, well, you know¡­" I gulped. "Fuck, why do I always get landed with this?" "That¡¯s because you¡¯re closer to her than any of us!" "Fuck¡­" ¡­¡­ Given no choice, I pulled out my phone and tried to call Lin Yixin, but the device rang before I had even punched in the first number. Speak of the devil! "Hi, Beauty Yi! A good night to you!" I greeted her with a smile. She replied, "Well, I¡¯m starving and waiting for my instant noodles to be ready. Anyway, I want to check with you about something." "Sure. What is it?" "Which city is Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls going to move in? Candle Dragon, Purple Lily, and Peach Garden are all going to Wind City. Do you have a specific plan in mind?" "Forget them. They can fight to the death for all I care!" I smiled again. "What is your choice?" "Sky City. And you?" "That¡¯s where we¡¯re going too!" Lin Yixin immediately broke into a smile. "In that case, I guess there¡¯s nothing else to say. Sky City will be ours, won¡¯t it?" "It will!" "Well, good night¡­" "Oh come on, don¡¯t hang up yet! Let¡¯s chat a little longer, alright?" "Sure, but the fee will be 10 RMB for the first minute, and 0.05 RMB per second after that!" "Good night Yiyi!" I hung up immediately, drawing disdainful gazes from He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Beiming alike. ¡­¡­ "Anyway, let¡¯s get back to supper. Where are we eating? I¡¯m so hungry I could die!" I rubbed my belly while saying this. Murong Mingyue got up and replied, "Everything other than the food stalls is still open. It¡¯s not safe to head out this late. Would you like some home-cooked noodles with veggies and minced pork instead?" Beggars can¡¯t be choosers, so everyone nodded in agreement. We were blessed that someone in the Frost Cloud workshop knew how to cook noodles! Some time later, everyone got a bowl of noodles with vegetables. There was no minced pork in the fridge, so everyone got an egg as a replacement. After devouring the entire contents of our bowls, we rubbed our bellies and got ready for bed. ¡­¡­ I lay on my bed and waited for sleep to overcome me. It was past 2 am in the morning, and a thunderstorm was rumbling outside. The weather would probably turn even colder after the autumn rain was done. Things were blazing hot inside Heavenblessed however. Once the three super cities were open, a new wave of grinding, PvP and war would overcome the server of China! I closed my eyes and slowly entered the dream world. In my dreams, I was wearing the same high-grade armor and wielding the Purgatory Sword. The difference was that the cyan-colored battle wolf next to me, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf, was in its mature form. It was about one meter tall, and it looked deadly and imposing. A single swipe of its claws killed at least seven to eight warriors with ease, and among its victims were Roaming Dragon and Li Le! ¡­¡­ "Phew!" It was already morning when I woke up with a start. I heard Murong Mingyue¡¯s voice from outside the door. "Eve, do we really need to get up this early? It¡¯s only 10 am in the morning! I want to sleep for another 10 hours¡­" He Yi: "Yeah, no. Get up, it¡¯s almost time to head to Sky City. And don¡¯t forget to wake up Lu Chen as well!" "Why am I always the one to wake him up¡­" "You don¡¯t want to? It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m sure Beiming Xue will be happy to replace you!" "Noooo, I wanna~~" I was already opening the door when Murong Mingyue finally mustered the energy to knock. As a result, her hand hit my face, and she was slumping against me while still in her pajamas! Her eyes were still shut firmly, and it looked like she was planning to lean on the door while she waited for me to open it. Instead, she leaned on me. Her enormous breasts pressed against my chest, and there weren''t nearly enough layers of fabric in between to insulate the sensation. But I was unflustered because it was Murong Mingyue. Hugging her waist a little, I said, "Sis, you should sleep a little more if you¡¯re that tired. I mean, just look at yourself." Murong Mingyue looked at me and complained, "I know right? Eve is such a strict boss. Anyway, good to see that you¡¯re awake, and let¡¯s go. After we have lunch, it¡¯s time to set off to Sky City! Eve said that there are shops that players can buy in Sky City, but we don¡¯t know what the buying conditions are yet. We¡¯ll just have to see for ourselves after we enter the city." "Yeah!" We ate lunch at the restaurant on the ground floor and returned to our apartment completely refreshed. Then, we waited patiently for the servers to open! Doo doo¡­ I received a sudden call from Gui Guzi. I pressed the answer button and¡ª "Boss!" "What is it?" "There¡¯s still half an hour before the servers open, right? A guild called Warsky is calling us out on the forums! You should check it out immediately!" "Oh?! I¡¯ll do it right away!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ I hung up the call and walked to the living room. He Yi and Murong Mingyue were enjoying their afternoon tea. Sitting down next to He Yi, I turned on the notebook and clicked the guild channel again. This time, I saw a red highlighted thread at the top of the page posted by someone called "Warsky¡±. According to the latest information, he was a Level 85 warrior. The thread title was: Warsky Alliance will be marching into Sky City. I, Warsky, and the tens of thousands of warriors behind me hereby issue a challenge to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Beneath the title was a small passage of text. "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have been making waves at Floating Ice City for a long time, and their CGL Hall of Famer even managed to fight Candlelight Shadow to a draw without a pet of his own during the Reestablishment of the Violet Empire. This is the kind of man who is worthy to be my opponent. I am very glad to learn that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is entering Sky City, and I dearly wish to meet you all on the battlefield as equals!" ¡­¡­ "Motherfucker!" I clenched my fists and swore under my breath. Unlike me, He Yi looked a bit confused. "Do you know this ¡®Warsky¡¯, Falling Dust?" "Yeah!" I nodded. "The Warsky Alliance is the fourth strongest guild in the Guild Ranking of China, but they are not to be underestimated. They had concealed a great portion of their strength, but I estimate them to be as strong as Gods of Destruction, if not stronger. I can¡¯t believe this bastard is planning to use us as their stepping stone!" "Hehe¡­" He Yi giggled. "We¡¯re not going to let him have his way, are we?" I returned her smile and stared at the Warsky emblem on the screen. "If Warsky Alliance must challenge us at Sky City, then it is only right that we oblige them and turn it into their Jiuli Mountain or Valley of the Fallen Phoenix!" Chapter 301: Sky City It was an arduous half an hour of waiting, but the servers had finally reopened once more! I was waiting at the login screen all this time. The moment the servers were up, I logged into the game immediately. Swhoosh! A beautiful figure ran out of my tent like lightning the second I logged into the game. Fuck, Beauty Lin is so fast! I caught onto a corner of her battle robe right before she left my range completely and let her pull me out of the tent. Players were logging into the game from everywhere, and tents were disappearing by the millisecond. It only took a short while before the teleportation formation was completely jam-packed. There were just too many players in Floating Ice City! Lin Yixin looked back at me and glared. "OMG, stop dragging me down you idiot¡­" "Wait for me! Why are you in such a hurry anyway? It¡¯s not like there¡¯s meat waiting for you at Sky City!" I selected "Talk" after the both of us had squeezed our way to the NPC mages responsible for operating the teleportation formation. The bearded old man started talking in a deep, distant voice, "The power of darkness has tried to conquer the Heavenblessed Continent again and again, forcing the humans, the elves, the succubi, the dwarves, the barbarians and more to form a pact in order to defend their right to live and the pride of their races. Today, that pact is known as the ¡®Heavenblessed Alliance¡¯. For hundreds of years, the allied races have built countless bastions at every corner of the continent!" The old mage then looked at me and said, "Young warrior, you are an adventurer of Floating Ice City. Right now, we have enough magical energy to send you to these three cities¡ªSky City, Vanished God City, and Wind City. Please make your choice!" I nodded and selected Sky City! Ding~! System Notice: Greetings, respected player. Please note that you can only teleport directly to Sky City if you are Level 80 or above. The cost is 2000 Reputation and 1000 gold. Are you sure you want to teleport? ¡­¡­ My eyes widened into saucers for a moment. Goddamned sonuvabitch, did Eternal Moon Corporation lose their minds to greed recently? I couldn¡¯t believe that it cost 1000 RMB to teleport to a super city! Moreover, the player must be Level 80 or above before they could even attempt to teleport, and there were only a hundred or so players in the entire Floating Ice City who even met that requirement! This meant that a low-level player who wanted to teleport to a super city without using Floating Ice City¡¯s teleportation formation would have to use an open teleportation point instead. At a glance, it would take at least 10 hours of running just to reach the borders of Sky City! The game company had played all of us like a fiddle! Players were swearing all around us¡ª "Yeah, and 1000 gold? What is this, an international flight?" "I curse the producers and their wives to stay a virgin forever!" ¡­¡­ But there were also plenty of players who quietly formed parties and ran out of the city after discovering that they didn¡¯t meet the requirements to use the teleportation formation. Clearly, these people were going to run to Sky City on foot. Sometimes, there was no point complaining about the unfairness of the world. Only those who continuously strived to improve themselves could truly master their own fates. These were the kind of people who would have the last laugh during the latter stages of the game. Lin Yixin had already vanished. She must¡¯ve teleported to Sky City already! I clicked the "Confirm" button and watched myself being dragged into the super space by several wisps of magical energy. A couple of seconds later, I had arrived inside a dense forest! Ding~! System Notice: You have entered the territory of Sky City! ¡­¡­ "Fuck, the territory of Sky City? But where is Sky City¡­" Slightly confused, I checked the map and noticed Sky City was straight ahead. I guessed that the teleportation formation teleported us into the territory of Sky City, but not directly into the city itself. Moreover, the location we appeared at was completely random. In the end, we still had to carry ourselves into the city with our two feet! Shiing! I pulled out the Purgatory Sword and started moving. After passing through a small section of the forest and parting the tree leaves blocking my vision, a sight unlike anything I had ever seen before stunned me into speechlessness! Inside a vast valley, a couple of giant rocks could be seen floating above the ground. They formed a staircase that led visitors up to the sky where a magnificent city awaited! Heavens! I wasn¡¯t expecting Sky City to be a literal floating city! "Gulp!" I swallowed. The city looked supernaturally fine, almost as if it was an inspiration stolen from the heavens itself. The wall alone was at least dozens of kilometers long, and the whole structure was floating in midair. It looked exquisite to say the least! According to my knowledge, each country got to design their own cities, meaning that Sky City was made by the Chinese programmers. The artisans of China were already legendary since ancient times, but it looked like the programmers of today were just as amazing. Who could say that Chinese were talentless after seeing something like this? I had no doubt that Sky City¡¯s design would stun the players of the world once it was globally accessible. I would even bet that it was the biggest, grandest and most defensible city in all the servers. It was because the city was literally floating in midair, meaning that any ground troops who wished to reach it would have to go through the floating staircase. There was no way in hell anyone could survive the arrow torrent that was sure to rain down and trespass into Sky City. I continued forward and discovered that the floating staircases were more packed than I thought. There was a new floating rock every 10 meters or so, and each one was only about 2 meters wide, meaning that it could fit 2 or 3 players walking side by side at most. Moreover, I got a notice stating that the staircase wasn¡¯t a safezone! Very interesting. Assuming that we got into a guild battle, we could set up a blockade here and stop any reinforcement from reaching the enemy forces! Not far away, I saw a couple of players running up a floating staircase. They were all Level 80 or above, and I didn¡¯t recognize any of them even though I knew practically all the Level 80 players in Floating Ice City. They had to be players from other tier 2 cities! I wordlessly ran up the floating rocks as well. The 4% movement speed boost from my Death Shade War Boots was no joke, so I was moving swiftly like a gust of wind! Players started appearing all around Sky City. The floating rocks were covered by some sort of of azure magic, and they glowed brighter every time a player passed by them. It was incredibly vivid! When I finally ran past all the staircases and arrived on solid land, I was once again stunned by the sight in front of me. The city had four gates in total, and the one in front of me, the eastern gate, was surrounded by a pair of giant silver statues. They were both female warriors with swords, and at the bottom of the statues was an inscription: During the first year of Heavenblessed, the enemy invaded and humanity¡¯s last hope, White Cloud City, was destroyed, and the two leaders of the human race, Annie and Fia, fought to their last breath to defend the last pure land of the human race. Before she died, Annie created a miracle by sacrificing her divine power and lifting a city to the sky, creating what we know today as the Sky City. Since then, the city has stood strong for tens of thousands of years, and it is now the humans and the elves¡¯ final and strongest bastion against the powers of the dead. ¡­¡­ I stared at Annie and Fia¡¯s statues as a shiver ran down my body. I murmured, "Fia? I didn¡¯t know that you¡¯ve already passed away¡­" Fia was the supreme commander of the human faction. We were acquaintances back in Spirit of Grief, but here in Heavenblessed she was nothing more but a mark in history. Now that she was gone, I wondered who was the current supreme commander of the human empire. I walked past the city gates and was greeted by a scenery straight out of a painting. The city center was a temple where hymns could occasionally be heard from inside. The singing resounded unfadingly across the city as if praising and reminiscing the warriors who had fought to their deaths defending their loved ones. ¡­¡­ Oh well, I can lament about the fates of the past warriors later. First, I want to know how many shops there are inside the city! I arrived at the eastern plaza of Sky City. It was at least 5 times bigger than the plaza at Floating Ice City. I then ran all the way to the royal palace to request a meeting with the lord, mayor or the king. As a veteran, I knew that it was very difficult to apply for a private shop without getting a permit first. I saw a group of soldiers riding on black warhorses galloping along the walls and patrolling. The leader of the group was pulling out his blade and shouting, "Eyes open, guards! I heard that those filthy undead assassins are skulking around again as of late, so it is up to us to secure our city and and protect our king from harm!" The knights also pulled out their swords and responded in kind, "For glory!" "Fuck, there are almost a thousand people in that one patrol alone. I guess super cities are called super cities for a reason¡­" I muttered before trying to walk through the front gate. However, a group of high-level NPC guards suddenly blocked my way, and a man with a thick beard yelled at me, "I¡¯ve never seen your face around here before, boy. Hmm? You have red eyes? Tell me, what is your business with the royal palace?" I immediately put my city badge on display and said, "Sir, I am an adventurer from Floating Ice City. I am a good fighter, my hatred for Night Creatures runs deep and my loyalty to the empire is undying. Let me in, please? I would like to apply for land of my own and build a shop!" The guard captain immediately broke into a grin. "Don¡¯t even think about it, kid. The king isn¡¯t someone you can meet just because you want to!" I tried a different tactic. "I am the leader of an adventurer group, and I have several thousand troops at my beck and call. We are all willing to dirty our hands to fight for the survival of humanity, so let me in!" "Not a chance!" "I killed Wind Fury, the master of Skull Castle!" "Still no. Like I said earlier, don¡¯t you even think about it!" "Karinshan is my older sister!" "Aha, please come in, my dear warrior!" "..." I gaped at the NPC for a moment. Seriously? That worked? Man, these days you really couldn¡¯t go anywhere without having some connections. I couldn¡¯t believe that was all it took to get me into the royal palace! The moment I passed through the door though, the guard captain¡¯s eyes flashed as if he was checking something. I had no doubt that he was verifying my amity with Princess Karinshan! The good news was that Karinshan and I were acquaintances. Hence, I was able to enter the royal palace safely and without trouble! When I entered the hall where the king was, I saw two rows of armored generals lining the two sides of the hall. Atop the silver throne was an old man with black robes and a crown. He was none other than the ruler of Sky City! Chapter 302: Powerleveling My respect toward NPCs was selective. The old king was a man of glory status and was dressed as such, but for some reason his eyes looked dim and almost evil to me. They stood out like a citrus fruit in a meat stall and reminded me of horrible monarchs who ruled with their lower head instead of their brain. He had most likely inherited his throne by right of succession, because he didn¡¯t look fit to be the ruler of an empire at all. I far preferred monarchs who were smart and strong like Princess Karinshan. Only they could actually protect their people in an era of war and strife. ¡­¡­ I walked up to him and said softly, "Your Majesty, I¡¯m an adventurer from Floating Ice City. I would like to apply for a piece of land and open a shop on it." "Oh?" The old king opened his sleepy eyes and said, "Did the brave of little Karinshan finally make it to Sky City? Unfortunately, you aren¡¯t strong enough to qualify for a piece of land yet, young warrior. Keep training until you¡¯re Level 100!" "Is that so?" I replied thoughtfully. That was a hint from the game itself. Besides having to spend a huge amount of Reputation and gold, I needed to be at Level 100 before I could even make the application. Long story short, anyone who wished to open a shop must let their wallets be slaughtered by the game company first! I unhappily made my way out of the royal palace without anything to show for it. Oh well, I might as well head out and grind some levels as suggested. I should explore the brand new maps of Sky City before the rest of the players get to them! I opened the world map and saw that Sky City was situated inside a vast valley. Behind Sky City was a vast mountain range thousands of meters tall called the Dragonbone Mountain Range. The cloud-piercing mountain range was a natural barrier that protected at least 70% of Sky City from direct attacks, and right beneath the mountain range was a vast forest called "Sky Forest¡±. It looked to be at least ten times the size of Frost Forest! I had no doubt that Sky Forest would become the most contested leveling ground after the rest of the players had reached Sky City! ¡­¡­ Before I set off, I took the time to familiarize myself with the NPCs in Sky City. After buying some potions and repairing my equipment, I went to the auction house, dumped all ninety or so items on the counter and set the bottom price to 100 RMB for all of them. They were all powerful and high-level equipment, and I saw no reason why they wouldn¡¯t sell for a good price. Once the majority of the players were here 10 hours later, I expected them to be gone in a flash. When I got out of the eastern gate, I noticed that some players were already leaping hurriedly but cautiously down the floating staircase. After all, it would hurt like hell to fall from this height! Instead of chasing after their backs, I ran around the vast area in front of the city and discovered an inconspicuous teleportation formation at the corner. Upon selecting it, I discovered that it was a free-of-charge teleportation formation that anyone could use to teleport to the ground immediately! Swhoosh! A flash later, I appeared at the edge of a forest. I turned around and looked at the sky again, and I could see both Sky City and the statues of Annie and Fia from here. Hmm, that teleportation formation had saved me at least 5 minutes of leg work. It was never a bad idea to invest a bit of time in exploration! Next, I opened my palm and summoned my new pet, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf! Swhoosh! A blue magical formation appeared on the ground, and a cyan, hairy paw poked out from the center. The next moment, a little wolf appeared in front of me and wagged its tail until it looked around and realized that the pretty girls from before weren¡¯t around anymore. It immediately ceased its actions and looked to me for orders. I ordered, ¡°Just follow. Now come on, let¡¯s go grind some levels!" The little wolf immediately wagged its tail again and ran up to me. The way it hopped, skipped, and jumped while shaking its head was so cute that even I had to admit that it was lovable. It was no wonder that the girls liked it so much. I entered Sky Forest and looked around. Unfortunately, I could only find some animal-type mobs around Level 85 or so. I was a Level 92 player right now, so killing a Level 85 mob was just a waste of my time. I didn¡¯t want to spend all my time powerleveling the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf either. A professional player should always plan before they act. When they chose to grind a certain mob, it must be because it was a quest requirement or because there were resources to be gathered in the area. There was nothing more boring and pointless than grinding for the sake of grinding. Luckily, I didn¡¯t have to travel far to find a worthy opponent, or in this specific case an entire pack of them. A pack of Level 90 Forest Saber-toothed Tigers had appeared not far away from me, and they were classified as social animals. This tiger should give me and my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf a sizable amount of experience, and I could use Death Plunder on their bodies to loot a pelt or two for Mamate. I mentally ordered the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to stay where it was before rushing toward the tiger. A couple of gorgeous zigzags later, I successfully baited all thirty or so Forest Saber-toothed Tigers into chasing me. Once I confirmed that they were nicely packed in a triangular formation behind me, I immediately turned around and launched Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! A crazy amount of damage numbers popped above their heads. My Attack was already insane in the first place, but Wild Roar boosted that even further and allowed Thousand Mirage Slash to deal on average 5000 damage or so to each mob, and that was before counting the 20% splash damage. A great number of Saber-toothed Tigers were one-shot before they could even get close to me! The rest of them caught up to me and scratched me with their claws, leaving faint marks on my Obsidian Dragonscale Armor. Unfortunately for them, each attack only did around 50 damage or so. The Obsidian Dragonscale Armor was so powerful that not even Level 90 mobs could pierce my Defense now! I raised my sword as bright light enveloped my body for a moment. Next, I leaped into the air and slashed downward in one thunderous strike. The entire pack of low-health Saber-toothed Tigers died just like that! Tsk tsk, War Crush truly is the perfect grinding skill. I estimated that my leveling efficiency had gone up by 30% at least thanks to it, especially because it only had a short cooldown of 7 seconds. War Crush¡¯s damage wasn¡¯t flat, meaning that it scaled with my Attack, meaning that the higher my Attack was, the more damage it dealt. Even if the mobs were tanky enough to survive my first combo, the second or third such skill would certainly be enough to kill them. It wasn¡¯t long before I cleared out all the Saber-toothed Tigers in the area. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was now Level 12 and as big as a soccer ball. However, the way it ran up to me and woofed happily reminded me more of a dog in heat than the king of wolves. Thankfully, that wasn¡¯t the only thing that had changed about the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. Its stats had increased drastically after just 11 level ups, showing me just what it meant to be an Epic Rank pet¡ª Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf (Epic Rank Boss) Level: 12 Attack: 240 Defense: 216 HP: 2400 Agility: 360 ¡­¡­ These stats were positively ridiculous. It was only Level 12, but it had a whopping 240 Attack already! Not even the Dark Wasp had this Attack when it was Level 20! Its HP was even more impressive though. I wondered if it would have 20k HP by the time it reached Level 100? I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. The Dark Wasp had an amazing Attack at the beginning, but its HP and Defense were so poor that Candlelight Shadow¡¯s pet was able to one-shot it. There was no way his Heaven-devouring Tiger would be able to repeat the same feat on my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf though, not with this kind of HP growth. The tables had turned in my favor now! Usually, a pet in Heavenblessed was good at one thing and nothing else. It was either Attack, Defense, HP or Agility. But this Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was clearly an oddity because it was good at everything. I couldn¡¯t wait for the day it grew into full maturity so I could drop it on a group of terrified men. I walked up to it and caressed its head for a bit, smiling. "Not bad, little bastard!" The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf woofed like it was asking for a praise. Too bad it didn¡¯t understand what the term "little bastard" really meant, or it would be crying instead. ¡­¡­ Anyway, I was absolutely pumped that I finally had a super pet of my own. Hmph hmph, I should grind harder so that I can scare the daylights out of Candlelight Shadow the next time we meet! Level 90 mobs could no longer satisfy me, so I kept walking deeper and deeper into the forest until I entered an expected clearing. It was a temporary camp with human banners, and unlike the campsites I had encountered in the past this one was a strategic location. It was purposely built deep inside the forest, and it was fortified with newly-chopped wooden stakes. The three-meter-tall wall should be enough to keep away most low-level Night Creatures. I also heard the neighing of warhorses from inside the camp. Clearly, there were also cavalry troops inside. ¡­¡­ I walked toward a frowning NPC in heavy blue armor. He was staring at a parchment map and talking to himself, "Dammit, where on earth did those Hellhounds come from? If this situation continues, the guardsmen and civilians are sure to die a violent death!" I couldn¡¯t help but smile on the inside. If this isn¡¯t a quest, I don¡¯t know what is! I walked straight toward the NPC and showed him my new city badge. "Sir, I¡¯m an adventurer from Sky City. Is there anything I could do to help you?" (Note: Player is automatically bound to a super city the first time they enter it) This NPC just so happened to be the commander of this temporary campsite. His name was "Guard Captain Rice¡±. When he saw me and my super awesome level and equipment, he immediately broke into a smile of relief. "Thank goodness! I knew that the king wouldn¡¯t give up on his citizens! The townspeople of Dry Town are saved!" I rolled my eyes. What the hell did the king have to do with my decision? I¡¯m here because of my high resolve and because it¡¯s my duty as a young, courageous and handsome adventurer to save people in distress! Chapter 303: Saving the Townspeople Guard Captain Rice pointed his iron broadsword to the southeast and said, "Those damned Night Creatures are growing restless again. The Hellhounds are invading like tidewater, and their numbers are so huge that it¡¯s impossible to kill all of them. Moreover, they¡¯ve surrounded a town at the edge of Sky Forest called Dry Town, and we need to safely escort the townspeople to the temporary supply camp before the imperial army shows up!" The guard captain shot me a glance and said, "Young warrior, there is about two kilometers of distance between Dry Town and the temporary supply camp, and the Hellhounds will be attacking you and the people you¡¯re protecting while you¡¯re traveling. You need to make sure that they all survive the journey, alright?" I nodded. "Got it!" Ding~! System Notice: You have accepted the quest [Saving the Townspeople]! (Current Quest Rank: S-) Description: Head to Dry Town and help the guardsmen escort a group of townspeople to safety. Watch out for the Hellhounds¡¯ attacks! The quest is complete when you¡¯ve successfully transferred 500 civilians. If more than 50 civilians die during the transfer, the quest will fail, and you will be severely punished! ¡­¡­ It looked like a pretty difficult quest, but I actually felt a bit relieved. This proved that Sky City still cared about its people¡¯s lives, and that it was worthy of my services. I would gladly carry out more quests like these in the future. I opened the world map and noted that a red area had appeared at the edge of Sky Forest. It represented the Hellhounds¡¯ activity spot. At the center of it was a green dot that represented my destination, Dry Town. Looks like there¡¯s going to be a huge battle! I checked my condition before heading out. I had a healthy supply of potions, and all my items were above 97% durability, enough to last me an entire war. Moreover, I had War Crush, a super AoE skill. No matter how brutal the Hellhounds were, I wouldn¡¯t be completely powerless. I marked Dry Town as my destination and started marching with my pet. Since this was a S- Rank quest, I was expecting the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to grow another 10 levels at least. Thankfully, the pets in Heavenblessed leveled up at a rather reasonable rate. It would be infuriating if a pet had to be trained for half a year before they could amount to anything. I ran across the forest, but I wasn¡¯t in a hurry. I killed any mob we ran into along the way so that the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf could level up as quickly as possible. I was almost at Dry Town about half an hour later. Suddenly, I heard the sounds of battle from a part of the forest! The mobs were none other than the Hellhounds, and they were far stronger than I had initially thought! Hellhound (Elite) Level: 95 Attack: 920~1080 Defense: 650 HP: 17500 Skills: Bite, Roar Properties: Death Surge, increases attack speed by 50% Introduction: A group of Hellhounds are lurking in the darkness just outside Sky City. Their sharp claws that could tear apart any armor, and they cannot be tamed because they are beset by eternal hunger. They act only to hunt, and they have become a primary threat to Sky City due to the manipulations of the undead mages. ¡­¡­ The Hellhound was a Level 95 elite mob with a pretty good Attack and even better special trait. That Death Surge instantly increased their attack speed by 50%, and not many people could handle that kind of DPS. However, they did have a fatal flaw, and that was their Defense was paper thin and their HP wasn¡¯t very impressive. They could easily be killed if one was powerful enough! The two players fighting against the Hellhounds also carried the emblem of Sky City on their shoulder like I do. The line of text floating above their heads were: The Iron Palm That Surfs On Milk LV-82 Class: Magic Knight Guild: Warsky Alliance Commit Suicide LV-81 Class: Warrior Guild: Warsky Alliance ¡­¡­ I felt a sense of apprehension when I saw their IDs. They were part of the Warsky Alliance? By now, everyone in Sky City knew that Warsky Alliance was aiming to take down Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and so far it looked like they had the strength to match their boast. In Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, a Level 80 player would be made a corps commander already. But these two players were only squad leaders in Warsky Alliance! That being said, I was pretty sure that they couldn¡¯t withstand the Hellhound pack despite their strength. They were surrounded by almost 20 Hellhounds, and every hit deleted about 400 HP from their health bars. 418! 387! 412! ¡­¡­ The attacks weren¡¯t deadly, but they were happening so frequently that even The Iron Palm That Surfs On Milk, a high-level magic knight with almost 6000 HP, couldn¡¯t handle it. In just half a minute¡¯s time, he had lost over two-thirds of his HP. He hastily shouted to his companion, "Suicide, I don¡¯t think we can handle these mobs alone! Their Attack is just too high! Let¡¯s grab a couple of priests and come back later!" Commit Suicide swung violently at a Hellhound using Blaze before replying, "No can do, man! The leader himself had ordered us to scout out the leveling grounds around Sky City! If we retreat now, everyone will look down on us! We have to kill at least one Hellhound so we could get the experience and the monster data!" "True. Let¡¯s focus on a single Hellhound and run away after we kill it!" The Iron Palm That Surfs On Milk swung his spear and struck a half-health Hellhound with Flame Thrust and Blaze, dealing 2985 and 3456 damage respectively. It was a respectable amount of damage. Warsky Alliance was definitely not an opponent we could afford to underestimate! Unfortunately for them, they were a couple seconds too late. They were now completely surrounded with nowhere to escape! Of course, I had no intentions of saving them. Warsky Alliance was my enemy, so why would I pity someone I was going to kill eventually? Warsky Alliance was no wolf, and I am no Dongguo. "I can¡¯t hold out any longer! Iron Palm, we¡¯re dead!" Commit Suicide shouted. The Iron Palm That Surfs On Milk replied angrily, "It¡¯s fine, we¡¯ll grab our men and come back later! I refuse to believe that these Hellhounds could stump the Warsky Alliance!" He barely managed to finish his sentence before the Hellhounds finished both of them. The second they died, I immediately rushed into the open and charged the foremost Hellhound. Once I had gotten into position, I immediately launched a Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! The Hellhounds screeched in pain and lost almost all of their HP. When they charged toward me with bloodshot eyes, I immediately followed up with a devastating War Crush! Bang! A thunderous blow later, all the Hellhounds had been burned into ashes! The Hellhounds dropped a couple of equipment and magic stones. I only grabbed the equipment and used Death Plunder on their corpses to obtain another dozen or so Rank 7 pelts. It was exactly the kind of resources Mamate needed to rank up his Armorsmithing skill and make us even better armors. ¡­¡­ The souls of The Iron Palm That Surfs On Milk and Commit Suicide appeared not far away from here. I was sure that they would be able to revive very soon. I wondered how they would feel after seeing the floor of dead bodies? Oh well, who cares? I have a quest to complete! This time, there were no more distractions as I made a beeline for Dry Town. A couple of NPC guardsmen immediately walked up to me when I arrived, and a middle-aged warrior with a thick beard let out a laugh. "Finally, the adventurer sent by the garrison officer is here! Dry Town is currently being besieged from all directions, and we¡¯ll be evacuating 100 civilians in 5 minutes. Your job is to escort these 100 civilians safely to the temporary supply camp! Brave warrior, we leave Dry Town in your capable hands!" I nodded. "Got it. Leave it to me!" "Thank you!" ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, a group of civilians and eight soldiers appeared at the town entrance. The soldiers were only Level 90, so it was questionable if they could even fight a Hellhound one on one. Naturally, it was up to me to protect all 100 civilians from danger! A countdown appeared on the system window, and the civilians took off when it reached 0. Just like before, I set the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to follow me only because its level was too low to do anything. The good news was that there was almost no chance it might attract any aggro, so I shouldn¡¯t need to protect it unless it got really unlucky. The townspeople moved slowly, so I could only wander around and wait for something to happen. And it did. Not longer after we took off, the first Hellhound appeared at a distance and pounced toward the townspeople! I immediately activated Charge! Whoosh! After that, I followed up with Ice Ray + Desperate Gambit + basic attack! 5489! 6734! 4950! It was dead after one final attack. The Hellhound¡¯s Defense and HP were practically non-existent before my insane damage! The quest continued. With my Attack, protecting these civilians shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Speaking of which, I had changed my attack mode to "righteous" mode. This meant that my attack would only injure mobs, but not NPCs or players. Beep! It was at this moment He Yi sent me a message: "How¡¯s it going, Lu Chen?" I brought up the chat window and replied, "I¡¯m doing pretty well. I got a quest, and I¡¯m using it to level up my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. What about you girls? Do you want to join me on my quest too?" He Yi giggled. "It¡¯s okay, Beiming Xue, Mingyue and I are actually doing a quest right now. It¡¯s an A+ Rank quest!" "Oh, I see. By the way, is there something you want to talk with me about?" "Of course! You should check out the level ranking!" "Oh? Did they finally update Sky City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking?" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Chapter 304: Encourage III For a time, I couldn¡¯t say anything. There were so many heroes in Sky City that the Top 15 players of the Heavenly Ranking¡ªnot just that, the Top 50 players of the level ranking¡ªwere all experts. Dominating Heaven Blade used to be the highest-leveled player in Floating Ice City, but here in Sky City, I couldn¡¯t even find his name. Gods of Destruction was definitely at Sky City already, but no one in that guild was able to put their name up on the Heavenly Ranking. On the other hand, the fourth place guild in China¡¯s Guild Ranking, Warsky Alliance was technically behind Gods of Destruction in terms of placement, but their performance in Sky City was something else. Four of their players were on the Heavenly Ranking, and that wasn¡¯t even the biggest shocker of them all. Three out of these four players had a golden emblem behind their IDs, the emblem that identified a player as a CGL Hall of Famer! ¡­¡­ Beep! I joined He Yi¡¯s party and found Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi, Yamete, Chaos Moon and more were all present. The situation was serious enough to warrant an impromptu meeting between all the core members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! He Yi smiled and started, "What is your opinion about the situation in Sky City, Lu Chen?" I replied quietly, "I have no opinion¡­" "Fuck!" Xu Yang swore casually. "This level ranking sure is something, isn¡¯t it? I wasn¡¯t expecting Warsky Alliance to be able to recruit three CGL Hall of Famers, and I heard that October Rain is beautiful¡­" Gui Guzi said, "That aside, I think Warsky Alliance will become our greatest enemy in Sky City. What do you all think?" Du Thirteen said, "Agreed. If three CGL Hall of Famers aren¡¯t a problem, I don¡¯t know what is. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is strong, but Lu Chen is the only CGL Hall of Famer we have. Players like these are basically walking nuclear bombs who could cause havoc no matter where you dropped them. We can¡¯t underestimate our opponent¡­" I nodded. "October Rain and Laughing At The Heavens are ranked at 19th and 18th in the CGL Hall of Fame respectively, so they aren¡¯t actually that threatening. Basically, they could beat Little Gui, but they can¡¯t beat the Fruit Knife Goddess. What really worries me is the last CGL Hall of Famer of that guild¡­" He Yi looked astonished. "You mean that assassin, Farewell Song?" "Mn!" I said uneasily. "During the latter stages of Spirit of Grief, the ID ¡®Farewell Song¡¯ was almost synonymous to the Grim Reaper himself. He is an incredibly talented player and a top-tier assassin, and it was said that his skill was equal to the number one assassin at the time, Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow, if not better. During the WSL, Candlelight Shadow was barely able to defeat Farewell Song in a one-on-one fight despite having superior equipment. That¡¯s how skillful Farewell Song was¡­" I nodded apprehensively. If Warsky Alliance decided to declare war on Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I didn¡¯t think there was anyone except me in the entire guild who could handle Farewell Song in a 1v1 fight. Gui Guzi and He Yi might have a fighting chance thanks to the armor type counter, but the rest wouldn¡¯t be so lucky. I said, "Eve, can you run a background check on Warsky? Who is he, and how was he able to recruit three CGL Hall of Famers? He can¡¯t be an ordinary person." It would be an understatement to claim that all CGL Hall of Famers were prideful human beings. Most of the time, they were the ones who made others answer to them, not the other way around. I was an exception because I owed He Yi a lot of favors, and I wasn¡¯t willing to leave her side... He Yi smiled back. "Already done! Warsky¡¯s real name is Zhu Tian. He was born in Henan, and his father is the chief of XX Bureau. He¡¯s basically what you call a rich kid. But unlike most people, he¡¯s actually a pretty good person. He isn¡¯t overly arrogant, and he¡¯s an advocate of the code of brotherhood. He has been addicted to games since young, and it was during this time he came to make friends with experts such as Farewell Song, October Rain and Laughing At The Heavens. Since his guild is rich and powerful, none of these CGL Hall of Famers are inclined to leave the guild." I sucked in a deep breath. "Damn, he¡¯s going to be a tough nut to crack. In fact, is it even safe to attack someone like him?" He Yi giggled. "You don¡¯t have to worry about that. Warsky is the kind of person who doesn¡¯t let in-game grudges spill over to real life. In fact, there¡¯s no one he hates more than scumbags who do that. Also, don¡¯t forget who I am. His father may be the chief of XX Bureau, but he¡¯s still not someone I can¡¯t handle!" I laughed. That¡¯s right, I nearly forgot that He Yi was the Asia Region Vice President of GGS. Her connections would only be far greater than my imagination! Xu Yang asked, "Should we declare war on Warsky Alliance first?" He Yi looked to me. "What do you think, Lu Chen?" I shook my head in response. "It¡¯ll be a bad idea to declare war this soon. We should wait for an opportunity to present itself! Usually, there are only two reasons to start a war, and they are land¡ªin our case guild territory¡ªand beautiful women. For now, all of Sky City¡¯s best women are belong to us, so there¡¯s no reason to start a war with Warsky Alliance. On the other hand, if Warsky wants to claim our ¡®From Water¡¯ for himself, then a war is what he¡¯ll get! Hmph hmph!" He Yi immediately turned red in her avatar screen. "Fuck, what the hell are you talking about, boy? Do you think I¡¯m Diaochan or something? I¡¯m not an object to be fought for, and if Warsky really thinks that way I¡¯ll teach him with my Soul Stealing Spear myself, hmph hmph!" Everyone seemed surprised by her ferocity, but the reality was our beautiful boss was hardly just a pretty vase to look at. She was pretty, but just like roses, anyone who treats her carelessly would only be hurt by her thorns. Although her in-game skill wasn¡¯t there yet, her Soul Stealing Spear was a top-tier weapon that would more than make up for her small weaknesses. Of course, He Yi had been working very hard to absorb everything about the game, and her growth was visible to everyone. It was a gladdening sight to say the least. Long story short, guild territories weren¡¯t available in the game yet, and I was just joking when I said that guilds would fight over pretty women. Not only was it unrealistic and stupid to do something like this in a game, Eternal Moon Corporation firmly kept vulgar designs like these out of their games. They didn¡¯t even have a marriage system that one might see in other MMORPGs. Here in the games of Eternal Moon Corporation, you would only find epic wars and bloody battles! He Yi said, "Anyway, the goal now is to solidify our footing and do our best to improve our levels and equipment while things are still peaceful. Let¡¯s strengthen Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls as much as possible before the first great battle. Also, there¡¯s no need to worry about the enemy¡¯s CGL Hall of Famers too much. Sure, Warsky Alliance has three CGL Hall of Famers, but our Lu Chen is a CGL Hall of Famer himself, the 12th place CGL Hall of Famer no less!" Beauty Chaos Moon giggled. "Yeah, yeah, big bro Lu Chen is so amazing!" Eh, why do I feel like I¡¯m being made fun of? ¡­¡­ After the meeting was over, everyone went back to their respective business. I hadn¡¯t been idle while the meeting was ongoing. I had killed at least a dozen or so Hellhounds while chatting, and I had gained quite a bit of experience and looted a lot of pelts. It was at this moment a large pack of Hellhounds appeared in front of me. I counted about 50 of them. Considering that we were very close to the temporary supply camp, this was probably the strongest wave of Hellhounds I was going to face! I charged toward the Hellhounds and ran a half-circle around them to draw them to me. Then, I moved to the perfect spot and launched a Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! The densely-packed Hellhounds took a huge amount of damage immediately. The ones at the center were even one-shot due to the splash damage overlapping with one another! I stopped and waited for the Hellhounds to surround me completely. Then, I activated War Crush and leaped into the air! Bang! Lightning flashed everywhere as the devastating blow annihilated most of the Hellhounds. It was exhilarating to be able to destroy mobs like this! Two powerful skills later, only seven or eight low health Hellhounds were still alive to attack me, and I took my time cutting them down one by one. I mostly ignored their attacks because they could only deal 100 damage or so per hit, not to mention that I also had Regeneration of the Undead. Crack! After killing the last Hellhound, a blood-red skill book dropped on the grassy ground! I picked it up and was pleasantly surprised by the contents¡ª Encourage III: Increases attack power by 7% for all allies within 1000 yards. Level Requirement: 60. Tactics Requirement: 50 ¡­¡­ I checked my stats and noted that I had 71 Tactics. Yep, it was definitely enough to learn the skill! Swhoosh! The Encourage III skill book vanished from my hand. It boosted my Attack by 7%¡ª2% better than the normal Encourage¡ªand since my attack power was 171%, 7% of 171% was equal to 11.97%. It was almost as good as a property of Outstanding equipment! Deeply satisfied, I exited the party after notifying He Yi and the others and formed my own party. Then, I activated my General Skill, Encourage III! The beating of a wardrum entered my ears as a glowing ring appeared around me. The skill boosted my Attack by almost 12%, and stacked together with Wild Roar for a total increase of almost 27%. I should be able to one-shot any Level 95 elite mob without trouble now. The first group of civilians safely made it to the temporary supply camp while I was feeling very good with myself. There was a cavalry troop about a thousand-man strong in the temporary supply camp, so they shouldn¡¯t have any trouble protecting the civilians. If they were just a bit braver and less wary of the Hellhounds, they wouldn¡¯t have had to ask me, also known as cannon fodder, to help them. Since this was an S Rank quest, the last couple of waves should be pretty powerful. I was looking forward to it, however. The stronger the wave, the more rewards I could reap from their corpses. In fact, the number of wolf pelts in my bag was growing constantly since the escort quest began. It was incredibly fun to say the least! ¡­¡­ I was feeling as happy as an idiot as I headed back toward Dry Town to escort the second group of civilians. It was at this moment a chill overcame my body and paralyzed me. Shit! An assassin had ambushed me! Beep! Chapter 305: Attack Like A Butterfly Farewell Song!!!! My eyes instantly reddened. Never in my dreams would I imagine that this guy would come pick a fight with me! Farewell Song¡¯s skills were seriously high because I couldn¡¯t detect him at all. He had taken control of the momentum, an advantage Assassin class was known for. If he couldn¡¯t make the first move, then there was no point for an assassin to fight against a melee player because they could easily just wear you down in a battle of attrition! Swhoosh! There was a moving figure in front of me. Farewell Song was coming at me and I finally had a clear view of him now. He wore elite leather armor and wielded a blood-red dagger. He suddenly made a frontward slash as his dagger glowed red! I trembled from the impact and my HP plummeted! 2307! Combat Log: Player "Farewell Song" used "Blooddrinker Slash", dealing 2307 damage! ¡­¡­ Shit, was this an attack that ignored Defense? I was somewhat stunned. To a peak assassin like Farewell Song, a stun that lasted one second was enough to complete a skill combo. He had finished it, and almost deleted 3000 HP from me! I recovered soon after but I didn¡¯t retreat. I have to put pressure on him! The Purgatory Sword swung out! Swhoosh! MISS! Damn, he disappeared! My gaze went cold. I tightened my grasp on my sword and chugged down a health potion. I couldn¡¯t let Farewell Song execute another skill combo or I might possibly die! Assassin¡¯s Vanish was really annoying. Especially high-level assassin¡¯s. I was only five levels above Farewell Song so trying to discover him was just too hard! Farewell Song didn¡¯t seem to be in a hurry to attack me. He was waiting for the moment my concentration broke. In a fight between pros, an attack on the body was not as important as an attack on the mind. In some cases, patience was more important than anything. If their mind was in disarray, even the best mechanics wouldn¡¯t be any use. I kept calm as I surveyed my surroundings. Farewell Song shouldn''t have gone too far! I paid close attention to every detail around me, and searched for any traces of Farewell Song. I quickly launched an offense and struck at my right with Ice Ray! Pu! The tip of the sword that gushed with icy killing intent aimed true! A blood-red dagger suddenly appeared in the air, colliding with the Purgatory Sword. It was parried! The chances of an assassin parrying was higher than your typical player. If they had the necessary skill, that paired with their natural dodge chance meant that the survivability rate of a strong assassin wasn¡¯t low! Even though he had successfully parried my Ice Ray, Farewell Song had still been forced out of his stealth. And it wasn¡¯t just that, he was sent sliding backward along the grass. I smiled. "Do I even need to guess? As long as I pay attention to details, I can see the marks you leave, no matter how strong you are!" "What?" "I¡¯ll elaborate after you die!" I laughed but my eyes were instantly shrouded with a layer of ice. I wanted blood. Since Farewell Song dared to challenge me, then he¡¯d better not think of leaving this place alive. Otherwise, the Warsky Alliance¡¯s morale would rise. This was their first attack on Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Who would I be if I, the number one expert of my guild, couldn¡¯t escape unscathed against their number one assassin? Farewell Song¡¯s gaze also turned chilly. He raised his dagger, chuckling. "Alright, I actually do want to check out the skills of Spirit of Grief¡¯s Little Heavenly King. Come!" I arrived before his voice fell and gave him a taste of a glowing Slayer Slash! Farewell Song was beyond calm as his dagger accurately parried me again. Clang! Without pausing after the first strike, I dealt a lightning quick attack at Farewell Song¡¯s right arm. Let¡¯s see how he uses that dagger if I cripple his arm! But Farewell Song was even faster. The advantage of the assassin class was on full display as he swiftly parried me yet again with a slight grin on his face, as if he had anticipated all my moves. I also smiled. My sword pressed down on his parry as I spun in a back kick, smashing my Death Shade War Boots into Farewell Song! Bang! 764! My foot slammed into Farewell Song¡¯s belly, deleting 764 HP, which was around 20% of his HP. This was surprising to say the least. Farewell Song was definitely wearing some good stuff, at least Purple Gold¨Cgrade, or else how could an assassin¡¯s HP reach 4000? A trace of shock appeared in his eyes after he retreated a couple of steps back. It was obvious that he didn¡¯t expect my attack rhythm to be so fast and efficient. This was also an essential quality of an expert. Every attack was aimed at the target. Flashy moves were useless. Farewell Song looked on with cold eyes. He took a step back, then came forward again for a frontal clash! Rustle... He was fast and moved weirdly, like he was doing the seven star steps. Accompanied by a flurry of flying leaves, Farewell Song lunged at me from an odd angle, dagger out, and fiercely stabbing at my armpit. That angle was really tricky because you couldn¡¯t guard against it! I slightly tilted and turned my longsword, giving him a quick Desperate Gambit! Ding! The sound of parry came again but Farewell Song ate my following basic attack as he looked for a chance to break my defenses! Puchi! 2804! My basic attack cleaved through more than half of Farewell Song¡¯s health bar. My next attack would do the trick! He didn¡¯t give me the chance, however. Farewell Song sacrificed himself to obtain a chance to hit me again. His dagger went cold and glowed with a sliver of venomous green light! Oh no! I was shocked inside but I couldn¡¯t turn around in time. Warrior¡¯s agility wasn¡¯t that great in the first place so their turn rate couldn¡¯t compare to Assassin¡¯s either, let alone a top-tier assassin like Farewell Song! Beep! Combat Log: Player "Farewell Song" used "Cold Poison Strike¡±. You have been poisoned. Your movement speed has been lowered by 50%. You have been stunned for 3 seconds! ¡­¡­ Fuck! A three-second stun! And of course, a smirk appeared on Farewell Song¡¯s face. "Heavenly King, die with grace!" Boom! Frost energy swirled above the dagger as Farewell Song ruthlessly used a skill on me. The frosty dagger stabbed me three times! Blade Vortex! 1084! 1074! 1037! It was a three-hit attack with its damage numbers overlapping each other. Almost 4000 of my HP had been shaved away and one more Blooddrinker Slash would definitely end me! Good thing that Farewell Song¡¯s killing moves seemed to only be Blooddrinker Slash and this Blade Vortex though. He tried to use two basic attacks on me but they couldn¡¯t break most of my Defense and only dealt 400 damage! Three seconds later, he disappeared again! After I recovered from the status ailment, I instantly activated War Crush! Bang! MISS! MISS! 1984! Despite Farewell Song¡¯s relatively quick getaway, his HP was left hanging by a thread due to War Crush¡¯s effects. One more hit from me would spell his doom because he couldn¡¯t drink another health potion in the short term thanks to their cooldowns! I laughed out loud. "Farewell Song, your damage is still lacking!" Sword beams exploded out and Thousand Mirage Slash closed in at him from the sky! Boom! The skill immediately lit up the surroundings. Farewell Song suddenly turned around with eyes tinged with shock. It was obvious that an assassin on his last legs couldn¡¯t block my all-out attack. However, right at this time, a gray figure suddenly appeared before Farewell Song. It was a magic knight holding a golden shield. He shouted, "Holy Shield Protection!" Clang! The huge shield seemed to tremble without end as Thousand Mirage Slash took 2674 of the guy¡¯s HP. He¡¯d lost that much HP even in his defensive state. My attack totally exceeded his expectations! But Farewell Song had still been rescued! I angrily gritted my teeth and swiftly arrived before them, swinging my sword! Pardon! Basic attack! MISS! 4987! The two strikes sent the shocked high-level magic knight backward with his shield, color drained from his face. It was clear that he didn¡¯t expect my attack to be that high! I also saw who this magic knight was at this time. The person before me was none other than Warsky Alliance¡¯s other CGL expert, Laughing At The Heavens! He was a high-level magic knight with around 8000 HP, which was why he was able to block both my attacks. My eyes were already bursting with bloodlust. I didn¡¯t care whether the guy in front of me was a normal expert or a CGL Hall of Famer. Since they dare come calling, then I¡¯ll send them to the afterlife! Tenacity of the Dead! I chugged another Rank 8 Health Potion and instantly recovered 4000 HP, rejuvenated. I pointed my sword at the two low-health people in front of me and said icily, "Come at me if you dare. Show me the skills of Warsky Alliance¡¯s peak experts!" "Gulp!" Laughing At The Heavens swallowed audibly. "Lu Chen. Come at us if you dare!" My gaze turned cold as I discovered a slight movement coming from the nearby greenery. A few Warsky Alliance players with weapons walked out, led by a Level 85 warrior. It was none other than Warsky Alliance¡¯s guild leader, Warsky! Behind him was a bow-wielding beautiful archer. 19th place in the CGL Hall of Fame, October Rain! ¡­¡­ Clap clap clap... Warsky clapped his hands and gave a hearty laugh. "Your reputation precedes you. The legendary Falling Dust truly does not disappoint. The combined efforts of Farewell Song and Laughing At The Heavens have been beaten down into such a miserable state, haha. The name ¡®Spirit of Grief¡¯s Little Heavenly King¡¯ was not dubbed in vain. Lu Chen, are you interested in joining our Warsky Alliance?" I shook my head. "Not interested!" "Haha, straightforward. I like it!" "Anyway, our kid Farewell Song has been itching to compete against you and you¡¯ve also taught him a lesson today. How about we stop here for today?" My eyes frosted. "You think I¡¯ll let it go just like that?" Warsky was stunned. "Then what do you want? Don¡¯t tell me that you want to kill Farewell Song in front of me. I can¡¯t have that. If you want to kill my brother, you¡¯ll have to step over my dead body!" I frowned. When Warsky said that, Beauty October Rain behind him assumed a battle stance. I¡¯d be dead meat if I challenged their group of people, especially since they had three CGL experts along with a number of archers, mages, priests, and bards! I had a motto I went by when it came to gaming. A pro gamer had to meet two conditions¡ª Attack like a butterfly, run like a cockroach! ¡­¡­ Chapter 306: Whose Territory? Without a word, I took several steps back with the Purgatory Sword, quietly reaching the edge of the forest. I was prepared to retreat. At this time, a Level 81 warrior called Little Frog next to Warsky came out with his battle axe and shouted, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you think you can leave just like that? Damn, you dare to challenge our Farewell Song? Then leave your life here. I''m telling you¡ªour Warsky Alliance rules Sky City!" As he spoke, Little Frog activated his Charge skill, locked onto me. "Ha!" Seeing the other''s impulsiveness, I smiled. I saw the whole charge-up animation. The moment his skill activated, I quickly moved two steps to the right to dodge the skill¡¯s CC. Instinctively I continued to move, my blade headed for the place Little Frog would appear after the Charge! Crack! Desperate Gambit. Thick hue of red wrapped around my blade and slashed into the other''s chest armor! 4178! Accompanied by a scream, Little Frog fell down and died instantly. This Level 81 warrior clearly was of the type who allocated 5 stat points into Strength at each and every level-up. His HP was too low compared to the top experts like Laughing At The Heavens! ¡­¡­ "Damn! He killed Frog..." The group of Warsky Alliance players were furious. Before Warsky even gave an order, the melee players charged each of them howling. Their blades had either flame or ice, the prelude to Blaze and Ice Ray attacks. This group of people were very arrogant and did not conceal their intentions to attack at all. "Die!" I took several quick steps back, and raised my hand for a Thousand Mirage Slash! Clang! My sword energy split into eight and poured into the crowd. The Warsky players screamed, and enormous damage numbers flew above their heads¡ª 4012! 3874! 3902! ¡­¡­ Immediately, four warriors were killed, and three magic knights and a wanderer only had a bit of HP left. Such a powerful Thousand Mirage Slash struck them dumb. But I wasn¡¯t done yet! I dashed forward, my sword raised high. I suddenly jumped up and hacked down! Boom! War Crush''s power rampaged everywhere. The four melee players howled, as they fell to the grass and became cold corpses. I held the Purgatory Sword and stood in the wind, my cloak flapping. I pointed my sword at the Warsky Alliance crowd and said, "Sky City doesn¡¯t belong to anyone yet. If you want to challenge me, go ahead!" ¡°Gulp!¡± Warsky''s gaze was harsh. He swallowed and said, "Retreat! We''ve just entered Sky City and don''t want to fight any factions. Let''s leave all the grudges until the territory system is opened! Hmph, Lu Chen, remember what you said today. One day, I will make you learn who Sky City belongs to!" In the previous battle, the reason I had been in such a sorry state had a lot to do with being ambushed. As an assassin, Farewell Song had an advantage of initiative due to their ambush potential. Without that however, it wouldn¡¯t be a fight at all. I could kill him in two attacks while he needed to expend great power to deal with me. It was the classic class counter. An assassin''s advantage was in zone control and CC. Farewell Song¡¯s Silent Punch stunned for 1 second, Cold Poison Strike for 3. Adding the CC recovery animation, he could keep the enemy in check for 5 seconds. It was enough for him to kill most experts, including Lin Yixin. This was the power of Assassin. Stunlock to death, not give your enemies a chance to retaliate. With the element of surprise on their side, assassins were kings of open-world PvP. ¡­¡­ I opened the big map and found Warsky and the others had walked far away. I didn¡¯t bother paying them anymore attention and continued on my quest! I came to Dry Town. The second group of townspeople had finished preparing, and the countdown started immediately after I arrived. I escorted the group to the temporary supply camp. This time, the attacks of the Hellhounds were madder. Without walking far, a large pack of Hellhounds leapt toward us. I naturally met them head-on and used Thousand Mirage Slash to attract their aggro. Surrounded by the Hellhounds, I drank a health potion and used Tenacity of the Dead to barely manage to hold on. At this time, the War Crush skill was extremely important. Its quick three-hit combo was able to almost instantly kill all the Hellhounds and my grinding and leveling speed had been increased greatly! To my joy, when I was killing monsters, the townspeople would stop moving. This way, there would be almost no deaths. Otherwise, if I was killing monsters and they continued to walk, they would be massacred by the next pack of Hellhounds, and my quest would officially fail! After a chaotic battle in which I killed numerous Hellhounds, the wolf pelts in my bag reached over 400, making the fight even more pleasing! When I sent the second group of townspeople into the temporary camp, the third wave came. I slowly came to the town entrance and frowned. In the previous wave, two NPC guards had been killed. Fortunately, none of the civilians had died, so it didn¡¯t affect my quest. "Respected warrior, your sharp sword will protect our lives. I represent the people of the town to show our respect to you!" An old man with a cane came forward and said respectfully to me. ¡°Mayor of Dry Town¡± hung above his head. Very good, after protecting two groups, even the mayor came to give his thanks. A group of old and young came out holding hands. I continued to guard the front while the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf wagged its tail and followed. It was neither near or far, it didn''t participate in battle, but it still leeched experience. Yes, in order to get this thing to level up quickly, I sacrificed nearly half my gained experience with hopes of it not disappointing me in the future! I left the town. There weren¡¯t many Hellhounds within this third wave. I felt slightly depressed. In the second wave, there had been over 300 Hellhounds attacking. Would there be less in the third wave? Just as I was puzzled, I heard rustling sounds from the dense forest ahead. Even the leaves started to tremble collectively. I was shocked and hurriedly raised my sword, shouting, ¡°Stop, there is an enemy attack ahead, stop advancing!" Before I finished speaking, a wave of Hellhounds poured in. Clearly, the quest design was to have them gather their firepower on me. This was good. They had to kill me before they could touch the townspeople. The glorious sacrifice was the fate of warriors! Clang! I pulled out the Purgatory Sword and charged forward, attacking into the Hellhound horde without any regard for my life. I activated Ghost Deity Armor, and opened the battle with a Thousand Mirage Slash. Streaks of sword energy lashed out, and a pack of Hellhounds became corpses in the blink of an eye. My experience shot up quickly! Soon, I was surrounded by Hellhounds. The sharp claws left marks on the Obsidian Dragonscale Armor. Fortunately, this Dragonscale Armor was a high-grade item and any small dent would heal on its own. The Hellhounds¡¯ damage wasn¡¯t that great either, and I still had that 10% damage absorption property. This leveling speed was great! Once again, War Crush! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your War Crush has ranked up! ¡­¡­ Very good, War Crush II. Would it be even more powerful now? Facing the packed Hellhound horde, I used the Rank 2 War Crush after seven seconds. Among the furious howling explosions, more than thirty Hellhounds died amid pitiful howls. Tsk tsk, its range seemed to have been increased? I looked closely at the skill details. As expected, after reaching Rank 2, War Crush could damage all targets within a 6x6 yard square. Killing over 30 monsters at once was within expectations. Therefore, facing the fierce attacks of over 500 Hellhounds, I used Tenacity of the Dead and health potions in order to survive. Thousand Mirage Slash and War Crush were already spectacular trump skills, but with the splash damage, they became the greatest monster-killing machine! Originally, I needed at least 2 hours to finish killing monsters, but with this increase in AoE, I was done in 30 minutes! Bang! After my Purgatory Sword cut off the last Hellhound''s head, I finally exhaled. The monsters were so densely packed together. If they had not attacked the townspeople first, I would have been crying. I saw the dropped stones and tattered equipment. While I knew the equipment wasn''t anything good, I still felt pride. I killed a group of monsters on my own, and I was a melee player. This was so great! I walked around, and the Death Plunder yielded another great haul. More than 800 pelts appeared in my bag. I could only imagine how many more I¡¯d wave if there were two more waves! I looked at the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. After half an hour, the little guy had reached Level 27! I checked out its stats¡ª Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf Level: 27 Attack: 540 Defense: 486 HP: 5400 Agility: 510 ¡­¡­ The powerful growth was astounding, and its Defense was near 500. I believed this pet could already be of use when it reached Level 50. Its Attack was high, and it was like a bull with its HP. It would be dumb not to use this pet as an offensive meatshield. Chapter 307: Evenly Matched "Oh?" I was slightly shocked and asked, "What''s the matter Eve?" "Look at this link..." He Yi quickly sent me a forums link. I clicked it. It was the new address for Sky City on the official forums. On the front page was a large video selection. On the ad space was a scene of two players fighting in the wilderness. I looked closely. It looks very familiar! WTF, wasn''t this the scene of me fighting Farewell Song half an hour ago? I rubbed my eyes. Right, this was the fight between me and Farewell Song. Also, a player hiding had seemed to have recorded the entire battle and then posted it on the forums. Right now, the post was pinned at the top with over a million clicks, and over ten thousand replies! The large red topic¡ª"Sky City''s first battle between Hall of Famers. A true video of Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand VS Farewell Song. The first conflict between the two major forces¡ªAncient Sword Dreaming Souls and Warsky Alliance!" I opened the post, and the video started to play. I had no need to watch and just looked down. The author of the post described in small font, "Not long ago, when I was leveling up in Sky Forest, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand was coincidentally also leveling up there. I hadn''t expected him to get ambushed by Farewell Song. After a ferocious conflict, Farewell Song was defeated. Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand originally could have killed Farewell Song, but another CGL Hall of Famer, Laughing At the Heavens from Warsky Alliance appeared in time. However, he was still unable to stop the slaughter of the Unkillable War God. In the end, Warsky Alliance paid the price of 8 lives before the conflict ended." I smiled. The author of the video seemed to be biased toward me. In reality, I wasn''t as strong as I looked. At least, I was unwilling to truly fight Warsky Alliance but I had no other choice then. The replies came with their own opinions¡ª 1st comment: Warsky Alliance seems to be very popular. Didn''t Warsky announce yesterday on the forums that his guild is the master of Sky City? But here they clearly retreated. Why didn¡¯t they fight when encountering Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? 2nd comment: Haha, they are evenly matched. Warsky Alliance has three CGL Hall of Famers, but Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand ranks 12th. Among the present Hall of Fame players, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is only slightly weaker than Candlelight Shadow. Haha, Warsky''s trio pale in comparison! 3rd comment: Damn, Warsky Alliance is too arrogant. My younger brother wanted to join their guild at noon, but was bullied. Aren''t they just a guild with a bit of fame? What''s there to be proud of? Now that they¡¯ve encountered a strong guild like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, how are they gonna dominate Sky City? 5th comment: October Rain is really good, she has a good figure and pale complexion! Let''s hang out! 6th comment: The person above is an idiot. Didn''t they say that October Rain is Warsky''s girlfriend? 7th comment: Yo, the guy above, stop farting with your mouth. October Rain is our Huazhong University''s beauty. She doesn''t have a boyfriend at all. Don''t speak nonsense when you don''t know anything! ¡­¡­ In the end, the conflict between guilds caused a war on the forums. The strong guilds in Sky City all gradually appeared. Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Gods of Destruction and others. The situation wasn''t very clear but it was easy to imagine the huge war between hidden dragons and crouching tigers that would embroil Sky City! Also, the Heavenly Ranking housed some seemingly lone wolves. It was surprising to see unaffiliated people at this stage of the game. Especially that guy with the Dragon Warrior class. Legendary Brave was his name. Undoubtedly, this person was extraordinarily strong but no guild had managed to recruit him. He didn''t even add friends. Murong Mingyue was the beautiful female diplomat of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Originally, He Yi had sent Murong Mingyue to recruit him. But she hadn''t succeeded. Murong Mingyue hadn''t even managed to get added as a friend. The other had disabled friend requests. Such a headstrong player! Also, there was a player with a hidden profession. Little Piglet. Cold Wind Swordsman. Also a player with a high level but no guild. It was so strange. Were all experts proud lone wolves who wanted to roam the world alone? ¡­¡­ Beep! System Notice: Player ¡°From Water¡± invited you to the party! I accepted and joined. "Eve, what is it?" I asked. He Yi said, "The people from Warsky Alliance are definitely targeting you. Lu Chen, where are you? We are going to do quests together, so you won''t be alone and get caught!" Murong Mingyue said, "Yeah, we wouldn¡¯t look good if you died!" "Damn, can''t you have good hopes for me..." I was speechless. "No need, Warsky Alliance temporarily won''t fight us. I¡¯m leveling up the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. Where are you?" "Killing the Forest Ghosts, they give so much experience!" Beiming Xue said. I smiled. "Okay, then continue!" "Big bro!" Beiming Xue suddenly shouted. "What is it?" I asked. "Uh... uh..." Beiming Xue spoke haltingly. After a moment, when I almost stopped breathing, she said, "I want to eat hotpot tonight, will you come with me?" "Fine, no problem!" I smiled. "Okay, it''s settled!" "Mn, Eve, Sister Mingyue, will you come?" "No." He Yi laughed. "I and Mingyue are going offline soon to the Suzhuo branch office. I haven''t gone there recently and there''s a pile of matters to address. I probably will be busy until night. If we don¡¯t return by then, remember to go to the company to get us. We¡¯ll get lost otherwise!" I laughed. "Don''t worry, I won''t lose our two beauties, that would be such a pity!" "Haha...." ¡­¡­ I welcomed the fourth wave of the rescue quest at this time. This wave was more terrifying. Just outside of the town, I was surrounded by large numbers of Hellhounds. I had to leave the townspeople in the town, and fight with my sword by the entrance, like a lone general defending the fort against ten thousand enemies. Boom! Thousand Mirage Slash vented into the monster horde. The Hellhounds howled as they died. Countless white streams of experience flew over. Half of the experience to me, the other half to my obsidian wolf. Nevertheless, this leveling speed was still pleasing! I fought for nearly an hour outside the town before finally finishing this wave. Then I escorted 100 townspeople NPCs to the temporary camp. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was very busy. Xu Yang led a five-hundred-person team to take over the Venomous Wasp area at the border of Sky Forest. Gui Guzi was leading a group of people to occupy a map called Blackwater Bog. These two areas were abundant in resources. Xu Yang''s place produced a high-tier pet¡ªGreen Dragon Bee. It was the size of a large honey bee but designed as a green dragon. It had scales and could spit fire. Its growth was not any inferior to my Dark Wasp. It was a popular pet among the players. Gui Guzi''s Blackwater Bog had Ghost Eye Alligators. This was a pet with relatively good growth. Its highest BN would be around 90, it would have high attack power, and it was the best choice for middle-rank pets! ¡­¡­ Soon, my escort quest reached its last stage! The town mayor looked hopefully at me and said in a trembling voice, "Young and brave warrior, your bravery has allowed us to see the eternal glory of the Sky Dynasty. With brave warriors like you here, our empire will never be destroyed by the Night Creatures. Come, this is the last hundred people. Send them safely to the temporary supply camp and Dry Town will be able to live on..." I nodded. "Mayor, what about you?" "I am going to live and die with the town!" The mayor looked like he would stay until the end. This statement alone caused his figure to look imposing. ¡­¡­ Bells started ringing around the small town. A guardsman shouted, holding a lantern, "The damned Night Creatures have charged into the town! Those damned Hellhounds... They killed the patrol squad captain and are assaulting the town. They will fight their way in soon!" I was shocked. Damn. Wasn''t this an escort quest? How... how did it suddenly become tower defense? I was speechless. In the darkness, the Hellhounds roared and charged in. They were killing quickly in the surroundings, those citizens without any weapons had their necks bitten by the Hellhounds. Blood sprayed, and the corpses were quickly torn apart and devoured. It was a terrifying sight! Beep! System Notice: Townspeople killed +1! Beep! System Notice: Townspeople killed +1! Beep! System Notice: Townspeople killed +1! ¡­¡­ I was completely dumbstruck. A few minutes later, nearly half of the townspeople had been killed. 37 were dead and I was unable to get aggro of all the monsters! I was furious. The last wave of Hellhounds did not follow the earlier logic. They didn¡¯t attack me and just attacked the NPCs. Wasn¡¯t this a trap? I looked back and saw a row of people. I immediately had a plan and kicked open a house. I said to the old mayor, "Have everyone hide here, I¡¯ll guard the perimeter!" "Alright!" Soon after, the surviving townspeople went into the small house, filling it while I stood guard outside. Fortunately, there was only one door. The Purgatory Sword swung down and streaks of sword energy fell into the monster swarm. Thousand Mirage Slash! ¡­¡­ To my joy, the fight went smoothly, but there were so many Hellhounds that I felt I could not finish killing them all! I fought for nearly an hour. Piles of monster corpses were in front of me but I still hadn¡¯t reached Level 93, driving me insane. After Level 90, it took too much experience to level up. It was too difficult to level up just by killing monsters! I looked at my friend list. He Yi and Murong Mingyue''s names were dim. The two of them clearly had gone offline. They should¡¯ve gone to the GGS company. The two of them were among the company¡¯s higher-ups so they couldn''t just stay in the game and ignore the company all day. Chapter 308: Bloodlus Death Plunder! Plunder... plunder... plunder... I continued to farm Hellhound pelts. I had about 2400 of them. Their fur was very good and would stack together, 200 for every slot. My bag would have exploded if they didn¡¯t! This was very good. This time, Yamete had enough materials to make leather armor. It probably won''t be hard for him to reach Rank 8 Armorsmithing. I looked back. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was following me, wagging its tail happily. It leapt forward and bit the leg of a Hellhound, chewing in large gulps. The small wolf had grown very big, finally like a wolf cub and not a puppy. Its teeth had grown out, and under its bite, Hellhound meat became but a delicious meal. I looked at the pet bar. There was a Satiety value quickly being replenished! Damn, I underestimated this wolf. The Dark Wasp had never eaten before and didn''t have Satiety. But this higher-rank pet needed to eat. Would I have to prepare its food as well in the future? I looked around and found the little wolf''s level had grown greatly after I killed numerous Hellhounds, currently sitting at 49. As expected, it was now strong enough to fight! Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf (Epic Rank Boss) Level: 49 Attack: 980 Defense : 882 HP: 9800 Agility: 1470 ¡­¡­ As expected of an Epic Rank Boss. Just Level 49 and had stats so powerful that it wasn¡¯t any weaker than the Level 85 Dark Wasp. Even now, it had 9800 HP while the Dark Wasp only had around 2500. The disparity was clear for all to see! I walked out, and protected the remaining group of NPCs behind me. I proceeded forward. There were no more packs of Hellhounds, just a few charging over. I was too lazy to kill them and gave an order of the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. "Little Wolf, go, kill the two Hellhounds!" The wolf cub poked out its tongue and sprinted. A few seconds later, it came back in misery, beat up. It was only a Level 49 pet, and the enemy were Level 95 elite monsters. It wasn''t their match at all. Also, the level suppression turned out to be too much. Its stats were weakened by at least 50%! I pulled out the Purgatory Sword and took care of the Hellhounds in a few blows. After the battle ended, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf still had over half of its HP despite the earlier beating. Its Defense and HP were pretty good. Behind me, a group of NPC townspeople walked over. Anxious, I made the trip in haste and didn¡¯t even take 10 minutes. Please, don''t let Hellhounds appear. It would be best if players did not appear too, especially those from Warsky Alliance. If I encountered them, chances of me failing the quest would be high! Fortunately, I was lucky. I had killed all the Hellhounds back in the town, and Warsky Alliance players had gone deeper into the forest, and had no attention to spare for me. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [Saving the Townspeople]. You have gained 170000 EXP, 3500 Reputation, and the quest reward: ¡°Bloodlust¡±! ¡­¡­ Hm? Bloodlust? I shuddered. What is this, a weapon? No way, would an S Rank quest reward be Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment? When I opened the bag, and looked, it wasn''t a weapon, but a light purple skill book. When I saw the stats of the skillbook, my disappointment disappeared and my mind filled with ecstasy¡ª Bloodlust: Increases your party members'' attack speed by 20%. Level Requirement: 90. Tactics Requirement: 70 ¡­¡­ Damn! A stratagem skill that increased attack speed by 20%? This was too good. 20% increase in attack speed was definitely not the same as 20% increase in attack power, especially to people like me who had activated skills. Increasing attack speed by 20% meant the probability of my Purgatory Slash proccing was also being increased by as much as 25%. Also, with my 71 Tactics, the true increase would be 20% * 1.71, practically 34.2%. This stratagem was even stronger than the Rank 3 Encourage I¡¯d recently started using! I quickly pressed ¡±Learn¡± in joy. In the next moment, the Bloodlust skill disappeared from my palm, added to the list of my stratagems. I changed my applied stratagem to Bloodlust and immediately felt warm all over. When I swung my sword again, it was clearly faster. I slashed, chopped, hacked and stabbed. Yes, my leveling speed will soar! I looked at the time, it was nearly 6 in the evening, not too early! I opened my friend list and found Beiming Xue. I sent a message: "Beiming, how about we go offline and go eat?" A few seconds later, Beiming Xue responded, "Okay, I am returning to the city, and going offline in two minutes!" Right, I should return to the city and stock up. While the process of killing Hellhounds on my own was extremely pleasurable, I had used a lot of consumables, potions and durability of my gear. My Magic Consumables were running out the most. Thousand Mirage Slash, Purgatory Slash, War Crush and other skills used a lot of MP, and I was eating through my stocks too quickly, especially when fighting alone. I was just eating all the time! Fortunately, I had 27 new weapons in my bag, all of them around Level 70¨C80. I also had a dozen Hellhound Cards that could increase attack power by 3%. I didn¡¯t need them but I could sell them in Sky City. There should be a market for them. I took out a city return scroll and returned to Sky City. I immediately contacted Yamete. "Mamate, come to the eastern plaza!" Mamate replied, "I¡¯m busy killing crocodiles in the Blackwater Bog. I¡¯m the head healer in the party and can''t leave. If I do, Du Thirteen will kill me!" I didn''t say anything and sent a screenshot of well over 2000 Rank 7 pelts I had gotten from the Hellhounds. Mamate replied in a flash, ¡°Fuck, screw healing, I¡¯m coming, dear boss!" A few seconds later, Mamate''s chubby figure appeared in the city plaza. He spread his arms and laughed. "Boss, long time no see, I missed you!" "Get lost..." I pushed his belly aside and took out all the Hellhound pelts from my bag. "Are these pelts enough for you to get your Armorsmithing to Rank 8?" "Yes, definitely!" Yamete laughed. "These are amazing. I¡¯ll be the first master in Sky City to craft Level 80 metal armor and leather armor. Boss, just watch!" I nodded. "Yes, if you make the best leather armor with Agility and ranged Attack bonuses, remember to save it for Beiming Xue. We won''t let fertilizer flow to someone else''s field. Try to start selling some good stuff as soon as possible." Yamete joyfully looked at the bundles of pelts and couldn''t stop smiling. I said, "Alright, go. I¡¯m going to go eat!" Yamete looked at me with an odd expression. "With He Yi and Murong Mingyue?" "No, fuck! What¡¯s with your stare? Lil Beiming said she wanted to eat hotpot tonight so I¡¯m going with her. Sister He Yi and Mingyue are busy at the company." "Damn..." Yamete had a bitter look. "Ever since joining Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I can¡¯t keep my status as the top priest. Murong Mingyue''s equipment is so strong, how can people stand it?" I looked meaningfully at him. "You do not have as much milk as her!" Yamete looked down at his chest. "I''m not talking to you..." I laughed and went to the inn to go offline. ¡­¡­ I took off my helmet and changed clothes. When I reached the living room, Beiming Xue was already waiting. Seeing me come over, she smiled. "Brother, I heard Sister Chaos Moon say that XX Road has a new hotpot place that is delicious. Should we go try it out?" I nodded. "Yes, if you want, let''s go!" "Alright!" We went downstairs and found that Murong Mingyue''s A8 was there. She seemed to have left in He Yi''s Lamborghini. Beiming and I now had a car to drive. I went back upstairs to get the A8 keys before we went toward that hotpot restaurant. When we arrived, we sat down by a table near the corridor. The place was a buffet. Beiming Xue was clearly in a good mood and said with a smile, "Chaos Moon and Moonlight Stone came here to eat two days ago. I heard there were many handsome guys..." I quickly adjusted my collar and said, "So am I!" Beiming Xue laughed out loud. "You¡¯re not a handsome guy..." "Damn..." I usually had no confidence in my appearance. It really was a pain to be attacked by my own sister! For a hotpot buffet, I threw in many things, and almost none were vegetables. I ate until I was on the verge of bursting, my stomach looking pregnant. ¡­¡­ After eating, Beiming Xue put her hand around my arm and said as she patted her flat stomach, "So full, the eel is so delicious!" I grinned. Damn, I had managed to get the eel pieces from under the attacks of a crowd of old women. I didn''t even get to smell them before Beiming Xue ate them all. Seeing me silent, Beiming Xue smiled sweetly and pouted, "Big bro... boss! Talk to me..." "Mn, the wind is strong today, button up." I glanced at her. The girl''s figure was good, and I could see the curve and tempting glow by her collar but... but I couldn¡¯t keep on looking. This was my sister, not food. Beiming Xue giggled and buttoned up her windbreaker. We were at the door now. "Wait here, I''m getting the car." "Yes!" Chapter 309: Collaboration I stilled, and nodded. "I am Lu Chen, is something the matter?" The youth on the right took off his sunglasses and said, "It''s like this. Our boss has some matters he wants to discuss with you. Get in the car, I will take you to him." I stilled. Beiming Xue came over and asked, "Big bro, what is it?" "Nothing." I reached out and shielded Beiming Xue behind me. I looked at the two suits and said, "Your boss wants to talk with me? Who is he?" "You''ll know when you meet him," one of them said coldly. I suddenly felt a wave of anger. I raised my eyebrows and said, "If he wants to talk to me, then he can come here. Why should I go with you?" "You!" The young man on the right was irritated and said, "Boy, don''t posture!" "What, you want to fight?" I pointed to the south and said, "Less than 20 meters to the south is a police station. Fifty meters to the north, there is a traffic patrol. Your boss wants to talk to me, then tell him to go to that KFC over there. I''ll wait for him upstairs!" The two youths did not have good expressions. They talked and then one of them made a phone call. A few seconds later, he nodded and said, "Alright, in the KFC." "Ha!" I smiled, and pulled Beiming Xue over there. If we really were going to fight, I wasn¡¯t afraid anymore. My body had been strengthened by the virus, and was pretty strong now. Normal people couldn''t withstand my punch. When I got to the KFC, I saw couples eating chicken there. Beiming Xue and I sat down near the window and left the two seats in front of us empty. "Big bro, who wants to meet you?" Beiming Xue asked. I shook my head. "I don''t know. But it''s likely related to the matters in the game. Maybe a faction in Sky City? They would want to collaborate with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls or make a transaction. I can''t think of anything else." Beiming Xue had a calm gaze and said, "Big bro, people able to find us in reality must have strong connections. People like this are not simple!" "Yes, I know!" ¡­¡­ At this time, a group came upstairs. The two suited young men were present with a middle-aged man walking ahead of them. He wore a gray suit, a kind with presence, appearing like a boss. Also, I found this person familiar to the eye! "This is..." I thought for a moment, but couldn''t remember when I had seen this person. At this time, he sat down in front of me and Beiming Xue. He said with a smile, "Interesting, this is the first time that someone set up a meeting with me, Lin Xiao, in KFC, haha!" "Lin Xiao?" I frowned and said, "Who are you, why did you want to meet me?" Lin Xiao laughed softly. "Maybe you don''t know me, but you definitely know Lin Yixin..." "Heavens..." But didn''t Lin Yixin use her mother''s surname? Why was her father also Lin? Seeing my confusion, Lin Xiao laughed. "Lu Chen, I know you. For a long time, in Heavenblessed, you were the only man close to Lin Yixin. Also, I know some of your past. Haha, this is one of the reasons that I did not stop Lin Yixin from interacting with you." I smiled and looked directly at Lin Xiao. I looked coolly, "Uncle, you are really Lin Yixin''s father?" "Yes, you have doubts?" "No." I shook my head and said, "But why does Lin Yixin appear to dislike you so much?" Lin Xiao was shocked and didn''t speak for a moment. His expression grew ugly. A long time later, he finally said, "Yiyi is a stubborn child. No one can change something if she makes up her mind. Some past matters have caused her to have a deep bias toward me." I said, "Could you speak about it?" "About that..." Lin Xiao glanced at me and said, "It''s better for you to know as little as possible. This is my family matter. You shouldn¡¯t know about it anyway. I allowed you to interact with Yiyi, but it doesn''t mean that I accept it. You¡¯d better pay attention to your actions. I won¡¯t spare anyone who hurts Yiyi, including you!" I had a calm expression but felt a thread of conflict. I said impatiently, "Then why did you find me? What do you want to talk about?" Lin Xiao waved his hand and said, "A collaboration." "Oh? What kind?" I became interested. The game was to prove myself, but profit was very important. This Lin Xiao clearly had a lot of capital. If we collaborated, the Frost Cloud workshop would have another stream of revenue. Lin Xiao looked deeply at me and said, "I want to hire you, with a high salary!" He emphasized the words "high salary¡±. Then he tapped the edge of the table and said, "Eight million a year." "Eight million?" I was shocked. Beiming Xue gaped beside me and then looked at me in shock. Clearly, 8 million was a very shocking sum to us right now. I tried to calm my emotions and asked, "What do you want me to do for such a high salary?" Lin Xiao smiled and said coolly, "Very simple. I need you to leave Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and create a new guild in your name. This guild''s mission is not to take over territory. I just need you to silently help Yiyi''s Snowy Cathaya and help her achieve her wish." Immediately, my heart sank. I never expected Lin Xiao to say such a thing. Hire me at 8 million to build my own guild just to help Lin Yixin turn Snowy Cathaya into the sovereign guild of the China server? A few minutes later. "How about it, have you finished thinking?" Lin Xiao looked confidently at me. I smiled. "Apologies, I refuse." "What, 8 million isn¡¯t enough?" Lin Xiao was surprised. I shook my head and said, "Uncle, please understand something. I belong to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and I won¡¯t betray He Yi for money. Also, even if you didn¡¯t give me a salary, I would still help Lin Yixin, but not for money. For her!" Lin Xiao was shocked for a long time. Then he suddenly stood up and looked down at me, saying coolly, "Good, remember your words. I hope you won¡¯t go back on them. Also, it would be best if you didn¡¯t have any thoughts about Yiyi. She is someone much more complicated than you can imagine. I will not allow you to touch my daughter!" Beiming Xue was angry and stood up. She pointed at Lin Xiao and said, "Hey, how dare you speak so imperiously to my big bro? Who do you think you are?!" "I..." Lin Xiao was dumbstruck. I also stood up and said with a smile, "Uncle, are you going to leave, or do you hope I will invite you to drink coke? Or..." Lin Xiao inhaled deeply, turned and left behind some words. "Lu Chen, act properly. You are a good youth but not suited to Yiyi. You should know the reason!" ¡­¡­ Seeing Lin Xiao leave, I suddenly punched the table. Bang. The neighboring couple was startled by the sudden noise. Beiming Xue said softly, "Big bro..." I ground my teeth and said lowly, "Hmph, so Lin Yixin''s father is like this. Damn, just say that I¡¯m not a good match for your daughter, why beat around the bush?!" Beiming Xue nodded and then took out her phone. She quickly searched and recited, "Lin Xiao, the CEO of China''s Jiangnan Siqi Corporation. He holds over 70% of the stocks and his net worth exceeds 1 billion. Heavens... Sister Lin Yixin has such an impressive background?" I sat back down and pulled out my phone to stop at Lin Yixin''s name. I hesitated to press and said, "It¡¯s just money. Yiyi may not be willing to accept such a father." In my memory, Lin Yixin was a very independent girl. She used gold for her living expenses. For a period of time, she was living in poverty just to quicken her progress in the game. I heard Clear Perfume say Lin Yixin ate instant noodles all the time, even until she was pale white. ¡­¡­ "Hey, are you still thinking of her?" Beiming Xue suddenly pushed my shoulder and looked outside. "Big bro, why don''t you call Lin Yixin?" "Would... that be appropriate?" I asked. She laughed and glared at me. "Hey, aren''t you usually very casual with her? What, you feel awkward now that you¡¯ve met her dad?" "Hm?" I smiled. Yes, Beiming Xue was right. Calling Lin Yixin was a good suggestion. I could figure out what the situation was with her and her father. That way, I wouldn''t be stuck in the middle. I was in an awkward position right now. Lin Yixin and her father were in a cold war, and I was close to Lin Yixin in the game. Thus, I became one side¡¯s target. This role was not easy to occupy. I called Lin Yixin. No one picked up for a long time. "Is she online?" Beiming Xue asked me. "I don''t know..." The phone rang and the name "Wind Fantasy" jumped onto the screen. Lin Yixin had called back quickly! ¡­¡­ "What is it, Little Cheat?" Lin Yixin asked with a laugh. I said, "Yiyi, where are you? At school?" "No, what is it?" "I want to see you, is it possible now?" I asked. Lin Yixin hesitated, and said, "It has to be now?" "Yes!" "Then... come to Zhongbei Road, Second Hospital, and call me then..." "Why are you at the hospital?" "Is this your business? Are you coming? I¡¯m only going to wait 20 minutes for you!" "Coming, I¡¯m on my way!" ¡­¡­ To help resolve my confusion, I took Beiming Xue and drove Murong Mingyue''s A8 to the Second Hospital. Chapter 310: Beautiful Little Pepper It was about nine in the evening and already getting cold. When I slowly drove into the hospital parking lot, I saw a beautiful figure underneath the streetlight. It was Lin Yixin. On this cold day, she was dressed in a casual dress as she trembled and hugged herself. I hurriedly left the car, and took off my jacket. I walked over. "You want?" Lin Yixin looked at me with a thread of hope in her eyes but hesitated when she saw Beiming Xue behind me. I was speechless and quickly put it over her. Then I asked, "Why are you at the hospital?" Lin Yixin looked up at me and said, "Let me ask you first. Why did you call me? It''s almost night..." I stilled and said, "Just now, Lin Xiao came to see me..." "What? He met you?!" Lin Yixin gaped as though she was very surprised. She asked, "Why¡­ why did he meet you?" I asked instead. "Is he your father?" "Yes..." Lin Yixin pouted and said, "Why did he meet you?" "Nothing..." I avoided answering and said, "Just some trivial matters. But he warned me to not get too close to you..." Immediately, anger flashed across Lin Yixin''s face. She said, "Why? How dare he stop you from interacting with me? Hmph, what¡¯s up with that..." I said, "What¡¯s going on between you and your father?" Lin Yixin looked at me. A few seconds later, she sighed. "Never mind. It''s better for you to learn about this. I won''t be able to keep it concealed. Can you come with me?" "Oh? Alright..." I pulled Beiming Xue¡¯s sleeve and indicated for her to follow as well. It was nighttime and I would be worried leaving my adorable little sister in the parking lot by herself. We followed Lin Yixin to the back of the hospital. A high-level residential area appeared. Lin Yixin opened the door to one of the buildings and said, "Come in!" I walked in with Beiming Xue, full of doubt. We went through a garden smelling of osmanthus flowers and came to the main bedroom. Lin Yixin pushed the door open and turned on the light. The room lit up. Beiming Xue and I were stunned¡ª There was a beautiful woman laying on the bed quietly as though she was asleep, her eyes closed. This was a beauty, and looked to have a noble presence. I looked at the woman and then at Lin Yixin. I seemed to have realized something. "Can you tell?" Lin Yixin smiled. "She¡¯s my mother!" "Ah?!" I was stunned. I hadn''t expected Lin Yixin''s mother to be in the hospital! Beiming Xue was nervous. "Big bro, isn¡¯t it inappropriate of us to be in Auntie¡¯s room?" Lin Yixin smiled faintly. "Don''t be nervous. My mother can''t hear or see. She¡¯s been unconscious for the last seven years." "Vegetative state?" "Yes." I looked silently at her and didn''t know how to comfort her. I could only say, "What happened, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin looked out the window and said in a trembling voice, "Seven years ago, when I was in the first year of middle school, my aunt lost her life in a car crash and my mom was seriously injured in that accident. She never woke up and stayed here all this time..." As she spoke, Lin Yixin had anger in her eyes. "Then, Lin Xiao disappeared, and hasn¡¯t appeared until two years ago. While he paid for my mom''s treatment, it doesn¡¯t change that he failed in his responsibilities at the beginning. I''m grown up now, I can earn money. I won¡¯t spend a cent of his money. I¡¯ll take care of my mom myself until she wakes up..." I took a deep breath and said carefully, "Previously, you cheated gold out of me to pay for Aunt¡¯s fees here?" "What do you think?" Lin Yixin said with red eyes, "You say I am greedy, but you have to understand my perspective..." I immediately felt guilty. I looked deeply at Lin Yixin. How strong of a heart did this beautiful girl have under her fragile appearance? How could she withstand such costly treatment fees? Being a model in the clothing company would have been a part of her income and so was earning money in Heavenblessed. I breathed out and sat by the window. I patted the seat next to me and said, "Have a seat." Lin Yixin pouted. While unhappy, she still sat down next to me. The wind blew at us together. Beiming Xue sat down quietly next to Aunt. ¡­¡­ "Yiyi, is it very hard supporting yourself like this?" I asked. Lin Yixin shook her head. "No..." Then she frowned. "Sometimes, maybe a bit..." My spirits were low as I looked out the window and then at the young woman next to me. I couldn''t help but put an arm around her shoulders, hoping that I could bring her some warmth. Lin Yixin struggled and then looked up at me. I also looked at her. Gradually, she stopped struggling, her face full of grievances and a thread of tiredness. I said, "How did you manage for so many years?" "It¡¯s nothing..." Lin Yixin pressed her lips together and whispered, "I signed a modeling contract with the company long ago, and get a few thousand each month. I also made some money in the game and earn more than ten thousand a month. In the two months before Heavenblessed opened, I sold my equipment and got almost 1 million RMB so I somehow managed." "Equipment in Spirit of Grief?" I was slightly shocked and said, "You also played Spirit of Grief? What was your name in Spirit of Grief? You had to be very strong to have sold your equipment for 1 million?" Lin Yixin smiled slyly. "You¡¯re not allowed to laugh at my ID!" "Okay, what were you called?" "Beautiful Little Pepper..." "WTF!" I stared with wide eyes at her. "You... you are that Beautiful Little Pepper? No way, I remember I met Beautiful Little Pepper in the WSL prelims before..." Lin Yixin laughed softly, "Haha, you finally remember?" "Damn! You..." I was in chaos... Beautiful Little Pepper. This was an ID that once shook the China server. From start to end, this girl had never joined a guild and was a famed loner. In the end, she rose to the Holy Domain, and received the inheritance of the Order God Temple. But her rise to the apex was as quick and sudden as her disappearance. A girl who could go through divine-tier dungeons suddenly disappeared after getting several sets of S12 Divine Armors. Even the CGL Hall of Famer Star Explorer wasn''t able to find her. In reality, Beautiful Little Pepper was a legend. With her strength, she could have entered the CGL Hall of Fame a long time ago. But who would have thought the terrifying Beautiful Little Pepper entered Heavenblessed, and used a new identity to become the famous Fruit Knife Goddess! I looked at Lin Yixin. It was hard to imagine she was the legendary Little Pepper. Life was so amazing! "That''s not right!" I said depressedly. "Beautiful Little Pepper''s appearance was ordinary, and didn¡¯t look like you..." Lin Yixin glared at me. "Hmph, I reduced my appearance by 50% then, how could I have looked good?" I smiled. Looking at the Fruit Knife Goddess in my arms, I said, "Tsk tsk, Little Pepper, never thought it would be you. Haha, Little Pepper is a good name..." Bang! Lin Yixin punched me hard and blushed. She said, "I told you to not laugh. If you laugh, I¡¯ll give you a black eye!" I hurriedly grabbed her hand. "Alright, but what if Aunt can still hear you? You dare to be so vicious in front of your mom, you rebel..." "Oh..." Lin Yixin looked at her mother on the bed and grew quiet. She gave me a beautiful smile. "You¡¯re lucky this time. Next time, don''t smile so pervertedly!" "How was my smile perverted..." I was bewildered and said, "Yiyi, what are your plans?" "Hm..." Lin Yixin lazily leaned against my shoulder, and said, "Simple, level up, kill monsters, make money and pay the treatment fees. I still owe a hundred and fifty thousand this month. How about you pay for me?" Inexplicably, I nodded. "Alright, give me the bill!" "Ah?" Lin Yixin was stunned. "You¡¯re really going to pay it?" I nodded. "Mn. After selling the Purgatory Scepter and Golden Scale Bow, I earned about a million. I don''t have many expenses and though I am planning to buy a car, it won¡¯t be a high-end one. Three hundred thousand or so will suffice. I can use the remainder to help you pay the fees." Lin Yixin blinked. She fought internally and then nodded, "Little Cheat, you¡¯re not lying, are you?" I glared at her. "Damn, I¡¯m letting you borrow money without even an IOU, what can I lie to you about?" "True..." Lin Yixin smiled. "Alright, I¡¯ll borrow a hundred and fifty thousand from you and repay in about a month, alright?" "Okay!" She took out a bill. I couldn¡¯t imagine owing so much and not getting thrown out by the hospital. Was this the privilege of being beautiful? At the cashier, I swiped my card to pay. After this, a middle-aged woman came over. This was the caretaker Lin Yixin had hired. Five thousand a month. Pretty good but also pricy. Under the cover of night, I drove Lin Yixin back to the dorms that were along the way. When we returned to the workshop, it was nearly 11 but He Yi and Murong Mingyue had not returned. I had a bad feeling. I called He Yi''s phone. No one picked up. I called Murong Mingyue. No one picked up as well. What happened? I sat in the hall, anxious and restless. ¡­¡­ "Big bro, go to sleep." Beiming Xue said, "Sister He Yi and Mingyue will be fine." I shook my head. "I can''t sleep, you go first!" "Okay..." Beiming Xue rubbed her eyes and went back to her room in her nightdress. Chapter 311: Shanghai Shengyi My heart jolted. Fuck, finally, a call! ¡°Hello!¡± I eagerly answered. The cautious voice of a girl on the other line. ¡°Hello, may I ask if you are a friend of this phone¡¯s owner?¡± ¡°Yes, what is it?¡± ¡°Oh, your friend has had too much to drink. She¡¯s in the restroom of our hotel. Is it convenient for you to come pick her up?¡± ¡°...¡± I was shocked. Too much to drink? ¡°Hello, may I ask if she¡¯s with someone?¡± I asked. ¡°Mn, right. Two really pretty sisters. When can you get here?¡± ¡°Right away! What¡¯s the address?¡± ¡°New District, Moon in Water Hotel, third floor lobby.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll be there soon!¡± ¡­¡­ I quickly hung up and rushed downstairs by myself without bothering Beiming Xue. It was past 2 am now and not a single person was on the desolate streets. The A8 moved as fast as lightning. Moon in Water was a hotel I knew. It was a 5-star hotel at the center of the New District. I¡¯ve checked out the hotel before with Du Thirteen before and felt that I wouldn¡¯t have lived in vain if I could sleep there for a night. Maybe because it was this late into the night, but the hotel¡¯s first floor lobby only had two security guards sitting there sleepily. When I dashed inside, neither one of them blocked my way. I was nervous and somewhat remorseful. If I knew this would happen, I would¡¯ve just gone with He Yi and Murong Mingyue. Two drunk girls in a hotel restroom was way too dangerous. When I reached the third floor, I went into the lobby and went to find the restrooms. I was even more nervous as I stood in front of the girl¡¯s restroom. The last time I went in the girl¡¯s restroom was when I was in elementary school. Now that I was about to go in again, I felt incredibly complicated and excited. Pah! The stench of alcohol immediately hit my nose when I pushed the door open. I saw Murong Mingyue sitting in a corner, mumbling to herself, eyes closed and cheeks bright red. I couldn¡¯t tell what she was saying but a hotel personnel was anxiously standing beside Murong Mingyue, trying her best to keep her upright. ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I cussed in my head and swiftly stepped forward. I placed my hands on her shoulders to keep her steady. ¡°Sis, how much did you even drink? Do you still recognize me?¡± Murong Mingyue opened her eyes. She suddenly smiled when she saw me. ¡°Stupid Lu Chen, how can sis not recognize you?¡± I was speechless. ¡°Where¡¯s Eve?¡± ¡°I¡¯m over here¡­¡± A voice came from behind me. I turned around and found He Yi lying against the wall next to the sink. Her disheveled hair fell beside her uniform collar as she stared at me with starry eyes. It was just that she was so drunk that I wasn¡¯t sure if she could even see me correctly. He Yi didn¡¯t answer me. She reached out for my shoulder, placed her crimson cheeks near me, and then hugged me with both arms. She said in a gentle voice, ¡°Lu Chen, how¡¯d you get here? I thought you got lost¡­¡± ¡°What the hell are you talking about¡­¡± I held her curved waist, hugged her in my embrace, and couldn¡¯t help asking, ¡°Who in the world did you drink with to have gotten you this drunk? What am I supposed to say¡­¡± He Yi loosened her hold to flick her hair away. A trace of anger appeared on her face. ¡°Wasn¡¯t it that deputy director of Shanghai Shengyi? What a complete idiot¡­¡± ¡°What in the world happened?¡± ¡°Ngh¡­¡± He Yi groaned. ¡°Don¡¯t ask. I¡¯ll tell you tomorrow after I get a good night¡¯s sleep, okay?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I expressed my assent and moved her next to Murong Mingyue. ¡°Sis, we¡¯re going home.¡± Murong Mingyue opened her eyes, nodded with a gentle ¡°mn¡±, then closed her eyes and went back to sleep. ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I tried again. ¡°Sis, go sleep at home!¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Murong Mingyue opened her eyes again and grabbed my hand. She crawled up my arm like a beautiful snake. Beneath the light, her uniform chest area that looked like it was about to burst open tightly stuck to my arm. I felt a softness there that could choke a man. Several seconds later, Murong Mingyue pulled herself up by climbing up my arm and smiled foolishly. ¡°Lu Chen, what time is it? You actually ran over here to get us. Tell me, have you been secretly in love with me for a while now?¡± ¡°Secretly in love your sister, let¡¯s go home¡­¡± I glared at her, making the originally frustrated attendant girl break out into a smile. When we went downstairs and got into the car, I put He Yi in the front seat and tossed Murong Mingyue in the back. I put on both their seatbelts and slowly drove home. As for He Yi¡¯s car, I didn¡¯t know where it was so we¡¯d have to deal with it another day. ¡­¡­ The evening wind gently blew past. He Yi was leaning against the chair with her slightly disheveled hair. She suddenly opened her eyes and tilted her head as she stared at me with her starry eyes. ¡°What¡¯re you looking at?¡± I asked, a bit discomforted. He Yi smiled. ¡°Nothing. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re here¡­¡± I snorted out a laugh. ¡°What happened today? Isn¡¯t having to drink with someone something PR does? As high executives of GGS, why did you two have to personally go?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± He Yi pouted, slightly dissatisfied, and mumbled, ¡°Today was special.¡± ¡°How special?¡± He Yi didn¡¯t answer but Murong Mingyue sobered up a little and moved forward. She stuck her face out from between the gaps of the seats and smiled, ¡°Today¡¯s business partner was Shanghai Shengyi, a company that has a huge influence in southern and eastern China. They¡¯re no inferior to Huawei. They sent their deputy director, Wang Dongliang, to talk about our collaboration and that guy¡¯s too damn enthusiastic. He kept drinking with Eve and I even sacrificed myself to block a few shots for her¡­¡± I frowned. ¡°Who¡¯s this Wang Dongliang?¡± He Yi stick out her lips. ¡°The son of the boss of Shanghai Shengyi. He entered the business a long time ago and can be considered a prodigy of China¡¯s business world. I even heard he¡¯s one of China 2023¡¯s Top Ten Youths¡­¡± Murong Mingyue smiled. ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s a young talent, huh?¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I glanced at He Yi and discovered that she was staring at me with smiling eyes. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t have anything to do with him¡­¡± He Yi explained. I shook my head. ¡°Talk to me when you¡¯ve sobered up. Besides, an independent soul needs not explain themselves¡­¡± ¡°No, I need to clarify it now!¡± He Yi grabbed the steering wheel and forcefully stopped the car at the curb. Murong Mingyue widened her eyes, expecting a good show. I relaxed after I took off my seatbelt and turned to face He Yi. ¡°Alright, boss. What do you need to clarify, say it now.¡± He Yi was completely red in the face. She bit her lips and mumbled, ¡°I¡­ I really don¡¯t know that Wang Dongliang guy. I don¡¯t even know where he came from. Besides, Shanghai Shengyi whatever, argh, that¡­ that collaboration¡¯s so annoying, I¡¯m so hungry¡­¡± ¡°Dammit!¡± I was thoroughly defeated by my beautiful, incoherent boss. I didn¡¯t know whether to laugh or cry. ¡°Forget it, it seems like there¡¯s nothing to explain. Let¡¯s go find a place to eat supper. Since you guys already drank, you shouldn¡¯t have eaten anything yet, right?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± He Yi nodded seriously. Murong Mingyue mumbled, ¡°I¡¯m kinda thirsty. I want something to drink.¡± ¡°Mn, alright. What do you want to drink?¡± ¡°Budweiser beer¡­¡± ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ In the end, I brought the two girls to a street stall. There really wasn¡¯t any place we could go to have a meal. Autumn evenings were actually pretty cold. There were only street stalls open at this time. A middle-aged couple enthusiastically received me when they saw me bring two girls along with me. I helped He Yi and Murong Mingyue onto their chairs and ordered a few stir-fried dishes with three servings of Yangzhou Fried Rice. As for the Budweiser Murong Mingyue noisily requested, I directly ignored that. I bought her some Wanglaoji. It¡¯s better to support our domestic brands! The food stall boss beat the ladle against the pan as he fried our dishes, mixing in with the hazy night. Mn, this is a pretty peaceful sight. I looked to the side and saw He Yi leaning against the table with one hand, staring at me with her head tilted. Her face was a charming red as she beamed at me. ¡°I was originally going to leave Suzhou for Canada in three days but this collaboration with Shanghai Shengyi allowed me to push back my trip. Hehe, I can stay for about ten or so more days¡­¡± I gazed back at her and sighed. He Yi has such a high position. The GGS Asia Region Vice President should¡¯ve been really busy yet she was able to stay by my side for as long as half a month. I sometimes had an extravagant hope. How good would it be if she could always stay by my side? ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± He Yi¡¯s deep eyes stared at me, as if they could see through my thoughts. She suddenly smiled. ¡°Are you thinking about how to get me to stay for a few more days?¡± The beautiful guild leader was as beautiful as a flower. I unconsciously nodded, slightly dazed. ¡°Yeah, if you stay, there¡¯ll be someone to pay the food bill when we all go out to eat.¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± He Yi rolled her eyes. ¡°You¡¯ve been together with Mingyue for too long. You¡¯ve picked up her bad habits.¡± Murong Mingyue complained, ¡°That brat¡¯s always been like that. This sister here¡¯s pure and kind-hearted¡­¡± ¡°If you¡¯re kind-hearted, stop eating meat and just be a vegetarian from now on!¡± I retorted. ¡°Nooo, how can I live without meat¡­¡± He Yi looked to the side and muttered under her breath, ¡°This uncle¡¯s so slow at cooking. I¡¯m so hungry¡­¡± That uncle heard her and chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s almost done, please wait a moment!¡± He Yi turned beet red and stayed silent. ¡­¡­ At this time, my phone suddenly rang. I took a look and saw that it was Gui Guzi¡¯s number. The hell was he calling me for in the middle of the night? ¡°Hello, boss?¡± ¡°It¡¯s me, what¡¯s up?¡± ¡°There¡¯s new content in the game related to Sky City. I wanted to talk with you about it first. Our guild needs to prepare for it early!¡± ¡°Oh? What content?¡± ¡°Four Divine Sites!¡± Chapter 312: Four Divine Sites "That¡¯s right, the Four Divine Sites!" Gui Guzi smiled a little before saying. "Basically, Four Divine Sites will appear within the borders of Sky City, and the players will compete for ownership of them. Whoever gets them will obtain a sizable reward! "Oh?" Interested, I smiled. "Give me the details, Little Gui. What exactly are these divine sites?" "Mn!" Gui Guzi cleared his throat for a second before starting, "The Four Divine Sites are the War Holy Temple, the Pegasus Spring, the Dragon Blood Fortress and the Giant Rock Cave. These four NPC-owned maps will randomly appear on Sky City¡¯s map, and every map will be protected by a certain number of NPC mobs. To take control of a divine site, the mobs must be killed, and the territory must be held for 60 minutes. Whichever guild succeeds will obtain a powerful buff for an entire month!" "Got it!" I nodded. "Now tell me about the details of the buff!" "War Holy Temple gives 10% attack power, Pegasus Spring gives 10% attack speed and 5% movement speed, Dragon Blood Fortress gives 10% max HP and Giant Rock Cave gives 10% Defense!" "Hmm¡­" I thought for a moment before smiling. "War Holy Temple and Pegasus Spring are clearly the best of the four options. They will be the divine sites most players fight for. Little Gui, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will be targeting War Holy Temple, so you should meet up with Xu Yang and Thirteen to prepare in advance." "Got it! I¡¯m going to bed now. The Four Divine Sites will only appear at noon the day after tomorrow, so we have plenty of time to prepare still!" "Okay, go get your beauty sleep. You¡¯ve been staying up late again, haven¡¯t you?" "Hahaha, that¡¯s true. Bye bye, boss!" "Mn." ¡­¡­ I hung up the call and summarized what I heard from Gui Guzi to He Yi and Murong Mingyue. The leader and vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls definitely had the right to know about this. He Yi smiled slightly after hearing my explanation. "Eternal Moon Corporation is as shrewd as before, I see. This is the kind of interesting event everyone would like to partake in. A month-long buff, huh. This means whichever guild controls the divine sites will have an advantage in the upcoming wars for guild territories!" "That¡¯s right!" I expressed my full agreement. "The first guild territory of Sky City is sure to appear in a month¡¯s time, and this 10% attack power buff is perfect for that. If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls can conquer War Holy Temple or Pegasus Spring, then we¡¯ll gain a powerful upper hand over our competitors." Murong Mingyue took a sip of Wanglaoji before saying, "But why target only one divine site? Let¡¯s take over Pegasus Spring as well after we occupy War Holy Temple¡­" He Yi asked, "So, how exactly do we occupy a divine site?" "I don¡¯t know either. We can read the details on the official website after we return home." "Mn." A few minutes later, the first dish we ordered was served, and right after that, the three servings of Yangzhou fried rice we had ordered. I was getting hungry anyway since I only had hotpot with Beiming Xue earlier, so I stuffed my face with street food in no time. He Yi and Murong Mingyue felt less intoxicated after the meal. They still swayed a little on their feet, but that was all. It was almost 3 am in the morning by the time we returned to the workshop. The two girls went to wash themselves, while I fell on my bed with a plop. Tonight¡¯s events had nearly worn me out completely: First, Lin Xiao had sought me out and attempted to persuade me to become his daughter¡¯s general. Then, I sought out Lin Yixin and heard about her mother. After that, I had to rescue He Yi and Murong Mingyue from a hotel after an asshole had tried to get them completely drunk. Thank goodness they were smart enough to hide in the female restroom before things spiraled completely out of control, or god knows what that Wang Dongliang would do to them, that motherfucker. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out why anyone would try to get the two belles drunk! ¡­¡­ By the time I woke up, it was already twelve in the afternoon. I heard the girls chatting to each other outside my door¡ª "Has Lu Chen woken up yet, Eve?" "No, why?" "I¡¯m feeling a bit of headache, and I was hoping he could massage my head for me¡­" "..." The last vestiges of my sleepiness were blown away just like that. I supposed I should¡¯ve expected Murong Mingyue to return to her usual self after a night of rest. It was a shame though, because I liked the drunken, quiet and bashful version of her a lot. It even reminded me of the stereotypical busty female priest who was both cute and a pushover. But this version? I would sooner be seen dead than right next to her. Only a complete idiot would even think to tease the invincible woman she was now. After I washed myself and walked to the living hall, I saw that the table was already filled with dishes. They were all takeouts from the hotel, and a delicious smell was pervading the air. It was to the point where I nearly bit my tongue while I was drinking some water. "Where¡¯s Eve?" I asked. Murong Mingyue replied while carrying a couple sets of chopsticks, "Don¡¯t know. She was like a bomb earlier. Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you, but you better watch what you say when she shows up later¡­" "..." A few seconds later, He Yi emerged from her room. She was as angry as Murong Mingyue had suggested. "What¡¯s wrong?" I asked. He Yi silently walked up to the table and smashed it against the wood. She said, "Mingyue, tell Little Tang to send over a new phone tomorrow evening. Also, get me a new SIM card under your name tomorrow." Finally, she sat down next to me and said, "It¡¯s nothing, Lu Chen." "You call this nothing?" I pointed at the bits and pieces of her phone on the floor. "Isn¡¯t this your favorite phone, a limited edition MOTO-CQ710? I even remember you telling me that the shell is platinum-plated and diamond-studded¡­" He Yi curled her lips but said nothing. Murong Mingyue smiled and asked tentatively, "Did someone harass you or something?" "Mn!" He Yi nodded affirmatively. "I wasn¡¯t even awake yet when I received that damned call this afternoon. The bastard even asked for my address saying that he would like to invite me to Jacky Cheung¡¯s live concert later this evening, hmph! Like come on, if I really want to hear Jacky Cheung sing, all I need to do is download an MP3¡­" "..." The incomplete explanation left both of us confused. I asked the obvious question, "Who called you?" "Wang Dongliang!" "You mean that deputy director from Shanghai Shengyi? One of the Top Ten Youths of year 2023?" "Mn." A bit of disdain peeked out of He Yi¡¯s features. "Top Ten Youths? They¡¯re all frauds and imposters. If a trust fund baby like Wang Dongliang could be a Top Ten Youth, then you could qualify for Top Ten Youths on the galactic scale, Lu Chen!" I stared at her. "I¡¯m sorry to ask, but are you praising me or making fun of me?" He Yi burst into a giggle. "No¡­ no I¡¯m not. Anyway, let¡¯s eat, shall we? Wang Dongliang doesn¡¯t deserve our attention¡­" Murong Mingyue smiled. "That¡¯s true. Now that I think about it, how many people had confessed to you in the past couple years? Several hundred? A thousand? Anyway, most of them fancied themselves an outstanding person, but they were really just scumbags with pretty packaging. I already knew he had eyes for you since last night, but did you notice how he looked at you when he first saw you? He looked like he had lost his soul or something!" "Who cares about him?" He Yi waved a hand. "Anyway, I¡¯m getting a new SIM card. Worse comes to worst, I¡¯ll contact everyone I know and send them my new number. The contract with Shengyi is signed anyway, so I don¡¯t need to care about him anymore." "Mn!" "We still have to go online and prepare for the Four Divine Sites, so let¡¯s finish this up quickly and try to level up once or twice before the big day!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ I got online after lunch and appeared at Sky City¡¯s inn. I immediately received a series of system notices¡ª System Notice: Congratulations, the item "Broken Bone Wristguard" you consigned for sale has been sold for 4500 gold. After deducting the 5% intermediary fee, you received 4275 gold! System Notice: Congratulations, the item "Snarling Skull War Boots" you consigned for sale has been sold for 5125 gold. After deducting the 5% intermediary fee, you received 4869 gold! System Notice: Congratulations, the item "Pathfinder War Boots" you consigned for sale has been sold for 48500 gold. After deducting the 5% intermediary fee, you received 46075 gold! ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, almost all of the items I had consigned for sale had been sold for a good price, netting me almost 90k gold total. The Pathfinder War Boots especially earned me almost 50k gold on their own because of their bonuses to attack speed, attack power and Tactics. I didn¡¯t know which hero bought it off my hands, but I wished them a long and happy life! Personally, I wasn¡¯t expecting grinding high-level elite mobs to be this profitable, although the reason I was able to do so in the first place was all thanks to my level advantage. At any rate, I saw no reason to deviate from this wonderful path of wealth and power at all! I got onto the exchange platform and converted tens of thousands of gold to money. It was safer this way, not to mention that life on this land wasn¡¯t an easy one. These days, everything such as health care, properties and fuel were all expensive as hell, and even buying a grave to bury your loved ones could cost up to a hundred thousand RMB. My dad was no Li Gang and most certainly not the deputy director of anything, so it was up to me to put money in our bank accounts. I didn¡¯t want to shame Guo Jia more than I already did. ¡­¡­ Beep! System Notice: Player ¡°From Water¡± invited you to the party. Do you accept? Huh? Why is she inviting me to her party? I was surprised, but I clicked "Accept" anyway. The moment I joined the party, He Yi¡¯s urgent voice immediately entered my ears. "Lu Chen, come to Blackwater Bog right now! It¡¯s a war!" "What war?" "Xu Yang and Gui Guzi were grinding levels at Blackwater Bog until they were attacked by Flower Room¡¯s Li Le! The enemy is several hundred strong, and the situation isn¡¯t looking good for them!" "I¡¯m coming right away!" Chapter 313: Battlefield Blackwater Bog was a bog located in the thick forests of Sky City. Its defining mob was crocodiles. According to the official database, Blackwater Bog had a boss called Ghost-eyed Crocodile, and there was a 25% chance that it would spawn as a Level 1 mob. The Ghost-eyed Crocodile had pretty good BN value and growth, and it was slightly better than even my Dark Wasp. Naturally, everyone wanted a piece of the pie, and they fought hard to take control of the map. Everyone was aware that a pet was critical in increasing one¡¯s power, and Candlelight Shadow himself had, despite losing, dared to 1v2 me and Lin Yixin because he had an insanely powerful Heaven-devouring Tiger. It further emphasized the importance of a high-tier pet. ¡­¡­ While I was running toward Blackwater Bog, it was absolute chaos inside the party channel¡ª Gui Guzi: "Xu Yang got surrounded, I need someone to charge the right wing with me and rescue Xu Yang! Fuck, there¡¯s too many of them!" Du Thirteen: "They¡¯re all here, even those three traitors are here!" Xu Yang: "Pooh! That idiot Spring Mud thinks he can kill me? No dice!" Gui Guzi: "How can you even say that when your goddamn corpse is lying on the goddamn ground? Anyway, resurrect yourself quickly and come back to us! It doesn¡¯t look like Flower Room will stop unless they destroy everyone!" Pure Love: "Is Vice Leader Broken Halberd coming to help us?" I replied immediately, "I¡¯ll be there in 20 minutes! Hold on, everyone!" Pure Love: "Awesome! Beiming Xue, Leader From Water and Vice Leader Mingyue should come as well! We¡¯ll be much more confident if we know that all four of you are coming to help us!" "Yeah!" My heart sank a little when I heard that even Xu Yang had died at least once. It wasn¡¯t actually easy to kill the big man because at least half of his equipment were of the Dark Gold grade, meaning that the enemy¡¯s firepower wasn¡¯t to be underestimated. These days, even Flower Room was no longer the noobish guild they once were! I paused for a second after seeing a couple of orange dots on my mini map. Then, I ran toward the edge of Sky Forest where an empty clearing was. They were none other than He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue. "Lu Chen!" "Let¡¯s go!" "Mn!" The three of them immediately started running toward Blackwater Bog when they saw me. Barring any complications, we should arrive at our destination in fifteen minutes at most. Blackwater Bog wasn¡¯t too far away from Sky City, and the conflict would only worsen as more and more players joined the battle. This was going to be a big one. While we were running, I asked, "What exactly happened, boss? How did our men suddenly clash against Flower Room?" He Yi replied, "Do you still remember Life of Luxury? He¡¯s one of Li Le¡¯s friends." "Life of Luxury had a girlfriend called Xue Lu who was a barmaid at Qiangoogle Bar. Not long ago, when Du Thirteen took Xu Yang, Gui Guzi and Wolf Fang out for a drink at that bar, she caught his eye and one thing led to another¡­" "What happened afterward?" I kind of figured out what was going on the moment she mentioned a girl. I was well aware of Thirteen¡¯s vices; he was the kind of guy who would rather fail miserably than let a pretty face pass him by. He was used to it, I was used to it. Back when we were still in university, he once snatched a handsome basketballer¡¯s girlfriend in the Chinese class. As a result, I beat the shit out of the guy¡ªand got the shit kicked out of me too¡ªto defend Thirteen. The corner of He Yi¡¯s lips turned up. "Afterward? That¡¯s simple¡­ Du Thirteen and Xue Lu went to a hotel, but Life of Luxury saw them and confronted them in their room. Du Thirteen had to kick his ass real hard before he and Xue Lu managed to escape." My heart sank. "Motherfucker! Was Thirteen hurt?" He Yi looked at me in surprise. "Shouldn¡¯t you be more concerned that Du Thirteen was probably in the wrong here?" I gripped my sword tightly before declaring, "I don¡¯t care what Thirteen did, but he¡¯s my brother! I ain¡¯t letting anyone who hurts my brother get away scot-free!" "Hehe¡­" He Yi smiled. "Well, Du Thirteen wasn¡¯t hurt, but Life of Luxury was furious. He brought this up to Li Le, and surprisingly Li Le was even more furious than he was. Apparently, that Xue Lu shared a strange relationship with Li Le as well. Anyway, long story short, that is why they attacked us at Blackwater Bog this afternoon. Almost all two thousand players of Flower Room were there, while ours numbered less than four hundred¡­" Beiming Xue asked innocently, "A strange relationship? What do you mean?" He Yi smiled but didn¡¯t answer. In the end, it was Murong Mingyue who replied, "What she meant was that they had an affair with each other¡­" Beiming Xue turned red in the cheeks. "OMG, this is so crazy. What kind of person is this Xue Lu?" "Who knows?" He Yi said calmly as we ran across the forest, "Personally, I don¡¯t think Li Le and Life of Luxury had acted out of passion¡ªlike the likes of them would care this much about one girl. Li Le is just using this as an excuse to taunt Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and score their first victory in Sky City!" I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Li Le is a pretty ambitious man. To rise to power in Sky City, they must first make themselves known. The best way to improve their reputation is to challenge a reputable guild and win. Right now, Snowy Cathaya, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Warsky Alliance are the most famous guilds in Sky City, and it doesn¡¯t take much thinking to know why they chose us¡­" Beiming Xue looked back at us and smiled. "Yeah, they must¡¯ve been plotting to use us as a stepping stone. In that case, we¡¯ll turn their plan right back at them and tell the world that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is famous and powerful!" "Yeah!" I smiled and brought up the world map. After marking Blackwater Bog, I suggested, "Look, Gui Guzi had marked out the battlefield for us. It looks like our 500-man party had been split in half. One of them is trapped at the eastern side of Blackwater Bog, and the other half at the west. We¡¯re closer to ones in the west, so let¡¯s head there first and kick Li Le¡¯s ass. What do you all think?" "No problem!" The girls smiled. It had been a long time since we participated in a big PK battle like this, and everyone was getting excited. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh... A group of surprised owls took to the sky, and Beiming Xue suddenly came to a halt in front of us. She lowered her voice and said, "We¡¯re here. There¡¯s a group of players at the perimeter hunting down anyone who tries to reinforce our men¡­" "Oh?" The temperature in my eyes dropped as I ran up to her. Hiding behind the trees and leaves, I saw a party of 50 players or so standing guard at an empty clearing. They were made up of 10 archers, 10 mages, and a random assortment of melee fighters. It was a party with extremely high firepower, and it was definitely powerful enough to threaten us had Beiming Xue failed to discover them beforehand! Rustle rustle... Not far away, we saw two allied warriors rushing out of the forest and swinging their blades at the enemy, "For the honor of Ancient Sword, attack!" Thud thud thud! The poor bastards were turned into porcupines before they even managed to activate their Charge! "For fuck¡¯s sake¡­" I cursed under my breath. Why had they acted so impulsively? Where was the tactical part of their mind? That looked more like an assisted suicide than an attack! Behind me, He Yi looked beautiful under the moonlight even though she was gritting her teeth in anger. She said in a low tone, "Lu Chen, use Earth Escape and find an angle to kill their archers and mages with Thousand Mirage Slash. After that, I want you to absorb as much damage as you can. I¡¯ll charge and act as the second distraction. Mingyue, you¡¯re on healing duty. Beiming Xue, use Evil Spirit Volley on their unshielded mages. Does everyone understand their orders?" "Yes!" I nodded, pleasantly surprised by how logical and sound He Yi¡¯s tactic was, and how far she had come since the first time she played Heavenblessed. She was absolutely right in using me as the bait and Beiming Xue as the damage dealer. It was the only way we could¡¯ve won this fight. Anyway, it was time for action. Earth Escape! Swhoosh! I dissolved into bloody rays of light and entered the ground. As I approached the enemy formation slowly, I looked up and saw them watching their surroundings cautiously. Among them, I spotted an axe-wielding Level 83 barbarian warrior with three bars on his arm. It was the mark of a ten-man party leader, and if I wasn¡¯t mistaken he was also the team leader of this 50-man team. The barbarian warrior sat on top of our two dead warriors and chuckled. "I guess this is all there is to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. They are absolutely powerless without numbers on their side!" Beside him, an assassin appeared out of stealth and smiled. "What can the small fries at Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls possibly do with you here, boss?" The barbarian warrior chuckled back before replying, "That¡¯s true. Honestly, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is so-so at best. It¡¯s true they have Lu Chen, but that¡¯s all they have. Overall speaking, Warsky Alliance is many times stronger than they are, and of course they are. After all, Warsky Alliance has three CGL Hall of Famers while Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls only has one." The assassin¡¯s smile turned vulgar. "Actually, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls does beat Warsky Alliance completely on one point!" "Oh? What is it?" "The quality of their girls, of course!" The assassin licked his lips before continuing, "If From Water is a beautiful fairy, then that Murong Mingyue is a sexy succubus. Even that Dark Archer Beiming Xue is a sight to behold. Tsk tsk, say all you want, but the beauties of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are without a doubt the best in the entire world¡­" The barbarian warrior laughed. "You always forget yourself when we speak of women. You¡¯d better not forget our leader¡¯s orders though, our job is to secure this route and let not a single fly pass through this place. Today is the day we annihilate all of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ reinforcement and teach them a harsh lesson about war!" "By the way, I heard that our guild leader was furious because a woman he used to date had her heart captured by Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ leader, Amazing Expert? Is that true?" The barbarian warrior raised his battle axe in mock anger. "Heh, you know too much!" "Hahaha! Man, wars often begin atop a woman¡¯s breasts!" the assassin mused. ¡­¡­ I was positively fuming at the end of their conversation. How dare they speak of Frost Cloud workshop¡¯s women like that! There¡¯s no way these two are living through tonight! Chapter 314: Undying Knigh This party was extremely experienced. Instead of clumping up into one group, the archers and mages spread themselves in a honeycomb-like formation where they could one-shot the enemy or scatter out of the enemy¡¯s AoE spell if necessary. This formation was incredibly infamous for a time, and even to this day it was still employed very often in guild battles. I slowly moved into position and waited for an opportunity to present itself, and it didn¡¯t take long. Ten seconds later, 7 archers, 6 mages and 3 warriors happened to be standing in a straight line. I jumped on the golden opportunity before it disappeared! Swhoosh! I burst out of the earth and used Thousand Mirage Slash immediately. The light of the Purgatory Sword split into 9 sword blasts and crashed into the crowd! I had been using Thousand Mirage Slash very frequently, so it was at Rank 9 already! Boom! The attack turned the ground upside down and stunned the Flower Room players. Both the archers and mages were struck before they could react, and the mages hadn¡¯t even activated their Magic Shields because it continuously drained one¡¯s MP. In fact, many mages couldn¡¯t afford the gold to keep their Magic Shield activated at all times. The skill dealt over 4000 damage to all the players caught within the blast. The archers and mages were one-shot as a matter of course, and two out of the three fighters were killed as well. The last remaining survivor was a magic knight who was running away from me with a sliver of health left in his health pool. The pale-faced man shouted when he saw my ID, "Fuck, it¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Tell everyone now!" My eyes turned chilly. I caught up to him and deleted the last sliver of his HP. It was exhilarating to be able to annihilate 16 players in almost an instant. After losing over half their numbers to me, the long-ranged enemies looked like they had lost even the courage to attack me. Sometimes, a good show was all it took to demoralize an enemy. It was at this moment the barbarian warrior charged me with bloodshot eyes. "Attack, my brothers! He is one, and we are many! If we kill him, we¡¯ll be the party who has taken out a CGL Hall of Famer. Kill him!" The assassin responded to his leader¡¯s call and turned invisible. I took two hurried steps backward before swinging my sword gently! Crack! The assassin was knocked out of his stealth mode as a shower of blood burst out of his body. He was dead before he even hit the ground. Poor leather-armor player, only a top-class assassin would have a chance of surviving a direct blow from me, even if it was just a basic attack. "How did you¡­" Farewell Song was one of the best, if not the best assassin in China, so he was of course aware of this. He just couldn¡¯t believe that I was able to determine a stealthed assassin¡¯s exact location in less than a second because he himself couldn¡¯t perform such a feat. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the barbarian warrior had reached me while I was dealing with the assassin. He let out a growl and swung his axe at me. "Wild Roar Slash!¡± Crack! His axe hit me heavily on the chest and the shoulder, shaking the Obsidian Dragonscale Armor a little and inflicting a bit of pain. Unfortunately, he was a long way away from breaking my high-grade 2-star outstanding armor, and the double strike failed to do too much damage. 457! 512! That being said, the barbarian¡¯s attack power was deserving of praise. These days, there weren¡¯t many players who could deal over 500 damage to me in one hit. "Heh!" The barbarian warrior turned a little pale when he heard my chuckle. We were so close to each other we could hear each other¡¯s breathing, so there wasn¡¯t a chance in hell he could¡¯ve dodged my counterattack. Pardon! Basic attack! MISS! 5468! That was all it took to drop the barbarian warrior¡¯s to his knees. His body was still glowing with the energy of Wild Roar Slash, but it only took an instant to determine the victor. The gap between our level, equipment and in-game skill was so huge that no competence was necessary. All I needed to do was run him over with the overwhelming advantage I possessed. Thud thud thud thud! A couple of arrows hit me in the chest and dealt around 100 or so damage per hit. Not bad. Not bad! I turned around and took in their despairing expressions. One of them complained, "Fuck! Even Devil Piercing Arrow barely did any damage to him! Just how high is his Defense!?" It was at this moment I heard a couple of dragon roars coming at me from the sky. It was the mages chanting their Ice Dragon Howls! Bang bang bang! Pain and cold ravaged my entire body when the Ice Dragon Howls hit me. I actually lost quite a bit of HP as a result. 784! 579! 901! ¡­¡­ Fuck, these mages were better than I thought. I had 1165 Magic Resist, and they were still able to deal a sizable amount of damage! Were they broken magic angels or something? I called them broken because Beiming Xue had finally shown herself at the edge of the forest and fired an Evil Spirit Volley at the mages. Purple, ghastly projectiles either tore apart their Magic Shields or penetrated their cloth armor with ease! MISS! 2563! MISS! 3103! The mages who activated their Magic Shields first had survived, but not those who chose to attack me with Ice Dragon Howls even before activating their own defenses. Beiming Xue¡¯s sneak attack had appeared from behind the enemy formation, and her attack power was comforting to say the least! At the same time, a dashing figure burst out of her hiding and stunned a mage without their Magic Shield with Charge. My beautiful guild leader stabbed her prey right through the chest with the Soul Stealing Spear and one-shot them with ease! 4102! I was a bit surprised by how much damage she dealt. In fact, it wasn¡¯t too far behind my own damage. The Soul Stealing Spear, a Purple Gold¨Cgrade weapon, was just that incredible. While the enemy fighters were letting out a battle cry and running toward me, I had locked onto another archer and activated Charge. Charge had a very short activation speed, and most players simply didn¡¯t have the skill to force a MISS. Moreover, if the Charge¡¯s user successfully predicted the enemy¡¯s movement beforehand and landed a series of follow-up combos, then it didn¡¯t really matter if the opponent dodged the initial stun and damage. I swung the Purgatory Sword at the archer¡¯s neck and one-shot him instantly. However, the fighters behind me had locked onto me and used Charge! "Fuck!" There was no way in hell I could dodge this or avoid getting stunned by so many Charges! So I raised my sword in front of me and activated Guard! Clang clang clang... As expected, most of the fighters did no damage to me. However, I was ultimately stunned after seventh or eighth MISS! The stun only lasted a second, but someone actually managed to seize that short time window and used Crushing Blow on me! How shameless! 1204! Damn, that hurts. Crushing Blow truly was the bane of all Guards! My HP had dropped to one-third in just two seconds. Two enemy magic knights laughed excitedly at my misfortune, "Wahaha, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is almost dead! Let¡¯s kill him and take revenge for boss, brothers!" But three columns of holy light flashed atop my head and warmed my whole body. It was of course Murong Mingyue, one of the best priests in the entire Sky City! 1104! 1784! 1890! Gladdened by the sight of my full health bar, I smiled eerily at my opponents before jumping into the air and hitting the ground with my sword. Blood and thunder instantly split the earth in half¡ªWar Crush! All the fighters around me turned pale with shock and despair. Everyone could tell from the visual effects alone that it was a powerful skill, not to mention that it was executed by my own hands. 4104! 4430! 4137! ¡­¡­ A column of damage numbers appeared above everyone¡¯s head, and not a single player managed to survive my attack. War Crush was a triple-hit skill, so a highly skilled player such as Farewell Song could absolutely dodge the second and third hit. Unfortunately, none of the players around me were capable of such a feat, so they ate the full brunt of War Crush and died. It wasn¡¯t a skill that even a full-health magic knight could endure! Crack! He Yi killed the last player of the party, a tactician and smiled at me. "That was simple. Now let¡¯s go. Gui Guzi and the others are still waiting for us!" "Yeah!" I gripped the Purgatory Sword and charged into the forest. Not only could I hear the sounds of battle directly ahead of us, I could see flashes of skills peeking through the foliage despite it being nighttime inside the game. Even the edges of Blackwater Bog were rife with conflict. The second I burst into a clearing, I saw Gui Guzi holding up his spear and tanking a shitton of attacks using his Undying Shield at the forefront. He and nearly 50 fighters were aligned in a triangular formation, and he was looking everywhere and shouting angrily, "Show your face if you¡¯re a man, Life of Luxury! Only a coward would let another person do his dirty business!" At the distance, Li Le was also shouting angrily, "Charge! Archers and mages, shoot down that undead knight first! Show me that the so-called ¡®Undying Knight¡¯ of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is not truly immortal!" Gui Guzi almost single-handedly absorbed all the damage coming his party¡¯s way, his HP rising and falling like a pendulum. The enemy kept bombarding with Ice Dragon Howls, and he was in grave danger even though dozens of priests were healing him and keeping him healthy all the time. All it took was one coordinated, all-out focus-fire, and Gui Guzi might collapse where he stood. ¡­¡­ Even further away, I saw Du Thirteen falling to a group of archers and losing his armor. Chapter 315: Xue Lu Nameless fury scorched my head in an instant. I immediately locked onto Life of Luxury and activated Charge! Whoosh! The mage was caught completely off-guard, but he wasn¡¯t stunned because he had his Magic Shield up. It didn¡¯t matter though. One lightning-fast basic attack was all it took to shred it into pieces as Life of Luxury stared at me in shock. ¡°Die!¡± I raised the Purgatory Sword and engulfed Life of Luxury and all the Flower Room players behind him in Thousand Mirage Slash. Screams appeared from all around me, and Life of Luxury was of course no exception. Only one magic knight had survived the skill with a sliver of health, and was retreating at top speed. Luckily for me, Life of Luxury dropped Du Thirteen¡¯s armor after he died, so I picked it up and sent a message: ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Thirteen! I just got your armor back from Life of Luxury!¡± ¡°That¡¯s my brother! I¡¯m coming back right now!¡± Du Thirteen replied quickly. ¡­¡­ On the other side, Beiming Xue, He Yi and Murong Mingyue had joined up with Gui Guzi. Beiming Xue kicked off her assault with a powerful Evil Spirit Volley that had Spring Mud, Moon Shadow and Night Sorrow reeling in pain. Her level was way higher than theirs¡¯, and her Milky Way Bow was so powerful that not even a warrior like Spring Mud could withstand her damage output. He Yi¡¯s pet also came out to play. The Firelight Mouse was pretty high-level now, and its powerful fire spells made life hell for the Flower Room players caught in them. Murong Mingyue chose to join in on the offensive instead of healing Gui Guzi, firing Hellish Rockfalls straight into the enemy¡¯s backline. A ton of archers and unshielded mages were one-shot as a result. How embarrassing for them to be one-shot by a priest, even if said priest was Murong Mingyue with the Prayer Scepter! That being said, He Yi was right when she said that Flower Room had come out in full force. A small half of the entire Blackwater Bog map was littered with Flower Room players, and I counted at least 2000 of them! At the backline, Li Le raised his sword and shouted, ¡°Charge! There are only a few hundred of them! We aren¡¯t so weak that we can¡¯t even eliminate a party that small!¡± He also added, ¡°Listen up, people! I¡¯ll reward anyone who kills Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 100k gold. Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, From Water and Murong Mingyue are worth 50k, and Chaos Moon, Hot Sun, Moonlight Stone, Moon Dew, Du Thirteen, Yamete and Alexander are 5k per kill! I will give you the reward immediately and promise to not go back on my word!¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I let out an involuntary chuckle before commenting, ¡°Here comes Li Le¡¯s bounty tactic. I didn¡¯t know I was worth 100k gold until now. He really is rich, isn¡¯t he?¡± He Yi burst into a giggle. ¡°Alright, enough. Kill the enemies and plug the hole in our formation already!¡± Xu Yang swore angrily the moment he came back to life. ¡°Motherfucker! Why am I worth only 5000 gold? That bastard looks down on me¡­¡± Murong Mingyue teased him. ¡°Is he wrong though? If he offered to pay 50k gold for every kill on you, I bet he¡¯d go bankrupt before the afternoon is over¡­¡± Xu Yang immediately slumped. ¡°Murong, would it kill you to give me some face?¡± Chaos Moon immediately returned to the frontline after she revived. ¡°Beauty Pure Love, gimme Death Match and Divine Valor as soon as possible!¡± But Pure Love said embarrassedly, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯ve given all my buffs to Vice Leader Broken Halberd. Go find some other bards to help you¡­¡± ¡°OMG¡­¡± Chaos Moon looked unhappy. The amount of stats a bard could apply was determined by level and Magic Attack just like Tactics. Since Pure Moon had a high level, powerful spells and good equipment, her buffs were at least 50% more effective than buffs of a normal bard, even if it wasn¡¯t explicitly stated on the screen. No wonder Chaos Moon was unwilling to seek out another bard. Xu Yang raised his sword and shouted, ¡°Kill them all, brothers!¡± He Yi shot me a glance and said, ¡°How do you think we should turn the situation around?¡± I replied, ¡°We gather all our men and annihilate Flower Room here at Blackwater Bog. Then, we camp their bodies for 24 hours straight. We¡¯ll show the world what the price of provoking Ancient Sword is!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± He Yi nodded with a smile before facing Xu Yang. ¡°Xu Yang, tell everyone who¡¯s online in the guild to come over. If anyone rejects your summon, just kick them out of the guild. I want them to form 100-man parties and gather five hundred meters to the east of Blackwater Bog! You too, Du Thirteen! Tell everyone in Bloody Mercenaries to form 100-man parties and gather to the west of Blackwater Bog! Once you¡¯re both ready, I want you to surround the map from these two directions! And don¡¯t forget to watch the graveyards!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Du Thirteen was just reviving and accepting his armor from me. He said, ¡°I¡¯ve already summoned all 1874 of our players who are online. They¡¯ll be ready and in position in ten minutes tops!¡± Xu Yang also said, ¡°Mn, all 1901 of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players who are online are coming as well. No one is absent!¡± I asked, ¡°Xu Yang, wasn¡¯t Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls a Rank 3 guild since a while ago? When are you growing to Rank 4? Rank 3 guilds can only accommodate 2000 players, but Rank 4 guilds can accommodate 5000 players!¡± Xu Yang smiled. ¡°We¡¯re almost there. I¡¯ll call for a guild EXP grinding session tonight, and we should be able to become a Rank 4 guild then!¡± ¡°Mn, this is something we can¡¯t skip on. Let¡¯s try and make Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls the first guild to reach Rank 5 in Sky City. Ten thousand players. Now that is something worth bragging about!¡± ¡°Hahaha, true!¡± While we were chatting, Du Thirteen was charging the enemy and cutting down their fighters one by one. Du Thirteen¡¯s equipment was pretty good these days, and thanks to efforts of Xu Yang, Beauty Moonlight Stone, Beauty Moon Dew, Beauty Pure Love and other elite players, everyone who was a management-level player in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had at least 3 high-level Dark Gold¨Cgrade items to their name. After all, it would be shameful if they were one-shot the second they stepped out of the door. ¡°Someone kill that motherfucking Amazing Expert already!¡± Li Le pointed his sword at Du Thirteen and shouted savagely, ¡°Did you grow tired of life, you little fucker? The right to touch my former lovers is a right reserved for my brothers and no one else! I swear you¡¯ll wish you were dead by the time I¡¯m done with you! Kill him and annihilate Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!¡± Du Thirteen shouted right back furiously, ¡°Fuck you! A trash like you don¡¯t deserve Lulu at all! She must¡¯ve been blind when she dated you back then!¡± I was caught off-guard. Did Thirteen¡­ actually fall for that Xue Lu? Du Thirteen had never defended a woman in his life, not even his own girlfriend. It was because girls were like clothes to him, and his brothers, his arms and legs. That was why he would get into a brawl when with me, but never provoke another person over a woman. However, something has changed for Thirteen. More specifically, this Xue Lu had changed him. I never thought I would see the day he would get angry over a woman. ¡°Heh¡­¡± A smile spread across my face as I rushed to Du Thirteen¡¯s right. I struck the ground with my bloody sword and sent waves of thunder rippling across the ground, killing all the Flower Room players within its range. The War Crush instantly saved Du Thirteen from his predicament. ¡°The fuck are you smiling about, Lu Chen¡­¡± Du Thirteen shot me a glance. I couldn¡¯t stop myself. ¡°Thirteen, did you fall in love with Xue Lu?¡± Du Thirteen looked at his sword and hesitated. I even spotted a bit of redness in his cheeks. I glared at him. ¡°For fuck¡¯s sake, don¡¯t go red on me, it¡¯s disgusting!¡± ¡°Fuck you too, man¡­¡± Du Thirteen mock-glared at me before answering, ¡°Yes, I like her, but as you know, she¡¯s that kind of girl¡­¡± I cut him off before he could say anything else. ¡°Save your buts. If you like her, you like her, it¡¯s that simple. Love doesn¡¯t need a reason.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Du Thirteen gave me a long look before saying, ¡°Thanks for the support, brother. I don¡¯t have any doubts anymore!¡± ¡°Heh!¡± I raised my sword horizontally and stared at the enemies in front of us. ¡°Let¡¯s talk again after this is over. Seriously, the entire guild got dragged into this mess because you fell in love with one girl. Even Chaos Moon and Xu Yang got killed in action. You can afford to lose levels, but they can¡¯t, so you¡¯d better remember to treat them to a meal after this!¡± ¡°Yeah, I promise!¡± The enemy fighters tried to swarm us, and in response I raised my sword to the air and fired a Thousand Mirage Slash, the fan-shaped sword instantly deleting an entire group of players. I then pointed my sword at Li Le and laughed. ¡°Come at us yourself if you dare, Li Le!¡± Naturally, Li Le lacked the balls, equipment, level and even skill to fight me. All he did was barking out another order, ¡°Close-range players, avoid engaging Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Long-range players, focus fire on him and kill him now!¡± Flower Room¡¯s fighters stopped charging, opting to stand in front of their mages and archers and protect them. At the same time, countless Devil Piercing Arrows and Ice Dragon Howls started raining from the sky. Goddamn, what a shameless man! Shame on you for using such a cowardly tactic, Li Le! ¡°Focus your healing on Lu Chen, priests!¡± He Yi ordered. My HP fluctuated erratically as my enemies tried to kill me, and my allied priests tried to keep me alive. Thankfully, my Defense was way better than Gui Guzi¡¯s, so the chance that I might get one-shot by the enemy was much lower. Gui Guzi¡¯s problem was that his Magic Resist was too low, so a couple Ice Dragon Howls were all it took to make him squeal. The moment 15 seconds were up, I locked onto a magic knight and activated Charge without hesitation! Whoosh! The second I arrived in front of my target, I immediately raised my sword and dished out Thousand Mirage Slash! At the same time, I stomped the ground and used War Crush! I looked like a war god as bloody light and thunderous energy surrounded me. The moment my boots hit the ground, lightning immediately spread out and destroyed my enemies! Rumble rumble! Chapter 316: Pillar of the Nation ¡°Roar!¡± A draconic roar began as my body became surrounded by purple light. The moment a gigantic purple dragon gathered at the tip of my Purgatory Sword, I immediately swung the weapon with a shout and launched the deadly energy at the crowd! ¡°Ahhhh¡­¡± A group of Flower Room players were instantly destroyed by the Purple Dragon Howl. It was unbearable to look at if you were on the other team, and not even a full-health magic knight with a shield could withstand the attack. Purple Dragon Howl hits most fighters for at least 8000 damage, and in the cases of archers and mages, the damage went above 10000! ¡°Roar!¡± That wasn¡¯t the end yet, however. While the skill was still running its course, I directed the purple dragon to attack Li Le! Li Le¡¯s handsome face was deathly pale as he ran backward while shouting, ¡°Fuck! Stop him! This devil! H-he¡¯s too strong¡­¡± Unfortunately for him, physical bodies did nothing to stop the Purple Dragon Howl. A group of Flower Room players blocked in front of Li Le, but all they achieved was dying a horrific death! It was too late to dodge out of the way at this point. Feeling like his heart would stop, Li Le turned around and waited for the purple dragon to claim him! ¡°Roar!¡± But the dragon let out one final roar before disappearing slowly. Purple Dragon Howl had reached its time limit, and the energy disappeared right when it was about to touch the tip of Li Le¡¯s nose. It was a shame. Had the skill lasted 0.1s longer, Li Le would have died for sure! Thump... The tip of Li Le¡¯s nose was covered in cold sweat. He was so scared that he actually collapsed on his butt. In that moment, Flower Room¡¯s morale hit rock bottom! ¡­¡­ After firing the Purple Dragon Howl, I went back to my friends like I had just returned from a relaxing stroll. My assault had lasted only around 15 seconds at most, but at least hundreds of Flower Room players had died. They were understandably terrified as a matter of course. Meanwhile, everyone in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were laughing and swinging their weapons in high spirits¡ª Wolf Fang: ¡°Haha, that¡¯s so cool, Vice Leader Broken Halberd! You single-handedly annihilated almost half of their guild! These trash were fools to think that they can compete against Ancient Sword!¡± Beauty Chaos Moon: ¡°Hehe, that was awesome, vice leader. Wanna date?¡± Xu Yang laughed loudly. ¡°Hahaha, of course he¡¯s awesome! He wouldn¡¯t be the 12th CGL Hall of Famer otherwise!¡± Murong Mingyue said, ¡°Lu Chen¡¯s CGL Hall of Fame points are sure to grow after this battle, so his ranking still has room to improve. Power Cooker? Blood Red? Lonely Grave? It¡¯s only a matter of time before Lu Chen smashes them all!¡± He Yi asked, ¡°Did you guys check the China server official forums today?¡± He Yi replied, ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Flower Room aren¡¯t the only guilds who were fighting each other today. There is a map called Void Forest to the south of Wind City, Indigo Collar and Peach Garden had attacked a one-thousand-man party from Candle Dragon with close to 3000 players and managed to annihilate them from 3 am to 9 am. However, they failed to escape before Candlelight Shadow showed up with his main forces, and the battle was extended until late evening! In the end, Candle Dragon was able to turn the tide!¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Du Thirteen sucked in a deep breath. ¡°Indigo Collar must have brass balls beneath his waist. I can¡¯t believe he went all the way to Wind City just to beat up Candle Dragon!¡± He Yi giggled. ¡°Yeah. However, the tide changed immediately after Candlelight Shadow showed up. Apparently, he was able to charge in and out of Peach Garden¡¯s troops five times without dying, and he even managed to kill Indigo Collar in a sea of enemies while his Heaven-devouring Tiger was covering for him¡­¡± ¡°What?!¡± My pupils shrank abruptly. Fuck, is this Candlelight Shadow¡¯s declaration of power to the world? Is he trying to say that his title as the Martial God is immovable? How on earth did he manage to get in and out of Peach Garden¡¯s formation anyway? And to kill even Indigo Collar while he was completely surrounded by enemies? Indigo Collar was no ordinary player. Even in a 1v1 situation, it would¡¯ve taken me considerable effort to defeat him. So how was Candlelight Shadow able to kill Indigo Collar? I frowned deeply as I reimagined the battle inside my head. In the end, I came to the conclusion that Candlelight Shadow must¡¯ve used his triple-hit Blazing Purgatory Slash to kill Indigo Collar. On paper, it didn¡¯t sound too unusual. If I was the one fighting Indigo Collar, then I would have to use War Crush¡ªand the skill must land perfectly¡ªPardon and a basic attack to have a chance to one-shot Indigo Collar in an instant. But if he was constantly healed by his priests, then it wouldn¡¯t be easy to find the perfect timing! ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a new swarm of players burst out from every direction. They all had Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ emblem or Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ emblem on their shoulders. Finally, reinforcements had arrived! At the distance, I saw Alexander swinging his battle axe and laughing. ¡°We¡¯ve arrived, leader! You haven¡¯t killed all the nasties yet, have you?¡± He Yi replied, ¡°There are less than 500 of them left. Once we clear them out, all that¡¯s left to do is camp their corpses!¡± ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll camp their corpses while we grind for levels. Let¡¯s get our guild to Rank 4 before the night is over!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± ¡­¡­ Knowing that the battle was lost, Li Le gritted his teeth and shouted angrily, ¡°Brothers, it¡¯s time to withdraw! Follow me to the southwest corner!¡± The remainder of Flower Room tried to escape as I, Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, Du Thirteen and other battle-maddened fighters gave chase! It was at this time that something unexpected happened at this moment. A man suddenly jumped out of a mountain ridge next to Li Le, stunned him with a Charge and attacked twice with a cyan battle axe! Clang clang! 2102! 2012! The powerful attack nearly killed Li Le in an instant! When Li Le recovered, he immediately took a few steps backward while two priests did their utmost to keep him alive. He glared at his attacker and shouted, ¡°Who the fuck are you? Are you trying to kill yourself?¡± ¡°Heh! So what if I am?¡± The arrogant attacker pointed his sword at Li Le and shouted, ¡°Brothers, it is time to eliminate Flower Room!¡± Countless players burst out of the other side of the mountain ridge and charged toward Flower Room murderously. Surprisingly, their levels were pretty high, meaning that they belonged to a powerful guild! It was only now we started paying close attention to the player with a battle axe. He was wrapped in thick metal armor, and he had a pair of sinister-looking eyes and a disdainful smile on his face. A line of text floated above his head¡ª Pillar of the Nation LV-85 Silver Warrior Guild: Hegemon Palace Guild Position: Leader ¡­¡­ ¡°Who¡¯s that guy? Why did he want to kill Li Le?¡± Beiming Xue curled her lips and asked. I immediately had a bad feeling about this. I glanced at He Yi. She was staring at me with confusion as well. ¡°What is going on here¡­¡± He Yi muttered. I replied, ¡°Let¡¯s wait and see what happens.¡± Pillar of the Nation and his players were crushing the remainder of Flower Room like they were nothing. While his subordinates were doing the killing, Pillar of the Nation propped his battle axe on his shoulder and walked straight toward He Yi. Then, he gave her a gentle smile and said, ¡°Vice President He, I didn¡¯t know you were the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡­¡± Murong Mingyue exclaimed in shock, ¡°Fuck! He¡¯s Wang Dongliang¡­¡± She was right. This Pillar of the Nation was none other than the deputy director of Shanghai Shengyi, a nominee of the Top Ten Youths, and the bastard who tried to get He Yi and Murong Mingyue drunk! He Yi stared at him and said calmly, ¡°What is the meaning of this, deputy director Wang? This is the war between Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Flower Room. Your intervention was unnecessary.¡± ¡°Haha, you are too courteous!¡± Wang Dongliang spread his arms with a smile. ¡°Shanghai Shengyi and GGS have signed an agreement, haven¡¯t we? That means that we are staunch allies and partners! Hegemon Palace is one of Shanghai Shengyi¡¯s VR investments in Heavenblessed, so it¡¯s only natural that our guilds would cooperate with each other!¡± ¡­¡­ Instead of answering, He Yi did a quick search on Hegemon Palace. She sounded slightly astonished by her findings as she reported in the party channel, ¡°Hegemon Palace is the 11th guild on China¡¯s Guild Ranking, and it was a pretty good guild during the later stages of Spirit of Grief. Their guild leader, Pillar of the Nation, once studied under the famous warrior ¡®Violent Current¡¯ of the Qin Empire, and he was ranked near the Top 100 in China¡¯s battle net.¡± Murong Mingyue giggled. ¡°Tsk tsk, your skirt chasers keep getting better and better, Eve. Last time it was a prince of the UAE royal family, and now it¡¯s the young master of Shanghai Shengyi and a pro gamer. Isn¡¯t it amazing?¡± He Yi rolled her eyes at her. ¡°Girl, are you seriously mocking me right now? Do you want to keep your job or not?¡± Murong Mingyue stuck her tongue out but wisely shut up. Pillar of the Nation was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable since no one answered him. He rubbed his nose and let out a laugh. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Is it just me, or did I do something to displease Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?¡± Du Thirteen stepped out and asked, ¡°Who are you?¡± Pillar of the Nation shot Du Thirteen a glance before chuckling. ¡°Oh? You¡¯re the guild leader of Bloody Mercenaries. Interesting. But you¡¯re just the leader of a sub-guild, so you have no right to speak to me!¡± If his arrogance wasn¡¯t clear enough before, it was now. Furious, Du Thirteen raised his sword and swore, ¡°So what if I¡¯m the guild leader of a sub-guild, you fucker?¡± I hurriedly blocked Du Thirteen before he could do anything rash and stepped up to Pillar of the Nation myself. I said indifferently, ¡°We thank you for assisting us in our battle against Flower Room, but the situation is already under control. Please withdraw your troops immediately. We can deal with the rest ourselves.¡± ¡°Deal with the rest yourselves?¡± Pillar of the Nation stared at me arrogantly. ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, is it? How much inside information do you have? Are you aware that Flower Room and Mad Dragon have decided to work together and attack your guild?¡± Chapter 317: Battle Comprehension "Hahahaha..." Pillar of the Nation laughed wildly and looked dismissively at me. "Not bad. No wonder Eve calls you her Divine General. CGL Hall of Famer Falling Dust, do you only have pride and arrogance left? Hmph, it¡¯s Eve who has a say in this matter, you shouldn¡¯t speak!" Pillar of the Nation glared at me and said, "You are just a guard for Ancient Sword in the end, who do you think you are?" "Fuck, you wanna die?" Du Thirteen shouted angrily. Murong Mingyue said, "Wait!" He Yi walked forward and said coolly to Pillar of the Nation, "First, you are not allowed to call me Eve. Also, Lu Chen is not just a guard. Now, leave with your people or we will meet on the battlefield!" "You!" Pillar of the Nation was stunned. He looked towards me with a sneer and said, "Boy, you only have this little skill? Just you wait and see. Since Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls isn¡¯t willing to accept my goodwill, then you¡¯ll have to accept the consequences after." I reacted almost instantly. The Purgatory Sword flashed like lightning and Pardon + basic attack hit the other''s chest! MISS! 4678! Almost an instant kill. Pillar of the Nation only had a sliver of HP left! Bang! The blade of the Purgatory Sword lightly pressed against the other''s throat. I released undead energy, my blood-red eyes staring him down. "Were you threatening me just now?" "You!" Pillar of the Nation paled and said, "You want to kill me? Eve, you can¡¯t allow him to kill me..." In the party channel, I asked, "Kill or not to kill?" Murong Mingyue said, "Kill!" Beiming Xue said, "Yes, just kill him!" He Yi thought for a moment and said, "GGS and Shanghai Shengyi have signed a 2-billion contract. That¡¯s not a small number. I think... we should let it go, don''t kill him this time..." I nodded and said, "Alright, then I won¡¯t kill him, so it wouldn¡¯t waste you two being drunk that night¡­¡± "Hmph!" He Yi glared at me. "Don¡¯t mention that night''s events to me ever again, so embarrassing..." ¡­¡­ I put away the Purgatory Sword and looked at Pillar of the Nation. I said coldly, "Take your people and leave immediately. Thank you for your goodwill, but Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls can take care of this matter on our own." "Hmph, take care!" Pillar of the Nation hurriedly fled with his battle axe like he was afraid that I would change my mind and give him a blow. In reality, his HP was in the red, so anyone could finish him with a single hit! In the distance, a group of players from Hegemon Palace raced over. One of them said with a sharp gaze, "Leader, were they harassing you?" Pillar of the Nation shook his head. "Never mind, let''s go!" "Oh?" ¡­¡­ Gazing at Pillar of the Nation''s back, Murong Mingyue said, "This person, hmph..." There were some facts that could be seen without being said out loud. Wang Dongliang was privileged and most people couldn''t endure his arrogant airs. Maybe even he did not feel anything wrong with his presence. He had been arrogant from birth and didn¡¯t think anything was wrong with him. Or maybe, in Wang Dongliang¡¯s eyes, people were split into nine classes. People without money or power were at least in the eighth class while he was in the strict top three. His life was worth a lot more than mine. His twisted values were really dangerous. Beiming Xue said, "I have a feeling we¡¯ve just provoked an enemy that we shouldn¡¯t have. This Hegemon Palace might be our enemy in the future." He Yi nodded. "Offend a gentleman rather than a villain. Wang Dongliang is famed in Shanghai. His dad has money, his grandfather is a higher-up in XX Military Base. I heard a month ago, Wang Dongliang joined a QQ chat, and was kicked by the owner after an argument. That night, he found the owner''s IP address and took seven people to break the owner''s legs. This person is a true villain and it is better not to offend them..." Xu Yang was stunned. "Damn, there are scum like this!" I said, "Pitiful chat owner..." Beiming Xue said, "Does the Top Ten Youths ranking mean anything..." Murong Mingyue laughed. "Just formalism, a game for the rich." ¡­¡­ Xu Yang was slightly worried and said, "Will Wang Dongliang act against you in real life?" He Yi shook her head. "No, this person is narrow-minded but sane. The business with GGS is too important to Shanghai Shengyi. They are relying on this to turn their situation around. This is more important to Shanghai Shengyi than to our GGS. I¡¯ve also called Wang Dongliang''s father. With his father present, he won''t dare to do anything." "Yes!" Xu Yang nodded, and grinned, showing off a few of his barbarian gold teeth. "I actually hope that he will come to Suzhou for trouble. I really want to beat him. I haven''t fought for so fucking long, my fists itch..." Wolf Fang nodded. "Yeah, I haven''t fought offline for so long. Last time was my third year of high school. Now I''m graduating university. I have a blue belt in Taekwondo, and haven''t had a chance to use it..." He Yi twisted her mouth. "What kind of people are you!" Beiming Xue said, "Yeah, big bro is the best, he is the most gentle..." Beiming Xue turned around and saw me cracking my knuckles. I looked toward Wang Dongliang''s back and laughed sinisterly, "Damn, I haven''t fought so long. Last time, I beat up One True Love, but he was so weak. I wonder if Wang Dongliang is better?" ¡­¡­ Xu Yang raised his blade and shouted, "Campers, guard all the corpses. Don¡¯t allow anyone from Flower Room to walk away before midnight, unless they stop reviving! Hmph, they dare to attack Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls first? Then let them have a taste of our power!" Everyone laughed. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls definitely had an advantage against Flower Room. They had the top players like me, Beiming Xue and Gui Guzi. There was also He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Chaos Moon, Moonlight Stone and the others. What did Flower Room have? Only the three Egos. They really weren¡¯t acceptable in public. It wasn¡¯t sustainable to just dig at other guilds in order to recruit some players and develop your own guild. You had to learn how to raise your own skilled elite players. Take Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls for example. Chaos Moon, Wolf Fang, Moon Dew, Moonlight Stone, and Alexander had all been unknown people. But they had learned teamwork and how to refine their own tactics and mechanics through nurturing. With superior equipment and mechanics, they could all become first-class experts! Any powerful guild was slowly built up. A domineering guild made from top players would eventually split up in the end. It was hard for them to have strong unity and teamwork. It served to prove a saying¡ªthe days of a group of elites couldn¡¯t compare to a group of idiots together. True friendship and trust were built up when they were all at the grassroots. Together. For example, me and Du Thirteen. We fought together, skipped class together, got warned by the school together, starved together, started working together. Friends like this could definitely be relied on. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' advantages were too great. We had the advantage in high-level players, and also in player number. The main guild and the Bloody Mercenaries added together were almost 4000 players, enough for spawn camping. ¡­¡­ In the hour, Flower Room revived together several times and was crushed. Helplessly, many of them could only choose to revive in the city which meant dropping three levels. But there was no other choice. Players couldn¡¯t stay long in their soul state. They had to choose before the time was up. If they were revived in their previous location, they could be killed again, dropping both levels and equipment. This was a consequence that Li Le could not withstand. One could regain their levels, but equipment would be lost forever. Not long after, large numbers of Flower Room players revived inside Sky City, but there were nearly a thousand people still fighting back. This was something everyone liked to see. If we could drop Flower Room''s average by 5 levels, it would be our great success. In the future, who in Sky City would dare to look down on Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? I left behind Bloody Mercenaries players to spawn camp. This was something Du Thirteen liked to do. The only regret was that the girl called Xue Lu had not appeared. Supposedly, she had an ID in the game. But she probably didn''t dare to show up due to what happened in these two days. I looked at Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls''s guild experience. We needed 10 million to reach Rank 4. I decided and looked back at the three girls. "Eve, Sister Mingyue, Beiming, let''s make a party and kill monsters. Just 10 million experience left. If split up, it will be 2.5 million per person. That''s nothing, we can take care of it in half a day. Everyone work together, and get the guild to Rank 4 in two hours. We will focus on getting more people tonight, and turn Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls into a 5000-strong super guild. With our newfound players our confidence will soar in the upcoming battle for Four Divine Sites!" "Yes, alright!" He Yi answered sweetly. I had a grinding zone in mind, the Azure Wolf Plains in the south of Sky Forest. It was a place that produced normal Level 95 Greedy Wolves. This version didn¡¯t have a strong attack power so they were easy to kill. With our defensive equipment, there would be no issues even if we lured over a large pack. Just as I expected, when we arrived at the Azure Wolf Plains half an hour later, we saw many wolves around. They were all between Level 91 and 95 and their sub-1000 Attack couldn¡¯t break through my or He Yi¡¯s Defense. Even Beiming Xue might last for a bit under their attacks. Murong Mingyue activated Spell Shield and could survive if she didn¡¯t attract all the aggro. All in all, it was a good leveling ground for us. I lured the monsters and moved around to draw in the sea of wolves. He Yi stood at the front, but I was the focus of most attacks, constantly using War Crush. Truly, this skill was just dirty. It was like a nuke set off in the middle of the monster swarm. It would be strange if the wolves attacked someone else. I also released the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. I won''t have it miss a chance to leech experience! Hellish Rockfall, Thousand Mirage Slash, War Crush, Evil Spirit Volley, Firewall, and all kinds of other AoE skills fell into the monster horde. The killing was enjoyable. In less than an hour, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf shot up a dozen levels. What an amazing pace! ¡­¡­ About an hour later, a string of system bells sounded and our guild cheered¡ª Ding~! Chapter 318: High Fighting Spirits At about nine in the evening, at the southern gate plaza in Sky City. He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue, Chaos Moon, Moon Dew and the other girls stood at a corner of the plaza surrounded by high-level players. The girls all had the higher-up emblems of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls on their shoulders. After Ancient Sword became a Rank 4 guild, there were 3000 extra member spots so they were recruiting tonight! Compared to the high-level male players around the girls, I was much calmer. I wore the Obsidian Dragonscale Armor, and the Skydusk Cloak. I looked on calmly from the south of the plaza with a hand on the Purgatory Sword as I gazed at the players requesting to join the guild. In the party channel, I said to the girls, "Remember, we will only accept those above Level 80. Also, we have to check their moral character. We won''t take in any bandits!" "I know~~" He Yi laughed. ¡­¡­ I nodded. I looked up and saw a female mage come over. Level 82 with a pine staff. She giggled. "Hey handsome, what conditions are there to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?" I looked straight ahead and said, "Above Level 80, at least one Dark Gold¨Cgrade item or three Gold-grade ones. Female players have to have a good figure and white skin..." The female mage blushed. "Do I qualify?" "Please let go and stop hugging me. If you continue... I¡¯m gonna shout .." "..." I accepted the first member. Yes, this girl had at least two Dark Gold¨Cgrade items, her robe and her staff were shining with dark gold hue. While her conduct was not very appropriate, there would definitely be no problems with her joining the guild. Right now, Ancient Sword''s male to female ratio was 7:2. There were many wolves and not much meat. Letting in some girls was a wise course of action. This way, those guys won''t reach toward our main executives like Chaos Moon, Moonlight Stone, and Moon Dew. If the sparks of love flew, maternity leave would take over half of a year. The guild would be empty! ¡­¡­ I continued to recruit. A barbarian with a battle axe walked over and said carelessly, "Brother Broken Halberd, I¡¯ve known of you for a long time. You were so handsome in Floating Ice City when you killed Dominating Heaven Blade. Do you think I can join the guild?" I glanced over. This warrior was Level 83 and his metal armor and helmet appeared to be of the Dark Gold grade. His axe was likely high-level Gold-grade. He looked extremely majestic, and his gaming presence was very praiseworthy. "Why do you play the game?" The barbarian laughed. "I live in the suburbs of Shenyang. My mom was laid off last year, and my father is bedridden. I want to earn some money in the game to help my family. But let me say first that I have to go work during the day. I can only be online at night. So I definitely cannot attend the guild activities during the day." I nodded and sent him an invitation to join the guild. I said with a smile, "Brother High Fighting Spirits, welcome to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" "Ha, thank you, Vice Leader!" ¡­¡­ After joining the guild High Fighting Spirits appeared very excited and laughed. "Leader, I¡¯m going to continue leveling up. Call me if there is anything. Also, I''m not working on the weekend tomorrow, and can attend the activity to take over the Four Divine Sites. Haha, I don''t want to just sit idly and enjoy the buff!" I smiled approvingly. "Yes, see you tomorrow!" High Fighting Spirits left with his battle axe. Mn, this person was not bad. Like Xu Yang, he was rough around the edges but had a straightforward, honest personality. When danger came, this kind of person would be in the most honest and loyal group that would never go back on their word! I continued to recruit. After adding about seven Level 80¨C82 players, another good player came. This was a young wanderer with a dark gaze. His ID was Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. He had a hidden class¡ªEarth Wanderer. Unlike Lin Yixin''s Light Wanderer, this Earth Wanderer''s main focus was defense. I guessed that after gaining the ability to ride a mount, his Defense would rival magic knights of the same level. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun said, "Vice Leader, what is the final goal of Ancient Swords?" I said, "Sweep the Central Plains, and look down on the universe." "Hahaha, good!" He laughed and said, "To be able to create a new era with the legendary Protoss Genius Falling Dust is really a pleasing matter!" I nodded and smiled. "Let''s work together!" "Yes, I am going to level up!" ¡­¡­ Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun turned around, his back determined. He was different from High Fighting Spirits. If he was an intelligent general, High Fighting Spirits would be a strong and fierce one. Both of them were of rare breed. I even had a feeling these two would become core members of Ancient Sword. In reality, a guild with ten people like this was enough to conquer the world! I continued to accept people until 11 pm. Accompanied by a beep, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' spots were filled again! At this time, the guild was filled with talent. The guild had 5000 people and 81.12 was the average level. Damn, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls probably had over 20% of all those above Level 80 in Sky City? Everyone knew that Sky City was a newly-opened main city and gathered all the experts from the China server. In a situation like this, the 3000 expanded slots of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were all filled with top experts. The timing of the guild¡¯s rank-up was praiseworthy. Warsky, Dominating Heaven Blade, Roaming Dragon and the others were likely green with envy, right? Lin Yixin of Snowy Cathaya was very smart. She spent twenty thousand RMB to purchase a Guild Creation Token from Floating Ice City. She built the first branch of Snowy Cathaya and used that to recruit many experts. But it was just a sub-guild, and their appeal was much lower than Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' main guild. At this time, the guild was cheering and it was extremely loud. The new members were meeting up with the old members. It was harmonious and they were talkative, from microelectronics to the pre-Qin era history to whether one wore undergarments. All of them became extremely knowledgeable people. This time, we accepted many female players. Chaos Moon and Pure Love were relatively active, and gathered a party of female players to level up through the night. They said they would sleep next morning, and then wake up at noon to participate in the fight for the Four Divine Sites. Wolf Fang, Shangri-La and the others righteously requested to level up with the female party but were strictly refused. Chaos Moon spread her wings to protect the 1987 girls in the guild. She said these were precious treasures that could not be profaned. Of course, the thoughts of men were always profane. This was an irreconcilable conflict. ¡­ Bang! I took a lot of equipment from the warehouse and sat at Sky City''s eastern plaza to set up a stall for business. It¡¯s not like I could sleep now, so I¡¯ll just sell things before sleeping! Selling was troublesome. I had to bargain with people. Even more terrifying were middle-aged female players. They would look around for a while, criticize and then leave. It was so hurtful. I looked at my level. Mn, I was near Level 100. I would try to become the first player of Sky City to reach Level 100. Then I would buy a store and start a business! Beep! A while later, a message came from Lin Yixin: "What are you doing, Lu Chen?" "Selling!" "Coordinates?" "Eastern plaza near the potion shop." Lin Yixin said nothing else. A few minutes later, a beautiful figure came tiredly. Lin Yixin was almost leaning against the wall to watch. When she came next to me, she knelt down to sit, pulling her combat robe to cover her legs. Then she took out many good pieces of equipment from her bag and set up a stall. I glanced at her and said, "What were you busy with to be so exhausted..." Lin Yixin glared at me. "What do you think? Leveling up and getting equipment. I¡¯m not as free as you. You have the leisure to camp Flower Room''s corpses. So boring..." I smiled. Looking at her tired face, I felt some distress and said, "Yiyi, don''t exhaust yourself." "You feel bad for me?" Lin Yixin looked sarcastically at me. "Then come to Snowy Cathaya. With you at Snowy Cathaya, I can save at least half of my energy..." I pouted. "Damn, let''s discuss something else .." Lin Yixin''s eyes turned red. "You He Yi devotee..." "..." I took a deep breath and said, "Let''s talk about tomorrow. The Four Divine Sites will open. War Holy Temple will increase attack power by 10%; Pegasus Spring will increase attack speed by 10% and movement speed by 5%; Dragon Blood Fortress will increase max HP by 10%; Giant Rock Cave will increase Defense by 10%. What do you think Snowy Cathaya is going to fight for? Let''s discuss it so we won''t engage each other." Lin Yixin giggled. "War Holy Temple is the best. If I choose the War Holy Temple, will you leave it to me?" "Then it depends on what price you are willing to pay..." I said with a smile. She looked at me with a smile. "What kind of price do you want?" "You..." "Oh please. I¡¯d be completely ruined..." Lin Yixin glared at me and said, "Never mind, Pegasus Spring''s buff stats are about the same as War Holy Temple¡¯s. Snowy Cathaya will take Pegasus Spring, and leave War Holy Temple to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. How about that?" "Okay!" I smiled. "Yiyi, you are so good to me..." Chapter 319: Greedy Wolf Howl "Cough cough, how are we going to fight?" I said. Lin Yixin pressed her red lips together and said, "Do you know the details of the Four Divine Sites?" I shook my head. "No..." "Then how do you want to fight¡­?" "Damn..." ¡­¡­ I bent my head and continued to sell, bargaining hard with an auntie player¡ª Auntie: "Boy, how much is this axe?" Me: "7000 gold, no bargaining!" Auntie: "Boy, you are lying. This axe is just Silver-grade, and even with a 14% increase in attack power, it''s just an axe. Our town''s sickle is just 20 bucks and you think this axe can sell for 7000? Who are you trying to cheat? I think that you need money. This girl is so beautiful. You definitely don''t lack money for you to have such a beautiful girlfriend. Just sell me the axe for 70 gold." Me: "Auntie, go grow garlic. You aren¡¯t suited for virtual games." The auntie exploded. "Boy, righteousness exists even if business fails. I¡¯ve looked closely at this axe, and it is more sturdy than my sickle. Its shape is good. You should give me a real price. One-tenth, 700 gold!" Me: "2000 gold, fixed price." Auntie: ¡°1989 gold, I only have so much." Me: "Done. Auntie, be on your way..." ¡­¡­ The transaction finished. Lin Yixin gaped. "That axe can be sold for at least 3000 gold." I was depressed. "If the bargaining continued, I would go mad." She burst into laughter. "Let''s keep talking about the Four Divine Sites." "I don''t even know how we are going to compete for the Four Divine Sites, what is there to talk about?" I was powerless. Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me. "You don''t know, but I do. Stupid!" "Ah?!" I became alert and grabbed Lin Yixin''s dress. I said excitedly, "Yiyi, you really know?" Lin Yixin looked down at my hand and asked, "What do you want to do?" "I..." I let go and said, "Let''s talk about the divine sites!" "Mn." Lin Yixin nodded. "The Four Divine Sites will emerge at the three major cities of the China server. I received news from Wind City that the sites will be at random places on the map. Players have to get close to discover them. There¡¯ll be many monsters on the perimeter and you have to kill these monsters to enter the main hall of the site. There will also be many monsters in the hall. You have to kill all the monsters, and all players not from your guild to take possession. You need to maintain possession for an hour to successfully claim ownership of a divine site!" I stilled. "It seems that the fight over the divine sites will be fierce..." "Right!" I licked my lips and said, "With so many guilds in Sky City, it¡¯ll be hard to hold the hall. In my view, we need to use some strategy." Lin Yixin''s eyes flashed with cunning. She said with a smile, "Oh? What kind of strategy?" "Work together. You first help Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls get the War Holy Temple, and then we work together to help Snowy Cathaya to get Pegasus Spring!" I said solemnly. Lin Yixin laughed softly. "How do we work together?" I said, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will fight for War Holy Temple, and Snowy Cathaya will help guard us from outside the hall. You, Clear Perfume, and Purple Marquis join Ancient Sword and help us hold onto the hall for an hour. After Ancient Sword successfully takes War Holy Temple, I, Gui Guzi, He Yi, Beiming Xue and other core members will join Snowy Cathaya and help you take Pegasus Spring. How about that?" Lin Yixin thought for a moment and suddenly asked, "What if Pegasus Spring falls early? Wouldn''t I suffer a great loss?" I smiled."Don''t worry, I¡¯ll leak news tonight that Snowy Cathaya, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and Bloody Mercenaries will work together to get War Holy Temple. That way, Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon, and Gods of Destruction will have to reconsider whether they want to fight our three guilds at once. They will opt to go for Pegasus Spring instead. With so many large guilds fighting over Pegasus Spring, how can it end quickly?" Lin Yixin giggled. "Alright, I thought you were stupid, but you are quite smart!" "Damn..." ¡­¡­ After the discussion, I told He Yi, Murong Mingyue and the others, and received unanimous agreement. This was the wisest plan, and definitely beneficial to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. As for Snowy Cathaya, it was completely different. Xu Yang and Du Thirteen were surprised how I managed to convince Lin Yixin to help Ancient Sword first. The girls were silent. In the end, Murong Mingyue said, "The Fruit Knife Goddess, in the end, is just a girl..." He Yi: "..." Xu Yang was relieved. "Did Lu Chen buy Lin Yixin make-up?" Chaos Moon: "Idiot..." ¡­¡­ After that, I logged onto the forums with my account and made a post on the main page of Sky City called "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Bloody Mercenaries will work with Snowy Cathaya to conquer the War Holy Temple. This divine site will fall into our hands. We welcome all guilds to challenge us!" In the post contents, the tone was aggressive and upright, showing our determination. Regardless of who came to take War Holy Temple, we would not retreat. If a guild wanted to win the War Holy Temple, they had to step over the corpses of the three guilds. Also, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had 5000 elite members, with an average of over 81. We welcomed challengers! The last part was a declaration of strength. As of now, 5000-member guild was unrivaled in the server. Today¡¯s Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild was famed throughout the world. With the Snowy Cathaya led by the Fruit Knife Goddess joining in, who could faze us? After sending the post, I contacted the moderator and asked for it to be stickied to the top before going to sleep. If there were no accidents, the forums would be full of fire this night. Before the divine sites opened, the forums would be the main battlefield. Today, during the daytime, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had massacred Flower Room. While Flower Room wasn''t a super-strong guild, they had strength and also a wealthy foundation. But they still had been massacred and spawn camped. After this battle, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' reputation stunned Sky City! ¡­¡­ When I woke up, it was 10 in the morning. A clear fragrance came from the hall of the workshop. Just from the smell, I knew that He Yi and Murong Mingyue had cooked something! There was the smell of He Yi''s special sweet and sour ribs, and Murong Mingyue''s braised mandarin fish. Actually, the two of them only knew how to make these two dishes but each time, Beiming Xue and I ate so much that we were on the verge of death. I left my room. He Yi said, "Lu Chen, you¡¯re finally up. You really sleep tight. Wash and prepare to eat lunch. We are going online early!" "Okay!" After eating lunch, it was around 11:30 when we got online. It didn''t seem very early. The Four Divine Sites would open in half an hour. So exciting! I walked out of Sky City''s inn and sent a message to Xu Yang: "How¡¯d it go with the mission I gave you yesterday?" Xu Yang quickly replied, "Our guild''s 3000 players have dispersed through Sky Forest. Another 1500 elite players are waiting at the perimeter of the forest. If we discover the coordinates of War Holy Temple, we will immediately get there!" "Alright, just wait quietly!" "Okay!" I closed the communication and made a party, pulling He Yi, Beiming Xue, and Murong Mingyue in. Then I activated my stratagem, Bloodlust! The girls looked at my stratagem¡¯s effects. Beiming Xue couldn''t help but say, "Woah, big bro''s Bloodlust is so strong. It increases attack speed by 20%. Haha, this is much better than that Pegasus Spring!" I laughed. "This can only be added to the 10 people in the party. Pegasus Spring will buff the entire guild. There is no comparison!" Then I restocked on potions and consumables. I repaired my equipment. I looked at the potions in my bag. They were all normal Rank 7 Health Potions. They didn''t add enough HP anymore, so I contacted Lin Yixin. "Beauty Lin, I need Health Potions. Where are the special Rank 8 Health Potions you promised to provide Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls with?" "Ohoh, immediately, wait for me at the plaza!" "Alright!" A few minutes later, the Fruit Knife Goddess appeared. She gave me 500 Rank 8 Health Potions, and they were all special ones that added 3000 HP. Nice! I calculated. Based on the agreement, it was 30 gold per bottle so 15000 gold. Sigh, I had a hole in my virtual wallet now! After paying the gold, Lin Yixin flashed away, saying she was going to gather her forces. I found He Yi, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue. I gave Beiming Xue 100 potions, then He Yi and I split 200. Murong Mingyue shouted, "WTF, why don''t I get any?" I said, "Your max HP is not 3000 yet. It¡¯d be a waste for you to drink these. Use Rank 7 Health Potions. They sell them on the market, 5 gold each..." "Damn..." ¡­¡­ Ignoring Murong Mingyue''s discontent, I continued my preparations. I spread my hand, and the magic formation light flashed. Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf appeared. After a few days of frenzy leveling, it had increased in level and its stats have grown powerful¡ª Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf (Epic Rank Boss) Level: 71 Attack: 1420 Defense: 1278 HP: 14200 Agility: 2130 Skill: Flurry Dance, Greedy Wolf Howl ¡­¡­ Chapter 320: Horizon Sea Pavilion I patted the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf''s head and said, "Work hard and there¡¯ll be meat!" The wolf wagged its tail and rubbed hard against He Yi''s arm. I was furious. Seriously? When Lin Yixin was present, it went to Lin Yixin. Now that Lin Yixin wasn''t here, this wolf''s entire mind was on our beautiful leader. I grabbed the wolf''s tail and pulled it out of the city, to the floating sky stairs. Its head banged on the stair steps as it howled and still kept on looking at He Yi. It desperately wanted to wag its tail so its behind waggled around instead. The girls laughed, and said that the wolf definitely had my habits. I was accused wrongly. When was I ever like this? ¡­¡­ We walked down the sky steps. When we came to the border of Sky Forest, 1500 Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls members were already waiting for us. Basically, every player was above Level 80. These were the core, guild¡¯s most elite players. Under my command, the newly joined High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were promoted to team leaders in the guild. Each of them had 100 people under their command. These people would slowly be nurtured. Xu Yang came over with his sword and said, "You¡¯re finally here!" I nodded. Chaos Moon looked at the time and said, "There are three minutes before the spawn. I don''t know which divine site will be the first to appear." "Haha, no matter. No guild will be able to take the site over. There will be guardian monsters around, so it doesn¡¯t matter who discovers them first; we will all have a chance to compete." I looked at the sky above Sky Forest and said, "Everyone has to work hard. This time, we can¡¯t rely on the heavens or the support of our allies to get the divine sites. We can only rely on our weapons. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' future is in our grasp right now!" Everyone nodded. "Yes, let''s work together!" ¡­¡­ Two minutes later, a string of bells sounded in the sky above Sky City¡ª Ding~! System Notice: All players, please be informed that the Four Divine Sites are officially open. War Holy Temple, Pegasus Spring, Dragon Blood Fortress, and Giant Rock Cave have appeared within the borders of Sky City. Players, go search. The guild that takes the divine site will receive very powerful buffs! ¡­¡­ The guild chat exploded. Everyone was asking, "Have they appeared? Have they appeared? Has anyone seen a divine site..." But it seemed that no one in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls found the divine site. A few minutes later, someone shouted in the guild channel, "Damn, they found the Dragon Blood Fortress. It is less than five miles north of Sky City!" Xu Yang''s gaze turned cold. He looked at me and asked, "What do you think?" I said, "Continue to wait, be calm." "Okay!" At my side, Murong Mingyue and He Yi exchanged a look as though they could not stay calm. I pressed my hand on the hilt of the Purgatory Sword and maintained my calm. If War Holy Temple did not appear, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would not move. Otherwise, we would get nothing. At this time, an exciting news came in the guild chat. A player called Broken Bridge Remnant Snow shouted, "I found the War Holy Temple!" Xu Yang was shocked. "Where?" "South of Sky Forest, about fifteen minutes away from Sky City. The coordinates are (12754, 9843), everyone, come quick. I''m not the only one who found it!" Broken Bridge Remnant Snow''s voice was urgent. "Fuck, I''ve been found. It''s Warsky Alliance! Damn, you want to kill me? Not so easy..." Broken Bridge Remnant Snow''s voice disappeared. A few seconds later, he said, "I was killed, it was Farewell Song of Warsky Alliance..." Gui Guzi and I stared at each other. This Broken Bridge Remnant Snow wasn¡¯t a weakling. A heavily-armored Level 82 had been killed in just a few seconds. Warsky Alliance''s strength was not a joke. The CGL Hall of Famer Farewell Song wasn''t just a leather armor killer, he was also a heavy armor killer. To top assassins, armor type didn¡¯t seem to matter. All that meant was just taking a bit longer to kill. ¡­¡­ Clang! I pulled out the Purgatory Sword and shouted. "Brothers of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, the coordinates are (12754, 9843). Go with me. War Holy Temple is ours!" The melee players pulled out their swords and laughed. "Take War Holy Temple, kill!" I was the first to charge out. On the map, the marked target was not far. We probably wouldn¡¯t need even 15 minutes, more like 10. This divine site was so close to the city. This would mean there would be many fierce battles. After a player was killed, they could revive and run over in 10 minutes. They would be endless! At the same time, I contacted Lin Yixin, "Yiyi, the coordinates are (12754, 9843). Come quick with Snowy Cathaya. Many people are going to fight for this spot. Warsky Alliance has already appeared. I don''t know if other guilds will come. Just come quickly. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will try to reach the divine site''s hall immediately. Snowy Cathaya will be responsible for clearing the enemies around the perimeter." "Alright!" Lin Yixin''s reply was clean and brisk. I felt a sense of trust. This girl was both stubborn and brave. I felt that she would accomplish whatever she promised me! The large crowd of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players flashed through the forest, sweeping through almost everything. The Level 90 monsters along the way were routed, they didn¡¯t pose a threat. He Yi, Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, Wolf Fang, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were all in high spirits beside me. With such a strong line-up, there probably wouldn''t be anyone in Sky City that could stop us. Also, there was the archer camp led by Beiming Xue with their powerful attacks! As we got closer to the target, my heart started to jump faster. I was excited. This was a fight between the guilds of the super cities! But when I went a bit ahead, another guild appeared and blocked our path. This was a guild called Horizon Sea Pavilion and had about 1000 people! A Level 84 magic knight called Zero Degree Temptation with a sharp blade appeared in front of us and looked at our forces. He snickered, "The area ahead is forbidden. Everyone, please stop. Horizon Sea Pavilion is taking this area. Friends, please make a detour!" Clearly, this so-called guild activity was just taking the divine site. There were many guilds in Sky City. This Horizon Sea Pavilion seemed to have branches. Sending a few thousand people didn¡¯t seem like a problem to them. With more than 10 million players in Sky City, guilds with a few thousand people in their community were too common! Seeing us not respond, Zero Degree Temptation chuckled and said, "What, you¡¯re not willing to detour?" Clang! I pulled out the Purgatory Sword and pointed in the direction of Horizon Sea Pavilion. I shouted, "Detour my ass, kill and use their blood to pave the way!" Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen and the others already had red eyes. At my order, many people charged. Did we have to be polite to an arrogant guild like Horizon Sea Pavilion? Charge! Whoosh! I immediately flashed ahead of Zero Degree Temptation, successfully stunning him. I swung my sword. Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! Nine streaks of sword energy attacked the crowd, and an enormous swarm of damage numbers rose. Horizon Sea Pavilion fighters were either injured or killed at the front line. Zero Degree Temptation gaped, and looked in shock at the last thread of his HP! Crack. I easily disposed of him in the next moment, felling the vice leader of Horizon Sea Pavilion. His presence didn¡¯t slow my advance at all. Before long, I flashed into the crowd of Horizon Sea Pavilion players. My blade turned blood-red as I leapt up and thrust the sword into the ground! Boom! Boom! Boom! War Crush robbed the frontline players of Horizon Sea Pavilion of their courage. After the three-hit combo, all the players within five yards were instantly killed, with no exceptions! At the same time, Gui Guzi charged up, and thrust his spear, shouting, "Poison Dragon Thrust!" Puchi! A sharp thrust caused the enemy players on the line to all fall to the ground dead. Tsk tsk, Gui Guzi also had an AoE skill. While the range was small, it was still very strong. This proved that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls possessed a second fighter with an AoE skill. It was a source of great deterrence! Beiming Xue was in the rear as eleven of her powerful arrows howled out. At the high rank, Evil Spirit Volley¡¯s damage was extremely terrifying and domineering! He Yi released the Firelight Mouse. The rodent, almost at Level 90, squeaked and waved its small tail as it conjured flames that covered the crowd. The Horizon Sea Pavilion crowd cried and howled! Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun also started to attack, their weapons cutting on the shields of the enemy magic knights, forcing them back. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' attack line was too strong. Just our numbers were enough to destabilize them! Bang! My sword flashed across two attacking swordsmen before I raised it high into the air. Magic flashed from behind me, and a cyan wolf leaped over me. Puchi! The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf bit into an enemy archer¡¯s neck and tore left and right. The archer was instantly killed! "Roar roar!" Chapter 321: Xiezhi Howl Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ initial charge was almost unstoppable, tearing through Horizon Sea Pavilion¡¯s defenses with our frontline. His sword smeared with blood, Xu Yang turned around and called out, "Have two people deal with their archer party!" He pointed. As expected, on the small hill, about 1000 Horizon Sea Pavilion archers were constantly unleashing Volleys, their powerful arrows raining on the crowd below, killing many of our armored players. Wolf Fang said, "Brother Yang, they have the terrain advantage. We can¡¯t charge up. We''ll die by the time we reach halfway. What should we do?" Xu Yang gritted his teeth. "Charge anyway, we have to get them. Whoever has the balls, go!" The melee fighters looked at each other. Having reached tacit understanding, two walked out of the mob. Both of them wore heavy armor. One wielded a battle axe, the other a broadsword. They were the new members I had accepted¡ªHigh Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun! "Damn, let me!" High Fighting Spirits charged with his battle axe. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun laughed behind him. "Spirits, wait, we''ll go together!" Under everyone''s gaze, the two of them charged. Xu Yang shouted, "Nearby priests, pay attention and heal them!" High Fighting Spirits had reached the base of the small hill and charged up with his battle axe. He bellowed, "Kiddies of Horizon Sea Pavilion, your granddaddy is here!" The arrows rained down on High Fighting Spirits. He almost became a porcupine. Holy Light fell on him to keep him alive, enabling him to stubbornly climb upward. His courage was awe-inspiring. Even the enemy archers seemed to hesitate! "Devil Piercing Arrow, use Devil Piercing Arrow to kill him. Don¡¯t let him up the hill!" the party¡¯s leader shouted. But it was too late. High Fighting Spirits came up the hill in a flash, and charged into a crowd of archers. He swung his battle axe. Suddenly, he spun rapidly, producing grey energy swirls that seemed to echo with a beast''s roar. This was a close-quarters AoE skill! "Xiezhi Howl!" As he shouted, dozens of archers fell to the ground. High Fighting Spirits roared with laughter. He went charging forward with his battle axe. The arrows hit his body. His legs were covered in wounds. He fell to the ground with a bang but he still swung his axe as he killed three nearby archers. Everyone was stunned. This was the legendary barbarian warrior, a natural fighter without fear. Death was as common to them as leveling up. The barbarian race, and the bravery of the northern men like High Fighting Spirits was the best pairing! At this time, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun came over and protected High Fighting Spirits'' back. He laughed. "Brother, heal up, I can shield for a few moments!" He slashed the ground with his broadsword, sending spikes protruding from the surface. Was this a direct instant kill skill?! "Rock Smash!" Boom. The earth shook. Many archers were thrown into the air, and instantly killed midair. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun seemed to have added a lot of points into Strength. In terms of attack power, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was better than High Fighting Spirits, but the latter made up for it with sheer bravery. The two of them only had a bit of HP left, and less than 100 archers on the hill. Everyone shot together. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and High Fighting Spirits advanced and died in battle! In the rear, Xu Yang charged in with a group of close range players. seeing the two corpses on the ground, Xu Yang''s eyes turned red. "Damn, kill them, and flatten Horizon Sea Pavilion''s bastards!" With the same enemy, the people fought until their eyes turned red. They swept through the enemy archers down the hill. They reached Horizon Sea Pavilion''s core position. Under the charge, the enemy camp completely collapsed. Over a thousand players were killed, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' losses didn¡¯t exceed 200 people! In the guild channel, I laughed. "High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, you are too strong to charge even like this!" High Fighting Spirits laughed. "Vice Leader, you¡¯re too kind. Pity that we got killed!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun said, "No matter, it will be worth it if we take down a fort!" I said, "Right, come quickly after reviving. We need fierce people like you!" "Hahaha, good!" the two of them agreed. ¡­¡­ He Yi swept with her spear and killed three archers. She smiled. "Lu Chen, your eyes are good. The two you recruited are very strong, and are almost as good as Xu Yang..." I glanced at Xu Yang in the distance, and lowered my voice. "Haha, these two are clearly better than Xu Yang, much stronger..." "Heehee, yeah. Quiet though, don''t let him hear and get angry!" "..." ¡­¡­ In ten minutes, we swept Horizon Sea Pavilion''s perimeter. There was a bloody realm in front of us, the range of the War Holy Temple. Inside an enormous valley, many undead monsters were in front of the divine site¡¯s hall. They were engaged in a fight with a sea of invading players! I looked around and was shocked. At least 20 guilds were here, and mixed together. This battle was likely to be chaotic! He Yi stood on the ridge with her spear and looked down on the scene. She murmured, "Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace, Gods of Destruction, Flower Room, and Horizon Sea Pavilion are all here. There are also many guilds I do not know about. This War Holy Temple is really a messy place..." I nodded and said with a smile, "Yes, too messy..." Xu Yang said, "Then what do we do now?" I reached to point at a majestic hall building and said, "That is the hall of the War Holy Temple. The guild of the first person to enter the hall will gain the possession. If this person stays there for an hour, their guild will have successfully conquered the site." Gui Guzi took a deep breath. "Great. There¡¯s only one entrance to the hall and its filled with monsters. Who can even enter?" I smiled. "So we must first clean out the monsters and then enter the hall. Of course, there is another method!" "What is it?" He Yi asked. I cleared my throat and said, "Send someone to lure away the monster swarms in front of the hall, and then send an assassin in. That may work!" "No..." Beiming Xue looked around and said, "Big bro, look, there¡¯s an HP bar for the doors to the hall. We must first empty the HP of the metal doors before we can open them. The assassin sneaking in will not work..." I nodded. "Ah, I miscalculated, so troublesome..." ¡­¡­ Xu Yang spat and said, "In my opinion, we should just press down and take over the area in front of the divine site¡¯s hall. We then attack the doors!" Chaos Moon laughed softly. "Too reckless..." I smiled. "But this is the most direct way. Fight, come with me. We cannot afford to wait. After we take down this War Holy Temple, we need to help Lin Yixin take Pegasus Spring. Our time is tight, we must enter the hall immediately and then guard it!" "Yes!" The girls nodded in agreement. We decided our strategy. There were contenders all around and they were all enemies. We must enter the divine site hall under the attacks of Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace and others. Otherwise, if we endured a fight, we could only sacrifice guild members¡¯ levels and equipment. I was not willing to see this. I had to take responsibility for my members. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t be fit to be the vice leader. Clang! I pulled the Purgatory Sword out again and pointed towards the divine site hall''s doors. I shouted, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Bloody Mercenaries, charge with me!" Everyone howled and pulled out their weapons. We charged down the hill, a bloody red team joining the chaotic battle. "Who are you, daring to go against Justice Alliance?" A Level 82 magic knight came with his spear. I had a small smile as I sent out the Purgatory Sword. Pardon + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 7206! This magic knight didn¡¯t know the situation when he knelt down on the ground and died. Pardon IX coupled with Desperate Gambit IX were just too strong! Xu Yang and Gui Guzi used Assault. We formed a line and charged forward, arranging for many strong fighters on the two sides to protect the core of archers and mages. Long-range classes were the main attackers during large-scale battles. Large AoEs of mages and archers¡¯ Volleys were like bombs in the era of cold weaponry! ¡­¡­ After fighting for a while, we gradually entered the crowd. There were players from other guilds around us. Inside the valley, other than those from the same guild or allied guilds, other players had red names. So when they were killed, they would drop equipment and level. The Four Divine Sites event was filled with passion and blood! In the enormous Sky City, countless eyes were paying attention to War Holy Temple. There were at least a few million people, nearly 10 million in the vast valley. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Bloody Mercenaries had about 7000 people. Among the millions, we would be lucky to make a wave. "Kill!" Xu Yang''s eyes were blood-red as he swung his sword and charged at the front. Soon after, two strong generals appeared behind Xu Yang, freshly-revived High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. Xiezhi Howl! Rock Smash! ¡­¡­ Chapter 322: Long-range Bombardmen On top of a mountain, a high-level warrior lifted his sword and glared at the Ancient Sword Dream Souls party inside the valley. He angrily yelled, "Go! Once we kill Lu Chen and He Yi¡¯s group, the War Holy Temple will belong to our Warsky Alliance. No other guild should dare want a piece of our pie, dammit!" My heart went cold. Fuck, Warsky Alliance can¡¯t hold back anymore? A high-level magic knight came charging over from within the crowd with unrivaled bravery. His spear glowed blood-red as it reaped the life of every player it encountered. This was none other than Warsky Alliance¡¯s number one magic knight, CGL Hall of Famer Laughing At The Heavens! ¡­¡­ Crack crack! After I chopped at the two Horizon Sea Pavilion players in front of me, I raised my head to look at where Warsky Alliance was coming from and said with gritted teeth, "Fuck, they sure know how to pick their timing!" Our current choices were to give up our advance or continue pressing onward despite Warsky Alliance coming at us from the rear. Both choices would result in huge losses for us. Gui Guzi lifted his spear and said, "Boss, you go on with everyone else. I¡¯ll bring Lil Beiming, Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, and some others to block Warsky Alliance!" "Alright!" After I agreed to his decision, my Purgatory Sword swept over, heavily smashing into the Horizon Sea Pavilion crowd, scaring them witless. Each one had a pale look on their face. After a visual estimate, I gauged that we were about a hundred steps away from the gates of the divine site hall but there was a flood of mobs and players between us. It would be hard to get through that crowd. I was also worried about whether Gui Guzi and the others at the back could hold back the three CGL Hall of Famers of Warsky Alliance. Guild leader Warsky himself wasn¡¯t any weaker either! ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi immediately took the lead and thrusted his spear at Laughing At The Heavens. His gaze was sharp as his spear shot out lightning-quick, aiming for Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ chest. It was an unblockable move that couldn''t be dodged! Pah! 2450! A huge damage number appeared but Laughing At the Heavens flashed a contemptuous smile. "Looks like Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul¡¯s Undying Knight is merely so-so!" Before his voice fell, Laughing At the Heavens sent out two consecutive blows. Wrapped in lightning energy, his spear jabbed at Gui Guzi¡¯s chest! 3025! +1210! 2984! +1193! ¡­¡­ It was obvious that Laughing At the Heavens¡¯ attack was much higher than Gui Guzi¡¯s. His spear swept out again, about to deliver the third blow. His entire battle rhythm was as smooth as water and matched his footwork. Almost every attack consciously sought Gui Guzi¡¯s weak point. This guy¡¯s so damn scary. 1784! 1809! 1963! Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ HP almost hit rock bottom as a string of damage numbers appeared above his head. He was frightened into retreating backward multiple times and Gui Guzi also chose to back off in apprehension because he saw a beautiful archer not too far behind Laughing At The Heavens. It was none other than CGL Hall of Famer October Rain, a super archer second only to Transient Smoke and Clouds! "Big Brother Little Gui, move away!" Beming Xue shouted. She swiftly ran forward with her snow white legs in little barbarian boots and shot 12 Evil Spirit Volley arrows the instant she came into range. Seven or eight of them flew together, heading straight toward October Rain. This attack was a kiting technique used by archers. An archer¡¯s range was 5¨C40 yards. If they shot as soon as they were 40 yards away from their opponent and then quickly back off to get out of range, their opponent would MISS the moment they launched a counterattack. October Rain, however, wasn¡¯t easy to deal with. Her pretty eyes glared as the corner of her lips hooked into a smile. She slightly crouched and leapt into a cluster of shrubs like a ghost, keeping close to the ground. With her line of sight broken, only two arrows from Beiming Xue¡¯s volley hit their target, which couldn¡¯t kill October Rain at all. October Rain charged up right after, her legs surrounded by a snow-white halo. She moved incredibly fast and the longbow in her hand glowed with the dazzling luster of Volley. After using her skill, she used the same kiting technique and immediately left the attack range. Beiming Xue gave a surprised shout. Fortunately, Chaos Moon appeared in front of her and swung out her longsword to protect Beiming Xue. She blocked seven or eight of those arrows. A series of damage numbers flew up with an average of 500 for each arrow and nearly one-shot the female warrior! "Heavens, how much Attack does she have¡­" Chaos Moon was shocked beyond belief. Behind her, Moon Dew quickly healed the trio¡¯s HP back to full. Laughing At The Heavens had also returned at this time, with Warsky and October Rain! "Not good!" My heart sank but I couldn¡¯t do two things at once. I could only charge forward while paying attention to the situation at the rear! Beside me, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and High Fighting Spirits slaughtered our foes to the point their eyes turned red. With a group of priests in the back healing them, both guys weaved to and fro inside the crowd like two tornadoes. The cooldowns of both Xiezhi Howl and Rock Smash were below 20 seconds. Skills were continuously dished out to kill the duo players and monsters ahead of us! Boom! My Thousand Mirage Slash descended upon the crowd, dealing tons of splash damage, directly creating a vacuum area. High Fighting Spirits couldn¡¯t withhold his laughter. "Ha, Vice Leader¡¯s so strong. Horizon Sea Pavilion¡¯s kids probably want to cry after seeing that damage¡­" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun also laughed with him. "Let¡¯s kill them faster, don¡¯t let Xu Yang and the others die in vain¡­" "Xu Yang¡¯s dead?" I was slightly shocked. I turned around and saw Farewell Song¡¯s figure sweeping across the battlefield as Xu Yang slowly fell in a pool of blood after two huge damage numbers rose above his head¡ª 4089! 2754! That was the result of Blooddrinker Slash. Fuck, Farewell Song¡¯s too OP! "Kill him!" Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes turned blood-red. A group of archers rained Volley down but only shot down his retreating afterimages. As an assassin, Farewell Song had great awareness. Since he was pretty much just a hitman, he knew to leave right after he killed an important person. Only after his cooldowns were up would he make the next kill! Warsky roared, brandishing his sharp sword. His sword glowed as he took a step forward and back. In the next instant, a melee player from Ancient Sword fell to the ground. It was a warrior from our main force, Wolf Fang. As expected, the difference between them was too wide. Warsky¡¯s mechanics and gear were not in any way inferior to Laughing At The Heavens¡¯. He was also a frightening DPS. "Too arrogant!" Chaos Moon advanced with her sword, slashing at Warsky¡¯s head. Warsky parried her with a sneer and returned a blow back with Level 50 melee signature skill¡ªIce Ray! Chaos Moon bit her lips. Her sword swung out again, accurately catching the opponent¡¯s attack path. Ding! Her parry was successful! Beiming Xue sent out two explosive arrows. Devil Piercing Arrow + Freezing Arrow + basic attack combo fell on Warsky, creating a bunch of damage numbers¡ª 2564! 1284! 875! Warsky¡¯s HP was almost gone after that combo. He hastily chugged down a Rank 8 Health Potion and was healed back to full with an additional Holy Light from a priest behind him. He glared at Beiming Xue and shouted, "October Rain, Beiming Xue has to die, she¡¯s too strong!" In fact, aside from Warsky and Laughing At The Heavens, not a single Warsky Alliance player could stay alive after Beiming Xue¡¯s three-hit combo! Even if it was Warsky, if Beiming Xue got lucky and landed a critical hit on at least one of her hits, he would also fall. There was no chance to land an instant heal too because Beiming Xue¡¯s bow skills had reached the pinnacle. It took her 0.2 seconds to release her three-hit combo. It was as swift as a sudden clap of thunder! The situation became complicated now. October Rain constantly looked for a chance to one-shot Beiming Xue whereas Beiming Xue targeted the rest of the Warsky Alliance players. She raised the Milky Way Bow and shot down the metal armor players one at a time. Her damage output was insane and she also had the 40% buff from her Undead Energy VIII. It wasn¡¯t something living targets could endure. Clang clang clang! The opposing melee fighter repeatedly struck Gui Guzi¡¯s shield but the Undying Knight never backed off. Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes sharpened and he slightly shifted his shield away to execute a thrust, piercing through that melee fighter¡¯s chest armor. The next thrust instantly ended the enemy¡¯s life! Du Thirteen, Chaos Moon, Alexander, and the others were defending against their frontline while He Yi, Murong Mingyue and I charged toward the divine site hall. If we were with them, Ancient Sword definitely would¡¯ve been able to reverse the situation! At this time, the howl of a wolf sounded. A giant cyan wolf emerged within the enemy ranks and suddenly pounced at October Rain. Its sharp teeth tearing at her shoulder! Flurry Dance! 1864! MISS! MISS! 1747! MISS! MISS! ¡­¡­ There was a shocking number of misses. The Level 71 Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s missed 66% of its attacks but it still nearly emptied October Rain¡¯s HP. Damn, too bad the little wolf was only Level 71. The disparity in levels increased the chances of missing and October Rain was also a full-Agility build archer known for its evasion rate. Too bad it wasn''t at a higher level! Even so, October Rain paled in fright and retreated with her mouth open. "Heavens, what¡¯s this, it¡¯s so strong¡­" Warsky grunted. "Fuck, it¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s pet, what power!" ¡­¡­ Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ camp. Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes brightened. She gave a light chuckle. "Hehe, big bro dispatched his Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to reinforce our lines. Stay firm, everyone!" Du Thirteen let out a loud laugh. "Lu Chen¡¯s pet sure is strong. Brothers, continue killing!" The two sides clashed again. I controlled the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf remotely and specially aimed for the enemy mages and archers. I used Flurry Dance within their crowd and could basically kill an archer in two hits. A single Flurry Dance could kill 2¨C3 archers. Not everyone had a horrifying evasion rate like October Rain. At the same time, I yelled in the party channel, "Beiming, leave the party and form your own with some archers. Use your stratagem that increases range by 25%. When October Rain comes up again, you¡¯ll be invincible!" Beiming Xue laughed. "Alright!" Beiming Xue immediately left the party. She created her own, adding Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls high-level archers to it, and began her happy long-range attack spree. However, good things never last forever. Not long after, a group came from the south, spearheaded straight for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. A Level 84 warrior with a sword stood at the forefront. He yelled, "Go, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is our biggest competitor for the War Holy Temple. Get rid of them, and our chances will greatly increase!" Chapter 323: Battle for the Divine Sites 1 ¡°Kill them! Take the divine site!¡± Pillar of the Nation¡¯s eyes were filled with obsession. He was clearly growing frustrated after trying and failing to woo He Yi. ¡­¡­ The right wing of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls immediately suffered a heavy blow under the barrage of Hegemon Palace players, and a lot of archers and mages were one-shot the second the rain of skills hit them. Enraged, Du Thirteen shouted, ¡°Motherfucker! If Hegemon Palace wishes to die this badly, then let us help them on their way! Attack!¡± Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul¡¯s formation crumbled a little, and He Yi and I exchanged a worried glance with each other. This could turn out very bad for us because we were nowhere strong enough to defend ourselves against the fourth and eleventh guilds of the Guild Ranking. Hell, even Candle Dragon would have a difficult time if they were in our position. It was at this moment a new army joined the battlefield. They were led by a beautiful sword-wielding woman, and she easily took down a high-level Hegemon Palace fighter at the frontline in one hit. She then pointed at the enemy and ordered, ¡°Protect our allies! Anyone who is an enemy of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is our sworn enemy!¡± I was glad. Finally, the boss lady had come to our aid! The players of Snowy Cathaya shouted enthusiastically as they charged the enemy. At the forefront, I saw Purple Marquis swinging his sword and killing an entire cluster of players with a ridiculously powerful AoE skill. Damn, that was good. He was the perfect example of the saying, "It is easy to raise an army of one thousand, but hard to find a good general." ¡­¡­ Now Hegemon Palace players were the ones who had been pincered. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls still had over 5000 players, and Snowy Cathaya, almost 4000. But Hegemon Palace only had 2000 players or so. They were no match for our combined strength at all. Thanks to Lin Yixin clearing out the enemy at our rear, our job had become much simpler! While this was all going on, I continued to attack the enemy in front of me. Around seven to eight Thousand Mirage Slashes and War Crushes later, we were one step away from the main entrance of the divine site hall. He Yi raised her spear and said, "Alright, it¡¯s time to spread out and occupy the gate! Hold on, everyone!" Then, she gave specific instructions. "Lu Chen, bring a couple of high-Attack fighters with you and attack the gate as quickly as you can. I¡¯ll stay behind and protect our rear until you¡¯re done!" "Okay!" I nodded strongly before spinning around. "Players who drop all their stat points into Strength, follow me!" Seven or eight heavy armor players immediately answered my call and rushed to my side. High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were among them as well! "Go!" I moved to the gate myself after the order and unleashed Desperate Gambit! Clang! 1208! God damn, the gate¡¯s Defense must be sky high! I wasn¡¯t expecting Desperate Gambit to do so little damage, not to mention that this giant lump of steel seemed to have at least 100k HP at a glance. Eternal Moon Corporation sure knows how to cheat its players out of a good time when they felt like it... 237! 279! High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were equally stunned as well. "Fuck, what the hell is this Defense¡­" I gave them an encouraging smile before saying, "It¡¯s fine, just keep hacking away and we¡¯ll be done in 5 minutes at most!" "Yeah!" For a moment, it felt as if we were construction workers chipping away at a brick wall, not players. Behind us, first-rate guilds such as Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction were occupying the center and doing their utmost to destroy one another. The smaller guilds couldn¡¯t even get inside the canyon, so they had no choice but to duke it out outside. Although they were fully aware that there was no chance they were making it into the hall, they still refused to give up for some reason. It became a battle for battle¡¯s sake and nothing else. By now, the situation inside the canyon had dissolved into utter chaos. The greatest and the most interesting battle of them all was of course the battle between Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance and Hegemon Palace. Beiming Xue had teamed up with Lin Yixin to snipe the experts of Warsky Alliance from up close and afar. They even nearly one-shot Laughing at the Heavens until a team of priests rescued him from the brink of death. Since then, Laughing at the Heavens avoided Beiming Xue and Lin Yixin and bullied noobs far, far away from them. October Rain was met with the same fate. Beiming Xue had activated Range, and 25% increased attack range was absolutely nothing to scoff at. The first time, October Rain had acted recklessly, she had nearly been one-shot by a Devil Piercing Arrow. Pale-faced, the girl said to Warsky, "Boss, I¡¯m just gonna do nothing for a moment, okay?" Warsky: ¡°Little Rain, d-don¡¯t you love me¡­?" October Rain looked back at him. "What are you thinking? I never loved you in the first place¡­" Warsky: "Ahem. Where is Farewell Song, by the way? Is he away on a mission?" "Yeah. Be ready to support him when he gives us the signal!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ Time passed little by little. It wasn¡¯t long before the gate¡¯s health bar had dropped to red. High Fighting Spirits couldn¡¯t help but laugh. "Hehe, we¡¯re almost finished here! Keep it up, everyone!" I nodded in agreement before instructing, "We rush it immediately after the gate falls, understand?" "Mn!" There was a resounding crack. The gate¡¯s final HP was finally gone! Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that the gate to the War Holy Temple¡¯s hall has been opened! ¡­¡­ "Roar roar roar!" A group of beastman warriors clad in golden armor suddenly rushed out of the entrance the moment the gate collapsed. Holy shit, it looks like there are a ton of monsters inside the hall! Surprised, I hurriedly engaged the mobs before they could do harm to my teammates. When I checked their stats, I couldn¡¯t help but gasp in shock. Dang, these are some lethal stats! War Holy Temple Guardian (Elite) Level: 100 Attack: 1050~1180 Defense: 950 HP: 24000 Skill: Cleave, Discipline, Rage of Judgment Introduction: The holy warriors of the beastman tribe belong to an ancient warmonger race, and they possess the best explosive strength and recovery speed out of all other beastmen. These holy warriors had been protecting the War Holy Temple and waiting for adventurers to receive their trial all this time. To that end, they are willing to give even their own life. The temple can only be occupied if the guardians are all killed. ¡­¡­ Thousand Mirage Slash, go! Boom! Nine sword auras rained from the sky and hit the beastman warriors hard. Some of them had already lost more than half of their HP. Very good! War Crush! Three hits later, the only beings still alive around me were my allies! High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and He Yi immediately blocked the entrance. We were absolutely going to enter the hall first before anyone! Unfortunately, reality was a heartless bitch, and it didn¡¯t hesitate to slap our faces in the form of a chilling system announcement¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Drunk in Mortals" has entered the Divine Site Hall. The guild "World of Ages" has taken control of the Divine Site Hall. If the occupation lasts over 60 minutes, War Holy Temple will belong to the guild "World of Ages"! ¡­¡­ "Fuck! Someone got in already?" I swore. He Yi said, "They must¡¯ve slipped in using stealth the second I opened the door. Hmph hmph, ¡®the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind¡¯ perfectly describes this situation!" I broke into a smile. "Assassin? Oh thank god¡­" "Why do you say that?" "Just wait!" A few seconds later, my suspicions were proven true by a ding¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Drunk in Mortals" has died. The Divine Site Hall is currently occupied by no one! ¡­¡­ "See what I mean?" I smiled. "The chances of an assassin surviving in this divine site hall are almost zero. These Level 100 elite guardians aren¡¯t decorations, you know?" He Yi burst into laughter as well. "Alright alright, you were right¡­" Suddenly, the system dinged yet again¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Ghastly Demon Blade" has entered the Divine Site Hall. The guild "Warring States" has taken control of the Divine Site Hall. If the occupation lasts over 60 minutes, War Holy Temple will belong to the guild "Warring States"! ¡­¡­ "Another assassin¡­" I thought for a moment before leaping into the air and stabbing the ground without warning. Not only did War Crush deal a great amount of damage to the mobs, it also killed three concealed assassins right next to us! The poor fellows were sent screaming back to Sky City! Anyone who was killed at the Four Divine Sites wouldn¡¯t leave a corpse behind. Instead, they were revived immediately in the city. This was to prevent players reviving and fighting endlessly at the Divine Site Hall. Meanwhile, we had successfully forced ourselves into the inner area of the divine site hall. He Yi¡¯s Firelight Mouse was incredibly helpful in this battle as it was able to unleash walls of fire upon our enemies, making them scream and drawing them toward us. The problem was that there were way too many mobs in the hall, and our small party was obviously lacking in firepower. Murong Mingyue couldn¡¯t join in on the attack because the mobs were quite powerful, and most of our frontliners were losing health at an accelerated rate. High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun especially were almost burdens because they dropped all their stat points into Strength, but their equipment wasn¡¯t good enough to keep them alive. They were basically glass cannons that needed our priest¡¯s attention at all times. Inside the party channel, Gui Guzi asked, "Boss Broken Halberd, what¡¯s going on inside the hall? How the heck did we not occupy it first?" I replied, "It¡¯s because some assassins slipped in ahead of us. Don¡¯t worry, what¡¯s ours will be ours no matter what!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ Boom boom boom! Thousand Mirage Slash, War Crush, Xiezhi Howl, Rock Smash. While our skills were exploding amid the mobs, we noticed a small assassin being chased by a couple of guardians at the distance. It was none other than that Ghastly Demon Blade. Damn, the bastard was a lot more agile than I thought he would be! However, a bloody light suddenly flashed at his neck. It was the skill Throat Stab! 3721! It was a one-shot! A figure emerged from stealth, and it was none other than Warsky Alliance¡¯s CGL Hall of Famer and super assassin, Farewell Song! Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Farewell Song" has entered the Divine Site Hall and killed the current holder, "Ghastly Demon Blade¡±. The guild "Warsky Alliance" has taken control of the Divine Site Hall. If the occupation lasts over 60 minutes, War Holy Temple will belong to the guild "Warsky Alliance"! ¡­¡­ Just like that, the divine site hall had changed hands yet again. Interesting! I ditched the mobs while saying, "Eve, keep clearing out the mobs with High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. I¡¯m going to take out Farewell Song!" "Be careful!" Chapter 324: Battle for the Divine Site 2 In the hall of the divine site, the interface showed that there were 11 players inside. There were nine who were from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. This meant that other than Farewell Song, there was another non¨CAncient Sword player! I held the Purgatory Sword and sprinted to the center of the hall. Just now, there had been a flash near Farewell Song. The assassin could not move quickly when concealed and I should be able to find some tracks. "Swoosh swoosh swoosh..." My Death Shade War Boots stepped on the rugged stone floor. I looked around and groaned inside. I had miscalculated. This divine site hall was untouched by dust, and the ground covered in stones. It was too difficult to try to detect Farewell Song''s position based on footprints! ¡­¡­ In the party channel, Beiming Xue said urgently, "Not good! Warsky, Laughing At The Heavens, and October Rain took a group of people and avoided us. They found a shortcut to the divine site hall..." My heart sank. As expected, Warsky was planning to have Farewell Song delay us in the hall, and then have the main force of Warsky Alliance enter. That way, they would have an opportunity to take the divine site hall. Gui Guzi said lowly, "What do we do?" Xu Yang said, "Yes, we need to make a call soon. What is the situation inside the hall?" I said, "The people on the outside, fight and retreat. The main force will enter the hall. We can take over the inside and then not fear other people coming in!" "Yes!" Soon after, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, and the others appeared inside the divine site¡¯s hall. They were all Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players. Number-wise, we had an absolute advantage. "Quick, kill Farewell Song!" Gui Guzi shouted, "Warsky, October Rain, and Laughing At The Heavens are definitely coming in five minutes. The people outside cannot stop them!" I looked inside the hall. It was empty. Other than monsters, it was just our people. I couldn¡¯t see Farewell Song so I said, "Search with zone denial. Find Farewell Song!" "Yes!" Not far, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf howled. After killing multiple players, the greedy wolf still had full HP. It was within my earlier expectations. The greedy wolf had the name of its owner on its head. The Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls priests outside would throw healing spells on the wolf when they saw it. Also, the wolf''s recovery was strong, and it had over 14000 HP. It would be hard to kill! ¡­¡­ Everyone formed ranks and spread around to search. A group of people went to kill the guardians of the divine site while everyone else chased Farewell Song. No matter what, Farewell Song still had the possession of the divine site hall right now. We had to kill him. Otherwise, no matter how many people Ancient Sword had, we would be working for nothing! At this time, a muffled sound came from the southwestern corner of the hall. Farewell Song attacked! Puchi! A blood-red dagger entered the chest of an Ancient Sword warrior. Since he attacked a weak point, it was an instant kill! Without any hesitation, Farewell Song nimbly made a zigzag to the back of High Fighting Spirits. The dagger shone with light. High Fighting Spirits was unable to react in time, and sank into the stun of Poison Strike. Farewell Song retreated quickly. His dagger went out again, it was Blade Vortex! 2495! 2248! 2534! There wasn''t even a chance for a priest to heal. After High Fighting Spirits was stunned by the poison attack, he grunted and died under Farewell Song''s next super strong move! Ancient Sword players felt cold. This was the power of a CGL Hall of Famer. Two lightning-fast attacks killed two metal-armored players. One of them was even a core member of Ancient Sword, High Fighting Spirits! "Kill him!" Xu Yang shouted and activated Charge. Whoosh! Farewell Song saw this and retreated, gritting his teeth. He zigzagged, his unpredictable path causing him to perfectly dodge Xu Yang''s Charge. The dagger appeared again. Just as he was about to use a killing move, a dozen of purple rays of light flew at him. It was Beiming Xue''s Evil Spirit Volley! "Fuck!" Farewell Song shouted and retreated at a 45 degree angle, giving up on engaging Xu Yang. But after a few steps, Farewell Song suddenly stopped walking and was stunned. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you again..." I didn¡¯t give chase. My sword swept the ground, and lightning rampaged within a 5x5 yard area that sealed Farewell Song''s retreat. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and Xu Yang attacked, their broadswords aimed at Farewell Song! Farewell Song''s eyes were cold as his blade swung and his body flew straight. With two dings, he shook aside the swords of the two warriors, and rolled along the ground like a slippery earthworm. His dagger was shining blood-red as he stabbed toward Beiming Xue''s armpit. Everyone shivered again. This assassin was too strong, even when facing so many high-level players¡¯ attacks. He wanted to kill our trump archer? Unfortunately for him, Farewell Song missed someone, or rather something! "Argh!" After an enormous howl, Farewell Song''s body was pushed away from its original path as a cyan shadow tore through the air. It was the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf trap I had set up. The little wolf bit at Farewell Song''s neck. Immediately, blood dripped. Farewell Song was in pain but didn''t even frown. He swung his dagger and stabbed the little wolf''s neck. But then he discovered he hadn''t even taken 25% of the wolf''s HP! "Is this a joke..." Farewell Song''s eyes were wide. Xu Yang and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were close. Their broadswords flashed. Farewell Song''s remaining HP disappeared. System Announcement: Player "Hot Sun" has entered the Divine Site Hall and killed the current holder, "Farewell Song¡±. The guild "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls" has taken control of the Divine Site Hall. If the occupation lasts over 60 minutes, War Holy Temple will belong to the guild "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls"! ¡­¡­ Beep! Lin Yixin sent a message: "Haha, you finally got it. Beautiful!" "Yes, come in quickly and help us guard. If there are no accidents, more people will come in soon!" "I¡¯m on my way!" When I turned back, I found Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun had killed another assassin. As a result, only Ancient Sword members were left. He Yi ordered, "Lu Chen, take a few people and surround the door. Kill everyone who enters. I will continue to use the Firelight Mouse''s Firewall to cover the entrance. No assassin will be able to sneak in!" "Okay!" I raised my sword and said, "Chaos Moon, You and Yun, Xu Yang, Little Gui, come in with me and surround the entrance. Leave seven or so spots. Kill whoever comes in that isn¡¯t from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls or allied guilds!" "Alright!" Several people excitedly came over. We surrounded the entrance. He Yi also came over. Beiming Xue, as long-range DPS, was helping kill Level 100 elite monsters but also paid attention to the entrance. If we were under great pressure, Beiming Xue would switch targets to help. Whoosh! Two figures entered the hall. They were from Horizon Sea Pavilion! "Kill!" Xu Yang shouted an order. By the time he voiced the last vowel though, my Pardon and Desperate Gambit had already connected. One of the invaders, a magic knight, saw a ¡°5487¡± damage number. I added a basic attack, firmly securing the kill! The other person was killed by Xu Yang and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. These two''s attacks were very strong and they were suitable to block the entrance and instantly kill the enemies. In less than two seconds, someone screamed amid the sea of flames. As expected, another assassin had tried to sneak in, but the Firelight Mouse''s Firewall covered the entrance, so it proved to be impossible. In just ten seconds, more than a dozen people came in and were killed without exception. Murong Mingyue started to use Hellish Rockfall to attack. A string of rocks smashed down on the metal-armored players who fancied themselves tanky. A few seconds later, another person entered with a whoosh. This was a beautiful young girl with a sword. She looked around with large eyes. "What do you want..." Looking at Lin Yixin, I was torn between laughter and tears. "What do you want? Come here..." I shoved the beauty behind me and said, "Give the leader position to someone and I will take you into Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls..." "Yes, alright!" In a blink, Lin Yixin became guildless. I sent an invitation over! "Ding!" Guild Notice: Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± has joined your guild! ¡­¡­ Immediately, there were screams from the guild. "Woah, is this really Wind Fantasy?" "Woah, the Fruit Knife Goddess joined our guild?" "Please give me your contact..." Lin Yixin snorted and looked at me. "What kind of people are in your guild..." I smiled. I looked at the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls emblem on her shoulder and said, "Yiyi, this emblem looks so good on your shoulder. How about you officially join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls from now on..." Lin Yixin giggled. "Forget it, Snowy Cathaya has several thousand people waiting for me to provide. I created a guild, I won''t drop them. I have a sense of responsibility..." I curled my mouth and said nothing else. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun smiled. "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is a small temple and cannot hold a large buddha like Fruit Knife Goddess..." Beiming Xue nodded with a smile. "Yeah!" A few seconds later, some other people entered. They were the core of Snowy Cathaya. Purple Marquis with his blade, Shadow Chanel with her magic robe, Clear Perfume who ranked high on the archer rankings. There were more than twenty people. After entering, they left their guild and joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. ¡­¡­ It could be said that Snowy Cathaya''s top experts had all come over. Right now, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was full of talent and could be considered the strongest guild of Sky City! Chapter 325: The Battle for the Divine Site 3 Xu Yang shivered. "They¡¯re charging the door..." Gui Guzi said, "Warsky Alliance is definitely one of the top guilds of Sky City. If Warsky Alliance decides to charge in, their forces won¡¯t be few. Everyone, prepare to face the charge." Lin Yixin ordered, "Long-range players, retreat and scatter. Melee fighters, form a circle, and use attacks as cover. Make full use of terrain. Everyone, be careful. Warsky and Laughing At The Heavens both have AoE skills. You have to be wary or you¡¯ll die an ugly death..." I stilled, "Yiyi, how do you know they have AoE skills?" "Intelligence." Lin Yixin looked seriously at me, "So far they haven¡¯t used any AoE skills in PvP but they surely had to use them when grinding. They can¡¯t hide anything from me.¡± "..." ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin''s strategy was not wrong. We had to protect the mages, priests, and archers inside. They were the main forces for support and attacks. If those people were killed, the melee fighters couldn¡¯t do anything. In the party channel, someone shouted, "Careful, they¡¯re coming in. Warsky¡¯s leading the way!" Everyone stilled. Warsky really lived up to his moniker of "Virtuous Leader¡±. He was the one leading the charge. This kind of bravery was so valuable! I lowered my Purgatory Sword and prepared to kill. What was coming was a war that would not stop until one side was routed. If we could hold onto the divine site, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would undoubtedly become a powerful guild known throughout Sky City. This was a battle to raise our reputation. It was extremely important! Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace, Gods of Destruction, Mad Dragon, and other guilds were all fighting over War Holy Temple. The value of this divine site was sky high! ¡­¡­ Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Three figures came in. They were extremely fast. I used two attacks, Ice Ray and Slayer Slash. I had to kill one of them. Warsky was prepared and his body shrunk. Guard! 209! 67! The two attacks created almost insignificant amounts of damage. In the sky, Ice Dragon Howls fell down. If Warsky did not dodge, he would die. There were at least 40 mages in the hall, including Moonlight Stone, Shadow Chanel and other high-level mages. Their combined Ice Dragon Howls were nothing to scoff at! Warsky had guarded a little more than a second and his HP was already at its end. Just as another Ice Dragon Howl was about to land, he suddenly canceled his defensive stance and locked onto a mage on the perimeter and used Charge! Whoosh! His great momentum managed to break through the encirclement. Warsky raised his sword, the blade wrapped in flames, and the red sword energy fell down! Boom! Warsky''s equipment was outstanding, and this Explosive Flame Slash was extremely strong! But we had no solution. Because we were the possessors, we had to stand close together. Warsky knew how to initiate a charge, and was a powerful enemy! At this time, another figure flashed out. It was Laughing At The Heavens! Laughing At The Heavens'' attacks were very decisive. He swung his spear which turned into a bright icicle that penetrated through the crowd. Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, and Xu Yang activated their defensive skills in unspoken agreement. None of them died, but behind them, several high-level players were killed. Laughing At The Heavens'' attack power was similarly outstanding! The situation greatly surpassed our expectations. Charge could be used to quickly break the encirclement. The enemy fighters entered in succession, charging at our camp. In a flash of the eye, dozens of Warsky Alliance fighters entered, and the battle was intense! Warsky Alliance''s people constantly poured in. Their steps echoing in the hall, they were like a rumbling flood! Lin Yixin and I exchanged a smile. In the next moment, I ordered loudly, "Retreat a bit. Time for us to counterattack!" Everyone retreated in unison. The entrance to the divine site hall was clear and filled with Warsky Alliance''s fighters. The time had come. It was time for them to have a taste of my AoE! Crash! The Purgatory Sword exploded. Nine streaks of bloody sword energy fell into the crowd. The attacks rippled, and their damage tormented the life out of them. The Warsky Alliance players were all hit, and there was terrifying splash damage to account for in such a group. Dozens of high-level mages, archers, assassins, and other classes were killed instantly less than 10 seconds after they entered! Everything was a mess. A few tanky magic knights that survived the onslaught stood shocked in place as they looked at the equipment and potions on the ground. In the next moment, an icicle sword wrapped in flames fell down. Lin Yixin also attacked. Ice Flame Slash fell into the crowd and created a vacuum! I said loudly, "Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, take people and block the door. Lin Yixin and I will clear the inside. Have the brothers outside work hard and retake the entrance to the divine site hall. Don''t let Warsky Alliance''s people easily mount a charge on the entrance!" "Alright!" Everyone left. Lin Yixin and my two attacks were very effective, and cleaned out almost half of the Warsky Alliance fighters who had entered the divine site hall. Warsky was probably furious and in great pain. Warsky, Laughing At The Heavens, and October Rain flashed among the crowd, hunting Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya''s high-level players. Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis, me, and others were doing the same to their side. As the hall turned into a hunting game, the fight turned ugly! Crack! The Purgatory Sword slashed on the chest of a Warsky Alliance player. I raced away, my blade cutting off the head of a player that the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was biting. I shouted, "Beiming, work with me. Kill October Rain, she''s killing too many..." "Okay!" October Rain moved like an elf in the crowd. Her bow would explode with two-hit flurries that killed many of our mages and archers! Seeing me lock onto her, October Rain quickly retreated. Her flashing blue longbow moved and she shot 11 arrows, seven of them flying toward me! I ignored them and continued to charge! I raised a hand and slapped away some of the arrows. Her attack power was strong but it couldn''t fatally threaten me. Each Volley arrow could only take 200 of my HP. I could let her hit me! Beeline was the shortest route one could make between two points. I¡¯ve always remembered this simple truth, so I ignored October Rain¡¯s attacks. On the other side, I multitasked, controlling Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to flank her from the right. With Beiming Xue behind me controlling the range with her powerful stratagem, there was nothing October Rain could do, even if she had three heads and six arms. Snap snap! Two arrows hit my chest, including one Devil Piercing Arrow. I dropped almost 2000 HP. October Rain''s Attack was very good. Swoosh swoosh... I suddenly stopped moving, my war boots drawing a curve on the stone floor. I shouted, "Beiming, now!" Beiming Xue understood. Evil Spirit Volley exploded. The twelve arrows seemed to be alive as they blocked almost all directions around October Rain. The timing of the arrows was also perfect and didn''t give the enemy the chance to flee! "Ah..." October Rain also stopped moving, her eyes shocked as she looked at Beiming Xue. She couldn¡¯t believe the young girl in front of her could do something like that. At this time, the only thing she could do was face my Purgatory Sword! Instantly, October Rain''s eyes flashed like stars and looked at me pitifully, saying, "Men who bully girls will have their dick shrink by a centimeter..." I shuddered and said, "Just once won¡¯t change much..." The sword fell! Light flashed. October Rain turned into starry light that flew out of the divine site hall! ¡­¡­ One down, time to search for the others! I quickly targeted Laughing At The Heavens. This was a CGL Hall of Famer. But when I reached him, I saw him retreating, stumbling and crawling, a dagger stuck in his head. Behind him I could see a beautiful fighter chasing him! Dang, Lin Yixin had fought and defeated Laughing At The Heavens alone? Laughing At The Heavens'' face was grave. He gripped his blade and said angrily, "Who... who are you? The China server doesn''t have a powerful female player like you. Murong Shanshan married, Ling Xue retired, the empresses of Eternal Moon are all gone..." Lin Yixin smiled devastatingly. "Haven''t you forgotten someone?" "You..." Laughing At The Heavens'' gaze was stunned and then he shuddered. "Beautiful Little Pepper... No, you can¡¯t be her... didn''t that girl retire? Also, Little Pepper wasn''t a beauty..." Lin Yixin''s face turned frosty. "Who said that I wasn¡¯t a beauty? You know too much!" Then the beauty darted forward like lightning. Laughing At The Heavens could not stop her, and was hit by Lin Yixin''s knee. He collapsed to the ground. Lin Yixin took the opportunity to get closer, her knee pressing down on Laughing At The Heavens'' chest, her snowy cape fluttering behind her. The Moonlight Sword flashed across the other''s neck. Blood spurted, and the CGL Hall of Famer ranked 18th, Laughing At The Heavens, was killed like this... ¡­¡­ After killing Laughing At The Heavens, Lin Yixin looked up and found me in front of her. She immediately stood up and neatened her clothes, smiling. "You saw nothing, right?" I nodded. "Yes, our Yiyi is the most gentle and adorable..." "Yes, yes~~" "Fuck..." ¡­¡­ Chapter 326: Snow-edged Battle Axe Clang clang clang! A sharp blade shattered the armor and created a spray of sparks. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun grunted and fell down. Warsky had about 20% HP left after the fierce battle. He¡¯d killed one of the main fighters for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun lost because of his lower Defense, and slightly weaker mechanics. Otherwise, he could have won. Warsky gulped down a potion. His gaze was complicated. He looked in the direction of Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun''s corpse and said in puzzlement, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' unknown player is so strong. This kind of strength is about enough to join the CGL Hall of Fame..." Lin Yixin and I arrived at this time. Warsky had only 50% HP, and we were certain to kill him! Crash! Warsky started to move, zigzagging using the two pillars in the hall to conceal himself. His blade flashed blood-red. Lin Yixin smiled. "Lu Chen, that¡¯s the prelude to the Explosive Flame Slash. He¡¯ll use Ice Ray and Explosive Flame Slash to attempt to kill one of us, what to do?" Whoosh! Sword light shone. A body flashed and accurately blocked Warsky''s movement path. Under his shocked gaze, the Purgatory Sword attacked twice! MISS! 4986! After the Pardon attack, Warsky slowly knelt on the ground. His body turned into dots of light that flew back into Sky City. Lin Yixin: "OMG, why¡¯d you kill him so quickly..." I smiled: "A long night brings many dreams!" ¡­¡­ At this time, the situation inside the divine site hall was basically stable. Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi, and the others led people to guard the entrance. They could stop the charges from ordinary small guilds. Warsky Alliance had more than 200 people charge the door, and almost all of them were dead, only the few survivors still hanging on. Beiming Xue was calmly using long-range attacks, one arrow for each, to take care of all of them! The ground was covered in potions and equipment. The Warsky Alliance members had good equipment, so there would be very good items on the ground. He Yi stabbed an assassin and came over with the Soul Stealing Spear. She said with a smile, "Snowy Cathaya will clean up the right flank, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls the left. Beauty Lin, how about it?" Lin Yixin nodded and smiled. "Okay, your call!" ¡­¡­ Consequently, parties were made to clean up the battlefield. We had less than 50 people left alive so we could pick 10 items as spoils of war for each person. He Yi, Lin Yixin, and I had the authority to split the spoils. Everyone was overjoyed and immediately made a circle! Ten items landed in my bag. There was some strong equipment¡ª Skeleton Magic Boots: Level 77 Gold-grade, Magic Attack +7%, Tactics +8. Also a good piece of equipment, and worth at least ten thousand. Based on my understanding, boots usually only increased speed, and adding Magic Attack was rare. This was a rare item. Carving Dagger: Level 80 Gold-grade, Attack 180~295, Attack +9%, 2% chance to ignore opponent¡¯s Defense. The favorite bonus of assassins. Pity that this wasn''t the one from Farewell Song''s hand. Otherwise, it would be even more powerful. ¡­¡­ Just these three pieces were enough to make me wealthy and the others weren¡¯t too shabby either. Selling the dropped equipment of top Warsky Alliance fighters would make me feel so good. Of course, Warsky was in Sky City right now, so it was bound to piss them off. I looked nearby where Xu Yang and Du Thirteen were standing there. I walked over and asked, "Thirteen, Xu Yang, how are your weapons?" Du Thirteen said, "I¡¯m using the Ghost Ice Soul you gave me, the one with a very limited max Attack..." Xu Yang said, "This is my weapon that dropped last time. Its max Attack is 297, a bit stronger than Du Thirteen¡¯s. What about it?" I nodded and took out the Snow-edged Battle Axe and said, "Someone from Warsky Alliance dropped this. Thirteen, use this, the Ghost Ice Soul should be retired. Just set up a stall and sell it." Du Thirteen took the Snow-edged Battle Axe and gaped. "Damn, its max Attack is 345. So strong. A Level 80 Dark Gold¨Cgrade item is really strong¡­¡± I smiled. "As the leader of the Bloody Mercenaries, you should be strong. Use this axe. A warrior using an axe is the natural order of the world!" "Yes, thank you, brother!" "What are you being polite for, it sounds so fake!" "Fuck..." ¡­¡­ Everyone was happy. Warsky Alliance had impacted us greatly. Before they came in, there had been nearly a thousand players that charged in, but they had been cleaned out. Because of Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya players coming in, the entire divine site hall was almost dyed in blood, and equipment had been dropped everywhere. Countless people had lost their souls here. Otherwise, there wouldn¡¯t be so many items for us to choose from. In the guild channel, we learned that the fight outside was fierce. The people killed were sent back to the city and had a difficult time coming back. It was a long and painful process to come back from the perimeter of the valley. If a player didn''t have a team, they couldn¡¯t force their way in, no matter how strong they were. They would lose all their supplies or weapons halfway through. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin walked over and said, "Sky City sent news!" "What news?" "After Warsky Alliance''s main force all died, Warsky was once again marshaling his forces on the eastern gate bridge. He seems to want to start another attack. Farewell Song, Laughing At The Heavens, October Rain, and the others are there. There are nearly a thousand Warsky Alliance players who were killed. These people are all very strong. We need to prepare to face the second wave..." I nodded and said, "Yiyi, do you feel Warsky will choose to attack War Holy Temple?" Lin Yixin bit her lips and said, "Probably not. We¡¯re all here so even if they have three CGL Hall of Fame players, they may not be able to shake Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls working together. If I was Warsky, I would choose an easier target!" "Pegasus Spring!" "Yes!" Lin Yixin nodded. "The fighting at Pegasus Spring is very fierce. Mad Dragon, Flower Room, Plum Wine, Horizon Sea Pavilion. Many strong guilds are there. Right now, Pegasus Spring is in Mad Dragon''s hands. But a few minutes ago, Flower Room seems to have taken it and then Mad Dragon took it back..." I smiled. "That¡¯s good. They can¡¯t finish in 60 minutes. Let them slowly fight it out. After we conquer War Holy Temple, we¡¯ll go and take Pegasus Spring!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ At this time, another group of people charged in, leader of the group, my old enemy¡ªDominating Heaven Blade! Behind Dominating Heaven Blade was Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God, Dominating Mage God, and Dominating Archer God. Dominating Heaven Blade swung his weapon as the experts charged in and forced Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen back. Xu Yang managed to stabilize himself, and worked together with Beiming Xue to shoot at Dominating Heaven Blade! Purple Marquis shouted. He raised his hand for a sword energy attack that crashed into the crowd. Instantly, a dozen Gods of Destruction players who had just charged in were instantly killed. Dominating Mage God''s Magic Shield was torn apart. Dominating Archer God only had a bit of HP left and would die at a touch. He was dumbstruck. "Damn, Purple Marquis is so strong. This bastard..." Gods of Destruction were not newbies. They quickly spread apart, and tangled together with the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya players in the hall. Although Gods of Destruction was an old guild, they didn¡¯t think too far ahead. They relied on the sheer brute force of their core family. Reality proved that they were weaker than Warsky Alliance. They couldn¡¯t hold out against the attacks of Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya. Throughout history, powerful factions would only grow powerful by absorbing new blood. A year ago, on the China Guild Ranking in Spirit of Grief''s ending stage, Gods of Destruction had been ranked second. A year later, Gods of Destruction guild still had the same people. But look at Warsky Alliance. The leader Warsky searched for experts all over. He even managed to get top experts like October Rain, Laughing At The Heavens, and Farewell Song. Warsky Alliance''s strength was far higher than that of Gods of Destruction. This was the truth, but Dominating Heaven Blade wasn''t willing to admit it and was still living the dream that Gods of Destruction was the second strongest guild. Swoosh! Light flashed and two figures appeared back in the divine site hall. High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun had fought their way back. Supposedly, the path was full of dangers and obstructions. High Fighting Spirits swung his battle axe and charged toward Dominating Warrior God. He shouted, "Dominating Warrior God, remember me from Floating Ice City?" Dominating Warrior God stilled. "Who are you?" "The one you PK¡¯d with seventeen of your people. You steal my mine, I reap your life!" The two guys met with a shout. High Fighting Spirits lived up to his name and was full of savage fighting spirit as he fought. His battle axe was lightning-fast, and he had the advantage in presence. Dominating Warrior God was completely caught off-guard, pressure causing him to even make a few mistakes. He wasn''t able to withstand skills he should have. In the end, High Fighting Spirits killed him in seven or so swings! Pui! High Fighting Spirits spat at Dominating Warrior God''s fading body. He said, "Let me teach you the fate of taking the leveling ground for yourself..." Each player that had been bullied by Gods of Destruction had a sad bloody history. High Fighting Spirits lived by mining. This was his source of income. Previously, he had been killed by a group Dominating Warrior God lead. Now, with the old grudge and his hatred rekindled, he wouldn¡¯t rest easy if he didn''t kill Dominating Warrior God. ¡­¡­ As a result, everyone went battle mad. We killed Gods of Destruction and the successive waves of players. On the interface, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had 12784 kills. Terrifying! Chapter 327: Conquering the Divine Site "Hold on, only 15 minutes left!" Xu Yang shouted and motivated everyone in the divine site hall. He Yi held the Soul Stealing Spear and looked around with a hint of tiredness. "When did we lose so many people..." I took a deep breath. "The constant attacks were bound to slowly chip away at our numbers. Of course we wouldn¡¯t have many left so late into the battle..." ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi''s expression was not good. He walked forward and said to He Yi, "Leader, all the people we left outside the divine site hall have been killed..." He Yi stilled and nodded. "Got it." Lin Yixin said, "Snowy Cathaya has been routed too..." Xu Yang swallowed. "The battle outside was so brutal..." Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had allied together to take over the divine site. Almost ten thousand people guarded the divine site hall entrance, but they couldn¡¯t last against the repeated attacks of nearly a hundred guilds. Whoever possessed the divine site would be everyone¡¯s target. The two guilds had experienced too many attacks. In the last half an hour, more than 8000 players had been killed! ¡­¡­ I looked at the divine site hall. There were nearly a hundred people, the two guilds¡¯ creme de la crop. Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Purple Marquis, Shadow Chanel, Murong Mingyue, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were still alive. This was the only comforting fact. The divine site hall could hold a thousand people at a time. At this time, our near-hundred members appeared very weak. I frowned and said, "No, we can¡¯t continue on like this. There¡¯s still attacks coming from outside. We have to change tactics. Otherwise, we will not be able to hold the divine site hall for 15 minutes with our numbers!" Lin Yixin nodded. "Yes, what do you propose?" "Pull back our defense. We¡¯ll guard the corner of the divine site hall. If we hold on for 15 minutes, even if we only have one person left, we will still win!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ My suggestion received everyone''s agreement so we gave up on our tactic of blocking the door. We all followed to the southwestern corner. Lin Yixin, He Yi, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Purple Marquis, myself and other first-class fighters guarded the line, protecting the archers, mages and priests behind us. Also, my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf could count as a meatshield, one abundant with attack power. We were unable to block the door. In that case, it was unprofitable to spread our forces thin. "They¡¯re coming!" Lin Yixin looked calmly toward the distance. Finally, after nearly thirty seconds of silence, another organized group of players charged in. The leader was a familiar person¡ªLi Le! "Didn''t Flower Room go to fight for Pegasus Spring?" Lin Yixin was slightly confused. I said, "They¡¯re fighting on multiple fronts. Flower Room are idiots with a great appetite. They want to take multiple divine sites? Lunatics¡¯ ravings..." ¡­¡­ Li Le walked over with his weapons, Spring Mud, Moon Shadow, and Night Sorrow behind him. The light flashed, and nearly a hundred people entered as well! "There''s a lot of people!" Xu Yang said lowly. I snickered. "Get ready to farm. Higher numbers are useless. Flower Room''s average level is too low!" "Yes!" Li Le saw us defending a corner of the divine site hall. Immediately, his eyes filled with endless murderousness and desire. He raised his sword and laughed out loud. "Brothers, their numbers are few. Charge! Kill Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and take over War Holy Temple!" The crowd surged. Lin Yixin shouted, "Don¡¯t attack on your own. Stay in position. Counterattack when they come close, and use ranged attacks!" Flower Room got close in the blink of an eye. Spring Mud swung his blade toward Gui Guzi''s shield! Clang! Sparks flew. Gui Guzi swerved, a smile on his lips. His spear thrust out and stabbed into Spring Mud''s chest! 2587! Half of Spring Mud''s HP disappeared in that blow. So pitiful. Spring Mud, who had been pretty strong in the competition earlier had fallen to such a level after joining Flower Room. While he could not compare to Gui Guzi in the first place, he shouldn¡¯t have been in such a wretched state after one attack either... In the next moment, four floods of sword energy exploded, assaulting Flower Room''s packed crowd! My Thousand Mirage Slash, Lin Yixin''s Ice Flame Slash, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun''s Rock Smash, Purple Marquis''s Vacuum Sword Energy, and other great moves slapped onto Flower Room''s face. In just a second, over 70 of the 100-strong team had been killed. Li Le¡¯s colors immediately drained from his face! As expected, when we gathered our attacks together, the power was astounding! High Fighting Spirits howled and started a charge. He invaded the enemy''s crowd of mages and archers. He swung his battle axe in a whirlwind. The Xiezhi Howl shook the sky, and over half of the surrounding people were killed. Such strong attack power tormented Li Le, and he lost the courage to continue fighting. I raised my sword. "Kill!" The fighters on the front charged out like tigers into a sheep herd. After a few contacts, Flower Room''s remaining players were all killed. We were too strong! In the end, only Li Le was left. Du Thirteen charged with the Snow-edged Battle Axe, and kicked Li Le onto the ground. He stepped onto Li Le''s chest armor, and raised the Snow-edged Battle Axe. He said, "Li Le, you scum, die!" Li Le''s eyes were sharp. "Du Thirteen, you dare to take a woman I don''t want. Wait and see, I will let you regret everything today!" "Get lost!" Du Thirteen''s battle axe landed. Li Le immediately turned into dots of light. He was dead. ¡­¡­ At the entrance to the divine site entrance, the lights flashed again. I hurriedly said, "Retreat, prepare to defend. People are coming, and in great numbers..." When we retreated back, another group of people charged into the divine site hall. This time, it wasn''t one guild, but many guilds mixed together. They had nearly 400 people entering together! Everyone formed a circle. Beiming Xue organized nine high-level archers and activated her Range stratagem again. I partied up with Lin Yixin, Shadow Chanel, He Yi, Gui Guzi, Purple Marquis, and others to give them the Bloodlust buff. With my current Tactics, it would buff their attack speed by 35% and was crazy-effective in largescale PvP like this! ¡­¡­ In the crowd, a high-level magic knight raised his spear and shouted, "Everyone, unite and kill Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, take over the possession and then split it!" People like this were the worst. They focused all the flames on Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. In the next moment, a crowd of players stared at us with blood-red eyes. Over four hundred people came in like a tsunami! "Little wolf, go!" I shouted and released the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. Immediately, the little wolf turned into a cyan shadow and charged into the crowd. Its sharp claws flew. In one encounter, it killed three high-level fighters. The little wolf immediately attracted a large number of attacks. Numerous Ice Dragon Howls fell down. Even with the little wolf''s HP, it lost half of its HP in ten seconds! The melee fighters arrived, and our weapons met. Close-combat skills flew, Blazes and Ice Rays rattling everyone¡¯s armors. Everyone''s eyes were red in battle frenzy, especially people like High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. They were extremely excited to kill. Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! A group of players were destroyed. In the next moment, my arm felt cold and the Purgatory Slash broke through the air! Boom! The sharp killing essence instantly killed a group of players and even damaged a corner of the divine site hall. The entire building shook. A hole a meter tall appeared in the corner. Soon, the players outside discovered it and immediately flooded in! "Damn..." Xu Yang glared at me. "Lu Chen, isn¡¯t your Purgatory Slash too strong? You even damaged structures. Could you like¡­ stop using it? If you continue, you¡¯ll turn the divine site hall into a honeycomb..." I smiled. "No matter, the activation rate isn''t very high!" Before I finished speaking, another Purgatory Slash was activated and made another hole. Damn it, the walls on the northeastern side were so weak. The walls on the other sides were much thicker. After getting hit with the Purgatory Slash, there was only a deep sword mark left behind. However, the two Purgatory Slashes intimidated the players who entered the divine site hall. They thought this was an ordinary skill and paled. The Firelight Mouse howled and threw flames into the enemy crowd. Murong Mingyue also gave up on healing, and continued to release her Hellish Rockfall. She killed people smoothly like she was grinding monsters! With this, the pressure on us players on the perimeter lessened and there were almost no deaths. Beiming Xue and the archers'' long-range control stopped the enemy mages and archers from getting close. The situation was very beneficial for our side! ¡­¡­ Time slowly passed. Countless players flooded in and were killed. The battle was one-sided. The players who came in later saw the thick layer of equipment drops in front of them. They tried to get some items and died right after. The thick row of equipment became our trenches. Greed overcoming their senses, the players coming in started to fight among themselves and the situation descended into chaos! "Three minutes left, fight!" I said lowly. I charged out with the Purgatory Sword. This divine site was fated to be Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯. Only three minutes. Even if god came, he wouldn''t be able to kill nearly a hundred high-level players instantly. I swung and slashed my sword, my eyes red. Lin Yixin said with a smile, "Why isn''t Li Le coming? Such a pity. I want to kill Flower Room again..." Purple Marquis laughed out loud. "Flower Room has been abused by us to the point they cannot take care of themselves. Li Le doesn''t have the courage to come..." ¡­¡­ After a few minutes, exciting bells echoed above Sky City¡ª Ding~! Chapter 328: Bandits Two levels! I smiled wide. Excellent. They compensated people with two levels. Heavenblessed¡¯s system was very considerate. Now, the losses for people like High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun who died multiple times weren¡¯t so great. Other than Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls'' members, everyone else was teleported outside the hall by the system. This left everyone gaping, along with the thick layer of equipment on the ground! Lin Yixin and I talked and then I said loudly, "Each survivor can take a bag of equipment and leave. We will gather in Sky City. Next stop¡ªPegasus Spring!" Everyone was overjoyed, and hurriedly started to pick up equipment! I wasn¡¯t idle either. I threw away the knick knacks in my bag, even some Rank 7 Magic Consumables. The only thing I couldn¡¯t bear to part with were Lin Yixin¡¯s Rank 8 Health Potions. I picked up 97 pieces of equipment, most of them very good. At a conservative guess, the average price would be 1000 gold. I was fated to get rich this time! The other players may not have so many inventory slots as me. Ah, 120 slots, 120 slots! Ordinary players only had 20¨C40. Even Lin Yixin only had 70. Tsk tsk, I benefited greatly in this aspect! ¡­¡­ After filling my bag, I took out a return scroll and crushed it! Swoosh! I appeared in Sky City. Without a word, I put the items into the warehouse and repaired my equipment. After fighting for an hour, the Purgatory Sword lost 20% of its durability, and my equipment was even worse off, with less than 50% durability. He Yi sent nearly a hundred Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players from the base into the divine site hall. They cleaned up the battlefield and the equipment would be divided and given to the players who needed them. Of course, the players with higher contribution points would have priority. Beep! Lin Yixin sent a message: "Quick, take Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to Pegasus Spring. Warsky Alliance has been holding Pegasus Spring for almost 20 minutes!" "Mn!" I frowned. The problem was slightly serious. Warsky Alliance had gone to Pegasus Spring immediately after failing to take over War Holy Temple. They had defeated Mad Dragon who were originally holding it. Yes, with just that, my impression of Warsky Alliance was refreshed once again! ¡­¡­ I organized everything and left Sky City, teleporting down. I appeared on the city¡¯s borders. Based on the markings on the map, Pegasus Spring was not far, about ten minutes of travel. The trip itself might be quick, but we didn¡¯t have much time. Beep! System Notice: Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± invited you to the party, do you accept? After confirming, I appeared in Lin Yixin''s party. Purple Marquis and the others were present. Lin Yixin said, "Come over, quick. We have to regroup and start the charge!" I searched for the orange points on the map. When I came to the location of Lin Yixin and the others, I found Gui Guzi, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue, High Fighting Spirits, and other Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players were already present and have already formed a party of their own. Only I was pulled into Lin Yixin''s party. "Join Snowy Cathaya?" I said. He Yi nodded. "Alright!" He Yi transferred the position of leader to Xu Yang. Xu Yang''s strength was average, but he had a strong reputation. It would not be a mistake to leave him to lead Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to attack. ¡­¡­ Soon after, nearly a thousand people gathered, all of them the elite players of Snowy Cathaya, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and Bloody Mercenaries. Clang! I pulled out the Purgatory Sword and pointed in the direction of Pegasus Spring. I shouted, "Depart! We will attack from the right flank of Pegasus Spring, take the entrance of the divine site hall and then wipe everyone from Warsky Alliance!" Everyone pulled out their weapons. Lin Yixin was on my left, He Yi on my right. Our group, with the emblem of Snowy Cathaya on our shoulders, charged toward Pegasus Spring! A few minutes later, Purple Marquis''s gaze darkened. He said angrily, "Not good!" "What is it?" Lin Yixin looked back and asked. Purple Marquis said, "The most recent news I received says that Hegemon Palace, Warsky Alliance, and Horizon Sea Pavilion appear to have allied together. Large numbers of Hegemon Palace and Horizon Sea Pavilion high-level players are joining Warsky Alliance and helping to guard the divine site hall. There are at least 400 people in the hall, all of them from Warsky Alliance. Farewell Song, October Rain, and Laughing At The Heavens are all inside." I asked, "Warsky Alliance bought out the other two guilds? Was money involved?" He Yi shook her head. "No, based on my many years of experience, Wang Dongliang is not a person who lacks money. It is impossible to make him bow. There has to be something fishy!" Lin Yixin nodded. "Warsky and Pillar of the Nation both have money. Horizon Sea Pavilion seems to have started from the bottom, and doesn''t have a lot of wealth. Horizon Sea Pavilion may be hired mercenaries, but the other two guilds likely have their own plans!" "Right!" I smiled. "Charge in and wait for the opportunity to present itself then!" "Alright!" ¡­¡­ Not long after, our group of nearly a thousand reached the dense forest. When we parted the trees, we saw a wide mountain valley appear on the map. The flat swamp area in the valley was filled with players entangled in battle, countless corpses adorning the ground! In the center of the mountain valley was a jade stone in the shape of a pegasus. Under the pegasus, spring water flowed. At the spring pool¡¯s center was a vast palace, no doubt the divine site hall of the Pegasus Spring. At this time, the hall was surrounded by players from Sky City. The fighting was fierce. On a small hill, I pointed southwest with my sword and said, "The player line there is very thin. We only have to push in 200 meters to reach the divine site hall. It will be easy to enter from there." Lin Yixin nodded and smiled. "Yes, we¡¯ll fight from there!" As she spoke, the beauty stood at the top of the hill, her metal armor flashing with silver light, and her cloak flapping behind her. Her expression was extremely confident. Maybe out of tiredness, her expression carried a thread of loveliness that made people''s hearts move. Clang! Lin Yixin pulled out the Moonlight Sword and pointed in the direction of the divine site hall. She shouted, "Friends, for the name of Snowy Cathaya, the battle to change Snowy Cathaya''s fate has come. You choose whether to become kings or bandits!" Purple Marquis, Zi Chuanyu, Lifetaking Sword, and the others pulled out their swords. They shouted, "Kings!" Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, High Fighting Spirits and the others pulled out their weapons, and under the emblem of Snowy Cathaya they shouted, "Bandits!" ¡­¡­ "WTF..." Lin Yixin glanced at me and said bitterly, "As expected, you bring a group of bandits to ruin my great moment..." "No, no!" I pulled out my sword, pointing at the hall, and said lowly, "Bandits, for gold and women, kill!" I charged first off the hill, Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, and the others behind me. Lin Yixin and Purple Marquis were also keeping up. The allied army appeared with a great presence in the mountain valley and pointed towards the core ground! Sprinting at the front, we avoided the most conflicted zone, and entered from the flank. We encountered a few unknown guilds. A magic knight with a blood-red yellow wasp appeared and shouted, "The Mighty Weather Guild is here. Everyone else, please do not enter. Otherwise, we won''t be polite!" I snickered. "Really?" Behind me, the dust billowed. The army of the two guilds arrived. Purple Marquis, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, and the other IDs floated in the air. The magic knight gaped. "Damn, you are..." I¡¯d already flashed past and stopped hiding my name. My sword swung. Pardon + Desperate Gambit were thrown at the magic knight''s head and created 7134 damage. An instant kill! I charged forward and used Thousand Mirage Slash. I covered all the players within ten yards. After the collision, I cleared out an empty area. Then I proceeded to use Charge to skip to the dense crowds. I stabbed my sword into the ground, and raised my war boots in an animation of War Crush. Another circle of players were instantly killed. Killing people in a place like this didn¡¯t cause me to gain any negative karma. It was so pleasing! Also, the enemies were made from passersby. No one was directing them. Seeing me slaughter, many people just watched, and didn''t gather their attacks. As a result, I was even more unrestrained! A few seconds later, Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, and the others arrived. They tore apart the weak defense in a destructive manner. In just five minutes, we reached the front of the divine site hall. At this moment, the fighting was intense in front of the divine site hall. Mad Dragon, Flower Room, Horizon Sea Pavilion and the others were facing off. Roaming Dragon held his longsword, with the Gemini Stars Iron Pardon and Inconstant behind him. He had an arm around Coldmoon Rose''s small waist, his eyes burning with revenge. He shouted, "Li Le, you want to die? Let Mad Dragon enter the divine site hall first. Otherwise, you will be declaring war!" Li Le snorted. "Mad Dragon is nothing. Why should you enter first? Even if you enter first, can you defeat the alliance of Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace, and the others? I fear just Farewell Song can make you lose your courage. The Mad Dragon Gemini Stars are just a joke!" "What did you say?" Iron Pardon pointed his blade at Li Le and said angrily, "Li Le, you¡¯re just a hoodlum. Other than throwing money and playing with women, what kind of game do you know? Hmph, you are trash. No matter how much money you throw around, you are trash. Dog meat will never make it onto the banquet table!" Li Le was furious. "Kill!" The two sides clashed together! I shook my head upon seeing this. Lin Yixin also shook her head. The two of us exchanged a smile. "No future..." ¡­¡­ Xu Yang pointed with his sword and shouted, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, kill! Clean the divine site hall entrance area without sparing everyone. Have our Snowy Cathaya brothers enter!" Chapter 329: Internal Strife Hmph hmph! Beiming hadn¡¯t become stronger. It was they who¡¯d become weaker since they had chosen to join Roaming Dragon and rob others for a living. A path to the front of the divine site hall appeared, and I immediately rushed through the entrance! Swoosh! I had my guard up¡ªliterally with the Guard skill¡ªbecause I was worried that someone might attack as I charged through, but my caution turned out to be completely unnecessary. A large group of players were fighting against each other far away from me, and I saw Warsky plunging his sword into Pillar of the Nation¡¯s chest. The latter stared at the sword in his chest for a moment before looking up at Warsky. ¡°You¡­ you shameless, backstabbing ally murderer¡­¡± Warsky smiled at his comment. ¡°Cut the act already, will you? You think I don¡¯t know that you were plotting with Dominating Heaven Blade to stab us in the back? Well, Farewell Song had already taken care of your ally, so may you rest in peace¡­¡± Crack! Just like that, Warsky killed Pillar of the Nation and sent him back to the city. I was stunned, to be honest. I wasn¡¯t expecting to be treated to a scene straight out of a movie the moment I came in. Interesting! ¡­¡­ Not far away, Dominating Knight God and Dominating Warrior God worked together to drop October Rain to red health in two hits. Furious, Laughing at the Heavens raised his sword and shouted, ¡°Don¡¯t even think about hurting our girl!¡± Laughing at the Heavens rushed toward Dominating Warrior God like lightning and slashed him twice in the back while October Rain backed away, killing the guy instantly. Dominating Warrior God dropped all his stat points into Strength, and his equipment wasn¡¯t particularly outstanding. With only 4200 max HP, he was incapable of withstanding Laughing at the Heavens¡¯ combo at all. October Rain didn¡¯t stop attacking Dominating Knight God even as she ran away to safety. Her accuracy was uncanny, and Dominating Knight God¡¯s HP dropped to the red in just the blink of an eye. He was about to run away when a red flash appeared behind his back and cut through his body like nothing. It was Farewell Song delivering the fatal blow and dealing over 3000 damage in one hit! Thump! Dominating Knight God dropped to his knees and scattered into sparks just like that. While Warsky was clearing out the remnants of Hegemon Palace, Farewell Song, October Rain, Laughing at the Heavens, and a hundred or so Warsky Alliance players annihilated the rest of the Gods of Destruction in just the blink of an eye¡­ ¡­¡­ Speaking of which, I had been standing here for over a minute already, but no one had noticed me yet. Was my presence really that weak? Rustle rustle¡­ ¡°Eh, let¡¯s wait just a little longer¡­¡± It was at this moment Warsky finally noticed me. He immediately raised his sword and shouted, ¡°Fuck! All hands, red alert! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy are here! We aren¡¯t gonna have a moment of peace as long as they¡¯re around, so let¡¯s take them out right here and now!¡± Farewell Song, Laughing at the Heavens, and October Rain immediately rushed toward us, although Farewell Song went into stealth and vanished into thin air halfway. The next time he showed himself, someone would almost certainly be one-shot! The good news was that we weren¡¯t alone anymore. Around ninety or so Snow Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players were pouring through the entrance behind our backs. They made sure to spread out so that Warsky and Laughing at the Heavens couldn¡¯t destroy us all with their AoE skills. It would be unwise to repeat Gods of Destruction¡¯s mistake! ¡­¡­ ¡°Hah!¡± High Fighting Spirits shouted and cut down a Warsky Alliance assassin with his axe. He sensed something and looked up reflexively, but he was struck by seven or eight arrows before he could react and was forced to retreat. The enemy¡¯s firepower was just too overwhelming, and even Purple Marquis was forced back by a couple of Ice Dragon Howls after unleashing just one aura attack. ¡°Aaaah¡­¡± Three of Snow Cathaya¡¯s core players weren¡¯t as lucky as he was. The enemy¡¯s archers were very well organized, and there were almost a hundred of them. Long story short, it was a goddamned nightmare trying to survive their combined assault. Purple Marquis had tried to take them out with an AoE skill after he returned to full health, but he was put to the red and forced back again before he even could get close enough to do anything! Lin Yixin shot me a glance, and I understood her meaning immediately. I nodded and said, ¡°I¡¯ll go first. You need to clear out those archers with your Ice Flame Slash. Think you can do it?¡± ¡°If you survive, then yes!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Maybe it was because I had grinded with Lin Yixin a lot, but there seemed to be an excellent rapport between the two of us. We exchanged a glance with each other before splitting away and charging toward the archer group from two different directions. I was slightly ahead of Lin Yixin since my goal was to attract the enemy¡¯s firepower! Thousand Mirage Slash only had a range of 9 yards, or 10 if I only targeted the front row. This meant that I would have to endure 30 yards of focus fire before I could get close enough to hit anyone. It was going to be a painful process! October Rain was standing at the front of the archer group and aiming her bow at me. She shouted, ¡°Target Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Devil Piercing Arrows ready, loose!¡± Twang twang twang twang! I felt a chill in my heart as countless arrows flew my way. God damn, this is going to hurt! I immediately held my sword in front of my face and tightened my defense! Thud thud thud... 121! 5! 74! ¡­¡­ Columns of damage numbers floated above my head. None of the archers managed to deal too much damage to me, but together they managed to delete over half of my HP in just the blink of an eye. There were just too many of them! +3000! I drank a Rank 8 Health Potion to restore myself to full health and continued forward. I needed to keep the archers¡¯ attention on me, or we wouldn¡¯t be able to tear down this web of assault! On the other side, Gui Guzi, Purple Marquis, High Fighting Spirits, and everyone also launched an assault of their own. Everyone was worried because they knew how bad our morale would suffer if Lin Yixin and I were to die here! The enemy¡¯s attacks grew more and more concentrated with each passing second. It was to the point where I couldn¡¯t find even a 0.1 second time window to activate Charge. I had no choice but to walk slowly toward the archer group while being battered by the neverending rain of arrows! Swhoosh! Suddenly, I caught the glimpse of a beautiful figure rushing toward the archer group! Yes! Lin Yixin found an opportunity to Charge the enemy! Caught off-guard, October Rain shouted urgently, ¡°Spread out now!¡± But it was too late. A blade of ice shrouded in flames crashed down on the archer group like a disaster, dealing an insane amount of damage and killing almost half of the archers in an instant! I felt like a heavy weight was lifted off my shoulders immediately. At the same time, Murong Mingyue dropped an Instant Heal and Greater Heal on me and put all surrounding priests to shame¡ª +1784! +2874! Murong Mingyue¡¯s 3-second Greater Heal was basically equal to a Rank 8 Health Potion at this point. A potion had a cooldown of 60 seconds, but her Greater Heal didn¡¯t. There was practically nowhere a player couldn¡¯t go with a priest this powerful by their side! Roar roar roar! Suddenly, dragon roars filled the sky as countless Ice Dragon Howls flew toward Purple Marquis¡¯s direction. It was a combined assault from the enemy mages! Shocked, Purple Marquis backed away in a hurry and dodged nearly half of the Ice Dragon Howls with incredible skill. Unfortunately, tens of Ice Dragon Howls still managed to hit him¡ª 1029! 764! 1128! ¡­¡­ There was simply no way Purple Marquis could survive such a concentrated bombardment, so all he could do was collapse to the floor and teleport back to the city! Lin Yixin was shocked. The strongest general in her guild was one-shot just like that! ¡°What do we do? Their mages are insanely powerful¡­¡± Lin Yixin asked me from afar. I swiftly moved to the right wing before whispering, ¡°Buy me 3 seconds! Farewell Song hasn¡¯t made a move yet, so make sure nothing touches me for 3 seconds!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Lin Yixin cut down a couple of nearby players with her Killer Wind Swordplay and ran up to me. Then, she summoned her Fireblade and stood protectively next to me. Her pet wasn¡¯t nearly good enough for this level of battle, but it could at least tank a few hits before dying! I swiftly activated Purple Dragon Howl and surrounded myself with purple energy. A draconic roar reverberated in my ears as an innumerable amount of energy started surging to the blade of the Purgatory Sword. Three seconds. All I needed was three seconds, and Purple Dragon Howl would tear right through the enemy mages like paper! The enemy mages¡¯ Magic Shields were all active, meaning that there was no way in hell our fighters could kill them before they were bombarded to death. In fact, Gui Guzi was the next general to die after Purple Marquis despite the Undying Shield. All they needed was a couple of seconds, and they could one-shot practically anyone in our group. We couldn¡¯t allow this to continue no matter what! Unfortunately, Warsky noticed immediately what I was doing. ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is channeling his ultimate. Stop him!¡± Swhoosh! I caught the glimpse of a shadow charging my way through the ripples of energy. As I thought, Farewell Song had come to stop me! I opened my eyes wide and muttered, ¡°Yiyi, he¡¯s here!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Keeping a cool head above her shoulders, Lin Yixin activated her Killer Wind Swordplay and swung at the empty ground in front of her. However, she miscalculated and failed to hit anyone. Without pause, she jumped three steps to the back and raised her sword horizontally in front of herself. A loud clang later, Farewell Song was knocked out of his stealth! ¡°Heh!¡± Despite the failed sneak attack, Farewell Song changed targets and charged me instead of pressing his advantage. There was still half a second before the skill was fully channeled, and the enemy mages were throwing Fireballs at me. They were too slow, but Farewell Song wasn¡¯t! It was literally do-or-die! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I knew I failed when I saw the bloody dagger flying toward my direction. Motherfucker, I¡¯m going to kill his ass for interrupting my Purple Dragon Howl! But to both our surprise, Lin Yixin suddenly switched directions and lowered her sword to the ground, eyes twinkling with determination and a smile. Then, she jumped toward me and wrapped her arms around me in a bear hug! Puchi... Farewell Song¡¯s dagger drilled into Lin Yixin¡¯s back instead of hitting me. I could clearly see the pain in her eyes. But thanks to her heroic effort, my Purple Dragon Howl was finally complete! ¡°Die!¡± Chapter 330: Girl vs Girl The circular blast overflowing with undead energy that was Purple Dragon Howl tore apart the iron defense of Warsky Alliance like it was wet paper. The skill lasted almost 10 seconds, and these 10 seconds later, less than 10% of Warsky players were still standing in the hall! "Well done, vice leader!" High Fighting Spirits laughed loudly before activating Xiezhi Howl. The image of a giant Xiezhi overlapped with his body as the energy wave engulfed a couple of archers instantly. It was over. Warsky Alliance only had tens of players left in the Divine Site Hall, and Snowy Cathaya had over seventy at minimum. If that upper hand wasn¡¯t solid enough, everyone in the divine site hall was a first-rate expert, meaning that it was difficult as hell for one side to kill the other without absolute advantage in numbers. ¡­¡­ A short distance away, Laughing at the Heavens was roaring angrily and charging a group of Snowy Cathaya players. But Beiming Xue dealt with the fury of the CGL Hall of Famer calmly and said, "Calm down, everyone. CGL Hall of Famers are powerful, but they¡¯re still humans, you know? Everyone, lock onto Laughing at the Heavens and one-shot him with Devil Piercing Arrows and Volleys!" Beiming Xue herself drew her Milky Way Bow and launched a Freezing Arrow and Evil Spirit Volley after giving the order. All around her, the archers loosed their arrows at Laughing at the Heavens as well! Thud thud thud¡­ Laughing at the Heavens let out a painful groan as he was turned into a porcupine. No amount of HP was enough to withstand a concentrated assault like this. Dropping to his knees and stabbing his spear on the floor, he glared at Beiming Xue with bloodshot eyes and said angrily, "Just you wait, Dark Archer¡­" He Yi ran up to him and put a huge hole at the center of his chest with the Soul Stealing Spear, deleting the last sliver of HP from his health bar. Swhoosh! Finally, Laughing at the Heavens turned into sparks and teleported back to the city. Everyone was happy that they had taken out yet another super expert. It was always nice to have superior numbers, and the effectiveness of the strategy was further cemented by the fact that we had just taken out a CGL Hall of Famer. Truly, quantity would always be better than quality. If everyone shoots you for 100 HP, you will die no matter how much HP you have! ¡­¡­ The battle surrounding October Rain was incredibly fast-paced. Somehow, the girl was able to parry enemy attacks with the dagger in her left hand, and shoot arrows rapidly with her right! Thud thud thud! High Fighting Spirits almost died after taking three shots in quick succession. He recovered to full health thanks to Moon Dew, but the enemy archer had already left his attack range and fired yet another two arrows to his head. Enraged, High Fighting Spirits swung his battle axe and said, "This girl is so annoying! You and Yun, help me eliminate her!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun had already moved even before High Fighting Spirits requested help. He swung his broadsword straight at October Rain¡¯s back. "Hmph!" However, October Rain pulled out her dagger, spun around, and parried his attack in just the blink of an eye. Then, she immediately followed up with a poisonous slash right between Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s neck, slowing him down massively and buying herself time to make some distance! That wasn¡¯t all. She put away her dagger again, raised her bow, and loosed a quick Volley at the fighter, forcing him to Guard, barely surviving the attack! She was without a doubt a top-rate expert! ¡­¡­ Everyone was stunned by her skill. At the very least, anyone with eyes could see that her reputation wasn¡¯t undeserved. Despite being an archer, her close-combat skill was a beautiful sight to behold. People like her were difficult foes in 1v1 battles and an absolute terror in group battles! It was at this moment Lin Yixin pulled out her own dagger and smiled. "A dagger user, huh. Everyone, stand aside! I¡¯m going to fight her myself!" I couldn¡¯t help but smile. Fruit Knife Goddess versus October Rain, huh? I wonder who will emerge victorious? I wasn¡¯t idle while this was all going on, of course. While October Rain was busy fending for herself, I had exploited her absence and annihilated the remnants of Warsky Alliance. Once Lin Yixin took out October Rain, Snowy Cathaya would finally seize temporary control of Pegasus Spring! Lin Yixin was already charging toward October Rain when I was done with my dirty work! October Rain was retreating just as quickly as she loosed a Devil Piercing Arrow at Lin Yixin! Lin Yixin raised her sword at the last possible second and assumed a Guard stance for less than 0.2 seconds. After blocking the deadly skill with a perfectly-timed Guard, she broke off into a run again and shortened the distance between herself and the archer! The Devil Piercing Arrow had failed to slow Lin Yixin for more than 0.4 seconds! Before October Rain could recover from her surprise, Lin Yixin activated Charge and zoomed toward October Rain like a lightning bolt! The archer let out a soft snort and tried to veer out of harm¡¯s way, but Lin Yixin curved her forward trajectory perfectly as if she had practiced this move a hundred times before! Not only did she not slow down in the slightest, she used the momentum of the skill to boost her speed even further until she was right behind October Rain like a ghost! Stunned, October Rain hurriedly spun around and parried a devastating sword strike from Lin Yixin. But it was no use. Lin Yixin immediately pulled out her dagger, knocked October Rain¡¯s dagger above her head and dropped to the ground without warning. Reversing her grip over the Moonlight Sword, she slashed October Rain right across her chest armor. Crack¡­ A shower of blood burst out of October Rain¡¯s body as Lin Yixin skidded a couple meters across the stone floor. In that moment, she looked so beautiful and heroic that words failed me completely. Behind Lin Yixin, October Rain¡¯s eyes grew as wide as saucers. She had not seen the thunderous assault coming at all until it was too late. The next moment, she collapsed to her knees, looked up and scattered into a shower of sparks. Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Wind Fantasy" has entered the divine site hall and killed the current holder, "October Rain". The guild "Snowy Cathaya" has taken control of the divine site hall. If the occupation lasts over 60 minutes, Pegasus Spring will belong to the guild "Snowy Cathaya"! ¡­¡­ "Gulp!" High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Du Thirteen, Wolf Fang and the others all gulped as they stared at the beautiful heroine. Wolf Fang sighed to himself. "Fuck, Beauty Wind Fantasy truly is the number one female player in the entire game. This skill, this beauty, this aura¡­" High Fighting Spirits nodded in agreement. "Yeah. She is worth at least half a Sky City at least. If anyone manages to win her heart¡­" Du Thirteen turned to me. "Lu Chen shares a close relationship with her. Who knows, it might even be¡­" I shivered from head to toe. "What the hell are you talking about? Our relationship is as pure as a clean sheet of paper, okay..." Shiing! Lin Yixin sheathed her sword and turned around to face us. "Can you at least try to lower your voices when you¡¯re talking about someone behind their backs? I¡¯m right here. The arrogance of these people¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ "What is the situation outside?" I changed the subject. He Yi smiled and answered me. "It¡¯s still a bit chaotic. Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction, and Flower Room are fighting each other. They are all trying to become the next guild to tackle the divine site hall." Lin Yixin looked worried. "Warsky Alliance is the guild that worries me the most, and they¡¯re probably going to show up again. Farewell Song, Laughing at the Heavens, Warsky... They are an incredible threat, so we¡¯d better prepare as much as possible before they return¡­" I smiled. "No worries. All we need to do is get more people into the divine site hall, and it¡¯ll be A-OK!" I looked back and forth between Lin Yixin and He Yi before adding, "The two of you should stay here and keep eyes on the entrance. I¡¯m going to head out and delay them as much as possible before the inevitable. 60 minutes isn¡¯t too long or too short, thankfully. If we successfully occupy Pegasus Spring today, then it¡¯ll be a win-win for both our guilds!" "Yeah!" Lin Yixin nodded as a beautiful smile sprung to her lips. "We really should gather and celebrate once this divine site battle is over!" "Absolutely." He Yi nodded in agreement. ¡­¡­ I turned around and sneakily grabbed Murong Mingyue¡¯s hand. "Moon Dew, you come as well!" "Oh?" Moon Dew looked confused, but she followed me anyway. Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t even bother to struggle as she asked, "What is it?" "Well I don¡¯t want to get one-shot the moment I step outside. That¡¯s why I¡¯m taking the two of you with me." "Fuck¡­" I pulled Moon Dew and Murong Mingyue to the entrance before instructing, "Come out once three seconds are up!" "Okay!" With that done, I stepped out of the entrance without hesitation and narrowed my eyes a little under the blinding light. When my vision adjusted, I noticed that a group of Mad Dragon players were just getting ready to charge the entrance! I immediately raised my sword and activated Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! Countless players perished under the attack. At the same time, I opened my palm and summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. Stabbing the Purgatory Sword on the ground, I faced toward the players let out a bloodthirsty shout, "Come here and die if you don¡¯t wish to live any longer!" If that wasn¡¯t imposing enough, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was baring its teeth and bristling like a cyan porcupine. It looked like it would pounce like a loosed spring and tear some unfortunate sap into pieces at a moment¡¯s notice. ¡­¡­ My unexpected appearance struck a terrible blow to the enemies¡¯ morale. My Obsidian Dragonscale Armor flashed intimidatingly under the sunlight, and my cape was flapping loudly to the wind. I looked like a reaper from hell as I stood menacingly at the entrance and glared at my enemies with my ID and level in full display: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-95, Snowy Cathaya! The intimidation attempt went so well that I could hardly believe it myself. For a time, the Mad Dragon and Flower Room players stared at each other as if urging the other party to challenge my authority, but dared not move a muscle on their own! For a time, no one moved as they stared at me from afar. When Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew appeared behind me, they looked even more afraid than before. Chapter 331: Fabrication Fan I nearly spat blood upon hearing that comment. ¡°Story? Does this look like the time for storytelling?¡± Murong Mingyue smiled. ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. Look at them, do you see Li Le or Roaming Dragon anywhere? Do you think these people will fight to the death when their guild leader isn¡¯t around to witness their bravery? No, they won¡¯t, so come on, tell us a joke and cure our boredom!¡± I nodded. ¡°What kind of joke do you want to hear, the kiddies type or the adult type?¡± ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°Ahem¡­¡± I said, ¡°If you¡¯re ready¡­ I¡¯ll begin now, okay?¡± ¡°Mn mn!¡± Both Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew nodded excitedly. I cleared my throat and began, ¡°A long time ago, there was a girl who loved eating spicy hot pot. After she got a boyfriend, she was forbidden from enjoying her favorite food¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Two minutes later, Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew asked in confusion, ¡°And? What happens afterward?¡± ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Murong Mingyue spent another two minutes in deep thought before she suddenly raised her fist and punched me. ¡°Oh fuck you, you little rascal¡­¡± Moon Dew still didn¡¯t get the joke. ¡°What does it mean?¡± Murong Mingyue replied, ¡°You¡¯ll understand when you¡¯re older¡­¡± Moon Dew: ¡°...¡± Murong Mingyue prodded me again. ¡°Tell us another, Lu Chen. That was too short¡­¡± I nodded and started my second joke. ¡°A long time ago, a general married a beautiful wife, but she turned out to be an incredibly licentious woman. Worried that she would cuck him behind his back while he went to war, he made her wear a chastity belt and gave his most trusted aide the key. Only then he relaxed and went out to fight his war. But not long after he left the city, his aide caught up to him and said, ¡®General, you gave me the wrong key!¡¯¡± Murong Mingyue: ¡°...¡± Moon Dew: ¡°...¡± This time, not even Moon Dew could miss the joke. She turned beet red and muttered, ¡°Lu Chen is so terrible!¡± Murong Mingyue giggled. ¡°But that¡¯s exactly why he¡¯s so lovable, isn¡¯t he?¡± Moon Dew turned even redder after that. It was at this moment He Yi walked out with the Soul Stealing Spear and asked, ¡°What are you guys talking about? You didn¡¯t even respond to me in the party channel¡­¡± ¡°N-nothing¡­¡± All three of us denied in unison. ¡­¡­ Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye. However, the number of players in Pegasus Spring actually decreased instead of increasing. Puzzled by this, I asked, ¡°What happened? Where are the people?¡± He Yi smiled a little. ¡°I think they¡¯re changing targets?¡± Inside the party channel, Lin Yixin said, ¡°Thank goodness, Warsky Alliance is now tackling Dragon Blood Fortress, and Gods of Destruction, Mad Dragon, and Flower Room are tackling Giant Rock Cave¡­¡± High Fighting Spirits said, ¡°That¡¯s simple. Almost a thousand of our players are packed inside the divine site hall after we occupied the divine site hall. It¡¯ll be next to impossible for Warsky Alliance to get it again, not to mention that they had lost a lot of levels and equipment before this. That was why they decided to cut their losses and tackle another divine site instead¡­¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s one thing to die once or twice, but any more than that is a completely different story. Warsky is a wise man for sure. Had they continued fighting for Pegasus Spring, they might lose more power than was worth. Just look at the Heavenly Ranking; Farewell Song, October Rain, and Laughing at the Heavens had all dropped out of the Top 15, while all our players gained two levels after taking over the divine site. There¡¯s no way they can afford to lose any more than this!¡± Lin Yixin giggled. ¡°The major guilds have dropped out, meaning that Pegasus Spring is definitely ours now, This is wonderful!¡± ¡°Yep, congratulations. Don¡¯t forget to treat us to a meal later!¡± ¡°No problem!¡± ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Xu Yang asked, ¡°Say¡­ do you think we should contest Dragon Blood Fortress and Giant Rock Cave?¡± He Yi looked at me. ¡°What do you think, Lu Chen?¡± I shook my head. ¡°No need. Warsky Alliance will do everything in their power to stop us if we do that, and the benefits aren¡¯t really worth it. Also, we would be crossing a line if we do that. Let¡¯s just leave Dragon Blood Fortress and Giant Rock Cave to Warsky Alliance and Gods of Destruction!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± He Yi and I walked out of the divine site hall while the players of Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls chatted cordially with each other. The fight was finally over, and everyone let out a sigh of relief. ¡­¡­ ¡°Where are we eating tonight?¡± Beiming Xue asked. I answered, ¡°Anywhere¡¯s fine as long as it fills our stomach.¡± ¡°In that case, should we go to the buffet restaurant again?¡± ¡°Nonono, eating and overeating are not the same thing!¡± ¡°Hehe¡­¡± Beiming Xue giggled. It was at this moment Gui Guzi walked up to us and asked, ¡°Why are you discussing dinner spots, boss Broken Halberd? Didn¡¯t we book a place already?¡± ¡°We did? Why haven¡¯t I heard about it?¡± ¡°Brother B is treating all of us at Fuyunlou tonight. He even booked a huge private room. If my calculations are correct, this dinner¡¯s going to cost him at least 10k, tsk tsk¡­¡± I exclaimed in astonishment, ¡°You¡¯re treating us to dinner? What on earth is the occasion, Thirteen?¡± Du Thirteen chuckled a bit embarrassedly. ¡°Today is Lulu¡¯s birthday, so I wanted to organize a birthday party for her and introduce her to everyone¡­¡± Xu Yang frowned a little before asking, ¡°Are you sure you want to continue dating this Xue Lu, Thirteen?¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Du Thirteen nodded strongly. ¡°I¡¯m serious this time¡­¡± I had already noticed how deeply in love he was a while ago, but I didn¡¯t mind it because I was glad that my brother finally got serious in a relationship. So I smiled and said, ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll see you there tonight. I know where Fuyunlou is, so don¡¯t worry about me. I¡¯ll be there on time.¡± ¡°Mn mn!¡± I turned around and asked He Yi and Murong Mingyue, ¡°Are you girls going as well?¡± He Yi shook her head and smiled. ¡°Not this time, unfortunately. Mingyue and I have to return to the company because there are a couple of urgent bills that require our immediate attention. Don¡¯t worry about us and just enjoy your night~¡± ¡°Mn, okay!¡± ¡­¡­ Nothing happened as we predicted earlier, and an hour later the system dinged above Sky City¡ª System Announcement: Congratulations to guild ¡°Snowy Cathaya¡± for successfully conquering Pegasus Spring and receiving a bonus of 10% attack speed and 5% movement speed for 30 days. Also, all members of the victorious guild that participated in the battle will receive a reward of 2 levels! ¡­¡­ The rewards were as generous as expected. I was now Level 97 and another step closer to Level 100. All I needed to do next was grind like mad, and I should be able to apply for my own land in a couple of days! Besides that, Level 100 players could receive their fourth-promotion quest and become fourth-promotion experts. Unfortunately, that didn¡¯t apply to me because I had killed Suren, and I hadn¡¯t found a new class trainer who might take me in. After all, who would want a teacher murderer like me? Speaking of which, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, and basically anyone who hadn¡¯t perished in combat all gained 4 levels from the two divine sites. It was always enjoyable to level up through events! Of course, that only applied to us winners. Most people lost levels and equipment while gaining nothing in the end! Anyway, it was time to return to Sky City! Swhoosh! After crushing a return scroll and appearing back in Sky City, the first thing I did was take out all the equipment I¡¯d looted¡ª120 high-quality items in total¡ªand set up a stall at the best spot in Sky City. Then, I started shouting, ¡°Fresh Level 60¨C80 Dark Steel, Silver and Gold¨Cgrade equipment for sale! Most of them are the best of the best! My prices are fair, and I offer a wide variety of equipment such as leather armor, cloth armor, metal armor and weapons! Buy it while you can!¡± I aimed to earn as much money as I could before dinner time because I was planning to buy a car sometime in the near future. As a professional player who was worth over a million RMB, it was my duty to parade my success. It was to give the professional players in the guild a goal and something to strive toward. It wasn¡¯t long before a Level 78 player walked up to me and set his eyes on a Silver-grade fan. He picked it up and asked, ¡°How much is this, brother?¡± I shot the fan a glance and found it surprisingly good. If I remembered correctly, it was dropped by an unfortunate tactician from Warsky Alliance¡ª Fabrication Fan (Silver-grade) Magic Attack: 180~245 Intelligence: +40 Stamina: +28 Tactics: +14 Passive: Increases effectiveness of stratagems by 2% Level Requirement: 75 ¡­¡­ It was definitely some of the best tactician fans out there, usable even by mages if they didn¡¯t have anything better than this. The fan gave incredible Magic Attack, Intelligence and Tactics, and it had a passive that boosted stratagems by 2%. The perfect combination of stats and passives made it an absolute top-tier equipment for tacticians! If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, the Warsky Alliance tactician who dropped this must be bawling his eyes out. I looked up and said, ¡°I don¡¯t need to tell you how good this fan is, do I? Tell me your price, and I¡¯ll sell it to you if I think you¡¯re serious about it.¡± The young tactician nodded. ¡°How does 20k gold sound?¡± ¡°Make it 30k, and it¡¯s yours.¡± ¡°Deal!¡± It was always nice to have a straightforward deal. I set the Fabrication Fan¡¯s price to 30k, and the tactician left after making his purchase. Then, I shot him an extra glance and realized abruptly that he was a member of Hegemon Palace. This could mean two things: either Hegemon Palace hadn¡¯t shown all their strength in the battle for the divine sites, or Wang Dongliang had given the order to purchase all kinds of top-tier equipment to strengthen his men further. Either way, it looked like Hegemon Palace wasn¡¯t sinking into mediocrity anytime soon. After all, Wang Dongliang was probably richer than both Li Le and Roaming Dragon combined! I felt a bit elated after selling the Fabrication Fan. I was now powerful enough to forge my own little kingdom in Heavenblessed, but I still had a long way ahead of me. Oh well, let¡¯s take this one step at a time. It wasn¡¯t like my dream would take forever to accomplish. I would be content once I carried Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to the top and dominated the world! I managed to sell a couple more items and earned a lot of gold before dinner, and I resolved to convert my gold to money after I had accumulated 100k gold in total. I was neither a gold hoarder nor a habitual consumer. I was a miser who only made money but seldom spent any of it! It was around this moment Du Thirteen sent me a message: ¡°Lu Chen, the birthday party will begin at 6 pm tonight. You can log out and bring Lil Beiming over now!¡± ¡°Mn, got it!¡± ¡­¡­ Chapter 332: Flying Bricks I was driving into Fuyunlou when we saw a new model Cayenne just outside the entrance. The driver was a spirited-looking middle-aged man around 35 years old or so, and the front passenger was a beautiful girl wearing a leopard-spot short skirt. Maybe it was just me, but the sight of the girl made me feel uncomfortable for some reason. Lin Yixin and He Yi were naturally beautiful, but the girl¡¯s appearance seemed almost artificial to me. We followed the Cayenne into the hotel¡¯s parking lot. The middle-aged man chose a parking space close to the entrance, and I did the same thing. When I got out of the car and swept a glance at the Cayenne again, I noticed that the girl was carrying a new-style LV handbag. She had gotten out of the car as well, but instead of walking away immediately she moved to the driver¡¯s window and waved affectionately at the middle-aged man. They seemed to be very close. ¡°I¡¯m going. I¡¯ll be going home myself tonight, so you don¡¯t need to fetch me,¡± the girl said. The middle-aged man smiled gently and said, ¡°Lulu, I heard you had a new boyfriend? How is he like, and when are you going to show him to me? Do you need me to act as your gatekeeper or something?¡± The girl smiled back. ¡°Mind your own business, your wife¡¯s gonna get jealous, you know. Anyway, talk to you tomorrow!¡± The girl then gave the middle-aged man a kiss to the cheek, to which he responded with a pleased smile on his face. ¡°Yeah, see you tomorrow!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°You done staring yet, big bro?¡± Beiming Xue pushed my arm once with a smile. ¡°What caught your eye anyway? Both Sister He Yi and Sister Mingyue much prettier and sexier than her, aren¡¯t they?¡± I smiled. ¡°It¡¯s nothing¡­¡± The middle-aged man drove away after that, leaving me feeling a bit puzzled. If you were just going to drop someone at a restaurant, why not drop her at the entrance instead of driving into a parking lot? Wasn¡¯t that completely unnecessary? Beiming Xue and I got out of the car and walked toward the restaurant. To my surprise, I discovered that the girl was heading toward the third floor of Fuyunlou as well, the place where we were having our dinner. She went up the stairs, and we followed behind her. I couldn¡¯t say I wasn¡¯t tempted when the girl¡¯s round butt and thin waist swayed back and forth in front of me. It was around this moment Beiming Xue pinched my arm quietly before chiding me. ¡°Control yourself, big bro!! You¡¯ll grow a sty if you keep this up¡­¡± I whispered back, ¡°What are you talking about? You¡¯ll trip if you don¡¯t watch where you¡¯re going¡­¡± Beiming Xue glared at me. ¡°Hmph! If you¡¯re that enamored with short skirts, I¡¯ll put one on right after we get back to the apartment! You can stare at it all day and night if you want to!¡± ¡°N-no need¡­¡± I said with cold sweat forming at my forehead. ¡­¡­ Our conversation ceased the moment we saw the leopard-spot girl walking in front of us entering Lan Zhu Hall. Several questions took form in our heads at once: Who is this girl? Is she a new member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, or¡­ is she Du Thirteen¡¯s new girlfriend, Xue Lu? And if she really was Xue Lu, then who was that middle-aged man who drove her over earlier? A blind man could¡¯ve seen how close they were, not to mention that they had stopped at the parking lot earlier clearly because they didn¡¯t want to be seen together! It was at this moment Du Thirteen¡¯s laughter came out from inside Lan Zhu Hall. ¡°Haha, Lulu¡¯s here! Everyone, this is my girlfriend, Lulu!¡± I didn''t know how to describe my feelings, only that I was both shocked and troubled. Beiming Xue pushed my arm again and said, ¡°Big bro, we should head in now¡­¡± ¡°Mn.¡± We followed Xue Lu into Lan Zhu Hall. The room was huge, and there were three round tables. A lot of elite players from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were attending this dinner as well. Du Thirteen immediately walked up to me when he saw me, ¡°Hahaha, Lu Chen, you¡¯re right on time! Here, let me make the introduction!¡± He wrapped his arms around Xue Lu¡¯s shoulders and pointed at me. ¡°Remember this face, Lulu! He¡¯s the brother I told you about, Lu Chen! He¡¯s Falling Dust, the Little Heavenly King of Spirit of Grief, and now he¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand in Heavenblessed! Right now he¡¯s incredibly famous in the VRMMO world of China!¡± Xue Lu also looked surprised. Just as I had seen her interacting affectionately with that middle-aged man at the parking lot, she had seen me as well. I stared at her and said nothing. Xue Lu bit her lips, but bravely met my eyes and smiled at me. ¡°Hello, Lu Chen. I¡¯ve heard about you since a long time ago. I¡¯m glad I finally got to meet you in person.¡± I snorted quietly before giving her a nod of acknowledgment. Then, I grabbed Beiming Xue¡¯s hand and walked right past her. Some distance away, Chaos Moon and Moon Dew were waving at me and beckoning me to sit with them. I did exactly that. I didn¡¯t want to sit at the same table as Xue Lu, not to mention that I had no clue how to deal with a situation like this. The scene at the parking lot seemed to prove something¡ªor did it?¡ªbut I could also see just how much Du Thirteen cared for this girl. One thing was certain, I couldn¡¯t shatter my brother¡¯s dreams before his eyes, at least not right now. ¡­¡­ Everyone took a seat, and all three tables were jam-packed with people. There were at least 30 of us, if not more. Chaos Moon, Moon Dew, Pure Love and a couple more girls were seated at my table. The rest were testosterone-filled men like Wolf Fang, Alexander, and Xu Yang. It was basically a dinner between the core members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Gui Guzi rose to his feet and raised his glass. He said, ¡°Well, I¡¯m not a good talker, so I¡¯m just going to drink to Lulu and wish her a happy life with Du Thirteen. Anyone care to join me?¡± Du Thirteen hastily got to his feet as well¡ªXue Lu did too¡ªand laughed. ¡°Thank you, everyone!¡± Everyone gulped down the alcohol in their glasses, but I only touched it with my lips. It was because that interaction between Xue Lu and that middle-aged man at the parking lot was sitting in my chest like a damned raincloud that refused to go away. I didn¡¯t want Du Thirteen to get hurt. He might claim to be a connoisseur of womankind, but no one knew him better than me. During the second year at high school, He suffered a huge shock when his first love left with another lover. Since then, he still dated women, but he never treated relationships seriously again. Men weren¡¯t made of steel, there was only so much beating they could take before they broke completely. The drinking continued for a bit before the waiters finally pushed in a five-layer cake. Du Thirteen most likely spent even his savings to hold this extravagant birthday party. Du Thirteen was a bit drunk, so Xue Lu had to support him when he tried to cut the cake properly. What puzzled me was that her eyes were full of love when she looked at Thirteen, something that contradicted what I saw earlier. Just what did Xue Lu think of Thirteen, really? Was she serious about this relationship, or not? The crowd dispersed after the cake was finished. Most of them went back to the base, leaving only Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, Beiming Xue, me, and a couple others behind. Grabbing my shoulders with one hand and holding Xue Lu¡¯s waist with the other, he mumbled something we almost couldn¡¯t hear, ¡°I¡¯m really happy today, Lu Chen, Lulu¡­¡± I shot him a glance and asked, ¡°About what, exactly?¡± ¡°My best brother¡­ my best girl¡­¡± Du Thirteen continued to mumble incoherently, ¡°I was such a fool back then, such a fool¡­¡± Xue Lu shivered once before whispering, ¡°Enough, Thirteen¡­¡± Beside us, Xu Yang smiled while holding half a bottle of liquor. ¡°Yeah, I think we¡¯d better find a place to sit before we all fall to the ground. I feel like I¡¯m seeing stars all over the sky¡­¡± I looked up and saw only dark clouds. ¡°Like hell you do. Do you mean Lian Xing or something?¡± ¡°Haha, haha¡­¡± Xu Yang took another gulp from the bottle before plopping his ass at a nearby flowerbed. ¡°Sounds like you miss her more than I do¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Beiming Xue interrupted, ¡°Who¡¯s Lian Xing?¡± I simply shook my head and said, ¡°No¡­ it¡¯s nothing¡­¡± ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a dozen or so men appeared at the end of the road. The leader of the group was asking loudly, ¡°Where are they?¡± ¡°They¡¯re right there, brother Luxury!¡± It wasn¡¯t long before the young hooligans rushed into full view. I thought their leader looked a bit familiar, except that his hair was dyed red and his ears were covered in earrings. He glared at us and shouted, ¡°I finally found you, Du Thirteen!¡± I shivered in apprehension. Fuck, now I remember! He¡¯s Life of Luxury! This was clearly no coincidence. They were probably watching us since the moment we stepped out of the restaurant. Life of Luxury uttered hatefully and angrily, ¡°Weapons up, brothers!¡± The hooligans immediately pulled out their stone bricks and razor blades. To my shock, Life of Luxury¡¯s weapon was a Swiss Army knife. This was no laughing matter, one hit from that thing would leave a wound so big that it might leave a permanent scar on one¡¯s skin. Life of Luxury watched Xue Lu closely before pointing a finger at Du Thirteen. ¡°You have two choices right now. One, you get on your knees and deliver the woman in your arms to my bed. Two, you die!!¡± Du Thirteen broke out of his drunken stupor somewhat and glared right back at Life of Luxury. ¡°Who the fuck do you think you are? Come at me if you have balls!¡± Xu Yang had gotten to his feet and kicked over the walls of the flowerbed he was sitting on. He then picked up a brick of his own and yelled angrily, ¡°You want a fight? Then come get some! It¡¯s been a while since I got into a fight, and my hands are itching!¡± Gui Guzi also picked up a brick with fury burning in his drunken eyes. ¡°One more word from your filthy mouth, and I¡¯ll make you regret ever being born in this world!¡± Gui Guzi was a simple man. He would fight anyone who dared to threaten Du Thirteen to the death, that¡¯s all. Life of Luxury sneered out loud before ordering, ¡°Get them!¡± He himself led the charge and swung his Swiss Army knife ruthlessly at Du Thirteen¡¯s chest. Xue Lu let out a scream of fright as she dragged Du Thirteen away from him. Thud! I grabbed his upper arm before the weapon could get close to my brother. I then launched myself forward and hit him in the back with my elbow! ¡°Aaah¡­¡± Life of Luxury dropped to the ground after letting out a painful groan. On the other side, Xu Yang and Gui Guzi were fighting back against the hooligans. I could hear the sounds of bricks smacking against flesh as the chaotic melee ensued! I said urgently, ¡°Beiming, get to the parking lot right now!¡± Beiming Xue was so worried that tears were pouring down her cheeks. ¡°Be careful, big bro!¡± ¡­¡­ Thud! One of the hooligans swung at Du Thirteen with his brick, and all he could do was grit his teeth and wait for the impact. His head immediately turned red when it hit him. I hurriedly ran up to him and raised my arms defensively, blocking two painful hits before retaliating with a powerful kick of my own. The attacking hooligan was sent stumbling onto the road, forcing a car to brake immediately to avoid running him over. But this was just the beginning. My vision turned dark for a second when another hooligan hit me in the face and made me feel like my cheek was on fire. Doing everything I could to keep my eyes open, I grabbed a brick from the ground and retaliated with a smack to the shoulder. Xue Lu was crying, ¡°Thirteen, enough, enough already¡­¡± Chapter 333: Brawl Screams, cries, and the sounds of weapons smashing into flesh kept sounding across the road. It was an unfortunate fact that none of us were nearly as strong as we were in the game. Almost all of us were wounded in just less than two minutes, although thankfully no one had suffered worse than a few bricks to the body thus far. Worse comes to worst, we would be walking away with a bone fracture or two. Gui Guzi was clutching his left arm because it was cut open by a watermelon knife. However, he also managed to snatch the weapon for himself and left similar wounds on his attackers¡¯ arms. Xu Yang was swinging his brick left and right like a madman. He had to have hurt a lot of people. I was the one who fared the worst out of all of us. Du Thirteen was so goddamn drunk that he could hardly stay on his feet, much less fight the bastards. I had to stand in front of him and Xue Lu and bear almost all the attacks coming their way. There were three bloody slash wounds on my arms, my purple shirt had turned gray in color due to the sheer amount of brick strikes I took, and even my forehead was blue and black at two separate spots. ¡­¡­ ¡°Huff¡­ huff¡­¡± I panted heavily but kept my eyes wide open. Life of Luxury¡¯s hand was actually shaking a little as he said angrily, ¡°What the fuck is wrong with you, Lu Chen? Who the hell is he to make you defend him like this?¡± I replied indifferently, ¡°Anyone who¡¯d die for me is someone I¡¯d die for!¡± ¡°Fuck you!¡± Two hooligans rushed me at once. I threw a punch and successfully knocked the front teeth out of one of them, but I also took a brick to the back of my head. My consciousness started blurring. ¡°Lu Chen!¡± I heard Du Thirteen shouting before I collapsed limply to the ground. ¡­¡­ I closed my eyes, feeling as if I had had a nightmare. It was a nightmare I didn¡¯t want to recall. Drip¡­ drip... I opened my eyes when I felt a strange, warm liquid dripping on my nose. When I looked up, I was shocked to see Du Thirteen standing in front of me with the Swiss Army knife sticking out of his right shoulder. Blood was dripping profusely down his back and splashing against my face. My heart was ice cold with fear. ¡°Thirteen¡­¡± Du Thirteen grabbed the hilt of the weapon and forced a painful smile to his face, ¡°Life of Luxury, you are fucking nothing. What do you think women are, your toys?¡± Behind Life of Luxury, a hooligan asked quietly, ¡°Brother Luxury, isn¡¯t this a little too much? Wha¡­ what if he dies here?¡± ¡°What the hell are you afraid of? Nothing will happen even if he dies here today! I¡¯ll make it all go away!¡± Life of Luxury glared hatefully at Du Thirteen before kicking him right in the stomach. He immediately dropped to his knees. Du Thirteen looked at Xue Lu and broke into a gentle smile. ¡°Lulu, I¡­ I¡¯m fine¡­¡± Not far away, Xu Yang was fighting four hooligans on his own. Gui Guzi was lying unconscious on the ground with blood on his forehead. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle rustle... I grabbed onto the flowerbed and pulled myself up. I tried to make myself clear-headed, but I collapsed to the ground again before I could even take half a step forward. My face was cold, and my mouth was open, but I was so spent that I couldn¡¯t even get a word out. Du Thirteen was barely holding in the pain on his shoulder, but he stared at me and blurted, ¡°Brother, you¡­¡± Xue Lu was also watching me. ¡°Lu Chen, you¡­¡± I glared at her and yelled, ¡°Xue Lu, look at what you¡¯ve done!¡± ¡°I¡­¡± She burst into tears and sobbed again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Clutching a wound on his arm, Life of Luxury pointed at Xue Lu and ordered, ¡°Bring that woman to me!¡± Two hooligans ran over and forcefully dragged Xue Lu away. ¡°Kneel!¡± After forcing Xue Lu to the ground, Life of Luxury grabbed her chin angrily and hatefully. ¡°You like him that much, huh? You quit the bar and cut connections with everyone because of him, huh? Very good! Tonight I¡¯ll fuck you to the high heavens right in front of him!¡± At this point, Life of Luxury had gone completely insane. Dropping his pants and grabbing Xue Lu¡¯s head, he shouted, ¡°What¡¯s wrong, bitch? You don¡¯t want it? Show me that slutty bitch who clung to me the first day we met!¡± Tears still pouring down her cheeks like a waterfall, Xue Lu shook her head with all her might. All around us, the hooligans were laughing without a care for the world. One of them was actually sitting right on top of Gui Guzi and lighting a smoke for himself. If Gui Guzi wasn¡¯t unconscious, only god knows what would¡¯ve happened to this stupid bastard. One of the hooligans laughed obscenely. ¡°Faster, Brother Luxury, the police are gonna show up anytime soon! We want a go at her too, ya know! She¡¯s quite the cutie!¡± Life of Luxury replied, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have friends inside the police station! It¡¯s all fine!¡± ¡­¡­ Du Thirteen rose unsteadily to his feet with bloodshot eyes. Gritting his teeth and pulling out the Swiss Army knife on his shoulder abruptly, he shouted angrily, ¡°I¡¯ll kill you, you motherfucker!¡± But Du Thirteen was so badly wounded that his movement was as slow as a snail. Life of Luxury easily knocked the weapon out of his hand and sent him stumbling with a powerful kick. Thud! I grabbed Du Thirteen¡¯s shoulder and pushed him slightly to the side. ¡°Let me!¡± My head had finally cleared up enough that I could move again. After pushing Du Thirteen to the side, I ran toward Life of Luxury with incredible speed. I was the only one in the group who could still move this fast because I hadn¡¯t drunk any alcohol during the dinner. I appeared in front of Life of Luxury before he could reach and pushed Xue Lu away with my left hand. Then, I grabbed his arm in an iron grip and kicked his exposed groin with everything I got! Bang! Life of Luxury screamed on top of his lungs, but I wasn¡¯t done yet. I punished his carelessness and repeated the motion again and again. It was to the point where his friends actually forgot to help him, opting to close their eyes instead and shut the horrible sight out of their minds. By now, Life of Luxury had fainted for sheer pain. A couple extra kicks later, I pushed him away and watched him collapse to the ground like a log. The hooligans were completely stunned by this unexpected turn of events. Even the smoker sitting on Gui Guzi¡¯s body had risen to his feet shakily. ¡°Is¡­ is he dead?¡± Another hooligan replied, ¡°Nonsense, he can¡¯t be¡­¡± ¡­¡­ It was at this moment we heard a siren sound. Finally, the police had arrived, and they were too fucking late, as usual. A group of policemen rushed down their vehicles and surrounded us immediately. I raised my arms like I had done this a hundred times before pointing at Du Thirteen. ¡°He¡¯s badly injured, please help him immediately¡­¡± One of the policemen frowned deeply before yelling, ¡°Save this one first¡­ and that one too!¡± Du Thirteen wasn¡¯t the only one who was being rescued. Gui Guzi was smiling as he was being carried up a police car, almost as if he was having a nice dream. Xu Yang¡¯s arms were covered in blood. When he saw me staring at him, he licked his lips and smiled. ¡°This ain¡¯t my blood.¡± He stared at my forehead, and I nodded. ¡°This totally is my blood¡­¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± A couple of medical personnel were busy treating Du Thirteen¡¯s wounds not far away from us. I had no idea what was happening at Life of Luxury¡¯s side though. Xue Lu was still crying, but she went into the police car after Du Thirteen. ¡­¡­ A young policeman finally walked up to us with some iodine and bandages. He stared at me and asked, ¡°Did a fight break out?¡± I replied, ¡°That should be obvious.¡± He smiled. ¡°Too bad you fought the wrong person. That guy with his pants down has a powerful friend in the public security bureau. I¡¯m sorry, but I don¡¯t think you¡¯re walking away from this.¡± I smiled back. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± He nodded. ¡°Whether or not this fight is classified as self-defense, my advice for you is to gather your money and pull as many connections as you have. With luck, you may be able to shave a few years off your jail time¡­¡± I stared at my battered brother for a moment before replying, ¡°Got it.¡± ¡­¡­ That night, we all gave our statements after our wounds were treated and bandaged. Something funny happened during this time though. When a policeman had pinched Gui Guzi to wakefulness, he was treated to a slap to the face and some incoherent shouting until Gui Guzi finally realized where he was. The poor policeman was white with fright as a result. ¡°That idiot¡­¡± Xu Yang couldn¡¯t help but smile. I smiled as well. It was at this moment Du Thirteen was pushed into the room on a wheelchair. It looked like his treatment was finally over. He looked absolutely terrible, and red-eyed Xue Lu was behind him. ¡°Brother, I think it¡¯s time we talk to you about a couple of things¡­¡± Du Thirteen started. I nodded and sat down on a chair. ¡°Talk to me!¡± Du Thirteen swallowed once before pulling Xue Lu to the front. Then, he asked, ¡°Lu Chen, do you really not remember her? Not one bit?¡± I stared at Xue Lu¡¯s face for a couple of seconds, but I still couldn¡¯t remember her. I shook my head and replied, ¡°Not at all.¡± ¡°She¡¯s¡­ she¡¯s our old classmate, Qiu Xiaohan¡­¡± I trembled. ¡°Wait what? Qiu¡­ Qiu Xiaohan?¡± It was a name I had almost forgotten. Qiu Xiaohan was our high school classmate, and she was none other than Du Thirteen¡¯s first love and girlfriend! But that was so many years ago, not to mention that the girl in front of me still looked nothing like Qiu Xiaohan at all. This can¡¯t be right! ¡°No¡­¡± I shook my head. ¡°This can¡¯t be right. She looks nothing like Qiu Xiaohan¡­¡± Du Thirteen fell silent for a moment. ¡°That¡¯s because she had gone through a lot of things after she dropped out from school. The guy who took her away was taken in by the police, and she had to join a model packaging company after she was left alone in Beijing with nowhere to stay. Her looks changed after she underwent plastic surgery, and some time later she finally returned to Jiangsu. She had suffered a lot during this time¡­¡± Staring at me with reddened eyes, Xue Lu suddenly walked up to me and grabbed my hand. She said, ¡°Do you still remember my friend, Li Fang? She liked you a lot at the time and wrote you a couple of love letters. But you folded them all into paper planes and threw it to the campus belle on the opposite block¡­¡± I shivered. ¡°Xue Lu¡­ You¡¯re really Qiu Xiaohan?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± Things finally made sense now. My eyes suddenly turned colder. ¡°In that case, what¡¯s your deal with that man at the parking lot earlier?¡± Xue Lu didn¡¯t say anything. It was Du Thirteen who answered my question. ¡°That man was her sugar daddy. His name is Tang Chuan. But they haven¡¯t been in that kind of relationship for a year already.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ Chapter 334: Rainy Day "Lu Chen, Lu Chen! Are you alright¡­" A fragrant scent entered my nose when He Yi hugged my head and looked over my entire body to make sure I hadn¡¯t lost any body parts. A long time later, she wiped away the bloodstains on my face and stared at me with red, teary eyes. "You¡­ you scared me to death, you know that? What on earth happened?" Xu Yang interrupted, "Boss, I¡¯m hurt too you know¡­" He Yi faced toward him and replied, "If you¡¯re hurt you should look for a doctor, not me! If anything, you look way too healthy!" Xu Yang: "\%%#\%@\..." ¡­¡­ He Yi then shifted her gaze to Xue Lu and stared at her for a moment before asking, "Are you Xue Lu?" Xue Lu was just a child before the GGS Asia Region Vice President. Not only was she inferior to He Yi in terms of class and presence, she herself looked completely dumbstruck by He Yi¡¯s beauty. Mouth agape, the only response she could muster was a nod and a "mn¡±. He Yi¡¯s eyes flashed with annoyance as she muttered to herself, "Hmph, so you¡¯re the one who caused Lu Chen to get hurt¡­" By now, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue had caught up to us. Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t look too worried, but Beiming Xue was hugging me tightly and crying loudly, "Big bro, you scared me to death¡­" A smile broke across my face as I gave Beiming Xue¡¯s back a rub. "I¡¯m fine now, aren¡¯t I? Don¡¯t cry, Beiming. It¡¯s safe now." Beiming Xue looked up from my chest and wiped her tears, nodding. "Mn." He Yi shot us a glance before starting quietly. "This case is almost certainly going to be classified as aggravated assault. The good news is that GGS has pretty good connections in Suzhou, and I¡¯ll pay all the necessary ¡®gifts¡¯ to resolve this as best I can. The bad news is Life of Luxury apparently has friends in district public security sub-bureaus and even provincial public security bureaus, so it¡¯s not going to be easy. You may need to stay here for a couple of days before I can get you out." I nodded. It was a simple matter. He Yi¡¯s area of expertise was business, and our enemy¡¯s, politics. Naturally, it was going to take a lot of money, connections and resources to plot for a happy resolution. "Boss, sorry we¡¯ve given you so much trouble¡­" I apologized. He Yi shot me a glance before smiling a little. "It¡¯s fine as long as you¡¯re all safe, and I knew from the start that you¡¯re going to cause me a lot of trouble the moment you rejoined the gang¡­" Everyone laughed until a policeman outside the police station shouted, "Keep your voices down!" ¡­¡­ It was late. He Yi went back with Mingyue and Beiming Xue, while the rest of us were put under criminal detention. On the opposite side of our detention room, Life of Luxury¡¯s lackey hooted, "Just you wait, you bastards! Brother Luxury¡¯s father will make you wish you were dead!" When Gui Guzi heard that, he laughed so hard he was almost in tears. "Hahahaha! That¡¯s right, your ¡®big bro¡¯ is now just an eunuch, courtesy of our Boss Broken Halberd!" ¡­¡­ The verbal PvP continued for a while until around 10 pm or so. We fell asleep when our endurance had reached zero. It was late in the night when a policeman suddenly entered the detention room and said, "Lu Chen, you¡¯re needed at the interrogation room!" "Oh?" I opened my eyes. What¡¯s going on? Why do I have to go to the interrogation room in the middle of the night? Are they going to torture a confession out of me? But I¡¯ve already confessed to everything! Please don¡¯t hurt me... When we reached the interrogation room, the policeman opened the door and waved me in. "Get in!" "??" "Just get inside!" "..." I stepped into the interrogation room and found a young policeman standing by the table. He immediately smiled and walked up to me when he saw me. "Hello, Lu Chen!" "You are?" I shot his badge a look and quickly discovered that it was different from the badges worn by the policemen in this police station. Puzzlement immediately overtook my mind: Who is this guy? The policeman introduced himself. "My name is Li Chengfeng. You probably don¡¯t know me, but I¡¯ve known you for a very long time, Little Heavenly King." I was caught off-guard, but I quickly smiled back. "You play games made by Eternal Moon Corporation too?" "Yeah, I¡¯m a hardcore player in fact¡­" Li Chengfeng smiled. "I started during the endgame of Eternal Moon, played through the entire Spirit of Grief, and now the early stages of Heavenblessed. I¡¯m as hardcore as you can find." "What¡¯s your ID in Eternal Moon and Spirit of Grief?" "That¡¯s not important." Li Chengfeng smiled. "Let¡¯s talk about your case of aggravated assault for a moment. Currently, preliminary diagnosis revealed that Life of Luxury had suffered serious injuries to his groin. Although his life is in no danger, it¡¯s very likely that he has lost his reproduction ability. Even if the case was classified as legitimate defense, this particular attack is definitely too much. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?" I sucked in a deep breath and nodded. "I will bear all the responsibilities of my actions!" "Very good!" Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes glimmered with praise. "Now I can truly believe that you¡¯re that loyal and heroic Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand whose words are worth their weight in gold. No lesser man is deserving of that ID!!" Suddenly, he changed his tune again and let out a chuckle. "To tell you the truth, I can pardon you from your excessive self-defense." "Oh?" I was surprised, but I quickly laughed. "C¡¯mon, man. Life of Luxury has friends in the district public security sub-bureaus and provincial public security bureaus. He could easily lock me up for a couple of years." Li Chengfeng broke into laughter. "Look at me, brother. Do I look like a member of a district public security sub-bureau or provincial public security bureau to you? I¡¯m working for the Ministry of Public Security! I¡¯m only staying at Jiangsu for a couple days because I have some business to take care of. Now, do you still doubt my ability to resolve this? If you¡¯re still worried, I can tell you now that Life of Luxury¡¯s ¡®friend¡¯, his second uncle, is just a section-level employee at a provincial public security bureau. Seriously, this is nothing to me¡­" I stared at his determined eyes before replying, "You¡¯re not helping me for free, are you? Surely you want something from me?" "Haha, I like straightforward people like you!" Li Chengfeng laughed. "That¡¯s right, my request is very simple: I want to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I¡¯ve read the dossier, and I¡¯m sure my time in your guild will be well spent with brothers like Du Thirteen, Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, and you¡­" Relaxing, I nodded. "No problem. I¡¯ll add you to our guild immediately after I go back online. But Xu Yang and Du Thirteen must walk out of the police station unscathed as well." "Alright!" Li Chengfeng nodded and clapped my shoulder once. "Deal!" "Before I forget, what is your ID in Heavenblessed?" "Oh, I¡¯m Legendary Brave." "..." "What¡¯s wrong?" I put my hand on my head. "Why does I feel like I¡¯ve heard that ID from somewhere?" Li Chengfeng smiled enigmatically. "Think harder. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll remember it." "Fuck!" My eyes suddenly turned as wide as saucers. "Are you that Dragon Warrior on Sky City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking?!" Li Chengfeng smiled gladly. "That¡¯s right. From now on, you may call me Legend or Brave. Hehe, I made a great ID, don¡¯t you agree?" I nodded and gave him another long look. Who would¡¯ve thought that something good would come out of this disaster? Not only was Li Chengfeng a special person in real life, he was a pro in Heavenblessed as well. Although I knew he had been guildless for a long time, not in a million years could I have imagined that he would join us under such unusual circumstances! Long story short, not only did Du Thirteen regain his old flame, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls even gained a new general thanks to this. This fight was 100% worth it! I extended my hand toward him and smiled. "As the vice leader, I formally accept your request to join our guild. Welcome to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Brave!" Li Chengfeng shook my hand and smiled back. "Good midnight to you too, vice leader. Would you like to eat supper with me?" "But I¡¯m being detained right now¡­" "Not a problem, one line from me and you and your friends will be freed immediately!" "Does this count as illegal favoritism?" "Hahaha, that¡¯s a good joke, vice leader¡­" Li Chengfeng spread his arms. "The interrogation is finished, and we came to the conclusion that you and your friends were just defending yourselves from harm. Therefore, it¡¯s totally just and righteous to help you however I can, amirite? If you think that¡¯s too much, I can spin it another way. It¡¯s the duty of every citizen to punish evil, and what you did today is definitely enough to win you a Model Citizen Medal. So what reason do I have to keep you detained, pray tell?" "You truly are smooth-tongued¡­" "Hahaha, c¡¯mon, let¡¯s go get Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi and Xu Yang already. I¡¯ll take you all to supper and drive you all back to your homes afterward!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ As it turned out, Li Chengfeng was being literal when he said he could free us in just one line. It almost felt awkward until we remembered that we were a bunch of good, righteous citizens who totally deserved to be freed. And so we all headed out to enjoy a good drink. Even Du Thirteen managed to down half a glass of beer despite his injuries. Xue Lu absolutely refused to let him drink any more after that. The food at the roadside stalls smelled especially nice at midnight, and everyone was hungry again after everything that had happened earlier. The supper continued until everyone was full, and it was some time in the early morning. Li Chengfeng dispatched a police car to send the boys back to the base, while he personally drove me to Frost Cloud workshop and dropped me at the entrance of the district. He smiled. "I¡¯ll go online the moment I head back. See you at the plaza at the eastern gate of Sky City in 30 minutes, vice leader!" "Yeah!" I nodded and watched Li Chengfeng drive away. Then, I slowly walked up the stairs to our apartment. When I opened the door, I heard He Yi talking to someone on the phone. "OMG, this Bureau Chief Wang is so greedy. 5 million RMB? Hmph! He sure knows how to kick a person when they¡¯re down¡­ Oh well, 5 million it is¡­" "Eve?" I called out to her softly. He Yi blinked in disbelief when she looked up and saw me. Then, she abruptly jumped into my lap and laughed excitedly. "Lu Chen, did you break out of the police station or something?" I nearly vomited blood at her "high praise¡±. Wrapping my own arms around her, I said, "No, we just ran into an unexpected benefactor, that¡¯s all. He was a member of the Ministry of Public Security, and he released us on the spot¡­" "Ah? How is that possible?" I briefly told her about Li Chengfeng, and she replied excitedly, "OMG, the Legendary Brave is a member of the Ministry of Public Security? Thank goodness! I can¡¯t even begin to tell you how much money and energy he saved me. Oh, this is wonderful¡­" My beautiful guild leader could barely control her excitement as she hugged me tightly. I was smiling myself. Everything had happened like a dream: me and my friends escaping jail time, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls recruiting a new general. ¡­¡­ He Yi felt burning hot in my arms. She stared at me with her gorgeous eyes for a moment before closing them. I froze. She pressed her lips to mine before I could do anything. An unbelievable warmth spread across my lips as He Yi shuddered in my arms. I myself felt like my mind was blown away as I hugged her like I was about to drown in her soft body. We leaned against the window as moonlight spilled across He Yi¡¯s long hair and trembling eyelashes. The kiss lasted almost half a minute as I hugged her tightly, feeling her longing for me pouring into my flesh like it was a tangible thing. In that moment, time seemed to have come into a stop, and the brilliance that was He Yi seemed to last for eternity. ¡­¡­ A while later, He Yi pushed me away gently before smiling. "I have to fly for America tomorrow, and it¡¯ll be a long while before I come back. You¡¯d better miss me everyday, you hear?" Caught off-guard, I asked, "When exactly are you returning?" "I don¡¯t know, but¡­ just so you know, I don¡¯t mind if you choose to remember or forget this¡­" He Yi stared longingly at me again before pressing her hand to my chest. She then smiled and said, "Since I¡¯m leaving tomorrow, I¡¯m going to leave a permanent spell in your soul. From this moment onward, no matter where you go, no matter who you choose to marry in the future, you will always think about me on a rainy day, and your heart will hurt slightly because of it." ¡­¡­ Chapter 335: X12 It was really late, but I went online. It was time to fulfill my promise. Swhoosh! I appeared in the inn of Sky City and walked out while carrying the Purgatory Sword. I went to the auction house first to sell off the remaining fifty or so items I had failed to sell before the birthday party. I set most of the prices to automatic valuation except those that added Attack and Tactics. This way, I wouldn¡¯t make a loss. ¡­¡­ Beep! System Notice: Player "Legendary Brave" has sent you a friend request. Do you accept? I confirmed the request, and the ID "Legendary Brave" appeared in my friend list. I immediately spotted a warrior in blue metal armor at the distance even before I reached the plaza. He was hugging a glowing sword and leaning lazily against a wall. He was holding a blade of leaf in his mouth, and his eyes were missing the kind of sharpness you would expect from a top-tier player. And yet for all his attempt to keep a low profile, he still managed to give off an unusual vibe. I was surprised. He really was Legendary Brave, the legendary Dragon Warrior. Despite being a famous profile in Sky City, he was a real enigma. Most people didn¡¯t even know how he looked like, let alone the leveling maps he frequented, his skill, his equipment and so on. I walked up to him and greeted him with a smile, "I¡¯m here, Brave!" "Hi there, boss!" Legendary Brave straightened himself and patted away the dust on his cape. He asked, "So, how do I look? Not bad, right?" I swept him a glance and smiled. "This sword is Purple Gold¨Cgrade, right? And your chest armor is probably Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade." "Haha, well spotted!" Legendary Brave smiled approvingly. "I got this sword from a Level 95 boss. Its Attack is pretty good, although it¡¯s a shame that it isn¡¯t Outstanding equipment, making it much weaker than your Purgatory Sword. And yes, this metal armor is 1-star Outstanding and Dark Gold¨Cgrade. Its Defense is as strong as you imagine it to be." I nodded and sent him a guild invitation. Ding~! Guild Notice: Player "Legendary Brave" has joined your guild! ¡­¡­ An uproar immediately broke out in the guild channel¡ª Chaos Moon: Wow! Did Legendary Brave really join our guild?" Xu Yang: "Welcome to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Brother Chengfeng!" Wolf Fang: "What can¡¯t we do now that we have the Dragon Warrior on our side?" Legendary Brave: "Hehe, hello everyone! You can call me Brave. Dragon Warrior sounds cool, but it¡¯s really not that impressive to be honest. The class adds a couple of offensive skills, but in essence it¡¯s the same as your standard warrior. It¡¯s really inferior to both Undead Swordsman and Undead Knight¡­" Chaos Moon: "I¡¯m too excited to fall asleep right now¡­" "..." Legendary Brave let out a laugh before teasing me. "Boss, you seem pretty popular with the girls in the guild, huh? Looks like the Protoss Genius Falling Dust is as loved as the rumors say¡­" I replied embarrassedly, "Fuck, et tu, Brave?" "Haha!" Legendary Brave then pulled out his sword and said, "Boss, I¡¯m heading off to grind some levels if there¡¯s nothing else. I have to catch a flight to Beijing tomorrow, and I¡¯m planning to grind now and sleep on the plane later. Also¡­ it¡¯s best if you leave me out of any level-grinding events. I¡¯m more used to grinding alone." I rolled my eyes at him. "No way! You¡¯re our Dragon Warrior, the future pillar of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! It¡¯s not right for you to skip events!" "Hahaha, it¡¯s fine, I¡¯m not good with such events, so it¡¯s better if you leave me out of this!" Legendary Brave smiled and looked at me. "Also, this is exactly why I joined you. Falling Dust will definitely carry Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to the top, so all I need to do is enjoy the guild¡¯s fruits of labor. Hmm? The guild has a buff? War Holy Temple¡­ 10% attack power boost? Haha, this is awesome! I had definitely made the right decision!" I nodded. Suddenly, I turned serious and asked, "Brave, Ancient Sword is destined to be enemies with Candle Dragon. Aren¡¯t you afraid of Candlelight Shadow?" Legendary Brave replied with a calm smile, "Candlelight Shadow? Who¡¯s that?" "Hahaha!" I laughed at his response. "Hahaha¡­" Unfortunately, only the two of us knew what we were laughing about, so the stall owners around us stared at us and muttered to themselves, "Fuck, these two high-level players must be crazy or something¡­" Li Chengfeng left to go grind levels, and I went straight for the inn to log off. After spending half a day battling for the divine site and getting involved in a real fight in real life, I was so tired I could die to say the least. Before I logged off, I checked the system window and noted that all four divine sites had been occupied by a guild. War Holy Temple belonged to Ancient Swords Dreaming Souls, Pegasus Spring belonged to Snowy Cathaya, Dragon Blood Fortress belonged to Warsky Alliance, and Giant Rock Cave belonged to Hegemon Palace. The poor veteran guilds of Floating Ice City¡ªGods of Destruction, Mad Dragon and Flower Room¡ªgot nothing despite throwing all their manpower into the contest. Not only that, they all lost a considerable amount of manpower, levels, and equipment because of it. I fell asleep the second I logged out of the game. ¡­¡­ When I woke up the next day, it was already 8:30 in the morning. I walked out only to be greeted by the sight of He Yi¡¯s empty room. Not only was she gone, she didn¡¯t leave even an article of clothing behind. Caught off-guard, it took me a while to recover and say, "She left? Why didn¡¯t she wake me up¡­" "Because she¡¯s afraid of you, duh." Murong Mingyue chuckled from behind me. I turned around to face her and asked, "She¡¯s afraid of me? Why?" Murong Mingyue shot me a long look before replying, "She¡¯s afraid that you¡¯ll tell her to stay when her last line of rationale is almost non-existent in the first place. Do you have idea how close she was to abandoning everything and opting to stay with you, you bastard..." I pressed my lips together but said nothing. Now it was Murong Mingyue¡¯s turn to glare at me. "For fuck¡¯s sake, what¡¯s with the sour expression? Eve may be gone, but I¡¯m still here, right?" "It¡¯s nothing¡­" "Well, tell me your plans. Eve is gone, so it¡¯s up to us vice leaders to take care of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. You don¡¯t want her to return to a devastated guild, right?" I thought for a moment before answering, "For now, the guild is doing very well. The War Holy Temple buff should help everyone level up quickly for the upcoming month, and we¡¯re recently joined by new blood such as High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and Legendary Brave. All in all, the guild¡¯s developing healthily. For now, my only plan is to seek out Xinran at the Violet Empire and see if I can find a class trainer there. It¡¯s been a long time since I learned a new skill from a trainer¡­" Murong Mingyue smiled teasingly. "Oh, you poor pitiful child. Is that your plan for the morning?" "Actually, no. I¡¯m going to go to a 4S automotive shop and buy a car. I don¡¯t want to have to borrow your car every time I need to drive." "Oh, that¡¯s cool. What are you going to buy? Should I come with you and help haggle down the price?" "Sure. I¡¯m going to buy a BMW X12¡­" "Really? That¡¯s quite expensive. The deluxe model will cost you around 1.2 million, you know?" "It¡¯s fine. I like it fancy¡­" Murong Mingyue watched me warily. "Damn, you¡¯re not planning to use it to catch some girls in the university, are you?" "Of course not¡­" I stared at her. "All the girls in Frost Cloud workshop are top-class beauties. Why on earth would I opt for some less attractive women in the university instead?" "I know right? Glad to see you haven¡¯t lost all your conscience!" ¡­¡­ An extremely busy morning later, I finally managed to drive my brand new black-colored X12 into the district¡¯s parking lot. Long story short, the car was fast, cool, and handsome, so much so that Beiming Xue let out a girlish scream and dove straight into the passenger¡¯s seat, eager to test out the ride herself. "How much is this car, Sister Mingyue?" Beiming Xue asked. Murong Mingyue replied, "Just short of a million yuan." "OMG, that¡¯s expensive¡­" "No worries, your brother can afford it." Me: "..." Well, she was speaking the truth. I was one of the best players in Heavenblessed be it in terms of level, equipment, or both, and income wasn¡¯t a problem as long as I maintained my lead, a problem that I wasn¡¯t worried about at all. Right now Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was as bright as the sun in Sky City, and I was absolutely confident in our ability to protect ourselves even if Candle Dragon were to attack us right now! My biggest source of confidence came from our top-tier experts, namely Legendary Brave, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, and so on. If Candle Dragon dared to show their faces, I promise to chase them for a thousand miles and kick them out of our borders! ¡­¡­ I took Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue for a spin around the city in my brand new X12. Then, we ate lunch at a dry pot shop. My phone suddenly rang while we were eating. It was Lin Yixin! "Hey, Yiyi. What is it?" Lin Yixin sounded incredibly urgent. "Lu Chen, you got into a fight last night, didn¡¯t you? It¡¯s all over the forums, you know. How are you doing? Are you still in the detention room?" I replied in astonishment, "Uh, no? I¡¯m eating duck head dry pot at Renmin Road right now¡­" Lin Yixin: "..." "Yiyi? What¡¯s wrong?" Lin Yixin groaned. "You¡­ you! I was so worried I almost cried, and you¡¯re telling me that you¡¯re eating duck head dry pot without me? Bring me with you next time¡­" "Uh, right, right¡­" "Well, that¡¯s all I have to say, I guess. Talk to you later after you come online!" "Yeah." ¡­¡­ I hung up the call and looked up. I was immediately greeted by a knowing grin from Murong Mingyue. "Wow, he got a mistress the second Eve left the house¡­" I said, "It¡¯s just Lin Yixin, dammit." "Look at him protecting his ¡®food¡¯ like an overeager dog¡­" "Seriously, less talking, more eating!" "Hehe!" It looked like teasing me had become one of Murong Mingyue¡¯s biggest pleasures in life. Heck, it might even have evolved into one of her life pursuits at this point. Had I not developed sufficient resistance through contact with super beauties like Lin Yixin and He Yi, I would¡¯ve succumbed to this pretty and voluptuous woman a long time ago. ¡­¡­ By the time we returned to the workshop, it was already past 1 pm. After logging into the game, I immediately set my sights on Violet Empire, the new city of Blood Dance Legion. I was curious to know how they were doing right now, and as a member of the Blood Dance Legion myself, surely someone in the Violet Empire would take me in as their disciple, right? Chapter 336: Thunder God Hammer Rustle... I walked near the border of Sky Forest. Nearby, there was an NPC farm. The breeze blew through the wheat fields, causing wheat stalks to sway. The wind carried the scent of the field and made people feel relaxed. I carried the Purgatory Sword slanted across my armored back. I held a wooden stick in one hand as I confidently plucked a green leaf from the roadside and chewed it as I used the stick to beat the inky green flowers along the bushes. I was in an extremely good mood. ¡­¡­ I looked down. The dragon scales of my obsidian armor gleamed under the light. I couldn''t help but touch my chest. A trembling voice echoed in my mind¡ª "Since I¡¯m leaving tomorrow, I¡¯m going to leave a permanent spell in your soul. From this moment onward, no matter where you go, no matter who you choose to marry in the future, you will always think about me on a rainy day, and your heart will hurt slightly because of it." ¡­¡­ I shuddered and froze there. He Yi''s face and smile appeared in my mind. She was on the other side of the ocean now? Was she happy today? While my heart wasn''t in pain, I could clearly sense that I missed her greatly in less than 10 hours. Maybe, having He Yi always by me for a fortnight was a luxury. He Yi was the GGS Asia¡¯s Vice President. A woman like this couldn¡¯t be held down by one person. At least, she could not always keep me company. Whoosh... I exhaled. When I looked up, I found a soaring black city standing in the valley in front of me. It was just a bit smaller than Sky City. However, it was better than Floating Ice City. The walls were dozens of meters high and extremely thick. The defensive ability of this city far surpassed Floating Ice City! I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. It was already Level 68 now. This couldn''t have been avoided as it had died a few times in the divine site battles. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf howled softly as it closely followed me. Its eyes looked with some fear toward Violet City. It seemed to be innately terrified of this city that belonged to the undead. The little wolf was an Epic Rank boss pet. It would definitely be cautious of undead beings. Also, it was so low-level that some NPCs could easily kill it. It would be strange if it wasn''t afraid. I patted the little wolf''s head and said, "Don''t be afraid, you¡¯re one of ours!" The little wolf became much calmer and started to sway its head. ¡­¡­ I showed the insignia of the Blood Dance Legion on my shoulder and easily entered the city. I sprinted until I reached the front of the palace. I looked up. A statue of an enormous blood-colored sword seemed to charge into the sky from the inner courtyard of the palace. This represented the coldness and resilience of the Blood Dance Legion. This structure was so magnificent it rivaled Sky City! Before even entering the palace, the two guards knelt on one knee respectfully and said, "Sir!" I didn¡¯t speak and led the little wolf into the palace. My military rank in the Blood Dance Legion seemed to have reached the fifth rank, Ash Knight. I counted as a local official. Mn, this felt so good. I could enter the city unimpeded! I trekked through the forest paths. When I reached the outside of the palace hall, a group of high-level undead guards were standing on two sides. They looked at me with fierce expressions, their gazes flashing with distrust and doubt. I was careful and continued to advance forward with a dark expression. I went up the stairs into the hall. As expected, there were no thrones in the hall, just Princess Sophia standing under the emblem of the Violet Empire as she looked down on the officials at the side with a hand on her sword. When I walked into the hall, an NPC soldier immediately came over. It was the Shadow Dancer, Xue Wei! "You came!" Xue Wei nodded and smiled. "Her Majesty has frequently mentioned you to me. I hadn''t expected you to come here today!" I nodded. "Xue Wei, where is Xinran?" "Lady Wind Singer?" Xue Wei stilled and gave a secretive smile. "Lady Wind Singer is in a holy place, and temporarily cannot meet you..." I insisted. "But I want to meet her..." "Then..." Xue Wei hesitated and sighed. "Never mind. She should be willing to see you. Come with me!" "Yes!" Xue Wei led me out of the hall to the magic altar behind the hall. Then she said to the old white-haired mages. "Come, open the teleportation formation to the God Domain!" "Yes, my lord!" The old mages began casting a spell and the light of their magic power flowed into the magic stone. An enormous presence of magic surged toward the center of the formation. Soon after, the teleportation formation took form. Xue Wei laughed softly. "Come with me!" "Yes." I was shocked inside. God Domain? Why would Xinran be in the God Domain? Wasn''t the God Domain the highest level the players pursued? What¡¯s going on? ¡­¡­ I stepped into the magic formation full of doubts. In the next moment, my body was torn apart into light that traveled through space! Whoosh! It was dark. I had reached another world! I looked up and was stunned. It was a vast and miserable valley in front of me. The valley was full of corpses, and not ones belonging to humans. Did this seem like a God Domain? It was... like a divine graveyard. The dead were not ordinary people, but ancient gods! Seeing my shocked expression, Xue Wei smiled and pointed at an enormous corpse nearby with a giant sword. The corpse was about ten meters tall, and looked like a statue. The blood and flesh had rotted to leave behind white bones glinting with silver light. However, the intimidating majesty still remained. The golden armor had not been erased by time. "This is the corpse of the ancient Battle God Othyus..." Xue Wei said with a smile. I took a deep breath. As expected, in Heavenblessed''s information, Battle Gods were the strongest of the God Domain. And yet, one of them forfeited their life here... I looked onward and saw a deep gully heading into the distance. At the end of the gully, a staff shining with silver light was stuck into the stone, the owner nowhere to be found. Xue Wei said, "This is the scepter of the Ice Goddess. However, only her Ice Scepter is left here. Her body was shattered by the evil spirits..." I was shocked. The Ice Goddess had passed away? I looked forward, and saw an arm appear on the mountain ridge. The arm bone was holding an enormous heavy battle hammer which flashed with lightning. The power contained within was astounding. Xue Wei smiled. "This is the corpse of the Thunder God. During the battle of devils and gods, he used the Thunder God Hammer to kill three enemy leaders. But in the end, his arm was cut off. The Thunder God, having lost his hammer, was pushed into Purgatory, his soul never to be redeemed." I shuddered. "Who was the enemy able to kill so many gods?" Xue Wei shook her head. "This is something that happened tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago. I was not born then and thus do not know." I looked at the Thunder God Hammer and said, "This is a divine weapon?" "Mn." Xue Wei nodded. "Yes, an ancient divine weapon. It possesses great power. However... These are cursed weapons. Their masters have passed away, and these divine items will not let themselves be wielded by anyone. Otherwise, they will bring down eternal curses that you can never break free of..." I reached out to grab the hilt of the Thunder God Hammer. Immediately, a vast power surged into my body. My eyes lit up. "Could I..." "No!" Xue Wei''s voice was very firm. I grabbed on to the hilt of the divine weapon. "I want it..." Xue Wei grabbed at my arm desperately. "No, you really cannot take it..." ¡­¡­ At this time, a crisp voice came from the sky. "What are you doing?" "Ah?" Xue Wei and I looked up and found a beautiful young girl standing there in the wind. She held a spear brimming with dragon energy. Her black armor shone with bloody light. Her beautiful face was confused as she looked at me who was holding the Thunder God Hammer and Shadow Dancer Xue Wei who was grabbing me. "It''s all because of you!" Xue Wei stuck out her tongue and turned to look respectfully at Xinran. She said, "Lady Wind Singer, he requested to meet you!" "Oh?" Xinran gave a smile. "Big brother, you finally came to find me?" I nodded. "Xinran,why did you come to this remote place..." "..." Xinran was speechless. A few seconds later, she said, "I am working to open the sealed Door of Darkness. Maybe I can save the tormented souls of these gods..." "Oh, really?" "Yes!" Xue Wei also nodded and said, "After we used the Devil Suppressing Sword to seal the door to the Devil Domain, we discovered the entrance to the God Domain. Therefore, Lady Wind Singer came here in search of the legendary Door of Darkness. If we find the Door of Darkness, we may be able to awaken the souls of these gods!" I was shocked. I suddenly understood that Xinran was no longer the little loli holding a corner of my robe. Xinran had grown into someone with an important mission. ¡­¡­ Seeing my shocked face, Xinran landed lightly and stood next to me. She held my arm as always and said, "Big brother, you have anything to say?" "No?" "Then why did you come find me?" "Ugh..." I hesitated for a few seconds and said, "I just wanted to see if you can find a suitable trainer for me. Last time, at Frost Mound, I... killed Suren..." Xinran laughed. "Big brother, you killed Suren for me?" "Err... yeah..." ¡­¡­ Seeing my embarrassment, Xinran grinned. She thought for a moment and said, "There aren¡¯t many who are strong enough to become your trainer. However, I have a candidate. I just don''t know if you¡¯d be willing..." "Who?" Chapter 337: Rinser I was extremely excited and grabbed Xinran''s shoulder armor. I asked urgently, "Xinran, you really have someone suitable to introduce to me as a trainer?" "Yes!" Xinran nodded seriously and said, "That person possesses great power and is an undead who does not fear power. He is loyal to the Blood Dance Legion. However, that person has a strange temper, and big brother, you may have some difficulties." "No problem. As long as I have a teacher to learn skills from, nothing is a problem!" "Yes, alright!" Xinran laughed softly. "He lives on the snowy peak of Dragonbone Mountain Range. His name is Rinser. You¡¯ll be able to find him in the Snow Domain!" I nodded. "Then I¡¯m off!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I took out a return scroll and crushed it! Swhoosh! I appeared in Sky City and then ran down the sky stairs without stopping. In a blink, I was on the ground. I sprinted toward Dragonbone Mountain Range with my sword. When I looked up, the Dragonbone Mountain Range wrapped around Sky City''s land. However, there weren¡¯t many peaks with snow on them, only a stretch of about two miles. It shouldn''t be much of a problem to find this Rinser. I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. I fought and killed along the way to level the little wolf! At this time, I thought of Lin Yixin. She was also online, and so I sent a chat request. A few seconds later, it connected, and the soft panting of the beauty on the other side came. "What are you doing?" "Killing a cow." "What kind of cow?" "A cow from Moomoo Mountain..." "..." Lin Yixin giggled and said, "Lu Chen, what happened last night? Based on Li Le''s personality, he wouldn¡¯t proactively provoke people offline. His father wouldn¡¯t allow him to do as he pleased." I told her about the complicated relationship between Du Thirteen, Xue Lu, Life of Luxury, and Li Le. "This Xue Lu... What kind of girl is she?" Lin Yixin was confused. "Even if she¡¯s alone and helpless, she can just go to the police and return to Suzhou. Why does she have to be a kept woman? Did she have to go to that kind of bar to work after returning to Suzhou?" I smiled. "People are different. Some people have no abilities but admire that kind of life. And so, they make sacrifices. Xue Lu... yeah, she¡¯s not easy to talk about. Maybe she was too young then, and her vanity surpassed everything?" Lin Yixin still couldn''t understand. "Even if it was vanity, she was first with Li Le, and then with Life of Luxury. These two know each other. What was she thinking?" My mind was in chaos. "This... How would I know? Maybe they¡¯re comparing techniques or something..." Lin Yixin said, "Never mind, what are you doing now?" "Going to Dragonbone Mountain Range!" "Not going there to die, I¡¯m going to find a new class trainer. Xinran said there¡¯s a powerful undead who hates evil in the Dragonbone Mountain Range suitable to be my trainer, so I had to go. You know that I¡¯m Level 97 now. I¡¯ll soon be Level 100 and reach my fourth class promotion. I would lose a lot without a trainer!" "Haha, you finally thought of finding a class trainer. I thought you would stay wild until Level 150!" "Fuck, who¡¯s staying wild..." "You!" "I..." ¡­¡­ I swallowed and said, "Yiyi, who is your trainer? The goddess deep in the glaciers?" "No! My trainer is the Wanderer Trainer in Sky City. The goddess was just responsible for passing me holy energy, not a trainer." "Then have you gone to see your goddess again?" "No, the map was refreshed. The glaciers there disappeared. I don''t know what happened, it seemed to have sunk into the ground." "Alright, I¡¯m going to find my trainer. Continue doing your thing!" "Okay, let''s eat together when we are free, your treat!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I closed the chat and continued to travel. After nearly an hour, I reached Dragonbone Mountain Range. The mountains stretched for nearly a hundred kilometers, and surrounded more than half of Sky City. It was the mother mountain range of Sky City. Also, there were many varied monsters in the mountain range, their levels between 100 and 155. Some of the mobs there might be even higher. This place was bound to become the main leveling ground for high-level players in the future. I followed along the mountain path upward. Soon after, wild bears covered in metal shells appeared in the forest. They were called Armored Bears. Level 105 elite monsters. Their Attack and Defense were strong, but their shortcoming was attack speed and movement speed which were low. Overall, they were easy to kill. Clang clang clang! The Purgatory Sword tore apart the Armored Bear''s armor with a spray of sparks. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf charged forward and bit the Armored Bear''s neck until it died. It also tore a piece of meat off the corpse and started to chew it happily. The language of the beasts was just too savage! Pfft! Ice Ray penetrated the wild bear''s back. I pulled out my longsword and raised my hand for Death Plunder. This elite monster had a pretty good loot table. I would get something every time I used Death Plunder. It was different from high-level bosses, who in 99% of the cases wouldn¡¯t give me anything for my troubles! Of course, the game design was logical for the balance of the game. Otherwise, Death Plunder would become my regular tool for killing bosses. I would have two drops for killing a boss once. The other players wouldn¡¯t want to live if they knew. I moved about slowly, taking my time to kill the monsters around. I needed to level up anyway, and these monsters yielded considerable EXP and items. Grinding them was bound to be enjoyable. I fought until the evening. I ate dinner and continued to kill. After the trip, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf had reached Level 82 and grown very quickly. Its stats were madly strong¡ª Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf (Epic Rank Boss) Level: 82 Attack: 1640 Defense: 1476 HP: 16400 Agility: 2460 Skills: Flurry Dance, Greedy Wolf Howl ¡­¡­ It had 1640 Attack, not any less than me. Its Defense was 1476, about the same as me when I activated the Ghost Deity Armor and Enhanced Bones. Its HP was 16400, almost three times my HP. This little wolf had no doubt grown into an essential offensive tank! "Roar roar!" Under a low pine tree, the Level 82 little wolf bit at a Level 115 elite Demon Antelope. It was like a lover who suddenly met after being separated for many years. Its obsession and enthusiasm with meat made me blush in shame! The Demon Antelope was displeased, and gave the little wolf a four-hit Flurry with its horn. Four damage numbers immediately rose¡ª 3874! 3954! 3675! 3761! The string of numbers almost killed the little wolf. I was given a fright. Level 115 elite monsters were really strong. It was 33 levels higher than the little wolf. Due to level suppression the mob basically ignored little wolf¡¯s stats who almost lost its teeth and howled, running away. I charged, and used Ice Ray into War Crush. The Purgatory Sword thrust out, and a series of attacks killed the Demon Antelope. The little wolf''s HP slowly came back. This was displeasing. The pet''s regeneration had not improved. Like now, the little wolf needed 2 minutes to recover to full HP after its HP was almost empty. It was so slow. It couldn''t keep up with the demand. After this, I started to avoid monsters as I advanced. The higher I went, the higher level the mobs became. Soon, Level 120 elite monsters appeared. Then, the mobs reached such high levels that I couldn¡¯t inspect their stats! I recalled the little wolf back into the pet space. I started to use Earth Escape to avoid aggroing the monsters. Further into the mountain range, monsters might have even reached Level 150. If I was seen, those high-level mountain antelopes that looked like alpacas would charge and use War Stampede. That wasn¡¯t something I could take! After suffering for nearly two hours, I finally came to the snowy peak area. This was about two kilometers of snow. Luckily, there were no monsters here. I left the Earth Escape state and cautiously checked my surroundings as I ventured forward. I couldn¡¯t afford to be careless. Any elite monster, or even a normal monster at Level 155 could kill me with a single skill. I only had slightly over 5000 HP. The disparity was just too great. I didn¡¯t even walk half of the flat snowy area when I suddenly felt the mountain under me started to shake violently! An earthquake? I pulled out the Purgatory Sword. I didn''t care whether it was an earthquake or not. I stabbed the sword into the ground. I thought that if I hugged the sword hilt, I wouldn''t be thrown to Mars. But then at this time, small bumps appeared in the snow in front of me that then broke apart. Black skeleton soldiers burrowed out. Shit, high-level ones too! Fuck, there were monsters?! I held my sword and was going to attack when a trembling voice sounded. "Young undead from afar, why have you come to this snowy domain?" I looked up and saw an old guy with a staff floating in the air and slowly landed. He wore a grand robe, and was wrapped in wind blades. The line above his head broke my heart¡ª Bone Soul Rinser (Epic Rank NPC) Level: ??? Introduction: An undead holy magus who has lived for tens of thousands of years. He possesses great power, and has accepted Queen Sophia''s request. Bone Soul Rinser has become the first royal holy magus of the newborn Violet Empire. He commands all mages in the realm, and is a respected elder. ¡­¡­ Gulp! I swallowed. This Rinser appeared unusually powerful. His intimidating presence made me want to strip naked. But... but I need a close-combat trainer. This guy is a mage. What is this trap?! Chapter 338: Double Cultivation of Magic and Martial Arts The undead holy magus Rinser had a pair of eyes with dead gray color. He looked coolly at me and said, "Young undead, who are you?" I was conflicted inside. Did I want this holy magus as my trainer? But I was a true warrior. If I became a mage, what would my future be? But I couldn¡¯t continue like this without a trainer. If that happened, I¡¯d fall behind others. After the fourth class promotion at Level 100, each class would have powerful skills to learn. If I stopped moving forward, I¡¯d fall behind and be eliminated sooner or later. Finally, I decided and looked up at Rinser. I said, "Xinran told me to find you. She said you can become my trainer!" "Xinran? Oh, the Wind Singer..." Rinser laughed. "I do not know if the reawakening of the Wind Singer is good or bad for the continent. However, I will seriously consider what the Wind Singer has handed over. Boy, let me ask you, are you willing to become a mage?" I shook my head. "No, I am a warrior!" "Hmph!" Rinser said coolly, "Since it is like this, you can go back whence you came!" I said, "Xinran said that if you don¡¯t accept me she will come and turn this old nest of yours over..." "..." Rinser''s old body shook slightly. A smile appeared on his withered face. The bark-like wrinkles looked worse than old tree bark. "Ha, young warrior, I was just joking. If this is the case, then I will give you another choice. Are you willing to become a magic warrior?" "Magic warrior?" I was shocked. "What is a magic warrior?" Rinser looked dismissively at me, and then looked up at the sky. He said in a trembling voice, "These warriors who break through the boundary of life and death to perfectly fuse magic and martial skills are blessed by the gods. They can possess powerful magic attack skills. Now, you have this opportunity!" "Ha?" I glared. "A merging of magic and martial skill... Is that possible?" "Hmph, why not?" Rinser floated to the ground, his withered hand pressing on my shoulder. HIs gaze was full of confidence as he laughed softly. "Child, since I have decided to become your trainer, your guiding light, then I can first teach you some magic strength understanding. Come, see the power of magic and martial skill!" After a ding, a box for learning skills appeared in front of me. There was only one skill to be learned¡ª Dragon Rock Fireball: Gathers a tremendous amount of flame energy that deals massive damage to a single target 1 to 40 yards away from the user. Attack power is determined by the user¡¯s Magic Attack. Level Requirement: 90. Cost: 2000 Reputation, 5000 gold! ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, this was drastically different from the skills normal mages learned. The name was magnificent. I don''t know what it would be like when I learned it! Immediately, there was another "ding". System Notice: Please choose one of your current skills to fuse with! Damn, it could be fused! Dragon Rock Fireball was a single-target skill. Let me fuse it with a close-range attack. I couldn''t use something like Thousand Mirage Slash. If the result wasn¡¯t that good, I would be losing out! I looked around. Desperate Gambit was a high-damage skill that I didn''t bear to part with. Ice Ray was a control skill that decreased movement speed, a trump card to kill bosses. I also didn''t want to part with it. Thousand Mirage Slash, Purple Dragon Howl, Deterrence, Pardon, I didn''t want to lose any of them. I looked around. Yes, only Slayer Slash could be fused. Slayer Slash''s attack power wasn''t low, but it didn''t have any other special properties. It was the one! I chose to fuse Slayer Slash with Dragon Rock Fireball. In the next moment, Rinser closed his eyes. The specks of light flew from his palm under guidance of his magic and landed on my shoulder. I felt great strength pouring into my body, as if he was forcefully stuffing me with mana. In a few minutes, the bell of the system echoed¡ª "Ding!" System Notice: Congratulations, your skill Slayer Slash has successfully fused with Dragon Rock Fireball. You have produced a new skill¡ªDragon Slaying Slash! ¡­¡­ Dragon Slaying Slash? The name sounded very sharp... I was overjoyed and hurriedly opened my skill list. As expected, a new skill had appeared¡ªDragon Slaying Slash. I opened it to look. It seemed very strong. Dragon Slaying Slash: Gathers a tremendous amount of energy and summons an energy blade that deals massive damage to a single target 1 to 40 yards away from the user. Resulting damage is determined by the user¡¯s Attack. Cooldown: 1 second. MP cost: 50. ¡­¡­ Slayer Slash had completely vanished in exchange for a long-range physical skill. Undoubtedly, I had profited. Forty yards of attack range, and the attack damage was based on physical damage. The cooldown time was 1 second, so it basically had no cooldown. It was a skill that could be used repeatedly! This Dragon Slaying Slash would become a nightmare for archers and mages. Picking them off from far away was no longer a dream! I was extremely excited and hurriedly locked onto a snow-covered pine as a target. I released the Dragon Slaying Slash! The Purgatory Sword was shrouded in blood-red. A great power appeared on my left arm. I raised my hand, my magic power howling out. In the next moment, a cyan blade appeared in the air and smashed onto the pine like lightning! Boom! Snow flew. The pine was split into pieces. The power of Dragon Slaying Slash was unquestionable. It was much stronger than the single-target close-range Slayer Slash. This was so nice. One Slayer Slash in exchange for such a powerful attack. I¡¯ve struck gold! ¡­¡­ At this time, Rinser showed a gratified expression. He looked at me. "Child, you have great comprehension. Now, will you take on my inheritance?" I nodded. "Yes, trainer!" "Oh, no no, I am not your trainer right now." Rinser''s eyes flashed with cunning as he smiled. "You must complete a quest before I officially become your trainer, and give you the other magic skills. This quest will be slightly difficult. Are you willing to accept?" Did this have to be said? To become stronger, to become the legendary dual cultivator of magic and martial arts, all sacrifices were worth it! I nodded, "Yes, Trainer Rinser, I am willing to accept!" "Alright!" Rinser nodded. "After the Violet Empire was restored, everything must start from the beginning. I plan to build the first magic school inside the empire so I need large amounts of magic power and construction plans. Boy, you need to gather equipment containing magic and bring it to me!" Ding~! System Notice: You have accepted the quest [Gather Magic Power]! (Current Quest Rank: A+) Description: The Violet Empire needs a large amount of magic power to build their magic school. You must gather 100 Silver-grade items, none of them below Level 60, and give them to Rinser. As a reward, you will be rewarded with the class inheritance and become a powerful warrior blessed by the gods! ¡­¡­ Gulp! I swallowed. 100 Silver-grade? Was... was this a trap? Where would I even find 100 Silver-grade items? Never mind, I¡¯ll go look in the guild warehouse and then ask friends to get some. It shouldn''t be too hard to gather 100 high-level Silver-grade items. But the quest was so draining. 100 Silver-grade items could be sold for tens of thousands of RMB. This quest was so costly! I looked up at Rinser. The old man was looking seriously at me. As expected, he was the same as those evil corrupt officials. They looked righteous on the outside, but inside, they were bandits. Rinser said, "Go, child. When you need to return here, you can use the teleportation formation of any city! I have set down secret magic marks..." "Okay!" I took out the return scroll and crushed it. I had to go back to Sky City and get 100 Silver-grade items first! Light flashed. I appeared in Sky City. I quickly ran to the warehouse area and chose the guild warehouse. As expected, there were many high-level items. These were all spoils from fighting in the divine site halls and hadn''t yet been distributed. I was the vice leader, and could use them, but there would be tracks left behind! It wouldn¡¯t be alright. I replaced each one with 100 gold, and only took the trash ones. There were only 67 items. The rest were good items I had to leave to the guild players. Otherwise, He Yi would scold me to death when she returned. I looked at the players selling by the city gates. I found each person was extremely blackhearted. A trash Level 70 Silver-grade item was priced at 1000 gold. They were depreciating gold into copper! There was no solution. I sent a message to ask people for equipment. The responses I got were like this¡ª Murong Mingyue: "I put all my equipment into the guild warehouse. How about it, is your sister great?" Beiming Xue: "I sold them all..." Xu Yang: "I gave them all away..." Legendary Brave: "Ahha, vice leader, time has passed so quickly. In 364 days, we will have known each other for a year!" ¡­¡­ It appeared that there was no future in asking for equipment from our people. I could only call Lin Yixin. "Yiyi, I have something to discuss..." "Oh, what is it?" "Sell me 33 Silver-grade items, the cheaper ones..." Lin Yixin was immediately wary. "Why do you need so many Silver-grade items? Do you want to bribe some new girls?" "Fuck, what are you thinking!" I said righteously. "I found a new trainer, this is their red envelope. I need 100 Silver-grade items. I only have 67, so I thought of you..." "Oh? A new trainer..." Lin Yixin laughed excitedly. "Heehee, when can we go slaughter him?" "Damn..." "Haha, just kidding. Where are you? I just happen to be repairing equipment in Sky City. 33 Silver-grade items is nothing, I won¡¯t even ask you for money." "Okay, I¡¯m near the eastern gate of Sky City." "I¡¯ll be right there!" ¡­¡­ Soon after, Lin Yixin''s beautiful figure appeared in the city. She gave me 33 trash Silver-grade items and said, "Enough?" Chapter 339: Thunderous Charge I bade farewell to Lin Yixin and hurriedly went to Sky City''s teleportation formation and opened the selection window. As expected, there was an option to travel to Rinser¡¯s place. The cost was 100 gold. Whatever, it¡¯ll save me the travel. Also, the Dragonbone Mountain Range would be full of high-level monsters again, too dangerous. 100 gold disappeared and with a whoosh I appeared in the snowy domain. Nearby, the holy magus Rinser was smiling benevolently at me. I went forward and handed in the quest. The 100 Silver-grade items from my bag disappeared, turning into a silver stream of light that was absorbed by Rinser! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [Gather Magic Power]. You have gained 100000 EXP, 5000 gold, 3000 Reputation. You also received Bone Soul Rinser''s inheritance and a title¡ªPurgatory Thunder! ¡­¡­ Purgatory Thunder? While this name seemed powerful... I was a swordsman. What did I have to do with thunder? I was puzzled, but Rinser''s identity had changed. When I looked at him, the system showed that he was my class trainer! Okay, never mind that. Let''s see what skills I could learn! I chatted with Rinser and opened the skill learning interface. Two learnable skills appeared¡ª Lightning Spell: Summon a bolt of angry lightning, and deal massive damage to a single target. Level Requirement 90. Learning Cost: 5000 gold, 3000 Reputation. Lightning Spring: Absorbs the power of lightning in the world, quickly recovers MP. Will recover 0.1% MP per second. Level Requirement 90. Learning Cost: 5000 gold, 3000 Reputation. ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, no wonder my new nickname was ¡°Purgatory Thunder¡±. So Rinser was focused on thunder and lightning magic. This was easy to explain! There were two skills, both needing 5000 gold and 3000 Reputation. This tuition was costly. Fortunately, I had enough of both and could afford this cost. I chose the Lightning Spell. Which skill would I fuse it with? This was a major question... I thought about it and then chose Charge. Alright, Charge. I will see what kind of skill would come from adding the Lightning Spell''s effects onto the Charge! Excited, I chose Charge and started the merging. A few seconds later, the system bell rang¡ª "Ding!" System Notice: Congratulations, your skill Charge has successfully fused with Lightning Spell and produced a new skill¡ªThunderous Charge! ¡­¡­ Wow, success! I hurriedly opened the skill menu and looked at the skill''s effects! Thunderous Charge I: Will activate a charge against targets within 5¨C45 yards, and trigger lightning. There is a 50% chance to paralyze the target with lightning, hindering their movement. Effects correspond to skill rank. Cooldown: 25 seconds. MP cost: 50. Powerful! Peerlessly powerful! There was no doubt that this skill was a super helper for PvP and killing bosses. Once the 5-second lightning stun procced and synergized with my Paralysis Ring, my win rate would skyrocket! I was very excited. Charge had been strengthened and my individual power had reached a new level! Onto the next skill. There was also Lightning Spring to learn. Mn, this was a skill to recover MP. Suitable for mages. For me? Slightly useless. My MP wasn¡¯t high, so I could just keep it full with Rank 6 Magic Consumables. What use would I even have for this skill? However, I did have a regeneration skill. Regeneration of the Undead. Since they were both regeneration skills, why shouldn''t I fuse them? Let''s risk it. High risks, high reward! I gritted my teeth and chose Regeneration of the Undead IX. Come, give me a super strong regeneration skill! I confirmed the fusion. Rinser quickly released a magic formation to cover me. Soon, the bell sound came¡ª Ding! System Notice: Congratulations, your skill Regeneration of the Undead has successfully fused with Lightning Spring and produced a new skill¡ªRegeneration of the Undead (Lightning Enhanced)! My eyes widened. The skill name hadn''t changed but it had been enhanced? My heart beat wildly. I opened the skill menu. The green Regeneration of the Undead skill had changed into a beautiful purple. I clicked it and my heart nearly stopped¡ª Regeneration of the Undead (Lightning Enhanced, Passive) I: Regenerates 0.3% HP and MP every second. Recovery speed increases with skill level. No cooldown, no MP cost. ¡­¡­ So strong! Really too strong! The enhanced Rank 1 version would regenerate 0.3% HP every second, 200% more compared to before. Based on the common rank scaling, it would become 3% per second at Rank 10, or 30% in 10 seconds. In about half a minute I could go from red HP back to full. Who could even kill me then? Heehee, other than people with enough damage to one-shot me, it would be too difficult to kill me with my equipment and mechanics! Also, there was the same MP regeneration. This was good. In the future, I didn''t have to carry a lot of consumables when grinding. The time of thrifty leveling has finally arrived! I was overjoyed. These three skill fusion were too strong. After obtaining the Dragon Slaying Slash, Thunderous Charge, and enhanced Regeneration of the Undead, my strength had tangibly changed. If I could level up these three skills quickly, challenging and winning against Candlelight Shadow wouldn''t be a dream! I talked to Rinser again. The magus didn¡¯t have any more skills to give! Helplessly, I asked, "Old Rin, my class needs an upgrade. What do I do? What does the future have in store for me?" Rinser sniggered and said, "You have a future alright. I am a famed holy magus of this continent. While it¡¯s true that I have been dead for many years, the eternal glory of my name still illuminates the continent. You are but a little Silver Swordsman right now. When you are strong enough, come to me, and I will make you stronger!¡± I looked suspiciously at him. This trainer looked very unreliable and boastful. Eternal glory of my ass. No one knew who you were before. Sigh, why were my trainers all so unreliable? Never mind, I will stay with him for a while. If he pisses me off I can always just take Beauty Lin and kill him! I turned to leave and suddenly felt surprised. When had I changed from an honest youth to someone who killed my teachers? Mn, it must have been due to staying too long with Lin Yixin, and getting infected with her hoodlum habits. One was influenced by those they were close to! I wondered if a certain someone in Sky City sneezed and couldn¡¯t help but wonder if someone said bad things behind her back. ¡­¡­ I should plan my next move. He Yi had left the country and hadn''t gotten online yet. She probably hadn''t gotten her residence settled. She was also a busy person too. She would have multi-day conferences when she arrived. It wasn''t plausible to wait for her to level up together. My present plan was to quickly increase my and Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf''s levels. I would try to be the first to reach Level 100. Then I would find Rinser for the fourth class promotion. Also, I had to quickly level up the three skills I had gotten, especially the Dragon Slaying Slash. This long-range attack could become my strongest boss-killing weapon. Because of my close-combat class, my options against bosses were limited. Getting close meant getting hit. But now, with the long-range Dragon Slaying Slash, I could keep at range to easily dodge skills, use choke points the bosses couldn¡¯t get into or natural barriers to hide behind while chipping away their health. In a way, my strength had tangibly risen. I couldn¡¯t beat a Purple Gold Rank boss before. Now, I should be able to! ¡­¡­ I opened the large map and searched for a new grinding zone. With the protection of the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf, I was almost invincible when leveling up alone. I could grind anywhere, as long as the mobs weren¡¯t too freakish! In the end, I chose the middle of Dragonbone Mountain Range. I used Earth Escape to go down the mountain and find Level 110 elite monsters to kill. I was Level 97 now. It wouldn''t be too difficult to kill monsters 13 levels above, and it should be fairly fast to kill them too! With my mind made up, I put away the little wolf. I entered the Earth Escape state and slowly moved down the mountain. Rinser looked at my back with wide eyes and murmured, "The boy has the power of a warrior, the patience of an assassin, the determination of a mage, and unlimited potential. I have to talk to Queen Sophia when I have a chance, and recruit him into the Violet Empire as a general. We can¡¯t let that little girl Karinshan from Floating Ice City steal him from us¡­¡± ¡­¡­ "Achoo!" I sneezed and rubbed my nose. I avoided a pack of Level 150 wolves and continued my way down. After nearly half an hour, an open meadow finally appeared ahead. There were black rhinoceroses chewing on the tender grass shoots. Whoosh! I rose out of the ground, and drew the Purgatory Sword. I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. I looked around and read the rhinoceroses¡¯ stats¡ª Armored Rhino (Elite) Level: 112 Attack: 1175~1270 Defense: 1200 HP: 25000 Skill: Thrust, Wild Charge, War Stampede Introduction: These rhinoceroses live in the alpine forests. They frequently move through the bushes, and have a thick layer of resin as their armor against weapons. Wild and hard to tame, they have become terrifying existences no man could hope to defeat. There¡¯s a saying in Sky City that goes like this: ¡°Don¡¯t provoke Armored Rhinos of Dragonbone Mountain if you don¡¯t want to be torn apart.¡± ¡­¡­ I licked my lips. Such strong Attack and Defense. 1270 Attack was amazing, and so were 1200 Defense and 25000 HP. This Level 112 Armored Rhino truly lived up to its name. Too strong! Chapter 340: Windchaser Crack! A vast power formed behind me and I shot out like lightning. The path of my charge was filled with lightning. This time, Thunderous Charge procced its paralysis effect! Pfft! The Armored Rhino remained motionless. Lightning snakes rampaged through its body. It was stunned by the lightning, and this would last for 5 seconds. This fused skill was too strong! I swung the Purgatory Sword repeatedly, the Pardon + Desperate Gambit + basic attack. Under the three-hit combo, I created two relatively impressive damage numbers¡ª MISS! 6082! 2895! ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, such powerful damage! Before the Armored Rhino woke up from its stun, I continued to cut and slash. When it was about to wake up, the Paralysis Ring''s effect procced, and it was dazed again! After multiple swings, I retreated. I raised my left hand with great power. A green energy sword appeared in the air and then crashed on the Armored Rhino''s head! 3984! This Dragon Slaying Slash was too enjoyable! Dragon Slaying Slash I had about 105% damage of a basic attack, but created damage far beyond a basic attack. I was shocked by this, and thought about it. The Dragon Rock Fireball must not have been an absolute physical attack. After merging with Dragon Rock Fireball, this Dragon Slaying Slash had at least 50% Magic Attack! I thought of this and couldn''t help getting excited. The Dragon Slaying Slash''s attack was so amazing. I could create massive damage against metal armor or leather armor, regardless of their armor type? This was amazing. In Heavenblessed, most bosses and monsters were heavily-armored. If I used the Dragon Slaying Slash to kill them, its effect would be double! My feet shifted as I quickly moved through the forest. I repeatedly released the Dragon Slaying Slash. The cyan blades crashed on the Armored Rhino¡¯s head so it could not attack or use a skill even once. The Armored Rhino died under five successive Dragon Slaying Slashes! "Argh argh..." The Armored Rhino died with a scream, dropping a Phantasmal Magic Stone, and its skin. I picked it up and looked. Rank 8 material used for leather armor. Not bad. I placed it into my bag. I would give it to Yamete later and make him the best armorsmith of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Yamete was very diligent recently, and used Murong Mingyue as his target. He furiously leveled up and practiced his skills as though he was having his second spring. I probably should have needed at least half of my HP to kill a Level 112 elite. But with the power of Dragon Slaying Slash and my Thunderous Charge that could stun the monster for 5 seconds, I could retreat and use Dragon Slaying Slash to attack, and greatly increase my grinding efficiency. I had no need for recovery and could go kill the next Armored Rhino. I released the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to level up together. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was relatively low-level, and it could get rich experience from killing these Armored Rhinos with levels much higher than it. It could go up a level by fighting every fifteen minutes or so. It wouldn''t take much time to reach my own, Level 97. After fighting for a while, I found a blue dot on the map. I found there was a group of human NPC military temporarily resting in the forest. Their levels weren''t high. Two Level 90 swordsmen, a Level 94 assassin, and a Level 95 mage. The two swordsmen were sorrily off, their metal armor covered in cracks. They clearly had experienced a fierce battle and their broadswords were pitted. They panted heavily on the ground, their expressions ugly. The mage was an old man of about 60 who held a staff with a ruby embedded at the top. The edges of the ruby were burnt. He was also badly off. This old mage was likely the leader of this adventurer team. He was called "Jon the Windchaser". He should be a wind-type mage. Crack... The Windchaser panted as he held the staff and said, "Such a strong monster. I hadn''t expected the Dragonbone Mountains to be so dangerous. Pitiful Bush, trampled to death by the rhinos the first time he came here..." The Level 94 assassin NPC was a woman and moved the blades in her hand. She said, "Grandfather Jon, we need to take some of the responsibility for Bush''s death. We underestimated the Armored Rhino''s attack power and savagery..." "Right!" The Windchaser nodded and said, "What should we do now? We cannot complete Lord Arthas¡¯s quest. Even if we return to the city, Lord Arthas will be displeased and even send us to the border forts as manual laborers..." The assassin''s gaze was cold. "Or are we going to... betray Floating Ice City, and our past oaths sworn under Princess Karinshan''s banner for this quest?" A swordsman stood up and gritted his teeth. "Damn it, that Lord Arthas is greedy and cruel. For the rhinos¡¯ hearts, he had made us come to this terrifying place. This kind of savage and selfish nobility is not worth us sacrificing our lives over!" "Shut up, Merlin, you want to profane against the monarchy?" The Windchaser stopped the cursing and fell dispiritedly to the grass. ¡­¡­ This was my chance! I stepped decisively out of the forest in front of this NPC adventurer team and said, "Everyone, I am an adventurer from Sky City, and once stayed in Floating Ice City. How can I help you?" I immediately showed my title¡ªPurgatory Thunder. This amazing title should be able to deter them slightly? Jon the Windchaser''s eyes lit up. He said, "You are a warrior from Sky City? Haha, great, with your help, we should be able to complete this quest..." "Oh, what quest?" The Windchaser''s expression dimmed. He said, "In Floating Ice City, there is an important noble with nearly 20% of the country''s land. He possesses his own army. He is called Lord Arthas, and he is Princess Karinshan''s distant cousin. After Princess Karinshan took the regency, Arthas has been blocking her with all kinds of excuses and requested Princess Karinshan to give him Fort Iron Bull. Her Highness could only keep pushing it off¡­¡± The assassin was furious and said, "Her Highness Karinshan is only wary of Arthas¡¯s army. He commands too many corps. If not for the army, Her Highness would have cut off Arthas¡¯s head for treason and hung it on Floating Ice City''s gates." The Windchaser nodded. "Pity, Her Highness Karinshan cannot act by herself. She would fall into a trap and be criticized." I took a deep breath and said, "Let''s speak of the present. How can I help you?" The Windchaser said, "Her Highness Karinshan has given a call to fight traitors. She plans to attack the Night Creature army near Fort Iron Bull. But Arthas, despite his strong military influence, lied that he has fallen ill and cannot participate. He said he can only heal with 100 Armored Rhino Hearts. So, as Her Highness''s subordinates, we could only come here and fight with those terrifying Armored Rhinos ..." The assassin wore a terrified look. "The Armored Rhinos are so strong that we cannot win. The monsters of Dragonbone Mountain have grown stronger. I fear even Her Highness hasn''t thought that this place would have developed so much..." I immediately realized. These NPCs were only normal elite NPCs, and the strongest was Level 95. The Armored Rhinos were Level 112 elites. One against five was not too hard, especially with skills like Charge and War Stampede. It may be possible to kill these Level 95 NPCs instantly. So I nodded. "Leave this to me. I¡¯ll gather the hearts for you!" "Oh! Thank you very much, young warrior!" The Windchaser looked at me, admiration clear within his eyes. "Sky City truly is the east¡¯s fortress. Even their young warriors are so amazing!!" Ding~! System Notice: You accepted the quest [Hearts of the Armored Rhinos]! (Current Quest Rank: S-) Description: Gather 100 Armored Rhino Hearts to give to Jon the Windchaser. You will be generously rewarded. But be careful. The Armored Rhinos are very strong, and have become a nightmare for adventurers! ¡­¡­ Okay, time to get to work. I¡¯d killed Armored Rhinos before. They were nightmares to the NPCs, but for me, they were just a beautiful dream that let me farm EXP, quest reward, and skins for Yamete. What a boon to find a quest here! I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to keep making the lives of the Armored Rhinos miserable. This time, I changed the attack order. I would first use the Dragon Slaying Slash from a distance. After three Dragon Slaying Slashes, the Armored Rhino would charge me. I would then use Thunderous Charge for a 5-second stun, and swing my sword around before retreating and using another Dragon Slaying Slash. I could basically kill it without taking any damage. The maneuver would use about 30% of my MP, so every 3 monsters I would have to use a Rank 6 Magic Consumable. It was nothing. With its cooldown, it could keep me full at all times. "Argh argh..." Another Armored Rhino fell to the ground, dead. I charged forward and rolled the corpse. No quest item had dropped. I used the Purgatory Sword to cut open the rhino¡¯s chest. Immediately, all kinds of organs surged out, and the smell of grass assaulted my nostrils. In the chest, I found a heart that just stopped beating and plucked it out. As expected, this was the heart of the Armored Rhino, the quest item I needed! I threw it into my bag and continued to kill. I had so many more to kill! No matter, I¡¯ll kill until six at night, finish the quest, and then go eat! ¡­¡­ Time slowly passed, and the Armored Rhinos kept dying under my Purgatory Sword. With my mechanics and speed, I faced no pressure even if I lured 2 or 3 rhinos at a time. Dragon Slaying Slash proved to be a powerful long-range skill. Being able to attack from a distance while moving made me feel the advantage mages and archers enjoyed while grinding. I fought for more than two hours until it was nearly six. I had long gotten the necessary number of quest items. I¡¯d gathered 600 Armored Rhino Hearts, much more than the quest entailed! Whoosh! Chapter 341: Ring of Windchasing Carrying 600 Armored Rhino Hearts in my bag, I eventually walked out of the small but incredibly thorny needle-leaved forest and arrived at a mountain path. As expected, Jon the Windchaser, the beautiful assassin, and two NPC swordsmen were guarding the place, too afraid to leave. Their reaction said everything that needed to be said about Lord Arthas¡¯s tyranny¡ªor perhaps their loyalty to Princess Karinshan. I walked up to them and dropped all the Armored Rhino Hearts I gathered on the ground. Then, I asked, "Here¡¯s everything I gathered thus far. How many do you need?" Jon the Windchaser stared at me in shocked disbelief while trembling. "Young warrior, did you kill all these Armored Rhinos yourself?" I nodded. "Is there a problem?" "N-no¡­" The Windchaser collected the Armored Rhino Hearts while muttering to himself, "What a powerful adventurer, I almost couldn¡¯t believe he had taken out all these Armored Rhinos single-handedly¡­" The beautiful assassin nodded before sneaking a glance at me. Then, she whispered, "You¡¯re right, Grandfather Jon. He¡¯s definitely stronger than those ignorant and incompetent nobles in the capital. Silver Moon Alliance wouldn¡¯t be in the state it was in if we had a couple more adventurers like him¡­" "True, true¡­" The Windchaser agreed verbally before looking at me. He laughed candidly and declared, "Young man, you have performed your quest beyond my greatest expectation. Come and receive your rightful reward!" Ding~! System Notice: You have completed the quest [Hearts of the Armored Rhinos]. You have gained 1 million EXP, 15000 gold, 4500 Reputation and the quest reward: Ring of Windchasing! ¡­¡­ Ring of Windchasing? Quivering to attention, I hurriedly opened my bag and found a dark gold¨Ccolored ring sitting quietly at a corner. It looked like my decision to surrender an additional 500 Armored Rhino Hearts was absolutely the right decision. The 1 million EXP alone was several times what you would expect from a normal S Rank quest, boosting my experience bar from 0.1% all the way to 27.4%. If every quest was this rewarding, I was certain that I could hit Level 100 and become the first fourth-promotion player in China in two days! Hmm, I want to check the Ring of Windchasing¡¯s stats first before doing anything else. It¡¯s a Dark Gold¨Cgrade item, so it should be pretty good, right? I waved my hand across the equipment and caused a semi-transparent screen to leap into view. I was immediately petrified on the spot. Ring of Windchasing (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï) Strength: +75 Stamina: +70 Passive: Increases user¡¯s close-ranged physical attack by 12% Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 1500 Outstanding Properties: Increases user¡¯s attack speed by 10% Level Requirement: 95 ¡­¡­ The ring was deserving of its grade and outstanding stars, giving its user a total of 70 stats. Besides that, it added 12% physical attack power and 1500 max HP. The first passive was good enough, but the second one was exactly what I needed right now. I was a pure offensive warrior who dropped all my stat points into Strength, so my HP was pitifully small compared to other warriors. For example, Gui Guzi¡¯s health pool would be double of mine if he leveled up a couple more times and caught up to me. As for the plus 10% attack speed, that was an Outstanding Property. Together with my Bloodlust, it should boost my attack speed to a total of 45% or so! High attack speed was always welcomed, be it in PvE or PvP battles! I immediately took off my original gear, the Gold-grade Abyssal Ring and put on the Ring of Windchasing. My power immediately rose to new heights. ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Purgatory Thunder) Class: Undead Swordsman (Silver Swordsman) Level: 98 HP: 7340 Attack: 827~1445 Defense: 1350 Magic Resist: 1180 Reputation: 80764 Tactics: 75 Luck: 12 ¡­¡­ Nice. My max attack was 1445, but if I were to account for the boosts I got from my equipment¡ª+17% Attack from the Purgatory Sword, +3% Attack from the Purgatory Legguard, +7% Attack from the Paralysis Ring and now +12% Attack from the Ring of Windchasing¡ªmy real Attack stat should be 2008. And this was without taking my Undead Energy IX, which boosted my damage to living targets by another 45%, into account. This was why I could deal over 5000 damage with a casual strike. My attack power was so, so, so much stronger than most other players out there that 99% of their jaws would hit the floor if they saw me hitting any random mob or player. Besides that, the ring had increased my max HP to 7340, setting me on the path of becoming an iron fortress. 1350 Defense didn¡¯t seem like much, but in reality I had +7% Defense from the Explosion Necklace, +3% Defense from my helmet, +14% Defense from the Obsidian Dragonscale Armor, +3% Defense from my cloak, and +5% Defense from my wristguard, totalling up to 32% increase and putting me at 1782 effective Defense. 1782 Defense was a lot, but it was nowhere enough to block my Attack. For example, if I were to attack myself, I would suffer a ton of damage. This was why the saying "offense is the best defense" was an unchanging truth since time immemorial. Long story short, my power was growing rapidly thanks to the improvement in equipment. It was to the point where even the mobs that terrified the NPCs were nothing to me. That wasn¡¯t all. Usually, the passive of a Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment boosted a player¡¯s stats between 3% to 7% only. However, the same equipment with an Outstanding property could have a passive that was over 10% or more. This meant that the importance and necessity of Outstanding equipment was only going to grow as the game progressed. Even when top players began wearing items of Spirit, Immortal or even Divine¨Cgrade, Outstanding property was still the deciding factor whether an equipment was amazing or not! ¡­¡­ "Young man¡­" Jon the Windchaser shot me a long look before saying, "We¡¯re going to travel to Fort Iron Bull and meet up with the royal army. Would you like to come with us? Lord Arthas is a fickle man, it¡¯s not impossible that he may want to meet you¡­" I turned apprehensive. This could only mean one thing: there was a continuation to this quest. Since I was mostly free right now, I decided to go with them. I nodded. "Okay. Let¡¯s travel to Fort Iron Bull together!" "Good!" I followed the four-man NPC party down the mountain together. No harm came to them thanks to me and my pet. This was especially true for the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf, whose stats were absolutely overwhelming after killing an innumerable amount of Armored Rhinos and gaining a ton of levels. It was now Level 94 and almost as tall as my shoulder. It had grown more mature than before, and it looked like a wolf king when it bared its fangs, looked at the sky with its cold-blooded eyes and howled. If I were to release this bastard to the forest, I was sure that it would be able to conquer a huge territory on its own. But by my side, it might just have a shot at conquering the entire continent! I opened its stat screen to take a look only to be caught completely off-guard by what I saw. Sky Obsidian Greed Wolf (Epic Rank Boss) Level: 94 Attack:1880 Defense: 1692 HP: 18800 Agility: 2820 Skills: Flurry Dance, Greedy Wolf Howl ¡­¡­ As predicted, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was absolutely OP after it gained enough levels. It had almost 1900 Attack, and it had much higher Defense and HP than me. Besides that, it also had two powerful skills, Flurry Dance and Greedy Wolf Howl, making it a powerful offensive and defensive unit. I could probably throw it into a group of mobs and not worry about it most of the time. As we were walking down the mountain, I suddenly received a message from Beiming Xue: "Big bro, it¡¯s time to log out for dinner!" I gave it the invitation some thought, but ultimately decided that the quest was more important. So I replied, "I don¡¯t think I¡¯m joining you two for dinner this time. Just bring me something when you return¡­" "What do you want to eat?" "I want a bowl of Pickled Hot and Sour Fish. Tell sis to carry it home herself¡­" "Uh, o-okay¡­" It wasn¡¯t long before Murong Mingyue sent me a message: "Are you seriously going to make me run across the streets while carrying a bowl of fish soup? Alright, just you wait, I promise you¡¯ll get the meal you ordered!" Murong Mingyue logged off immediately after sending the message. Aw, is she really going to buy me that dish? How nice! I smiled a little before turning my attention back to the quest. I probably would be stuck inside the game until 10 pm at least, so anything she brought me would be completely cold by the time I was done. ¡­¡­ The good news was that the NPCs were moving fairly quickly. After we got off Dragonbone Mountain Range, we made a beeline for Fort Iron Bull, a location that was highly contested between the three major factions¡ªthe Night Creatures, Sky City, and Floating Ice City¡ªand the locals. I could hear animals howling from inside the forest when I stepped on a grassy plain. We were inside the territory of Fort Iron Bull right now! Ding~! System Notice: Please be informed that you have entered a new map, Fort Iron Bull! Map Details: When the continent fell into chaos, the Night Creatures had enslaved the beastmen tribes and turned ten of their heroic chiefs into frontline commanders. However, a group of stubborn beastmen managed to escape the Night Creatures¡¯ clutches for freedom and a better life, and one of them was the excellent Tauren tribe. After many years of harsh battles, these brutal beastmen eventually regained their wild nature and built a fort in a grassy valley called Fort Iron Bull. All humans, elves, dwarves, succubi, barbarians or Night Creatures who intrude the land of Fort Iron Bull will be smashed without exception! ¡­¡­ That was about as threatening as a background introduction could get. I had no doubt that Fort Iron Bull was crawling with danger! It was at this moment Jon the Windchaser pointed toward the south and said, "Princess Karinshan¡¯s camp is set on that hill, and to the north of that hill lies the camp of Lord Arthas. He¡¯s holed up in there with two one-hundred-thousand-strong imperial legions, but he refuses to go into battle because he¡¯s supposedly ill. Because of this, Princess Karinshan had no choice but to delay her attack on Fort Iron Bull." I nodded. "Let¡¯s go then. Let¡¯s meet Karinshan first before we do anything else!" "Mn!" Accompanied by the Windchaser and the beautiful assassin, I entered the commander¡¯s tent and found Princess Karinshan sitting on a sofa and resting her hand on the armrest. She was clad in her martial attire, and she was propping her chin up with one hand and wearing an annoyed look on her face. In that moment, she looked more like a troubled girl than the princess of an empire or the commander of an army. "Your Highness, we¡¯ve returned!" The Windchaser walked up with his staff in tow. "Oh, you¡¯re back¡­" Karinshan didn¡¯t even look up to see them. Pulling out her sword and drawing a mark on the sofa, she asked, "How goes your quest?" The Windchaser answered seriously, "We¡¯ve carried out your orders as requested, and we¡¯ve brought back an extremely powerful adventurer from Sky City that you must have an audience with!" "Oh?" Chapter 342: Decadence I nodded. ¡°Mn, I¡¯m here!¡± Her smile still lingering on her face, Karinshan said, ¡°I thought you would stay at the Violet Empire, and that Sophia would reward you greatly for it¡­¡± I shook my head. ¡°No. I chose to join Sky City because I wished to continue fighting for the survival and honor of the human race!¡± Of course, it was all bullshit. There was nothing more real than riches and bitches! Sky City had a ton of resources, and joining them gave me the opportunity to open a shop. That was the true way to prosperity and success. If I joined the Violet Empire instead, it was only a matter of time before I starved to death. I might not be a businessman, but I was at least sensitive enough to pick up the business rules and trends in games. ¡­¡­ A small smile cracked across Karinshan¡¯s lips. ¡°Does this mean that you¡¯re still a warrior of the Silver Moon Alliance?¡± ¡°Yes, I am!¡± ¡°That¡¯s wonderful!¡± Karinshan giggled at me until she looked to the side and noticed the stunned NPCs. Only then she realized what she was doing wasn¡¯t entirely appropriate and let out a cough. Regaining a bit of her usual self, she said, ¡°Jon, tell me the details. How was your journey to Dragonbone Mountain Range?¡± Jon the Windchaser replied softly, ¡°It was bad. The monsters at Dragonbone Mountain Range had transformed and become extraordinarily brutal and powerful. Bush was stomped to death by an Armored Rhino in our very first battle. He never had a chance.¡± ¡°Hmm? You¡¯re telling me that an Armored Rhino killed Bush?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± The Windchaser continued. ¡°We thought that our quest was destined to fail, but this young warrior showed up at the perfect timing and lent us his aid. Now we have the ingredients necessary to ¡®cure¡¯ Lord Arthas¡¯s ¡®illness¡¯. It¡¯s time to meet him and see what other excuses he has to reject your order!¡± A trace of disgust immediately flashed across Karinshan¡¯s face when Arthas was mentioned. ¡°Mn. Take my arrow banner of command with you, deliver the Armored Rhino Hearts to Arthas¡¯s camp now and order him to attack five Night Creature encampments from the frontline of Fort Iron Bull this very evening.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness!¡± The NPCs all nodded gladly, and not even I was left out of the plot. Princess Karinshan passed me a golden arrow banner of command and said, ¡°Welcome back to the Silver Moon Alliance. Here, take this to Arthas and tell him that he must send out his troops before evening!¡± ¡°Mn, leave it to me¡­¡± Speaking of which, I had unwittingly become the Windchaser and the beautiful assassin¡¯s superior. Not only were they looking at me with newfound respect and fear, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they decided to draw the flaps of the tent apart and send me out like humble servants, saying, ¡°Leader first!¡± Of course, there was nothing I hated more than this type of theatrics, so I stepped out myself before they could do anything. Then, I opened the map of Fort Iron Bull and noticed that all the armies of Floating Ice City in the area had been marked as I expected them to be. Princess Karinshan¡¯s camp was guarded by the Black Cavalry led by Commander Stark, the Frost Army led by Commander Ziyan, and the Scarlet Wolf Army led by Commander Lintus. Together, they formed the core strength of Princess Karinshan¡¯s army. Directly to the north was Arthas¡¯s territory and his two great armies. So far, they seemed like an arrogant bunch. On the other side of Fort Iron Bull was the human army of Sky City. Together with Floating Ice City, they formed a threatening pincer. Fort Iron Bull was a critical location and choke point where the armies of Sky City, Floating Ice City and Night Creatures met. It was why all three forces were desperate to take it for themselves. For starters, no one trusted the taurens enough to leave such a critical location in their hands. Two, if the taurens decided to submit to the Night Creatures, the gates of the north would open, and all the territories of Sky City and Floating Ice City would be exposed to the Night Creatures. It was a price neither empire was ready to accept. ¡­¡­ ¡°My lord, Lord Arthas¡¯s camp is right there!¡± The beautiful assassin pointed toward a fiery red tent directly to the north. It was surrounded by countless halberd-wielding guards, and the knights surrounding the camp almost looked like they were endless. Clearly, this place was heavily guarded, even more so than Princess Karinshan¡¯s tent! Of course, Princess Karinshan was way stronger than this lowly human lord. In fact, she didn¡¯t even need the guards because there were only a handful people in the entire continent that could kill her. If someone really was plotting to kill Princess Karinshan, these guards wouldn¡¯t be able to stop what was coming. ¡°Mn.¡± I nodded and strode toward the tent, but before we even crossed the fences two guards blocked our way like lightning and pointed their swords at me. They growled, ¡°This is the lord¡¯s tent, and no one is allowed to approach it!¡± These snobbish bastards! I pulled out the arrow banner of command and declared, ¡°We have been commanded by Princess Karinshan to pay Lord Arthas a visit!¡± The bearded of the duo said in a low tone, ¡°The lord has forbidden anyone from approaching his tent without his express permission. You may be Princess Karinshan¡¯s messengers, but¡ª¡± Shiing! I pulled out the Purgatory Sword and pressed it against the bastard¡¯s throat as quick as lightning. I growled. ¡°How dare you! Have you forgotten which city this army belongs to? Princess Karinshan is the ruler of Floating Ice City, not Arthas! Either you let us in, or you lose your head right here right now!¡± The bearded guard broke out in cold sweat and stumbled a couple of steps backward. He stammered, ¡°You¡­ you¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Are you going to let us in, or not?¡± I said coldly. The other guard hurriedly answered, ¡°Wait! You can go in, but the lord is resting right now. Please allow me to inform him of your arrival.¡± ¡­¡­ I smiled. As I thought, these people were pathetic scoundrels who only knew how to bully the weak. Princess Karinshan clearly knew what she was doing when she chose me to deliver her order. Had she left the task to the Windchaser, an old magician who looked like he could be blown away by a gentle breeze, he might¡¯ve been sent away even before he could meet Lord Arthas. Sometimes, violence could only be fought with violence! It wasn¡¯t long before I led the NPCs into the tent where Lord Arthas was supposedly waiting for us. The moment I pushed aside the flaps of the tent, I immediately spotted a thirty-year-old noble lying on top of his bed. He didn¡¯t look sick at all, and he was holding the waist of a female attendant in revealing clothes. Not only that, another two attendants were massaging his back, their gorgeous bodies barely hidden by the thin fabrics they called clothes. The man had one hand on his sword, but if he was planning to look imposing, then this was clearly the wrong way to go about it. Still, Lord Arthas clearly understood the essence of the life of a noble. Who would want to go into battle if they could spend the rest of their lives like this? ¡°My lord¡­¡± One of the guards walked up to him and reported, ¡°These people are Princess Karinshan¡¯s envoys. They even have her arrow banner of command¡­¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Arthas glanced at me once before looking at the Windchaser and the assassin. His gaze immediately grew piercing as it swam up and down the beautiful woman¡¯s well-shaped body. He smiled. ¡°Have you brought me the Armored Rhino Hearts, old man?¡± The Windchaser replied respectfully, ¡°Here they are, my lord!¡± He dropped all the rhino hearts on a nearby table, but Arthas¡¯s gaze was fully focused on the beautiful assassin. He smiled again. ¡°You are Tina, a famous adventuring assassin of Floating Ice City, am I right? Would you be willing if I asked you to stay with me and become the protector of my lands? You will never have to roam without aim again.¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± The assassin¡¯s mouth fell open in shock. No one had any doubt that he would make her join his harem the second she answered yes. The Windchaser and the other two swordsmen who came with me looked angry, but no one dared to say anything. After all, their station was far, far below Arthas¡¯s! ¡­¡­ It was at this moment I stepped in front of Tina and hid her behind my big cape. Then, I smiled at Arthas and raised the arrow banner of command, saying, ¡°The ingredients are all there, so you¡¯re ready to fulfill your promise, aren¡¯t you? Princess Karinshan has ordered you to set out before this evening and clear out five Night Creature encampments from the perimeter of Fort Iron Bull!¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Arthas smiled disdainfully at me. ¡°The little girl wants to make me lead the charge and sacrifice the lives of my men, doesn¡¯t she? Return and tell her that Stark and his Black Cavalry should lead the attack. If she agrees, then I promise to provide cover for his army from the flanks. Victory will be ours to take, so she has nothing to worry about!¡± My eyes turned colder. ¡°Are you disobeying a direct order from a member of the royal family, my lord?¡± ¡°Aha, of course not! I wouldn¡¯t dare!¡± Arthas laughed cunningly. ¡°This is just an advice from an elder to a junior. Not everyone in the empire belongs to her, you know?¡± ¡°You!¡± I gripped my sword tighter and almost acted there and then, but a pair of arms hugged me just in time to stop me. I turned around to see Tina shaking her head at me and whispering, ¡°Calm down. Let¡¯s report this to the princess first before we do anything¡­¡± I mulled over her suggestion for a moment and acquiesced. It wasn¡¯t like there was a quest where I must succeed at persuading Lord Arthas, not to mention that it would be truly embarrassing if I got provoked into a fight by a mere NPC! ¡­¡­ Thus, I tossed the arrow banner of command on the table and left the tent. It wasn¡¯t long before we returned to Princess Karinshan¡¯s tent once more. ¡°So, how did it go?¡± Karinshan walked up to us. I replied solemnly, ¡°Arthas gave a bunch of excuses and seemed unwilling to spare any effort to serve Floating Ice City. He also said that the Black Cavalry should lead the attack, and that he would only provide cover from the flanks.¡± ¡°Damn him!¡± Karinshan clenched her fists angrily. ¡°Are the rumors true? Is Arthas planning to declare himself king because he has two powerful armies under his thumb?¡± The assassin nodded. ¡°I think so, Your Highness! Not only did he claim seven of our mines for himself without permission and use them to forge his weapons and armors, he is in constant contact with the dukes of Dawn City. He¡¯s clearly planning to betray our city.¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°Yeah, this bastard made an army of his own, ignored your authority, and led a life of decadence like you couldn¡¯t imagine. He¡¯s clearly planning to break away from Floating Ice City! Princess, the time to hesitate is already behind us! I implore you to make a decision soon!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Karinshan¡¯s eyes grew determined. ¡°Earlier, I received intel that Arthas would be rushing back to Floating Ice City to wed the two daughters of Viscount Trey by force! I need a brave warrior to intercept him and bring his head to me!¡± Chapter 343: Assassination All the NPCs had lost their courage. Clearly, they weren¡¯t powerful enough to assassinate Lord Arthas. The Windchaser said gloomily, ¡°Your Highness, please don¡¯t be overhasty. As you know, Arthas had recruited a lot of experts in recent years. Thunder Axe is a somewhat famous general on the continent, and we know nothing about Dren the Law Controller except that he has the power of a great magician. They cannot be underestimated¡­¡± Karinshan sucked in a deep breath before ordering, ¡°Summon Stark, Ziyan and Lintus to me!¡± The assassin Tina looked slightly surprised. ¡°Your Highness, are you sending legion commanders to assassinate Arthas?¡± The princess smiled. ¡°What else could I do? I can¡¯t possibly assassinate Arthas myself, can I? Hmph, it would dirty my hands to kill that trash!¡± ¡­¡­ It was now or never. I walked up to Karinshan with the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf by my side and said, ¡°If you believe in my strength, then I implore you to leave this task to me, princess. I swear I¡¯ll bring Arthas¡¯s head back to you!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Karinshan broke into a smile. ¡°That would be great! I¡¯m sure that the protege of the Wind Singer will return with good news¡­¡± I raised my eyebrows. ¡°Er, I¡¯m not the Wind Singer¡¯s¡ª¡± ¡°Heh, sure.¡± Karinshan chuckled before resting a pale white palm on my shoulder and staring at me with her black eyes. She whispered, ¡°Anyone who wishes to return to Floating Ice City from here must pass through a valley called Wild Pheasant Ridge, so you should carry out your ambush there. It¡¯ll be nighttime when you carry out your assassination, so no one will notice until it¡¯s too late. But be careful, Arthas is guarded by many powerful men, and among them, Thunder Axe and Dren the Law Controller are especially powerful. You may have to pay a heavy price to claim his head!¡± I nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Your Highness. I will drag him down his high horse even if I have to suffer a thousand cuts in the process!¡± Karinshan: ¡°...¡± Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have accepted the quest [The Assassination of Lord Arthas]! (Current Quest Rank: S+) Description: Head to Wild Pheasant Ridge and wait for Lord Arthas to pass by. There, you will attempt to assassinate him. But be careful, no one must notice the assassination attempt, and you can only complete it by yourself. You will not receive any quest rewards if the quest is shared with other players! ¡­¡­ Fuck, these quest requirements were no joke. My plan to share this quest with a couple of helpers was foiled before it even began! I sucked in a deep breath and shot a question. ¡°How many people will be accompanying Arthas tonight?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but it can¡¯t be few¡­¡± The temperature in her eyes dropped suddenly. ¡°Then I will order the five Dragon Knights to kill him at the edge of Frost Forest! Our army cannot fall into that immoderate, licentious trash¡¯s hands no matter what!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I nodded and went out of the tent. None of the NPC adventurers had chosen to accompany me, those ungrateful bastards. Whatever. One way or another, it looked like I must accomplish this quest alone. ¡­¡­ I brought up the world map and gave it a look. Lord Arthas¡¯ return path was already outlined by the quest system. Checking the sky and noting that it was about to turn dark, I decided to scout out my target first before doing anything else! The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and I slipped into a nearby forest and peeked at Arthas¡¯s tent from behind cover. It wasn¡¯t long before I saw a group of soldiers exiting the camp and travelling toward Floating Ice City! I had to stifle my exclamation of surprise after taking just one look. Shit, there sure are a lot of soldiers. The fat Arthas was clad in huge metal armor and riding a fierce-looking warhorse at the center of the troop formation. He was surrounded by almost a hundred elite knights, and they were all Level 105 elite mobs on average. It wouldn¡¯t be easy to kill them. A powerful-looking dwarf was standing at the forefront. He was only half as tall as a normal human, but the battle axe in his hand was crawling with thunderous energy. He was none other than the legendary Thunder Axe, a Level 110 Dark Gold Rank boss. Riding at the rearmost and carrying a staff was Dren the Law Controller, a magician. His eyes were closed as if he was in meditation. Finally, the main bulk of the escort was made up by 500 sword-wielding grunts or so. The guards were all Level 100 elite mobs, meaning that they were probably the elite soldiers of Arthas¡¯ troops. It looked like the fat lord had mobilized some of his best soldiers to escort him safely back to Floating Ice City. ¡­¡­ ¡°My lord, should we make haste or travel at a normal speed?¡± Thunder Axe turned around and asked in a loud voice. Arthas shook his head and said, ¡°I¡¯ve already sent an early letter to Viscount Trey and ordered him to prepare his daughters before I arrive, but it would be prudent to travel slowly just in case they needed more time. Once we arrive at the Viscount¡¯s mansion, you are free to relieve yourselves from your duties and have a nice drink at the bar. I look forward to the ¡®chat¡¯ I¡¯m going to have with the two beauties, hehehe¡­¡± A vulgar smile spread across Arthas¡¯s face when he said this. Thunder Axe didn¡¯t give a response, but he obeyed his lord¡¯s command and slowed down his footsteps. Even so, I only had less than two hours before my time was up. I must kill Arthas during this time! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I used Earth Escape and slipped beneath the ground. When I was 40 yards away from Arthas, his stat screen finally revealed itself to me¡ª Blood Lord Arthas (Dark Gold Rank Boss) Level: 110 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: 200000 Skill: ??? Introduction: A high-rank noble of Floating Ice City with royal blood in his veins. He used to be the captain of the Night Watchers, and he lived as a soldier for most of his life. After he sank into decadence and depravity, his skill and bravery are all but gone. ¡­¡­ I gritted my teeth in anger when I saw Arthas¡¯ HP. This motherfucker has 200k HP?? This meant that my initial plan to draw Thunder Axe and Dren away and kill Arthas before they returned was impossible! I guess I have no other choice. I¡¯m going to have to kill every last one of these soldiers and generals to get to Arthas! Well, assuming I succeeded, this wasn¡¯t a bad thing. The NPCs¡¯ names were dyed in red, meaning that they were classified as ¡°monsters¡± to my faction. Hence, they were worth a lot of experience. It would be a fool¡¯s errand to engage them by force, however. My target was surrounded by 3 Dark Gold Rank bosses and an entire battalion of powerful lackeys. I would die like a dog if I attacked them recklessly! I spent a couple of seconds plotting before coming to a decision. First, my pet would lure away the elite troops at the front while I take out the 500 Level 100 elite mobs at the back. I was a Level 98 player with ridiculously powerful equipment, so it shouldn¡¯t be a problem for me to slaughter them all! My mind made up, I followed behind Arthas¡¯s troops like a shadow and waited. The moment they left Fort Iron Bull completely, I immediately took control of the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf! Swhoosh! My giant pet leaped out of the forest and bit the head of an elite knight in the blink of an eye. The attack had to hurt like a bitch even if he somehow survived that! A ripple of chaos affected the soldiers for a moment. Thunder Axe brandished his weapon and shouted, ¡°Beast attack! Don¡¯t allow it to get close to the lord! Knights, follow me!¡± The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf immediately darted back into the forest after the successful attack. Its high Agility growth gave it incredible speed, and it could¡¯ve shaken off the pursuit easily if it wanted to. That was why it had to look back constantly and make sure that Thunder Axe and the elite knights were still chasing after it. The good news was that Thunder Axe was a brute who didn¡¯t understand strategy, so before he knew it he had led a good half of the troops away from the lord he was supposed to be protecting! Even Dren the Law Controller had urged his horse to chase after the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf, leaving behind only a couple of elite knights to protect Lord Arthas. Their entire formation was disrupted, and the swordsmen were left behind as a result. There¡¯s my chance! I leaped out of cover and rushed toward the guards. The very first skill I used was Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! The earth quaked as nine blazing sword auras elicited terrible screams from the guards, dealing between 4000 and 7000 damage and bringing them to low health. Instead of retreating, I charged right into the middle of the troops and followed up with a thunderous strike¡ªWar Crush! Bang bang bang! Thunder rumbled across the earth floor three times in a row, killing the wounded guards immediately and transforming them into streams of experience. My experience bar immediately started filling up quickly. As expected, humanoid monsters always yielded good experience, and from the looks of it, the item drop rate wasn¡¯t half bad either! I continued slashing left and right and cutting down people like weeds. These Level 100 elite mobs only had an Attack of 1100 or so, so they couldn¡¯t deal any real damage to me at all. Regeneration of the Undead and potions were all it took to keep my HP above 80%, not to mention that I had over 7000 HP right now. It was practically impossible for these small fries to end my life! For a time, the place was illuminated by moonlit swords and flashing skills. It was a massacre. Killing 500 Level 100 elite NPCs turned out to be easier than I thought, especially since Purgatory Slash triggered three times during the battle. By the time I took out the last couple of guards, I discovered that only 15 minutes had passed. Now this is what I call efficiency! I spent a short while sweeping the battlefield, picking up seven or eight excellent items in the process. But I left no equipment behind regardless of their quality because I was a believer of the saying ¡°a penny saved is a penny earned¡±. Even if no player wanted these stuff, I could still unload them at the NPC stores and earn 8 or 10 RMB per piece. Each item was worth at least a fresh pack of rice with vegetables and meat, you know? ¡­¡­ Lord Arthas and his escorts had put quite a bit of distance between me and themselves by this point, so I had to run like a madman to catch up with them. Thankfully, they weren¡¯t too far away, and the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was constantly roaming the forest and seeking opportunities to attack them. Moreover, the NPCs were forced to slow down after entering the forest area, but my pet was faster than ever before. It could easily disengage any unfavorable pursuit if it wanted to. I checked the enemy troops again and noted that only the three Dark Gold Rank bosses and 100 elite knights were left. The Level 105 elite knights were the greater threat here because although they couldn¡¯t outrun the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf, they absolutely could outrun me. Therefore, it would be a good idea to take them and Thunder Axe out of the equation first! Chapter 344: Twilight Ring This was my chance to kill Dren the Law Controller before Thunder Axe returned. As a mage, Dren¡¯s Defense and HP were pitifully low, so killing him should be pretty easy as long as his magical powers didn¡¯t exceed my endurance. After checking the boss¡¯s stats, I grew even more confident in the viability of my tactic¡ª Dren the Law Controller (Dark Gold Rank Boss) Level: 110 Magic Attack: 1050~1245 Defense: 750 HP: 150000 Skills: Flame Ball, Rain of Blaze, Flame Blast Introduction: One of the palace magicians of Floating Ice City. Possesses great mastery in the art of fire magic. ¡­¡­ My mind made up, I leaped out of my hiding! Darting between the trees and running toward my unsuspecting enemies, I locked onto Dren and activated Thunderous Charge! Whoosh! I hit Dren like a literal lightning bolt as snakes of electricity ravaged his body for a moment, stunning him for 5 full seconds. Thunderous Charge really was the enhanced version of Charge. Its success rate against bosses was much higher than that of the average Charge! I raised the Purgatory Sword and unleashed Pardon, a basic attack and War Crush in quick succession. Let¡¯s delete a huge chunk of HP from Dren¡¯s health bar before he could activate his Magic Shield! MISS! 6043! 3885! 3987! 3867! ¡­¡­ That was over 17000 damage in one combo. Dren the Law Controller had less than 150k HP, so it shouldn¡¯t be too difficult for me to kill it! I continued to carve holes into the boss¡¯s body until he finally broke out of the stun. Utterly furious, he hit the ground with his staff and shouted, ¡°Are you trying to kill me, you damned assassin?¡± I responded with a slash to the neck. ¡°Damn right I am!¡± Boom! At the same time, flames burst out of the earth beneath the boss¡¯s feet and engulfed me completely. For an instant, I felt like my body was broken down into ashes. Three damage numbers rose above my head in a row¡ª 1984! 1987! 1992! ¡­¡­ I dropped to low health immediately. Holy shit, that was the boss¡¯s Flame Blast skill! Its damage was definitely not to be underestimated! I calmly drank a Rank 8 Health Potion and saved myself from the immediate danger of death, the number ¡°+3000¡± appearing above my head. However, I couldn¡¯t let the boss continue unleashing his spells on me either. I only had 7340 HP, I wasn¡¯t accompanied by a priest, and the rank of my Regeneration of the Undead wasn¡¯t high enough to outlast the boss¡¯s damage! Crack! 3249! The Purgatory Sword tore apart the boss¡¯s clothes again, enraging him even further. The fire mage then chanted a spell and protected himself with a Magic Shield! I continued hacking away at the boss¡¯s shield, but he was surprisingly quick on his feet. He kept retreating while launching fireball after fireball at me, dealing a continuous amount of damage¡ª754, 689, 549¡ªto me. It was annoying to say the least! Crack crack crack! After hitting him three times in a row and still failing to break his shield, I gritted my teeth and fired a Dragon Slaying Slash! Pu! The energy blade hit the enemy¡¯s Magic Shield squarely and greatly reduced its durability. Then, I made a beeline toward the boss and struck his shield again. Finally, the Magic Shield shattered like an eggshell, and I seized the opportunity to zigzag behind the boss. Then, I carved up his back with Pardon and Desperate Gambit! MISS! 8074! Very good, Rank 9 skills were always awesome when chained! I slashed at the boss again with the Purgatory Sword, but the blade suddenly glowed with a golden light. It was the Paralysis Ring finally triggering and paralyzing the boss, allowing me to delete yet another huge chunk of HP from his health bar. My powerful Attack was on full display against this mage-type boss! Dren the Law Controller¡¯s health dropped past the midpoint in just two minutes, and I was in no real danger thus far. Ultimately, Dren was just a Level 110 Dark Gold Rank boss, and I was wearing the Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade Dragonscale Armor. Thanks to my impressive Magic Resist, the boss¡¯s powerful flames were reduced to a medium threat at most. At the very least, he was no match for me one-on-one. Panicking, Dren shouted at the nearby Lord Arthas, ¡°Help me, my lord! This assassin is very skilful!¡± Arthas gripped his broadsword, but a trace of fear passed through his expression. He said in a stammering voice that matched poorly with his bloated body, ¡°Dren, you must delay this assassin no matter what! Once Thunder Axe returns with the elite knights, this despicable assassin will surely fall to his doom!¡± Dren the Law Controller shouted angrily, ¡°You¡­ you trash!¡± Not only did the Paralysis Ring proc again while he was fuming, I triggered the Purgatory Slash as well, the gigantic sword aura penetrating the boss¡¯s fragile body with ease and dealing over ten thousand damage. If Dren the Law Controller wasn¡¯t in grave danger before, he was now! A smile broke across my face as I summoned my pet back to me! Swhoosh! The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf suddenly appeared right next to me. When a pet was over 100 yards away from their owner, the pet owner could instantly summon them back to their side. By the time Thunder Axe and the elite knights returned to their master, both Dren the Law Controller and Lord Arthas might have been dead already! ¡°Little wolf, go!¡± The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf responded to my command and kicked off with a devastating Flurry Dance, draining the blood away from the boss¡¯s face. He had probably never seen such a powerful pet in his life; a wolf who was in no way inferior to me in terms of offensive power! Swhoosh! Dren resummoned his Magic Shield and tried to dodge away from my pet¡¯s attacks, but I smiled. Now that I wasn¡¯t fighting alone, I didn¡¯t even need to corner the boss with good maneuvering anymore. I ran up to the boss and gathered my mana. Then, I fired a Dragon Slaying Slash at his Magic Shield! Crack crack crack! The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s attack speed was ridiculous, and it struck the boss¡¯s Magic Shield three times in just the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, I was firing my second Dragon Slaying Slash already. I love long-ranged skills with little to no cooldown! Three Dragon Slaying Slashes later, I locked onto the boss and activated Thunderous Charge! Swhoosh! It was yet another successful stun, and this time with the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf by my side, the amount of damage we did during the 5 seconds was absolutely obscene. When the boss finally regained its mobility and flashed backward, I fired one last Dragon Slaying Slash at him! Boom! The energy blade tore apart the boss¡¯ body and elicited a painful groan from him. The level 110 Dark Gold Rank boss finally collapsed to his feet and exploded into a ton of experience, magic stones and equipment! I ran toward the loot and scooped it all up in one go. Then, I turned back and ran straight toward Arthas with a chuckle. ¡°It¡¯s your turn now, my lord!¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°I-it¡¯s you!?¡± Finally seeing my face and realizing who I was, Arthas pointed his broadsword at me and said, ¡°You¡­ you are the envoy Karinshan sent over this evening! You¡­ you dare to kill me? Damn you! The Council of the Imperial Elders will not allow this transgression to pass by! Karinshan doesn¡¯t have the guts to kill me! Damn you, adventurer! You do not have the right to kill me, and neither does that yellow-haired brat Karinshan!¡± I delivered the Purgatory Sword straight through Arthas¡¯s chest without a word, dealing 5067 damage. Hmph! I had no idea why he even bothered spouting so much nonsense! One thing was certain, there was nothing I dared not do in this game! While I was attacking Lord Arthas, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was attacking his mount, dealing a considerable amount of damage. Arthas was in full panic mode and my pet and I dropped down on him like hungry wolves. This lord had spent so much time away from the battlefield and inside the drowning waters of decadence that he had lost even the courage to fight me. Whipping his horse and galloping toward the edge of the forest, he shouted, ¡°Thunder Axe! Dammit, where the hell are my guards! Save me, save me! If I die I promise I¡¯ll hang you all to death!¡± Swhoosh! I stunned the fool with a Thunderous Charge and continued the assault. I also used Ice Ray to slow him down so he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape my grasp. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf didn¡¯t need to worry about this, however. All four of its stats¡ªAttack, Defense, HP, and Agility¡ªwere insanely powerful, and its movement speed was comparable to that of a lightning bolt. Arthas¡¯s health kept dropping as it sank its teeth into the lord¡¯s flesh repeatedly. What was hilarious about this pursuit was that Arthas never once tried to retaliate and fight us. The only thing he knew was run all over the place aimlessly like a headless fly. Both his body and soul were well and truly corrupted by the luxurious and sensual pleasures he indulged in. I was perfectly fine with this of course. Not only did it save me a lot of potions, I had the leisure to open my bag and check the equipment Dren the Law Controller had dropped. First, he had dropped 11 Phantasmal Stones. There was nothing noteworthy about this whatsoever, and they were probably worth a couple hundred RMB at most. He also dropped 3 items in total, but none of them particularly stood out to me¡ª Railroad Tie Wristguards: Gold-grade, Level 90 cloth armor wristguards. Magic Attack +2%, +150 max HP Dying Candle Legguards: Gold-grade, Level 90 cloth armor legguards. Increases fire-type Magic Attack by 12% Twilight Ring: Gold-grade, Level 90 ring. Reduces user¡¯s magic cooldowns by 10%, Tactics +14 ¡­¡­ Mn, the two cloth armor Gold-grade items were honestly a bit lacking. The Railroad Tie Wristguards increased one¡¯s max health, but it was only by a paltry amount of 150 HP. Right now, a high-level mage had around 3000 HP or so. If they had to choose between having slightly more Magic Attack or 150 HP, they would choose Magic Attack 100% of the time. The Dying Candle Legguards would probably be useful to a fire mage, and conservatively speaking, I estimated its price to be around 100 RMB or so. Chapter 345: Purple Thunder Battle Axe ¡°Thunder Axe will take revenge for me. You will be put on a stake and burned to death, lowly traitor!¡± Arthas glared at me angrily with bloodshot eyes, but he didn¡¯t even have the courage to strike back at me with the broadsword in his hands. The warhorse beneath his legs was foaming from his weight and the strain of having to run away from its master¡¯s enemies. Still trying to escape, the noble shouted on top of his lungs, ¡°Just you wait, Karinshan, you immature and inexperienced child! The hammer of justice will smite you, and the council will pluck your crown from your head! History will prove the absurdity of dictatorship once more!¡± ¡­¡­ Crack crack! I ignored his drivel and continued hacking away at his body mercilessly. Arthas might have 200k HP, but there was no way he was surviving this. His HP had dropped to less than 25% in less than five minutes, and I was certain that this devilish lord would die by my hands if I had another minute or two! It was at this moment I heard the rumbling of horse hooves from the distance. Thunder Axe had finally returned! Not only that, he was somehow running faster than all of the mounted knights behind him despite his short height! Looks like I need to speed up even more! But Thunder Axe reached me in just the blink of an eye. The shorty leaped into the air and landed right in front of me, hitting me on the shoulder three times in a row! A burning sensation seared my senses as sparks flew everywhere. Thunder Axe was no slouch, it seemed! 1585! 1492! 1594! But a smile broke across my face when I saw the actual amount of damage he did to me. Ever since I gained the Obsidian Dragonscale Armor, my Defense became so much stronger that not even a Level 110 Dark Gold Rank boss like Thunder Axe could endanger me. The triple-strike skill was clearly meant to kill me, but all it managed to do was delete around 4600 HP from my health bar. Considering that I had over 7000 HP, the dwarf was still a long way from killing me! Swhoosh! Bloody energy gathered around my left hand before spreading throughout my whole body. Tenacity of the Dead! +1835! Then I chugged an enhanced Rank 8 Health Potion. Just like that, I was back to full health! Thunder Axe¡¯s eyes turned as wide as saucers for a moment. He probably wasn¡¯t expecting an adventurer to recover this well in a 1v1 situation against him. However, he also noticed the bloody energy that marked me as an Asura and an undead. Fury immediately burned in the hill dwarf¡¯s eyes. ¡°You¡¯re a damned undead!? Come at me then. Don¡¯t even think about killing our lord! I will drag you down to hell if it¡¯s the last thing I do!¡± But I denied his wishes and backed away from him consciously. After moving sneakily to Lord Arthas¡¯s back, I raised my sword and fired a Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! I never moved my sight away from Arthas. No matter how many times Thunder Axe attacked me, I simply ignored him and attacked Arthas with the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. By controlling two characters at once, I was able to maintain my DPS and slow down Arthas¡¯s running speed tremendously through positioning. Of course, a human being couldn¡¯t actually split their mind in half. What people called ¡°dual multitasking¡± was really just switching between my control interface and the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s control interface really, really quickly; about two or three times per second in fact. Moreover, this was no ordinary multitasking. I had to minimize the damage Thunder Axe could do to me, reposition myself constantly so that the knights would always get in the way of Thunder Axe, and use the Greedy Wolf to block Arthas from escaping! The good news was that my mind felt as clear as the still water of an ancient well. I knew exactly where the NPCs were and how they were going to move, and I reacted perfectly as if we were all enacting a drama on a script. I was in a state of mind that only the absolute best players could reach, and I was glad that the skill had finally returned to me. It really had been a long time since I felt like this. I¡¯m going to resurrect my peak form completely through this battle! Chiang chiang chiang! My sword tore apart the metal armor covering Arthas¡¯s back. At the same time, I felt a chill when Thunder Axe struck me for almost 2000 damage. It didn¡¯t matter though. Thunder Axe¡¯s attacks were ultimately not fatal, and I could always maintain my health above 25% using Tenacity of the Dead, potions, and Regeneration of the Undead. Arthas abruptly charged away from the crowd and raised his broadsword into the air. He shouted at the elite knights behind him, ¡°Brave knights, now is the time to swear upon your noble honor and fulfill your promise! For the glory of the royals, protect me with your life and stop this damned undead in his tracks!¡± An involuntary smile crossed my lips. My response to that was to lock onto Arthas and activate Thunderous Charge! Whoosh! I cut through the crowd and stunned Arthas for five seconds straight. Then, I swung my sword wildly while stomping the ground using War Crush. The skill hit him three times in a row and damaged him like crazy! My excitement grew as Arthas¡¯s HP dropped further and further¡ª 19%! 14%! 9%! 5%! 1%! Nice. Now is the time to deliver this sinful noble lord to his grave with the most appropriate skill I have, Pardon! The Purgatory Sword glowed brightly as I cut Arthas twice with my signature combo, Pardon + Desperate Gambit. The sword pierced through Arthas¡¯s chest armor and pierced his black heart! MISS! 7804! Arthas gripped the sword sticking out of his chest and glared at me with anger and frustration. In the end, he collapsed to his knees and gazed toward the direction of Floating Ice City in despair. He murmured, ¡°The traitors have succeeded, the light has been devoured by darkness. Goodbye, my Floating Ice City. Goodbye, my imperial concubines and beautiful succubi. Amanda, Katie, Daisy, Emma¡­ I, Arthas, will sing for all of you a hymn from heaven. I will never forget your warm lips and soft tongues¡­¡± Goddamned motherfucking sonuvabitch! Even during his last moments, he couldn¡¯t let go of his debauchery! Speechless, I swung the Purgatory Sword and cut off Arthas¡¯s neck. The next moment, his head appeared in my hand as a quest item, and I threw it into my bag without any hesitation. I wanted to check what equipment he had dropped, but there was still a boss and a horde of mobs breathing down my back, so I decided it could wait and threw everything into my bag first. There was one item that caught my attention though. It was a shiny golden token with the words ¡°appointment¡± on it. It looks pretty unique. I wonder what it is? I took it out and gave it a closer look. What I saw immediately froze me like a statue¡ª Appointment Token: A lord token of the Silver Moon Alliance. Only players with the Appointment Token are granted a leasehold and the right to rent a shop no wider than 100 square meters in the major cities of the Silver Moon Alliance. ¡­¡­ Fuck! It was only now I realized that leveling to 100 wasn¡¯t the only requirement to rent a shop in a major city! If this Appointment Token hadn¡¯t dropped, I would never have realized this until I visited the old king again and got laughed in the face! He almost got me, that bastard! It wasn¡¯t like I could search the internet for information either since Eternal Moon Corporation hadn¡¯t given out any exact details, all in the name of encouraging exploration. Tsk tsk, I almost couldn¡¯t believe how many steps there were to open one single shop! At any rate, this was good luck for sure. If I had chosen not to accept this quest, I would never have had the chance to kill a noble lord like Arthas and loot an Appointment Token from his body. My plan to start a shop at Sky City would¡¯ve been a complete failure! Having checked the Appointment Token, I turned around just in time to see Thunder Axe charging me! I smiled. ¡°It¡¯s your turn now!¡± At my current strength, soloing a Level 110 Dark Gold Rank boss wasn¡¯t a problem at all. As for the dozens of Level 105 elite knights helping Thunder Axe, I didn¡¯t even bother to look at them! Crack! I hit Thunder Axe in the head and was lucky enough to proc a critical hit, dealing 9674 damage. That wasn¡¯t all. The elite knights close to the boss also suffered splash damage and lost 1935 HP. The Purgatory Sword¡¯s 20% splash damage was just way too good. All I needed to do was focus on Thunder Axe, and it was only a matter of time before the rest of the mobs were killed by the splash damage! The War Holy Temple buffed my attack power by 10%, and Bloodlust my attack speed by 35%, pushing my power to a whole new Level of height. Moreover, I was assisted by the Epic-rank boss Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf, which made fighting a Level 110 Dark Gold Rank boss even easier than before! Previously, I couldn¡¯t solo a Level 100 Dark Gold Rank boss without considerable effort, but now I was positively toying with Thunder Axe! It wasn¡¯t difficult to dodge Thunder Axe¡¯s attacks because his movement speed and attack speed were only so-so at best. At least 50% of his attacks missed me thanks to good maneuvering. Naturally, it made my job even easier, and soon after, Thunder Axe was the only NPC still standing on the battlefield. Thunder Axe attacked me like a madman, so I used the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf as cover and kept wandering around the edges. I still couldn¡¯t fight the boss directly because my HP regeneration speed wasn¡¯t fast enough. Thunder Axe attacked one per 2 or 3 seconds, and that was almost 30 attacks in a minute. Even if every attack only hit me for 500 damage, that was still almost 15000 damage if I allowed every attack to land on me. I would still survive, but the fight would be a lot more dangerous than it should be, and that was before counting the boss¡¯s offensive skills. I might even die if I didn¡¯t dodge all the attacks I could. Fighting a boss head-on didn¡¯t mean fighting like a brainless idiot, and it was especially true in a large-scale game like this. A high-rank boss would almost always have better stats than you even if you were at the same level, not to mention that they could easily have over 100k HP while you slaved away in quadruple digits. Unless you had a priest healing you constantly, it was almost always unwise to bear the full might of a boss. Time trickled little by little. Soon, I deleted the last drop of HP from his health bar and ended his life of blind loyalty once and for all. To me, his death proved that Dark Gold Rank bosses were now officially a thing of the past, that they couldn¡¯t drop Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment, and they weren¡¯t much of a threat to me any longer. In the future, I should challenge Purple Gold Rank bosses to grow even stronger! I bent down and picked up all the equipment Thunder Axe dropped, as usual. One of them was a battle axe crawling with thunderous energy. Hmm, this looks¡­ pretty good actually. Let¡¯s see... Its stat screen didn¡¯t disappoint me. Just like Arthas and Dren the Law Controller, Thunder Axe dropped me a pretty good weapon¡ª Purple Thunder Battle Axe (Dark Gold-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï) Attack: 275~575 Strength: +65 Stamina: +60 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 14% Outstanding Property: When attacking a target, 10% chance to trigger a purple lightning that deals 1000 damage and stuns for 3 seconds Level: 95 ¡­¡­ I shuddered. Holy shit, this weapon was good, and its Attack was almost as good as my Purgatory Sword¡¯s. Its Outstanding Property was nothing to scoff at either! Chapter 346: Universe Bag Technically speaking, I could equip the battleaxe since I was a melee warrior. However, a battleaxe had high attack power but low attack speed. According to the hidden rules of Heavenblessed, the basic attack speed of an axe was 2.5 seconds per attack, and a sword 1.5 seconds per attack. Therefore, the Purgatory Sword was really much stronger than the Purple Thunder War Axe in terms of DPS, not to mention that it was clunky by default. Long story short, it wasn¡¯t worth switching out my current weapon for it! That being said, the axe¡¯s Attack was 100 points higher than my Purgatory Sword¡¯s. To other melee fighters, this axe was practically a dream weapon! ¡­¡­ In the end, I decided to put it up for auction because the notion of gifting this to a player in my guild was completely unrealistic. I also checked the rest of the loot. Both Lord Arthas and Thunder Axe dropped a couple of Gold-grade items, but only two of them could be considered top-tier. Oh well, I guess I¡¯ll sell them all later. But for now, it¡¯s time to turn in my quest! I went back the way I came from. Lord Arthas was looking forward to ravaging a couple of beautiful girls after he returned to Floating Ice City, but I had killed his dreams and ended his and his escorts¡¯ lives prematurely. Life truly was a drama! On the way, I checked my experience bar. After killing three high-level Dark Gold Rank bosses in a row, my experience had risen to Level 98, 96%. I was definitely going to hit Level 99 after I turned in the quest, putting me one step away from hitting Level 100. It would be great if this quest chain still wasn¡¯t over, but if not I could just grind mobs like usual. This was just the beginning. The higher the level, the harder it became to level up. I could grind mobs for an entire day and probably still not hit Level 100. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before Fort Iron Bull and Princess Karinshan¡¯s tent appeared in my line of sight. I didn¡¯t encounter any trouble along the way, and when I drew open the curtains to the tent I was greeted by a most enticing sight. Karinshan was lying on the sofa quietly. Her eyes were burdened by worry, and she was leaning in a way where her excellent curves were almost bursting out of her exquisite battle armor. Her breasts looked like they might jump out at any moment, and her smooth, white underbelly was pressing against the edges of the table. Maybe it was because she was lying on top of the table, but I could see the outline of her round butt even though it was mostly hidden by her battle garment. Mm, the designers of Eternal Moon Corporation are all gods. Even the imperial princess they designed looks heroic and attractive. A couple of seconds later, Ziyan asked, ¡°Can we really trust that adventurer from Sky City, Your Highness? He¡¯s just too young. I¡¯m worried that he might betray your expectations¡­¡± Stark nodded in agreement. ¡°That is true, Your Highness. I highly doubt that a single adventurer could defeat the mighty Thunder Axe and Dren. In my opinion, we should¡¯ve just dispatched the five Dragon Knights to Frost Forest and kill Arthas. That way, the command of his two armies will fall into our hands for sure!¡± But Ziyan shook her head strongly. ¡°No! The Dragon Knights had lost their faith ever since the Dragon Domain was turned into a wasteland, and the Dragon Speakers were all gone. However, they still obey the will of the Dragon Speaker Binglan; the will to never act against a member or friend of the Silver Moon Alliance. That is why they could only be used against the Night Creatures.¡± Stark: ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ I finally put down the curtain and called out quietly, ¡°I¡¯ve returned, princess¡­¡± ¡°What?!¡± The silent Karinshan finally looked up. Her eyes were filled with pleasant surprise. ¡°Did¡­ did you kill Arthas?¡± I nodded and took out his head from the backpack. Then, I tossed the oily head to the ground and watched it skid all the way to Karinshan¡¯s feet. ¡°It¡­ it really is that old fool Arthas!¡± Absolutely thrilled, Karinshan kicked Arthas¡¯s head to the side and jumped on me. Hugging my head excitedly, she laughed. ¡°This is wonderful! The military power of Floating Ice City is finally united once more!¡± Her reaction caught me off-guard a little, but there was no denying that she had an amazing figure. It felt good to feel her pressing against my body. ¡°Princess¡­¡± ¡°Ahem!¡± Karinshan looked at me and finally realized what she was doing. She released me in a hurry and took two steps backward, but she was all smiles as she said, ¡°Young adventurer, you have not disappointed me. Starting this moment, you are a second-class noble of Floating Ice City!¡± Second-class noble? I wasn¡¯t quite sure what it meant, but it was always nice to be named a noble. From now on, I could legally oppress the people of Floating Ice City! Woohoo! Karinshan approached me again and placed her right arm gently on my shoulder. She smiled at me and said, ¡°You may be an undead, young warrior, but I can feel that your heart is facing toward the light. I promise you that the doors of Floating Ice City will always be open to you. You have accomplished a near-impossible quest, so come and receive the reward you deserve!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [The Assassination of Lord Arthas]. You have obtained 2750000 EXP, 8000 Reputation, 25000 gold, 1 Luck and quest reward: ¡°Universe Bag¡±! ¡­¡­ Universe Bag? My eyes lit up. Did this S+ Rank quest finally reward me something that was actually deserving of its rank? I opened my inventory and saw a cyan-colored bag sitting at a corner. A surge of wild joy overcame me the second I checked its description. When I looked up, I saw the friendly smile on Princess Karinshan¡¯s face. Was this a gift from her? Universe Bag (Spirit-grade): A sacred item made using the spirit energy of the universe, the Universe Bag contains extremely powerful magic. It contains 500 slots, and it cannot be shared with another container. Binding Requirement: Level 90, 10000 gold, and 2000 Reputation. ¡­¡­ Holy shit, a bag with 500 slots in it? Hahaha, this is going to turn me into a walking bag of potions! There was nowhere I wouldn¡¯t be welcomed with 500 slots of potions and consumables! I immediately bound the Universe Bag. The High-grade Army Pouch turned back into an item, and the number of my inventory slots shot up to 500. Maybe I could give this High-grade Army Pouch to someone? Yeah, I should ask my friends if they want it. This quest chain was more profitable than I thought, probably it was because it was related to the main storyline. Since it was an important step in uniting the military power of Floating Ice City, it gave me a ton of experience, excellent rewards and even 1 point of Luck. Luck was a critical factor in this game. The higher one¡¯s Luck, the higher the chances of getting an awesome loot drop, and the higher the chances of hitting the maximum attack value when attacking. My 13 Luck had to be one of the main reasons my ¡°karma¡± was unusually good. In fact, most games were a matter of constant accumulation. I was rewarded a certain amount of Luck after completing a couple of main quests and becoming the MVP of Skull Castle, and that gave me an advantage over a lot of people. If I could maintain this streak and keep accumulating more advantages, it wouldn¡¯t be strange if I became a literal one-man army in the future. ¡­¡­ I stared at my new bag again with joy dancing in my eyes. This bag was a Spirit-grade item, meaning that it was a tier above Purple Grade¨Cgrade items and two tiers above Dark Gold¨Cgrade items. Of course I would be overjoyed by this! That wasn¡¯t all. My experience had skyrocketed from Level 98 to 99 and 65%. Yeah, I definitely profited big this time! I finally looked away from my bag. Princess Karinshan was still staring at me. ¡°Thank you, Your Highness!¡± I said with a nod. I supposed it was only right to thank her for this amazing gift. Karinshan smiled back. ¡°It is all for the sake of the living.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Suddenly, Karinshan turned toward her generals and declared, ¡°Attention, Stark, Ziyan, Lintus!¡± The three commanders immediately dropped to one knee and answered her, ¡°Yes, Your Highness!¡± Karinshan gripped the handle of her sword and declared, ¡°Stark, you will head to Arthas¡¯s tent with your elite knights and take command of the army now! You may execute anyone who disobeys the order! Ziyan, you will head to Arthas¡¯s second legion with your Frost Army and take command! You may execute anyone who disobeys the order! Lintus, you will lead our troops and surround Fort Iron Bull now! Don¡¯t allow even a single soldier to desert!¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness!¡± All three commanders answered affirmatively before leaving the tent in succession. I froze for half a minute before I finally came back to myself. When I spoke to Karinshan, she said, ¡°Watch over me, brave adventurer. I will continue the will of Annie and Fia and fight for the honor and survival of the human race to the last drop of my blood!¡± I replied, ¡°But don¡¯t sacrifice yourself like them, alright? You should treasure your own life.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Karinshan went to her stand table to plan out her strategy and tactics after that. It didn¡¯t look like she had any more quests for me, so I took out my return scroll and crushed it. It was time to return to Sky City, repair my equipment, and sell the loot I had gotten today. Swhoosh! The moment I appeared in the bustling Sky City, the first thing I did was to run to the auction house and speak with the auctioneer. I turned in the Purple Thunder Battle Axe and set the base price to 100k gold¡ªno upper limit¡ªand the auction time to 8 pm. The moment I confirmed the transaction, a melodious ring resounded throughout the city¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that Player XXXX has put up the Purple Thunder Battle Axe (LV-95, Dark Gold¨Cgrade, 2-star Outstanding, 575 Attack, Strength +65, Stamina +60. Increases user¡¯s Attack by 14%. When attacking a target, 10% chance to trigger a purple lightning that deals 1000 damage and stuns the target for 3 seconds) for auction. The item will enter the bidding phase at 20:00. All interested players, please proceed to the auction house and take your numbers before the auction starts! ¡­¡­ It was a great announcement as usual. It was free advertisement with my ID concealed, and I was pretty sure that the axe would sell for an amazing price. 575 Attack was sure to tempt any melee player, no matter who they were! Now all I needed to do was wait for 8 pm to arrive! Next, I put up the top-tier-but-unnecessary equipment I got for auction as well. As the saying goes, the more, the better! Finally, I looked at the 100-slot High-grade Army Pouch still sitting in my Universe Bag. Who should I give this to, I wonder? ¡­¡­ I opened my friend list and noted that He Yi¡¯s ID was darkened. After that, I couldn¡¯t avert my gaze from the very first ID on my friend list, Wind Fantasy. Oh fine, I¡¯ll give it to her. I owe her a lot of things anyway! Chapter 347: Dance Lin Yixin didn¡¯t reply. She was a woman of action. A few seconds later, a beautiful figure appeared at the teleportation formation, scanned her surroundings and quickly ran toward me. The way her excellent attire swayed to her movement made her look incredibly beautiful in that moment. I couldn¡¯t help but look at her long, beautiful legs. As it turned out, the Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯s body was even more gorgeous than the sculpted Karinshan¡¯s. Gifts from heaven like her were incredibly rare and couldn¡¯t be replicated through artificial means. ¡­¡­ ¡°Are you sure you want to gift me the High-grade Army Pouch?¡± Lin Yixin asked with a smile. I nodded. ¡°Mn. I¡¯m a man of my word after all. But before that, give me a kiss, will you?¡± ¡°Go to hell. Give me the item first!¡± The moment I traded the High-grade Army Pouch to her, she immediately started acting dumb as expected. ¡°Sigh, it was such a busy day today. I¡¯m logging out to have dinner now. Don¡¯t wait too long to have yours! Goodbye Little Cheat~~¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± I ran up to her and caught her cape before she could escape. ¡°Not so fast!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s have dinner together. Your treat.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± When Lin Yixin realized that I wasn¡¯t trying to force her to kiss me, she nodded and smiled at me. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll treat you to dry pot today. Who¡¯s going to fetch who this time?¡± I thought for a moment. ¡°I will. Wait for me at the eastern gate of the university.¡± ¡°Mn, okay. When will you arrive?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be there in 30 minutes!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± After that, Lin Yixin went to the city¡¯s inn and logged out of the game. I followed her, but decided to check my friend list first before logging off. It looked like Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue had both gone offline to eat dinner, and now that I think about it, didn¡¯t I ask Murong Mingyue to buy me Pickled Hot and Sour Fish earlier? Would she be angry when she learned that I had gone on a dinner date with Lin Yixin instead? Oh well. Worst case scenario, she would puff up her chest and show me and Beiming Xue a good time, so why not? I logged off and put on a nice-looking shirt and a beige-colored jacket. Then, I left the apartment and grabbed my X12 downstairs. Lin Yixin hadn¡¯t seen my new car yet, so this was my chance to show off a little! ¡­¡­ Beep! I pressed my car horn and rolled down my car window, but Beauty Lin was still gazing toward the distance without a care in the world. Clearly, the possibility that the driver of the X12 could be me never even crossed her mind. Shit! I gritted my teeth, rounded a corner, and stopped the car less than 1 meter away from Lin Yixin. Then, I opened the front passenger seat door and gave her a wide smile. ¡°Hey beautiful, may I have the honor of taking you to dinner?¡± For a while, all Lin Yixin could do was look down and stare at me in astonishment. Then, her gaze turned playful. ¡°An X12? Fuck, so this is how you¡¯re planning to woo the girls in our university. Hmph!¡± I rolled my eyes. Why do I feel like I¡¯ve heard this from Murong Mingyue before? ¡°Well, get in already. I still need to rush to Level 100, you know¡­¡± ¡°Mn. I also need to work on a main quest after this dinner¡¯s over!¡± After Lin Yixin got into the car, she rolled down all the windows so that wind could blow in from outside. She couldn¡¯t stand the air from the car¡¯s air-conditioner, apparently. However, her action drew the attention of a nearby group of male and female students, and they all stared at her as if they were seeing something unbelievable. ¡°Fuck! Isn¡¯t that the campus belle?¡± ¡°It is! It¡¯s Lin Yixin inside that X12! Who is the driver?¡± ¡°This makes no sense though. Last time, there was a trust fund baby who tried to woo her with a limited edition Porsche, but she didn¡¯t even give him a glance! There¡¯s no way she would fall for a mere X12!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go smash that car. We can¡¯t let an outsider get away with our campus belle¡­¡± ¡°Oh no, Lin Yixin has become someone else¡¯s mistress¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Both Lin Yixin and I could hear their comments as clear as day. I stared at her, and she shot me a glance before pouting. ¡°What the fuck are you looking at? Let¡¯s go already¡­¡± I didn¡¯t. Instead, I poked my head out of the window and pointed at the two male students talking shit about me. ¡°Hey you two, cut the bullshit, you hear me? Lin Yixin and I are just normal friends!¡± Their gaping mouths grew even wider. ¡°Fuck! I-isn¡¯t this Falling Dust!¡± It was only then I stepped on the gas and left them in dust. I drove us toward the dry pot shop I had my lunch just this afternoon because that was what Lin Yixin wanted. Unfortunately, nighttime was also when the shop was at its fullest. After taking a look and finding no free tables anywhere, I asked, ¡°Should we go to a different shop?¡± ¡°No way, I¡¯m not going anywhere¡­¡± Lin Yixin let out a giggle before pointing at a nearby table. ¡°These people look like they¡¯re about to finish. Let¡¯s wait for a bit until they¡¯re done, okay?¡± ¡°But¡­¡± I groaned internally. To say that I was feeling pressured by the vixen would be an understatement. The occupants of the table¡ªtwo middle-aged men¡ªwere drinking beer, and Lin Yixin just stood behind them and stared at them like she was drilling lasers into their bodies. It wasn¡¯t long before they turned beet red from the attention, and they quickly left after gulping down the last drop of their alcohol. ¡°See? I told you it wouldn¡¯t take long!¡± Lin Yixin gave me a V-sign. I resisted the urge to vomit blood and praised her, ¡°You¡¯re really quite something!¡± ¡°Hehe. Now let¡¯s make our order quickly!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± We ordered a bullfrog dry pot, a couple of small dishes, and two cold drinks. The food was served surprisingly quick despite the sheer number of customers in the shop. We were full and satisfied in less than an hour. While Lin Yixin was playing with her drink with a spoon, she asked, ¡°Lu Chen, did you give me that High-grade Army Pouch because you got something better?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± I nodded with a smile. ¡°I just finished a main quest and got something called the Universe Bag. It¡¯s a Spirit-grade bag with 500 slots in it¡­¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open in astonishment. ¡°You¡¯re kidding me, right? 500 slots? That¡¯s insane. So many people are still stuck with 20 slots to this day¡­¡± I smiled at her reaction. ¡°I¡¯m serious. From here on, I no longer need to nitpick the loot I get from elite mobs, hehe. I won¡¯t let even a yuan go to waste~~¡± ¡°Hmph, despicable!¡± ¡°Well, shall we go?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡­¡­ We stepped out of the dry pot shop. I shivered immediately when an autumn wind brushed past us, and I noticed that Lin Yixin had put on a black wind jacket. She looked even better than before. ¡°Are you cold?¡± I asked in concern. Lin Yixin stared at me with loving eyes and beet red cheeks before shaking her head. ¡°No, I¡¯m fine¡­¡± ¡°In that case, can you give me your jacket? I¡¯m cold!¡± ¡°You!¡± Lin Yixin punched me once before replying, ¡°Don¡¯t make me laugh, you bastard. Don¡¯t you know that girls who laugh too much get wrinkles?¡± I smiled back. ¡°But you look so beautiful when you smile!¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± Lin Yixin glanced at the street lights before saying, ¡°I suddenly don¡¯t feel like going back too soon, and it¡¯s going to take me a while to hit Level 100 anyway. Do you want to go for a walk?¡± ¡°To where?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a Qiangoogle Bar nearby. Wanna go there and experience the nightlife?¡± ¡°Why not. Come on!¡± We opted to walk to the bar instead of taking the car. The bartender first shot Lin Yixin a look of wonder when we walked through the entrance. That look immediately turned into disdain when his gaze fell on me. Shit, I guess my Baleno brand shirt really isn¡¯t that impressive if even a bartender has the gall to look down on me! It was a riot inside the bar because a birthday party was ongoing, it seemed. After picking an edge corner to sit down, I chickened out and ordered two glasses of fruit juice instead of alcohol. But Lin Yixin pushed the fruit juice away and ordered herself a bottle of red wine. Then, she started drinking without a word. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Is there something troubling you?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± Lin Yixin drained a small half of her glass of red wine before smiling. ¡°I¡¯m just feeling a bit pressured, that¡¯s all. Online, I have to deal with the guild¡¯s mess, my own character, and my income. Offline, my mother is still in a coma to this day. Sometimes I just feel so tired about everything¡­¡± I gave her a reassuring smile. ¡°Don¡¯t be sad, you have me by your side, don¡¯t you? You can always count on me if you need to kill a boss or something. I¡¯m pretty powerful these days, you know¡­¡± ¡°Oh you¡­¡± Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me, but it wasn¡¯t long before her eyes turned cloudy again. She suddenly looked down and murmured, ¡°Fine, maybe you¡¯re right, you have always been here for me. But I¡­ I¡­¡± ¡°But, what?¡± I pressed her. ¡°Nothing¡­¡± Lin Yixin downed another glass of alcohol before staring at the merry crowd with reddened cheeks and a trace of helplessness. In fact, I caught her tearing up a little before she looked away quickly and wiped it from her eyes. She was afraid that I would notice her reaction. I felt a twinge of pain inside my heart. Maybe she wasn¡¯t as tough as I thought. Maybe she had forced herself to stay strong for too long and collected too many grievances. ¡°Thank you for covering that 150k bill for me, Lu Chen,¡± Lin Yixin said suddenly. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing. It¡¯s not that much¡­¡± I answered. ¡°Mn, but still, thank you.¡± Lin Yixin broke into a sudden smile, but she didn¡¯t say anything. It was at this moment the music in the bar was changed into a dancing tune. The people celebrating the birthday party actually rose to their feet and started dancing in the empty spaces of the bar. It looked like their party had reached its climax, and they were treating the bar like a dance floor. ¡°Would you like to dance with me?¡± Lin Yixin suddenly asked me. I shook my head. ¡°No, I don¡¯t know how to dance.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, I don¡¯t care even if you do the samdambi dance¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Lin Yixin stood up and extended a hand to me. After spotting the reluctance on my face, she said unhappily, ¡°Hey, what¡¯s with that face? Did you know that people have offered up to 100k just invite me to a dance, and not once have I accepted their offer? I¡¯m inviting you to a dance right now, and you¡¯re hemming and hawing in front of me? Do you want me to kick your ass?!¡± I shuddered and rose to my feet hurriedly. Not entirely knowing what I was doing, I followed Lin Yixin to an empty space where we could dance. Chapter 348: But I Love You ¡°Lu Chen¡­¡± Lin Yixin buried her face in my neck before calling out to me. ¡°Hmm?¡± I asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°About He Yi¡­¡± Lin Yixin hesitated for a second before straightening herself and staring at me directly. She bit her lips before asking, ¡°Is she really that important to you?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Her question caught me off-guard, but I nodded. ¡°Yeah. After everything we went through, I swore that I would never let her down again for as long as I live.¡± ¡°Even if it costs you your life?¡± Lin Yixin said a bit angrily and tearfully. Her eyes were glowing with a kind of emotion that I couldn¡¯t understand. ¡°At the cost of my own life, huh¡­¡± I avoided her gaze and looked away. At this point, I didn¡¯t know what I was feeling myself. Her tears finally burst out in full force, and she hugged me and buried her face deep into my neck. Very soon, a wet sensation started spreading on my shoulder. Maybe it was because of the alcohol, but I almost couldn¡¯t believe that the calm and courageous Lin Yixin could have a moment like this. The only thing I could do was return her hug with a bit of trepidation. A while later, Lin Yixin let out a whiny noise before pushing me away from her. Then, she said quietly, ¡°I¡¯m tired. I want to go back now¡­¡± Subconsciously, I felt like she knew something that she shouldn¡¯t know. I hurriedly grabbed onto her hand and asked her, ¡°What do you know, Yiyi?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°No buts.¡± Lin Yixin faced toward me, her face still covered in tear stains. She looked like she was choosing her words carefully as she wiped away her tears. ¡°I know I can¡¯t change the past, but I¡­ I¡­ I still have a life ahead of me, and this is all there is between us, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Seriously, Yiyi, what¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Stop asking!¡± Lin Yixin said a bit angrily before looking at me. ¡°What¡­ what are we, really? Have you ever wondered what I am to you? Why must I give up the War Holy Temple for you? Why should I accommodate you? Why should I be the one to suffer for your sake...¡± I grabbed her hand again. ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°But what? You¡¯re a bastard, you know that?¡± Lin Yixin glared at me like an angry little lioness. The words slipped out of my mouth. ¡°But I love you¡­¡± ¡°You!¡± She burst into tears again and shivered from head to toe. ¡°Is that true?¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°You bastard!¡± Lin Yixin embraced me again in tears and laughter. She actually bit me multiple times on the shoulder so hard that it almost bled, but I endured the pain and continued holding her in my arms. The trepidation in my heart was growing as I replayed her words in my mind. She was right. What are we, really? Why did I blurt out and said that I loved her? If I really do love her, then what are my feelings for He Yi supposed to be? Loyalty, or love as well? ¡­¡­ A long time later, Lin Yixin finally got tired of crying and pushed me away again. She stared at me with reddened eyes and asked, ¡°Do you think we¡¯re friends, Lu Chen?¡± I nodded. ¡°Mn, I believe we are.¡± ¡°What type of friends are we?¡± ¡°The kind that are very, very close to each other.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± It looked like she was satisfied with my answer. She checked the time and said, ¡°We should go, it¡¯s almost 11. Take me home, Lu Chen.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± When we stepped out of the door, and the cold wind brushed past my skin, I felt as if it were a lifetime ago. Beside me, Lin Yixin had returned to her calm and collected self¡ªthe campus belle, the Fruit Knife Goddess¡ªalthough she broke out her shell temporarily to laugh at me after I scratched my car twice in the process of reversing my car out of the parking spot. I drove very, very slowly as we made way toward the university campus. On the way, Lin Yixin pursed her lips and asked me, ¡°Let¡¯s level together tomorrow morning, okay?¡± ¡°Sure. But promise me you won¡¯t be late¡­¡± ¡°OMG, when was I ever late?¡± ¡°Every single time, dammit!¡± ¡°Hmph. Get back home and sleep early. If I don¡¯t see you in the game at 9 am tomorrow you¡¯re dead!¡± ¡°I got it, I got it!¡± I waved my hand. We finally reached the female dorm, and Lin Yixin went back upstairs. Clear Perfume shouted at me from the third floor, ¡°Fuck, took you long enough to give back our Yiyi, Lu Chen!¡± I curled my lips, but Lin Yixin looked back and smiled at me. ¡°Be careful on the road.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡­¡­ It was time to go back to Frost Cloud workshop. My phone rang without warning. I took a look and was surprised to see that it was He Yi. An international call? After the call connected, He Yi¡¯s sweet voice entered my ears. ¡°Hey, Lu Chen. How are you doing?¡± ¡°Heh, not bad. How are you doing in the United States?¡± ¡°I¡¯m staying at a hotel, and I just reconnected the game¡¯s data cable. It¡¯s been meeting after meeting since I came here, but things finally slowed down enough for me to get back online and check on you guys. Unfortunately, you, Mingyue, and Beiming Xue were all offline, so I logged out again after killing some mobs. I still had an online meeting to attend later.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s great. Mn, I bought an X12 and went to dinner with Lin Yixin just now. I just sent her home, and I¡¯m now on the way back to the apartment.¡± I wasn¡¯t planning on lying to He Yi, and it sounded like she didn¡¯t mind it. I felt her smile on the other side on the phone. ¡°Good. I don¡¯t mind as long as you didn¡¯t spend the night with her at a hotel or something. I heard that the police are working pretty hard as of late, and any hotel could be the victim under a sudden inspection for a moment. If a man and woman were found to be staying in the same room without a marriage certificate to prove that they¡¯re married, they are required to call their families to take them away. I don¡¯t intend to receive a call like this in the near or far future, you understand¡­¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I groaned on the inside. ¡°And how would you know that from the US? You must be bullshitting me, right¡­¡± ¡°Hehe, you saw through it?¡± ¡°Hmph, of course I saw through it!¡± ¡°Oh right, how is that X12 of yours? If it¡¯s not comfortable, I can make a call and get you an imported car. Most of the stuff in China are well, made in China, so they¡¯re not very reliable¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s only right that an unreliable man like me drives an unreliable car.¡± He Yi giggled. ¡°Hmm, that actually makes some sense.¡± ¡°Oh right, when are you coming back?¡± ¡°Ah, that¡­¡± A bit of helplessness leaked into He Yi¡¯s tone. ¡°After I deal with the business here, I need to fly to Canada, Australia, and India in succession before I can even consider returning to China. Long story short, it¡¯ll be another half a month at least before I can go back. But don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m doing my best to reduce my time away. I miss you all¡­¡± ¡°We miss you too¡­¡± He Yi laughed. ¡°For an unreliable man, that sounds pretty reliable. Anyway, I need to hang up. There¡¯s a car waiting for me downstairs, and I need to go right about now¡­¡± ¡°Mn, don¡¯t overwork yourself, okay?¡± ¡°I know. Bye bye.¡± ¡°Bye.¡± When I hung up the call, I was shocked to discover that I was sweating bullets. It was understandable though, who could¡¯ve thought that He Yi would call me right after I sent away Lin Yixin? I was an idiot when it came to love, and while my ability to multitask in the game was practically unrivaled, in real life trying to juggle between Lin Yixin and He Yi was killing me. It wasn¡¯t a load I was equipped to bear at all! ¡­¡­ When I got back to the workshop, it was already 11:30. But when I opened the front door, I was surprised to find that the living hall was alight. Murong Mingyue was sitting on the sofa and reading a magazine in a sheath dress, and Beiming Xue was playing ¡°Link Link Me¡± on a tablet. It looked like they were waiting for¡­ me? ¡°I¡¯m home¡­¡± I greeted them meekly. ¡°Where the fuck were you?¡± Murong Mingyue put down her magazine and glared at me. ¡°You didn¡¯t even accept my call.¡± ¡°Er¡­ I was at the bar just now. It was too loud for me to hear the phone ring¡­¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± I sat down next to Beiming Xue and asked her in a small voice, ¡°Beiming, why is sis so angry tonight?¡± Beiming Xue smiled. ¡°How could she not? She brought you the Pickled Hot and Sour Fish you ordered, and you weren¡¯t even here to receive it. Not only that, you made her wait God knows how long before you finally returned¡­¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Stunned, I hurriedly moved next to Murong Mingyue and smiled meekly at her. ¡°Sis, I¡¯m sorry I wasted your effort, please don¡¯t be angry¡­¡± Murong Mingyue¡¯s awesome breasts bounced up and down in response to their master¡¯s feelings. She shot me a glance and said, ¡°That isn¡¯t going to work this time. Do you know how embarrassing it was for me to carry a food bowl all the way from the streets to the apartment? You¡¯re not getting out of this until you eat and drink every last drop of the fish soup!¡± I cried out, ¡°Fuck, are you trying to kill me?¡± ¡°Beiming, go warm the food, please.¡± ¡°No problem!¡± My younger sister couldn¡¯t wait to see me fail, so she happily bounced away to warm up the Pickled Hot and Sour Fish. It wasn¡¯t long before the hot bowl of fish soup was set on top of the table. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t hungry at all, but I still picked up my chopsticks and ate diligently under Murong Mingyue¡¯s supervision. Maybe it was because I was on a rollercoaster of emotion today, but somehow I was able to finish the fish meat, the pickled vegetables, and even the soup exactly as ordered. Once I was done, I rubbed my round tummy and let out a satisfied sigh. ¡°That was awesome¡­¡± Seemingly surprised by the fact that I actually finished the meal completely, Murong Mingyue let out a soft snort before smiling deviously. ¡°Awesome, is it? Did you know that a powerful contender just sold a Level 95, Dark Gold¨Cgrade 2-star Outstanding axe at Sky City? I asked around already, and the seller wasn¡¯t a member of Snowy Cathaya or Warsky Alliance. Whoever they are, they must die unless they¡¯re one of us. I wonder if it was Legendary Brave?¡± I stared at her. ¡°How much did the axe sell for?¡± ¡°Warsky, Pillar of the Nation, Li Le, and Roaming Dragon were all fighting for the axe. Even Indigo Collar and Tempest Shadow had traveled all the way from Wind City to compete for the axe. In the end though, Pillar of the Nation bought it for 2.5 million.¡± ¡°Holy shit, 2.5 million?¡± I was shocked. I had no idea the axe would be this popular. ¡°Why do you look so excited?¡± Murong Mingyue looked at me suspiciously. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I? Is that axe the Purple Thunder Battle Axe?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°That¡¯s my axe!¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Murong Mingyue¡¯s jaw hit the floor in shock and joy. Then, she suddenly walked up to me, hugged my neck and kissed me on the forehead before laughing. ¡°That¡¯s wonderful! I was worrying that our workshop is getting too low on capital as of late. You¡¯d better put 20% of the profit into the workshop¡¯s shared funds, you hear me?¡± I smiled. ¡°No problem. It¡¯s just 20%!¡± ¡­¡­ I happily went online and checked my notices. As expected, I received a system notice saying that the axe I auctioned had been sold for 2.5 million, or more accurately 2.375 million after the 5% was deducted as the transaction fee. Even after 20% of the profits was converted as the workshop¡¯s capital, I still earned a net profit of 1.875 million. As I predicted beforehand, as long as I stayed ahead in terms of level, equipment, and power, my virtual wealth was more than enough to keep me afloat. Chapter 349: Timely Rain The next day, I woke up at 6:30 in the morning. It was way earlier than I expected myself to wake, but I didn¡¯t feel like sleeping anymore, so I washed myself and went downstairs to buy three sets of breakfast. After eating breakfast, I immediately went online. Swhoosh! Sky City inn, 7 am. I took a look at my friend list and found no one online. There was over 2.5 million gold in my backpack, so I logged onto the trading platform and converted them into 2.5 million yuan. Next, I transferred 500k, or 20% of the Purple Thunder War Axe¡¯s sale price, to Murong Mingyue as contributions to the workshop. 20% was pretty fair all things considered; it was more or less the same percentage as what an individual would pay for their income taxes. Of course, you didn¡¯t actually get taxed inside the game, or no one would use the official trading platform. After all, why should we allow ourselves to be exploited by them? ¡­¡­ I repaired my equipment before walking toward the plaza. There should be a lot of foragers selling ingredients at the plaza right now; a bunch of men and women shouting on top of their lungs to get rid of their Chicken Meat for 50 silver per stack, Fish Meat for 2 gold per stack, Turtle Meat for 5 gold per stack, and so on. With high level came higher mana expenditure, and some of my newer skills such as Dragon Slaying Slash and Thunderous Charge consumed a lot of MP, so it was time I made some high-rank Magic Consumables. Right now I had almost 700 MP, meaning that only Rank 8 Magic Consumables could restore my MP to full. I hid my ID and walked into the plaza. It was as busy as I expected it to be. Since most of the foragers I saw were above Level 70, it meant that there should be high-rank food ingredients such as Turtle Meat for sale. I spotted a Level 84 Warrior called ¡°Timely Rain¡± beneath the city wall. It was a middle-aged man who seemed to sell Turtle Meat and Turtle Meat only. It just so happened that I needed a large amount of Turtle Meat to make my Rank 7 Magic Consumables, so his presence really was as timely as his ID would suggest. I walked up to him and asked with a smile, ¡°How much for your Turtle Meat, uncle?¡± ¡°4.8 gold per set, no haggling.¡± Timely Rain shot me a glance and noticed that my ID and level weren¡¯t visible to him. ¡°You¡¯re above Level 84? Not bad. Is Cooking your profession skill?¡± I nodded. ¡°How many sets of Turtle Meat do you have?¡± ¡°120 sets including the ones in the warehouse. You want them all?¡± ¡°Yeah. Can you lower the price to 4.5 gold since I¡¯m buying everything you have?¡± ¡°Sure, no problem!¡± Timely Rain looked astonished. ¡°How big is your inventory, brother?¡± I smiled. ¡°It¡¯s okay. Do you want to add each other as friends? I may purchase more food ingredients from you in the future.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I started cooking after adding Timely Rain to my friend list. While I was working, I asked, ¡°Why are you still selling Turtle Meat, brother? They¡¯re already starting to fall behind the curve. Why didn¡¯t you try hunting the Snow Rabbits? A stack of their meat could sell for 20 gold or more. It¡¯s worth far more than Turtle Meat!¡± Timely Rain smiled helplessly before shaking his head. ¡°That¡¯s a tall order you¡¯re asking. Snow Rabbits are Level 115 elites, and they can only be found at certain areas at the center of Dragonbone Mountain Range. I tried going there a couple of days ago, but two Snow Rabbits attacked me and one-shot me with ease. I highly doubt that I¡¯ll be able to hunt down any Snow Rabbit unless I reach Level 100 at minimum.¡± I checked out his equipment for a bit and noted one Dark Gold¨Cgrade item coupled with several Gold-grade ones. ¡°Are you a solo player?¡± ¡°Yep. You noticed?¡± Timely Rain chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m a full-time solo player right now. There was a layoff at my factory some time ago, and I was one of the unfortunate ones. I have a family to raise, and none of the interviews I went to were successful, so I bought a low-quality helmet and gave Heavenblessed a try. And now I¡¯m here. My plan is to farm high-rank ingredients and use half of my income to get better gear. Then, once I¡¯m strong enough, I would move on to more difficult zones to farm even better food ingredients.¡± I smiled understandingly. It was the same story for many other full-time players. Still, he did well to earn enough money to feed his family. Not everyone could stand at the top of the pyramid after all. I was thinking of recruiting Timely Rain to the guild, but in the end I decided against it. One, it would require him to give up his current lifestyle. Two, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was neither a refuge nor the government; we didn¡¯t provide our players with relief payment. Finally, Timely Rain simply wasn¡¯t strong enough to join us, so it would be better for both of us if we stuck to our separate ways. ¡­¡­ Almost 10 minutes of cooking later, over 140 stacks of Rank 7 Turtle Soup that restored 800 MP in one go appeared in my bag. This should be enough to last me a month at least. It was at this moment a beep entered my ears. System Notice: Your friend ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± has come online! Very good, it looked like Beauty Lin was early as well! ¡°Hi, Little Cheat~¡± Lin Yixin messaged me. I replied with a smile, ¡°Hi, pretty pretty¡­¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± Lin Yixin stepped out of the inn and partied me immediately. She said, ¡°We¡¯re heading out in 5 minutes!¡± ¡°Give me the party leader.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I activated my stratagem, Bloodlust, after Lin Yixin made me the party leader. Her mouth fell open when she saw that our party¡¯s attack speed had been increased by 35.8%. ¡°Wow, that much? Tsk tsk, stratagems sure are useful¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°Yeah. It buffs that much because my level is high, and I have a lot of Tactics now. The base value of Bloodlust is 20%, and since I have 79 Tactics points the buff is improved by 79%.¡± Lin Yixin giggled. ¡°Mn, that¡¯s way better than my second-rate Encourage. It only buffs my Attack by 13% or so¡­¡± I clicked open the Famous General screen to take a look. ¡°Damn, no one¡¯s a Famous General yet even though it¡¯s been a while since the Famous General patch¡­¡± ¡°Hehe, patience.¡± ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin gave me 200 Rank 8 Health Potions, so I returned the favor with 50 stacks of Rank 7 Magic Consumables. One shouldn¡¯t be stingy with their party members. Moreover, Lin Yixin¡¯s Ice Flame Slash cost around 100 MP per use after reaching Rank 9, so she absolutely needed these Magic Consumables. ¡°Here, this is yours¡­¡± Lin Yixin suddenly opened the trading platform and transferred 15k RMB to my account directly. A light dimple appeared on her face as she smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me, I can afford it since I sold a 1-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade mage robe yesterday and earned 240k yesterday. Hehe, it¡¯s so nice to have money again. I wonder who¡¯s that madman who sold a 2-star Outstanding axe yesterday and earned 2.5 million though. So annoying¡­¡± I hurriedly zipped my mouth and stayed completely quiet. If Lin Yixin learned that I was the ¡°madman¡± she spoke of, she would scorn me even more than she already did. ¡°Where are we grinding today, Yiyi?¡± I asked. ¡°Our destination is Dragonbone Mountain Range!¡± ¡°Ah? Dragonbone Mountain Range?¡± My eyes widened. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ not a very good idea, I think. Some of the strongest mobs on Dragonbone Mountain Range are Level 150, and most of them are elites. I highly doubt we¡¯ll be able to challenge it as we are now. Why don¡¯t we find a priest first before we go?¡± Lin Yixin shook a bottle of Rank 8 Health Potion in front of me. ¡°Why would you need a priest when you have these?¡± ¡°Fine, let¡¯s go!¡± ¡­¡­ Dragonbone Mountain Range was an unexplored map. In fact, most players were only at Level 80, so forget venturing into Dragonbone Mountain Range, most of them couldn¡¯t even handle the Level 100 common mobs at the foot of the mountain range. It was the same as committing suicide. Lin Yixin¡¯s intention was very obvious. She wanted us to use our gear, skill, and level advantage and harvest the unseen rewards lying in wait at Dragonbone Mountain Range before anyone else. All the games the Eternal Moon Corporation made had always obeyed the first-come-first-serve rule. The first time a boss was killed, it had a 100% chance of dropping loot. The second time it was killed, the drop rate was halved. The pattern continued until the final drop chance was between 1% to 5%. Everyone knew how profitable it was to kill a boss the first time, but only a small subset of people had the power to make their dream come true. I summoned the Level 95 Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf after we exited the city. The little wolf wasn¡¯t so little now, and its appearance reminded me of a tibetan mastiff. It looked like the little wolf still recognized Lin Yixin because it shook its head and wagged its tail like it had a stroke the moment it saw her. ¡°Wah, your Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf is all grown up already!¡± Lin Yixin exclaimed in pleasant surprise. I grabbed the little wolf¡¯s head before it could pounce toward Lin Yixin. Hey now, that girl over there is mine, you hear me!? Seemingly noticing my protective behavior, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf wisely changed its attention to the nearby rabbits and mountain goats. Oh yeah, you¡¯re my pet, so you¡¯d better learn to obey my rules! Suddenly, it broke off into a run and killed a mountain goat in the blink of an eye. Then, it started devouring its prey as if it hadn¡¯t eaten in days. Lin Yixin looked at me. ¡°Did you forget to feed it or something?¡± ¡°Of course not!¡± The truth was I couldn¡¯t even remember the last time I fed the Greedy Wolf. Oh well. ¡­¡­ We walked alongside a river that passed through the Sky Forest. The atmosphere was incredibly serene, and there were only animal mobs around us. Of course, a lot of players were grinding in the forest, but since Lin Yixin and I had hidden our IDs and equipment effects, no one should be able to recognize us. That being said, people kept shooting us, or more specifically Lin Yixin, looks as we walked past them. The girl was currently talking to me about the stupid stuff that happened in the campus, and she looked so lovely that even I was dazzled by her beauty, much less the others. Lin Yixin and I were very, very close friends, so it was only natural that people would question my place. But why would I care about the opinion of nobodies? Let them question me all they want! ¡­¡­ Chapter 350: Guardian Sword Lin Yixin swiped the air in front of her and shared her map with me. It looked like Dragonbone Mountain Range was split into five different zones, and the higher you climbed, the darker the map color became. The topmost part of the mountain was completely blood-red in color. "Look, the first zone is between Level 100 to 110, and the second zone is between Level 110 to 120. There are both common mobs and elites in the area. Which zone do you think we should challenge?" Lin Yixin asked. I pondered for a moment before answering, "Let¡¯s go to the zone between Level 110 and 120. I¡¯m Level 99 and you¡¯re Level 97. A 15-level disadvantage shouldn¡¯t be a problem for us!" Lin Yixin stared at me for a moment before breaking into a smile. "Why do I feel like you¡¯re plotting something?" I spread my arms helplessly. "You got me. There¡¯s a snow mountain area in that zone near Sky City where there are Level 115 elites called Snow Rabbits. It¡¯s the place to forage Snow Rabbit Meat, and I was hoping to get my Cooking skill to Rank 9 or even Rank 10 if possible. I want to know if it¡¯s possible to upgrade my profession skill after I finish my fourth class promotion." "Okay then, let¡¯s head to that snow mountain." "Mn. Yiyi, you¡¯re so nice¡­" "Cut it out!" ¡­¡­ We went up the mountain range together. We circled around a zone filled with Wild Bears because they were only Level 105 common mobs. Although they dropped some pretty good pelts, grinding these mobs was a complete waste of time for players at Lin Yixin and my level. If we didn¡¯t choose our mobs wisely, it was only a matter of time before our competitors caught up to us. Looking at Sky City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking, the core players of Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace, Gods of Destruction, Mad Dragon, and more hadn¡¯t given up just because they lost the contest for the divine sites. In fact, they worked harder than ever before. Farewell Song, Warsky, and Laughing at the Heavens especially had reentered the Heavenly Ranking despite losing a couple of levels before. These people were incredibly motivated, and the pressure on both of us was very high. We must fight harder to maintain our high ground at Sky City! We trekked along the edges of a needle-leaved forest cautiously. Suddenly, we spotted a group of growling Level 110 elite Wild Bears not far away from us. Two of the strongest-looking bears were fighting each other until one of them collapsed in defeat. The victorious bear then pounced on top of another bear and rode it like they were playing human pyramid. Lin Yixin looked a bit confused. "What are these idiots doing?" I replied, "They¡¯re fighting. You know, ¡®fighting¡¯." Lin Yixin caught on my meaning and turned red immediately. She shot me a disapproving look before rebuking me. "One more dirty joke and you¡¯re dead!" "Mn." "Should we circle around them?" I asked. Lin Yixin shook her head. "Let¡¯s decide after we see who they are. We¡¯re really close to the area we¡¯re heading to, and I don¡¯t want to avoid them only to be stabbed in the back because we didn¡¯t check if they¡¯re our enemies first." "You¡¯re right." I gripped the Purgatory Sword and led the way. Once we entered the forest, we held our breaths and examined our surroundings carefully. We spotted five players fighting a challenging Level 115 Snowy Plains Wolf¡ªa mob with incredible attack speed and attack power¡ªalthough the experience yield was more than worth the risk. ¡­¡­ "They¡¯re from Warsky Alliance¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes immediately turned cold and murderous. I hurriedly grabbed her shoulder before she could do anything rash and said to her in the party channel, "Patience. We can act after we see what they¡¯re doing!" "Mn¡­" The reason Lin Yixin was angry was very simple: Warsky Alliance went way overboard when they made their appearance and declared that they would wipe the floor with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya. Although we kicked their asses and claimed the two strongest divine sites for ourselves, that didn¡¯t mean Warsky Alliance had given up on the war. In fact, they used all kinds of colorful language to belittle us on the forums. Warsky was an extremely cautious man, but he was one person and his men were a legion. With three sub-guilds and almost ten thousand players in total beneath his rule, he was physically incapable of shutting everyone¡¯s mouth and restraining them, however charismatic he was. The five players in front of us were members of the Warsky Alliance second sub-guild. It was clearly indicated by the insignia on their shoulder. Their party was made up of a Level 90 magic knight¡ªthe main tank of the party¡ª2 warriors at Level 86 and Level 87 respectively, a Level 89 mage and a Level 84 priest. It was a standard party composition you could find anywhere, and it was absolutely capable of slaying the Level 115 Snowy Plains Wolf. The Level 90 magic knight had the highest level and the best equipment out of everyone in his party. I spotted 3 Dark Gold¨Cgrade and 2 Gold-grade items on his person. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, both his flaming spear and his shield were of the Dark Gold grade, meaning that he wasn¡¯t a foe that could be underestimated. He looked to be about 28 years old, and his pet was a golden wild boar. Lin Yixin bumped me on the shoulder before whispering, "Look, that Guardian Sword is the guild leader of the Warsky Alliance¡¯s sub-guild¡­" "Yeah!" I saw the post listed under the guild name as well. Even if the data was invisible to me, the way the players treated him with unusual respect was enough to clue in his true identity. The Level 86 swordsman with a pig loin for a face was cutting down the Snowy Plains Wolf while asking, "Boss, are you sure this Level 115 elite mob would drop a Level 90 sword?" Guardian Sword knocked back the mob with a spear thrust before raising his shield to defend himself from the counterattack. He replied seriously, "Mn. I heard that someone from Gods of Destruction managed to drop a Gold-grade sword called ¡°Sword of Snowy Plains Wolf¡± at this place. The official records also showed that the chances of the sword dropping from this mob are about 0.001%, or one in a hundred thousand. The drop chances are very low, but it has high Attack and a passive that adds 20% damage, making it almost as strong as a Dark Gold¨Cgrade weapon at the same level!" Guardian Sword then looked at the warriors before smiling. "The two of you are almost Level 90, aren¡¯t you? Wouldn¡¯t you like to get a better weapon? The Sword of Snowy Plains Wolf is even stronger than the Dark Gold¨Cgrade weapon I¡¯m wielding right now, so I want us to farm at least 2 Swords of Snowy Plains Wolf in half a month if possible!" The Level 86 warriors smiled. "Got it! We¡¯ll do our best to farm that top-tier Gold-grade weapon. By the way guys, did you hear that Pink Strawberry, a girl from our guild went to Ningbo to meet Old Six? Apparently, they went on a date and didn¡¯t come back the whole night yesterday, tsk tsk! I can¡¯t believe she gave herself to Old Six just because he had a Silver-grade staff that added 6% to healing! What a world we live in these days!" The other Level 87 warrior called "Kanus Wolf" smiled vulgarly. "So what? Pink Strawberry is at best a 60; a pass! She¡¯s a perfect fit for the Silver-grade staff she sold herself for. We should be mourning for Old Six¡¯s lack of taste, not the other way around! A real man would aim higher and gun for Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Shadow Chanel and Clear Perfume; Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul¡¯s Beiming Xue and Chaos Moon!" Guardian Sword snorted. "Are you dreaming? All the women you just listed belong to our enemies, you know. Dream too much and you¡¯ll be slammed by the hammer of reality. Still, none of those girls could compare to the prettiest women in Sky City, From Water and Wind Fantasy. Such a shame that they¡¯re both powerful guild leaders that we can¡¯t touch easily. Life is so unfair sometimes..." Kanus Wolf laughed. "Boss, that¡¯s even more of a pipe dream than ours! I doubt you can snare her heart even with a staff that adds 60% healing!" Guardian Sword sneered. "Is that so? Hmph! It¡¯s not like there¡¯s only one way to snare a woman¡¯s heart. Once she got a taste of my manliness, she¡¯d never be able to leave my side again, hahaha!" Everyone in the party broke out in laughter when they heard that. I curled my lips. GG, Guardian Sword, GG. You made a step past the no return line, then lunged so far ahead that not even gods could save you now. I could try, but Lin Yixin would mop the floor with me and then the rest of you. ¡­¡­ "Guardian Sword is mine. You deal with the rest!" Lin Yixin uttered with eyes that burned like fire. "Okay¡­" I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and burst out of the forest with Lin Yixin. Since this was a sneak attack, we both activated Charge to stun our enemies! Bam! I hit Kanus Wolf like lightning and swung the Purgatory Sword twice. Pardon + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 7074! He died. Clearly, his Defense was so pitiful that he failed to survive even a single combo. Beside me, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf howled and chomped its teeth around the other warrior, taking him out in no time as well. When I looked around though, I saw Lin Yixin stabbing Guardian Sword right in the throat with Extreme Break. Thump! The poor guy dropped to his knees with eyes as wide as saucers, the number 6498 floating above his head. When he looked up, he saw Lin Yixin speaking down on him coldly, "Die!" The Moonlight Sword glowed brightly before erupting into the Ice Flame Slash. A tremendous icicle tore Guardian Sword¡¯s body apart and slammed into the distant mage and priest, breaking both of their Spell Shields instantly! The mage shouted in a hurry, "They killed our boss! Fuck, it¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy! We need to run and call our friends to kill them!" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes turned colder. "Don¡¯t let them escape, Lu Chen!" I nodded and casually fired the Dragon Slaying Slash at the mage, killing him instantly. Less than three seconds later, I fired another Dragon Slaying Slash and killed the priest as well. The five-man party was wiped out just like that. I looked at Lin Yixin and asked with a smile, "Feel better now?" "Eh, I guess¡­" "Then let¡¯s leave immediately. We still need to grind, and these idiots can revive at any moment!" On the way, I picked legguards dropped by the unfortunate mage. They were very good; Silver-grade, and added 4% to Intelligence. After tossing the legguards into my bag, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and I started running toward the north. Lin Yixin ran after me as well, but to our surprise a system announcement dinged across the entire Sky City a couple of seconds later¡ª Ding~! System Announcement (Player Warsky Shout): Friends of Sky City, please be informed that Warsky Alliance is putting up a bounty for player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" and "Wind Fantasy¡±. They¡¯ve maliciously killed the guild leader of our second sub-guild, Guardian Sword, and they¡¯re not getting away with it. Starting now, anyone who manages to kill them in 24 hours can claim 50000 gold from me, one time. Please submit video evidence to prove your claim. They are somewhere near Dragonbone Mountain Range (25743, 10993)! ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin shot me an astonished look. "Why is Warsky making such a big deal out of this?" Chapter 351: Snow Rabbi Lin Yixin and I purposely took a circuitous route to avoid being harassed or hunted. We climbed up another hill and continued toward the icy plains. As elevation increased, the broad-leaved flora in the area was steadily replaced by a needle-leaved forest. Another five minutes of hiking later, snow started falling from the sky. Snow started covering the ground beneath our feet. A short while later, we had officially entered the snowy region of Dragonbone Mountain Range. Our war boots left deep footprints on the snow beneath our feet. I pulled out the Purgatory Sword and watched my surroundings carefully since we had entered the Snow Rabbit¡¯s habitat, our ideal leveling ground. ¡°Uuuu¡­¡± Lin Yixin clutched her battle robes and looked like she was freezing. Well, it was understandable. Most female fighter equipment didn¡¯t cover the legs, so it was only natural that she felt cold in an environment like this. I shot her a pitying look before saying, ¡°You¡¯ll be warmer once we get into a fight.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Lin Yixin nodded and looked toward the front. Suddenly, a trace of pleasant surprise passed through her features. ¡°Lu Chen, look! Is that the Snow Rabbit you¡¯re looking for?¡± I looked in the direction she was pointing at. It was as she said. A corrupted rabbit about 50 centimeters tall was hopping back and forth across the snow. It looked way tougher than the usual rabbit, and it was protected by a kind of armor that looked like it was made from ice instead of fur! When we got closer to the Snow Rabbit, its stats appeared in the party channel¡ª Snow Rabbit (Shadow) Level: 115 Attack: 1250~1350 Defense: 1100 HP: 45000 Skills: Mach Speed, Devour, Whirlwind Introduction: The guardian of the snowy regions. After being corrupted by dark energy, these fearsome Snow Rabbits turned violent and attack anyone who attempts to harm them. ¡­¡­ ¡°Gulp!¡± I swallowed once before gasping in shock. ¡°A shadow-rank monster? So powerful¡­¡± Lin Yixin nodded with a smile. ¡°Finally, a mob that¡¯s stronger than an elite but isn¡¯t a boss has appeared in Heavenblessed. I¡¯ve read about this on the official records. shadow-rank mobs are just like elites, but a single rank higher. You may have noticed it already, but its stats are much higher than normal. At 45000 HP, this Snow Rabbit is almost as strong as a miniboss. Lu Chen, it looks like we¡¯ve run into an iron, no, a steel plate¡­¡± I smiled. ¡°However, it¡¯s also stated in the official records that shadow-rank monsters have a 0.1% chance of dropping Gold-grade equipment and a 0.01% chance of dropping Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment. Its experience yield is also 5 to 10 times higher than a common mob. If this isn¡¯t the perfect mob to farm experience and equipment, I don¡¯t know what is¡­¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I locked onto the nearest Snow Rabbit and activated Thunderous Charge! Whoosh! I turned into a bolt of lightning and slammed into the Snow Rabbit like a tank. Unfortunately I failed to stun the mob, so I followed up with a Desperate Gambit and basic attack! 3887! 2984! Damn, shadow-rank mobs were a lot stronger than common or elite mobs, or I would¡¯ve dealt a lot more damage otherwise. I could imagine another fighter who wasn¡¯t me counting themselves lucky if they even managed to pierce its Defense. It looked like the Snow Rabbits were meant to be farmed by a group instead of a solo player; a party of 5 to 10 players to ensure safety. Swhoosh! The Snow Rabbit made a small noise and retaliated with a venomous bite. Its teeth looked like it was covered in icicles, and when it chomped down on my arm I felt a burst of pain and lost 985 HP! It was the Devour skill, a skill that increased its attack damage by 40%. Mn, we definitely couldn¡¯t afford to underestimate its damage potential. We also couldn¡¯t aggro them en masse without a priest to keep us healed constantly. ¡°Watch out¡­¡± Lin Yixin attacked the Snow Rabbit from the sides and cut it three times in a row. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf also gave it a bite of its own and took out even more HP from its health bar. It might have 45000 HP, but there was no chance it could withstand our combined power. Our offensive power was just that high. Crack crack crack! Two more hits to its weak point, and the Snow Rabbit finally let out a sorrowful wail and collapsed to the ground. Shockingly, the first shadow-rank mob we ever killed actually dropped azure leather wristguards! I picked them up and was amused by what I saw¡ª Wristguards of the Frozen Earth (Silver-grade) Defense: 135 Agility: +41 Stamina: +35 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Agility by 3% Passive: Increases user¡¯s critical rate by 1% Property: Frozen Earth Set, Wristguards Level: 95 ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin and I exchanged a glance with one another. ¡°A set?¡± Incredible. This Snow Rabbit drops set equipment? ¡°What are the effects of this Frozen Earth Set?¡± Lin Yixin asked. ¡°You should be able to see it if you equip it¡­¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Lin Yixin put on the Wristguards of the Frozen Earth, and her mouth immediately fell open in surprise. She shared the set¡¯s effects in the party channel¡ª Frozen Earth Set (Leather Armor): 1 piece: None 2 piece: +100 Agility 3 piece: +4% critical rate 4 piece: Defense +240 5 piece: User gains passive skill ¡°Frozen Earth¡±. All attacks are imbued with the power of the Frozen Earth. When attacking, 20% chance to inflict the Frozen status and reduce the target¡¯s movement and attack speed by 25% for 3 seconds. ¡­¡­ ¡°Tsk tsk, not bad!¡± I smiled. ¡°If we can gather a full set, this is as good as having a set of Dark Gold¨Cgrade leather armor! In my opinion, this Frozen Earth Set is probably the ideal equipment to have for Level 95 archers and assassins¡­¡± Lin Yixin nodded. ¡°Mn. In fact, I think the full set can sell for 100k if we put it up at the auction house. What do you think?¡± ¡°It might be worth even more than that¡­¡± I emphasized by pointing at the set effects. ¡°100 Agility, 4% critical rate, and 240 Defense are probably everything an archer or an assassin needs to protect themselves. This 100 Agility especially is absolutely ridiculous. Moreover, this Frozen Earth adds a 20% chance to inflict the Frozen status to any attack. For an archer, it¡¯s like a no-cooldown Freezing Arrow. How awesome is that?¡± ¡°Mn, mn! Let¡¯s gather as many sets as we can and split the loot in half later!¡± ¡°Alright~~¡± Both of us stared at the Snow Rabbits still hopping across icy plains in excitement. These babies were all walking bags of experience and gold! We slowly and carefully cut down the Snow Rabbits one at a time, at most two. The Snow Rabbit possessed both high attack and high attack speed, and neither of us could tank it for too long. Chiang chiang chiang! In fact, Lin Yixin¡¯s Profound Ice Armor made some very creepy noises every time a Snow Rabbit managed to get its icy teeth on it. Her HP dropped rapidly every time she became the focus of the enemy. Moreover, the Snow Rabbits had 45000 HP and high HP regeneration. Even with our combined strength, it still took us 2 minutes at least to take one down. Frankly, it wasn¡¯t very efficient! Snow continued to fall on the icy plains as we grinded. Rustle rustle... Snowflakes as big as goose eggs landed on Lin Yixin''s hair or shoulders before they were shaken off by her movement. She looked absolutely gorgeous in a setting like this. Some time later, dozens of Snow Rabbits had perished by our hands, but not a single Frozen Earth set equipment dropped for us. It was a bit disappointing for sure, but at least I still got some Snow Rabbit Meat out of it. Each Snow Rabbit dropped about ten pieces of Snow Rabbit Meat or so, making them fairly easy to forage. ¡­¡­ After killing another Snow Rabbit, Lin Yixin looked at me and asked between heavy breaths, ¡°Did you notice a serious problem, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Our speed is too slow. At this rate, how long will it take until we complete our first Frozen Earth set?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± I nodded in agreement, and we both started examining our surroundings without needing to exchange a word. If we couldn¡¯t find a good farming spot soon, we could grind for another 48 hours and still not hit Level 100. The amount of experience needed to level up from 99 to 100 was that ridiculous. We had killed plenty of Snow Rabbits so far, but when I looked at my experience bar it almost looked like it hadn¡¯t budged at all! It looked like Level 100 was a cut-off point that all players must climb. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, the experience needed to level up from 99 to 100 was twice the amount it took to level from 98 to 99, if not more. It was impossible to reach Level 100 without putting in some hard work. Suddenly, both our gazes stopped at an icy cliff at the same time. It was a sharp, triangular protrusion sticking out of the edge of the icy plains, and from above the terrain looked like an open fan. It was a perfect chokepoint to farm the Snow Rabbits! Lin Yixin sucked in a deep breath before starting, ¡°If we set up a defense line 3 yards away from the cliff edge, there is just enough space to fit two players at the frontline. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and I will stand at the front and block the mobs while you execute Thousand Mirage Slash and Dragon Slaying Slash from the back. Let¡¯s maximize the potential of the Purgatory Sword¡¯s 20% splash damage.¡± I gave the idea some consideration but shook my head. ¡°No. My HP and Defense are slightly higher than yours, so I should be the one to stand at the front.¡± Lin Yixin stared at me. ¡°Come on, I have no other long-ranged attack besides the Ice Flame Slash, and the skill has a 10-second cooldown. What am I supposed to do while the skill is in cooldown? Nothing?¡± ¡°Well¡­ fine¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll stand in the back and use Thousand Mirage Slash, War Crush, and Dragon Slaying Slash to attack the enemies. You will stand at the front and use Guard to defend yourself after you use Ice Flame Slash. But watch out for Whirlwind, okay? That skill deals magic damage, and you will be one-shot if you¡¯re not careful!¡± ¡°I got it. Anyway, I¡¯m going to go aggro the mobs now, so wait for me at the choke point. Oh right, does the little wolf have Guard? If it does, we can make it Guard non-stop and tank the Snow Rabbits¡¯ attacks with its HP regeneration!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡­¡­ I led the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to the edge of the icy plains while Lin Yixin left to lure the mobs. It took incredible skill to aggro an entire horde of Level 115 shadow-rank mobs without getting caught, but I wasn¡¯t worried for Lin Yixin¡¯s safety. I had cooperated with her long enough to know that she was super top-tier; just one polish away from reaching the absolute top. It was why she was fearless even when her opponent was Candlelight Shadow himself. Chapter 352: Farming Atop an Icy Cliff I carefully walked toward the edge of the cliff before turning around. From where I was standing, taking even one step backward would result in a long, long fall to my death. When I looked behind me for a bit, I was shocked to find that the ravine was so deep that the bottom was literally invisible to me. Heaven knows how this unnatural formation came to be at the center of Dragonbone Mountain Range. The bottom of the ravine looked like it was obscure by snow, wind, and something blue. It was impossible to see what was lying behind the mist. One thing was certain though, a fall from this height would almost certainly result in death. There could be icy spikes at the bottom waiting to turn someone into a skewer, or just flat, hard ice that would smash anyone into a pancake. The possibilities were endless, and all of them were tragedies. Meanwhile, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was standing at the front and growling with its teeth bare. It realized that the upcoming battle was going to be a fierce one, and if we won it would get at least half or an entire Snow Rabbit to feast on. Now that I thought about it, I was a stingy master, wasn¡¯t I? I had been collecting Snow Rabbit Meat from the start but my little wolf was still starving even now. I took control over the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and moved it so that it would block half the space in front of me. The remaining half was just wide enough for Lin Yixin to fill in once she had finished aggroing most of the mobs in the area. Once she had returned from her little excursion, both her and my pet would use Guard to defend themselves while I rain hell on the enemies from behind. Mn, if everything goes well, our grind efficiency would improve drastically! ¡­¡­ The whole process took about 4 minutes or so, and I dared not interrupt Lin Yixin even once for fear of breaking her concentration. Right now the girl was swimming through a sea of monsters like a dancing elf, and when space became too tight to round she made quick, decisive zigzags to escape the encroaching horde. A while later, Lin Yixin returned with a sea of Level 115 shadow-rank Snow Rabbits behind her! ¡°Oooh, Lu Chen, catch me¡­¡± Lin Yixin was charging toward me at almost top speed to avoid being caught by the Snow Rabbits. However, I nearly screamed as my eyes widened in fear. ¡°No¡­ I don¡¯t want to die!¡± Where I was right now, I was literally one or two steps away from certain doom. If Lin Yixin hit me like this, we would both fall down the cliff and die! There was no avoiding the impact though, so some quick thinking later I gritted my teeth and ran toward Lin Yixin in an attempt to cancel out her momentum with my own. If I fail, well, we die. It was that simple. Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful eyes widened when she saw me running toward her. Her lips actually spread into a heart-throbbing smile for some reason. I opened my eyes wide and stretched open my arms to catch her wholesome body. Thud! A loud thud later, we both started sliding toward the cliff edge! Our boots were dragging against the ice, but it was still too fast and too little! Staring at the empty space behind my back, Lin Yixin involuntarily closed her eyes and held me tight, ¡°Ah shit, we¡¯re going to die. Make sure you¡¯re at the bottom when we fall, Lu Chen. I don¡¯t like pain¡­¡± ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ I panicked. There was just too little friction being generated to avoid the inevitable. We¡¯re dead! With little to no time to spare, I made a snap decision to pull out the Purgatory Sword and slammed the blade into the ice beneath us! Clang! Bits of ice flew everywhere as the sword cut a long, deep hole in the floor. We were still sliding backward, but we finally slowed down enough that we stopped when the back of my heels were one step away from hitting thin air. We just barely survived an absolute disaster. When Lin Yixin noticed we were safe and looked up, she gave the chains on my metal armor a pull before giggling, ¡°Hehe, you look so cool just now, Little Cheat~~¡± I didn¡¯t know if I should cry, get angry or laugh at her comment. I couldn¡¯t help myself from saying, ¡°Are you insane, Yiyi? You literally balanced your life on knife¡¯s edge with your stunt just now!¡± Lin Yixin was unpredictable if nothing else. She simply smiled and pretended she didn¡¯t hear me. ¡°Come on, the Snow Rabbits are here!¡± She turned around and raised her left arm to use Guard. At first, all the aggro were focused on her, but after both her and the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf used Guard, the aggro shifted to me instead! Standing still and fighting down the rising fear in my heart, I pretended that I wasn¡¯t standing atop a ten-thousand-meter-tall cliff, raised the Purgatory Sword and fired a Rank 9 Thousand Mirage Slash! Bang! Chips flew everywhere as the nine sword aura hit the mobs and elicited painful screams from them. Thousand Mirage Slash IX was pretty powerful, and every hit dealt at least 3400 damage or so. Unfortunately, it only had a maximum coverage of 9 yards, and on a long cliff like this, the Ice Flame Slash would¡¯ve been a better choice. That being said, the 20% splash damage from the Purgatory Sword was more than enough to mitigate all that potential loss in DPS. The splash damage could almost triple the skill damage against such a group and dealt around 12k damage in total to each rabbit. It was pleasing to see the tanky Snow Rabbits lose 25% HP in one go, to say the least! I then stomped my foot and dealt even more damage with War Crush! After that, I used Wild Roar and increased the whole party¡¯s Attack by 15%. The moment Lin Yixin received my buff, she suddenly broke out of her Guard and launched Ice Flame Slash. Quick as lightning, she produced her dagger and hit the closest Snow Rabbit with Moon Gaze and Extreme Break! Thousand Mirage Slash had a cooldown of 15 seconds, and Ice Flame Slash, 10 seconds. Technically speaking, these two AoE skills alone were really all we needed to farm these Snow Rabbits. However, it wasn¡¯t like we had anything better to do, so I copied Lin Yixin¡¯s behavior and fired Dragon Slaying Slash after Dragon Slaying Slash at the Snow Rabbits. Too bad my new trainer, Rinser, hadn¡¯t taught me a real forbidden spell, or it would be fun as hell annihilating these mobs with it. Even if the forbidden spell turned out to be an AoE magic skill, I could still combine it with a physical skill to make it work for me. Unlike the traditional dual cultivators of legend who wielded combat skills with their right hand and forbidden magic with their left, my ¡°dual cultivation¡± was a combination of magic spells and combat skills such as my Dragon Slaying Slash. That being said, the Dragon Slaying Slash was still a physical skill despite having magical effects merged into the base skill. I was still an Undead Swordsman, except I was a lot stronger than I was supposed to be. ¡­¡­ While my energy blades landed in the middle of the mobs, Lin Yixin suddenly smiled and said, ¡°Lu Chen, did you notice something?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Try attacking the mobs at the center!¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± I fired a Dragon Slaying Slash into the middle of the Snow Rabbits and deleted 3876 HP from its health bar immediately. But this time, I noticed that the skill caused a tiny shockwave that affected 8 other mobs in direct vicinity of that Snow Rabbit. They all lost 775 HP at the same time! Holy shit, is that splash damage I¡¯m seeing?! I was pleasantly surprised by this. Although Dragon Slaying Slash was a long-ranged single-target skill, it still benefited from the Purgatory Sword¡¯s passive. Yesss! Our grind speed up shot even higher since I could fire a Dragon Slaying Slash every 2 or 3 seconds or so. Tsk tsk, this is great! ¡°Haha! You¡¯re so smart, Yiyi!¡± I praised her from the bottom of my heart. Lin Yixin curled her lips in response. ¡°No, you¡¯re just too stupid¡­¡± While saying this, she broke her Guard again and launched another Ice Flame Slash. The burning blade of ice collapsed atop the sea of Snow Rabbits and devastated everything that stood in its path. Seriously, what an insane skill. Though I had to mention that those wailing Snow Rabbits were still better off than the poor thing standing right in front of Lin Yixin. The merciless Fruit Knife Goddess was just pulling out her fruit knife out of its heart. She drank an HP potion immediately after that. Although she was in her defensive stance most of the time, she still took a lot of beating and lost a fair amount of HP. She only had less than 6000 HP or so, and a Rank 8 Health Potion could only heal half of that. Still, she was the manufacturer of her own potion, so she didn¡¯t hesitate to spam them on cooldown. Thanks to her decisiveness, she wasn¡¯t in any real danger yet. For a while, the icy cliff was illuminated by our skills. The snow continued to fall as the Level 115 shadow-rank Snow Rabbits dropped en masse and turned into huge amounts of experience and equipment. I had to admit that our bold choice of choke point and logical positioning made us a ton of profit. The secret to being successful was in fact, to be completely unscrupulous with your methods. There was no such thing as a tactic that was too shameless, just as strength and tactics weren¡¯t mutually exclusive. Every expert in the world was a slimy bastard who did the unconventional to become the champion of their field. Had we chosen to use traditional maneuvering to AoE down the mobs, we would be in all manners of trouble right now. At the very least, the Snow Rabbits were too risky to kill the traditional way considering our current level. One moment of bad luck was all it would take to be one-shot by these powerful mammals. I tried my best to draw the Snow Rabbits¡¯ aggro away from Lin Yixin with Dragon Slaying Slash as much as possible. Although she was in Guard most of the time, it was still too dangerous for a paper-thin Wanderer like her. If she was as tanky as He Yi or Gui Guzi, then I wouldn¡¯t be nearly as worried. Now that I thought about it, He Yi hadn¡¯t come online for a long time, hadn¡¯t she... ¡­¡­ ¡°Hello? What are you waiting for? Use Thousand Mirage Slash!¡± Lin Yixin suddenly turned around to look at me. ¡°Oh, right!¡± I hurriedly swung my sword and scattered the mobs in front of us. Lin Yixin smiled slightly. ¡°Thinking about sister He Yi?¡± ¡°N¡­ no¡­¡± I denied. ¡°Hmph, like hell you¡¯re not!¡± Lin Yixin rolled her eyes once before muttering, ¡°At least pay attention when you¡¯re leveling with me, stupid¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile back. ¡°Yiyi, look to the front about 5 yards away from you. Does that chest armor look familiar to you?¡± ¡°Oh, yeah it is¡­¡± It was a blue-colored leather chest armor and without a doubt a part of the Frozen Earth set. Tsk tsk, I supposed that our dream to gather a truckload of Frozen Earth set pieces with our level of karma and luck wasn¡¯t a dream after all! The Snow Rabbit was truly a tough foe befitting of its rank. Its HP was insane, and its offensive power was deadly. Even with our choke point, it took us almost two hours to finally clear out the Snow Rabbits Lin Yixin had aggroed. I estimated that we had killed at least 2000 Snow Rabbits, or with our level of power we would¡¯ve cleared out the area a long time ago. Our work done, I petted the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s head and smiled. ¡°Alright, you can eat two Snow Rabbits!¡± ¡°Aoo aoo¡­¡± Chapter 353: Chest Armor of Barbaric Strength Lin Yixin and I started sweeping the battlefield, but I was in no hurry. The 2000 or so shadow-rank mobs we killed had dropped at least 500 pieces of equipment, and since I had 500 slots in my bag and Lin Yixin only had 120, I didn¡¯t mind giving her the first pick. In the end, I was still going to be the biggest winner of the two of us. I carefully searched through the stacks of equipment on the ground and picked up the best of the bunch. Most of them were Silver-grade, and some Gold-grade. Besides that, I made sure to pick up all the Snow Rabbit Meat and used Death Plunder to get even more. Rational exploitation was the royal road to success! Soon, my bag was filled with 192 stacks, or 19200, of Snow Rabbit Meat in total. If I were to sell them at the current market price¡ª20 gold per one bundle of 10¡ªeach stack of 100 Snow Rabbit Meat was worth 200 gold. This meant that I was carrying the equivalent of 40k gold in my bag right now! As expected, the greatest profits almost always belonged to the greatest players in a game. By the time most players had become strong enough to hunt Snow Rabbits, the price of its meat would¡¯ve dropped like a rock just like the Turtle Meat and Chicken Meat. That was how the market functioned in the game, and only those who knew them well could earn the highest profits before everyone else caught up with the trend. ¡­¡­ We finished sweeping the battlefield not long after. Lin Yixin was responsible for gathering the Frozen Earth set pieces, and after we were done she ran up to me excitedly and said, ¡°Wawa! I found 14 Frozen Earth set pieces in total, Lu Chen! It¡¯s just enough to make up two full sets! We¡¯re rich~~¡± I narrowed my eyes. ¡°Hehe, yeah. Don¡¯t lose them!¡± ¡°Mn, mn!¡± I opened my own bag and looked over my loot. Surprisingly, there was a ton of powerful items, and the best ones moved even me¡ª Cold Blade Wristguards: Level 95 Gold-grade, metal armor. Defense +170, max HP +5%, Tactics +10. Dark Scale Chest Armor: Level 95 Gold-grade, leather armor. Defense +145, Agility +50, critical rate +3%, Tactics +14. Chest Armor of Barbaric Strength: Level 95 Dark Gold¨Cgrade, metal armor. Defense +245, HP +700, Tactics +15, Defense +5%. ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, the Chest Armor of Barbaric Strength was undoubtedly the best item out of all the loot I had picked up so far. It was unthinkable that a Level 115 shadow-rank monster would drop a Dark Gold¨Cgrade item though. Previously, they only dropped from boss monsters, and the drop rate was depressingly low. I took out the Chest Armor of Barbaric Strength and asked Lin Yixin, ¡°Take a look at this. Do you need it?¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open in astonishment. ¡°Did it drop from a Snow Rabbit?¡± ¡°Yeah. Do you want it?¡± ¡°Ohh, it feels embarrassing to take this¡­¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Dumbfounded by her act, I tossed the chest armor into her hands and said, ¡°Since neither of us have a use for it, let¡¯s sell it together with the Frozen Earth sets and split the profit in half later. Is that okay?¡± Lin Yixin shot me a grateful look. ¡°Mn. Thank you, Lu Chen.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome. We¡¯re close friends, aren¡¯t we?¡± ¡°Mn mn.¡± Lin Yixin probably needed the money more than me anyway. In fact, I actually had more money than I needed right now. I could buy a house, but I didn¡¯t want to because it was too troublesome. I already bought a car not long ago, and I didn¡¯t need another one. Well, whatever. I¡¯ll just pretend that I¡¯m saving up for my marriage funds or something. There isn¡¯t a man or woman in the world who would complain that they have too much money. In the end, I kept all the excellent equipment, and I gave Lin Yixin the best ones to sell. We would share the profit for the Frozen Earth set and the Chest Armor of Barbaric Strength, but the rest would belong to her. I had over 200 Silver-grade and Dark Steel¨Cgrade items in my bag anyway, and even if I sold them all at a shop I would still be getting a lot of money out of it. I didn¡¯t dare give Lin Yixin money directly because the act itself carried various implications. For example, it would look like I was providing for a mistress or a lover, and I had zero intentions of becoming Lin Yixin¡¯s sugardaddy. ¡­¡­ Thankfully, Lin Yixin was an incredibly smart woman. She didn¡¯t say anything, but I knew that she knew why I was going about this the roundabout way as clear as day. I looked at Snow Rabbits that Lin Yixin missed scattered across the icy plains. I checked the time and noted that it was 12:30 pm, but not only was I not hungry at all, I felt possessed by a deep excitement. Lin Yixin looked at me with a smile. ¡°Should we continue?¡± That was exactly what I was hoping to do, so I nodded immediately. ¡°Yeah. We¡¯ll skip lunch and have dinner together, okay?¡± ¡°Mn mn!¡± Lin Yixin stepped on the snow and took off again. She looked like a snow fairy as her snow-colored battle robes flapped to the wind. It wasn¡¯t long before a new group of Snow Rabbits was lured to our choke point. Although the number was incomparable to the first time, it was still an exhilarating amount of Snow Rabbits! Now that I knew that these mobs had a chance of dropping Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment, my motivation was as high as the sky. Sure, the drop rate was depressingly low, but it was the same feeling as buying a lottery ticket. Maybe I might hit the jackpot again? Who knows! ¡­¡­ So far the grind had been a wonderful experience, especially since my partner was a gorgeous beauty. Lin Yixin looked pretty happy herself, although it was because I was a peak expert who could fight at close or long range and not because of my stunningly good looks! Thousand Mirage Slash, Ice Flame Slash, and Dragon Slaying Slash kept ringing across the icy plains as the Snow Rabbits dropped dead and yielded a ton of equipment and experience. Everything was perfect thus far. Beep! It was at this moment I received a message from Murong Mingyue. ¡°Lu Chen, Warsky put a bounty to your head, didn¡¯t he? Did he catch you?¡± ¡°No, not yet. What¡¯s wrong, sis?¡± ¡°No, just asking if you would like to have lunch together.¡± ¡°Not this time, sis. I¡¯m grinding right now!¡± ¡°I bet it¡¯s a wonderful experience to grind with Beauty Lin, huh?¡± ¡°And how did you know that?¡± ¡°Hmph hmph, she leveled up twice in a morning. What would you think if you were in my place?¡± What the heck? Lin Yixin leveled up twice already? I turned around to look at Lin Yixin, and it was exactly as Murong Mingyue said. The girl had leveled up from 97 to 99, but I was only at 78%. As I thought, the amount of experience needed to level from 99 to 100 was insane! Murong Mingyue said in an aggrieved tone, ¡°You haven¡¯t grinded with me for a long time, you heartless bastard¡­¡± Feeling a bit apologetic, I replied, ¡°I should be able to hit Level 100 by today, so I¡¯ll grind with you and Beiming Xue after I finish my fourth promotion, okay?¡± ¡°Mn. It¡¯s a promise!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± After bidding Murong Mingyue goodbye, I shifted my focus back to grinding. She contacted me probably because she was worried about the bounty Warsky had put on my head, but it was probably unnecessary. There were Level 115 mobs all over the place, and even Warsky himself would be hard-pressed to make it to our location safely. Suppose that he brought 1000 players to the mountain, he would be lucky to lose only 900 by the time he reached us. Back to the grind. I¡¯m not quitting until I hit Level 100 today! Our equipment, pots, and magic consumables declined steadily as we dispatched the second horde of Snow Rabbits in another two hours or so. Unfortunately, I had hit the max limit on my bagspace, and I was forced to throw away some trash equipment to fit all the Snow Rabbit Meat I gathered. In the end, 500 slots still weren¡¯t enough to meet my needs. If only I could have a bag with unlimited space... When I shared my thoughts with Lin Yixin, she immediately retorted with scathing criticism. Even now, most players in the world still didn¡¯t have a bag and had to struggle with 20 slots every day. She said that my dream to have unlimited space was absolutely insensitive... It wasn¡¯t long before I had 350 stacks of Snow Rabbit Meat in my bag, enough to last me for months without returning. The rest of the ingredients necessary to make the Rank 8 Magic Consumables¡ªGreen Pepper, Garlic, and Salt¡ªcould be purchased for cheap at the market, so I obviously wasn¡¯t going to bother foraging them myself. For a time, I felt like my senses were flooded by an overwhelming sense of happiness. Right now, my bag was filled to the brim with 350 stacks of Snow Rabbit Meat, 40 stacks of Magic Consumables, 40 stacks of potions, and top-tier equipment. Tsk tsk, I couldn¡¯t wait to count the money I earned after the sale! ¡­¡­ As it turned out, Lin Yixin was even more excited than I was. She grabbed my sword handle and laughed. ¡°That¡¯s four complete sets of Frozen Earth set! We¡¯re rich, we¡¯re rich!! Hehe!!¡± I nodded. ¡°Yes, we are. We can practically eat at a restaurant every day after this!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Lin Yixin looked at herself to check her equipment¡¯s durability. After six to seven hours of hardcore grinding, her weapon had less than 50% durability, and her equipment had less than 20% durability left. My weapon was even worse off than her equipment, however. Thousand Mirage Slash was a powerful skill, but it also cost an insane amount of durability because every hit counted as an attack, meaning that I was losing 9 times the durability every time I used it. As a result, my Purgatory Sword was sitting at less than 10% durability right now. ¡°We¡¯re almost all out of durability. Should we head back?¡± Lin Yixin asked with a smile. I looked at my experience bar and noted that I was sitting at 98%, literally 2% away from hitting Level 100, so I said, ¡°Can we continue just a bit longer until I hit Level 100?¡± ¡°Sure!¡± Lin Yixin nodded and started walking back to the other side of the cliff. However, a couple of figures suddenly appeared at the horizon, and they were no Snow Rabbits. They were players! There were four of them in total. One of them was even a familiar face. The guy at the front of the party was a high-level warrior clad in excellent armor. He wielded a sword that glowed with wavy light, and his features seemed to be permanently etched with a pair of gloomy eyes and a small but disgusting smile. His shoulder was shining with an ugly ass guild insignia, and the line of text floated above his head stated¡ª Pillar of the Nation LV-89 Silver Warrior Guild: Hegemon Palace Guild Position: Leader ¡­¡­ ¡°OMG, it¡¯s Hegemon Palace. I guess our plan is busted now¡­¡± Lin Yixin whispered. I was too busy staring at the cyan-armored warrior walking behind Pillar of the Nation to respond to her though. This man was utterly silent, and he was gripping a huge cyan sword. The name above his head was even more astonishing¡ª Little Piglet LV-95 Silver Cold Wind Swordsman Guild: Hegemon Palace Guild Position: Vice Leader ¡­¡­ Chapter 354: Freezing Hea ¡°Teleport now!¡± I growled. ¡°It¡¯s too late!¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes turned steely when she suddenly took half a step backward, barely dodging a light blue arc of energy that appeared out of nowhere. It was none other than the Assassin¡¯s offensive skill, Cold Blade! Shit, we got ambushed! Lin Yixin and I entered the battle phase at the same time as three assassins appeared all around us. They were all high-level assassins from Hegemon Palace, and the fact that their IDs read very similar to each other meant that they were probably a group of friends¡ªThe Little Mushroom Who Plucks Girls, The Little Girl Who Sells Matches, and The Little Ponytail Who Wears Girls! The resemblance didn¡¯t just stop at their IDs. All three assassins were around Level 90 or so, and in Sky City Level 90 assassins were incredibly rare. The fact that three of them currently resided in Hegemon Palace meant that Pillar of the Nation must have splashed a lot of money to get them! Little Mushroom retreated immediately and used Fluorescent Powder after missing his attack. Behind him, the other two assassins also jumped backward and entered stealth mode again! ¡°Hmph!¡± Lin Yixin moved lithely across the snow before swinging her Ice Flame Slash horizontally, ¡°Show yourself!¡± Boom! As expected, the assassin called The Little Ponytail Who Wears Girls was knocked out of his stealth. However, his body was glowing with the light of Priest¡¯s Spell Shield, and it canceled most of the Ice Flame Slash¡¯s damage. Thanks to that, he lost almost 2000 HP but survived the attack. But Lin Yixin wasn¡¯t alone. I rushed toward The Little Ponytail Who Wears Girls and pressed my blade against his chest. His eyes flashed with shock, but there was nothing he could do about it. My sword easily pierced through his back and dealt 3764 damage to him, killing him on the spot! However, Lin Yixin suddenly let out a snort behind me and fell still. At the same time, a stun icon appeared above her head. Little Mushroom had stunned her! The assassin immediately executed two skills in a row: Cruel Blade, Evil Will! Lin Yixin shuddered as the dagger sank twice into her flesh and deleted a huge chunk of her HP¡ª 1120! 1345! Fuck, these assassins are quite powerful! They managed to pierce even Lin Yixin¡¯s Defense! I ran toward her like crazy while the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf pounced toward her attacker. Before Little Mushroom could swing his dagger a third time and end Lin Yixin¡¯s life, it let out a howl and executed the devastating Flurry Dance! But Little Mushroom reacted with uncanny speed and spun 45 degrees to the right on one foot. The second he was facing the wolf, he slammed his dagger¡ªnow glowing with a different blue energy¡ªinto my pet¡¯s body and stunned it for 3 seconds! It was the skill ¡°Bloodgush¡±! My eyes turned steely, but I didn¡¯t lose my cool. The grass on the ground shook unnaturally for a bit when the third assassin finally showed himself! Swhoosh! I arrived at Lin Yixin¡¯s side just in time to parry away Bloodgush aimed at her neck. Then, I stomped the ground with my foot and used War Crush! The Little Girl Who Sells Matches looked stunned as War Crush hit him three times in a row. Another assassin was one-shot just like that! Lin Yixin finally recovered from her stun and downed a health potion. Then, she activated Charge, stunned the assassin that was fighting the wolf and pulled out her own dagger. Moon Gaze covered her pupils, and Extreme Break drew an arc in the air. The last assassin dropped to the ground and turned into a cold, dead corpse as well. ¡­¡­ ¡°Phew¡­¡± I sucked in a deep breath. These three Level 90 assassins had caused quite the panic even for me and Lin Yixin. Thankfully, Lin Yixin sensed them first before they could sneak up on her, and their coordination was disrupted just enough for us to turn the situation around. Had they tried to chain-stun Lin Yixin from the start, their plan to take her out first might very well have succeeded! Unfortunately, we didn¡¯t manage to escape before Pillar of the Nation and his three heavy-armor players reached us. Staring at us with scorn and disdain, he said, ¡°It looks like Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy are grinding here. Pathetic. Are Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls so weak that they cannot conquer Dragonbone Mountain Range alone?¡± I walked toward him with my sword at the ready. ¡°What is the meaning of this, Wang Dongliang?¡± Pillar of the Nation chuckled. ¡°Just taking revenge for the loss at War Holy Temple, that¡¯s all. Hegemon Palace will be testing the mettle of the best experts of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya today!¡± ¡°Test our mettle?¡± The corner of Lin Yixin¡¯s lips turned up slightly. ¡°And who among you are enough to challenge us?¡± ¡°He is!¡± Pillar of the Nation pointed behind him. It was none other than the Level 95 Cold Wind Swordsman, Little Piglet. He was a handsome youngster who wore a careless smile on his face. Pulling out the deep cyan broadsword behind his back, he said, ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Wind Fantasy. I¡¯ve been wanting to challenge you two for a long time now, but I haven¡¯t been able to find a chance to do so until now. Please don¡¯t hold back, you two!¡± I glanced at him once before smiling. ¡°I thought that you were an independent player since you refused all the guild invitations you received, so I¡¯m surprised to find you the vice leader of Hegemon Palace now. What on earth did Wang Dongliang offer you to tempt you out of independence?¡± Little Piglet put his broadsword on his shoulder before answering, ¡°Lu Chen, right? You can save the provocation. It¡¯s quite simple. I¡¯m not a member of Hegemon Palace, I¡¯m just the mercenary he hired for three months¡¯ time. I belong to Hegemon Palace during this time, and I will fight anyone who harms their interest.¡± ¡°Oh? Three months? How much is your pay then?¡± I smiled. Little Piglet licked his lips. ¡°1.5 million, so 500k per month. Not bad, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s pretty good. Just to clarify but, we¡¯re definitely enemies now, aren¡¯t we?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± ¡­¡­ Clang! I pulled out the Purgatory Sword and crossed it before my chest, smiling. ¡°Come at me then, Cold Wind Swordsman. I¡¯m curious to know the strength of the mysterious guy who claimed a spot on the Heavenly Ranking myself. Don¡¯t disappoint me, hehe!¡± Little Piglet nodded confidently. ¡°Ever since Dark Shadow Drifter, Paralyzing Wind and Sorrow, A Dust, and Dawning Wind Waning Moon entered retirement, there were no worthy pros in all of China. Otherwise, second-rate players like Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow would never be able to enter the CGL Hall of Fame. Speaking of which, you were the 12th rank in the CGL Hall of Fame, weren¡¯t you? Let¡¯s see how you fare against this rankless player!¡± Not far away, Pillar of the Nation yelled, ¡°Little Piglet, there¡¯s no need to chit-chat with this fool. Take out Lu Chen first and kill Wind Fantasy later! I¡¯ve turned on the recording already. If you win, I¡¯ll treat you to dinner, pay you an extra 100k, and you can grab another 100k from Warsky, hahahaha!¡± His words caused a wave of discomfort in me. I frowned at him and asked, ¡°Did I offend you or something, Pillar of the Nation? Must you butt heads with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re doing all this because of He Yi?¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly right!¡± Wang Dongliang¡¯s mouth curled into a disdainful sneer. ¡°You¡¯re just a child who¡¯s good at games! You don¡¯t deserve Eve, you hear me?¡± I smiled. ¡°There¡¯s nothing left to be said then. I don¡¯t mind even if all four of you attack me together!¡± ¡°Such big words!¡± Little Piglet¡¯s eyes suddenly turned steely and murderous. He growled, ¡°Beat me first before making such bold claims, Falling Dust. If you think you¡¯re invincible just because you¡¯re a CGL Hall of Famer, I¡¯m sorry to say you¡¯re sorely mistaken. My goal is to kill rankers like you, and you¡¯re going to be my first victim, Little Heavenly King!¡± ¡­¡­ Little Piglet activated Charge right after he said this. The battle had already begun! Swhoosh! Charge was fast, but all I did was jump two steps backward. That was all it took to dodge his stun completely, or it was supposed to. However, I noticed that Little Piglet was dragging the ground with his broadsword to control the direction of his Charge! He was as good as I suspected him to be! ¡°Heh!¡± Little Piglet chuckled before pulling his sword out of the ground. Even before his Charge ended, he was spinning around and swinging his sword at me like a whirlwind. His form was almost perfect! I paid close attention to the trajectory of his blade before parrying it with my own. Although the powerful strike knocked me back a couple of steps, I didn¡¯t forget to lift my leg into a kick! But Little Piglet¡¯s reaction was as quick as mine. He blocked my powerful kick with his elbow, and we both retreated a couple of steps from each other. When he noticed that the attack had deleted 984 HP from his health bar, he couldn¡¯t help but cry out in surprise, ¡°What a powerful strike!¡± I was already retaliating before he could finish his exclamation. My sword dropped down from the sky like a meteor! Little Piglet raised his own weapon and activated Guard! I immediately changed my attack to a Crushing Blow! MISS! Little Piglet had canceled his Guard just in time to dodge it, but he wasn¡¯t expecting the Ice Ray to his chest! Pu! 2403! A sheen of ice covered his metal armor, but Little Piglet¡¯s smile only grew wider. Suddenly, his power grew as icicles grew beneath his feet. It looked like a buff of sorts, and when I looked at the combat log I was surprised by what I saw¡ª Beep! Combat Log: Player ¡°Little Piglet¡± used ¡°Freezing Heat¡±, increasing his attack speed and movement speed by 40% for 15 seconds! ¡­¡­ What an amazing skill. His options just grew a lot broader thanks to the 40% extra attack speed and movement speed. The brief exchange of blows had revealed to me that Little Piglet¡¯s skill was absolutely super-tier, and almost at the pinnacle. Now that his attack speed was increased, he could put a lot more pressure on me! That wasn¡¯t even the worst thing to happen yet. A layer of icy energy covered Little Piglet¡¯s blade, and three icicles suddenly flew out of the weapon straight toward me! All three looked exactly the same as Ice Ray! Beep! Combat Log: Player ¡°Little Piglet¡± used ¡°Ice Ray Flurry¡±, dealing 1432, 1379, and 1490 damage! Your movement speed is reduced by 25%! ¡­¡­ I used the knockback from his skill to put some distance between myself and him. Then, I fired a Dragon Slaying Slash! Bang! 3764! Chapter 355: Wind of Recovery Little Piglet wasn¡¯t the only one who was shocked. If I wasn¡¯t sure if Little Piglet was super-tier or not before, I was now. I hadn¡¯t bothered parrying his Ice Ray Flurry because he had deliberately angled the beams so that they would hit me from three different directions. I was fast, but I was only human. No reaction was fast enough to counter such an unpredictable attack. Moreover, Little Piglet was a super-tier expert, meaning that my usual predictions were useless against him. I let out a growl and imbued myself with Wild Roar. Currently, the most logical action for me was to run over my opponent with my devastating attack power. Little Piglet watched me sternly as ice spread from beneath his feet. It was the visual effect of Freezing Heat. The skill would dissipate in about 7 seconds, so Little Piglet had to deal with me in this time frame. Otherwise, his 40% attack speed would be completely wasted. I swung my sword and fired the Dragon Slaying Slash! Swhoosh! A cyan blade energy dropped from the sky, forcing Little Piglet to change directions and dodge out of the way. My Dragon Slaying Slash had actually missed its target! MISS! I had thought this might happen eventually, but my heart still sank when the skill missed. Dragon Slaying Slash was a long-range skill with 1 to 1.5 seconds of channeling time. By predicting my enemy¡¯s movement and concealing my skill movement, I normally would have a 100% hit rate against ordinary experts. Unfortunately, Little Piglet was not ordinary, so it was impossible to hit him consistently with Dragon Slaying Slash. ¡°Hehe¡­¡± Little Piglet chuckled before dashing toward me from the side. He moved as quick as lightning. I ran toward him like the wind myself. After successfully parrying Little Piglet¡¯s first attack, I thrust my sword toward his chest in an attempt to hit him with Ice Ray. He would definitely be at a disadvantage if the skill hit! ¡°Naive!¡± Little Piglet growled before gliding to the right like a nimble snake. The Purgatory Sword almost scratched his chest, but it still failed to make contact in the end! He was just too fast to be caught by an attack like this! Unfortunately, that wasn¡¯t the end of my combo. Little Piglet¡¯s pleased expression froze when he realized too late that a bright cyan light was glowing from the left hand I had purposely hid from his view! Boom! I fired the Dragon Slaying Slash again at where Little Piglet was escaping too. This time, there was on dodging the attack! Bang! 3459! The Dragon Slaying Slash almost ended Little Piglet where he stood. If he hadn¡¯t drank a large health potion earlier, he would¡¯ve been dead already. ¡°Dammit!¡± I thought Little Piglet was going to back off, and he did. But before he moved away, he spun around without warning and stabbed his sword toward me. Judging from the sheen of blue covering the blade, it was an Ice Ray! My eyes turned steely as I circled to Little Piglet¡¯s flanks and swung my sword at the same time. The Ice Ray just barely missed me as my own sword traveled toward his neck! 1453! He was still alive. It looked like Little Piglet had over 7000 HP. No wonder he thought he could challenge Lin Yixin and I solo. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle¡­ Our war boots dug deep into the snow and dragged long marks as we skidded away from one another. Staring at me with steely eyes, Little Piglet waved his sword and surrounded himself in a surge of cyan wind energy without warning. The energy turned into a cyan shield, and the message in the combat log surprised me yet again¡ª Beep! Combat Log: Player ¡°Little Piglet¡± used ¡°Wind of Recovery¡±, regenerating 50% HP over 10 seconds! ¡­¡­ What an amazing recovery skill! It was much better than my Tenacity of the Dead! Just who was this Little Piglet, and why had I never heard of him in China before? He didn¡¯t even look old. Was he one of those super experts who chose to stay anonymous until now? Little Piglet raised his sword into the air after recovering himself with Wind of Recovery. A bloody energy suddenly bolted down his weapon and into his body, buffing his attack power by 20%! It was yet another buff skill called Strength of Divine Arms! Shit, he¡¯s even harder to fight now! ¡­¡­ Not far away, Pillar of the Nation laughed loudly. ¡°Well done, Little Piglet! Kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, and you¡¯ll become the number one expert of Sky City!¡± But Little Piglet looked completely unaffected by his hirer¡¯s cheer. Right now, he probably only had eyes for me, the terrain around us and both our cooldowns. He was probably waiting for that one opening where he could launch a devastating strike against me, wasn¡¯t he? Even I had to admit that he was a true professional. I myself was waiting for such an opportunity. Little Piglet¡¯s HP and Defense weren¡¯t too far behind mine, so the only way to beat him was to one-shot him. If the fight dragged out, he could rejuvenate himself with Wind of Recovery, while I only had a low-rank Regeneration of the Undead to passively regenerate my health. It would be incredibly bad for me if I allowed that to happen. Moreover, Little Piglet hadn¡¯t summoned his pet to fight me, so I couldn¡¯t throw away my pride and order my little wolf to help me either. Both of us were waiting for that one-shot. Both of us also knew that the other party knew that we were waiting for that one-shot. We had returned to full health about ten seconds later. The atmosphere was murderous and solemn. At the side, Pillar of the Nation was recording the entire battle and waiting for Little Piglet to put me down with this one strike. Swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Both of us took off at the same time as snow flew around us. We zigzagged toward each other and clashed swords about four to five times in just a couple of seconds, leaving at least five meters of intersecting footsteps on the ground. So far, none of us were able to hit each other because every attack and counterattack had been successfully parried by the other party. Behind Pillar of the Nation, a warrior¡¯s jaw hit the floor as he said, ¡°WTF, guys, change your camera angles and look at their movement from top to bottom¡­¡± That¡¯s right, if you were to look at the ground from above, you would find that the footsteps we left on the ground looked incredibly similar to a hexagram. ¡­¡­ Crack! A series of devastating exchanges later, my sword finally diverted a little from its original path and hit Little Piglet on the shoulder instead of the neck. The killing intent in his eyes suddenly exploded like the sun. This was his chance! Ice Ray Flurry! The triple strike was absolutely devastating. I had lost almost 4000 HP in one go! But I wasn¡¯t planning to guard the attack from the beginning. Slamming my foot on a protruding rock on the ground and leaping to Little Piglet¡¯s right like lightning, I kneed the warrior right beneath his armpit! Bang! 797! Damaging Little Piglet wasn¡¯t the intent of the knee strike, knocking him off balance was. While his rhythm was completely disrupted, I attacked him four times in rapid succession¡ªPardon + Desperate Gambit + basic attack + Dragon Slaying Slash! MISS! 4657! 1239! 3568! I dealt over 9000 damage in one combo, but Little Piglet was still alive. Wind of Recovery was still healing him, and he was able to drink a health potion immediately despite being caught by surprise. His reaction speed really was incredible! My Purgatory Sword shone brightly, and I fired one last Thousand Mirage Slash while growling, ¡°Die!¡± Boom! The attack sent Little Piglet rolling far, far away across the floor, but he was still alive! It was because someone had healed him for 2874 health! Where was that priest? I looked up and saw a male priest walking out from behind Pillar of the Nation. He was Level 91. No wonder he was able to cancel out my Thousand Mirage Slash with a Greater Heal. ¡­¡­ Clang! I sheathed my sword and said softly, ¡°You¡¯ve lost, Little Piglet!¡± Little Piglet cut a sorry figure as he climbed to his feet, but he simply let out a chuckle. ¡°You¡¯re right, I lost. That being said, you¡¯re nothing special if you didn¡¯t have that Dragon Slaying Slash¡­¡± I smiled. ¡°And if you didn¡¯t have Ice Ray Flurry, I could kill you even without a weapon!¡± ¡°...¡± The conversation ended there as Little Piglet returned to Pillar of the Nation¡¯s side. He said calmly, ¡°Leader, I can¡¯t beat him one on one, so I leave it to you to decide our next course of action. I wouldn¡¯t mind if you chose to gang up on him¡­¡± His words surprised me. Little Piglet was definitely a mercenary with none of the sense of honor and principle an expert should have at all, but his skills were undeniably exceptional. Right now he was probably better than the likes of Transient Smoke and Clouds or Blue Sky Scar, and on par with Farewell Song. It was the reason I was challenged to the extent I was. If Farewell Song was here, and he chose to work with Little Piglet and fight me 2 on 1, I would be lucky to have even a 30% chance of winning. ¡­¡­ Eyes brimming with hostility, Pillar of the Nation smiled and said, ¡°Relax, we aren¡¯t the only ones who want them dead. Just wait patiently for a moment, our allies will be arriving very soon!¡± Lin Yixin and I grew apprehensive as a couple of archers joined them and aimed their arrows at us. From the start we were stuck in combat mode, and it was looking more and more impossible to use a return scroll somehow and teleport back to Sky City. A few minutes later, another twenty players joined Hegemon Palace as Pillar of the Nation had said they would. The leader of the new party was none other than Li Le himself, and he was accompanied by the usual Flower Room experts, Spring Mud, Night Sorrow, and Moon Shadow. ¡­¡­ I turned around to look at Lin Yixin. ¡°Aiyo, it looks like we¡¯re going to die here¡­¡± Lin Yixin nodded. ¡°If each of us take one of them with us, it¡¯ll be worth it. Two, and the last laugh belongs to us¡­¡± ¡°...¡± I didn¡¯t want to die here though. It took me so long to grind to 98%, just 2% away from hitting Level 100. If I died and dropped to Level 98 now, the entire day would basically be wasted. How sad would that be? ¡­¡­ Li Le stepped to the front while directing his archers. ¡°Prepare your Devil Piercing Arrows and Volleys. Your goal is to one-shot Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!¡± ¡°Yes, guild leader!¡± They responded. There was no getting away from this, so I plotted to kill as many players as possible before going down. The first two idiots I¡¯m going to kill are Pillar of the Nation and Li Le! Warsky¡¯s strategy was a complete success so far. For just 5000 RMB, he managed to draw all these hostiles like bees to honey. My hopes of getting my fourth promotion was looking more and more unlikely by the second... At the side, Little Piglet was holding his cyan sword and wearing a careless expression on his face. However, there was no mistaking the killing intent he hid behind his mask. Chapter 356: Cyan Tiger Fury My eyes turned steely as I thought to myself: Didn¡¯t the Purple Thunder Battle Axe go to Pillar of the Nation? So why was it in Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s hands now? How could he gift a super weapon that cost him 2.5 million to obtain to another person just like that? Or maybe he dropped it after Dominating Heaven Blade killed him? ¡­¡­ I pointed my sword at Pillar of the Nation. ¡°How generous of you to gift the Purple Thunder Battle Axe to someone else.¡± Pillar of the Nation laughed. ¡°If I could buy a friend and an ally who will give their life to protect me for an axe, why wouldn¡¯t I do that?¡± I hid my gaze. Gods of Destruction had joined forces with Hegemon Palace! Dominating Heaven Blade was an outstanding Chinese expert. Although he wasn¡¯t able to enter the CGL Hall of Fame, he was still a noteworthy opponent with first-rate skills and the guild leader of Gods of Destruction. Now that the 2-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade Purple Thunder Battle Axe had fallen into his hands, his Attack was probably not too far behind mine. A single weapon made him a lot scarier than before! Right now, Dominating Heaven Blade and Pillar of the Nation were standing shoulder-to-shoulder like long lost brothers. Li Le¡¯s stance was pretty clear as well; he would cooperate with Hegemon Palace and Gods of Destruction temporarily to eliminate me. As for Lin Yixin, well, he still hadn¡¯t given up on her after all this time, so of course he wasn¡¯t going to hurt her. ¡­¡­ I slowly backed away as the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf crouched next to me and bared its teeth, growling. It looked rather sinister since every cyan hair on its body was standing at its end. When the little wolf was calm it looked cute and gentle, but when it was in battle mode it was a goddamn monster through and through! Inside the party channel, Lin Yixin asked, ¡°What should we do? There¡¯s nowhere to escape to¡­¡± I turned around. The cliff edge was just a few steps behind us, and it looked just as bottomless as before. So this is the legendary dead end, eh? I didn¡¯t think Lin Yixin and I would ever have such a day. Dominating Heaven Blade stared at me coldly while laughing. ¡°Lu Chen, after everything we¡¯ve been through at Venomous Wasp Forest, Ancient Thunder Temple, War Holy Temple, and so on, I wouldn¡¯t be wrong to call us long-time acquaintances, would I? I must admit that your gaming skill and tactics are truly extraordinary, but that isn¡¯t going to help you nor Beauty Wind Fantasy this time!¡± I gritted my teeth, but there was nothing I could do. He was right. Not only were Lin Yixin and I completely outnumbered, they were all first-rate experts, not to mention that Little Piglet was still around. We were powerful, but there was almost no chance we were breaking out of this encirclement. Lin Yixin nodded and replied, ¡°Be careful.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Not far away, Dominating Heaven Blade swung his war axe and growled, ¡°It is time, men of Gods of Destruction! Seal all the exits and be ready to kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand where he stands! I refuse to believe he¡¯s invincible, hmph! If we cannot kill him today, then I, Dominating Heaven Blade, swear to withdraw from the power struggle for Sky City!¡± Dominating Warrior God, Dominating Knight God, Dominating Mage God, Dominating Arrow God, and the rest of Gods of Destruction stepped out in unison. From the looks on their faces, you would think that they were planning to eat us alive. Pillar of the Nation smiled before looking at Li Le. ¡°Young Master Le? Didn¡¯t Lu Chen beat up your brother, Life of Luxury, and gave him hemiplegia? I¡¯ll leave the first charge to you then, hehe. You wouldn¡¯t want to disappoint your brother, would you?¡± Li Le¡¯s eyes turned apprehensive. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, he ultimately turned around to face his players before ordering, ¡°Spring Mud, Moon Shadow, Night Sorrow, lead our brothers and kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! We will take revenge for Life of Luxury and get back the face you lost all in one go!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Flower Room players started charging us as well with Spring Mud¡ªnow a Level 92 player¡ªat the lead. These people must¡¯ve spent a ton of time and effort grinding their levels because every one of them was at least 3 to 7 levels higher than the last time I saw them. It wasn¡¯t surprising though. The resources and mobs of Sky City were a lot richer than Floating Ice City¡¯s. It was at this moment Lin Yixin gave me a sweet smile and said, ¡°This guy¡¯s a traitor of your guild, right Lu Chen? Should I stay out of this and leave him to you?¡± ¡°Yeah, no problem!¡± I pulled out my sword and charged. I was fairly confident that I could solo the experts of Flower Room at least! The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf also let out a mad howl and buffed itself with Greedy Wolf Howl before charging toward Moon Shadow with insane speed. One exchange was all it took to tear him apart Moon Shadow and kill him instantly! Meanwhile, I was clashing against Spring Mud. I swung my Purgatory Sword at his broadsword with everything I got! Clang! The powerful blow knocked Spring Mud several steps back, and before he could recover I closed the distance between us and slashed him across the chest three times in a row! Pardon + basic attack + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 5498! 3457! There was less than 0.2 seconds of interval between the second and third strike, so there was no chance his priest could heal him in time. Spring Mud himself looked shocked, angry and in disbelief because he never thought that he would die before he could even hit me once. In fact, the three heads of Ego Workshop had become weaker after they joined Flower Room. My wolf was on a rampage itself. Like a bolt of cyan lightning, it zigzagged amid the crowd and ravaged the bodies, tearing apart enemy¡¯s armor with its sharp claws and shredded their throat with poisonous fangs like a literal god of murder. My pet was Level 99 right now, not to mention that it had almost 20k HP and an insane Defense! Li Le couldn¡¯t hide his shock. ¡°Archers, delete that wolf from my sight now!¡± Countless arrows hit the Greedy Wolf in an instant, but its thick hair gave it a lot of protection and even knocked some of the arrows off course. Each shot dealt between 50 to 300 point of damage, but what did it matter to a level 99 Epic Rank boss pet with 1782 Defense? Li Le¡¯s face turned green when he discovered that the Volley had taken less than 20% HP from the greedy wolf¡¯s health bar. Before he could do anything else, I was already swinging my sword at Night Sorrow¡¯s head and critting the poor bastard for 10844 damage. The surrounding Flower Room players looked so frightened that it wouldn¡¯t be a surprise if they shat themselves on the spot! Thud thud thud! I felt a bit of pain transmitting through my senses as Flower Room¡¯s warriors hit me with all kinds of attacks such as Ice Ray or Blaze, but that was all. The Ghost Deity Armor was shaking a little, but none of the attackers were able to pierce my Defense decisively. Even their Ice Rays could only slow my movement speed for a pathetic 5%, which was practically nothing against foes as weak as them. It was because the skill¡¯s effectiveness was largely reduced by the gigantic level and equipment gap between us. I raised my arm and fired a Thousand Mirage Slash toward Li Le! Boom! Snow flew all over the place as Li Le was knocked back by the attack. The priests and mages around him were all dead, and a War Crush later, the warriors around me were killed as well. Li Le was the only one who managed to escape with low health. If he didn¡¯t have good equipment, Thousand Mirage Slash probably could¡¯ve one-shot him. ¡­¡­ I stood alone at the end of the battle. Besides Li Le, all 20 or so Flower Room players lay dead before my feet. Pillar of the Nation looked both stunned and angered by my success. Little Piglet smiled and sighed in admiration. ¡°It¡¯s like he¡¯s cutting vegetables. Well, there are no noteworthy players in Flower Room. They¡¯re just too bad¡­¡± Dominating Heaven Blade smiled. ¡°Brother Dongliang, it¡¯s our turn now, isn¡¯t it?¡¯ Pillar of the Nation nodded. ¡°Everyone, it is time to coordinate with our allies and enter the battlefield! If we kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy today, I¡¯ll invite everyone to a three-day feast at Shanghai! I¡¯ll even arrange a private plane to fetch you all over, my dear allies! Hahaha!¡± While Pillar of the Nation was busy boasting his wealth, Dominating Heaven Blade, Dominating Knight God, and everyone else started surrounding us from every direction. They scattered in every direction so that Lin Yixin and I couldn¡¯t catch them all with Thousand Mirage Slash and Lin Yixin, and each mini party was accompanied by a couple of priests and mages, ready to lay down suppressive fire or heal their people at first notice. ¡­¡­ Walking back toward me and standing right next to me, Lin Yixin whispered, ¡°Careful now, the fun¡¯s over. We could lose our lives at any moment¡­¡± ¡°I know¡­¡± I was well aware that we were not going to survive this battle, especially with Little Piglet hiding behind the crowd like a snake poised to strike at any moment. It was impossible to tell when he would attack us, but I knew that the moment he chose to strike could very well be the moment we die. It was at this moment Dominating Warrior God let out a growl and activated Charge! I hurriedly dodged out of the way. This idiot had liked Beauty Lin for almost as long as I knew her, so his hatred for me was almost as deep as the heavens! Rustle rustle¡­ I was planning to retaliate after dodging the first charge, but Dominating Knight God immediately followed up with a Charge of his own. They were giving me no time to react as all! I dodged right again to avoid the second Charge. At this point, I was being led around by the nose. Whoosh! When Dominating Heaven Blade joined in on the fun and activated his Charge, I gritted my teeth and waited for him to hit me. I put my sword in front of me and used Guard! MISS! I managed to avoid being stunned, but I couldn¡¯t avoid the triple hit from Dominating Heaven Blade: Blaze, Heavy Slash, and basic attack! Clang clang clang! I was knocked back repeatedly by the Purple Thunder War Axe, and I lost almost 2000 HP. It was impossible to defend myself from such a fierce combo completely! Dominating Heaven Blade smiled disdainfully at me. ¡°Is this all you got without the attack advantage?¡± Waving his axe again, cyan energy swirled around him before condensing into the image of a cyan tiger. He then swung his axe at me! Cyan Tiger Fury! Boom! Chapter 357: Arctic Temple I drank a health potion immediately and grabbed the axe¡¯s handle. I then stabbed Dominating Heaven Blade right through the chest with Desperate Gambit for 3247 damage before summoning nine sword auras to blow him up from inside out! Thousand Mirage Slash! The skill burst out of his chest like a hurricane and sent him flying across the air. When he hit the ground, he slid across the ice and left behind a long trail of blood! Rustle rustle rustle... By the time he finally came to a stop, Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s signs of life were already long gone. The Purple Thunder Battle Axe lay next to him like a gravestone. I didn¡¯t dare lower my guard though. While parrying Dominating Knight God and Dominating Warrior God¡¯s attacks before firing Dragon Slaying Slash with my left arm, one-shotting a surprised Dominating Archer God before he could release his Precision Shot! ¡­¡­ But my body suddenly turned cold as something hit my back three times in a row. It was none other than Little Piglet¡¯s Ice Ray Flurry. I should¡¯ve known that the cruelest killer always struck when you were at your laxest! By the time I spun around to swing my sword at him, Little Piglet had zigzagged in front of me. Pressing his freezing broadsword against my Obsidian Dragonscale Armor and watching me with a pleased expression, he smiled. ¡°Die, Lu Chen!¡± Ice Breaking Slash! Boom! An unbelievable chill exploded across my chest for an incredible amount of damage, but that wasn¡¯t even the worst of it. At the distance, the archers loosed their bowstrings at the perfect timing and hit my chest armor with a volley of Devil Piercing Arrows. The skill didn¡¯t actually do too much damage to me, but the knockback was powerful enough to knock me over the cliff! When I checked my health bar, I saw that I only had over 100 HP left. Shit, there¡¯s no way I¡¯m going to survive this fall! My heart sank into despair in that instant. After grinding for the entire day, I was 2% away from hitting Level 100. I could never imagine that everything would fall apart at the last possible moment. Fuck, Dominating Heaven Blade and Little Piglet sure know how to pick a time, and let¡¯s not forget that Warsky is the real reason I¡¯m in this pickle! I started falling when I saw Lin Yixin running across the snow and killing seven or eight cloth-armor players with a beautifully-aimed Ice Flame Slash. As if sensing my downfall, she suddenly turned around and met my eyes with a look of confusion. That confusion immediately turned into fury the next moment. Swhoosh! The wind started whipping against my ears. I was officially falling down a cliff! No, I cannot give up! If even I gave up then my death is all but certain! The moment I thought of this, I immediately flipped open my bag and took out a bunch of Snow Rabbit Meat. Then, I faced toward the horizon and tossed them like crazy! Swhoosh! The momentum of the thrown meat was just enough to make the physics engine of the game slowly push me toward the cliff face. Here¡¯s my chance! I pulled out the Purgatory Sword and plunged it into the ice! Shiing! Bits of ice flew everywhere as the Purgatory Sword carved a line across the cliff face. However, the incredible stopping force also slowed me down drastically until I finally came to a stop. I spared a moment to look up while I was hanging from the cliff face, but the view above me was mostly blocked by the wind and snow. Holy shit, I actually survived the fall. All is well! Having survived a near death experience, I excitedly checked my bag and took out a Level 95 Silver-grade dagger. It was a top-tier weapon that added 4% to Agility! Crack! I plunged the dagger into the ice and pulled out the Purgatory Sword. Then, I plunged the Purgatory Sword into the ice above me and pulled myself upward. Just like that, I was climbing up the cliff face at a reasonably quick pace. As it turned out, I was a lot stronger than the climbers in real life thanks to my amazing Strength, and the strenuous task felt almost as effortless as walking to me. Every once in a while, I looked up to see if I was close to reaching the surface. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a small thrill inside me. I am back, hehehe! I wonder how I should reveal this pleasant surprise to Little Piglet, Pillar of the Nation and Dominating Knight God? Unfortunately, my ambitions were squashed when a silver figure suddenly appeared above my head before falling rapidly! ¡°What? What is that??¡± I yelped in surprise as an exquisite countenance approached closer and closer. Wait a second, this girl looks really familiar for some reason... ¡°Wah!¡± Lin Yixin looked shocked to see me as well. Holy shit, who¡¯s the ballsy bastard who threw our Fruit Knife Goddess off the cliff? Bang! There was no escaping fate. The powerful impact knocked both my weapons out of the wall, and this time both of us were falling to our deaths. Whining in fear, Lin Yixin hugged my neck and absolutely refused to look at the ground below us. My heart turned into ice in that instant. ¡°Are you fucking kidding me?!¡± ¡­¡­ Both wind and snow lashed at my head as pain and cold seared my senses. It wouldn¡¯t be long before we hit rock bottom, both literally and figuratively. Putting away my weapons and wrapping my own arms around Lin Yixin¡¯s excellent waist, I asked softly beside her ear, ¡°What happened up there, Yiyi? How did you survive for almost five minutes?¡± Lin Yixin let out another whine before replying, ¡°Someone showed up and tried to help me¡­¡± ¡°Someone? Who was it? Who could possibly stall that many people long enough for you to survive five minutes?¡± ¡°It¡¯s Legendary Brave¡­¡± ¡°Ah? It¡¯s him?¡± I mulled for a moment. ¡°Does that mean he¡¯s gone now?¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I could feel Lin Yixin shivering as she hugged me. She said next to my ears, ¡°Legendary Brave is incredibly powerful. Not only did he manage to protect me for a time, he took out Little Piglet and Dominating Mage God in the process. Unfortunately, he was ultimately shot to death¡­¡± ¡°He killed Little Piglet?¡± I was stunned. I could personally attest that Little Piglet was a powerful opponent, but Legendary Brave still managed to kill him despite being completely outnumbered. This meant that he was even stronger than Little Piglet. Fuck, I should¡¯ve known that the Dragon Warrior couldn¡¯t be measured by common sense. This feat alone qualified him to become a commander in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! I was simultaneously gladdened by the fact that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had recruited an absolute powerhouse, and worried that Lin Yixin and I were going to fall to our deaths. The ground was now visible, and my previous life-saving measure was useless because this part of the cliff face was shaped like a concave. It was impossible to get close before we hit the ground! Still hugging me tightly, Lin Yixin let out terrified yelps from time to time. I asked her with a dumbfounded expression, ¡°Are you afraid, or are you excited?¡± She smiled. ¡°Both!¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± ¡­¡­ We really were about to hit rock bottom, and I had no intentions of dying after surviving this long. I hurriedly used Tenacity of the Dead and healed myself with a potion to pull my HP above 75%. Then, I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf! ¡°Roar roar roar!¡± Oh wow, it¡¯s still alive? Still, that deadly battle had removed half its health! Just like me, the little wolf was falling toward certain death, but when it saw the girl in my embrace it immediately barked excitedly, wagged its tail, and licked Lin Yixin¡¯s hand in an attempt to curry her favor. ¡°Lu Chen, do you think we¡¯ll turn into pancakes?¡± Lin Yixin asked. ¡°No we won¡¯t!¡± I gave her a firm answer. ¡°And why is that?¡± I pointed at the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. ¡°Because we have it!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand¡­¡± Lin Yixin looked confused. I abruptly grabbed the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s neck and pulled it toward me. Then, I sat Lin Yixin and myself atop its back and clung onto its fur firmly. With the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf as the cushion, we should be able to survive this fall damage. Hopefully. Seemingly sensing my devious intent, the little wolf howled in resistance and tried to struggle. It was too late though. We were just a couple seconds away from impact! I raised my Purgatory Sword and said, ¡°Use a long-range skill to cancel out the force!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± The intelligent Lin Yixin understood me immediately. Just before we hit the ground, we fired Thousand Mirage Slash and Ice Flame Slash toward the ground! Bang bang! Then, we hit the icy bottom at almost the speed of sound! Boom! For a time, my vision was completely covered in snow. My HP also dropped like crazy! 4502! But I survived. I survived! With just 73 HP left! I looked down and saw Lin Yixin watching me as well. Her eyes looked like stars, and the way she blinked at me sent flutters through my heart. Very good, it looked like we both survived the fall! I couldn¡¯t help but boast, ¡°Haha! We¡¯re so awesome!¡± Lin Yixin nodded in agreement before giving the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf a pat. Then, she blinked once before saying, ¡°I think it¡¯s dead¡­¡± I nodded. I already knew it was dead since I saw the system notice. It was absolutely worth it though. Lin Yixin and my level were worth far more than its level would ever be! I smiled as the little wolf¡¯s body dissolved into sparks and returned to my pet space. ¡°Rest in peace, you little bastard¡­¡± Lin Yixin: ¡°It must¡¯ve done something bad in its past life to meet a master like you¡­¡± I shook my head immediately. ¡°Quite the opposite. It is fate that sent it to my side¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Blocking out the incredible pain that was tearing at our whole bodies, Lin Yixin and I pulled ourselves up before checking out our surroundings. We were shocked. Our fall had carved a pit about three meters into the ice, and somehow we still survived the fall. How lucky was that? Lin Yixin stood up, but she had to blink repeatedly because the powerful wind of this place kept blowing snow into her eyes. Every time she thought she was in the clear, a new snowflake would splat against her eyelashes. Forced to narrow her eyes into slits to avoid getting snow into her eyes, she smiled at me and asked, ¡°What should we do now? Do you want to teleport back or walk around for a bit?¡± I nodded. ¡°Why don¡¯t you check the name of this map?¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Lin Yixin opened the map quickly and discovered that the area we were in was called ¡°Arctic Temple, Corridor¡±. It was about several kilometers long, and it led us to a blood-red map called ¡°Arctic Temple¡±! ¡°Wow! This map¡¯s level is really high¡­¡± Lin Yixin said excitedly, ¡°And judging the color, the recommended level should be 25 levels above ours. Hoho, I wonder what we could find in a map like this?¡± I nodded. ¡°Sadly, we are low on almost everything. Weapon durability, equipment durability, consumables, health potions¡­ I doubt we have enough to clear the whole map¡­¡± ¡°What should we do then?¡± ¡°Well, it would be a waste to leave without exploring at least a little. Let¡¯s check out this Arctic Temple first before deciding what to do later!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ Chapter 358: Ghost God Prophecy Crack¡­ crack... My war boots crunched against the ice as I slowly walked through the hall while examining my surroundings. Considering that this map was hidden deep beneath the ground, the mobs here could be way beyond our ability to fight. For example, a Level 180 common mob would easily wipe the floor with us. At any rate, we wouldn¡¯t know until we actually encountered one. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin was also watching her surroundings with wary eyes. Some time later, she ran up to me and said, "Lu Chen¡­" "Hmm?" "You¡¯d better protect me if a high-level mob pops out..." "I will, don¡¯t worry!" I swung the Purgatory Sword to emphasize my point before turning toward the front again. The Arctic Temple wasn¡¯t far away now, and the entrance was a dark, icy cave mostly covered up by wind and snow. When we got close, we saw flights of stairs leading toward the bottom. ¡­¡­ The moment I planted my foot on the stairs, I immediately received the system notice¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You have entered the map of evil spirits¡ªArctic Temple! Map Detail: When Dragonbone Mountain Range took form, the crustal movement caused unusually deep ravines and valleys to appear around it, which were later filled with freezing air currents. Tens of thousands of years after its formation, evil spirits and devilish beasts that don¡¯t fear the cold appeared in this natural barrier, occupied it and built the Arctic Temple. Since then, countless adventurers had perished in this place. ¡­¡­ Here comes the map info. Looks like it¡¯ll be quite challenging to clear this map! According to the map info, there were two floors to this Arctic Temple. Right now we were at the first floor. Our vision broadened as we walked down the stairs, and we could hear some weird "kekeke" noises from below. When Lin Yixin and I finally reached the bottom, we were shocked by the scene in front of us. At least a dozen or so giant dogs covered in icy armor were patrolling the wide halls of the temple. They looked as big as my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf, and both their levels and stats were frighteningly powerful. Ice Hound (Shadow) Level: 125 Attack: 1320~1500 Defense: 1200 HP: 65000 Skills: Flurry X, Slayer Slash X, Angry Roar X Introduction: The guardians of this frozen valley, these Ice Hounds possess incredible attack and defense. After guarding the valley for countless years, they¡¯ve become an incredibly violent creature who only cares about tearing apart any adventurers who came their way. ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t help but suck in a cold breath. "Fuck, this is bad. A Level 125 shadow-rank mob with a max attack of 1500? These stats are practically the same as a boss¡­" "Okay!" Well, we are here, so we might as well fight them. A Level 125 shadow-rank mob should yield a lot of experience and good equipment, right? Also, we were fighting a mob that was 26 levels above us, so logically speaking the drop rate of a top-tier equipment should increase. For example, the base drop rate of Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment was 0.000001%, but here it should be a lot higher. Right now Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment was worth a lot of money, and Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment even more so! My left hand shone with the light of magic as I took aim at the nearest Ice Hound. I cried out quietly, "Dragon Slaying Slash!" Swhoosh! A huge cyan clump of energy that was shaped like a sword hit the mob squarely in the head for a huge amount of damage¡ª 3874! Nice. I¡¯m glad that my Dragon Slaying Slash is as powerful as ever even if the enemy is a Level 125 shadow-rank mob! The Ice Hound turned berserk and ran toward me like a mad dog. Its speed was incredible! I hastily retreated a couple of steps until it was exactly 5 yards between me and my target. Then, I activated Thunderous Charge! Swhoosh! I left behind a trail of lightning energy and successfully stunned the Ice Hound. Thunderous Charge was now Rank 5, and its stun chance was over 60%, so this was just the natural result. Lin Yixin had acted even faster than I had. When I stunned the Ice Hound, she was already hitting its head with Moon Gaze and Extreme Break, drastically lowering its Defense with her fruit knife! When a man¡¯s down, you kick him in the nuts, so I raised my sword and unleashed Pardon and Desperate Gambit! MISS! 8794! Heavens, this is awesome. Killing things was so much easier when Lin Yixin was around to supply her defense reduction! I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf again to add to the Ice Hound¡¯s misery. One Flurry Dance later, the poor animal took 5 hits in a row and lost a total of 20k HP! What an insane amount of damage! Even Lin Yixin looked a little distracted. "Wah, your Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf is so powerful¡­ I don¡¯t even want to summon my Fire Blade anymore, it¡¯ll only get one-shot in an instant and embarrass me¡­" I nodded understandingly. It was definitely an awkward situation. Low-rank pets were pretty much useless in a map like this, and to this day, over 90% of the average players were still carrying Wasps, Praying Mantises, Treants, Purple Butterflies, Earth Mice, and so on. They might perform well against common mobs at their level, but elite or shadow rank mobs that completely outleveled them? It was a different story altogether. Forget doing damage, they should count themselves blessed if their pets managed to penetrate the enemy¡¯s defense. The Level 125 shadow-rank mob lost over 50% HP after we all unleashed our combos. Due to Extreme Break, everyone did almost twice as much damage as they normally should. But the stun only lasted 5 seconds, and the moment the Ice Hound recovered it immediately hit the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf with a devastating Flurry X of its own. Six damage numbers immediately appeared above its head, and each hit dealt over 2000 damage. That one Flurry had torn almost 15k HP from my pet¡¯s health bar! It was insane! "Fuck, so powerful!" I ordered the greedy wolf to retreat while using Ice Ray to lower its DPS. Every little counts when facing down a most dangerous enemy! Lin Yixin pursed her lips before suggesting, "We should try to dodge its Flurry when we fight the next Ice Hound. This Flurry X is just way too powerful!" "Yeah!" We weren¡¯t even done talking when the Ice Hound¡¯s claws suddenly glowed with a cyan light. The mob was clearly preparing to use Slayer Slash, the skill that I myself had until I merged it with the Dragon Rock Fireball to make the Dragon Slaying Slash. Right now, all I could do was take the Rank 10 Slayer Slash head on! I raised my arms and waited. I didn¡¯t use Guard because I wanted to know how much damage the skill would do. Thud! I felt like my shoulders were being torn to shreds by the merciless attack. What a "thrilling" sensation it was! 2654! I frowned. "Fuck, not even a boss should be able to deal this much damage to me. This Ice Hound is a little too powerful..." Lin Yixin nodded, took two steps backward and launched her Ice Flame Slash. I myself found suitable openings to hit the Ice Hound and kept its attention firmly on me. After the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s Flurry Dance was ready, we attacked the Level 125 shadow-rank mob one last time and ended its life! "Roar roar roar¡­" The Ice Hound let out a sorrowful death scream before collapsing to the ground. To our surprise, it dropped a huge Phantasmal Magic Stone and a short bow. I didn¡¯t pick up the Phantasmal Magic Stone because it wasn¡¯t worth too much gold, but the short bow was definitely something to check out. I took a look at its stats, and it turned out better than I expected! Ice Spirit Bow (Gold-grade) Attack: 325~480 Agility: +55 Stamina: +48 Passive: Increases user¡¯s long-range Attack by 12% Property: Level Requirement reduced by 20 Level Requirement: 115 ¡­¡­ I commented dazedly, "It¡¯s a Gold-grade bow¡­" Lin Yixin giggled. "A top-tier Gold-grade bow, no less!" "Yeah." She was right. Although this was a Gold-grade bow, it had a special property that reduced its Level Requirement by 20, meaning that it was equippable by any player who was Level 95 or above. With a max Attack of 480 and a passive that boosted its long-range attack power by 12%, this Level 95 Gold-grade bow was only slightly weaker than Beiming Xue¡¯s Milky Way Bow. It was an absolute masterpiece for sure. I was a self-conscious person, so I tossed the Ice Spirit Bow into Lin Yixin¡¯s hands and said, "Give this to Qingqing. She gave up what could be hers to Beiming Xue last time, so take this as me returning the favor!" Overjoyed, Lin Yixin accepted the Ice Spirit Bow and smiled. "Ohh, thank you on behalf of Qingqing!" "You¡¯re welcome. Let¡¯s continue!" "Mn!" After the Ice Spirit Bow dropped, our motivation skyrocketed like never before as we ventured deeper into the first floor of the Arctic Temple. Although there weren¡¯t many Ice Hounds in the area, what they lacked in numbers they made up with superior individual strength. As a result, we had no choice but to kill them one by one. It was a difficult battle, but the amazing experience and item drops were definitely worth the cost and hardships. We also refined our tactic a little using the experience from fighting the first Ice Hound. The fight still started with me using Dragon Slaying Slash to aggro a mob and stunning it with Thunderous Charge. After Lin Yixin lowered its Defense with Extreme Break, I hit it with Pardon and Desperate Gambit, and the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf hit it with a Flurry Dance. Speaking of which, my pet played the role of the main damage dealer this time. One second before the mob broke out of its stun and attacked us, I ordered the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to retreat while Lin Yixin and I activated our Guard at the same time. As a result, the sextuple combo dealt less than 3000 damage to us, an amount that we could easily heal from with a single health potion. Lin Yixin was the Fruit Knife Goddess and my personal herbalist, so I didn¡¯t worry about running out of potions at all. The second Ice Hound dropped dead before our feet, but this time it didn¡¯t drop any equipment. I got a Rank 10 pelt from it using Death Plunder, but it was so high-level that Yamete probably couldn¡¯t use it right now. Oh well, it would be useful in the future, and it only took up one slot anyway, so I tossed it into my bag and continued. The Ice Hounds gave so much experience that I hit 99% after killing just a dozen or so Ice Hounds or so. I could hardly control the anticipation in my heart! Beside me, Lin Yixin was wiping the sweat on her forehead and looking a little tired. I felt like giving her a comforting hug. But the moment was broken when an unusual ringing sound resounded across Sky City, no, all the servers in China¡ª Ding~! Chapter 359: Martial God ¡°Fuck¡­¡± My heart sank as I exchanged astonished looks with Lin Yixin. ¡°It looks like Candlelight Shadow became a Famous General after killing a Purple Gold Rank boss and leveling up because of it.¡± ¡°Mn¡­¡± ¡°...¡± I opened the Famous General Heavenly Ranking and saw Candlelight Shadow, and only him, sitting at the first spot of the ranking. As the first player to become a Famous General, he was rewarded with the super General Skill, ¡°Ghost God Prophecy¡±. The exact effects of the skill were described on the ranking list as well. Ghost God Prophecy: Select a target and cause them to die 600 seconds later. The effect is nullified if the skill user is killed! ¡­¡­ My heart sank even lower. Select a target and cause them to die 10 minutes later? Isn¡¯t that the same as killing someone outright? Fuck! The only real flaw I noticed was how long it took to kill an opponent. If it was 60 seconds instead of 600 seconds, practically everyone would avoid Candlelight Shadow like a plague. This General Skill was best used against a top-tier opponent. All he needed to do was cast Ghost God Prophecy, slip away and wait 10 minutes to collect his target¡¯s dead body. What a ridiculous skill it was! I sucked in a deep breath. ¡°Not good, I can¡¯t believe Candlelight Shadow got ahead. Just how strong is that bastard really? And come on, it¡¯s just a Purple Gold Rank boss, if that¡¯s all it takes to become a Famous General then I¡­¡± Lin Yixin gave me a comforting pat on the shoulder. ¡°C¡¯mon, lighten up. Candlelight Shadow is the number one ranker in Wind City, so his chances to become a Famous General criteria were higher than most players¡¯ in the first place. Plus, he killed a Purple Gold Rank boss that¡¯s probably several levels higher than him, so it makes perfect sense that his feats qualified him to become a Famous General. All things considered, his chances were at least 25% or higher.¡± I nodded and relaxed. She was right. According to the rules, the Top 15 players of each super city¡ªthose who were named in the Heavenly Ranking to be exact¡ªhad a chance of becoming a Famous General, and the higher the placement, the higher the chances. Candlelight Shadow was ranked first in Wind City, and he was as famous as the sun in China. It was only a matter of time before he became a Famous General. Still, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had to beat Warsky Alliance and Hegemon Palace at the War Holy Temple to establish their reputation in Sky City. We didn¡¯t even have time to bask in the limelight before Candlelight Shadow stole it from us again. Of course I wouldn¡¯t be happy about this! ¡­¡­ Hmm whatever. Grind first, everything later! The first floor of the Arctic Temple was only as wide as an apartment building. I still hadn¡¯t leveled up yet despite having killed almost 50 Ice Hounds, but we did find a couple of good items. The problem was the level requirements on them were too high¡ªLevel 115 or so¡ªand they were only Silver-grade or even Dark Steel¨Cgrade, so unless they were especially good, the only place for them to go was a stall. We continued to press forward until we arrived at the end of the map! We saw a cave with wind and snow blowing out of it. It was the entrance to the second floor. I couldn¡¯t help myself. ¡°Are there no bosses on this floor?¡± Lin Yixin suddenly pointed to the right and smiled sweetly. ¡°Hey, look! That ice sculpture looks so cute!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I turned around and was surprised by what I saw. I hadn¡¯t noticed it earlier, but there was an ice sculpture to our right. In fact, it wasn¡¯t really an ice sculpture, but a fox that was frozen in ice. The fox had bright indigo fur and a beautiful appearance, but it was completely immobile due to the ice trapping it inside! Both of us walked closer to check out the ¡°ice sculpture¡±. Lin Yixin stared at it with a yearning look in her eyes before complimenting, ¡°What a beautiful fox!¡± I nodded. ¡°Mn, it looks just like you.¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I stepped forward and poked it with the Purgatory Sword. I wasn¡¯t trying to do anything at all, but then the ice suddenly shattered into pieces! ¡°You!¡± Lin Yixin would¡¯ve gotten angry with me if the fox trapped inside the ice didn¡¯t suddenly come to life and glared at us with harsh eyes. Crouching with puffing up its indigo fur to make itself more intimidating, it growled as if it would attack us at any moment! A blood red line of text was floating above the little fox¡¯s head. My mouth fell open when I read it. A boss? A Purple Gold Rank boss even? WTF? Then I saw its level and almost burst out in laughter¡ª Ice Fox (Purple Gold Rank Boss) Level: 1 Introduction: An Ice Fox is a creature born from the essence of the cold air in the arctic regions. It is a natural magic beast that wields great mastery over ice magic. Sightings are few and far between because it usually resides within the ice caves deep below the ground. ¡­¡­ ¡°Wah! Level 1, Level 1¡­¡± Both Lin Yixin and I exchanged a smile with each other. We¡¯re rich! My Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf is unique, but this Purple Gold Rank boss can¡¯t be too far behind! I stared at my little wolf for a couple of seconds before saying, ¡°Yiyi, I have my little wolf already, so you should be the one to seal this. You¡¯re long overdue for a pet change anyway. Good luck. If your karma is good, then this Ice Wolf is all yours!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Lin Yixin shot me a grateful look before pulling out her Sealing Cards. To be entirely honest, I hadn¡¯t acted completely out of generosity and good will. It would threaten my image if I ran around with a pet fox, especially with all those stories about foxes turning into great beauties. What if someone saw me grinding with it in the morning and wondered if I grinded with it at night as well? That would be too degenerate! Swhoosh! The first Sealing Card circled the air for a moment before transforming into a magic formation. The fox screeched at its shackles a bit more violently than expected, but it didn¡¯t evolve and become uncapturable. In the end, the magic formation disappeared and announced Lin Yixin¡¯s first failure! Lin Yixin bit her lips, but the bravery and determination in her eyes didn¡¯t diminish in the slightest. She tossed out her second Sealing Card! Swhoosh! Again, the card spun in the air for a moment before falling atop the Ice Fox, shrinking it and dragging it to the center of the magical formation. As it turned out, the Fruit Knife Goddess had amazing karma, because she actually succeeded in just two tries! Lin Yixin had acquired a new magical pet! ¡°Hehe, I did it! I finally have a high-rank pet¡­¡± Overjoyed, Lin Yixin spun around and gave me a passionate hug to express her jubilance. I wrapped my arms around her waist in return and smiled just as brightly. ¡°Well, what are you waiting for? Let¡¯s see its stats already!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± The Ice Fox¡¯s stats appeared in the party channel, and it was truly astonishing¡ª Ice Fox (Purple Gold Rank Boss) Level: 1 Intelligence: 47 Defense: 42 HP: 40 Agility: 48 Growth¡ª¡ª Magic Attack: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Defense: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï HP: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Agility: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, the Ice Fox was truly an amazing pet. With a BN value of 177, it was only slightly inferior to my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s BN 192. More importantly, it was a magical pet with a Magic Attack growth of 8.5 stars. Once it learned a powerful AoE magic skill, it would be practically unbeatable. Of course, I was talking about its offensive prowess. Only an idiot would expect a magic-based pet to have ridiculous Defense and HP as well. That being said, the Ice Fox was a high-rank boss pet, so its Defense and HP were pretty good all things considered. At the very least, it was several hundred leagues ahead of the Fire Blade! It was at this moment a bit of experience leaked out of the Sealing Card and entered our bodies. What was this? This was a new addition of the latest patch. In the past, successfully sealing a boss pet wouldn¡¯t yield any experience whatsoever. That was changed so that it wouldn¡¯t be a complete waste of time and effort to everyone except the pet sealer. It made sense. You did manage to tame a boss pet after all, so it was only right you got some experience for it! I didn¡¯t expect this tiny trickle of experience to become the last push I needed to reach Level 100, however. Not only that, I received a system announcement that made me wonder if I had gone mad from desire¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Sky City)¡± has reached level 100 because their teammate has captured the Purple Gold Rank boss¡ªIce Fox. They have met the criteria to become a Famous General, and they are the second Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +2, Tactics +10, and the exclusive Famous General Skill, ¡°Martial God¡±! ¡­¡­ My eyes turned as wide as saucers. Beside me, Lin Yixin¡¯s reaction was exactly the same. A while later, we finally stared at each other and laughed. Who would¡¯ve thought that that trickle of experience would push me to Level 100 and make me the second Famous General of China as well? And what was my exclusive Famous General Skill called again, Martial God? Lin Yixin urged me. ¡°Come on, come on! Show me what your Famous General Skill does!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I hurriedly opened my skill list and checked my stratagem bar. An orange skill had appeared where there was only Bloodlust, and both Lin Yixin and I turned into statues when I tapped open the tooltip to check its effects¡ª Martial God: Beseech the power of the Martial God and increase the attack power of all party members within 1000 yards by 40%. Costs 1 MP per second. Skill exclusive to player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡±. ¡­¡­ ¡°OMG, it¡¯s a 40% attack buff¡­¡± Lin Yixin stared at me with hazy eyes and said, ¡°This is ridiculous. You have 87 Tactics right now, so that means your General Skill actually buffs your party members¡¯ Attack by 75%...¡± I nodded while trying not to scream in joy. ¡°Yiyi, your mental arithmetics are pretty good¡­¡± ¡°This is just OP, uuuu¡­¡± ¡­¡­ I felt full of manliness after I switched out my current stratagem for ¡°Martial God¡±. 75% attack buff was absolutely OP and many, many times more practical than Bloodlust¡¯s +35% attack speed. I could only imagine how powerful we would become after I applied the buff to both of us. We truly deserved to be called ¡°Martial Gods¡± now. I had no doubt in my mind that Martial God was one hundred percent better than Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Ghost God Prophecy. Ghost God Prophecy was a fixed effect that didn¡¯t benefit from his Tactics at all, but not my Martial God. The better my equipment, the higher my Tactics, the stronger the effects of my Tactics skill become. In the future, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if I could buff myself and my party members¡¯ attack power by 100% or even 200%! Mn, we truly are the generals of the future! The future where the best of the best clashed against each other in epic warfare was nigh! There was one more thing I was absolutely delighted about, and it was the fact that my General Skill was called Martial God. Everyone in China called Candlelight Shadow Martial God, but I was the one who was named Martial God by the game itself. With that in mind, who was the real Martial God of China? I was sure that many people were thinking the same thing right this moment. Chapter 360: Blood Maddened Lion Beep! Legendary Brave sent me a message: "Not bad, guild leader! That is one helluva Famous General Skill you learned! Wanna grind together when you¡¯re free? I can totally use that 40% Attack buff!" I smiled. Not long ago, Legendary Brave fought Gods of Destruction and Hegemon Palace to save me and Lin Yixin. Although he managed to kill the super expert Little Piglet, he was completely outnumbered and killed in the end. It was my duty to assure a fierce general like this, so I replied with a question, "Brave, what are your thoughts regarding your fight with Little Piglet?" Legendary Brave fell silent for about 10 seconds before replying, "He¡¯s strong, really strong. I ambushed him after Wind Fantasy got him down to 65% HP, but I still couldn¡¯t kill him immediately. Luckily, Little Piglet¡¯s teammates were complete noobs, so he died after I executed my second combo. I was just lucky, haha!" That was what he said, but I now knew that he was slightly stronger than Little Piglet. Additionally, Lin Yixin had already told me that Li Chengfeng¡¯s skill, equipment, and level were at least on par with Little Piglet¡¯s, not to mention that he was a man with the courage to brave even the most dire of dangers to save his companions. We were lucky to acquire a peak expert who possessed both great power and courage like him. ¡­¡­ I spoke with him for a little while longer before we both went back to grinding. Lin Yixin and I were walking down the stairway leading the second floor of the Arctic Temple, the place where the second and final boss resided. We managed to seal the Ice Fox, but I doubted that we would get lucky a second time. We didn¡¯t have a priest, so this wouldn¡¯t be an easy fight. It was at this moment I received yet another congratulatory message. This time it was from Murong Mingyue. "Wawawa, that Martial God General Skill looks absolutely OP. Now that you¡¯re a Famous General, you¡¯d better grind with me and Beiming after you got your fourth promotion! Also, everyone in the guild is talking about you, so pop inside the guild channel and say something already!" "Ohh!" I gave her a quick reply before bringing up the guild chat window. As she said, it was bustling with activity¡ª Gui Guzi: "Hahaha, Boss Broken Halberd has learned a Famous General Skill! Just look at this 40% Attack increase, who in Sky City would dare to challenge us now?" Xu Yang: "Hehe, let¡¯s ask Lu Chen to form a 10-man party with our best players and activate ¡®Martial God¡¯ the next time there¡¯s a guild war. Let¡¯s see who can stop us!" High Fighting Spirits was screaming: "Don¡¯t forget to bring me along! I want to feel how it¡¯s like to have my Attack increased by 40% too, it sounds mad fun to grind mobs with it turned on!" Chaos Moon: "IKR, Lu Chen¡¯s so OP it¡¯s positively scary these days¡­" Beiming Xue: "But of course, big bro is the best!" I chose this moment to pop in and say, "Do your best, everyone. If you become a Top 15 ranker on the Heavenly Ranking, you have a chance of becoming a Famous General every time you level up. These Famous General Skills are several times stronger than your usual stratagems, and everyone has a chance to acquire them. Let¡¯s all work hard and transform Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls into the pillar of China!" Legendary Brave: "Haha, that¡¯s true. Let¡¯s follow the vice leader¡¯s directions and build the king of guilds!" High Fighting Spirits: "Haha, even the legendary Legendary Brave has shown his face! Today is definitely a good day!" Legendary Brave: "Heh. Anyway, I need to do a quest now, so see y¡¯all later!" Pure Love: "Vice leader¡­" Me: "Yes?" Pure Love: "Wanna date?" Me: "Well, see y¡¯all later¡­" Xu Yang, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, and everyone else: "..." ¡­¡­ Just like that, the entire guild chat was murdered by Pure Love. I had no idea how to deal with this high-level bard, especially since she was both beautiful and skillful. Apparently, there were a lot of male players in the guild who were trying to woo her, but none of them seemed to meet her expectations. Honestly, her obsession with me troubled me a lot. "... What¡¯s going on there? Why are you smiling so vulgarly?" Lin Yixin suddenly looked back and shot me a glance. A shiver ran down my spine before I defended myself. "N-nothing¡­ this second floor is colder than I expected. Why the hell is it so cold here?" "I guess¡­ it¡¯s because we¡¯re in the ¡®Arctic¡¯ Temple¡­" Lin Yixin sounded distracted because she was too busy hugging her Ice Fox, and I couldn¡¯t fault her for it. The little fox had soft cyan fur and a pair of blinking eyes that looked like stars. The way it drooped its ears and shook its fluffy tail from time to time could pierce any woman¡¯s heart, even if said person was the Fruit Knife Goddess herself. It was no wonder that Lin Yixin had paid me exactly zero attention until just now. Rustle rustle... I cautiously walked to the front as my Death Shade War Boots scraped against the stairs. The little wolf was right beside me, but Lin Yixin had fallen behind because she was scared that her Level 1 little fox would be one-shot by the enemy. To be honest, her fear made no sense to me. It was only a matter of time before a pet died, and it wasn¡¯t like her fox could drop below Level 1. Just look at my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. Just a while ago, it had played the role of a cushion and a meatshield for Lin Yixin and I, but it looked as lively as ever. Even now, it was wagging its tail and currying favor with Lin Yixin like mad. "Watch out, the mobs on the second floor won¡¯t be easier than the first¡­" Lin Yixin reminded me. I nodded. "Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s nothing that can one-shot me!" My vision widened just as I gave her my reply. We had officially entered the second floor of the Arctic Temple, and not far away from us I saw a long corridor leading toward a place that was shrouded by icy mist. The corridor was about ten meters wide, and it was swarming with extraordinary mobs whose names I couldn¡¯t identify from where we were. The mob was a lion with pure white fur, and the fact that it managed to survive in a frigid environment like this proved that it was no ordinary creature. The wolf and I slowly moved closer to the lion until its stat screen finally appeared to me¡ª Blood Maddened Lion (Shadow) Level: 128 Attack: 1350~1540 Defense: 1250 HP: 70000 Skills: Mad Strike X, Desperate Gambit X, Barbaric Rend X Introduction: The Blood Maddened Lions are one of the guardians of this frozen valley, and they possess incredible attack and defense. After guarding the valley for countless years, they¡¯ve become an incredibly violent creature who only cares about tearing apart any adventurer who comes their way. ¡­¡­ I sucked in an involuntary breath before saying, "1540 max Attack! These shadow-rank mobs are fucking insane. Let¡¯s fight them one by one just like before, or it would one-shot us like nothing. Tsk tsk, a Desperate Gambit X increases one¡¯s attack power by 75% or so, so it¡¯d be like getting hit by a 2000 Attack basic attack¡­" Lin Yixin smiled. "Let¡¯s lure one over and test the waters!" "Mn." I slowly moved closer to the nearest Blood Maddened Lion before imbuing the blade of my Purgatory Sword with a surge of powerful energy. Then, I fired a Dragon Slaying Slash at it! 3780! Very good, my attack still dealt a sizable amount of damage despite my opponent being a Level 129 shadow-rank mob. Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade weapons were truly powerful! I immediately retreated after hitting my target. The Dragon Slaying Slash had a channeling period of 2 seconds and a cooldown period of 1 second. It wasn¡¯t an undodgeable skill either, meaning that it was entirely up to the player to hit their target. If I was a normal player, there was at least a 75% chance that my skill would miss a moving target. But since I wasn¡¯t a normal player, my brain lag was no longer hindering me, and my prediction power was as good as ever, I could hit a moving target¡ªespecially a mob¡ªalmost 100% of the time. Individual skill was a critical component in any game. All the pros who managed to make a name for themselves were skillful enough to be rated among the top 1%. Bang bang! I managed to fire another two Dragon Slaying Slashes at the Blood Maddened Lion before it was finally on me. The mob had lost around 10k HP before it even got close to me. This was one of the advantages of dual cultivation. When the target was less than 10 yards away from me, I switched from Dragon Slaying Slash to Thunder Attack! Swhoosh! I nailed the Blood Maddened Lion where it stood and stunned it for 5 seconds. I immediately followed up with Pardon, Desperate Gambit and a basic attack. MISS! 5345! 2984! I thought this would happen, but my damage was much lower without Extreme Break. It was at this moment Lin Yixin ran toward the Blood Maddened Lion and hit it with Extreme Break. A combo later, she put 5 yards between herself and the mob and used Charge, stunning it again right after it recovered! I was glad. It was truly an enjoyable experience to grind with a smart and beautiful player like her. However, the Blood Maddened Lion had a ton of HP, and even our combined might wasn¡¯t enough to kill it before it recovered from our stuns. Fire seeping out of its claws, it swung its forelimb and hit Lin Yixin with a devastating Mad Strike X! 2983! The brute hit the Fruit Knife Goddess so hard that she let out a painful yelp and lost around half of her HP. She moved to the back swiftly while I blocked the Blood Maddened Lion and regained the aggro! Swhoosh! Its paw burned bright red this time. It was Desperate Gambit X! I didn¡¯t retreat, however. Come on, show me the power of a Rank 10 skill! Bang! A tearing sensation seared my shoulder as I lost a huge chunk of HP myself¡ª 4229! This pretty much proved this Level 128 shadow-rank mob was far, far too strong for us to fight, be it in terms of level or rank. First, it would be suicide to fight it head on. Second, its ridiculous strength made it an unsuitable mob to grind not only because it was strong enough to pressure both Lin Yixin and I, but also because it cost too much potions just to bring one of these bastards down. Maybe it would be feasible if Murong Mingyue was here to heal us, but she was busy grinding with a couple of high-level warriors right now. I could just imagine her being the magnet of attention and turning red because of it. It was a pleasing thought. Lin Yixin reminded me. "Desperate Gambit has a channel time of 0.5 seconds and an attack distance of 1 yard only. It¡¯s possible to dodge it if you pay attention¡­" I nodded. "I know that. I just wanted to know how painful it is to get hit by a Level 128 shadow-rank mob¡­" Chapter 361: Ziyu A couple of back and forths and cooperative assault later, the Blood Maddened Lion had slightly over 10%, or around 7000, HP left. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf let out a howl and hit it five times in a row. Flurry Dance easily one-shot the weakened mob! Pop! The Level 128 shadow-rank mob¡¯s drop rate was pretty high because we overcame a 28-level difference. It dropped two Phantasmal Magic Stones that we ignored completely because we had run out of space even before we fell off a cliff. It also dropped a greenish metal armor wristguards that amused me deeply the moment I picked them up and gave them a look¡ª Bloodthirsty Wristguards (Gold-grade, Outstanding¡ï) Defense: 225 Magic Resist: 170 Strength: +55 Agility: +42 Passive: Increases user¡¯s physical attack evasion rate by 8% Passive: Increases user¡¯s attack power by 4% Property: Blood Maddened Lion Set, Wristguards Level Requirement: 115 ¡­¡­ I could hardly control my excitement. A mob this generous was incredibly rare, not to mention one that dropped a 1-star Outstanding Gold-grade equipment. How awesome would it be if we managed to collect a full set? I equipped the Bloodthirsty Wristguard and gave it a look. The set¡¯s effects were¡ª Blood Maddened Lion Set (Metal Armor): 1 piece: Level Requirement reduced by 20 2 piece: +125 Strength 3 piece: +10% physical attack power 4 piece: Increase HP by 25% 5 piece: User gains "Bloodthirst¡±. The user burns Blood Maddened Lion¡¯s bloodline and gains 45% attack speed and 10% movement speed ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin stared at me blankly when I showed her the set¡¯s effects. She murmured dreamily, "A¡­ a Level 95 Outstanding equipment set? Even without the 45% attack speed, this set is absolutely insane for any Level 95 fighter¡­" I nodded. "Yeah, this Blood Maddened Lion set is amazing for both PvP and PvE. If we can gather a full set, it¡¯ll almost be as good as wearing a full assortment of high-level Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment. Yiyi, this is our chance to get rich¡­" Lin Yixin continued to daydream about RMB. Her eyes were sparkling with the golden luster of the money symbol. Although the Blood Maddened Lion Set was incredibly powerful, it was ultimately beneath my notice. I would rather wear Outstanding Dark Gold or Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment than this because they were almost always as good as what a Gold-grade set could offer, if not better. For example, the Obsidian Dragonscale Armor I was wearing right now was a Level 90 2-star Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade chest armor. Both its stats and its properties outclassed the Blood Maddened Lion set completely. ¡­¡­ We never dared to drop our guard, of course. Slowly, we lured the Blood Maddened Lions to us and killed them one by one. Sure, it took longer than usual, but it was what we had to do to survive. Both our weapons were running out of durability, but high-level Dark Gold¨Cgrade weapons naturally regenerated durability at a slow rate. So if we took our time our weapons should last a little longer... The second floor of Arctic Temple finally looked like a proper high-level map. The corridors were winding and the mobs were plentiful, so we were able to kill a Blood Maddened Lion every one or two minutes or so. It wasn¡¯t a bad pace, although the drop rate was definitely less than encouraging. An hour or so and many, many dead Blood Maddened Lions later, we finally got the second set piece, Bloodthirsty War Boots. It was also Level 115 1-star Outstanding Gold-grade metal armor with pretty good stats. Well, it was to be expected considering how IMBA the full set was. At the very least, a fighter with a full Blood Maddened Lion set could slay mobs, players, and the hearts of beautiful women with ease. It took a greater adjective than IMBA to describe how great it was. I checked the time and noticed that it was now past 7 pm. We hadn¡¯t drank a drop of water since the morning, and Lin Yixin was worried she might not be able to last the entire map. I was worried for her myself, but neither of us dared to log off because there was a chance we might be booted from the map if we tried. This map was clearly special, and we wouldn¡¯t even know it existed if Gods of Destruction, Hegemon Palace, and Flower Room hadn¡¯t knocked us off a cliff. Moreover, the Blood Maddened Lion set was worth a ton of money, but only if we managed to gather a full set. Its price could very well be beyond our imagination, and it was only a matter of which god of wealth was willing to pay the price. Of course, all of this was just a pipe dream unless we gathered the full set, so if there ever was a time to pray to my own 15 Luck stat, it was now. ¡­¡­ We fought until over 9 pm and got the chest armor and legguards. The only thing left to get was the Bloodthirsty Helmet now! We would be rich again if we completed the set! It was at this moment Beiming Xue sent me a message: "Big bro, it¡¯s been an entire day. You haven¡¯t eaten, drunk, or even done your fourth-promotion quest during this time. What on earth are you doing?" I replied with a smile, "Wait just a bit longer¡­" "Well, Sister Mingyue and I are leaving for Chuyunge now. We wanted to invite you as well, but if you¡¯re busy then¡­" I couldn¡¯t help but smile. "Next time, I promise. Next time we¡¯ll form a three-man party and do a quest¡­" "Well okay. See you!" "See you!" Chuyunge was a buffet restaurant we recently discovered. It cost 150 RMB per person, and it offered a huge variety of dishes. You could even find a spot for each of the 8 cuisines of China. Long story short, you could eat practically anything you wanted at this place, so it became a frequent spot for our workshop. From time to time, we would venture to the "map" that was Chuyunge and clear out the "mobs" there. ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, both Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue¡¯s names faded from view while Lin Yixin and I were still killing the Blood Maddened Lions. The mobs were so strong that even my equipment had dropped to 10% or so. Supposed that a boss was waiting for us at the end of the map, I didn¡¯t think we had the durability to last the whole fight. The Purgatory Sword fared even worse, of course. It was burning red not because I was covering if with undead energy, but because it had 3% durability left! I paused for a moment before saying, "Wait, I need to recover some weapon durability. Yiyi, you¡¯re the main damage dealer for now. I¡¯ll support you and the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf from behind with Dragon Slaying Slash¡­" "Mn!" Lin Yixin agreed easily. Dragon Slaying Slash was a long-range offensive skill that didn¡¯t cost any weapon durability to cast. It was a friendly skill to say the least. After we switched roles, Lin Yixin and the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf became the main damage dealers while I supported them from behind. Dragon Slaying Slash was a bit too powerful, so occasionally the threat would slip over to me. In that case, I would use Thunderous Charge to stun the enemy before kiting with the Dragon Slaying Slash again. The fights went safely and without any hitches. We were two of the strongest experts in Sky City after all. Unfortunately, there weren¡¯t many Blood Maddened Lions left on the icy corridors. I couldn¡¯t stop my heart from beating a little fast. Fuck, don¡¯t tell me that we¡¯re going to miss the final set piece and lose a ton of gold. That¡¯d truly be a tragedy... "Roar roar roar¡­" The Blood Maddened Lions dropped one after another, but we still didn¡¯t find the Bloodthirsty Helmet. My heart was slowly but surely rising to my throat. Why is this happening, where is the last set piece we¡¯re looking for... We looked at each other when the last Blood Maddened Lion dropped to red health. Neither of us were willing to deal the killing blow and bear the potential responsibility of failure. That lasted until the Blood Maddened Lion slapped me across the face for 2784 damage. Motherfucker, you do not hit a man in the face, especially when a pretty girl is right next to him! I growled and stabbed the brute in the butt-hole. When I pulled out my sword, a bloody helmet also tumbled into the open. Finally, it dropped, oh no, shat the last set piece we were looking for¡­ Bloodthirsty Helmet (Gold-grade, Outstanding¡ï) Defense: 210 Magic Resist: 150 Strength: +52 Agility: +40 Passive: Increases user¡¯s hit rate by 3% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 1% Property: Blood Maddened Lion Set, Helmet Level Requirement: 115 ¡­¡­ Alright! We finally completed the Blood Maddened Lion Set! Both Lin Yixin and I were incredibly excited. We should¡¯ve known that the heavens wouldn¡¯t let our hard work go to waste! On their own, these five items added a total of 1100 Defense or so¡ªwhich was pretty amazing¡ªbut if the set¡¯s effects were factored into consideration as well, then it was one of the strongest, if not the strongest equipment set you could have right now. Its value was immeasurable! I tossed the helmet into my bag and said, "Awesome. Let¡¯s put it up for auction after we return to the city. Then, we split the profits in half!" "It¡¯s a deal¡­" "Deal!" Lin Yixin and I turned toward the final area of the Arctic Temple at the same time. Although the entire map was called the Arctic Temple, only this final area was where the temple actually was. There were no mobs inside the temple. The roof of the cave was covered in ice, and there were 12 totems with icy pictures on them in total surrounding the entire temple. They were so thick that it would take two people to hug it completely, and at the center of the totems was a gigantic blue magic formation that was glowing an impressive amount of magical energy. You could literally feel it in the air. At the center of the magical formation was a kneeling warrior in blue metal armor. He held a sword with fire running across its surface, and the blade was engraved with ancient runes. It was clearly a divine weapon or sorts. Moreover, the warrior¡¯s head was drooped in a way that suggested that he had been dead for a long time. At the very least, I could sense a thick aura of death from him. ¡­¡­ "Who¡¯s this guy?" Lin Yixin asked. I shook my head. "I don¡¯t know. You¡¯ll have to ask him yourself¡­" We were pretty close to the boss at this point, and a line of text appeared above its head. Its stat screen was pretty stunning¡ª Ziyu the Silver Radiance (Spirit Rank Boss) Level: 140 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: Before the Spirit of Grief continent was destroyed, Ziyu served as the second legion commander of the Silver Knights Legion, also the first legion under Princess Fia. This human general was unusually obsessed with the concept of honor and loyalty, and after Princess Fia passed away, he attacked the Undead Legion¡¯s old nest with thirty thousand remaining troops. However, he was defeated and had his soul robbed away by Vatra the Sky Shadow. Despite having turned into an undead general, his lingering thoughts as a human kept him from submitting to the power of darkness, and he sealed himself in the deepest depths of this icy earth. Over time, he became an incredibly violent and restless wandering soul. ¡­¡­ "The former commander of the Silver Knights Legion?" I murmured. "This boss is incredibly powerful. A Level 140 Spirit Rank boss is way beyond our ability to handle right now¡­" Lin Yixin watched Ziyu closely before asking, "Should we head back to the city?" "No!" I declared and took a step forward. "We are here now, so we might as well give it a shot. We can afford to lose levels and equipment, but we cannot lose the courage to overcome any obstacle in front of us!" "Alright!" Lin Yixin smiled sweetly. "Then we¡¯ll die together. At least it won¡¯t be a lonely death!" ¡­¡­ Sensing that someone had invaded his domain, Ziyu the Silver Radiance abruptly raised his head and stared at us with brown, emotionless eyes. He growled, "No one is allowed to defile Her Highness Fia¡¯s domain. Die, arrogant adventurers!" Chapter 362: The Boss’s Zone Ziyu the Silver Radiance was a Level 140 Spirit Rank boss and 40 levels higher than I was. This meant that he dealt an additional 100% damage or so to me, and even the success rate of powerful skills like Thunderous Charge would be greatly reduced. Therefore, there was no way we could fight him head on unless we wanted a swift and brutal death. ¡­¡­ I held my breath and watched Ziyu coldly. Then, I sucked in a deep breath and asked, "How do we fight this, Yiyi?" But Lin Yixin looked pretty lost herself. She shook her head and replied, "I don¡¯t know¡­" "Never mind. I¡¯ll use Dragon Slaying Slash to aggro him and Charge him afterward. If I fail to stun him, you Charge as well. After that, I will use Dragon Slaying Slash to regain the aggro while you zigzag around these twelve pillars and slow him down. Let¡¯s see if it¡¯s possible to kill the boss from a distance!" "Mn!" Lin Yixin gave me a praising smile. "That actually sounds like a good strategy. Alright then!" I nodded and pointed at a pair of totems less than three meters away from us. "It should take me around half a second to dash in from the left totem and dash out from the right, so you should time your Charge between this period¡­" "Don¡¯t worry, go!" "Mn!" I looked at Ziyu. It was impressive that the loyal commander was still obeying the sacred command of his dead princess, Fia, to this day. Unfortunately, the Night Creatures had extracted his soul a long time ago, and the vessel he left behind was just an undead creature overflowing with violence and killing intent. I raised my Purgatory Sword and charged my left hand with cyan energy. The next moment, I fired a gigantic energy blade that hit him squarely on the head! 954! I was beyond words. Fuck! Is this real? Did my Dragon Slaying Slash really deal less than a thousand damage? Just how high is this boss''s Magic Resist? The boss abruptly looked up and stared at me with murderous brown eyes. Then, he raised his fiery sword and rushed me with incredible speed! I hastily raised my hand a second time and backed up a few steps. Then, I activated Thunderous Charge! Whoosh! I zipped across the floor and hit the boss like a lightning bolt, but it only resulted in a big fat MISS. The next moment, the boss slammed his blade into my Obsidian Dragon Scale Armor and sent me flying across the room! My chest was burning like something was tearing it apart! Beep! Combat Log: Ziyu the Silver Radiance used "Armor Piercing Thrust", dealing 6984 damage! ¡­¡­ Oh no, this is bad. If the boss could almost one-shot me in a single hit, it can almost certainly one-shot Lin Yixin! Nice, she pierced his Defense! Extreme Break was as good as ever! While the boss was turning around to face Lin Yixin, I gulped down a health potion and rushed toward his exposed back. Then, I executed a Pardon + Desperate Gambit + basic attack, triple-hit combo! MISS! 4109! 2574! But even with Extreme Break, I wasn¡¯t able to do too much damage to the undead commander. This Level 140 Spirit Rank boss seriously was a powerhouse! Luckily for me, my third strike activated the Paralysis Ring¡¯s effect and saved my life in the nick of time. Normally my target would be paralyzed for 3 seconds, but considering how high his resistances were, I estimated that he would only be paralyzed for 1.5 seconds! I hurriedly retreated a couple of steps and swung my arm again. Dragon Slaying Slash! 3109! Not bad. The 15-second defense debuff brought by Extreme Break was incredibly valuable in situations like this! After that, I started running around the ice totems while launching one Dragon Slaying Slash after another. At the same time, I locked onto the boss and marked a trail of red dots with coordinates on them on the mini map. This was the time to show off my powerful skills. Lin Yixin herself was carefully zigzagging in front of the boss and wasting his time. She was able to repeatedly determine the direction he was running and block him completely. No wonder she was called the Beautiful Little Pepper back in Spirit of Grief. Her incredible reaction and judgment impressed even me. However, seven or eight Dragon Slaying Slashes later, the boss''s health bar looked the same as ever. At most, we had deleted 1% from his health pool even though we had dealt at least 20k damage to him, meaning that the Level 140 Spirit Rank boss had at least 2 million total HP, if not more. All we could do was despair. If this situation continued, how long would it take for me to kill it? Next month? Worse, the boss was regenerating health at an incredible rate. It regenerated almost all the HP it lost for every hit I dealt! ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin was also frowning slightly. Our chances of winning were infinitely close to zero if we allowed this to continue. But Commander Ziyu acted before we could change our strategy. He abruptly raised his sword and shouted, "O¡¯ Earth Spirits aslumber in the rocks, please listen to my summons. I offer a contract with my life as the cost¡ªHowl of the Earth!" Crack! I knew it was bad when the earth beneath my feet suddenly cracked like a spider web, but it was too late. The next moment, countless rock spikes hit me and threw me into the air! Although the spell only had a range of 10 yards, I wasn¡¯t able to dodge to safety! 3904! 3874! 3762! ¡­¡­ I chugged a potion in the middle of the spell, but it still wasn¡¯t good enough to keep me alive. My body turned cold¡ªit was the sensation all players felt before they died¡ªbut instead of dying as I expected to, a bloody light enveloped me and brought me back to life! Immortality? 10% plus 15 points of Luck gave me almost 20% chance to revive on the spot. Not bad at all! I was overjoyed, but Lin Yixin wasn¡¯t. She forgot to block the boss and the fact that the aggro would shift to her when she saw that I was killed. By the time she came to, an Armor Piercing Thrust had already torn apart her Profound Ice Armor! 8984! Fuck! This is bad! I cried in my head, but it was too late. Lin Yixin¡¯s Defense was a lot worse than mine, so there was no way she could withstand the powerful blow. She stared at me defiantly as she collapsed to the ground, but there was no resisting death. She even dropped a couple of equipment in her bag! Despair filled my heart as I ran across the temple grounds. What should I do? There¡¯s no one left to block for me anymore! Swhoosh swhoosh! Two Dragon Slaying Slashes later, the boss''s attention was drawn toward me again. This time, I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and used it to block the boss! It taxed me a lot to control two characters at once, so I wasn¡¯t able to block the boss as well as Lin Yixin did. But the good news was the little wolf was fast, so it just about covered up this minor flaw. I ran a half-arc around the temple grounds before grabbing all the Frozen Earth set pieces Lin Yixin dropped. I didn¡¯t forget to run circles the ice totems and attack the boss from range, of course. Unfortunately, my good luck couldn¡¯t last forever. Commander Ziyu¡¯s strength was insane, and he cut right through one of the totems. The 40-meter long pillar crashed to the ground just like that! I continued to kite the boss around the hall. 10 minutes had passed since the start of the battle, and his HP had fallen to 97%. A bit of hope finally grew inside my heart. Ultimately, the boss''s regeneration wasn¡¯t higher than my DPS, so killing it wasn¡¯t completely impossible. My chances of winning were still incredibly low, but the chance was there nonetheless. The ice totems continued to fall one after another, and it wasn¡¯t long before there was only one totem left in the entire hall. This totem was particularly thick, and at the center of it was a half-a-meter wide copper-like metal that probably supported the entire ice cave and kept it from collapsing due to crustal movement. "Still struggling, peasant?!" Ziyu¡¯s disdainful taunt reached my ears as he attacked the totem with his sword aura. If the totem was destroyed, then I would be completely exposed. There was no way I could survive more than a few rounds like that. Clang clang clang! My eardrums vibrated uncomfortably as the Level 140 Spirit Rank boss continued hacking away at the totem. Finally, about a dozen or so strikes later, the ice surrounding the final totem was completely gone, and the copper totem started toppling sideways. It crashed against the southwest corner of the ice temple and punched a huge hole through the wall! Boom! The totem was about 70 meters long, and it crashed through the ice wall like it was made of wet paper, leaving behind a gap about dozens of meters long. Almost 50 meters of the totem were sticking out of the ice cave. Ziyu smiled savagely and rushed toward me! At this point, I wasn¡¯t planning to do anything to the boss at all. It would be suicide to fight this Level 140 boss head-on, so I ran toward the gap in the wall like my life depended on it. I jumped out of the hole and ran along the totem! I felt a chill when I was outside the ice cave. When I looked around me, I felt like my soul was about to leave my body. As it turned out, there was a hollow space outside the ice cave. More importantly, beneath my feet was a black, bottomless abyss that would kill me for sure if I fell into it. It wasn¡¯t even a still environment! Snowy wind blew against my body and threatened to unbalance me as I wobbled like a dead leaf about to fall off its branches. It was such a frightening moment that the blood inside my veins felt like ice! Right now, I was standing at one end of the totem like a circus performer, not daring to move even a muscle on my body. I would fall if I slipped, and this time I might not be as lucky as the first time. My cape flapped wildly as the wind blew against it. I stared toward the front and felt both sorrow and despair. Ziyu was standing at the gap between the cave and staring at me with cold eyes. All he needed to do was plant his foot on the totem, and I would slip and fall to my death and turn into a frozen pancake. The only other alternative was to be killed by his blade! But Ziyu wasn¡¯t moving. He wasn¡¯t moving at all! Wait¡­ is he a boss that can''t leave his zone? Chapter 363: Forums Battle Ecstatic at this discovery, I quickly raised my arm as power coursed through me. In the next instant, a giant cyan blade appeared in the air above the ice cave and ruthlessly fell down, shaving off 1102 of Ziyu¡¯s HP. I was exactly 40 yards from the boss so Dragon Slaying Slash could still be used. Hell yeah! This Level 140 boss finally went berserk. He angrily yelled at me but it was to no avail. I still continued to attack him with one Dragon Slaying Slash after another and slowly whittled down his HP. At the same time, I took inventory of how many consumables I had. Nice, I still had several dozen stacks of high-rank consumables, enough for me to continuously use Dragon Slaying Slash. Swoosh! The berserk Ziyu suddenly launched an attack. He swung his sword and a streak of purple swordlight rushed out from its tip. His first long-range attack! Long prepared for this, I took a quick step back, adding a yard of distance between us for a total of 41! Whoosh! The purple swordlight nearly touched my nose before it disappeared. The 40 yard range rule also applied to the boss. I was currently drowning in ecstasy right now. At this point, killing the boss had become a done deal because I could just continue to use Dragon Slaying Slash on the boss while it couldn¡¯t harm me in turn since it didn¡¯t have my high-level mechanics, nor did it know about a high-level tactic called kiting. ¡­¡­ As I happily tossed down another Dragon Slaying Slash, Lin Yixin finally spoke up in the party channel, albeit cautiously: ¡°Lu Chen, you haven¡¯t died yet?¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I grinned. ¡°I¡¯m killing the boss right now, but this¡¯ll probably take me a while¡­¡± ¡°Oh, then did you pick up the Frozen Earth set pieces I dropped?¡± ¡°I have them, don¡¯t worry about it.¡± I checked the time, then said, ¡°It¡¯s late Yiyi, go eat something and sleep early. When you get online tomorrow morning, you might even see my boss kill message¡­¡± ¡°OMG, an all nighter? You don¡¯t want to live, do you¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine!¡± ¡°Alright then, don¡¯t force yourself too hard¡­¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡­¡­ Not long after, Lin Yixin logged off somewhat dejectedly. She had just reached Level 99 and was immediately killed back to Level 98. That kind of feeling wasn¡¯t good at all. She originally could¡¯ve had the chance to become the second fourth-promotion player but it seemed rather difficult now. Wind City¡¯s Candlelight Shadow was already Level 99. With his tenacity and dedication, I doubt he¡¯d log out before he reached Level 100. To some degree, levels were extremely important in a virtual game. Beep! I suddenly received a message from He Yi: ¡°Lu Chen, are you online?¡± My heart skipped a beat and I immediately requested a voice call. ¡°Eve, you¡¯re finally online now?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± He Yi said in a blaming tone, ¡°You bastard, it¡¯s three or four in the morning in China right now, why are you still online? You¡¯re pulling an all nighter again¡­¡± I laughed. ¡°I¡¯ve got no choice this time since I¡¯m dealing with a boss at the moment. Even if I wanted to log off I would just die unless I killed it... ¡°Oh? What kind of boss?¡± I shared my screen, allowing He Yi to also see General Ziyu who was overflowing with divine might inside the ice cave. She was instantly stunned. ¡°OMG, a Level 140 boss? It¡¯s Spirit Rank too. Lu Chen, how¡¯d you find such a high-rank boss? And you can even solo it? Lucky¡­¡± I smiled. ¡°When I was grinding in the Dragonbone Mountain Range, I was besieged by people from Gods of Destruction and fell down a cliff. That¡¯s how I discovered this new map. You can say that I was pretty lucky because I¡¯ll make a profit if I¡¯m able to whittle down this boss tonight. I absolutely wouldn¡¯t make a loss since this boss is at such a high level. It¡¯ll definitely drop some awesome gear!¡± ¡°Okay then, good luck!¡± He Yi answered. ¡°I haven¡¯t logged on these past few days and I¡¯ve fallen behind in levels. I¡¯m Level 92 but you¡¯re already 100 now. Forget it, I¡¯ll also go grind some levels. There¡¯s no meeting today so I can properly gain some EXP. It¡¯s just that Mingyue and Beiming aren¡¯t here.¡± ¡°They logged off already. Beauty sleep is important.¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m going to go grind now!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± ¡°Uhh¡­¡± He Yi seemed like she wanted to say something. ¡°What¡¯s up, Eve?¡± I asked with a smile. Inside the voice call interface, He Yi¡¯s portrait was still beautiful. Her cheeks flushed bright red as she asked, ¡°I¡¯ve been gone for so long. Did you think of me?¡± I nodded. ¡°It¡¯s raining in Suzhou.¡± ¡°Oh, I see.¡± He Yi smiled before she ended the call and headed off to grind. ¡­¡­ I focused and resumed my efforts in taking out the Level 140 boss¡¯s HP. This was some hard work, alright! I soon heard another beep. Murong Mingyue had logged on and sent me a message: ¡°Lu Chen, you haven¡¯t logged out yet? Damn, so hardcore¡­¡± ¡°Nah, I got wrapped up with a boss so I¡¯m logging off once I kill him.¡± Murong Mingyue: ¡°You¡¯ve been online for an entire day now. Tell me when you¡¯re logging out so I can make you some food. Sigh, you really don¡¯t know how to take care of yourself¡­¡± ¡°Probably around 10. Thanks, sis¡­¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± Murong Mingyue stopped chatting with me after that. She was probably grinding with He Yi now. This duo had He Yi for defense and both of them for a decent offense. He Yi¡¯s Soul Stealing Spear had an amazing Attack while Murong Mingyue¡¯s AoE Hellish Rockfall was even deadlier when it came to grinding mobs. ¡­¡­ As I paid close attention to the boss¡¯s HP and movements, I was bored out of my mind so I opened the official forums to see if there was anything new trending. In the end, there was a giant thread on the front page of the official forums. Two players in battle armor were drawn facing each other. One was me and the other was Candlelight Shadow. Between us was a huge blood red ¡°VS¡±. The subject of the thread was a shocking one¡ªBetween Falling Dust and Candlelight Shadow, who is the true Martial God? I looked below the heading and saw rows of little words. ¡°Last night, two huge things happened in the China server¡¯s World Famous Generals version release. Candlelight Shadow took the lead to become the first Famous General in China and obtained the Famous General Skill ¡°Ghost God Prophecy¡±, shocking the entire server. However, not even an hour later, Sky City¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand also ascended to become a Famous General and obtained the super powerful Famous General Skill ¡°Martial God¡±, a skill akin to super Encourage that increases attack power by 40%. If we compare the two skills, the acclaimed ¡°Martial God¡± Candlelight Shadow has been left rather embarrassed. The Candle Dragon guild Candlelight Shadow commands and the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is in are old enemies. Who will emerge as the victor in this battle for the title of Martial God? Between Candlelight Shadow and Falling Dust, who exactly will climb to the top of the China server to become the Heavenly King of a new generation?¡± ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t hold back my smile. Struggles between gaming celebrities usually were paid close attention to by the playerbase. This was especially so when it came to CGL Hall of Famers like me and Candlelight Shadow. Even more eye-catching than that was the main point of this topic, which was who would come out as the victor in the battle between the two legendary experts. Now that was enough to make any man¡¯s blood boil. I opened the thread and could surprisingly see an analysis of me and Candlelight Shadow¡¯s level, skills, equipment, and pets. My Pardon, Dragon Slaying Slash, Thousand Mirage Slash, Ghost Deity Armor, Desperate Gambit, Immortality, Thunderous Charge, etc. were listed for all to see. Even the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s stats had been listed. Meanwhile, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s skills like Earth Shattering Slash, Rock Thrust, Blazing Purgatory Slash, Storm Domain, etc. were also all there without a single one missing. It was hard to imagine who in the world understood the two of us this much in detail. Fuck, was it an official staff member revealing our data? If not, this kind of intel gathering was just too damn good! All kinds of views appeared as replies to this thread. It was pretty interesting to say the least¡ª 1st comment (Player Unrivaled Divine Shield): Candlelight Shadow is upright and ruthless, worthy of the title Martial God. In the later period of the Spirit of Grief era, he was a commanding hero that led the eastern strike against the US server and defeated every vassal state he came across as he swept through a greater part of the continental map with a sword pressed upon the throat of New Sainthelm City. I support Candlelight Shadow no matter what! He is the Martial God! 2nd comment (Player Smoke and Clouds of the Past): To be honest, most of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s achievements are from Frivolous Scholar. If not for Scholar, Seven-Star Lamp, Lonely Grave, and the others bringing an end to it all, Candlelight Shadow wouldn''t even have killed through Cool Breeze City! 3rd comment (Player Little Piglet): Hegemon Palace is the real king... 4th comment (Player Legendary Brave): In terms of mechanics, Falling Dust in his peak period absolutely dominates Candlelight Shadow. In terms of moral character, Falling Dust surpasses Candlelight Shadow on far more than one account. In the final stages of Spirit of Grief, Falling Dust fearlessly fought to the death without retreating in the nation war and defended the entrance to Battlesong Canyon for as long as five hours against thirty thousand India players. This requires far more than just courage! In order to take revenge for guild leader From Water, Falling Dust fought against Gods of Destruction alone and dyed Silver Moon Valley in blood. Later on, he founded Bloody Mercenaries and used his life to defend the honor of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Falling Dust has done everything a courageous, upright man is capable of accomplishing. In my opinion, the true battle has only just begun and it¡¯s still too early for the war in Heavenblessed! 5th comment (Player Fairy Maiden Peak): What¡¯s Hegemon Palace? 6th comment (Player Wind From An Empty Cave): Woah, even the Dragon Warrior and the Cold Wind Swordsman have appeared. Wife, come out to come see God... ¡­¡­ War had technically not broken out yet in the real sense of the word but smoke had already filled the air of the forums. Little Piglet and Legendary Brave were not only fighting in the game but also on the forums as they exchanged verbal barbs here and there. Damn, this kind of dual multitasking was pretty impressive if I do say so myself. It¡¯d even put me to shame. And so, the Top 15 players on Sky City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking were pretty much all affiliated with a guild now. Legendary Brave joined Ancient Sword while Little Piglet became Hegemon Palace¡¯s hired goon. Pillar of the Nation did not have a great general among his subordinates but once Little Piglet joined, I¡¯m certain that many experts would join Hegemon Palace. All in all, among the Top 15 players, 6 were in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, 4 were in Snowy Cathaya, 4 in Warsky Alliance, and 1 was in Hegemon Palace. In the battle between top-level players, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, and Warsky Alliance were in the lead but like Li Chengfeng said, the battle had only just begun. ¡­¡­ After going through the forums and looking up some data, I continued to focus on killing the boss again. The slow grind lasted up until nine in the morning when the boss¡¯s HP was finally down to the last 3%. Ten more minutes later, the boss only had 1% HP left with most of it completely empty, leaving me super excited. I chomped on a Magic Consumable and continued the grind! Ziyu went berserk at the zone¡¯s gap. He was incredibly angry but also incredibly helpless as he stood there unmovingly, stuck in place. Boom! Chapter 364: Bloodboil Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ As it turned out, one Ziyu was worth 5 levels, bringing me to an incredible Level 105. If my top spot on China¡¯s level ranking wasn¡¯t secured before, it was now! I looked at Ziyu¡¯s corpse. I¡¯d killed a Level 140 Spirit Rank boss that was 40 levels above me, and I had 15 points of Luck. I could only imagine how amazing the loot was going to be. My excitement grew so huge that I almost slipped off the totem! Rustle rustle... Braving the snowstorm and crawling back into the ice cave, I stared at Ziyu and the pile of loot next to him. I couldn¡¯t even describe how I was feeling right now! First, I should check out the equipment drop. The boss had dropped an actual ton of magic stones, 4 equipment drops, two blue-colored skill books, and a couple of gemstones of varying colors. The four items were a pair of fiery metal armor warboots, a pair of green-colored leather armor wristguards, a scepter sparkling with holy light and a sword surrounded by a dark glow. The sword was the most eye-catching equipment of them all because the blade was glowing with an intimidating light, and light blue magic runes were floating above the surface. It had to be a high-grade sword! I picked up the war boots first and checked their stats¡ª Barbaric War Boots of Heaven (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï) Defense: 370 Magic Resist: 290 Strength: +75 Stamina: +70 Passive: Increases user¡¯s movement speed by 15% Slots: 1 Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s physical critical rate by 18% Class Requirement: Warrior Level Requirement: 125 ¡­¡­ Fuck, Level 125, 2-star Outstanding, Purple Gold¨Cgrade war boots!? They were as powerful as they were stunning. They were way better than the Death Shade War Boots I was wearing right now! Unfortunately, I was only Level 105 even after the miraculous level-ups, meaning that I was 20 levels away from equipping these Barbaric War Boots of Heaven! I decided to toss the war boots into my bag and worry about it after I had reached Level 120! I moved on to the green leather armor wristguards. They were a bit of a disappointment though. Good karma couldn¡¯t last forever, and the Silver-grade bracers in my hands were the best proof of it. Fuck! Ironskin Wristguards (Silver-grade) Defense: 185 Magic Resist: 120 Agility: +58 Strength: +50 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Agility by 10 Level Requirement: 125 ¡­¡­ Mn, this is the kind of shit you sell to the NPC shops. In fact, I wasn¡¯t even going to bother with that. I tossed it to the floor and moved on to the next item. Magic Attack: 300~550 Intelligence: +80 Stamina: +75 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 20% Passive: Increases user¡¯s healing power by 55% Slots: 2 Outstanding Property: When healing a target, 15% chance to apply Ice Shield with no cost Level Requirement: 125 ¡­¡­ My eyes turned as wide as saucers. It was an amazing scepter even considering that it was a 1-star Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade weapon. +20% Magic Attack was brutal enough, but this +55% healing power and a 15% chance to apply a shield onto your target was absolutely insane. It was easily the weapon you want to give to the best priest of your guild! That being said, the level requirement was still too high for it to be of any use right now. Murong Mingyue was a hard worker, but even now she was only at Level 96. It would probably take months before she could equip it. I tossed the scepter into my bag as well. Finally, it was time for the main dish. The moment I set my eyes on the dark sword, I had a feeling that a divine weapon was about to say its first hello to the world. A powerful energy surged into my body when I grabbed the hilt of the sword, invigorating me instantly. Then, I waved its stats screen into existence and felt my brain, no, my whole body, turning into stone¡ª Heaven-stealing Sword (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 640~875 Strength: +100 Stamina: +95 Passive: Increases user¡¯s attack power by 40% Passive: 30% of the damage will be dealt as splash damage Property: Level Requirement reduced by 20 Slots: 4 Outstanding Property: User gains the ¡°Heaven Stealing¡± effect. When damaging a target, 14% of the damage is converted into health. Introduction: During the ancient times, the Heaven-stealing Beast secretly ate the Essence of Heaven and angered the gods. Absolutely furious, the Ice Soul War God tore it in half, froze its spine and used his spirit energy to turn it into a divine weapon like nothing the world had ever seen. And thus, Heaven-stealing Sword was born. Level Requirement: 125 ¡­¡­ I actually started crying as I hugged the Heaven-stealing Sword and dropped to my butt. Bless the heavens, my ten-hour suffering wasn¡¯t all for nothing after all. The Heaven-stealing Sword was the most OP weapon I had seen thus far, especially its special effect "Heaven-stealing¡±. Do I even need health potions after this? This is 14% lifesteal we¡¯re talking about! I continued to examine its stats one by one as I basked in the glow of happiness. The Heaven-stealing Sword had a max Attack of 875, and it boosted one¡¯s Strength by a whopping 100. Again, I must emphasize that a weapon like this had never been sighted since the beginning of Heavenblessed, not to mention that that wasn¡¯t even the only stat it boosted. It also gave its user 95 Stamina, 40% increase in attack power, 30% splash damage, and a 20-level reduction to the level requirement. I could actually equip this ridiculous sword right now! My heart thumped like a drum as I replaced the Purgatory Sword with the Heaven-stealing Sword. An unimaginable power surged into my body as I checked my current stats¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Purgatory Thunder) Class: Undead Swordsman (Silver Swordsman) Level: 105 HP: 7900 Attack: 1545~1920 Defense: 1350 Magic Resist: 1180 Reputation: 80764 Tactics: 89 (+29) Luck: 15 ¡­¡­ Right now my max Attack was 1920, but if the 40% attack boost from the weapon and the 70% attack boost from Martial God were counted in, my actual attack power was over 3000! Woohoo! I tossed the Purgatory Sword into my bag as I struggled to contain my joy. This boss kill was absolutely worth it considering that it put me completely ahead of all other peak-level players such as Lin Yixin, Candlelight Shadow, and so on. Right now, I was almost certain that there was no one in all of China who could 1v1 me anymore. I said almost because the only way to be fully certain was for the other players to sit on their asses and leave all the powerful bosses alone, which was of course impossible. At the very least, I knew that Candlelight Shadow was also grinding like a motherfucker while I spent 10 whole hours murdering Ziyu little by little! The equipment inspection done, I moved onto the gemstones, or gems, to be exact. These things were meant to be slotted into your equipment. I had thought that this might happen, but it looked like the gem system had finally appeared! Ziyu had dropped 5 Gems in total, and their effects were quite varied¡ª 1 Cyanfire Gem: Increases weapon¡¯s attack power by 5%, weapon only 1 Dragonstone Gem: Increases item¡¯s Defense by 5%, chest armor and legguards only 1 Berserk Gem: Increases user¡¯s crit rate by 1%, ring and necklace only 2 Convenience Gems: Reduces Level Requirement by 20, only 1 per item ¡­¡­ All five gems were Rank 1 Gems. Obviously, an item had to have a slot before a gem could be embedded into it, so most players would soon discard all low-level items with no slots in them. Luckily for me, all the good items I had gotten from the boss had slots in them. The Barbaric War Boots of Heaven had 1 slot in it, the Scepter of Snow Region¡¯s Heart had 2 slots in it, and the 4-star Outstanding Heaven Stealing Sword had 4 slots in it. In a sense, players could rate an item purely from the number of slots it had! I thought for a moment and decided to reduce the war boots¡¯ level requirement with the first Convenience Gem, and the Scepter of Snow Region¡¯s Heart with the second. The sooner Murong Mingyue could get her hands on this Purple Gold¨Cgrade weapon, the better. I took out the two items, selected two Convenience Gems, and brought up the transfusion screen. There were two dings of success as the gems automatically embedded themselves into the items! I immediately put on the Barbaric War Boots of Heaven after that. The boots themselves looked pretty fearsome with tiny flames shooting out of its sides, and it was perfect for a player who wanted to look both cool and powerful like me! And even if it wasn¡¯t, it still gave me a ton of stats! My HP shot up to over 8200, and my max Attack to 1950 in an instant. But the key here was the 15% increase to both my critical rate and movement speed. Until the mount system was officially open to all players, movement speed was absolutely critical to a foot soldier like me, be it in PvP or PvE. This was especially true to players who were good at killing targets who were stronger than they were. Speed is life in this scenario. ¡­¡­ Honestly, the sheer amount of benefits I got from this one boss was starting to overwhelm me. I hadn¡¯t even checked the two blue skill books yet! I tapped on both items and felt a familiar wave of astonishment flooding my senses¡ª Green Wave Slash: Fire a powerful energy beam that deals massive damage to targets within 40 yards in a line. Level Requirement: 95. Class Requirement: Magic Knight. Bloodboil: Gather your qi to recover 20% of your HP instantly. Level Requirement: 95. Class Requirement: Magic Knight, Wanderer, Warrior. ¡­¡­ Mn, Green Wave Slash was an AoE skill for melee classes, and since Gui Guzi already had Aurora Thrust I decided to keep this for He Yi. As for Bloodboil, it was a skill I could learn, but it seemed to be in conflict with Tenacity of the Dead, so I decided to give it to Lin Yixin. She was a participant in the boss fight, but she died and lost a level. It didn¡¯t seem right to not compensate her for her efforts. I scanned through my bag and was absolutely delighted by everything I had collected thus far. Finally, I picked up the dozen or so Purple Crystals scattered across the floor because they were worth several hundred RMB each. If I wasn¡¯t rich before, I was now! Surprisingly, a late but definitely welcomed system announcement resounded above the main cities¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" for killing the first ever Spirit Rank boss, Ziyu the Silver Radiance. Reward: +5 Luck! ¡­¡­ The reward looked simple, but it was one that made me overflow with happiness again because more Luck was always a good thing. Without a high Luck stat, the boss might not have dropped a 4-star Outstanding Spirit¨Cgrade weapon for me. It was all predestined from the start! I admired the Heaven-stealing Sword again. Mn, this sword is sure to shine like the sun in all the battles I¡¯m going to fight at Sky City! It was at this moment I received a message from Lin Yixin. "W-w-woah, you actually managed to kill that boss? Out with it, I want to know all the loot you got¡­" I screenshotted the Heaven-stealing Sword¡¯s stats screen and sent it to her. A while later, Lin Yixin¡¯s avatar popped in front of me, and she stared at me with her big beautiful eyes. "I¡­ I¡¯m not dreaming, am I?" I said, "Yiyi, the boss also dropped a skill book that no one wants. Want it?" "Oh? I¡¯m in the city right now¡­" "I¡¯m coming over right now!" I looked over the battlefield one last time and tried to use Death Plunder on the boss''s body. Unfortunately, I got nothing this time. Whatever, time to crush my return scroll and teleport back to Sky City! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The moment I appeared in Sky City, I immediately spotted Lin Yixin in the distance. I walked up to her and passed Bloodboil to her with a smile. "I have Tenacity of the Dead already, so this is yours¡­" "Ah¡­" Chapter 365: Don’t Forget Your Room Cards Lin Yixin blinked at me. "You killed Ziyu alone, didn¡¯t you? Are you sure you want to give this Bloodboil to me?" I nodded. "Sure, but you participated in the fight too, didn¡¯t you? Just think of it as a participation reward or something¡­" Lin Yixin covered her mouth and giggled. "Just surprised that my participation reward is this great, that¡¯s all. Alright then!" She accepted the skill book and used it immediately, the item turning into a ray of light and entered her body. With this, Lin Yixin¡¯s survivability had greatly increased. When we reached the late game where everyone¡¯s HP numbered in the tens of thousands, this skill would surely show its true worth! I yawned and said, "Alright, you can get back to your grinding now. I¡¯m going to finish my fourth promotion quest and go to bed immediately afterward. I haven¡¯t slept a wink since yesterday¡­" "Mn!" Lin Yixin shot me a long look before smiling. "Thanks!" "We¡¯re well past the stage of pleasantries already, don¡¯t you think?" "..." Before she left, Lin Yixin entrusted me the rest of the Frozen Earth set pieces. After that, I sent He Yi a message: "Where are you, Eve? I have a skill book for you. If sis is with you, tell her to come over as well¡­" He Yi replied quickly, "Okay, we¡¯re coming back right now!" A few seconds later, my beautiful leader, busty priest, and dark archer appeared at the teleportation formation and walked up to me. I passed He Yi the Green Wave Slash skill book and told her to learn it. She accepted it and used it without a word. The next moment, she swung her arm diagonally and fired a long, bluish sword aura at the city walls! Boom! The attack didn¡¯t do any damage, but the city walls still vibrated a little from the impact. The commotion immediately caused a couple of stall owners to look over in surprise. "What a powerful skill, hehe¡­" He Yi said dazedly. "Lu Chen, is this one of the loots of the boss you fought for god knows how long earlier?" "Yep. It¡¯s pretty good, isn¡¯t it?" "Mn mn!" With that done, I passed Murong Mingyue the Scepter of Snow Region¡¯s Heart. "Sis, this here is a Level 105 Purple Gold¨Cgrade scepter. It¡¯s very powerful, so grind hard and get to Level 105 as soon as possible, okay?" "Ah?" Murong Mingyue¡¯s mouth fell open as she stared at the scepter in her hands. She was so shocked and excited that her breasts were moving up and down according to her breathing and causing saliva to drip off the mouths of the surrounding players. He Yi giggled at her antics. Beiming Xue said, "What are you two planning to do when you reach the inn? Oh well, don¡¯t forget your room cards¡­" Murong Mingyue and I vomited blood at the same time. ¡­¡­ I decided to obey Murong Mingyue¡¯s whim after a moment of consideration. It was a fact that I was about to run out of steam very soon, and I could certainly afford the time to eat before completing my fourth promotion quest. I definitely couldn¡¯t go to bed just yet though. Candlelight Shadow was still at Level 99, but he couldn¡¯t be too far behind. If I wanted to maximize his displeasure, then I had to become the first fourth-promotion player! After logging off the game and getting out of my room, I saw Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue exiting their rooms as well. I asked, "What are we eating?" Murong Mingyue immediately took out some frozen food from the fridge and left to reheat them. Meanwhile, Beiming Xue passed me a glass of warm water before smiling. "Big bro, how do you feel after being online for so long?" I thought for a moment before answering, "I feel a bit weak, and I really need to go to the toilet¡­" Beiming Xue: "You¡¯re so strong¡­" ¡­¡­ The food Murong Mingyue brought me was pretty good. After gulping down two big glasses of water, I spent ten minutes annihilating everything on the table before wiping away the oil on my mouth in satisfaction. "Damn, that was good. Anyway, I¡¯m going to do my fourth promotion quest now. You two should grind hard as well. I¡¯ll party you both and take you on a leveling trip after I¡¯m finished. I¡¯m very strong right now!" "Okay!" both girls answered with a smile on their faces. The first thing I did after returning online was to head to the auction house and turn in all the equipment sets Lin Yixin and I had collected so far. The Level 95 Silver-grade Frozen Earth set wasn¡¯t especially good, so it failed to trigger a system announcement. The Blood Maddened Lion set though was unquestionably an auction item that deserved a free advertisement from the system itself¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that player XXXX has put up the Blood Maddened Lion 5-piece Equipment Set (LV-115, Gold-grade, 1-star Outstanding. Overall Stats: 1175 Defense, 908 Magic Resist, Strength +240, Stamina +185, Agility +114, Attack +24%. Set Bonuses: Level Requirement -20, Strength +125, Attack +10%, HP +25%, Bloodthirst: The user burns Blood Maddened Lion¡¯s bloodline and gains 45% attack speed and 10% movement speed) for auction. The item will enter the bidding phase at 20:00 today. All interested players, please proceed to the auction house and take your numbers before the auction starts! ¡­¡­ The Blood Maddened Lion set was without a doubt the strongest available equipment set in Heavenblessed right now. Equipment sets were rare in the first place, and high-grade equipment sets even more so. I was certain that today¡¯s auction would be one for the history books of Sky City! I also put up the Chest Armor of Barbaric Strength for auction, but the Level 95 Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment failed to trigger any system announcement. Damn, the system doesn¡¯t like promoting any equipment that isn¡¯t Outstanding! I also dumped every other equipment else I had gotten from the grind on the auction house as well. I priced the best ones myself and let the system decide the rest. So far, the system hadn¡¯t disappointed me yet. After leaving the auction house and repairing my equipment completely, I finally set off to meet my trainer, Rinser, and undergo my fourth promotion quest! I spoke to the attendant at the teleportation formation. After I paid the appropriate price, the powerful magic tore at my body and transported me to the Dragonbone Mountain Range¡¯s Snow Domain. Not far away, I saw Rinser sitting atop a rock, hugging his robes and barbecuing a Snow Rabbit above a small bonfire. Occasionally, droplets of oil would drip into the bonfire and cause some sizzling noises. I walked up to him and asked, "I¡¯m back, trainer. What are you doing, by the way?" Rinser let out a cough before replying, "I¡¯m studying the workings of the element of ice¡­" "You have to barbecue meat to do that?" "This is a study on how the elements of ice and fire function together." "My trainer is wise!" I pulled out the Heaven-stealing Sword after I got close to him. A single look at the intimidating blade of the weapon was enough to make anyone realize that the 4-star Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon was no ordinary weapon. As expected, Rinser broke into a smile after his mild surprise had passed. "Boy, I didn¡¯t think you would grow this powerful in just a short time. The Wind Singer was right about you!" I smiled back. "Trainer, I would like to undergo my fourth promotion quest!" "Very well!" Rinser rose to his feet before declaring, "I happen to have just the quest you¡¯re looking for. Recently, a bunch of Snow Rabbits have taken up residence at the central region of Dragonbone Mountain Range. The feces of these rabbits can cause a plague and threaten the lives of the people of Sky City. Therefore, I command you to head there, kill 200 Snow Rabbits and bring their corpses to me as proof. If you succeed, I will conduct the fourth promotion ceremony for you!" "Okay!" I nodded, accepted the fourth promotion quest and ran toward the icy plains where the Snow Rabbits were. It was a pretty easy quest considering everything that had happened so far. Still, I couldn¡¯t help but glance back at Rinser. I was certain that the old man had sent me to kill 200 Snow Rabbits because he wanted a taste of rabbit meat, not because their feces could cause a plague that threatened the people of Sky City. So shameless! But there was no reason for me to turn down the quest anyway. With my current Attack and Defense, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem for me to kill the Level 115 shadow-rank Snow Rabbits anymore. But I couldn¡¯t know until I actually fought one myself. To the icy plains! I ran all the way to the place where Lin Yixin and I had been grinding the Snow Rabbits earlier. Little Piglet, Dominating Heaven Blade, and the rest of the bastards who ganged up on us were nowhere to be seen. Luckily, there were still plenty of Snow Rabbits in the area, so I didn¡¯t need to worry about running out of Snow Rabbits to kill. Moreover, I now had the Barbaric War Boots of Heaven and the Heaven-stealing Sword, and the level gap between us had been lessened to just 10. Was there any reason for me not to fight them head-on knowing that the Heaven-stealing Sword had 14% lifesteal? No! I ran rings around the Snow Rabbits and aggroed almost 300 of them. Then, I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to occupy the space next to me and began the battle. No, I didn¡¯t use a choke point. With 1950 Attack, I saw no reason to fear the Snow Rabbits even though the wolf and I were neck deep in them! I swung my new sword and used Thousand Mirage Slash! Boom! The damage numbers that popped above the mobs¡¯ head were absolutely pleasing to look at¡ª 6743! 6653! 6894! ¡­¡­ It was incredible. The base damage of the skill plus the 30% splash damage from my sword deleted more than half of the Snow Rabbits¡¯ health in just an instant. It was a lot better than even the time Lin Yixin and I were grinding together! The Snow Rabbits were surrounding me and gnawing at the Obsidian Dragonscale Armor with their sharp fangs, deleting my HP at a swift rate. Despite my newfound power, they were shadow-rank mobs with amazing attack power. It was at this moment I used a War Crush on all the Snow Rabbits that were surrounding me. At the same time, my body warmed as if their life force flowed into my body. It was the 14% lifesteal from the Heaven-stealing Sword. Earlier, the Snow Rabbits had taken almost 3000 HP from my health pool. A bunch of 643s, 665s and 674s later, I was back to full health again! Hahaha, this is awesome! This 14% lifesteal is so amazing that I can practically annihilate these mobs without ever downing a single potion! ¡­¡­ The grind went very smoothly, and all 300 or so Snow Rabbits died in less than an hour. I didn¡¯t forget to pick up exactly 200 Snow Rabbit corpses and throw them into my bag because that was what Rinser had demanded. Finally, I extracted as much Snow Rabbit Meat as I could from the remaining Snow Rabbits in preparation for the Rank 8 Magic Consumables I was going to make in the future! My quest completed, I went back to receive my reward. I excitedly ran back to Rinser¡¯s place and dumped the truckload of Snow Rabbit corpses on the ground. Then, I put on a devout expression and said, "Trainer, I¡¯ve killed those damned Snow Rabbits like you commanded me to! They will never be able to shit all over the place and cause a terrible plague again!" "Very good, boy. Now pay me 50k gold, and I¡¯ll promote you to a fourth-promotion swordsman as promised!" Rinser laughed. He looked incredibly proud of himself, unaware that I was wishing for the power to remove his head from his body. 50k gold for one simple promotion quest? What is this, a robbery?! In the end though, I had no choice but to select the "Accept" option. He was my trainer, so I had to obey his rules! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the fourth promotion quest and gained the title "Dark Gold Swordsman." You are awarded 1 Luck for becoming the first player to complete the fourth promotion quest! ¡­¡­ At the same time, a system announcement dinged across the cities¡ª Ding~! Chapter 366: Support You Forever I was overjoyed as a matter of course. Not only did I get 1 Luck for being the first player to be fourth-promotion, I also got one Rank 2 Gem and one Rank 3 Gem! It also happened that Cyanfire Gems¡ªgems that boosted Attack¡ªwere exactly what I needed right now. In total, I could slot 3 Cyanfire Gems into my Heaven-stealing Sword and boost its attack power by 15%! That¡¯s amazing! I immediately brought up the gem system interface, took out the three Cyanfire Gems and slotted them into the Heaven-stealing Sword. Three dings later, the Heaven-stealing Sword lost 3 slots but was enhanced to +3! Heaven-stealing Sword (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 640~875 Strength: +100 Stamina: +95 Passive: Increases user¡¯s attack power by 40% Passive: 30% of the damage will be dealt as splash damage Property: Level Requirement reduced by 20 Slots: 1 (Enhanced +3, attack power +15%) Outstanding Property: User gains the "Heaven Stealing" effect. When damaging a target, 14% of the damage is converted into health. Introduction: During the ancient times, the Heaven-stealing Beast secretly ate the Essence of Heaven and angered the gods. Absolutely furious, the Ice Soul War God tore it in half, froze its spine and used his spirit energy to turn it into a divine weapon like nothing the world had ever seen. And thus, Heaven-stealing Sword was born. Level Requirement: 125 ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, with this, my weapon¡¯s base attack power had officially exceeded one thousand. It was incredible to say the least! Moreover, another way to rate a weapon¡¯s attack power was to combine its minimum and maximum attack power. The Heaven-stealing Sword¡¯s minimum and maximum attack power were incredibly close to one another, and because of the low spread, their sum was incredibly high. It was why it currently sat at the first place of the Weapon Ranking, and its total rating was 3 times the rating of the runner-up, the Scepter of Snow Region¡¯s Heart! ¡­¡­ Suddenly, I remembered that I was now qualified to learn new magic from the holy magus Rinser since I had just undergone my fourth promotion. I longed to combine them with the rest of my skills too! I walked up to Rinser and spoke with him. As expected, the skill window displayed two new fourth-promotion skills to learn¡ª Thunder and Wind: Concentrate the powerful elements of lightning and hurricane to unleash a powerful offensive magic. Deal massive amounts of damage to all targets within a 10x10 yard area. Level Requirement: 100. Class Rank Requirement: 4. Cost: 2000 Reputation and 20000 Gold. Wind Shadow Shield: Summon a hurricane and turn it into a shield that protects the user from harm. Huge chance to cause all physical damage to miss. Level Requirement: 100. Class Rank Requirement: 4. Cost: 2000 Reputation and 20000 Gold. ¡­¡­ I clicked Accept and learned Thunder and Wind. Just like before, the skill fusion window popped up and asked me to choose an existing skill for fusion. I gave it some serious thought before making a hard decision. Thunder and Wind was a magical offensive skill, so I would fuse it with my most powerful skill¡ªThousand Mirage Slash! The system sounded after I confirmed my choice¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your skill "Thousand Mirage Slash" has successfully fused with "Thunder and Wind." You have produced a new skill¡ª"Thousand Ice Slash"! ¡­¡­ Thousand Ice Slash? I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn¡¯t seeing things. Did I just create an ice-based skill by fusing wind and thunder together? Is this how element conversion is supposed to work? Eh, whatever. I¡¯ll think about it after I check out my new skill! I brought up my skill list and found a brand new cyan-colored skill on it. The new skill button was surrounded by impressive-looking ice vapors¡ª Thousand Ice Slash I: Propels several streams of icy sword aura and deal AoE damage to the area in front of you. Deals 105% of basic attack damage. Damage increases with skill rank. Also slows down the enemy with a 10% chance to Freeze the target. Cooldown: 15 seconds. MP Cost: 100. Weapon Requirement: Sword-type weapon. ¡­¡­ Holy shit! Not only was it a lot stronger than Thousand Mirage Slash, it slowed down the enemies, and had a 10% chance to freeze them too. The value of this skill just skyrocketed, be it in PvE battles or PvP battles! Double cultivation truly was as OP as it looked! Mn, I could train this when I go on the grinding date with Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue. The sooner it reaches Rank 10, the better! I happily moved on to the second skill. The Wind Shadow Shield was a kind of Magic Shield that could cause physical attacks to miss automatically. It wasn¡¯t a bad skill, so I decided to merge it with my Ghost Deity Armor. Both skills shared the same element, so there shouldn¡¯t be any conflict or unexpected stat loss. The system dinged again after I confirmed my choice¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your skill "Ghost Deity Armor" has successfully fused with "Wind Shadow Shield." You have produced a new skill¡ª"Ghost Deity Armor (Wind Shadow)"! ¡­¡­ Ghost Deity Armor (Wind Shadow) I: Summons the power of the dead and transforms it into armor. Defense +8%, and a 3% chance to force physical attacks to miss. The reborn Ghost Deity Armor surprised me again. Holy shit! I still remembered that Ghost Deity Armor added 5% Defense at Rank 1, but this new skill was 60% stronger than the original skill. How high would my Defense be at Rank 10? Also, at Rank 1 physical attacks already had a 3% chance to miss. So at Rank 10, the miss rate should be between 25% to 40% or so, right? What a lifesaver! The pleasant surprises seemed like it would never end today. I tried chatting with Rinser again, but the two skills were all I could wring out of the miserly old man. Still, I was satisfied with my Thousand Ice Slash and Wind Shadow Ghost Deity Armor. I was already much stronger than I was before, but once I retrained all my skills to Rank 10 my power would grow even higher! I crushed a return scroll and teleported back to Sky City. At this point, my vision was actually starting to blur a little. I would probably die if I stayed up any longer, and I saw no reason to since the boss was killed, and I had laid claim to the first dibs to fourth promotion. It was finally time to go to bed! I logged off after greeting Murong Mingyue, He Yi, and Beiming Xue. Then, I took off my gaming helmet, took a bath and blacked out on the bed in no time. ¡­¡­ I dreamed of passing seasons in my dreams, unaware of the passage of time in reality. By the time I woke up again, I discovered that it was past 3 am. I had been sleeping for 15 hours straight! I opened my eyes and looked outside the window for a second. It had been raining non-stop in Suzhou as of late. I closed my eyes and went back to sleep again. When I opened my eyes again, it was 6 in the morning. I rose to my feet, washed myself, and went downstairs to buy some breakfast. By the time I returned, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue had returned as well. Murong Mingyue smiled while we were chugging down our breakfast. "Lu Chen did a great service to our guild yesterday, hehe. Not only did we finally score one over Candle Dragon, this is the first time we overshadow Candlelight Shadow completely. Not only did he miss his signature Famous General Skill, ¡®Martial God¡¯, he even missed the chance to become the first fourth-promotion player¡­" I smiled. "I got lucky, that¡¯s all. If I hadn¡¯t entered that secret map by accident, I might not have gotten ¡®Martial God¡¯. I gotta say though, Famous General Skills really are as scary as they come. These buffs are absolutely ridiculous. I heard that each person can only have one Famous General Skill, so the two of you should work hard as well!" "Mn mn!" Beiming Xue asked me with a smile, "By the way, big bro, the Heaven-stealing Sword sitting at the first place of the Weapons Ranking is yours, am I right?" I nodded. "You found me out!" "Wah, that¡¯s amazing¡­" Beiming Xue exclaimed in envy before urging me, "Why don¡¯t you take Sister Mingyue and I on that grinding trip today, big bro? Show us how powerful your new sword is!" "No problem!" I thumped my chest reassuringly. Right now, there were no shadow-rank mobs below 125 that could withstand the 14% lifesteal from the Heaven-stealing Sword, War Crush and Thousand Ice Slash. As long as I didn¡¯t run out of Magic Consumables, I could fight tens of thousands of mobs and still do swimmingly. That being said, my first priority of the day was to head to the palace and apply for a piece of land to open a shop. After all, it was unrealistic to think that the good days of equipment selling could last forever. Operating a shop wouldn¡¯t make me filthy rich overnight, but it would provide me with a steady stream of income that wouldn¡¯t dry up without warning. Beiming Xue took a bite from her bread before remembering something. "Oh right, there was an incredible equipment set sale at the auction house yesterday, the Frozen Earth leather armor set and the Gold-grade Outstanding Blood Maddened Lion metal armor set for auction. They were so good that Hegemon Palace, Flower Room, and Mad Dragon fought over them like maniacs¡­" I replied, "Yeah, those were mine too. Lin Yixin and I grinded them yesterday¡­" "Fuck!" Murong Mingyue shot me a look of disbelief and amazement. "I should¡¯ve known that you and a handful others are the only ones who could do this. I mean, I did suspect that the equipment sets had something to do with you when you told me that you and Beauty Lin are going to grind at Dragonbone Mountain Range, but really?" I asked excitedly, "So, how much did those equipment sell for?" "The Blood Maddened Lion equipment set sold for over 2 million gold. The Frozen Earth sets also sold for more or less 80k each. Finally, there was a Dark Gold¨Cgrade Chest Armor of Barbaric Strength that sold for 110k. That one¡¯s also yours, am I right?" "Yep. Lin Yixin and I agreed to a 50-50 split, and I¡¯ll transfer 20% of what I got to your account as the workshop¡¯s capital." "Very good!" Murong Mingyue smiled. "Lil Beiming and I actually found a Level 90 Dark Gold¨Cgrade scepter yesterday. We sold it for 100k and transferred 20k to the workshop¡¯s account as well. I was planning to buy a couple of LVs and show off a bit, but with all this new income I¡¯m going to buy a couple of diamond rings instead~~" I exclaimed in astonishment, "Diamond rings? What for? And why are you buying things that your future husband is going to give you anyway?" Murong Mingyue puffed up her amazing chest before replying, "Forget it, there are no reliable men in this world. I already made up my mind to stay single forever¡­" Suddenly, she smiled deviously at me before saying, "But if it¡¯s you we¡¯re talking about, then maybe I can consider it¡­" I shook my head immediately. "Thanks but no thanks. If you don¡¯t want to get married that¡¯s fine, worse comes to worst I¡¯ll support you forever¡­" ¡°Fuck!" Before Murong Mingyue could fly into a fit of rage, I escaped into my room with my soybean juice while saying, "Get online soon, you two! I¡¯m not busy today, so I¡¯ll act as your MT and damage dealer for free, and let you choose the map we¡¯re heading to! See you in half an hour!" Chapter 367: White Fox I received several messages the moment I went online¡ª System Notice: Congratulations, the item "Blood Maddened Lion Equipment Set" you consigned for sale has been sold for 2.75m gold. After deducting the 5% intermediary fee, you received 2.6125m gold! System Notice: Congratulations, the item "Chest Armor of Barbaric Strength" you consigned for sale has been sold for 110k gold. After deducting the 5% intermediary fee, you received 104.5k gold! System Notice: Congratulations, the item "Frozen Earth Equipment Set" you consigned for sale has been sold for 900k gold. After deducting the 5% intermediary fee, you received 855k gold! ¡­¡­ In total, I received around 70+ auction-related system notices. After bringing up the virtual calculator and tallying all the numbers, I concluded that Lin Yixin and I had earned a total of 4.8 million gold from our trip to Dragonbone Mountain Range and Arctic Temple yesterday! I took some screenshots and sent them all to Lin Yixin. Then, I sent her a message: ¡°Yiyi, we got 4.8 million gold from our trip yesterday. Should I transfer 2.4 million to your bank account immediately after I convert them to RMB?¡± ¡°Mn, okay!¡± Lin Yixin replied. I quickly converted the gold to money and transferred them to both our accounts. Just like that, Lin Yixin and I gained 2.4 million RMB respectively. Including the money I got from the Purple Thunder War Axe recently, I had over 5 million in my account right now. My next goal was to become a ten-millionaire! Alright, done! Lin Yixin was grinding, and I wanted to go to the palace and buy a piece of land! Before I went there, I took out the Appointment Token from the warehouse. Without this, it would be impossible to make the purchase. The adventurers might be the one who founded the empire and expanded its borders, but all the land in the realm still belonged to the nobles. Exploitation was a must unless I gave up on my plan completely. I ran toward the palace and entered the main hall in no time. Just like the last time, the weak and foolish king was seated on the throne. Holding the Heaven-stealing Sword in one hand, I strode up to the king and showed him the Appointment Token. Then, I said, ¡°Your Majesty, I would like to own a shop!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± The old king looked at me with muddy eyes. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting a warrior as powerful as you to appear in Sky City this soon. Alright, you may choose one of these ten shops that are pending for sale. You will need to pay 100k gold for the ownership!¡± Fuck! After choosing the location, I was given the choice to choose what type of shop I wanted it to be. I chose the Magic Consumable shop immediately. As players¡¯ average level increased, so did their MP consumption. However, there wasn¡¯t a single Magic Consumable shop in the entire city that was good enough to fulfill that particular hunger. I had been eyeing this business opportunity since the day I came here! ¡­¡­ Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have bought a shop at Sky City! The shop number is 0001, and it is located at (1475, 9875) of Sky City. You have 10000 shop shelves, 0 NPCs and 0 working capital! Ding~! System Notice: Your shop cannot operate without an NPC. Right now your Sky City Commercial Value is 100 points, so your tax rate is 1094 gold per day. You do not have enough working capital! ¡­¡­ I was dumbfounded by the two system notices I received. The tax is dead, long live the tax! My business isn¡¯t even up yet, and I owe the system over 1000 RMB already?? Were all shop owners abandoned by God in their previous lives or something?? I was extremely displeased, but there was nothing I could do about it. I should head to the adventurer inn and hire an NPC shop assistant now, or I couldn¡¯t sell shit unless I sat in the shop all day and night. But if that was the plan I wouldn¡¯t be going through all this hassle in the first place. I ran to the adventurer inn and looked around. I saw brawny men drinking themselves silly at the tables, rows of weapons at the racks such as war axes, broadswords and more, and a wooden clerk staring at the bouncing breasts of female dancers from his counter. I walked up to the clerk without a word and stabbed the Heaven-stealing Sword on the counter. Then, I growled out my question, ¡°I need a shop assistant, clerk. How many of them are available right now?¡± The clerk nearly stumbled on his feet in shock. He looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end he assumed a respectful smile after sneaking a glance at my Heaven-stealing Sword. ¡°Honored guest, there are 15 hireable shop assistants in Sky City right now. You may hire anyone provided that you already own a shop, and you can afford their price!¡± Swhoosh! I glanced at the hireable NPC list. Their skills were clearly displayed, and even better, I saw an elite-rank NPC out of the 15 NPCs that were listed¡ª Dakara (Common)¡ªFlexibility: 67, Business Sense: 81, Orderliness: 70, Ability: None, Permanent Employment Fee: 3120 gold Jessica (Common)¡ªFlexibility: 71, Business Sense: 77, Orderliness: 82, Ability: None, Permanent Employment Fee: 4080 gold Lirado (Common)¡ªFlexibility: 81, Business Sense: 75, Orderliness: 66, Ability: None, Permanent Employment Fee: 3784 gold Stray (Common)¡ªFlexibility: 80, Business Sense: 72, Orderliness: 74, Ability: None, Permanent Employment Fee: 4284 gold Avni (Elite)¡ªFlexibility: 91, Business Sense: 95, Orderliness: 99, Ability: Copy, Permanent Employment Fee: 21095 gold Kellis (Common)¡ªFlexibility: 61, Business Sense: 70, Orderliness: 54, Ability: None, Permanent Employment Fee: 2209 gold ¡­¡­ One of the names of the NPCs had dark gold font. Clearly, it was the elite NPC. However, they also cost an insane amount of money to hire. With the same amount of money, I could pay someone a monthly salary of 1800 RMB and have them work for me for an entire year! I read every detail carefully before I made my choice. Flexibility represented work capability, Business Sense represented the ability to identify the value of goods, and Orderliness¡ªalso the trait I valued the most¡ªwas the ability to sort goods. If an NPC was so stupid that they couldn¡¯t even separate A from B, all they would achieve was raise the shop owner¡¯s blood pressure to dangerous levels. In the end, I gritted my teeth and chose Avni. If she could manage the shop properly, then the benefits were worth the cost! I slapped exactly 20195 gold on the counter before replying, ¡°I would like to hire Avni as my shop assistant!¡± ¡°Very well!¡± The clerk stared at the pile of gold with bright eyes while nodding vigorously. ¡°Please give me a moment to bring Avni over, honored guest!¡± The clerk went to the back of the inn after saying this. As promised, he soon returned with the shop assistant I hired, a purple-haired girl named Avni... Wait a second... She¡¯s no ordinary woman! I noticed immediately that Avni had sharp ears and grayish brown eyes. Her fingernails looked sharp enough to cut, and she was wearing a sexy leather armor that accentuated her curves well. But all of these features were nothing compared to the fluffy white tail sticking out of her leather short skirt and swaying back and forth as Avni smiled at me. ¡°You fucker!¡± I grabbed the clerk by the collar angrily. ¡°What race is she? Give me back my 20k gold, you fraudster!¡± Clutching the bag of gold with an iron grip, he said, ¡°She¡­ she¡¯s an outcast of a beastman tribe¡­ a fox girl who was kidnapped by an adventurer and sold to this place, to be exact¡­¡± He then moved closer to my ear and whispered, ¡°But I can guarantee that she¡¯s still a virgin. You¡¯re definitely the one who got the better end of the deal, honored guest!¡± My eyes turned as wide as saucers. ¡°Fuck you¡­¡± On second thought, maybe this was fine. A seductive fox girl was hardly an unacceptable shop assistant NPC, not to mention that she was pretty enough to increase sales by 50% even if she did nothing at all. Once I had convinced myself, I looked at the NPC girl and smiled at her. ¡°Come with me!¡± ¡°Yes, master¡­¡± she answered softly. The two of us got out of the adventurer inn and walked toward my shop. It was right next to the equipment repair shop, but it was still empty and closed. I looked at the NPC girl again and thought that her name wasn¡¯t good enough, so I said, ¡°I¡¯m going to give you a new name¡­¡± The girl turned red and looked at me with expectation. ¡°What will be my new name, master?¡± I thought for a moment before answering, ¡°From now on, your name is White Fox!¡± The girl looked confused for a second, but she quickly nodded. ¡°Thank you, master. White Fox is here¡­¡± ¡°Hehe, you¡¯re welcome!¡± In fact, she was a member of the white fox race. She just looked mostly human except the tail. Speaking of which, I found it rather odd that a girl with a butt as round as hers would wear a rather revealing leather short skirt, not to mention the tail sticking out from beneath. ¡­¡­ When we arrived at the shop, White Fox entered it like she had done it a hundred times in the past before smiling at me. ¡°Master, your shop needs a new name, working capital, and goods to sell. Please resolve these issues as soon as possible!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I brought up the shop interface and pondered for a moment. What should I call my shop? A while later, I decided to name it ¡°Sky One¡±¡ªor not. It didn¡¯t sound cool enough in my head, so I changed it to ¡°Air Force One¡±. Alright, now it sounds cool and domineering! After inserting my shop name, I checked my backpack and saw 170k gold sitting inside it. I dumped 100k under working capital immediately. Then, I used that money to make purchase orders for all Magic Consumables between Rank 1 and 10, buying at 70% the market price, and set the sale price to 110% of the market price. This should be enough to make my business sustainable! Besides that, I dumped all the excess equipment I had into the equipment and item shelves and left White Fox to decide the price. She had a Business Sense of 95, so she should be able to read the equipment and price them appropriately. The 20k I spent on her was worth it after all. Finally, I went out and purchased a ton of Green Pepper, Garlic and Salt. Then, I made hundreds of stacks of Rank 8 Magic Consumables¡ªSnow Rabbit Soup¡ªdumped around 80% of them in the shop and raised their price. I wasn¡¯t worried that the customers would balk at the high prices because the number of high-level mages and priests was growing each day. I kept 100 stacks of Rank 8 Magic Consumables to myself, or more accurately, Murong Mingyue. She was a high-level priest and had over 4000 MP. A Rank 8 Magic Consumable could restore 1200 MP, so without a sufficient amount of Magic Consumables she could easily run out of MP and cause a party wipe. Countless players experienced this every day in the borders of Sky City. Beep! Chapter 368: Demon-eyed Wolf A breeze blew across the eastern bridge and caused tiny ripples on the river flowing beneath it. Three beautiful women¡ªa fully armored knight, a dark archer with a war bow, and an elegant-looking priest¡ªwere standing atop the clean white stones of the bridge and waiting for someone. They were the girls of the Frost Cloud workshop, and even He Yi had made an appearance today. I walked up to them with a smile and greeted them, "I¡¯m here!" "Alright, let¡¯s go!" "Where are we going?" I asked. Beiming Xue answered me, "There¡¯s a new map in the desert area beyond Sky Forest called Fire Desert. I heard that there are elite mobs or even shadow-rank mobs between Level 100 to 120 on that map, which is perfect for players between Level 95 to 110. Since it only appeared at 12 am last night, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s crowded yet." He Yi smiled. "It doesn¡¯t matter even if it is crowded. From what I learned, Fire Desert is almost half as big as the Sky Forest, so there are plenty of leveling grounds for everyone to share." "Mn." I looked at He Yi, and she returned the look. Her eyes were smiling at me. "Eve, it¡¯s almost 7 pm in New York right now, isn¡¯t it? Aren¡¯t you going to sleep tonight?" He Yi replied with a smile, "Actually, no. I just finished my business in New York, and I¡¯m going to fly to India tomorrow. So, my plan is to spend the whole night grinding and catch my sleep on the plane later. I don¡¯t want to fall too far behind in levels, not to mention that I haven¡¯t hatched my Level 100 mount yet¡­" "Oh, right!" Now that I thought about it, He Yi did get a mount pet egg from the siege of Skull Castle, but it could only be hatched when she was at Level 100. The fight for dominance in Sky City was growing hotter each day, and as the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, it was her responsibility to catch up in levels as soon as possible. "Alright then, let¡¯s head to Fire Desert right away!" I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and took the point of the party. Then, I turned back and checked everyone¡¯s levels. Beiming Xue was sitting at Level 97, and Murong Mingyue 96. He Yi was the weakest player in our group sitting at only Level 93. She had also dropped out of the Heavenly Ranking of Sky City a while ago. In that case, let¡¯s take back everything she lost at Fire Desert today! We ran through Sky Forest. There were animals everywhere, and they were respawning at an incredible rate. However, there were just as many players in parties of five or ten in the area as well. "Let¡¯s give Lu Chen party leader." He Yi suggested. "His Famous General Skill is way stronger than our normal Encourage~" "Mn!" After Beiming Xue passed the party leader to me, I activated my stratagem and stunned the girls to speechlessness¡ª Beep! ¡­¡­ "OMG, this is so OP¡­" Beiming Xue stared at me and stuck out her tongue to properly express her shock. "Big bro, do you know that the average Level 90 Tactician with Encourage III can only buff everyone¡¯s attack power by 30% or so? Your Martial God is seriously¡­" He Yi giggled. "But of course. Your big bro¡¯s stratagem is a Famous General Skill. It would be terrible if it was outdone by an Encourage III, right?" Murong Mingyue also echoed in agreement, "That¡¯s right. Don¡¯t forget that there are only two Famous Generals in the entire China server right now, and one of those players is right here with us. When we were partying up with a Tactician yesterday, a 31% Encourage already made our lives a lot easier than normal. I can only imagine how much stronger your Evil Spirit Volley will become now that your attack power is increased by 75%, Lil Beiming. I can¡¯t wait to reach the Fire Desert already!" The girls were happy, and I was just as satisfied. There was nothing more enjoyable than being able to protect and support your companions when playing a game. ¡­¡­ Speaking of which, I had kept my ID hidden to avoid attracting the attention of my enemies. However, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue did no such thing, so countless players were shooting us looks anyway¡ª "Wah! Look at them! They¡¯re the famous beauties of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, aren¡¯t they?" "Yeah, you¡¯re right! The knight at the front is From Water, the guild leader of Ancient Sword! The archer with the round butt is Beiming Xue! And holy shit, that priest with ridiculously large breasts has to be Murong Mingyue!" "Fuck! In that case, that swordsman wielding a high-grade sword has to be the legendary protector of Ancient Sword¡ªBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, right?" "That¡¯s right. Who else has an aura like his? And look at him, he¡¯s surrounded by three super beauties, but he isn¡¯t even staring at them at all..." "Bullshit, he¡¯s staring at his guild leader¡¯s breasts right now¡­" "Fuck, you¡¯re right! Look, he¡¯s looking at Beiming Xue¡¯s breasts now. I want to be him so badly¡­" ¡­¡­ I had to let out a cough and defend myself. "Ahem, I¡¯m not staring, really¡­" He Yi shot me a glance before replying expressionlessly, "It¡¯s not like I care if you¡¯re staring or not. So? Who has the bigger breasts, Beiming Xue or me?" "Yours are slightly bigger. Beiming Xue still has some ways to go¡­" I let slip the truth and regretted it immediately. He Yi turned redder, but she seemed to be happy. Beiming Xue was staring at me unhappily. "Big bro, I¡¯m already 19 years old. I¡¯m not going to grow any bigger than this¡­" I hurriedly consoled her. "It¡¯s fine, this kind of stuff is all predestined anyway. Whatever the result might be, it doesn¡¯t matter as long as you know that you¡¯ve given it your all¡­" Murong Mingyue: "FFS, what on earth is going on here¡­" ¡­¡­ The Barbaric War Boots of Heaven boosted my movement speed by 15%, so I was faster than all of the girls. Unfortunately, that meant having to run a short distance before stopping again and again to wait so that the girls could catch up to me. Painful 45 minutes later, we finally got out of Sky Forest and entered a fertile field. Nature was everywhere, and there were a lot less players in this area. There were penta-colored butterflies flying across the field. They were Level 110 elite mobs with incredible attack power and a skill that charmed its target. It was no wonder that no one was grinding at this place. Not everyone could battle a Level 110 elite mob, and in this case it would probably take at least a 5-man party of Level 90 players to grind here safely. Of course, we didn¡¯t bother with the penta-colored butterflies because fighting them would just be a waste of time. We simply circled around the area and continued toward Fire Desert. ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, our surroundings grew more and more desolate. Finally, a heat wave blew against our faces, and a desert of seemingly infinite span appeared directly in front of us. The afternoon sunlight was murderously hot, and the sand could probably burn our skin if we touched it. I was more heat resistant than the others, so I wasn¡¯t too bothered by the terrain. However, He Yi and Murong Mingyue¡ªespecially Murong Mingyue, since a priest¡¯s robes had a lot of fabric¡ªwere so uncomfortable that they were sticking out their tongues and pulling up their skirts to avoid being cooked alive, unwittingly treating me to a show of their legs. Not everyone was as lucky as I was. We continued moving forward until we got close to a bright red zone on the map. It was a high-level mob zone! "Did you guys notice something?" He Yi said suddenly as if she just noticed something. I turned around and asked, "What¡¯s wrong, Eve?" "Our Satiety is dropping faster ever since we entered the Fire Desert. I was at 95% Satiety just a short while ago, and it¡¯s 92% already. Even with full Satiety I don¡¯t think we can last more than 3 hours or so..." I nodded. "Mn, I noticed it as well. But don¡¯t worry, I bought a lot of Beef Patty before we came here. It should be enough to last us the whole grind." Murong Mingyue also echoed in agreement, "I brought a lot of food with me as well." "You never drop the ball when it¡¯s something that¡¯s related to food!" He Yi huffed. Suddenly, Beiming Xue pointed toward the front and said, "Look, there are mobs right in front of us. It looks like a¡­ wolf? But how can there be wolves in the desert?" I walked closer to the mobs and confirmed Beiming Xue¡¯s suspicion. It was a wolf-like creature with purple fur, and it growled lowly with its head dipped as it walked across the sand. We went even closer, and its stats screen popped into our vision¡ª Demon-eyed Wolf (Elite) Level: 115 Attack: 1140~1320 Defense: 900 HP: 28500 Skills: Bite, Demonic Gaze, Wild Roar Introduction: The wandering spirits of the Fire Desert. The Demon-eyed Wolves are so powerful that no human adventurer had dared to venture into Fire Desert for almost a century. ¡­¡­ "A Level 115 elite mob, huh. It shouldn¡¯t be too hard to kill." I smiled and raised my Heaven-stealing Sword. "Wait here while I test the waters." "Got it." The girls didn¡¯t even bother telling me to be careful because they knew that Level 115 elite mobs were just small fries to me now. Every time a player was promoted, they experienced a hidden stat boost. Although the numbers were hidden from the eyes of the players, there was a clear difference in power between a Level 99 third-promotion player and a Level 100 fourth-promotion player, something like a 20% difference in attack power at least. It was more than enough to tip the scales in favor of the fourth-promotion player most of the time. I ran toward the mobs and zigzagged a couple of times through them. A while later, a dozen or so Demon-eyed Wolves were chasing after me. After glancing behind me and noting that the wolves were clumped up together, I turned around and fired a Thousand Ice Slash I! Boom! The Demon-eyed Wolves howled in pain as sand flew everywhere. Three of them were even frozen in ice for 5 seconds. Mn, Thousand Ice Slash really is an amazing skill! That one hit dealt around 8000 damage or so to each Demon-eyed Wolf, and the ones at the center were almost dead thanks to the splash damage. I abruptly ran toward them and used War Crush! "Roar roar roar¡­" Seven or eight Demon-eyed Wolves died just like that. Suddenly, I noticed that one of the Demon-eyed Wolves was glaring at me angrily with lightning in its eyes, literally. The next moment, I found myself paralyzed like I was being electrocuted! Beep! Combat Log: Demon-eyed Wolf used "Demonic Gaze". You have been stunned for 3 seconds! ¡­¡­ Interesting. I wasn¡¯t expecting this skill to stun me this easily¡­ Inside the party channel, I said, "Don¡¯t look at their eyes for longer than 2 seconds, everyone. They¡¯ll stun you with their ¡®Demonic Gaze¡¯ otherwise." "Mn, got it!" The girls were already running to my aid. Beiming Xue fired an Evil Spirit Volley into the wolves and dealt around 6000 damage or so to each mob. When she noticed how much damage she was doing, her face immediately turned red in happiness, "Wooow, my attack power! I¡¯ve never dealt so much damage in my life¡­" Chapter 369: Tempest Tiger Pop! I picked up a card that had dropped to the ground. Tsk tsk, the Demon-eyed Wolf¡¯s experience was so-so, but its card was exceptionally good¡ª Demonic Gaze Card: 25% chance to stun a target for 3 seconds. The card cannot be used on the same target within 1 minute. ¡­¡­ I tossed the card into Beiming Xue¡¯s hands. If she used it with Evil Spirit Volley, she could stun practically every Demon-eyed Wolf caught in the attack and greatly disrupt their rhythm. There were no natural barriers in this place, so hitting and running was a must for most people. I might not be afraid of the Demon-eyed Wolves, but Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue would most likely die if they were surrounded by these beasts. Our four-man party aggroed almost a thousand Demon-eyed Wolves and ran like hell. I hit the mobs with Thousand Ice Slashes and War Crushes, Murong Mingyue used Hellish Rockfalls to smite her enemies after applying Regeneration to everyone, He Yi protected Murong Mingyue with her Soul Stealing Spear and shield, and the Firelight Mouse continuously rained fire on the mobs around. I was the only one who could withstand the onslaught and attack the mobs without pause. War Crush especially was doing an insane amount of damage! He Yi was also firing green blades into the enemies and dealing over 5000 damage to a bunch of targets every time her cooldown was up. At Rank 5, Green Wave Slash was starting to get really powerful! The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was a walking war fortress. It was happily slaughtering its own race and howling like mad. In less than 20 minutes, every last Demon-eyed Wolf we had aggroed was dead. They naturally dropped a hundred or so Rank 8 wolf pelts, and I used Death Plunder to gain almost a thousand extra of those. I threw everything into my bag since I had plenty of bagspace to spare, and Yamete could always use more materials to forge his high-rank leather armors. Speaking of which, Beiming Xue had recently created an archer-only battalion in the guild, and most of the leather armors worn by the high-level archers were made by Yamete himself. It was a huge boost to both the guild¡¯s unity and combat power. Somehow Mamate had become the king of logistics, and he was beloved by many girls. There were always beautiful archers using their sweet, melting voices to coax Yamete into making new equipment for them. The girls would say, "Aiyo, my legguards are low-level and break easily, make me new ones, please~" and show him their white legs, and saliva would drip down Mamate¡¯s chin. Before we knew it, Mamate had become the happiest middle-aged man in the entire guild. ¡­¡­ "Should we find a new mob to fight?" I suggested. The girls quickly agreed. They also noticed that we were leveling at a slow rate. We continued forward to find a higher-level mob while we still had the time. It was more fun that way anyway. ¡­¡­ The short journey was filled with laughter. It couldn¡¯t possibly be a bad experience with such beauties by my side. My Barbaric War Boots of Heaven grinded against the sand as I led the way. Beiming Xue was following closely behind me, and He Yi was staying slightly further back to protect Murong Mingyue. These days, she was really starting to master the art of the knight. It was at this moment a shadow passed us by. Shit, it¡¯s an assassin in stealth! I outleveled the assassin drastically and I was after my fourth promotion. That was why I saw through the assassin immediately even though he was pretty high-level himself, Level 93. Moreover, the emblem on his shoulder marked him as a member of Warsky Alliance! I immediately changed direction and dashed to He Yi¡¯s side. Then, I stomped the ground and unleashed War Crush! "What?" The assassin was surprised, clearly not expecting me to see through his high-level stealth. He retreated swiftly, but he still took a hit at the last moment. As a result, he lost his Spell Shield and suffered a huge amount of damage! 2764! The guy only had a total HP of 3500 or so. If he hadn¡¯t been buffed by a priest beforehand, my War Crush might¡¯ve killed him already! It was around this moment the girls let out a cry of surprise in unison. Even they had just noticed the assassin! Loud Screamer LV-93 Silver Assassin Guild: Warsky Alliance Guild Position: Squad Leader ¡­¡­ "Gulp!" Loud Screamer healed himself to full with a health potion and backed away with stern eyes. He chuckled. "You are as impressive as the rumors say, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. My guild leader would like to inform you that the inner area of Fire Desert belongs to us. If you don¡¯t leave now, Warsky Alliance will take action!" I smiled. "How dare the likes of you keep a leveling zone to yourself! When you die, tell Warsky that I¡¯m not going anywhere today, and that he¡¯s free to fight me anytime he wants to!" "You!" Loud Screamer tried to say something, but I was already swinging my sword and launching Thousand Ice Slash at him. I wasn¡¯t going to give him any chance to live! Boom! Icy sword auras destroyed the area where Loud Screamer was standing before freezing him in ice. He was dead even before the Frozen status was gone! The poor bastard. He might be Level 93, but he was nowhere close to my level, and my Attack absolutely outstripped his pathetic Defense. People like him might be able to fight Du Thirteen on equal footing and even look good while doing so, considering that Du Thirteen should be able to strike him for 1500 damage per hit, but against me it was just a matter of how I wanted to go about one-shotting him. ¡­¡­ He Yi looked thoughtful as she stared at Loud Screamer¡¯s corpse. "This guy is just the scout, not an elite. It looks like Warsky Alliance is plotting something in Fire Desert!" I nodded. "Mn, the fact that they¡¯re trying to hold a leveling zone means that there must be something here that¡¯s worth the effort¡­" "Mn!" I contacted Xu Yang quickly and asked, "Can you ask around and see if anyone knows what Warsky Alliance is doing in Fire Desert?" "Sure!" Xu Yang was a good man with friends all over the places, even inside Warsky Alliance. Some of them became our spies and helped to keep an eye on Warsky Alliance. A few minutes later, Xu Yang replied, "I got it. This early morning, Warsky organized a thousand-man party and marched into Fire Desert. Apparently, there was a kind of mob called Desert Giant, and a Spirit Rank boss called the Desert Giant King. Clearly, Warsky is planning to kill that boss, loot some Spirit-grade equipment and reach Level 100 as soon as possible. Farewell Song, Laughing At The Heavens, and October Rain are there as well. If you¡¯re planning to stir some trouble, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s going to be easy. Do you want me to send our men over?" I shook my head. "It¡¯s fine. High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, and the others are grinding at Hot Wind Harbor, aren¡¯t they? I don¡¯t want to disturb them. I have boss, sis, and Lil Beiming by my side, so we¡¯ll be fine as long as we don¡¯t fight them head-on." "Got it. Contact me if you need anything!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I turned off the communicator and explained what was going on briefly. Then, we all looked to He Yi for directions. She was the guild leader, and her word was our command. He Yi smiled and declared, "Let¡¯s kill some Desert Giants at the heart of Fire Desert¡­" We all supported the decision without question. Honestly, everyone here was a troublemaker, and Warsky Alliance was the one who taunted us anyway. It would be a shame not to reciprocate their "good" will. I also hadn¡¯t forgotten that they were the ones who nearly drove me and Lin Yixin to a dead end just two days ago. It¡¯s payback time. We took off to the heart of the desert. It wasn¡¯t long before we entered a fiery red zone that looked like the desert itself was on fire. In fact, there were literally chains of fire hanging in the sky and heating up the temperature to insane levels. Ding~! System Notice: You have entered the zone "Chained Sea of Blaze¡±. You will lose 100 HP per second until you leave this zone! ¡­¡­ 100 HP per second? That was no problem to me at all. My Regeneration of the Undead was Rank 5 now, meaning that I recovered 1.5% of my HP, or 123 HP, per second. I could take a nap in this zone and be perfectly healthy the next day. And even without HP regeneration, I could last two whole minutes with my current HP. The girls were the ones who were in trouble, especially Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue. "Lead the way, Lu Chen. We¡¯re going in!" He Yi smiled before looking toward the distance. "There¡¯s no skipping this zone because it surrounds the Desert Giant¡¯s zone completely. The good news is that it should take us around 3 minutes only to pass through this zone, so make sure to keep everyone healthy, Murong!" "Mn!" The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and I entered the zone first as she ordered, and my skin turned red immediately as if it had caught on fire. I continued forward despite the DoT effect! Behind me, the girls were catching up as well. However, two fearsome tigers with fiery red fur that looked like fire suddenly appeared ahead of me. Their expressions were savage, and their fangs were fully bared. They were staring at us with clear hostility! Tempest Tiger (Shadow) Level: 120 Attack: 1240~1470 Defense: 1200 HP: 70000 Skills: Bite, Blaze Attack, Fire Cyclone Introduction: The wandering spirits of the Fire Desert. These Tempest Tiger are so powerful that no human adventurer had dared to venture into the Fire Desert for almost a century. ¡­¡­ Shit, I wasn¡¯t expecting to run into two shadow-rank mobs. I need to kill them ASAP, or the girls will be under a lot of pressure! I ordered the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to tackle one tiger while I deal with the other one. My pet was currently at Level 100, and it should be able to stall the Level 120 shadow-rank mob long enough for me to kill my opponent and help it. Swhoosh! I stunned the Tempest Tiger with a Thunderous Charge before following up with my usual triple-hit combo: Pardon + Desperate Gambit + basic attack! MISS! 7904! 3785! Very good, my attack power was nothing like it was before. Even a Level 120 shadow-rank mob was as flimsy as wet tissue before my power. The Tempest Tiger glared at me hatefully before letting out a roar. Then, he swung a burning paw at me! Pop! I lost 2248 HP amid the pain. It was Blaze Attack! It wasn¡¯t over yet. The Tempest Tiger immediately followed up with a fiery cyclone that engulfed me completely. I winced in pain again as I took another 2458 damage! ¡­¡­ Shit, this shadow-rank mob was no small fry at all. The Fire Cyclone it just unleashed was an AoE attack, meaning that it was a dual cultivator just like I was! It was even stronger than the Level 128 shadow-rank mobs I had fought at the Arctic Temple! Ice Ray! Dragon Slaying Slash! Four numbers appeared in succession¡ª 5409! +757! 4986! +698! ¡­¡­ Chapter 370: Tempest War Boots Crack! When I cut off the Tempest Tiger¡¯s head with my sword, I received a thick surge of experience and a purple red skill book. It looked different from all the skill books I had seen before. I hurriedly picked it up from the ground and gave it a look. A second later, I burst out in laughter¡ª Fire Cyclone: Pet skill book. Summons a fiery cyclone in a 10x10 area. Pet Level Requirement: 100. Offensive physical type pet only. ¡­¡­ Awesome! My Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf finally has an AoE skill! From now on, you¡¯re going to become the Wolf King! I made my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf learn the skill immediately. My pet¡¯s fur suddenly caught on fire, and the next moment it dropped a gigantic cyclone on fire right on top of the Tempest Tiger for over 4000 damage. Yep, the skill was a perfect fit with its incredible attack power! I rushed to its aid and killed the second Tempest Tiger in no time as well. But to my surprise, it also dropped¡ªnot a skill book¡ªbut fiery red metal armor boots. I checked their stats and was delighted but what I saw¡ª Tempest War Boots (Dark Gold¨Cgrade) Defense: 275 Magic Resist: 190 Strength: +65 Agility: +58 Passive: Increases user¡¯s movement speed by 7% Passive: 10% chance to deal 200 burn damage when attacking a target Level Requirement: 105 ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t believe that a shadow-rank mob had dropped a Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment knowing how low the actual drop rate was. Awesome! I shot He Yi a glance before saying, "Eve, your boots don¡¯t look like nothing special. Do you want these Tempest War Boots? You can wear them when you¡¯re Level 105." "Mn, thank you!" We were long past the point of pleasantries, so He Yi simply accepted them with a smile and tossed them into her bag. Luckily, we didn¡¯t encounter any more Tempest Tigers along the way. It was a difficult and annoying mob to fight, and even with my attack power it had taken me an entire minute to kill both of them. My party simply couldn¡¯t afford to dilly dally in this dangerous terrain any longer than necessary! Three minutes later, we successfully passed through the burning zone and entered a hilly area. The rocks looked weathered by time, but there were plants growing from between the gaps. Moreover, there was a small, calm river passing through the center of the hills. It was an oasis in the middle of the desert. ¡­¡­ We also saw a bunch of cyan-colored rock monsters on the hills. It was none other than the Desert Giants. The Desert Giants were covered in dried up moss, and behind the rocky slits on its face was a pair of gray eyes. It wielded a long, jagged rock that looked like a spiky club from a distance. Desert Giant (Shadow) Level: 127 Attack: 1360~1530 Defense: 1400 HP: 75000 Introduction: The guardians of Fire Desert. These Desert Giants possess immense strength that can crush any defense. As a result, no human adventurer has dared to venture into Fire Desert for almost a century. ¡­¡­ "High level and high Attack¡­" He Yi sighed. I nodded in agreement and brought up the world map. I noticed that we were about ten minutes away from a clump of red dots. It was the symbol used to represent an enemy guild member, and there were at least hundreds of them. As expected, Warsky Alliance was grinding in that area, but it looked like they weren¡¯t able to enter the true heart of the zone just yet. It was because the Desert Giants on the outside were putting immense pressure on them. It was time to kill. I locked onto a nearby Desert Giant and fired a Dragon Slaying Slash! Swhoosh! The cyan energy took 4278 HP from the Desert Giant¡¯s health pool immediately. As I thought, I was much stronger than before after I gained the Spirit-grade Heaven-stealing Sword! The Desert Giant growled and walked slowly toward me. Its massive legs left deep footprints on the rocky ground, and the earth was shaking every time it moved. It was rather terrifying to watch a five-meter-tall walking hill running toward you! But I chuckled inwardly. Even with its massive height, the Desert Giant was still way slower than I was. I could definitely kill it from range without taking a single point of damage. However, it would take quite a bit of time to kill it if I fought that way, so I decided that I would fight it head-on. That would be faster and more exciting. Another two Dragon Slaying Slashes later, I activated Thunderous Charge! Swhoosh! Leaving behind a series of lightning afterimages, I successfully stunned the Desert Giant. The Heaven-stealing Sword glowing with the light of undead energy, I swung at the mob three times in a row! MISS! 9732! 3676! Pardon-empowered attacks were always a sight to behold. That one hit dealt nearly ten thousand damage because the enemy¡¯s Defense was ignored. So awesome! Behind me, the girls had finally joined the action as well. Beiming Xue slowed the Desert Giant even more than it already was with her Freezing Arrows. He Yi charged forward, attacked the mob with her Purple Gold¨Cgrade Soul Stealing Spear and caused it to shudder with her Ice Ray. Since she was buffed by Martial God, even she could deal over 3000 damage against a mob with 1400 Defense. Our pets were contributing their part as well. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was howling and tearing chunks of rocks from the Desert Giant. At the distance, He Yi¡¯s Firelight Mouse was swinging its tail, chirping and throwing fireball after fireball at the mob¡¯s head. Its Magic Attack was so ridiculously high that a single fireball dealt over 6000 damage. Anytime a metal armor unit encountered magic attacks, it was a fucking slaughter. Of course, the Desert Giant wasn¡¯t going to go down without a fight. It swung its giant arms repeatedly and threw its Mad Strike X and Devastating Blow X at He Yi and me! Both skills were capable of piercing Defense! Bang bang! 2984! 3891! My body shook like a leaf as my HP dropped drastically. This walking hunk was definitely more powerful than the Level 128 shadow-rank Blood Maddened Lions, be it in terms of HP, Defense or Attack! Murong Mingyue gave up on attacking and changed to healing when she saw my predicament. She waved her Prayer Scepter a couple of times and healed me to almost full in no time¡ª +3764! +2289! If I wasn¡¯t sure if Murong Mingyue was the best priest in Sky City earlier, I was now. In fact, she was the face of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls right now. Last time Beiming Xue fought October Rain to a standstill and successfully defended her position as Sky City¡¯s best archer, but it was a close call. Murong Mingyue¡¯s spot at the top was unshakeable, however. No one, whether it be the best priest of Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace, or Snowy Cathaya even came close to beating her. The fight wasn¡¯t easy, but we were never in any real danger. I had 8200 HP, and He Yi had around 9800 HP. She was just 200 HP from hitting 10000. Magic Knight naturally had high HP scaling, because they gained 15 to 20 HP per Stamina point. Warrior on the other hand only gained 10. Of course, all was fair in the world; Warrior had much better Strength scaling than Magic Knight. A thorough beating later, the Desert Giant groaned and collapsed to the ground. Unfortunately, it only dropped a single Phantasmal Magic Stone, and I got nothing even after I used Death Plunder on it. What a stingy mob! That being said, the experience it gave was massive. All three girls were happy to note that their experience had jumped up a little. They immediately asked me to aggro another because I had the highest attack power out of everyone in the group. Oh well, I was the one who promised to be their laborer today, so there was nothing to complain about. I gladly played both the role of a tank and a damage dealer, ravaging through the Desert Giants like never before. ¡­¡­ Two hours passed in the blink of an eye, and all three girls had gained a level: Beiming Xue was now sitting at Level 98, Murong Mingyue at Level 97, and He Yi at Level 94 and 89%. She should hit Level 95 in half an hour at most. So far, the decision to grind a Level 127 shadow-rank mobs had turned out to be a wise one. It was at this moment we arrived at the back of a hill and vaguely heard the sounds of fighting from the other side. Exchanging a knowing glance with each other, we cautiously climbed up the hill so that we could peek at the ongoing battle without being noticed. Rustle rustle... Once I had gotten up the hill, I pulled out a shoot of grass and placed it in front of me. Then, I poked my head out of cover and looked at the battlefield. As expected, it was a hundred-man party of Warsky Alliance¡ªa pretty elite one too since everyone of them were over Level 85¡ªfighting against several Desert Giants. To be more accurate, the hundred-man party was really made up of five 20-man parties, and each 20-man party was fighting a Desert Giant. But even with their number advantage, the battle was still a pretty close one! "Roar roar!" The Desert Giant roared and swung its mighty arms at an unfortunate Level 87 warrior. The poor bastard was immediately crushed to a pulp as a huge damage number appeared above its head¡ª7543! The warrior let out a bloodcurdling scream and died. A Level 92 spear-wielding magic knight with a squad leader insignia on his shoulder shouted, "Hold the line! Dead brothers, please get to your bodies as soon as possible! There aren¡¯t many Desert Giants left at the perimeter anymore, so let¡¯s give it our all! The Level 140 Spirit Rank boss, Desert Giant King, is waiting for us inside the Heart of Sand Cave, c¡¯mon!" The players looked motivated, but it did nothing to change the power gap between them and the Desert Giant. Another attack later, another dozen of frontliners were one-shot in the blink of an eye. These people were more paper than He Yi and I, so it was only natural that they were decimated. If this was how all their fights went, it meant that Warsky Alliance had to lose at least a 20-man party for every Desert Giant they killed. Also watching the battle next to me, Beiming Xue sighed. "Wah, they¡¯re literally giving their lives away to kill the Desert Giants. How fierce¡­" I nodded. "Well, it¡¯s just too difficult for most players to kill a Level 127 shadow-rank mob without sacrifice right now. Even our party was under a bit of pressure, let alone theirs." Murong Mingyue looked around before smiling. "So, what should we do? Eve? Should we continue watching from above or join them?" He Yi giggled. "Lu Chen, what do you think?" I thought for a moment before answering, "You guys stay here. I¡¯m going to take out this hundred-man party!" "How? Are you going to solo them or something?" "Of course not, they¡¯re not worthy!" ¡­¡­ Chapter 371: Prepare For Battle! "Lu Chen is about to do something bad again¡­" Murong Mingyue declared with full certainty. He Yi nodded. "Mn, just the way I like it~" Beiming Xue smiled. "Warsky Alliance deserves it. They shouldn¡¯t have been so arrogant as to think that they could claim an entire leveling zone to themselves, hmph hmph!" ¡­¡­ I got close to seven Desert Giants and zigzagged right between them. It was no trouble at all since my Barbaric War Boots of Heaven gave me incredible movement speed. Once I had aggroed all the mobs, I took off toward Warsky Alliance¡¯s hundred-man party! There was a low rocky hill between me and the hundred-man party. Our paths would cross immediately after I circled around it. It was exactly what I was aiming to do. Rumble rumble rumble... Behind me, the seven Desert Giants continued to chase after me while growling and swinging their stony arms. Swhoosh! A corner later, I appeared at the field where Warsky Alliance¡¯s hundred-man party was fighting. They were just 50 yards away from me. I ran toward them but slowed down a little so that I wouldn¡¯t lose the mobs¡¯ aggro. The Warsky Alliance¡¯s hundred-man party was completely caught off-guard by my sudden appearance. The Level 92 magic knight stared at me in shock. "What¡¯s going on? Is-isn¡¯t that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? Why is he here¡­" The assassin next to him asked, "Squad leader, are we killing him or not? Didn¡¯t the guild leader tell us to attack anyone from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls if we run into them outside the safe zones?" The magic knight hesitated. "But¡­ it¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Can we even fight him?" He regretted his hesitation immediately after the Desert Giants appeared. After circling to the back of Warsky Alliance¡¯s hundred-man party, I activated Earth Escape and sank into the rocky ground! The Desert Giants lost track of me immediately, especially because my level was pretty high. Twenty yards were more than enough distance to shake them off. On the other hand, the Warsky Alliance hundred-man party was quaking in their boots. A couple of pale-faced archers screamed on top of their lungs, "FUCK, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is trying to pull the Desert Giants to us!" It was way too late. The seven Desert Giants couldn¡¯t care less that the people in front of them weren¡¯t the one who had angered them. Excluding the recently killed Desert Giant, the hundred-man party now had 11 Desert Giants to deal with. It absolutely wasn¡¯t a fight these players with an average Level of 87 were prepared for. "Roar roar!" I checked the party channel and noted that it was Beiming Xue¡¯s work as expected. With Martial God in effect, she could practically one-shot these low-level poorly-equipped excuses for archers. An enemy mage growled, "Shit, there¡¯s an ambush behind us! Whoever the archer is, they¡¯re incredibly powerful! We cannot retreat!" Another archer shouted just as angrily, "Fuck, our dead brothers just sent us a screenshot! It¡¯s Beiming Xue! It¡¯s Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" The Level 92 magic knight¡¯s expression changed drastically. He uttered through gritted teeth, "Hold the line! We don¡¯t know how many enemies there are, so we should take down these rockheads first and deal with them later! Little Four, tell the guild leader that we¡¯ve been ambushed and that we need reinforcements now!" The assassin called Little Four nodded. "Okay, I¡¯ll send the message right away!" The magic knight stared at his surroundings angrily. "This is really bad. I can guarantee you that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is still watching us from nearby. Everyone, hold your formation no matter what you do! We¡¯ll be safe once our guild leader arrives! Hmph, so what if Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? He¡¯s just one CGL ranker! Warsky Alliance will be the kings of Sky City!" Their spirits raised, the rest of the players raised their weapons and cried out, "We are the kings of the Center!" Their cry deeply amused me. Sky City was located right at the center of Heavenblessed Continent, with Wind City to the left and Vanished God City to the right. Moreover, China¡¯s servers were surrounded by servers of many other countries. That was why Sky City was called the Center. Still, I didn¡¯t think Warsky Alliance would be so arrogant as to call themselves the kings of the Center. Did they really think that they were worthy? Even with three CGL pros, Farewell Song, Laughing at the Heavens, and October Rain, it was highly doubtful that Warsky Alliance could best Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean that they were a guild we could afford to underestimate. If we looked at reputation, unity, and pure combat strength alone, then Warsky Alliance was undoubtedly the number one guild of Sky City. They were definitely stronger than rivals such as Hegemon Palace and Gods of Destruction! ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, good morale wasn¡¯t enough to fill the gap in power. This hundred-man party just wasn¡¯t good enough to fight 11 rockheads at the same time, so more than half of them were dead after just a couple of exchanges. Even that Level 92 magic knight was in grave danger as he tried to hold off two Desert Giants on his own! The assassin called Little Four finally said, "Squad leader, the guild leader agreed to send someone over. He has also called over 4000 brothers to gather at Sky Forest and make their way to Fire Desert right now. Warsky Alliance is going all out today! Today, we will wet the desert with the blood of Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Beiming Xue!" The magic knight laughed heartily. "Good, good! That is the guild leader I chose to serve! If he was any different, Warsky wouldn¡¯t be Warsky, and our guild wouldn¡¯t be Warsky Alliance anymore!" "Hahahahaha¡­" Surprisingly, every one of these players was laughing despite the terrible situation they were in. Even I had to admit that their spirits were deserving of respect. A few seconds later, a ding resounded across the Sky City¡ª Ding~! System Announcement (Player Warsky Shout): Brothers, sisters and friends of Warsky Alliance, please listen to me! There are countless heroes in Sky City, but there can only be one king, and we, Warsky Alliance, will not stand to have another equal! Seeing as Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will not stop provoking us again and again, I now officially declare war on Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Raise your weapons, form your hundred-man parties and march to Fire Desert right now! Today, I swear to slay Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, flatten Gui Guzi beneath my feet, claim From Water as our vase, and wipe out Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls from the surface of the Heavenblessed Continent! Dare you answer my call, heroes of Sky City? If you do, then come! The battle has already begun! ¡­¡­ Warsky had finally decided to take action. On the surface, it looked like a most vulgar attempt to raise the spirits of his men, but it in fact was incredibly effective. This guy absolutely had the qualification to become an infamous hero like none other just based on the fact that he was able to describe the current situation of Sky City, deepen the hatred between our guilds, raise his men¡¯s morale and even make a joke out of He Yi all in one system announcement! So scary! Inside the party channel, He Yi was sneering frostily. "Warsky sure has a big mouth, doesn¡¯t he?" Beiming Xue was also angry. "How dare he insult Sister He Yi! What should we do, big bro? Frost Cloud workshop is the only one who¡¯s allowed to bully others, never the other way around!" I nodded and looked at He Yi seriously. "Give the order, Eve. Let us settle this once and for all right here at Fire Desert!" "Okay!" He Yi nodded with a smile and sent a system announcement of her own soon after¡ª Ding~! System Announcement (Player From Water Shout): Friends of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, someone just challenged our honor. I don¡¯t need to say anything else, do I? Mn, raise your weapons and prepare for battle! Our destination: Fire Desert! ¡­¡­ Her words were brief, but powerful enough. The saying "two people meet, and only one will emerge victorious" fit our situation perfectly. There was no turning back, and the only way out was kicking Warsky Alliance¡¯s ass and fully establishing our power at Sky City. We were no Candle Dragon; our guild couldn¡¯t even squeeze our way into the Top 50 of the Guild Ranking. On the other hand, Warsky Alliance was ranked fourth. Therefore, the only way we could make our names appear was to fight for it with everything we had! After He Yi gave me the signal, I started giving out orders in the guild channel¡ª "Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, I want you to rally everyone who¡¯s online! If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls does not fight today, then we won¡¯t be able to show our faces in Sky City any longer! All 4000, right now!" "High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, the two of you will lead a 500-warrior party each and open the way for everyone!" "Du Thirteen, rally everyone who¡¯s online in Bloody Mercenaries and prepare for battle!" "Also, don¡¯t forget to enter Fire Desert from the south! That area has the least amount of mobs, and you can enter the heart of the Fire Desert directly from there! You will also find Warsky Alliance men there!" "Brothers and sisters! Don¡¯t forget to stock up on Health Potions and Magic Consumables! It is time to abandon your fear and prepare for battle!" ¡­¡­ The moment everyone was anticipating was soon to arrive. The guild channel was absolutely bursting with activity¡ª High Fighting Spirits: "Haha, I¡¯ve been waiting for this for a long time! Finally, we¡¯re going to fight to our heart¡¯s content!" Chaos Moon: "I would like to fight against Beauty October Rain¡­" Xu Yang: "Get to the eastern gate immediately after you¡¯ve bought your pots! I can already see Warsky Alliance guild members gathering at that spot. I want a couple hundred of us to take up all the possible regroup points they might have before they can gather up!" Pure Love: "Where are you, vice leader? I¡¯m coming for you¡­" Beiming Xue: "Is this how the story ¡®travel a thousand miles to find your hubby¡¯ came to be¡­?" Me: "..." Legendary Brave: "It looks like I can¡¯t lurk and not contribute anymore¡­" Xu Yang: "Haha, you¡¯ve finally shown yourself! Where are you right now?" Legendary Brave: "I¡¯m buying pots inside the city!" Xu Yang: "Come outside and join my party. You¡¯ll be one of the core members of the group!" Legendary Brave: "Okay. By the way, we should pull a high-level Tactician into our guild for Encourage." Xu Yang chuckled. "It¡¯s fine, Lu Chen can be our party leader after we reach the Fire Desert. His Martial God isn¡¯t just for show, you know!" "Hahaha¡­" Chapter 372: Two Rivals Mee I leaned against a sandy hill that was boiling hot from the sun and listened to the final screams of struggle of the hundred-man party behind me. Beiming Xue was crouching atop the hill warily and looking out for any suspicious activity. The way she held her Milky Way Bow and her cyan cape fluttered in the wind and revealed her round bottom from time to time¡­ My younger sister¡¯s body really is as perfect as the Warsky Alliance players said it was. He Yi had left her spear sticking out of the edge of the hill temporarily and knelt next to me on one knee. She was also watching the enemy like Beiming Xue until she decided it was enough and retreated to my side. Putting her right hand on my shoulder and letting out a sigh, she said, "Are we going to wait like this? Shouldn¡¯t we do something?" I shook my head. "Let¡¯s wait. This is calm before the storm, and I highly doubt we¡¯ll find any time to grind this whole day once the war begins. We can kill and loot after Xu Yang, Du Thirteen and the others have arrived. Warsky Alliance vastly outnumbers us, not to mention that they also have super experts like Farewell Song, Laughing at the Heavens, Warsky, and October Rain. We¡¯re the ones who¡¯ll get the short end of the stick if we try to fight them¡­" He Yi smiled. "Alright, we¡¯ll wait. One more thing. Should we fight the Desert Giant King after Warsky Alliance is destroyed?" "Sure!" I nodded. "You need the experience anyway. You desperately need levels right now, and this Level 140 Spirit Rank boss is the perfect chance to gain them. It should be enough for you to reach Level 99 at least." A beautiful smile crossed He Yi¡¯s lips. "I don¡¯t know, I feel like I¡¯m taking too much from you all¡­" "Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll pretend we didn¡¯t notice. Just last hit the boss, and 50% of the experience is yours." "If you say so¡­" My beautiful guild leader happily accepted the arrangement and sat next to me, giving me a perfect, unobstructed look of her legs propped against a half-weathered rock. Under the scorching sun, her thighs shone like white gems. ¡­¡­ I was literally and metaphorically dazzled by her legs. I hastily turned to the other side before the temptation overcame me. But I didn¡¯t realize that Murong Mingyue was on the other side. She was pulling up the hem of her robe and imprinting yet another pair of gorgeous legs into my mind. I sucked in several deep breaths before I finally calmed myself. I think it¡¯s easier to look at He Yi than Murong Mingyue right now... I turned my head again, but this time He Yi was watching me with a hopeful expression. "Hey¡­ remember that Warsky said that he¡¯ll claim me as the guild¡¯s vase? What would you do if he did succeed?" I smiled back. "Not a problem. I¡¯d just venture into the tiger¡¯s den alone and take you back with me¡­" "Hehe, would you?" "Oh, I see¡­" I felt some ripple in my heart that I couldn¡¯t quite understand. He Yi¡¯s finally coming back? That¡¯s wonderful. He Yi stared at me again before asking in a soft voice, "Did you miss me outside the time you were fooling around with Beauty Lin?" Caught off-guard, I replied a bit embarrassedly, "I¡­ I guess?" "Is that so? Hehe." Eyes reddening without warning, He Yi pressed her cheek against my chest and said quietly, "Mingyue told me everything. I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m so sorry, I never wanted to bring harm to you¡­" I shuddered from head to toe. "You¡­" Tears burst out of He Yi¡¯s eyes. "Thank goodness¡­ thank goodness it¡¯s all in the past. I was so, so scared that I would lose you forever. I don¡¯t know what our relationship is right now, but¡­ I don¡¯t think I can get used to a life without you any longer." I could feel her yearning for me as clear as day. I gently put an arm around her delicate shoulders and replied, "Mn. Don¡¯t cry, boss. It¡¯s all in the past now¡­" "Mn." He Yi nodded and wiped away her tears. Suddenly, she turned bright red in the cheeks before climbing up my neck like a beauty snake, pressing her amazing breasts against my chest and planting a pair of hot, passionate lips against my forehead. Besides that, I could feel something wet dripping against my cheeks. It was her tears. I felt like lightning was shooting inside my heart. Before I knew it, I was already hugging her waist and staring at her. She was staring at me as well. Both of us were frozen in indecision, however. Neither of us knew what we should do next. It was at this moment a voice appeared from behind¡ª "Ahem¡­" ¡­¡­ We turned around and saw Murong Mingyue glaring at us. "Fuck, can you two not ignore me please? I¡¯m right here, and I¡¯m not a light bulb¡­" Both He Yi and I were incredibly embarrassed to say the least. He Yi jumped out of my embrace quickly before pulling at the chains of her armor. She looked as red as an apple in autumn. Beiming Xue turned around and looked at us curiously. "What¡¯s wrong?" I answered, "Nothing. Continue keeping an eye on the enemy, please." "Okay!" Murong Mingyue: "..." ¡­¡­ He Yi shot me a disapproving look before sending me a message: "It¡¯s all your fault¡­" I felt very wrongly accused and replied, "You¡¯re the one who initiated." He Yi giggled and sent one final message: "Wait until I return, okay?" The possible meanings behind her message were so huge that I was silent for an entire half a minute. In the end, I wasn¡¯t able to confirm what she was trying to say, and when I looked at her she was busy talking about the rise and fall of GGS shares with Murong Mingyue already. ¡­¡­ About twenty minutes later, Beiming Xue suddenly lowered her head and looked back at us with a cautious expression on her face, whispering, "Someone¡¯s coming. I think it¡¯s a hundred-man party. They¡¯re trying to secure the area!" "Who¡¯s leading this party?" I asked. "October Rain!" "That girl, huh¡­" I fell into thought for a moment. October Rain was a woman with both beauty and power. Right now, there were several god-tier archers in China, and they were Transient Smoke and Clouds of Candle Dragon, October Rain of Warsky Alliance, Beiming Xue of Ancient Swords Dreaming Souls and¡ªjust barely half a god-tier player, but still worth mentioning¡ªClear Perfume of Snowy Cathaya. October Rain and Transient Smoke and Clouds were CGL Hall of Famers, so they were more famous than most. In reality though, they were probably at the same skill level as Beiming Xue. He Yi said, "Lu Chen, can you please head out and scout for a moment? You¡¯re the only one out of us with a stealth skill!" "Mn." I nodded and used Earth Escape. Just before I entered the ground completely, I heard Murong Mingyue say behind me, "Be careful and don¡¯t poke your head out carelessly, not even for looking at someone¡¯s panties to jack off, you hear me?" "Fuck!" I barely stopped myself from throwing up blood and stumbled down the hill. Not far away, I saw the elite hundred-man party Beiming Xue mentioned earlier. Nearly all of them were above Level 90, and their equipment looked very deadly. No wonder they were led by a CGL Hall of Famer herself. October Rain was wearing a tight-fitting leather armor just like last time, and her enormous breasts looked like they would spill out of her collar at any moment. Similar to Murong Mingyue, she was one of those women who was destined to overflow with motherliness since birth. ¡­¡­ "Corps leader, the hundred-man party responsible for this area was just annihilated by Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand via monster luring. We need to cover for them while they revive themselves!" a mage said. October Rain nodded before looking at her surroundings. "This craggy terrain is easy to defend in but difficult to attack. Hmph, these idiots should¡¯ve known better than to grind at a flat field where they could be ambushed from any direction! Who¡¯s the idiot leading this party anyway? They absolutely deserved to be party-wiped for their foolishness, especially since their opponent was that cunning man who would even keep track of his own dick length!" The little mage turned completely red. "Sister Yu, the party was led by Brother Shan¡­" "Hmph, I knew it!" October Rain scanned her surroundings for a moment before continuing, "Lu Chen might still be around here, so keep on your toes, people! Who knows, he might even be watching us right now! Lu Chen, are you there? Do you know that your dick will shrink by a centimeter every time you sneak a peek at beautiful girls?" Shocked, I did a one-eighty and escaped back the way I came. No way I¡¯m risking my manhood for eye candy! This October Rain truly was a character not many could handle! ¡­¡­ He Yi rolled her eyes at me. "I can¡¯t believe you actually fell for a scare like that¡­" Beiming Xue gave me a smile before asking me innocently, "Big bro, did you actually measure... that?" "Of course not!" I stared at her. "Don¡¯t be influenced by her bad behavior, okay? Protect your innocence with everything you¡¯ve got!" "Ohh!" Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t say anything, but the eerie smile on her face was anything but neutral. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a shout exploded behind our backs. "Fuck, they¡¯re hiding over here, Sister Rain! Please come over and eliminate them now!" I immediately pounced on him and swung my sword. Puchi! 8642! The Heaven-stealing Sword easily one-shot the Level 91 assassin. It looked like he underestimated my reaction speed completely, because he didn¡¯t even manage to use his fluorescent powder before he died. ¡­¡­ Our cover was blown, and escaping seemed an unrealistic option because the hundred-man party October Rain brought were mostly made up of archers and mages. The Freezing Arrows and Ice Dragon Howls would kill us first before we got anywhere. The only way we could survive this was to fight back. So I stood atop the highest point of the hill and brandished the Heaven-stealing Sword at Warsky Alliance. I said in a low tone, "Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you. You¡¯re the ones who asked for this!" The enemy guild members gritted their teeth in anger. A Level 93 magic knight at the forefront raised his broadsword and shouted, "Your arrogance will be your undoing, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Do you think that our leveling zone is a cattle farm or something? Do you think you can challenge us with just four players? We won¡¯t let you come and leave as you please!" He Yi, Beiming Xue, and Murong Mingyue also appeared open atop the hill. There was no point hiding anymore, and we couldn¡¯t retreat because there were a bunch of rockheads behind us. It would look really ugly if we retreated in panic and got one-shot by mobs. For a time, it looked like a battle was inevitable. ¡­¡­ But October Rain suddenly let out an order nobody expected. "Everyone, halt! We will withdraw and meet up with the guild leader and his 200 men at the rear first. We can decide what to do with them later!" The magic knight looked stunned. "But Sister Rain! There are a hundred of us and only four of them! Do we really need to withdraw?" Chapter 373: Reverse Scale Slash He Yi and I exchanged glances with each other. Forget the enemies, even we were astonished by October Rain¡¯s unexpected decision. What was she planning? Why had she chosen to withdraw without fighting? This didn¡¯t fit the behavior of a CGL Hall of Famer at all. After all, everyone who got selected to join that prestigious ranking was a commander-level veteran who was tempered by the Nation Wars. There had to be a reason October Rain had chosen to retreat like this! ¡­¡­ "What should we do?" He Yi asked as the enemy slowly withdrew. Murong Mingyue shook her head. "I don¡¯t know." I said, "Let¡¯s wait just a bit longer. Don¡¯t turn around." "Mn." It wasn¡¯t long before October Rain and her men stopped about 300 yards away from us. Then, they simply stared at us from that distance. "Hmph!" I smiled. I finally figured out October Rain¡¯s intention. "What is it?" Murong Mingyue asked. I replied, "Had October Rain tried to attack us just now, she would¡¯ve suffered huge losses. In fact, she knew full well that it would take at least 200 players to beat us. After all, I alone could kill 30 of them with one Charge and Thousand Ice Slash, and if I used my Purple Dragon Howl here they might even be party-wiped where they stand. That¡¯s why she chose to pull away. I guarantee that if we turn around now, October Rain would scream ¡®Lu Chen is running away, attack him now!¡¯ and charge us. This way, her troops¡¯ morale would rise, and her chances of winning would be a lot higher!" "I see¡­" Beiming Xue said, "OMG, this October Rain is so cunning. I¡¯ve misjudged her¡­" I smiled a bit. "If you read back on the history of Spirit of Grief, you would know that October Rain had once founded a guild called ¡®Colorful October¡¯. After Shusheng, Ling Xue, Ling Yue, Qin Yun, and Xu Bing retired, Candle Dragon was at Cool Breeze City, and Warsky Alliance was at India¡¯s Fierce Tiger City at the time. When the number one expert of India at the time, Barbarous Throne, launched a fearsome attack on Fierce Tiger City, October Rain fought him at Jadeite Forest ten times, withdrew ten times and lost twenty thousand troops in total. If I stopped my story here it might sound like a horrible defeat, but in reality she killed over ten times the amount of people she lost and delayed the enemy¡¯s siege for an entire day. Not only was it an absurd victory, the strategy was planned and carried out by October Rain alone. With that in mind, how could someone like her be anything but ordinary?" Beiming Xue¡¯s mouth fell open. "Wah, she¡¯s amazing¡­" I smiled. "Of course she is. When have you heard of a CGL Hall of Famer with no remarkable legend attached to their name? This prestigious ranking is prestigious for a reason, you know?" Beiming Xue stuck out her tongue before laughing. "Big bro, how are we going to fight someone like that?" I smiled but didn¡¯t answer. It was Murong Mingyue who spoke up for me, "There¡¯s nothing to worry about, Lil Beiming. October Rain is strong, but your big bro is even stronger. Did you forget that his CGL ranking is way higher than October Rain¡¯s?" "Oh, you¡¯re right!" I immediately felt immense pressure on my shoulders and cold sweat breaking out of my skin. Despite my ranking being higher than October Rain¡¯s, I knew that I was most likely a lousier strategist compared to her. That being said, all these speculations could only be confirmed during the Nation Wars. Every game made by the Eternal Moon Corporation was set in a world embroiled in chaos. It was up to us heroes to turn our strength and courage into legends. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before another group of players joined October Rain. It was Warsky Alliance¡¯s main force, and together they numbered almost 800 in total. The massive army quickly aligned themselves orderly across the vast desert. Keeping a hand on his sword and looking all formidable in front of his troops, Warsky stared at me from the distance and smiled. "Heh, Lu Chen is here! Why haven¡¯t you attacked him yet, Little Rain? You have a hundred players, don¡¯t you?" October Rain smiled. "Hmph hmph, I just don¡¯t want to fight an uncertain battle, that¡¯s all. Didn¡¯t you see? Lu Chen is now a fourth-promotion player, and his sword is different from before. If I¡¯m not mistaken, it¡¯s probably the number one weapon on the Weapon Ranking, the Heaven-stealing Sword. Moreover, he has Thousand Mirage Slash, War Crush, and Purple Dragon Howl. How am I supposed to deal with these three AoE skills? In my estimate, it¡¯ll take at least 300 experts to guarantee a victory. Finally, you know I dislike fighting handsome guys, so I¡¯ll leave this to you¡­" Warsky smiled. "Hahaha, okay. Should we begin now that we¡¯re all here?" October Rain nodded. "The time is now. Prepare for battle!" ¡­¡­ Warsky raised his sword and pointed at me, shouting, "Warsky Alliance does not bow to anyone! Warsky Alliance will fight against mankind, heavens, life, and even fate itself to take control over our own destiny! To battle!" The fighters of Warsky Alliance immediately charged toward us! They were incredibly quick! I was stewing on the inside, to be honest. How on earth were we going to stop nearly a thousand players on our own? And that was not counting the thousands of reinforcements coming to their aid from the rear! I could literally see the forming sand clouds at the horizon. This was really bad! It was at this moment Legendary Brave sent me a message: "Don¡¯t worry, vice leader. We are directly behind you, about 500 yards away. Just stall them for a minute, and we will be there to join you! Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and me are all here in the first vanguard. There are around 200 of us!" A glad smile broke across my lips. Very well, it looked like I had underestimated the efficiency of my own guild, and this time we had the dragon warrior on our side. I could feel my worry being chased away by the second! ¡­¡­ Clang! I pulled out the Heaven-stealing Sword and pointed it directly at my enemies, smiling. "Come at us if you dare. I promise y¡¯all I won¡¯t even bother to bury your corpses. Speaking of which, do you want to be steamed or fried? I¡¯m a kind man, so I¡¯ll even let you choose the way you die!" I wasn¡¯t joking entirely. My Thousand Ice Slash could freeze my enemies, and He Yi¡¯s pet could unleash a fiery rain, so we could actually burn or freeze our enemies to their deaths. He Yi smiled slightly. "Get up this hill and we¡¯ll shoot the survivors!" Me: "But why? Bullets are so expensive these days. Just cut off their heads!" He Yi: "But cutting off their heads will dirty the ground. I think it¡¯s better if we just bury them!" Me: "We need to dig holes to bury them though. It¡¯s laborious work, isn¡¯t it?" He Yi: "Just make them dig their own graves, duh!" Murong Mingyue: "..." Beiming Xue: "..." Warsky: "..." October Rain: "..." Farewell Song: "..." ¡­¡­ As expected, one player fell for our provocation and broke out of the enemy¡¯s formation. It was none other than the CGL Hall of Famer Laughing At The Heavens, a super high-level magic knight clad in what seemed to be high-level Dark Gold¨Cgrade armor and even Purple Gold¨Cgrade shield. His Defense and HP must be off the charts right now! I ordered, "Focus him down and kill him as soon as possible, everyone! Let¡¯s see if these idiots can keep up their boast after one of their generals is dead!" "Okay!" The rest of the fighters weren¡¯t sitting idly by while their general was leading the way, of course. All the ones activated Charge in an attempt to stun us, prompting He Yi to launch two well-timed seas of flame with her Firelight Mouse at them. Any Warsky Alliance player who wanted to reach us would have to go through the skill first, and as you could imagine, the power of a high-level magical pet was nothing to scoff at. The Firelight Mouse¡¯s Sea of Flames especially was absolutely deadlier than similar skills of 99% of the mages! When Laughing At The Heavens was less than 25 yards away, he charged before me and zipped in a straight line toward Beiming Xue. His intent was as clear as my eyes were cold. Planning to kill my younger sis, huh!? I locked onto a blind spot and activated my own Charge! Whoosh! My calculation was accurate, and I ran perfectly right into Laughing At The Heavens! It was Thunderous Charge versus Charge! Bang! It was clear who had emerged the victor. I had the absolute advantage in terms of Strength, so Laughing At The Heavens was sent stumbling while I stood as solid as a rock. His face turned red with exertion! Die! I pressed my sword against his chest armor and flicked my wrist three times in quick succession¡ªPardon, Desperate Gambit, basic attack! MISS! 6034! 2498! ¡­¡­ Fuck, he¡¯s tankier than I thought! Laughing At The Heavens still had over 25% HP even after taking a full combo from me, and from the looks of it his total HP was around 11200. He really was the number one tank of Warsky Alliance! Laughing At The Heavens didn¡¯t freeze despite losing a huge chunk of HP. He displayed incredible skill as he spun on his heels, retreated and thrust his sword toward me from an indefensible angle! "Ice Ray! Icicle Thrust!" Not only was it impossible for me to block the two icicles, two enemy warriors had reached me and were using Crushing Blow! Guarding here would be suicide, so I had no chance but to endure the full power of their attacks! Bang bang! The icicles exploded before my chest and inflicted a bit of pain. 1904! 1782! That was quite a bit of damage. As I thought, his attack power was pretty good! But my surprise was nothing compared to the Warsky Alliance players¡¯. A Level 92 warrior was whispering to his companion, "Fuck, brother Heavens has over 1600 Defense, and I couldn¡¯t even hit him for 100 damage. Just how high is Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s Attack to delete three-fourths of his HP in two hits¡­" I swung my blades against and drew showers of blood across the neck of all the warriors standing at my left and right side! 5098! 5793! It was a one-shot everywhere. Martial God¡¯s 75% attack boost really was insane! Beiming Xue¡¯s attacks finally arrived as well. Her Evil Spirit Volley took chunks of flesh out of Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ chest and dealt a ridiculous 1800 damage per hit. Not only that, she managed to land 9 consecutive attacks in a row. Her bow-flicking skills had really grown by a lot! But Laughing At The Heavens was still alive. He gulped down a health potion at the same time his priests reached him and threw their healing spells on him! At the rear, Warsky was commanding his stoops. "Let¡¯s take down Lu Chen and From Water in one go! They are just humans, not monsters! Kill them all!" Speaking of the enemy players who were charging toward us, I waited until the time was right and hit them with a Thousand Ice Slash! Boom! More than half of the players at the front were one-shot as they screamed. Plenty more were frozen in ice and left immobile for five seconds. The powerful skill stunned all the players next to the carnage to speechlessness. Dozens of arrows hit my chest armor at the same time, but most of them only did a laughable amount of damage, between 10 to 50. Of course, there was that one 2100 damage that belonged to none other than October Rain. She was darting erratically like a ghost and nearly impossible to lock down the way things were! Since Laughing At The Heavens was knocked back by the first exchange, he didn¡¯t dare to come close to us anymore. It was because he knew that Beiming Xue and I had made up our minds to kill him the second he got close. He got lucky last time because I didn¡¯t trigger a critical hit, or he would¡¯ve been dead already. "Charge, charge!" Warsky Alliance continued to order his troops to launch a suicidal charge against us. At the same time, countless Ice Dragon Howls and Fireballs landed on me and He Yi. The unfortunate fact was that we were vastly outnumbered, and we were the only ones who could still hold the line. Even Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue had been forced to retreat at least dozens of yards away from us to avoid being annihilated by the focused bombardment. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Legendary Brave and his cyan broadsword reached us and became the first man to reach the top. Shouting "Who dares to wound my brother!?" he summoned draconic scales around his body and launched a devastating AoE skill into an enemy crowd! Reverse Scale Slash! Chapter 374: Desert Battle "Vice leader, add me to your party!" Legendary Brave yelled. I approved his party request immediately and added Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Xu Yang and other core experts as well. As a fourth-promotion player, I had the power to party a maximum of 19 players at most. It wasn¡¯t much, but everyone I added just now were first-rate experts. With a 75% Attack increase, this 20-man party of ours was positively deadly! ¡­¡­ Crack! Suddenly, Farewell Song appeared next to Legendary Brave like a ghost and swung his dagger in a twisting pattern, a whirlpool of energy threatening to tear him apart. The dragon warrior looked apprehensive at first, but he let out a chuckle, spun around, and countered with a deadly swing to Farewell Song¡¯s back! "Hmph!" Farewell Song withdrew immediately, but before he could put too much distance between himself and Legendary Brave, the latter abruptly raised his arm and summoned a column of cyan energy from beneath Farewell Song¡¯s feet! Dragonrise! It was a magic-based, single-target, long-range offensive skill. It was slightly similar to my Dragon Slaying Slash! 3498! Farewell Song lost a huge chunk of HP and was forced to withdraw even faster than he already was. The shocked assassin successfully turned himself invisible again with a fluorescent powder, and Legendary Brave didn¡¯t bother chasing him. He turned toward a crowd of enemies and cut players down left and right. On the other side, High Fighting Spirits was also charging a group of players and swinging his battle axe at them. His axe split the ground and caused cyclones to appear around him, which promptly turned into a circular-shaped shockwave¡ªXiezhi Howl! Thud thud thud! All the players caught within the AoE skill were murdered. High Fighting Spirits¡¯ Attack was a lot better than when I saw him last time since he and the others spent every day grinding mobs or bosses. It was only a matter of time before he got a good item or two. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun went deeper in the enemy lines than anyone else in our party. He actually managed to dish out a Rock Smash and push Warsky away. But Warsky was no pacifistic guild leader, and he immediately retaliated with a triple-hit combo that forced Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun to retreat. Xu Yang immediately replaced his position and knocked Warsky back again, shouting, "Warsky, you son of a bitch!" Angered, Warsky clashed swords against Xu Yang and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun in a 1v2. Surprisingly, he was able to go even against the two of them! Not bad! ¡­¡­ We pushed back Warsky Alliance¡¯s forces down the hill and all the way back to the desert where several thousand enemy players were already waiting for us. Heavy armor players occupied the frontlines, and back archers and mages waited for the signal to attack at the back. They were clearly planning to decide once and for all who the ultimate power in Sky City was on this desert plain! I looked behind me and noted that about 3000 of our players had arrived to join the battle. It was enough! All the players in my party squeezed their way to the forefront. They would be the strongest spear to pierce the enemy¡¯s strongest shield. Warsky himself, Laughing at the Heavens and the rest of their core players had also moved to the frontlines to stop our charge. The clash of power was inevitable. ¡­¡­ Gripping his sword and staring at the enemy formation with a smile, Xu Yang said, "In the end, there¡¯s no avoiding this moment. Warsky Alliance had been itching to fight us for a long time now, so it¡¯s only right that we fulfill their wish, right?" "Heh!" I chuckled in response before pointing my sword to the front, ordering, "We¡¯ll be slow-pushing our way forward! Priests, get ready to heal our frontliners and keep them healthy! Beiming Xue, activate Range and prepare to Volley with our archers! Try and disrupt their formation!" But my intelligent younger sister had already been on the move even before I gave the order. She quickly created a 10-man party of her own¡ªall of them high-level archers¡ªand activated Range. Once everyone¡¯s attack range was increased by 25%, she immediately seized the initiative! "Ready, aim high, loose!" The archers drew their bows about 70 yards away from the enemy before loosing their bowstrings. A rain of arrows immediately fell toward the enemy¡¯s formation! Thud thud thud... The enemy shields vibrated incessantly as the arrows hit them, but even more arrows landed squarely on the melee fighters¡¯ heads. As a result, some of the lower health warriors were one-shot where they stood! Warsky parried away an arrow aimed at his direction and spat on the ground. Then, he shouted, "Eyes up, everyone! It is time to push our formation forward! The day to destroy Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is today!" As I thought, Warsky Alliance¡¯s formation started moving slowly toward us. I smiled and pointed the Heaven-stealing Sword at the sky. I shouted, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, charge! Kill them all!" We would be the ones to take the offensive! The hundreds of fighters at the front started charging toward the enemy in high spirits. I myself waited until the enemy got close before I activated Thunderous Charge! Swhoosh! Once the Level 93 warrior I was targeting got stunned, I hit him with a Desperate Gambit before his priests could heal him! 5892! He went down after another basic attack! Not far away, He Yi was also charging the enemy frontline. The way her cape flapped to the wind looked incredibly attractive, as evident from the dumb expressions on the faces of the warriors who were facing her. In fact, the foremost warrior who was only a yard away from He Yi looked like he would keel where he stood when he saw her exquisite face! That didn¡¯t stop He Yi from attacking. She swung her Soul Stealing Spear and used Green Wave Slash! Boom! 4858! 5083! 4875! ¡­¡­ All the enemy melees hit by the skill suffered huge damage thanks to Martial God¡¯s ridiculous attack buff. Even the mages, priests, tamers, and archers at the back who were caught off-guard by the range of the skill were one-shot where they stood. Green Wave Slash had an attack range of 40 yards, and it was enough to make the life of anyone caught in it a living hell. After that, Legendary Brave, High Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Chaos Moon, and everyone else also hit the frontlines and unleashed their own attacks, beating the enemy shields like a drum. Even worse, most of our core players had AoE skills such as Legendary Brave¡¯s Reverse Scale Slash, High Fighting Spirits¡¯ Xiezhi Howl, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s Rock Smash, and so on. The flabbergasted expressions on the faces of the players of Warsky Alliance were all that needed to be said about our devastating offense. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was no longer the guild it used to be a long time ago. Today, our guild was overflowing with experts and support, our first-rate experts numbered more than ten, and Beiming Xue, Legendary Brave, and I were super or even peak-level experts in our own right. Usually, a guild only needed one peak expert to serve as the model and one spiritual leader to look up to. However, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had more than one of each, so we were really not inferior to Warsky Alliance that had three CGL Hall of Famers in their guild! ¡­¡­ Magic spells and arrows flew everywhere. Both sides suffered huge losses so far. The frontlines of both sides were completely joined together, and even my armor was covered in arrows or dark, smoky patches caused by enemy magic attacks. I had lost almost half my health in just a minute despite my amazing recovery and Defense, meaning that everyone else only fared worse than me. Wolf Fang, Alexander, and others had already died and were desperately "running" back to their bodies. The battle had devolved into chaos as both sides did their utmost to annihilate the enemy. He Yi was sticking close to me so that we could cover each other¡¯s backs. Unfortunately, it was like two brightly painted targets had merged together to make one giant target that drew everyone¡¯s attention. The enemy mages stared at us with bloodshot eyes and shouted, "Over there, From Water and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand are over there! The leader and vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! This is our chance to kill both of them at once!" Below us a sea of flames covered our feet, above us meteors and ice attacks kept falling onto our heads, and around us wind blades diced into our armors as everyone partook in the terrifying danse macabre. In a sense, it felt absolutely incredible to be the center of everyone¡¯s attacks! The reason we were still alive was because Murong Mingyue was commanding a huge group of priests to heal us with everything they had, and somehow that was enough for us to endure the crazy amount of attacks coming our way and push back the enemy. What an exhilarating experience! ¡­¡­ "Eve!" I shouted. "Hmm?" He Yi cocked her head at me. "What¡¯s wrong?" "Did you notice? October Rain¡¯s nowhere to be seen¡­" "Huh, you¡¯re right. I remember seeing her dueling with Lil Beiming just a while ago. Where has she gone to?" Alarm bells ringing inside my head, I shouted in the party channel, "All generals, I want you to communicate with your subordinates and locate October Rain immediately! Don¡¯t let her take us by surprise!" ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, I finally got a reply from Gui Guzi, "Found her. Fuck! The girl¡¯s circling around the sides and attempting to assault our flanks with 400+ players. She¡¯s trying to catch us in a pincer! What a devious woman¡­" I smiled. "Little Gui, I want you and Thirteen to intercept her with some of our brothers. Give her no chance to execute her plan!" "Okay!" Soon after, a small skirmish broke out at the wings of the battlefield as well. ¡­¡­ The desert battle lasted for almost an hour, and there were bodies all over the place. Finally, Warsky Alliance could no longer hold on because their frontliners had almost been completely annihilated. Legendary Brave and I had the highest DPS out of everyone. Reverse Scale Slash and Thousand Ice Slash were always going to kill someone every time we used them, and our Attack stats were so high that the enemy melees could do nothing but escape or die. Even CGL Hall of Famers didn¡¯t seem as powerful as they used to be due to the scale of the battle. Although Laughing at the Heavens, October Rain, and Farewell Song were all amazing players who could solo ten enemies on their own, any more than that and it became too much for them to handle. Farewell Song was the biggest threat out of all of them because he was able to lurk amid our backlines and assassinate countless mages and archers until Beiming Xue finally dragged him out of hiding. He was then turned into a porcupine by a bunch of angry archers. Gripping a blood-stained sword, Warsky growled. "Everyone, let¡¯s withdraw to the inner area. Hmph! This isn¡¯t over yet, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Those who were dead, please revive as soon as possible!" Not long after, Warsky Alliance slowly withdrew to the inner area. ¡­¡­ Staring at the heart of Fire Desert where Warsky Alliance lay, Beiming Xue said, "It looks like Warsky has given up on trying to defeat us and decided to go for his other objective, the Desert Giant King, instead¡­" Gui Guzi smiled. "He can dream on. The boss belongs to our 20-man party, am I right, boss Broken Halberd?" I nodded. "That¡¯s right, the boss is ours!" "Hahaha!" After we confirmed our new goal, we continued our pursuit of Warsky Alliance! ¡­¡­ However, Du Thirteen suddenly shouted from our backline, "Fuck! Can we get some players over as soon as possible? Hegemon Palace just appeared behind us!" Chapter 375: Shangguan Wan’er A new group of players appeared in the Fire Desert. They numbered around two thousand or so, and they were led by none other than the guild leader of Hegemon Palace, Pillar of the Nation. Moreover, he was accompanied by a high-level swordsman and god-tier mercenary Lin Yixin and I had fought recently, the Cold Wind Swordsman Little Piglet! ¡­¡­ If Hegemon Palace hadn¡¯t shown up, we would¡¯ve defeated Warsky Alliance thanks to my General Skill, Martial God. Warsky Alliance¡¯s defense line was completely made up of high-level players, and theoretically it should¡¯ve been impossible to punch through without considerable effort. But thanks to the 75% Attack boost, my 20-man party was able to tear holes in their defense line again and again until they were forced to retreat. But Hegemon Palace had appeared at the worst possible timing and forced us to split our army to deal with them. In a sense, Hegemon Palace had saved Warsky Alliance from imminent defeat. He Yi and I decided to turn around and deal with Hegemon Palace while Legendary Brave and the others dealt with Warsky Alliance. We wanted to hear Hegemon Palace¡¯s excuse for their intrusion with our own ears. ¡­¡­ By the time we arrived, Du Thirteen, Xu Yang, and a group of elite players were engaged in a staring contest with the players of Hegemon Palace. Neither side had engaged each other in combat just yet. He Yi walked out of the battle line and stared at Pillar of the Nation. ¡°Wang Dongliang, you¡¯ve provoked Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls again and again. Are you trying to say something or what?¡± Wang Dongliang smiled. ¡°What are you talking about, Eve? Me and my buddies are just gunning for that Level 140 Spirit Rank boss, that¡¯s all. Didn¡¯t you know? The entire Sky City is in uproar after hearing the news. Countless people are coming to Fire Desert right this moment!¡± He Yi¡¯s eyes turned chilly as she sneered aloud. ¡°Tsk!¡± Pillar of the Nation smiled again before suggesting, ¡°Neither of us wants to lose too many people before the big fight, so how about we do this the civilized way: both of us will send out a representative, and they¡¯ll engage each other in a 1-on-1 duel. Whoever loses will leave Fire Desert immediately. Of course, your Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is a fourth-promotion player, so we¡¯ll make it a 2v1 if you choose him!¡± Caught off-guard, He Yi yelled angrily. ¡°That¡¯s shameless!¡± I waved He Yi down and pointed my sword at Pillar of the Nation fearlessly. ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s just a 1v2. Remember, if you lose, you will get your asses out of Fire Desert!¡± ¡°Very good, I like people who are straight to the point!¡± Guild: Hegemon Palace Guild Position: Vice Leader ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I had to hide my surprise. Since when did Hegemon Palace gain such a beautiful vice leader? I had never even heard about this Shangguan Wan¡¯er until now. Judging from the extraordinary way she was carrying herself, there were only two possibilities: One, she was an absolute idiot who had no idea who she was dealing with. Two, she was a true expert. Considering that she was named vice leader by Wang Dongliang, I could only imagine that she was the latter. I gripped my Heaven-stealing Sword horizontally before smiling at her. ¡°Hegemon Palace sure thinks highly of me. I can¡¯t think of another reason why you would send two vice leaders against me otherwise.¡± Shangguan Wan¡¯er slowly walked toward me while twisting her hips, smiling. ¡°But of course. You are the famous Falling Dust and vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It would be incredibly disrespectful of us to send a nameless, average fighter to duel against you, don¡¯t you agree? Speaking of which, you aren¡¯t disappointed with Little Piglet and I as your opponents, are you?¡± A bit of apprehension entered my heart. Her voice was melodious and warming, but it was impossible to ignore the hidden barbs behind her words. In just a couple of sentences, she had completely shut off any avenue I might¡¯ve had to demand for a ¡°fair¡± 2v2 battle. That being said, I was a fourth-promotion Level 105 player. I had no reason to be afraid of them. Swhoosh! I waved one arm and summoned my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. My Epic Rank boss pet was now Level 105, and its Defense and Attack stats were crazy to say the least. I hadn¡¯t used my pet against Little Piglet last time, but there was no reason for me not to use it in a 1v2. ¡°Hehe, isn¡¯t that legendary Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf?¡± Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡¯s giggles made her breasts bounce a little. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like Falling Dust is going to go easy on us, so it would be wrong not to respond with all we got. It would be a shame if From Water blames us for going easy on him when she collects his corpse, don¡¯t you agree, Little Piglet?¡± Little Piglet curled his lips but didn¡¯t reply. He clearly didn¡¯t want to deal with the woman either. Surprisingly, He Yi was the one who retorted on my behalf, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Wang Dongliang¡¯s the one who¡¯s going to collect your corpses, not me. The results won¡¯t change even if you send ten players to fight my Lu Chen!¡± I immediately turned around, covered our faces with our cape and held He Yi¡¯s smooth chin with one finger. I gave her a smile before begging, ¡°Sis, you don¡¯t need to boast so hard that your jaw hits the floor, you know¡­¡± He Yi burst into a giggle. ¡°Be careful!¡± ¡°I know!¡± ¡­¡­ When I turned around to face my opponents, I noticed that Little Piglet had summoned his pet as well. His pet was a two-man tall giant who was covered in frost. It didn¡¯t take a genius to imagine that the frost giant had high Defense and strength. Beiming Xue also warned me in the party channel, ¡°Big bro, I know this Ice Giant. It has incredible Attack and Defense, and it¡¯s a tank that can use Desperate Gambit and Slayer Slash. Its weakness is its poor speed and hit rate.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Shangguan Wan¡¯er also did the same. Her pet was a boss-tier Purple Butterfly King. It was a magical offensive pet. I already knew that the vice leaders of Hegemon Palace were no slouches, but it looked like their pets were incredible as well. In comparison, He Yi and I were the only ones in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls who had pets that outclassed our opponents. Swhoosh! A small smile crossed Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡¯s lips before she retreated to the back and slowly vanished into thin air. Meanwhile, Little Piglet was standing at the distance and waiting for his ally to enter stealth completely. It looked like he was waiting for Shangguan Wan¡¯er to ambush me successfully so that he could combine attacks with her and one-shot me in one go! He Yi looked worried. She obviously noticed that my opponents were no ordinary players. Even I had to admit that this 1v2 was a more dangerous gamble than I initially thought. ¡­¡­ I strode forward in a straight line with the growling Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf followed closely next to me. I acted like I didn¡¯t care about Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡¯s disappearance at all. In fact, I was 11 levels higher than Shangguan Wan¡¯er, meaning that I could most likely see through her if she got within 10 yards of me. Therefore, her chances of sneaking up on me were actually pretty low. Little Piglet was the bigger concern here because he had incredible offensive power. If he managed to stun me even once, he could totally destroy me in 10 seconds¡¯ time! The enemy¡¯s Purple Butterfly King took to the sky, its wings setting ablaze. In the next moment, it fired a giant Fireball at my Obsidian Dragonscale Armor! Bang! 598! That amount of damage was acceptable. I could regenerate most of the HP lost with Regeneration of the Undead alone. Little Piglet¡¯s eyes turned colder. If the enemy didn¡¯t make a move, then I wouldn¡¯t either. It was clear that Little Piglet was no match for me when it came to psychological warfare. I was waiting for Shangguan Wan¡¯er to show up so I could kill her and increase my chances of beating Little Piglet to infinity, but Shangguan Wan¡¯er clearly didn¡¯t dare to take the risk. Therefore, Little Piglet had to attack me first to create an opening for Shangguan Wan¡¯er to stun me from behind. Little Piglet was well-versed in the art of PvP, and it wasn¡¯t long before he came to a decision. He gripped his sword and charged toward me with his Ice Giant! ¡°Little wolf, go!¡± I ordered my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to tackle Little Piglet¡¯s Ice Giant while I charged the player himself. Today would be the day we end our unfinished duel! Clang! Sparks flew everywhere as our swords clashed against each other. Neither of us used skills because we were just sounding out the opponent¡¯s power with our first strikes, but Little Piglet was knocked back several steps in that one exchange. He stared at me in astonishment. After I obtained a few items and did my fourth promotion quest, my Strength had soared far above his! Rustle rustle... I dashed to Little Piglet¡¯s right side like lightning and swung my sword at the back of his head. Cursing under his breath, he did a 45-degree counter-slash and ran in a circle instead of spinning around to face me. Thanks to that, he managed to execute a moving attack! Clang! It was a successful parry, but again his body shuddered a little due to my superior Strength. Worse, his sword was knocked into the air! This is my chance! I thrust the Heaven-stealing Sword forward like lightning and used Pardon and Desperate Gambit! MISS! Pardon hit Little Piglet, but not Desperate Gambit. It was because a shadow had appeared out of nowhere and attacked me from the back! It was none other than Shangguan Wan¡¯er with her Swift Dash activated. If she managed to stun me here, I would be in a great disadvantage! I immediately gave up on hitting Little Piglet and leaped powerfully toward the back. Spinning around like a top, I thrust my sword straight at Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡¯s chest! ¡°Ah?!¡± The girl exclaimed in surprise before crossing both her daggers in front of her. She actually managed to parry my attack! What incredible reaction speed! Little Piglet joined the fray and covered his sword in frost, activating Freezing Heat. Then, he thrust an empowered Ice Ray straight toward my back. At the same time, Shangguan Wan¡¯er swung her daggers again and attempted to skewer the back of my head with Cruel Blade. Their coordination was pretty impressive, and they were rushing at me from a diagonal angle so I had no way to escape. Both Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡¯s eyes shone with killing intent at that moment. They were clearly planning to end my life right there and then. Chuckling under my breath, I did an instantaneous zigzag and swung my sword to my left and right at the same time. My movement was perfect, and it was as if I had done this countless times in the past. Just like that, I parried both skills and foiled their attempt to kill me. ¡°Wha, how is this even possible¡­¡± Shangguan Wan¡¯er was stunned by my perfect parries, but I was already charging toward Little Piglet again. Pardon hadn¡¯t worn off yet, so my next attack on Little Piglet was sure to deal far more damage to usual. Little Piglet was of course aware of this, so he calmly jumped to the back while unleashing Ice Ray Flurry. As it turned out, he was so intimidated by my charge that he actually used his signature skill just to slow down my advance. I abruptly raised my left arm as draconic roars entered everyone¡¯s ears. Little Piglet turned pale as if realizing what was about to happen! Dragon Slaying Slash, go! The Pardon-empowered Dragon Slaying Slash did far more damage than it normally would against Little Piglet. The cold wind swordsman was knocked back repeatedly as a huge damage number appeared above his head¡ª4874! The one skill deleted more than half of his HP in one go. I continued to run after him in an attempt to further my advantage! ¡­¡­ Chapter 376: Killing Three Birds With One Stone Swhoosh! I spun around like lightning and pressed my sword against Shanggong Wan¡¯er¡¯s chest. However, she withdrew almost just as quickly, so I had no choice but to use a basic attack instead of a skill like I had planned to! Puchi! The tip of the blade penetrated Shanggong Wan¡¯er¡¯s chest and drained all the blood from her face! 3209! Had I been able to hit her with a skill, even one as weak as Ice Ray, she probably would be dead already. In fact, an average assassin would¡¯ve been one-shot by even my basic attack. The Heaven-stealing Sword was that powerful, and she survived only because she had sufficient Defense and HP. I ran after her and swung my sword at her neck. One of them must die for me to win this duel! However, someone suddenly appeared behind me and stunned me! At the same time, the combat log updated and displayed a terrible news¡ª Beep! Combat Log: Player "Farewell Song" used "Poisoned Weapon Kill" and stunned you for 3 seconds! ¡­¡­ Farewell Song!!? Why is he here? And why have I failed to sense him even though he¡¯s only Level 96? At this point, I was certain that Farewell Song¡¯s stealth skill had been somehow enhanced like my skills, and it made him even harder to detect than before. This was bad! Farewell Song launched a fearsome attack on me. He swung his dagger twice and used Blooddrinker Slash + Blade Vortex! 2985! 1302! 1487! MISS! Three of the four attacks hit me for over 5700 damage, but 10% of it was absorbed by the Obsidian Dragon Scale Armor and converted into HP. Therefore, the real damage I took was around 5000 or 60% of my total HP. Farewell Song looked a bit disappointed because he thought he could one-shot me. Little Piglet didn¡¯t let the opportunity slip by. He dashed toward me, swung his sword in a wide arc and used the Ice Breaking Slash! 2985! My health instantly dropped to the red. Not everyone could endure the attacks of three top-tier experts for three seconds and still be alive. The good news was that Little Piglet was a bit too far away from me when he initiated his attack, so I had already broke out of the stun when he tried to follow up with an Ice Ray Flurry. I immediately used Tenacity of the Dead and drank a health potion to heal myself, and used Guard to minimize the damage I took! +2050! +3000! ¡­¡­ It was always nice to stay above 50% HP. Gripping the Heaven-stealing Sword tightly and glaring at Farewell Song, "What is the meaning of this?" Farewell Song smiled and replied, "What does it look like? I¡¯m challenging the amazing Falling Dust, that¡¯s all. Why do you ask? Is my timing not to your liking?" But Farewell Song wasn¡¯t intimidated. "My guild leader ordered me to kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, and I will carry out his order. I couldn¡¯t care less about your circumstances!" I looked at Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er, but neither of them looked like they wanted to say anything. I guessed that meant they didn¡¯t mind Farewell Song "interfering" with the duel and turning this into a 3v1. Well shit, if this fight wasn¡¯t dangerous before, it was now. All three players were super experts, and victory or defeat could be decided in a single instant. Farewell Song¡¯s sneak attack especially was terrifying even for me. ¡­¡­ But I couldn¡¯t run away. Not only would I be accused of cowardice since I was the 12th ranker on the CGL Hall of Fame, both my and the guild¡¯s reputations would suffer tremendously. In that case, the only way to deal with this was to smile and overcome the challenge before me. So I smiled and held my sword in front of me. "If you want a 3v1, then a 3v1 is what you¡¯ll get. You didn¡¯t think this is enough to scare me, did you?" Farewell Song chuckled as his dagger gleamed menacingly. "You¡¯d better get ready then!" ¡­¡­ Some distance away, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue, Du Thirteen, and the others watched us with bated breaths. A lot of people had turned on their recorders to capture the epic battle as well. After all, this wasn¡¯t something you got to see everyday. The trio moved to the corners and surrounded me in a triangular formation. I pointed my sword to the ground and waited calmly for them to come at me first. Little Piglet abruptly shouted, "Go!" All three players moved in unison. Farewell Song was dashing toward me from an odd angle and aiming for my back like a venomous snake. At first glance it looked like a probing attack, but in reality I would suffer huge damage if I allowed it to hit me! At the same time, Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er also attacked me from two different directions. I made up my mind in just the blink of an eye. I bent my body just enough to dodge Farewell Song¡¯s attack and shuffled my feet to the right at the same time. It was such an odd movement that I actually lost my balance and almost fell on the ground. Thankfully, I managed to stay on my feet and parried away both Farewell Song and Little Piglet with two strikes. At the same time, I lifted my leg and kicked Shangguan Wan¡¯er right in the stomach! Bang! The beautiful assassin let out a muffled groan and stumbled backward. The kick actually dealt over 1200 damage to her! Thud... I regained my footing after my lightning quick movements bought me a bit of time. Then, I roamed to the left and slashed Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡¯s pet, the Purple Butterfly King, vertically! 8041! It was a one-shot. There was no way her pet could survive my attack. ¡­¡­ Little Piglet and Farewell Song looked furious. They didn¡¯t realize that I had forced them back just to kill a pet, and they felt both humiliated and played because of it. Little Piglet raised his sword and used Charge! I backed away from him and tried to dodge out of the way. The one-second stun wasn¡¯t deadly, but the follow-up stun from Farewell Song definitely would be. Whoosh! Little Piglet¡¯s Charge only hit my afterimage after I did a double zigzag. That wasn¡¯t the end though because I felt a chill from my right. Here comes Farewell Song! Farewell Song thrust his burning dagger toward me, but somehow he was able to twist the direction of his attack from my chest to below my armpit instead. I raised my left arm horizontally to block the attack with my armor and fire a Dragon Slaying Slash at Shangguan Wan¡¯er with my right at the same time! "Ah¡­" Shangguan Wan¡¯er retreated to her battle line because she didn¡¯t have much health to begin with. Wang Dongliang then ordered his priests to heal her to full health. My expression grew even sterner than before. So annoying! I swung my sword angrily and forced Farewell Song to withdraw. Unfortunately, I was forced to raise my arm at the same time to block an Ice Ray from Little Piglet. If I wasn¡¯t a fourth-promotion player, I might¡¯ve been dead a long time ago! My HP continued to drop again and again. Thankfully, the 14% lifesteal from the Heaven-stealing Sword and some aggressive moves bought me a bit more time than I would¡¯ve had otherwise. Shangguan Wan¡¯er was healed by her priests, so I didn¡¯t think I could kill her instantly without considerable effort. It was time to change tactics! At the same time, I whispered inside the party channel, "Eve, don¡¯t just stand there and watch like an actual spectator! Tell our players to circle around Warsky Alliance¡¯s main army and move to the heart of the Fire Desert! If we can seal off the entrance to the boss zone, we can ensure that the boss is ours even if I lose this fight!" He Yi nodded immediately. "Got it. I¡¯ll send the instructions to Xu Yang right away!" ¡­¡­ I turned my attention back to the duel and quickly came up with a new battle plan. I pulled back toward my own battle line slowly, but it didn¡¯t look like I was retreating or trying to bait my enemy into doing something. Farewell Song and Little Piglet exchanged a glance with each other. A while later, Little Piglet blurted in realization and anger, "He¡¯s trying to draw the battle toward his own battle line so that we¡¯ll be exposed to his guild¡¯s firepower!" Farewell Song gritted his teeth and uttered, "Kill him!" They ran toward me in an unpredictable pattern. From above, they probably looked like two venomous snakes crawling swiftly toward their prey. Smiling, I took another few steps backward before charging toward Farewell Song without warning. The Heaven-stealing Sword burned with a bright light. Come, Thousand Ice Slash! Farewell Song was caught off-guard by the random AoE skill during retreating, but it was impossible to dash out of the range of the skill in time. He gritted his teeth and used Guard to minimize the damage taken! Boom! The icy sword aura hit Farewell Song and caused an explosion of sand, but the skill only dealt around 1000 damage to the protected assassin. He was nowhere close to death! I smiled. All I wanted was to stall Farewell Song a little, and in that regard the result was exactly what I wanted it to be. I then looked at Little Piglet and activated Thunderous Charge! Whoosh! I rushed toward Little Piglet while leaving behind a long line of lightning afterimages. Little Piglet had been trying to save Farewell Song, so he wasn¡¯t prepared at all for my Thunderous Charge and got stunned in an instant! Clang clang! The Heaven-stealing Sword hit him twice on the shoulder and dealt a sizable amount of damage¡ª 2985! 2894! His equipment was high-grade alright. Even with my attack power, I wasn¡¯t able to crush him like I would crush most players. Moreover, he was surrounded by a cyan energy that looked like a transparent metal armor, and if my estimates were correct, the skill had reduced the damage taken by at least 25%! Farewell Song ran toward me in an attempt to save Little Piglet. He knew that five seconds were more than enough time for me to kill his comrade! The corner of my lips turned up again, and Little Piglet immediately realized what I was about to do. He wanted to warn Farewell Song, but it was too late! Farewell Song hit me again with Poisoned Weapon Kill and stunned me for 3 seconds! But I also finished stomping the ground with my foot and used War Crush right before he stunned me! Boom boom boom! Three consecutive explosions later, Farewell Song hit the ground with a muffled groan and died. Little Piglet survived because he recovered from my stun just in time to drink a health potion, and because a couple of priests had caught up to him just in time to throw a couple of healing spells on him! I smiled at Little Piglet and said, "Do you really think you¡¯re going to get away just like last time?" Little Piglet activated his Freezing Heat to increase his movement speed drastically before chuckling, "You think you can kill me? Then come. I¡¯m sure Shangguan Wan¡¯er will be happy to celebrate your death!" ¡­¡­ Little Piglet was about to escape when a beast suddenly appeared in his way. My Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf had finally slapped that Ice Giant to death and come to my aid! I didn¡¯t make the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf attack Little Piglet because he had Freezing Heat on. It would only miss its target or worse, open itself up to a counterattack. Instead, I took direct control over the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and moved it in front of Little Piglet! If he tried to run to the left, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf would move in the same direction and block his path, and vice versa! At the same time, I rushed him from behind and went all out! Little Piglet was stunned by my impeccable multitasking. He couldn¡¯t stop himself from swearing, "Are you fucking kidding me?!" ¡­¡­ Crack! I slapped Little Piglet with Pardon before piercing his chest with Desperate Gambit! MISS! Chapter 377: Burning Cave Thump! Little Piglet collapsed to the ground, unreconciled. He never thought that it was possible for someone to outposition him while Freezing Heat was active, and he definitely never thought that it was possible to multitask to the extent I did in virtual reality. Pop! Farewell Song hadn¡¯t left behind any equipment for me to pick up, but Little Piglet did. He had dropped a pair of crystalline boots on the ground, and I picked them up right before the eyes of the Hegemon Palace players and brought up their stat screen casually. They were none other than the boots Little Piglet was wearing, and their stats were pretty amazing¡ª Long Boots of Wild Heart (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï) Defense: 255 Magic Resist: 170 Strength: +60 Stamina: +54 Passive: Increases user¡¯s movement speed by 11% Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s physical crit rate by 9% Class Requirement: Warrior Level Requirement: 95 ¡­¡­ Mm hmm. For Level 95 metal armor boots, this Long Boots of Wild Heart were extremely good. No wonder Little Piglet was able to move like the wind and even crit me twice in combat. If I didn¡¯t have Regeneration of the Undead, I might¡¯ve been dead before I could turn things around. I turned around and tossed the boots to Xu Yang. "Take this, Xu Yang. You can wear these, right?" Xu Yang grinned. "Thanks!" I thought for a moment before taking out the Miracle Purgatory Sword as well. This 3-star Outstanding divine weapon had been my faithful companion when I slaughtered noobs all over the world, and now it was finally time to say goodbye to it. I tossed the Purgatory Sword into Xu Yang¡¯s hands as well and said, "Here, I no longer need this weapon as well." Xu Yang: "Fuck, even your discarded weapons are OP as fuck, Lu Chen. I owe you lunch¡­" "Fuck¡­" ¡­¡­ With that done, I turned around and smiled at Pillar of the Nation. I said slowly, "So? Little Piglet and Farewell Song both died, but you still have Shangguan Wan¡¯er. Are you going to make her duel me 1v1?" Pillar of the Nation stayed quiet. His expression looked extremely ugly. Shangguan Wan¡¯er replied, "Forget it, warriors naturally counter assassins. I¡¯m no match for you." I gave her a smile before looking at Pillar of the Nation again. "Alright, I¡¯ve won the duel, so please honor your promise and back out of Fire Desert now. And just so you know, know that I¡¯ve recorded our conversation and our duel from start to finish. If you dare to break your word, Hegemon Palace will be a laughingstock of the entire Sky City!" He Yi stepped out as well to say, "Thank you for your advice. Now, leave us!" "Hmph!" Pillar of the Nation was incredibly unhappy, but he ultimately honored his word and departed Fire Desert with his players. He couldn¡¯t break it even if he wanted to because keeping your word was the single most important thing when operating a guild. An untrustworthy guild would be scorned no matter where they went, and in Hegemon Palace¡¯s case it would be the equivalent of committing social suicide in Sky City if they broke their promise. To gamers like us, promises were sometimes more important than our own lives! ¡­¡­ When I returned to my battle line, Beiming Xue happily pounced me and hugged me tightly, saying, "You¡¯re absolutely amazing, big bro! I can¡¯t believe you fought them 1v3 and still managed to kill two of them. Hoho, my big bro is the strongest gamer in the entire world, hehe~~" Amused by her reaction, I patted her shoulder and replied, "You know there¡¯s no one in the world who would dare to accept that claim, right?" I was also a bit embarrassed since our antics were watched by everyone. Chaos Moon, Moonlight Stone, Xu Yang, and the others were barely holding in their laughter. Sigh, my little sis is just too innocent. She doesn¡¯t know how to conceal her thoughts from anyone at all. I shot He Yi a glance and saw the praise and delight in her eyes. See, our guild leader is way smarter. She knows that the hug should be saved for when we¡¯re offline... ¡­¡­ Xu Yang walked up to me and patted me on my shoulder, laughing. "Beiming Xue is right, you know. The PvP skills you displayed today are absolutely among the best of the best, and I¡¯m sure even Candlelight Shadow will feel immense pressure after the footage is uploaded to the forums. Hahaha! Seriously, you fought Farewell Song, Little Piglet, and Shangguan Wan¡¯er 1v3, and you actually emerged as the decisive victor. Are you sure you¡¯re human, Lu Chen?" Chaos Moon smiled. "At Lu Chen¡¯s level, there¡¯s no human in the world who can stop him anymore¡­" Pure Love chimed in. "Yeah, yeah! He¡¯s the man I chose after all¡­" Pure Love¡¯s passion was too great for me to handle, so I moved next to Murong Mingyue and put an arm across Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulder just in case. Then, I gave everyone a smile and said, "Alright, let¡¯s go! It¡¯s time to defeat Warsky Alliance and enter the heart of Fire Desert! All players who are Level 90 and above, get ready to fight a Level 140 Spirit Rank boss!" "Yeah!" Everyone was in high spirits, and it was all due to that exciting duel from earlier. This was why every guild needed to have a spiritual leader who people could look up to; a reason to fear nothing and meet any challenge with courage. ¡­¡­ When we finally returned to the front¡ªor was it the back?¡ªwe saw Warsky Alliance being destroyed by our troops and forced to retreat again and again. It was at this moment Legendary Brave walked up to us with a smile. "What happened over there? It was so loud I thought you were having a temple fair or something. What did I miss?" Chaos Moon replied, "Hegemon Palace challenged us to a duel just now, and Lu Chen beat Little Piglet, Shangguan Wan¡¯er, and Farewell Song singlehandedly!" Legendary Brave¡¯s eyes turned as wide as saucers. "Holy shit, that¡¯s incredible. Please send me the video later, I must admire Vice Leader Lu¡¯s PvP secrets with my own eyes¡­" Xu Yang laughed. "Don¡¯t worry, you should see it on the forums in just a couple of minutes at most!" I smiled. Every expert in the world started off as a noob, and the first step to becoming an expert was to observe other people and absorb their strong points. For example, our mighty dragon warrior was still learning from others despite being better than most people around him. This was the kind of person with an unlimited future ahead of them! ¡­¡­ When we officially returned to the frontlines, Warsky Alliance¡¯s defense line grew even more fragile than before. A round of attacks later, Warsky finally gave the order, "Brothers, the enemy¡¯s firepower is too much for us to handle right now! Let us withdraw to Burning Cave for now! Victory is ours if we can keep Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls out of the map until the boss is killed!" "Burning Cave?" He Yi shot me a surprised look. I answered, "It¡¯s probably a map within a map; the boss zone of that Level 140 Spirit Rank Desert Giant King. Well, it makes sense if you think about it. A high-rank boss like that wouldn¡¯t want to stay in the open and expose itself to the sun like some commoner, right? It would want to collect a bunch of lackeys, occupy a lair and enjoy the pleasures of life like the boss it is." He Yi smiled. "Is that so? Do you want to occupy a lair and enjoy the pleasures of life as well?" I smiled back. "All I want is for you to come back¡­" "Mn." He Yi nodded slightly before giving out the order. "Everyone, Warsky Alliance only has less than 1500 players left! We are the ones who have the advantage, so let¡¯s use it and break into Burning Cave now!" ¡­¡­ Everyone¡¯s spirits rose even higher when our beautiful guild leader gave the order to attack. The moment our players hit their battle line, what was a tactical retreat immediately turned into a rout! After we got close, we noticed that the sand looked hot enough to catch on fire. There was a tall, craggy mountain at the center of the desert, and beneath it was a cave entrance about ten meters wide and two meters tall. I could see a bit of red light peeking out of the cave as well. It was none other than the Desert Giant King¡¯s lair¡ªthe Burning Cave! The players of Warsky Alliance had entered the cave completely. We didn¡¯t follow them inside because it was entirely possible that the enemy had laid a trap or two for us. It would be foolish to enter carelessly. Beep! System Notice: You have entered the map "Burning Cave"! Map Introduction: This map used to be a forest that was full of life, but it was turned into a desert after the Night Creatures invaded. However, the hatred of the mountain ran deep, and it was said that the mouth of a slumbering volcano lies at the bottom of Burning Cave. The cave is full of danger, and no adventurer had ever come out of this cave alive. ¡­¡­ Xu Yang asked seriously, "What should we do, boss?" He Yi said, "Let¡¯s send in a couple of assassins and see what the enemy is doing first. We should also leave some people outside the cave so that no other guild can come in. This seems to be the only entrance to Burning Cave, so there should be no way for Warsky Alliance to get any supply or reinforcements anymore. Let¡¯s see if they¡¯re good enough to handle all the high-level mobs that are lurking inside this map!" I nodded with a smile. "Correct. Let¡¯s be patient and stay our hand for now. Someone¡ªor something¡ªwill deal with Warsky Alliance for us. All we need to do is wait for the boss to show itself." Xu Yang nodded. "Got it. Assassins, get in there and tell me what the enemy is doing!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, an idea popped into my mind. "Eve, why don¡¯t you let me scout out the map instead? I have Earth Escape. Our assassins¡¯ levels are too low, and it would be embarrassing if they got one-shot the moment they got in." "Okay. Be careful." "No problem!" I turned around, dissolved into several rays of bloody light and entered the ground. As I entered the Burning Cave, I felt a stifling wave of heat washing over my body even though I was technically under the ground. The Burning Cave definitely deserved its name! After I entered the cave, I immediately saw a large group of Warsky Alliance players fighting a desperate battle at the distance. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. There were fiery red stone giants all over the map, and they were Level 135 shadow-rank mobs! These mobs were at least as powerful as Level 110 Dark Gold Rank bosses, and they almost always killed someone with just a single attack! It was chaos inside the cave. Warsky looked like he wanted to vomit blood as he shouted angrily, "Look to the right! Another dozen or so Fire Giants are heading our way! Hold your ground! Dammit, why are these mobs so powerful¡­" ¡­¡­ It was an amusing sight. Warsky Alliance had kicked a hornet¡¯s nest, and they were paying a heavy price for their mistake! Next to Warsky, the CGL Hall of Famer and super archer October Rain was shooting at the mobs. From where I was lurking, the view of her long, pale legs was¡­ pleasing to say the least. Chapter 378: Making Someone Else Do The Dirty Work Warsky couldn¡¯t help but laugh when he heard October Rain¡¯s comment. ¡°Did you fall in love with Lu Chen or something, Little Rain? You¡¯ve been talking about him a lot these couple of days¡­¡± October Rain replied while pulling out a Plume Feather Arrow from her quiver, ¡°Maybe. He is an incredibly talented gamer and a handsome man in real life. He¡¯s also the first player to finish his fourth promotion quest and the second player to pick up a Famous General Skill, Martial God. You saw that video just now, didn¡¯t you? Farewell Song, Little Piglet, and Shangguan Wan¡¯er tried to gang up on Lu Chen at the same time, but he was able to win decisively through clever trickery and unstoppable offense. I don¡¯t think even Candlelight Shadow shares his level of skill and intelligence. How could I not be tempted by such an amazing person?¡± Stumped for words, Warsky smiled awkwardly. ¡°Fuck, I wasn¡¯t expecting such a serious answer. Man, I¡¯m such a failure of a guild leader. Anyway, please don¡¯t fall for him, Little Rain. If even you were gone, then there would really be no one I could turn to anymore!¡± October Rain nocked the arrow and smiled back. ¡°Relax, guild leader. We¡¯ll never betray Warsky Alliance unless you give up on us first. No matter how handsome and skillful Lu Chen is, I¡¯m not such a shallow woman that I would betray my oath for my desires. Mn, I¡¯ve made up my mind. As Lu Che¡¯s diehard fan, my first gift to him is a porcupine suit made out of my arrows¡­¡± Warsky: ¡°...¡± Me: ¡°...¡± October Rain was an unpredictable woman. She might speak like a frivolous person at times, but she was really a principled and logical person. Women like her were some of, if not the most difficult kind of woman to deal with. It was truly unfortunate that she was an enemy of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Of course, every power in Sky City was fighting to become the king of the hill, and it was always just a matter of time before we ran into a powerful and intelligent woman like her. I should be thankful that the other powerful and intelligent woman I knew, the Fruit Knife Goddess, wasn¡¯t my enemy as well, or my pains would be twice as big. ¡­¡­ Warsky asked, ¡°Is Farewell Song back yet?¡± October Rain snorted. ¡°He Yi tried to have his corpse camped, but Farewell Song was able to take down three archers before escaping. He should be back very soon.¡± Warsky chuckled. ¡°Hehe, Farewell Song has always been a stubborn and unyielding man. I¡¯m sure he¡¯s not feeling too good after that terrible loss. Do you have a plan to make him feel better?¡± October Rain smiled. ¡°That¡¯s simple. All you and Laughing At The Heavens need to do is to take him to a bar and drink the gloom away. If the girls at the nightclub feel like chatting with you three then even better. I¡¯m sure Farewell Song¡¯s mood will turn a hundred and eight degrees around after the night is done.¡± October Rain shook her head with a giggle. ¡°Forget it, every time I meet up with you guys in real life, I feel like I¡¯m the mother of three ugly ducklings. Plus, Lu Chen doesn¡¯t live in Xuchang, so there¡¯s no chance of an encounter even if I went to the bar with y¡¯all. What could I even do there? Watch the three of you attempting to chat up a beautiful girl? I might as well stay at home and watch Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf¡­¡± Warsky complained. ¡°Fuck, not again¡­¡± It was at this moment a shadow came through the cave entrance before becoming visible. It was none other than Farewell Song. The stern-faced assassin said in a low tone, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, boss. I lost!¡± Warsky nodded. ¡°It¡¯s fine, victory or defeat is commonplace in military operations. There¡¯s always a next time, am I right?¡± October Rain giggled. ¡°Exactly. Didn¡¯t Lu Chen lose horrifically to Candlelight Shadow during the late stage of Spirit of Grief? Even rivers can grow old and ¡®die¡¯. Endurance is all that matters in winning or losing.¡± Suddenly, Laughing At The Heavens interrupted, ¡°Beauty Rain, are you sure you¡¯re not talking about sex? Because I don¡¯t see endurance having anything to do with winning or losing in a game.¡± October Rain glared at him immediately. ¡°Shut up! Do you want to die?¡± Laughing At The Heavens hurriedly covered his mouth and backed a few steps away from October Rain. Then, he left to deal with a Fire Giant. Farewell Song smiled. ¡°You¡¯re right. The reason I lost earlier was because I was too aggressive. My desire for victory made me too rash, and I underestimated Lu Chen because it was a three versus one. It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s only a level. I can get it back with just a bit of grinding.¡± ¡°Mn, good!¡± October Rain said, ¡°Anyway, you came back at a good time, Farewell Song. I have a mission for you!¡± ¡°Oh? What is it?¡± October Rain glanced at her surroundings first before speaking. ¡°Are you sure there are no hidden assassins around here?¡± ¡°Nope!¡± Farewell Song shook his head. ¡°I made sure to check when I came over. I can confirm that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have no high-level assassins. Don¡¯t worry, Warsky Alliance holds the absolute advantage when it comes to assassin power!¡± ¡°Good.¡± October Rain smiled. ¡°Earlier, we lost the big battle against Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls because of three factors. One, Lu Chen¡¯s Martial God is too powerful. Two, their newest recruit, Legendary Brave, is ridiculously powerful. Three, all their best players such as Beiming Xue, From Water, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Chaos Moon, and others are pretty amazing, so their victory was well-deserved. According to reliable intel, I learned that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have blocked the entrance and are waiting for an opportunity to siege us. We do not have enough players right now, so the only way we can turn the tides back to our favor is to catch them by surprise!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Warsky looked excited. ¡°And how are we going to do that? Tell us already! You already have a plan in mind, don¡¯t you?¡± October Rain nodded. ¡°Mn. I¡¯ve checked the map carefully, and I learned that Burning Cave is split into two different halls; the left hall and the right hall. Right now our men are dealing with the Fire Giants at the right hall, so here¡¯s my plan: Farewell Song will stand by and await orders at the left hall. Once the main force of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls enters the cave, Farewell Song will aggro a hundred or so Fire Giants and lead them to the backline of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. At the same time, we¡¯ll attack them from the front. With this pincer attack, we should be able to turn things around and defeat Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls decisively. They¡¯re nothing without their best players, Lu Chen and Legendary Brave.¡± Warsky couldn¡¯t stop himself from laughing. ¡°That¡¯s a great plan! I can even conquer the world as long as October Rain is with me!¡± But October Rain rolled her eyes at him before muttering, ¡°Like hell you can. The most I can do is help you take a city or two. If you really want to conquer the world, you should set your sights on Wind Fantasy¡­¡± Warsky said seriously, ¡°Not even going to bother. That¡¯s way too difficult!¡± ¡°Hmph hmph! Now get ready to carry out the plan!¡± Farewell Song nodded with a smile. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m heading to the left hall now. Tell me when it¡¯s time, and I¡¯ll deliver the ¡®gift¡¯ safely to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ hands!¡± ¡°Mn, be careful!¡± ¡°No worries!¡± There was a quiet noise, and Farewell Song instantly vanished into nothing. He had entered stealth once more. I was nearly ten levels ahead of Farewell Song, but I still couldn¡¯t see him despite being at close range. His improved stealth skill is truly terrifying! ¡­¡­ I quietly made my way out of the cave before rising back to the surface. ¡°What¡¯s the situation inside?¡± He Yi asked anxiously. I briefly told her everything I saw and heard, including the plan October Rain had come up to defeat us. He Yi frowned slightly. ¡°This is a bit troublesome.¡± Xu Yang said bravely, ¡°No it¡¯s not, we¡¯re strong enough to ignore their tactic and force our way in! It¡¯s simple! Just give us the order, boss!¡± High Fighting Spirits and Wolf Fang also echoed in agreement, ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s just go in and kill them all!¡± I shook my head. ¡°No can do. It¡¯s never good to underestimate our enemy, and remember that we can¡¯t afford to lose here. If things go badly for us, and we lose our entire main army, then that Spirit Rank boss is as good as Warsky Alliance¡¯s. Our failure will result in a super player being born in Warsky Alliance.¡± Legendary Brave also chimed in. ¡°The vice leader is right, we should think calmly and rationally even though we hold the upper hand. Otherwise, our position may be reversed in the blink of an eye!¡± Murong Mingyue asked, ¡°But what should we do? We need to think of a way!¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°That¡¯s simple. Farewell Song wants to lure the mobs to us, right? In that case, all we need to do is lure the mobs first and lead them right back to Warsky Alliance. However, the team we send in will have to face Farewell Song in direct combat. Any volunteers?¡± I pursed my lips but didn¡¯t say anything. Gui Guzi raised his hand. ¡°I¡¯ll go!¡± Du Thirteen immediately said, ¡°Little Gui, your death was so tragic¡­¡± Gui Guzi: ¡°Fuck you, Brother B¡­¡± It was at this moment Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun ran up to us and reported, ¡°Bad news! Dominating Heaven Blade just appeared behind us with over 2000 Gods of Destruction players! They¡¯re five minutes away at most! What should we do?¡± He Yi also looked at me after hearing the surprising news. I pondered for a moment before deciding, ¡°I guess we have no choice but to let Gods of Destruction do our dirty work for us. Everyone, we will withdraw from the entrance now and head to the west side of the desert! We¡¯ll grind there for 20 minutes while we wait for Gods of Destruction to enter the cave! We¡¯ll let them trigger Warsky Alliance¡¯s mines for us!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s do it!¡± And so, we left the entrance of Burning Cave and moved to the other side of the mountain range. Gods of Destruction wouldn¡¯t be able to spot us from where they were due to the obstacles. ¡­¡­ Our army of 5000 immediately spread out and got to work after we moved to the west side of Fire Desert. However, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue, and I were uninterested in fighting our own comrades for experience. The Heavenblessed Continent was huge, and high-level mobs were everywhere. There were always other opportunities to grind levels. In the end, we decided to climb up a short hill, lie down behind some cactuses and observe the situation at Burning Cave. At the entrance of Burning Cave, a high-spirited Dominating Heaven Blade pointed his battle axe at the cave and laughed heartily. ¡°Hehe, Warsky Alliance is clearing out the mobs for us in there. I¡¯m guessing that they¡¯ll find the boss in an hour or two, and the boss fight will last another two or three hours. Let¡¯s head in now and give them a pleasant surprise!¡± Dominating Knight God asked, ¡°But boss, didn¡¯t we have a non-aggression pact with them?¡± Dominating Heaven Blade sneered, ¡°As if a verbal agreement is worth anything these days. If our positions were reversed, do you think Warsky Alliance would let us kill the boss without interference?¡± ¡°No, they would not!¡± Chapter 379: Desert Giant King Dominating Heaven Blade and his goons entered the cave excitedly. It was almost as if they were reliving their youth through the weapons in their hands again. Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God and the rest also chanted the guild¡¯s catchphrase before rushing into the cave. Their goal was clear. Take out Warsky Alliance first and defeat the Spirit Rank boss in the lair later. 2000 players vanished into Burning Cave just like that. ¡­¡­ I looked at the sky. The Gods of Destruction party was about two thousand strong, and even if it turned out to be a one-sided slaughter, it was going to take at least half an hour before they were done. Warsky Alliance was running out of players, and the Fire Giants were incredibly powerful. Even if their strategy was a resounding success, there was no way they could end the fight unscathed. Outside the cave, the sun hung high in the air, and it was hot as hell. After placing her scepter next to her leg, Murong Mingyue leaned her head against He Yi¡¯s legs and closed her eyes. She looked like she was resting on the most comfortable pillow in the world. However, it wasn¡¯t long before she climbed back to her feet again. "What¡¯s wrong?" I asked. She smiled. "This place is too hot. I feel like a piece of beef sizzling atop an iron plate¡­" "Fuck!" That wasn¡¯t the end of Murong Mingyue¡¯s invincible mode though. She fanned herself with her hand and sighed. "Ai, this burning weather is the only thing besides a man who can force me to disrobe myself¡­" "I thought you said you were a virgin?" "I did, still am¡­" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a figure in dark cyan armor and white cape ran past us down the hill. He was none other than Legendary Brave, and he looked like he wanted to kill something. "What are you doing, Brave?" I asked. He answered without turning around, "Nothing to worry about, just going to check what¡¯s happening inside. If there¡¯s anything I¡¯ll make sure to inform everyone!" "Okay, be careful!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Legendary Brave really was brave. He disappeared into Burning Cave and fell completely silent. Five minutes later, I lost my patience and rose to my feet. "You girls stay here. I¡¯m heading in too!" But He Yi shook her head and said, "If you¡¯re going, then we¡¯re coming as well. It¡¯s safer that way. Legendary Brave hadn¡¯t responded to our messages since he went inside, not even when we called out to him in the party channel. There must be a terrible battle going on in there." "Mn. Come on then!" I gripped my sword and took point, the three girls right behind me. A warrior, a magic knight, an archer, and a priest was a pretty standard party composition, and my Martial God gave us a 75% attack boost. We were a deadly force no matter where we went. The hall of the Burning Cave was littered with stacks upon stacks of player corpses. Some belonged to Gods of Destruction, and some belonged to Warsky Alliance. I saw a lot of dead Fire Giants as well. Only a short time had passed since Gods of Destruction arrived, but over 50% of the mobs had been killed by the two guilds! Everyone was giving their all! At the corner of the hall, I saw Warsky shouting commands at his army while October Rain shot a high-level enemy warrior at the frontline to death right next to him. Dominating Heaven Blade was swinging his Purple Thunder Battle Axe and shouting, "Cyan Tiger Fury!" Whoosh! The three Warsky Alliance warriors caught by the attack were incapable of withstanding the cyclone of energy at all, so all they could do was drop to their knees and die. Dominating Heaven Blade had first-rate skills to begin with, and his weapon was the powerful Purple Thunder Battle Axe. One on one, there was no one in Warsky Alliance who could stop him right now! Unfortunately, Dominating Heaven Blade was alone in his superiority, and his generals were even lousier than Chaos Moon, let alone the CGL Hall of Famers of Warsky Alliance. Warsky growled and hit Dominating Warrior God across the chest with a burning sword. "Explosion Slash!" Boom! The fiery explosion instantly engulfed Dominating Warrior God¡¯s body and dealt 3809 damage! Worse, the skill one-shot the mages and priests directly behind the warrior as well! Warsky¡¯s attack power was just too much for them to handle! Laughing At The Heavens launched an attack from the wing and fired a gigantic icicle from his spear. At the same time, countless tiny icicles rose from the ground and exploded right in the middle of a crowd of players. It was an AoE skill¡ªIcicle Thrust! Caught between two skills and with nowhere to run, Dominating Warrior God let out a groan and died just like that. On the other side, October Rain loosed arrow after arrow at Dominating Archer God, her attacks punching through his armor like homing snakes. Despite being healed by at least five priests at the back, the poor bastard still ate two critical hits in a row and died¡ª 3894! 4018! ¡­¡­ The gap was simply too huge. Warsky Alliance was so powerful that the so-called second greatest guild of China could barely mount a respectable resistance despite their number advantage. At the very least, no one except Dominating Heaven Blade could withstand the might of Laughing At the Heavens, Warsky and October Rain. Dominating Mage God swore through gritted teeth, "Fuck! Are we really going to lose here? We would¡¯ve won if those despicable bastards hadn¡¯t aggroed the mobs into us!" Dominating Knight God sneered. "Enough, Mage God. History is written by the victors. Let¡¯s take as many people down with us before we die!" Dominating Mage God nodded and gathered a ball of fire elements in the air. Once he completed the large fire spell, he threw it at Warsky Alliance and hit Warsky and October Rain. October Rain didn¡¯t suffer too much damage because she was a leather armor class, but Warsky lost nearly 3000 HP. The pain was so terrible that he uttered angrily, "Kill Dominating Mage God now!" "Hahaha! Come and kill me if you dare, Warsky, you coward! I¡¯m not afraid of you!" Dominating Mage God laughed loudly. Suddenly, a gleaming dagger and an expressionless face appeared behind Dominating Mage God. The masked man plunged his weapon into Dominating Mage God¡¯s neck, also the weakest point of a player character! Naturally, Farewell Song was the only one who had the power and the ability to pull off a stunt like this. Puchi! The attack easily tore a hole in Dominating Mage God¡¯s Magic Shield and deleted over two-thirds of its durability. Dominating Mage God hurriedly froze his surroundings to slow down Farewell Song and leaped to the back at the same time, but Farewell Song was already on the move as if he already knew exactly where the unfortunate mage would escape to. His prediction was perfect, and he used Blade Vortex! MISS! 3056! 3587! The first hit tore apart the Magic Shield, and the next two hits one-shot Dominating Mage God with ease. Assassins were just that deadly to all cloth-armor classes! Pop! Dominating Mage God dropped a shiny scepter, and Farewell Song grabbed it and threw it into his bag as quick as lightning. Then, he zigged out of the way Dominating Knight God¡¯s Charge and stopped at his right flank, thrusting out his dagger! His attack rhythm was practically perfect at this moment! Thud! Poisoned Weapon Kill stunned Dominating Knight God, and a smile of perfect confidence crossed Farewell Song¡¯s lips. He cut open the poor bastard¡¯s throat with Blooddrinker Slash and followed up immediately with another skill! 4024! 2487! Assassin¡¯s DPS was incredibly scary. Provided that the assassin had accumulated enough strength before the battle, they could execute between three to five offensive skills in a row. This was something a fighter class could never perform. After using two skills in a row, all fighters would have to wait 6 seconds before they could execute a combo again. If the skill wasn¡¯t a part of a combo, then the interval was 3 seconds per skill. As a result, the damage potential of the fighter classes was drastically reduced. Otherwise, who in the world could stop me if I used all my skills¡ªPardon, Desperate Gambit, Ice Ray, Thousand Mirage Slash and Purple Dragon Howl¡ªin one go? Farewell Song¡¯s killer combo deleted over 6000 HP from Dominating Knight God¡¯s health pool. But to everyone¡¯s surprise, the latter still had half his health probably because he was a player who allocated all of his five stat points in Stamina, every single level-up. With a total HP of 12000 and an average Defense, it was no wonder that he was able to survive Farewell Song¡¯s attack. The assassin muttered, "So much HP!" But it didn¡¯t matter. Two warriors¡ªLaughing At The Heavens and Warsky¡ªcharged Dominating Knight God and unleashed their double-skill combo, and even October Rain joined in on the fun and peppered the poor bastard with two arrows, killing him instantly. When Farewell Song had failed to assassinate Dominating Knight God, the latter¡¯s priests had healed him to almost 80% HP. However, even that wasn¡¯t enough to withstand the perfect teamwork of Laughing At The Heavens, Warsky, and October Rain! Frankly, their teamwork made me feel a bit apprehensive. Had Legendary Brave been in Dominating Knight God¡¯s position, had he been stunned by Farewell Song, he still would be one-shot in an instant. Speaking of which, where did Legendary Brave run off to? Just when I was about to scan my surroundings, an animalistic roar suddenly broke out from deep within the cave. Then, the ground started shaking and surprising everyone. "An earthquake? What¡¯s going on?" He Yi exclaimed in surprise while clinging to my arm. I put an arm around He Yi¡¯s waist and grabbed Beiming Xue¡¯s hand tightly with the other. Since the cave was shaking like it would collapse at any moment, even the two warring guilds had temporarily stopped fighting to catch their balance. Suddenly, the ground surface at the center of the hall started cracking as if something was trying to push its way upward. Bang! A jet of lava then burst through the cracks amidst a shower of dust and rocks. Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s a volcanic eruption?! But I quickly realized that that wasn¡¯t the case. If it was a volcanic eruption, there would be lava popping all over the place already! The next moment, a fiery red arm punched through the ground. Finally, the legendary Desert Giant King was about to show itself! Everyone¡¯s faces looked astonished but hopeful. It was a Level 140 Spirit Rank boss with a high chance of dropping powerful Spirit-grade equipment! Suddenly, I frowned a little and muttered, "Something isn¡¯t right?" "What do you mean?" He Yi asked in confusion. "Look at his hand. What is it holding?" "Ah?!" At this point, everyone noticed that only the arm of the Desert Giant King had burst through the surface, and in its hands was a player with half health. The player¡¯s face had turned red from the constriction, and he was swearing loudly, "Fuck your mother! Why are you touching me¡­" Chapter 380: Might of the Dragon Warrior Everyone in Warsky Alliance was shocked by this sudden turn of events. October Rain shouted, ¡°Get ready, everyone! The boss has finally appeared!¡± Warsky stared at the guy grabbed by the boss closely before shouting, ¡°Fuck, it¡¯s that Legendary Brave from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Get ready to kill him the second his feet hit the floor. He¡¯s probably the first person to hit the boss, so he¡¯ll steal our experience if we kill the boss without killing him!¡± Laughing At The Heavens gripped his spear and assumed a Charge stance, ready to take off at any moment. Farewell Song also entered stealth again. The pressure on Gods of Destruction was immediately lifted, but their numbers had dwindled to a couple hundred at most. After observing the battlefield and weighing his options for a moment, he lowered his voice and said, ¡°Everyone, we will retreat to the right side for now!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade was an intelligent man. He didn¡¯t give up easily even though Warsky Alliance¡¯s trap had cost him a lot. He was clearly biding his time and waiting for an opportunity to snatch the boss from under his enemies¡¯ noses to present itself. ¡­¡­ Clang! I pulled out the Heaven-stealing Sword and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go, we need to save Li Chengfeng!¡± He Yi followed behind me with the Soul Stealing Spear while Murong Mingyue spoke in the guild channel, ¡°Xu Yang, tell everyone to get into Burning Cave right now. Leave 4000 players outside the cave as guards and choose 1000 of the highest-leveled players to come inside. We must have the boss no matter what!¡± Xu Yang replied simply, ¡°Got it!¡± I wasn¡¯t trying to be stealthy, so Warsky Alliance and the others spotted me immediately. Laughing At The Heavens looked at us coldly as he sneered, ¡°Motherfucker, I knew that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls wouldn¡¯t give up this easily. Everyone, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, From Water, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue are here! Prepare for battle!¡± Warsky ordered, ¡°At The Heavens, Farewell Song, October Rain, take a hundred players with you and take out Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Everyone else, follow me and kill Legendary Brave! We won¡¯t surrender the boss experience to anyone!¡± Warsky Alliance didn¡¯t have many players left after the baptism that was the Fire Giants and the attack of the Gods of Destruction. With only 500 players or so, it was uncertain that they could kill the level 140 Spirit Rank boss even if we weren¡¯t around to threaten their lives. The situation was very serious. While drinking a health potion, Li Chengfeng pointed his sword at the Warsky Alliance players on the ground and shouted, "Fight me after the boss puts me on the ground if you dare!" Bang! Level: 140 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: A king who lurks deep within the underground, the Desert Giant King used to be a human feudal prince. After he succumbed to darkness during the Dragon Domain War, and his body was warped into that of a monster¡¯s, he became one of the many leaders of the dark. His fiery arms could split stone and mountains in half, and his hands were drenched in blood of countless humans. ¡­¡­ Everyone gasped at the same time. We couldn¡¯t see its stats because its level was way higher than ours. None of us was even close to the level we needed to challenge a boss like this! "Let go of me, bastard!" Legendary Brave shouted angrily and attacked the boss abruptly with Reverse Scale Slash. However, he was aiming at the boss''s hand instead of its head! Boom! The Desert Giant King was powerful, but not so powerful that it could withstand a powerful skill like that without flinching. Legendary Brave successfully slipped out of the boss''s grasp. Right before he was about to hit the ground, he pushed the ground with his arm and changed his trajectory without warning. It was a beautiful maneuver that allowed him to dodge Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ Charge perfectly! That wasn¡¯t all. The Desert Giant King was trying to hit Legendary Brave, and after that maneuver, Laughing At The Heavens was the one who took the hit instead. The CGL Hall of Famer raised his shield and shouted angrily as he blocked the attack! Thump! 6784! Shit, his Defense is amazing. I had to admit that Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ Defense and HP stats were truly amazing. If dozens of priests were to heal him and keep him healthy with everything they got, there was a chance Warsky Alliance could outlast the Level 140 boss! Meanwhile, I had finally reached my first victim and swung my sword at the neck of a Warsky Alliance warrior. The Heaven-stealing Sword shone brightly as it one-shot the unfortunate bastard! 7034! The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf had also jumped on top of an archer and tore into his body. That guy was probably dead as well. "Howl!" Suddenly, my pet let out a wolfish howl and sent a Fire Cyclone at my direction. The area of 10x10 yards around me was instantly engulfed in a sea of flames. Pets with magic attack would always be useful! A shadow emerged from the flames and backed away from me. It was none other than the top-class assassin, Farewell Song. The bastard was less than 10 yards away from me, but I still wasn¡¯t able to see him. I would¡¯ve been in trouble if I hadn¡¯t picked up on his killing intent and used my pet to fire a Fire Cyclone at my direction! Thud thud thud! At the same time, three arrows hit my Obsidian Dragonscale Armor and sent waves of pain throughout my body. It was of course October Rain¡¯s work. Her attack power was much too high for my liking! 1576! 1364! 1109! ¡­¡­ Thankfully, my own archer, Beiming Xue was no herbivore. Empowered by Martial God, my little sister drew her Milky Way Bow and fired 12 purple-colored arrows in a row. This was precisely the Evil Spirit Volley. Most of the arrows were aimed at a crowd of enemy, but two of them had sailed toward October Rain¡¯s direction. The beautiful archer failed to dodge out of the way, so the skill deleted most of her HP and forced her to withdraw in shock. Without a powerful Encourage buff of her own, there was no way in hell October Rain could fight Beiming Xue head-on. The girl looked so angry that her face was a grimly white color. At the distance, Warsky launched an Explosion Slash at Legendary Brave. However, the dragon warrior was superior to Warsky in terms of skill, equipment, and technique. Cutting toward Warsky¡¯s sides from an unpredictable angle, he deleted a chunk of HP from Warsky¡¯s health bar and pulled away immediately. He didn¡¯t try to rush things and risk being counterattacked. After putting enough distance between himself and Warsky, he raised an arm and growled, "Dragonrise!" Roar! A huge wave of draconic energy burst out of the ground and hit Warsky! 3102! Warsky was forced to chug down a health potion to compensate for the HP loss before charging his opponent again. Meanwhile, Legendary Brave continued to dodge most of the archers and mages¡¯ attacks with random zigzags and waited for the next opportunity to present itself. His goal was very simple. Once Warsky was dead, the guild would fall into shambles on its own! Swhoosh swhoosh! A pair of figures dashed toward Legendary Brave. Two Warsky Alliance warriors were charging him! "Heh¡­" But Legendary Brave simply smiled and moved like lightning. After he dodged both charges with S-shaped running, he zigzagged back the way he came from and sliced both his attackers¡¯ throats two times with his sword! Puchi puchi! Four damage numbers later, both warriors collapsed to the ground and died. Both the skill gap and stat gap were just too big! Warsky was absolutely furious. He had no idea that Legendary Brave was this powerful. Despite being attacked from every direction, he was still able to kill two of his elite warriors with nary a sweat on his forehead! If possible, he never wanted to fight someone like Legendary Brave! That wasn¡¯t a choice, however. Legendary Brave belonged to an enemy guild, and there was no way Warsky Alliance was giving up on the Level 140 Spirit Rank boss. Therefore, he had to kill Legendary Brave no matter what! Just as angry, October Rain ordered the dozens of archers behind her. "If your hit rate is poor then don¡¯t even bother to aim! Just fire your arrows at the general direction of Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue!" Twang twang twang twang! When the bowstrings twanged, and a dense volley of arrows filled the air, I immediately understood what October Rain was planning. Unlike older games, an archer couldn¡¯t just lock onto a target and hit their attacks 100% of the time. Since neither Beiming Xue nor Murong Mingyue were noobs, it was entirely possible for them to dodge at least 80% of the enemy¡¯s aimed shots. But if the enemy peppered an entire area with arrows instead of targeting a specific person, then some attacks were bound to hit them eventually! What an intelligent decision from October Rain! Thud thud thud! As expected, Murong Mingyue¡¯s priest shield suffered huge damage and tethered at the edge of destruction in just the blink of an eye. Beiming Xue also suffered huge damage as both girls were forced to retreat to safety. There was no way they could tank the volley of arrows head-on. Without our backline support, the pressure on He Yi and my shoulders increased instantly! Boom! I fired a Thousand Ice Slash and one-shot dozens of Warsky Alliance players. Even the few who survived had been encased in ice and put into the Frozen status. They stared at me in astonishment while swearing, "Fuck, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s skills are so broken! Boss, save us¡­" Unfortunately, Warsky couldn¡¯t spare the effort to help them right now. On one hand, he had to command the majority of his army to attack the boss. The Desert Giant King was ridiculously powerful. Not only did it have amazing physical attack, it was surrounded by a storm of fire and sand that dealt continuous damage to all players who stood too close to it. A player was killed practically once every three seconds! Around 300 Warsky Alliance players were surrounding the boss. The frontliners walked to their deaths while the mages and archers hit the boss with long-ranged attacks from the back. Unfortunately, their attack was absolutely pitiful to look at. The archers couldn¡¯t pierce the boss''s stony skin and tough armor at all, their arrows bouncing away and dealing only single-digit or double-digit numbers like 12, 8, 31, 9, 11, and so on. It was so terrible that the archers themselves looked like they wanted to vomit blood in frustration. The good news was that the Desert Giant King¡¯s defense type was ¡°heavy armor¡±, so the mages were doing much better than the archers. The average mage dealt around 100 damage or so to the boss, and the elite mages, around 500 damage or so. Unfortunately for them, it didn¡¯t seem like it would be enough. The boss had high HP and high HP regeneration, and it was regenerating at least half the damage it was receiving every second! Warsky whispered to October Rain with an ugly expression, "Little Rain, kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand as quickly as you can! We need you!" ¡­¡­ October Rain replied through gritted teeth, "I¡¯ll¡­ I¡¯ll try!" Chapter 381: Has to Be You Warsky¡¯s face was green. He must feel like he was sleeping atop a needle bed right now. When it was just the five core experts of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, the situation was still under Warsky Alliance¡¯s control. But they clearly lost the moment the main bulk of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ forces¡ªthousands of them¡ªarrived. There was just no way they could turn the tides with less than 400 players. "Fuck¡­" Warsky cursed under his breath. "God dammit! Why is it always like this? Why does Lady Luck never favor our side?" October Rain advised her guild leader from the distance, "Warsky, there¡¯s no need to hesitate. Tell everyone to teleport back to the city so we can cut our losses now!" Warsky was a smart man, so he nodded immediately before giving the order, "Everyone, it¡¯s time to withdraw. Move away from the boss and the PvP zone and teleport back to the city immediately after you¡¯re out of combat state. I¡¯ll stay behind and secure our retreat!" He actually meant what he said. Warsky walked toward us alone with a stern look in his eyes. I finally understood why Warsky was able to grow Warsky Alliance from a small guild to the extent it was. A lot of people said that Warsky was a candid, straightforward, affectionate, and true person, and so far he hadn¡¯t betrayed his code. He might be the sworn foe of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, but he was also a respectable opponent. At the very least, I would grant him an honorable death! ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi emerged from our battle line and clashed weapons with Warsky. Warsky used an Explosion Slash to delete 3000 HP from Gui Guzi¡¯s health bar, and Gui Guzi retaliated with a horizontal sweep that did around 2800 HP. However, Gui Guzi had the Undying Shield, his HP was over 12000, and all of his equipment had been upgraded to the Dark Gold grade. Two of them even were of the Outstanding category, so equipment-wise he was not one bit inferior to Warsky. Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, Moonlight Stone, Moon Dew, and the rest of our core players had been grinding maps and bosses everyday, and Gui Guzi got the first pick on all metal armor equipment that increased HP. That was how the signature magic knight of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was born, and he made for a nice match with our guild leader. Our guild might not have a top-tier assassin, but we definitely had two top-tier magic knights! Warsky continued fighting against Gui Guzi, but he wasn¡¯t able to gain anything from his last stand. In the end, our players such as High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun charged him and took most of his HP, leaving Chaos Moon to deal the last blow. However, Warsky didn¡¯t lose any equipment probably because he had good karma. Though he did drop a ton of potions. ¡­¡­ But Laughing At The Heavens and Farewell Song weren¡¯t so lucky. After sacrificing a couple dozen of fighters to keep the boss busy while the rest of them retreated, Laughing At The Heavens withdrew to a corner together and exited combat state. But just as they tried to crush a return scroll and teleport back to Sky City, a cyan figure suddenly appeared and charged them! Thud! After Laughing At The Heavens was stunned, the cyan figure then struck Farewell Song once with his sword and forced him to enter combat state once more. He sneered, "Not so fast, you two!" The cyan figure was none other than our Legendary Brave. What was he doing? Was he trying to challenge two CGL Hall of Famers himself? This guy really was as fearless as his name. It was exactly as I thought. After blocking Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ counter attack, Legendary Brave bent his waist a little and kicked Farewell Song¡¯s dagger. Then, he swiftly regained his balance and charged the assassin again. Furious by the interruption, Farewell Song shouted angrily, "It¡¯s your funeral, motherfucker!" Clang! He parried Legendary Brave¡¯s sword with his left dagger and stabbed him in the chest with his right dagger. Then, he twisted his wrist and unleashed Blade Vortex! 1984! 2102! 1895! The burst damage was great and deadly. That one skill left Li Chengfeng with only 30% HP or so. But Li Chengfeng calmly retaliated with a straight punch to the chest that dealt 1654 damage. While the assassin was completely off-balance, he brought his sword to Farewell Song¡¯s neck and smiled. "I guess I expected too much from the number one assassin of Warsky Alliance..." Puchi! Just like that, he cut a hole in Farewell Song¡¯s body and killed him! Li Chengfeng grew even calmer after killing Farewell Song. He jumped to the back at the same time he spun around just in time to parry a thrust from Laughing At The Heavens Then, like a slippery loach he slipped behind the latter and used the Dragonrise skill. His longsword glowed brightly, and a draconic roar deafened the ear. A new skill exploded behind Laughing At The Heavens! "Dragonbone Flurry!" His cyan sword transformed into a sharp dragon bone, and he hit Laughing At The Heavens three times in a row. The damage he dealt was positively insane¡ª 2984! 2877! 3018! ¡­¡­ Laughing At The Heavens himself was completely dumbfounded by the damage he took. Utterly depressed, he collapsed to his knees right in front of the mighty dragon warrior. He never thought that he and Farewell Song would lose this horribly despite this being a 2 on 1 battle. There was basically nothing they could do at all. "Fuck¡­" Xu Yang swore under his breath. "Brave is so strong! He¡¯s probably at the same level as Lu Chen now, isn¡¯t he?" He Yi smiled but said nothing. Chaos Moon shook her head before explaining, "Not exactly. You need to remember that outside factors matter as well. Warsky Alliance just suffered a terrible defeat, and Warsky was killed. How do you expect them to focus when even the heart of their guild is gone? Of course, Legendary Brave is undeniably powerful, but he definitely took advantage of his opponents¡¯ moment of weakness as well." Xu Yang nodded before breaking into a grin. "Regardless, Li Chengfeng definitely proved himself to be a match for Farewell Song at least. Also, did we just beat Warsky Alliance in a direct battle? Does that mean we¡¯re overall stronger than Warsky Alliance?" He Yi replied with a smile, "That¡¯s right. Now focus! It¡¯s time to take down the boss!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Legendary Brave picked up the shield Laughing At The Heavens had dropped and threw it into Gui Guzi¡¯s hands, saying, "Dragon warriors can¡¯t use a shield, so this is yours¡­" Gui Guzi stared at the shield in astonishment. "2-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade¡­" Li Chengfeng hadn¡¯t even checked the shield¡¯s stats before he passed it to Gui Guzi. He was a wealthy man, so he didn¡¯t collect every penny he found on the ground. Of course, Gui Guzi accepted the shield gladly and promised to treat Li Chengfeng when he was free. Li Chengfeng nodded before patting Gui Guzi¡¯s shoulder. "Don¡¯t forget your promise! The next time I¡¯m in Suzhou, I expect you to treat me for a whole week!" Gui Guzi laughed heartily at that. I walked to the front and looked at the boss standing absentmindedly at the distance. After killing all the Warsky players it could kill and losing the aggro, the boss looked a bit lonely from here. Therefore, I ordered, "Get ready, everyone. You should¡¯ve all seen it already, but this boss has a close-range skill that deals damage over time to anything within a certain range. It¡¯s actually a bad idea to swarm it, not to mention that our priests wouldn¡¯t be able to heal our frontliners in time to save them. The best way to tank this boss is to send our best tanks to the front one by one." "Yeah!" Legendary Brave nodded in agreement. "I¡¯ve tested out the boss''s Attack just now, and I can tell you that it can delete over 70% of my HP in one hit. Long story short, it can one-hit or two-hit kill almost anyone!" He Yi asked, "Who should be the first tank then? Priests, please enter your respective positions and get ready to heal." Du Thirteen said, "Little Gui has the highest Defense and HP out of all of us, so he should go first!" I nodded. "Alright then. Little Gui, you first!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi nodded and rushed the boss fearlessly. Then, he executed Flame Thrust and Blaze to draw its aggro on him. However, the boss was huge, and Gui Guzi was only tall enough to reach its knee cap. The damage he dealt to the boss was mind-bogglingly pathetic¡ª 398! 411! Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes turned as wide as saucers. "Fuck, my¡­ my skill is Rank 9, and Boss Broken Halberd¡¯s Martial God is still active. How is my damage so low¡­" Li Chengfeng smiled. "Eh, I think it¡¯s fine. None of Warsky Alliance¡¯s archers managed to hit it for over 100 damage, you know¡­" Gui Guzi: "..." Tickled by the ant that was Gui Guzi, the boss let out a roar and swung its fiery arms at him. To our surprise, it was the skill Desperate Gambit! Bang! Gui Guzi¡¯s shield shook like a leaf when the blow connected. He also lost an incredible amount of HP! 7942! Everyone was stunned by the boss''s power. If even Gui Guzi couldn¡¯t tank the boss safely, then the rest of us would only fare worse. Beiming Xue cried out, "All long-range players, get ready! Mages, I want you to hit the boss with Ice Dragon Howls! Don¡¯t worry about OT and just hit it with everything you got!" Murong Mingyue also brought Moon Dew and several other priests to the frontlines and focused all their healing on Gui Guzi while the latter was doing his best to keep the boss''s aggro on him at all times. Boom boom boom! Our mages started unleashing their Ice Dragon Howls on the Desert Giant King. Although we didn¡¯t have a super mage like Luo River God of the Capital, everyone was able to deal a sizable amount of magic damage. In Moonlight Stone¡¯s case, every Ice Dragon Howl she fired at the boss dealt around 1500 damage or so because she had good level and equipment. Beiming Xue also dealt a lot more damage to the boss than Gui Guzi. For example, a single Evil Spirit Volley from her deleted around 1000 HP from the boss''s health bar. It was to be expected, however. Gui Guzi was a 3-Stamina 2-Strength defender, so it was only natural that he had less attack power than Beiming Xue. The rest of us frontliners simply stood at the sidelines and waited for our turn. If Gui Guzi died, then one of us would replace him. If someone tried to take the boss from us, it was also our responsibility to stop them. We wouldn¡¯t give up the boss''s experience and equipment to anyone! Suddenly, the Desert Giant King roared and charged toward the mages. It was an OT! With just one sweep of its arms, the boss had one-shot all the mages within its attack range except Moonlight Stone, who was saved by her powerful Magic Shield! Xu Yang frowned. "This isn¡¯t good. Gui Guzi can tank the boss without dying, but¡­ he didn¡¯t have enough offensive power to keep the boss''s attention on him at all times. If this continues, we will suffer huge losses¡­" I gripped my sword and stepped out. "I¡¯ll go!" Chapter 382: Bombshell Gui Guzi pulled back to try and take back the boss''s aggro to no avail. Growing increasingly anxious, I pulled out the Heaven-stealing Sword, predicted the boss''s next position and activated Thunderous Charge! Whoosh! I hit the boss''s thigh like a lightning bolt. The thunderous energy circulated throughout its body and stunned it immediately! Bang! At the same time, I stomped the ground and hit it three times in a row with War Crush¡ª 2475! 2298! 2364! After that, I attacked its groin area with Pardon + basic attack on purpose. I mean, it looked like the Desert Giant King¡¯s groin area was covered in a patch of stony skin, so why not? MISS! 6984! Heh, not bad at all! Finally figuring out the boss''s weak point, I shouted to everyone, "All archers, aim at its groin area, understand?" At the distance, Beiming Xue turned as red as an apple. "No I don¡¯t¡­" It didn¡¯t matter though. Archers weren¡¯t meant to be this boss''s killer, mages were. It was because archers couldn¡¯t penetrate the Desert Giant King¡¯s stone-skin armor with their arrows. In total, my 5-hit combo hit the boss for over 14000 HP and captured its attention completely. A boss usually attacked the player who did the most damage or healed the most in a party, and right now I was undoubtedly the most hated enemy. Whoosh! Fire surrounded the boss as it swung its arms at me. It was yet another double-hit skill. I hurriedly raised my arms to reduce the damage I would take as much as possible. In VR, the amount of damage taken was deeply connected to stats, positioning, distance, and many other factors. Long story short, a player would always take less damage if they blocked an attack with their arms instead of their face. Bang bang! 4120! 4098! I could feel the blood in my face draining away after taking over 8000 damage in one go. I quickly attacked the boss twice and used Tenacity of the Dead at the same time, healing myself for over 2000 HP. Behind me, Murong Mingyue and the others also threw all their healing spells on me and dragged me back to full health! Unfortunately, this setup still wasn¡¯t perfect. I could still die if the boss scored a critical hit on me! It was at this moment Pure Love put her flute to her lips and blew a melodious tune. Several lines of text immediately appeared in my combat log¡ª Combat Log: Player "Pure Love" used "Divine Valor", increasing your Attack by 20% (Tactics +59%)! Combat Log: Player "Pure Love" used "Death Match", increasing your Defense by 20% (Tactics +59%)! Combat Log: Player "Pure Love" used "Nichang", increasing your critical rate by 25% (Tactics +59%)! Combat Log: Player "Pure Love" used "Forge", increasing your hit rate by 25% (Tactics +59%)! ¡­¡­ My Attack and Defense stats were especially eye-catching. My stats were already pretty high to begin with, but it was downright ridiculous if you factored in the 75% buff from my Martial God, the 10% buff from War Holy Temple and now the 30% buff from Divine Valor. At my current level of attack power, I could hit the boss for over 4000 damage with a single basic attack. High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun couldn¡¯t help but click their tongues in shock. "Fuck, how the heck is the vice leader so powerful¡­" Xu Yang smiled. "That¡¯s just the norm for a top-class CGL Hall of Famer, hahaha!" Everyone laughed heartily alongside him. The boss fight was now a lot safer since I was just tanky enough to tank the boss, and most definitely powerful enough to keep all its attention on me. Gui Guzi was a fine tank, but his offensive power was so lacking that the boss had run amok like a thirsty wife who had been left hanging for several centuries straight... Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng jumped into fray himself after acquiring the buffs of another beautiful bard. His sword cut through the boss''s stone skin three times in a row! Clang clang clang! Three damage numbers appeared above the boss''s thigh¡ª 2084! 2174! 1937! ¡­¡­ Not bad! At the very least, his attack power was way higher than Gui Guzi¡¯s. It was no wonder he managed to solo Laughing At The Heavens and Farewell Song and come out the decisive victor. This dragon warrior was even stronger than I initially imagined him to be! Seemingly enraged by our success, the boss abruptly raised his arms and let out a throaty roar. A swirl of fiery red clouds appeared on the cave ceiling, and burning rocks suddenly rained from above! It was an AoE skill! A powerful one, no less! Even worse was the fact that the skill covered nearly one-quarter of the entire cave. Hundreds of players were caught within the attack! Boom! A burning rock exploded atop my shoulder and made me feel like my shoulder was being torn apart. At the same time, a huge damage number entered my view¡ª3987! Scary! If even I with my Magic Resist took this much damage, then how could the rest of our players possibly survive this? I looked up and saw countless players dying to the skill as expected. Things were especially bad for the archers and the priests, who were one-shot almost the second they were smashed by the falling rocks. The mages fared a bit better since their Magic Shield was strong enough to block one attack, but only one. For a time it was complete chaos, and the channeled skill wasn¡¯t ending any time soon! A line of text on the window indicated that the skill wouldn¡¯t end until 30 seconds later! There was no way we could allow this to happen! I hurriedly swallowed a health potion and shouted to Legendary Brave. "Chengfeng, interrupt the boss now!" "Mn!" Li Chengfeng backed 5 yards away from the boss before activating Charge! MISS! Oh man, he failed to stun the boss! Frustrated, I swung my sword like crazy in an attempt to trigger the Paralyzed status to no avail. The Desert Giant King was a high-rank boss, so I supposed it made sense that its resistance was much higher than normal! I backed away from the boss, and Li Chengfeng read my mind and replaced my original position immediately, keeping the boss busy. He was a true genius! Whoosh! I activated my Thunderous Charge, but it was still a MISS. Behind me, even Wolf Fang, a powerful high-level warrior had perished to the skill as well. Growing increasingly anxious, I fired my Thousand Ice Slash and prayed that the Frozen status, however small its proc rate was, would take effect! Finally, my karma started working again and encased the boss''s thighs in ice, interrupting its skill and forcing it to stop. Mn, Thousand Ice Slash was even better than before after it was enhanced! However, that was all we could do because the blazing heat surrounding the boss''s body had been cutting away at our armor all this time. Both Li Chengfeng and I were more or less at our absolute limit, so we both backed away from the boss and shouted at the same time, "Run!" The boss shattered the ice that was immobilizing it and chased after us as we ran. With only one-third of my health left, I didn¡¯t think that I would endure even one basic attack from the boss! Thankfully, Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew, and the others weren¡¯t too far away from us. After they healed me back to full with their healing spells, I turned a hundred and eighty degrees around and rushed the boss again. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, this ultimate skill "Blazing Rock" should have a pretty long cooldown, so we should try to defeat it before it was up again. Li Chengfeng didn¡¯t join the fight because he felt that his Defense was lacking. Xu Yang and Gui Guzi took this opportunity to ask Li Chengfeng humbly about his footwork technique when he fought against Farewell Song and Laughing At The Heavens earlier. Surprisingly, Li Chengfeng agreed to teach them immediately and started drawing on the sandy floor. He said with a smile, "In a PvP battle, you can¡¯t just charge at your enemies in a straight line. First, you need to identify their objectives and observe their surroundings. You need to predict what they¡¯ll do next and where they¡¯ll be later. After you dodge their attack, you should move to the position you predicted they¡¯d move to and wait for them to walk right into your weapon!" Chaos Moon nodded. "He¡¯s absolutely correct. Lu Chen did this incredibly well when he was fighting against Farewell Song, Little Piglet, and Shangguan Wan¡¯er. He was always able to predict their moves beforehand and play them like a fiddle. It was so nice to see Little Piglet being surprised¡­" Li Chengfeng laughed in agreement. "Yeah, I watched the vice leader¡¯s battle just now, and he absolutely deserved his title as the 12th CGL Hall of Famer and Little Heavenly King!" Xu Yang grinned. "Farewell Song is the 16th CGL Hall of Famer and Laughing At the Heavens the 18th, but you killed them both with ease as well, didn¡¯t you?" "Haha, nah, they were just careless, that¡¯s all!" ¡­¡­ Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye, and the boss''s health had dropped to one-third or so. Behind me, a large group of mages were firing Ice Dragon Howls after Ice Dragon Howls at the boss and deleting its HP at an incredible rate. Well, it was only natural considering there were hundreds of us, and only one boss. The Desert Giant King was also unfortunate that its opponent was the core force of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and not some random noobs it could trash with ease. With me as the tank, it could do nothing but be destroyed. "Ahem¡­" Seeing that the boss had dropped to low health, I let out a cough to capture everyone¡¯s attention before saying, "Brothers and sisters, please quiet down a little. There¡¯s something I would like to say to all of you." "Of course." Li Chengfeng smiled. "Speak!" High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, and the others also fell silent as well. It was almost as if I was announcing the Code of Hammurabi or something. ¡­¡­ I cleared my throat again and said, "Warsky Alliance¡¯s leader, Warsky, is at the same level as Farewell Song; Gods of Destruction guild¡¯s leader, Dominating Heaven Blade, is the highest-leveled player in his guild; and Snowy Cathaya¡¯s guild leader, Beauty Lin, is way stronger than everyone else in her guild. However, our guild leader¡­ how should I put it? Eve has to fly all over the globe every day for business, and she barely had any time at all to level up her character. Therefore, I would like Eve to take the last hit on the boss and obtain 50% of the experience. As compensation, Eve and I would stay out of the dice roll and give all the equipment to our core members. What do you all think?" Li Chengfeng nodded. "I have no problems with that." High Fighting Spirits shrugged carelessly. "Sure, no one can dispute the guild leader getting the lion¡¯s share of the experience. In fact, giving it to anyone else could cause some dissatisfaction in the guild. That would be sad." Chaos Moon smiled. "It¡¯s decided then!" I nodded and looked at He Yi. "When the boss''s health drops to less than 2%, I want you to replace me and attack when I tell you to. Do your best to get the last hit, alright?" "Okay!" He Yi nodded gratefully. "Thank you, everyone!" But before anyone could answer her, a system ding stunned all of us to speechlessness¡ª Ding~! Chapter 383: Titan Barrier "What? Beauty Lin became a Famous General?" Xu Yang exclaimed in shock. Li Chengfeng sucked in a deep breath and said, "What an incredible female gamer. Not only is she the second Famous General of Sky City, she¡¯s probably the third player to complete her fourth promotion quest in China, isn¡¯t she?" Gui Guzi nodded. "Mn. Wind Fantasy is an incredibly skillful and intelligent player. Her combat tactics are pretty unique as well. Back when I first ran into her Floating Ice City, my chances of winning against her were less than 10%. She was the one who PK¡¯d me from first place all the way out of Floating Ice City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking¡­" A meaningful smile crossed Du Thirteen¡¯s lips. "What are you talking about, Little Gui? Your chances of winning against Wind Fantasy are still less than 10%, just like before..." Gui Guzi teared up immediately. "Fuck you, Brother B! You didn¡¯t need to say the truth to my face¡­" Du Thirteen laughed heartlessly. "Kakakakaka¡­" ¡­¡­ Still fighting against the boss, I brought up the Famous General Ranking. As I thought, the first three IDs at the top were inked in gold, and they were of course Candlelight Shadow, I and Lin Yixin. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Famous General Skill was Ghost God Prophecy, mine was Martial God, and Lin Yixin¡¯s was Bombshell. When I checked the description of her skill, I was stunned by how powerful it was¡ª Bombshell: Beseech the power of the goddess and increase the stats of all party members within 1000 yards by 25%. Costs 1 MP per second. Skill exclusive to player "Wind Fantasy". ¡­¡­ Fuck! What¡­ what is this? Increase the stats of all party members by 25%? Does that mean that everyone¡¯s Attack, Defense, Agility, HP, Magic Resist and so on would all be increased by 25%? I sucked in a deep breath. As the skill name might suggest, Lin Yixin¡¯s Famous General Skill really was a bombshell. My Martial God might be the best skill in the entire world if we looked at grinding efficiency alone, but in terms of PvP there was nothing stronger than Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell. To have all stats increased by 25% was like having a superbard following you wherever you went. It was just awesome! He Yi smiled. "Things are getting more and more interesting. The Guild Wars haven¡¯t even begun yet, and there are three Famous Generals in China¡¯s servers already. This level of competition is simply incredible." Xu Yang grinned. "Candlelight Shadow must be feeling a ton of pressure right now, isn¡¯t he? Wind City is now outnumbered 2 to 1 in terms of the number of Famous Generals." But Li Chengfeng said, "Not necessarily. I¡¯ve met Candlelight Shadow before, and I know him as an arrogant man whose blood pumps harder the stronger his opponents become. People like him are incredibly difficult to deal with." Li Chengfeng pondered for a moment before answering, "To be honest, not really. I would be lucky to have even a 30% chance of winning!" "What?" Xu Yang exclaimed in shock. "Is Candlelight Shadow really that powerful?" "Of course. He isn¡¯t called the number one player in China for nothing, you know." ¡­¡­ I ignored their conversation and focused most of my attention on the boss. At the same time, I sent a call request. A couple seconds later, Lin Yixin¡¯s melodious voice came from the other side of the communicator. "How is it? My Famous General Skill didn¡¯t disappoint you, did it?" I asked in a strange tone, "Of course not. In fact, I want to ask you if a GM of the game happens to be a relative of yours." "Of course not!" "How many Tactics do you have right now, Yiyi?" "64. What¡¯s wrong?" "Mn, that means Bombshell adds around 41% to every stat. That¡¯s seriously incredible. Let¡¯s find a day to kill some bosses together. Increased HP, increased Defense, increased crit rate, et cetera... This skill is just perfect for killing bosses!" "Hehe, sure. Let¡¯s do that when we¡¯re both free!" I turned off the communicator and turned my attention back on the boss again! About five minutes later, the Desert Giant King used its stupidly powerful Blazing Rock skill again. This time, the bastard killed almost 400 players before we finally stopped it. Thankfully, the Level 140 Spirit Rank boss had lost most of its HP, and our torment was nearing its end. My heart rate seemed to increase at the same rate the boss was losing its health! "2%! Eve, now¡¯s the time! Everyone, stop attacking! Priests, keep the guild leader healed at all costs!" I hollered before dishing one last combo to drop the boss''s HP to 1%. I watched its health pool closely as He Yi ran over to delete its last sliver of HP! My beautiful guild leader hit the boss with an Ice Ray + Heavy Slash right from the start! 2304! 2271! Not bad. The Soul Stealing Spear was a Purple Gold¨Cgrade weapon with amazing Attack after all! The boss looked away from me and turned to attack He Yi instead, but thankfully her health pool and Defense were good enough to tank the boss without dying instantly. Behind her, the guild¡¯s priests also did their best to keep her healthy! He Yi¡¯s DPS just barely exceeded the boss''s regen, so it took another excruciating seven or eight minutes for her to finally kill it with a Green Wave Slash. It was as if a volcano was crumbling when the Level 140 Spirit Rank boss howled in despair and collapsed. Burning hot lava and a bunch of equipment and items piled across the ground. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... A column of light flashed around He Yi several times in a row, and He Yi was overjoyed to find herself sitting at Level 99. She looked at me excitedly while declaring, "I¡¯m Level 99 and 57% full right now! I should be able to do my fourth promotion quest in two days max!" I nodded just as joyfully. I thought that the Level 140 Spirit Rank boss might be a treasure trove of experience, and I wasn¡¯t disappointed. Not only did He Yi level up 4 times in total, even I got 5.5% experience from the boss and saw my experience bar fill up to 10% or so, at Level 105. Of course, everyone else in the party got some experience as well. Li Chengfeng had even gained a level out of it. "Haha, I can¡¯t believe I leveled up when I barely did anything at all! Tsk tsk, Level 140 bosses are so awesome!" Li Chengfeng laughed. Murong Mingyue walked toward the boss''s corpse and scanned the loot for a moment. Then, she took all the equipment and showed us their stats screens. The boss dropped five items in total, and practically all of them were top-tier equipment. Well, I was the party leader with 15 Luck, and we killed a boss who outleveled even the highest-leveled player of ours by 35. It would be stranger if the equipment turned out terrible. The items were three Purple Gold¨Cgrade armor pieces, one Dark Gold¨Cgrade axe and an orange shield. I was almost certain that the shield was the best equipment out of everything we got! As expected, all the items dropped by the boss were pretty amazing, so much so that we couldn¡¯t stop exclaiming our admiration¡ª Vibration Wristguards: Metal armor, Purple Gold¨Cgrade Outstanding¡ï. Defense +250, Magic Resist +175, Strength +70, Stamina +62. Outstanding Property: 2% chance to trigger a vibrating attack that stuns the target for 3 seconds. Slots: 1. Level Requirement: 125 Dream Chest Armor: Leather armor, Purple Gold¨Cgrade Outstanding¡ï¡ï. Defense +240, Magic Resist +150, Agility +72, Stamina +65. Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s long-range physical attack power by 17%. Slots: 1. Level Requirement: 125 Priestess Robe: Cloth armor, Purple Gold¨Cgrade. Defense +170, Magic Resist +100, Intelligence +55, Stamina +48. Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 6%. Level Requirement: 125 Edgebreaker Battle Axe: Weapon, Dark Gold¨Cgrade Outstanding¡ï¡ï. Attack: 475~670, Strength +65, Stamina +58. Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 24%. Slots: 1. Level Requirement: 125 ¡­¡­ He Yi and I acted as the judges as our core players rolled the dice to determine who the items would go to. In the end, Xu Yang got the Vibrating Wristguards and Beiming Xue got the Dream Chest Armor without competition. She was the only one in our main party who could utilize the 2-star Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade chest armor to its full potential. As a result, her long-range attack power was increased even further. Moonlight Stone also got the Priestess Robe without competition. The sad fact was that our guild barely had any first-rate female mages to begin with, and to help Moonlight Stone was to help ourselves. The Edgebreaker Battle Axe went to High Fighting Spirits because he was the one who rolled the highest score out of all competing fighters. If we could get everyone a Convenience Gem and reduce the level requirement on these items by 20, their strength would increase drastically. Finally, Murong Mingyue brought up the orange-colored shield and smiled teasingly. "It¡¯s time for the climax. Can anyone guess what grade this equipment is?" Li Chengfeng replied with shiny eyes, "Could it be the legendary Spirit-grade equipment?" "Hehe, correct! You don¡¯t get any prize for getting it right though!" Murong Mingyue waved her hand across the shield and brought up its stats screen. A stunned silence wrapped the cave for a time¡ª Titan Barrier (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 780 Magic Resist: 540 Strength: +90 Stamina: +85 Passive: Increases user¡¯s HP by a fixed amount of 2000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 12% Slots: 3 Outstanding Property: 25% chance to reflect all damage Introduction: The Titans were an ancient divine race that gone extinct a long time ago. They were often described to be as big as a mountain range or as vast as the sea. Their souls were scattered across the continent after they passed away, and under the World Tree¡¯s guidance, most of them were gathered unto a giant rock and transformed into a tough barrier. It became a holy shield that the humans are proficient at using. Level Requirement: 125 ¡­¡­ "Wah, a 4-star Outstanding Spirit-grade equipment¡­" Beiming Xue¡¯s mouth was agape. "Just look at its stats! Heavens, this is broken as heck¡­" Xu Yang smiled a little. "It looks like today is the lucky day of the guild¡¯s magic knights¡­" I looked around. Truth be told, there were only so many top-tier magic knights in our party, and they were He Yi and Gui Guzi. The rest just weren¡¯t up to snuff. So I said, "I promised everyone that Eve and I would not be taking any equipment before we slayed the boss, so we¡¯ll be giving to the highest guild contributor instead, also known as Gui Guzi. Does anyone object to this?" Li Chengfeng lowered his voice and said menacingly, "Obey the leader, or he might find you after it¡¯s dark outside!" "Fuck you!" "Hahaha!" He¡¯s a member of the Ministry of Public Security alright. Dude really knows what to do in situations like this. Murong Mingyue tossed the Titan Barrier to Gui Guzi¡¯s hands and said, "Work hard, okay? This shield has a level requirement of 125, and you are still a ways away from it!" Gui Guzi nodded strongly. "I will not let your hard work go to waste, leader!" Murong Mingyue curled her lips in response. I walked up to the loot and looked around for a bit. After I found a Convenience Gem, I gave it to Gui Guzi immediately and said, "Slot that in. It¡¯ll reduce the Level Requirement by 20, meaning that you will be able to equip this once you hit Level 105!" Chapter 384: Frozen Unfortunately, the boss only dropped one Convenience Gem, and I even gave it to Gui Guzi of my own initiative. That being said, everyone knew that Gui Guzi needed the shield more than everyone else, so it made sense to give it to him. A bit of envy peeked out of He Yi¡¯s features as she stared at the Titan Barrier. She looked at me, curled her lips but didn¡¯t say anything. I caught her look and wrapped an arm around her delicate shoulders with a smile. Then, I whispered next to her ears, "It¡¯s fine, there will always be more bosses to kill, and this is just a Spirit-grade shield. Look ahead! I¡¯ll get you Immortal-grade shields, Earth-grade shields, Heaven-grade shields, and even Divine-grade shields in the future!" He Yi snorted before rolling her eyes at me. "Alright, you said it. You can¡¯t go back on your words now, you hear me?" "Mn, a nobleman¡¯s word is his whip!" "Heh¡­" ¡­¡­ The boss also dropped two Cyanfire Gems and two Dragonstone Gems. Since He Yi and I weren¡¯t partaking in the looting, they were divided between Chaos Moon, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Legendary Brave, and others. Li Chengfeng had slotted in the Cyanfire Gem he got into his sword on the spot, and when I asked him about it I learned that it was a Level 95 Dark Gold¨Cgrade weapon with a slot in it. Its stats were weaker than High Fighting Spirits¡¯ Edgebreaker Battle Axe, but it was still pretty good. ¡­¡­ After the boss was dead, we got ready to split up for dinner or more grinding. It was at this moment Lin Yixin sent me a message: "Hey, Little Cheat?" "I¡¯m here. What is it?" "I heard that your guild just got a couple of Level 125 super-tier equipment. Is that true?" "WTF? How did you hear about this so quickly?" "Hehe, that¡¯s a secret¡­ Anyway, I have two Convenience Gems with me. Are you interested in them? I can sell them for cheap to you¡­" "Sure! See you at the eastern gate of Sky City then!" "Okay!" I immediately took out a return scroll and teleported back to Sky City in a white flash. After waiting at the plaza of the eastern gate for a moment, I saw Lin Yixin walking up to me. She was a Level 100 player now, and she seemed to have gotten a new weapon. It still had moonlight running across its edges, but unlike the Moonlight Sword, it was also covered in ice. "That new weapon of yours looks pretty good," I greeted her with a smile. Lin Yixin smiled back before holding her sword across my chest and bringing up its stats screen. I was shocked. Where on earth did she get something this amazing? Frozen Sword (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 570~825 Strength: +92 Stamina: +90 Passive: Increases user¡¯s attack power by 30% Passive: Increases splash damage by 10% Property: Level Requirement reduced by 20 Outstanding Property: Shot. When attacking a target, shoot up to 5 nearby enemy targets as well. Introduction: Several thousand years ago, an imperial general led a military expedition into the Dragon Domain. His army of elites had numbered tens of thousands. However, a devil cast a spell and trapped them, causing them to froze to death amid ice and snow. The imperial general swore revenge before he lost his life, and his soul merged with the sword, becoming its soul. Now, the Frozen Sword had once again appeared to cut down its enemies with its freezing edge. Level Requirement: 115 ¡­¡­ Holy shit! It was a 3-star Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon, one that she could use because she had lowered its level requirement with a Convenience Gem. Splash damage was always amazing, but this Outstanding Property "Shot" made it even better. Lin Yixin¡¯s grinding speed was already pretty amazing, but this weapon boosted it to a whole new height. It looked like my top position on the Heavenly Ranking was in danger. "Fuck, where did you find such an amazing weapon?" Deeply concerned for her wellbeing, I asked, "Who¡¯s the person who bought your loyalty, Yiyi? Or worse, did you finally give yourself up to a sugardaddy¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes gleamed murderously as she punched me. "This is a boss loot! Who do you think I am? There¡¯s no way in hell I¡¯d ever become anyone¡¯s sugarbaby or whatever. I swear I¡¯ll beat you into a pulp if you let your imagination run wild again, you bastard! Seriously¡­" I smiled. "But that can¡¯t be right, I remember that that Envoy of Darkness you killed is a Purple Gold Rank boss. I¡¯m pretty sure they don¡¯t drop Spirit-grade equipment¡­" "Not necessarily. It¡¯s all a matter of luck. Purple Gold Rank boss have one in ten thousand chance to drop Spirit-grade equipment, and I got lucky, that¡¯s all..." "Really?" "Really." Lin Yixin stared at me for a moment before punching my chest again. "OMG, stop looking at me that way?! I¡¯m not a sugarbaby, and I¡¯m not dating a GM! To begin with, there isn¡¯t even a GM in Heavenblessed! I¡¯m seriously going to kill you if you keep this up, I swear!" I finally couldn¡¯t hold in my laughter any longer. An upset Fruit Knife Goddess was just too cute for words. ¡­¡­ "Alright alright, time to get serious. Do you have the Convenience Gems?" I asked. "Mn." Lin Yixin nodded. "This Envoy of Darkness was such a generous boss that I¡¯m almost worried it was a bug. He dropped 5 gems in total, and 3 of them were Convenience Gems, sigh¡­" I said expressionlessly, "You must be so happy you can die, huh? These days gems are practically priceless on the market¡­" Lin Yixin giggled. "Yes, yes, you¡¯re totally right. Anyway, I still have 2 Convenience Gems after using 1 of them on my new weapon. Do you want them?" I recalled Beiming Xue¡¯s Dream Chest Armor and High Fighting Spirits¡¯ Edgebreaker Battle Axe stats for a bit. Both equipment added attack power, a stat that they both desperately needed right now. Yes, I definitely couldn¡¯t skip on these 2 Convenience Gems. I could only imagine how sad they would be if they had to wait until they were Level 125 before they could finally equip these items. In Beiming Xue¡¯s case, the anxiety might fuck with her hormones and stunt her growth. That would be absolutely terrible, wouldn¡¯t it? So I nodded and said, "Mn, I want both. By the way, we are close, aren¡¯t we? Can I get an intimacy discount or something?" Lin Yixin glared at me for a moment before she started scolding me, "Are we? Why didn¡¯t I know about that? Hmph, intimacy discount, huh? Fine, I can give you a 1.5% discount based on the current market value. Right now a Convenience Gem costs about 40k in the market, but since you¡¯re getting it from me you¡¯re gonna have to pay 60k per gem instead. 2 Convenience Gems makes 120k, and after the discount it¡¯ll be 118K¡­" I grabbed her hand and begged, "Come on, we¡¯re on the same side, aren¡¯t we? Don¡¯t you feel sad slaughtering your own companion¡¯s wallet?" Lin Yixin tried to shake off my hand to no avail, so she simply glared at me and replied, "Why would I be sad? I like it when you look gloomy. By the way, I¡¯m going to scream if you don¡¯t let go. It won¡¯t be my fault if you get beaten up¡­" I hurriedly withdrew my hand and looked around me. She wasn¡¯t kidding. Seven or eight barbarian players had risen to their feet, grabbed their weapons, and stared at me menacingly from behind their stalls. If the Fruit Knife Goddess did give the order, I didn¡¯t doubt that they would attack me and slice me into pieces... ¡­¡­ I gritted my teeth before relenting. "Fine, but 118k really is too much. How about 100k? We¡¯re old friends, right¡­" Lin Yixin said nothing and watched me playfully for a moment. Finally, she burst into laughter before taking out two Convenience Gems from her bag and pushed it into my hands. "Oh you, I was just kidding. This is my gift to you. You really think I would extort you for money? I¡¯m not as poor as I used to be, alright? You bastard, I can¡¯t believe how low your opinion of me is¡­" I stared wordlessly at the shining gems in my palm for a moment. When I looked up again, I barely caught a glimpse of Lin Yixin¡¯s back before she vanished into a corner. Sigh, she¡¯s right. I really am a bastard! ¡­¡­ I sent Beiming Xue and High Fighting Spirits a message and told them to come over. Not long after, Beiming Xue appeared at the square and walked up to me with a smile. "What¡¯s the matter, big bro?" I took out a Convenience Gem and said, "Take this. Now you can wear the Dream Chest Armor at Level 105 instead of Level 125¡­" "Ah?" Beiming Xue¡¯s mouth fell open in astonishment. "Where¡­ where did you get this, big bro? It must¡¯ve cost you a lot to get this, am I right?" I nodded. "Yeah, it did." In my mind, I thought to myself: Sigh, I owe Beauty Lin a big one this time. How on earth am I going to return the favor? I could give her my life, but I¡¯m not sure if she would want something like that even if I throw myself at her, not to mention that it would be rude. Beiming Xue was an incredibly intelligent girl. Somehow, she managed to figure out who gave me the gem from my expression. "Big bro, Sister Lin Yixin is the one who gave you this gem, isn¡¯t she?" "Fuck, you know too much!" I glared at her. Beiming Xue simply giggled. "Just treat her to a meal when you¡¯re free. If you¡¯re embarrassed then I can do it on your behalf and play the lightbulb for both of you." She also added, "If I were you, I would¡¯ve chased Lin Yixin with everything I got a long time ago. You know that she¡¯s the campus belle, right? Countless people are trying to win her heart everyday. If you don¡¯t act fast, and she becomes someone else¡¯s girlfriend, no amount of regret will be enough to turn back the wheel of time¡­" I watched my cute little sister for a moment. Her advice sounded a bit unreliable coming from her, but it didn¡¯t change the fact that it made a lot of sense. There were only so many do-overs in one¡¯s life, and what had passed might never return. How many beauties had passed me by forever because I couldn¡¯t muster the courage to speak with them? I gave Beiming Xue a pat on the shoulder before replying, "Get back to grinding, you. Your older brother isn¡¯t so reliable that you need to worry about him¡­ Also, why would I be embarrassed to ask Lin Yixin out? The word ¡®embarrassment¡¯ doesn''t exist in my dictionary, okay?" Beiming Xue nodded. "I know!" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ High Fighting Spirits showed up not long after I sent Beiming Xue away. The brawny man walked up to me with a careless grin on his face. "Vice leader! What do you need me for?" I passed him the second Convenience Gem. "Here, slot this in your Edgebreaker Axe." "Ah?" An identical look of astonishment broke across High Fighting Spirits¡¯ face, but he didn¡¯t bother with pleasantries. After accepting my gift, he promised solemnly, "If you need me for anything¡ªanything at all¡ªjust give the word and I¡¯ll be there. I¡¯ll even fight for you in real life!" I nodded in satisfaction before replying, "Go. Grind hard and become a super expert as soon as you can!" "Got it, boss!" Chapter 385: Who Will Rise Three days passed by in the blink of an eye. Sky City became more peaceful after the war between Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Warsky Alliance, but no one thought that things were going to take a turn for the better. On the contrary, this was most likely just the calm before the storm. That being said, the three days of calm were definitely appreciated by the majority of players. Nearly all the leveling zones below Level 110 had been fully occupied, and over a hundred players completed their fourth-promotion quest during these three days. The members of Frost Cloud workshop¡ªHe Yi, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, and me¡ªhadn¡¯t been slacking off either. After traveling all over the world and killing bosses left and right, all three girls successfully reached Level 100 and completed their fourth-promotion quests! ¡­¡­ It was noon when my phone suddenly rang. The number belonged to He Yi. I put down my chopsticks and accepted the call. "Hey Eve. I thought you were busy during this time. What¡¯s the occasion?" He Yi smiled. "What do you think? I¡¯m coming back to China tomorrow. That¡¯s why I¡¯m free to call back." "Oh? Tomorrow? Thank goodness!" Murong Mingyue chimed in excitedly. "Finally, the one person in our group who would pay for supper without looking like a sour puss is coming home!" I stared at her wordlessly before deciding that it was best to ignore her remark. I went online after chatting with He Yi for a bit. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Sky City was as busy and noisy as ever. The eastern gate plaza was wider than even a football field, so it was divided into various zones for easier navigation. There were food ingredient zones, equipment zones, skill zones, pet zones, and so on. There were even zones where scantily dressed, low-level, female succubus players offered¡­ services that didn¡¯t belong inside the game. As I was passing through one such area, a Level 80 succubus stared at me with her purple eyes before grabbing my shoulder armor. She said in a sweet and charming voice, "Sir, are you from Shanghai? Would you like to take some time off grinding and enjoy a great time? Our shop is the best shop in Xujiahui, and here you can find innocent students, office ladies, loli maids, twins; anyone you want, we can provide. Would you like to give it a try? We also offer closed-door services at Shanghai, Wuxi, Suzhou, and Nantong. It¡¯s only 2000 RMB for the full package, and 3000 RMB for the overnight extra. What do you say?" I hastily shook off her hand and walked away. At the distance, Xu Yang was laughing loudly at my misfortune, that bastard. "You¡¯re back, master!" White Fox greeted me respectfully. I returned her greeting with a nod before checking the turnover. Four days had passed since my shop officially opened. Magic Consumables was my main trade, although I also sold equipment and skill books on the side. I had set my shop to purchase food ingredients automatically, and taught White Fox my Rank 8 Cooking skill. The elite NPC had a skill called Copy, and it was used to copy her owner¡¯s skill. Now, I didn¡¯t even need to cook myself since White Fox could do it for me. This was why I wanted an elite NPC. Sales were trending upward in just four days. My net profit on the first day after taxes was 3462 gold, 7643 gold on the second day, 9082 gold on the third day and a whopping 14873 gold on the fourth day. All in all, my shop¡¯s profit and popularity was rising each day. As the saying went, repeat customers are the royal road of all businesses! I took out the equipment Frost Cloud workshop had earned during our leveling trips and unloaded them all to my shop. There were over 200 items in total, and most of them were Silver or and Dark Steel¨Cgrade equipment. We also found eight or so Gold-grade items, and some of them could be considered top-tier. They should earn my shop even more popularity. Right now, White Fox was standing in front of the counter and greeting a customer smilingly. "What do you need, brave warrior?" Outside the shop, a barbarian warrior carrying an axe on his shoulder replied honestly, "I would like to buy 10 sets of Rank 6 Magic Consumables, lass. How much is it?" White Fox reported the total price, and the barbarian warrior sneaked a glance at her before swallowing his saliva. He then paid for the goods and left without a fuss. Tsk tsk, the beautiful shop assistant tactic truly is a tried and true promotion tactic since ancient times! As I stared at White Fox¡¯s thin waist and plump butt, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if it was possible to get a uniform costume in this game. If it was, then all the money of the rich middle-aged men who crossed this street would be mine! ¡­¡­ I opened the Heavenly Ranking and noted that I was Level 107. I was still the highest-leveled player in Sky City, but the gap between myself and the players at the back was decreasing each day. As usual, countless players were fighting for the seat of supremacy! NameLevelClassBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand107Undead SwordsmanWind Fantasy105Light WandererBeiming Xue 104Dark ArcherMurong Mingyue 104PriestFrom Water 104Magic KnightFarewell Song104AssassinLegendary Brave 104Dragon WarriorLittle Piglet 104Cold Wind SwordsmanPurple Marquis 104WarriorOctober Rain 103ArcherGui Guzi 103Undead KnightLaughing At The Heavens 103Magic KnigtShadow Chanel 103Dark Tongue MageClear Perfume 103ArcherWarsky 103Warrior ¡­¡­ Everyone was catching up in levels, but I was very glad to see 6 Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players in total in the Top 15. Warsky Alliance hadn¡¯t given up either. No matter how many times they were killed, they kept returning to the top like wild grass. Their spirit was admirable to say the least. I sent Lin Yixin a message: "What are you doing right now?" "I¡¯m selling stuff at a stall. What¡¯s wrong?" "..." Instead of replying, I looked for her on the plaza and spotted her in no time. The beautiful Light Wanderer was sitting cross-legged at a secluded corner at the wall. I didn¡¯t know why she bothered with her level of features and legs. It was impossible to miss a beauty like her. I ran up to her and leaned against the wall. Then, I glanced sideways and watched Lin Yixin as she worked. "What are you doing?" "Spectating." "Hmph!" Lin Yixin shot me a look before asking, "Are all your skills Rank 10 already?" I nodded. "Yep, even the ones I picked up just recently." "Hmm, one of my skills is still at Rank 9 unfortunately. It¡¯s quite the hassle¡­" "What skill is that?" "I¡¯m not telling." "Fuck!" Suddenly, a system announcement resounded across the entire Sky City¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that the number of fourth-promotion players in the China servers has exceeded 100, officially kickstarting the "Who Will Rise" tournament which will be hosted by the CGL officials. Players are required to register as 5-man parties, and the tournament will be carried out online until 32 teams are decided. The final phase of the competition will be held offline. The tournament offers huge monetary reward, and the MVP of the champion team will be included in the CGL Hall of Fame. On top of that, the tournament rewards CGL points and can affect Hall of Famers¡¯ rankings! Lin Yixin and I blurted in surprise, "Who Will Rise?" It was yet another 5-man party competition. It looked like the ranking of the best players in China would be refreshed very soon. Countless experts were grinding levels like mad as of late, so I was sure that many of those low-key but powerful players would surface very soon. Moreover, this was a golden opportunity to have one¡¯s ID carved into the CGL Hall of Fame, and in the world of gaming, a CGL Hall of Famer was the equivalent of a god to gamers. Just imagine all the money you could make from ads after becoming a CGL Hall of Famer! In fact, I had received a call from an advertisement company called "The World Media" a couple days ago. They offered me a hundred thousand RMB contract to shoot an advertisement for them. After some consideration, I decided to turn down the offer because one, it was incredibly troublesome and two, I could kill a boss and sell a Purple Gold¨Cgrade item to get the same amount of money but faster. Unlike me, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s advertisements were all over the goddamned country. He was the spokesperson of China¡¯s world of gaming after all. However, "Who Will Rise" was a tournament meant to shake up the players at the top. If someone could beat Candlelight Shadow in the tournament, then his position as the number one player of China would definitely be destabilized. Moreover, Candlelight Shadow was currently placed 7th on the CGL Hall of Fame. If I could beat him, I was sure that the gap between our rankings would be reduced drastically. My excitement grew a hundredfold in an instant. I plunged the Heaven-stealing Sword into the wall next to me, clenched my fist and laughed fiercely. "Very good, the CGL rankings are finally going to be reshuffled. I will defeat Candlelight Shadow this time!" Lin Yixin also rose to her feet and stared at me with a smile. "Nice. This is my chance to enter the CGL Hall of Fame!" I turned to her in confusion. "Huh? Weren¡¯t you famous as heck during the later stages of Spirit of Grief? I thought CGL officials already offered to include you in the CGL Hall of Fame at the time? Didn¡¯t you turn down the offer yourself?" Lin Yixin smiled. "I turned it down because I didn¡¯t care about the fame at the time!" "And now?" She shot me a long look before answering, "If even someone like you can be a CGL Hall of Famer, then I can¡¯t not join anymore. It would be incredibly embarrassing to fall behind someone like you." "Hmph hmph!" I chuckled a little before asking, "Yiyi, do you want to join Ancient Swords Dreaming Souls temporarily and form a party with me? With the two of us, Beiming Xue, and Legendary Brave in one party, there¡¯s practically no one we couldn¡¯t beat!" Lin Yixin bit her lips as her expression alternated between hopeful and hesitant. After looking back and forth between me and the floor for a while, she finally said, "No, it¡¯s better if I don¡¯t join you. I don¡¯t want my guild members to think that you¡¯ve kidnapped me or something, and the prizes are too huge for me to neglect the wellbeing of my guild members. Qingqing, Purple Marquis, everyone¡­" "..." I supposed that we wouldn¡¯t be fighting together this time. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls might encounter Snowy Cathaya in "Who Will Rise", but who said this had to be a bad thing? I brought up the official forums, and as expected, the announcement of the tournament was already posted. The headline had bright red font that was impossible to miss: "Who Will Rise, the collaboration tournament between the Heavenblessed officials and the CGL officials will begin in 3 days!" Immediately after the headline was a list of the prizes. They were as incredible as I expected them to be! 1st place: All party members get a chance at a lucky draw. The best prize a player can get is a Spirit-grade item. Level +4, Luck +3, 2000000 RMB. 2nd place: All party members get a chance at a lucky draw. The best prize a player can get is a Purple Gold¨Cgrade item. Level +3, Luck +2, 500000 RMB. 3rd~4th place: All party members get a chance at a lucky draw. The best prize a player can get is a Purple Gold¨Cgradeitem. Level +2, Luck +2, 200000 RMB. 5th~8th place: All party members get a chance at a lucky draw. The best prize a player can get is a Dark Gold¨Cgrade item. Level +1, Luck +1, 100000 RMB. 9th~16th place: All party members get a chance at a lucky draw. The best prize a player can get is a Dark Gold¨Cgrade item. Level +1, 50000 RMB. 17th~32th place: All party members get a chance at a lucky draw. The best prize a player can get is a Dark Gold¨Cgrade item. Level +1, 20000 RMB. ¡­¡­ It was impossible not to gasp in admiration at these prizes. Seriously, the Heavenblessed officials had too much money to spare. A competition that offered prize money to the winner was always welcome! They even promised to cover travel expenses for the Top 32 teams who qualified for the LAN. Even if you screwed up there, you would still win the minimum prize of 20k RMB. How nice! Chapter 386: Ice Soul Steel The news of the "Who Will Rise" tournament caused huge waves in every main city. Countless excited players couldn¡¯t wait to put their skills to the test. Beep! Murong Mingyue sent me a message: "Did you hear the news yet? Who Will Rise, 5v5 PvP tournament, registration starts now and closes in three days. Preliminaries will begin in three days" "Yeah, I saw it. It so happens that Eve is coming back tomorrow, so she can participate in the tournament as well." "By the way, I want to ask you about our 5-man party." Murong Mingyue smiled. "You and Eve are the melee fighters, Lil Beiming is the ranged attacker, and I¡¯m the healer. That¡¯s everyone in Frost Cloud workshop, but we¡¯re still missing one person. Do you have someone in mind?" I thought for a moment before replying, "Is Li Chengfeng okay with you?" "Sure, but you should speak to him instead of me!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I brought up the friend list immediately and sent Li Chengfeng a message: "Chengfeng, you there?" A few seconds later, Li Chengfeng replied, "Hihi, vice leader. What is it?" "I want to know if you¡¯re free to join my party for Who Will Rise. Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, From Water, and I will be participating, and we¡¯re hoping that you¡¯ll be the last member of our party!" "Not a problem! I¡¯ll do my best to meet your expectations, vice leader!" "Good! Come to Sky City¡¯s plaza now so we can party up and register for the tournament!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I waited at the plaza as Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue showed up, and He Yi came online soon after. A while later, Li Chengfeng finally arrived as well. After everyone had showed up, I added everyone into the party and went to the guard outside the palace to register our party. In order to avoid a jam, the devs had made it so that players could talk to any guard inside the entire city to register their party. It was one of the more considerate things Eternal Moon Corporation had done for its players. Outside the palace, the palace guard looked at us with half-dead eyes and asked, "You wish to participate in the ¡®Who Will Rise¡¯ martial tournament, correct?" He Yi gave him a smile. "Yes." "Alright, the registration fee is 100 gold per person." "Got it." I finally understood where Eternal Moon Corporation¡¯s money came from. 100 gold per person wasn¡¯t much, but heaven knows how many parties were participating in this tournament. They probably made a frightening amount of money just from collecting the registration fees alone. The monetary reward they offered seemed generous, but if you really thought about it, it was no different from daylight robbery. The company was robbing the average players, and the best players were robbing the company. Both cases played by the law of the jungle. Ding~! System Notice: Your party is officially registered. Please name your party! I typed in the name "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls" without hesitation. As expected, no one had taken the name because we were the main party of our guild. I looked at the registration list. We were the 278421th team to register for the tournament in the China servers, meaning that at least a million players had registered for the tournament ten minutes after the announcement was made. It was a frightening number to say the least! No more action was required from us, the players, after the registration was complete. It was the system¡¯s turn to sort everyone into groups. Of course, Who Will Rise was a limited event, so some restrictions were put in place. For example, only players who were above Level 80 were allowed to register in the tournament. The name of the tournament was already a clue, but Who Will Rise was meant to be a battle between the best of the best. It would be a complete waste of everyone¡¯s time to allow a player below Level 80 to participate... ¡­¡­ "Alright, I¡¯m leaving for my meeting!" He Yi smiled before looking at me. "Work hard, everyone. Lu Chen, I expect you to be at Level 110 on the day of the tournament!" I started sweating heavily in panic. Li Chengfeng gave me a look of sympathy. He Yi logged off after that. Li Chengfeng also went away to grind solo as he usually did. I didn¡¯t take He Yi¡¯s joke seriously and leave to grind. At my level, I could grind at most one or two levels before the three days were up. That wouldn¡¯t impact the tournament in any way at all. My real first priority was to grind equipment and strengthen everyone in the party as much as I could, especially He Yi. Skill-wise He Yi was already inferior to all of us, but her biggest weakness right now was her lack of a powerful shield. Logically speaking, the party would be perfect if I replaced He Yi with Gui Guzi, but I had never been the logical type, not to mention that Gui Guzi had already made a party with Xu Yang and High Fighting Spirits. It had always been my dream to make a war goddess out of He Yi, and not once had I thought to give up on it. ¡­¡­ However, I had to admit that I wasn¡¯t sure what to do at this moment. Just where was I going to find a top-tier shield on such a short notice? Even if I tried to grind high-rank bosses, it was, to put it figuratively, completely up to the bosses whether they felt like dropping me a top-tier shield or not... It was at this moment I heard a shout from behind me. "All kinds of top-tier equipment selling at prices to die for!" I turned around and saw a suspicious-looking Level 97 assassin crying for customers. I walked up and gave his products a look, but it was a lie! Top-tier equipment? All I saw were Level 70 to 80 Silver and Gold-grade items! Sure, they weren¡¯t actually half bad, but they absolutely didn¡¯t deserve to be called top-tier! However, my attention was quickly caught by a faint purple blueprint, an equipment blueprint to be exact! I bent down a little and waved my hand across it. The blueprint¡¯s stats immediately leaped into my sight¡ª Ice Soul Barrier (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï) Required Materials: Ice Soul Steel x100, Soulstone x10, Cyanfire Gem II x5 Required Skill Level: Master Forging ¡­¡­ I was speechless for a time. What is this? A 3-star Outstanding Spirit-grade shield blueprint?? This couldn¡¯t be too far behind Gui Guzi¡¯s Titan Barrier, right? However, there was another issue¡ªI had literally never heard of these materials before. What was that Ice Soul Steel? Or Soulstone? At least I knew what a Cyanfire Gem was, but Rank 2 versions of these cost at least 100k RMB per piece. They were incredibly expensive to say the least! That being said, if I could forge this shield successfully, then it was absolutely worth the effort. Gui Guzi¡¯s Titan Barrier was a 4-star Outstanding Spirit-grade shield, and it was worth at least 5 million RMB if we put it up for auction. After all, god-tier equipment like that was priceless before it became outdated! I shot a glance at the assassin before asking, "Where did you get this high-rank blueprint, brother? Not bad at all!" The assassin chuckled. "You have a good eye for value, brother. I stole this blueprint from a Spirit Rank boss¡ªyep, that¡¯s right, the same Desert Giant King that was killed by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! I had used Steal on the boss since the beginning, and I would¡¯ve gotten even more stuff if the boss wasn¡¯t killed so brutally." Ah, I had read about this before, although I never paid it too much attention. All assassins had a skill called "Steal", but it only worked on mobs. It only yielded gold, blueprints, and miscellaneous items. There was a miniscule chance they could steal equipment as well. Even so, his good karma must be off the charts that day to steal a blueprint like this from the boss! I nodded. "How much do you want for this?" The assassin¡¯s eyes gleamed cunningly as he smiled. "1 million or no deal!" I rose back to full height and laughed. "Are you kidding me? Did you mistake this blueprint for the actual equipment? I¡¯m not even sure if it¡¯s possible to forge this equipment, and you want 1 mil for a piece of paper? Thanks, but no thanks!" I turned around and walked away without any hesitation. As expected, the assassin called out to me before I could take the fourth step. "Wait, brother. There¡¯s no need to sour a relationship just for a failed deal, and what¡¯s that saying again, a good deal is a deal well done, so let¡¯s do this properly, shall we? How much are you willing to give for this blueprint?¡± I gave him a smile before lifting five fingers. "This is the most I can give you!" "500k?" The assassin¡¯s mouth fell open. He looked like he couldn¡¯t wait to say yes. I sneered. "Cut the act. 50k, and not a yuan more!" "You!" The assassin licked his lips and struggled with himself for several seconds. In the end, he nodded while looking like he was about to cut his arm off. "Fine, the blueprint is yours for 50k!" I held the blueprint in my hands after the trade was complete. I acted tough in front of the seller earlier, but the reality was I had no idea if I could convert this blueprint into an actual shield, and in just three days¡¯ time. I took a while to calm myself down and focus my mind. Time to get to work. The Rank 2 Cyanfire Gems weren¡¯t a huge problem. They were rare, but not impossible to buy. The other two materials were a different story, however. First, I brought up the official database and searched for the term "Soulstone¡±. It was a type of Rank 9 ore, meaning that I could probably get it from a high-rank Miner. I immediately contacted Xu Yang and asked him, "Hey man, I need some of the Rank 9 ore called Soulstone. Can you get it for me?" "Sure!" Xu Yang agreed without hesitation. "I hit Rank 9 Mining just four days ago. You need it for something?" "Yeah. Can you get me 10 Soulstones?" This time Xu Yang took a while to reply. "Rank 9 ores can be found at the peak of Dragonbone Mountain Range, but as you are aware all the mobs there are between Level 130 and Level 140. If I go there alone I will probably die." "Understood. Contact Li Chengfeng and bring a priest with you. Just like I mentioned earlier, I want you to gather 10 Soulstones for me. Tell Li Chengfeng that this is a guild quest and he¡¯ll go with you!" "Got it!" Xu Yang messaged Li Chengfeng on the guild channel, and as expected the dragon warrior agreed immediately after hearing that it was a request from me. A short while later, I got word that the priest who would be accompanying Xu Yang and Li Chengfeng was Moon Dew, the other high-level priest in our guild besides Murong Mingyue. That was good. They shouldn¡¯t have any issues surviving and gathering 10 Soulstones even if they ran into a Level 140 shadow-rank mob. Now all that was left was the Ice Soul Steel. Unfortunately, the term didn¡¯t exist no matter where I looked under the Ore category. Given no choice, I decided to try something different and searched for the term "Ice Soul" instead. A list of similar terms entered my view¡ª Ghost Ice Soul: Sword-type weapon Ice Soul Grass: Rank 10 herb, can be used to craft Rank 10 Health Potions Ice Soul Cloud: High-rank dagger-type weapon Ice Soul Giant: A stoneskin-type creature that mostly lives in Cold Ice Canyon to the south of Dragonbone Mountain Range ¡­¡­ The last search result caught my eye. Ice Soul Giant? It looked like a high-level mob. Could it drop Ice Soul Steel? After all, Ice Soul Steel wasn¡¯t an ore that could be extracted by a miner. That had to mean that it was the item drop of a mob, right? I made up my mind there and then. Cold Ice Canyon, here I come! I had heard of Cold Ice Canyon. It was a frigid place with super high-level mobs that were far beyond the ability of the average players to combat. There was even a rumor that Mad Dragon had sent a hundred-man party into Cold Ice Canyon, but every last one of them was murdered by the mobs. Chapter 387: Chivalry I passed through Sky Forest as I ran toward Cold Ice Canyon. The mobs in Sky Forest sat between Level 80 and Level 110, but I never gave them a second look. These mobs gave very little experience, not to mention that I was now a man whose wealth went up and down by the hundred thousands per second. Simply put, I had no time to waste on these low-level mobs. I ran into a lot of leveling parties, but no one knew who I was because I had set my ID to hidden. Along the way, a lot of players were staring at me in astonishment probably because they were astonished by the equipment I was wearing. No one dared to attack me, however. Only a fool would attack a player whose level and ID were completely invisible to them. I also heard a lot of players discussing the upcoming "Who Will Rise" tournament and asking around for party members. For example, I saw a party asking a solo-grinding Level 91 magic knight to join their party on an empty field in the forest. That party had no future, however. I could already imagine them being eliminated during the preliminaries. China was full of talent, and barring any surprises all the parties who made it to Top 32 would be above Level 100 and after fourth promotion at the very least. Our country was always ahead of other countries in terms of player levels because most foreigners simply didn¡¯t possess the fortitude or willpower to grind their way to the top. ¡­¡­ Over half an hour later, I arrived at the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range. I looked up. Although Cold Ice Canyon was connected to Dragonbone Mountain Range, it was strictly speaking an independent map. To this day, there were barely any rumors regarding Cold Ice Canyon because the mobs there were simply too powerful for the average player to explore. I continued forward as the wind and snow started blowing at my face. I had entered the snowy region. The sudden cold caused me to shiver a little, but I ignored it and continued to make way toward my destination. At the same time, I pulled out my Heaven-stealing Sword and started really paying attention to my surroundings. This was a leveling zone, and the mobs there were said to be pretty powerful. It would be unwise to treat this lightly! As expected, a Polar Bear suddenly let out a roar from the distance before charging toward me. It hit my Heaven-stealing Sword with its paw, but it didn¡¯t possess nearly enough strength to shake my sword. One hit was all it took to send it stumbling. I took the small time window to check its stats. Hmm, a Level 125 elite mob. This should be an easy fight. That being said, there probably wasn¡¯t anyone in the world who could kill me in half a minute in a one-on-one right now, not even if that person was Candlelight Shadow himself! Crack! I killed the bear in one hit and was rewarded with a Rank 8 bear pelt and a Phantasmal Magic Stone. I took the bear pelt, but decided against picking up the magic stone. It was worth very little because its quality was just a measly 32. I continued to fight my way toward my destination without hurry. I also summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to make my life just a tad easier. With my current strength, killing a Level 125 elite mob was as easy as pie. Heck, even my pet could solo these mobs without any trouble whatsoever, especially when it used its AoE skill Fire Cyclone. Sometimes, we would even take turns drawing entire hordes of Polar Bears toward ourselves so we could kill them all in one go and save some time. This was a material gathering and level grinding trip anyway, and Level 125 elite mobs dropped an okay amount of experience. Almost half an hour later, I checked the map and noted that I was about one-third of the way through Cold Ice Canyon. The snow storm was subsiding, and the sun was peeking out of the clouds just a little. However, it was still incredibly cold, and every time the wind blew against me I felt like someone was cutting my skin with an ice blade. At least my field of vision improved a lot, I suppose. I still hadn¡¯t found a single Ice Soul Giant though. I frowned a little. Just where the hell are these mobs?! I resumed my march and ventured deeper into Cold Ice Valley. A while later, I finally spotted a shadow-rank mob! Rustle rustle... It was a humanoid mob with a translucent exterior. In fact, it almost looked invisible against a snowy backdrop. Its exterior was covered in a frightening amount of sharp icicles, giving it the appearance of an ice-type sea urchin. Ice Urchin Devil (Shadow) Level: 125 Attack: 1250~1400 Defense: 1120 HP: 60000 Skills: Ice Stab X, Desperate Gambit X Introduction: The Ice Urchin Devils are one of the guardians of Cold Ice Canyon, and they possess incredible Attack and Defense. After guarding the canyon for countless years, they have become incredibly violent creatures who only care about tearing apart any adventurers who come their way. ¡­¡­ Eh, it was just a Level 125 shadow-rank mob with an average Attack. 1400 Attack mobs were barely a blip on my threat radar these days. Not only could I kill it by force, the 14% lifesteal on my Heaven-stealing Sword might be all the healing I needed to keep myself healthy. I stopped thinking and charged! Whoosh! Thunderous Charge successfully stunned my target. At max rank, the chances of Thunderous Charge triggering its paralysis status was over 90%. It was literally harder not to stun my target. I then swung my sword three times and unleashed a Pardon + Desperate Gambit + basic attack combo! Thud thud thud! MISS! 7846! 4198! Not bad. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf also attacked the Ice Urchin Devil from the sides. Together, the two of us managed to delete over half of its heath in just 7 seconds! Another 7 seconds later, the Ice Urchin Devil only managed to attack me twice before dying in a screaming fit. Pop! A round-shaped, dark cyan helmet dropped on the ground. When I picked it up, I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw¡ª Cold Helmet (Gold-grade, Outstanding¡ï) Defense: 215 Magic Resist: 160 Strength: +52 Agility: +41 Passive: Increases user¡¯s physical hit rate by 11% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 4% Property: Cold Set, Helmet Level Requirement: 105 ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, I wasn¡¯t expecting to grab a Level 105 1-star Outstanding equipment in this place! Considering that most players should complete their fourth-promotion quest and hit Level 105 in the next half a month or a month¡¯s time, there was no better time to gather this set than now. I was certain that it would sell for at least 100k RMB per set, so it might be a good idea to stop here for a moment and grind the set pieces! The opportunity for profit excited me deeply. The Ice Soul Giants were still nowhere to be found, so I might as well grind these Ice Urchin Devils first. Any mob who gave me a good chunk of experience was a good mob. I continued killing the Ice Urchin Devils after making up my mind, but it would seem that the chance for a Cold set piece to drop was incredibly low. I got nothing despite grinding for almost half an hour! Crack! After killing god knows how many Ice Urchin Devils later, I noticed a short frozen hill not far ahead of me. When I walked closer in silence, I was surprised to hear the sounds of fighting on the other side of the hill. Huh, someone is actually grinding in this map? I quickened my footsteps, but made sure that my ID and my equipment glamor was completely hidden first. I even withdrew the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to minimize the chances of me being discovered. I could decide what to do after I figured out who the players were. ¡­¡­ The sky started snowing a little again. A bit of iciness seeped into flesh when a snowflake touched my cheek. Behind the cover of the falling snow, I stealthily made my way forward until I saw a group of players. The insignia on their arms were very familiar, and they belonged to none other than Hegemon Palace! I looked closer and was surprised yet again. The party leader was Pillar of the Nation, the guild leader of Hegemon Palace himself! Pillar of the Nation was currently fighting against an Ice Urchin Devil. Unwilling to go down quietly, the mob plunged its icicles into Pillar of the Nation¡¯s chest! Puchi! 4295! The guild leader stumbled two steps backward as his HP dropped drastically. He yelled, "Priests, heal me now! Archers, don¡¯t stop firing at the mob!" At the back, a high-level archer asked while slowing down the Ice Urchin Devil with Freezing Arrows, "Boss, what are we doing at this place? These mobs¡¯ levels are way too high for us to fight them properly!" Pillar of the Nation replied angrily, "I refuse to be underestimated, that¡¯s all. Hmph! Let¡¯s see what else Little Piglet and his men have to say after we clear out Cold Ice Canyon and gather a full Cold Set! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand can¡¯t be the only player in the entire Sky City who deserves to be called a Divine General!" The archer smiled a little. "Boss, you don¡¯t need to be angry about this. Words are just words, you know? Also, don¡¯t forget that Falling Dust used to be a stronger player than even Candlelight Shadow, and there is only one Falling Dust in all the servers of China. You are the tactician type, so you really don¡¯t have to improve your strength¡­" Pillar of the Nation replied in frustration, "Even so, I¡¯m the guild leader of Hegemon Palace. I cannot not be strong, you understand? Priest, keep an eye on my health bar, will you? Here I go!" Behind him, a beautiful Level 97 priest nodded repeatedly. Looking at the green numbers popping above Pillar of the Nation¡¯s head, I deduced that she was probably the strongest or second strongest priest in their entire guild. She might be no match for Murong Mingyue, but she was definitely not a priest that could be underestimated. If it wasn¡¯t for her, Pillar of the Nation would¡¯ve died a million times to the Level 125 shadow-rank mob already. Their conversation also piqued my curiosity a little. I should¡¯ve known that Little Piglet¡¯s relationship with Wang Dongliang wasn¡¯t as solid as it seemed on the outside. Little Piglet was a mercenary who valued money above everything else, and the only reason he served Hegemon Palace was because they paid him well. There wasn¡¯t a shred of loyalty to be found in him at all, at least not to a guild like Hegemon Palace. Also, I had only fought him a couple of times thus far, but even I could tell he was the kind of person who respected no one but himself. It was only natural that he would insult Wang Dongliang from time to time. A beautiful figure suddenly appeared behind the Ice Urchin Devil, stunned it and comboed it to death. There was only one class who could pull out this level of physical burst damage, and only one top-tier assassin in the entire Hegemon Palace who could pull this off¡ªShangguan Wan¡¯er! I already knew that Shangguan Wan¡¯er was an incredible player from our previous battle. Currently, there were only a handful of top-class assassins in China, and Shangguan Wan¡¯er was almost at the peak. I had no idea how Hegemon Palace was able to recruit someone like her. The pressure on the party immediately lessened after Shangguan Wan¡¯er appeared. Composition-wise¡ªan assassin, a warrior, a priest, an archer and a bard¡ªit was almost the best five-man party they could make, and strength-wise they weren¡¯t half bad either. However, disaster suddenly struck Hegemon Palace without warning. Three Ice Urchin Devils had spawned right next to them, and the bard unfortunately aggroed a fourth Ice Urchin Devil at the worst possible moment. All 4 mobs attacked them at once! Pillar of the Nation dropped to red health in no time at all. Feeling the blood draining away from his face, he shouted, "Heal me, priest!" The priest barely got her scepter up into the air when two icicles pierced her chest and one-shot her. These Ice Urchin Devils switched aggro way too easily! Shangguan Wan¡¯er instructed sternly, "Run while I keep their attention, guild leader!" The assassin zigzagged in front of the Ice Urchin Devils and slowed them down a little. Meanwhile, Pillar of the Nation ran away while chugging down a health potion in despair. In this map, their party couldn¡¯t fight any battle of attrition without a priest! Suddenly, a holy-looking figure appeared at the distance and raised his scepter. It was a Level 101 priest wearing pure white robes. He had a brave and determined face, and his ID was¡ª Profound Puff LV-101 Dark Gold Priest Guild: None ¡­¡­ The male priest stared at Pillar of the Nation and Shangguan Wan¡¯er with righteous eyes before crying out, "I¡¯ll save you for 10k gold per person, and not a copper less!" Pillar of the Nation exclaimed in shock. "This¡­ this is daylight robbery!" Shangguan Wan¡¯er also looked at him. "Please save us, hero!" Again, Profound Puff said with an incorruptible expression, "Chivalry is the natural duty of every hero. You don¡¯t have to pay me anything, miss, but I do want a kiss for my effort¡­" ¡­¡­ "Son of a bitch!" Shangguan Wan¡¯er and I cursed in unison. Chapter 388: Ice Soul Steel Oh, it¡¯s Wang Dongliang¡¯s classmate! Hugging the Heaven-stealing Sword, I leaned against an ice wall and continued enjoying the show. ¡­¡­ Shangguan Wan¡¯er turned bright red as she shot at Profound Puff a glare. First, she released her pet to keep most of the mobs from reaching her. Then, she used Trap on one Ice Urchin Devil to immobilize it for a short period of time. Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡¯s techniques and tactics were clearly well-honed. Immediately after she immobilized the first mob, she used Gouge on the second mob to stun it and buy herself more time. Then, she moved onto the third mob and dished out a series of dizzying combos in an attempt to kill it. Even a single kill was a small victory considering the situation. Profound Puff realized he couldn¡¯t do anything any longer when he saw how calm Shangguan Wan¡¯er was fighting despite the grave danger she was in. He rushed toward them and launched two healing spells on Pillar of the Nation and Shangguan Wan¡¯er respectively, healing them instantly¡ª +2874! +3103! I thought that it might be the case, but this guy was even stronger than the female priest who had died just now. The pervert wasn¡¯t a useless pervert after all. Pillar of the Nation came back and joined Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡¯s efforts to kill the Ice Urchin Devil. At the same time, he looked at Profound Puff and said, ¡°Fuck, it really is you! It¡¯s been half a year since we saw each other. Why didn¡¯t you tell me that you¡¯re playing Heavenblessed? And are you still dating that rich lady who let you stay in her villa and drive her Camry?¡± Profound Puff shook his head with a forlorn expression. ¡°Let¡¯s not reminisce about the past, shall we? She¡¯s gone.¡± ¡°What do you mean, is she dead or something?¡± ¡°No, she¡¯s been detained on suspicions of certain violations of the law...¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± ¡­¡­ A while later, Pillar of the Nation invited Profound Puff to join his guild. ¡°Say, would you like to join me? With you by my side, it¡¯s only a matter of time before we make Hegemon Palace the sun of Sky City!¡± Profound Puff hummed. ¡°What can you offer me if I join you?¡± He glanced at Shangguan Wan¡¯er when he said this. The assassin sensed his meaningful gaze and shivered visibly. ¡°Do NOT drag me into this, or I¡¯ll kill you both right now!¡± Trembling at the threat, Profound Puff said, ¡°Dongliang, it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to help you, but you made an enemy out of Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand for the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, didn¡¯t you? It¡¯s just too risky to join Hegemon Palace right now. I don¡¯t want to go up against a super expert like him¡­¡± Wang Dongliang sneered. ¡°You¡¯re not telling me that you¡¯re scared, are you? Where did the guy who braved the female toilet with me go to? Where is the fearless Zhao Yufeng I used to know?¡± Profound Puff answered immediately, ¡°I¡¯ll join, please accept me into Hegemon Palace immediately!¡± Just like that, the high-level priest Profound Puff was added into Hegemon Palace. I snorted a little as I watched them from above. It looks like the best players of Hegemon Palace will be welcoming some new blood. ¡­¡­ Pillar of the Nation laughed happily. ¡°I was thinking that our main party for Who Will Rise is lacking a top-tier priest, so your timely appearance is most welcomed, Puff. I have no doubt that you¡¯ll become the best priest in Hegemon Palace. Let¡¯s apply for the tournament after we¡¯re finished grinding, shall we?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Profound Puff nodded. Pillar of the Nation added, ¡°By the way, why are you here? You¡¯re a priest with barely any offensive power at all. Any one of these mobs can kill you like nothing.¡± Profound Puff replied, ¡°Sigh, it¡¯s a long story. I have this quest that requires me to gather a kind of herb called the ¡®Heart Orchid Grass¡¯, and it¡¯s said to grow in Cold Ice Canyon. Unfortunately, I haven¡¯t seen it despite searching for almost a day, and since I¡¯m alone I had no choice but to skirt the foot of the mountains to avoid the mobs. In fact I was almost killed by the Ice Soul Giants in the ice caves to the southwest not long ago. If I wasn¡¯t fleet-footed, I would¡¯ve¡­¡± This caught my attention immediately. There were Ice Soul Giants in the ice caves to the southwest? Haha! Who would¡¯ve thought that Hegemon Palace would be the one to help me in my search? Thank you, oh perverted priest! I straightened myself and quietly left the area. I supposed I could kill Profound Puff, Pillar of the Nation, and Shangguan Wan¡¯er, but it would achieve nothing. I never took part in pointless battles unless I had no other choice. Hegemon Palace never knew I was in the area until I left completely. Under the cover of wind and snow, I ran toward the location Profound Puff had mentioned. On the way, I made sure to move along the edge of the zone to avoid the mobs. Although the shadow-rank mobs were worth a lot of experience, it would be even better to collect both experience and materials in one go! About ten minutes later, a deep blue zone appeared in my mini map just in front of me. I also saw a cave entrance about a meter tall right at the foot of an icy mountain. I stopped in front of the cave and looked down. The cave was slanted downward, and I could see a ray of light peeking out of the darkness. This is it! I bent down a little and entered the cave. It was at this moment disaster struck. The floor was much more slippery than I imagined, and before I knew it I was sliding down into the darkness at an incredible speed. This wasn¡¯t a cave, this was an ice slide! I used the Heaven-stealing Sword¡¯s light to illuminate the path in front of me, and saw a ton of sharp, pointy icicles blocking the way! Blood draining from my face, I tried to withdraw into myself as much as possible while holding the Heaven-stealing Sword in front of me, hoping that it would be enough to protect me from the murderous obstacles. The good news was that my Spirit-grade weapon easily cut through the icicles and saved me from being skewered to death. The bad news was that this was definitely not the ice cave Profound Puff had mentioned earlier. I must¡¯ve gotten the wrong entrance! Whoosh! But that wasn¡¯t the end of my troubles. The moment I rounded a corner, I was immediately greeted by the sight of a frozen wall. My heart turned into ice in an instant. Shit! I¡¯ll smash myself into a pancake if I slide into that wall at this speed! But I had no time to react. The Heaven-stealing Sword crashed into the icy wall, but to my surprise it was thinner than I expected. Before I knew it, I had burst through the wall and was falling through the air! Boom! I hit the floor hard. As I struggled to my feet while a wave of disorientation gripped me, a melodious ding entered my ears¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You have entered the map ¡°Ice Soul Cave¡±! ¡­¡­ I patted my knees a little and looked around. Did I accidentally stumble into the right location after all? It sure looked like it. The minimap showed a complex underground maze, and not far away from me I spotted a three-meter tall giant lumbering across an icy corridor. Its skin somehow looked like rock and ice at the same time, and every time it moved the ground quaked a little in response. Its stats appeared when the giant got close enough to me¡ª Ice Soul Giant (Shadow) Level: 130 Attack: 1380~1550 Defense: 1600 HP: 80000 Skills: Crush, Desperate Gambit, Ice Stone Skin Introduction: Ice Soul Cave lies in Cold Ice Canyon, one of the coldest and darkest places in the entire continent. Ice Soul Cave is filled with violent energy, and its inhabitants, the Ice Soul Giants, are blinded by hatred after being led down a dark path by the forces of evil. They view all living beings as their mortal enemies, and they swore to destroy all the races so that they and the undead are the only ones left to rule the world. ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t help but gasp when I saw the mob¡¯s stats. Its Attack was powerful enough, but its Defense was even higher than that! Sitting at 1600 Defense, it was tougher than even the toughest magic knight in the game right now. Even Gui Guzi¡ªnot including the Spirit-grade shield he recently got since he had yet to reach Level 105¡ªonly had around 1400 Defense. Well, this was the mob I had come all the way there to kill, so it was time for action! Since it was a Level 130 shadow-rank mob, both its drop rate and experience yield should be pretty good! I locked onto the Ice Soul Giant and activated Charge! Whoosh! I hit the mob like a lightning bolt. I was only as tall as the Ice Soul Giant¡¯s armpit, but that didn¡¯t stop me from dropping my combo on its stomach. The mob shuddered again and again as the Heaven-stealing Sword ripped into its body. It was the natural result since I had activated Martial God! Bang bang bang! 2984! 3792! 2011! ¡­¡­ Ice Ray dealt almost 3000 damage, and Desperate Gambit, almost 3800 damage. My basic attack did only 2000 damage though. ¡°Roar roar!¡± Roaring like furious thunder, the Ice Soul Giant raised its legs and tried to squash me beneath its feet. It was Crush, the skill that ignored 20% of the target¡¯s Defense. The good news was that it was only as strong as a basic attack! 1844! Ow! I took two steps backward and summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to assist me. Then, I charged the mob again and swung my weapon at its torso repeatedly, deleting almost 5000 HP from its health bar and leeching over 700 HP. The battle lasted only 30 seconds or so, but it was a fierce battle. Despite dodging and parrying most of its attacks, it was still powerful enough to delete around 100% of my HP. This was where Regeneration of the Undead came in handy. At Rank 10 I recovered 2% health per second, meaning that I recovered exactly 60% health in 30 seconds, not to mention I also had Tenacity of the Dead and a ton of HP potions. Cost-wise, it looked like I had to use one Rank 7 Health Potion per every Ice Soul Giant I killed! I checked my bag and saw exactly 50 stacks or 5000 Rank 7 Health Potions, more than enough to last me a very, very long time. Moreover, the Heaven-stealing Sword had lifesteal and very high durability, so I could grind even longer before I had to return to restock and repair my equipment. A protracted battle definitely wasn¡¯t out of the question! Boom! I unleashed Thousand Ice Slash and killed my first Ice Soul Giant. Unfortunately, the mob didn¡¯t give me anything besides a thicker chunk of experience than usual. Goddammit. Next! ¡­¡­ I was a tenacious and patient bastard, so I had no problem grinding mobs alone for a very, very long time. In battle, I did my best to avoid getting hit by the Ice Soul Giant by dodging or blocking via my pet. I didn¡¯t want to be forced to return to the city because I ran out of equipment durability, not to mention that the Level 107 Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s HP regeneration was as powerful as mine. It would be a waste not to use it as a meatshield! However, I didn¡¯t get a single piece of Ice Soul Steel despite grinding for nearly an hour. I must¡¯ve killed at least fifty¡ªmaybe even a hundred¡ªIce Soul Giants already, but I still couldn¡¯t find what I was looking for. At this point, I was starting to think that the Ice Soul Giants couldn¡¯t drop Ice Soul Steel. Even Death Plunder hadn¡¯t given me any pleasant surprises thus far. Or maybe I was being too hasty. When I walked to a freshly killed Ice Soul Giant and used Death Plunder as usual, I was rewarded with a melodious ding¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have found ¡°Ice Soul Steel¡± x1! ¡­¡­ Fuck! Finally, I found my first Ice Soul Steel after all that hard work! Chapter 389: Tumultuous Fate I grinded at Ice Soul Cave until it was past 8 pm before checking my experience bar. When I first entered the cave I was sitting at Level 107, 22%. Now, after half a day of grinding, my experience had only grown to 45%. At this rate, it would take me around two days to gain a level. I could¡¯ve grinded faster by aggroing the Ice Soul Giants en-masse and killing them all at a choke point, but that would cost me too much equipment durability and force me to return to the city. I also obtained 18 pieces of Ice Soul Steel for my hard work. The item drop rate was so low that it would take me at least another two or three days of hard grinding to gather 100, but I should still be on track, all things considered. Things were easy once all the materials were ready. I would head to Violet Empire, seek out a Master Blacksmith and pay them some gold to turn my blueprint into reality. ¡­¡­ Beep! It was at this moment I received a message from Murong Mingyue: "Log out, boy!" "What for? I¡¯m busy¡­" "It¡¯s dinner time." "Eh, next time. Bring me two sesame seed cakes when you girls are done, please¡­" "Fuck! Eve¡¯s plane will touch down at Wuxi 8 am tomorrow, and you are coming with me! Unless you¡¯re planning to show her the dark circles under your eyes, you¡¯d better eat early and sleep early so you can meet her tomorrow in tip-top shape!" That jolted me right out of the zone. "Oh, okay. I¡¯m logging out right now!" I looked around and put down a tent at a secluded spot where the mobs wouldn¡¯t spawn. After that, I slipped into the tent and logged out of the game. ¡­¡­ As I took off my helmet, the realization that He Yi was coming back tomorrow¡ªtomorrow!¡ªfinally started sinking. I felt a rush of hope. For the past couple weeks, I had been feeling a bit empty on the inside, and now I realized that it was because my beautiful and generous boss wasn¡¯t by my side. When I exited the room, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue were already waiting for me. The two girls were dressed lightly as usual. "Come on, time to clear out the Chuyunge map at least three times before we leave!" I smiled. Chuyunge was a good buffet restaurant that cost 150 RMB per person, and I had been wanting to visit it for a long time now. However, I hadn¡¯t found an opportunity to do so until Murong Mingyue forced me to log out today. ¡­¡­ Murong Mingyue was too lazy to drive her own car, so we traveled to Chuyunge in my X12 instead. Inside the rear-view mirror, Beiming Xue chirped excitedly, "Yay yay! I¡¯m so excited for Who Will Rise the day after tomorrow! We¡¯ll definitely place well in the tournament, right?" Murong Mingyue smiled. "Of course. Eve is coming, so it¡¯s entirely possible for a certain someone to turn beastial and become the champion and MVP of the tournament!" Murong Mingyue teased me. "Maybe, but dare you say you don¡¯t want to turn beastial when you see her?" Caught off-guard again, I changed the subject embarrassedly. "Fuck, can we please talk about something else?" Beiming Xue asked, "Big bro, what were you doing this whole day? You seem busy¡­" "Oh, I¡¯m grinding for Ice Soul Steel inside an ice cave." "Ice Soul Steel? What¡¯s that for?" "You¡¯ll know in two days." "Okay!" I looked at Murong Mingyue through the rear-view mirror again. "Sis, there¡¯s something I absolutely need your help with." "Oh? What is it?" "I want you to buy 5 Rank 2 Cyanfire Gems in Sky City. I¡¯ll pay for everything!" "Cyanfire Gems?" Murong Mingyue sounded astonished. "Isn¡¯t that the gemstone that adds Attack? It¡¯s¡­ pretty expensive though. I heard that a single Cyanfire Gem can sell for tens of thousands of RMB these days. It¡¯s enough money to exempt a white collar from working for half a year¡­" "That¡¯s right. Remember, I want 5 Rank 2 Cyanfire Gems! Don¡¯t mix it up!" "It¡¯ll cost you around 700k RMB or so. You sure you want to do this?" "Hmph hmph, it¡¯s fine!" I knew full well that there were only so many Spirit Rank bosses in Sky City right now. It was to prevent Spirit-grade equipment from proliferating the market too soon. When I exploited a bug and spent half a day whittling the boss Ziyu¡¯s health to nothing, all I got for my efforts was one Spirit-grade sword. When Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls battled Warsky Alliance and zerged the Desert Giant King, we were also rewarded with one Spirit-grade Titan Barrier only. Spirit-grade equipment might be the best possible equipment a player could get their hands on right now, but it absolutely wasn¡¯t something one could buy with just wealth and power alone. No, one must possess luck and good karma as well. Right now I had landed on a golden opportunity to forge He Yi a high-level Spirit-grade shield, and I would be a fool not to give it my all and make it a reality. 700k was but a small price to pay for this! "Mn. I¡¯ll transfer 700K to your account later. Don¡¯t forget to check." "Sure." Murong Mingyue curled her lips. "Although I wouldn¡¯t know even if you didn¡¯t send me the money. You¡¯ll need a bigger cash flow than that to affect the 8 digits sitting inside my bank account¡­" "WTF!" I felt gloomy. The pressure of living together with rich women was too real. If even an assistant like Murong Mingyue had over ten million in her bank account, I couldn¡¯t even begin to imagine how rich He Yi was. According to Murong Mingyue, He Yi¡¯s asset value went up and down by the hundreds of thousands per second, literally. In this case, the two of us lived in completely different worlds. ¡­¡­ Now that I had assigned the duty of gathering the Cyanfire Gems to Murong Mingyue, I could focus fully on grinding the Ice Soul Steel. With my level of connections in Violet Empire and a bit of money, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem to forge the Spirit-grade shield at all. Moreover, I was almost certain that it was as good as Gui Guzi¡¯s Titan Barrier! Speaking of which, Gui Guzi was almost Level 105 already. He was hoping to hit Level 105 so that he could equip the 4-star Outstanding Spirit-grade shield before Who Will Rise began. I could only imagine how amazing Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ second party would be once Gui Guzi completed his transformation into a super unkillable meatshield. Of course, He Yi shouldn¡¯t be too far behind after she equipped the Ice Soul Shield. Both her Attack and Defense were pretty good to begin with, and He Yi had been studying to become better in the game really hard as of late. The super noob I used to know was long gone. Some time later, I paid the entry fee and entered Chuyunge with my beautiful older sister and beautiful younger sister in tow. I hadn¡¯t eaten anything the entire day, so I stuffed myself to the brink of explosion. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that I had to cling to the wall for support when I made my way in and out of Chuyunge, albeit for different reasons. After we returned to the workshop, I grinded the Ice Soul Giants for a bit and took care of some internal guild business. Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul now had a max member capacity of 5000, so I couldn¡¯t just ignore everything and focus on myself. Otherwise, it was only a matter of time before fractures started happening in our guild. A guild leader¡¯s job definitely wasn¡¯t an easy one! I kept myself busy until midnight before logging off to sleep. ¡­¡­ I slept soundly until Murong Mingyue knocked on my door in the early morning. "Time to get up, you lazy pig! Eve is on the plane already!" "Ohh!" I looked at the time and was shocked to see that it as only 6 am. If it wasn¡¯t for Eve, I would rather die than be awake at this time. I washed myself and went out. At first, I thought we were going to have breakfast before we leave, but Murong Mingyue shot me down immediately. "It¡¯ll be 7.30 am by the time we reach Wuxi, so we need to leave now. We can eat KFC after we reach the airport." What else could I say? We hopped into my X12 and got onto Shanghai¨CNanjing Expressway. We reached Sunan Shuofang International Airport 10 minutes earlier than expected¡ª7.20 am to be exact¡ªbecause I had been driving at the speed of 150 mph. Both Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue couldn¡¯t help but shoot me strange looks on the way. After we reached the arrival hall, I bought three sets of breakfast and muched away with everyone. It was at this moment the sky suddenly darkened. Then, it started raining cats and dogs and thundering like crazy. I looked at the thunderstorm outside the window and muttered worriedly, "Eve is going to reach Wuxi in half an hour. This weather¡­" Murong Mingyue shot me a look. "Cut that out and have some faith in science, will you? The weather is bad, but they can still land if the airport¡¯s conditions are fine." "Yes, my wise sister!" ¡­¡­ I chewed my bread and hid all my worries at the bottom of my heart. The three of us talked about nothing in particular as the clock hit 8 am. It was at this moment an announcement blared from the speaker stating that the flight from New Delhi to Wuxi is slightly delayed and will arrive at 8:20 am instead. "See, I told you it¡¯ll be fine. Hehe¡­" Murong Mingyue gave me a smile. "So don¡¯t worry. Anyway, what¡¯s the first thing you¡¯re going to say when you see Eve again?" I couldn¡¯t help but smile back. "Boss, I missed you so much I could die¡­" "Fuck!" Murong Mingyue chided me a little. "Wanna bet that Eve will punch you if you say that to her?" "I don¡¯t know¡­" Beiming Xue said, "Maybe she¡¯ll give him a hug¡­" I shot down her prediction immediately. "No way, Eve is way less uninhibited than sis¡­" Murong Mingyue: "..." ¡­¡­ However, He Yi¡¯s flight didn¡¯t arrive even though the delay extended to 40 minutes or more. Finally, the announcer reported that the flight from New Delhi to Wuxi was experiencing a malfunction, and that they were unable to land on the airfield. Because the situation didn¡¯t improve after the airplane circled in the clouds for 20 minutes or so, the pilot made the critical decision to land at the edge of Lake Tai instead! Needless to say, all of us were flabbergasted by the shocking announcement. I was so worried that it was a wonder I hadn¡¯t gone berserk yet. I abruptly rose to my feet and declared, "Let¡¯s head to Lake Tai right now!" "Okay." We all ran into the X12 and left Sunan Shuofang International Airport at top speed. Staring at the thunder clouds outside, I gritted my teeth and prayed to every god in the world for He Yi¡¯s safety. I never thought that something like this could happen to her. Were our fates really as tumultuous as she said that day? The sky was frighteningly dark and the raindrops splattering against the windshield were far too loud, but that didn¡¯t stop me from driving toward the location the airport said the plane would land at top speed! In the rear-view mirror, both Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue looked a little pale. The disaster had struck out of nowhere, and everyone knows that it was far more dangerous for an airplane to land on water than to land on ground! We finally arrived at Lake Tai almost an hour later. The trees were so thick that we almost couldn¡¯t see anything, but it was still impossible to miss the giant object floating above the surface of the lake. Was that He Yi¡¯s flight? ¡­¡­ Thunk! Chapter 390: Fragrant Journey I wiped away the rain water stains on my face as I made my way toward the airplane. My shirt was drenched by the icy lake water, and occasionally I could hear thunder rumbling at the distance. The airplane was floating above the water¡ªmore specifically a shallow patch of land in the lake¡ªand I could see some people standing around the airplane. They all looked pretty panicky and worried. My brain turned blank, and my nose crinkled with indescribable emotions. Throwing all caution to the wind, I moved in a straight line toward the plane. ¡­¡­ The heavy rain still wasn¡¯t stopping, and the lakewater had climbed all the way to my neck. Unfortunately, I was still dozens of meters away from the airplane, so I had no choice but to swim toward it. Lightning kept flashing across the sky. The weather was so bad that I could hear people breaking into tears around the airplane. The heavy rain was blocking my vision, but when I got close I heard a woman shouting, ¡°Look, there¡¯s someone there!¡± I looked up. There were water plants hanging on top of my head, and I almost couldn¡¯t open my eyes because of the rain water sliding down my face. It was at this moment I heard an exclamation of surprise from inside the cabin. It was He Yi¡¯s voice. The next moment, my beautiful leader appeared at the entrance and stared at me with indescribable emotions. She covered her mouth with both hands and burst into tears. ¡°Miss, miss!¡± A flight attendant tried to stop her, but He Yi had already jumped into the water and held me tightly. The flight attendant shouted, ¡°Please come back, miss! The boat¡¯s coming very soon!¡± He Yi simply shook her head in response before looking at me. ¡°How did you come here, Lu Chen¡­¡± I pointed to my back. ¡°Sis and Beiming are waiting by the car.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go there right away.¡± He Yi laughed at the sight of the water plants hanging from the top of my hair and shoulders, but she couldn¡¯t stop the tears pouring out of her eyes. After she had kicked off her high heels, the two of us swam all the way back to the lakeshore. When we entered the shallow area, I stopped He Yi for a moment and held her in a princess carry. It was because there were shards of broken glass all over the place, and I didn¡¯t want to risk her stepping on them barefooted. He Yi¡¯s arms were wrapped around my neck, andher legs were partly submerged in the lake water. Despite the pouring rain and the lake water lapping against He Yi¡¯s legs, I felt an indescribable warmth settling inside my heart. ¡­¡­ Murong Mingyue hurriedly got out of the car and opened an umbrella. When she saw us, she couldn¡¯t help but blurt, ¡°Have you both gone crazy!? I can¡¯t believe you¡­¡± She sighed. ¡°You¡¯ve both gone crazy¡­¡± ¡°Sure!¡± Murong Mingyue entered the driver¡¯s seat, and Beiming Xue moved to the front passenger seat so that He Yi and I could sit together in the back. It was autumn right now, and the rain was naturally frigid. The wet clothes clinging to our skin also felt incredibly uncomfortable. If we didn¡¯t get home and take a hot bath very soon, we were absolutely going to get sick or worse. Murong Mingyue started the car but frowned when she saw the state we were in. She immediately took off her black windbreaker and passed it to He Yi, saying, ¡°Eve, take off your wet clothes and wear this right now. You know your constitution, and I don¡¯t need to tell you how bad it is to catch a flu in this weather, do I?¡± ¡°Ah? Now?¡± He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open in astonishment. Murong Mingyue shot me a glance before smiling. ¡°Why not? It¡¯s not like Lu Chen¡¯s an outsider. Just tell him to look away and it¡¯ll be fine¡­¡± I looked away and said, ¡°Time to go, sis. Don¡¯t worry, the rain¡¯s so heavy that no one can see into the car.¡± He Yi blinked in embarrassment, but in the end all she could do was nod and get to changing right away. I heard some rustling sounds as He Yi started changing next to me. I was staring outside the window, but my heart was beating like a drum as a matter of course. It was dark outside, and Murong Mingyue had turned on the interior lights, so it wasn¡¯t long before I noticed that the car window had become slightly reflective, just enough for me to catch a glimpse of He Yi taking off all her clothes and revealing her smooth, milky skin. After she was done covering herself with Murong Mingyue¡¯s windbreaker, she looked up and shot the rear-view mirror a glare. ¡°Miss Murong, please focus on driving and stop staring at me through the rear-view mirror!¡± Murong Mingyue giggled a little. ¡°So stingy. It¡¯s not like this is the first time I¡¯ve seen you undressed!¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± After that, He Yi gave my arm a tug and said, ¡°Lu Chen, you can turn around now.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± I was barely able to stop myself from salivating just now, but just in case, I consciously wiped the corner of my lips before I finally turned around to face He Yi. He Yi had taken off all of her clothes, and she was wearing Murong Mingyue¡¯s windbreaker only. Although the apparel was huge, it did little to hide her gorgeous curves. If I looked up, my eyes were inevitably drawn toward the spectacular roundness of her chest. If I looked down, it became almost impossible to look away from her long and well-proportioned legs. Moreover, her clothing was placed at the center of the back seat. My eyes were immediately drawn toward a faint purple bra and a thin piece of cloth that looked like¡ªZZAP! My brain turned completely blank at that moment. I¡­ I¡¯m not sure how much longer I can endure this! Seemingly noticing my embarrassment, He Yi immediately grabbed a handbag and stuffed her wet clothes inside. A different girl would¡¯ve thrown away the branded suit that was worth at least a couple hundred thousand RMB, but He Yi was the able and virtuous type who wouldn¡¯t waste even a single fen no matter the money she made. It was why we led a ¡°poor¡± life during the starting period of the Frost Cloud workshop. ¡­¡­ Murong Mingyue said as she drove, ¡°I still can¡¯t believe Lu Chen jumped into the lake and swam all the way to the airplane. Not even death can stop him from reaching you¡­ but Eve, it isn¡¯t like you at all to do something so dangerous. Did you have any idea how many water plants are there in the lake? How dangerous it is to swim back to the shore in this weather, or any weather for the matter?¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°It¡¯s fine, everything turned out well in the end, right?¡± Murong Mingyue pursed her lips. ¡°Hmph. When you put two geniuses together, the end result is a pair of bumbling idiots, huh.¡± He Yi laughed. ¡°No, that¡¯s not true. Can¡¯t you see how artistic it is to swim under a downpour? I think I also gained a level in my butterfly stroke skill¡­¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°Yeah, my dog paddle certainly improved after that experience¡­¡± Beiming Xue burst into a giggle. ¡°You don¡¯t get to say that, big bro! Do you know how worried I was when you jumped into the lake without warning?¡± ¡°Ahem, I was worried¡­¡± I hesitated a couple of seconds when I noticed that He Yi, Beiming Xue and even Murong Mingyue was staring at me through the rear-view mirror. ¡°I... was just worried about the possibility of a leak, that¡¯s all. If the airplane really started to sink, then the sooner I got there, the better, right?¡± ¡°Hmph hmph!¡± Murong Mingyue snorted. He Yi squeezed out some water from her hair and gave me a sweet smile. ¡°Well, this was certainly not how I imagined my return trip to be, but I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t decline all those meetings and come back as fast as possible for nothing...¡± The only response I could muster to that was an awkward smile. ¡­¡­ The car fell into awkward silence for a moment. Pulling the windbreaker around her body closer, a red-faced He Yi leaned against my shoulder without a word. Beiming Xue turned around and looked back and forth between me and He Yi with those round eyes of hers. She looked like she wanted to say something but didn¡¯t know how to begin. In the end, it was Murong Mingyue who broke the ice again. ¡°Mn, it¡¯s going to be a while before this boring car trip is over, so why don¡¯t we talk about the near future for a bit? The first order of business is of course the Who Will Rise tournament. Does everyone think that we have a chance of entering the Top 3?¡± He Yi replied, ¡°We definitely have a good chance of winning since Li Chengfeng has joined our party, but at the same time I¡¯m dragging down the party because my level is okay at best, and my equipment is falling behind the best of the best¡­¡± I consoled her with a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not an issue. With Li Chengfeng and I in the same party, it¡¯s going to be smooth sailing all the way to the Top 32 at the very least. There are a handful of powerful parties that could threaten us such as Candle Dragon, Snowy Cathaya and Warsky Alliance, but again, only a handful. Still, we should keep in mind that a ton of dark horses will be participating in this tournament as well.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m worried about. I¡¯m afraid that we might lose to a dark horse.¡± I squeezed some water out of my collar before giving her a confident smile. ¡°No worries, boss. Just trust in Li Chengfeng and me! Another party might have to worry about having their ass kicked by a dark horse, but not us. I promise you that our workshop will enter the Top 3 even if God or the Buddha himself is standing in our way!¡± ¡°Good!¡± He Yi replied with a glad expression. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best to grind EXP and not become a burden to you all after I return to the workshop. Speaking of which, are you free to grind with us, Lu Chen?¡± Her question caught me off -guard a little, but I shook my head and said, ¡°Count me out. I¡¯m currently grinding inside a closed map, and I don¡¯t want to leave until I achieve my objective. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll definitely come out of my ¡®secluded cultivation¡¯ in time to participate in the tournament!¡± ¡°Mn, okay!¡± ¡­¡­ Some time later, He Yi actually fell asleep on my shoulder. She looked incredibly cute like this. Her exhaustion must have caught up to her after the long flight and that landing fiasco. Over time, He Yi grew more and more relaxed until she slid on top of my legs. She unconsciously curled into a ball and lay snugly inside my lap, sleeping as if she had become a child once more. I carefully wrapped my arms around her. Murong Mingyue saw everything through the rear-view mirror and smiled a little. Everything was perfectly peaceful for a time. It was as if the thunderstorm outside and the warm space inside the car were two completely separate worlds. ¡­¡­ By the time we reached Suzhou, it was past 11 in the morning. A bumpy ride into the district later, He Yi finally woke up and stared at me with bright eyes. Instead of pulling herself upright, she stared at me from my lap and asked with a smile, ¡°How long did I sleep?¡± ¡°About an hour or so.¡± ¡°Are we home?¡± ¡°We are.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± He Yi got up and tried to get out of the car. Then, she recalled that she had kicked off her leather shoes worth hundreds of thousands of RMB in Lake Tai earlier. Smiling helplessly, I carried her in my arms again and walked toward our apartment, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue staying close to me. My beautiful leader hugged my neck tightly as we entered the elevator. There were two middle-aged uncles inside, and they shook their heads when they saw us. ¡°Sigh, millennials these days¡­¡± ¡°I know right? These millennials¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Chapter 391: Forging a Shield It was noon by the time we got back to the workshop. After He Yi put on a new set of clothes, she abruptly discovered that her luggage was still on the airplane. She immediately contacted someone from GGS¡¯s subsidiary company at Wuxi to deliver them over. Thankfully, both her luggage and her gaming helmet arrived safely around 3 pm or so. Losing that helmet was practically the same as losing her account forever. After that, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue formed a party with Xu Yang and Gui Guzi and left to grind. The party would be even stronger if they could add a high-level mage with powerful AoE spells into the mix, but that was unfortunately one of the few weaknesses of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls: we had super-tier warriors, archers, magic knights and priests, but no super-tier mage or assassin at all. ¡­¡­ I logged back into the game and continued to grind Ice Soul Giants at the Ice Soul Cave. I was leveling much slower than I¡¯d like, but it was a grievance I could swallow for He Yi¡¯s sake. Moreover, level wasn¡¯t the most important thing to me right now. With a reaction time of only 0.15 seconds or so, I could easily make up for a small level gap with my skill! Another day passed by in the blink of an eye, and it was now 9 am of the third day. Crack! The Heaven-stealing Sword only had 7% durability left, but I also got the final piece of Ice Soul Steel necessary to forge He Yi¡¯s shield after using Death Plunder on the dead mob. I took a look inside my bag and counted exactly 100 Ice Soul Steel! It so happened that Murong Mingyue sent a message at this exact moment: "Hey, the preliminaries will begin at 1 pm this afternoon. Whatever you¡¯re doing, you really should come back soon." "No problem. In fact, I¡¯m coming back right now. Have you gotten the 5 Rank 2 Cyanfire Gems I told you to get?" "So long ago too. When should I pass it to you?" "Let¡¯s meet up at the eastern gate plaza right now!" "Okay!" I took out a return scroll and teleported out of Ice Soul Cave in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t find a boss despite scouring the entire map for one. In a sense, my failure proved how rare Spirit Rank bosses were at the current stage of the game. At the very least, there were only two or three Spirit-grade items in the entire Sky City right now. Speaking of which, I heard that Gods of Destruction formed a thousand-man party and tried to challenge a Level 145 Spirit Rank boss that resided in Dragonbone Mountain Range. Not only were they annihilated to the last man, they didn¡¯t even manage to remove 10% HP from the boss''s health bar. I heard some people saying that Gods of Destruction pissed off the boss so much that it used a forbidden spell to annihilate all of them, and the skill was so powerful that the entire Dragonbone Mountain Range was shaking at the time. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Upon arriving at the eastern gate plaza, I saw the beautiful priest standing at a corner of the city wall. After she walked up to me and passed me five Cyanfire Gems, she asked with a smile, "What¡¯s next?" "Nothing, not for you at least. You should log out at 11 am, eat lunch and make sure you are in the best possible physical condition. The preliminaries start at 1 pm and will probably last the entire afternoon. It would be bad if you ran out of energy halfway." "Got it!" After that, I contacted our high-level miner, Xu Yang, and waited for him to show up. He gave me 10 Soulstones but insisted that I paid him for his labor, so I gave him 10 gold and watched him leave happily like I had paid him a fortune. I checked my bag again. The shield blueprint, 100 Ice Soul Steel, 10 Soulstones and 5 Rank 2 Cyanfire Gems were all ready. It was almost time to take off to the Violet Empire! Before I left, I repaired my equipment and stocked up on potions for a bit. Most of my equipment was about to run out of durability; in fact my wristguards and helmet had run out of durability and put me in quite the bind during the last couple of hours. The past three days in Ice Soul Cave hadn¡¯t been easy to say the least. I checked the time and noted that there was still half an hour to go before 11 am. Violet Empire, here I come! I ran out of Sky City like the wind with the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf beside me. On the way, I brought up Sky City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking to see how everyone was doing. As expected, countless players had been grinding like crazy before the tournament, probably skipping meals and even sleep to level up as much as they possibly could in three days¡ª NameLevelClassBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 108Undead SwordsmanWind Fantasy 107Light WandererBeiming Xue106Dark ArcherLegendary Brave106Dragon WarriorMurong Mingyue106PriestFarewell Song106AssassinPurple Marquis106WarriorLittle Piglet106Cold Wind SwordsmanFrom Water106Magic KnightOctober Rain106ArcherGui Guzi106Undead KnightLaughing At The Heavens105Magic KnightShadow Chanel105Dark Tongue MageClear Perfume105ArcherWarsky105Warrior ¡­¡­ The players of Sky City were insanely dedicated. Nine players had reached Level 106, and over 20 players had reached Level 105 in just three days. Heaven knows how many experts in total there were in Sky City! Moreover, Who Will Rise was a national-level tournament where every player of every major city would be competing in, meaning that we would be fighting the top experts of Wind City and Vanished God City as well. The mere thought of it made my blood boil with excitement. Unless Candle Dragon performed well below my expectations, there was a high chance the main party of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Candle Dragon would eventually clash against one another. Of course, one should never count out the Beautiful Little Pepper. There was no party she couldn¡¯t beat if she turned on her invincible mode and went on a rampage, not to mention that her general, Purple Marquis, wasn¡¯t too far behind our own dragon warrior. I also checked the Heavenly Ranking of Wind City and Vanished God City. Candlelight Shadow was the highest-leveled player in Wind City as usual, followed by Luo River God of the Capital and Indigo Collar. On the forums, the battle for supremacy was just as fierce as it was in the game. Candle Dragon, the number one guild led by the Martial God Candlelight Shadow was currently challenged by the two greatest guilds beneath it, Purple Lily led by Luo River God of the Capital and Peach Garden led by Indigo Collar. Neither challenger would stop unless a decisive victor was decided, and at least a dozen or so wars had broken out in Wind City in just half a month¡¯s time. Vanished God City was much quieter in comparison. Unlike Sky City or Wind City, they weren¡¯t ruled by one or a couple of super guilds. Instead, they had a dozen or so middle-rank guilds who shared more or less the same strength as each other. All of the top guild leaders of Vanished God City were fairly passive, refusing to reveal their hand at all as they accumulated strength. They reminded me of old foxes biding their time to claim supremacy in one fell swoop. Yeah, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls definitely still had a long way to go before they could become the best guild in all of China¡¯s servers. But it wouldn¡¯t be fun if that wasn¡¯t the case, would it? One of the biggest points of gaming was to fight in a world of sword and fire alongside your brothers and sisters and enjoy this process to your heart¡¯s content. I surfaced from my thoughts and looked in front of me. A major city¡ªthe major city of the Violet Empire¡ªwas right ahead of me. Just outside the city walls, I could see squadrons of undead riders blitzing past the empty fields in training or patrol. The Violet Empire was slowly but surely growing stronger day by day, and it was only a matter of time before they reached the same level of power as the three major cities! ¡­¡­ Countless undead glared at me when I entered the city and arrived at the palace hall. It was only after I revealed my red eyes and my identity as an Asura that they withdrew their hostility and showed me the respect I deserved. Clearly, there were perks to being an Asura, especially when you were facing an undead. Inside the hall, I saw Queen Sophia standing proudly beneath the banner of the Violet Empire with twenty or so military or court officials gathered in front of her. Judging from the serious looks on their faces, they seemed to be discussing some important military business. Before I could enter the hall though, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side. It was none other than Shadow Dancer Xue Wei. I couldn¡¯t help but notice that the beautiful NPC assassin was wearing heavy armor, however. If I didn¡¯t know better, I would say that the NPCs were trying to hurt the players¡¯ delicate feelings... "Long time no see. Why are you here?" Xue Wei shot me a look of surprise and a smile. "Let me guess, you¡¯re here to meet Lady Wind Singer, aren¡¯t you? Unfortunately, you came at the wrong time. Wind Singer left for the Lost Lands just three days ago to search for the divine bones. I don¡¯t think she¡¯ll be returning anytime soon." I shook my head and smiled back. "No, no, I haven¡¯t come for Xinran. I¡¯m here to see you!" At the same time, I praised myself in my mind: Wag that silver tongue more you handsome bastard! Shadow Dancer Xue Wei turned a little red before asking, "You¡¯re here to see¡­ me? What for?" I asked seriously, "Xue Wei, Violet Empire must have a Master Blacksmith, am I right? I need one to forge me a shield right now!" "Oh? A Master Blacksmith¡­" Xue Wei pondered for a moment before her eyes lit up. "We actually do have a Master Blacksmith! It was a wandering blacksmith who came to our city just a month ago. Come, I¡¯ll take you to him right away!" "Oh, thank you very much, Xue Wei!" "You¡¯re welcome!" Xue Wei moved so quickly that she disappeared around a street corner in almost the blink of an eye. Despite running after her at top speed, I still couldn¡¯t catch up to her. The good news was that the blacksmith¡¯s residence wasn¡¯t too far away. I spotted a muscular middle-aged man swinging his iron hammer at the royal smithy almost immediately. In fact, he was a human, not an undead! Noticing my look of astonishment, Xue Wei smiled and said, "Your eyes aren¡¯t fooling you. Your Majesty announced to the world a long time ago that all races are welcome to join us during the reestablishment of the empire as long as they submit to our laws and management as a matter of course. As a result, countless bards, fugitives, deserters and so on came to the Violet Empire to contribute their skill and strength." I nodded and walked up to the blacksmith. I asked, "Master Blacksmith, can I ask you to forge me a shield?" "What?" The blacksmith shot me one glance and rejected me immediately. "Go away. I won¡¯t work for a dog from Sky City. Since the day Duke Luke took my wife from me, I¡¯ve sworn to destroy all the corrupt nobles and royal members of Sky City." I hastily took off the insignia on my shoulder and persuaded, "Look, I¡¯m actually a member of the Blood Dance Legion! I¡­ I¡¯m spying on Sky City on behalf of the Violet Empire, you see¡­" Xue Wei looked at me with strange eyes. I could almost hear them saying, "Fuck, where is your shame, man?" I glanced at her and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?" "Nothing¡­" Xue Wei smiled and vouched for me. "He is a member of the Blood Dance Legion. He¡¯s even the trusted aide of Queen Sophia herself." "Oh, really?" the blacksmith exclaimed in astonishment before apologizing. "I¡¯m sorry, my lord." "Can you make my shield now?" "Of course!" The blacksmith¡¯s eyes lit up like a pair of light bulbs when I put the blueprint and the materials in front of him. "Heavens, I can¡¯t believe someone actually managed to gather all these precious materials¡­ I thought I would never see them again in this lifetime!" He then looked at me with determined eyes. "I promise to forge you a divine shield like nothing the world has ever seen, my lord! But before that, please pay me 100k gold!" Money again?!!! Chapter 392: Iron Mercenaries I complained at the loss of gold, but it was a necessary sacrifice I had to make for He Yi¡¯s sake, so I paid the blacksmith 100k gold and left the materials with him. While he was working, Shadow Dancer Xue Wei and I sat together at a nearby stone bench and waited for him to finish. ¡­¡­ Ding ding¡­ The Master Blacksmith sweated like it was raining as he smashed his hammer against the melted Ice Soul Steel and Soulstones again and again. He also tempered the gemstones before fitting them onto the molten metal. The good news was that the forging process didn¡¯t take long at all. It was finished in just ten minutes or so! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your "Ice Soul Barrier" (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï) has been forged! ¡­¡­ The next moment, the blacksmith passed me the exquisite shield with ice flying around it with a smile. "Are you satisfied with my work, my lord?" I accepted the shield and examined it closely. The refined shield was well designed and beautiful-looking, and I was sure that He Yi would fall in love with it at first sight. Feeling pretty overjoyed myself, I replied to the blacksmith "I love it" repeatedly while checking the shield¡¯s stats. It was astonishingly good¡ª Ice Soul Barrier (Spirit Grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 760 Magic Resist: 520 Strength: +95 Stamina: +90 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 15% Passive: Increases user¡¯s physical Attack by 20% Slots: 3 Outstanding Property: Summon ¡°Ice Soul Shield¡± to slow down the attacker¡¯s speed drastically. Introduction: The Ice Soul Steel is the culmination of the Ice Soul Giant¡¯s soul essence, and when infused with Soulstones they create the alloy used to create the Ice Soul Barrier. The shield is capable of forming Ice Soul Shield capable of protecting its user with magic as mysterious as it is profound. Level Requirement: 125 ¡­¡­ I hurriedly teleported back to Sky City and used a Convenience Gem to lower its level requirement. Murong Mingyue was the one who spent considerable effort to buy it off the hands of a seller by the roadside. At first, the seller refused to part with the gem no matter what she offered him, so she changed to a robe with a low-cut and tried again. The little virgin¡¯s defenses easily fell to the unstoppable tsunami that was Murong Mingyue¡¯s voluptuous chest. Finally, everything was ready to go. The Ice Soul Barrier had lower Defense and HP than Gui Guzi¡¯s Spirit-grade shield, but its outstanding property, Ice Soul Shield, more than made up for it. From now on, anyone who wished to harm our ice beauty would have to first consider if the risk of being slowed was worth the reward! I messaged He Yi immediately: "Eve, come to the eastern gate plaza as soon as you can!" "Okay!" I nodded with a smile. "Yep. This shield¡¯s amazing, isn¡¯t it? Still think you¡¯ll drag us down when Who Will Rise begins?" He Yi me stared at me with teary eyes before she finally let go of her modesty and hugged me tightly. She said quietly beside my ears, "You¡­ Why do you always make me cry¡­" I felt my embarrassment creeping up to my face as nearby players started pointing fingers at us¡ª "Look, the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, From Water, just hugged the vice leader, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! I knew there was something going on between them!" "Yeah yeah! Just two days ago, that bastard held Wind Fantasy¡¯s hand right here¡­" "Really?" "Really. I¡¯ll eat a shoe if I lied to you!" "Shit, what a lucky man. I could die happy if I could have From Water and Wind Fantasy for my own one day¡­" "You¡¯re despicable!" ¡­¡­ My veins bulged with killing intent for a moment. The gall of these liars! I might have held Lin Yixin¡¯s hand in real life, but never inside the game, okay!? I hope Eve didn¡¯t catch what they¡¯re saying... "Eve, how much is your Defense right now?" I asked. He Yi checked her stats and replied, "I have over 1900 Defense right now, hehe¡­" "WTF!" It was a bit astonishing, to be honest. Magic knights were natural tanks because they got access to mounts way sooner than other classes, and they could equip shields. Gui Guzi¡¯s Titan Barrier gave even more Defense than He Yi¡¯s Ice Soul Barrier, so he had to have over 2000 Defense right now. Dang, his Defense completely outstrips mine now! He Yi didn¡¯t seem to mind the bystanders¡¯ gossip because she simply released my hand and smiled. "Alright. It¡¯s time to log out and eat lunch, Lu Chen. Let¡¯s do our best in the upcoming matches!" "Yeah!" I checked the rules of the Who Will Rise preliminaries before I logged out for lunch. It was as simple as it was cruel: Lose one match, and you¡¯re out of the tournament. Here¡¯s another example: over 17 million parties or nearly 100 million Chinese players were participating in this tournament, and all parties would have to win 20 BO3s in a row to make it to the Top 32, the offline segment of the tournament. Moreover, our opponents would only grow stronger the more victories we accumulated. This was going to be a fierce competition for sure! Each match lasted 5 minutes, so every 20 minutes or so, one party would be disqualified. It would take at least until midnight before our matches were done. A daunting ordeal lay ahead of me, but I was brimming with excitement nonetheless. Right now I was Level 108, and I had the Heaven-stealing Sword and a full set of high-rank equipment. Unfortunately, pets were disallowed in the tournament, or I would be even stronger with the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf by my side. Of course, this requirement didn¡¯t apply to tamers, whose prowess depended entirely on the quantity and quality of the pets they brought. Still, acquiring pets was such a daunting task in this game that there were barely any noteworthy tamers in China at all. ¡­¡­ When it was noon, I contacted Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, and the others and had our lunch outside. Everyone¡¯s plates were cleaned out in just two hours, and no one drank a drop of alcohol to ensure that they were in their best form. In fact, I asked them out precisely so that He Yi could speak with them and raise their morale even further. This was one of the natural responsibilities of a guild leader. Some time after 12 pm, we went back to our respective residences and got ready for the tournament! ¡­¡­ I logged into the game when it was exactly 12:45 pm! It was like a festival was happening in Sky City. Considering the sheer number of players who were roaming the streets, I bet that a lot of students had skipped school to attend this tournament. According to the statistics, the penetration rate of Heavenblessed in all the high schools in China was around 50% to 70%, and among them, only 10% of male students chose not to play Heavenblessed despite knowing about the game. The percentage of female students who played Heavenblessed was pretty high as well. Knowing that, it would be a miracle if the afternoon classes for today were even at 10% capacity. I could already imagine the looks on the professors¡¯ faces! Ding~! System Notice: Your party is participating in "Who Will Rise¡±. Would you like to teleport to the match lobby now? ¡­¡­ I looked over myself before clicking ¡°Yes¡±. I had a ton of Rank 8 Health Potions, and my Magic Consumables were aplenty. All my equipment was at max durability, and all of my skills were ready to be used. I was literally as ready as I could be. Teleport! Swhoosh! A flash later, I disappeared from Sky City and appeared in a new map, an apple orchard to be exact. There was a tall platform at the center of the orchard, and above the platform, a huge screen where players could select and choose which match they wished to spectate. This was the spectator area, also the place where participants rested and waited for their turn to take part in their matches. I checked the map interface, and the map was titled "Who Will Rise Waiting Area No. 118747¡±. This clearly wasn¡¯t the only waiting area in the entire server, and it was likely that each party was put in an independent instance until further notice. This prevented despicable tactics such as spying, provoking, social engineering and so on from being used before the start of the match. Eternal Moon Corporation sure had come a long way since the release of their first game. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ A couple of players appeared beside me, and they were none other than the three girls of the Frost Cloud workshop. A fully armored He Yi was carrying the Soul Stealing Spear behind her back, and carrying the translucent image of her new shield, the Ice Soul Barrier, on her hand. By default, the shield didn¡¯t manifest its physical form until the player entered combat state. This way, the players¡¯¡ªespecially the girls¡¯¡ªimage wouldn¡¯t be marred by the heavy equipment they were carrying. People would complain that the system was intentionally humiliating their players otherwise, like forcing a girl to carry around a giant shield or something. The bow in Beiming Xue¡¯s hands was the Milky Way Bow as usual, but her armor was brand new. It was of course the new 2-star Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment she had gotten, the Dream Chest Armor! Murong Mingyue was wearing a white priest robe that gave her a pure and holy outlook, but I knew better than anyone that it was just a lie. The girls walked up to me while checking out their surroundings. He Yi couldn¡¯t help but smile a little. "This scenery is quite pretty, tsk tsk¡­" I nodded before complaining. "Legendary Brave is the only one who isn¡¯t online yet. What the heck is he doing?" "I don¡¯t know¡­" ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, Li Chengfeng finally teleported into the orchard. "Haha, sorry I¡¯m late!" Li Chengfeng greeted us with a smile. I looked at him before asking, "What took you so long? Weren¡¯t you afraid that you¡¯d miss the first match?" "Not at all, hahaha!" Li Chengfeng laughed. "In fact, I have absolute confidence that the four of you would have made it through all 20 rounds of the preliminaries even if I wasn¡¯t around¡­" I didn¡¯t know what to say. "Should I thank you or diss you for the vote of confidence?" "Hah!" Li Chengfeng chuckled once before finally explaining himself. "I was attending a meeting that was going to last until 4 pm. But I¡¯m here now precisely because I care about the tournament, right?" "Er, won¡¯t that affect your career?" Li Chengfeng looked surprised for a moment before he assured me, "Don¡¯t worry, I have my connections¡­" "..." The balls on this guy. To this day I had no idea what his position in the Public Security Bureau was, but on the second thought, I didn''t need to know. A normal person like me could never understand his position anyway. ¡­¡­ A while later, Li Chengfeng asked, "Should we come up with a strategy or something before the fight?" He Yi answered, "It''s fine. There will be a party reveal two minutes before the start of the match, so we can decide our strategy after we check out the enemy''s information. It would suck if we came up with a fixed strategy, and the opponent was its direct counter." "Okay, the guild leader is wise!" Finally, it was almost time for the match to begin. The looped CGL advertisements on the screen came to a stop, and the formation of both sides appeared on the screen¡ª Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls VS Iron Mercenaries ¡­¡­ As He Yi mentioned earlier, the IDs and information of Iron Mercenaries appeared on the screen¡ª Iron War Tiger LV-101 Warrior Iron Mad Dragon LV-102 Warrior Iron Hunt Cheetah LV-102 Warrior Iron Silver Fox LV-101 Warrior Iron Mad Wolf LV-101 Warrior ¡­¡­ I couldn''t help but laugh. "Wow, all their levels are pretty high. Looks like this is a full-warrior brute-force party." Chapter 393: Soul Of The Wild A pure warrior party composition, eh. This should be easy. I declared our strategy with a smile, ¡°Beiming Xue will kite, and Li Chengfeng, Eve, and me will meet them halfway. Easy peasy.¡± Li Chengfeng nodded in agreement. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m thinking as well.¡± It was simple but effective. Even if Beiming Xue wasn¡¯t the famous Dark Archer, the enemy still had to kill her first to avoid being kited to death. Unfortunately for them, Li Chengfeng, He Yi and I would be blocking their way, so there was no chance they could ever succeed. Their meme party might be able to beat a weaker opponent, but never a powerful and scientific party like ours. Swhoosh! I growled and felt power surging throughout my body. The image of a war god rose above my head before it turned into a ring of light and landed around my feet. It was the Famous General Skill, Martial God, buffing everyone¡¯s Attack and Magic Attack by 75%! ¡­¡­ The system started counting down¡ª 3! 2! 1! Begin! Beiming Xue immediately retreated to the back and loosed a couple of purple arrows in quick succession. When Evil Spirit Volley exploded in earnest, the Iron Mercenaries quickly discovered that the Dark Archer wasn¡¯t to be underestimated¡ª 3102! 2873! 3018! ¡­¡­ Shocked, their guild¡¯s leader, Iron War Tiger, shouted, ¡°Brothers, we need to kill that Beiming Xue first! Her Attack is too high!¡± Beiming Xue smiled sweetly as she retreated until she was exactly 40 yards away from the nearest enemy warrior. Then, she aimed at the ground in front of a charging warrior and loosed another arrow. Her prediction was perfect, and the arrow hit the female warrior called Iron Silver Fox square on! 3284! Iron Silver Fox groaned and died just like that. Beiming Xue¡¯s attack was just too much for her to endure. At the same time, Li Chengfeng, He Yi, and I charged toward three clumped up warriors and fired our skills in unison! 4783! 4402! 4134! These Level 100+ warriors all had around 8000 HP or so, but they weren¡¯t nearly tanky enough to withstand our powerful attack. That single exchange was all it took to delete another three warriors from the battlefield. The last warrior was still chasing Beiming Xue, but she constantly stayed out of reach and pumped arrows into his body like a deadly butterfly. In less than 15 seconds, he dropped to his knees and died as well! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your party has won the first round of your first match. The second round will begin in two minutes! ¡­¡­ Back at the orchard, Li Chengfeng commented with a smile, ¡°God, that was so easy. We didn¡¯t even get to drink a potion!¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°Yeah, these Iron Mercenaries only have high levels, nothing else.¡± Li Chengfeng and I laughed because Murong Mingyue¡¯s assessment was more or less correct. Iron Mercenaries were actually pretty tanky, but they had the horrible luck of running into me. No ordinary Defense was ever going to hold up against my broken Famous General Skill, Martial God. The second round began pretty soon, and everyone was teleported into the ring again. On the other side, the Iron Mercenaries stared at us with ugly expression for a moment before Iron Silver Fox spoke up, ¡°I suppose it¡¯s not the worst thing in the world to lose to the best experts of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡­¡± Li Chengfeng raised his sword and replied with a smile, ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s not like we¡¯re doing this on purpose. Maybe you¡¯ll run into a weaker party during the next Who Will Rise tournament.¡± Iron War Tiger smiled a little. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± The countdown reached zero, and this time it was we who initiated the offense. The three of us charged toward our respective opponents, and my target was the only one who managed to avoid being stunned. It didn¡¯t matter though. I simply barreled into the enemy, swung my sword a couple of times and took them out, as easy as pie. Not far away, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue were working together to annihilate two warriors themselves. In just two minutes, we successfully routed the Iron Mercenaries without taking even a single point of damage! It was a 2-0 victory! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your party has advanced to the next preliminaries match! ¡­¡­ In fact, we won our match so quickly that we had to wait another 14 minutes before the next match could begin. Each round had a 5-minute time limit, and most players probably hadn¡¯t even finished their first round yet. Of course, 14 minutes wasn¡¯t long, and out next opponent was displayed on the screen very soon¡ª Party: Blazing Hot Lips Stranger Of Three Lifetimes LV-105 Mage Nono LV-102 Archer Scentless Water LV-101 Archer Lasting LV-104 Soul Of The Wild Eyes Like Water LV-104 Warrior ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng, He Yi and I immediately exchanged a glance with each other. What¡¯s this? An all-female party? The highest-leveled player in the enemy party, Stranger Of Three Lifetimes, was a female mage at the same level as Warsky. It would be unwise to underestimate her. She was joined by two archers and a Level 104 warrior, so clearly overwhelming firepower was the win condition of this party. Finally, they had a Level 104 tamer with a secret class called ¡°Soul Of The Wild¡±! ¡°Interesting¡­¡± Li Chengfeng smiled. ¡°Lu Chen, is it just me, or is this Blazing Hot Lips team actually a difficult opponent?¡± I sucked in a deep breath before replying, ¡°I¡¯ve heard of Stranger Of Three Lifetimes before. She¡¯s a mage in Ice Moon City, and she¡¯s the only mage Luo River God of the Capital acknowledged as her equal. We also have to watch out for that Level 104 tamer. Keep your eyes open, everyone. This match isn¡¯t going to be as easy as the first.¡± He Yi nodded. ¡°Who should we kill first?¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯ll deal with Stranger Of Three Lifetimes. Chengfeng, the Soul Of The Wild is yours; prevent her from summoning her pets repeatedly at all costs. It¡¯ll be bad if we got bogged down by her pets. Fourth-promotion Tamers aren¡¯t easy to beat, especially this one with a secret class. I would rather not know how it feels like to face the full might of a Soul Of The Wild, and I imagine sis and Lil Beiming would agree with me.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Li Chengfeng nodded. ¡°Just leave her to me!¡± He Yi chose this moment to speak up, ¡°I¡¯ll handle the two archers.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± We waited quietly for the battle to begin after we discussed our strategy. Blazing Hot Lips were probably discussing how to fight us right this moment, weren¡¯t they? I could only imagine how it felt to be in their position; to know that they only had two minutes to discuss how to fight against the first seed team of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! ¡­¡­ Two minutes later, everyone was teleported onto the battlefield. Speaking of which, the battlefield was a 100x100 yard square platform made of hard marble. Relatively speaking, no player should be able to damage the platform in any way. There was a barrier at the center that separated the parties before the countdown reached zero. On the other side, all five members of Blazing Hot Lips had already been teleported into the ring. The female player standing at the forefront was the Level 104 warrior called Eyes Like Water. The girl was planting her sword into the marble and watching us with a confident smile. Directly behind her was the Level 105 mage Stranger Of Three Lifetimes. She was holding a scepter that glowed with a cyan light. Unless I was sorely mistaken, it was probably a high-grade weapon. Even further at the back were the two high-level archers and Soul Of The Wild, Lasting. Lasting was a mature woman fully-garbed in leather armor. She looked to be around 25 years old or so, and she wielded a golden whip which she cracked in midair like some sort of S&M queen. Her smile spread wider as she stared at us. ¡­¡­ Both Li Chengfeng and I shivered involuntarily when we saw the predatory gleam in Lasting¡¯s eyes. We then exchanged a glance with each other. This party was no joke in more ways than one, it seemed! Skimming through information regarding Blazing Hot Lips, He Yi said, "Blazing Hot Lips is a guild founded in Vanished God City, and nowadays they are known as one of the ten strongest guilds in Vanished God City. Hmm, the scepter Strangers Of Three Lifetimes is holding is a 3-star Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade weapon, and the leather whip Lasting is holding is a Level 110 Spirit-grade weapon. Finally, that warrior called Eyes like Water is also fully decked out in high-level equipment. Everything she wears is Dark Gold¨Cgrade or above. This party is way, way stronger than Iron Mercenaries." Beiming Xue giggled. "This match is going to be like Mars colliding with Earth. Are we sure the groups aren¡¯t rigged or something? I can¡¯t believe we ran into a party like this during the second match of the preliminaries already!" I smiled. "Half a minute left. Get ready, everyone!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Everyone assumed their battle stances. The first worthy opponent we ran into in Who Will Rise was about to hit us with everything they got! The system started counting downward¡ª 3! 2! 1! Begin! Li Chengfeng charged the Soul Of The Wild almost at the same time as I charged Stranger Of Three Lifetimes. No matter what the enemy was planning, as warriors, we couldn¡¯t lose if we managed to shorten distance between ourselves and our opponents and force them to fight on our terms! Swhoosh! Stranger Of Three Lifetimes waited calmly as I blitzed toward her. Just before Thunderous Charge could make contact, she jumped two steps backward and allowed her Magic Shield to absorb the stun. However, that wasn¡¯t the end of my assault. I continued running in an arc with the weight of my momentum behind me and slipped behind the mage before she could react. Then, I swung the Heaven-stealing Sword at her waist! Pu! Surprisingly, her Magic Shield didn¡¯t break from the sweep attack. Her Magic Attack was as high as I suspected it might be! One failed attack was no reason to stop the assault, but before I could do anything else a Freezing Arrow from Nono hit me and slowed my movement speed by 50%. I hated it when I got ganged up by a debuffer and an attacker. With good coordination, it was entirely possible for a pair of good players to whittle down a warrior from 100 to 0. On the other side, Li Chengfeng wasn¡¯t doing very well either. Not only did Lasting manage to dodge his Charge, he was slowed down by another archer as well. The good news was that dragon warriors were naturally tanky, so for now he could ignore the damage he was taking and pursue the archer! "Hehe, I¡¯m here¡­" The Soul Of The Wild giggled like a bell as she withdrew to the back and drew a magic circle with her leather whip at the same time. The moment the magic circle was complete, a pair of snow-white battle wolves leaped out of it at the same time. They were high-level Snowy Plains Wolves! ¡­¡­ Right after that, Lasting swung her leather whip again and executed two tamer skills in a row¡ª Heart of the Wild: Pet¡¯s attack power increased by 50% Chapter 394: Eyes Like Water I was stunned. Those tamer skills looked pretty powerful. Was the fourth-promotion tamer about to mount an epic comeback? After being whipped by their master, the Snowy Plains Wolves became a hundred times more motivated than before. Puffing up their fur and growling menacingly at Chengfeng, they pounced toward his left and right side without warning and swung their menacing claws! "Hmph!" Li Chengfeng snorted coldly before swinging his sword at the Snowy Plains Wolves. He chose to counterattack instead of defending himself!! Bang bang! The two enemy pets reeled in pain, but Li Chengfeng also lost two chunks of HP¡ª 1895! 1987! As expected, not even Li Chengfeng¡¯s Defense was enough to mitigate the Snowy Plain Wolves¡¯ buffed Attack. However... "Die!" Li Chengfeng growled as he used Dragonbone Flurry on Soul Of The Wild. In that instant, Li Chengfeng had gotten close enough to Lasting and executed his killer move. "Ah?" Caught off-guard, Soul Of The Wild retreated and whipped Li Chengfeng right across the face at the same time, shouting, "Wild Sacrifice!" Thud thud thud! Li Chengfeng¡¯s skill was as quick as lightning, and Soul Of The Wild was nowhere fast enough to dodge the sudden attack. Three damage numbers appeared above her head¡ª 3975! 3694! 3872! It wasn¡¯t the kind of damage a leather-armor class could survive at all, but the fact was the Soul Of The Wild was still alive! At the same time, one of her Snowy Plain Wolves groaned and died as if it was the one who took the blow! Fuck, a sacrificial skill that uses one¡¯s own pet as a meatshield? Tsk tsk, Soul Of The Wild is an interesting class for sure. Li Chengfeng looked surprised as well. He didn¡¯t think that his perfect attack would fail to kill his target. Suddenly, the archer Scentless Water let out a painful groan and collapsed at the edge of the platform. When I glanced at her, I saw four or five arrows sticking out of her leather armor, still shaking, and blood pouring profusely from her wounds. Somehow, Beiming Xue had sniped the target before anyone else! My lull in concentration bought Stranger Of Three Lifetimes some time, however. Retreating a few steps away from me, she raised her scepter and growled menacingly. "Ice Blade!" Thud thud thud! Seven or eight icicles burst out of the ground and plunged into my war boots and thighs. It hurts! Both Li Chengfeng and I were caught in the narrow AoE spell! 1984! 1973! ¡­¡­ The spell did continuous damage. Stranger Of Three Lifetimes really was as powerful as she looked. I hurriedly maneuvered to a good position and counterattacked with a Thousand Ice Slash of my own! Bang! Boom! 4102! One hit was all it took to one-shot Stranger Of Three Lifetimes. The mage stared at me with her mouth open right until the moment she died. It seemed like she never expected me to have a trump card like this. On the other side of the battlefield, the second enemy archer called Nono had died as well. Standing in front of her corpse was none other than He Yi and a bloodied Soul Stealing Spear. Obviously, a normal archer couldn¡¯t defeat a magic knight with almost 2000 Defense, no matter how hard she tried. The situation turned into a one-sided slaughter in no time. The Soul Of The Wild was no match for Li Chengfeng without the assistance of her teammates, especially since he took his time to murder every last one of her pets first before moving on to her. A tamer without their pets was completely useless, so the Soul Of The Wild had no choice but to raise her arms in surrender. The enemy warrior, Eyes Like Water, was chasing after Murong Mingyue all this time. In fact, she was very close to killing our priest. Murong Mingyue was forced to run all over the place and heal herself whenever an opportunity presented itself. Whip! The Soul Of The Wild hit the ground once with her whip to catch Eyes Like Water¡¯s attention. Then, she smiled helplessly at her friend. "Time to go, Water. We already lost." Eyes Like Water stopped, but her eyes were full of determination. She forfeited and vanished in a flash of white light. The Soul Of The Wild vanished after her. Well, it was wise of them to give up a lost battle early and save their strength for the next round. 1-0! So far, things were looking very good for us. Our opponents were no slouches, but we were still able to beat them with ease. It was proof of how far we had come. A few minutes later, both sides were teleported back into the arena again. ¡­¡­ Stranger Of Three Lifetimes asked her teammates, "Can someone tell me why we lost so quickly just now?" Lasting rotated the whip in her hands slowly while smiling. Smoothening the cape behind her back and bending her waist a little into an incredibly enticing posture, she answered, "It¡¯s my fault, I didn¡¯t control my pets well enough, and I gave Legendary Brave the opening to shatter my control. Anyway, I imagine you¡¯ll want to whip me for the mistake? C¡¯mon then, I¡¯m all ready for you¡­" Me: "..." Li Chengfeng: "..." This team sure is a sunny bunch, eh?? The girls finally stopped fooling around and whispered to each other in low voices that we couldn¡¯t hear. The way they pointed at us from time to time made us¡ªespecially He Yi, Li Chengfeng, and I¡ªfeel extremely uncomfortable. He Yi looked at me and asked, "Why do I feel like something¡¯s about to happen to me?" "What a coincidence, I feel the same way as well," Li Chengfeng echoed in agreement. I said, "Fuck, me too¡­" It was at this moment the countdown began¡ª 3! 2! 1! Second round, go! The Soul Of The Wild resummoned her Snowy Plain Wolves almost at the same time the barrier separating our teams disappeared. Stranger Of Three Lifetimes was chanting a spell, the two archers were drawing their bows, and the warrior Eyes Like Water locked onto our dragon warrior, Legendary Brave and activated Charge! Thud! Li Chengfeng countered with his own Charge and slammed into her, sending her stumbling backward a couple of steps. Eyes Like Water¡¯s Strength was clearly inferior to Li Chengfeng¡¯s, but at least neither side had managed to stun each other yet. It was a failure for both warriors. However, Eyes Like Water was just buying time for her mage. Stranger Of Three Lifetimes abruptly raised her scepter and cried out, "Profound Ice Break!" Boom! Several ice blades suddenly fell from the sky and froze Li Chengfeng in ice, catching all of us off-guard. None of us knew that she had a skill like this! "Attack!" Not waiting for the enemy to pull off their killer combo, I charged the enemy archer Nono and swung my sword. She only managed to hit me with two Freezing Arrows before collapsing to the ground, dead. Then, I turned around and launched a Thousand Ice Slash! Boom! 4193! The second archer failed to dodge out of the way and died as well. But while I was murdering Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ backline, Eyes Like Water and the two Snowy Plains Wolves had also reached Li Chengfeng and hit him with everything they had! 3874! 2984! 2758! ¡­¡­ Not even Murong Mingyue was able to outheal the damage Li Chengfeng had taken. The dragon warrior shouted in despair, "Fuck, I don¡¯t want to die¡­" Well, he died anyway. Moping couldn¡¯t change reality. But while they were murdering Li Chengfeng, I also got close enough to the Soul Of The Wild to launch an Ice Ray at her! Rrroom! The Soul Of The Wild reacted quickly and dodged out of the way, but before she could do anything else, a sword suddenly burst out of her chest and killed her where she stood. A beautiful figure appeared behind her as she slowly collapsed to the floor, and it was none other than He Yi. The magic knight had landed a lucky critical hit on the Soul Of The Wild and one-shot her. He Yi was a super noob in her past, but she had shed that title a long time ago through hard work and an amazing amount of talent. Today, she was so good that even I was a little surprised by her progress. Pu! Stranger Of Three Lifetimes wasn¡¯t doing nothing while all this was going on. An icicle pierced through Beiming Xue¡¯s chest and dealt an incredible amount of damage, but instead of running away she launched an Evil Spirit Volley at her attacker. Since Beiming Xue had become a fourth-promotion archer, her HP had exceeded 5000. It would take more than one icicle to make her flee in fear! The purple arrows looked like they were fired at random, but in reality they sealed off almost every possible retreat path Stranger Of Three Lifetimes could take. The high-level mage glared at Beiming Xue as she muttered, "I may die here, but I¡¯m taking you with me!" Beiming Xue simply smiled. "It¡¯s fine. Big bro will take care of the rest of you!" The two girls started throwing everything they had at each other. Stranger Of Three Lifetimes unleashed her final Ice Dragon Howl at the same time as Beiming Xue loosed her last Explosive Arrow! Pu pu... Both girls died taking the other person with them... Meanwhile, Eyes Like Water was backing away hastily from me after eating a Pardon before zigzagging abruptly toward He Yi! Crack! 1178! Sparks flew everywhere as metal clashed against metal. However, the damage Eyes Like Water did was shockingly low. Eyes Like Water¡¯s mouth fell open when He Yi¡¯s invisible Ice Soul Barrier finally revealed itself as a high-grade shield. "OMG, what even is this Defense¡­" He Yi smiled and retaliated with a stab to the torso. It was bad manners not to return a gesture after all! Clang! 2743! It was clear who was the victor. There was no way Eyes Like Water would be able to kill He Yi before she died. Eyes Like Water lowered her sword helplessly before smiling. "Sigh, it¡¯s still not enough, huh? No wonder you guys are the first seed of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. We concede. It¡¯s been an honor to be your opponent, and¡­ see you in Vanished God City next time!" He Yi stared at her for a moment before smiling back. "See you." Swhoosh! Eyes Like Water forfeited again, and the journey of Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ first seed in the Who Will Rise tournament officially ended here! 2-0! Unfortunately, the second round victory wasn¡¯t as pretty as the first. Li Chengfeng took the full brunt of the enemy¡¯s surprise attack, so his death was no wonder. Beiming Xue successfully took out the enemy¡¯s mage at the cost of her life, and considering that Stranger Of Three Lifetimes was one of the famous experts of Vanished God City, it was an incredible achievement. After all, under normal circumstances a mage with a Magic Shield should always destroy an archer of the same level ten out of ten times! ¡­¡­ We were teleported back to the orchard once more. Victory belonged to us again! Li Chengfeng looked at the floor and complained sadly, "Fuck, that was such an embarrassing way to die.." I consoled him. "It¡¯s okay. Had you not played the cannon fodder and baited out most of the enemy¡¯s firepower for us, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to delete the rest of them quite as easily. Stranger Of Three Lifetimes is definitely a powerful mage, and I wouldn¡¯t want to run into that Soul Of The Wild outside the city. We were lucky to fight them in an arena." Li Chengfeng nodded in agreement. If this was outside where everyone could summon two or even three pets depending on their class, it would be a pain in the ass to fight Blazing Hot Lips. Soul Of The Wild¡¯s powerful buffs could easily turn all their pets into powerhouses and overwhelm us through sheer brute force. It was at this moment I received a message from Lin Yixin. "I¡¯m sorry, Lu Chen. I did something very bad to you¡­" Chapter 395: Purple Dawn A couple of seconds later, Lin Yixin finally replied, ¡°My¡­ my second match opponent was a party of your guild, and I took them out¡­¡± ¡°Fuck. Who was in that party?¡± ¡°Amazing Expert, Yamete, Wolf Fang, Moonlight Stone, and Moon Dew¡­¡± ¡°...¡± I couldn¡¯t say anything for a time. Sigh, Thirteen and Mamate had got to be some of the most unfortunate players in the game. It took some amazingly bad luck to run into Lin Yixin¡¯s party during the second match of the preliminaries. Everyone in the party was a pretty good player, but there was just no way they could beat Lin Yixin. I sucked in a deep breath before replying, ¡°It¡¯s fine, Yiyi, don¡¯t worry about it. Do your best so we can meet up at the offline finals, okay?¡± ¡°Mn, you too!¡± After closing the communicator, I tried searching for Lin Yixin¡¯s party by keying in the ID ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± under the criteria ¡°Party Leader¡±. The full party list quickly entered my view¡ª Wind Fantasy LV-107 Light Wanderer Purple Marquis LV-106 Warrior Shadow Chanel LV-106 Dark Tongue Mage Clear Perfume LV-105 Archer Beauty At First Sight LV-105 Holy Bard ¡­¡­ I was slightly caught off-guard. What happened? When did Snowy Cathaya update their first seed? Just two days ago when I saw Shadow Chanel, she was still a normal mage. This meant that she had probably changed her class to Dark Tongue Mage between that time and the time the tournament began. Moreover, Snowy Cathaya¡¯s party had a new Level 105 Holy Bard called "Beauty At First Sight¡±. It was yet another hidden class I had never heard of before. Now I understood why Lin Yixin hadn¡¯t sent me a single message in the past couple days. She was busy recruiting powerful party members to prepare for Who Will Rise. Snowy Cathaya¡¯s first seed was now a lot stronger than before, and I doubted that even we had a high chance of winning if we ran into them. The problem here was that Lin Yixin knew all our classes intimately, but we knew next to nothing about their new secret classes, Dark Tongue Mage and Holy Bard. Moreover, Lin Yixin and Purple Marquis themselves were super-tier experts with the equipment to match their skills. There was no way anyone was going to beat their party easily, if at all! I prayed that we wouldn¡¯t run into them before we entered the Top 32. Otherwise, it would be like rehearsing for the semifinals... After that, I looked at my companions to see what they were doing. He Yi and Murong Mingyue were chatting with each other¡ª "Eve, what did you do during your around-the-globe business trip?" Murong Mingyue asked. "Oh? You are¡­ literally the only person in the entire company who would do such a thing. Now confess, what were you plotting when you transferred the core of GGS all the way from India to China; to Suzhou to be exact?" He Yi turned slightly red. "I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. I just don¡¯t want to spend one-third of a year flying on a plane, that¡¯s all¡­" "Hmph hmph~ You can lie, but we all know the truth, don¡¯t we?" Unable to stand Murong Mingyue¡¯s teasing any longer, I said, "Hey, why are you, the assistant, bullying your boss like that? Do you want to quit your job or something?" "Fuck!" Murong Mingyue rolled her eyes before complaining in a grudgeful tone, "The dog¡¯s starting to protect its food. My life just lost a bit of entertainment¡­" Beiming Xue giggled. "Alright, alright, stop arguing. We need to be united! Li Chengfeng will laugh at you three, you know!" Li Chengfeng hurriedly waved his hands in denial. "Oh, I¡¯m fine, I heard nothing at all. I¡¯m just here to fill the numbers, so just do whatever you want, guild leaders. As a law enforcement professional, I would never record any conversation without requesting the involved party¡¯s permission, especially a lover¡¯s quarrel that has no judicial value whatsoever. So please, continue." "..." He Yi and I exchanged a smile with each other before falling silent, waiting for the third match to begin. Everyone had a feeling that our path of conquest wouldn¡¯t be the smooth sailing we expected it to be, especially after encountering the high-level party Iron Mercenaries on our first match and the powerful Blazing Hot Lips on the second, so we were prepared to give every match everything we got. Only a fool would continue underestimating their opponents, especially after the baptism that was Blazing Hot Lips. When the third match began, and our opponent¡¯s formation was displayed on the screen, we all suddenly burst out in laughter all of a sudden. It was because the highest-leveled player in the opposing party was only Level 92. Considering who we had to fight during the previous two rounds, it was unthinkable how this party managed to come this far. Still, this was as far as their luck could carry them. Li Chengfeng raised his sword and declared, "You guys stay back. I¡¯ll handle this party myself!" "Sure. Run forward, youngster!" I hugged the Heaven-stealing Sword and sat against the railings like I was a spectator and not a participant. He Yi also sat down next to me and leaned against my shoulder. Unwilling to be left behind, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue joined us as we sat together and waited for Li Chengfeng¡¯s one-man show to begin. Not far away from us, Li Chengfeng held his sword in front of himself and smiled at the opponents. "Please forgive this one¡¯s impudence, but this one wishes to challenge you all by myself!" The Level 92 warrior on the other side of the ring waved his axe angrily. "You think you can 1v5 us? Dream on! We didn¡¯t come this far through sheer luck, you know?" "Actually, you did survive till the third match through sheer luck. You absolutely don¡¯t deserve to be on this stage¡­" Li Chengfeng replied honestly. His blunt honesty provoked the opponents to a flying rage, and all five of them shouted on top of their lungs and charged him. They looked like they wanted nothing more but to turn the dragon warrior¡¯s head into a pig head. Unfortunately, they had underestimated Li Chengfeng way too much. Li Chengfeng ran in an S-shaped pattern and swung his sword only at the most opportune moment. It wasn¡¯t the coolest moves he could use, but it was certainly the most effective. Three stabs later, two archers and one mage fell to his sword. Naturally, the remaining bard and warrior couldn¡¯t escape their fates as well. It was 1-0 in just half a minute! The opponents looked like a fully-deflated balloon when the second round began. After showing off his skill during the first round, Li Chengfeng proceeded to show off his class and equipment superiority. He ignored all the attacks landing on his dragon armor and simply plowed through them with sheer brute force. Again, the battle was over in 30 seconds, and we moved on to the next match with a perfect 2-0 score! The third match went surprisingly smooth for us, although I supposed it was only to be expected. This was just the third match, and millions of parties were participating in this tournament. Realistically speaking, Li Chengfeng was powerful enough to 1v5 at least 80% of the participating parties, although of course the remaining 20%¡ªparties like Blazing Hot Lips¡ªcould just as easily wipe the floor with him. ¡­¡­ The next few matches went the same way. Li Chengfeng and I took turns to solo our opponents while He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue simply watched from the sidelines and relaxed. Long story short, we took it easy unless the enemy¡¯s average Level was above 100. In fact, when we encountered a 5-man archer party who were all around Level 100 or so during the seventh match, I suggested that He Yi should challenge them 1v5. The beautiful guild leader looked apprehensive, but not even stage fright could change the fact that she had almost 2000 Defense. Just as I predicted, none of the opponents were able to hit He Yi for more than 100 damage. "Big bro, why did you ask sister He Yi to fight this match herself?" I replied while watching He Yi chasing after a middle-aged archer, "Don¡¯t you think that skill is the most important factor in a melee versus ranged battle? If your positioning, timing, or strategy are off, you won¡¯t be able to even touch the enemy, let alone kill them. Therefore, the reason I asked Eve to fight this solo is so that she could polish her skill and ascend to new heights." "Mn, makes sense¡­" We resumed watching after I explained my reasoning. He Yi looked afraid at first, but a while later she calmed down completely and started turning the tables. Multiple times she was able to herd the enemies into themselves and kill them while they were busy disentangling themselves from each other, playing them like a fiddle. When the match ended with a perfect 2-0, we all saw a bit of confidence peeking out of our beautiful guild leader¡¯s features. After putting her skills to the test and coming out on top, I was sure she had become better than ever before! Before you master a skill, you must first master your own confidence. You must stay calm enough to think, and be arrogant enough to believe that everything was under their control. ¡­¡­ The Who Will Rise preliminaries tested a player¡¯s stamina more than anything, and the further one progressed, the stronger one¡¯s opponent became. A party who tried to conserve their strength might find themselves disqualified the next second, so even we stopped fooling around and treated the matches seriously. Starting the tenth match, we fought as a party, no matter how weak or strong our opponents were. The pressure started growing after the fifteenth match. Murong Mingyue died both rounds of the sixteenth match, but it was a clean 2-0 victory for us. Li Chengfeng died tragically again during the seventeenth match, but again, it was a 2-0 victory. The eighteenth match was easier than the previous two matches, so we were able to knock out our opponents without losing anyone. ¡­¡­ "We¡¯re finally at the second last match¡­" Beiming Xue beamed at the large display above the orchard, but couldn¡¯t stop herself from rubbing her stomach. "I¡¯m so hungry¡­" I looked at the time and noted that it was 6:50 pm. By now, everyone was tired and hungry after fighting so many stressful matches in a row. At least we only had two more matches to go before we were finally free. Only 128 parties were left in the tournament now. A veteran would know that the battle to enter the Top 64 was a critical one, and basically no one who made it this far was a slouch. Moreover, experts from other major cities should show up as opponents any time now. Only the best of the best would be able to qualify for the offline segment of the tournament! ¡­¡­ The big screen shuddered for a moment before displaying our next opponent. The party¡¯s name and formation entered our view¡ª Candle Dragon Second Seed Fighting On All Fronts LV-105 Warrior Gao Jianli LV-106 Assassin Red Dust LV-104 Magic Knight Purple Dawn LV-106 Phantom Archer Zero Degree Rain LV-105 Assassin ¡­¡­ "Fuck¡­" Li Chengfeng gasped a little before saying seriously, "This battle is going to be harder than all the battles we fought earlier. I¡¯ve seen almost all the names in this party in the forums before. These people are incredibly famous in Wind City!" He Yi nodded in agreement. "Purple Dawn, the Phantom Archer, is one of the few talents Candlelight Shadow had taught personally. From what I heard, he was planning to make him a Candle Dragon seeded player in the CGL Hall of Fame. There was a time Peach Garden and Candle Dragon clashed against one another in the desert, and Purple Dawn hid in the desert for an entire hour just to wait for the perfect opportunity to ambush Indigo Collar¡¯s general, Wheel Shadow, and kill him. As a result, Peach Garden lost that battle. He is a player of incredible fortitude." I raised my sword and declared confidently, "That¡¯s great. Eliminating a party like this from the tournament will hurt Candlelight Shadow for sure!" Chapter 396: Changing Tactics Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Fighting On All Fronts, Purple Dawn, and the rest of our opponents were already waiting on the other side of the barrier when we were teleported onto the battlefield. Although they weren¡¯t CGL Hall of Famers, they were pretty powerful and famous players in their own rights. ¡°Kaka, what a small world we live in!¡± Fighting On All Fronts placed his sword on his shoulder and laughed loudly. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought that we would run into Falling Dust and his harem? The first seed was hoping to massacre Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ first seed with their own hands, but it looks like they¡¯re out of luck today.¡± Red Dust, a spear wielder, also laughed arrogantly. ¡°Very interesting. I didn¡¯t think that we would encounter each other before the offline matches. Poor, poor Lu Chen, you must have forgotten to pray to Lady Luck today!¡± A disdainful smile crossed Gao Jianli¡¯s lips as he played with his dagger. ¡°I heard that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was the winner of the War Holy Temple at Sky City. What a joke! Is Sky City really so weak that even a third-rate guild like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls could claim the best divine site available? Hmph! If Candle Dragon had chosen to go to Sky City, you wouldn¡¯t even be able to occupy the Giant Rock Cave!¡± Zero Degree Rain also chimed in while twirling his two daggers. ¡°Listen, you clown. Your bark may be loud, but your bite will never amount to anything.¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°You!¡± Furious, Beiming Xue walked toward the opponents while saying angrily, ¡°You all forgot to brush your teeth today, didn¡¯t you? Your mouths stink, you trash!¡± Li Chengfeng also yelled angrily, ¡°Your grandpa¡¯s gonna teach you a lesson the second the barrier¡¯s down, you brats! Who the fuck do you think you are? You dogs think you can beat us when we don¡¯t even fear Candlelight Shadow?¡± Before they could say anything else, I walked up to them and dragged them backward. I whispered, ¡°Calm down, you two. Don¡¯t you see they¡¯re just trying to provoke us and make us lose our cool? They know we¡¯re good, that¡¯s why they¡¯re trying to throw us into disarray before the battle begins. They¡¯re way smarter than the likes of Li Le and Roaming Dragon.¡± Li Chengfeng snapped out of his anger and smiled a little. ¡°Sorry, I shouldn¡¯t have let my emotions get to my head. You¡¯re cool as ever, vice leader!¡± I smiled back. ¡°Nonsense, there¡¯s no one here who wants to slaughter their asses more than I do, but to do that I must remain calm and be at my best, you get me?¡± ¡°Mn, speak to us. How do you think we should fight this out?¡± ¡°Mn, got it.¡± I added, ¡°The enemy has two assassins, so one of us at least will probably be stunned to death. Be ready to sacrifice yourself and make the most out of it. Red Dust has okay Attack but super-high Defense and HP, so let¡¯s ignore him and deal with the others first. Our kill priority is assassin first, archer second and warrior last. Does everyone understand what I¡¯m saying?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡°Good!¡± ¡­¡­ Our enemy watched us maliciously, and we gazed back as cool as a block of ice. It wasn¡¯t long before the system started counting downward¡ª 3! 2! 1! Begin! Swhoosh! As discussed earlier, He Yi took the lead and rushed the enemy¡¯s archer, Purple Dawn, immediately. The two enemy assassins had already gone into stealth, and there was no way for He Yi to detect them considering their level. Therefore, the enemy archer was the only viable target left for her! Whoosh! She swung her spear in a wide arc, but Purple Dawn easily leaped out of the way. At the same time, Fighting On All Fronts hit her from the side and sent her stumbling a couple of steps backward. He pressed the attack and hit her with an Ice Ray + Sword Guard Flurry combo! 874! 658! 592! 581! Sparks flew off the surface of He Yi¡¯s Ice Soul Barrier again and again, but the actual amount of damage done was so pathetic that Fighting On All Fronts was flabbergasted. Ice Ray + Sword Guard Flurry was the strongest combo he had, but it only took around 20% HP from her health bar. Our beautiful leader was slowly but surely growing into a super tank that could drive any enemy up the walls. Before He Yi retreated to safety, she thrust her spear forward and retaliated with a basic attack, dealing 2846 damage and causing Fighting On All Fronts to feel even more frustrated. What was supposed to be a one-sided slaughter turned into an even exchange at best because the gap between their stats was too high! However, an invisible figure suddenly appeared next to He Yi and hit her in a burst of red light. It was an Eviscerate + Cruel Blade combo, and both skills ignored the enemy¡¯s Defense to an extent! 2894! 1928! He Yi tried to turn around and retaliate, but she shuddered into a stop when the second assassin appeared and stunned her again. Three consecutive strikes later, her HP dropped drastically to below 25%. The situation had turned critical in almost no time at all. But this was my chance. I locked onto an empty space and activated Charge! Whoosh! Blitzing forward while surrounded by a rain of lightning, I stopped right between Gao Jianli and Zero Degree Rain and used War Crush! Bang bang bang! Both assassins turned deathly pale at my sudden attack. Gao Jianli was killed on the spot, but the more skilful Zero Degree Rain managed to retreat in time and drink a health potion to restore his health. However, a cold wind brushed against his back, and a cyan horn burst out of his chest before he could do anything. It was Li Chengfeng¡¯s unique skill, Cyan Dragon Horn! Cyan Dragon Horn was a ridiculously powerful single-target offensive skill. There was no chance in hell an assassin could survive a direct hit. The enemy lost two of their assassins in just the blink of an eye, but that didn¡¯t mean that they had given up the battle already. Fighting On All Fronts and Red Dust continued to batter He Yi with everything they got, and although Murong Mingyue was healing her with everything she got, it wasn¡¯t enough to offset all the damage. Even worse, the Phantom Archer, Purple Dawn, had loosed three arrows in a row after retreating to a suitable distance! Thud thud thud! 1674! 1843! 1901! Three consecutive hits later, He Yi let out a groan and died. The temperature in my eyes dropped instantly. I whispered to Li Chengfeng, ¡°You deal with their fighters. This Phantom Archer is mine!¡± ¡°No problem!¡± Li Chengfeng used Cyan Dragon Horn again on a random target before zigzagging before the two fighters, successfully stopping them in their tracks. Then, he immediately spun around and used a Dragonbone Flurry, forcing Red Dust to stumble backward. The two fighters were no match for the dragon warrior at all. I ran after Purple Dawn and fired Thousand Ice Slash! Boom! The resulting explosion cut off most of Purple Dawn¡¯s retreat path immediately. ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Purple Dawn barely managed to escape the attack unscathed, but before he could stand still he realized that a chill was blowing from his right side. It was me about to hit him with Pardon and a basic attack! If I could land both hits, he would be dead for sure! However, Purple Dawn suddenly split into three in that critical moment. They each took off in different directions as I tried to distinguish who was real and who wasn¡¯t. Triple multitasking? No wonder Candlelight Shadow valued him as much as he did! ¡°What are you waiting for? Come get me, hahaha¡­¡± All three phantoms turned toward me and fired an Explosive Arrow in unison! The phantom¡¯s attack wouldn¡¯t deal any damage of course, but it wasn¡¯t easy to differentiate which one was real and which wasn¡¯t in such short notice! For a normal player, anyway. The corner of my lips turned up slightly. ¡°You really think you can fool me this easily?¡± I abruptly took off toward the sidemost ¡°phantom¡± and thrust my sword through its chest. Desperate Gambit! 6783! Purple Dawn¡¯s mouth fell open as he slowly collapsed to the ground. At the same time, the two phantoms disappeared into nothing. I knew I got the right target! ¡°You¡­ How did you¡­?¡± I knocked Purple Dawn down and sneered before he could finish his question. ¡°And why the fuck would I tell you anything?¡± It was actually quite simple. All I did was analyze the movements of the phantoms and attack the one with the highest APM. ¡­¡­ After that, I turned away from Purple Dawn and ran toward Red Dust. Realizing that I was attacking him, the magic knight instantly shook off Li Chengfeng¡¯s attack, raised his shield and lowered his spear. The spearhead was gleaming slightly with concealed killing intent! I let out a chuckle and turned my waist the moment I got close to him. Spinning like a whirlwind, I swung my sword three times in a row. The first strike knocked away his shield to the side, and the second and third strike left gruesome wounds across his chest. I even snuck in an Ice Ray in between the first and third strike. I overcame the magic knight¡¯s staunch defense with overwhelming speed! Thump! One basic attack from me deleted over 3000 HP from his health bar, so there was no way he could¡¯ve survived the assault. Li Chengfeng and Beiming Xue both had their hands full, so it was up to me to delete the tanky magic knight. I looked to my side just in time to catch Li Chengfeng hitting Fighting On All Fronts with a Reverse Scale Slash. Just like that, the party leader of Candle Dragon¡¯s second seed dropped dead in horrific fashion! The score was 1-0. The first round was ours, but it wasn¡¯t an easy battle for sure. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After we were teleported outside the ring, He Yi complained, ¡°Their Attack is so high¡­¡± Li Chengfeng agreed. ¡°Yeah, but you did really well, guild leader. If you haven¡¯t attracted over 70% of their firepower, there was no way we could¡¯ve won that first round that easily.¡± I sucked in a deep breath. ¡°They wouldn¡¯t make the same mistake and focus He Yi again during the second round, so we need to change our tactics!¡± He Yi asked, ¡°What should we do?¡± ¡°I single-handedly killed three of their players just now, so I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll try to kill me first during the second round. This time, Li Chengfeng and I will be the meat shields. I¡¯ll Charge the enemy first, and Li Chengfeng second. While we are stalling them, Eve should find an opportunity to one-shot their assassin with the Green Wave Slash. The rest of the battle will be much easier once their assassins are out of commission.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± One minute of waiting later, we were teleported back to the ring. On the other side of the barrier, the second seed of Candle Dragon had dropped their arrogant facade completely in exchange for a grim and determined expression. They clearly understood that they were probably going to lose. ¡­¡­ 3! 2! 1! Battle start! I locked onto Red Dust and activated Charge! Swhoosh! I moved so fast that lightning afterimages trailed behind me. Fighting On All Fronts dodged out of the way in panic, but the magic knight behind him, Red Dust wasn¡¯t that fortunate. ¡°Fuck, I¡¯m the target?¡± Bzz! Chapter 397: LAN Pardon + Desperate Gambit + basic attack! MISS! 7129! 3157! The combo deleted most of Red Dust¡¯s health in an instant and drained all the blood from his face. "Fuck, this is stupid! What the fuck is this Attack?!" I was preparing to one-shot him with my next combo, but to my surprise the high-level magic knight took out a Rank 8 Health Potion, drank it, and healed himself for 2500 HP instantly. It wouldn¡¯t be easy to kill him now. Suddenly, two shadows appeared next to me. They were the two enemy assassins of course. I was Level 109, 3 to 4 levels higher than them, so I had no trouble spotting them when they were just three yards away from me! Trying to use Ambush and stun me again? Red Dust¡¯s rapid retreat to save his own life actually gave me more than enough space to cook up a counter against the assassins. Smiling a little and sliding a foot backward, I tensed up like a coil of spring and waited. The moment the two assassins attacked me, I burst into action and swung my sword to the left and right! Ding ding! Both parries were perfect, so their skills missed me completely. Gao Jianli exclaimed in shock, "Fuck! What the fuck is this reaction speed!?" Refusing to give up, Zero Degree Rain tried to attack me with a Gorge + Evil Will combo next. I saw exactly how he was going to move, so I took a step toward him, placed my sword in front of me and parried the first skill. Then, I abruptly lowered the blade and parried the second skill as well. Finally, I lowered my waist and threw a mighty kick to his chest! Bang! 1798! Zero Degree Rain let out a muffled groan and he backed away from me, but he failed to react in time to deal with the beautiful figure who had snuck up behind him. He Yi hit him directly with a Green Wave Slash! Boom! 4194! 3908! Zero Degree Rain was one-shot just like that. Since He Yi had unleashed her skill from a good angle, the other assassin, Gao Jianli, also took a hit and lost a huge chunk of his HP. Before he could do anything else, Beiming Xue¡¯s assist arrived at the perfect moment and killed him where he stood! On the other side of the battlefield, Li Chengfeng was overwhelming Red Dust with a perfectly executed Dragonbone Flurry. Despite the latter¡¯s best attempt to parry the skill, he couldn¡¯t stop the deadly attack that penetrated his body and claimed his life! Swhoosh swhoosh! It was around this time Murong Mingyue cast two spells in a row and healed me for 3687 and 2788 health, pulling me back to the green. Purple Dawn groaned in his head. "They have a priest. How the fuck are even we going to fight this?" Crack! One last hit, and he was dead as well! Purple Dawn looked angry, but he knew there was nothing he could do to turn things around. So he humphed coldly and said, "Just you wait, Candlelight Shadow will take revenge for us if you¡¯re lucky enough to survive until the finals!" Swhoosh! Purple Dawn forfeited the match in shame. The second seed of Candle Dragon was annihilated just like that! With that 2-0 victory, we officially progressed to the last match of the preliminaries! ¡­¡­ When we were teleported back to the orchard, everyone let out a visible sigh of relief. Fighting a powerful party like that was always going to be stressful. But Murong Mingyue smiled and said, "I thought that it would be a close victory at best, but after those perfect parries you did they lost steam completely and crumbled like sand castles, Lu Chen. Hehe, it was awesome~~" Li Chengfeng agreed. "Yeah, you really made me feel like there¡¯s no end to learning, vice leader. The way you parried so many attacks in such a small time window, only a monster can pull off such a feat." I rolled my eyes at him. "Who are you calling a monster? I¡¯m a perfectly normal human being, alright?¡¯ Li Chengfeng laughed. "Haha, it¡¯s just a metaphor. Anyway, I wonder who our last opponent will be?" "Well, we¡¯ll know very soon." ¡­¡­ Everyone was very excited. We were literally one match away from entering the LAN tournament. A short while later, our enemies¡¯ information appeared on the screen, and a wide smile broke across all of our faces. This literally couldn¡¯t get any better for us! Flower Room Second Seed Heartless LV-100 Warrior The Fish Who Doesn¡¯t Know Water LV-102 Warrior Galaxy LV-101 Mage Eighthday LV-102 Assassin Linglong Jade LV-99 Bard ¡­¡­ Not only did we run into Flower Room in our last match, it was their second seed no less. We would annihilate them even if they were the first seed, so this was just the icing on the cake. I felt like we needed to do something special to properly celebrate this boon, so I looked behind me and consulted everyone¡¯s opinion, "I think we should let Chengfeng solo the first round. What do you all think?" Li Chengfeng immediately raised his sword happily. "No problem! This will be fun! "Mn!" Back in the ring, the Flower Room players were glaring at us. Heartless said, "Let¡¯s kill them and open the eyes of our guild leader!" The Fish Who Doesn¡¯t Know Water: "Yeah. Let¡¯s take out Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand first and the dragon warrior second. The rest will fall once we take care of them! Also, make sure that no harm comes to our bard, get it? Girl, please buff me now!" Galaxy: "Haha, I can¡¯t believe we encountered the first seed of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I can¡¯t wait to eliminate them from the competition!" Eighthday: "You guys are joking, right¡­" Yes, they were. 90 seconds later, Li Chengfeng came back with five still warm corpses behind him. 1-0. It was too easy. ¡­¡­ "Big bro, can I try soloing the second round, please?" Beiming Xue asked eagerly. I nodded. "Sure!" Maybe it was because Beiming Xue was the only one who stepped out to fight them, but no one in the second seed of Flower Room showed any fear whatsoever. In fact, they tried to Charge her brainlessly and were rewarded with an Evil Spirit Volley and some Freezing Arrows to the face. One by one, Beiming Xue kited them and killed them all. At this point, I could officially declare that Beiming Xue¡¯s skill had reached a point of perfection. She was as good as Transient Smoke and Clouds of Candle Dragon or October Rain of Warsky Alliance. Without Beiming Xue, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ archer group couldn¡¯t be considered top-tier. I was very glad that I had decided to recruit her back then. 2-0. We had finished the preliminaries without a single loss! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your party has qualified for the offline matches. The LAN tournament will take place at Eternal Moon VR Esports Center, Shanghai, and your flight tickets will automatically be booked within an hour. Please claim your boarding pass with your resident identity card and arrive at Shanghai a day before the offline matches for your registration! ¡­¡­ Wow, Eternal Moon Corporation truly was rich as fuck. Considering how small the timing window between the preliminaries and the offline matches was, they must¡¯ve pre-booked the flight tickets from all over the country long before the preliminaries even began. How on earth did they convince the airlines to do this? "I¡¯m so, so tired. I want my food now¡­" Murong Mingyue complained. The rest of the girls looked like they were starving as well. It was 7 pm in the evening, and normally they would be enjoying their dinner tea at this time. "See you at Shanghai the day after tomorrow!" I bade Li Chengfeng goodbye and logged out with the girls. Again, we went to Chuyunge, the buffet restaurant to sate our hunger. It would be a shame not to considering how empty our stomachs were. ¡­¡­ We hunted all over the place and filled our tables completely with food. Then, we sat down and ate to our heart¡¯s content. Not far away from us, a mounted TV was broadcasting a sports channel, CCTV-5. Suddenly, it changed to a footage of the game, and it was none other than our battle against the second seed of Candle Dragon. Since our faces were perfectly displayed on the HDTV, two uncles sitting at a table on the opposite side immediately looked at us in shock. One of them stuttered, "H-hey¡­ aren¡¯t they the players on the TV?" The other uncle said, "Are they really¡­ the core players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Fuck, if I haven¡¯t become a herbalist back then, I would be a fierce general of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls right now¡­" "Get lost, how old do you think you are? The only thing that¡¯s fierce about you is your age!" ¡­¡­ We enjoyed the show while eating our food. When the broadcast was finished, the Top 32 teams of the China region was displayed. All the powerful guilds¡ªSnowy Cathaya, Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Purple Lily, and so on¡ªhad qualified for the offline matches as expected, and even our second seed¡ªGui Guzi, Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steed Of You Yun, and Chaos Moon¡ªhad made it as well. It was to be expected. They were all good players in their own right. There were a lot of parties that I hadn¡¯t seen before. Some of them could be small fries, but it couldn¡¯t be all of them no matter what. After all, every party in the Top 32 had endured a grueling 20-match preliminaries to make it to the offline matches. ¡­¡­ "You know what, let¡¯s skip the morning flight to Shanghai and drive there in the afternoon instead," He Yi said with a smile. "Suzhou is right next to Shanghai, so we don¡¯t have to travel early like some competitors do." I nodded in agreement. "I¡¯m going to go online to sell some things later, but we all should sleep early tonight. Tomorrow, we can grind a bit in the morning before driving to Shanghai for the registration. I bet we¡¯ll meet a lot of familiar faces, including Candlelight Shadow¡¯s, hmph!" Beiming Xue asked worriedly, "Big bro, do we need to worry about literal, offline fights considering our grudge with Candle Dragon?" "Heh, don¡¯t worry, we have Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and High Fighting Spirits with us. We would win ten out of ten times even if I did nothing at all. And if I do have to fight then it¡¯ll only be worse for Candle Dragon¡­" He Yi rolled her eyes and me and chided, "The best fight is no fight at all. What if you get hurt?" "I know, I know." Murong Mingyue said, "Oh right, Beauty Lin¡¯s party qualified for the offline matches as well, right? Should we meet up with them and travel to Shanghai together? We¡¯re all from Suzhou, and we¡¯re allies. We should put some effort into maintaining our relationship." "Sure, I¡¯ll contact her later." "Mn." ¡­¡­ That night after returning to the workshop, I gave Lin Yixin a call and asked her if she wanted to drive to Shanghai together after lunch. She agreed as a matter of course. I logged into the game and managed the shop a little. The good news was that the elite NPC I hired, White Fox, had proven to be a worthwhile investment. She barely needed any instructions to perform the work in the shop, and today¡¯s sales had broken the shop¡¯s personal records again. Even if I stopped selling equipment now, my shop would be earning the equivalent of a gold collar¡¯s salary. The night passed by quietly and peacefully. The next day, we grinded some levels as we said we would, but because there was no time to explore a new map, we simply grinded the mobs at the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range. Chapter 398: Colorful Because of You Moon Eternal Southern China Headquarters, Shanghai. I opened the car window and let a bit of drizzle fly inside as a unique building complex entered my view. The buildings were intentionally arranged so that the complex would look like a hexagram formation from top down, and at the center of it was a giant sword. There were two statues about dozens of meters tall standing proudly in front of the building. The left statue was a sinister-looking devil with a skeleton blade in his hand, the legendary Great Saint. The right statue was the Dragon Speaker Binglan, the goddess who fought against the devil god and defended humanity¡¯s ultimate right to survive in the world. I could practically feel the tension between the two all the way from here. I couldn¡¯t help but sigh. I said it before, but I will say it again. Moon Eternal Corporation is rich as fuck. This building design was probably one of a kind in the entire world. ¡­¡­ Beep beep! Behind me, Lin Yixin honked her horn to urge me to move faster. It was currently past 3 pm because we got stuck in a small traffic jam earlier. I couldn¡¯t find the entrance to the venue, so I ignored her and maintained a slow pace. Not long after, a couple of beautiful girls wearing work badges in front of their chest appeared in front of us. The one with long hair walked up to our car and asked with a smile, "Sir, are you here to participate in the Who Will Rise tournament? If you are, please tell us your ID." I nodded and got straight to the point. "I¡¯m Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand." "Ah?" The beauty¡¯s mouth fell open. It took her a while to recover herself, and even then her eyes were full of stars. "You¡¯re Lu Chen? Hehe, you really are as handsome as they say. So¡­" She looked inside the car with sparkly eyes. "Wah, the three of you must be From Water, Beiming Xue, and Murong Mingyue, right? It¡¯s so nice to see you all in person~~" He Yi giggled. "Alright alright, this is getting embarrassing. Can you tell us where we should park our car?" "Oh, right. Please follow me. We can register you after you¡¯ve parked your car!" The girl led the way while I followed slowly behind her. Soon, we arrived at an outside surface parking. Right behind us, Lin Yixin exited her own car and rose nimbly to her feet. She was wearing a white sports attire and a pair of white sports shoes, which made her look as pure as the snow. Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, and the others were completely flabbergasted when they saw her. ¡­¡­ "Ah? You¡­ you¡¯re¡­" The girl¡¯s shock when she saw Lin Yixin was in no way inferior than when she saw me. It took her a while to find her voice. "Are you Wind Fantasy, the guild leader of Snowy Cathaya?" Lin Yixin nodded with a smile. "Nice to meet you¡­" "Mn." ¡­¡­ When we reached the registration venue, most of the Top 32 parties had already arrived. There were 160 participants in total, and everyone had to register and receive their participation badge here. Without it, they wouldn¡¯t be able to enter the match. We spotted High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, and Eighteen Steeds Of You and Yun as well. The girl was wearing a bright attire and smiling at us. "Lu Chen, we heard you took out Candle Dragon¡¯s second seed during the preliminaries. Is that true?" "Yeah, easy peasy." "Hehe!" It was at this moment a group of arrogant-looking people waltzed into the venue, and the leader of the group looked very familiar. He was none other than Pillar Of The Nation flanked by Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er. Little Piglet was a pretty handsome-looking youngster with a half-smile plastered to his face. Shangguan Wan¡¯er seemed like the silent beauty type who preferred to say nothing unless absolutely necessary. Beside her, an extremely perverted-looking young man was doing his utmost to curry favor with her. He had to be that high-level priest I saw earlier, Profound Puff. ¡­¡­ "Long time no see, Eve!" Wang Dongliang walked up to us like old friends while beaming like the sun. "You didn¡¯t expect Hegemon Palace to make it to the Top 32, did you?" He Yi glanced at him once before replying, "I hope you get eliminated during the first round." "..." Wang Dongliang rubbed his nose awkwardly. He Yi then gave my hand a pull before saying, "We¡¯ve completed our registration, and we¡¯ve gotten our room cards. Let¡¯s move our luggage to our rooms, shall we?" "Mn." Members of the same party were arranged to have rooms right next to each other, so all of us including Li Chengfeng were arranged on the 11th floor. On the way, I helped carry He Yi and Beiming Xue¡¯s luggage. We didn¡¯t bring much with us because we were only staying for two days and one night. The tournament should end by tomorrow afternoon, so we could head home right after that. After entering our rooms and helping the girls with whatever they needed, everyone gathered inside my room. "Ah, I¡¯m so tired. It¡¯s been a busy day¡­" He Yi stroked her long, smooth hair once before sitting on the bed. "The matches are starting tomorrow, so what should we do for the night? I don¡¯t think I¡¯m in the mood for grinding." I sat by the window and looked at the bustling crowd on the ground. As more and more participants showed up to register themselves, I smiled and answered, "There¡¯s a feast later tonight, right? The Who Will Rise news conference I mean. We can attend it for a while before heading to bed." "Mn." Murong Mingyue nodded and sat on my bed as well. After kneading the bed like a cat for a bit, she asked with a smile, "Your bed is so soft, Lu Chen. Do you mind me sleeping with you for the night?" I replied calmly, "What are you talking about? Aren¡¯t all the beds in the hotel the same?" Beiming Xue asked, "By the way, has anyone seen Li Chengfeng yet?" "No idea. I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s here yet." It was at this moment someone knocked on the door and called out, "Lu Chen, you in there?" It was Li Chengfeng¡¯s voice. Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao arrives. I opened the door. The dragon warrior walked in looking a bit wet from the rain. "Yo, everyone¡¯s here? I didn¡¯t disturb anything, did I?" "Nah. You just arrived?" "Mn. I rushed over the moment I got off the plane." Li Chengfeng smiled before saying seriously, "I saw Candlelight Shadow just now!" "Candlelight Shadow?!" "Mn!" I gritted my teeth before replying, "I wonder how the groups will turn out. Will we encounter Candle Dragon sooner than expected?" "I have no idea, but I do know that we¡¯ll be drawing lots during the feast to decide that!" "Oh? That¡¯s interesting. Wanna bet who¡¯ll be fighting the first match?" "No, but I sure wish it¡¯ll be us versus Candle Dragon, haha!" "Hahaha!" Beiming Xue could do nothing but shake her head at our arrogance. ¡­¡­ Soon after, Xu Yang showed up and knocked on the door. "Guys, the news conference is starting in ten minutes. Should we go down to the hall now and wait?" "Yeah." The guys hurriedly straightened their attires, and the girls put on some last-minute makeup. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls weren¡¯t going to embarrass themselves on an important occasion like this as a matter of course, although frankly it might be a bit of an overreaction. Our three girls could probably one-shot everyone in the scene even if they didn¡¯t wear any makeup. ¡­¡­ There were over forty tables in the entire hall. They were separated into participants¡¯ seatings, officials¡¯ seatings, and so on. "Hello!" A beautiful attendant walked up to us with a smile. "I¡¯m the Heavenblessed customer service manager of the Shanghai Region, Qin Xiaotian. You are Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, aren¡¯t you?" "We are." I nodded and smiled back. "I recognize you, Qin Xiaotian. You used to be a member of the Snow Moon workshop, and your ID is Summer Last Year, right?" Qin Xiaotian smiled. "Wow, I wasn¡¯t expecting someone to still recognize me, much less the Little Heavenly King Falling Dust himself. It¡¯s an honor!" "How are Shusheng, Ling Xue, and Ling Yue doing?" "They¡¯re all doing fine, but they¡¯re currently at New York headquarters to discuss the new patch." "I see." Qin Xiaotian asked, "Lu Chen, you don¡¯t mind sharing a seat with Snowy Cathaya, do you?" "Sure, no problem!" "Hehe, I knew it!" Damn, Qian Xiaotian was 24 years old at most, and she was already a customer service manager of Heavenblessed. I was the same age as her, but I didn¡¯t even have a proper job yet. I¡¯m such a failure! ¡­¡­ I sat down carelessly and waited. Soon after, Snowy Cathaya¡¯s first-seed party walked up to us and took their seats. I recognized Shadow Chanel and Clear Perfume, but not the unfamiliar girl who looked to be around 25 years old. She sneaked glances at us again and again until she blurted, "Is it just me, or do they look really familiar to you all?" Su Qingqing burst into laughter before pointing a finger at me. "Oh, you! This guy here is none other than Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Then we have From Water, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, and finally Legendary Brave." "Oh, I see¡­" "Qingqing, who is this?" I asked. Sun Qingqing replied, "Oh, she¡¯s our new recruit and super bard, Beauty At First Sight! She has a secret class called Holy Bard!" I nodded and shot Shadow Chanel a glance. "Chanel also got a new hidden class, right? Dark Tongue Mage sounds like a powerful class." Shadow Chanel smiled dangerously. "Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll know exactly how strong this class is in the final, or earlier." Purple Marquis simply smiled and said nothing at all. I asked again, "By the way, Qingqing, where¡¯s Yiyi?" "She was called away by a couple of employees." "Called away?" "Mn." Sun Qingqing nodded. "Heavenblessed¡¯s China region officials just signed an endorsement agreement with Yiyi, so she went away to do an advertisement. Don¡¯t worry, I heard it¡¯s only a couple of seconds long. She should be back in no time!" I was stupefied. Eternal Moon Corporation actually entered an endorsement agreement with Lin Yixin? The power beautiful girls wielded in the world really was an incredible thing. Lin Yixin returned pretty soon as Qingqing said she would, but for some reason she was red-faced and fuming when she dropped down at the seat next to mine. She glanced at me before exclaiming in surprise, "OMG, why are you here at this table, Little Cheat?" "That¡¯s how they arranged us, duh. What¡¯s wrong?" I glanced at her hand. What was she holding¡­ an advertisement script? My curiosity was piqued instantly. "How did the ad go, Yiyi?" "Please don¡¯t bring that up." "Why? What¡¯s wrong?" "See it yourself, but don¡¯t you dare laugh¡­" Lin Yixin put the script on the table, and a single glance later I burst into uncontrollable laughter¡ª Someone asked me a question: ¡°What is a colorful life?¡± ¡°A life where the sun always rises in the morning, I think.¡± Someone asked me a question, ¡°Who would you like to marry in the future?¡± ¡°A Heavenblessed expert¡±, I answered. A whole new world, the ultimate experience; feel free to try out all the things you couldn¡¯t do in real life! Heavenblessed is colorful because of you! ¡­¡­ "WTF! Who is the idiot who wrote this script?" I laughed so hard that I was literally in tears. Chapter 399: Pre-match Confrontation I stopped laughing like a heartless bastard before asking, "So, how much did you earn from this ad, Beauty Yi?" "The branch president herself, Qin Yun, requested me to shoot this advertisement, so I earned a bit more than usual. 2.8 million RMB to be exact." "Fuck, that¡¯s a lot of money¡­" "Hehe, I know right? Are you jealous?" "Of course not. Treat me to a meal when this is over." "Mn." ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a beautiful girl holding a mic walked up the platform and smiled at everyone. "The annual feast of gaming is on us again, and the battlefield has moved on from ¡®Spirit of Grief¡¯ to ¡®Heavenblessed¡¯. Who Will Rise is a tournament co-organized by CGL and Eternal Moon where all the heroes of China gather at one place to fight for a golden opportunity. Tomorrow will be a wonderful day for sure, don¡¯t you agree? Hello everyone, I am Fei¡¯er, the special host hired for this event¡­" Half of us at the table spat out our drinks when we heard the name "Fei¡¯er¡±. She had been Eternal Moon¡¯s primary host for three games in a row, and today she should be at least 30 years old. However, as if she was immune to the passage of time, she still looked as young and charming as she was many years ago. "Next, we would like to invite the representative of VR gaming in China, Candlelight Shadow, Mr. Fang Zhuo to give his opening speech!" Fei¡¯er did an inviting gesture, and everyone turned toward a certain direction. At a table, a young man rose from his seat, straightened out his attire and started walking toward the platform. The young man was of course Candlelight Shadow. Unlike most people, he was wearing a modified military uniform. Apparently, he had gotten used to this attire after he returned from his studies in Korea. After Candlelight Shadow took over the stage, he smiled confidently and said, "Honorable leaders and players, I am the founder of Candle Dragon, Candlelight Shadow. I am honored to be able to stand here and give my opening speech. As a member of China gaming, I feel a great responsibility to¡­" A number of courteous remarks later, Candlelight Shadow started wrapping up his speech. "China¡¯s servers had never been peaceful, but I wish that everyone would set down their prejudices and fight for our country when the Nation Wars begin. Candle Dragon swears to give their all to protect the players of China and steer our country toward victory! But at the same time, we would like to remind some foolish guilds to stop trying to block the unstoppable wheels of history. Candle Dragon has no desire to engage in unnecessary conflict, and we won¡¯t back down from any challenge!" Practically everyone here was aware of the rivalry between Candle Dragon and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. However, no one expected the number one player of China¡¯s VR gaming, Candlelight Shadow, to insult Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls in public. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t the kind of petty insult that most people could just ignore and walk away. Bang! I hit the table so hard that the entire hall turned as silent as death in an instant. Then, in front of all the attending leaders, players and Eternal Moon employees, I rose to my feet and pointed a finger at Candlelight Shadow. "You really think that the banner of China will still be yours when the next CGL competition begins?" It was a simple question, but it was enough to stun Candlelight Shadow to silence. Candlelight Shadow and I were the only ones who were standing above and below the platform. Everyone else was whispering among themselves¡ª "WTF, man. Who is this guy? Where does he find the guts to challenge Candlelight Shadow?" "That guy¡¯s Lu Chen, you idiot! Don¡¯t you see the two super beauties sitting next to him? They are Wind Fantasy and From Water!" "Fuck, if he¡¯s Lu Chen then¡­ I suppose he does have the right to challenge Candlelight Shadow. He¡¯s probably the only player in the entire China even!" "Haha, this is interesting! The match hasn¡¯t even started yet, but the air is filled with the scent of gunpowder already! I¡¯m sure the battle between Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Candle Dragon will be a great one, hehe!" ¡­¡­ Above the platform, Candlelight Shadow glared at me before saying, "We will see, won¡¯t we?" I smiled back. "Yes, you will!" When I sat back down, He Yi shot me a look of praise. "Not bad, not bad. We may be weaker than Candle Dragon right now, but that¡¯s no reason to lose our spirit!" At the table next to ours, Xu Yang and Gui Guzi chimed in with a chuckle. "That was so cool, Lu Chen! Next time that bastard will think twice before he insult us like that! Let¡¯s teach him a lesson tomorrow and tell him who¡¯s the real boss around here!" I nodded. "Let¡¯s give it our all, everyone!" "Mn!" It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that the atmosphere of the hall had turned awkward, courtesy of Candlelight Shadow and I, so Fei¡¯er quickly retook the stage and said, "Thank you for your speech, Mr. Fang Zhuo. Next, we would like to invite the chairman of China Economic Union of VR, Mr. Tang Feng, to give his speech." I tuned out the older man¡¯s speech immediately. Whatever the chairman said, it basically had nothing to do with us players. With the old man talk finished, the feast finally began. All kinds of delicious dishes were placed on everyone¡¯s tables in no time. Eternal Moon Corporation was never one to be stingy with their accommodation, food, and drink services because they were the best international gaming company in the entire world, and they had to maintain their image. This also meant that us players would be able to face tomorrow¡¯s grueling battles in the best possible condition. After Fei¡¯er straightened her skirt a bit and got down the platform, she walked up to our table and smiled at us. "I know this table is full, but can I sit with you all?" Li Chengfeng smiled back. "Of course you can. Please have a seat, miss host¡­" Fei¡¯er nodded happily and sat next to He Yi. She shot the guild leader a glance before starting, "From Water sure is young and beautiful. To think that someone your age is the Asia Region Vice President of GGS¡­ when I was at your age, I had to work like a dog just for ten thousand RMB a month¡­" He Yi giggled a little. "Nonsense, I¡¯m the one who should be envious of you. Your job pays less, but you also get to enjoy a huge degree of freedom. I, on the other hand, have to attend meetings every day, and I get no freedom to myself at all." "By the way, how old are you? You can whisper if you¡¯re embarrassed¡­" Fei¡¯er asked quietly with a smile. He Yi shot me a complicated look before whispering back, "I¡¯m 26 now¡­" "I see¡­" Fei¡¯er nodded. Pursing my lips, I asked, "Eve?" "N-nothing¡­" He Yi turned away from me before smiling at Fei¡¯er again. "I¡¯ve been a fan of games even before I was employed, so I¡¯ve followed Eternal Moon Corporation¡¯s games since the launch of the first game of their epic series, Eternal Moon. Fei¡¯er, you were the primary host for all three games, Eternal Moon, Spirit of Grief, and now Heavenblessed. Don¡¯t you feel a lot of pressure your shoulders?" Fei¡¯er sighed. "Of course I¡¯m tired. I¡¯ve been wanting to marry myself off to a good man and enjoy life for a long time now, but I still haven¡¯t found my destined partner yet. Hmph, if he does show up one day, the first thing I¡¯m gonna do is to slap him across the face. It¡¯s only right after all these years of waiting! And well¡­ it wasn¡¯t like I¡¯ve never thought of retirement. I¡¯ve been a gaming host for more than a decade, and I''m really tired to say the least. But what can I do? My boss wouldn¡¯t let me quit, and my department manager Lost Leaf wouldn¡¯t give me a long vacation. He even said he¡¯s going to make me the host again for their fourth game¡­" He Yi shivered visibly and muttered, "How inhumane¡­" "I know¡­" ¡­¡­ Fei¡¯er barely got enough time to finish her drumstick before she had to return to the platform again. After wiping her oily mouth with a tissue, she ran back up the platform and grabbed the mike. "Everyone, it is time for the group draw to decide the fighting pairings for the Top 32 phase! All party leaders, please come to the stage." We had never actually discussed this, but since I had the Famous General Skill "Martial God" I was tacitly recognized as our party leader. So, I walked up the stage to draw the lot with Lin Yixin in tow. Both of us were praying that our parties wouldn¡¯t be in the same half. Our battle would only be legendary if we encountered each other at the finals! "First, we invite the party leader of Snowy Cathaya, Wind Fantasy, to draw the lot¡­" Fei¡¯er said with a smile as a thunderous clap broke from the crowd. In fact, there were players who were standing outside the venue just to watch her. The Fruit Knife Goddess was as popular as the sun in China, and when the people realized that she was even prettier than she was in the game, countless people clapped to show their excitement and support. A normal person would clap both their hands, but the people were too busy wiping their mouths with one hand to clap with the other. So, they opted to slap their own faces instead until it looked as red as the cheeks of a young girl in love. Lin Yixin put her hand in the drawing lot and searched around for a bit. Then, she took out a white ball with the letter "E4" written on it. There were four parties in a group, so this meant that Snowy Cathaya was the fourth party of the fifth group. Next, Fei¡¯er said, "Lu Chen of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, please draw the lot now¡­" Fei¡¯er addressed me by my real name because I was a CGL Hall of Famer, and my real name had been made public ages ago. I didn¡¯t win a thunderous applause like Lin Yixin did, but I definitely won the squeals of many beautiful women. I looked outside the windows and saw a lot of university girls from Shanghai. They were excited after they discovered that I was very handsome in real life. I put my hand in the lot and searched around for a bit. A while later, I took out a ball with the letter "A1" written on it. The first party of the first group? If this wasn¡¯t a sign of good luck, I don¡¯t know what was! Also, thank goodness we weren¡¯t in the same half as Snowy Cathaya! The rest of the group draw proceeded in more or less the same fashion as Fei¡¯er entered the draw results live into Heavenblessed¡¯s system. Half an hour later, the complete groupings were displayed on the screen¡ª Group A Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls VS Fate Immortal Sword Inn VS Flower Room Group B Loulan In Midnight VS Seize The Throne Dragon God Temple VS Heavenly Plan Palace Group C Heaven Melody VS Candle Dragon Riverside Pavilion VS Seventh Heaven Group D Purple Lily VS Dream Of Tang Othershore Flower VS Loyalty Above All ¡­¡­ This was the first half of the grouping. It was incredibly exciting because Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ first opponent was Fate! Fate was the fifth strongest guild on the Guild Ranking of China. They were very powerful as a matter of course, and their guild leader, Chosen One, was the 27th ranker of the CGL Hall of Fame. Sure, he was the last-placed CGL Hall of Famer, but he was still a great player in his own right. A bloody battle was almost certainly waiting for us tomorrow! Besides that, another two powerful guilds, Purple Lily and Candle Dragon, were placed in the first half of the grouping as well. Purple Lily was ranked third, and Candle Dragon first on the Guild Ranking. Hmph hmph, the first half was where the gods were gathered for sure! The second half of the grouping was just as exciting, however¡ª Group E Hunting Moon Dynasty VS Gods of Destruction Return of the King VS Snowy Cathaya Group F The Monarch Descends VS Snow of Frozen River Zero Pitch Sonata VS Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Second Seed Group G Soul Battle Robes VS Warsky Alliance Mad Dragon VS Hegemon Palace Group H Dirge of War VS Snow Moon Baidicheng VS Myth ¡­¡­ The competitiveness of the second half was in no way inferior to the first. Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace, and Zero Pitch Sonata were all powerful parties, and even Snow Moon was in the run as well. All those who participated under that guild name were the successors of the legendary players who conquered the world of Spirit of Grief back then. Chapter 400: Opening Match It was a quiet and booze-less night. We all needed to maintain clear heads for the big fight tomorrow. The next day, early in the morning. Tok tok... I was awakened by the sound of someone knocking on the door. When I opened it, I found He Yi standing outside. ¡°It¡¯s 8 am already! The match will start at 9, hurry!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± I washed myself quickly before calling Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, and the others to eat breakfast together. While we were chowing down some fruits, the host, Fei¡¯er, ran up to our table and said, ¡°WTF, you guys are still eating? Lu Chen, you and your party need to come now since your match with Fate is the opening match! Quickly!¡± ¡°Oh, okay!¡± We hurriedly put on our participant badges, grabbed our gaming equipment, and rushed to the competition hall with Fei¡¯er. It was completely crowded, and as we entered the hall, countless audience screamed like they were trying to blow our ears off. Well, I supposed that their reaction was understandable. We were technically gaming stars now, and He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue were exceptional beauties. In fact, most people attended these gaming events to watch the girls. These days, it was easier to find cuter girls in a gaming venue than China Joy. ¡­¡­ ¡°Why were you so late?¡± Fei¡¯er asked in a small voice. I answered, ¡°I woke up late, but that also means I had a good night¡¯s sleep. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll perform better than usual today.¡± ¡°Hehe, makes sense. What do you think about your first match against Fate? Are you confident that you¡¯ll win?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± ¡°Okay then, I wish you a great victory on your first match!¡± ¡°Thanks!¡± Fei¡¯er walked to the front with a mike and smiled brightly. ¡°The parties who¡¯ll be competing in the opening match, please come to the stage. On one side we have Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls led by Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, and on the other, Fate led by Predestined!¡± We went up the stage as requested. Li Chengfeng and I didn¡¯t mind the attention, and the moment we came to a stop we started scanning for pretty faces to nurture our eyes a little. Beiming Xue was one thing, but surprisingly, even Murong Mingyue looked a little nervous. I supposed that both of them had never had to face this many people like this before. On the other hand, He Yi looked calm and collected. The GGS vice president¡¯s confidence and extraordinary aura wasn¡¯t something the girls could emulate at all. Both parties¡¯ levels and classes were displayed on the big screen¡ª Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-109 Undead Swordsman From Water LV-106 Magic Knight Beiming Xue LV-106 Dark Archer Murong Mingyue LV-106 Priest Legendary Brave LV-106 Dragon Warrior VS Fate Predestined LV-106 Warrior Hero In A Dream LV-105 Archer Rebirth LV-106 Mage Wind-marked Moon LV-105 Blaze Knight ¡­¡­ Level or class¨Cwise, we didn¡¯t really have an advantage over our opponent. Fate was one of the best guilds in Vanished God City, so it was only natural that their players reflected that strength. In fact, this opening match might just be the most exciting match of all the Top 32 matches. Predestined was a guy about 30 years old. He gave me a smile and said, ¡°Nice to meet you!¡± I nodded but didn¡¯t give him a reply. The next moment, Fei¡¯er declared that the opening match was soon to begin! Both parties entered their battle rooms where a couple of beautiful employees were waiting. After they helped us set up our gaming equipment, we officially entered the game. Ding~! System Notice: You are entering the competition. You will be teleported to the tournament ring in three seconds! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! A magical energy wrapped around my entire body and pulled me into the tournament ring. Beside me, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue and Li Chengfeng were present, and on the opposite side, Fate¡¯s five-man party was waiting as well. They looked murderous and ready to give it their all. The enemy party was made up of three melee and two ranged players. It didn¡¯t look like it would be an easy fight. Predestined himself was a CGL Hall of Famer, so his skill and equipment had to be super-tier. At the very least, he wasn¡¯t too far behind Li Chengfeng. That Wind-marked Moon had a secret class called Blaze Knight, and for now there was no way to check what his class was about. This meant that we would have to go in partially blind. None of us was expecting to encounter such a powerful opponent in our very first LAN match. ¡°How should we fight this out?¡± He Yi asked. Li Chengfeng suggested. ¡°Let¡¯s lock onto one target and beat them to death. We can decide what to do later?¡± ¡°Sounds like a plan.¡± I nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll start off with Beiming Xue using Shock Arrow on a target, stunning them. Chengfeng and I will then Charge them and try to one-shot them immediately. If you fail, then we¡¯ll move onto a different target. There¡¯s no point trying to Charge someone who can dodge even Beiming Xue¡¯s skill.¡± ¡°Okay. Who should we kill first, though?¡± ¡°I say we target Hero In A Dream. They¡¯ll probably try to kill Lil Beiming first because archers are deadly but have paper health bars, so it¡¯s up to you to keep her healthy, sis. You don¡¯t need to worry too much about me and Li Chengfeng. They¡¯ll have to work real hard to one-shot us, so that can only mean well for us. And lastly, don¡¯t try to conserve your potions. We can always get more from Beauty Lin.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Our strategy meeting done, it was time for battle! The countdown. The first match of the Who Will Rise LAN tournament was about to begin¡ª 3! 2! 1! Fight! Beiming Xue released the grip on her bowstring immediately after the barrier disappeared. Shock Arrow was the fourth-promotion skill of Archer. On paper, it had a 50% chance to stun the target, but of course that it wasn¡¯t a fixed percentage. The chance could be higher or lower depending on the difference between the players¡¯ levels, stats and Luck. Thud! Hero In A Dream shuddered when he was struck by the Shock Arrow. He was stunned on the spot! However, he managed to launch his own arrow before he got stunned. Seriously? I¡¯m their one-shot target? I hurriedly took a step backward and raised my arms. Guard! Thud! The Shock Arrow sent me stumbling half a step. Holy shit, his Attack is amazing! 127! Although Guard minimized most of the damage, the stun still got hold of me. My Guard canceled, I could only wait for the inevitable assault to hit me. Whoosh! Predestined and Wind-marked Moon activated their Charge at the same time and stunned me again. Worse, their Attack was higher than I expected. Predestined swung his bloody sword and left a cross on my chest armor¡ªBloodbreak Fury Slash! Clang clang! 1763! 1874! He followed up the combo with a Penetrating Blow that ignored 50% of my Defense! 2895! This wasn¡¯t good. This was just the first round of attack, and I had already lost more than half of my HP! Luckily, Murong Mingyue reacted in time and cast two instant spells on me, healing me for almost 6000 HP. Otherwise, I would¡¯ve died to his companions¡¯ two follow-up attacks! Wind-marked Moon¡¯s spear suddenly became wrapped in flames, and three fire dragons hit me at the same time. The blaze knight¡¯s Attack was unusually high, and a searing pain later my HP dropped yet again¡ª 2284! 2194! 1905! Heavens, I was almost out of health again! Luckily, I woke up from the stun before Wind-marked Moon could unleash his second skill. After I parried away his spear with the Heaven-stealing Sword, I growled, ¡°You done yet?¡± Pardon! Desperate Gambit! MISS! 7294! The one hit deleted over 70% of Wind-marked Moon¡¯s HP. This blaze knight had to be a 5-Strength player because his HP was barely higher than mine! Tenacity of the Dead! Rank 8 Health Potion! +2060! +3000! I dragged my health over the halfway line and pressed the attack. After parrying a blow from Predestined, I rammed him in the chest and sent him stumbling a couple of steps back. Clearly, his Strength was inferior to mine! Then, I locked onto the escaping Wind-marked Moon and activated Thunderous Charge! Whoosh! It was a success. The guy wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything for 5 seconds! I shouted, ¡°Beiming, he¡¯s yours!¡± I left Wind-marked Moon behind and went back to Predestined. By now, Beiming Xue had taken out Hero In A Dream, and He Yi and Li Chengfeng had successfully deleted the enemy mage, Rebirth. At this point, both sides had thrown all notions of a formation out of the window. It was a chaotic race to kill off the other party¡¯s core players first. It was at this moment a chill struck my body. Assassin! It was the prelude of Cold Blade! Senses heightening, I swiftly retreated to the back and fake-slashed at the air in front of me. At the same time, I stomped the ground and used War Crush! Boom! A figure withdrew out of harm¡¯s way before the shockwave of energy could hit him. It was none other than the assassin, Death Of Dying Wish! I gave chase, but to my surprise, he took a few steps backward before rushing me. Just before we would make contact, he abruptly sped up in a different direction and arrived behind me after a perfect S-shaped run. This was one of the advantages assassins had over fighter classes; movement speed and turn speed. But instead of turning around, I took two steps forward before firing a Thousand Ice Slash behind me! ¡°Ah?!¡± Caught completely off guard, the skill elicited a muffled groan of pain from Death Of Dying Wish! 5664! Martial God¡¯s 70% Attack boost was nothing to scoff at. Thousand Ice Slash might be an AoE skill, but it was still enough to kill a low-health assassin. However, Beiming Xue also let out a groan of pain at the same time. I turned around and saw that Predestined had killed her. Goddammit, warriors in the CGL Hall of Fame really can¡¯t be underestimated! Predestined didn¡¯t stop running after killing Beiming Xue. Changing directions again and again and avoiding strike after strike from Li Chengfeng and He Yi like a ghost, he still somehow got close to Murong Mingyue and hit her three times in a row! MISS! 4294! 4417! Murong Mingyue couldn¡¯t survive the attack either. She let out a cry of pain and died. Predestined had killed two of our players in just the blink of an eye. The loss of our teammates made the rest of us fume with rage. ¡°Li Chengfeng, seal his flanks so he has nowhere to maneuver!¡± He Yi suddenly barked out an order while charging toward Predestined in a straight line. Li Chengfeng obeyed his guild leader¡¯s order and used his sword to block off the enemy¡¯s retreat path. Then, He Yi fired off a Green Wave Slash. The skill had a pretty wide range, and since Predestined had nowhere to run he had no choice but to use Guard! 1029! The second the Guard took form, He Yi cried out, ¡°Crush!¡± Li Chengfeng probably didn¡¯t need the reminder, but it was perfect coordination nonetheless. The second Predestined used Guard, the dragon warrior was already raising his sword and executing Crushing Blow. 5895! It was a Rank 10 skill executed by none other than the Dragon Warrior Li Chengfeng himself. The impressive damage was only the natural result. His health dropping to zero, Predestined let out a painful groan and slowly collapsed the ground. Ding~! Chapter 401: Junior Lin It took the teamwork of two Heavenly Ranking experts to finally kill Predestined. It was quite a difficult battle to say the least. The good news was that He Yi finally displayed some tactical abilities in battle, although it was largely thanks to Li Chengfeng being an amazing player in his own right. If our cute guild leader had to fight Predestined alone, he could single-handedly make her eyes spin like a mosquito coil. Regardless, it was great that we won the round and got a point. Fate was probably the hardest party we fought since Blazing Hot Lips in the preliminaries. The end result was okay. We lost Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue, but we annihilated our opponents. One more round, and we would enter the Top 16! ¡­¡­ Outside the tournament ring, we talked about the round while waiting for the next match to begin. ¡°That was close¡­¡± Beiming Xue stuck out her tongue before smiling. ¡°If big bro wasn¡¯t as tanky as he is, we would¡¯ve lost a fighter from the start. It would¡¯ve been really dangerous.¡± Murong Mingyue nodded. ¡°Yeah. Not only did Predestined and Wind-marked Moon have powerful physical combos, Predestined¡¯s Attack was so high he could one-shot me and Lil Beiming with just one combo. There¡¯s almost nothing we could do in that situation.¡± Li Chengfeng smiled. ¡°Why don¡¯t you try parrying with your weapons?¡± ¡°It¡¯s weird. We¡¯re ranged classes, you know¡­¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s true, haha!¡± Our faces were dead serious when we were teleported into the tournament ring again. The countdown began anew¡ª 3! 2! 1! Second round, begin! Li Chengfeng said quickly, ¡°This time, vice leader should take the fight to them and tear apart their fighters and assassins. I¡¯ll work together with Eve and Beiming to burst down Predestined.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I gripped the Heaven-stealing Sword and carried out Li Chengfeng¡¯s instructions. Teamwork was very important, and selfish acts would only result in a loss. This was especially true against a super-powerful party like Fate. Whoosh! I activated Thunderous Charge and blitzed toward the enemy archer. Let¡¯s take out the softest target first! Hero In A Dream moved backward and dodged my Charge with well-practiced movements. However, I already predicted that the skill would miss. Just like last time, I ran forward with the momentum and fired Thousand Ice Slash at him! Boom! Hero In A Dream used Leap and dodged that skill as well. Thousand Ice Slash¡¯s only flaw was that its attack range was too short. It couldn¡¯t be helped, the skill would be downright broken otherwise. I wasn¡¯t done yet. I raised my arm and flung out a Dragon Slaying Slash! Swhoosh! Hero In A Dream wasn¡¯t expecting this, so the skill hit him squarely and elicited a cry of pain! 5124! However, Rebirth calmly waved his scepter and launched a Fire Dragon Spell at me! Roar! A wave of heat washed across my body as the fire dragon engulfed me from above. The next moment, a huge damage number rose from my head¡ª3107! Holy shit, this mage is quite powerful! Not many people could hit me for this amount of damage! Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng was clashing swords with Predestined, and He Yi was swinging her Soul Stealing Spear at the assassin Death Of Dying Words. However, the assassin had almost perfect control, and he was able to dodge He Yi¡¯s attacks and swing his dagger toward he Yi¡¯s chest. He Yi gritted her teeth and turned her waist. At the same time, she raised her right arm to block the attack with the Ice Soul Barrier. He Yi lost less than 500 HP, but Death Of Dying Words¡¯ movement speed was slowed drastically because of the property of Ice Soul Barrier! This was Beiming Xue¡¯s chance. She loosed three arrows in a row and successfully one-shot the assassin where he stood! I raised the Heaven-stealing Sword in front of He Yi and knocked away Blaze Knight¡¯s attack. At the same time, I ordered, ¡°Li Chengfeng, hold down Rebirth!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Li Chengfeng immediately charged the mage. It was a miss as we all expected it to be, but that was fine. All he needed to do was pressure him and keep his damage output in check. Predestined hit He Yi¡¯s shield multiple times before pulling back and drinking a health potion. He yelled, ¡°Wind-marked, take down Lu Chen first! From Water¡¯s Defense is too high, and hitting her slows you down! We can¡¯t kill her!¡± Blaze Knight nodded, but it was already too late. I rushed toward him like lightning and hit his shield three times in a row, and because my Attack was ridiculously high, he lost almost 7000 HP. Predestined gritted his teeth and tried to Charge me, but he was forced back by a timely Evil Spirit Volley. Even better, Blaze Knight was stunned by a Shock Arrow as well! Crack crack! He Yi and I hit Wind-marked Moon once and sent him out of the tournament ring. Now, there were only two people left. Rebirth was kiting Li Chengfeng, but the dragon warrior shouted angrily and retaliated with a Reverse Scale Slash that tore apart his Magic Shield! Chiang chiang chiang! Predestined¡¯s movement and grasp on attack timing was almost perfect, but he was still no match for me and He Yi together. Not only was this a 2v1, Murong Mingyue was healing us from behind and keeping us healthy no matter how much damage he dealt to us. The psychological blow was probably worse than the actual damage he was taking! ¡°God dammit, I can¡¯t believe we lost just like that¡­¡± Eventually, Predestined lowered his sword and gave up completely. He looked back and said to his mage, ¡°We lost, Rebirth. At least it was a worthy opponent. Sigh¡­¡± The influential expert of Vanished God City let out a long sigh and forfeited there and then. Both him and Rebirth were teleported out of the tournament ring. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your party has successfully defeated the opponent and entered the Top 16! ¡­¡­ ¡°We won! That was beautiful!¡± He Yi was so excited that she was smiling from ear to ear. The thought that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would one day enter the Top 16 of a national tournament probably never crossed her mind because even after she had invited me to the guild in Spirit of Grief, we hadn¡¯t even reached Top 100 of anything. It was definitely an unprecedented moment for sure! I gave her a smile before glancing down at Beiming Xue who was holding my arm. ¡°Fuck, this opening match is being broadcasted on CCTV Sports Channel right now, Lil Beiming. How am I going to face anyone if they see you like this¡­¡± Beiming Xue giggled. ¡°Like I care what other people think. I do what I want!¡± ¡°Fine, fine¡­¡± I then told the girls and Li Chengfeng, ¡°Let¡¯s go. The morning matches will only decide the Top 16, so our business is done here. Time to watch everyone else fight!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± We all logged out of the game and exited the battle room with our helmets. We were immediately greeted by a thunderous applause. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had both the strength and the good karma to win the tournament, so it was only natural that we had beaten the first seed of Vanished God City swiftly and decisively. When we returned to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ resting area, an attendant wearing a ridiculously short skirt immediately walked over and gave me a drink. I enjoyed the service a lot¡ªor I would have, if I didn¡¯t look around and find a pair of murderous gazes directed at my direction. One of them belonged to He Yi, and the other Lin Yixin. Surprisingly, the two girls were reading a VR e-sports magazine together and chatting with each other. ¡°Ahem¡­¡± I took a sip from my drink and let out a cough. Then, I looked back at the girls. These two were about as popular as anyone might expect, and one of them was the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and the other the guild leader of Snowy Cathaya, both hot picks to win the Who Will Rise tournament. It was no wonder that countless people were seizing the valuable opportunity to snap a picture or ten while they were still sitting together. With my drink in hand, I sat down next to He Yi and looked at Lin Yixin. I smiled. ¡°How did we do, Yiyi? Not bad, right?¡± Lin Yixin glanced at me before criticizing bluntly, ¡°There are gaps in your teamwork. If Fate¡¯s strategy wasn¡¯t as poor as it was, you wouldn¡¯t have been able to beat them this quickly.¡± ¡°Oh? How would you tackle our party if you were Fate?¡± Lin Yixin sipped her tea once before staring at us with intelligent eyes. ¡°It¡¯s simple. I¡¯d order Predestined to keep you and the dragon warrior preoccupied as long as possible with Guard and parrying. Blaze Knight would charge Beiming Xue, and Hero In A Dream would prioritize forcing your priest out of healing range. It doesn¡¯t matter if Predestined dies as long as your Beiming Xue is dead as well. I¡¯d tell the assassin to stay hidden until he finds an opportunity to stun the dragon warrior with Dirty Blow before switching over to you. Meanwhile, after Beiming Xue is dead, the archer will slow you down with Freezing Arrow and shoot the Sister Mingyue with Explosive Arrow at the same time, forcing the two of you apart with sheer firepower. The mage would hit you with Fire Dragon Spell continuously until you die. After that, they¡¯d kill the dragon warrior third, Sister Mingyue fourth and Sister He Yi last¡­¡± He Yi turned pale when she heard this. She replied softly, ¡°Thank goodness you weren¡¯t Fate¡¯s strategist. We definitely wouldn¡¯t have won that match as easily otherwise...:¡± Lin Yixin smiled reassuringly. ¡°This is just me commenting from the sidelines, of course. In a real battle anything could happen, and the ability to improvise is key¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°Yeah. There¡¯s still a while before your match, right? Whose turn is it now, by the way?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you see for yourself? It¡¯s that idiot¡¯s.¡± ¡­¡­ I looked up and saw Li Le, Life Of Luxury, and the trio of the Ego workshop stepping up the stage with their gaming helmets in tow. It was the Flower Room versus Immortal Sword Inn. Li Le smiled arrogantly at the three guys and two girls of Immortal Sword Inn. ¡°Just you wait, we¡¯ll finish this in five minutes, hahaha¡­¡± The enemy captain simply smiled and said, ¡°Yes, it will definitely be over in five minutes...¡± Both parties entered the tournament ring, and an overwhelming display of strength later Immortal Sword Inn swept Flower Room 2-0 in 5 minutes as declared! Lin Yixin giggled. ¡°Yay, that idiot is going home¡­¡± I chided her. ¡°He¡¯s still your uni mate, you know?¡± Lin Yixin glared at me. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that make you my uni mate as well?¡± ¡°I graduated a long time ago though, but if you don¡¯t mind then sure. Call me senior, Junior Lin¡­¡± ¡°You!¡± Chapter 402: Purple Lily The third match was Loulan in Midnight VS Seize The Throne, and the fourth match, Dragon God Temple VS Heavenly Plan Palace. However, just because we hadn¡¯t heard of them before didn¡¯t mean that they weren¡¯t powerful opponents. A couple of fierce¡ªeven desperate, because there were several rounds where one party was literally down to the last man¡ªbattles later, Seize The Throne and Dragon God Temple successfully advanced to the next round. Out of the two, Dragon God Temple seemed like the guild to watch out for. They were a guild from Wind City, and they had high levels and extraordinarily good equipment. Moreover, one of their players had a hidden class called Phantom Wolf Assassin. If we managed to make it to the quarterfinals, they would most likely be our greatest opponent up till that point! There were a lot of players from Wind City who were cheering on their brothers and sisters from the spectators¡¯ stand. It looked like these parties had a lot of fans. ¡­¡­ When the fourth match was over, and the fifth match began, it was finally Candle Dragon¡¯s turn to step on the stage. Their opponent was a party called ¡°Heaven Melody¡±! An applause that sounded like a thunderstorm erupted from the spectator¡¯s stand. Countless people were screaming on top of their lungs until they eventually settled on one chant¡ª¡°Martial God¡±, ¡°Martial God¡±, ¡°Martial God¡±! Lin Yixin, He Yi, and I exchanged a silent glance with each other. Candlelight Shadow had dominated the China region for two years, and he was seen as the representative of Chinese gaming. It was impossible for us to beat him in terms of fame right now. Therefore, defeating Candle Dragon in this Who Will Rise tournament was a must if we were to reverse his glorious image and improve our own. Candlelight Shadow stepped onto the stage with a smile, holding his gaming helmet in one hand and waving to the crazed audience with the other. Then, he and his four CGL rankers entered the battle rooms. Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, Transient Smoke and Clouds, God¡¯s Dance and last but not least, Candlelight Shadow himself¡ªevery last ID in this party was an ID that struck fear in the hearts of many. In fact, a full party of CGL rankers like this was unprecedented in the history of VR gaming! In contrast, the players of Heaven Melody were practically unknown to anyone but a handful. They might be powerful, but I doubted that they were a match for Candle Dragon! ¡­¡­ Heaven Melody was obliterated in less than two minutes. They lost not because they were weak, but because their opponents were simply too powerful. The two warriors of Heaven Melody were first-rate materials, and their assassin even showed flashes of super-tier skills. He was the only one who managed to score a 3-second stun on Blue Sky Scar. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t do everything by himself, and the only thing he could do was die when all five players from Candle Dragon ganged up on him and shredded his brittle defenses to pieces! The second match was almost a carbon copy of the first. Again, the fight ended in two minutes! Candlelight Shadow and his four subordinates exited the battle room so quickly it was almost as if they were just taking a bathroom break. Their victory¡ªtheir absolute domination over a party that could¡¯ve been a potential dark horse¡ªwas of course greeted by thunderous applause! ¡­¡­ Staring at Candlelight Shadow, Lin Yixin curled her lips before asking, ¡°Candle Dragon isn¡¯t too bad, am I right Lu Chen?¡± I curled my lips back at her. ¡°Duh. If they were weak they wouldn¡¯t have beaten the shit out of me back then¡­¡± ¡°Hehe, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Candle Dragon will meet each other in the semifinals if neither party is out before then, so this is your chance to take revenge against them. Are you nervous?¡± I clenched my fists together and chuckled. ¡°Nervous? About what? I¡¯m excited. I can¡¯t wait to hear Candlelight Shadow¡¯s excuse when we beat them and stop them from reaching the final!¡± He Yi echoed in agreement. ¡°Yeah, we must do our best to advance to the semifinals and beat Candle Dragon!¡± I glanced at Li Chengfeng, and we exchanged a knowing nod and a smile with each other. We were well aware that we had to carry the load of two players if we were to defeat Candle Dragon. He Yi and Murong Mingyue couldn¡¯t be counted to perform well because they were clearly no match for the CGL Hall of Famers, and Beiming Xue was at best Transient Smoke and Clouds¡¯ equal. This meant that he and I would need to deal with the remaining members of Candle Dragon ourselves. In fact, the battle would most likely turn into a solo duel between me and Candlelight Shadow, and a 1v3 against Li Chengfeng, meaning that the burden on his shoulders would be even heavier than mine... ¡­¡­ The next match was between Riverside Pavilion and Seventh Heaven. The gap between the two parties was rather huge, so it became a one-sided slaughter for Riverside Pavilion. Riverside Pavilion was one of the ten strongest guilds of Vanished God City, and they were as good as their fame suggested. Their strategy was obvious but effective: the moment the match began, their two warriors immediately acted to destroy their enemy¡¯s formation and strategy. Then, the ranged classes focused down their targets one by one. Finally, we were at the end of the first half of the grouping as Purple Lily and Dream of Tang showed up. Luo River God of the Capital turned out to be your classic older sister-type wearing a black uniform and skirt. She beckoned at her teammates, and they all walked up the stage with her. Not far away, Xu Yang clicked his tongue and praised, ¡°Luo River God of the Capital looks like an impressive woman. No wonder she¡¯s able to challenge Candle Dragon at Wind City¡­¡± High Fighting Spirits: ¡°Yeah, her legs are so white!¡± Xu Yang: ¡°...¡± Gui Guzi: ¡°...¡± Chaos Moon: ¡°Fuck!¡± ¡­¡­ On Purple Lily¡¯s side, four out of the five players participating in the match were beautiful girls. The only guy in their party was a Level 105 warrior called ¡°Moonlight Beneath A Rock¡±. Luo River God of the Capital was a super mage, Moonkiss was a Spirit Killer¡ªanother hidden assassin class¡ªand the CGL ranker, Familiar Scent, was a magic knight I knew nothing about. They also had a priest called Pretty Little Fish. She probably had pretty powerful healing, or else there Luo River God wouldn¡¯t have brought a priest to a tournament like this. Their opponent, Dream of Tang, didn¡¯t look weak either. They had an average Level of 105, and it looked like all of them were equipped with Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment. Of course, Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment was normal these days. In fact, it didn¡¯t matter if you had a full set of Purple Gold¨Cgrade or even Spirit-grade equipment if they weren¡¯t Outstanding. Stat-wise Outstanding equipment was generally a lot stronger than their non-Outstanding counterparts, and that was before factoring their Outstanding Properties. "It¡¯s been a while since we last saw her. Level 107, huh. Luo River God of the Capital sure levels quickly despite having to waste time fighting Candle Dragon on the side¡­" I commented while drinking my tea. Lin Yixin took out a tablet from her handbag and typed something. I didn¡¯t know what she was searching for, and a couple of seconds later she enlightened me and said, "Wow, Luo River God of the Capital is so powerful! Her scepter is a Level 100 2-star Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon called the Thunder Scepter! That Moonkiss is pretty incredible as well. The dagger she¡¯s holding is a 3-star Purple Gold¨Cgrade weapon called the Blade of Frozen Heart!" I couldn¡¯t help but click my tongue. From the sounds of it, Purple Lily definitely wasn¡¯t an opponent anyone could afford to underestimate. With that kind of skill and equipment, this five-man party was top-tier even in the entire country. Their opponents would probably cry by the time this match was over! It went as we predicted it would be. The moment the battle began, Moonkiss, the assassin, actually charged her opponent and drew all their attention to her. While the enemies were distracted, Luo River God of the Capital waved her Thunder Scepter and summoned a rain of fire from the sky, burning everything within a 20x20 yard area. Three of the enemy players were caught in the attack! 4984! 4472! 5102! It was terrible. That one AoE spell deleted over half of the three melee fighters¡¯ HP. If she could pull this off again, she could one-shot all of them in one go! The good news was that the AoE skill¡ª"Fire God Purgatory" was its name¡ªlooked like it had a long cooldown. The bad news was that Luo River God of the Capital didn¡¯t only have that one spell, and she easily knocked a warrior who was charging her into the air and one-shot him with Ice Thrust! Swhoosh! Suddenly, a bloody dagger appeared out of nowhere and attempted to plunge into the mage¡¯s body. Clearly, everyone knew that Luo River God of the Capital was the absolute core of Purple Lily, and that they had to defeat her as quickly as possible or risk losing more and more of their teammates! "Hmph¡­" Luo River God of the Capital snorted quietly as she retreated to the back and searched for opportunities to smash the assassin¡¯s face with a couple of Fireballs. It was at this moment the remaining enemy fighters charged her! Whoosh whoosh whoosh¡­ The super mage simply smiled and stood there. An unusual-looking magical shield¡ªthe "Origin Energy Shield"¡ªwas surrounding her, and it had incredible durability compared to the usual Magic Shield. The fighters dished out their combos, but they actually failed to penetrate the magical barrier. They exchanged a shocked glance with each other. "What¡­ what is this?" "Hehe, you lost¡­" Moonkiss stood at the side and waited. The next moment, Fire God Purgatory dropped from the sky again and engulfed all the players around Luo River God of the Capital in flames! The skill had almost no channel time at all, so the enemy didn¡¯t even have the time to disrupt the cast. Right now, she looked like a living goddess on that battlefield! The match ended 1-0 in favor of Purple Lily. Both Lin Yixin and I were frowning in silence. We were both thinking of a way to beat Luo River God of the Capital¡ªor another mage as powerful as her. Consciously or not, the super mage was declaring to all Chinese mages the true power of their class. She was telling them that they could be strong enough to 1v5 a full party of well-equipped, high-level players without even losing their Magic Shield! Mage was a class that struck fear in any player¡¯s hearts, and that fear would only deepen the further we got into the game. What Luo River God of the Capital displayed now was but the tip of the iceberg! ¡­¡­ It was a clean and swift 2-0 victory. Even if Luo River God of the Capital wasn¡¯t as strong as she was, Purple Lily still would¡¯ve been the victors. Moonkiss, Familiar Scent, Pretty Little Fish, and Moonlight Beneath A Rock were all veterans who could present a challenge to a guild as strong as Candle Dragon, so this was just the natural result. After the super mage got off the stage, she sat at the table right next to ours and asked smilingly, "Lu Chen, Lin Yixin, what do you think of our performance?" I nodded approvingly. "You¡¯re good¡­" Lin Yixin agreed, "We leave Candle Dragon to you¡­" But Luo River God of the Capital pursed her lips and said, "Don¡¯t count on us, seriously¡­ in a 5v5, our chances of winning are less than 30%." "How is that possible?" He Yi looked astonished. "How are your chances of winning so low when you¡¯re this powerful?" The super mage simply smiled. "Guild leader He Yi, you have no idea how strong Candle Dragon and Candlelight Shadow are right now¡­" I was astonished by her declaration myself. I pondered for a moment before saying, "Don¡¯t worry, we promise to beat them if Purple Lily does fail to beat Candle Dragon in the quarterfinals." Luo River God of the Capital smiled. "Thanks. I¡¯ll do my best to take them out, but honestly, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya are the only two guilds who have a shot at beating Candle Dragon. The reason is simple: you two have Famous General Skills, but we don¡¯t. It¡¯s a huge disadvantage to say the least¡­" "Hehe¡­" Chapter 403: Restraint Cast Aside Luo River God Of The Capital¡¯s assessment was correct. The importance of Famous Generals had exceeded many expectations so far, and people were starting to realize why the current patch was called ¡°World Famous Generals¡±. Famous General Skills were destined to shine like the sun in this continent of murder and glory! Candle Dragon had Candlelight Shadow, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had me, and Snowy Cathaya had Lin Yixin. The first clash between Famous Generals could very well begin in this very tournament! However, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Famous General Skill was useless in this competition. Outside, it was a deadly skill that killed any player targeted by him ten minutes after it was applied, but in this tournament, all the matches would be over in five minutes tops. Candlelight Shadow himself must have felt pretty tragic when he learned this. My Famous General Skill on the other hand was way more useful in a tournament setting. A 40% Encourage buff was crazy enough, but with Tactics it was downright broken. Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell was even more OP though. It was to the point where I felt like someone had made a mistake when they created this Famous General Skill. A 25% buff to all stats could turn even a Chihuahua into a Tibetan mastiff. The next match was between Othershore Flower and Loyalty Above All. It was again a match between two powerhouses. It was a very exciting three-round match where both sides gave their all to defeat the other, and in the end, Othershore Flower was the one who came out victorious and entered the Top 16 with a 2-1 score. ¡­¡­ It was finally time for the matches in the second half of the grouping to begin. The first match was between Gods of Destruction and Hunting Moon Dynasty! The middle-aged man that was Dominating Heaven Blade went up the stage with his usual goons¡ªDominating Knight God, Dominating Mage God, and so on¡ªas usual. In contrast, their opponent was a group of players who looked like they were students of a high school or a university. They must be incredibly good at the game though. There was no way they could have made it here where millions others had failed otherwise. The competition was really, really fierce. Flower Room and Mad Dragon were mad lucky they encountered no strong teams whatsoever during the preliminaries. For example Peach Garden, the guild led by Indigo Collar was incredibly strong¡ªthey were stronger than the current Gods of Destruction, and they were definitely stronger than Flower Room and Mad Dragon¡ªbut they didn¡¯t make it to the LAN matches. Why? It was because they were eliminated at the second last round, and by the hands of Purple Lily no less. It was tragic. They were supposed to be allies working together to take down Candle Dragon, but fate had decided to pit them against each other and eliminate one of them. The young party leader smiled right back and said, "Not bad, uncle! Do you know how rare is it for an uncle to make it to a LAN match? I¡¯m the one who should be impressed here!" "Pfft¡­" Dominating Mage God couldn¡¯t control himself, whereas the crowd beneath the stage didn¡¯t need to control themselves at all. A chorus of laughter filled the place for a time. Not only had Dominating Heaven Blade misjudged his opponent, his attempt to show off had backfired on him completely. Boasting truly was an original sin! Grim-faced, Dominating Heaven Blade forced a smile onto his face and said, "See you inside the game, boy!" The players of Hunting Moon Dynasty nodded before heading into the battle room. The next big match was about to begin! ¡­¡­ Both parties¡¯ formation appeared on the big screen. Gods of Destruction aside, Hunting Moon Dynasty¡¯s players had pretty high levels. Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties LV-106 Magic Knight Ghastly Demon Blade LV-104 Assassin One Meter Sunlight LV-105 Mage Skyshaking Bow LV-105 Archer Wind Of The General LV-105 Tactician ¡­¡­ Besides that, their equipment and their detailed stats were listed behind their IDs, although the font was so small it was almost illegible. I could see dark gold and purple gold highlighted text, and Ghastly Demon Blade in particular had a 3-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade dagger with almost the same Attack as my old Purgatory Sword. It was a powerful weapon to say the least! I curled my lips and commented, "I have a feeling that tragedy is about to befall Gods of Destruction¡­" Lin Yixin and He Yi nodded in unison. "Same!" On the big screen, we saw both sides engaging one another in no time. Dominating Heaven Blade was charging toward Hunting Moon Dynasty with intelligent maneuvers and looking for an opportunity to take down the enemy archer and mage. Dominating Knight God and Dominating Warrior God wisely tried to flank the enemy and surround them as well. Their battle strategy was clear, but unfortunately for them, Hunting Moon Dynasty was no noob party. The young party leader, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties backed away continuously while making sure to stay between Dominating Heaven Blade and Dominating Knight God, ready to launch an attack at a moment¡¯s notice. Ghastly Demon Blade appeared behind Dominating Archer God, hit him with a Cruel Blade and unleashed a series of combos. A few seconds later, Dominating Archer God became the first player to exit the ring. "Dammit!" Dominating Heaven Blade was furious. This was clearly a stalling strategy where the frontliners slowed down Gods of Destruction¡¯s advance while their ranged players took them down one by one. It was exactly the kind of strategy a straightforward man¡ªin combat at least¡ªlike Dominating Heaven Blade hated the most. A few exchanges later, Dominating Heaven Blade had lost half his HP because the enemy mage One Meter Sunlight had been hitting him with Ice Thrust all this time. It wasn¡¯t a deadly spell, but there was literally nothing he could do about it. Thud thud thud... Skyshaking Bow fired a couple of arrows that tore apart Dominating Mage God¡¯s Magic Shield. The moment it was gone, the mage froze in place because Ghastly Demon Blade had stunned him from behind. The assassin¡¯s timing was practically perfect. Another two slashes later, Dominating Mage God was dead as well! The rest of the battle went more or less as expected. Hunting Moon Dynasty¡¯s equipment wasn¡¯t actually that much stronger than Gods of Destruction party¡¯s. They just had very good teamwork and a unique strategy that they executed very well. Dominating Heaven Blade and his goons deserved to lose the round. Another round later, the match ended with a perfect 2-0 in favor of Hunting Moon Dynasty! No one had any doubt that Gods of Destruction guild¡¯s ranking would fall off a cliff when the Guild Ranking of China was refreshed. It was an utter tragedy. If their era wasn¡¯t over before, it was now! ¡­¡­ Whoosh! A fragrant scent brushed past my nose as Lin Yixin rose to her feet. Carrying her sports-style handbag in hand, she said, "Heroes of Snowy Cathaya, it¡¯s our turn to storm the stage!" Shadow Chanel the Dark Tongue Mage, Purple Marquis the iron-blooded warrior, Clear Perfume the powerful archer, and Beauty At First Sight the Holy Bard followed their guild leader up the stage. When Lin Yixin stepped onto the stage¡ªher natural youth and vibrance further accentuated by her sports suit¡ªthe audience instantly burst into thunderous applause. There were even people coiling their promotional posters into cones and shouting on top of their lungs, "I love you, Wind Fantasy! I love you, Fruit Knife Goddess¡­" I pursed my lips and thought: Fuck y¡¯all... Lin Yixin greeted Fei¡¯er briefly before entering the battle room with her players. Surprisingly, their opponents, Return Of The King, were a bunch of uncles. One of them with a beer belly like a pregnant lady¡¯s stomach snatched the mic from Fei¡¯er¡¯s hand and introduced himself. "My name is Zeng Yingjun. I¡¯ve played Legend in 2001, Dream in 2002 and WoW in 2003. These men beside me are all my comrades from back then! Now, we enter Heavenblessed to claim a corner of the world for ourselves! Vivid yet those crowded months and years. Young we were, schoolmates, at life''s full flowering, filled with student enthusiasm. Boldly, we cast all restraints aside. Pointing to our mountains and rivers, setting people afire with our words, we counted the mighty no more than muck!" Thud thud thud! Instantly, Zeng Yingjun was hit by countless cola cans, keyboards, mice, Sloggi bras, Sofy sanitary napkins, Sinopec lubricant oils and so on. The poor dude and his teammates ran like hell into their battle room to avoid being murdered where they stood. ¡­¡­ It was almost as if Zeng Yingjun had predicted the future, but all restraints were cast aside the moment both parties entered the battlefield! Lin Yixin had activated her Famous General Skill, Bombshell, and increased all her party members¡¯ stats by 40%. Even Clear Perfume, an archer, had almost 7000 HP. It didn¡¯t take long for uncle Zeng Yingjun to realize that the archer he was trying to kill just wouldn¡¯t die, while behind him the Fruit Knife Goddess was dancing across the stage and killing everyone like a beautiful butterfly. She had single-handedly obliterated the tragic party that was Return Of The King! In fact, Shadow Chanel and Beauty At First Sight had no chance to perform. Lin Yixin and Purple Marquis had easily destroyed their enemy and ended the match with a clean 2-0. Snowy Cathaya¡¯s performance in this battle was definitely commendable, and they were starting to look more and more like a true king of guilds. Of course, everyone who made it this far were kings in their own right. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was the king of the north side of Dragonbone Mountain Range, Candle Dragon was the king of the entire server, and Purple Lily was the king of the center of Wind City. The clash of kings was inevitable, but only one party would walk away the victor. When Lin Yixin and her party members walked back to me, she asked with a smile, "How did I do?" I replied, "It was absolutely fantastic!" Her cheeks turned red. "Fuck!" In fact, I had a feeling that Lin Yixin had intentionally instructed Shadow Chanel and Beauty At First Sight to stay their hand. She was hoping to hide her party¡¯s true strength as much as possible. If the Fruit Knife Goddess was the sword of Snowy Cathaya, then the Dark Tongue Mage and Holy Bard were their secret weapons. Naturally, you wouldn¡¯t want to reveal and waste your secret weapons on meaningless battles! ¡­¡­ The next match ended in a resounding 2-0 victory for The Monarch Descends, a rather mysterious party in my opinion. Finally, it was Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Second Seed¡¯s turn to fight. Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, and Eighteen Steeds Of You and Yun went up the stage with their helmets. They muttered among themselves¡ª Gui Guzi: "I heard that Zero Pitch Sonata is quite strong. Something must be working for them to make it into the LAN match with two mages and three archers!" Xu Yang: "Calm down, we will win this¡­" High Fighting Spirits asked, "By the way, why did we name our party ¡®Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Second Seed¡¯, or ASDSSS? That¡¯s a bit too many ¡®S¡¯ for my liking, if you get what I mean¡­ we should¡¯ve called ourselves Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Imperial Guard or something¡­" Xu Yang curled his lips. "Little Gui¡¯s the one who came up with that name. It has nothing to do with me¡­" Chaos Moon: "Sigh. No wonder Du Thirteen often said that Gui Guzi is an S, but in this case, S stands for stupid instead of sadist¡­" Gui Guzi: "I¡­ ah, fuck me¡­" Eighteen Steeds Of You and Yun laughed. "Alright alright, focus. Let¡¯s take out this full long-range party as soon as possible. It so happens that we are all melee classes, so this shouldn¡¯t be too difficult. The match is being broadcast live on CCTV-5, right? Let¡¯s show the players of China what melee fighters can do! No matter how strong they are, we will break apart their formation and destroy them!" "In that case, let¡¯s do it like this!" Gui Guzi nodded with a smile. "I¡¯ll Charge first and draw their firepower. The rest of you lock onto a target each and chase them until they die. Don¡¯t give them a chance to focus fire on any of us. We cannot be the party to smear Boss Broken Halberd and the guild¡¯s names, okay?" High Fighting Spirits: "Got it. Get ready, everyone!" Chapter 404: Unity ¡°Leave that female mage to me!¡± Xu Yang declared in a stupid voice while holding the Purgatory Sword. High Fighting Spirits asked, ¡°Both their mages are female. Which one are you talking about?¡± ¡°The one with big breasts?¡± ¡°You mean Murong Mingyue?¡± ¡°Fuck off, she¡¯s huge, but she¡¯s a priest, okay?¡± Beneath the stage, Murong Mingyue uttered through gritted teeth, ¡°I¡¯m gonna send these bastards to the slaughterhouse the second this match is over!¡± ¡­¡­ The moment the match began, Gui Guzi swung his spear and charged the enemy¡¯s party leader immediately. His footsteps were steady, and his spear was already in motion the instant he took off. His movement was so fluid that it was beautiful to look at. Thud thud thud! A couple of arrows hit his Spirit-grade shield Titan Barrier and caused a number of sparks, but it didn¡¯t result in too much damage. With over 2000 Defense and almost 15000 HP, Gui Guzi was probably the most broken tank in this tournament right now. If possible, no one wanted to face the undead knight in combat. The enemy mage cried out hastily, ¡°You idiots, don¡¯t hit Gui Guzi, you won¡¯t be able to kill him! Kill High Fighting Spirits and Hot Sun first!¡± Unfortunately, they were too late. The moment the battle began, Gui Guzi was able to cut right into their formation and shatter both mages¡¯ Magic Shield with an Aurora Thrust. He had effectively split their party in half. After Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits and the others activated their Charges and fought to end the round as quickly as possible, no amount of planning could turn the tides in favor of Zero Pitch Sonata. Three minutes later, the battle ended in favor of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Second Seed, granting them one point. The second round wasn¡¯t too different from the first. Gui Guzi was the main attacker, and because he had a fair amount of attack power, his Aurora Thrust wasn¡¯t something the enemy could afford to ignore. This was especially true for Zero Pitch Sonata because their party was completely made up of archers and mages. Unable to come together and burst down the enemy, the only thing they could do was delay the inevitable. In the end, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Second Seed successfully beat Zero Pitch Sonata 2-0 and advanced to the Top 16! ¡­¡­ ¡°Hahaha, I knew Gui Guzi wouldn¡¯t let us down!¡± I smiled and tried to lift a cup, but I abruptly realized that a snow white hand had grabbed my cup instead. When I looked up, I saw that the owner of the hand was a cute and refreshing-looking girl about seventeen to eighteen years old. She was the same type of woman as Beiming Xue. The girl smiled at me and said, ¡°Hello, Lu Chen, I¡¯m Song of Cloud and Water, the guild leader of Soul Battle Robes. Are you interested in joining us? We promise to pay you handsomely for your service¡­¡± I grabbed Lin Yixin¡¯s cup instead and took a sip. Then, I complained, ¡°This red tea is so bitter! I can¡¯t believe you can swallow something like this, Yiyi.¡± Lin Yixin smiled. ¡°A person should learn to appreciate both the bitterness and sweetness of life.¡± Song Of Cloud And Water¡¯s eyes turned as round as saucers. ¡°Fuck, he¡­ he ignored me again¡­¡± Hmph hmph, that¡¯s exactly right, little girl! It was at this moment four players walked up to Song Of Cloud And Water and asked, ¡°Guild leader, what are you doing here? It¡¯s our turn to go on stage.¡± The girl looked at the big screen¡ª Group G Soul Battle Robes VS Warsky Alliance, Mad Dragon VS Hegemon Palace Group H Dirge Of War VS Snow Moon, Baidicheng VS Myth ¡­¡­ A sigh slipped through her parted lips. ¡°What a shame that we ran into Warsky Alliance so soon. We could¡¯ve fought Snow Moon if it was a weaker party¡­¡± One of her members chuckled awkwardly. ¡°Those days are long gone, guild leader. Both Snow Moon and Soul Battle Robes are no longer the king-level guilds we used to be. Even if we win this match, I doubt Snow Moon will beat their opponent and meet us in the Top 16¡­¡± Song Of Cloud And Water turned around to face him. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Do you know who the current guild leader of Snow Moon is? He¡¯s a super noob called Southern Barbarian. Their opponent is Dirge Of War, one of the Top 10 guilds of Vanished God City. I would suspect foul play if they somehow won this¡­¡± ¡°Sigh¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Soul Battle Robes went on stage, and on the other side stood Warsky Alliance. Warsky was a handsome young man in real life, and the corners of his lips looked like they would turn up at any moment. Behind him was Farewell Song, Laughing At The Heavens, October Rain and a priest called To Make Rain Ripple. Their comp was perfectly standard, but the three CGL rankers in the party definitely weren''t! Obviously, Soul Battle Robes party was no match for their opponent, and Song Of Cloud And Water knew this very well. That was why she and her party members didn¡¯t bother to put up too much resistance. Under Warsky¡¯s leadership, Warsky Alliance quickly obliterated Soul Battle Robes and advanced to the Top 16! Song Of Cloud And Water left unhappily when the players got off the stage. Surprisingly, Warsky and his friends came to us instead of leaving as well. ¡°Hello, everyone!¡± Warsky smiled. I stood up and gave him a hand. ¡°Hello, Warsky!¡± ¡°Lu Chen!¡± Warsky gave me a friendly handshake and smiled. ¡°You deserve your title, Falling Dust. No matter how fierce our competition inside the game is, it wouldn¡¯t come between us and stop us from being friends in real life, right?¡± I nodded and smiled back. ¡°Of course! These days, the only thing I can''t let go are my chopsticks!¡± ¡°Hahaha, not bad at all!¡± Warsky shot me a look of approval before introducing the people behind him. ¡°I don¡¯t need to tell you who they are, do I? Anyway, this is Farewell Song, Laughing At The Heavens, October Rain, and finally To Make Rain Ripple. You¡¯ve probably met them all in the game already.¡± I nodded. ¡°Your reputations certainly precede you¡­¡± Farewell Song chuckled before giving me a thumbs-up. ¡°Lu Chen, I must admit that the performance you put on at Fire Desert was top-notch. Frivolous Scholar and Lin Fan are probably the only players in the entire China who can emulate that level of skill¡­¡± I shook my head humbly. ¡°Nah, it¡¯s only because I had a class and equipment advantage. There¡¯s no way I could¡¯ve fought you all myself otherwise.¡± ¡°Hahaha!¡± Warsky occupied the seats next to us as if we were old friends. Then, he started talking animatedly with Xu Yang, Purple Marquis, and the others. I must admit that Warsky was an extremely charming person, and it was probably the main reason his guild was able to rise to the top so quickly and without warning. It took a special person to fight an enemy to the death online, only to greet them amiably or even make friends with them offline. ¡­¡­ I played with my phone distractedly and fell a bit more silent than usual. I must remember that the opposite was equally true. Warsky might be a friendly person in real life, in the game only one of us could remain standing in the end. The struggle for supremacy in Sky City would only get worse and worse because there were only so many lands, but millions of people fighting over them! It was at this moment a girl wearing a purple dress pulled a chair over and sat on the opposite side of me. She stared at me and smiled. ¡°Lu Chen!¡± Fuck, it¡¯s October Rain! I felt a shiver from head to toe. Beside me, Lin Yixin and He Yi were watching, but they weren¡¯t trying to help me at all. The only thing missing in their hand was a bag of popcorn! ¡°What is it?¡± I asked. October Rain smiled again. ¡°Nothing. I just want to talk with you, that¡¯s all. What, am I not welcome or something?¡± ¡°Of course you are¡­¡± I muttered. ¡°And what do you want to talk about?¡± She giggled. ¡°How about something sexy?¡± ¡°...¡± What could I even do except maintain my silence? Finally, October Rain burst into laughter. ¡°Just kidding. Well, the guild leaders of Snowy Cathaya, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and Warsky Alliance are all here. I¡¯m not exaggerating when I say that all the powerhouses of Sky City are here, am I? In that case, why don¡¯t we talk about the future of Sky City?¡± Curiosity piqued, Lin Yixin asked with a smile, ¡°And what would you like to talk about, Beauty Chen?¡± (October Rain¡¯s real name is Chen Yu. It¡¯s recorded in the CGL Hall of Fame) October Rain looked at Lin Yixin before praising her. ¡°Ohh, you¡¯re the legendary Wind Fantasy. You really are as beautiful as they say! Just look at that smooth skin, soft cheeks, lively eyes, and firm breasts. Hmm, do you happen to perform breast-firming exercises frequently? I can¡¯t see how you managed to maintain such a perfect body shape otherwise. You look way better than most models¡­¡± Lin Yixin turned bright red. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯ve never done such an exercise. Can we focus on the topic at hand, please?¡± October Rain giggled. ¡°Sure, sure. Forgive me, I¡¯m a little forgetful sometimes. So, Sky City!¡± October Rain¡¯s expression turned serious, and the change in her aura was so drastic that I could almost pretend that she was a different person. ¡°The next stage of Sky City is still going to be a war between China guilds, and I estimate that around 5 guild bases will be spawned around Sky City in the next two or three months or so. This means that Sky City will have a total of 5 super guilds, also the ultimate pillars of power during the Nation Wars. These guilds will have the power to decide the fates of our country!¡± ¡°Therefore¡­¡± October Rain smiled, but unlike before her eyes were full of ridicule. ¡°It is war as usual for all the big guilds such as Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snow Cathaya, Warsky Alliance, Gods of Destruction, Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon, Flower Room and so on, with one small difference: whoever claims a guild base first would probably be called the king of Sky City, wouldn¡¯t they? That being said, no matter who gets a guild base first, it is only a matter of time before Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, and Warsky Alliance claim a guild base of their own, making us one of the main forces of China in the upcoming Nation Wars.¡± October Rain drenched her fingertip in tea before drawing a rough map of Sky City on the table. ¡°China is situated at the center of the continent, so we are surrounded by powerful enemies from all directions. The good news is that our cities are right next to each other, so we at least don¡¯t have to worry about our backs. However, Sky City faces the biggest threat of all the super cities because Vietnam¡¯s main city is right next to ours. I heard that it¡¯s a pretty big city, and their government spent a lot of money unearthing the talented gamers of their people and injecting almost 100 thousand of them into that city. Moreover, they all answer to their government, and they are a united front that intends to wage a great online war against the other countries. Needless to say, we¡¯ll be facing great pressure when that happens.¡± Lin Yixin looked at October Rain and asked, ¡°What do you want, exactly?¡± October Rain turned a little awkward. ¡°I just want to say that¡­ no matter what happens¡­ we¡­ well¡­ we should...¡± I put down the cup and gave her a reassuring smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. When the Nation Wars begin, no matter what happens between our three guilds, we promise you we will unite in the face of the greater enemy and defend our country to the last man!¡± October Rain immediately turned toward me with stars in her eyes. ¡°How astute. You really are the man of my dreams¡­¡± Chapter 405: Top 16 Somewhere in the middle of our conversation, Hegemon Palace had wiped the floor with Mad Dragon. It was the fourteenth of the Top 32 matches, and the MVPs of Hegemon Palace were of course Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er. Little Piglet especially had single-handedly deleted the Gemini Stars and Coldmoon Rose himself. However, Roaming Dragon looked surprisingly calm. In fact, he wore an expression that suggested that everything was under his control from the start to the end of the match. It was slightly worrying. The struggle for supremacy in Sky City had been continuing for some time now, but Mad Dragon had maintained a low profile thus far. Could they be plotting something? Gathering their strength for a certain time? It made no sense though. A cooked duck cannot fly, and I had seen through Mad Dragon¡¯s limits a long time ago. ¡­¡­ The fifteenth match was about to begin. It was Snow Moon versus Dirge Of War! Snow Moon was a veteran guild and a legend founded by a Heavenly King a long time ago. However, the flow of time spared no one, and out of the Twenty Four Snow Moon Cavalrymen, Southern Barbarian was the only who was still serving the guild. He was also the weakest of them, so weak that the guild had steadily declined ever since he succeeded Yi Of Ice as the new guild leader. These days, they barely made enough money to feed themselves. On the other hand, Dirge Of War was a freshly founded guild and one of the ten strongest guilds in Vanished God City. Their guild leader and a mage, Transient, was also the 25th ranker in the CGL Hall of Fame. Supported by a group of first-rate experts, Transient had established quite the sizable power in Vanished God City. Snow Moon would be lucky to take even one point off Dirge Of War! The battle was as quick as it was one-sided. In less than a minute, Transient had single-handedly annihilated all five players of Snow Moon with great skill and even greater magical power! "Snow Moon truly is no more¡­" Lin Yixin sighed as she stared at the 2-0 on the screen. "When I entered Spirit of Grief as Beautiful Little Pepper, Dark Shadow Drifter and Paralyzing Wind And Sorrow hadn¡¯t retired yet, so they were still capable of sweeping any nearby city without any problem at all. Today, they might not even be able to sweep a leveling map¡­" I smiled. "This is just how life is. For example, do you think Snowy Cathaya can still sweep all its rivals five years after today? It may not even be able to make it to a tournament like this. The fact that Snow Moon still managed to defeat most opposition and make it to the LAN matches is proof of their strength¡­" Lin Yixin nodded. "Mn, I guess¡­" ¡­¡­ The competition in Wind City and Sky City was extraordinarily fierce because the stronger CGL Hall of Famers were all there. As a result, the cities were split between a small number of super guilds, and the war situation could be compared to the War of the Three Kingdoms. However, Vanished God City was split between many middling guilds, so their war situation was more like the Warring States periods where countless powers vied for status and power. Moreover, the current CGL Hall of Famers were starting to show their faces as well. The guild leader of The Monarch Descends, Beauty Ling Xueshang, was a CGL ranker, Moonkiss the Spirit Killer of Purple Lily was a CGL ranker, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties, Transient, Come See The Snow Tonight, and Predestined were CGL rankers as well. Almost all of the 27 CGL Hall of Famers of China had shown up in Who Will Rise, meaning that whoever won the tournament was worthy of being called a king of kings! It was a competition between CGL Hall of Famers after all! ¡­¡­ The match ended fairly quickly, and Baidicheng took out their opponent with a clean 2-0. Their party leader was the female magic knight and legendary CGL Hall of Famer, Come See The Snow Tonight. Back in the Nation Wars of Spirit of Grief, it was said that she and her troops had travelled a long way and attacked three neighboring major cities in a row. She was your classic goddess of war, and she was currently ranked 26th in the CGL Hall of Fame. Her skill was first-rate, her equipment was first-rate, and her ability to command was almost at the apex. She was very similar to October Rain. Finally, the Top 16 parties of Who Will Rise was decided. The new groupings were displayed on the big screen¡ª Group A Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls VS Immortal Sword Inn Seize The Throne VS Dragon God Temple Group B Candle Dragon VS Riverside Pavilion Purple Lily VS Othershore Flower Group C Hunting Moon Dynasty VS Snowy Cathaya The Monarch Descends VS Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Second Seed Group D Warsky Alliance VS Hegemon Palace Dirge Of War VS Baidicheng ¡­¡­ The afternoon matches would continue until the Top 4 parties were decided. It will be terrible, it will be epic, and it will be very exciting to say the least! I looked up and said, "Our next opponent is Immortal Sword Inn, but I don¡¯t think they¡¯re too difficult. Dragon God Temple though¡ªassuming that they make it to the quarterfinals¡ªis an opponent to watch out for. Their guild leader, Painting Of My Country, is a Level 106 soulfire warrior, yet another hidden class. Their four party members are no small fries either." Li Chengfeng laughed. "It¡¯s fine, we¡¯ll find a way to deal with whatever comes our way. There is no opponent we fear in this tournament, is there?" "That¡¯s the spirit!" I checked the time and noted that it was past 11 am. He Yi asked, "Should we eat lunch inside the venue, or head out for something different?" I thought for a moment before saying, "Let¡¯s not move away from the crowd. We can use this opportunity to listen in on the other parties and see if we can find out their strategy or whatever. If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles, right?" "Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ At the banquet hall, the Top 16 parties were naturally enjoying the time of their life. The parties who were disqualified were in no hurry to leave either. Win or lose, everyone¡¯s meals and accommodation had already been paid for, and the service we were receiving was equivalent to that of a 5-star hotel. Who would choose to leave immediately unless they had urgent business or something? Not far away from our table, Candlelight Shadow, Tempest Shadow, and the rest of the Candle Dragon party were surrounded by a group of players. Besides asking all kinds of questions ranging from A to Z, many of them also expressed their desire to form an alliance with Candle Dragon. It wasn¡¯t a difficult sentiment to understand. Candle Dragon was strong enough to beat Purple Lily and Peach Garden with energy to spare, so it was only natural that some of the undecideds would choose to ally with them. After all, not many people were willing to antagonize an opponent who was way stronger than they were. I picked up a piece of fish meat from the dish with a pair of chopsticks. "Eat more so you can beat up Candlelight Shadow and Transient Smoke and Clouds later, Lil Beiming¡­" Beiming Xue giggled. "I¡¯ll get fat if I eat any more than this. Or do you actually prefer elephant-sized thighs?" I shot her long, perfectly shaped legs a glance and noted how supernaturally fine they were. I shook my head repeatedly, "Never mind, you are fine the way you are¡­" It was at this moment Xu Yang walked over with a plate in his hand and joined our table. "Boss, Lu Chen, what do you think of your chances of winning this afternoon? It¡¯s highly likely you¡¯ll encounter Candle Dragon at the semifinals, and if you fail, we can only hope that Snowy Cathaya from our half of the grouping is up to the task. Speaking of which, our luck is absolutely rotten. Our opponent for the quarterfinals is Snowy Cathaya for sure¡­" Beside me, Lin Yixin was sipping her soup and smiling smugly. I stared at her. "Fuck, this makes the second party Snowy Cathaya is going to take out. One way or another, you¡¯re footing the bill for tonight¡¯s supper, you hear me?" Lin Yixin giggled. "Fine, fine, but what are you so angry for? It¡¯s not like I want to eliminate your party. Blame RNG if you must pin the blame on something!" "Hmph hmph!" He Yi blinked once before commenting, "The match starts at 2 pm, so we can catch some shut-eye if you want to¡­" "Nah, there¡¯s not enough time to sleep comfortably. It¡¯s more fun to sleep after we take out Candle Dragon anyway!" "Hahaha, that¡¯s true!" ¡­¡­ After we were done eating, we grabbed our gaming helmets and arrived at the competition venue early. Then, we started talking about everything to pass time¡ª Gui Guzi: "The afternoon matches are split into four groups, and only one party from each group will enter the quarterfinals. Guild Leader Yi, Boss Broken Halberd, we¡¯ll be counting on you to start off the afternoon with a bang. At the very least, we need to reach the semifinals and win some glory for our Sky City." Li Chengfeng slapped his own chest. "Relax, we¡¯ll make it to the semifinals for sure!" Xu Yang: "Hehe, everyone who enters the Top 16 gets at least 50k RMB worth of prize money. This is awesome! A couple more tournaments like this, and I can officially go home and marry someone!¡¯ He Yi stared at her loyal subordinate with a dumbfounded expression. "Is this really all you desire in life?" "Ha¡­ haha!" Xu Yang rubbed the back of his head. "I¡¯m not someone who can see far into the future, so I would rather focus on the present. And for now, my present goal is to earn a million RMB to buy a house and marry a wife¡­" He Yi smiled a little. "Xu Yang, without you and Lu Chen, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls couldn¡¯t have been rebuilt, so I promise I¡¯ll gift you all a house each some time in the near future. Does that sound better to you?" Xu Yang exclaimed in shock, "Boss, you¡¯re too good for me¡­" He Yi: "..." Meanwhile, Clear Perfume, Shadow Chanel, Purple Marquis, and the rest were clicking their tongues in shock. Even among rich people, it took a special kind of person to promise a house to their loyal generals, and the GGS vice president was exactly that. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, I recalled something. "Eve, didn¡¯t you get a mount during the war of Skull Castle? Why aren¡¯t you riding it?" He Yi smiled. "Did you forget? You can¡¯t bring pets or mounts in Who Will Rise, and you can¡¯t use skills with a cooldown over 30 minutes. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t use it in battle." "I see. Show me your mounted stats after the tournament is over, okay?" "Sure~" I was very envious. Both magic knights and wanderers could equip mounts, but not me. I was stuck being a foot soldier until the end of times. It was a tragedy! ¡­¡­ Chapter 406: My Dream Dressed in a casual outfit, Fei¡¯er walked up the stage and announced the start of the afternoon matches. "The first match of Group A is Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls versus Immortal Sword Inn. The second match is Seize The Throne versus Dragon God Temple. Finally, the winners of both matches will fight each other in a BO3. The winner will then advance directly to the semifinals!" Swhoosh! I grabbed my bag and rose to my feet. I was the party leader, so I walked at the front and led Li Chengfeng and the girls up the stage. After exchanging a smile with Fei¡¯er, we all entered the battle rooms and prepared ourselves. Immortal Sword Inn¡¯s party was made up of three guys and two girls. They all looked pretty young, and although I hadn¡¯t paid their matches too much attention I remembered them being pretty good players. After we entered the game, we were automatically teleported into the competition space! Swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Several white flashes later, the five of us were teleported into the tournament ring. On the other side of the barrier, the players of Sword Immortal Inn were already on the platform as well. Two warriors, 1 archer, 1 mage and 1 priest. It was the most common composition one could have with a tank, melee damage dealer, ranged damage dealer, magic damage dealer and a priest. Of course, our party was almost as good. Logically speaking, we had a little too many warriors and no magic damage dealer, but that wasn¡¯t a problem. Li Chengfeng and I were skilled and powerful enough to make up for that minor flaw in our party! ¡­¡­ "Let¡¯s take out their archer and mage first!" I said while watching our opponent. "I¡¯ll kill the mage. Li Chengfeng, you target their archer first and their priest later! Eve, you stay behind and protect sis and Lil Beiming. Beiming, use Shock Arrow and Freezing Arrow to CC their two warriors. Sis, don¡¯t worry that you¡¯ll reveal yourself. Just cast a Restore on Beiming Xue right at the start of the battle." "Mn!" I swallowed my saliva and activated my Famous General Skill¡ªMartial God! The shadow of a gigantic, blood-red god entered our bodies and drastically increased our attack power! The countdown began. Judging from the expressions on our opponents¡¯ faces, they were feeling as much pressure as we were. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was undoubtedly one of the strongest guilds in China right now, and even we wouldn¡¯t want to fight us without good reason. I was the 12th CGL Hall of Famer, and Li Chengfeng was a brutal and outstanding dragon warrior who was capable of sweeping multiple opponents himself. Beiming Xue was the famous dark archer who could threaten even the CGL Hall of Famer archer like October Rain. He Yi and Murong Mingyue weren¡¯t too bad themselves. Their equipment and abilities were first-rate, and their skill barely reached the bottom tier of first-rate. 3! 2! Fight! I rushed straight toward the enemy mage, but to my surprise, the two enemy warriors were charging me. They clearly planned to take me out first. I swung the Heaven-stealing Sword with my right hand and raised my left arm at the same time! Chiang chiang! I parried one Charge and blocked the other. Without pausing my footsteps, I ran past them and fired a Dragon Slaying Slash at the mage! Bang! The mage didn¡¯t see the attack coming, and he lost his Magic Shield as a result. However, he also succeeded in firing an Ice Dragon Howl that deleted 2463 HP from my health bar! Holy shit! That being said, I would be more surprised if a mage in the Top 16 couldn¡¯t hit me so hard. Not waiting to lose even more HP, I hurriedly activated Thunderous Charge. If even I, with my Magic Resist, took this much damage, then Li Chengfeng would fare even worse. Swhoosh! The mage teleported backward using Flash. Fourth-promotion mages could learn the skill called "Flash" and teleport in any direction they wanted for a maximum range of 20 yards. It was a skill that greatly increased their survivability! But I smiled and raised my sword to perform the movement of Dragon Slaying Slash again. Instead of aiming at the mage, I fired a Dragon Slaying Slash behind him and cut off his retreat path completely. It also served as a temporary distraction as I ran toward him. By the time the mage¡¯s brain registered what was going on, the Heaven-stealing Sword had already sunk into his flesh! Puchi! 5783! It was a basic attack, but it was empowered by Martial God. It was more than enough to one-shot the shieldless mage. I looked back as the mage collapsed to the ground. Li Chengfeng had successfully killed off the enemy archer as well, but our backline was in danger. He Yi was doing her best to fend off the two warriors and using every skill in her arsenal such as Honor to protect Murong Mingyue, but she herself had dropped below half HP! "Kill them!" Li Chengfeng and I charged them at the same time and rammed them out of the way. Warriors versus warriors, we glared at each other for a moment before clashing swords with each other! Clang clang clang! A couple of costly parries and blows later, the enemy warriors quickly realized that there was no chance they could outskill me or Li Chengfeng. They tried to withdraw and regroup with their priest, but Li Chengfeng and I immediately moved into position and launched our AoE skills at the same time, all without needing to exchange a single word. The Reverse Scale Slash and Thousand Ice Slash engulfed both warriors like two tsunamis! Boom boom! Ice and sword aura flew everywhere as the two warriors collapsed to the ground. In the blink of an eye, the enemy priest was the only one still alive in Immortal Sword Inn. The female priest hesitated for a second, but in the end she gritted her teeth and forfeited the match! That was 1-0 to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! We had fought decisively and with a clear strategy in mind. We never gave the enemy a chance to mount a comeback from beginning till the end. The players of Immortal Sword Inn weren¡¯t so blind that they couldn¡¯t see the gap between our strengths. Their leader smiled helplessly and said, "I guess Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ resurgence wasn¡¯t a fluke after all. You are completely different from who you were a year ago. We have no regrets losing to an opponent like you!" I nodded and smiled back. "You guys aren¡¯t half-bad yourself. If you work on your teamwork a little more, I¡¯m sure you can get better than this." "Heh!" The second round began, and just like before, Sword Immortal Inn couldn¡¯t withstand our ferocious assault. Li Chengfeng and I notwithstanding, Beiming Xue was the one who shot the two warriors into porcupines. The match was over in 3 minutes! "2-0! We won!" He Yi couldn¡¯t stop grinning. Her eyes were filled with joy and excitement. Before today, she dared not even dream that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls could one day be in the Top 8 of a national tournament! Swhoosh! After we were teleported outside the tournament ring, we logged off and exited the game. Outside the battle room, the host Fei¡¯er said smilingly, "Congratulations on winning the match, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! It looks like the Little Heavenly King Falling Dust truly is unstoppable, hehe!" ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng looked incredibly happy as well. He said, "Damn, I never thought that I would be able to make it this far. It¡¯s not like this is my first rodeo, but my teams have always been eliminated at the start. None of my teammates were good back then. Hehe, this is the first time I worked together with a true expert, and it is nothing like I¡¯ve ever felt before¡­" I smiled back. "Same." That¡¯s right. Why did Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls think they had a chance to become the champion? It was because they had me, Li Chengfeng and Beiming Xue! In fact, Li Chengfeng¡¯s role in our party was even more critical than Beiming Xue¡¯s! There were camera flashes everywhere as we walked down the stage. It was enough to fulfill anyone¡¯s dream of becoming a superstar. Of course, I was aware that most of the shots were reserved for He Yi and Murong Mingyue only. Since the girls were standing close to me, I appeared in most of the shots as well. Back at the player¡¯s seats, Lin Yixin raised her glass of fruit juice and toasted me from afar. "Congrats~~" I smiled back but didn¡¯t reply. It would be a bad idea to play hanky-panky with Lin Yixin when the girls of Frost Cloud workshop were right next to me. ¡­¡­ The second match of Group A was between Dragon God Temple and Seize The Throne. No matter who emerged as the victor, they weren¡¯t an opponent we could afford to underestimate. This was the perfect opportunity to observe them and come up with a plan to deal with them later. Both parties went up the stage, and a couple of minutes later the formations were displayed on the screen. Seize The Throne¡¯s players were so-so, but Dragon God Temple had a couple of noteworthy players¡ª Painting Of My Country LV-106 Soulfire Warrior Dispute Pavilion LV-105 Mage In The Name Of The War God LV-104 Magic Knight Water Dragon Roar LV-105 Mage Silent Wind And Rain LV-104 Priest ¡­¡­ Painting Of My Country was especially eye-catching. He was the guild leader of Dragon God Temple, and his hidden class, Soulfire Warrior seemed like a powerful class. The instant the battle began, Painting Of My Country charged toward the highest-leveled warrior and clashed swords with him. When he swung his sword, purple energy surrounded his blade, and ghastly wails could be heard from time to time. It looked like the Soulfire Warrior¡¯s passive was similar to my Undead Energy or Lin Yixin¡¯s Holy Energy. All of his attacks dealt additional ¡°soulfire¡± damage! Bang bang! 3784! 4120! Two consecutive strikes later, Painting Of My Country had knocked back the enemy warrior. One extra strike later, he killed his opponent before he even got the chance to drink a health potion and heal himself! On the other side, Dispute Pavilion swung his scepter and surprised everyone by summoning a hexagram magic formation. Everyone who was stepping on the icy formation had their attack speed and movement speed slowed by a certain degree. What the heck, is that domain-type magic? War God pounced toward the enemy archer and turned him into a walking sieve with his spear. On the other side, the mage Water Dragon Roar fired icicle after icicle at an enemy warrior and turned him into a punctured blood bag. It was a completely one-sided slaughter! Seize The Throne wasn¡¯t a bad guild, but even their best experts were no match for Dragon God Temple at all. In less than three minutes, they were routed and fell one point behind! The second round was almost a carbon copy of the first. Seize The Throne couldn¡¯t find a way to stop the onslaught, so they lost the match! The match ended 2-0 in favor of Dragon God Temple. They entered the Top 8 in a dominant fashion! ¡­¡­ Well, we knew who our opponent was now. It was Dragon God Temple. I lifted my gaming helmet and smiled a little. "Let¡¯s go, this is our chance to enter the Top 4. If we take out Dragon God Temple, we¡¯ll be semifinalists of a national tournament. Also, the prize money for semifinalists is 200k RMB per person¡­" "Is that so?" Li Chengfeng wiped his saliva. "That¡¯s awesome. I¡¯ve been running dry on cash lately. I love this tournament¡­" I shot him a disdainful glance. "What the fuck are you talking about? You work for the PSB, don¡¯t you? How are you poor?" Li Chengfeng shot me a strange look. "Is that how you see the PSB? Do you think all public servants are fat idiots who only know how to collect money? I¡¯m not one of those faithless people, you know¡­" "Where does your faith lie then?" He Yi asked with a smile. "My calling is to protect justice and the last ray of light in everyone¡¯s humanity," Li Chengfeng declared with clenched fists. I nodded. "Sounds good. When I was younger, I dreamed of becoming a policeman who punished evil and protected the weak as well. Unfortunately, 24 years later, only half of that dream came true." Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes widened. "What do you mean? Were you a security guard?" "No. I became a man, but not a police." Chapter 407: Struggling Against Dragon God Temple It was the final battle of Group A, and the party members on both sides were displayed on the big screen¡ª Dragon God Temple: Painting Of My Country LV-106 Soulfire Warrior Dispute Pavilion LV-105 Mage In The Name Of The War God LV-104 Magic Knight Water Dragon Roar LV-105 Mage Silent Wind And Rain LV-104 Priest VS Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-109 Undead Swordsman From Water LV-106 Magic Knight Beiming Xue LV-106 Dark Archer Murong Mingyue LV-106 Priest Legendary Brave LV-106 Dragon Warrior ¡­¡­ On average, we were one or two levels ahead of our opponents, and our equipment was better than theirs. I had a 4-star Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon and a great suit of armor, He Yi had a Spirit-grade shield, and Li Chengfeng was fully equipped in Outstanding Dark Gold or Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment. He was also more skillful than most people. Just the three of us already outclassed our opponents. However, we still needed to watch out for Painting Of My Country¡¯s Soulfire passive and Dispute Pavilion¡¯s ice domain magic. It would be ugly to lose a fight where we had the clear advantage. After Fei¡¯er announced the party formations, both parties entered the battle rooms and put on their gaming helmets. The system then teleported us straight to the competition space. A great battle was about to begin! ¡­¡­ On the other side of the barrier, Dragon God Temple was discussing strategy among themselves. Painting Of My Country was smiling confidently, and Dispute Pavilion was pretty chill as well. Occasionally, In the Name of the War God pointed a finger at us mid-explanation. "How should we fight this?" He Yi asked. Li Chengfeng replied, "Painting Of My Country is too great a threat to us fighters because his Soulfire largely ignores Defense, so he needs to die first. Their two mages also have good teamwork, and they don''t stick to a specific attack pattern. It will be bad if we give them the room to focus any of us. In my opinion, we should deal with these three before we take down first before anyone else." I nodded and said solemnly, "Chengfeng will charge first and distract the two mages. While they¡¯re kept busy, I¡¯ll use this chance to kill that Dispute Pavilion and stop him from using this ice domain of his. Our offensive power will go down drastically if he succeeds in casting his spell, and an offensive party like ours can¡¯t fight a battle of attrition." "Alright, that¡¯s what we¡¯ll do!" ¡­¡­ The system began the countdown¡ª 3! 2! 1! The quarterfinal match begins! A new entry appeared in my combat log the instant I activated Martial God¡ª Beep! Holy shit, that was one helluva buff considering that it was no Famous General Skill! It was comparable to that of a high-level Tactician! Whoosh! Li Chengfeng rushed them immediately after the countdown hit zero. When he was 40 yards away from the enemy¡¯s formation, he activated Charge and zoomed toward Water Dragon Roar. That wasn¡¯t everything he did, however. When he was about halfway toward his target, he abruptly used Reverse Scale Slash at the nearby Dispute Pavilion and forced the mage to flash to safety. Moreover, the skill caused a thick cloud of dust to appear at the center of the ring, obscuring the enemy¡¯s vision and providing me with the best cover to kill Dispute Pavilion. My eyes turned cold as I locked onto Dispute Pavilion and activated Thunderous Charge! Whoosh! I blitzed across the tournament ring like a lightning bolt and arrived in front of Dispute Pavilion in no time. The mage¡¯s expression changed when I hit his Magic Shield with Ice Ray. "Fuck, how are you so fast?" The skill failed to shred the mage¡¯s Magic Shield, but a follow-up basic attack did the trick anyway. Backing away from me with a harsh expression and raising his scepter at the same time, Dispute Pavilion chanted, "Ice Domain!" Crackle crackle... A sheen of ice appeared on the ground, and the air suddenly turned deathly cold. We immediately lost a great deal of movement speed and attack speed. I gritted my teeth and continued chasing after Dispute Pavilion. Mages were slow to begin with, and there were very few cloth-armor boots that boosted its wearer¡¯s movement speed. Moreover, my Barbarian War Boots boosted my movement speed by 15%. As a result, Dispute Pavilion was still slower than me even though my movement speed was reduced by Ice Domain! I swung my sword and unleashed Thousand Ice Slash! "Shit!" Dispute Pavilion swore and drank a health potion, but it still wasn¡¯t enough to offset the damage. He collapsed to the ground and died. There were no mages who could survive my skill without the Magic Shield. ¡­¡­ I turned around to look at the others, and I was greeted by an astonishing sight. Li Chengfeng was trying to parry In the Name of the War God¡¯s Charge, but he failed and got stunned for a couple of seconds. Painting Of My Country immediately pounced on him and hit him three times in a row with a sword shrouded by soulish fire, dealing a huge amount of damage¡ª 2907! 3782! 3193! He survived because Murong Mingyue had flung an instant healing spell on him, but it wasn¡¯t enough. The enemy mage, Water Dragon Roar raised his scepter and dropped a gigantic, cyan dragon on him¡ªDragon¡¯s Roar! 4419! Li Chengfeng shuddered and slowly collapsed to the ground. None of us had predicted that Water Dragon Roar would possess a spell this powerful, so we lost Li Chengfeng as a result! I hurriedly ran back toward my party while He Yi was busy holding the two enemy warriors back. She swung the Soul Stealing Spear and dealt a sizable amount of damage to Painting Of My Country and In the Name of the War God, successfully increasing their wariness and stalling them just a bit longer. At the distance, Beiming Xue was running like the wind and peppering Water Dragon Roar with arrows. A couple of shots later, his Magic Shield broke, and Beiming Xue immediately dished out an Evil Spirit Volley and forced Water Dragon Roar to retreat to safety. The moment an opening appeared in the enemy formation, Beiming Xue immediately changed directions and hit Painting Of My Country with a sharp Shock Arrow. Once he was stunned, she shouted inside the party channel. "Big bro, let¡¯s kill him together!" She didn¡¯t need to tell me twice. I charged him and hit his head in a Pardon + Desperate Gambit + basic attack combo¡ª MISS! 6403! 2984! Beiming Xue also fired a Devil Piercing Arrow that exploded across Painting Of My Country¡¯s chest and dealt ridiculous 4294 damage. Painting Of My Country was powerful, but there was no way he could withstand our combined attack. He let out a groan of pain and died where he stood! However, while we were dealing with Painting Of My Country, In the Name of the War God had successfully shaken off He Yi and charged toward Beiming Xue. He abruptly plunged his spear into her soft shoulder! 3905! 3467! It was only a double hit, but being the paper class she was, Beiming Xue had no chance of surviving. Death came so swiftly that even Murong Mingyue failed to heal Beiming Xue in time! That was yet another thing we failed to realize before it was too late¡ªwe had no idea In the Name of the War God¡¯s Attack was this high! "Eve, stall him!" I shouted. He Yi stood in front of Murong Mingyue and launched a Flame Thrust at In the Name of the War God, deleting a chunk of his HP. I charged toward Water Dragon Roar, ignored the magic spells erupting across my body and threw a Dragon Slaying Slash at him! Thud! 784! The Dragon Slaying Slash greatly distorted Water Dragon Roar¡¯s Magic Shield and dealt a tiny amount of damage. Before the mage could react, I fired another Thousand Ice Slash! Boom! This time, his Magic Shield shattered completely and deleted nearly all of his health! The enemy priest hurriedly raised his scepter and healed his teammate, but even at full health, Water Dragon Roar only had 4000+ HP. With his level of Defense, there was no way he could take even a single hit from me. A draconic roar entered my ears as Water Dragon Roar used Dragon¡¯s Roar again. Dragon¡¯s Roar was a Level 100 single-target mage skill that was practically unbeatable at the current stage of the game, but it was so rare that 99.99% of the mages out there didn¡¯t have it yet. Unfortunately, our opponent was one of that 0.01%. Boom! The giant dragon descended from the sky, and I had nowhere to run. So I steeled my mind and charged straight toward Water Dragon Roar! 3478! It was as deadly as I expected it to be. My Magic Resist was slightly higher than Li Chengfeng¡¯s, but not by much. The spell still dealt huge damage to me. Dragon God Temple¡¯s offensive power was seriously incredible! Pu! I plunged the Heaven-stealing Sword through the mage¡¯s chest and finally ended his life. Only two enemy players left. I ignored the priest, Silent Wind and Rain and went after In the Name of the War God first! Murong Mingyue had almost no health at this point, and I turned around just in time to see her being killed by the enemy magic knight. At the same time, He Yi hit him and put him to red health! I fired a Dragon Slaying Slash from where I stood! "Ah?!" In the Name of the War God watched the cyan energy blade flying toward his head and knew he was about to die! 4194! The magic knight dropped to his knees and perished as well. I turned around and annihilated Silent Wind and Rain in a couple of slashes. The round was finally ours! But He Yi and I couldn¡¯t help but exchange a bitter smile with each other. None of us had expected this battle to be this close, so close that only He Yi and I were the only ones alive at the end of it. This was a small victory at best! Swhoosh! We were teleported back to the competition space. For now, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls led 1-0 over its opponent. ¡­¡­ At the competition space, Li Chengfeng said seriously, "I was careless. I wasn¡¯t expecting to be counter-charged by Painting Of My Country. But even if we ignore my blunder, there¡¯s no denying that Painting Of My Country and In the Name of the War God¡¯s attack power is insane. This really is a national tournament, isn¡¯t it? These people are even harder to deal with than Warsky Alliance¡¯s core players." I smiled. "Yeah. Still, Farewell Song is probably a greater threat if he fights you one on one in his best condition. Never let your guard down around that assassin." "Yeah, I know!" ¡­¡­ He Yi said, "The second round is about to begin. By the way, can you guys hear the crowd cheering? I wonder who they¡¯re cheering for¡­" "Who cares? All I want is for us to win!" "Yeah!" A minute later, we were teleported back into the ring. We waited patiently for the countdown to begin anew. 3! 2! 1! Fight! ¡­¡­ This time, both Li Chengfeng and I targeted a different player. I attacked Painting Of My Country, he attacked In the Name of the War God, and He Yi went after the two mages. Murong Mingyue stayed at the back to heal me and Li Chengfeng. The enemy fighters¡ªespecially the soulfire warrior, Painting Of My Country¡ªpossessed tremendous explosive power, so we needed to deal with him as soon as possible. The enemy mages were strong too, but they lacked the power to one-shot the tanky He Yi immediately! Crack crack crack! Chapter 408: Do or Die A burning hot slash hit my Obsidian Dragonscale Armor and dealt 2894 damage. There were only a handful of warriors in China who could hit me for over 2000 damage with physical attacks, and Painting Of My Country was one of them. His hidden class really was incredibly powerful. Inside the party channel, I said, ¡°Beiming Xue, attack with me in three seconds!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± I shuffled my feet and moved behind Painting Of My Country in one beautiful zigzag. Then, I executed a quick Pardon + Ice Ray combo! MISS! 4904! I followed up with a basic attack and dropped him to low health. Before he could heal himself, Beiming Xue¡¯s double shot hit him like thunder! Bang bang! The bloody arrows plunged into the warrior¡¯s chest and caused two huge damage numbers to rise above his head. I didn¡¯t even need to look to know that he was dead. However, a Dragon¡¯s Roar and Ice Dragon Roar hit my head at the same time and turned my veins ice cold. As I thought, the enemy mages were trying to kill me! 3785! 3042! I glanced to the side and saw In the Name of the War God tanking a blow from Li Chengfeng to rush me as well. He stabbed his spear straight at my arm. ¡°Heh!¡± Chuckling, I turned my body sideways and with a mighty kick to his arm. At the same time, I slashed him right across the throat. 7894! Great, a critical hit! The magic knight was shocked by the sudden turn of events. Before he could do anything else, Li Chengfeng arrived and ended his life in one strike! The two mages and the priest were the only ones left. Clearly, they hadn¡¯t expected my Magic Resist to be high enough to withstand two spells from them, not to mention that Murong Mingyue¡¯s healing output was just incredible. Somehow, she was able to keep my health above 75% despite the bombardment. It was such a frustrating failure that I could already imagine them throwing up blood! The rest of the fight was simple. Without their fighters to cover for them, the two mages were no better than walking targets. They were incapable of dealing with Beiming Xue¡¯s ranged attacks, and we managed to kill them all without losing anyone. We did a lot better this time, and I could feel that our coordination and tactics had entered a new level. I was able to utilize my high Magic Resist to waste the enemy mages¡¯ firepower and find an opening to kill the enemy warriors. We also managed to maintain a good party formation throughout the battle. Our backline was never disrupted, and as long as Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue weren¡¯t threatened, it was heaven for us and hell for our opponents! ¡­¡­ Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls entered the semifinals with a 2-0 score! We were greeted by a thunderous applause when we walked out of the battle room. However, when we walked down the short stairs, I noticed that Lin Yixin was shooting me grudgeful looks for some reason. She¡­ can¡¯t be jealous of He Yi, is she? I didn¡¯t know how to describe my feelings at the time. I sat down not far away from her seat and looked at her, but I didn¡¯t know what to say at all. Lin Yixin was also staring at me. A couple of seconds later, she typed on her phone and sent me a message. There was only one word on it. "Bastard¡­" I pursed my lips and looked away, too ashamed of myself and afraid to look at her. I tried to talk to Li Chengfeng, only to catch him staring at Candlelight Shadow with a hint of anger for some reason. "Chengfeng? What¡¯s wrong?" I asked. "Oh, it¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s nothing¡­" Normally, it looked like nothing could faze the guy. This was the first time I saw an ill expression on his face. I knew that he was hiding something, but I chose not to question him about it. If he didn¡¯t wish to tell me, then so be it. I wouldn¡¯t be so callous as to pry out his secret. ¡­¡­ A victor had emerged from Group A, and it was none other than Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Since we were the first guild to enter the semifinals, our fans were so excited they were on the verge of going berserk. In fact, many of them were present at the spectator¡¯s seat right now. Our fanbase was mostly centered at the Yangtze Delta, and I could spot a lot of Shanghai university students among the crowd. They were fans who skipped their classes and came all the way here to support us. It was time for the Group B matches to begin. The first match was between Candle Dragon and Riverside Pavilion. Although Riverside Pavilion was pretty strong, they were still no match for Candle Dragon at all. Candlelight Shadow didn¡¯t even need to do much because his four War Gods had done all the work for him. God¡¯s Dance and Transient Smoke and Clouds especially were like living grim reapers who murdered anyone they pointed their weapons at. There weren¡¯t many people who could withstand their overwhelming firepower at all. Just like us, Candle Dragon scored a clean 2-0 score over their opponents. With this win, Candle Dragon officially entered the quarterfinals! The second match was Purple Lily versus Othershore Flower, and the number one mage of China, Luo River God of the Capital, showed everyone the true power of the Mage class once more. Othershore Flower¡¯s experts were like whipped bitches before her devastating magic, and Purple Lily claimed a perfect victory and entered the quarterfinals as well. Now, Candle Dragon versus Purple Lily would duke it out and decide who would enter the semifinals! "Enemies always live in a small world, it seems¡­" He Yi chuckled. "Purple Lily and Candle Dragon already fought like cats and dogs at Wind City, and Luo River God of the Capital even swore that she would never come to a compromise with Candlelight Shadow. Who would¡¯ve thought that they would¡¯ve to duke it out in Who Will Rise as well? Is this what people call fate?" I smiled. "I don¡¯t know. All I know is that this match is going to be awesome to watch!" "àÅ£¡" "Yeah!" On the stage, Candlelight Shadow and his gang of CGL Hall of Famers entered the battle room in high spirits. Not only did it look like they were well prepared for the battle against Purple Lily, Candlelight Shadow was full of confidence¡ªno, he didn¡¯t even consider Purple Lily or the number one mage of China to be a threat at all. Frankly, I would like a shot at his punchable face myself, and if Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s earlier claim were to be believed, my chance would be arriving very soon. Both party formations were displayed on the big screen. There were 10 players in total, but 7 of them were CGL Hall of Famers. If this didn¡¯t count as a battle of titans, I don¡¯t know what was! Purple Lily Luo River God of the Capital LV-107 Mage Moonkiss LV-104 Spirit Killer Familiar Scent LV-105 Magic Knight Moonlight Beneath a Rock LV-105 Warrior Pretty Little Fish LV-104 Priest VS Candle Dragon Candlelight Shadow LV-108 Warrior Tempest Shadow LV-106 Magic Knight Blue Sky Scar LV-106 Warrior God¡¯s Dance LV-107 Mage Transient Smoke and Clouds LV-105 Archer Both sides had pretty high levels, and they were definitely experts who hid their trump cards well. There was no way this match was going to be boring! On the screen, Luo River God of the Capital uttered through gritted teeth. "Bunch of scum!" Candlelight Shadow snorted but didn¡¯t answer. As the gaming representative of China, he was used to keeping his silence. ¡­¡­ The moment the match began, Candlelight Shadow rushed his opponents with lightning speed. Dancing like a butterfly. He swung his sword in a spiraling fashion three times in a row and knocked back Familiar Scent, Moonkiss and Moonlight Beneath a Rock in one go. Who would¡¯ve thought that he would dismantle the enemy¡¯s formation so easily? Tempest Shadow and Blue Sky Scar also charged their enemies while shouting, "Kill!" Wearing a serious expression on her face, Luo River God of the Capital waved her Thunder Scepter slightly and hit Tempest Shadow¡¯s face with a deadly Ice Thrust! 4983! Her magic attack was seriously insane. Not even Tempest Shadow, a powerful magic knight, could withstand the attack! Blue Sky Scar let out a growl and fired a circular sword aura from his sword. It was his signature move, the Origin Energy Slash! Tempest Shadow also joined in on the attack and executed his own skill. The mage was dead for sure if she carelessly took the hit. However, Luo River God of the Capital smiled slightly before flashing to a different position. At the same time, she raised her Thunder Scepter and cast Fire God Purgatory + Dragon¡¯s Roar! Candlelight Shadow shouted in surprise, "Blue Sky Scar, dodge!" Unfortunately, it was already too late! 3984! 7459! The devastating magic attack obliterated Blue Sky Scar as the growling magic knight collapsed in a heap. Luo River God of the Capital scored first blood over Candle Dragon. However, Transient Smoke and Clouds was also shooting at Pretty Little Fish and forcing the girl back. Before she could do anything else, God¡¯s Dance followed up with her own Dragon¡¯s Roar! "Uuuu¡­" Pretty Little Fish groaned and died as well. On the other side, Moonkiss managed to parry Candlelight Shadow¡¯s devastating assault, but was sent skidding across the sandy ground because of their Strength difference. However, she opted to plunge her dagger into the ground to slow herself down before dashing toward Transient Smoke and Clouds in a burst of speed. Her dagger passed through his side like a venomous snake! 3782! The archer was stunned immediately, and a Blade Vortex later he was actually one-shot by Moonkiss! Furious, God¡¯s Dance stomped the ground with one foot and summoned a freezing air around her. Once Moonkiss was frozen, God¡¯s Dance easily hit her for almost 5000 damage with a Dragon¡¯s Roar! But Moonkiss wasn¡¯t about to give up just yet. She drank a health potion to heal herself and broke free of the ice. Then, she tossed out a fluorescent powder and vanished into thin air. God¡¯s Dance watched her surroundings closely before summoning an Arctic Rain without warning. However, she still failed to hit Moonkiss and force her out of stealth mode. God¡¯s Dance immediately whispered in the party channel, "Watch out, Candlelight Shadow! Moonkiss is stealthing!" Meanwhile, the man in question was slowly pulling his sword out of Moonlight Under a Rock¡¯s chest and crouching to avoid a slash to his neck at the same time. He then launched a kick at his attacker and sent Familiar Scent stumbling backward. Unfortunately, the beautiful magic knight was no match for Candlelight Shadow in terms of skill or reaction speed at all. While all this was ongoing, Tempest Shadow was still chasing after Luo River God of the Capital. However, the mage simply smiled and killed him easily with a couple of Ice Arrows. It was a bloody battle. Both sides had lost over half their numbers in the blink of an eye. After that, God¡¯s Dance and Luo River God of the Capital started blasting one another and capturing everyone¡¯s attention. Moonkiss managed to keep Candlelight Shadow busy for almost half a minute and even successfully ambushed him once. However, she failed to one-shot him and gave him the chance to recover himself. This time, Candlelight Shadow saw through her second ambush and killed her where she stood... Chapter 409: The Monarch Descends The Origin Energy Shield was tenacious, but not tenacious enough to withstand Candlelight Shadow¡¯s power, not to mention God¡¯s Dance was still alive. Since Luo River God of the Capital couldn¡¯t kill either one of them immediately, she had no choice but to take a loss. It was 1-0. Purple Lily lost one point! When the second round began, Purple Lily sent both Moonkiss and Familiar Scent after Candlelight Shadow, planning to kill him first before dealing with the rest. The Martial God was too strong, and the previous battle had proven that they couldn¡¯t suppress Candle Dragon as long as he was still alive. Unfortunately, it was a miscalculation from Luo River God of the Capital. This time Candlelight Shadow refused to step out to the front, opting to roam near the backlines and wait for God¡¯s Dance and Transient Smoke and Clouds to weaken Moonkiss, Pretty Little Fish, and the rest of Purple Lily. Then, he launched a devastating counter attack and took down almost everyone in Purple Lily in one go. It was still a bloody battle as Luo River God of the Capital, an incredible player, almost turned the tides around by killing four Candle Dragon players herself, but in the end she fell to Candlelight Shadow¡¯s sword. It was a 2-0 victory for Candlelight Shadow. Candle Dragon was slightly stronger than Purple Lily, so the former advanced to the semifinals, and the latter stopped at the quarterfinals. Luo River God of the Capital was obviously frustrated. She undoubtedly possessed both the skills and the equipment to be called the strongest mage of China, and not even Candlelight Shadow could fight her head-on. Unfortunately, everyone else around her¡ªexcept Moonkiss, who was a super-tier assassin¡ªwas just a tad inferior to the Four War Gods of Candle Dragon. That tiny gap was unfortunately enough to sound defeat for Purple Lily. ¡­¡­ As the annoyed-looking Purple Lily members walked down the stage, Li Chengfeng commented, ¡°Luo River God of the Capital is seriously powerful. Sigh, if we could add her to our party, our chances of winning against Candle Dragon would be over 70% at least!¡± I nodded. ¡°True. But Wang Luo is a ruler, not a follower, so there¡¯s no way she¡¯d ever deign to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± It was time for the matches in the second half of the grouping to begin. The first two matches were¡ª Hunting Moon Dynasty VS Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends VS Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Second Seed Beauty Lin was about to go on stage. Hunting Moon Dynasty¡¯s party leader, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties was the 22th ranker in the CGL Hall of Fame, so he couldn¡¯t be underestimated. His followers¡ªthe assassin Ghastly Demon Blade, the mage One Meter Sunlight, the archer Skyshaking Bow, and the tactician Wind of the General¡ªalso had aces up their sleeves, so Snowy Cathaya was in for a difficult battle. Lin Yixin patted my shoulder once before walking toward the stage with her gaming helmet. I looked up and smiled at her. "Do your best, Yiyi!" Lin Yixin replied without looking back at me, "Don¡¯t worry, I promise I¡¯ll survive until the final and beat you up!" Me: "..." Hunting Moon Dynasty¡¯s players also went up on stage. Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties walked toward Lin Yixin and extended a hand to her, smiling. "Hello, I am Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties, a CGL Hall of Famer and leader of a guild in Vanished God City. We are glad to be able to meet Snowy Cathaya in battle!" Lin Yixin shot him a glance, but had no intentions of shaking his hand whatsoever. She simply smiled and said, "We will see if you deserve your title. I am glad to meet you in battle as well!" The Fruit Knife Goddess and her subordinates entered their battle room right after that. The proud Beautiful Little Pepper was so prideful that she was unwilling to touch even her opponent¡¯s hand, but her actions only raised the audience¡¯s spirits even higher. This was the Fruit Knife Goddess they knew, the fearless female player who took shit from no one, even if the other party was a CGL Hall of Famer. Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties looked a bit embarrassed. His hand was still hanging in the air even now. Ghastly Demon Blade broke into a smile and pressed his guild leader¡¯s hand back down. "Come on, time to see how strong Snowy Cathaya really is!" "Mn!" A hint of murder glinted in Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties¡¯ eyes. The girl didn¡¯t even show him basic courtesy even though he was a CGL Hall of Famer and a ruler in Vanished God City. He was absolutely going to teach her a lesson inside the game! The match began in no time, and the key members of Snowy Cathaya, Zi Chuanyu and Lifetaking Sword, were seated not far away from us. I heard them wiping the sweat on their forehead and commenting on the match¡ª "Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties isn¡¯t too bad it seems. He managed to delete half of Purple Marquis¡¯s health in one exchange!" "So what? Watch our guild leader¡­" "Fuck¡­" "OMG, one combination attack was all it took to kill Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties? And he calls himself a CGL Hall of Famer? Ptoo!" "Nah, it¡¯s because Lin Yixin is too strong. Didn¡¯t you see? She was blocking all of his retreat paths at the same time she was attacking him. That¡¯s why Purple Marquis was able to whale on him to his heart¡¯s content¡­" "Tsk tsk, Shadow Chanel¡¯s Magic Attack is so high. Every time she throws a spell, the enemy loses at least half their HP. It¡¯s incredible¡­" "Haha, is that a joke? She isn¡¯t the Dark Tongue Mage for nothing, you know?" ¡­¡­ Snowy Cathaya knocked out their opponents in a clean 2-0 fashion while they were still talking. Hunting Moon Dynasty was stopped at Top 16, and Snowy Cathaya advanced to the quarterfinals! I frowned. Beauty Lin was far more cautious than I thought. Even now, she was still hiding her trump cards as much as she could. Shadow Chanel the Dark Tongue Mage had shown off some of her skills, but the Holy Bard Beauty At First Sight was still hiding her hand. She only used some basic bard spells such as Divine Valor, Death Match, and low-level healing spells. There was no way Lin Yixin added Beauty At First Sight to her party just to enjoy some inconsequential buffs. I would eat a shoe if I was wrong! ¡­¡­ After Snowy Cathaya claimed victory, It was Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Second Seed¡¯s turn to fight. Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun with Xu Yang leading the way. Surprisingly, The Monarch Descends was led by a female player, a pretty good-looking one no less. She wore a green dress, and the smile on her face was natural and confident. She was Ling Xueshang, the guild leader of The Monarch Descends and the 15th ranker in the CGL Hall of Fame. She was also an archer and a contender for the title of the strongest archer in China between Transient Smoke and Clouds, October Rain, and Beiming Xue. The Monarch Descends party information was displayed on the screen¡ª Ling Xueshang LV-106 Archer ¡ïCGL Hall of Famer Mo Xiaoxiao LV-105 Warrior Purple Wind Chime LV-105 Warrior My Sky LV-105 Archer Ice Lemon LV-105 Archer ¡­¡­ It was a pure offensive team with two warriors and three archers. We hadn¡¯t paid this party any attention since the beginning of the tournament, and it looked like our second seed was about to run into some serious opposition. "You must win this!" I gave them the do-or-die order before they entered the battle room. Gui Guzi looked back at me and replied, "That depends on Ling Xueshang. If she gives us face then¡­" "Anyway, do your best¡­" It wasn¡¯t long before both parties appeared on the tournament ring. Despite one party having full melee classes and the other having three archers and two warriors, both parties shared the same win condition: to do as much damage as possible and kill the enemy first before they were killed. The level gap wasn¡¯t so big that one party was clearly superior to the other party either. In short, this was going to be a bloody battle. "It¡¯s starting!" He Yi clutched her collar as she stared at the screen nervously, revealing the pale neck beneath her beautiful hair. She was so gorgeous that even the most unconscious gesture was pleasing to the eye. I looked up and watched the battle as well. On the screen, Ling Xueshang coolly ordered her two warriors to hold back the incoming tide while the three archers including herself dished out everything they got. This alone wouldn¡¯t be surprising considering their party composition, but the fact that they were all using Multi Arrow, a fan-shaped AoE skill was! "Multi Arrow¡­" I muttered. It was a Level 100 archer skill that even Beiming Xue didn¡¯t have yet. Just where on earth did The Monarch Descends grind three identical skill books for their archers? This Ling Xueshang is seriously no joke! High Fighting Spirits ignored the arrows coming his way and slid in between the two warriors. Then, he growled, "Xiezhi Howl!" A cyclone of energy engulfed the two enemy warriors and deleted their HP rapidly. At the same time, Gui Guzi used his Aurora Thrust, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun used his Rock Smash. Just one round of combined AoE skills later, both warriors collapsed to the ground and died! However, the situation was actually not in favor of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Second Seed at all. Multi Arrow was a triple-hit skill, and every hit dealt around 1500 HP or so. Caught inside the range of the skill, Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon died in just five seconds! Both the audience and the players were stunned by what they saw. Was this what people called a fight to the death? It hadn¡¯t even been ten seconds since the match began, and both parties had lost half their players already. Just what kind of battle was this? Gui Guzi and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun split up and attacked an archer each. Gui Guzi especially was a first-rate player with a Spirit-grade shield, so he was able to make good progress toward his chosen archer. Unfortunately, the same couldn¡¯t be said for Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. Ling Xueshang proved herself to be a player with great combat experience, and she easily killed the magic knight before setting her sights on Gui Guzi! Chiang chiang chiang! The arrows were knocked away the second they hit the Titan Barrier. To the enemies¡¯ surprise, their shots only dealt 300 or so damage to Gui Guzi per hit. With over 2000 Defense, he was way tankier than Ling Xueshang expected. Swhoosh! Gui Guzi¡¯s spear cut the air and threatened to skewer Ling Xueshang where she stood. However, the archer fired an arrow with a frosty arrowhead at his chest and withdrew swiftly like a butterfly before his spear could touch her. The magic knight couldn¡¯t catch up to her at all. "Keep shooting him while I slow him down!" Smiling, Ling Xueshang drew her bowstring and fired an arrow with a dark arrowhead this time. The second it hit his shield, his armor immediately started corroding like it was being eaten by some sort of acid! The combat log was displayed at the bottom corner of the screen¡ª Combat Log: Player "Ling Xueshang" used ¡°Cursed Arrow¡± and reduced player "Gui Guzi"¡¯s Defense by 40% for 15 seconds! ¡­¡­ Fuck! I slowly sank back into my seat. I knew that the battle was lost, be it in terms of skill or tactics! Gui Guzi wasn¡¯t one to give up, and he tried again and again to kill the archers tormenting him from a distance. Unfortunately, he was constantly slowed by Ling Xueshang¡¯s Freezing Arrows and worn down by the other two archers¡¯ Devil Piercing Arrows and Explosive Arrows. Despite having almost 15000 HP, it wasn¡¯t good enough to survive the onslaught! Thud! 4783! That damage was a Devil Piercing Arrow from Ling Xueshang. The girl was both smart and powerful. Gui Guzi collapsed to the ground and died just like that. Chapter 410: Hopeless Xu Yang decided to change tactics during the second round and take down the enemy archers first. It was because Ling Xueshang was too good at commanding, and their chances of victory were zero unless they tried something different. However, the intelligent Ling Xueshang predicted the change of tactics perfectly and adapted as well. This time, all three archers used Freezing Arrows to slow down the fighters while their warriors attacked aggressively. Our second seed simply couldn¡¯t withstand the bombardment long enough to kill the archers and turn things around! Pu... Chaos Moon was the first to die before everyone, followed by High Fighting Spirits. They were 5-Strength warriors with paper-thin Defense, so of course Ling Xueshang¡¯s 2000+ Attack was too much for them to handle. Moreover, Ling Xueshang¡¯s stratagem was Encourage IV that boosted her party members¡¯ Attack by 37%. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Second Seed¡¯s stratagem was also Encourage, but it was only Rank 3. Even in this department they were inferior to their opponents! ¡­¡­ In the end, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Second Seed couldn¡¯t overcome their opposition and ended their dreams at Top 16. Still, it wasn¡¯t an undeserved loss considering how powerful The Monarch Descends party was. Despite having lost the match, our players didn¡¯t seem too sad about it. A laughing Gui Guzi was carrying his bag on one hand and slapping Xu Yang¡¯s shoulder with the other. High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were walking next to Chaos Moon and teasing her about something. The girl ignored them both, took out an apple from their bag and started eating even before they got off the stage. "How do you feel?" I asked. Gui Guzi smiled. "I feel like we were played like a fiddle by Ling Xueshang¡­" I broke into laughter. "The Monarch Descends is an experienced and veteran guild who made it to the WSL before. Just think of it as training and do better next time. Don¡¯t worry, there are plenty more tournaments to participate and take revenge, and I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll have the last laugh in the end." "Right!" Gui Guzi gave me a strong nod before pulling out a knife from his bag to carve up a watermelon for himself. He didn¡¯t know that his action gave Beauty Ling Xueshang quite the fright when she walked out of the battle room. The next match of Group C was the battle to reach the semifinals. Again, it was a clash between titans¡ª Snowy Cathaya VS The Monarch Descends I didn¡¯t know how the match would turn out since it was a battle between a CGL Hall of Famer and my Beautiful Little Pepper. However, I did notice that Snowy Cathaya¡¯s morale was sky-high, and they looked like nothing could stop them this tournament. I couldn¡¯t help but wipe a sweat for The Monarch Descends and Ling Xueshang. ¡­¡­ Both parties entered the tournament ring, and just as I predicted the tactics they employed in the battle alone were good enough to be a highlight of the tournament! Initially, Ling Xueshang sent her two-man warrior party forward to block Snowy Cathaya¡¯s offense. However, Lin Yixin wisely ordered Shadow Chanel to set fire to the tournament ring while the rest of them withdrew to a corner. Her goal was to weaken the enemy warriors and drag the battle line toward their corner. Realizing that they would be at a disadvantage if they didn¡¯t do something, Ling Xueshang immediately ordered her archers to aim high and shoot over the literal wall of fire. This time, it was Snowy Cathaya¡¯s turn to suffer some minor damage, with Purple Marquis losing almost half of his health. However, Lin Yixin reacted instantaneously and ordered Purple Marquis to attract the enemy¡¯s firepower. At the same time, she patiently waited for both parties to move closer and closer to each other until Ling Xueshang and the archers finally stepped past the safety line and entered the "minefield¡±. Lin Yixin immediately pulled out her Frozen Sword and shouted, "Kill them all!" The battle truly began in that moment, and it didn¡¯t end until almost five minutes later. Using both martial prowess and clever tactics, Lin Yixin and Purple Marquis were ultimately able to defeat The Monarch Descends at the cost of three party members. Ling Xueshang had single-handedly killed Clear Perfume and Shadow Chanel. There was no such thing as small fries in the CGL Hall of Fame. The second round was just as close as the first, and this time Beauty At First Sight couldn¡¯t hold her cool any longer. Pressing her jade flute to her lips, she literally floated into the air and played a melodious tune that dazed the enemy¡ª Combat Log: Player "Beauty At First Sight" used ¡°Hopeless". All enemies within 100 yards have their Attack and attack speed reduced by 10%, as well as 40% hit rate reduction. Lasts 25 seconds, cannot be cancelled unless the caster is killed! ¡­¡­ Holy fuck, the ace in the hole is finally revealed. A 40% hit rate debuff! What is this nonsense? The next moment, Ling Xueshang missed two arrows in a row, pissing her off so much that she stomped her foot in frustration, "Aaaahh! How can such a skill exist in this game? I don¡¯t want to live anymore¡­" Lin Yixin complied and rushed her with the Frozen Sword. She blocked the archer¡¯s retreat path with a couple of beautiful movements and one-shot her with an Extreme Break. The moment Ling Xueshang died, The Monarch Descends immediately toppled like a mountain. Unable to withstand Snowy Cathaya¡¯s onslaught, their remaining players were routed in less than a minute! I felt my something crawling across my scalp as I whispered, "Fuck, this ¡®Hopeless¡¯ is a bit too powerful, isn¡¯t it?" He Yi nodded. "I initially thought our chances of beating Snowy Cathaya are over 60%, but now I wonder if we even have a 40% chance of winning¡­" Li Chengfeng took a gulp from his cola before grinning. "Don¡¯t worry, if we can kill Beauty At First Sight immediately, then this skill will disappear on its own. Don¡¯t forget that she¡¯s just a bard, she can¡¯t be too powerful¡­" I nodded in agreement. "Chengfeng, let¡¯s kill Beauty At First Sight immediately while Beiming Xue slows Lin Yixin down with Freezing Arrow. We cannot give her the freedom to attack us as she pleases." "Got it!" Everyone nodded in unison before waiting for the next match to begin. Group D, the final group to enter the quarterfinals and after that, the semifinals were¡ª Warsky Alliance VS Hegemon Palace, Dirge of War VS Baidicheng ¡­¡­ Looks like the three CGL Hall of Famers of Warsky Alliance were finally going to clash against the dark horse of this tournament, Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er. This will be an interesting battle to watch. Whoosh! Li Chengfeng suddenly rose to his feet and rubbed his stomach a little. "Fuck, I think I drank a little too much cola. Anyone interested in forming a party with me and venturing into the toilets together?" I shook my head. "Just go. I¡¯ll party with sis later¡­" Murong Mingyue: "Fuck you, I ain¡¯t going with you, you little gangster¡­" Li Chengfeng laughed loudly before going away. On the stage, Warsky and co. faced Wang Dongliang, his good friend Zhao Yufeng, Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er on the stage and glared at them with daggers in their eyes, and vice versa. The hostile stand-off lasted for a while before they finally entered the battle rooms and initiated the match right away. The clash of titans was incredibly fierce, and Little Piglet¡¯s performance was especially noteworthy in this match. Unfortunately, Farewell Song was just as good as he was, and after a couple of clashes and some very, very patient skulking, the assassin finally managed to stun Little Piglet while the latter was busy attacking Laughing At The Heavens. The Cold Wind Swordsman quickly went to his grave after Farewell Song and October Rain ganged up on him. Warsky Alliance ultimately beat Hegemon Palace 2-0 and became the victor. It didn¡¯t really come as a surprise, however. Warsky Alliance had always been a powerful guild with three CGL Hall of Famers in it, and Farewell Song especially was known as the strongest assassin of China right now. If even I had to watch out for him, why would Little Piglet be an exception to the rule? The next match was between Dirge of War and Baidicheng. While the match was ongoing, I looked at the direction of the toilet and voiced my puzzlement, "The fuck is taking Li Chengfeng so long? Did he accidentally wash himself down the toilet or something?" Beiming Xue replied, "If that¡¯s true then you¡¯ll have to search for him at Huangpu River¡­" Me: "..." I waited a bit longer and finally grew impatient. "Seriously, what the heck is he doing? Our match against Candle Dragon is about to begin! I¡¯m going to the toilet to find him!" "Mn!" He Yi nodded. "The semifinals will start in about 15 minutes, so come back quickly!" "Okay!" I rose to my feet and walked out of the venue. A beautiful attendant walked up to me and asked, "Where are you going, Lu Chen?" "Eh, I¡¯m going to the toilet to search for Legendary Brave¡­" The attendant¡¯s mouth fell open. "What? There¡¯s Legendary Brave in the toilet? I guess even braves have hardcore tastes these days¡­" I nodded. "I know right? At least it¡¯s just the gents toilet¡­" "I see. Be careful though. There are more participants than usual and all kinds of people in this tournament. Just now, I saw a male participant looking around in the ladies toilet, and he refused to give me his name when I asked him who he was. I only knew later that he was Profound Puff, the priest of Hegemon Palace¡­" "Hmph, that guy¡¯s not a good person." "I know¡­" ¡­¡­ Well, no time to chat. I needed to find Li Chengfeng as soon as possible because the match was about to begin. It was be stupid to miss the chance to become champion because one of our players went missing in the toilet. I went straight for the toilets, but before I even entered the gents toilet, I saw two people standing in front of the wash basins and glaring at each other. My mind turned blank as a shiver crept across my entire body¡ª There was water everywhere and blood on the ground. Li Chengfeng was gripping a gooseneck faucet and leaning against the wall. There was also blood dripping down the faucet. The front of Li Chengfeng¡¯s shirt was red, and there was blood still dripping down his arm. On the other side of the wash basins and close to the mirrors, a guy in military uniform was sitting on the floor and staring at Li Chengfeng coldly. He was also gripping a faucet, and he had a big scratch on his forehead. He looked terrible with blood and hair stuck together in a jumbled mess, and his lips looked dry and cracked. He was also glaring at Li Chengfeng. That man was none other than Candlelight Shadow, of course! ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud! I ran up to them both, stopped atop a muddle of water and asked in an indifferent tone, "What¡¯s going on?" Li Chengfeng looked at Candlelight Shadow before laughing loudly. "No¡­ nothing¡­" Candlelight Shadow smiled disdainfully at me before saying, "You¡¯re an idiot, Falling Dust. Don¡¯t you understand yet? He joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls because he has an ulterior motive. All this time he¡¯s just been using you for his own goals. Haha, who would¡¯ve thought that someone as smart as you could be this stupid sometimes, hahaha¡­" "Ulterior motive?" Chapter 411: Cold-blooded Candlelight Shadow ¡°Really?¡± I glared at Li Chengfeng Li Chengfeng hung his head and faintly replied, ¡°Sorry, bro¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow continued to lean against the wall, smirking. ¡°Interesting. If we ignore the fact that you¡¯ve always been fooling others in the things you do, the legendary Falling Dust¡¯s actually being used by someone else. Hahaha, how does it feel to be used?¡± A fire burned inside me for no apparent reason. I pointed at Candlelight Shadow and growled, ¡°Shut the fuck up! So what if I¡¯ve been used? As long as Chengfeng isn¡¯t harming me, I¡¯m more than willing to be used! That¡¯s what it means to be brothers!¡± Li Chengfeng shook. His face was filled with trails of water but I wasn¡¯t sure if they were tears or the tap water. He leaned against the wall and shuddered violently, teeth clenched and hands holding his head as he let out pained sobs. I took a step forward and pressed a hand on his shoulder. ¡°So what exactly is going on? Even if you have an ulterior motive, you should at least tell me the reason for it.¡± Li Chengfeng nodded. He raised his head and his eyes reddened when he looked at Candlelight Shadow. He answered in a sharp voice, ¡°Two years ago, a Beijing native girl named Qiongqiong was addicted to virtual competitions. She worshiped the Martial God Candlelight Shadow and traveled to Shanghai alone to meet her idol. That very same night, Candlelight Shadow had sex with her then completely ignored her after that. Qiongqiong stayed in Shanghai for almost half a month until she used up all her money and then died in an accident on her way back to Beijing¡­¡± Li Chengfeng shuddered again and laughed. He looked at Candlelight Shadow with immeasurable hatred. ¡°Did you know? Qiongqiong was my girlfriend and I never stopped her from going back then. It wasn¡¯t until I touched her icy cold body that I swore to knock you down from your altar!¡± Tottering in place, Li Chengfeng glared at Candlelight Shadow. ¡°In fact, I could easily crush you with my pinky but I won¡¯t do that. I want you to lose all the glory inside the game and make the famous Candlelight Shadow fall from grace!¡± Li Chengfeng turned to me, this time deeply apologetic. ¡°Sorry, Lu Chen. I really am using you. I could only topple Candle Dragon with you guys.¡± I gritted my teeth. ¡°No need for apologies. Toppling Candle Dragon is also one of my objectives so I don¡¯t mind being used. At the very least, we were brothers together.¡± ¡°No, we¡¯re still brothers.¡± Li Chengfeng gasped for breath and gave me a wretched smile. ¡°I think I injured my leg, I can¡¯t seem to stand properly. Can you give me a hand?¡± ¡°Our match is about to begin.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡­¡­ While saying that, Candlelight Shadow hobbled away. He was in no better state than Li Chengfeng. I supported Li Chengfeng and headed toward the competition venue. The bloody scrape on his arm was probably made by the water facet. Candlelight Shadow was ruthless but Li Chengfeng was obviously a bit stronger. If he went all-out, Candlelight Shadow would¡¯ve been a corpse by now. I ripped away a strip of cloth from Li Chengfeng¡¯s white shirt and wrapped it around his wound. Li Chengfeng glared at me. ¡°People on TV usually rip their own clothes to do this. Why¡¯d you rip mine?¡± I grinned. ¡°My clothes are expensive. Besides, I¡¯m a respectable person. You¡¯re the one who got into a fight. Why should I have to do a shameful thing like that¡­¡± ¡°Fuck, you¡¯ve got no loyalty.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the one who isn¡¯t loyal. At least send me a text if you¡¯re gonna get into a fight so I can give Candlelight Shadow an extra kick. By the time I got here, you guys were already done so it¡¯d have been embarrassing for me to lay a hand on him.¡± ¡°...¡± Li Chengfeng broke out into a smile. ¡°In any case, I¡¯m sorry for hiding this from you guys.¡± ¡°No worries. As long as you consider us as your brothers, everything else is minor.¡± ¡°Mn, let¡¯s beat Candle Dragon in the semifinals!¡± ¡°Want me to get you a bandaid before we go up?¡± ¡°Nah, let¡¯s go straight there!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± ¡­¡­ The venue was bustling with noise. Group D¡¯s victor had emerged. It was Warsky Alliance as expected. A party with three CGL Hall of Famers was no pushover and easily swept the other two parties in Group D. Next up were the highly anticipated semifinals. The matches were already displayed on the big screen¡ª Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls VS Candle Dragon Snowy Cathaya VS Warsky Alliance ¡­¡­ A championship team would be born from within these four parties so it was obviously exciting! The spotlight, line of sights, and cameras converged upon a single point. Three people hobbled into the venue. At the front was Candlelight Shadow in his bruised glory, wearing a white military uniform with multiple bloodstains and and a huge open wound on his head. Behind him was me supporting Li Chengfeng, who also didn¡¯t look much better as he walked with a limp and a simple bind on his arm. Startled shouts immediately filled the venue. It was as if everyone knew that something had happened. Fei¡¯er walked up to us and asked, ¡°Lu Chen, what happened? According to regulations, competitors are to be disqualified if they fight during the tournament!¡± I smiled. ¡°Fei¡¯er, it¡¯s already the semifinals. If you disqualify us, who¡¯s going to fight in the final?¡± Fei¡¯er was stunned. ¡°What in the world happened?¡± ¡°Oh, they¡¯re not used to your toilets here and fell down by themselves.¡± ¡°...¡± In the end, we got away with it thanks to my bogus reason. Everyone took their bags and entered their battle rooms and got themselves ready to fight in the semifinals! Before we went in, the looks on the faces of Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, and Transient Smoke and Clouds were very ugly. In fact, they were even swearing at me and Li Chengfeng. I only gave them a glare and said in a low voice. ¡°Take it out on us in the competition if you can. If you want a fight, I¡¯m more than willing to keep you company!¡± In the end, Fei¡¯er came over to mediate and settled us down. However, this match was destined to be filled with the smell of blood. Before the match started, I told He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue about what had happened with Li Chengfeng¡¯s girlfriend, with his consent of course. As a result, the girls all cursed Candlelight Shadow to be a bastard. They were angry enough to lose their reason but it also increased their battle fervor. ¡­¡­ Swoosh! We entered the game. We could finally directly fight against our old enemy now! There was a long barrier between our party and the bunch from Candle Dragon. Candlelight Shadow was in full armor and holding a sharp blade. His eyes glinted with an ominous light as he fixedly glared at me and Li Chengfeng. He Yi said softly, ¡°Becareful of Candlelight Shadow. His weapon is the Silver Blade Sword, a 2-star Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon with extremely high Attack. Transient Smoke and Clouds¡¯ bow is also a 1-star Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon and it has a 9% Defense Ignore effect. It does a ton of damage to melee-type classes so we have to take care. ¡°Mn.¡± I nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll take care of Candlelight Shadow. Chengfeng, try to get rid of Transient Smoke and Clouds. Beiming, go pressure God¡¯s Dance and Eve, you go block both Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow!¡± He Yi gaped. She stared at me in shock. ¡°Uh¡­ you want me to block two warriors that are also CGL Hall of Famers? Isn¡¯t that a bit too much?¡± ¡°No problem. Sis will heal you. You can do it. Just remember, they¡¯re also human. Just focus on keeping them in place. Or is that Soul Stealing Spear in your hand just a toy?¡± ¡°Oh, oh. Got it.¡± ¡­¡­ With our strategy settled, we were now prepared to battle! The two sides were at swords drawn, wishing to immediately tear the other side into pieces as the system tactfully began its countdown¡ª 3! 2! 1! Semifinals, fight! Once I used my General Skill, Martial God, Candlelight Shadow had also used his stratagem. Though it wasn¡¯t Ghost God Prophecy but Encourage VII. Adding up his total Tactics points, it would boost around 40% of their attack power, which was not much inferior! God knows where in the world he found such a high-rank stratagem skill book. It was probably dropped by that Spirit Rank Boss he killed before. I didn¡¯t use Charge. Against top-tier experts like these, using Charge was a road to death. Li Chengfeng also didn¡¯t use his Charge as we both ran in different directions to kill our respective opponents. Whoosh! On the other hand, Blue Sky Scar couldn¡¯t help himself and activated Charge. I immediately bent my body and swept my Heaven-stealing Sword out as quick as lightning, almost faster than what the naked eye could see! Bang! Blue Sky Scar¡¯s Charge was interrupted and he staggered forward. He Yi then quickly followed it up with a round of attacks! In the air, arrows were flying over from above. Transient Smoke and Clouds¡¯ Shock Arrow landed on He Yi¡¯s chest, stunning our beautiful guild leader! At this point, Candlelight Shadow had arrived with a confident smirk on his face. His Silver Blade Sword aimed for my chest like a silver lightning bolt, his entire set of movements flowed like water. The instant I warded off his attack, he had already slipped to my right side and launched another, as if he had already thought about what he would do next the moment he executed a move. In fact, this really was the case. Clang clang clang! We fought each other for several strikes but neither one of us could kill the other. All we did was swap positions. Suddenly, I raised my arm. Dragon Slaying Slash! Whoosh! A cyan blade descended and chopped toward the nearby Blue Sky Scar in the blink of an eye! 4673! Blue Sky Scar let out a miserable shriek and unexpectedly died just like that from the combined assault of me and He Yi. At the same time, Transient Smoke and Clouds had also let out a miserable cry. He had been pierced through the belly by Li Chengfeng¡¯s longsword. Even though Transient Smoke and Clouds didn¡¯t have the protection of his warrior, he still tried to kite Li Chengfeng. It was just that he had forgotten that his opponent was Legendary Brave. The dragon warrior¡¯s mechanics were top of the line. After chasing for a while, he began his offense and Transient Smoke and Clouds couldn¡¯t do anything about it! ¡°Tch!¡± Candlelight Shadow snorted inwardly and retreated. He was actually going for Beiming Xue. ¡°Beiming, watch out!¡± Candlelight Shadow was already using Rock Thrust before I¡¯d even finished my sentence. A huge chunk of stone rose from the ground, striking Beiming Xue dead center because she didn¡¯t get a chance to guard in time! 6784! What high attack power. This move was no less inferior to my Dragon Slaying Slash! Beiming Xue was killed in an instant. He Yi charged up to protect Murong Mingyue but Candlelight Shadow revealed yet another cruel smile and made a perfect arc around He Yi, moving right behind her! Flames then began to surge on top of the Silver Blade Sword. It was Blazing Purgatory Slash, a three-hit move! 4895! 4627! 4194! He Yi dazedly stood in place. She couldn¡¯t guard against her opponent¡¯s attack at all and instantly turned into a streak of white light, flying out from the tournament ring. ¡­¡­ In the blink of an eye, Candlelight Shadow had downed two of our members. Chapter 412: Enjoy The Feeling ¡°Break!¡± The Silver Blade Sword cut across my shoulder and tore a hole in the Obsidian Dragon Scale Armor, drawing blood. I lost over 4000 HP as Candlelight Shadow took the upper hand with a helix maneuver. Rustle rustle... My Barbarian War Boots skidded against the sand as I pressed the hilt of my sword to Candlelight Shadow¡¯s chest before rushing past him in one smooth motion. The blade chased after my movement and drew a line where Candlelight Shadow¡¯s neck was. He crouched quickly, but the Heaven-stealing Sword still scratched his helmet. Chiang! Sparks flew everywhere as a huge damage number popped above his head¡ª4574! ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow smiled cruelly and chased after me like an unrelenting ghost. I rushed him with equal fearlessness. The two of us followed an S-shape path until we met at the center and clashed swords against one another. The next moment, we threw a punch at each other at the same time! Bang! Both of us stumbled backward after taking a punch from the other party. My bloody cape flapping behind me and my sword shining like a lamp, I planted my foot on the sandy ground and charged Candlelight Shadow once more. My skills¡¯ cooldowns were up, but I wasn¡¯t going to use them. Oh no, I was going to kill Candlelight Shadow through pure technique and see if he still had the face to call himself China¡¯s king of control after that! ¡°Heh!¡± Candlelight Shadow grew harsher as he swam his way erratically toward me. The moment we were about to make contact, he leaped into the air and brought his sword down for an overhead strike! I saw what he was doing, so I pumped strength into my legs and ran an intertwined double-S pattern toward Candlelight Shadow. It was the same helix maneuver he pulled on me earlier, an advanced technique that demanded exceptional reaction speed and judgment from its user. My path was like a circle, and I could launch a devastating attack from any point along that path. It was basically the upgraded version of the butterfly maneuver. However, Candlelight Shadow needed a second or so to complete one full helix pattern. With my current ability, I could do it in just 0.75 seconds! ¡°Hmm?¡± A hint of astonishment flashed across Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes as I appeared about 30 degrees behind his back. Then, I hit his exposed back with lightning speed. There was no parry, no Guard; just pure offense versus pure defense for once. 3764! 2981! Despite being caught in a great disadvantage, Candlelight Shadow didn¡¯t turn around to face me. He didn¡¯t have the time to turn around anyway because I was about to hit him with a Desperate Gambit and delete all of his remaining HP! ¡°Hah!¡± Back in reality, the audience members were holding their breaths unconsciously as two peak-level, maybe even Heavenly King¨Clevel players duked it out against one another. Helix maneuvers hadn¡¯t been seen in a game for over a year, and today two peak-level players were using it to find a chink in the opponent¡¯s armor and beat the other party! It was a level of competition no one had seen for a very long time! ¡­¡­ Not far away, a low-health Li Chengfeng was chasing after God¡¯s Dance and attempting to kill her, but things were not looking well for him at all. God¡¯s Dance hadn¡¯t lost her Magic Shield yet, and Li Chengfeng had lost too much health fighting the other members of Candle Dragon earlier. It was because the inexperienced girls of our party had died way too quickly to make an impact in the fight! ¡°Roar!¡± God¡¯s Dance fired a Dragon¡¯s Roar, and Li Chengfeng dodged out of harm¡¯s way with a beautiful zigzag. However, he couldn¡¯t dodge the follow-up hurricane from God¡¯s Dance that hit him for over 3500 HP and killed him where he stood. Shit, I¡¯m the only one still alive in the party now! God¡¯s Dance ran up to Candlelight Shadow and said, ¡°I¡¯m here to help!¡± Candlelight Shadow licked his lips and said, ¡°Kill him!¡± I gritted my teeth and activated Thunderous Charge, blitzing toward God¡¯s Dance like a lightning bolt. I¡¯ll kill her first and deal with Candlelight Shadow later! But God¡¯s Dance predicted that I would go after her and dodged my Charge with a lithe jump to the back. Inside the party channel, Li Chengfeng said, ¡°Vice leader, God¡¯s Dance Flash still has 10 seconds of CD! She used it when she was fighting me!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± I parried away a Fireball thrown in my direction while I ran toward God¡¯s Dance. Magic could be parried as well, but the amount of damage reduced was 40% at most. At the same time, I sensed Candlelight Shadow running toward me from behind. Sharp rocks burst out of the ground as he launched a fierce Rock Thrust at me! Suddenly, I changed direction and speed before leaping into the air. Leaving a Z-shaped path behind my footsteps, I slashed Candlelight Shadow right across his chest armor. Surprise appeared in the warrior¡¯s eyes. He clearly didn¡¯t expect me to launch a counter attack this quickly while under the threat of Rock Thrust! MISS! 6094! I successfully landed a Pardon and a basic attack. Candlelight Shadow as a 5-Strength warrior, so the attack had one-shot him where he stood! However, I was low on HP as well. Sensing a chill behind my back and cursing, I spun around and fired a Dragon Slaying Slash straight at God¡¯s Dance! Dragon¡¯s Roar! Ice Fire Flurry! I took three magic spells in a row and lost all of my remaining HP. Although I managed to kill God¡¯s Dance with my Dragon Slaying Slash, she died half a second later than me. That was all it took to lose a match! Ding~! System Notice: You have died. Your party has lost the round! ¡­¡­ The score was 0-1. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had lost the first round! Chiang! Outside the tournament ring, I plunged my sword into the ground and cursed through gritted teeth, ¡°God dammit! It was so close¡­¡± Li Chengfeng watched the stage calmly and said, ¡°Yes, it was. Candle Dragon was just lucky this time, so don¡¯t worry. Once we rearrange our tactics, we¡¯ll win the next two rounds and the match, easy peasy!¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I turned around to face Beiming Xue and He Yi before saying, ¡°Lil Beiming, I want you to pierce God¡¯s Dance Magic Shield as quickly as you can. This time, I¡¯ll try to kill Transient Smoke and Clouds while fighting Candlelight Shadow. Eve, there¡¯s no need to be nervous. Just focus on keeping Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow busy, and it¡¯ll be fine. Sis, cast Restoration on me immediately after the match begins, okay?¡± All three girls nodded in unison. ¡°No problem, handsome!¡± ¡­¡­ We were teleported onto the stage again. On the other side, Candlelight Shadow was staring at me with killing intent. Although they had won the first round, it didn¡¯t change the fact that he, the China representative, was taken out by me through pure technique. He was a prideful man, and it was a level of shame he couldn¡¯t tolerate, no matter what. The corner of my lips turned up a little. This was exactly the kind of shame I wished to inflict upon him. One by one, I swore to return all the shame he had put me through. For myself, He Yi, all the companions who had to suffer with me back in those darker days, and my comrade, Li Chengfeng! Transient Smoke and Clouds was glaring at Beiming Xue because he realized that she was good enough to threaten his status. God¡¯s Dance was glaring at me because the previous round was too close for comfort. Had I been able to unleash the Dragon Slaying Slash half a second later, the scoreboard would be written the other way around. Of course, that was just a pipe dream. Forget me, not even god would be able to pull off that maneuver in such a short amount of time. The system began counting down¡ª 3! 2! 1! It was do or die. The second round of the match begins! Swhoosh! Murong Mingyue cast a Restoration spell on me immediately as we discussed earlier, and would heal 50% of my HP over 30 seconds. It was a perfect match with my Regeneration of the Undead, and it boosted my HP regeneration speed so much that it was hell for anyone who wanted to take me down during this time. Thud! I launched myself forward before anyone else and charged straight for Candlelight Shadow. When I was about 10 yards away from him, I raised my sword and fired a Thousand Ice Slash! Boom! Dust and ice flew everywhere as Candlelight Shadow burst out of the dust cloud to meet me. However, I abruptly changed directions and ran toward Transient Smoke and Clouds instead. ¡°What?¡± Transient Smoke and Clouds was shocked. He had no idea that I was targeting him until he saw me running toward me. Backing away in an S-shaped path, he passed by Tempest Shadow so that his teammate could cover for him. Of course, I had no intentions of wasting time with the tanky magic knight. Pumping strength into my lengths, I ran a double-S path then joined together to form a helix and brushed past Tempest Shadow with ease. Then, I pressed my sword to Transient Smoke and Clouds¡¯ back and summoned light to the blade! MISS! 7843! The Pardon + basic attack easily took out the archer, but a blazing hot sensation had reached my back as well. I didn¡¯t even need to turn around to know that it was Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Blazing Purgatory Slash, a devastating triple-hit fire attack that could one-shot even He Yi! I spun around and raised the Heaven-stealing Sword. Guard first, everything else later! Clang! 275! The first attack failed to do too much damage to me, but that was just the bait. The real killer was the Crushing Blow from Blue Sky Scar! I had barely a second to react to both attacks! My heart nearly stopped as my reaction shot to its maximum speed. First, I canceled my Guard so that the Crushing Blow would miss. Then, I moved the Heaven-stealing Sword twice and accurately parried the remaining two hits of the Blazing Purgatory Slash! The three-hit skill was 1 second long, meaning that the interval between every slash was only 0.3 seconds or so. Somehow, I still managed to parry all of them with impossible speed! I wasn¡¯t kidding when I said that my heart almost stopped earlier. A couple more maneuvers like this, and I would probably need to take a trip to the hospital! At the distance, Li Chengfeng laughed loudly. ¡°Well done, vice leader!¡± I felt like patting myself in the back too! ¡­¡­ The tides were changing drastically in our favor because I had single-handedly drawn the attention of Candlelight Shadow, Transient Smoke and Clouds, Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow, and my teammates hadn¡¯t been idling during this time. Li Chengfeng worked together with Beiming Xue and took out God¡¯s Dance in no time. He Yi stunned Blue Sky Scar with a Charge, and Beiming Xue followed up with an Evil Spirit Volley that devastated the enemy¡¯s formation! After that, I kept Candlelight Shadow from being able to do anything else while Li Chengfeng and the others took out Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow. Then, a Shock Arrow, Reverse Scale Slash, and Green Wave Slash flew toward Candlelight Shadow at the same time. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes were filled with despair. ¡°Dammit, how did it turn out like this?¡± Pu! Chapter 413: Wind and Cloud Domain The score was now 1-1. Despite having lost a point at the beginning, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls managed to snatch a point back in dominant fashion! Everyone felt much better after we were teleported back to the competition space. Li Chengfeng was hitting me on the shoulder and laughing loudly. ¡°Haha, I finally saw what made Falling Dust the 12th CGL Hall of Famer today. That godlike skill! You actually killed Transient Smoke and Clouds despite being pressured by Candlelight Shadow, and you held off Candlelight Shadow and Blue Sky Scar without dropping below half health. Hahaha, joining Ancient Swords Dreaming Souls has to be the wisest decision I¡¯ve ever made in my life. The feeling of serving the right boss is so nice¡­¡± I looked at him and commented, ¡°Dude, control yourself¡­¡± Li Chengfeng simply laughed again, uncaring that tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of players were watching the LAN tournament live inside and outside the venue. It was almost as if he had forgotten that this was a live broadcast, and our every word and action was caught on camera. ¡­¡­ I glanced at the Candle Dragon players on the opposite side of our resting area and said, ¡°The next round is the round that decides whether Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls makes it to the final or not. Everyone did very well just now. Lil Beiming¡¯s Volley was awesome, Eve drew away the enemy¡¯s firepower pretty well, and Mingyue¡¯s healing was perfectly on point. Without your instant heals, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to survive Candlelight Shadow and Blue Sky Scar¡¯s pincer attack for so long.¡± The girls smiled in unison and dazzled both me and Li Chengfeng for a second. The dragon warrior shook his head a little before asking, ¡°Vice leader, don¡¯t you feel dizzy having to face these three beauties of theFrost Cloud workshop everyday?¡± I nodded. ¡°Of course I do. That¡¯s why I spend 90% of my time online, so that I¡¯m not bewitched by them¡­¡± ¡°What a waste¡­¡± Li Chengfeng sighed. He Yi giggled playfully. ¡°I know right¡­¡± Li Chengfeng: ¡°...¡± Our conversation ended when we were teleported back into the tournament ring. The final round was about to begin, and whether or not we could finally vent the frustration we had been holding in for two years depended on our performance. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had never beaten Candle Dragon in any skirmish or fight in the past, so if we beat them here, we were 100% making it into the Top 10 of China¡¯s Guild Ranking. No, we must beat them, or we can¡¯t even begin to talk about rising to supremacy in Sky City. ¡­¡­ Our opponents didn¡¯t look too good when we were teleported into the tournament ring. Gripping the Silver Blade Sword, Candlelight Shadow stared at me coldly and said from the other side of the barrier, "Just wait, we have a big surprise for you all!" "??" "Keep your eyes peeled, everyone," I instructed. "Mn." The girls nodded in unison. The second round went almost too smoothly for us, so I warned them to prevent them from falling into complacency. After all, one misstep and we might lose everything in the third and final round. ¡­¡­ The system began the countdown¡ª 3! 2! 1! The decider round begins! The moment the barrier disappeared, Candlelight Shadow charged toward me and growled, "Wind and Cloud Domain!" "Ë¢£¡" Swhoosh! A ring appeared around his feet, and a cold wind started blowing around Candlelight Shadow. It was an offensive domain-type magic¡ª Beep! Combat Log: Player "Candlelight Shadow" used "Wind and Cloud Domain", increasing his Attack by 20% and decreasing all enemies¡¯ Attack by 20% in a 20x20 area! ¡­¡­ Fuck, this is bad! No wonder he acted the way he did just now! I hurriedly ran toward him while yelling at the same time, "Stay away from Candlelight Shadow! He¡¯s mine!" Beiming Xue and He Yi backed away and unloaded their firepower on Transient Smoke and Clouds and God¡¯s Dance. The two ranged players had to die, or they would make our lives for the next ten minutes absolutely hellish to live through. Emboldened by his domain-type magic, Candlelight Shadow ran up to me and swung his Silver Blade Sword! I was forced to parry the attack! Clang! But I was knocked back several steps despite the successful parry. It was really bad. Inside this Wind and Cloud Domain, my Attack was reduced by 20%, but my enemy¡¯s Attack was increased by 20%. My power was now far lower than my opponent¡¯s, and the Parry system was balanced around the players¡¯ stats. If my attack power was far weaker than my opponent¡¯s, then my parry would be a lot weaker as well. That was why I lost almost a thousand HP despite a successful parry! Candlelight Shadow smiled sinisterly. "Where did your earlier vigor go?" Fire wrapped around his Silver Blade Sword. Candlelight Shadow could use hit killer move at any moment, and even if I parried it successfully I would still suffer considerable damage! At the same time, Blue Sky Scar started approaching me from the side. Was he trying to repeat what he did last time and kill me? ¡­¡­ Inside the party channel, I whispered, "Chengfeng, work with me and kill Blue Sky Scar!" "Got it! That was exactly what I was planning as well!" Li Chengfeng laughed inside the party channel before moving soundlessly toward Blue Sky Scar from behind. The moment Blue Sky Scar noticed what was going on, I immediately ran an S-shaped path toward him and launched an Ice Ray and Desperate Gambit at him! Blue Sky Scar guarded immediately, but Li Chengfeng broke it with a Crushing Blow from the back. If he was a peak expert like me, he could¡¯ve switched out of Guard in time to force the Crushing Blow to miss. He might even be able to parry my combo after that. But he was no peak expert, so this duel could only end in tragedy for him! 4783! My Desperate Gambit shattered Blue Sky Scar armor and killed him where he stood. Candlelight Shadow grunted and charged toward us. Despite my attempts to block his way, he was able to slip past me and appear right next to Li Chengfeng. He had chosen to kill the dragon warrior with the Blazing Purgatory Slash! 6742! 1109! 274! The good news was that Li Chengfeng guarded in time and saved his own life. Murong Mingyue also threw two timely heals to drag him away from death¡¯s door¡ª +4109! +3182! Actually scratch that, he was back to full health! Murong Mingyue was such a good healer! Candlelight Shadow¡¯s stomach was probably churning with regret right now, but that didn¡¯t stop him from doing what was necessary. He slipped past Li Chengfeng with a helix maneuver and attacked Murong Mingyue with an Ice Ray and basic attack! The healer was caught completely off-guard by his speed! 1674! 5783! The first strike shattered her shield, and the second strike one-shot her where she stood! Candlelight Shadow was in the zone right now. His movement was so erratic that not even Li Chengfeng could predict where he would move next. After a missed attack, he actually gave Candlelight Shadow the opportunity to get close to Beiming Xue and hit her with the AoE skill, Earth Shattering Slash! 7102! Beiming Xue groaned and hit the ground as well. She was incapable of withstanding his attack at all. Goddammit! It¡¯s do-or-die! Emulating Candlelight Shadow, I sped toward God¡¯s Dance and successfully killed her. I immediately spun around and pounced toward Transient Smoke and Clouds next. The archer guessed that I would target him and used Leap immediately, but I was much better than he thought, chasing him with a timely Charge to successfully stun him upon landing. One basic attack and Ice Ray later, he was dead as well! Players dropped like flies all around us. Almost everyone had completely lost their grasp on the fight, and it was now a battle to see who could keep the coolest head above their shoulders. In fact, Candlelight Shadow, Li Chengfeng and I were the only three people who managed to do that. Tempest Shadow ran around like a headless fly and got killed. However, he also managed to drop He Yi to red health. Candlelight Shadow ran up to her, scored a hit and killed her as well. ¡­¡­ Clang! Candlelight Shadow clashed swords with Li Chengfeng and sent him stumbling. Clearly, the dragon warrior was much weaker than his rival right now. Roar! However, a cyan-colored energy blade caught Candlelight Shadow in the head. I had successfully ambushed him with Dragon Slaying Slash! 3987! Candlelight Shadow only had 2000 HP left, and he was 1v2 against me and Li Chengfeng even though the latter was close to dying himself. Despite his domain, there was only one way this fight could end for Candlelight Shadow. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Candlelight Shadow lowered his Silver Blade Sword and stared at me with cold eyes. "This match is Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ win. But so what? Do you think you can defeat Candle Dragon in the upcoming city battles? Dream on, Falling Dust. The day Candle Dragon descends upon Sky City is also the day the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild dies!" Thud! I plunged my sword through his throat and replied, "You¡¯ll have to get to Sky City alive first!" Li Chengfeng also slashed Candlelight Shadow in the back. Finally, the China representative of gaming dropped to his knees and lost the battle. "Phew¡­" I let out a long sigh of relief before exchanging a smile with Li Chengfeng. God damn, that sure was a hard won victory! ¡­¡­ Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your party has defeated the opponent, "Candle Dragon¡±. You have successfully advanced to the final of Who Will Rise! ¡­¡­ The system notification sound sounded unbelievably melodious, especially when the girls pounced on me the moment I was teleported outside the tournament ring. At that moment, I felt like I had become the happiest man in the world. Beiming Xue was excited because we had advanced far enough that the prize money was incredibly high. He Yi was excited because Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had never been this close to the throne of champions. We had finally beaten Candle Dragon, and when He Yi even started tearing up a little when she recalled everything that had happened to us in the past two years or so. I saw He Yi wiping her tears the moment I logged out and turned toward her. But I was gladdened by the sight of it because this time, it was the tears of joy. I put my helmet in my bag and patted He Yi¡¯s shoulder, smiling. "Ready? We need to head out and get some rest before the final. I don¡¯t know who our opponent will be, but now that Candle Dragon is dead I feel like no human can stop our advance anymore¡­" Li Chengfeng laughed loudly. "Let¡¯s become the champion of Who Will Rise, everyone!" "Haha, yeah!" The moment the five of us exited the battle room, we were greeted by Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits and the others. They cheered like mad and hugged us like soccer players giving each other¡¯s hugs when they scored a goal. High Fighting Spirits was so excited that he even hugged the wrong person¡ªTempest Shadow to be exact¡ªand shouted, "Hell yeah, we finally took out those bastards! Woohoo!" Chapter 414: The Ancient Sword Paves The Way The applause we received from the audience was thunderous. There were countless people who didn¡¯t expect Candle Dragon, the sun of the China server and a party with 5 CGL Hall of Famers, to lose this badly in the hands of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. In fact, Candle Dragon had barely had any real chance of winning in the second and third round of the match. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had suppressed them completely! Beneath the stage, many of our fans raised banners with the slogan "Together with Dreaming Souls, our Ancient Sword paves the way" and shouted on top of their lungs¡ª "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is king! From Water is king! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is king! Legendary Brave is king!" "That was absolutely awesome! The arrogant Candle Dragon has finally encountered a real challenge!" "Hahaha, go home and stop embarrassing yourself any longer, Candlelight Shadow! You and your lackeys don¡¯t deserve to be called kings!" ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow was undoubtedly the loser of this match, and it came at the cost of almost 20% of his popularity and the invincible status Candle Dragon had enjoyed in the China server until now. His supporters supported him because of his victories and strength, but now that that myth was broken, how many more losses could he take before Candle Dragon lost all of its support? It wasn¡¯t like Candlelight Shadow was a superstar who cemented his position through sheer handsomeness. That was why he couldn¡¯t afford to lose this match. But he did, and that was that. After we walked down the stage, Luo River God of the Capital walked up to us with a wide smile on her face. "Congratulations, He Yi, Lu Chen! I¡¯m so happy you guys actually took down Candle Dragon, hehe!" I nodded and smiled back. "You¡¯re welcome, you¡¯re welcome!" A couple more guild representatives including the guild leader of The Monarch Descends, Ling Xueshang, the guild leader of Baidicheng, Come See the Snow Tonight, and so on came over to congratulate us as well. They were all smart people who understood the importance of maintaining a good relationship with other guilds especially now that the super cities were open. No one wanted to be alone and isolated when the guild wars really started kicking into action! Candle Dragon was the symbol of Wind City, and when the guild wars began in earnest, Vanished God City couldn¡¯t possibly stay out of it even if they wanted to. There was a saying called "make distant friends, defeat close enemies", so it was imperative for the ten great guilds of Vanished God City to maintain a good relationship with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, and other super guilds. Only then they would be able to prepare fully for the potential invasion of Candle Dragon. ¡­¡­ Tap tap tap... Lin Yixin made her way to me like a lithe bird with her handbag in tow. The next match after ours was Snowy Cathaya versus Warsky Alliance, and it looked like she was completely confident in her chances of winning. Hair dancing and her chest puffed up proudly, she walked up to me and said, "I didn¡¯t think you would actually win, Lu Chen. I was going to take revenge for you¡­" I rolled my eyes at her. "Fuck, don¡¯t look down on me that much!" "Hehe. I¡¯m going!" "Yeah!" The two of us passed by each other. I suddenly turned around to look at Lin Yixin, and I discovered that she was watching me as well. A bit of nervousness entered her eyes; she clearly wasn¡¯t expecting me to catch her mid-act. "Do your best. The champion is ours after you take out Warsky Alliance," I said with a smile. She nodded. "I will!" ¡­¡­ Purple Marquis, Shadow Chanel, Clear Perfume, and Beauty At First Sight followed their beautiful guild leader into the battle room while I led He Yi and Beiming Xue back to our seats. Not long after, the next exciting semi-final match began in earnest¡ª Snowy Cathaya VS Warsky Alliance Warsky Alliance was running on a high since the start of the LAN matches. First, they eliminated Soul Battle Robes and the domineering Hegemon Palace. Then, they took out one of the top ten guilds of Vanished God City, Dirge Of War. Just like Snowy Cathaya, they gave off the feeling that there was nothing in the world that could stop them, not to mention that Warsky Alliance was one of the few super guilds of Sky City. This was also the first time Snowy Cathaya and Warsky Alliance truly engaged each other in direct combat, so there was no way Lin Yixin was going to lose this match. After Candle Dragon was eliminated, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and Warsky Alliance were the only guilds still left in the tournament. No one had expected Who Will Rise to turn into a civil war between the guilds of Sky City, but there was no changing the fact that the popular Purple Lily was eliminated by Candle Dragon, and the favored to win Candle Dragon was eliminated by us. It was almost like a sign from heavens that the old had passed, and the new generation was about to usher in a new era! ¡­¡­ I stared at the big display. Both parties had entered the tournament ring, and the countdown was soon to begin. Sitting beside me, He Yi asked a question while enjoying a cup of tea boiled with cheap tea leaves that cost only 0.5 RMB per catty, "What do you think of Snowy Cathaya¡¯s chances, Lu Chen?" "They have a 70% chance of winning at least," I answered seriously. "Oh?" He Yi looked at me for a second. "Is it because you lack confidence in Warsky, October Rain, Laughing At The Heavens, and Farewell Song, or because you have great confidence in Beauty Lin?" I curled my lips and replied, "Eve, I haven¡¯t fought Lin Yixin for almost two months, but I can still tell you that her skills are much better than before. She has always been a fast learner, and the her from when we first fought at Frost Mound and the her now were two completely different people. In the past, I could beat her even when I was bogged down by almost a second of delay, but now I¡¯m not sure I could beat her even if that lag had been reduced to 0.2 seconds¡­" He Yi smiled a little as she nodded. "Yeah, Lin Yixin is incredibly powerful. Super experts like Purple Marquis, Shadow Chanel, and Beauty At First Sight wouldn¡¯t have chosen to follow her otherwise." I smiled. "Yeah, she¡¯s similar to you in that she has a unique quality that attracts people to her¡­" "Oh really? Why don¡¯t you tell me some specifics¡­" "I can¡¯t describe it." "Hmph hmph¡­" He Yi glanced at me again before saying, "Since our final opponent is most likely Snowy Cathaya, let¡¯s pay attention to them and think of ways to counter them as soon as possible." "Mn!" ¡­¡­ The countdown had already started while we were talking to each other. When the barrier disappeared, both parties immediately charged toward each other. Purple Marquis was holding back Laughing At The Heavens and Warsky. Beauty At First Sight successfully cast "Hopeless" thanks to Lin Yixin and Purple Marquis¡¯s efforts and reduced the enemy party¡¯s strength drastically. -10% attack speed and Attack wasn¡¯t deadly, but -40% hit rate absolutely was! Thud thud thud! October Rain exclaimed in shock when she missed three arrows in a row, "What is this stupid skill? This miss rate is absolutely broken¡­" Purple Marquis chuckled and attempted to zigzag past Laughing At The Heavens to get to October Rain. However, Laughing At The Heavens was no small fry himself, so he managed to foil block Purple Marquis¡¯s way again and thrust his spear. "Die, you mule¡­" A strange smile suddenly spread across Purple Marquis¡¯s lips as he slipped behind Laughing At The Heavens from an imperceptible angle. He launched the Vacuum Sword Energy at the magic knight¡¯s shield and followed up with an Ice Ray + basic attack combo! 3984! 3678! 2488! Purple Marquis¡¯s Attack was so high that Laughing At The Heavens turned pale in shock. He immediately counter-attacked with a sweep across the chest that deleted almost half of Purple Marquis¡¯s HP, but that was all. Not far away, the Dark Tongue Mage Shadow Chanel was smiling and summoning a gigantic purple dragon above her head. The next moment, the dragon opened its mouth and unleashed a dragon breath at the magic knight¡ª Thunder Dragon Breath, Level 100, Magic Attack increased by 150% 7134! ¡­¡­ Laughing At The Heavens dropped to his knees. He never thought that he, a high-HP magic knight, would be one-shot in the first exchange of blows, and he definitely didn¡¯t expect Purple Marquis and Shadow Chanel to work so well together that the interval between their attacks was less than half a second. He didn¡¯t even get a chance to drink a health potion before he was killed. On the other side, Lin Yixin was fighting Warsky with her Frozen Sword. She had completed her fourth perfect parry, but Warsky had less than one third of his health left. Warsky was almost a first-rate expert, but it turned out that he had zero chance of winning a duel against the Fruit Knife Goddess! Swhoosh! Moonlight glazed over Lin Yixin¡¯s pupils. Here it comes, the killer combo Moon Gaze + Extreme Break! Warsky shivered and withdrew to the back, shouting, "Save me, Rain!" October Rain hurriedly fired a Shock Arrow at Lin Yixin! Lin Yixin smiled a little and crossed her dagger in front of her chest, parrying the deadly bolt with perfect accuracy. She even allowed the knockback of the skill to carry her to the back, pass by an enemy warrior and slap Moon Gaze on his head! Before the Level 105 warrior could do anything, a dagger plunged into his throat and killed him! Thump! Warsky felt horrible, but thankfully his party¡¯s counterattack finally began. At Snowy Cathaya¡¯s backline, the Holy Bard screamed when Farewell Song appeared out of nowhere and stunned her. The stern-faced assassin then one-shot her with a Blade Vortex and Cruel Blade! Lin Yixin yelled, "Purple Marquis, stop him!" However, Farewell Song entered stealth mode again with a fluorescent powder in less than three seconds, giving Snowy Cathaya no chance to do anything to him. After he had regained his energy, Farewell Song targeted Purple Marquis and launched his second sneak attack. Although the warrior was ready for it, he still couldn¡¯t stop the deadly assassin. A Blade Vortex and Evil Will later, Purple Marquis groaned and collapsed to the ground as well. Two of Snowy Cathaya¡¯s main players dropped to the ground in the blink of an eye. Once again, he proved that he deserved to be named as the strongest assassin of the CGL Hall of Fame! Lin Yixin gritted her teeth and took down Warsky by force. When she spun around, Clear Perfume had died to an enemy as well, meaning her and the Dark Tongue Mage Shadow Chanel were the only ones still standing on the battlefield. Shadow Chanel¡¯s Thunder Dragon Breath was powerful, but it took her 2 to 4 seconds to cast the spell properly. That was enough time for Farewell Song to enter stealth again and launch another sneak attack. Lin Yixin made the snap decision to kill October Rain first and deal with Farewell Song later. The archer¡¯s pupils shrank when she realized Lin Yixin¡¯s intentions. "Hmph, it¡¯s you again!" Lin Yixin smiled sweetly. "Here I come, sister!" ¡­¡­ Chapter 415: Final Battle Farewell Song clearly felt greater pressure than usual since he was alone, and his opponent was the Fruit Knife Goddess. But just because he was pressured didn¡¯t mean that he wasn¡¯t calm or afraid to fight. Farewell Song wasn¡¯t a solo player anymore. As the king of assassins, it was his responsibility to defend the pride of his job and more importantly, the pride and glory of Warsky Alliance. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! He charged toward Lin Yixin in a straight line, but his body suddenly vanished midway. His stealth was an enhanced version that even I couldn¡¯t see through, so I couldn¡¯t imagine that Lin Yixin would fare much better than me. The wanderer paused her footsteps and lowered her sword as she kept a close eye on her surroundings. Her pointed succubus ears were also fully erected and twitching from time to time. Lin Yixin was clearly entering a high sensorial state that enabled her to detect everything that was going on around her. A small puff of dust suddenly appeared on the ground. Stealth could hide the assassin, but not the traces they left on the environment. Last time, I had detected Farewell Song by identifying the footprints on the ground as well! ¡°Got you!¡± Lin Yixin smiled and swung the Frozen Sword bathed in holy energy at where Farewell Song¡¯s should be. There should be no way the assassin could avoid the sweeping attack! MISS! However, Lin Yixin was shocked to find that her attack hit nothing but thin air. Farewell Song wasn¡¯t there?! A circular-shaped Health Potion rolled across the ground. That was the object that caused Lin Yixin to err in judgment. However, the beautiful girl wisely shuffled a couple of steps to the side and swung her sword again with murderous intent! Clang! Sparks flew everywhere as her Frozen Sword clashed against Farewell Song¡¯s dagger. She did it! She missed the first time because Farewell Song had tossed a Health Potion to the ground next to her and made her think that he was there. However, her judgment and alertness were so good that she was able to react in 0.2 seconds and parry his Ambush! Farewell Song let out a chuckle before waving his arm in front of him and summoning a patch of shadow beneath his feet. It was a new skill¡ª Shadow Dance: Attack +25%, attack speed +25%, movement speed +50%, 60-second duration. ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck, this is bad¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t stop myself from standing up. The self-buff was powerful enough, but in the hands of a peak expert like Farewell Song it was nothing but trouble. Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t possibly hold him off in his current state, could she? At the very least, I would have trouble dealing with Farewell Song with his Shadow Dance buff active. Farewell Song was equally cautious. He moved in and out without warning in an attempt to catch Lin Yixin off-guard. No one could afford to act carelessly because one instant was all it took for a clash between peak experts to come to an end. Clang! Two probing strikes later, Farewell Song lost his patience and decided to go on the offensive. If he couldn¡¯t defeat Lin Yixin before his buff was over, he might as well forfeit the match there and then. After she clashed blades with Farewell Song using her dagger, Lin Yixin abruptly closed the distance between herself and the assassin and completed a half-helix maneuver. When she brought down the Frozen Sword for an overhead strike¡ªforcing Farewell Song to parry¡ªshe also raised her right leg and kicked him in the stomach! Bang! Despite a successful Guard, Farewell Song¡¯s arms were shaking a little from the impact, and he was sent crashing into the ground nearby. He looked like he would¡¯ve thrown up blood if he could. Worse, the Fruit Knife Goddess scored a lucky critical hit with her barbaric kick and dealt over 1000 damage to him. Had it been a proper slash, he probably would¡¯ve been dead or close to dead already. ¡°Hmm?¡± Farewell Song let out a groan in his mind because Lin Yixin wasn¡¯t letting up on the attack. She rushed him and brought her sword down for another overhead strike, except this time it was the Ice Flame Slash instead of a basic attack! Farewell Song barely moved to the right and dodged the attack, but when he looked up again he almost suffered a heart attack. Lin Yixin¡¯s exquisite features were just centimeters away from him, and a sudden pain had exploded from his chest. It was her dagger sinking into his body. The next moment, Lin Yixin¡¯s sword arrived and slashed him right across the torso. Puchi! Farewell Song collapsed limply on the ground. The Fruit Knife Goddess had killed him in dominant fashion. The first round was Snowy Cathaya¡¯s, and the match was currently 1-0 in their favor! ¡­¡­ ¡°Not bad at all. It was a hard fight, but it was a victory nonetheless,¡± I commented with a smile. Li Chengfeng also smiled. ¡°Farewell Song sure is an amazing player. He killed three Snowy Cathaya members in a row, and he went even against a full-health Wind Fantasy for a very long time. I thought assassins like him went extinct a long time ago. Maybe he is the only one left¡­¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°Yeah. Back in the days where Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow was the king of assassins, Farewell Song was just a newbie. Now the king has retired, and Farewell Song looks like the perfect successor. People like him are definitely a rare breed. If only we could have a top-tier assassin ourselves¡­¡± Xu Yang grinned. ¡°Should I delete my account and make an assassin account?¡± He Yi said, ¡°Even if you did, you wouldn¡¯t be anywhere close to the top tier. Why waste the energy?¡± Murong Mingyue nodded. ¡°Exactly, it would just be a complete waste of time. A priest though, that¡¯s a different story. You don¡¯t need any micro mechanics to play a priest, and you can just lock onto a player and heal brainlessly. It suits you very well.¡± Yamete chimed in. ¡°Come, Xu Yang! Let us defend the honor of wet nurses together!¡± Tears flowed freely down Xu Yang¡¯s cheeks. ¡°I don¡¯t wanna¡­¡± ¡­¡­ The second round of Snowy Cathaya versus Warsky Alliance began soon after. Lin Yixin instructed her players carelessly, ¡°You guys go 4v1 Farewell Song. I¡¯ll deal with the rest of them myself¡­¡± Tears flowed down Warsky, October Rain, Laughing At The Heavens and the other warrior¡¯s cheeks. The disdain of the Fruit Knife Goddess wasn¡¯t something anyone could withstand. The moment the match began, Lin Yixin led the way and ran rings around Warsky, October Rain and Laughing At The Heavens. She successfully drew their attention and dodged most of their attacks. Meanwhile, Purple Marquis, Shadow Chanel and Clear Perfume scoured the battlefield for Farewell Song as Lin Yixin instructed them to. They actually managed to force Farewell Song out of his stealth and kill him. This round was a lot less suspenseful than the last. Not only did Lin Yixin manage to return to her teammates with 20% HP left, she managed to kill Laughing At The Heavens as well. Warsky Alliance already lost their best player, Farewell Song already, and the loss of their magic knight only caused their morale to sink even further. Anyone¡¯s mental state would take a hit after losing an ally in a 4v1 and still failing to kill the enemy, who had announced their plan before the battle even began! The score on the big display was refreshed, and Snowy Cathaya entered the final with a beautiful 2-0 score! When Lin Yixin and her teammates walked out of the battle room, the entire venue was shaking with cheers and applause. The commotion only grew when it was announced the final match-up¡ªAncient Sword Dreaming Souls VS Snowy Cathaya¡ªwas displayed on the screen. Two powerhouses would meet on the battlefield today, and only one would walk away as the new king of guilds. Whoever the victor was, everyone here would be a witness to the birth of a new king! ¡­¡­ Unlike Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance exited the battle room with a surprising lack of resentment. In fact, Warsky even walked up to us and said with a smile, ¡°I look forward to the match between you two. See you back in Sky City!¡± ¡°Heh!¡± I smiled back. Warsky Alliance was an impressive opponent, and Warsky himself really was as broad-minded and benevolent as the people said. It took a special kind of person to fight someone to the death inside a game, but still be friends with them in real life, especially considering that Warsky Alliance had been lost horribly to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls several times already. October Rain requested a can of cola from a nearby attendant and drank alone while leaning against a wall. She looked a little unhappy. Dressed in black casual wear, Farewell Song leaned against the wall beside October Rain, folded his arms lazily and asked, ¡°Rain, is there anything you want to say about us losing the match and missing our chance to become the champion?¡± October Rain shot him a glance. ¡°What do you want me to say?¡± ¡°For example, who do you think will win between Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy?¡± ¡°I support Lu Chen.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°And that¡¯s it. If you¡¯re smart, you won¡¯t ask me what I think about Wind Fantasy. This is the third time that girl killed me, and I¡¯m the CGL Hall of Famer here¡­¡± She sighed dejectedly. ¡°Whatever. I should¡¯ve known that she wasn¡¯t a woman anyone could fuck with.¡± Farewell Song took two deep gulps from his own cola before saying, ¡°She did kill you three times in a row, didn¡¯t she? Too bad she¡¯s a woman, or I¡¯m sure you would¡¯ve married her already¡­¡± October Rain: ¡°...¡± On the other side of the room, Laughing At The Heavens was talking with another player¡ª ¡°What¡¯s the reward for third and fourth place again?¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s a chance to draw Purple Gold-grade equipment at best, Level +2, Luck +2 and 200k RMB prize money. What do you think?¡± ¡°Eh, it¡¯s okay. My wife can¡¯t say I wasted my time at least!¡± ¡°Boss looks a little unhappy though.¡± ¡°Are you blind? On the plane he told me that he didn¡¯t ask for anything more than Top 8, but we ultimately made it to the Top 4. He¡¯s barely stopping him from grinning from ear to ear.¡± ¡­¡­ On the stage, the host Fei¡¯er straightened her skirt before putting a passionate smile on her face. ¡°Good afternoon, all players and visitors. After a long and arduous competition, the tournament has finally entered its most exciting phase! Between the two super teams Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya, who do you think will become the ultimate champion of Who Will Rise? Let us find out right now! Participants, please come to the stage!¡± Everyone grabbed their bags and walked up in a sloppy manner. It was rare that the finalists of a tournament didn¡¯t hate each other¡¯s guts, although that didn¡¯t mean that we weren¡¯t brimming with fighting spirit. Purple Marquis gave us a smile. ¡°It looks like Snowy Cathaya¡¯s chances of winning are higher after all!¡± Li Chengfeng grinned back. ¡°We¡¯ll see about that. Hehe, I look forward to dueling you in the ring, Wind Fantasy.¡± ¡­¡­ We had to take a couple of group photos on the stage before the match began. Finally, Fei¡¯er gave us the signal and sent us into the battle rooms. Chapter 416: Absolute Zero Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ There were several flashes of light, and everyone was teleported onto the tournament ring. On the other side, the silver-armored, sword-wielding Lin Yixin was staring at us. Her lips were smiling, but I knew her too well to miss the killing intent behind her countenance. ¡­¡­ "What should we do?" Li Chengfeng asked. Beiming Xue said, "Sister Lin Yixin is the biggest threat of them all. I doubt even Sister Eve can withstand her Extreme Break + Moon Gaze + Ice Flame Slash combo." I nodded. "In that case, let¡¯s take out Lin Yixin first. I¡¯ll be the main attacker, and Beiming Xue will support me. Chengfeng, your job is to clear out all the obstacles in our way. But be careful, Purple Marquis is an extremely skilled player. Also, Shadow Chanel¡¯s Thunder Dragon Breath is super powerful, so Beiming, sis, try not to get one-shot by her. That spell has a 2-second channel time at least, so it shouldn¡¯t be too difficult to dodge." "Mn." The two girls nodded. He Yi asked, "What about me?" "You should go after their Holy Bard, Beauty At First Sight!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ The strategy was set, and all that was left was to wait for the countdown to begin. We didn¡¯t have to wait very long. Every number resounded in our hearts like a gong, signalling the beginning of the most exciting moment of this tournament. By the time this match was over, one of us¡ªSnowy Cathaya or Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡ªwas going to ascend to the top and be known as China¡¯s strongest 5-man party! 3! 2! 1! Begin! I waved my arm and fired a Dragon Slaying Slash immediately at Purple Marquis. While the warrior was backing away warily, I had already locked onto Clear Perfume and was running toward her. It looked like I wanted to kill her, but really I was just baiting Lin Yixin, who was standing right next to her friend, to action. The beautiful wanderer was the one I really wanted to kill. "Bastard Lu Chen¡¯s trying to kill me?" Clear Perfume loosed a couple of Freezing Arrows at me while she was backing away, but I was able to parry them with ease. Her hastiness did little to help her in this case. Purple Marquis came back and fired Vacuum Slash at me. It was so fast and came at such an angle that it was impossible to dodge. Pain erupted from my shoulder as I lost a chunk of HP. Beep! Combat Log: Player "Purple Marquis" used "Vacuum Slash", dealing 2829 damage! Damn, no wonder he was Lin Yixin¡¯s greatest general. I had Ghost Deity Armor and Enhanced Bones, so there weren¡¯t many people who could hit more for almost 3000 HP with physical attack these days. My effective Defense was over 2000, and I was at least as tanky as He Yi. Purple Marquis¡¯s eyes glinted with killing intent as he chuckled. "See you later, Brother Lu Chen!" It was Purple Marquis¡¯s signature skill and killer move, Chaos Universe! It was a 2-hit skill that increased his Attack by 20%! I reacted as quick as lightning. I moved to the side and moved the Heaven-stealing Sword across the air twice, successfully parrying both hits with no problems whatsoever. Then, I dove into his right flank and raised my leg into a powerful kick! Bang! Purple Marquis stumbled backward unceremoniously, and before he could even stand still Legendary Brave appeared out of nowhere and hit him with a devastating Reverse Scale Slash + Dragonbone Flurry + basic attack combo! Although one of the five consecutive attacks missed, Purple Marquis was still one-shot where he stood! I was already looking away from Purple Marquis and charging Clear Perfume again. On the other side, Lin Yixin ran toward me to intercept me midway. I knew she would save Sun Qingqing no matter what. Rustle rustle rustle¡­ Dust erupted whenever my Barbarian War Boots hit the ground. I abruptly braked mid-run, zigzagged out of the way of Lin Yixin¡¯s attack and attempted to hit her with a surprise Desperate Gambit! "Hah, I knew you were trying to kill me¡­" She wasn¡¯t lying. Lips breaking into a tiny smile, Lin Yixin easily knocked my sword away before ducking toward my chest and ramming me like a truck. A loud bang erupted from the Obsidian Dragon Scale Armor. Holy shit, no ordinary person could withstand this body alright! Just when Lin Yixin was about to hit me with an Extreme Break, I surprised her by grabbing her shoulders and pulling myself to her back. Then, I hugged her from behind and pressed the Heaven-stealing Sword to her left chest, smiling. "Bye bye, Yiyi¡­" War Crush + Dragon Slaying Slash + basic attack! Bang bang bang bang bang! The air around us erupted into redness as a series of damage numbers floated above Lin Yixin¡¯s head¡ª 3198! MISS! MISS! 4103! MISS! My eyes bulged. Are you fucking kidding me? Three out of five of my attacks missed?! Lin Yixin currently had over 10k HP and a ton of Defense thanks to her Famous General Skill, Bombshell. My Martial God was powerful, but Bombshell was definitely a match for it. "You sure don¡¯t know how to appreciate a lady¡­" Lin Yixin giggled in my chest before twisting around all of a sudden and swinging her armored arm at me. That was how I took an elbow strike to the neck. Ow, my neck! I rushed her and elbowed her in return. "You don¡¯t know how to appreciate a man either." "But hitting you is my favorite hobby, hehe!" ¡­¡­ Our conversation was cheerful, but we had traded at least ten blows in the process. Murong Mingyue was healing me at all times, but Beauty At First Sight was also buffing Lin Yixin with Death Match, Divine Valor, and others and debuffing us with Hopeless. In fact, Lin Yixin¡¯s stats were way, way higher than mine right now. She was like a super killer who walked right out of the movies. Inside the party channel, I heard Li Chengfeng complaining, "Fuck me, this 40% hit rate reduction is stupidly broken! I can¡¯t believe I couldn¡¯t even kill a shielded mage¡­" "Let¡¯s kill Lin Yixin first!" I said, "Work with me, Beiming Xue, Chengfeng! Eve, take out Beauty At First Sight as soon as you can!" "Okay!" I rushed Lin Yixin again, but this time I slowed down and changed directions right before we were about to make contact. It was of course the helix maneuver. The advantage of this maneuver was that it opened up two to four attack paths for me to whale down on my opponent with a killer combo. Even Lin Yixin would have trouble trying to defend against this. "Here I come!" I abruptly launched a Desperate Gambit at Lin Yixin, which she dodged calmly by backing away. But it was a trap. Li Chengfeng was right behind her, and I had purposely left that space open so that she would step into it and allow me to hit her with an undodgeable Thousand Ice Slash! "Ah? Lu Chen, you bastard¡­" Lin Yixin barely got her complaint out before she was frozen by Thousand Ice Slash. I immediately followed up with a War Crush at the same time Li Chengfeng unleashed a Dragonbone Flurry and Cyan Dragon Horn. This time, not even a 40% hit rate reduction could save her. She died under our combined attacks and was teleported out of the ring. It was around this time Murong Mingyue was one-shot by the Dark Tongue Mage, Shadow Chanel. However, He Yi also contributed by one-shotting Clear Perfume with an Ice Ray + Green Wave Slash combo, and hitting the Holy Bard to low health. There was just nothing Clear Perfume could do against the ridiculously tanky magic knight. She had been shooting her since the start of the match, and He Yi was still as healthy as ever. What seemed like a desperate fight for us turned into a landslide in our favor. Not long after, Beauty At First Sight and Shadow Chanel died as well. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your party has defeated the opponent "Snowy Cathaya¡±. You scored 1 point! ¡­¡­ Alright, the first round is ours! We were in VR and inside the battle room, but that didn¡¯t stop the audience¡¯s thunderous cheers to reach our ears anyway. I gave Li Chengfeng a smile and said, "Well done killing Purple Marquis so early. This would¡¯ve been a near impossible fight to turn around otherwise." Li Chengfeng nodded. "Yeah, Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell is just too powerful, not to mention that Holy Bard¡¯s buff is seriously broken. It takes at least three of us to kill her. Earlier, I thought that Snowy Cathaya was lucky they ran into us instead of Candle Dragon, but now it looks like they would¡¯ve beaten Candle Dragon anyway even if we hadn¡¯t." "Yeah. Let¡¯s keep this up during our next match. We¡¯re just one step away from becoming the champion now!" "Yeah!" We were teleported into the tournament ring again. On the other side, Lin Yixin was glaring at me like she couldn¡¯t wait to turn my face into a pulp. A minute later, the countdown began once more¡ª 3! 2! 1! The second round of the battle between kings. Fight! Again, Li Chengfeng and I went on the offense because it would be suicide to give Snowy Cathaya a chance to organize the attack. And again, the second round followed almost the same pattern as the first: Lin Yixin and I were fighting each other, and Li Chengfeng was duking it out with Purple Marquis again. However, even the slightest change could tip the balance in another¡¯s favor. Purple Marquis abruptly knocked away Li Chengfeng¡¯s sword and charged toward me. Li Chengfeng hurriedly gave chase while shouting out a warning, "Lu Chen watch out! Purple Marquis¡¯s heading your way!" "Hmm?" I turned my head slightly and knocked back Lin Yixin. In that case, let¡¯s kill him first! But Purple Marquis¡¯s eyes twinkled as he raised his sword without warning. "Absolute Zero!" Crack crack¡­ The temperature around me dropped, and ice started creeping all over my armor. Li Chengfeng, I and even the neary He Yi were frozen in ice! No Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls player within 10 yards of Purple Marquis could avoid being frozen! Beep! Combat Log: Player "Purple Marquis" used "Absolute Zero" and inflicted the Frozen status on you. Your Defense is temporarily increased by 100% for 3 seconds! ¡­¡­ "Fuck, I¡¯m dead¡­" Being frozen increased my Defense by 100%, but so what? All Defense was paper before Lin Yixin¡¯s Moon Gaze. Chapter 417: Verdic The fruit knife flashed and slashed at my Obsidian Dragonscale Armor. A bone-piercing pain came over me and my Defense sharply fell. Even worse, Extreme Break hurt like hell and Purple Marquis was also coming over, swinging his longsword. Chaos Universe + Vacuum Slash combo came down, aiming to take my life. I shook all over as my HP plummeted¡ª 3784! 3452! +3809! 4102! Murong Mingyue stuck in an instant heal so I didn¡¯t die from the combo but she couldn¡¯t save me from Lin Yixin¡¯s follow-up attack. The moment she brushed by, Lin Yixin whispered in my ear, ¡°Darling, you¡¯ve lost¡­¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± ¡­¡­ My entire body relaxed and flew out of the tournament ring. Immortality didn¡¯t revive me this time, I died a miserable death this time around. Not even three seconds later, another human figure was sent to my side. It was actually Li Chengfeng. ¡°How¡¯d you get here?¡± I asked. Li Chengfeng rubbed his nose. ¡°Fuck, Wind Fantasy and Purple Marquis¡¯s joint attack is so hard to defend against¡­¡± I nodded, tacitly agreeing. Lin Yixin¡¯s mechanics were top-notch and Purple Marquis was also a super first-class expert. Both of them had strong skills and equipment, and with the unique Famous General Skill¡ªBombshell¡ªLi Chengfeng had no chance at all against them no matter how tough he was. As for me, there was nothing to say. I¡¯d also died... A few minutes later, He Yi and Beiming Xue also appeared in our surroundings. The two girls had helpless expressions on their faces. He Yi smiled. ¡°It looks like the second round was a reverse sweep. We¡¯ve been 5-0¡¯d. All five of us died and we didn¡¯t even get to scratch either one of them this time¡­¡± I curled my lips. ¡°Victory and defeat are both commonplace in battle. In the third round, be on guard against Purple Marquis¡¯s Absolute Zero. It¡¯s a CC skill with a 10-yard range. We still have a pretty good chance of winning as long as we can deal with that.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± A while later, Murong Mingyue had also died on the battlefield. 1-1, both sides were currently even! ¡­¡­ The applause outside the tournament ring sounded like thunder and the screaming there was also unceasing. This was a true competition. A back and forth match where victory or defeat was decided in a single moment. At the same time, the outcome of this match also affected the heartstrings of many in the audience. Some supported Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls while some supported Snowy Cathaya. Everyone was cheering themselves hoarse for their dream team. This was the charm of VR competitions! The third round was soon about to start. The two opposing parties were sent back into the ring, awaiting the system¡¯s countdown. Lin Yixin pursed her lips and suddenly gave me a piece of information. ¡°Careful now, I¡¯m gunning for you again!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile as I gave a quick answer. ¡°You be careful too, I¡¯m not going to hold back this time.¡± ¡°Hmph, hmph!¡± The countdown soon began¡ª 3! 2! 1! The deciding round of the battle between kings. Fight! Victory or defeat was only a move away. Nobody dared to be careless. Li Chengfeng and I released our attacks together side by side. At the very least, we couldn¡¯t allow Purple Marquis to freeze us. It was too harmful. Pa! Beiming Xue shot out a cold arrow to prove her existence and its effects appeared above Lin Yixin¡¯s head. Mn, this is my chance to kill the Fruit Knife Goddess! I quickly ran over. The Heaven-stealing Sword glowed with undead energy as I planned to use War Crush! But Purple Marquis suddenly charged over and fiercely crashed into me, pushing me back. I¡¯d lost my best chance to kill Lin Yixin but killing Purple Marquis first wasn¡¯t a bad idea either! I raised my sword. Thousand Ice Slash! The instant Thousand Ice Slash was about to land, Purple Marquis also raised his longsword. It was Absolute Zero! This was bad, I got caught! 3764! Purple Marquis was frozen by Thousand Ice Slash but I had also been frozen for three seconds. At this time, Lin Yixin had broken out from the Shock Arrow¡¯s effects and was coming at me with her dagger! ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng rapidly retreated out of Absolute Zero¡¯s range. The man had perfectly grasped the range of this skill. He locked onto me and used Charge. His feet never stopped moving as he outrageously countered Lin Yixin¡¯s dagger with his sword. They were evenly matched! Clang! Lin Yixin swiftly retreated and suddenly swapped her dagger out for a longsword before slamming at Li Chengfeng. She¡¯d actually used Knockback Slash, pushing Li Chengfeng back 5 yards. This gave her half a second of movement time but it was exactly this half second that danger came. Dark Tongue Mage Chanel¡¯s Thunder Dragon Breath arrived just in time! 6894! Shit, he¡¯s a goner! The moment I recovered from the stun, Li Chengfeng had been stabbed in the chest by Lin Yixin¡¯s fruit knife. He sank to his knees, dead! Dammit all, it¡¯s do or die! I quickly charged at Purple Marquis and he also came for me. He was probably waiting for this chance for a long time ever since he had first lost to me. Unfortunately, I never gave Purple Marquis that chance. I quickly executed a helix maneuver and my quick tempo left Purple Marquis completely lost. Desperate Gambit + Ice Ray luckily struck its target and Beiming Xue had also sent in an arrow from a distance away. Got¡¯em! Thud! Purple Marquis slowly fell on his knees, his eyes filled with shock, as if he couldn¡¯t believe that the gap between us was still this wide. He couldn¡¯t resist the helix maneuver at all. Lin Yixin hadn¡¯t returned to fight me. Instead, she closed in on Beiming Xue with the Frozen Sword in her eyes, forcing her into a dead end. Archers suffered hugely when they lacked map protection. Close-combat classes were the kings of enclosed-space fights, and with an Ice Flame Slash, Beiming Xue had also flown out of the ring. Next was Murong Mingyue, and He Yi died right after her. Lin Yixin¡¯s pretty face was a field of calm as she settled her opponents one by one. At the same time, I wasn¡¯t being idle either. The Heaven-stealing Sword struck down Clear Perfume and Shadow Chanel, with Beauty At First Sight the only one still alive in her party. Two minutes later, Lin Yixin was already charging at me the moment I turned around. She raised her sword and smiled. ¡°I¡¯m coming!¡± I met her head to head and suffered greatly after exchanging several blows with her. Not only did Lin Yixin have a 40% boost in overall stats, she also had 40% physical evasion, making me miss a ton of hits. Even though this was unfair, this battle was in fact not a solo fight. The opponent was a holy bard and a light wanderer. Simply put, the moment me and Li Chengfeng killed Purple Marquis, we suffered for it because we had lost too much HP trying to do that. Our following battles after that put us at a disadvantage in terms of battle power. ¡­¡­ Faint frost condensed on my body. The effects of Lin Yixin¡¯s Profound Ice Armor lowered both my attack speed and movement speed. At this rate, I was going to be even more behind and I would be forced to move even better than before. ¡°Again!¡± I swung my sword and charged. Even though I said that, I turned around and locked onto Beauty At First Sight. Gotta kill her first... ¡°Wah, you lied again¡­¡± Lin Yixin stomped her foot in anger and chased after me. Lin Yixin¡¯s Ice Flame Slash enveloped me at the same time my Thousand Ice Slash enveloped Beauty At First Sight. 4102! Ouch, this girl¡¯s Attack is just too high! But luckily, Beauty At First Sight was out of the picture now. ¡°Gulp! I downed a health potion and turned to face Lin Yixin. Her beautiful eyes flickered with intelligence and she didn¡¯t give me much time to recover. She knew she had to get rid of me before my pots were off cooldown. Parry! Guard! Crushing Blow! I promptly swapped between attack and defense. When I executed the helix maneuver, Lin Yixin dodged it by changing directions and quickly changing her speed. This was much smarter than Purple Marquis. ¡­¡­ Whoosh! Tenacity of the Dead recovered a good chunk of my HP. At the same time, my Regeneration of the Undead had also shown its super powerful effect. Regeneration of the Undead X recovered 2% of my HP every second. All I needed was 50 seconds to recover to full health. It was amazing in a battle of attrition, whereas Lin Yixin relied on Bloodboil to restore her HP which was in no way inferior. I raised my head and checked the timer on the interface. A match was only 5 minutes long and 4 minutes and 45 seconds had already passed. I had to eke out a win in these 15 seconds! We were both somewhat anxious. After an intense clash, we were both tired out of our minds and wanted it to be over already! ¡°Let¡¯s end this. I¡¯m tired¡­¡± Lin Yixin said as she swung down an Ice Flame Slash from the sky! I swiftly backpedaled. Guard! 1398! It was a near-perfect guard. The instant Lin Yixin was about to land a Crushing Blow, I got out of my defensive stance and swung my sword out twice, both of which she quickly parried. Yet another exchange that I couldn¡¯t inflict heavy damage onto her. Neither one of us wanted to lose but we couldn¡¯t do anything about the other. I couldn¡¯t help but sign inwardly. Please grant me a Beiming Xue, please. I only need a Shock Arrow to finish this match. I really needed a stun CC skill. Thousand Ice Slash¡¯s attack range was too short and could easily miss. The system began its countdown¡ª 8! 7! 6! ¡­¡­ Shit. Lin Yixin and I charged at each other again. This time, we didn¡¯t bother to parry any attacks. Puchi! Our swords slashed upon our opponent¡¯s armor. Both of us lost a chunk of HP and at the same time, Lin Yixin knocked into my chest and launched Knockback Slash! Under a 0.5-second stun, I was set backwards and Lin Yixin¡¯s dagger flew straight for me. I lifted my hand, grabbed at her arm, and slid on the ground, pressing Lin Yixin onto the tournament ring¡¯s bluestone railing. I swung the Heaven-stealing sword and pressed it against her white neck. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes stared at me and I stared back. At this time, the system suddenly rang¡ª Ding~! System Notice: The match has ended. Player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± has 43% HP remaining. Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± has 47% HP remaining. According to the tournament rules, Snowy Cathaya is the victor! ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I let go of Lin Yixin and helplessly looked at the sky. I¡¯d actually lost the championship title because of the time limit? Chapter 418: God Suppressing Necklace I had one second to kill Lin Yixin when I pressed the Heaven-stealing Sword to Lin Yixin¡¯s neck, and to be honest, I could¡¯ve killed her in that time easily. But for some reason, I couldn¡¯t do it when I looked into the gleam in her eyes. I didn¡¯t feel too much guilt, however. In life, you¡¯ll always have some ups and downs. If something belongs to you, it will fall into your lap in the end. If it doesn¡¯t, it¡¯s never been yours to begin with. Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that the champion of Who Will Rise is Snowy Cathaya! The party leader is Wind Fantasy, and the party members are Purple Marquis, Shadow Chanel, Clear Perfume, and Beauty At First Sight! Ding~! System Announcement: In this tournament, the player who survived the longest and dealt the most damage is Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Therefore, they are declared to be the MVP of this tournament! Congratulations! ¡­¡­ When I was teleported out of the tournament ring, I saw that everyone¡¯s mood had changed from sorrow to joy¡ª "Not bad! We may not be the champion, but we at least have an MVP in our midst! Well done, Lu Chen!" He Yi smiled gladly. Li Chengfeng said, "Second place is still pretty good. We lacked a bit of luck this time, but I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll become the champion next time. Plus, our true goal was to take out Candle Dragon and Candlelight Shadow, and in that regard, we passed with flying colors. So it¡¯s fine even if we didn¡¯t get first place, am I right?" Beiming Xue nodded. "Yeah. Also, this is the second time you became the MVP, big bro. The prize money will be a lot, am I right?" "Who knows? But Lu Chen is still treating us to a meal later!" "Of course, of course!" ¡­¡­ We logged out and walked out of the battle room. On the other side, Lin Yixin and the players of Snowy Cathaya had walked out as well. Both sides exchanged smiles with one another. We were greeted by a thunderous applause and cheers. Everyone was praising the battle between me and Lin Yixin, which was understandable. Neither of us possessed a skill that could one-shot the enemy for certain, so the amount of finesse and tricks we had to throw out to one up our opponent drastically increased as a result. It also made the final a lot more entertaining to the viewers than it normally was. That being said, this match would have been over a long time ago had my Purple Dragon Howl not been banned... The host Fei¡¯er smiled brightly before announcing, "First, congratulations to Snowy Cathaya for becoming the champion! Second, congratulations to Lu Chen for becoming the MVP of this tournament! Both of you absolutely deserve your placements and titles!" ¡­¡­ With Fei¡¯er acting as the host again, the 17th to 32nd place parties such as Flower Room, Mad Dragon, Snow of Frozen River, and other small fries went up first to draw their reward. They were made to go up the stage together to save time. Then, everyone drew their reward after standing in front of an instrument and undergoing an iris scan to confirm their identity. As it turned out, an archer from Snow of Frozen River got the best reward out of everyone. They had gotten a Level 100 3-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade long bow with incredible Attack. Besides that, everyone was rewarded 1 level and 20k RMB prize money each¡ªbasically the tournament organizers¡¯ participation payment to the guilds¡ªand it was an amazing reward even if they failed to progress to the Top 16. The next draw was for the 9th to 16th parties. This time, Hunting Moon Dynasty, Hegemon Palace, and so on went up stage to draw the lot. Their luck seemed to be much better than the earlier parties¡¯ because even the lousiest reward they got was still a 1-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment. With Xu Yang leading the way, Chaos Moon Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun also went up the stage to draw their lots. I smiled and gave them a thumbs-up from behind. "Best of luck and karma! Everyone needs to come back with top-tier equipment!" Chaos Moon looked back to smile at me. "Just you wait!" Everyone in the second seed was the best of the best, so of course I wanted them to draw something better. Their improvement directly translated to the improvement of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ strongest parties after all! On the stage, our players spread out in a row before pressing their palms on the scanners of the instruments. The next moment, several lines of data were displayed on the screen. Gui Guzi obtained the reward "Obsidian Necklace" (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Stamina +80, Strength +77, Tactics +5. Increases user¡¯s physical attack power by 11%. Outstanding Property: Max HP increased by 20% Hot Sun obtained the reward "Waning Candle Legguards" (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): Stamina +75, Strength +72, Tactics +7. Increases user¡¯s Defense by 150. Outstanding Property: 3% chance to reflect all damage back to the attacker. Chaos Moon obtained the reward "Death Lord Wristguards" (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Stamina +82, Strength +75, Tactics +11. Increases user¡¯s hit rate by 24%. Outstanding Property: Deals 10% extra damage to living targets. High Fighting Spirits obtained the reward "Forgotten One Helmet" (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Stamina +85, Strength +77, Tactics +10. Increases user¡¯s Attack by 9%. Outstanding Property: Critical hit rate increased by 4%. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun obtained the reward "Earth Lizard Youngling" (Dark Gold Rank Mount, Pet) Next, Fei¡¯er summoned with a smile, "Purple Lily, Dragon God Temple, The Monarch Descends, and Dirge of War, please come up the stage and draw your reward!" ¡­¡­ You could practically see the saliva dripping down everyone¡¯s mouths. I should¡¯ve known that the reward of a CGL-hosted tournament would be awesome. If the past rewards were this amazing already, I couldn¡¯t even imagine what the champions and the runner-ups would get! At any rate, everything was turning out great so far. The stats were amazing, the level requirement matched their levels perfectly, and even the lousiest equipment our second seed got was still a 3-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment! Everyone else drew their lots as well. Purple Lily¡¯s Moonkiss got a 4-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade cape, and Luo River God of the Capital got a super necklace that increased her Magic Attack by 25%. Countless people envied her for it! The guild leader of The Monarch Descends, Ling Xueshang, also got a pair of powerful 4-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade leather armor boots! ¡­¡­ Everyone¡¯s excitement level was still climbing higher. It wouldn¡¯t reach its peak until the final draw. After that, it was the third and fourth place parties¡¯ turn to draw their lots, and Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon both went up the stage. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s expression was still a little gloomy because they were aiming to win the entire thing, only to be stopped not at the final, but the semifinals. It was a huge failure for a guild like Candle Dragon. The reward for the third and fourth place team were even crazier than the previous ones of course. Warsky got a powerful 3-star Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade sword. Candlelight Shadow got a 4-star Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade armor with insane Defense. Long story short, even the unluckiest person of the bunch got a 4-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment for their trouble. Speaking of which, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s armor was the best of the bunch. Besides that, they also got 2 levels, 2 Luck and 200k RMB prize money! Finally, it was our turn to go up the stage. Fei¡¯er announced with a smile, "Next, we would like the runner-up, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, to come up the stage!" "Time to go¡­" I rose to my feet and rubbed my palms together. "Do you think we have a chance to draw Spirit-grade equipment?" Beiming Xue giggled. "It¡¯s not impossible, but your karma will have to be very good. While we were chatting earlier, I remember Fei¡¯er saying that the chances to draw a Spirit-grade equipment were 10% for the runner-ups, and 40% for the champions." "I see. Let¡¯s go then, everyone!" "Yeah!" The girls and I went up the stage first. Li Chengfeng lagged behind a little and had to chug down his cola as quickly as he could. Soon, the five of us were standing in front of the instruments and placing our palms on the glowing glass that was the scanner. I shivered a little as my consciousness became merged with the system. The draw began after I gave the order! Beep! He Yi¡¯s reward was displayed on the screen first¡ª Soul Suppressing Necklace (Spirit Grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï) Strength: +100 Stamina: +92 Tactics: +21 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 22% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Resist by 35% Outstanding Property: Accuracy, physical attacks very rarely miss Slots: 3 Level Requirement: 110 ¡­¡­ "Wow! A 3-star Outstanding Spirit-grade equipment?" He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open in joy. She most likely didn¡¯t imagine that her luck would be this good today. Not only did she get Spirit-grade equipment, it was one with 3 Outstanding stars! He Yi¡¯s karma must be amazing for her to hit that 10% chance like it was nothing. Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, and Murong Mingyue¡¯s rewards also appeared¡ª Li Chengfeng obtained the reward "Skull of Sinister Smile Battle Armor" (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 355 Defense, 320 Magic Resist, Stamina +96, Strength +85, Tactics +11. Increases user¡¯s Defense by 17%. Outstanding Property: Terrify, chance to terrify the enemy into running away. Beiming Xue obtained the reward "Frozen Thorns Wristguards" (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 275 Defense, 220 Magic Resist, Agility +95, Stamina +88, Tactics +12. Increases max HP by 20%. Outstanding Property: Critical rate increased by 7% Murong Mingyue obtained the reward "Necklace of Scorching Kiss Mark" (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï): Stamina +100, Intelligence +95, Tactics +14. Increases healing output by 37%. Outstanding Property: Pity, healing critical hit rate increased by 20% ¡­¡­ We were all surprised. Weird name aside, Murong Mingyue was the second person after He Yi to draw a Spirit-grade necklace. Everyone else got items that greatly increased their Tactics as well. Our karma must be really good today. This was good for our future growth because there really weren¡¯t many pieces of equipment that added Tactics in the game at all. Even my Heaven-stealing Sword, as great as it was, didn¡¯t give me any Tactics! It looked like all the equipment rewards of Who Will Rise gave more or less some Tactics, further emphasizing the awesomeness of a CGL-hosted tournament. Speaking of which, Candlelight Shadow must be stewing in regret for failing to make it to the final right now. I was the only one left now. For some reason, the draw was still running even though it had been some time after I gave the order. Just when I was about to lose my patience, a melodious ding finally entered my ears¡ª System Notice: Congratulations, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" obtained the reward "God Suppressing Necklace"! ¡­¡­ God Suppressing? Necklace? I was a bit confused. Why did this equipment sound so similar to He Yi¡¯s Soul Suppressing Necklace? I looked at the big display, and all my confusion was replaced my overwhelming joy¡ª God Suppressing Necklace (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Strength: +120 Stamina: +115 Tactics: +24 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 30% Passive: Increases user¡¯s physical Defense by 30% Passive: Increases user Magic Resist against ice attacks by 50% Slots: 5 Outstanding Property: God¡¯s Rage. User enters a berserk state upon activation and crits 100% of the time. Lasts 60 seconds. Level Requirement: 110 ¡­¡­ "WTF? What is this necklace?" Li Chengfeng muttered in a daze. "This is completely broken, isn¡¯t it? 100% crit for 60 seconds? Who is a match for you after this?" I was pretty speechless myself. I had no idea that I would be able to draw something this powerful despite losing the first place to Snowy Cathaya! Chapter 419: New CGL Ranking The God Suppressing Necklace stats remained on the screen for a very, very long time. All the players and audience members were flabbergasted by what they saw¡ª "Holy shit, 5-star Outstanding equipment?!! I didn¡¯t even realize that an item like this could exist¡­ a Level 110 necklace that adds 30% Attack and physical Defense? This is seriously broken¡­" "Don¡¯t forget that 24 Tactics. Goddamn, if this isn¡¯t OP I don¡¯t know what is¡­" "What are you talking about? Those stats aren¡¯t broken, that Outstanding property is! It¡¯s 100% critical rate for 60 seconds once he activates it! There¡¯s practically no one you can¡¯t PK with this equipment!" "Tsk tsk, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is so lucky. If he could get this necklace sooner, he probably could have swept the entire Snowy Cathaya himself¡­" "Yeah, this necklace is OP as fuck. I bet it could sell for 5 million at minimum if it was auctioned. That¡¯s enough money to be basically set for life¡­" ¡­¡­ While the crowd was murmuring among themselves, I smiled at He Yi and Beiming Xue before saying, "Let¡¯s not hog the stage any longer, shall we? Anyway, it looks like we¡¯re really lucky today. I didn¡¯t think we would get 3 pieces of Spirit-grade equipment in total; that¡¯s like having a 60% chance to draw a Spirit-grade equipment¡­" He Yi bit her lips thoughtfully before saying, "Actually, I don¡¯t think this roll chance is tied to the placement. Maybe it has something to do with the actual match situation? Think about it, we might have lost to Snowy Cathaya 1-2, but it was an incredibly close match, especially the final round. Maybe that¡¯s why the system decided to increase our chances of drawing Spirit-grade equipment." "Hmm, now that you mention it, that does sound pretty likely." I nodded and led everyone down the stage. Then, I looked back and asked, "So, the 500k prize money is already transferred to our accounts. Anyone have any thoughts they want to share?" Li Chengfeng replied excitedly, "I made a ton of money without resorting to corruption! It¡¯s awesome!" He Yi and Murong Mingyue simply smiled and said nothing. Beiming Xue said happily, "I¡¯m going to transfer half of it to my mom¡¯s bank account¡­" I nodded. "You¡¯re such a good girl, Lil Beiming." Her cheeks turned red in an instant. ¡­¡­ On the stage, Fei¡¯er excitedly¡ªalmost sensually¡ªmade it to the center of the stage before declaring loudly on the mic, "Next, please welcome our new king and champion, Snowy Cathaya, to come up the stage and receive their reward!" Lin Yixin rose to her feet and walked up the stage. She was followed by Shadow Chanel, Sun Qingqing, and Beauty At First Sight. They were trailed by the calm and collected Purple Marquis as usual. Speaking of which, a keen eye would notice that he had been staring at Shadow Chanel all this time. It was practically an open secret that Purple Marquis was in love with Shadow Chanel, but the two lovebirds in question always pretended that their love was known to no one except themselves. As a result, even the lightest teasings from Lin Yixin could elicit the brightest of blushes on both their faces. It was time for the champions to draw their prize. A couple of flashes later, the results were displayed on the screen¡ª Purple Marquis obtained the reward "Sword of Sunflame" (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): 550~745 Attack, Strength +95, Stamina +82, Tactics +17. Increases user¡¯s Attack by 24%. Outstanding Property: When attacking, chance to inflict Sunflame and deal 2000 burn damage to a target. Shadow Chanel obtained the reward "Persuader¡¯s Robe" (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï): Defense 240, 175 Magic Resist, Intelligence +92, Stamina +85, Tactics +15. Fixed +2000 damage. Outstanding Property: Magic Attack critical rate increased by 9% Clear Perfume obtained the reward "Bow of the Fire Lizard" (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): 475~620 Attack, Agility +95, Stamina +87, Tactics +14. Increases physical attack power by 15%. Outstanding Property: 10% chance to activate Fire Lizard¡¯s Breath, deals additional 50% burn damage to a target Beauty At First Sight obtained the reward "Scorching Scepter" (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 440~595 Attack, Intelligence +85, Stamina +80, Tactics +12. Increases Magic Attack by 17%. Outstanding Property: Max HP increased by 2500 Wind Fantasy obtained the reward "Armor of Chaotic Storm" (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 500 Defense, 475 Magic Resist, Stamina +115, Strength +110, Tactics +22. Increases Defense and Magic Resist by 25%. Outstanding Property: Absorb, 25% chance to absorb 50% of the damage taken ¡­¡­ It looked like the crowd wouldn¡¯t be quieting down anytime soon. It was because four out of five players in Snowy Cathaya had drawn Outstanding Spirit-grade equipment! Outstanding equipment had started dropping since the new patch, but the drop rate wasn¡¯t all that high at all. Looking at the rules, the chances that high-level Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment would be Outstanding was less than 5%, and for Spirit-grade equipment, less than 2%. Who could¡¯ve thought that the prize pool of Who Will Rise was so OP that almost everyone had drawn Outstanding equipment!? Out of everyone in Snowy Cathaya, Lin Yixin¡¯s prize was the best of them all. The 4-star Outstanding Spirit-grade Armor of Chaotic Storm had amazing stats and a 25% chance to absorb 50% of damage taken. It was almost as good as Gui Guzi¡¯s Undying Shield! Was she trying to shame our Undying Knight to his grave? Also, +25% Defense and Magic Resist was just too good, no matter the situation! I smiled a little. The biggest winners of this Who Will Rise tournament were without a doubt Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls; Lin Yixin and me. Our glory had completely outshined Candlelight Shadow, which made me wonder what the man was thinking right now. There must be a ton of doom and gloom rolling inside his head, right? Suddenly, Fei¡¯er glanced at me and gave me a smile. She then said, "Finally, we would like to invite our MVP player, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, to come up the stage and receive his reward. Ah, please stay here for the moment, friends from Snowy Cathaya! We have an event we would like to announce after this!" "Oh?" As I rose to my feet, He Yi shot me a look of praise and said, "Time to go. I wonder what the MVP reward will be? At any rate, it can¡¯t be lousier than Beauty Yi¡¯s prize even though we were just the runner-up¡­" "Mn." I strode up the stage and confirmed my identity once more. The word "MVP" started flashing rapidly on the big display. After Fei¡¯er gave me the signal, I pressed the start button on the screen and watched the image change to a swirl of flowing data. Suddenly, Fei¡¯er said in a soft tone, "Do you know that the best reward you can draw from the MVP prize pool is not a Spirit-grade equipment, Lu Chen?" "Oh?" I perked up in surprise. She must mean that the prize was higher than Spirit-grade then. What could it be, I wonder? Immortal-grade, Earth-grade, Heaven-grade? Speaking of which, a new update patch had refreshed the equipment grades. They were now Silver, Gold, Dark Gold, Purple Gold, Spirit, Earth, Heaven, Immortal and finally, a yet unknown grade. Anyway, back to the present. I wondered if she meant an Earth-grade item? The image suddenly came to a stop, and my reward appeared on the screen: Level +4, Luck +5, 2 million RMB prize money, and¡ª God Suppressing Helmet (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 520 Magic Resist: 465 Strength: +120 Stamina: +115 Tactics: +20 Passive: Increases user¡¯s HP by a fixed number of 2400 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 20% Outstanding Property: Mad Assault, increases user¡¯s Attack and attack speed by 15% Slots: 5 Level Requirement: 115 ¡­¡­ I nearly turned into stone at that moment. Holy motherfucking shit, it was a jackpot; another 5-star Outstanding Spirit-grade item! Not only was it the same set as the God Suppressing Necklace, its stats were maddeningly powerful. Its Defense was of course amazing, but it also gave me 235 free stats and 20 Tactics. There was no need for me to explain why 2400 fixed HP and +20% Defense were awesome, right? That Outstanding Property dwarfed even that, however. +15% Attack and attack speed, all in one helmet? This was even better than so-called "divine-grade" equipment! I had to suck in deep breaths to calm myself down. Is this my turning point? I thought to myself. My chances of beating Candlelight Shadow in a 1v1 are probably over 80% now, aren¡¯t they? Pop! Before I knew it, a system notice on the display informed me that the equipment had been deposited into my bag. Behind me, Lin Yixin¡¯s sweet laughter soothed me. "Congratulations, Lu Chen! The helmet aside, the rest of the MVP rewards are amazing as well¡­" I looked back at her and smiled. "Thanks, Yiyi." ¡­¡­ After that, we all looked at Fei¡¯er and waited. She was the one who said that the show wasn¡¯t over yet. Fei¡¯er said with a smile, "Please wait a moment, the new CGL ranking points have just been tallied. Now, we would like to invite the vice president of Moon Eternal Corporation China Branch to announce the new CGL ranking!" It wasn¡¯t long before a group of people walked out from the back stage. The person at the forefront was an incredibly beautiful woman wearing a coffee-colored uniform, and the people behind her were all bodyguards dressed in black. I¡­ knew this woman. She was¡­ she was Qin Yun, the person who helped me find a blood donor for me back in Nanjing! "Hi, Lu Chen, long time no see!" Qin Yun gave me a smile before shooting Lin Yixin a meaningful glance. "So you¡¯re the legendary Beautiful Little Pepper. You¡¯re definitely as beautiful as the rumors say¡­" Lin Yixin was surprised that she knew her. "Who are you?" ¡°Who am I?" Qin Yun shot me a weird look before motioning for Fei¡¯er to continue the announcement. The host picked up her mic again and said, "We announced that the MVP of this tournament would enter the CGL Hall of Fame, but Lu Chen is already a CGL Hall of Famer. Therefore, we will choose the player behind Lu Chen to become a CGL Hall of Famer instead! Please announce the new addition to the Hall of Fame, Vice President Qin Yun." An attendant walked up the stage while holding a wrapped up electronic board. Qin Yun walked up to her, pulled away the red cloth wrapped around it and revealed a line of text¡ª Wind Fantasy. Real name: Lin Yixin. Former ID: Beautiful Little Pepper ¡­¡­ I smiled. "Congratulations, Yiyi! You¡¯ve finally entered the CGL Hall of Fame!" Lin Yixin nodded and replied softly, "Yeah, I can beat you up anytime I want now¡­" Me: "..." At the same time, the new ranking of the CGL Hall of Fame was displayed on the big screen behind us. Qin Yun was sighing to herself and saying, "Ai, once upon a time I was a CGL Hall of Famer too. Time truly waits for no one¡­" New CGL Hall of Fame Ranking 1-5: Frivolous Scholar, Vegetable Tofu Soup, Murong Shanshan, Seven-Star Lamp, Windy Snow 6-10: Candlelight Shadow, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Wind That Touches The Moon, Zhi Yun¡¯er, Power Cooker 11-15: Farewell Song, Luo River God of the Capital, Wind Fantasy, Ling Xueshang, A Dust 16-20: Moonkiss, God¡¯s Dance, Tempest Shadow, October Rain, Blue Sky Scar 21-25: Lonely Grave, Laughing At The Heavens, Blood Red, Transient Smoke and Clouds, Transient Chapter 420: Kiss Me The new ranking was finally announced. The Fruit Knife Goddess had entered the CGL Hall of Fame and claimed the 13th spot in dominant fashion. It was a powerful entrance for sure. Candlelight Shadow and my ranking had increased greatly as well. Candlelight Shadow had jumped from the 7th to the 6th place, while I had jumped from the 12th to the 7th place. I was now right behind him. The CGL ranking wasn¡¯t constant, and points were awarded based on a players¡¯ results in tournaments, guild wars, Nation Wars and so on. Naturally, retired players would keep sliding down the rankings until they were ultimately gone. It was just how competition worked. Lonely Grave and Blood Red were players who shook the gaming world back in their time, but even they had dropped past the 20th place. It was a lamentable sight for sure. Besides that, Farewell Song, Moonkiss, Luo River God of the Capital, and others also did well in Who Will Rise and experienced an increase in ranking. Farewell Song¡¯s performance was especially noteworthy. He was one of the fastest players to shoot up the rankings. ¡­¡­ Qin Yun left in a hurry after she gave the announcement. Apparently, she still had a lot of work to do. The curtain finally fell on the Who Will Rise tournament, and while the closing ceremony was going on Fei¡¯er walked between me and Lin Yixin before asking teasingly, ¡°Do you have anything to say to Lu Chen, Lin Yixin? Remember, he was the direct competitor who almost snatched victory from your hands~¡± This Fei¡¯er sure knows how to give me trouble! Lin Yixin looked at me with her beautiful eyes before smiling teasingly. ¡°You bastard¡­¡± Fei¡¯er blinked once before moving the mic to me. ¡°And do you have anything to say to Beauty Lin, Lu Chen?¡± Me: ¡°Fuck¡­¡± The entire place erupted into laughter. Our exchange was brief, but it seemed that a magical layer of something added to our relationship. ¡­¡­ When the dinner feast was done, the players started packing their things and going home to greet their mothers and family. We however, decided to stay one more night so we could face tomorrow¡¯s battles with a fresh head. Our victory in Who Will Rise was just temporary, and we couldn¡¯t afford to let up, be it in terms of grinding or contending for territories. There were still plenty of things to be done before we could truly establish ourselves in Sky City! Since no one was in the mood to grind levels, Chaos Moon suggested that we go to a KTV and sing the night away. We agreed because it had been a while since our last gathering. Fragrant Rose KTV was located at Xujiahui, one of the busiest districts of Shanghai. After getting stuck in a traffic jam for half an hour, we decided to get off our taxis and walk there instead. It only took us twenty minutes to reach our destination. Li Chengfeng bit a beer cap and popped it open in one smooth motion, impressing Chaos Moon into a small clap. ¡°You have pretty strong teeth, dragon warrior!¡± Li Chengfeng laughed humbly. ¡°Oh, this is nothing. Back in the day I could crack open even the ammo of an armored car!¡± I rolled my eyes at him. ¡°Can you please put a hand beneath your jaw so it won¡¯t break from the sheer size of your boast?¡± Xu Yang tried to copy Li Chengfeng, and he succeeded. However, he also succeeded in breaking half of his incisor; the broken tooth spinning on the table in front of He Yi and me like the totem from the movie ¡°Inception¡±. Who would¡¯ve thought that Xu Yang¡¯s totem would be something like this? Li Chengfeng raised his beer bottle and gave me a smile. ¡°Wanna drink to beating Candle Dragon and celebrating the rise of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± I nodded and drank the whole thing in several gulps. Beside me, He Yi said worriedly, ¡°Slow down, you¡¯re going to hurt your liver like this¡­¡± Murong Mingyue giggled from the side. ¡°So what? It doesn¡¯t matter as long as his kidneys are fine, does it?¡± He Yi: ¡°...¡± Beiming Xue blinked innocently. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Not far away, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were screeching into the mic like banshees and torturing our eardrums, so I prodded Chaos Moon hastily. ¡°Chaos Moon, please take the mic away from them! Superstars sing for money, but these people are going to claim our lives if they keep this up!¡± Chaos Moon giggled before running over to High Fighting Spirits and snatching the mic out of his hands. ¡°Go back to drinking, guysl. This isn¡¯t your battlefield.¡± The trio obediently went back to their seats and duked it out with the beer in their hands. Everyone was pretty happy today. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had never made it far in any tournament until now, much less advance with two parties to the Top 16. Moreover, we all got amazing equipment rewards that were better than even the boss drops at the current stage. Even bosses didn¡¯t drop Outstanding equipment unless the last hitter had incredibly good luck, but today everyone¡ªexcept Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, who got a mount pet egg¡ªhad gotten excellent Outstanding equipment for their efforts! Chaos Moon turned out to be a pretty good singer and dancer. Unfortunately, that also meant that we had to move to the corners so that she wouldn¡¯t bump into us. Damn that girl! Can¡¯t a man drink in peace? Still, I couldn¡¯t deny that it was enjoyable to drink beer, chow down on the spicy duck neck Gui Guzi bought ,and watch a beautiful girl sing and dance just meters away from me. Clink! I couldn¡¯t remember how many times I clinked bottles with Li Chengfeng at this point. All I remembered was that I had drained the entire thing in one gulp again. Even He Yi had given up on me. As long as I didn¡¯t drink myself to death. It wasn¡¯t long before a row of empty beer bottles were stacked in front of me. Okay, this was definitely a bit too much. Not far away, High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were leaning against each other with their eyes closed like a good gay couple. High Fighting Spirits was even hugging Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s waist. Murong Mingyue curled her lips. ¡°Are they fucking each other?¡± I rolled my eyes at her. ¡°How the fuck would I know?¡± Li Chengfeng laughed loudly before lifting his beer bottle again. ¡°Come, Lu Chen! Let us blow another one for our gay couple¡­¡± I nodded before shooting him a suspicious look. ¡°Why do I feel like you¡¯re trying to get me drunk?¡± ¡°Haha, what are you talking about? I¡¯m the alcohol tolerance officer of the Communist Party, and I¡¯m just testing the alcohol tolerance of a fellow comrade!¡± ¡°Well, what are you waiting for then? Cheers!¡± ¡­¡­ The party continued until past 11 pm. We were lucky the KTV we chose operated past midnight as well. Almost everyone was lights-out and lying on the floor, including Li Chengfeng, the so-called alcohol tolerance officer. He was just an under-the-table officer now. I licked my lips and tried to stand up. My head was a bit dizzy as a matter of course. I looked to my side and saw Murong Mingyue lying atop of the sofa like she owned the place. He Yi hurriedly rose to her feet and held me steady, asking, ¡°Where are you going?¡± ¡°Just feeling a little stuffy. Was hoping to catch some fresh air outside.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll keep you company. I don¡¯t want you to fall asleep on the corridor.¡± ¡°Hehe, don¡¯t worry, it¡¯ll be fine¡­¡± He Yi insisted on supporting me anyway, so we went to the open balcony at the top floor. It just stopped raining outside, so the air was especially cool and fresh. I felt more clear-headed already staring at the white moon and feeling a cold breeze caressing my skin. I was still holding a beer bottle in one hand, so I leaned against the handrails and took a sip of beer. Then, I looked at my beautiful guild leader. He Yi wore a light purple dress tonight. She was staring at me sternly while the moonlight illuminated her pale white face, ¡°You seriously drank too much today¡­¡± I smiled back. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± I looked down a little and suddenly noticed that two of the shirt buttons had come loose. The smooth, milky flesh beneath her shirt looked like they would break free of the constraints of the third button as well. Her long and well-toned legs looked especially attractive under the moonlight. I had to hide a sigh of admiration. For a moment, I wondered which goddess it was who created He Yi in her own image. He Yi snatched my bottle from my hands and took a sip herself. However, she looked like she was struggling to decide whether to laugh or cry for some reason. Standing quietly in front of me, she asked, ¡°Lu Chen, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls won second place in Who Will Rise, right? Tell me it¡¯s not a dream¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°It¡¯s real.¡± Suddenly, her shoulders started shaking as a pair of tears trailed down her soft cheeks. She looked at the night sky and murmured to herself, ¡°I¡­ I¡¯ve finally fulfilled her wish¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Eve?¡± I gently held her shoulders. He Yi was really not acting like herself today. ¡°Lu Chen, do you know that I¡¯m not actually the founder of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?¡± He Yi said quietly. I was surprised. ¡°What? But¡­ How is that possible?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± He Yi nodded. Her tears continued to flow down her cheeks uncontrollably. ¡°I created Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to fulfill a promise to someone, and today I¡¯ve finally done it¡­¡± I asked, ¡°Who is this person? And what happened in the past? How come I¡¯ve never heard any of this?¡± He Yi stared at me tearfully before she begged, ¡°Please don¡¯t ask me about this, okay? I¡­ I really don¡¯t want to recall that past.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I simply hugged her and kept quiet. I could physically feel her shaking slightly in my arms. I had never thought I would never see her, the genius girl and internationally accomplished businesswoman, cry like this. Just what on earth happened to her in the past? I didn¡¯t ask her about her past just as she had asked me to. She would tell me herself when it was time. All I¡¯m going to do now is stay by her side and help her fulfill her promise, no matter what it is. After all, it seemed aligned with my own promise, the promise to conquer the world with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. He Yi felt a little warm in my embrace. We remained like this for a very, very long time before she finally looked up again and chuckled beside my ear. ¡°Did you miss me while I was overseas?¡± ¡°I¡­ I think so¡­¡± I was stuttering a little for some reason. Was it because I drank so much that my tongue had stiffened on me for some reason? The next moment, He Yi looked into my eyes, and I looked into hers. Her exquisite face looked incredibly attractive beneath the moonlight. Her red lips, her deep eyes; everything was just so¡­ beautiful. She wrapped her arms around my neck and slowly pressed her lips to mine. It was a deep, warm and long kiss. We were both complete noobs in this regard, but that didn¡¯t prevent us from enjoying this moment to our hearts¡¯ content. Her eyes closed, He Yi kissed me very seriously and earnestly. Her entire body was pressed up against mine, and I couldn¡¯t help but be intoxicated by the sensation of her chest pressing against my body. Some time later, we finally separated and stared at each other. He Yi gave me a smile before asking, ¡°Do you think you love me, Lu Chen?¡± I was both dazed and caught off-guard by her question. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know. I only know that I want to stay by your side. I¡­ don¡¯t want you to be sad. I want to fulfill my promise to you. I want to beat everyone and give you what you wish for¡­¡± He Yi giggled. ¡°Oh you! How dare you kiss someone you aren¡¯t even sure you love!¡± I muttered, ¡°You were the one who kissed me¡­¡± ¡°You¡­¡± ¡°I, uh¡­ I need to go¡­¡± I sounded the gong of retreat. ¡°Go where?¡± He Yi asked. ¡°The bathroom¡­¡± I barged through the door and stumbled my way downstairs. Chapter 421: Royal Road The next day, very early in the morning, we bade Fei¡¯er goodbye before going our separate ways. It was time to return to Suzhou. Luckily for us, the traffic was pretty smooth today, so we reached our workshop around 9 am or so. I went online. It was time to check out the equipment I had won in the tournament! Swhoosh! I appeared at Sky City as a Level 115 Undead Swordsman. One of the rewards of being the runner-up of Who Will Rise was 2 levels, and the MVP reward was another 4, so I had gotten 6 free levels in total. I was sure that Candlelight Shadow was rolling in envy right now. How many days would it take for him to grind and catch up to my level? How many more days would it take if I grinded just as hard and widened the gap even more? Alternatively, I could do something else to strengthen the guild and prepare for the upcoming wars. ¡­¡­ But first, I opened my bag and stared at the God Suppressing Necklace and God Suppressing Helmet. Two 5-star Outstanding Spirit-grade items, man. This is so awesome! I equipped them immediately and felt a tremendous surge of energy inside my body. I was actually shocked when I checked my own stats¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Purgatory Thunder) Class: Undead Swordsman (Dark Gold Swordsman) Level: 115 HP: 12200 Attack: 1674~2130 Defense: 1920 Magic Resist: 1715 Reputation: 120764 Tactics: 119 Luck: 22 ¡­¡­ Incredible. My max HP was now 12200 thanks to the +2400 HP from the God Suppressing Helmet. I also had over 2100 max Attack and almost 2000 Defense¡ªin fact, my real Defense should be equal to a 3000-Defense player because of my skills, equipment passives and properties. I also had 22 Luck. This meant that I had better chances than most to hit my max Attack value or dropping good items! More importantly, I now had 119 Tactics, which meant that the effectiveness of my Tactics skill was boosted by 119%. In other words, instead of the base 40%, Martial God now boosted my Attack by a whopping 87.6%. How awesome is that? After that, I tossed the Explosion Necklace and Purgatory Helmet into the sales corner of Air Force One for sale. Both equipment were still pretty good by today¡¯s standards, so I expected them to sell almost a hundred RMB each. Long story short, my overall strength had improved drastically after the Who Will Rise tournament! ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a beautiful knight walked out of Sky City¡¯s inn. It was none other than He Yi, of course. She walked up to me with a smile and asked, "Do you want to see my mount, Lu Chen?" "Sure!" "Okay!" "Have you learned Mount yet?" I asked. "Of course!" He Yi smiled and pulled herself up her horse. She looked ridiculously cool the way she was holding the reins with her left hand and the Soul Stealing Spear with her right. The mount itself was cool enough, but the way her armor glinted under the sunlight made her look even cooler. Sigh, the spring of Knights had finally arrived! All around us, a lot of Sky City players were shooting us looks of astonishment. Although the mount system had been open for some time, and all magic knights and wanderers above Level 100 could learn the skill "Mount", the actual mount itself was so god damn rare that even the Fruit Knife Goddess herself didn¡¯t have one yet, let alone everyone else! Therefore, it was only natural that a magic knight as beautiful as He Yi riding a mount this handsome would draw looks from her surroundings. "Can I see the stats of your mount, Eve?" I grabbed the reins of the Windchaser and asked. "Mn." He Yi nodded, added me into her party and shared her mount¡¯s stats with me. I was surprised by what I saw¡ª Snow Domain Windchaser (Purple Rank Mount) Strength: +240 Stamina: +220 Attack Increase: +14% Defense Increase: +10% Attack Speed: +35% Movement Speed: +75% Attack Range: +25 Yards Max HP: +4000 Turn Rate: -70% Mount Tenacity: +30% Passive: Movement state cannot be easily interrupted, resistance to ice magic +40% Level Requirement: 100 Reputation Requirement: 40000 ¡­¡­ I was speechless for a moment. I already knew that a mount could transform a player and boost their power to a whole new level, but the sheer amount of stats a high-rank mount like the Snow Domain Windchaser could provide still startled me. Not only did a mount boost its rider¡¯s Attack, Defense and HP drastically, it also gave the rider the ability to attack from range. The era of cavalry had finally arrived! "What¡¯s wrong? Don¡¯t you want to make a comment or something?" He Yi said with a smile. I shook my head. "What can I say? I suppose I regret not picking magic knight as my class back then¡­" He Yi burst into a giggle before climbing down her mount and grabbing my arm. She said, "Relax, I¡¯ve read through the official data, and I read that Mounts aren¡¯t completely locked to other melee classes. If you¡¯re Level 150, after sixth promotion and a Famous General, then you will automatically get a mount pet slot." "Really?" My excitement bubbled. If He Yi was right, then all I needed to do was grind to Level 150! I was already a Famous General after all. "Of course it¡¯s real. Why would I lie to you?" He Yi smiled again. "This is great!" I gave her a tight hug before letting go. "It¡¯s still early. Do you have any plans for the morning? Are you going to grind some levels or?" He Yi replied, "It¡¯s a bit unrealistic to find a new leveling map right now, and I¡¯m sitting at 99% experience right now. Why don¡¯t I kill a couple of mobs at Sky Forest and level up to 109 first before we come to a decision?" "Sure. See you later!" ¡­¡­ I checked my own experience bar and noted that I was a long, long way away from hitting the next Level. In fact, I could grind for three days straight and still not hit Level 116. Oh well, it was always going to get harder and harder to level up. I had leveled up 6 times thanks to Who Will Rise and had fun admiring my loot, so it was now time to get to work. I decided to level up my Cooking to Rank 10 first. I had plenty of time anyway. To do that, I needed to make Rank 9 Magic Consumables, and to make Rank 9 Magic Consumables, I needed to seek out a new food ingredient called the Dragonfish Meat! Of course, when I said dragonfish, I didn¡¯t mean arowanas. Oh no, this dragonfish was the kind that could totally kill someone if they weren¡¯t careful. I brought up the official forums and searched for the term "dragonfish¡±. As I thought, a lot of people shared similar thoughts as I. There was a surprising number of high-level chefs, it seemed! I found what I was looking for a while later. In Sky City¡¯s borders, there was a seashore called the Crystal Coast. The Dragonfish could be found in the shallow water areas. Apparently, a Dragonfish was a mixed breed between the mythical fish Aoyu and a low-level dragon. This creature was violent by nature and amphibious, meaning that it could be found on land as well. They were carnivorous animals with a disgusting Attack, and countless brave hunters who tried to hunt them down became the hunted and were turned into fish excrement. It was why not a single Rank 9 Magic Consumable had appeared on the market yet even though the Crystal Coast was known to all three super cities for a while already. However, I was now a Level 116 super expert. I think it¡¯s time I take a look at this Dragonfish! ¡­¡­ After repairing my equipment and stocking up on pots and Magic Consumables, I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and went on my merry way! I still had a long way to go even after I had passed through Sky Forest. From where I was, Crystal Coast was about an hour away on foot. Still, it would be worth the effort if I could gather the Dragonfish Meat and grind my levels at the same time. It was around this time Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue joined He Yi¡¯s party. Murong Mingyue asked, "Eh, where is Lu Chen? And what are you doing, Eve?" He Yi sounded excited on her end. "Oh, I¡¯m soloing a Level 110 Dark Gold¨Cgrade boss called the Porcupine King. I had already deleted one-third of his HP, hehe¡­" "Ah?" Murong Mingyue exclaimed in astonishment. "Since when is our Eve this brave? Where are you? I¡¯m coming to help. Don¡¯t die before I make it there, please¡­" "It¡¯s fine, really~" I could hear the confidence in He Yi¡¯s voice. "With my current Defense and HP, I can tank everything with just War God Recovery!" Well, that was true. He Yi was a walking fortress right now, not to mention that she had the Level 100 magic knight skill, "War God Recovery¡±. The skill healed her for 100% HP in 60 seconds, and with her mount equipped, she had almost 20k HP and over 3000 Defense. At her current stats, it would probably be harder for her to kill herself! ¡­¡­ I continued on my journey until finally, a salt-scented wind tickled my nose. Crystal Coast, here I come! Even from afar, I could see that the coast was covered in bushes of beautiful, translucent crystals about two humans tall. It was no wonder it was called Crystal Coast. Rustle rustle¡­ I strode across the sandy ground with the Heaven-stealing Sword at the ready. Beside me, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf suddenly bared its fangs and let out a low growl. Clearly, there must be a powerful mob directly ahead of us. As I thought, a wild animal covered in golden scales emerged from behind a clump of crystals. It looked like a fish, but it had a pair of legs and a flapping tail that enabled it to move on land. In fact, it moved way faster than you might expect from something its size, and the rows of sharp teeth inside its mouth looked motor-powered and strong enough to bite through anything. The creature stared at me murderously with its black eyes. That¡¯s right, it was none other than the legendary dragonfish I came to kill, a powerful mob that could crush metal armor with its teeth. I scanned its stats and found it as powerful as I expected it to be¡ª Crystal Dragonfish (Shadow) Level: 140 Attack: 1550~1780 Defense: 1550 HP: 100000 Skills: Mad Strike, Devour, Rend Introduction: A fearsome beast that lives at Crystal Coast, the Crystal Dragonfish is as violent as it is powerful. It has a huge appetite, and most of its time is spent roaming about in starvation. Therefore, it will never let go of any potential prey. ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t help but smile at the mob¡¯s introduction text. What a coincidence, I was here to look for food as well. I wondered which was sharper, the Heaven-stealing Sword in my hand or the dragonfish¡¯s teeth? I locked onto the Crystal Dragonfish and activated Thunderous Charge! Whoosh! It was a successful stun. Next, I dished out a two-hit Ice Ray + Desperate Gambit combo! I wanted to freeze it first so I could kill it easier! 5012! 6435! Two huge damage numbers appeared above its head. As I thought, my Attack had increased by leaps and bounds after I equipped the God Suppressing Necklace and God Suppressing Helmet. The necklace boosted my Attack by 30%, and the helmet buffed my Attack and attack speed by 15%. It was only natural my damage would soar! The dragonfish screamed in pain when my sword sank into its flesh. I noted that the cry of a fish sounded weirdly sorrowful for some reason. It tried to mount a counterattack, but it wasn¡¯t nearly powerful enough to bite through my Defense. It did only 700 damage or so; so little that my HP regeneration alone was enough to keep me above 90% HP at all times. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a system ding swept across the coast¡ª Ding~! Chapter 422: Insigh WTF! Did He Yi really just become a Famous General by killing a porcupine? What kind of karma is that¡­ I brought up the Famous General Ranking, and it looked like my eyes and ears weren¡¯t deceiving me. China now had four Famous Generals, and He Yi¡¯s new Famous General Skill was called ¡°Royal Road¡±. When I clicked on it to check its effects, I was surprised by what I saw¡ª Royal Road: Intimidate your opponents with your eminence. Increase all party members¡¯ stats by 15% and lower all enemies¡¯ stats by 15%. Skill exclusive to player "From Water"! ¡­¡­ Royal Road was a two-way skill that increased all allied stats by 15% and reduced all enemy stats by 15% at the same time. It had its advantages and its disadvantages compared to Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell, but long story short, both skills were about the same. Moreover, both skills were inferior to my Martial God when it came to PvE! Inside the party channel, the girls were exploding in joy¡ª Murong Mingyue: "Eve¡¯s luck is seriously amazing these last couple days. Who would¡¯ve thought that she would become a Famous General right after Who Will Rise?" Beiming Xue laughed. "Yeah. This Royal Road is so powerful. I think it¡¯s as good as Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell in PvP!" He Yi giggled. "Yes, I was just lucky. The rest of you should do your best as well. If you level up by killing a boss, your chances of becoming a Famous General should be much higher." ¡­¡­ I congratulated He Yi briefly but didn¡¯t dive into a conversation. I had some grinding to do. It had been a while since the start of the World Famous General patch. By design, anyone who became a World Famous General was going to be extremely useful in all future battles. Moreover, Famous Generals could party twice the amount of players others could. For example, the biggest party a Level 100 fourth-promotion player could make was a 20-man party, but a Famous General at the same level could make a 40-man party and share their buff with everyone. This was incredibly useful, of course. Famous Generals were definitely going to play a major role in upcoming guild territory wars and Nation Wars! A normal Level 120 fifth-promotion player could make a 100-man party while a Famous General could make a 200-man party. A normal Level 150 and sixth-promotion player could make a 200-man party while a Famous General could make a 400-man party. How epic would it be for a Famous General with 400 elite troops behind them to rampage in and out of an enemy formation, leaving countless corpses in their wake? Not only that, I had a feeling that upcoming battles would be decided by the number of Famous Generals a guild or a nation had, not the number of top-tier players. The more Famous Generals a guild had, the deadlier their guild would become, so Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls should do our utmost to nurture our players into Famous Generals! I did some quick thinking before messaging everyone in the guild channel. "Li Chengfeng, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon¡­ as you already know, our guild leader has recently become a Famous General. Now it¡¯s your turn. Once you hit 99% experience, I want you to stop grinding and find a boss¡ªany boss¡ªto kill. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls must have six Famous Generals at least in a month¡¯s time!" "Got it!" Everyone replied excitedly before going back to the grind. Of course, I said that, but bosses weren¡¯t actually easy to find. Low-rank bosses would be dead in the hands of low-level players already, but high-rank bosses were always going to be a hassle to kill. He Yi became a Famous General only because her luck was completely off the charts today. Well, I should get back to my own task. I continued killing the Crystal Dragonfishes and looting the Dragonfish Meat in hopes of increasing my Cooking skill to Rank 10 today. After that, I should embark on a new journey. ¡­¡­ I grinded until noon before I logged out and had lunch with the girls at a Hunan restaurant. After we returned to the workshop, it was grinding and even more grinding. Hard work was the key to success. About 4 pm or so, a system announcement dinged across Crystal Coast again¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Purple Marquis (Sky City)" has successfully defeated the Dark Gold Rank Boss, Cunning Fire Rabbit, and reached Level 110. They have met the criteria to become a Famous General, and they are the fifth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +2, and the exclusive Famous General Skill, "Insight"! Insight: 30% chance to see through the opponent¡¯s stratagem and neutralize it for 600 seconds. The maximum success rate of this skill is 70%. Success rate depends on the player¡¯s Tactics. ¡­¡­ God damn, I wasn¡¯t expecting another Famous General to emerge on the same day. Also what is this grinding speed? He¡¯s at the same level as Lin Yixin now! No wonder he is the strongest general of Snowy Cathaya! Insight was an interesting skill. Upon activation, it had a 70% chance of seeing through the opponent¡¯s stratagem and neutralizing it. It was basically the Heavenblessed version of Seven Harms Fist. Insight was a pure debuff that didn¡¯t benefit the skill user or his allies in any way, but it was still pretty amazing especially if Purple Marquis gained enough Tactics to hit the percentage cap. A skill that stopped its target from using a stratagem for 10 whole minutes was absolutely vicious! The guild channel erupted into activity again as everyone expressed their astonishment. Who would¡¯ve thought that Purple Marquis would become a Famous General on the same day as He Yi? I did a rough calculation in my head. Purple Marquis currently had around 60 Tactics or so, so the success rate of Insight should be around 50%. It was still scary. Insight wasn¡¯t a channeling skill, so he could theoretically seal off his enemy¡¯s stratagem first and swap out the Famous General Skill for a high-rank Encourage, buffing himself for around 20% Attack. It was a huge advantage, no matter how you looked at it! That being said, it wasn¡¯t like I was the one who gained that Famous General Skill, so after my initial surprise I tossed the revelation to the back of my mind and went back to the grind again. Who knows, maybe all the Famous Generals of China would show up today. In fact, it felt like the requirements to become a Famous General had loosened a bit after the end of Who Will Rise. Otherwise, He Yi and Purple Marquis shouldn¡¯t have been able to become Famous Generals this easily. Of course, this was a good thing. There was no telling if there was a cap on the number of Famous Generals¡ªit could be a hundred, a thousand, or there could be no cap at all¡ªbut the faster our people became Famous Generals, the better. At around 7 pm or so, the China servers well and truly exploded with shock as the system announced yet the birth of another Famous General¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Beiming Xue (Sky City)" has successfully defeated the Dark Gold Rank Boss, Dark Shadow, and reached Level 109. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the sixth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and the exclusive Famous General Skill, "Bow God"! Bow God: Beseech the power of the ancient Bow God and increase ranged physical attack power by 50% and attack speed by 20% for all party members. Skill exclusive to player "Beiming Xue"! ¡­¡­ My eyes widened into saucers. 50% ranged attack power and 20% attack speed were crazy enough, but that was just the base effect of the skill. If multiplied with Beiming Xue¡¯s Tactics¡ªshe had almost 100 Tactics right now¡ªthat was almost 100% Attack and 40% attack speed¡­ Is this real? Isn¡¯t this completely broken? I must admit that all three Famous General Skills in our guild were pretty powerful thus far. The power of Martial God needed not be said, Royal Road¡¯s 15% debuff plus 15% buff was absolutely amazing, and Beiming Xue¡¯s Bow God was¡­ let¡¯s just say that, despite being an archer exclusive skill, this Famous General Skill was still OP as hell! Everyone was talking in the guild channel¡ª Xu Yang: "Is today a special day or something? Why are there so many Famous Generals in China all of a sudden?" Legendary Brave: "I just sent a query to Eternal Moon Corporation, and they told me that they had increased the chance to become a Famous General 7 times the normal rate just for today, or more specifically, the day after Who Will Rise ended. They didn¡¯t announce it because it¡¯s considered a hidden reward. The rate is increased for every server in the world, and the increased rate will last until midnight. My suggestion to everyone is to stay awake and grind. Grind like your life depends on it!" Gui Guzi: "Go go go¡­" Chaos Moon: "Go go go go¡­" I smiled and said, "Beiming Xue¡¯s Bow God is really powerful. I guess it¡¯s time we build a super archer squad around her. Does anyone have any good idea on how we should go about this?" Legendary Brave: "Actually, I do. There¡¯s a fourth-rate guild at Vanished God City with two extremely good archers in them. If you agree, I could recruit them at a moderate price." Me: "Alright, I leave it to you!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: "I know a former colleague who quit his job and turned to gaming for a living, but he¡¯s a member of Hunting Moon Dynasty right now. No worries though, I¡¯ll message him right now and tell him to join us. If he turns me down I¡¯ll murder him until he says yes¡­" Me: "O¡­ kay¡­" He Yi: "Guys and girls, I¡¯m officially renewing our corps arrangement. Please check the plan I just attached for details. The first corps is our future cavalry, so they¡¯ll be made up of mostly magic knights and wanderers. It¡¯ll be around 2000 strong and led by Gui Guzi. The second corps will be made up of warriors, assassins, and tamers, and they¡¯ll be led by Lu Chen. The third corps will be made up of mages and priests, and they¡¯ll be led by Murong Mingyue. Finally, our fourth corps will be made of archers, and they¡¯ll be led by Beiming Xue. Does anyone have any objection to offer?" "Our guild leader is wise!" Our guild members were also wise to follow her lead without question. ¡­¡­ Inside the party channel, Murong Mingyue moaned resentfully, "I¡¯m the only one left in the workshop who still isn¡¯t a Famous General¡­" "It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s only a matter of time. Fortune favors the pretty, so¡­" I said consolingly. But Murong Mingyue¡¯s resentment only grew. "Purple Marquis and Candlelight Shadow are ugly as hell, but they became Famous Generals already¡­" Me: "..." It wasn¡¯t long before Li Chengfeng sent me the good news. As promised, he managed to persuade the two ace archers from that fourth-rate guild at Vanished God City to join our guild. One of them was Level 106, and the other, Level 107. Both their equipment and skills were pretty good, and in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls only a handful of archers were their equal. Beiming Xue was stronger than them, of course. Our archer squad became much stronger than before after the addition of new blood. All Beiming Xue needed to do was make a 40-man party of pure archers and activate Bow God, there was no leveling map they couldn¡¯t sweep like a plague. They didn¡¯t even need a priest. No matter how tanky a mob was, there was no way they could withstand all the Volleys, Multi Arrows, and so on flying their way. ¡­¡­ The grind continued around 8 pm or so. I had probably collected enough Dragonfish Meat to get my Cooking to Rank 10, and my weapon durability had dropped considerably. It was almost time to head back to the city. I was just turning around when the system dinged again. Damn, the seventh Famous General of China had appeared¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Little Piglet (Sky City)" has successfully defeated the Dark Gold Rank Boss, Silver-scale Wind Snake, and reached Level 108. They have met the criteria to become a Famous General, and they are the seventh Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and the exclusive Famous General Skill, "Vajra"! Vajra: Increases allies¡¯ Defense by 40%. Skill exclusive to player "Little Piglet"! ¡­¡­ Vajra¡­ was this the Golden Bell? Its skill effect, 40% Defense, was the direct opposite of my Martial God, 40% Attack. What a coincidence. Is this a sign that we are destined enemies? I smiled. It doesn¡¯t matter, does it? The next time we clash against Hegemon Palace, we will see who is better, his shield or my sword! It was at this moment He Yi sent me a message. "Lu Chen, you should sleep early tonight. I¡¯m taking you and Xu Yang to GGS Suzhou headquarters tomorrow and getting you a job." "I¡¯m sorry? Me? A job? In GGS?" I was completely caught off-guard by the news. Chapter 423: Cooking Master "Yup~" He Yi giggled. "You can¡¯t play games forever, and you gotta find something to do after you retire, right? It¡¯s better to have a skill than to have no skills at all, right?" "But GGS is a software company, and I¡¯ve long since sacrificed all my C++ and Java programming skills to the almighty calculator. What could I possibly do in GGS?" "It¡¯s fine, I won¡¯t ask you to work on software." He Yi giggled again. "All I ask of you is to conduct yourself and fulfill your responsibilities, and in this regard, I have full confidence in you. Also, did you forget that Xu Yang is a GGS employee himself? If an oaf like him can work for GGS, then why can¡¯t you?" I rubbed my palms together. "Okay then. I feel much more confident now that I know that someone will always perform worse than me!" He Yi: "..." ¡­¡­ Well, it looked like I would be working for GGS starting tomorrow. I had no idea what kind of job He Yi had planned for me, but it didn¡¯t matter either way. He Yi was the boss of the Asia Region of GGS, and there was nothing she couldn¡¯t do in the company. Even if she made me a security guard, I would be a security guard captain at the very least. I teleported back to the city after that. It was time to make some Rank 9 Magic Consumables! Swhoosh! Sky City was bustling as usual, and the moment I arrived at the square I immediately shouted for Green Pepper, Garlic and Salt. They were incredibly cheap, of course. Anyone who was still gathering low-level food ingredients like these at this stage was just trying to make enough money to survive the day. Seriously, it took a whole day for the average player to gather around 40 stacks of Garlic or so, and even if they sold everything at the market, it only amounted to less than 50 gold, or 50 RMB. There were plenty of people who would like to make money through gaming instead of working, but the actual percentage of those who made it was less than 1%. If you didn¡¯t possess any natural talent or advantage that would put you above your competitors, you just wouldn¡¯t make it to the top of the food chain. Survival of the fittest was just the natural law of our world. I began cooking after buying a bunch of Green Pepper, Garlic, and Salt. First, I opened the cooking window, tapped the Rank 9 Magic Consumable and selected 20 Dragonfish Meat, 25 Green Pepper, 25 Garlic and 25 Salt. Then, I started cooking in earnest! Light filled the space between my palms, and the next moment a purple pot with what looked like mini sushi in it appeared. It was both easy to carry and tasty! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have made Dragonfish Soup x5! 5 Dragonfish Soup in one go? Not bad at all! For example, Murong Mingyue had over 7000 MP right now. Greater Heal X would cost her 200 MP, whereas Restoration X would cost her 120 MP. A 1500 MP Magic Consumable wasn¡¯t even close to making up for the MP consumption, especially during boss fights and PvP. A priest or mage without MP was useless, so they really wanted to get their hands on Rank 10 Magic Consumables as quickly as possible. This was my chance, of course. While most chefs were still cooking Rank 7 or Rank 8 Magic Consumables, I was going to make as many Rank 10 Magic Consumables as quickly as I could, make a shit ton of cash while I was still the sole seller, and make my Air Force One utterly famous all in one go! After grinding Crystal Dragonfish for the entire day, I had over 300 stacks of Dragonfish Meat sitting in my bag. I had more than enough main ingredients to level up my skill to Rank 10, and the sub ingredients were not a problem whatsoever since I could just buy them cheap from other sellers. It was honestly quite fun to create Magic Consumables without pause as if I had unlimited surprise of ingredients. Also, cooking a Rank 9 Magic Consumable cost 90 MP, and I had a total MP of 2000 or so. So every time I ran out of MP, I just ate a Dragonfish Soup and enjoyed first dibs on my own products. An entire half an hour later, 334 stacks¡ªeach containing 20 Dragonfish Soup¡ª sat snugly in my bag. I set their retail price to 5 RMB per Dragonfish Soup, so 1 stack was worth around 100 RMB, for a grand total of over 33k RMB per cooking session. Once again, I proved that making money was easy if you were ahead of all your competitors. ¡­¡­ Making Dragonfish Soup was dirt cheap to say the least. I didn¡¯t need to pay a hunter for my ingredients since I was my own hunter, and all the Green Pepper, Garlic and Salt I bought just now didn¡¯t even total up to 50 silver. What this meant was that a single Dragonfish Soup cost less than 1 gold, and yet I was going to sell it for 5 gold each. I could hardly stop myself from grinning at the massive profit I was about to make. It was at this moment I received a system notice: Congratulations, your Cooking has reached Rank 10. You have gained the title "Cooking Master"! ¡­¡­ Fuck, my Cooking is finally at Rank 10, and it looks like I got a title out of it. Not bad! In the future, I could wear this title whenever I went out to grind levels or PK and mislead people into thinking I was a production player. I could almost imagine the flabbergasted expressions of my enemies, and the looks of admirations from all the girls I¡¯m going to impress! Very pleased with myself, I walked to the center of the square and shouted, "Selling Rank 9 Magic Consumable, Dragonfish Soup, in stacks. It¡¯s the kind of good shit that restores 1500 MP in one go! 5 gold each, 20 per stack, so 100 gold per stack! Players who would like to establish long-term business relations, please message me your contact info!" All nearby players immediately shot me astonished looks. There were even a couple of players with the "Chef" title staring at me in shock. "Holy shit, that guy¡¯s a Cooking Master? That¡¯s incredible! How did he even get the Dragonfish Meat? Did he have a super expert grinding the food ingredients for him?" Very soon, a young mage walked up to me and passed me 500 gold with a smile. "I would like 5 stacks of Dragonfish Soup, brother. Thank you!" I nodded and traded him 5 sets of Dragonfish Soup. Just like that, 500 RMB entered my pockets. For the n-th time, I was overwhelmed by the pleasure of making and spending my own cash. ¡­¡­ A short while later, a beautiful Level 106 female warrior walked up to me and asked, "Hey there, chef. I would like to establish a long-term purchase agreement with you. Is that okay?" "Sure!" I smiled at her and shot her an extra look. Purple Wind Chime? Hmm, where have I heard this ID before? I looked at her again, and this time I saw that she had The Monarch Descends¡¯ insignia on her shoulder! Fuck, no wonder she looked so familiar. She was one of the participants of the Who Will Rise tournament! Are you buying for your guild?" I asked. "Oh? How did you figure it out?" Purple Wind Chime was curious because I had hidden my level and ID. I simply said, "So, how many Magic Consumables do you want, and when do you want them?" Purple Wind Chime smiled. "We would like to buy 200 stacks of Rank 9 Magic Consumables right away. It¡¯s a good deal, right?" "It is. Which also means that it must come with a condition. What is it?" "Hehe, you¡¯re a smart one for sure!" Purple Wind Chime smiled again. "It¡¯s simple. We would like to book your Rank 10 Magic Consumable, the Dragon Soup, when you have it. You know, the good stuff that adds 2500 MP in one go? We want you to supply us with 200 stacks of Dragon Soup per week, and we¡¯ll pay you 10 gold for each Dragon Soup. Is that a deal?" I nodded. "I like straightforward offers. It¡¯s a deal!¡± "Hehe. Can I add you as friend?" "Sure." I sent her a friend request myself, and Purple Wind Chime¡¯s mouth immediately turned into an O-shape. Staring at me in shock, she murmured, "Holy shit, you¡¯re the new MVP? Why the heck are you even hiding your ID, Lu Chen?" "To keep a low profile, duh!" I smiled before changing the subject. "So, is it just me, or is Monarch Descends planning something huge in Sky City? You don¡¯t need that many Magic Consumables usually, do you?" "I¡¯m just the runner, so I have no idea. You¡¯ll have to ask Xueshang yourself!" "Haha, true. Come, let¡¯s trade!" "Mn!" I opened the trade window and selected 200 stacks of Dragonfish Soup. On Purple Wind Chime¡¯s side, she selected 20k gold. The trade was over in one second, and I could almost fill my imaginary pockets swelling up visibly. During the tournament, I won 500k RMB for being the runner-up and 2 million RMB for being the MVP, so that was 2.5 million in total. In total, there was almost ten million RMB sitting in my bank account right now. Normally, this was enough money to buy a house and marry me a wife, but¡­ that was only if the girls I wished to marry were normal girls. Otherwise, ten million wasn¡¯t even close to being enough... Well, nothing I could do except work harder and earn even harder. This was my life¡¯s passion and hobby! I still had over 100 stacks of Dragonfish Soup in my bag after that big sale, but I had to stop. It was one thing to make money, and another to make money at the expense of my own people. I sent Murong Mingyue a message: "Sis, do you need some Rank 9 Magic Consumables? If you do, come to the eastern square of Sky City!" "Of course I do! Wait for me!" A short while later, the beautiful priest entered my sight and walked up to me with a smile. "You finally found the time to rank up your Cooking skill, Lu Chen?" "Yeah, my Cooking is at Rank 10 now. Starting tomorrow, I¡¯ll gather Rank 10 food ingredients and begin mass-producing Rank 10 Magic Consumables." "Hehe, not bad, not bad. I look forward to it¡­" While speaking, I opened the trade window and selected 100 stacks of Dragonfish Soup. However, she turned bright red in the face and said, "Ahh! No more! I¡¯m overflowing! I only have 80 slots in my bag, you bastard¡­" Me: "..." Oh well. I supposed I needed to wait until Murong Mingyue stashed some of the Magic Consumables in the warehouse. I finally gave away all the goods after two trade attempts. Beaming with joy, Murong Mingyue suddenly wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a light kiss on my cheeks, saying, "Thank you for everything, handsome chef. Now, I¡¯m going to go back to grinding¡­" "Mn." I watched Murong Mingyue calmly as she let go of me and walked away. I might seem indifferent to another person, but if you were "sexually harassed" by the same girl every day in real life, you would have grown used to it like me... ¡­¡­ I checked the time and noted that it was getting late. I needed Dragon Meat to make Rank 10 Magic Consumables, and clearly I couldn¡¯t target high-level holy dragons with my meager strength unless I wanted to die like a dog. So for now, the plan was to hunt some low-level land dragons for their Dragon Meat. These things crawled all over the place like lizards, and it probably wouldn¡¯t be easy to grind them. I also didn¡¯t know where they could be found yet. Oh well, that was for tomorrow me to worry about. It was almost time for bed! I entered Air Force One and managed things for a bit. Then, I taught my beautiful fox attendant my Rank 9 Cooking skill. Now that she knew the skill, she would start purchasing the relevant ingredients and sell Rank 9 Magic Consumables on her own, and as the boss all I needed to do was¡­ nothing. I¡¯m the boss, why would I need to work when my underling could do the job for me? It was midnight by the time I was finished with everything. All the girls in the workshop had gone to bed already. Mn, it¡¯s time for me to go to bed as well. Chapter 424: I Love Campus Recruitmen The next morning, while I was in the middle of a good time with the God of Dream¡¯s daughter, something exploded outside my room door and jolted me awake. Murong Mingyue¡¯s voice then came from outside, ¡°Lu Chen, did you forget that Eve is taking you to the company today? Get up now, or I¡¯m stripping your blanket and taking photos of you!¡± ¡°Hah?¡± My brain went from zero to a hundred in an instant. Murong Mingyue¡¯s wake-up calls were always super effective. I washed myself and got out. From this day onward, I wouldn¡¯t be able to play Heavenblessed in the morning anymore because I promised He Yi was to work in the morning and play games in the afternoon. That being said, it was just 2 or 3 hours of time lost, so it wouldn¡¯t affect me too much. I got into He Yi¡¯s four-seater Lamborghini since she was driving today. Before we even arrived at the guild base, we could already see a man in a suit waiting for us in the distance. It was none other than Xu Yang himself! He Yi slowed to a stop beside Xu Yang before glancing back and forth between me and Xu Yang. She couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°The difference in seriousness here is so huge! Xu Yang is dressed like a professional, but you are dressed like a hoodlum¡­¡± I smiled. ¡°Really? He looks just like a salesman to me¡­¡± ¡°Pu!¡± Xu Yang nearly spat on his own suit when he heard my comment. ¡­¡­ Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had countless core players, but He Yi only took me and Xu Yang into her company. Of course, we always knew that us Four Elders were far more important to He Yi than anyone else could ever be, and she showed it by giving Murong Mingyue, Xu Yang, and I jobs in GGS. Lian Xu would have had a job as well if she wasn¡¯t currently overseas. He Yi glanced at the rear-view mirror while driving. ¡°What happened to you, Xu Yang? Why are your eyes as red as a rabbit¡¯s?¡± Xu Yang smiled. ¡°I grinded until 3 am or so before I slept. I leveled up, but didn¡¯t learn a Famous General Skill¡­¡± I curled my lips. ¡°Dude, you¡¯re not even among the Top 15 highest-leveled players in Sky City. Of course you wouldn¡¯t learn a Famous General Skill¡­¡± ¡°Fuck, why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier¡­¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were this stupid¡­¡± Xu Yang groaned to show how upset he was. ¡°At any rate, it¡¯s too late for anyone to learn a Famous General Skill now. It was such a crazy day yesterday. Five players had ascended and become Famous Generals in Sky City alone¡­¡± ¡°Five?¡± I was a bit surprised. ¡°I remember Eve, Beiming, Purple Marquis, and Little Piglet becoming a Famous General. Who¡¯s the fifth person?¡± ¡°It¡¯s Warsky Alliance¡¯s military counsellor, Beauty October Rain!¡± ¡°What Famous General Skill did she learn?¡± ¡°It¡¯s called Heartpiercer, a skill that gives everyone 5% melee life steal, or 10% if you take Tactics into consideration¡­¡± Xu Yang nodded in agreement. ¡°Yeah, Gui Guzi said October Rain¡¯s intelligence and Famous General Skill are both better than ours. She won''t be easy to deal with¡­¡± I immediately stared at him. ¡°Bro, it¡¯s true that October Rain is smarter than you and Gui Guzi, but please leave Eve and I out of this, thank you¡­¡± Xu Yang: ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ Well, Xu Yang had a point. October Rain¡¯s intelligence and tactics were definitely among the best of the best in Sky City. However, that didn¡¯t mean that He Yi and I were that far behind. Back then, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was absolutely inferior to Candle Dragon, and the gap between our strengths was as big as heaven and earth. Naturally, no amount of tactics was ever going to turn things around and somehow enable us to beat Candle Dragon. But Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls wasn¡¯t the same guild it used to be. Now was the time to plot for world conquest, and I was very confident in He Yi and my intelligence to do so. Hmph hmph, the future conflicts wouldn¡¯t be boring for sure! ¡°Oh right, which department are you putting us in, Eve?¡± ¡°Hehe. We have two open positions right now. One of them is HR, and the other Administration. You get to choose which one you want to enter.¡± That delighted me. ¡°That¡¯s nice! Xu Yang, which department would you like to enter?¡± Xu Yang replied honestly, ¡°You can have the first pick. I¡¯ll choose whatever¡¯s left.¡± I pondered for a moment before smiling. ¡°In that case, I choose HR. It shouldn¡¯t be too tiring, and I get to attend campus recruitment drives and do¡ªer, I mean meet some uni-girls¡­¡± He Yi rolled her eyes at me before asking, ¡°You sure you want to go to HR?¡± ¡°Yep. That¡¯s my final decision!¡± ¡°Very well!¡± He Yi was smiling wickedly, and I quickly learned why. ¡°For your knowledge, Administration is missing a department head, and HR is missing an archivist¡­¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°Pfft!¡± I spat blood, but I wasn¡¯t a sore loser, so I said, ¡°Fine, if it is my fate to be an archivist, then an archivist I shall be¡­¡± ¡°Good boy. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take good care of you¡­¡± He Yi giggled. We entered the technology park and arrived at the bottom of GGS headquarters building. I looked up. The structure was tall enough to pierce the clouds, and its appearance alone made it worthy of the international company it represented. He Yi passed Xu Yang and me a set of files each. Everything had already been prepared, and all we needed to do was head to our respective departments and perform our duties. I sucked in a deep breath as I held my file. He Yi was right. I couldn¡¯t spend my whole life gaming, and He Yi definitely couldn¡¯t stick around a gaming genius forever. If I wished to continue staying by her side, I must establish myself in GGS one way or another. It was about time I learned to conduct myself as a working adult. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m going to go away to deal with some things. I¡¯ll see you all again during lunch time!¡± He Yi walked inside the elevator and bid me goodbye with a smile. After spending an embarrassingly long amount of time to locate the HR department¡ª10th floor, B area¡ªI went into the elevator as well. Beside me, Xu Yang took out his head of department work badge, hung it over his neck and went away to the Administration department. I felt so small compared to him right now... Upon arriving at the HR department, I placed the file on the reception desk and spoke to the receptionist, ¡°I¡¯m a new employee on my first day at work.¡± ¡°Oh, I see. Please give me a moment!¡± The beautiful woman accepted the file and gave it a look. Then, she smiled at me and said, ¡°I¡¯ll pass this to the head now. She¡¯ll call you into her office in a moment.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I stood there and waited to be called in. Countless people shot me weird looks while I was standing at the corridor, and I knew exactly why. Everyone was wearing G2000 brand work uniforms, while I was wearing a Jack & Jones casuals. It¡¯s no wonder I stand out like a sore thumb, sigh... About 15 minutes later, I was starting to grow a little impatient. What was taking this HR head so long? It was just one file. Was she doing this on purpose because I was a new employee? It was at this moment the front desk receptionist returned and smiled at me. ¡°You can go in now. You¡¯ll want to go to the last room in the left corridor!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I nodded and strode toward the left corridor as instructed. When I arrived at the head¡¯s office, I knocked on the door once before cautiously opening the door and making my way in. I shivered immediately when I saw the woman who was supposed to be my boss. Inside the huge, square-shaped office, a 35-year old woman was sitting at the office table, holding a pen and watching me. I supposed she barely qualified as an attractive woman, but I really didn¡¯t like the robotic look in her eyes one bit. It reminded of old ladies who hadn¡¯t been watered by love for a long time. A person¡¯s appearance was usually reflective of their personality, so I wondered if she was as sharp and unkind as she appeared to be. At least one half of my prediction came true when she spoke in a most unpleasant voice. ¡°Lu Chen, is it? I understand that you got in here because someone recommended you. However, know that I don¡¯t care who you answer to, or what kind of work experience you had. All I care about is your work capabilities now. There are only two rules in this HR department: one, work diligently. Two, obey the management. Do you understand?¡± I nodded. ¡°Yes, head.¡± I answered evenly without being overly servile or overbearing. Sure, He Yi promised to take good care of me, but that was no reason for me to act like an arrogant bastard. That would make me no different from trust fund babies like Lu Chao and Li Le. ¡­¡­ The HR head nodded. ¡°Oh right, my name is Wang Rong. You may call me Head Wong.¡± ¡°Got it, Head Wong.¡± Wang Rong pressed a button on her phone and called, ¡°Yujia, come in for a moment!¡± Very soon, an exceptionally beautiful woman in black uniform entered the room. The work badge hanging in front of her chest said, ¡°HR Assistant, Lin Yujia¡±. Wang Rong said, ¡°Lu Chen, this is Lin Yujia, our HR Assistant. You¡¯ll answer to her and perform any task she asks you to do.¡± ¡°Yes, Head Wong.¡± ¡­¡­ I followed Lin Yujia out of the door. The moment we left the office, Lin Yujia looked back at me with a smile and said, ¡°New guy, you got into Archives only because one of our employees applied for maternity leave, you know that?¡± I smiled back but kept silent. I had no idea what to say to that anyway. We arrived at the Archives office where both the physical files and electronic files were stored. In fact, all of the employee files and documents of Suzhou GGS Headquarters could be found here. My job was to receive, send, register, update these files. I don¡¯t have to say how boring and monotonous this job was... It took no time to complete the onboarding process. Very soon, I was sitting in front of a computer with a work badge around my neck. One problem. I had no idea how I should perform my work. Thankfully, Lin Yujia stayed with me for almost an hour and gave me just enough instructions to figure out what to do. Speaking of which, I already had an urgent report form to do and submit to the head. It was a headache to say the least. An hour later, I brought the report to the HR head, but to my surprise she slammed it on the table after one glance and stared at me sternly. ¡°What are you doing? This is a complete mess! Get back and redo it right now!¡± I hadn¡¯t worked in a HR department before, but I wasn¡¯t so illiterate that I couldn¡¯t read a report form. If this thing was simple enough that even I could understand, could you really call it a ¡°complete mess¡±? Clearly, this Wang Rong was just nitpicking for no apparent reason. I suppressed my anger and picked up the report form. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll redo it right away.¡± Another half an hour later, I entered the office again and submitted the revised report form. This time, it was a lot more detailed and clearer than before. However, Wang Rong slapped the report on her table again and glared at me. ¡°There¡¯s barely any difference between this and the last report form! Are you actually serious about this job?¡± I looked at her in confusion before pointing at the report form. ¡°Boss, I¡¯ve verified all the data here twice before turning it in to you. There¡¯s no way you can find anything wrong with it at a glance.¡± ¡°Oh, and you think that justifies you for the shit work you¡¯re doing?¡± The HR head glared at me. ¡°Take this back and redo it again. And this time, I want you to join it with last month¡¯s report form!¡± Again, I suppressed my anger and walked out. The moment I arrived at the Archives office, Lin Yujia shot me a helpless look before smiling sympathetically. ¡°Try not to get angry, okay? Head Wong¡¯s like this because she went through a divorce just a while ago¡­ so don¡¯t take it to heart. You¡¯re just the new guy, and she¡¯s a veteran with good connections in the Shanghai branch and Beijing branch, so¡­¡± I nodded again. You work under someone, you live by their rules. It was just common sense. Plus, this was hardly the worst injustice I had to endure since I came to this world. ¡­¡­ It was already 11:30 am by the time I finished the third report form. Once again, I went to the HR head office and passed the document to her carefully and respectfully. ¡°It¡¯s done, Head Wong.¡± But Wang Rong only took a single glance at my work before smiling cruelly at me. ¡°I have no idea how an utterly useless person like you managed to get recommended into the HR department. Now I can responsibly inform you that you are incapable of working here at all.¡± I shuddered. You¡¯ve gone too far, you fucking bitch! This Wang Rong was clearly looking down on me, and I could almost guess why. My employment had come with a recommendation, but I was almost certain that this recommender was a low-tier employee at most. This was just a lowly archivist position in the HR department after all. That was why Wang Rong was acting like this, and why she wasn¡¯t afraid of my supposed backer at all. ¡­¡­ Crack! Suddenly, the office door opened, and two beautiful women wearing GGS uniforms and work badges walked in. It was none other than He Yi and Murong Mingyue! When Murong Mingyue walked over and saw the crushed report form on the table, she understood everything immediately. She looked at the HR head and declared in an indifferent voice, ¡°Wang Rong, you are no longer capable of fulfilling the responsibilities of a HR head. Your job will be passed onto the HR assistant Lin Yujia starting this afternoon, and you may claim three months¡¯ salary worth of compensation. You may leave now.¡± ¡­¡­ I was stunned. That had to be one of the most impressive declarations I had ever heard in my life! Chapter 425: Cretaceous Plains Stunned, Wang Rong fell silent for a very long time. The moment she set eyes on He Yi, she finally realized how big the mistake she had committed. Murong Mingyue put a hand on the office table before continuing, "I know you¡¯re struggling with your family situation lately. I understand why you acted the way you did. But that is still no excuse for you to bring your emotions into your workplace. Therefore, on behalf of GGS, I would like to inform you that we are no longer able to continue our contract with you. Take this time to calm yourself and sort out your thoughts. You may come back to me once you are back to your normal self." Wang Rong still couldn¡¯t utter a single word. Everything had happened so quickly and so completely beyond her expectations that there was nothing she could do at all. It was bad enough that my true backer was the general manager of the Suzhou Branch Murong Mingyue, but even she was nothing compared to the woman standing next to her. He Yi picked up the crumpled report form on the table and grabbed my arm, smiling. "Feeling a bit calmer now? Then let¡¯s head down and grab some lunch. I¡¯ll help check your report form tonight, so you can finish it tomorrow." "Okay. What took you so long though¡­" "I was just too busy. A total of seven business partners showed up today, and I can¡¯t just blow them all off, you know." With He Yi still clinging to my arm, we walked out of the room. When I looked back, I caught a glimpse of Wang Rong slumping in her chair like a deflated balloon and looking like it was the end of the world. I couldn¡¯t deny that I felt very good at that moment. She must¡¯ve recognized He Yi, and anyone who recognized He Yi would know that she was practically God in this GGS Suzhou branch. She must¡¯ve felt like killing herself the moment she saw He Yi acting lovey dovey with me. A deep sense of satisfaction spread inside me. The domineering woman had finally paid for her actions. Next time, I would be the one who bullied the newcomers, not her! Seriously though, what a miserable morning this had been... ¡­¡­ We exited the company and ate at a restaurant downstairs. At the dining table, Xu Yang spoke to Murong Mingyue cheerfully. "Everyone in the Administration department is really nice! I can positively feel my confidence growing after just a morning¡¯s work. Eh? Why is it only you? Where¡¯s boss?" Murong Mingyue curled her lips. "She¡¯s in the back with sadface Lu Chen. Don¡¯t worry, they should be showing up any moment now¡­" "What happened to Lu Chen?" "Oh, you should¡¯ve seen his face. Our Protoss Genius nearly got turned into a butt slave by the HR head¡­" Xu Yang: "..." Xu Yang immediately grinned at me when I came through the door. "Hey, Lu Chen! How did your morning work go?" Me: "Must we talk about this? Alright, see you all never¡­" While we were eating lunch, He Yi said, "Lu Chen, you¡¯ve already heard about it just now, but Lin Jiayu will be the new Head of Human Resources. She is a smart girl who¡¯s even more capable than she looks, so you have nothing to worry about. Since the HR assistant position is now empty, you can fill that position instead. Keep learning under Lin Jiayu and meeting new people. It¡¯s always good to make some connections." "Mn." On the inside, I thanked the heavens that I got promoted to a better position. I didn¡¯t really care how much money I made from this work, but I absolutely didn¡¯t want to deal with a disgusting old woman like Wang Rong ever again. Seriously. We went back to the workshop during the afternoon and caught Beiming Xue putting away her packed lunch, the kind that cost only 8 RMB. Poor girl, she couldn¡¯t even be bothered to eat lunch if it wasn¡¯t with us. ¡­¡­ "What¡¯re you going to do today, big bro?" Beiming Xue asked. "I¡¯m gonna become a dragon slayer!" "Er, you sure you won¡¯t turn into dragon shit?" "I¡­" My dear sister nearly made me choke to death with that jab. I rushed into my room and logged into the game. I needed to find a map where I could get Dragon Meat and begin grinding again as soon as possible. I might be Level 115 and ahead of my competitors, but it was only a matter of time before they caught up to me, and that period was very short in fact. Leveling had slowed to a crawl, but even if it was just one level every two days, it was a level nonetheless. I checked the General Ranking after entering the game. As expected, there were now 9 Famous Generals in the entire China. Tempest Shadow of Candle Dragon had become a Famous General and learned the Famous General Skill, Resolute. It increased Attack by 25%, and it was basically a lousier version of Martial God. It was only slightly better than Encourage VII! Encourage was split into 7 ranks, and a Encourage VII could increase all allies¡¯ Attack by 18%. It was a skill any tactician would want to get. If a Level 100+ tactician could boost their Tactics to 200 or so and be lucky enough to obtain an Encourage VII skillbook, then they could boost their party¡¯s Attack by 54% or so, which was more or less at the same level as my Martial God. Of course, tactician was useless without their stratagem, but I could still do many things without Martial God. Theoretically speaking, a genius tactician player could be useful outside their given role, but so far, someone like that hadn¡¯t appeared yet. ¡­¡­ I logged into the forums and searched for information about dragons. There was a lot, to say the least¡ª Dragon Domain: The former dwelling of the Dragon Race. During the war between gods and devils it was destroyed and turned into a wasteland. Dark Dragon Abyss: A high-level grinding zone at Sky City¡¯s borders. Monster levels range between 180 and 200. A deadly map. Blaze Dragon Abyss: High-level quest map. Not unlocked yet. Cretaceous Plains: Plains located directly north of Sky City. Legend says that it used to be the dwelling of low-rank dragons. Billions of years later, low-rank dragons appeared in the Cretaceous Plains once more. The lizards roaming this land have gradually evolved into low-level dragons after devouring the dragon bones they found on the ground. This is a dangerous map, and all living beings are advised to stay away. ¡­¡­ Alright, I decided that Cretaceous Plains would be my destination. It was stated that the mobs of this map ranged between 140 and 170, and most of them were shadow-rank. I might not be able to kill a Level 170 shadow-rank mob, but a Level 140 shadow-rank mob shouldn¡¯t be a problem. I wasn¡¯t carrying around half a set of Spirit-grade equipment for nothing after all! Brimming with confidence, I left to repair my equipment and stock up on pots. However, I quickly discovered that I had almost run out of Rank 8 Health Potions. It was time to contact my health potion supplier. "Yiyi?" "Mn? What is it?" "I miss you¡­" "Wait, really???" "Of course not!" "Fuck you!" I smiled a little before revealing my true intent. "I¡¯m almost out of Rank 8 Health Potions, so I want to know if you have anything new for me. I¡¯m thinking about exploring a new map." "Okay. Meet me in the city." "I¡¯m here already!" A few minutes later, Beauty Wind Fantasy appeared at the teleportation formation and walked toward me. The way her skirt danced to her movement was absolutely mesmerizing. As soon as she reached me, the beauty immediately brought up the trade window and selected 20 stacks of health potions. "Here¡¯s some new stuff, fresh out of the pot. In fact, I¡¯m giving them to you for free this time~~" I was quite surprised by what I saw¡ª Health Potion IX: Instantly restores 3500 HP. Level Requirement: 100 ¡­¡­ An enhanced Rank 9 Health Potion that heals 3500 HP in one go? That¡¯s amazing! I said, "Tsk tsk, Rank 9 Health Potions? Sun Qingqing¡¯s Alchemy skill must be close to Rank 10 now, right?" "Yep." Lin Yixin nodded. "In fact, it¡¯s already at Rank 10. Unfortunately, I¡¯m currently stuck finding a place that grows Rank 10 herbs, or we would be making Rank 10 Health Potions already, the kind of stuff that heals 5000 HP in one go. With pots like these you can¡¯t die unless you¡¯re actively trying to kill yourself¡­" "Hehe, well, keep up the good work. I¡¯m searching for Rank 10 food ingredients myself." "Oh? What kind of food ingredient is it?" "Dragon Meat. I¡¯m going to slay a dragon and become a dragon slayer!" I raised the Heaven-stealing Sword to the air and declared heroically. But Lin Yixin only shot me a ridiculing look. It was almost as if she was staring at a pile of dragon dung, not me. She said, "I see. Well, good luck¡­" "Yep, see you later, and thanks for the pots! Also, if either one of us strikes it rich, remember to call and treat the other to a meal!" "Actually, I¡¯m free tonight¡­" "I¡¯m not though. Well, maybe. If everything goes well in this new map I¡¯ll call you, but if you don¡¯t hear from me after 5 then don¡¯t wait for me." "Okay. Byeee~" ¡­¡­ I turned around and walked past the gates. When I looked back, I was surprised to see Lin Yixin still standing there and looking at me, so I sent her a message asking, "What¡¯s wrong? You don¡¯t want me to leave?" "What are you talking about? I¡¯m reading the forums." Fuck, I definitely read too much into things there... I stewed in embarrassment, but before I turned around, I saw Lin Yixin waving me goodbye and smiling at me. Then, she vanished into a corner of the city. Finally embarking on my journey, I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and started running toward my destination. One of my goals was to Level it to 115 as soon as possible. Although pets were banned in the Who Will Rise tournament, the same couldn¡¯t be said for guild wars or city battles. A pet¡¯s strength was part of its master¡¯s strength, so I needed to strengthen the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf as soon as possible. As I passed through Sky Forest, countless random players sent me party invites in hopes of the slim chance that I would join them. They might not be able to see my level, but they could definitely see my equipment and my pet. There were a lot of players who were staring at me with fear, respect, and even greed. They were probably too afraid to attack me though. It was at this moment Li Chengfeng sent me a message: "Lu Chen, did you check the rankings yet? There¡¯s a new ¡®Player Power Ranking¡¯ now!" "Oh? Player Power Ranking? What does that mean?" "It¡¯s a ranking that adds up a player¡¯s current equipment, skills, pet, mechanical finesse, PvP records and so on, basically everything except levels, to calculate one¡¯s overall power. It¡¯s a pretty fair ranking all things considered, and you are the number one player on the list!" "Fuck, I was hoping to keep a low profile¡­" "It¡¯ll definitely be harder for you to keep a low profile now." ¡­¡­ I went through the rankings and found a new tab as Li Chengfeng said. As expected, I was ranked first on China¡¯s power ranking¡ª NameClassGuildBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Undead SwordsmanAncient Sword Dreaming Souls Candlelight Shadow WarriorCandle Dragon Wind Fantasy Light WandererSnowy Cathaya Luo River God of the Capital MagePurple Lily Farewell Song AssassinWarsky Alliance Legendary Brave Dragon WarriorAncient Sword Dreaming Souls Purple Marquis WarriorSnowy Cathaya Little Piglet Cold Wind SwordsmanHegemon Palace Moonkiss AssassinPurple Lily Beiming Xue Dark ArcherAncient Sword Dreaming Souls ¡­¡­ I had to admit that this ranking was more reliable than the actual CGL Hall of Fame ranking. All ten players listed in this ranking were top-tier, if not the current Top 10 best players of the entire China. Maybe it was because Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls beat Candle Dragon in Who Will Rise, but I was surprised to find myself ranked above Candlelight Shadow. The Fruit Knife Goddess was ranked third, and the super mage of Wind City, Luo River God of the Capital, was ranked fourth. As it turned out, the unpredictable and invisible assassin Farewell Song was ranked higher than Li Chengfeng, Little Piglet, and Purple Marquis. It was an incredible achievement because they were all metal-armor melee fighters, so technically, they should be the bane of the Assassin class. This praise also extended to Moonkiss who was also an assassin. Finally, Beiming Xue was the only archer to make it into the power ranking. Clearly, the guild with the most players in this power ranking technically had the biggest advantage in the battle between elites. This advantage would be especially obvious in a tournament like Who Will Rise. ¡­¡­ Chapter 426: Thunderous One-horned Dragon The black, barren land beneath my feet stretched all the way into the distant horizon, and pale dragon bones about dozens of meters tall could be spotted here and there. These skeletons once belonged to low-rank dragons of the Cretaceous Period, and only heaven knows how big these ancient creatures were when they were still alive. There were huge, fat maggots wriggling beneath one such giant skeleton, all over a rotten carcass of a local hyena. Swhoosh! A vulture abruptly swooped down from the sky and picked up a fat maggot with its beak. Upon swallowing, it quickly ate a second maggot. One by one, the second, third and fourth vulture showed up and cleaned out the hyena¡¯s rotten carcass in the blink of an eye. All that was left was a bloody skeleton when the feeding was finally over. The scene was so realistic that I had to swallow my bile and keep from throwing up. I wasn¡¯t sure if I could eat dinner after witnessing something this disgusting. ¡­¡­ Gripping the Heaven-stealing Sword, I stepped on the black land of rotten carcasses and ventured deeper into the map. On the way, a couple of vultures were scared off by my presence, but I still couldn¡¯t find a low-level draconic mob anywhere. I continued forward for about five minutes when suddenly, I heard the sounds of a fierce battle over the other side of the barren hill in front of me. Who were the combatants, players or NPCs? If it was a player, then they had to be an expert because the highest-leveled mob I encountered at this place so far was Level 155. It was simply impossible for a normal player to come this far. If it was an NPC, then it meant that a quest was waiting for me! Thud thud thud... My Barbaric War Boots thudded against rocks as I ran up the hill. When I looked down from a vantage point, I immediately saw twenty or so NPC soldiers enduring the assault of a group of Night Creatures. They had created simple walls from rocks so that the Night Creatures could only assault the entrance. While the archers were shooting across the walls at their enemies, the warriors were standing at the entrance and holding up big shields to stop the Night Creatures¡¯ charge. Chiang chiang! Unfortunately for a warrior, a brutal one-and-a-half-meter-tall Hellhound managed to penetrate their heavy shield with its sharp teeth. The monster then yanked its head back and forth like its life depended on it and flung both the warrior and his shield into the air. At the back, the other Hellhounds immediately let out violent howls and swarmed the poor guy from every direction. His bloodcurdling screams filled the air for a time. I glanced at the NPCs¡¯ shoulders and noted that they carried the emblem of Sky City, meaning that they were our city¡¯s adventurers. I had to save them! "Let¡¯s go, wolfie!" I shouted and rushed down the hill with the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf, hitting the swarm of mobs from the flanks. I raised my sword and fired a Thousand Ice Slash at a hundred mobs or so, and nearly a third of them suffered a CC, encased in ice. While they were busy thawing themselves, I quickly made my way to the entrance of the encampment and stood in front of the defenders. Frankly, these Level 130 elite NPCs would die like dogs if I didn¡¯t protect them. The Heaven-stealing Sword shone brightly as I executed a War Crush, killing all the low-health Hellhounds around me. To my surprise, my "dead" experience bar actually blinked for a second and progressed a tiny bit. I should¡¯ve known that Level 137 shadow-rank mob would yield a lot of experience. Alright, I¡¯ve decided. I¡¯m going to grind at this map today! A Hellhound roared and hit my armor repeatedly with their claws. Sparks flew every as a series of damage number floated above my head¡ª 375! 411! 424! ¡­¡­ It was a pleasing sight to see. My base Defense was 1920, which was already pretty high. I also enjoyed +35% Defense from my Ghost Deity Armor X, +30% Defense from the God Suppressing Necklace, +20% from the God Suppressing Helmet and +14% from the Obsidian Dragonscale Armor, which added up to a total of 99%. This meant that I was really sitting at almost 4000 Defense. How could these lowly Hellhounds possibly pierce my Defense? If they weren¡¯t shadow-rank and 22 levels higher than me, I bet they wouldn¡¯t even be able to deal three-digit damage to me. Long story short, I took so little damage that Regeneration of the Undead and the lifesteal from my Heaven-stealing Sword were enough to negate them. Absolutely no health potion was necessary throughout the battle! Moreover, because I now had a huge health pool of 12k HP, Regeneration of the Undead was regenerating a lot more health than when I was sitting at say, 6k HP. The skill was slowly but surely showing its true power. Almost ten minutes later, I killed all the Hellhounds and gained 2% experience for my efforts. Not bad. There was hope as long as there was experience. I stepped to the sides when a couple of NPC archers walked out of the camp entrance and stopped in front of the Hellhounds¡¯ bodies. They were retrieving the arrows they had shot just now. However, they weren¡¯t always successful because the arrowheads would sometimes break free of the shaft and remain stuck in the mob¡¯s flesh. "Sigh, we¡¯re really starting to run out of weapons and ammo¡­" an archer said with a deep frown on his face. "These cruel Hellhounds have been attacking us relentlessly ever since we provoked their community. They won¡¯t stop until we¡¯re all dead." Behind them, a knight wielding a heavy sword emerged from the entrance and walked toward me. The text above his head¡ª¡±Guard Captain Budo¡±. It looked like he was the leader of the adventurers. As I thought, Captain Budo saluted me and said, "Thank you for your assistance, young warrior. Without your timely aid, we might¡¯ve fallen to the Hellhounds already." I smiled and nodded. "You¡¯re welcome. By the way, I don¡¯t think this place falls under the control of Sky City considering that it¡¯s beyond Dragonbone Mountain Range. Why are you here?" "Haaaa¡­" Captain Budo let out a long sigh before answering, "We were a scout squad of the Sky City¡¯s 4th Legion, but we accidentally stumbled into this place while we were carrying out a mission. Worse, we entered a place we wished we would never have to enter again in our lives." "What is this place?" "Just five kilometers away from here, there is a place called the Land of Dragon Bones. It is there we discovered the footprints of some lower species of dragons. Those one-horned land dragons are absolutely monstrous, and that one battle alone reduced our numbers from 100 to 23, and took all our horses¡­ that wasn¡¯t the end of our misfortunes either. When we evacuated to this location, the Hellhounds started attacking us from every direction. These terrifying creatures are everywhere on this land¡­" Captain Budo¡¯s eyes were filled with despair. "I doubt we¡¯ll be able to make it back to Sky City and our homes¡­" I broke into a smile and rubbed my palms together. "Worry not, my lord, for I am here. I will do my utmost to help you, so speak. What can I do to help you out of your predicament?" "You? Are you sure you can help us?" The NPC seemed to be doubting my strength. I pointed at a dead Hellhound on the ground and asked, "Do you really think that these beasts can stop me?" A bit of hope entered Captain Budo¡¯s pupils as he exclaimed with joy, "No, I do not! It¡¯s like this, we lost our magic scroll in the Land of Dragon Bones, and it is the only thing that can open a teleportation formation and take us away from this god-forsaken place! Please, find it and bring it back to us!" "A magic scroll?" "Yes, we lost it along with most of our supplies. But be careful, there¡¯s most likely more than one low-rank dragon in that place, and we won¡¯t be able to hold out for long. You must find the scroll and return as soon as possible!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ The second I took a step toward the Land of Dragon Bones, a timer appeared in my field of vision¡ª"04:59:59¡±. So it was a timed quest, with a limit of 5 hours. Well, it was probably enough time, and even if it wasn¡¯t, I hadn¡¯t forgotten that I was really here to gather some Dragon Meat. This quest was an extra at best. I brought up the map. A quest marker had already appeared on it. The Land of Dragon Bones was straight ahead, but I had to pass through Hellhounds¡¯ territory first before I could make it there. Some consideration later, I ultimately decided not to take a circuitous path. I could just Charge a Hellhound, take off, wait until my cooldown was ready before charging another Hellhound. It should not be too much trouble to shake them off because my movement speed was the same as theirs. I ran into the Hellhound¡¯s territory, and a second later, an entire horde of Hellhounds was chasing after me. Since I couldn¡¯t be bothered to kill them, I locked onto a Hellhound directly ahead of me, activated Charge, covered 40 yards of distance in an instant before taking off again. The sight would¡¯ve been quite humorous had anyone been around to see it: a well-equipped warrior calmly charging and running away from a sea of snarling Hellhounds. The second I left Hellhounds¡¯ territory, I activated Earth Escape and shook off all the aggro I had accrued in one go. Piece of cake! ¡­¡­ I continued forward until a huge valley appeared in front of me. Unlike most parts of the plains, the valley had patches of greenery here and there and wild animals such as rabbits, hyenas, boars and so on. No wonder the low-rank dragons were spotted here of all places. It was basically brimming with food necessary to sustain their growth and keep their big bodies alive. Swhoosh! I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and continued forward in my best form; I had a feeling that the upcoming battles would turn out to be pretty difficult. Low-rank dragons were still dragons, so there was no way they would be easy to kill. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle... My war boots made a scratchy noise as I trekked deeper into the valley. As expected, not long after I entered a ravine, a gigantic creature suddenly emerged from a foggy area, and it was making a low, guttural growl. It was as Budo described, a one-horned land dragon. Judging from its size, the monster probably weighed about seven to eight tons at least. It was covered in dark, matte scales, and it looked a bit like a rhino. The horn on its head was glowing a little, courtesy of little zaps of lightning swirling around it. Thunderous One-horned Dragon (Shadow) Level: 150 Attack: 2100~2350 Defense: 3100 HP: 250000 Skills: Stomp, Thrust, Thunder Strike Introduction: The Thunderous One-horned Dragons used to be Thunderous Lizards. After devouring the bones of One-horned Land Dragons in this place, their species evolved into lowly subspecies of dragons. Although they can¡¯t be considered real dragons, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that blood of dragons is pumped through their veins. Moreover, they are slowly but surely growing stronger and more violent with each passing day. They are a huge threat to humanity. ¡­¡­ I hid a gasp. Holy shit, a Level 150 shadow-rank mob? It¡¯s 35 levels above me, and it¡¯s a dragon! It looks like I¡¯m the one who bit off more than I could chew this time! Chapter 427: Bald Wolf Whoosh! As expected, my Thunderous Charge failed to stun the Thunderous One-horned Dragon. Its level was too high, so the hit rate of my skill was greatly reduced! Crack crack crack! I immediately stomped the ground with War Crush and followed up with a Desperate Gambit! 2677! 2349! 2472! 3109! Fuck, even Desperate Gambit dealt only 3000 damage or so. I supposed that land dragons were famous for their high Defense for a reason. That being said, I did successfully pierce its Defense and tear its dragon scales apart, so my efforts weren¡¯t completely pointless. It was at this moment the Thunderous One-horned Dragon raised its head and let out a deep growl. It swiped its mighty claws across my Obsidian Dragonscale Armor! Clang! 2784! Okay, this was a bit too much damage! The level gap was so huge that the mob did more damage than it should considering my stats. It was almost as if I was fighting at less than 20% of my real power. I supposed that I was too eager to challenge a higher-leveled mob after all. I should¡¯ve grinded those Level 137 Hellhounds if I really wanted to be safe. Well, I can¡¯t quit now, can I? Pardon + Ice Ray! MISS! 7642! Nice. The tankier a mob, the more useful Pardon¡¯s defense reduction became. Suddenly, the Thunderous One-horned Dragon rushed me without warning and prompted me into a hasty parry. A loud clang later, I found myself sliding backward at least a dozen meters or so before I finally came to a stop. That one attack had cost me almost 3000 HP and made me feel a bit sluggish. This must be its Thrust skill! That wasn¡¯t the most powerful skill in its arsenal, however. Before I could steady myself, the Thunderous One-horned Dragon charged me again while its horn crackled with incredible lightning energy. The next moment, I was hit by its Thunder Strike before I could react. My HP dropped drastically as the pain spread from my shoulder all the way into my bones¡ª7248! Holy shit! My eyes turned into goggles. That one skill nearly emptied my health bar! I can¡¯t take another hit like this! I decided then I couldn¡¯t fight this mob head-on even with three Spirit-grade items. It would be unwise to say the least! Tenacity of the Dead! +3050! ¡°Gulp!¡± +3500! I recovered half of my health in an instant. As my max HP increased, Tenacity of the Dead also became more and more useful. To restore over 3000 HP in one go was like consuming a health potion. This skill was destined to be a core skill that paved my path to supremacy! The average player could dodge about 20% of the mobs¡¯ attacks, but a top-class player like me could dodge at least 70% of its hits without fail. This should save me a lot of health potions. For nearly two minutes, I ran circles around the Thunderous One-horned Dragon and ¡°tickled¡± it until its HP dropped to half or so. Then, the mob let out a frustrated roar and gathered lightning energy around its horn. It was definitely planning to use Thunder Strike again! Thud! My boots hit the ground hard as I forcibly changed my direction and speed. A near-perfect Z-shaped maneuver later, I somehow managed to shake off the mob¡¯s target lock, forcing a miss right before Thunder Strike could finish channeling! ¡°Hahaha, 0.15-second reaction time really is OP!¡± I was overjoyed. I didn¡¯t think that it was actually possible to dodge a Thunder Strike myself until I did it. How many players in China had the reaction speed to pull off a maneuver like this, I wonder? ¡­¡­ There was a saying that went something like: ¡°poverty induces change, and change induces prosperity¡±. There was always a way to beat a mob or a boss you couldn¡¯t fight head-on. Less than five minutes later, the Thunderous One-horned Dragon lost its final sliver of HP, groaned and collapsed in a cloud of dust. At the same time, a shiny helmet popped out of its body and rolled next to my feet. I picked it up and examined its stats¡ª Lightless One-horned Helmet (Dark Steel¨Cgrade) Defense: 278 Magic Resist: 185 Strength: +40 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 2% Level Requirement: 125 ¡­¡­ Yeah, this was basically garbage to unload at the NPC store later. Even if someone might be interested in it, its level requirement was just too high. Currently, the average level of top-tier players was between Level 100 and110, meaning that literally no one could equip it right now. I tossed the helmet into my bag and put it to the back of my mind. Then, I walked to the dragon¡¯s body and used my profession skill, Foraging. Unlike Death Plunder, this skill only gave me meat when used on a corpse. The Foraging process took ridiculously long , so much so that I nearly fell into despair. Nearly 30 seconds later, I finally received a system notice¡ª System Notice: Congratulations, you have foraged "Inferior Dragon Meat" x117! ¡­¡­ WTF! I was stunned. 117 Dragon Meat in one-go? What kind of efficiency is that?! The 5 minutes I spent killing 1 mob wasn¡¯t wasted after all! After I used the Foraging skill, the land dragon¡¯s carcass also turned into an empty, fleshless skeleton. It was because I had foraged all the meat, I supposed. Next, I used Death Plunder! Swhoosh! Three scales appeared in my hands. They were high-grade Armorsmithing material that could be used to forge metal armors and shields. Out of all the armorsmiths in the guild, Mamate was the highest-leveled and best armorsmith out of all of them. He should be able to forge metal armor now. Regardless, I decided to toss them into my bag and give them to Mamate later. If he could forge some awesome metal armors for our players out of these, then all the better. After everything was done, I continued trekking for another 3 minutes or so before another Thunderous One-horned Dragon emerged from the fog. Here we go again! I never imagined that a single dragon would yield over 100 Dragon Meat. My dream of mass-producing Rank 10 Dragon Soup was becoming a reality! While killing the land dragons, I diverted a bit of attention to peek into the guild chat¡ª Xu Yang: "Hey, how many mounts have we gathered so far? Do we have enough for our magic knights already?" Gui Guzi: "Not even close. There are only a handful of mobs that a player can tame, and they have to be Rare to have a chance to be tamed. Basically, the chances you might run into a mob like that are less than 1%. Last night I ran into a Rare Skeleton Horse and tried to tame it, but I failed ten attempts in a row, and it hit Level 2. I had no choice but to kill it¡­" Xu Yang: "..." Chaos Moon: "When can we warriors ride a mount? Boss¡¯s Snow Domain Windchaser is so beautiful that I can¡¯t help but feel envious¡­" He Yi smiled. "Don¡¯t worry, all other melee classes will get a pet mount slot when they¡¯re Level 150 and after their sixth promotion." Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: "Well¡­ I managed to tame my first mount this morning¡­" Chaos Moon replied excitedly, "What is it? Show us!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: "I¡¯ll share a screenshot, but promise me you won¡¯t laugh¡­" Chaos Moon: "Fine fine, anyone who laughs is a puppy¡­" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun shared a live feed in the guild channel. The moment I opened it, it took all I had to stop myself from bursting into laughter. In the game, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was a manly metal-armored knight wielding a longsword, but the creature he was riding was a huge bald-haired dog with its tongue lolling at the side of its mouth like it was about to die of fatigue or something. Worse, the dog had pretty short legs, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun the opposite, so his feet were literally dragging across the ground as the master and pet blazed across what seemed like a green field. "WAHAHAHAHAHAHA¡­" Chaos Moon laughed heartlessly. I bet there were tears in her eyes too. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun said furiously, "Fuck, you promised me you wouldn¡¯t laugh!" Pure Love: "Eighteen, where the heck did you catch this dog?" "What are you talking about? This is a Bald Wolf. I caught it on the plains¡­" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun tried to defend his beloved mount. Chaos Moon nodded. "Like hell it is. This is clearly a Chinese dog!" Pure Love: "Eighteen, I heard you fucked High Fighting Spirits during the Who Will Rise LAN tournament. Is that true?" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: "..." High Fighting Spirits: "..." The guys sounded the gong of defeat and left the girls to laugh to their hearts¡¯ content. ¡­¡­ The conversation was humorous, but it also made me realize that there were really, really few players who had a mount right now, even though it had been a while since the Mount system was unlocked. In fact, He Yi¡¯s good karma must¡¯ve exploded when she got the Purple Gold¨Cgrade Snow Domain Windchaser during the battle of Skull Castle. Right now it was literally a treasure you couldn¡¯t get even if you had all the money in the world! Looking at the stats of the Bald Wolf Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun posted in the guild channel, the poor thing didn¡¯t even have 20% of the Snow Domain Windchaser¡¯s Strength, Stamina, extra stats, and so on. It showed just how amazing Purple Gold¨Cgrade mounts were. This was good though. This meant that He Yi was slowly but surely becoming the strongest knight of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. As for me, I was just a lowly foot soldier who was a long way from getting a mount. For now, my goal was to hit Level 120 and my fifth promotion, then Level 150 and my sixth promotion so that I could get a pet mount slot as soon as possible. Any frontliner without a mount would be at a huge disadvantage during the upcoming guild territory wars and Nation Wars, so it was imperative that I hit the requirement to get one as soon as possible. Also, I¡¯m a hot-blooded guy. Why would I play this game if I couldn¡¯t get a horse, ride across the battlefield and trample over the bodies of my enemies? ¡­¡­ The grind continued until past 6 pm, which was way past the time I spoke to Lin Yixin earlier, so the girl left to have dinner herself. Meanwhile, I continued to kill the land dragons and push deeper into the map slowly. Once I found the magic scroll, I could head back and turn in the quest. Then, I could come back and farm more Dragon Meat. Ah, days with a clear goal in mind are so fulfilling! Chapter 428: Armored Swordback Dragon Two Thunderous One-horned Dragons were wandering near the carriages like they were guarding the supplies. Fuck, so shameless. It¡¯s not like weapons are edible, why steal them? I took a deep breath and began to devise my battle plan. The chances of me dying if I challenged these Thunderous One-horned Dragons did exist. I¡¯d actually have to split my concentration if I were to go up against an additional monster. My 3000+ Defense was nothing in the face of two simultaneous Thunder Strikes. I finally decided what to do after thinking about it for a long time. There was no reason for me to go up against the land dragons because I was only here for the magic scroll. Earth Escape it is, then. I¡¯ll use a stealth-type skill to get there and grab the magic scroll. A true man of the world had to be flexible, not everything needed to be solved with brute force... ¡­¡­ Alright, let¡¯s go! Swoosh! I sunk into the earth and moved at a slow 10% movement speed. Earth Escape¡¯s movement speed was seriously too slow and the name itself was a fraud. If it could move at 50% movement speed or higher, then it wouldn¡¯t lose to an assassin¡¯s stealth and I would¡¯ve used it more instead of keeping it idle. There weren¡¯t really many times it could be used. I slowly made my way to the supplies carriage and carefully rummaged through the goods. It was all a bunch of weapons, rations, and other typical stuff like that. A long time later, I finally found a golden scroll at the bottom of a chest and the system notified me that I had already fulfilled my quest requirements. I got it! All of a sudden, the two Thunderous One-horned Dragons discovered me at the same time, roared, and unleashed Thunder Strike together! I immediately guarded. Bang bang! The impact from the two attacks sent me flipping backwards, tumbling into the grass. I didn¡¯t bother to stop and used the momentum to run away. Taking on two Level 150 shadow-rank mobs would be a stupid thing to do. I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to aggro them and took that chance to run for it. When I was far enough to completely lose any aggro on me, I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf back into the pet space. The two land dragons instantly lost their target and resumed their aimless wandering around the carriages. I wiped off the cold sweat on my forehead. Close call. My guard was a success but I still lost more than 4000 HP to the two land dragons. If I had been directly hit, I¡¯d lose at least 15000+ HP. A one-shot, no doubt! I checked the golden scroll in my bag. Okay, mission accomplished. I could turn in the quest. This was an S- Rank quest so the difficulty level should be high in the first place. It was a good thing that I was the one who got it. If it were anyone else, they would¡¯ve long been instakilled by the Thunderous One-horned Dragons! ¡­¡­ I happily counted the Dragon Meat I had in my bag. I had exactly 124 stacks. Alright then, I¡¯ll keep grinding after dinner and then return to the city before midnight to make Sky City¡¯s, or even China¡¯s, first batch of Rank 10 Dragon Meat Soup! I passed through the Hellhounds¡¯ woodlands and by the time I reached the edge of the hill, I discovered that the adventurer camp was again under attack by a pack of Hellhounds. I drew my sword and cleanly handled the entire pack Hellhounds. Then, I stepped forward and took out the teleportation scroll before initiating a chat with Captain Budo. ¡°My lord, I¡¯ve brought back your lost scroll!¡± ¡°Ah? Heavens¡­¡± Captain Budo was pleasantly surprised. He took the scroll and exclaimed, ¡°Young warrior, your courage is admirable. I never imagined that you could truly take back the scroll from the mouths of those ruthless lizards. Come, this is the reward for your bravery. Sky City¡¯s royal family will thank you for your contribution!¡± Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, You have completed the S- Rank quest [Retrieve the Teleportation Scroll]. You have gained 1800000 EXP, 40000 gold, 4000 Reputation, and quest reward: ¡°Knight¡¯s Lava Legguards¡±! ¡­¡­ Oh? There¡¯s also an equipment reward? Pleasantly surprised, I hastily opened my bag. Damn~ Laying at the center of my bag was a pair of glowing dark red metal armor legguards. By no means did they look like your run-of-the-mill equipment and the numbers I saw when I fished them out left me even more amazed¡ª Knight¡¯s Lava Legguards (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï) Defense: 405 Magic Resist: 320 Strength: +99 Stamina: +105 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 20% Passive: Increases user¡¯s evasion by 120 Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 2000 Level Requirement: 110 Class Requirement: Magic Knight ¡­¡­ Strong! My eyes went round. I couldn¡¯t believe what I was seeing. An S- Rank quest had actually given me a Purple Gold¨Cgrade item and it was even a 1-star Outstanding too! This piece of gear should only drop from a boss, but it had come as a quest reward. I could no longer say that this was thanks to my karma. There was only one reason left, my Luck value. The 22 Luck I had right now could be said to be unrivaled at the current stage of the game. It obviously helped in combat and it could even make NPCs look at you intimately. Luck was an amazing, rare stat! Should I give these top-tier legguards to He Yi or Gui Guzi? I couldn¡¯t equip them anyway since they were exclusive to magic knights. After a while, I decided to just give them to Gui Guzi. He Yi¡¯s equipment was already good and she even had a high-grade mount. Gui Guzi was the one who needed better equipment. I¡¯ll deal with it when I¡¯m back in the city! I glanced at my experience bar. The quest gave me around 7% EXP. It was still early. If I carried on with my slow grind, I still wouldn¡¯t reach Level 116. Past Level 115, trying to level up again was harder than giving birth to a baby! Depressing! ¡­¡­ I returned to the Land of Dragon Bones and resumed my level and Dragon Meat grind. I even occasionally got some Dragon Scales for Yamete. Hitting three birds with one stone was as joyous an occasion as always. I took a break and went offline to eat the boxed meal Beiming Xue bought and then continued my vigorous grind again, all the way until it was almost 10 pm, when I was already in the depths of the Land of Dragon Bones. Sword still in my hand, I looked in my bag. There were almost 300 stacks of Dragon Meat in there. At this point, I could already make a huge load of Magic Consumables just from these. Should I just pack it up and return to begin my Cooking God feats? I took out a return scroll and just as I was about to crush it, the clear cry of a dragon suddenly sounded from afar. I instantly trembled from excitement. This was a different sound than what a Thunderous One-horned Dragon would make. Was it a boss? It had to be. I¡¯d been grinding here for so long but I hadn¡¯t even seen a boss till now. On the other hand, the boss in this area should at least be a Level 155 Spirit Rank boss. If I went there, I¡¯d just be offering up my life... This fact made me hesitate for a bit but I still decided to go anyway. Let¡¯s see if I can find a bug or something that will allow me to kill the boss. If it really is impossible, I¡¯ll just kite it to death. AI settings were dead while players were alive. Methods to kill a boss were aplenty but it all depended on if players dared to use them. I slowly ventured onward. After parting the forest greenery, I saw a scene that left me a tad dumbstruck. A black, majestic looking land dragon proudly stood in the clearing. Its entire body was covered in black heavy armor and its scales were reminiscent of blades. Its black eyes brimmed with imperial might as it gazed at its surroundings... However, it seemed like it wasn¡¯t a boss after all because this black land dragon didn¡¯t have a boss¡¯s aura. I checked it a second time and my eyes went wide when I saw the land dragon¡¯s stats screen¡ª Armored Swordback Dragon (Rare) Level: 150 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Property: Can be tamed by players above Level 110 Introduction: A powerful dragon born in the depths of the forest, the Armored Swordback Dragon possesses defenses so great that it could still remain alive after the Great Cataclysm. The Armored Swordback Dragon is extremely tenacious and suitable for use as a mount. In ancient times, many human heroes rode Armored Swordback Dragons as their mounts. ¡­¡­ I rubbed my eyes and then confirmed again if this dragon could be tamed. The tamer also had to be Level 110. I instantly opened my friend list and sent Gui Guzi a message: ¡°Little Gui, Come to Sky City map (90867, 117673) at once!¡± ¡°Boss, I¡¯m tanking mobs right now¡­¡± ¡°Shut up and get here immediately!¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll be there in one and a half hour!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± ¡­¡­ Fuck, he¡¯s still thinking about grinding mobs. Even if it was a boss, it wouldn¡¯t even match up to a mount like this. It was a low-rank land dragon, but it was still a dragon! If Gui Guzi was able to tame this land dragon, then he¡¯d become a dragon knight, though a low ranked one... I checked my friend list again. Good, Gui Guzi had just reached Level 110 ten minutes ago. My boy was a grinder for sure, his leveling speed was that impressive! My current location was relatively far away from Sky City. Even if it was Gui Guzi, he wouldn¡¯t be able to get here that fast. I¡¯ll just wait here patiently! I jumped onto a nearby tree trunk and leaned against it, holding my sword in my embrace. I¡¯ll just stay here and guard this Rare. I¡¯ll eliminate anyone who dares to get a piece of this land dragon. The moment I saw this Armored Swordback Dragon, it immediately had the words ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡± plastered on its face. Even if it had to be killed after the taming failed, it had to die by my sword. No one else should even think about having it! I leaned against the tree trunk, the dense tree leaves giving me exceptionally good cover. An ordinary player wouldn¡¯t be able to see me while I had a vivid view of everything in my surroundings. I browsed the forums while also keeping an eye on the Armored Swordback Dragon and dragged Gui Guzi into my party. He¡¯s still far away at the other side of Dragonbone Mountain Range! ¡­¡­ In the blink of an eye, more than an hour had passed. Gui Guzu had already passed through Dragonbone Mountain Range and was currently gasping for breath in the party channel as he got tangled with a mob on his way here. It seemed tragic but with his Defense and HP, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem for him to make it here alive. Especially since I¡¯d killed most of the land dragons in the Land of Dragon Bones. The biggest threats were gone so if he couldn¡¯t make it here, he¡¯d be a fake Undying Knight. At this critical juncture, a few leaves in the distance suddenly rustled. Not long after, nine players appeared in my line of sight. They were Sky City players with conspicuous emblems on their shoulders. It was people from Gods of Destruction. The world was small but damn, did it have to be this small?! Dominating Knight God was at the front, holding a sharp blade. ¡°I can¡¯t see this dragon¡¯s stats. I¡¯m not sure if I can tame it. It¡¯ll be a waste if I can¡¯t. If I fail 10 times, the Rare will transform into a shadow mob.¡± Chapter 429: Battle For The Rare Mob How dare they! Psssh! I jumped off the tree without any hesitation whatsoever and staggered for a moment before I ran at them. The Skydusk Cloak flapped behind me as I charged over with the Heaven-stealing Sword. These nine players were all core members of Gods of Destruction. It was obvious that Dominating Heaven Blade brought his party to grind some high-level mobs. Most of the mobs here were Level 137 shadow-rank Hellhounds. This party¡¯s MT might not even be able to block a One-horned Dragon. Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s Defense definitely didn¡¯t surpass 2000, so meeting one would be a one way ticket to hell. A few of them also discovered me and turned around. Dominating Archer God¡¯s gaze turned gold. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?! Fuck, why are you here?" I took a step forward and swept my gaze over them. Dominating Heaven Blade, Dominating Knight God, Dominating Archer God, Dominating Mage God, and Dominating Warrior God were all there. There were also two additional priests and mages that had good magic and healing power. No wonder they were able to grind here. I pointed at the Armored Swordback Dragon and stated, "I found this Rare first and I¡¯ve been watching over it for more than an hour. Friends from Gods of Destruction, please go look for a new mount to avoid unnecessary conflict." Gui Guzi was about to arrive and I didn¡¯t want any accidents to happen. Though I fearlessly challenged nine players alone, I wasn¡¯t completely certain of my victory. My chances of dying were still pretty great if I were to get continuously stunned by Shock Arrow. Hatred filled Dominating Warrior God¡¯s eyes as he raised his sword and gave me an angry reply, "On what basis? You think you were here first just because you said so? Did you write your name on it?" Tak! I stabbed the Heaven-stealing Sword onto the ground and stood in front of the Armored Swordback Dragon. "You guys are well aware of who came here first. I¡¯m not going to argue with you. I¡¯m going to just stand right here and if you want to tame this Armored Swordback Dragon, you¡¯ll have it do it over my dead body! Of course, I do hope that you¡¯ll all reconsider your actions!" Dominating Warrior God was enraged. "You¡¯re being too overbearing, Lu Chen! Aren¡¯t you being too condescending?!" I silently looked at him with frosty eyes. Dominating Heaven Blade chided, "Warrior God, forget it. Let¡¯s leave. Since Lu Chen found it first, we can find another one. This isn¡¯t even a boss so there must be more than one of these." "But boss¡­" Dominating Warrior God wanted to say something but was glared mute by Dominating Heaven Blade. He had no choice but to turn around and quietly disappear into the depths of the forest. ¡­¡­ Dammit. I was alone but it was clear that their guild¡¯s top players were probably having a grind party here. If they had more than 9 people here, I couldn¡¯t hold them off alone. After going through their fourth promotion when they hit Level 100, class signature skills had already been revealed. Archer¡¯s Shock Arrow could stun, Magic Knight¡¯s Charge had double the accuracy, while mage¡¯s Ice Arrow Spell¡¯s slow effect dramatically increased. I whispered in the party channel, "Little Gui, hurry it up. Don¡¯t bother killing any random mobs on your way here!" "What¡¯s wrong?" "Gods of Destruction''s main party is here. Dominating Knight God looks like he wants to tame this land dragon too. I can only guard it for a little while. They¡¯re probably going to send in more people soon." "Mn, I¡¯ll be there in ten minutes!" "Alright, be careful and ready for a fight to break out anytime once you get here!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Dominating Heaven Blade and his crew appeared yet again just as I closed the chat window. As expected, a dense pack of blue dots were within 100 yards from me. There were at least 30 Gods of Destruction players and they were all fourth-promotion players. Trouble¡¯s here! "What, have you finally made up your mind?" I shot a casual smile at Dominating Heaven Blade. I needed to keep calm because panicking would just mean a quicker defeat! Dominating Heaven Blade lifted his blade and grinned. "After talking about it with my people, we still decided to take back this dragon. Majority rules, you know, and it seems like we want this mount more than ever! "Oh? Really?" I said with an indifferent smile. ¡­¡­ Rustle... A few footprints appeared on the dead leaves of the forest. There was no doubt that they had a few assassins on their side. Unless they came within 5 yards of me, I couldn¡¯t see them. I could only rely on sensing the environment around me. I couldn¡¯t allow an assassin to get near me. They had Ambush and Gouge, two skills that could inflict a stun status. No matter how good my equipment was, I¡¯d still be in danger since stun chance was more than 10%! I buffed myself with Martial God and began to move. I raised the Heaven-stealing Sword, aimed it at an angle, and released a vast Thousand Ice Slash! "Boom! Sword aura fell from the sky and ice fragments danced in the air. The four assassins were knocked out of stealth and torn to shreds. With my current attack power, I¡¯d bet that there were no less than 10 assassins in this server who could take a full-power blow from me! Dominating Heaven Blade got angry when he saw this. He charged me with his blade and yelled, "Attack together! Don¡¯t give him any breathing room, kill him!" Whoosh! Charge! I quickly retreated and was fast enough to make his Charge miss. At the same time, I swung my sword horizontally to block Dominating Warrior God¡¯s Blaze, and then turned to kick at Dominating Knight God¡¯s shield. He hadn¡¯t been attacked by a weapon, but I still sent him reeling backward. This only meant one thing. My unarmed Strength alone far surpassed his! Their melee fighters had come at me all at once. Then, the wind shifted and Dominating Archer God led a group of archers to shoot a barrage of Shock Arrows at me. This wave of attacks was more deadlier than the last! Whoosh! I lowered my body to dodge Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s blade. At the same time, I fiercely grabbed at his chain armor and kneed his stomach. Dominating Heaven Blade was no slouch either. Since his weapon couldn¡¯t reach me, he slammed his arm on my shoulder. Ow! But this made me smile. I used Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s body as a cover and successfully caused the arrows of their archer team to miss. Once Dominating Heaven Blade realized what I was doing, he was angrier than ever. He ruthlessly slashed at my armor with Blaze, sending me several steps back. 2894! Mn, not bad. Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s attack power was still pretty good. As the guild leader of Gods of Destruction, his equipment couldn¡¯t be weak! A bunch of Ice Dragon Howls were descending from the sky and I ran to dodge them. Even though more than 50% of them missed me, some of them did get me. A string of damage numbers appeared above my head¡ª 164! 498! 183! 1072! ¡­¡­ I saw the numbers and almost laughed out loud. Aside from Dominating Mage God¡¯s comparatively fierce attack, the other mages couldn¡¯t break through my Magic Resist. I was wearing top-tier equipment and 3 of them were Outstanding Spirit-grade items. In fact, my God Suppressing Necklace alone gave me 50% resistance against magic attacks. Ice Dragon Howls are nothing to me! I stomped and activated War Crush. Dominating Heaven Blade instantly ran away in fright but the other four melee fighters from Gods of Destruction didn¡¯t fare so well. They all sank to the ground and since their HP was around the 6000¨C7000 range, they didn¡¯t survive after three hits from War Crush! Even so, my HP was still dropping too quickly. In the blink of an eye, I was already at less than 50% HP. They had too many archers and mages on their side. I wouldn¡¯t be able to deal with them all if a bunch of long-range mages continued to dish out several Ice Dragon Howls together! The Heaven-stealing Sword shone and stabbed at Dominating Warrior God¡¯s chest. I then used a devastating Ice Ray right after, causing two damage numbers to appear above his head¡ª 4102! 5087! Dominating Warrior God groaned and fell to the ground. He had decent HP and Defense but they still weren¡¯t able to resist my consecutive blows. Since I¡¯d forced Dominating Heaven Blade into retreating, I locked onto a nearby Wild Deer and used Thunderous Charge! Whoosh! I instantly created some distance between us and used Earth Escape after running a few steps. Several streaks of bloody light dove into the ground and that¡¯s when Gods of Destruction immediately lost their target. Dominating Heaven Blade was beyond angry by now. He walked up and shouted, "Mages, cover this entire area with Arctic Rain. Force him out!" Their ten or so mages immediately began to chant the spell. A moment later, an icy rainstorm came into existence. This skill¡¯s magic attack wasn¡¯t that high but it had a huge range. My Earth Escape had a rather embarrassing 10% movement speed. Thanks to that, I¡¯d get revealed in at most three minutes! I couldn¡¯t just sit around waiting for death. I should go in for the kill since my HP could regen to full after 70 seconds. I suddenly came out of the ground and gave them a Thousand Ice Slash. Five or six of their mages¡¯ Magic Shields were torn apart and my Heaven-stealing Sword drew beautiful arcs across three of them. Psh psh psh... I instantly killed three people in a row and the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf had also pounced out from the edges of the forest to combo-kill their archers. It was complete mayhem. I didn¡¯t bother to directly confront their main force but instead cruised around the edges and waited for a chance to kill them. They weren¡¯t unified at all so the mages fell one after another. With the 87% attack power boost from Martial God, I could pretty much kill any mage in two strikes! Dominating Heaven Blade seemed to have lost some of his strength. Open world PvP was all about positioning and seizing opportunities. Even though the main force of Gods of Destruction were gaming veterans, there was still a huge chasm between them and peak experts. I had completely messed up their entire formation and there was no threat left in it. With my Defense and HP, there was no way I would die unless they attacked together. While Dominating Heaven Blade, Dominating Mage God, and the others had the attack power to do that, there was no way they could approach me together. ¡­¡­ Dominating Mage God waved his staff and yelled, "Archers, cover the area with Shock Arrow! I don¡¯t believe that he can dodge them all. Mages, get ready to unleash Explosion. Lu Chen¡¯s God Suppressing Necklace gives him 50% resistance to ice magic attacks. He¡¯ll die faster if we use fire spells!" I shuddered when I heard that. Fuck, they got me. I was caught off-guard by Dominating Archer God¡¯s Shock Arrow and got stunned! Dominating Mage God raised his staff. He had surprisingly cast Dragon Roar, a high-rank magic spell with a terrifying attack power! Pah pah! Dominating Mage God was hit by the glow of two close-range attacks and was pierced through the chest by the cold tip of a spear immediately after. 5783! "What?!" Chapter 430: Gui Guzi Showing Off Gui Guzi¡¯s appearance sent waves of shock through the hearts of the players from Gods of Destruction. An assassin hefted his dagger, his complexion a sickly-green as he muttered under his breath, ¡°Dammit, we already can¡¯t handle one Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, and now we also have to deal with the Undying Knight Gui Guzi? How the fuck are we supposed to win? Boss, let¡¯s cut our losses¡­¡± Dominating Heaven Blade was already thinking of retreating, but he still wasn¡¯t satisfied with the outcome. He raised his sharp blade in the air and yelled, ¡°Men, follow me and block Gui Guzi and Lu Chen. We only need thirty seconds! Knight God, don¡¯t let anything distract you, just focus on taming that Armored Swordback Dragon! Dammit, even if our guild can¡¯t get their hands on this mount, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls can forget about getting their grubby hands on it!¡± My eyes were still as cold as chips of ice as I yelled, ¡°Little Gui, go steal that mount, I¡¯ll hold off everyone else!¡± ¡°Gotcha!¡± ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi and I ran past each other. He rushed toward the Armored Swordback Dragon while I raised my blade and lunged for Dominating Knight God. As long as we killed him, Gods of Destruction would be out of magic knights and wanderers and Gui Guzi monopolizing that land dragon would be a foregone conclusion! ¡°Knight God, watch out!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade shouted out a warning as he shot forward. Pebbles sprayed from under his feet as he zigzagged and cut in front of me. Violent flames burst out of his longsword before he swung it at me! Clang! I did not choose to parry the blow and allowed him to strike my chest. However, my Heaven-stealing Sword was already in motion as it fiercely struck his chest the same moment his sword touched mine. I activated Desperate Gambit! Bang! An explosion rang in the air as Dominating Heaven Blade was sent staggering back from the blast. Blood spurted out from his chest and his health bar dramatically dropped, though the priests behind him swiftly healed the damage. It looked like it would no longer be possible for me to kill him off instantly, but I had already achieved my goal. There were two players on the enemy¡¯s side who posed a huge threat to me. The first, Dominating Mage God, had been killed off by Gui Guzi while I had warded off the second, Dominating Heaven Blade. This also meant that there was no longer anyone who could stop me from killing Dominating Knight God! Dominating Heaven Blade immediately realized that he couldn¡¯t move to assist Dominating Knight God in time, so he yelled in a loud voice, ¡°Attention, all priests! Focus all of your healing on Knight God! As for you two archers, I want you to focus Gui Guzi with Shock Arrows. It¡¯s imperative that we don¡¯t allow them to get away with this. All of your pets are to attack Gui Guzi too!¡± Whoosh! I charged Dominating Knight God, the Heaven-stealing Sword glowing with an ominous light. My intentions were all too obvious and Dominating Knight God¡¯s face went pale when he saw me come for him. He had already been far inferior to me even when we were back at Floating Ice City, and now that I was fully decked out in good gear and had three Outstanding Spirit-grade items to boot, the difference between us was like heaven and earth! Thud! He began scrambling backward as he raised his shield up in front of him. He was actually preparing to use the Magic Knight skill, Holy Shield. This would greatly increase his Defense and Magic Resist, but a pure boost in Defense was not more important than its status as a true defensive skill. I abruptly switched my grip on the Heaven-stealing sword as I lashed out with a Crushing Blow! 7042! Crushing Blow X really caused Dominating Knight God¡¯s entire body to tremble and I swiftly followed it up with a Pardon + basic attack combo! MISS! 8072! As his character let out a cry of misery, Dominating Knight God fell to his knees. His eyes were burning with rage as he stared at me, and it was clear that their plan to steal a Rare mount had completely backfired on them. Dominating Heaven Blade was overcome with rage. He¡¯d never dreamed that Gui Guzi and I would still be able to foil his plans despite his overwhelming number advantage. When I turned around, I saw that the magic formation was still glowing underneath the Armored Swordback Dragon. He had already failed four times in a row, and the constant attacks that were raining down on his head had definitely contributed to these consecutive failures. Whoosh! A magic formation shaped like a hexagram appeared beneath the feet of the Armored Swordback Dragon. The dragon raised his head into the air and let out a miserable wail as it desperately sought to break free of Gui Guzi¡¯s Taming skill. However, Gui Guzi was a Level 110 undead knight; his level was high and his stats were stronger than most knights¡¯ of the same level, so how could it be easy for any critter to break free from his Taming skill. The Armored Swordback Dragon was only a Rare monster, not a rare Boss that could be tamed, so it wasn¡¯t that hard to subdue. By the time he had started his seventh consecutive try, Gui Guzi¡¯s HP had already dropped to about 25%. It was at this exact moment that the Armored Swordback Dragon suddenly disappeared and transformed into a beam of ebon light that flew into the pet space on Gui Guzi¡¯s shoulder. Okay, he had finally succeeded in sealing and taming it! I was overjoyed as I positioned myself in front of Gui Guzi to block the arrows that were pouring down on him like rain. After that, I used Thousand Ice Slash to kill the countless Mantises and Wasps that were swarming around us. I let out a big laugh as I said, ¡°Little Gui, find a chance to retreat and return to town. It¡¯s meaningless for us to continue this petty fight.¡± Gui Guzi chuckled as he said, ¡°Boss Broken Halberd, why do we need to undersell ourselves and bolster their reputation? Take a look at this¡­¡± As he said those words, that punk took out a large health potion and drank it. After that, he waved a hand, causing a magic formation to appear. In the next instant, an enormous Armored Swordback Dragon appeared and Gui Guzi hefted a spear as he leapt onto its back. His HP bar immediately grew a lot longer once he did that! That was one of the effects of riding a mount! ¡°Punks of the Gods of Destruction, here¡¯s your daddy!¡± He launched his attack from a steep angle and a tyrannically powerful beam of spear energy erupted outwards as he swept his spear at the players from Gods of Destruction. The beam skewered three of their archers where they stood. 7834! 6728! 5902! Damn it, he was actually able to instagib three people at the same time! My mouth had dropped open in stunned silence as I witnessed his incredible display of skill. According to my previous understanding, when players mounted up, it was possible for single-target skills to become AoE skills. These transformed skills could hit anywhere from three to five targets at most, but as long as the enemies were clumped together, it would be much easier to kill them. At the same time, the effects and damage of AoE skills would be strengthened; the attack radius of the skills would be widened at bare minimum. ¡°Little Gui, don¡¯t go and get yourself instantly killed¡­¡± I warned Gui Guzi as I killed the warrior who was leading the line against us with a single stroke of my sword. Gui Guzi guffawed loudly as he said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry boss! Right now, my HP has risen past 20000 and my Defense exceeds 4000. The likes of these players won¡¯t be able to kill me instantly!¡± After he said those words, he proved them with his actions. He advanced forward, his spear ducking and weaving in the air and it seemed as if he and his mount had entered a realm that no one could reach. Fuck, he looks far cooler than a lowly foot soldier like me! Even Dominating Heaven Blade couldn¡¯t deal with Gui Guzi. Gui Guzi dodged two Charges and the attacks of archers were practically a joke to him. Those arrows made a tinkling sound as they rained down on Gui Guzi¡¯s shield and they couldn¡¯t even deal 100 damage. In fact, Gui Guzi was even able to ignore the attacks of mages now! Nice! Just how many stat points had this Armored Swordback Dragon added to Gui Guzi? His power had jumped through the roof and he could even ignore the attacks of the core elites of Gods of Destruction as he charged towards them. The sharp claws of the Armored Swordback Dragon pounded against the ground, making it seem as if the whole world was trembling. Gui Guzi had seemingly entered a realm of prowess above everyone else as his spear tore through the crowd of players. Gods of Destruction were scattered in the next instant! Dominating Heaven Blade raised his sharp sword in the air, his eyes burning with jealousy and rage. He was probably thinking that Dominating Knight God wouldn¡¯t be that much inferior to Gui Guzi if he had managed to obtain the Armored Swordback Dragon. Too bad for him, history was always written by the victors and now that their plan to steal this Rare mount had fallen through, they had no choice but to reap the whirlwind! ¡°Brothers, retreat! We¡¯ll get revenge another day!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade retreated into the woods in shame, seven or eight stragglers running after him. Actually, there was a simple reason for their miserable defeat this time around and that was my Martial God skill and my Tactics stat. Gui Guzi¡¯s attack had been bolstered by 87%, so how in the heavens were these players supposed to defend themselves against him? Gui Guzi asked in the party channel, ¡°Boss, what should we do? Do we go after them or not?¡± I laughed before replying, ¡°Little Gui, show me the speed of your Armored Swordback Dragon. We¡¯re not letting a single one of them go! Let¡¯s kill them all!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi urged his mount forward as he rushed to chase after them, swift as the wind. Darn it, magic knights and wanderers who possessed mounts were really too damn powerful! Crack! Gui Guzi¡¯s spear penetrated Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s back as he lifted the body of the guild leader of Gods of Destruction into the air. Light exploded from his weapon as he fired off Death Combo, instantly killing off Dominating Heaven Blade. A pair of armored boots dropped from his corpse but Gui Guzi had already moved onto his next victim. He swiftly slew them one after the other, and all of the survivors died underneath his spear before they could even make any evasive maneuvers. In less than three minutes, Gui Guzi caused the entire area to be littered by the bodies of the players from Gods of Destruction. They had no choice but to accept the bitter reality of their defeat. Once Gui Guzi obtained that mount, the power that he displayed on the battlefield wasn¡¯t something that they could hope to contend against. ¡­¡­ After Gui Guzi made his victorious return, he leapt off the Armored Swordback Dragon and laughed. ¡°Boss, this mount is really useful. Damn, this feels way too good! The additional stats it gives me are only slightly less than He Yi¡¯s Snow Domain Windchaser. Thank you so much! If you hadn¡¯t given me these coordinates, I might not have been able to find a mount as good as this even a month later.¡± A smile curved up on my face and I took out the Knight¡¯s Lava Legguards from my inventory and passed them to him. I chuckled as I replied, ¡°Heh. Wear this piece of equipment. You need to prepare yourself. Eve¡¯s equipment and mount are both extremely outstanding and she is swiftly improving in terms of strategy and mechanics. You¡¯re the best magic knight of the Bloody Mercenaries, so you definitely can¡¯t lose to our guild leader. Do your best!¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll definitely fight for the glory of the Bloody Mercenaries!¡± A grin split across Gui Guzi¡¯s face as he said, ¡°Speaking of which boss, how goes your progress with our guild leader? The beautiful Lin Yixin of Snowy Cathaya also seems to be interested in you. What are you going to do? Have you thought of how you¡¯re going to proceed from here on out? Who is going to be the official wife and who is going to be the concubine? Both women are peerless beauties so it¡¯d be quite a pity if one of them really did become the concubine¡­¡± I glared at him and said, ¡°When did you become so gossipy? Has Mamate corrupted both your eyes and ears? What the hell has this got to do with you?¡± ¡°Haha, I¡¯m just asking on Mamate¡¯s behalf. He¡¯s super anxious about this¡­¡± ¡°Fuck, just as expected. Okay, that''s enough, stop gossiping. Even I¡¯m not quite sure about what¡¯s going on between Eve and I. All I can say is that I¡¯m having a good time right now, and that¡¯s good enough, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Aye!¡± Gui Guzi gave a sharp nod of his head. After that, he smiled and said, ¡°I have to heartily second the point you just made. Ever since I left Wuxi for Suzhou, I¡¯ve had a ball of a time with both the Bloody Mercenaries and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. This is really what you call living the life, am I right?¡± ¡°You know too much. I¡¯m going to return to town, what are you going to do? Are you going to level here or?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going back to town too. I¡¯m gonna show Brother B and Xu Yang just how powerful the ultimate knight can be¡­¡± ¡°WTF, how is someone of your standard considered an ultimate knight¡­¡± ¡­¡­ I took out a return scroll and teleported back to the city! Chapter 431: Hegemon Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have obtained Dragon Meat Soup x8! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have obtained Dragon Meat Soup x7! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have obtained Dragon Meat Soup x10! ¡­¡­ I liked what I saw. Every 20 Dragon Meat yielded 6 to 10 Dragon Soup or so, and I was going to sell it at 10 gold per dish. I was going to become filthy rich! Half an hour later, after buying countless stacks of whatever ingredients I needed and using them all, I finally used up most of my Dragon Meat and obtained over 200 stacks of Dragon Soup in return. One stack had 100 consumables, but I was going to split them into stacks of 20 or 10. After all, how many could afford to spend 1000 RMB on Magic Consumables? I didn¡¯t want to scare my customers away the moment they looked at the price tag! I brought up the friend list and sent Purple Wind Chime a message: ¡°Fresh Rank 10 Magic Consumables ready for sale. Do you want them now, and how much?¡± A few seconds later, she replied, ¡°I¡¯m coming to the city right away. It¡¯s 10 gold each, right? I want 2000.¡± ¡°Got it!¡± ¡°See you later!¡± It wasn¡¯t long before Purple Wind Chime appeared as she said she would. In fact, she was accompanied by a beautiful archer. The curves hidden behind her leather armor were sexy enough, but her face was dizzyingly attractive as well. She was no flower vase though, for she was the 14th CGL Hall of Famer and the guild leader of The Monarch Descends, Ling Xueshang. Clearly, she was the one who ordered Purple Wind Chime to make the purchase. ¡°Good evening, Xueshang!¡± I greeted her first. The Monarch Descends was my long-time customer, so I had to show them some courtesy. Any unscrupulous businessman would know that caring for their return customers always came first. Moreover, Ling Xueshang and The Monarch Descends had been hiding their strength and biding their time ever since they came to Sky City. They were so low-key that they didn¡¯t even participate in the war for the divine sites. This seemed like uncharacteristic behavior from a CGL Hall of Famer, but I knew better than to underestimate her. The Monarch Descends was absolutely stronger than Gods of Destruction and almost as strong as Warsky Alliance. I also heard that they had improved their guild to Rank 4. Only a fool would underestimate a CGL Hall of Famer with 5000 elite players beneath their banner! Her bow behind her back and her battle robe dancing a little to her movement, Ling Xueshang walked up to me and smiled a little. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought that the great Falling Dust would have to cook for a living one day? Still, I am deeply honored to be able to eat the food of the Little Heavenly King.¡± Ling Xueshang burst into a giggle. ¡°I¡¯d like to buy more Dragon Soup than we originally agreed upon. Can you give me face?¡± If only she knew I had over 20k Dragon Soup in my bag. I nodded. ¡°Sure. Just tell me how much you want, and I¡¯ll sell them to you if I can.¡± ¡°Awesome~¡± Ling Xueshang turned away to discuss with Purple Wind Chime for a moment. A while later, she faced me again and asked, ¡°We¡¯d like to buy 5000 Dragon Soup from you. Is that okay with you?¡± I hummed for a moment before replying, ¡°Of course it is. Although it¡¯s a bit more than I expected, it¡¯s a demand I can fulfill currently. I won¡¯t be giving you a discount though. Since you want 5000 Dragon Soup, that¡¯ll be 50k gold, thank you.¡± Ling Xueshang simply smiled and opened the trade window. The next moment, I was met with the sight of 50k gold. Money, money, money! As I had planned previously, I split the Magic Consumables into stacks of 100 before trading 50 stacks to Ling Xueshang. On the inside, I was absolutely delighted by the successful trade. I had sold less than one-fourth of my stock, but not only had I recouped the cost of the low-rank food ingredients, I also made a net profit of 40k+ gold. I loved the days where I counted my earnings in my room! ¡­¡­ Ling Xueshang and Purple Wind Chime didn¡¯t depart immediately after the trade was complete, so I asked them, ¡°Xueshang, why do you need this many Magic Consumables? It would take at least an army of high-level mages to burn through everything.¡± ¡°That is a guild secret!¡± Ling Xueshang smiled enigmatically. ¡°You have to join us if you want to hear about it. I and the 2458 ladies in our guild would welcome you with open arms!¡± ¡°Er¡­¡± A muscle in my face twitched once. ¡°I think that¡¯s too many ladies even for me, so I¡¯ll have to decline. It¡¯s also more SFW to stick with the 8000+ men in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡­¡± ¡°Hehehe¡­¡± Ling Xueshang chuckled softly before shooting me a meaningful look. ¡°It¡¯s nothing, really. The Monarch Descends is tackling a high-level map where four Level 130 Purple Gold Rank mini bosses appear every 12 hours. We need these Magic Consumables to stay in top shape and firepower at all times.¡± ¡°Ohh, a map like this actually exists? That¡¯s awesome. So where is it¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m not telling you¡­¡± ¡°...¡± Ling Xueshang pursed her lips and grabbed the bow behind her back. Then, she said to Purple Wind Chime, ¡°C¡¯mon, everyone¡¯s urging us to head back. You need to repair your equipment though. We¡¯re probably going to be fighting all night today, and as the main tank you¡¯re the last person who can afford to lose their equipment.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Finally, she gave me a smile and bade me goodbye. ¡°See you later, Lu Chen~¡± ¡­¡­ I fell quiet as I watched the two girls¡¯ back. The Monarch Descends was definitely a guild we couldn¡¯t afford to underestimate. The four divine sites were great, but not so great that the buffs could single-handedly shift the balance of power in Sky City, so I am sure that there were a lot more forces like The Monarch Descends who chose to stay beneath the water. This peace wouldn¡¯t last forever though. The moment the territory system comes online, all these guilds would come to life and fight for supremacy for sure. It didn¡¯t take much imagination to know that The Monarch Descends could be a formidable enemy or a reassuring ally in the future depending on the situation. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls didn¡¯t have many allies. In fact, Snowy Cathaya was practically our only ally. For now, establishing a good relationship with The Monarch Descends didn¡¯t seem like a bad idea. Back in Spirit of Grief, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was just a tiny third-rate guild, while The Monarch Descends was famous throughout the game. At the time we weren¡¯t worthy of catching their eye, but not anymore. It was about time we befriended a couple of powerful guilds with good people in them. ¡­¡­ I opened my friend list and summoned Murong Mingyue. Then, I gave her 10k Rank 10 Magic Consumables to distribute to all the high-level mages and priests in our guild including herself. It was time I contributed to the guild. You cannot earn all the money in the world, and this was but a measly amount of profit compared to what I would earn if Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls became strong and successfully claimed guild territory for themselves. Finally, I unloaded 5k Dragon Soup at Air Force One and set the price to 15 gold per dish. It would be stupid not to greed a little when I still had a monopoly over the market, right? Especially since the Dragon Soup was a high-rank Magic Consumable that restored 2500 MP in one go. Maybe the average mage didn¡¯t need it, but for those who already picked up skills like Dragon¡¯s Roar, it was impossible for them to go all out most of the time without Rank 10 Magic Consumables. After all, a single cast of Dragon¡¯s Roar cost over 200 MP already, and that was just one spell. I walked to the inn after everything was done. I was in no hurry to level up anyway! But just as I approached the entrance, a system announcement suddenly dinged across the city¡ª System Announcement: Player "Warsky (Sky City)" has successfully defeated the Dark Gold Rank Boss, Wild Rogue, and reached Level 110. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the tenth Famous General of China! They have gained Tactics +1 and the exclusive Famous General Skill, "Hegemon"! Hegemon: Beseech the earth-shaking power of the hegemon and increase all party members¡¯ critical rate by 15%, to a maximum of 40%. ¡­¡­ Hegemon?! I was surprised. Considering the amount of Tactics Warsky had right now, he could probably boost his allies for 30% critical rate. That was seriously OP. 30% critical rate meant that any player could crit once every three hits, and anyone who played a game before should understand just how terrifying that was. Shit, October Rain already learned Heartpiercer last time, and now Warsky picked up a Famous General Skill for himself too. Warsky Alliance was most certainly going to make a comeback. Beep! He Yi sent me a message: ¡°Warsky just learned a Famous General Skill. It looks really powerful.¡± ¡°Yes, it is. It¡¯s useful in both PvE and PvP. Sigh, what a headache. Considering that the territory system could come any day now, this is the worst possible timing for Warsky Alliance to grow stronger¡­¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°Relax, it¡¯s not as serious as you think. Did you forget that we have three Famous General Skills ourselves? Martial God, Royal Road, and Bow God are all ridiculously powerful offensive General Skills. If this is a headache, then Warsky Alliance¡¯s headache is at least three times worse than ours¡­¡± ¡°Haha, that¡¯s true. Anyway, let¡¯s head to bed soon. We still have to work come tomorrow.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡­¡­ I logged out of the game and took a cold bath. I felt so comfortable that I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow. When I woke up again, it was early morning already. A bird was perched on a branch outside my window and chirping to the autumn dawn. It made me feel like shooting it with a slingshot. After I washed myself and ate breakfast, He Yi, Murong Mingyue and I prepared to head out. Until we came back, Beiming Xue would be the only one left inside the workshop. Xu Yang said that he could travel in his own car, so we weren¡¯t going to fetch him this time. Before we left, Beiming Xue caught up to me and grabbed my wrist. She complained, ¡°Big bro, you work in HR right? Please find me a job too after you familiarize yourself with your department. It¡¯s so lonely grinding by myself in the morning¡­¡± I smiled. ¡°Alright, alright, I got it. I promise I¡¯ll find you a job in half a month at most.¡± ¡°Mn mn!¡± I gave her a helpless smile before heading out for work! ¡­¡­ After we arrived at GGS, He Yi left to attend a meeting at the office, while I followed Lin Yujia on a tour around the department. Half the floor belonged to us, and there were a lot of foreigners mixed in between as well. Lin Yujia pointed at a dark-skinned guy who was only 155 cm tall and said, ¡°This is Tariq. He¡¯s one of the employees President He Yi brought back from India. His name comes from Sanskrit ¡®Tarak¡¯, ????, , which can be interpreted as ¡®star¡¯. From now on, he¡¯s your assistant...¡± I stared at him for a moment before asking, ¡°Yujia, you sure he¡¯s an Indian? Anyway, I like his name. Someone who ain¡¯t a star doesn''t deserve to work for me¡­¡± The star was confused, and Lin Yujia was both confused and exasperated. ¡­¡­ After we returned to the office, Lin Yujia explained a couple more things to me before excusing herself. Apparently, there was a VIP she needed to receive. While I was working, Tariq walked over to me and passed me a cup of coffee. He was a friendly guy for sure. Then, he spoke to me in a broken accent, ¡°Sir, I just came to China. Can you teach me the, er, coolest or most classic phrase a Chinese might say?¡± I took his question seriously and thought for a long time. There were a ton of such phrases, but there was one that stood out to me above all else. So I answered him, ¡°Fuck your mom!¡± I was glad to hear that Tariq was a fast learner. It wasn¡¯t long before noon arrived, so we met up at the restaurant downstairs and got ready to return home. Tariq was with me, by the way. I was surprised to find Xu Yang leading an Indian assistant himself, and the two Indians seemed to be very familiar with each other. Tariq probably thought that he was cool after he learned a cool phrase from me, so he greeted his Indian friend and said, ¡°Fuck your mom.¡± Here comes the classic. The other Indian replied naturally, ¡°Your mom fucks well too.¡± Murong Mingyue and He Yi could barely stand straight after hearing the exchange. Dammit, it must be Xu Yang who taught him that retort! God, he¡¯s such a terrible influence to his subordinates! ¡­¡­ My phone rang all of a sudden. It was Beiming Xue. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Beiming?¡± ¡°Come back soon, big bro! Something big just happened!¡± ¡°And what is it exactly?¡± ¡°Territory! A new territory just appeared!¡± ¡°WTF!¡± Chapter 432: Death Lord I shivered in excitement. God damn, the territory system I¡¯ve been anticipating is finally here! ¡°Beiming, where is the territory, and how goes the battle situation?¡± ¡°I have no idea. Its coordinates haven¡¯t been announced yet!¡± Beiming Xue said. ¡°But don¡¯t worry, big bro, we still have time. A Spirit Rank boss called the Death Lord will be spawned at a random location in an hour. Players must first kill this Death Lord, claim a loot item called ¡®Territory Token¡¯, and use it to claim temporary ownership over the new territory. The ownership becomes permanent after the player¡¯s guild successfully defends the territory for 8 hours straight.¡± ¡°Oh, I see¡­¡± I replied. ¡°We¡¯re coming back immediately. We¡¯re counting on you to command the guild until we return, Beiming!¡± ¡°No problem, but seriously, take your time when you drive home. There¡¯s no need to be hasty.¡± ¡°Got it!¡± ¡­¡­ I hung up the call. Oh boy, it looks like today¡¯s going to be a busy day. The girls had already figured out what was going from the bits and pieces of my conversation. When Tariq asked us what was going on, I sent him away on some random task, finished lunch as fast as possible and rushed back to the workshop with the girls. Everyone here understood just how important the first territory was. Whoever managed to claim it first would get a head start over all other guilds, and benefit greatly during the latter stages of the guild development. Therefore, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls must have this territory to ourselves. To lose it was to fall behind our competitors in the conquest for Sky City. Inside the car, Murong Mingyue said excitedly, ¡°The Death Lord is a Spirit Rank boss, so its loot should be pretty good, right? Still, at least hundreds of thousands of players will be fighting for the right to kill it. This is not going to be easy¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s observe the battlefield first before coming to a decision. If necessary, we can even give up this boss to preserve our troop strength. But of course, if we can kill it, then there is no reason we shouldn¡¯t strike first and gain the upper hand!¡± ¡°Mn, I like what you¡¯re saying!¡± Suddenly, Murong Mingyue shot me a long look before smiling. ¡°Boy, if we get into a fight with Snowy Cathaya, you won¡¯t throw again like you did at Who Will Rise, will you?¡± I replied awkwardly, ¡°Of course not. This is different.¡± While slamming down on the gas pedal, He Yi said with a smile, ¡°That¡¯s enough, Mingyue. Lin Yixin is an extraordinarily beautiful girl, so it¡¯s only natural that Lu Chen couldn¡¯t muster the heart to kill her. Our Lu Chen would never resort to heartless methods to achieve his goals, right?¡± Murong Mingyue giggled. ¡°Yes, yes, Lu Chen is absolutely perfect in every way. Seriously Eve, you don¡¯t even try to hide your favoritism¡­¡± He Yi: ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The moment I appeared in Sky City¡¯s inn, I sheathed my sword and ran out of the door. At the same time, I received a party invite from He Yi. I accepted it immediately. He Yi¡¯s Royal Road was pretty good, and I decided that there was no need to change party leaders unless the situation demanded it. Currently, He Yi had enough Tactics to boost her party members¡¯ stats by 30%, and the boosts to Defense and HP were especially noteworthy. For example, I currently had almost 16k HP. Just how many people could kill me one on one like this? It was no wonder we lost to Snowy Cathaya back at Who Will Rise. Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell boosted all her party members¡¯ stats by almost 40% at the time. ¡°Finally! We¡¯ve been waiting for you!¡± Beiming Xue called out to us inside the party channel. ¡°I¡¯ve already instructed Gui Guzi and the others to spread out across Sky City. We should be able to locate the boss immediately after it spawns.¡± But I said, ¡°No, that¡¯s too risky. Beiming, tell our core players to gather at the center of Sky City. Once the boss appears, we¡¯ll try to get to it in 20 minutes at most. If we can hit the boss with 500 high-level players and 3 Famous General Skills, there¡¯s no way someone can nab it from under our noses!¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll inform everyone about the new instructions right away!¡± The next moment, Beiming Xue ordered inside the guild channel, ¡°All Top 100 archers, warriors, magic knights, mages, wanderers and priests in the guild, please gather at Sky Forest (10000, 10000) right now. We will be the flex team responsible for reacting to the situation and intercepting the boss at first notice!¡± Our dark archer wielded great authority in our guild because she was a player on the Heavenly Ranking and a corps commander. In fact, she was second only to me, He Yi, Xu Yang, and Murong Mingyue in terms of authority. Everyone knew that the guild leader, the two vice leaders and Beiming Xue were living together in a workshop since long ago, and plenty of scandalous rumors had popped up from time to time. Worse, Pure Love seemed resentful that Beiming Xue got to live with me but not her, so every time we met, the first question she asked was whether I had slept with Beiming Xue already. It was worrying to say the least. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s clear out the mobs for our players first!¡± I pulled out the Heaven-stealing Sword and went to the eastern bridge with He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue behind me. When we were at the edge of the forest, He Yi summoned her mount and got up her horse. The Snow Domain Windchaser neighed loudly as our beautiful guild leader said, ¡°I¡¯ll open a path for you all. Try not to fall behind too much...¡± Jealousy gripped us for a moment, but He Yi had already taken off toward the assembly coordinate in a straight line. Almost none of the low-level wild bears and wild wolves could take more than a hit from He Yi, and she was only using ranged attacks too, the energy beams dealing almost 8000 damage per hit. A mounted knight was seriously powerful, so much so that even I couldn¡¯t help but feel envious of her! ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue was darting through the forest with incredible speed, the natural obstacles almost incapable of slowing her down at all. The Archer class was known as the king of the forest for a reason. Inside a forest, they had the absolute advantage over any class. Murong Mingyue was slightly slower than Beiming Xue. She was a cloth-armor class, and her boots didn¡¯t add too much movement speed. Her current speed was literally the fastest she could go. Pa! I placed a hand around Murong Mingyue¡¯s waist and put strength into my legs, artificially enhancing Murong Mingyue¡¯s movement speed with my own. It wasn¡¯t much, but every little help counted. At the same time, I said, ¡°Sis, your movement speed is terrible¡­¡± Murong Mingyue twisted in my arms while giggling, ¡°Stop, I¡¯m ticklish¡­¡± Me: ¡°Sis, you¡¯re a girl, you know. Please behave yourself¡­¡± Murong Mingyue: ¡°Mu¡­¡± It wasn¡¯t long before our four-man party reached the designated spot. Faster than all of us, He Yi was already swinging her spear and killing the dozens of Level 125 elite bears hogging the area. The mobs dropped shitton of Big Magic Stones that no one was even interested to look at until High Fighting Spirits finally came over and picked them all up. Every yuan counted for that man. As time passed, more and more people started to show up. Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Moonlight Stone, Moon Dew, and many more familiar faces were all here. Before we knew it, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had gathered all sorts of talents except a super mage like Luo River God of the Capital. Of course, we weren¡¯t the only guild who was facing this problem. Practically every guild except Purple Lily had a shortage of high-level mages due to how rare they were, and mages with unrivaled finesse even more so. Xu Yang laughed loudly. ¡°The boss will be spawning in 20 minutes. I¡¯m so excited!¡± Chaos Moon shot him a glance. ¡°You took viagra before you entered the game?¡± Xu Yang: ¡°...¡± Li Chengfeng pulled out his own sword and echoed Xu Yang''s laughter. ¡°It¡¯s been a while since we fought like this. Let¡¯s hope that this Spirit Rank boss is a generous one. We can get a Territory Token if we kill the Death Lord, right? Let¡¯s do our best to become the first guild to march into the territory!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I nodded. ¡°Give me your all, everyone! We cannot afford to lose today¡¯s battle!¡± ¡°Ohh!¡± Every Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls player around me nodded in unison. I was glad to see how united we were. ¡­¡­ Beep! It was at this moment I received a message from Lin Yixin: ¡°Are you guys assembling your forces, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°Yep. Did you hear anything about the boss yet?¡± ¡°No. What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Yiyi, it¡¯ll be a bloodbath once the territory appears. What are your thoughts on this matter?¡± Lin Yixin giggled. ¡°Are you afraid that we would become enemies?¡± ¡°Mn. This is one fight we cannot be anything but foes.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Lin Yixin smiled. ¡°Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will work together to eliminate all forces until one of us has officially claimed temporary ownership of the territory. Then, we will fight a fair battle to decide the ultimate winner. What do you say?¡± ¡°Agreed!¡± I declared. ¡°I won¡¯t be as merciful as last time, Yiyi.¡± ¡°Hehe, neither will I!¡± We both understood how important a territory was to a guild. The upcoming conflict could only be described as a bloodbath. Whatever our thoughts might be, we were both saddled with the responsibility to fight for our guild¡¯s future and dreams, so fight we must. ¡­¡­ Twenty minutes later, a system announcement dinged across Sky City¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that a Level 145 Spirit Rank boss ¡°Death Lord¡± has appeared at location (27842, 762) with the Territory Token. Whoever kills the boss and claims the Territory Token first will gain the right to use the teleportation formation of the first territory! ¡­¡­ ¡°Motherfucker, that¡¯s so far away from here!¡± I swore and swallowed the rest of my groans. It was bad enough that the boss spawned quite far away from us, but the ones who killed the boss and claimed the Territory Token first also got the sole right to use the first territory¡¯s teleportation formation. What this meant was that the players of that guild could teleport infinitely into the first territory and aid in the defense no matter how many times they died. It might even be too unfair an advantage. I wondered which guild could kill the boss first? Gui Guzi¡¯s pulled the reins on his Armored Swordback Dragon and shouted, ¡°Everyone, follow me! It¡¯s time to kill a boss!¡± ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, a cool-headed He Yi stared at me with those bewitching eyes of hers and asked, ¡°The boss spawned too far away from us. It¡¯ll take the main bulk of our forces 15 minutes just to get there, and someone would¡¯ve engaged the boss by then. What should we do?¡± I said, ¡°You and Gui Guzi have mounts, so I want the two of you to go ahead and hopefully engage the boss before anyone else. If we can snatch the boss¡¯s aggro at least, then the other guilds can¡¯t have absolute control over the boss!¡± ¡°Mn, got it!¡± Chapter 433: Unbeatable Bow God To the southeast side of Sky City, there was a vast, foggy canyon in the middle of the mountains. It was very early in the morning inside the game, and everyone¡¯s vision was reduced to the point that they couldn¡¯t see anything past 20 meters. It was a nightmarish environment to operate in for any archer or mage. Without vision, they wouldn¡¯t be able to get a lock-on with their skills, meaning that long-range attacks were left wanting in most cases. Things weren¡¯t much better for melee classes either. What could they do when they couldn¡¯t even see if there was a mob right in front of them? ¡­¡­ Clang! I pulled out the Heaven-stealing Sword and yelled loudly, "Everyone, bring up your minimaps and pay attention to the dots around you! I want everyone to gather around me, now!" Almost a thousand of us had come to this valley. We had elites of every class, and we were a sizable threat to any force. I was happy that the guild had come this far. We wouldn¡¯t be helpless even if we ran into a powerful guild. A ton of blue dots was starting to appear on the edge of the minimap. They represented the players who didn¡¯t belong to our guild, and they were moving rapidly toward the center of the canyon where the boss was. No one had expected the Death Lord to spawn at such a remote location. Inside the guild channel, I heard Gui Guzi saying, "Boss, back off a bit. I think Little Piglet is planning to kill you¡­" "Mn," He Yi responded. We all tensed up when we heard this. Fuck, the bastards from Hegemon Palace got here before us. Have they fought He Yi and Gui Guzi already? Still running at top speed, I asked, "What¡¯s the situation, Little Gui?" Gui Guzi replied with heavy panting, "Boss and I encountered the boss first, but thousands of Hegemon Palace players suddenly appeared almost right next to us. We fought each other for a while, but we had to retreat because there were too many of them. We also lost the aggro on the boss!" "That¡¯s fine. Back off if you really can¡¯t hang in there. We¡¯ll be arriving in 5 minutes at most!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ We continued moving through the fog. For a couple of minutes, I trekked across small bushes and tiny rocks while wilted leaves covered my shoulders. I was at the forefront of the group because the Barbaric War Boots gave me a lot of movement speed. Behind me, about twenty meters away, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Xu Yang, and the others were following closely. "We¡¯re here!" A huge clump of blue dots suddenly appeared on the minimap, and they were surrounding a giant red dot. The red dot was clearly the boss! Gui Guzi stumbled out of the fog right behind as well. The blade of his spear was dripping with blood, and his ID was just as red. Only he could tell us exactly how many people he had killed before meeting up with us. They were being pursued by a group of Hegemon Palace players, and it was at this moment a beautiful figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stunned him! It was Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡¯s Ambush! Her timing was truly impeccable! At nearly the same time, Little Piglet burst out of the fog like lightning, stepped on Gui Guzi¡¯s Armored Swordback Dragon tail and ran up the mount¡¯s back skillfully. The bastard was annoying, but there was no denying how good of a player he was. His sword turned icy, and he stabbed Gui Guzi in the back three times in a row. It was none other than Little Piglet¡¯s signature skill¡ªIce Ray Flurry! Bang bang bang! Gui Guzi¡¯s HP dropped rapidly¡ª 3762! 3651! 3409! Unfortunately for Little Piglet, Gui Guzi had over 20k HP, and he was buffed by He Yi¡¯s Famous General Skill, Royal Road. Ice Ray Flurry dealt 10k damage to Gui Guzi, but Undying Shield healed the latter for 5K HP, effectively negating half the damage. Little Piglet probably felt like killing himself right now. However, a bunch of Hegemon Palace mages appeared at the back and chanted their spells. A moment later, Ice Dragon Howls fell from the sky and deleted over half of Gui Guzi¡¯s HP in an instant! They¡¯re not killing Gui Guzi today! I snorted and raised my sword imperiously, shouting, "Charge!" I locked onto an enemy mage and activated Thunderous Charge. The second I entered their formation, I stomped the ground and used War Crush. The mages had already activated their Magic Shields, but it still wasn¡¯t enough to negate the full power of my skill. They groaned and fell to the ground, dyeing my ID even redder than before! I looked to the distance. I was Level 115, so I could see slightly further than most players. When I saw a group of players emerging from the fog¡ªthey were obviously Hegemon Palace¡¯s reinforcements¡ªI immediately hit them with a Thousand Ice Slash! Boom! The unfortunate players collapsed in droves. Behind me, Little Piglet was charging me with Vajra and Strength of Divine Arms turned on. He growled, "Remember me, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? Hahahaha¡­" "Get lost!" I spun around and thrust my sword at him with everything I got. Little Piglet reacted even quicker and attempted to parry my attack. Unfortunately for him, my Famous General Skill was an offensive passive, and his, a defensive passive. His strength was inferior to mine, so what should¡¯ve been a successful parry turned into a failed parry instead! Bang! The impact was so great Little Piglet was sent sliding toward the back, his feet leaving a pair of deep gashes on the ground. Before he could steady himself, Li Chengfeng attacked him from the side and slashed him four times in a row. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t able to one-shot him where he stood. 1763! 1678! 1548! 2172! It was inevitable. Little Piglet¡¯s Famous General Skill had a base skill effect of 40%, and after factoring his Tactics in, it boosted his Defense by 80% at least. It made sense that Li Chengfeng wouldn¡¯t be able to one-shot him easily. Ding! Little Pigletused the knockback from Li Chengfeng¡¯s attack to jump further to the back. Before he vanished into the fog, he said, "The boss belongs to Hegemon Palace. Come at us if you dare. Time to withdraw, Shangguan Wan¡¯er!" The next moment, both warrior and assassin vanished completely into the fog. I should¡¯ve known they wouldn¡¯t stay around and fight. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits and the others wisely chose not to give chase. Gui Guzi and He Yi quickly regained their HP after a group of priests tended to them. Gripping the Heaven-stealing Sword and summoning the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to my side, I said, "Eve, Gui Guzi, the two of you should lead the way again. The rest of us will follow behind you. Don¡¯t worry about being too slow and just focus on safety. A Level 145 Spirit Rank boss won¡¯t be easy to kill, especially since you guys managed to draw Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er away for a moment. Without them, Hegemon Palace doesn¡¯t have the strength to defeat the boss in a short time." "Mn." He Yi urged her mount forward and raised her shield in front of her. Both her and Gui Guzi took point as the rest of us slowly marched forward under Li Chengfeng and my lead. We dared not move too quickly because our max vision range was only 20 yards or so, while archers and mages had an attack range of 40 yards. It would be terrible if we were ambushed without warning. It wasn¡¯t long before we heard the chaotic sound of movement and fighting. We were very, very close to the boss now. ¡­¡­ "Wait!" Beiming Xue suddenly raised her arm and stared to the front with her purple succubi eyes. Her ears moved back and forth for a couple of seconds before she said, "There are a lot of people in front of us. Magic knights, raise your shields and move to the front now!" Dozens of magic knights immediately obeyed her order and formed a shielded line in front of us. Then, they slowly pushed forward. As Beiming Xue had predicted, a hail of arrows suddenly fell from above and hit the magic knights¡¯ shields. Thank goodness Beiming Xue¡¯s senses were sufficiently sharp, or we would¡¯ve suffered some losses before we even engaged the enemy. It wasn¡¯t long before an entire group of archers and mages appeared in front of us. They also had two rows of magic knights standing at the front to hold the battle line. There were at least a thousand people at this place, and it looked like they had been waiting for us for some time. I glanced at Beiming Xue, and my intelligent sister nodded with a smile. She and a hundred elite archers moved to the front as she activated her Famous General Skill. Bow God had a base skill effect of +50% Attack and +20% attack speed, and with Tactics it was probably around +100% Attack and +40% attack speed. It was ridiculously powerful to say the least! "Give me your Volley and Multi Arrows. Draw your bows, and loose!" Beiming Xue ordered. All one hundred elite archers let their Multi Arrows and Volleys loose in unison. For a moment, the sky was covered in arrows until they thudded against the magic knights¡¯ Holy Shields. It was just the first volley, but nearly half of the enemy magic knights had perished where they stood. They simply weren¡¯t tanky enough to withstand the boosted attack! Beiming Xue and the rest of our archers had improved attack speed thanks to Bow God, so they were able to follow up quickly with another volley of Multi Arrows. Usually, an AoE attack only dealt half the damage of a basic attack, but with Bow God it was effectively as powerful as a basic attack. Moreover, it was a hundred archers launching the skill at the same time. Only a handful of players would be able to survive this! The enemy¡¯s defense line crumbled in just 30 seconds. Not far away, Wang Dongliang exclaimed in shock. "Fuck, how are they so powerful?" I raised my sword while smiling. "Charge and shred their defense to pieces!" ¡­¡­ I and a bunch of warriors activated our Charges and dove into the enemy¡¯s backline like wolves jumping into a herd of sheeps. Then, we all activated our AoE skills without even needing a signal! Thousand Ice Slash! Reverse Scale Slash! Xiezhi Howl! Green Wave Slash! Rock Smash! Not only did our AoE skills annihilate over half of the enemy mages and archers in an instant, they also shattered Wang Dongliang¡¯s fragile heart. Hundreds of players worth of firepower gone just like that. It was acknowledged server-wide that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had the best frontline in the China servers. If even a top guild like Warsky Alliance couldn¡¯t stop us, then what could a second-rate guild like Hegemon Palace possibly do? ¡­¡­ A ray of sunlight penetrated the clouds at this moment. The fog was finally fading away. At the distance, we saw the Death Lord in his armored glory riding a mighty-looking skeletal mount and swinging his blade all over the place. His sword left a trail of fire wherever it went and murdered any and all frontliner from Hegemon Palace like they were nothing. Even better, he still had over 70% HP. Hmph hmph, Hegemon Palace might not have been able to beat this boss even if we hadn¡¯t interfered with this battle! High Fighting Spirits raised his battle axe with a grin. "Come on, let¡¯s go get our boss back!" ¡­¡­ "Wait!" But the dragon warrior suddenly raised his arm in warning. "Look over there!" Chapter 434: Chaotic Battle in the Basin This huge valley resembled a gigantic basin. At least two thousand players belonging to Warsky Alliance appeared on one of the hills adjacent to this basin as they stared at the players below them with hungry eyes. Meanwhile, Hegemon Palace had become a turtle in a jar. Nearly a thousand high-level players from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were smashing through their frontlines while Warsky Alliance were waiting to pounce on them from behind. However, neither of these things were more distressing than the fierce attacks of the boss they were facing! Whoosh! A biting wind blew through the valley and every attack the Death Lord made killed scores of players. Every attack struck in a 3-yard radius, dealing damage to everyone inside that area. These attacks were especially devastating to the players of Hegemon Palace. The first golden rays of morning light began to illuminate the valley and the dense fog that filled it disappeared in the blink of an eye, restoring everyone¡¯s vision to normal. ¡°This doesn¡¯t look too good¡­¡± He Yi said as she furrowed her brow. She continued, ¡°Warsky Alliance will attack us the moment we begin to fight the boss. They won¡¯t just sit there and watch us take it for ourselves. It¡¯s a bit troublesome now. The most important thing is that we can¡¯t kill this boss within a short period of time, so now it¡¯s become a game of hot potato¡­¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°Let¡¯s fall back for now and put some distance between us and Hegemon Palace. Let¡¯s do what Warsky Alliance is doing right now. We¡¯ll sit back and wait for the right opportunity to strike!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± After He Yi gave the order, every player from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls retreated as fast as they could from the fighting. This lifted a huge burden off the minds of the players of Hegemon Palace, allowing them to focus all their efforts on the boss. He Yi led from the front as the guild climbed up a small hill. As she looked down into the valley below, she realized that they had found quite a good spot to observe the festivities. The hill was hard to attack and easy to defend, and if they charged down, they could reach the boss in five minutes. He Yi¡¯s strategic grasp of terrain was still as outstanding as ever. We gathered on the side of the hill. The players in the valley below might not be able to see all of us due to the trees and foliage but we could observe everything that was going on in the valley. ¡°We¡¯ll make our move when the boss¡¯s HP drops to 25%,¡± He Yi said. ¡°Okay.¡± Li Chengfeng, Beiming Xue, Xu Yang, and I nodded our heads in unison. ¡­¡­ It was none other than the long-lost leader of the Mad Dragon guild¡ªRoaming Dragon! The corner of He Yi¡¯s lips started curling up into a grin, revealing her charming dimples. As she looked at the situation unfolding in the valley, she chuckled. ¡°I thought that Mad Dragon was about to vanish from Sky City, but it looks like Roaming Dragon has been biding his time all this while. Hmm, their current levels and skills look pretty good. It''s clear that Mad Dragon has been using this time to raise their strength rather than participate in PvP!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I nodded my head as I stared at the Mad Dragon players milling about in the valley. Who would¡¯ve thought that a punk like Roaming Dragon would actually obtain a mount that looked respectable. Even though it wasn¡¯t as good as Gui Guzi¡¯s land dragon or He Yi¡¯s warhorse, the Snow Domain Windchaser, it looked pretty good. This guy¡¯s luck was pretty good, and he must¡¯ve used up all of it taming this mount! Also, as Roaming Dragon¡¯s woman, Coldmoon Rose had pretty decent equipment as well. Her leather armor shone with a golden light and as far as I could tell, she was wearing three pieces of Dark Gold¨Cgrade and two pieces of Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment. The bow in her hand also seemed to be of the Purple Gold grade. However, her items didn¡¯t seem to be glowing with prismatic light, so I could tell at a glance that none of her items were Outstanding. Behind Coldmoon Rose came Mad Dragon¡¯s Gemini Stars, two people I hadn¡¯t seen in a while. The magic knight Inconstant was clad in shimmering platemail as he came riding in on a Pesterhide Wolf, a mount that seemed to be the same as the one Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun had tamed. Meanwhile, his partner, the warrior Iron Pardon, hefted his longsword as he calmly surveyed the area. These two were the real elites of the Mad Dragon guild and this was something that Roaming Dragon was well aware of. ¡­¡­ ¡°As expected, a lot of people came to compete with us¡­¡± Beiming Xue said with a laugh. ¡°It looks like the introduction of the territory system even managed to lure Mad Dragon out. As expected, the territory system is going to cause a war!¡± Li Chengfeng let out a guffaw. ¡°Time to take out the popcorn!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± In the valley below, Roaming Dragon rushed to the front of his guild¡¯s formation as he lifted up his spear and waved it high in the air. He yelled, ¡°Friends of Hegemon Palace, this Death Lord is something that belongs to all the players of Sky City. It isn¡¯t quite right for your guild to monopolize it, right?¡± A look of rage appeared on the face of Pillar of the Nation as he walked up to confront Roaming Dragon. ¡°Roaming Dragon, what the hell are you trying to say? Are you trying to snatch this boss from us?¡± ¡°So what if I am?¡± ¡°Heh heh, if you want to gobble up this piece of fatty meat, you can try it! Though I don¡¯t know if your fangs are strong enough!¡± ¡°I can certainly try!¡± Roaming Dragon waved his spear once more as he roared, ¡°Brothers of Mad Dragon, charge! Destroy Hegemon Palace and the boss will be ours!¡± Battle cries tore through the air as the massed-up forces of the Mad Dragon guild surged into the valley and charged toward the forces belonging to Hegemon Palace. Shockingly enough, more and more Mad Dragon players poured into the valley, and there seemed to be no end of them in sight. In a single instant, more than five thousand players had entered the battlefield. WTF, has Mad Dragon truly gone insane? ¡­¡­ Xu Yang sucked in a deep breath before speaking up, ¡°Just like what we¡¯ve heard, Mad Dragon has been accumulating strength and waiting for the right opportunity to act. I¡¯ve heard that Roaming Dragon has been madly recruiting players from all over and he¡¯s been spending recklessly to get them to join. He¡¯s even recruited whole teams of players from Wind City and Vanished God City. They not only have five thousand people in their main Rank 4 guild, they even have four other branch guilds, and each of those guilds are at Rank 3 with two thousand people each!¡± Li Chengfeng¡¯s lips curled into a smile. ¡°When it comes to numbers, we¡¯re definitely about to lose ground to Mad Dragon.¡± High Fighting Spirits slung his axe across his shoulder disdainfully as he grinned. ¡°However, each of us is worth ten of theirs! What we focus on is individual fighting strength! This is something that Mad Dragon will never be able to match, no matter how many horses they flog to death!¡± Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun laughed at those words. ¡°Indeed, even ten Mad Dragon players at once wouldn¡¯t be our match! Even though the Mad Dragon guild has the advantage in numbers, Hegemon Palace might still be too much for them to overcome.¡± ¡°Hehe¡­¡± I also let out a chuckle. ¡°Well let¡¯s just take a break from PvP for now. There¡¯s a show for us to watch!¡± ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± Everyone laughed knowingly. It really was quite refreshing to just sit back and enjoy the show sometimes. ¡­¡­ A bloody melee was brewing in the valley. Iron Pardon and Inconstant killed off a priest named Profound Puff who was on the frontlines and was reputedly a vice leader of the guild. Little Piglet cried as he hugged Profound Puff¡¯s cold body, but his sorrow soon turned into strength. He roared in rage as he hefted his longsword in the air and charged toward the Gemini Stars. The conclusion of that battle surprised everyone. Iron Pardon and Inconstant were both taken out in under a minute. Little Piglet¡¯s halo was shining brilliantly, and no one could stop him. He rampaged through the frontlines of the Mad Dragon guild¡¯s formation, his bravery and ferocity unmatched by any other player. Pillar of the Nation was overcome with joy as he patted Little Piglet on the back and exclaimed, ¡°You really are my Fan Kuai!¡± But Mad Dragon had brought a lot of players, so Little Piglet had no choice but to retreat under an endless rain of long-range attacks. Meanwhile, Hegemon Palace¡¯s Shangguan Wan¡¯er suddenly disappeared from the sight of Mad Dragon¡¯s frontline players. However, she soon popped up in the rear of Mad Dragon¡¯s formation, and she announced her appearance by killing more than a dozen mages and priests in a row. Daggers were, after all, remarkably good at breaking the magic shields of casters. Roaming Dragon¡¯s face turned bitter when he saw this, but by the time he ordered his troops to kill Shangguan Wan¡¯er, the little assassin girl had already vanished into thin air Even though Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡¯s equipment and mechanical skill wasn¡¯t as good as assassins in the CGL Hall of Fame like Farewell Song and Moonkiss, her strength was still something to be reckoned with. At the very least, there was no one in Mad Dragon that was her match when it came to one-on-one PvP skills. ¡­¡­ As Xu Yang observed the battle in the valley, he licked his lips and grinned. ¡°This Little Piglet¡¯s ferocious. He¡¯d actually survived despite charging all the way into the enemy¡¯s formation. What shocking strength.¡± Chaos Moon immediately retorted, ¡°Xu Yang, you don¡¯t get it. The only reason why Little Piglet is able to charge in and out of the enemy¡¯s formation with impunity is because Mad Dragon doesn¡¯t have a proper expert. If any one between Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, or Vice Leader Broken Halberd was inserted into Mad Dragon¡¯s formation, I¡¯m afraid that Little Piglet would die without even knowing what hit him!¡± Pure Love¡¯s laughter tinkled in the air. ¡°Exactly, exactly! It¡¯s just a monkey becoming the king of a mountain with no tigers!¡± Their retorts left Xu Yang speechless. He had no choice but to nod his head and say, ¡°Ladies, the two of you are truly blessed with quick wits and noble characters!¡± The two girls were overcome with glee. ¡­¡­ However, Hegemon Palace could only hold on for a little while longer. The human wave tactic of Mad Dragon was simply too overwhelming, and the Death Lord still had 57% of its HP. Hegemon Palace was nowhere near killing it, and Pillar of the Nation felt despair cloud his heart. However, he had always been a flexible person, so he yelled as loud as he could, ¡°Little Piglet, Wan¡¯er, let¡¯s not force the issue! Let¡¯s retreat and give up the boss for now!¡± After that, a bunch of players from Hegemon Palace tried to flee through the center of the valley. Unfortunately for them, Roaming Dragon was determined to wipe them all out because he sent a small army after them. Regret was filling Pillar of the Nation¡¯s heart. If he had brought more people from Hegemon Palace with him, there was no way Mad Dragon would have been able to force them to retreat. ¡­¡­ Players from Mad Dragon started to mass around the boss and even though their losses were heavy, they could see the boss¡¯s HP steadily falling. Killing it would only be a matter of time. ¡°Three thousand more people from Mad Dragon are going to have to die before they can kill the Death Lord,¡± Li Chengfeng said with confidence. Xu Yang let out a hearty laugh. ¡°That¡¯s already a foregone conclusion. Moreover, our people are already itching for battle. The moment we make a move, even the loss of those three thousand players will be in vain!¡± It was precisely at this moment that the situation suddenly changed. Bloodthirsty howls rang out from every direction as a large amount of players surged into the basin. The huge army that was composed of more than a dozen guilds had finally arrived and stretched as far as the eye could see! ¡°This battle is descending into anarchy¡­¡± I muttered under my breath. Li Chengfeng stared at the army in stunned amazement. ¡°It¡¯s gotten even more chaotic, bloody hell¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Flower Room and Gods of Destruction had also thrown themselves into the fray and even small guilds like Snow of Frozen River, Zero Pitch Sonata, and Heavenly Plan Palace had decided to join in the festivities. The era of heroes vying for supremacy had officially begun! Battle cries shook the air as the valley instantly turned into a sea of blood. The boss was in the center of all of this chaos and everyone rushed toward it. If a player saw someone from another guild, they would instantly attack them, and even Dominating Heaven Blade waded towards the front, his eyes red with bloodlust. He Yi observed the battle going on in the valley. She looked rather dumbfounded as she said, ¡°Given the current circumstances, will we still be able to force our way in?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ At this moment, Li Chengfeng suddenly said, ¡°Did you guys notice something? The guilds Warsky Alliance, Gods of Destruction, and Hegemon Palace have all shown up, but one guild still hasn¡¯t arrived. It¡¯s almost as if this guild has given up on the chance to take this boss down.¡± ¡°Snowy Cathaya?¡± everyone said in unison. Chapter 435: Unkillable I opened up my friend list and sent Lin Yixin a message: ¡°Snowy Cathaya isn¡¯t here trying to compete for the boss. This¡­ doesn¡¯t quite seem to fit your usual modus operandi.¡± Lin Yixin opened up a chat window, her silvery peals of laughter ringing in my ears. ¡°Stupid Lu Chen, don¡¯t you forget that I¡¯ve always been an intelligent warrior. Just how many good pieces of equipment can that Level 145 Spirit Rank boss even drop? Besides, with so many guilds trying to snatch it, the winner will inevitably end up suffering a pyrrhic victory. Everyone¡¯s going to sacrifice the levels of thousands of players just for a chance to get a piece of equipment they may not even obtain. That¡¯s so not worth it! Anyway, I decided to wait for someone else to open the guild territory system before I go and snatch it away from them!¡± ¡°Fuck¡­ that¡¯s really unlike you!¡± ¡°Heehee, actually the main reason is¡­¡± ¡°The main reason is?¡± ¡°The main reason is that I haven¡¯t even eaten lunch yet and I just got back from the hospital too! My life isn¡¯t so easy! I¡¯m going to go offline and eat a boxed meal before I come back¡­¡± ¡°Damn¡­¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°So what¡¯s the situation?¡± He Yi asked. She knew that I had just contacted Lin Yixin. I turned around and said, ¡°Lin Yixin said that Snowy Cathaya isn¡¯t going to participate in this fight. They¡¯re going to wait for the guild territory to spawn before snatching it away!¡± ¡°Oh, so they¡¯re going to bide their time and wait for a perfect opportunity!¡± ¡°Yup!¡± ¡°So what are we going to do?¡± I glanced at the boss who only had 15% of its HP left and drew the Heaven-stealing Sword. I said with a grin, ¡°I don¡¯t really care what Snowy Cathaya intends to do. This boss still belongs to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Alright everyone! It¡¯s time to go to war!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Everyone was overflowing with excitement. All of our hands had started to itch after watching the other players fiercely clash with each other. I pointed my sword down toward the valley as I said, ¡°Remember, don¡¯t lose your head in battle! Our formation will be like a sharp spear that pierces through the enemy line. As long as the people at the tip of the spear can get to the boss and snatch it, it will be mission accomplished! If not, we¡¯ll suffer even more losses and now that all of us are trying to rush to our fifth promotion, we can¡¯t afford to drop levels here! Do you understand?!¡± ¡°Aye, aye captain!¡± Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was sitting on his Bald Wolf as he hefted his sharp sword. He licked his lips and grinned. ¡°It¡¯s too bad that the mount I got from the CGL Who Will Rise tournament needs its user to be Level 115. If not, I¡¯d also be one of our major players!¡± I chuckled and replied. ¡°There¡¯s no need to be anxious. Your time to shine will come sooner rather than later!¡± Battle cries shook the air as we thundered down the hillside. He Yi and Gui Guzi formed the very tip of our spear formation. Both knights had extremely high Defense and HP, and this was further bolstered by He Yi¡¯s Royal Road and Tactics. It would be impossible for the noobs of Mad Dragon to stop them. The frontline players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls activated Charge and this immediately broke the patience of all the other waiting guilds. Warsky Alliance¡¯s October Rain pointed at the valley below as she said, ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have made their move, so it¡¯s also time for us to strike. Let¡¯s go! Subdue that boss and grab that Territory Token!¡± On the other side of the basin, a female archer appeared at the same time. Shockingly enough, it was the vice leader of The Monarch Descends¡ªLing Xueshang. Purple Wind Chime, Mo Xiaoxiao, and a bunch of other warriors were standing behind her. Once Ling Xueshang gave the command, the players of The Monarch Descends streamed down the hill. They had also come to compete for this boss! ¡­¡­ ¡°Here come the players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!¡± a low-level player from a minor guild yelled. His cry immediately caused a bunch of elite warriors over Level 100 to wheel toward him. They raised their longswords in the air as they yelled, ¡°Kill them! Beat back Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!¡± He Yi arrived at the very head of her troops. Her spear swept forward as she unleashed a Green Wave Slash. A viridian wave of spear energy crashed into those warriors, causing a string of damage numbers to appear over their heads. 6743! 4892! 5729! ¡­¡­ The HP bars of these warriors had nearly been depleted in that single instant. Meanwhile, Gui Guzi was coming in right behind He Yi. His spear swept forward, his Aurora Thrust creating a straight line shockwave that sliced through all of these warriors. Dozens of high-level warriors collapsed to the ground as they instantly transformed into icy corpses! I swiftly charged to the front and used Thunderous Charge to catch up with the two knights leading the line. After that, I leapt into the air and landed with a War Crush, causing clods of dirt to fly into the air. A loud screeching sound immediately rang out, as my attack instantly cleared an entire area clean of players. Mad Dragon¡¯s losses were mounting and the players who had fallen just outside the radius of my attack scrambled backward as if they had just seen a ghost. Thud! Thud! Thud! He Yi added players from Mad Dragon, Hegemon Palace, and Flower Room as targets of her Royal Road, causing their stats to drop by at least 15%. Doing this required the user to have extremely good mechanical skill and reaction speed, but this was well within He Yi¡¯s capabilities. It was simply another display of how much her combat ability had risen! However, it seemed to have risen by a little bit too much, and in her irritation, He Yi added every guild that was not Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Bloody Mercenaries as targets of her Royal Road. If any enemy player got too close to He Yi, their stats would drop by 30%! ¡­¡­ Coldmoon Rose swiveled her curvy hips toward us as she pointed her bow at the teeming ranks of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. She shouted, ¡°All together now, focus your strongest attacks on them!¡± Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! When arrows poured down like a swarm of locusts, He Yi and Gui Guzi immediately rushed to the very front of the line and activated their Holy Shield to block most of the attacks. The arrows thudded against their shield rhythmically before bouncing off, but they only caused double-digit numbers to pop up above both players¡¯ heads. It was an infuriating sight to behold! Royal Road was simply too strong. It not only boosted all allies¡¯ defensive stats and health by 30%, it also weakened the opposing archers¡¯ offensive power by 30%. Even if these archers normally had a slight chance of oneshotting He Yi or Gui Guzi, that chance basically dropped to zero once He Yi activated Royal Road. After we weathered the storm of arrows, He Yi and Gui Guzi shifted their shields to allow Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang, and I to rush out towards the enemy. Three of us led with our AoE attacks like Ice Breaking Slash. Xu Yang still didn¡¯t have an AoE skill, so he used Blaze instead. After a round of combat, all of the magic knights on the enemy¡¯s frontline collapsed to the ground. Not a single one of them had survived our furious assault. Beiming Xue supported us from behind as she coordinated the attacks of a few dozen archers. Arrows danced through the air and her Tactics-bolstered Bow God skill transformed her group of archers into a bunch of god-slaying heroes! Their attack was raised by 100% and even skills like Multi Arrow and Volley were enough to blow opposing players to kingdom come. Once again, a huge patch of space was cleared up in a single instant. At this moment, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ Famous Generals, formations, and tactics had reached the peak of excellence. Even Mad Dragon, who had been building their strength in secret for a long time, were teetering on the brink of collapse after their first brush against us. They were completely helpless before us and Coldmoon Rose¡¯s face started to twist up in rage. She raised her longbow as she yelled, ¡°Retreat together with me, we won¡¯t be able to hold this position!¡± We continued to surge forward even as Mad Dragon retreated. The spearhead of our forces drove Coldmoon Rose and the rest of Mad Dragon to within 100 yards of the boss. At this time, I saw that the boss still had around 8% of its HP left and breathed a sigh of relief. Now that we were so close to the boss, there was no way we would lose it to anyone else. We just needed to use Charge once to get within striking range of it. ¡°Lu Chen, is our mission to kill the boss or to grab the Territory Token?¡± Xu Yang asked. I replied, ¡°Both. If not, won¡¯t the brothers that have accompanied us here have come for nothing? We owe it to them to kill the boss as well!¡± ¡°Alright, let¡¯s activate the guild¡¯s EXP-sharing mode. If we kill the boss, everyone here will get some EXP and we¡¯ll even get a good amount of guild EXP too!¡± ¡°Okay, let me do it!¡± Xu Yang had made an excellent suggestion. Since none of the major players of the guild needed to level urgently and a Level 145 Spirit Rank boss would give an extremely generous amount of EXP, we could offer to share the EXP with everyone here. Since there were more than one thousand of our guild members present, there wouldn¡¯t be much EXP distributed to each person, but it was still a huge amount of EXP being contributed to the group! ¡­¡­ In the distance, October Rain was urging the forces of Warsky Alliance forward as Warsky himself led their line. They had already come within striking distance of the boss. On the other side, Ling Xueshang and The Monarch Descends had also gotten close enough to the boss to attack it. Meanwhile, Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction, Flower Room, Snow of Frozen River, Heavenly Plan Palace and the dozens of guilds at that level also started to fight viciously amongst themselves! Mad Dragon¡¯s last line of defense finally collapsed after another round of fierce attacks and Roaming Dragon retreated together with Coldmoon Rose. However, they were immediately swallowed up by a tide of players from Gods of Destruction the very next instant. At this point, our vanguard had already gotten within the boss¡¯ attack range as well. He Yi used Royal Road to lower the boss¡¯s stats, but it was 75% less effective on the boss. It only dropped its stats by around 8%. This was all too normal. Tactics normally had a much weaker effect against bosses, and it was the same with Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Ghost God Prophecy. It could be used against a boss, but it could not kill a boss. It could only reduce a boss¡¯s HP by 10% after 10 minutes while also making it impossible for the boss to recover health. But Candlelight Shadow had still used this powerful Famous General Skill to take down many bosses which should have been unkillable and his equipment wasn¡¯t any bit inferior to mine. ¡°Keke¡­¡± The Death Lord let out a deep howl of rage and a wave of spear energy swept out from its body. That attack was so powerful that it sent Laughing At The Heavens, Warsky Alliance¡¯s best magic knight, stumbling backward and also very nearly broke his shield when it dealt more than 8000 points of damage to him. If the Death Lord launched another attack, Laughing At The Heavens would¡¯ve been dead meat. He was so shocked by the strength of this blow that he ran to the rear, hollering for Priests to heal him. Gui Guzi charged onward, launching a series of fierce attacks to grab the Death Lord¡¯s aggro. As long as we managed to lure it into Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls formation, it would be a done deal. We had excellent skills when it came to juggling bosses, so it wouldn¡¯t be able to escape our grasp if we succeeded in luring it in! The boss¡¯s sharp blade slashed down once more as it slammed against Gui Guzi¡¯s shield. It had actually used Flurry and sparks flew in the air as three damage numbers appeared above Gui Guzi¡¯s head. 7844! +3922! 7902! +3951! 7129! +3564! Gui Guzi¡¯s body sagged a little, but he didn¡¯t retreat a single step. He responded by shifting his shield to the side and stabbing the Death Lord with his spear. He now had more than 20000 HP, so even the boss¡¯s Flurry would not be able to one-shot him. Besides, he also had the Undying Shield which allowed him to convert 50% of the damage taken into HP. His incredible vitality made Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ face to go pale as he muttered under his breath, ¡°Fuck, Gui Guzi¡¯s Undead Knight class is simply ridiculous¡­¡± Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew, who were standing behind Gui Guzi, were furiously casting their healing spells on Gui Guzi. They made sure that Gui Guzi¡¯s HP bar didn¡¯t dip below 80%. He Yi was helping him to attack and tank the boss. Meanwhile, all of the main damage dealers like Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, and I stood on the sidelines without attacking. We were readying our ultimate techniques while waiting for the Death Lord¡¯s HP to drop to 1%. The moment that happened, we would unleash our ultimate attacks and guarantee the kill for our guild! Beiming Xue and her archers now became the main stars of the show. Their arrows fell like lightning and countless ¡°thuds¡± were heard as those arrows thumped against the boss¡¯s body. In the short span of two minutes, we had actually reduced the boss¡¯s HP to 2%! ¡­¡­ As he observed us from a distance, October Rain¡¯s eyes went cold as she declared, ¡°Warsky, Laughing At The Heavens, charge forward and take that down that boss for us!¡± Chapter 436: Ardent Thunder Blade Swhoosh swhoosh! Warsky and Laughing At The Heavens activated their Charges in succession. October Rain was wise to launch an all-out assault the moment the boss dropped to 2% HP. She had successfully disrupted our control and given us a massive headache. Not far away, along with the experts of The Monarch Descends, Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er were charging us as well! ¡­¡­ Keeping the Heaven-stealing Sword lowered, I ran to the front and instructed in a low voice, "Everyone, it¡¯s do-or-die time. Li Chengfeng, I want you to hold off Warsky Alliance and Hegemon Palace. I¡¯m going to one-shot the boss with Purple Dragon Howl. High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, I leave the task of snatching the Territory Token to all of you!" "Got it!" Everyone nodded in unison. I was already rushing toward the boss and stomping my foot right next to its feet. The skill animation of War Crush was incredibly obvious, so Warsky, Laughing At The Heavens, Little Piglet, and the rest of my enemies dared not rush me right away. They were well aware that the skill had the potential to one-shot them where they stood! Li Chengfeng ran toward Laughing At The Heavens and Warsky and swung his sword three times in a row, knocking both of them backward. Little Piglet was blocked by He Yi and couldn¡¯t get to me immediately. While they were hesitating, I slid behind Gui Guzi and said, "Little Gui, cover me!" "Got it!" While Gui Guzi blocked in front of me with his mount and raised his shield, I swung the Heaven-stealing Sword and channeled the Purple Dragon Howl. The next moment, a draconic roar filled the air, and vast swirls of purple energies surrounded me for a time. Once they turned into a giant purple dragon at the tip of my blade, I shouted and flung the energy straight at the Death Lord. The skill engulfed the boss and dealt a shocking amount of damage¡ª 18674! 19832! 18308! ¡­¡­ Purple Dragon Howl did well over 10 times my normal damage. There was simply no way the Death Lord could¡¯ve survived the attack. When it groaned and collapsed to the ground, its soul entered all Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul members¡¯ bodies as streams of experience. It wasn¡¯t much, but it still bumped my experience by 2% or more. Pop pop pop! The boss also dropped a ton of equipment and items. I had a high turn rate, and I was the first player to react to the drops. I immediately zigzagged past Gui Guzi and grabbed the closest equipment to me. Before I could do anything else, Warsky Alliance¡¯s mages had turned the entire area into a sea of fire, and October Rain stunned me with a Shock Arrow! "Not good!" I swore inside my heart. It was because I saw a shiny token at a bush close to me. It was none other than the Territory Token everyone was fighting for! Swhoosh! "Drop that now!" Chaos Moon appeared out of nowhere and forced the assassin out of his stealth with a sweep of her sword. It was none other than Farewell Song himself. Clutching the token and parrying Chaos Moon¡¯s attack with his dagger, he said with a smile, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will not be claiming the territory today. We will!" "Get lost, you idiot!" Xu Yang attacked Farewell Song from behind with a devastating Blaze. Had the skill connected, Farewell Song¡¯s HP would¡¯ve dropped past the safety line at the very least. Unfortunately, Farewell Song was a super assassin and the 11th place CGL Hall of Famer, so he easily dodged the skill by taking two steps to the front. After that, he activated Shadow Dance and started moving a lot faster than before. First, he stunned Chaos Moon with a Thrust and a Gouge. Then, he zigzagged past a couple of our players until he reached October Rain¡¯s side. After he was out of combat state, he slowly raised the Territory Token into the air and used it! It was too late. I was stunned, Li Chengfeng was busy dealing with Laughing At The Heavens and Warsky, and Little Piglet was blocking He Yi. Everyone¡¯s hands were full fighting multiple guilds at the same time! Swhoosh! Farewell Song used the Territory Token, and a system announcement dinged across Sky City¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Farewell Song" has used the Territory Token, and the first territory in Sky City, "City of Death" has spawned. The territory¡¯s coordinates are (76984, 60948), and the teleportation formation is now active. The guild ¡°Warsky Alliance¡± is the first owner of the territory, so all ¡°Warsky Alliance¡± members may now teleport to the territory. The ownership becomes permanent if the guild ¡°Warsky Alliance¡± successfully defends the territory for 5 hours! ¡­¡­ Fuck, Warsky Alliance ultimately got one over us! All Warsky Alliance members started teleporting back to the city under October Rain¡¯s orders en masse. We killed the rest who were still stuck in combat to vent our frustration. Time was slowly but surely ticking down like a bomb. If we failed to conquer the City of Death in 5 hours, it would belong to Warsky Alliance permanently. I brought up the world map and looked at the given coordinates. "This new territory is about one and a half hours away from Sky City. It is also situated right between Sky Forest, Dragonbone Mountain Range, and Black Coast. This is such a perfect location that countless players would be attracted to it!" "Mn!" He Yi nodded. "In that case, let¡¯s not waste any more time and march there right away!" "Yeah!" Under He Yi¡¯s leadership, we left the canyon and fought our way toward the new territory. Xu Yang also contacted our main camp for reinforcements while I contacted Du Thirteen to mobilize Bloody Mercenaries. The guild was now a Rank 4 guild that could accommodate 5000 players. I was sure that they would play a huge role in this upcoming battle. ¡­¡­ I also received news that Snowy Cathaya¡¯s main force had taken off toward the City of Death from Sky Forest. They would most likely reach the new territory before us. This war for territory had only just begun! "Oh right, what did the boss drop, Lu Chen?" Murong Mingyue asked. It was only now I recalled that I had nabbed a ton of loot before October Rain stunned me. When I opened my bag and looked inside, I saw five items waiting for me to examine them. Although the Territory Token was ultimately stolen by Farewell Song, I managed to nab the equipment, magic stones, crafting materials, and a ton of other goodies¡ª Burning War Boots of Justice (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï): Level 130 metal armor, 4 slots, 420 Defense, 280 Magic Resist, +107 Strength, +102 Stamina. Outstanding Property: Reduces damage taken by 14%. Deception Legguards (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï): Level 130 leather armor legguards, 2 slots, 285 Defense, 220 Magic Resist, +92 Agility, +90 Stamina. Outstanding Property: Agility increased by 11%. Olivia¡¯s Cape (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï): Level 130 cape, 2 slots, 300 Defense, 215 Magic Resist, +104 Strength, +100 Agility. Outstanding Property: Attack increased by 9%. Miracle Scepter (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï): Level 130 scepter, 1 slot, 440~765 Magic Attack, Intelligence +102, Stamina +89. Outstanding Property: Fire magic damage increased by 20%. Ardent Thunder Blade (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï): Level 130 blade, 620~800 Attack, +100 Strength, +97 Stamina. User¡¯s Attack increased by 25%. Outstanding Property: Ardent Thunder, a high chance to trigger Ardent Thunder and scorch your target. ¡­¡­ I was pleased. We might have failed to acquire the Territory Token, but the loot we got was definitely outstanding. There were even two 2-star Outstanding Spirit-grade items in the mix. In fact, the rarity of these items was so amazing only because I, the killer of the boss, had 22 Luck. Had the boss killer been a 0-Luck player, they would¡¯ve gotten non-Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment and Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment only. They would have to be really lucky to get even one common Spirit-grade equipment. I consulted He Yi¡¯s opinion regarding the distribution of the loot. "Eve, can we give up these loot and distribute them based on class DPS contribution points?" "Sure." He Yi smiled before lowering her voice, "I don¡¯t mind increasing everyone¡¯s strength. Do what you want." "Okay!" I brought up the DPS contribution ranking of the previous battle. Although I had the highest contribution points out of everyone, and the Burning War Boots of Justice were technically better than my Barbaric War Boots of Heaven, I ultimately decided to forfeit my right to claim the loot. It was because I noticed that Li Chengfeng, the second-highest damage dealer on the ranking, was still wearing non-Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade boots. It was simply unacceptable for someone of his power level and skill to be stuck with such low-quality equipment. After accepting the boots, Li Chengfeng tossed it into his bag and gave me a smile. "Thanks, Lu Chen!" "You¡¯re welcome." "Hehe¡­" Next, I passed the Deception Legguards to Beiming Xue. It was a great item that added 11% to one¡¯s Agility, and it would be a shame to give it to anyone else, be it an assassin or an archer. Every guild needed a powerful player¡ªa soul¡ªits players looked up to, and Beiming Xue was the soul of all Agility-based players in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I had every reason to make her as powerful as a goddess! Chaos Moon was so surprised when I gave her Olivia¡¯s Cape that she couldn¡¯t stop thanking me and swearing her undying loyalty to the guild. Thank goodness she wasn¡¯t Pure Love, or she might even offer to sleep with me as a token of gratitude. I gave the Miracle Scepter to Moonlight Stone. She was the strongest mage in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and only a fool would neglect her growth. Finally, there was the Ardent Thunder Blade. I wasn¡¯t quite sure who to give the weapon to, to be honest. Blade-type weapons were exclusive to the Wanderer class, that enjoyed 30% boost when wielding such a weapon. Therefore, it would be wiser to give the Level 130 Ardent Thunder Blade to a wanderer. I looked at the DPS contribution ranking again. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was clearly the best wanderer in the guild, not to mention that his class, Earth Wanderer, was a hidden class. Alright, I had made up my mind. He was a general in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and it was only right I confirmed his efforts by gifting him an Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon. So I walked up to Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and gave him the Ardent Thunder Blade. "This blade is yours according to the DPS contribution ranking. Take it, no need to be shy." The wanderer was so shocked that he actually fell off his Bald Wolf. Clutching the Ardent Thunder Blade, he looked at me in astonishment and said, "Vice leader, you¡¯re not joking, are you? Are you sure you¡¯re going to give me a Spirit-grade weapon this great?" I grinned. "You can give it back to me if you don¡¯t want it. I can use it to earn a favor from Lin Yixin." "Fuck no, I mean fuck yes I want it!" Eighteen Steeds You and Yun hugged the blade like it was his baby. "No, no, I can¡¯t leave it like this. Boss, I¡¯m going to teleport back to the city and put the blade away for safekeeping. I¡¯ll catch up to y¡¯all later!" "No problem. See you in a moment!" Chapter 437: Fair Game It wasn¡¯t long before Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun caught up to us. The Bald Wolf was a low-rank mount, but it still gave him a lot of movement speed. Of course he could catch up to the normal players. Right now, the highly-spirited wanderer was gripping his wolf¡¯s hair with one hand to steady himself and carrying the Ardent Thunder Blade with the other. With his current Attack, he definitely deserved to be called a super expert in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! ¡­¡­ We reunited with our main force before continuing on our journey. Just yesterday, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls became the first guild in all the servers to hit Rank 5. This meant that we now had a max member cap of 15000 including Bloody Mercenaries. Even better, most our players were pros or hardcore gamers with high attendance, as evident from the fact that thirteen thousand of our players were marching with us right now. No one could underestimate a force this huge no matter who they were. Moreover, we had three Famous Generals in our guild, so many of our experts were able to enjoy the powerful buffs. Both He Yi and I exchanged a smile with each other as we took note of the guild¡¯s current strength. Thud thud thud... Gui Guzi rode up to us on his Armored Swordback Dragon and said in a low voice, "Boss Broken Halberd, Boss He Yi, I just scouted that new territory. First, it is as its name suggests, an undead city. Second, Warsky Alliance and their sub-guilds¡ªabout twenty thousand players as of the moment I checked¡ªhave already made it inside the territory. Third, I learned that Warsky went offline for half an hour for some business before returning online. After that, their defenses underwent a change¡­" "A change?" I frowned. "Can you be more specific?" Gui Guzi grinned. "Flower Room, Mad Dragon, and Gods of Destruction had decided to help Warsky Alliance guard their territory. In fact, the temporary alliance was forged just a moment ago. If I¡¯m not mistaken, Warsky must¡¯ve called the guild leaders on the phone and cut a deal with them." Xu Yang exclaimed in astonishment, "Dang, this is a bit too much, isn¡¯t it? We now have to fight Flower Room, Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction, and Warsky Alliance all together? Will Warsky only stop after he gathers a hundred thousand troops? Can we really take over City of Death with our inferior numbers?" Murong Mingyue smiled slightly. "Lu Chen¡¯s right. Our chance is here, and it is up to us to seize it. Anyway, we can plan out our move after we reach the place. Frankly, Ancient Sword has the biggest chance out of any guild to win this territory tournament, so you lot had better give it your all and die for our glory, understand?" "Mn mn!" The guys smiled awkwardly at Murong Mingyue in unison. "Beauty Mingyue is absolutely right!" The priest glared back. "Where are you looking? Eyes on the road, people!" ¡­¡­ Our thirteen-thousand-strong army passed by the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range. Not far away, we spotted a couple of smaller guilds making their way toward the new territory as well. However, they only numbered in hundreds of thousands and were not our match at all. Their guild leaders wisely raised their weapons and hollered, "We¡¯re changing directions toward the west! Do not engage Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" Intentional or not, I couldn¡¯t help but be pleased by the guilds¡¯ gesture of submission. Meanwhile, He Yi and Gui Guzi had gone ahead to scout the path ahead of us. Both assassins and archers had become outdated in terms of scouting after we entered the era of cavalry. These days, high-level riders were the kings of everything. It wasn¡¯t long before our vision widened. We were now standing atop Howling Wind Plains, a map sitting in between Black Coast and Dragonbone Mountain Range, and the new territory was right in front of us. Everyone started running like mad until a small, shabby-looking village appeared at the horizon. We could hardly conceal our astonishment when we arrived. Is this the fabled "City of Death"? The rather small territory was surrounded by pitch black wooden fences. There were four gates facing each direction of the compass, and they looked like they were built from rusted iron and skulls. I said skulls because there were skulls embedded to the steel plates. Still, they probably had pretty high tenacity. A simple arrow tower was erected every ten steps across the walls, and each of them was guarded by three undead archers; Level 125 shadow-rank NPCs to be exact. They looked like they had pretty good Attack! Other than that, there was a smithy, slaughterhouse, potion shop, clothing shop, and so on scattered all around the territory. Almost all the NPCs were skeletons, for obvious reasons. Finally, there was a large twenty-meter tall guild hall at the center of the territory that was surrounded by Level 125 shadow-rank undead swordsmen. Warsky was standing at the entrance of the guild hall and speaking to October Rain right now. Outside the territory, I licked my lips and grinned widely. "What a beautiful undead city. Alright, I¡¯m going to make it mine to turn it into the most powerful undead city in the world!" He Yi nodded smilingly. "Yes. We can do all that after we seize it for ourselves!" ¡­¡­ No one tried to invade the City of Death even though we had arrived. Although the territory looked shabby, it was still guarded by tens of thousands of players and a powerhouse like Warsky Alliance. If we attacked them recklessly, all thirteen thousand of our players would perish in no time. Moreover, the rules stated that any player who died in a territory war couldn¡¯t enter said territory anymore, so every life was extremely precious here. "Snowy Cathaya has arrived¡­" Xu Yang said at this moment. We turned around and saw Lin Yixin in her silver armor as expected. She was accompanied by Purple Marquis, Shadow Chanel, Clear Perfume, and others. He Yi and I exchanged a smile with each other before she said, "Go greet her, will you?" So I walked out to Lin Yixin and said, "Yiyi, you came earlier than I thought¡­" Lin Yixin smiled back before replying, "We¡¯re the ones who should be saying that. Anyway, do you have a strategy yet? Warsky Alliance is clearly doing everything in their power to secure this territory!" "Mn, do you have any strategy?" "Not yet, Warsky Alliance¡¯s allies are growing as we speak, so¡­" Lin Yixin looked at the territory. One by one, the IDs of the smaller guilds were changing to blood-red before our eyes. I wondered what Warsky offered to persuade them to change sides so easily. It wasn¡¯t long before the territory was positively overflowing with defenders. Some of them were even standing outside the territory to avoid overcrowding. It was at this moment Chaos Moon reported, "I got it. Warsky promised those guilds a 50% discount on everything such as repair fee, purchase fee, teleportation fee, and more if they helped them!" "Fuck. No wonder so many people decided to switch sides¡­" Xu Yang looked dumbfounded. I frowned. "50%? Can he really afford to pay the expensive taxes if he slashes everything by 50%? A guild territory ultimately belongs to the main city, and they are required to pay hefty taxes every day. How can they afford it if their income isn¡¯t up to snuff? Pay from their own pockets?" Lin Yixin burst into laughter. "You stupid, do you really think Warsky will fulfill his promise to all the guilds? Just you wait, he¡¯ll find a million excuses to deny his promise once the territory is secured. October Rain is no simple woman." "Mn, I know that. But what should we do now?" "Easy. We assemble the guilds and spend the next two hours fake-attacking the City of Death. I would rather diminish their numbers now than deal with their massive army later. After that, we launch the real siege and do our utmost to invade the guild hall and seize the territory in two hours!" "Okay!" He Yi chose this moment to walk up to us and asked, "Before that, there¡¯s one thing we must discuss. No matter what happens, only one guild may occupy this territory. So who shall lay claim to the City of Death, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls or Snowy Cathaya?" Lin Yixin looked conflicted. She stared back and forth between me and He Yi before admitting, "I haven¡¯t thought about it yet¡­" He Yi giggled. "Why don¡¯t we make a gentleman¡¯s agreement? Whoever enters the guild hall first will be the one to lay claim to the territory. The other party will assist in its defense. What do you think?" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes lit up. "First come first serve? Hehe, I like this idea!" I nodded. "Alright then. Whoever enters the guild hall first will get the territory!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin nodded and proceeded to stir the people¡¯s hearts. She asked me to give her 2.5k gold before sending out a shout that was worth 5k gold: Ding~! System Announcement (Player "Wind Fantasy" Shout): Friends of Sky City, Warsky Alliance has occupied the new territory and summoned their accomplices to defend it. Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have agreed to join forces so we may launch a joint assault on them! We hope that everyone will join in on the assault as well! Do you remember the map monopoly and malicious PK by Gods of Destruction at Venomous Wasp Forest? Do you remember the atrocious acts of Flower Room? Do you remember how Mad Dragon killed everyone who dared to defy them outside the starting village, and how Warsky Alliance threatened to kill you if you dare enter their map? If you haven¡¯t forgotten the shame you suffered, if you wish to live free from the oppression of these domineering guilds, then join us and fight for freedom and fairness! I, leader of Snowy Cathaya, hereby promise everyone that we will never try to monopolize a map, be it at Sky Forest, Black Coast, Dragonbone Mountain Range, or anywhere else! In fact, we¡¯ll actively beat down on such practices and ensure that everyone gets to enjoy a fair and harmonious gaming environment! ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t a long announcement, but it was extremely inflammatory. The fact was over 90% of gamers just wanted to have a good time and waste a bit of time. No one liked to be oppressed, killed, or kicked out of a map, but if you played an MMO, it was only a matter of time you ran into this problem. Therefore, Lin Yixin¡¯s announcement had inevitably awakened the anger and passion of these players. Their guilds might be small, but they wouldn¡¯t let the chance to prove their spirit slip past them! "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will attack the eastern gate. Snowy Cathaya will attack the western gate." Lin Yuxin smiled. "Remember, the first two hours of our assault is a feint. Two hours later, after the other guilds have depleted some of the defenders¡¯ numbers, we¡¯ll launch our real assault!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin and her generals left after that. Chapter 438: Probing Attack "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is about to make a move¡­" October Rain¡¯s long eyelashes trembled a little as she gazed toward the distance. "Right now they have three Famous Generals: Lu Chen¡¯s Martial God, From Water¡¯s Royal Road, and Beiming Xue¡¯s Bow God. It¡¯s bad enough that all three skills are one-man-army skills, but He Yi¡¯s Royal Road especially can reduce all stats of all enemies within 1000 yards of her by 25% or more. It¡¯s so disgusting¡­" Warsky followed her gaze and let out a snort. "It¡¯s fine, my Hegemon increases my allies¡¯ crit rate by 30.3%, so you currently have 50% crit rate. With your Heartpiercer, there¡¯s no reason we can¡¯t hold back Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡­" The corner of October Rain¡¯s lips turned upward a little. "I see. Well, prepare for battle!" "What¡¯s wrong, Little Rain? Did you lose your patience and confidence somewhere?" Warsky turned to look at her. October Rain leaned against the wooden pillar of an arrow tower and stared at the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players moving purposefully across the battlefield. In that moment, she actually looked less like a fearless CGL Hall of Famer and more like a helpless girl. Shaking her head at Warsky¡¯s question, she answered, "No, I haven¡¯t lost my patience. It¡¯s just¡­ Warsky, you need to understand that Falling Dust is the one leading Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls; and if that wasn¡¯t bad enough, he¡¯s rapidly returning to his peak form. Do you understand how terrifying this is? He¡­ he wasn¡¯t called the Little Heavenly King for nothing, you know? In a world where both Lin Fan and Frivolous Scholar are retired, there¡¯s no greater player than him. If I had a choice, I would never stand on the opposite side of Falling Dust." "Is that so? Would you like to cross over then?" Warsky smiled. "You know I can''t do that¡­" October Rain smiled a little. "If you haven¡¯t helped Rich October back then, I couldn¡¯t imagine what would have happened to my guild back then. So I¡¯ll do my best to help you and conquer half the world for Warsky Alliance. Of course, whether your ambition will come true depends entirely on heaven¡¯s will¡­" "Hehe!" Warsky chuckled before pulling out his sword without warning. He then walked to the edge of the wall and shouted to the players on the ground, "Stay alert and prepare for battle, brothers! Players of Warsky Alliance, I want you to head to the eastern and western gate respectively and defend against Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya! Friends of Warsky Alliance, please stand guard at the other two gates and stop all non-allied forces from invading our territory, thank you!" ¡­¡­ The battle could break out at any moment. An all-out war was finally about to start. "Yeah!" I took point as Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi, He Yi, and many more followed behind me. Everyone who joined me on the assault was a frontline veteran. Those who were too weak didn¡¯t follow us because they would only be one-shot by the undead archers on the watchtowers. I raised my arm to cover myself as the enemy archers used Far Shot. However, they dealt very limited damage because Royal Road had reduced their stats and buffed our own at the same time. They were incapable of piercing our defenses at all. When we got close to the entrance, we realized that the iron gate was even tougher than we imagined. It had 3500 Defense¡ªso high that the average player wouldn¡¯t be able to pierce it at all¡ªand a hundred thousand HP in total. How long do we have to attack it before it finally falls? Inside the territory, a high-level archer shouted, "Use Shock Arrows and stun Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and From Water! Quickly!" The incessant twang of bowstrings prompted me to swing my sword in front of me and parry away some of the shots. My current stats were so high that not a single Shock Arrow managed to stun me, so the moment I got close I raised the Heaven-stealing Sword and fired a Thousand Ice Slash to the edge of the territory! Boom! The fighters of Warsky Alliance were standing behind a line of wooden fences, and many of those who were caught by my skill were frozen in ice. Moreover, I had 15% critical rate right now, so critical attacks were no longer a rare occurrence to me. At least a dozen or so people were one-shot by the crit Thousand Ice Slash, and even more dropped to red health! "Chirp chirp¡­" He Yi¡¯s Firelight Mouse had fully matured by now. Shaking its tail and throwing a sea of fire into the enemy players, it confirmed kills on all the players I had managed to bring to low health. This was just the first exchange, but Warsky Alliance had suffered huge casualties already. Still, when I ordered the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to attack the gate, it failed to do too much damage. The problem was that the gate had insane Defense, and my pet barely had any defense-piercing ability! I ran up to the gate and used Pardon. Then, I followed up with a basic attack! MISS! 4894! Not bad considering the circumstances. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was the next player to test their mettle against on the gate, but even his new Ardent Thunder Blade dealt measly 1452 damage only. Xu Yang let out a bark of laughter when he saw this. "Eighteen, how are you doing so little damage when you have a 2-star Spirit-grade blade? Watch me!" One strike later, it was Xu Yang¡¯s turn to be embarrassed¡ª674! Li Chengfeng did 1429 damage, He Yi did 1984 damage, and Gui Guzi did 1845 damage respectively to the gate. It was one seriously tough gate. However, I was pretty sure that it would go down in no time if our mages and archers were here to assist us. Currently, elite high-level archers had an average Attack of 1400 or so. If we factored Beiming Xue¡¯s Bow God into the equation, they could deal as much damage as an archer with 2800+ Attack. Against a target with 3500 Defense, they could do over 500 damage per hit. It was definitely doable. As discussed earlier, Li Chengfeng approached the fences, launched a Reverse Scale Slash on the players on the other side, and withdrew immediately. He gave them no chance to get close to him and retaliate. Eighteen Steeds and You and Yun also worked together with Gui Guzi to take out dozens of players by combining his Rock Smash with the latter¡¯s Aurora Thrust. A series of powerful fake engages later, we left behind a hundred bodies or so while suffering no casualties of our own. Warsky was furious. "Fuck! They¡¯re not invading, they¡¯re just shaving away at our army with probing attacks little by little! This tactic is shameless¡­" October Rain smiled calmly. "This is probably one of Lu Chen¡¯s tricks; a ploy to weaken the enemy until it¡¯s too late. I love it. He¡¯s such a smart guy¡­" Warsky: "Little Rain, whose side are you on¡­" October Rain laughed. "I¡¯m on your side until the very end, of course. An intelligent woman will know to keep a clear line between business and love." Warsky: "Lu Chen can¡¯t possibly be in love with you." "That doesn¡¯t stop me from liking him, does it?" October Rain replied magnanimously. ¡­¡­ A while later, we withdrew from the frontlines with a bit of new insight regarding the city. For starters, we found out that the shadow-rank NPC archers in the arrow towers were extremely powerful, so a tanky frontliner must bait them into wasting their firepower onto a Holy Shield before the rest could attack. Otherwise, they would one-shot any low-rank player who entered their range. I glanced at the walls for a moment, then ordered, "Let¡¯s launch an assault every three minutes and chase Warsky Alliance¡¯s players away from the walls. Once the path is open, I want Beiming Xue and her archers to take out all the NPC archers inside the watchtowers. Understand?" "Yessir!" Everyone nodded in agreement. Not far away, a battle had begun at the northern gate and southern gate. Since Mad Dragon had joined forces with Warsky Alliance, Roaming Dragon and his men were charging the invaders and annihilating everyone who stood in their way. The Gemini Stars were especially outstanding as they ran next to their guild leader and absolutely wrecked the smaller guilds. The good time didn¡¯t last forever though. The crowd suddenly split up to admit a powerful-looking guild, and at the forefront of the new group a beautiful archer raised an arm and ordered, "Far Shot!" Thud thud thud... Countless arrows landed into the main bulk of Mad Dragon¡¯s forces and penetrated flesh. In just a moment, over half of their frontliners had been killed by the sudden assault. Roaming Dragon¡¯s eyes grew round with fury as he shouted, "Fuck, it¡¯s The Monarch Descends! Ling Xueshang, you¡¯re fucking dead you little bitch! Men, penetrate The Monarch Descends¡¯ defense line!" Iron Pardon and Inconstant rallied a group of fighters and charged The Monarch Descends¡¯ frontlines. As Ling Xueshang dashed behind her frontliners, her fighters stepped forward while her archers backed away, still firing Far Shots with every step they took. Mad Dragon was nearly annihilated as thousands died without ever reaching their attackers. Only the Gemini Stars, Roaming Dragon and a small group of players managed to survive the assault long enough to flee into the city. Li Le laughed at Mad Dragon¡¯s ugly defeat without any restraint, enraging Roaming Dragon even more than he already was. Not far away, Dominating Heaven Blade sneered, "Can¡¯t hold in his disdain for even a second. How pathetic!" "What did you say?" Li Le turned and glared. Dominating Heaven Blade turned his back on Li Le as if finding it beneath him to speak with the young master. At the same time, Dominating Warrior God and Dominating Knight God stepped forward and pressed their hands to their weapons, looking like they might attack at the slightest provocation. Li Le sneered, but he finally fell silent. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment someone shouted, "Bad news, Hegemon Palace has arrived! Little Piglet is attacking our gate with a dozen or so metal armor players! We can¡¯t break through their players¡¯ Defense at all because of Little Piglet¡¯s Vajra¡­" "What?" Warsky gritted his teeth. "That foolish Wang Dongliang dares to challenge us still? Men, follow me! We will kick Hegemon Palace¡¯s teeth in by one-shotting Little Piglet!" A bunch of players followed Warsky as their leader activated his Famous General Skill, Hegemon. A moment later, everyone gained almost 30% increased critical rate immediately. It was an incredibly powerful skill, and after the bards buffed the warriors and archers with Encourage, Hegemon¡¯s only flaw¡ªits lack of Attack boost¡ªwas fixed as well. Outside the city, Little Piglet and dozens of metal armor players were whaling at the gate like madmen. Vajra was a Famous General Skill that buffed everyone¡¯s Defense by 40%, and after Tactics that number was almost 80%. It was no wonder that this party was giving Warsky Alliance as much trouble as they did. Anyone who had to face a party where everyone had over 3000+ Defense would feel the same. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment October Rain aimed at Little Piglet¡¯s belly and fired an Explosion Arrow! Swhoosh! 478! The arrow hit the area below Little Piglet¡¯s underbelly and shivered for a moment. Little Piglet looked down at his body and angrily sweared, "Warsky Alliance, you shameless fuck! What kind of person greets others by hitting their weak spot?" Chapter 439: Frontal Assault Begins "Charge! Attack!" At the south side of City of Death, thousands of archers and mages moved to the frontline as a Level 108 warrior with a blade shouted, "Heavenly Plan Palace may not be able to claim the first territory, but we will stop Warsky Alliance from getting it no matter what! Scum like them don¡¯t deserve the right!" There was obviously some enmity between Heavenly Plan Palace and Warsky Alliance. In fact, Warsky Alliance must¡¯ve offended a lot of guilds to make it to the top of the Guild Ranking of China. One simply couldn¡¯t avoid making enemies in the game for supremacy. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhooosh¡­ Arrows swarmed the sky like locusts, and ice magic was all over the place. The fence was only two meters tall, and it wasn¡¯t nearly tall enough to stop most of the attacks. The battle between the players of Warsky Alliance and Heavenly Plan Palace was so fierce that someone was dying almost every second and dropping equipment, Magic Consumables, and Health Potions all over the place. Some players were calm enough to pick up the equipment, but most completely lost themselves in the bloodlust and attacked until they died. Inside the territory, October Rain whispered something into Warsky¡¯s ears and got a nod in response. The guild leader raised his blade and shouted, "Column 1, follow me! The time to attack is now!" A group of elite fourth-promotion players immediately joined Warsky. After Warsky ordered the NPC guards to open the gate, he charged into the open and fired a horizontal slash at a couple of enemies some distance away from him. Three Heavenly Plan Palace fighters immediately suffered a fatal amount of damage¡ª 10984! 9982! 11248! ¡­¡­ They were all critical hits. Critical damage was twice the amount of normal damage, so the three fighters were one-shot instantly. Warsky had dealt massive damage to Heavenly Plan Palace¡¯s frontliners the moment he showed up! The Level 108 warrior and guild leader of Heavenly Plan Palace, "King of Qin" was enraged when he saw this. He swung his halberd and shouted, "Follow me to kill Warsky! Knights at the front, tighten your defense so that their warriors can¡¯t penetrate our battle line!" A bunch of warriors answered his call and locked onto Warsky. The second they got into range, they immediately activated Charge! Warsky smiled and zigzagged repeatedly across the ground, shaking off the target locks on him and dodging all the incoming Charges. I had to admit that Warsky was an exceptionally good player for a guild leader. Although he wasn¡¯t as good as Farewell Song, he was no weaker than a CGL Hall of Famer like Laughing At The Heavens. King of Qin clenched his teeth and blocked in front of Warsky. Without bothering to say anything, he thrust his halberd straight toward Warsky¡¯s chest. 2783! 3902! 6204! That one crit scared King of Qin so much that all the blood on his face drained away. He pulled back after realizing that he was no match for Warsky one-on-one, but Wasky smiled all of a sudden and declared, "You¡¯re dead, King of Qin." "What?" King of Qin exclaimed in confusion before looking behind him. His people were being attacked by a sea of players with blood-red IDs! More accurately, three guilds had allied with Warsky without warning and ambushed Heavenly Plan Palace from behind! It was a landslide victory for Warsky Alliance. Heavenly Plan Palace had shown up with nearly 5000 players, but they were routed in less than half an hour due to the brilliant strategy concocted by none other than October Rain. Blood and strategy; this was how war spun its gears. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, I received a battle report from the western gate. Snowy Cathaya had launched a second assault and dealt heavy damage to Warsky Alliance, but they hadn¡¯t invaded the territory because it wasn¡¯t time yet. I glanced at the NPC archers on the watchtowers. They had to be dealt with before we could invade the territory safely, so I decided that we might as well take action sooner than later! Clang! I pulled out the Heaven-stealing Sword and smiled at the elites behind me. "It¡¯s time to head out again, everyone. Frontliners, make sure to protect yourselves and make as much dust as possible while you¡¯re marching. Beiming Xue, you and your archer squad will follow behind us and conceal yourselves as much as you can. Once we¡¯ve reached the edge of the territory, I want you to snipe all the NPC archers on the arrow towers. Does everyone understand what I¡¯m saying?" "Yessir!" Morale was high, and everyone was eager to get started. Not wanting to waste such good morale on dilly-dallying, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and I led the way after everyone was done buffing themselves with Encourage and so on. He Yi and Gui Guzi actually reached the edge of the territory before me and ravaged the enemies with their Green Wave Slash and Aurora Thrust. He Yi¡¯s Firelight Mouse even cast Sea of Flames three times in a row and created quite a gaping hole in the defending forces inside the fort for a time. Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, and Du Thirteen approached the edge of the guild territory at the same time. Everyone here was a famous player in Sky City, and today, they were all gathered in one place. It didn¡¯t take much imagination to wonder how much havoc they could wreak. The enemy mages and archers were so scared that they stayed far, far away from the walls because they knew that getting close was like asking to be one-shot! This was our chance, however! Beiming Xue dashed toward the front and drew her Milky Way Bow. Bow God activated, she cried, "Everyone, loose at the shadow-rank archers in accordance to your group!" The NPC archers were shooting at us from the watchtowers, but they were all caught or knocked away by the magic knights¡¯ shields. They might be Level 125 shadow-rank mobs, but He Yi and Gui Guzi were so tanky that their attacks might as well be nothing! The archers launched their Volleys and Multi Arrows. The shadow-rank archers on the towers were immediately treated to an arrow bath! "Unnnnnnnngh¡­" Groaning their unearthly groans, the undead archers kept dying and falling to the ground. They might have a lot of HP, but Beiming Xue¡¯s Bow God was so ridiculous that almost every hit dealt over 7k damage. There was practically nothing that could survive the assault. ¡­¡­ A furious barrage later, nearly all the NPC archers on the eastern watch towers were killed. Some of them were still alive, but there weren¡¯t enough of them to constitute a threat anymore. Stunned by the sight, Warsky slapped his thighs and groaned in frustration, "Fuck, I shouldn¡¯t have withdrawn our men! Lu Chen wasn¡¯t mounting an assault, he was just trying to reduce our strength as much as possible! Fuck! Get your asses up there, all of you! We¡¯re not withdrawing like cowards if Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls comes at us again! All fighters are to use Guard and reduce the amount of damage they take! The enemy can¡¯t use Crushing Blow since the fence is in the way! Archers and mages, coordinate your Shock Arrows and Ice Dragon Howls to one-shot their melee fighters! Their elite melees aren¡¯t infinite, so every kill is a victory for us!" October Rain was dumbfounded by Warsky¡¯s reaction, but she remained in front of the guild hall instead of taking the front lines. As the military strategist of Warsky Alliance, it was her duty to stay calm and outthink the enemy. If she allowed her blood rush to her head like Warsky, then Warsky Alliance would really be done for. ¡­¡­ We repeated this probing attack again and again; our top-tier fighters throwing out their AoE skills before pulling back to safety, and we took out almost a thousand players while suffering no losses whatsoever. Our fighters¡ªespecially those who had AoE skills¡ªwere just too powerful. It was to the point where Warsky wanted to run out of his territory and fight us to the death himself! In comparison, the battles at the northern and southern gates were a lot bloodier. October Rain continued to prove her worth as a master strategist by turning a vice leader and a thousand or so players of Snow Of Frozen River against their own guild, and persuading a corps commander of Zero Pitch Sonata and their army to turn away and leave. October Rain had to give her all to protect this territory, but she also showed that Warsky Alliance¡¯s string of successes up till this day hadn¡¯t been a fluke. I checked the interface. There were currently a total of 570k players inside and outside the territory, and practically every part of the plains had been washed with blood. A sea of low-rank Health Potions and Magic Consumables quietly waited for their time to despawn since nobody wanted to pick them up. ¡­¡­ "It¡¯s almost time¡­" Some time later, Lin Yixin sent me a message. "We¡¯ve depleted Warsky Alliance¡¯s strength quite a bit, and they should only have 50k people in the territory at most. Let¡¯s begin a frontal assault!" "Yes, let¡¯s go!" I turned off the communicator and strode forward. Raising my sword to the air, I shouted, "Brothers and sisters, the time to retake our former glory and signal the second coming of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is now, so run with me! Let us fight to the last drop of blood for the companions behind our backs and our dreams!" Everyone pulled out their weapons and echoed my shout. "To the last drop of blood!" "Attack!" Li Chengfeng shouted on top of his lungs. The next moment, all thirteen thousand players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls ran toward the City of Death at the same time! Inside the territory, Warsky Alliance waited for us to come. Warsky, Laughing at the Heavens and October Rain were all at the eastern gates. They clearly saw us as a bigger threat than Snowy Cathaya! "Loose your arrows! Show me your firepower!" The players inside the territory responded to the order and concentrated all their firepower on the edge of the territory. We would have to go through a literal sea of flames and a rain of arrows to get to the gate! ¡­¡­ "Lu Chen, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, the four of you should attack the gates!" He Yi shouted. "The rest of you, provide cover fire for them! Gui Guzi, take some men with you and tear down those fences!" We immediately made a break for the gate. It had over 3500 Defense, but the best way to invade the city was still to break it down. Pardon + Desperate Gambit! MISS! 7218! A huge damage number rolled off the gate. As usual, my incredible Attack was a terror to all things that had a health bar above it. The gate¡¯s 3500 Defense was still nothing before my Pardon. Inside the city, Warsky shouted, "Archers! Lock onto Lu Chen and one-shot that fucker!" A group of archers immediately raised their longbows and loosed their arrows. I hit the gate one last time before assuming a Guard stance! Ting ting ting ting... All the arrows hit my sword and fell off, and none of them managed to deal over 100 damage. However, even ants can kill an elephant if there are enough of them, and that insane volley took more than half of my health away. Beiming Xue was so scared she cried out, "Wah! Sister Mingyue, save big bro quickly!" Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew had already hit me with their healing spells before she was even done speaking! +4204! +3289! Chapter 440: Unrestrained Aggression The city gate had a lot of HP, but it could not hold up under our continuous assault. In less than two minutes, its HP and durability had dropped to nearly zero! Thud! Thud! Thud! Li Chengfeng furiously attacked it with Dragonbone Flurry as I lifted up my foot and gave the city gate a fierce kick with my Barbarian War Boots of Heaven! Boom! The nearly-three-meter-tall city gate swayed violently before collapsing and flattening a couple of Warsky Alliance archers who didn¡¯t manage to run away in time. ¡°Charge! Everyone in the back, follow the frontline in!¡± I immediately snapped a command, ¡°Gui Guzi, you¡¯ll lead the charge!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Gui Guzi braced his spear against his body as he urged his land dragon forward. The Armored Swordback Dragon let out a bloodthirsty howl in its charge into the city. Gui Guzi was in He Yi¡¯s party, so his HP, Defense, and Attack were boosted by 30%. This was in addition to the land dragon, an excellent mount, and his Undying Shield, which converted 50% of all damage he took into HP. This incredible durability and survivability was outstanding even when compared to the other top players of the China server. ¡­¡­ As expected, Warsky met them with wild slashes of his longsword. He thundered, ¡°Fortune favors the bold! Brothers, charge! For the glory of the Warsky Alliance! Mages and archers, focus your fire on their high-level players! Send them back to town one by one!¡± A group of archers pointed their bows toward the sky as they unleashed a storm of arrows at Gui Guzi. However, they only saw their arrows bounce off Gui Guzi¡¯s shield. They could barely even hurt him, let alone kill him. Gui Guzi was absolutely ridiculous right now and he weathered attacks from a hundred archers as he dashed toward the enemy¡¯s frontline. The long spear in his hand shot forward as he roared, ¡°Go to hell!¡± Bang! An extremely bright beam of light shot out from the tip of his spear and savagely tore through the enemies in front of him. Nearly an entire row of archers and mages collapsed to the ground. None of them were sturdy enough to survive an attack like that. Li Chengfeng and I took advantage of their shock to charge forward as well. The keening cry of a dragon seemed to radiate from Li Chengfeng¡¯s body as he unleashed his Reverse Scale Slash, slaughtering a bunch of enemies in front of him. He followed that up with a Cyan Dragon Horn that pierced the chest of a magic knight. The magic knight collapsed to the ground as Li Chengfeng¡¯s sword completed its arc. He had been oneshot! Rooaaaaaaar¡­. Ice Dragon Howls continued to fall to the ground and Gui Guzi¡¯s health finally started to drop rapidly. Things became even more grim when October Rain raised her bow and a green light started glowing from her beautiful eyes. In the next instant, an arrow that blitzed forward like a howling gale struck Gui Guzi in the head. Ambition Breaker, a Level 100 Archer skill that could only be learned via a skill book. It weakened its target¡¯s Defense by 50% and this effect lasted for 3 seconds! We¡¯d only ever heard of this skill up till now, we¡¯d never actually seen anyone use it before October Rain did. Who would have thought that she would actually be able to get her hands on a skill book that even our Beiming Xue hadn¡¯t been able to obtain! The squad of archers behind October Rain started to attack even more furiously. One powerful attack after the other started to fall on Gui Guzi¡¯s head. They had been waiting for this precise moment when Gui Guzi¡¯s Defense was lowered to get rid of him in a single flurry! My eyes widened into saucers as I yelled, ¡°Little Gui, defend yourself!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Gui Guzi thrust his shield up in the air as he turtled behind it. His defensive power shot up, but it still wasn¡¯t enough to fend off the rain of attacks pouring down on him. His health instantly dropped to below 10% and he only had around 2000 HP left. This is bad, he¡¯s about to die! But it was at this precise moment that a portly figure rushed out from the crowd. Shockingly enough it was the best priest of Bloody Mercenaries, Yamete! ¡°Hold on, Little Gui! Your brother is coming to save you¡­¡± Yamete waved his staff in the air. His spells went off with a ¡°swoosh¡± sound as an Intermediate Heal and Instant Heal landed on Gui Guzi. +2904! +2273! But this hadn¡¯t solved the danger that Gui Guzi was facing, so he was still extremely anxious. To make matters worse, October Rain had timed her Shock Arrow just right, stunning Gui Guzi at the worst possible moment for him! However, the two healing fairies, Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew, finally appeared on the scene. They waved their staves in the air and four healing spells landed on Gui Guzi the very next second, instantly boosting his HP back to 90%! Yamete¡¯s jaw dropped open. ¡°Damn, you really do live up to your titles as the best healers of our main guild. It looks like I need to keep working hard¡­¡± Gui Guzi burst into laughter as he thrust his spear out yet again. After that, he grinned and said, ¡°Thanks everyone! Let¡¯s keep up our attack!¡± ¡­¡­ October Rain gritted her teeth in rage, but there was nothing she could do about this situation. They simply weren¡¯t able to kill that damned Gui Guzi and they had already wasted too much firepower trying. On the other hand, I was very comforted by his resilience. The fact that our guild had a powerful expert like Gui Guzi was truly our fortune! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls started to launch an all-out assault. The frontline fighters had already assembled into a line that stretched a few kilometers as the archers, priests, mages, tacticians, and bards filled in behind them. Having assembled our formations, we¡¯ve finally mounted a proper offense, signaling the beginning of a siege in earnest. The everpresent sound of weapons clashing and biting into flesh soon rang through the air! High Fighting Spirits twirled his battle axe in the air as he tore through crowds of players like a chainsaw. After he let out a furious ¡°Xiezhi Howl¡±, eddies of energy started swirling all around him. He swung his burning axe in a wide arc, massacring a bunch of Warsky Alliance players. But he remained a blur of motion as he leaped forward and split open an enemy magic knight¡¯s chest with his battle axe. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun charged atop his Bald Wolf, his Ardent Thunder Blade dancing in the air. No Warsky Alliance player even dared to approach him. The attack power of the Ardent Thunder Blade was simply too overwhelming, and it even had an extremely large armor penetration effect. As it swung in a long arc, it terrorized the melee combatants of Warsky Alliance. Every now and then, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun would add a Rock Smash for good measure, which would send the ranged combatants fleeing for their lives. Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, and Du Thirteen led a squad of priests, mages, and archers forward. They soon turned the areas they focused their fire on into scorched and barren land as they spread terror through the ranks of Warsky Alliance. On the other hand, Laughing At The Heavens was standing at the very front of Warsky Alliance¡¯s formation, but Li Chengfeng had intercepted him and locked him in place. The CGL Hall of Famer had no choice but to fight him, as any attempt to shake the dragon warrior off was met with even more resistance. Clang! Clang! Clang! Sparks flew everywhere as Li Chengfeng¡¯s sharp sword struck Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ shield repeatedly. Every time Warsky Alliance¡¯s magic knight blocked an attack, he would quickly shift his shield to the side and stab his spear at Li Chengfeng. This was how knights normally fought, but his movements were far more precise and smooth than Gui Guzi¡¯s. Even the cadence of his attacks and his mechanical control was superior. This was the skills and experience of a player who had made it to the CGL Hall of Fame. However, Li Chengfeng wasn¡¯t some noob either. He gripped his sword in both hands and raised it high over his shoulder in the very same instant that Laughing At The Heavens thrust out his spear. His sword swiftly descended to meet the spear. Clang! Li Chengfeng¡¯s sword knocked aside the knight¡¯s spear as he immediately took the opportunity to slash at his enemy again. The sword swept down and started to glow blue, with an image of a dragon¡¯s horn protruding out from the sword. Li Chengfeng was going to use Cyan Dragon Horn! Bang! 7842! Laughing At The Heavens certainly got the worse of that exchange. He had been caught unaware by Li Chengfeng¡¯s fierce and ambitious charge. The attack had landed straight on his chest and his shield was knocked to the side by that powerful blow. Li Chengfeng¡¯s longsword continued to vibrate as he immediately unleashed Dragonbone Flurry. Thud! Thud! Thud! His flurry of quick thrusts riddled Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ body with holes, dropping his HP to nearly critical levels! Thud! Laughing At The Heavens slammed his shield against the ground as he activated Holy Shield. Meanwhile, the priests of Warsky Alliance were furiously healing him. To think that Laughing At The Heavens, a member of the CGL Hall of Fame, would be so completely overwhelmed by his opponent¡¯s attacks that he would have no choice but to activate Holy Shield and turtle behind it. What a shameful display this was! Furthermore, it even looked like he was losing out to Li Chengfeng in equipment, skill, and mechanical control. This was the reality that had just played out in front of everyone¡¯s eyes! Li Chengfeng barked out a laugh before saying, ¡°Dude, you actually managed to rank 22nd in the CGL Hall of Fame with those skills? Why don¡¯t you go and tell those CGL officials to take your name off the list and to put my name in there instead? I¡¯ll take the 28th spot, I¡¯d be more than happy to close the ranking. How does that sound?¡± Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ face turned red with anger. He roared, ¡°Damn you! Stop looking down on me, you dumbass!¡± Li Chengfeng grinned when he heard those words. His leg shot out and slammed into his opponent¡¯s shield as his sword swept down towards him. His Reverse Scale Slash slammed into the ground in front of him, causing a huge cloud of dust to billow in the air. It took out a huge chunk of Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ HP, but more importantly, it also killed off most of the priests behind him! ¡°You¡¯ve gone too far, too far¡­¡± Laughing At The Heavens grit his teeth together as he dashed forward. He slammed Li Chengfeng with his shield and followed his shield bash up with an Inferno Thrust. Li Chengfeng casually shifted his sword to block those attacks. He weaved in and out of the fight, his supreme skill on full display as he showed his opponent the stark difference between them. ¡­¡­ At this time, the magic knight Alexander and the warrior Wolf Fang, who were both standing on the wings of our formation, let out low grunts. By the time I turned around, Alexander had already dropped to his knees and his shield lay limp and trembling at his side. A blood-red dagger had erupted from his chest. It was Farewell Song and he had announced his presence with a sneak attack! ¡°I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Wolf Fang roared in anger. He swept his sword out as he tried to kick Farewell Song. Seeing his buddies die in battle had always triggered him. Farewell Song¡¯s lips curved up into a smile as his daggers danced in the air. The sound of two collisions clanged in the air as he blocked both attacks and he immediately stole to Wolf Fang¡¯s side with an uncanny quickness and elegance. His daggers flashed through the air twice as they cut into Wolf Fang¡¯s body and stole away most of his health. He followed that up with a Blade Vortex that sliced Wolf Fang to shreds. I ground my teeth in anger as I turned my head toward He Yi. ¡°Eve, hold the line! I¡¯m going to hunt down and kill Farewell Song!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± I slipped out of He Yi¡¯s sight as I locked onto a daydreaming priest of Warsky Alliance and activated Thunderous Charge. When I was about halfway there, I suddenly slammed my foot on the ground and used War Crush, catching Farewell Song in the blast radius of my attack! Bang! Bang! Bang! MISS! 5134! MISS! Farewell Song had been caught by surprise and only his quick and immediate reaction saved his life. When he saw me, he immediately ground his teeth in frustration. He decided against attacking me and he turned around and entered stealth-mode instead! I couldn¡¯t sense Farewell Song¡¯s presence, so I didn¡¯t wander anywhere else. Instead, I moved toward where Wolf Fang and Alexander had been stationed before slashing forward with my sword. The bottomline was that we had to suppress Farewell Song. If we let him run amok and launch sneak attacks again and again, even melee combatants like High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon would not be safe from him. After all, Farewell Song had extremely good equipment and he could instantaneously deal more than ten thousand points of damage, so he was a nightmare for any class to deal with! ¡­¡­ Our parties slowly pushed forward as the three Famous General Skills¡ªMartial God, Royal Road, and Bow God¡ªshowed their superiority on the battlefield. Even though Warsky¡¯s Hegemon and October Rain¡¯s Heartpiercer were also extremely devastating, they couldn¡¯t do anything about He Yi¡¯s Royal Road, which dropped their stats by 30%. Moreover, even if the players of Warsky Alliance could keep on dealing critical strikes and recovering their HP via lifesteal, it was all useless in the face of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ mighty healers. I opened up the guild channel and spoke in a solemn voice, ¡°Use this opportunity to advance as far as you can, but remember to preserve your strength. An even fiercer opponent awaits us after our victory over the Warsky Alliance!¡± ¡°Oh? Who do we still have to fight?¡± Gui Guzi asked in a puzzled voice. Chapter 441: A Fierce Battle ¡°Gui Guzi, take some men and secure the potion shop! Xu Yang, your job is to secure the weapon shop! Lu Chen, you are to secure the smithy! Cut down all the players stationed there,¡± He Yi said. ¡°Yes!¡± I raised my sword in the air and spoke to the people behind me, ¡°Follow me, we¡¯re going to seize control of the smithy!¡± Beiming Xue, Chaos Moon, Moon Dew, and a few others fell in behind me. There were quite a few Warsky Alliance archers and mages who were hiding in the three buildings which made up the smithy, and they had made use of their terrain advantage to boldly spray fire at the players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It was functionally no different from a stronghold for the enemy, and it wasn¡¯t something we could just ignore. Thud! Thud! Thud! More than a dozen Warsky Alliance knights slammed their gigantic shield into the ground in front of them with an explosive boom. They were determined to block our path. The Level 107 magic knight that stood at the head of his forces snarled at me, ¡°You can forget about getting past us! Warsky Alliance will never surrender!¡± I laughed as I rushed straight at the enemy combatants. I held the Heaven-stealing Sword in front of me as I crashed straight into their line. My sword flashed out twice with lightning quickness, as I used Pardon + basic attack. My target was precisely that Level 107 magic knight since his level and equipment was the best among the enemy knights present. MISS! 7236! After that I fiercely stamped down on the ground with my war boots. A bloody light erupted from my body. To their utter surprise, I used War Crush right off the bat, catching the enemy knights completely off-guard! 6509! 6823! 5902! ¡­¡­ A string of damage numbers popped up over their heads. My relentless attacks caused the seven enemy knights closest to me to collapse in a heap. Just the damage from my three-hit War Crush alone had dealt more than 18000 points of damage. Right now, most fourth-promotion knights only had around 12000 HP, and knights like Gui Guzi and He Yi could actually be counted on one hand. It was precisely at this moment that the bunch of archers that had been hiding in the smithy started firing at me. Thud! Thud! Thud! Arrows clattered against my Ghost Deity Armor as the screeching sound of metal against metal rang in the air. Even though these attacks weren¡¯t fatal, my HP bar was still dropping swiftly. Beiming Xue¡¯s laugh tinkled behind me as she said, ¡°Volley! We need to save big bro!¡± I took this opportunity to rush into the thick of battle with my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. My sword flailed wildly in the air as I tore into the Warsky Alliance players like a wolf among sheep. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf let out a maddened howl as it tore into the smithy. Its sharp claws wreaked utter havoc amongst the mages and archers hiding inside. They tried to bombard it with consecutive Ice Dragon Howls, but they simply couldn¡¯t take that terrifying wolf down! The Level 115 Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf had 23000 HP, so it was as difficult to one-shot as Gui Guzi was. Furthermore, its attack speed was ridiculously high, so it was even scarier than Gui Guzi in close combat! ¡­¡­ In the blink of an eye, we swept the smithy clean of enemies! Xu Yang and Gui Guzi¡¯s squads were also making headway as they slowly advanced toward their objectives. One by one, buildings like the potion shop, weapon shop, clothing shop fell into our hands. The Warsky Alliance grand army that numbered in the tens of thousands was slowly being pushed back. Their players simply couldn¡¯t compete with ours in a straight fight. To be honest, the levels between the players on both sides really weren''t that different. However, the thing that drove Warsky and October Rain to despair were the elite melee fighters and archers of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls like Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, High Fighting Spirits. Every single one of them had AoE skills which they could use every 10¨C25 seconds. With either my Martial God and He Yi¡¯s Royal Road bolstering their attack, their offensive power became ridiculous and the existence of these ¡°heavy cannons¡± was precisely why Warsky Alliance¡¯s defensive formation kept collapsing. Furthermore, the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls archers were all being bolstered by Bow God, so their attack speed rose by 40% and their attack power rose by 100%. The damage they dealt was enough to make Warsky pound the ground with his fists in frustration. ¡°Be careful!¡± Xu Yang suddenly yelled. ¡°Archers in the back, be on high alert! Their assassins are drawing near!¡± A large number of assassins appeared to our rear just as he shouted those words. There were at least a hundred of them. Farewell Song had led these assassins along the edges of the territory as they looped around to attack us from the rear. Once they had reached their objective, they instantly launched a wave of sneak attacks against us. Daggers flashed in the air as they punched through the Magic Shields of our mages and the leather armor of our archers. Cries of shock and anger filled the air as nearly a hundred of our long-range class players were assassinated. My eyes turned scarlet with rage. Our guild wasn¡¯t that big in the first place, so how could we afford these sort of setbacks? ¡°Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steed of You and Yun, follow me! Let¡¯s go and kill those assassins!¡± I snapped. ¡°Alright!¡± they cried cheerfully as they ran after me, their weapons in their hands. We swiftly arrived at the rear of the enemy assassins¡¯ formation. I immediately barrelled towards them as I swept my sword out in front of me. Three assassins instantly collapsed to the ground in my wake, but the remaining assassins immediately responded by using their fluorescent powder to enter stealth! ¡°Mages, blanket this area with Arctic Rain! As I shouted out those orders, the emblem that denoted me as the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls blazed conspicuously above my shoulder. It wouldn¡¯t matter if those players recognized me or not, because as long as they were members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, they would have to follow my orders. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! A storm of ice continuously bombarded the area as our panicked mages swiftly regained their composure. They raised their staves high in the air as they continued their relentless barrage. Even though Arctic Rain was an AoE skill, its offensive power was very low. However, its greatest use wasn¡¯t to kill off an opponent, it was to reveal stealthed enemies! Moreover, its 3-second cooldown meant that it was extremely good at its job! Cries of alarm filled the air as many assassins were knocked out of their stealth. My party immediately flew into their midst. They pounced on these hapless assassins like hungry wolves, their weapons causing fountains of blood to spray in the air with every slice. How could these assassins even hope to fight back against these gods of slaughter? Many of them were too stunned to react in time, and the rest didn¡¯t even manage to put up a fight. Thousand Ice Slash! Boom! My attack killed seven fleeing assassins. Meanwhile, Beiming Xue arrived with a squad of archers and began bombarding the enemy with Multi Arrows, causing even more assassins to tumble to the ground! ¡­¡­ Crack! A ray of bloody light flashed in the air and High Fighting Spirits froze mid-action. He had been stunned! The attack had also taken out a huge chunk of his health. Without a doubt, the only enemy assassin who could have pulled off such a powerful attack was the man, the myth, the legend, Farewell Song! We could not allow High Fighting Spirits to be killed! I rushed over to High Fighting Spirits with lightning speed, and I immediately used War Crush when I reached his side. This forced Farewell Song back and prevented him from finishing off High Fighting Spirits. Li Chengfeng arrived a few moments after me. He swept his sword out in a horizontal arc as he started duelling with Farewell Song. Farewell Song looked cool and composed as he took Li Chengfeng on. His dagger flicked out, clashing with Li Chengfeng¡¯s sword, but he was shoved backward by the force of his opponent''s attack. His foot left a deep groove in the ground as he caught himself before he fell. He sprang forward, his fancy footwork dazzling as he closed in on Li Chengfeng. His dagger gleamed with a bloody light and he suddenly changed both speed and direction the moment he drew near to the dragon warrior. Astonishingly enough, he managed to zigzag past Li Chengfeng, his movements so blindingly quick that he was impossible to catch! Li Chengfeng whistled as he twirled around. The edge of his blade knocked Farewell Song¡¯s dagger away as metal rang against metal. He took this opportunity to launch a fierce attack at Farewell Song¡¯s back, his sword drawing a long arc in the air as it whistled down toward the assassin. However, Farewell Song did not attempt to dodge or block Li Chengfeng¡¯s sword. He tilted his body instead, as his right shoulder heavily smashed into the dragon warrior¡¯s chest. His left hand swung up as he stabbed a dagger into Li Chengfeng¡¯s back. After that, he immediately swung his body up into what looked like a bicycle kick from football, and his right foot crashed into the back of Li Chengfeng¡¯s pauldrons. The momentum of Farewell Song¡¯s kick had placed him behind his target, preventing the dragon warrior from making any attacks of opportunity. The assassin had executed this string of attacks so beautifully that it looked like he had planned it right from the very start! The flurry of fierce attacks had dropped the strong dragon warrior to half his HP. As Li Chengfeng turned towards the assassin, he suddenly lashed out with his leg as he roared, ¡°Get outta here!¡± Bang! The sharp point of his greaves stabbed into Farewell Song¡¯s abdomen, causing 1984 points of damage and staggering him slightly. The dragon warrior took advantage of his opponent¡¯s broken stance to rush forward and deliver a heavy strike with his elbow. Thud! Farewell Song suffered another heavy blow, but he ducked and spun under the blow, using the momentum of the attack to spin to Li Chengfeng¡¯s right. A green light gleamed on his dagger as he prepared to use Poisoned Weapon Kill! Li Chengfeng gasped in shock as he spun and used Guard! Puchi! 2784! Luckily for Li Chengfeng, he had only suffered damage from the attack. If he had been stunned as well, his life would have been in serious danger. Even though Li Chengfeng¡¯s mechanical skill was sublime, there was no doubt that Farewell Song still had the upper hand when it came to 1v1. The assassin had an excellent grasp of the rhythm of battle and knew exactly when to time his strikes. His combat style was simply too creative and unique. Li Chengfeng had also clashed with Farewell Song during the battle in the Fire Desert. But at that time, the assassin had already lost the will to fight, so Li Chengfeng easily took the victory. However, Farewell Song had been pushed into a corner this time. Warsky Alliance definitely had to win this battle for guild territory, so he was fighting at peak condition. His combat prowess was so overwhelming that he was practically ignoring the limitations of his class and going toe to toe with a dragon warrior! Unfortunately for Farewell Song, he was suddenly struck by an unexpected arrow as he was retreating! Thud! 4873! Shock Arrow had appeared out of nowhere to stun Farewell Song! The player who had launched the sneak attack was Beiming Xue and there probably wasn¡¯t any other archer in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls who could stun Farewell Song with a Shock Arrow. High Fighting Spirits rushed forward, his battle axe raised high in the air. He gave a hearty laugh as he said, ¡°Ah, Farewell Song, you punk, you really got unlucky this time. So what if you¡¯re ranked 11th in the CGL Hall of Fame? I¡¯m about to send you on your way¡­¡± Crack! A fiery axe smashed down on Farewell Song, dealing him 7903 points of damage. High Fighting Spirits was in my party and Martial God boosted his attack by 87%, so a single Blaze from him was enough to one-shot Farewell Song. Pop! Pop! Pop! Several potions dropped from Farewell Song¡¯s body as he died, but he didn¡¯t lose any equipment. Li Chengfeng gripped the handle of his sword tightly as he stared at Farewell Song¡¯s body. He rubbed his nose and snarled, ¡°Fucking hell, Farewell Song¡¯s movements are unreasonably quick. Just why would someone as skilled as him be willing to join Warsky Alliance?¡± I chuckled. ¡°There¡¯s nothing for it. It¡¯s just Warsky¡¯s personal charisma. Even October Rain obeys his commands meekly, right?¡± ¡°Eh, but I heard that October Rain has been chasing after you relentlessly all this while¡­¡± ¡°Get lost!¡± ¡°Hahaha!¡± ¡­¡­ Once we secured the rear, my party returned to the frontlines along with Beiming Xue and her archers. Even though I had taken a core part of our fighting force with me to deal with the assassins, we still had people like Gui Guzi, He Yi, and Chaos Moon leading the charge. Warsky Alliance couldn¡¯t hold on, losing more than half of their forces during the frantic retreat! On the other side of the battle, the forces of Snowy Cathaya were driving headfirst into the enemy lines. Dominating Heaven Blade was backpedaling furiously, and it almost looked as if he was fleeing the battle. However, his body suddenly shuddered and froze as a blade coated with frost gorily burst out of his chest! As Dominating Heaven Blade slumped to his knees, a beautiful female warrior appeared behind him. Chapter 442: Come and Fight Me "Beauty Lin is about to storm the guild hall¡­" He Yi turned around to look at me, but I was already charging toward the guild hall with Li Chengfeng. "Charge! Don¡¯t let Snowy Cathaya get ahead of us! This territory belongs to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" He Yi: "Fuck, these two doesn¡¯t understand the concept of sharing at all¡­" ¡­¡­ There was only one entrance into the guild hall, and Warsky¡¯s core forces had already withdrawn into it. They must be waiting for us to step inside and trigger their traps. There were still about twenty thousand Warsky Alliance players guarding outside the guild hall, so we had to clear them out first before we could even think of going in. It wasn¡¯t a difficult task though. Warsky, October Rain and Laughing At The Heavens had already withdrawn into the guild hall, so who else was left to stop us? ¡°Front row, Guard. Back row, attack! We¡¯ll push forward slowly!" After I gave the order, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, and the rest of the frontliners automatically formed a battle line and charged the enemy together. At the back, Murong Mingyue, Yamete, Moon Dew, and the rest of our priests focused on keeping them alive. In Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, our mages weren¡¯t our strongest backliners. It was Beiming Xue and her archer squad. With Bow God active, she and her 40-man party was practically unstoppable! "Far Shot!" A rain of arrows flew over our heads and pierced the flesh of the enemies in front of us. Anyone who wasn''t a metal armor class was more or less one-shot and disappeared in a flash of light. Even the enemy frontliners were having trouble dealing with our ridiculous firepower! "Shit, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ archers are too powerful¡­" a Level 108 sword-wielding warrior shouted. "Brothers, the territory will be ours in just an hour, so hold on! Pay their attacks no heed and gather at the center! Let¡¯s push them out in one go!" He barely finished his sentence when Li Chengfeng killed him with a combo. The dragon warrior laughed. "The squad leaders of Warsky Alliance are so weak..." Both melee and ranged classes worked together to annihilate the enemy. Magic knights like Gui Guzi and He Yi were holding their shields with one hand and thrusting their spear at the enemies with the other. Warriors like Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, and I were swinging our weapons wildly at the enemy¡¯s shields. Even if they Guarded and took reduced damage, they were still inevitably pushed back until their shields were sent flying into the air. He Yi¡¯s Firelight Mouse played a key role in this battle. It had set the space in front of the guild hall on fire and gave the Warsky Alliance players guarding that area one helluva bad time. Even Murong Mingyue had decided to drop her healing and just bombard the enemy with the super powerful Hellish Rockfalls. Countless small guilds had participated in the assault and chasing Warsky Alliance players all over the place as well. The moment Warsky Alliance failed to defend a fairly small territory despite rallying over a hundred thousand players to its defense, it was over for them. ¡­¡­ The players outside the guild hall had dropped to less than 5000, but Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls still had over 10000 players. Our losses were incredibly minor compared to what Warsky Alliance had suffered so far. As long as we maintained a tight formation and kept ourselves from being split up and routed that way, there wasn¡¯t much our enemies could do to us. "It¡¯s time to tackle the entrance!" I ordered, "Little Gui, you¡¯ll be our point. Li Chengfeng and I will cover your charge. The first person to enter the guild hall will be the focus of all of the enemy¡¯s firepower, but don¡¯t worry, Murong Mingyue will go with you and keep you as healthy as possible. Go wreak some havoc and create some space for us after you get inside. After, High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun will move in with their men and assist in clearing out the enemy forces. We need to finish this as quickly as we can!" "Got it!" All the experts nodded in unison. He Yi asked, "What about me, what about me?¡± I looked at her and smiled. "You will follow me. If Little Gui dies, you will replace him as our point." "Mn!" ¡­¡­ We, as the elites of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, marched at the forefront. Gui Guzi took point with his land dragon while Li Chengfeng and I cleared out the enemies to his left and right side. Gui Guzi had OP Defense and HP, but his DPS was much weaker than mine or Li Chengfeng¡¯s. He Yi also stayed close to me. Speaking of which, her Snow Domain Windchaser was relatively small compared to Gui Guzi¡¯s Armored Swordback Dragon. On the other side, a group of Snowy Cathaya players was also charging the guild hall entrance. It was none other than the elites of Snowy Cathaya; Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis, Shadow Chanel, Clear Perfume, Lifetaking Sword, Zi Chuanyu, and so on. Zi Chuanyu was a heavily-armored knight riding on a black warhorse. He wielded a sword and a shield, looking majestic and impressive next to Lin Yixin. Clearly, Lin Yixin was planning to use Zi Chuanyu as the main tank and the point. "Fuck!" I groaned on the inside. Lin Yixin and I were close, but a territory was just too valuable to give up for either of us. I supposed that there was no avoiding this battle! He Yi glanced at Snowy Cathaya¡¯s squad for a moment before asking, "Lu Chen, if I remember the promise correctly, whoever enters the guild hall first claims ownership over the territory, right?" "Yeah!" "I feel so conflicted¡­" "I know right!?" I gave her a smile before facing back to the front. "Little Gui, you absolutely must be the first person to make it into the guild hall! If Snowy Cathaya gets in before you, your punishment will be three days of fasting!" "What? Three days??" Gui Guzi shuddered. The land dragon beneath him also shuddered for some reason. The magic knight replied immediately, "Don¡¯t worry, Boss Broken Halberd! I swear I¡¯ll be the first guy to charge into the guild hall! No one can stop me!" "Then go!" Everyone erupted into action as Gui Guzi urged his land dragon into full speed. He swung his spear again and again and killed all the Warsky Alliance players who were trying to stop him. Li Chengfeng was just barely able to keep up with him as we carved open a path for him with Thousand Ice Slashes and Reverse Scale Slashes! On the other side, the Snowy Cathaya players started giving it their all as well. A gigantic ice sword wreathed in flames slammed into the enemy players and made them scatter like ants. Zi Chuanyu seized the opening and charged straight toward the guild hall entrance. Unfortunately for us, the entrance was wide enough to admit three to five people at the same time. Fuck, it doesn¡¯t look like we¡¯re winning this competition easily! Gui Guzi and Zi Chuanyu made it to the front of the entrance at almost the same time. Maddened by battle lust, Gui Guzi sneered. "Zi Chuanyu, you should keep the watch outside!¡± The Undying Knight turned barbaric as his land dragon roared and rammed toward Zi Chuanyu! Bang! Zi Chuanyu¡¯s mount was no match for the Armored Swordback Dragon. It and its rider was sent stumbling after it got rammed in the stomach. "The right to enter the guild hall first is ours!" Gui Guzi turned away and charged toward the hall. However, a shadow suddenly Charged him at the perfect timing and stunned him in mid-stride! It was Purple Marquis! This wasn¡¯t good. That bastard thinks he can overtake us?! I hurriedly locked onto the space three meters in front of Purple Marquis and activated Thunderous Charge! Whoosh! Purple Marquis was stunned when I passed him, and I managed to make it into the hall safely. However, I quickly discovered that a silver figure was right next to me. It was Lin Yixin targeting a Warsky Alliance player inside the guild hall and activating her own Charge. Somehow, we had made it inside at the exact same time! "OMG! Seriously?" I stared blankly at Lin Yixin, and she stared blankly at me as well. Suddenly, she broke into a sweet smile and said, "Let¡¯s take out Warsky Alliance first and decide the ownership of the territory later!" "Okay!" Both of us looked up just in time to find innumerable balls of fire, ice blades and arrows flying our way. After we beat a hasty retreat out of the guild hall entrance, we seized our main tanks respectively¡ªGui Guzi and Zi Chuanyu¡ªand ordered, "You go ahead and tank the attack! We¡¯ll cover for you!" After throwing the pitiful magic knights into the maw of hell, Lin Yixin and I cautiously followed behind them. He Yi, Purple Marquis, Li Chengfeng, Murong Mingyue, High Fighting Spirits, and everyone else charged inside as well! At the front, Gui Guzi was blocking the enemy¡¯s attacks and losing health rapidly for his efforts. On the other side, Zi Chuanyu fared even worse and was dying in less than 10 seconds despite having assumed a defensive stance from the start! "Attack!" All dozen or us elite fighters threw our AoE skills to the front. A second later, the enemy¡¯s foremost defense line abruptly vanished from view! Warsky stared at the one hundred or so dead bodies on the ground blankly before turning to October Rain. "Am I dreaming?" October Rain shook her head and murmured, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya simply have too many top-tier players. In that department, they completely outnumber us. It¡¯s all over¡­" We charged with our health pots sticking from our mouths. He Yi and Gui Guzi especially were practically invincible after the bards buffed them with Death March and Divine Valor. Every time they charged toward the enemy, they left a swathe of bodies in their paths. And if that wasn¡¯t enough to kill Warsky Alliance¡¯s spirit, Beiming Xue and the two hundred archers behind her sealed the deal! ¡­¡­ "Fuck. We lost." Warsky glared at us from a distance before growling, "Hmph, we wouldn¡¯t have lost if you hadn''t ganged up on us! Just you wait, Lu Chen! We will take our revenge one day!" Warsky crushed his return scroll and gave up of his own accord. He didn¡¯t want to lose even the elite forces who were still alive and surrender their levels and the equipment to us. ¡­¡­ Purple Marquis smiled. "Very good, this territory belongs to us!" Li Chengfeng looked at him immediately. "Someone¡¯s a dreamer, I see!" "Heh!" The next second, Purple Marquis rushed Li Chengfeng and slashed his chest with Desperate Gambit! At the same time, Gui Guzi thrust his spear at Zi Chuanyu, and High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun had taken out Lifetaking Sword together. Even Beiming Xue had raised her long bow and aimed at Snowy Cathaya¡¯s army, yelling, "I¡¯m sorry Sister Lin Yixin, but this is for the territory and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Far Shot!" Lin Yixin raised her Frozen Sword and smiled sweetly at me. "Come and fight me, Little Cheat!" Chapter 443: Battles Between Allies A war was inevitable. I gripped my sword and marched toward Lin Yixin because the simplest way to beat Snowy Cathaya was to defeat her. At the same time, I ordered, "Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, work with me. If we beat Beauty Lin, then half of this territory war already might as well be won already! Gui Guzi, guard the entrance and make sure that no one else enters this guild hall!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ The system dinged after the last Warsky Alliance player in the guild hall died¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that Territory No.001 China is currently ownerless! ¡­¡­ Very good, Warsky Alliance had officially been knocked out of the fight. Once we took out Snowy Cathaya as well, the territory would finally belong to us. A fiery burst of flame suddenly caught my attention. Lin Yixin¡¯s Frozen Sword was wreathed in ice and fire, and she was swinging at both me and Li Chengfeng! Guard! I shivered and lost 1764 HP. Lin Yixin¡¯s Attack was so high that it was impossible to Guard against her skill completely! "Watch out for Purple Marquis¡¯s Absolute Zero!" I shouted a warning to the others before pouncing toward Lin Yixin. I successfully slashed her stomach with Pardon, but she was so fast that she moved out of the way before I could swing a second time. Moreover, she counterattacked immediately with an overhead swing that forced me to raise my arms into a block! Clang! The blade hit my wrist painfully. At the same time, the damage number 2134 appeared above my head. Lin Yixin¡¯s Attack was just too high right now! Clearly, Lin Yixin had activated her Famous General Skill, Bombshell, and boosted her and her allies¡¯ stats by 50%. It was terrifying to say the least. Thankfully, He Yi¡¯s Royal Road was a counter that reduced the effects of Bombshell to only 105%. Bad news quickly hit us, however¡ª Running at the edges, Purple Marquis abruptly swung his sword and summoned a bunch of magical runes. A bit of metal ringing entered everyone¡¯s ears. The next moment, he shouted, "Insight!" Swhoosh! Combat Log: Player "Purple Marquis" used "Insight" on player "From Water¡±. The skill is successful. The target¡¯s stratagem is sealed for 600 seconds! ¡­¡­ Shit, Royal Road was sealed by Purple Marquis¡¯s Insight! I immediately added He Yi into my party and activated Martial God. There was no way we could fight a fully-boosted Lin Yixin otherwise! Lin Yixin withdrew temporarily. Purple Marquis was also glaring at us with his sword raised before his chest. "Loose!" However, they somehow survived even a second volley from our archers. The 50% boost to HP and Defense made them so tanky that even Bow God couldn¡¯t get the job done! I exchanged a look with Li Chengfeng before ordering, "Purple Marquis is Beauty Lin¡¯s arms and legs, so let¡¯s try and one-shot him immediately. I¡¯ll go first, and you secure the kill. Don¡¯t forget to watch out for Purple Marquis¡¯s Absolute Zero. High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, I want you to use your range attacks as well!" "Okay!" I was already charging toward Purple Marquis when they responded affirmatively to my order. I didn¡¯t slow down even though Purple Marquis and Lin Yixin were rushing me at the same time. My trajectory suddenly changed, and I slipped past the Snowy Cathaya warrior who attempted to block me with a double-S path. It was the helix maneuver! The next moment, I knocked away Purple Marquis¡¯s sword with my own and rammed Lin Yixin¡¯s shoulder with my right shoulder! Bang! 1134! Lin Yixin let out a cute whimper. It looked like she hadn¡¯t expected me to attack from this angle at all. Purple Marquis came at me again, so I kicked him beneath the armpit even before I could regain my balance! Purple Marquis stumbled from the unexpected attack, but he wisely slashed at my waist and dealt 3187 damage. Suddenly, I leaped toward him with the Heaven-stealing Sword wreathed in bloody light! "Shit!" Purple Marquis knew what was coming, but he couldn¡¯t dodge out of the way. It was because my general, Li Chengfeng, had appeared behind him at the perfect moment and executed Dragonbone Flurry. Purple Marquis had no choice to Guard, meaning that he had to endure both my War Crush and Li Chengfeng¡¯s Dragonbone Flurry at once! A column of damage numbers floated above his head. Despite his priests¡¯ efforts, Purple Marquis¡¯s HP still dropped all the way to the red. Just when he was going to die, the warrior swung his sword and used Absolute Zero! Swhoosh swhoosh! Both Li Chengfeng and I were frozen by the skill before we could escape, but Purple Marquis wasn¡¯t doing so hot either. High Fighting Spirits arrived just in time to launch a swirl of deadly energy at the enemy warrior. "Xiezhi Howl!" 4983! 5021! The skill should¡¯ve been fatal, but the seven or eight enemy priests standing behind Li Chengfeng still managed to drag Purple Marquis back from the land of the dead. But that wasn¡¯t the end of our combined assault. The dog rider Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun appeared and hit Purple Marquis with a Rock Smash and Do or Die! His Attack was increased drastically in that moment! 5732! 11004! Hell yeah! The last strike was a critical hit! My Martial God already boosted Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s Attack by 87%, and the last strike was a critical hit. Despite having his HP and Defense boosted by 50%, Purple Marquis ultimately collapsed to the ground and died. He dropped a ton of potions and pitch-black metal armor legguards! Meanwhile, Lin Yixin finally arrived and pulled out her dagger from her sheath. After she used Extreme Break on the dragon warrior, she brought out her Frozen Sword and hit him three times in a row, deleting most of his HP in one go. That wasn¡¯t the deadliest blow he would take, however. At the distance, the Dark Tongue Mage Shadow Chanel finished channeling her spell at the perfect timing and launched a Dragon¡¯s Roar at him! He couldn¡¯t dodge it at all since he was still frozen at this time! 8934! Fuck! I wasn¡¯t expecting his Magic Resist to be this low! Li Chengfeng must¡¯ve put too much focus on his Attack and neglected his own protection! Although Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew did their best to heal him, they were unable to pull him away from death¡¯s door. One final Explosion Arrow from Clear Perfume later, Li Chengfeng let out a groan and died. He even dropped his helmet! High Fighting Spirits picked up Li Chengfeng¡¯s helmet from the ground, but he didn¡¯t touch Purple Marquis¡¯s equipment. Then, he raised his battle axe and charged Lin Yixin. Lin Yixin watched him calmly. She had Bombshell and all the buffs from their holy bard, Beauty At First Sight, so it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to call her a battle goddess in that moment. Dodging High Fighting Spirits¡¯ Blaze with a beautiful zigzag, she slashed him twice in the back, turned around and zipped past him one last time to kill him where he stood. One of our strongest players was one-shot just like that! ¡­¡­ Enraged by the death of his brother, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun charged toward Lin Yixin while gripping his Ardent Thunder Blade. Even the Chinese dog he was riding wore eyes that brimmed with killing intent. "Hmph, stupid¡­" Lin Yixin chuckled. She easily dodged the wanderer¡¯s Charge by moving a couple of steps to the back. Casually taking over 3000 HP from his health bar with a single slash, she ran a beautiful S-shaped path to his back and hit him again. Every time Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun slowly turned around to face her, she simply moved to his back and slashed him again. There were two reasons the wanderer was played like a fiddle. One, Lin Yixin¡¯s Agility was boosted by 50%. Two, his mount reduced his turn rate a lot, so he couldn¡¯t turn faster than Lin Yixin could move to his back. In the end, the poor guy was killed before he could score a single hit on the Fruit Knife Goddess! Crack! Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun groaned and collapsed to the ground. However, I myself was pulling the Heaven-stealing Sword out of Zi Chuanyu¡¯s chest. I rushed toward her while saying quietly, "Let¡¯s end this quick, Yiyi!" Lin Yixin looked startled for some reason. A bit of hesitation flashed across her beautiful eyes. Crack! My Heaven-stealing Sword cut through her armor and left a bloody mark on her snow white skin. MISS! 7704! At the same time, He Yi appeared and dealt another 3000 damage with a spear swing. At the distance, Clear Perfume gritted her teeth and fired a Shock Arrow at me. However, I let it stun me without attempting to dodge out of the way. It was because I was confused by Lin Yixin¡¯s reaction, or rather lack of. Why didn¡¯t she dodge my Pardon-empowered attack now? I know she could do it. She wouldn¡¯t have taken this much damage if she... ¡­¡­ While I was stunned, He Yi and Lin Yixin clashed weapons with one another. This was the first time the guild leaders of the two strongest guilds in Sky City fought each other directly! Rustle rustle... Lin Yixin downed a health potion to recover herself before launching an attack. She blitzed past like a lightning bolt and dealt 6012 damage to the magic knight. It was of course her signature Moon Gaze + Extreme Break combo. He Yi arced her neck fearless and activated War God Recovery. The magic knight exclusive skill healed the user for 100% HP over 60 seconds. At the same time, she urged the Snow Domain Windchaser into a rapid spin before launching a powerful Green Wave Slash! Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t dodge it, so she crossed her sword in front of herself and used Guard! Bang! The powerful impact sent her petite body sliding across the ground. Judging from her tiny groan, it must¡¯ve been quite the painful attack as well. He Yi was empowered by Martial God and the Purple Gold Rank Snow Domain Windchaser, so it made sense that her Attack was on par or even higher than mine right now. Before Lin Yixin could steady herself, Beiming Xue flicked her bow and fired Evil Spirit Volley at her! Chiang chiang chiang! The Fruit Knife Goddess managed to parry three arrows, but that was her limit. She gritted her teeth and used Guard again to minimize the damage she took as much as she could. Xu Yang and Chaos Moon appeared next and knocked Lin Yixin back again with their Blazes. Then, Moonlight Stone also hit with Ice Dragon Howl from a distance. Her HP was high, but even she could only take so many attacks. But a red-HP Lin Yixin didn¡¯t try to mount a counter-attack. She simply crossed her Frozen Sword in front of herself again and stared at me. For a second, I was lost in the hurt look in her eyes. Bang! Gui Guzi¡¯s Aurora Thrust abruptly penetrated her body, and finally, the Fruit Knife Goddess dropped to one knee. Still staring at me, she opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but she collapsed to the ground first and dropped a shiny ice sword. She¡­ she dropped the Frozen Sword! ¡­¡­ "Wind Fantasy is dead! She even dropped her Frozen Sword! That¡¯s an Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon, right??" For a time, our players exchanged glances with each other. Some of them even strode toward the weapon while laughing, "She dropped the Frozen Sword? That¡¯s wonderful, so wonderful¡­" Thump! Chapter 444: Alliance with The Monarch Descends He Yi got off her mount, her beautiful eyes apologetic. She addressed the nearby players. "Why don¡¯t you retreat for now. Well¡­ No matter what anyone says, Snowy Cathaya is our ally. Even though we are duking it out right now, we will still be allies in the numerous battles to come!" ¡­¡­ Clear Perfume, Shadow Chanel, and their party also stopped attacking. Beep! Lin Yixin sent me a message: "I¡¯ll get Qingqing and Chanel to stand down and retreat from the guild hall. You¡¯ve won. I¡¯ll even leave them there to help you protect your territory. Treasure this opportunity, okay? I¡¯ll be going offline first." Lin Yixin did not even wait for me to reply, her name went dark the moment I heard the message. I went quiet. Lin Yixin had a responsibility toward the tens of thousands of players who were part of Snowy Cathaya, so she had no choice but to participate in this battle. However, Lin Yixin had never been willing to make an enemy of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, so she had not launched any counterattacks against us just now. If not, there was no way that players like Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, and Chaos Moon would have been able to successfully kill the Fruit Knife Goddess. I picked up both the Frozen Sword and Purple Marquis¡¯s metal legguards. The sword was an Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon while the legguards were a piece of Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment. They were pretty damn good. The players of Snowy Cathaya had gotten Lin Yixin¡¯s order as well and they started to file out of the guild hall. I caught up to Clear Perfume and said, "Qingqing, wait a moment!" Clear Perfume turned around, the rim of her eyes red. She pouted as she said in an unhappy voice, "What do you want now?" I took out both pieces of equipment and said, "Help me pass these items back to Yiyi and Purple Marquis. This¡­ Ah, I really don¡¯t know what to say either. Once I go offline later, I¡¯ll personally go and beg Yiyi for forgiveness." "Hmph!" Clear Perfume looked like she didn¡¯t quite buy what I was trying to sell, but she took the equipment from me. After that, she smacked me with her fist as she said, "Lu Chen, you¡¯re an idiot! A big fat idiot!" "Hehe, that¡¯s right¡­" I didn¡¯t deny it. "Hmppppph!" Clear Perfume walked away in a fit of pique. Once all of the players who belonged to Snowy Cathaya left the guild hall, the ring of a system notice resounded in the air. Ding~! System Notice: Attention, all players. The guild ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡± has conquered Territory 001. If they can keep hold of the territory for five hours, they will officially gain control of this territory! ¡­¡­ Xu Yang rubbed his nose and said, "Bloody hell, to think you¡¯d have the cheek to say that we¡¯re looking grim when you were the person who looked the most glum just now¡­" I chuckled and stopped in front of the players I had just chided. I said in a sheepish voice, "Sorry about that, brothers. I was a little too emotional just now. That¡­ Hahaha, now that I¡¯ve apologized, please don¡¯t pick on me¡­" Now that I¡¯d bled the tension out of the room, the rest of them just laughed and waved it off. If they really did have an issue with what had just happened, I¡¯d just kick them out of the guild. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls needed hot-blooded warriors, not cold and heartless players. ¡­¡­ When we strode out of the guild hall, we saw that the battle was still raging everywhere else. The two main threats we had to deal with were The Monarch Descends and Hegemon Palace. Hegemon Palace was especially threatening. Little Piglet hadn¡¯t died yet, so his Famous General Skill, Vajra, was still active. He was currently trying to break through our lines with a horde of stalwart warriors at his back. More than a few Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players had already fallen to his blade. "Beiming, Moonlight, Gui Guzi, Eve, let¡¯s group up and kill that dumbass Little Piglet. How does that sound?" "Ah, it¡¯ll be quite difficult. His defensive stats are too high. His effective Defense should be around 4000 now, if not higher. Vajra just adds too much damn Defense," Beiming Xue said with a pout. I cleared my throat before replying, "Then we have no choice but to stun him before we launch an all-out assault on him. If we focus our fire on him, I¡¯m confident we can take him down. As long as everyone has 2500 Attack, we¡¯ll be able to do some damage to him even if he does really have 4000 Defense. Once we get rid of Little Piglet, Pillar of the Nation will lose one of his two main supports and he¡¯ll no longer pose a threat after that." Xu Yang raised his longsword in the air as he exclaimed, "Okay, let¡¯s do that then!" It was at this moment that Shadow Chanel stepped forward, her staff in hand. She said, "Lu Chen, could it be that you¡¯ve forgotten about us? My Dragon¡¯s Roar ignores physical Defense, so I believe it will be of great help to you." I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle, "If the beautiful Chanel is willing to help us, then we¡¯ll be overjoyed to accept that help. Ah, about what happened just now, we¡¯re truly¡­" Shadow Chanel let out a tinkling laugh as well. "Forget about that. Let¡¯s get this show on the road!" "Okay." I nodded my head and continued from where I left off, "Remember not to jump the gun, everyone. Let me slip in and launch a sneak attack first. I¡¯ll take the opportunity to knock off half of Little Piglet¡¯s HP bar." "You can even enter stealth?" Clear Perfume was rather shocked by what I had just revealed. I chuckled as I used Earth Escape. My entire avatar dissolved into a few rays of bloody light as I melted into the ground. Clear Perfume¡¯s mouth dropped open in shock as she said, "Fuck, what sort of lousy stealth skill is this? Your movement speed is so slow too¡­" I ground my teeth together at that insult as I said from below the ground, "Even if I am moving slowly, all that matters is that my stealth works. Also, erm¡­ Qingqing, your panties are black¡­" "Damn you!" Clear Perfume yelled as she stomped on the ground. "Lu Chen, you bastard! Ooh, you are so dead! I¡¯m definitely gonna get Yiyi to kill you after this¡­" ¡­¡­ Everyone erupted in laughter upon hearing those words, but I had already started moving forward. Little Piglet was currently squaring off against a bunch of melee fighters from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls on the frontlines. His blade danced in the air and it seemed as if he was reaping the life of an enemy every 10 seconds. Even though his Defense was high, his Attack was also extremely shocking. Pillar of the Nation raised his sword high in the air as he roared, "Little Piglet, keep killing ¡®em! Fucking hell! I don¡¯t believe that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls can hold on for much longer! They¡¯ve already fought so many battles, so they should have lost a significant portion of their fighting strength! I even heard that Snowy Cathaya had it out with them in the guild hall just now! Heh heh, this territory is as good as ours!" Shanggong Wan¡¯er hefted her daggers as she slunk forward in stealth mode. "Cut the crap. We need to quickly think of a way to penetrate their defenses. Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls definitely still seem to have a lot of fight left in them." At this moment, I suddenly lunged out of the ground and summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. A pet and a player pounced toward Little Piglet, completely catching him by surprise. The Heaven-stealing Sword shone with a bright light as I hit him with a Pardon + basic attack. I immediately followed my combo up with a Thousand Ice Slash as I pressed in for the kill! That would get rid of the priests behind Little Piglet! BOOM! MISS! 5043! 1905! ¡­¡­ Fuck, hitting him really was like punching an iron plate. Even my Pardon and basic attack combo only did around 5000 damage. My Thousand Ice Slash was even more pathetic, it hadn¡¯t even shaved off 2000 points off his health. Little Piglet¡¯s current Defense was simply ridiculous! Though this didn¡¯t mean that Little Piglet couldn¡¯t be killed. His total HP was just a little over ten thousand, so I had instantly knocked off at least half of his total health points. His feet had also become covered in frost, which meant that he had been unlucky enough to have been frozen by my Thousand Ice Slash. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf flailed at him, its sharp claws smacking against Little Piglet¡¯s face with dull thuds. However, it could only deal him slightly more than 200 damage per hit. In the back, Beiming Xue finally released the arrow that she had notched. It clattered against Little Piglet¡¯s face and was soon followed by several others. Unfortunately for us, her arrows could not kill off Little Piglet. His Defense was simply absurd and he could drag this fight out forever as long as there was an enemy priest around to heal him. Whoosh! Whoosh! He Yi and Gui Guzi timed their Charge as they rushed toward Little Piglet. They didn¡¯t even give him a chance to attack me as they both landed successive stuns on him. They immediately followed up their attacks by launching a Green Wave Slash and Aurora Thrust toward him respectively. These attacks one-shot the priests lined up behind him, depriving Little Piglet of his healing! He was running out of options fast! Roar! A deafening dragon roar ripped through the air. The Dark Tongue Mage Shadow Chanel had used her killer move, Dragon¡¯s Roar! 8940! What terrifying explosive strength! Little Piglet¡¯s eyes widened into saucers, it was as if he had been utterly dumbfounded by the fact that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had found such a strong mage. He flopped onto his back as he died, but he didn¡¯t drop any equipment. However, this meant that the players of Hegemon Palace were no longer enjoying the effects of his Vajra. They would now be much easier to deal with! He Yi and Gui Guzi took this opportunity to charge the enemy lines. They rampaged through the battle formation of Hegemon Palace twice with impunity. There was no one who could stop them! Once Little Piglet died, Hegemon Palace¡¯s forces instantly lost their iron spine. There was no way that someone like Pillar of the Nation could contend with players of He Yi and Gui Guzi¡¯s mettle. My party and I spearheaded Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls counter-offensive. Our forces began to spread out in an arc as we pushed the players of Hegemon Palace backward. It was only when the last players of Hegemon Palace had fled beyond the borders of the territory that we stopped our relentless pursuit. ¡­¡­ In the guild channel, Li Chengfeng said, "I died and returned to town. High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun also returned with me. About four thousand more of our brothers died in the last battle and none of us are able to enter the Howling Wind Plains, so there¡¯s no way we can return to help out in the territory war. Is there anything else we can do to help?" I opened the map and said in a serious voice, "Chengfeng, lead those brothers over to the Dragonbone Mountain Range. Guard the valley that leads to the Howling WInd Plains and claim that place as our training ground for now. Don¡¯t let any small guilds enter the area. By doing that, you¡¯ll greatly lessen the pressure on the rest of us who are still fighting in the territory war. But this also means that you¡¯re in for another fierce fight. Be prepared." Li Chengfeng chuckled before replying, "No problem, we¡¯re the best at team battles in the wild. Isn¡¯t that right, Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds?" The two other people started laughing wildly as they crowed, "That¡¯s right, that¡¯s right! Fighting in the wild is the most exciting thing ever!" After that, Li Chengfeng mobilized the players who had died during the territory war and led them out to fight for the guild once more. Those of us who were still alive had to treasure their sacrifice as we continued our fierce fight. We still had around fifteen thousand players which belonged to Snowy Cathaya and their sub guilds. They were still a force to be reckoned with. Furthermore, Clear Perfume had obeyed Lin Yixin¡¯s wishes and passed control over these forces over to me. That meant that I had nearly 25000 elite players under my command, a force composed of the best players of two super guilds. In addition to that, we had also completely destroyed the forces of Warsky Alliance, Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction, and Hegemon Palace in that meatgrinder of a battle. So it really shouldn¡¯t be much trouble for the 25000 elites under my command to hold this territory. ¡­¡­ It was also at this moment that I suddenly heard a "beep¡±. Someone had sent me a message! I immediately checked the message and to my surprise, it had come from the guild leader of The Monarch Descends, Ling Xueshang. "Lu Chen, let¡¯s form an alliance!" I was overjoyed when I read her message. In truth, I had been waiting for this moment for a long time. The Monarch Descends was an incredibly strong guild and they had a force of more than 20000 players outside of the territory. If they had decided to launch an all-out assault against us, we¡¯d suffer terribly. Chapter 445: Conquering the Territory Sword in hand, I reached the southern gate of the city. I looked at Xu Yang, who was currently defending the gate, and said, "Give me some space, I¡¯m going out for a bit." "Oh?" Xu Yang was puzzled by my request. "Are you going out to die?" "Don¡¯t worry!" I strode out of the gates confidently as I came to face to face with a whole sea of red-named players. But I wasn¡¯t worried, because most of these players belonged to The Monarch Descends. Ling Xueshang stood at the head of this huge crowd of players, her bow held lightly in her hands. Purple Wind Chime, Mo Xiaoxiao, and Ice Lemon had all accompanied her here, and every single one of them was an elite player. As a member of the CGL Hall of Fame, Ling Xueshang would have no problem recruiting a team of elite players. After all, the CGL Hall of Fame represented a standard of excellence and getting into it was nothing less than a badge of honor, proof of one¡¯s transcendent skill. Therefore, any member of the Hall of Fame was able to attract a crowd of devout followers that would follow them to the ends of the world. ¡­¡­ As I walked toward Ling Xueshang, I sheathed the Heaven-stealing Sword into the scabbard slung across my back. A huge grin bloomed on my face as I went to greet her. Ling Xueshang raised a hand and smiled at the guild members gathered behind her. "Stop the attack. From this moment onward, The Monarch Descends has officially entered an alliance with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. We¡¯re going to help them defend this territory until this war comes to a close. Lu Chen, it¡¯s your turn to speak." I nodded my head and laughed. "I won¡¯t be able to speak for any other port, but if we do successfully keep hold of this territory, then the players of The Monarch Descends will enjoy a 20% discount on all repairs, purchases, and teleportation fees in the City of Death. Unfortunately, a 20% discount is the most we can give. If not, we won¡¯t even be able to pay for the land tax." Ling Xueshang giggled. "Alright, that¡¯s reasonable and 20% is already pretty good! My people will be able to save quite a bit of cash this way!" "Mn." I walked up and sent her a guild alliance invitation. In the next instant, the names of Ling Xueshang and her people turned into a friendly shade of orange. They had now officially become allies with us. I turned around and yelled at Xu Yang, "Open the gates, our friends from The Monarch Descends are coming in!" A grin of joy appeared on Xu Yang¡¯s face as he replied, "Haha, I got it!" I breathed a sigh of relief as I led Ling Xueshang and her troops into the city. Thanks to this, we shouldn¡¯t have any issues holding on to this territory. ¡­¡­ "Xueshang¡­" "Hmmm?" "You should form an alliance with Snowy Cathaya too. Find some time to talk to Wind Fantasy as well, okay?" "Oh, got it!" Ling Xueshang giggled, causing her fringe to sway as her head bobbed up and down. "Actually, I already had the intention to do so. These days, guilds like Warsky Alliance, Gods of Destruction, and Hegemon Palace have been looking at us with hungry eyes and it¡¯s been hard for us to continue operating independently. Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯d rather enter an alliance with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya. That way, we¡¯ll form a triumvirate of power that¡¯ll repel all other guilds and maybe we can actually conquer Sky City like this too!" I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle as well. "Okay! That doesn¡¯t sound too far-fetched and I gladly welcome what you just said! I¡¯ll contact Wind Fantasy and get her to form an alliance with you! Our next goal will be to conquer all of the other territories spawning around Sky City! Let¡¯s get Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends your own territories where you can establish your seats of power! If we accomplish this, our position in Sky City will be unshakeable¡­" Ling Xueshang¡¯s beautiful eyes curved up in delight as she looked at me in a rather demure manner. She replied, "Very good! It looks like Luo River God of the Capital was right after all. Falling Dust really is an ally you can count on! Hmm, you can leave the city¡¯s south gate and west gate to us!" "Alright, thanks in advance!" "You¡¯re welcome!" ¡­¡­ As The Monarch Descends filtered through the city, I felt my heart leap with joy. Time seemed to trickle by at an inexorably slow pace, but when I checked my watch, I realized that we had already held the city for three hours. The small guilds that lingered around in the outskirts of the territory did not have the firepower to shake the defenses of any of three guilds defending the city. Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun had led the rest of our eliminated guild members to the pass that connected Dragonbone Mountain Range with Howling Wind Plains. They had claimed the area as their hunting grounds and they had even sent some videos over to us. Li Chengfeng stood in front of the valley with his sword in hand. As he looked at the army of players approaching him, he roared in an undaunted voice, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has claimed this area as our hunting ground, so I¡¯ll have to ask our visiting brothers to make a detour!" Someone immediately stood out from the crowd and said, "Based on what? Based on the fact that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is a powerful guild? Based on the fact that you¡¯re a dragon warrior? We¡¯re going to participate in the territory war, so stop wasting our time and get out of our faces!" Li Chengfeng stepped aside, only to reveal the array of forces assembled behind him. High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and four thousand members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were lined up in battle formation. All of them roared, "We paved these roads and grew these trees! So whoever wants to cross will have to pay a very heavy toll!" This formation was far too intimidating and guilds both big and small had no choice but to retreat and level in the areas around the Dragonbone Mountain Range. Of course, there were some players who tried to trek across the mountain range itself, but the Level 150 shadow-rank monsters that dwelled in the mountain range were no herbivores, and countless low-level players died within the mountains on this day. ¡­¡­ As the curtain of night began to fall on the city, a watch tower swayed as bamboo rattled. A charmingly beautiful lady was sitting on top of the rails of the watch tower. She was dressed in a suit of armor and her eyes were filled with longing as she stared out into the night sky. A mesmerizing smile crossed her lips and her long, snowy legs gently swayed as they dangled in front of the bamboo railing. She was a vision of enchanting beauty, and my heart thumped loudly in my chest when I saw her. "Eve?" I asked as I drew closer to her. "Hmm?" He Yi turned to look at me, a smile curling up on her lips. "What¡¯s wrong, Lu Chen?" "I have a request." "Speak!" He Yi said as she tilted her head toward me. This awkward angle exposed her ample chest which was already spilling out of her breastplate, the mounds of snowy flesh inexorably drawing in my gaze I swallowed some saliva as I replied, "Do you think it¡¯s possible for us to give all the members of Snowy Cathaya a big ¡®thank you¡¯ gift for their help this time? Can we also give them a fifty percent discount on repairs, shop purchases, and teleportation fees inside this city? The same discount we are going to give our own members." In truth, 50% of whatever we earned from this territory would be taken by the system as a form of tax. If we gave them a fifty percent discount, it would mean that we wouldn¡¯t be earning a single cent from Snowy Cathaya, and we even had to pay taxes on whatever they bought. Basically, we were going to make a loss if we did this. He Yi¡¯s beautiful eyes were as tranquil as a placid lake. She blinked, causing her long lashes to beautifully flutter together. She remained silent for a little while longer before her laughter suddenly rang in the air. "Hmmm, I don¡¯t see any problem with that. We really do owe Lin Yixin this time, so this is something that must be done. If not, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will not be able to look our allies straight in the eye. Lu Chen, that was an excellent suggestion. I was just thinking about how we could compensate them, but thanks to you, I¡¯ve now made my decision." "Oh." I nodded my head and replied, "Once we¡¯ve finished conquering this territory, you should focus on leveling. This territory is an undead city, so leave it to me to manage. I will turn this city profitable as quickly as I can." "Alright! I believe in you!" He Yi giggled as she reached out to touch my arm. "To think that we actually managed to conquer the first territory spawned by Sky City. Hehe, I still find it quite hard to believe!" "But this is good, our lives will be totally different from now on." I stared into the distance before I breathed a heavy sigh. "In the past, there were always only the four of us. But now, we have the Dragon Warrior Li Chengfeng, the Dark Archer Beiming Xue, the Undying Knight Gui Guzi, the Berserker High Fighting Spirits, and the Earth Knight Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. All of these elite generals have joined our guild and we also managed to recruit skilled experts like Chaos Moon, Moonlight Stone, Moon Dew, and Wolf Fang, all of whom fall just short of the elite status. The overall strength of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is night and day compared to what it was in the past." "Mn." He Yi smiled at me appreciatively as she said, "Actually, the thing that¡¯s made me most happy¡­ is your return. With you by my side, I won¡¯t feel lonely anymore¡­" "Boss¡­" After she stared at me for a while, He Yi suddenly let out a soft snort through her nose as she started giggling. "This really is like a mushy soap opera¡­" "As if, I nearly threw up in my mouth when you said those words. Okay, you can continue admiring the scenery, I¡¯m going to go down and keep on killing!" "Mmm. Be careful!" After I drew my sword, I bodily leaped from the top of the watchtower. However, I immediately realised something the instant I jumped into the air. Fuck, I¡¯m too high up. I¡¯m gonna die from fall damage! I made a somersault in the air as I landed on the ground with a thud. My body sank half a meter into the ground, but I managed to land stably. However, my landing did frighten Chaos Moon. My body had slammed into the ground right in front of her, and her pretty face was pale from shock. "Dammit, Lu Chen! Where the hell did you jump out from!? You nearly scared me half to death!" "Heh¡­" I didn¡¯t reply. Instead, I rushed forward and swept my sword toward those weaklings from guilds who had grossly overestimated themselves. The Heaven-stealing sword danced in the air, and I barely needed any healing from the priests in the back. Health potions and my 14% life steal were more than enough to outheal any damage I took. I rampaged amid the horde of players and no one could stop me. ¡­¡­ I rushed around killing players for more than an hour and I used War Crush and Thousand Ice Slash more times than I could count. I also lost track of the amount of players I¡¯d killed. My longsword was stained with fresh blood and my cloak had turned a bloody red as it stuck to my armor in a cloying, sticky mess. The ends of it had been shredded into rags, a sign that its durability had dropped to insufficient levels. I swiftly inspected all of my equipment. The Heaven-stealing Sword only had 37% durability left while my God Suppressing Necklace and God Suppressing Helmet only had 29%. As for the rest of my Dark Gold¨Cgrade items, they all had less than 5% durability left. They were all about to break. My repair costs were going to be astronomical this time! There were still ten minutes left on the timer by the time I returned to the city, but there was nothing else I needed to concern myself with. Li Chengfeng ran toward the city with his sword in hand. After that, he leaned against the wooden fence surrounding our territory and lazily doffed his helmet. He shot me a glance before saying, "What are you looking at?" I replied, "Aren¡¯t you going to chase after our enemies?" "My weapon¡¯s durability is shot, and my legguards and boots are about to be wrecked as well. If I continue fighting, I¡¯ll be running around in my underwear¡­" "¡­¡­" I chortled with laughter. "Good luck to you then." Li Chengfeng grinned. "I¡¯m actually still in decent shape. I heard that Gui Guzi had been knocked about too badly and that he¡¯s been running around with just his shield and his undies. He¡¯s managed to catch the eye of many an enemy maiden¡­" I: "..." ¡­¡­ This battle had been incredibly fierce and our supplies had nearly run dry. I even had to pass some health potions to Xu Yang and Du Thirteen. My inventory was big and I had more health potions than most players, so I could afford to do so. But I heard that the players of Snowy Cathaya basically fought until they ran out of weapons and supplies. Shadow Chanel kept using Thunder Dragon Breath to one-shot her enemies and I already lost track of the amount of Magic Consumables I had given her. A top-notch mage really used up money like water. If a guild didn¡¯t have enough resources, there was no way they could support a super mage like her. A few moments passed before the system notice bell finally reverberated in the skies of Sky City. This battle had finally come to a close, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had emerged as the victor! Ding~! Chapter 446: Lost in The Kiss Convenience Gem reduced an equipment¡¯s level requirement, Cyanfire Gem increased Attack, Dragonstone Gem increased Defense, Berserk Gem increased critical rate, Dragonblood Gem increased max HP, and Beast Haste Gem increased attack speed. They were all incredible items to say the least. None of us had expected to be rewarded so generously for conquering the first territory in Sky City, and an overjoyed He Yi asked me how we should split the rewards. I left the decision in her hands. ¡­¡­ The map Howling Wind Plains was going to enter 12-hour maintenance. Once the maintenance was complete, Territory 001 would be fully renewed. News from Wind City and Vanished God City reached us at about the same time. First, we heard that Candle Dragon was currently occupying Territory 002. Peach Garden was defeated, and Purple Lily was still attacking with everything they got. The battle at Territory 003 was even fiercer, however. The ten strongest guilds at Vanished God City were evenly matched, and no one guild had managed to occupy the guild hall for over 30 minutes up till now. It was highly likely that their war would continue until everyone but the victor had run out of resources completely. In comparison, the battle at Wind City was a lot stabler. Although Purple Lily was a powerful guild, it was still much weaker compared to Candle Dragon. Also, Candlelight Shadow was defeated at Who Will Rise, but he was still incredibly popular in China. All he needed to do was sound the rally, and an endless army would rise to his beck and call. In fact, Candle Dragon had expanded their number of sub-guilds to over twenty. Their overall power was pretty scary. I mulled over the guild¡¯s future for a bit. I supposed it was about time we increased the number of our own sub-guilds after the castle in our guild territory was built. It was a bit unrealistic to think that we could conquer the world with just our main guild. However, increasing the number of our sub-guilds wasn¡¯t an easy task either. For example, if I wished to increase the number of our sub-guilds to ten, then I had to first choose ten guilds leaders who were sufficiently powerful and fully loyal to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. That alone would be a serious pain in the ass. Oh well, let¡¯s do this one step at a time. Candle Dragon might have over twenty sub-guilds right now, but it was possible that it wasn¡¯t a true representation of their strength. After all, we outsiders couldn¡¯t possibly understand the conflict of interests that was involved. I was certain that Candle Dragon¡¯s so-called one hundred thousand strong army wasn¡¯t as strong or as united as they appeared to be. ¡­¡­ Beep! He Yi sent me a message: ¡°Lu Chen, do you wanna log out and have dinner? The territory¡¯s not updating until tomorrow morning anyway.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I returned to the city and logged out of the game. Then, I took off my helmet and sucked in a breath of fresh air. When I walked out of the room, I saw He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue sitting together and draining their glass of purified water like crazy. It was because they hadn¡¯t drank anything until they logged out of the game. Everyone was wearing happy expressions on their faces though. ¡°Thanks to everyone, Territory 001 is finally ours! Hehe!¡± He Yi chuckled. ¡°We definitely need to celebrate this success!¡± Beiming Xue said, ¡°I¡¯m more concerned about a serious problem right now.¡± Murong Mingyue asked in concern. ¡°What is it?¡± Beiming Xue answered, ¡°I¡¯m hungry¡­¡± He Yi giggled. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s head out for dinner right away. What about you, Lu Chen? Are you coming with us?¡± I leaned against the wall and thought for a moment. In the end, I shook my head and said, ¡°You guys go ahead, I need to speak with Lin Yixin. She must be angry about losing the territory since she didn¡¯t come back online after logging out of the game. I need to go repair the relationship with our ally.¡± ¡°Okay, see you!¡± ¡­¡­ After we exited the workshop, Murong Mingyue drove away with the girls in her A8. I went into my own X12, drove out of the neighborhood and headed toward Suzhou University. On the way, I pulled out my phone and called Lin Yixin¡¯s number. Doo¡­ doo¡­ doo... The call finally connected about ten seconds later. The person on the other side asked, ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Er, is that you, Yiyi?¡± ¡°Who else could I be?¡± ¡°Do you want to have dinner together?¡± ¡°I¡¯m busy.¡± ¡°Busy with what?¡± ¡°I¡¯m eating dinner with a handsome guy that¡¯s not you.¡± ¡°What¡­¡± My heart skipped a beat. I couldn¡¯t stop myself from asking, ¡°And who¡¯s that exactly?¡± ¡°A guy from Electrical.¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± I gritted my teeth. ¡°Where are you right now?¡± ¡°Chuanxiangge, second floor. You¡¯re coming? Get yourself a table if you are. I don¡¯t have time for you right now!¡± Lin Yixin was clearly angry with me right now. Thud! The call broke off just like that. Lin Yixin had hung up on me. ¡­¡­ I had no idea what to feel. It was true that I was the one who got her killed during the territory war, but what choice did I have? On one hand, there was her. On the other, there was He Yi and my companions in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I had already acted out of selfishness once, I couldn¡¯t possibly do it a second time. A drizzle started falling from the sky as I drove toward Chuanxiangge. The autumn rain felt cold against my face when I lowered the car window. I felt like it was time I really sorted out my relationship with Lin Yixin. What on earth are we right now? It wasn¡¯t long before I arrived at the restaurant. I parked my car and rushed into the building in haste. I was shocked to find her sitting at a corner with a tall, handsome man exactly as she said on the phone. The guy was at least half a head taller than me. In that moment, a nameless anger and something bitter I couldn¡¯t describe grew inside my heart. I strode up to them and grabbed a surprised Lin Yixin by the hand. I declared in a no-nonsense voice, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°You¡­¡± Lin Yixin rose to her feet and stared at me. ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± I pulled her into a hug. Surprisingly, she didn¡¯t struggle out of the embrace. However, the man she was sitting with rose to his feet and said, ¡°Hey, you two can talk it out with each other, but don¡¯t manhandle her.¡± I punched him right at the center of his nose. Pu... The man¡¯s nose started bleeding. He-man glared at me angrily. Lin Yixin was so surprised her mouth fell open. ¡°Wa¡­¡± My arm still wrapped around Lin Yixin, I acted to pull her out of the restaurant. However, the guy grabbed my arm before I could do so and raged, ¡°Fuck you, Lu Chen! First you kill me in the game, and now you punch me in real life? How arrogant can you get??¡± ¡°You¡¯re¡­?¡± I looked back at him. This time it was Lin Yixin¡¯s turn to glare at me. ¡°He¡¯s Zi Chuanyu. Don¡¯t tell me you forgot?¡± Zi Chuanyu continued to glare at me. ¡°Fuck man, I¡¯m just eating dinner with the guild leader, and you come out of nowhere and punch me in the nose? What the fuck did I even do to offend you? Fuck, my handsome nose¡­¡± I felt so embarrassed in that moment that I wanted to slink into a hole and hide from everything. Worse, instead of defending me, Lin Yixin rubbed salt into my wound tauntingly, ¡°Yeah, yeah! Why did you punch Zi Chuanyu, huh?¡± ¡°I, what? Say something already!¡± I felt like dying. ¡°I thought that you¡­ you were¡­¡± ¡°I, what, exactly?¡± Lin Yixin giggled heartlessly and pushed even further. ¡°You know what? I don¡¯t care anymore!¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m eating dinner with you tonight, and that¡¯s that! Zi Chuanyu, here¡¯s a leek to block your nose. Don¡¯t lose too much blood, okay? Bye bye!¡± Zi Chuanyu wailed. ¡°No! I don¡¯t have the money to foot the bill! You can¡¯t just leave me like this¡­ Boss!¡± ¡­¡­ With Lin Yixin by my side, I walked out of the restaurant, moved to my car and pushed her into the passenger seat. Then, I got into the car myself and stared at her. For a time, we stared at each other without saying anything. It was only then I realized I didn''t know how to start. A while later, Lin Yixin asked, ¡°What¡­ do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± ¡°I just want to eat dinner with you.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s true, why are we here and not inside the restaurant?¡± A flash of anger passed through her eyes. ¡°Seriously, I, what!?¡± She abruptly opened the car door and got out of the car. I hurriedly chased after her, but instead of going back into the restaurant she started walking down an alley instead. She paid no heed to the raindrops drenching her clothes. There was no umbrella in the car, so I hurriedly ran over to her and grabbed her wrist. ¡°You¡¯re going to catch a cold like this!¡± ¡°Do you even care about me?¡± Lin Yixin turned around and looked at me with that hurt look again. She started crying as her tears became mixed with rain water. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± I hugged her with both arms before whispering, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but what else could I do in that situation? I didn¡¯t have a choice.¡± ¡°But, but¡­¡± Lin Yixin pushed me away and backed away from me again and again. She bit her lips and said through her tears, ¡°They looked down on me, they slandered me, my own father misunderstood me, and now even you hurt me too! I gave Snowy Cathaya almost everything I had, but I still disappointed the guild and all those who followed me. Why am I even doing this anymore?¡± She just stood there with her shoulders shivering uncontrollably. Already, there were people shooting us odd looks by the roadside. ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t say anything. I simply stood in front of her and kept her company like a blockhead. A long time later, Lin Yixin finally ran out of tears and stared at me with red eyes. She said quietly, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Lu Chen. I''m feeling pretty down today¡­¡± In that moment, I walked up to her, hugged her, ignored the panicked look in her eyes and kissed her on the lips. Her lips felt cold, but that didn¡¯t stop me from getting lost in the sensation. I tasted her passion and her sadness bit by bit until finally, Lin Yixin closed her own eyes and wrapped her arms around my neck like it was the most natural thing in the world. She squeezed herself into my chest as if she was intoxicated with the sensation of our bodies pressing against one another. The kiss was long and deep. I sneakily opened my eyes and found a pair of tears flowing down Lin Yixin¡¯s cheeks, even though her eyes were still closed. Her beautiful face looked slightly tired. Finally, she pushed me away again and bowed her head like she wanted to sink into her own chest. Beet red, she stared at the ground and whispered in a mosquito¡¯s voice, ¡°It hurts me so much to love you, you bastard¡­¡± I shivered. ¡°Yiyi¡­¡± ¡°Alright¡­¡± Lin Yixin finally looked up and stared at me. ¡°You must be starving, right? Come on, I¡¯ll eat dinner with you.¡± ¡°Where should we go?¡± ¡°Right there, let¡¯s have some Lanzhou stretched noodles tonight!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ This time, it was Lin Yixin who was grabbing my wrist and pulling me toward the shop that sold Lanzhou stretched noodles. She then ordered two bowls of noodles for us. She looked a little pale, so I hugged her and said concernedly, ¡°Please don¡¯t get wet again next time. You¡¯ll get sick¡­¡± Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at my sexual innuendo and retorted, ¡°You¡¯re the one who¡¯s wet!¡± ¡°Hehe¡­¡± The shop owner served us our noodles with a smile. After splitting a pair of chopsticks and passing it to Lin Yixin, I poured some spicy sauce on my noodles and commented, ¡°Looks good¡­¡± Lin Yixin nodded. ¡°Of course. The boss made it long and hard, just for you¡­¡± ¡°Fuck you. You know what, I¡¯m not eating anymore¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯ll get hungry. So eat up, okay?¡± The Fruit Knife Goddess was so kind I teared up a little. ¡­¡­ ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls got the territory, right?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡°Was there any reward?¡± ¡°We got 5 of each gem type, and I leveled up to 116.¡± ¡°Well I dropped to Level 110 because of Gui Guzi. Just you wait, I¡¯m going to make him restart from zero!¡± Lin Yixin uttered murderously like an angry tiger. I spent a moment to pray for Gui Guzi before grabbing her hand. ¡°Be good, Yiyi. It¡¯s not Gui Guzi¡¯s fault. He¡¯s just fulfilling his responsibilities to the guild. How about this, from now on all business transactions in our guild territory will be discounted by 50%, exclusive only to Snowy Cathaya.¡± Chapter 447: You’re Famous "Yiyi, are we boyfriend and girlfriend now? We did that, didn¡¯t we?" I asked awkwardly. Lin Yixin turned beet red in an instant. She glared at me and retorted, "Did what, exactly? Hmph! You want me to be your girlfriend? Who¡­ who do you think you are?" "Fuck! You can¡¯t just pretend it never happened!" "I do what I want!" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin took a sip of before glaring at me again. "By the way, if you tell anyone about that I¡¯ll kill you!" I shivered. "Got¡­ got it¡­" Fuck, I thought our relationship would progress to the next step naturally after the kiss, but she just pretended it never happened! For a moment, I felt incredibly sorry for myself. When we finished our noodles and stepped out of the restaurant, it was already 10 pm at night. It had also stopped raining. When I walked past Chuanxiangge, I abruptly saw Zi Chuanyu standing at the hall and talking with the manager frantically about something. Did he really not have the money to foot the bill? Poor kid... I pulled out a couple of red bills from my pocket and walked inside, saying, "I¡¯ll pay for him." Zi Chuanyu looked at me like I was his savior. "You finally came back, Lu Chen! Thank goodness, I would¡¯ve had to wash half a year of dishes if you didn¡¯t show up¡­ Eh? Guild leader, why is your face so red? Are you warm? But it¡¯s late autumn already¡­" Lin Yixin curled her lips and shook her head in a helpless manner. She complained in a small voice, "Is this really wretched-looking man really an irreplaceable general of my Snowy Cathaya? Sigh¡­" "Yes. Just accept your fate already," I replied after paying. ¡­¡­ Back in the car, I drove Lin Yixin back to the university. I shot her a glance and asked, "Yiyi, why haven¡¯t you gotten yourself a mount yet? It¡¯s been a while since the mount system has been introduced, isn¡¯t it?" Lin Yixin shot me a glance before replying reluctantly, "You think I don¡¯t want to? I found a Rare Forest Wolf the other day, but I failed to tame it despite using up all ten chances. Since then, I¡¯ve never found a Rare mount again¡­" "Hehe¡­" "What are you laughing at?" "Nothing. Just adding a modal particle to the end of your sentence¡­" "Oh right, you territory is now undergoing maintenance, right?" Lin Yixin said in an envious tone. "It¡¯s the very first undead city in Sky City, and you¡¯re the perfect candidate to manage it." "Mn. As you said, I am the best candidate to manage an undead city, so I¡¯ve already asked your sister He Yi to transfer ownership to me. I can¡¯t wait to see how it¡¯ll develop in the future¡­" Lin Yixin whimpered. "Ooh, I wonder when the second territory will spawn¡­" I patted my chest confidently. "Don¡¯t worry, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls promises to do everything in their power to seize the territory and surrender it to Snowy Cathaya!" "Of course not, that would be too shameless even for me¡­" "Hmph! Who knows. Your shamelessness knows no bounds¡­" ¡­¡­ I took a moment to stare at the guard when I drove through the university gate. "WTF. Forget stopping me, he didn¡¯t even inquire about my identity. Does he think that all BMW drivers are good people or something?" Zi Chuanyu replied from the back seat, "Eh, it¡¯s just common sense, you know? Who would dare stop a BMW X series driver and risk offending a young master or something? This may very well be their only source of income, so it makes sense that they would do everything in their power to keep it!" I frowned. "But it¡¯s his responsibility to perform his duty properly. He should stop all strangers who enter the university and question them properly even if they are driving an F-22. It¡¯s terrible for a person to lack principles, be it in social or work situations." Lin Yixin shot me an approving smile. "That¡¯s right. This is the Lu Chen I know." Zi Chuanyu: "Guild leader, your lovesickness is taking over again¡­" "Do you want to die?" "Oh look, we¡¯re at my dorms byeeee!!!" Zi Chuanyu escaped the car on all fours as if he was afraid that Lin Yixin would annihilate him out of annoyance. Watching Zi Chuanyu running to the male dorms like his life depended on it, I couldn¡¯t help but comment, "Yiyi, you should treat your subordinates better to ensure their loyalty¡­" "I can¡¯t¡­" Lin Yixin replied in a quiet voice. "But why?" "Why do you think?" She countered before turning beet red again. "If I treat them well, they might misunderstand my good intentions as affection. I can¡¯t let that kind of misunderstanding happen can I?" I understood her immediately. "In that case, can you at least treat me gentler¡­?" "I¡¯ll try my best." Lin Yixin nodded her head and answered me very seriously. We arrived at the female dorms, and I turned off the air conditioner. I glanced at Lin Yixin¡¯s rather thin clothing and said, "You were drenched just now, so get a warm bath as soon as you can and wear something dry and warm, okay?" "Got it. You should rest soon too. I¡¯ll come visit the territory after it opens~" "Okay. Good night!" "Don¡¯t say that!" "Huh? Why?" Lin Yixin turned red for the n-th time of the day and said, "That phrasing sounds like we¡¯re going to see each other again in a moment, and right now it¡¯s¡­ you sure you want to bid me goodbye like this?" She looked so cute in that moment I couldn¡¯t help but smile. "Good night Yiyi, see you everyday Yiyi~~" "Hmph!" Huffing, Lin Yixin got out of the car and walked up the stairs without looking back. She waved a hand and said, "Off you go. And I¡¯m not saying ¡®good night¡¯ to you!" Despite my best attempts to control my beating heart, I couldn¡¯t help but swing left and right as I drove back to Frost Cloud workshop. ¡­¡­ When I returned to the workshop, it was already 11 pm. The girls hadn¡¯t fallen asleep yet though. Crack! When I opened the door, I heard Murong Mingyue saying, "He¡¯s finally back¡­" "Is something wrong?" I asked cautiously. Murong Mingyue smiled at me and said, "Is something wrong? My boy, you and your 17 megapixels scandal photo are internet famous now¡­" "What do you mean¡­" "Come look at this¡­" Murong Mingyue turned the notebook on the table around toward me, and I saw the photo of a young couple kissing each other under the rain. Hmm? Wait, something¡¯s wrong. This background looks like Suzhou, and the couple on the screen looks eerily familiar for some reason¡­ Wait a second, isn¡¯t that Lin Yixin and I?? A chill shot up my spine in that instant. "WTF!?" Beiming Xue giggled. "Did you finally conquer sister Lin Yixin¡¯s heart, big bro? To be honest, we were surprised that you came back tonight. We thought you would be staying out with her¡­" Murong Mingyue said, "Eve isn¡¯t going to kill you, so don¡¯t worry. She said that if you¡¯re good enough to make the guild leader of Snow Catahya fall for you, then that¡¯s that. But know that your troubles have just begun, boy¡­" I looked at He Yi. She put down the Ray Li magazine she was reading and said, "Murong Mingyue isn¡¯t joking, you know. Flower Room, Mad Dragon, Hegemon Palace, and many more guild experts have declared war on you because you¡¯ve blasphemed the goddess in their hearts, Lu Chen." I sat down on the sofa and asked, "Who took that photo anyway? People these days don¡¯t know how to respect privacy at all¡­" Murong Mingyue replied, "Maybe it¡¯s a student from Suzhou University? Does it matter though? The two of you were so into it that they could be standing right next to you, and you wouldn¡¯t notice. So, how does it feel to kiss Beauty Lin, Lu Chen? Hehe, who does it feel better to kiss, her or Eve?" He Yi turned red immediately. She glared at Murong Mingyue and chided her. "Cease your nonsense, Mingyue¡­" Beiming Xue kept quiet and watched the show from the sidelines like a cute bystander. Murong Mingyue started counting. "One time at the workshop, and one time at the CGL competition at Shanghai. You¡¯re not going to say it never happened, are you? What are you doing? Are you planning to silence me?" "Yes I am!" A beet red He Yi continued to glare at Murong Mingyue. "You¡¯re such a gossip. You can¡¯t just reveal another person¡¯s privacy like this!" Murong Mingyue begged for mercy smilingly. "Fine, fine, we promise not to reveal this to anyone. This will remain a legend in our tiny little workshop, okay?" After that, Murong Mingyue grabbed my arm and said, "Anyway, Lu Chen, you¡¯ve kissed both super beauties, Eve and Beauty Lin. So who do you want to make your girlfriend? You¡¯re not going to leave them hanging after taking something so precious from them, are you?" I was embarrassed as hell. No way I was going to answer that. A red-faced He Yi curled her lips and said, "We¡¯re adults already, and just because we kissed doesn¡¯t mean we¡¯re automatically in a relationship, right?" Murong Mingyue the gossip attacked relentlessly. "Looks like Eve doesn¡¯t want to be your girlfriend. What about Beauty Lin, Lu Chen? What did she say?" I still didn¡¯t say anything. "Fuck, don¡¯t tell me Beauty Lin rejected you too? Dude, you¡¯re such a failure. How can you kiss two super beauties and not arrive at a resolution with either of them?" I turned around sadly. "Can we not talk about this anymore, sis? I feel like chaos is starting to overtake me¡­" "Well, this relationship is chaotic for sure." He Yi clapped her hands together and said, "Alright alright, stop bullying Lu Chen already. Those who haven¡¯t taken a bath, do it now and rest early. The territory will finish its maintenance tomorrow, and I¡¯ve already given Lu Chen the administration power. Since he¡¯ll be busy tomorrow, the rest of us should find a leveling map and grind to secure our future as well. I¡¯ll be the party leader this time. Is that fine with everyone?" "Okay!" Beiming Xue smiled. "I want to hit Level 120 and get my fifth promotion as soon as possible! I heard that the rewards are even greater after the fifth promotion!" Murong Mingyue said, "Yeah, I guess it¡¯s about time I really grind my levels. Say, do you think a priest can learn a Famous General Skill? Or is that a no? I don¡¯t want to be a burden forever¡­" I consoled her. "Of course not. Don¡¯t worry, as long as your level remains among the top, you will learn a Famous General Skill eventually." "Mn." He Yi also nodded. "If we exclude all the players who¡¯ve already become Famous Generals, then you¡¯re definitely among the three highest-leveled non-generals in Sky City, Mingyue. There¡¯s definitely a high chance for you to learn a Famous General Skill!" "Oh right, is there a limit to how many Famous Generals there can be?" I asked. Beiming Xue shook her head. "A few days ago someone said there can only be 100 Famous Generals in the entire world, but the officials quickly refuted that rumor and clarified that there is no limit at all. However, those who become Famous Generals sooner clearly get much better skills than those who do so later. Some might be even worse than Encourage V." "Well, that¡¯s normal. Anyway, leave the construction of the territory to me and focus on your grinding. Let¡¯s try and increase our number of Famous Generals as much as possible!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ After the small meeting was over, I took a bath and slipped under my blankets, falling asleep in no time. Chapter 448: Nest of Corruption I woke up early in the morning thanks to the ringing of my phone. I swiped and saw that it was Lin Yixin¡¯s number. It was weird that she would call me at 7 am. ¡°Hello? Yiyi, what¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Hmph, you¡¯re actually asking what¡¯s up¡­¡± She was huffing with rage. ¡°What¡¯s up with the picture on the forums?¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I was a bit speechless. ¡°That doesn¡¯t have anything to do with me, okay? It¡¯s not like I did it on purpose. Besides, it didn¡¯t benefit me in any way either. When I came back to the workshop, I even had to give a half-an-hour-long explanation¡­¡± Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t resist a giggle. ¡°Did Sister He Yi slap you into a wall so hard that you couldn¡¯t even crawl out of it?¡± I bet I looked like an emoji with black lines going down its face. ¡°Fuck, she¡¯s not that savage.¡± ¡°Hoho.¡± Lin Yixin let out a provocative laugh. ¡°This is going to be troublesome now. I haven¡¯t even woken up and the Eternal Moon Corporation''s Planning Department called me. They asked why this photo was there and said that since I was the spokesperson for Heavenblessed¡¯s China server, I shouldn¡¯t let these kinds of photos leak out¡­¡± ¡°They really are meddlesome. What¡¯d you say in response?¡± ¡°I just hung up on them¡­¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Well, since the Eternal Moon Corporation doesn¡¯t want your private life to be exposed, let¡¯s just find a more secretive place next time¡­¡± ¡°Next time?¡± Lin Yixin was probably angry out of her mind. She continued with a voice full of killing intent. ¡°Forget about it! Hmph, hmph!¡± ¡°Fine. Wanna have dinner together?¡± ¡°Where? I heard that a brand new restaurant opened close by!¡± she said excitedly. Me: ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ I now thoroughly understood what it meant when people said ¡°when two foodies come together, the entire world brims with happiness¡±. I totally get it! Lin Yixin urged me to get out of bed to manage the territory. I noticed that the territory maintenance should be about done so I got up and washed up. I went out to buy breakfast and placed it on the table when I got back. The workshop¡¯s girls should still be sleeping at this time. I was originally going to wake them up but when I opened He Yi¡¯s door, I saw that she was hugging her pillow, sleeping sweetly bathed in sunlight. She was curled up like a lazy little cat so I didn¡¯t have the heart to wake her up. I silently closed the door and returned to my room. Time to get to work! Connected to server, logging in! Swhoosh! Inside Sky City, I went to repair my equipment, then replenish my pot supply. After I finished the basics, I opened the guild territory system. I saw an ¡°Undead City 001¡± option there. That was our new territory! Whoosh! I turned into countless specks of starry light and flew toward the territory. In the next second, I was inside the Undead Castle. This place had already been refreshed once but it still looked the same. The city walls were still surrounded by fences. It was an extremely simple and crude set-up. Its defenses were practically non-existent, with the exception of the archer tower¡¯s respawned NPC archers. At the moment, there wasn¡¯t a single person in sight. Everyone had left this map and no one would come here this early in the morning. This Rank 1 guild territory hadn¡¯t opened its teleportation formation yet so unless someone was bored out of their mind and willing to waste two hours to get here, I doubt anyone would bother coming here. ¡­¡­ I walked in the city¡¯s great hall and discovered that it was completely empty. There was only a tall armored general standing there. The moment I came in, this NPC immediately got on one knee and said in a deep voice, ¡°Dark Knight Udal greets my lord! I am the city lord appointed by this territory and I will be assisting my lord in its administration and promotion!¡± Alright then, this guy is like a chief administrator of this territory. He didn¡¯t look like one though. He wasn¡¯t a fatty, but an actual tough undead knight. Also, a Level 135 shadow-rank NPC, not bad! I nodded, then brought up the territory administration interface. It was quite barren. The territory only had a potion shop, a smithy, and other basic buildings. There wasn¡¯t a single structure unique to this undead city. ¡°My lord!¡± the dark knight clamored. ¡°Dark Insects are the foundation workers of Undead Castle. They are the ones who construct the buildings. A Nest of Corruption is required in order to produce Dark Insects. I recommend that you build a Nest of Corruption first.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I looked at my choices and there really was a Nest of Corruption for one of my options¡ª Nest of Corruption: Basic structure. Produces Dark Insects. Resource Requirement: 2000 Gold, 2000 Wood, 2000 Stone, 2000 Crystal. Time Required: 10 minutes. ¡­¡­ I checked the city¡¯s current resources. It only had 5000 of each four basic resources. It didn¡¯t seem to have that many resources on hand. Whatever. I selected Nest of Corruption and pressed Construct! A rotting expanse of land immediately appeared within the territory. A pitch-black nest was slowly wriggling into existence. It was pretty scary. It was fortunate that I didn¡¯t tell the workshop girls to come over yet. They wouldn¡¯t be able to stomach their lunch otherwise. Exactly 10 minutes later, the Nest of Corruption was finished! The only selection I saw for the Nest of Corruption was Dark Insect. Each Dark Insect required 100 of every basic resource so I recruited 10 of them. These bugs were also the production force of the city. The more Dark Insects there were, the greater the city¡¯s productivity! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have recruited ¡°Dark Insect¡± x10. As the first territory to have 10 Dark Insects, you have obtained the reward: ¡°Skeletal Spearman¡± x20! ¡­¡­ Skeletal Spearmen? I was startled. Twenty smelly Skeletal Spearmen appeared within the territory. They were all cyan skeletons holding corroded iron spears. They were considered to be long-range units and were Undead Castle¡¯s Rank 1 troops. A while later, I realized that the productivity of the territory¡¯s early stages would be extremely low. Resources would have to be obtained from fighting wild monsters but players couldn¡¯t carry those resources. Only the territory¡¯s own troops had that ability! Skeletal Spearman: Attack¡ï, Defense¡ï, Transport Capacity: 100. ¡­¡­ This meant that each Skeletal Spearman could only carry 100 units of resources home. The system gave me 20 Skeletal Spearmen, which meant that I could bring home 2000 units at a time. It wasn¡¯t much, but it wasn¡¯t little either. The building that produced troops in the undead city was the Nest of Graves. It required 4000 of each resource to construct. I, myself, was powerless at the moment, so it was obvious how important these 20 Skeletal Spearmen were. If not for these Skeletal Spearmen, I¡¯d have to rely on the city¡¯s own slow productivity to construct the Nest of Graves. That alone would take three days. ¡­¡­ I happily assigned the 20 Skeletal Spearmen to go on a campaign and made Dark Knight Udal lead the expedition! ¡°My lord!¡± Dark Knight Udal rumbled. ¡°A band of Fallen Devils carrying goods has appeared southwest of the city. Let¡¯s go destroy them!¡± I opened the world map and really did find a blood-red spot there. The mark on the map was the coordinates of those Fallen Devils. I brought along a group of little brothers and headed out to participate in a slaughterfest. A bunch of chattering red-skinned little imps carrying backpacks appeared at the edge of the forest. The way they dashed about seemed like they were high on drugs or something. I wasn¡¯t willing to lose a single Skeletal Spearman so I lead the attack myself. There were 10 Fallen Devils total and they were all Level 125 shadow-rank mobs that weren¡¯t even a threat to me. I ran into their party and unleashed a Martial God¨Cempowered War Crush! Boom! Power surged and a large chunk of the Fallen Devils¡¯ HPs instantly vaporized. I neatly drew all their aggro and the faraway Udal commanded the 20 Skeletal Spearmen to attack. Although the damage they dealt wasn¡¯t amazing, it was still passable in my books. The Heaven-stealing Sword danced about wildly, reaping the lives of these Fallen Devils. I was glad that I took charge of this myself. If I allowed the Skeletal Spearmen to advance first, at least 5 to 10 of them would¡¯ve died. I couldn¡¯t handle that kind of loss, especially since the territory was at the early stages of development. I absolutely could not lose my precious troops in vain. In the blink of an eye, the Fallen Devils were all dead on the ground. These territory-type mobs didn¡¯t drop any equipment or magic stones. Instead, each of them carried about 1000 units of resources, enough to keep my Skeletal Spearmen busy for a long time. I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to escort my transport team. I had to protect these Skeletal Spearmen. I couldn¡¯t rule out any surprise attacks from the players of Hegemon Palace, Flower Room, and the like here. My heart would ache if they killed a few of my Skeletal Spearmen. ¡­¡­ We had to transport the resources dropped by the Fallen Devils five times before we finally brought them all back to the territory. This, plus the territory¡¯s own production allowed me to construct the next building¡ª Nest of Graves: Basic structure. Produces undead-type units. Resource Requirement: 4000 Gold, 4000 Wood, 4000 Stone, 4000 Crystal. Time Required: 30 minutes. ¡­¡­ This building took 30 minutes to construct. Let¡¯s go loot more monsters with my little skeleton brothers then! In that half an hour time, the few red dots around the territory were cleared off the map. We killed two Scavenger Devils and a group of Lesser Devils which gave us a bit more than 5000 units of each resource. I suddenly heard a ding. The Rank 1 Nest of Graves was finished! I opened the building details and saw that it could only produce one kind of troop¡ª Skeletal Spearman: Attack¡ï, Defense¡ï, Transport Capacity 100. Resource Requirement: 200 Gold, 200 Wood, 200 Stone, 200 Crystal. Time Required: 150 seconds. ¡­¡­ I selected 25 Skeletal Spearmen. Each Skeletal Spearman took 2.5 minutes to produce. Fine, I¡¯ll take it slow! I looked at the map and suddenly saw a huge red dot appear. The territory system then sent out a warning. ¡°A wave of powerful enemies is approaching.¡± Chapter 449: Dark Knigh I brought a bunch of fierce and vicious-looking Skeletal Spearmen out of the gate. We looked like a group of mountain bandits who had been starving for half a year, and this time, we were going to rob a big spender! Goblins wearing iron helmets appeared outside the forest, and they rushed toward us with rust-spotted knives in hand the moment they saw us. I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle coldly at that sight. Could trash like this really be described as ¡°a wave of powerful enemies¡±? However, my opinion soon changed, because I noticed a golden-colored goblin who was larger than the rest of its brethren mixed in among the rest. It was actually a boss! Nice! The system had actually spawned a boss in this wave of enemies! Good, the boss a territory spawned should drop more than just resources, right? ¡­¡­ I analyzed the charging goblins. The normal goblins were Level 125 elites. They usually wouldn¡¯t pose any threat to me whatsoever, and the only issue was that there were quite a lot of them. The golden goblin was a Level 130 Purple Gold Rank Boss, so it shouldn¡¯t be too difficult for me to fight it one on one. The only problem was that there were too many monsters, so I wouldn¡¯t be able to have full control over their aggro, which would likely result in my twenty precious Skeletal Spearmen all getting destroyed in this battle. When I thought of that, I immediately turned around and gave an order to Dark Knight Udal and the twenty Skeletal Spearmen. ¡°All of you wait here! Don¡¯t move unless I tell you to!¡± ¡°Yes, my lord!¡± I left behind my band of underlings and entered the fray. I locked onto the golden goblin from a long distance away, using Thunderous Charge as soon as I got into range! Whoosh! I charged right into the horde of goblins and instantly used War Crush! A bunch of damage numbers flew into the air. Even though the golden goblin was bigger than the rest of his brethren, he only reached up to my chest. He lunged at me, brandishing his golden knife! 2984! The damage wasn¡¯t too bad! My Regeneration of the Undead and my 14% life steal would keep me at full health if it was only going to deal me this much damage! My sword flashed in the air as I used Ice Ray + Desperate Gambit, causing damage numbers to pop up in the air! 5436! +761! 6493! +909! ¡­¡­ Having 14% life steal really was incredible, it was as if I was carrying a tiny priest around in my pocket! In fact, my ability to recover HP extended far beyond that thanks to the Heaven-stealing Sword. It had a splash damage effect, and my life steal would also apply to the splash damage I dealt. As a result, I could maintain my HP at over 90% in spite of the golden goblin¡¯s relentless assault! After about ten minutes, the golden goblin finally let out a miserable wail as it fell to the ground with a plop! All of the goblins around it died as well and a lot of resources began dropping to the ground with a popping sound. From a glance, there seemed to be tens of thousands of resource units lying on the ground. Whatever they were, I definitely made it big this time! Furthermore, the golden goblin even dropped two chests. One was a golden chest and the other was a silver chest, and they didn¡¯t reveal anything about the contents that lay within. I went to open the silver chest and the moment I lifted its lid, I heard a ¡°ding¡± sound! System Notice: Congratulations, you have obtained a card ¡°Zombie x50¡±! ¡­¡­ I whistled. Zombies? This was a Rank 2 troop in the Undead Castle! I crowed with laughter as I used the card. Immediately, bumps began emerging in the ground before fifty zombie troops began crawling up from under them. Zombie: Attack¡ï¡ï, Defense ¡ï¡ï, Transport Capacity: 200. This card was like a squall of rain pouring down on a parched land. The sea of loot around the golden goblin was simply too far from the city and my twenty Skeletal Spearmen would take forever to transport all of these resources back there. But now that I suddenly gained another fifty Zombies, I didn¡¯t need to worry about that any longer. Fifty Zombies alone could transport ten thousand resources back to the city, so we¡¯d be done in a few trips! ¡°Be still, my beating heart,¡± I muttered as I tried my best to remain calm and composed. The gold chest was still untouched. I walked over and lifted its lid... Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have obtained a card ¡°Dark Knight x40¡±! ¡­¡­ My body froze, weapons slipping from my numb hands. I actually got my hands on Rank 6 troops, Dark Knights! Dark Knight: Attack ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï, Defense ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï, Transport Capacity 600. Without even mentioning that incredible Attack and Defense, just their transport capacity alone was ridiculous! Now that I had these Dark Knights, I¡¯d be able to move all of these resources back in just two trips! My heart soared with joy as I glanced at my map again. It was too bad that the system would only spawn a single wave of mobs if it spawned a boss. The rest of the monsters in the area were simply too weak for me to bother with. But I was already more than satisfied with my haul today! These fifty Zombies and forty Death Knights had made my week! The Dark Knights spent two trips transporting all the resources back to the city. We now had enough resources to upgrade the city, so I pressed the ¡°Upgrade¡± button in the city management interface. Upgrade Rank 1 Undead Castle to Rank 2 Undead Castle. Resources Required: 10000 Gold, 10000 Wood, 10000 Stone, 10000 Crystal. ¡­¡­ Mn, you really couldn¡¯t do much with a Rank 1 territory, but now that I had upgraded it to Rank 2, I could build a teleportation formation as well. And for a territory, there was nothing more important than a teleportation formation! Upgrading the castle would take an hour. Instead of just sitting around waiting, I ordered Udal to attack the harmless monsters around the city with his small army of undead. Meanwhile, I took the forty Dark Knights with me and we went to hunt some big game! This was probably the fastest way for us to gather resources. I also felt that the name ¡°Undead Castle¡± was too ugly-sounding, so I gave the territory a new name, Dark Moon City! As long as everyone worked together, the name ¡°Dark Moon City¡± would soon resound across the entire China server. We might even grow so famous that this name alone would strike fear into the hearts of the neighboring countries as well! ¡­¡­ Pop! After I killed a Level 135 shadow-rank Greedy Wolf which was carrying resources on top of its back, it suddenly dropped a gray-colored satchel. I curiously picked it up and inspected it. Resource Bag: A bag that contains 2000 of each resource. What a find! I smiled as I took the resource bag. Alright, we could afford to upgrade the various barracks like this. The first thing we needed to do was to upgrade the Nest of Graves to Rank 2! Once we did that, it would start producing Rank 2 units too! This was important because we would rely on the Nest of Graves as Dark Moon City¡¯s main source of troop production! A ringing sound rang out in the air not too long after. Dark Moon City had finished upgrading to Rank 2, and when I opened the interface for the Nest of Graves, I could see the details of troops ranked from 1 to 6. Rank 1: Skeletal Spearman Skills: Withered Bones: Reduces all damage taken by 20%. Net of Bone Spears: Slows down all enemies in a ten-yard radius around caster. Rank 2: Zombie Skills: Body of Death: Reduces all damage taken by 30%. Hatred of the Living: Increases all damage against living targets by 10%. Rank 3: Specter Skills: Hellish Wail: Cures all surrounding allied units Incorporeal: Can phase through and ignore physical obstacles Rank 4: Skeleton Mage Skills: Embrace of Darkness: Magic Attack +20% Essence Steal: Absorbs enemy target¡¯s HP Rank 5: Vampire Skills: Vampire¡¯s Embrace: Converts 40% of the damage dealt into health Vampire¡¯s Grasp: Attack +50% Rank 6: Dark Knight Skills: Halo of Corruption: Raises attack speed and movement speed by 20% Dark Crusade: Attack +70% ¡­¡­ Let¡¯s confirm our goals first. We need to be the first guild to raise their city to Rank 6, so we could produce Dark Knights. The Attack and Defense of these troops were incredibly strong, and they also had fast movement speed and good carrying capacity. They were no doubt one of the best early-game units. In fact, these units would still be useful even in the mid-stage territory wars. They had a 6-star Attack scaling and their levels would rise together with the players. In fact, they should even have some use in the late stages of this game! ¡­¡­ Beep! He Yi sent me a message: ¡°Lu Chen, how¡¯s the territory construction coming along? Also how¡¯s it feel not having to come to work today?¡± I turned on my communicator and laughed. I replied: ¡°Not having to go to work will always feel good! The territory construction is going swimmingly, I¡¯ve already upgraded it to Rank 2!¡± ¡°Oh? That was fast!¡± He Yi replied with a soft laugh. ¡°I just received some news. Candlelight Shadow captured a barbarian city and he only just managed to construct a barracks a few minutes ago. I didn¡¯t think that you¡¯d be able to gather enough resources to raise our city to Rank 2 already. How impressive!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. Actually, it was very simple. The system had given me twenty Skeletal Spearmen, and I could only rely on their transportation capacity to move resources back and forth. If not, I really wouldn¡¯t know how I¡¯d be able to move 40000 resource units back to the city to upgrade it. No one would come and attack a territory in the early stages of the game, so these troops were used mainly for transport and not battle. This was also the reason I loved these Dark Knights so much. I felt joy surge through my heart as they galloped by me. Ah, they were simply too adorable. ¡°Oh that¡¯s right. Did you find out which guild conquered Vanished God City¡¯s first territory?¡± He Yi giggled. ¡°Vanished God City is more interesting than our city. The war over their first piece of territory lasted until seven in the evening. In the end, it was won by a guild called Blazing Hot Lips. I also heard that it¡¯s a human city.¡± ¡°Oh? Blazing Hot Lips, Blazing Hot Lips¡­¡± I murmured as my eyebrows knit together. ¡°That name sounds so familiar. Is it that strong party we met in Who Will Rise¡¯s preliminaries? The one led by a mage called Stranger of Three Lifetimes?¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right! It¡¯s them. They¡¯re said to be ranked third among the Vanished God City¡¯s ten great guilds. They bided their time and reserved most of their strength before finally attacking the territory at around two in the afternoon. They took the city with that strategic move!¡± ¡°Hehe, they don¡¯t sound like simple folk¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, the Vanished God City is a mysterious place!¡± ¡­¡­ I closed my chat window, ending my chat with He Yi. It looked like the territory wars of the three main cities in the China server had come to an end. The guilds who had come out on top in the end were Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Candle Dragon, and Blazing Hot Lips. The battle in Sky City had been the most exciting. Warsky Alliance had held the city for nearly five hours until Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya finally ripped it from their cold, dead hands. This was something that couldn¡¯t and wouldn¡¯t happen in any of the other two cities. Forget it. It was time for me to gather resources like my life depended on it! Killing these resource mobs not only dropped resources, but it also gave me decent EXP as well. I could gather resources and grind levels at the same time, killing two birds with one stone! In any case, I had to get the city to Rank 3 as soon as possible and build the Blood Pond Cemetery, so we could start producing Specters! ¡­¡­ As I led my troop of Dark Knights out of the city gates for the n-th time, I observed that the Rank 2 city had changed in appearance. The wooden fence had become a wall of gnarled and sharp thorns, increasing its defensive properties. The durability and toughness of several buildings had also risen by quite a bit. One could well imagine what a Rank 10 city would look like! It would be an impregnable bastion! It was as this exact moment that a ringing sound started to reverberate in the skies above Sky City. Ding~! System Announcement: Player ¡°Gui Guzi (Sky City)¡± has successfully defeated the Purple Gold Rank Boss, Flame-sucking Beast, and reached Level 111. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and have become the eleventh Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and an exclusive Famous General Skill, ¡°Knight God¡±! Chapter 450: Seven Stars OMG, Gui Guzi became a Famous General? Knight God? The skill boosted Attack and Defense by 50%, and if I were to add Tactics into the mix¡ªassuming average Tactics stat for all elite players was around 100 or so¡ªit was a whopping 100% boost to Attack and Defense! Gui Guzi¡¯s famous General Skill was absolutely OP. 100% Attack was OP enough, but this skill boosted Defense by 100% as well, tsk tsk! I was absolutely sure that Knight God would play a huge role during the upcoming guild wars and nation wars. Riders already had crazy high stats after they equipped mounts, and now Knight God was going to double that number. Mere mortals couldn¡¯t stop him anymore. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the guild channel was brimming with happiness¡ª Xu Yang: "Hahaha, this is awesome! 50% boost to two stats? I can¡¯t believe Little Gui learned such an OP skill! Hahaha! Once the rest of us foot soldiers hit Level 150 and gain a mount slot, we¡¯re gonna kill some people and pillage some settlements with Little Gui as the party leader!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: "That¡¯s right, Little Gui¡¯s Famous General Skill is seriously OP. Dude, don¡¯t forget to take us out after I¡¯m qualified to ride an Earth Lizard!" Chaos Moon: "Hehe, this is nice. From now on, our knights can grind with just Health Recovery and War God Recovery. That frees up our priests considerably¡­" He Yi: "Do your best, Gui Guzi!" Murong Mingyue: "Hehe, I knew that the return of Bloody Mercenaries would push the wheels of history. Who would¡¯ve thought that three of the five members who joined us back then would become Famous Generals? Just unbelievable!" Me: "Little Gui, from now on you should grind with riders exclusively. In the future, we expect you to become the corps commander of the guild¡¯s cavalry¡­" Gui Guzi laughed loudly. "No problem! Thanks for the praise, everyone! I promise I¡¯ll do my best!" ¡­¡­ I was pleased. Gui Guzi¡¯s new Famous General Skill was without a doubt a huge boon to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. The fact that it boosted mounted units by 50% meant that it was at least at the same level as Beiming Xue¡¯s Bow God. Even more surprising was the fact that he learned a Famous General Skill before Li Chengfeng. What a lucky guy. I continued to raid the mobs with my dark knights until the surroundings of my territory were cleared out completely. Well, that was only natural. Mobs and resources weren¡¯t infinite, and I had gathered almost everything I could gather for the day. It would be a while before they respawned again. I returned to the territory and checked the resources. Each resource was sitting at thirty thousand or so, and that was enough to build a lot of things. First, I should check the territory¡¯s development. Hmm, I guess we¡¯re only lacking a teleportation formation now¡ª Dark Moon City Gold Production: 80 per hour Wood Production: 70 per hour Stone production: 80 per hour Crystal Production: 80 per hour Dark Insects: 31 Buildings: 9 Troops: 121 (30x Skeletal Spearman, 50x Zombie, 40x Dark Knight) Wall Durability: 200 Teleportation Formations: 0 ¡­¡­ It was very average. I should recruit even more Dark Insects to maximize my production capacity. However, that must happen after the teleportation formation is built. I opened the construction window and noted that there was now the option to build a teleportation formation. However, it cost 20k resources across the board. What a gold sink. The good news was I had enough to build a teleportation formation since I had been slaving away the entire morning. I chose "Confirm"! After spending most of my accumulated resources on the teleportation formation, I summoned 100 Dark Insects in one go. Resources obtained had to be converted into production for even more resources. While a lot of resource mobs had spawned outside the territory for the past couple of days, it was hardly a consistent thing. And without resource mobs, the only way to farm resources was through production. I logged off and gobbled down a packed lunch quickly. Then, I went back online and continued killing the mobs around the territory with my Dark Knights. ¡­¡­ It was a little past 3 pm when a system announcement dinged across the map¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Beauty At First Sight (Sky City)" has successfully defeated the Dark Gold Rank Boss, One-horned Devil, and reached Level 109. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the twelfth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and the exclusive Famous General Skill, "Seven Stars"! Seven Stars: Increases allies Attack by 20% and reduces enemy¡¯s stratagem¡¯s effectiveness by 20%. Skill effect depends on the player¡¯s Tactics. ¡­¡­ Looks like Lin Yixin gained yet another powerful general, tsk tsk! If the holy bard didn¡¯t count as the best bard in China before, she definitely did now. This Seven Stars skill didn¡¯t sound bad at all. Not only did it increase her allies¡¯ Attack by 20%, it also reduced the opponent¡¯s stratagem effectiveness by 20%. It was a classic PvP Famous General Skill! I sighed quietly. Even Snowy Cathaya¡¯s growing in numbers of both foot soldiers and generals, huh? I bet Lin Yixin is plotting something. As if planned beforehand, another system announcement dinged across the sky¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Transient Smoke and Clouds (Wind City)" has successfully defeated the Dark Gold Rank Boss, Thunder Hyena, and reached Level 110. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the thirteenth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and an exclusive Famous General Skill, "Dissension"! Dissension: 40% chance to immobilize a target for 30 seconds. Duration of the effect is tied to the player¡¯s Tactics. ¡­¡­ "Hahaha¡­" I couldn¡¯t help but hug my stomach and laugh. Should Candlelight Shadow cry or laugh in this situation? Candle Dragon finally gained their second Famous General, but the Famous General Skill was named "Dissension"! The name alone was humiliating enough, but the actual effects were even worse! Everyone else¡¯s Famous General Skill buffed their allies en masse, but this Dissension could only make a single player stop moving. Sure, it was downright broken in a 1v1 scenario, but what does one player matter in a large-scale battle? Candle Dragon must be crying a waterfall right now. Transient Smoke and Clouds was one of their best generals, but his Famous General Skill was situational at best. Worse, each player could only have one Famous General Skill. I wonder if Candlelight Shadow is having suicidal thoughts right now? ¡­¡­ I roamed around the edges of the territory. It wasn¡¯t long before I realized that I had more or less taken out all the resource mobs there were. Suddenly, I received a message from Lin Yixin: "Hey, did you check out Candle Dragon¡¯s new Famous General yet? Hohoho~" I could literally imagine the devious smile on her face right now. "Congratulations. Beauty At First Sight¡¯s new Famous General Skill should be a huge boost to Snowy Cathaya¡¯s strength¡­" "Hehe, thank you~ thank you~" "Oh right, Yiyi, what are you doing right now?" "Clearing a map, killing a boss, why?" "What level is it?" "It¡¯s a Level 135 Purple Gold Rank boss. Seriously, what¡¯s wrong?" "Nothing, just asking. Do your best and level up soon¡­" "Hmph hmph, I know!" ¡­¡­ Because she died during the territory war, Lin Yixin dropped to the 5th place on the Heavenly Ranking and was now at Level 111. However, I was sure that she would make a comeback to the Top 3 without any problem whatsoever. After all, even Beiming Xue, the second player on the Heavenly Ranking was only Level 112, so it should be no effort for her to catch up whatsoever. The ding of a system notice entered my ears at this moment. It was the beep that signaled the completion of the teleportation formation! I ran back to the territory excitedly, but I quickly discovered that all the connectable teleportation points cost a wicked amount of money¡ª Sky City: 50000 Gold Wind City: 100000 Gold Vanished God City: 100000 Gold Violet City: 70000 Gold ¡­¡­ Floating Ice City was in the list of connectable teleportation points as well, but that was unnecessary. In fact, the only city I wanted to connect to was Sky City. It was because I wanted to charge the players for the service of teleporting directly to the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range. It was a win-win for both the customer and the service provider, right? I bade a sad goodbye to my 50k gold and unlocked Sky City as a teleportation point instantly. However, the system didn¡¯t advertise my success for free this time. Left with no choice, I gritted my teeth and splashed 5000 RMB on a Shout¡ª Ding~! System Announcement (Player Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Shout): All students, please be informed that the number one territory in Sky City, "Dark Moon City" of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is officially online! It is situated at the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range and at the edge of Black Coast. With monsters ranging from Level 100 to 175 and common to shadow rank, it is the perfect location for you to grind your levels! Moreover, Dark Moon City¡¯s teleportation formation is now officially connected to Sky City! For a cheap price of 10 gold, you may teleport here and travel to your leveling map in the blink of an eye! Dark Moon City also provides equipment repair, potion supplies, and other services, so feel free to visit us anytime you wish! ¡­¡­ Right after I made the announcement, I spoke with the teleportation formation attendant and set the teleportation price for Snowy Cathaya and their sub-guilds to 50%, and the price for The Monarch Descends and their sub-guilds to 70%. With this, I had officially made up with Lin Yixin and Ling Xueshang. Of course, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and our sub-guilds also got to enjoy a discount of 50%. It wasn¡¯t long before the teleportation formation started flashing rapidly. Countless players soon swarmed into Dark Moon City like never before! Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng, Du Thirteen, and the others also stepped out of the teleportation formation. While wiping the sweat on his forehead, Du Thirteen said, "Holy shit, there were so many people. A couple of girls even pushed me out of the way with their boobs¡­" Xu Yang grinned. "Isn¡¯t that exactly what you wanted?" But Li Chengfeng quickly made a silence gesture. "Shh, don¡¯t say that. He brought his girl with him today¡­" Xu Yang: "..." As mentioned, a Level 97 female tamer appeared right behind Du Thirteen. She wore a leopard-spotted leather armor and wielded a leather whip. She was also accompanied by a fearsome tiger. Both her butt and her face were smooth, wholesome, and entirely familiar. It was clearly Du Thirteen¡¯s girlfriend and my former classmate, Xue Lu! Xue Lu was still called Xue Lu in the game. She hadn¡¯t bothered coming up with a new ID. Her equipment looked pretty great, and she carried the emblem of Bloody Mercenaries on her shoulder. She was also a corps commander. ¡­¡­ Xue Lu looked at her surroundings for a moment before smiling at me. "Not bad, Lu Chen. To think that you¡¯re the lord of a castle already. My Thirteen is still running around pantless¡­" Du Thirteen looked flabbergasted, but he didn¡¯t say anything. I looked at Xu Yang. "Thirteen looks pretty whipped, huh?" Xu Yang nodded. "Yeah, he¡¯s whipped right and proper for sure!" Li Chengfeng laughed. "Vice leader, have you been managing the territory this entire time?" "Yep. Not bad for half a day¡¯s work, right?" "Not bad at all!" ¡­¡­ Chapter 451: Fickle Little Handsome It was a peaceful and quiet afternoon after lunch. At the living hall, I was sitting at the sofa and typing on the notebook with a speed of over 500 APM. I was querying regarding the maps around Sky City. He Yi sat next to me before expressing her surprise, "You type really fast¡­" I gave her a smile. "It was something I picked up while I was still playing Starcraft. That game requires high APM, so over time I learned to type at least 200 words per minute in complete darkness¡­" Beiming Xue stuck her tongue out. "You¡¯re amazing, big bro¡­" Murong Mingyue also walked over and asked me, "What are you searching?" "A map." I sucked in a deep breath and said, "A map that produces rare mounts so our strongest wanderers and magic knights can tame and ride them, to be exact. You¡¯ve all seen how powerful Gui Guzi¡¯s Knight God is, haven¡¯t you? At 50% boost to Attack and Defense, it is no doubt the strongest stratagem in the game right now. However, the skill only applies to mounted units, which is why we need to create a cavalry troop as soon as possible. It is also the only way we can avoid losing the upper hand during the upcoming guild wars and territory wars!" "Mn." He Yi nodded, but a bit of worry entered her eyes. "I heard rumors that October Rain had gone to Dragonbone Mountain Range to seek out a certain boss. Warsky had also sent some men to Wind City and Vanished God City to purchase a Raid Token at any cost¡­" "Oh? What¡¯s a Raid Token?" Beiming Xue asked. He Yi answered, "A Raid Token is an item that only bosses would drop, and those who use it can start a territory war against an occupied territory. Clearly, Warsky Alliance is plotting to snatch Dark Moon City from our hands! They still haven¡¯t given up on this territory yet!" I pondered. "If that¡¯s true then the need to build a cavalry troop is greater than ever before¡­" "That¡¯s right!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, my cursor stopped on a thread with the title: "Players beware, Fireblade Valley is a valley of death!" I opened the thread. It was written by a Level 105 assassin with herbalism profession. He was planning to gather some Rank 9 herbs, but he was one-shot by the same type of mob three times in a row. He spoke of a wild horse with a blade of fire on its forehead, a Level 135 shadow-rank mob! My eyes lit up as I smiled. "Alright, I finally found the place I¡¯m going to solo grind this afternoon!" "Where is it?" He Yi moved closer. I pointed at the words "Fireblade Valley¡±. "Here. It¡¯s filled with Level 135 shadow-rank mobs that are beyond the average party¡¯s ability to kill, but not me. I can lifesteal using my Heaven-stealing Sword, so I should be able to level up fairly quickly if I grind alone. I really need to hit Level 120 as soon as possible and become the first fifth-promotion player in the game!" "Oh right Eve, I¡¯ve already set both you and sis as the secondary lords of Dark Moon City. If you¡¯re free then please sweep through the territory with our NPC soldiers. Don¡¯t let the resource mobs go to waste." "Got it!" ¡­¡­ Now that I had a plan in mind, I drank two glasses of water and went online. Swhoosh! The moment I appeared in Sky City, I rushed out of the inn and went to repair my equipment and restock my health potions. Then, I brought almost a hundred stacks of Rank 8 Magic Consumables with me. I didn¡¯t need anything higher than this because I only had so much MP. I opened the world map and noted that Fireblade Valley was right next to Dragonbone Valley in the north. It was also a barren land that took almost two hours to travel from Sky City on foot. The assassin who made that journey must be really bored or something, not to mention that he was one-shot three times in a row. What an embarrassment. After that, I teleported to Dark Moon City and made way for Fireblade Valley! I trekked through a dense forest after I moved out of the territory. I didn¡¯t forget to hide my name and equipment luster, of course. The other players might think that I was a high-level warrior, but they would never imagine that I was the number one expert on Sky City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. On the way, I encountered some players grinding in the forest. Some of the magic knights and wanderers even had mounts already. Not far away, I spotted a Level 105 average five-man party with a magic knight who was riding a Brown Grade Horse. It was one of the lousiest mounts you could get out there, and I guarantee the stat boosts it gave didn¡¯t exceed 5%. However, that didn¡¯t stop the magic knight from feeling like he was on top of the world and running down the mobs in impressive fashion. To be honest, I was a little envious. The magic knight was the kind of small fry I could one-shot with ease, but he looked as arrogant as a king after he gained the mount. Worse, the little loli in his party was actually staring at him with stars in her eyes! Do you really not realize how weak that guy really is, little miss?? Anyway, the quest to level up to 150 and gain a mount seemed more urgent than ever. I couldn¡¯t call myself an elite player until I gained a mount myself! ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a Level 107 magic knight called "Fickle Little Handsome" appeared at the distance and rode up to me. His mount was a Horned Wild Bull. It was stronger than the Brown Grade Horse, but only by a little. He was also a member of Hegemon Palace. He said, "Would you like to party up with us, friend? My three friends and I are grinding Level 118 shadow-rank wolves, but they have high Magic Resist and we¡¯re lacking melee DPS. Come and join us! The mob drops metal armor equipment, and I can give you anything I don¡¯t need!" I shot him a glance. He was clad from head to toe in Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment, and he even had a Purple Gold¨Cgrade item on him. In the eyes of a casual player, the guy probably looked like an absolute unit. Tsk tsk, no wonder he was acting so arrogantly. Since I had turned off my equipment effects, it probably looked like I was wearing a set of high-level Dark Steel¨Cgrade equipment. It made sense that he would look down on me. "I¡¯m sorry, but I¡¯m planning to grind someplace else," I said with a humble smile. "What¡¯s that? Are you looking down on us?" But Fickle Little Handsome looked annoyed by my rejection. The female archer in his party chose this moment to walk up to him and asked, "What¡¯s wrong, Little Handsome? Does he not want to join our party?" "That¡¯s right!" Fickle Little Handsome snorted disdainfully. "He¡¯s probably one of those crazy levelers who thinks that he¡¯s hot shit just because he has a high level¡­" He kept his voice low, but I still heard every word he had said. Angered, I growled. "Excuse me? Do you perchance think that your equipment is better than mine?" "So what? My equipment is better than yours!" Fickle Little Handsome said arrogantly before turning his Horned Wild Bull toward me. He then swung his sword and said, "Heard of the saying ¡®refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit¡¯? A noob like you shouldn¡¯t have come to Dragonbone Mountain Range!" "Is that so?" I smiled before turning on the equipment luster. A dazzling orange glow immediately surrounded my entire body in an instant! "Heavens!" The beauty¡¯s mouth fell open. "Spirit-grade! His weapon, helmet, and necklace are all Spirit-grade! Wait, there¡¯s a bit of rainbow mixed into the glow as well, they¡¯re¡­ they¡¯re all Outstanding Spirit-grade equipment!" "How¡­ how is that possible?" Fickle Little Handsome was so shocked he repeated himself. "How is that possible?" However, his shocked expression eventually turned into greed and malice. After he seemed to say something in his party channel, the mage and the priest in his party slowly moved toward me. Clearly, he was planning to kill me and get my equipment! "Get ready!" Fickle Little Handsome shouted. "I have a Level 100 Dark Steel Rank mount, so there¡¯s no way he can survive our attack! If we can kill him and get even one Spirit-grade item, we¡¯ll be set for life!" Swhoosh! Fickle Little Handsome then charged me with greed and impudence shining in his eyes. This brat must be insane or something. I could hardly imagine that someone this stupid could exist in the world. Was this the kind of people Hegemon Palace recruited into their fold? Rustle rustle... I zigzagged to the back and dodged the magic knight¡¯s Charge with ease. Then, I zigzagged¡ªalways a simple but practical maneuver¡ªback to the front and hit his right side with a blinding Ice Ray! Pu! An icicle formed around the Heaven-stealing Sword and penetrated the Horned Wild Bull¡¯s body, dealing a massive amount of damage¡ª6543! All the blood drained away from Fickle Little Handsome¡¯s face. He murmured, "How¡­ is this possible?" Not giving him a chance to even breathe, I ran an S-shaped path to his back, exploited his mount¡¯s pathetic turn rate and slashed him in the back twice¡ªDesperate Gambit + basic attack! 7632! 4873! His priest was healing him all this time, but Fickle Little Handsome still died like a goddamn vegetable. He collapsed to the ground with a reluctant expression before exploding into a floor of potions. He also dropped a non-Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade shield. "Roar roar¡­" Finally, I unleashed the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf after I took our Fickle Little Handsome. The little wolf¡¯s fur was fully erected, and it was baring its fangs and snarling at the remaining trio. It looked menacing to say the least. "What the fuck¡­" the male mage exclaimed in shock with eyes as wide as saucers. "He¡­ he¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? That damn moron, of all the people he could possibly provoke¡­" They stopped fighting the moment they realized who I was, not that it would change the result in any way even if they tried. I walked up to the shield and sent it rolling next to the archer¡¯s feet. The girl was staring at me in astonishment with her bow pointed at the ground. She was probably waiting for me to send them all to kingdom come. I didn¡¯t kill them, however. I simply said, "You came here from Dark Moon City, didn¡¯t you? In that case, please don¡¯t kill solo players randomly. This is not in line with the principles of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. If you really want to PK players in the wild, at least find a 5-man party about the same strength as you. Bullies are the worst, you know." After that, I turned around and left the scene. These people weren¡¯t worth my time. The female archer watched my back absentmindedly for a while before murmuring, "Guys, is it just me, or Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is a more righteous guild than our Hegemon Palace¡­?" The male mage rubbed his nose and suggested, "Should we change guilds then?" "Yeah, let¡¯s change¡­" ¡­¡­ Chapter 452: Fireblade Valley I cautiously proceeded forward while stepping across the rocks on the valley floor. The map was displayed as red in my interface, meaning that the mobs here were considered dangerous for someone my level. Although my Defense and HP had increased drastically as of late, it would be embarrassing to capsize in the gutter due to a moment of carelessness. ¡­¡­ Beside me, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf let out a low, angry growl and stared down a certain direction with its blood-red eyes. Not long after, a black panther rushed into view and stared at me and the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf with greed. It had long teeth that were covered in saliva. The Level 130 shadow-rank monster had incredibly high Attack. It also had a passive that increased its attack speed by 40%, making it a highly-offensive with ridiculous DPS. But the only thing the panther¡¯s sudden appearance elicited in me was a smile. Level 130 shadow-rank mobs were nothing to me now. I locked onto it and activated Thunderous Charge! Whoosh! I blitzed toward the mob like a lightning arrow, leaving... Chapter 453: Fireblade Helme Bang! The Fireblade Warhorse raised its front hooves before bringing them down on me with a Stampede. The small shockwave caught both me and the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. 1893! 3092! I had Ghost Deity Armor, so I was doing fine. My pet however took almost twice the amount of damage I took. Stampede was a pretty powerful skill. The Fireblade Warhorse also had two skills called Haste and Fireblade Thrust. Haste was a negligible skill that increased its movement speed. Fireblade Thrust was just an offensive skill with increased Attack that I could Guard easily. I didn¡¯t try to parry the skill because the Fireblade Warhorse¡¯s level was much higher than mine. Even if I had the skill to do it, it could result in failure due to the hidden Attack formulas and variables. I swung the Heaven-stealing Sword up and down and deleted the Fireblade Warhorse¡¯s HP rapidly. At the same time, I absorbed 14% of the damage with every swing as health. I basically dealt over 5000 damage and absorbed around 700 HP with every attack, and my attack speed was high enough that I didn¡¯t even need to drink health potions. ¡­¡­ The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and I attacked the Level 135 shadow-rank mob ferociously. Less than two minutes later, the Fireblade Warhorse let out a death groan and collapsed heavily on the ground. It dropped a horn that glowed fiery orange, and it was none other than the quest item I was supposed to collect, the Fireblade Warhorse Horn. I happily picked up the horn and left to seek out the next mob. Once I gathered 100 horns, the S Rank quest would officially be complete. According to the game rules concerning quest rewards, S Rank quests had a 20% chance to reward me with an equipment drop, and there was a 20% chance that this item would be of the Purple Gold grade. This meant that I had a 4% chance to receive a Purple Gold¨Cgrade item upon completing this quest. I believed that technically, even Spirit-grade reward was possible, although I had no idea what the chance of that was. That being said, I can¡¯t forget that a player¡¯s Luck affected all chance-based calculations such as reward chance. On the surface, it looked like I only had a 4% chance to obtain a Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment. In reality, my chance was much higher than 4% because I had a whopping 22 points of Luck. It could be as high as 10% for all I know. Luck was meant to represent a player¡¯s soft accumulation of strength. Luck was incredibly hard to obtain because it was rewarded only to a player who did well in a large-scale battle or a huge tournament, or killed a super boss. Long story short, the longer the list of glorious achievements under one¡¯s belt, the higher their Luck, and the better their in-game karma would become. It was a kind of strength any player worth their salt must have. ¡­¡­ A scorching hot wind suddenly swept across the area and caused a nearby shrubbery to shake violently. Its branches swayed just enough to reveal the back of the hill. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was stretching its paw lazily without a care for the world. My eyes lit up in excitement, however. It was because I saw a brawnier, brighter Fireblade Warhorse grazing at a depression on the ground on the opposite side of the shrubbery. It was none other than the Rare and capturable version of the Fireblade Warhorse! Fireblade Warhorse (Silver Rare) Level: 135 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? HP: ??? Property: Can be tamed by players above Level 105 Introduction: As the rulers of Fireblade Valley, Fireblade Warhorses are extremely heat-resistant as their diet consists mainly of fire-attribute vegetation. Over time, the fire energy accumulating inside their body caused a mutation and grew a blade of fire on their foreheads. No wild beast had dared to challenge them since. ¡­¡­ A Silver Rank mount? Not bad! It was nothing compared to Dark Gold or Purple Gold Rank mounts, but it was definitely better than 99% of the existing mounts right now! Moreover, it had a level requirement that matched the current average level of magic knights. Provided that there weren¡¯t too few of them, it wasn¡¯t a pipe dream to create a Fireblade Cavalry in just a short period of time! Excited, I charged the Rare mount with the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and carefully brought it down to almost 30% health. Then, I stopped attacking and let my pet deal the rest of the damage because my crit rate was too high. I would cry if it died to an unfortunate critical hit. Knowing what I was plotting, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf attacked cautiously until the Fireblade Warhorse only had 10% health left. This is my chance! I stopped my pet from attacking and took out a Sealing Stone. Then, I locked onto the Fireblade Warhorse and began the sealing process! Swhoosh! The magical energy of the Sealing Stone broke free from its container and transformed into a purple magic formation beneath the mob¡¯s hooves. Then, it attempted to drag it into the black hole at the center of the magic formation. However, the ingrate struggled mightily and broke free of the magic, foiling my first sealing attempt! The process repeated itself. The Sealing Stone continued pulling the Fireblade Warhorse with its magical shackles, and the Fireblade Warhorse struggled valiantly to break free from them. In the end, when the fifth sealing attempt began, the mob finally relented and lay down quietly at the center of the magic formation itself. It transformed into a white light and entered my Sealing Stone, turning the translucent object bright red and fiery. I could even see a shrunken Fireblade Warhorse inside the Sealing Stone. This meant that the sealing was successful, and the player could now check its stats whenever they wished! I excitedly waved a hand across the Sealing Stone and brought up the Fireblade Warhorse¡¯s stats¡ª Fireblade Warhorse (Silver Rank Mount) Strength: +110 Stamina: +100 Attack Increase: +9% Defense Increase: +5% Attack Speed: +20% Movement Speed: +50% Attack Range: +15 yards Max HP: +2500 Turn Rate: -90% Mount Tenacity: +20% Mount Skill: Stampede Passive: Movement state cannot be easily interrupted, resistance to ice magic +20% Level Requirement: 105 Reputation Requirement: 20000 ¡­¡­ The mount was far inferior to He Yi¡¯s Snow Domain Windchaser, but I was pleased to see that it retained the skill "Stampede¡±. This meant that the mount would automatically use "Stampede" on the enemy when mounted. How awesome was that? For a second, I imagined a cavalry troop made of Fireblade Warhorses charging into the enemy¡¯s battle line and executing Stampede at the same time. Stampede only had an effective AoE of 3 yards, but it could be extremely deadly when stacked upon one another. This was especially true when the cavalry troops were charging the enemy lines. Overjoyed, I put the Sealing Stone at a corner of my bag. Can¡¯t mix up a finished product with the unfinished ones, you know? A Sealing Stone was a top-tier item for sure. I might not be a mounted player, but with this item I could use my level and equipment advantage to hunt for excellent mounts for the guild. In the case the guild didn¡¯t need them, I could always sell them for money. Young people should always make earning money a priority, or they wouldn¡¯t have the capital to marry a dozen or so wives. ¡­¡­ I went back to my quest. I had already made up my mind to sweep through the entire Fireblade Valley and capture every last Rare Fireblade Warhorse that existed in this place. The level of this map was so high that only a well-equipped party over Level 105 could make it in safely, and there was barely a handful of players who could come in here solo. After an innumerable number of Fireblade Warhorses and quest items later, a Fireblade Warhorse finally dropped me equipment. It was a helmet, and when I picked it up I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a piece of a set! Fireblade Helmet (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï) Defense: 280 Magic Resist: 215 Strength: +85 Stamina: +80 Passive: Increases user¡¯s hit rate by 10% Outstanding Property: Defense increased by 100 Property: Fireblade Set, Helmet Level Requirement: 105 ¡­¡­ Its Defense was extremely good, although I should¡¯ve expected this since it was a 1-star Outstanding item. Moreover, the stats of a full set were even better; increasing overall Attack and Defense by almost 50%. Modestly speaking, a Dark Gold¨Cgrade set like this should be worth 500k RMB at least. That being said, there was no guarantee I could gather a full set. Oh well, I¡¯ll take it easy. It¡¯s a great reward, but it¡¯s an optional one that I don¡¯t need to actively pursue. Inside the guild channel, Gui Guzi was choosing 100 best mounted players of the guild based on the contribution ranking after he was appointed the cavalry corps commander. We were trying to build our first hundred-man cavalry as soon as possible. A Level 120 fifth-promotion player could party up to 50 players at once¡ªtwice for a Famous General, by the way¡ªso at Level 120, Gui Guzi would be able to party up to 100 players and buff them all with his Knight God. They would become our very own invincible cavalry troops! My experience kept rising as I grinded until evening. Six hours had passed in the blink of an eye, and my experience had increased to Level 116, 27%. So far, I found it much faster to grind here than anywhere else, and I had collected 44 Fireblade Warhorns. What really motivated me was the knowledge that Fireblade Valley was a virgin land that was untouched by other players, and the 11 Rare Fireblade Warhorses in my Sealing Stones were the living proof. This also meant that I could equip 11 magic knights or wanderers with Fireblade Warhorses right now! I didn¡¯t join He Yi, Beiming Xue, and Murong Mingyue for dinner. I simply told them to bring me back some boxed meals. Some time later, I logged off and ate the packed dinner they brought me in ten minutes. Then, I downed three glasses of water in a row. I needed to work quickly, or I would have to grind overnight. I logged back into the game and grinded well into the night. During this time, I had obtained 4 pieces of the Fireblade Set and a 2-star Outstanding spear. On top of that, I had sealed 27 Fireblade Warhorses. However, despite my valiant efforts, over 30% of the map was still not cleared. Clearly, I would be able to tame over 30 Rare Fireblade Warhorses in this place. I sent Gui Guzi a message: "Little Gui, bring a squad of magic knights and wanderers with you to Fireblade Valley, and make sure they¡¯re over Level 105. I¡¯ll send you the coordinates. There are Rare mounts here, so move quickly!" "Got it! Are you going to grind overnight today, boss?" "Maybe. We¡¯ll see!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Chapter 454: Frostscythe The scout captain¡¯s eyes lit up with a wild joy from the instant he saw the Sealing Stone. He slapped me on the shoulder heartily as he yelled, "Young warrior, your strength is utterly astounding! Alright then, here is your reward! I hope that you will be able to continue fighting for the survival of the human race!" My lips twisted as I mouthed the words, "Actually I¡¯m an undead, you dumbass¡­" Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the S Rank quest [Fireblade Warhorse Horn]. You have gained 120000 EXP, 40000 gold, 9000 Reputation, and the quest reward: "Soul of the Earth Bracers". ¡­¡­ Bracers? I urgently opened up my bag to fish out a pair of rough-looking bracers glowing with purple light. My heart was filled with shock and joy when I saw how strong they were. Soul of the Earth Bracers (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 350 Magic Resist: 320 Strength: +87 Stamina: +82 Tactics: +17 Passive: Increases user¡¯s physical attack power by 8% Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s attack speed by 10% Class Requirement: Warrior Level Requirement: 115 ¡­¡­ These were a great pair of bracers. They added 10% attack speed and 8% Attack. They were the perfect option for a full-offensive warrior who was always trying to improve his DPS. They even gave me an additional 17 points of Tactics. My luck¡¯s off the charts! I actually got an Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade item from an S Rank quest! What a pleasant surprise this was! I had reached Level 116 not long earlier, so I had met the requirements to equip these bracers. The wristguards I was wearing now were still my old and well-worn Flame Dragon Gauntlets. They were a Level 65 Dark Gold¨Cgrade item, so they were pretty trash by now. Every time He Yi noticed them, she would glower at me and say, "Lu Chen, your wristguards are way too crappy! How about I go to the auction and get some proper ones?" I kept putting it off. Given my personality, I still preferred to get my equipment from grinding. As for going to the auction to buy something, that was something for rich people to do, and I wasn¡¯t one of them! After I equipped the Soul of the Earth Bracers, my stats skyrocketed, once again proving just how crappy my Flame Dragon Gauntlets had been until now. ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Purgatory Thunder) Class: Undead Swordsman (Dark Gold Swordsman) Level: 116 HP: 12610 Attack: 1717~2185 Defense: 2145 Magic Resist: 1965 Reputation: 129764 Luck: 22 ¡­¡­ My total HP, Attack, and Defense had risen once again. However, the most eye-catching improvement was the boost to my Tactics. Now that I had 136 Tactics, my stratagems would be boosted by 136%. In other words, my Martial God stratagem would now boost attack power by 94%, a simply ridiculous number! Beiming Xue and Gui Guzi¡¯s Famous General Skills could raise attack power by 50%, but they were far too restrictive. A player needed to either use a bow or be a cavalryman to benefit from their skills. For anyone else? Useless. This constraint was simply far too severe. This was especially true in a 5v5 competition where balanced class composition would ensure total uselessness of their constricted stratagems. At that time, a skill like Martial God, which boosted everyone¡¯s Attack regardless of class, would be king! Today was simply the best! I had also obtained an enormous 51% of the EXP I needed to reach the next level, so it looked like it wouldn¡¯t be a pipedream for me to reach Level 117 in the next 24 hours! I was one step closer to accomplishing the herculean task that was reaching Level 120! Now that there was nothing else interesting left in Fireblade Valley, it was time to return to town! Swhoosh! When I arrived back in Sky City, I saw that He Yi and Murong Mingyue had set up shop not too far away from me. The two girls were leaning against the wall as they rubbed their drowsy eyes. Oh, they haven¡¯t gone offline yet? I walked up and squatted in front of them while saying, "Eve, why haven¡¯t you logged off yet? Are you not going to work tomorrow?" He Yi shook her head, "The recent territory war was quite tiring. I¡¯m going to take a small break from work. Things at work have slowed down anyway, and I threw a few dinner parties too. But the bad thing about dinner parties is that I always need to drink wine when I attend them¡­" Murong Mingyue said, "Lu Chen, are you high? Did you have too much fun in Fireblade Valley?" "I had quite a bit of fun actually!" I took out a Sealing Stone which contained a Fireblade Warhorse and showed it to the two girls. I chuckled and said, "Take a look. What do you think about this?" Whoosh! The Fireblade Warhorse¡¯s stats appeared in front of them, causing their tiny mouths to drop open in utter shock. "Lu Chen, is this a warhorse you found in the Fireblade Valley?" He Yi asked. "Yeah." "This Sealing Stone¡­ Where did you get it? It¡¯s a crazy good item¡­" "Heh heh, I extorted it from the NPC¡­" "Extorted huh¡­" He Yi said as she gave me a blank stare. She couldn¡¯t help but chuckle after that as she continued. "You¡¯d even dare to extort an NPC, you must really yearn to not be welcomed in these lands¡­" I laughed out loud. "That¡¯s nothing. I mean, I¡¯ve even killed NPCs before, so extorting one is small beans to me. Oh, Eve, that¡¯s right. I have around thirty of these Sealing Stones with me. This means that we can get thirty more Fireblade Warhorses for our guild members. Go and find Xu Yang and tell him to choose thirty loyal high-level magic knights or wanderers in our guild. We¡¯ll pass these thirty Fireblade Warhorse Sealing Stones to them. It¡¯s about time we focused our resources to create a proper cavalry unit for our guild." "Hmmm, no problem. I¡¯ll immediately go and wake up Xu Yang and get him started on this. We should be able to deliver these Fireblade Warhorses to their lucky owners by tomorrow morning." "Okay, that sounds great!" ¡­¡­ He Yi woke up Xu Yang with a phone call and he immediately started hustling as the rest of us prepared to go offline. The two ladies went offline first, but I had to make a trip to the auction first. I put up the Fireblade Set for sale, setting the starting price at 20000 gold. I also put up the Outstanding Dark Gold spear for sale. Once I finished my business with the auction, I went to check on Air Force One¡¯s shop. Mn, focusing on selling Magic Consumables is good business. I earn at least 10000 gold coins from it everyday. I¡¯ve already reached the level of a gold collar! As I was walking toward the inn to log off, I suddenly heard a beeping sound. I had received a message from Lin Yixin: "Hey, hey, stop running. Wait for meeee..." Holy shit! I turned around and discovered that Lin Yixin wasn¡¯t too far away from me. She was wearing a new set of armor and viridian light was pulsing above her shoulder. This set of armor looked very good and it seemed like her war boots were new as well. Only a day had passed since I last saw her, but she had practically swapped out all of her equipment. I stared at her a bit too intensely, and she started to blush. "Your armor isn¡¯t bad! It¡¯s glowing with both an orange and a prismatic light, so it¡¯s an Outstanding Spirit-grade item, right? Your boots look pretty good too. Purple and prismatic light huh, so it¡¯s an Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade item!" "Ah?" Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth dropped open. She swiftly closed it and smiled. "You can actually tell just from that. Not bad. Being able to tell an item¡¯s grade just from its glow, your eyes really are sharp¡­" I laughed. "Ridiculous, I¡¯m as experienced as they come. What sort of bosses haven¡¯t I fought before? What sort of items haven¡¯t I seen before? Speaking of which, Yiyi, what boss did you beat?" Lin Yixin giggled as she replied, "Qingqing and I spent six hours whittling away at this Level 145 Spirit Rank boss. But we were unlucky, because Qingqing didn¡¯t manage to get a Famous General Skill." "So you ended up reaping all the benefits?" "Heehee, kinda!" Lin Yixin walked toward me with a devious smile on her face. "Besides dropping a few pieces of equipment, the boss dropped a Mount Sealing Stone as well. Why don¡¯t you take a guess at what sort of mount I got?" I asked, "A chinese field dog?" "Screw you, why would it be¡­" Lin Yixin hopped back two steps, a winsome smile on her face. She said, "Take a good look, because my pet is about to rock your world¡­" Whoosh! The Frozen Sword danced in the air as a magic formation rose up from the ground. A piercing whinny filled the air as Lin Yixin¡¯s warhorse leapt out of the aether. My jaw dropped to the ground the instant I saw her mount. A gallant-looking warhorse wreathed in frost appeared in front of me. It didn¡¯t look any different from any standard warhorse, but it was covered with ice barding and snowflakes coalesced into existence around it. A blade made of ice and metal jutted from its head and when it sneezed, puffs of frost flew out from its nose. What a powerful-looking ice-element warhorse! "What¡¯s it called, Yiyi?" I asked. "It¡¯s called the Frostscythe Warhorse. Doesn¡¯t it sound cool?" Lin Yixin said with a saccharine sweet smile. "Mhmm, what about its stats!?" "Please wait a moment!" In the next instant, the Frostscythe Warhorse¡¯s stats appeared on my screen, and they nearly caused my eyes to pop out of their sockets. Frostscythe Warhorse (Purple Gold Rank Mount) Strength: +270 Stamina: +240 Attack Increase: +17% Defense Increase: +14% Attack Speed: +40% Movement Speed: +90% Attack Range: +28 yards Max HP: 6000 Turn Rate: -65% Mount Tenacity: +35% Passive: Movement state cannot be easily interrupted, resistance to ice magic +60% Level Requirement: 110 Reputation Requirement: 50000 ¡­¡­ Fuck, what kind of stats were these!? It was a Purple Gold Rank Mount, just like He Yi¡¯s Snow Domain Windchaser, but the Frostscythe Warhorse had a level requirement of 110 as opposed to He Yi¡¯s mount, which had a Level Requirement of 100. Its stats were all one tier higher than the Snow Domain Windchaser but their traits were largely the same. I was left at a loss for words as I patted the Frostscythe Warhorse on the butt. But I quickly recovered and said to Lin Yixin, "You increased your HP by another 6000 points? If you mount up and turn on Bombshell, what will your HP be like?" Lin Yixin took a quick look at her own stats before replying, "Right now, I have 11720 HP. If I¡¯m mounted on the Frostscythe Warhorse, I¡¯ll be 17720 HP. I have 114 Tactics at the moment, so Bombshell increases my stats by 53.5%. After I add that altogether, my HP should be slightly over 27000?" "..." I fell silent. "What¡¯s wrong, Lu Chen?" Lin Yixin smiled sweetly as she tilted her head my way. I said in a rather helpless voice, "Your insane stats are stressing me out! Which guy will be able to tolerate being so much weaker than his girlfriend¡­" "I¡¯m not that much stronger¡­ It¡¯s just because of my mount¡­" Lin Yixin said as her beautiful face went red. It was only then that she realized what I¡¯d just said. She glared at me and said, "OMG, who¡¯s your girlfriend again!? The only one who will do the deed first and decide later is you¡­" I laughed, "What do you mean by act first and decide later? I haven¡¯t even done the deed yet¡­" "Oh so you want to do it?" Lin Yixin¡¯s lips curled up mischievously. I felt my heart twisting up the moment I saw that smile. I knew that she couldn¡¯t mean anything good, so I desperately shook my head as I replied, "Oh no no no. I was just talking nonsense. Anyway, it¡¯s really late. I¡¯ll see you later Yiyi! You should go to bed soon as well!" "Hmmm. I¡¯ll need to accompany my mom for most of the day tomorrow, so I can only start grinding again when I come back in the evening. I¡¯m going to get left behind again." As she said that, she raised her head to look at me. "Lu Chen, what are you going to be busy with over the next two days?" "Territory construction and leveling up. I need to reach Level 150 as quickly as possible, so that I can finally get my own mount¡­" "Okay, good luck! If you find a good place to grind, bring me along as well! We haven¡¯t leveled together in a long time." "Got it! Hurry up and go to sleep!" "Okaaay!" Lin Yixin obediently nodded her head as she turned around and headed into the inn. ¡­¡­ Chapter 455: Fireblade Cavalry I teleported into the inn. Sky City was as bustling as ever. Beep! Xu Yang sent me a message: ¡°Finally! Lu Chen, come to the guild territory as soon as you can. I¡¯ve handpicked thirty high-level magic knights and wanderers yesterday, and they¡¯re currently grinding at the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range. If you¡¯re coming, then I¡¯ll call them back right now!¡± ¡°Got it, I¡¯m coming over right away!¡± I went to the warehouse first and stocked up on Health Potions and Magic Consumables for future grinding. Right now, my first priority was to increase Dark Moon City¡¯s rank as quickly as possible, and my second priority was to increase my own level. I was the only CGL Hall of Famer in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and as the guild representative, countless people looked up to me. The second I fell behind in levels, the morale of the guild would surely suffer a huge blow. Therefore, I had to maintain my level lead no matter what, at least until Li Chengfeng, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, and the others entered the CGL Hall of Fame! ¡­¡­ I initiated the teleport to Dark Moon City. A "swhoosh" later, I had appeared in my new undead castle. Not far away, a large group of Dark Knights were moving out of their caves and gathering as if they were waiting for me to give them an order. "You¡¯re here!" Xu Yang ran up to me, and soon after a bunch of Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul players walked out of the teleportation formation in succession. They were all Level 105 and above, and many of them were familiar faces. These brothers and sisters had accompanied me and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls through many wars, so I knew they were both strong and loyal. They wouldn¡¯t leave the guild even if we couldn¡¯t afford to pay them for their services¡ªwhich we could¡ªand those who thought otherwise had left for another master a long time ago. A smiling Xu Yang moved closer to me and lowered his voice. "It took me an entire night to select these thirty people, so don¡¯t worry about them not being able to pull their weight. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun would¡¯ve been among them, but since he has his own Dark Gold Rank mount, I left him out. High Fighting Spirits, Legendary Brave, and other fighters are too low-level to equip a mount, so I left them out as well." "Mn, well done. Grant them the guild hall clearance and tell them to enter the guild hall." "Okay!" I entered the guild hall first and waited. A while later, Xu Yang led the thirty riders into the hall. Everyone looked happy and excited, and some of them asked me directly with big grins, "What¡¯s the occasion, Vice Leader Lu Chen?" At the current stage, any rider who possessed a Dark Steel Rank mount already felt like they were on top of the world, but this Silver Rank mount was even stronger than those mounts. Only a handful of people had truly witnessed the might of high-level mounts like the Snow Domain Windchaser or the Frostscythe Warhorse, so their excitement made perfect sense. I withdrew the Sealing Stone and smiled. "Yesterday, I spent the whole day grinding at Fireblade Valley and obtained a total of 30 Fireblade Warhorses. I¡¯m planning to create a super cavalry regiment with a standardized mount for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and the reason I chose you all to join it is because you are strong, and because the guild trusts you. From now on, you are all core members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and your success or failure will directly affect the guild¡¯s fate. Therefore, please make sure to do your best once you receive these Sealing Stones!" Astonishment growing, some of the players had to bite their lips to hold in their emotion. Some even clenched their fists and declared powerfully, "Thank you, Vice Leader Lu Chen. We promise to do everything in our power to repay your trust and protect Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Don¡¯t worry, for as long as we remain, no one shall bring harm to the guild!" I smiled gladly. "Okay. For the rise of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and for our dreams to conquer the world!" "Hehe¡­" Xu Yang let out an honest chuckle and joined in. "Everyone, please stand in a line to receive your Sealing Stones from Lu Chen one by one. Don¡¯t forget he worked through the night to get them for you. It won¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that they¡¯re literally drenched with his blood, sweat and tears¡­" I rolled my eyes at him. "That is definitely an exaggeration¡­" "Hahaha!" Everyone laughed heartily at our exchange. All thirty Sealing Stones were given out in the blink of an eye, and after we went out of the guild hall they summoned their Fireblade Warhorses and formed an orderly row. They pulled out their swords and nodded to me respectfully. "What should we do now, vice leader?" I sent Gui Guzi a message: "How are things at Fireblade Valley?" Gui Guzi replied, "Not very well, unfortunately. We cleared out the whole map, but we only managed to tame 10 Fireblade Warhorses." "Bring yourself and your men to the guild territory." "Got it!" A few minutes later, Gui Guzi and 10 riders mounted on Fireblade Warhorses appeared in the guild territory. It so happened that we had exactly 40 Fireblade Warhorse riders in total. I couldn¡¯t help but smile as I stared at the row of riders. "Right now this is probably the one and only cavalry troop in all the servers, huh?" Xu Yang nodded with a smile. "That¡¯s right, especially since we have Gui Guzi and his Famous General Skill, Knight God. Even if it isn¡¯t the only one, it is undoubtedly the strongest cavalry troop in all the servers right now!" Gui Guzi rode up to me on his Armored Swordback Dragon and asked, "Do you want to say something, boss?" "Yeah!" With my sword unsheathed, I walked to the front and declared, "Everyone, you should already know how much Gui Guzi and I grinded to make this cavalry force a reality. From today onward, you are and will always be the pillar of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, so work hard and grind levels as much as you can! Our throne of tomorrow will begin with your hooves and blades today!" The excited riders raised their swords into the air and declared in unison, "We won¡¯t let you down, vice leader!" "Good!" I nodded approvingly before facing toward Gui Guzi. "I leave these 40 Fireblade Riders in your hands to grind levels, kill bosses or whatever. Lead them well, for they will surely be the absolute pillar of our forces in all future warfares!" A smiling Gui Guzi nodded just as excitedly as the others. "Don¡¯t worry, boss! I don¡¯t dare to say that I¡¯m the best at most things, but I guarantee that there¡¯s almost no one who could grind levels faster than me in the entire server! With these Fireblade Warhorses and my Knight God, there is no leveling map below Level 140 that we can¡¯t sweep!" "Very good. Now go!" "Yeah!" Gui Guzi left with the Fireblade Cavalry. When they were gone, Xu Yang rubbed his eyes and said, "I haven¡¯t slept a wink the whole night, so I¡¯m going to go take a nap. See you later, Lu Chen!" "Yeah, see you!" ¡­¡­ After seeing Gui Guzi and Xu Yang off, it was finally time to perform my duties as the lord of Dark Moon City. I noticed that the territory still had a lot of resources in the reserve, so I upgraded the Nest of Corruption, the Nest of Graves and the Blood Pond Cemetery. All basic buildings must be upgraded to Rank 2 first before the castle could be upgraded to Rank 3, and starting at Rank 3 the NPCs would start selling return scrolls, Dark Moon City return scrolls to be exact. They were slightly more expensive than the fee to use the teleportation formation but it was alright, because this bit of convenience was another primary source of income for our territory! I opened the world map and noticed that a couple of dots had appeared around the territory. I then ordered the Dark Knight Udal to plunder the places with a bunch of Skeletal Spearmen and Zombies. I myself led 40 Dark Knights to a red dot on a hill not far away from the guild territory. It was where the boss was. These types of bosses didn¡¯t drop equipment, but they were so powerful that they dissuaded most players from killing them. Moreover, to kill a resource boss in Dark Moon City¡¯s territory was to risk offending Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, so most people wouldn¡¯t do such a thing. This boss had probably just spawned a while ago too, or it would¡¯ve been taken out by He Yi and Murong Mingyue already. ¡­¡­ As we approached the small hill, we discovered that the entire place was jam-packed with Level 126 shadow-rank Cyan Wolves. Moreover, there was a Level 135 Purple Gold Rank boss at the center of the wolf horde, Slair the Cyan Wolf King. The boss was clearly a cut above its underlings because it was bipedal and wielded a battle axe. Clad in rough armor, it stared at me with a savage expression and saliva dripping off its sharp teeth. It looked like it couldn¡¯t wait to swallow me whole. I was a lawful and kind-hearted youngster, so I charged into the horde and attacked the Cyan Wolf King right away. A second later, I was surrounded by Cyan Wolves from every direction. The Level 127 shadow-rank mob could barely break my Defense and dealt only a couple hundred damage per hit, so I just ignored them completely. "Damned brat, how dare you intrude upon the territory of the wolves!" The Cyan Wolf King¡¯s battle axe glowed a cyan color before hitting me squarely on the armor. The huge impact surprised me a bit, but the actual damage was so-so at best. If the boss''s skill only hit me for 3763 damage, then its basic attack was even less of a problem. Worst case scenario, I drink a couple of Health Potions and waste a tiny bit of money. It was nothing. My boots glowed as I executed War Crush. Then, I swung my sword all around me, deleting HP and regaining HP at the same time. The 14% lifesteal of the Heaven-stealing Sword was so awesome that I was able to facetank the boss and the mobs completely on my own. I only needed to use a Rank 9 Health Potion every 60 seconds or so! I only attacked the Cyan Wolf King, but my sword¡¯s splash damage dealt huge damage to all surrounding mobs. Every time I fell below 60% HP, one War Crush was all it took to bring me back to full health. It was awesome. ¡­¡­ Chapter 456: Umbra Sharpshooter I excitedly scooped up the boss drops before I finished off the remaining Cyan Wolves in the area. After that, I examined the goodies that I had won from the boss. Two treasure chests. The first was a golden chest and the second was a dark gold chest. Who knew what treasures they would hold!? I moved to open the gold chest first and it opened with the lightest of clicks. After that, a card floated onto my palm. Ding! System Notice: Congratulations, you have obtained a card ¡°Radiant Knight x50¡±! ¡­¡­ Radiant Knight? My mind went blank for a moment. WTF, this was a human castle¡¯s Rank 6 unit! Arghhhhhh, what the fuck is this!? How could the game do this to me? I couldn¡¯t use this card because our Dark Moon City was a territory of the undead. It was unable to house the units of any other race! Ahhhhh, is this card just going to rot in my inventory? I felt a wave of helplessness wash over me as I opened up the dark gold chest. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have obtained ¡°Umbra Sharpshooter x100¡±! A loud buzzing noise filled my head. My mind went completely blank as utter shock coursed through my body. I desperately rubbed my eyes before the elation finally set in. I had really gotten the Umbra Sharpshooters, the Rank 8 units of the Undead Castle! They were two ranks higher than the Dark Knights, and they were a long-range unit as well, so we could station them in the castle¡¯s watchtowers and use them to ward off the attacks of both players and creatures! I could even bring these Umbra Sharpshooters out to hunt mobs! Though I couldn¡¯t use them to kill monsters outside of the confines of the territory, I could use them to gather even more resources and that was good enough for me! Every Rank 8 unit had a transport capacity of 1600, so they could harvest and transport even more resources than the Dark Knights! I didn¡¯t hesitate to use the card and 100 Umbra Sharpshooters immediately appeared behind me. I ordered them to retreat far behind me before giving another order. All 100 of them immediately raised their bows into the air and unleashed a salvo of arrows. The last few Cyan Wolves mewled pathetically as they collapsed to the ground. Tsk tsk, this isn¡¯t bad at all, I got all of the EXP from that attack! Heh, this is one of the perks of being a city lord! ¡­¡­ Oh, wait, I seem to have forgotten something. That¡¯s right! The boss dropped a Resource Bag too! I opened the bag in a hurry and discovered that it was no ordinary Resource Bag! It was a super-tier one, one that contained 40000 units of each resource! Furthermore, the boss and the Cyan Wolves had also dropped quite a few resources when they died. I did a quick estimate as I swept my eyes over my spoils of war. There were at least 20000 units of each resource lying on the ground, so I quickly got my Dark Knights and Umbra Sharpshooters to start moving them. I returned to the city ahead of my troops and used the Resource Bag, instantly increasing the city¡¯s stockpile by a huge amount. Alright, we now have enough resources to upgrade the city to a Rank 3 Undead Castle! After I confirmed my choice, the city started upgrading itself and in two hours¡¯ time, Dark Moon City would reach Rank 3! It was at this precise moment that I heard a beep. System Notice: Player ¡°Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡± wants to add you as a friend. Do you accept? ¡­¡­ Stranger of Three Lifetimes? Isn¡¯t that Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ guild leader? She also seems to be the lord of Vanished God City¡¯s first territory. Hmmm, this girl will definitely go on to do great things, so I definitely have to establish a good relationship with her. After all, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ greatest enemy is Candle Dragon and their strength goes without saying. If we want to drag Candle Dragon down from the throne, we need to gather together sufficient strength, and we especially need powerful guilds like Blazing Hot Lips on our side. After I accepted her friend request, the name ¡°Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡± immediately appeared in my friend¡¯s list. She immediately sent me a message: ¡°Hey handsome, you in your territory?¡± ¡°Yup. I¡¯m outside the guild hall right now. Can I help you?¡± ¡°Yes, you can! I¡¯ll head over immediately!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I walked out of my territory and waited right in front of it. A high-level female mage soon appeared and she waved her staff as she walked toward me. It really was Stranger of Three Lifetimes. Her guild emblem and her symbol as a guild master flashed over her shoulder. It was glaringly ostentatious. I walked forward to welcome her with a smile, ¡°How can I help this pretty stranger?¡± ¡°Oh, there¡¯s definitely something you can help me with!¡± Stranger of Three Lifetimes fished out a card from her inventory and beamed at me brightly. ¡°I¡¯m here to do a bit of business with you. But let¡¯s see if it¡¯s something Lu Chen wants in the first place! If you do want it, perhaps a trade is in order.¡± ¡°Oh, what do you have for me?¡± I swiftly scanned the card. The words on the card clearly stated that it was a ¡°Dark Knight x100¡± card. My eyes grew as wide as saucers as I exclaimed, ¡°A troop card?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Stranger of Three Lifetimes nodded her head sharply. ¡°I got ahold of two chests this afternoon and one of them gave me this. Since my territory is a human territory, I can¡¯t use it. That¡¯s why I came to find you! Do you have any human troop cards? If you have, let¡¯s exchange them! I don¡¯t even care what kind of card it is, and if you really don¡¯t have a suitable card in your inventory, I¡¯ll just give this card to you as a token of our newly-established friendship!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle when she said that. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be friends with you, pretty stranger.¡± I reached out and took the card in her hand. Stranger of Three Lifetimes looked slightly crestfallen when I did that as it looked like I didn¡¯t have any cards that fit her requirement. However, her eyes immediately lit up when she saw the Radiant Knight card I took out from my inventory. She let out a loud and unrestrained laugh as she said, ¡°Hoho, I knew it! Given the strength of ¡®Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯, there was no way he wouldn¡¯t have a human race card¡­¡± I laughed as well. ¡°I¡¯m really sorry. This card only has 50 Radiant Knights, but your card has 100 Dark Knights, so I''m letting you eat a loss this time¡­¡± Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ soft laughter tinkled in the air. ¡°No problem, these 50 Radiant Knights were just what we needed right now! I still haven¡¯t managed to raise my castle to Rank 2 and my resource production is simply too low, so I haven¡¯t been able to produce many troops. As a result, I¡¯m not able to transport back the resources that are being dropped from monsters. These Radiant Knights are really going to be my salvation!¡± ¡°Hm, that¡¯s good then. When you pick up more undead troop cards in the future, remember to keep them for me!¡± ¡°Sure!¡± Stranger of Three Lifetimes laughed before saying, ¡°But you shouldn¡¯t hold too much hope for that. I heard that boss-tier resource monsters will only spawn along with the first territory spawned by each city and they will only appear during the first three days after these territories have spawned. This means that it¡¯ll be hard to find these cards in the future! So you¡¯d better treasure this chance you got!¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Stranger of Three Lifetimes skipped away happily. She had teleported all the way from Vanished God City, but this unexpected harvest of 50 Radiant Knights had made it all worth it. However, Stranger of Three Lifetimes had passed me a very useful piece of information during this brief interaction. New boss-tier resource monsters would only spawn during these three days. That also meant that it would be hard to find Resource Bags and troop cards in the future. If that was the case, all the territories which appeared in the future would have to slowly gather the resources they needed to rank up and the speed at which these castles progressed would drive people insane. ¡­¡­ After I used the card, 100 Dark Knights instantly appeared in my territory. My heart leapt with joy once more. Goddammit, even though this territory had only existed for two days, Dark Moon City was already equipped with a powerful army. According to the forums, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Candle Dragon City had only just reached Rank 2, so its development speed definitely couldn¡¯t hold a candle to Dark Moon City¡¯s. A thought suddenly flashed through my head, causing me to immediately send a message to Stranger of Three Lifetimes: ¡°Stranger, what¡¯s your relationship with Candlelight Shadow? If you get barbarian race troop cards, will you trade them to him?¡± Stranger of Three Lifetimes immediately sent me a smiley-face emoji before saying: ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Candlelight Shadow already swore that he would sweep into Vanished God City with an army, and every one of the Vanished God City¡¯s ten great guilds is feeling immense pressure from him. Why would I rub shoulders with a hungry tiger? Candlelight Shadow is a tyrant, any cooperation with him will only put you at a disadvantage. I won¡¯t ever consider forming an alliance with Candle Dragon.¡± ¡°Okay! Then how about you form an alliance with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls then? Also, you can look for Ling Xueshang, the guild leader of Sky City¡¯s The Monarch Descends. We formed an alliance to repel all other powers. How does that sound?¡± Stranger of Three Lifetimes, ¡°Alright! Actually, I already know the pretty Xueshang and Blazing Hot Lips already formed an alliance with them quite a while back. We had originally intended to create an all-girl army, but now that we can form an alliance with a super guild like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, it¡¯s even better! Lu Chen, now that you¡¯re our ally, you¡¯d better protect all of us weak girls, okay¡­¡± I had to resist the urge to vomit blood when I heard those words. I knew just how strong a mage Stranger of Three Lifetimes was. Even though she was slightly inferior to ridiculous mages like Luo River God of the Capital, she was leagues ahead of mages like Dominating Mage God or Life of Luxury! In fact, she should be about on par with Shadow Chanel! A woman like that would actually dare to call herself a weak girl. It looks like I could also call myself a weakling when I run around with my Heaven-stealing Sword and shiny armor. ¡­¡­ Blazing Hot Lips alliance request appeared in our guild management interface. The request was accepted a few seconds later and there were now three guilds in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ ally list. Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips. All three of these guilds were very strong and I believed that we would be the ones who would forge a new era in the near future. I quickly scanned my friends list, only to see that Lin Yixin¡¯s name was still grayed out. She had gone to accompany her mother in the afternoon, so it wasn¡¯t likely that she¡¯d come online before 2 pm. This girl not only had to take care of her mother, she also had to desperately earn money in an online game and be responsible for a guild as massive as Snowy Cathaya. Lin Yixin was definitely enduring a lot of suffering, but every time we saw her face, she was always so bright and bubbly. A girl like that had to be treasured. ¡­¡­ I silently walked back to Dark Moon City. I went to find Udal and I used all the resources in Dark Moon City to produce Dark Insects. The Nest of Corruption seemed to be churning out Dark Insects nonstop as I produced another 200 Dark Insects in one go. Dark Moon City now had 314 Dark Insects, so its resource production had also shot through the roof. Dark Moon City Level: Rank 2 Undead Castle Gold Production: 800 per hour Wood Production: 800 per hour Stone production: 800 per hour Crystal Production: 710 per hour Dark Insects: 314 Buildings: 11 Troops: 321 (31x Skeletal Spearman, 50x Zombie, 140x Dark Knight, 100x Umbra Sharpshooter) Wall Durability: 200 Teleportation Formations: 1 ¡­¡­ Mn, once the city rose to Rank 3, more land would be added to the territory! I wouldn¡¯t use the excess resources to produce more troops. I¡¯d create even more Dark Insects, so that I could push Dark Moon City¡¯s production of each resource beyond 5000 points. Once we had acquired this robust production capability, I would continue to raise the rank of the castle. Once we got past the early stages of territory management, it would no longer be enough to gather resources by hunting monsters. We would need to rely on our own city¡¯s production output to meet any further needs. It was at this exact moment that I heard a beep. I had received a message from Li Chengfeng: Chapter 457: Green Dragon Knigh ¡°You¡¯ll know soon enough!¡± I took my sword and arrived in front of the guild hall. Li Chengfeng soon appeared after that. He was wearing a suit of dark green armor as he sprinted toward me. He wore a cocky smile on his face as he said, ¡°The city is ranking up at an insane rate. Your ability to build up a city is way better than Candlelight Shadow¡¯s!¡± ¡°It¡¯s really just down to good luck. So what do you have for me?¡± ¡°Hmmm, it¡¯s right here¡­¡± Li Chengfeng fished out a golden longsword from his inventory and tossed it over. He said, ¡°Here, I just soloed this boss, and it actually dropped this nice toy for me. What kind of joke is this¡­¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a weapon?¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t any simple weapon! Take a look for yourself!¡± ¡°Gotcha!¡± I lifted up the longsword and waved a hand over it, causing the weapon¡¯s stats to materialize in front of me. My eyes immediately popped open in shock. City Lord Rex¡¯s Sword (Dark Gold¨Cgrade City Lord equipment) Attack: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Passive: Increase Attack of troops under the lord¡¯s command by 27% Passive: Increase Defense of troops under the lord¡¯s command by 19% Effect: After the user has equipped this item, increase the gold production of cities that they govern by 50% Effect: After the user has equipped this item, increase Dark Insect production speed by 25% Requirement: Hero Rank City Lord ¡­¡­ It really wasn¡¯t just any old weapon. To most players, this weapon was about as useful as a stick of firewood. However, it was simply invaluable to city lord NPCs! This Dark Gold¨Cgrade sword could not only boost Dark Moon City¡¯s attack and defenses, it could also boost its gold production by 50%. Gold production was the one thing I really wanted to improve, and even though this 50% wasn¡¯t much right now, it would be absolutely incredible once my city¡¯s resource production had been built up to proper levels! I couldn¡¯t help but laugh as joy wildly surged through my heart. ¡°Chengfeng, your luck is pretty darn good to have dropped a great weapon like this. Alright, I¡¯ll thank you on behalf of the entire guild¡­¡± Li Chengfeng shrugged his shoulders as he laughed. ¡°Okay, as long as it¡¯s useful. I thought that I had picked up a piece of trash at first, but it looks like it¡¯ll come in very handy!¡± ¡°It really will!¡± ¡°Okay, then I¡¯m off to continue leveling!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± Li Chengfeng left while I summoned the Dark Moon City¡¯s city lord Udal to my side. The Dark Knight approached me with a grave and stern look on his face. He knelt down on one knee and said, ¡°Lord, what can I do for you?¡± I simply opened up his character screen and equipped him with City Lord Rex¡¯s Sword. After that, I left him to do his own thing. ¡­¡­ I opened the world map, but I just stared blankly since I didn¡¯t really know where I could go to train. The areas around our territory had also been completely explored. My brows knit together as I looked at the map and plotted my next move. Suddenly, my eyes immediately brightened when an idea popped into my head. It looks like I didn¡¯t have any better alternative than to explore the peaks of Dragonbone Mountain Range! Dragonbone Mountain Range was an extremely complex map and there were also many small maps within it. The levels of the monsters varied across the different areas of the mountain you could find yourself in. Their levels ranged from 100 at the foot of the mountain range to 175 when you reached its peak. As a result, players could easily level all the way to Level 175 with no problems in this place. This was also one of the geographical advantages that Dark Moon City had, since it was barely even ten minutes away from this resource-rich mountain range. The advantages that came with being situated near such a gold mine must be causing the other powers in Sky City to go insane with envy. After hiding the glow of my items and my in-game name, I discreetly sheathed the Heaven-stealing Sword in the scabbard slung across my back. Then, I breathed in deeply before summoning the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. It was time to go to Dragonbone Mountain Range! When I reached the foot of the mountain, I discovered that the place was bustling with activity. Players were forming parties with each other as they kept yelling their requirements. ¡°Forming a 20-man party to charge into the middle areas of Dragonbone Mountain Range. We will be killing Level 127 shadow-rank monsters called Snow Rabbits. We will also be collecting cooking materials as we go. The party already has 3 ridersand 2 warriors to be tanks, 3 mages and 5 archers as DPS. We also have 1 magic knight, 1 tactician whose Encourage III can boost attack by 29%. We are currently lacking healing as we only have 1 priest and 1 bard. We still need 3 more wet nurses! First come, first serve, and everyone in the party will roll for any equipment above Bronze-grade according to their needs!¡± ¡°Forming a 10-man party to grind in the Level 110 area of Dragonbone Mountain Range! Players who are Level 90¨C100 are welcome to join. Looking for a DPS or a healer! I am a Level 94 magic knight with high Defense. One spot left!¡± ¡°Forming an elite 20-man party. All party members must be Level 105 and above. We will be going into the upper level of Dragonbone Mountain Range to kill Level 135 shadow-rank monsters. We have also heard that the shadow-rank monsters in that area can drop Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment! We welcome all strong players! Knights need to have more than 10000 HP and 2500 Defense, mages need to have an Attack of more than 1500 and archers need to have an Attack of at least 2000, and healers need to be able to burst heal for more than 3000 HP. Come one, come all, this party will be leaving once we have twenty members and we will roll for any equipment that drops, with no special privileges for anyone, including the leader. We are looking for a high-level Encourage tactician to be the party leader!¡± ¡­¡­ I quietly slipped past the crowds. It really wasn¡¯t an easy year to be a warrior. Ever since the mount system had been introduced, magic knights had become the most popular class. They were absolutely the best tanks in the game if they came equipped with a warhorse. High-level tacticians were also very popular nowadays. This was especially true for tacticians who had Encourage III and at least 200 Tactics. They could instantly boost the attack of their entire party by 25% or more. Any party would roll out the red carpet for them. Of course, Famous General Skills were far more ridiculous than Encourage III. However, there were only so many Famous Generals to go around in Sky City, and if a Famous General simply appeared out of nowhere, all of the big guilds would be stumbling over themselves to court him. As for warriors, it was a rather awkward time for them. They couldn¡¯t equip shields or ride mounts and their overall DPS was inferior to archers and mages. They would only be able to recover some lost ground once they hit Level 150 and could ride mounts as well. Of course, for elite warriors like Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, and myself, our stats were so high that we could ignore the disadvantages of being unable to equip a shield or ride a mount. We were like natural disasters, leaving behind a trail of dead monsters and players wherever we went. We would also be hot property if we revealed ourselves in public. Quite a few players had already taken notice of me as I slipped past them. Among them was a cute female mage holding a staff. She stared at me in shock as she said, ¡°Aiyah, that big brother has a really fierce-looking wolf with him, and why does it seem a little familiar to me?¡± Another girl piped up, ¡°It looks familiar to you? Ah, I can¡¯t see his name, so his level must be high! If a Level 108 player like me can¡¯t see his name, that means that his level is definitely higher than 113¡­¡± A brawny man holding a battle axe said in a deep rumble, ¡°Someone whose level exceeds 113 and has a greedy wolf as a pet? There¡¯s only one person in Sky City that fits that description and that¡¯s the person ranked 7th in the CGL Hall of Fame, Falling Dust. Otherwise known as the Unkillable War God or Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡­¡± Hearts instantly appeared in the eyes of that female mage. ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand actually walked past me and even brushed up against me¡­¡± ¡°Cut that out! Let¡¯s go and train! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is definitely going to the upper reaches of Dragonbone Mountain Range. We can¡¯t afford to offend such a person, so let¡¯s go train in the middle zone!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± ¡­¡­ I ignored the gossip from the players behind me and I plunged into the needle-leaved forest with my sword in hand. I smashed aside Level 117 wild bears and porcupines as I swiftly advanced with the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf by my side. Because my level was high enough, my minimap would display Level 137 monsters as red dots, so I was able to completely avoid them. After about half an hour, I had finally made my way past the halfway mark of the mountain. If I continued upward, the levels of the monsters would start exceeding 140. But that didn¡¯t pose any sort of threat to me whatsoever since I was nearly reached Level 117. As long as it wasn¡¯t a shadow-rank monster thirty levels higher than me, it was nothing that I couldn¡¯t handle. ¡°Rooaaaarrr...¡± A distant Level 139 Fierce Jungle Tiger let out a fierce roar, causing many players who had reached this zone to freeze in their tracks. 99.9% of these players would choose to immediately retreat after that. Players could see the levels of any non-boss monster that was less than thirty levels above them. So if a player that was Level 109 and below realized that they couldn¡¯t see the Fierce Jungle Tiger¡¯s level, why would they continue forward? That was no different from digging their own grave! I moved past the jungle and entered the southwestern part of the unpopulated upper reaches of Dragonbone Mountain Range. I stepped into a scorching, rocky wasteland. If the peak of Dragonbone Mountain Range looked like a huge, wriggling dragon, then this was somewhere along its spine. Furthermore, the ground started to sink as I moved forward, this entire place was actually a rather large basin! Though this basin wasn¡¯t just any old basin! It was dotted with little volcanic craters that bubbled with magma, which was also why no lake had formed in this area. ¡­¡­ Ding~! System Notice: You have entered a neutral zone¡ªDragonspine Basin! Just as I had expected, this was one of the maps in Dragonbone Mountain Range, Dragonspine Basin! Its name wasn¡¯t bad and the monsters in this place should be pretty high-level as well. I held my sword at ready as I moved forward. The roar of a huge dragon rang out faintly in the distance, causing my hair to stand on end. Fucking hell, there were giant dragon monsters in this place? I¡¯d be fucked if that was the case. Even though I was standing at the peak of most players in my server, I still hadn¡¯t even reached Level 120 yet. It was a wee bit too early for me to challenge any giant dragons. I was more liable to become dragon shit instead! However, I could also catch the voice of a woman intermixed with those dragon roars! Hmmm? A¡­ giant dragon and a beautiful lady? I immediately lapsed into deep thought. How could it be? There would be no future for them... It was at this time that I heard an even clearer groan. Hmmm, it came from southwest of me! There was definitely something hiding behind those piles of boulders over there! I didn¡¯t stop to think as I slowly made my way around the boulders and the sight that greeted me caused shock to blossom in my heart. The floor was covered in green blood and a green dragon lay between two of the boulders. A horrible-looking wound had been torn into one of its wings and its head spasmed as it let out those low roars of pain. It looked as if it was protecting something. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the green dragon was actually protecting a human woman. It was a female warrior dressed in battle robes and armor. She was hurt and fresh blood could be seen staining her legs. A sharp sword lay beside her and it was obvious that she was no ordinary female warrior. I stared at the lady for a while before realization dawned upon me. She really wasn¡¯t just any warrior! She was actually one of the Dragon Knights! A name floated above the beautiful Dragon Knight¡¯s head, and it was a name that I had seen before. Green Dragon Knight Tia (Floating Ice City) ¡­¡­ It was actually one of the five great Dragon Knights who served under Princess Karinshan of Floating Ice City. I¡¯d met this Green Dragon Knight Tia once before during the battle of Floating Ice City. I was protecting Xinran at that time, so the five great Dragon Knights were our enemies at that time. I walked up to Tia and went down on one knee. When I took a closer look at her injuries, my brows knit together and I said, ¡°Don¡¯t be nervous, I won¡¯t hurt you¡­¡± Tia anxiously bit down on her lower lip, but the dragon energy that had gathered in her palm began to slowly dissipate. The green dragon also lowered its guard. Chapter 458: Tia’s Trial Tia let out a bitter laugh. ¡°I had come to Dragonbone Mountain Range in search of a devilish den under Princess Karinshan¡¯s orders, but I encountered a rare storm along the way. My green dragon was wounded when we crashed into this Dragonspine Basin. Moreover, an Earth Lizard Dragon had attacked us at the worst possible moment, and I became poisoned by its deadly venom. Neither the green dragon nor I have the strength to fly back to Floating Ice City now.¡± Tia shot me a meaningful glance at this moment. ¡°Young warrior, you were once an enemy of Floating Ice City. Will you help me?¡± I smiled. ¡°Since Princess Karinshan had pardoned me from all my crimes, I¡¯m still an adventurer of Floating Ice City. What reason do I have not to help you?¡± ¡°Hehe¡­¡± Tia chuckled softly, but she quickly shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s too bad we¡¯re at the peak of Dragonbone Mountain Range; a place where evil beasts roam free. There¡¯s no way a normal human adventurer like you can battle against those beasts, let alone kill that damnable Earth Lizard Dragon¡­¡± I raised my eyebrows and smiled again. ¡°Don¡¯t look down on me that much, Tia. The fact that I am here means that I don¡¯t fear any challenge this place might throw at me!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± A small smile tugged the corner of Tia¡¯s lips. ¡°It will be a shame to not reward such precious courage, so I will give you a trial. If you can complete it, then I will entrust my fate in your hands.¡± ¡°Tell me!¡± ¡°First, I need to make sure that you are indeed powerful enough to help me.¡± ¡°No problem, just tell me!¡± ¡°Very well!¡± Tia smiled and pointed at the distant Dragonspine Basin. ¡°This basin contains a huge number of One-horned Rhinos and Fire Lizards, and I want you to kill 1000 of each. They are extremely violent and cruel creatures, so be extra careful when you fight them. Return to me after you¡¯ve completed your task, and I will grant you a most generous reward!¡± Ding~! System Notice: You have accepted the quest [Tia¡¯s Trial]! (Current Quest Rank: S+) Description: Head to Dragonspine Basin and kill at least 1000 One-horned Rhinos and 1000 Fire Lizards to receive a generous reward. But be careful, an unknown evil power is also hidden in Dragonspine Basin. A moment of carelessness may lead to death! ¡­¡­ Even the quest description was warning me of danger. Alright then, it looked like today was my lucky day. There was no guarantee that an S+ Rank quest would grant me an equipment reward, but if it did, it would surely be as amazing as always! The rhino was covered in a thick shell, and it had a glowing red horn above its nose. Its eyes looked like a pair of bronze bells, and the ground thundered every time it took a step. When I got close to the mob, its stats immediately appeared before me¡ª One-horned Rhino (Shadow) Level: 140 Attack: 1650~1820 Defense: 1950 HP: 120000 Skills: Thrust, Crush, Horn Strike Introduction: As the guardians of Dragonspine Basin, these One-horned Rhinos are extremely heat-resistant because their diet consists mainly of fire-attribute vegetation. Over time, the fire energy accumulating inside their body grew into a thick shell that protects them from any weapon. ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t help but gasp in surprise. 1900 Defense was absolutely nothing to scoff at because there were less than 100 fighters in the entire Sky City who had the ability to break through such Defense. Thankfully, I was one of them. With the Heaven-stealing Sword and Martial God¡¯s 94% boost to Attack, my displayed Attack was 2185, but my real Attack was close to 4000 or even 5000. The One-horned Rhino was a shadow-rank mob, and its level was higher than mine, so I estimated that its real Defense was around 3500 or so. 5000 Attack was absolutely enough to beat 3500 Defense! Anyway, let me bait a One-horned Rhino over and test the waters first! I swung my arm and hit a One-horned Rhino¡¯s head with the Dragon Slaying Slash, dealing 6743 damage. I then backed away and kited it for a moment¡ªfiring another three more Dragon Slaying Slashes during this time¡ªbefore activating Thunderous Charge! Thud! I successfully stunned the One-horned Rhino. It was a bit shameful that the Level 140 shadow-rank mob had lost almost 20k HP before it even touched me, to be honest. While it was stunned, I thrust the Heaven-stealing Sword forward and hit it with a triple-hit combo: Ice Ray + Desperate Gambit + basic attack! Clang clang clang! I specifically chose to attack its weakest spot, the neck. My sword successfully tore apart its thick shell and did a ton of damage¡ª 6215! 7894! 4783! ¡­¡­ That was great! Despite fighting against a mob that was famed for its Defense, I was murdering it as if it was completely defenseless! The combination of Martial God + Heaven-stealing Sword + God Suppressing Necklace + God Suppressing Helmet was truly awesome! The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf wasn¡¯t idle of course. Its damage wasn¡¯t as high as mine¡ªover 10k damage in one combo¡ªbut it still did a great job. The stun lasted for 5 seconds, and during this time the poor rhino had already lost half its HP. Its health pool was ridiculously high though. The mob hit my chest armor with a Thrust the moment it broke free! Bang! 1562! Acceptable. I had no problems tanking this amount of damage. I stomped the ground and used War Crush, eliciting roars of pain from the One-horned Rhino. This battle was always going to end with the death of the Level 140 shadow-rank mob since its opponent was a high-level undead swordsman with a sword channeling undead energy, super-high Defense, and even more formidable Attack. Crack! In the end, my sword cut through the rhino¡¯s head, dealing over 7000 damage and killing it where it stood. The battle was over in less than a minute. Pop¡­ A Phantasmal Magic Stone dropped from its collapsing body, and I tossed it into my bag. A penny saved is a penny earned, not to mention that I had enough bagspace, and I wasn¡¯t gathering food ingredients right now. They would bring me a couple thousand gold after I went back and sold them at the shop. How joyous was that? This was possible only because I had a high Luck stat that increased the drop rate of Magic Stones. Had I been a normal player, I might not be able to get a single Phantasmal Magic Stone in 10 kills. I would be lucky if the system decided to reward me with two Big Magic Stones, which were now worthless in every way. ¡­¡­ I continued forward and killed a couple more One-horned Rhinos. I quickly discovered that my HP usually hovered above 95% after a kill because my lifesteal and my Regeneration of the Undead X were just that powerful. Not even a Level 140 shadow-rank mob was a challenge to me anymore. I clenched my teeth and made a snap decision. I¡¯m going to AoE these mobs down so I can wrap this up as soon as possible! The One-horned Rhinos ran like an earthquake, but their actual movement speed was so-so. I should be able to aggro them safely myself. However, I ultimately decided to aggro the mobs with the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf because its movement speed was almost double of mine. There was no chance the luring would go wrong this way! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf darted between the One-horned Rhinos and aggroed them with ease. Usually, you couldn¡¯t aggro a mob too far before their AI decided that enough was enough, and that range was about 200 yards. That was why I couldn¡¯t aggro all of them in one go. I looked at the walls at the edge of the basin and spotted a decent choke point almost immediately. The area was shaped like a V letter, and it was just wide enough that my AoE skills could encompass all the mobs in front of me. It also minimized the amount of mobs that could attack me at once. Despite my apparent superiority, I never forgot the fact that I was battling Level 140 shadow-rank mobs. Even with my Defense I still took over 1000 damage per hit, and a quick calculation showed that I was capable of facetanking two One-horned Rhinos at once, with three being my absolute limit. Any more than that and I would die even if I used Tenacity of the Dead, health pots, and every trick up my sleeves. Again, I must iterate that the One-horned Rhino was a Level 140 shadow-rank mob that hit like a truck. If I weren¡¯t myself, I would have never thought of grinding these mobs en masse with AoEs. ¡­¡­ Clang! I backed into the choke point until my armor squeezed into a gap between the rocks. That was one space occupied. Once the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf arrived and occupied the other space, I could officially begin my 100% safe mob grinding! At the distance, my pet was running toward me while a huge cloud of dust chased behind it. Its tongue was lolling as if it would run out of breath at any moment. The preparations were complete. It was time to mow down these berserk rhinos! Bang bang bang! Three rhinos hit the flat side of my sword as I held the weapon in front of me. I just barely avoided being knocked further to the back. Thank goodness I had enough Strength to keep my balance, or the mobs¡¯ charge could very well knock me out of position and put me in trouble! Swhoosh! Thousand Ice Slash winked into existence and landed right at the center of the mob, dealing damage and freezing dozens of One-horned Rhinos in one go. As I thought, I had chosen a very good choke point. Thousand Ice Slash had a fan-shaped area of effect, and the choke point was almost the perfect size of it. Every hit of the skill dealt about 70k damage to the mobs around, and the splash damage increased this cumulative number by even more. I was pretty sure I could kill an entire group of One-horned Rhinos in just 5 Thousand Ice Slashes. I could never achieve this killing speed and efficiency had I chosen to tackle them one by one. Well, the quest requirement was to kill 1000 One-horned Rhinos and 1000 Fire Lizards, so this was always going to be a long and arduous task one way or another. The good news was that the Level 140 shadow-rank mobs were 24 levels above me and EXP rich, so they were the perfect targets to grind for Level 120! ¡­¡­ Bang! Dust flew everywhere as I murdered an entire ring of mobs with War Crush. Then, I fired a Thousand Ice Slash and just barely absorbed enough HP to tank the next wave. I was trying to fight three One-horned Rhinos at a time, but it really was too much even for me. I had to use Tenacity of the Dead and a health potion to get myself healthy again. Chapter 459: Earth Spiked Beas Satisfied with my current leveling speed, I resolved to hit Level 120 in the next three days. In the meantime, He Yi and Murong Mingyue could manage the guild territory. ¡­¡­ There were Magic Stones and equipment everywhere on the ground, and I decided to keep any equipment that was above the Silver grade. Surprisingly, the Level 140 shadow-rank mobs dropped mostly equipment between Level 115 to Level 125. Once these items became mainstream in the next half a month or so, I could unload them all at Air Force One and earn both money and popularity! Next, I aimed my palm at a One-horned Rhino¡¯s body and used Death Plunder! Swhoosh! A heavy horn appeared in my hand. Huh, I wasn¡¯t expecting to get something like this! Fire Horn: Forging material. A material used to forge chest armor. Chest armor will be imbued with 6% Attack and 10% resistance to fire magic. ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, not bad at all! I¡¯m going to collect as many Fire Horns as I can and unload them at Yamete¡¯s place later. He might have a use for this. I happily used Death Plunder on the bodies one by one, but unfortunately the chances of looting a Fire Horn wasn¡¯t as high as I would¡¯ve liked; only about a 33% chance in general. The better news was that horns stacked, meaning they wouldn¡¯t take many of my inventory slots. I tallied my overall loot. In total, I had collected almost 40 top-tier equipment of varying types. As the players at the foot of the mountain had mentioned earlier, high-level shadow-rank mobs definitely had a chance to drop a top-tier Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment. Two such items were sitting in my bag right now¡ª Purple Heart Dagger (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï): Level 115 dagger. 420~585 Attack, Agility +87, Stamina +82, Tactics +9. Increases user¡¯s physical Attack by 14%. Outstanding Property: 9% chance to ignore Defense when attacking a target. Melody Robe (Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï): Level 115 cloth-armor robe. 245 Defense, 180 Magic Resist, Intelligence +75, Stamina +70, Tactics +7. Outstanding Property: Magic Shield tenacity increased by 15%. Bone Eroding Wristguards (Gold-grade, Outstanding¡ï): Level 120 metal armor wristguards. 275 Defense, 190 Magic Resist, Agility +80, Strength +75, Tactics +10. Outstanding Property: Defense increased by 8%. ¡­¡­ The rhinos had also dropped Phantasmal Magic Stones and Big Magic Stones but unfortunately, it looked like 500 bag slots still weren¡¯t enough to accommodate my needs, not because I couldn¡¯t pick up all the Magic Stones right now, but because I still had to kill another 800 One-horned Rhinos and 1000 Fire Lizards. With my karma and Luck, it was only natural that my bag would be overflowing with equipment by the end of the grind. Hah, the feeling of returning to the city with a truck load of equipment every time I was done with a leveling trip was so awesome! Anyway, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and I continued to sweep through the Dragonspine Basin. By the time we were done, it was already 4:30 pm. During this time, I had successfully killed most of the One-horned Rhinos in the area and fulfilled first of the quest requirements. Right now, the UI displaying the kill count was sitting at 1107 and well over the quest requirement. Moreover, I had leveled up from Level 116, 99% to Level 117, 21%. I was satisfied with this leveling speed to say the least. If there was one small flaw I would like to point out, it would be that I was losing durability, Health Potions and Magic Consumables at an astonishing rate. Only an extraordinary player could undertake such an exhausting and high-consumption task. That being said, my extraordinary effort was rewarded with extraordinary return a normal player could only dream of. I¡¯d picked up over a dozen or so Outstanding items in the process, and seven of them were high-level Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment. They could all be sold for a good price once I returned to the city. So far, this trip was turning out to be an extremely rich one! ¡­¡­ I used Death Plunder on the last One-horned Rhino and got a Fire Horn from it. Currently, 324 Fire Horns were sitting in my bag. I was sure that these high-rank forging materials would be useful to Yamete. I raised my head and gazed to the horizon. The other side of the basin was overflowing with gigantic Fire Lizards, and they were none other than the other mob I had been tasked to kill. Green Dragon Knight Tia was a callous woman for sure; making me run all over the place and kill so many mobs like a tireless worker bee. As I slowly approached a Fire Lizard, its stats appeared in my vision¡ª Fire Lizard (Shadow) Level: 142 Attack: 1670~1850 Defense: 1850 HP: 110000 Skills: Gaze, Crush, Venom Introduction: As the guardians of Dragonspine Basin, these Fire Lizards are extremely heat-resistant because their diet consists mainly of fire-attribute vegetation. Over time, the fire energy accumulating inside their body grew into a thick shell that protects them from any weapon. ¡­¡­ Mn, it was basically the same kind of mob as the One-horned Rhino. The only difference was that its Attack was a tad higher, but its Defense and HP were much lower compared to the One-horned Rhinos. Theoretically this should be a much easier battle, but its skills made me feel a bit apprehensive. Gaze and Venom, huh? If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, trying to AoE down the Fire Lizards would only be harder than the One-horned Rhinos! I raised my arm and threw out a Dragon Slaying Slash! Boom! The green sword aura hit a Fire Lizard in the head and caused it to rush me with a growl immediately. It was extremely quick, so I activated Thunderous Charge before it could get close to me! Swhoosh! A successful stun later, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and I both comboed it with the most damaging skills we had in store. It had lost nearly half its HP in just the blink of an eye. However, as soon as the Fire Lizard broke out of the stun, it stared at me with its gray eyes, my body suddenly immobilized. It had applied the Petrified status! Thankfully, the petrification only lasted for a second, and it could only be performed in close range. Otherwise, it would be practically impossible to defeat this mob! I hacked away at the Fire Lizard until it was finally dead. A second later, I inhaled deeply because the generous mob had dropped a blood-red shield! What a pleasant surprise! Judging from the color of the glow of the shield, it should be a Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment. I strode up to the drop and tried to pick it up, but my senses suddenly alerted me to danger. I immediately backed away and held my sword in front of me! The ambusher came from underground. The scarlet ground suddenly swelled like pimples, and the next moment a couple of spikes suddenly pierced my Purgatory Legguards. It hurts! 3894! WTF is this mob? How did it hit me for so much damage?! I couldn¡¯t see the ambusher because it was still concealed, so I ran forward until I found a red dot on the mini map. I immediately used War Crush on it! Boom boom boom! A powerful shockwave rippled across the ground and caused three damage numbers to rise from a seemingly empty spot on the ground. At the same time, a huge six-legged creature that looked like a giant cockroach crawled out of the ground. It had two bladed forelimbs that spun like spinning drills, and I bet that it was the thing that allowed it to come and go underground as it pleased! The Earth Spike Beast, because this was its name, was a Level 144 shadow-rank mob with 1820~1900 Attack, so it was no wonder that it managed to hit me for so much damage. Moreover, I was certain that its Attack ignored part of my Defense, because if it wasn¡¯t the case it shouldn¡¯t be able to hit me for over 3000 damage. It was just a mob. It could have hidden stats, but it could never equip powerful equipment to boost their Attack and buff themselves with terrifying skills like Martial God. In PvE, a player should have higher Attack and at least equal Defense compared to the mob. That was the key to beating a mob whose HP was way higher than the player¡¯s. In fact, the bigger the Attack gap, the better! ¡­¡­ I met the Earth Spike Beast with a smile and annihilated it with the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf in no time. The mob was Level 144 and shadow-rank, but it was no problem for me. It gave a generous amount of experience when it died. However, the Earth Spike Beast¡¯s appearance had thrown a wrench into my original plan. I was planning to AoE down the Fire Lizards, but there was no way I could handle the Earth Spike Beasts attacking me from range at the same time. Therefore, I had to clean the Earth Spike Beasts first before I tackled the Fire Lizards. I pondered for a moment before sending the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf away to bait out the Earth Spike Beasts. The Earth Spike Beasts were far, far slower than the Fire Lizards, so that gave me an opportunity to exploit their weakness. "Go, little wolf!" My pet bounced forward at my order and entered the sea of mobs. It wasn¡¯t long before a horde of Fire Lizards started chasing after it with everything they got. Its tongue lolling beside its mouth, the little wolf ran like its life depended on it until a strange noise suddenly came from beneath the ground. As expected, it had successfully baited out its first Earth Spike Beast. It was soon followed by the second, the third, the fourth¡­ by the time the little wolf had aggroed almost 500 Fire Lizards, seven or eight Earth Spike Beasts were chasing after it as well. I stuck to the plan since it wasn¡¯t an impossible amount of mobs. Once the little wolf had lured the Fire Lizards a sufficient distance away, I recalled it back into my pet space! Swhoosh! The little wolf disappeared, and with it, the mobs¡¯ aggro. At the same time, I charged into the middle Earth Spike Beasts and stomped the ground with War Crush! After the skill had finished casting, seven or eight Earth Spikes immediately jutted my way in retaliation! I chuckled and assumed a Guard stance. I already figured out that the Earth Spike had a cooldown of around 2 minutes or so. It was the only skill that could threaten me, so I could slaughter them with impunity after they used it. Chiang chiang chiang... Sparks flew everywhere as the rock spikes hit the Heaven-stealing Sword in succession and shook my body greatly. At the same time, a series of damage numbers floated above my head¡ª 673! 231! 1! 46! ¡­¡­ The amount of damage done depended on how well the player guarded an attack, and a perfect Guard could reduce the amount of damage taken to just 1 damage. That very rarely happened, however. Despite the focus fire, the Earth Spike Beasts failed to delete more than 5000 HP from my health bar. Not even bothering to heal myself, I zigzagged toward a nearby Earth Spike Beast and positioned myself so that its gigantic size would block its brethren from getting to me, minimizing contact and the amount of damage I would take. Everything else after this was easy! Swhoosh! I resummoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and restarted the slaughterfest! ¡­¡­ Chapter 460: Magic Piercing Punch "Mn, I¡¯m heading out at 9 pm tonight," Beiming Xue said carefully. "9 pm? That¡¯s pretty late." I hesitated. "What for? It¡¯s not exactly safe for you to head out alone at that time, is it?" I didn¡¯t want to interfere with Beiming Xue¡¯s personal business, but I didn¡¯t want something bad to happen to her either. That was why I couldn¡¯t help but voice my concern. Beiming Xue smiled. "Relax, I¡¯m not meeting an online pal or something. Why would I need to when the strongest, most handsome and hot-blooded man in all the servers is already by my side?" I replied expressionlessly, "Right. Now tell me why you¡¯re heading out at that time.¡± "Mn, it¡¯s like this. It¡¯s almost been half a year since I left Wuxi, and earlier today a group of my high school friends came to Suzhou to have fun. Since they¡¯re leaving tomorrow, they wanted me to join them for a late dinner." "I see¡­" I thought for a moment before replying, "I don¡¯t see any problems with that. Take care of yourself." "I will." The line went silent for a couple of seconds before Beiming Xue spoke up again, "Big bro, are you really going to let me go alone? Aren¡¯t you worried at all?" "Fuck, what am I supposed to say? It¡¯s a gathering between you and your classmates! I have no place there." "It¡¯s fine, just come with me, please? One of my prettier classmates wants to meet you in person!" "Oh? Who¡¯s that?" "Come with me to the dinner and you¡¯ll get to know her. Oh right, what are you doing right now?" "I¡¯m grinding mobs. I should be able to finish by 9 pm, but we¡¯ll see!" "Okay. Do your best, big bro!" "You too!" ¡­¡­ I cut the call after exchanging words of encouragement with each other. It really was a bit inappropriate for me to participate in Beiming Xue¡¯s private gathering with her classmates, but on the other hand, I couldn¡¯t trust her to take care of herself completely. In this day and age you never knew what a person was really thinking. Although Beiming Xue was fairly mature compared to her classmates, and I did believe in her ability to protect herself, that didn¡¯t mean the youngsters wouldn¡¯t be tempted to make a move on her. She was a beautiful girl after all. There was no way in hell I was going to let her get hurt again, and anyone who wanted to be my brother-in-law had to survive me first! Back to the action, the Earth Spike Beasts were dying one after another. Despite being concealed shadow-rank mobs, they didn¡¯t drop anything besides a generous amount of experience. Stingy bastards. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf left again to aggro the mobs, and this time it was almost petrified and mobbed. After barely stumbling back to my side and occupying a spot, I launched a Thousand Ice Slash to the Fire Lizards¡¯ faces and taught them a lesson from hell! I then followed up with a War Crush. It was just as devastating as the first attack. Everything was progressing exactly as I imagined it would be. The Fire Lizards dropped like flies, gave me a ton of experience and dropped a lot of good items. The massive boost in experience was what I really enjoyed. Killing mobs that were 25 levels above mine had turned out to be far more beneficial than I initially thought. If I could continue solo grinding shadow-rank mobs that were Level 140 or above, then the day I hit Level 150 couldn¡¯t be too far away. For now though, I should focus on hitting Level 120. Looking too far into the future would only serve to demoralize myself. ¡­¡­ Inside the guild channel, the gang was grinding and chatting merrily¡ª Gui Guzi: "Fireblade Cavalry, assemble! Is everyone here yet?" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: "More or less. I¡¯m replacing the three riders who had to log off for private business. What are we doing this time?" Gui Guzi: "We¡¯re tackling the Level 132 Ice Plains Wolves in the middle section of Dragonbone Mountain Range today. These mobs yield great experience, have great attack speed but their max Attack isn¡¯t too heaven-defying. Anyway, I¡¯ll aggro about 100 Ice Plains Wolves or so in a line, and the rest of you will charge them back and forth until they¡¯re all dead. Make sure to split them up so that no one person is taking too much damage at a time, and remember, don¡¯t face-tank the mobs even if your Defense is doubled by Knight God! Quick and safe leveling is our motto, alright?" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: "Okay! Brothers and sisters, prepare for battle!" High Fighting Spirits: "Fuck, the Fireblade Cavalry are having one helluva time. When will we be able to join their ranks? Sigh, I should¡¯ve chosen to become a magic knight back then¡­" He Yi chuckled. "Relax, the warrior¡¯s ray of hope lies in Level 150, and even then, Level 150 is just the middle point. We still have a long way to go!" Li Chengfeng said, "Yeah, the guild leader is right. We¡¯re not even Level 120 yet, so there¡¯s still a long road ahead of us. Warriors will get mounts eventually, we only need patience. The advantage of Magic Knight and Wanderer won¡¯t last forever. Xu Yang: "Where is our archer squad, by the way? Summoning Lil Beiming to the chat!" Beiming Xue chuckled in response. "We¡¯re grinding Dark Beastmen at the edge of Black Coast. What¡¯s wrong?" "Dark Beastmen?" Xu Yang¡¯s voice sounded shaky. "You mean those Level 140 shadow-rank mobs? I was nearly one-shot by a Dark Beastman once. Those things are hard to kill even one-on-one. Are you sure you¡¯re doing okay?" Beiming Xue giggled. "Of course. We have Shock Arrows, Multi Arrows, and Volleys. Those Dark Beastmen can¡¯t even get close to us. We¡¯ve all leveled up once in three hours, and we¡¯ve killed a Purple Gold Rank beastman boss and got a lot of good stuff. You have a problem, Big Brother Xu Yang?" Xu Yang replied tearfully, "Yes I do. Please add me to your party¡­" Everyone was having a good time right now. Ignoring Tactics, Gui Guzi¡¯s Knight God buffed all allies¡¯ Attack and Defense by 50%, and Beiming Xue¡¯s Arrow God, by 50% Attack and 20% attack speed. Both these Famous General Skills were so amazing that the two 40-man parties were leveling several times faster than almost everyone else! It was a good thing, of course. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was thoroughly exploiting the two powerful skills to strengthen themselves. In the future, who could possibly fight against Gui Guzi¡¯s 40 high-level and well-equipped Fireblade Cavalry and Beiming Xue¡¯s 40 super archers? ¡­¡­ It was at this moment He Yi smiled and said, "Alright, alright. Xu Yang, go party Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Pure Love, and so on and gather a total of 38 players. Then, we find a good map and grind some levels! I¡¯ll be the party leader and carry you all with Royal Road!" Chaos Moon replied happily, "Yay! Sister He Yi¡¯s going to carry us personally! Royal Road is awesome!" High Fighting Spirits chuckled. "No problem, give me a moment to log out and drink some water, because once I come back online I¡¯m not jumping off the guild leader¡¯s train until I die¡­" Pure Love said, "Mn mn, I¡¯m coming right away! By the way, where is Big Brother Lu Chen right now? I really want to party up with him¡­" Murong Mingyue replied helplessly, "You mean you want to seduce him." Pure Love replied embarrassedly, "Oh you! You don¡¯t say such things out loud, you know!" Me: "Fuck¡­" Li Chengfeng: "Very good, the man in question has finally appeared. Feel free to tease him all you want girls. It¡¯s rare our vice leader shows his face in the guild channel, so bring your torture devices, your candles, your leather whips¡­" Me: "You guys have fun. I¡¯m gonna leave¡­" Everyone laughed heartily. ¡­¡­ At Dragonspine Basin. When it was past 6 pm, I finally killed enough One-horned Rhinos and Fire Lizards to meet the quota. The battle had lasted almost 7 hours, and it only took this short because of my powerful DPS. A different player might not have been able to finish this in 70 hours, not to mention that barring top-tier players, there was almost no one who could withstand the mobs¡¯ assault. I checked my bag and counted over 300 equipment drops in total. Among them, 47 were of the Dark Gold grade, and dozens were Outstanding. My Luck played a huge factor here. These items alone should net me at least 100k RMB. In games, the pyramid of power was very clear and well-defined: the players with the strongest equipment and skill should always be placed at the top. If they put their heart into it, then they could earn 100k every day without any pressure whatsoever. Meanwhile, those at the center of the pyramid felt like they struck a 500 million lottery when they found Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment, and the ones at the bottom¡­ I didn¡¯t need to elaborate, did I? The cost of Health Potions and Magic Consumables alone was enough to make them cry. ¡­¡­ The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and I left the center of Dragonspine Basin and returned to the fringes. Even from a distance, we could hear the green dragon¡¯s low rumbles. As expected, Dragon Knight Tia hadn¡¯t moved from her original spot, and she was looking a bit healthier than before. As it turned out, the Dragon Knight¡¯s self-recovery ability was pretty good. "You¡¯re back." A ray of hope entered Tia¡¯s features. I nodded. "I¡¯ve killed 1000 One-horned Rhinos and 1000 Fire Lizards and completed the task you requested of me. Have I proven myself?" "You have." Tia nodded with a smile. "Young warrior, you truly are the hero who was praised by Princess Karinshan herself. Both your strength and your courage gladden me greatly. Now come and receive the reward you deserve!" Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the S+ Rank quest [Tia¡¯s Trial]. You have gained 1700000 EXP, 40000 gold, 12000 Reputation and the quest reward: "Magic Piercing Punch"! ¡­¡­ Hmm? Magic Piercing Punch? Pleasantly surprised, I opened the bag and discovered that the Magic Piercing Punch was a light purple skillbook. When I checked out its description, my heart immediately started pumping excitedly¡ª Magic Piercing Punch: Gather your qi and attack the target with everything you got. Deals massive damage to the target and has a 100% chance to interrupt their skill. Level Requirement: 110. Class Requirement: Warrior, Magic Knight ¡­¡­ Hell yes, this was exactly the skill I needed right now. A 100% chance to disrupt my opponent¡¯s skill? This was going to be OP. From now on, I didn¡¯t need to fear any boss''s ultimate anymore, especially since they usually took time to channel. Everything was fine as long as I could hit them with the Magic Piercing Punch during this time! Swhoosh! The skill book vanished from my hands, and a new skill button appeared in my skill window. I had to check it out right now! I used the skill. Blood red flames abruptly enveloped my fist, and I threw a punch in front of me! Boom! Chapter 461: Earth Lizard Dragon Moreover, Magic Piercing Punch wasn¡¯t limited to interrupting magic spells only. It could be used to interrupt any skill, meaning that I could interrupt a Charge, a Triple Slash, and more. It was one of the best skills someone could have if they were forced to mount a do-or-die counterattack... ¡­¡­ Next, I checked my experience bar and felt my happiness grow. I was almost Level 117 70% before I turned in the quest, and now I had risen to Level 117 89%. Barring any accidents, I should be able to reach Level 118 today. This was definitely good news. "So¡­" Dragon Knight Tia looked at me and said solemnly, "Young warrior, you have passed my trial, but your real challenge has just begun. Are you sure you want to challenge the mighty Earth Lizard Dragon? It is a kind of giant dragon, and it possesses incredible destructive power. I urge you to think over your decision carefully¡­" I nodded, but in my head I didn¡¯t think much of it. Worst case scenario, I die and lose a level. This boss was a Spirit Rank boss, and these days it was incredibly difficult to find one. There was no chance I was going to let this opportunity slip past me. So I nodded. "Yes, I¡¯m ready!" "Very well!" Tia smiled before continuing in a solemn tone. "I am poisoned, and the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s blood is the only thing that can cure me. Therefore, your job is to kill the Earth Lizard Dragon and bring back a bottle of its blood to me. If you succeed, I will reward you with an extraordinarily generous reward! My life is in your hands, young warrior¡­" I nodded. Ding~! System Notice: You have accepted the main quest [Kill the Earth Lizard Dragon]! (Current Quest Rank: SS) Description: Venture into the deeper parts of Dragonspine Basin and seek out the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s lair. Find the Earth Lizard Dragon, kill it and bring a bottle of its fresh blood back to Tia so that her affliction may be cured. Besides that, you may bring the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s head back to Sky City¡¯s adventurer guild and receive a bounty reward! ¡­¡­ In fact, after the boss was dead, why not dissect it on the spot and take everything it had? If even a pig¡¯s body contained untold treasures, there was no reason to believe a giant dragon would be any worse. Yes, its skin could be used to make armor, its fat could be used as fuel, its bones could be used to make medicine, weapons, and more! Long story short, the royal road lay in maximizing the utilization of resources! It was at this moment Tia passed me a glass container. "Use this to hold the dragon¡¯s blood, thank you!" "Mn!" "Also¡­" Tia¡¯s hand slipped into her waist again and pulled out three bottles of green-colored medicine. "These are poisons made by our royal pharmacist. It can suppress the beast¡¯s regeneration speed. The Earth Lizard Dragon has incredible health regeneration, so this poison may be of use to you!" "Thank you!" My eyes lit up when I accepted the bottles and saw its description. It was incredibly good stuff¡ª Voodoo Poison: Can be applied to user¡¯s weapon. Applied Poison effect lasts for 60 minutes. When attacking a target, there is a 40% chance to poison them for a duration of 10 minutes. During this time, the target cannot regenerate health, and they will lose 0.01% remaining HP per second. Level Requirement: 100. ¡­¡­ Hmm, it stops a dragon¡¯s regeneration and reduces their HP by 0.01% every second. This should shorten the duration of the boss fight by a lot. My confidence surged even higher now that I had the Voodoo Poison from Tia. With the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf by my side, I left immediately to meet the legendary Earth Lizard Dragon and see if it was strong enough to withstand my wrath. I leaped back into Dragonspine Basin and checked my equipment durability. After grinding for an entire day, the Heaven-stealing Sword was sitting at 29% durability, and the rest of my equipment was at 10% to 25%. It wasn¡¯t much, but it should be enough for one boss fight. In fact, the durability dropped this quickly only because I had chosen to AoE down the mobs and finish the quest as soon as possible. It usually dropped a lot slower when fighting against a single target at a time. I circled around the Fire Lizards and One-horned Rhinos¡¯ area and ventured deeper into Dragonspine Basin. As mentioned by Tia, a huge dragon cave soon appeared at the horizon. Its interior was completely dark, and it was impossible to tell how deep it was from outside. The corner of my lips turned upward. This was a giant dragon, and I was going to solo it myself. To be honest, I had no idea how this fight would turn out. I could balance out the odds somewhat by recruiting a couple of helpers, but I didn¡¯t feel like disturbing the others today, and if too many people decided to join in on the boss fight, loot distribution was sure to break a couple of hearts or more. That was why I would rather do this myself. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle rustle... My war boots hit soft soil as I slowly entered the cave with the Heaven-stealing Sword raised in front of me. I turned on all the visual effects of my equipment and illuminated the small area around me. Out of all the items I was wearing, my Heaven-stealing Sword shone the brightest of them all. It was bright enough to illuminate everything within 10 yards of me. The ground was covered in animal bones, and a disgusting stench emanated from all of them. I also heard a vague growl coming from deep inside the cave. It wasn¡¯t the sound of a generic mob, but that of a giant dragon! My Heaven-stealing Sword shook slightly because my hands were shaking with excitement. Giant dragon boss, here I come! A few minutes of walking later, I arrived at the deeper parts of the cave. I quickly discovered that the cave was more of an underground maze. There were thick stalactites hanging on the ceiling, and there were paths leading down every direction. My war boots made a wet, dripping sound every time I stepped on a pool of hard water. I brought up the mini map and noted that the place was as huge as I imagined it to be. The water of this cave had punctured holes on the walls, and I could vaguely spot venomous snakes, spiders and other critters in them. My mouth opened a bit as I thought to myself: Man, this place sure is a cursed place! The deeper I went, the dryer the air became. Eventually, all the paths converged into one giant path that led to the deepest part of the dragon cave. I could hear the boss''s breathing growing louder and louder. I¡¯m almost there! Every hair on the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was standing on end. Even that goof had noticed the huge threat right ahead of us. Thud, thud, thud... I continued forward until a surge of heat abruptly brushed past my face. When I turned the corner, I saw a huge hall with a gigantic dragon at the center of it¡ª The Earth Lizard Dragon was curled into a ball like a small hill of scaly flesh. It looked like it was taking a nap, but unlike most creatures, a jet of flame was exiting its nostrils every time it breathed out. Its lightly-swaying tail seemed to indicate that it was in a fairly light sleep, and at the back of the boss lay a small mountain of literal treasure. There was gold, Big Magic Stones, Phantasmal Magic Stones; even the legendary gems such as Cyanfire Gems and Dragonstone Gems! My eyes turned into a pair of gigantic dollar signs. If I could kill the Earth Lizard Dragon, its hoard alone could send me to the realm of ecstasy, let alone the rest of the reward. There was plenty of gold in that small hill of treasure, but the high-level gems were what I really wanted. It was a pile of wealth that could tempt any man or woman into action! ¡­¡­ Crack! It was a soft cracking noise, but it was one that deflated my euphoria in an instant and filled me with horror. My bastard pet actually stepped on a dead bone! There was no way the boss wouldn¡¯t hear this! Just as I thought, the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s drooping eyelids abruptly opened. Crimson eyes filled with unimaginable fury, it abruptly opened its mouth and launched a blazing breath straight at our direction! I backed off quickly and saved myself by dashing behind a stone wall, but the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf wasn¡¯t nearly as lucky. The fiery breath had burned off every hair on its body and deleted 14672 HP in one go! I was flabbergasted to say the least. Holy shit, its Magic Attack is out of this world! I dashed out of my hiding spot and Charged the Earth Lizard Dragon without hesitation! Whoosh! MISS! I wasn¡¯t able to stun it. I immediately followed up with a triple-hit combo: Ice Ray + Desperate Gambit + basic attack! Clang clang clang! Sparks actually flew off the point of contact. It felt like I was hitting solid metal. At the same time, three damage numbers rose into the air¡ª 2272! 3091! 1284! ¡­¡­ Fuck, what ridiculous Defense! Even my basic attack was only strong enough to deal 1284 damage. Just how much Defense does this fucker have?! The good news was that my second hit had poisoned the Earth Lizard Dragon, sealing its HP regeneration and reducing its HP every second. I still had a great chance of killing it. "Roar!" The giant dragon roared angrily and raised its front paw. Then, the mountain of flesh swung at me! I raised my sword but quickly discovered that I couldn¡¯t block the attack at all. I was sent flying into the air as pain exploded across my shoulders! 6894! Holy shit, this motherfucker can kill me in two hits or three! What kind of Attack is this? Shocked, I immediately turned around and ran toward the exit. Trying to fight the boss head-on would only result in death, the only way to kill it was to exploit this terrain! The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was a loyal and courageous pet, so it charged toward the Earth Lizard Dragon and bought me a couple of precious seconds. Then, the boss flattened it like a pancake before throwing its carcass into its mouth. It was terrible to say the least. I ran out of the hall with all my might before looking to the back. I aimed at the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s head and tossed a Dragon Slaying Slash at it! Bang! 3092! Huh, Dragon Slaying Slash can pierce its Defense? The long haul it is then! I also took the opportunity to check the boss''s stats, but sadly I saw nothing except an incredibly intimidating description¡ª Earth Lizard Dragon Rajes (Spirit Rank Boss) Level: 150 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: After the giant lizards who lived underground consumed the essence of the earth, they grew a dragon soul and became a member of the giant dragon race. The Earth Lizard Dragon Rajes was one of them. Rajes was a violent creature who once slaughtered a dozen or so human villages and killed countless Dragon Slayers from Sky City. Its infamy had cowed the warriors of Sky City since time immemorial. Chapter 462: Killing a Dragon ¡­¡­ Bang! Bang! Bang! The Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s gigantic body smashed through the stone wall. With an enraged roar, it let out another blast of dragon breath. I was about 30 yards away from it, so I had enough space and time to reach cover. I suddenly reversed course as I accelerated, darting toward the nearby clustered stalactites so I could borrow them as cover. Given my reaction speed, it would be pretty easy to keep on dodging its breath attack. Hissss... A scorching hot pain up from my arm. Even though I had done my best to dodge, it had still grazed my forearm, causing me to take more than 2000 points of damage. I turned around to look at the long black scar on the ground, undoubtedly left behind by the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s breath. Hmmm, a diagonal dodge wasn¡¯t quite enough to completely evade the attack, so next time I would have to make sure I wasn¡¯t in the 60-degree arc cone in the middle of the Earth Lizard Dragon. That way I could escape unscathed with absolute certainty. Dragon Slaying Slashes flew from my sword continuously as a barrage of attacks slowly whittled down the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s health. The Dragon Slaying Slash had already become my number one treasure when it came to killing bosses. As a warrior who couldn¡¯t use either traps or magic, I didn¡¯t have a lot of freedom to maneuver when fighting a boss. And so, the Dragon Slaying Slash, a long-range attack with incredible power, had given me a lot more flexibility to kite and maneuver around bosses. In fact, I could confidently say that this skill would allow me to take on any melee-based bosses! The Earth Lizard Dragon roared furiously as it reared up and swiped at the stalactites separating the two of us with its claws, crushing the stones into powder. Fuck, this boss is way too ferocious! The way this map was designed didn¡¯t allow for the exploitation of any bugs, so the player could only rely on their mechanics and maneuvering to kill it! ¡­¡­ Thud, thud, thud, thud¡­ Huge claws relentlessly pounded against the ground as the Earth Lizard Dragon leapt onto the uppermost part of the cave. It furiously launched attacks at me from above, its huge body lunging forward before its jaws snapped wide open. The stink of sulfur pervaded my nose before it shot out a stream of dragon breath at me once more. However, I had already anticipated its attack and moved out of harm¡¯s way the instant it tried to breathe on me. Even then, it still tried to bite at me with a snap of its mighty jaws. Its fangs collided against each other with a mighty crash, causing my heart to race with shock. It didn¡¯t even give me a chance to catch my breath as it swung those lethal claws at my face. Claws as sharp as razors clashed against the Heaven-stealing Sword consecutively and I was sent reeling backward. A huge chunk of my health also went flying away at the same. But this damned lizard refused to let up as its head lunged forward again. It wasn¡¯t trying to bite me because I could see a ball of scorching fire gathering in the back of its throat. Its neck began to swell, and I could immediately tell that this blast would be fatal if I let it hit me! The dragon claw smashed into my left arm and pressed it against the wall. I couldn¡¯t move and I was suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling of impending doom. I sheathed the Heaven-stealing Sword with a speed that defied thought as streams of fiery red energy began to swirl around my iron gauntlet. I clenched my teeth and fiercely smashed my fist into the giant dragon¡¯s mouth! Magic Piercing Punch! Boom! The mighty punch rattled the Earth Lizard Dragon so hard that I rattled the brain in its skull. The dragon breath it had been about to spew died in its throat as it shook its head vigorously! 2563! Tsk, tsk, this Magic Piercing Punch really isn¡¯t bad at all! It did a significant amount of damage while also interrupting skills. It had dealt even more damage than an all-out basic attack from the Heaven-stealing Sword! As the Earth Lizard Dragon staggered backward, I swiftly took advantage of the situation and whipped out the Heaven-stealing Sword out. I battered it with a flurry of blows, ensuring that the dragon remained poisoned, before turning around and slipping away like a human eel. As I backed away, I launched several more Dragon Slaying Slashes at it, shaving off even more of its health. I was very confident that the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s HP was above 200000, so I¡¯d probably have to wait until next year if I wanted to wait for the poison to kill it. "Graaaaawwwwrrrr!" The Earth Dragon Lizard let out a howl filled with rage after suffering such great humiliation. Its mouth suddenly yawned open as a never-ending stream of fire seemed to pour from its throat. As it shook its head, it spewed fire all over the cave, setting it alight in a sea of flames. And I¡­ just so happened to be smack dab in the middle of these flames! Even though I was hiding behind the forest of stalactites, the scorching flames swirling all around me were causing my HP to drop like a rock! 4023! 4284! 4227! ¡­¡­ I hurriedly used Tenacity of the Dead and chugged down a Rank 9 Health Potion, barely dragging myself back from death¡¯s door! Before I could even breathe a sigh of relief, the Earth Lizard Dragon charged toward me with incredible swiftness. As it reared up in front of me, it raised one giant claw high in the air before smashing down on top of me. Bang! My entire body shook violently as I flew into the corner like a kite whose string had been cut. I used Guard, but that blow still sent me flying! This Earth Lizard Dragon had at least twice the Strength that I did! If not, its blows wouldn¡¯t be so overbearing! I rolled out of the corner like an unkillable cockroach the moment my body hit the ground. As I flipped off the ground and sped away, the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s skull smashed into the huge stone behind me just half a second later! Fucking hell! If it was any normal player and not as someone as quick as me, they would have been reduced to a bloody paste right then and there! "Graaawwrrrr¡­" The Earth Lizard Dragon roared like a bloodthirsty beast before it came barreling toward me once again. Its mouth stretched wide open as it prepared to unleash another blast of dragon breath! As I stared at the dragon¡¯s mouth, I began counting down in my head. Once the timer in my head hit zero, my war boots abruptly stomped against a stalactite with a thud! My body flew through the air like a bolt of lightning. I had flown out of the 60-degree arc blast! While I just barely dodged its flaming breath in the air, I swung the Heaven-stealing Sword backward! Dragon Slaying Slash! Bang! 3874! I hit it right on the nose! Dragon Slaying Slash wasn¡¯t a skill that needed to lock onto an enemy, so I didn¡¯t even need to see the enemy to fire off a slash at it. Since the Earth Lizard Dragon was a bright red spot on my minimap, I was easily able to calculate its position without even physically looking at it. This technique resembled blind-sniping in the fps game, Counter-Strike, in which the player would use his instincts and experience to deduce the position of an enemy player and pre-fire as soon as they peeked out the corner. It was a reaction so fast that it exceeded the speed of thought, and it was this style of play that would give me the most time to flee and reposition myself. Ten minutes flew past in the blink of an eye, and I once again summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf which had already died once. I took control of the little wolf¡¯s movements while using Dragon Slaying Slash to batter the Earth Lizard Dragon simultaneously. This style of play instantly made it two times more difficult to execute my moves perfectly, but it also made this boss fight much safer for me. The greedy wolf let out a low growl as it sped toward the Earth Lizard Dragon in a zigzag pattern. Thankfully, this Earth Lizard Dragon was a landbound dragon. If it was a flying dragon, my dreams of using the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf as a meatshield would be nothing more than wishful thinking. The originally quiet and serene cave shook with thunderous explosions. The cyan energy waves projected by my Dragon Slaying Slash flashed across the cave like lightning bolts as the dragon¡¯s roars intermixed with the sound of fierce combat. All of these sounds melded together into a mournful dirge that seemed to be a requiem specially composed for this vicious Earth Lizard Dragon. ¡­¡­ My senses were heightened as every single cell in my body focused on this fight. I ducked and weaved away from its pursuit as my feet drew an "S" on the ground. My mind remained completely calm and composed, it was as tranquil as the smooth surface of a lake. I had to be able to maintain this focus and composure in order to perform this perfect multitasking. The pathing of the greedy wolf was absolutely something that deserved to be studied. It could not allow the boss to evade its zigzag blocking, but it also couldn¡¯t be too bold in cutting off the boss''s movement. If he made a single mistake, the Greedy Wolf would end up aggroing the boss, and it wouldn¡¯t last more than a few swipes of the claw. This sort of strategy actually wasn¡¯t too different from the ancient way of kings. The ruler had to control his subjects with a delicate hand. He could not oppress them but he also had to uphold the strict laws of the country. The king had to strike a delicate balance between freedom and order, happiness and stability. My current battle strategy really followed the same principles and it was if the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was toying with the Earth Lizard Dragon at this moment. It continued to get in the way of its movement, but the moment it seemed like the dragon was about to smite it, it immediately fled away to get rid of all the aggro before returning again to frustrate the dragon. Even though I had managed to pull this off, there was still no way to avoid the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s scorching dragon breath. My health continued to drop while I was trapped in this sea of fire and I was practically dancing along the edge of a cliff as I kited it. This boss hunt was exceedingly difficult, and it felt like I could die at any second. I had to continuously charge at the dragon to apply the poison, I had to Guard at crucial moments, and I also had to know exactly when to block an attack or use the greedy wolf to impede the dragon¡¯s movements. I was applying nearly all of my mechanical skill and control to execute each and every move and it felt as if I was rising to a whole new level. However, my health pots continued to disappear from my inventory at a furious rate in spite of my superlative skill. The Earth Lizard Dragon was simply moving too quickly and its attack power was so overwhelming that it left me barely clinging onto life. All in all, killing this boss was going to tire me to death before I actually kicked the bucket. Beep! It was at this precise moment that I received a message from Beiming Xue: "Big bro, it¡¯s nearly eight! Have you finished getting ready to accompany me to the student gathering?" I looked at the boss''s HP bar. It still had 41% of its health remaining. I could probably kill it if I kept up my relentless attacks for the next hour. So I replied: "Yes, finish your preparations and get dressed. I¡¯ll probably finish up before 9, and I¡¯ll go pick you up after that. I shouldn¡¯t be too late." "Okay! Big bro, what are you doing now? "Lemme send you a video¡­" "Oh?" I shared my vision with her so that Beiming Xue could also see what I saw. She instantly let out a startled cry, "Wah, what a huge dragon! Big bro, you really are slaying a dragon¡­" "Mn, aren¡¯t I strong? If it drops any leather equipment, I¡¯ll give it to you!" "Heh! Big bro, I love you to bitsss!" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue went offline soon as I continued my struggle. The Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s HP slowly dwindled while I danced on the edge of a sword. The dragon constantly hounded me as I stunned it with Thunderous Charge time and again. I also kept using Magic Piercing Punch at crucial moments to get me out of trouble. My confidence was rising. If I hadn¡¯t learned Magic Piercing Punch before fighting this dragon, I would have already died countless deaths. Time slowly flowed by as the dragon nest soon became dotted with huge craters. The entirety of the cave was scorched black by dragon fire and the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s health bar was swiftly falling to zero! My Dragon Slaying Slash wasn¡¯t an instant-cast skill, so I couldn¡¯t simply keep firing it off undisturbed. I could only grab myself a chance to use it after ten seconds of running around for my life. In sum, I could only deal 40k damage in a minute, 400k damage in ten, and 4m damage in a hundred minutes. Since I¡¯d been doing this for more than an hour, I was keenly aware of how ridiculous the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s health was. It had, at the very least, surpassed 3 million, and it was probably even higher than that. When the clock struck 8:47, the dragon¡¯s health finally fell to less than 5%. But I also started to tense up. Everything would be decided in these next few instants. The closer I got to victory, the more vigilant I had to be. I couldn¡¯t afford any slip-ups! A glittering cyan blade formed in the air before it exploded against the dragon¡¯s head. The Earth Lizard Dragon had to be completely sick of this skill by now. It roared as it rushed forward, but the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s interference meant that it could not reach me with its claws or fangs. Furthermore, I was able to easily dodge its dragon breath by now. As I watched the boss''s heath slowly whittle down to zero, my heart started pounding faster and faster. 4%! 3%! 2%! 1%! When the boss''s health dropped to a tiny sliver, I grinned! The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf blocked its way and I used my ultimate technique at the same moment the Earth Lizard Dragon was charging up its breath attack! A beam of purple light rushed toward the sky as countless streams of energy swirled around the Heaven-stealing Sword. The image of a purple dragon soon formed around the sword and as I slashed forward, the purple dragon roared! Boom! Boom! Boom! The Purple Dragon Howl exploded out of my sword and the Earth Lizard Dragon wailed miserably! It was at this moment that this Level 150 boss finally fell to my blade! Whoosh! Chapter 463: Silver Dragon Ring I took out the empty bottle Tia had given me earlier and filled it with the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s blood while I was daydreaming. After that, I moved the boss''s head aside and revealed the item drops below. First, there was the legendary Purple Crystal. A high-quality Purple Crystal could sell for a maximum of 1000 gold, or 1000 RMB, or 3 packs of rice worth 10 RMB with pork ribs and chicken drumstick in it every day for a whole month. ¡­¡­ Next was equipment. The Earth Lizard Dragon had dropped four items in total, and some of them shone with prismatic light, immediately betraying their Outstanding status at the very least. It didn¡¯t come as a surprise though. With 22 Luck, it would be stranger not to get an Outstanding equipment. The first equipment drop was black metal-armor legguards. They were cool, dignified, craggy and shaped like a dragon¡¯s blade. The second item was a bright sword with a translucent blade surrounded by tiny rings of wind. There were also runes floating above its surface. I knew at first glance that it was no ordinary weapon at all. The third drop were leather-armor wristguards glowing with dark light, and the fourth and last item was the rarest equipment drop to get in the entire game, a ring! My heart thumped wildly with excitement. I was certain that some of these items were Spirit-grade or above. In fact, I was certain that most of them had reached the Spirit grade! First, I picked up the black metal armor legguards and waved my hand over them, revealing their incredible stats¡ª Battle Soul Poleyn (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 495 Magic Resist: 420 Strength: +125 Stamina: +120 Tactics: +24 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 15% Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 1500 Outstanding Property: Iron Wall, increases user¡¯s Defense by 18% Slots: 3 Level Requirement: 120 ¡­¡­ Holy shit, 4-star Outstanding Spirit-grade legguards! I¡¯m rich! I almost couldn¡¯t look away from the shiny equipment. I never thought that legguards could be this powerful. Not only did they boost a ton of stats, they also had a passive that increased Attack by 15%, max HP by 1500 and an Outstanding Property that increased Defense by 18%! That was all three major stats taken care of! These Battle Soul Poleyn should really be called the King Poleyn instead... I put the Level 120 legguards in my bag. No way I was going to give away something this good to anyone, especially since I was just a tiny bit away from hitting Level 120. Attack: 600~845 Strength: +110 Stamina: +124 Tactics: +19 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 35% Passive: 20% splash damage Outstanding Property: Attack power of wind-type skills increased by 50% Slots: 3 Outstanding Property: when attacking a target, 10% chance to trigger Hurricane and cut down all enemies in 10x10 yard square Level Requirement: 120 ¡­¡­ Whirlwind! Is this the fabled Whirlwind Sword? My eyes lit up. I had read about this on the forums before, but I thought that it was just false rumors at the time. But not only was it real, I had gotten the best version of the Whirlwind Sword I could hope for, a 4-star Outstanding one! Not long ago, it was said on the forums that a Moon Eternal Corporation employee who worked at the England server leaked the Level 120 signature weapons of all classes to the public. The Whirlwind Sword was none other than the signature weapon of a Level 120 wanderer. The base damage and stat boosts all matched the leaked info, but there were some differences. After all, my drop was the 4-star Outstanding version. The lousiest, non-Outstanding Whirlwind only had damage and stat boosts, nothing else, so I was very lucky to get the absolute unit in my hands. Currently, Whirlwind was a god-tier weapon for all wanderers. In fact, any fighter who got their hands on such a weapon would become a godlike fighter! Apparently, there was also a Level 120 signature weapon for warriors called "Invincible", but its stats were currently unknown. The magic knight¡¯s weapon was a spear-type weapon called "Rainbow", the assassin¡¯s weapon was a dagger called "Heartless", the archer¡¯s weapon was a longbow called "Thunder", the mage¡¯s weapon was a scepter called "Bone of God", the tactician¡¯s weapon was called a fan called "Decide", and a bard¡¯s weapon was a flute called "Water Bamboo¡±. All these items had their own hidden stat boosts. Whirlwind, Invincible and Rainbow added Attack and Defense, Heartless added armor penetration, Thunder increased ranged attack damage, Bone of God increased magic damage, Decide added a ton of Tactics and boosted the effectiveness of stratagems, and finally Water Bamboo boosted the effectiveness of a bard¡¯s buffs by 50%. With the emergence of Whirlwind, there was no doubt that the world was entering the era of signature weapons. Plenty of high-level players were definitely going for the classes¡¯ Level 120 signature weapons to achieve their maximum potential. ¡­¡­ I stared at Whirlwind for a moment. Technically speaking, it was the Wanderer¡¯s signature weapon, but since it didn¡¯t have a Class Requirement it could be used by other melee classes as well. Unfortunately, it was much weaker than my Heaven-stealing Sword, so I had no choice but to gift it to someone else. Lin Yixin was a choice, but not an appropriate one. The girls in Frost Cloud workshop would riot if they learned about this. In the end, I decided that I would give this sword to He Yi because her Soul Stealing Spear was starting to fall behind the curve. Moreover, she had a mount now, and she could do more damage wielding a sword instead of a spear. Just imagine swinging a double-edged sword left and right and cutting down a swathe of enemies! It was the kind of DPS a spear could only dream to have. My mind made up, I tossed Whirlwind into my bag and moved onto the third item. This one was leather-armor wristguards with a dark glow¡ª Cold Silver Wristguard (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï) Defense: 270 Magic Resist: 245 Agility: +104 Stamina: +100 Passive: Increases user¡¯s hit rate by 25% Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s Agility by 120 Level Requirement: 120 ¡­¡­ Mn, decent leather-armor wristguards, especially the passive that increases hit rate by 25%, the lifeline of all archers. I¡¯ll give this to Beiming Xue later. The last equipment to check was a glowing ring. It looked like it was made of black metal, and the head of a dark red dragon sat above it. I could vaguely hear a draconic roar coming from it from time to time. When I held it in my palm, an indescribably coldness seeped into my flesh. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that its stats were going to be good¡ª Silver Dragon Ring (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Strength: +125 Stamina: +130 Tactics: +25 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack and Defense by 20% Passive: Increases user¡¯s resistance against ice and fire magic by 40% Outstanding Property: Low chance to trigger Silver Dragon Storm when attacking a target Level Requirement: 120 Reputation Requirement: 70000 ¡­¡­ Buzz! My mind turned blank for a moment. It took me a long while to recover myself. Holy shit! What an amazing 5-star Outstanding Spirit-grade ring! Not only did it boost both Strength and Stamina over 120 points each, it boosted Attack and Defense by 20% and had a chance to trigger a skill called Silver Dragon Storm! I had no doubt that the passive skill would be incredibly powerful, although of course I would have to test out its effects and range later since there wasn¡¯t a precise description of the skill. At this point, I was rolling in happiness. All the trouble I went through to kill the Earth Lizard Dragon was worth it because it gave me two items that I could use very soon. One was the 4-star Outstanding Battle Soul Poleyn, and the other, the 5-star Outstanding Spirit-grade Silver Dragon Ring. Once I hit the level necessary to equip both items, I was sure that my strength would climb to a whole new height! I looked at the rest of the loot until I spotted a skill book glowing with a devilish purple light in the middle of a pile of high-level gems. When I took a closer look, I realized that it was a stratagem. Tsk tsk, I¡¯m rich again! Encourage VII: Beseech the power of the general and increase the attack power of all party members by 20%. Tactics Requirement: 100. Class Requirement: Any. Cost: 2000 Reputation ¡­¡­ It was an extremely good stratagem. To my knowledge, the highest rank Encourage could get was Rank 7, and a 20% increase to Attack wasn¡¯t bad at all. Even Tempest Shadow¡¯s Resolute only increased Attack by 25%, so this skill book was incredibly valuable to say the least! Mn, this skill book was suitable for players whose Famous General Skill didn¡¯t boost Attack. For example, Purple Marquis¡¯s Famous General Skill was Insight, and it was completely useless against a mob. On the other hand, if he could learn an Encourage VII, then he could increase his allies¡¯ Attack by 40% or more. It was better than nothing, right? That being said, of course I wasn¡¯t going to give it to Purple Marquis, even if he was the general of our ally. I was going to hold on to the skill book and wait until someone in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls got a Famous General Skill that didn¡¯t boost Attack. After that, I checked the assortment of gems scattered across the ground. There were two Convenience Gems I, Cyanfire Gems, Dragonstone Gems and more. It didn¡¯t matter because I was taking everything. I checked the time and noted that it was almost 9 pm. Beiming Xue was probably feeling a bit urgent right now, and so was I. I hurriedly cut off the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s head so I could trade it for a bounty reward at Sky City later! As for the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s body, now that was a disappointment. Death Plunder only gave me a couple of high-level dragon skins and nothing else. Dragon blood, dragon fat, whatever; it all disappeared in one sad poof. I hurried out of the dragon cave and returned to the Dragon Knight Tia with the bottle filled with dragon blood. I saw Tia groaning a little because the wound at her chest area was being invaded by the deadly poison. The green dragon was licking the wound with its long tongue and trying to comfort its master. "Thud, thud¡­." I walked up to them and took out the bottle of dragon blood. I asked, "Tia, I¡¯ve brought back the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s blood. Can you see if it¡¯ll cure your poison?" "Ah?" Tia¡¯s eyes opened in pleasant surprise. She smiled brightly. "Thank goodness! You¡¯ve actually completed your mission! You actually killed that ferocious Earth Lizard Dragon!" Tia accepted the bottle and started pouring its contents on her wound. The black gash immediately started taking on a much healthier red color. The dragon¡¯s blood really was effective against the poison. ¡­¡­ Clinging to her dragon spear and pulling herself to her feet, Tia smiled at me with eyes full of gratitude. "Young and courageous warrior, it is thanks to you that I am able to regain my strength. Come and receive your reward. May the light of the Silver Moon Alliance forever be with you¡­" Ding~! Chapter 464: Burning Blade Slash Slightly surprised, I opened my bag in a hurry and found a simple skill book surrounded by red flames lying in a corner. When I brought it out and checked its description, I was stunned by what I saw¡ª Burning Blade Slash: Gather your qi and launch an AoE attack at the enemy in front 3 times in quick succession. The first strike deals 100% of the user¡¯s basic attack, with each consecutive hit gaining 35% additional attack power. Level Requirement 115. Class Requirement: Warrior ¡­¡­ Holy shit! It¡¯s a triple-hit skill! The first strike dealt 100% damage, and each consecutive strike gained an additional 35% attack power. This meant that the final strike would deal a whopping 170% damage! How powerful was that? Moreover, it was clearly stated in the description that the skill was an AoE attack. It was out of this world! Swhoosh! The skill book vanished from my palm and transformed into the image of a red blade inside my skill window. I grinned. Let¡¯s test out your power, shall we? I put strength into my arms and activated Burning Blade Slash. An intimidating and fiery red energy immediately shrouded the blade of the Heaven-stealing Sword. When I swung my sword, it left three burning scars in front of me and swept the area in front of me, distorting the air. Hmm, the area of effect was basically a wide curve, and it could hit six or seven enemies at most. That being said, it was still incredibly good in PvE and even more so in PvP. I doubted that there were many people who could withstand this skill with Martial God active. I was happy that I had finally gotten a multi-hit skill. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Blazing Purgatory Slash had played a huge factor in his tournament victories, and Li Chengfeng¡¯s Dragonbone Flurry, Purple Marquis¡¯s Chaos Universe, Gui Guzi¡¯s Death Combo, Farewell Song¡¯s Blade Vortex and Little Piglet¡¯s Ice Ray Flurry were all multi-hit skills as well. It was what made them exceptionally great duelists compared to other players. Now that I had Burning Blade Slash, I was like a tiger with a pair of wings attached to it! ¡­¡­ I happily pocketed the reward while checking my experience bar. As expected of an SS Rank quest, after killing the Earth Lizard Dragon and obtaining the experience reward from the quest, my experience had jumped to Level 119, 67%. A bit more and I would officially enter Level 120. Ah, if only I could have the luck to collect a main quest every day! Of course, I would be lucky to find an S Rank quest every day, let alone a main quest. I could literally count the number of times I received a main quest on one hand... Chiang! Tia stabbed her dragon spear against a rock and rose to her feet shakily. Clinging onto the green dragon¡¯s neck for support, she smiled at me and said, "I will be returning to Floating Ice City to debrief Princess Karinshan, so this is goodbye, dearest warrior. I pray that we will meet again some time." I answered, "We will." Tia nodded and smiled meaningfully. "Indeed, we will. You are an adventurer of Sky City after all. I look forward to the day we meet again, warrior! Farewell!" The green dragon roared and flapped its wounded wings. After Tia leaped onto its back, it abruptly pushed off the ground and flew into the sky. It only took the blink of an eye for it to vanish completely from my sight. I looked in the direction they disappeared to with envy. Dragon Knights are so cool, dammit. I wonder when I could ride a giant dragon of my own? However, most giant dragons are of the holy alignment. Would they really submit to an undead like me? Actually, that was a stupid question. If they refused to submit to me, I would beat them up until they did! ¡­¡­ I crushed a return scroll and returned to Sky City. It was already too late to turn in the quest for the bounty reward or reorganize because Beiming Xue had come online just to urge me. "Big bro, what are you doing? You¡¯re 10 minutes late already¡­" "Beiming, come to the eastern square now!" "Oh?" A few seconds later, after Beiming Xue appeared at the eastern square as promised, I passed her the Cold Silver Wristguards and smiled. "Here. It took a bit of time, but the rewards are well worth it!" "Wow!" Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes were covered in stars in an instant. "Did you really manage to kill that dragon, big bro?" "Yep! It¡¯s just a bigger wall lizard! Easy peasy!" "But you looked like you were going to die when you fought it earlier¡­" "It¡¯s not good to scrutinize the past, Beiming¡­" The girl stifled a giggle before clinging to my arm. "Now come on, we really need to log off and head out. It¡¯s already 9 pm, and you¡¯re not planning to stay out tonight, do you?" "Absolutely not. Come on!" "Mn." ¡­¡­ I hastily logged out of the game and took off the gaming helmet. Then, I put on a slightly better shirt than normal; a Jack&Jones brand shirt. I am a millionaire, so I shouldn¡¯t look too much like a beggar before Beiming Xue¡¯s student friends. For now, my Balenos and Semirs must stay in the closet... When I walked out of the door, I was surprised to find He Yi and Murong Mingyue drinking tea and chatting in the living room. "You hanging out with Beiming, Lu Chen? Just the two of you?" Murong Mingyue curled her lips. "Why aren¡¯t you inviting your sis? I treat you very well everyday, don¡¯t I?" A muscle in my face twitched. "What are you talking about? Beiming¡¯s friends came to Suzhou to play, and they invited her out for a gathering. I¡¯m accompanying her because it¡¯s late and I¡¯m worried about her." He Yi smiled. "Stop trying to make things messy, Mingyue. Lu Chen, please come home soon with Beiming Xue, okay?" "I will!" It was at this moment Beiming Xue finally walked out of the room. I felt my eyes widening a bit. Her attire was simple, but it was surprisingly refreshing. She wore a white-colored shirt with a slightly lower cut than normal, and she wore a black silk scarf around her neck. The bottom half of her body was covered in a black lady¡¯s skirt and a pair of black ankle boots. The way her hair spread across her shoulders gave her a pure appearance, and yet she definitely looked a tad more mature and experienced than your standard student. Well, I supposed I should¡¯ve expected this from a girl who had experienced the world... "Sister He Yi, Sister Mingyue, we¡¯re heading out now!" Beiming Xue grabbed my wrist and said, "We¡¯ll try to come back before midnight, we promise." He Yi nodded smilingly. "Yes. Have fun you two. Also, if you don¡¯t come back by midnight, Mingyue and I will scour the whole city for you¡­" Beiming Xue stuck out her tongue once before pulling me toward the door. After we walked down the stairs and got into my X12, we vroomed toward the address Beiming Xue gave me. It was a Western Europe style KTV. What a luxurious place to have dinner! ¡­¡­ We arrived at our destination in less than fifteen minutes. After I parked the car, I led Beiming Xue into the KTV and headed to the number one room on the third floor. The moment I pushed open the door, I noticed that it was positively bustling with activity inside. A dozen or so people had already arrived¡ª7 male students and 5 female students¡ªand the tables were covered in snacks, fruits and beers. Some of the guys even looked red in the face already. They must¡¯ve drank a lot of beer before we arrived. "Beiming Xue!" One of the male students stood up before looking at me in astonishment. "Oh? Who is this handsome guy? Is he your boyfriend?" Beiming Xue stared at me while giggling. "Yes, he is. He¡¯s very handsome, isn¡¯t he?" I shook my head helplessly before extending the male student a handshake. "Don¡¯t listen to her nonsense, we just work in the same gaming workshop, that¡¯s all. How do you do?" He shook my hand and smiled. "Very well, thank you. I was Beiming Xue¡¯s class monitor during the second year of high school. Nice to meet you!" I nodded but didn¡¯t say anything this time. Beiming Xue pulled me to a corner as we both took a seat. It was at this moment a guy sitting next to the class monitor rose to his feet and looked at Beiming Xue with a raised eyebrow. "Long time no see, Beiming Xue. You look as beautiful as ever. I¡¯ve been trying to contact you for the past half a year or so, but your phone wouldn¡¯t connect. Did you change your number?" Beiming Xue nodded. "Yeah, I did. I wanted to try leading a new life." The guy smiled. "I knew it. By the way¡­ handsome, you share a workshop with Beiming Xue, right? Does that mean you¡¯re a pro-gamer in Heavenblessed too?" I nodded. "Mn." The guy smiled. "I just started Heavenblessed, so I¡¯m only Level 7. I haven¡¯t even walked out of the starting village yet, hehe. I find it difficult to believe that pro-gaming is a viable career path, however. I¡¯ve always thought that gamers are lazy people, so it seems unbelievable to me that playing games could somehow sustain a person. As for me, I¡¯ve been doing business with my dad all over the place. I¡¯ve even opened a restaurant not long ago. Please visit it if you¡¯re free." I was a bit displeased with his words, but I didn¡¯t show it on my face. I nodded. "I¡¯ll do that if I have time." But Beiming Xue frowned and chided him in a stern voice, "Watch your mouth, Ouyang. What do you mean that gamers are lazy people? Have you heard of VR e-sports? Have you heard of the war of wills? Stop judging our world with those narrow world views!" The class monitor hurriedly played peacemaker. "Haha, it¡¯s been a long time since we¡¯ve seen each other, so can we not argue about this? Beiming, you and your colleague, er, excuse me but what¡¯s your name?" I replied in an indifferent tone, "I¡¯m Lu Chen." Two of the girls immediately perked up in surprise. I couldn¡¯t see their expressions because the corner they were sitting at had dim lighting, but I could still judge their reactions through their body language. On the other hand, the guy named Ouyang paid it no heed at all. He was dressed in a slick suit, and I wondered if he felt hot wearing this much clothing during an Indian summer. ¡­¡­ I rose to my feet and patted Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulder. "We haven¡¯t had dinner yet, and it looks like they only have snacks here. I¡¯m going to go to the restaurant next door and buy us some food! Wait here for me!" "Oh. I¡¯m coming with you, big bro!" "It¡¯s fine, you haven¡¯t seen your classmates in a while, so you should spend time with them. If you need to discuss any taboo topic while I¡¯m gone, be sure to make it quick, haha!" "Big bro!" Beiming Xue stomped her foot angrily, but I had already walked out of the room. Suddenly, I heard a girl¡¯s voice from behind me. "I want to catch some fresh air too, so I¡¯ll come with you. Can I borrow your handsome friend for a bit, Beiming?" "Oh¡­" I waited at the corridor as the girl followed me out of the room. She wore a shirt and a short skirt, and she looked a bit familiar for some reason. A second later, recognition clicked in my mind. "It¡¯s you?! How are you¡­" Chapter 465: Moonkiss I was dragged away from the room entrance. As the light grew brighter, so did my certainty. The girl in front of me was none other than the ace of Purple Lily, the CGL Hall of Famer who showed off a great depth of skill in Who Will Rise, and one of the best assassins in China, Moonkiss! ¡­¡­ "Wait." Deeply puzzled, I stopped after we exited the KTV. "Are you Moonkiss?" "Of course I am. How else would I have recognized you?" Moonkiss smiled. I sucked in a deep breath. "Weren¡¯t you supposed to be together with Luo River God of the Capital? Why are you in Suzhou now? What¡­ what¡¯s going on here?" Moonkiss giggled. "I used to be Beiming Xue¡¯s classmate in high school. What¡¯s so strange about that? That being said, I transferred during the second year of high school, so I haven¡¯t seen her again until the Who Will Rise tournament." "Beiming Xue never told me about you¡­" "That¡¯s because I specifically told her not to." "Why?" "You already know why¡­" Moonkiss smiled meaningfully at me before answering, "I didn¡¯t want our relationship to disturb the peace between Purple Lily and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls." Surprise quickly gave way to understanding. She was a smart girl. When I learned that she was a friend of Beiming Xue, the thought of recruiting her into Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had passed through my mind. As a top-tier assassin, her skill wasn¡¯t too poor even when compared to Farewell Song. Moreover, she was quite the beautiful girl. It was entirely possible to turn her into a symbolic figure in our guild like Beiming Xue. She could¡¯ve been the leader of our assassins. However, Moonkiss had intelligently and politely rejected my thoughts even before I voiced them. By telling me that she had asked Beiming Xue to keep quiet about her, she was also saying that she had no intentions of joining Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. ¡­¡­ We walked together along the night streets. There were stalls and restaurants all over the place. "I didn¡¯t think you would attend our student gathering. It was a huge surprise to me," Moonkiss said with a smile. I replied, "Beiming Xue came all the way to Suzhou alone because I asked her to. It¡¯s only right that I return that trust and ensure her safety. Besides, it¡¯s quite late in the night right now. I can¡¯t possibly let a girl like her go out by herself." "Mn. It looks like Beiming Xue found a reliable man after all." "What is that supposed to mean¡­" "Hehe~" "Oh right¡­" I suddenly recalled something. "What is wrong with that Ouyang? I feel like he¡¯s attacking me for some reason, but I don¡¯t recall ever seeing him in my life, much less offending him." Moonkiss stared at me. "You came together with Beiming Xue, and everyone could see that she¡¯s extremely attached to you. Can you blame Ouyang for being jealous and angry when the two of you walked in like the perfect couple? Hehe. Besides that, Ouyang had worked hard for the past couple of years. He had opened his own shop and bought a car before he was 22 years old, and it was an achievement most of his peers couldn¡¯t boast to have. It makes sense that he would become a bit too confident of himself¡­" I nodded quietly while walking across a tactile pavement. Moonkiss put her hands behind her back, turned around and walked beside me in reverse. She smiled brightly. "Don¡¯t be gloomy. It¡¯s Beiming Xue¡¯s right to be together with whoever she likes, not his, so Ouyang had no right to be jealous from the beginning. Plus, Beiming Xue isn¡¯t a girl he could pursue, not when his competitor is the Little Heavenly King, Falling Dust himself. As a pro gamer, your worth is counted in tens of millions or even hundreds. He¡¯s nothing but a speck of dust in front of you¡­" I grinned. "That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t retaliate. It would be too heartless of me¡­" "Hehe, you¡¯re such a bad person. Now I¡¯m worried that Beiming Xue would stray off the right path because of you!" ¡­¡­ In the end, I chose a Hunan restaurant and ordered a couple of dishes. We sat at a table and ordered a drink each while we waited for our food to be packed. "Why don¡¯t you tell me about yourself?" I smiled at Moonkiss. "What¡¯s there to say?" Slumped rather lazily on the opposite side of the table, Moonkiss replied, "I didn¡¯t resume my education after I dropped out during the second year of high school. I played Eternal Moon Corporation¡¯s flagship game at the time, Spirit of Grief, and found out that I was pretty good at it, so I kept playing until I won the MVP award for the second place group during the sixth WSL and had my name recorded in the CGL Hall of Fame. It was just luck though. Eternal Moon Corporation had wanted to talk to the champion of that tournament, the Snow Moon party led by Dark Shadow Drifter and Paralyzing Wind and Sorrow about adding them to the CGL Hall of Fame. Since they were thinking about retiring, Paralyzing Wind and Sorrow tried to trade their spot for 200 RMB instead. However, the officials had rejected their request, and they in turn refused the offer to be added into the CGL Hall of Fame out of anger. That was how I became a CGL Hall of Famer¡­" She sighed. "I founded a small guild of my own, but my guild territory was destroyed by Candle Dragon. It was during that time I met Sister Wang Luo and joined Purple Lily. You should know everything else that happened afterward. Sister Wang Luo held a deep grudge against Fang Zhuo, so I helped her in her fight against Candle Dragon until now. Now that I think about it, our guilds share pretty similar circumstances with each other. That¡¯s why we came to be allies, am I right?" I nodded affirmatively. "Yes, you¡¯re right. Now that city teleportation is unlocked, the three major cities must coordinate with each other during the Nation Wars. This alliance is but the natural result of that. By the way, Beauty Luo must be pretty angry right now because she failed to prevent Candle Dragon from nabbing the first guild territory of Wind City, isn¡¯t she?" Moonkiss burst into a giggle before shaking her head. "Of course not. Quite the contrary, Sister Wang Luo accepted the loss quite easily. After we lost the territory battle, she told me that guild wars aren¡¯t decided in a single day. If we wish to beat Candle Dragon one day, then we must do things one step at a time, and we cannot falter just because of a loss. The mental warfare between kings is decided by their control over the rhythm of the war, not a single battle or two." I nodded approvingly. "Beauty Luo really is an extraordinary person; a heroine most adept at devising strategies!" For some reason, Moonkiss shot me a weird look before sucking at her straw. "Sky City¡¯s the one that¡¯s full of heroes, okay? Do you know how much pressure both Wind City and Vanished God City felt? Ling Xueshang, Warsky, and October Rain were veterans of the trade, but now there¡¯s also Wind Fantasy and From Water to consider. Sister Wang Luo told me that all three of you are geniuses among geniuses, and the amazing part is that all three of you are gathered in one place. That is why we both believe that Sky City will be the center of the guild wars and even the Nation Wars as well, hehe¡­" I shot her a dumbfounded look. "You are exaggerating. We¡¯re just normal players, okay¡­" "Hehe, your denial is futile. Just wait and see if you really don¡¯t believe me¡­" Moonkiss stretched her back lazily. "No matter how powerful Candle Dragon is, it can¡¯t change the fact that Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have become powerful enough to sway the hearts of any China player. The days where Candle Dragon is the sole strongest guild of China are already over¡­" I couldn¡¯t help but smile. "That doesn¡¯t matter. What matters is that the servers of China grow stronger and more interesting because of us. That, is what I consider a true honor." "Mn!" ¡­¡­ The food we ordered finally arrived. As we walked back with the packed food, Moonkiss kept chatting, "Lu Chen, there¡¯s a female warrior in your guild called Chaos Moon, right?" "Yeah, why?" "Her ID matches mine, so I was wondering if I could have a relationship with her¡­" "WTF!" The corner of my lips turned upward. "No way, you can¡¯t waste your beauty or Chaos Moon¡¯s in a lesbian relationship! That¡¯s so selfish! Think of the feelings of other male players¡­" "So what? I don¡¯t believe in love anymore! Oh right, I heard that you shared a great relationship with From Water and Wind Fantasy? So, how were they? You guys had a threesome yet?" She stared at me with shiny eyes. I couldn¡¯t hold myself back any longer. "Moonkiss, never join our guild, now or ever¡­" "Why¡­" "You¡¯ll bring corruption to our ways¡­" "Hehe, now that I think about it, maybe it¡¯s not such an impossible proposition after all. Maybe Sister Wang Luo will agree to a political marriage between a representative of Purple Lily and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It¡¯ll be like the kingdoms of the olden days! I don¡¯t mind sacrificing myself for the cause. What do you think?" "Do what you want. Nobody wants you anyway¡­" "Uuuu¡­" ¡­¡­ When we returned to the KTV, we saw that everyone was still engaged in a casual conversation with each other. Beiming Xue walked up to me and said, "You took your time, big bro. I¡¯m so hungry I could die¡­" "Mn, enjoy your food while it¡¯s still hot!" The two of us immediately chowed down our food without paying any heed to the audience around us. They were all eating snacks or downing beers anyway. Moonkiss also grabbed a pair of chopsticks and stole some chopped pepper fish head for herself. Her features lightened up as she praised the deliciousness of the food. In the room, the former classmates continued to chat with each other or sing karaoke. That Ouyang didn¡¯t drink because he claimed that he had to drive later. I didn¡¯t drink either because I had to drive Beiming Xue back home. Ouyang¡¯s attitude toward me wasn¡¯t really good. He arrogantly asked me some loaded questions¡ª "How much do you earn per month, Lu Chen?" "Hmm, that depends¡­" "Surely you¡¯ve earned at least 5000 per month, right? I heard that life as a pro gamer is pretty difficult, although I guess it¡¯s for Beiming Xue to taste the hardships of life when she¡¯s still young than later." "How can you say that? Assuming that I earned a paltry sum of 2000 RMB per month, that is still no reason to make Beiming Xue suffer, is it?" ¡­¡­ Beside me, Moonkiss couldn¡¯t hold her incredulity and spat out her drink. She stared at me and said, "Fuck, I can¡¯t believe you just say that, you heartless bastard¡­" Ouyang looked completely confused. Time passed quickly, and soon it was 11:30 pm. It was really starting to get late, and if we didn¡¯t return home in time He Yi might actually come to the city in search of us. We all went downstairs and arrived at the car park. Ouyang hadn¡¯t touched any alcohol, so his footsteps were very stable. He walked up to Beiming Xue solicitously and said, "It¡¯s too late to take a taxi, Beiming. Would you like me to send you home?" Ouyang then took out his car keys in one practiced motion and pressed a button. Not far away, a red-colored Honda Accord lit up. I couldn¡¯t help but smile and wrap an arm around Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulders. "It¡¯s fine, we have our own car, but thank you for your sentiment¡­" I pulled out my own car keys and pressed a button. My new and cool BMW X12 immediately responded with a beep. Chapter 466: Sword Boomerang ¡°What were you and Moonkiss talking about, big bro?¡± Beiming Xue asked cautiously while pressing her lips together. ¡°She seemed a lot closer with you than before¡­¡± ¡°Nothing much¡­¡± I smiled. ¡°We just talked about some stuff that happened while the two of you were still in high school, that¡¯s all. I can¡¯t believe you hid your friendship with Moonkiss from me, Beiming. I¡¯m so sad!¡± Beiming Xue giggled. ¡°You can¡¯t blame me for that, it¡¯s Moonkiss who wanted to keep this a secret. That being said, I didn¡¯t expect her to be good enough to become a CGL Hall of Famer in less than two years¡­¡± ¡°Moonkiss does have amazing Assassin skills.¡± I nodded in agreement, ¡°During the latter stage of Spirit of Grief, a lot of top experts had retired from the game out of fatigue, so you might say that Moonkiss joined the game and proved herself at just the right time. While she was definitely weaker compared to Paralyzing Wind and Sorrow at the beginning, that may no longer be the case today. After all, a talent can only become a true expert through constant practice, and she has practiced for more than a year¡¯s time.¡± Beiming Xue pursed her lips but said nothing. I continued. ¡°It would be nice if Moonkiss could join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. She¡¯s an assassin who¡¯s also a CGL Hall of Famer, and we desperately need a walking banner like her right now. Although you, Li Chengfeng, and Gui Guzi are incredible players, you can¡¯t join the CGL Hall of Fame yet, and I can¡¯t float our boat all by myself.¡± Beiming Xue smiled. ¡°Unfortunately, Moonkiss is extremely loyal to Beauty Luo, so it¡¯ll be next to impossible to recruit her into our guild. I agree that it¡¯d be great, however. If we somehow managed to recruit her to our guild, we would gain an assassin who could go toe-to-toe with Farewell Song¡­¡± I smiled awkwardly. In the end, it was just empty talk. At the very least, it was impossible for us to change her mind right now. ¡­¡­ It was past midnight by the time we returned to the workshop. Thankfully, He Yi hadn¡¯t driven into the city and searched for us everywhere as she said she would. When I opened the door to her bedroom, I saw that she was clutching her blanket and deep in sleep. She must be exhausted after having spent the last couple of days grinding all day and night. I checked on Murong Mingyue next. The sleeping woman looked calm and gentle and nothing like her usual invincible and arrogant self. She was also draped in a blanket and wearing a satisfied smile on her face. One of her long, well-proportioned legs was sticking out by the window sill and glowing a little under the pouring moonlight. I smiled and closed the door behind me. I went to bed after washing myself. ¡­¡­ The next morning, I ate an early breakfast and went back online. Yesterday was over, but there were still plenty of things to do today! Swhoosh! The first thing I did after appearing in the inn was to turn in the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s head in the adventurer tavern. It was a high-rank quest, and I would be a fool not to collect its rewards! By the time I reached the adventurer tavern, it was already overcrowded with people, and the stench of alcohol filled the air. There was a brawny and murderous-looking mountain barbarian sitting by the window sill. He was holding a mug of ale with his left hand and the thin waist of a seductive elf woman with his right. At another table, a couple of wandering swordsmen¡ªthey were all human¡ªwere chatting loudly with each other. There was also an old man with his head covered in a black hood gripping his stuff and looking unusually grim for some reason. Well, I couldn¡¯t afford to offend any of them. All kinds of people were holed up in the adventurer tavern as over half of the continent¡¯s wanted criminals, hooligans, gangsters, berserkers, mad martial artists and so on were gathered at this place. I was nothing compared to them. I strode to the front desk and rapped the wood with my knuckle, waking the clerk from his slumber. He looked at me with dazed eyes before asking, ¡°Is there anything you need, guest?¡± ¡°I¡¯m here to turn in a quest, a bounty quest to be exact!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± His eyes lit up as he hurriedly flipped open his record book. ¡°Is it a C Rank quest or a D Rank quest? I¡¯ll find it for you right away.¡± I shook my head. ¡°No? Is it a B Rank quest then? Maybe even an A Rank quest?¡± The clerk was starting to grow astonished. I grinned. ¡°I¡¯ve brought the quest item with me. If I¡¯m not mistaken, it¡¯s probably an S+ Rank quest at least.¡± While saying this, I took out the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s gigantic head and slammed it against the desk without warning, causing the documents to scatter everywhere. The creature looked like it had died with terrible regrets because its eyes were wide open, and a bit of blood was trickling down the corner of its mouth. ¡°Heavens¡­¡± The clerk nearly fainted from shock. He stuttered as he stared at the dragon¡¯s head, ¡°Is¡­ is that the head of the legendary monster who resides in Dragonbone Mountain Range, the Earth Lizard Dragon?¡± I nodded. ¡°Exactly!¡± ¡°You, you actually killed the Earth Lizard Dragon¡­¡± The clerk couldn¡¯t pick up his jaw from the floor. The NPC adventurers were stunned as well. The wandering swordsman at the table rose to their feet and exclaimed in shock, ¡°Good lord, it¡¯s a dragon slayer! A warrior who single-handedly killed the Earth Lizard Dragon! Just how powerful is he¡­¡± I was filled with satisfaction in that moment. This was exactly the effect I was looking for! I then rapped the desk with my knuckle again before reminding the dazed clerk. ¡°Hey, do you think you can give me the bounty reward already? I¡¯m a busy man, you know. Every second of my time is worth a couple hundred thousand gold, you know.¡± ¡°Okay, okay!¡± The clerk nodded repeatedly before he finally accepted the Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s head. At the same time, a system notice dinged beside my ears¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the S+ Rank bounty quest [The Earth Lizard Dragon¡¯s Head]. You have gained 2.7 million EXP, 60000 gold, 20000 Reputation and the quest reward: ¡°Sword Boomerang¡±! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! A golden light shrouded me and filled me with pleasant surprise. I wasn¡¯t expecting to hit Level 120 this quickly! This meant that I could perform my fifth promotion quest right away! Wait, let¡¯s check the quest reward first. It was a light cyan skill book called ¡°Sword Boomerang¡±, and it was sitting in a corner of my bag. Sword Boomerang: Inject powerful qi into the blade of your sword and toss it at your enemy, damaging them with its powerful rotation. The weapon will automatically return to your hand after completing its cycle. The skill cannot miss. Level Requirement: 120. Class Requirement: Warrior, Magic Knight, Wanderer. ¡­¡­ Very good, it was a long-range physical-based skill. I could basically throw it like a boomerang and deal damage to my enemies from range. It was at least as good as the Dragon Slaying Slash because the Dragon Slaying Slash had a poor hit rate despite its non-existent cooldown. I couldn¡¯t use it carelessly in a fight against an expert like Candlelight Shadow. However, this Sword Boomerang couldn¡¯t miss no matter what, so it was clearly superior in this department! A flash of light later, the new skill appeared in my skill window. Perfect! I then opened my bag and took out the two Outstanding Spirit-grade items I had gotten the day before. Now that I was Level 120, I could equip them now! I switched out the Purgatory Legguards for the Battle Soul Poleyn, and the Paralysis Ring for the Silver Dragon Ring. The level of my enemies were too high, and the Paralysis Ring¡¯s level was too low, so its chance to proc Paralysis was reduced to less than 2%. It was practically useless at this point, so I had no qualms replacing it. After I put on the new equipment, my stats immediately jumped to a new level¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Purgatory Thunder) Class: Undead Swordsman (Dark Gold Swordsman) Level: 120 HP: 15940 Attack: 1827~2345 Defense: 2415 Magic Resist: 2215 Reputation: 178462 Tactics: 187 Luck: 25 ¡­¡­ My HP almost broke the 16k threshold, and both my Attack and Defense had drastically increased as well. I was so powerful right now that some people could tear their hair out if they knew my stats. Even better, both the Silver Dragon Ring and the Battle Soul Poleyn gave me plenty of Tactics and boosted the number to 187. This meant that the effectiveness of my stratagem was further increased by 187%. My Martial God had a base skill effect of +40% Attack, but with 187 Tactics, the number became +115%. How powerful was that? PvP-wise, He Yi¡¯s Royal Road was the best Famous General Skill, and Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell second. However, my Martial God was the best Famous General Skill when it came to PvE and grinding levels. After obtaining so many top-tier items, the effect of Martial God was better than ever before. Currently, Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell could only boost her allies¡¯ Attack for a maximum of 60%, but mine was almost double that number. The gap in power was as clear as day. Moreover, I now had enough Tactics to go even against Lin Yixin assuming that we fought each other with both our Famous General Skills turned on. 115% extra Attack was basically enough to nullify her 60% extra Defense. ¡­¡­ I was pleased to say the least. With my current Attack, Defense and HP stat, there should be no Spirit Rank boss I couldn¡¯t solo myself. Just like before, I¡¯m going to continue improving my strength! After I repaired my equipment, I checked my private message window and saw a couple of notices¡ª System Notice: Congratulations, the item "Fireblade Set" you consigned for sale has been sold for 35629 gold! System Notice: Congratulations, the item "Purple Heart Dagger¡± you consigned for sale has been sold for 90763 gold! System Notice: Congratulations, the item "Melody Robe" you consigned for sale has been sold for 8460 gold! ¡­¡­ Almost all of the equipment I consigned for sale had been sold. I had upgraded my equipment drastically and earned a small fortune from this trip! Next, I checked the level ranking of the China server. I was Level 120 and the number one player on the list. Luo River God of the Capital and Candlelight Shadow were both Level 118 and occupying the second and third spots. I could understand Luo River God of the Capital abusing her class advantage and mowing down mobs like a lawnmower, but Candlelight Shadow must¡¯ve killed more bosses to be able to keep up with her. The maps of three major cities were huge, and I couldn¡¯t be the only one who encountered a Spirit Rank boss. Also, it wasn¡¯t like the world came to a stop when I was managing the guild territory. Lin Yixin however, was only sitting at Level 117 and the seventh place despite having killed a couple of bosses herself. It was because she had lost a bit too many levels previously. After all, China was full of talent, and Sky City was just one of the three major cities. It made sense that someone would capitalize on her downfall and surpass her in terms of levels. The reward for being the first player to complete the fifth promotion quest was as good as mine, so I decided that it could wait a bit. Chapter 467: Mylin ¡°Remember that Level 150 Spirit Rank boss that I killed yesterday? The Earth Lizard Dragon? It dropped a very nice item. It¡¯s a Spirit-grade sword. Do you want it? If not, I¡¯ll give it to Beauty Lin¡­¡± ¡°Ah, please don¡¯t. I want it, I want it¡­¡± ¡­¡­ In a few seconds, He Yi¡¯s beautiful figure appeared at the east gate of Sky City. She walked into the plaza next to it as she looked all around for me. The moment she spotted me, she sprinted toward me gracefully with the Soul-stealing Spear in hand. To be brutally honest, it was clear that the Soul-stealing Spear could no longer keep up with the rest of He Yi¡¯s equipment even though it was a Purple Gold¨Cgrade item. Normally speaking, weapons were the most important things to players who choose a combat class. If a player was decked out in a full set of Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment, that usually meant that his weapon was one grade higher. If not, it wouldn¡¯t look that great. "Lu Chen, what happened? I didn¡¯t hear you mention a single thing about a boss last night¡­" I waved my hand and smiled, "Isn¡¯t it because I had no time? I went out to have dinner with Beiming Xue, and by the time I got back, you had already fallen asleep. If not, I wouldn¡¯t have delayed this until this afternoon." "Okaaay. But just what kind of weapon is it?" He Yi laughed as she nodded her head. Her beautiful eyes were sparkling with anticipation. I opened up my inventory and took out Whirlwind. I grasped its handle and twirled the blade in the air, causing a cold breeze to gently brush across He Yi¡¯s face. The body of the sword looked as translucent as glass and it shimmered under the light. Tiny blades of wind seemed to be dancing around the edge of the blade and it was clear that it was no ordinary item. In fact, a bone-piercing cold had started to surge into my arm. Hmmm, I had reached the required Level to equip it and the sword seemed to like me too. "Ah!? How beautiful¡­" He Yi covered her delicate lips with her hands as she stared dazedly at Whirlwind. I chuckled softly as I pressed the longsword into her hand. I said, "Hmmm, this sword belongs to you now. When a rider is mounted, a spear has the most penetrative power, so it¡¯s undoubtedly the best weapon for charging. But if you¡¯re plunging into close combat, it is a sword that will bring out the best of your abilities. Hmmm, so I think it¡¯s about time for you to switch to swords, Sister Yi." I nodded my head as I chuckled. "Hmmm, the stats aren¡¯t bad, are they? A 35% boost to your Attack and 19 Tactics. This is definitely the creme de la creme among all the Whirlwind swords in the server, so put it to good use. This sword is good enough to accompany you all the way to Level 150 and you might even still be using it beyond that¡­" "Mmmm!" He Yi¡¯s smile was as sweet as honey, and she actually stepped forward and stood on her tiptoes as she hugged me tightly. Her lips brushed my cheeks as she gave me a light peck and she smiled. "Thank you, let this act as your reward. Because... I don¡¯t have anything else to give you right now¡­" There were quite a few people in the plaza and He Yi didn¡¯t hide her name either, so her action immediately attracted a lot of stares. Things got awkward very quickly for me, so I grabbed He Yi¡¯s hand and ran into a small alleyway. Even though Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls wanted to become a world-renowned guild, we definitely didn¡¯t want to become famous because of any sex scandals involving our leaders! The royal road in videogames had always come through absolute strength! "Lu Chen, I¡¯m only Level 116 right now, so I still need to gain 4 more levels before I can equip Whirlwind. Do you think I should slot it with a Convenience Gem so I can lower its Level Requirement, or do you think that I should wait until I hit Level 120 to use it?" He Yi asked me. I pondered her question for a moment before replying, "One slot can boost your attack by 5% at most. I think it¡¯d be better if you were able to use this sword as soon as possible. That way, you¡¯ll be able to level even faster, and the higher your level rises, the better equipment you¡¯ll be able to find! Our strategy is to raise our fighting power through continuous battle!" "Mmmm, okay!" I passed a Convenience Gem to He Yi and she ran off to refine it. I also had more pressing matters to attend to as well! It was time to find the Undead Trainer Rinser to undergo my fifth job promotion! ¡­¡­ I used the city¡¯s teleportation formation to send myself to the peak of the Dragonbone Mountain Range. It was time to find my trainer! Whoosh! Lights flickered all around me as my body was suddenly besieged by a sudden cold. Wild winds raged all around me, causing my cloak to fly wildly in the air. I tightened my grip on the Heaven-stealing Sword as I quickly pressed forward! Cold winds washed over me as I climbed up along the steep mountainside. The Undead Holy Magus Rinser was standing in front of a sheer cliff which towered over him. He held his bone staff as snow flew all around him. He was standing on a gigantic blood-colored magic formation and he had a look of sheer concentration on his face. His eyebrows were knitted together as he chanted words under his breath. It looked as if he was casting some kind of mighty spell. "Teacher, I¡¯ve come!" I didn¡¯t hesitate to walk up and interrupt him mid-cast. "Oh, you¡¯ve come¡­" Rinser opened his bloodshot eyes as he stared at me. He let out a loud laugh as he said, "Kiddo, you¡¯ve gotten even stronger. You really didn¡¯t let me down, hahaha¡­" I nodded my head and said, "Teacher, I want to undergo my next class promotion!" "Okay!" A bizarre smile appeared on Rinser¡¯s face as he said, "Even if you didn¡¯t come looking for me, I would have summoned you myself. Just yesterday, Shadow Dancer Xue Wei visited me and told me that our ally, the human alliance, has already been pushed to the brink of destruction. If we do not save them, Sky City will soon fall." "What!?" Rinser¡¯s words greatly shocked me. "How is it possible for Sky City to fall? I just came from there and it looked completely peaceful. There wasn¡¯t a threat in sight!" Rinser laughed before he raised his head to the sky and spoke in a somber voice, "I used to be a human, but when those necromancers used that forbidden art on me, it caused my heart and soul to begin decaying, even though my appearance remained the same. The current Sky City is exactly the same, its ten great armies are strong and robust, but the authorities that rule Sky City have already fallen into depravity. Kiddo, did you come for a class-promotion quest? If so, finish this quest that I have for you!" I nodded my head. "Okay! I await your orders!" Rinser¡¯s expression grew grave as he said, "You are to immediately depart for Sky City. Go and find the Royal Magus Mylin. She used to be one of my students. Pass this Fragment of Phantasma to her and deliver this message¡ª¡®The forbidden spatial magic will soon be cast, Sky City is in mortal peril¡¯. This will warn her to be on her guard against any visitors from faraway lands." "Alright, I understand!" Ding~! System Notice: You have accepted the main quest [Betrayal]! (Current Quest Rank: SS) Description: The first part of this quest is to find the Royal Magus Mylin in Sky City. ¡­¡­ This was great! To think that it was an SS Rank main quest! I had lucked out again! My heart danced with joy as I took out a return scroll and went back to Sky City! I heard that familiar "whoosh" as a beam of light engulfed my body. By the time it dispersed, I was standing on the main road in Sky City. I opened up my map as I sprinted toward where the royal palace was. All the royal magi stayed near the altar which was located at the edges of the royal palace. As one of the royal magi, Mylin should be there as well. I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. An SS Rank quest was bound to be fraught with danger, so I was prepared for ambush at any moment. This time, the group of NPC soldiers did not attempt to stop me as I entered the royal palace. Perhaps it was because my fame in Sky City had risen, so I didn¡¯t have any trouble entering the area around the altar. I could see magic formations flickering in the distance. Rustle... I climbed up the stairs leading to the altar and in the distance, I could see a group of grand mages standing around it. All of them wore somber looks of concentration on their faces as they raised their staves high in the air, their magic energy pooling around the staff that stood in the center of the altar. The staff looked extremely unique. It was about two meters long, and it looked rough and sinister, a scarlet gem crowning it. All in all, I could sense a malicious energy deeply buried inside of it. As my eyes swept over the gathered mages, I saw a female mage standing at the corner of the altar. She looked to be about twenty-seven years of age and her long golden hair was tucked inside her hooded robe. She had an oval-shaped face and her features were exquisite. Her beautiful nose had a high bridge and her skin was flawless and white as snow. Both her eyes were closed as she chanted a sonorous and ancient spell I gripped the Heaven-stealing Sword tightly as I walked forward and whispered, "Mylin?" "Hmmm?" Mylin opened her eyes and shot me a look that contained both curiosity and confusion. "Adventurer, you¡¯re looking for me?" "Yes. My teacher is the Bone Soul Rinser. He was the one who tasked me to find you!" "What? Lord Rinser¡­" A strange look crossed Mylin¡¯s face as she broke off her spell mid-chant. She reached out to grab my arm and said, "Follow me, this isn¡¯t a suitable place to have a conversation¡­" "Oh¡­" It was only when Mylin brought me to the back of an artificial mountain in the corner of the altar that she stopped and started speaking again, "Lord Rinser, is he¡­ is he doing well?" I nodded my head, "As a spirit, he¡¯s both eating and sleeping well. He¡¯s so energetic he might as well be called immortal." Mylin, "..." I retrieved the Fragment of Phantasma from my inventory and said, "This is something that Rinser told me to pass to you. He also told me to tell you this¡ªThe forbidden spatial magic will soon be cast, Sky City is in mortal peril." Mylin looked slightly taken aback at my words. She then stretched out a hand and lightly brushed her fingers over the Fragment of Phantasma. A burst of light suddenly erupted from the Fragment of Phantasma, causing a scene that looked like it had come straight from the apocalypse to appear in front of us. The first thing that caught my eyes was the lava. All around me stood blood-red volcanoes that were bubbling over with lava. A crystal coffin quietly lay in the middle of those volcanoes and after a gentle ring, the lid of the coffin began to slowly move. A hand the color of the deep ocean appeared to grasp the corner of the coffin and the arm connected to the hand was covered in a shiny metal bracer that matched the color of its skin. After the lid had slid off the coffin, the man inside of it began to slowly climb to his feet. He was fully clad in armor and he held a longsword that was inscribed with flickering runes in his hand. As he gazed at the world around him with eyes that were filled with a haughty condescension, he suddenly let out a long howl before saying, "So this is hell? I, the ever-victorious Coldblade, have returned once more!" After that, the armored general stretched out his hand and summoned a magic circle on the ground below him. A long and spindly magic staff that resembled human bones rose up from that magic formation and it was the exact same staff that I had seen in the middle of the altar! The magic staff shone with a cold light and the general¡¯s mouth curved up into a sinister grin. He rumbled, "My previous capital, accept my return! Those lonely and discontent warriors who dwell restlessly in hell, rise up! All of you will soon return with me to the human world!" Chapter 468: Discord in the Palace ¡°Who exactly is this Coldblade?¡± ¡°Nearly ten thousand years ago, the Spirit of Grief continent was destroyed and rulers like Fia and Annie started to fall in battle one after the other. After that, there appeared several great unifiers who managed to conquer the whole continent, and one of these great unifiers was Coldblade! He was born in an ancient clan and he rose from a small mercenary to become an emperor who swept away all the nations of the human race in a mere decade! He even used his unrivaled military strategy to reforge the Silver Moon Alliance. However, Coldblade still ended up dying in battle, in the capital of the Night Creatures themselves! Brave warriors retrieved Coldblade¡¯s body and buried him in the Tomb of Heroes. So¡­ why was he reborn in Hell?¡± I grunted when I suddenly realized that one of the nine strongest bosses in the game had the same name as Coldblade. It was the boss ranked seventh, whose name was Coldblade the Infinite Storm. Hmmm, that¡¯s right, it was that person. Who would have thought that I¡¯d get involved with some superboss in my fifth class-promotion mission? I really couldn¡¯t tell if I should rejoice or despair. ¡°The crack in reality that connected the human world to Hell had been sealed up by the Dragon Speaker. So, logically speaking, there is no way such a huge hellish army would be able to enter the human world. Am I right, Mylin?¡± ¡°Yes, if we are following the normal rules that is. However, however¡­¡± Mylin¡¯s eyes filled up with worry as she stared at that spindly magic staff that lay in the center of the altar. She continued, ¡°But this is something that I have to tell you. That is the Purgatory Dragon Scepter, an item that is able to establish a spatial bridge between the dimensions themselves. I¡¯m afraid that¡­¡± ¡°You suspect that Coldblade the Infinite Storm will use the Purgatory Dragon Scepter to send large amounts of Night Creatures from Hell over to Sky City, right?¡± Mylin gave a heavy nod of her head. ¡°Mhm, you also saw the scene that Teacher managed to capture. Coldblade has an identical Purgatory Dragon Scepter. As long as both Dragon Scepters are used at the same time and their magical wavelengths match, the spatial bridge will be constructed. If that happens, Sky City¡¯s demise will not be far away¡­¡± I hefted my Heaven-stealing Sword as I grinned. ¡°Then isn¡¯t it simple? Let¡¯s just go up to that altar and destroy that Purgatory Dragon Scepter. Won¡¯t that solve everything?¡± Mylin¡¯s eyes were filled with an overwhelming sense of powerlessness as she looked at me and shook her head. She replied, ¡°We can¡¯t. His Majesty was the one who decided to activate that Purgatory Dragon Scepter. Without his orders, no one will be able to destroy that Purgatory Dragon Scepter. In fact, the Four Elders of the Mage Guild cast a restrictive spell on all of us which will rip apart anyone who tries to destroy the Dragon Scepter.¡± ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± I cursed as I clenched my teeth. ¡°Well then, let¡¯s go and seek an audience with His Majesty.¡± ¡°Mmm!¡± Mylin resolutely nodded her head and replied, ¡°Come with me, we¡¯ll go seek an audience with his Majesty right away!¡± ¡­¡­ So that was how I was led right past the Mage Guild and straight into the royal palace. When we entered the great hall, I was shocked to discover that the old king of Sky City had already passed away. The man sitting on the throne looked to be a young king that was about 40 years of age. He was clad in golden armor and he held an adorned sword in his hand as he sat inside this splendorous and magnificent hall. He certainly had the look of a king. It looked like nearly all the officials had gathered here today. They were all sitting down in their designated seats beneath the throne and it seemed as if they were about to start a grand meeting. Mylin brought me straight toward the dais on which the throne sat. She stopped in front of the dais and bowed respectfully as she said, ¡°Mylin greets His Majesty!¡± The king let out a soft laugh. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s one of the royal magi, Lady Mylin. Aren¡¯t you supposed to be busy activating the Purgatory Dragon Scepter at the altar? Why have you come here?¡± Mylin''s expression became severe as she said, ¡°Your Majesty, I have discovered that a great calamity is about to strike us, and I am unable to simply sit back and watch it happen! Your Majesty, please stop the activation of the Purgatory Dragon Scepter! We must also destroy it! If not, Sky City will be brought to ruin!¡± ¡°What!?¡± The young king leapt to his feet as he bellowed in rage, ¡°Mylin, do you know what you¡¯re saying right now!?¡± Mylin nodded her head. ¡°Yes, I do. We need to destroy the Purgatory Dragon Scepter. If not, it will bring calamity down on our heads. Your Majesty, please take a look. This is the evidence that I have gathered so far!¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± As the young king and all of his soldiers and officials stared at Mylin, she activated the Fragment of Phantasma, showing everyone in the hall the same scenes that we saw just now. When they saw Coldblade the Infinite Storm and the army that he had summoned, a few of the officials looked shocked, but there were more of them who didn¡¯t even flinch throughout the entire proceedings. Mylin put away the Fragment of Phantasma and said, ¡°Everything is all too clear now, Your Majesty. We need to destroy the Purgatory Dragon Scepter. If not, Sky City will be dragged into a battle it will not be able to extricate itself from. In fact, the other human nations may very well be destroyed in the process as well. Lord Coldblade has already become a ruler of the Night Creatures, and if he could build such a strong and flourishing human empire in the past, he very well has the ability to personally destroy it!¡± The young king sat back down on his throne before breathing in deeply, but he did not speak. It was at this exact moment that an aged chancellor stood up with his magic staff in his hand. He said, ¡°This is an extremely important strategic decision to make, so the council of elders must be the ones to decide this. I, the head of the Situ Family, the grand elder of the council of elders, will vote first in opposition to the Royal Magus Mylin¡¯s proposal. We definitely must not destroy the Purgatory Dragon Scepter. It is the only thing that can act as a portal between us and the beastman tribe. If we destroy it, the beastman tribe will definitely take this opportunity to attack Sky City! Mylin was shocked by his words. ¡°Elder Situ, you¡­ How can you¡­¡± I walked up and said, ¡°You¡¯re afraid that the beastman tribe will attack you, but you¡¯re willing to be invaded by an army of Night Creatures that numbers in hundreds of thousands? How does that make any sense? If Sky City is so afraid of war, then they should just drop to their knees and surrender! Ptooey!¡± As a player, I didn¡¯t need to take this sort of nonsense. If I didn¡¯t mock these sort of gutless NPCs, I just wouldn¡¯t feel good about myself afterward! At this time, a military man who held a warblade in his hand stood up and said in a deep voice, ¡°Your Majesty, even though this adventurer¡¯s words are reckless, the royal authority of Sky City cannot be blasphemed! If he wants to fight, I¡¯ll fight alongside him! I have hundreds of thousands of armored soldiers under my command, so why do we have to be afraid of the beastman tribe? Pushing Sky City to the edge of disaster just to deal with the beastman tribe is simply not the intelligent thing to do!¡± Elder Situ suddenly slammed his magic staff into the ground, causing the floor and walls to shake. His face was a picture of rage as he pointed at the general and bellowed in a low voice, ¡°Jacelyn, don¡¯t you forget that this sort of national army mobilization can only be decided by His Majesty and the council of elders! A boorish man such as yourself has no right to criticize us!¡± Jacelyn raised his blade in the air as he said, ¡°The only thing I know is that when the Night Creatures come calling, when the beastmen are on the prowl, the ones who rush into the thick of the danger are boorish men such as ourselves! It is we, rough and unlettered men, who use our own blood and glory to uphold and defend the dignity of Sky City, not the pampered, licentious, and indulgent nobles such as yourself!¡± I cheered him on silently before I grinned and said, ¡°Haha, even though boorish men are not intelligent, they always uphold their honor and glory in the most simple and direct way possible! They¡¯re thousands of times stronger than these pathetic government dogs!¡± ¡­¡­ Bang! A loud ringing sound resounced in the hall. The young king was finally moved to anger. He slapped his hand against his dragon throne made of pure gold, shattering it with a single strike. His expression was dark and severe and he yelled at us in a deep voice, ¡°What use is there with this incessant quarrelling? Since there are disagreements, then we will now call the council of elders to a vote. Everyone will vote on whether we should destroy the Purgatory Dragon Scepter or not! I think that it is especially important for us to maintain our relationship with the beastman tribe, so we definitely must not destroy the Dragon Scepter. So I vote against it!¡± Elder Situ said in a loud voice, ¡°I also object to destroying the Purgatory Dragon Scepter! The safety of our nation must be our priority!¡± One elder after another stood up to cast their votes, and all of them supported the young king¡¯s decision. Only the three generals voted in opposition to the king as they made the case for the Purgatory Dragon Scepter¡¯s destruction. They were not afraid of war, but they were smart enough to know that fighting Coldblade¡¯s army of Night Creatures was a fool¡¯s errand. That simply wasn¡¯t a battle that they could win.¡± In the end, it was 42 votes against 3. The young king smiled appreciatively before a cold light flashed through his eyes. He said, ¡°Then it is decided. We will continue the activation of the Purgatory Dragon Scepter! Also, in order to defend against the incursions of the undead and the countries around us, I have decided to dispatch General Jacelyn and his troops to defend the Flying Fire Fortress! General Eliza is to act as my ambassador to the Violet Empire. Your mission is to request that they give one-third of their lands to Sky City! General Drax, your age is catching up to you, so I¡¯ve decided to grant you a noble title. I think it''s about time for you to retire to your new fief and enjoy life!¡± In a single instant, the three generals who had voted to destroy the Purgatory Dragon Scepter were all ¡°demoted¡± and ¡°sidelined¡± in one way or the other as they were either reassigned or relieved of their duties. No one had expected that the king would treat them so shabbily in front of the entire court! Elder Situ said, ¡°It¡¯s time for us to move on to the next step. We will activate the Purgatory Dragon Scepter, and teleport the first batch of beastman warriors over to Sky City to defend it. Everyone, clap your hands if you agree.¡± A chorus of claps rang out in the air as the vote was passed with no opposition. ¡­¡­ Mylin¡¯s exquisite shoulders trembled as she stood beside me. Her eyes were filled with tears as she muttered underneath her breath, ¡°So is it over? Just like that? Dear heavens, the nobility of this kingdom has become rotten to the core. Why didn¡¯t I trust Teacher¡¯s words in the past? Sky City is really finished¡­¡± Jacelyn gripped the handle of his longsword tightly as he said, ¡°Your Majesty, this lowly general had always thought that he would die in battle, fighting the Night Creatures to the bitter end. But I had never ever imagined that I would lose all of the honor and glory I had accrued on the battlefield in this filthy court that is filled with the acrid stench of gold and sex! This blackened council of elders and this immoral court has shown me everything I never wanted to see! From here on out, I, Jacelyn, am no longer a soldier of Sky City. I will only fight for my home and family! Your Majesty, this lowly general takes his leave!¡± At this time, fragments of stone flew into the air with ¡°bang¡± as the Heaven-stealing Sword smashed apart the glazed tiles beneath my feet. I was utterly enraged by this farce of an imperial court. My eyes were scarlet with anger and bloodlust as I stared at the king and his elders. I pointed my sword towards him and bellowed, ¡°I don¡¯t know why this dogshit council of elders is so important! I also don¡¯t know which idiot elected a bunch of useless and imbecilic wankers such as yourselves to represent the will of the people! But I do know this! The moment war begins, the ones who will suffer the most are the ordinary citizens of Sky City. Not dogs like you who are so gutless that they¡¯ll drift in the direction of any strong wind! To think that you would actually allow your own nation to be invaded in order to protect your own interests! That just goes to show how rotten and filthy your souls have become! As for me, I will definitely destroy the Purgatory Dragon Scepter with all due haste! And I won¡¯t hesitate to do anything to accomplish this task!¡± The king exchanged glances with his elders in dumbfounded silence. No one had expected an adventurer to so publicly rebuke the king and his court. ¡­¡­ Mylin gently tugged on my arm, a look of shock blossoming on her face. ¡°You¡­¡± Chapter 469: Dramatic Changes in Sky City A cold chuckle unwittingly escaped from my mouth. ¡°So you¡¯re planning on letting Coldblade use Sky City as a stepping stone to sweep through the other human nations on the continent? Do you really think that the Night Creatures will allow Sky City to live after they have eradicated every living thing on this continent?¡± Mylin also spoke up in support of me. ¡°That¡¯s right, Your Majesty! The human alliance is made up of nations who all depend on each other for survival. We definitely must not act in such a disgraceful and dishonorable manner! We will only be despised and mocked by our descendants for all the ages to come!¡± ¡°Enough!¡± The young king¡¯s lips curled up into a sinister smile. ¡°The Violet Empire has always been bossy and overbearing, Vanished God City never does anything, and Floating Ice City¡¯s Karinshan has always been trying to expand her power and territory. I have done so many things for Sky City, all of you just don¡¯t know it! Hahaha, but just wait and see! When Lord Coldblade arrives at the head of his hellish army, Sky City¡¯s era will have arrived! We will have lordship and dominion over everyone else!¡± As he said this, the king suddenly swept his sword toward us and let out a sinister laugh. ¡°As for you lot, you will become the first sacrifices we offer up to Lord Coldblade! Hahahaha!¡± ¡­¡­ It was clear that this bastard king had no intention of letting us leave this place alive. Thud! I grabbed Mylin and said in a low voice, ¡°Hurry up and run! Follow me! We can¡¯t stay in this place any longer!¡± Mylin was a mage, so even though she was a high-level NPC, she could never be a match for those high-powered Imperial Swordsmen who specialized in the chaotic milieu of melee combat. She was the key to completing this mission, so I couldn¡¯t let any harm befall her! A bunch of guards drew their swords and bellowed with rage as they charged our way. The young king also sprang into action. He rushed over, his jeweled sword streaking across the air along with its wielder. He was a Spirit Rank boss, so I couldn¡¯t afford to let down my guard! ¡°Hand over your life, you nosy brat!¡± The king raised his sharp sword high above him and leaped into the air. Thick flames ignited on his longsword as he sent a mighty slash hurtling downward. He was trying to finish us off in a single strike! Clang! 2782! Sparks flew everywhere with the collision of our weapons. The web between my thumb and index finger grew numb, and my body shook violently. Even though I had used Guard successfully, the impact pushed me all the way back. As I was sliding backward, energy suddenly burst out from my sword. I used the new skill that I had just learned¡ªBurning Blade Slash! Flames burned brightly on the Heaven-stealing Sword before three fiery blades of energy came whistling out of it! Bang! Bang! Bang! 4784! 6745! 9047! I was greatly surprised when I saw the ruler of Sky City being pushed back by those three consecutive strikes. He had the same authority as Sophia and Karinshan, and I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if either of the latter two could kill me in one strike. But the ruler of Sky City turned out to be way weaker than them. It was clear that his over-indulgence in wine and sex had done a number on his body. It was also pretty clear to me that the people who governed Sky City would have never become so thoroughly rotten if not for this foolish wastrel of a ruler. Mylin whirled around, a fireball floating above her palm. However, she looked extremely unwilling to attack. As a royal mage, it was nearly impossible to get her to attack her king at this moment. I hurriedly stretched out a hand to grab Mylin¡¯s arm. I shouted, ¡°We need to go! Now!¡± We rushed outside only to discover even more guards waiting for us. It was also at this moment that a heroic and ferocious figure dashed through the crowd, his longsword sweeping aside everyone in front of him. Shockwaves exploded from his vibrating blade as they sent whole groups of Imperial Swordsmen flying through the air. It was the royal general who had just been demoted by the king, Jacelyn! ¡°Brave and upright adventurer, I will make sure that you and Mage Mylin escape from here! It¡¯s time to leave this rotten institution of nobles!¡± I nodded my head. Jacelyn and I rushed forward to sweep away all the enemies before us, and Mylin stayed right behind us at all times. Soon, the other two royal generals also drew their swords and joined our case. With 3 NPCs clearing the way, it wasn¡¯t hard for us to escape the palace. It was only when we got to the main street that I realized in my despair that the mission in Sky City had already begun. All of the guards¡¯ names had turned red and I had been marked as a fugitive by the NPC authorities of Sky City! Boom! I turned around and unleashed a Thousand Ice Slash at the crowd of enemies behind us, freezing a large group of Imperial Swordsmen in place. Jacelyn slowly drew out the sword he had sunk into his opponent¡¯s belly before he turned around and bellowed, ¡°Let¡¯s kill our way out of the capital! We¡¯ll go to a base located at the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range. My army is stationed there and it is one hundred thousand strong! It¡¯s strong enough to deter our enemies at the border or defend the core of our nation, so it¡¯s definitely strong enough to prevent those weak and cowardly nobles from burying our country!¡± I nodded my head. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± ¡­¡­ Fucking hell, this rebellious nature of mine must have been drilled into my very bones. My heart was actually racing with excitement when I rebelled together with Jacelyn and Mylin! The young king¡¯s face warped into a mask of malice and hatred as he stared at our shrinking figures. His expression was strange and sinister as he bellowed, ¡°Inform the Mage Guild that they are to activate the Purgatory Dragon Scepter with all due haste! The spatial bridge must be summoned at all costs! The time is ripe for Lord Coldblade to descend upon the mortal plane once more! I want the nations of this world to cower before me, I want the entire world to know that the brilliant ruler of Sky City is the imminent ruler of all humanity!¡± The sound of the system notice reverberated in the air above Sky City. Oh shit! Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that the situation in Sky City has changed dramatically! The Purgatory Dragon Scepter is currently being activated and the return of Coldblade¡¯s army is imminent! Time until spatial bridge is fully formed: 600 seconds! ¡­¡­ Damn, that was quick! We only had ten minutes before the spatial bridge was formed! I sprinted out of the capital while also closing up Air Force One. I couldn¡¯t let White Fox get killed, I¡¯d stand to lose too much if I did. I could wait until the city returned to normal before setting up shop again. The guild channel was in complete chaos and everyone was in a complete fluster as questions flew in from all corners. I shouted in a deep voice, ¡°Everyone, we need to move quickly! Repair your equipment immediately and fill your inventory with potions. After that, teleport straight to Dark Moon City. I¡¯m afraid that we¡¯ll have to hole up in Dark Moon City for a good long while after this. Whatever it is, everyone is to leave the city within the next ten minutes!¡± Li Chengfeng: ¡°Lu Chen, what¡¯s going on?¡± He Yi: ¡°Yeah, what happened?¡± I replied in a somber voice: ¡°When I was completing my fifth class promotion quest, I activated a quest related to the main storyline. Sky City¡¯s nobles have decided to betray the human alliance. They have decided to summon an army from Hell to help them conquer the rest of the continent. All of us need to leave Sky City immediately because it will soon be drowning in Night Creatures!¡± Li Chengfeng: ¡°Okay, I got it. Everyone, immediately resupply now and teleport yourselves to Dark Moon City! We¡¯ll play things by the ear for now! Don¡¯t hesitate and listen to the guild leader¡¯s commands! He won¡¯t be wrong!¡± Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, and the others took control of the situation. They coordinated the withdrawal of the entire Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild from the city. I took this opportunity to send a message to our allies, Lin Yixin and Ling Xueshang, so that they could retreat from Sky City as well. If not, all of us would be dead meat when Coldblade returned at the head of his army of Night Creatures. Coldblade himself was the biggest threat. As one of the nine nastiest bosses in the current game, commander and one of the Nine Sovereigns, he definitely wasn¡¯t an opponent any of the current players could deal with. ¡­¡­ Mylin and I ran after Jacelyn and the two other generals, and it was an hour before we reached the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range. I could hear the whinnying of warhorses in the distance and when we climbed up a small hill. To my shock, I discovered an entire army of heroic-looking warriors assembled in a vast plain. Neat formations of cavalry thundered by as countless troops diligently worked on their skills! I could even see the faint figures of Gryphon Knights in the distance! Jacelyn pointed down at the army assembled at the foot of these mountains as he patted me on the shoulder. He grinned as he said, ¡°Brother, how do you like that?! This is the Sky Empire¡¯s most elite army, the Mad Lion Legion! And I am their commander. Now that we have this majestic army of one hundred and forty thousand men, we can definitely give Coldblade¡¯s army a run for their money!¡± My brows knit together as I said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I have to rain on your parade, but the Mad Lion Legion won¡¯t even be able to give Coldblade¡¯s army a decent fight at its current strength. The one who is leading the Night Creatures this time is Coldblade himself, and his strength is unfathomable. We don¡¯t have a single person who can face him in combat and his troops will be like an unending wave that will keep pouring out of the depths of Hell.¡± Jacelyn nodded his head. ¡°I¡¯m aware of this as well, but it¡¯s already too late to stop the activation of the Purgatory Dragon Scepter. It seems like the only plan we have going forward is to boldly throw ourselves into battle and charge back into Sky City at the head of this great army. We¡¯ll rush into the center of the city and destroy the Purgatory Dragon Scepter. But I¡¯m afraid that we¡¯ll have to pay an obscenely high price in blood in order to achieve our objective.¡± ¡°Well there¡¯s nothing else we can do.¡± I gave him a small smile before I asked, ¡°So let¡¯s say we do manage to defeat Coldblade, what are you going to do after that? Are you going to claim the throne after we depose that despot? Or?¡± Jacelyn shook his head as he replied in a firm and unyielding voice, ¡°I, Jacelyn, am bound by my honor as a knight. I will never betray my country or the kings of humanity. Since the authorities of Sky City have already grown rotten to the core, I will purge them with fire and blood and bend my knee to the next king to replace them. As such, I have something that I need to ask you to help me with.¡± ¡°What do I have to do?¡± ¡°Take these letters written by Eliza, Drex, and I, and make your way to Floating Ice City. When you are there, seek an audience with Princess Karinshan and ask her to dispatch her armies to retake Sky City. Princess Karinshan comes from the most sacred of royal bloodlines, and she is a most cunning and resourceful ruler! She is the best choice to take over Sky City. Furthermore, Floating Ice City has been steadily expanding their army and preparing for war for years now, so its soldiers are strong and well-equipped. With their help, we will definitely be able to wrest Sky City back from Coldblade¡¯s grasp!¡± ¡°Okay, leave this matter to me!¡± I took all three letters, my chest swelling with excitement. I couldn¡¯t beat Coldblade in a damned duel, but I definitely didn¡¯t have a problem with delivering letters in a dangerous situation like this. ¡­¡­ It was at this exact moment that Sky City started falling into chaos. A gigantic azure magic formation started rising up from the palace like a giant pillar as streams of spatial energy started to vibrate violently. Before too long, countless Night Creatures began to pour out from portals connected straight to Hell. The rotted beastman warriors with their gigantic war mauls. The gigantic beasts swathed in chains, whose breaths smelled like decay and death. These gigantic monsters which had never been seen before began to appear one after the other. They rampaged across Sky City¡¯s once-peaceful plaza and the many players who had not escaped the city in time were being slaughtered one by one. This tranquil and peaceful city was soon drenched in an ocean of blood! I watched the proceedings silently. All of this had happened because of my mission. My sins were truly grave this time. However, when I thought about it, I realised that this event would have still come to pass even if I hadn¡¯t accepted this mission. Karinshan would still end up taking over Sky City, it was something that was inevitable. After all, Sky City needed a brilliant and mighty ruler. A sovereign who could rally the people to fight against the darkness! Not some pathetic poseur who was all too eager to bend the knee. Chapter 470: Blitz Floating Ice City, I hadn¡¯t been here in a long time. It was as tranquil and peaceful as ever. Mounted troops thundered past the plaza and new players were still setting up vendor stalls and buying items, just like in the past. I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and sprinted straight for the main hall of the palace. As I dashed up the city¡¯s main road under the watchful eyes of the soldiers stationed there, I made a beeline towards the hall, unimpeded. I was rather surprised that no one moved to stop me. I¡¯ve become quite famous in Floating Ice City, huh. A bunch of officers stood in two lines beside the dais which rose high above the floor. Princess Karinshan was clad in a full suit of exquisite silver armor. Her hand rested on the handle of her sword as she stood on the dais and listened to her officer¡¯s reports. ¡­¡­ ¡°Eh? Why did you come all the way here?¡± Astonishingly enough, the general that seemed to be in charge of everyone was a beautiful young girl and it just so happened to be the Green Dragon Knight Tia. She wore a cheery grin on her face as she walked toward me. I replied, ¡°We¡¯re in big trouble now!¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Even Karinshan was shocked by my outburst. She walked through the crowd, her beautiful eyes filled with shock as she looked at me. She said, ¡°What exactly is going on here?¡± I cut to the chase, ¡°The rulers of Sky City have betrayed the Silver Moon Alliance. They activated the Purgatory Dragon Scepter to construct a spatial bridge to Hell. Now, a Sovereign of Hell, Coldblade, is leading an army of ten million Night Creatures across to the spatial bridge into Sky City. The city has officially fallen into the hands of the enemy¡­¡± ¡°What?!¡± Karinshan exclaimed as she looked at me, her eyes wide with disbelief. Her mouth twitched before her eyes grew fierce, bloodlust surging in them. ¡°How could this happen? What the hell were those royals in Sky City doing? What about the Council of Elders? Didn¡¯t they make a single objection to this lunacy? The moment Sky City falls, the entire continent will be exposed to the predation of the Night Creatures. The Silver Moon Alliance is in danger!¡± I said, ¡°The king of Sky City wants to use Coldblade¡¯s power to conquer the rest of the continent. He has already bent the knee. As for those elders? Pffft. They¡¯re nothing more than kites that flutter in whatever direction the wind takes them. All of them decided to betray the human alliance and become Coldblade¡¯s slaves a long time ago.¡± Fury flashed in Karinshan¡¯s beautiful eyes. She couldn¡¯t help but smash her arm against a pillar, leaving the deep imprint of her fist on it. She looked straight at me and said, ¡°The fact that you managed to survive is great news. You¡¯ve come all the way to Floating Ice City to discuss something important with me right?¡± ¡°That sounds good!¡± Karinshan licked her red lips before saying, ¡°Floating Ice City has always been a territory under the jurisdiction of Sky City. But since they no longer possess the mandate of heaven, then as someone who possesses the blood of kings, I need to recover Sky CIty and uphold the honor and glory of the human nations!¡± As she said that, Karinshan whipped her sharp sword out of her scabbard and raised it high in the air. She yelled, ¡°All officers in Floating Ice City, hear my command! Immediately mobilize all of your soldiers and get ready to set off for Sky City. We will kill Coldblade and uphold the honor of the kingdom! Black Cavalry, you will act as the vanguard of our forces! Frost Army, Scarlet Wolf Army, and Dragon Knight Brigade will all follow me into battle!¡± A group of officers instantly raised their swords into the air as they shouted, ¡°Your Majesty, we hear and obey!¡± ¡­¡­ Okay! After I successfully delivered my letters, my mission immediately refreshed itself. Ding~! System Notice: Your quest [Betrayal] has entered its final phase. Return to Sky City and participate in the battle to recover it. Defeat all 10 waves of hell-spawned demons and break into the heart of the city with Karinshan. Defeat Coldblade the Infinite Storm, and execute the traitorous human monarch of Sky City. Deliver his head to Rinser once you have accomplished your task. You will receive generous rewards for accomplishing this mission! After this, another system notice started ringing in the air above Sky City and Floating Ice City. Ding~! System Notice: All players, please be informed that the [Coldblade War] event has officially started. Sky City has already been conquered by Coldblade the Infinite Storm and his hellish army. The ten waves of Coldblade¡¯s army await! All players can participate in the battle and once all ten waves of Night Creatures have been eliminated, the barrier protecting the city will disappear. Enter the city and kill the traitorous king! All players who participate in the [Coldblade War] will receive points as they kill monsters. After the battle has ended, the 100 players with the highest contribution will receive generous rewards that correspond to their ranking! ¡­¡­ Okay, now the rest would be simple. The players would assault Sky City together with the NPC army and kill the Night Creatures that had crossed over the spatial bridge. Once ten waves had been killed, we¡¯d be allowed to enter the city. It was basically a siege. However, to the players of Sky City, this was nothing less than a feast! The existence of this contribution system meant that everyone would have a chance to raise their levels quickly! Joy danced in my heart as I gripped the handle of the Heaven-stealing Sword. If I got the MVP prize in this battle, I might very well shoot straight to Level 125. Level 150 was growing closer and closer, and once I hit that level and obtained the ability to ride mounts, my spring would come! It was also at this moment that the system notice reverberated in the skies throughout the continent, and the news caused all the players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to leap with joy. System Announcement: Player ¡°Legendary Brave (Sky City)¡± has successfully defeated the Purple Gold Rank Boss, Shadow Walker, and risen to Level 116. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and have become the fourteenth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and an exclusive Famous General Skill ¡°Blitz¡±! Blitz: Increase the attack speed of your party members by 40%, and their movement speed by 20%. ¡­¡­ Damn, the Dragon Warrior Li Chengfeng had finally become a Famous General! He even got a skill that boosted attack speed by over 40% and movement speed by over 20%! Tsk tsk, what a ridiculous Famous General Skill! As long as your attack was high enough to break an opponent¡¯s Defense, this attack speed boost was simply absurd! Furthemore, given Li Chengfeng¡¯s current Tactics, he could probably boost his attack speed by 100%, so he would be able to trade two blows for one consistently. This was basically a free critical hit every round! Given Li Chengfeng¡¯s superlative skill, these extra attacks would boost his combat power out of the stratosphere! The guild channel was in a complete uproar. Xu Yang: ¡°Hahaha, Li Chengfeng, you punk, you¡¯ve finally become a Famous General! Congrats!¡± Li Chengfeng laughed out loud: ¡°Mn, thank you, thank you!¡± Gui Guzi said: ¡°We should gather all the high attack speed players in our guild and form a squad around Li Chengfeng. If we have a bunch of super high-speed attackers leading the line, we will be able to cut through the enemy lines like a hot knife through butter! No Holy Shield or Guard will be able to withstand waves of consecutive attacks!¡± Chaos Moon: ¡°Please party with me¡­¡± Li Chengfeng: ¡°Why aren¡¯t you asking me for a date¡­¡± Chaos Moon: ¡°The only one who can get me to ask them out on a date in this guild is Lu Chen. Who the hell do you think you are¡­¡± Li Chengfeng: ¡°And the tears come streaming down my face¡­¡± He Yi let out a soft laugh: ¡°Alright, alright, that¡¯s enough. Let¡¯s leave the romance talk for later. Right now, all of us need to gather in Dark Moon City. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Bloody Mercenaries, you are to each form your own formations when participating in the Coldblade War. I want to keep casualties to a minimum and push our chances to earn rewards and experience to a maximum.¡± I nodded my head: ¡°Mn, our guild leader is right. The monsters we¡¯ll fight in this Coldblade War will be extremely high-level. Our newer and weaker players definitely won¡¯t be able to hold the line during the monsters¡¯ charge. As a result, the players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls must group in a formation that is at least ten thousand strong. Then, we will still be able to continue battling even if we get surrounded.¡± Li Chengfeng laughed and said, ¡°Listen to the two guild leaders and assemble five kilometers outside the city, everyone. Prepare yourselves for the long siege ahead. This will be an extremely difficult battle that will last at least ten hours. The core attackers of the guild, please do everything you need to do before the battle starts. Whoever needs to eat, drink water or go to the toilet, get it done and come back quickly because we are setting off in twenty minutes!¡± Xu Yang: ¡°Damnit, you just said everything that I wanted to say¡­¡± Li Chengfeng: ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ After a long period of tempering, Li Chengfeng¡¯s leadership qualities were starting to shine through. This was a good thing. The current Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had too many soldiers and too few generals. The main guild had ten thousand people and Bloody Mercenaries had five thousand, and every single one of these players was an elite in their own right. They were the solid foundation upon which the future of our guild would be built upon. I teleported back to Dark Moon City. The entire city was bustling with life. Many of the players in Sky City had managed to teleport themselves to Dark Moon City before Sky City had fallen into Coldblade¡¯s hands. There were also quite a few people who went to other places. Of course, most of the players had fled Sky City on foot. However, a vast amount of players had already flocked back to Sky City by this point. Everyone was rubbing their hands in anticipation for the event to start. They couldn¡¯t wait to throw themselves into battle against the ten waves of Coldblade¡¯s army. I was left rather dumbfounded by this response. These people had probably only come here because they saw that this battle would be giving battle point rewards. Did they really think those ten waves of Night Creatures would be so easy to defeat? I had seen the hellish army that Coldblade had summoned, and it made me feel as if the end of days was approaching. These ten waves of monsters definitely wouldn¡¯t be easy to deal with. Sky City had nearly one hundred million players. But these hundred million players might not be able to withstand the onslaught of these creatures even if we all showed up for this event. What¡¯s more, the players who died during this battle wouldn¡¯t be able to revive until the event was over, and many players had been torn apart by Ghouls the instant they came online. Therefore, the situation was actually quite grim for us players. ¡­¡­ The fields five kilometers outside Dark Moon City were packed with people. The emblem of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls blazed across the entire area and the most eye-catching group of players was the Fireblade Cavalry led by Gui Guzi. Even though it was only forty riders strong, they blazed brightly like fireflies on a pitch-black night. They looked fierce and fresh as they rode on their Fireblade Warhorses, which let out neighing sounds as they reared high into the air. The entire unit looked ready to charge at the enemy at moment¡¯s notice. ¡°Lu Chen¡¯s here!¡± Chaos Moon came to greet me as she said, ¡°Do you have any plans of attack in regards to the upcoming Coldblade War?¡± I shook my head. ¡°No actually. Just kill as many monsters as we can and collect battle points. These sorts of opportunities are hard to come by!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Chaos Moon nodded her head sincerely before replying, ¡°I¡¯ll take advantage of this battle to hit Level 120. I want to hit my fifth class promotion! I want to become a super expert¡­¡± I rolled my eyes at her and said, ¡°Easy does it! You¡¯ve still got a lot of work to do to get there!¡± ¡°Wuuuuu¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Chapter 471: Eating As the saying went, better safe than sorry. ¡­¡­ ¡°Big bro, your fifth promotion quest sure is epic¡­¡± Beiming Xue said smilingly while sticking close to me. I nodded in agreement. ¡°It¡¯s okay¡­¡± Murong Mingyue complained, ¡°Okay, my ass! This is torture, dammit. My period just came a couple of days ago, and now I¡¯m forced to stay online for over half a day without pause! What¡¯s going to happen to me!¡± I couldn¡¯t hold back a chuckle as I looked back at her. ¡°Relax, sis, I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t leak. The quality of May Flower tissue papers is pretty good these days¡­¡± ¡°Pretty good, my ass! Every last one of them is like a heartless businessman!¡± Murong Mingyue swore frigidly. She must¡¯ve suffered a lot to show such a reaction. Meanwhile, Beiming Xue was desperately trying to hold in her laughter. I said, ¡°Don¡¯t laugh. If sis gets angry and decides to ravage you, I¡¯m not going to help you¡­¡± ¡°Sure, I won¡¯t laugh! Hehe¡­¡± ¡°When was your last period, Beiming?¡± ¡°12th last month.¡± ¡°Oh? It¡¯s the 11th today. Isn¡¯t that just perfect¡­¡± ¡°...¡± I felt better than ever as I continued to make fun of the girls while being surrounded by the valiant warriors of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. With an army like this, who could say we didn¡¯t have the right to conquer the world? Tsk tsk. It was at this moment He Yi returned to us and got off her horse. She canceled her mount and walked beside me. ¡°Lu Chen.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°When was the last time you went back home?¡± she asked with a blink. ¡°Er¡­¡± I answered a bit awkwardly, ¡°Haven¡¯t been there since the last time we went there together. I did call him a few times though¡­¡± He Yi curled her lips. ¡°You really don¡¯t know how to be a good son¡­ oh well. I have the time anyway. Once this Coldblade War is over, let¡¯s take two days off, go back to your hometown, and visit your father again. Recently, you¡¯ve been spending all day and night working in the office or playing games in the workshop. You¡¯ll crumble if you don¡¯t take a break every once in a while. Let¡¯s also take this opportunity to explore the landscapes around your house, alright?¡± Beiming Xue hugged my arm excitedly before I could even say anything. ¡°I want to go too big bro!¡± Murong Mingyue pursed her lips. ¡°Sigh, if everyone¡¯s going then I suppose I can make the trip as well. Hey, does your family raise chickens, Lu Chen? I want to eat cooked free-range chicken with facing heaven pepper in it¡­¡± ¡°Fuck, you greedy bastard. You¡¯re gonna make me pay that much to eat at your place?¡± It was at this moment Xu Yang moved closer to us with a look of terror on his face. ¡°What did you say, Mingyue? You want to pay Lu Chen to eat him? I¡­ I¡­ heavens, Du Thirteen once told me that this world is full of debauchery, and I didn¡¯t believe him. I also thought that Lu Chen and boss are made for each other, but the two of you are¡­ I¡¯ll never believe in love anymore!¡± Murong Mingyue hit Xu Yang¡¯s head once with her scepter and scolded him, ¡°What the hell are you talking about, you simple-minded fool! You can¡¯t even hear a dialogue without misinterpreting words, and you dare talk about love!? Hmph! Who told you I want to eat Lu Chen?!¡± She then shot me a grudgeful look. ¡°He would turn me down anyway even if I asked nicely¡­¡± Xu Yang foamed at the mouth and died. I survived because my resistance was greatly improved due to prolonged contact with Murong Mingyue. I could handle her even if we were engaged in a most heinous conversation while she was in her invincible mode. He Yi giggled. Grabbing onto my hand with one hand and Murong Mingyue¡¯s with the other, she declared, ¡°Alright, it¡¯s decided. Once the Coldblade War is over, we¡¯ll spend a day to prepare and travel to Lu Chen¡¯s house together. We¡¯ll visit uncle and temporarily free our thoughts from work and leveling.¡± I nodded. ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll give him a call later.¡± ¡°No!¡± But He Yi stopped me and said, ¡°If you call uncle now, he¡¯ll stress himself out trying to prepare for our arrival! We don¡¯t want to burden him more than he already is, right? We should only call him when we¡¯re ten minutes away from reaching the house. This way, he won¡¯t have time to prepare the rooms, and he¡¯ll have to leave it all to us. We should also buy our food and drinks beforehand before we head over.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I smiled at her. Truth be told, I didn¡¯t want to trouble my father either. He had worked hard enough his whole life. As a son, my only job now was to keep him comfortable as much as I could. ¡­¡­ Over an hour later, we arrived at the foot of Sky City. We gazed at the floating from the ground and noted that the rocks that made up the path to its entrance were crawling with all kinds of Night Creatures. Moreover, our return scrolls were useless because the magic formation had already been destroyed. We were unable to squeeze our way to the front at all. There were way too many players in China, and right now they were filling up every inch of Sky Forest. I gripped the Heaven-stealing Sword and ordered, ¡°Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Little Gui, take some men with you. We¡¯re going to open a path to the eastern gate of Sky City for our main force and clear out the randoms in that area. There¡¯s no way they can defend themselves against the enemy waves and bosses anyway. After that, we¡¯ll spread out our defensive formation and wait for the enemy to hit us.¡± ¡°Got it!¡± The generals and elite players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls followed behind me as I squeezed to the front. In a situation like this, the player with the higher Strength could ¡°push¡± a player with lower Strength away from their original position. It was a pretty logical setting. Slowly but surely, we were able to part the crowd and make our way toward the eastern gate. Riding on her Snow Domain Windchaser and gripping Whirlwind, He Yi caught up to us from behind and shouted, ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would like to establish a defensive position at the east side of Sky City, and we swear to defend it with everything we¡¯ve got! Sorry to trouble you all, my friends, but can you please open up some space for us? Please give us this face, thank you¡­¡± Our beautiful guild leader¡¯s plea was polite and well-fitting, so a lot of players acquiesced and gave us some space. Of course, there were also some idiots who refused to leave and threatened us with their weapons, to which Xu Yang responded with his own sword point, ¡°Are you going to leave or not? If not, I can always ask Gui Guzi to kick your ass. Little Gui, go!¡± Gui Guzi¡¯s Armored Swordback Dragon roared in response. The Undying Knight cut a terrifying image, and no one dared to challenge his authority. Just like that, the minor conflict was resolved ¡°peacefully¡±, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul occupied a defense line that was about 500 yards long. It was also just the right amount of space considering the amount of people we had brought. If we could defend these 500 yards successfully, then one might say that our performance in this war would be outstanding. Beep! It was at this moment I received a message from Lin Yixin: ¡°Is your formation on the east side of the city, Little Cheat?¡± ¡°Yep. What about you guys?¡± ¡°Same. I have a feeling that the tenth wave will be incredibly fierce, so I¡¯d rather be on the same side as you and reduce the risk of being eliminated early.¡± ¡°Hehe, that¡¯s great. I look forward to working with you!¡± ¡°Mn. If my forces are defeated by the monsters, you must show up and save me from their clutches, okay?¡± ¡°You worry too much. Coldblade is a goddamned skeleton, he would never try to make you his mistress of the fort.¡± ¡°Hmph, bastard!¡± ¡­¡­ A far distance away, Lin Yixin and almost twenty thousand Snow Cathaya players abruptly appeared at the eastern side of Sky City. They had more or less the same troops as us. Rows and rows of Snow Cathaya emblems aligned themselves in order as their core players¡ªPurple Marquis, Beauty At First Sight, Shadow Chanel and so on¡ªmoved to the front lines. The crowd was restless, and the countdown had already begun. The first wave was going to show up very soon. It was at this moment another guild appeared to the left of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It was The Monarch Descends led by Ling Xueshang herself. Tsk tsk, it looked like the three of us had come to the mutual understanding that we would fight together as one united entity. This was good. Not only did it improve the relationship between our guilds, the good atmosphere also reduced the risk of an ally getting greedy and nabbing OP equipment from a dead ally, like when Lin Yixin dropped her weapon some time ago. Profit was always tempting, but those who could persist in their beliefs when forced to choose between the two could be considered true friends. ¡­¡­ Xu Yang gripped his sword and growled. ¡°Warsky Alliance is guarding the west, Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon, and Flower Room are guarding the north, and Gods of Destruction and Soul Battle Robes are guarding the south. Do you think they can keep the waves at bay, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°Hard to say¡­¡± I replied with a deep frown. ¡°All the Night Creatures under Coldblade seem pretty powerful, and I can¡¯t even tell if we can keep them at bay. Everyone, put on your serious faces and give me all you¡¯ve got. No wave can make it past us. At the very least, we cannot lose control of the east side, no matter what!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Everyone nodded in unison and waited tensely. A few minutes later, a ding finally resounded across the main city¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: All players, the first monster wave led by a Level 135 Purple Gold Rank boss, Sharp Blade Devil, has crossed the spatial bridge using the Purgatory Dragon Scepter! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ The light screen surrounding Sky City started flashing rapidly. Large hordes of monsters¡ªmutated Skeletal Devils with blade arms that looked sharp enough to cut steel in half¡ªstarted flying out of the teleportation formation. Their strength seemed to be a perfect match to their intimidating appearance because they were Level 135 elites! My heart sank. From the looks of it, I wouldn¡¯t put it past the devs to send Level 145 shadow-rank mobs at us during the last wave or something. It was highly doubtful that the players of Sky City could defend against this many mobs successfully! ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud¡­ Skeletal Devils ran down the floating rocks and swarmed us from every direction. It was as if their numbers were endless. It took them only a moment to reach the frontlines. Chapter 472: Deep Fried Cockroach Forty Fireblade Cavalrymen behind him, a Knight God¨Cempowered Gui Guzi led the charge and swung his spear at a group of devils in front of him! Pu! A powerful cyclonic attack emerged from the blade of his spear, penetrated the devils and dealt a shocking amount of damage¡ª 8702! 8471! 7909! ¡­¡­ Du Thirteen couldn¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°Little Gui has finally realized his potential¡­¡± Yamete gave Du Thirteen¡¯s shoulder a rub. ¡°Give it up. Little Gui is now a true powerhouse, but the two of us are still idling at the back with no foreseeable future to speak of. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll even enter the Top 100 when our experts are officially crowned as gods¡­¡± Du Thirteen gritted his teeth. ¡°That just means we have to work harder. Attack!¡± Gui Guzi and our high-level riders were occupying a space at the forefront and cutting through the mobs like hot knives through butter. Beiming Xue and her forty-archer group were also drawing their bows and launching Multi Arrows and Volleys into the mobs non-stop. The amount of AoE damage they did was even crazier than our cavalry troop¡¯s. Not far away, Li Chengfeng had added High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon and more into his party and activated his Famous General Skill, ¡°Blitz¡±. Standing at the frontline, his party withstood the enemy¡¯s assault while retaliating with attacks so blindingly fast they rivaled Flurry skills¡¯ animations. In fact, their DPS also exceeded Gui Guzi and his Fireblade Cavalry! He Yi and I led separate parties so that we wouldn¡¯t waste our Famous General Skills. In this case, my Famous General Skill was more flexible because I could buff the attack power of any class¡ªMage, Warrior, Archer and so on. This also meant that I could build a scientific, meta party that could mow down the mobs easier and safer than the others. Right now the archers in my party were stunning the mobs with Shock Arrows so that my warriors could kill them safely. This move was definitely going to be a killer move during the guild wars and Nation Wars for sure. ¡­¡­ Great energy surged through my Heaven-stealing Sword as I attacked the devils and dealt massive damage. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! My experience rose quickly, but the Skeletal Devils¡¯ onpour seemed like it would never end. The five-yard vacuum I just cleared out with Burning Blade Slash was swarming with mobs again in no time, gladdening and worrying me at the same time. I was glad because the mobs represented a huge amount of experience. However, I was also worried that we would run out of supplies. Our equipment most certainly would run out of durability if the battle took too long. Crack! As my sword swept across a skeleton¡¯s neck and dealt 8942 damage, The Silver Dragon Ring suddenly glowed brightly before turning into a ray of silver light and slipping into the blade of my sword. The next moment, a gigantic silver dragon manifested into existence and hit the mob directly ahead of me. A draconic roar resounded across the battlefield as the enemy took massive amounts of damage¡ª 15732! 15284! 15853! ¡­¡­ All the mobs in front of me were annihilated as countless Magic Stones and equipment hit the ground. Tsk tsk, the Silver Dragon Ring definitely deserved its rank and stars; it was as powerful as my Purple Dragon Howl! If my karma was good, and I managed to trigger its passive skill multiple times in a row, I didn¡¯t think that there was any human in the world that could stop me! Beside me, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, He Yi and everyone else all watched me in astonishment¡ª Li Chengfeng: ¡°Fuck me, your triple-hit AoE skill is pretty OP already, but you also have an item that has an offensive AoE skill with such ridiculous attack power? What else can we say? Please accept a bow from us, master¡­¡± Gui Guzi grinned. ¡°Boss Broken Halberd has always been reliable, tsk tsk. Both skills are new right? This is great! I¡¯m sure even Candlelight Shadow would feel a chill up his spine if he saw your DPS now¡­¡± He Yi smiled gladly. ¡°Mn, mn. Do your best to catch up to Lu Chen, everyone. Lu Chen may be strong, but he can¡¯t shoulder Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ future alone. We need everyone to work hard and carry our guild to the top!¡± Xu Yang cut down a low-health Skeletal Devil in front of him and echoed, ¡°Of course! We¡¯ll definitely grow stronger!¡± Murong Mingyue chuckled. ¡°That may be true for the others, but you? Young man, you have an arduous road ahead of you!¡± Xu Yang: ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t break away from the frontline and run forward even though I had dealt with the mobs in front of me. For one, it would look like I was trying to grab all the experience for myself. This was a rare opportunity for my guild members to level up, and I could always grind shadow-rank mobs near the peak of Dragonbone Mountain Range. There was no reason for me to rob my own guild members of experience. Meanwhile, Skeletal Devils were still teleporting out of the sky as if their numbers were endless. The first wave alone showed us just how powerful Coldblade, one of the Nine Sovereigns of the Night Creatures, really was. He didn¡¯t fear any challenge, and his underlings numbered in the billions. Commanders who employed human sea attacks like him were the worst. ¡°Pop¡­ pop¡­¡± The Skeletal Devils kept dropping items and equipment as they died, but we had no time to pick them up at all. The mobs were just too numerous, and it wouldn''t be an exaggeration to say that they were swarming us like tidewater. Our guild was doing okay because our frontliners were all named experts in Sky City, but everyone else couldn¡¯t claim the same thing. There were many players who hadn¡¯t even formed parties, meaning that some of those who were fighting at the front didn¡¯t have any support to back them up. There were many players who perished under the Skeletal Devils¡¯ blade arms already. Xu Yang pouted slightly in puzzlement as he stared at the equipment and Magic Stones in front of him. ¡°Why is my equipment heap so small, and Lu Chen¡¯s big enough to stack on top of each other and form two layers on the ground¡­¡± ¡°He killed more mobs than you¡­¡± He Yi replied. Murong Mingyue also added, ¡°There¡¯s also the matter of drop rate. Lu Chen has 25 Luck, so his item drop rate is much higher than most people. If you don¡¯t mind this humble woman asking, what is your Luck stat?¡± Xu Yang replied tearfully, ¡°It is a big fat zero!¡± Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, and the others sweatdropped. ¡°Fuck, Brother Xu¡¯s life is so sad¡­¡± ¡­¡­ The battle lasted for almost an hour, and my experience had risen by almost 10%. Considering that I was Level 120, this leveling speed was almost magical. I was very happy because I knew that I would only get even more experience during the latter waves! Obviously, I sat firmly at the first place on the contribution ranking, exceeding even strong contenders like our mage Moonlight Stone or Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Shadow Chanel. Thousand Ice Slash and Burning Blade Slash were both low-cooldown skills. Not only could I use them every dozen seconds or so, they were more powerful than mages¡¯ AoE magic spells. Moreover, I had triggered Silver Dragon Storm at least a dozen of times and killed countless Skeletal Devils as a result. The base proc chance of the skill might be incredibly low, but I had enough Luck stat to boost it to almost 1%, and that was good enough. As long as I didn¡¯t stop swinging my sword, it was only a matter of time before I triggered another Silver Dragon Storm. Finally, the Skeletal Devils¡¯ numbers started dwindling in numbers and signaled the end of the first monster wave. I looked up and stared at Sky City. The lofty city was currently shrouded by a bloody fog that gave it a bloody exterior. Now that Coldblade had officially occupied the city, the traitorous king and the cowardly elders were probably waiting for the devil to sweep through the continent so that they could continue playing the puppet monarch and ministers, weren¡¯t they? ¡°The boss of first wave spawned at the north side, and Hegemon Palace¡¯s Little Piglet is killing it right now¡­¡± Li Chengfeng pondered for a moment before inquiring He Yi¡¯s opinion, ¡°Do you want us to head over and snatch the boss, guild leader?¡± He Yi and I exchanged a smile with each other. We had understood the other person¡¯s thoughts instantly, so He Yi replied, ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. It¡¯s just a Level 135 Purple Gold Rank boss, and it¡¯s too troublesome to run back and forth between places, not to mention there¡¯s no guarantee that we¡¯ll get the boss even if we tried. Let¡¯s avoid provoking Hegemon Palace for now.¡± ¡°Mn, our guild leader is beautiful and wise!¡± He Yi: ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ A short while later, there was a system announcement¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player ¡°Little Piglet¡± has killed the Sharp Blade Devil. 1000 points and 1 Luck are awarded to the player! Ding~! System Announcement: All players, the second monster wave led by a Level 137 Purple Gold Rank boss ¡°Dark Lord¡± has crossed the spatial bridge created using the Purgatory Dragon Scepter! ¡­¡­ Dark Lord? That sounds dangerous. I wonder what kind of boss it is... Speaking of which, I wasn¡¯t expecting Little Piglet to get 1 Luck out of the first boss, dammit. If possible, I would like to kill this Dark Lord. A true gentleman wouldn¡¯t pass over their responsibility to another person, right? Standing next to me and looking at the sky, Beiming Xue asked with a smile, ¡°I wonder what kind of mobs this Dark Lord leads? I look forward to it¡­¡± But I said, ¡°It¡¯s an undead creature. I guarantee you won¡¯t want to know it¡­¡± It was at this moment the spatial bridge on the sky shone brightly. The next moment, countless black bugs poured out of the entrance! They were about half a human tall, and their movement speed was insanely quick! The official name of the mob was Dark Beetle. It was a Level 137 elite mob with great Attack. However, unlike its name it had a shiny, oily shell, six short legs that gave it amazing mobility and a pair of translucent wings that vibrated intensely behind its back. Is it just me, or do they look almost identical to the legendary cockroach? Beiming Xue and He Yi turned as pale as death. They were the type of people who would faint from fear when they encountered a cockroach in daily life, and now we had to kill god knows how many super-sized cockroaches. This was going to be one hell of a fear management training... I said, ¡°You girls can close your eyes and attack blindly if you want to¡­¡± Beiming Xue: ¡°...¡± He Yi: ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Chaos Moon dropped a hardcore comment. ¡°I heard that deep fried cockroach is actually very tasty and full of protein. I have a classmate at Guangdong who likes it a lot, and I even heard that it can enhance your beauty¡­¡± Chapter 473: Hurricane I kicked off the battle immediately with Burning Blade Slash, the cool-looking fire sword energy hitting a group of mobs and one-shotting them instantly. They might be Level 137 elite mobs, but they still weren¡¯t strong enough to withstand my triple-hit combo. In fact, I bet that there were only a handful of players who could withstand my combo perfectly. For example, a Vajra-empowered Little Piglet could probably tank it without dying. Moreover, Burning Blade Slash wasn¡¯t a particularly swift skill, so super-tier experts like Lin Yixin, Candlelight Shadow, Purple Marquis, and Li Chengfeng all had a high chance of parrying the skill. Gaming was a deep well of knowledge. If my opponent was at the same level as me, I wouldn¡¯t use Burning Blade Slash carelessly as a matter of course. I would move, attack, exploit the terrain and so on to crack a hole in my opponent¡¯s defenses. Only then I would use Burning Blade Slash because then, the chances of one-shotting them was much higher. If they survived, I would continue forcing them into making mistakes with quick but orderly attacks before killing them. PvP was without a doubt an art form. ¡­¡­ "OMG, I wasn¡¯t expecting the second wave to show up this quickly. We didn¡¯t even have time to pick up the equipment¡­" Xu Yang looked a little dumbfounded. I smiled. "It¡¯s fine. Take a group of players with you and pick them up after this wave is over. Let¡¯s store them in Dark Moon City¡¯s warehouse first and distribute them to our players based on their guild contribution later." "Mn, let¡¯s do that!" Xu Yang nodded smilingly. This was the reason He Yi valued Xu Yang greatly. Although his PvP skills were average at best, he was one of the best when it came to guild management. Moreover, he was passionate, unafraid to give his life for his brothers and sisters, and absolutely loyal to He Yi. People like him were so rare that even Pillar of the Nation, the guild leader of Hegemon Palace, had once sent a message to Xu Yang in hopes of buying him to his side. Of course, Xu Yang had turned him down immediately with much swearing. Boom! Silver Dragon Storm triggered again and killed a large group of mobs, increasing my experience by a lot. An unhappy Chaos Moon immediately pushed her way to my side and said, "Lu Chen, please add me to your party, please take me¡­" At the distance, Pure Love raised her magic scepter and applied all sorts of buffs on me, causing my stats to rise even further than it already was. Li Chengfeng immediately cried like a bitch. "OMG, Pure Love, you are my party member, so why are you putting all your buffs on Lu Chen? You¡­ you can¡¯t do this after everything I¡¯ve invested in you¡­" Pure Love replied calmly, "I¡¯ll buff you when you¡¯re as handsome as Lu Chen." Li Chengfeng looked to the heavens and wailed. His features could be described as proud, firm, or unyielding, but he really wasn¡¯t that much of a handsome guy. In fact, both Flower Room¡¯s Li Le and Hegemon Palace¡¯s Wang Dongliang were much more good-looking than Li Chengfeng or I. The problem with them was that they also looked like the gigolos in a night club, and they lacked the vigor a man should have. Speaking of which, Li Le had a new woman companion by his side. I had to admit that he was living the good life. That being said, I didn¡¯t envy him in the slightest because his women would always be trash, and either one of the women by my side was a million times better than all of his put together. ¡­¡­ "The boss just spawned!" Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes reported with bright eyes. "It¡¯s only about three minutes away from us. Should we head over and snatch it?" I nodded. "Little Gui, I leave this to you and the Fireblade Cavalry. Considering your current Attack and Defense, you guys should be able to kill that Level 137 Purple Gold Rank boss without any losses, right?" Gui Guzi raised his spear and declared with a smile, "Don¡¯t worry boss, just leave it to me! Oh right, what should we do if someone attacks us?" I grinned. "When two people meet, only one will emerge victorious. You have nothing to be scared of, do you?" "Got it. See you later!" After that, Gui Guzi and the Fireblade Cavalry left the frontline, skirted the edges and charged toward the boss''s location. Along the way, they swung their swords left and right and took down all the Dark Beetles standing in their way, seemingly unstoppable. Mounted players definitely held a great advantage in this battle! ¡­¡­ He Yi didn¡¯t join them because she was the supreme commander of our battle line. Riding atop the Snow Domain Windchaser and wielding Whirlwind, she launched blades of condensed sword energy into the mobs, dealing devastating amounts of damage. I made sure to stay as close to her as possible because all the mobs around her had their stats reduced by 30% thanks to Royal Road. Both of us had an easier time mowing down the mobs because of it. Suddenly, a violent gust of wind suddenly surrounded He Yi¡¯s sword. The next moment, a great hurricane crashed onto the Dark Beetles and killed most of them! It was none other than the Outstanding Property of the weapon, Hurricane. The passive skill had an even lower proc rate than my Silver Dragon Storm, but the effects were in no way inferior. For a while, everyone in the guild exchanged astonished looks with each other before looking at their guild leader again in a new light. Everyone knew that the guild leader of Snowy Cathaya possessed both astounding looks and skills, but it looked like their guild leader wasn¡¯t too far behind. It was a realization that pleased everyone. "Guild leader, your weapon¡­" Li Chengfeng had a pair of keen eyes, it seemed. He actually realized what the weapon was. "Holy shit, is that the legendary Level 120 signature weapon of Wanderer, Whirlwind? One of the strongest Level 120 sword-type weapons in the game?" He Yi nodded with a smile. "Yep, it¡¯s a 4-star Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon. You¡¯ve witnessed its might just now¡­" "No wonder your DPS is so high¡­ when did you get it?" "Lu Chen gave it to me¡­" Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and many more players immediately stared at me. "Why didn¡¯t you give it to us, Lu Chen¡­" I replied indifferently, "Why should I?" "Fuck¡­" ¡­¡­ Chaos Moon also complained, "Can you consider me if you find one as good as Whirlwind next time?" I replied, "Hmm, we¡¯ll see. This is the first Whirlwind, so of course I¡¯m giving it to my boss. Also, you bastards always fight bosses as a party, so you get to grind equipment much easier and faster than me. I¡¯m a solo grinder, and I took a shitload of beating to get this Whirlwind. Only a heartless person would try to take this from me¡­" Chaos Moon giggled. "Well, I suppose you need to better your relationship with the guild leader. Had you given this to someone else, they might not promise to marry you or something¡­" I shot her a glance. "Are you sure?" Chaos Moon turned embarrassed. "Well¡­ I guess it isn¡¯t completely out of the question¡­" "Fuck¡­" ¡­¡­ A while later, a system announcement entered our ears¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Gui Guzi" has killed the Dark Lord. 2000 points and 1 Luck are awarded to the player! Nice, Gui Guzi had taken out the boss and taken the Luck reward for himself! He hadn¡¯t let me down! Almost an hour later, the Dark Beetles decreased in number until there were barely any of them left. Then, a group of riders appeared at the distance and rode toward us. It was none other than Gui Guzi and the Fireblade Cavalry! When they arrived, Gui Guzi swung his spear and laughed. "It was awesome, no one could stop us at all! Mad Dragon¡¯s Roaming Dragon tried to send an assassin squad after us, but we slaughtered them all without breaking a sweat. You should¡¯ve seen the despair on their faces when they realized that they couldn¡¯t even break our Defense¡­" I was dumbfounded. "Little Gui, that is a bit too much." "Hahaha, what could I do, they were the ones who insisted on killing themselves¡­" Well, the Fireblade Cavalry was practically invincible in Sky City right now. Unless they ran into an elite party led by Famous Generals such as Little Piglet or Lin Yixin, there was literally no one they couldn¡¯t beat. Their numbers were still a bit lacking, but it was only a matter of time. ¡­¡­ Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had taken out all the mobs attacking them, but the rest of the guilds were still fighting hard. The front at the southeast corner actually crumbled and allowed a bunch of Dark Beetles to wreak havoc in the back, causing many mages, archers and priests to lose their lives. Thankfully, Lin Yixin dispatched a squad and plugged the gap in time. Xu Yang and a group of players started sweeping the battlefield for loot. Although the chances of a Level 137 elite dropping Silver-grade equipment and Gold-grade equipment was a bit low, I wasn¡¯t worried that we would leave with no valuable loot to speak of. The next couple of waves were almost certainly going to be made of shadow-rank mobs, and everyone would have a field day, provided they survived the battle of course. ¡­¡­ A while later, the ring that signaled the start of the third monster wave reached us¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: All players, the third monster wave led by a Level 139 Purple Gold Rank boss,Void Dancer, has crossed the spatial bridge created using the Purgatory Dragon Scepter! ¡­¡­ This was just the third wave, and the enemy boss was Level 139 already. Since our frontliners were between Level 110 to 115, the level gap was really starting to put pressure on them. The good news was that this battle was still very much doable as long as those at the frontline didn¡¯t die. Plus, the mobs were still of the elite rank, so it was hardly a big problem to us. I got lucky and triggered the Silver Dragon Storm at my first swing. The silver dragon crashed into a group of mobs and dealt over 14k damage per hit. If I were to add the 30% splash damage of the Heaven-stealing Sword into the damage total, that was over 40k damage per mob. It was definitely enough to kill these Level 139 elites! Chapter 474: Hundred Battles "Fuck! I can¡¯t believe Warsky got the boss¡­" Gui Guzi said while clenching his teeth in frustration. I considered snatching the boss for a moment but decided against it. "Forget it. We¡¯re in the east, and Warsky Alliance is in the west. It¡¯d take us almost 20 minutes just to get to the other side, and by then the boss would have been killed already. Some things can¡¯t be forced, and this is one of them." "Mn." ¡­¡­ We continued murdering the mobs in silence, and it wasn¡¯t long before their numbers started dwindling rapidly. There was a growing worry in my mind, however. The third monster wave was Level 139, and assuming that the mobs grew 2 levels per wave, the final monster wave would be Level 153 at the very least. The system sure thought highly of us. If this war quest were to end in failure, every player in Sky City would have to hang their heads in shame! This was an SSS Rank, or divine tier, quest. The path to completion must be paved with countless lives. Li Chengfeng also noticed this. "It looks like the last few waves will be incredibly difficult to deal with. Once the mobs reach Level 150, they can basically one-shot anyone just by swarming them¡­" I nodded. "It¡¯s fine. As long as we do our best and fight until the end, no one can say that we¡¯ve let down Sky City!" "Sure!" Li Chengfeng smiled at me. "The thought to retreat never even crossed my mind. If we die, we die rich at the very least!" "Hahaha¡­" ¡­¡­ Not long after, two system announcements hit us and caused a wave of surprise. The first announcement was the usual boss kill notice, but the second announcement was a Famous General announcement. It looked like Lady Luck was favoring Warsky today¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Laughing At The Heavens (Sky City)" has successfully defeated the Purple Gold Rank Boss, Void Dancer, and reached Level 116. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the fifteenth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and an exclusive Famous General Skill, "Hundred Battles"! Hundred Battles: Beseech the power of the battle soul and increase the Attack by 25% and attack speed of all party members by 10%! Skill effectiveness depends on the user¡¯s Tactics. Skill exclusive to player ¡°Laughing At The Heavens¡±. ¡­¡­ This meant that Warsky Alliance now had three Famous Generals and three Famous General Skills. They were Warsky¡¯s Hegemon, October Rain¡¯s Heartpiercer and Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ Hundred Battles. It was a near-perfect offensive combination. Our Famous General Skills¡ªMartial God, Royal Road, Bow God, Knight God and Blitz¡ªwere still far, far stronger than our enemies. Still, this meant that Warsky Alliance would still be our greatest competitor in the fight for supremacy over Sky City! It wasn¡¯t long before the mobs were annihilated, and the battlefield was swept clean of all loot. The fourth monster wave went more or less the same way except that this time, the boss went to The Monarch Descends. Since we were allies, we didn¡¯t snatch the boss from them. We even acted as their guards so that they could secure the boss for sure. It was their fortune to take, and we didn¡¯t begrudge them for it. The fifth monster wave arrived, and they were all Level 143 elite mobs. It was going to be a challenging battle to say the least! Ding~! System Announcement: All players, the fifth monster wave led by a Level 143 Purple Gold Rank boss, Fire Axe Hogg, has crossed the spatial bridge created using the Purgatory Dragon Scepter! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Hordes of barbarian warriors started rushing out of the light screen. They were undead creatures that looked and smelled rotten, but the battle axes in their hands and their huge muscles made it clear that they were no small fry! I quickly scanned one of the barbarian warriors to read their stats¡ª Barbaric Battle Soul (Elite) Level: 143 Attack: 1400~1650 Defense: 1500 HP: 40000 Skills: Foe Breaker, Crush, Opportunistic Slash Introduction: Warriors from hell that possess terrifying destructive power ¡­¡­ Alright, the good news was that these Level 143 mobs were still just elites. Had they been Level 143 shadow-rank mobs, their HP would probably be close to 100k. This, we could handle. I lifted the Heaven-stealing Sword to the air and shouted, "Frontliners, protect the space beneath your feet and die rather than give an inch to our enemies! Do not let them get to the comrades behind your back! Prepare for battle!" At the same time, Beiming Xue was drawing her bow and shouting before the undead barbarian warriors got close, "Archers, give me a Far Shot before stunning them with Shock Arrows! mages, prepare to use Arctic Rain to AoE down our enemies! Don¡¯t skimp on your Magic Consumables!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Countless arrows took to the sky before falling atop the charging mobs like the rain. Beiming Xue¡¯s party was obviously powerful, and the mobs at the center were almost one-shot during the first round of arrows. The barbarian warriors from hell looked more like remote-controlled zombies than human because they were completely mindless, and they only knew how to roar on top of their lungs and charge at us. Gui Guzi and the others didn¡¯t even bother to bring up their shields. They met the monster wave head-on and started hacking away like mad. I myself unleashed Thousand Ice Slash and Burning Blade Slash to annihilate an entire horde of Barbaric Battle Souls in an instant. Pop pop pop... Their loot table was very motivating. As pitch black metal-armor equipment dropped where the dead Barbaric Battle Souls lay, I noticed that they looked identical to the armor the mobs were wearing. It looked like set equipment. This was good except for the fact that it couldn¡¯t be anything better than Gold grade. Any expert over Level 115 would only be devaluing themselves if they chose to wear Gold-grade equipment, even if it was a complete set. The scene of monsters pouring out of the light screen like floodwater and pounding against the meat grinder that was the players¡¯ faction painted a most beautiful picture of war. Countless fireballs, wind blades and icicles rampaged across the air, and arrows fell from the sky like the rain and penetrated the Barbaric Battle Soul¡¯s armor. The bright flashes of melee skills filled the area for a time! High Fighting Spirits was fighting at the frontline. Letting out an angry shout and surrounding himself in cyclic energy, he unleashed Xiezhi Howl and cleared out a whole ring of space around him. Nearly all the mobs around him had been ravaged by the domineering skill. The Xiezhi Howl was definitely a powerful skill especially in the hands of a 5-Strength barbarian warrior like High Fighting Spirits. Li Chengfeng¡¯s fighting style was calm and highly efficient, and he displayed that fully in this battle. After bringing a great number of mobs to low health with Reverse Scale Slash, he used Dragonbone Flurry and took out three low-health mobs cleanly, wasting not even a single point of damage. A player who could execute every attack logically like him truly deserved to be called a top-tier expert. The other top-tier expert in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun the Earth Wanderer was also causing havoc among the mobs. He was holding off an entire wave on his Earth Lizard, and both his offense and defense could be described as orderly. Every once in a while, he would swing his sword and fire a devastating Rock Smash in the middle of a group of mobs, sending rock splinters everywhere. Although he was nowhere close to catching up to the almighty Fruit Knife Goddess Lin Yixin, he was still a Top 3 wanderer in the China servers! Suddenly, a berserk general emerged from the edge of the light screen. It was a barbarian boss wearing a set of excellent armor and wielding a fiery red battle axe. Howling like a beast who just escaped its cage, it scanned its surroundings with its heartless, bloody eyes. It was none other than the fifth wave boss¡ªFire Axe Hogg! The boss spawned very close to us, but the same could be said for a couple of smaller guilds. I hurriedly shouted, "Someone with high Agility, please draw the boss to us now!" Behind me, Beiming Xue¡¯s sweet voice entered my ears. "Leave this to me, big bro!" Beiming was already rushing past me even before she was done speaking. Her ears fully erected in attention, the undead succubus darted past the obstacles in her path so quickly that even the mobs couldn¡¯t aggro onto her. Only a full-Agility archer or assassin could perform such a feat. A few seconds later, Beiming Xue had traveled a hundred yards away from the battle line and raised her bow into the air. She then let out a cry and loosed a Devil Piercing Arrow at Hogg¡¯s head! Chiang! The arrow hit the boss''s iron helmet, but blunt force trauma caused by the arrows kinetic energy still hurt the boss''s head and dealt 6982 damage. Devil Piercing Arrow was a skill that ignored metal-armor units¡¯ Defense to a certain degree, and it was a clear counter to a metal-armor boss like Fire Axe Hogg. The one shot was enough to enrage the boss and make it chase after Beiming Xue like mad. "Hehe¡­" Beiming Xue giggled and began running away, darting past several groups of mobs with ease. Her movement was unpredictable and swift. A while later, she turned around and fired another arrow at the boss while she was still midair, further solidifying its aggro on her. Alright, this boss is ours for sure! Whoosh! I abruptly grabbed Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulder and positioned myself in front of her. Then, I shouted, "Everyone, let¡¯s take out this boss together!" ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang and all first-rate experts rallied to my call and charged the boss. I kicked off the assault with a Burning Blade Slash! Thud thud thud! The three burning sword auras hit the boss''s stomach area and exploded into huge sparks against its chest armor. At the same time, it lost a small chunk of HP¡ª 7642! 9991! 13017! I then followed up with a Desperate Gambit and dealt another 9304 damage. My attack power had reached a point where even Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi had to shoot me a look of shock before returning to their business. Although their Attack was also pretty high, their overall DPS might not reach even half of mine. It was the natural result though. I was wearing three 5-star Outstanding Spirit-grade items¡ªSilver Dragon Ring, God Suppressing Helmet and God Suppressing Necklace¡ªand two 4-star Outstanding Spirit-grade items¡ªHeaven-stealing Sword and Battle Soul Poleyn. Nearly all of my items gave me a huge boost to Attack, and my total Attack was further boosted by a whopping 115% thanks to Martial God. It would be strange if I failed to do any meaningful damage to the boss! Chapter 475: Giant Purgatory Beas Crack! Whirlwind passed through the boss''s neck. Even He Yi had learned to attack its weakness, and her damage was amplified by the fact that she was riding the Snow Domain Windchaser. Suddenly, one of her attacks triggered another Hurricane and caused a cyclone of energy to surround the boss. Naturally, Fire Axe Hogg took the full brunt of the skill! 11098! 10733! 11542! ¡­¡­ Everyone was just too powerful. Those with top-tier skill and equipment especially could deal over ten thousand damage. At this point the game had entered the era where it was normal to see five-digit damage numbers even in PvP battles, and any fighter who didn¡¯t have at least ten thousand HP would find their lives much more difficult due to the constant fear of being one-shot. Mages were protected by their Magic Shields, priests were protected by their Spell Shields and party members, and archers could kite opponents with their Leap. As usual, every class had their own way of surviving a deadly situation. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was famous for their powerful offensives, and we proved ourselves again by deleting the Level 143 Purple Gold Rank boss''s HP in less than five minutes! Pu! High Fighting Spirits¡¯ battle axe abruptly shone brightly and launched an energy attack at the boss''s head. He had triggered a passive skill, and it was just enough to delete the boss''s last sliver of HP! Ding~! System Announcement: Player "High Fighting Spirits" has killed Fire Axe Hogg. 5000 points and 1 Luck are awarded to the player! ¡­¡­ Awesome, High Fighting Spirits got lucky and scored the final hit on the boss. He was rewarded with 1 precious Luck for his efforts. The boss dropped a bunch of equipment, but I didn¡¯t even look at them. I simply asked Li Chengfeng to pick up the loot, gathered the best equipment we had picked up so far and sent Xu Yang back to Dark Moon City to store them in the warehouse for now. It would be a shame if we dropped these items because we were killed in action. ¡­¡­ By now, the battlefield surrounding Sky City was a complete mess. So far Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ formation and teamwork were almost perfect, so we had suffered almost no damage thus far. The mobs never got a chance to make contact with our backliners, and our frontliners were more than tough enough to withstand their attack. The other guilds weren¡¯t nearly as lucky, however, especially the solo players and smaller guilds. Those without a complete strategy or formation were simply incapable of fighting the Level 143 elites. The Barbaric Battle Souls had punched holes in their defense lines and were ravaging their backline with their blade arms. I checked the system interface. There were over forty million players at the start of the war, but now that number had dropped drastically to around ten million. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls might have lost no one, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for other players. In fact, one might say that the player faction of Sky City had suffered huge losses after five monster waves. I checked our surroundings for a bit before giving Gui Guzi an order. "Gui Guzi, run around with the Fire Blade Cavalry for a bit and help out the comrades of Sky City, will you? But you must come back the moment you hear the notice for the sixth wave. Everyone else, stay where you are and don¡¯t break the formation!" "Got it, boss!" Gui Guzi addressed He Yi as "guild leader", but me as "boss¡±. Clearly, he still thought himself as a core member of Bloody Mercenaries to this day. He was a "fool" whose loyalty wouldn¡¯t waver the moment he acknowledged someone. Nowadays, it was an extremely precious trait. Gui Guzi left with the Fire Blade Cavalry. A thought later, I turned around to face He Yi. "Eve, why don¡¯t you go ahead and grind some mobs yourself? The sooner you hit Level 120, the better¡­" "Mn." He Yi nodded, urged her mount and dashed into the sea of mobs like a flash of snow. He Yi was able to slaughter the Barbaric Battle Souls like ants, but the Barbaric Battle Souls couldn¡¯t even do three-digit damage to her. He Yi¡¯s Defense was already amazing, but Royal Road also boosted her Defense and HP by 30%. It was no wonder she could facetank the damage without any healing. A couple of minutes later, a column of golden light surrounded He Yi as she leveled up. As expected, He Yi was an absolute powerhouse in this war, and her Green Wave Slash and Hurricane played a critical role in her success. No one could underestimate our guild leader anymore. It was at this moment Li Chengfeng walked up to me. "Lu Chen, do you know that Vanished God City and Wind City are experiencing a war quest as well?" I nodded. "Yeah, I read it in the official forums earlier. Wind City had rallied all their troops to attack a fortress of the Night Creatures called ¡®Blaze Fortress¡¯. It was apparently guarded by a super boss. As for Vanished God City, a war had broken out at the borders, and Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Predestined, and Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties were all fighting there. Every China server is bustling with activity right now¡­" "Hehe, everyone¡¯s doing their best to earn as much experience and equipment as possible. We have to do our best as well, right?" "Of course~" ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before a ding resounded across Sky City¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: All players, the fifth monster wave led by a Level 145 Spirit Rank boss, Bies the Giant Storm Beast, has crossed the spatial bridge created using the Purgatory Dragon Scepter! ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng and I exchanged a look with each other. The sixth monster wave had arrived, and the boss was a Level 145 Spirit Rank boss! The real challenge had finally begun! "Gui Guzi, Eve, come back now!" I shouted inside the guild channel. He Yi turned her mount around and rushed back toward us. Gui Guzi and the Fire Blade Cavalry were also making their way back. The locals could deal with the stragglers themselves. The light screen created by the Purgatory Dragon Scepter shook for a moment, and circular holes appeared all over the place. Very soon, gigantic, sinister-looking creatures leaped out of the portals and landed heavily on the ground. Their thorny armor made it clear that they had high Defense and HP. Their legs were incredibly short¡ªit almost looked like they were wriggling on the floor¡ªbut their powerful arms spoke a different story. They definitely couldn¡¯t be underestimated! When the first mob came within scan distance, I locked onto it and read its stats¡ª Giant Purgatory Beast (Shadow) Level: 145 Attack: 1650~1820 Defense: 2050 HP: 130000 Skills: Shatter, Crush, Sweep Introduction: A giant beast from hell. These berserk and mindless animals possess enormous strength. Their tough, steely armor earned them the nickname "Steel Fortress", and their role can¡¯t be understated, be it in major or minor wars. They are deeply hated by the warriors of the Silver Moon Alliance. ¡­¡­ "Finally, our opponents are Level 145 shadow-rank mobs. The true battle has just begun¡­" I sucked in a deep breath. The first five waves were just the appetizer and a test of sorts. Its purpose was to weed out the thirty million low to middle¨Clevel players, leaving behind ten million or so true elites to defend against the remaining five waves. Gui Guzi growled from the frontline. "Tighten the defense and make sure there aren¡¯t any holes between our defense lines and those of Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends! Frontliners, do not retreat even if it costs you your life! Backliners, do not fall behind in terms of damage and healing! The time to earn experience is now!" The thick swarm of gigantic monsters started surging toward us. Everyone knew how much experience a Level 145 shadow-rank mob could yield, and every kill netted some contribution points. Even if their total points weren¡¯t high enough to make it on the ranking list, they could still obtain EXP reward based on their contribution points after the war was over. Therefore, this was a win-win situation no matter how you cut it! I, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, He Yi and the others waited tensely as the mobs moved toward us. At the back, Beiming Xue, Moonlight Stone and the others were already shooting arrows and magic into the horde! Boom boom boom! Explosions filled the battlefield for a time, but this time the bombardment didn¡¯t do as much damage as before. The Giant Purgatory Beasts had over 2000 Defense, so many archers suddenly found themselves incapable of breaking the mobs¡¯ Defense. Many people were disturbed by this, and the failure further emphasized the huge gap of quality between the fifth and sixth monster wave, one that might just be deadly enough to kill us! I steadied my footing. My Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf pounced forward to tear the mobs with its tooths and claws, and I kicked off with a Burning Blade Slash. Although the Giant Purgatory Beasts had over 2000 Defense, this number was about as good as paper before my Attack. Burning Blade Slash grew stronger with each hit, and the last hit dealt over 12k damage to the mob. Adding splash damage into the total, and the dozen or so Giant Purgatory Beasts I had hit were left with only a sliver of health! After that, all I needed to do was stomp the ground using War Crush to one-shot them all. It was the season of farming, and I wasn¡¯t nearly kind enough to surrender my experience to the others. No way in hell I was going to let people reap the profits of my hard work... ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang! Chapter 476: Setting The World to Rights Li Chengfeng knocked aside a Giant Purgatory Beast¡¯s arm with his shoulder and retaliated with a powerful blow to the chest. He then followed up with a Dragonbone Flurry to the armor that was so devastating that the mob couldn¡¯t help but stumble a couple of steps despite its weight. The high-level warrior¡¯s offense was as reliable as ever. "Mages, slow them down with Arctic Rain!" He Yi yelled. It wasn¡¯t long before ice started raining on the battlefield. Practically everyone¡¯s Arctic Rain was sitting at max rank, and although the speed reduction effect wasn¡¯t much, it still greatly reduced the pressure our frontliners were facing. ¡­¡­ Whoosh¡­ He Yi¡¯s Firelight Mouse was standing on its master¡¯s shoulder. Shaking its head left and right, it cast the Fire Rain spell that dealt massive damage to the metal armor¨Ctype Giant Purgatory Beasts. The pet¡¯s Magic Attack was in stark contrast with its unassuming size as it was a high-tier boss pet! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Bursts of healing lights slowly healed our frontliners dropping health and kept them from dying. All things considered, our priests were one of our stronger classes, especially because the girls were led by Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew. They were powerful figures whose breasts kept all the men and women in the world alive. I hacked away at the Giant Purgatory Beast¡¯s body. For me, the Silver Dragon Storm that triggered occasionally was just a bonus because I could¡¯ve cut down these Giant Purgatory Beasts with ease even without it. The Heaven-stealing Sword was so powerful that the mobs¡¯ Defense might as well be paper. The battle became locked in stalemate even though we were mowing down the Giant Purgatory Beasts one after another. Right now, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends had joined together to form a triangular formation with us as the point. The three of us were also the few battle lines that hadn¡¯t been washed away by the mobs. A dozen or so middle-rank guilds were struggling to hold on, but it was thanks to them that we were in a much better place than we could¡¯ve been had we been forced to spread out and plug the gaps that had appeared in many places. Still, the Giant Purgatory Beasts had successfully broken through over 60% of the battle lines on the east side of Sky City. It was a massacre. Level 145 shadow-rank mobs were supposed to appear in the higher places of Dragonbone Mountain Range only, but now they were pouring out of the light screen and hitting the normal players like a tsunami. Of course it was going to be a massacre. Observing one such scene from afar, Du Thirteen couldn¡¯t help but comment, "Fuck, what a terrible sight¡­" At the back, the tamer Xue Lu looked at the frontline worriedly and said, "Thirteen, Lu Chen, stay alive, okay?" "Don¡¯t worry, Lulu!" Du Thirteen mustered his courage and began duking it out with a Giant Purgatory Beast with all his might. He could lose face, but not in front of his girlfriend. Otherwise, he would be kicked out of their bed and forced to kneel before his keyboard. That would just be tragic. ¡­¡­ Chaos Moon squeezed her way to my side before smiling mysteriously. "It looks like Du Thirteen and Xue Lu are very close¡­" I replied, "Of course!" Then Chaos Moon said, "It¡¯s to the point where I can feel vibration through the walls every night¡­" "..." What could I even say about that? A few seconds later, I asked, "Thirteen and Xue Lu are staying in the same room in the base?" "Yeah. It¡¯s not like there are no spare rooms¡ªin fact, there are over 20 empty rooms for them to choose from, but¡­" Chaos Moon curled her lips. "It¡¯s not like I can¡¯t understand their passion for each other after a long separation, but they clearly don¡¯t understand our pain. Do you know how much mental torture us singles have to endure every day¡­" "Why don¡¯t you find your own partner then?" "There¡¯s no one who¡¯s up to my expectations. Xu Yang¡¯s too stupid, Gui Guzi¡¯s too green, High Fighting Spirit¡¯s too idiotic, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun is too vulgar. You are the only one who qualifies, Lu Chen¡­" I couldn¡¯t stop my facial muscles from twitching. "I don¡¯t mind you praising me, but why must you shittalk everyone else in the guild at the same time?" Countless people were shooting death glares at us as a matter of course. Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and everyone else who got criticized looked like they wanted to drop their Giant Purgatory Beasts and challenge Chaos Moon to a duel. I let out a bitter chuckle. "I understand how hard it is for a bunch of thirsty and resentful single men and women to live together, but just give it some time, will you? Once you¡¯ve gotten used to their stupidity, greenness, idiocy and vulgarity, you¡¯ll find them a lot more pleasing to the eye than before. This is just how humans are; there is no environment that we can¡¯t adapt to¡­" Chaos Moon: "Fine, I¡¯ll wait for my one true love to show up I guess¡­" "Good luck!" "..." ¡­¡­ A while later, Li Chengfeng¡¯s face turned frigid. "Fuck, a spy of mine just told me that the Giant Storm Beast was lured away by Warsky Alliance¡­" I let out an "oh" of acknowledgement. "Their luck is pretty good today¡­" "Should we snatch it from them?" "It¡¯s fine, there are at least another four bosses to kill. Plus, things may not necessarily go well for them¡­" Li Chengfeng and I exchanged a knowing smile with each other. We both knew how powerful a Level 145 Spirit Rank boss could be, especially those with AoE skills. Warsky Alliance lacked a Famous General Skill that increased their Defense like Gui Guzi¡¯s Knight God and Little Piglet¡¯s Vajra, so they should suffer huge damage even if they successfully took out the boss. A few minutes later, Gui Guzi smiled. "Boss Broken Halberd, I just received news that a couple hundred elites from Flower Room and Hegemon Palace are moving to snatch the boss from Warsky Alliance. If the boss doesn¡¯t put enough pressure on them, they definitely will succeed..." I shook my head. "WTF, Li Le and Wang Dongliang really need to dump a couple of points in their Intelligence stat. Even if we pretend that they have the strength to snatch the boss from Warsky Alliance, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that they are taking a huge risk by splitting their troops. What happens if the quest fails, and we lose Sky City completely? This isn¡¯t just a boon, you know, failure could impact all the servers in China¡­" Li Chengfeng curled her lips. "Are you seriously putting stock in their intelligence? All these people can see are the tiny profits right in front of them. If they understood the concept of looking ahead, they wouldn¡¯t still be terrible despite spending god knows how much money in this game¡­" "I guess so¡­" He Yi couldn¡¯t help but tease us. "You two backbiters aren¡¯t that much better than them, are you?" Li Chengfeng laughed loudly, "What are you talking about, guild leader? This isn¡¯t backbiting, this is setting the world to rights! Am I right, Lu Chen?" I echoed his sentiment firmly. "Of course! We are righteous and magnanimous people, we would never commit a dishonorable act, much less shittalk someone behind their backs! Am I right, Gui Guzi?" Gui Guzi started sweating heavily. "Why don¡¯t you guys enjoy yourselves and leave me to clean up these mobs¡­" He Yi: "..." ¡­¡­ Nearly an hour later, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends finally got enough breathing room to split up and take out the mobs in other places. The terrible battle ultimately ended in victory for the east side players, although the same couldn¡¯t be said for the players on other sides. In fact, it was a miracle that some of them were still standing. After all, even the united front of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends had to fight long and hard before we finally overcame the sixth monster wave. A long time later, a system announcement finally announced that Warsky had taken out the boss of the sixth wave and gained 1 Luck. Clearly, the opportunity was granted to him by his commanders because Warsky didn¡¯t quite have the damage to deal the final blow. In their guild, Warsky was the spiritual leader, and he was so charismatic that his three CGL Hall of Famers would die for him if need be. That was a skill as well. I looked around me and gasped a little. It was because nearly every other guild besides Snowy Cathaya, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and The Monarch Descends had been slaughtered to the last. They had barely enough people to construct a simple defense line, and that was not going to be enough to withstand the seventh monster wave at all. He Yi pursed her lips. "I think the player faction is about to crumble¡­" I nodded in agreement. "Mn, that definitely looks like the case..." Li Chengfeng reported. "We lost over 800 players during the sixth wave just now, and none of them are able to revive close to the city. We will probably lose even more people when the next few waves hit us. Frankly, it will be a miracle if we hold on until the tenth wave¡­" Xu Yang grinned reassuringly. "It¡¯s fine. Even if we lose, we still got a lot out of this, didn¡¯t we? Just look at the equipment we got¡­" "Yeah!" I ordered, "Little Gui, sweep the battlefield with your cavalry immediately. Pick up only top-tier equipment. Xu Yang, take a few people with you and do the samel. Many players dropped their equipment when they died to the Giant Purgatory Beasts, and it¡¯d be a shame to let them go to waste¡­" "Got it. Be back in a jiffy!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a beautiful female rider rode up to us. It was none other than Lin Yixin herself. Getting off her Frostscythe Warhorse and grabbing its reins, she greeted He Yi with a smile, "Good afternoon, Sister He Yi~" He Yi nodded back with a smile. "Nice to see you too. How is Snowy Cathaya faring? Do you think you can block the next wave?" "We¡¯re more or less doing okay, but it was a difficult battle for sure¡­" Lin Yixin replied. "The mobs are a bit too powerful, so there were moments where things were quite dangerous. Plus, the NPCs still haven¡¯t mobilized their troops yet. Maybe we all must die before they¡¯ll make a move¡­" I replied, "Well, the game is programmed so that the players can have all the ¡®fun¡¯ until the total player count falls below a certain threshold. Only then the NPCs will enter the battlefield. Just give it your all. No matter what happens, Gods of Destruction and Warsky Alliance are sure to fall first¡­" "Yeah!" Lin Yixin said with a giggle, "I¡¯m not worried. I just received news that that Warsky Alliance, Gods of Destruction and Flower Room are still neck-deep in the Giant Purgatory Beasts. They haven¡¯t even cleared out 70% of their mobs yet, and it¡¯ll be a while before they¡¯re finally done. I wouldn¡¯t have had the time to come over and chat otherwise. Oh right, I believe we should snatch the next couple bosses no matter which side they spawn after this. It¡¯s not like the rest of the guilds have the strength to take them on anymore, even if they want to¡­" Chapter 477: Collapse of the Defense Line Ding~! System Announcement: All players, the seventh monster wave led by a Level 147 Spirit Rank boss "Oka the Stonebreaker" have crossed the spatial bridge created using the Purgatory Dragon Scepter! ¡­¡­ Light shone brightly as countless portals appeared across the light screen. Very soon, huge monsters were teleported into Sky City through the portals. They were two-human tall half-beastman warriors covered in rusted armor and wrapped in iron chains. Half of their head was completely rotted, and a single line of flesh was all that was connecting their eyeballs to the sockets. The half-beastmen roared on top of their lungs before charging us with their giant stone hammers! "Roar roar roar¡­" The roars from the half-beastmen were literally earthshaking. This alone was enough to worry many players. Li Chengfeng bared his teeth for a moment before asking, "Why are these half-beastmen wrapped in heavy iron chains? Just why?" I replied with a smile, "There are only two types of people who would be wrapped up in chains: one, a masochist. Two, a person who was so dangerous that locking them in chains was the only way to stop them from causing havoc. Which type do you think these undead half-beastmen are?" The corner of Li Chengfeng¡¯s lips turned upward. "Probably the latter¡­" By now, the monster army had come close enough for me to read their stats¡ª Half-beastman warrior (Shadow) Level: 147 Attack: 1680~1900 Defense: 2180 HP: 150000 Skills: Shatter, Crush, Sweep Introduction: A half-beastman from hell. These berserk and mindless people possess enormous strength. Their tough, steely armor earned them the nickname "Steel Fortress", and their role couldn¡¯t be understated, be it in major or minor wars. These half-beastmen have given up their honor completely, and they are deeply hated by the warriors of the Silver Moon Alliance. ¡­¡­ As I had predicted earlier, our next opponents were Level 147. The Half-beastman Warrior was a high-level shadow-rank mob with a max Attack of 1900. Its level was way higher than the players¡¯, so it wouldn¡¯t be inaccurate to double its hidden attack stat and assume that its effective Attack was around 4000 or so. There was literally no one present in the war who could claim that they could survive this mass assault with absolute certainty. Thud thud thud¡­ Beiming Xue¡¯s archers attacked first and pierced the brawny half-beastmen¡¯s chest, arms and other body parts with their iron arrows. However, the Half-beastman Warriors¡¯ bodies were already half-rotted, so the rain of arrows did nothing to slow their charge at all. They couldn¡¯t seem to feel the attack either because they continued charging us as if the arrows didn¡¯t even exist! The first Half-beastman Warrior to approach the frontline came face to face with Gui Guzi. It swung its battle hammer and hit Gui Guzi and all the magic knights beside him! Clang clang clang¡­ Sparks flew everywhere as the magic knights shuddered violently. Damage numbers appeared above their heads¡ª 1278! 2983! 3108! ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi¡¯s Defense was impeccable, so he was still fine. However, everyone else who got hit could hardly claim the same thing. Their Defense was greatly reduced because the mob was at least 30 levels above them, and it possessed the passive skill "Shatter¡±. It was a skill that gave the mob a percentage-based chance to ignore Defense, and that was very troublesome. Swhoosh! Gui Guzi moved his shield to the side and stabbed the half-beastman¡¯s stomach ruthlessly with Death Combo. When the spearhead came out, it actually pulled out the half-beastman¡¯s innards as well. The unexpected, terrible stench caused nearly everyone to frown at the same time. "Fuck me, Little Gui is so hardcore¡­" High Fighting Spirits barked out a laugh before bringing his axe forward and spinning into a Xiezhi Howl. A wave of cyclic energy instantly swept over a bunch of mobs and reduced their HP drastically. The barbarian warrior himself wasn¡¯t doing very well, however. It was because four to five Half-beastman Warriors had repaid the favor by swinging their stone hammers toward his shoulder! Bang bang bang! A column of damage numbers rose above High Fighting Spirits¡¯ head, and his health dropped drastically to 25% or so. As expected, a 5-Strength barbarian warrior had excess in attack power but the same couldn¡¯t be said for his survivability. After all, he couldn¡¯t equip a shield, and his armor wasn¡¯t as good as mine. Swhoosh! I rushed forward and swung my sword in an arc. Then, I fired three blazing sword auras into the mobs and deleted huge chunks of their HP. My damage was no longer enough to one-shot the enemies. Burning Blade Slash was epic, but the Half-beastman Warriors simply had too much health. 150k HP was something no one could delete in an instant. "Fighting Spirits, get back to the defense line! Don¡¯t rush ahead yourself!" After I successfully escorted High Fighting Spirits back to the ranks, I chided him. "If you do this again and the mobs crit you¡¯ll be dead, you know that right?" High Fighting Spirits laughed. "I got it, I got it. Thanks for saving my life, vice leader!" A couple of white flashes later, our priests healed High Fighting Spirits back to full health. The barbarian warrior¡¯s Defense wasn¡¯t really impressive, but with our priests¡¯ help he should have no problems tanking the Level 147 shadow-rank mobs unless he aggroed too many at once. In contrast to High Fighting Spirits, He Yi and Gui Guzi were standing at the forefront and firing energy attack after energy attack into the mobs with no troubles whatsoever. The Snow Domain Windchaser neighed as a Half-beastman Warrior roared. The latter raised its stone hammer high into the air before bringing it down heavily on our beautiful guild leader! Clang clang clang... The Ice Soul Barrier appeared on He Yi¡¯s left arm, and she used it to block the half-beastmen¡¯s attacks. The way the hammers slammed into the shield rhythmically almost sounded like music. The mobs dealt only 1000 damage or so to He Yi per hit, but she dealt over 8000 damage per retaliation. Her mount and Royal Road was a ridiculously powerful combination. He Yi was absorbing a large majority of attacks all by herself. She was undoubtedly a symbolic figure in everyone¡¯s eyes right now. A ring was moving wherever the Snow Domain Windchaser went, and it was none other than the indicator of He Yi¡¯s Royal Road. Our guild was having an easier time than most because her Famous General Skill reduced the stats of all enemies within several hundred yards. Speaking of which, I was an Asura, and my passive skill Deterrence also reduced the stats of the enemies around me, although it wasn¡¯t nearly as good as He Yi¡¯s Royal Road of course. Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Du Thirteen and everyone else on the frontlines were doing everything in their power to cut down the monsters in front of them and protect their teammates from danger. After our defense line had found their footing, our damage dealers went all out and bombarded the mobs with arrows and magic to hell and back. Some distance away, Snowy Cathaya was also engaged in a bloody battle. Lin Yixin was riding at the forefront and cutting down the Half-beastman Warriors left and right with her Frozen Sword. Her white, normally taintless armor was covered in dried blood, but she was long past caring at this point. This wave was too powerful, and if she fell, Snowy Cathaya most likely would fall as well. A guild without their spiritual leader didn¡¯t have a future to speak of. Purple Marquis was also a standout on the battlefield, fighting about eight Half-beastman Warriors all by himself. He launched Vacuum Slash into a group before piercing the chest of the closest half-beastman with Chaos Universe. He then raised his hand and froze all the Half-beastman Warriors around him for 3 seconds using Absolute Zero, buying himself some time to recover. The sky above Snowy Cathaya¡¯s formation burned bright as Shadow Chanel launched Fire Rain into a horde of mobs. The indiscriminate attack caused countless Half-beastman Warriors to scream in pain. Before they could do anything else, countless icy spikes burst out of the ground and murdered them in cold blood. It was none other than the work of Lin Yixin¡¯s pet, the Ice Fox. The little fox had become a powerhouse after it grew enough levels to learn an AoE skill! ¡­¡­ Our other allied guild, The Monarch Descends was showing signs of crumbling, however. Hundreds of fighters stood at the frontlines, stopping the Half-beastman Warriors from reaching their backline, but the mobs were making short work of them with their battle hammers. Damage numbers over 5000 kept rising above their heads, and anyone who took a crit was almost certainly dead. The Half-beastman Warriors¡¯ levels were simply too high. With such a divide, it was easy for the mob to score a critical hit on the players. "We¡¯re falling apart..." A party leader screamed in pain. He was the only one still alive as his teammates had all been crushed by the Half-beastman Warriors¡¯ hammers! Their stats weren¡¯t good enough, and they were losing HP so quickly that even their priests couldn¡¯t heal them in time. This tragedy was but the natural result. Moreover, The Monarch Descends didn¡¯t have a single Famous General despite being a big guild, so it was even more difficult for them to stop the high-level mobs¡¯ charge. The reason Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players were able to find their footing was thanks to He Yi and Gui Guzi buffing the frontliners with their Famous General Skills, and Beiming Xue doing a shitload of DPS with her Arrow God. Once the mobs faltered, the upper hand was all ours. ¡­¡­ "Not good, The Monarch Descends is about to fall apart! Their first and second defense line are gone already¡­" I cried. If The Monarch Descends crumbled, there was no way we could hold the east side of Sky City. It was because the mobs would be able to swarm us from the sides as well. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were strong, but not even we could withstand an attack from all directions. Li Chengfeng raged. "Fuck! We need to save them! If they are gone, then we¡¯re most likely the next to go¡­" He Yi nodded and gave me an order. "Lu Chen, take a hundred warriors with you and aid our ally!" "Okay!" I raised the Heaven-stealing Sword and let out a cry. "Everyone in my party, follow me! We¡¯re going to save our ally!" I and almost a hundred people including the 40 fighters in my party started running toward The Monarch Descends. Even from afar, I could see countless Half-beastman Warriors roaring and tearing apart whatever was left of The Monarch Descends¡¯ defense line. The moment I got into range, I immediately launched Thousand Ice Slash. Not breaking a step, I continued running alone on the frontline while using War Crush to aggro even more Half-beastman Warriors to me. Behind me, Xu Yang, Chaos Moon and the other fighters started forming a defense line of their own without needing me to tell them. A hundred-man defense line with me as the point was formed in no time. The Silver Dragon Ring suddenly shone brightly, and I immediately tossed Silver Dragon Storm into a group of mobs! ¡­¡­ Before we arrived, Ling Xueshang looked like she wanted to change her class to a Warrior somehow and plug the gaps in her guild¡¯s defense line herself. When we arrived to her aid with our first-rate experts, she exclaimed gratefully, "Lu Chen, thank goodness you came!" "No problem. Keep us healed!" Chapter 478: Stonebreaker ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Holy light rained on my body constantly. The priests of The Monarch Descends had been focusing most of their healing on me and my people because Ling Xueshang ordered them to. The girl knew very well that she couldn¡¯t let any of us die; that would only grow the debt she already owed us. The situation was fine, but I couldn¡¯t help but look at my equipment durability with worry. I was a warrior, but I had been fighting like a magic knight and absorbing the mobs¡¯ firepower all this time. Long story short, I had taken too much damage, and most of my equipment was close to breaking completely. The 5-star Outstanding equipment like the God Suppressing Helmet and God Suppressing Necklace were still okay at 40%, but I had items with durability as low as 10%. It was worrying to say the least. I wasn¡¯t sure my equipment would last until the tenth wave, let alone the boss of the tenth wave. ¡­¡­ That being said, it wasn¡¯t all bad. The protracted battle netted me an innumerable amount of experience, and I had leveled up to 121 and 73%. I didn¡¯t even realize this until just now because the battle was too fierce. So far, everyone who was still alive¡ªespecially the damage dealers¡ªhad gained between 2 to 5 levels. This was why people said that monster attacks were a boon to both the monsters and the players with the power and skill to make full use of it. It was an elite player¡¯s best chance to widen the gap between themselves and the normal players! The number of Half-beastman Warriors at the east side of Sky City was slowly but surely decreasing. Our DPS wasn¡¯t for show after all. We couldn¡¯t do anything to help the players guarding the other sides, however. The Half-beastman Warriors were powerful enough that even Gui Guzi and He Yi would be beaten to death without a priest to heal them. Moreover, priests were so fragile and slow that it was impossible to reinforce the other sides in a reasonable amount of time. I checked the UI and noted that there weren¡¯t many players who were still alive in Sky City. The player count had dropped all the way from ten million to 2.37 million, and almost all of them belonged to the big guilds. Almost all of the small to middle¨Crank guilds had been slaughtered. There were thousands of guilds in Sky City at least, and every one of them had their own heroes. It would be impossible to list all of them. Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Points: 298030 Wind Fantasy Points: 227610 Shadow Chanel Points: 198260 From Water Points: 192370 Beiming Xue Points: 188260 Moonlight Stone Points: 187220 Legendary Brave Points: 182040 October Rain Points: 181190 Purple Marquis Points: 179270 Ling Xueshang Points: 177340 High Fighting Spirits Points: 172390 Warsky Points: 169900 Little Piglet Points: 157390 Clear Perfume Points: 155280 Gui Guzi Points: 145110 ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin and He Yi were fighters, but they both possessed pets with high Magic Attack, and being mounted turned their basic attacks into AoE attacks. That was why they were able to enter the top four. Otherwise, neither of them were even close to matching me, especially in terms of AoE skills. Of course, I would enjoy the same benefits once I hit Level 150 and got a mount of my own. Assuming that I had a mount right now, my points would probably exceed 400k already. Anyway, the Top 100 players on the point ranking would be rewarded handsomely, and it wouldn¡¯t be just experience reward. Unless I was mistaken, everyone would get a varying increase of Luck, also the most desired stat of any first-rate expert. Equipment would grow outdated eventually, but Luck was a permanent power whose strength only grew with time. Suddenly, Chaos Moon pointed toward the front and cried out, "Wah! Look at that, Lu Chen¡­" I looked at the direction she was pointing at. In the middle of a group of mobs I found a half-beastman wearing bloody red battle armor and a huge battle hammer. Its appearance wasn¡¯t that distinguished, but it couldn¡¯t hide the name above its head¡ªOka the Stonebreaker... I couldn¡¯t stop myself from laughing. "Good! A boss finally came our way!" The defense line stretching about a hundred yards to the left and right were all players from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and the boss was right at the center of it. There was no way anyone could take this from us. I raised my arm and tossed out a Dragon Slaying Slash! Bang! 11988! The skill hit Oka the Stonebreaker in the head and made it shudder a little. Huh, I wasn¡¯t expecting to deal a critical hit. Anyway, the Level 147 Spirit Rank boss roared angrily and started charging toward me! At the same time, the players of The Monarch Descends started shouting, "Wah, the boss is here, the boss is here¡­" Ling Xueshang¡¯s lips tugged into a smile. "Since Lu Chen was the one who scored the first hit, the boss rightfully belongs to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, am I right? Moreover, they saved our lives just a moment ago. Is everyone fine with giving the boss to our ally?" Everyone in The Monarch Descends nodded in agreement. If I, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang and the others hadn¡¯t helped them, their defense line would¡¯ve been destroyed by the Half-beastman Warriors a long time ago. They wouldn¡¯t have been in any shape to fight the boss even if they wanted to. Also, one of The Monarch Descends¡¯ weaknesses was their lack of a super warrior. Purple Wind Chime was okay, but she was at the level of High Fighting Spirits at best, and the guy would literally die if he was forced to act as a tank in a boss fight. ¡­¡­ The Stonebreaker ran up to me and swung its hammer right at my shoulder. The pain was so great that I literally felt it in my bones, and the damage it dealt seemed to reflect that¡ª7843! Damn, if even I took this much damage from a simple attack, I couldn¡¯t imagine how anyone else in my party could withstand this... Chaos Moon turned pale and backed away like the wind. "I only have less than 13k HP, so I¡¯m definitely not the right person to tank this. Xu Yang, you go¡­" Xu Yang stared at her. "Can I refuse¡­" I was the only one with the power to tank this boss, so I had no choice but to meet it head-on. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf let out a howl and attacked the Stonebreaker from the flanks. The boss tried shaking it off after it sank its fangs into the tattered cloth around its butt, and the way it was swung left and right across the air made them look like a pair of ice skaters in a figure skating tournament for some reason... Bang bang bang... The boss slashed me three times in a row. My attempts to parry the attack were completely useless because the gap between our Strength was just too big. My health kept dropping like mad, and The Monarch Descends¡¯ priests couldn¡¯t heal me enough to save me. I had no choice but to use Tenacity of the Dead and drink a potion¡ª +3985! +3500! ¡­¡­ I should be able to last a bit longer like this, but it was super risky. I could use Guard, but I would lose all the aggro on the boss. The Stonebreaker had an AoE skill where it summoned flames to its battle hammer and hit an entire group of people, so if I Guarded, the target could only switch to players of The Monarch Descends. This way, at least I was the only one who was getting hit. "Call for reinforcements now! Lu Chen can¡¯t handle the boss himself¡­" Chaos Moon panicked. Xu Yang immediately shouted in the guild channel, "Little Gui, boss, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue, come here now! Lu Chen is fighting the boss, and he¡¯s not strong enough to tank it himself! The Monarch Descends¡¯ priests are so shit they can¡¯t for life coordinate well enough not to waste their healing! He could seriously die at any moment!" "We¡¯re coming¡­" Reinforcements came very quickly, with Gui Guzi being the fastest of them all. Urging his land dragon to move as fast as it could, he activated Charge the second he got into range and shouted, "Panic not, Boss Broken Halberd! I hast cometh to saveth thee¡­" I stared at him. "Thee your sister! I wasn¡¯t panicked in the first place¡­" Li Chengfeng laughed loudly as he arrived and hit the boss beneath the armpit with Dragonbone Flurry. The guy had a keen eye for weak spots, it seemed. He Yi had also shown up on her Snow Domain Windchaser. Since seven players had died in my 40-man party while we were defending The Monarch Descends, I added everyone into the party so we could all enjoy the kill experience together. The battle happening at our guild¡¯s battle line was nearing its end, so I wasn¡¯t worried that they would fall to the remaining Half-beastman Warriors without us. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ A series of pillars of holy light flashed around my person, and I knew from the amount I was healed and the pattern alone that it was Murong Mingyue. There was no one in Sky City who had a better grasp on healing than her. And so we surrounded the boss and steadily chipped away at its HP while a large group of priests healed us from the back. Anyone could be one-shot by a boss this powerful, so the healing mustn¡¯t stop until it was dead. ¡­¡­ The Stonebreaker roared and swung its hammer around like crazy, causing metallic sparks to appear on Gui Guzi¡¯s shield again and again. I had passed the party leader to Gui Guzi because one, Knight God would ensure that all the riders in our party like He Yi and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun would deal good damage to the boss, and two, for the Defense boost of course. With Knight God active, the chances that our magic knights would be one-shot was drastically lowered, even if it managed to crit us multiple times in a row. Gui Guzi¡¯s Defense and HP were slightly behind He Yi¡¯s, but he had a skill she couldn¡¯t hope to match, Undying Shield X. The skill absorbed 50% of the damage taken as health, so it might as well be a 50% damage reduction if he wasn¡¯t one-shot before the absorption tick. The effect was so powerful that no one could dethrone Gui Guzi¡¯s position as the number one tank of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to this day. Our Undying Knight¡¯s only flaw was his lack of attack power, resulting in frequent losses of aggro and some damage being done here and there. At the back, Beiming Xue and her archer party went all out and shot the boss until it resembled a pincushion. Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits and I also gave it a good thrashing every time its AoE skill went on cooldown. In fact, I never even bothered leaving the boss''s side because the boss didn¡¯t have the ability to one-shot me through my Defense and HP. Almost ten minutes later, Oka the Stonebreaker was finally nearing its demise! However, a group of Hegemon Palace players suddenly appeared at the distance. They were led by none other than Wang Dongliang, Little Piglet, and Shangguan Wan¡¯er. "Fuck! What is this timing? Are they planning to steal the boss from us?" Xu Yang exclaimed in shock. Chapter 479: Blazing Shadow Bow Gui Guzi nodded and steered his Armored Swordback Dragon away from the boss. Stopping in front of Hegemon Palace¡¯s party in no time, he raised his spear and shouted, ¡°Stop where you are! Why are you here at our guild¡¯s area of operation instead of the north side?¡± Hegemon Palace¡¯s players were surprised by his arrival. Little Piglet was the one who stepped out and replied, ¡°There¡¯s no rule restricting us to one specific location, is there? If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls can come here, why can¡¯t we come here as well?¡± Gui Guzi spurred his mount a dozen or so steps closer toward Hegemon Palace before coming to a stop again. Then, he tossed his spear into the ground in front of him and pointed at the weapon. ¡°Cross this line if you dare! I promise you I¡¯ll kill anyone who takes even half a step past it!¡± ¡°You! Who do you think you are!?¡± Wang Dongliang said angrily. Before he could do anything else, Ling Xueshang appeared with Mo Xiaoxiao and Purple Wind Chime at the perfect moment and waved her bow once. ¡°The Monarch Descends, reform the battle formation! Prepare to intercept Hegemon Palace!¡± Her archers, mages and warriors immediately rushed to her side. At least thousands of weapons were pointed at Hegemon Palace¡¯s party in just a moment. A muscle in Wang Dongliang¡¯s face twitched visibly before he looked at Little Piglet. ¡°What should we do?¡± Little Piglet replied coldly, ¡°We wait here and watch from the sidelines. That¡¯s what we came to do, right?¡± ¡°Hmph. Dammit!¡± Hegemon Palace was clearly plotting an intervention after both Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and the boss were damaged, but they were destined to be disappointed by the results. Gods of Destruction, Mad Dragon, and other guilds¡¯ total casualties had exceeded 70% after seven monster waves, but Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had only lost less than 20% of their players. Moreover, our allies, Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends, also suffered smaller losses compared to most other guilds. It would take a considerably brave and powerful opponent to take anything off our hands. ¡­¡­ Crack crack crack! Li Chengfeng¡¯s sword cut through the boss¡¯s shoulders and dealt respectable damage. Everyone was trying to kill the boss as quickly as possible because no one liked being watched while they were doing something. It was like having won a girl¡¯s heart, but knowing that countless people were eyeing her lustfully and plotting a move. It was far less stressful to have lost your belongings to a thief than it was to be watched by one, not knowing when they would act! Suddenly, the grass at the distance shook unnaturally and made some rustling sound! Pu pu pu¡­ Showers of blood and screams of pain filled the air for a moment. The attack had cut through five invisible assassins! The spinning blade dealt at least 8000 damage to each person, a damage no normal Assassin class player could endure! Thud! I grabbed the hilt of the Heaven-stealing Sword firmly as it returned to my hand. The Sword Boomerang had proven itself with just one usage. The skill dealt AoE damage in a single line, and the way it spun back like a boomerang was cool to say the least. Since it had a 100% hit chance, it was the perfect skill to use against assassins, mages and priests. As the assassins collapsed to the ground, it became clear that they belonged to Hegemon Palace. At the same time, a beautiful woman suddenly appeared out of thin air and leaped to the back. It was none other than Shangguan Wan¡¯er. The assassin wiped away the beads of sweat on her forehead and muttered, ¡°When did Lu Chen learn a skill like this? That was too close¡­¡± He Yi smiled and complimented me. ¡°Well done, Lu Chen¡­ Mages, please sweep the area with Arctic Rain! Don¡¯t let any assassin get a drop on us!¡± Our players quickly carried out her command and surrounded the entire area in Arctic Rain. He Yi¡¯s Firelight Mouse also created a wall of fire to block off a part of the area and guarantee that the boss wouldn¡¯t be stolen by anyone. ¡­¡­ A while late, the Stonebreaker was almost done. Its last sliver of HP kept shaking and looking like it would vanish at any moment. I smiled. ¡°It¡¯s time! Everyone, hit the boss with everything you got! May the luckiest person score the last hit on the boss and claim 50% of the boss¡¯s experience, hahaha!¡± Gui Guzi immediately ran back and unleashed a Death Combo with his spear. Li Chengfeng calmly executed a Dragonbone Flurry + Cyan Dragon Horn combo. High Fighting Spirits even let out an angry shout and used his Xiezhi Howl right next to the boss! My most powerful skill was Burning Blade Slash, of course. I let out a soft cry and shrouded the Heaven-stealing Sword in flames. After launching three blazing energies at the boss¡¯s chest in a row, I followed up with Pardon + basic attack combo. Four damage numbers and one MISS appeared in a column¡ª 7456! 10983! 27894! MISS! 24870! ¡­¡­ Nice! The five-hit combo was powerful enough, but I actually critted on my two strongest hits! Not bad at all! ¡°Roar roar roar¡­¡± Oka the Stonebreaker let out his death throes as he collapsed to his knees, its head disconnecting from his body and rolling next to his dead body. We had finally taken out the seventh wave boss! Swhoosh! A golden column of light surrounded me as a stream of experience entered my body. As expected, the 50% experience I got from dealing the last hit was enough to push me to Level 122. It was amazing! Ding~! System Announcement: Player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± has killed Oka the Stonebreaker. 7000 points and 1 Luck are awarded to the player! That was another Luck to the tally! Standing at 26, my Luck stat was literally unrivaled in the entire world! The boss dropped a lot of equipment, but everyone showed great self-discipline and didn¡¯t make a move to grab them. Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Gui Guzi and the others exchanged a knowing smile with each other before retreating from the boss and giving way to me and Eve. Li Chengfeng then said, ¡°Please take the loot, guild leader, vice leader!¡± I nodded and said, ¡°Eve, you go!¡± He Yi didn¡¯t turn down the request. She got off her mount, stood next to the boss¡¯ body and carried an entire pile of equipment in her arms. They all looked shiny as hell. Well, I was the one who dealt the last hit, and with 25 Luck, it was only natural that the loot would be great. He Yi shared the equipment stats inside the guild channel. This time, we would compete for these items in a fair and transparent manner¡ª Blazing Shadow Bow (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Level 120 bow. 600~825 Attack, Agility +105, Stamina +100. Passive: Attack increased by 37%. Outstanding Property: Critical damage increased by 20%. Howling Wind Chest Armor (Purple Gold-grade, Outstanding¡ï): Level 120 metal armor, 400 Defense, 320 Magic Resist, Stamina +100, Strength +95, Outstanding Property: 7% of damage taken is absorbed as health. Obsidian Ring (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï) Level 120 ring, Strength +110, Stamina +114. Passive: Max HP increased by 20%. Outstanding Property: Magic Resist increased by 30%. Tempest Sword (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï): Level 120 sword. 585~810 Attack, Strength +100, Stamina +94. Passive: Attack increased by 27%. Outstanding Property: Chance to trigger a skill ¡°Tempest¡± when attacking. ¡­¡­ Everyone¡ªeven inside the guild channel¡ªswallowed their salivas when they saw the gorgeous items. Even Little Piglet of Hegemon Palace was complaining, ¡°WTF, why is their equipment all glowing with prismatic light? How is it that every item they got is Outstanding? When Warsky Alliance killed their boss, they only got a 2-star Outstanding item, and it was only of the Purple Gold grade¡­¡± Hmph hmph, it was because my Luck and my karma were amazing, of course! Still carrying the four equipment, He Yi declared, ¡°Let¡¯s distribute this immediately based on guild contribution points. It¡¯ll be 70k points for the Blazing Shadow Bow, 20k points for the Howling Wind Chest Armor, 50k points for the Obsidian Ring and 60k points for the Tempest Sword. Alright, you may start competing for them now!¡± According to the guild¡¯s loot distribution rules, equipment would automatically appear under the applicable classes after the guild leader or vice guild leader had confirmed it in the system. Then, the player with the right class and the highest guild contribution could pay the set amount of guild points in exchange for the item. For example, the Blazing Shadow Bow was an excellent weapon for archers, and all of them, including Beiming Xue, could take it. However, since Beiming Xue¡¯s had the highest guild contribution score of any archer, she got the choice to spend 70k points and get the bow before anyone else. It was a fair loot distribution system. Whoever contributed the most to the guild gets the first pick. If they decided to do so, they would use the appropriate number of contribution points. Unless they had a significant lead, they would fall behind and the second player on the list would have the first dibs the next time. Long story short, everyone who worked hard to contribute to the guild would always get the chance to compete for the right to possess super equipment. ¡­¡­ I brought up the guild member list. It probably didn¡¯t need to be said, but I had the highest guild contribution points out of everyone in the guild, as a matter of course. The points were calculated during guild or territory wars. Solo-killing a boss also gave guild contribution points because it was considered an honorable achievement. Therefore, contribution points had much to do with a player¡¯s power and skill. The first equipment on the list, the Blazing Shadow Bow was an amazing bow with an upper Attack limit of 825, a trait particularly impressive considering bows often had lower Attack compared to bladed weapons. Even better, it had a passive that amplified Attack by another 37%. However, the bow¡¯s best quality was without a doubt its Outstanding Property, a 20% boost to critical damage. For example, assuming that Beiming Xue did 500 normal damage to a target, and twice that number if it was a critical hit, then the Outstanding Property would boost the critical damage number to 1200. For archers, critical damage was a godlike stat all future archers would want to have! ¡°Beiming, go for it!¡± I patted my younger sister on the shoulder and smiled encouragingly. ¡°It¡¯s just 70k points. You¡¯ll get it back in no time in just a couple of boss battles and PKs!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Beiming Xue smiled and clicked ¡°Confirm¡±. She originally had 114k guild contribution points, and one tap later, most of them were gone in a flash. Still, the Blazing Shadow Bow was absolutely worth it! The next equipment in line was the Howling Wind Chest Armor, and plenty of male players put in a bid for it as expected. It was only 20k points, and it was much better than my Obsidian Dragonscale Armor. There was absolutely no reason to give it up without at least trying to compete for it. Chapter 480: Resentful Harpies Gui Guzi shook his head. ¡°My metal armor is more or less the same, so I¡¯m forfeiting as well!¡± Li Chengfeng smiled enigmatically. ¡°I don¡¯t want this metal armor either. High Fighting Spirits, your Defense is terrible, so you should go for it¡­¡± High Fighting Spirits looked confused. ¡°But Chengfeng, your metal armor isn¡¯t great either. Why don¡¯t you want it?¡± Li Chengfeng smiled. ¡°Because contribution points are valuable, and I don¡¯t want to waste them here. My true aim is that Tempest Sword¡­¡± ¡°Fuck, no wonder!¡± The results soon came out, and the Howling Wind Chest Armor ultimately went to High Fighting Spirits. With this, he shouldn¡¯t lose health as quickly as he used to anymore. The Obsidian Ring was also a fighter equipment, but it added max HP and Magic Resist, both of which were the signature stats of the Magic Knight class. Therefore, I forfeited again and gave Gui Guzi the right to claim the equipment for himself. At this point, the Undying Knight¡¯s HP was almost broken; breaking the 30k ceiling being buffed by He Yi¡¯s Royal Road. Even without it he still had almost 28k HP, and this was without factoring his Defense stat. His survivability was absolutely off the charts right now. The last item was the 2-star Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon, the Tempest Sword. It was your classic offensive-type weapon. He Yi, Gui Guzi and I consciously forfeited our right to claim the weapon, and as expected, the weapon ultimately went to Li Chengfeng. His strength was much greater now that he had a great weapon to match it! We left the rest of the boss¡¯s loot drops such as the Magic Stones and so on for everyone else to compete. Our guild members would complain to hell and back if we took even these for ourselves. ¡­¡­ Hegemon Palace left empty-handed after failing to find a way to snatch the boss from us or steal the loot. We didn¡¯t bother chasing them because one, we lost quite a lot of players throughout the seventh monster wave, and two, neither Little Piglet nor Shangguan Wan¡¯er were ordinary people. It was nearly impossible to kill them without suffering any casualty of our own. Xu Yang looked at the light screen surrounding Sky City before licking his lips. ¡°The eighth monster wave is about to begin, but Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace, and Mad Dragon haven¡¯t cleared out the Barbaric Battle Souls on their side yet, hehe. Even I¡¯m getting worried on their behalf. How are they going to fight two monster waves at once, I wonder?¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°Let¡¯s just ignore them and focus on ourselves!¡± As predicted, the eighth monster wave soon arrived¡ª Ding~! ¡­¡­ ¡°Bloodwing the Sky Fury?¡± I shivered before looking at the others. ¡°Oh no, this wave just might consist of flying monsters¡­¡± ¡°What? Really?¡± Li Chengfeng looked astonished as well. Flying mobs were really bad news because they could just fly over the frontline. It would be impossible to stop them from pouring their firepower onto our backline. This was going to be a nightmare for everyone in the party! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... The light screen started shuddering as countless blood red figures emerged from it. It was a kind of feathery undead female creature that had blood red eyes and an extremely unfriendly look. They screeched in a high pitch filled with killing intent and hatred as soon as they appeared in our world. ¡°Fuck! It is a flying mob¡­¡± I groaned on the inside before pulling out my sword again. ¡°Tighten the formation! Ranged players, try forcing them to the ground with your attacks!¡± The black swathe of flying creatures flew toward us at high speed. It wasn¡¯t long before we could read their stats¡ª Resentful Harpy (Shadow) Level: 149 Attack: 1700~1940 Defense: 1700 HP: 90000 Skills: Fly, Fury, Poisonous Feather Introduction: The harpies of hell. Before they were harpies, they were excellent human female mages. After their souls were stolen away from them, their bodies were transformed into slaves of Coldblade the Infinite Storm. The Resentful Harpies were used as slaves in the previous wars, and they are overflowing with murder and hatred. They are deeply hated by the warriors of the Silver Moon Alliance. ¡­¡­ Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and the rest of us frontliners could only watch on helplessly as the harpies flew right over our heads. They were only 20 yards above the ground, but that was enough distance that we couldn¡¯t hit them. So annoying! ¡±Li Chengfeng gritted his teeth and assumed a stance. His sword suddenly burst into light as he shouted, ¡°Get over here!¡± Boom! He fired a Reverse Scale Slash into the sky and hit a group of Resentful Harpies. They immediately flew down to meet him, but stopped just 10 yards above the ground. Then, they started firing red, poisonous feathers at his chest armor. ¡°Motherfucking sonuvabitch! I still can¡¯t reach them¡­¡± Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes widened in disbelief. However, He Yi and Gui Guzi were able to fire multiple sword auras into the mobs and hit them. All riders had extra attack range, so they had the absolute advantage in this battle. Gui Guzi even led the Fireblade Cavalry into a mounted charge as they fired sword auras again and again into the mobs. The battle at the backline was even fiercer. The archers and mages traded fierce attacks with the harpies, but the frontliners could barely do anything to help them. In fact, most of the priests had to abandon their assigned fighters and focus on healing the mages and archers with everything they got. Speaking of which, Beiming Xue was the shiniest star of this fight because she had powerful AoE skills such as Evil Spirit Volley and Multi Arrow. She was murdering the harpies in droves. However, we were still suffering massive amounts of damage. The harpies had almost 2000 Attack, a level of attack no mage or archer were truly equipped to deal with. This was especially true for our archers because they didn¡¯t have a Magic Shield to block damage. Our priests had to focus all their healing on them because they could die at any moment. Beiming Xue was fine because her equipment was ridiculously powerful. With over 10k HP and two super priests, Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew, healing her, she was in no danger of dying. The same couldn¡¯t be said for the rest of our archers, however. They kept being killed in droves by the harpies¡¯ Poisonous Feather skill... Our frontliners were really starting to panic. Chaos Moon gripped her sword tightly as she swore, ¡°Fuck! Can¡¯t we do anything at all?¡± I gritted my teeth and tossed the Heaven-stealing Sword into the air! Puchi! The Sword Boomerang hit at least 20 Resentful Harpies in a row and caused them to chase me. After raising my arm to block the first round of counterattack, I hastily ran to the back to buy myself some time. While I was running away, I suddenly realized that the harpies were flying lower and lower the longer they chased me. Very soon, they were flying only 3 yards above the ground. Only a dwarf wouldn¡¯t be able to hit the harpies at this height... Swhoosh! Chaos Moon charged a harpy that was chasing me and laughed. ¡°Wow! You¡¯re a goddamn genius, Lu Chen! I can¡¯t believe you actually found its weakness¡­¡± Gui Guzi and the others immediately spread the word, ¡°Run if you¡¯re attacked by the harpy! The longer they chase you, the lower they¡¯ll get to the ground! They have high Attack, but their Defense and HP are pathetic, so it won¡¯t take much to kill them!¡± This meant that the Fireblade Cavalry¡¯s role had changed from dealing damage to baiting the Resentful Harpies to the ground. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ greatest strength was without a doubt its melee frontline, and this was something even powerful guilds like Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance, and Candle Dragon had to admit. Therefore, we should let our fighters be the damage dealer in this case! ¡­¡­ After informing Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends about this method, our two allies also found their footing eventually. There was a problem, however. The Resentful Harpies¡¯ numbers were way too great, and at this rate we would be annihilated in two hours at most! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Seven or eight of our Archers collapsed to the ground at the same time when a flurry of Poisonous Feathers fell from the sky. The mob¡¯s DPS was so high that it became a race to see who could kill the other party faster! Not far away, a couple of middle-rank guilds were still fighting for their lives, but the battle was a one-sided slaughter. The harpies circled the sky and hunted down the melee fighters who didn¡¯t have any way to fight against them one by one, their blood creating rivers flowing across the battlefield. However, no one withdrew despite fighting a hopeless battle. They would rather die than abandon their main city. Bang bang bang¡­ Three fiery sword auras erupted between a dozen or so harpies and dealt an extraordinary amount of damage. The harpies were flying creatures with ridiculous Attack, but the trade off was that their Defense and HP was, as Chaos Moon put it, ¡°pathetically weak¡±. That was why I felt like a boss as I murdered them in droves. One Burning Blade Slash dealt almost 40k damage to the harpies, and with splash damage it was almost a one-shot. That being said, the harpies¡¯ Attack was absolutely torturous to endure! Poisonous Feathers rained from the sky and impaled themselves onto my Obsidian Dragonscale Armor. My Ghost Deity Armor kept shaking because the attacks wouldn¡¯t stop. If it wasn¡¯t for this skill, I might¡¯ve been one-shot already. Swhoosh! After healing myself for almost 4000 HP using Tenacity of the Dead, I hurriedly turned to the back and cried, ¡°Can anyone feed me please? Ahhh, I¡¯m dying¡­¡± A couple of beautiful priests giggled and threw a couple of instaheals on me. One of them stayed behind to heal me and me only because I was one of the greatest damage dealers of this battle. Well, I definitely needed the dedicated healing because the assault was so fierce that one misstep basically meant death. Suddenly, I heard a terrible wail. I soon learned it was because the players guarding the south side of Sky City including Gods of Destruction and Soul Battle Robes had been routed completely. From what I heard, Dominating Heaven Blade, Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God and the rest of his generals had all fought to their last breath on that barren land. This meant that the south side of Sky City was officially occupied by the Resentful Harpies. ¡­¡­ Chapter 481: First Appearance of the Rainbow The players finally breathed a huge sigh of relief when they saw the huge host of NPC cavalrymen enter the battle. It was clear that we were no longer to push back these monsters whose levels were simply too high for us. We needed the NPC armies to deal with them. Furthermore, we had been engaged in fierce battle since the very beginning, so the player population of Sky City had dropped to its lowest point. We barely even had one hundred thousand players left! We¡¯d gone from more than seventy million players to a mere one hundred thousand players. The ground around us was littered with equipment dropped by both monsters and players alike, but none of the survivors were able to pick them up. It wasn¡¯t that we didn¡¯t want to pick these items up, we were simply unable to. Everyone who was still alive had stuffed their inventories to the brim. Now we just needed to survive until the end, and all of us would reap massive rewards! ¡­¡­ Boom! Thousand Ice Slash exploded in the middle of a group of monsters. I followed that up by throwing my sword into the air as I used Sword Boomerang. The Heaven-stealing Sword morphed into a whirling buzzsaw as it ripped through a group of harpies. However, there was no rest for the wicked! The moment the handle of my sword flew back into my palm, I immediately shot out Burning Blade Slash. Three fiery blades of sword energy shot into the group of harpies that I had attacked with my Sword Boomerang, instantly killing dozens of them. They fell to the ground with a miserable wail as my EXP bar skyrocketed! Maybe it was because they were flying creatures, but the harpies gave far more experience than even the Giant Purgatory Beasts. They were Level 149 shadow-rank monsters while the Giant Purgatory Beasts were Level 145 shadow-rank monsters, but they gave at least five to ten times the experience that the Giant Purgatory Beasts. Anyhow, I kept seeing the golden light of leveling flash all around me, so I knew that as long as we could survive this wave, the standard of the elite players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would rise explosively! Hmmm, to be honest, even if they died here, they would already have gained enough! Over at where Snowy Cathaya was battling, Lin Yixin was raising her Frozen Sword high in the air as she cut through groups of monsters like a hot knife through butter. The Frostscythe Warhorse kept whinnying as she bombarded the monsters in front of her with Ice Flame Slash and other similar skills. Her Frozen Sword¡¯s Outstanding Property kept proccing as well, and it kept spraying the enemies in front of Lin Yixin with icicle blasts. This weapon was precisely the reason why Lin Yixin had managed to maintain her place near the top of the war contribution ranking. Unfortunately, The Monarch Descends weren¡¯t doing so hot right now. Ling Xueshang bitterly pushed back against the waves of monsters, a bunch of nearly-dead players supporting her. It looked like they were having a lot of trouble with the monsters and it was honestly no surprise. Trying to kill shadow-rank monsters 30 levels higher than them without any Famous General Skills was quite the tall order, but if they could endure this baptism of fire, their strength would definitely undergo a veritable rebirth. ¡­¡­ Pchhhht! The Heaven-stealing Sword shone with a gloomy light as it slid through the body of an onrushing harpy. I swung my arm violently to the side, flinging the harpy to the ground unceremoniously. I simultaneously bent down to pick up the leather bracers that it had dropped. I immediately inspected them. Mn, not bad. These bracers were a piece of 2-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade set which added 3% critical chance. Not bad! I could sell it in my shop when we returned to Sky City. He Yi stirred up a cloud of dust as she flew over and said, ¡°Lu Chen, Lu Chen~!¡± ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°A boss has appeared at the northern edge of the battlefield. There aren¡¯t that many players left there either. Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon, and Flower Room have been, for all intents and purposes, wiped out. Should we go grab it?¡± ¡°Sure, let¡¯s do it¡­¡± I raised my longsword in the air and yelled, ¡°Comrades, I want anyone who is Level 115 and above to follow me! We¡¯re off to kill a boss!¡± Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, and a few others laughed out loud as they hefted their weapons and followed after me. Meanwhile, He Yi remained even farther ahead of our small formation. She clearly meant to serve as our guide. However, when we reached the northern part of Sky City, we discovered that someone was already fighting the boss! Shockingly enough, the one who was facing off against the boss was Lin Yixin, who was currently sitting astride her Frostscythe Warhorse! Once she activated Bombshell, her stats would rise by 60¨C75%. Her health would reach about 30k, and her Defense, Attack, and attack speed would all receive huge boosts. But Bombshell didn¡¯t directly boost Lin Yixin¡¯s crit rate. This was because crit rate wasn¡¯t an actual stat that could be boosted. It was something that was calculated using one¡¯s Agility stat and any bonuses added by equipment. I thanked the heavens that this was the case. If not, the Fruit Knife Goddess would be absolutely unstoppable... We finally laid eyes on the Level 149 Spirit Rank boss, Bloodwing the Sky Fury, who was currently hovering in the air. Astonishingly enough, she was a beautiful woman who had two long blood-colored wings extending from her back. She was completely naked and her two lofty peaks quivered perkily with every attack she made. How worrisome. If they shook too vigorously and fell off, would her stats decrease as well? Clang! Clang! Clang! Blood-colored feathers continued to rain down on Lin Yixin relentlessly. She swiftly used her sword to block most of those feathers, causing sparks to fly in the air, but the impact of those feathers continued to push her back. She had lost a huge chunk of health as well! This boss¡¯s attack power was simply too high! ¡­¡­ ¡°OMG, Beauty Lin got here first. What should we do?¡± Chaos Moon said cheerily as she waved her hands helplessly in the air. I stared into the distance. Even though Lin Yixin had Purple Marquis, Shadow Chanel, Clear Perfume, and a few others helping her, it still looked like an uphill battle for them. They sorely needed more healers, DPS, and tanks! In truth, they were in sore need of everything. Their puny ten-man squad wouldn¡¯t be able to kill that boss... A light flashed through my eyes before I laughed and said, ¡°Eve, Lil Gui, Sister Mingyue, Li Chengfeng, Beiming Xue, Fighting Spirits, You and Yun, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Pure Love. All of you follow me! Let¡¯s go and help them!¡± Gui Guzi raised his spear in the air and grinned as he shouted, ¡°Okay!¡± He Yi raised Whirlwind high in the air as she gave a soft laugh. ¡°Go tell Beauty Lin first and get her to add all of us to her party so we can get that boost from Bombshell. We¡¯ll help them kill the boss. We¡¯re just in it for the EXP this time and we¡¯ll leave all the equipment drops to Snowy Cathaya!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± I gave a heavy nod of my head. I couldn¡¯t even imagine a scenario where He Yi would be so generous toward Lin Yixin, so I really appreciated the decision that she had made just now. I rushed forward and greeted the boss with Burning Blade Slash. Three fiery blades of sword energy swept forward and struck Bloodwing, causing her to wail in agony and stumble backward through the air. My attack had actually pushed the boss back a little! Lin Yixin gave vent to a scream of rage before she shot me the sweetest smile. ¡°You¡¯re finally here¡­¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I nodded my head and replied, ¡°Yiyi, add us into your party. We¡¯ll help you kill the boss and we¡¯re only here for the experience points. We¡¯ll leave all of the equipment that the boss drops to you guys!¡± ¡°Okay! Thanks in advance!¡± ¡°Hah, why are you being so polite? Just treat me to meal when you¡¯re free~¡± ¡°Mmmmm!¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s smile grew even sweeter as she added us into the party as quick as she could. With the addition of the two female priests, Murong Mingyue and Chaos Moon, their party instantly felt a whole lot safer! Gui Guzi immediately assumed the role of the main tank. With Bombshell¡¯s boost, this punk¡¯s HP had very nearly reached forty thousand and his Defense had also risen by a terrifying number. Even though Bloodwing kept pelting him with poisoned feathers, he was more than capable of tanking her attacks. I took a quick glance at my own stats. Hooh, my HP had instantly risen from 15960 to 26500. Just from this alone, I could deduce that Lin Yixin¡¯s Tactics had reached about 165. It was a little short of my 188, but it was already doing more than enough work. Now that I had high HP and Defense, I didn¡¯t need to worry about anything as I rushed forward and unleashed a stream of blows. I wouldn¡¯t die even if the boss attacked me, because Murong Mingyue, Chaos Moon, and the rest of the priests were paying close attention to all of our health bars. Besides the twenty-odd people who were either DPS or tanks, the rest were all healers! There were nearly fifteen priests constantly topping up our health bars, so there was really no way that this boss could even begin to hurt us. Our current squad had five of the top ten players ranked in the China server¡¯s Player Power Ranking and Heavenly Ranking. We were also being bolstered by what could be considered the divine Famous General Skill at the current stage in the game, Bombshell. This party could easily be called the strongest in our server and it really wasn¡¯t difficult for us to kill a Level 149 Spirit Rank Boss. It was only a matter of how long it would take us. Bloodwing the Sky Fury was a flying boss too, so she didn¡¯t have a lot of health in the first place. As a result, it only took this ridiculous squad of players seven minutes to drop her HP to a critical state. As my Burning Blade Slash and Li Chengfeng¡¯s Dragonbone Flurry continuously barraged it, she finally gave up the ghost. The person who had claimed the kill was the Dragon Warrior Li Chengfeng. The man sure was lucky! A boss had so much HP now that deliberately aiming for the last hit was practically impossible, so it all boiled down to luck. Whoosh! Golden light shot toward the sky. I reached Level 123. This boss really did give us a lot of experience. Oh well, the level difference between Bloodwing and us had really been quite incredible. Bloodwing let out a shrill wail of misery and as she plummeted to the ground, a small heap of items and equipment appeared around her body. Tsk tsk, Li Chengfeng seemed to have more than 10 points of Luck as well, so his item drop rate definitely wasn¡¯t bad. I was very sure that there was at least a Spirit-grade item in that pile! ¡­¡­ I sheathed my sword before turning around to smile at the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players milling around behind me. ¡°Alright, time to close up shop and return to the eastern part of the battlefield! It¡¯s about time for us to prepare to greet the ninth wave of monsters. Their attacks will be even more vicious than the last wave! Everyone nodded their head as Li Chengfeng quickly swapped his weapon. A shiny new sword appeared in his hand and he couldn¡¯t help but let out a loud laugh as he said, ¡°Ah, this feels great! Level 120 weapons really are awesome! This Tempest Sword has boosted my attack through the roof¡­¡± Chaos Moon¡¯s lips puckered up into a pout. ¡°Will you die if you don¡¯t show off, you bastard...¡± Gui Guzi let out a hearty laugh as well. ¡°If we can¡¯t show off, we¡¯ll end up with internal injuries! Just look at how awesome my Armored Swordback Dragon is! Every footstep it takes sounds like a clap of thunder! It¡¯s super cool¡­¡± Chaos Moon replied, ¡°I¡­ I want to hit Level 150 and ride a mount too¡­¡± I walked over to her and patted her on the shoulder as I said, ¡°There¡¯s still a long way to go, young one. Keep grinding¡­¡± Chaos Moon: ¡°Bunch of bastards¡­¡± ¡­¡­ As everyone turned around and prepared to leave, we suddenly heard a shout. Lin Yixin had been inspecting the spoils of war and she was now galloping towards us as quick as lightning. She yelled, ¡°Lu Chen! Guys! Don¡¯t leave yet!¡± ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Everyone turned to look at her. Lin Yixin caught up to us and leapt off her horse. She walked towards me and smiled sweetly before she thrust a weapon towards us. She said, ¡°Well, if not for you, I¡¯m afraid that Snowy Cathaya would have had a very difficult time killing that boss. So¡­ this spear will be our thanks to you! Snowy Cathaya won¡¯t let our allies down!¡± Shockingly enough, the weapon she was holding in her hands was a long spear swirling with rainbow-colored energy, a sharp killing intent radiating from its deadly blade! Lin Yixin quickly shared the spear¡¯s stats. A whole list of numbers flew into the air before they slowly coalesced into a shimmery hologram. Everyone sucked in a breath of cold air when they saw the spear¡¯s stats. Rainbow (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 670~855 Strength: +110 Stamina: +105 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 35% Passive: Deals 20% splash damage Property: Increases Mount Tenacity by 20% Outstanding Property: When attacking a target, there is a 5% chance to trigger a flurry of thrusts that will damage the target and enemies around it Slots: 3 Level Requirement: 120 Chapter 482: Iceflame Strike Furthermore, this was a 4-star Outstanding Rainbow at that, an absolute gem of a weapon! To any magic knight players who had hit Level 120, obtaining this weapon meant that they would undoubtedly ascend to the very peak of all magic knights in this server. The attack of this Rainbow didn¡¯t seem to be the least bit inferior to my Heaven-Stealing Sword. Its overall attack and splash damage was slightly lousier than mine, but that was more than enough for magic knights, a class which made their reputation on defense. This weapon would be incredible regardless of whether it was used in PvP or PvE. ¡­¡­ "Why, you don¡¯t want it?" A playful smile curved up on Lin Yixin¡¯s face as she tilted her head and looked at me. My body unconsciously shuddered before I gasped, "I want it... but I don¡¯t have the final say. Furthermore, won¡¯t the players of Snowy Cathaya say something if you give this Rainbow to me?" In the distance, Zi Chuanyu muttered to Purple Marquis, "Our guild leader treats Lu Chen so well. Do you think that he¡¯ll be so moved that he¡¯ll devote his entire heart to her after this?" Purple Marquis replied, "That goes without saying. Heck, even I want to devote my whole heart to her, and she doesn¡¯t even need to do anything¡­" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin leapt onto the back of her Frostscythe Warhorse as she shot me a dazzling smile, "Hmmmph, Snowy Cathaya isn¡¯t a democracy! I call the shots there! So this spear is yours, whether you want it or not!" As she said that, the Fruit Knife Goddess tossed the spear to us with no hesitation! Clang! Rainbow sank into the ground tip-first. It had landed precisely in between my feet and as it wobbled violently, I was keenly aware of just how sharp its blade was. However, that sudden move had caused my entire body to break out in cold sweat. As I stared down at the spear wobbling in between my legs, I realised just how close I came to the "ultimate punishment... I looked up to glare at Lin Yixin as I yelled, "Bloody hell, are you trying to turn me into an eunuch!?" Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful eyes widened into saucers before she grinned and stuck out her tongue at me. "Sorry, sorry! I guess I got the angle and amount of force wrong! You know I¡¯m not good with long-handled weapons anyway! Besides, you know that I definitely wouldn¡¯t want to hurt you there¡­" Lin Yixin suddenly realized that her words could be wildly misconstrued at this point. Her beautiful face immediately went cherry-red before she whirled around on her horse and giggled. "I¡¯m off. This Rainbow is yours. Just consider it a prize for killing the boss!" "Goddamit, if you let me see those grins again, I¡¯m gonna send all of you straight to the slaughterhouse!" I hollered. My words caused everyone to break out in laughter and even He Yi started to smile. After that, she sent me a message: "Oh come on, it¡¯s not like Beauty Lin¡¯s affection for you was a secret in the first place. There¡¯s no need to get angry. Just hurry up and decide which home this Rainbow is going to. That¡¯s our priority right now, because the ninth wave of monsters is about to spawn¡­" "Got it." I nodded my head and held Rainbow high in the air as I walked toward my party. I said, "This is the Level 120 signature weapon for the Magic Knight class. So only the magic knights in our guild will be given the opportunity to bid for it. This weapon will cost one hundred thousand contribution points. Who wants it?" Gui Guzi calmly strode toward me before speaking in a low and heavy voice, "Boss Broken Halberd, if you don¡¯t give me this spear, I¡¯ll hate you for the rest of my life¡­" "Your sister¡­" I swallowed a mouthful of saliva. The people who wanted equipment nowadays were all so overpowered... ¡­¡­ I deducted Gui Guzi¡¯s guild contributions points and handed Rainbow over to him. He only needed one and a half levels before he could equip it. But with his damage, he should be able to hit Level 120 after the next wave of monsters. Of course, that also meant that we had to grab all of the monsters in the next wave as well. We sprinted back to the eastern part of the battlefield, leaving the cleanup everywhere else to the rest of the guilds. We stood outside the city walls as we stared up at the sky. None of us knew just how many more powerful monsters would cross this spatial bridge to kill players and give EXP. This event was truly an exceedingly difficult one, a brutal event that had practically ground nearly all of Sky City¡¯s player population down to nothing. Xu Yang walked toward He Yi and I before he nodded his head and said, "I¡¯ve done a full headcount. There aren¡¯t many of us left either. The main guild still has 3124 players while the Bloody Mercenaries have 1987. So, we have 5111 players altogether. I expect that most of us will be dead by the time the ninth wave is over¡­" He Yi nodded her head before she looked toward me. I sucked in a deep breath before saying, "Don¡¯t worry, Xu Yang. Truth be told, we had managed to preserve 70% of our strength after the seventh wave but the monsters of the eighth wave were flying creatures, so they killed half of our people in the very first engagement. This was our single greatest loss of troops and unsurprisingly, the monsters of the ninth wave aren¡¯t flying creatures, so we should be able to preserve most of our forces if we maintain a tight formation." "Mhmmm." Xu Yang chuckled. "Sounds reasonable enough. However, I¡¯m still very worried about one thing. If all of us die here, what¡¯s gonna happen to the equipment that we drop¡­" He Yi couldn¡¯t help but laugh before she said, "Xu Yang, keep a record of any equipment that our players have lost and record them down in our guild records. Once we have finished this event, we can compensate them with items of equivalent value from our guild vault. This will also serve to strengthen our cohesiveness." Xu Yang couldn''t help but laugh as well. "Mmmm! Our boss truly is wise!" ¡­¡­ At this moment, the sky rippled with a brilliant and glaring light. This signalled the arrival of the ninth wave! A ringing sound reverberated in the skies above Sky City. Ding~! System Announcement: All players, the ninth monster wave led by a Level 151 Earth Rank boss, God Dancer, has crossed the spatial bridge created using the Purgatory Dragon Scepter! ¡­¡­ "Bloody hell, an Earth Rank boss?" I couldn¡¯t help but be stunned by the system announcement. I turned to look at He Yi. Her tiny mouth was hanging open in shock as she stared back at me with astonishment in her eyes. No one had imagined that an Earth Rank boss would make an appearance. This being was even more powerful than a Spirit Rank boss. Was the very first piece of Earth-grade equipment about to make its appearance in this server? Xu Yang grinned, "This is great! To think that an Earth Rank boss actually appeared. It looks like things are getting interesting¡­" Karinshan had already made an appearance near the city and all of the crack troops of Floating Ice City had also joined the battle in earnest. It was clear that Karinshan had gambled everything on recovering Sky City. She had brought out all of her trump cards for this momentous clash and she would win this battle or die trying. Besides, it was all too clear that Floating Ice City would be Coldblade the Infinite Storm¡¯s very first target if he succeeded in establishing Sky City as his foothold in the mortal realm. After all, Karinshan¡¯s fame exceeded all the other emperors of the human race. ¡­¡­ Xu Yang and Li Chengfeng started organizing the players. Our formation tightened as 5000 players huddled together in an area that was only about eighty yards wide. We intended to narrow our formation as much as possible and allow the NPC troops to bear the brunt of the damage. After that, we would rain down hell on our enemies and try to get as much as we could. After a few seconds, the sky gleamed with a bright light! The monsters of the ninth wave had finally arrived! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! A few huge creatures rushed out of the sky. Shockingly enough, they were gigantic beasts whose bodies were completely clad in thick, frost-covered armor. Their limbs were thick and bristling with muscles and they stood about five meters tall, so players could only reach their thighs. Their heads looked extremely bizarre. They were fiery red and they resembled jack-o-lanterns which had candles lit inside of them. However, the flames that raged within their skull were like a voracious hellfire instead! Boom, boom, boom... More and more of these odd beasts started to appear, and they soon covered the land in front of us. The earth started to quake as the players stationed at the front exchanged glances. These giant beasts were extremely fast! I quickly took a screenshot of this giant beast¡¯s stats and shared them in the guild channel. Giant Iceflame Beast (Shadow) Level: 151 Attack: 1850~2240 Defense: 2200 HP: 17000 Skills: Shatter, Crush, Iceflame Strike Introduction: Gigantic beasts which come from hell. These frenzied and rabid titans possess extreme strength. They are covered in frost armor that is as hard as steel, and they can attack enemies with violent flames. These Giant Iceflame Beasts have always played a decisive role in past conflicts with humanity. The very sight of them fills the hearts of the warriors of the Silver Moon Alliance with undying hatred¡­ ¡­... "They can even use magic-based attacks?" I felt a chill run through my body as I yelled, "All comrades who are standing at the front, please be careful! These monsters can use magic attacks, so don¡¯t use your potions at the wrong time and get one-shot because of that! Priests at the back, be ready to cast your instant heals at any moment, don¡¯t let your comrades standing at the front die in vain¡­" The very first Giant Iceflame Beast was already charging toward us by the time I had finished speaking. It had locked onto our guild leader He Yi, who was standing at the very front of the line. It suddenly raised a gigantic arm high into the air before it sent it hurtling down toward her! He Yi¡¯s reaction was quick and smooth. She raised up her shield to block the strike. There was a sharp "clanging" sound as the arm struck her shield, causing He Yi and her Snow Domain Windchaser trembled a little under that strike. She had lost more than 3000 HP in a single blow. But the Giant Iceflame Beast¡¯s attack had merely just begun. It raised its arm high in the air once more and this time, it¡¯s frost-covered arm was suddenly wrapped in swirling red flames. This was its Iceflame Strike attack! Bang! 5783! How powerful! Even a player as strong as He Yi had lost so much health! If the Giant Iceflame Beast had struck a regular warrior, they would have lost at least 10k HP! I turned around to discover a Giant Iceflame Beast charging straight for me. I hurriedly raised the Heaven-stealing Sword in the air to greet it! Boom! It opened up its assault with Iceflame Strike too! How terrifying! Bang! A gigantic frost-covered fist smashed heavily into my chest. Fiery energy shot out of it and exploded all over my body, causing intense pain to race through it. A huge chunk of my health disappeared. The attack had done 6907 damage! Bloody hell, its attack power is frigging terrifying! I didn¡¯t wait for the priests in the back to heal me. The Heaven-stealing Sword danced in the air as I opened up with a Burning Blade Slash. Three fiery blades of sword energy smashed into the Giant Iceflame Beast¡¯s leg, shaking it so badly that the loincloth it wore flapped wildly in the air. 7894! +1105! 9840! +1377! 12098! +1693! ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, now that I had obtained a multi-hit physical attack skill, my attacks had grown even more lethal. Strong physical attacks also triggered the Heaven-stealing sword¡¯s "Heaven Stealing" effect, so I instantly recovered more than 4000 HP. My lifesteal was so strong that it was comparable to a high-level priest. Mhm, just based on the Heaven-stealing Sword¡¯s attack power alone, I would be able to heal myself completely without the aid of a priest. What¡¯s more, as an undead Asura, my regeneration was extremely strong. The Regeneration of the Undead skill restored a good amount of my health every second, so I would have no problem dealing with two or three Giant Iceflame Beasts. However, this did not mean that other people wouldn¡¯t have a problem facing them. Du Thirteen and Xu Yang were being knocked around by a few Giant Iceflame Beasts not too far away from me. They were being bashed so hard that they could barely tell left from right anymore. In the distance, The Monarch Descends¡¯ formation was violently trembling. Thankfully, their damage remained as incredible as usual. That lass Ling Xueshang was holding on for her dear life, but I didn¡¯t know if she could last past this wave. Chapter 483: God Dancer Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ battle line had shrunk dramatically, and this was done deliberately to reduce unnecessary casualties. We already lost half of our troops during the last wave, so we had to play this more carefully. If we lost half of our troops again, there was no way we¡¯d be able to beat the tenth wave of monsters. Moreover, none of the remaining players wanted to die at this stage in the game. The less players that died, the better. These surviving players would increase the overall strength of the guild. The ones who managed to survive such a large-scale and difficult event like the Coldblade War would no doubt become seasoned elite players, a rare commodity in the game. ¡­¡­ Clang, clang, clang... Three blades of fiery energy shot out of the Heaven-stealing Sword. They buried themselves into the skull of the monster that was farthest in front. After that, I used Sword Boomerang and flung my sword out. It spun in the air as it shot across a line three yards wide, sweeping through an entire row of Giant Iceflame Beasts. But I wasn¡¯t finished yet. The moment I caught the handle of my sword, I immediately unleashed Thousand Ice Slash. I performed every single attack with a smooth but rapid fluidity. Xu Yang¡¯s lip pursed up as he saw me string together attack after attack. ¡°Damn, Lu Chen. Your DPS is insane. Are you even human anymore?¡± Gui Guzi let out a roar of laughter. ¡°Brother Xu Yang, don¡¯t be discouraged. If Boss Broken Halberd¡¯s Attack wasn¡¯t high, he wouldn¡¯t deserve to be placed seventh in the CGL Hall of Fame!¡± Du Thirteen laughed as well. ¡°That¡¯s right! If our brother didn¡¯t have incredible skill, there¡¯s no way he would have raised such a large organization like the Bloody Mercenaries!¡± Chaos Moon suddenly said, ¡°Hey guys, look! There are a bunch of people coming over here. What¡¯s their deal?¡± Everyone looked in the direction that Chaos Moon had pointed at. To our shock, we discovered that a large amount of players had appeared on our eastern flank. There were about a thousand of them. What was even more surprising is that these players belonged to Flower Room. Li Le was leading these troops, and Spring Mud, Night Sorrow, and Moon Shadow were right behind him. Roaming Dragon was riding a black warhorse, sword in hand. As he galloped forward, he sheathed the sword before reaching out a hand to scoop an archer, Coldmoon Rose, into his bosom. After that, he raised his spear in the air and shouted, ¡°Brothers, most of the NPC troops are concentrated on the eastern front. We will stick close to them and use them as shields so we can survive all ten waves! It was clear that Mad Dragon and Flower Room could no longer survive on the northern front of the battlefield by themselves. If not, they would never come to the eastern front, where Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya were. ¡­¡­ ¡°What should we do?¡± Li Chengfeng asked as he looked at me. ¡°Should I lead some players out of our formation to destroy them?¡± I shook my head. ¡°Forget it, the Giant Iceflame Beasts will destroy them for us.¡± I had just finished speaking when several hundred Giant Iceflame Beasts smashed straight into the frontlines of both Flower Room and Mad Dragon. Li Le and Roaming Dragon¡¯s faces instantly went a sickly green when they saw that. After that, Li Le raised his sharp sword high in the air and yelled, ¡°Halt! Get into battle formation! Don¡¯t panic! Melee fighters, go and greet the enemy. Err¡­ We will link up with Mad Dragon and push these monsters back together!¡± Even though Roaming Dragon looked extremely reluctant to cooperate with Flower Room, the situation compelled him. He could only helplessly wave his spear and yell, ¡°Form up next to Flower Room and get into battle formation! We need to stop these charging Giant Iceflame Beasts! Hurry!¡± Clang, clang, clang... A group of mountless magic knights rushed to the very front of their respective formations as they fiercely slammed their heavy shields into the ground in front of them. After that, they leaned their entire body into their shields as they braced themselves for impact! ¡°Roooooaaaarrr¡­¡± As an earth-shaking roar filled the air, the first group of Giant Iceflame Beasts slammed into Mad Dragon and Flower Room¡¯s combined front. Flames erupted on their arms as they viciously smashed the shields of the fighters in the frontline with their Iceflame Strike. Boom! Sparks flew everywhere and a Level 114 magic knight got hit so hard that his entire body was shaking wildly after the impact. He¡¯d lost 13478 points of health, and before he could even react, the arm of the Giant Iceflame Beast was already descending toward him once more. This time it was a sweeping attack, so it not only sent the magic knight flying to heaven, it also blasted two other fighters into the distance. The battle was terribly fierce. Arrows and magic were wildly raining down on the Giant Iceflame Beasts¡¯ heads, as the frontline fighters of Mad Dragon and Flower Room were dying in droves. It seemed as if all of the HP bars of all of their fighters had evaporated the moment the Giant Iceflame Beasts charged into their lines. The priests in the back were casting healing spells as fast as they could to rescue their comrades from the brink of destruction. The two guilds were about five hundred yards away from us. They were struggling bitterly, but if their situation didn¡¯t change soon, they would be wiped out in under twenty minutes! ¡­¡­ ¡°Eh, Flower Room and Mad Dragon are doing pretty well. They¡¯ve even managed to last until now¡­¡± Du Thirteen said with a chuckle. Gui Guzi replied, ¡°Hmph. They¡¯re just a bunch of losers. Just wait, these Giant Iceflame Beasts will definitely get rid of all of our obstacles for us¡­¡± Xu Yang swept his longsword forward to strike the monster in front of him as he grinned. ¡°That¡¯s right. Roaming Dragon is an overbearing bully, while Li Le is fickle and heartless. Any guild led by such people is destined to never amount to anything. In fact, I¡¯d be utterly shocked if either guild lived to see the tenth wave!¡± In the next instant, as if to prove Xu Yang¡¯s words, the situation dramatically changed for Flower Room and Mad Dragon. Hweee... All of the sudden, the melodious sound of a flute drifted through the air. After that, all of us saw a young girl clad in red robes casually step through the air like she was walking on solid ground. Her sleeves fluttered in the air and her fingers danced as she gently blew into a jade-green flute. Her tender and beautiful cherry red lips looked plump and moist as a gentle and relaxing melody danced from her flute. However, her blood-red eyes were filled with malice and hatred and her long hair was weaving in the air like snakes. It was clear that this was a boss-level existence. The boss of the ninth wave had finally made an appearance¡ªGod Dancer! ¡°Damn! So this is one of those legendary Earth Rank bosses huh¡­¡± Du Thirteen said as his jaw dropped open. But after that, he quietly whistled and said, ¡°How beautiful¡­ Her skin is really white, her breasts are really big, and her butt is really perky¡­¡± I grimaced. ¡°Heh, be careful, she might kill you with a single strike of that jade flute. To think that you¡¯d still be so cavalier after the boss appeared. Ah, Thirteen, you really have a death wish, don¡¯t you¡­¡± He Yi couldn¡¯t help but laugh as she stared at the approaching God Dancer. ¡°The boss is about six hundred yards await from us. What should we do? Do we pull her over toward us?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s observe the situation first. We still have quite a few Giant Iceflame Beasts to deal with, so we won¡¯t be able to spare any of our troops to deal with the boss. Let¡¯s kill these Giant Iceflame Beasts first!¡± ¡°Mmmm!¡± God Dancer descended to the ground the moment our conversation ended. She started to advance in a most graceful and beautiful fashion once her delicate feet hit the ground. She lowered her jade flute from her mouth as she suddenly raised her left hand high in the air. Her right hand started violently shaking after that as the chain bracelet on her wrist started to let out an ear-piercing ringing sound. The Giant Iceflame Beasts surrounding her immediately started to shake violently, as if something was agitating them. Bloody light erupted from their bodies as their attack speed and attack power received a ridiculous boost! Bang, bang, bang... The Giant Iceflame Beasts slammed heavily into the players of Mad Dragon and Flower Room like a row of heavy iron walls. It had only taken that one single instant for the battle lines of both guilds to completely collapse. The fighters standing at the head of the formation were slaughtered in droves and there was nothing they could do to defend against this ferocious assault! ¡°Fuck, this isn¡¯t good. That boss is coming straight for us. It can use an Encourage-like ability to boost the attack power of these Giant Iceflame Beasts. We¡¯re dead, it¡¯s over¡­¡± Li Le¡¯s face had gone ashen-grey. He had realized that there was no way out for either Mad Dragon or Flower Room. Roaming Dragon wasn¡¯t so ready to concede defeat. He roared in a harsh voice, ¡°Charge! Block those Giant Iceflame Beasts. That boss looks really squishy, so she definitely isn¡¯t the type that can take us head-on. If we can block those Giant Iceflame Beasts, the battle is ours. We can even take the head of this boss that walked right up to us. She¡¯ll most likely drop a Spirit-grade item, but if it¡¯s an Earth-grade item, we¡¯ll become the kings of Sky City!¡± It was too bad for Roaming Dragon and his grandiose dreams, because reality was one cruel motherfucker. Iron Pardon and Inconstant rushed forward to attack the Giant Iceflame Beasts, but they also kept looking for an opportunity to attack God Dancer. They had already realized that defeating God Dancer was the key to solving this wave. You had to capture the king instead of his troops and once God Dancer had been killed, she wouldn¡¯t be able to use that Encourage-like skill anymore. Once she was dead, killing this wave of Giant Iceflame Beasts would be an easy task. As God Dancer saw the two human players rush toward her, a wolfish grin suddenly appeared on her beautiful face. It was as if she was mocking these foolish insects. She immediately raised her jade flute high in the air and let out a short yell. Flame Blast erupted from her flute and smacked right into Inconstant and Iron Pardon before it exploded and swallowed them up in flames! As the smoke cleared, the Gemini Stars of the Mad Dragon slowly collapsed to the ground. They had been one-shot! Roaming Dragon ground his teeth together in despair as he said, ¡°How¡­ how can this be possible? Inconstant is a magic knight with more than 17000 HP. But he was actually one-shot by her¡­¡± ¡­¡­ The players of both guilds fell into despair. They now realized just how hopeless their situation was as these powerful Giant Iceflame Beasts advanced toward them under the command of the even more powerful God Dancer. The girl raised her snowy white arm into the air once more as she shook the bells on her chain bracelet. The surrounding Giant Iceflame Beasts seemed to become even more powerful and ferocious as they flailed their arms in the air and reduced the players in front of them into meat paste! Bang, bang, bang... They even created a small whirlwind of energy with every strike, hitting the players around their targets with splash damage. This made the formations of these two big guilds to collapse even faster. In the short span of five minutes, hundreds of Giant Iceflame Beasts had trampled over both guilds under God Dancer¡¯s command! ¡°I¡¯ll kill you¡­¡± Li Le didn¡¯t have any more subordinates around him and he charged toward God Dancer all by himself. As she watched another insect approach her, God Dancer¡¯s lips quirked up into a contemptuous smile. The jade flute in her hand suddenly shot forward as it pierced Li Le¡¯s throat with a soft ¡°pcchht¡±. A huge damage number flew out above Li Le¡¯s head! 18940! Everyone¡¯s eyes widened into saucers when they saw God Dancer¡¯s attack. She had magic and physical attacks and both attacks were insanely powerful. She had used her magic attack to blow up a magic knight and her jade flute had instantly sent a warrior off to the afterlife. This attack power sent chills down all of our spines! The players of Mad Dragon started to fall to the ground in bunches. Soon, even Roaming Dragon had to join the fray. He weaved in and out of the battle but he was being brutally battered by the fists of those Giant Iceflame Beasts. In the end, he was hit so hard that his body flew and landed in front of two of those monsters. The two Giant Iceflame Beasts proceeded to mercilessly stomp on him and that was the ignominious end of Roaming Dragon. ¡°What the¡­¡± Coldmoon Rose was on the verge of breaking out in tears but there was nothing that she could do. Her arrows simply couldn¡¯t penetrate the defense of these Giant Iceflame Beasts. Without the aid of any stratagems, even a top-tier archer like Coldmoon Rose couldn¡¯t do anything but die when faced with these gigantic monsters. Bang! Bang! After two heavy blows, Coldmoon Rose collapsed to the ground. Two big guilds had been annihilated just like that! Chapter 484: Flame Blas Rocks shattered and earth flew high into the air as sword energy whistled in the wind. The attacker was no other than Snowy Cathaya¡¯s guild leader, Lin Yixin. The Fruit Knife Goddess had launched an outrageous sneak attack against the boss of the ninth wave. She borrowed the Frostscythe Warhorse¡¯s extreme speed to get a jump on God Dancer before galloping away! ¡°Despicable¡­¡± God Dancer¡¯s face warped into a grotesque and sinister mask as she let out a howl. She raised her jade flute in the air once more as another Flame Blast erupted from it! Lin Yixin had activated her rear view so she was aware of God Dancer¡¯s every movement. She had already adjusted her warhorse¡¯s speed and the angle in which it was galloping. However, even though the Frostscythe Warhorse had a high level, it still had a pretty high turning inertia. Lin Yixin was going to get hit by that attack, no matter how fast her reaction speed was! 10982! Lin Yixin flew into the distance with a soft groan of pain. She wasn¡¯t going to engage the boss in a long and drawn-out battle. God Dancer wasn¡¯t interested in chasing after her either, because she had to deal with the Floating Ice City¡¯s Black Cavalry that was charging straight for her. ¡­¡­ Beep! Lin Yixin continued to flee as she sent me a message: ¡°Lu Chen, here. These are the boss¡¯s stats and abilities, share them with the rest of your guild. Be careful when engaging it, this Earth Rank boss is simply far too ridiculous¡­¡± After that, she sent me a string of messages. As those numbers played out on my HUD, I couldn¡¯t help but break out into cold sweat. This girl was really daring, she even dared to challenge a Level 151 Earth Rank boss, a powerful being that had scared the rest of the players witless, by herself. And to think that this was all so she could obtain and share the boss¡¯s status window. God Dancer (Earth Rank Boss) Level: 151 Attack: 2350~2790 Defense: 2400 Health: 5000000 Skills: Rally, Flame Blast, Soul Arrow Rain Introduction: God Dancer¡¯s origins have been lost in the sands of time, but legend has it that she was once a young magus of the human race who was tricked and killed by the demons. After her death, she transformed into one of the undead and gained an even stronger power in the afterlife. Coldblade the Infinite Storm took her under his wing and she is now one of the commanders of the armies of Hell. ¡­¡­ I swiftly shared the boss¡¯s stats in the guild channel. The Black Cavalry would only be able to hold the line for a little while. In the end, it would definitely be up to us players to kill God Dancer. Furthermore, the prospect of the rewards obtained by killing this Earth Rank boss was ridiculously enticing, it simply wouldn¡¯t be like us to pass up such an opportunity! Xu Yang gasped: ¡°My god! Five million HP¡­¡± Li Chengfeng: ¡°What a tough nut to crack! 2790 Attack. Hmmm, given the level suppression, the hidden stats that every boss and her Rally skill, God Dancer¡¯s actual attack is probably closer to 8000 points. If not, there¡¯s no way that she could poke a warrior like Li Le to death with a single thrust of that flute!¡± Gui Guzi spoke up excitedly, ¡°When are we going to go and kill her?¡± I replied, ¡°Let¡¯s deal with all of the monsters in front of us first!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ The players of Snowy Cathaya had also been shaken by this news. After consecutives brawls, they had even less players left than us. They would have to pause and consider their own situation before they decided to take on the boss. In truth, their core combat strength lay in Lin Yixin and the forty players under her direct command. The rest of them were good players but were inconsequential when it came to killing God Dancer. That was because this Earth Rank boss had 2400 points of Defense. After adding her hidden stats, her effective Defense might have exceeded 4000. Any player with less than 5000 Attack would not be able to deal any significant damage to her. And if someone were to ask how many players in Sky City had 5000 Attack or more, the answer would be that there absolutely weren¡¯t more than fifty people in the entire city who passed that threshold. Giant Iceflame Beasts were slowly toppling to the ground one after the other as the players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls poured their all into the fight. To our right were our guild allies, Snowy Cathaya. To our left were the Iron Cavalry of Floating Ice City. As long as we could maintain our battle lines, the only thing everyone needed to do was to pour out as much damage or healing as they possibly could. The frontline fighters of our guild were unrivaled under the heavens, so they were perfectly capable of holding the line as long as our priests kept an eye on their health bars. After all, these Giant Iceflame Beasts were still landbound monsters, so we were actually able to physically block them this time. My EXP bar was jumping like crazy and it soon reached 47%. It was clear that the monsters spawned during this event were providing the bulk of the EXP. Every time I killed a Level 151 Giant Iceflame Beast, I gained 50% of the EXP it gave. But the truth of the matter was that these monsters were giving far more EXP than the usual shadow-rank monsters, so the 50% was deceiving. In fact, I could safely say that these Level 151 Giant Iceflame Beasts were giving at least ten times more EXP than the Level 151 shadow-rank beasts in the Dragonbone Mountain Range! These opportunities to frantically raise one¡¯s level were simply too hard to come by. The players who managed to survive until now were killing monsters until their eyes turned red with bloodlust. They were seeking their fortune amidst this danger, because it was relatively easy to get Dark Gold¨Cgrade items from these Level 151 shadow-rank monsters. In fact, Li Chengfeng was lucky enough to get Level 125 Purple Gold¨Cgrade leather wristguards. Unfortunately, they weren¡¯t an Outstanding item. Everyone was killing as many monsters as they could to take advantage of our situation. It was clear that this opportunity hadn¡¯t been lost on any of our players. When I checked the server, I saw that the number of surviving players had been shaved down to less than seventy thousand. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls still had about four thousand elites, while Snowy Cathaya had more than three thousand players left in the fight. The Monarch Descends hadn¡¯t fared so well during this wave and they had already dipped below three thousand surviving players, but the ones who had survived had clearly gained a lot of levels. When I checked the point rankings, I saw that it had changed yet again. NamePointsBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 512830Wind Fantasy398020From Water321780Beiming Xue312370Legendary Brave286100Shadow Chanel261520Moonlight Stone260400October Rain251340Purple Marquis242710Ling Xueshang241280High Fighting Spirits228740Warsky213740Gui Guzi201470Clear Perfume192730Little Piglet192710 ¡­¡­ He Yi was using her Whirlwind¡¯s incredible passives and stats to deal a ridiculous amount of damage, so she had jumped to third on the list. After having reached Level 120, Li Chengfeng was able to equip his Tempest Sword, so he had received a similar boost in DPS as He Yi, allowing him to climb to the fifth spot. Gui Guzi had also been steadily climbing the rankings. Warsky and October Rain were still on the leaderboard, which meant that Warsky Alliance hadn¡¯t collapsed yet. They were still holding off the Night Creatures in the western part of the battlefield. Meanwhile, Hegemon Palace¡¯s defense was on the verge of breaking since Little Piglet could barely hold on to the fifteenth spot on the rankings. In all honesty, Little Piglet¡¯s mechanical skill wasn¡¯t that much lousier than Li Chengfeng or Purple Marquis¡¯s, and this was something that was acknowledged by everyone. As long as a skilled person picked the right organization, their career was bound to rise like a rocket. Too bad for Little Piglet though. A skilled mercenary like him had chosen to take the huge amount of money that Wang Dongliang was offering him to become Hegemon Palace¡¯s chief hatchet man. He¡¯d even learned the Famous General Skill, Vajra! However, Hegemon Palace¡¯s prospects didn¡¯t look good and he didn¡¯t have guildmates who could keep up with him. In the end, Little Piglet could only languish in Hegemon Palace as they suffered setback after setback. ¡­¡­ Boom! Boom! Boom! The light of Reverse Scale Slash and Burning Blade Slash intermingled as the fighters at the very forefront finished off the last few Giant Iceflame Beasts in front of us. There were still pockets of monsters putting up that last bit of resistance, but it was clear that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had finally finished taking care of business. We were now free to attack God Dancer! I raised the Heaven-stealing Sword in the air and shouted to the guild members behind me, ¡°All players Level 117 and above, follow me! It¡¯s time to form a party and beat that boss. I also need a party of strong priests to follow us! We¡¯ll distribute the boss¡¯s loot using contribution points, no one is to take any drops for themselves!¡± A group of high-level players immediately left the formation and formed up behind me. In the distance, God Dancer¡¯s body swayed as she continued to use Rally. The group of Giant Iceflame Beasts around her howled like they were in heat. They flailed their arms toward the riders of the Black Cavalry with no regard for their own safety and even the NPC soldiers couldn¡¯t withstand the continuous pounding of these gigantic fists. Only a short period of time had passed since God Dancer had engaged the Black Cavalry in battle, but hundreds of knights had already lost their lives. Karinshan had really paid the butcher¡¯s bill during this battle to retake Sky City. I readied my sword as I shouted towards the distant Lin Yixin, ¡°Yiyi, are you able to join us in killing this boss? We could really use the boost from your Famous General Skill!¡± Lin Yixin nodded her head before turning to Purple Marquis. ¡°Hold down the fort here, I¡¯m off to kill the boss!¡± ¡°Okay, you can leave it to us, guild leader!¡± Purple Marquis said earnestly, looking just like a devoted and courageous general who had stepped out of the pages of a history book. But he also didn¡¯t forget to add, ¡°Boss, remember to come back to us. Don¡¯t let that punk Lu Chen steal your soul¡­¡± ¡°Hmph¡­¡± Lin Yixin gave a soft snort before saying, ¡°If you want to die, I can send you to hell free of charge!¡± ¡°Our guild leader is wise, our guild leader is beautiful¡­¡± ¡­¡­ After a few minutes, Lin Yixin galloped over and joined our party. I immediately made her the party leader and said, ¡°We¡¯ll need your Bombshell to even stand a chance against God Dancer!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Lin Yixin activated Bombshell, causing the stats of everyone in the party to rise dramatically. Tsk tsk, this king-class Famous General Skill is really ridiculous. The only person in our forty-man party who wasn¡¯t a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was Lin Yixin herself, and she was here so we could borrow her Famous General Skill. As for our party composition, we were mainly made up of melee combatants. We had some archers and mages sprinkled in, but the main strength of our guild lay in our frontline fighters. Moon Dew was bringing up the rear with her forty-man priest squad. They had detached from our main formation to keep us alive during the upcoming boss fight. I sucked in a deep breath as I stared at the distant God Dancer. ¡°We¡¯re about to fight a Level 151 Earth Rank boss. I don¡¯t want anyone to be careless when fighting her. In fact¡­ everyone should fight her expecting to die at any moment¡­¡± Li Chengfeng waved his hands and laughed. ¡°I already expected to die from the very first wave of monsters¡­¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go pull the boss. Everyone else, wait here. Wait for me to pull the boss over here before engaging her in combat!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± everyone shouted as they looked at me expectantly. After that, He Yi sent me off with a gentle warning. ¡°Be careful!¡± ¡°I got it!¡± ¡­¡­ I held my sword at ready as I zigzagged through eight Giant Iceflame Beasts. I ran this erratic path so I could avoid pulling any of their aggro. When I was about seventy yards away from God Dancer, this powerful boss actually took notice of me! Her beautiful eyes swept toward me as she spoke in a shrill voice filled with raging bloodlust, ¡°Hehe, I recognize you, you traitor! You are the traitor who killed Undead Swordmaster Suren. The traitor who betrayed his dignity as an undead to become humans¡¯ lapdog! Well, it¡¯s time for you to hand over your life!¡± Her jade flute trembled as Flame Blast shot out of it! I had been keenly observing her movements so I was ready to dodge before she even launched an attack at me. My boots suddenly slammed against the ground as I abruptly changed direction. I felt a scorching sensation burn past my face as the Flame Blast missed me by a few inches. Holy shit, that was close! I had very nearly become a roasted pig! Since I¡¯d just barely dodged her Flame Blast seventy yards away from her, I¡¯d be a sitting duck if I tried to get any closer. Energy surged along the edge of my blade, forming a cyan crescent of sword energy in the air that I viciously slashed toward God Dancer¡¯s head! This also interrupted her while she was casting another Flame Blast. 5982! Chapter 485: Soul Arrow Rain None of the melee fighters in this party were noobs, and we had all seen just how powerful God Dancer¡¯s Flame Blast was, so none of them was going to swarm toward her in a group. Instead, everyone had scattered and were approaching her from different angles as they let the high HP and Defense players like He Yi, Gui Guzi, and Lin Yixin to form the first line against her. The players who weren¡¯t the main tanks were slowly closing in on God Dancer from all directions as they prepared to pull aggro at any moment. In fact, the entire formation resembled an Eight Trigrams formation. ¡­¡­ "Let me try to lure her over!" Gui Guzi shouted as he valiantly charged toward the boss. As he shot forward, Rainbow transformed into three blood-colored streaks of light which exploded on God Dancer¡¯s back. Fragments of blood-colored energy exploded in the air as three respectable damage numbers popped up above God Dancer¡¯s head. 4569! 4428! 4501! Gui Guzi¡¯s attack power wasn¡¯t bad. At the very least, it was high enough to draw God Dancer¡¯s attention. Her beautiful face darkened as she spun around, her figure as exquisite as her face was. Her jade flute whistled through the air as she gently flicked her arm forward. Crack! It flashed with a bloody light as it made contact with armor protecting Gui Guzi¡¯s neck. She had broken through his defenses in a single hit! Not even Gui Guzi¡¯s high Defense could hold up against God Dancer¡¯s insane attack power. 8893! Everyone in the party grew somber when we saw how much damage she had dealt to Gui Guzi. I hurriedly spoke up, "Everyone, pay attention to how much aggro you¡¯re drawing! Let¡¯s try our best to let Gui Guzi soak the hits. Priests, I want you to focus most of your healing on him¡­" It was at this precise moment that God Dancer raised her jade flute in the air again. She had suddenly conjured up a lightning-quick Flame Blast. As the ball of fire engulfed Gui Guzi, an extremely high damage number flew up into the air! 14899! She had performed a physical and magic attack combo, instantly dropping Gui Guzi¡¯s health by more than half. Her DPS was out of this world! It also targeted Gui Guzi¡¯s Achilles Heel. As a magic knight whose primary role was to break through enemy lines, his Magic Resist was very low. At the very least, it was far lower than mine. It was a weakness that was very hard to avoid since his character wasn¡¯t built to tank many magic attacks. "Charge!" I activated Thunderous Charge and rushed forward with a "whooshing" sound. Bolts of lightning collided with God Dancer as I charged straight into her, but I didn¡¯t manage to stun her. I immediately followed up my charge with a Burning Blade Slash. Three fiery crescent blades of sword energy smashed straight into God Dancer¡¯s chest. The attack shook her so violently that her chestplate rattled as three eye-popping damage numbers flew above her head! 11093! 14728! 37904! Everyone practically stopped breathing when they saw how much damage I had just dealt. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s eyes widened into saucers as he exclaimed, "Damn, Lu Chen! Are you still even human!? How the hell did you boost your attack power so high!? Bloody hell¡­" I grinned as I smoothly moved to the side of God Dancer and used War Crush. Hmph! It was inevitable for my attack power to be high. I mean, the combination of stats and passives given by my God Suppressing Necklace, God Suppressing Helmet, and Silver Dragon Ring was completely ridiculous! They were three 5-star Outstanding Spirit-grade items after all. Furthermore, I had also taken advantage of the effect of Lin Yixin¡¯s Extreme Break. My damage was bound to be an absolute nightmare for any boss to deal with! However, the damage I dealt had also undoubtedly attracted the God Dancer¡¯s aggro. After I attacked her, she immediately ignored all the other foes around her and shot me a glare with her hate-filled eyes. She suddenly sprang into the air, the desire to kill me burning in her heart. Her snowy white feet kicked against Gui Guzi¡¯s face as she used him as a springboard to get to me. The jade flute in her hand turned into a green blur as it shot toward me! Damn! This was pretty much a bloody nuke! I hurriedly raised up the Heaven-stealing Sword in front of me. Surely I could Guard against one attack, right? However, God Dancer¡¯s attack power far exceeded even my expectations. As that jade flute heavily smashed into the blade of my Heaven-Stealing Sword, a small, contemptuous smile appeared on her face. All of the sudden, the jade flute smacked aside the Heaven-stealing Sword before it crashed into my chest. I immediately felt an intense pain that shook my entire body! 10973! What the fuck, her attack power was seriously ridiculous! However, my physical Defense was a fair bit lousier than Gui Guzi¡¯s, so this was the expected outcome. God Dancer did not let up. She sketched a pattern before thrusting that jade flute into the air once more. A ball of fierce flames gathered in front of her. This was the opening sequence to her Flame Blast skill, and it only took 0.5 seconds to cast, so there wasn¡¯t a lot of time to react. However, half a second was still more than enough for me. A cluster of blood-colored energy suddenly erupted from my left hand and swirled around it violently. I dashed forward as quick as a serpent and sent a heavy punch crashing into God Dancer¡¯s abdomen. This was my sure-fire interruption skill¡ªMagic Piercing Punch! Bang! 10983! The heavy blow not only sent God Dancer staggering backward, it also forcibly canceled the Flame Blast that was just about to shoot toward me. This gave me a chance to recover some health. If God Dancer smacked me again before that, I¡¯d be in some real danger! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... +3984! +4590! +3173! Murong Mingyue¡¯s healing skills fired off three consecutive times! Her heals were extremely powerful and brought me back up to full health in an instant. Li Chengfeng then used a combo of Dragonbone Flurry and Cyan Dragon Horn to pull God Dancer¡¯s aggro away from me. He Yi also launched a flurry of attacks at God Dancer with Whirlwind, triggering its "Hurricane" effect. God Dancer was immediately engulfed by a hurricane, her health rapidly dropping. Now her aggro was being pulled in several directions, she smacked He Yi with her jade flute while she greeted Li Chengfeng with a Flame Blast. However, because her attention was divided, she didn¡¯t one-shot anybody. "Everyone, be careful¡­" Lin Yixin urged the Frostscythe Warhorse forward as she drew a brilliant arc around the boss as she lashed out at God Dancer with her Frozen Sword. So she soon ended up being the person who did the most damage to her. Furthermore, she was mounted and under the effect of Bombshell, so her total health had already exceeded 30000. She was also a super tank in her own right. She continuously used her positioning to protect other frontline combatants like High Fighting Spirits and Li Chengfeng. Her movement in combat was brilliant and intelligent. She knew exactly how and when to interrupt God Dancer¡¯s attack patterns and this was precisely what Gui Guzi and He Yi lacked at the moment. Boom! Another Flame Blast erupted out from God Dancer¡¯s jade flute. This time, it was aimed at a few of the secondary frontline fighters belonging to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. As the gigantic fireball hurtled through the air and exploded, a damage number that exceeded 18000 instantly appeared over the health bars of three warriors. They had all been instantly killed by that attack. But this wasn¡¯t even the worst thing that had happened. A few archers who were standing behind those three warriors had also gotten caught in the blast radius of that attack. Chaos Moon barely escaped with her life, all the color draining from her pretty face. "OMG! Thank the heavens that I got this new piece of equipment! If not, I¡¯d have been one-shot by that boss¡­" God Dancer shot off another Flame Blast in the other direction before she even finished speaking. Another three archers were instantly burned into cinders. If Beiming Xue didn¡¯t have lightning-quick reflexes and extremely good battle sense, she would have also been burned to death by that Flame Blast! Xu Yang brandished his sharp sword as he rushed forward to plug the gap. He used a combo of Blaze + Double Slash to attack God Dancer, his attacks sending a shudder through her body. However, before he could recover his poise, she immediately responded with an attack of her own. Her jade flute swept into the side of Xu Yang¡¯s body with a resounding crack before she shot a point-blank Flame Blast at him! A player of Xu Yang¡¯s caliber simply couldn¡¯t keep up with her swift attacks! He was a sitting duck! 14560! 19843! Two damage numbers popped out above Xu Yang¡¯s head as he knelt to the ground. His breastplate was ablaze and a huge hole had burned through his chest. As he slowly tumbled to the ground, the violent flames swiftly burned his body into ashes. ¡­¡­ "Gulp¡­" High Fighting Spirits swallowed a mouthful of saliva before saying, "So is this what is commonly known as ¡®being reduced to a slag¡¯?" Li Chengfeng nodded his head, his face cool and composed. "Poor Brother Yang¡­" Gui Guzi brandished Rainbow as he said, "My god! Let¡¯s hurry up and kill this bitch! Her HP has finally dropped below 50%..." I had to admit that even though God Dancer¡¯s attack power was incredible, the attack power of my party was even more ridiculous. She may have had an absurd five million HP, but our high DPS meant that we could definitely finish her off within twenty minutes. I was dealing at least 150k damage every minute and that was just me alone! If God Dancer didn¡¯t also have incredible health regeneration, she would have given up the ghost a long time ago. Lin Yixin drew circles around God Dancer while mounted on her Frostscythe Warhorse and I always made sure that I was right behind her. Eventually, she turned around and looked at me, a puzzled expression on that beautiful face. She asked, "Hey dummy, what are you following me around for?" I grinned and replied, "I¡¯m just waiting for you to use Extreme Break so that I can take advantage of it with my Burning Blade Slash¡­" "OMG¡­" Li Chengfeng¡¯s sword surged with energy as he hacked away at God Dancer. He yelled, "Hey, you two! Quit talking and focus on killing the boss! Wait, what¡¯s that!? Could the boss be getting ready to use her special move?" "What special move?" "See for yourself¡­" I turned to see God Dancer raise her jade flute high in the air. It suddenly soared into the sky as countless magic circles started to appear around her. A huge pentagram magic formation appeared above the ground as she started chanting in a loud voice. Her eyes turned sinister as she finished her incantation, "O¡¯ great king of the forbidden lands, I summon thy power as an apostle of the dark! Come forth¡ªSoul Arrow Rain!" ¡­¡­ "Dammit!" I cursed. She really had used her trump card! I didn¡¯t waste any more time talking! I wasn¡¯t going to let her use that special move! Blood-colored energy was already swirling around my left hand as I rushed forward and smashed God Dancer right in the middle of her chest. I smacked her so hard that her breasts had started trembling violently... Beep! Combat Log: The effect of your skill "Magic Piercing Punch" successfully activated. However, because your level is too low, it can only weaken the enemy¡¯s skill by 50%. Soul Arrow Rain will only last for 60 seconds due to Magic Piercing Punch¡¯s effect. ¡­¡­ He Yi looked at the combat log, her beautiful eyes widening in shock. She immediately yelled, "Retreat immediately! Now!" Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, Moonlight Stone, and the other long-range players got out of the 50-yard radius of the magic formation, but the fighters who were all too far from the edge of the circle weren¡¯t able to escape it in time. The sky suddenly turned a bloody red as bloody arrows began to pour from the sky. Every single arrow had a hit rate of 100%, they were undodgeable! Thud! 4678! When the first arrow landed on my shoulder plate, I winced but the damage was still acceptable to me. After all, my Defense wasn¡¯t exactly low. However, High Fighting Spirits and a few of the other fighters of his level couldn¡¯t endure the rain of arrows. Every single arrow that struck them dealt over 7000 points of damage! Furthermore, there seemed to be a billion arrows pouring down from the sky and we would get struck by one arrow every second. We would be dead meat if we didn¡¯t get out of the radius of God Dancer¡¯s Soul Arrow Rain soon. "Aahhhh¡­" Two elite fighters of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls collapsed to the ground as they cried out in misery. There were also a few priests and archers who hadn¡¯t gotten out of range in time, so they were instantly slaughtered as well. I calmly looked at my remaining companions as I weathered this storm of arrows. Gui Guzi and He Yi¡¯s HP and Defense were high enough, so they could endure this attack for another ten seconds or so. However, Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits were under a lot more pressure. This was especially true for that lass Chaos Moon. She was running forward as fast as she could but every single arrow that struck her caused her to stumble and stagger, critically slowing down her progress when she could least afford it! Chapter 486: Mighty Purple Dragon Howl I blocked in front of Chaos Moon and tanked two Soul Arrows in a row. It wasn¡¯t long before I was close to dying! Chaos Moon giggled at me as she ran. ¡°Lu Chen, it¡¯s your turn to die now¡­¡± Me: ¡°...¡± Well, my HP was dangerously low, so it was time to heal myself. I used a Tenacity of the Dead and a health potion immediately! +6623! +3500! Awesome! I wasn¡¯t expecting Tenacity of the Dead to heal me this much! It was because Bombshell had boosted all my stats by 66%! Obviously, it didn¡¯t mean that we were safe now. The boss was still raining Soul Arrows on us. We ran like mad until we finally reached the healing range of our Priests. Holy light surrounded us and restored our health quickly as we finally escaped the range of the skill. It was a close one. Chaos Moon¡¯s HP was stuck at 50% or below all this time, so she would¡¯ve died if she was hit by the Soul Arrows twice! ¡­¡­ The God Dancer had cleared out an entire territory by herself with the super ultimate. Every player within 50 yards of her was killed, including thirty or so of our experts. It was a terrible loss. Of course, the random guilds who were watching from the sidelines suffered even more casualties than us. It was at this moment a row of Black Cavalry let out a mighty roar and charged the boss. The Level 135 shadow-rank NPCs hadn¡¯t noticed the danger that was surrounding the God Dancer. The next moment, the sky rumbled with thunder, and the rain of arrows slaughtered hundreds of Black Cavalrymen! ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Li Chengfeng said with wide open eyes, ¡°No wonder this boss is classified as an Earth Rank boss. She¡¯s so powerful that we would¡¯ve lost if we didn¡¯t have Bombshell and the number advantage. I doubt there is any player in the world who can solo her right now¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°Yeah, this Earth Rank boss is beyond our ability to withstand right now. Everyone, hold your ground and wait for the Soul Arrow Rain to finish. Eve, Yiyi, Little Gui, you three have the fastest movement speed, so once the ultimate is over I want you to Charge the boss and drag it over to our side. It would be annoying if some sneaky assassin got the drop on us...¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Sixty seconds passed quickly. The moment the time was up, He Yi and Lin Yixin pulled out their swords at the same time and charged toward the boss like lightning. Gui Guzi lagged behind slightly because his mount wasn¡¯t as fast as theirs. Finally, the rest of us ran toward the boss on foot. It only had 40% health left, and we hoped to kill it before the final wave appeared! Swhoosh! Thunderous Charge left a trail of purple lightning as I crashed into the boss. To my pleasant surprise, it actually worked and stunned God Dancer for a short amount of time! That was lucky! ¡°Hehe¡­ you lowly mortals¡­¡± Panting heavily, a red glow suddenly enveloped God Dancer¡¯s body. It looked like she was transforming or entering a state of sorts. Suddenly, she faced toward the sky and let out a terrible howl, and the energy contained inside her body spilled out at once. It was truly a shocking sight. God Dancer¡¯s entire body¡ªeven the jade flute she was holding¡ªwas surrounded by a cyclone of fiery red energy! Ding! Combat Log: God Dancer has entered the ¡°Purgatory Transformation¡± state: +50% Attack, +50% Defense, and all attacks greatly ignore Defense and deal increased damage! ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I swore as I interrupted God Dancer¡¯s Flame Blast skill. The next moment, she retaliated by stabbing my shoulder with her energetic jade flute. A terrible pain immediately seared my senses! 18794! Gui Guzi exclaimed in shock, ¡°Fuck, the boss¡¯s damage just skyrocketed! Fighting Spirits, Li Chengfeng, watch out! Don¡¯t let her one-shot you!¡± However, High Fighting Spirits didn¡¯t even get the time to nod before God Dancer let out another shrill howl and stabbed him in the chest with the jade flute! Put! 49862! God dammit, it was a critical hit! The boss¡¯s Attack simply exceeded High Fighting Spirits¡¯ Defense too much, and not even our priests could pull him back from the grave! An extremely peeved High Fighting Spirits slowly collapsed to his knees and turned into an icy corpse just like that. That wasn¡¯t all. God Dancer used Flame Blast again, and this time Du Thirteen, Xue Lu and a bunch of archers and mages perished in a sea of flames. There was absolutely nothing they could¡¯ve done to block the attack. ¡°What should we do?¡± He Yi looked a bit lost. The moon appeared in Lin Yixin¡¯s pupils as she smiled daringly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Sister He Yi! Just keep sending in the guild¡¯s priests, mages and warriors! The best way to minimize our casualties now is to kill this boss as soon as possible!¡± While saying this, Lin Yixin met God Dancer head-on and plunged her dagger right into the kidney area. Then, she swung her Frozen Sword and followed up with a devastating Extreme Break! I was charging as well because my HP had been restored thanks to Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew. As long as the boss doesn¡¯t crit me, I could more or less survive this battle. I executed the Burning Blade Slash and launched three intersecting sword auras of fire at the boss¡¯ chest, dispersing the fiery cyclone around her and dealing massive damage¡ª 12089! 28774! 35780! ¡­¡­ Hell yeah! I actually scored two critical hits in a row at a critical moment! I made up my mind then and activated the God Suppressing Necklace¡¯s special skill, God¡¯s Rage. For 60 seconds, every hit I landed would be a critical hit. It was the strongest boss-killing and PvP skill I had, but I hadn¡¯t used it until now because it never felt like I absolutely had to. Now though, the boss¡¯s HP had dropped to around 30%, and she needed to die as soon as possible for us to even have a chance of defending against the tenth monster wave. If we gave the boss more time to attack us or even treat us to another Soul Arrow Rain, only a handful of us would be alive even if we did beat her in the end. Swhoosh! Bloody energy started coating my entire body as the image of a bloody war god abruptly descended from the sky. It looked like I was possessed by a war god or something. When an energy that urged to be released beat wildly inside my body, I knew that every hit I did from this moment would be a critical hit... At the distance, Chaos Moon, Moonlight Stone, Pure Love and the others all stared at me in astonishment. ¡°WTF is that skill? It¡¯s so cool, Lu Chen¡¯s so handsome right now¡­¡± I stepped forward and used War Crush. I then followed it up immediately with a Pardon and basic attack! 18794! 18772! 18908! MISS! 32472! ¡­¡­ The four consecutive hits deleted a small chunk from the boss¡¯s health pool. Without pause, I shouted, ¡°Hold the boss steady for me, Yiyi¡­¡± ¡°Got it!¡± While I was withdrawing, Lin Yixin intelligently blocked the boss¡¯s way with her Frostscythe Warhorse. She kept attacking and blocking until the threat was ultimately transferred to her. I stopped when I was about 10 yards away from the boss. I immediately swallowed a Magic Consumable and restored myself to full health. The boss was still affected by Lin Yixin¡¯s Extreme Break, so it was now or never! Here I go¡ªPurple Dragon Howl! ¡°Roar!¡± The roar of a gigantic dragon shook the earth as the power of the purple dragon appeared above my head. The skill finished channeling when the energy settled inside the blade of the Heaven-stealing Sword! ¡°Go!¡± I swung my arm mightily and tossed the purple energy at the boss. It hit the boss like a purple lightning bolt and engulfed it completely, dealing an insane amount of damage with every passing second. The only thing worse than the damage numbers popping above God Dancer¡¯s head was her scream¡ª 72980! 71228! 72384! ¡­¡­ Bombshell, Moon Gaze, Extreme Break, God¡¯s Rage, and Purple Dragon Howl. Together, they lay down the death sentence of the boss. The Purple Dragon Howl was a multi-hit skill, and when used on a single target it could hit up to 15 times in a row. As a result, God Dancer lost nearly 900k HP to the skill. It would seem that God Dancer¡¯s luck was absolutely rotten today. If she was a player like Candlelight Shadow, she would never have given me the chance to restore myself to full and use my strongest trump card. Perhaps this was a fate all bosses shared! The boss¡¯s HP dropped to 15% in an instant. Morale skyrocketing, everyone in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls cheered loudly, ¡°Well done, vice leader! Now quickly, the boss is almost red¡­¡± But a helpless smile crossed Lin Yixin¡¯s lips. ¡°Idiot¡­ you should¡¯ve left the skill until the boss¡¯s HP drops to 10% or so. It¡¯s the experience of an Earth Rank boss, you know¡­¡± I heard her comment even though her voice was barely a whisper. I grinned at her and said, ¡°What¡¯s mine will be mine eventually. As for everything else, I¡¯ll rejoice if I get them, but I won¡¯t cry if they pass me by either!¡± ¡°Hmph hmph, that¡¯s a fairly moderate outlook on things. Anyway, let¡¯s take out the boss already¡­¡± ¡°Okay, okay!¡± ¡­¡­ The fight went on a bit longer, and the boss had more or less lost her fighting spirit. Right now, everyone surrounding the boss were powerful players who couldn¡¯t be one-shot where they stood. Lin Yixin, He Yi, Gui Guzi and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were impossible to one-shot as a matter of course, but even I, a mere foot soldier, was out of the boss¡¯s one-shot range. After all, I was Level 123 with 16k base HP¡ªan amount of health the average fighter couldn¡¯t even imagine having right now¡ªGod Suppressing Helmet that increased my max HP by 2400, Battle Soul Poleyn and Ring of Windchasing that both increased my max HP by 1500. My equipment alone added 5.4k HP to my already massive health pool! Of course, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and the others weren¡¯t too far behind me. They also had over 14k base HP. At the back, Murong Mingyue had mobilized another 100 priests into position to heal us with everything they got. It was because we were the only ones who had the power to grind down the Earth Rank boss bit by bit. We also had Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell to thank because this slow tactic would¡¯ve been impossible to execute without sufficient HP. Bang! 38904! The boss scored a critical hit with her Flame Blast, and this time it was Gui Guzi who won the lottery. Even with his HP and Defense, he still took almost 40k damage, causing everyone¡¯s mind to go blank for a moment. Thankfully, a green ¡°+19452¡± also popped above his head, a number that no priest in the entire game could produce right now. It was of course Gui Guzi¡¯s Undying Shield. The skill absorbed 50% of the damage he received as health, and it was absolutely amazing in a battle like this! Fire continued to burn on the battlefield as God Dancer fought like a god of slaughter from hell. Every time she used her super-long-range Fire Blast, she was able to claim a couple of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players¡¯ lives. But she was alone and without support in a war of attrition, so the only fate awaiting her was death. Chapter 487: October Rain’s Mistake Unfortunately, there was a saying: ¡°the road to happiness is strewn with setbacks¡±. And what happened at this moment was one such setback. A row of high-level elite players suddenly appeared at the horizon, they all wore the emblems of Warsky Alliance on their shoulders. Did the fuckers finally catch onto the fragrant scent of the boss? Warsky took point as his CGL Hall of Famers¡ªOctober Rain, Laughing At The Heavens and Farewell Song¡ªfollowed closely behind. Even further behind was a group of 3000 or so super high level players. It looked like all surviving members of Warsky Alliance had moved to the east side, and considering the timing they couldn¡¯t be here for anything but the boss! ¡­¡­ ¡°OMG, Warsky is here. What should we do?¡± Lin Yixin shot me an inquiring look. ¡°Do we send someone to intercept them? Or¡­¡± I looked away from Warsky Alliance and asked her, ¡°Can we even intercept them in time?¡± ¡°No, we can¡¯t¡­¡± The main bulk of Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ forces were currently being held back by the Giant Iceflame Beasts, so they couldn¡¯t spare the manpower to intercept Warsky Alliance. Clearly, Warsky had decided to give up on the ninth monster wave to the Mad Lion Legion NPCs and focus all their efforts on the boss. It was a straightforward but risky plan. If they failed, they would lose both the experience and loot of the ninth monster wave and the boss. Li Chengfeng uttered through gritted teeth, ¡°Fuck, we can¡¯t let Warsky Alliance reach us! We need to come up with something!¡± I nodded and ordered, ¡°Gui Guzi, go with the Fireblade Cavalry and intercept Warsky Alliance. Stall them for as long as you can. Show them the might of our cavalry troop and your Knight God!¡± Gui Guzi raised his rainbow spear and answered with a loud laugh, ¡°No worries, boss! See you later!¡± Gui Guzi and thirty-two Fireblade Cavalrymen left to intercept Warsky Alliance just like that. Unfortunately, the Fireblade Cavalry had taken some losses during the earlier fight. With only 32 people and Gui Guzi, it was doubtful that they could form an organized charge, much less stop Warsky Alliance¡¯s 3000-man army. To be it bluntly, I just sent Gui Guzi and the Fireblade Cavalry to their deaths. However, it was an order I had to make: I was the commander of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and it was my responsibility to make tough decisions to benefit the greater good of our guild. Gui Guzi attacked Warsky Alliance head-on, and the enemy experts rushed out to meet him. October Rain stunned him with a long-range Shock Arrow, and Laughing At The Heavens activated his own Charge to shorten the distance between Gui Guzi and himself in an instant. He swung his spear and used Icicle Thrust! Pu! The skill hit his chest armor, but Gui Guzi only shuddered a little before a disdainful smile crossed his lips. Icicle Thrust had only dealt 1894 damage to Gui Guzi because his Defense was increased by at least a 100% thanks to Knight God. There was no way Laughing At The Heavens had the power to deal a severe blow to him. The moment the stun duration was over, Gui Guzi immediately retaliated with a mighty charge and a thrust that sent Laughing At The Heavens stumbling. His rainbow spear not only penetrated the CGL Hall of Famer¡¯s chest, but also the two assassins directly behind him! ¡°Aahh¡­¡± The two assassins screamed and died instantly. There was no way a leather-armor class could withstand the Outstanding Property of a four-star Outstanding weapon. Warsky roared and swung his sword mightily at Gui Guzi¡¯s torso. He actually scored a devastating hit with his Explosion Slash! 4784! Not even the toughest player could take a critical hit to the face without some damage. Gui Guzi¡¯s HP instantly dropped to half or so, but that didn¡¯t stop him from pushing through the hail of arrows and magic flying his way and trampling his enemies. The Fireblade Cavalry also galloped through their enemies and killed the closest line of archers to them in droves. The battle was fierce and bloody. Although Warsky Alliance had the number advantage, Gui Guzi and the Fireblade Cavalry had the absolute quality advantage on their side. For a time, they actually managed to hold off Warsky Alliance¡¯s three-thousand strong army at bay! It was at this moment Warsky looked to the distance and shouted, ¡°Brothers and sisters, do not be distracted by Gui Guzi! Circle around his cavalry troops and charge the boss now! Victory is ours as long as we kill the boss! Also, I want several hundred people to delay their cavalry troops as much as possible!¡±¡± As ordered, October Rain and a group of Archers and Warriors circled around our cavalry troops and went straight for the Level 151 Earth Rank boss God Dancer! They weren¡¯t even trying to hide their objective! October Rain had great movement speed, and she was able to reach us in just the blink of an eye. He Yi got stunned by Shock Arrow from afar, but lucky for us it didn¡¯t result in a death. ¡­¡­ It was an impossible battle to begin with. Warsky Alliance easily overwhelmed the defense line Gui Guzi and the Fireblade Cavalry tried to construct, and October Rain and her people were rushing the 5% HP God Dancer almost suicidally. They really were going all out on this gamble. Suddenly, God Dancer raised her jade flute deferentially again. A thought flashed across my mind like lightning as I shouted, ¡°Everyone, move 50 yards to the back now! Warsky Alliance can have the boss if they like her that much!¡± ¡°What?? We¡¯re withdrawing??¡± Li Chengfeng exclaimed in shock. ¡°Don¡¯t question my orders! Retreat now!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± This was one of those moments where individual prestige was extremely important, and thankfully, everyone listened to my order and backed away from God Dancer without hesitation. Even Lin Yixin was steering her Frostscythe Warhorse around and covering our retreat. I looked up and saw that dark clouds had covered the sky again. It wouldn¡¯t be long before the boss cast Soul Arrow Rain again! ¡°Lu Chen, are we really giving up on the boss?¡± He Yi looked a bit puzzled. I shook my head and smiled. ¡°Just wait. A good show will happen very soon. God Dancer is in her Purgatory Transformation state right now, so her skills are stronger than before. Some may even have its duration increased. Heh! Warsky Alliance wants the boss this much? They can have it if they can endure what¡¯s about to come!¡± As I thought, Warsky Alliance hadn¡¯t seen God Dancer¡¯s ultimate skill before. I doubted that they even knew it had an ultimate skill. They surrounded God Dancer and pierced her with blades, magic and arrows that were empowered by various Famous General Skills, but God Dancer simply ignored them all. She didn¡¯t even lose too much HP in the process. Eventually, the clouds seemed to reach its maximum density, and gigantic soul rain started falling down from the sky. Unlike before, every arrow was shrouded by a red cyclone of energy. Clearly, this Soul Arrow Rain was even more powerful than the one we endured before. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... It was a complete disaster for Warsky Alliance. Every man and woman within a 100x100 yard square of the boss was hit by the arrow rain. Each arrow dealt at least 20k damage to their target, and whether it be archers, shielded mages, or the shield-bearing magic knights, all of them were one-shot without question. October Rain stared at the arrows raining above her head as she tried to escape. She was currently wearing a dumbfounded expression on her beautiful face. ¡°Fuck me, I can¡¯t believe I fell for that bastard¡¯s trick. Cunning Lu Chen¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Thud! 26749! October Rain died just like that. Not even a CGL Hall of Famer as good as her could withstand the Soul Arrow Rain. Once again, God Dancer showed everyone just how powerful she really was. It was no wonder she was able to beat the crap out of us even after we were buffed by Bombshell. A few seconds later, the space around God Dancer was cleared out of all life. The bodies of Warsky Alliance¡¯s players were strewn everywhere. Even better, a lot of them had dropped their equipment. It was an absolutely devastating blow to Warsky Alliance as over a thousand elite players had died just like that. The Soul Arrow Rain continued to fall for some time. Almost a hundred or so Warsky Alliance players who tried to sneak closer and attack the boss, but they were one-shot again because the arrow rain was too dense. Finally, they wised up and waited far, far away for the skill to be done. Back at Gui Guzi¡¯s side, he and the Fireblade Cavalry were still giving it their all to hold back Warsky Alliance. However, over half of them were dead because Warsky Alliance was too numerous, and they were aided by the deadly assassin, Farewell Song. Every time Farewell Song took action, he always managed to one-shot a Fireblade Cavalryman with the help of his people. Although the Fireblade Cavalry¡¯s Defense was boosted by 100% by Knight God, almost all of Farewell Song¡¯s killer moves ignored Defense to a certain degree. Therefore, he was a huge threat to say the least. Thankfully, the pressure on Snowy Cathaya lessened slightly at the perfect moment, and Purple Marquis and several hundred elites immediately attacked Warsky Alliance¡¯s flanks. The warrior laughed loudly. ¡°Charge! Take out these bastards and save our allies!¡± ¡­¡­ Snowy Cathaya¡¯s charge put huge pressure on Warsky Alliance, giving Gui Guzi the opening to extricate himself from the battle. He was panting heavily when he reached us. ¡°Holy shit I nearly died there¡­¡± What could we even say to that? Li Chengfeng raised his hand and offered, ¡°Guild leader, I¡¯m going to help Purple Marquis. I entrust the boss to you all!¡± ¡°Go!¡± Li Chengfeng had a Famous General Skill, so he didn¡¯t mind missing out on the boss. He really was a selfless spirit. To be honest, I wanted to join him and attack Warsky Alliance as well, but my Attack and Defense was necessary to secure the boss! Another while later, God Dancer finally finished unleashing her Soul Arrow Rain. The blasted skill had lasted almost 5 minutes! Thank goodness our ¡°friend¡± showed up at the right time to eat the skill for us, or we would be the ones suffering all those casualties. ¡°Come on, she doesn¡¯t have much HP left now¡­¡± He Yi, Gui Guzi, Lin Yixin, and I activated our Charges at the same time. God Dancer had recovered about 3% health or so, but we should be able to kill her quickly! I sent a message to Li Chengfeng: ¡°Keep Farewell Song busy so he can¡¯t steal the boss from us!¡± ¡°Got it. I¡¯ll try to kill him if I can!¡± ¡°Do your best!¡± ¡­¡­ A while later, God Dancer¡¯s health dropped to 1%. I urged repeatedly, ¡°Yiyi, what are you waiting for? Use Extreme Break already¡­¡± Chapter 488: Soul Suppressing Cloak The Frostscythe Warhorse neighed loudly as Lin Yixin ran in an arc and dodged a Flame Blast. After she arrived at God Dancer¡¯s side, she stabbed the boss in the chest with her dagger, released it and brought the Frozen Sword down for an overhead strike! 6892! 10942! The boss¡¯s Defense and max HP were drastically lowered after Extreme Break and the two consecutive hits. This was my chance! I swung the Heaven-stealing Sword three times in a row and launched three flaming auras at the boss¡¯s chest. The attack crushed her armor completely, and God Dancer let out a low, sorrowful wail! 12789! 30182! 18904! ¡­¡­ The second hit was a critical hit, so my final damage output exceeded 60k. It was enough to delete the final sliver of health from the boss¡¯s health bar! Swhoosh! A column of golden light surrounded me as I rose to Level 124. The experience alone was worth all the fighting, but the boss also dropped a pile of equipment. To protect the loot, I rushed forward and threw all of them into my bag in just the blink of an eye. I was so fast that Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open. ¡°What amazing looting speed¡­¡± The boss of the ninth monster wave was officially dead, and a melodious ding entered my ears¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± has killed the God Dancer. 15000 points and 2 Luck are awarded to the player! ¡­¡­ Awesome! I wasn¡¯t expecting the Luck reward to increase to 2 for the ninth boss! With this, I now had a total of 28 Luck! Beiming Xue walked up to me and urged me excitedly, ¡°Show us, big bro! I want to know if the boss dropped Earth-grade equipment!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I nodded and looked inside my bag . There were four new items in total. The first item was a longbow with what seemed like lightning coursing through its surface. The second weapon was an impressive-looking long axe shining with red light. The third drop was a pair of cyan cloth-armor boots, and the last item was a blood-red cloak. The cloak didn¡¯t look particularly impressive. In fact, it had wrinkles and holes at several places, and the ends of the fabric looked a bit frayed. However, the tattered appearance gave the cloak a bleak and murderous aura, and the gloss on the equipment strongly suggested that it was nothing short of extraordinary I turned around to face He Yi as I asked, ¡°Should we distribute these via guild contribution points again?¡± He Yi nodded. ¡°We should. It¡¯s fairer since a lot of people died to kill this boss!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I picked up the lightning bow first and brought up its stats screen¡ª Thunder (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï) Strength: +105 Stamina: +100 Tactics: +20 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 25% Passive: Increases user¡¯s critical rate by 10% Slots: 3 Outstanding Property: When attacking a target, 10% chance to trigger ¡°Thunderous Strike¡±, a critical hit that ignores target¡¯s Defense Level Requirement: 120 ¡­¡­ Holy shit, it was the Level 120 signature equipment of Archer, Thunder! Unfortunately it was only 2-star Outstanding, so its stats¡ªespecially its Attack¡ªwas much poorer than the Burning Shadow Bow¡¯s. Therefore, there was no need for Beiming Xue to compete for this bow. I inquired about everyone''s opinion¡ªthe girls, Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Xu Yang, Gui Guzi and so on¡ªbefore bringing the bow to Lin Yixin. I said, ¡°This is the Level 120 signature weapon of Archer, and we¡¯ve decided to gift this to you as thanks for your help, and repayment for the spear from last time. I suggest you give this to Clear Perfume; Thunder is a pretty good weapon.¡± Lin Yixin didn¡¯t play coy. She accepted Thunder immediately and smiled. ¡°In that case, I thank you on behalf of Qingqing!¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome!¡± I smiled back. Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell had been absolutely critical in the boss fight. Purple Marquis and the members of Snowy Cathaya had also done everything in their power to delay Warsky Alliance when the latter tried to steal the boss. The gift was a poor measure of the relationship our two guild shared to say the least. The game was still a long way from reaching the end. All equipment was destined to be replaced eventually, but a good ally could walk with us until the end of our journey. The archers in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls also understood this logic, so they didn¡¯t make a fuss about it. In fact, Beiming Xue was the only standout archer during the battle against God Dancer, and everyone else was more or less carried by her. Plus, they were a ways away from having enough contribution points to compete for the bow even if we had decided to keep Thunder for ourselves. I moved onto the second item dropped by the Earth Rank boss, the battle axe that was shrouded in a bloody light. When I waved a hand across the imposing and murderous-looking weapon, everyone was shocked by what they saw. Even Lin Yixin looked somewhat astonished¡ª Invincible (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 720~945 Strength: +120 Stamina: +115 Tactics: +28 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 44% Passive: 15% of the damage will be dealt as splash damage Property: Invisible Pressure. Damage dealt to target is increased by 25% Slots: 3 Outstanding Property: When attacking a target, chance to trigger ¡°Battle Axe Whirlwind¡±, area of effect skills that can damage multiple targets Level Requirement: 120 ¡­¡­ My eyes turned as wide as saucers. Motherfucker, it was a 5-star Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon, the signature weapon of the Warrior class no less! Axe-type weapons generally had higher Attack than sword-type weapons, and this Invincible definitely had higher Attack than mine. However, it didn¡¯t have my weapon¡¯s OP lifesteal, so it was ultimately inferior to my Heaven-stealing Sword. Even so, it had skyrocketed all the way to the second place of the Weapon Ranking! Obviously, I wasn¡¯t going to gift this to Snowy Cathaya. Only someone who was kicked in the head by a donkey would do something that stupid, and even if I was that person, I was sure that Lin Yixin would be too embarrassed to accept it. So I turned around, swept a glance at our top-tier fighters and raised Invincible into the air, smiling. ¡°This is a Level 120 5-star Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon, a super weapon that can change a person¡¯s fate. I¡¯m sure there¡¯s someone who wants this, am I right?¡± Li Chengfeng spread his arms. ¡°I don¡¯t particularly care for this weapon. I¡¯m used to swords, and axes are too clumsy and slow for me.¡± Gui Guzi raised his spear. ¡°I have Rainbow already.¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°I have Whirlwind¡­¡± Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun replied, ¡°I have the Ardent Thunder Blade already¡­¡± High Fighting Spirits lifted his own battle axe and said, ¡°And I have a useless piece of trash¡­¡± We all laughed. I brought up the point conversion UI and said, ¡°All fighters in the guild may bid for this axe. The price is 100k contribution points, and whoever has the highest points gets the first dibs. For those who haven¡¯t gotten any equipment so far, worry not. As long as you work hard and keep accumulating contribution points, one day you¡¯ll get the chance to exchange them for an item you want.¡± The truth was I had set the price after checking High Fighting Spirits¡¯ contribution points. It so happened that his contribution points was slightly over 100k, so the axe was his as a matter of course. In fact, he was the most-fitting player in the entire guild to wield this Invincible. Technically, I could take this axe for myself since I was the highest contributor in the guild, but just like Li Chengfeng I preferred sword-type weapons over every other melee weapon. Swords had great attack speed, great defense penetration and a really high skill ceiling. If someone was good enough to reach that threshold, then a sword-type weapon was without a doubt the deadliest weapon in the entire game. That was why I didn¡¯t lay claim to Invincible. The Heaven-stealing Sword was still a godlike weapon anyway, and it should last me until Level 150 or even further down the road. ¡­¡­ It was time to check the third drop, the cyan cloth-armor boots. I waved my hand and shared its stats screen in the guild channel, and this time the priests were the ones who expressed their astonishment¡ª God Dancer Boots (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 285 Magic Resist: 220 Intelligence: +110 Stamina: +112 Tactics: +25 Passive: Healing effectiveness increased by 40% Outstanding Property: When healing a target, heal another 4 targets consecutively. Healing power decreases with every consecutive heal Level Requirement: 120 ¡­¡­ It was a pair of Level 120 elite priest boosts that boosted healing effectiveness drastically, while also changing any single-target healing spell into a multi-target one. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that these boots could transform a priest¡¯s healing ability completely, and the strongest priest in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was undoubtedly Murong Mingyue. I opened the point conversion UI again and said, ¡°The price of this item will be 50k points¡­¡± It wasn¡¯t long before the boots were transferred to Murong Mingyue¡¯s hands. She wanted the boots obviously, and she had no competition because she was both the strongest Priest and the highest contributing Priest in the guild. With that done, it was time to check the final drop. The cloak was cold, murderous, and exactly the kind of color I liked. Every low-key king should have a dark red battle cloak. It was murderous enough to look intimidating, but not so exaggerated that it entered the realm of flamboyance. The moment I held the cloak in my palms, I felt a massive surge of energy coursing through my body. Well, this cloak ain¡¯t your normal cloak for sure. When I brought up its stats screen, everyone¡¯s jaws hit the floor in astonishment. No one had thought that it was possible for an item to be this powerful¡ª Soul Suppressing Cloak (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 720 Magic Resist: 600 Strength: +145 Stamina: +140 Tactics: +37 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 25% Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 5000 Outstanding Property: Grants the active skill ¡°Shield of Evening¡±. Concentrate a great amount of true qi and shield oneself from all damage. Lasts 12 seconds. Cooldown: 120 minutes. Level Requirement: 125 ¡­¡­ Everyone was speechless for a time. Earth-grade equipment was powerful enough, but the Soul Suppressing Cloak was also a 6-star Outstanding Earth-grade equipment! Thank goodness that I was the one who landed the last hit on the boss, or there was no way something this epic would drop. The cloak had greater Defense and Magic Resist than even Spirit-grade metal armor, and it gave a total of 245 stat points and a shocking 37 Tactics. However, its massive stat boosts were still outclassed by its two passives, +25% Defense and +5000 max HP, because they were exactly the kind of stats all fighters wished to get! Of course, the most attractive part of this equipment was its Outstanding Property. It was an active skill that protected its user from all danger for 12 seconds. To put it simply, an invincibility skill. It had been a while since Heavenblessed first began, and finally, the first invincibility item¡ªa cool-as-hell cloak no less¡ªwas finally discovered in the world! Chapter 489: Repel Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and everyone else goggled at the price tag. Then, they started sighing among themselves. ¡°Fuck, you don¡¯t have to be so obvious, guild leader. What a dark world we live in¡­¡± I grinned at them. ¡°Dark world, my ass! I¡¯m the one who should be saying that! You guys got a ton of equipment already, but I haven¡¯t gotten anything until now! Also, I¡¯m leagues ahead of the second highest contributor in the guild. None of you can compete with me unless I gave up the Soul Suppressing Cloak myself¡­¡± Li Chengfeng laughed loudly before nodding, ¡°Well, that¡¯s fair. You¡¯re the one who killed the boss, and your war points are the highest out of everyone. It¡¯s only right that the first ever Earth-grade equipment of this battle belongs to you, not to mention that you¡¯re also the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and our only CGL Hall of Famer. Without these equipment, how are you going to solo the CGL Hall of Famers of Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon etc and show them who¡¯s boss?¡± High Fighting Spirits agreed. ¡°That¡¯s right. The sooner you become a godlike Warrior, the better. We¡¯re all looking forward to the next time we butt heads with Candle Dragon, hmph hmph!¡± Pure Love walked up to me with her scepter. ¡°Big brother Lu Chen looks even more handsome now¡­¡± What could I even say to that? I tossed the Soul Suppressing Cloak into my backpack because I was still a level away from equipping it. There was no hurry. I was level 124 and 74% experience right now thanks to God Dancer, and after the tenth monster wave was over I should be able to level up to 125. ¡­¡­ ¡°What else did the boss drop?¡± He Yi asked. I dug through my backpack again. When the boss died a dozen or so messages had popped up in the party channel, so it was impossible for me to keep a loot or two to myself even if I wanted to. I had gotten seven or eight rank 1 and 2 Gems or so. The moment I confirmed them for distribution in the guild item list, they were bought by the players who were willing to spend the contribution points in the blink of an eye. After that, I spent a while digging through my backpack again and produced two purple skillbooks. I touched the items, and their stats screen appeared before everyone¡¯s eyes¡ª Iron Wall VII: Beseech the power of the war general and increase the Defense of all party members by 20%. Tactics Requirement: 100. Class Requirement: All. Cost: 2000 Reputation. Prime V: Beseech the power of the war god and increase all party members¡¯ Attack by 15% and HP regeneration speed by 50%. Tactics Requirement: 150. Class Requirement: All. Cost: 2000 Reputation. ¡­¡­ There were a couple of good Tacticians in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and the highest level one was level 117. A Tactician naturally gained 1 Tactic every time they leveled up, and if I were to factor in their equipment their total Tactics was around 250. 2.5 times 20% was 50% Defense, and that wasn¡¯t a bad number at all. I submitted the skillbooks under the Tactician category, and a while later they were claimed by two high level Tacticians. Not everyone in the guild could become a Famous General as a matter of course, so Tacticians were always in demand for their Encourage and so on. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to call them the backbone of a guild. I spread my arms and said, ¡°Alright, we¡¯ve distributed all the loot God Dancer dropped, so it¡¯s time to reform the battle formation and prepare for the final wave. Once that is done, we¡¯ll attack Sky City, kill that tyrant and wrap up this coup d''¨¦tat.¡± Everyone nodded. The ninth monster wave was almost finished, but the player faction had suffered tremendous losses as a result. Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had less than 2000 players left, The Monarch Descends had less than 1400 players left, and Warsky Alliance¡¯s failed gamble left them with less than 1000 players. In fact, they were lucky to survive after they were ravaged by the mobs, the boss, Snowy Cathaya and us. In the system window, the total number of surviving players was even more pitiful. Only 19047 players were still in this war. Li Chengfeng said with a smile, ¡°Interesting. To think that so few of us are left after the ninth wave¡­ I sure hope we won¡¯t all be routed by the end of the tenth wave¡­¡± I raised the Heaven-stealing Sword and declared, ¡°Then let¡¯s do our best to minimize our losses as much as possible. Eve, please send a small party to carry our loot back to our warehouse. In fact, let¡¯s have 20 people with additional bagspace carry all the top-tier items dropped by the Giant Ice Flame Beasts back to Dark Moon City. They¡¯ll be dedicated carriers who are exempted from battle.¡± He Yi couldn¡¯t help a giggle. ¡°You¡¯re too late. I¡¯ve already arranged something like that a long time ago~¡± ¡°Haha!¡± Long story short, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ objective in this war was to maximize our profits and widen the power gap between our enemies and ourselves as much we could. It was what the guild needed the most right now. Hundreds of our fighters were standing at the frontlines. They were probably the strongest players we had since they survived when everyone else was washed away by the monster waves. Not only were they the best of the best, they might even grow stronger after this Coldblade War was over! We all held our breaths and looked at the light screen covering the entire Sky City. No one knows what monstrosity would cross through the spatial bridge and act as our final opponent in this do-or-die war. It was at this moment two system announcements resounded throughout all China servers¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Stranger of Three Lifetimes (Vanished God City)" has successfully defeated the Spirit Rank Boss, Hazy Wanderer, and reached Level 120. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the sixteenth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and the exclusive Famous General Skill, "Repel"! Repel: Beseech the power of the battle soul and increase all party members¡¯ Attack by 25% and reduce all surrounding enemies¡¯ Attack by 10%. Skill effectiveness is affected by Tactics. Skill exclusive to player ¡°Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡±. Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Luo River God of the Capital (Wind City)" has successfully defeated the Spirit Rank Boss, Magic Breaker, and reached Level 122. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the seventh Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and the exclusive Famous General Skill, "Mage Soul"! Mage Soul: Beseech the power of the mage god and increase all party members¡¯ Magic Attack by 50% and movement speed by 20%. Skill effectiveness is affected by Tactics. Skill exclusive to player ¡°Luo River God of the Capital¡±. ¡­¡­ We finally heard something about the massive quest that was going on at Wind City and Vanished God City. Clearly, Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ Blazing Hot Lips and Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s Purple Lily were currently in an advantageous position. Not only that, they managed to kill the latter bosses of the quest and became a Famous General because of it! Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ Famous General Skill was fine. It increased her own Attack and reduced the enemy¡¯s Attack at the same time. The amount wasn¡¯t much, but the low base could easily be mitigated by a high amount of Tactics. Moreover, the Famous General Skill was similar to He Yi¡¯s Royal Road. The only difference was that it affected only one stat, and its effect was poorer. As for Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s Mage Soul, if the woman wasn¡¯t the number one Mage in China before¡ªwhich she was¡ªthen no one could hope to dethrone her now. Mage Soul increased Magic Attack by 50% and her movement speed by movement speed by 20%. It was obviously the perfect skill for kiting and dishing out massive amounts of magical damage. Purple Lily had always had the lower hand in the fight for supremacy over Wind City, so I supposed this counted as a minor victory for Purple Lily. Unfortunately, I heard that Luo River God of the Capital was in a bad mood lately. It was because Candlelight Shadow kept cursing her with Ghost God Prophecy and running away every time they ran into each other, causing her to die and lose a couple of levels during this half a month¡¯s time. That was why her leveling speed had slowed drastically recently. Otherwise, I didn¡¯t think I would be able to replace her as the highest level player in China. ¡­¡­ The light screen shone brightly at this moment, and the moment everyone had been waiting for had finally arrived¡ª System Announcement: All players, the tenth monster wave led by a Level 155 Immortal Rank boss ¡°Coldblade the Infinite Storm¡± has crossed the spatial bridge created using the Purgatory Dragon Scepter! ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Li Chengfeng sucked in a deep breath. ¡°Fuck! I thought Coldblade the Infinite Storm would be a Heaven-rank boss at best, but Immortal? That¡¯s two ranks above God Dancer! How the hell are we going to fight him?¡± I was just as speechless as he was. ¡°Simple: we don¡¯t. The NPCs will handle it for us. We just barely took down God Dancer, so it¡¯s suicidal to even attempt this boss. That being said, maybe we can find a way to claim ownership of the boss through the NPCs somehow. Everything is worth it if we can get even one Immortal-grade equipment¡­¡± Gui Guzi laughed loudly. ¡°Yeah! Give me an Immortal-grade metal armor and shield, and I swear I can solo all 40k players in Candle Dragon myself!¡± High Fighting Spirits: ¡°Of course you can, that¡¯s two Immortal-grade equipment versus a truck load of Purple Gold-grade or even Dark Gold-grade equipment. You¡¯re so shameless sometimes¡­¡± Gui Guzi smiled. ¡°I¡¯m just kidding. To be honest, I don¡¯t think I can beat Candlelight Shadow even if I have an Immortal-grade shield. That bastard is just too skillful. Boss Broken Halberd is probably the only one in the entire guild who can fight him on equal footing.¡± Li Chengfeng nodded strongly. ¡°You¡¯re right, Candlelight Shadow is absolutely a top class player. There are probably less than 5 players in all of China who can threaten him, with Lu Chen and Lin Yixin being the greatest of them all. Well, I suppose I counted as a threat to Candlelight Shadow too, albeit just barely¡­¡± Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: ¡°No you¡¯re not¡­¡± Chapter 490: Lin Bing Dou Zhe The earth of Sky City suddenly rumbled with the sound of horse hooves. Then, hordes of Night Creature riders appeared from the spatial bridge and charged straight toward our allied NPC legions! Cavalry troops! The last monster wave were cavalry troops! The riders were high-rank Asuras in dark cyan armor. They wielded a long spear in their right hand and a rusted broadsword in their left hand. They wore helmets, but there was a slit in the metal that revealed their blood red eyes. Although they were undead, I could see that their skin was intact, and they had all the features a human should have. In that sense, we were very similar to each other. Ding! As I thought, a new entry in my combat log informed me that my Deterrence and the enemies¡¯ Deterrence canceled each other out. My pupils shrank when the first undead rider entered my range. I immediately shared its stats screen in the guild channel¡ª Coldblade Death Knight (Shadow) Level: 155 Attack: 1950~2440 Defense: 2400 HP: 200000 Skills: Charge, Stomp, Blade Sweep Introduction: Once the noble knights of humanity, the Coldblade Death Knights were changed into the elites of the Hell Legion after their souls became corrupted. Their skeleton was enhanced, and they retained the skills they learned when they were still human. They were the ace of Coldblade¡¯s army. ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck¡­¡± Li Chengfeng sounded a little dazed. ¡°I know it¡¯s a level 155 Shadow-rank mob, but this Attack is still ridiculous. This is going to be bad. I¡¯m not even sure if the NPC armies can stop this¡­¡± ¡°Mn. Watch our for the Coldblade Death Knight¡¯s charge, and Priests, be ready to heal at first notice!¡± I barked out the orders. The earth shook like thunder as countless Coldblade Death Knights rushed toward us. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends¡ªthere were only 5000 of us left now¡ªhad joined together to form the strongest defense line we could make. The saying ¡°without the lips, the teeth feel the cold¡± fitted this situation perfectly. Working together was the only chance we were going to survive this, and even then it was only a small chance. The tension was palpable as we waited for the Coldblade Death Knights to hit us. When the high rank riders were about 50 yards away from us, they abruptly used Charge and hit our defense line indiscriminately. All our mounted players¡ªGui Guzi, He Yi, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and so on¡ªheld up their shields and withstood the Charges with everything they got. All was lost if they failed to withstand even the first round of assault. ¡°Die for the glory of the infinite storm!¡± A Coldblade Death Knight opened its mouth and shouted savagely. After the Charge, its two-handed broadsword burst into flames, and it slashed at a row of players and dealt an insane amount of damage¡ª 6894! 7021! 4459! ¡­¡­ Everyone¡¯s Defense was different. I had high Defense, so I didn¡¯t lose more than 3000 HP, but the others didn¡¯t fare nearly as well. One of our players lost over 7000 HP after enduring just one Blade Sweep, and he wasn¡¯t facing just one enemy. He was killed instantly when the rest of the Coldblade Death Knights activated Blade Sweep as well! ¡°Aaahhh¡­¡± The screams of death filled the air. This was just the initial clash, and over 10 of our fighters were one-shot already. Our Priests never even got the chance to heal them. It was because the Coldblade Death Knight¡¯s Attack was too high, and they had the AOE skills to make use of it! It was terrifying in a battle like this! My eyes turned red as I threw three fiery sword auras to the center of eight Coldblade Death Knights. Then, I froze them all with Thousand Ice Slash so that they couldn¡¯t escape from our Archers¡¯ attacks! It was worth noting that Beiming Xue had equipped the Burning Shadow Bow already. The level 120 Spirit-grade weapon¡¯s Attack limit was over 800, it had an Outstanding Property that enhanced critical damage by 20%. Beiming Xue¡¯s total critical rate was over 25%, so she was able to deal critical damage to the mobs quite consistently. It wasn¡¯t long before her DPS attracted the eyeballs of everyone who was paying attention. She dealt at least 15000 damage every time she scored a critical hit, and when she used Evil Spirit Volley that number was multiplied by the number of mobs she hit! It was an epic sight to say the least! Li Chengfeng curled his lips as he praised Beiming Xue. ¡°The Dark Archer truly is one of the founding members of Bloody Mercenaries. Now that I think about it, the Dark Archer, the Undying Knight and the Undead Swordsman were all in Bloody Mercenaries, right? Tsk tsk, without your prodigious workshop, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would still be nameless to this day.¡± I smiled. ¡°I¡¯m sure you can do more damage than Beiming Xue if you¡¯re willing to put in the effort.¡± ¡°But of course¡­¡± Li Chengfeng swung his sword once, and the Tempest Sword created a violent circular whirlwind with a 5-yard radius in the middle of Cavalry Death Knights. The mobs shivered as the skill dealt over ten thousand damage to them. The Tempest Sword definitely deserved its reputation as a level 120 offensive-type sword. Although its Attack was slightly inferior to Whirlwind, it was still very amazing. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ At the back, Murong Mingyue and our Priests were munching Dragon Meat Soup and healing the frontliners with everything they got at the same time. Our defense line would¡¯ve crumbled a long time ago without them! Fire rained from the sky as He Yi¡¯s Firelight Mouse cast its spells. Its Magic Attack was comparable to that of a high level mage, and its spells were AOE spells. Because of this, He Yi accumulated a huge amount of points in this war. At the distance, Snowy Cathaya had fighting a hard battle. Purple marquis and Lin Yixin were doing everything they could to aggro as many mobs as possible and protect their backliners, but the Coldblade Death Knights still managed to punch a couple of holes in their defense line and wreak havoc on the Archers and Mages. Monarch Defense fared even worse. After the death of Purple Wind Chime, Mo Xiaoxiao and other high level fighters, the remaining frontliners were incapable of stopping the Coldblade Death Knights at all. The battle quickly turned into a massacre after their defense line crumbled, and tens of thousands of mobs swarmed them from every direction. Ling Xueshang wore a helpless expression because she knew it was over for them. I frowned at the sight of our dying ally. It was too late to save The Monarch Descends, not to mention that we were barely keeping it together ourselves. I ordered Gui Guzi, ¡°Little Gui, take a few riders with you and protect Ling Xueshang! Escort her and anyone else who¡¯s still alive into our formation!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± I also sent Ling Xueshang a message, ¡°Xueshang, round up whoever¡¯s still alive in your guild and join our formation while you still can! You can continue the fight from there!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Ling Xueshang accepted the offer without hesitation. On the other side, Warsky Alliance wasn¡¯t faring much better either. Warsky Alliance¡¯s defense line was in chaos right now. Although Warsky and Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ Famous General Skill boosted their frontliners just enough to hold on, but there were still too many holes in their defense line. With only a thousand players or so, it was only a matter of time before they crumbled completely. ¡°Aahh¡­¡± We lost another row of fighters because a Coldblade Death Knight scored a lucky critical hit with its Blade Sweep. The skill was so powerful that anyone with slightly inferior tankability were one-shot without mercy. This was one thing our Priests could do nothing about no matter how powerful they were. ¡­¡­ ¡°Roar!¡± My Silver Dragon Ring flashed and caused a Silver Dragon Storm in the area with the most Coldblade Death Knights, killing the low health ones instantly. Although they dropped a ton of equipment, Magic Stones and other items, no one was crazy enough to pick them up. It was suicide to move out of the battle line, and even a super tank like Gui Guzi would die if he was completely surrounded by the Coldblade Death Knights. Level 155 Shadow-rank mobs were tough enough, but their stats were even stronger in a massive quest like this one. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to call this a purgatory level quest! Still, high risk was usually accompanied with high reward. After the Silver Dragon Storm took out the 20 or so Coldblade Death Knights, my experience also rose by a whopping 3%. How insane was that? At this rate, I could probably hit level 125 and equip the six-star outstanding Earth-grade equipment, the Soul Suppessing Cloak in less than 20 minutes! Joy and hope settled snugly in my heart as I continued to fight at the vanguard. The Heaven-stealing Sword¡¯s durability had dropped to less than 15%, and He Yi¡¯s Whirlwind was starting to glow red as well. The visual effect meant that the weapon was low on durability. However, the battle was so fierce that we couldn¡¯t afford to conserve any energy at all. In fact, most people had lost their weapons in the middle of the battle. However, they could almost always pick up a weapon from the ground and continue the battle immediately. For example, Chaos Moon was currently swinging a spear like a complete novice. Its Attack was obviously not as good as the sword she originally used, but it was still much better than fighting bare-handed. ¡­¡­ Time passed bit by bit, and our player count dropped from 1800 to 1500, and to 1000. Another half an hour later, only a paltry 476 players were still standing on the battlefield. Everyone who was still alive was the elite of elites, but the sacrifice of our comrades¡¯ levels still hurt our souls deeply. Our united army had shrunk to less than a thousand, and Lin Yixin was fighting by my side right now. She let out a bitter laugh and commented in a helpless tone, ¡°So many people died in this monster wave¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°Not only that, there are still over 30% of Coldblade Knights left¡­¡± ¡°Uuuu, what should we do¡­¡± Suddenly, a system announcement dinged across all China servers¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Lin Bing Dou Zhe (Vanished God City)" has successfully defeated the Spirit Rank Boss, Mountain Stone Giant King, and reached Level 120. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the eighteenth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and the exclusive Famous General Skill, "Renown"! Chapter 491: Coldblade Descends Li Chengfeng hummed for a second. ¡°I don¡¯t recall ever hearing about this person, but the fact that he rose to level 120 and learned a Famous General Skill that adds 30% Attack and 20% Defense¡­ sounds like an all-round commander type of player to me¡­¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I completely agreed with him. ¡°Stranger of Three Lifetimes must be on the move already. Considering her reputation in Vanished God City, there¡¯s no way she wouldn¡¯t try to recruit Lin Bing Dou Zhe.¡± He Yi asked, ¡°Should we try and recruit him as well?¡± ¡°Sure. Add him as a friend and send him a message yourself.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, He Yi said in disappointment, ¡°We were too late¡­¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Lin Bing Dou Zhe said that someone had contacted him and invited him to an offline meeting half a minute ago. He refused to tell me who it was, and he deleted me from his friend list right after we finished chatting¡­¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I hid my annoyance and asked, ¡°Looks like he was recruited by an enemy of ours. Do you have any idea who it might be? Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Mad Dragon or Gods of Destruction?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡± He Yi shook her head blankly. ¡°It could be any of them.¡± It was at this moment Li Chengfeng spoke up. ¡°Alright, I just did a quick investigation on Lin Bing Dou Zhe. Do you want to hear about it?¡± ¡°Sure. Tell us!¡± ¡°Lin Bing Dou Zhe is Lin Bin, a man from Hangzhou. He played a game called ¡®Overlord¡¯ during Spirit of Grief and was known as the strongest player of that game. After Heavenblessed came online, he changed his ID and kept a low profile until recently. I don¡¯t know what kind of person he is, but I do know that he has great skill, great judgement, and great senses. He¡¯s a control-type player.¡± He Yi and I exchanged a glance with each other. ¡°Such a shame¡­¡± But Gui Guzi laughed and reassured us, ¡°It¡¯s fine, we couldn¡¯t possibly recruit every talent in the world, right?¡± ¡°True.¡± I nodded and let go of my disappointment quickly. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter which guild Lin Bing Dou Zhe joined. If he becomes our enemy, then we¡¯ll just show him who¡¯s boss!¡± ¡°Hehe, that¡¯s right!¡± Gui Guzi chuckled. However, he was hit three to four times by the Coldblade Death Knights because he wasn¡¯t paying attention. Sigh, the guy still had a long way to go. Unlike him, Li Chengfeng and I could chat and still grind the mobs like normal without losing performance. Swhoosh! Suddenly, a column of golden light warmed my body. I had finally risen to level 125! ¡°Lu Chen has risen to Level 125, haha! Congrats, congrats!¡± High Fighting Spirits and the others congratulated me with laughter. felt like a powerful energy entering my body the moment I equipped the Soul Suppressing Cloak. It made me feel stronger than ever before! When I opened my stats screen, the numbers I saw immediately surprised me. In hindsight, I shouldn¡¯t be since this was a six-star Outstanding Earth-grade equipment, the strongest defense equipment in the game of now¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Purgatory Thunder) Class: Undead Swordsman (Dark Gold Swordsman) Level: 125 HP: 21980 Attack: 1902~2455 Defense: 2965 Magic Resist: 2665 Reputation: 228480 Tactics: 226(+164) Luck: 28 ¡­¡­ It was amazing. My upper attack limit was 2455, my base Defense was almost 3000, and my max HP was almost 22k thanks to the Soul Suppressing Cloak! One might say that 99% of the Magic Knights out there didn¡¯t have my HP even if they dropped all their stats into Stamina! My total Defense was 2965, the total percentage boost from my equipment was¡ª30% from the God Suppressing Necklace, 20% from the God Suppressing Helmet, 14% from the Obsidian Dragon Scale Armor, 25% from the Soul Suppressing Cloak, 8% from the Soul of the Earth Bracers and 20% from the Silver Dragon Ring¡ª117%, and the total percentage boost from my skill¡ªGhost Deity Armor X¡ªwas 40%. Therefore, the total percentage boost from both equipment and skill was 157%. Therefore, my real Defense was 7620. How scary was that? I must be almost as tanky as Gui Guzi right now! To test out exactly how powerful my Defense was, I rushed into a group and stomped the ground with War Crush. All the Coldblade Death Knights around me let out a painful groan before they pointed their blade toward me at the same time. The next moment, a column of damage numbers rose above my head¡ª 2178! 2009! 2272! ¡­¡­ Since I had almost 22k HP, this amount of damage wasn¡¯t nearly as threatening as before. Let¡¯s also not forget that my Heaven-stealing Sword had 14% lifesteal. Assuming that I had a dedicated Priest, I could absolutely swim through the sea of level 155 Shadow-rank mobs with ease. ¡°Holy shit, Lu Chen is a monster. I can¡¯t believe he¡¯s tanky enough to ignore the Coldblade Death Knights¡¯ attacks¡­¡± Chaos Moon exclaimed in surprise. ¡°No he¡¯s not. 10, 9, 8¡­¡± Li Chengfeng counted down from ten, and just as he expected I had to run back to the battle line to get some heals before 10 seconds was even up. As I mentioned earlier, I could only withstand the mobs¡¯ attacks if I had a dedicated Priest with me. The Coldblade Death Knights had great attack speed, so even one of them could hit me for four or five thousand damage in just a few seconds. Not even god could survive this in my place. I continued fighting as normal after I returned to the defense line and regained full health thanks to our Priests. Speaking of which, I didn¡¯t forget to absorb the Coldblade Death Knights¡¯ soul spark. These mobs were all Asura level monsters, and in the words of the Undead Swordsman Suren they were like gods to a lowly undead. This was the perfect opportunity to grind these Night Creatures from hell and increase my undead level and become an Asura King as soon as possible. I could tell from the title alone that an Asura King was way stronger than an Asura. ¡­¡­ A short while later, the Coldblade Death Knights swarming us were more or less dead. Everyone who survived had gotten a tonne of levels, and I fully expected the Heavenly Ranking of Sky City to change drastically by the end of this war. Anyone who died early was absolutely not entering the top 10 for sure. I ran all over the place and absorbed any undead soul spark I could find. Every time I absorbed a soul spark, I could feel the energy inside me grow a little stronger. Eventually, I discovered that I was close to ascending! At the distance, hordes of Coldblade Death Knights were still charging into Floating Ice City¡¯s army. The NPCs had to face most of the ninth and tenth wave mobs by themselves because the most of the player faction was dead by that point. That was why they suffered massive casualties, and why there were bodies all over the ground. Whatever the outcome of this war might be, it was going to take a long time for Floating Ice City to recover their strength! Suddenly, lightning rocked the sky once more, and an seemingly boundless storm enveloped the spatial bridge completely. The earth shook violently, and dark clouds covered the sky completely. It was as if the apocalypse was about to descend to the earth! ¡°It¡¯s here, the final boss is here¡­¡± I said solemnly as I looked up. The remaining players raised their heads, and as expected an undead general clad in azure metal armor appeared under everyone¡¯s gaze. Its tattered cloak looked a bit similar to my Soul Suppressing Cloak, and it wielded a sword with glowing runes on it. It stared at the ground beneath its feet like it was the world¡¯s ruler. ¡°Coldblade¡­¡± On the ground, Princess Karinshan whispered and stared at Coldblade with a complicated expression beneath the banner of Floating Ice City. She then asked in a quiet voice, ¡°You were a hero of humanity. Why did you become the slave of the undead?¡± The commander of the Black Cavalry, Stark raised his arm and shouted, ¡°Light cavalry, charge! Coldblade must die so that the Purgatory Legion cannot shatter the peace of the world!¡± The sound of horse hooves thundering against the earth entered our ears as ten thousand cavalry troops took off and approached Coldblade at high speed. The moment the NPCs got within range, they immediately pulled out their bows, nocked their arrows and shot the boss! The final battle between the NPCs had finally begun! Still standing in midair, Coldblade paid the arrow rain absolutely no heed. His body was enveloped by a layer of thin, windy light, and it knocked away all the arrows flying his direction. The attacks couldn¡¯t even reach his body, much less tickle his skin! ¡°Hahaha, you human warriors are like ants to me!¡± Coldblade the Infinite Storm let out a sinister laugh before raising an arm abruptly. The power of the wind gathering around his hand, he abruptly punched toward the ground and created an instantaneous storm! Boom! The skill seemed to have a radius of 200 yards. Screams filled the air as all the brave knights and warhorses caught within the storm were turned into bits of flesh and blood. A moment later, the storm subsided, and there was an empty space where the cavalry unit used to be. That one attack had killed almost all of the ten thousand troops. ¡­¡­ The NPCs weren¡¯t the only one who was shocked. We players were panicking as well. Clutching the Frostscythe Warhorse¡¯s head tightly, Lin Yixin commented with a disbelieving expression, ¡°OMG, let¡¯s forget this boss and leave already. We absolutely don¡¯t belong in the same weight level. He could literally kill all of us in one hit¡­¡± I nodded but said, ¡°Let¡¯s wait and see¡­¡± ¡­¡­ A draconic roar suddenly cut through the air. It looked like Princess Karinshan had finally decided to use her secret weapon, the Dragon Knights. Five Dragon Knights took to the air at the same time, and one of them was none other than the Green Dragon Knight I saved before, Tia. ¡°Oh? Dragon Knights?¡± The corners of Coldblade¡¯s lips curled into a disdainful smile. ¡°You pitiful worms chose to serve the human nobles after the Dragon Domain had turned into a rubble? How pathetic. Where did the legendary pride of the Dragon Knights went to?¡± Harell, the Dragon Knight riding a fire dragon raised his dragonspear and growled. ¡°We won¡¯t allow you to blaspheme our honor, you damned monster! The Dragon Domain may be gone, but we are still the protectors of the Dragon Domain and the protectors of this land! Lady Binglan may not be around anymore, but that is no reason not to obey our principles and bleed to the last drop of our blood for the sake of all those who live on this continent!¡± ¡°Hmph. Ridiculous!¡± Coldblade let out a shout and pounced toward Harell. He swung his sword like he would cleave the Fire Dragon Knight in half! Chiang! Both the dragonspear and Coldblade¡¯s sword shone brightly. A moment later, Coldblade was still standing proudly in the sky, but Harell and his Fire Dragon were sent spiraling across the air. Both creatures screamed in pain as blood trailed down the corner of their lips! Chapter 492: Knight’s Duty Boom! Coldblade shuddered as his HP dropped a little. However, not only did he regenerate back to full health with a frightening speed, he spun around angrily and shot a dazzling icicle at the silver knight through his sword. The fact that we could see the air current surrounding the icicle showed just how powerful the attack was! "Roar roar roar¡­" The silver dragon let out a painful cry as a deep wound appeared at its neck area. Behind its back, Tenor also let out a muffled groan because he was struck by the shattered bits of the icicle. Both him and his silver dragon quickly fell toward the ground. Eyes reddening with distress, the Dragon Knight Pias also launched an attack, drawing black blood from beneath Coldblade¡¯s metal armguard. As expected, Coldblade wasn¡¯t a human anymore. If he was, he wouldn¡¯t have this much power. "Jiejie¡­" Coldblade screeched like a madman before spinning around and grabbing Pias¡¯s dragonspear. Then, he swung out his sword and slashed the Iron Armor Dragon Knight¡¯s arm in half. The slash was so terrible that even his dragon nearly lost half its wing as both rider and dragon fell toward the ground while screaming. Still grippin his sword, Coldblade spread his arms and enveloped himself in an infinite storm. Staring at Princess Karinshan, he laughed evilly, "What¡¯s wrong, Karinshan? Weren¡¯t you called the strongest commander of the Silver Moon Alliance? Have you declined so much that you can only order these pitiful worms to their deaths? Well, playtime¡¯s over. From this day onward, Sky City belongs to the Purgatory Legion, and I, Coldblade the Infinite Storm, am the one true ruler of this land!" Coldblade abruptly gathered his strength once more and used the power of the domains. An infinite storm ravaged the sky and defeated the Fire Dragon Knight, the Green Dragon Knight and Ice Dragon Knight all at the same time. They and their dragons hit the ground with a loud thump, and they looked to be in no condition to continue the battle. ¡­¡­ "Hmph! Don¡¯t underestimate us!" Karinshan angrily pulled out her sword and rose to her feet. Pushing herself off her mount and straight into the air, she zigzagged across the sky like a lightning bolt using her wind energy and charged at Coldblade. Snowflakes gathered around her sword as she swung mightily at the boss. Chiang! "Is this all you got, Karinshan? Hahaha!" Coldblade laughed like a madman while pointing at the human princess. "I guess today¡¯s the day I chop off your head and surrender it to the Purgatory for a bounty reward. I am sure that the other eight Sovereigns will be glad to see your head, hahahaha¡­" Karinshan let out a snort, gathered her strength and charged Coldblade once more. This time, her sword suddenly burst into an intimidating light and sailed toward the boss like it would annihilate him down to the atoms. "Oh?" Coldblade exclaimed in surprise as he summoned a shield in a hurry. He also noticed that this strike possessed far greater power than the one before. The beautiful princess was going all out on this one. The shield successfully dispelled Karinshan¡¯s power, and Coldblade hit her strongly at the center of her chest. The power behind the palm strike was absolutely equal to the storm around him. Boom! Karinshan hit the ground like a meteor and caused a shockingly huge crater. The impact was so great that there were dust clouds everywhere, and Heavenblessed Continent shook as if in fear. A long time later, the dust cloud settled to reveal Karinshan on one knee. Her forehead was bloody, and she had to push herself slowly to her feet with her sword. She glared at Coldblade with stubborn determination, but there was a trace of helplessness in her eyes as well. The power gap between the two was just too huge, and there was nothing Karinshan could do to Coldblade at all. ¡­¡­ Coldblade slowly descended to the ravaged ground and walked step by step toward Princess Karinshan. My eyes turned chilly as I asked, "This is our chance to protect a princess of humanity. Who will follow me to kill Coldblade?" "Who won¡¯t?" Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Li Chengfeng and everyone else raised their blades and shouted their answer. I let out a chuckle before breaking into a run. Coldblade was about 300 yards away from me¡ªnot too far but not too close¡ªand right behind me were Gui Guzi, He Yi and the heroes of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Not willing to fall behind, the players of Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends ran right next to us as well. The quest had reached a critical point, and no one was willing to miss this epic moment! I used Thunderous Charge as soon as I got within range of Coldblade! Swhoosh! I blitzed toward the legendary Sovereign of the Night Creatures despite knowing full well that the Immortal Rank boss was way beyond our reach! MISS! The Charge missed as I expected it would, but I immediately followed up with a Burning Blade Slash. The triple-hit skill hit the boss''s back and dealt some damage¡ª 445! 782! 1024! Fuck, my last hit just barely broke 4 digits. Just how high were Coldblade¡¯s stats? No wonder Princess Karinshan was no match for him! "Hmph! You damned brat!" Coldblade abruptly turned around and slashed me across the chest. The pain was so terrible that I could feel it in my bones, and a terrifying damage number popped above my head¡ª 19007! Fuck! If I hadn¡¯t equipped the Soul Suppressing Cloak, that attack would¡¯ve one-shot me one hundred percent! Li Chengfeng knocked me over to safety and took over my spot. Then, he stabbed the boss''s chest four times in a row using Dragonbone Flurry and Cyan Dragon Horn¡ª 107! 121! 99! 201! High Fighting Spirits immediately exclaimed in shock. "What the fuck! Even Li Chengfeng can only hit him for triple digits¡­" Coldblade bent his elbow and began summoning a thick column of storm around his blade. It looked like he was going to attack us at any moment! "It¡¯s an AoE skill! Dodge it!" I shouted, grabbed High Fighting Spirits¡¯ chain armor and pulled him to the side in one swift motion. At almost the same time, Coldblade unleashed waves of storm energy at where we were a moment ago and annihilated everything within a straight line. The terrible power gorged the earth and killed a dozen or so players instantly, including Chaos Moon and Moonlight Stone. In the end, the girls weren¡¯t able to survive until the end of the tenth monster wave. Coldblade roared again and raised his arm. This time, a beam pierced the sky and brought a fucking hurricane that looked like it would engulf everything. This attack was most definitely going to be worse than the last one! Lin Yixin¡¯s face was deathly pale. "Stop him!" She hit Coldblade with Extreme Break, but it wasn¡¯t enough to interrupt the Immortal Rank boss. I appeared right behind her and gathered a circle of red energy around my fist. Leaping into the air and bending my waist a little, I threw everything I had straight at the boss''s chest! "Magic Piercing Punch!" 7983! My skill successfully interrupted Coldblade¡¯s skill, but the boss only grew even angrier. He tried to rush me with his sword. It was at this moment High Fighting Spirits stepped forward bravely to face the boss. Swinging the Invincible and looking like he was about to explode, he slammed into the boss''s waist and shouted the Xiezhi Howl. His energy took the savage form of the Xiezhi Beast and tore into the boss''s torso! At that moment, he looked like nothing could stop him! The threat changed to High Fighting Spirits immediately. Coldblade threw me aside and attempted to kill the brave barbarian warrior! Bang! A gigantic shield slammed into the boss''s face as Gui Guzi arrived on his Armored Steelback Dragon! Not only did he save High Fighting Spirits, he tanked all three slashes from Coldblade! Chiang chiang chiang! Coldblade¡¯s sword caused huge sparks on his shield and nearly mangled the equipment. The three deep gashes on the steel were a testament to the boss''s attack power. Even against him, this triple-hit combo would have taken his entire HP bar if he wasn¡¯t Guarding, and if Lin Yixin hadn¡¯t added him into her party in time to buff him with Bombshell. Gui Guzi withdrew as two beautiful women covered his retreat. It was He Yi and Lin Yixin standing shoulder-to-shoulder and getting ready to counter the boss''s next devastating strike. Chiang chiang chiang¡­ It only took Coldblade a couple of hits to send Lin Yixin stumbling backward with barely a sliver of health. He Yi fared slightly better because she had a shield. Seeing that the situation was critical, He Yi elbowed Lin Yixin in the side and knocked her away to safety. The next moment, Coldblade¡¯s stormy energy engulfed He Yi and her Snow Domain Windchaser completely! 39842! My heart shivered. It was a critical hit! Who would¡¯ve thought that our guild leader would come this far only to be one-shot by the boss... Lin Yixin just stood there and stared at the place He Yi died. She looked completely lost for a moment. I ran forward and picked up the wristguards He Yi had dropped when she died. Then, I wrapped an arm around Lin Yixin¡¯s waist¡ªher Mount Tenacity had been emptied during the duel with Coldblade¡ªand pulled her to the back. At this point, it was clear that this battle was completely beyond our ability. We failed to do any real damage to Coldblade, but Coldblade absolutely had the power to kill all of us! "Sister He Yi, she¡­" Lin Yixin looked at He Yi¡¯s bloody, lifeless body again with a complicated expression. "Lu Chen, I¡­" I gave her a reassuring smile and said, "It¡¯s fine, Yiyi. we¡¯re allies, aren¡¯t we? You¡¯ll save Eve too if she¡¯s in danger. It is a knight¡¯s natural duty to protect their comrades, and Eve is slowly but surely getting there." "Mn, sorry. It¡¯s all my fault¡­" "It¡¯s nothing, so please don¡¯t feel guilty. Seriously, every time you feel guilty I feel like I owe you a lot of money." Chapter 493: The Bones of the Gods ¡°Can¡¯t hold on any longer! Retreat!¡± Everyone started backing away from the boss after I barked out the retreat order. ¡°Haha, you ants¡­¡± Coldblade continued to laugh madly and sinisterly as he charged toward us. Pushing Lin Yixin behind me in a hurry, I raised the Heaven-stealing Sword and prepared to make the last stand. It was because I had higher Defense compared to Lin Yixin thanks to the 6-star Outstanding Earth-grade cloak. I wasn¡¯t lacking in the HP department either. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! A column of red light suddenly poured down from the sky just as Coldblade was about to swing his hurricane-sheathed sword at me. The next moment, a strange sword covered in a red glow stabbed itself into a rock and let out a clear, melodious ring. "What? The¡­ the Sword of the Forest King?" Coldblade exclaimed in shock. His eyes were shaking with a hint of urgency and even a bit of fear. Thud! This time, the world flashed purple as a purple war hammer hit the ground hard. Its handle was crawling with dazzling lightning. "The Hammer of the Thunder God?" Coldblade¡¯s shock grew as he looked at the sky. Another two weapons hit the ground even before he was finished speaking. One was a sword, and the other a scepter. Both had a bloody luster to them. At this point, Coldblade¡¯s shock had reached its maximum point. He yelled, "The Glorious War Sword? The Rolling Thunder Scepter? Im¡­ impossible! Why are these ancient divine weapons here?" Coldblade abruptly looked at the sky again, and this time it was a gorgeous girl clad in craggy red armor who descended from the sky. The sleek, elegant armor had scales that were pointed downward, and it wrapped around the girl¡¯s breasts perfectly. Her legs looked long and white beneath her red battle garment, and her hair danced in the air following the flow of the wind. The girl with red eyes was staring daggers at Coldblade without a shred of human emotion. "It¡­ it¡¯s you, Wind Singer Xinran..." Coldblade uttered through clenched teeth, "You traitor! I will tear you to pieces today!" ¡­¡­ The corner of Xinran¡¯s lips suddenly curled upward, and she pulled a blood-red spear into existence out of nowhere. It was none other than the Dragonbone Spear. However, the weapon had clearly gone through refinement because its light was a lot brighter than before. "I wasn¡¯t planning to kill you, Coldblade, but since you showed up in this plane I don¡¯t mind killing you and extracting your undead soul spark." Coldblade made the fearless declaration and licked his lips with a sinister expression. "Legend says that you are the prettiest woman in the Purgatory, Wind Singer! Let us test that truth today!" "Hehe¡­" Xinran suddenly broke into a smile and moved her legs a little, unconsciously showing off the curves of her perfect body. She raised the Dragonspear and declared, "For that statement alone, you deserve to die ten thousand times, Coldblade. Come! Let me show you how much I¡¯ve learned to survive on this plane!" Suddenly, Xinran waved her hand and caused four objects to fall from the sky. We were frightened out of our wits when we saw clearly what the objects that crashed next to the four divine weapons were: They were bones! Dry skeletons that looked like they were dead a long time ago! Why on earth had Xinran brought them here? Coldblade was shocked too, but the reason behind his shock was different from ours. He stared at the skeletons with round eyes before shouting angrily, "You were in the God Domain, Wind Singer? These bodies, they clearly belong to the Forest King, the Thunder God, the War God Silva, and the Goddess Arni¡­" Xinran smiled. "Correct. I was searching for the bones of the gods, but I discovered that the divine energy in their remains was long gone, and their divine weapons had all been cursed, useless weapons that cannot be wielded by beings with divine energy. However, I also discovered that great power is generated when the cursed weapons and their former masters are put together!" "What?!" Coldblade¡¯s eyes widened even further. Xinran smiled and raised her spear into the air abruptly. She chanted, "Gods who slumber in death and silence, heed my summon and return to this world in shame and fury! Slay all evil and protect the order you once loved¡ªRevitalize!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Four columns of light descended from the sky and landed atop the skeletons. As the power of life poured into their bodies, they actually started moving and rising to their feet once more. Their movement was a bit slow, but their bodies were surrounded by a cyclone of bloody aura. They were clearly very powerful. Thud! The Thunder God¡¯s skeleton gripped the Hammer of the Thunder God and turned toward Coldblade. His pitch black sockets flashed with killing intent and hatred as he let out a guttural roar. Xinran clenched her fingers into a fist and ordered sternly. "Go! Kill the Infinite Storm!" ¡­¡­ All four skeletons immediately charged toward the boss with their weapons. Coldblade tried to block a mighty hammer swing from the Thunder God with his sword, but he was still sent stumbling backward. Before he could steady his footing, the War God Silva slashed his back with the Glorious War Sword! Crack! Black blood poured all over the place as a deep wound appeared on Coldblade¡¯s back. Again, the stumbling boss wasn¡¯t able to regain his footing before the Goddess Arni launched a thunder dragon spell that engulfed him completely. There was no way Coldblade didn¡¯t feel the lightning ravaging his entire body. Puchi... Finally, the Forest King stabbed Coldblade right through the chest with his sword, deleting another chunk from the Purgatory Sovereign¡¯s HP. "You damned gods¡­ you are just trash that has turned into dust¡­" Furious, Coldblade slowly rose to his feet and sent a powerful wind straight toward the Forest King. As a hole exploded at the center of the skeleton¡¯s chest, Coldblade rushed forward and punched him so many times that the skeleton shattered into a thousand pieces! Slowly pulling out the Sword of the Forest King out of his chest, an infuriated Coldblade tossed the sword at Goddess Arni¡¯s chest and nailed her to the stone wall behind her. The Sword of the Forest King unleashed its cursed power, and the skeleton immediately turned into dust bit by bit. The rest of us were completely stunned. We didn¡¯t expect Coldblade to be so powerful that he straight up ignored the damage he took and killed both skeletons of the gods in one hit. ¡­¡­ "Hahaha, Wind Singer, did you forget how powerful I was? Or did you underestimate me too much? There¡¯s no way mere skeletons without their divine power defeat me!" Coldblade laughed arrogantly before charging toward the last two skeletons. He cleaved the Thunder God¡¯s skull in half and snatched the Hammer of the Thunder God from its hand. He then shattered War God Silva¡¯s rib cage with a kick before smashing him to pieces with the hammer. However, the wind suddenly howled loudly above his head, and Xinran and her Dragonbone Spear dropped from the sky like a bolt of lightning. Smiling a little, she said, "You are the one who doesn¡¯t get it, Coldblade! I¡¯m the one you should watch out for!" Bang! The Dragonbone Spear smashed into the Coldblade Sword with the weight of a mountain behind it and caused the latter to shake with strain. However, the mighty strike still wasn¡¯t enough to deal a fatal blow to him. It showed just how powerful the Purgatory Sovereign was. Swhoosh! Xinran abruptly vanished from thin air before reappearing next to his waist. She then crouched downward before elbowing him in the stomach. The strike was empowered by cyan energy and wind blades, so it left many cracks in the armor around Coldblade¡¯s abdomen. Thud thud thud¡­ Blood draining away from his face, Coldblade tried to back away and regain himself. However, Xinran was faster than he was. Blood-red cloak flapping behind her back, she pounced toward him and kneed him right beneath the chin, launching his entire person into the air. Before the boss could fall back to the ground, she jumped into the air before stabbing him right in the stomach! Puchi! Black blood spilled out of the wound as the Dragonbone Spear penetrated Coldblade¡¯s body. The incredible force nailed him to a giant rock on the ground as the spear shook and let out occasional draconic roars. Coldblade cut a sorry figure in that moment. Despite still holding onto his Coldblade Sword, the boss lay on the ground motionlessly as if he was dead. ¡­¡­ It was at this time a new army suddenly emerged from the horizon. They were all undead cavalry, and beneath a violet banner was none other than the princess of the newly founded empire, Princess Sophia herself. Riding a skeletal warhorse, the princess slowly made her way forward while accompanied by a battle ready Xue Wei. The Shadow Dancer carried a bloody longbow behind her back and kept one hand on the sword around her waist. Sophia jumped down her horse before running to the edge of the crater Princess Karinshan created. She pulled the heavily injured human princess to her feet before smiling at her. "Are you alright, Your Highness?" Karinshan shook her head. "I¡¯m fine, and thank you for the empire¡¯s timely assistance. If Lord Wind Singer hadn¡¯t shown up in time, I would¡¯ve been killed by Coldblade already." She said that, but she couldn¡¯t help but shoot a worried look at the army behind Sophia. Sophia knew what she was thinking, so she smiled and said, "Don¡¯t worry, Your Highness. The reason I brought several hundred thousand troops is to ensure Lord Wind Singer¡¯s safety. Since the Violet Empire has already been rebuilt, I have no reason to attack any human city. All I wanted was to build a refuge for the undead." Chapter 494: Defeat of Coldblade Coldblade then barked out a sinister laugh before swinging his Coldblade Sword. He shouted, ¡°Spirits of Purgatory, destroy all those who stand in our way!¡± ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Gigantic monsters suddenly teleported in from the spatial bridge. Worse, they were flying-type monsters. A closer look revealed to me that they were two-headed skeletal dragons with some sort of dark energy enveloping their bodies. Although they were much smaller than a giant dragon, their flight speed was amazing, and they shot dragon breath at their targets at short range. They were Level 155 shadow-rank mobs just like the Coldblade Death Knights, except their attack power was way stronger. These creatures might be one of the lousiest types of dragons there were, but that didn¡¯t change the fact that they were still dragons. The swarm of black creatures absolutely had the power to delete us players from the battlefield, especially since no one was expecting Coldblade the Infinite Storm to summon another monster wave. "Withdraw the formation and prepare to defend!" I shouted, "The mobs spit dragon¡¯s breath, so be careful! Stay close to your mates and let the NPCs bear the brunt of the damage! Our focus is on survival and survival only!" The wisdom behind my order was proven almost immediately. We squeezed into one tight formation and let the armies of Floating Ice City move past us to attack the two-headed skeletal dragons, and thanks to that all of us were able to survive unscathed. After all, the NPCs could just respawn again after they died, but we had to spend hours and days to retrain our levels if we died. ¡­¡­ Princess Karinshan¡¯s subordinates carried her back to her banner before she climbed up her mount again. She then pulled out her sword and ordered loudly, "Light cavalry, shoot those monsters! Griffin Legion, send those flying skeletons back to hell! And shamans, do everything you can to heal our Dragon Knights so they may rejoin the battle as soon as possible!" "Yes, Your Highness!" The Griffin Legion and the Undead Skeletal Dragons clashed against one another in no time, filling the air with the sounds of battering weapons and tearing flesh for a time. It was a fierce battle to say the least! Beiming Xue darted across the battlefield nimble while activating Range to increase her attack range by 50% or so. Then, she fired a Multi Arrow at the swarm of Undead Skeletal Dragons in the sky. Amazingly, she was able to hit dozens of Undead Skeletal Dragons before the griffin riders reached them, and after they were killed they turned into a pile of equipment and Magic Stones and fell from the sky. It was a pleasing sight to say the least. When Gui Guzi ran over to pick up the equipment, his features brightened up immediately. "Holy shit, this is a 1-star Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade item! These Undead Skeletal Dragons may as well be bosses¡­" I sucked in a deep breath before exchanging a smile with Lin Yixin. Finally, the system had decided to reward us for surviving until the end. More specifically, they were rewarding us with shadow-rank mobs that could drop Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment or even Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment, something that couldn¡¯t have happened anywhere else! Lin Yixin immediately formed a party made of super experts including Ling Xueshang. Gui Guzi himself remade his party into an all-knight group because the original Fireblade Cavalry was all dead. Even a "fake" knight like Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was added to the party because he could benefit from Gui Guzi¡¯s Famous General Skill, Knight God. I shotcalled the final stand. "Beiming Xue, Ling Xueshang, I want the two of you to draw the Undead Skeletal Dragons to the ground so that the rest of us can gang up on it. Let¡¯s try to maximize our DPS while still keeping everyone safe. We¡¯ll split the loot 4-4-2, meaning 40% to Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and 20% to The Monarch Descends. Is that okay with you?" Ling Xueshang looked a bit embarrassed. "That¡¯s too much. There¡¯s only less than 100 of us left¡­" "It¡¯s fine. That¡¯s settled then!" "Yeah!" Lin Yixin nodded with a smile. The two archers began carrying out the plan after everything was sorted out. First, they drew the Undead Skeletal Dragons to the ground by shooting them. Then I, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Lin Yixin and the others ran up to the mob and pummeled it to a thousand pieces. We might be no match for Coldblade, but Level 155 shadow-rank mobs were a completely different story. Crack! The first Undead Skeletal Dragon was killed by me, and it actually dropped three Phantasmal Magic Stones and two items. The first was a Level 125 2-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade metal armor wristguards, and the second was a pair of Level 125 Purple Gold¨Cgrade leather armor boots. Everyone trusted me, so they let me keep the loot until we could distribute them. Since I had already cleared out my bag twice throughout this war, I had 400 empty inventory slots in total next to my potions. There was plenty of profit to be gained. ¡­¡­ He Yi died earlier, and she sent me a message from real life saying that she was heading out to buy supper for all of us. The war had lasted an entire day, so everyone must be starving out of their minds right now. The reason they couldn¡¯t feel fatigue or hunger yet was because the battle was too intense. Once we successfully defended Sky City and everything was over, I¡¯m sure everyone would feel hungry enough to eat their gaming helmets. We baited and killed Undead Skeletal Dragon every 10 seconds or so, which was pretty good speed all things considered. This was especially true since several Famous Generals were working together to give the mobs a hell of a time. I was still staying in Lin Yixin¡¯s party because the 66% boost to all stats was just too good for me to give up on. I had 22000 HP, and with Bombshell, this number skyrocketed to 36520. To put it into perspective, I had almost as much HP as a mounted Gui Guzi. It was why some riders couldn¡¯t stop themselves from shooting me strange looks. Considering my equipment right now, the balance of the world would literally crumble if I could ride a mount as well. Speaking of which, the amazing drop rate wasn¡¯t the only thing the Undead Skeletal Dragon had. They also gave an astounding amount of experience. Everyone¡ªeven Warsky Alliance¡¯s remnants¡ªwere leveling like crazy. Right now, Laughing At The Heavens, Warsky and Farewell Song were leading their remaining parties and fighting with everything they got! ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang¡­ A couple of explosions resounded throughout the sky as Coldblade launched another attack against Xinran. It was a very close fight. Although Xinran managed to catch him by surprise and injure him greatly, the fact was she couldn¡¯t gain the upper hand over Coldblade in a fair fight. It was because much of Xinran¡¯s power was still sealed away. Still, this only meant that the original Xinran was ridiculously powerful; so powerful that she was able to go in and out of the God Domain safely even though most of her powers were still sealed away. It was chaos above and below Sky City. The war had reached its climax. The intense battle lasted at least an hour until finally, only a small number of Undead Skeletal Dragons were still alive. Most of Floating Ice City¡¯s griffin riders were dead as well. It was absolutely worth it, however. I was now sitting at Level 125 87%, and my bag was completely jam-packed with equipment. Out of the 400 newly-obtained items, even the lousiest of them was a Level 125 Dark Gold¨Cgrade item. There were 87 Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment in total, and 19 of them were of the Outstanding quality. After the loot was distributed, practically every top-tier player in the three guilds was going to climb to new heights of power. No one was expecting these Undead Skeletal Dragons to be this generous with their loot drops. They outdid a large majority of the bosses we had fought until now. Boom! Suddenly, a red figure crashed to the ground and drew everyone¡¯s attention. It was Xinran unable to withstand a strike from Coldblade. The girl was standing amidst a freshly made rubble and looking nowhere as fresh as she was when she first appeared. Thud! Coldblade also descended to the ground. Then, he slowly stepped toward Xinran with his sword at the ready. ¡­¡­ Xinran was clearly about to lose. Coldblade would kill her if we didn¡¯t help her! I immediately shouted to my comrades. "Those who aren¡¯t afraid to die, follow me! Let¡¯s help Xinran take out that fucker!" Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Purple Marquis, and Beiming Xue immediately stepped out after me. Everyone else though simply exchanged helpless looks and stared at our backs. They wanted to help too, but Coldblade was just too strong. Those who lacked the attack power couldn¡¯t even damage the Immortal Rank boss, so there was no point in joining the battle. Swhoosh! I locked onto Coldblade and activated Thunderous Charge. To my surprise, I actually managed to stun him this time! Lin Yixin ran past me and hit Coldblade with Extreme Break. For the next 15 seconds, his Defense would be drastically reduced! I checked my cooldown and noted that God¡¯s Rage had finally refreshed. The War God possessing me and granting me 100% crit chance, I hit the boss with a Burning Blade Slash and a War Crush in succession¡ª 9048! 14562! 19044! 10042! 11028! 10346! ¡­¡­ The continuous attack rocked Coldblade like a leaf. It was to the point where he gave up on pursuing Xinran and turned to me in fury, shouting, "You are courting death, you brat!" Swhoosh! The Coldblade Sword shone with a terrifying red color. Shit! It¡¯s a single target skill! I never had a chance to dodge the attack. Coldblade slashed me twice, and both attacks were critical hits! 34870! 35678! Obviously, there was no player in the entire world who could withstand 70k damage right now. The world spinning before my eyes, I collapsed to my knees and waited for death to claim me. Before I died, I saw Xinran staring at me in shock and muttering, "Big brother¡­" Xinran went absolutely ballistic. She rushed Coldblade and stabbed him in the chest again and again like a madwoman, and because he was still under the effects of Extreme Break she dealt a terrible amount of damage and elicited many howls of pain. Coldblade¡¯s chest looked like a hornet¡¯s nest by the time she was finally spent! But I didn¡¯t die. I slowly rose to my feet again as a column of bloody light pierced through the clouds and enveloped me. It was Immortality activating again and reviving me back to full health! Well, Immortality was Rank 10, so it had a 10% chance of reviving me upon death. Luck boosted the success chance of everything, so it was likely that the success chance to trigger Immortality was really around 30% or so. Hence, it wasn¡¯t surprising that I had triggered Immortality again. ¡­¡­ Coldblade backed away while forcing Gui Guzi and Lin Yixin back with a sword swing. Both of them had less than 40% left, so they didn¡¯t dare to chase after him. Swhoosh! Suddenly, Coldblade raised his sword and cut the storm with an angry swing of his sword. He actually tore a black spatial rift midair and was about to leap back into the purgatory plane. Chapter 495: Inheriting the Throne Coldblade struggled mightily and most of his body had already entered the spatial rift. However, Xinran was holding onto one of his legs and she didn¡¯t look like she had any intentions of letting go. As he roared in helpless rage, Coldblade shook the leg that she had caught vigorously. He actually managed to struggle his way out of his leg armor as he attempted to shake free of Xinran¡¯s grasp! He was willing to do anything to break free and make his escape! However, he didn¡¯t expect Xinran would be fast enough to react to this! She raised up the Dragonbone Spear high in the air before she savagely thrust it down towards his leg. Puchi! The Dragonbone Spear buried itself in Coldblade¡¯s thigh and violently skewered it. The spear had been thrust with such force that its blade sank deep into the stone floor below. My jaw dropped to the floor. I had never expected to see one of Purgatory Sovereigns nailed to the ground like a helpless insect. Coldblade let out a howl of pain but his HP still hadn¡¯t dropped below the halfway mark. It was clear that it would take far more than this injury to kill him. ¡°You goddamned Wind Singer, you will receive the judgement of Purgatory! Just wait for it!¡± Coldblade¡¯s sharp sword whistled through the air and he cut off his own left leg with a sharp ¡°crack¡±! Black blood geysered out of his wound but that leg fell outside the spatial crack that Coldblade had entered! ¡­¡­ Wooosh! As a soft ringing sound filled the air, Coldblade managed to enter the spatial rift. He had returned to the plane of purgatory. Xinran stared mutely at Coldblade¡¯s severed leg before she gave a helpless sigh. ¡°The power of Purgatory is growing stronger and stronger and the power of its minions are rising as well¡­ It seems as if¡­ the power of the eight Sovereigns are growing stronger and stronger. Ah, what do we do now¡­¡± I stopped right behind Xinran before I asked, ¡°Xinran, do you know this Coldblade?¡± Xinran turned around and giggled. ¡°Big brother, Coldblade does appear within the fragments of my memory. It seemed like I was very familiar with him in the past. However, I simply can¡¯t remember who I used to be¡­¡± ¡°So that¡¯s the case huh¡­¡± At this moment, Karinshan, Sophia, Xuewei, Stark and the other NPCs had caught up with us. Karinshan gave Xinran a respectful bow as she said, ¡°On behalf of every living creature on this continent, I sincerely thank Lady Windsinger for her timely help. If you hadn¡¯t intervened when you had, I¡¯m afraid that Sky City was doomed to fall into Coldblade¡¯s hands. It would have become an iron bastion of the Night Creatures, a launching point for their future invasion of the continent. Once that happened, the entire Silver Moon Alliance would have been in mortal peril!¡± ¡°Understood!¡± Xinran wrested the Dragonbone Spear free from the ground before she looked at me. After that, she suddenly walked up to me and grabbed my hand. She smiled and said, ¡°Big brother! Rinser, the teacher that I found for you. He isn¡¯t bad, is he?¡± I nodded my head. ¡°Yeah, he passes.¡± ¡°Then¡­ then I¡¯ll be leaving first? I still need to continue cultivating¡­¡± My lips puckered up into a playful pout before I said, ¡°Xinran still isn¡¯t willing to stay with me? Ah, to think that you used to always stick to me back in the day¡­¡± Xinran¡¯s sweet laughter tinkled in the air like a silvery bell. ¡°Ah, that¡­ Big Brother, the moment I am strong enough, I will stick to you like glue. It¡¯s just that Xinran still isn¡¯t powerful enough to protect big brother. So, I need to find strong divine power within these cursed divine weapons I found in the God Domain. Once I find this divine power, I can use it to draw the power that has been sealed within these weapons. It¡­ shouldn¡¯t take too long¡­¡± ¡°Alright, then you should go and do what needs to be done. I¡¯m going to go destroy the Purgatory Dragon Scepter with everyone else.¡± ¡°Goodbye, big brother!¡± After that, Xinran suddenly leaped into the air, her dainty figure disappearing into the sky in the blink of an eye. Now that we had defeated Coldblade, her job here was done. She was going to leave the rest of the clean-up to Karinshan. ¡­¡­ The curtain of light that hung in the sky was slowly disappearing. Now that Coldblade had left, the Purgatory Dragon Scepter no longer had anything powering it. However, Undead Skeletal Dragons still continued to pour out from the spatial bridge. Sophia gripped the handle of her sword as she spoke to Karinshan, ¡°Your Majesty, I¡¯ll leave the rest to you. I hope that Sky City will be steadfast friends with the Violet Empire for all the years to come. Let¡¯s push back the legions of Purgatory together!¡± Karinshan gave a heavy nod of her head before she smiled and said, ¡°Believe me, we will!¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Sophia left together with Xue Wei and the Violet Empire¡¯s undead cavalry followed after them. The army of Floating Ice City merged together with the remaining regiments of Sky City as they took over the reins of this super city. ¡­¡­ Clang! Karinshan drew her sharp blade and pointed it towards the city that was floating in the sky. She roared, ¡°Brave warriors of humanity, it is time to take back our country and exterminate the devils from Purgatory! For the Silver Moon Alliance! Charge!¡± Hooves thundered up a storm of dust as the Black Cavalry, which stretched as far as the eye could see, charged straight towards Sky City. The players wouldn¡¯t allow themselves to lag behind either! This was a great chance to earn more points! I hefted the Heaven-stealing Sword before I turned around and grinned at my comrades. ¡°Let¡¯s go! We should try our best to become the heroes who take down the wicked monarch of Sky City, there¡¯ll definitely be a generous points reward for killing him!¡± ¡°Okay, charge!¡± Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, and High Fighting Spirits let out roars of laughter as our entire party charged up the floating steps that led to Sky City. Lin Yixin was also rushing towards the city with a band of Snowy Cathaya players at her back. There weren¡¯t more than ten thousand players left in this event, but all of us were charging towards Sky City with zero hesitation. As the last survivors, there were still a lot of things that we could do. When we reached the stone bridge that connected the floating stairway to Sky City¡¯s eastern gate, we saw that the names of the NPCs who guarded the bridge had turned red. These were troops loyal to that wicked king, so there were our enemies now. ¡°Kill them!¡± A Thousand Ice Slash exploded out of the Heaven-Stealing Sword and crashed into the group of NPCs. I followed that up with a Burning Blade Slash which decimated most of them. These elite NPCs were far weaker than the shadow-rank monsters that we normally fought in the wilds, so it was much easier to kill them. As a result, we barely felt any resistance as we plowed through the enemy NPCs. As I stepped over their bodies, the players from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, and The Monarch Descends followed after me. There weren¡¯t more than a thousand of us, but every single player present here was the creme de la creme. They were skilled and savvy veterans who had survived hundreds of battles. The five Dragon Knights of Floating Ice City soared into the air. They had taken control of the skies and they used this absolute advantage to rain down sword energy and dragonbreath on the soldiers of Sky City. Blasts of flame and iceflame fell on top of the enemy legions¡¯ heads, either burning them to a crisp or turning them into ice statues which would shatter at the slightest touch. Karinshan galloped into the city, her sword pointed straight at the palace. She yelled, ¡°Tia! I want you to take the rest of the Dragon Knights and destroy that Purgatory Dragon Scepter! It¡¯s time to dismantle that spatial bridge!¡± ¡°Yes, Your Majesty!¡± The five Dragon Knights sped off. I took the chance to yell towards the players behind me, ¡°Let¡¯s rush straight towards the palace as well! The Dragon Knights will open a path for us, so let¡¯s seize this opportunity to kill that wicked king!¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s laughter pealed like silvery bells behind me as she added me and a few other stalwarts of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls into her party. Gui Guzi charged to the forefront on the back of his Armored Swordback Dragon as he sprinted forward. We arrived at the gates of the palace like a raging storm and we saw the five Dragon Knights rampaging across the altar in the distance. The Purgatory Dragon Scepter instantly shattered and the spatial bridge that was hovering above our heads instantly disappeared. We had finally severed the connection between the mortal realm and the plane of Purgatory. Now that the Purgatory Dragon Scepter had been destroyed, not even Coldblade, were he still around, would be able to summon his legions of hell. ¡­¡­ A group of players noisily charged into the palace and killed nearly a thousand imperial guardsmen. The wicked king, who remained seated on his throne, finally came into view as we approached the grand palace hall. When I recalled the corrupt, ignorant and self-serving behavior of this king and his rotten council of elders, my heart burned with rage. Their blatant unconcern for the survival of the human race was simply unforgivable! I rushed up towards the staircase leading to the throne as I yelled, ¡°Everyone, follow me!¡± The wicked king recognised me and he could not help but yell, ¡°So, it was you, you rebellious adventurer! Damn you! Harken to my command, my servants! Kill this rebel! I want to see his head separated from his shoulders! Adventurer, I will use your heart to make good wine!¡± ¡°You can use your sister for that instead!¡± I grinned as I locked onto the wicked king and activated Thunderous Charge! Woosh! I smashed into the wicked king, and I also managed to successfully stun him. This was my second encounter with him, but I was Level 125 this time and I had just obtained the 6-star Outstanding Earth-grade item, the Soul Suppressing Cloak. So my power had grown by leaps and bounds since the last time we clashed! I followed up my charge with a Burning Blade Slash. The three crescent blades of fiery sword energy slammed into the king¡¯s body with successive thuds, causing him to lose a large amount of health! The traitorous generals around us instantly surrounded me as they charged forward with their blades bared. I chuckled as I started to circle around Sky City¡¯s king. I continued to lash out at him with my sword while I activated War Crush. This instantly shoved the generals backwards and a few of them had even lost 20% of their HP. In the end, every single one of the generals who had been willing to follow this fatuous king and betray humanity were craven scum. The true heroes amongst Sky City¡¯s armies had decisively left the king¡¯s commands, just like Jacelyn had done. All of these ¡°traitors¡± were fierce warriors who were more than willing to spill their blood on the sand. Woosh! A beam of sword energy wreathed in both cold energy and flames engulfed me, the boss, and all of the NPCs around us. Lin Yixin had finally taken action! After that, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, and the rest of our party joined the battle. Even Beiming Xue, who was still quite far away from us, started to wildly shoot at the enemies around me as she used Multi Arrow. We only had one objective in this place! We would kill this fatuous king and all of his rotten elders! Justice would be delivered today! ¡­¡­ Whoosh! Whooosh! Holy light continued to blossom around me and my HP and all of my defenses had skyrocketed thanks to the effects of Bombshell. So it might not even be out of the question for me to duel this wicked king by myself! So it was only natural for his HP to fall rapidly as he was assaulted by players like Lin Yixin and Li Chengfeng as well. A group of us just wailed on him relentlessly as we completely surrounded him, and he wasn¡¯t long for this world. As for the elders? They were in an even more miserable situation. Players had already started hacking away at them, and all of them soon lay in pools of their own blood as they wailed, ¡°Our king is about to fall¡­¡± As the king¡¯s HP rapidly dwindled to nothing, Gui Guzi thrust Rainbow forward, carving out two more holes in his body. I immediately followed up with a Burning Blade Slash which deleted the last bit of his HP! Whooosh! Golden light erupted around me as I reached Level 126. Alright, we¡¯ve finally brought this event to a close! However, this rotten king didn¡¯t drop any rewards even after we killed him. In fact, he didn¡¯t even drop any of his equipment. He merely dropped a few rather valuable stones. It looks like he was the sort of fellow who collected jewels over divine weapons. He really was rotten to the core! ¡­¡­ ¡°Mmmn, we¡¯ve finally reached the final part of the mission, so it should be about time for the system to reward the top one hundred players on the leaderboard, right?¡± Lin Yixin said with an ecstatic smile on her face. I nodded my head. ¡°It¡¯ll be soon.¡± It was at this precise moment that Karinshan entered the grand hall at the head of all of her generals. She shot a smile at me as she said, ¡°Courageous adventurers, all of you are truly the pride and glory of Sky City!¡± I stepped aside and cleared the path to the throne as I said, ¡°Princess Karinshan, it is time for you to inherit the throne¡­¡± Chapter 496: Necklace of Fleeting Shadows Everything had finally come to a close! Everyone had worked hard for more than ten hours, but it was all worth it. We had made a victorious return to our home city and the points we earned were exchanged for experience! Furthermore, the players who were ranked high on the leaderboard would receive far more rewards than just experience! Ding~! System Announcement: We congratulate all players for achieving victory during the Coldblade War event! With 714780 points, Player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± obtained the most points during this event, thus becoming the MVP of the Coldblade War! Rewards: Level +3, Luck +3, and reward item ¡°Necklace of Fleeting Shadows¡± (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï). With 574900 points, Player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡± took second place in this event. Rewards: Level +2, Luck +2, and reward item ¡°Bracers of the Knight¡¯s Glory¡± (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï)! WIth 520930 points, Player ¡°From Water¡± took third place in this event. Rewards: Level +2, Luck +2, and reward item ¡°The Molten One¡¯s Helmet¡± (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï)! With 520220 points, Player ¡°Beiming Xue¡± took fourth place in this event. Rewards: Level +2, Luck +1, and reward item ¡°Cloak of Agility¡± (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï)! With 489020 points, Player ¡°Legendary Brave¡± took fifth place in this event. Rewards: Level +1, Luck +1, and reward item ¡°Magma Shield¡± (Purple Gold-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)! ¡­¡­ The air reverberated with the ringing of the system announcement notice as the rewards for the top hundred players were announced and distributed. The rewards given to the top five players were exceptionally generous, and I felt even luckier than the other four. To think that I¡¯d actually been given a 4-star Outstanding Earth-grade necklace! This was only the second Earth-grade item in the entire China server! I hurriedly opened up my inventory and retrieved a necklace that was flowing with brilliant light. The golden pendant on the necklace was shaped like an arrow and it looked exquisitely-made. After I reached out to touch the pendant, I felt a vigorous power surge into my body. This was definitely a top-notch necklace! One of the best in the server! I could no longer contain my excitement. I waved a hand over the Necklace of Fleeting Shadows and its stats flew up before my eyes. Necklace of Fleeting Shadows (Earth-grade, Outstanding ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Agility: +150 Stamina: +145 Tactics: +30 Passive: Increases user¡¯s long-range physical attack power by 30% Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 3000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Volley damage by 50% Slots: 4 Level Requirement: 125 ¡­¡­ My mind instantly went blank. I didn¡¯t quite know what to say as I stared dumbly at the necklace. The system had actually given me a necklace that was tailor-made for archers! Without even mentioning the 30% boost in attack power, this necklace actually increased its user¡¯s max HP by 3000. This was absolutely the best stat an archer could get on an item. After all, Archer was a low-HP class in the first place, and their choices were limited when melee players started chasing after them. Their first option was to use skills like Freezing Arrow and Leap to kite these players. Their second was to try to use a combo of Shock Arrow + Volley to kill them off. However, the moment those players got within melee range, the archer would die nine out of ten times. So this extra 3000 HP was very important to any archer, it was like getting another life in a game like Mario. This was because most melee players didn¡¯t have an Attack as ridiculous as mine. Most of them wouldn¡¯t be dealing more than 5000 damage to archers with their basic attacks. In fact, most melee players could only deal around 2000 odd damage to an archer at this stage of the game. The average fighter would need to hit the archer around four or five times, while an average archer would need a little over ten arrows to kill them. Neither party had a distinct advantage over the other. Furthermore, this Necklace of Fleeting Shadows even boosted Volley¡¯s effects by 50%. This was an even stronger passive as it would help with both grinding mobs and PvP. Then there was its Outstanding Property, Fleeting Shadow Strike. For two minutes, it would allow an archer to burn their cosmos and increase both their rate of fire and the strength of their attacks. Even a fighter wearing heavy armor would wilt under the furious attacks of the archer who possessed the Necklace of Fleeting Shadows. Lin Yixin walked over and asked, ¡°Lu Chen, what stats does that Earth-grade necklace have?¡± I shared the stats to her, causing the little beauty¡¯s eyes to light up in admiration. After that, she waved a hand towards the distant Beiming Xue and said, ¡°Little Xue, come here. Your big brother has something to say to you¡­¡± ¡°Bloody hell¡­¡± My lips twisted when I saw Lin Yixin call Beiming Xue over. This little rascal¡¯s mind was simply too quick, she connected the dots far too easily. She was well aware that I wouldn¡¯t be willing to give such a strong necklace to anyone who wasn¡¯t close to me, and there wasn¡¯t any archer who was as close to me and strong as Beiming Xue, so she was really my only pick. Lin Yixin knew me all too well, so she immediately waved Beiming Xue over once she saw those stats. So when Beiming Xue arrived, I still didn¡¯t really know what to say. I simply passed her the Necklace of Fleeting Shadows and said brusquely, ¡°Hey, this belongs to you from now on. Beiming Xue needs to work hard and level up. You need to rush to Level 150 as soon as possible!¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes froze the moment she glanced at the Necklace of Fleeting Shadows. She dove into my chest the very next instant, her hand still gripping the necklace. After that, she rose onto her tiptoes and gave me a soft kiss on the cheek, a kiss that felt incredibly soft and moist. Beiming Xue flew out of my arms and wore the Necklace of Fleeting Shadows. She had reached Level 125 after this event. Meanwhile, Lin Yixin was staring straight into my eyes. She simply stood there, staring at me silently, before she giggled and said, ¡°Ah, you really do have a lot of girls hanging around you¡­¡± I replied, ¡°This isn¡¯t my fault¡­¡± ¡°Did I say it was your fault?¡± Lin Yixin said as she stuck out her tongue at me. After that, she laughed and said, ¡°Fine, fine. I¡¯ll just chalk this up to your good luck. To think that you have three great beauties in Sister He Yi, Sister Mingyue, and Beiming Xue living together with you. Hmmmmpph, I¡¯m afraid that most trust fund babies couldn¡¯t even get to enjoy this sort of luxury even if they spent hundreds of millions of dollars. You should treasure these moments well¡­¡± I laughed and said, ¡°Yiyi, do you also want to move over and stay with me?¡± ¡°What?¡± Lin Yixin had been caught off guard by my reply. Her face immediately went red as she growled at me, ¡°Tsk! I won¡¯t be a lamb delivering myself up to the butcher¡¯s knife! Hmmmmph! You already have three! Isn¡¯t that enough?¡± ¡°No¡­ Nothing! Oh right! You got those Bracers of the Knight¡¯s Glory! What are its stats?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a 3-star Outstanding Spirit-grade item, so its stats are pretty damn good. I¡¯m keeping it for myself~.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ I looked at the time and said, ¡°Tell the beautiful Xueshang to come over to Dark Moon City. Let¡¯s divide the spoils of war between our guilds. After that, I¡¯m heading off to hand in my fifth promotion mission.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I opened up the guild¡¯s administration panel before teleporting back to Dark Moon City. Wooosh! I stepped out of the teleportation and rushed towards the guild warehouse. Lin Yixin and Ling Xueshang arrived a little after me and they smiled sweetly as we started to split the equipment. We divided them amongst ourselves in a 4:4:2 split, with Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls taking the lion¡¯s share of the items. In fact, Ling Xueshang was very generous while we were splitting items and she didn¡¯t even blink when she saw Outstanding Purple Gold-grade or Dark Gold-grade items. Instead, she even allowed us to take the better Outstanding items, causing me to look at her with renewed admiration. Anyone who could enter the CGL Hall of Fame really did deserve their place in the hall. A ally like Ling Xueshang, who was both principled and generous, was a priceless treasure. It was late into the night by the time we had finished splitting the equipment. Lin Yixin and Ling Xueshang went to start their fifth class promotion missions. After all, everyone who had survived into the latter stages of the Coldblade War had seen their levels rise dramatically. I estimated that there were at least one hundred people doing their fifth class promotion missions right now. People like Li Chengfeng, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, and Murong Mingyue had already started on their missions after the event ended! However, the one who was destined to be the first person to complete their fifth class promotion mission was me! After all, mine was already done. At this time, I heard a beep. He Yi had come online. Now that the battle was over, the players who had died could revive in the main city again. ¡°Eve, you¡¯ve come online?¡± I sent her a message. ¡°Mhm.¡± Eve replied with a smiley-face emoticon. After that, she sent me another message: ¡°I came online to receive my fifth class promotion mission and to check if it¡¯s going to be too difficult. Also, I want you to come offline immediately after you¡¯ve finished handing in your fifth class promotion mission, Lu Chen! I bought one kg of pizza back and I even ordered some Sichuan dishes as well! All of the dishes have come already and they¡¯re piping hot! Everyone is to come offline in twenty minutes and eat supper. Don¡¯t starve yourself to death!¡± ¡°Okay, I gotcha!¡± ¡­¡­ My mission was simple enough to complete. I leisurely took out a return scroll that would teleport me to Sky City. The map of the main city was about to close soon, and it would only open twenty-four hours later. So, most people would be unable to even get their fifth class promotion mission before Sky City closed. Therefore, no one would be able to rob me of the privilege of being the first player to complete their fifth class promotion mission. When I stepped out of the teleportation array, I noticed that the people in charge were NPCs from Floating Ice City. Once the server was patched, Karinshan would be the new ruler of Sky City, and she would also become the ruler of the tier 2 cities nearest to Sky City. This was because Sky City was one of the three big cities, so anyone who ruled it was the king of an empire. Karinshan hadn¡¯t been crowned king yet, and she still wore her original coat of arms, the crest of the Chinese Redbud royal family. She was still a princess of this royal family, but she now possessed even greater authority than ever before. From now on, Princess Karinshan would be the reigning authority over Floating Ice City, Samgharama City, and Thunder City, and she would rule from the heart of her empire, Sky City. Her royal and military might had reached a whole new level. Woosh! I teleported myself back to where Rinser was. I arrived in front of him before I crowed in an excited voice, ¡°Teacher, I have completed your mission! I found Mylin and I helped Mylin and Karinshan wrest control of Sky City from that rotten king! The Sky Nation is about to enter a new age!¡± ¡°Well done, Kiddo!¡± Rinser licked his lips before he grinned. It was a most sinister and terrifying grin. He said, ¡°You really didn¡¯t let me down. In fact, you absorbed a large amount of undead sparks during that battle against Coldblade! Kekeke, you are very likely to become the first undead to become an Asura King in nearly a century! Keep working hard! Obtain the power that we undead need to ensure the survival of our race!¡± I replied, ¡°Teacher, my mission¡­¡± ¡°Ohohoho, I nearly forgot!¡± Rinser smacked his bald head before letting out a roar of laughter. After that, he walked up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. He said, ¡°Come! You have already proven your valor, so these are the rewards that you deserve!¡± ¡­¡­ Ding~! System Notice: You have completed your fifth class promotion and have successfully been promoted to ¡®Platinum Swordsman¡¯. As the first player to complete their fifth class promotion mission, you have been rewarded with Luck +2! ¡­¡­ After I heard that system notice, another system announcement was made to announce that I was the first fifth promotion player in the server. However, the rewards were a little disappointing this time. I had only gotten 2 points of Luck, but after thinking about it for a while, I realised that it actually wasn¡¯t too bad. After all, Luck was a stat that was hard to come by. With the addition of the MVP prize, I had gained 5 points of Luck altogether and my Luck was now 33, a number that was terrifyingly high! Chapter 497: God Binding Ar Rinser¡¯s blood-red eyes widened as his beard bristled in the air. He growled, "As if I¡¯d have something so good, you punk! After the Dragon Speaker severed the connection between this plane and the plane of Purgatory, most spatial magics became very restricted. As a result, even those of us who can communicate with the undead in Purgatory are unable to summon large numbers of them to this world. So you should wipe away that drool from the corner of your mouth and give up on this foolish notion of yours. I am going to impart another kind of magic to you." "Oh? Magic?" I received yet another pleasant surprise. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh as I said, "I can now simply learn magic without having to combine it with one of my skills?" "Hrmmm? Yes!" Rinser nodded his head He continued, "That¡¯s right. In fact, it can¡¯t be merged with a skill. Because this is a magic art that is on the Level of a forbidden spell! But you¡¯ve grown strong enough to learn it!" Wild joy danced in my heart. As expected, I was really going to learn spells that went beyond the usual bounds of my class once I had completed my fifth promotion! This is great! Was I going to become a grand mage? Whoosh! Light flashed in front of me as Rinser waved his hand. The Learn Skill interface appeared in front of me and to my surprise, I saw a reddish-orange skill button on it. I quickly read the skill description and it nearly caused my eyes to pop out of my head. Icy Cyclone Domain: By unleashing the power of ice and snow, creates an ice cyclone in a 20x20 yard area. The movement speed and attack speed of every enemy target within the domain will fall greatly. Furthermore, icicles may appear at random and attack a target inside the domain. Costs 200 MP, lasts for 60 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds. Cost: 50000 Reputation and 100000 Gold. ¡­¡­ Hot damn! This really did live up to its name as a forbidden spell. I even had to pay one hundred thousand RMB and fifty thousand Reputation to learn it. Most players probably didn¡¯t even have the resources to learn this super OP-skill. Thus, spending one hundred thousand RMB on a skill like this was actually really worth it. It would help me clear entire areas of mobs at a time. In fact, it was even ridiculously overpowered when it came to killing bosses! I stretched out a hand and tapped the air, causing the Ice Cyclone Domain skill to appear in my skill window. This also caused me to lose fifty thousand Reputation and one hundred thousand Gold. Ah, that hurt! I immediately locked onto a faraway target and activated my new skill. I raised my hand in the air and the energy of the domain immediately surged up from it. In the next instant, the area I had selected was turned into an azure land of snow and ice. The Snow Rabbits that were hopping in the area started hopping a lot more slowly. After that, icicles shot out of the swirling snow in the air and struck a Snow Rabbit. Thud! Thud! Thud! A string of damage numbers proceeded to fly above its head. 9048! 9038! 9274! ¡­¡­ This was great! I didn¡¯t even need to lift a finger to deal damage anymore! It seemed like those icicles would attack an enemy once every three seconds and this Level 132 shadow-ranked mob could barely withstand the assault of my Icy Cyclone Domain. From now on, this Icy Cyclone Domain would definitely be my trump card when it came to clearing mobs! Its effects were far too absurd. It was at this precise moment that Rinser gave me a nod and said, "I actually don¡¯t have anything else left to teach you for now. However, the Lady Windsinger actually paid me a visit this morning¡­" "Oh? Xinran came as well?" I gasped in shock. It was Rinser¡¯s turn to gasp in shock. "How impudent! That is the Lady Windsinger! How dare you address her by her name¡­" My lips twisted before I replied, "But she¡¯s my sister!" Rinser, "..." An awkward silence lasted until Rinser finally strode forward and said, "The Lady Windsinger paid me a visit and spoke about you. She thinks that you will become an extremely great warrior in the future, someone who will be able to create a whole new world for us undead to live in. So, she left this combat art for me and asked me to pass it to you." "A combat art?" "Yes!" Rinser nodded his head. After that, he spread out his hands, causing a skill book glowing with a golden radiance to appear out of thin air and float above them. It was sparkling with a brilliant light and anyone would be able to tell that this was no ordinary skill book. I took the skill book and read its description, causing shock to ripple across my face. God Binding Art: Summon four peerless divine weapons to bind your selected target. This target will not be able to move or attack for fifteen seconds. 30 second cooldown. Please note that the God Binding Art¡¯s effect will vanish if your target enters a state of invincibility. This skill has double the effect against God-type and Devil-type bosses. Costs 100 MP. Cost: 20000 Reputation. ¡­¡­ My eyes widened into saucers. I had to read the skill description again before I could finally process what I was seeing. This really was a skill that could bind gods! It was a godly skill that could restrict an opponent¡¯s actions and even though it only lasted 15 seconds, that was more than enough time for me to finish them off! This was especially true in PvP, and this God Binding Art had become my absolute trump card in any future fights against players. Unless the other player had an invincibility skill, killing them would be like shooting ducks in a barrel. Whoosh! The skill book disappeared from my hands and God Binding Art appeared in my skill window. Ah, just looking at the skill icon sent shivers down my spine. Even though this skill didn¡¯t cause any damage, this binding effect was extremely valuable. Now that I had these two powerful fifth promotion skills, it was easier than ever for me to solo a boss! I spied a Snow Rabbit happily hopping around in the distance! It was time to test my new skill out! I locked onto the Snow Rabbit and quickly activated God Binding Art. A bloody light immediately erupted from my body with a loud and resonant "humming" sound. The halo of the War God flickered beneath my feet and four magnificent and imposing divine weapons shot down from the sky. They landed around the Snow Rabbit with loud thumps before a binding formation appeared between them. This binding formation rendered the Snow Rabbit completely immobile. I brandished my Heaven-stealing Sword and shot several Dragon Slaying Slashes at the poor rabbit. The Level 132 Snow Rabbit immediately died, its body slumping to the ground. It was obvious that this Snow Rabbit was far too weak to face a Level 129 fifth promotion player like me. So they weren¡¯t a good gauge of how strong my new skills were. ¡­¡­ I spoke to Rinser once more and opened the Learn Skill interface. To my delight, I discovered that there was one more skill I could learn. Perceive Weakness: Perceives target''s weakness, causing the next attack to ignore 50% of the target''s Defense and Magic Shield. Level Requirement: 120 Cost: 2000 Reputation Hmmm, a magic spell that seemed to be more general and useful. However, wasting a skill cooldown to use Perceive Weakness seemed to be quite a waste. After all, Pardon was more powerful than this skill. Simply learning this skill alone seemed to be quite a waste, so I decided to merge it with another skill! I examined the attack skills that I had. Hmmm, since Desperate Gambit was the most powerful of my single-target skills, I would choose to merge Perceive Weakness with this. Let¡¯s hope that I get a good single-target attack skill out of this! Choose and confirm! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your skill "Desperate Gambit" has successfully fused with "Perceive Weakness." You have gained a new skill ¡ª "Universe Break"! Universe Break X: Increases attack power by 110%, ignores 90% of target¡¯s Defense and 80% of target¡¯s Magic Shield¡¯s tenacity. Wounds the target with the power of the Universe and inflicts them with a curse, lowering their attack power by 10%. ¡­¡­ Hot damn! I actually got a Rank 10 skill right off the bat. This Universe Break was utterly ridiculous! It not only dealt 110% of my attack in damage, it also ignored 90% of the target¡¯s Defence and 80% of the target¡¯s Magic Shield tenacity. This skill basically wrecked the defenses of any target. After taking into account my attack power and the boost given to me by Martial God, it was unlikely that there were many Heavenblessed players in the world who could survive a Pardon +Universe Break combo from me! My heart was screaming with joy! I tried to talk to my trainer again, but Rinser didn¡¯t give me anything this time. However, even learning Icy Cyclone Domain would have been awesome for most fifth class players! Normal players might not even have the chance to learn such skills, and even if they could learn it, the extreme Requirements to learn it would instagib 99.9% of the players in the game! My mood was extremely good. To think that such a marvellous opportunity fell into my lap. Now that I had finished my fifth class promotion, I gained three skills which could be called trump cards! Icy Cyclone Domain, God Binding Art, and Universe Break. From now on, my main AoE skills would be Thousand Ice Slash, War Crush, and Icy Cyclone Domain. I also had an incredible single-target damage skill in Universe Break and a restriction-type skill in God Binding Art. I could even say that I now had a perfect array of skills for every occasion. Ah, I really wanted to find a place to grind levels! My grinding speed would simply be ridiculous now! Unfortunately for me, my spirit was willing but my flesh was weak. My disappointing stomach squealed for food and it might actually be dangerous if I didn¡¯t go offline soon! ¡­¡­ It was at this exact moment that I heard a beep! Lin Yixin had sent me a message: "Hi, my beloved Little Cheat¡­" I smiled before replying: "Hi, my beloved beauty, what¡¯s up?" "Freaking hell¡­" Lin Yixin sent me an angry emoticon before replying: "The server is going to close in ten minutes. I need you to quickly come to where the Wanderer trainer is in Sky City. I need your help!" "Oh! I¡¯ll be there in a jiffy!" I returned to the city and ran toward where the trainers were. In the distance, I could see the NPC class trainers banter with each other as they stood around the yard. I soon spied Lin Yixin, who was quietly standing next to her Wanderer trainer like an obedient little girl. ¡®What¡¯s up, Yiyi?" I smiled at her as I quickly closed the distance. Lin Yixin asked, "Lu Chen, how much Strength do you have?" I quickly checked my stats before replying, "1557. Why?" "Ai¡­" Lin Yixin let out a long sigh before she pointed at her class trainer and said, "He has a Level 120 trump card skill to teach me, but I need 1400 points of Strength to learn it. I only have 1389 points of Strength right now, so I just need a little bit more to hit the stat Requirement! Can I borrow one of your items? I¡¯ll return it to you after I learn it¡­" "Oh, what skill is this?" I was intrigued by Lin Yixin¡¯s words. This was the first time I had ever heard a skill requiring a minimum amount of Strength to learn. Ah, this would really trouble many of the low-Strength players in the game. This was especially true at this current stage of the game. I mean 1400 points of Strength! If even Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t meet those Requirements, then the rest of the playerbase would only be able to weep when they tried to learn this skill. Lin Yixin interacted with the Wanderer trainer once more and very soon, she sent me a message which contained the skill¡¯s description. Barrier Break X: Increases attack power by 80%, ignores 70% of target¡¯s defense and 60% of target¡¯s Magic Shield¡¯s tenacity. Need to be Level 120 and have completed fifth class promotion to learn. Stat Requirement: 1400 Strength. Class Requirement: Wanderer, Magic Knight, Warrior. Chapter 498: Barrier Break My eyes widened in slight shock. I never imagined that the Level 120 fighter classes would be able to learn such a good skill. As an Undead Swordsman, my class was absolutely a subclass of Warrior. However, it was too bad that my class trainer was Rinser, a holy magus. Because of that, I wasn¡¯t given an opportunity to learn Barrier Break. Fortunately for me, combining Desperate Gambit and Perceive Weakness gave me Universe Break. so I guess you could say that I got a lucky break. Universe Break had nearly the same effects as Barrier Break, but it was superior in every category. It did more damage, ignored more of an opponent¡¯s defenses, and even used the power of the universe to lower my opponent¡¯s attack by 10%! It was highly effective in both PvP and killing bosses! I took off my Soul Suppressing Cloak without the slightest bit of hesitation. It was the only piece of Earth-grade equipment I was wearing and it added 145 Strength, so it was definitely enough to push Lin Yixin¡¯s Strength to 1400 points. ¡°Here, wear it and learn the skill before returning it to me¡­¡± I said with a faint smile. ¡°Mmm!¡± Lin Yixin quickly wore the cloak. But after that, she was starstruck by the increase in her stats and she smiled at me sweetly. ¡°Little Cheat, can I please keep it¡­¡± ¡°You dare¡­¡± ¡°Fine, fine. I¡¯ll be done soon...¡± Brilliant light soon engulfed Lin Yixin¡¯s body. It was clear that she had successfully learned the Barrier Break skill. Now that she had this skill, Lin Yixin¡¯s ability to penetrate her target¡¯s Defense was extremely high. It didn¡¯t matter if she went up against high-Defense players in heavy armor like Gui Guzi or I, she would still have no problem cutting through our Defense like a hot knife through butter. After Lin Yixin returned the Soul Suppressing Cloak to me, she smiled sweetly and said, ¡°Thanks! I think that there was no one else besides you who could help me learn Barrier Break¡­¡± I laughed. ¡°Haha, it¡¯s fine. You managed to learn it. The server¡¯s going to close soon, so you should get some rest. We¡¯ve been killing monsters for so many hours, you must be tired out of your mind.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Lin Yixin nodded her head as she stared at me with those beautiful eyes that sparkled like amethysts. She seemed to want to say something else to me. ¡°What? What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ Can you thank Sister He Yi for me? She died to save my life. Also¡­ are you free in the afternoon tomorrow? I¡­ I¡¯ll treat all of you to a meal?¡± ¡°Tomorrow afternoon?¡± I licked my lips before replying, ¡°Let¡¯s do it on another day. We¡¯re busy tomorrow, and we won¡¯t even be in Suzhou¡­¡± ¡°Oh? Where are you going?¡± ¡°I¡¯m taking a trip home to visit my dad. He Yi, Mingyue, and Beiming Xue want to enjoy the scenic countryside as well, so the entire Frost Cloud Workshop¡¯s going along with me.¡± ¡°Okay, let¡¯s have a meal when I come back.¡± ¡°Okay! Have fun on your trip!¡± We bade each other goodbye. Just after we turned to walk away, the server shutdown timer appeared in our HUD. After experiencing a series of fierce battles, Sky City had been reduced to a bunch of ruins and the city itself was strewn with corpses, so the server needed to refresh Sky City and transfer the authority of Sky City to Karinshan. All of these things needed time to patch in. The entire Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild chat broke out into an uproar. Li Chengfeng: ¡°Fucking hell, I was this close to completing my fifth class promotion quest. Ah, this system really didn¡¯t give me any face this time¡­¡± Beiming Xue: ¡°I also nearly completed my promotion quest. Boohoo¡­¡± He Yi: ¡°I barely even got started. I just received an A Rank quest, and it¡¯ll take me at least three hours to kill all of these monsters.¡± Xu Yang: ¡°I didn¡¯t even hit Level 120 because I died early. Please stop tormenting me¡­¡± Everyone broke out into laughter at that. We logged out together as the system slowly ticked down to zero. ¡­¡­ After I took off my helmet, I sucked in a deep breath of cool midnight air. I had been online for more than ten hours, so my body had about reached its limits. Moreover, my stomach was growling incessantly and I was feeling extremely dehydrated. This actually felt a bit unpleasant. My body actually swayed a little as I stood up so I quickly grabbed the bottle of mineral water on my table and chugged it down. As water coursed down my parched throat, I felt strength returning to my body. As I thought of everything that had happened during the Coldblade War, I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. Tsk tsk, it could definitely be said that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, and The Monarch Descends had reaped the most benefits during this event since we¡¯d managed to hold on until the very end. When Coldblade, one of the Nine Great Sovereigns of Hell, finally made an appearance, we were the only players who dared to take him on. We had definitely made a mark on the history of Heavenblessed with our actions. ¡­¡­ ¡°Lu Chen, have you gone offline?¡± He Yi held a laptop in her hand as she walked out of her room and sat next to me. When she opened up the laptop and loaded up the Heavenblessed website, she laughed. ¡°Look, look! The name of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is on the frontpage of China¡¯s Heavenblessed website¡­¡± I turned to look at her screen and I was shocked to see a broad horizontal advertisement banner running across the face of the Heavenblessed website. On the right of the banner was a menacing-looking Coldblade and on the left was several players. The person that stood at the very head of those players was my avatar. My Soul Suppressing Cloak was fluttering in the air behind me and the way that tattered, blood-colored cloak danced in the air looked way too cool! At my side stood Lin Yixin, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, and a few other top-tier players who had participated in the war. The way the artist had depicted the banner made it seem as if the group of us were staring straight at Coldblade. When I shifted to the next page of the banner, I saw several large words that had been beautifully drawn. ¡°The Coldblade War Comes To A Perfect Close!¡± As the banner shifted to the next page, a row of smaller words gave a brief recap of what had happened during the event. ¡°The royal authority of Sky City has been transferred to a new ruler! The contingent of players covered themselves in glory as guilds such as Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, and Warsky Alliance plunged into bloody battle with the Purgatory Legion. They achieved victory in the end and successfully defended a main city of the China region! They even managed to push one of the Sovereigns of Hell back where he came from! A feat that shook the heavens themselves!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle when I read the advertisement. ¡°Not bad. It¡¯s like the official website is helping our guild advertise for free. After this Coldblade War, the fame of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will grow even greater.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± He Yi let out a sweet, tinkling laugh. ¡°Everyone tried their hardest and we even managed to last all the way to the last wave. And we still had a few hundred players left at the end of the event. Heehee, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was the undeniable anchor during this event and the voices that have been doubting our strength should grow silent now.¡± I nodded my head and smiled. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± He Yi pushed the laptop out in front of her and yawned. She smiled at me. ¡°Ahhh, I¡¯m so tired. Where¡¯s Mingyue and Beiming Xue? Are they taking a bath together?¡± ¡°Yup, that¡¯s right. Did you already take yours?¡± ¡°Heehee, I took the chance to bathe after I died just now..." I laughed when I heard that. As I reached out to touch the laptop, my face ended up brushing against He Yi¡¯s beautiful shoulder. ¡°Eve, shall we go back to my hometown tomorrow?¡± ¡°Mmm! That sounds great!¡± He Yi looked at the time before she laughed and said, ¡°If we sleep till eleven tomorrow, that should be more than enough rest for us. We¡¯ll have brunch and then buy some gifts before we head off.¡± ¡°Sounds like a plan!¡± ¡­¡­ Not long after, the bathroom door opened, and... (The next ten thousand words that follow have been redacted) I disentangled Beiming Xue¡¯s arms from my waist as I gently pulled her arm from behind and spun her onto the sofa. I needed to stop her from behaving like this! I was a proper man after all. These things left me feeling very awkward. Murong Mingyue smiled. ¡°Ai, this workshop is getting more and more harmonious, huh¡­¡± He Yi also smiled mischievously. ¡°That¡¯s right. It seems like Little Mingxue has fallen for Lu Chen¡­¡± Beiming Xue¡¯s face grew so red that her blush even reached her ears. She protested, ¡°That¡¯s not true. This is the love a little sister has for her big brother. It¡¯s not what you think it is¡­¡± He Yi and Murong Mingyue simply smiled in response to that. Beiming Xue immediately lost all of her confidence. She changed topics while avoiding their gazes, ¡°Let¡¯s eat. I¡¯m really hungry¡­¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Everyone felt excited when the topic of food was brought up! He Yi took out a lot of pizza while Murong Mingyue carried out the Sichuan dishes on plates. My heart sang with joy when I saw the small mountain of food. I quickly went to grab a few beers from the fridge before I picked up my chopsticks and started my attack. I merrily drank my beer as I wolfed down the slice of pizza I was holding in my left hand while grabbing pieces of Sichuan poached fish with the chopsticks in my right. For some odd reason, these two dishes went really with each other and only a harmonious workshop like ours could come up with such a combination. The girls had low combative power when it came to the field of eating. All of them started waving the white flag not long after we started eating. Beiming Xue even patted her stomach as she complained, ¡°I¡¯m so full! My stomach is stuffed to the brim¡­¡± I reached out a hand to test her theory. I gave her stomach a few pats, but it was as flat as an airport runway. ¡°Your stomach¡¯s so flat, how can you even say that you¡¯re full?¡± Chapter 499: All Of Us Are He Yi had complained about that shirt more than a few times. She felt that the ace of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls shouldn¡¯t wear such shabby clothes! I opened the door to discover that all three girls were already in the living room. They were busy preparing for the trip and each of them had packed a travel bag and a small luggage. They were dressed to the nines. In fact, it looked like they were ready to go out and solicit some customers! I immediately suppressed the impulse to voice out my thoughts. The girls would end my life if I actually dared to utter those words. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go and eat!¡± He Yi said in an authoritative voice. Everyone made sure to take their keys and wallet before we left the house. We¡¯d taken so much luggage along that we couldn¡¯t squeeze them all into the trunk of one car. This led us to have no choice but to leave in two cars. Murong Mingyue wanted to drive the X12 because she felt that it was big and stable. And so, my car was taken from me. I stretched out my hand toward He Yi and said, ¡°Sister Yi, your car key please. I want to drive the Lamborghini¡­¡± He Yi fished out her key from her bag before she smiled and said, ¡°Drive slowly. Don¡¯t wreck my fifteen million dollars¡­¡± ¡°Come on. You don¡¯t need to worry, I¡¯ve already become an experienced rider¡­¡± Murong Mingyue flew over and grabbed my arm, a mischievous smile on her face. ¡°Mr. Experienced Rider, can you ride me please, your little sister is still young¡­¡± I nearly vomited blood when she said those words. I rolled my eyes. ¡°The heck if I care whether you¡¯re young or not, I¡¯m not that kinda guy¡­¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°Pfffft¡­¡± He Yi and Beiming Xue had both been trying to take a sip of water, so they both spat them out when they heard our conversation. Their beautiful eyes widened into saucers as they glared at both Murong Mingyue and I. ¡°Damn it! Will the two of you die if you don¡¯t crack a dirty joke?¡± Murong Mingyue grabbed my arm and laughed so hard that her body nearly sank to the ground. I gently ¡°shoved¡± her into the X12¡¯s driver¡¯s seat before entering the Lamborghini with He Yi. We bought boxed lunches at a small restaurant in the city, the fragrant smell of frying cooking oil wafting into our noses. He Yi was sitting in the passenger seat. She rolled down the car windows and started eating. She looked like she was enjoying her meal until she found a large green worm in her shredded pork and green peppers dish. She grimaced as she quietly threw it out of the window. After we finished eating, we went on a quick shopping trip in the city. All three of the girls from my workshop were loaded. Murong Mingyue and He Yi were upper management in GGS, so their wealth went without saying, but Beiming Xue had also earned several hundred thousand dollars from the game auctions alone. And now, these rich girls were trying to buy something suitable for my father. In the end, He Yi settled on a down-filled jacket. Since the weather was getting colder, this was a more practical choice. But the price wasn¡¯t practical at all! It was an import from Italy, and it cost over 8000 RMB! Meanwhile, Murong Mingyue chose to buy my father a watch and, needless to say, its price was even more outrageous!It cost more than 70000 RMB! I definitely had to tell my father to hide this watch later. Treasures should obviously remain hidden. Thankfully, Beiming Xue chose to listen to me. She bought a set of autumn clothing suitable for a man my father¡¯s age. He would be able to wear it very soon as the season was turning. As for myself, I had ordered a top-grade wheelchair for my father online. This would be the most practical gift I could get him. The design of my father¡¯s current wheelchair was too old, so he had trouble getting around in it. We also bought quite a bit of high-quality tobacco and alcohol for him and we put everything that we bought into the trunk of the X12. After that, I sped off in the Lamborghini, and Murong Mingyue soon caught up as well. Both cars sped down the highway, quick as lightning, and it looked like we would be able to reach our destination in about two hours. It would be two in the afternoon by then, which was good, because we could tidy up the house and the rooms without troubling my old man. ¡­¡­ As predicted, we arrived in Yong¡¯an Town at 1:50 pm. People bustled in and out of my little town so many of them froze in their tracks and stared as our vehicles drove past them. This was especially true for the limited edition Lamborghini I was driving. Its appearance was exceptionally eye-catching and anyone could tell that this was a supercar with a single glance. My X12 was far too inferior to He Yi¡¯s Lamborghini in that aspect, but even then, it had definitely been a long time since the people in my town had even seen a car like the X12. Yong¡¯an Town had several small factories and its residents were simple and honest folk. There weren¡¯t any big bosses in a place like this and people who even drove a car were already considered to be pretty awesome. ¡°Hey, Lu Chen, what¡¯s that?¡± He Yi rolled down the windows and pointed at a stall outside. I glanced over at the stall she was pointing to, a bit speechless. ¡°It¡¯s a stall selling chicken!¡± He Yi said, ¡°When I saw those chickens in their cages, I actually thought they were the wild pheasants that we can find in the game¡­¡± ¡°What the¡­¡± At this moment, Murong Mingyue parked the car and went to buy some fruits with Beiming Xue. She asked for outrageous discounts from the townsfolk and didn¡¯t hesitate to use her feminine wiles to get them. Her short skirt swished outrageously in the air and she ended up returning in triumph after having bought nearly ten kilograms worth of grapes. I said blandly, ¡°Sister Mingyue came to Yong¡¯an Town like a japanese soldier from the Second World War, trying to rob them blind¡­¡± He Yi couldn¡¯t help but giggle when she heard those words. She smiled and said, ¡°Hahaha, it¡¯s not that bad. Mingyue came from Shanghai, so she¡¯s always lived in a big city. She¡¯s never had the chance to experience what rural life is. Being a little curious is more than normal.¡± I pressed my car horn a few times before I started to slowly move forward. This was to get Murong Mingyue to hurry up. She was slowly sauntering over to the X12 and her miniskirt was struggling to cover up those long and smooth snowy thighs. All the little hooligans in my town were staring at them so hard that they had practically burned a hole through her legs. ¡­¡­ As we slowly trundled along, we reached Fengle Village before we even noticed it. My house wasn¡¯t too far away and by the time I arrived in front of it, a fair number of people had already gathered at my door. My father was already sitting in his wheelchair. I had called him an hour ago, and just as expected, he was already waiting for us at the gate. The Lamborghini¡¯s engine let out a low roar as it slowly came to a stop in front of my house. I got out of the car and grinned at the people that were waiting for us, ¡°Third uncle, third aunt, second granduncle, all of you are here¡­¡± These people all had a good relationship with my family. This was especially true for my third uncle. He¡¯d taken care of my dad¡¯s meals and lodging for quite a few years, and he would always invite my father over for a meal and drinks whenever he slaughtered a chicken or a pig. They had been as close as brothers for a few decades and as far as I could remember, I¡¯d never once seen them get drunk. I heard that they had entered and left the army together. Their bond was as strong as iron. My father attempted to get out of his wheelchair and I hurriedly strode over to support him. I smiled at him and said, ¡°Dad, how¡¯s your body feeling these days?¡± My father nodded his head. ¡°Same old, same old¡­¡± ¡­¡­ It was at this moment that He Yi got out of the car. She straightened her attire and stood there as pretty as a picture. She smiled at my father and said, ¡°Good afternoon, uncle!¡± My father nodded his head. Third aunt¡¯s jaw dropped open and she nearly dropped the bunch of leeks that she was holding in her hands. ¡°Aiyah, where did this pretty little lady come from? She¡¯s so beautiful. I¡¯ve lived for more than fifty years but I¡¯ve never seen a girl this beautiful in Yangzhou before¡­¡± Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue soon got out of the X12 as well. My third aunt grew even more flustered as she started singing their praises, ¡°These little ladies are so pretty! I have nothing left to say!¡± After she said that, the third aunt shot me a mischievous look and continued, ¡°Lu Chen, you rascal! It looks like life is treating you well. You¡¯ve gone out to see the world for only a few years but you¡¯ve gotten to know such beautiful girls! Tell me! Which one of them is your girlfriend?¡± He Yi instantly grew red as she froze in place. Beiming Xue was holding a bottle of mineral water when she heard those words, and a red blush soon crept up her cheeks. None of them knew how to answer that question. But Murong Mingyue wasn¡¯t fazed by my aunt¡¯s question at all. A small, mischievous grin crept up her face before she floored everyone with her reply. ¡°All of us are¡­¡± Thud... The leeks fell from the third aunt¡¯s arms. She had been utterly stunned by that answer. A long period of awkward silence stretched out until Murong Mingyue finally gave up. She couldn¡¯t keep a straight face any longer. Silvery laughter pealed in the air and it was only then that my father and third uncle knew that these girls were just cracking a joke. ¡°Hurry, hurry, come in!¡± my father said anxiously. He started to scold me as well, ¡°Lu Chen! Ah, you! Really! You came here with a few of your colleagues and you didn¡¯t even let me know in advance. See? I didn¡¯t even have time to clean up the place¡­¡± I laughed and said, ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to trouble yourself with that, dad. We¡¯ll clean up our own rooms.¡± My father hollered after the third uncle, ¡°Old Three, come and help me open up the gates! Let¡¯s get their cars inside! It¡¯s simply far too dirty outside¡­¡± ¡°Alright!¡± Third uncle sprang into action while the third aunt continued to look the three beautiful girls up and down. Her heart was filled with delight and she asked Beiming Xue, ¡°Little lady, how old are you this year?¡± Beiming Xue replied, ¡°I¡¯m nineteen this year, aunty¡­¡± ¡°Do you have a boyfriend?¡± ¡°Not right now¡­¡± ¡°Aiyah, I happen to have a nephew who is working in Wuxi¡¯s railroad office! He earns more than ten thousand RMB every month and he even gets an annual bonus at the end of the year. That child has an upright character and he¡¯s quite sensible too. How about I introduce him to you?¡± I could practically see the black lines that were forming on Beiming Xue¡¯s forehead. However, her mask didn¡¯t slip and she soon broke out into a sweet smile. ¡°Thank you for your good intentions, aunty. But I don¡¯t want to meet anyone from the railway administration¡­¡± Third aunt: ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ After we drove the cars into the courtyard, the girls hurriedly took out the presents that they had bought for my father and gave them to him. My dad was overcome with delight and his smile was so wide that it stretched to his ears. The afternoon sun was shining down on us, causing the mottled shadows of tree leaves to appear on his face. A warm feeling welled up inside me at the sight of his smile. Seeing him smile was something that truly gladdened my heart. ¡°Have you all had lunch?¡± he asked. ¡°We¡¯ve already eaten, uncle. You don¡¯t need to bother yourself with us¡­¡± He Yi replied with a smile. My father hurriedly said, ¡°Ah, Old Three! Help me go to town and buy some nice dishes and wine! Lu Chen¡¯s come back home, so let¡¯s all have a meal together.¡± Third uncle nodded his head and replied, ¡°Okay!¡± I said, ¡°Dad, don¡¯t bother third uncle. Sister Yi, Sister Mingyue and I will go buy the food. They haven¡¯t really seen Yong¡¯an Town¡¯s market, so this will be a good opportunity for them to broaden their horizons!¡± My father chuckled. ¡°Okay then¡­ We¡¯ll go with your plan! Old Three, just go and buy some wine then!¡± Murong Mingyue hurriedly stopped him. ¡°Actually, there¡¯s no need for you to do that. We¡¯ve also brought wine¡­¡± I had already moved to take a few bottles of wine out from the trunk of the X12 when Murong Mingyue spoke up. This was rather high-class wine and my third uncle¡¯s eyes widened into saucers the moment he saw them. ¡°I¡¯ve seen this wine before! It¡¯s the kind of wine the governor drinks when they christen a new road¡­¡± I was left rather speechless at that. ¡°If they do, then they¡¯re a lot more corrupt than I thought¡­¡± He Yi let out a soft laugh. ¡°Uncle, drink this wine tonight. I heard it¡¯s quite delicious!¡± ¡°Mn, okay¡­¡± Chapter 500: Wild Pheasan Hoooonk... The Lamborghini¡¯s car horn made a sharp sound as we drove toward the market. As I stared at the crest on the front of the car and the stalls in front of me, I couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Driving something like this to the market. Just stepping on the gas probably costs as much as what these stall owners make in one day. Ah, this world is truly unjust¡­¡± He Yi giggled and stared out the window. ¡°You know, sometimes I envy these stall owners. They harvest their own crops and sell it here and they go home once they¡¯re done. What simple and peaceful lives they must live¡­¡± A thought crossed my mind and made me laugh. ¡°Well, you can give it a shot. But in two days, you¡¯ll be as tanned as a little girl from Africa. I bet you didn¡¯t think of that, huh¡­¡± He Yi smiled and smacked her fist into my shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re a little girl from Africa!¡± I slowly brought the car to a halt. As a limited, four-seater Lamborghini, this car was really eye-catching. It attracted countless gazes the moment we came to a halt. Of course, when the three girls disembarked from the ride, they attracted even more gazes. In fact, when a bunch of middle-school kids, who obviously decided to skip school today, walked out of an internet cafe and saw them, they started talking about them in excitement. ¡°Woah, that car looks awesome!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right! And the three girls that walked out of the car were all drop-dead gorgeous! Tsk, I have to say though, the one who came out of the front passenger seat was the best. But the other two who came out of the back weren¡¯t too far off¡­¡± ¡°Yeah! Oh, but that driver was a little ugly though!¡± I was left speechless. ¡­¡­ Fucking hell, I had suddenly become their driver! And an ugly one at that! Life was really too hard on me sometimes. He Yi giggled at me before she turned to grab my arm. ¡°What sort of groceries should we buy?¡± I thought about it for a moment and then answered her question, ¡°Let¡¯s get some fish, chicken, eggs, and some other meat to go with the wine that dad and third uncle are drinking. We¡¯ll get some cold dishes while we¡¯re at it too. We¡¯ll be fine with just those.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± All three girls were dressed rather fashionably, so all of them stood out in the market of this small town. People kept shooting glances toward them and it was clear that our group was swiftly becoming a hot topic in this market. The fishmonger looked at me and replied, ¡°We just fished these up from Dongda Lake. It¡¯s wild, not farmed, so its taste is guaranteed! Mandarin fish goes for a hundred yuan a kilo, yellowhead catfish goes for forty yuan a kilo, carp goes for thirty yuan a kilo, and crucian carp goes for twenty yuan a kilo. We¡¯re also selling prawns for forty yuan a kilo. Which ones do you want?¡± He Yi gasped when she heard those prices. ¡°Wah! The fish you¡¯re selling is so cheap. If I buy crucian carp in Suzhou, it¡¯ll cost me at least forty yuan a kilo!¡± I laughed as I nodded my head. ¡°You¡¯re kidding right? If we were to send the fish here all the way to Suzhou, we¡¯d get gauged by all the toll booths waiting for us along the two hundred kilometers of highway. It would be weird if it wasn¡¯t that expensive!¡± Murong Mingyue pouted. ¡°These damnable toll booths. Just travelling to this town already cost us more than one hundred bucks.¡± Beiming Xue smiled. ¡°Alright, stop complaining guys! Even buying some groceries will get you talking about our country¡¯s GDP. What am I going to do with all of you¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle as well before I pointed at the fish swimming around in the bucket and said, ¡°Give me two kilograms of prawns. I want live ones, and give me two mandarin fish.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± The fishmonger began happily weighing his fish. He soon passed me a plastic bag bulging with seafood and Murong Mingyue quickly paid for it before we left to explore the other stalls. Not long after, we came to a butcher stall selling poultry. There was a chicken with mottled feathers flapping around in one of the big cages. It didn¡¯t look like most ordinary chicken. He Yi bent down and pointed at the rather ¡°eye-catching¡± chicken before asking, ¡°Boss, this doesn¡¯t seem to be your regular chicken, right?¡± The butcher was a middle-aged uncle and he was staring lustily at He Yi. He had probably never seen such a beautiful girl in his entire life. He was practically drooling at this point. ¡°This little lady really has an eye for things. This isn¡¯t some farm-bred chicken. My second son actually caught this out in the wild. It weighs four kilograms and we just caught it last night. How about it, do you want it?¡± He Yi smiled very sweetly at the butcher before asking, ¡°Uncle, how much a kilogram?¡± The butcher raised up all ten fingers in the air before replying, ¡°Two hundred yuan a kilo!¡± ¡°Wah, so expensive¡­¡± He Yi¡¯s mouth dropped open in surprise as shock filled her eyes. ¡°Two hundred yuan a kilogram is a little too rich for my blood. How about sixty yuan a kilogram, uncle?¡± He Yi was bending over to look at the wild pheasant; the open collar of her uniform-like blouse revealed a breathtaking flash of snowy white. The butcher¡¯s eyes immediately glazed over and it seemed as if his lust had overheated his brain. I could totally understand his predicament though. I mean, who could really keep their cool when talking to a stunning and elegant beauty? He swiftly nodded his head, ¡°Oh fine! Sixty yuan it is! You can have this chicken if you pay me two hundred and forty yuan!¡± ¡°Thanks, uncle!¡± This wild pheasant was bound tightly by a hemp rope and the butcher told us that it had quite a temper, so I decided to be the one to take it out of its cage. I grabbed both its neck and feet at the same time, causing the wild pheasant to struggle against my grip. I struggled to keep my grip and sweat soon dotted my face. My reddened face and huffing gasps made the girls burst into unrestrained laughter. We went around the market for a while, buying some beef, pork, vegetables, and the like. After that, we drove back to my place. ¡­¡­ It was already 4 pm by the time we returned back home. Third uncle helped us kill the mandarin fish, which were still bouncing around vigorously. Meanwhile He Yi wore an excited expression on her face as she volunteered to help me slaughter the chicken. I grabbed a cleaver and brought the chicken to a little forested area to the south of my house. The three girls followed along behind me and as the autumn breeze brushed our faces, I saw their lips curl up into happy smiles. I really had no idea what they were so happy about. I mean, we just bought some groceries. Were they really that sheltered? As I raised the cleaver in the air, I asked, ¡°Who wants to kill this chicken?¡± ¡°Me! Me!¡± He Yi said as she bounced up and down. ¡°Have you killed one before?¡± ¡°Nope¡­¡± I sighed helplessly. I put the pheasant on the ground and I showed He Yi the exact spot on its neck to cut. I showed her a practice swing and said, ¡°Cut its neck at this point and jump back after that. We¡¯ll need to wait for all the blood to spurt out before we can move on to the next step¡­¡± He Yi nodded her head, but her tiny hand trembled when she took the knife from me. She looked like she could explode from nervousness at any point. ¡°Do you really want to kill it?¡± When I saw that she was about to beat a quick retreat, I hurriedly shook my head and said, ¡°Okay, it¡¯s like this. Just raise your cleaver up in the air and separate this chicken¡¯s head from its neck with a swift chop. Just think of it as killing those chickens in the Floating Ice City¡¯s Wild Pheasant Ridge. That¡¯s really all there is to it¡­¡± He Yi gave me a rather dumbfounded look as she retorted, ¡°Then does that mean that I can hit this chicken with a Green Wave Slash¡­¡± ¡°Do as you will¡­¡± He Yi smiled and took a long look at the chicken. She closed her eyes and raised her cleaver in the air, quietly saying, ¡°Little Chicken, I really don¡¯t want to kill you, but the uncles need to have something to go along with their wine, so I¡¯ll have to do you wrong here! I hope that you¡¯ll be a human in your next life! I hope that you¡¯ll be the son of a rich man like Li Gang¡­¡± Thwack! The cleaver fell and bit into the neck of the chicken with a dull thud. My eyes widened with shock. He Yi didn¡¯t chop down hard enough to sever the chicken¡¯s neck, but she managed to successfully cut the ropes binding it. In the next instant, the half-decapitated chicken leapt into the air and started flopping around frantically. I immediately ran up and grabbed He Yi before running backwards. I was deathly afraid that some of that wildly-spurting blood would fly onto her. Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue furiously backpedaled as well. As we ran for cover, Beiming Xue commented with a smile, ¡°Waaah, the wild chicken event has ended in failure! Our party got wiped¡­¡± He Yi giggled at those words. ¡°I didn¡¯t use enough strength.¡± When I turned around, the chicken was still flopping on the ground. It was just refusing to die. We had no choice but to wait for it to finish moving around, so we sat there and watched the dying chicken flop for nearly half an hour! Murong Mingyue was quite dumbstruck by how long this process was taking. She exclaimed, ¡°If we don¡¯t finish it soon, we can use this chicken to cook supper!¡± ¡°Charge!¡± I rushed forward, my cleaver flashing in the air. The wild chicken finally bade this cruel world goodbye. I chopped off its head, plucked its feathers, and gutted it with a practiced ease. As a child who grew up in a farming village, I had seen and done such things many times. In fact, I could even slaughter a pig if I had to! ¡­¡­ We returned home and tidied up the two guest rooms with air conditioners before we started cooking dinner. None of the girls really knew how to cook so we had no choice but to hand the ingredients to the third aunt and let her work her magic. My courtyard was bustling with activity in the evening, and the smell of food and wine wafted in the air. My father and third uncle had gotten as drunk as lords and we rolled them into bed before eleven. I walked up the stairs to go to one of the guest rooms. When I stared at both the rooms, realization suddenly struck me. I turned around to look at the three freshly-bathed girls and said, ¡°There are two guest rooms with air conditioning, but the beds aren¡¯t very big. There¡¯s no way that three of you are going to be able to share a bed. If that¡¯s the case, how should we split the rooms?¡± Murong Mingyue replied. ¡°I¡¯ll sleep together with Eve. I need to protect her from you, Lu Chen! You¡¯ll eat her up if I¡¯m not looking!¡± ¡°Why would I do that, damn¡­¡± I looked at He Yi and Beiming Xue. ¡°Fine then, I¡¯ll share a room with Beiming. Beiming Xue will take the bed and I¡¯ll just roll out a mattress and sleep on the floor.¡± ¡°Mmm, that works!¡± ¡­¡­ The night was quiet and still and I could hear the crickets weaving their nocturnal song. ¡°Big bro?¡± Beiming Xue turned to look at me as she said, ¡°Have you fallen asleep yet?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± I turned to look at her, only to discover that this girl was only wearing an oversized pyjama shirt. She leaned over the side of the bed and the collar of her shirt hung loose, revealing the round borders of a pair of snowy mounds. She didn¡¯t seem to realize this either and she continued to lean over the bed, her round, perky butt rising in the air slightly. She shot me a smile as she said, ¡°I can¡¯t sleep, what do I do¡­¡± ¡°Do try to go to sleep!¡± ¡°Oohh, how about you tell me a bedtime story, big bro?¡± ¡°Do you want to hear a lewd one?¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know any other stories¡­¡¯ In the end, Beiming Xue didn¡¯t dare listen to my story. After all, we were both bachelors sharing a room and telling a lewd story in the middle of the night would be nothing less than throwing a match on some dry hay. ¡­¡­ I finally heard the soft sound of Beiming Xue¡¯s breathing after a long time had passed. The little girl had finally gone to bed. It was also at this time that I heard some footsteps coming from the balcony. I stood up and got dressed before opening the door. As the door swung open, the first thing I saw was He Yi¡¯s exquisite face illuminated by the moonlight. It was a sight that stole my breath away. She gazed at the lamplights coming from the distant village and I couldn¡¯t tell what was on her mind. ¡°Can¡¯t sleep either?¡± I asked. ¡°Mn.¡± He Yi nodded her head and smiled. ¡°Yeah, I can¡¯t seem to fall asleep for some odd reason. In a few hours, Heavenblessed¡¯s servers will be up again and the two major missions in Wind City and Vanished God City will be done as well. We definitely won¡¯t be able to get the first few server rewards for promoting to our fifth class promotion if that¡¯s the case.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine, the prizes aren¡¯t great either¡­¡± ¡°Mmm, so are we going to go back home tomorrow morning?¡± ¡°Up to you.¡± Chapter 501: Famous General Caps He Yi stroked her own hair before smiling at me, the sight of her beautiful face under the moonlight seemingly pulling me toward her. It was such an attractive smile that I felt like I had drunk a pool of intoxicating spring. Suppressing a shiver in my heart and pretending to be calm, I supported myself with the handrail before asking, ¡°Do what though?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± He Yi thought for a moment before replying, ¡°I¡¯m a bit thirsty.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go pour you some water then.¡± ¡°No!¡± He Yi pulled my hand before hugging me. ¡°Let¡¯s go for a spin to the town and see if there''s a watermelon stall somewhere.¡± ¡°But the time¡­¡± I looked at the clock. It was almost 11 am already. ¡°I don¡¯t think you can find a stall at this time. Also, there¡¯s no fun in buying watermelons, is there?¡± He Yi shot me a hopeful and playful smile. ¡°Oh? What do you want to do then?¡± I looked at the field some distance away from us before suggesting, ¡°My third uncle grows some watermelons. Why don¡¯t we steal one tonight?¡± ¡°Ohh! That sounds great, I love it!¡± He Yi was so excited that she was shaking, and her face was red. She clearly hadn¡¯t done something this fun before. ¡­¡­ It was only after we sneaked downstairs did we realize that He Yi was still wearing high heels. However, we had no choice but to go out like this because Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue would definitely be alerted to the noise. They would despise us for sure if they realized what we were planning to do. We slowly walked down a footpath between paddy fields until we arrived at my third uncle¡¯s watermelon farm. However, it was so dark that not even our phones could shine enough light to help us find a watermelon. He Yi asked helplessly, ¡°W-what should we do? We can¡¯t find the watermelon like this?¡± I suggested, ¡°In my hometown, we lie on the ground and roll across the plants. It¡¯s a surefire way to find a watermelon no matter what size they are.¡± He Yi looked at me in astonishment before replying, ¡°Er, can I not roll on the ground?¡± ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll do the rolling, you do the touching!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± The two of us quickly sneaked into the watermelon farm and used our respective methods to find a watermelon. While I was rolling, I suddenly felt something solid touching against my body. It was a big, round watermelon as expected. I gave it a knock and confirmed that it was matured! Pak! I plucked the watermelon and attempted to push it under my shirt, but I quickly discovered that it was too big to fit. Meanwhile, He Yi said, ¡°Lu Chen, it¡¯s not easy for your third uncle to make a living selling watermelons, right? I think this might be a little too much, especially since we¡¯re working people already. This isn¡¯t right¡­¡± ¡°Mn mn!¡± He YI smiled and took a step, but she suddenly let out a yelp and lost her balance completely. She fell in my lap, and we both crashed heavily atop the plants. ¡°It hurts¡­¡± He Yi cried out softly. She had probably sprained her ankle or something. We should¡¯ve known this would happen since she was wearing high heels. She felt boiling hot in my arms, and the way her soft body fit against my own was so distracting that I actually blanked out for a moment before I remembered to check her injury. Thankfully, it didn¡¯t look like she had hurt her bones. ¡°Alright, we got the watermelon. Time to head back!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± It was at this moment that the third uncle¡¯s black dog started barking loudly. It probably heard us talking. When He Yi tried to push herself to her feet, she suddenly let out an exclamation of surprise again. ¡°Heavens, what is this!?¡± Caught off guard by her reaction, I tried to feel her arm only to find something ice cold wrapping around her wrist. I immediately pulled it free and threw it away, all the while doing my best to maintain my own calm. He Yi was absolutely terrified. Clinging to me tightly, she asked, ¡°What was that, Lu Chen¡­¡± ¡°I think it was a¡­ snake?¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± My beautiful guild leader had turned completely pale by this point. She held me so tightly it was as if she wanted to embed herself into me. I gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder before asking, ¡°Did the snake bite you, Eve? Did you feel any pain anywhere?¡± He Yi shook her head. ¡°No, it didn¡¯t. It¡¯s just¡­ so scary. I wasn¡¯t expecting to find snakes here¡­¡± ¡°The snakes here are absolutely harmless, so there¡¯s no need to be scared. Only the ones that live in mountains are venomous.¡± ¡°Mn. Let¡¯s leave already!¡± ¡°Yeah. Can you hold the watermelon while I carry you?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I put my hands near He Yi¡¯s round bottom and lifted her off the ground. I can¡¯t lie, the sensation was pleasant to say the least. ¡­¡­ I ran back home with He Yi on my back. When I opened the front door, we saw a figure holding a cup and walking toward us under the lamplight. It was Murong Mingyue, and she looked utterly flabbergasted by the sight of us. I looked horrible because my shoes were dirty and I rolled on the ground. I looked like I had just come back from a coal mine. He Yi was lying on my back with her arms wrapped around my neck, and her smooth legs dangling in front of me. She was also holding the watermelon right in front of my chest, so my chin was literally pressing against the fruit. It took Murong Mingyue a long while to muster a response, ¡°Guys, what were you doing?¡± He Yi curled her lips into a smile. ¡°Do you want some watermelon, Mingyue?¡± Murong Mingyue fell silent for a moment before finally answering, ¡°Okay. Let me go wake up Beiming Xue¡­¡± ¡­¡­ She actually failed to wake up Beiming Xue, so we moved the battlefield to Beiming Xue¡¯s room and continued our watermelon war there. A short while later, Beiming Xue finally crawled out of her bed and joined us. It didn¡¯t take long for the four of us to devour the huge watermelon whole. Not entirely satisfied, we then took out some leftovers from the fridge and cooked them. I must admit that chicken meat tasted absolutely awesome in the middle of the night, and because third aunt put a lot of chilis in the dish it was incredibly spicy. We also carried a bowl of unfinished crayfishes, a plate of boiled peanuts and several bottles of beers into the room. Sitting by the bed, I ate supper with the girls and enjoyed a good time. It didn¡¯t feel bed to enjoy these food at this time. Pinching a crayfish¡¯s tail with my left hand and holding a glass of beer with my right, I gave He Yi a smile before asking, ¡°Want to clink glasses, Eve?¡± ¡°Hehe¡­¡± He Yi took a sip of her beer after clinking glasses and went back to her boiled peanuts. It was a very pleasant supper. It was often said that reheated chicken meat and crayfishes weren¡¯t good for one¡¯s health, but not many people could actually answer why. In my opinion, any food that made me happy was healthy food to me. A person¡¯s physical health was usually a reflection of their mental health after all. If you feel well, then your health would naturally improve. If you feel bad, then your health would worsen no matter what kind of healthy food you consumed. A long, long time later, He Yi¡¯s phone suddenly rang without warning. She answered the call and turned on speaker mode¡ª ¡°Xu Yang?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me, boss!¡± ¡°It¡¯s really late. There must be something really important you want to report if you¡¯re calling me at this time.¡± ¡°Correct!¡± Xu Yang spoke in a deep voice. ¡°An hour ago, after the server reopened, a lot of people went to complete their fifth promotion quest immediately. This is nothing surprising, except that a lot of people actually became a Famous General after receiving the experience reward from the promotion quest and leveling up! In fact, five new Famous Generals have appeared in China for the past hour!¡± ¡°Five?¡± He Yi exclaimed in astonishment. ¡°Yeah, and one of them is High Fighting Spirits! His Famous General Skill is called Stamp, and it ignores the enemy¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist for 20% up to a maximum of 65%. I haven¡¯t checked the skill of the other four players yet, but you can find it on the Famous General Ranking at the forums. The reason I called you at this time is to tell y¡¯all to come back tomorrow if possible. Ancient Sword can¡¯t function properly without its leader¡­¡± He Yi chuckled. ¡°Okay, thank you for the report. You should sleep soon!¡± ¡°Mn, got it!¡± ¡­¡­ After hanging up the call, He Yi and the rest of us exchanged glances with each other. Murong Mingyue then wiped her claws¡ªI mean hands before leaving to bring her notebook to the room. After she went online, she clicked the link to the Famous General Ranking at Heavenblessed official forum. As mentioned earlier, China now had 5 new Famous Generals, and their IDs and skills were in full display¡ª High Fighting Spirits: Stamp. Target¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist is lowered by 20%. Skill effectiveness is affected by Tactics. Shadow Chanel: Beauty. Damage taken from male players is reduced by 15% for all allies. Skill effectiveness is affected by Tactics. Farewell Song: Sneak Attack. Invisibility and stealth movement speed is increased by 20% for all allies. Skill effectiveness is affected by Tactics. Blue Sky Scar: Frenzy. Attack for all allies is increased by 35%. Skill effectiveness is affected by Tactics. Ling Xueshang: Unyielding. Recovery speed of all stats is increased by 100%, and attack is increased by 25% for all allies. Skill effectiveness is affected by Tactics. ¡­¡­ The girls¡¯ eyes turned wide as saucers. Right now the battles between larger guilds were basically a battle of the quantity and quality of Famous General Skills, and five Famous Generals just popped up in one night. It looked like the competition between the strongest guilds in all China servers was about to enter a feverish period. He Yi asked me while staring at the screen, ¡°What do you think, Lu Chen?¡± I pondered for a moment before replying, ¡°Out of all five Famous General Skills, Blue Sky Scar and Farewell Song¡¯s are the best because one increases attack power, and the other increases invisibility and stealth movement speed. Farewell Song¡¯s Famous General Skill is specialized to Assassins, so he¡¯s going to become the spiritual leader of all rogue players from now on. Blue Sky Scar¡¯s going to become a main force in Candle Dragon because his Frenzy isn¡¯t too far behind my Martial God.¡± Murong Mingyue smiled. ¡°Sigh, High Fighting Spirits is such an unlucky boy. His skill only lowers his target¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist by 20%...¡± But I said, ¡°It¡¯s okay. With 200 Tactics, he can lower his opponent¡¯s defense around 60% or so. Unless his opponent is Little Piglet, anyone who goes up against him will definitely have a bad time. Shadow Chanel¡¯s Famous General Skill isn¡¯t bad either. With 200 Tactics, it can reduce the damage of all enemy male players by 50% or so. It¡¯s like giving everyone an Undying Shield, and that¡¯s awesome. The same goes for Ling Xueshang. Our ally finally has their first Famous General¡­¡± Suddenly, He Yi pointed an oily finger at the screen. ¡°Hey, look at this¡­¡± Murong Mingyue hurriedly slapped away her hand. ¡°OMG, put your oily claws away from my screen, Eve. This is a limited version HP-notebook¡­¡± My eyes lit up. He Yi was pointing at a small icon behind the Famous General Skills, and the popup text said¡ªFamous General Skill Caps. ¡°Caps?¡± My heart started beating harder. Finally, the devs had announced the hidden caps on the Famous General Skills! I clicked the icon. The cap values of the Famous General Skills immediately appeared to me¡ª Martial God: Attack power increased by 200% max. Skill exclusive to Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Bombshell: All stats increased by 80% max. Skill exclusive to Wind Fantasy. Royal Road: All allied stats increased by 50%, and all enemy stats reduced by 30% max. Skill exclusive to From Water. Bow God: Attack power increased by 150%, and attack speed increased by 60% max. Skill exclusive to Beiming Xue. Knight God: Attack power and defense power increased by 150% max. Skill exclusive to Gui Guzi. Blitz: Attack speed increased by 200% max. Skill exclusive to Legendary Brave. Stamp: Target¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist reduced by 70% max. Skill exclusive to High Fighting Spirits. Insight: Enemy¡¯s Famous General Skill chances of getting sealed is 70% max. Skill exclusive to Purple Marquis. Beauty: Damage is reduced by 40% max. Skill exclusive to Shadow Chanel. Seven Stars: Attack power for all allies increased by 50%, and enemy Stratagem effectiveness is reduced by 30% max. Skill exclusive to Beauty At First Sight. Hegemon: Critical hit rate increased by 40% max. Skill exclusive to Warsky. Heartpiercer: Lifesteal increased by 25% max. Skill exclusive to October Rain. Hundred Battles: Attack power increased by 100%, and attack speed increased by 30% max. Skill exclusive to Laughing At The Heavens. Sneak Attack: Invisibility and stealth movement speed increased by 70% max. Skill exclusive to Farewell Song. Renown: Attack power increased by 120%, and defense power increased by 40% max. Skill exclusive to Lin Bing Dou Zhe. Vajra: Defense power increased by 200% max. Skill exclusive to Little Piglet. Ghost God Prophecy: N/A. Skill exclusive to Candlelight Shadow. Resolute: Attack power increased by 120% max. Skill exclusive to Tempest Shadow. Dissension: N/A. Skill exclusive to Transient Smoke and Clouds Frenzy: Attack power increased by 150% max. Skill exclusive to Blue Sky Scar. Unyielding: Recovery speed of all stats increased by 200%, and attack power increased by 100% max. Skill exclusive to Ling Xueshang. Mage Soul: Magic Attack increased by 150%, and movement speed increased by 50% max. Skill exclusive to Luo River God of the Capital. Chapter 502: I Can Afford You I felt much better now that I knew the caps of each Famous General Skill. The cap on Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell was 80%, while my Martial God was 200%. This meant that my Famous General Skill was in no way inferior to Lin Yixin¡¯s because overwhelming strength could overpower anything. Speaking of which, He Yi¡¯s Royal Road had a cap of 50% stat boost and 30% stats reduction. All things considered, it was still a very broken stratagem. The cap of most Famous General Skills was only three times the base skill effect or less, but the cap of my Martial God was five times the base. This meant that my Famous General Skill had much higher potential than those Famous General Skills. The same went for Li Chengfeng¡¯s Blitz and Little Piglet¡¯s Vajra. That being said, the 150% cap on Knight God, Bow God, and Mage Soul didn¡¯t mean these skills weren¡¯t ridiculously powerful. They were even the best Famous General Skills in the game if you ignored the fact that they applied to certain classes only. On another note, Candle Dragon caught up a little in the battle of Famous Generals since it was revealed that Blue Sky Scar¡¯s Frenzy was capped at 150%, and Tempest Shadow¡¯s Resolute at 120%. In Warsky Alliance, Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ Hundred Battles was the best stratagem of the three because it boosted its allies by a maximum of 100% attack power and 30% attack speed. Excluding me, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, Wang Luo and all other players with ace-level Famous General Skills, the most powerful player of the bunch was undoubtedly Lin Bing Dou Zhe. It was because his Renown was a super offensive and defensive skill that boosted attack power by 120% and defense power by 40%. Unfortunately, we weren¡¯t able to recruit him into Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. For now, the identity of the guild who got to him first before us was unknown. There was one more person in the list that we needed to be wary of, and that was Stranger of Three Lifetimes of Blazing Hot Lips, Vanished God City. The mage girl¡¯s Famous General Skill, Repel, could boost her own attack power by 150%, and reduce her enemies¡¯ attack power by 30% max. Her stratagem was best-applied in a war of attrition, and even the effectiveness of my Martial God would be greatly reduced if we had to fight her. ¡­¡­ We spent a while talking about what we saw on the screen before we finally went back to our rooms. Anyway, Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul¡¯s next move was to solidify our advantage even further, fight against Warsky Alliance and other rival guilds, and continue to improve Dark Moon City. One step at a time, we would establish a foothold in China and aim to challenge a top guild like Candle Dragon once we had accumulated enough strength! I fell into a deep sleep very quickly. When I opened my eyes again, it was already late morning. We left after He Yi gave an excuse claiming that we still had work to do at the company. Before we left, we went to my third uncle¡¯s house and gave the third aunt a bankbook with a hundred thousand RMB in it. The woman was caught completely off-guard. ¡°What are you doing, Lu Chen?¡± I replied, ¡°Third aunt, my father lives here alone, and I¡¯m sure he gave you and uncle some trouble from time to time. This is my small compensation to you both. I can¡¯t always stay by my father¡¯s side due to work, so please take care of him while I¡¯m gone. For example, you can spend this money on some good food and liquor so both my father and uncle can enjoy a good time from time to time. The password is 123456. Half of the money in this bank account is for you, and the other half, my father¡¯s living costs.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± Third aunt wanted to turn me down, but I hurriedly covered her hand with mine. ¡°Third aunt, all these years I was gone, I wasn¡¯t able to fulfill my responsibilities as a son to my father. My work environment doesn¡¯t allow me to stay with my father, and he doesn¡¯t want to live in Suzhou. So please, don¡¯t deny me the chance to fulfill filial duty to my father. Please accept this!¡± Third aunt couldn¡¯t turn me down, so she had no choice but to nod. ¡°I¡¯ll take this, but I won¡¯t accept my half. I promise I¡¯ll make sure that Old Lu and my husband get to enjoy a good meal every day.¡± ¡°Haha, I¡¯m glad to hear that!¡± ¡­¡­ After bidding my father goodbye, I looked at the back mirror and saw my father trying to make himself taller and look at me from his wheelchair. Guilt and sorrow caused a twinge in my nose, and I nearly burst into tears there and then. Seemingly noticing my sorrow, He Yi patted me gently on the shoulder and comforted me, ¡°Don¡¯t be sad. We¡¯ll visit uncle as often as we can. The generation gap isn¡¯t as deep as you think, and I¡¯m sure uncle will notice your feelings as long as your heart is true.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± I sucked in a deep breath before saying self-depreciatingly, ¡°What kind of son would leave their parent all by themselves for such a long time?¡± He Yi chuckled. ¡°You say that now, but if you really stayed with uncle, he would spend every waking moment nagging you about your ¡®terrible¡¯ gaming habits, I¡¯m sure you¡¯d dive deep into the other end. No one likes a gap separating them and their loved ones, but it¡¯s the inevitable price of moving forward. As long as your heart stays true, the gap between your hearts will shorten eventually.¡± I nodded with a smile. ¡°Say, how is your relationship with your parents?¡± ¡°My parents?¡± He Yi sank into her seat and smiled a little. ¡°My mom gives me a headache for sure. Just a couple of years ago, she literally spent every day trying to arrange me with a ¡®worthy¡¯ partner. Of course, she changed her mind after I blew off a couple of men who thought they were elites, but were really nothing¡­¡± ¡°Oh? How did you blow them off exactly?¡± ¡°I simply told them that I have a 22.4% share in GGS Asia Region and seven companies in the internet, clothing, electronics and other industries, my monthly expenditure including cosmetics and stuff is over 500k, and my car is worth 15 million RMB. I asked them if they could afford even gas for my car, and you can guess for yourself what their reaction was¡­¡± ¡°...¡± He Yi cocked her head and looked at me, eyes playful and teasing. ¡°Hehe, so? Do feel a huge pressure on your shoulders right now?¡± I nodded. ¡°I know full well I can¡¯t afford you¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine. I can afford you¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t wanna¡­¡± We continued to talk about random and not-so-random things for a time, the calm in my heart rippling from time to time as I took in He Yi¡¯s gorgeous features. I was starting to realize that I had some deeply buried feelings for her that even I didn¡¯t know about until now... ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a car horn rang behind our car. It was Murong Mingyue urging us to move faster. It was because I was the first and only player in Frost Cloud workshop to complete my fifth promotion quest, and they were in a hurry to pick up their fifth promotion skills as soon as possible! I stepped on the gas and sped across the road. We arrived at the bottom of our apartment less than two hours later. The girls rushed into the workshop excitedly, took a sip of water and went online immediately. They said that they would eat lunch only after they had completed their fifth promotion quest. ¡­... Swhoosh! I appeared in Sky City. The city had already been renewed, and it looked as majestic and beautiful as ever. In fact, it was a lot spacier than before. It looked like this human empire was destined for greater, more prosperous times now that Karinshan had taken over. I repaired my equipment, stocked up on potions and threw all the top-tier equipment I couldn¡¯t use to Air Force One. By now, my shop had earned quite a bit of fame in Sky City. It had the highest turnover out of the dozen or so player shops currently operating in Sky City, although that also meant it paid the highest amount of tax. I teleported to Dark Moon City, and a quick look at the map revealed that new resource bosses had respawned around the city. So, I went to hunt them with a group of Dark Knights and Umbra Sharpshooters. Right now, my stats were completely broken, so I didn¡¯t fear any bosses at the same level as me! It wasn¡¯t long until I spotted a fearsome-looking black Greedy Wolf and a pack of Wildfire Greedy Wolves at the horizon. They were plotting to plunder Dark Moon City, but we quickly intercepted them. I ordered the Umbra Sharpshooters to shoot their arrows while I charged the Level 135 Purple Gold Rank boss. It was basically of no threat to me whatsoever! ¡°Roar roar!¡± The Dark Wolf King roared angrily as it hit me with its claws. However, it only managed to do 400 or so damage per hit. So bad! I raised my sword and used Ice Cyclone Domain! Swhoosh! The area around me immediately became covered in snow and ice. An icicle burst out of the ground, stabbed the Dark Wolf King painfully in the belly and lowered its attack speed and movement speed, its combat ability declining drastically! I wanted to toy with the boss, so I raised my sword again and summoned four divine weapons from the sky. They surrounded the boss with pinpoint accuracy, created a sealing formation and locked it firmly in place! Very good, the God Binding Art was proving itself to be very useful so far. It was especially amazing in a boss fight! I fired out a couple of Dragon Slaying Slashes before throwing the Heaven-stealing Sword. Sword Boomerang deleted at least ten thousand health from the boss¡¯s HP. After that, I rushed forward and used Burning Blade Slash. The Dark Wolf King was incapable of defending itself against me at all. The boss was almost dead in less than six minutes. It was at this moment the Silver Dragon Ring turned icy, and the Heaven-stealing Sword glowed brightly with light. A silver dragon circled the blade of my sword before flying toward the boss and causing a devastating explosion. By the time the storm subsided, the Dark Wolf King had already turned into a carcass. It had dropped a pile of resources and a golden chest! My eyes lit up. Another chest! I opened it and was rewarded with a card¡ª[Beautiful Dryad (100)]: Rank 7 Elf Castle unit. Attack¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï, Defense¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï. Transport Capacity: 700. God dammit, it was a high-rank unit of an Elf Castle. Neither me nor Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡ªher guild territory was a Human Castle¡ªneeded this, so I simply tossed it into my bag. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment I heard a beep. It was a message from He Yi: ¡°Are you free, Lu Chen? If you are, can you come to Sky City¡¯s class skill trainer and help me?¡± Chapter 503: SOS, Dear "Okay!" After dispatching He Yi temporarily, I ordered the Dark Knights and Umbra Sharpshooters to carry the resources. Their value couldn¡¯t be understated because this might be the last time resource mobs spawned around the territory. After that, I traveled back to Dark Moon City. It cost 30k of each resource type for the city to upgrade to Rank 3, and thankfully, we had met the requirement after a couple of days of development. Dark Moon City¡¯s productivity was pretty good, especially since I spent all available resources recruiting Dark Insects. It was pointless to recruit any troop that was Rank 6 or below because they were only going to die in a territory war or something. Upon arriving at Dark Moon City, I checked its latest stats and noted that everything was going quite smoothly. After nearly 24 hours of non-stop production, the Nest of Corruption had spawned a ton of Dark Insects. It had been many days since the day Dark Moon City came to be, and its productivity had reached a terrifying point¡ª Dark Moon City (Lord: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand) Rank: Rank 2 Undead Castle Gold Production: 3000 per hour (+50%) Wood Production: 3000 per hour (+0%) Stone Production: 3000 per hour (+0%) Crystal Production: 1840 per hour (+0%) Dark Insects: 1084 Buildings: 14 Troops: 321 Wall Durability: 200 Teleportation Formations: 2 ¡­¡­ I clicked the option to upgrade the undead castle to rank 3. Now that all the construction quests for the day were complete, I could leave the minor tasks such as grinding resource mobs to Xu Yang, Murong Mingyue, Chaos Moon, and the rest. They had the power to hunt surrounding monsters because they had been granted a small amount of control over the territory. I crushed a return scroll after everything was complete. Swhoosh! After appearing at the eastern plaza of Sky City, I ran to where the class trainers were and found a beautiful female knight sheathing her sword at the distance. She smiled at me and said, "Finally!" "Mn. I was finishing up some tasks at the guild territory!" I walked up to her and asked, "It¡¯s about Barrier Break, isn¡¯t it?" "Ah? You know it already?" He Yi looked astonished. I chuckled. "Of course I would know something like this. How much Strength do you have right now, Eve? And how much more do you need?" He Yi checked her stats before replying, "I¡¯m a 4-Strength 1-Stamina magic knight, so I don¡¯t have too much Strength. My current Strength is 1276. Which one of your items adds a lot of Strength, Lu Chen?" "Hmm, let¡¯s see. You still lack 124 Strength, so¡­ the Soul Suppressing Cloak adds 145 Strength, the Silver Dragon Ring adds 125 Strength, and the Battle Soul Poleyn adds 125 Strength. Is that enough?" He Yi closed her eyes and performed a mental calculation inside her head. In less than two seconds, she opened them again and replied with a smile, "Yes, it¡¯s enough. Please let me borrow your equipment for a moment!" "Okay!" I took off my equipment and passed it to her. He Yi was Level 125 right now, so she could equip all of them without problems. A flash of light later, He Yi officially picked up the skill Barrier Break. It was an amazing skill that greatly increased a player¡¯s attack power and dealt an incredible amount of damage. Its cooldown was also the same as my Universe Break¡¯s, 6 seconds. This meant that the skill could be used very frequently. It was absolutely a war god¨Ctier of skill. "Oh right, is there anyone else in the guild who hasn¡¯t learned it yet?" I asked. He Yi shook her head. "I don¡¯t know. Why don¡¯t you ask them yourself? I need to go to Dark Moon City and sort out the rewards for the Coldblade War¡­" "Okay, see you later!" ¡­¡­ I checked my equipment for a bit. In total, my equipment added a total of 1057 Strength to its wearer; 343 Strength short of the requirement to learn Barrier Break, 1400. This meant that I could help any fighter learn Barrier Break as long as they were Level 120, and they dropped at least 3 points into Strength per level up! My mind made up, I checked the levels of all fighter players in the guild before sending Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Xu Yang, and Chaos Moon a message: "If you want to learn Barrier Break then come to the class skill training center right now! I¡¯ll be waiting!" These six players were the core of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, so I saw a need to bolster their strength. Barrier Break was the trump card of all Level 120 fighters. They couldn¡¯t afford to skip it. My job here was to lend them my equipment so that they could meet the Strength Requirement to learn Barrier Break. Also, I was lending my equipment to these six players exclusively because my full equipment was worth at least 50 million RMB. It would be insanity to lend them to someone I didn¡¯t really know and risk them logging off after they got my equipment. It wasn¡¯t long before all six players appeared at the class skill training center. Chaos Moon asked me with a smile, "Are you sure you want to lend us your equipment, Lu Chen?" I smiled back. "Why not?" High Fighting Spirits looked moved. "Vice leader, you know that your equipment is worth a lot of money, right?" I chuckled. "So what? I trust all of you. Anyway, I¡¯m going to unequip my equipment now. Get in a line so we can do this one by one." "Okay!" My equipment made a sound every time I unequipped one of them. Soon, I was wearing only a newbie¡¯s shirt and pants. As I passed my equipment Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon looked me up and down with a dubious smile on her face, "Looking good, Lu Chen. Mind if I cop a feel or two?" "Touch yourself, girl!" That was the only response I could muster. Female gangsters like her could drive people up a wall if she really wanted to. While Chaos Moon was giggling, Gui Guzi had already put on my equipment and learned Barrier Break. Then, he passed my equipment to Xu Yang. Xu Yang just barely crawled into Level 120 a short while ago, so he was overjoyed to be able to learn Barrier Break. After Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and Chaos Moon learned Barrier Break as well, my equipment finally returned to my hands, and thank god for that. Chaos Moon¡¯s gaze was really starting to make me feel uncomfortable. Xu Yang waved his sword at the air in front of him and let out a shout. A bloody, cone-shaped light immediately appeared at the tip of his sword and penetrated the air. It was none other than Barrier Break of course. The skill was as gorgeous as it was useful. A low-level skill wouldn¡¯t have this level of visual effects attached to them. "Hahaha¡­" Xu Yang laughed like a madman. "This is awesome! If I had to rely on myself, I might not be able to learn this skill even if I was Level 150! Lu Chen, your equipment is seriously awesome, hahaha¡­" High Fighting Spirits also copied Xu Yang¡¯s movement and stabbed the air in front of him. Again, a bloody, cone-shaped light appeared at the tip of his battle axe. The visual effect did look incredibly cool. At this point, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun couldn¡¯t hold back anymore. They also showed off their Barrier Break in front of me. Chiang! Not to be outdone, I unsheathed the Heaven-stealing Sword and smiled. "Looks like I need to teach you noobs what a real Break looks like¡­" They didn¡¯t understand what I meant, but that was fine. After I activated Universe Break, an Eight Trigrams formation appeared beneath my feet, and I thrust forward to conjure an indigo-colored, cone-shaped energy in front of my sword. Beautiful puffs of air also circled the skill as it cut through the air. Long story short, Universe Break¡¯s visual effect was much cooler than Barrier Break¡¯s! "Wa¡­" Chaos Moon¡¯s mouth fell open for a moment. Then she walked up to me and pulled my arm with both hands. "What is that skill, Lu Chen? It¡¯s so beautiful! Can I learn it?" I shook my head. "I¡¯m sorry, but you can¡¯t. It¡¯s a unique skill that only the Undead Swordsman class can learn. More specifically, it¡¯s what my ¡®Desperate Gambit¡¯ evolved into..." "Uuuu¡­" Chaos Moon sounded incredibly displeased. "It¡¯s so unfair. I can¡¯t believe you got to learn such a beautiful skill. You¡¯re going to break so many hearts with this, you womanizer¡­" I stared at her. "Skills are used to kill players and mobs, girl. Whoever told you it¡¯s used to break hearts? Even if I could, I would never use such a low pickup tactic¡­" Everyone laughed until Li Chengfeng said, "Seriously though, this Coldblade War is incredibly rewarding, and our guild was the biggest winner of them all. At least 40 of our players are over Level 120, and practically all of them have completed their fifth promotion quests. In fact, we have the most number of fifth-promotion players in the world right now!" I smiled. "Yeah, so let¡¯s grind hard and maintain our lead, everyone. Speaking of which, it¡¯s probably time to expand our sub-guilds. Xu Yang, please discuss this with our guild members and select five reliable players to become the guild leaders. The plan is to increase our number of sub-guilds by five in one go and grind up their ranks as quickly as possible. After all, we can¡¯t fight in Nation Wars with just the main guild and Bloody Mercenaries alone." Xu Yang nodded and said in English, "OK, I GOT IT!" Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and me immediately stared at him in shock. "What the fuck, since when can you speak English? That¡¯s amazing!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a system announcement suddenly dinged above the city¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that player "Wind Fantasy" has killed the Spirit Rank boss, Odala the Wild Soul and summoned its territory. The territory is located at location (47893, 90483) of Sky City, and is temporarily occupied by the Dark Elves. Defeat the Dark Elves and take control of the guild hall for 5 hours to obtain permanent ownership of the guild territory! ¡­¡­ We exchanged disbelieving glances with each other until Xu Yang sucked in a deep breath and broke the silence. "Holy shit, Beauty Lin is amazing. She literally murdered the second guild territory of Sky City into existence. What do we do?" Li Chengfeng placed his Tempest Sword on his shoulder and declared, "Do you even need to say it? Snowy Cathaya is our closest ally. Let¡¯s rally our people and help her take over this guild territory right now!" I opened the world map and put the coordinates in. I discovered that it was situated at the end of Dragonbone Mountain Range and was right at the border between our city and Vanished God City¡¯s domain. To its left was a monster-infested forest, and to its right was a blue and vast unexplored area. The territory was surrounded by high-level mobs, and it was at most half an hour away from Dark Moon City. This meant that it was possible for both cities to reinforce each other if necessary. Long story short, the territory was a great one, and we absolutely had to secure it for Snowy Cathaya. We wouldn¡¯t have it any other way. If it fell into enemy hands, we would have a foe just half an hour away from us. Who could rest easy with an enemy so close to them? Ding~! Chapter 504: New Opponen Lin Yixin: "..." A few seconds later, she sent another message: "The guild territory just spawned so we still have some time. Anyway, what I wanted to ask was, did you help your fighters learn Barrier Break already?" "Yeah." "How many?" "Me, Eve, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds, Chaos Moon, and Xu Yang. Eight total. Oh right, my skill is a bit special. It¡¯s called Universe Break, and it¡¯s a bit stronger." Lin Yixin didn¡¯t say anything for a time. Then, she turned on the communicator and talked to me directly, "There are 8 players in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls who learned Barrier Break already? This is so unfair. Purple Marquis and I are the only ones in the entire Snowy Cathaya who could learn it. The rest didn¡¯t have the Strength to learn the skill even with my equipment because almost none of them put 5 points into their Strength stat. Dammit¡­" I gave her a reassuring smile and said, "Relax, they¡¯ll be able to learn the skill when they¡¯re Level 140 or so¡­ but yes, right now is the time you need Barrier Break the most." "I know right¡­" Lin Yixin sighed. We both knew that Barrier Break was a skill that added attack power and shredded both defenses and spell shields. It was the trump card to use when you were planning to one-shot a target, especially when you were facing a mage. Barrier Break ignored Magic Shields and the like, meaning that it could hit a mage or priest regardless. Therefore, one might say that this skill existed to terrorize all magic players. Also, if a player met the Strength requirement to learn Barrier Break, then they almost certainly had the power to one-shot a mage of the same level with this skill alone. The era of barbaric violence had officially dawned upon Heavenblessed! Moreover, the skill was equally effective against metal armor classes such as magic knights because it ignored a large percentage of Defense and increased the user¡¯s attack power. No magic knight, no matter how tanky, could take a blow and claim that it was just a flesh wound. This was especially true during positional warfare where the magic knights couldn¡¯t break away from the defense line. If a frontliner ate a Barrier Break that also turned out to be a critical hit, they could very well die on the spot and cause a hole to appear in the defense line. If the defense line was broken, then the battle could be lost as well. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin and I entered a short discussion before we rallied our respective players. Inside the guild channel, the chat was bustling with activity¡ª Beiming Xue: "A new guild territory just spawned~~" I replied: "Yes, and Wind Fantasy is the one who killed a boss and made it spawn. Snowy Cathaya fought to the death to give us our first guild territory, so now is the time to repay that favor. Brothers and sisters, get ready to head to the meeting spots. We¡¯re going to activate the guild contribution point system for this territory war, so every PvP kill will grant you contribution points. Long story short, work hard and you¡¯ll be able to exchange them for high-grade equipment once you¡¯ve accumulated enough!" Li Chengfeng chuckled: "Hehe, this is the perfect opportunity to test out Barrier Break on some unfortunate mages and magic knights¡­" He Yi echoed in agreement: "I learned it too!" Xu Yang: "Same¡­" I continued talking in the guild channel: "Guild leader, can you decide where we should meet up later? Also, we should take a short time off to repair and resupply ourselves since this territory war might last a long time. Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace, Gods of Destruction, and the like are sure to show up, so everyone should be ready for a long and hard battle. By the way, I¡¯ve set it so that every player kill gives 100 contribution points. If you want them Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment and Spirit-grade equipment, then do your best to kill the enemies. Let the points stack up!" My encouragement was successful, and the morale of the guild became even higher than before. He Yi declared: "The new territory is less than an hour away from Dark Moon City, so let¡¯s head to Dark Moon City right away and meet up at the plains outside the southern gate. Everyone in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Bloody Mercenaries is required to participate. We¡¯re going to give it our all, okay?" We all answered her in unison: "Got it. We¡¯ll be there immediately!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The moment I returned to the territory, I immediately saw Dark Knight Hero Udal moving toward me from a distance. After he got off his horse and dropped to his knees, he declared solemnly, "My lord, an unclaimed territory just appeared not far away from our location. Is there any order you would like to give us? Your 31 Skeletal Spearmen, 50 Zombies, 150 Dark Knights and 100 Umbra Sharpshooters will follow you to the ends of the world and conquer any territory for you!" I was surprised by this, but I quickly came to terms with it. It made sense that the territory¡¯s NPC army could be used for both defense and offense. They couldn¡¯t attack players outside the territory, but they definitely could be used to attack an unclaimed territory such as the one that just appeared a moment ago. Unfortunately, this was just the beginning of the era of warlords, and this one territory was literally the only territory Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls possessed right now. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to call the troops of Dark Moon City my babies, so I couldn¡¯t possibly throw them to the wolves that were sure to swarm the new territory. Yeah, Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, and the rest of the idiots could die for the cause instead. It wouldn¡¯t hurt my feelings one bit... Swhoosh! A beautiful and familiar figure suddenly appeared from the teleportation formation. It was none other than Lin Yixin on her Frostscythe Warhorse. The Frozen Sword in one hand, she jumped off the horse and ran out of the gate in a hurry. Clearly, Snowy Cathaya had set our territory as their meeting spot as well. Dark Moon City was less than an hour away from the new territory, while Sky City was not. More importantly, anyone who tried to make the journey from Sky City would have to pass through many danger zones like the Dragonbone Mountain Range itself and travel for at least an hour. As a result, it was only logical that the guilds who wanted to tournament for the guild territory would take off from Dark Moon City. When I thought up to this point, I immediately blocked Warsky Alliance, Gods of Destruction, Hegemon Palace, and all other guilds who were enemies of Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls from being able to use Dark Moon City¡¯s teleportation formation. You want to grab the new guild territory? Then you are more than welcome to make the journey on foot, thank you! This guild territory was spawned through Lin Yixin¡¯s blood, sweat, and tears. There was no way I was going to surrender it to them. ¡­¡­ I also sent a message to Ling Xueshang and got a response in no time. The Monarch Descends was one of our allies, so they gladly agreed to help out Snowy Cathaya. In return, we would repay the favor by securing the third guild territory for The Monarch Descends when it spawned in Sky City! Outside the city, Gui Guzi, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, He Yi, and the other riders were already waiting at the plains. The rest of us¡ªme, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, and so on¡ªslowly made our way to the meeting spot. We were in no hurry because the territory was fresh and full of NPC mobs. Why waste the time and effort to clear out the mobs ourselves when the enemy guilds would do the dirty work themselves? Our players quickly filled up the edges of the forest, and it wasn¡¯t long before almost ten thousand Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul players were ready to set out. Directly south of us, Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends were gathering as well. That wasn¡¯t all. A group of players emerged from the eastern forest, and they belonged to none other than Warsky Alliance. It would seem that they were grinding close to Dark Moon City all this time, or there was no way to explain how they showed up at Dark Moon City this quickly. Warsky was standing at the vanguard, and he was accompanied by October Rain, Laughing At The Heavens, and Farewell Song. No one could say that Warsky Alliance was a weak guild. ¡­¡­ Warsky ran toward me before pointing his sword at me. "I¡¯m disappointed in you, Lu Chen. You shouldn¡¯t have blocked off our teleportation access to Dark Moon City. Am I right in assuming that you have no intentions of changing your mind?" I took a few steps toward him myself before smiling. "Why would I? That was then, this is now. Warsky Alliance wasn¡¯t going to give up this guild territory, so why would I let you teleport your players in and make things harder for ourselves? By the way, I have a question for you. You don¡¯t really think you can beat Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, do you?" Warsky grinned. "We haven¡¯t even unveiled our trump card yet, and you¡¯re already calling yourselves the victor? Isn¡¯t it far too early to make declarations like that?" "Trump card?" "Hmph!" Warsky let out a cold snort before turning his back toward me and yelling to his players. There were almost a thousand of them. "Come on! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls won¡¯t let us use their territory, so we¡¯ll have to fetch our brothers and sisters at Cool Wind Forest! We can duke it out with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls at the new guild territory later!" Warsky Alliance¡¯s players shot us unfriendly looks. Clearly, their dislike for us was growing by the second. It was at this moment He Yi suddenly pointed toward the distance. "Lu Chen, look! That¡¯s¡­" "Fuck!" I cursed beneath my breath, A high-level fighter was walking not far behind Warsky, and he was clad in excellent black metal armor and wielded a burning long sword. He carried the emblem of Warsky Alliance on his shoulder, and the lines of text floating above his head were¡ª Lin Bing Dou Zhe LV-122 Platinum Warrior Guild: Warsky Alliance Guild Position: Vice Leader Famous General Skill: Renown ¡­¡­ "Vice leader, Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡­" Li Chengfeng muttered out loud. "I was thinking who had the power to steal Lin Bing Dou Zhe from under our noses, and it was Warsky? Hmph! It could be a ploy of October Rain too. At any rate, we gotta watch out for that Renown. It is as formidable as it sounds¡­" He Yi was also staring at Warsky Alliance with hostility. "Warsky gave Farewell Song¡¯s vice leader position to Lin Bing Dou Zhe immediately after he joined. That man sure knows how to win a person¡¯s loyalty. I doubt there¡¯s anyone who can persuade Lin Bing Dou Zhe to leave Warsky right now." Xu Yang nodded. "People who are swayed by money aren''t really a big threat. That is why Little Piglet isn¡¯t our biggest enemy. But if Lin Bing Dou Zhe joins Warsky because he owes a debt to the latter or something, then we absolutely must keep an eye on him. He will fight us to the bitter end if that is the will of Warsky!" Li Chengfeng and Xu Yang looked at me in unison. "What do you think, Lu Chen?" Chapter 505: Royal Knights He Yi nodded and pulled out Whirlwind. She ordered, ¡°The location is (47893, 90483). Everyone, march!¡± Gui Guzi immediately formed a 100-man party. Gui Guzi was now a fifth-promotion player who could party a maximum of 50 players, but since he was also a Famous General, that number was doubled to 100. This meant that Gui Guzi could share his Knight God with 100 mounted players including Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. The grinding of Fireblade Cavalry had never stopped since the day I founded it, so we just barely captured enough Fireblade Horses to make 100 Fireblade Cavalrymen. The 100 riders would be our trump card in any battle that took place on an open plain. Beiming Xue, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, and I also made our own hundred-man parties. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had 6 Famous Generals right now, meaning that 600 of our players got to share our buffs. They were powerful and numerous enough to make any opponent wish they were dead. Of course, I was aware that our biggest enemy was Warsky Alliance, and they had a lot of Famous Generals too, five to be exact. Warsky, October Rain, Laughing At The Heavens, Farewell Song, and Lin Bing Dou Zhe. Quantity and quality wise, their Famous General Skills were almost at the same level as ours. ¡­¡­ Snowy Cathaya, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and The Monarch Descends stayed separate as we marched across the forest and toward the unclaimed territory. Everyone¡¯s morale was sky high because we just returned from the Coldblade War as the ultimate winners, and we just came back from a 24-hour long rest. Eager and in high spirits, we couldn¡¯t wait to fight our very first battle after the server came back online. Moreover, there were over 100 fifth-promotion players in Sky City right now, so this territory war also counted as a face-off between all the fifth-promotion players in Sky City. I looked at everyone and said, "Their fighters are going to be at the frontline of course, so everyone who learned Barrier Break should be at the frontline as well. Use Barrier Break and your combos to one-shot their magic knights, okay?" Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng, and the others nodded. "Got it!" I nodded. "That¡¯s right! Once we¡¯ve secured this guild territory, we will have established a solid foothold in Sky City. Not even Candle Dragon will be able to threaten us after that!" He Yi chuckled. "Yes. We all have to do our best!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, our frontliners came to a halt. Staring at a side of the forest with a hint of caution in her eyes, Beiming Xue declared, "About a hundred players are hiding down that direction! It¡¯s an ambush!" She wasn¡¯t even finished speaking when a hail of arrows pierced the air and hit our frontliners. Swhoosh! That wasn¡¯t all. A spiraling arrow was hidden amidst the arrow rain, and it landed next to Gui Guzi before bursting into an explosion. The magic knight and the riders around him all shuddered from the impact. It was incredibly rare to find an archer who could deal over 2000 damage to Gui Guzi these days. Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes sharpened as she exclaimed in anger. "It¡¯s the Archer¡¯s fifth-promotion skill, the Spiraling Arrow Blade!" Spiraling Arrow Blade was an offensive skill that dealt damage to an area of 3x3 yards. As an AoE skill, it was far more powerful than a Multi Arrow or Volley Arrow, and it possessed amazing Defense penetration. This was one of the reasons a fifth-promotion archer was drastically more powerful than a fourth-promotion archer, and none of us was expecting to be intercepted by one while we were still marching through the forest. Chiang! Gui Guzi pulled out Rainbow from behind his back and yelled angrily, "Fireblade Cavalry, ride with me and slaughter them all!" I also ran to the front and looked as far away as I could, relying on my level advantage to give me information. There were a hundred or so green dots on the mini map, but that wasn¡¯t enough people to take out Gui Guzi¡¯s Fireblade Cavalry. Even before Gui Guzi activated Knight God, they already didn¡¯t belong in the same weight class as our riders. The gap was only bigger after our riders¡¯ Attack and Defense were doubled. At the same time, Beiming Xue and her hundred-man-strong archer party attempted to flank the enemy from the right wing. The girl had jumped to the edge of the forest and hid herself behind a bush, revealing only a pair of eyes above the grass. Slowly drawing the Blazing Shadow Bow and aiming at a certain location, she abruptly loosed a Spiraling Arrow Blade and caused a spiral explosion! Bang! Four enemy archers were sent flying out of their hiding spot. They were dead before they even hit the ground. I had to admit that the fifth-promotion skill was incredibly powerful, and that it was the perfect tool to one-shot an enemy. At the same time, Gui Guzi reached a different archer and pierced his chest with a spear beam, dealing 8904 damage. Although he wasn¡¯t a 5-Strength magic knight, his attack power was still very deadly and terrifying. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and the others also charged into the enemies and inflicted various injuries and painful screams upon the enemy. I had no doubt that we could take out our opponents without suffering any losses, but the problem was that these ambushers belonged to Hegemon Palace. "What on earth is Pillar of the Nation planning?" He Yi sounded a bit confused. "Did he seriously believe that he could defeat our thirteen-thousand-strong army with these small fries?" I smiled. "It¡¯s simple. He¡¯s just trying to delay us while he comes up with a plan to steal the territory from beneath Warsky Alliance¡¯s nose. If I¡¯m not mistaken, Hegemon Palace, Gods of Destruction, Flower Room, and Mad Dragon are plotting something as well. Warsky Alliance¡¯s momentum is too great, and they cannot possibly hope to stop them." "You¡¯re right!" He Yi nodded. "In that case, let us ignore these distractions and continue our march!" We continued forward at the same speed as before while Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue¡¯s parties hunted down the stragglers. If we didn¡¯t reach the guild territory as soon as possible, there was a high chance Warsky Alliance or Hegemon Palace would finish preparing an unpleasant surprise for us. ¡­¡­ Half an hour later, we marched out of the forest and into a wide plain. At the center of the plain was a newly-established elven city, and at the center of the elven city was a hall. It was surrounded by various simple-looking Rank 1 buildings such as Elf Tree, Owl Nests, and so on. The walls were really wooden fences, and they didn¡¯t look very sturdy at all. It might be faster and more convenient to just flatten them when we breach the city. "Looks like a lot of people have arrived¡­" Gui Guzi pointed his spear at the city with a smile. "And it looks like the waters are equally murky¡­" It was as he said when we marched closer and could see inside the city properly. Warsky Alliance had taken out all the NPC mobs already, and his generals¡ªLin Bing Dou Zhe, October Rain and so on¡ªwere commanding the defenses and stopping all enemy forces from getting inside. I didn¡¯t see Warsky anywhere, which probably meant that he was guarding the hall. He had entrusted the outer defense to his three CGL Hall of Famers and the new recruit, Lin Bing Dou Zhe. That "Renown" of his was incredibly powerful, and it didn¡¯t have a class restriction, just like my Martial God. It was no wonder Warsky Alliance gave off an aura of invincibility right now. A sea of players encircled the city from every direction, but every last one of them had red name tags, meaning that they were all our enemies. Just as I had predicted earlier, Flower Room and Mad Dragon had gathered around eighty thousand players and surrounded the territory completely. They were forbidding all unfriendly guilds from getting close to the territory. Meanwhile, Gods of Destruction and Hegemon Palace were attacking the territory with everything they got. Clearly, the four guilds had come to a temporary alliance. Looking at Mad Dragon, I saw Roaming Dragon sitting atop his mount, gripping his spear with one hand and hugging Coldmoon Rose¡¯s waist with the other. Ever once in a while, the girl would shoot a flirtatious look at some player from Mad Dragon. It looked like the girl had caught the legendary illness called "I¡¯ll die if I don¡¯t flirt¡±. It was at this moment Roaming Dragon raised his spear and shouted, "Do not let even a fly move past you, brothers and sisters of Mad Dragon! Remember, everyone in ¡®Royal Knights¡¯ gets to enjoy the same benefits once we took over this territory!" Ah, I see. The four of them joined forces and formed an alliance called "Royal Knights", is that it? I couldn¡¯t help but smile a little. Stepping out of the battle line and pointing the Heaven-stealing Sword at Roaming Dragon, I said, "So overbearing. Do you fools really think you can keep this territory to yourself?" A bit of hatred peeked out of Coldmoon Rose¡¯s eyes as she said, "Try us then, Lu Chen. We¡¯ve brought all our main guilds and sub-guilds together, and there are almost 200 thousand of us. You don¡¯t have nearly enough people to beat us!" I laughed. "Bold words for a useless mob. You could gather twenty billion people, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would still annihilate you all!" I then raised my sword and shouted, "Brothers and sisters, it is time to let these so-called ¡®Royal Knights¡¯ have a taste of your skill and blade, and show them what an unbeatable army really is! I want every last member of Mad Dragon and Flower Room wiped from the surface of the earth, and I want everyone with a red name tag dead before the day is over! Red is dead! Charge!" The battle broke out immediately. To our sides, Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends also launched their assault. First, we would take out the Royal Knights. Then, we would chase Warsky Alliance out of the elven hall! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Gui Guzi broke into a gallop at first notice, and a Level 121 magic knight rushed forward to face him. Considering the amount of Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment on his person, he was probably a core player of Flower Room. Unfortunately for this guy, his opponent was the Undying Knight Gui Guzi. There was a shower of sparks as the magic knight swung mightily at Gui Guzi¡¯s shield. However, it failed to do much damage to Gui Guzi. Gui Guzi retaliated with a thrust of his own spear. A blazing cone of energy appeared at the tip of Rainbow, and the roars of an animal could be heard vaguely. Chapter 506: Barrier Break Show Its Power "Guard?¡± The corners of Gui Guzi¡¯s lips curled upward. "Idiot!" The blood, cone-shaped energy that was Barrier Break pierced the magic knight¡¯s shield, his chest and his back. At the same time, a huge damage number popped up above his head¡ª 16897! What a tragedy for that magic knight. He must be one of those people who didn¡¯t go over online guides frequently and so he had no idea what the properties of Barrier Break actually were. In fact, it was stated right in the official database that one of Barrier Break¡¯s unique effects was its ability to ignore Defense. If the enemy entered a defensive stance, then Barrier Break would penetrate their shield and armor and deal even more damage than normal! The magic knight lost over 80% of its HP in one go, and his shield was knocked above his head. His defensive stance was broken, and his weak points such as his chest, stomach, neck and so on were all exposed to Gui Guzi. The Undying Knight¡¯s skill was first-rate, and he had no problems exploiting this level of opening to deal a critical blow to his opponent. As expected, Gui Guzi penetrated his opponent¡¯s neck with a basic attack and caused blood to bleed out of the wound like a burst pipe. He pulled out his Rainbow Spear, and the Level 121 magic knight collapsed to the ground and died just like that. The poor guy probably didn¡¯t expect the power gap between himself and Gui Guzi to be this big. It didn¡¯t take Gui Guzi even a full combo to take him out of the fight! "Attack!" Xu Yang raised his sword and barked out the order. By now, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had spread out their formation and formed a battle line about several hundred meters long or so. They quickly engaged Flower Room¡¯s troops in a melee battle. Swhoosh¡­ Darting toward the frontline, Chaos Moon swung her sword straight at an incoming magic knight. At first, the magic knight was planning to ignore her attack and retaliate with his own swing, but he was quickly overcome by shock when a bloody cone appeared in front of her sword. It was the visual effect of Barrier Break of course! The magic knight groaned. "Fuck me, another fighter with Barrier Break? What is wrong with my luck today?" Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and He Yi had also engaged the enemy. Four cones of bloody energy dazzled the battlefield at nearly the same time, and the four Mad Dragon players who were unfortunate enough to be standing right in front of them let out pitiful groans and died just like that. ¡­¡­ "Motherfucker, stop them! There are eighty thousand of us and only fifteen thousand of them!" Roaming Dragon roared angrily while gripping his spear tightly. He clearly wasn¡¯t expecting to see so many players with Barrier Break in our ranks. Every time the skill was used, it almost always meant that a player was deleted from the battlefield. Worse, its cooldown was only 6 seconds. That was enough to make both Mad Dragon and Flower Room¡¯s players cry like bitches. Roaming Dragon rushed toward Chaos Moon and used Magic Piercing Slash. However, Chaos Moon easily blocked it with her wristguard¡ªtaking 4000 damage or so¡ªbefore the priests quickly healed her back to full health. It was a completely negligible amount of damage. Chaos Moon smiled brightly and swung her sword again. This time, her Barrier Break was directed at Roaming Dragon! Pu! 12780! Roaming Dragon¡¯s equipment was amazing because it was bought with boundless wealth. Even then, Chaos Moon still dealt an insane amount of damage to the man. The Mad Dragon guild leader was so terrified that he withdrew immediately with a pale complexion. Clearly, a Martial God¨Cempowered Barrier Break was beyond Roaming Dragon¡¯s ability to withstand. Chaos Moon didn¡¯t pursue him. She continued fighting where she was and protected her backliners from danger. Beiming Xue and her 100 archers were like walking artillery. She had over 170 Tactics right now, so her Bow God boosted her party members¡¯ long range attack power by 135% and attack speed by 54%. It was hell for the Mad Dragon players who had to withstand the seemingly endless rain of arrows. Boom! A vortex exploded in the middle of a group of enemy players, and it was none other than Beiming Xue¡¯s Spiraling Arrow Blade. The skill was so powerful that not even those who were clad in metal armor could endure it. It was because Beiming Xue had a base Attack of almost 2000, and after adding her equipment stats and Bow God her total Attack was over 6000! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had 12 fifth-promotion archers, and their skills didn¡¯t have a strict requirement. More accurately, they could be learned just by paying a sum of gold. What this meant was that we had 12 archers who could use Spiraling Arrow Blade, and they were all buffed by Bow God. It was like having 12 walking cannons firing laser-guided missiles into the enemy lines, slaughtering them en masse. Roaming Dragon was hurt by the casualties to say the least. Thud! Suddenly, Beiming Xue stumbled backward a bit. It was because an arrow had pierced her chest and dealt 4789 damage. The shooter was none other than Coldmoon Rose herself. "Uuuu¡­" Beiming Xue gritted her teeth and snapped the arrow in her chest in half. She then changed her stratagem to Range, drew her bow and launched a Spiraling Arrow Blade and Evil Spirit Volley at Coldmoon Rose. Roaming Dragon¡¯s woman wasn¡¯t nearly as quick as Beiming Xue was, so all she could do was stand there and watch as the arrows of death sailed toward her. Bang bang bang... Roaming Dragon appeared just in time to block the arrows with his giant shield and save his woman from danger, but he also took massive damage as a result of it. He had almost 25k HP, and two skills from Beiming Xue was all it took to delete over half of it. He grabbed Coldmoon Rose and withdrew to the back. He knew full well that engaging the dark archer in a direct battle would only result in certain death for both of them. ¡­¡­ The battle was intense, but only if you looked at it from an action perspective. It was a complete one-sided slaughter in favor of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, and The Monarch Descends. Mad Dragon and Flower Room simply weren¡¯t strong enough to withstand us at all. "Motherfucker! Fight to your last breath, everyone! Don¡¯t you take even a step away from the enemy!" At the distance, one of the Gemini Stars of Mad Dragon, Inconstant, shouted atop a black warhorse, "Since the beginning of Heavenblessed, Mad Dragon has been terrorized by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya, and we¡¯ve all had enough of it, haven¡¯t you!? Today we joined forces with Hegemon Palace, Gods of Destruction, and Flower Room to fight against Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and we cannot lose again, you hear me!? Mad Dragon¡¯s honor lies in all our hands! We¡¯d rather die than surrender the precious ground beneath our feet!" Roaming Dragon had retreated, so Inconstant became the commander of Mad Dragon. The Level 123 magic knight was clad in head to toe in high-grade equipment, and some were even of Outstanding quality. Even his shield looked like a Spirit-grade item, so his HP couldn¡¯t be too far behind Gui Guzi¡¯s. Bang! Inconstant swung his spear in front of him and sent some of our fighters stumbling toward the back. As I thought, both his Attack and Defense were incredible, and he blocked in front of his teammates like he was a steel fortress. He refused to budge an inch no matter how many times our archers shot him because his priests were keeping him healthy. He had single-handedly stopped our formation from progressing further. "That arrogant motherfucker, I¡¯ll show him¡­" Xu Yang pounced toward the magic knight and started off right away with a ferocious Barrier Break. Pu! 14890! Inconstant withstood the full brunt of the skill before swinging his spear three times in a row, knocking Xu Yang away from him. At the same time, several columns of holy light descended from the sky and healed him back to full health. There was nothing Xu Yang could do to him at all. He Yi¡¯s eyes sharpened when she saw this. She ordered without hesitation, "Come back, Xu Yang! Lu Chen can deal with him! With this many priests on the battlefield it¡¯s impossible to kill him unless you can one-shot him!" Xu Yang nodded and withdrew as ordered. He shot me a glance and asked, "Can you do it, Lu Chen?" I gripped the Heaven-stealing Sword and declared, "Just watch!" ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t try to rush Inconstant. Instead, I raised my hand and launched a Dragon Slaying Slash at his head, dealing 9804 damage! It was both a greeting and a prelude to my attack. Frankly, I found it beneath me to ambush an opponent at Inconstant¡¯s level. Turning to face me and curving his finger provocatively at me, the magic knight laughed arrogantly but cautiously. "Come at me if you¡¯re a man, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" I gave him a smile before running toward him. The moment I got into range, I immediately unleashed my Ice Cyclone Domain! Swhoosh! Snow fell from the sky, and the ground turned white. It took only an instant for the hot forest to turn into an icy hell. At the same time, countless icicles burst out of the ground and pierced all enemy players within the domain indiscriminately. It wasn¡¯t a powerful skill, but it put great strain onto the enemy¡¯s priests. "Here I come!" The second I stepped in front of Inconstant, a universe formation appeared beneath my feet, and an azure energy appeared at the tip of my blade. I could see his astonishment growing as I thrust the Heaven-stealing Sword straight toward his shield! "What the fuck is this? Is this¡­ Barrier Break?" Inconstant exclaimed in surprise. Pu! 20984! Universe Break was already a Rank 10 skill when I learned it, so no grinding was necessary. Grayish despair overwhelmed Inconstant¡¯s features when he saw how much damage the single skill did to him. The next moment, I executed Burning Blade Slash and slashed his shield three times in a row! Thump... Chapter 507: Breaking the Walls Pu pu pu... Not far away, the elite fighters of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were having a field trip using Barrier Break on cooldown, almost every cast reaping a life. Both Mad Dragon and Flower Room were panicking at this point. They had absolutely no idea how to block an attack that greatly increased its user¡¯s attack power and ignored part of its opponents¡¯ Defense. Moreover, we were able to maintain a tight formation throughout this fight. The magic knights, warriors and wanderers kept the enemies away, the archers and mages launched their arrows and spells into the enemy, and the priests were waiting to heal their targets at first notice. Everyone here was more or less a veteran already because they had gone through multiple battles at this point. Galaxy Storm was the fifth-promotion skill of the Mage class. It was an extremely powerful AoE skill with a radius of three yards, but the power of Ice Dragon Howl. The Mage class was slowly but surely showing its true power, and the fear Moonlight Stone inflicted upon her enemies every time she pointed her staff at their direction was the proof of it. ¡­¡­ Boom! Thousand Ice Slash crashed heavily into a crowd. Since the start of the battle, I had been standing at the forefront and absorbing much of Mad Dragon¡¯s firepower to minimize the amount of damage done to my allies. My Ice Cyclone Domain was also a terror to my enemies because it had a duration of 60 seconds and a cooldown of 30 seconds, meaning that I could put one right beneath my feet to protect myself and throw another one at the enemy mages and archers at the backline to limit their damage output. Ice Cyclone Domain¡¯s icicles weren¡¯t powerful enough to kill the frontliners, but it was powerful enough to take out the mages and archers. No one dared to stay within an Ice Cyclone Domain for more than 6 seconds. High Fighting Spirits looked like he was lost in bloodlust, sending metal armor player after metal armor player packing or killing them outright with his Invincible. He was the general to rely on when your goal was to charge the enemy and tear down their defenses. After executing a Barrier Break, he ran to the front and unleashed Xiezhi Howl, deleting the enemies around him instantly. For a time, no one dared to get close to him. It was amazing! It took only a moment for Mad Dragon and Flower Room to crumble completely. Even Roaming Dragon and Coldmoon Rose had escaped into the city. Had they chosen to stay outside, it was only a matter of time before they died. Mad Dragon and Flower Room had sent at least thirty thousand players to engage us, but we easily crushed them almost as if they didn¡¯t exist. Not only did they fail to delay us for long, we didn¡¯t even take too much damage in the process. We had lost several hundred players at most. To beat Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Mad Dragon and Flower Room would have to first find a way to beat our fighters. If they couldn¡¯t tear down our defense line, they could never deal any significant damage. However, everyone in China knew how powerful our fighters were, and Flower Room and Mad Dragon didn¡¯t even have a Famous General of their own. It was simply impossible for them to break our defenses no matter what they tried. ¡­¡­ "It¡¯s over, we can¡¯t stop them! What do we do?" a Flower Room assassin asked in panic. "Withdraw! We withdraw into the territory and repel the enemies together with Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace, and Gods of Destruction! There is no reason for us to stay outside and play the cannon fodder for them, is there? Come on!" a Mad Dragon captain shouted before attempting to run into the territory. Swhoosh! A person suddenly blitzed across the battlefield like a lightning bolt and stunned the captain. It was me stunning him with Thunderous Charge and killing him with a sword through the back! As if reading my mind, He Yi also activated Charge and arrived next to me. Then, she swung her Whirlwind and killed countless players with a Green Wave Slash. I quickly strode up to the gate before turning around to face the remnants of Mad Dragon and Flower Room. I let out an evil chuckle before declaring, "Don¡¯t even think about escaping inside! Kill them all, brothers and sisters! Leave no one alive!" He Yi quickly ran up to me and lifted her Ice Soul Barrier above our heads. A second later, a hail of arrows and magic attacks hit her shield from above. Despite her tankiness, half of her HP was deleted in just half a minute. No one was tanky enough to withstand constant bombardment without healing. It was at this moment Gui Guzi and the others launched a ferocious offense. This time, they penetrated Mad Dragon and Flower Room¡¯s formation completely and tore it into pieces in no time. Our assassins also seized the opening to slip among the mages, archers and priests and claimed their lives. "Motherfucker! You¡¯re not going to kill me this easily¡­" a Level 119 Flower Room mage shouted angrily and launched an Ice Dragon Howl at Chaos Moon in an attempt to freeze her. However, his action only pissed the woman off, encouraging her to charge toward him. When her strike only managed to leave a ripple on his Magic Shield, the mage laughed arrogantly and said, "My Magic Shield¡¯s tenacity is boosted by over 70%! You¡¯ll never be able to break it, little girl!" Chaos Moon smiled and lifted her sword horizontally in front of her. The next moment, a bloody cone of energy appeared at the tip of her sword! 9043! The Barrier Break pierced the mage¡¯s defenses and left a bloody hole at the center of his chest. Eyes widening, the mage couldn¡¯t seem to believe that his Magic Shield had failed him at his time of need. It was only during his final moments did he recall that Barrier Break largely ignored Magic Shields. The mage¡¯s death shattered Flower Room¡¯s morale. What else could the rest of them do if even an elite mage with an unusually strong Magic Shield was one-shot by the enemy¡¯s fighters? That was even ignoring the fact that their frontline had crumbled some time ago. The fight had turned into a one-sided slaughter, and they were the prey. Not far away, Li Chengfeng was zigzagging between three players and catching one of them with a Barrier Break. The archer he killed was one of Flower Room¡¯s best experts, Night Sorrow. The next moment, he used a Dragonbone Flurry and killed Spring Mud as well. Finally, he ran rings around Moon Shadow to block their escape and killed him with another Barrier Break and Cyan Dragon Horn after the 6-second cooldown was finished. Forget winning, Ego workshop couldn¡¯t even put up a respectable fight against the dragon warrior. If Flower Room¡¯s morale wasn¡¯t destroyed before, it was now. They stared at the three dead bodies of Ego workshop in despair and shouted madly, "It¡¯s all over, Spring Mud, Night Sorrow and Moon Shadow are all dead! We¡¯re going to lose¡­" ¡­¡­ In less than ten minutes, every Flower Room and Mad Dragon player outside the city was routed. While Murong Mingyue was ordering people around and sweeping the battlefield for loot, He Yi, Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, and me were attacking the city gate. Gui Guzi asked, "Boss, this iron gate has high Defense and durability. I don¡¯t think we¡¯re breaching it anytime soon. What should we do?" I replied, "Ignore it. Even if we manage to breach it, we¡¯ll still be surrounded and attacked from every direction. Listen, everyone! The walls of this elven castle are extremely fragile, so break down the walls instead! Once we push down the walls, we¡¯ll be able to trample this city beneath our feet!" On an archer tower, Dominating Archer God was stunned by my command. A second later, he hastily shouted to Dominating Heaven Blade inside the city, "Boss, they¡¯ve decided to attack our walls instead of the gates! What do we do!" Standing in the middle of a group of players, Dominating Heaven Blade shouted angrily, "The arrogance! Forget the gates and guard the walls instead! This is a Rank 1 territory, and the walls are too weak to withstand a siege. I want everyone to dish out every bit of firepower they have! Remember, we are inside the city, so we are the ones who have the vision and range advantage! Let¡¯s blast the bastards from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to hell and back!" Nighttime arrived, and the environment quickly became shrouded in darkness. Then, countless fireballs, wind blades, icicles, and arrows flew out of the city and rained down on us. Although the territory was small, our enemies had found a way to squeeze hundreds of thousands of players inside it. Moreover, they were the elites of Warsky Alliance, Gods of Destruction, and Hegemon Palace, so their firepower couldn¡¯t be underestimated one bit. "Chengfeng, Xu Yang, come break the walls with me! High Fighting Spirits, you¡¯re coming with me as well! I want you to use your Stamp and lower the wall¡¯s Defense! This is your main task for now, understand?" "Yessir!" High Fighting Spirits happily charged the city walls with a bunch of fighters and used Xiezhi Howl, the skill instantly vaporizing a huge chunk of durability from the wooden fences. Stamp lowers the target¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist by 20%, and with his current Tactics he could lower the wooden fences¡¯ Defense by 50%. In fact, the higher the Defense of a city wall, the better the effects of his skill were. Long story short, High Fighting Spirits would be responsible for breaking down the gates and walls in all future siege battles. He would be our head demolisher, so to speak. Beiming Xue activated Range and shouted, "Use Far Shot to shoot into the city!" Twang twang twang¡­ Our archer party loosed a volley of arrows into the city. Although the hit rate and attack power of the attack was greatly reduced, the point was to suppress the enemy¡¯s firepower and enabled the rest of us to carry out our tasks. I stood as close to the walls as possible before tossing two Ice Cyclone Domains into the city. Then, I tossed out my Heaven-stealing Sword and enjoyed the sight of Sword Boomerang annihilating an entire row of archers. They had no idea how the sword magically appeared among them. Thud! I caught the hilt of the Heaven-stealing Sword firmly before breaking into a grin. Next, I raised my hand and launched a Dragon Slaying Slash at a mage who forgot to activate his Magic Shield. Chapter 508: Mob ¡­¡­ "Hey, Lu Chen. Long time no see." The wooden fence was less than a meter wide, and Little Piglet greeted me with a smile from the opposite side. I was surprised to hear it, to be honest. I grinned back. "When is your contract with Wang Dongliang going to be over? Or are you actually planning to renew it? This would mean we would still be enemies though." Little Piglet laughed. "Renew my contract? That¡¯s not a bad idea. My guild leader treats me well, he pays me exactly the sum we agreed on, and he even introduced me to a couple of beautiful, sexy ladies from time to time. Every day, I get to enjoy a couple of drinks with the babes at the bar after I finish my day¡¯s grinding. Pray tell, why would I give up such a wonderful life and move to a different guild?" "Is that so?" "Oh yes¡­" Little Piglet¡¯s eyes suddenly brightened a little. "Plus, staying in Hegemon Palace means I¡¯ll get to fight powerful opponents like you. It¡¯d be an incredibly lonely experience otherwise, hehe. You understand what I mean, don¡¯t you?" Instead of answering him, I abruptly thrust the Heaven-stealing Sword across the wooden fence. As a universe formation appeared beneath my feet, an azure energy appeared at the tip of my blade and stabbed Little Piglet in the chest. I then followed up with a Burning Blade Slash and hit Little Piglet three times in a row. 4 damage numbers appeared above his head in quick succession¡ª 10984! 3879! MISS! 739! The first strike and Universe Break successfully deleted over 50% of Little Piglet¡¯s HP because it was a skill that ignored most of the target¡¯s Defense. However, the Burning Blade Slash didn¡¯t perform nearly as well as I hoped it would. The first hit of the skill landed normally, but the second hit was dodged, and the third hit was knocked away by Little Piglet¡¯s sword! I should¡¯ve known that this would happen. There was a short delay between each hit of the Burning Blade Slash, and while the skill was good enough to one-shot any first-rate player or below, Little Piglet didn¡¯t fall under this category of players. There was also the fact that we were separated by a wooden fence, so I couldn¡¯t move around and strike him from a difficult angle. Otherwise, there was still a good chance for me to one-shot Little Piglet. This was currently my strongest killer combo after all. Little Piglet abruptly trailed off and thrust his own sword at me. It was an Ice Ray Flurry, and just like my skills the three icicles went right through the wooden fence! I swung my sword swiftly to parry the skill. My body shuddered a little as three damage numbers rose above my head¡ª 2014! MISS! 237! Little Piglet looked like he wanted to burst into tears when he saw the amount of damage he did to me. His Vajra boosted his Defense but not his Attack, so forget one-shotting a skilled, tanky player like me, he might not be able to kill me even if I gave him 10 seconds to attack me as he wished. I smiled at Little Piglet and said, "Let¡¯s go for another round!" Little Piglet looked a bit unhappy as he ordered, "Men, seal off this part of the wall!" The magic knights he commanded instantly moved to the walls. They were all riding mounts, and they held their shields up high. As a result, our frontliners¡¯ vision and attack range were greatly reduced. Even the archers¡¯ Far Shots were slightly affected by the maneuver. I waited a couple of seconds before launching an attack again. This time, I aimed at the magic knight directly in front of me. First, I used Universe Break. Then, I used the Burning Blade Slash! 14590! 4092! 3902! 4123! The series of attacks dropped the magic knight to low health instantly. In fact, he would¡¯ve died already if he wasn¡¯t healed by his priests. He stumbled backward in panic and tried to retreat, but I eliminated the last bit of his health with one last Dragon Slaying Slash. Pop! The poor guy¡¯s shield popped out of his body and slid a long, long way across the floor. Little Piglet caught the shield with his foot before shooting me a puzzled and dumbfounded look. "For fuck¡¯s sake, not even a fifth-promotion magic knight with Vajra is tanky enough to withstand a combo from him? Are CGL Hall of Famers really that powerful? I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m definitely making it into the CGL Hall of Fame as well, dammit¡­" Suddenly, a loud guffaw came from the right. "Hahaha, we breached the walls, everyone! Keep it up!" The speaker was none other than High Fighting Spirits himself. He and his task force had already taken down the 3-meter wide wall, but before he could charge into the city, He Yi stopped him and sent him away to take down another section of the wall. The plan was to break down at about one hundred meters worth of walls so that we could march our entire army right in without needing to change our formation to a more fragile one. After all, there were tens of thousands of enemy guilds inside the elven city and countless more opportunistic guilds waiting to catch us from the back. It was better to be safe than sorry in this situation. Crack! Crack! The walls kept crumbling one after another, and the credit mostly went to High Fighting Spirits and his hundred-man party. It was because Stamp didn¡¯t actually reduce a target¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist, it just gave everyone who was buffed by it the ability to ignore a percentage of them. Very soon, all the wooden fences we needed to break to fit our army were broken. He Yi then raised her Whirlwind and ordered, "Begin the push!" Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, and the others immediately moved back to the front of the formation and formed an impenetrable defense line. Enduring the endless hail of arrows and magic spells flying our way, we marched quickly into the elven city as one! "Attack!" Li Chengfeng fired a Reverse Scale Slash that shook the ground like an earthquake and stunned the Gods of Destruction players closest to him. That one skill actually killed seven or eight people in one go. He then rushed into the opening he created and swung his sword around wildly. With my attack speed I could launch a basic attack every 2.5 seconds or so, but Li Chengfeng could do so every 1.2 seconds because he had Blitz. He cut down several magic knights directly in front of him before their priests could heal them. Dominating Heaven Blade raised his sword and growled, "Hold the line, people! Archers, use Far Shot and flush them out of our territory! This place belongs to us Royal Knights, and no one is allowed to touch it except us! Little Piglet, come help us quickly! You have the Famous General Skill to stop Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" But Little Piglet gave Dominating Heaven Blade a grin and said, "Sorry dude, but I¡¯m a member of Hegemon Palace, and it¡¯s my duty to carry out my guild leader¡¯s orders. Just ten seconds ago, the guild leader asked me to reinforce the west side, so I gotta leave like right now. Please don¡¯t falter no matter what, okay? Don¡¯t forget you¡¯re fighting for the honor of Gods of Destruction and the oath of the Royal Knights!" "You fucker¡­" Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s eyes widened in fury, but he didn¡¯t say anything else. Little Piglet was a smart man, and he obviously didn¡¯t want to die here. He knew that Vajra was powerful, but it was one stratagem versus four other super offensive stratagems such as Martial God, Knight God, Royal Road, and Bow God. There was an idiom called "Two fists cannot beat four hands", and he recognized that there was a high chance he would die here if he chose to stay. Gods of Destruction was stuck between a rock and a hard place again after Little Piglet was gone. Although Gods of Destruction was still the second best guild on China¡¯s Guild Ranking, the times had changed, and the era where they dominated the world was ancient history for a long time now. Despite their massive size, they didn¡¯t have a single Famous General. As a result, their frontline was drastically inferior to ours. We had Martial God, Royal Road, Knight God, Blitz, and Stamp, while Gods of Destruction had nothing at all. Of course they weren¡¯t going to be able to stop us. Both sides clashed against one another, and the wet sound of weapons entering flesh and bones rang across the battlefield for a time. Then, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls broke through Gods of Destruction¡¯s defense line with less than 10% casualties. There was nothing Dominating Heaven Blade could do. Despite possessing several times the troops and sub-guilds of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, they were absolutely powerless before our might. Clearly, Famous Generals had become an indispensable force in all upcoming wars, and their value would only increase as their levels went up higher, and their party limit was increased. A Level 120, fifth-promotion player could party up to 50 players, and a Famous General could party twice that amount. At Level 150 and after sixth promotion, it was 200 players for normal players and 400 for Famous Generals. At Level 180 and after seventh promotion, it was 500 players for normal players and 1000 for Famous Generals. When we reached that level, we would¡¯ve finally entered the era of large scale, epic warfare. It was why there was a famous quote on the forums recently. It went something like this: "If you played Heavenblessed for two years and you haven¡¯t become a Famous General, then you might as well not have played¡­" So far, the upper count limit of Famous Generals was unknown. But according to a leak, the first 100 players to become a Famous General would gain impactful Famous General Skills, and everything after that was shoddy at best. Of course, the patch after the World Famous Generals patch could shake things up for all we knew. ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang! Beiming Xue¡¯s Spiraling Arrow Blade kept detonating amidst the enemy¡¯s formation and tearing them into bits. Xu Yang, Chaos Moon and the rest of our fighters had also destroyed most of Gods of Destruction¡¯s frontline. The fight was going to turn into a massacre very, very soon if Dominating Heaven Blade didn¡¯t do something. The guild leader was furious, but he had no choice but to accept the fact that he had lost. To our surprise, he actually raised his sword and ordered, "Everyone, let¡¯s teleport back to Sky City! If those fuckers from Hegemon Palace won¡¯t reinforce us, then we might as well give up this territory!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ A ton of players crushed their return scrolls and vanished into thin air just like that. Those who didn¡¯t manage to do so in time died to our fighters and dropped a lot of equipment. Some distance away, Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends finally appeared as well and met up with us at the center of the square. We all looked at the elven hall where Hegemon Palace¡¯s players were stationed at. Their original quest was to take out Warsky Alliance and occupy the territory hall, but they didn¡¯t expect all three of their allied guilds to fall to us this quickly. For a time, they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. ¡­¡­ "Where¡¯s our ally? Where¡¯s everyone?" Pillar of the Nation walked out with an ugly expression on his face. "Where is Dominating Heaven Blade, Roaming Dragon, and Young Master Le?" Shangguan Wan¡¯er said, "Dominating Heaven Blade was forced to teleport back to Sky City after they lost. Roaming Dragon was killed in action. Young Master Le was one-shot by Wind Fantasy¡­" Chapter 509: Galaxy Storm There were flashes all around the territory hall for a moment. Hegemon Palace had wisely listened to Little Piglet¡¯s advice and teleported back to Sky City before we could engage them. Even if they hadn¡¯t, Little Piglet¡¯s withdrawal from the battle meant that Hegemon Palace only had Shangguan Wan¡¯er to hold the line since both Pillar of the Nation and Profound Puff were second-rate players at best. That wasn¡¯t nearly enough power to hold back Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, let alone all three of our guilds combined. ¡­¡­ In less than an hour, all members of Royal Knights¡ªGods of Destruction, Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon, and Flower Room¡ªwere either routed or scared away from the battlefield. The reason they faltered this quickly was because they had crumbled like sand the very moment they tried to clash against us. Warsky Alliance was the only guild still standing between us and our goal now. Tens of thousands of elite players had walked out of the elven sacred hall following October Rain, Warsky, Laughing At The Heavens and surrounded it. Warsky Alliance was led by five Famous Generals, so we couldn¡¯t underestimate them. Holding her longbow and standing at the entrance of the elven hall, October Rain commented, "Hmm, those idiots who called themselves ¡®Royal Knights¡¯ are all gone. This is what happens when you have all the numbers but none of the unity. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya are a different story though. If we manage to withstand their all-out assault, then there is a chance we might secure this territory. But if not, then we¡¯ll have to admit defeat and wait for another opportunity." Warsky grinned. "Hmph. When two people meet, only one will emerge victorious. Brace yourselves, everyone! It is time to form up and face our enemies!" ¡­¡­ Our formation was directly in front of Warsky Alliance while Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends stood to our left and right respectively. Unfortunately, our position was a bit awkward, so there was no avoiding a direct clash against Warsky Alliance. Swhoosh! Laughing At The Heavens urged his mount forward before growling, "Shield brothers and sisters, come with me to the frontlines! Do not let them get past us no matter what! And¡­ Brother Lin Bing, please come with me as well! The frontline needs you, and your Renown is stronger than my Famous General Skill!" "Okay!" A proud smile was etched on Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s face as he spoke to the people behind him, "Everyone in my party, stay close to me! Let¡¯s show Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls the strength of Warsky Alliance!" Even Warsky himself had moved to the frontline. Clearly, Warsky Alliance was going all out on this one, and whoever won this battle would most likely win this territory war as well. ¡­¡­ Xu Yang immediately raised his sword and shouted, "Attack! Slaughter these bastards to the last!" We all charged upon hearing his call, although none of us was as fast as the Gui Guzi and his Fireblade Cavalry. Activating their Charge as soon as they were close enough, they crashed into the enemy¡¯s frontline in a blur like a shadow. There was at least a 70% chance they could stun whoever they were targeting here. The battle had officially begun! Bang bang bang! Sparks appeared across the entire battle line of Warsky Alliance as the Fireblade Cavalry crashed into them. The blazing riders immediately swung their weapons and hit their enemies with various skills such as Blaze, Ice Ray, Flurry and so on, leaving frightening marks on the enemy¡¯s giant shields. The entire battle line of players was engaged in combat in no time. Warsky Alliance¡¯s players gritted their teeth and guarded with all their might as their shields rattled like fans. At the back, the priests cast healing spells continuously to keep their frontliners above 50% HP. The Fireblade Cavalry¡¯s charge was deadly, but they were able to endure it without losing anyone. Tsk tsk, these people were nothing like the small fries from Royal Knights alright. This one clash was all it took to show who was a real pro and who wasn¡¯t. Gui Guzi stabbed a magic knight twice with his Rainbow, but he wasn¡¯t able to kill him. Furious, he used Barrier Break, manifested fiery, cone-shaped energy at the tip of his spear and dealt 15873 damage. This time, the low-health magic knight dropped to the ground and died. "How dare you!" Furious at the loss of a comrade, Laughing At The Heavens attacked Gui Guzi repeatedly and successfully deleted over 7000 HP in one combo. Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ Hundred Battles was a stratagem that increased his Attack by 60% and attack speed by 20%, and his priests were healing him from behind. All in all, he just barely had enough power to fight a Knight God-empowered Gui Guzi head-on. The two super magic knights hit each other again and again, and it didn¡¯t look like a winner could be decided anytime soon. Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng was running toward an enemy warrior and swinging his Tempest Sword. But both fighters were surprised when sword met sword, and Li Chengfeng actually lost the Strength battle and stumbled a step backward. When he looked up and narrowed his eyes, he realized that his opponent was none other than Lin Bing Dou Zhe himself! Li Chengfeng reacted immediately and rushed Lin Bing Dou Zhe instead of retreating like most players would. Slamming his shoulder into Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s chest, he raised his sword and slashed the man¡¯s neck three times in a row! Both his angle and his strength were absolutely impeccable! 4798! 5102! 4429! Unfortunately, Li Chengfeng¡¯s Blitz enhanced his attack speed but not his Attack, while Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s Renown enhanced both his Attack and his Defense. Therefore, Li Chengfeng couldn¡¯t just crush Lin Bing Dou Zhe with stat advantage. The latter immediately retaliated with a devastating Barrier Break that dealt over 12k damage to Li Chengfeng and put him in danger. Gulp! +3500! But Li Chengfeng was as brave as his ID, and after drinking a health potion he pressed his sword against Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s chest and executed a Dragonbone Flurry, dealing over over 10k damage. It wasn¡¯t over yet though. Before the priests could heal Lin Bing Dou Zhe back to full, Li Chengfeng immediately followed up with a devastating Barrier Break that most certainly would kill his opponent if they didn¡¯t do something. The enemy warrior¡¯s complexion turned deathly pale as he swore, "Fuck, he knows Barrier Break too?" Lin Bing Dou Zhe hurriedly rolled on the ground and just barely avoided the killer move. However, his retreat also left a hole in the defense line. Seeing that his opponent had retreated out of his attack range, Li Chengfeng immediately changed the direction of his Barrier Break and hit a nearby magic knight instead. A couple extra swings of the Tempest Sword later, the poor bastard was deleted from existence. Just like that, he had widened the hole left behind by Lin Bing Dou Zhe even further. Bang bang bang! Unfortunately, that was all he could do before a couple of Spiraling Arrow Blades hit him and forced him to retreat for healing. Still, he managed to give Warsky Alliance quite the fright. Warsky sucked in a deep breath and exchanged a glance with October Rain before saying, "The Dragon Warrior Legendary Brave truly is a top-tier expert. Such a shame that he serves our enemy instead of us¡­" October Rain smiled a little before replying, "This is a battlefield, so talk less and kill more before our frontline crumbles! Also, add a couple of top-tier mages into your group so that they can crit with their Galaxy Storms!" "Got it!" Very soon, a couple of high-level mages who were all Level 120 and above joined Warsky¡¯s party and cast Galaxy Storm at once. The spells exploded brutally against our frontliners, and He Yi and I were one of those unfortunate players who were caught in the blast. A chill overcame our body as our HP dropped drastically¡ª 3781! 6204! 7122! ¡­¡­ Holy shit, that bombardment had deleted more than half of my HP in an instant! Galaxy Storm was mages¡¯ fifth-promotion skill, and it was god damn OP when buffed by Warsky¡¯s Hegemon. Two crits was all it took to put me in the danger zone! Even He Yi, a magic knight, looked strained after the attack. Her Magic Resist was worse than mine, so of course she would suffer more damage even though her HP was higher. "Aaahhh¡­" The party members next to us fared even worse, screaming in pain before collapsing to the ground. They were even less equipped than us to withstand such a bombardment. He Yi¡¯s eyes sharpened as she barked out an order immediately, "All fighters below 20k HP, retreat immediately! This Galaxy Storm is too powerful! Lil Beiming, bring your archers and snipe those mages now! Hmph, how dare they¡­" He Yi was clearly angered by our loss. Warsky Alliance had also exposed our weakness. Our guild had a severe lack of mages, and the number of players who learned Galaxy Storms could be counted on one hand. However, Warsky Alliance had ten fifth-promotion mages in their ranks! This was one area Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had to admit defeat to! Our fighters withdrew slightly, and soon only I, He Yi, Gui Guzi, and several others were still standing at the frontline. We all used our skills such as Barrier Break, Thousand Ice Slash, Universe Break, and more to intimidate our opponents while Beiming Xue and her archers moved behind us. Beiming Xue said behind me, "Cover me, big bro¡­" "I know!" I kicked a Warsky Alliance fighter in the shield and stabbed him to death while he was off-balance. At the same time, Beiming Xue drew her Burning Shadow Bow and fired Evil Spirit Volley. Her skill with the bow was growing every day, and she was almost at the point where she could hit anything as long as her bow was facing toward it. A dozen or so arrows hit the ten mages at once. One hit was all it took to reduce the durability of their shields drastically! Swhoosh! The Burning Shadow Bow lit up again, and this time Beiming Xue launched Spiraling Arrow Blade! Boom! The Spiraling Arrow Blade landed amid the crowd of players, and the two mages directly in the line of fire turned pale with fright. However, there was nothing they could do except die as the explosion engulfed them. Not only that, Beiming Xue also killed the archers who happened to be inside the blast radius. Bow God empowered her Attack a lot, so it was only natural that she did this much damage. The dark archer turned out to be far stronger than most people expected her to be. In fact, she had singlehandedly suppressed an entire group of fifth-promotion mages on her own. Staying close behind me, Beiming Xue continued to terrorize the enemy while Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew, and the others kept me healthy. The two of us made an amazing pair as we were capable of fighting in both close and long range. After I laid down two Ice Cyclone Domains to control the enemy¡¯s ranged players, no one could move us from our spot anymore! Chapter 510: Animal Stampede ¡­¡­ Boom boom boom! Some distance away from me, Galaxy Storms flashed again and tore a huge hole in our flank. The spell one-shot dozens of fighters instantly, and some of them were even Fireblade Cavalrymen. There just wasn¡¯t anything our frontliners could do against multiple Galaxy Storms that critted frequently except hoping for the best. Warsky himself was fighting at the frontline, killing a Fireblade Cavalryman with Barrier Break. The battle was a bloody one as Warsky Alliance was no easy opponent. The body count went up almost every second as two of the strongest guilds in Sky City attempted to murder the hell out of each other. At the back, October Rain was directing her archers and making them shoot Far Shots where it hurt, but she also partied a group of warriors so that they could benefit from the 15% lifesteal of her Famous General Skill and win a prolonged fight. She was a smart woman and an even more annoying enemy for sure. Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s party was hitting us hard since Renown buffed their Attack by 75% and Defense by 35%, but here we had Royal Road and Martial God, so we weren¡¯t losing at all. Moreover, Lin Bing Dou Zhe avoided clashing against me directly probably because he was afraid of my killer moves, Burning Blade Slash and Universe Break. He just kept roaming and killing our weakened fighters whenever he could. Unlike Xu Yang¡¯s bold and direct approach, his style was that of an intelligent fighter. ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud! I launched a Burning Blade Slash at a crowd of Warsky Alliance players, killing a dozen of them immediately. However, I also took a chest full of arrows for my efforts, and there were two mages that kept throwing Galaxy Storms at me and He Yi from afar. It was annoying to say the least. I pointed my sword at Lin Bing Dou Zhe and challenged him. "Why don¡¯t you fight me, friend?" Lin Bing Dou Zhe looked at me and smiled. "Patience. The time isn¡¯t right yet." Suddenly, a laughing High Fighting Spirits charged Lin Bing Dou Zhe out of nowhere and executed Barrier Break, the Invincible shining with bright red energy because of it. "One does not use a sledgehammer to crack a nut! You don¡¯t need to do anything, boss. I¡¯ll be his opponent!" Puchi! 13782! Rustle rustle¡­ While waiting for his priests to heal him back to full health, Lin Bing Dou Zhe watched High Fighting Spirits rampaging just a few yards away from him and swore under his breath, "What is wrong with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Even a random nobody is this powerful! Is this the kind of enemy Warsky Alliance has to fight against?" High Fighting Spirits swung his battle axe like a madman while Lin Bing Dou Zhe was temporarily out of the fight. Invincible was both the signature weapon of a Level 120 warrior and the proof of strength of a fifth-promotion warrior. That was why a lot of people looked up to High Fighting Spirits right now. Unless you were a defensive warrior, everyone knew that it¡¯s more thrilling charging the enemy with wild abandon like High Fighting Spirits! In fact, some of our warriors did exactly that and got their asses wiped by October Rain¡¯s Spiraling Arrow Blade and the mages¡¯ Galaxy Storms halfway. I couldn¡¯t help but goggle at them. "Those idiots, this is no different from committing suicide¡­" He Yi giggled. "Well, they are a bunch of hot-blooded youngsters¡­" I rolled my eyes. "Youngsters my ass. High Fighting Spirits is going to turn 40 in just a couple of years..." "Age doesn¡¯t matter. Some people are eternally young and hot-blooded, you know?" "Well, that¡¯s true. I know since I¡¯m a youngster myself¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ The back-and-forth lasted almost an hour. After several trials by fire, both He Yi and I found ourselves very pleased with the guild¡¯s growth and performance in large-scale combat operations. Warsky Alliance was the second-strongest guild on the Guild Ranking, and they were growing more and more powerful everyday. Despite that, the upper hand was solidly in our hands throughout this whole battle. Finally, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had grown from a pathetically weak guild to a true master of guilds. It was thanks to everyone giving it their all consistently throughout both the good and the bad times. Gui Guzi kept charging in and out of the enemy formation until, finally, even he had grown tired of this battle. He rode back to us and said, "Boss, Sister He Yi, I don¡¯t think we can keep this up much longer. We are losing more people than is acceptable since Warsky Alliance¡¯s main guild and sub-guilds are trying to deplete our numbers with cannon fodders. We killed far more people than we lost, but Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has less than 5000 people left, and Bloody Mercenaries less than 2000. This can¡¯t be allowed to go on." I nodded and looked to the distance. "It¡¯s been an hour since the battle began, and Warsky Alliance lost a ton of people as well. We¡¯ve killed so many of their main members that they had to use their sub-guilds as cannon fodders instead. In fact, Warsky¡¯s plan is to hold us back with cannon fodders while he, October Rain and the mages waste us with Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms from the back. Hmph hmph, unfortunately for him, no plan survives contact with the enemy¡­" Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes lit up. "Boss, do you have a plan to counter this?" "Yup!" He Yi also asked me excitedly, "What is it?" "We withdraw and let Snowy Cathaya go next!" He Yi: "..." Gui Guzi: "..." ¡­¡­ So I contacted Lin Yixin and told her, "Yiyi, we¡¯re losing too many people. I can¡¯t let everyone die or the bastards will say I¡¯m neglecting them and ignore my orders in the future, so¡­ we¡¯ve more or less taken out their main force anyway, so we¡¯ll go to the outskirts to keep the other guilds from coming in and leave the next part of the assault to Snowy Cathaya, okay? Lin Yixin chuckled. "Mn, okay. Thank you for everything, Little Cheat! You did well!" "You¡¯re welcome. Soooo, wanna get a room later when we¡¯re free?" "OMG, we¡¯re in the middle of a territory war right now. Is this really the right time to tease a girl?" "So? I¡¯m about to disengage anyway. Come on, talk to me while we slaughter these noobs¡­" Lin Yixin didn¡¯t know what to say. "Fine, fine, I¡¯ll talk with you. But if Farewell Song manages to ambush and kill me, you¡¯d better take revenge for me, you hear?" "I got it. I¡¯ll chase anyone to the ends of the world if they touch even a hair on you!" "Someone has a silver tongue today!" "Haha!" I turned off the communicator just in time to see Snowy Cathaya shifting from the wing toward us just as discussed. I instantly raised my sword and shouted inside the guild channel. "Brothers and sisters, we¡¯ve terrorized Warsky Alliance enough already! All that¡¯s left to do is to withdraw to the outskirts, kill some noobs and stop the other guilds from getting inside!" Li Chengfeng cheered. "Hell yes, I¡¯ve been waiting for this!" High Fighting Spirits shouted while swinging his axe, "Just let me kill a couple more of these bastards!" I rolled my eyes at him and said, "Kill my ass! Get back here already! Gui Guzi, drag him with you if you have to!" "Yessir!" Gui Guzi cut a path toward High Fighting Spirits. Then, he grabbed the barbarian by the collar, lifted him into the air and returned to us. ¡­¡­ We retreated to the borders of the territory and started relaxing. We felt no guilty conscience whatsoever since we had already completed our main goal and wiped most of Warsky Alliance¡¯s main forces. The only ones we couldn¡¯t kill were their Famous General such as Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Warsky and Laughing At The Heavens. Farewell Song in particular couldn¡¯t even be locked down because he was a master at stealth combat, and he operated all over the battlefield like a wandering spirit. Once we stopped at the wooden fences, we started exchanging glares with the random guilds parked outside the territory. Absolutely no one was getting past us. Meanwhile, disappointed High Fighting Spirits moved to the gates and slammed his battle axe to the ground. Then, he looked at the distant players and taunted them, "What¡¯s wrong? You wanna fight? Let¡¯s fight then! Come come!" The casual players looked afraid as a matter of course. Sure, High Fighting Spirits¡¯ Invincible was an incredibly attractive bait, but they hadn¡¯t forgotten that the barbarian warrior was a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Moreover, all of our core players¡ªI, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡ªwere alive and well, so no one had the guts to touch even a hair on our bodies. And so the staring tournament continued as we waited for Snowy Cathaya to finish off Warsky Alliance and end this territory war. For Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, this battle was basically one giant combat exercise. More importantly, it was a test to see how effective Barrier Break really was in a large-scale battle. I could now confidently say that the result was as good as I expected it to be. The 6-second skill was perfect for breaking defenses, and I¡¯m sure the eight of us terrorized Warsky Alliance so much that they probably developed PTSD. Some distance away from us, Lin Yixin was attacking Warsky Alliance with Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume, Shadow Chanel, and others. Unlike us, Snowy Cathaya had a party of mages who could cast Galaxy Storm, and even better, they were empowered by Bombshell. Finally, Warsky was forced to taste his own medicine. The Galaxy Storms absolutely ravaged Warsky Alliance, and it wasn¡¯t long before they crumbled completely. Plus, it wasn¡¯t like The Monarch Descends was idle throughout this fight. Ling Xueshang and her Unyielding also helped crush Warsky Alliance to the point of no return. The war was settled in less than an hour. Warsky Alliance¡¯s elites were driven into the elven hall, and Lin Yixin charged right in to fight them. We were still watching the door while all this was happening. Some people were boasting out of their minds and talking shit. Some were teasing the girls and enjoying their reactions. It was almost as if we were having a party. The casual guilds were pissed off by our lackadaisical attitude, but they didn¡¯t have the guts to attack us either. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, all they could do was stare with us with ever-growing envy. ¡­¡­ A short while later, a ding notified us that Snowy Cathaya had claimed ownership over the territory! Chapter 511: Diamond Necklace Beep! It was around this time Lin Yixin sent me a thank you message. ¡°We sincerely thank you for helping us getting the territory, friends from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I won¡¯t forget this¡­¡± I reposted the thank you message in the guild channel, and everyone started making questionable comments at once. High Fighting Spirits started, ¡°She wants to thank us, but we already have everything except her. Should we ask her to join us and become our mistress of the fort?¡± Me: ¡°Dude, WTF¡­¡± Murong Mingyue: ¡°Ceh! Mistress of the fort? Are you dreaming? Do you really think you can tame someone like her even if she does join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?¡± High Fighting Spirits: ¡°I can¡¯t, but Lu Chen can!¡± Me: ¡°...¡± Pure Love: ¡°Quiet, big brother Lu Chen has me already¡­¡± Everyone puked blood when they saw this. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment He Yi suddenly came back online and teleported back to Sky City. The moment she saw me, she rushed over to me with a smile and asked, ¡°Lu Chen, are you setting up a stall?¡± I nodded before replying, ¡°Yeah. I missed lunch, so I have nothing to do right now. Speaking of which let¡¯s eat dinner together later!¡± He Yi smiled again. ¡°Dinner? Perfect. I have to attend a dinner tonight, so why don¡¯t you come with me?¡± ¡°Oh? What kind of dinner is it?¡± ¡°Er¡­¡± For some reason He Yi was hesitating. She looked at me, the sky, and then at the ground beneath our feet. Her weird reaction puzzled me. ¡°Seriously, what¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°My mom asked me to eat dinner with her tonight¡­¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°And she¡¯s going to introduce me to a man¡­¡± ¡°Crap!¡± ¡°Crap indeed!¡± He Yi sat down beside me and held my arm, begging, ¡°Come with me tonight, please? I hate dealing with this type of situation alone, especially since her so-called handsome, accomplished elites are really just men with an excess amount of confidence and stupidity. It¡¯s just unbearable!¡± I nodded. ¡°Fine, this one promises to do everything he can to help his guild leader. Speaking of which, can you choose a good restaurant for the night? I¡¯m so hungry I can eat a horse right now¡­¡± ¡°I know, I promise. Well, I¡¯m logging off first. See you in a bit!¡± ¡°See you!¡± ¡­¡­ A guy stopped in front of my stall, and he was none other than Dominating Knight God himself. He glared at me like he wanted nothing more than to eat me alive. ¡°You¡¯re such a terrible person, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Why are you calling my name when you¡¯re selling your shit? Are you trying to pick a fight with me? Our honor won¡¯t stand for this!¡± ¡°Well, do you want to fight me? I happen to be free, so¡­¡± ¡°Never heard of the idiom ¡®wealth is earned through amiability¡¯? Why the hell would I want to fight you?¡± Dominating Knight God shot me one last glare before summoning a thin, weak horse and escaping from my sight. He actually was afraid that I would go after him. I silently shook my head before hollering for business again. ¡­¡­ A torturous couple of hours later, He Yi finally sent me a message. ¡°I made the reservations already, so you can log off now. It¡¯s located at the industrial park area, so if we go now we¡¯ll be just on time!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± I immediately logged off and checked the time. It was five pm sharp, and it would take a hour to reach the restaurant He Yi mentioned, so that was just perfect. After we got into the car, I tightened my collar a bit and said, ¡°Eve, I¡¯m a bit nervous¡­¡± He Yi cocked her head and stared at me. ¡°Excuse me? I¡¯m the one who¡¯s getting introduced to a man by my mom, so why are you the one who¡¯s nervous?¡± ¡°Well, this¡¯ll be the first time I meet your mom¡­¡± He Yi couldn¡¯t help but break into a laugh. ¡°Alright alright, just calm down. You need to leave a good first impression, or else it would be troublesome if we got¡ª¡± He Yi suddenly cut herself short when she realized what she was about to say. Her face instantly turned as red as an apple, and she turned to stare at the Lamborghini logo above the steering wheel like she was trying to drill holes with her gaze. Even from my seat, I could see that her ear was completely red. I didn¡¯t continue that line of conversation because it would only embarrass her even more. Smiling, I changed the topic and asked, ¡°Er, about that man auntie wants to introduce to you¡­ who is he exactly?¡± ¡°I heard he¡¯s a young elite who just returned from overseas. Apparently he¡¯s an executive in a large American company, and the reason he came back at this specific timing is to talk business with a domestic company.¡± ¡°Oh, I see¡­¡± He Yi nodded before complaining, ¡°What a headache, all these years and my mom still hasn¡¯t given up on playing matchmaker. Sigh, what should I do?¡± I patted the windscreen once before saying, ¡°Whatever do you mean? We¡¯re going to eat dinner, right? I¡¯m heading over to eat dinner at the very least!¡± He Yi broke into a giggle before rolling her eyes at me. Her eyes seemed to be saying, ¡°Food is all you know, you heartless bastard!¡± ¡­¡­ We went up the highway in no time and got stuck in a traffic jam for a very long time. Eventually, we arrived at a Juyuan Hotel at the industrial park area. After He Yi straightened out her attire for a bit, she said to me, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go. My mom¡¯s already waiting inside!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I got off the car and followed He Yi into the restaurant. It wasn¡¯t long before we spotted a middle-aged woman at a corner of the first floor. Despite being over 50 years old, He Yi¡¯s mom did an amazing job maintaining her appearance. Then again, only a woman like her could give birth to a beautiful daughter like He Yi. ¡°Mom, you sure are early¡­¡± He Yi nodded and gave her mom a smile. I also walked up to her and greeted her smilingly, ¡°Hello, auntie!¡± ¡°Oh? Who is this?¡± He Yi¡¯s mom stared at me in surprise. He Yi walked up to me and grabbed my arm. ¡°Don¡¯t you know him? He¡¯s Lu Chen, my best assistant besides Mingyue.¡± ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re Lu Chen¡­¡± He Yi¡¯s mom examined from head to toe literally before smiling at me. ¡°Not bad, not bad. It¡¯s not easy to find someone your age whom Yiyi will praise all day and night!¡± He Yi looked around and asked, ¡°So mom, where¡¯s that sea turtle?¡± ¡°Sea turtle¡­¡± Auntie chided her slightly. ¡°You¡¯re 26 years old, and you still act like a kid. How can I not worry about you? That¡¯s why I gotta find you a man who¡¯ll watch over you and keep you responsible¡­¡± He Yi hurriedly grabbed her mom¡¯s arm and shook it back and forth. ¡°Mooooom, what are you talking about? I am a responsible woman! I work hard, I love my family, I love my country¡­¡± This was the first time ever I saw He Yi acting cutesy like this. Despite my best efforts, I couldn¡¯t stop myself from bursting into laughter. He Yi immediately glared at me. ¡°Don¡¯t laugh!¡± While I was controlling myself, auntie said, ¡°That boy is called Richard, and he¡¯s in the washroom. He¡¯ll be coming out very soon. Speaking of which, don¡¯t you have better clothes than this? You look like you haven¡¯t gotten changed¡­¡± He Yi replied, ¡°This is a good outfit, mom. It¡¯s over 17k RMB! It¡¯s worth at least a month of that sea turtle¡¯s salary¡­¡± Auntie had nothing to say to that. She simply pulled He Yi to her seat and sat down. It was a four-seated, rectangular table. Since He Yi and auntie were sitting on the opposite side, I had no choice but to sit together with Mr. Sea Turtle. Tsk, how annoying! I took my seat and asked, ¡°Auntie, have you made an order yet?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s call the waiter then!¡± ¡°Mn, sure!¡± I stood up, called over a waiter. I was going to order some food when a youngster clad in a western suit appeared from the direction of the washroom and called out, ¡°Sorry, sorry, I should¡¯ve returned sooner!¡± Then, he saw He Yi and suddenly froze up like a statue. It took him a long while before he managed to spit the words, ¡°Are¡­ are you He Yi?¡± While pouring her mom some tea, He Yi asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Were you expecting someone else?¡± ¡°Haha, of course not! I¡­ my name is Richard. I just came back from the US, and the air feels so much fresher after I came back! It¡¯s always nice to come back to my home country!¡± Then, Richard looked at me in surprise and asked, ¡°And you are?¡± I stood up and gave him a grin. ¡°My name is Lu Chen. I¡¯m He Yi¡¯s friend.¡± ¡°Friend?¡± Looking a bit puzzled, Richard sat next to me before forcing a tiny smile on his face. ¡°You look very young, Lu Chen? Are you still studying or working?¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m working already.¡± ¡°How much is your monthly salary?¡± ¡°About 3000, the tax-exempted kind¡­¡± ¡°Hahaha!¡± Richard didn¡¯t question me further, but his laugh betrayed his disdain completely. Well, it was to be expected. He was the type of person who felt superior to a ¡°poor bastard¡± who earned tax-exempted money after all. ¡­¡­ I asked, ¡°So, Mr. Richard, you are a Chinaman, so why are you still calling yourself by an English name after you came back to your home country? You¡¯re not going to tell me that your forename is Ri, and your surname is Chard, are you?¡± ¡°Hehe, well¡­¡± Richard replied a bit awkwardly, ¡°I lived in the US for over five years, and I¡¯ve gotten used to being called Richard. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t change it after I came back.¡± I smiled. ¡°You haven¡¯t forgotten how to use chopsticks, have you?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Good. I don¡¯t want to be the one to feed you, you see¡­¡± It was needle versus pin warring against each other atop the Forbidden City. The clash between Richard and I had taken over the theme of the dinner completely. ¡°Lu Chen, how much money do you have left after you paid your rent with your income? It can¡¯t possibly be much, can it?¡± Richard began his counterattack. I nodded. ¡°Yeah, it was a piss poor amount of income, to be honest. It¡¯s not even enough to treat sister He Yi to a meal.¡± ¡°Does that mean you have to ride in a public transport everyday? It must be hard knowing how hot the weather is¡­¡± ¡°Thank you for your concern, but I drive an X12 to work, so I don¡¯t have to worry about that. I must admit that I feel like robbing the gas station every time it needs refilling though. Oh right, you came back from overseas, right? How much do you earn per month?¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. I earned 40k USD per month, so that¡¯s around 300k in RMB.¡± I exclaimed in surprise. ¡°Not bad! It¡¯s almost as much as my daily income in Heavenblessed! It¡¯s rare to come by a young, capable talent like you these days¡­¡± Richard: ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ Auntie finally had enough of our cold war and said, ¡°Alright enough. Shall we order some food now?¡± But Richard didn¡¯t accept the out auntie gave him. Instead, he took out an exquisite-looking box from his bag and smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve prepared a small gift for sister He Yi since this is our first meeting. I hope you¡¯ll accept it.¡± He opened the box to reveal a dazzling diamond necklace. Not only was it a big diamond, he hadn¡¯t torn away the price tag that was stuck to the box. It said: 127000 RMB. Chapter 512: Outwitting the Sea Turtle ¡°That¡¯s not possible! I have a certificate for it!¡± ¡°Oh really?¡± I chuckled as I said, ¡°I invested in a precious gems business with my uncle when I was younger so I can tell whether a diamond is real or fake with a single glance. Just take a look at this horizontal line on the bottom of the box. It¡¯s actually straight even though the light is refracted through the diamond. Just based on the principles of the refraction of light, you can tell that this diamond is fake. What did you major in when you were studying abroad? It can¡¯t have been physics, right? If not, your common sense wouldn¡¯t be so poor.¡± Richard¡¯s body shook and he looked rather embarrassed as he replied, ¡°That¡¯s not possible. If the refracted light is straight, then this¡­¡± I grinned before I took the diamond out of the box. After that, I pointed inside the box and laughed as I said, ¡°Oh, it really is real. It¡¯s just that this line wasn¡¯t straight in the first place.¡± Richard wiped the sweat off his brow, ¡°Thank god¡­¡± But the fun had just started. I touched the stone and my brows knit together as I spoke up yet again, ¡°Oh drat! It looks like it¡¯s still a fake after all.¡± ¡°Ah!?¡± Richard very nearly fell off his chair. ¡°How is that possible!? It¡¯s still a fake?¡± ¡°Just touch it. This diamond actually feels a little warm to the touch, right? But real diamonds don¡¯t conduct any heat. No matter whether it¡¯s thrust into a burning fire or steamed, it will still be cold to the touch. So, the only conclusion I can come to is that this diamond is fake.¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Richard¡¯s eyes widened into saucers as panic began to seize his heart. I laughed before I put the diamond back into the box. After that, I simply picked up the menu and started to order dishes without a single care in the world. I acted as if our little episode hadn¡¯t even happened. Sigh, only one fate awaited a turtle who lacked common sense, and that was to be instantly killed! ¡­¡­ He Yi covered her mouth and clenched her stomach as she tried her best to hold back her laughter. She had already gotten used to my antics by now, so she knew exactly what I was up to. The diamond really was genuine, but Richard had been completely taken in by my act. But little did he know that the only thing that my uncle dug up from the ground were watermelons! I was howling with laughter on the inside as I heard him make his silly boasts. This fool definitely hadn¡¯t done his homework on He Yi before he came for this matchmaking interview. He was entirely unaware of just how high-powered this beautiful lady was. So I asked, ¡°Hey Chard, what exactly did you study in Harvard?¡±¡± ¡°Hmmm? I majored in biology, with a focus in DNA sequencing and genetic analysis. But I chose to study many majors while I was in America, this was just one of them.¡± He shot me a contemptuous grin as he looked towards me. ¡°But I don¡¯t expect you to be familiar with this subject, yes?¡± I chuckled and replied, ¡°Oh? Genetic analysis? So that means your studies also touched on genetically modified crops like GM rice, wheat, and soybeans, correct?¡± ¡°Hmmm, yes. What of it?¡± Richard was rather confused by my question. I simply ignored his question and continued, ¡°Most of the countries outside of China have already stopped eating genetically modified food. No one can tell just what sort of side effects eating these crops will have on the human body. But considering how much their DNA has been messed with, it definitely can¡¯t be good for us. Thus, consuming these genetically modified foods is far too risky. However, a huge amount of these foods can still be found in China. In fact, I daresay that they¡¯re flooding the domestic market. So I do sincerely hope that you have had no part in this vile affair, one which threatens the roots of our present and future populace.¡± ¡°No¡­ Of course not¡­¡± Richard was more than a little flustered by my words. ¡°Oh really?¡± I didn¡¯t let him off the hook. ¡°Your eyes wavered when you said those words, so it looks like you¡¯re suffering from a guilty conscience there, my friend. I¡¯ve heard this about many sea turtles who returned home after studying abroad. They style themselves the elite of society, but in actual fact, they¡¯ve transformed into nothing more than puppets who conspire with the foreigner to drain the lifeblood of our motherland. I¡¯ve heard that they¡¯ve even used things like genetic modification as weapons to harm the motherland. Surely, you aren¡¯t one of those people, are you?¡± Richard was now thoroughly flustered. He shot up from his seat, his blush reaching even his ears. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m not!¡± I stood up as well and pressed gently down on his shoulder to guide him back to his seat. After that, I smiled and said, ¡°Oh, don¡¯t be so worried. I believe that you¡¯re not that sort of scum. Because there¡¯s no way that Aunty would introduce you to Eve if that was the case.¡± I suddenly switched the topic by saying, ¡°Oh but I must say, that diamond necklace of yours is really beautiful. Hmmm, I¡¯ve actually been wanting to buy a proper necklace for Eve as well. Would you be the better man and allow me the honor of helping Eve put on this necklace? I can¡¯t afford it, but I can at least live vicariously through you¡­¡± Richard had barely survived the ¡®great battle¡¯ of the genetically modified foods, so he wasn¡¯t quite all there. He ended up nodding his head in a dazed and confused manner. I took the chance to present Buddha with borrowed flowers as I took the necklace out of the box. It had a significant weight to it and this further confirmed its quality. Even He Yi¡¯s mother was a bit confused right now. She had been under the mistaken impression that Richard and I had hit it off very quickly, so she was entirely unaware of the secret war that we had been waging against each other from the very start of this meal. He Yi was a little shocked by my actions too, but once she saw me give the diamond pendant a light kiss, her eyes started dancing with excitement and a little bit of hope. She even started feeling a little shy and a light blush soon colored her cheeks. But she simply sat there quietly, looking like the most elegant and exquisite statue in the world. I stood behind He Yi and gently lifted up her hair before I looped the necklace around her neck and carefully fastened the clasp. He Yi¡¯s blush deepened as her mother and Richard both stared at her. She suddenly pulled my arms around her before she turned around to peck me on the cheek. She laughed as she said, ¡°Thank you, Lu Chen!¡± I felt a little embarrassed by her sudden move. I was really only trying to tease that arrogant sea turtle, and I never expected He Yi to make such an intimate gesture in front of both Richard and her mother. Ah, I¡¯m dead. There was no way that He Yi¡¯s mother and Richard wouldn¡¯t realise that there was something going on between He Yi and I. As for what this ¡°something¡± was exactly, even He Yi and I couldn¡¯t quite pin it down. ¡­¡­ I turned around and returned to my seat. I suddenly gave an awkward laugh and said, ¡°Richard, this necklace is truly beautiful. Since you¡¯ve managed to pick such an excellent necklace and it also seems like Eve really likes it as well, how about I buy it off of you? I¡¯ll make this my birthday present to Eve. How about it?¡± Richard¡¯s face went deathly pale, ¡°Can.. you actually afford it?¡± ¡°What¡¯s your bank card number?¡± ¡°6220,4590, ***********¡± Richard immediately gave me his bank card number and I could see the undisguised contempt in his eyes, ¡°This is an ICBC card number. Don¡¯t tell me that a glib punk like you can actually afford it!?¡± I merely smiled back at him before I called my bank. After that, I gave them Richard¡¯s bank card number and said, ¡°ICBC, help me transfer one hundred and twenty-seven thousand RMB into this account, thank you.¡± The female customer service officer¡¯s attitude was good! She let out a sweet laugh as she replied, ¡°We¡¯ve finished the transfer! Thank you for supporting and believing in ICBC!¡± ¡°Thank you!¡± At this moment, Richard heard a ¡°beep¡± from his phone. He looked at it and saw that he had received a fund transfer message from ICBC. His face immediately grew even paler as he stared at me in a dumbfounded manner. ¡°Who¡­ Who the heck are you?¡± I grinned as I said, ¡°I¡¯m a member of the Frost Cloud Workshop in a game called Heavenblessed. That¡¯s one hat I wear. I¡¯m also working as the assistant to the HR manager of the GSS Suzhou branch. Is that good enough for you¡­¡± Richard, ¡°...¡± He Yi was desperately trying to hold in her laughter. She looked down and discreetly sent me a message: ¡°Omigosh, please don¡¯t make him die of an apoplexy hahaha! He came all the way back home just for this. This child doesn¡¯t have an easy life¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle as I sent a message back to her: ¡°Hmph, if he didn¡¯t try to act in such an arrogant manner, I wouldn¡¯t have bothered tormenting him. What¡¯s more, I really came here today to eat! It isn¡¯t even worthwhile for me to match wits or courage with a man like Richard. He simply isn¡¯t worthy! But I just have one question. Eve, do you really like that necklace?¡± ¡°Of course I like it! I¡¯ll like any gift that you give me!¡± ¡°That¡¯s good then!¡± I kept my phone in my pocket and looked up to see He Yi lean towards her mother. Her hair cascaded down one of her shoulders like a beautiful waterfall and when her gaze met mine, her lips curved up in a smile that was as beautiful and mesmerizing as a drowsy autumn evening. I was lost in that smile and even Richard had to resist the urge to wipe drool from the corner of his lips. After that, he shot me a look of enmity. However, I had no inclination or desire to even acknowledge this fellow. The dishes started arriving one by one and our table was soon filled with delicious food. I poured out some beer for He Yi¡¯s mother before very respectfully toasting her. He Yi¡¯s mother didn¡¯t seem to have a very bad impression of me either, so she smiled and nodded her head as she accepted my toast. Finally it was time to eat. I swept the two plates nearest to me clean of food as I ravenously gulped them down like a hungry wolf. I even ate eight maize cakes all by myself. Helping Lin Yixin defend that territory of hers had made all of us ravenously hungry. We definitely had to have a few more meals on Beauty Lin¡¯s tab after this! ¡­¡­ While He Yi and I thoroughly enjoyed this meal, it had quickly become a torturous experience for Richard. As an ¡°outstanding youth¡± who had just returned from studying at a prestigious university in America, his self-esteem was very high. Yet he had been stymied by me time and again. It was as if he kept slamming in a wall that he simply could not hurdle. When he suddenly started talking about genetics again, I simply kept quiet. After all, I didn¡¯t know a thing about genes and DNA. As a master strategist, I wasn¡¯t going to meet my enemy¡¯s strength with my weakness. I waited for Richard to wear himself out before I passed him a cup of tea and asked ¡°Do Americans like to eat Mala Soup?¡± and that was enough to instantly KO him. After that, Richard decided to cut his losses and quit while he was ahead. He suddenly excused himself even though he didn¡¯t look like he had eaten his fill. But he still tried to exchange numbers with He Yi so he could contact her in the future, it looked like he couldn¡¯t bring himself to give up on a super beauty like her! He Yi¡¯s smile was like a refreshing spring breeze, her eyes sparkling like limpid pools of water, as she cheerfully passed him my number. Bloody hell! ¡­¡­ On the road back home. ¡°Ah, that really hit the spot¡­¡± I said as I patted my stomach happily. I turned around to look at He Yi, who was driving, and said, ¡°Eve, what were you whispering to Aunty just now?¡± ¡°We were gossipping about you.¡± ¡°Oh, what did you say about me?¡± ¡°Heehee¡­¡± He Yi giggled before she replied, ¡°Mom said that you¡¯re a very naughty fellow!¡± I, ¡°...¡± Forget it, I¡¯m okay with being a little bad. It¡¯s not a bad thing, after all. ¡°What are you going to do when we get back?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯ll go online to sell some items before going to sleep. I picked up quite a few good items when we were fighting Gods of Destruction¡­¡± ¡°Bloody hell. I thought we agreed that we wouldn¡¯t swallow these items for ourselves! Can you still call yourself our guild leader?¡± He Yi giggled before she proudly thrust her 34Ds into the air and said, ¡°So what if I¡¯m the guild leader? One can¡¯t be silly when opportunity comes calling! Besides, you picked up way more items than me! To think that you still have the cheek to criticize me¡­¡± I grinned as I stared at the seatbelt strapped across He Yi¡¯s chest. That pitiful seatbelt was nestled in between my beautiful guild leader¡¯s ¡°twin towers¡±, and it looked so stretched that it was about to snap. Worry flashed through my mind before I remembered that a Lamborghini should have very sturdy seatbelts. At the very least, it was way sturdier than the seatbelts of a Toyota Camry. It was already nine in the evening by the time we returned to the workshop. Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue were still online and they seemed to be busy hawking their ill-gotten gains. We could earn tens of thousands of dollars by selling the equipment dropped by the experts in Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon to normal players. This money was our precious living expenses. ¡­¡­ Chapter 513: Minotaur Guards I appeared in the adventurer''s inn in Sky City. I immediately went to repair equipment and replenish my potions and magic consumables. In fact, I was way too lazy to make my own Magic Consumables nowadays. My NPC storekeeper, White Fox, had already copied my Rank 10 Cooking skill, so she would purchase cooking material and produce large amounts of Rank 7, Rank 8, and Rank 9 Magic Consumables every day. My shop had become a well-known Magic Consumable vendor, and our prices were stable and fair. Furthermore, whenever someone bought Magic Consumables from my shop, that beautiful NPC would bow toward them and say "Thank you for your patronage¡±. At that time, they would be able to peek at this beauty¡¯s snowy white peaks from the gap beneath her collar. As a result, we soon had many happy repeat customers. "Is there anything I can do for you, master?" White Fox asked as she looked at me. I stared at her collar before finally saying, "Nope, I¡¯ll be leaving first¡­" ¡­¡­ I checked my friend list and saw that Lin Yixin was still online. I sent her a message: "Yiyi, has your territory refreshed yet?" "Yeah!" Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t disguise the delight in her voice. She laughed and said, "I¡¯m in my territory right now, looking at the construction interface. Oh, but I¡¯m in a pickle right now! Even though there aren¡¯t many resource monsters around my territory, I don¡¯t even have the manpower to transport these resources back anyway! This system is being far too miserly with me! How could they only give me 10 Rank 1 Elven Assassins!? Their transport capacity is so lousy! If I have to rely on them, I¡¯ll never be able to develop my city!" I chuckled: "Didn¡¯t you go find that girl from Blazing Hot Lips, Stranger of Three Lifetimes? That girl is really lovable. If she happens to have any tools that an elven town can use, she¡¯ll definitely sell it to you¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s voice grew a bit pained: "I already spoke to Stranger. She said that she¡¯s so poor right now that she can barely keep the gas on. She had troop cards, but they were all for barbarian towns. She didn¡¯t have a single elven troop card, and she had used all of her Resource Bags too. Uhm¡­ Little Cheat, do you have anything good for me?" I sent her another message: "That¡¯s hard to say. I need to go check my city¡¯s warehouses first. If I have anything for you, I¡¯ll pay you a visit! There isn¡¯t anyone else in your territory right now, yes?" "Yeah, it¡¯s only me!" "Alright, go do what you need to do first!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ However, I had absolutely zero interest in them. These Specters had the Hellish Wail ability, which could cure its comrades, but Dark Moon City only had a couple hundred undead troops. Producing Specters wouldn¡¯t move the needle for us. It would be better to save resources and continue ranking up the castle. Once it hit Rank 6, we could start mass-producing Dark Knights, and that was the true path to domination! Of course, the strongest troops a territory could produce were its Rank 10 troops. However, raising the rank of a territory was a slow and painful task, and I didn¡¯t know when Dark Moon City would become a Rank 10 castle. Oh well, easy does it, Dark Moon City was already the first player territory to hit Rank 3. Moreover, the production output of Dark Moon City was way higher than Candlelight Shadow¡¯s barbarian city. Our superiority was clear. I went to find the citylord of Dark Moon City, Dark Knight Udal. He strode up to me and handed me yesterday¡¯s daily revenue report for Dark Moon City. [City Income] Teleportation Formation: 1742892 gold Repair Fees: 1102931 gold Potion Sales: 749209 gold [City Expenditure] Defense Upkeep: 1000000 gold City Tax: 1500000 gold [Total Revenue] = 1095032 gold ¡­¡­ Ugh, I finally understood what it meant to be buried under taxes! We worked so hard to conquer this territory, and I worked even harder to raise Dark Moon City to Rank 3! The city was filled with players who teleported here, shopped here, and repaired their items here, but we only earned 3.5 million gold from them. To make matters worse, we were taxed 1.5 million gold coins right off the bat! Darn it, and we knew exactly where these taxes would go to, those meaningless things... However, I was broadminded enough to forgive the developers. I mean, earning 1.1 million gold a day was pretty damn good. Half of it went straight to the guild coffers, and we¡¯d use this money to pay the salaries of our outstanding professional players. They could also exchange their guild contribution points for RMB. I used another portion of those earnings as resources for buying more city defenses and upgrading the castle itself. After that, I was left with about four hundred thousand gold coins every day, and all of this went to the Frost Cloud workshop. For now, all of this cash was kept inside my card. They put me in charge of this city, so those were the breaks. The rest of the girls didn¡¯t really know how to develop a city anyway, so I ended up reaping all the benefits. ¡­¡­ I tasked the city to produce more Dark Insects before I ordered Udal to take his troop of Dark Knights and sweep the surrounding areas free of resource monsters. I only needed to personally deal with these resource monsters if there was a boss among them. If that wasn¡¯t the case, I¡¯d be slowly dying of boredom. It was no fun being stuck in one area. I took out four 5000x4 Resource Bags and took a look at the cards I had stored. There were two that Lin Yixin could use: Beautiful Dryad x100: Rank 7 Elf Castle unit, Attack¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï, Defense¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï, Transport Capacity: 700. Minotaur Guard x200: Rank 4 Elf Castle unit, Attack¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï, Defense¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï, Transport Capacity: 400. ¡­¡­ Hmm, I had 300 units altogether. These two cards were dropped from boss resource monsters, and they had been rotting in the warehouse all this while. Luckily, Lin Yixin had managed to get an Elf Castle in the end, so I hadn¡¯t kept these two cards for nothing! Tsk tsk, these cards were really quite awesome, especially the "Minotaur Guard x200" card. I had gotten that from a Dark Gold chest. If I passed these cards to Lin Yixin, I believed that her territory would be able to catch up to Candle Dragon City and Red Lip Nation even sooner. I put these two cards and four Resource Bags into my inventory and left the city, sprinting toward the huge orange dot on my minimap. That was Lin Yixin¡¯s new territory and she had christened it Cathaya City. It looks like this territory had followed the tradition of Lin Yixin¡¯s naming habits. After running for half an hour, I reached the borders of Cathaya City. I was surprised to see a delicate and enchantingly beautiful warrior staring down a bunch of goblins in the distance. That couldn¡¯t be anyone else but Lin Yixin! Thud! Icicles hurtled through the air as Lin Yixin¡¯s pet, the Ice Fox, helped to attack the resource monsters. A bunch of short Elven Assassins were standing about 100 yards away from Lin Yixin. As the Rank 1 units from the Elf Castle, it was clear that these small elves were incredibly weak. But Lin Yixin was being way too overprotective right now! Her motherly approach to handling her guild could really drive me crazy! I rushed forward and used a Thousand Ice Slash to help Lin Yixin bring the battle to a close. "Ah, you¡¯re here¡­" Lin Yixin wiped away the sweat that beaded her face. As she looked at the resource piles which definitely didn¡¯t number over 500 units, she smiled in satisfaction as she said, "This is great, I got a bunch of resources again~~" I turned my nose up at her and said, "You useless beauty¡­" "What the hell, what are you trying to say huh¡­" Lin Yixin replied with an annoyed laugh. "Little Cheat, what good things did you bring for me?" "I¡¯ll say this first. I brought several things, and they¡¯re so good that it¡¯ll drive you crazy. But you¡¯ll have to promise me two things before I give them to you. One, you aren¡¯t allowed to go crazy. Two, you need to think of how you¡¯re going to repay me¡­" "Okay, okay, show me the goods first and then we¡¯ll talk!" "Damn. Why are you acting like some mountain bandit? You even want to test the goods first, huh¡­" Since I knew that I wouldn¡¯t be able to change Lin Yixin¡¯s mind, I took out the Resource Bags from my inventory and passed them to her. The beautiful girl¡¯s sparkling eyes were immediately filled with shock and joy when she saw what I had passed her. Her tiny mouth dropped open and she gasped, "Resource Bag¡­ with 5000 of each resource in it. And there are even four of them. Ooooh¡­ What am I going to do¡­" I grinned as I patted her shoulder and said, "Yiyi, look at how much I love you. I¡¯m even willing to give these hard-earned Resource Bags that I had been saving to you. Don¡¯t you think you should give your heart to me¡­" Lin Yixin glared at me with bloodshot eyes. "You think you can ask for my heart with just four Resource Bags? Your valuation of me is far too low, isn¡¯t it?" My grin grew even wider as I fished out another two items from my inventory. In the next instant, two elven troop cards were floating in front of Lin Yixin. Lin Yixin immediately froze in place, an indescribably complex look appearing in her eyes. She finally spread out her arms to hug me as she pecked me on the cheek. She had actually chosen to give me a kiss this time. This was the first time this had happened. After she had given me that little kiss, she stared at me with eyes full of worry. She asked, "Lu Chen, if you show such favoritism toward me and give me all of the good things you got from your territory, won¡¯t Sister He Yi give you a good beating if she finds out¡­" I nearly vomited blood. "Sister Yi isn¡¯t that violent. Do you think that everyone is like you¡­" Lin Yixin was feeling very embarrassed right now. She glanced down at the two cards in her hand and said, "These troops are way too precious for me in my current situation. Oh what do I do? This isn¡¯t something that can be resolved with just one or two meals¡­" I patted her on the shoulder and said, "Alright, alright. Hurry up and use the cards and go back to your city and start making more production units. Boost your territory''s production output first. I¡¯m counting on you to make Cathaya City into Dark Moon City¡¯s reliable ally. We¡¯re going to conquer everything under heaven, right?" "Mn!" Lin Yixin nodded before she used both cards. Soon, 100 Dryads and 200 Minotaur Guards appeared behind her. The Dryads were a sort of mutant plant who were all female. They looked like young girls from the waist up, but they looked like trees from the waist down, so they looked a little grotesque. If not for the fact that they were 34Ds, I would find it quite hard to look at them. After that, I turned my eyes from the Dryads¡¯ chests to Lin Yixin¡¯s chest before I audibly swallowed a mouth of saliva. Lin Yixin glared at me before hitting me with her tiny fist. Her entire face was starting to turn red and she shouted, "What are you comparing right now, you bastard!?" I replied, "Nothing¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s face had now turned bright red as she looked at me expectantly. "So what were the results of your comparison?" "Yiyi, you don¡¯t lose to those 34Ds one bit¡­" "Hmph!" There were also two hundred Minotaur Guards in her entourage and they all looked like wild beasts. As a result, Lin Yixin¡¯s troops were temporarily composed of beauties and beasts. As she ordered her high-rank troops to transport all of the resources she had just earned home, Lin Yixin invited me to pay a visit to her Cathaya City. As I looked it over, I couldn¡¯t help but blurt out, "It looks like the Great Northern Wilderness! An impoverished, barren Rank 1 territory where you can¡¯t even find chicken shit¡­" "What the hell!" Chapter 514: Arena I was hugging the Heaven-stealing Sword to my chest and leaning against a tree branch behind her when she had spoken up. I lazily stared at her back and smiled. "Oh? What changes?" Lin Yixin immediately turned around to look at me before replying, "Arenas are going to be opened in the three main cities of Heavenblessed. Players can engage in various types of battles in these arenas and experience will be rewarded to each player according to their weekly ranking. There¡¯s no limit to how many matches you can participate in each day and the final score you achieve will eventually become another representation of your strength in the game." "Oh? Why does that matter? I mean we still have to level up and get stronger anyway." "It matters because participating sponsors will soon be organizing tournaments for players and there will be prizes to be won. These tournaments will be held in these new arenas and will follow their format. Basically, the company that wants to organize the tournament will have to agree to foot the bill for it before approaching the Eternal Moon Corporation and asking them to approve and send a tournament invite. Once they have obtained approval, they will be allowed to organize an officially-sanctioned offline tournament. This also means that this game is about to enter the era of official sponsorship." After she said that, a sweet smile appeared on her face. "Moreover, these sponsors won¡¯t only consist of gaming companies. There will be real estate companies, electronics companies, and software companies trying to gain a foothold in Heavenblessed as well. They will also be organizing their own teams to enter these competitions, and they will basically be using these teams to advertise their products. So, as the cr¨¨me de la cr¨¨me of players in China, we might not merely be earning money from selling equipment." "Oh?" I chuckled before replying, "Then that means there¡¯ll be an untold amount of gaming clubs forming soon." "That¡¯s right!" Lin Yixin nodded her head and continued, "The new arenas will be opening up in all the major cities at 1 pm tomorrow. We will only have to pay a fee of 1 gold to participate in a competition, basically an afterthought to us, so we need to work hard and get our ranking up." "Got it." I chuckled again. "Now that arenas are about to be introduced into the game, things are going to get interesting. We need to work hard and make sure our arena points are above people like Candlelight Shadow and Farewell Song!" "That much, huh¡­" I was practically drooling at this point. "Mn!" Lin Yixin pursed her lips and stared at me for a while. After that, she suddenly said, "There¡¯s a bullfrog dry pot restaurant that just opened near my school. Let¡¯s have lunch there tomorrow. I mean, I feel like I haven¡¯t seen you in while." "Alright, it¡¯s my treat!" "Okay! Let¡¯s meet at 11 in the morning tomorrow. After we eat, we¡¯ll need to go online and fight those placement matches in the arena." "I¡¯ll see you tomorrow then!" ¡­¡­ After I said my goodbyes to Lin Yixin, I took a peek at my own experience bar. I only needed 13% more to hit Level 130. This confirmed my plans. I would use the rest of the evening to level up to 130 before I went to challenge the arena! I went to my favorite hunting ground, Dragonbone Mountain Range, and managed to find a training spot somewhere near its peak. I would grind Level 140 shadow-rank Wild Bulls here. They were easy to kill and they gave me a decent amount of experience as well. In fact, they were so easy to farm that I could browse the forums while I killed them. As expected, Lin Yixin really did pay more attention to the official announcements than I did. When I opened up the official webpage, it had a very eye-catching banner running across it which bore the words: "The arenas are about to open! The era of heroes has arrived!" After I clicked on that banner and it went to a page that provided the details of the new arenas. Champion arena: This arena will follow a 1v1 format and all players are free to participate. Every match will last ten minutes and your opponent will be randomly selected from the players ranked 100 places above or below you. You will earn points for every win, and lose points for every loss. Your total points will determine your ranking. Team arena: This arena will follow a 2v2 format and you will need a team of two players to participate in this tournament. Each match will last for ten minutes and it will follow the same random matchmaking system as the champion arena. Oh, so these arenas were divided into two formats, champion arena and team arena. I need to find a proper teammate for the team arena! It honestly looks pretty fun. Hm, Lil Beiming would be a decent choice. I¡¯d charge forward and tank the hits, and my lifesteal and Tenacity of the Dead should be able to keep me alive even without a priest. As the party leader, my Martial God would also be more effective in this situation and it would boost Beiming Xue¡¯s incredible attack as well. Yeah, let¡¯s go with this. However, I wouldn¡¯t worry too much about the team arena first. I had to get my ranking in the champion arena up first! I didn¡¯t have to be number one, but I absolutely couldn¡¯t drop out of the Top 10! ¡­¡­ I opened up the guild channel, and just as I expected, the introduction of these arenas had gotten everyone all hot and bothered. Xu Yang: "Wahaha, the arenas have finally made an appearance. I¡¯ve decided that I won¡¯t do anything but participate in arena battles tomorrow afternoon. I¡¯m gonna rush straight into the Top 100!" Li Chengfeng sighed: "The Top 100 in the China server? Hah, I think it might be a little difficult for you, Brother Yang! You¡¯ll need to work hard!" Gui Guzi let out a guffaw of laughter: "Alright, this arena mode has really come at a suitable time. I just learned Barrier Break so I¡¯m searching for a teammate! I want a top rider to party up with me! It has to be a player who can ride a mount!" He Yi: "I¡¯m partying up with Murong Mingyue. Gui Guzi, you¡¯ll have to find someone else." Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: "Brother Gui, carry me! I¡¯m a strong earth wanderer!" Gui Guzi: "Alright! Us bros shall form a team! Let¡¯s focus on the champion arena in the afternoon before we try the team arena at night!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: "Okay!" Chaos Moon decided to try her luck: "Umm, I really want to partner up with our handsome vice guild leader! Lu Chen?" I coughed in embarrassment: "Ahem. Actually¡­ I already decided to party up with Beiming Xue. I¡¯m sorry Chaos Moon, you¡¯ll have to find someone else¡­" Chaos Moon: "Sigh. My heart aches for an unrequited love¡­" I didn¡¯t know what to say in response. Beiming Xue giggled and said: "Big sis Chaos Moon, why don¡¯t you partner up with Xu Yang? He has Barrier Break, you know! So powerful!" Chaos Moon: "I¡¯m not in a rush to find a partner. He¡¯ll be my spare tire in case I can¡¯t find anyone else." Xu Yang: "Spare tire..." Everyone burst out in the laughter at that point. Teams were starting to form all over the main guild as we prepared to take on the team arena. This was a new hope for everyone. The moment these corporations started to enter the game, it would mean that there would be more ways for players to earn money! As long as our skills were decent, it would definitely be able to put food on the table. ¡­¡­ I continued to grind until 3 in the morning before a beam of golden light erupted from my character. I had successfully reached Level 130! I was now one step closer to my goal of Level 150. Mn, once I reached Level 150, it would be time for me to enjoy my days as a mounted player too! Once I got a suitable mount, it would be the beginning of my glory days! I went offline, took a bath, and went to bed. I sank into a deep slumber the moment my head hit the pillow. By the time I woke up, it was already past ten in the morning. I hurriedly leaped out of bed and sent a message to both He Yi and Murong Mingyue to inform them that I would be having lunch with Lin Yixin. After that, I threw on some clothes and left the house. I drove my car out of the neighborhood as I sped toward the main gates of the university. In the distance, I could see an eye-catching beauty standing next to a bed of flowers. She was attracting quite a few stares. It was Lin Yixin! She wore a coffee-colored suit, her adorable looks accented with a hint of maturity. This only enhanced her pure, ethereal beauty. I silently sucked in a breath of air. Any woman who possessed incredible beauty definitely had the fashion sense to go along with it. Thunk! Lin Yixin opened the door and plonked herself into the seat, causing more than a few students to shoot me looks of jealousy. "Fucking hell, our campus belle just got into an X12. Ah, there¡¯s no justice in this world! To think that a rich girl like Lin Yixin also has a sugardaddy¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s face started to go red when she heard those words. but she didn¡¯t bother retorting them. Instead, she glared at me and said, "What are you waiting for?" I spread my hands out helplessly and laughed. "You still haven¡¯t told me where that new bullfrog dry pot restaurant is!" "Oh! Just turn right at the next turn and stick to the road. It¡¯s just 100 meters away!" "Okay!" After I rounded the corner, I started to slow down. Just like she had said, there was a new bullfrog dry pot restaurant by the side of the road. ¡­¡­ After we sat down and finished ordering our dishes, Lin Yixin and I started talking about Heavenblessed again. "Lu Chen, did you check the official website this morning?" "No. What¡¯s up?" "In a single afternoon, the Eternal Moon Corporation received applications from more than three thousand companies to set up gaming clubs in Heavenblessed. Huawei, Haier, ASUS, Suning, and Shanghai Airlines are among the companies that contacted the Eternal Moon Corporation. Now that these giants have thrown their hats in the ring, the market for online arena teams are about to explode! They¡¯ll start recruiting from all over the country the moment their applications are officially approved!" Lin Yixin¡¯s delicate lips pursed up before she laughed and said, "I already received three phone calls in the morning and every call was about recruiting me into a gaming club. The highest salary I was offered was 1.2 million." "Did you agree to it?" "Nope, I rejected all of them. I¡¯m in no rush to accept any offers. I¡¯ll survey the market first." "Haha. How come no one has called me yet¡­" My phone started to ring just when I had finished saying those words. A look of shock flashed over Lin Yixin¡¯s face before she laughed and said, "Has it really come?" "Yeah." It was a Shanghai number. After I picked up the call, I heard a woman¡¯s sultry voice on the other line. "Hello, may I ask if I am speaking to Mr. Lu Chen, Heavenblessed¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?" "Yes, and you are?" "Oh yes, I am the assistant general manager of Shanghai Pingyuan Motherboard. Our company is trying to establish a gaming club within this month and we are asking if you are interested in joining us as the new captain of our gaming club. We are willing to offer you very generous terms." I grinned before I replied, "Oh? What sort of terms are you offering? Sorry, I¡¯m a blunt person by nature." The person speaking to me laughed. "Haha, no problem! Let¡¯s get right to the point then! I can make the call on this and offer you five hundred thousand RMB every month. Additionally, 50% of whatever prize money your club earns in competitions will be given to split among the members of the club. We are also building a base for the gaming club in Shanghai itself. If you come to Shanghai, food and board will be provided. What do you think? Are you willing to join us?" I chuckled before replying, "Let me think about it first. If I¡¯m interested, I¡¯ll contact you again." "Oh. Erm¡­ We are still open to discussing your salary. We are really very sincere about¡­" "Yeah, I got it. If I¡¯m interested, I¡¯ll contact you again!" I immediately ended the call. I had been floored by the terms they offered, and it wasn¡¯t in a good way. I said, "Damn, they even want to take 50% of our winnings from competitions? Isn¡¯t that ridiculous? Just the amount I¡¯ll earn alone from participating in these competitions will be more than five hundred thousand! They¡¯re obviously trying to pull a fast one over me!" Lin Yixin giggled before she replied, "Yeah, I think so too. Given your skill and ability, you shouldn¡¯t bite for anything less than three million. In the current China server, there isn¡¯t more than ten people who can pose a threat to you in the champion arena, so you have a very high chance of winning." A mysterious smile crept up on my face as I stared at Lin Yixin. "Hmph, that¡¯s right! The little girl who poses the greatest threat to me even got me to treat her to lunch just now. Ah, there really isn¡¯t any justice in this world¡­" Chapter 515: Taking On the Champion Arena After all, getting good items from a boss ultimately relied on luck. After all, there were some people who could fight bosses for an entire month and get nothing good, and then there were some people who would get an Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade item that could be sold for more than ten thousand dollars at the beginning of the month. This "feast or famine" way of earning money was simply far too stressful, it wasn¡¯t a sustainable way of living. ¡­¡­ Whoosh! After I appeared inside Sky City, I immediately checked the time. It was 12:40 pm, there was still twenty minutes before the arena would open. Hmm, I definitely needed to rush into the Top 10 at the end of this afternoon. If not, I¡¯d be putting all of my super equipment to shame. Beep! Beiming Xue sent a message: "Big bro, don¡¯t forget, we¡¯re competing in the champion arena in the afternoon and the team arena at night¡­" I swiftly replied: "Okay, I got it! Good luck to you, Lil Beiming!" "Mmmm!" I closed the chat window and continued to wait online. I opened up the arena interface and there was a button called "Random Match" on it. Unfortunately, this button was still greyed out. No one would be able to press that button until the system officially opened. A match in the arena could be concluded as quickly as it began, but it had to be concluded before ten minutes were up. In all honesty, this limit really only affected one person, and that was Candlelight Shadow. His Ghost God Prophecy could kill a person after 10 minutes, so the clever developers had instituted a rule to nullify it in arena matches. Of course, given Candlelight Shadow¡¯s superlative skill, he didn¡¯t ever need to resort to that tactic in the first place. As the top dog in Wind City, his strength was something that not even Luo River God of the Capital and Indigo Collar could compare to, so one could well imagine just how strong he was. The Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ guild channel was awash with activity, conversations springing up all over the place. Xu Yang: "Ah, I¡¯m so excited! Just fifteen more minutes until the battles begin!" Gui Guzi: "I wonder if we¡¯ll see any familiar faces in the champion arena. Haha, if we do, should we go easy on them?" Li Chengfeng: "So everyone is going to rush to raise their rank in the champion arena, right?" Xu Yang: "I should think so. Lu Chen, Beiming Xue and our guild leader will all be participating in the champion arena. I expect that the Top 10 players in the champion arena will be decided within the hour." High Fighting Spirits laughed and said: "Haha, I hope that we meet a few people from Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon. It¡¯ll feel a lot better to chop them down, am I right?" Li Chengfeng: "Hear, hear!" ¡­¡­ Everyone seemed to be in high spirits, so it was clear that everyone was very relaxed about the upcoming champion arena matches. This was good, because it was only when you were relaxed and calm that you could show 100% of your power in PvP duels. As a matter of fact, a lot of players actually had excellent skills in battle, but many of them tensed up once it came to competitions and duels against other players, so they lost without even being able to show all of their strength. This was all too common in PvP. An eternity seemed to have passed before the appointed time finally neared. There was only ten seconds before the arena opened and a ten-second countdown timer suddenly appeared in the arena interface. Hmph, how exciting! I wonder just how many eyes in the China server are staring at this countdown timer now. Ding~! System Notice: The arena has officially been opened! Alright! It was time to enter the arena! After I pressed down on the button, I suddenly felt my body drop. I was deposited into the waiting space of the arena. It was a small room and there were rays of sunlight shining in from the sole window in it. I stood up and peered out of the window. To my shock, I discovered that I was in a building that was at least twenty meters tall and that it was surrounded by countless arenas. The entire arena map seemed as big as Sky Forest! Alright, the system was currently looking for an opponent for me. It would soon be time for me to fight for my rank! Ding~! System Notice: Hello, you have been successfully matched with player "Twittering"! The battle will commence in 5 seconds! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! A bright light flashed in front of me and by the time my eyes blinked open, I found that I had already been teleported into a sealed arena. The arena was an empty space that was 50x50 yards, and once players entered an arena, they would be forced into combat mode. A Level 104 assassin brandished a dagger as he looked at me with a stunned look on his face. But once he saw me moving, he sprang into action as well. His dagger turned into a flash of cold light as it sped toward my chest. I instinctively raised my arm, and the hilt of my sword blocked the assassin¡¯s dagger with a loud clang. I followed up that parry with a basic attack that pierced my opponent¡¯s chest. Pchht! 12783! Uh huh, it looks like I didn¡¯t even need to use any of my skills. I had killed my opponent with a single attack. I hadn¡¯t even activated Martial God for this fight. I heard a beeping sound which signified my victory. After that, I was awarded points for my win and sent out of the arena. This match hadn¡¯t even lasted ten seconds, arena combat really was fast-paced! I continued searching for new matches. Soon, I heard a familiar beep as a system notice rang in the air. System Notice: Hello, you have been successfully matched with player "World-destroying Lunatic"! The battle will commence in 5 seconds! Whoosh! When I entered the arena, there was a Level 121 warrior standing in front of me. He was holding an axe and the emblem on his shoulder showed that he was from Vanished God City. I didn¡¯t recognize his guild emblem, it was a guild I had not heard of before. But it didn¡¯t matter, all I needed to do was rush forward and finish him. In my eyes, these weren¡¯t even opponents, they were simply points. "Heh, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!?" World-destroying Lunatic exclaimed before he let out a roar of laughter. He whirled his battleaxe in the air as he charged toward me. "Ah, my luck is really good today. To think that I¡¯d meet a pro like you in just my second match! Bring it on! Let me taste the strength of a CGL Hall of Famer!" Whoosh! Dense and violent flames erupted from his battle axe. World-destroying Lunatic was trying to hit me with Blaze. I gently slipped to the side before I suddenly retreated half a step, casually moving out of the way of his flaming axe. World-destroying Lunatic¡¯s eyes widened in shock, but I wasn¡¯t going to wait for him to recover. The Heaven-stealing Sword whirled in the air as a universe formation appeared below my feet. A swirling cone of indigo energy erupted from the tip of my sword as I hit him with a Universe Break! World-destroying Lunatic¡¯s shock multiplied, he knew that he couldn¡¯t dodge this strike. He hurriedly shifted his axe in front of him as he activated a guard skill to block my attack. It was too bad that it didn¡¯t occur to him that this Universe Break could practically ignore its target¡¯s defenses. It would deal even more damage if a player chose to guard against it! Pffft! 17894! The heavy blow nearly emptied World-destroying Lunatic¡¯s health bar in one go. This fellow¡¯s Defense wasn¡¯t bad at all! He had actually managed to survive my Universe Break! Looks like he wasn¡¯t just any simple player! However, he didn¡¯t have enough health to survive my next attack. Even though he tried his best to retreat and down a health potion, I easily caught up to him. His body slowly crumpled to the ground as I dispatched him with a Pardon + basic attack combo! The battle was over! It was a complete victory! As I flew out of the arena, I noted that I had gained quite a few points! Alright, it was time to enter the third match! Whoosh! I entered the arena again and saw that my opponent this time was Level 120 mage. He looked like a grizzled uncle and he had evidently finished his fifth class promotion as well. The emblems of Wind City and Peach Garden floated above his shoulder. Ever since Indigo Collar had led his guild to Wind City, I hadn¡¯t seen another member from Peach Garden until this very moment. To think that I¡¯d meet one of his guild members in a place like this. The mage grimaced. "Darn it, how unlucky can I get!? I¡¯m definitely gonna drop points this time¡­" A player was unable to hide his ID during arena matches. Furthermore, my ID was always high up in the China server¡¯s Heavenly Ranking and the CGL Hall of Fame, so who wouldn¡¯t recognize it? I didn¡¯t waste any time talking. I sprinted forward before coming to a sudden halt. My longsword flashed out as a Dragon Slaying Slash erupted from it and heavily exploded against that mage¡¯s Magic Shield. The impact was so heavy that it caused the Magic Shield to bend inward and it even left a crack in it. Thud! To my surprise, this mage didn¡¯t try to use his fifth promotion skill, Galaxy Storm, to attack me. Instead, he simply used a simple Ice Arrow X to attack me. It only dealt 1783 points of damage, a truly pitiful number. However, it has done its job in slowing me down to the point where my opponent could easily lock onto me. Another Ice Arrow swiftly followed the first. This skill¡¯s cooldown was simply far too short! It almost seemed as if he could fire it off continuously. Furthermore, it was clear that this mage was very skilled at kiting. He strictly maintained a 20-yard distance from me as he continued to casually cast spells at me. Hmmm, if his opponent had been someone else, that person may have very well been kited to death already. As I stared at my opponent¡¯s wide grin, I suddenly let out a bark of laughter as I activated Thunderous Charge without any warning. I shot past the area that the mage was supposed to step into next, instantly messing up his movement patterns. The mage¡¯s face turned red as he started waving his staff vigorously. That was the opening sequence for Galaxy Storm! Was this punk finally getting serious!? I leaned forward as I rushed toward the mage, a frightening power swiftly coalescing around my right arm. A vortex of bloody energy was swirling around my fist as I pounded it straight into his Magic Shield¡ªMagic Piercing Punch! Bang! MISS! I didn¡¯t do any damage, but I had successfully interrupted his Galaxy Storm. My Heaven-stealing Sword shot toward him before he even had a chance to react. A cone of indigo energy swirled around it as it cut straight through my opponent¡¯s Magic Shield! Pffft! 14902! Ah, this mage was beyond pitiful. Universe Break and Barrier Break were truly a nightmare for any high-level mages, because they could ignore a large percentage of their Magic Shields¡¯ tenacity. Furthermore, my attack power, which was in a class of its own in the China server, could more or less one-shot a mage already. This also meant that no mage could allow me to get close to them during combat because I only needed one chance to hit them with Universe Break and send them to their grave. Whoosh! I noted that I had gained quite a few points as I flew out of the arena. Let¡¯s continue! I will enter the Heavenly Ranking of the champion arena with a perfect record! The next dozen matches were all yawners to me. I faced a bunch of mages, archers, warriors, and assassins who hadn¡¯t even hit their fifth class promotion, so it was a walk in the park. This was especially true when I was matched against an assassin or an archer. They were completely helpless in front of my metal armor and Defense, it was simply a tragedy for them. Those were the rules of the game. If a player didn¡¯t have enough Attack to break their opponent¡¯s Defense, they would barely even tickle them. Even if they had a high enough Attack, these physical damage classes also needed weapons which had a chance to ignore Defense. If both conditions were not fulfilled, they could forget about ever beating a powerful metal armor player. I had been engaged in fierce fights for over an hour, and I hadn¡¯t been defeated yet. A feeling of euphoria surged through my body and I felt like an invincible war god. But this feeling only lasted until I checked the arena rankings. What the hell! I¡¯m only ranked 1178!? Just how many people were participating in the champion arena? My undefeated streak hadn¡¯t even gotten me in the Top 1000... Chapter 516: Defeating Moonkiss He Yi: ¡°Is everyone busy fighting in the champion arena!?¡± Gui Guzi: ¡°Ah, this is so tiring. I¡¯ve taken part in so many battles but I only just hit rank 781¡­¡± High Fighting Spirits: ¡°I¡¯m good over here. I¡¯m ranked 142 already. Hahahahaha~¡± He Yi let out a soft laugh: ¡°Keep at it, everyone. More than ten thousand gaming clubs were registered just this afternoon. Right now, all of the big sponsoring companies have their eyes fixed on this arena ranking board. If your rank is high enough, you¡¯ll definitely be scouted by some of these big companies. After that, you¡¯ll be able to sign on to a big gaming club, and having a salary of over a million a year won¡¯t be a pipedream anymore¡­¡± Li Chengfeng gave a hearty laugh of his own: ¡°The guild leader is right! Just this morning, someone from the State Grid Corporation of China called me and asked me to join their gaming club, but I rejected them.¡± I grinned: ¡°Isn¡¯t that the one of the biggest companies in China? Why did you reject them? Logically speaking, there was no way that they would lowball you with their offer.¡± Li Chengfeng replied: ¡°That¡¯s right. The salary they were offering wasn¡¯t low at all. In fact, it was set at seven million RMB a year, but after I heard that there were several people from Vanished God City already in the club, I decided to reject them. This is because I hope that I can enter the same gaming club as my brothers and sisters from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I don¡¯t want to fly solo, because I don¡¯t find any meaning in doing that.¡± He Yi smiled appreciatively: ¡°Okay, since that¡¯s the case, the next time one of us receives an invitation, let¡¯s set one condition. And that condition will be that we want to enter the gaming club as a team.¡± Li Chengfeng: ¡°Yeah, our guild leader is wise indeed! Those were my thoughts exactly.¡± Chaos Moon: ¡°Hey guys, I¡¯ve just discovered a problem¡­¡± Xu Yang: ¡°What problem?¡± Chaos Moon: ¡°Lu Chen isn¡¯t even ranked amongst the top 1000 players right now. That doesn¡¯t make any sense! Could he have lost a few matches already?¡± Chaos Moon¡¯s words shocked everyone into action. Everyone in the guild channel started bombarding me with one question: ¡°Lu Chen, what the hell happened?¡± I: ¡°Uhhhh¡­ there was an assassin that decided to play a game of hide-and-seek with me, so it took me a full eight minutes to hunt him down and kill him. I also happened to encounter a cute girl from Soul Battle Robes. I simply couldn¡¯t bear to kill such an adorable girl, so I wasted six whole minutes in that match. In the end, I even got her QQ number¡­¡± He Yi: ¡°Bloody hell!¡± Murong Mingyue: ¡°Bloody hell!¡± Beiming Xue: ¡°Big bro, you¡­¡± ¡­¡­ In truth, I was in no rush to climb to the top spot in the leaderboard. I mean, I was already ranked seventh in the CGL Hall of Fame, did I really need to prove myself again with these arena rankings? Entering the heavenly ranking of the arena leaderboard would merely add to my halo of brilliance. Of course, I also hoped that I would achieve a satisfactory rank and catch the eye of some big gaming club. Once that happened, I would start earning a salary of at least a million RMB a month, and I would no longer need to work myself to the bone to earn money from this game every day. In fact, the reason why I had time to visit my father the last two times was because the game had literally forced me to stop playing by going on maintenance. I started killing my way through the arena again, but before I started I checked the leaderboard. To my utter and complete shock, I saw that Dominating Knight God was actually number one on the leaderboard! I nearly spat out my proverbial drink when I saw that name on the top of the leaderboard! How the hell did this doofus who couldn¡¯t even tank a combo of attacks from me actually climb up to rank one!? It didn¡¯t make any sense! What kind of opponents had he been meeting on his way to the top!? However, it was inevitable for Dominating Knight God to get pulled off this throne. Once a player entered the top 100 in the arena rankings, the opponents they¡¯d face would all be from the top 200 players in the champion arena. They¡¯d start to duel and points would start being swapped around like crazy. So any player who didn¡¯t possess absolute strength wouldn¡¯t be able to stay on the arena¡¯s Heavenly Ranking for too long. I continued to chop up ¡°vegetables¡± for about half an hour before I finally earned the 197th spot in the rankings! However, this ranking didn¡¯t satisfy me one bit, I was still going to continue killing! Ding~! System Notice: Hello, you have been successfully matched with player "Moonkiss"! The battle will commence in 5 seconds! ¡­¡­ Hot damn! To think I¡¯d actually run into Moonkiss. A battle between CGL Hall of Famers was about to occur! What was the probability of that happening!? Tsk tsk, what an unfortunate coincidence! However, Moonkiss was currently ranked 104, so if I beat her, I¡¯d earn quite a number of points! Woosh! As we entered the arena, I saw Moonkiss, who was dressed in an exquisite set of leather armor, hold her dagger at ready. Before the festivities began, she smiled at me cheerily and said, ¡°Oh my, it¡¯s been a long time, hasn¡¯t it, Lu Chen? I¡¯ve missed you¡­¡± My sword dipped as I said, ¡°It¡¯s time to hand over those points, Beauty Moonkiss¡­¡± Moonkiss, ¡°...¡± The battle began and Moonkiss was the first to strike. She threw a fiery red little pellet at me from far away and it exploded against my side with a loud bang when it hit my armor. Smoke flew up everywhere, greatly obscuring my vision. Assassin-class players were all quite sneaky and underhanded. They were always ready to hit you with a low blow and they had a whole bag of them! I thought that these smoke bombs were only used by those ninjas from Japan... Crack! I felt a cold breeze brush past my back before Moonkiss¡¯ dagger slashed against it, causing a streak of hot and bright pain to run down my back. Hmmm, this burning pain meant that Moonkiss¡¯ attack had taken off more than 5% of my health... 5089! She had clearly used a skill to attack me. I abruptly swung the Heaven-stealing Sword in a backwards sweep through the cloud of smoke that was still surrounding me, but it didn¡¯t hit anything. Moonkiss had already leaped backwards in an incredibly agile manner before my sword had even begun swinging towards her. After that, she raised her hand, causing her entire body to be shrouded in a dull red light. She had used a buff skill that had greatly boosted her movement speed and attack speed. Once it was activated, she sped towards me once again! Clang! However, to Moonkiss¡¯ absolute surprise, the Heaven-stealing Sword swung out to intercept her dagger this time. She let out a small gasp before she abruptly shifted her body. Her feet spun as she borrowed the force of my blow to whirl to my left. As she spun, she planted two daggers into my shoulder. Ouch, that hurt! Assassins had a very high attack speed, so even though each hit only dealt about 2000 damage to me, she was able to shave off nearly 7000 points of my HP in three seconds! Moonkiss was still resetting her stance when her eyes suddenly widened in shock. Her body was still moving to the right when she saw the Heaven-stealing Sword shooting towards her, a cone of spiralling indigo energy glowing around its tip. Universe Break! 19840! Moonkiss limply collapsed to the floor with a soft groan of resentment. As expected, even a CGL Hall of Fame assassin wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand my Universe Break if they didn¡¯t parry or dodge it. At this current stage of the game, it would always oneshot them if it hit, it simply wasn¡¯t an attack they could endure with their current HP pools. Victory! As I was transferred out of the arena, I saw my points rise dramatically. I had now reached rank 172. Hah, just killing Moonkiss once had caused me to jump over twenty ranks! This wasn¡¯t bad at all! Alright, it was time to continue battling! Ding~! System Notice: Hello, you have been successfully matched with player ¡°Tempest Shadow¡±! The battle will commence in 5 seconds! ¡­¡­ Hahaha, Tempest Shadow was ranked 75 on the leaderboard and I was lucky enough to meet him! This was great! Ah, but this punk was really unlucky to meet me today, it was time for him to deliver his points to me! Woosh! Tempest Shadow¡¯s face went ashen when he appeared inside the arena. It was extremely clear that I was an opponent he never wanted to meet in the arena. The moment he matched up against me, he knew that he was going to lose a lot of points and his hard-earned rank would also drastically drop because of this. I rested the Heaven-stealing Sword against my shoulders as I grinned and said, ¡°War God Tempest Shadow, it¡¯s been a long time! Has everything been good with you?¡± The muscles on Tempest Shadow¡¯s face spasmed violently before he replied, ¡°Lu Chen, aren¡¯t you doing quite well for yourself in Sky City? After seeing how arrogant you¡¯ve become, it¡¯s quite clear that Candle Dragon should visit Sky City once and bathe your Dark Moon City in blood. We¡¯ll let you know what a true number one guild looks like!¡± ¡°Cut the crap and face me! I¡¯m short on time!¡± I brandished the Heaven-stealing Sword as I suddenly started barrelling towards him. As a magic knight, Tempest Shadow was able to summon his mount into battle. He immediately swung his body up onto the back of a battle wolf, causing all of his stats to rise dramatically. Furthermore, Tempest Shadow¡¯s Famous General Skill was Resolute and it had raised a player¡¯s attack by 25%. Right now, it was raising his attack by 71%, so it wasn¡¯t bad at all. It was just a little inferior to my Martial God right now. My advantage in this match was my high attack power, while his advantage was high HP and Defense. Both of us swung our weapons the instant we shot past one another. My longsword had swept across his neck while the tip of his iron spear slammed into my arm. Wow, that really hurt! This punk¡¯s Attack was high enough to break my Defense. 8810! 5221! After the first exchange of blows, I saw that Tempest Shadow still had over 70% of his HP left even after being dealt nearly 9000 damage. This doofus had a total HP pool of at least thirty thousand hitpoints. ¡°Heh!¡± Tempest Shadow grinned as he raised his arm into the air. Green energy instantly started shrouding his body and his HP bar started filling up rapidly! This was one of the magic knight¡¯s signature skills, War God Recovery, which would heal the user for 100% of their HP over the next 60 seconds! A drawn-out battle was absolutely disadvantageous for me. I had to get rid of him quickly! Tempest Shadow looked like he didn¡¯t want to waste any time either. He charged towards me with his spear raised. His spear swept towards me and when I parried it, this punk¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up with satisfaction and delight. His spear suddenly started to whistle as a spiral of energy that looked like burning flames shot towards me! He had actually used Barrier Break! Bloody fucking hell, Candlelight Shadow had definitely helped the CGL Hall of Famers in Candle Dragon learn that skill! Pcchhht! A deep, sharp pain radiated out from my chest. This Barrier Break had caused his spear to sink straight into my chest and a huge damage number flew up above my head. 14890! Holy shit! I only had about 21000 HP right now, so I definitely couldn¡¯t compete with Tempest Shadow on this front. But I didn¡¯t panic, because the truth of the matter was that the moment Tempest Shadow hit me with that Barrier Break, he had already become a dead man! Thunk! My arm shoved aside his long spear with a soft thud, and Tempest Shadow was now completely open to my counterattack! His eyes widened in shock and fear as they shot towards my Heaven-Stealing Sword. An indigo energy that resembled raging flames was swirling around its tip and the entire sword was shrouded in burning red flames. This was clearly a skill combo ¡ª¡ª Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash! 17849! 6789! 8010! 12842! All four attacks hit him dead-on! Tempest Shadow¡¯s mechanical control was far inferior to Candelight Shadow¡¯s. In fact, he might not even be a match for Li Chengfeng or Purple Marquis in this regard. He was at about the same level as Moonkiss when it came to mechanical skill. As a result, he wasn¡¯t able to dodge a single one of my lightning-quick strikes. As the damage quickly piled up, he knew that not even a health potion could save him! Woosh! I left the arena in victory, my rank flying up once again! I didn¡¯t meet any truly tough opponents over the next few matches. The only competent ones I was matched against were players like Dominating Arrow God, Night Sorrow, Hero In A Dream, and Familiar Scent. By the time the clock struck 5, I had finally made it into the top 20! My current rank was 14 and I had kept my unbeaten streak all the way to the top! There was no time to relax! I had to continue because I wasn¡¯t more than two victories away from entering the top 10 ranking! By this time, Dominating Knight God had long since been kicked out of his top ten spot. Only the heavens knew how many people had trampled over him during this process... Ding~! System Notice: Hello, you have been successfully matched with player ¡°Luo River God of the Capital¡±! The battle will commence in 5 seconds! ¡­¡­ I was stunned when I saw the system notice. Did it really match me against Luo River God of the Capital? Hahaha, my luck wasn¡¯t bad! Right now, Luo River God of the Capital was ranked second on the champion arena rankings, so if I could defeat her, I would earn a lot of points. I couldn¡¯t help but grin when I thought of that. Woosh! Chapter 517: Lenovos Invitation I simply sighed and said, ¡°Beauty Luo, we ended up meeting in combat in the end. Ah, how can I bear to even harm a hair on your head¡­¡± Luo River God of the Capital stifled a laugh. ¡°Oh, cut the crap. This is just a duel in the arena! Come at me! It¡¯s time to decide a winner between us! I want to see the Little Heavenly King¡¯s skills for myself!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± I didn¡¯t want to give Luo River God a chance to cast her unique Magic Shield, so I immediately charged at her with the Heaven-stealing Sword raised high in the air. I slashed down towards her and unleashed a Thousand Ice Slash. I couldn¡¯t hold anything back now that I was fighting an opponent as skilled as Luo River God of the Capital. I would have to use every trick in my proverbial book, but it would be fine as long as I won. Crack¡­ My combat boots caused cracks in the floor as I ran across it. That was how much power I was exerting with each forward bound. Woosh! I shot a Dragon Slaying Slash at her, but I didn¡¯t even bother to check if my attack had succeeded or not. When I was duelling against an expert like Luo River God of the Capital, I would be satisfied if the hit rate of my Dragon Slaying Slash was even 30%. I flashed across the arena as quick as lightning, and I was to the right of Luo River God of the Capital before she could even gasp in surprise. I raised my hand and cast Ice Cyclone Domain, instantly covering the area around us in ice and snow. ¡°Oh?¡± Luo River God of the Capital made a quick chant as she agilely shifted her feet. She waved her magic staff at the same time and a Sea of Purgatory Flames spell burst out around us, overlaying itself over my Ice Cyclone Domain. The two domains instantly clashed and the aftershock of the clashing energies shook my body violently. The Sea of Purgatory Flames then attacked me for 4539 damage! Hmmm, this was still an acceptable amount of damage. I unleashed another Thousand Ice Slash, forcing Luo River God of the Capital to hurriedly fly to her left. I took this opportunity to lock onto her before I activated Thunderous Charge. Mid-way through my charge, I slashed forward with my sword, causing three fiery blades of sword energy to erupt from it. I had used my flurry skill, Burning Blade Slash! ¡°Wah, what a cunning little Lu Chen you are¡­¡± Tsk, tsk, the number one mage of Wind City was certainly living up to her reputation. She used the interval between my attacks to launch a fierce counterassault. Her magic wand weaved and bobbed in the air before a fierce Dragon¡¯s Roar spell erupted out of it with an explosive boom. This lethal single-target spell was the bane of all warriors in the game! Rooaaar! My entire body was shaken by the fierce roar of a dragon before the spell hit me! I felt as if my entire body was about to fly apart at the seams and a huge damage number flew up above my head. 12093! Bloody fucking hell, that was way too fierce! What kind of magic attack power was this!? Luo River God of the Capital had activated her Mage Soul Famous General Skill, so her Magic Attack was currently boosted by more than 100%. So she really was the scourge of every heavy-armour player in the game! Crack¡­ The ground cracked beneath my feet as I executed a helix maneuver and skirted her attack radius. After I completed that feint, I suddenly accelerated forward, practically launching myself into Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s back as a cone of swirling indigo energy appeared on the tip of my sword. A universe formation appeared under my feet as I executed my true killing blow, Universe Break! Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s face went ashen as she let out a soft gasp of shock. Her staff swiftly danced in the air before she suddenly made a forward leap. Her body flickered in the air as she suddenly appeared 20 yards away from her original spot. Shock flashed through my eyes but my movements didn¡¯t slow one iota as I slashed the air with my longsword and sent a Dragon Slaying Slash flying towards her again! Thud! MISS! Even though I didn¡¯t deal Luo River God of the Capital any damage, I finally managed to break her Origin Energy Shield. She wouldn¡¯t be able to erect another Origin Energy Shield immediately after her first one broke, so these precious few seconds gave me the ideal window of opportunity. If I missed this window to kill her, she would blast me to death with Sea of Purgatory Flames, Dragon¡¯s Roar and Galaxy Storm! As I sprinted forward, I used this short pause to unleash another Dragon Slaying Slash! Woosh! The cyan blade hurtled towards Luo River God of the Capital. She didn¡¯t dare take the blow head-on without her Origin Energy shield, so she had no choice but to dodge and launch an Ice Arrow Spell at me to slow down my charge. I had no choice but to admit that this mage was really a handful. If you have her a proper stage, she would be willing to go match mechanical skills with any warrior! No wonder Candlelight Shadow had never dared to force a confrontation with her during the contest over Wind City. He had only ever dared to use Ghost God Prophecy to harass her and make her drop levels. Rustle¡­ I had pressed in on my opponent in the blink of an eye. My longsword flashed out and swiftly shot towards Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s chest. Her mouth dropped open in surprise, but she swiftly accelerated and changed direction as well. She wove a beautiful Z in the ground as she avoided my ambush. However, she was not prepared for what came next. My left fist swung up towards her as it blazed with the bloody energy from my Magic Piercing Punch. MISS! Luo River God of the Capital was getting serious now. Her magic staff just so happened to block my left fist and she even used the impact of my Magic Piercing Punch to fly backwards. However, it was unfortunate for her that I had not run out of killing blows. I didn¡¯t give her a chance to reset her stance as I launched another Dragon Slaying Slash, a skill which wouldn¡¯t trigger my skill cooldown, at her! ¡°Ah¡­¡± Luo River God of the Capital was already displaying the limits of her sublime mechanical skills as her APM instantly shot to over 600 on the control interface. What the hell! Even my highest recorded APM was only 500. That wasn¡¯t a very high number, but it was more than enough for my needs. Her feet slipped to the side as she borrowed the inertia of her movements to barely dodge my Dragon Slaying Slash. However, I was prepared for that as well. I raised the Heaven-stealing Sword in the air before suddenly hurling it forward. The longsword started spinning quicker and quicker in the air, soon transforming into a whirling buzzsaw which shot towards Luo River God of the Capital. In that instant, Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s expression dramatically changed, ¡°Crap, it¡¯s over. You cunning little Lu Chen¡­¡± Crack The Sword Boomerang slashed across the beautiful mage¡¯s body, it was only one hit, but it wasn¡¯t a hit that she could afford to take right now. The blade of my sword cut through her body unimpeded, causing a huge damage number to jump out above her head. 13478! It had finally come to an end! Luo River God of the Capital slowly sank towards the ground. Even though she was a super mage, health was still her class¡¯ Achilles Heel and she probably only had a little over a ten thousand HP at most. It wasn¡¯t enough to withstand my Sword Boomerang, a longe-range attack skill which could practically deal as much damage as a melee attack skill. It was my victory and I had gained a large number of points from it! ¡­¡­ Woosh! As I flew out of the arena, I checked the rankings again. Alright, after beating Luo River God of the Capital once, I had flown to the ninth spot on the rankings. I had finally entered the top 10 and currently all of the people who had entered the top 10 were familiar faces to me. Shockingly enough, the person ranked first on the leaderboard was Beiming Xue. Only the heavens knew how many matches this little girl had participated in. She started off her matches by launching a Spiralling Arrow Blade and a Evil Spirit Volley at her opponents, so they were normally affairs which lasted mere seconds. As a result of that, she had fought far more matches than I had. Once you took this and her stunningly high win rate into consideration, it was only natural that she¡¯d take the top spot in the rankings! The person ranked second was Candlelight Shadow and Lin Yixin was hot on his heels. Purple Marquis, Li Chengfeng, and Farewell Song occupied ranks 4-6 respectively. The spiritual leader of all the assassins in the game was truly in a class of his own. He was able to climb to such a high ranking even though the competition in the arena was so fierce. Yeah, his skills really were worthy of praise! I was ranked ninth right now, so the system would match me with any of the players from rank 1 to 209. So it wasn¡¯t likely for me to be matched with anyone else in the top 10. As a result, my next few matches were against players like Inconstant, Iron Pardon, and Purple Wind Chime and I didn¡¯t have any problems maintaining my unbeaten streak. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t earn a huge amount of points from these wins, so my rank kept fluctuating between 7 and 10. I would have to spend more time grinding the arena if I wanted to advance. After I thought about it for a moment, I decided to stop for the day. My chances of meeting Candlelight Shadow wasn¡¯t high in the first place and it seemed like he had left to participate in the team arena too. Oh well, there was always another time. I wasn¡¯t too bothered about getting first place either. I was perfectly content with staying in the top 10. From a certain point of view, continuing to fight in the arena at my rank was no different from hard labor. I would have to fight a countless amount of battles to maintain the number one rank even if I reached it. This was simply far too tedious. If I had that much time, I¡¯d be better off grinding levels. I would even be able to farm equipment at the same time. That was where I found my real joy in the game anyway. ¡­¡­ I looked at the time. It was now nearly 6 in the evening, so I sent He Yi a message: ¡°Eve, should we stop here and go for a meal?¡± Even replied: ¡°Mmm, I¡¯ve already reached rank 17 in the champion arena and I don¡¯t think I can climb up any further. Let me call Beiming and Mingyue, we¡¯re going to eat at that buffet place again tonight¡­¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± I didn¡¯t really know what to say to that. All of the girls in my workshop were the kind of people who could eat without getting fat and they were all gluttons at that! Their figures were simply fantastic, and the unfairness of it all had practically driven me into despair. ¡­¡­ Not long after, the three girls all went offline. Beiming Xue was practically jumping with joy as she rushed towards me and clung onto my arm. She said, ¡°Big bro, did you see that!? I¡¯m ranked first in the arena~¡± I didn¡¯t quite know how to respond to that. ¡°Beiming Xue¡¯s really awesome. How many matches did you fight altogether?¡± ¡°Hmmm¡­ I fought a little over eight hundred matches and my winning percentage is 99.9%. I just happened to lose that one match¡­¡± ¡°Oh, who did you lose to her?¡± ¡°Luo River God of the Capital! Her Origin Energy Shield was way too powerful! I just couldn¡¯t break it and she instagibbed me in a single counterattack. But after that, I kept looking for matches and before I knew it, her rank had dropped down from the number one spot again¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at those words. ¡°Well, that¡¯s because I managed to beat Luo River God of the Capital an hour ago. Hahahaha!!¡± A shocked smile appeared on He Yi¡¯s face. ¡°Wow, really? Lu Chen, you beat Luo River God of the Capital?¡± ¡°Uh huh!¡± Delighted smiles instantly appeared on the faces of all three girls. ¡°You¡¯re way too strong. Even Luo River God of the Capital lost to you¡­¡± I laughed and followed the girls downstairs. As we stood in the lift, we continued to chat. I asked He Yi, ¡°Eve, what¡¯s your winning percentage like?¡± He Yi replied, ¡°It¡¯s about average. I¡¯m only at 99.2%. I lost three matches.¡± I asked, ¡°Oh, who did you lose to?¡± He Yi sighed helplessly before answering, ¡°I lost to Li Chengfeng, Candlelight Shadow, and our pretty Lin Yixin¡­¡± I was shocked by her reply. ¡°Damn, you really encountered quite a few tough opponents. Oh man, if only I had encountered these guys, that would simply have been perfect¡­¡± Murong Mingyue immediately retorted in an incredulous manner, ¡°Do you think Eve can compare to a god of mechanics like you? Eve, did you manage to beat any super experts during your run?¡± He Yi pondered that question for a moment before she smiled and said, ¡°Hmmm, actually I did beat several of them. I instagibbed Transient Smoke and Clouds once and I also beat Laughing At The Heavens once. Hmmm, who else? Oh right! I also met Dominating Knight God three times, and I destroyed him every single time¡­¡± My forehead broke out in cold sweat. ¡°Bloody hell, no wonder Dominating Knight God¡¯s ranking fell off a cliff. So it was like that. Man, I wonder who this unlucky child offended¡­¡± Beiming Xue laughed and said, ¡°Sis Mingyue, you also took part in the champion arena. What¡¯s your rank?¡± Murong Mingyue silently turned around before retorting, ¡°Must we talk about the champion arena? If that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll make a move first, have fun chatting¡­¡± The girls all laughed at that point. It was at this precise moment that He Yi¡¯s phone suddenly started to ring. It was a number with 010 region code, so the person who was calling was calling from Beijing. He Yi accepted the call and asked, ¡°Hello, who¡¯s speaking?¡± ¡°Hi, may I ask if this is Ms He Yi? Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul¡¯s guild leader, From Water?¡± The person on the other side was also a woman. ¡°Yes I am. May I ask who I¡¯m speaking to?¡± ¡°Ah yes, I am from Lenovo Group¡¯s Beijing Headquarters. Can I inquire if you¡¯re free tomorrow morning? If you are, I¡¯ll take a plane down south. I hope that you are open to meeting with me, because I want to discuss forming a Lenovo gaming club with you.¡± We were immediately stunned by those words. Chapter 518: TCL’s Outrageous Contract Deal ¡°I¡¯ll be reaching Suzhou at around nine in the morning, so how about we meet at that cafe in Shiquan Street at ten? Can you also bring Lu Chen and Beiming Xue along as well?¡± ¡°Okay!¡± He Yi didn¡¯t waste any time in agreeing to the meeting, but she added something after that. ¡°However, if you want to sign us to a contract, you¡¯ll need to sign Murong Mingyue as well.¡± The other party hesitated for a moment before she laughed and said, ¡°That¡¯s fine as well. A party needs at least four people after all. I agree to that condition.¡± ¡°Okay, then I¡¯ll see you tomorrow!¡± ¡­¡­ He Yi ended the call and looked up to see the three of us staring at her with shocked expressions on our faces. ¡°Lenovo wants to sign us?¡± I asked. He Yi¡¯s laughter tinkled in the air as she nodded her head and said, ¡°However, I have this feeling that they really only want to sign two people, and that is you, Lu Chen, and Beiming Xue. Mingyue and I are merely the extras that come in this package deal.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°Eve, you¡¯re already among the top 20 players in the champion arena, so no one is carrying you into the team. Sis Mingyue, on the other hand, is definitely being carried onto the team..¡± ¡°Bloody hell! You ass!¡± Murong Mingyue punched me from behind before she laughed and said, ¡°Can¡¯t you leave me some dignity!?¡± He Yi and Beiming Xue covered their mouths and laughed at that. The four of us quickly drove to the nearest buffet place and started our feast. After we finished off the seafood, we began to talk about what we were going to do next as we nursed our drinks. ¡°We should go and participate in the team arena later. Don¡¯t bother with your ranking in the champion arena for now. We need to prioritize getting our team arena rankings up as well.¡± I looked at He Yi and Murong Mingyue and said, ¡°Mingyue, your ability to win 1v1 duels is very limited, so you should focus on your 2v2 battles with Eve. Once the both of you have established a deep understanding of each other''s quirks, tendencies, and idiosyncrasies, you¡¯ll be able to display the full might of the Priest + Magic Knight pairing, one of the most ridiculous pairings in the game. Eve, you just need to be able to pull the opponent¡¯s fire without dying yourself. Given your attack power, most teams in the team arena won¡¯t be able to do anything to you and even breaking into the top 10 of the champion arena isn¡¯t a pipedream for you.¡± He Yi laughed and nodded her head. ¡°Mmm, I got it. I¡¯ll work hard. I won¡¯t go to any of the meetings over at the GGS Shanghai branch over the next few days. I¡¯ll just focus on grinding the arena. It¡¯s time to go for broke! I¡¯ll just ask them to send me the meeting minutes afterwards.¡± He Yi simply laughed at that comment. It was at this time that Beiming Xue, who had been flipping through the news on her phone, suddenly let out a soft yell. ¡°Woah! Did you guys see the news! Something big has happened in the gaming world!¡± ¡°Oh? What happened?¡± The three of us were taken aback by her sudden yell. Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes were fixed on her phone as she read it out to us. ¡°TCL, one of the premier companies in China, has decided to create a gaming club. They¡¯ve signed the CGL Hall of Famers Candlelight Shadow, Tempest Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, Transient Smoke and Clouds, and God¡¯s Dance for an outrageous amount of money¡­¡± (I¡¯ll have to apologise here. In my previous uploads, I actually thought that TCL was a korean company. I¡¯m not allowed to edit my previous mistake, so I can only say it here~) I sucked in a deep breath before saying, ¡°Damn, TCL really knows how to make an entrance. Oh man, I didn¡¯t think that a huge corporation like TCL would actually make their move this fast. No wonder Lenovo called us just now. Tsk tsk, TCL swallowed up the five heavenly kings of Candle Dragon just like that. I wonder just how much money they spent to accomplish such a task. But with this signing, TCL squad will have many powerful warriors and skilled generals, so they¡¯ll definitely be one of the invincible battleships in the tournament scene.¡± Beiming Xue pursed her lips before she smiled and said, ¡°Let me check just how much money TCL spent to sign Candlelight Shadow and his gang¡­¡± ¡°Okay.¡± After a few minutes, Beiming Xue laughed and said, ¡°I got it. According to a small but reliable news site, TCL signed them to a one year contract. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s annual salary is twenty million RMB a year, while Tempest Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, and Transient Smoke and Clouds were all signed to ten million RMB deals. God¡¯s Dance managed to get a slightly better deal than the rest of the and her salary is at twelve million a year¡­¡± He Yi¡¯s small mouth dropped open as she said in an incredulous voice, ¡°TCL really does know how to make a splash! Just recruiting those five professional gamers will cost them a cool sixty-two million dollars a year! That¡¯s insane¡­¡± I shook my head before I replied, ¡°Perhaps, spending this money is worth it. After all, Candlelight Shadow is the most popular gamer in China and he even has the moniker ¡®Martial God¡¯. Just the money they will make from a year of tournaments and marketing will be enough to recoup their outlay. Furthermore, when Candlelight Shadow went to South Korea to study, he was originally known as South Korea¡¯s ¡®Starcraft Emperor¡¯, so he¡¯s really famous in that country too. So TCL has actually killed two birds with one stone here. It was an excellent piece of business, really.¡± Murong Mingyue nodded her head in agreement. ¡°Yeah, Lu Chen is right on the money. TCL¡¯s move to sign the five heavenly kings of Candle Dragon can definitely be considered a masterstroke.¡± I cleared my throat before saying, ¡°So it honestly looks like Lenovo is very serious about signing the four of us to a contract. I mean, they¡¯re even willing to send someone down from Beijing just to meet us tomorrow. So what kind of terms should we ask for? What should be the deal breaker for us? Because this concerns how much we will earn in a year as professional gamers.¡± He Yi let out a silvery laugh and said, ¡°We should support state corporations like Lenovo, so we won¡¯t ask for a ridiculous amount of money. But we can¡¯t shortchange ourselves too much either. Lu Chen¡¯s price on the open market definitely won¡¯t be any less than ten million on the open market. Any less would be putting his title as Little Heavenly King to shame. Beiming Xue¡¯s contract also can¡¯t be any less than eight million, because I honestly don¡¯t think you¡¯re inferior to Transient Smoke and Clouds in any way. As for Mingyue and I, we don¡¯t really care.¡± ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s finish grinding the team arena and talk about it again. Let¡¯s win as many matches as we can before going to sleep. Let¡¯s get up at nine and discuss this again.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ We had returned home from dinner, so it was about time to challenge the team arena with Beiming Xue! Woosh! I went online and appeared in Sky City. I saw Beiming Xue was running towards me with the Blazing Shadow Bow in hand. She smiled and said, ¡°Big bro, add me to your party¡­¡± ¡°Alright.¡± I added Beiming Xue to my party and activated Martial God before I opened up the arena interface. I chose the team arena option and the leaderboard popped up as well. To my utter surprise, I saw that the team ranked first on the board was Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Eyes Like Water. I had never expected the players of Vanished God City to show out like this and take first place in the team arena. However, the players who challenged the champion arena were all coming for that crown right now, so Stranger of Three Lifetimes might not be able to hold on to that top spot for too long. Light flashed in front of my eyes before Beiming Xue and I were teleported to one of the arena waiting rooms. The two of us looked out of the window to see countless arenas scattered across the area. We would soon be participating in endless battles in these stadiums. ¡°Are you ready, Beiming? I¡¯m about to start looking for a match¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m good to go. Big bro, let¡¯s begin!¡± ¡°OK£¬GOGO£¡¡± ¡°Okay! Go, go, go!¡± We shared a smile before I pressed down on the ¡°Fight¡± button. Before even a second passed, we heard the ringing sound of the system notice. Ding~! System Notice: Hello, your team has been successfully matched with the players ¡°Nine Hells¡± and ¡°Hotspring¡±! The battle will commence in 5 seconds! We were teleported into the arena after that. Okay, there were two fighters standing in front of us. One was a Level 117 magic knight and the other was a Level 116 wanderer. Both of them were mounted on identical mountain rams. I had seen these mounts before because there were quite a few players in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls who were riding on these things. They were significantly lousier than the Fireblade Warhorses, but they were better than nothing. As Dark Steel-grade mounts, they still added a significant amount of stats and it was way better than running on the ground like a trooper. Rustle... Beiming Xue¡¯s battle senses were extraordinary, so she immediately flew backwards and raised her bow the moment she entered the arena. Her beautiful blood-red eyes were fixed on the other team and she looked as if she was ready to let fly. I didn¡¯t bother to say anything. I simply raised the Heaven-stealing Sword high in the air and charged towards the enemy team. As I rushed towards Nine Hells, I waved my hand in the air. My God Binding Art howled in the air as four divine weapons fell from the sky and bound Hotsprings in place. Hmmm, the God Binding Art had a rather long channeling time, so it was pretty useless against experts like Moonkiss and Luo River God of the Capital. They would dodge this skill about 90% of the time. However, it became a cheat code in my hands when we were up against noobs like this. Bang! I smashed straight into Nine Hells, causing the magic knight¡¯s mountain ram to bleat frantically. As his eyes widened in shock, my Heaven-stealing Sword shot towards him, a spiralling cone of indigo energy swirling on its tip. My attack pierced through his shield and broke through his defences. But I wasn¡¯t done yet! I immediately followed that Universe Break with a Burning Blade Slash, causing three blazing crescents of sword energy to crash into my opponent. Four damage numbers flew up above his head as the flaming energy ate into his body. 19047! 5893! 8290! 13728! Even a top magic knight like Gui Guzi might not be able to survive if I hit him with my full combo of Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash, so this second-rate magic knight in front of me didn¡¯t stand a chance! As he let out a dull groan, Nine Hells toppled down from the back of his mountain ram. He had been killed in a single round of combat. A look of complete and utter shock appeared on Hotspring¡¯s face. Even though he was still bound by the God Binding Art, the wanderer¡¯s eyes widened into saucers as he yelled, ¡°What the hell! That¡¯s way too insane! He killed him in a single combo? Nine Hells has twenty-four thousand HP!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at Hotspring¡¯s exclamation. Just my universe break alone had nearly one-shot him. In this day and age, a magic knight needed to have at least thirty thousand health to face someone like me. If not, he was shit out of luck. On the other side, Beiming Xue was strumming the Blazing Shadow Bow. More than ten arrows whistled through the air as she unleashed a Spiralling Arrow Blade + Evil Spirit Volley combo and most of them pierced Hotspring¡¯s chestplate. Even though Hotspring was also a rider, his health and defenses were a fair bit lousier than an average magic knight¡¯s. So there was no way that he could withstand Beiming Xue¡¯s attacks. He let out a wail of misery as he quickly followed his companion in death. It was our complete victory! We had a really easy time in our first team battle together and we had ended in less than fifteen seconds! I had one-shot the magic knight with a single charge and Beiming Xue had killed the bound Wanderer with a single combo as well. Our teamwork had been excellent. After we were teleported out of the arena, Beiming Xue¡¯s lips curved up into a smile. ¡°Big bro, you¡¯re so powerful. That God Binding Art is really incredible as well! Once you bind an opponent, it makes it so much easier for me to hit them with my Evil Spirit Volley¡­¡± I laughed. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯ll be really easy for us at the beginning, but once our ranks have risen high enough and we start meeting opponents like Farewell Song, Laughing At The Heavens, and Dominating Heaven Blade, the success rate of my God Binding Art will start to fall dramatically. So we can¡¯t pin our hopes on this skill. All you need to do is to match my movements. I¡¯ll charge in and kill the enemy while you kite them. That is the royal road of winning these 2v2 matches.¡± Beiming Xue nodded her head and laughed. After that, she replied in a cool and confident voice, ¡°I got it. I¡¯ll work hard to become the strongest two-man team with big bro! We definitely will!!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Chapter 519: Joining Lenovo Meanwhile in the guild channel¡ª Xu Yang: "Damn, Chengfeng and Fighting Spirits are fucking fierce. They conquered the top spot in the team arena!" Li Chengfeng let out a hearty laugh: "It wasn¡¯t that hard. In fact, it¡¯s more stable than fighting in the champion arena. We¡¯ve fought a lot of battles but we haven¡¯t lost a single one yet! Honestly, the team arena is way more fun than the champion arena. The latter is way too brutal, there¡¯s always an expert like Candlelight Shadow, Wind Fantasy, vice leader Lu Chen, Farewell Song, or Little Piglet lurking around the corner. You can end up stepping on a mine at any time¡­" I laughed before replying: "Chengfeng, you¡¯ve put on quite a show today, keep it going! Oh, that¡¯s right. Did you and High Fighting Spirits not meet any powerful teams during your reign as the incumbent number one team?" Li Chengfeng gave a heavy sigh before he replied: "We did! The strongest team we faced was Lin Bing Dou Zhe and Farewell Song! Those two guys are frigging beasts! Fighting Spirits died just fifteen seconds after combat had started. The good thing was that I had also taken care of Farewell Song during that time. After that, I just barely beat Lin Bing Dou Zhe. Shit, Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s Famous General Skill is way too powerful and his own skills are at the very least first-rate. He was really hard to kill. If we meet their team again, I honestly can¡¯t say that we will win. It will all depend on our condition." I continued: "Was there anyone else? Did you meet any other strong teams?" Li Chengfeng chuckled: "Oh, we also met Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Eyes Like Water, and Ling Xueshang and Purple Wind Chime. But we managed to win them all. Even though it wasn¡¯t easy to win those battles, both High Fighting Spirits and I have Barrier Break and excellent teamwork, so we would use two Barrier Breaks to one-shot one enemy first before we focused down the other person. This was how we managed to keep our number one rank in the team arena. We still haven¡¯t met Candlelight Shadow and God¡¯s Dance though. The moment we meet them, things are gonna get extremely dicey for us." Li Chengfeng replied: "Yeah, I got it. You guys keep up the good work too!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I turned off the guild channel and continued my conquest of the team arena together with Beiming Xue. We had finally charged our way into the Top 10 by the time the clock struck midnight. We were currently ranked fifth on the leaderboard. On our way to the top, we had beaten quite a few super strong teams. This included Gui Guzi and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties and One Meter Sunlight, Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er, Purple Dawn and Fighting On All Fronts, and Tempest Shadow and Transient Smoke and Clouds. The battle against Tempest Shadow and Transient Smoke and Clouds was especially gratifying. After I deleted Tempest Shadow with my sublime skill, I didn¡¯t turn around and go after Transient Smoke and Clouds. Instead, I chose to watch the duel between the number one archer in China and the Dark Archer Beiming Xue. In the end, Beiming Xue used her superior range and a Spiraling Arrow Blade to gain the advantage. She just barely managed to beat Transient Smoke and Clouds. I grinned in appreciation when I saw that. My beautiful little sister had finally taken a big step into the realm of super experts. She looked like she belonged there even when faced up against a renowned CGL Hall of Famer like Transient Smoke and Clouds. It was getting, and we weren¡¯t in a hurry to grab the top spot in the team arena today either. Beiming Xue had also gotten tired and she said that she wanted to go and wash up, so I decided to call it a night as well. Since there was still a little bit of time left, as someone who always managed his affairs methodically, I decided to open up the champion arena interface. I immediately started looking for a match and I was soon matched against an opponent. It was an unlucky archer who was currently ranked 77th on the leaderboard. I didn¡¯t bother making any flashy moves. I just charged toward the archer and the moment my opponent dodged my charge, I used Thousand Ice Slash to intercept him. Thousand Ice Slash wouldn¡¯t be able to completely intercept any player who had reached the Top 100, but my attacks had completely thrown off his attack and movement patterns. And when I finally raised my hand to cast my God Binding Art, this archer¡¯s eyes turned scarlet with rage. He realized that both my attacks had merely been a ploy to set him up for my God Binding Art. Once I successfully bound him, I stepped forward and finished him off in two blows. Easy points! It was late at night and the peak experts of the champion arena had all gone to sleep or grind levels. As a result, I didn¡¯t meet any experts as I killed my way through the champion arena. After I grinded the champion arena for more than an hour, I finally climbed to the 4th spot on the leaderboard. When I looked at the Heavenly Ranking, I realized that there wasn¡¯t any need to rush to grab the top spot. Farewell Song Beiming Xue Candlelight Shadow Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Legendary Brave Chaos Moon Wind Fantasy Luo River God of the Capital Lin Bing Dou Zhe Little Piglet ¡­¡­ It looked like everyone had the same idea as me, because the top assassin in China, Farewell Song, had actually managed to grab first place even though assassins had significant disadvantages in this PvP format. Beiming Xue was now in second place and Candlelight Shadow was third. Lin Yixin had probably gone to manage her territory. Her rank kept dropping but she wasn¡¯t frantically trying to push it back up again. Clearly, she wasn¡¯t in any rush. Mmm, I finally reached #4 on the leaderboard. That¡¯s more like it. However, the people who spent all day fighting in the champion arena had no future, because it was ultimately only a place for you to polish your PvP skills. You didn¡¯t earn any items or experience while grinding this part of the game. Furthermore, the only people who could really help me improve my PvP skills were super experts like Candlelight Shadow, Luo River God of the Capital, and Lin Yixin. If I didn¡¯t meet an opponent like them in the arena, I was wasting my time. Of course, for Gui Guzi, He Yi, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and Xu Yang, people who had the absolute advantage in both equipment and active skills, it was very beneficial for them to sharpen their mechanical skills in this champion arena. These were the people who truly benefited from the arena, the players who were right on the cusp of becoming true experts. After all, every expert with sublime mechanical skill had sharpened their skills through countless duels and battles against other players. This was something that was plain for all to see. I checked the time and realized that it was about to turn in, but I saw that He Yi and Murong Mingyue were still online. I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle and open up the team arena leaderboard. To my shock, I saw that He Yi and Murong Mingyue had already climbed to #17. I was pleasantly surprised. These two girls had really given it their best today. I sent her a message: "Eve, are you not going to sleep tonight?" He Yi replied with a smiling emoji before she sent another message: "I¡¯m not going to turn in yet. Mingyue and I already decided that we wouldn¡¯t sleep until we entered the Top 10. You and Beiming should go to sleep first." I was rather bemused by that response and I quickly sent her a reply: "Mmm, then keep working hard and sleep as soon as you can! Don¡¯t forget that we¡¯re going to meet Lenovo¡¯s representative tomorrow morning!" "I knoooow!" After that, I paid a visit to Dark Moon City and queued a new batch of Dark Insects before I went offline. Beiming Xue had already taken a bath and gone to sleep a long time ago. By the time I returned from the bathroom, I could barely even open my eyes and I fell completely unconscious the moment my head hit the pillow. I wouldn¡¯t wake up even if the sky came crashing down. ¡­¡­ I was woken up by the pitter-pattering of footsteps and the sound of the girls¡¯ voices echoing from the living room. "I heard that Lenovo¡¯s head of planning is a real beauty. Ah, what should I wear today? I can¡¯t let that person completely outshine me¡­" This was Murong Mingyue¡¯s voice. Beiming Xue replied, "Heehee. Then you shouldn¡¯t wear anything at all, Sister Mingyue! She definitely won¡¯t be able to beat you that way!" "You cheeky little brat! Looks like you¡¯re bold enough to tease me now. I see that your wings are getting harder and harder. Shoo, go wake up that big bro of yours! Tell him that if he doesn¡¯t wake up, I¡¯m gonna take pictures of him and post them online¡­" I leapt off my bed the moment I heard those words. By the time Beiming Xue came to knock on my door, I had already thrown on some clothes and I opened it to greet her. This was a big day for the Frost Cloud workshop, so all of the girls were dressed to the nines. I quickly went to wash my face and brush my teeth. We were running out of time. The four of us rushed down to the carpark and we left in my X12. The reason why we chose the X12 was because we wanted to keep a low profile. He Yi¡¯s car was way too flashy! I gunned the engine as the X12 flew toward the agreed-upon cafe. After a few minutes of reckless driving, the car finally slowed to a stop in front of the shop. As we left the car, He Yi said, "She¡¯s already arrived. She¡¯s waiting for us on the second floor." "Oh!" The girls ran up the staircase, their high heels clattering against the steps. I was following behind them, so I saw their skirts flutter in the air and caught dazzling glimpses of their snowy thighs. This really was a rare sight to enjoy. What was even rarer was that none of the girls had bothered to guard their modesty against me. In fact, Beiming Xue even turned around and giggled before she asked, "Big bro, are you enjoying the view?" Even I had to blush at those words. "What are you saying, I¡¯m not that kinda guy¡­" Beiming Xue stuck out a small tongue and said, "As if I¡¯d believe you!" After we climbed up the stairs, we saw a charming and elegant woman sitting in the far corner of the cafe. She was dressed in clothes that resembled a uniform and she looked around thirty-five. She was quite pretty and she had the look of a successful career woman. In fact, she carried herself in a manner that was quite similar to He Yi, it was just that she lacked He Yi¡¯s aura of youth. When she saw us walk up the stairs, she immediately stood up and greeted us with a refreshing smile. "Oh, if I¡¯m not mistaken, you are He Yi, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild leader ¡®From Water¡¯." She turned to look at me and said, "And you must be Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. The adorable girl beside you is Beiming Xue, am I correct? So the beautiful lady here must be Murong Mingyue, right?" She addressed each of us by name even though this was our first time meeting her. She really was an impressive woman. She had definitely done her research before coming to meet us. This much had been obvious since she had obtained He Yi¡¯s number. Heh, she must have gotten it from China Mobile. "Hi everyone, my name is Zhu Hong, and I am the director of Lenovo¡¯s Planning Department. I¡¯m truly honored to have the privilege of cooperating with some of the most influential players in Heavenblessed!" Zhu Hong gamely shook our hands as she smiled and said, "Please, take a seat! Make yourselves at home!" We did exactly that as we loosely seated ourselves around the table. ¡­¡­ After He Yi ordered some drinks, she said in a frank manner, "Director Zhu, let¡¯s get straight to the point. What is Lenovo¡¯s vision for their new gaming club?" Zhu Hong smiled as she nodded her head. "You truly do live up to your reputation as GGS Asia Region¡¯s vice president. Your chutzpah is something that no ordinary person can have. Since Sister He Yi requested for it, I will speak plainly from now on." After she said that, Zhu Hong opened up a folder and said, "Lenovo has many gaming clubs under its banner and I am in charge of all the activities for its gaming clubs in China, and the four of you are my first picks for this new club that we¡¯re setting up! I¡¯m sure that all of you have heard that the other electronics giants are marching into Heavenblessed, and Lenovo is no different. We want to develop a brand of exceeding excellence and establish a sovereign-level team in Heavenblessed too!" I nodded and said, "About that¡­ Let¡¯s talk about salary first¡­" Zhu Hong couldn¡¯t help but laugh. "Haha, I see that the Little Heavenly King has grown impatient¡­" "Of course. I mean, I haven¡¯t even eaten breakfast yet¡­" "Then should we eat as we talk?" Chapter 520: Massive Contract Deal "I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve all heard about TCL making a high-profile entry into the VRMMO scene and signing a massive contract deal with Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, Transient Smoke and Clouds, and God¡¯s Dance already, right?" "Mn." He Yi nodded and said, "We¡¯ve already known about it since yesterday." Zhu Hong smiled. "Well, if there¡¯s one thing I can promise you, it¡¯s that Lu Chen will be given an equal or higher salary than Candlelight Shadow¡¯s if he can defeat him in a match!" I was both surprised and pleased. I knew I could trust our local corporations; they didn¡¯t undercompensate us at all. ¡­¡­ Zhu Hong checked the info in her folder before continuing, "The board of directors have unanimously decided to offer you the below salary: Lu Chen, you are the 7th-placed CGL Hall of Famer, the Little Heavenly King and Candlelight Shadow¡¯s strongest rival. Our offer to you is a yearly salary of 24 million RMB, or 2 million RMB per month. Beiming Xue, you are the famous Dark Archer who defeated many top experts in the China server. Our offer to you is a yearly salary of 12 million RMB, or 1 million RMB per month. He Yi, you are the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and a powerful contender who showed great promise in the competitive environment of both champion and team arenas. Our offer to you is a yearly salary of 9 million RMB or 750k RMB per month. Finally, Murong Mingyue, you are the strongest priest in all of China''s servers. Our offer to you is a yearly salary of 6 million RMB, or 500k RMB per month. ¡°So, that¡¯s our offer. Does anyone have anything to say? If so, please, feel free." Zhu Hong looked at us with serious and sincere eyes after she was done. I folded my arms before my chest and asked the girls, "So, Eve, Beiming, sis, what do you think about your offers?" Beiming Xue muttered in a daze, "Millions? Millions. Millions¡­" It looked like the offer had overloaded her brain. She really was too precious. He Yi and Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t care about the offer at all¡ªor more accurately, it was too little money to them to take it seriously¡ªbut they still gave Zhu Hong an affirmative nod. "It¡¯s acceptable, so let us move on to the next phase. What does Lenovo want us to do in return?" Zhu Hong smiled. "Not much, actually. Would you like to move to our club? We¡¯re headquartered in Beijing." He Yi shook her head immediately. "No." "That¡¯s fine too. That means you¡¯ll still be staying at your place, am I right?" "Mn." He Yi gave Zhu Hong a small smile. I asked, "Director Zhu, We chose Lenovo even though there are plenty more clubs that we could¡¯ve joined. Can you tell me why we made this choice?" Zhu Hong looked surprised, but she quickly smiled and answered me seriously, "We have products all across the globe, but our domestic products are good as the ones we sell overseas. Is this good enough for you?" I nodded gladly and extended my hand to her. "We¡¯re very happy to sign a contract with Lenovo." Zhu Hong exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "You¡¯re saying yes?" "Is there any reason we shouldn¡¯t?" "No, not at all!" Zhu Hong quickly made a call, and a short while later a couple of Lenovo employees showed up at our doorsteps with the relevant contract documents, stamps, and so on. Beiming Xue and I could only stare at them with our mouths agape. This professionalism is on another level, isn¡¯t it? ¡­¡­ We signed the contracts on the spot, and just like that we became official e-sports members of Lenovo. Zhu Hong also promised us that they wouldn¡¯t increase the size of the team, and they would communicate with us beforehand if the necessity arose. After all, this was a professional VRMMO e-sports team, and rapport between team members was incredibly important. For example, a company might want to make a super team with Candlelight Shadow, Lin Yixin, Luo River God of the Capital, and me in it. However, that would never happen because Candlelight Shadow and I were enemies, and we would never work together under the same club. In a 2v2 match, the first player I would kill would always be Candlelight Shadow no matter if he was a friend or foe. Lenovo was really well-prepared. When we returned to the workshop and checked the official website, we immediately discovered a new, eye-catching headline¡ª "Lenovo signs massive contract deal with Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Beiming Xue, From Water, and Murong Mingyue. The giant virtual ship that is Lenovo has officially set sail!" The following passage introduced the team, Lenovo, what they wished to do in Heavenblessed, and so on. It was very good marketing especially because the Eternal Moon Corporation allowed it to take the headline at its website¡¯s front page. Obviously, this was very good for Lenovo. That wasn¡¯t the only hot news of the day, however¡ª PepsiCo: Signed a massive contract deal with five tiger generals; Warsky, Farewell Song, Laughing At The Heavens, October Rain, and Lin Bing Dou Zhe. Founder Group: Signed a massive contract deal with five tiger generals; Purple Dawn, Fighting On All Fronts, Gao Jianli, Red Dust, and Zero Degree Rain. ¡­¡­ Another two big corporations had made their moves. Warsky really was talented in this area; not everyone could get PepsiCo as their sponsor. I didn¡¯t think Founder Group made the right choice signing Candle Dragon Second Seed, the team that was led by Purple Dawn, however. That team was second-rate no matter how you looked at it... That being said, it was a good thing that these wealthy business corporations were willing to invest big money into players. All the contract deals were stated to be "massive", but the gap between offers was huge as a matter of course. For example, my offer was worth 24 million, while Purple Dawn¡¯s offer was only 2 million. There was just no comparison. Of course, I wasn¡¯t saying that a 2-million contract deal was bad. Quite the contrary, it was still amazing! ¡­¡­ I went online after eating lunch. Swhoosh! The moment I appeared in Sky City, I received a message¡ª Ding~! System Notice: The logo of "Lenovo" will appear beneath your ID because you have signed a contract with Lenovo Group Limited. You may choose to remove it! When I checked, I saw a new row beneath my ID as expected¡ª Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-130 Purgatory Thunder Guild: Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Guild Position: Vice Leader Team: Lenovo Group Limited ¡­¡­ An eye-catching logo appeared beneath my ID, and to be honest, it actually looked pretty good. One of the terms of the contract stated the logo musn¡¯t be removed, so I was just going to leave it be. At the very least, it served as proof that I was signed under a team, and at the current stage, anyone who got signed by an organization was considered a great player. Beep! Lin Yixin sent me a message. "So, Lu Chen, you¡¯ve sold yourself to Lenovo¡­" "What do you mean I sold myself?" I was a bit displeased with her phrasing. "Time to fess¡¯ up. How much did you get signed for? Is it as good as Candlelight Shadow¡¯s?" "Mn, my yearly salary is worth 24 million!" I smiled proudly before saying, "By the way Yiyi, since I¡¯m a multimillionaire now, you should prepare your dowry right away¡­" "Huh? Why should I?" She sounded confused. "Because you¡¯re going to get married with a certain young multimillionaire who¡¯s below 30 years old, of course! I am worthy of you now, aren¡¯t I" "WTF!" I could see her face turning as red as an apple on the screen. She waved a fist at me and said, "You really think you¡¯re worthy to ask for my hand in marriage with that level of money? Hmph, just you wait, I¡¯m going to sign an even better contract than yours and show you your place real soon¡­" "Yiyi, you¡¯re not going to find anyone if you stay this bossy¡­" "Why do you think I keep you around, fall back guy?" "Fuck!" Since Lin Yixin had shot me down without mercy, I went to organize the items at Air Force One before summoning the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. After teleporting to Dark Moon City and upgrading the buildings, I got ready to grind some levels. I was in no hurry to up my rank in the competitive arena because I, as Lin Yixin said, have already sold myself to a corporation. The entire point of grinding ranks in the arena was to get signed, and since I had already achieved my goal I decided that grinding would be a better use of my time. Some time later, the guild channel suddenly burst into activity. It looked like something was happening¡ª Li Chengeng: "Guys, guys, I got some good news to share!" Chaos Moon: "What is it?" Gui Guzi: "Tell us already, Li!" Li Chengfeng let out a laugh. "Just this morning, the Director of Operations of ASUS came to me to discuss club signings. More specifically, they wanted to sign the best players in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Because Lu Chen, Beiming Xue and the guild leader had already been taken, they decided to sign me as the team leader and several others as the team members. If you all agree, they¡¯ll fly someone to Suzhou this afternoon and meet us at the entrance to the decor club to complete the contract." Gui Guzi asked curiously, "Oh, I see. Who did they choose?" Li Chengfeng replied, "There are five people in total, namely me, you, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and finally Chaos Moon. They offered me a yearly salary of 11 million, 7 million for Little Gui, and 5 million for everyone else. So, do you want to accept this offer or not?" "What, 5 million yearly salary?" Chaos Moon sounded pleasantly surprised. "Does that mean I¡¯m going to be rich?" Gui Guzi nodded. "Yeah, you don¡¯t need to worry about overspending on Mayflower products now¡­" Chaos Moon: "..." After High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun agreed to join ASUS as well, Li Chengfeng confirmed the deal immediately. ASUS would be setting up a club at Suzhou, and the five of them could move out of the base once it was complete. Of course, it was their decision whether to move to the new location or not. All in all, this meant that our core players now had a stable income and a future. This was good for both them and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls because their lives were no longer floating in uncertainty. Competing in the VR e-sports scene was now considered a profession, and if we did well enough, it was only a matter of time we won the recognition of the entire world. Chapter 521: Rose Visits It would be a sound decision. Farewell Song and Lin Bing Dou Zhe definitely made a powerful pair as they were both calm, patient and clear-headed. They wouldn¡¯t act if the time wasn¡¯t right, and if the time was right then they acted with unflinching decisiveness. This excellent quality of theirs gave them multiple wins even against powerful teams like Luo River God of the Capital and Moonkiss. That didn¡¯t mean that our teams were doing bad in the arenas. He Yi and Murong Mingyue also spent three days fighting inside the team arenas, and He Yi¡¯s skill grew drastically thanks to it. She was steadily growing into a well-rounded player, and even her parries were starting to look good and proper. Besides super teams like Farewell Song and Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Candlelight Shadow and God¡¯s Dance, and Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits, everyone else basically got destroyed by the tank-and-healer pair. With Murong Mingyue behind her, He Yi could solo almost anyone like it was a single-player game. ¡­¡­ As for Beiming Xue and I, our focus was on the champion arena. For the past three days, I spent half my time grinding levels, and the other half grinding wins in the champion arena. In the end I accrued a total of 3784 wins and 7 losses, averaging at a mind-boggling 99.8% win rate. Out of these 7 losses, 5 of them were caused by Candlelight Shadow. It was normal though. No one could be at their best at all times, and not even I could maintain an 80% win rate against a player like him. That being said I still beat him 14 times out of the 19 encounters so if there was anyone who felt ashamed here it would be him, not me. Oh, I also lost a match to Luo River God of the Capital. The girl had insane firepower, and in that match I committed a technical error and walked right into her fire trap. In the end, she was able to one-shot me with the triple-hit spell Ice Fire Flurry. You just couldn¡¯t make even a single mistake when fighting against a woman like her. My last loss was in the hands of Lin Yixin. We encountered 4 times in the arena in total, I won 3 out of 4 times. It was a pretty good result all thing considered. ¡­¡­ Noon, at the living room of the workshop. Clak clak clak clak... Clutching a cup of red tea and sitting next to her, I asked, ¡°Sis?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°What are you looking for?¡± ¡°Oh, nothing. I was just testing out the high-end notebook Lenovo sent us¡­¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± Since we were now a proud member of the Lenovo esports club, the company had sent us each a personalized, high-end PC. The notebooks had arrived just yesterday, and they were pretty outstanding well all things considered. At the very least playing Angry Birds or Plants VS Zombies on it was smooth as hell. Seated on the other side of the table, He Yi pushed her notebook toward me and said, ¡°Looking at these rankings! You¡¯re doing amazing for the past couple days, Lu Chen. Even our team leader, Rose said that your results were out of the world. Speaking of which, Rose is going to visit in a couple of days. Lenovo is planning to build the club headquarter at Shanghai, and they¡¯ll be recruiting a couple more players beside us.¡± I smiled. ¡°Sure, why not? We are the first seed, so we can choose to enter the prestigious competitions only. But someone has to participate in the not-so-prestigious competitions as well, right? Rose already said that our main focus should be on grinding and improving our in-game strength as much as possible. Only then we¡¯ll be able to prove ourselves in the upcoming competitions.¡± Beiming Xue bent over and took a peek at the champion arena ranking on the screen. She couldn¡¯t stop herself from sticking out her tongue and commenting, ¡°OMG, Big bro, your win rate is ridiculous¡­¡± I returned her smile and said, ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± I checked out the ranking list¡ª Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Matches Fought: 3784 Wins: 3777 Loss: 7 Win Rate: 99.8% Candlelight Shadow Matches Fought: 4471 Wins: 4443 Loss: 28 Win Rate: 99.3% Little Piglet Matches Fought: 5782 Wins: 5161 Loss: 621 Win Rate: 89.2% Wind Fantasy Matches Fought: 3124 Wins: 3072 Loss: 52 Win Rate: 98.3% Legendary Brave Matches Fought: 4899 Wins: 4427 Loss: 472 Win Rate: 90.3% Beiming Xue Matches Fought: 5130 Wins: 4672 Loss: 458 Win Rate: 91% Purple Marquis Matches Fought: 3982 Wins: 3672 Loss: 310 Win Rate: 92.2% Luo River God of the Capital Matches Fought: 2984 Wins: 2941 Loss: 43 Win Rate: 98.5% Blue Sky Scar Matches Fought: 10189 Wins: 8173 Loss: 2015 Win Rate: 80.2% Chaos Moon Matches Fought: 4088 Wins: 3472 Loss: 616 Win Rate: 84.9% ¡­¡­ At this point, we were all squeezed in front He Yi¡¯s screen to check out the champion arena ranking. The girls stuck their tongues out when they saw how fierce the competition was... Nestled against me, He Yi said with a smile, ¡°Lu Chen fought almost 4000 matches but lost only 7 of them. Sigh, the mere sight of your win rate is probably going to murder more than a couple of fragile hearts. Did you know? Rose told me that after the Lenovo CEO saw your ranking, he told her that the money he had paid to sign you was definitely worth it¡­¡± I nodded and smiled back. The biggest reason Lenovo signed us was to promote their brand, and one of the players they signed was currently sitting at first place of the champion arena ranking. I didn¡¯t need to describe how good it was for their brand, did I? Plus, Beiming Xue was in the top 10 of the champion arena ranking as well, so of course the sponsors were satisfied with the results. Beiming Xue suddenly burst into a giggle. ¡°Blue Sky War God is pretty amazing too. Ten thousand matches, tsk tsk! It must¡¯ve taken him an enormous amount of stamina and willpower to play this many matches¡­¡± Murong Mingyue agreed. ¡°Too bad his win rate isn¡¯t 95% or higher, or the first place of the champion arena ranking would be his for sure!¡± He Yi couldn¡¯t help but roll her eyes. ¡°Come on, there are only 4 players in all the servers who have a win rate above 95%!¡± ¡°True.¡± Beiming Xue nodded in agreement. ¡°You¡¯ll encounter all kinds of classes and players in a 1v1 match, so only the absolute best of the best can maintain a win rate of 95%. If you look at the win rates in descending order, you¡¯ll basically get the same list as the latest Player Power Rankings of China¡­¡± He Yi exclaimed in realization, ¡°Lu Chen¡¯s number one, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s number two, Luo River God of the Capital is number three and Beauty Lin is number four¡­¡± I sucked in a deep breath. The assessment was pretty fair and objective all things considered. I had a tonne of Spirit-grade or Earth-grade Outstanding equipment such as the God Suppressing Necklace, God Suppressing Helmet, Soul Suppressing Cloak and Heavenly-stealing Sword, so in terms of equipment literally no one in China was better than me. It was also the main reason Candlelight Shadow couldn¡¯t get a good win rate against me. My next objective was to find a big map, do some quests, grind some levels etc and get to level 150 as soon as possible. I would become the first swordsman ever to ride a mount! ¡­¡­ It was at this moment we heard someone knocking at the front door. ¡°Huh. Who is it? Is it time to pay rent already?¡± He Yi exclaimed in surprise. I walked over and looked through the peephole. I found a 20-year-old girl wearing a t-shirt standing outside. She also wore a light blue-colored badge in front of her chest, but I couldn¡¯t see the name written on it clearly. So I opened the door and asked, ¡°You are?¡± The girl stared at me with her big, round eyes for a moment before blinking. ¡°Are¡­ are you Falling Dust, the Little Heavenly King? OMG you¡¯re so¡­ handsome¡­¡± The compliment made me blush. ¡°Seriously, who are you?¡± The girl extended a hand to me and smiled brightly. ¡°Hello, Falling Dust! I¡¯m your team leader, Rose!¡± ¡°Rose?¡± Her introduction only increased my surprise. Grasping her hand and giving it a shake, I asked, ¡°You should¡¯ve told us that you¡¯re coming so we could receive you properly¡­¡± Rose giggled a bit before walking into the living room. ¡°There¡¯s no need. It¡¯s only a two-hour trip from Shanghai to Suzhou, so I decided to drive over myself. As for why I¡¯m here, I want to meet you all in person, that¡¯s all.¡± He Yi rose to her feet and greeted Rose with a smile. ¡°Wow, you¡¯re quite the pretty woman in real life, Rose!¡± Rose stared at He Yi for a moment before exclaiming, ¡°So beautiful¡­¡± Murong Mingyue greeted her next, and Rose froze like a statue. ¡°So big¡­¡± Beiming Xue greeted her last, and Rose twitched back to reality. ¡°So cute¡­¡± ¡­¡­ We all sat down in the living room as Rose produced a set of documents from her small bag. She started, ¡°I¡¯m the leader of the club, but you¡¯re the ones who are going to be acting on the stage, metaphorically speaking. Therefore, I would like to inquire your opinions before I make any new recruitment. Here, please check out the first draft of the recruitment list.¡± He Yi accepted the document and gave it a look before passing it over to me. There was a long list of names¡ª Remains LV-122 Class: Warrior City: Vanished God City Guild: Blazing Hot Lips Heart Like Water LV-123 Class: Mage City: Vanished God City Guild: Hunting Moon Dynasty Unwilling to Fight LV-123 Class: Archer City: Wind City Guild: Peach Garden Hidden Fragrance LV-122 Class: Magic Knight City: Wind City Guild: Purple Lily Calm Night LV-121 Class: Assassin City: Sky City Guild: The Monarch Descends Little Little Hero LV-123 Class: Mage City: Vanished God City Guild: Blazing Hot Lips Butterfly Dance LV-122 Class: Dark Ritualist City: Wind City Guild: Candle Dragon ¡­¡­ I licked my lips after skimming over the name list. ¡°This is a mess. There are players from all kinds of cities and guilds¡­¡± Rose nodded with a smile. ¡°Mn. This is what our headhunters gathered after seeking out the best PvP players they could find in every city. They¡¯ll all work for Lenovo if the signings are confirmed. They are the ones who¡¯ll be participating in all minor tournaments unless the four of you choose to participate in them. Basically, you¡¯ll never meet each other unless something unusual happens. Is this okay with you?¡± He Yi and I exchanged a smile with each other before nodding in unison. ¡°We have no problems with your decision whatsoever. Feel free to sign whoever is necessary!¡± ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Rose replied with a smile. ¡°So, do you want to have lunch together?¡± ¡°Your treat?¡± ¡°I mean, sure, I can apply for reimbursement¡­¡± ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ We were just out of the door when my phone rang. It was Lin Yixin¡¯s number. ¡°Hello, Yiyi. What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Did you check the official homepage a couple minutes ago, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°Nope. Why?¡± Chapter 522: Illegal Offline Match ¡°Mn¡± Lin Yixin confirmed with certainty. ¡°This is a large map split into 9 zones. Each zone contains a super boss that drops a quest item upon death. If you managed to collect all 9 quest items, it is rumored that you can claim a broken reward from an NPC¡­¡± ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s going to begin at 9 am tomorrow?¡± ¡°Mn!¡± ¡°Alright, I might as well start preparing sooner than later! Pass me some rank 10 potions this afternoon, please¡­¡± ¡°Sure, but I¡¯m charging double for this¡­¡± ¡°...¡± I hung up the phone and went out with everyone. It was time to eat lunch! ¡­¡­ At a certain restaurant by Mo Ye Lu, the five of us were sitting at a round table. Rose was paying, so we were only in charge of eating. Rose held the menu and spoke to the waiter like she had done this many times in the past. She kept her chest badge on probably because it had become a professional habit for her to do so. Speaking of which, she gave us each a chest badge and told us to keep it with our person at all times for when we were attending events. I saw my name, my ID and the Lenovo logo on it. It didn¡¯t look bad. ¡°How did you become the team leader of an esports club, Rose?¡± The question slipped out of my mouth while I was sipping my drink. Usually, a 20 years old girl like her would be studying in a college or something, not working in the esports industry. Rose smiled a little before answering, ¡°That is a long story. I was a huge gamer girl since I was at high school, and I quite often played truant because of it. One day the class teacher gave my mom a call, and my mom decided to send me to a university. She thinks that the advanced studies would do me some good, but I am of the opposite opinion. After we had a fallout, I traveled to Beijing alone and worked as the team leader in multiple professional esports clubs. Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t seem like I was going anywhere no matter how hard I toiled¡­¡± She smiled again and played with her hair. ¡°That changed just two days ago. No one was expecting Eternal Moon Corporation to push out the competitive arena, and all the teams were going crazy because of it. Naturally, I jumped on the bandwagon and tried to make the best of it. Maybe it was because my luck was good that day, but I ran into Director Zhu, a director of Lenovo not too long ago. She asked me if I would like to become the team leader of Lenovo¡¯s Heavenblessed esports club, and I accepted the offer. One thing led to another, and here I am meeting the legendary Little Heavenly King himself¡­¡± A muscle in my face twitched. How was I supposed to react to this? He Yi, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue giggled. Rose¡¯s story made us realize that she had suffered a lot to come this far. It was the same for all of us, however. There was no such thing as a perfectly smooth life, and a long time ago me and my father had a huge argument as well. In the end though, he had forgiven me. ¡­¡­ ¡°What events are we expected to participate in, Rose?¡± I asked. Rose hummed for a second before replying, ¡°For now there aren¡¯t really any major tournaments for you all to participate in, so just focus on leveling as usual. Well, there is a Play HGL League at Hangzhou that lasts for three days, but the prize money is so small¡ªeven the champion gets 50k only¡ªthat it failed to attract any noteworthy teams. Let¡¯s send the substitutes to do the dirty work and save you for another time.¡± ¡°Alright then.¡± I nodded before saying, ¡°A new leveling map that all three cities have access to will be opened tomorrow morning, and we¡¯ve decided to put our main focus on it. It¡¯s imperative that we maintain our level and equipment advantage, or we¡¯ll only grow weaker and weaker as time passes.¡± Rose nodded with a smile. ¡°You got it.¡± ¡­¡­ The dishes arrived very soon, and we all had a helluva good time. However, Gui Guzi suddenly called me in the middle of the meal¡ª ¡°Hello, what is it Little Gui? I¡¯m eating¡­¡± Gui Guzi replied urgently, ¡°Boss Broken Halberd, we¡¯ve got trouble! This one is seriously bad!¡± ¡°What happened?¡± I was caught off guard by how dire he sounded. Gui Guzi said, ¡°An entertainment center just opened at the B1 floor of Shilu International yesterday, and there¡¯s a place there where you can compete in illegal Heavenblessed matches. Xu Yang went there to earn some money this morning, and not only did they refuse to pay him his winnings, they beat him up and found an expert to beat him in a match as well! Are you free right now? If you are then grab your helmet and head there right now! Brother B, Yamete and I are on the road already! Those fuckers are still holding him right now!¡± ¡°You serious?! Motherfucker!¡± I slammed the table hard and rose to my feet immediately. ¡°I¡¯m coming over right now. If you reach there before me, keep them busy but don¡¯t fall for their provocations! I¡¯ll face this so-called expert who beat up Xu Yang myself!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± ¡­¡­ I noticed the girls staring at me in astonishment after I hung up the call. He Yi asked, ¡°What happened, Lu Chen?¡± I replied seriously, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I need to go away for something, so don¡¯t wait for me or come looking for me. Just stay at the workshop until I come back, understand?¡± Before the girls could react, I burst out of the restaurant and ran back to the workshop. After grabbing my gaming helmet, I ran to my X12 and zoomed all the way to Shilu International. As the name might suggest, illegal matches were underground matches that haven¡¯t been sanctioned by the official authorities. In fact, this was a thing in Heavenblessed the next day after the competitive arena came online. By modifying the game terminals, it was possible to connect two specific players together into a match. It was one of those things that the officials turned a blind eye barring exceptional circumstances. In an illegal match, the player¡¯s ID was removed, and the character appearance was blurred. It was a way to prevent blackmailing from happening. Both participants would bet a sum of money, and the winner takes everything. This was the gist of an illegal match. I didn¡¯t expect Xu Yang to lose to anyone in an illegal match. Xu Yang was a top 100 player in the champion arena, and his win rate was over 70%. It was why I was almost incredulous when I heard that someone in our tiny city had managed to beat him. ¡­¡­ After reaching Shilu International and parking my car, I ran toward the entrance to the B1 floor and immediately saw Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen and Yamete already waiting for me with their gaming helmets. ¡°Ready?¡± ¡°Come on!¡± We rushed down the stairs and entered the entertainment center. We quickly found an area called ¡°Showdown¡± with the Heavenblessed logo on its signboard. I exchanged a look with Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen and Yamete before saying seriously, ¡°Watch out, brothers. You won¡¯t find goody-two-shoes in this place.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± We walked over to the entrance, paid the entrance fee that was worth 100 RMB and entered the place. ¡°Xu Yang!¡± Gui Guzi immediately spotted our brother. Xu Yang was slumped against a corner with his arm hanging below his torso in an unnatural manner. His face was bloodied, and he looked like his spirit was sucked out of him. I sped toward him immediately and lifted him to his feet. ¡°What happened?¡± Xu Yang forced a smile onto his face and said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing, I got bit by some dogs, that¡¯s all¡­¡± It was at this moment a provoking voice rang behind us. ¡°Yo, did your friends finally come for you? And four people no less! Are they your roomies or something?¡± I turned around and found a person wearing a lattice-patterned shirt behind us. Disdain colored his features as he looked us up and down. I pointed a finger at Xu Yang before asking, ¡°Who are you? Are you the one who beat him up?¡± Mr. Lattice raised his eyebrows. ¡°I¡¯m the boss of this place, so of course I wasn¡¯t the one who beat up your friend. Hmph! The winner beat your friend up because he refused to cough up after losing a million RMB. There, that¡¯s the one you¡¯re looking for!¡± I looked at the direction he was pointing and found a man with red hair rising from his feet. His features were arranged into a hateful sneer. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, you don¡¯t like the results? Fight me then. How does a thousand a round sound?¡± ¡°Why would it be?¡± Gui Guzi retorted. But Xu Yang struggled a little and pointed at the redhead in anger. ¡°That sonuvabitch said the same thing earlier, but after the match he changed the bet to a million! Motherfucker!¡± I nodded and looked at the redhead again. ¡°It¡¯s just a match. Even if he did owe you a million RMB, was it really necessary to break his arm?¡± The redhead retorted tauntingly, ¡°I felt like it, that¡¯s all. If he didn¡¯t want to lose an arm, he shouldn¡¯t have gone back on his bet, should he?¡± ¡°You said it!¡± I abruptly kicked over a chair in front of me and pointed a finger at the redhead. ¡°One round, five million, with me as your opponent! Do you accept this bet?¡± The redhead was caught off guard by my abrupt challenge, but he immediately clenched his teeth and replied, ¡°And why wouldn¡¯t I accept five million free cash? You¡¯re the one who better not go back on your word like that sore loser over there!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about me. Just remember what you said after the match is over!¡± ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen and Yamete all wanted to step up and fight the redhead themselves, but I blocked them with my arm and said, ¡°Don¡¯t take this one away from me, please. Xu Yang and I have been brothers for two years. If I don¡¯t do this for him, I won¡¯t be able to call myself his brother anymore!¡± Gui Guzi nodded. ¡°Alright. Go get him. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll beat the crap out of these fuckers if they even think to make a sudden move!¡± The boss of the entertainment immediately chuckled. ¡°Relax, we are a fair people who abide by the law of the jungle. We are forever in favor of the winner. However, I must remind you that the winner must pay 10% of the bet as the property management fee.¡± I nodded. ¡°No problem. Now get over here, redhead. Show me how good you are!¡± The redhead looked at me disdainfully. ¡°Another suicidal fucker, I see! That retard lost even though he has Barrier Break! Who the hell do you think you are?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll know the answer very soon!¡± ¡­¡­ The redhead and I entered the gaming room together and connected to the game through the relevant data terminal. The moment the connection was established, I immediately received a notification asking me if I wanted to enter room 173738 of the competitive arena. It was exactly what I was hoping for! Swhoosh! My character vanished and reappeared inside a closed battle arena. Standing on the opposite side of me was a high rank Warrior in red metal armor. I couldn¡¯t see his level, ID or even his equipment properly. The blur effect basically prevented me from deducing his true strength. One thing was certain though: this man was good, or Xu Yang wouldn¡¯t have lost to him. ¡­¡­ ¡°Hehe, here I come, five million! If you refuse to pay like that friend of yours I¡¯m going to break your leg this time!¡± The bastard uttered with a hateful sneer. Chapter 523: King of the Underground The redhead growled out before pushing the ground beneath his feet. He looked like a red blur as he charged toward me with incredible speed. Judging from the fiery energy surrounding his sword, he was preparing to use Blaze! I ran toward him as well. I wasn¡¯t going to underestimate the guy, and my prudence was quickly proven to be wise. Just before we made contact, redhead¡¯s eyes flashed with cunning before he abruptly cut to my side at a 45-degree angle. He kept zigzagging around me in an attempt to catch me off-guard. "Trying to kill yourself?!" I stabbed the Heaven-stealing Sword into the ground and executed War Crush, but the redhead was able to react in time and dodge the skill completely. Rushing in again with unpredictable movements, he slipped behind me and slashed out with lightning speed! Chiang! Steel met steel, and I managed to parry his first strike completely. Annoyed by the failed hit, he swerved past me again and spun around for another strike! I had figured out his plan at this point. It was a classic close-range battle technique, the butterfly maneuver! The basic idea was to run to and fro around an enemy and attack them from a difficult angle, exploiting the fact that most people didn¡¯t have the skill to spin their vision angle in time to parry the attacks. From above, it would look like the player was running along an 8-shaped or butterfly-shaped pattern. It wasn¡¯t really that high-level a maneuver, but it could only be executed properly by a first-rate expert or above. No wonder he was able to kill Xu Yang. "Die!" Suddenly, he growled and thrust a sword with a flaming cone in front of it toward my back. It was none other than the Level 120 fifth-promotion skill, Barrier Break! "What?!" I exclaimed in surprise, but my mind was as calm as a lake. Deducing his attack angle instantly, I took a sliding step forward, bent backward and swung my sword in a half arc in front of me. Ding! A sharp ring resounded across the air, and the redhead pulled back before staring at me in shock. He was sure that the skill would land, but I managed to parry it and reduced my HP loss to only around 2000 or so. My max HP was over 21k, so this bit of damage was nothing at all. "Who¡­ who are you? You can¡¯t possibly be this good¡­" the redhead growled at me. My eyes turned cooler as I raised the Heaven-stealing Sword again. "You can speak after I put you to the ground, you little shit!" I abruptly took off and pounced toward my opponent. Gritting his teeth and meeting my charge, the redhead tried to use the butterfly maneuver again right before we made contact! "Fuck! This can¡¯t be happening!" Redhead was shocked. He clearly wasn¡¯t expecting me to break his prized maneuver so easily. However, his reaction speed was amazing, and he tried to emulate my movement by bending on his back and parrying my Universe Break! "Think you can parry this? Dream on!" I sneered out loud and pushed my sword downward so that it would follow his movements and pierce his armor. Unfortunately, he was ultimately able to execute a partial parry! 14898! As I thought, the skill failed to one-shot the redhead. From the looks of his health bar, he probably had around 18k HP. My opponent¡¯s face turned white when he saw how much damage he took, and after chugging down a health potion he shouted in obvious astonishment, "Who are you? In Suzhou, he should be the only one at this level!" I ignored him and rushed him again. Before he could steady himself, I leaped into the air, hit him beneath the chin with the sharp, craggy surface of my Battle Soul Poleyn, and sent him flying. It was a knee strike, but it still dealt over 3000 damage to him. His HP instantly dropped to the red again. My eyes gleamed with murderous intent. Still in the air, I plunged my sword right through his chest from above and used Thousand Ice Slash! Boom! Thousands of energy blades penetrated the redhead. His body had almost been torn apart by the time the corpse landed heavily on the ground. ¡­¡­ The second the match was over, I logged out and put my gaming helmet at the viewing platform next to me. Then, I walked straight toward the boss of the entertainment center. "You¡­" The boss was so shocked that he didn¡¯t even realize that the cigarette he was smoking had dropped to the ground. He clearly had no idea who I was or what I was planning to do right now. I stopped right in front of him, grabbed a nearby chair and snapped off one of its metal leg right off the hinge. It felt heavy in my hands just the way I liked it. I then shot the boss an indifferent glance before saying, "You¡¯d better not interfere with what I¡¯m about to do next!" When I turned around, I saw redhead just logging out of the game. Astonishment and hate alternating rapidly across his features, he swore, "You must have cheated, you fucker!" "Your mom¡¯s the cheater!" I kicked him right in the stomach before following up with a punch to the face. The redhead¡¯s lips immediately started bleeding profusely as he slumped next to a bunch of equipment. A short distance away, the spectators were widening their eyes in excitement because they were just treated to an intense virtual match earlier, and now, real life PvP! Before the redhead could do anything else, I swung the metal leg in my hand twice! "AAAAHHHH¡­" A long, bloodcurdling scream escaped the redhead¡¯s throat after I broke both his right arm and his right leg. Tears were literally forming in his eyes, and he was curled up on the floor like a prawn. ¡­¡­ Twang¡­ I stared at redhead coldly as I tossed the bloody piece of metal on the ground. Pointing a finger at Xu Yang, I said disdainfully, "Pathetic. He broke his arm too, but he didn¡¯t scream like a bitch, did he? You think you can do anything you want just because you have some skill? Let me tell you right now that there are at least 5 people in Suzhou who can play you like a fiddle, motherfucker. Hmph! Anyone who hurts my brother gets twice the payback!" Finally, I walked up to Xu Yang, carried him to his feet and spoke to everyone. "Come on, we need to send this stupid to the hospital. He¡¯s really going to lose his arm if we delay this any longer." Xu Yang¡¯s mouth curled into an ugly grin as he said, "Fuck man, you¡¯re so good¡­" I shot him a death glare. "I can¡¯t believe you, you idiot. You have all the time in the world to get signed by a big sponsor, and you come down here to fight in illegal matches? Who do you think you are?" Xu Yang laughed. "Come on, I wouldn¡¯t have lost to him if he didn¡¯t fight dirty¡­" Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen echoed his laughter. "Well fought, Lu Chen. The way you snapped the chair¡¯s leg right off the hinges was slick too¡­" I smiled. As we walked past the boss, I pointed at redhead and said, "The bet is 5 million. 1 million goes to pay off my friend¡¯s debt, and you can keep the rest to yourself. Oh, and don¡¯t forget to send that brat to the hospital!" The boss just stared at me in blank astonishment. He clearly wasn¡¯t expecting me to give up 4 million like it was nothing. It wasn¡¯t that I didn''t want that money, but the fight had taken place in an illegal establishment, and the bet only existed in verbal form, not to mention the boss himself was the "guarantor¡±. I wasn¡¯t stupid enough to think I could get any money out of this; the fact that we managed to get Xu Yang back was a blessing already. ¡­¡­ Some time later at a hospital ward. He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue, and many others came to visit Xu Yang, but the scene was a lot less dramatic than what a stranger might imagine. Xu Yang was an honest and righteous man, so he often got into fights. This was hardly the first time he broke his arm, so we all had gotten used to this frankly. Plus, he had a great body that recovered in no time. Still, we were thankful to learn that his broken arm wouldn¡¯t affect his ability to play in any way. "Come with me, Lu Chen." He Yi called out to me just before she exited the door. I followed her all the way to the balcony at the end of the corridor. When she turned around to face me, she asked, "Who was that guy? Xu Yang isn¡¯t a particularly good player, but his level, equipment and skills are much better than most people¡¯s. Unless I¡¯m sorely mistaken, there shouldn¡¯t be many people who can defeat him." "No, you¡¯re right. That bastard had dyed red hair, and he looks to be around 24 years old. From what I can tell, his technique and equipment are first-rate, and he¡¯s at least at the same level as High Fighting Spirits." "Seriously?" He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open a little. "Since when did Suzhou have a player this good?" "Yeah, I don¡¯t think he¡¯s from Sky City. Even more surprising is the fact that he knows Barrier Break. As you already know, it takes at least 4 Outstanding Spirit-grade items to reach its exorbitant Strength requirement, and this guy¡¯s equipment couldn¡¯t have reached this level. This means that he¡¯s probably supported by a larger group." He Yi nodded and fell into thought for a moment. "This seems fishy. I suspect that trouble is going to find us in the near future." I gave He Yi a reassuring smile before putting my arm around her shoulders. "Relax, you have me, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, and everyone. We can deal with anything that comes our way." He Yi smiled back. "Fine. Oh right, do you know why Xu Yang took part in an illegal match? He must have known the risks, and I don¡¯t think he¡¯s that desperate for money." "I don¡¯t know, but¡­" I hummed for a moment before answering, "I think it¡¯s because all our core players have a team, and he still doesn¡¯t. Frost Cloud workshop was invited to join Lenovo, and Li Chengfeng and four of our core players were invited to join ASUS. He probably felt disappointed and down because he¡¯s the only one in our group who still doesn¡¯t have a team." He Yi nodded. "Got it. I know what to do." ¡­¡­ A short while later Rose came to visit Xu Yang, and she learned that Xu Yang was a central figure in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Immediately looking at the honest man in a new light, she promised to keep in touch with him Du Thirteen and a couple more of our players. They were all great players, and she was sure that she could find them a team eventually. At night, at least a hundred of us showed up to escort Xu Yang just in case someone decided to take revenge on him. He reached the base safe and sound as a matter of course. Chapter 524: The Nine Lost Dragon Domains The moment I appeared in Dark Moon City, I heard a melodious ring¡ª Ding~! System Notice: All players, please be informed that a scout party of the human alliance has discovered a region filled with power energy at the far reaches of the Dragonbone Mountain Range. The magi speculate that it¡¯s a sign of the power of the World Tree waning, and the powers of hell growing restless. A tectonic shift has brought the ancient Dragon Domain to light once more, and the soldiers of the Silver Moon Alliance are surrounding it. The new map called ¡°Nine Lost Dragon Domains¡± will be spawning in the China server in 57 minutes. The domain filled with mysterious energy awaits the adventurers that will brave its dangers! ¡­¡­ Nine Lost Dragon Domains? I took a moment to check the official website and found that information regarding this new map had already been revealed. Nine Lost Dragon Domains was a large-sized map that was split into nine connected areas. Each domain contained a giant dragon that had been slumbering for tens or even hundreds of millennia, and because they were completely isolated from the world, the only thing they knew upon waking was murder. The players could kill these bosses and collect 9 Divine Dragon Scales to receive a handsome reward. I opened the map and set my destination marker to Nine Lost Dragon Domains. It was a bit far away from Dark Moon City, but I could definitely reach it in an hour. I was glad I wouldn¡¯t miss the opening. I hid my ID and took off with the Heaven-stealing Sword in my hand. As I ran across the forest flora at top speed, I discovered many Sky City players traveling in the same direction as I was. They were obviously gunning for Nine Lost Dragon Domains, but they seemed unaware that the map¡¯s recommended level was 100 or above. At least 50% of the participants were unqualified to challenge the new map. I reached the blood red zone about forty minutes later. The area was jampacked with players, and columns of cavalry NPCs could be seen patrolling all over the place. Also, the soldiers of Silver Moon Alliance had the area completely surrounded. It looked like even Karinshan was wary of this Nine Lost Dragon Domains. I couldn¡¯t see the map clearly because it was hidden behind a blood-red fog. The zone was also blood-red on the minimap, signifying its danger for the average players. That wasn¡¯t a problem for me, however. I far preferred my mobs to be high-level and challenging than otherwise. ¡­¡­ Amused by his monologue, I walked up to him and asked, ¡°How do I enter Nine Lost Dragon Domains?¡± The NPC shot me a glance before his gaze was attracted by the Sky City emblem on my shoulder. He opened his mouth and said, ¡°Why¡­ Why do I feel like I¡¯ve seen you before? Ah, forget it. Anyway, you need to find an entrance to enter Nine Lost Dragon Domains, and the closest one from here is about one kilometer away to the west. You can¡¯t miss it because it¡¯s guarded by countless soldiers.¡± I nodded in thanks. NPCs were pretty good at giving directions at least. I ran toward the entrance the NPC pointed me to, and it wasn¡¯t long before I found a small valley that was filled with challengers. The Nine Lost Dragon Domains were a huge maze of sorts, and no matter which entrance you chose, you would always arrive at Wood Dragon Domain first. Players must then find the next entrance somewhere inside the Wood Dragon Domain to travel to the next zone. There could be some convoluted obstacle we needed to overcome before we could access the entrance, but there was no telling what it was until we saw it for ourselves. ¡°Lu Chen, over here!¡± It was He Yi calling out to me on the Snow Domain Windchaser. She was pretty eye-catching even if the crowd hadn¡¯t parted in front of her. When I got close to them, I saw Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, Chaos Moon and many more familiar faces. ¡°Is everyone here?¡± ¡°Yep!¡± He Yi nodded. ¡°It¡¯s ridiculous how many people are planning to enter Nine Lost Dragon Domains isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s probably because of that rumor about collecting all nine dragon scales to exchange for godlike equipment from Princess Karinshan. I wonder if it¡¯s actually true¡­¡± I smiled. ¡°It¡¯s probably just a rumor, and an exaggerated one at that. I¡¯m definitely looking forward to the experience and loot we¡¯re going to get though.¡± Gui Guzi walked over with his spear. ¡°Of course. However, Nine Lost Dragon Domains refreshes once per week and a player can only enter the map once during this time, meaning that all is lost if you are killed inside¡­¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°That¡¯s why we need to stick together and avoid getting separated. Otherwise, it¡¯s entirely possible for the enemy forces to defeat us one by one.¡± I looked around for a bit before asking, ¡°I think we¡¯re missing Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng, and High Fighting Spirits.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they¡¯re coming soon. We¡¯ll head in after everyone has arrived!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I voiced out my ambition, ¡°Some of the giant dragons in this Nine Lost Dragon Domains have to be Earth Rank or above, right? I can¡¯t wait to fight them and get a second Earth-grade equipment!¡± Beiming Xue giggled. ¡°Cool your horses, big bro. We¡¯ll be lucky to kill three or more bosses considering that every expert in China is vying for this map. Besides, there¡¯s almost no chance anyone is going to collect all nine dragon scales by force. It¡¯s much more likely that the dragon scales will be split between the bigger guilds, and those who want to collect them all must spend an exorbitant amount of money to buy them¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°You¡¯re absolutely correct.¡± It was at this moment Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, and Xu Yang finally showed up. Almost a thousand of us were gathered at this entrance, and everyone was an elite of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. In total, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had dispatched almost three thousand players to this place. For other guilds, their total player count was only higher. Forget killing mobs, I was actually worried that the map wasn¡¯t big enough to fit all of us, and that we would have to tread on literal bodies when we were inside. ¡­¡­ Time passed bit by bit. Everyone was staring at the timer on the UI and waiting for 9 am to arrive. Finally, a crisp ring entered everyone¡¯s ears, and the fog before us suddenly condensed into a gigantic red door. When it creaked open on its own, a terrible stench washed over us like a whirlwind, stunning everyone for a second. The first floor of Nine Lost Dragon Domains was the Wood Dragon Domain. Players would be descending further and further into the underground as they moved past the floors. As of now, no one had a clue where the entrance to the next floor was, but as long as we stayed alive, it was only a matter of time before we found it. There were almost 20 entrances all over the place, so the players¡¯ restlessness had lessened a little. That changed immediately after the entrance opened, however. Directly ahead of us, thousands of players from a smaller guild ofVanished God City rushed toward their entrance like their lives depended on it. They vanished the second they stepped through the door. Clearly, they had entered a different zone. I raised my arm and shouted, ¡°Wait a moment!¡± Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, and the others kept their cool despite the absolute chaos around us. They didn¡¯t rush in recklessly. I put my hands to my ears and opened my nostrils, and a few seconds later I heard the sound of people screaming and caught the scent of fresh blood as expected. The undead race was especially good at sensing something like this. Unless I was sorely mistaken, the first group of players to enter the Wood Dragon Domain had taken huge losses. They might even be wiped out already for all I know. ¡°What happened? It sounds like a lot of people have died in there¡­¡± He Yi exclaimed in surprise. I smiled and said to Gui Guzi, ¡°Little Gui, come with me. Everyone else, wait until we give you the signal!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Gui Guzi followed behind me on his Armored Steelback Dragon. The moment we entered the Wood Dragon Domain, I immediately felt a horribly-smelling wind blowing against my face. The silent valley was vast space with little vegetation in it, and directly in front of us was an entire floor of dead bodies. As I thought, every player who had rushed into the Wood Dragon Domain without a care for the potential danger had died! Gui Guzi felt goosebumps crawling over his skin as he watched the floor of corpses and blood. ¡°What do you think happened here, boss? It¡¯s only been less than a minute, and thousands of players were killed just like that!¡± Frowning deeply, I said, ¡°There must be a mob ambush of some sort. Let¡¯s move forward slowly. Be ready to Guard at any moment.¡± ¡°Got it!¡± The two of us cautiously stepped over the bodies. The sky was unusually bright and clear, but I couldn¡¯t stop my heart from beating in trepidation. I just couldn¡¯t calm down knowing that the thing that killed thousands of players in one go was hiding somewhere. Not long after we walked ahead, Gui Guzi suddenly let out a cry of alarm. ¡°There¡¯s something in front of us!¡± It was just as he said. Small bumps had suddenly risen from the ground about a hundred yards away in front of us, and when the soil fell away we saw an entire row of round creatures the size of a mini tank. Their backs reminded me of sea urchins because they were covered in sharp spikes, and the cyan eyes peeking out from between the spikes were staring directly at us! The stats screen of the closest mob appeared inside the party channel¡ª Wood Porcupine (Shadow) Level: 155 Attack: 1780~1950 Defense: 2200 HP: 170000 Skills: Poison Thorn, Rock Crushing Assault, Spike Rain Introduction: The guardians of the Wood Dragon Domain. The Wood Porcupines possess incredible strength that terrorizes any foe at any range. ¡­¡­ Their Attack was insane. Could they be the one who killed those players? But something still didn¡¯t quite make sense to me. How did they kill so many players in one go? ¡°Boss!¡± Gui Guzi suddenly cried out in alarm. At least a hundred Wood Porcupines were growling in low tones and shaking violently. A moment later, spikes burst out of their backs and soared into the air. It was an AoE attack! Black spikes were literally raining down from the sky and striking everything in its path! ¡°Fuck, is this how they died?¡± My eyes widened. ¡°Little Gui, use your Knight God and Guard immediately!¡± ¡°I know. Don¡¯t die, boss!¡± I put my arm in front of me and Guarded. The next moment, countless spikes hit my body and dealt varying amounts of damage. Although the damage I took was massively reduced, it was still an incredibly close thing¡ª 271! 172! 428! 230! ¡­¡­ I was hit at least 50 times and lost almost 17k HP by the time the rain of spikes was finally over. It was no wonder that all the players who went ahead of us were killed! ¡°Gui Guzi, retreat!¡± Chapter 525: Wood Porcupine ¡°We can¡¯t. Did you forget that a player can only enter Nine Lost Dragon Domains once per 7 days? If we withdraw now, our adventure here is over!¡± I stared at the Wood Porcupines for a moment before commenting, ¡°Little Gui, look. The Wood Porcupines move really slow, and there¡¯s only one line of them. The passage is clear once we defeat them.¡± ¡°But how are we going to get through that Spike Rain? It¡¯s impossible!¡± Gui Guzi replied helplessly. We were safe for now because we had withdrawn out of the Wood Porcupines¡¯ attack range. However, we had to wait until our HP was full to progress again. ¡­¡­ I objected. "It¡¯s a huge AoE attack, sure, but if you look closely you¡¯ll notice that there are actually several blind spots that we can exploit. For example, if you look to the north about 40 yards away from us, you¡¯ll see that there¡¯s a 10-yard space that is completely untouched by the spikes. This means that the bombardment isn¡¯t seamless. If you think it¡¯s a fluke, look to the northeast about 25 degrees and 50 yards away from us. Again, you¡¯ll find a 10-yard space. Moreover, the Wood Porcupines are practically stationary when they¡¯re attacking, so it¡¯s entirely possible for us to exploit these blind spots and get close enough to the Wood Porcupines to kill them. Even better, we only need to kill 10 or more to open up a path wide enough for everyone to pass through!" Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes lit up when he noticed the patches of open space unsullied by the spikes. He couldn¡¯t help but laugh and said, "Fuck, you¡¯re right! You¡¯re amazing, boss! I can¡¯t believe you noticed something so obscure!" I smiled. "I¡¯m sure you can do the same thing as long as you concentrate and don¡¯t let anything slip past you. Remember, Eternal Moon Corporation¡¯s programmers and planners aren¡¯t idiots. If you pay attention, you¡¯ll find something to exploit on every map." "So, what should we do now?" "Let¡¯s call everyone and tell them to keep to the left side. We don¡¯t need to take up the whole entrance; just 10% of the area by the entrance should be enough to fit everyone. Also, this allows our competitors to charge blindly into the Spike Rain and die. Once we¡¯ve cleared out the Wood Porcupines, we can then pick up the equipment they will have left behind. Ain¡¯t that just awesome?" "Alright¡­" Gui Guzi immediately said in the party channel, "Guild leader, Li Chengfeng, Fighting Spirits, You and Yun, Chaos Moon, please queue into a line and come in from the left side one by one. Don¡¯t push. Once you come in, do not move past me and Boss Broken Halberd because there¡¯s a minefield up ahead. We¡¯ll talk about the plan after you come inside." "Okay!" I pointed at the row of Wood Porcupines ahead of us and shared their stats inside the guild channel before replying, "This Wood Porcupine is the ¡®native¡¯ mob of Wood Dragon Domain. They¡¯re incredibly powerful, and they¡¯re programmed to use their AoE skill all at the same time. Don¡¯t move in recklessly, or you¡¯ll be killed for certain. This map is turning out to be far more difficult than we thought." "Mn!" A while later, Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits and the others came in as well. Since I had already told them how the ambush near the entrance worked, no one charged recklessly into their deaths. In fact, it was the players from other guilds who lost their patience and charged through the entrance without a care. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Countless players appeared from the entrance and charged onward, screaming and swinging their weapons like barbarians. There were at least thousands of them, but these poor fools had no idea what awaited them at the front. The next moment, the hundred Wood Porcupines surrounding the entrance unleashed their AoE skill again and filled the sky with spikes. By the end of it, only a couple of tanky magic knights with shields were able to make it back alive with red health. The ground was covered in shiny equipment. That one volley had killed at least thousands of players and caused Dark Gold¨Cgrade and even Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment to litter the floor. Who wouldn¡¯t be moved by the pile of treasure just a hundred yards away from them? A magic knight who just entered the map saw this and shouted, "Holy shit, look at those items! What are you all waiting for? Let¡¯s grab them and get rich now¡­" The players behind him caught his shout and charged toward the pile of treasure with red, excited faces, It almost looked as if they were on drugs. Not to be left behind, the players at the back pushed the people in front of them and tried to force their way forward. A couple of people had been trampled because of it. Just like that, a new crowd of victims willingly delivered themselves to the fatal spikes of the Wood Porcupines. Thud thud thud¡­ The row of rodents shuddered and murdered the shit out of the players again. Blood painted the ground red, and countless screams filled the air. Out of the two thousand people who pressed forward, only two or three people made it back alive. These meaningless deaths only added to the pile of items on the ground. As the hills of treasure grew, so did the greed of the players who had lagged behind and didn¡¯t die to the Spike Rain. Unable to resist the dark and purple gold sheen of the equipment, the second wave of fodder threw all caution to the wind and charged blindly into danger. And just like the first group, the only thing that awaited them was death! ¡­¡­ We watched the comical scene unfold in front of us again and again as we stuck to the left side of the exit. Gui Guzi muttered in wide-eyed shock, "Holy shit, if this isn¡¯t what you call a meat grinder, I don¡¯t know what it is¡­" Chaos Moon urged me, "Lu Chen, didn¡¯t you say you have a way to deal with this minefield? Well, what are you waiting for? If we don¡¯t act soon they¡¯re all going to die." Li Chengfeng and I exchanged a knowing smile with each other. "Patience. If these people want to kill themselves, who are we to stop them? Also, if we carry out our plan now, I guarantee you they¡¯ll attack us and try to rob us of our safe passage. Excessive benevolence is really just hypocrisy, you know." Chaos Moon looked speechless. "You guys are so bad¡­" We all broke into laughter in unison. It wasn¡¯t even a matter of good or bad. In a game, there were no champions without a devious mind on their shoulders. The difference was that some people managed to keep their principles intact, some would abandon them in the face of adversity, and some had completely renounced any and all morals. ¡­¡­ The wait lasted an entire half an hour. The meat grinder had probably slaughtered a million players at this point, and the ironic thing was that the rush almost never slowed until the very end. By now, the pile of equipment had grown so tall¡ªthe height of a full grown adult at least¡ªthat we almost couldn¡¯t see the Wood Porcupines anymore. There was every item imaginable in the pile such as helmets, weapons, shields and so on, and some were Purple Gold or even Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade. "Just look at all this equipment. What a waste¡­" Xu Yang clicked his tongue admiringly. I smiled. "Don¡¯t worry, they¡¯re definitely not going to waste since it takes 10 hours or more for dropped items to disappear. Once we clear out all one hundred Wood Porcupines, we can summon our low-level players to carry these items back to the city. We can keep everything above the Dark Gold grade in the warehouse. The rest we will liquidate." "Okay! God, this is so awesome¡­" Chaos Moon: "Awesome my ass, we haven¡¯t even heard the plan to clear out the Wood Porcupines yet. These mobs just slaughtered almost a million players, and we may very well be next." I smiled and checked the exit again. The flow of players had finally abated¡ªfor this entrance at least¡ªand over 4000 of our players had arrived and secured it from outside. This was Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ private entrance now. "Alright, it¡¯s time to break through the Wood Porcupines!" I raised the Heaven-stealing Sword and ordered, "I want 10 people with high HP and Defense to come with me. The guild leader will be our party leader. Gui Guzi, I want you to party a hundred riders and activate Knight God. Prepare to clear out the Wood Porcupines the moment I give you the signal." "Okay!" We took some time to reform our parties. He Yi currently had 170 Tactics, meaning that Royal Road¡¯s effect was boosted by 170%. Long story short, all our stats were boosted by 40%, and the Wood Porcupine¡¯s Attack was reduced by 30%. In situations like these, her Famous General Skill was much better than my Martial God. "How should we do this?" Li Chengfeng asked. I replied, "Stay close to me, and do not lag behind me for more than 3 seconds. We¡¯re going to move forward using the blind spots between their attacks and take out the 3 Wood Porcupines to the left first. Then, we¡¯ll push forward bit by bit and take them all out. I repeat, stay close to me, or you¡¯re going to suffer a horrible death¡­" "Okay, we got it, don¡¯t worry!" I, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and all the other fighters who had learned Barrier Break were all in one party. Now that our HP and Defense were boosted by 40%, we could endure a round or two of Spike Rain without any problem. Again, this was why Famous Generals were so important. What could a guild without a Famous General possibly do against these brutal Wood Porcupines? "Go!" I ran forward in a straight line while nine of my party members followed closely behind. The second I stepped past the line, dozens of Wood Porcupines immediately locked onto us, shuddered their bodies and fired their spikes. While they were falling toward us from the sky, I abruptly cut 45 degrees to the side and entered a blind spot. Once all ten of us were inside the clearing, I raised my sword and shouted, "Hold!" "Thud thud thud thud! The spikes landed all around us. Some of them were practically centimeters away from our noses. Chaos Moon¡¯s face turned as white as a paper when she saw this. "OMG, thank goodness we followed the right person, or this would be real bad¡­" I had known since the beginning that the Wood Porcupines launched their Spike Rain once every 7 seconds. It was our frame to advance! "Go!" I shouted again and ran about 30 yards forward before cutting toward the second blind spot I had planned for in my head. This time, even more Wood Porcupines locked onto us and launched their devastating Spike Rain. Thankfully, it was relatively safe inside the blind spots, and no one got hurt. Still, everyone except He Yi was so nervous that they looked like they could faint at any moment. He Yi had desummoned her mount to stand next to me. She even grabbed my arm and gave me a sweet smile when I looked at her. The sight was so enviable that Li Chengfeng and Xu Yang thought in unison: Sigh, the guild leader is so biased! "Go!" This was the third time we took off, and another 30-yard charge later, we were only 8 yards away from the nearest Wood Porcupine! "What do we do?" Gui Guzi shouted for instructions. I raised the Heaven-stealing Sword and fired a red beam into the air. The next moment, four divine weapons descended from the sky and plunged into the Wood Porcupine. The God Binding Art could bind even a god, to say nothing of an animal! I pointed at the leftmost Wood Porcupine and shouted, "There are no blind spots there, so we¡¯re going to have to Charge and kill that Wood Porcupine in one go! But be ready, we¡¯re going to have to endure at least one Spike Rain! In 3, 2, 1, charge!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Chapter 526: Pool of Life 15648! 13209! 14927! 12248! 12632! Xu Yang and Chaos Moon dealt slightly less damage than the rest, but it was still pretty good. The mob lost 70k HP in one go, but that wasn¡¯t the end yet. The group immediately followed up with their signature skills such as Li Chengfeng¡¯s Dragonbone Flurry, High Fighting Spirits¡¯ Xiezhi Howl and so on! I launched my combo when the mob¡¯s HP finally dropped to 50k or so. A cone of fiery, indigo energy wrapped around my sword, and the formation of the universe appeared beneath my feet. Then, I hit the Wood Porcupine¡¯s head withUniverse Break and Burning Blade Slash without pause! 19828! 6572! 8724! 13002! The quadruple hit later, the Wood Porcupine let out a scream and died, all the spikes on its body falling to the ground. At the same time, I noticed that I had lost almost 5000 HP. It looks like the spikes on its body give it 10% damage reflection! By now, a hail of spikes was falling toward us again, so I barked out an order urgently, "Guard now!" Everyone raised their weapons, arms and shields and assumed a defensive stance immediately. It was as if we had transformed into ten steel fortresses. Thankfully, all of us were able to weather the Spike Rain without any trouble, and after the bombardment was over we escaped to the nearest blind spot. Thud! As I entered the blind spot, I was suddenly stopped by a soft, fragrant body. When I recovered myself and looked up, I noticed a beautiful priest standing right in front of me. She was none other than Murong Mingyue! "WTF? Why are you here, sis?" I exclaimed in surprise. Murong Mingyue replied with a smile, "After Beiming and I marked the blind spots you guys went to, we decided to come over to help you. It¡¯s not just us either. Look, Gui Guzi and the others are right behind us." Standing right next to Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue raised her Blazing Shadow Bow and said, "I can help you shoot the Wood Porcupines from afar, big bro. They can¡¯t hit me in the blind spot, so I¡¯m in no danger of being killed." I nodded. "Okay then, you guys showed up at just the right time anyway. Sis, feed us now¡­" Murong Mingyue shot me an exasperated smile before ordering, "Group up!" "Wow, what is this skill?" Xu Yang exclaimed in surprise. Murong Mingyue giggled at his reaction before replying, "It¡¯s awesome, isn¡¯t it? This is a skill called ¡®Pool of Life¡¯ that I got from a friend at Vanished God City. Everyone who stands within the formation will regenerate 5% HP per second. Its only flaw is that its range is 5x5 yards, which makes it impractical to use in open-field combat¡­" I grinned. "If it was any bigger, the other priests might as well switch to another class¡­" We all laughed. Still, this Pool of Life was very timely. Most of our fighters needed at least 10 minutes to regenerate back to full health. After all, not everyone had a skill like Tenacity of the Dead or Regeneration of the Undead. ¡­¡­ After we returned to full health, we set our eyes on the Wood Porcupine directly in front of us. Beiming Xue had been chipping away at its health while we were waiting for Pool of Life to heal us back to full health. All in all, our job was now much easier than before. "Go!" We charged toward the Wood Porcupine again. This time, I was the one who reached the mob first. After hitting the Wood Porcupine with a Dragon Slaying Slash, I followed up with Universe Break and Burning Blade Slash. After the others arrived and used their Barrier Break, the Wood Porcupine dropped dead just like that. This was definitely much easier with Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue¡¯s assistance. Meanwhile, our mounted players such as Gui Guzi and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were standing at another blind spot. Copying my tactic, Gui Guzi and dozens of magic knights charged the closest Wood Porcupine to them and tried to kill it as quickly as possible. Their group had Knight God and two Barrier Breaks, so they had just enough damage to burst down a Wood Porcupine. The Magic Knight class naturally had high HP and Defense scaling, and Knight God turned it into a powerhouse no one could ignore. And so, we orderly took down the Wood Porcupines one by one. The kill experience was a bit subpar because it was divided between a lot of people, but we weren¡¯t killing them for the experience anyway. Our real goal was to open a path for our army to pass through, and to collect the innumerable amount of equipment occupying the center of the valley. ¡­¡­ About half an hour later, we had reduced the Wood Porcupines to just a dozen or so. Their Spike Rains could no longer threaten us, and our fighters had been itching to give the Level 150 shadow-rank mobs a taste of their own medicine. Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and more rushed them and cut them into pieces in no time. When the Wood Porcupines were finally cleared out, He Yi spoke inside the guild channel. Nearly two thousand low-level Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players flooded through the entrance and picked up the mountain of equipment to deliver back to our warehouse as planned. Before this, I had changed some settings in the guild system so that the carriers couldn¡¯t claim ownership over any equipment that was Dark Gold¨Cgrade or above. This was to avoid greedy and selfish theft of shared assets while we weren¡¯t looking. ¡­¡­ "Finally, the entrance to the Wood Dragon Domain is clear¡­" Xu Yang let out a long sigh of relief before wiping the sweat on his forehead. His arm might be broken in real life, but it was perfectly functional inside the game. I asked, "How is the situation at the other entrances?" He Yi sucked in a deep breath before answering, "There are three cleared entrances right now, and they are ours, Candle Dragon¡¯s and Snowy Cathaya¡¯s. Well, the last entrance isn¡¯t fully cleared yet, but Lin Yixin should be done very soon. Also, Warsky Alliance is clearing the fourth entrance, but instead of exploiting a blind spot they¡¯re sending Farewell Song and a party of assassins to backstab the Wood Porcupines with Sneak Attack. They lost some assassins during the process, but the tactic is working for them. It¡¯s also only a matter of time before they clear out an entrance of their own." "In that case, let¡¯s move out, find the boss and find the entrance to the next floor as soon as possible!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Several thousand Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players flooded into the Wood Dragon Domain, but our guild was hardly the only guild who cleared out an entrance and made it inside. It wouldn¡¯t be long before this place was flooded with players as well. I checked the minimap while walking in front of my party. The Wood Dragon Domain was ridiculously vast with many winding paths that seemed to stretch endlessly toward the horizon. No wonder it was praised as one of the biggest maps in all the servers! "Hey, look! Is it just me, or is there something shiny over there?" Beiming Xue pointed to the distance suddenly. When Gui Guzi and I looked at the direction she was pointing, our minds suddenly grinded to a halt. "That¡¯s¡­ the shine of gold¡­ Gold!" We instantly threw all caution to the wind and ran toward the gold with everything we got. Behind us, He Yi stomped her feet in anger. "Come back, you idiots! It¡¯s most likely a trap!" In fact, Gui Guzi and I weren¡¯t the only ones who lost our minds when we saw the gold. Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits and a couple others were just a few steps behind us. But what could we do except obey our desires? It was all poverty¡¯s fault! But when we finally entered the small valley, we quickly realized that the "gold" wasn¡¯t gold at all. It was just a pile of golden-colored rocks! Rustle rustle rustle¡­ The earth beneath our feet started rumbling, and small bumps started poppin all around. Why do I feel like I¡¯ve seen this before? The next moment, all our faces turned as white as paper. They were Wood Porcupines! Crack crack crack¡­ Hundreds of Wood Porcupines surrounded us in an instant, and grayish despair colored Chaos Moon¡¯s complexion. "Oh shit, we¡¯re all going to die¡­" I nodded grimly. "Yep, it¡¯s GG!" However, Gui Guzi cried out, "Boss Broken Halberd, look! These Wood Porcupines don''t have Spike Rain! It¡¯s a shittier version that can¡¯t use an AoE skill!" I scanned a nearby Wood Porcupine immediately, and it was exactly as Gui Guzi said. Unlike the freaks that gave us one hell of a time at the entrance earlier, these Wood Porcupines were close-range fighters without an AoE skill. They were still Level 150 shadow-rank mobs, but they were far, far easier to deal with. I immediately raised my sword and declared, "Alright, let¡¯s grind here until someone finds the boss. Don¡¯t worry, the news will spread automatically, no matter who finds the boss first!" Our two-thousand-man party started grinding in this valley just like that. Without their ridiculously broken AoE skill, the Wood Porcupines weren¡¯t nearly as threatening as before. At the very least, they weren¡¯t able to give Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls too much trouble. ¡­¡­ Chiang chiang chiang! I slashed a Wood Porcupine in the head and used War Crush. Occasionally, Silver Dragon Storm would trigger and howl across the battlefield. With equipment like this, I could hold back and still become the MVP and the highest contributor in the guild. It wasn¡¯t even a challenge... Beep! It was at this moment Lin Yixin sent me a message: "Did you locate the boss of the Wood Dragon Domain yet?" "Nope. What about you guys?" "Same." "Well, let¡¯s continue whatever we¡¯re doing then." "Mn!" It looked like the boss of this floor was very well hidden. Oh well, the Wood Porcupines were worth a lot of experience and loot anyway. It wasn¡¯t a waste of time as long as we were getting something out of this. Thump thump thump... When I climbed up a hill and stood at the top, I was shocked to find a giant basin jampacked with Level 150 Wood Porcupines in it. This was the perfect opportunity to gain some levels! "Someone, come over here and guard the entrance! Gui Guzi, form a party and push into the basin¡­" "Ohh!" I was already running toward the Wood Porcupines while I gave the order. The moment I entered within range, I immediately used War Crush and Burning Blade Slash to reduce the health of all the mobs in front of me to half health. I had changed my stratagem to Martial God because it was the more useful skill in PvE. While Gui Guzi and a bunch of fighters were fighting at the frontlines, our ranged players like Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone were dishing out Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms from the back as well. He Yi¡¯s Firelight Mouse also dealt great DPS in this battle. Of course, my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was tearing into the mobs as well. Everyone¡¯s experience bar filled up fairly quickly as the Wood Porcupines kept falling one after another. Even better, the mobs dropped Level 125 equipment that almost all our high-level players could equip immediately. Plenty of them were of Outstanding quality as well. A long time later, when I cut open the head of a Wood Porcupine, a magic scroll suddenly dropped on the ground. I was pleasantly surprised when I picked up the cyan-colored scroll and read its description¡ª Chapter 527: Golden Arrow Explosion Xu Yang also asked, "What do you think, Lu Chen? Should we stay here or teleport to the B2 floor?" I thought for a moment before answering, "The competition on this floor is going to be very fierce, and it just doesn¡¯t seem wise to fight against tens of thousands of players over a single boss. I suggest we farm three or more magic scrolls and teleport at least 300 players to the B2 floor. This way, we should have a chance even if we¡¯re up against an Earth Rank boss." Xu Yang asked again, "Does that mean we¡¯re giving up on the boss of the B1 floor?" "Of course not!" I answered with certainty. "What I mean is that we take what we can take, and give up on what we cannot. For example, remember that every boss in this map will drop a dragon scale quest item upon death? A player must carry it at all times because it can¡¯t be stored in a warehouse, so my plan goes like this: while we¡¯re at the B2 floor, we wait for the person carrying the dragon scale of the Wood Dragon Domain to show up, kill them and take it for ourselves!" "Mn!" He Yi nodded with a smile. "Alright, let¡¯s try and farm as many magic scrolls as possible then. We won¡¯t be able to defeat any boss without enough players, not to mention that we have enemy guilds like Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance to worry about. Candle Dragon especially has never stopped plotting our demise¡­" A knowing smile flitted across everyone¡¯s face. Candle Dragon and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were sworn enemies, and in any world there could only be one king. ¡­¡­ More than an hour passed by in the blink of an eye. By now, we had cleared out almost the entire valley and found a total of four B2 floor teleportation scrolls. We also received news that Warsky Alliance, Gods of Destruction, and Candle Dragon had discovered the location of the boss. However, it was also surrounded by hundreds of those abominable Wood Porcupines that could fire Spike Rains. This meant that any guild who wished to challenge the boss must clear out the troublesome guardians first. Currently, all three guilds were racing to think of a way to deal with the rodents, fight the boss and not be backstabbed by the other guilds. Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, and Blazing Hot Lips were also making way toward the boss in hopes of getting a piece of the pie. So far, it looked like we were the only guilds who were planning to skip the boss and move on to the next floor right now. He Yi, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, and I had partied 100 players each including Beiming Xue, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon and Xu Yang. The plan was to scout out the B2 floor with our 400 players, find the boss and kill it if possible. Beiming Xue, Chaos Moon, and Pure Love instantly huddled around me. I could feel my face turning green as I stared at Pure Love. "I said ¡®come closer¡¯, not ¡®hug me¡¯¡­" Pure Love blushed. I could almost see the angel and the devil warring above her head as she tried to come to a decision. Chaos Moon let out a helpless sigh. "Poor smitten Pure Love, she¡¯s at the point where she¡¯s literally expressing her feelings through her body¡­" Beiming Xue: "Big bro¡­" I crushed the teleportation scroll to free myself from this awkward situation as soon as possible. A huge magical formation appeared beneath everyone¡¯s feet, and before anyone could react, its magical energy tore at our bodies and dragged us right into the B2 floor of the Nine Lost Dragon Domains! Swhoosh~! There was a flash of light, and we appeared in a dark and damp environment of the B2 floor. It was a huge, wet forest overflowing with the scent of death and decay. Occasionally, a cold wind would brush against our skins and elicit a shiver. I opened the minimap and discovered that it was completely gray. I supposed that we were meant to explore the map ourselves. I looked behind me to make sure that my party members were doing okay. There were players of all classes in my party such as warriors, mages, archers and so on. In general, Martial God was very useful on a high-level map like this. Beep! It was at this moment He Yi sent me a message: "Where are you guys, Lu Chen?" I replied, "The minimap is obscured. All I can tell you is that I¡¯m at (0288, 1093). What about you? Let¡¯s meet up somewhere." "In that case, let¡¯s meet up at (1000, 1000). How does that sound?" "Okay£¡" "No problem!" In Nine Lost Dragon Domains, unity was more important than anything. Moving in separate groups would make us vulnerable to monsters or enemy guilds. That being said, we were still pretty safe because all the super guilds such as Candle Dragon, Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Purple Lily, and so on were challenging the "Giant Dragon of Life", the boss of the first floor. They were also delayed by the sea of Wood Porcupines standing between them and the boss. "Let¡¯s go. Give me a buff, Pure Love!" "Okay!" A couple of flashes later, the fifth-promotion bard had unloaded all her buffs on me, buffing all my stats by 40% on average. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that having a fifth-promotion bard could transform any fighter into a monster, especially since they could learn Holy Light now. Although the heal amount was only half of a priest¡¯s at the same level, it was still incredibly useful. A class that could heal and buff could never be useless. Scrunch¡­ scrunch¡­ Our boots made a disgusting sloshing sound as we trekked across the muddy ground. High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, and I were the vanguard of the party because we were the strongest warriors in the party. Xu Yang was in He Yi¡¯s party, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was in Gui Guzi¡¯s party. Since our peak experts had split up, we had to proceed with the utmost caution. A distant howl suddenly came from somewhere. I immediately tensed up and said, "Keep your eyes open, everyone¡­" "Mn!" Chaos Moon nodded strongly before asking, "Do you think that the mobs at the B2 floor will be stronger than the Wood Porcupines?" "Probably, but I doubt that we¡¯ll run into a bullshit mob like the Wood Porcupines with Spike Rain anymore." "True. Those Wood Porcupines were designed purely as gatekeepers of the entire map, meant to annoy the shit out of the players. You literally can¡¯t find a Level 150 shadow-rank mob like that anywhere else. It¡¯s such a shameless design." I nodded in agreement before checking the map again. Since the B2 floor was called "Golden Dragon Domain", it was probably where the boss named "One-horned Golden Dragon" resided. I might¡¯ve given up on fighting the boss of the B1 floor, but there was no way in hell I was giving up the boss of this floor as well! What would be the point of coming here if I kept slipping these bosses? I suddenly saw a flash of gold at the black plains when I looked up. Very soon, a huge and ferocious-looking beast leaped onto a small hill. It was a fearsome tiger with golden fur. It was about two meters tall, and it was incredibly muscular. It glared at us with cruel eyes, bared its fangs and bent its hind legs slightly, as if it was planning to deal a critical blow at any moment! "WTF, what a huge and handsome-looking tiger¡­" Chaos Moon giggled. I took a step forward and stared at the tiger. A second later, its stats appeared in the party channel¡ª Golden Arrow Tiger (Shadow) Level: 155 Attack: 1800~2050 Defense: 2000 HP: 180000 Skills: Bite, Claw Swipe, Golden Arrow Explosion Introduction: The guardians of the Golden Dragon Domain. The Golden Arrow Tigers possess incredible strength that terrorizes any foe at any range. ¡­¡­ "This tiger is so strong¡­" Chaos Moon¡¯s jaw nearly hit the floor. I gripped my sword and activated Charge. If there was one thing I figured out about this map, it was that the Golden Arrow Tigers had to die if we wanted to teleport out of the B2 floor later on. Long story short, kill the mobs to leave, kill the boss for the win. Swhoosh! The Golden Arrow Tiger only managed a roar before it was stunned by my Thunderous Charge. It had less Defense than the Wood Porcupines, so it wasn¡¯t as difficult to kill. A standard Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash combo later, its HP had dropped by 40%. Humiliated and angered, the tiger swiped at my Obsidian Dragonscale Armor in retaliation and dealt a sizable amount of damage¡ª3872! As I thought, 2050 Attack was a bit too much for me to handle right now. The Golden Arrow Tiger was a shadow-rank mob, and it also had a massive level advantage over me. In other words, its true attack power was at least three times its Attack stat. Could you imagine how ridiculous that was? If I didn¡¯t have various damage reduction skills such as Ghost Deity Armor to protect me, I would be the one crying here. I sliced and diced for a bit while waiting for the 6-second cooldown of Universe Break to finish. Then, I used it again. This skill was just so damn good! However, several howls rang above the wind, and three Golden Arrow Tigers suddenly appeared around me. The first Golden Arrow Tiger looked up and unleashed Wild Roar, empowering its kin¡¯s Attack instantly. Not only that, the effect was at least twice as powerful as my own Wild Roar. Motherfucker! I can¡¯t believe these animals know how to buff their friends! "Big bro, watch out!" Beiming Xue suddenly let out a shout. My pupils narrowed into needles when I realized that the two Golden Arrow Tigers about 10 yards away from me had puffed up their hair. A small bump rose in between the bones and muscles behind their backs, condensed into a golden arrow and flew straight toward me. Is it the Golden Arrow Explosion?! I didn¡¯t Guard because the mobs would aggro onto my party members instead. I just stood there and bore the full brunt of the attack! Bang! Bang! 6983! 7024! Holy shit, I almost couldn¡¯t believe how much HP I lost. Luckily, Pure Love had buffed me with a fifth-promotion skill called "Physique", boosting my max HP by 40%, so I could endure at least another round of attack before I was forced to heal myself! "Careful, everyone! Charge!" Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits charged a Golden Arrow Tiger each while Beiming Xue peppered them with Evil Spirit Volleys and Spiraling Arrow Blades. Moonlight Stone had also tossed out her Galaxy Storm. Thank goodness I had the foresight to drag our best archer, mage and bard into my party! "Watch out for OT!" I shouted in warning. But it was too late. Three Golden Arrow Tigers bristled in anger and started channeling their Golden Arrow Explosion again. Even worse, they were targeting our ranged players! Whoosh! I gathered red, circular energy around my left fist and punched the hell out of a Golden Arrow Tiger, but I couldn¡¯t stop the other two mobs from unleashing their skill! Pu! The archer at the farthest edge of the party ate both hits and died! No wait, I was wrong. One of them was still on the way! I spun around just in time to see Beiming Xue getting hit by a Golden Arrow Explosion. She had raised the Blazing Shadow Bow in front and guarded, but she still took a long, deep gash to the shoulder and lost over 12k HP in one go! The only reason Beiming Xue was still alive was because she had over 15k HP. Moreover, the level and Strength gap between her and the Golden Arrow Tiger was so huge that her Guard was a lot less effective than it could¡¯ve been. She was lucky that she managed to reduce the damage taken by about 25% or so! ¡­¡­ Chapter 528: One-horned Golden Dragon ¡­¡­ Pop! The last Golden Arrow Tiger we killed dropped a round metal armor helmet. When I picked it up and gave it a look, I saw that it was a Level 125 3-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade item with Outstanding Property that boosted the user¡¯s Defense by 12%. It was very good to say the least. A short discussion later, I decided to do away with the usual loot distribution rules and passed it to Chaos Moon directly. The tankier she was, the lesser the chance someone in our hundred-man party would die. We encountered the Golden Arrow Tigers a few more times in packs of five to ten as we continued to march toward the meeting spot. The good news was that these mobs didn¡¯t appear in large numbers, or this journey would have been absolutely hellish. Right now, no player in the entire server could withstand focused fire from an entire horde of Golden Arrow Tigers. Meanwhile in the guild channel, everyone was venting their frustration¡ª Li Chengfeng: "These motherfucking Golden Arrow Tigers are so disgusting. When they use their ranged attacks, they ignore aggro table and shoot those with low Defense in your party. It hasn¡¯t even been twenty minutes, and we¡¯ve dropped to just over 70 people already. This is bullshit¡­" He Yi: "Same. We¡¯re losing people every time we run into these mobs. They¡¯re so powerful that losses are unavoidable no matter what you try." Gui Guzi: "What about you, boss? How many did you lose?" Me: "There are only 84 of us left¡­" Gui Guzi: "Damn, if even you are doing poorly, I can¡¯t imagine things ending well for us¡­" Xu Yang: "How is the situation in B1 right now?" He Yi: "Candlelight Shadow and his men had cleared out a large majority of the Wood Porcupines. October Rain seemed to be waiting for Candle Dragon to start the boss before acting. The path to the dragon scale of the ¡®Giant Dragon of Life¡¯ must be paved with countless corpses¡­" I smiled. "We¡¯ll leave them to quarrel among themselves. Those who are still in Wood Dragon Domain, be careful. Once you find a B2 floor teleportation scroll, form your parties and teleport to the B2 floor immediately. Right now we are still the only guild in the Golden Dragon Domain, so we must find the boss and take it out as soon as possible!" Gui Guzi: "No problem. By the way, I already found a B3 floor teleportation scroll¡­" ¡­¡­ "What do you guys think the reward will be if a player manages to gather all nine Dragon Scales? Immortal-grade equipment, or a divine beast for a pet?" Chaos Moon asked dreamily. Li Chengfeng chuckled. "Who knows? One thing is certain though, this quest is going to cost a lot of lives¡­" I nodded in agreement. "Yes, but we still have to do it nonetheless. This is a battle between the strongest guilds in China, and whoever manages to gather all nine Dragon Scales will get to improve their prestige by leaps and bounds. In conclusion, let¡¯s do our best and gather as many dragon scales as possible!" He Yi: "Mn, Lu Chen is right. We¡¯re challenging the Nine Lost Dragon Domains not because we¡¯re vying for the reward, but because we want to prove to the world that we¡¯re strong enough to challenge any opponent!" Everyone echoed in agreement before focusing back on the mobs in front of them. ¡­¡­ Some time later, we had a total of seven parties exploring the depths of the B2 floor. My party was still progressing forward slowly and killing the Golden Arrow Tigers. Although they were difficult to kill, the shadow-rank mobs yielded so much experience that it almost felt like they were bosses. In fact, my experience bar flashed every time one of them was killed. It was at least a 0.1% increase per kill. Another painful two hours later, a group of players finally appeared at the horizon. The good news was that it was He Yi¡¯s party. The bad news was that I saw only 40 or so players in her party. "Fuck¡­" Surprised and dumbfounded, I walked up to her and asked concernedly, "Eve, where are your players? Did they lag behind or something?" He Yi spread her arms and admitted honestly, "Nope. They¡¯re all dead¡­" We waited for another while as Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, and all the parties who had already teleported to the B2 floor made their way toward the meeting spot. In the end, almost five hundred of us were gathered in one place. Despite losing over 200 players in total, it really wasn¡¯t a bad outcome considering how disgusting the Golden Arrow Tigers were to fight against. I reformed the parties after everyone was gathered. I tossed a hundred mounted players to Gui Guzi, just barely gathered 100 archers to toss to Beiming Xue, and split the rest between He Yi, Li Chengfeng, and myself. "Do we know where the boss is?" I asked. Li Chengfeng nodded before replying solemnly, "We saw the boss''s coordinates while we were on the way. It¡¯s about 10 minutes away from here. It¡¯s an Earth Rank boss though, and I don¡¯t know if we can do it with just five hundred people¡­" I smiled. "Doesn¡¯t matter. We have to do it one way or another. Now come on, let¡¯s kill the boss of the B2 floor before another guild shows up and explore the B3 floor afterward!" "Mn!" Li Chengfeng acted as the point as we traversed across the black plains and moved toward the boss. On the way we saw a couple of Golden Arrow Tigers roaming at the distance, but this time we ignored them because no one here wanted to fight a disgusting mob that could use ranged attacks and buff its own allies before engaging the boss. Plus, we had already gathered five B3 floor teleportation scrolls on the way to the meeting spot. Even without accounting for the casualties we were almost certainly going to take when we fought the Earth Rank boss, they were enough to teleport everyone to the next floor. It wasn¡¯t long before we heard faint, reverberating roars of a giant dragon coming from somewhere. Many of us tensed up immediately. The boss was of the Earth Rank, and no one had a clue what it even looked like, much less its stats and skills. The entire Nine Lost Dragon Domains felt like a sentient slaughterhouse that dangled a tasty bait in front of the players to lure them into its bottomless stomach. ¡°Hey, did you guys check the forums?" Chaos Moon asked. "There wasn¡¯t time. What¡¯s wrong?" I asked. Chaos Moon replied with a smile, "When the Nine Lost Dragon Domains first opened, everyone was swarming it like sharks who caught the scent of blood, right? That lasted until the Wood Porcupines of the Wood Dragon Domain burst their courage like a bubble. Right now the people on the forums are claiming that Nine Lost Dragon Domains is a cursed and unlucky place. Long story short, at least 90% of the existing players hate this map to the bone, and they won¡¯t be entering this map anytime soon." "That will be for the best. The more people there are, the harder it will be for us to fight a boss¡­" I commented. Li Chengfeng nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we already have too many competitors as it is. The powerful guilds in Sky City. Candle Dragon, Purple Lily, and Peach Garden from Wind City. Ten top guilds of Vanished God City. And there¡¯s more. Each is more troublesome than the last. To be honest, we should thank our ancestors if we managed to grab two or even just one dragon scale when this is all over." High Fighting Spirits chided him. "Li, you¡¯re ever the pessimist who looks down on your own strength, you know that?" Li Chengfeng smiled but didn¡¯t reply to that. I said, "Chengfeng is right. In this place there are only a handful of guilds we can really call our allies, and our enemies are everywhere. Anyway, just be on your guard, okay?" "Mn! Mn!" ¡­¡­ We arrived at the entrance of a canyon just as the conversation ended. It was a terribly still and smelly place. Gui Guzi and a couple of magic knights rode into the canyon to scout the area. The next moment, they rushed out like frightened sheeps as a jet of golden flames blasted against their asses! "Fuck! The boss is inside the canyon! Prepare for battle!" I pulled out the Heaven-stealing Sword and ran toward the boss with Li Chengfeng and the others. At the back, Beiming Xue and our ranged players also got ready to unleash their attacks. An earthshaking roar blasted out of the canyon. A couple of seconds later, a golden claw appeared at the top of the hill, followed by the sinister-looking head of a one-horned dragon. It extended its wings and pulled itself to full length. The One-horned Golden Dragon had appeared! "Fuck, it¡¯s definitely the One-horned Golden Dragon!" Li Chengfeng stared blankly at the ridiculously huge giant dragon for a time. Even he was stunned by its appearance, to say nothing of the others. I shouted to break everyone out of their daze, "Stop dreaming and prepare to fight! Magic knights, grab its attention. Damage dealers, get into positions and blast its ass! Priests, keep everyone alive! Remember, it¡¯s just a Level 155 Earth Rank boss! We can definitely do this!" I was running toward the boss even as I barked out the orders. The boss''s stats appeared after I moved closer to it¡ª One-horned Golden Dragon (Earth Rank Boss) Level: 155 Attack: 2240~3000 Defense: 2800 HP: 10,000,000 Skills: Dragon Blade, Scale Armor, Golden Barrier Blade Introduction: One of the legendary Golden Dragons. The One-horned Golden Dragon isn¡¯t as powerful as the Three-headed Golden Dragon, but it is still an excellent warrior of the dragon race. Moreover, this particular One-horned Golden Dragon is rebellious, evil, violent and very aggressive. ¡­¡­ "OMG, these stats are¡­ an upper Attack limit of 3000? I can¡¯t even imagine how painful it¡¯ll be to get hit by it..." Li Chengfeng sucked in a deep breath. "Let¡¯s wait while those with Knight God and Royal Road aggro the boss. It¡¯d be unwise to challenge it head-on without extra HP and Defense¡­" I nodded in agreement. "You heard him. Those with Knight God should go first. Eve, you and your party should go too. I leave the MT position to you all¡­" He Yi got up her horse, smacked its butt with Whirlwind and rode toward the boss like a lightning bolt. On the other side, Gui Guzi was gripping his Rainbow in one hand and charging the boss as well. The complete lack of fear on their faces greatly raised our parties¡¯ morale. Swhoosh! Swhoosh! He Yi and Gui Guzi activated their Charge at the same time. An instant later, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun did the same as well. However, none of them managed to stun the boss! Unlucky! "Roar!" The One-horned Golden Dragon roared angrily. Still crouching atop the hill, it swung a gigantic paw at He Yi. Chapter 529: Golden Barrier Blade 9092! Her blade split apart some of its scales, but that was all. As it turned out, the One-horned Golden Dragon was so tough that even He Yi¡¯s Barrier Break couldn¡¯t do more than 10k damage. This was terrible considering that her skill was at max rank, meaning that it ignored 70% of the boss''s Defense! Swhoosh! The One-horned Golden Dragon abruptly shook its head back and forth, turning its golden horn into a deadly weapon. The next moment, the horn penetrated He Yi¡¯s shield and sent both her and her warhorse flying! Her mount tenacity was emptied in an instant, and the Snow Domain Windchaser vanished before it hit the ground. A ridiculous damage number popped above her head as He Yi herself rolled across the grassland¡ª 20192! She was nearly one-shot. That skill was the boss''s Dragon Blade, and it was as powerful as its name suggested. Even He Yi was incapable of withstanding a direct hit! ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Gui Guzi had moved in front of the boss and left a couple of gashes around its chin. However, everything except Barrier Break only did around 500 damage or so. He Yi had already proven it earlier, but the boss''s Defense was seriously too high. At the distance, I raised my sword and executed the God Binding Art. Four gigantic divine weapons instantly descended from the sky around the boss, red lightning connecting all of them together. The boss was trapped and immobilized instantly. Nice, the God Binding Art was a success. This meant that the boss wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything for 15 seconds straight. "This is our chance!" Li Chengfeng ran toward the boss and executed a Barrier Break + Dragonbone Flurry combo immediately. However¡ª 7011! 372! 321! 335! "WTF¡­" Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes turned as wide as saucers. "Surely my attack power isn¡¯t that low? God dammit, it¡¯ll take me forever to kill this boss!" Blitz increased his attack speed but not his Attack. The moment he ran into a powerful boss like this, his Blitz immediately became a liability. The wise dragon warrior immediately changed his stratagem out for an Encourage VII so that his almost 180 Tactics would boost his Attack by 54%. I had moved behind the boss while all this was going on, and an Eight Trigram formation appeared beneath my feet. Indigo flames wreathed around my sword, I stabbed the One-horned Golden Dragon right in the butthole. It was so much pain that the boss reflexively lifted its hindlegs. I then followed up with a triple-hit Burning Blade Slash¡ª 15782! 1402! 2743! 5192! ¡­¡­ Xu Yang curled his lips. "Fuck, Lu Chen¡¯s Martial God is the GOAT in this situation¡­" Chaos Moon said, "Lu Chen¡¯s the OP one here, not Martial God. Look at Chengfeng, he can only do a couple hundred damage per hit¡­" Li Chengfeng complained, "WTF guys, praise Lu Chen all you want, but don¡¯t insult me in the process¡­" When 6 seconds were up, I used Universe Break again. This time though, I followed up with a Pardon and a basic attack instead¡ª 16029! MISS! 15092! This was it. I should¡¯ve known sooner that Pardon X would be way more useful than Burning Blade Slash in this situation. If I used Pardon first and Universe Break later, no amount of Defense would be enough to stop me. That being said, I wasn¡¯t going to do that. It would be a waste of potential damage and generally not worth it. At the back, Beiming Xue, Moonlight Stone, and the others bombarded the boss with arrows and magic, but the amount of damage was pitiful to say the least. Beiming Xue was the only archer who could consistently deal over 1000 damage to the boss. Everyone else only dealt single-digit¡ª1, 3, 7 and so on¡ªdamage unless it was an armor penetration skill like Devil Piercing Arrow. It wasn¡¯t even good enough to cancel out the boss''s HP regeneration. On the other hand, our mages did fairly good work. Every mage dealt at least 200 to 800 damage per spell. Individually speaking it wasn¡¯t much damage, but together it was easily a scary amount of firepower. The sight of the boss''s HP decreasing just a tad raised everyone¡¯s morale. It didn¡¯t last long though. When the God Binding Art passed its duration, the One-horned Golden Dragon lifted its neck, extended its claws and let out a mighty roar. Its scales suddenly stood on end like a cat¡¯s hair, and a natural barrier surrounded its body entirely. It was the defensive skill, Scale Armor! Beep! Combat Log: One-horned Golden Dragon used the skill "Scale Armor." All magic attacks are negated for 30 minutes! ¡­¡­ Excuse me? Full magic immunity?? Moonlight Stone and the rest of our mages nearly broke into tears. A giant dragon that was fully immune to magic? There was nothing our mages could do now. And so, Moonlight Stone and all one hundred or so mages heeded He Yi¡¯s order and backed to a safe distance. After all, why keep them on the battlefield if there was literally nothing they could do? Worse, they would die for nothing if the boss went on a rampage. As if to prove He Yi¡¯s intelligence, less than ten seconds after Moonlight Stone and the mages withdrew from the battlefield, the One-horned Golden Dragon¡¯s neck suddenly swelled up as if it was channeling an extremely powerful dragon breath! "Fuck! Everyone watch out!" Li Chengfeng shouted. Before he could finish his warning, the One-horned Golden Dragon aimed at the players directly to the south and unleashed a fan-shaped breath of fire. Almost every player that was caught in the flames was one-shot where they stood, not giving our priests even the chance to drag them away from death¡¯s door. A column of damage numbers popped above their heads... 30192! 22998! 27162! 28371! ¡­¡­ It was ridiculous. I, the only player standing directly in front of the boss, was also the only player to survive the dragon¡¯s breath, losing a total of 22998 HP. Everyone else behind me¡ªbe it a mage, an archer, a melee fighter or other¡ªwas one-shot without mercy. This giant dragon was seriously powerful! Tenacity of the Dead! +7350! While Regeneration of the Undead was working its magic, I chugged a health potion immediately to pull myself just barely to the 11k range. Then, Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew and the rest of our priests locked onto me and quickly healed me back to full health. Regret filled my heart for a moment. I could¡¯ve reacted in time and maybe interrupted the boss''s breath with a Magic Piercing Punch, but I failed to react in time because of surprise. It was my fault that we lost almost 40 players in one go. He Yi said, "Lu Chen, your DPS is the highest, so the boss has been targeting you from the start. You should watch out the next time it uses its dragon breath again¡­" I nodded. "I promise I won¡¯t let you down again, leader¡­" I then looked at Gui Guzi. "Little Gui, work with me to block the boss''s physical attacks. If the boss uses a basic attack, we tank it like normal. If it uses the Dragon Blade, then we use Guard. If one of us uses Guard, the other person must Barrier Break the boss immediately so that an OT doesn¡¯t happen. It¡¯ll be very challenging. Do you think you can do it?" Gui Guzi nodded. "No problem, boss. Please put your trust in me!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ With me at the front and Gui Guzi at the back, we started attacking the boss together. My Attack was higher, so I was able to maintain the aggro on me most of the time. Unfortunately, when I used the God Binding Art again, it resulted in a heartbreaking MISS! Swhoosh! The boss''s horn shone intimidatingly for a second before swerving toward me. It was yet another Dragon Blade. I took half a step backward and kept the Heaven-stealing Sword in front of me. Guard! Chiang! The skill rammed into my sword and shook my entire body. A damage number popped above my head¡ª11920! Good, Dragon Blade was no threat to me as long as I guarded it properly, though the flaw of the skill was that it removed all the threat from me, prompting the boss to seek out a new target immediately. However, a cone of fiery red energy pierced the air and slammed into the boss''s groin area with a disgusting squelch. It was Gui Guzi recapturing the aggro with impeccable timing. Not far away, Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew patted their own chest in relief, "That was scary. For a second I thought it was going to OT¡­" The juggling between Gui Guzi and I went surprisingly smooth. Dozens of priests were keeping the two of us healed, so our HP seldom dropped below 50%. Still, even the boss''s basic attack was powerful enough to deal 10k+ damage to me, and 20k+ damage if it was a critical hit. The bastard critted quite often too, toying with our priests¡¯ feelings. The fact was even God couldn¡¯t save me if it managed to crit me twice in a row. Thankfully, Gui Guzi¡¯s skill in melee battle had grown exponentially after countless battles. Although he still hadn¡¯t entered the realm of perfection, he was firmly in the super tier and was almost as good as Purple Marquis and Li Chengfeng. It was only a matter of time before he broke through his limits and became as good as me, Lin Yixin, and Candlelight Shadow. Chiang chiang chiang! The boss''s seemingly unbreakable claws rocked my shoulder armor again and again. The Soul Suppressing Cloak and my Ghost Deity Armor had to operate at full power just to barely keep me alive. If it wasn¡¯t for the party of priests healing me, it would be incredibly difficult to fight against an Earth Rank boss like this. Everyone had horrible DPS because they either dealt low damage or no damage at all because it was a MISS. In fact, even my Universe Break and God Binding Art missed from time to time. Hundreds of us were attacking the boss, but our damage per minute was only 200k or so. Even so, it wasn¡¯t like we could give up now. A grueling 20 minutes later, the boss''s HP finally dropped to 50% or so. Suddenly, a terrible premonition struck me again. The One-horned Golden Dragon abruptly stopped attacking and lifted its head high. It flapped its wings and summoned a sea of golden barrier blades around itself! Magic Piercing Punch! Bang! The skill landed, but it only extended the boss''s channeling time by half. My level was too low, so I couldn¡¯t interrupt its AoE magic 100% of the time! I shouted, "Shit! Little Gui, retreat!" Chapter 530: Flying General I had managed to get out of the boss¡¯ attack radius by locking onto Moonlight Stone and activating Thunderous Charge, my increased movement speed allowing me to get out of its range. He Yi and Gui Guzi¡¯s mounts were fast enough, so they both managed to successfully dodge this AoE attack as well. Fortunately for us, Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng and all of our core melee fighters were smart enough to have retreated before I even yelled my warning, so they had managed to scramble to the sidelines as well. However, nearly thirty of our melee players hadn¡¯t been able to dodge the boss¡¯ sudden attack. So when those golden blades started to shatter, all of them immediately collapsed to the ground, not a single survivor remained as damage numbers over fifty thousand popped up above their heads. Holy shit, even I wouldn¡¯t be able to survive an attack like that! I¡¯d probably be one-shot as well! Fighting a Level 155 Earth Rank boss was really biting off a little more than we could chew. We could still tank its normal attacks and skills, but the moment it started using its ultimate moves, the only option left to us was to retreat. ¡­¡­ The boss¡¯s Golden Barrier Blade skill lasted for nearly thirty seconds. As the dazzling golden light finally started to disperse, we saw that the golden dragon was rearing back its head and howling at us. It was as if it was venting its dissatisfaction and rage at these puny interlopers who had dared to attack it. As a true ancient giant dragon, it had actually been ganged up on and beaten up by a bunch of players. It was an indignity that its pride simply could not suffer! ¡°Little Gui, go!¡± I hefted the Heaven-stealing Sword and rushed towards the One-horned Golden Dragon with lightning quickness. Of all the players present, it seemed as if only He Yi, Gui Guzi, and I had the ability to shake up this boss. He Yi¡¯s mechanical skill was still quite lacking when compared to Gui Guzi, so she couldn¡¯t be the main tank yet. This meant that only Gui Guzi and I could meet this boss headon. Even then, the golden dragon was still extremely powerful and Gui Guzi¡¯s face had already gone ashen after the first hit from its claws. He started roaring in pain as its claws slammed into him relentlessly. Woosh! Gui Guzi charged forward as swift as lightning, but a big ¡°MISS¡± appeared in the air above the golden dragon¡¯s head. The golden dragon answered that impetuous charge with a slap of its claws. As the dragon¡¯s claw slammed into Gui Guzi¡¯s face, I winced. Ah, he really lived a hard life. Woosh! Woosh! Gui Guzi¡¯s health bar filled up quickly as beams of holy light fell on him incessantly. Everyone else charged up to deal damage us. Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, and the rest all stepped up to deliver their Barrier Breaks before they scrambled back 10 yards. They definitely didn¡¯t want to attract the dragon¡¯s aggro, this was especially true for Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, and High Fighting Spirits. Their HP wasn¡¯t high enough so getting attacked by the boss would be disastrous. It was at this precise moment that my God Binding Art wore off. The golden dragon suddenly reared its head backwards as its neck swelled up again. This was the windup for its dragonbreath attack, and it only lasted for half a second. However, I had already sprang into movement even before the dragon reared its head back. I jumped and punched its throat, my left fist covered by a swirl of bloody energy! Bang! Magic Piercing Punch managed to work this time as it caused the energy gathering in the back of this gigantic dragon¡¯s throat to dissipate. Yes, we had successfully stopped it from using its dragonbreath! ¡°Haha! What a beautiful interrupt!¡± Xu Yang and High Fighting Spirits crowed together. Gui Guzi and I continued to circle the boss and wear down its HP as we kept trading aggro using our respective Break skills. Once we got a grasp of the boss¡¯ behavior, attack power, and speed, killing it wasn¡¯t as hard as we had imagined. Moreover, we had an elite squad of priests to back us up, so we didn¡¯t need to worry about our healing or the boss¡¯ minor attacks. ¡­¡­ Time slowed to a crawl as we slowly shaved away at the golden dragon¡¯s health. My Silver Dragon Ring kept roaring as Silver Dragon Storms continuously exploded out of it. By the time the golden dragon had been hit by a dozen of these storms, its HP had finally dropped to 10%. However, this entire experience had lasted for a full forty minutes! Killing this boss was way too hard! ¡°Let¡¯s keep going, the boss is almost dead!¡± Gui Guzi crowed in delight. I nodded my head, ¡°We need to watch out for its final phase though!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± But before I had even finished speaking, I saw a beam of golden light drop down from the heavens. Bloody fucking hell, it was Golden Barrier Blade again! This was the second time this boss had used its ultimate attack! As all of us started to scramble backwards, but before I had even taken a few steps, I suddenly realized something. I immediately yelled, ¡°Shit! We¡¯ve been had! Beiming Xue, you and your squad need to retreat now! Retreat at least fifty yards! Hurry!¡± ¡°What?¡± Gui Guzi was greatly shocked by my outburst but he soon realized it as well. ¡°Fucking hell! This boss is way too despicable! It actually centered the skill around where Beiming Xue is standing?¡± Beiming Xue reacted extremely quickly, clearing the distance after using a single Leap. However, not every archer had her reaction or movement speed. In the next instant, a 100 yard area was covered by the One-horned Golden Dragon¡¯s Golden Barrier Blade skill. As the golden energy blades shattered, most of the archers, mages, and priests who were standing there instantly collapsed to the ground! ¡°We¡¯re done for¡­¡± My heart fell. This attack had done us some serious damage. Out of our archer contingent, only Beiming Xue and a few of our elite archers had survived. Even our best mage, Moonlight Stone, was lying in a pool of her own blood. Just this skill alone had practically wiped out our entire elite squad of more than a hundred archers, mages, and priests! The only thing we could celebrate was that our two main healers, Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew, were still alive! ¡°Charge!¡± Gui Guzi and I reversed course and charged towards the One-horned Golden Dragon. The best time for us to hit the boss with our best shot was after it had just used Golden Barrier Blade. We just happened to be outside of skill¡¯s area of attack, so we would not even get hit by any splash damage even as we assaulted the boss. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was a very intelligent person, he knew that his own Attack hadn¡¯t reached a superlative level yet, so he wisely stood away from the boss and used his mount¡¯s ability to extend his skills by 23 yards to launch attacks to launch attacks from the distance. Even though his damage paled in comparison to mine, he was in a very safe position. He wouldn¡¯t be hit by the boss¡¯ dragonbreath or Golden Barrier Blade. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t really very hard to shave off the last 10% of this giant dragon¡¯s life. At the critical moment of the fight, I immediately activated my God¡¯s Rage skill and raised my crit rate to 100%. I immediately followed this up with Universe Break and Pardon + basic attack to maximize my damage. As light exploded out of my sword at a furious rate, everyone¡¯s jaws dropped open as they said, ¡°Lu Chen is going all out¡­¡± After a furious chain of attacks, the boss was finally reduced to its last sliver of health. Gui Guzi and I pulled out all stops at this moment, we were doing everything in our power to get 50% of the experience this boss would give. However, truth was often stranger than fiction and the outcome was often something that no one had expected in the first place. When the golden dragon¡¯s health had dropped so low that we couldn¡¯t even see it anymore, Gui Guzi and I both used our Break skills. However, it was when our attacks were winding up that a beam of sword energy whistled through the air and smacked into the One-horned Golden Dragon¡¯s belly. Thud! 927! It just so happened that the boss only had a few hundred HP left, so it roared in misery as it collapsed to the ground. To think that it had died just like this! ¡­¡­ At the same moment, the excited ringing of the system notice filled the air. System Announcement: Player ¡°Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun (Sky City)¡± has successfully defeated the Earth Rank boss, One-horned Golden Dragon and reached level 125. They have met the criteria to become a Famous General and they are the twenty-fourth Famous General of China! Luck +1, Tactics +1, and the exclusive Famous General Skill, ¡°Flying General¡±! Flying General: Beseech the power of the war god and increase the movement speed of all mounted party members by 100%. This skill¡¯s effectiveness is affected by the user¡¯s Tactics. Skill exclusive to player Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. ¡­¡­ What the fuck!? Flying General? A Famous General Skill that would increase the movement speed of all riders by 100%? This¡­ this was a sibling to Gui Guzi¡¯s Knight God skill! They could first use Flying General to perform a blitzkrieg attack on the enemy lines before switching out the Knight God to commence the killing. Knight God + Flying General. This was a killer combination that was practically made for the riders in this game, the current ¡°mobility kings¡± of this game of swords and sorcery. A wide grin instantly appeared on Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s face. His loud laughter rang in the air as he said, ¡°Wah, I finally got myself a Famous General Skill! This old boy has finally become a Famous General. Little Gui, how do you feel about that?¡± Gui Guzi patted him on the shoulder and said, ¡°We are going to be brothers forever!¡± ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± Li Chengfeng was also laughing out loud. He said, ¡°Little Gui, Eighteen, the two of you will be the ultimate shock cavalry troops of Ancient Swords Dreaming Souls. Yeah, in the Nation Wars and battles over territory, your Famous General Skills will become more and more important. That will be the time for the both of you to step onto the big stage and dazzle the whole world!¡± Li Chengfeng was truly a world-class general. At the very least, he was for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. He had been able to provide such penetrating insight the moment we got that new Famous General Skill, and it was truly difficult to find these sorts of people. ¡­¡­ At this time, I stepped onto the golden dragon¡¯s corpse and started to sort through our spoils of victory. I soon discovered a bunch of golden-colored scales. These were golden dragon scales! I immediately threw these scales into my inventory. After all, I was the best person in the guild to protect these precious scales. ¡°Guild leader, it¡¯s time to hand out the equipment!¡± I said as I moved to the side. He Yi nodded her head and walked up to where I was standing. After that, she kept all of the items that the One-horned Golden Dragon had dropped in her inventory and thrust Whirlwind into the ground with a loud crack! She smiled at everyone and said, ¡°Before we divide the spoils of this battle, I want to say something first. If it¡¯s something that isn¡¯t a heavy armor item or an item that adds to Defence, we are all free to roll for it. But if it is one of the two types of item I just mentioned, I would suggest that we give priority to Gui Guzi and Lu Chen. After all, we still have to challenge the rest of the Nine Lost Dragon Domains. Our probability of beating the bosses that await us will depend on how good their equipment is and it is only by further strengthening them that we can go the distance!¡± High Fighting Spirits spun his Invincible in the air before he laughed and said boisterously, ¡°Our guild leader is exactly right! I support her unconditionally!¡± Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun said, ¡°I¡¯ve just been paddling along the sidelines, so even getting all of that experience from the boss is good enough for me¡­¡± In truth, I hadn¡¯t gotten any experience from that boss just now. All of it had gone to Gui Guzi¡¯s Knight God squad. Ah, who would have expected Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun to land the final blow? Since everyone had agreed to what she just said, He Yi started dividing the spoils. There was a golden spear, a formidable-looking shield the color of deep gold, a pair of dark green leather leggings, and a garnet chestplate that sparkled with a prismatic light. This didn¡¯t look bad at all! Of course there was still one more item, and it was the item that had attracted the most attention to it so far! It was a round and shiny pet egg! ¡­¡­ Chapter 531: Crimson Rock Dragon Armor First up was the longspear that was swirling with golden light. Our beautiful guild leader gave a gentle wave of her hand, causing a translucent screen to pop up midair. Burning Sun Spear (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï) Attack: 550~820 Strength: +104 Stamina: +100 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 19% Property: Increases power of fire-based skills by 50% Slots: 3 Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s splash damage by 15% Level Requirement: 130 ¡­¡­ Ooh, a 1-star Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon. While it was a good item, it definitely couldn¡¯t be ranked among the best. He Yi asked all of us if we were interested first. However, Gui Guzi already had his Rainbow, and it was a 5-star Outstanding Rainbow at that, so it was much stronger than this Burning Sun Spear. As a result, He Yi put this spear up for guild contribution points and it was bought by a Level 123 magic knight for eighty thousand points. It was time to showcase the second item, the pair of dark green leather legguards. Windwalker¡¯s Legguards (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 300 Magic Resist: 285 Agility: +130 Stamina: +125 Tactics: +27 Passive: Increases user''s Attack by 15% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 2500 Outstanding Property: Windwalk, increases user¡¯s attack speed and movement speed by 15% Slots: 3 Level Requirement: 130 ¡­¡­ ¡°Hot damn, is this even still a piece of leather armor?" Xu Yang¡¯s mouth dropped open before he started laughing. "Its Defense is so high and it even gives 2500 HP. It¡¯s broken¡­" He Yi laughed as well. "Yeah, this is really a very nice pair of legguards. It¡¯s a piece of Level 130 equipment though. How should we distribute this, Lu Chen?" I pursed my lips before replying, "Give it to Beiming Xue. She¡¯s the nearest to Level 130. All of our other archers aren¡¯t in the same class as her either, so it¡¯d be a waste to give it to them. Even if we made them exchange it for guild contribution points, Beiming Xue would still be the first pick anyway¡­" Chaos Moon squeezed in beside and whispered in an incredulous voice, "Damn it, Lu Chen! Aren¡¯t you being too biased toward your little sister?" "Yeah I am. What are you gonna do about it¡­" "Ah, I¡¯m burning with jealousy~~" Finally, He Yi took out that magnificent-looking shield that shimmered with a deep golden light. The moment He Yi made the shield¡¯s stats appear in the air, the eyes of all the magic knights in the guild turned bloodshot. Catastrophe ? The Golden Rampart (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï) Defense: 1050 Magic Resist: 870 Strength: +135 Stamina: +140 Tactics: +30 Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 4000 and defense by 1000 Passive: Increase the effect of user¡¯s defensive skills by 40% Outstanding Property: Perfect Defense. All damage is nullified for 10 seconds. Slots: 5 Level Requirement: 130 ¡­¡­ Xu Yang¡¯s mouth gaped open. "Bloody hell, what a powerful shield. What a frigging powerful shield¡­" In truth, all of us knew that it would be an incredible item. I mean, it was an Earth-grade item after all, and a 2-star Outstanding one at that! It would be even more strange if it wasn¡¯t powerful. This shield not only greatly boosted its user¡¯s max HP and Defense, it even gave them a 10-second invincibility skill. It was definitely one of the ultimate items for magic knights at this stage of the game. The magic knight who possessed this shield would become an invincible titan in combat. I was willing to bet that even I wouldn¡¯t be able to put a dent in a magic knight with such thick defenses. He Yi¡¯s smile was very sweet as she looked at everyone and said, "According to what we agreed upon just now, magic knight and warrior equipment will go to our two main tanks first. So, this shield will be given to Gui Guzi. I hope that everyone will understand. The players who have obtained the power to be the main tanks for this guild will never lack for equipment, so work hard everyone!" He Yi passed the golden tower shield to Gui Guzi. However, it was too bad that he could not immediately wear it. According to the rules of the game, we were not allowed to use Convenience Gems on equipment which was Earth-grade and higher. This also meant that we would have to actually match the Level Requirement from now on. We could no longer rely on our old tricks. But Gui Guzi still put that shield in his inventory with a shit-eating grin on his face. This was the very first Earth-grade shield that had dropped in Heavenblessed. Even though it was only a 2-star Outstanding shield, it still immediately jumped to the top spot on the shield ranking. After all, this shield¡¯s incredible Defense, which exceeded 1000, was already ridiculous in and of itself. He Yi held up that maroon battle armor at this moment. Her lips curved up into a smile right before she shared its stats with us. All the melee fighters had to swallow their saliva when those stats flashed in front of us. Crimson Rock Dragon Armor (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 1040 Magic Resist: 910 Strength: +150 Stamina: +145 Tactics: +42 Passive: Increases user''s Defense by 30% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 3500 Passive: Increases user''s resistance to ice and fire magic by 50% Outstanding Property: Blood Fiend. Critical hits recover 10% of the user¡¯s HP. Slots: 5 Level Requirement: 130 ¡­¡­ Everyone¡¯s eyes widened into saucers. Our party¡¯s luck was absolutely insane today. To think that we would actually obtain such a good chestplate! It really did live up to its expectations as a 4-star Outstanding Earth-grade item! It gave an incredible amount of stats and just as much overall protection as Gui Guzi¡¯s new shield. Furthermore, it even raised the user¡¯s resistance to ice and fire magic by 50%. This also meant that anyone who wore this armor would receive much less damage from these common types of magic, and it was a godly attribute to have when fighting bosses or PvPing. But this wasn¡¯t all, this item also had an incredible Outstanding Property. Blood Fiend. Critical hits recover 10% of the user¡¯s HP. This was an incredible and deadly passive that would be a literal lifesaver in tough boss fights and PvP battles. My current critical rate was at around 20%, which meant that I would normally score a critical once every five attacks, so this passive would trigger fairly often for me. Furthermore, my HP was quite ridiculous as well, so it would be yet another source of consistent healing for me. Last but not least, I also had an item skill that synergized incredibly well with Blood Fiend God¡¯s Rage raised my critical rate to 100% for sixty seconds, so also having Blood Fiend would mean literal god mode during those sixty seconds! As He Yi picked up the Crimson Rock Dragon Armor, her intentions were as clear as day. Gui Guzi also waved his hands and laughed. "I already got this Golden Rampart and I haven¡¯t even reached the level to wear this armor yet, so we should just pass it to Boss Broken Halberd. He¡¯s already Level 130, so he can wear it right away. We¡¯ll just let him tank the next boss we¡¯ll face¡­" Sweat immediately broke out on my forehead as I retorted in an incredulous voice, "To think that you, of all people, would have the cheek to say that! A magic knight is actually thinking of letting a frail warrior tank a boss. Ah, what has this world come to¡­" Sweat also broke out on Gui Guzi¡¯s forehead when he heard those words. He stared back at me with incredulous eyes as he shot back, "Yes, a warrior who has more than twenty thousand health, about as much Defense as me, and deals about three to five times more damage than me. What has this world come to indeed! I agree wholeheartedly! I don¡¯t even feel like talking about this anymore¡­" Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits immediately broke out into laughter, which soon infected the entire crowd of players. As everyone laughed heartily, He Yi passed this Crimson Rock Dragon Armor to me and didn¡¯t even deduct any guild contribution points from me. She simply wanted to give it to me, because this boss had really been slowly worn to death by both Gui Guzi and I. The other warriors could only watch from the sidelines and even if they were asked to roll for it, the top warriors in our guild like Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits would immediately refuse to participate. Their pride wouldn¡¯t let them. I took off my Obsidian Dragonscale Armor. Yeah, this armor which had been with me forever was finally about to retire. I immediately passed it to Du Thirteen since the current armor he was wearing still wasn¡¯t as good as this one. When I put on the Crimson Rock Dragon Armor, I immediately felt a powerful and vigorous energy surge through my body. After that, it warped itself around me and I felt as if I was currently being protected by a metal wall. I immediately checked my stats and saw that I had jumped to yet another level. ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Purgatory Thunder) Class: Undead Swordsman (Platinum Swordsman) Level: 130 HP: 26330 Attack: 1962~2545 Defense: 3665 Magic Resist: 3260 Reputation: 178480 Tactics: 254 Luck: 33 ¡­¡­ My HP had now reached 26330 and just like Gui Guzi said, my HP really wasn¡¯t much inferior to his even though he wore a shield and rode a mount. In fact, when Pure Love used her buff to boost my HP by 40%, it already reached 36862 before I even received the effects of Famous General Skills like Royal Road and Bombshell. So if I met an Earth Rank Boss of the same level, I could really clash with it head to head. Furthermore, my Tactics was now 254, which also meant that my Martial God¡¯s 40% attack buff was further boosted by 2.54 times 40 for a grand total of 141.6%. It really looked like I would be able to boost my Martial God¡¯s buff all the way to 200% by the time I hit Level 150. Now that we had finished giving out all the items, He Yi finally took out the golden pet egg. No one knew whether this was a pet or if it was a mount but our expectations for it were sky-high! After all, this was something that had dropped from an Earth Rank giant dragon boss. If it was a dragon egg, that meant that one of us would either have a giant dragon pet or become a dragon knight! A dragon knight! The class which captivated the hearts and souls of many players! Xu Yang and High Fighting Spirits helped to wipe each other¡¯s drool away as if they were lovers as they stared at the dragon egg. He Yi stretched out a hand to touch the pet egg. A beam of light immediately shot into the sky as a hologram appeared. Ironwing Dragon (Pet Egg); The Ironwing Dragons are a race of dragons known for their physical strength. The talons and iron wings of mature Ironwing Dragons are incredibly powerful and sharp and they use these natural weapons to rip their enemies to shreds. The Ironwing Dragons are extremely savage and violent. Even though they are second-class dragons, even the sacred giant dragons are unwilling to engage the Ironwing Dragons in close combat unless absolutely necessary. Hatching Level Requirement: 120. Cost: 100000 Reputation ¡­¡­ ¡°It''s a giant dragon-type pet¡­" I said as I grinned. He Yi chuckled as she said, "Mmm, yes. It¡¯s a bit of a pity that it isn¡¯t a mount pet though. If it was, we would have a dragon knight of our own¡­" ¡°There¡¯s no rush, we¡¯ll take it one step at a time. So how are we gonna choose this egg¡¯s next owner?" I asked. He Yi thought about it for a while before replying, "Let¡¯s do it this way. The ten players who have contributed the most in the boss fight just now will roll for it. No one should have any complaints about that¡­" He Yi¡¯s choice was absolutely the correct one, so everyone supported her suggestion. These were the ten people who racked up the most numbers in the boss fight just now. Gui Guzi, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, and a few others, myself included, represented the damage dealers. Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew were the two from the healers side, as they had done an incredible amount of HPS. As for the buffers, only Pure Love had racked up enough numbers to be included for this roll. Chapter 532: Ironwing Dragon I tossed my dice to the floor and after it rolled a few times, it slowly came to a stop. I got a 79! "Oh, not bad." I consoled myself, "79 isn¡¯t low. As long as the other nine of you are a little unlucky, this dragon will belong to me!" He Yi giggled. "I see that you¡¯re dreaming again¡­" Just as she said that, Gui Guzi tossed out his dice and it landed on 81. Tears streamed down my face and I could barely stop myself from running over and kicking his dice down to 1. As dice continued to rattle in the air, everyone¡¯s numbers were appearing on the screen. Li Chengfeng got a 7, Beiming Xue got 24, Chaos Moon only got a dismal 2, Pure Love got 85, but Moon Dew trumped down all with a 91! After that, Murong Mingyue finally cast her dice. The number made everyone break out into tears. 100!!! ¡­¡­ "It¡¯s over. I guess that this Ironwing Dragon and I are simply not meant to be¡­" I said with a grimace. Gui Guzi grinned. "Sigh, it¡¯s just not meant to be¡­" He Yi smiled. "Oh enough, boys. Our Missy Mingyue is a priest and she¡¯s never had a powerful pet to help her out. But now that she has the Ironwing Dragon to help with her damage, she should be in much better shape." I nodded my head. "Yeah, that¡¯s right. This Ironwing Dragon is a savage melee monster. It suits her very well!" Murong Mingyue stuck her chest out, causing her chest to jiggle enticingly as she glared at me. "What are you trying to say, huh? Are you saying that your big sister is very violent and savage?" I shuddered. "No, no, you¡¯re alright¡­" The girls in the guild immediately shot me weird looks all at the same time. Chaos Moon said, "It seems like Lu Chen gets bullied a lot by Mingyue in the workshop¡­" Moon Dew replied, "Yeaaah, it really seems like that huh!" Pure Love winked at me. "Big brother Lu Chen, did Sister Mingyue push you down or not? If she already has¡­ then I¡¯ll help you take revenge!" Murong Mingyue chuckled. "And how exactly are you going to help him take revenge? By pushing him down another time?" Pure Love¡¯s face went bright red as she said, "That also sounds like an acceptable strategy¡­" Everyone nearly puked blood at her response. When these girls got their engines going, it wasn¡¯t something that we men could handle. ¡­¡­ "Alright, let¡¯s go to the third floor of the Nine Lost Dragon Domains! Forward!" He Yi said as she picked up the teleportation scroll. I nodded my head. Everyone fell back into our previous formation. As more players logged in, we formed yet another thousand-man squad. The other five Famous Generals used our five teleportation scrolls to bring 500 people to the third floor, while the rest stayed behind to hunt the Golden Arrow Tigers and grind more B3 floor teleportation scrolls. Whoosh! After I used a teleportation scroll, a bunch of us appeared on the B3 floor. We were instantly assaulted by a blast of cold air. To our surprise, we had been teleported into a map of ice and billowing snow. We seemed to be in some sort of snowy canyon filled with icicles and rifts in the ground. It looked like a really bleak and frigid place. "Everyone, be careful. We still don¡¯t know what sort of special characteristics the monsters on this floor have¡­" I said. Both Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits nodded their heads as they proceeded with caution. I had previously agreed to meet He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, and their respective squads in the center of the map before we used the teleportation scroll. If we didn¡¯t join up, there was no way we could beat the boss of this floor. It was at this exact time that the system notice sound suddenly rang in the air. Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" has the Golden Dragon Scale and has appeared on the B3 floor of the Nine Lost Dragon Domains! The system notice rang again in practically the next instant. Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Candlelight Shadow" has the Wood Dragon Scale, and has appeared on the B2 floor of the Nine Lost Dragon Domains! ¡­¡­ What the hell, the system would expose our location the moment we switched floors. Furthermore, Candlelight Shadow had actually managed to get his hands on the Wood Dragon Scale!? What in the world were Lin Yixin and Luo River God of the Capital doing? I swiftly opened up my friends list and sent a message to Lin Yixin: "Yiyi, what happened? How did the Wood Dragon Scale get stolen by Candlelight Shadow?" Lin Yixin laughed softly before she replied: "The situation is still okay. I was the one who killed the boss but Candlelight Shadow managed to rush into formation and take this Wood Dragon Scale. We didn¡¯t manage to stop him from escaping either. However, we did manage to keep all of the equipment and items. There are still eight floors left, so there¡¯s still a lot of time! As long as we kill Candlelight Shadow and take back that Wood Dragon Scale, it¡¯ll be all good!" "Yeah! Good luck!" "You too! Work hard!" ¡­¡­ This competition was way too intense. Thank goodness we were wise enough to skip the battle and proceed to the B2 floor. If not, we would have gone against guilds like Candle Dragon, Snowy Cathaya, Purple Lily, and Blazing Hot Lips. Hmph, even if we could have gotten the Wood Dragon Scale, it would have been a pyrrhic victory at best. The third floor of the Nine Lost Dragon Domains was just as huge as the other floors. All of us merely resembled small boats floating in the ocean that was this map. There were definitely going to be many monsters in this map. At the very least, there¡¯d be enough to kill to our hearts content. Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, and I took point as we slowly trudged through the snow. Shortly after we passed by a few naturally-formed ice barriers, we started to see wolves in the distance. They were covered in bristly fur the color of snow and their limbs seemed to be encased in frost. There was no way that they would be easy to deal with. "Monsters have appeared. They¡¯re Level 155 shadow-rank monsters, everyone be careful¡­" Chaos Moon warned the players behind her. In all honesty, these Level 155 shadow-rank monsters were nothing to me, but they could be deadly to other players. The moment one of our players was surrounded by these monsters, it was more likely than not for them to die. I stepped forward and swiftly obtained the stats of these wolf-like monsters. Frost Wolf (Shadow) Level: 155 Attack: 1880~2150 Defense: 2400 HP: 190000 Skills: Devour, Rend, Explosive Ice Sweep Introduction: Guardians of the Icy Dragon Domain, these Frost Wolves are natural-born killers. They are extremely powerful and they send shudders down the spines of all their enemies, near and far. ¡­¡­ Even though they were also Level 155 shadow-rank monsters, their stats were significantly higher than the Wood Porcupines that we encountered on the first floor. The stats of monsters that were the same rank and level could actually differ so much! The devs were obviously cheating! Swooosh! A bunch of Devil Piercing Arrows flew toward the nearest Frost Wolf, immediately attracting its aggro. It charged forward with a howl of anger but High Fighting Spirits raced out to meet it. He whirled Invincible in the air and used Xiezhi Howl! Boom! Boom! The Frost Wolf howled and three damage numbers flew up above its head. However, its counterattack was still extremely vicious. A pair of icy claws fiercely slashed against High Fighting Spirits¡¯ shoulder as frost trailed behind them. A sharp pain instantly sprang up from his right shoulder, sending him reeling backward as a damage number flew up above his own head. 4094! I couldn¡¯t help pursing my lips! High Fighting Spirits¡¯ Defense was really low! I stepped forward and swept past him in an arc, the Heaven-stealing Sword swirling with a cone of indigo energy that resembled blazing flames. After that, I fiercely thrust my sword at the wolf''s back. I immediately followed up that attack with a Burning Blade Slash and my string of blows instantly dropped the Frost Wolf¡¯s health to half. This caused the wolf to stop chasing after High Fighting Spirits and spin toward me. It launched itself into the air, its sharp and icy claws scratching against my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor! Clang! Sparks flew everywhere as my armor stopped the blow. A damage number flew up above my head¡ª894! Just as expected, this Crimson Rock Dragon Armor had pushed my Defense to Gui Guzi¡¯s level . In fact, after adding the effects of skills like Ghost Deity Armor and Enhanced Bones, my defensive power was nearly equal to that of Gui Guzi even after he had activated Knight God. It was too bad that I couldn¡¯t ride a mount. If not, my defenses would become utterly ridiculous under the effects on Knight God. When she saw how much damage the Frost Wolf had dealt to me, Chaos Moon couldn''t help but shake her head before saying to High Fighting Spirits, "Did you see that? What a difference! Lu Chen¡¯s Defense is equal to four of you and then some¡­" High Fighting Spirit¡¯s grimaced before retorting, "The vice leader is way too powerful. I can¡¯t possibly compare to him. However, I do believe that my Defense is about the same as your own, Miss Chaos Moon¡­" Chaos Moon raised a delicate eyebrow. "How can you even compare yourself to a delicate maiden like me?" She got him good this time around. High Fighting Spirits was so embarrassed that he felt like digging a hole and jumping inside. ¡­¡­ After we killed a few Frost Wolves, I realized that this wasn¡¯t a very effective way to grind. I turned toward the rest of my party and said, "You guys should keep advancing in formation. The guild leader¡¯s party is just in front of us. These Frost Wolves don¡¯t have any long-range attacks, so they don¡¯t really pose much of a threat to us. I¡¯ll go ahead of us and sweep away all the monsters by myself. High Fighting Spirits, activate Stamp! Once you¡¯ve lowered their Defense, the killing speed of our party will dramatically increase as well!" High Fighting Spirits nodded his head. "Yeah. Go ahead, Lu Chen. Our vice leader¡¯s level needs to be high. If not, the people from Candle Dragon and Purple Lily will laugh at us." "Okay!" Before I let High Fighting Spirits lead the rest of the group forward, I picked out two of the girls from the party first. They were Moon Dew and Chaos Moon. After that, I sent a message to Beiming Xue: "Beiming, come over. I¡¯m gonna form a four-man party to sweep the mobs in this area. If not, we¡¯ll be grinding for the B4 floor teleportation scrolls until the cows come home!" "Haha, okay!" Beiming Xue giggled as she left her party and ran toward us. I stood on the edge of an ice rampart and saw a horde of Frost Wolves bunched up in the middle. If we didn¡¯t attack them, they wouldn¡¯t come and bother us and these natural ice barriers were thin and narrow, so they wouldn''t be of any use as natural choke points. They wouldn¡¯t even be enough to form a protective screen for me as I aggroed all of the mobs. Moon Dew looked at me and said, "Lu Chen, you called me over for healing right?" "Exactly! Smart girl!" Chaos Moon glared at me and exclaimed, "Then what about me?!" "You¡¯re here to help block the enemies¡­" "Fuck! I knew it wasn¡¯t for anything good, but I actually got called over just to hold a spot for you¡­" "You¡¯re not willing to? Okay, then off you go¡­" I said with a broad smile on my face. "Oh, don¡¯t be like that. I¡¯ve already come all the way out here with you¡­" Chaos Moon said as she grabbed my arm. "I¡¯m the most experienced at leeching EXP¡­" "..." The four of us walked along the side of the canyon for a long time and we could no longer see the four big parties behind us. It was only then that I finally signaled for us to stop. I stared at the Frost Wolves in the distance and summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. "Chaos Moon, my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf, and I can block four spots, so we¡¯ll use this place as a choke point as it fits our requirements. We¡¯ll use my Martial God skill for this round of farming. Beiming Xue and Moon Dew will stand in the back and I¡¯ll use the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to lure the mobs. No one is to run about willy-nilly, understand?" "Yeah, we got it!" All of these girls were quite clever, so I actually didn¡¯t need to say much. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf finally had its time to shine again. I took control of my pet, and it flew forward with lightning-quick speed before drawing a brilliant arc around the Frost Wolves in front of it. I immediately turned it around and raced back and at least three hundred Frost Wolves were running behind it. As this horde of wolves raced after my pet, their vigorous momentum caused snow to fly wildly in the air. In fact, it looked like an avalanche would occur at any moment. Chapter 533: Candle Dragon Switches Things Up No content Chapter 534: Frost Dragon No content Chapter 535: The Faithful Chaos Moon No content Chapter 536: The Conviction of a King ¡­¡­ Boom! As an explosion ripped through the air, two magic knights from the Mad Dragon guild toppled to the ground. Cracks had appeared on their shields and they had lost most of their health in that hit. Roaming Dragon¡¯s face went ashen as he roared, ¡°Who? Who was it?¡± The crowd parted as a warrior dressed in blood-red armor appeared behind Mad Dragon¡¯s formation. He was holding a sharp sword that was shining with a brilliant light and a fierce war tiger walked by his side. His expression was severe and his gaze was imperious and he wore the faintest of smiles on his face. As his eyes idly swept across the players from Mad Dragon, it seemed as if he was looking at a bunch of dead men walking. ¡°Fucking hell! Candle¡­ Candlelight Shadow! How come he got here so fast!?¡± Roaming Dragon was greatly shocked by Candlelight Shadow¡¯s appearance and it was clear that he was greatly flustered. ¡°What do we do? What do we do?¡± Iron Pardon brandished his broadsword, his expression dark and solemn. He stood in front of Roaming Dragon and said, ¡°Guild leader, lead everyone else out of here! We¡¯ll hold them off!¡± ¡°Be careful!¡± Roaming Dragon urged his mount forward as he cut through the side and led a group of surviving Mad Dragon players across the snowy plains. A trace of a contemptuous smile appeared on Candlelight Shadow¡¯s face. ¡°Oh? The Gemini Stars of the Mad Dragon guild. I hear that you two are considered big shots in Sky City. Heh, if you disappear from my sight right this instant, I¡¯ll let you live. Heh, that idiot Lu Chao sure ran away fast. But I never intended to kill him in the first place.¡± Iron Pardon flew into a rage as he pointed his sword at Candlelight Shadow. ¡°You son of a bitch, don¡¯t insult our guild leader! We would rather die than be disgraced! I don¡¯t need your pity! If you want to kill me, then come and get it!¡± When Iron Pardon said those words, he exchanged a glance with Inconstant. After that, both of them ran a criss-cross route as they swept towards Candlelight Shadow from the sides. Right now, Candlelight Shadow was standing here alone, so it was their only chance to kill him. Once CGL Hall of Famers like Tempest Shadow, Transient Smoke and Clouds, and God Dance appeared , even the entire Mad Dragon guild added together wouldn¡¯t be their opponent. ¡­¡­ ¡°Hah! A fine challenge!¡± 8983! ¡°Are the both of you only capable of this much?¡± Candlelight Shadow was using Encourage VII, which increased his attack power by about 60%, so his attacks were plenty sharp. After he passed by both the Gemini Stars, it was clear that his speed was far superior to either of the two. When he made a sudden pivot, fragments of ice flew up in the air as he shot out like an arrow released from its string. Surprisingly, his target was, once again, Inconstant! ¡°Die!¡± Light burst out of his sword as he used Barrier Break! Inconstant didn¡¯t dare to defend against it because the moment he did, Barrier Break¡¯s damage would grow even larger. Furthermore, Candlelight Shadow would definitely have another skill waiting for him after Barrier Break, so Inconstant only had one chance to save his own life and that was to activate a defensive skill in the split second between Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Barrier Break and the next skill he was going to use. If he could pull it off, he might very well live to survive this initial onslaught! Pffft! 15892! Now that Inconstant had endured Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Barrier Break, he activated his defensive skill to fend off the next attack. However, he soon discovered that Candlelight Shadow had chosen to launch his body into the air instead as he smashed his spiked knee guard into the magic knight¡¯s chest. This action caught Inconstant completely off guard, and his defensive skill fizzled out with a small pop. A contemptuous smile appeared on Candlelight Shadow¡¯s face as he hit Inconstant with a Blazing Purgatory Slash, hitting him three times consecutively! Pffft! So one of the Mad Dragon¡¯s Gemini Stars met his ignominious end at the hands of Candlelight Shadow and this was in spite of a cadre of priests providing him healing at the same time! ¡°Damn you!¡± Iron Pardon yelled in rage. He immediately weaved towards Candlelight Shadow using the butterfly maneuver. Iron Pardon swung his sword towards Candlelight Shadow¡¯s back, but Candlelight Shadow swiftly turned around to parry his blow. He did not wait for Iron Pardon to attack him again as he surged forward and slammed his shoulder into Iron Pardon¡¯s chest. However, Iron Pardon was no slouch when it came to mechanical skill. He retreated in an S formation, even as he stumbled backwards from the impact of the attack, in order to dodge Candlelight Shadow¡¯s next attack. However, he didn¡¯t expect Candlelight Shadow¡¯s next move to be even more brilliant as he dashed towards Iron Pardon using the helix maneuver. As a result, he managed to cut into Iron Pardon¡¯s retreat path as the double S movement sealed all of Iron Pardon¡¯s escape routes. Pffft! Another Barrier Break howled out of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s sword as his longsword penetrated Iron Pardon¡¯s chest. Candlelight Shadow had dispatched both Gemini Stars in an all-too-easy fashion! ¡­¡­ ¡°Bloody hell, how did this happen¡­¡± A bunch of Mad Dragon players gasped as they exchanged glances. Candlelight Shadow was pressing in from behind them, while the generals of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were forming an iron wall in front of them. So they were stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. Candlelight Shadow stared at the Mad Dragon players before he abruptly thrust his longsword into the ground in front of him. He threw his head back and let out a loud roar of laughter before saying, ¡°I¡¯ll give you three minutes to get lost! Candle Dragon will be entering this gully after that time and we will kill every monster and player that we lay our eyes on. So if you leave now, at least you¡¯ll leave with your life!¡± The remaining Mad Dragon players were shaken by those words. Their guild leader had already fled, so why did they still have to stick around for? So some of them ran around Candlelight Shadow and started running away, while others took out return scrolls and went straight back to the city. This was a lethal map. Deadly Frost Wolves lay behind every shadow and the players were even deadlier than the monsters in this place. You could easily stumble across a CGL Hall of Famer here and there was nothing scarier than meeting one of them in open combat. So all of the Mad Dragon players had disappeared from the scene before even three minutes had passed. Candlelight Shadow stood at the entrance of the gully by himself, his cloak fluttering in the wind. He shot a disdainful smile towards the hundreds of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players arrayed in front of him as he said, ¡°Hi, friends from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. How come you haven¡¯t run yet?¡± ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng¡¯s expression turned dark and brooding, and he immediately barked out orders to the party members besides him. ¡°It¡¯ll take about twenty minutes to finish off this boss. We need to hold on for these precious twenty minutes so that our comrades behind us can finish off the boss! This is our line in the sand! We¡¯ll stop Candle Dragon here or die trying!¡± Everyone nodded their heads in unison. Li Chengfeng drew his Tempest Sword with a metallic screech as he shot back a taunt. ¡°Why do we need to run? Candlelight Shadow, who the hell do you think you are!? You think Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will flee at the mere sight of you and your men!? Tsk, you¡¯re not worthy!¡± ¡°Heh, oh really?¡± Candlelight Shadow replied in an unperturbed voice. ¡°Li Chengfeng, just what benefits did Lu Chen give you to make you so loyal to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?¡± Li Chengfeng stared at the sky and let the snowflakes fall on his resolute face. He dryly said, ¡°Lu Chen¡­ He only gave me two things. Respect and conviction. However, these are two things that you, Candlelight Shadow, definitely don¡¯t have. You¡¯re a selfish and arrogant bastard, so these things are naturally beyond you.¡± Candlelight Shadow couldn¡¯t help but let out a roar of laughter. ¡°History has always been written by the victors! Can respect buy you any food? When you have stepped across hundreds of thousands of corpses to claim your throne, who the hell do you even need to respect!? Who the hell do you even need to fear!? Hahaha, the entire world will bend their knee to you and everyone will fear and respect you! That is the conviction of a king!¡± ¡°Your conviction of a king can go fuck itself! I¡¯ll chop you into pieces, you fuckwit! Then I¡¯ll see what conviction of a king you have then!¡± Li Chengfeng raised his sword into the air before he charged at Candlelight Shadow and yelled, ¡°Candlelight Shadow, fight me!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting fot this!¡± Candlelight Shadow pulled out the longsword he had thrust into the ground. As he brandished it, he grinned and said, ¡°I won¡¯t even need my pet to kill you!¡± ¡°Me neither!¡± ¡­¡­ Fragments of ice sprayed across the ground as Li Chengfeng¡¯s boots crunched against it. He dashed straight towards Candlelight Shadow, his sword glowing with a brilliant light. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s expression had become solemn as well. He had no choice but to go all out against an expert of Li Chengfeng¡¯s calibre. If he didn¡¯t, he might very well lose his life! Both men weaved beautiful arcs towards each other as they clashed. They exchanged lightning-quick blows the moment they met! Candlelight Shadow¡¯s speed was a little slower, so he only got off a Barrier Break and a basic attack. Li Chengfeng, on the other hand, managed to launch three strikes of his own, as he struck Candlelight Shadow with a Barrier Break, Cyan Dragon Horn, and a basic attack! Bang! Bang! Bang! Brilliant light danced in the air as they used their skills against each other. Candlelight Shadow slid across the icy ground, his body wildly shaking. A ghastly wound had been carved into his chest and he had actually lost more than 19000 HP in a single exchange of blows. He barely had 20000 HP altogether, so this single exchange had nearly killed him! This was even after he had blocked 50% of Li Chengfeng¡¯s Barrier Break effect! If he had taken the full brunt of Li Chengfeng¡¯s attacks, Candlelight Shadow would have died then and there! ¡°Gulp!¡± Candlelight Shadow¡¯s smile remained fixed on his face even as he downed a health potion. ¡°Oh, your attack power isn¡¯t bad! You¡¯re a lot stronger than before. However, you still aren¡¯t good enough to face me.¡± After he said that, Candlelight Shadow let out a deep yell, ¡°Second Wind!¡± Beams of red light instantly shot up from his feet as his HP bar swiftly filled back up again. Candlelight Shadow actually had a self-recovery ability as well! I had seen this skill in the champion arena before and its healing was even more incredible than my Regeneration of the Undead. This was also one of the reasons that Candlelight Shadow could maintain that incredibly high win rate. I mean, no one could remain on top of the ranked arena without having a few tricks, right? ¡°Hah hah¡­¡± Li Chengfeng desperately gasped for air as he knelt down on the icy ground. The Tempest Sword had also been thrust into the ground and his chest filled with wounds. He had clashed with Candlelight Shadow head on and he had even used his Blitz Famous General Skill to sneak in another hit, but he hadn¡¯t been able to gain a single advantage over Candlelight Shadow. In fact, the dragon warrior¡¯s health had already dipped to critical levels and another attack from Candlelight Shadow would be the end of him. ¡°Gulp!¡± +3500! After he quaffed a large health potion, Li Chengfeng slowly stood up and yelled in a low voice, ¡°Dragon Blood Revolution!¡± The image of a huge cyan dragon superimposed itself over Li Chengfeng¡¯s body as his HP bar quickly filled up as well. However, the speed of his recovery ability was far slower than Candlelight Shadow¡¯s. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Second Wind had recovered a huge chunk of health for him in just a single second and it could fill up his whole health bar in about ten seconds. Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng¡¯s Dragon Blood Revolution healed him at a rate that was a lot closer to my Regeneration of the Undead. ¡°One more time!¡± Both warriors charged at each other and Candlelight Dragon started to show off his superior mechanical skill. As he danced a beautiful spiral of death around Li Chengfeng, his attacks had shaved away more than half of the dragon warrior¡¯s health. Li Chengfeng was put at a complete disadvantage in the first few moments of combat and he simply couldn¡¯t deal with Candlelight Shadow¡¯s intricate movements which wove a tight circle around the dragon warrior. Li Chengfeng had to counter Candlelight Shadow¡¯s movement with a circling movement of his own, but his own mechanical skill was still a fair bit lousier than Candlelight Shadow¡¯s right now. As a result of that, he was very quickly put on the back foot and he looked like he was right on the brink of being overwhelmed! ¡­¡­ Bang! Bang! Chapter 537: White Moon No content Chapter 538: Equipment and Women We kept attacking, and the Frost Dragon kept howling in pain. In less than ten minutes, the boss''s HP had dropped to just 10%. Since 10% was usually where a boss would go ballistic, I immediately tensed up and shouted in warning, "Be careful, everyone! The boss could use its ultimate any moment now! Anyone not involved in the fight should back up a hundred yards from here!" Since Lin Yixin was here, we joined her party and let her use Bombshell. All our stats were boosted by 70%, and even the warrior with the lowest health pool among us, Chaos Moon, had over 34k HP. We should be able to handle everything the boss throws at us now. Everyone except Lin Yixin¡¯s hundred-man party withdrew to the edge of the canyon and waited for the battle to end. ¡­¡­ "Roar roar!" The Frost Dragon roared angrily and wreathed itself in a sheen of bloody light. Clearly enraged, it raised its head proudly and summoned a storm of ice around it. As expected, the boss was about to unleash its final skill! "Watch out! It¡¯s Thousand Mile Ice Ray!" Countless icicles burst out of the ground in an instant. Seemingly smiling or staring at us tiny humans with disdain, the sinister dragon swung its giant tail lightly and sent both my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and Lin Yixin¡¯s Ice Fox flying. "Chirp chirp¡­" A tiny black head popped out of Murong Mingyue¡¯s embrace. It was none other than the young of the Iron-winged Dragon. The cute little weakling was enjoying the amazing ripples of its master¡¯s chest until the dastardly Frost Dragon abruptly interrupted its session. Shivering and chirping in fear, it buried its head into Murong Mingyue¡¯s deep cleavage like an ostrich completely. Xu Yang was running away from the boss when he caught sight of this. He immediately swallowed and said, "What a blessed little dragon it is¡­" I nodded. "Yeah, it¡¯s truly blessed¡­" Also escaping from the boss, Lin Yixin shot us a glare from her Frostscythe Warhorse, "We¡¯re about to die and you¡¯re staring at a girl¡¯s breasts?" My feet kept hurting as I tried to run out of the ultimate¡¯s range. As its name might suggest, Thousand Mile Ice Ray was an AoE skill that attacked everything within a hundred yards with beams of ice. The only way to survive it was to get out of range, but I was slowed and losing at least a thousand HP per second. It was a headache to say the least. Whop! It was at this moment He Yi and her Snow Domain Windchaser appeared from the flanks and extended a hand to me. "Pass me Mingyue, Lu Chen! I¡¯ll take her to safety!" "Okay!" I lifted Murong Mingyue into a princess carry before tossing her right into He Yi¡¯s hands. The magic knight caught her perfectly before putting her on the mount¡¯s back. In Heavenblessed, two players with enough Intimacy could ride a mount together. Of course, this applied to only players of the same sex... He Yi and Murong Mingyue had reached the necessary amount of Intimacy a long time ago. After all, they spent almost every day grinding mobs, grinding players in the wild and grinding the competitive arena together. It would be stranger if they didn¡¯t have enough Intimacy. Mounted players were fast, especially those who had a movement speed skill like Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s Flying General. He, Gui Guzi, and the other riders had ridden from the canyon so quickly that it was like watching an F1 racing car vrooming past me. At that level of speed, it would probably be harder to brake than it was to go fast. Flying General boosted the movement speed of all rider-class by 100%, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun had over 150 Tactics. That was 250% increased movement speed even without accounting for his mount! High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng, and I fared much worse than the mounted players. As tragic as it was, a foot soldier could only rely on their own two feet to escape while the boss beat the shit out of them from behind... ¡­¡­ "Ah!" It was inevitable, but our fighters started dying one after another to the boss''s ultimate. Even an elite warrior like Wolf Fang couldn¡¯t withstand the ridiculously big and powerful ice magic, and this was despite Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell boosting all of our stats by 70%. Otherwise, we would¡¯ve lost at least 80% of our players. I supposed I should be thankful that our casualties were as few as thirty. Thud thud thud! We eventually got out of range of Thousand Mile Ice Ray where our priests were waiting for us. Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew, and the others immediately started healing us and consuming Rank 9 or even Rank 10 Magic Consumables at the same time. It was the only way to keep up with the rate at which they were consuming their MP, and since this was a boss fight, no one felt like they were wasting resources. The Thousand Mile Ice Ray continued for almost three minutes. This Frost Dragon really was incredibly powerful, though it was still going to die. Once the ultimate was done, we would annihilate its ass and rob it of its treasure! But for now, there was nothing we could do except wait. We chatted about particularly nothing to pass time¡ª High Fighting Spirits looked at the nearby Lin Yixin and asked innocently, "Now that I think about it, isn¡¯t Wind Fantasy the guild leader of Snowy Cathaya? Why is she here helping us instead of leading her guild?" Li Chengfeng grinned. "What are you talking about? It¡¯s perfectly natural for the bride-to-be to help out her husband¡¯s family from time to time¡­" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun asked, "Who is Beauty Lin¡¯s husband?" Xu Yang answered, "Do you even need to ask? Of course it¡¯s Lu Chen. You don¡¯t actually think it¡¯s you, do you?" High Fighting Spirits commented, "But I heard that Eve, our guild leader, is the one Lu Chen likes. Do you think Wind Fantasy will try to snatch him away by force? The guild leader can¡¯t beat Wind Fantasy, you know¡­" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun clenched his fists tightly. "I won¡¯t let Wind Fantasy do as she likes! I¡¯ll protect the vice leader and leader¡¯s position as the first wife with my life!" Li Chengfeng shivered immediately. "Lower your voices, you idiots! If Beauty Lin hears this she¡¯ll slaughter all of you!" ¡­¡­ Clang! It was at this moment Lin Yixin pulled out the Frozen Sword and faced toward them emotionlessly. "Too late. I¡¯ve already heard everything!" The boys shivered in fright. They were one push away from dropping to their knees and begging for their lives. I hurriedly pulled out my own sword and grabbed the Frostscythe Warhorse¡¯s reins. "Yiyi, the boss just finished using its ultimate, so come on! This can wait until later, right?" "Okay." Lin Yixin nodded. Li Chengfeng shook his head. "Who is this, an obedient kitty? Sigh. Times have changed, and the once domineering Fruit Knife Goddess is no longer¡­" Lin Yixin: "..." He Yi and Murong Mingyue had also finished their preparations, so He Yi ordered, "It¡¯s time for the final assault. Let us charge the Frost Dragon without fear and claim the Frost Dragon Scale for ourselves! We will have two dragon scales when this is all over!" Everyone¡ªeven me¡ªshouted our battle cries and Charged the boss like suicidal maniacs. To my surprise, my Thunderous Charge actually landed and stunned the boss for several seconds. When the duration was almost over, and I followed up with a God Binding Art, it landed again! Trapped by the four divine weapons, the Frost Dragon could do nothing except be gangbanged by us. It wouldn¡¯t be long before the boss died, and once again Bombshell was the most valuable stratagem of the boss fight. It was too bad that it was hardcapped at 80%, or it would be the most powerful Famous General Skill in the entire game for sure! On paper, He Yi¡¯s Royal Road was just as powerful, but the stat reduction part of the Famous General Skill was largely reduced against bosses. For example, He Yi had almost 200 Tactics, so theoretically speaking, Royal Road should reduce the boss''s stats by 30% or so. In reality though, it only reduced the boss''s stats by 10%. It was a bit weak to put it bluntly. That was why Bombshell was absolutely the better Famous General Skill in a boss fight. That being said, Royal Road was perfect for PvP. ¡­¡­ The Frost Dragon screamed in pain as its health kept dropping. The scales on its body¡ªespecially those that were ravaged by Barrier Break¡ªlooked tattered and torn. It was brutal to say the least. "The boss is about to die! Wash over me, loot! Hahaha~~" Li Chengfeng laughed happily. "Ready to fight for the last hit on the boss, everyone? Three, two, one, go!" But He Yi chided him, "Control yourself, you undisciplined rascal!" Li Chengfeng curled his lips. "Is there something you want to say, leader?" He Yi nodded. "It¡¯s rare to run into a high-rank, low-level boss like this, so we should let the person with the highest Luck land the last hit. We¡¯ll get better loot this way, am I right? Sure, the one who lands the last hit gets 50% of the kill experience, but it¡¯s not like you can¡¯t grind the experience points from mobs eventually. Remember, the loot is the main reward when we fight a boss, not the experience!" Li Chengfeng nodded in agreement. "You¡¯re right, I almost forgot about that. The leader is wise! Well, you heard the boss, Lu Chen. You have the highest Luck out of all of us, so go! We¡¯re counting on you!" I nodded. First, I kicked Gui Guzi in front of the boss. Then, I let Lin Yixin use Extreme Break before unleashing my super combo: Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash + basic attack + Universe Break + War Crush in 6 seconds¡¯ time! A column of damage numbers floated above the boss''s head, and a death scream later it collapsed to the ground like a small mountain. The next second, a ton of shiny loot popped out of the body... ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I hit Level 132 immediately and took one big step toward the dream threshold that was Level 150. It just felt so good to level up! I strode forward and picked up a cyan-colored dragon scale from the pile. It was of course the Frost Dragon Scale we needed to complete the quest. Now I was carrying two dragon scales on my person. "Eve, please distribute the loot," I asked. Chapter 539: Bone Scythe Se But instead of revealing the stats one by one as we normally did, she shared it all in one go inside the party channel. Everyone¡¯s eyes lit up in excitement¡ª Bone Scythe War Armor (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): 700 Defense, 550 Magic Resist, Strength +125, Stamina +115, Tactics +31. Passive: Increases the user¡¯s Defense by 25%. Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s max HPby 10%. Level Requirement: 130. Bone Scythe Legguards (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): 650 Defense, 520 Magic Resist, Strength +120, Stamina +117, Tactics +24. Passive: 4% of the damage dealt to the user is reflected back on the attacker. Outstanding Property: Fierce Strike, increases user¡¯s critical hit rate by 3%. Level Requirement: 130. Bone Scythe Wristguards (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): 620 Defense, 500 Magic Resist, Strength +118, Stamina +115, Tactics +19. Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 3500. Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 18%. Level Requirement: 130. Bone Scythe War Boots (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): 650 Defense, 500 Magic Resist, Strength +127, Stamina +110, Tactics +20. Passive: Increases user¡¯s movement speed by 24%. Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 25%. Level Requirement: 130. Burning Fan (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 750~1020 Attack, Intelligence +150, Stamina +145, Tactics +50. Passive: Increases user¡¯s stratagem¡¯s effectiveness by 25%, increases user¡¯s max HP by 30%. Outstanding Property: Strategy, the corresponding stratagem¡¯s Attack boost is increased by an additional 15%, Level Requirement: 130. ¡­¡­ Our eyes turned as wide as saucers. None of us was expecting to get four different pieces of a set in one go, and they were all Spirit-grade 3-star Outstanding items as well. Although the set wasn¡¯t complete, it was still incredibly powerful and comparable to my own. He Yi stared at the Bone Scythe set and struggled to come to a decision for a time. She looked at me, Murong Mingyue and finally Li Chengfeng and the others before giving up. ¡°What should I do? It¡¯ll be a waste if we don¡¯t give them all to one person¡­¡± Li Chengfeng nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right. But you¡¯re the one who must come to a decision, guild leader.¡± He Yi looked at me, and I shrugged helplessly. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me, I don¡¯t know what to do either¡­¡± Left with no choice, He Yi looked at Lin Yixin and asked, ¡°Beauty Lin, you¡¯re not a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, so why don¡¯t you give me an idea? An outsider¡¯s opinion will certainly be fairer¡­¡± Lin Yixin giggled. ¡°Just give it to Lu Chen. He¡¯ll gladly sell it to reduce his poverty if even a little¡­¡± Lin Yixin giggled again before finally turning serious. She said, ¡°Sister Eve, it¡¯s really simple. First, you gather all the guild members who are willing to take these four items and make them roll for it. The winner will receive the Bone Scythe set as a matter of course, but in return they must compensate the others with four items of the matching body parts, and their guild contribution points will be deducted accordingly.¡± ¡°Oh! That is a good idea!¡± He Yi¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°You¡¯re so smart, Yiyi!¡± Lin Yixin smiled lightly. ¡°Nah, it¡¯s because I¡¯m an outsider here. As the saying goes, the spectator sees more of the game!¡± And so He Yi faced toward her guild members again and said, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve decided. The Top 10 fighters with the highest contribution points will get to roll for the Bone Scythe set. If you want it, please step out and so I can see you.¡± I hurriedly stepped back into our ranks and shook my head. ¡°Please count me out.¡± In fact, my current equipment¡ªCrimson Rock Dragon Armor, Soul of the Earth Bracers, Barbaric War Boots of the Heaven, Battle Soul Poleyn and so on¡ªstill fit my needs, and I believed that my guild members needed the set more than I did. It would be extremely unkind to claim it all to myself. Gui Guzi also forfeited his right to roll and said, ¡°My equipment is still fine, so count me out too.¡± Good man. I shot him an approving look. He made the right choice as expected of a former member of Bloody Mercenaries. He Yi also forfeited her right to roll like us. In the end, it came down to Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Xu Yang, and a couple more elite fighters. They brought up the loot roll system, prayed to Lady Luck and rolled the dice. At the end of the battle, Chaos Moon turned out to be the luckiest person of the group! ¡°Alright, the Bone Scythe set goes to Chaos Moon!¡± He Yi gave Chaos Moon all four items with a smile. She then deducted her guild contribution points and made her promise to give up four items of the matching body parts to everyone after she returned to the city and slotted the Bone Scythe set with Convenience Gems. To be honest, Chaos Moon¡¯s original armor pieces really weren¡¯t all that attractive, so I doubted that there would be anyone interested in them. That being said, Chaos Moon was definitely one of the more suitable candidates to receive the Bone Scythe Set. Chaos Moon was an extremely hardworking girl, and her arena ranking was the proof of it. She was ranked 10th in all of China¡¯s servers with a win rate of 84.9%, not the kind of competitive result anyone could achieve. Her equipment was subpar, but her skills were amazing. As a homegrown expert of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, her skills were below Li Chengfeng but better than High Fighting Spirits. I fully expected her to climb to a whole new height of power after equipping the Bone Scythe set. Also, she was one of the few fighters who had learned Barrier Break already, so if she wasn¡¯t a core player of our guild before, she was now. It was at this moment Li Chengfeng produced two Convenience Gems from his bag and passed them to Chaos Moon. ¡°Here, take these. It¡¯s the gems I got from the One-horned Golden Dragon earlier.¡± High Fighting Spirits and Xu Yang also gave her a Convenience Gem each. This meant that she could now equip the Bone Scythe set immediately. Since the equipment set wasn¡¯t Earth-grade or above, it didn¡¯t have any restriction regarding usage of Convenience Gems. After giving her thanks to everyone, Chaos Moon slotted the gemstones into the equipment and changed her equipment on the spot. Suddenly, every man within the vicinity gulped and opened their eyes as wide as humanly possible in hopes of catching a sight that would certainly visit their dreams tonight if they were lucky. Unfortunately, Chaos Moon had covered up her body with her battle robes, and it took barely any time to change one¡¯s equipment. A quick flash later, she had put on all four set pieces of craggy armor that accentuated her body shape very well. The red glow surrounding the equipment also gave her a healthy and seductive complexion. ¡°Hoho, my Attack is so amazing right now¡­¡± Chaos Moon trembled a little. It was as if the thought that she might one day become powerful never crossed her mind until now. She asked around to see if there was anyone who wanted her equipment, but no one did. So, she put it up for equipment exchange so that the lower-level fighters in the guild could exchange for them. Starting this moment, Chaos Moon of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had evolved into a super expert who was just as important as High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. The only thing she lacked now was a Famous General Skill. ¡­¡­ Finally, He Yi lifted a red hot fan and gave it a little shake before saying, ¡°This is the Burning Fan, a Level 130, Earth-grade, 5-star Outstanding tactician weapon. It is even better than Yiyi¡¯s White Moon and the number one weapon on the Weapon Ranking. What do you guys think we should do with it? The problem is that it¡¯s a tactician weapon, and we¡­ ahem, don¡¯t have any expert tactician at all¡­¡± That¡¯s right. There were several hundreds of us, and everyone here was led by a Famous General. Therefore, we had no need of a tactician at all. Unfortunately, that also meant that this Burning Fan was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The Burning Fan had incredible stats: 750~1020 Attack, Intelligence +150, Stamina +145, Tactics +50. It increased user¡¯s stratagem¡¯s effectiveness by 25%, increased user¡¯s max HP and boosted Attack-based stratagems by an additional 15%. It was incredibly OP. Not only did it have slightly higher physical Attack than Yiyi¡¯s White Moon, it improved its user¡¯s max HP by 30% and increased the effectiveness of stratagems drastically. Even I could equip this fan to grind levels and kill players if I wanted to because its Attack was as good as the Heaven-stealing Sword, except without the splash damage or lifesteal. Li Chengfeng sighed as he watched the Burning Fan. ¡°Fuck, these stats are truly wasted on a fan, especially since there aren¡¯t any worthy tacticians in all of China to this day¡­¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I nodded. ¡°Tacticians would probably become relevant during the latter stages of the game, but right now, Famous General is the fad. The best stratagem skillbook to date is Encourage VII too, which is clearly inferior to the Famous General version of Encourage. This fan is amazing, but¡­ there just doesn¡¯t seem to be a place for it¡­¡± He Yi asked, ¡°What should we do with this fan is the question. Even if we put it up for exchange, I doubt there¡¯s anyone who has the points to exchange for it¡­¡± Lin Yixin blinked once before blurting out an unexpected request, ¡°Can we make Lu Chen equip it? It might look good on him!¡± Apparently, He Yi shared the same idea since the beginning because she passed me the Burning Fan immediately and said, ¡°Here, Lu Chen. I want to see how you look with this fan.¡± Dumbfounded but helpless, I accepted the fan and switched out the Heaven-stealing Sword for the fiery iron fan. It gave me an elegant appearance, and when I waved it I felt like a lecherous noble from the Tang or Han dynasty whose day job was to harass the good women on the streets every day. There was a problem though. I was currently clad in war armor, and the image was jarring to say the least. To give an example, it was like humming a poem while taking a shit at the toilet. ¡°When did the bright moon first appear? One raises a cup and asks the blue sky.¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°Pff¡­¡± The girls couldn¡¯t hold their laughter. Cheeks reddening and straining with laughter, Lin Yixin said, ¡°Fine, I guess this fan really doesn¡¯t fit well with metal armor. Why don¡¯t you keep it until Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls finds a tactician¡ªa cloth armor one, please¡ªthat¡¯s worthy of it. Worse comes to worst, you can always sell it for money!¡± I nodded. It was an amazing fan that could turn an average tactician into a Famous General. Assuming that a Level 120 tactician had 120 Tactics, the equipment would boost that number to a total of 250. Used with an Encourage VII that has a base effectiveness of 20%, the calculation would be: 20% x 3.5 = 70%. That wasn¡¯t all though. The fan naturally boosted the effectiveness of stratagems by 25%, and another 15% for Attack-based stratagems, so in conclusion it boosted one¡¯s Attack by a total of 102.5%, making it even better than the Tempest Shadow or Blue Sky Scar¡¯s Famous General Skill. More importantly, no cap was placed on Encourage yet, so the Tactician class definitely had a bright future ahead of them. Even now where they were supposed to be in the shadows, high-level tactician was still a very hot pick for party grind. I waved the Burning Fan and said, ¡°I guess I¡¯ll keep it in my bag for now. When we get back, I¡¯ll put it in our warehouse in Dark Moon City!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± He Yi and Gui Guzi nodded in unison. ¡­¡­ Chapter 540: Moonkiss’s Confession No content Chapter 541: Rock Crush Crushing tiny, weathered rocks beneath my feet, I walked at the forefront and gazed toward the distance. An endless and seemingly lifeless stretch of hills and plains lay in front of us. The creatures of this world were practically frozen in time until they were unearthed, so assuming that they were still alive, they must be as old as the Cambrian period at least. Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits were right behind me. The main bulk of the party such as Moonlight Stone lagged slightly behind. We climbed up a hill about a hundred meters tall to get a better view, only to be surprised by what we found on the other side. A wide, seemingly borderless plains stretched before us, and it was fully populated by a kind of dragon-like creature. It was covered in dark gray scutes that resembled a crocodile¡¯s skin. It had a pair of powerful hind legs, a pair of metamorphosed forelegs, and a long tail. Its ugly head was shaped like a triangle, and three sharp horns protruded from the top of its skull. A triangle in a triangle. It was clearly a mob with powerful physical attacks. Earth Triceradragon (Shadow) Level: 155 Attack: 1840~2120 Defense: 2300 HP: 194000 Skills: Bite, Claw Swipe, Draconic Hornblade Introduction: The guardian of the Earth Dragon Domain. The Earth Triceradragon is the ancient ancestor of the Earth Dragons. It possesses incredible strength, and its three sharp horns are capable of tearing apart the bony plates of its kin with ease. Moreover, they are an extremely cruel and violent creature that terrorizes any foe at any range. ¡­¡­ The Earth Triceradragon were stronger than the Golden Arrow Tigers despite sharing the same Level and rank. This was to be expected, however. We were at the B5 floor of the Nine Lost Dragon Domains after all. "How should we do this?" Chaos Moon asked. I licked my lips and replied with a smile, "Wanna do some solo grinding?" "Sure!" Chaos Moon had been itching for a fight since she obtained the Bone Scythe set. So, I transferred the party leader to High Fighting Spirits, took Moon Dew with us and left. While High Fighting Spirits was grinding with the party, Chaos Moon, Moon Dew and I went to look for a grind location. This Nine Lost Dragon Domains was a rare opportunity, so I wasn¡¯t going to waste the chance to maximize my experience gain. The three of us trekked along a dark cyan wall for a while, but we couldn¡¯t find a sharp depression in the wall that we might use as a choke point. We didn¡¯t give up though. The walk stretched for almost twenty minutes when Chaos Moon suddenly stopped in her tracks and pointed to the front. "Lu Chen, look! There''s a cave over there!" "Oh?" I raised my sword with a smile. "Well spotted. Now let¡¯s check out our grind location!" "Mn." I didn¡¯t damage the wild grass concealing the cave after we got close. I simply parted them in half wide enough to admit a person. The entrance of the cave wasn¡¯t too huge, and a slightly unpleasant stench was leaking out of the cave. It was the stench of a low-level Earth Dragon. This had to be a habitat of the Earth Triceradragons! Pleased by the discovery, I walked into the cave with Chaos Moon and Moon Dew. The deeper we went, the deeper the cave interior became. As Chaos Moon observed the surroundings, she sighed. "OMG, this submap is unbelievably well-hidden. It would¡¯ve taken us forever to find it if we haven¡¯t run into it by accident¡­" I nodded. "Yes, it definitely is. Anyway, let¡¯s clear out all the mobs in this place before we head out. I have two of the dragon scales anyway, so no matter how well the other guilds did they can¡¯t gather all nine dragon scales." "Mn, okay!" The girl agreed without hesitation. With me, a CGL Hall of Famer as their carry, they were destined to level up like a rocket. "Roar roar¡­" Suddenly, we heard the growls of a giant dragon in front of us. When we rounded a corner, we were greeted by the sight of a wide passage and a horde of Earth Triceradragons. Just as we had predicted earlier, this was one of the mobs¡¯ habitats. The only question left now was whether the boss was here as well. Oh well, it could wait. Even if the boss was here, we still wouldn¡¯t challenge it until the mobs were fully cleared. I looked around and spotted a nice triangular choke point made of sharp rocks almost immediately. After I put a marker on the choke point, I said, "I want the two of you to move here. Chaos Moon, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and I will stand at these three spots and protect Moon Dew at the back. Also, I¡¯m pretty sure the Draconic Hornblade is a powerful skill, so please watch out for it, Moon Dew!" "Mn!" Moon Dew nodded obediently. Her image of a gentle woman was as impeccable as ever. ¡­¡­ Whistle! I whistled once, and the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf pounced toward the horde of Earth Triceradragons like lightning. Zigzagging through the mobs again and again, it was only a matter of time before all the Earth Triceradragons were chasing after it. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit of sadness for my poor pet, however. Despite its high-level, I was so far ahead of it in terms of power due to ever-improving levels and equipment that I only used it as monster bait and cannon fodders these days. What a tragedy. A few minutes later, the lolling wolf cheerfully ran back to my side while it was chased by two hundred or so murderous Earth Triceradragons. The mob wasn¡¯t particularly big¡ªit was as big as a rhino in real life, I supposed¡ªso killing them in groups was pretty feasible. Thud! The Greedy Wolf accidentally rammed its head into Chaos Moon¡¯s thighs and let out a painful whine. The girl couldn¡¯t help but stare at it and said, "How dare you look like that after you copped a feel of my legs! Lu Chen, your pet is just as shameless as you are!" I curled my lips. "I have never touched your legs." Chaos Moon smiled brightly. "Oh really? You can fix that now if you want¡­" "Focus, the mobs are coming¡­" "Mu." Chaos Moon stopped joking around and waited for the Earth Triceradragons to reach us. I threw out the Ice Cyclone Domain to slow down the mob¡¯s attack speed, reduce the damage we take and alleviate some of Moon Dew¡¯s pressure later. Bang! The first Earth Triceradragons rammed its horns into Chaos Moon¡¯ shoulder and elicited a painful yelp from the girl. She immediately repaid the favor with a Barrier Break. I swung my sword and kicked off with a Thousand Ice Slash. Many Earth Triceradragons were hit and frozen by the skill. Next, I executed Burning Blade Slash and fired three burning sword auras into the mobs, dealing a ton of damage. Then, pleasantly surprised by a chill from the Silver Dragon Ring, I followed up with a Silver Dragon Storm that engulfed a group of mobs and reduced their HP to almost nothing in an instant. The girls were so pleased by the amount of damage I was doing that they declared that they might just leech onto me forever. I kept using my four AoE skills¡ªWar Crush, Burning Blade Slash, Silver Dragon Storm and Thousand Ice Slash¡ªwhenever possible. Since my critical hit rate was pretty high, I was mowing down the mobs like a lawn mower. According to Chaos Moon, my DPS was almost ten times as high as hers, and Moon Dew fully agreed with that assessment. Less than twenty minutes later, almost all of the Earth Triceradragons were killed, and the ground in front of us was fully stacked in equipment. Before this, we would have had to share these equipment with the guild, but now we could keep all of these to ourselves. It was an amazing feeling to say the least. Pop! The last Earth Triceradragons screamed in despair before dying beneath my Heaven-stealing Sword. To my surprise, it dropped a light blue-colored skill book. It was incredibly eye-catching as it was the only skill book amidst a pile of equipment. "What¡¯s that?" Chaos Moon asked. Although the skill book was almost right next to her, she didn¡¯t pick it up because I was the main damage dealer of the party. She was a smart girl, and it was one of the reasons she did incredibly well in the guild. After all, it was hard to dislike a girl who was both cute and sensible. It wasn¡¯t like there was no demand for unruly and thoughtless girls, but the market was a lot smaller so to speak. ¡­¡­ I picked up the skill book and felt a faint but heavy energy seeping into my palms. I waved a hand across the skill book, and its contents manifested in the form of a hologram¡ª Rock Crush: Beseech the power of the earth and launch a sword qi in front of you, dealing AoE damage. Level Requirement: 120. Class Requirement: Warrior, magic knight, Wanderer. ¡­¡­ "Holy shit, it¡¯s an AoE skill?" My eyes widened. Chaos Moon cocked her head at me before stabbing her sword to the ground and bending her waist a little. She smiled at me and said, "Oh oh, congratulations to hero Lu Chen for gaining a new AoE skill!" I shook my head with a smile. "Are you aware of the cooldown restriction on AoE skills, Chaos Moon?" "Sure. Why are you asking?" "A player can only execute a maximum of two close-ranged AoE skills in 6 seconds, and I already have Burning Blade Slash and Thousand Ice Slash. Therefore, this skill book is completely wasted if I use it, not to mention that it¡¯ll be ungentlemanly to do so knowing that a certain female warrior right next to me still doesn¡¯t have her own AoE skill. Also, you are a core member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. You can¡¯t not have an AoE skill¡­" I tossed the skill book to her hands and gave her a smile. "Now learn it already and stop being a burden. When the next battle begins, I want you to pull your own weight and stop kill-stealing my mobs with Barrier Break, yeah?" "Er, got it¡­" Chaos Moon accepted the skill book with a grateful smile and said, "Thank you, Lu Chen. I understand now why so many girls fell for an animal like you¡­" "You¡¯re the animal¡­" ¡­¡­ Chapter 542: Great Earth Dragon "Mn!" Chaos Moon nodded. "At four pieces, the Bone Scythe set gives me 40% Attack and 15% splash effect. There¡¯s no way it¡¯ll be slow." "Yes. It¡¯ll be even better if you can gather all five set pieces¡­" Chaos Moon smiled and spread her arms wide. "Dreams are nice, but reality is cruel. I¡¯m probably never going to find the fifth Bone Scythe piece because the boss is already dead, and the other bosses most likely won¡¯t be dropping them." "You¡¯re right. Anyway, I¡¯m going." "Okay. Moon Dew and I will be waiting right here!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ The girls stayed behind while I ran toward the distance and zigzagged between the mobs. Although the Earth Triceradragons had brutally powerful stats, their movement speed was average at best and completely incomparable to mine. They were no threat to my life at all. Some time later, I successfully aggroed nearly all of the mobs inside the passage and made my work back to the girls. I couldn¡¯t tell how many there were, but there were probably a thousand of them at least. One way or another, we were going to Level like a rocket today. Mouth agape, Chaos Moon and Moon Dew stared at the horde in worry and excitement. Moon Dew asked, "Aiya, there are so many of them! Are you sure we can kill them all, Lu Chen? We¡¯re not going to run out of durability and pots too soon, are we?" I smiled reassuringly at her. "Both Chaos Moon and I have over 6000 Defense, so don¡¯t worry. An equipment won¡¯t lose much durability if the mobs can¡¯t penetrate Defense by much. Long story short, it¡¯ll last until this whole dungeon crawl is over. The only thing I need from you is your healing. Did you bring enough Magic Consumables with you?" "Mn, I have 50 sets of Rank 10 Magic Consumables with me." "That¡¯s not quite enough. I¡¯ll give you another 50 sets once we clear out the mobs. If there is a boss in this place, you will definitely need the Magic Consumables." "Okay~" ¡­¡­ A group of Earth Triceradragons attempted to surround me at this moment. I immediately treated them to a Thousand Ice Slash +Burning Blade Slash combo. A bunch of damage numbers immediately popped into view¡ª 14903! 7490! 12872! 16289! Technically, my total damage dealt to a mob was around 45k or so, but the Heaven-stealing Sword¡¯s 20% splash effect practically doubled that number. As a result, all the mobs caught within my skill combo was reduced to half health in an instant. Pu! 7092! 7283! 7891! ¡­¡­ Chaos Moon was a bit disappointed. "I dealt slightly less damage than I expected¡­" I smiled. "Did you forget that your skill is rank 1? Don¡¯t worry, by the time Rock Crush reaches Rank 10 you¡¯ll definitely be able to deal over 10k damage to these mobs. Also, remember that an Earth Triceradragon has 2300 Defense, which is much higher than many magic knights in the game right now. Don¡¯t underestimate the power of Rock Crush!" "Okay!" Chaos Moon relaxed after hearing that. Once we fell into a rhythm, her Rock Crush became an essential part of our offensive power. The 15% splash effect of her set especially had increased our grinding speed up by 25% or so. It was pretty amazing. The cave kept flashing with light as we bombarded the Earth Triceradragons with skills and killed them in droves. Moreover, the mob¡¯s strongest skill, the Draconic Hornblade could only deal around 10k damage to Chaos Moon or me. It wasn¡¯t enough damage to kill us even if it was a critical hit, not to mention that Moon Dew was healing us from the back. All we needed to do was to kill the mobs and enjoy the grind of experience and loot. By the way, we weren¡¯t expecting a high-level shadow-rank mob like the Earth Triceradragons to drop an AoE skill book like Rock Crush, so we were very much hoping to get a second or even a third skill book. Right now, skill books that granted physical damage-type AoE skill were priceless treasures to all players. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that they were even more valuable than Outstanding Spirit-grade equipment. After all, one or even two AoE skills could transform a fighter¡¯s strength completely! ¡­¡­ Over an hour later, inside the guild channel¡ª Xu Yang: "This is getting complicated. Just where the hell is the boss of B5 floor? Candle Dragon and Snowy Cathaya had scoured almost the entire floor for it, but it is still nowhere to be found. Also, I heard that Warsky Alliance has gone to the B6 floor, and Blue Sky Scar and his hundred-man party has already gone to the B7 floor¡­" He Yi: "This is not good for us¡­" Li Chengfeng: "Can I say something?" Me: "Speak to us." Li Chengfeng: "I don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to get anywhere if we keep staying together like this, so this is my plan. I want to form a hundred-man party, farm the teleportation scroll and get to the B9 floor as soon as possible. That is where the most important boss of the entire map resides, am I right?" He Yi: "Lu Chen, what do you think?" Me: "Mn, Chengfeng is right. We should set our sights further. Alright, Chengfeng will lead a hundred-man party and get to the B9 floor as soon as possible. Then, try to locate the boss if you can. The rest of us will continue tackling the other floors and killing as many bosses as we can." Li Chengfeng: "Great! Can I go to the B6 floor now? I got the teleportation scroll a long time ago!" "Sure. Be seeing you!" ¡­¡­ I looked at my bag. Forget Li Chengfeng, I myself had collected 7 B6 floor teleportation scrolls. With a little bit of luck, teleportation scrolls dropped even more frequently than magic stones. Suddenly, a system notice caught our attention. It was the beautiful military advisor of Warsky Alliance, October Rain killing the boss of the B6 floor and obtaining the Flying Dragon Scale. Adding that to Farewell Song¡¯s Fire Dragon Scale, this meant that Warsky Alliance now had two dragon scales! We couldn¡¯t help but view Warsky Alliance in a better light. Despite how fierce the competition was, they were able to surpass their opposition and prove their strength. If it wasn¡¯t certain before, Warsky Alliance was definitely a super guild that could go up against Candle Dragon now! That being said, Warsky Alliance¡¯s Laughing At The Heavens and Lin Bing Dou Zhe were killed by Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Ghost God Prophecy, so Warsky must be feeling pretty miffed right now. Actually, let me amend that statement a little. Everyone was miffed because Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Ghost God Prophecy hung above everyone¡¯s head like a thundercloud that refused to go away. Little Piglet, Lin Bing Dou Zhe and Laughing At The Heavens were all super tier experts, but they still perished all the same. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Famous General Skill was without a doubt the nightmare of all experts who took part in the battle of the Nine Lost Dragon Domains. ¡­¡­ Pop! The last Earth Triceradragon died and dropped a shiny skill book. It was yet another Encourage VII, a stratagem that boosted Attack by 20%. At the current stage, it was something all tacticians wanted to get their hands on, and at Sky City its current market price was close to 100k gold. It was definitely not a skill book that everyone could afford. "Phew¡­" Chaos Moon sucked in a deep breath before picking up a couple of equipment from the ground. Then, she looked toward the front and said, "Be careful now. We¡¯ve almost cleared out all the mobs on this map, so if there is a boss it can¡¯t be too far away from us now." "Mn." I took point and ventured deeper into the unknown, but I barely took a few steps when a shadow suddenly poked out of the wall next to me and bit me on the shoulder. It hurts! 6781! Motherfucker! I turned around and repaid the favor with a slash to the head, The attacker instantly let out a scream of pain and rolled on the ground. It was a giant lizard about half a person tall and covered in black, leathery scales! "A dragon?" Chaos Moon exclaimed in surprise. I spent a second to read its stats before continuing my assault on the Level 150 shadow-rank mob. It was called the "Earth Pangodragon", and as its name might already suggest, it was very similar to a pangolin. Its stats was much weaker than an Earth Triceradragon¡¯s, and it was a second-rate mob that relied on surprise attacks to catch its enemy off-guard. Naturally, I didn¡¯t pay it any heed. After killing the Earth Pangodragon in a couple of strikes, I checked out the area it had emerged from. There was a dark cave about half a person tall on the wall, meaning that we could only get it if we bent downward. There were a lot of chirps and clicks coming from inside the cave, so the interior must be crawling with Earth Pangodragons. That being said they weren¡¯t attacking us like that one foolish mob who took a bite at me, so we didn¡¯t provoke them as well. Right now, our first priority was to reach the end of the cave and check if there was a boss as soon as possible. ¡­¡­ "Roar roar¡­" When the distant roars of a giant dragon entered our ears, Chaos Moon and I immediately exchanged a smile with each other. We were now certain that the final boss of the Earth Dragon Domain was here. Who would¡¯ve thought that the boss everyone in the entire server failed to find would be inside the cave we ran into by accident? A faint red light shone ahead of us. At the center of a large hall, we found a gigantic creature coiled up on the ground. Its eyelids were close, with its twenty-meter-long tail swaying back and forth slowly but intimidatingly. The one thing I didn¡¯t want to know was how much it would hurt to be pounded by it! I slowly moved closer as the boss''s stats appeared in the party channel¡ª Oraki the Great Earth Dragon (Earth Rank Boss) Level: 155 Attack: 2450~3320 Defense: 2850 HP: 12,000,000 Skills: Draconic Hornblade, Scale Armor, Sea of Purgatory Flames Introduction: A member of the legendary Great Earth Dragons. The Great Earth Dragon is the ancestor of the Earth Dragons. Although it lacked the ability to fly like a Flying Dragon, it was still an excellent warrior of the dragon race. Moreover, this particular Great Earth Dragon is rebellious, evil, violent and very aggressive. ¡­¡­ I sucked in a deep breath and said, "This is hard. Its Attack is even higher than the One-horned Golden Dragon and the Frost Dragon, and I¡¯m not sure if my current Defense is high enough to withstand it. Moreover, we don¡¯t have Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell or boss''s Royal Road, so we¡¯re lacking in both the HP and Defense department¡­" Chaos Moon said, "Let¡¯s leave then. There¡¯s no way we¡¯re killing this boss anyway¡­" I shot her a look. "No way! We can¡¯t go back without giving it a try. At the very least, I want to know if I¡¯m tanky enough to face the boss head-on!" "Well, it¡¯s your choice. Get ready!" ¡­¡­ I raised my arm and executed the God Binding Art! Chapter 543: Blaze Beast Card No content Chapter 544: Chaos Moon is a WMD Currently, it was impossible to move up the floors and return to the surface, so only 8 hundred-man parties¡ªassuming that they were all led by Famous Generals¡ªcould enter the ninth floor for the next seven days. He Yi, Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue¡¯s parties were at the B7 floor. October Rain had taken out the boss of the B6 floor, and Lin Yixin the boss of the B7 floor. Therefore, the Great Earth Dragon before our eyes was probably the last boss Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls could kill on Nine Lost Dragon Domains. Technically, there was still a boss at the B8 floor, but Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Purple Lily and the top ten guilds of Vanished God City were all there. The boss would definitely die in the ensuing chaos, but there was no telling whose hands the dragon scale would fall into. It was all up to luck at that point. ¡­¡­ Bang! I felt my anxiety growing as I threw another cyan sword energy at the Great Earth Dragon¡¯s head. I had been attacking the boss for over an hour, but the tenacious bastard still refused to die. If we didn¡¯t get to the B8 floor as soon as possible, Candle Dragon would enter the final floor first and seize the initiative and the upper hand completely. I suddenly saw a light coming from behind me. Before I could wonder what it was, Chaos Moon abruptly screamed, ¡°Wah! We can¡¯t go any further! Save me, Lu Chen¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I turned around and was shocked just as badly as Chaos Moon. As it turned out, the Earth Pangodragons¡¯ lair was hollow on the inside. Very hollow. The passage we were in stopped dead at a steep cliff, and to go any further was to plunge into a seemingly bottomless abyss. Long story short, our retreat was cut off completely. I felt a chill crawling behind my back. If Moon Dew hadn¡¯t given me the Blaze Beast card, if I had decided to fight the boss at a more relaxed pace, this would¡¯ve been a one-way trip to a bottomless and pitch black abyss! Pa! I grabbed Chaos Moon¡¯s arm and pulled her toward me before she tipped over to the other side. There was only enough space to fit two people comfortably, so it was a tight fit to say the least. Worse, the boss still had 4% HP or so. There¡¯s no choice. It¡¯s do or die! ¡°Hang on! I¡¯m going to use my ultimate skill¡­¡± ¡°Roar roar¡­¡± The Great Earth Dragon raised its head and roared in terrible pain. Purple Dragon Howl was a most deadly skill, especially since it was the only target of the skill. By the time Purple Dragon Howl was done, the boss¡¯ HP had dropped to just 1%. It only had a sliver of HP left now! Puchi! I tossed out one last Universe Break at the boss before withdrawing to Chaos Moon¡¯s side, grabbed her back and forcefully switched places with her, ¡°Chaos Moon, use your Rock Crush on the boss now! Quickly, it only has a sliver of health left!¡± ¡°Oh?! But¡­¡± Chaos Moon hesitated a bit, but she quickly succumbed under my verbal threats and attacked the boss with Rock Crush. Just as I had predicted earlier, the skill dealt just enough HP to delete its last bit of HP, make it scream and collapse heavily on the ground. Ding~! System Announcement: Player ¡°Chaos Moon (Sky City)¡± has successfully defeated the Earth Rank Boss, Oraki the Great Earth Dragon, and reached Level 127. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the twenty fifth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and the exclusive Famous General Skill, "Plunder"! Plunder: Attack power of all party members is increased by 20%, drop rate increased by 40%, and enemy player drops at least 1 equipment if killed. Drop rate is tied to Tactics. Skill exclusive to player ¡°Chaos Moon¡±. ¡­¡­ I was overjoyed. I had my suspicions, but Chaos Moon¡¯s ascension to Famous General status confirmed that, the higher the rank of a boss, the greater the chance the player who killed it to learn a Famous General Skill. With this, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had gained yet another Famous General! ¡°Plunder, 20% increase to attack power, increased drop rate, and any player killed by you will always drop one equipment at least¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh when I read the skill description. ¡°Chaos Moon, you¡¯re a walking WMD from now on. Starting now, your only job is to land the last hit on mobs and players from Candle Dragon or Warsky Alliance, hahaha¡­¡± But Chaos Moon didn¡¯t give me a reply. She was sitting motionlessly on the ground and staring blankly into the air. Just when I thought that her brain had short-circuited, she abruptly jumped into my lap, punched me in the chest repeatedly and stared at me with a myriad of complex emotions. ¡°Lu Chen, you bastard, how could you treat me like this?¡± ¡°WTF? Without context it almost sounds like I wronged you or something¡­¡± Moon Dew giggled a little before explaining, ¡°Vice leader Lu, are you really that thick, or are you just faking it? Don¡¯t you understand that you¡¯re making Chaos Moon fall in love with you with all these incredible gestures?¡± Caught off guard, I stuttered, ¡°I¡­ I just wanted to increase the number of Famous Generals in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I¡­ please don¡¯t misunderstand, Chaos Moon¡­¡± Chaos Moon shot me an aggrieved look. ¡°Alright, alright, I haven¡¯t actually fallen in love with you, so stop giving me that nervous look, jeez. Also, you already have guild leader Eve and beauty Lin, and I¡¯m not nearly ignorant enough to think that I stand a chance against those two. You¡¯ll never be someone in my life, and I accept that, not to mention that there¡¯s always Gui Guzi to make fun of¡­¡± I let out a sorrowful sigh sorrowfully on behalf of Gui Guzi; that poor bastard. To quote Du Thirteen: ¡°If Lu Chen¡¯s EQ failed to pass the exam, then Little Gui¡¯s EQ is a big fat zero. It¡¯s also why many girls find him adorable. They love cute idiots like him who silently forges ahead no matter what kind of situation he¡¯s in¡­¡± ¡­¡­ I complained, ¡°WTF is wrong with people these days¡­¡± The moment I exited the small cave, the first thing I did was kick the Great Earth Dragon¡¯s head out of the way. You gave us sooooo much trouble, you know that? Fucker! Bastard! Then, I bent downward and picked up five equipment from the ground. They were an icy spear, a pair of bloody war boots, a translucent necklace, a pair of leather-armor wristguards and a crimson helmet. I gave them a quick look and. man, Chaos Moon¡¯s boss drops were about as lousy as it could get. If only she had learned her Famous General Skill before she killed the Great Earth Dragon. That being said, it was still a rewarding fight all things¡ª Frostbone Spear (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï): 585~820 Attack, Strength +125, Stamina +115, Passive: user¡¯s attack power is increased by 25%, Tactics +27, Outstanding Property: user¡¯s max HP is increased by 10%, Level Requirement: 130. Dark Soul War Boots (Purple Gold-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 620 Defense, 560 Magic Resist, Strength +125, Stamina +127, Passive: user¡¯s damage reflection is increased by 4%, Tactics +22, Outstanding Property: Dash, user¡¯s movement speed is increased by 27%, Level Requirement: 130. Flowing Cloud Wristguard (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): 290 Defense, 240 Magic Resist, Agility +115, Stamina +115, Passive: user¡¯s max HP is increased by 2500, Tactics +20, Outstanding Property: Haste, user¡¯s attack speed increased by 15%, Level Requirement: 130. Bone Scythe War Helmet (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï): 620 Defense, 470 Magic Resist, Strength +118, Stamina +110, Passive: user¡¯s hit rate is increased by 30%, Tactics +20, Outstanding Property: Tenacity, all of user¡¯s skills are harder to interrupt, Level Requirement: 130. Necklace of Moonsing (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï): Intelligence +150, Stamina +145, Tactics +40, user¡¯s healing effectiveness is increased by 50%, user¡¯s max HP is increased by 25%, Outstanding Property: The Benevolent, time taken to channel a healing skill is reduced by 30%, Level Requirement: 130. ¡­¡­ Chaos Moon turned into stone when she saw the bloody helmet. Who would¡¯ve thought that the last piece of equipment she needed to complete her set, the Bone Scythe War Helmet would drop from the Great Earth Dragon? One way or another, Chaos Moon¡¯s overall stats were definitely going to be better than before! I picked up a rank one Convenience Gem from the ground and tossed it to Chaos Moon¡¯s hands together with the Bone Scythe War Helmet. Smiling, I said, ¡°What are you waiting for? Equip it, and you¡¯ll become the first player ever in all the servers to wear a Spirit-grade set. Awesome, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Chaos Moon nodded strongly. Although the helmet was only two-star Outstanding and not as good as the rest of her piece, the key here was that it was the last piece she needed to make up a complete set. Obviously, the complete set bonus was much more important than a higher grade piece right now. A few seconds later, the bloody helmet appeared on Chaos Moon¡¯s head. After adjusting the settings and turning the helmet invisible, she looked just as cool as before. As for the rest of the equipment, I was going to give Beiming Xue the Flowing Cloud Wristguards and the Necklace of Moonsing to our priest, Moon Dew. We rolled for the rest of the equipment. A while later, the Frostbone Spear was mine, and the Dark Soul War Boots were Moon Dew¡¯s. Still, Chaos Moon looked so happy she could die on the spot. The rest of the loot were a bunch of gems and stones. We split it randomly among ourselves and immediately took off to the B6 floor! ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, inside the guild channel¡ª Xu Yang: ¡°Haha, not only is Chaos Moon a Famous General, and that skill of hers is just ridiculous! It boosts attack power by 20% and ensures that all the players she kills will always drop equipment! From now on, everyone who sees Chaos Moon is going to think twice before attacking her!¡± Li Chengfeng: ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s a walking WMD!¡± Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun added. ¡°A very cute WMD too¡­¡± Xu Yang: ¡°Hmm? Do you fancy Chaos Moon, Eighteen?¡± Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun panicked. ¡°I am not! Shut your mouth or I¡¯ll beat your ass¡­¡± Xu Yang: ¡°Aiyo, is someone feeling itchy again? Wanna 1v1? I just happen to be free right now!¡± He Yi: ¡°Xu Yang, did you forget that your hand is still plastered? Do you wanna die¡­¡± Xu Yang immediately did a one-eighty. ¡°Sorry!¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°Lu Chen, are you guys at B6 floor yet? If you are, then head to (1289, 19002). I had arranged for an assassin with a B7 floor teleportation scroll to wait for you there. There will be someone waiting for you at the B7 floor too. Bring them with you and come to the B8 floor right away. Once we found and killed the boss of the B8 floor, we¡¯ll march straight to the B9 floor!¡± Me: Okay, we¡¯re coming now!¡± Chapter 545: Hundred Battler The same thing happened when we arrived at the B7 floor. After I crushed the teleportation scroll again, we had arrived at the B8 floor, the Wind Dragon Domain! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! My eyes blurred for a second when I arrived at the Wind Dragon Domain. Then, I noticed that my body was hurting, and my HP was dropping because a hurricane was tearing away at my body. Not far away, a giant eagle with dark cyan feathers was flapping its wings screeching at us. It was none other than the common monster of the B8 floor, the Wind Eagle! A Wind Eagle was a magic-type monster that could summon a hurricane. They could only be taken down one by one because too many hurricanes could kill anyone. It was one of the main reasons no party had managed to grind the teleportation scroll to teleport to the B9 floor until now. Of course, the other reason was that teleportation scrolls only dropped to players with a dragon scale. Without it, a player could sweep through the whole map and still not find a teleportation scroll to enter the last floor. "Attack!" I rushed the Wind Eagle and hit it with a God Binding Art. Then, I worked together with Chaos Moon and killed it in no time. Unfortunately, it dropped a magic stone but not a teleportation scroll. The way the worthless rock rolled back and floor on the ground almost felt mocking. "Watch out. Someone¡¯s coming!" Chaos Moon suddenly faced toward a nearby mountain range cautiously. It wasn¡¯t long before her words were proven true. A 50-man party emerged from the other side of the mountain range, but both their equipment and Level were extraordinary. This was especially true for their leader, a warrior in fiery red metal armor. An emblem that looked very similar to Warsky Alliance¡¯s floated on his shoulder, and the lines of text above his head was astonishing¡ª Hundred Battler LV-127 warrior Guild: Warearth Alliance Guild Position: Guild Leader ¡­¡­ I abruptly clenched my fists. "Watch out, you two. I think I recognize that brat, so¡­a fight might break out..." The party leader named Hundred Battler walked up to me before shooting me an arrogant look. Then, he took off his helmet¡ªhe had a head of red hair¡ªand grinned at me, "Heh, we finally meet, the bigshot of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡­ is what I would say, if we haven¡¯t already met before!" I raised my eyebrows. "How does it feel to break a hand and a leg?" "It is you!" The tension skyrocketed in an instant. There were 50 enemies, and they had every class they needed to make a scientific party composition such as warriors, mages, bards, priests and more, meaning that they could execute deep strategies if they wished. The advantage was all theirs if a fight were to break out here. Gritting his teeth and pulling out his sword, Hundred Battler shouted, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand has three dragon scales, so what are you all waiting for? Let¡¯s kill him and grab the dragon scales already! Don¡¯t worry, our leader, Warsky will be arriving very soon!" ¡­¡­ The battle was about to break out. A dozen or so enemy warriors pulled out their blades as I unsheathed my own. I pointed the Heaven-stealing Sword at the crowd and declared, "Come on then, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m afraid of the likes of you. I can kill you inside or outside the arena!" "Hmph, just you wait!" Hundred Battler tried to rush me down, but Chaos Moon took him by surprise and sent him stumbling backward with a swing of her sword. Then, she followed up with a beautiful Rock Crush that dealt 12034 damage and forced his priests to heal him. Hundred Battler¡¯s attack power was clearly weaker than Chaos Moon¡¯s because he was buffed by a common Encourage, but Chaos Moon was buffed by my Martial God! Four Warearth Alliance warriors ran toward me at the same time. I knew a long time ago that Warsky Alliance had countless subguilds, and Warthearth Alliance seemed to be the strongest of them all. However, I wasn¡¯t expecting the redhead I encountered at the illegal establishment to also be the guild leader of Warearth Alliance. Truly, the world was small when enemies were involved... Rustle rustle rustle¡­ I crushed the tiny stones beneath my feet and ran toward them at 70% of my normal movement speed. Then, I suddenly sped up, deviated from my original path and slipped by the first warrior with inches to spare. The Heaven-stealing Sword burning an indigo color and the formation of the universe spreading out beneath my feet, I plunged my sword into the second warrior¡¯s body before he could react! 23891! The warrior¡¯s eyes widened as he let out a scream of pain. Universe Break one-shot him instantly. I continued running forward at the same speed and killed the other two warriors at the back with War Crush. There weren¡¯t many people who could endure all three hits and still be alive, and they weren¡¯t among them. Thud thud thud... Dozens of arrows hit my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor including skills that ignored a certain percentage of Defense such as Spiraling Arrow Blades and Devil Piercing Arrows, deleting 4000 of my HP instantly. These days, there were no such thing as a class that couldn¡¯t kick the shit out of you if you weren¡¯t careful. I dashed forward again, this time aiming at at three warriors and four archers. A smile crossed my lips before it was covered up by the light of the Burning Blade Slash! Boom boom boom! Each strike was more powerful than the last, and not one of them managed to survive the attack. The skill healed me to full health thanks to the 14% lifesteal of the Heaven-stealing Sword. Before I could steady myself, a torrent of Fireballs, Wind Blades, icicles and Galaxy Storms hit my head and deleted over 8000 HP. Moreover, a couple of magic knights were riding toward me and readying to use Holy Shield at any moment. Clearly, they were planning to counter me and kill me where I stood with their formation. I smiled again and tossed an Ice Cyclone Domain into a crowd of mages and archers. It was always a good thing to lower their attack speed. Then, I Charged an archer at the right corner of the enemy¡¯s formation to change my position instantly. Never pausing for even a second, I ran right into the center of the formation and launched a Thousand Ice Slash straight into a group of archers and mages! "Oh no¡­" Some of the players saw this coming, but they still failed to dodge out of the way in time. The mages survived because they had Magic Shields, but the archers who were less skilled than their counterparts could only endure the attack and die. While everyone was scattering like terrified lambs, I locked onto a Level 125 mage and ran toward him at top speed. He was the bastard who dealt over 5k damage to me with one Galaxy Storm, so he cannot be allowed to live no matter what! "Not good, he¡¯s trying to kill our boss!" A couple of magic knights panicked and tried to catch up to me, but they were too late. They could only watch as I pressed my sword against the mage¡¯s chest! But the 30 years old mage suddenly smiled at me. "Do you think you can kill me?" He abruptly waved his scepter and summoned an icicle from the ground, freezing both my legs in place. Then, he Flashed away to safety. I smiled right back and used the God Binding Art. A player who used Flash would freeze in place for 0.5 seconds before they could move again, and that was all the time I needed to land the skill. Ignoring the Fireballs scorching my armor, I fired a Dragon Slaying Slash at the mage three times in succession. The mage¡¯s friends couldn¡¯t outheal the damage I was doing to his Magic Shield, and his face turned as white as paper when it shattered. The third Dragon Slaying Slash hit his body, and he was torn into a million pieces! ¡­¡­ "That motherfucker killed our mage¡­" While the magic knights swore angrily at me, I sneaked a glance at the other side of the battlefield and saw that Chaos Moon was fighting against Hundred Battler. Chaos Moon¡¯s equipment was way better than Hundred Battler¡¯s, and she wasn¡¯t inferior in terms of Level, skill and technique either. The reason Hundred Battler hadn¡¯t lost yet was because a bunch of priests were keeping him alive. If it wasn¡¯t for them, he would¡¯ve died to a Barrier Break +Rock Crush combo a long time ago. While Hundred Battler was kept busy by Chaos Moon, the Sky Obsidian Wolf and I swept through his party like nobody¡¯s business. After a surprise Thousand Ice Slash annihilated a large number of archers, the enemy party lost the ability to chain-stun me with Shock Arrows. Challenging thirty or so players by myself no longer seemed like an insurmountable task. ¡­¡­ Our advantage didn¡¯t last long, however. The rumbling of horse hooves suddenly came from the other side of the mountain range, and they were none other than the riders of Warsky Alliance. Behind the riders, I spotted Warsky, October Rain, Farewell Song and more. As expected, Warsky Alliance had come to assist its number one subguild, Warearth Alliance. Warsky ran toward me with an ugly expression on his face, "It¡¯s bad enough that Candle Dragon killed my Lin Bing Dou Zhe and Laughing At The Heavens, but now Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is bullying us as well. Do you think us a guild you can toy with anytime you want? Charge! Kill Lu Chen and his three dragon scales!" The players of Warsky Alliance answered his call, and I counted at least five hundred of them. There were plenty of outstanding players as well. Shivering a little, I sent a group of players reeling with a Thousand Ice Slash before running back toward Chaos Moon. I grabbed her arm, gave Hundred Battler a mighty kick to the chest, and started running toward the opposite direction like no tomorrow. I muttered to Chaos Moon and Moon Dew, "Shit, what lousy timing. Warsky¡¯s a righteous person, but our guilds are also sworn enemies. There¡¯s no way in hell he¡¯ll let us go if he catches up to us¡­" Chaos Moon nodded deeply in agreement. ¡­¡­ We didn¡¯t run far before we suddenly heard a cacophony of footsteps in front of us. Then, a group of players led by a gorgeous knight on a white warhorse suddenly emerged into view. The goddess regretfully covered up in layers and layers of armor walked up to us with a windy sword and smiled. "We¡¯ve come to help you, Lu Chen¡­" Chapter 546: Warsky’s Apology ¡­¡­ "Oh, it¡¯s you?" Hundred Battler suddenly broke into a grin. "You¡¯re just a loser. If you know better, you would come over now and present your neck to me again!" Anger reaching its boiling point, Xu Yang tried to run toward Hundred Battler until he was held back by He Yi. "Wait. Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi¡¯s party will show up in two minutes tops. With three hundred people, it is Warsky Alliance¡¯s doom if they dare to engage us, not to mention that it won¡¯t impact our search for the B8 floor boss in any way." There was no fear on He Yi¡¯s beautiful face. After so many battles, our beautiful guild leader had long since grown into a leader who could face any situation with a cool head. Although Warsky Alliance was titled one of the strongest guilds of Sky City, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls didn¡¯t fear them in the slightest. When two people meet, only one will emerge victorious, and in a restricted map like this there was even less reason for us to back down! Just as He Yi said, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi showed up with their hundred-man parties shortly after. Of course, it was only a "hundred-man party" in name because everyone had lost a lot of party members. Forget a hundred, anyone with over 70 players left in their party must be having a lucky day. This was compounded by the fact that the mobs of this floor, the Wind Eagles, had ranged magic attacks. It was impossible to guarantee that every fight would go perfectly without losses. A couple more minutes passed, and even Beiming Xue and High Fighting Spirits¡¯ parties had joined up with ours. With almost four hundred players, there was literally nothing Warsky Alliance could do against us, not to mention that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had long since cemented themselves as the guild with the greatest military strength in all of Sky City. Should a battle break out, Warsky Alliance had to be insanely lucky to withdraw from this battle intact considering that our numbers were almost even. ¡­¡­ "Did I hear that someone is threatening our brothers and sisters?" High Fighting Spirits stepped out of the battle line, gave his axe a mighty swing and shouted in a deafening voice that reached everyone¡¯s ears, "Come on then! I just happen to be itching for a fight!" Li Chengfeng also pointed his sword at Warsky Alliance. "I heard that you were chased all over the place by Candle Dragon, but that is no reason to bully our vice leader, is it? We could¡¯ve ignored each other in peace, but you just can¡¯t help but bring your own doom, can you? How interesting!" ¡­¡­ Warsky felt a muscle twitch in his face as the top Level of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls directed their killing intent at him. He looked at October Rain and asked, "What do we do, Little Rain? We may not have the upper hand if we fight this out. Should we withdraw, or should we fight to the end and preserve our face?!" October Rain¡¯s lips curled upward. "Of course we¡¯re withdrawing, you fool. Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul is strong, and we don¡¯t have Lin Bing Dou Zhe and Laughing At The Heavens. It¡¯ll cost them 25% of their troops at most to wipe out all of us. Battles spun from emotions are never wise, and this is not the time to go all out against Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls." "Understood." Warsky was a man who could take anything that comes his way, so he stepped out of his ranks and clasped his hands together amiably. "Well met, friends from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. First, I would like to apologize for the earlier misunderstanding. As a member of Sky City, the strongest super city of China, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m wrong in assuming that our greatest enemies are not ourselves, but the guilds from Wind City and Vanished God City such as Candle Dragon, Purple Lily, Blazing Hot Lips, Hunting Moon Dynasty and so on, correct? In that case, I don¡¯t think this is the right time to fight a civil war among ourselves. How about we clash swords after we¡¯ve dealt with all the guilds from other cities?" He Yi looked at me with a tiny smile. She was clearly telling me to speak on behalf of the guild. Despite being the representative of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I must say that I loathed diplomatic talks like this. Still, I stepped out to meet Warsky in the middle before replying, "You¡¯re right. Right now, the enemy I wish to defeat the most is Candle Dragon, not Warsky Alliance. Plus, we haven¡¯t even entered the B9 floor yet, so duking it out now would only benefit Candle Dragon. Therefore, I have no qualms about you leaving with your men. But before that, I demand that your friend, Hundred Battler apologize to my brother, Hot Sun for what he did. Some time ago he beat Hot Sun in an underground match, but he then broke his arm for no reason whatsoever. I will not allow that man to leave without a proper apology!" Warsky looked at Hundred Battler and asked, "Is that true, Hundred Battler?" The scar on Hundred Battler¡¯s face twitched once. "Don¡¯t try to change my mind, guild leader. I won¡¯t apologize to that bastard because he doesn¡¯t deserve my apology!" I was absolutely furious when I heard his insolent words. I tossed my sword to the ground in front of me; the blade sinking into the hard granite and vibrating with menace. I pointed a finger at Warsky and yelled, "War is the only choice if he doesn¡¯t apologize for his crime! Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t give you face if it gets to that, Warsky!" Warsky uttered through gritted teeth. "Hundred Battler, is it really that hard to say one word?" "I will not apologize!" Hundred Battler declared resolutely. "Guild leader, please kick me out of the guild. I¡¯m sorry for disappointing you, but I will never apologize!" "You!" Warsky clenched his fists and shook in anger. A few seconds later, he walked toward a nearby rock and stood on top of it, facing toward us. Suddenly, he dropped to one knee, bowed his head and said quietly, "If Hundred Battler won¡¯t apologize for his mistake, then I, Warsky, will do it for him. I¡¯m aware of this incident, and I¡¯m aware that the fault lies with my brother, Hundred Battler. It is Warsky Alliance¡¯s motto to keep online grudges online, and my brother undoubtedly broke it when he hurt Hot Sun at the underground establishment. Therefore, please allow me to say this on behalf of my brother to Hot Sun and everyone in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls: I¡¯m sorry." No one expected Warsky to do something like this. The shock was even greater on Warsky Alliance¡¯s side. "Boss, you¡­" Farewell Song clenched his fists tightly. October Rain bit her lips but kept quiet. Hundred Battler shook like a leaf as tears welled inside his eyes. Anger and regret threatened to burst out of his chest, but it was already too late. ¡­¡­ Crack! I abruptly pulled out the Heaven-stealing Sword out of the ground and strode toward Warsky in a straight line. "Boss!" Farewell Song jumped to his feet and ran toward me. Hundred Battler also broke into a run as if afraid that I would harm his guild leader. However, Warsky shouted and stopped them in their tracks, "Stop! Lu Chen is not that kind of person¡­" Pa... I grabbed Warsky¡¯s arm and pulled him forcefully to his feet. Smiling a little, I said, "Warsky, you really are a respectable opponent. I am honored to be your enemy. From now on, I hope that both of us are able to hold onto our moral principles and fight fairly against each other!" "Same here!" Warsky was smiling brightly as well. As I let go of the guild leader¡¯s arm, I couldn¡¯t help but let out an impressed sigh in my head. Had Candlelight Shadow possessed this level of honor, with his Level of Reputation and strength, there would¡¯ve been no chance for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to ever catch up to him. What Warsky did today to win his people¡¯s heart was no less effective than Liu Bei¡¯s act of throwing his infant son on the ground. From now on, the player of Warsky Alliance would serve their guild leader with greater loyalty than ever before. They would bleed, and they would die for the guild leader who could cast aside his pride for them. ¡­¡­ After returning to my ranks, I said in a quiet voice, "Okay, that¡¯s one matter settled. Warsky Alliance will move to the west, and we will move to the east. We won¡¯t be interfering with each other!" "Mn!" Xu Yang nodded strongly before saying, "Thank you, Lu Chen!" I smiled back. "You¡¯re welcome. My impulse got to me, and I gave Warsky the perfect chance to show off his acting skills. Sigh, what a blunder¡­" Li Chengfeng laughed loudly before asking, "Say Lu Chen, if it was we who made a mistake, would you apologize on our behalf like Warsky did?" I looked at him. "Does killing the one asking for an apology count?" "Hahaha¡­" Everyone laughed. It was around this time Gui Guzi looked at Chaos Moon and noticed something. "Oh? Did you finally¡­ gather a full set? I see a ring around your feet¡­" Chaos Moon smiled. "Yes, I¡¯ve collected all five pieces. This ring of mine boosts all my party members¡¯ attack power and attack speed by 20%. Not bad, right?" "It¡¯s really strong¡­" While chatting, we marched toward the east and killed all the Wind Eagles we encountered on the way. I took control over High Fighting Spirits¡¯ hundred-man party and activated Martial God. High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon were also part of it. Now that I thought about it, it might be a bit of a waste to have two Famous Generals in my party... Besides that, I gave He Yi and Gui Guzi each a dragon scale. Only players with a dragon scale could grind a teleportation scroll, and only parties with a dragon scale could use it to teleport to the final floor. What this meant was that we could teleport 300 players to the B9 floor at most. Safety was paramount when fighting the Wind Eagles, so we sent a couple of fighters to aggro the mobs before killing them from range. It wasn¡¯t too slow all things considered. A while later, a system announcement suddenly ringed in our ears¡ª System Announcement: Player "Clear Perfume (Sky City)" has successfully defeated the Earth Rank Boss, Dura the Thunder Dragon, and reached Level 128. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the twenty-sixth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and the exclusive Famous General Skill, "Ice Blade"! Ice Blade: Increases ranged physical attack power by 30% and adds 5% splash effect to all attacks. This skill¡¯s effectiveness is affected by the user¡¯s Tactics. Skill exclusive to player "Clear Perfume¡±. ¡­¡­ "Oh? Qingqing learned a Famous General Skill¡­" I couldn¡¯t help but smile. "With this, Snowy Cathaya has five Famous Generals too. Sky City really is a den of tigers and dragons!" High Fighting Spirits grinned. "They¡¯re still no match for us. We have 8 Famous Generals in total¡­" He Yi replied, "As the game progresses, more Famous Generals will pop up in the game. Every guild battle is basically a battle between Famous Generals." "Mn." I nodded in agreement. It was at this moment we heard Gui Guzi shouting, "Hahaha, what luck! Guys, look, there¡¯s a giant dragon in the sky¡­" Dragon? Chapter 547: Beauty Third Wheel I stepped forward only to realize that the dragon¡¯s shadow was growing bigger and bigger. It was clearly flying toward us. "Watch out! The giant dragon¡¯s flying our way!" Shocked, everyone readied their weapons and looked primed to act at any moment. However, Beiming Xue suddenly said, "I think that¡¯s an NPC, not a boss¡­" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The giant dragon circling above our heads landed on the ground in the blink of an eye. It really was as NPC as Beiming Xue said, an NPC that we all recognized no less. It was Green Dragon Knight Tia, one of the five Dragon Knights who served Princess Karinshan. I couldn¡¯t help but walk up to the dragon knight and ask, "Why are you here, Tia?" Tia frowned slightly. "Princess Karinshan is worried that the unearthing of the Nine Lost Dragon Domains is a letter of challenge from Hell, so she sent me over to investigate everything. However, not only are these giant dragons far less dangerous than I initially thought they might be, their memories are still stuck in the era of hundred thousand years ago. They haven¡¯t even heard of the Dragon Domain, the Dragon Speaker, the alliance between humans and dragons, and most certainly not of the Dragon Knights." Tia exhaled slightly before continuing, "These arrogant ancient dragons look down on us. They even believe themselves to be the gods of the continent, and that they should rule over everything! If it wasn¡¯t certain before if our warriors should attack this place and kill these ancient beasts who dream of invading the human world, it is now!" I nodded in agreement. "Mn." Tia climbed onto the back of her dragon and said, "I¡¯m going back. Princess Karinshan is still waiting for my report. By the way, the princess will reward you herself if you can collect all nine dragon scales!" "Got it!" After the conversation was over, Tia and the green dragon took to the air and vanished from the horizon in the blink of an eye. I was a bit worried, to be honest. Is it just me, or did she fly away a bit too quickly? Could it be that the boss of the B9 floor is extremely powerful, and Tia didn¡¯t want to clash against it? ¡­¡­ "Well, let¡¯s continue killing the Wind Eagles. We¡¯ll decide what to do with this new info after we¡¯ve farmed all the necessary B9 floor teleportation scrolls!" I told everyone. Li Chengfeng nodded. "Got it!" We spread out again and went back to the grind. The valley was filled with Wind Eagles, and we were hardly the only party who was farming at this place. Small groups of players that didn¡¯t belong to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were starting to appear at the distance, and many of them were powerful parties from powerful guilds, such as the ten top guilds of Vanished God City. He Yi cut down a Wind Eagle and commented right after, "It¡¯s quiet. Candle Dragon is silent, Warsky Alliance is doing god knows what, and Snowy Cathaya is grinding far away from us¡­" I checked the time and noted that it was very late in the night. Before we knew it, it had been 16 hours since we ate or drank anything. Murong Mingyue put a hand on her belly. "Forget about Candle Dragon, can we please log out temporarily and eat something? I¡¯m so hungry¡­" He Yi nodded with a smile. "Sure, let¡¯s do this one party at a time. Li Chengfeng, you and your party will log out first. Please settle everything in ten minutes, and don¡¯t accidentally teleport back to the city when you log back in. You won¡¯t be able to come back here." Li Chengfeng replied, "It¡¯s fine, I can still hold on a little longer¡­" I shot him down expressionlessly. "You can, but what about your party members?" As expected, the female members in Li Chengfeng¡¯s party asked with clenched fists and an aggrieved expression, "Party leader, we want to log out, we want to go to the toilet¡­" Xu Yang laughed. "Chengfeng is such a brute. He doesn¡¯t know how to care for women at all." Gui Guzi nodded in agreement. Left with no choice, Li Chengfeng relented and ordered his party to log out, settle whatever they needed to do in real life, and return ten minutes later. One way or another, we had to clear this map before anyone else. It would be a huge loss otherwise. ¡­¡­ Finally, I managed to grind the first teleportation scroll to the B9 floor. However, I didn¡¯t go right away because we still hadn¡¯t found the boss of the B8 floor yet. The B9 floor teleportation scroll was unique in that it couldn¡¯t be traded, so I instantly lost the motivation to kill the Wind Eagles like my life depended on it. I let High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon do all the hard work while I took it easy under the protection of several cute priests. Hmm, now that I think about it, my arena ranking had dropped to third place because I hadn¡¯t fought any arena battle for the past couple days. Let me fight a couple of 1v1s... Unfortunately, there were no worthy opponents in the competitive arena. For 11 fights in a row, all the opponents I encountered could basically be taken out with a Sword Boomerang and Dragon Slaying Slash in 15 seconds. Well, I should¡¯ve expected this. Everyone who could threaten me such as Luo River God of the Capital, Lin Yixin, Candlelight Shadow, and so on were currently busy clearing the Nine Lost Dragon Domains. I was probably the only slacker who took some time off at the competitive arena. Suddenly, Chaos Moon said, "Fuck! Lu Chen, come back now. Someone¡¯s coming our way¡­" I hurriedly backed out of the competitive arena and turned around to take a look. As she said, a group of high-level players wearing the emblem of Vanished God City were walking toward us. They were all from the same guild, and their leader was a bright, cute girl in mage robes. She was none other than the highest-level mage in China besides Luo River God of the Capital and God¡¯s Dance¡ªStranger of Three Lifetimes! Now that I think about it, it was funny that almost all of China¡¯s top mages were female. Maybe it was because they were more meticulous and thus had an easier time grasping the key of long-range positioning and ranged attacks? At any rate, their male counterpart, Dominating Mage God, was a walking tragedy. The poor bastard was getting killed everyday like it was the most normal thing in the world. He Yi and I walked up to Stranger of Three Lifetimes. The latter was wearing a friendly smile on her face, and her party members showed no signs of hostility at all. It was because the Blazing Hot Lips guild was our ally, and the orange font coloring their ID was the proof of that. "Long time no see, Beauty Third Wheel¡­" I greeted her with a smile. Stranger of Three Lifetimes curled her lips. "What the fuck, please don¡¯t call me that. Call me Momo." "Sure. Long time no see!" "Mn!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes smiled before looking at He Yi. "Ohh, From Water is growing prettier and prettier everyday. I feel pressured just standing next to you¡­" He Yi giggled. "What are you talking about? You are quite young and beautiful yourself, Momo. You must have a lot of admirers, right?" "Of course not, not unless you count those people who have no future to speak of¡­" "Ai¡­" I sighed. "The one I love is already taken; the one who loves me is beyond recognition." Stranger of Three Lifetimes burst into a giggle. "Oh you, you can be so funny sometimes. Oh right, you have three dragon scales, right? Care to share one with me?" "You may as well kill me right now¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ He Yi smiled. "Momo, why isn¡¯t Blazing Hot Lips looking for the boss?" "Because there¡¯s no point, duh¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes replied in a helpless tone, "The wolves are everywhere, but there is only one sheep. How many guilds do you think are searching for the boss of this floor? Purple Lily, Candle Dragon, Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Warsky Alliance, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are all here. Every last one of you is more powerful than the last. Where would Blazing Hot Lips find the strength to compete against all of you?" She added, "Even if we found the boss first, one message is all it takes to summon all the guilds like bees to honey. We would lose hundreds if we fight for the dragon scale, and as the guild leader I have a responsibility to all my guild members¡­" "Mn, you really are a good guild leader, Momo¡­" It was at this moment a Blazing Hot Lips player moved closer to Stranger of Three Lifetimes and whispered something into her ears. The girl instantly turned serious and lowered her voice, "From Water, Lu Chen, the boss just appeared about 20 minutes away to the southeast from here. Candlelight Shadow has already surrounded it with more than 1500 players and declared ownership over it." He Yi exclaimed in surprise, "Really? There are over 1500 Candle Dragon players on the B8 floor? But¡­ how is this possible?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes smiled. "It¡¯s Candle Dragon, the most influential guild in all the servers of China, you know, not to mention that Candlelight Shadow is the representative of China¡¯s virtual reality scene. You¡¯d best not underestimate them because even these 1500 players may not represent all of their power. Speaking of which, how on earth did you guys get three dragon scales, and Candlelight Shadow only one anyway? Do you even know how unbelievable that is?" I said, "Since Candle Dragon has already surrounded the boss, let¡¯s go take a look. We can¡¯t miss this opportunity!" "Okay, let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ We marched toward Candle Dragon and the boss in a straight line. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had managed to assemble five intact hundred-man parties, and Blazing Hot Lips, four hundred-man parties. We should be able to at least intimidate Candle Dragon a little with 900 players. We passed through a canyon and entered a wide plain. Even from the distance, we could hear the loud roars of a giant dragon. A huge, cyan figure was soaring in the sky, and it was none other than the last boss of the B8 floor, the Great Earth Wind Dragon! However, we were stopped by a large group of players before we could get close. They were all high-level players, and I counted almost a thousand of them. They were led by Purple Dawn, the guild leader of the first subguild of Candle Dragon, and a player Candlelight Shadow valued a lot. Purple Dawn was raising his bow and shouting, "Stop where you are! Candle Dragon is fighting the boss right now! Do not come close, or you will be violently dealt with!" A group of archers raised their bows, let loose a volley and covered the ground right in front of us in arrows! "Gulp!" Xu Yang gulped visibly. "Damn, there are so many of them. I can¡¯t believe that a single subguild of Candle Dragon can form as many as 8 battle lines¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes smiled. "But of course. Ancient Sword might¡¯ve killed a lot of bosses, but Candle Dragon hasn¡¯t killed a single one yet. Even the only dragon scale they have was snatched from the hands of Wind Fantasy. The reason they managed to gather this many people is because their high-level players traded all the teleportation scrolls they found to their guild members. Lu Chen, you grinded for a long time at the B5 floor, didn¡¯t you? Where are your teleportation scrolls?" I answered expressionlessly, "I threw them all. Gotta make space for equipment, you know¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes rolled her eyes at me. "So despicable." ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Li Chengfeng spoke up. "So, guys? Are we fighting them or not? Guild leader?" Clang! Chapter 548: Breach No content Chapter 549: The Ghost God’s Curse Whoosh! I rushed out like a howling gale and Gui Guzi had already started charging forward with his troop of cavalry behind me. Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits were also running in with a group of players on foot. The jaws of everyone present hit the ground. No one had expected that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would launch the attack first and even Stranger of Three Lifetimes desperately tried to grab the corner of my clothes. ¡°Hey, hey! Don¡¯t do anything impulsive, you bunch of idiots¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but grin. If we are idiots, then so be it! There¡¯s no way I will let Li Chengfeng rush in all by himself. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin flipped onto her Frostscythe Warhorse as she stared at our mad charge. Disbelief filled her delicate face as she exclaimed, "Hmph, why did that bastard Lu Chen choose to launch his attack now? He really does have a terrible sense of timing! Snowy Cathaya, prepare for battle! Let¡¯s go grab the boss''s dragon scale and help protect our allies from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls while we¡¯re at it!" Purple Marquis and the rest of Snowy Cathaya drew their sharp blades as they waited for Lin Yixin¡¯s command. ¡­¡­ "Oh, what exactly is happening here? How come that brat Lu Chen lost his nerve all of a sudden? Even I haven¡¯t gotten anxious yet, so why is he all worked up for¡­" Luo River God of the Capital raised her magic staff in the air as she spat out those incredulous words. After that, she turned around and shouted toward the Purple Lily players, "Prepare to attack! Our goal is to steal the boss''s dragon scale. Purple Lily must have a role to play when we reach the B9 floor!" "Yes!" Purple Lily also prepared themselves for battle. ¡­¡­ Our actions truly had a domino effect on the rest of our allies. The moment Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls charged into battle, Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, and Purple Lily immediately sprang into action as well. "Charge!¡± Warsky raised his sharp blade in the air as he ordered nearly one thousand Warsky Alliance players to launch a sudden attack. The boss''s health had dropped below 20%, and if everyone launched their attacks in unison, it wouldn¡¯t be able to hold on for much longer. The dragon scale was right in front of us, so no one was going to let the chance to grab this precious item slip by. "Kill God¡¯s Dance first!¡± I yelled. Beiming Xue swiftly shot off a Shock Arrow, but a huge "MISS" flew up above God¡¯s Dance¡¯s head. The mage had some pretty good resistances, and Magic Shield made it extremely likely for CC effects to MISS as well, allowing God¡¯s Dance to shrug off that Shock Arrow. This was also the reason I didn¡¯t bother using God Binding Art either. A restriction-type skill would rarely bother a mage whose shield wasn¡¯t broken. For mages, there was one rule to live by. The second your shield breaks, you are dead. But as long as their shield is up, killing them is a tall task. Rustle... God¡¯s Dance¡¯s feet rustled against the sand as she backpedaled. She seemed to be in peak condition. As she weaved along the frontlines, she shot an Ice Arrow Spell at both High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, stalling their advance considerably. Tempest Shadow rushed through our lines on his valiant-looking warhorse as his spear cut left and right. It weaved a dance of blood and death until Gui Guzi smashed straight into him. Both of them started exchanging blows with both spear and shield, causing brilliant sparks to fly in the air whenever one magic knight smashed his spear into the other¡¯s shield. Their battle looked incredibly intense, but since both of them were magic knights, there was no way that a victor would be decided any time soon. After all, duels between magic knights were battles of attrition, and it was very common for arena battles between them to last for the full ten minutes. ¡­¡­ Whoosh! I made a beeline for God¡¯s Dance as a blazing spiral of indigo energy started swirling around the edge of my Heaven-stealing Sword. An Eight Trigrams formation appeared beneath my feet when I stabbed my sword at the location that God¡¯s Dance appeared to be twirling toward. If this Universe Break hit God¡¯s Dance, it would be just about enough to break her shield and kill her. After all, my Universe Break largely ignored the durability of any Magic Shield, so it was mags¡¯ worst nightmare! "Hmph!" God¡¯s Dance gave a disdainful little laugh as she suddenly spun in another direction. Her shoes danced on top of a bunch of rocky protrusions that were sticking out of the ground as she retreated swiftly, causing my Universe Break to just barely scratch the surface of her shield as she twirled backward. She¡¯d actually managed to dodge my attack! "Woah, that little girlie actually dodged Lu Chen¡¯s attack. What a beast¡­" High Fighting Spirits yelled. However, I had already rushed forward before God¡¯s Dance even had a chance to reply. I swiftly slashed downward, causing three fiery blades of sword energy to smash against her Magic Shield. I had managed to connect with my flurry skill, Burning Blade Slash! 1792! 2809! 5891! My three consecutive strikes hacked God¡¯s Dance¡¯s Magic Shield apart. All the color drained from her pretty face. The best mage in Candle Dragon knew that even an archer would be able to one-shot her once her shield was broken. "Kill!" High Fighting Spirits roared in fury as he smashed down with Invincible. A cone of blazing energy appeared in front of his axe once he used his Barrier Break skill. The muscles of his arms suddenly bulged as the long blade of his axe came to a stop just millimeters above God¡¯s Dance¡¯s chest. As long as he twitched a muscle, God¡¯s Dance would die where she was standing. It was at this exact moment that a dark-red figure suddenly launched a surprise attack from the side. He smashed into High Fighting Spirits, sending him reeling backward and when the assailant sprang to his feet, I realized that it was Candlelight Shadow! "I¡¯m gonna kill you!" Candlelight Shadow yelled as a look of fury crossed his face. He spun on his heel as his blade flashed out thrice. He used Blazing Purgatory Slash! His sword hit High Fighting Spirits from three different angles and he had even altered the strength with which he had swung his sword all three times. His attack had made High Fighting Spirits look foolish as he tried to parry those three sword strikes and three lines of blood exploded across his chest as the sound of flesh rending filled the air. His HP plummeted as a string of damage numbers popped up above his head. 8902! 10981! +7098! +4890! 10229! Fortunately for him, Murong Mingyue had reacted with lightning quickness and she had already popped off two heals on High Fighting Spirits before Candlelight Shadow had even landed his third blow. If it wasn¡¯t for her incredibly fast reaction speed, High Fighting Spirits would have been one-shot by Candlelight Shadow. This bastard¡¯s attack power was simply incredible, it wasn¡¯t something that any of us could really defend against. Boom! A beam of sword energy shot through our ranks. Blue Sky Scar had launched his attack and it had been shot off from an extremely sublime angle. His line attack hit both High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, dropping High Fighting Spirits¡¯ health dangerously low once more. However, Moon Dew was ready with a Greater Heal, so he managed to survive once more. At this point, all of Candle Dragon¡¯s attacks seemed to be focused on High Fighting Spirits. ¡°Get rid of the Berserker! The axe in his hand is an Outstanding Invincible axe! Make sure he drops it!" Candlelight Shadow roared. Several of the core fighters of Candle Dragon immediately turned their blades toward High Fighting Spirits. I flew forward and used Thousand Ice Slash, freezing more than a dozen Candle Dragon fighters in their tracks. I roared back, "Fuck your moms! Anyone who wants to touch a hair on his head can come try me!" I brandished my sword as I moved to High Fighting Spirits¡¯ side. Given my temper, skill, and reaction speed, no one could even dream of killing our Berserker while I was by his side. If not, my title as the vice leader would be meaningless. Candlelight Shadow flew into a rage as he leapt forward and thrust his sword out. A cone of blazing energy started spiraling around his blade mid-thrust. Barrier Break! My eyes widened in shock as I hurriedly moved my sword to parry his strike. However, I saw a trace of satisfaction flash through Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes when I lifted my sword to defend myself. Just as I crossed paths with him, Candlelight Shadow suddenly pivoted at lightning speed as he used the helix maneuver to curve around me. I had never imagined that he would dare to pull off such a mechanically difficult move in the midst of this crowded battlefield, so I had been caught completely off-guard. He had actually managed to shake me off! Whoosh! Candlelight Shadow¡¯s sword drove straight toward High Fighting Spirits¡¯ chest. But High Fighting Spirits was at full health now and he raised his battle axe to defend himself. A huge damage number popped up above his head as the sword collided into the axe, but he managed to just barely survive! 20981! That had nearly taken off all of his health with one strike and Candlelight Shadow only needed one scratch to finish him off. It was at this moment that a delicate figure suddenly swooped in from the side and crashed into High Fighting Spirits. The sword in her hand trembled as it shot out at full speed. This girl had actually managed to strike Candlelight Shadow in the chest with a Barrier Break! 17892! Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes widened in shock when he stared at the pretty girl in front of him. He could scarcely believe what had just happened. This was precisely our Chaos Moon, and she was currently decked out in a full set of Bone Scythe armor, so a single blow from her had shaved off most of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s life. This was something Candlelight Shadow never dreamed could happen. After all, he was decked out in a full set of high-Defense items. ¡­¡­ "Candlelight Shadow, watch out!" God¡¯s Dance yelled in a loud and frightened voice. Candlelight Shadow went pale but he immediately unleashed Earth Shattering Slash. The fan-shaped attack struck everyone in front of him and he took this opportunity to swiftly retreat. He yelled, "Comrades, give up on the boss! Everyone who is strong enough, enter my party! We¡¯re heading to the B9 floor!" Even as he spoke, Candlelight Shadow raised his hand, and the image of a ghost god appeared above his sword. It let out a terrifying screech which reverberated in the air and the Ghost God Prophecy debuff appeared over Chaos Moon¡¯s head in the very next instant. Unfortunately for her, she had been the closest to Candlelight Shadow, so she had also just been in the range of his skill. ¡­¡­ I charged forward and killed off a few straggling Candle Dragon players, but I couldn¡¯t stop them from withdrawing in good fashion. In the next moment, Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, Transient Smoke and Clouds, and God¡¯s Dance all joined the Candlelight Shadow¡¯s party and he immediately used the scroll to teleport to the B9 floor. Thus, his party became the first party to reach the ninth floor. A bunch of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players were simply standing there and staring at Chaos Moon. As they looked at the Ghost God Prophecy debuff above her head, they exchanged glances helplessly. He Yi asked, "Shall we go and take down the boss as well?" I stared into the distance and saw that Warsky Alliance, Snowy Cathaya, and Purple Lily were furiously fighting over this boss. Their casualties were extremely heavy and this Great Earth Wind Dragon wasn¡¯t just any simple boss itself. "Forget it, we don¡¯t have much strength left. Let¡¯s split ourselves into three parties and head to the B9 floor. Remember, the last boss is our real target." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ "Then what about me?" Chaos Moon shot both He Yi and I puppy eyes before she turned to look at the timer above her head. She wailed unhappily, "I¡¯m really gonna die this time¡­" I nodded my head. "Yeah, it¡¯s for real this time. Do you have any last words?" Chaos Moon blinked before she nodded her head and replied, "Yeah, I have one request¡­" "What request?" He Yi asked. "As long as it¡¯s within my ability, I¡¯ll do everything I can to fulfill it!" "Really?" Chaos Moon¡¯s eyes turned starry. He Yi nodded her head assertively. ¡®Of course!" "Okay¡­" Chaos Moon glanced at me before saying, "Ask Lu Chen to hug me¡­" I spat out, "Fuck! I knew it wouldn¡¯t be anything proper¡­" He Yi couldn¡¯t help but laugh. "Oh, Chaos Moon, you! This girl is really way too wild¡­ But Lu Chen, you should hurry up and fulfill her request. We need to go down to the ninth floor as soon as possible! Time is of the essence!" "Yeah." I walked forward and stretched out my arms to hug Chaos Moon. She giggled and her face instantly turned as red as a tomato. She teased Pure Love by saying, "So? Are you so jealous that you¡¯re going to die? Hahaha!" Pure Love sulked and said, "I also want to¡­" I cut her off, "What do you mean ¡®I also want to¡¯. Forget it! Let¡¯s go to the B9 floor!" I let go of Chaos Moon and gave her a piece of sound advice. "You should go back to the city and put your equipment and everything in your inventory into your warehouse. If you do that, you won¡¯t drop any items even if you die in the city¡­" Chaos Moon¡¯s face went even redder as she exclaimed, "No way! I don¡¯t wanna be naked¡­" "Then have fun losing your equipment!" Chapter 550: Split Galaxy ¡­¡­ Beep! Lin Yixin sent me a message: "Hey, Lu Chen. Are you guys going to the next floor?" I replied: "Yeah, I mean, what else can we do?" I looked toward Lin Yixin and I saw that she was currently dueling with several experts from Warsky Alliance. Hundred Battler was desperately trying to fend off Lin Yixin¡¯s blade with his own, but the Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯s fierce attacks sent him reeling with only a sliver of health left. I immediately continued in an incredulous voice: "Hey, Yiyi, aren¡¯t you PvPing right now? Do you really have the leisure to talk at this moment¡­" Lin Yixin sent me a smiley-face emoticon before replying, "Haha, it¡¯s fine! Candlelight Shadow already left and I don¡¯t need to use one hundred percent of my brainpower to deal with these scrubs. How about we talk about what¡¯s been happening in the world lately? Have you heard about the recent instability in the Middle East¡­" I nearly vomited blood when I read her message: "WTF, we can talk about current affairs over a meal if you want. Just concentrate on killing people first! Go, go, go! Grab that dragon scale!" "Gotcha!" ¡­¡­ I took out the teleportation scroll that would send us to the B9 floor as we retreated to a safe spot. The B8 floor was a complete mayhem, so we mustn¡¯t allow ourselves to get caught up in this mess while using the scrolls! Let¡¯s go to the ninth floor first! Whoosh! A blinding light flashed in front of me and the scenery had changed completely by the time I could see again. It was a place filled with rock formations. There were patches of flat ground, there were mountains, and there were even lakes in this area. It looked like any other map in the game. However, if someone were to raise their head to look at the sky, they would see a vast array of brilliant stars filling it. Furthermore, the ground was dotted with many holes of varying sizes. I bent down to inspect one of them and realized that we could see through these holes and it was the same black starry sky below us! It was as if we had been teleported to a piece of land that was floating in the middle of a starry universe! ¡­¡­ "Woah, that was freaking scary¡­" Beiming Xue jumped backward in shock, her hands covering her chest. I spoke in a serious voice, "Everyone, be very careful. This is the last floor and it¡¯s also the resting place of the final boss of the Nine Lost Dragon Domains. There¡¯s no way that it will be like any of the bosses we have faced before. This goes for the monsters here too. Never let your guard down while you¡¯re fighting them. Only three hundred of us entered this place so each and every one of you is an irreplaceable part of our fighting force. Acting responsibly and staying alive is your duty to the guild!" "Understood!" everyone shouted as they nodded their heads heavily. Everyone wore a determined look on their faces. "Big bro, check that out¡­" Beiming Xue stretched out an arm to point at what looked like a small valley in the distance. There were a bunch of rhinos clad in thick armor running around and they didn¡¯t look easy to fight at all. Four flames of different colors blazed on each of their four hooves. They were red, yellow, white, and green respectively. It was as if they were riding on top of Nezha¡¯s wind and fire wheels. There were three horns adorning their large heads and a tiny cluster of starry energy swirling in the center of those three horns. It looked as if it could fire energy blasts from that swirl of energy and that alone gave me serious pause. "Be careful, this shadow-rank monster isn¡¯t simple to deal with¡­" I slung my Heaven-stealing Sword over my shoulder before I shot forward at lightning speed. When I was about fifty yards away from the rhinos, I managed to scan their stats¡ª Star Rhino (Shadow) Level: 160 Attack: 2140~2450 Defense: 2500 HP: 200000 Skills: Barbaric Slam, Horn Thrust, Heaven Vortex Introduction: The guardians of the Star Dragon Domain. These Star Rhinos are slaves of the Star Dragon. They are extremely strong and their horns are sharp enough to split scales of a true dragon! Furthermore, they can use their horns to unleash a storm of stellar energy, which deals massive damage to anyone caught up in it. These giant three-horned beasts are extremely violent and cruel, and just the thought of them sends shivers down the spines of their enemies. ¡­¡­ "Fuck me, a Level 160 shadow-rank monster¡­" High Fighting Spirits exclaimed in a shocked voice. He violently gulped down a mouthful of saliva as he said, "How are its stats different from any normal boss? Aren¡¯t they all a little too high?" Li Chengfeng laughed and said, "Just be careful when you fight them. Barbaric Slam and Horn Thrust are definitely single-target attacks, but that Heaven Vortex attack may be something else altogether. Whatever it is, let¡¯s not get one-shot by this herd of shadow-rank mobs." "Got it! Vice leader, we¡¯ll let you lure them in!" "Okay!" I strode forward and lifted my Heaven-stealing Sword high in the air. Even though I was still a very far distance away from the herd of Star Rhinos, I swept my blade down. A cyan blade of energy shot out of my sword and whistled through the air, striking a Star Rhino fiercely in the head, causing a "9874" damage number to pop up above its head. Yeah, even though this Star Rhino had thick defenses, it wasn¡¯t enough to block my attacks! "Roaaaar!" As it let out a howl, the Star Rhino charged toward me at full speed. Whoosh! I used Thunderous Charge just when it had started to draw near, and I managed to successfully stun the massive beast. I immediately attacked it with a Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash combo, causing the Star Rhino to howl in agony. At the same time, it madly thrust its head forward and one of its bladed horns smashed into my pauldrons, causing an intense pain to radiate from the area of impact. 5803! Holy shit! This damage was insane! A Level 160 shadow-rank monster was really a cut above the rest. In fact, when I was hit by its Horn Thrust, I was rendered immobile for one whole second as well! That could spell serious trouble for us if we weren¡¯t careful! "Charge!" Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, and the rest of the high-level fighters activated their Charge skill as they crashed into the rhino from all sides. After that, the Star Rhino reared up in fury before beams of starry energy shot out of the middle of its horns with a crackle and a pop! A vortex of cosmic energy attacked everything within a 3x3 yard square. Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, and I were all hit by the attack and we felt a scorching sensation assault us from all directions as we continuously lost health. 3902! 3881! 3789! ¡­¡­ What the fuck! Was this still even a shadow-rank monster? It actually dealt more than ten thousand damage to me! Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits were receiving the beating of their lives. They bared their teeth as they both lost nearly 17000 HP! Thankfully, there were several priests who were busy healing us from the back and Moon Dew was one of them. Even with all that healing, the three of us barely survived this single attack made by a Level 160 shadow-rank monster! Swhoosh! An arrow flew in and ended the Star Rhino¡¯s life. Beiming Xue¡¯s attack had finished off the mob and a round Phantasmal Magic Stone dropped from it. I immediately picked it up and tossed it to High Fighting Spirits. "Let¡¯s continue!" I climbed up a small hill and that sight that greeted me sent shudders down my spine. Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits soon joined me and their jaws simultaneously dropped to the ground in shock and fright! They yelled, "Fucking hell, did we enter some sort of rhino farm?!" A vast, rolling plain greeted us and countless Star Rhinos were ambling along the ground. They bent down to chew on the tender grass as the sounds of their bellows reverberated in the air. "Did you check out what happened earlier? These Star Rhinos give a ridiculous amount of experience! Even after it was split among the hundred of us, I still saw my experience bar light up¡­" Li Chengfeng said with a shit-eating grin on his face. I nodded my head, "As long as you receive 0.1% of the experience you need to level, your experience bar will light up. These Star Rhinos really do give an incredible amount of exp and if I kill one by myself, I would probably gain 1% in one go! One hundred of them would be just enough to level¡­" High Fighting Spirits couldn¡¯t help but chuckle as he grinned from ear to ear. "Then, this current situation is simply perfect for us. Let¡¯s clean this place of Star Rhinos! Sounds good, right?" "Yeah. Send out a few assassins to go scout out the boss''s location. The rest of us will stay here and clear the area of these Star Rhinos. These are the last shadow-rank mobs in this huge dungeon, so they will probably drop some nice items for us as well." "Alright, let¡¯s keep up the killing!" We rushed down the hill and entered the plains, there was experience to farm! High Fighting Spirits, Li Chengfeng, and I each split off into three different teams and each team had five priests attached to it. The three of us would act as the main tanks and we would lure one Star Rhino in at a time. This would greatly increase our farming speed. I was practically the main damage-dealer in my team as well, and there was a 70% chance that I would deal the last hit to the mobs. My 33 Luck would ensure that my item drop rate was good as well. It was too bad that Chaos Moon wasn¡¯t here though. If not, her Famous General Skill, Plunder, would boost my drop rate by 120%! That would have been wonderful! ¡­¡­ We received a new piece of news in the guild channel Xu Yang: I got a new battle report. The Great Earth Wind Dragon was killed by the Warsky Alliance in the end. However, the beautiful Wind Fantasy stole three pieces of equipment, and the dragon scale was stolen by Moonkiss. Warsky, Farewell Song, and the rest sacrificed a few hundred people to kill the boss, but they really only got experience in the end¡­" Gui Guzi: "Hahaha, Warsky Alliance are really a tragic bunch, aren¡¯t they? See how clever we were! If we had chosen to fight over that boss with Snowy Cathaya and Purple Lily, we would have sacrificed the levels of way too many of our guild members to get that dragon scale!" He Yi giggled: "Lu Chen, right now, these eight dragon scales are split among the big guilds, but have you thought about what the final result will be in this map?" I chuckled: "There will only be one result! Someone will end up taking all nine scales and exchanging them for the grand prize of this quest. Hmph, when everyone enters the B9 floor, they¡¯ll start clearing the map of Star Rhinos. The guilds will definitely start fighting each other after that. The dragon scales are designed to drop if the player holding them dies, so we need to focus on protecting the scales that we have right now. We also need to look out for opportunities to snatch the dragon scales from the other guilds!" Li Chengfeng spoke up: "Heh, Lu Chen said exactly what I was thinking. Only eight hundred people can enter the ninth floor. So let¡¯s sit back and enjoy the show, boys and girls!" Chaos Moon: "Everyone seems really lively huh¡­" He Yi¡¯s laughter sounded like silvery bells. "Hello, my pretty Chaos Moon. Your Ghost God Prophecy¡­¡± Chaos Moon giggled. "I finished dying¡­" I replied, "Congratulations¡­" Chaos Moon: "..." ¡­¡­ I had already killed over twenty Star Rhinos, but they had only dropped magic stones and some trash Dark Steel and Silver¨Cgrade equipment so far. The game had advanced to such a stage that these items didn¡¯t have much use, so they wouldn¡¯t attract much attention. Finally, after I had killed my twenty-seventh Star Rhino, the wailing beast finally dropped something that could catch my eye. A pair of azure gauntlets fell to the ground and when High Fighting Spirits picked them up, he couldn¡¯t keep a grin off his face. Split Galaxy Gauntlets (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï) Defense: 550 Magic Resist: 420 Strength: +100 Stamina: +95 Tactics: +15 Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 2500 Outstanding Property: Cruelty, increases user¡¯s Attack by 11% Property: Split Galaxy Set Level Requirement: 125 Chapter 551: Butchering the Rhinos He grinned as he chopped away at a Star Rhino. "Lu Chen, equip it and check out what the set effects are. We¡¯re gonna find a lot of them here, so we might as well find out what the effects are." "On it!" I swiftly equipped the Split Galaxy Gauntlets and focused on them again. The set bonuses immediately leapt out onto my HUD and they were shocking¡ª Split Galaxy Set: 2 piece: Increases user¡¯s hit rate by 20% 3 piece: Weakens the damage of all attacks received by 10% 4 piece: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 7000 and Defense by 2000 5 piece: Increases mount¡¯s stats by 25%. Increases user¡¯s Attack by 40% and gives the user 20% splash damage. ¡­¡­ I immediately shared it with the rest of the party. High Fighting Spirits was stunned when he saw those set bonuses. "What the fuck, what an incredible set of armor this is¡­" "Yeah, it¡¯s strong as hell!" Li Chengfeng whistled appreciatively. Beiming Xue stuck out her tongue and giggled. "We¡¯re about to strike it rich! If a magic knight were to equip this set of armor, they¡¯d be completely broken! If we can gather ten complete sets, our cavalry corps will become invincible at this stage of the game with Gui Guzi using Knight God!" I nodded my head. "Right! Everyone, we need to work hard and kill these rhinos! We can divide all the other items among us but all of the Split Galaxy pieces that we find will go straight into the guild warehouse! We¡¯re going to create the strongest troop of magic knights in the game!" "Alright! Let¡¯s work hard everybody!" Li Chengfeng yelled with a grin on his face. After that, we started killing the Star Rhinos at an even more frenzied pace. My DPS was still way ahead of everyone else, so my squad could finish off a Star Rhino in about half a minute. My Luck stat was high too, so I soon found another piece of the Split Galaxy set. This was great! He Yi¡¯s voice rang out in the guild channel at this precise moment. "Hey, has everyone heard? The people from Snowy Cathaya found a drop called the Split Galaxy War Boots! I heard that it''s part of a Level 125 equipment set that¡¯s really strong!" I immediately answered in a dry voice, "Yeah, we know." He Yi continued, "Then we need to work hard too! I also heard that Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, and Purple Lily are killing these Star Rhinos at a crazy pace and that the Star Dragon Domain has become a battleground where all the big guilds are competing to get as many Split Galaxy sets as possible! It seems as if everyone has come to the same conclusion, because these sets will be crucial in the upcoming wars for dominance." I nodded my head. "We only need to dispatch a few assassins to find the boss and monitor its movements. We need to sweep this map clean of Star Rhinos, even if it takes us several nights to do so! We can¡¯t afford to gather less Split Galaxy sets than Candle Dragon or Warsky Alliance." Chaos Moon: "That¡¯s right, that¡¯s right! Everyone, good luck with your grinding! I¡¯ll be cheering you on from the distance!" I replied, "Chaos Moon, what are you even doing right now?" Chaos Moon said, "I¡¯m going around picking herbs and making some Rank 9 potions to sell. My Alchemy is almost at Rank 10!" Xu Yang replied in admiration, "Ah, you really are a good and dutiful lady¡­" Li Chengfeng shouted, "That¡¯s right! Date me please!" Chaos Moon¡¯s guard was up. "Cut it out! The both of you are clearly looking at my Rank 10 Alchemy and not me!" ¡­¡­ I closed the chat window and continued grinding Star Rhinos. These monsters with both high HP and formidable Defense were a pain in the neck to kill, it didn¡¯t feel good grinding them at all. This was especially true because of their Heaven Vortex skill. It meant that only a few melee fighters could press in to kill them at the same time. If a few more joined in, our priests wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up their healing and the continuous damage of Heaven Vortex would inevitably kill a few of them. I mean, it even dealt slightly over ten thousand damage to me, and that was despite my high Magic Resist, to say nothing of the other members. After we grinded for a while, Beiming Xue suddenly pointed at a corner of the plains and grinned. "Big bro, look there. Don¡¯t you feel like saying something after seeing something like that?" "Oh?" My eyes followed Beiming Xue¡¯s fingers to the spot that she was pointing at. To my shock, I discovered an enormous set of dragon bones strewn across the corner of the mountain range. The bones were arranged against the mountain in such a way that it resembled the opening of a wine gourd. This opening was facing the outside and the area within could hold quite a few people. This was practically a naturally formed choke point! A choke point that could be blocked with a single player! This was something we needed the most right now. My eyes immediately lit up with joy as I grabbed Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulders. "Hahaha! Well done! Alright, let¡¯s do this! Everyone, let¡¯s start sweeping away these mobs! Killing them one by one nearly bored me to death!" Beiming Xue laughed. "Yeah, I was bored out of my mind!" "I¡¯ll clear us a path. Beiming, get the rest of the party into the safe part of the choke point. I¡¯ll go lead the monsters to us. Pure Love, be a darling and buff me please. I need high HP and Defense to go lure these mobs!" "Okay!" Pure Love waved her staff in the air and applied several buffs. My HP, Defense, and Attack had all been boosted by 49%. As a high-level bard, Pure Love had gotten the best bard equipment Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls could find, so all of her skills were boosted considerably. Her Tactics stat was also higher than most bards and she could very nearly boost all of a player¡¯s stats by 50%. After her buffs, my HP was nearly 40000, and my Defense had reached 5500. I¡¯d become an unkillable tank! Bards also had a unique skill called Magic Charge that raised a player¡¯s Magic Resist by 25%. Given Pure Love¡¯s Tactics and other passive bonuses, she could practically boost my Magic Resist by 50%. This would allow me to deal with the Star Rhino¡¯s Heaven Vortex ability. I was now completely invulnerable to all of the Star Rhino¡¯s attacks. ¡­¡­ After an innumerable amount of buffs had been applied to me, Beiming Xue led the thirty-odd people in my party into those dragon bones. All of them assembled in the natural safe zone formed by the lattice of dragon bones. Only flying monsters could enter this area freely. Everyone else had to enter through the choke point. As long as I held the choke point, the ground-bound Sky Rhinos would have no way of hurting anyone inside. Crunch... My war boots crunched against some brittle pebbles as I flew across the ground and through a crowd of Star Rhinos. I made a sharp pivot after I had drawn all their aggro, causing a small herd of Star Rhinos to stampede after me as their angry bellows reverberated in the air behind me! I did this to several more groups before I started to sprint back to the choke point. The entire basin was soon filled with the sound of thundering hooves as hundreds of Star Rhinos chased after me, their furious bellows echoing in their wake. Even Li Chengfeng¡¯s party, which was quite a distance from us, turned shocked expressions toward me as they stared at me sprint madly toward the choke point. Li Chenfeng couldn¡¯t help but ask in the guild channel, "Ahem, what exactly is happening right now? Why are there clouds of dust and smoke coming from your area? Did all of you get wiped up by the Star Rhinos?" Beiming Xue giggled. "No, we didn¡¯t. Big bro is luring a group of Star Rhinos toward us, we¡¯re preparing to clear them all in fell swoop!" Xu Yang forcefully swallowed his saliva as he exclaimed incredulously, "What, you¡¯re mobbing a group of them? What the hell?! Even killing them one by one is hard enough, but this punk Lu Chen is clearing them as a group!? He¡¯s¡­ way too OP!" Gui Guzi let out a hearty laugh. "Heh, I already knew how great Boss Broken Halberd was for a long time now! Hahahaha!" He Yi laughed as she said: "Actually, it¡¯s really easy to see how Lu Chen can pull this stunt off. He has both the Crimson Rock Dragon Armor and the Soul Suppressing Cloak, which are both Outstanding Earth-grade items, so he has a huge amount of Defense in the first place. Furthermore, he has Pure Love in his party, so once he found a suitable choke point, he knew he would be able to hold it with the help of her buffs. With all of these advantages, I believe that Lu Chen is skilled enough to hold that choke point by himself. Beiming Xue nodded her head. "Yeah, I think that big bro can pull this off, no biggie." Chaos Moon chimed in. "I really wish I was leveling with Lu Chen right now¡­" ¡­¡­ I soon returned with the huge herd of Star Rhinos at my back. I could see that Beiming Xue, Moonlight Stone, and Moon Dew were standing about twenty yards away from the entrance. That was the safe zone and the Star Rhino¡¯s Heaven Vortex ability wouldn¡¯t be able to hit them from that distance. Furthermore, their attack range was forty yards, so they could freely attack the Star Rhino¡¯s without any inhibitions or worries. "Okay, get ready! Big bro¡¯s HP has already dropped below 50%, all the priests have to do their job and then some! Archers, prepare to use Shock Arrow to stun the monsters that are attacking him with melee attacks." Beiming Xue was giving out instructions as my squad prepared for battle. This girl was really clever. I was most afraid of the Star Rhino¡¯s Heaven Vortex ability, but only the Star Rhinos who were engaged with me in melee combat would use this skill. If they could stun the three Star Rhinos that could engage me in close combat, I would be very safe. Thud! My combat boots slid across the gravel-filled ground, sending sparks flying into the air. My calculations were perfect, so I stopped exactly at where the choke point was. I immediately spun around and brandished the Heaven-Stealing Sword as the Star Rhinos charged at me. I was very confident in my high Strength stat. As long as I stood here, the charging attacks of these Star Rhinos wouldn¡¯t be able to shift me a single inch. Dust flew up in the air as the huge herd of Star Rhinos stampeded around this gourd-shaped opening. The area in front of me was thick with mobs and I braced myself as three of these bellowing beasts struck me at the same time. I immediately used God Binding Art to bind up one of them before I used Burning Blade Slash. Three fiery crescents of sword energy smashed into a group of mobs and exploded, revealing a string of shocking damage numbers above their heads. 8283! 11092! 15271! ¡­¡­ Basically, a single Burning Blade Slash would deal more than 35000 damage to a lone Star Rhino. But now that the Heaven-Stealing Sword¡¯s splash damage passive was activated, the damage dealt to each rhino would increase by at least three times. As a result, a single Burning Blade Slash shaved off nearly half the HP of the dozen Star Rhinos that had been struck by it. This incredible damage made the jaws of everyone in my squad to drop to the ground. None of them knew what to say after witnessing that ridiculous feat. "Hey, how about some healing over here¡­" As I endured a Heaven Vortex, I had no choice but to use Tenacity of the Dead to pull myself back from the brink of death. It was only at this moment that Moon Dew and the rest of the priests shook themselves out of their stupor. They hurriedly threw out heal after heal, continuously bathing me in holy light. My HP slowly climbed back up to above 75% and remained there. Right, as long as I had lifesteal, Regeneration of the Undead, and Blood Fiend, I should be able to endure simultaneous attacks of three Star Rhinos. Chapter 552: Farewell Song’s Ambush As I used War Crush, the bloody light emitted by the skill dyed the area around me in waves of red. The Star Rhinos in the radius of this attack were battered by the energy waves assaulting them, their health dropping rapidly as they let out low bellows. The 30% splash effect of the Heaven-stealing Sword was too incredible! It had become my greatest weapon in clearing out mobs! Furthermore, I was gaining the most experience points as well. As we continued to mow down one Star Rhino after the other, at least 80% of the monsters we had killed had died by my hand. The other 10% were taken down by Beiming Xue, while Moonlight Stone and the other long-range attackers of my squad had each taken down a few themselves. I was more often than not taking 50% of the experience points given by these Star Rhinos, and this dramatically filled my EXP bar. In less than half an hour, more than four hundred Star Rhinos had fallen to my Heaven-stealing Sword, and I was sitting at 97%. I was now just 3% away from hitting Level 133 and killing a few more groups of Star Rhinos should do the trick! This way of grinding is the best! Pop! As the last Star Rhino stumbled to the ground, a pair of azure war boots dropped on the ground. I picked them up, and just as I had expected, they were the fabled Split Galaxy War Boots. This armor set was really strong. Besides greatly increasing HP and Defense of its wearer, wearing a full set of five pieces would also give its wearer 25% splash damage on all of their attacks. This was ridiculous because current magic knight players had plenty of health and Defense, but it was their attack power that was sorely lacking. This 25% splash damage bonus would undoubtedly cause their DPS to undergo a monumental change. It would allow them to become solo grinders, ones that could sweep a map clear of monsters. ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue slung her longbow across her shoulder and turned to speak to the rest of the squad, "Everyone, let big bro pick up all the Split Galaxy set pieces first. We¡¯ll go pick up items after he¡¯s done. Is that okay? We¡¯ll also let big bro take care of all the Split Galaxy." Everyone nodded their heads in unison. After all, I was the vice leader and I also had a ridiculous amount of defensive stats, so I really was the best choice to take care of these items. I stepped across the bodies of these Star Rhinos and started to pick up all the Split Galaxy set pieces in the area. I was filled with ecstasy as I slowly counted the number of lucky set drops. There were 12 of them, for a total of 14 thus far. After sorting them, it turned out we had gathered two full sets already! Awesome! Once I had finished picking up all the Split Galaxy set pieces, I stood to the side and let the rest of my squad take their pick of the items that littered the ground. As Level 160 shadow-rank mobs that were nearly thirty levels higher than us, item drops were very frequent and they had dropped quite a few pieces of equipment as well. In fact, this first wave alone had dropped so much equipment that everyone in my party had been able to pick up more than ten each. Of course, they weren¡¯t necessarily going to wear everything they had picked up. It was more likely that they were going to sell these items back in Sky City and make a killing! ¡­¡­ Once everyone had finished picking up the spoils of war, I dashed off once again. After wandering a corner of the valley for nearly five minutes, I returned once more with a huge cloud of dust at my back. I had brought even more Star Rhinos back this time, and there were at least a thousand of them bellowing after me. When Beiming Xue, Moonlight Stone, and Moon Dew saw the huge horde of monsters behind me, they laughed so hard that they clutched their sides. Their faces were flushed red with excitement and their pretty blushes drove the men in the party to distraction. Thunk! Once I had confirmed that I was at the choke point, I spun on my heel and swept the Heaven-stealing Sword down fiercely. Three crescents of blazing sword energy flew out my sword and smashed into the Star Rhinos charging toward me. I had to say that all of the new skills that I had learned had become my greatest tools for mobbing. I basically cycled through Burning Blade Slash, Thousand Ice Slash, War Crush, and Ice Cyclone Domain. Especially the last item on the list, since I started using the magic domain skill more and more often recently. It not only covered a large area, but it also dealt a huge amount of continuous damage to any mob caught in the area. This had greatly increased my total damage output and it was the main reason why my DPS made for 85% of the party¡¯s total damage. Not once did I need to use Universe Break while I was killing these Star Rhinos either. Since I was killing a large amount of mobs at one go, I could completely disregard single-target skills. They were better used during PvP or boss fights. I wasn¡¯t the same as Xu Yang and Chaos Moon, I didn¡¯t need to rely on my break ability to earn a living. As I continued my joyful killing spree, chaos suddenly broke out in the guild channel. High Fighting Spirits suddenly exclaimed, "Fuck! Shit has hit the fan!" Xu Yang immediately replied, "Fighting Spirits, what happened?" High Fighting Spirits: "We got ambushed by that son of a bitch Farewell Song! He ambushed us together with a big group of assassins! There were at least thirty of them too! All of the mages and priests in our party died as soon as the battle started!" He Yi hurriedly exclaimed, "Fighting Spirits, don¡¯t do anything rash! How many people do you have left still?" High Fighting Spirits hissed back a reply through clenched teeth, "I have just over a dozen melee fighters left! Fuck it, I¡¯m gonna lead the rest of our comrades into battle! I don¡¯t believe that I can¡¯t get rid of a bunch of assassins with what¡¯s left of my squad!" I quickly yelled, "Fighting Spirits, I need you to calm down and listen to guild leader¡¯s instructions! You are to retreat immediately. None of the people in your party are a match for Farewell Song, and that includes you! You don¡¯t realize just how terrifying his mechanical skill is. He can stunlock you to death with his bare hands before you can even hit him. Retreat now! Li Chengfeng, your party is to link up with the survivors of High Fighting Spirit¡¯s party. I¡¯m currently tied down in this location!" Li Chengfeng shouted, "Okay, I have his coordinates. High Fighting Spirits, I need you to lead your squad south. I will be able to link up with you within three minutes. Fucking hell, let me get a taste of that bastard Farewell Song!" Xu Yang growled, "Shit! The Warsky Alliance is really shameless. To think that they¡¯d do something as low as ambush us. That Warsky really does have super thick skin. He apologized to us before but here he goes again! The moment they entered the B9 floor, they started to plan an ambush against our guild! How fucking nice of him!" Murong Mingyue laughed. "Xu Yang, don¡¯t let your rage scramble your brains. Everyone calm down and think about it. How many players are allowed to enter the Star Dragon Domain? Eight hundred. Our Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls took three hundred of those eight hundred spots right off the bat, so Warsky definitely recognizes that we are his greatest threat in this map. Truth be told, we are far more dangerous than Candlelight Shadow and his hundred men." She took a deep breath before continuing, "In any case, Farewell Song is an assassin and these Star Rhinos are so strong that there¡¯s no way that the assassins under Farewell Song will be able to fight them. I bet Farewell Song himself might barely even be able to fight one. If they don¡¯t go around assassinating people, what use do they have in this map? What¡¯s more, assassins have always done these sort of sneaky, underhanded things, right?" He Yi agreed by saying, "Mingyue is exactly right. Just five minutes ago, the premier assassin of Purple Lily, Moonkiss, assassinated one of the main players from Warsky Alliance. The entire Star Dragon Domain is a very chaotic and dangerous place right now, and everyone needs to protect themselves. All of us should slowly move toward the center of the map. Once we link up with each other, no one will be able to shake us." I replied, "Yeah, I got it. The rest of you can start linking up first, I¡¯m still busy clearing mobs." He Yi giggled. "Do your best! I saw the levels of Moon Dew and Moonlight Stone jump up." ¡­¡­ "Lu Chen, what do we do now?" Moonlight Stone asked. I slashed at the Star Rhinos in front of me as I yelled, "Let¡¯s just stick to what we¡¯re doing! A few assassins won¡¯t be able to threaten us for now. Let¡¯s continue grinding, because levels and equipment are the true foundation of a player¡¯s power. The levels of these mobs are so high, so even if Farewell Song comes here, he won¡¯t be able to get past my Ice Cyclone Domains. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re safe here and Li Chengfeng has gone to rescue High Fighting Spirits. Farewell Song won¡¯t be able to do anything to them as long as our dragon warrior is there.¡± "Okay!" A small interlude later, we continued to grind mobs. I had lured over a thousand Star Rhinos this time, so even though we were clearing them at a very fast pace, it would take us at least an hour to clear all of them. We received another piece of news in the guild channel about ten minutes later. High Fighting Spirits exclaimed once more: "Fucking hell, that punk Farewell Song is really fierce. He actually managed to kill a dozen of us even though we were suppressing him with cover fire. Is this punk even human?" Xu Yang hurriedly asked, "What¡¯s the situation on your end right now?" Li Chengfeng replied in a heavy voice, "Our heads are still above the water. Even though Farewell Song managed to kill a dozen of our people in an ambush, we killed nineteen of the thirty-seven assassins he had brought with him, so I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll dare to peek his head out anymore." High Fighting Spirits laughed as he said, "Our Li is made of some stern stuff! He¡¯s the only one in our group who can handle Farewell Song¡­" He Yi said, "I want all of you to proceed with utmost caution. Let¡¯s all link up as soon as possible! Gui Guzi has already brought his people there to grind." Li Chengfeng replied, "Okay, we¡¯ll head over right now. Good thing we only met Farewell Song just now. If we had met Candle Dragon, they¡¯d probably have wiped us out by now." He Yi replied, "That¡¯s true!" ¡­¡­ Everyone knew how important it was to have a peak expert on your side during these PvP battles in the wild. If Li Chengfeng hadn¡¯t been there, Farewell Song¡¯s assassin squad would definitely have been able to wipe out High Fighting Spirits and his men. Even though High Fighting Spirits could also be called a first-class expert, he was still quite a distance from someone like Farewell Song, a godlike expert ranked eleventh in the CGL Hall of Fame. Even though Li Chengfeng hadn¡¯t entered the CGL Hall of Fame either, his mechanical skill was just a little inferior to Farewell Song¡¯s own. This coupled with the inherent advantage provided by his class meant that Li Chengfeng was completely capable of facing off against Farewell Song as a peer and not prey. However, the moment Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits met Candlelight Shadow, they would be toast. After all, the title of Martial God wasn¡¯t an empty boast. His skill at open-world PvP had been honed to perfection by countless battles. As time slowly crawled by, I finally reached Level 133. After we had finished clearing all of those Star Rhinos, we had swept this corner of the basin clear of any mobs and I had also reached Level 134! It had only taken slightly over an hour too! Leveling in the Nine Lost Dragon Domains was really fantastic! When I looked at China¡¯s Heavenly Ranking, I realized that the others weren¡¯t slacking off, and were also grinding the rhinos like mad. This was especially true for Luo River God of the Capital and God¡¯s Dance. Man, these mages really leveled up at a ridiculous speed. NameLevelClassLuo River God of the Capital 137MageGod¡¯s Dance 136MageBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 134Undead SwordsmanCandlelight Shadow 133WarriorWind Fantasy 133Light WandererStranger of Three Lifetimes 133MageBeiming Xue 132Dark ArcherLegendary Brave 131Dragon WarriorPurple Marquis 131WarriorCome See The Snow Tonight 131Magic Knight ¡­¡­ The two grand mages, Luo River God of the Capital and God¡¯s Dance, easily took the top two spots while I barely clung on to the third place. Candlelight Shadow, Lin Yixin, and Stranger of Three Lifetimes were ranked fourth to sixth respectively, but it seemed as if their positions could flip at any moment. It was really hard to get onto China¡¯s Heavenly Ranking, and even players like He Yi and Gui Guzi couldn¡¯t get in. Yeah, I still need to work hard. Candlelight Shadow and his men are hot on my tail and Candle Dragon is still a huge power in China. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls still have a long way to go before we can launch our counterattack, Chapter 553: Star Dragon "That¡¯s right!" Lin Yixin replied. "We¡¯re stationed around the area and we haven¡¯t started fighting the boss yet. I¡¯ve only told you so far, so you can¡¯t leak the news! We need to finish this boss off before Candlelight Shadow and his men find this place. Just bring the core of your guild along with you, around seventy people at most. I¡¯ll form the party and we¡¯ll divide the spoils of war among the hundred of us by checking the DPS chart and then rolling for it." "Okay, I got it! I¡¯ll be there in half an hour!" "Alright!" ¡­¡­ I closed the chat window and quickly surveyed the area around me. There were only a few dozen Star Rhinos left, so we were about to mop them up pretty quickly. We soon picked the battlefield clean of any useful items. I had managed to find another twenty-four pieces of the Split Galaxy set, so I currently had thirty-eight pieces in my inventory. We managed to form six full sets from these thirty-eight pieces, so everyone would definitely agree that this was a bountiful gather indeed. Yeah, it was time to link up with Lin Yixin and kill that boss. There were five guilds in the Star Dragon Domain right now. Besides us, there was Snowy Cathaya, Purple Lily, Candle Dragon, and Warsky Alliance. Besides Snowy Cathaya, there wasn¡¯t another guild that we could absolutely trust here, so working together with them to kill the boss was an absolute necessity. I opened the guild channel and said somberly, "All Famous Generals in the guild, step forward! I also need another sixty-two long-range attackers and healers. Xu Yang, pick out these sixty-two people from among the survivors. We are going to form the strongest seventy-man team we can assemble right now!" After I said that, I sent the coordinates to He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, and the other Famous Generals, and told them that they had to keep these coordinates a secret. I also privately messaged Xu Yang to tell him that the people that he picked had to be ones who were completely loyal to the guild. We had to guard against all leaks. If no one leaked anything, it was possible for us to kill the boss within two hours and not be discovered. ¡­¡­ I started moving toward the center of the map. The seventy of us quietly crept under the shadow of a mountain ridge, our expressions nervous and tense. "Lu Chen¡­" He Yi caught up to me and asked, "Did you already discuss how both guilds are going to split the boss drops and the dragon scale with Beauty Lin?" "Yeah." I nodded my head. "We¡¯ll split the drops according to DPS and rolling. We actually haven¡¯t even talked about the dragon scale yet. But don¡¯t worry, just leave it to me. If we kill the boss, I¡¯ll be responsible for grabbing the dragon scale. Even if Beauty Lin makes her move, I¡¯m confident that I will be able to snatch it before she does. After all, my fingers are quicker than hers¡­" He Yi gave me a meaningful look as she said, "Hmph! Oh you¡­¡± ¡­¡­ As we moved toward the coordinates that Lin Yixin gave us, we soon saw a huge valley appear in front of us. We could even hear the faint sounds of a dragon growling. More and more Star Rhinos started to appear in front of us and it was very clear that Lin Yixin had been clever enough to leave these monsters alone. She had skirted around them and entered the valley because she knew that she would be discovered very quickly if she had chosen to fight them. "Okay, Beauty Lin and her men are just ahead of us. From now on, everyone can only use the party chat to communicate! We must not allow these coordinates to leak to the rest of the guilds here!" He Yi¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t very harsh, but it was filled with a calm authority. As the Vice President of GGS Asia, her voice had a certain charisma to it. After we rounded the mountain pass and entered the valley, we saw about thirty people assembled in front of us. It was Lin Yixin and Snowy Cathaya. "You finally came¡­" The Fruit Knife Goddess flipped the dagger in her hand idly as she walked toward us with a grin on her face. "Hurry up and form a new party and prepare to fight the boss. We need to take advantage of this small window of opportunity to kill it quietly. You never know when Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance will find out!" "àÅ£¡" "Got it!" I nodded my head and dissolved my party. Lin Yixin formed a new party and added all of us into it. As I swept my eyes over the remaining members of Snowy Cathaya, I couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Yiyi, where are Lifetaking Sword and Zi Chuanyu?" "Oh, we got into a fight with another guild and they died. This is all that¡¯s left of my hundred-man squad," Lin Yixin said coolly. "What? Nearly 70% of your hundred-man squad died? This¡­ Who did you get into a fight with?" He Yi¡¯s delicate mouth dropped open. The news had clearly shocked her. Lin Yixin laughed and said, "Candle Dragon. We fought their main force, and Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, and Transient Smoke and Clouds were among them. After we clashed once, both sides decided to cut their losses, though we suffered terrible losses in that fight." I replied, "That can¡¯t be all, right? Candlelight Shadow only brought one hundred of his men in. If they managed to kill 70% of your forces, how many people do they even have left?" "Probably less than half?" Lin Yixin said as she pursed her cherry lips. Bloodlust flashed in her beautiful eyes. "Candlelight Shadow¡¯s mechanical skill is still impressive¡­" "Where did you guys clash? Candlelight Shadow hasn¡¯t discovered this location, right?" I asked. Lin Yixin shook her head. "No, this was a fight that happened half an hour before I found this place. Both sides suffered heavy losses and Candlelight Shadow didn¡¯t want to let everyone else know how bad things had gotten for him, so no news of this fight leaked out. However, they only have forty-odd people left. Even if they do find us, they¡¯ll have to deal with the cr¨¨me de la cr¨¨me of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. We shouldn¡¯t have anything to fear from them." I gave a heavy sigh. "I¡¯m just afraid that they¡¯ll come when we¡¯re right in the middle of fighting the boss. That¡¯ll be a doozy." "Yeah. So let¡¯s hurry up and get this thing started already!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ He Yi started assigning roles to everyone. "Gui Guzi, Lu Chen, Yiyi, and I will be the tanks for this boss fight. Everyone else, please pay attention to your aggro meter, we mustn¡¯t overtaunt the boss. The first thing we need to do is to identify the visual cues the boss has when preparing to cast a skill. We also need to be very sure of what each skill does and take note of their radius and special effects. The very next thing we need to do is to find the dragon¡¯s weak points and weaknesses as soon as possible. This is the very first Heaven Rank boss to appear in the entire server, so we need to proceed with utmost caution." Lin Yixin nodded her head. "Yeah, Eve¡¯s absolutely right. Everyone¡­ All of us need to be fully prepared for a party wipe. This boss isn¡¯t gonna be some walk in the park." Gui Guzi hefted his spear and grinned. "Don¡¯t worry about it! Shall we begin our attack!?" "Yeah, let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ We started to move forward two at a time, and Gui Guzi and I were standing at the very front of the formation. Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell had boosted my stats by 70% and Pure Love had given me a 49% HP buff on top of that, so my current HP was more than 58000. This amount of HP was simply incredible. Of course, all four main tanks had a dedicated bard to buff them, but the quality of these bards differed. Pure Love could practically boost all of my stats by 50% while He Yi and Gui Guzi¡¯s bards could only buff their stats by 39%. Lin Yixin¡¯s bard was stronger than their bards. The pretty Beauty At First Sight could buff Lin Yixin¡¯s stats by 44%, but she still lost out to Pure Love. "Hahaha, this feels great. Now that I¡¯m fully buffed, my HP is nearly eighty thousand. If I work a bit harder, I should be able to break a hundred thousand!" Gui Guzi said with a roar of laughter. Lin Yixin giggled when she heard those words. "Eighty thousand? Hmph! Just how much Magic Resist do you have? I suspect that one blast of dragon breath from the boss is going to have you rolling on the ground crying for your mommy!" Gui Guzi was stunned into silence. He was actually still quite afraid of the beautiful Lin Yixin. In the battle of Frost Mound, he had been killed by Lin Yixin so many times over the span of a single night that he had dropped from the top spot in the Heavenly Ranking to outside the Top 100. That terrible incident cast a dark shadow over Gui Guzi¡¯s heart. In fact, every time Gui Guzi got drunk, he would sling an arm around my shoulder and say, "Boss Broken Halberd, I think you should try to subdue Lin Yixin when you have the chance. I don¡¯t ever want to face off against that demoness in the field of battle ever again¡­" In the eyes of most players, Lin Yixin was an existence akin to a goddess. She had the perfect body and face and her skill at Heavenblessed was simply unbelievable. Everything about her seemed to be absolutely perfect. However, to people who had fought against her before, like Gui Guzi and I, Lin Yixin was like a temptress who brought nations to ruin. If anyone could subdue her, it would practically be an act of national service! It was way too risky to even try though, because it was more likely than not that the person who tried would be subdued by her than the opposite! ¡­¡­ As we slowly delved deeper into the valley, we saw that there were no other monsters inside of it. However, the one monster that we did see stole our breath away. There was a gigantic purple dragon hovering quietly in the air, its wings glistening with brilliant light. It was as if this dragon was a star in the sky and the purple scales that covered its body looked more like amethysts than scales. Its angular head looked extremely sinister and one look at those dark green eyes sent a shudder down everyone¡¯s spines. We could instantly tell that this dragon would be one tough cookie. "Lu Chen, go up and check the boss''s stats¡­" Lin Yixin said as she gave me a light push. "Why does it have to be me? What if I get gobbled up¡­" "Oh please, you wouldn¡¯t even count as a snack. In fact, that giant dragon might not even bother trying to eat you!" "Dammit¡­" He Yi laughed. "That¡¯s enough. Lu Chen, hurry up and go check on its stats. Your level is the highest here anyway. If you don¡¯t go, who will? Are we going to ask Luo River God of the Capital to come over and check its stats for us?" "Fine, fine, I¡¯ll go!" I wasn¡¯t left with any choice once my beautiful guild leader opened her mouth. Lin Yixin¡¯s expression turned frosty when she saw how obedient I was to He Yi. She looked extremely adorable as she stomped a foot on the ground angrily and she looked like she couldn¡¯t wait to kick me in the ass. ¡­¡­ Star Dragon (Heaven Rank Boss) Level: 160 Attack: 2940~3750 Defense: 3200 Health: 15,000,000 Skills: Dragon Blade, Scale Armor, Galaxy Storm, Galaxy Vortex Introduction: This is the legendary Star Dragon, a dragon which was said to have been born from the core of a star during ancient times. It possesses an enormous strength that the other dragons do not possess, and legend has it that this power comes from a treasure gifted to it by the gods of heaven. This transformed the Star Dragon into one of the kings of dragonkind. However, a cataclysmic event overturned the entire continent and caused this demesne of dragons to sink below the ground. Thus the Star Dragon was buried underneath the earth together with the Nine Lost Dragon Domains, and has finally emerged from the depths of darkness. This king of dragonkind is exceptionally vicious and cruel. After being trapped in this prison for hundreds of thousands of years it has resolved to slaughter all the living creatures in this world to soothe its pain. ¡­¡­ "Fuck me¡­ this dragon looks extremely fierce¡­" Li Chengfeng said with an audible gulp. "Fifteen million HP, an Attack that nearly hits 4000. Man, I don¡¯t even know if I can take part in this battle." High Fighting Spirits twirled his battle axe in a show of bravado as he said, "What¡¯re you afraid of? Follow me, let¡¯s charge in together!" Li Chengfeng spat out a retort, "¡®Do you know how to spell the word death?" High Fighting Spirits scratched his head as he gave a most insouciant shrug, "Nope. How do you spell it?" Li Chengfeng vomited blood in defeat. ¡­¡­ A rather incredulous expression appeared on Lin Yixin¡¯s face as she witnessed this exchange. She exclaimed with some disdain, "Why is your guild full of guys like these?! Get everyone ready, we¡¯re about to start fighting the boss. Lu Chen, use your Sword Boomerang to lure the boss here, I¡¯ll follow up with an Extreme Break. Let¡¯s try one proper rotation of attacks to see if we can even break its defenses in the first place." "Alright!" Chapter 554: Taking a Turn for the Worse My sword dangled loosely in my hand as I sprinted back toward the rest of the party. I reached a spot within range of nearly twenty healers as soon as I could. No matter how we were going to kill this boss, my first priority was to preserve my own life. The Star Dragon¡¯s furious roar echoed behind me and I suddenly felt a scorching sensation brush against my back. I immediately turned around to see that the Star Dragon was stretching its great jaws open. In the next instant, I saw a huge stream of dragonfire shoot out of its mouth. It looked like a concentrated beam of celestial flames that could instantly melt even steel. I raised my hand desperately to ward off the dragonfire. Not the face! Boom! I bore the full brunt of that blast of dragonfire and the impact pushed me more than a few steps back. I felt as if parts of my body had been torn apart as it was assaulted by a burning pain. My vision swirled for just a second as a huge damage number popped up above my head. 27984! ¡­¡­ "What the hell¡­" As Li Chengfeng, who was standing a fair distance away, stared at that damage number, he took his sword and grabbed High Fighting Spirits by the collar as he sprinted backward. He had reacted just in time because that blast of dragonfire hadn¡¯t stopped at me. It continued traveling in a perfectly straight line, scorching everything in its path. Even though Li Chengfeng had been alert enough to avoid this calamitous blast of cosmic flame, three mages and seven archers had been caught up in that blast. All of them were immediately reduced to piles of ashes! As the damage numbers flew up in the air, I shook my head in dismay. This Star Dragon had taken out 10% of our party with just the first blast of its breath and the incredible damage that it had dealt had chilled our hearts. "So this is a Heaven Rank boss huh? This¡­ this is a little bit too crazy, isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s way too insane¡­" Xu Yang stuttered. There were some players whose courage had been broken by that attack but there was at least one person who still recklessly charged at the Star Dragon. A brilliant light radiated out from Lin Yixin¡¯s White Moon at the same time her eyes flashed with moonlight. She used Moon Gaze on the Star Dragon and White Moon soon whistled toward it after that. It stabbed right into the purple dragon¡¯s abdomen. After she had stabbed it in the belly, Lin Yixin immediately flew backward as she switched to her Frozen Sword and attacked the dragon with an Ice Flame Slash! Boom! 18992! 24980! 10982! 15881! 19827! ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi and He Yi hit it with their usual Barrier Breaks before immediately following up with their flurry attack skills. Everyone was trying to do as much damage to the boss while the effects of Extreme Break lasted. During these fifteen seconds, the Star Dragon¡¯s Defense had turned into paper, but once its effects ended, it would be a lot harder to deal damage to it. Arrows rained down on the purple dragon from behind as Beiming Xue and her troop of archers rained down suppressive fire on it. Shock Arrows, Devil Piercing Arrows and Volleys screamed toward the Star Dragon as they took advantage of the armor break effect of Extreme Break. This was the only time that most of them could break its Defense, and the boss had actually lost a good chunk of health after all the arrows had found their mark. "Rooooaaar¡­" The gigantic dragon reared back its head and howled as it swiped its claws at us. It had actually used a sweeping blow that heavily struck Gui Guzi, He Yi, and I. A tearing pain radiated from my right shoulder as three damage numbers popped up in the air. 16273! 19828! 14289! ¡­¡­ Among the three of us, Gui Guzi¡¯s Defense was the highest and He Yi¡¯s Defense was the lowest, but all of us could endure attacks of this degree. Furthermore, the big group of priests behind us started healing us all rapidly and Murong Mingyue even cast a Pool of Life around us. She yelled, "Please don¡¯t leave the radius of my Pool of Life unless you absolutely have to!" Who would even want to willingly leave the radius of a quick HP regen spell? Needless to say, none of us would move out of this Pool of Life unless the dragon spat its flames at us again! Before we even finished speaking, the boss swiped at us with its claws again. The four main tanks were hit by a flurry of attacks and our health started to drop to dangerous levels. The healing from our priests alleviated some of the danger, but all of us noticed that we actually didn¡¯t have enough healing to keep up with the Star Dragon¡¯s DPS. Bang! As the Star Dragon¡¯s blade-like claws smashed into Lin Yixin¡¯s chestplate, she gritted her teeth and hissed in a worried voice, "We can¡¯t continue on like this. The priests are barely keeping us afloat and our HP bars won¡¯t rise above 50%. This boss''s attack speed is way too high¡­" I nodded. "We need to use our health potions. If we don¡¯t, there¡¯s no way we can keep fighting this boss. Also, let¡¯s switch up our strategy a little. Gui Guzi and I will tank the first round of attacks and when our HP drops to about 25%, we will immediately retreat. Yiyi, you¡¯ll have to come up with a way to grab the boss''s aggro at that time, and you and Eve will tank the next wave of attacks. Gui Guzi and I will heal up during that time, and if we keep rotating the main tanks like this, there¡¯s a chance that we will win this fight." Lin Yixin let out a soft laugh as she nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that¡¯s a great idea!" ¡­¡­ No one had imagined that this Heaven Rank boss would be this tyrannical. The Star Dragon¡¯s attack power and attack speed was uncommonly high and we were still being hurled around like ragdolls in spite of our strength. I mean, the four main tanks were all people whose very footsteps could make Sky City shake, but we were still getting beaten to a pulp by this damned dragon. If it was hard to imagine that there would be another group of players who could take this boss on. Even Candlelight Shadow¡¯s party would be one-shot because they didn¡¯t have any Famous General Skill that could replicate the effects of Bombshell. "Rooaar!" As the Star Dragon blasted us with its breath, another group of mages, archers, and warriors were burned to ashes. We were rapidly losing party members and this was something that was very worrying. I couldn¡¯t help but say, "Priests, I want all of you to scatter right now. Don¡¯t stand clumped together. The dragon breath is a line attack, so it doesn¡¯t cover much area." "Alright!" Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew, and the rest of the priests swiftly formed a circle around us as we slowly surrounded the boss. Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun weren¡¯t standing around doing nothing either. All of them swiftly activated Charge in an attempt to stun the boss, and even if they missed, they immediately used Barrier Break and their flurry skills to deal some damage to it. Once they finished their cycle of attacks, they retreated before the dragon could attack them. Their continuous attacks had actually chipped off quite a bit of the boss''s HP. It felt as if time had slowed down as the gigantic dragon¡¯s roars reverberated in the valley. Its health was slowly but surely being whittled down but we were rapidly losing people as well. Our hundred-man party had been reduced to less than thirty and only our priests, who had been making sure to protect themselves, and our very best players remained. We even had to call a few dozen more priests from outside, if not, the situation would soon become untenable. "Roooaar!" The Star Dragon reared its head back as its wings unfurled. It suddenly attacked us with a Galaxy Storm, a skill which would continuously damage any target caught in a 5x5 yard square. The boss had already used this attack before and it was extremely terrifying. Gui Guzi furiously backpedaled as I retreated a few steps and shot a Dragon Slaying Slash at the dragon¡¯s head. I firmly attracted the boss''s aggro while also casting God Binding Art at it! Alright, I finally succeeded! Lin Yixin took advantage of my God Binding Art to use Extreme Break and everyone rushed forward to hack away at the Star Dragon furiously. We had actually shaved off 2% of the boss''s HP in those fifteen seconds. Yeah, Extreme Break was key to killing this boss. Without it, even experts like Li Chengfeng could barely deal 5000 damage to it. The Star Dragon¡¯s Defense was nearly as horrid as its Attack! ¡­¡­ Our attacks kept whittling away at the Star Dragon¡¯s health and after about forty minutes, we had finally gotten it down to 50%. However, it hadn¡¯t been as easy as it sounded. There were a few times that the boss''s dragon breath had scored a critical hit against one of the main tanks, and even Gui Guzi and I had been nearly one-shot. This wasn¡¯t a fight we could afford to let their guard down in! All of us began to see the light at the end of the tunnel once the Star Dragon¡¯s health dropped to 50%, and joy started to creep into our eyes. High Fighting Spirits yelled, "Hahaha, the boss is about to fall. This boss is so strong so we might just be able to get one of those legendary Heaven-grade items from it, right? Hahaha, the first Heaven-grade item in the entire server. Sounds great, doesn¡¯t it¡­" Li Chengfeng replied, "It¡¯s honestly hard to say. Let¡¯s focus on killing the boss first. I have this feeling that we¡¯re in quite a bit of danger right now. Such a long time has passed since all of us entered the Star Dragon Domain. Logically speaking, Candlelight Shadow should have already explored the entire map by now. It¡¯s only a matter of time before we¡¯re found. This boss has way too much HP and health regeneration, so we¡¯re actually killing it rather slowly." Xu Yang agreed with Li Chengfeng¡¯s assessment. "That¡¯s right. A few vicious battles have already taken place while we¡¯ve been fighting this boss. Farewell Song, October Rain, and Warsky encountered Purple Lily by accident and they immediately started fighting. Both sides suffered terrible losses before the fight finally stopped. Coincidentally, or perhaps not so coincidentally in this case, both parties seemed to be heading east, which also happens to be where we¡¯re at right now¡­" My heart sank a little as I shouted, "Chengfeng, bring a few men to guard the entrance of the valley. You can¡¯t let anyone enter this place before we finish killing the boss!" "Yeah I got it!" Li Chengfeng waved a hand and Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and a few other people fell in behind him. Their party was only eight strong, so it would be hard for them to prevent the other guilds from entering. But we really had no other choice. We only had this many people with us right now, and the rest of us had to focus our attention on this terrifying dragon at all times. So this was really the most we could spare. ¡­¡­ Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the boss''s HP slowly dropped from 50% to 40%. It then dropped from 40% to 30%, 30% to 20%, and finally from 20% to 10%. When the dragon¡¯s HP finally reached one tenth, my heart rose up to my throat. It was crunch time. Our chance of getting the final dragon scale depended on how well we performed during the final stage of this boss fight. It was at this moment that Li Chengfeng¡¯s startled voice suddenly reverberated through the party channel. "Fucking hell! Candlelight Shadow is charging in with Candle Dragon, and¡­ I also see people from Warsky Alliance and Purple Lily coming from different directions. What the hell! Why did they all come at the same time?!" Xu Yang¡¯s shocked voice sounded out over the party chat as well. "What do we do now? If all three guilds come at us at the same time, there¡¯s no way we can hold this position!" I hurriedly yelled, "I want all of you to retreat right now. Come back to where the main fighting force is. We need to hurry up and kill this boss! If not, all our efforts will have been for naught!" It was at this precise moment that Gui Guzi suddenly shuddered. His body stiffened as it was rendered completely immobile. A high-level assassin appeared behind him, his dagger blinking with red light. He had blinded and stunned Gui Guzi at the same time! And this wasn¡¯t any old assassin. It was our old friend, Farewell Song! What was even worse was that another eight assassins appeared behind us. Their daggers whistled through the air as they targeted our priests first, and out of the eight priests that had been attacked, only Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew survived. This boss really knew how to pick his moments. As our backline was being savaged by those assassins, its wings started flapping in the air. After that, it gave a great roar as a gigantic vortex that covered a 30x30 yard area formed in the middle of the battlefield. This was its ultimate technique, Galaxy Vortex! Any player who was caught in Galaxy Vortex¡¯s radius would be swiftly pulled into the center before being burned up by cosmic flames! I swiftly backpedaled out of the attack¡¯s radius, but I could only watch as the stunned Gui Guzi was dragged straight into the center of the gigantic vortex of cosmic energy! "Roooooaaar..." As violent flames engulfed him, Gui Guzi¡¯s health started dropping like a rock. The Armored Swordback Dragon¡¯s tenacity was depleted and Gui Guzi slowly began to sink to the ground. He pointed the tip of his Rainbow toward Farewell Song as he yelled, "Fuck your mom, Farewell Song! Your daddy here is gonna kill you one day!" Chapter 555: True Brothers However, the moment Du Thirteen neared Rainbow, that familiar red light suddenly blinked into existence again. Du Thirteen¡¯s body shuddered as it froze in place. Farewell Song¡¯s figure appeared for an instant before disappearing again. The Star Dragon¡¯s aggro was instantly transferred to Du Thirteen and it instantly attacked him with Dragon Blade. The skill howled through the air, then transfixed itself in Du Thirteen¡¯s chest. 68904! It was a critical hit! This critical hit instagibbed Du Thirteen, whose stats had been boosted by Bombshell. This Star Dragon was a ridiculously powerful existence at this current stage of the game. As Du Thirteen slowly slumped to the ground, the Rainbow that had been lying beside him disappeared as well. This had definitely been the work of Farewell Song. No other assassin in the server could so stealthily kill someone and pick an item like he had just done. The boost his Famous General Skill, Sneak Attack, gave to his invisibility and movement speed was no joke. ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck!¡± Rage boiled up inside my chest as I tried to lunge forward. However, both Lin Yixin and He Yi grabbed an arm each as they pulled me back. ¡°Lu Chen, don¡¯t do anything impulsive!¡± He Yi shouted. Lin Yixin also chimed in, ¡°If we lost some equipment, we can just snatch it back later. But if you die, how are we gonna kill this boss? How are we going to take on the challenge Candlelight Shadow poses?¡± I clenched my teeth tightly as my eyes turned bloodshot. Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen were my dearest brothers. We had walked together from the very start, from when I founded the Bloody Mercenaries all the way until now. We had experienced many setbacks and hardships together, had shed blood, sweat, and tears together, but I had only been able to watch as Farewell Song picked them off one by one. Furthermore, Gui Guzi had lost his Rainbow, his most treasured possession in Heavenblessed, and it had even been stolen by Farewell Song! What¡¯s more, Farewell Song had not only stolen Rainbow, he had also stolen the Earth Dragon Scale that he had been holding onto as well! ¡­¡­ ¡°We need to give up on this boss and retreat toward the south first. Let¡¯s get out of this kill zone!¡± He Yi immediately issued a wise order. However, it seemed as if she had said those words a tad too late. As expected, a party of about twenty-odd people soon emerged into view. Candlelight Shadow was leading them and he was flanked by his four War Gods. The players of Candle Dragon had arrived at a most inopportune moment for us! Clang! As he drew his sharp sword, a sinister smile appeared on Candlelight Shadow¡¯s face. ¡°Charge! Don¡¯t show mercy to anyone who bears the emblem of Snowy Cathaya or Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! I want you to kill them all!¡± Two of his generals, Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow, were already charging at us before he had even finished speaking. Both of them slammed into a warrior from Snowy Cathaya and sent his body flying with a flurry of violent blows. The situation was extremely bad for us right now. Candle Dragon stood in front of us and there was a gigantic dragon and a lurking Farewell Song at our backs. It seemed as if we had really gotten ourselves into a catch-22 situation this time. Li Chengfeng brandished his Tempest Sword as he let out a deep roar of rage. ¡°Lu Chen! Why are all of you still milling about like dummies? I¡¯ll block Candle Dragon with my party, you need to retreat with everyone else. Don¡¯t let everybody die in this place. We came here to get that dragon scale, not be someone else¡¯s bridesmaid!¡± My nose twinged as I twirled around and yelled, ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here. We¡¯ll hide in the ravine over there to avoid the boss¡¯s attacks! Hurry!¡± ¡­¡­ The players from Warsky Alliance had quietly appeared on the other side of the map. Warsky didn¡¯t provoke anyone into a fight. Instead, he stealthily approached the gigantic dragon from the back. After that, October Rain shot a Devil Piercing Arrow at Star Dragon, and the one hundred and twenty players of Warsky Alliance began to fight the boss in our place. Based on their current DPS, they would be able to kill the boss and get the last dragon scale in the next twenty minutes. Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and Purple Marquis stared at the players of Candle Dragon with bloodshot eyes. All of them brandished their weapons as they charged toward them with a care in the world. Five people were charging into more than twenty high-level experts from Candle Dragon. This was obviously a kamikaze attack! However, when Candlelight Shadow saw this, his lips actually tugged up into a triumphant grin as he took out a dark green card from his inventory and threw it high in the air. He let out a roar of laughter as he yelled, "You dumbasses, it¡¯s time to die! Wood Dragon Vines!" My heart sank to the pit of my stomach. He had actually used a skill card! Li Chengfeng and his group were screwed! Whoosh! Only Li Chengfeng and Purple Marquis managed to charge out of the attack radius of that Wood Dragon Vines in the end. Thick vines shot up from the ground and wrapped themselves around the legs of the other three, rendering them completely immobile! Tempest Shadow rushed forward and three strikes of his spear had just about emptied Xu Yang¡¯s health bar. He sneered at him as he said, "Sunmoon Stardust, huh! What could the four elders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul ever do?" Xu Yang¡¯s eyes turned bloodshot as he spat back a reply, "I can kill you!" His sharp blade suddenly spun forward as Xu Yang actually managed to use his Barrier Break skill while bound by those wooden vines. However, Tempest Shadow¡¯s health was very high, so there was no way Xu Yang would have been able to kill him in that strike. In the next instant, Tempest Shadow roared in anger as he unleashed his vindictive riposte, his long spear tearing a hole in Xu Yang¡¯s throat! Puchi! Xu Yang collapsed to the ground heavily while Candlelight Shadow elegantly ran forward and thrust his sword into High Fighting Spirits¡¯ chest. To Candlelight Shadow, killing these frozen stumps was no different from shooting ducks in a barrel. He cruelly twisted his blade after he stabbed High Fighting Spirits as a small smile appeared on his face. "High Fighting Spirits, you¡¯re one of the officers of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. How does it feel to be slaughtered just like a dog?¡± High Fighting Spirits¡¯ eyes were bloodshot as he reached out to grab the blade of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s sword. He forcibly shoved it even deeper into his chest as he howled, "Even if I do get slaughtered, I¡¯ll never die like a dog. And even if you do win, you might still be a dog yet!" High Fighting Spirits suddenly lashed out with his Invincible as he unleashed Xiezhi Howl. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s health suddenly dropped and he kicked High Fighting Spirits away violently. He immediately rushed forward with a snarl as he finished the Berserker off. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s health had been whittled down to less than 20% by Blue Sky Scar¡¯s hit-and-run attacks, but he was still struggling valiantly. His mount¡¯s tenacity had long since been depleted but he still slashed his sword left and right. Even though he was doomed, he still managed to use Do or Die to shave off half of Blue Sky Scar¡¯s health in one blow. Blue Sky Scar stumbled back in complete shock and his heart started beating faster every time he glanced at Eighteen Steed¡¯s corpse. ¡­¡­ On the other side of the skirmish, Li Chengfeng and Purple Marquis were wreaking havoc on Candle Dragon¡¯s backline. They killed one expert after the other, but they were both caught off-guard when Candle Dragon started to counterattack. Transient Smoke and Clouds had been kiting them all this while and he managed to successfully stun Purple Marquis with a Shock Arrow. He immediately yelled in an anxious voice, "Little Dance, it¡¯s time to begin to slaughter!" God¡¯s Dance waved her staff in the air as she unleashed both Galaxy Storm and Dragon¡¯s Roar at Purple Marquis. This combo instantly dropped him to critical health, but the warrior still charged forward with bloodlust in his eyes. A high-level warrior from Candle Dragon crashed into Purple Marquis with a loud "bang", but his movements were slow and sluggish after that. Purple Marquis instantly took advantage of that delay to strike that warrior with Barrier Break + Vacuum Slash combo, which sent the hapless warrior to the afterlife. Then, he threw his head back and howled like an enraged lion. Crack! A bloodied sword suddenly burst out of the front of Purple Marquis¡¯s chest. Candlelight Shadow chuckled coldly from behind him as he said, "The best warrior in Snowy Cathaya. Hmph, you still have to die like everyone else!" Purple Marquis¡¯s eyes grew hazy as he slowly knelt to the ground and muttered, "Guild leader, I¡¯m sorry. I tried my best¡­" When he saw that Purple Marquis had died, Li Chengfeng flew into an uncontrollable rage. His eyes had turned scarlet with anger as he smoothly shifted to the side and gave Tempest Shadow¡¯s shield a violent kick. He spun to his right and forced Blue Sky Scar back with three violent slashes. The current Li Chengfeng looked even more like a blood-maddened lion than even Purple Marquis had, yet he was still fighting with a cool head! At the very least, he was using his sublime mechanical skill to suppress both Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow at the same time! Candlelight Shadow rushed forward to greet him. He suddenly changed his trajectory slightly as he weaved a slight arc toward Li Chengfeng. As he ran past Li Chengfeng, his sword flicked out like a venomous snake and bit into the dragon warrior¡¯s throat, pushing his HP to below 40%. At the same time, God¡¯s Dance used her Galaxy Storm to control and restrict Li Chengfeng¡¯s movements. As a result, the dragon warrior had no choice but to duel against Candlelight Shadow in these desperate conditions. He was at a complete disadvantage! Puchi! Bright red blood flew into the air as Candlelight Shadow shoved his sword through Li Chengfeng¡¯s chest. The force of the thrust was so great that he nailed Li Chenfeng in the rock wall behind him. A sinister smile appeared on his face as he said, "That¡¯s right. I played with that girl and threw her aside. But so what? In this game, you¡¯ll never be able to beat me. So what can you prove anyway?" Li Chengfeng reached out to grab Candlelight Shadow¡¯s sword as his face twisted up with rage and discontent. I could even see two tears roll down his face as he glared at Candlelight Shadow. When Candlelight Shadow nailed Li Chengfeng to the wall and killed him, it signaled the end of the battle. Candle Dragon had paid an exceedingly small price to kill the five brave generals of Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. ¡­¡­ When I saw the look on Li Chengfeng¡¯s face as he died, my nose twitched violently and I had to hold back the urge to cry. After that, my vision went completely red and I turned around and dashed toward the entrance of the valley, the Heaven-stealing Sword leaping into my hands. Lin Yixin yelled at me from behind, "Lu Chen, what are you trying to do?!" As I swiftly danced over the rocky ground, I bellowed back, "I¡¯m going to kill them! I¡¯m going to kill them all! I¡­" Lin Yixin was completely shocked. "Didn¡¯t you want to gather five dragon scales? You¡­ you need to calm down and think!" I roared back with tears in my eyes, "I don¡¯t care about any benefits or pros and cons! I only want to make sure that the dignity of my comrades never get trampled on! That they never get bullied by anyone! To that end, I¡¯ll do anything, even if I die in the process! I will never back down!!!" ¡­¡­ My eyes had turned scarlet with rage and Candlelight Shadow and his party were already aware of my arrival. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s lips immediately curved up into a small smile as he said, "Lu Chen has come! Everyone, prepare yourselves! We¡¯ll take him out in a single round!" I sucked in a deep breath. I activated the God Suppressing Necklace¡¯s unique skill, God¡¯s Rage. My attacks would all become critical hits in the next sixty seconds. This synergized extremely well with my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor¡¯s Blood Fiend passive, which returned 10% of my health every time I scored a critical hit! "Attack!" Candlelight Shadow charged toward me with his sword raised in the air while Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow flanked me. From the distance, I could see that Transient Smoke and Clouds had shot off a Shock Arrow at just the right moment. It would be hit by that attack if I continued to move forward! Crack! Dust flew up in the air as I suddenly pivoted and changed direction. I moved away from my original spot as my body spun around Candlelight Shadow in a perfect spiral. However, Candlelight Shadow had still been able to hit me in the back with his flurry attack, Blazing Purgatory Slash! Damage numbers popped up above my head 8902! 9032! 9271! This sort of damage wasn¡¯t able to interfere with my movement at all, so in the next instant, I appeared in front of Tempest Shadow and my Heaven-stealing Sword howled out toward him as I used Universe Break! "Huh?" Tempest Shadow¡¯s expression changed dramatically but he couldn¡¯t react in time to parry my attack. He could only watch as my longsword cut through his shield like a hot knife through butter. It pierced into his chest and burst out the other end! 48904! It was a critical hit which had nearly dealt fifty thousand points of damage to Tempest Shadow. Unfortunately for me, his equipment was extremely strong, so he still had a chunk of health left. Meanwhile, a bunch of priests in the back were desperately trying to heal him! "Time for you to die!" I roared as I unleashed Burning Blade Slash. It blasted Tempest Shadow¡¯s shield apart, turning both him and his mount into chunks of minced meat. The effects of a critical hit were extremely graphic and violent. "Fucking hell! Damn you, Lu Chen!" Blue Sky Scar lunged toward me from behind. I reacted with lightning quickness as I twisted my body and danced a few steps backward. I slammed into his chest and borrowed the momentum from the collision to spin around. My sword flashed through the air as I slashed his throat with a basic attack. 37882! Blue Sky Scar¡¯s eyes widened in complete shock as he slowly knelt to the ground. He looked as if he was still processing the fact that he had been one-shot by a basic attack. Puchi! My back grew cold as a blade gorily burst out from the front of my chest. It was Candlelight Shadow¡¯s sword. 14657! Chapter 556: A Sudden Reversal of Fortune +3500! +14735! ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow seemed somewhat leery of approaching me. My Heaven-stealing Sword was flickering with what seemed to be a terrifying light as I moved toward him. "Bring it on, you garbage Martial God! Why are you running away?" My rage was nowhere near satisfied as I endured the attacks of God¡¯s Dance and Transient Smoke and Clouds to close the distance with Candlelight Shadow. When I raised my hand, four divine weapons shot down from the heavens to trap Candlelight Shadow in place, but he neatly avoided them by running a zigzag route. However, him dodging my God Binding Art was all part of the plan. He had fallen into my trap! Candlelight Shadow hadn¡¯t noticed it, but my God Binding Art had been strategically placed to force him to move right next to a huge stone wall, the same one that Li Chengfeng had been nailed to just a little while ago. I had tricked him into maneuvering himself into a corner. Clang! Despite being tricked into cornering himself, Candlelight Shadow still fought with sublime skill and alacrity. His face was warped with rage as he parried my sword and struck back with a swift riposte. But I didn¡¯t let up either. I immediately raised my left arm to block his attack while my Heaven-stealing Sword flashed past Candlelight Shadow¡¯s throat, causing a huge damage number to pop up in the air. 25674! Candlelight Shadow naturally survived that blow. He had also been buffed by a high-level bard, so his defenses and health were exceptionally high. "Let¡¯s see how many more of those you can take!" Our swords danced furiously in the air as we rapidly exchanged blows. Finally, I managed to block three consecutive strikes from Candlelight Shadow. I sprang forward and ran him through with my Heaven-stealing Sword. The sound of metal striking stone rang out in the air as I nailed him to the wall in an act of poetic justice. I raised up my left gauntlet and a bloody energy started swirling around it before I smashed it straight into the Martial God¡¯s face! Bang! Blood sprayed into the air and the vaunted Martial God wasn¡¯t looking so good anymore. Even Candlelight Shadow himself would have never imagined that he would ever experience a day like this. As he stared at me in fury, Candlelight Shadow slowly raised his right hand and pointed a finger toward me, causing the picture of a ghost god to appear over my head. This bastard had actually used his Ghost God Prophecy on me. I roared, "Fuck you! Will your Ghost God Prophecy even linger after your death? How many people do you think you can kill, you absolute disgrace of a Martial God?!" ¡­¡­ I savagely pulled my sword out of his body, then kicked it brutally. I also bent down to pick up the legguards that had dropped. I¡¯d pass them to Li Chengfeng as an apology for the indignity that he had suffered. Thud! Thud! Arrows fell on me like rain and my back was filled with so many arrows that I looked like a porcupine. I had less than 5% of my HP left and it looked like the gig was up for me. I turned around to look at Transient Smoke and Clouds. I suddenly bared my teeth at him and said, "Do you want to kill me? Hurry up then! I¡¯ve already killed my fair share, so this death is worth it¡­" Bang! Spiraling Arrow Blade blasted my tattered body backward. My knees hit the gravelly ground as I stumbled and lost my balance. Not far in front of me were the bodies of High Fighting Spirits, Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Purple Marquis, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. I grinned, muttering to myself, "Dying together with you guys on the same patch of ground is also a sort of fucking bond I guess¡­" But it was at this exact moment that a beam of holy light suddenly fell on my head. My HP shot back up to more than ten thousand and the only person who could have healed me by such a great amount was Murong Mingyue. At the same time, Transient Smoke and Clouds¡¯ body suddenly stiffened as it was rendered immobile. The stun CC¡¯s icon appeared above his head as a beautiful assassin appeared behind him. Her sharp dagger whirled in the air as she used Blade Vortex, the consecutive strikes killing the hapless archer just as he was about to recover from his debuff. The assassin girl sheathed her dagger and looked toward me. When she saw my ragged appearance, she smiled at me and said, "Lu Chen, sorry about that! We came late¡­" God¡¯s Dance was just about to attack Moonkiss when her Magic Shield suddenly started to buzz and whine incessantly. A scorching ball of flames exploded against it and that attack was swiftly followed by a Galaxy Storm. Both attacks combined to reduce the durability of God¡¯s Dance¡¯s Magic Shield by half. There was only one person who could deal such high magic damage on our server and that was Luo River God of the Capital herself! "Ah?!¡± God¡¯s Dance let out a startled cry. She clearly hadn¡¯t expected Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s Magic Attack to be so high. God¡¯s Dance had no choice but to quickly retreat. She¡¯d already lost the upper hand in their duel since Luo River God of the Capital had got off a free shot at her Magic Shield, so there was no way she could win this duel in the first place. Furthermore, the beautiful assassin who could infiltrate any location, Moonkiss, had also drawn her daggers again. If she allowed Moonkiss to get close, God¡¯s Dance would find it even more difficult to escape from this altercation alive. When I saw Luo River God of the Capital attack, I sprang to my feet without any warning, then broke out into a dead sprint. As such, I was already waiting for God¡¯s Dance when she started to retreat. The Heaven-stealing Sword flashed with a deadly light as I smashed it through her Magic Shield with a Universe Break! 19034! God¡¯s Dance collapsed to the ground with a stifled groan. Now all five of Candle Dragon¡¯s famed experts were dead. She had even dropped a pair of shiny mage shoes when she died. I picked those up and tossed them to Luo River God of The Capital. This was merely returning one good deed for another. However, Luo River God of the Capital pouted and said, "Hurry up and pick up Candlelight Shadow¡¯s dragon scale!" "Oh right." I picked up the Wood Dragon Scale that Candlelight Shadow had dropped. With this, I now had three dragon scales once more. ¡­¡­ He Yi, Lin Yixin, and the rest of my party soon arrived and as they surveyed the battlefield, both girls were more than a little shocked. He Yi¡¯s delicate mouth dropped open as she muttered, "Lu Chen, you¡¯re really awesome¡­" Lin Yixin nodded her head while also saying, "Despite being surrounded by the five godlike experts of Candle Dragon, he managed to kill Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, and Martial God Candlelight Shadow himself in the span of sixty seconds. I suspect that he¡¯s probably the only person in the world that could pull off such a feat, right? Lu Chen¡¯s skill is simply unbelievable¡­" Beiming Xue cautiously replied, "That¡¯s only because big bro got mad¡­" Murong Mingyue nodded her head. "Yeah." ¡­¡­ Luo River God of the Capital laughed when she heard those words, she had clearly come here in peace. She said, "Hmmm, how about all of us team up? Purple Lily doesn¡¯t have that many players left either, so let¡¯s all for a party with the beautiful Wind Fantasy as our leader. We¡¯ll go wipe out Warsky Alliance and snatch back the Star Dragon that belonged to both your guilds in the first place. How does that sound?" I looked over at where the giant dragon was and saw that Warsky Alliance was putting up a good fight. The Star Dragon¡¯s HP had already fallen to 5%. There was no time to waste. I nodded in response. "We¡¯ll move out when the boss''s HP drops to 3%. Warsky Alliance doesn¡¯t have that many people left, but the most annoying person among them, Farewell Song, is still alive. Hmph, that punk still has Gui Guzi¡¯s Rainbow so we need to make sure that he drops it! If not, we will have let Gui Guzi down!" "Yeah!" The girls nodded their heads in unison. We reformed the party. Only twenty-odd people remained of our original hundred-man party, but Luo River God of the Capital had brought more than thirty people with her so we just managed to form a new sixty-man party. This bolstered our healing up to acceptable levels as well, so we should be able to deal with the dying Star Dragon quite easily. Normally, killing a boss that was on its last legs was quite easy, but Warsky hadn¡¯t noticed just how terrifying this boss was. His one hundred and twenty man party had been reduced to a pitiful group of thirty-odd people and even an assassin like Farewell Song was forced to go up to deal damage to the boss. They were trying to kill the dragon as soon as possible because they had no idea what was happening over on our side. ¡­¡­ After two minutes, the boss''s HP had finally dropped to 3%. Besides Warsky and Farewell Song, nearly all the other frontliners of Warsky Alliance had fallen to the dragon¡¯s claws. Even if we didn¡¯t attack them, they already looked like they were doomed. But how could we not return this ¡°favor¡±? "Let¡¯s go! Everyone, charge!" I brandished my longsword as I led the charge toward the players of Warsky Alliance. At this moment, there was no one who wanted to slaughter this bunch of people more than I did. Lin Yixin, He Yi, Moonkiss, and Beiming Xue swiftly followed behind me. I yelled, "Leave Farewell Song to me! Beiming, your job is to stun Warsky. Beauty Luo and Yiyi will immediately kill him after that. Warsky¡¯s equipment ain¡¯t bad, so we¡¯ll be rich if he drops an item or two. Eve, I¡¯ll leave October Rain to you. Use Charge to control her movements! Don¡¯t give her an opportunity to pull anything slick. She won¡¯t be able to kill you with her attack power anyway!" The girls nodded their heads. "Alright!" ¡­¡­ I locked onto Farewell Song and ran straight ahead. When I was within 45 yards of him, I immediately activated Thunderous Charge without any hesitation. My body started to blur as I accelerated toward the person who was known as the number one assassin in China! Whoosh! Farewell Song¡¯s reaction speed was extremely fast. He spun on his heel and started to dance across the ground gracefully. He had used his Shadow Dance skill and he used his greatly boosted movement speed to dodge my charge with graceful yet effective weaving. I never intended to hit him with my Thunderous Charge in the first place. The moment I came to a stop, my longsword immediately danced in the air as I used an Icy Cyclone Domain to slow the assassin down. The instant Icy Cyclone Domain formed around him, I shot Thousand Ice Slash at him! "Huh?" Farewell Song was caught by surprise as his feet slid to the side to avoid the fan-shaped Thousand Ice Slash! He had barely managed to dodge that strike so there was no way he could prepare himself for the God Binding Art that came next! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! The four divine weapons fell into the ground around Farewell Song, trapping him inside. He had dodged right into this attack, meaning there was no way that he would have been able to avoid it. "Hmph!" Farewell Song turned a ring on his finger as he activated his invincibility skill. Dark green light shrouded his entire body as he successfully entered an invincible state for seven seconds. However, my God Binding Art lasted fifteen, so he had simply wasted those seven seconds of invulnerability. Farewell Song struggled to move both left and right but he realized that he was unable to break the fetters of my God Binding Art. His eyes started to turn frantic. I timed my attack just right, his invincibility buff faded just as my Heaven-stealing Sword was flying toward his chest. Brilliant light exploded out of my Heaven-stealing Sword as a fiery cone of spiraling indigo energy swirled around the sword. My sword instantly ran him through, the huge impact from Universe Break blowing the powerful king of assassins to pieces! Thunk! Quite a few things dropped from Farewell Song as he died. To my delight, Gui Guzi¡¯s Rainbow was also among them. I swiftly bent down to pick up both the Earth Dragon Scale and the shining spear before throwing them into my inventory. This is great! We didn¡¯t let Gui Guzi down after all! ¡­¡­ On the other side of the huge dragon, Beiming Xue had managed to successfully stun Warsky with a Shock Arrow. Lin Yixin dove in and used Extreme Break + Barrier Break to take off half of Warsky¡¯s HP before Luo River God of the Capital blasted the poor man into chunks of steaming hot mess with Galaxy Storm! He even dropped his breastplate upon death! Whoosh! While mounted on her Snow Domain Windchaser, He Yi flew toward October Rain. October Rain¡¯s mechanical control was extremely good but she was still just an archer. There was no way that she could outrun He Yi. She was being run ragged and when she finally made a mistake, Lin Yixin ran in to finish her off with a single slash of her sword! In just a couple of moments, Warsky Alliance¡¯s frontline had completely collapsed and all of their experts had been killed. I turned around to stare at the Star Dragon as I yelled, "Sis, make sure to keep an eye on my health! I¡¯m starting on the boss now! Chapter 557: Stormy Waves War Boots Four big divine weapons fell from the sky and surrounded the Star Dragon. Thankfully for us, I actually managed to successfully use God Binding Art on it this time. As we faced off against this Level 160 Heaven Rank boss, which was at the end of its tether, once again, we turned out to be the final victors. Everyone from Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance had died and the only people that still remained on the B9 floor were the players from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and our allies from Purple Lily and Snowy Cathaya. There was no need to have a duel to the death with either of them. Crack! White Moon shone with a brilliant light as Lin Yixin hit the Star Dragon in the neck with extreme precision. She had used Extreme Break, causing a silvery sheen to instantly cover its gigantic body as its Defense and max HP dropped like a rock. I immediately lunged forward with my sword, hiting the boss with Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo. The six consecutive hits exploded all around the dragon, along with six damage numbers. As everyone started laying into the Star Dragon, its HP dropped to 1% in the blink of an eye. After Lin Yixin, He Yi, Luo River God of the Capital, and the rest of our party had finished their cycle of attacks, the boss only had a pitiful sliver of HP left. It looked like it was about to die at any moment. Right before the effects of Extreme Break ended, I lunged forward again as I hit the purple dragon with Universe Break and yet another Burning Blade Slash. I felt cold energy surge through my hand as I attacked. My ring¡¯s Silver Dragon Storm skill had been activated! Roooooaaar! A huge blast of silver dragon energy engulfed the Star Dragon and did just enough damage to knock off its last bit of health. "Aooooouuuu¡­" Amidst a final pitiful wail, this ancient king of dragonkind finally tumbled to the ground. Its gigantic body, which was as big as a small hill, slammed into the ground unceremoniously and a bunch of items popped out of its corpse along with a Star Dragon Scale. ¡­¡­ "Wait a minute." Lin Yixin suddenly thrust out a hand to stop anyone from moving forward. She smiled as she said, "Before we start dividing the loot, let¡¯s all agree on a few things first! Fact of the matter is that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was the guild that did more than 80% of the damage in this boss, so it really belongs to them. Sister Luo and I only came to help, so we really shouldn¡¯t fight over any of the spoils of war. However, the nine dragon scales must be gathered in the end. If not, this entire endeavor would have been a waste of time. This is my proposal. Let¡¯s all hand our dragon scales to Lu Chen and as compensation, Sister Luo and I can each choose a piece of equipment from the boss drops. How does that sound?" He Yi walked over and passed me October Rain¡¯s Flying Dragon Scale. I had already picked up Farewell Song¡¯s Fire Dragon Scale and Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Wood Dragon Scale, so I now possessed seven of the nine scales and the other two remaining were the Thunder Dragon Scale, which was in Lin Yixin¡¯s possession, and the Wind Dragon Scale, which was in Beauty Luo¡¯s possession. After she heard Lin Yixin¡¯s proposal, Luo River God of the Capital smiled cheerily and nodded her head. "Yeah, I only have one dragon scale with me, so I¡¯m not shameless enough to ask for the rest of them. I¡¯ll just pass mine to Lu Chen. As for the equipment drops, I¡¯m only interested in picking up mage equipment. If there isn¡¯t any, I won¡¯t ask for anything." Lin Yixin nodded her head in approval. "Yeah, I also only want equipment exclusive to wanderers. I won¡¯t ask for any magic knight or warrior equipment either." As they said those words, both ladies passed their dragon scales to me. I finally had all nine dragon scales in my possession! As I stared at these dragon scales that were sitting in my inventory, I felt countless emotions surge through my heart. These were the quest items that all the great guilds in China had practically fought to the death over. Even guilds like Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, and Hegemon Palace had been drowned in this ocean of blood, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, and Purple Lily had lost nearly all their players in this conflict as well. But with this, this fierce and bloody battle finally came to a close. ¡­¡­ "How about we check out those drops, Lu Chen?" Luo River God of the Capital said with a soft laugh. "Alright." I nodded my head and strode forward to pick up all the items that the Star Dragon had dropped. There were six items in all and I displayed them one at a time. Everyone¡¯s eyes lit up with excitement. No one knew whether a legendary Heaven-grade item was hidden among the six. Such an item would be even more powerful than Earth-grade equipment, so an appearance of a Heaven-grade item would be a huge matter, reverberating throughout the China server! The first item was a shiny longsword with beautiful inscriptions running down the length of its body. It crackled with electricity so it was clearly a thunder-element weapon. The second item was a golden necklace with a pendant that was shaped like a blazing cluster of flames. The third item was an indigo shield that glimmered with light. The fourth item was a pair of dark cyan war boots that radiated vast amounts of energy. The fifth was a translucent jade flute, and the last was a weird looking piece of armor. I didn¡¯t know what in the world that could be used for. As everyone looked at these six items with anticipation, I picked up the longsword that was crackling with electricity and waved a hand over it, revealing its stats in the party chat. Everyone¡¯s eyes instantly popped wide open, as if they couldn¡¯t believe what they were seeing. Blade of Violet Lightning (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 840~1140 Strength: +160 Stamina: +155 Tactics: +40 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 45% Passive: Increases user¡¯s attack speed by 25% Passive: When wielding the Blade of Violet Lightning, there is a chance that a lightning formation will appear and attack every target in a set radius. Slots: 5 Outstanding Property: The Blade of Violet Lightning shrouds its user in protective aura, providing 20% damage reduction to its user at all times. Introduction: In ancient times, before the continent was broken apart, there was a famous general from a feudal state whose accomplishments are remembered to this day. He conquered the untamed wilds and pacified all the barbarian tribes who lived there. He also found two divine weapons while campaigning in those barren lands. They were named Violet Lightning and Blue Cloud. This blade is exactly that famed Violet Lightning and it possesses an extremely strong affinity with natural lightning. It cuts through all of its enemies with swift certainty when used in battle, truly resembling a bolt of violet lightning that streaks through the battlefield. Level Requirement: 135 ¡­¡­ "Woah, what a strong sword-type weapon! It¡¯s a 4-star Outstanding Earth-grade weapon and its attack power exceeds 1100 points! How powerful¡­" Beiming Xue muttered. "It seems way stronger than big bro¡¯s Heaven-stealing Sword." I pursed my lips and chose not to say anything yet. Luo River God of the Capital waved her hands. "It¡¯s a sword-type weapon, so Moonkiss and I have nothing to do with that! Deal with it as you see fit!" I exchanged glances with He Yi. Her eyes then swept toward Lin Yixin. After that, our beautiful guild leader silently nodded her head toward me. Her intentions were as plain as day. I laughed and said, "My Heaven-stealing Sword and Eve¡¯s Whirlwind both seem quite a bit stronger than Yiyi¡¯s Frost Sword, so we won¡¯t even roll for this and harm our friendship with one another. This Violet Lightning belongs to you, Yiyi!" When I presented Violet Lightning to Lin Yixin, her beautiful eyes widened dramatically as she stared at me in disbelief. She reached out to touch the blade of Violent Lightning tentatively, like a beautiful and greedy little kitten. She clearly wanted to gobble up the "food" presented to her but she was apprehensive about it as well. Her beautiful eyes were filled with hesitation and worry. "Just take it. We¡¯re only going to give this one thing to Snowy Cathaya anyway." I grabbed her hand and shoved Violet Lightning into her arms. A sweet smile appeared on Lin Yixin¡¯s face as she nodded toward everyone and said, "Then I won¡¯t refuse this gift! Thank you, everyone!" He Yi giggled as she replied, "Without your Bombshell, there was no way that we would even be able to take down the boss in the first place. This sword was always going to belong to you! Don¡¯t sweat the small stuff." "Okay¡­" Lin Yixin had reached Level 135 after killing the boss, so she swiftly equipped Violet Lightning. Her attack power rose dramatically and she looked very cool holding the electrifying purple-colored longsword! I continued on to the next item. It was the golden necklace with a golden flame-shaped pendant. I waved my hand over it, causing it to flash with light as its stats popped out into the air. Fire God¡¯s Necklace (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï) Intelligence: +155 Stamina: +140 Tactics: +27 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 30% Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 20% Slots: 5 Outstanding Property: Roaring Flames. Upon activation, all of the user¡¯s fire-based attacks will deal 100% more damage for 60 seconds. Cooldown: 60 minutes. Level Requirement: 135 ¡­¡­ It was a necklace designed specifically for mages to use. Since our best mage, Moonlight Stone, had died when disaster struck us earlier, she wasn¡¯t here to object. Furthermore, we had agreed that one mage item would go to Luo River God of the Capital, which meant that this necklace was hers. I passed the necklace over to Luo River God of the Capital and she took it from me in a very courteous manner. She let out a soft laugh. "Thank you! I hope to work with you again!" I nodded my head and replied, "Yeah, it was great working with you!" After that, I took out the indigo shield and it was quite obvious that this wasn¡¯t just any old shield. Its surface shone with a prismatic light and when I finally shared its stats, several of the girls in the party gasped out loud. Starflame Rampart (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 1120 Magic Resist: 1000 Strength: +150 Stamina: +165 Tactics: +35 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 35% Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 8000 Slots: 7 Outstanding Property: Starwall. Summons star flames from within the shield which will protect the user from all damage for 12 seconds. Level Requirement: 135 ¡­¡­ Holy shit! What a strong shield! It increased both Defense and Magic Resist by at least 1000 and it even added 8000 to the user¡¯s max HP. Its Outstanding Property was even an invincibility skill that lasted for twelve seconds! This was a shield that fully covered every base that a magic knight would want covered! Any magic knight who had this shield would become a powerful steel wall that could push the enemy backward or cover the retreat of their allies! With barely any thought, I tossed the Starflame Rampart to He Yi and said, "You¡¯re the only one who can use this shield, so this belongs to you¡­" He Yi¡¯s smile grew very sweet as she thanked everyone for allowing her to take the item. This was basic manners for anyone who had successfully gotten any boss loot. After all, many people still hadn¡¯t gotten any items and that never felt great. The fourth item were those dark cyan war boots. Vast amounts of energy undulated around the boots and there was no way that it was an ordinary item. When I shared its stats, I was pleased to have been right on the money! My turn had finally come! Stormy Waves War Boots (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 770 Magic Resist: 650 Strength: +155 Stamina: +160 Tactics: +29 Passive: Increases user¡¯s movement speed by 45% Passive: Increases user¡¯s critical damage by 20% Slots: 5 Outstanding Property: Swift Step, increases user¡¯s movement speed by 35% Level Requirement: 135 ¡­¡­ Hot damn! These boots were way too OP! Its first passive increased movement speed by 45% and its Outstanding Property increased movement speed by 35%. This meant that it boosted its wearer¡¯s movement speed by 80% altogether. My heart danced with joy as my eyes shone with glee. I hugged the war boots to my chest and said, "Can I have these boots? Please?" Lin Yixin stared at me with an incredulous expression on her face. "Do you think we could even snatch them away from you if we wanted to? Do you realize just how tightly you¡¯re hugging those boots?" "Heehee¡­" Even Luo River God of the Capital and Moonkiss couldn¡¯t help but giggle when they heard those words. I shamelessly equipped the Stormy Waves War Boots and kept my Barbaric Warboots of Heaven in my inventory. My stats instantly rose up a lot¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Purgatory Thunder) Class: Undead Swordsman (Platinum Swordsman) Level: 137 Health: 27230 Attack: 2022~2625 Defense: 4065 Magic Resist: 3710 Reputation: 209480 Tactics: 286 Luck: 33 ¡­¡­ Chapter 558: Cyan Netherworld Sword Magic Attack: 780~970 Intelligence: +155 Stamina: +140 Passive: Increases user¡¯s healing output by 30% Passive: Increases bard¡¯s buff effects by 40%. Slots: 5 Outstanding Property: Soft Melody, raise a single target¡¯s Attack by 20% and health regeneration by 50% Level Requirement: 135 ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t even bother asking anyone for their opinions, I simply threw it straight to Pure Love and said, "Go and train hard, so that you can hit Level 135 soon and equip this weapon." Pure Love nodded her head furiously as she replied, "Yeah, yeah! I definitely won¡¯t let big bro down!" Moonkiss spat out in a rather incredulous voice, "Man, this guy has little sisters everywhere¡­" That comment left me speechless. ¡­¡­ Now, we finally came to the final piece of equipment dropped by the Star Dragon. It was a rather long and oddly-shaped set of armor, and I really couldn¡¯t figure out what it was used for. But when I shared its stats, both He Yi and Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes immediately widened in shock. Wild Barding (Earth-grade) Mount Strength: +145 Mount Stamina: +140 Mount Tenacity: +30% Mount Movement Speed: +20% Attack Speed: +10% Level Requirement: 135 ¡­¡­ It was a piece of equipment that could be equipped on a mount. Yeah, this should be the barding that people would normally see on armored warhorses. Wow, it really did give a lot of stats, it was strong as hell! I turned around to look at Lin Yixin and He Yi. "Which of you wants this piece of mount equipment?" In the end, both girls shook their heads. Lin Yixin said, "I already took the Blade of Violet Lightning so I won¡¯t take any other items." He Yi also said, "I don¡¯t want it either. Give this to Gui Guzi or Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. Both of them died, so they definitely suffered some losses. It would be better to give this to one of them." "Okay." I nodded my head and passed the barding to Pure Love. After that, I also passed Gui Guzi¡¯s Rainbow to her and said in a stern voice, "The moment you return to the city, I want you to personally hand these items over to Gui Guzi. You got it?" "Yes!" Pure Love nodded her head earnestly. ¡­¡­ "So what do we do next? Return to the city?" Murong Mingyue asked as she checked the time. She stuck out her tongue and laughed. "Oh, it¡¯s already three in the morning! Oh man, it¡¯s been so long since we last ate. I¡¯m so hungry¡­" I stared at the distant interconnected valleys. "I¡¯m going to go offline to get something to eat and will come back later to grind these Star Rhinos. I want to get a few more sets of Split Galaxy armor to strengthen the guild. What about the rest of you? Who wants to grind with me through the night? We can sleep again in the morning." He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue instantly nodded their heads eagerly. However, Lin Yixin and the other girls rubbed their eyes and said that they were going to bed. They took out their return scrolls and went back to the city. In the end, only the members of Frost Cloud workshop ended up staying behind. All of us went offline to eat something before we started grinding the Star Rhinos again. We hunted them until eight in the morning and we had just about swept the area clean of Star Rhinos by the time we were done. We managed to gather fifteen sets of Split Galaxy armor in total. This meant that we could create fifteen first-class cavalrymen for our guild! The girls all went offline but I still had something important to do! I needed to go and see Princess Karinshan with these nine dragon scales to get the final quest reward. That had been the ultimate goal of sweeping the Nine Lost Dragon Domains in the first place, and everyone had been gunning for this prize from the very beginning. Even the last boss, a Heaven Rank boss, hadn¡¯t dropped a Heaven-grade item, so it looked like the only way that a player could get a Heaven-grade item from this quest was through these nine dragon scales... I took out my return scroll and crushed it! Whoosh! A beam of magic light engulfed me as I was thrust into a rift in time and space, instantly appearing in Sky City. I blinked as the rays of morning light stabbed into my eyes. After I shook my head gently, I looked at Sky City again. Yeah, it really was beautiful as it was illuminated by the gentle rays of the morning sun. I broke out into a mad dash. My Stormy Waves War Boots increased my movement speed by 80%, so I practically flew across the streets as I ran toward the palace. Given my status, I didn¡¯t need to stop and report to any of the guards as I entered the royal palace. I simply walked straight into the great hall. As expected, Karinshan was grasping the handle of her sword as she sat in front of the throne and listened to the various combat reports being delivered by her messengers. "Your Highness, the beastmen from the wild north have started to stir, and they¡¯ve dispatched several small squads of beastmen warriors to harass our villages on the borders of our kingdom. Those vile and abominable creatures need to be punished!" "Your Highness, there hasn¡¯t been much movement in the Violet Empire. However, yesterday morning, Shadow Dancer Xue Wei appeared in the Dragonbone Mountain Range. It seemed as if she was trying to look for something." "Your Highness, we¡¯ve already purged the lands around the Nine Lost Dragon Domains of monsters, but we are unaware of how much progress those adventurers have made in that dungeon." "Your Highness, we¡¯ve received a combat report from Cyanstone Fortress. A necromancer assaulted the city and we lost more than three thousand people. However, we managed to hold the fort and Garrison Commander Royce is currently requesting reinforcements!" ¡­¡­ Karinshan nodded her head. As she issued orders in response to those reports, she totally looked the part of a sovereign. I chose this moment to walk into the hall. Karinshan spied me from a distance as a smile couldn¡¯t help but blossom on her face. She quickly got up and walked over in welcome. "Oh, my brave adventurer, why have you come?" I chuckled and said, "I just came back from adventuring in the Nine Lost Dragon Domains, Princess Karinshan. Are you about to give me some sort of generous reward?" "What?! You have nine dragon scales?" Karinshan was so shocked that her delicate mouth dropped open. The generals around her went completely pale from shock, but a few of them immediately started mocking him. "How is that possible? How could a puny little adventurer like you gather all nine of the dragon scales? I¡¯m afraid even the ruler of the Wood Dragon Domain would be too much for him!" "Your Highness, this brat must definitely be some kind of conman! Qiang Lie requests for permission to throw him out of here!" "All of the brave warriors of the Sky Empire were helpless before the Star Dragon, the ruler of the ninth floor of the Nine Lost Dragon Domains, so how could this insignificant adventurer kill it?" ¡­¡­ As I looked at the smug faces of all of her officials. I couldn¡¯t help but smirk at these fools. There was nothing I loved more than slapping people across the face. I fished out the nine dragon scales from my inventory and laid them out across the ground one by one. I pointed a finger at the dragon scales. "Please look at this, Your Highness. All nine dragon scales are here!" ¡°Ah?!" Karinshan¡¯s jaw practically dropped to the ground this time. She stared at the nine dragon scales in disbelief for a while before her face finally lit up with joy. She turned toward me and said, "Brave adventurer, did you truly kill these ancient evil dragons who had been roused from their slumber?" "Yes, Your Highness! So give me that reward already!" I wailed in anguish. I was both sleepy and exhausted, so I really just wanted to get everything settled as quickly as possible. I still needed to sleep! If I didn¡¯t get any rest soon, I¡¯d keel over! Even an ironman wouldn¡¯t be able to continue working a pressure cooker environment for twenty-four hours straight! "Alright!" Karinshan nodded her head appreciatively before laughing. "Your strength leaves me astounded, my brave adventurer! Since that is the case, what prize do you want? A blade or armor? Or perhaps a high-grade martial art?" I thought about it for a moment. In the current stage of the game, weapons were still more important and my Heaven-stealing Sword was already lagging far behind Lin Yixin¡¯s Blade of Violet Lightning. If I didn¡¯t upgrade my weapon soon, I would soon lose the superiority I enjoyed in attack power. That definitely wouldn¡¯t be a good thing for me. In the upcoming era of heroes, wars over territory would come thick and fast. Without absolute military strength, would I still be able to uphold the dignity of Dark Moon City? I nodded my head and replied, "Your Highness, I would like a sword-type weapon!" "Alright, I understand! I know just the thing!" Karinshan walked up to me and placed a hand in front of my chest. She smiled and said, "In my name as the ruler of Sky City, I confer upon you the title of ¡®hero¡¯. The entire Silver Moon Alliance has been covered in the light of your glorious deeds. Come forward and receive your just reward!" The sound of the system immediately started ringing in the air above Sky City. Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" gathered the nine dragon scales and successfully completed the final quest of the Nine Lost Dragon Domains. Reward: Level +3, Luck +5, Reputation +50000. All buildings in Dark Moon City will be upgraded by one rank. Reward item: "Cyan Netherworld Sword" (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï). ¡­¡­ I instantly heard a loud buzzing in my brain as my mind went blank. She really rewarded me with a weapon and it was a 6-star Outstanding Heaven-grade weapon at that! Man, how OP will this weapon be?! My heart still racing with wild joy, I opened my inventory and saw a longsword that hadn¡¯t been there before. The moment I took it out of my inventory, I felt a vigorous force surge into my body. The body of the sword was bright and nearly translucent. It looked as if it had been forged from some sort of mysterious ice. The image of a blue dragon had been etched onto the body of the sword and it seemed to undulate along the length of the sword in a most vivid and lifelike manner. I seemed to faintly hear a forceful dragon roar emanating from the sword too. But my greatest shock was reserved for the moment I saw the stats of this weapon. Cyan Netherworld Sword (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 1250~1500 Strength: +220 Stamina: +235 Agility: +200 Tactics: +55 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 65% Passive: Increases user¡¯s splash damage by 40% Passive: When attacking a target, there is chance to trigger the "Cyan Netherworld Divine Dragon" skill, which will attack every target in a set radius. Slots: 8 Outstanding Property: Blood Rage. The blood of the Cyan Netherworld Soul will surge during battle. 10% of the damage dealt to the target will be converted into health. Introduction: In ancient times, there was a place called the Cyan Netherworld. Legend has it that the Cyan Netherworld was located in the God Domain. There was an ancient poem which once said "A rainbow stretches from the cyan netherworld, and all of a sudden, I felt as if I had touched the heavens¡±. The gods who lived in the celestial Cyan Netherworld drew in a piece of metal from beyond the heavens. They used the bones of divine dragons to temper it as they forged it for several millennia. After all of those years of focused efforts, they finally forged a divine weapon of incomparable might. The eponymous Cyan Netherworld Sword. Level Requirement: 140 ¡­¡­ This was way too OP! The upper limit of its Attack had reached 1500 points and it was a game-changing number! And it boosted three stats! From the Heaven grade onward, all equipment would boost three stats. Naturally, I couldn¡¯t complain about the passives either. It was a 6-star Outstanding weapon after all, so they were all strong enough to drive other people mad with envy. A 65% boost to Attack, a 40% splash damage passive, and 10% lifesteal! Even though it wasn¡¯t as high as the 14% lifesteal on my Heaven-stealing Sword, my damage was now going to be a lot higher! I immediately checked my level. After that instant three-level jump, I had reached Level 140. I truly was the biggest winner in this Nine Lost Dragon Domains event! The quest reward had boosted me to the top of the level rankings in the China server. Even though this wouldn¡¯t last for long because of the crazy leveling speed of God¡¯s Dance and Luo River God of the Capital, I had at least shot to the top of the charts at least once at this stage of the game! I equipped the Cyan Netherworld Sword and this change marked the end of an era. I went straight from a Spirit-grade weapon to a Heaven-grade one, reaching a whole new realm of power. Obviously, my stats had also experienced a complete transformation. As a new man, I gripped the handle of the Cyan Netherworld Sword tightly, feeling the endless powerful surging through my body. ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Purgatory Thunder) Class: Undead Swordsman (Platinum Swordsman) Level: 140 HP: 28670 Attack: 2732~3370 Defense: 4065 Magic Resist: 3710 Reputation: 259480 Tactics: 343 Luck: 38 ¡­¡­ Very good. I was now yet another step toward the great barrier that was Level 150. I got a 6-star Outstanding weapon on the way too, and it was a divine weapon of matchless might! Currently, I was an absolute nightmare on the battlefield, whether it be against man or beast! Okay, time to go offline! Chapter 559: Like a Hero I asked in the guild channel, "I¡¯m here. Where are you right now, and how many enemies are there, Scythe? Tell me your coordinates and add me to your party. I¡¯ll take them out for you." Soul Severing Scythe was pleasantly surprised by my reply. "You¡¯re here, vice leader? Haha, this is great! There are 40 or so enemies, and many of them are fifth-promotion players. Should we gather a couple more people before we go? My friends were defeated almost instantly. Their attack power is really high." I smiled. "It¡¯s fine, just add me to your party and give me the party leader position. Tell them to wait till I¡¯m done with most of them before reviving, got it?" "Okay. Thank you very much, boss vice leader!" ¡­¡­ Soul Severing Scythe happily made me the leader of his party while I was teleporting to Dark Moon City. A short while later, I exited the gates with the Cyan Netherworld Sword in tow and saw the coordinates of four friendly bodies on the world map. They were only 5 minutes away from where I was. Alright, time to kill some noobs and sweeten my dreams for the night! The tattered Soul Suppressing Cloak flapped loudly behind me as I ran like the wind. It made me look both cool and murderous. In my hand, a draconic soul was circling the glowing blade of Cyan Netherworld Sword endlessly. The visual effect of the sword alone could capture the hearts of countless innocent girls. Soul Severing Scythe was hiding behind a small shrubbery at the edge of the forest and observing the scene in front of him carefully. When he saw me coming his way, he immediately walked up to me and pointed a finger toward the forest. "Boss Broken Halberd, as you can see on the map, Mad Dragon is inside the forest. They¡¯re killing the Venomous Wasps and camping their bodies at the same time." He clenched his fists and said angrily, "My classmates and I just wanted to grind the Level 130 Venomous Wasps and hopefully capture a Level 1 Venomous Wasp as a pet, but not only did those dogs from Mad Dragon attack us without warning, they even camped my classmates¡¯ bodies as they grinded. My classmates had already died three or four times, and we can¡¯t win because there¡¯s too many of them¡­" I nodded. "Don¡¯t worry, I will take revenge for all of you. Tell your classmates to stay down until I¡¯m done murdering these bastards. It should take around five minutes at most. After that, feel free to summon some guildmates and give them a taste of their own medicine." "Got it!" ¡­¡­ The corner of my lips turned up. I locked onto the archer and activated Charge! Whoosh! It was an immediate stun. I then followed up with Thousand Ice Slash that caught a group of mages and archers. The shattering rain of ice dealt a ton of damage¡ª 19883! 18378! 19023! 20171! ¡­¡­ The Mad Dragon players had never seen such a powerful AoE skill in their life. A single hit from Thousand Ice Slash deleted around 20k HP, an amount of damage that no human was expected to endure, and they were scared out of their wits because of it. A dozen or so people were dead in an instant. I then rotated around to face another group of players before unleashing Burning Blade Slash. The burning sword auras were super effective against these Level 120 players, especially the final slash that dealt almost 30k damage. These noobs never stood a chance at all. In less than two minutes, I had mowed down most of the Mad Dragon players until only five of them were still standing. Finally, a priest recognized me and pointed a finger at me, shouting, "Motherfucker, there¡¯s only one person with this much attack power in the entire Sky City, and he¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! He¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!!" Judging from the traumatic expressions on their faces, I might¡¯ve gone a bit too hard. That didn¡¯t stop me from murdering them without mercy, however. The last two players¡ªa warrior and a Level 125 archer¡ªtried to mount an organized retreat as the archer shouted, "Xiao Sizi, hold him back while I escape! I¡¯ll add this to your list of contributions!" The warrior bravely stood in front of me, but the thought of letting the archer escape never crossed my mind. I raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword and penetrated his defense and his body completely with Universe Break. To my surprise, the attack actually triggered the Cyan Netherworld Divine Dragon effect. The cyan dragon circling the blade of my sword abruptly leaped toward Xiao Sizi, sundering the earth and smashing his body into what seemed like a million pieces! I let out a sigh in admiration. In hindsight, I should¡¯ve known that Cyan Netherworld Divine Dragon would be way stronger and cool-looking than the Silver Dragon Storm. It was the special effect of a Heaven-grade weapon after all. The ground was covered in bodies. Not a single Mad Dragon player managed to escape alive, and a quick summon later in the guild channel a hundred-man party appeared in the forest. I was sure my guildmates would enjoy hunting Level 130 shadow-rank Venomous Wasps and camping the shit out of our enemies while at it. After the disciplining was complete, I took out a return scroll. I gave Soul Severing Scythe a friendly smile and then crushed the scroll in my hand, teleporting to Sky City. It kind of felt like being a hero hiding his good deeds and returning to his normal life despite having saved the world just moments earlier. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I had come to a conclusion regarding the Cyan Netherworld Sword after returning to Sky City. To shorten my extremely complicated analysis¡­ it was OP as hell. I went to the warehouse first to store the equipment pieces of the Split Galaxy set. Then, I went to the auction house and put up the Heaven-stealing Sword for auction. I also unloaded all the high-level equipment I had grinded at the Nine Lost Dragon Domains so that they could be traded for some cash. I needed to work harder because even with the ridiculous salary I received from Lenovo, I still couldn¡¯t catch up to He Yi¡¯s tax bracket. Finally, I went to the inn and logged out of the game. A wave of exhaustion hit me when I took off my gaming helmet. To be honest, I felt like I could black out on the spot. Still, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was the ultimate victor of the Nine Lost Dragon Domains, and I was rewarded with a peerless divine weapon. It was definitely worth all the time and effort. He Yi compensated all the core players who had died in the battle such as Li Chengfeng, and returned all the equipment they dropped as well. Candle Dragon never got the chance to pick up those items before they were killed, so I was sure that Candlelight Shadow was feeling bad right now. I checked the time and saw that it was 8 am. Before I hit the sack, I checked the forums and saw a new headline: "The Battle of Nine Lost Dragon Domains, The Dialogue Between Kings!" The content was a PvP video. At the beginning, Candlelight Shadow and his CGL Hall of Famers were shown killing Li Chengfeng and Purple Marquis. Then, I appeared with God¡¯s Rage and Blood Fiend empowering me and killed Blue Sky Scar, Candlelight Shadow, and Tempest Shadow single-handedly. This was also the fiercest battle of the entire Nine Lost Dragon Domains conquest because almost everyone involved was a CGL Hall of Famer. This was a battle between experts who had left many legendary footsteps in the game, so obviously, it drew a lot of eyeballs. There was commentary as well. The speaker said, "Candle Dragon is known as the number one guild of China. Using the Wood Dragon Vine Card, the Martial God, Candlelight Shadow, successfully ambushed and killed many Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya experts such as Legendary Brave, Purple Marquis, High Fighting Spirits, Hot Sun, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and more. However, the Little Heavenly King, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, clashed fearlessly against the five pillars of Candle Dragon and killed Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, and Tempest Shadow at the end of the battle. Where does Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s courage come from? Personally, I think it takes more than courage to fight an army alone." There were a ton of replies below the thread, and everyone had their own varying opinion to share¡ª #1 Kyogre: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, the Genius of Heavenblessed, Lu Chen is the only person in the world who can pull off such a feat. Hehe, the conquest of Nine Lost Dragon Domains is both a dirge and hymn of war! #2 Cheating for Money: The girl above me is super-cultured, but I still support Candlelight Shadow. His legendary feats at the previous game¡¯s Nation Wars are something Lu Chen can¡¯t hope to compare. #3 Poison Sting: Hehe, you all say that, but I prefer the loyal and iron-hearted Purple Marquis. I¡¯m a member of Snowy Cathaya, and I¡¯ll support Purple Marquis forever! #4: Cute Little Naughty: Hoho, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand looks so handsome in this video. He actually took out Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, and Tempest Shadow himself! If you¡¯re reading this, I love you... #5 Demons and Monsters: Did you guys know yet? Lu Chen gathered all nine dragon scales and obtained the first ever Heaven-grade weapon of the game, the Cyan Netherworld Sword! It¡¯s incredible! #6 Divine Judgement is Bloody: If Lu Chen spends a whole day grinding the competitive arena, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anyone who can take the first place from him, not even if his opponent is Candlelight Shadow... ¡­¡­ I sucked in a deep breath after reading the thread for a bit. When Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls first showed off their strength, the majority of the players didn¡¯t think much of us. However, after so many won battles and competitions, their opinions of us were slowly but surely changing for the better. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was rising to the top and threatening Candle Dragon¡¯s seat as the number one guild of China, and even better, we weren¡¯t the only challengers. Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance, and Purple Lily all had the power to challenge Candle Dragon as well. Most of the strongest guilds of Spirit of Grief had retired during the latter stages of the game, and that¡¯s when Candlelight Shadow was able to take over and call himself the Martial God. But Heavenblessed was just beginning, and heroes from every corner of the world were all fighting to become the very best. It would only get harder and harder for him to maintain his title. "Martial God? Hehe¡­" I smiled a little, then took a sip of water. Before I hit the sack, I looked at the phone beside my pillow and saw that I had an unread message from Lin Yixin: "Sleep sooner, bastard!" Chapter 560: Famous An icy blade penetrated my chest. The pain felt impossibly clear. I looked up to see who my killer was. It was a cold, stern and expressionless face. I collapsed limply on the icy ground, facing toward a starry sky. I could feel my blood and my life force flowing out of my wound. Suddenly, a tearful voice reached my ears. "Lu Chen, Lu Chen! What happened to you¡­" I looked sideways and saw a beautiful face that was covered in tears. Kneeling beside me and leaning so close that she was almost on top of me, she stared at me in worry and sorrow. "Don¡¯t die! We promised sister Eve that we¡¯ll beat Candlelight Shadow together, didn¡¯t we?" I closed my eyes and tried to sit up. However, I couldn¡¯t find even an ounce of energy inside my body. The image suddenly turned blurry. Then, both her and the world were gone just like that. Lian Xin. ¡­¡­ I abruptly opened my eyes. A hint of nostalgic sadness welled inside me as I sat up. It was just a dream... I checked my phone and saw that it was 5 pm already. The sky was dark and gloomy, and the icy rain of autumn was hitting the window and sliding down the glass in irregular patterns. In a sense it was a reflection of my life; a winding journey without end and without pause, brightened only slightly by the beautiful scenery outside. I sighed. A dream about Lian Xin, again. I wonder how she¡¯s doing in America right now. Anyway, it was time to get out of bed and get ready to eat dinner with Lin Yixin. It had been a while since I last saw her, and her absence felt like a hole inside my heart. After dressing myself appropriately and walking out of my room, I sent He Yi a message informing her that I would be eating out tonight. Then, I went downstairs and walked to my X12 without bothering to cover myself with an umbrella. I quickly drove to Lin Yixin¡¯s university. People were still walking on the streets despite the rain. Holding umbrellas of all sorts of colors, they strode across the damp streets toward their respective destinations, leaving behind many small ripples in the puddles below. Illuminated by the street lamps, the small or big pools of rainwater reflected the world above it like small mirrors. I took out my phone and called Lin Yixin¡¯s number¡ª "Hey, Yiyi. Are you at the uni right now?" "Yep!" "Great. Come to the gate, will you? I¡¯ll be there very soon." "Okay. Give me five minutes!" "Mn. I¡¯ll be there in about five minutes as well." ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud... Suddenly, a beautiful girl dragging an umbrella beside her feet ran out of the university and spilled water all over the place. Judging from the bright smile on her face, she seemed to be having fun stepping on pools of water. Her hair flowed nicely around her shoulder like water, and her exquisite countenance naturally seeded restlessness in the hearts of anyone who saw her. Her liveliness added a bit of spring into this cold autumn. The way her short skirt danced in the air, and her legs glowed like marbles under the dim sky was just the icing on the cake. An unconscious smile passing through my face, I opened the door and called out to her, "Yiyi, over here~" Hearing my shout, Lin Yixin immediately made a sharp turn and ran toward me. Her beautiful figure dazzled a bunch of male students and caused them to swallow their saliva visibly. "Why do you bring an umbrella if you¡¯re not going to shield yourself from the rain?" I asked with a smile. Lin Yixin folded her umbrella and straightened the hem of her skirt after entering the front passenger seat. She replied with a smile, "Well, the rain in spring is too cold, and the rain in summer is too strong. The rain in autumn is the only rain that¡¯s worth getting drenched in¡­" I curled my lips. "Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you if you get sick¡­" "You¡¯re the one who¡¯s going to be sick!" Lin Yixin rolled her eyes and punched me once on the shoulder before asking, "Where are we eating today? It¡¯s my treat tonight!" The corner of my mouth twitched once as I glanced at her in disbelief. "You¡¯re going to treat me to dinner? Really? Did you win the lottery or something?" "Hehe, here, take a look at this¡­" Lin Yixin passed me a small ornament. It was the kind you wear in front of your chest. I gave it a look, and I saw the logo of an eaten Apple and the word "China Lin" next to it. I asked puzzledly, "Hmm? An eaten apple? Yiyi, I¡¯m not judging you, but your taste is getting cheaper and cheaper each day¡­" "You¡¯re the one who has cheap taste!" Lin Yixin glared at me and almost punched me again. Dumbfounded by my ignorance, she said, "This isn¡¯t just any eaten apple, you dumb ass! It¡¯s the logo of Apple Inc!" "Apple Inc?" I racked my brain for a moment before realization struck me. "Wait, really? You signed a contract with that Apple, Yiyi?" "Yep! Me, Qingqing, Purple Marquis, Shadow Chanel, and Beauty At First Sight were signed together as a team. From now on, we¡¯re part of the Apple e-sports club." "How much did they offer you? It has to be a lot, right?" Lin Yixin shot me a look. "It¡¯s not as crazy as yours. My yearly salary is only 2.1 million, hmph¡­" I smiled. "Not bad at all. Tonight¡¯s dinner definitely should be your treat. Once this money enters your account, you won¡¯t have to worry about your mom¡¯s hospital fee anymore!" Lin Yixin nodded and looked outside the window with a smile. Even from where I was, I could see that she was very happy. "Yes, I¡¯m really happy that I can help my mom wake sooner with my own hard-earned money¡­" "Anyway, back to the matter at hand: Where are we eating?" "How about some place with a buffet? I feel really hungry right now¡­" "Got it. I know a place with shark fins and abalones on the menu. It¡¯s only 200 RMB per person!" "Sure! Gogogo!" The buffet restaurant wasn¡¯t far. In fact, it only took one push on the gas pedal to get there. After I got out of the car and locked the door, I subconsciously reached out for Yiyi¡¯s hand. However, she deftly and cheerfully moved her hand out of the way, and I only managed to catch her sleeve. Still, I didn¡¯t let go and pulled her into the restaurant like that. ¡­¡­ After Yiyi footed the bill at the counter, and we entered the restaurant, the wonderful scent of food immediately filled our lungs. Both Lin Yixin and I had stayed online for nearly 24 hours straight, and after that we slept until not long ago. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that we were so hungry that we could eat a horse. This was especially true since we just woke up not long ago, and our body desperately needed some nutrients to recover. Seeing the food was like seeing our parents again after a long time. It took only a moment for us to fill our plates completely with food. Then, we sat down at a corner in the restaurant in satisfaction. "Lu Chen, I haven¡¯t returned online yet, so I didn¡¯t know what reward you got after you gathered the nine dragon scales. What was it?" Lin Yixin asked me while holding a slice of lamb meat with her chopsticks. "Well, I got 3 Luck, 3 levels and a Level 140 weapon, the Cyan Netherworld Sword. It¡¯s a Heaven-grade, 6-star Outstanding sword." "6-star Outstanding? Heaven-grade?" Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth dropped open. "That¡¯s crazy! It must be incredibly powerful, isn¡¯t it?" I nodded. "Hehe, of course it is. With a max Attack of 1500, it¡¯s way stronger than your Blade of Violet Lightning¡­" Lin Yixin immediately let out a cute whine. "Lemme borrow the Cyan Netherworld Sword when I¡¯m Level 140, please¡­" "Sure, no problem!" ¡­¡­ We were having a good time when a group of five sat down at the table next to ours. Their plates were filled with crabs, abalone and more, and the small hill of food threatened to fall off at any moment. We were hungry, but the food we took was nothing compared to theirs. These people were clearly not students, because students usually couldn¡¯t afford to pay 200 RMB for a single meal. Only trust fund babies or working people would choose to eat at this place. Lin Yixin shot them a glance before going back to her shark fin soup, paying them no heed. However, I was very interested in them because they were talking about Heavenblessed. Even better, they all sounded like high-level players¡ª "The battle of Nine Lost Dragon Domains sure was a merciless one¡­" said the youngster with short hair. The plump man replied with a chuckle, "Yeah, even our guild leader and vice leader were killed. I never thought that it was possible for a pro like vice leader Farewell Song to die until he did. I¡¯ve seen him fight before, and his technique is almost flawless. To think that even he isn¡¯t invulnerable¡­" The thin guy smiled. "Come on, it¡¯s not that surprising. Our vice leader was fighting Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, the 7th CGL ranker and top dog of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, you know. It makes sense that the 7th place would beat the 11th." The plump man¡¯s features suddenly darkened. "By the way, did you guys hear that the guild leader was raging after he was killed? He even said that he¡¯s going to launch a counterattack and take revenge against Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls." "Oh? Revenge?" the thin guy exclaimed in surprise. "Mn!" The plump man nodded. "As for how he¡¯s planning to carry it out, I have no idea¡­" The thin guy replied, "It¡¯s probably something like a siege on Dark Moon City, but I honestly don¡¯t think well of our chances. Dark Moon City is less than half an hour away from Silver Fir City, so Wind Fantasy could reinforce them real quick. Even if we combine our strength with the subguilds and attack, our chances of winning are still lower than 30%." "What if we ask for Mad Dragon and Flower Room¡¯s help? Maybe it¡¯ll go up to fifty-fifty¡­" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t stop herself from snorting when she heard that. Lying lazily on the table and smiling cutely, she said, "Adding trash guilds like Mad Dragon and Flower Room into the mix is only going to lower Warsky Alliance¡¯s chances of winning¡­" "What?!" All five people rose to their feet in surprise and stared at us. Since Lin Yixin was staring right back at them, it didn¡¯t take them a second to recognize the peerless beauty that was Wind Fantasy sitting at the table right next to theirs. Their mouths opened so wide that you could fit a toad in them. "Wi¡­ Wind Fantasy? Are we seeing right?" "What¡¯s wrong? You have a problem with me?" "No¡­ not at all¡­" The plump man was so confounded by the unexpected meeting that he actually clasped his hands together and said, "I¡¯m the leader of the Cloud Piercer Workshop, and we¡¯re stationed at District B Office, Building 11, Luye Tianyuan Community, Jinchang District, Suzhou. My ID is Buddha¡¯s Palm, and our workshop¡¯s motto is ¡®Send us a cloud piercing arrow, and we will bring an army of thousands to help you¡¯. So, er, good day, Beauty Wind Fantasy¡­" The corner of Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth curled up. "You¡¯re welcome. You should get back to your meal." "Oh, right, hmm¡­" ¡­¡­ For a bunch of hot-blooded men, they sure looked like they were sitting on pincushions after learning that Wind Fantasy was sitting right next to them. They started eating their food really quick as if they wanted to escape before Lin Yixin could pull out her White Moon and end their lives. Meanwhile, I was slowly sipping my soup and eating my n-th abalone meat. Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t help but stare at me. "Are you trying to kill yourself by eating?" "What are you talking about? Even if I am, it¡¯s a blessing to die with a full tummy¡­" I replied while rubbing my stomach. "Despicable!" Lin Yixin shot a scathing remark. The Warsky Alliance players turned to see who the legendary Wind Fantasy was talking to. The moment they saw me, they jumped to their feet like they were electrocuted and moved as far away from me as possible. One of them shouted, "Holy shit, is¡­ is that Falling Dust, the Little Heavenly King? Bye¡­ bye bye!" Then, they ran out of the restaurant like the wind. ¡­¡­ A crab leg was hanging on my mouth as I stared at the entrance where the frightened men had escaped from. I asked Lin Yixin, "Am I scary?" Chapter 561: Irregular Construc ¡°Do you want some?¡± I asked. ¡°If you¡¯re drinking, how are you going to go back later?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll just call a taxi!¡± ¡°Alright then, please give us a bottle. Does this cost extra?¡± ¡°Yes, this is high-quality imported red wine. For only 998 RMB, you may enjoy the taste of an authentic French red wine.¡± I nodded. ¡°Okay. Two bottles please, or we might fight each other for the last sip of wine¡­¡± Lin Yixin glared at me. ¡°Like that would ever happen, you bastard¡­¡± I spread my arms innocently. ¡°Who knows?¡± After I paid for the red wine, the waiter opened the bottles and put them nicely on the table. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin was clearly in a good mood today. Not only did she sign a contract with the legendary Apple, it probably came with an iPhone-N or something. Long story short, she hit the jackpot. ¡°Yiyi, if I may be so bold to ask a favor¡­¡± I started. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Is it possible for you to contact the parent company of Apple and request an autograph of Steve Jobs? I¡¯ve been his fan for the longest time¡­¡± I stared at Lin Yixin with starry eyes and asked in a reverent tone. Lin Yixin sighed quietly. ¡°Do you want to get beat up again? He had retired at least a decade ago.¡± ¡°Then¡­ let us drink a toast to his retirement¡­¡± ¡°Fine!¡± We clinked glasses and drained the whole thing in one go. After that, we drank a toast to Teacher''s Day, Princess Karinshan, and more random and made-up reasons just for the sake of it, finishing our bottles of red wine in the blink of an eye. Although the red wine we had ordered wasn¡¯t very strong, there was a noticeable kick after we drank it for some time. Both of us were feeling a bit dizzy by the end of it. I looked at the time and noted that it was past 8 pm, meaning that we had been eating at the buffet restaurant for over two hours. It was time for a tactical retreat. ¡°Are we going back now?¡± A rosy-cheeked Lin Yi lay her head lazily on the table and smiled at me, long eyelashes blinking. ¡°Mn, let¡¯s!¡± I got up and put an arm around Lin Yixin¡¯s shoulder. The two of us then supported each other as we walked toward the exit. The only proper way to enter or exit a buffet restaurant was to hold the wall for support while you were walking, so we did just that. ¡­¡­ The rain had stopped when we got to the streets. The cool wind helped to blow away the haze of alcohol and cleared up our minds a little. As we walked along the streets, I carefully slid my arm downward until finally, I caught Lin Yixin¡¯s small, smooth hand in my own. She immediately shot me a glance and let out a soft snort, but she didn¡¯t object to my advance. We walked for a time while holding each other¡¯s hands. ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°It¡¯s pretty dark in here, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°Wanna kiss?¡± ¡°No way!¡± Lin Yixin was a rogue maiden. Her mouth said no, but she was also the one who stood on her tiptoes and planted a quick kiss on my cheeks. Then, she pulled away and walked ahead with reddened cheeks, clearly embarrassed. I smiled and followed her from behind. We were both a bit drunk and light-headed. Suddenly, Lin Yixin came to a stop and pointed at a metal box by the wall. She asked, ¡°What is this, Lu Chen?¡± It was my turn to turn red as a beef. I muttered, ¡°Condom auto-seller¡­ or rubber in short¡­¡± Lin Yixin cocked her head before leaning closer to me. She asked in an innocent voice, ¡°And what¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Er¡­¡± I hesitated. ¡°It¡¯s a tool that protects you from¡­¡± ¡°Hehe, I know what¡¯s a rubber, stupid. Do you really think I¡¯m that ignorant?¡± Lin Yixin burst into a fit of giggles before asking, ¡°Lu Chen, I¡¯ve never bought something like this before, so why don¡¯t we give it a try? Do you have a coin with you?¡± ¡°Give me a moment¡­¡± I searched around in my pockets for a moment before pulling out a one RMB coin. I passed it to her and asked, ¡°Are you sure you want to buy this?¡± ¡°Yep. Is there a problem?¡± A devious and seductive smile crossed her features. ¡°Fine, do what you want¡­¡± I let out a soundless sigh. Lin Yixin walked up to the rusted auto-seller and searched around for a bit. After she found the coin slot, she slotted the coin and¡­ nothing happened. ¡°Hmm? What¡¯s going on? Why isn¡¯t a rubber coming out?¡± Lin Yixin stared at the auto-seller in confusion. Then, she gave it a careful knock just in case it was stuck in the process or something. Still, nothing happened. Bursting into sudden anger, the girl started kicking and punching the auto-seller with everything she got, yelling, ¡°Unbelievable! If you can¡¯t even do your job properly, then why do you even exist, you coin trapper! I¡¯m going to take you apart and take revenge for all the other poor customers you cheated, you irregular construct!¡± Beside her, I was completely stunned by Lin Yixin¡¯s outburst. Suddenly, a childish voice came from behind us. ¡°Big sis, do you need this urgently?¡± Caught off-guard, Lin Yixin turned around and found a young boy about five to six years old standing behind her. Smiling, the young boy opened his hand and revealed a pack of Durex-brand rubber. ¡°You¡¯re so pretty, big sis! Here, take this. You look like you really need it¡­¡± Lin Yixin turned as red as a beef. ¡°I¡­¡± The young boy didn¡¯t care to wait for a reaction. He just stuffed the pack of rubber in her hands and bounced away with light footsteps. Clutching a pack of rubber in her hands, Lin Yixin stared blankly at the corner the young boy vanished to. I finally walked up to her and teased her, ¡°Yiyi, I didn¡¯t know you were this thirsty¡­¡± Face reaching boiling temperatures, Lin Yixin grabbed my hand and forced the condoms into my hand, ¡°This is yours!¡± ¡°Why would I need this for? I don¡¯t have anyone to use it on!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care!¡± ¡­¡­ And so, with a pack of rubber in my pockets, I escorted Lin Yixin all the way back to her dorm before I finally bade her goodbye. Then, I called a taxi and returned to the workshop. My head felt really heavy when I walked through the door. The power of alcohol was as brutal as ever. Not in the mood to play the game, I hit the sack and blacked out immediately. ¡­¡­ When I finally woke up, it was early in the morning. He Yi and Murong Mingyue had gone to the company, and they wouldn¡¯t be returning until late afternoon. I went online after eating breakfast with Beiming Xue. Swhoosh! I went to repair my equipment after appearing in Sky City. A sense of idleness immediately struck me afterward. At Level 140 I would be leveling at a snail¡¯s pace, so I was in no hurry to find a leveling map. In the end, I decided to travel to Dark Moon City. Our guild territory had ranked up once after we conquered the Nine Lost Dragon Domains map, and considering the existing progress, the Undead Castle should be at Rank 5. I wanted it to hit Rank 10 as soon as possible because I heard that it was the requirement for a city to gain unique racial buffs and privileges, though I didn¡¯t know the exact details. I sheathed the Cyan Netherworld Sword and put it on my back. Now that I was inside my own territory, there was no need to remain in combat state at all times. As I thought, Dark Moon City was now a Rank 5 castle. He Yi had spent some resources to recruit Dark Insects before leaving for work, so there were plenty of accumulated resources right now. The city walls had turned into obsidian and were many times stronger than the wooden fences they were when the castle was still at Rank 1. The arrow towers had already grown bigger, taller, and capable of fitting more archers at the top. At the hall, Dark Knight Hero Udal was kneeling on one knee and waiting for me to give him an order. Unfortunately for him, I didn¡¯t have an order for him right now, so he had to stay kneeling for a while. I brought up the city UI and checked the stats. All the numbers had risen considerably¡ª Dark Moon City (Lord: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand) Rank: Rank 5 Undead Castle Gold Production: 5000 per hour (+50%) Wood Production: 5000 per hour (+20%) Stone Production: 5000 per hour (+11%) Crystal Production: 7950 per hour (+8%) Dark Insect: 2295 Buildings: 17 Troops: 321 (31x Skeletal Spearman, 50x Zombie, 140x Dark Knight, 100x Umbra Sharpshooter) Wall Durability: 500 Teleportation Formations: 2 Lord: Dark Knight Hero Udal ¡­¡­ At Rank 5, I could build a Blood Pond Cemetery and recruit Vampires, a mob with an amazing skill called Vampire¡¯s Embrace that converted 50% of damage dealt to HP. Moreover, they also had a skill called Vampire¡¯s Grasp that increased their attack power by a whopping 40%. The problem was that their HP and Defense were absolutely abysmal, meaning that they could only be deployed under very specific circumstances. For now, I had no plans of recruiting Vampires in large numbers. My goal was the Rank 6 unit, Dark Knight. They also had two skills, and they were ¡°Halo of Corruption¡±, a skill that raised attack speed and movement speed by 20%, and ¡°Dark Crusade¡±, a skill that raised attack power by 70%. Moreover, Dark Knight naturally had great HP and Defense scaling, making them the perfect unit to use when charging and breaking through enemy lines. They could also be mass-produced because they were fairly cheap to recruit, and I planned to do just that once Dark Moon City reached Rank 7. I couldn¡¯t wait to see Warsky Alliance or Candle Dragon players¡¯ faces when they attacked Dark Moon City, only to find tens of thousands of Dark Knights who were as tanky as players with over 10k HP waiting for them. I checked my resources and noted that the castle was just a small amount of crystals away from meeting the requirement to upgrade to Rank 6. So, I waited until the crystals had reached the necessary amount before clicking ¡°Upgrade¡±! With that done, Dark Moon City would become a Rank 6 Castle in 6 hours. The next rank was a long way away though. For starters, the two basic structures, Nest of Corruption and Blood Pond Cemetery, had to be upgraded to Rank 6. It would be a long while before my objective could come true... After everything was done, I received a system message¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, the item "Heaven-stealing Sword" you consigned for sale has been sold to player ¡°Roaming Dragon¡± for 2.45m RMB. After deducting the 5% intermediary fee, 2.3275m RMB has been delivered to your bank account! Kindly confirm that the payment has been received! ¡­¡­ Someone bought the Heaven-stealing Sword? And look at that money. A weapon I discarded could still be sold for over 2 million RMB, and even better, it was bought by my old ¡°friend¡±, Roaming Dragon. Tsk tsk! If possible, I¡¯d like to kill him again and sell him the sword a second time! Suddenly, Gui Guzi sent me a message: ¡°Boss Broken Halberd, I got bad news!¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Little Gui?¡± ¡°You need to come to ASUS¡¯ Suzhou e-sports club right now! Today¡¯s the opening day of the club, and Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and me were all here. However, Warsky and his goons like Lin Bing Dou Zhe and Farewell Song suddenly showed up and issued a challenge on behalf of their club! They clearly planned for this since they flew all the way to Suzhou this just morning! Li Chengfeng is flying over from Beijing right now, but he¡¯s still stuck at Shanghai at the moment. It¡¯ll be hard to justify this to the sponsors if we get wiped out here!¡± Chapter 562: Friendly Match "No. What¡¯s wrong?" "Log out now!" "Okay." ¡­¡­ After logging out of the game and calling Beiming Xue to come with me, I exited the workshop only to realize that my car was still parked at the university entrance. Having no choice, I hailed a taxi, entered the taxi with Beiming Xue and told the driver, "Sir, please go to XX Street 21 as soon as you can! We¡¯re in a hurry!" The driver responded by activating his F1 racer mode and stepping down on the gas. For a moment, it felt like I was using an Invincible Charge skill or something. "What is going on, big bro?" Beiming Xue asked. "And why are we bringing our gaming helmets with us?" "Gui Guzi and the others are attending the opening ceremony of the ASUS e-sports club at Suzhou today, and they are going to play a couple of exhibition matches later. However, Warsky Alliance flew all the way here from Henan and challenged them to a match! Li Chengfeng isn¡¯t here yet, so Gui Guzi wants us to head over and support them for a bit." "But don¡¯t we have our own contracts? Won¡¯t our sponsor complain about this if we help out a competitor?" "I don¡¯t know, but Warsky Alliance showed up today as a representative of Pepsi. If I¡¯m not mistaken, Warsky is doing this because he succumbed to the pressure from his sponsor. He¡¯s planning to create some positive news to raise his guild¡¯s morale and satisfy the sponsor, and the recently famous ASUS e-sports club is the perfect target. Plus, the team is composed of the key members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. If they beat them, it¡¯s almost the same as beating the top team of our guild. That¡¯s the gist of his plan, basically." Beiming Xue curled her lips in annoyance. "I thought Warsky is a good person inside the game. I didn¡¯t think he would be so evil as to attack our guild in real life. Did he forget that divine punishment loves people who harm others to benefit themselves like him?" I chuckled. "What good people? This is the era of heroes and warlords fighting to reach the top and secure a domain of their own, not to mention that karma can¡¯t favor us forever. I¡¯m sure Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, and the others are prepared for something like this since the day they joined the ASUS e-sports club." It was at this moment the taxi driver spoke up as if he finally understood what we were talking about. "Boy, it sounds like you guys are playing that game called ¡®Heavenblessed¡¯, am I right?" "Yeah. You know about Heavenblessed too, sifu?" "Hehe, of course. It¡¯s the only thing that this good-for-nothing son of mine talks about day and night. Oh right, what are you called inside the game? You sound like an amazing player." I smiled. "My ID is Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand." I smiled. "I¡¯m just okay¡­" A while later, we arrived safely at our destination. I wanted to pay the driver, but he adamantly refused and passed me a pen and paper instead. "Do me a favor and give me your signature instead. I¡¯m sure that useless son of mine will be overjoyed if he sees it!" Having no choice, I accepted the pen and signed my ID "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" on the paper. Then, I added an extra "Falling Dust¡±. The taxi driver thanked me repeatedly before he finally drove away. Beiming Xue stared at the departed car for a moment before commenting with a smile, "Big bro, this man is a really good father, isn¡¯t he?" I nodded. Most fathers would scold or even cane their sons for getting too engrossed in games. However, this taxi driver requested a signature from his son¡¯s idol so he could take it home and please his son. He really was a good father. ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue and I walked up the stairs leading to the entrance hall where two beautiful receptionists wearing ribbons were waiting. They smiled at us and said, "Welcome to the opening ceremony of the ASUS e-sports club!" No entrance fee was necessary to enter. While we were going inside, I took out two Lenovo chest insignias, gave one to Beiming Xue and wore the other in front of my shirt. According to our contract with Lenovo, we were required to wear the chest insignia representing our e-sports team in public gaming venues such as this one. It was one of the things Rose had reminded us repeatedly about. It was extremely crowded inside the main hall. A couple of people were standing on the main stage, and they were none other than Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. The host was a beautiful woman, and she was declaring the start of the opening ceremony. However, something was clearly troubling her, and she wouldn¡¯t stop shooting glances to the right side of the hall. I followed the direction of her glance and saw Warsky Alliance¡¯s group as expected. The super experts¡ªWarsky, Farewell Song, Laughing At The Heavens, October Rain, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, and Hundred Battler¡ªwere all here, and they were all wearing the Pepsi chest insignia. It looked like all the top experts of Warsky Alliance had shown up, and they seemed to be absolutely confident in their chances. On the stage, the host said with a smile, "Originally, we were planning to let Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng fight three exhibition matches with each other as thanks to everyone who showed up today, but it looks like fate has something different in store for us! Our friends, the e-sports team of Pepsi, have traveled all the way here to Suzhou to play a friendly match with us. Legendary Brave is still on his way, but fans of the ASUS e-sports club, do you think we can win this match?" Countless cheers erupted from below the stage. Countless girls and young wives shouted on top of their lungs¡ª "Do your best, Gui Guzi! Take down Farewell Song and contribute another achievement to Farewell Song and the ASUS e-sports club!" "Even without Li Chengfeng, we will win for sure!" "Berserker High Fighting Spirits, Earth Wanderer Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, do your best!" "Gui Guzi, I love you~~" ¡­¡­ As it turned out, the ASUS e-sports club had a lot of super fans, and a large majority of them were young girls between 14 years old to 20 years old. Gui Guzi¡¯s image as a cultured but brave undead knight was very attractive, it seemed! It was unfortunate that Li Chengfeng wasn¡¯t here, or the chorus of cheers would be even more perfect. Li Chengfeng held a very important place in the hearts of the girls because he was cool, handsome, and as loyal to his brothers as he was bloodthirsty toward his enemies. As one of the guardians of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, it was only natural that he was in the mind of many girls. Gui Guzi blushed like an apple in the face of his brutal fans, but even that wasn¡¯t enough to put a lid on his ever-growing anxiety. Both him and Chaos Moon were scanning the crowd repeatedly as if they were looking for someone. Clearly, they knew that High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were strong, but their chances of actually beating a CGL Hall of Famer was very low. Moreover, the classic WSL match format was four 1v1s and one 2v2. Frankly, the chances of the ASUS e-sports club winning as they were now was very low. Meanwhile, I had finally reached the main stage and tried to pull myself upward. Unfortunately, the goddamn thing was so tall that I had to climb up the thing like a very clumsy spider. It was an ugly look to say the least. Gui Guzi and Chaos Moon broke into smiles when they saw me. "Hoho, he¡¯s finally here!" The crowd and countless female fans stared at me in astonishment as well. "Wah, what is that guy doing? Why is he climbing up the stage? Why isn¡¯t he turning around, I want to see if he¡¯s handsome or not¡­" I placed a hand on the floor and slowly pushed myself up to a standing position. The host stared at my chest insignia in astonishment for a moment before speaking loudly and clearly to her mic, "Are¡­ are you Falling Dust?" I nodded and smiled. "Yep. The players of your club are all my friends, and as a friend it¡¯s my natural duty to support them on their big day, isn¡¯t it? Since our Pepsi friends came all the way to play a friendly match, why don¡¯t we make the match format slightly more interesting? Beiming Xue and I will join the ASUS team temporarily, and the winner will be decided by a best of 7, more specifically six 1v1s and one 2v2. Does that sound like a good idea?" The host looked surprised and undecided. However, a young man not far away from her nodded quickly, walked up to me with a smile and replied, "That is a good idea! I love your suggestion, Little Heavenly King! I am the leader of the ASUS e-sports club, Agi. I am very glad to make your acquaintance. Anyway, since this is the suggestion of the Little Heavenly King himself, I find no reason to decline whatsoever. But before that, we must inquire the opinion of our challengers. Do you accept this arrangement, friends from the Pepsi e-sports club?" Agi¡¯s eyes were obviously taunting. My arrival alone had swayed the tides in their favor, not to mention that Beiming Xue was with me as well. Meanwhile, I had turned around to face the crowd. The flashing of the cameras was so rapid and blinding that I almost couldn¡¯t keep my eyes open. Warsky was the shotcaller of the Pepsi e-sports club, and he wasn¡¯t a man to back down from a challenge. He nodded immediately and said, "If you want a fight, then a fight is what you¡¯ll get. We don¡¯t fear you in the slightest." Beneath the stage, the fans were bubbling with frenzy. Countless girls were screaming on top of their lungs¡ª "Wah, is that guy the legendary Falling Dust and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? He¡¯s so, so handsome in real life¡­" "Hehe, our chances of winning are infinitely close to 100% now. With the power of Lu Chen and Beiming Xue¡¯s friendship, there¡¯s no way we couldn¡¯t beat the ugly bastards of Warsky Alliance!" "Yeah, yeah! Just look at Warsky, his face is twisted all the way to New York! I can¡¯t believe he has the guts to the guild leader with a face like that!" "I know right!? Farewell Song looks like a swine¡¯s kidney, Lin Bing Dou Zhe looks like a steelyard weight, Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ face is a :-( emoticon, and Hundred Battler¡¯s hair is as red as a roasted chicken! October Rain is the only beautiful woman in their team! I knew it! Warsky Alliance¡¯s men aren¡¯t worth shit!" ¡­¡­ Warsky, Farewell Song and the rest of the men couldn¡¯t stop their facial muscles from twitching. The battle hadn¡¯t even begun yet, and they were almost slayed by the enemy¡¯s fans already. "Let¡¯s cut to the chase already, shall we?" Warsky abruptly rose to his feet and pointed a finger at the host. Holding his gaming helmet in one hand, he said with a smile, "Please prepare the draw, host. Also, we¡¯ll be sending Lin Bing Dou Zhe and Farewell Song for our 2v2 match. Who will be your players for the 2v2 match, ASUS?" Gui Guzi and Chaos Moon¡¯s expression turned gloomy instantly. The team wasn¡¯t very good at 2v2 matches, and the only pairing among them who had a good placement in the competitive arena was Li Chengfeng + High Fighting Spirits. Unfortunately Li Chengfeng wasn¡¯t here yet, so their chances of winning the 2v2 match was even lower than it already was. I immediately patted my chest reassuringly and said, "No problem. Beiming Xue and I can take care of that, hehe!" Chapter 563: For Our Brothers and Sisters ¡°Okay!¡± Our helmets in hand, we walked to the equipment on the battle stage and scanned our irises to confirm our identity. As our data appeared beneath the match format and offline match rules on the big display, Warsky Alliance¡¯s team of six also walked up the stage to register their identities. A while later, all twelve of our IDs were displayed on the screen. Gui Guzi walked up to the screen and pressed a couple of virtual buttons. Warsky also chose to randomize the player selection for the 1v1 matches and confirmed Farewell Song and Lin Bing Dou Zhe for the 2v2 match. A few seconds later, the match list appeared as followed¡ª (1v1) 1st Round: Gui Guzi versus Farewell Song (1v1) 2nd Round: Warsky versus High Fighting Spirits (1v1) 3rd Round: October Rain versus Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun (1v1) 4th Round: Beiming Xue versus Laughing At The Heavens (1v1) 5th Round: Chaos Moon versus Lin Bing Dou Zhe (1v1) 6th Round: Hundred Battler versus Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (2v2) Seventh and Final Round: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand & Beiming Xue versus Farewell Song & Lin Bing Dou Zhe ¡­¡­ Warsky raised an eyebrow as he stared at the big display. Then, he let out a sudden chuckle. ¡°Hmph. This is hardly a hopeless battle, isn¡¯t it?¡± October Rain nodded before smiling at me. ¡°Lu Chen, it looks like you¡¯re matched up against our Hundred Battler, hehe. Amazing luck, isn¡¯t it¡­¡± I gritted my teeth. Someone who read the story of Tian Ji¡¯s Horse Racing before would know that it was a terrible idea to pit your best player against the enemy¡¯s worst player. I was hoping to encounter Farewell Song, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, or Warsky as these three had the highest individual skill of the six, and I had a good chance of winning against all of them. However, my opponent was the weakest of the six, Hundred Battler, instead. It was a clear waste of a golden opportunity. ¡­¡­ Warsky walked up to the host and took the mic from her. Then, he looked at the audience and said with a smile, ¡°Since this is a friendly match, there¡¯s gotta be something on the stake, don¡¯t you agree?¡± The audience voiced their agreement loudly. The more interesting a match, the more expectation it generated. Naturally, the audience wanted the bet to be as big as possible because it made the match so much more exciting and fun. Gui Guzi raised his eyebrows and asked, ¡°Do you have a stake in mind, Warsky?¡± Warsky laughed loudly before answering, ¡°This is a fight between civilized people, so it wouldn¡¯t be right to involve money in it. How about we bet a promise?¡± ¡°What promise?¡± I asked. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± I hesitated. This was a promise that involved the interest of the entire guild. To be honest, I didn¡¯t think that I was qualified to make a decision at all. A bit of disdain peeked out of Warsky¡¯s eyes as he said with a smile, ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Can¡¯t the Little Heavenly King and the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls make such a simple decision?¡± Enraged by his provocation, Gui Guzi grabbed my shoulder and declared, ¡°Boss Broken Halberd, there¡¯s no need to hesitate! We¡¯ll definitely win this match!¡± Chaos Moon also chimed in. ¡°Yeah, you don¡¯t think we¡¯ll actually lose to them, do you? There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of!¡± I sucked in a deep breath and nodded. ¡°Alright, if that is everyone¡¯s wish, then I accept this bet. I promise that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will not contest the next territory to appear in Sky City if we lose!¡± ¡°Very well!¡± Warsky spread his arms wide. ¡°A man''s word is his bond, and I sincerely wish that Lu Chen, the CGL Hall of Famer, will honor his promise. Now, let¡¯s get into the game and give it our all!¡± ¡­¡­ The stand-off was incredibly tense. It was no exaggeration to say that Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were one step away from engaging Warsky Alliance in a brawl. After all, they had just signed a contract with ASUS, and on the day of the opening ceremony, Warsky Alliance showed up like a bunch of gangsters and challenged them to a fight. How could they possibly face their sponsors if they lost this match? It was no wonder they were pissed off. Gui Guzi¡¯s fists were clenched as he entered Battle Room A. On his way, Farewell Song turned around to shoot a lazy smile at him before saying, ¡°Gui Guzi, you are the number one knight of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, aren¡¯t you? Very well, everyone says that magic knights are the natural counter of assassins, and today I¡¯m gonna score one for my brethren and tell the world that that misconception is patently false!¡± Gui Guzi replied darkly, ¡°You can talk all you want, but the truth will only be known after the fight!¡± ¡°Heh, very well!¡± With that, Farewell Song walked away and entered Battle Room B with his helmet. The big screen started displaying what was going on at the battle rooms, and beneath the stage countless people were pointing their cameras at it. Obviously, ASUS had invited a lot of media people to commemorate the opening of their e-sports club, so I fully expected this to enter the headlines no matter what the final result might be. It only added to the importance to the match. On the screen, Gui Guzi and Farewell Song¡¯s avatar could be seen walking into the arena. The timer started counting downward¡ª 3! 2! 1! ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi activated Charge the second the countdown reached zero. Farewell Song reacted even better and turned invisible at the same time as he jumped backward. It was like jumping backward and shooting a basketball at the same time. It was impossible for a noob to perform this technique properly. The Armored Swordback Dragon and Gui Guzi roared at the same time as the Rainbow Spear passed through the air where Farewell Song was a moment ago. He then followed up with Death Combo immediately! Pu pu pu... Three spear beams pierced the air around him. Unfortunately, Gui Guzi failed to predict Farewell Song¡¯s location and missed completely. ¡°Hmm?¡± Gui Guzi let out a soft cry of alarm before spinning around and swinging his spear horizontally, successfully parrying Farewell Song¡¯s dagger before it could hit him. Unfortunately, his reaction speed was a tad slower than the assassin¡¯s, and he couldn¡¯t react in time when Farewell Song crouched into a charge and left a bloody mark across his chest after the parry! It was Cold Poison Strike, and Gui Guzi was stunned for 3 seconds! During these three seconds, Farewell Song activated Encourage VII and hit Gui Guzi with a Blade Vortex + Bloodbreak Eviscerate combo, penetrating much of his defense and deleting a lot of HP¡ª 4893! 5012! 4928! 8904! The individual hits weren¡¯t deadly, but together they most definitely were. That one combo had dealt over 20k damage to Gui Guzi in an instant, and without a Famous General Skill to buff him, the magic knight¡¯s HP didn¡¯t even exceed 40k HP. Crack crack! Farewell Song continued hitting Gui Guzi with basic attacks after his combo was over, but the damage number rising above the magic knight¡¯s head¡ª1092, 982 and 1128¡ªwere much weaker. As expected, Farewell Song was incapable of breaking through Gui Guzi¡¯s Defense without using his skills. Three seconds passed by quickly, and Gui Guzi was as ready as he could be. The second he broke out of the stun, he immediately unleashed a fiery Barrier Break. It was GG for Farewell Song if he managed to land the hit. However, Farewell Song changed his Famous General Skill to ¡°Sneak Attack¡± and stepped toward Gui Guzi¡¯s right flank like a slippery eel. Then, he used a Silent Punch and stunned Gui Guzi for another second. That was all the time he needed to throw out a fluorescent powder and vanish into thin air again. ¡­¡­ ¡°Motherfucker!¡± Gui Guzi was pissed off, but the series of failures deflated him a little. After performing a 360-degree swing with his spear to no avail, he used War God Recovery to heal himself quickly. ¡°Oh no¡­¡± I muttered to myself. Beiming Xue caught my muttering and asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong, big bro? The fight hasn¡¯t been decided yet, right?¡± I replied solemnly, ¡°No, it¡¯s over. Gui Guzi is the type who couldn¡¯t unleash even 50% of his normal strength if he loses his cool, just like the time he was killed by Lin Yixin. Worse, his opponent is the top-tier expert, Farewell Song. It¡¯ll be a miracle if he wins this¡­¡± Beiming Xue¡¯s mouth fell open in shock. ¡°No¡­¡± ¡­¡­ On the screen, Gui Guzi used Knight¡¯s Outrage in an attempt to break Farewell Song out of stealth, but he failed. The moment the skill vanished, Farewell Song reappeared and stunned Gui Guzi again with Cold Poison Strike. But unlike last time, the assassin kicked off his assault with a Poisoned Weapon to reduce Gui Guzi¡¯s vision. After that, he activated Shadow Dance to give himself a massive boost to movement speed and went wild on Gui Guzi with the butterfly maneuver. Paying no regard to Gui Guzi¡¯s counterattack whatsoever, his twin daggers kept plunging into the Undying Knight¡¯s flesh and tearing away at his life like a vengeful spirit. Gui Guzi was stunned three times in less than five minutes, and not even the thickest armor in the world could endure such devastation. In the end, Gui Guzi let out a muffled groan and collapsed to the ground in defeat! The score turned to 1-0 in favor of Warsky Alliance, putting a bright smile on the face of the Pepsi team leader, yet another beautiful woman. It was no easy feat to score a point off Gui Guzi, and if the challenger had been anyone else beside the 11th CGL ranker Farewell Song, they might not have been able to score a win. I couldn¡¯t help but sigh on the inside. This match list was just too much in favor of Warsky Alliance. Right now, my biggest worry was the possibility of the match being over before I even got to fight a round. A humiliating 0-4 defeat was quite the real possibility considering the ridiculously unlucky match-ups we were dealt with. The door to Battle Room A opened, and Gui Guzi walked out with an ugly expression on his face. I gave him a consoling pat on the shoulder before saying, ¡°Victory and defeat are commonplace for people like us, and it¡¯s no shame losing to Farewell Song. Even my chances of winning against him cannot be more than 60%.¡± Gui Guzi nodded before replying, ¡°I know, but I swear I¡¯ll beat him someday!¡± ¡°You will!¡± It was time for the next round to begin, and this time it was Warsky versus High Fighting Spirits. Again, I was worried that our Berserker couldn¡¯t win. High Fighting Spirits was first-rate, but no super-tier expert. On the other hand, Warsky was a hardcore player who got to train with super experts like Farewell Song, October Rain, and Laughing At The Heavens for a very, very long time. Even if his PvP skills were subpar before, that was no longer the case now. Warsky was currently ranked 15th in the champion arena, and that alone was proof that he was no small fry! ¡°Give it your all, Fighting Spirits!¡± I gave him an encouraging smile. ¡°For our brothers and sisters!¡± Chapter 564: Mountain Stagger Arrow A smiling Warsky shook the sword in his hand briefly before pointing it at High Fighting Spirits. "You are a top player in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and I respect your strength. That is why I¡¯m not going to hold back. Give me everything you got, High Fighting Spirits, or you might find yourself dead before you¡¯re able to do anything." Unable to bear Warsky¡¯s ridiculously arrogant declaration, High Fighting Spirits retorted harshly, "Less talking, more fighting, Warsky! There¡¯s nothing that you can throw at me that I¡¯m afraid of!" "Let¡¯s fight!" High Fighting Spirits raised Invincible and ran toward Warsky. However, he didn¡¯t use Charge. It was because Warsky¡¯s arena ranking was even higher than Laughing At The Heavens, meaning that his 1v1 skills were at least as good as the CGL Hall of Famer. Warsky wasn¡¯t a man who sat on his veterancy and contributed nothing to his guild. Throughout his many years of gaming, he had never stopped learning and growing his skills. If High Fighting Spirits had chosen to Charge at that moment, Warsky would¡¯ve dodged it 100% and gained the upper hand on him. "Heh!" Smiling a little, Warsky met High Fighting Spirits¡¯ rush instead of dodging, thrusting his sword at the Berserker as a fiery, cone-like energy formed around his sword. It was none other than the skill "Barrier Break¡±. High Fighting Spirits could choose to take the blow head-on, but he would lose at least 10k HP. Moreover, Warsky¡¯s unique Famous General Skill, "Hegemon" was active right now. 40% critical hit chance was absolutely not something to scoff at. Rustle rustle¡­ Somehow, High Fighting Spirits was able to halt his momentum before swinging Invincible at Warsky¡¯s sword. The two weapons met, and the Barrier Break resulted in a MISS. The barbarian warrior actually managed to cancel the enemy¡¯s skill! At the same time, High Fighting Spirit thrust Invincible toward Warsky¡¯s chest and used his own Barrier Break! Warsky¡¯s eyes sharpened. Moving forward instead of retreating, he knocked away High Fighting Spirits¡¯ battle axe with his sword before following up a heavy slash across the shoulder. A tiger¡¯s head appeared at the tip of his sword, let out an angry, beastial roar and bit deeply into the barbarian warrior¡¯s shoulder. The skill was something Warsky learned not long ago called ¡°Cyan Tiger Shatter¡±. It ignored almost all of the enemy¡¯s Defense, and it was the skill that helped to place Warsky among the Top 20 of the 1v1 arena. Right now, High Fighting Spirits could do nothing but endure the attack. 13901! Luckily, the skill wasn¡¯t a critical hit. Moreover, it didn¡¯t even do 15k damage because his current stratagem was Hegemon. If it was an Encourage VII, then the skill would¡¯ve dealt over 17k damage at least. "Roar!" 7893! 8012! Shock flashed across Warsky¡¯s eyes, but instead of panicking he zigzagged his way to High Fighting Spirits¡¯ flank and hit him with a basic attack that dealt over 6000 damage. Both their HP had dropped below 50% by now. Glug! +3500! Both warriors drank their health potions at nearly the same time. High Fighting Spirits had taken a hit to the back, but he didn¡¯t spin around immediately like a noob. He ran forward diagonally, spun around and ran back toward Warsky following an S-shaped path. The butterfly maneuver making his orbit somewhat unpredictable, he swung Invincible straight toward Warsky¡¯s head! "Fuck!" Warsky groaned inwardly, but he was able to raise his sword immediately and parry the attack. It wasn¡¯t the end though. Letting out an angry shout, High Fighting Spirits kicked Warsky in the stomach before lifting and dropping his axe again. This time, it was Barrier Break. Shocked, Warsky gritted his teeth and raised his left arm. A blue energy shield appeared above him, and a loud impact later the skill somehow canceled High Fighting Spirits¡¯ Barrier Break! Freezing Point Guard was another signature skill of Warsky. It could block any attack exactly one time before "shattering" and becoming unusable for a time. I had personally experienced this skill in the arena once. Since High Fighting Spirits¡¯ killing blow was somehow blocked by Warsky, he was the one now who was in grave danger. As expected, Warsky didn¡¯t let the opportunity slip by and counterattacked with his own Barrier Break, tearing a huge hole at the center of High Fighting Spirits¡¯ chest. Blood flowed out of the wound like a fountain, and a huge damage number appeared above his head¡ª 26788! It was enough to one-shot High Fighting Spirits. Hegemon truly was a commendable stratagem, and the Berserker wasn¡¯t tanky enough to survive the ridiculous critical hit chance. "It¡¯s 2-0! We won again!" Not far away, the Pepsi team leader let out a cheer before shooting Farewell Song a faint smile. The assassin was currently leaning against the wall and wearing a confident smile with his arms-crossed. His lack of reaction toward their good-looking team leader made Laughing At The Heavens wonder if he really was gay. ¡­¡­ High Fighting Spirits lost, but Warsky wasn¡¯t too well off himself. Their mechanical skills were quite similar to one another. The battle between first-rate warriors normally ended very quickly, and skills like Barrier Break were the biggest deciding factor. Anyone who managed to hit their opponent with Barrier Break first most likely had the victory in the bag. Creak! The door to the battle room opened, and High Fighting Spirits walked out with his gaming helmet. He gave us a helpless smile and said, "Boss, Gui Guzi, I lost¡­" I nodded. "It¡¯s okay, you did your best. Victory is something you can fight toward, but not always be certain of." High Fighting Spirits grimaced a bit. "Dammit, I can¡¯t believe that dog shit lucky bastard managed to land a critical hit with his Barrier Break. If I had half a second longer, I could¡¯ve channeled Xiezhi Howl and deleted him from existence. No, wait, maybe I can shorten that time to just 0.2 seconds¡­" Gui Guzi smiled. "Then your next goal is to find a way to shorten the channel time to 0.2 seconds through APM and technique. If you succeed, then you¡¯ll be a stronger man than Warsky was." "Mn." High Fighting Spirits nodded strongly. Everyone looked at the score on the big screen with a heavy heart in their chest. As much as we hated to admit it, the worst case scenario was looking more and more likely to come true, and judging from the ugly expression on Agi, the ASUS team leader¡¯s face, she was of the same opinion. With a 2-0 lead, Warsky Alliance only needed to win two more rounds and succeed in their challenge. Agi would be lucky to get away with just a resounding scolding from the club manager if that happened. Although victory and defeat was commonplace on the battlefield, no club in the world liked suffering a terrible defeat on the first day of their business. ¡­¡­ That was why Warsky Alliance¡¯s action today was absolutely abominable in our eyes. It was practically a do-or-die effort to fling mud on the team¡¯s reputation. Poor Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng. At the side, Chaos Moon looked like she wanted to skip ahead and fight right away. She wasn¡¯t a bad player and she had the Frost Scythe equipment set, so her chances of beating Lin Bing Dou Zhe was pretty high. Of course, it wasn¡¯t a guaranteed thing. Lin Bing Dou Zhe himself was a strong player, and his Famous General Skill was much stronger than Chaos Moon¡¯s. The third round was between October Rain and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. Again, it was a match that worried me deeply. Everyone knew October Rain as the military councilor of Warsky Alliance and an incredibly intelligent woman, but few remembered that she was also one of the best archers in the entire country. At the very least, her skill was almost as good or even on par with the likes of Beiming Xue and Transient Smoke and Clouds. Although Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun played a metal-armor class, he was as simple-minded as High Fighting Spirits. His technique and APM were okay, but there was no way in hell he was ever going to beat October Rain in terms of wits and adapting to unlikely situations. "I¡¯ll win this for us, so don¡¯t worry¡­" Ironically, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, the one who was going to fight a possibly impossible match was the one who consoled us. Chaos Moon curled her lips and threatened him. "If you lose, you will castrate yourself!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun grinned back. "No way, I don¡¯t have a girlfriend yet¡­" I let out a chuckle and said, "Alright, alright, cut the nonsense and get inside the battle room already. October Rain is already inside the game!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun slipped into the virtual world, and a while later both participants were teleported into the arena. They were exactly 50 meters away from each other when the wanderer summoned his Dark Gold Rank mount, Earth Lizard. The lizard was very short, but it possessed incredible agility. It was like Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was driving a luxurious racing car with a low chassis. Earth Wanderer might not be the best secret class in the world, but it was still a threat for sure. October Rain smiled at Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun from a distance. "Hi, Earth Wanderer. Are you ready to get whipped by me?" The wanderer¡¯s face turned a shade of green. "Prepare to die, girl¡­" The Earth Lizard abruptly pounced toward October Rain, and its rider fired a long-range attack. It was an attempt to slow down the archer if even a little so that he could gain an advantage. It was a smart tactic, but his opponent was October Rain. Normal tactics like this were useless against her. Thud! October Rain¡¯s leather armor boots pushed against the ground, and she used Leap to cross almost 10 yards and dodged the attack. At the same time, she flicked a Freezing Arrow that hit Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun in the head and slowed down his movement speed drastically. She then started moving around the wanderer with him at the center, never allowing him to get close to her. It was the highest level of maneuvering an archer or mage could employ in a map like this. Swhoosh! Suddenly, October Rain drew her bow and let loose a cyan-colored arrow. It drew cyclones in the hair and hit Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun squarely in the chest armor! "Mountain Stagger Arrow!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun shuddered violently as a damage number appeared above his head¡ª 1892! ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi couldn¡¯t help but laugh. "Did Miss October Rain lose her mind or something? I can¡¯t believe she¡¯s using a skill that did even less damage than her basic attack¡­" However, I frowned deeply and said, "Look at his mount tenacity, you fool!" "What?!" Chapter 565: Stunning Resul Devil Piercing Arrow! October Rain didn¡¯t even need a second Mountain Stagger Arrow. The combo easily deleted Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s last bit of mount tenacity. Right now the archer was a cannoneer, and the wanderer simply wasn¡¯t equipped against this level of firepower. Heavy-armored classes didn¡¯t have an advantage over the archer class. It was because an archer could kite and kill most average fighters with ease if they simply used their skills¡ªFreezing Arrow, Devil Piercing Arrow, Spiraling Arrow Blade and so on¡ªproperly. This was only truer for a CGL Hall of Famer like October Rain. Thud! Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun fell to the ground as his mount disappeared. The wanderer shouted angrily as he charged toward his antagonizer, "I could kill you even without a mount!" He fired a long-range Rock Smash and sent a ton of rocks flying toward October Rain. The attack actually caught her by surprise and forced her to Guard, and even then she still took 13781 damage! October Rain only had slightly over 17k HP, so the strike set off some of the alarm bells inside her head. She understood that the earth wanderer before her was a tiger, and the price of toying with a tiger was severe. Her expression hardened as she moved away from Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and loosed a Freezing Arrow at him at the same time. Then, she started using Spiraling Arrow Blades to control her enemy. The skill was an AoE skill, but its range wasn¡¯t particularly high. Therefore, October Rain had to predict her enemy¡¯s movements to land the skill accurately. It was a tall order to request from many archers, but October Rain had clearly mastered this technique. Four Spiraling Arrow Blades landed close to the earth wanderer in succession and dealt over 5000 damage per hit. Although he could recover himself with health potions and skills, October Rain¡¯s kiting still gave him a lot of trouble. Even his Charge skill failed to land as the archer leaped away to safety. There was nothing he could do at all. In fact, archer had incredible 1v1 fighting power. If Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun could gang up on October Rain with another warrior where one person doggedly chased after her, and the other person blocked her way and attacked her, then the battle situation would be completely different. At the very least, October Rain wouldn¡¯t be able to play her enemies like a fiddle. This was a 1v1 though, and the archer had plenty of room to kite and maneuver. It was the final nail in the coffin of Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. Thud... The earth wanderer slowly dropped to his knees after his last sliver of health was gone. The scoreboard turned into a glaring 3-0. Everyone was assaulted by an intense wave of displeasure in that moment. ¡­¡­ I pursed my lips and glanced at Gui Guzi and High Fighting Spirits. All three of them were looking at me with regretful expressions. Finally, I looked at Agi and muttered myself, "How did it turn out like this¡­" Agi asked with a deep frown, "Can we still win this, Lu Chen?" "It¡¯s a tiny chance, but it¡¯s definitely not zero. Don¡¯t blame yourself, okay? This is nothing compared to the time I was wrecked by Candlelight Shadow. Agi, you shouldn¡¯t let this match affect you as well. Remember that your team is made of growing players, and your opponents are established CGL Hall of Famers. Heck, everyone here was an unknown player half a year ago. Give them time, and they¡¯ll show you what they¡¯re really capable of!" Agi broke into a smile and nodded. "Understood. Win or lose, I promise I¡¯ll communicate with the sponsor and explain everything, so there¡¯s no need to feel pressured, everyone. You may lose, but that doesn¡¯t change the fact that you are the pride of our e-sports club. Plus, don¡¯t forget that we¡¯re down one member. Things could¡¯ve gone different if the dragon warrior was here." I smiled. "Exactly. If you do your best, win or lose you won¡¯t be left with any regrets." I put a hand on Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulder and said, "Beiming, the next match is between you and Laughing At The Heavens, and October Rain just showed you exactly how to beat a rider. You know what to do, don¡¯t you?" Beiming Xue nodded confidently. "Don¡¯t worry, big bro. If I lose this, feel free to give me corporal punishment!" I smiled. If there was one person here that I wasn¡¯t worried about, it would be my powerful younger sister. I gave her one last pat on the shoulder before saying, "Go, Beiming. Everyone¡¯s watching you!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Both players entered the arena. It was the Dark archer versus the famous veteran Laughing At The Heavens. Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ Famous General Skill was Hundred Battles, a stratagem that increased attack power by 25% and attack speed by 10%. Beiming Xue¡¯s Famous General Skill was Bow God, a stratagem that increased attack power and attack speed by 50%. As long as Beiming Xue kept Laughing At The Heavens at bay, the advantage was all Beiming Xue¡¯s. It would take a miracle for the magic knight to beat the archer. The fight went as I predicted it would. Beiming Xue kept roaming around the edges of the arena like a beautiful elf and showed off the agility and swiftness of an archer to the max . Moreover, her attack power was so powerful that it took her only five shots to delete Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ mount from existence. After that, all she needed to do was control her enemy with Freezing Arrows and Spiraling Arrow Blades. From the start until the end, Laughing At The Heavens never got close enough to touch Beiming Xue, much less hit her. Bang! There was one final impact, and Beiming Xue killed the magic knight in a most dominant fashion. Laughing At The Heavens looked deeply reluctant as he collapsed to his knees before the girl. His spear was at last pressing against her chest armor, but he no longer had the strength to stab her. Slowly, his weapon clattered to the ground. It was our victory. We had finally taken back a point and made the score 1-3! ¡­¡­ Cameras flashed everywhere as Beiming Xue walked out of the battle room with a bright smile. Warsky Alliance looked perfectly calm, however. They were still firmly in the lead after all. With his gaming helmet by his side, Lin Bing Dou Zhe grinned at Chaos Moon and said, "It¡¯s our turn to fight, pretty. Are you ready yet?" Chaos Moon stared at him with steely eyes. "The butcher¡¯s knife is sharpened and ready to go. Would you like to bleed, or would you like to lose your head first?" Lin Bing Dou Zhe shuddered and fell silent. The brief exchange made him realize that Chaos Moon was a wild one and not nearly as gentle as she seemed on the outside. Both players entered the battle rooms and a short while later, the arena. This was a critical match. If Chaos Moon won, then it would be my turn to go on stage. My chances of beating Hundred Battler were practically 100%. If Chaos Moon lost, the score would be 1-4, and Warsky Alliance would win the entire BO7. I wouldn¡¯t even get the chance to win my round. I couldn¡¯t stop myself from pulling Chaos Moon¡¯s sleeves and saying solemnly, "Chaos Moon, you absolutely have to let me get on stage, okay? I paid the taxi driver 74 RMB to get here¡­" Chaos Moon nodded. "I know, dear¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ I sucked in a deep breath as Chaos Moon and Lin Bing Dou Zhe appeared in the arena. To be honest, I was quite worried despite my confidence in Chaos Moon¡¯s strength. Lin Bing Dou Zhe had never shown us his true strength, and back at the Nine Lost Dragon Domains he was killed by Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Ghost God Prophecy before we got to see him in action. Heaven knows how many tricks the warrior hid in his sleeves. Right now, all I could do was pray that a miracle would happen, and that Chaos Moon could defeat Lin Bing Dou Zhe. It would extinguish Warsky Alliance¡¯s final hope and wipe off the annoying smile on that Pepsi team leader¡¯s face. Motherfucker, her smile was literally built on the misery of my friends. "Come on!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe pointed his sword at Chaos Moon and laughed. "I hope you can stand pain, because I¡¯m not holding back, Chaos Moon!" Chaos Moon gritted her teeth. "Shut your mouth, dog. Take this!" Chaos Moon ran toward Lin Bing Dou Zhe in a straight line and used Barrier Break. Did the pressure get to her? She shouldn¡¯t use Barrier Break so soon! As expected, Lin Bing Dou Zhe easily nullified the attack just by taking a step backward. However, Chaos Moon surprised us all by jumping straight into Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s lap and thrusting her blade into his stomach twice in rapid succession. It was the Blade Flurry skill¡ª 7894! 8012! The surprise attack immediately wiped off the shit-eating grin on Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s face and caused a bit of panic. He used his own Barrier Break and forced Chaos Moon to cease any follow-up attacks. Barrier Break only had a short cooldown of 6 seconds, so it was both a deadly offensive skill and an intimidation skill. It would seem that both players knew how to exploit the advantages of Barrier Break, be it confusing the opponent into overlooking follow-up skills, or intimidating the opponent into retreating. ¡­¡­ Rock Crush! It was speed versus speed, and Chaos Moon¡¯s AoE skill nearly crushed Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s heart. He had to chug down a health potion just to keep himself from dying on the spot. If his Famous General Skill hadn¡¯t bolstered his Defense, he might¡¯ve lost the fight already. Chaos Moon froze up for a moment after using Rock Crush. It was a common flaw of all AoE skills. Not about to let this precious opportunity slip past him, Lin Bing Dou Zhe charged toward Chaos Moon and slashed her head with a fiery sword. The fire actually transformed into tangible shackles and locked her in place! On the screen, the combat log stated: Player "Lin Bing Dou Zhe" used "Fire Prison of Heaven", immobilizing player "Chaos Moon" for 4 seconds! ¡­¡­ Fuck, it was the exact same effect as my God Binding Art! The only difference was that mine was a ranged skill, and his was melee. Because of that, his skill was nearly impossible to dodge. 4 seconds was enough time for Lin Bing Dou Zhe to do a lot of things. Barrier Break! The strike almost emptied Chaos Moon¡¯s HP. Fire burned around his sword again as he followed up with a Berserk Fury Strike, a triple-hit skill. It would seem that all of us had underestimated Lin Bing Dou Zhe, and the price was Chaos Moon¡¯s collapsing body on the screen. ¡­¡­ The score turned 1-4. Chapter 566: The Dragon Warrior’s Rage To think that I didn¡¯t even get the chance to fight my match... Gui Guzi clenched his fists tightly. High Fighting Spirits punched the wall beside him. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was clenching his teeth in hatred, but couldn¡¯t find a place to vent his emotions. I could see the deep regret etched onto Chaos Moon¡¯s features as she walked out of the battle room. Before she could say anything, I said, "It¡¯s not your fault. Lin Bing Dou Zhe was far stronger than we thought, and we had all underestimated him. It wasn¡¯t an undeserved loss¡­" "Mn." Chaos Moon nodded, but her eyes were full of sadness. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Warsky walked up the stage with a mic and a hearty chuckle, "Thank you for cheering for us, everyone. This friendly match had been most interesting, and on behalf of the Pepsi e-sports club I would like to thank everyone for your support. Besides that¡­" He looked at me and said, "I hope that the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand will honor his promise. If a new territory appears in Sky City, they must stay away from it and not contest for it!" I replied solemnly, "Don¡¯t worry. My word is my bond!" "Good, you really are the 7th-place CGL Hall of Famer, hahaha! Thank you for your generosity; the third territory of Sky City is ours for sure!" I gritted my teeth, but didn¡¯t know what to say. It was at this moment Laughing At The Heavens chuckled. "You have Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Beiming Xue, but you still lost. Is this all Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls got? Candle Dragon must¡¯ve been dreaming when they lost to you at the Nine Lost Dragon Domains. What a joke¡­" "Shut up, Heavens!" Warsky abruptly looked back and growled at his player. Our nerves were already fragile in the first place, and the provocation snapped it completely. Gui Guzi pointed straight at Laughing At The Heavens and shouted, "Who do you think you are, Laughing At The Heavens? You have no right to talk down on Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! The CGL Hall of Fame committee must be blind to include trash like you in their ranking when there are at least seventy people at your level in Sky City!" I hurriedly stopped him. "Are you trying to kill your own reputation, Little Gui? There are a ton of media people here!" Gui Guzi clenched his fists and forcefully swallowed his anger. Unfortunately, it was too late. Some of the cameras had to have captured the hostile exchange. In the end, the "friendly" match had become decidedly unfriendly. ¡­¡­ The man was none other than Li Chengfeng. Heaven knows how many red lights he ran through to get here this quickly. When he saw the score on the screen, he let out a shout of anger and disbelief, "We lost? How is this possible?" I gave him a nod. "We lost." Li Chengfeng ran up the stage. "But you and Beiming Xue are here. How on earth did we lose this?" I replied, "We lost a lot of rounds at the beginning, so the match was over before I even got to participate¡­" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Warsky said with a smile, "You are too late, dragon warrior. The match is over. That being said, it was still a pleasant spar, wasn¡¯t it? Hehe!" "Pleasant your sister!" Li Chengfeng abruptly turned toward Warsky and pointed a finger at him. "Warsky, I challenge your guild to a KOTH match right now! Do you dare to accept my challenge? If you don¡¯t then fuck off back to where you came from! This isn¡¯t the place for second-rate guilds like you to embarrass yourselves!" Caught off-guard and angered by Li Chengfeng¡¯s provocation, Warsky retorted, "Li Chengfeng, that is uncalled for! If you want a KOTH, then a KOTH is what you¡¯ll get! Warsky Alliance isn¡¯t afraid of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! We will both send five players to battle, but if you lose I want you to kneel on the ground and apologize to my guild! Do you dare to accept this?" Li Chengfeng raised his eyebrows and replied arrogantly, "Why would I not?" ¡­¡­ Most of the audience thought that the match was over, and they were about to withdraw from the venue after getting their free mineral water bottle. No one was expecting Li Chengfeng to start a bloodbath the moment he arrived. The KOTH match format was a pretty classic PvP format. Each side sends one player to the stage, and the winner of the fight stays behind to fight the next challenger. The team of the last man standing would become the winner of the match. Unlike most match formats, the KOTH match format was way more biased toward an individual¡¯s strength. It was entirely possible for an ace player to solo the entire enemy team by themselves! It was why people said that KOTH matches were where heroes were born. It was always exciting to watch a single player sweeping the entire team by themselves! The reason Warsky requested a five-player limit was to remove their weakest player, Hundred Battler, from the equation. Everyone else in the team was an incredible player in their own right, not to mention that Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s strength was mostly a mystery to all of us. He was probably the main reason why Warsky had dared to answer the challenge. Li Chengfeng said with a growl, "Warsky, as mentioned earlier, I will kneel to you and say ¡®I¡¯m sorry, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is inferior to Warsky Alliance¡¯ if we lose. But if you lose, I want you to kneel on the ground and say, ¡®I¡¯m sorry, Warsky Alliance is inferior to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ as well! You¡¯re not going to chicken out, are you?" Warsky replied with explosive anger, "Like hell! If you want a fight, I¡¯ll give you one!" Beneath the stage, the crowd was positively exploding with excitement. Well, it was understandable. The friendly match had turned into personal attacks after all. Warsky was counting on Farewell Song and Lin Bing Dou Zhe to carry his guild to victory, whereas Li Chengfeng was counting on me. After the match format and participants were confirmed, the player order of both sides were displayed on the screen¡ª Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls: Legendary Brave, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Beiming Xue, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi Warsky Alliance: Farewell Song, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, October Rain, Laughing At The Heavens, Warsky ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng and I wrangled with each other for a long time before I finally relented and gave up the first slot. The dragon warrior was clearly angry as hell and hoping to enact vengeance upon Warsky Alliance by defeating all five enemy players by himself. Should he fail, I would go next as the central pillar of the team. Gui Guzi was put at the last slot as our last bastion. Warsky Alliance¡¯s player order was just as direct as ours. Farewell Song went first because he was their best player, and he had the skill to sweep five players by himself. Lin Bing Dou Zhe went next because he had unorthodox skills that gave him the ability to act as a sweeper. Warsky was their last bastion. Overall, it was a pretty logical order. "Let go already!" Still carrying his bag, Li Chengfeng went into the battle room like he couldn¡¯t wait to begin. The dragon warrior was so eager to redeem his team and guild that he couldn¡¯t even spare the effort to take a sip of water. Farewell Song went into the battle room as well. Soon, both players appeared inside the arena. Both Li Chengfeng and Farewell Song were super top-tier players. None of them had a clear advantage over the other, so victory could go either way. It all depended on who had the better mentality and state at the time. ¡­¡­ Agi couldn¡¯t help but smile as he watched Li Chengfeng¡¯s back. "Haha, this Li Chengfeng is quite a hot-blooded guy, isn¡¯t he?" I nodded in agreement. "That is why I believe that your choice of signing Li Chengfeng is perfect!" Agi chuckled. "True, though to be honest you and Beiming Xue were the players we wanted to sign the most. Unfortunately Lenovo got to you first before we could do anything¡­" I grinned. "Let¡¯s watch. This one¡¯s guaranteed to be an intense and exciting fight." "Right!" ¡­¡­ Just as we predicted, Li Chengfeng and Farewell Song fought for five full minutes, pitting the full breadth of their equipment, skill and technique against each other. We saw all sorts of techniques such as aggressive defense, butterfly maneuvers, helix maneuvers, combos, knockback-and-recovery and more, and they were all well-timed and controlled. Forget the others who looked like they were fighting the battle themselves, even I was fully engrossed with the match. Both players were incredibly skillful, and I noticed many minute details that I could use to improve my own skills. As a professional player, it was my habit, no, my duty to refine my existing combat skills and tactics and pick up new skills constantly. If I stopped trying, then it was only a matter of time before I rusted and fell behind my competitors one day. In the end, Li Chengfeng was able to bait Farewell Song into a bad move and kill him with just 3% left in his health bar. The entire fight had been extremely precarious, but it was beautifully won nonetheless. When Farewell Song finally dropped to his knees, a thunderous applause and cheer erupted from below the stage. Most of the audiences here idolized Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi, so of course they were pumped up by his amazing victory. First blood was ours, and the score turned 1-0. Li Chengfeng¡¯s HP and MP automatically returned to full as he awaited his next challenger, Lin Bing Dou Zhe! ¡­¡­ Chaos Moon approached me suddenly and said worriedly, "Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s Berserk Fury Strike and Fire Prison of Heaven are incredibly powerful, and we forgot to tell Li Chengfeng about them. I¡¯m worried that¡­" I gave her a reassuring smile and replied, "Don¡¯t worry, Li Chengfeng is a top-class player, so he has a well-honed sense of crisis. Just wait, Li Chengfeng will find out these skills even without our warning!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ The battle had already started while we were chatting with each other. Both players had been circling each other for half a minute and probing each other to find an opening. Li Chengfeng was in the zone right now, and he didn¡¯t seem to be in any hurry to rush down the enemy. However, Lin Bing Dou Zhe couldn¡¯t quite suppress his patience. He abruptly charged toward the dragon warrior and kicked off with Barrier Break. He was planning to repeat the same move Chaos Moon had used on him previously! Swhoosh! Li Chengfeng slid to the side and dodged the attack with ease. When he looked back at his opponent, he noticed that flames were surrounding Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s sword all of a sudden. The next moment, the flames were just inches away from Li Chengfeng¡¯s head. If the hot iron were to hit its target, Li Chengfeng would be shackled and immobilized where he was! "Heh!" However, Li Chengfeng saw this coming and rolled on the ground, somehow dodging the Fire Prison of Heaven perfectly. The move looked a bit ugly and hasty, sure, but overall speaking, it was a beautiful dodge! "Fool!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe turned pale as Li Chengfeng¡¯s voice came from beside him. Li Chengfeng hadn¡¯t underestimated his opponent, but Lin Bing Dou Zhe did! Thud thud thud thud... The sounds of metal hitting flesh resounded four times in a row. It was Barrier Break and Dragonbone Flurry. Lin Bing Dou Zhe collapsed to the ground just like that. Just like that, Li Chengfeng had swept two of Warsky Alliance¡¯s best players, Farewell Song and Lin Bing Dou Zhe! ¡­¡­ Chapter 567: Tolerance and Magnanimity Swhoosh! A Freezing Arrow hit Li Chengfeng¡¯s chest armor, but he only shivered a little before continuing on his way. As he was moving diagonally toward October Rain, he suddenly executed the Reverse Scale Slash. Caught completely by surprise, the archer let out a yelp before trying to move away from him. Li Chengfeng clutched the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity tightly in his hands before swinging the Tempest Sword three times in a row. It was Dragonbone Flurry! October Rain used her bow to parry the attacks as she retreated. Somehow, she managed to parry all three hits even though it was the attack of the dragon warrior himself! She definitely wasn¡¯t called the beautiful military councilor for nothing. However, all the attacks Li Chengfeng launched at October Rain up until this point was just preparation to ensure that he could land one sure hit on her. He dashed past October Rain, and both him and the archer became off balance for a moment. He immediately spun around, wreathed his sword in a fiery cone of energy and attacked her with Barrier Break. At the same time, Li Chengfeng changed his stratagem from Blitz to Encourage VII in an instant and boosted his attack power by 70% or so. Unable to parry or dodge the attack, October Rain¡¯s chest was pierced as blood burst out from behind her back. She slowly collapsed to the ground as a big damage number popped above her head¡ª17890! Okay, that¡¯s another round to us. At this point, Li Chengfeng had taken out three opponents in a row and was past halfway toward completing his perfect sweep. ¡­¡­ A thunderous applause erupted from below the stage as red-faced fans raised their arms high and shouted, "Legendary Brave is so cool! Go go go! Go go go!" "Take down Warsky Alliance! They shouldn¡¯t have supported a foreign brand like Pepsi!" "Let¡¯s gooo! Make them pay for the shame they did to us earlier!" Clearly, a lot of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls fans were frustrated with the terrible 1-4 loss we had suffered earlier. Then, Li Chengfeng showed up and defeated three of Warsky Alliance¡¯s super experts single-handedly. It was no wonder that many of them couldn¡¯t hold back their emotions any longer. Gui Guzi nodded and smiled with a hopeful expression. "Yeah. It looks like there¡¯s nothing stopping Li Chengfeng from completing a perfect sweep anymore!" Beiming Xue said, "Let¡¯s keep watching. His next opponent is Laughing At The Heavens, but I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll win again." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ As expected, the battle between Li Chengfeng and Laughing At The Heavens only lasted 1 minute and 45 seconds. From the start, it was a one-man-show from Li Chengfeng until the moment he used Barrier Break and Dragonbone Flurry to delete his opponent at 45% HP. The poor magic knight¡¯s Holy Shield Protection was fully ignored. 4-0. Clearly, Li Chengfeng was the true hero of this KOTH match. Even if he were to lose the next round¡ªwhich was incredibly unlikely because he was ranked in the Top 10 of the champion arena, and his last opponent, Warsky, was not¡ªthere was no denying the fact that he had swept four players all by himself. Warsky walked into the battle room with a dark expression on his face. Clearly, he hadn¡¯t expected both the generals he trusted to carry the team, Farewell Song and Lin Bing Dou Zhe, to lose to Li Chengfeng. Now he was the only one left to save the day, but he knew full well that it was almost impossible. Swhoosh! Warsky appeared inside the arena. Li Chengfeng pointed the Tempest Sword at him and said calmly, "Come, Warsky. It is time for you and your people to pay the price of your arrogance!" "Is that so?" A hint of grim determination peeked out of Warsky¡¯s features, and he charged toward Li Chengfeng along an irregular Z-shaped path. If nothing else, Warsky¡¯s movement was top-tier and almost as good as Farewell Song¡¯s. At the very least, he wasn¡¯t inferior to Laughing At The Heavens in the slightest. Clang! Sword clashed against sword, and sparks exploded between the two warriors. They split almost ten yards away from each other before charging again along their planned orbit. Swhoosh! Cone-shaped swirls of energy apparead at the same time and circled around their swords. Both of them had opted to use Barrier Break at the same time. "Here I come!" Warsky abruptly sped up and thrust his sword at Li Chengfeng¡¯s chest armor. A hint of disdain flashed across the dragon warrior¡¯s eyes as he moved horizontally and dodged the attack like a shadow. The next moment, he pressed his sword against Warsky¡¯s back and said coldly, "With your movement speed, you are slow no matter how you switch up your movement!" Pu! 13795! Li Chengfeng was using Blitz, so his Barrier Break was slightly lacking in terms of attack power. However, the dragon warrior covered up that weakness with his attack speed and attacked Warsky three times in the back. Not waiting for Warsky to turn around to face him, Li Chengfeng moved again to the opposite side of Warsky¡¯s flank in one smooth movement. Warsky was clearly furious. He had trained hard to improve his skills, but the dragon warrior still outclassed him completely. This wasn¡¯t the result he envisioned at all. Bang! Warsky summoned his trademark ice shield, blocked Li Chengfeng¡¯s Cyan Dragon Horn with Freezing Point Guard and knocked him off balance, earning himself a valuable opportunity to launch a counterattack. He immediately summoned the image of a cyan tiger and unleashed Cyan Tiger Shatter at Li Chengfeng! "What?" Li Chengfeng exclaimed in shock as he raised his sword to defend himself. His parry was perfect, but he still took a lot of damage because Cyan Tiger Shatter was a skill that ignored Defense. A stunning damage number floated above Li Chengfeng¡¯s head¡ª19048! No one had expected the skill to score a critical hit. If Li Chengfeng¡¯s perfect parry hadn¡¯t nullified most of the damage, he would¡¯ve been one-shot already! Furious, Li Chengfeng stabbed Warsky repeatedly with Dragonbone Flurry and tore his body to pieces. It was a fatal blow because Warsky had lost too much HP at the start of the battle. The deflated guild leader ultimately dropped to his knees and died. Li Chengfeng chose not to take out his frustration on Warsky¡¯s body and left him with the most basic level of dignity. He sheathed his sword, summoned the system UI and logged out of the game. ¡­¡­ Creak¡­ The doors of the battle rooms as Li Chengfeng and Warsky walked out at the same time. Beneath the stage, the crowd was giving Li Chengfeng the thunderous applause he absolutely deserved, and I had no doubt that the reporters had recorded the exciting match from start until the end. Even in the entire server, there were only a handful of players who could knock out the entire Warsky team by themselves. Warsky¡¯s face was very ugly. October Rain and Farewell Song looked like they wanted to console him, but didn¡¯t know what to say. Earlier, Warsky was only thinking about furthering the Pepsi team¡¯s reputation when he made that bet. Now that he had lost the match, he was stuck between kneeling and apologizing to Li Chengfeng before everyone, or acting like a sore loser and slinking away with his tail between his legs. Gui Guzi raised his eyebrows and said loudly, "The guild leader of Warsky Alliance is a man of his word, right?" October Rain immediately shot him a glare. "Gui Guzi, you! That¡¯s too much!" Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes turned chilly. "Too much? Why didn¡¯t you say that when you challenged us on the opening day of our team? You were the ones who tried to humiliate us, and now that plan has backfired on you! Warsky, if you¡¯re a real man you¡¯ll come out of your woman¡¯s shadow and honor your promise!" October Rain¡¯s face was red with anger. She pointed a finger at Gui Guzi and threatened, "You bastard¡­ Very well. I won¡¯t forget this!" Gui Guzi smiled at her. "Don¡¯t worry, today¡¯s events will certainly remain a warm and happy memory in my heart." October Rain was so frustrated she was stomping her foot, but she couldn¡¯t think of anything to say to avert the disaster. Farewell Song was also clenching his fists and glaring at us as if he would attack us at any moment. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a steady voice came from the back. "Little Rain, enough. If you agree to bet, you must accept a loss. I, Warsky, am not a coward!" He passed his gaming helmet to Hundred Battler. Then, he strode up to Li Chengfeng and dropped to one knee. Or at least, he tried to. Li Chengfeng walked up to Warsky and forcibly pulled his arm upward so that the latter couldn¡¯t drop to his knees completely. "What are you¡­?" Warsky looked at Li Chengfeng in confusion, and the dragon warrior replied with a small smile on his face, "Warsky, you¡¯ve proven yourself to be a man today, and I respect that. Did you forget that all this is ultimately a friendly match that isn¡¯t worth getting angry about? Sure, both sides made an angry bet against each other, but we are even now that you¡¯ve won the first match, and we¡¯ve won the second. There is nothing for you to apologize for. We just want you to know that the ASUS e-sports team is new, but not a small fry you can bully anytime you wish. Not only that, we welcome any friend to challenge us to a spar, and that includes Warsky Alliance of course. Should we put this behind us and stay as friends now that everything is over?" A bit of gratitude peeked out of Warsky¡¯s features. Had he really knelt here today, it would probably leave a black mark of shame in his life. I nodded in approval imperceptibly. By annulling the bet, he had proven that the ASUS e-sports team was a magnanimous team who wouldn¡¯t get hung up over petty grievances. It was like the final blow that marked Warsky Alliance¡¯s challenge attempt as an ultimate failure. It was at this moment the team manager, Agi, walked up to them with a smile and said, "Indeed, everyone here is a friend! Now come on, the ribbon still needs to be cut, and the champagne won¡¯t open itself!" ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue gave my arm a tug before asking, "Say, big bro, how does it feel to rush all the way to save the world, only to find out that you were useless in the end?" Chapter 568: Great General He Jin My phone suddenly rang, so I hurriedly found a quiet corner and accepted the call. ¡°Hello, Eve. What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Where are you guys? We didn¡¯t see you at the workshop.¡± ¡°Oh nothing, just killing some players for Gui Guzi and the gang¡­¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°So, why did you call me, Eve?¡± I asked again. He Yi let out a chuckle before replying, ¡°It¡¯s nothing big, really. I just want to tell you some good news.¡± ¡°Oh? Tell me.¡± ¡°Our Mingyue has finally become a Famous General!¡± ¡°Ah, really? Haha! What did she learn? It must be pretty powerful, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yes, she learned a skill called Bright Mirror. It increases the healing effectiveness of all party members by 35%, and removes all forms of debuffs instantly¡­¡± I exclaimed in shock, ¡°Holy shit, that is amazing! I thought she would learn something called ¡®Breast God¡¯ or something, but subpar name aside the effects are seriously amazing. Speaking of which, can Bright Mirror remove Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Ghost God Prophecy?¡± He Yi giggled. ¡°Do you even need to ask? From today onwad, Mingyue will be Candlelight Shadow¡¯s biggest nightmare! Bright Moon is the perfect counter to his Ghost God Prophecy!¡± ¡°Haha! That¡¯s so awesome!¡± ¡°Mn mn!¡± He Yi continued. ¡°Oh right, are you and Beiming coming back this afternoon? If you are then let¡¯s eat lunch together! My second uncle just came back from America, and he wants to meet the both of you!¡± ¡°Oh? And your second uncle is¡­?¡± ¡°He¡¯s the vice president of the GGS parent company¡­¡± ¡°Fuck¡­¡± ¡°Fuck, what?¡± ¡°I understand now why you''re the vice president of the Asia region. Your backer is beyond imagination¡­¡± He Yi replied in a dumbfounded tone, ¡°What are you talking about? I got to where I am through my own skill and hard work, okay? My achievements have nothing to do with my second uncle. Sigh, if even you don¡¯t believe me, then no one will believe me anymore¡­¡± I smiled. ¡°Okay, okay, please forget what I said earlier. Sure, Beiming Xue and I will head home before noon. And please give sis my congratulations. I know she¡¯s been expecting this for a long time.¡± ¡°Mn, I know. Come back soon.¡± ¡­¡­ I hung up and watched the people of the ASUS e-sports team celebrating their opening day from afar. Just like that, another giant ship of VR gaming had set sail toward the unknown. If a big competition good enough to attract the best teams to appear in the future, the ASUS e-sports team most definitely would be a hot contender for the champion spot! We busied ourselves until noon before we hailed a taxi and left for the university. When I went back to my car, I counted a total of 7 parking tickets on the front mirror. Beiming Xue stuck out her tongue before laughing, ¡°Big bro, it looks like you got the shit penalized out of you¡­¡± I curled my lips unhappily, ¡°Motherfucker, what a world we live in these days. When an international guest shows up in our country, they¡¯re allowed to break the traffic rules however they want and even escorted by the police themselves. My car is just sitting here and troubling no one for one night, and it got 7 parking tickets for its silence? This really is a strong-eats-weak world¡­¡± Beiming Xue giggled. ¡°What do you want to do then?¡± I thought for a moment before answering, ¡°I¡¯m going to summon Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits and wreck the motor vehicle administration at the end of the year¡­¡± Beiming Xue snorted. ¡°Li Chengfeng himself works for the Ministry of Public Security, and you¡¯re expecting him to wreck the motor vehicle administration with you? Really?¡± ¡°Hahaha!¡± I was too lazy to remove the parking tickets, so I just left them where they were placed. After that, we got into the car and went back to the workshop. ¡­¡­ When we arrived at the bottom of the apartment, it was over 11 am already. Beiming Xue and I went up the stairs together. However, when the elevator door opened, we immediately saw a man in a western suit standing at the entrance to our workshop. He was probably 50 years old or so, but he looked very healthy. He wore a pair of glasses with black frames that gave him a cultured appearance, but long, shapely eyebrows and peachy lips didn¡¯t looked very good on him. Creak! The door opened, and we saw He Yi dressed in a beautiful coffee-colored uniform dress. She looked back and forth between the middle-aged man and us before muttering in confusion, ¡°Second uncle? Lu Chen? Why have you come together?¡± I was stunned to say the least. Was this middle-aged man He Yi, the legendary second uncle of He Yi and vice president of the GGS parent company? I still remembered the day a drunken Gui Guzi asked He Yi a stupid question, ¡°Boss, your name is He Yi, right? Is General He Jin of the Han Dynasty related to you or something?¡± At the time, He Yi had worn a weird look on her face, and today I finally understood why she looked like that. One, it was because Gui Guzi had asked an insanely stupid question as usual. Two, it was because she actually had an uncle named He Jin. He Yi¡¯s second uncle, He Jin immediately looked at me and Beiming Xue and gave us a friendly smile. ¡°Oh? Are you that Lu Chen He Yi always speaks of? We finally meet, hehe. You really are as handsome as she says¡­¡± He Yi¡¯s second uncle had a very unusual voice. I could almost believe that he was mocking us if he wasn¡¯t He Yi¡¯s uncle. Even Beiming Xue was feeling goosebumps on her skin and staring blankly at the guy. After I shook He Jin¡¯s hand, Beiming Xue pulled me to a side and whispered beside my ears, ¡°Big bro, don¡¯t you think that second uncle¡¯s voice is really girlish?¡± It took everything I had not to burst out in laughter on the spot. He Jin was He Yi¡¯s second uncle, and it was only right I gave him the respect he deserved. It would be incredibly rude to laugh at him. ¡°Let¡¯s eat lunch at Longxiang Hotel, shall we? It¡¯s my treat!¡± Her second uncle offered courteously. I have heard of Longxiang Hotel. It was built just not long ago, and it was known far and wide for its amazing service. The food it served was rumored to be extremely expensive¡ªa simple plate of shredded pork with green bell peppers could sell for over 2000 RMB¡ªand the waitresses were all women who were disqualified from beauty contests. Apparently, even the water they used to wash their food and dishes were shipped from foreign countries by air, or at least that was what Xu Yang claimed when he was boasting the hell out of the hotel. Regardless, everyone who heard it couldn¡¯t help but want to see the place with our own eyes. He Yi had never asked us to take her out to Longxiang Hotel because the workshop was well off, but not that well off. None of us were expecting He Jin to be so generous as to invite us to lunch at Longxiang Hotel the first time he visited He Yi at Suzhou. In fact, he had booked a table before he came here. There was no reason for us to turn down such an excellent offer, and even Murong Mingyue looked plenty excited. Apparently, the poor vice president assistant had never gone to such a high class place in her life, and every time He Yi was away Murong Mingyue would criticize her stinginess non-stop. It was to the point where both Beiming Xue and I had gotten used to it. ¡­¡­ We all went downstairs and saw a luxurious business car parked at the bottom of the apartment. There was even a driver waiting inside. So, we all entered the car and let ourselves be driven to our destination. He Jin was sitting next to He Yi, and he kicked off the conversation after the car took off. ¡°Little Yi, it¡¯s been almost half a year since you came back to China, haven¡¯t you? The shareholders of the parent company all think that you¡¯ve stayed away from the project plannings for too long. As the top planner of the Asia region, you of all people shouldn¡¯t slack off at work, don¡¯t you agree?¡± He Yi pursed her lips. ¡°Second uncle, I¡¯ve been doing that for many years already. I¡¯m very tired, and I feel like resting for a bit, that¡¯s all. It¡¯s not like the parent company would die without me. Is a year off really too much to ask? Plus, haven¡¯t I sent you all the project proposals I¡¯ve been doing?¡± Second uncle frowned. ¡°Even still, you¡¯re still the vice president of the company. You can¡¯t avoid your responsibilities forever, can you? Also, I heard that you¡¯ve sunk all your energy in Eternal Moon Company¡¯s new game after you came back. It¡¯s been so many years, can¡¯t you let go of that already?¡± A bit of sorrow entered He Yi¡¯s eyes as she looked outside. ¡°As long as I¡¯m still alive, I will not break my promise! Please don¡¯t try to change my mind any longer, second uncle. I will do everything in my power to make Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls the number one guild in the world!¡± ¡°You¡­¡± He Jin shook his head a bit helplessly before relenting, ¡°Forget it, we can talk about this later. It¡¯s been a long time since I last saw you, and I don¡¯t want our first meeting in a while to be an argument.¡± He Yi smiled and grabbed He Jin¡¯s arm. ¡°Second uncle, you¡¯re such a good boy¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m a good boy?¡± The second uncle was stunned by her logic. ¡­¡­ We reached Longxiang Hotel a while later. The hotel was built at the lakeside of Taihu, and it looked like it was floating above the lakewater. The lifelike building was designed to look like a Chinese dragon rising to the sky, and its ¡°body¡± was jampacked with hotel rooms and dining halls. The floating carpark at the bottom of the hotel was adorned with lotus petal designs, and the sheer amount of luxury cars parked on it dazzled everyone¡¯s eyes. I must admit that the designer put an incredible amount of effort into designing this hotel. We rode the elevator to the top floor and walked into a side room with a window view. We were served by two beautiful waitresses wearing identical uniforms and high heels. The women¡¯s breasts were at least 34D and looked like they might burst out of their clothing, and their butt was covered tightly by a black mini skirt. They waited patiently at the side for us to make an order. I swallowed visibly before muttering under my breath, ¡°Rich people are so blessed¡­¡± Murong Mingyue and He Yi glared at me in unison. ¡°We¡¯re still here, you know?¡± ¡°Haha, what are you talking about? Anyway, let¡¯s start ordering¡­¡± However, I nearly fainted from just one look at the menu list. At the lowest, I estimated that this lunch would cost 50k at least. The simplest dish cost at least several thousand, and those with slightly more meat in them cost eight to nine thousand. I wasn¡¯t exaggerating when I said that I was shivering in fear. This place is a money trap, not a restaurant! However, He Yi¡¯s second uncle didn¡¯t look fazed by the prices at the slightest. Together with He Yi, he ordered around eight dishes or so and a bottle of red wine whose name I couldn¡¯t make head or tails of. But I could make heads or tails of its price, and it was one to die for, literally. Even Murong Mingyue looked surprised by the prices, so I decided to keep my mouth shut. What could I say or do when even the general manager herself looked a little out of her element? ¡­¡­ Chapter 569: Drastic Change in GGS He Yi put down her glass and nodded. ¡°Mn. What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Well, Shanghai Shengyi recently entered the market and signed an impressive bill that¡¯s worth almost ten billion RMB with Apple. Since Apple is one of GGS¡¯ key competitors, we¡¯re planning to strengthen our cooperation with Shanghai Shengyi and take as many of Apple¡¯s resources from them as possible. Otherwise, we will lose a great deal of influence in China.¡± He Jin gave his small glass of red wine a swirl before smiling. ¡°I heard that the young master of Shanghai Shengyi is also playing Heavenblessed. He is one of the Top Ten Youths, and he has many companies. You¡¯ve been single ever since you entered the work field, so why don¡¯t you consider him as a potential partner? He has been pursuing you, hasn¡¯t he?¡± He Yi¡¯s expression instantly turned frigid. ¡°Second uncle, can you please stay out of my private life? Do you really know who Wang Dongliang is? If you don¡¯t, then I would advise you to let me handle my life.¡± ¡°How can you say that?¡± He Jin looked a bit angry. ¡°I¡¯m doing all this for your own good. You¡¯re 26 years old already; is there really no one that meets your expectation? Wang Dongliang excels in both morals and studies, and he belongs to the Top Ten Youths. Do you really think he¡¯s unqualified to be with you? You¡­ your bar is a bit too high, isn¡¯t it? No wonder sister-in-law couldn¡¯t stop worrying about your future, sigh¡­¡± He Yi protested indignantly, ¡°Excels in morals and studies? Top Ten Youths? He only got the award because he made his dad pay 4 million RMB to bribe the committee! A Top Ten Youth like him is worth exactly nothing! Second uncle, I refuse to believe that you didn¡¯t know this with your experience. My love life is mine, and no one can choose my partner for me!¡± He Jin¡¯s eyebrows knitted together. ¡°For the past half a year or so, the board of directors has had problems with your work attitude. You need to prove yourself by facilitating the successful cooperation between GGS China headquarters and Shanghai Shengyi, do you understand? Before I came over, Peter literally spent half the day talking to me about this, and even before today that he has been pressuring me greatly. If you refuse to change your mind, then the board of directors will be forced to take action.¡± He Yi blinked and stared at her second uncle in shock. A long time later, she finally moved her lips and murmured, ¡°What did you just say, second uncle? Care to repeat yourself?¡± ¡°Enough.¡± He Yi cut off her second uncle and rose to her feet. Her shoulders were shaking a little as she stared at the glistening lake outside the window. ¡°I negatively affected GGS¡¯ development in China? Hehe. Who was the one who spent half a month negotiating in Beijing to finally convince the Ministry of Commerce to allow GGS to come ashore? Who was the one who burned the midnight oil for seven days straight to create the PVF project, the project that won the position of China''s chief application software partner away from the Singaporeans? Who was the one who pushed strongly for financing and saved the company from sinking in the financial crisis last year?¡± Her expression turned incredibly sad as she turned around to look at her second uncle. ¡°So this is what they call ¡®to boil the hound once it caught the rabbit¡¯. Since a year ago, the board of directors has been removing my power non-stop. They think I did too much for the company, and that I¡¯m threatening their position, didn¡¯t they? Peter... and even you really want me to leave GGS, didn¡¯t you?¡± He Jin fell quiet and said nothing. He Yi let out a soft sigh before smiling suddenly, ¡°In that case, there¡¯s nothing else I have to say. I¡¯ll send my resignation letter to the GGS headquarters in three days. From now on, Eve will no longer work with GGS.¡± He Yi¡¯s expression suddenly turned ice cold. ¡°But remember, that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m retiring from the industry. GGS wants me gone? Very well, I¡¯ll remove GGS from China, no, Asia itself! Just you wait. My word is my bond!¡± He Jin exclaimed in shock, ¡°What madness are you spouting, Little Yi? Do you really think it¡¯s worth doing all this for a game and a couple of gaming friends?¡± Smiling, He Yi shook her head. ¡°They are my companions. A businessman like you will never understand this!¡± He Jin: ¡°...¡± Clearly, the biggest reason He Jin returned to his country was to facilitate the cooperation between GGS and Shanghai Shengyi, and persuade He Yi to give up Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. However, he never thought that He Yi would react so fiercely, probably because he touched her reverse scale and caused her to lose her cool completely. ¡­¡­ I stood up and put an arm around He Yi¡¯s shoulder. I said, ¡°Let¡¯s go back, Eve. We don¡¯t belong in such a place¡­¡± She nodded slightly. ¡°Mn.¡± Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue also followed us, and soon He Jin was the only one left in the side room. He looked like he wanted to say something but couldn¡¯t find the words he needed. Who would¡¯ve thought that a simple squabble over power would result in He Yi resigning from GGS? Or maybe this was the price all overachievers who didn¡¯t know how to show modesty must pay. ¡­¡­ On the way back, He Yi stared at the running outside the window, hurt and angry. She must find it difficult to accept the sudden bad news. ¡°Eve?¡± I grabbed her hand gently before apologizing, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. You lost your cool because of us.¡± He Yi returned the grasp and smiled back at me. ¡°Idiot. How is it your fault?¡± Murong Mingyue chuckled from the side. ¡°It¡¯s not all bad. You¡¯re finally free to do what you want, right? After all, only in fairy tales can you get the best of both worlds.¡± He Yi smiled a little before putting her cheeks on my shoulder. She looked very tired as she slowly closed her eyes. The way her eyelashes shivered broke my heart a little. ¡°What are your plans for the future, Eve?¡± Murong Mingyue asked. He Yi opened her eyes and hummed in acknowledgment. Then, she said quietly, ¡°To be honest, I have a feeling they¡¯re wary of me since a long time ago. My influence and power in GGS are simply too big, and there were a couple of times I even challenged my president, Peter at the board meeting directly. Sigh, I should¡¯ve known that a personality like me was more suited as a president than a vice president¡­¡± Murong Mingyue burst into a giggle. ¡°I understand now. You want to strike out on your own, am I right?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± He Yi nodded strongly as her eyes glowed with intelligence. ¡°Peter and second uncle only saw Shanghai Shengyi¡¯s power and neglected another super corporation, Blue Star. Blue Star and Eternal Moon Corporation share a cooperation agreement right now, and they have incredible influence within China. Blue Star¡¯s fatal flaw is that their software¡¯s flexibility and security is far inferior to GGS¡¯. When Ling Tian was still alive I had talked to him about this, but unfortunately we ultimately weren¡¯t able to come to an agreement. However, the current president of Blue Star, Ling Xue just came to me a few days ago to discuss the possibility of a cooperation, so my plan is to provide them with the technology they need and establish our foothold in China through this.¡± I asked, ¡°That sounds like a fine plan, but do you really have the manpower and wealth to carry it out?¡± He Yi chuckled, ¡°Idiot, do you think so little of my abilities? I¡¯ve worked in GGS for years; I don¡¯t have to tell you how good my connections and reputation in the industry is, do I? I even own a tonne of shares in GGS. Hmph! Believe me when I say that GGS¡¯ properties in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang are all mine. All they require is a name change, and the cooperation with Blue Star will proceed as usual. As for manpower, hmph hmph, do you know that the core of GGS¡¯ technical employees were mostly my people? For example, the people I brought over from India will only acknowledge me as their superior, not GGS. Therefore, manpower isn¡¯t a problem either!¡± Murong Mingyue gave me a pat me on the shoulder before smiling, ¡°It is as she says, Eve¡¯s not a dumb dumb like you after all. Do you really think she would neglect developing her own henchmen after working in GGS for so many years?¡± He Yi chided her in a kind tone, ¡°What do you mean, ¡®henchmen¡¯? It¡¯s called like-minded people, okay?¡± ¡°Right¡­¡± He Yi was smiling, but I felt like crying. Not everyone could give up a massive organization and rebuild their own company from scratch. He Yi had sacrificed so much for us, and yet she was smiling like everything was fine because she didn¡¯t want us to be sad for her. Her smile was so strong that it pained me to see it. ¡­¡­ He Yi turned serious again and said, ¡°So, Mingyue and I won¡¯t have much time to play the game for a month because there are preparations and recruitments to take care of. The new company must arrive at a cooperation agreement with Blue Star in a month or even a week to achieve the best results. At the same time, We need to take over as many GGS businesses as possible before the headquarters can stop us¡­¡± He Yi looked at me. ¡°Therefore, we are leaving the virtual gaming side of our business to you and Beiming Xue. Since Blue Star is a partner of Eternal Moon Corporation, naturally our new company will involve ourselves in Heavenblessed and provide you with a certain level of technical support. This means that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is now more than important ever before. Do you understand what I mean, Lu Chen?¡± I nodded. ¡°Yes, I do. Don¡¯t worry, you can entrust everything in the game to me!¡± ¡°Good. Let¡¯s all do our best!¡± ¡­¡­ After we returned to the workshop, the first thing He Yi did was to lock herself and sis inside her room and making calls non-stop. Even from outside, I could hear her calling all kinds of people including the president of Blue Star, Ling Xue herself to make an appointment. Ling Xue was the fifth-placed CGL Hall of Famer and a greater player than even I was. The woman was a living legend. Obviously, it took a lot of work to build a new company, not to mention that He Yi was trying to build a flagship of China¡¯s software industry. It absolutely wasn¡¯t something He Yi and Murong Mingyue could handle alone, so she needed all the help she could recruit as soon as possible. I was planning to help her, but the mere sight of the complicated English text on the name cards numbed my scalp completely. It wasn¡¯t long before a smiling He Yi pushed me out of the room. ¡°Hey hey, I appreciate the thought, but don¡¯t give me more trouble than I already have, okay? You should head into the game and check if Dark Moon City is still standing. It¡¯s worth a lot of virtual wealth, you know¡­¡± Left with no choice, I returned to my room and entered the game as ordered. As she mentioned earlier, Beiming Xue and my task was to protect all of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ in-game properties. Some time later, I left the room to pour myself a cup of tea. I saw Murong Mingyue at the kitchen drinking a glass of water. ¡°Sis?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡°Eve, she¡­¡± ¡°Let me stop you right there.¡± Murong Mingyue stared at me for a moment before smiling enigmatically. ¡°I know you feel guilty, and I¡¯m not even going to correct it. Yes, Eve broke up with GGS because of you. That stubborn girl might have a million reasons to leave you, but she only needs one to stay by your side¡­¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Alright, you should get back into the game now. Everyone here has invested their heart and soul into the guild, and it would absolutely suck if our dreams were to vanish because of us, am I right?¡± Chapter 570: God Hunter As usual, I repaired my equipment and departed for Dark Moon City after appearing in Sky City. I was currently sitting on Level 140 and 27% experience, a level where my experience bar didn¡¯t even blink when I killed a high-level mob, and things were only going to get harder from here. The Nine Lost Dragon Domains had also become temporarily unavailable to me, meaning that I had to find a whole new leveling map. It felt Level 150, the level I could finally ride a mount would never come. After I entered Dark Moon City¡¯s main hall, Dark Knight Hero Udal immediately saluted me before asking, "What are your orders, my lord?" Well, nothing yet actually. I was just here to take a look at things. Dark Moon City was now a Rank 6 Undead Castle. Once I upgraded the Nest of Corruption and Blood Pond Cemetery to Rank 6, and built a Desolate Knight¡¯s Grave, I would be able to mass produce Dark Knights for defensive or offensive purposes. However, my plan changed a little after checking the unit characteristics. Instead of recruiting as many Dark Knights as I could, I decided to recruit only 50 and continue upgrading the city to Rank 10. I wanted to know what kind of buffs and tangible reward a Rank 10 city would offer! I ordered Udal to sweep the resource mobs around the area with a Dark Knight legion. Then, I left to find a new leveling map. I felt as fast as a flying arrow after I exited the territory. The 80% boost to movement speed from the Stormy Waves War Boots was seriously impressive. On the way, I took a look at the Heavenly Ranking and noticed that everyone was leveling fairly quickly. Sky City really was overflowing with great talent¡ª NameLevelClassBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand140Undead SwordsmanWind Fantasy137Light WandererBeiming Xue136Dark Archer From Water136Magic KnightLegendary Brave135Dragon WarriorPurple Marquis135WarriorFarewell Song135AssassinGui Guzi135Undead KnightOctober Rain135ArcherClear Perfume135ArcherMurong Mingyue134PriestLaughing At The Heavens134Magic KnightShadow Chanel134Dark Tongue MageLittle Piglet134Cold Wind SwordsmanWarsky134Warrior ... Everyone¡¯s level was so close to each other that a moment of laxness could cause someone to fall out of the Heavenly Ranking. Unfortunately, this was almost certainly going to be the case for He Yi and Murong Mingyue because they wouldn¡¯t be able to play the game for the next month to come. It couldn¡¯t be helped. This was why I had to maintain my lead and carry the banner of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls until they returned! As for my champion arena ranking, I had dropped to the 6th place because I hadn¡¯t fought there for a while. I didn¡¯t mind though. A sum of experience was rewarded to the players every week based on their ranking, but objectively speaking, grinding mobs was just faster if gaining experience was your goal. ustle rustle... It was autumn inside the game, and reddish maple leaves could be seen everywhere. It was how the forest got its name. Not long after I ventured into the forest, a giant shadow suddenly appeared some distance in front of me. It was an unusual-looking rhino mob with a fiery blade on top of its forehead and crimson skin. Its name was "Fire Rhinoceros", and it was a very impressive Level 158 shadow-rank mob! Now I understood why very few people ventured to the east of Dark Moon City to grind. At the current stage, these Level 158 Fire Rhinoceroses were more than powerful enough to ravage 99.9% of the existing player base. Their Attack was high enough that most fighters wouldn¡¯t be able to tank them successfully even with a priest in the party, and they roamed in large numbers inside the Fire Maple Forest. The experience they offered was delicious, but for now, most players could only sigh and turn their attention somewhere else. Whoosh! I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf before activating Thunderous Charge. After the mob was stunned, I slashed it a couple of times before unleashing the triple-hit Burning Blade Slash and War Crush, shaking its humongous body and annihilating its HP. The Fire Rhinoceros counterattacked, and I lost around 1800 HP to the fiery blade on its forehead. Considering my current Defense, it was a lot of damage. The average Level 120 warrior would¡¯ve lost at least 10k HP. My pet roared and swiped repeatedly at the Fire Rhinoceros. Although its DPS was far inferior to mine, it was still better than nothing. A few seconds later, the mob died and dropped a round, red-colored shield. I picked it up and saw that it was a Level 125 Dark Gold¨Cgrade item. It could probably be sold for a couple hundred RMB. He Yi had left GGS and lost her main source of income. Founding a new company takes a lot of money, and it wasn¡¯t like she could sell the shares she owned overnight and without thought. Therefore, the salary Lenovo paid us and the income we made inside the game were now indispensable. I had to earn as much money as possible and help out He Yi¡¯s finances. Every penny counts at this stage. I tossed the shield into my bag and continued along my journey. Dozens of Fire Rhinoceroses were dead by my hands as I ventured deeper and deeper into the forest. I opened the world map and noticed that Fire Maple Forest took up almost the entire window. What a huge place this was. This map was quite some ways away from Sky City, so plenty of mobs were free to enact evil as they pleased. I even noticed some traces of Night Creatures here and there. I checked my progress. I needed to get another 5% toward the next undead rank and for that, I needed to absorb undead soul sparks. Right now I was an Asura, and the next rank was Asura King. Many undead beings would fear me after I became an Asura King, but the archbishops of the Silver Moon Alliance might very well think otherwise. They might even put me to the stakes and turn me into barbecue! It was at this moment I heard the painful cries of an old man coming from somewhere inside the forest. I wasn¡¯t expecting to hear any human voice in this monster-infested forest at all. Lucky! This has to be a quest! I cut apart the greenery blocking my way and ran toward the voice as quickly as I could. After stomping a thorny bush beneath my foot, I finally saw an old man wielding a blade and a bow lying inside a clump of thick brambles. The old man wore black robes and a herb basket behind his back. His legs were torn and bloody as if they had been clawed by some ferocious beasts. Honestly, I was surprised that he was still alive and strong considering his age and injuries. The lines of text floating above his head also caught my attention¡ª Zatch the God Hunter Level 150 City: Wind City Introduction: Zatch is a strange but extraordinarily talented person. He can hunt with his bow and blade, gather herbs with his shovel, and create countless dishes and medicine. He even killed a giant dragon and was named the God Hunter for his achievement. Zatch¡¯s cooking and alchemy skills are second to none in the entire world, and many empires have tried to employ his services only to be turned down. He never stays in one place for too long, so it¡¯s impossible to know his exact whereabouts. ¡­¡­ I was completely dumbfounded. No matter how I look at him, his appearance doesn¡¯t match his description at all... "Who are you, boy?" Zatch spotted me at this moment. "I¡¯m an adventurer of Sky City, the golden guard of Princess Karinshan¡­" I bullshitted. Zatch still trusted my words and relaxed immediately. He lowered his iron sword slowly before smiling. "I wasn¡¯t expecting to run into an adventurer of Sky City here. I guess I¡¯m not destined to die here today¡­" I walked up to him and dropped down to one knee to inspect his wound. I asked, "How did you get this badly injured, senior? What was the thing that hurt you this badly?" Zatch replied in a solemn tone, "Ohh, don¡¯t remind me. I was careless, and I accidentally stepped into a headhunter¡¯s trap. Then, I was wounded by those ferocious tigers. If I didn¡¯t have a pair of quick feet, those animals would¡¯ve devoured me already. Unfortunately their fangs are poisonous, and I couldn¡¯t remove the toxin even though the injury could be healed. Boy, you must be a brave person to venture into this lawless place. You must help me!" I nodded. "Tell me!" "Alright!" Zatch thought for a moment before starting, "There is a forest called ¡®Cyan Tiger Forest¡¯ to the east, about 1.5 kilometers away from here, that is infested with countless Cyan Battle Tigers. I want you to kill 1000 of them and gather 100 Cyan Tiger Teeth so I can create a cure. I will reward you handsomely for your efforts!" He looked at me again, and suddenly the cloudiness in his eyes disappeared as if it was never there. He exclaimed in astonishment, "Boy, both your Cooking skill and Foraging skill are at Rank 10?" I nodded. "Yes, they are. What¡¯s wrong?" Zatch suddenly looked at the sky and laughed loudly. "Wonderful, wonderful! To think that there exists a powerful hunter who¡¯s willing to settle his mind and learn cooking as well! Boy, you are the person I¡¯ve been looking for for many years! Listen well. Finish this quest, and I will teach you the secret to combining Cooking and Alchemy together!" "Oh?" I broke into a grin. "Okay, senior. I¡¯ll complete this quest for sure¡­" The quest appeared with a ding¡ª The God Hunter¡¯s Request (Current Quest Rank: SS+) Description: Head to Cyan Tiger Forest, kill 1000 Cyan Battle Tigers and collect 100 Cyan Tiger Teeth. Bring them to the God Hunter for a generous reward. But be careful, the Cyan Battle Tigers are extremely powerful, and there is a high chance you may be killed at any moment. You are advised to bring some allies with you. ¡­¡­ Chapter 571: Cyan Battle Tiger Crack! I accidentally stepped on an unfortunate fellow¡¯s bones and crushed them as I moved forward. These people must¡¯ve been killed by Cyan Battle Tigers. So far, it definitely looked like the mob was as powerful as Zatch claimed. I didn¡¯t walk far before I was greeted by a mighty roar. A Cyan Battle Tiger appeared from the forest, and it was almost as big as the Fire Rhinoceros. It looked like it was covered in steel needles instead of fur, and its head was as sinister-looking as its gaping mouth and bared fangs. Judging from the way it was glaring at me with its light red eyes, the beast had already designated me as its next victim. I scanned the Cyan Battle Tiger and read its stats screen¡ª Cyan Battle Tiger (Shadow) Level: 162 Attack: 2240~2550 Defense: 2400 HP: 220000 Skills: Barbaric Rend, Wild Roar, Claw Pounce Introduction: The guardian of the Cyan Tiger Forest. They are cruel, violent and barbaric, and they feed on anything that is made of flesh and blood. Due to prolonged exposure to poisonous air and magical energy, their bodies have been transformed and their skeletons have become much stronger than before. Now, it is the king of this forest, and no creature alive is a match for it. ¡­¡­ "Roar roar!" The Cyan Battle Tiger¡¯s Attack was even higher than the Fire Rhinoceros¡¯, and it was clearly eyeing me with violence in its mind. Lifting its front paws slightly, the Cyan Battle Tiger abruptly jumped into the air and pounced toward me in a beautiful arc. I steadied my footing and calmly waited for the attack to come. Then, I abruptly thrust my sword forward and hit the Cyan Battle Tiger with Burning Blade Slash¡ª 9903! 14782! 19820! My attack power was seriously out of the world thanks to Martial God and the Cyan Netherworld Sword. The Cyan Battle Tiger was a shadow-rank mob with a whopping 2400 Defense, but my attack still penetrated its flesh with ease. The Cyan Battle Tiger roared in frustration, but before it could turn around, I stabbed it in the butt with Universe Break! 22091! If the tiger wasn¡¯t pissed off before, it was now. The moment it turned around, it immediately smacked me on the shoulder. The attack carried the Rend effect and dealt 6984 damage to me! I didn¡¯t need to heal myself at all in this fight. Lifesteal and Rank 10 Regeneration of the Undead were enough to deal with this Level 162 shadow-rank mob. "Roar roar..." Eventually, the Cyan Battle Tiger let out a thunderous roar before collapsing limply to the ground. After collecting the bloody and poisonous tooth it dropped, I went to look for the next Cyan Battle Tiger! ¡­¡­ About seven or eight kills later, someone suddenly asked in the guild channel¡ª Xu Yang: "Is it just me, or has boss been absent the entire day?" Li Chengfeng: "No, and it¡¯s not just the guild leader either. Vice leader Murong isn¡¯t on as well. Did something happen, Lu Chen, Beiming Xue?" Beiming Xue: "I think it¡¯s better if you speak with big bro¡­" I replied, "It¡¯s nothing. Eve and sis are needed at the company for the foreseeable future, so they won¡¯t be online for a while. If there¡¯s anything you need, please come to me directly. Starting now, I¡¯ll be overseeing everything that happens in the guild." "Oh, I see¡­" Xu Yang said, "By the way, Lu Chen, do you remember the Split Galaxy sets you kept at the guild warehouse earlier? They are Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment, and they are very powerful. I was thinking about distributing them to the gang before they become outdated. What do you think?" I nodded immediately. "You¡¯re right. I completely forgot about it until you reminded me. Chengfeng, Little Gui, Beiming Xue, how do you think we should distribute them?" Li Chengfeng replied, "There are 15 Split Galaxy sets in the warehouse right now. In my opinion, our magic knights should have the first priority. They have mounts that greatly increase their stats, and they¡¯ll be even stronger with this new armor. Even in our guild, guild leader, Eve, Gui Guzi, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun are the only magic knights who are wearing Spirit or Earth¨Cgrade equipment. Everyone else is still stuck with Dark Gold or Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment. Therefore, I believe we should give them to the Top 15 magic knights with the highest contribution points. For fairness¡¯ sake, all their contribution points will be reduced to zero. But of course, this is just a suggestion. You¡¯re the guild leader now, and you are the one who grinded these equipment. It¡¯s entirely up to you how to distribute these equipment, Lu Chen!" I smiled. "No, you¡¯re right, our magic knights should have priority over these items. However, I would like to make a small correction. It¡¯s about time the top players of our guild upgraded their equipment, so I would like to give Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits, and Du Thirteen a set each. The rest will be distributed as you said earlier. Does everyone think this is fair?" Gui Guzi laughed, "Sounds fair to me, boss! Haha, looks like the Fireblade Cavalry are gaining another 12 OP riders!" Beiming Xue giggled. "You shouldn¡¯t boast, Brother Gui. You realize that your Fireblade Cavalry has been outdated for a long time now, right? A Volley is all I need to kill an entire group¡­" Gui Guzi: "..." Gui Guzi couldn¡¯t say anything in front of the powerful dark archer. It was because she was stronger than him, and his chances of winning against Beiming Xue in a one-on-one fight were less than 40%. Her class, equipment, skill, and technique were all super-tier, and she was a walking weapon of mass destruction that could down even Candlelight Shadow¡¯s mood on sight! Beiming Xue was definitely right when she said that the Fireblade Cavalry was outdated, however. Most experts at the current stage of the game had crossed the level 130 mark, and the Fireblade Cavalry was just a level 100+ low rank mount. Suffice to say, it could no longer keep pace with the times anymore. Even if we could capture enough Fireblade Horses to make a big cavalry, its low rank would diminish the impact of a cavalry charge. After all, an opponent with a higher rank mount could easily break the flow just by counter-charging because their mount had higher mount tenacity, speed, and strength. It would be annoying to say the least. ¡­¡­ The guild channel was rife with merry for a moment. All the magic knights who got the Split Galaxy set looked so happy they could die. The Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment set was worth at least a million RMB on the market, so being able to get it for the mere price of all their existing contribution points was a steal. This was a good thing. Only a small number of players would get the equipment, but it still motivated the rest of the guild to gather more contribution points. And how do you gather contribution points? You grind levels, kill enemy players, kill bosses and more. It was basically a virtuous cycle that benefited the whole guild. I continued killing Cyan Battle Tigers for a while. Suddenly, a Cyan Battle Tiger that was smaller than the regular ones appeared in front of me, and I froze like I had seen a ghost. It was because the mob was a capturable Rare mount! I slowly approached the Cyan Battle Tiger. The lines of text floating above its head were pleasing to read¡ª Cyan Battle Tiger (Purple Gold Rank Mount) Strength: +345 Stamina: +350 Attack Increase: +24% Defense Increase: +20% Attack Speed: +40% Movement Speed: +90% Attack Range: +27 yards Max HP: +7000 Turn Rate: -65% Mount Tenacity: +40% Passive: Movement state cannot be easily interrupted, resistance to ice magic +40% Level Requirement: 125 Reputation Requirement: 70000 ¡­¡­ I could hardly believe my own luck. Not only was it a Purple Gold Rank mount, it was better than even He Yi¡¯s Snow Domain Windchaser! Even Lin Yixin¡¯s Frostscythe Warhorse was only slightly better than this Cyan Battle Tiger! Overjoyed, I sent a message to Gui Guzi immediately: "Little Gui, abandon everything you¡¯re doing, make a hundred-man magic knight party and come to these coordinates right now! They must all be trustworthy people! Everyone including you is getting a new super mount today!" Gui Guzi sounded confused. "Is the mount really that great? Your reaction seems a bit excessive." I immediately sent him the Cyan Battle Tiger¡¯s stats screen. "Holy motherfucking shit!" Gui Guzi sweared loudly. "I¡¯m coming over right away! Just give me a moment to summon Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun so he can lead the party with Flying General. We¡¯ll be there in half an hour at most!" I nodded. "Good! Bring as many magic knights as you can, and make sure to keep the coordinates a secret. I have a feeling that the Cyan Battle Tiger isn¡¯t the only Rare mount in the area. This may be our chance to build another elite cavalry regiment! If you confirm there are a lot of Cyan Battle Tiger mounts in the area, contact Li Chengfeng and tell him to station a party nearby. We don¡¯t want an enemy guild catching us by surprise." Gui Guzi laughed happily, "Got it, we¡¯ll be there in a jiffy. Haha, this is awesome! Oh right, why were you there, boss?" "Grinding, duh. Now go, quickly!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I continued to grind while waiting for Gui Guzi and the others to arrive, killing all the Cyan Battle Tigers in the area except the Rare mount. To my utmost pleasant surprise, I found a second Rare mount less than 200 yards away from me when I killed the last mob! Chapter 572: Knight General Beauty Rain Another Cyan Battle Tiger fell to my Cyan Netherworld Sword as I pierced its stomach with Universe Break. Although I was fighting them one by one, my grinding speed was pretty quick. I had killed almost a hundred mobs in less than half an hour, meaning that I could complete my quest in four to five hours tops. Once Gui Guzi and the others had arrived, I would move to a different location and maintain my current pace. The level 162 Shadow-rank mob was powerful, but it also gave a lot of experience. It was at this moment a system notification across all the main cities¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player ¡°Heaven¡¯s Rain (Wind City)¡± has successfully defeated the Earth Rank Boss, Forest Plunderer, and reached Level 127. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the twenty eighth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and the exclusive Famous General Skill, "Knight General"! Knight General: Increases Attack and Defense of all mounted players in the party by 25%. Skill effect depends on the player¡¯s Tactics stat. This Famous General Skill is not unique and can be learned by multiple players. ¡­¡­ Knight General? I paused for a moment. Knight General was basically the poor man¡¯s version of Gui Guzi¡¯s Knight God! Although its stat boosts were halved, it was still an incredibly powerful Famous General Skill. Ignoring other stats such as HP and Agility for the moment, a 25% boost to Attack and Defense was almost the same as Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell to a pure mounted player. In the future battles for supremacy, most players including Warriors would hit level 150 and be able to ride a mount. Cavalry charges would become the core DPS of all wars, and almost every guild would strive to build their own flavor of cavalry troops. When the day comes, players with Knight General would become very important. Knight God was super strong, but Gui Guzi was only one person and could only buff one party. Therefore, the more players with Famous General Skill that buffed mounted players we could recruit, the better. I brought up the friend interface and entered Heaven¡¯s Rain into the search bar immediately. Looking at her profile, Heaven¡¯s Rain was a beautiful magic knight. I then sent her a friend request that was accepted about a second later. Not daring to dilly dally for even a second¡ªthe pain of missing out on Lin Bing Dou Zhe still fresh in the memory¡ªI sent Heaven¡¯s Rain a call request immediately. Ding! The call was connected, and a feminine, nervous voice came from the other side. ¡°Aaoh? Is¡­ is this Falling Dust?¡± ¡°Hi. Did you need something from me, big bro?¡± Heaven¡¯s Rain was wearing a dumb smile on her face. ¡°I¡¯ve known about you since a long time ago. You¡¯ve always been my idol, big bro. Candlelight Shadow is strong, but he¡¯s also too scary. You are the true expert between the two of you, big bro!¡± I smiled. Well, this makes things a lot easier. ¡°Sooooo¡­¡± I purposely dragged out the word for a bit before diving to the point, ¡°Little Rain, the main reason I added you as a friend is to ask you if you¡¯re willing to join our guild.¡± ¡°Ah?!¡± Heaven¡¯s Rain let out an exclamation of shock. She murmured, ¡°Personally I really want to join your guild, Falling Dust, but¡­ I¡¯ve already promised my friends to join their guild. Ah, what should I do? Do you think I should speak with them first?¡± I thought for a moment before asking, ¡°How big is this guild?¡± ¡°7 members¡­¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± I almost puked blood when I heard that. ¡°You can all join us. Your friends can contact Amazing Expert and join Bloody Mercenaries, while you will join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. How does that sound?¡± ¡°Can I check with them first?¡± ¡°Sure!¡± A few seconds later, Heaven¡¯s Rain said excitedly, ¡°Done. They¡¯re all willing to join Bloody Mercenaries, and they all agree that there¡¯s no future for me, a Famous General to stay in a small guild. By the way, er, can I meet you in person after joining Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Falling Dust?¡± ¡°Sure. Where do you live?¡± ¡°Jiaxing, Zhejiang.¡± ¡°Are you still studying?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡°Okay, come to Suzhou when you¡¯re free and visit the guild¡¯s gaming base. Speak to Gui Guzi or Xu Yang, and they¡¯ll take you to me!¡± ¡°Okay! It¡¯s a promise!¡± ¡°It¡¯s a promise!¡± I smiled again before continuing, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get to business, shall we? Please leave your original guild now so I can send you a guild invitation. It¡¯s a bit early, but I would like to introduce you to everyone!¡± ¡°Mn mn! Thank you, big bro!¡± I sent Heaven¡¯s Rain the guild invitation, and she accepted it quickly. The next moment, everyone in the guild received a guild notification: ¡°Please be informed that player ¡°Heaven¡¯s Rain has joined the guild. Let us fight for a glorious future together! ¡­¡­ The guild channel erupted at once¡ª Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: ¡°Aiya, Heaven¡¯s Rain the Wind City girl who just became a Famous General, right? How did she join the guild this quickly?¡± Li Chengfeng: ¡°Hahaha, welcome, welcome! Welcome to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Beauty Rain!¡± Gui Guzi: ¡°Welcome! Welcome very much!¡± Chaos Moon: ¡°Yo, Beauty Rain! Talk to us so we know you¡¯re there, please?¡± Heaven¡¯s Rain picked her words carefully as she spoke in a soft voice, ¡°Er¡­ it¡¯s big bro, I mean Falling Dust who recruited me. I¡¯m a newcomer, so please take care of me, everyone¡­¡± High Fighting Spirits: ¡°Haha, what a cute and innocent little sister she is! Just call me Fighting Spirits! Big bro is fine too if you want, haha!¡± I projected my glare into the guild channel. ¡°WTF, Fighting Spirits, control yourself! You¡¯re going to scare her!¡± Heaven¡¯s Rain burst into a giggle. ¡°Oh my, there are so, so many famous people here¡­ in the past I can only stare at these IDs in the ranking list or the official news, but now you¡¯re actually talking to me¡­¡± Li Chengfeng laughed. ¡°Be cool, Little Rain! Remember, the seventh-placed CGL ranker and the Little Heavenly King, Falling Dust himself personally invited you to join his guild. This is an honor few people in the guild got! Us talking to you is nothing compared to that! By the way, if you want you can join my party right now. I can chat with you for 24 hours straight if you want, no log-offs¡­¡± Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: ¡°Little Rain, do you have a QQ account?¡± Heaven¡¯s Rain: ¡°Er¡­ I haven¡¯t added anyone on my QQ account for a long time.¡± Xu Yang asked with a grin, ¡°Beauty Rain, do you have a boyfriend?¡± Heaven¡¯s Rain: ¡°No¡­ why?¡± Rolling my eyes, I said, ¡°I¡¯m busy, so chat with you all later!¡± Heaven¡¯s Rain: ¡°Okay. Remember our promise, big bro! I¡¯ll come visit you one day!¡± ¡°Got it¡­¡± ¡­¡­ I closed the guild interface. Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s arrival to the guild was like dropping a piece of fresh meat at the center of a pack of wolves. Most people wouldn¡¯t be able withstand the onslaught. But if they did survive, then they would become immune to any form of harassment in the future. So train well, Heaven¡¯s Rain! With that done, I went back to killing the Cyan Battle Tigers. A while later, Gui Guzi and the gang finally appeared at the edge of the forest. He raised his Rainbow Spear and greeted me from afar, ¡°We have arrived, boss Broken Halberd! Haha!¡± I pointed to the east and said, ¡°There are two Rare mounts over that direction. There¡¯s no need to worry about the common mobs because I¡¯ve cleared them out already. After that, reform your party and grind the Cyan Battle Tigers while you search for new mounts. This way you¡¯ll level and gain new mounts at the same time!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Gui Guzi laughed again before leaving with the Fireblade Cavalry. I continued to fight the Cyan Battle Tigers for a while until Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun showed up with a ferocious-looking Cyan Battle Tiger beneath his legs. He was now twice as tall and looking mighty impressive. He swung his blade once before letting out a laugh, ¡°Vice leader, how do I look? I look good, don¡¯t I?¡± I nodded. ¡°Heh, yes you do. Keep up the good work. Let¡¯s try and equip 100, no, 1000 players with Cyan Battle Tigers! We will make a fearsome cavalry troop!¡± Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun smiled widely. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, boss! I checked the map briefly, and considering its size I¡¯m fairly confident it can accommodate 1000 Cyan Battle Tiger mounts or more! Speaking of which, these big cats are seriously impressive. It was super easy to grind the mobs after equipping them!¡± I smiled. ¡°Good. Now go. Once you¡¯ve captured the first 100 Cyan Battle Tiger mounts, tell the rest of our mounted players in our guild to come over immediately. We must sweep across the entire Cyan Tiger Forest in three days max so that our enemies can¡¯t steal a piece of the pie from us!¡± ¡°Got it. See you later!¡± Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun left, and I went back to the grind. ¡­¡­ Time passed bit by bit. Every time Gui Guzi¡¯s party found a Rare Cyan Battle Tiger mount, a magic knight who was level 125 or above would head over to tame it. Everyone¡¯s level was pretty high at this point. The top 100 players on the Heavenly Ranking were level 131 and above, and players between level 125 to level 130 were everywhere. There were at least seventy thousand players who were level 125 and above in Sky City, and within Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls over 40% of our mounted players were level 125 and above. Therefore, my order to make a thousand-man strong Cyan Battle Tiger cavalry troop was definitely not a pipedream. By 5 pm or so, I had killed the last Cyan Battle Tiger I needed to complete the quest. It was an exhilarating grind all things considered, and my experience had risen by 40% or so. I was now a step closer to level 141. Considering my current DPS and grinding efficiency, leveling once per day shouldn¡¯t be too difficult. With luck, I might be able to reach level 150 in half a month. When that happens, I could either get a Cyan Battle Tiger as a mount or a better one. One way or another, my overall power would skyrocket for sure. The quest was done, so it was time to turn it in to Zatch the God Hunter. I very much looked forward to his mysterious reward he promised. I trekked through the forest for about ten minutes before reaching the quest marker. After I parted a shrubbery blocking my sight, I immediately saw the weakened God Hunter still lying atop the thorns and looking completely dazed. However, his despairing eyes immediately lit up with hope when he saw me, and he abruptly sat up and let out a laugh. ¡°Young man, I knew you wouldn¡¯t disappoint me. Have you brought me the Cyan Tiger Tooth?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Chapter 573: Bloody Dawn I frowned deeply. "Didn¡¯t you say you can cure your poisoning after I completed the Cyan Tiger quest? What do you mean ¡®one more step¡¯?" The old man smiled. "Patience, young man. This Cyan Tiger Tooth is but one of the necessary ingredients to make the cure. I need another essential ingredient, a herb to be exact to complete it. Without it, I won¡¯t be able to teach you the ultimate secret art of legends to merge the Cooking skill and Alchemy skill together¡­" I must say that the words "ultimate secret art of legends" tempted me greatly. Oh well, I was born to toil to my death anyway, so more or less work doesn¡¯t matter to me. I nodded and said, "What else do you need, elder? Tell me everything!" "Good!" The God Hunter nodded and said, "Directly south from here around 30 minutes away, there is a place called Blood Skull Mound where a Night Creature Legion is garrisoned. These defenders number around a thousand or so, and they are elite undead warriors who have committed every crime imaginable world such as feeding on human corpses and burning down human homes. Child, I want you to head to Blood Skull Mound and kill all the Blood Skull warriors residing in that area. I also want you to kill the undead lord, Blood Skull and bring his head to me. I will use his rotten skull to make my cure¡­" I frowned a little. "Elder, this cure is a bit intense, don¡¯t you think? Are you sure you can handle it?" The God Hunter shook his head. "You don¡¯t understand. When a person gets old, their taste turns hardcore as well¡­" "..." Oh well, it¡¯s none of my business. I quickly accepted the additional quest¡ª Kill Blood Skull (Current Quest Rank: SSS-) Description: Head to Blood Skull Mound, kill all the undead defenders and the undead lord, Blood Skull. Bring his skull back to Zatch the God Hunter for a very generous reward! ¡­¡­ God dammit, the saying "the road to happiness is paved with hardships" definitely fit my situation right now. Heck, I didn¡¯t even know what this so-called generous reward was. At any rat, I sure hoped that this was the last quest of the quest chain. This was a bounty quest, so it was a lot more difficult than grinding the Cyan Battle Tigers. However, the higher the quest rank, the better the experience reward, so it wasn¡¯t all bad. Right now my most urgent desire was to hit Level 150 as soon as possible. Even if I couldn¡¯t become the first mounted warrior of Heavenblessed, I wanted to be ahead of Candlelight Shadow at least. On the way, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf happily ran circles around me and consumed mutated wild rabbits to fill its belly. For once, it got to satisfy its appetite to its heart¡¯s content. Unfortunately, my little wolf¡¯s ranking was a bit too low for my needs, and as a fifth-promotion player I had three pet slots. I supposed I could capture a Level 1 version of some high-level mob to train if it was fairly reliable, but pets had always been super rare in Heavenblessed. It had been months since I entered the game, and I had only ever encountered a handful of Level 1 pets! (Author¡¯s Note: I swear on the ceiling above my head that it¡¯s because Heavenblessed is stingy with pets and not because I totally forgot that pets existed¡­) Zatch said that it would take half an hour to reach Blood Skull Mound, but he was basing it on the movement speed of an average warrior. My Storm Waves War Boots increased my movement speed by 80%, so it took me only 15 minutes or so to reach the edge of the map. Looking at my minimap, the map was completely blood-red in color. Unlike Frost Mound, Blood Skull Mound was a completely open camp with no fence to protect it. In fact, the only structures I spotted were giant graves that were protected by a hundred or so undead warriors each. However, I appreciated the terrain though because it made completing the quest a lot easier for me. After all, all the mobs in this map were pretty high-level, and I was alone and without a priest. It was impossible even for me to grind them en masse. I moved to a nearby grave and saw a high-level undead warrior clad in blood-red armor from head to toe watching his surroundings carefully. It wielded a long spear, and the pupils peeking from behind its helmet was blood-red. It was observing everything around it with overwhelming hostility. I didn¡¯t even need to see its stats to know stats to know that it wasn¡¯t a common mob. I sucked in a deep breath and walked closer. I tried to check its stats, but most of them were obscured. Still, the tiny bit of info I gleaned was enough to shock me¡ª Blood Skull Warrior (Ancient) Level: 164 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: The Blood Skull warrior is the guardian of Blood Skull Mound. These powerful undeads used to be human elites until their soul and body were snatched away from them. Their emptied bodies were transformed into the servants of the Night Creatures, and these fallen creatures know nothing besides killing all that is alive in the world. ¡­¡­ God damn, this was the first time I met an ancient-rank mob. I saw a mob ranking order on the forums, and Ancient came right after Shadow. For mobs that weren¡¯t bosses, they were categorized as Common, Enhanced, Elite, Shadow and Ancient. In other words, Ancient Rank mobs were very powerful enemies with stats that rivaled even some minibosses, so much so that I couldn¡¯t even see their stats. It was so unfair, why was it that I could see the Star Dragon¡¯s stats but not these mobs? Slightly displeased, I decided to do away the skulking and just murder the hell out of them. No matter how powerful they were, they were just Level 164 mobs. Also, this was the perfect opportunity to absorb the undead soul sparks. With luck, I should be able to become an Asura King after clearing out the map! One of my racial skills, Deterrence, helped to weaken the Blood Skull warrior¡¯s stats to a certain degree, but I had no idea about the exact number because it involved many factors and many interactions. It was impossible to determine the exact formula. I kicked off the battle by launching a cyan blade swirl of energy at the head of the nearest Blood Skull warrior. Bang! 8894! Not careless enough to underestimate the enemy, I withdrew to the back and launched another Dragon Slaying Slash at the Blood Skull warrior. After the mob started growling and chasing me, I immediately activated Thunderous Charge! Swhoosh! A successful stun later, I launched my usual combo, Burning Blade Slash+Universe Break right across its chest. A series of damage numbers popped above its head¡ª 8727! 12781! 15202! 20195! I had thought this might be the case. The Ancient Rank mob was so tanky that even with my Cyan Netherworld Sword I wasn¡¯t able to deal an overwhelming amount of damage to it. Another player might find it very difficult to penetrate its armor without a buff like Martial God. "Roar!" After the Blood Skull warrior recovered, it let out a low growl and retaliated with a heavy swing to my shoulder, causing me to wince in pain and lose 2459 HP at the same time. This was just the basic attack. Before I could recover myself, the blade of its spear suddenly shone bright red, and it thrust the weapon straight at me! 4409! Holy shit, its Attack is ridiculous! Thank goodness I didn¡¯t choose to aggro multiple mobs at once, or I would die like a bitch for sure. In the end, no matter how powerful I got, I was still just a warrior. Without a shield or a mount, I could never be as tanky as Gui Guzi. I really should avoid getting hit as much as I could. The good news was that I had plenty of HP, and I triggered the Cyan Netherworld Divine Dragon effect just before the mob could go to town with me. The dragon soul engulfed their Blood Skull warrior and killed it where it stood! "Roar roar¡­" After the powerful armored skeleton slowly collapsed to the ground, it dropped a pair of bloody metal armor wristguards. I picked it up from the ground and gave it a look. Tsk tsk, it was better than I expected¡ª Bloody Dawn Wristguards (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï) Defense: 570 Magic Resist: 440 Strength: +132 Stamina: +130 Passive: Increases user¡¯s physical attack power by 6% Outstanding Property: Cruelty, increases user¡¯s attack power by 8% Property: Bloody Dawn Set, Wristguards Level Requirement: 125 ¡­¡­ Jackpot. I was overjoyed to say the least. This Purple Gold¨Cgrade set was almost as good as the Split Galaxy Set, and since this was a loot I found myself I didn¡¯t need to surrender it to the guild warehouse. If I could gather a complete set and leave it at the auction house, it would probably be sold for at least a million RMB. The chance to exploit my current advantage and earn money had finally arrived! Of course, this method of grinding only worked for a high Defense, high HP and high Attack warrior like me. More importantly, my level was high enough¡ªit was only a 24-Level difference¡ªthat the Level penalty wasn¡¯t too severe. Had it been someone else or even a hundred-man party, they would be spotted by the Blood Skull warriors long before they reached the mobs and be hunted down like prey. It would¡¯ve ended in a party wipe. This was why no one was willing to explore the fringe maps even though they knew that there were plenty of excellent leveling grounds, and the mobs might drop Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment or even Spirit-grade equipment. It was because it would only result in certain death. Even those who couldn¡¯t resist the lure of wealth eventually learned to rein it in after countless deaths. I picked up the Bloody Dawn Wristguard and threw it into my bag. Then, I extended a palm toward the body and absorbed its undead soul spark. It felt as wonderful as inhaling drugs. The blood aura surrounding the body vanished and became a part of my spirit energy. After that was done, I cautiously moved over to the next Blood Skull warrior and bait it to my location with the Dragon Slaying Slash. Slow and steady. ¡­¡­ Beep! Some time later, Gui Guzi sent me a message, "Hehe, boss Broken Halberd, we¡¯ve captured exactly one hundred Cyan Battle Tiger mounts, and the second group of magic knights have already arrived. I¡¯ve decided to burn the midnight oil and squeeze every last drop of value from this precious map. What do you think?" I replied with a smile, "Sure, do as you please. Work hard to create our Cyan Battle Tiger cavalry troops. Heaven¡¯s Rain will be part of your division as well." "Does that mean I¡¯m a division commander now? Hehe¡­" "Haha, division leader is not that impressive. Just wait, when the guilds grow big enough, I¡¯ll let you become a commander-in-chief and command tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops at once!" "Okay! I¡¯m going back to the grind now!" "Mn." Chapter 574: Dark Pupils Oh well, it was a win-win situation for Gui Guzi and Moon Dew, because the grinding in Cyan Tiger Forest got a lot easier now that they had the buffs and healing from the priests. ¡­¡­ Beep! I received a message from Beiming Xue: "Big bro, aren¡¯t you coming offline to eat dinner?" I replied, "Hmm, don¡¯t wait for me. Go get dinner first. If you can, buy some food too. I¡¯ll probably log off at around eleven. Oh right, what are He Yi and Mingyue doing right now?" Beiming Xue: "I just went offline to take a look. They aren¡¯t around. They both left a note for us. Sister He Yi went to Shanghai to meet the CEO of Blue Star, Ling Xue. She¡¯ll be coming back later in the evening. Sister Mingyue went to Hangzhou to try to broker an agreement with a technical support company. Wow, the both of them are really busy¡­" I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle bitterly when I heard those words. They didn¡¯t want to be this busy either, but they had no choice but to bite the bullet if they wanted to continue this lifestyle. He Yi and Murong Mingyue weren¡¯t willing to let go of us or Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, so they buckled down and kept their nose to the grindstone. I wasn¡¯t willing to give up the life I was currently living either. These had truly been some happy days, so I also had to work even harder to level, create a troop of Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen, and grind more Bloody Dawn sets! Our players were working themselves to the bone so that these happy days could continue, so that we didn¡¯t have to split up and live alone again. "Yeah, go and eat dinner first, Beiming. I¡¯ll be grinding around Cyan Tiger Forest. After you finish eating, you can bring a squad of people to grind too. The mobs here yield a lot of EXP. Just take it as helping to guard Gui Guzi and his group. I bet that the coordinates of this location will be leaked to the world sooner rather than later¡­" Beiming Xue was surprised by my remark. "What? Aren¡¯t our people all pretty reliable?" "Hmmm, that¡¯s hard to say. Our bunch of hot-blooded guys are definitely loyal, but none of them can resist the sweet allure of a woman. Once those girls around them start to ask them about what they¡¯ve been doing, it¡¯s very likely that they¡¯ll end up spilling the beans. Besides, everyone knows that a woman can¡¯t keep her mouth shut, so the moment they start gossiping about it, this important map of ours will soon be exposed to the world." "Haha! Okay, okay, I got it. Little Xue is a woman, our little lady! Alright, you should go and eat your dinner now. I¡¯m going to continue leveling. The mobs here are really strong and taking on two of them at one time is a little overwhelming, even for me. I need to be fully focused when fighting them and I can¡¯t afford to distract myself by talking to other people." "Okay, I got it! I¡¯m going off!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue¡¯s name soon turned dull gray. I took my sword and continued the eternal grind. This time, I had accidentally lured two Blood Skull Warriors over. Oh man, I¡¯m in a bit of trouble now! I didn¡¯t have a priest with me, so my health started to rapidly drop. However, I could still handle this as my Stormy Wave War Boots had boosted my movement speed by a ridiculous amount. I kept darting around the battlefield as I used one skeleton to block the blows of the other. This was a rather ingenious way of reducing a monster¡¯s DPS and I still managed to soldier on using my lifesteal, Regeneration of the Undead, and my health potions. Time flowed by swiftly as I cleaned out the five hundred Blood Skull Warriors in the four necropoleis. I checked the clock and realized that it was already quarter past nine. My experience bar had shot up like a rocket and I had twenty-one pieces of the Bloody Dawn set in my inventory. My 38 points of Luck were really working hard for me today! Yup, I definitely needed to find more maps like this to farm equipment. At the current stage of the game, Purple Gold¨Cgrade armor sets were worth their weight in gold, but they would start rapidly losing their value once players progressed further. After I had absorbed a large amount of undead sparks, I felt my body swell up with energy. When human players used skills, it came from the internal energy or magic power circulating within their body. But for a puny skeleton like me, my skills had always relied on this undead spark of mine. If my undead spark grew stronger, it was possible that my skills would grow stronger as well. These were some of the hidden mechanics in the game that wouldn¡¯t show up in any publicly-released data. But as an old hand at these sort of games, I was well aware of "unwritten rules" like this one. When the clock struck twelve, a beam of golden light finally erupted from my body. I had now reached Level 141. I was leveling up really quickly in this place. After I had absorbed the undead sparks of these skeletons, I realized that the undead energy in my body was starting to surge. It felt as if something was changing inside of me. At the same time, a beam of bloody light pierced through the dome of heaven and fell right onto my body. Finally, this puny Asura was about to transform into an Asura King! Wild joy surged through my heart as a ringing sound soon reverberated in my ears. I tensed up with excitement as I waited for the system notice. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have evolved into an Asura King! You have learned a new skill exclusive to Asura Kings¡ªDark Pupils! ¡­¡­ Dark Pupils? What is this? I anxiously opened up my skill interface and as expected, I saw a skill highlighted in a mysterious black color in my skill window. I immediately clicked on it to check its effect. My eyes widened as I read those words. Damn, this skill looks really good. Dark Pupils: Gather the power of darkness in your eyes. This skill allows the user to perceive the stats of any monster that is not fifty levels higher than the user. Furthermore, there is an extremely high chance that the user will be able to perceive a monster¡¯s weak spots. After perceiving the enemy¡¯s weaknesses, critical chance will be greatly boosted. Additionally, once a user activates Dark Pupils, they will be able to perceive any hidden units and features within 50 yards of them. ¡­¡­ By the time I reached the end of the description, my eyes widened even further in shock. Really good? Fuck me sideways, this skill was as strong as hell! It not only allowed me to perceive the stats of monsters, it could even pinpoint their weaknesses. Moreover, this skill was the absolute bane of any assassin. When I activated Dark Pupils, Farewell Song¡¯s stealth would be absolutely useless against me, no matter how strong it was. In the past, I only had a 60¨C70% chance to win against Farewell Song in a duel, but now that I had Dark Pupils, my win rate had definitely shot to above 80%! When I thought about that, I couldn¡¯t hold back the urge to throw my head back in laughter. Hot fucking damn! A new Asura King rises! Tremble in fear, noobs! ¡­¡­ After my bout of wild laughter had subsided, I continued to grind. Beiming Xue had already come back with my food, so I had to finish my grinding within the hour, else my food might go spoiled by then. There were only a few Blood Skull Warriors left and I used about twenty minutes to finish them off. I got two more pieces of Bloody Dawn equipment on the way and the total amount of Bloody Dawn equipment in my inventory had grown to fifty-seven pieces. I did a quick scan of the equipment I had, and realized that I had managed to gather about eleven full sets of the Bloody Dawn set. I¡¯m gonna make a killing this time! I had donated all fifteen of the Split Galaxy sets that I had grinded to the guild, so I had already done my duty as a vice leader! I decided to sell these eleven Bloody Dawn sets at the auction house. I mean, I still had to look out for myself in the end. Besides, He Yi and Murong Mingyue¡¯s pocketbooks were definitely hurting right now. I had no choice but to pick up the slack. I continued to advance into the graveyard and I soon discovered an imposing figure dressed in blood-colored armor. He looked like an ancient general and he held an archaic warblade in his hand. His skin was pale and his eyes were the color of blood. It was an Asura, evident from the fact that his flesh had been completely regenerated. Looks like I¡¯ve found my next opponent! I activated Dark Pupils, my body tensing up as I used the skill for the first time. My eyes were instantly shrouded in dark light as the boss''s stats soon appeared in front of me. Blood Skull (Earth Rank Boss) Level: 165 ¹¥»÷£º2440-3050 Attack: 2440~3050 Defense: 3500 Health: 11,000,000 Skills: Blade of Blood, Perfect Defense, Soul Cleave Introduction: Legend has it that Blood Skull was once a templar that lived several millennia ago. This brave warrior had been taken captive during a battle with the Night Creatures and he eventually fell and became a general of the undead. He now leads a bunch of former subordinates who had been transformed into undead slaves. Blood Skull is extremely powerful and every human warrior trembles at the sound of his name. ¡­¡­ Hmmm, a Level 165 Earth Rank boss! Even though his Attack wasn¡¯t as powerful as a Heaven Rank boss like the Star Dragon, his Defense was absolutely bonkers. In fact, it looked like it was even higher than the Star Dragon¡¯s. It even seemed to have a defensive skill called Perfect Defense! My hand shot out as I used God Binding Art. Four divine weapons howled through the air as they fell around the boss and formed a binding formation. I had successfully bound him! As expected, once my level and Luck were high enough, it would be much easier for skills like this to succeed. I mean, I had bound a Level 165 Earth Rank boss just like that! Heh, this is great! I flew forward and the Cyan Netherworld Sword danced in the air! Clang! I used a basic attack to test out the boss''s Defense. A damage number of 7904 popped up above his head. Not bad! However, it looked like it was going to take forever to wear down the eleven million HP that Blood Skull had. It was at this exact moment that Blood Skull let out a furious roar. Even though no wind was blowing, air started to swirl around his body. Blood-colored scales of armor began to appear around him. They began to stick themselves to his armor, forming fierce-looking spikes that stuck out of it! Beep! Combat Notice: Blood Skull has activated the skill "Perfect Defense", increasing his Defense by 80%! ¡­¡­ "Shit!" I cursed in my head. I lashed out at him with the Cyan Netherworld sword again. As the edge of my blade slammed into the Blood Skull¡¯s head, the damage number that popped up above his head was so pathetic that it put me to shame. 1784! Fuck me, this is terrible! If I can only deal this much damage to the boss, it¡¯s gonna take me an entire year to kill him! I gritted my teeth before I activated Dark Pupils. Okay, it was now or never. Black light radiated from my eyes after I activated the skill and I was shocked by what I saw once I looked at the boss again with Dark Pupils activated. It looked like I was seeing something out of a sci-fi movie. The skill seemed to be independently analyzing the boss''s body and four limbs and his thick layer of armor wasn¡¯t able to hide anything from it. Finally, I saw something different! The area under Blood Skull¡¯s right armpit was glowing a bloody-red. As I squinted my eyes, I realized that the armor in that area had started to grow rusty and weak after the relentless passage of time had chewed away at it. My Cyan Netherworld Sword hummed with energy as I took careful aim at Blood Skull¡¯s weak spot. It was a small area that was about ten centimeters wide, so it wasn¡¯t easy to hit at all. However, that was true for an average player, not an expert like me. I shot a Burning Blade Slash at it, the three crescents of burning energy swiftly and accurately striking against its weak point! Blood Skull immediately let out a miserable yell of pain as a bunch of shocking damage numbers popped up above his head. 11092! 17823! 42884! ¡­¡­ God damn, what kind of damage is this... My jaw dropped to the ground when I saw those damage numbers. The last hit of my Burning Blade Slash had been a critical hit! The effect of Dark Pupils was truly incredible. This was especially true for a player who had reached the peak of mechanical skill and control like me! I could easily maneuver myself into any position I wanted, so I could even hit a monster in the crotch if I had to. Let¡¯s do this again! Universe Break! As an Eight Trigrams formation appeared beneath my feet, my sword exploded out and the indigo spiral of blazing energy drilled into the boss''s weak point! 59028! Damn! Another crit?! This is too fucking amazing! Chapter 575: Apparition Ring ¡­¡­ "Roaaaaar!" The moment Blood Skull shook free from the binding of God Binding Art. He let out a howl of fury as he bounded toward me. His sword flashed through the air as a shocking explosion of bloody energy crashed into my right shoulder. I wasn¡¯t able to dodge the attack and a bone-piercing pain shot through my right arm and chest. Blood Skull¡¯s Blade of Blood attack had taken out a huge chunk of my HP at one go. 9784! Damn, Blood Skull¡¯s attacks hurt like hell! I swiftly danced backward as I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. My movement speed was faster than Blood Skull¡¯s and I could also use my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to obstruct his movements, so I would probably be able to wear him down this way. If not, the asura warrior would eventually catch up to me and kill me in this empty map without any terrain that I could exploit. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf wagged its tail vigorously as it kept darting in front of the asura warrior. I used my pet¡¯s delaying tactics to widen the gap between the asura warrior and I before I used a Dragon Slaying Slash to kite him. So I used this method to slowly shave away the boss''s health. Even though this would take an extremely long amount of time, I could still see Blood Skull¡¯s HP bar visibly dropping lower and lower. I would definitely be able to kill him. A Level 165 Earth Rank boss was still an extremely powerful being. So even though I had the Cyan Netherworld Sword and three pieces of Earth-grade defensive items, I still wasn¡¯t able to go head to head with him. However, if I had Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew with me right now, I was fairly confident that I could match this boss blow for blow given my current Level and defensive power. Whooosh¡­ Ice Cyclone Domains continued to appear as I formed a "ping" character on the ground with them. I was kiting in a circle through these three Ice Cyclone Domains as I used my Dragon Slaying Slash to constantly keep the boss''s aggro on me. I made my Greedy Wolf run the zigzag maneuver to slow down Blood Skull as my Ice Cyclone Domain continued to rain icicles down on him. The huge amount of magic-based damage was really working the asura warrior over, the heavy impacts of these icicles causing Blood Skull to roar in misery. ¡­¡­ A "beep" sounded in my ears as Beiming Xue sent me a message: "Big bro, how come you still haven¡¯t come offline to eat?" "Oh, I¡¯m killing a quest boss. I¡¯ll go offline and eat my food once I finish killing it. What are you doing right now, Beiming?" "I brought a squad of archers with me to grind levels!" "Oh! Good hunting!" "You too!" ¡­¡­ As I slowly whittled the boss''s health away, I messaged Gui Guzi to get an update on how the sealing of the tiger mounts were going. He told me that it was going about as good as we could expect. More than 2000 of the main players from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had entered the Cyan Tiger Forest and we had seized control of the entire map. At the very least, there was no one else who could enter this map, which was still a secret to the rest of the world, at this current stage in the game. These Cyan Tiger mounts were rare shadow rank monsters and they were considered Purple Gold¨Cgrade mounts as well. They were extremely valuable and once we sealed all the rare mounts that we could find in the area, they probably wouldn¡¯t spawn again for another one to two months. This was different from the usual pattern of elite monsters spawning again after twenty-four hours, so we definitely needed to sweep this map clean. Once we finished our "quest", we would create a unique Cyan Tiger cavalry that no other guild would have! Time slowed to a crawl as I continued to kite the boss. My poor Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf had already died to Blood Skull three times, and even I was dancing on a knife¡¯s edge as the asura warrior¡¯s attack power was simply too absurd! This was especially true for his Soul Cleave attack. It was way too OP! It was an attack that covered a wide area and this greatly increased my difficulty in killing him. However, there was a silver lining here. Blood Skull¡¯s stats were a fair bit lower than the Earth Rank dragon bosses we encountered in the Nine Lost Dragon Domains and he didn¡¯t have any huge AoE attacks like they did. This was how I could even solo an Earth Rank boss in the first place. If Blood Skull possessed an AoE attack that exceeded his Soul Cleave, he would have blown me and the Greedy Wolf to bits a long time ago. After two hours passed, the boss''s HP bar was finally reduced to a sliver. As I dashed forward and unleashed a Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash against the weary asura warrior, he let out a howl of rage as he threw his head back and dropped to his knees. He snarled, "Oh endless darkness, when are you finally going to swallow up all the light!? You damnable adventurer, Lord Coldblade will surely avenge me!" "Yeah, go to your daddy Coldblade. That dog bastard¡­" My blade whistled through the air as I cleanly sliced off Blood Skull¡¯s head. The head landed on the ground with a thump before it rolled a fair distance away. Alright, this was the quest item! I walked over to pick up the head and throw it into my inventory before a satisfied smile appeared on my face. I could now go back and hand in my quest. When I turned around to pick up the head, two golden beams of light descended on my body consecutively with a whooshing sound. I was now Level 142! Hot damn! I looked over at Blood Skull¡¯s corpse to see what he had dropped. A grin appeared on my face as I swiftly scanned his body. It looked like he had dropped quite a few high-grade items and there was also a small mountain of magic stones beside his body. These were all my own spoils of war, so I wasn¡¯t required to share them with anyone else. There was a pair of blood-colored war boots, a blood-colored chestplate, a blood-colored helmet, and a staff that was crackling with electricity. When I checked their stats, my grin grew even wider. Earth Fiend War Boots (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): Defense 550, Magic Resist 475, Strength +135, Stamina +130. Increases user¡¯s movement speed by 35%. Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s physical evasion rate by 20%. Level Requirement: 130. Earth Fiend Battle Armor (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Defense 700, Magic Resist 650, Strength +130, Stamina +137. Increases user¡¯s Defense by 25%. Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 3500. Level Requirement: 130. Earth Fiend Helmet (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): Defense 570, Magic Resist 480, Strength +125, Stamina +130. Increases user¡¯s hit rate by 35%. Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 2000. Level Requirement: 130 Tempest Staff (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Magic Attack 770~950, Intelligence +135, Stamina +140. Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack power by 35%. Outstanding Property: Icy Explosion, there is a fixed chance of triggering an icy explosion which will attack all targets in the area in front of the user. Level Requirement: 130. ¡­¡­ Hmm, these three Earth Fiend armor items were all Outstanding Spirit-grade items. So even though they didn¡¯t form a set, I could still sell them at the auction house. They would definitely go for a decent amount! The Tempest Staff, on the other hand, had good stats and a great attack power, so it would be great for any high-level magician. Right now, there were more Level 130 magicians in Sky City than stars in the sky, so this magic staff would be a hot item! Alright, let¡¯s auction it off too!" At this moment, a light that was twinkling from the boss''s corpse caught my eye. It was a blood-colored ring that was radiating light. My heart leapt with joy the moment I saw its stats. That¡¯s more like it! I mean how could an Earth Rank boss that I soloed not drop any Earth-grade items given my 38 points of Luck! The image of a terrifying specter floated up from the ring and the ring itself looked quite cool! At the very least, it definitely suited an undead player like myself. Apparition Ring (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Strength: +155 Stamina: +150 Tactics: +40 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 25% Passive: Increases user¡¯s resistance to ice by 50% Outstanding Property: Apparition. Summon a specter that will copy the user¡¯s likeness. This specter will have 75% of the user¡¯s stats and it does not have the ability to gain levels. It will disappear after the user either dies or goes offline. Level Requirement: 135 Reputation Requirement: 100000 ¡­¡­ I heard myself audibly gulp as I checked the ring¡¯s stats. Hot damn, this Apparition skill looked completely ridiculous! It could summon a specter that would look just like me. Furthermore, this wasn¡¯t just a simple afterimage that would disappear after one strike. It was an actual clone that had 75% of my stats! Given how high my stats were, 75% was pretty crazy already. It could help me kill monsters, and more importantly, it could even be used in PvP situations. I could use this specter to confuse my opponents while I snuck in to deal the fatal blow. Tsk, tsk, this was way too awesome! I loved this ring already! I swiftly took off the Ring of Windchasing and put on the Apparition Ring. My stats shot up once again and a new Apparition skill appeared in my skill basket. Let¡¯s try it out first! I activated the skill when I turned the ring, immediately causing a ghostly howl to reverberate in the air around. Countless threads of dark energy swirled around me and it seemed as if there were countless malign spirits snarling at me from this dark fog. My eyes went cold as I yelled, "Get lost!" As an Asura King, a high-grade species of undead, I was practically the ancestor of these lowly ghosts. They could still be used to spook Lin Yixin or He Yi, but they would only be courting their own deaths if they tried to scare me! My yell instantly scattered the ghostly energy and caused it to slowly merge together in front of me. I could soon see the silhouette of my armor, face, and hair appear out of the dark fog and in less than ten seconds, an undead swordsman that looked just like me was standing in front of me. I nearly jumped up in shock when I saw that. The tattered and familiar-looking Soul Suppressing Cloak gently swayed behind it as the undead swordsman stared at me with a cruel gleam in those familiar blood-red eyes. At the same time, the icon of a specter appeared next to my pet icon in my control interface. This meant that I could do triple multitasking now. However, given my judgement and reaction speed. this was still within the realm of my ability. ¡­¡­ I slowly checked through the rest of the items that Blood Skull had dropped. There were quite a few augmenting gems and there was even a skill book shining with a golden radiance! I quickly picked up the skill book and read the description, my eyes rapidly widening in shock. Purple Dragon (Earth-grade Stratagem): Summon the energy of an emperor to raise the stats of all party members by 15%. The effect of this skill is affected by the user¡¯s Tactics stat. Level Requirement: 135. Class Requirement: Tactician. Tactics Requirement: 300. Upon learning this skill, the user loses 3 levels. ¡­¡­ My jaw dropped to the ground as I stared at the Purple Dragon stratagem skill book. What the fuck was this!? Was this the legendary Tactician skill book that would change the fortunes of the entire Tactician class? A 15% boost to all stats? This skill was just like Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell. But there were several key differences here. The first difference was that this 15% boost was affected by the user¡¯s Tactics stat and all Tactician players had an extremely high Tactics stat due to their high Tactics stat gain per Level. So a proper tactician would be able to make this stratagem far more valuable than Bombshell. The second difference was that Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell had a hard cap of 80% while there might not be an upper limit on this Purple Dragon stratagem at all. If this Purple Dragon stratagem could outclass Bombshell, it would be a meta-changing skill! Yeah, let¡¯s keep this first! This skill book was a great find! This stratagem coupled with the Burning Fan, the Earth-grade weapon that was exclusive to Tacticians, would allow our guild to create a super Tactician! Chapter 576: Saint Spirit Potion I went over to the rice cooker and, to my surprise, the rice was still hot. Beiming Xue must have just made it for me. I took out a large bowl from the drawer, filled it up with rice, and sat down to devour the food in front of me. I ate extremely quickly, finishing both dishes in less than ten minutes. At the end of my meal I smiled contentedly, patting my full stomach. ¡­¡­ I stood up and drank a glass of water before I pushed open He Yi and Murong Mingyue¡¯s doors. To my surprise, neither of them had come back yet. It was already midnight, which worried me a bit. Could something have happened to them? I picked up my phone and called He Yi. A few rings later, He Yi picked up. "Hello, Lu Chen?" "Hey, where are you right now?" "I¡¯m on the expressway! I¡¯m gunning it back to Suzhou as we speak!" He Yi said with a giggle. Relief flooded my heart. "Haha, okay. Drive carefully! Oh, that¡¯s right. How did the business discussions go?" "Well, Blue Star wants to confirm the strength of our financials and our competency first. They can¡¯t put anything to paper yet. However, they have agreed to work together with us and Ling Xue¡¯s attitude toward us is very good. She is really looking forward to working with us. The server architecture of the Heavenblessed servers in China has always lacked the support of high-end technologies, so this will be a mutually beneficial project for both parties involved. Once our company has been formally registered, Ling Xue will personally pay us a visit to confirm everything before Blue Star signs a contract with us." "Oh, that¡¯s great news!" He Yi laughed before she suddenly asked, "Hey, Lu Chen. Has Mingyue returned from her trip to Hangzhou yet?" "Not yet. It seems to be raining outside too¡­" "Hmm, give her a call then. After you¡¯ve confirmed that she¡¯s safe and sound, send me a message to let me know." "Okay!" After I ended the call, I called Murong Mingyue¡¯s phone. "Sis, where are you?" "The expressway¡­ Can¡¯t you hear your sister¡¯s car engine roar¡­" I immediately nodded my head. "Yeah, the roar of the A8¡¯s engine is really loud! Oh, that¡¯s right! Hangzhou is so far away from Suzhou, why didn¡¯t you stay the night in Hangzhou before coming back?" Murong Mingyue snorted softly before she snapped back at me, "What the hell, how can your big sis stay outside?! I wanna go home!" "Okay. It¡¯s raining right now, so drive carefully. Don¡¯t go over 100.¡± "Yeah, I probably won¡¯t be able to sleep tonight. I¡¯ll wait for you and Eve to get home." "Got it!" ¡­¡­ Even Murong Mingyue¡¯s voice had turned gentle and sweet when I said that I¡¯d wait for them to come home. Those words seemed to close the gap between us. As I looked at rain drizzling outside my window, a small smile appeared on my face. That¡¯s right, this place was our home and it was precisely because of this home that He Yi had rejected GGS¡¯ request. Murong Mingyue was running herself ragged for the sake of this very home while Beiming Xue and I were desperately trying to earn money in the game as well. Everything we were doing was for these moments that we shared, this place that we could call "home¡±. ¡­¡­ I turned around and went back to my room. It was time to go online and turn in my quest. This quest had taken very long, so it was time to bring it to a close. Swhoosh! I appeared at the edge of Cyan Tiger Forest when I came online. I checked my skill window. Apparition¡¯s cooldown was only twenty minutes, so I could summon a specter now if I wanted. I immediately summoned a specter again but when I looked at it, I dismissed it nearly just as fast. Fucking hell, this looked way too weird! If players saw me walking around with another character that looked just like me, everyone would think that I had suddenly become Naruto! Sword in hand, I strode into the forest and soon found the place where God Hunter Zatch was staying. The old man was lying comfortably in a makeshift bed of shrubs and his soft snores filled the air. However, the moment I entered the area, his eyes shot open and he leapt up to greet me. He laughed loudly as he said, "Oh, young man! Did you bring me something good?" I fished out Blood Skull¡¯s head from my inventory. "I brought you a big ghastly head¡­" As I said those words, I tossed Blood Skull¡¯s head straight to God Hunter Zatch. He caught it and immediately drew an extremely sharp knife from the inside of his robes. His eyes were filled with a fierce intensity as he ignored Blood Skull¡¯s furious glare and cut his skull open. After that, he carefully retrieved Blood Skull¡¯s brain and dropped it into a furnace. It was only then that God Hunter Zatch turned around to look at me again. He let out a loud roar of laughter before he said, "This is great! You brought me both the Cyan Tiger Teeth and the head of Blood Skull! Young man, your bravery and strength leave me dumbfounded! You have passed this test and you are absolutely capable of inheriting my legacy! Come, these are the rewards you have earned!" Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [The God Hunter¡¯s Request]. You have gained 37000000 EXP, 50000 gold, 24000 Reputation, and an account bound skill book¡ª[Spirit Cooking]! ¡­¡­ Spirit Cooking? Joy raced through my heart. I hurriedly opened up my inventory to see a skill book blinking with indigo light. When I took it out and read the description, my head went blank. Spirit Cooking: A divine art that melds both Cooking and Alchemy. Once the user learns Spirit Cooking, they will automatically gain Rank 10 Herbalism and Rank 10 Foraging. The user will be able to create a variety of dishes with Spirit Cooking, with unique effects like buffs, debuffs, healing, resource regeneration. Level Requirement: 130. Reputation Cost: 30000. ¡­¡­ Swoosh! The Spirit Cooking skill book had disappeared from my hands, so I quickly opened up my skill interface window. Spirit Cooking Rank 1 Saint Spirit Potion I: Instantly recovers 400 HP and 200 MP. Required Ingredients: Butterfly Orchid, Applesauce, Lemongrass. Agility Supplement I: Raises Agility by 50. Required Ingredients: Lemongrass. Intelligence Supplement: Raises Intelligence by 50. Required Ingredients: Butterfly Orchid. Strength Supplement I: Raises Strength by 50. Required Ingredients: Applesauce, Seven Star Grass. Stamina Supplement I: Raises Stamina by 50. Required Ingredients: Seven Star Grass. Deadly Poison I: Reduces target¡¯s health regeneration by 10% while dealing a fixed amount of damage every second. Damage dealt is calculated based on the user¡¯s stats. ¡­¡­ I lapsed into a long period of silence, staring at the new Spirit Cooking skill that I had obtained. Yes, the appearance of this skill had signaled the end of the era of both Health Potions and Magic Consumables, because this Saint Spirit Potion recovered both HP and MP! Furthermore, Spirit Cooking could also create stat supplements and poison. The ability to create poison really caught my eye. More types of poison would definitely appear as my skill rank increased. These were necessary items for both boss-killing and PvP. Heh, this was especially true for a troublemaker like me. I needed this kind of stuff a lot more than others! The God Hunter immediately concocted the antidote and smeared it on his wound. Then, he climbed to his feet and rushed past me with the swiftness of a soaring dragon. He waved at me once before he disappeared into the forest. I was rather stunned by that turn of events. Whatever, he could do as he pleased. I had to go back to the city and sort out the stuff in my inventory. I also needed to use the rest of the night to rush my Spirit Cooking to Rank 7 at minimum, but it would be the best if I could push it to Rank 9. After all, all of the required ingredients could be bought inside the city and there would be more than enough foragers and herbalists at this stage of the game. I just needed to show them the money! I fished out a return scroll and tore it! Swoosh! The moment I appeared inside Sky City, I made a beeline to the auction house. Yeah, there were quite a few good items in my inventory. I had eleven sets of the Bloody Dawn armor and I arranged the minimum price for each set at 100000 RMB. I also put the three Outstanding Spirit-grade Earth Fiend items up for sale, setting a minimum price of 200000 RMB on each of them. As for the Tempest Staff, I put it up at a minimum price of 500000 RMB. There were plenty of willing victims in the market. Outstanding items would always be hot property as long as they were still relevant at the current stage of the game. With all that sorted out, I strolled through Sky City¡¯s market to find that there wasn¡¯t anyone selling Rank 1 herbs or food ingredients. It was only then that I realized that Sky City was one of the main cities! I ran to the teleportation formation and went to Floating Ice City! Swoosh! I appeared in the city that I hadn¡¯t visited in a while. This was the place that Princess Karinshan used to rule and the market was still bustling even though it was late at night. There were still many low-level foragers players that were hawking their wares, their boisterous voices intermingling in the air. "Selling freshly-gathered Butterfly Orchid and Lemongrass in stacks of 20. 1 silver a stack. Come get them while they¡¯re still available! Only 21 stacks left. After I sell them all, I¡¯m going to log off and pay my taxes to my wife!" "Selling a large amount of Glutinous Rice and Chicken Meat. If anyone needs a constant supply of these items, please add me to your friend list. We can form a long-term partnership! I¡¯m a forager who is only looking to earn a living!" "Come one, come all! I¡¯m selling the high-rank Magic Consumable, Turtle Soup, in stacks of 100. Every stack will cost 10 gold, so come get them while they¡¯re still in stock!" ¡­¡­ As I heard these boisterous yells ring in my ears, a grin crept across my face. This was great! I simply loved the hustle and bustle of a market! I found a few low-level players and bought a large amount of Rank 1 and 2 herbs and food ingredients that I needed. Goods purchased, I began using my Spirit Cooking skill in the middle of the square. My mass production yielded stack after stack of Rank 1 Saint Spirit Potions, so I decided to sell them on the spot. I shouted, "Selling Rank 1 Saint Spirit Potions. These pills recover 400 HP and 200 MP per use. Whoever needs some recovery potions should come and buy these pills instead. I¡¯m selling them at a newbie rate! A stack of 20 for only 1 silver! First come, first served!" As expected, I could still do this sort of small business in a low-level city like this. The Rank 1 Saint Spirit Potions that I had created were exceptionally popular and my entire stock had been depleted in an instant. I soon heard the ringing sound that signaled my skill going up a rank. After a few rounds of crafting, my Spirit Cooking skill had upgraded to Rank 2. I could now produce Rank 2 Saint Spirit Potions and supplements. I also saw a new Rank 2 poison appear on my Spirit Cooking List. Oh well, I was in no rush to produce these things yet. If I could mass-produce these poisons and introduce them to the battlefield later, it would definitely produce earth-shattering results. I should wait until I could mass-produce high-rank poisons before I sprang this nasty surprise on my unsuspecting victims. It felt as if I was producing Saint Spirit Potions nonstop. I ate a Magic Consumable every time my MP was depleted, it wasn¡¯t as if I didn¡¯t have enough in my inventory. My level was pretty high now anyway, so I had quite a fair bit of MP. This was actually a very profitable business. After more than an hour had passed, I had more or less finished my business in Floating Ice City. My Spirit Cooking was now Rank 7 and I couldn¡¯t buy the high-rank herbs or consumables I needed to continue my skill grind from the vendors here! It was time to go back to Sky City! Swoosh! The moment I appeared in Sky City, I immediately inspected the new batch of Saint Spirit Potions I had just created. A warm feeling of satisfaction surged through my heart as I read the description. Saint Spirit Potion VII: Instantly recovers 4000 HP and 1600 MP. Cooldown: 60 seconds. Yeah, these Rank 7 Saint Spirit Potions had already exceeded the Rank 9 Health Potions that Sun Qingqing could create. They were beyond OP! I was overcome with joy. Alright! If I could raise my Spirit Cooking to Rank 10 and produce the corresponding Saint Spirit Potion, that would be incredible! Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potions would instantly recover 9000 HP and 5000 MP. This was absolutely an essential item for both boss fights and PvP. I was also the only player who could create these little goodies at the moment, so my future prospects were extremely bright. ¡­¡­ Beep! Beiming Xue sent me a message: "Big bro, I went offline to check in on Sister He Yi and Sister Mingyue. Sister He Yi got held up by a roadblock and she¡¯ll only be able to reach home in another half an hour. However, there¡¯s no news from Sister Mingyue and I couldn¡¯t get through to her. The message I got when I dialed her number was that her number wasn¡¯t reachable¡­" "What?" I said in a shocked voice. "Beiming, I¡¯ll go offline to take a look. You should stay online." "Okay! Be careful, big bro!" ¡­¡­ I went offline and the first thing I noticed was that it was raining dogs and cats outside. When I saw lightning light up the dark sky, worry surged through my heart. I tried calling Murong Mingyue and, as expected, her phone couldn¡¯t be reached. It wasn¡¯t the usual response I heard when I was calling a phone that was out of battery. Could something have happened? Chapter 577: It’s Time To Go Home I continued to dial Murong Mingyue¡¯s number as I drove. However, every single one of my calls failed to connect, which only increased my anxiety. Thunder boomed as lightning flashed in the horizon, looking for all the world like sharp, forking blades which could rend apart both heaven and earth. Every time lightning arced through the sky, it illuminated an entire area, leaving people gasping in awe of the majestic might of Mother Nature. BEEP BEEEEP¡­ I heard the discordant cacophony of multiple car horns blaring before I even saw what was happening. There was a jam in front of me and it was only then that I realized that I had reached the entrance to the expressway. A huge LED signboard was lit up with ominous words that seemed to resonate with my anxiety: ¡°A small part of the road caved in 5 kilometers ahead and caused a traffic accident. Please be careful while you are driving.¡± My eyebrows knit together as I began to fervently pray that Murong Mingyue was okay. For all I knew, she could merely have been held up by this traffic accident, her phone network cut off by this violent thunderstorm. However, I still took out my card and entered the expressway. I simply wasn¡¯t able to set my worries aside. ¡­¡­ The X12 cut through the howling wind like a bolt of lightning. Rain continued to fall against my car like a hail of bullets, the sound only worsening the anxiety in my heart. Before too long, I suddenly saw the glaring strobe of harsh lights in front of me. Red and green chaotically intermingled in the darkness, causing my eyes to squint reflexively. Those were the lights of a traffic accident lamp. As expected, something happened here. I immediately stepped on the brakes and stopped the X12 on the shoulder of the road. I grabbed an umbrella and practically flew out of the car. When I got closer, I saw that there was only one traffic police car parked in the middle of the expressway. A sinkhole about one and a half meters long had appeared in the road in front of the police car and it interfered with both sides of the traffic What was even worse was that two dump trucks carrying a full load of dirt had collided with a trailer truck on the opposing lane. The two dump trucks had been knocked on their sides and all of the dirt they were carrying had spilled on the road. The sudden collision had also caused several collisions behind them when cars desperately jammed their brakes to keep from colliding with the dump trucks. Some people might have already died for all we knew. ¡°Why did a sinkhole appear here again? Didn¡¯t the government already fix everything in 2012?¡± someone asked. Those words drew an immediate and derisive response. ¡°Hmph, shoddy roadworks as usual¡­¡± ¡°Did anyone die? There are a lot of small vehicles which crashed into each other because of that collision between trucks. Man, it¡¯s been so long but the ambulance hasn¡¯t even come yet! What the hell is dispatching one traffic police car going to do?¡± ¡°It¡¯s so late now and the ambulance definitely needs some time to respond. Who knows what time it¡¯ll arrive¡­¡± ¡­¡­ I walked onto the strip of grass separating both sides of the road before I hoisted myself over the railing that was in the middle of the grass strip. I walked over to where the dump trucks had fallen as I checked out the cars which had collided into each other. A Toyota Camry, nope... A Honda, nope... A BMW, nope... A Buick, still no... As I inspected all the cars which had collided with each other, I couldn¡¯t find the A8 that Murong Mingyue normally drove. I felt the tension bleed out of my body. Whew, it looked like Sis Mingyue didn¡¯t get caught up in this accident. That was great¡­¡± However, it was at this moment that a part of one of those huge dirt mounds collapsed to reveal the rear of a car that had been buried underneath it. Under the glaring lights, I could actually see the car¡¯s license plate. To my utter horror and shock, I realised that I was looking at the back of a red Audi with a ¡°555¡± license plate. A sharp pain stabbed into my heart as the umbrella fell from my nerveless fingers and was blown away by the wind. I suddenly launched myself into the dirt mount, my hands frantically scrabbling against the cold, hard dirt. ¡°Is that kid crazy?¡± someone yelled from the side. All of the noise around me was drowned out by the sound of pouring rain and blood rushing in my ears. I bent down to scoop up the dirt and mud with my arms as the rain soaked me through. The icy-cold rain actually set my heart ablaze with urgency and worry. Only God knew how long Murong Mingyue had been buried under this pile of dirt! Please be okay! Please be okay! A piercing pain shot through my body but I couldn¡¯t tell if it was my aching heart or the pain of having my fingernails ripped off by this hardened dirt. Before I even knew it, blood was trailing down my arms in small rivulets. There was some glass and metal mixed in with the dirt and they had left bloody scratches on my hands and arms. However, the pain in my arms would never be able to compare to the stabbing pain in my heart. Murong Mingyue¡¯s obstinate words rang incessantly in my ears as I desperately clawed at the dirt. ¡°I want to go home!¡± In the next instant, tears streamed down my face as I collapsed on top of the dirt pile and started to cry. ¡°I want to bring you home. Murong Mingyue, I¡¯ll definitely bring you home!¡± A middle-aged man shouted from behind me, ¡°Hey kiddo, stop digging, the whole thing is about to spill over!¡± A pile of moist dirt fell right on top of me before he had even finished speaking. Ugh, this was the second time I felt the sensation of being buried in dirt, and let me tell you, it definitely wasn¡¯t an enjoyable experience. I desperately flailed my arms to push aside the dirt that had fallen on top of me before I continued to dig. A group of people stared at me dumbfoundedly before one of them finally managed to whisper, ¡°This kid¡­ There¡¯s definitely someone very important to him in that car¡­¡± Those words broke everyone out of their stupor. Someone immediately yelled, ¡°So what are we waiting for!? Let¡¯s go help him! Someone¡¯s life is at stake!¡± Many people surged forward to help clear away the mud and dirt. I barely even registered their help as I continued to dig away at the hard dirt. As my fingers burned with pain, they suddenly jabbed into something that felt cool and smooth. That was the window of the A8. ¡­¡­ My actions grew even more frenzied as I threw dirt out of the way frantically. I managed to clear a palm-sized space around the window but everything else was still covered in the dirt. My heart burned with anxiety as I desperately pushed the dirt aside and continued digging. Soon, half the window was exposed and as I brushed away the dirt that obscured the glass, I saw Murong Mingyue lying against the steering wheel. To my horror I saw a line of fresh blood trickle down her face and stick to her long hair. ¡°Sis Mingyue¡­¡± I gasped. I felt as if a knife had been stabbed into my chest. The car had been sealed up for too long so there might not be any oxygen left in the car. When I realized that, I immediately balled my hand into a fist before I suddenly sent it crashing into the side of the window without caring whether I got hurt. I heard a small ¡°bang¡± and saw that a shattered dent had been knocked into the glass. Perhaps the virus had strengthened my bones, because I currently had a lot of physical strength. I rained down a few more blows before I finally broke open a hole in a corner of the window. The icy rain started leaking into the car and quickly started to drip onto Murong Mingyue. ¡°Mingyue, hurry up and wake up! Hurry up and wake up, Murong Mingyue!!¡± I desperately yelled through the window, tears leaking from my eyes. However, Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t move a muscle. The rain was dripping down her long hair and had drenched her white blouse and her coffee-colored suit jacket. The people who had been trying to dig the car free fell silent. It was as if everyone had realized what had happened. Murong Mingyue¡¯s car had been right behind those dump trucks, so who knows what the massive impact from the collision might have done to her... ¡­¡­ The Audi¡¯s door was jammed but I still desperately pulled against it. I was using my legs to push the dirt away from the car door as I yelled in a hoarse voice, ¡°Murong Mingyue, can you hear me!? You¡¯d better wake up right now! You can¡¯t sleep anymore! Did you forget your promise? You said you¡¯d bring me home, right? Right now, everyone is at home waiting for you¡­ You can¡¯t just keep sleeping so irresponsibly, you dumbass!¡± I fell to my knees in despair. The heavy drops of rain stuck against my face and they seemed to be draining all of the strength from my body. As I let my head hang in anguish, I clenched my teeth angrily. Tears of regret leaked from my face. If I had chosen to accompany Murong Mingyue to Hangzhou, maybe none of this would have happened. Fresh blood flowed from between my fingers as I let out soft sobs. I slowly lifted an arm to claw away at the icy dirt blocking the door. No matter what, I had to open the door and bring her home... My head jerked up as I suddenly realized something! Murong Mingyue had already taken off the safety belt! There were quite a few scrapes and bruises on her face and her blood had hardened against her skin, but her beautiful eyes were staring fixedly at me and tears had started to leak out of them. She seemed on the verge of total collapse as she sobbed in a soft voice, ¡°Lu Chen, you stinky brat¡­¡± Joy surged through my heart as I stared at Murong Mingyue. ¡°You¡­ You¡¯re okay?¡± Murong Mingyue¡¯s tears poured down like the rainstorm around us as she sobbed, ¡°I¡¯m fine, you¡¯re crying¡­¡± I hurriedly turned around and rubbed my eyes before I managed to croak out in a quavery voice, ¡°I¡¯m not crying, it¡¯s only the rain¡­ Why would I even cry in the first place? You must have been mistaken¡­¡± A shudder ran through Murong Mingyue¡¯s shoulders as she cried and said, ¡°Yeah, no one is crying¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Finally, we managed to open the car door and I carried Murong Mingyue from out of the car. Her blouse had been stained red by blood and I didn¡¯t know just how bad her injuries were. The group of people who had helped me broke out into heartfelt grins and someone even ran over to hold an umbrella over Murong Mingyue. As I carried Murong Mingyue in my arms, I quickly scanned the area. The ambulance still hadn¡¯t come and only the heavens knew when it would actually arrive. I carefully placed Murong Mingyue against the side of the railing before I flipped over it and picked her up again from the other side. There weren¡¯t too many cars heading towards me, so I quickly dashed to the X12 and gingerly placed Murong Mingyue inside the passenger seat. ¡°Wait a moment¡­¡± Murong Mingyue weakly clutched at my arm before she pointed towards the buried A8. She said, ¡°Lu Chen, the preliminary agreement that I signed with Hangzhou¡¯s Tenglong Company is inside my bag. We need to retrieve that bag at all costs. It¡¯s more important than the car¡­¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I could clearly see that the front of the A8 had been completely totalled. It would probably have to be scrapped, so we wouldn¡¯t be able to salvage it even if we wanted to. We would be better off buying a new one than trying to repair it. I hurried back to the Audi and found Murong Mingyue¡¯s bag. I also managed to retrieve her favorite Tang Yurou figurine from the car as well. Now, there was nothing left in the car that had anything to do with Murong Mingyue. ¡­¡­ As I returned to the X12, I looked at Murong Mingyue and asked, ¡°Are you hurt anywhere? Tell me right now. Are you bleeding heavily from any wound? Do you think you fractured any of your bones?¡± Murong Mingyue closed her eyes and shifted the car seat down as she reclined in it. She muttered, ¡°No, I only feel really tired. I just want to rest for a while.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll bring you to the hospital!¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± I quickly turned the X12 around. I was unable to get onto the other side of the expressway so I had no choice but to break the rules and go against the flow of traffic. This was an extremely dangerous thing to do on the expressway so I opened my emergency warning lights and I kept flashing my headlights to warn oncoming vehicles. This was an outrageously dangerous thing to do, but I felt like I had no choice in the matter. Getting Murong Mingyue to the hospital as quickly as possible was the only thing on my mind right now! ¡­¡­ Beep! Beep! BEEEEP! Drivers blared their horns at me as I drove recklessly down the road like a lawless asshole. Countless drivers glared at me as they flipped me the bird, but I had no choice but to bow my head apologetically and drive on by. Murong Mingyue¡¯s safety was worth it. As I glanced at the peacefully sleeping Murong Mingyue, I chuckled softly and said, ¡°Sis Mingyue, it¡¯s time to go home¡­¡± Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t say anything, but two silent tears coursed down her cheeks. Chapter 577: I’m Gonna Bring You Home I continued to dial Murong Mingyue¡¯s number as I drove but every single one of my calls failed to connect, which only added to my anxiety. Thunder rumbled as lightning flashed in the horizon, looking like sharp, forking blades that could rend apart both heaven and earth. Every time lightning arced through the sky, it illuminated an entire area, leaving people gasping in awe of the majestic might of Mother Nature. BEEP BEEEEP¡­ I heard the discordant cacophony of multiple car horns blaring before I even saw what was happening. There was a jam in front of me and it was only then that I realized that I had reached the entrance to the expressway. A huge LED signboard was lit up with ominous words that seemed to resonate with my anxiety: "A small part of the road caved in 5 kilometers ahead and caused a traffic accident. Proceed with utmost caution." My eyebrows knit together as I began to fervently pray that Murong Mingyue was okay. For all I knew, she could¡¯ve just been held up by this traffic accident, her phone network cut off by this violent thunderstorm. However, I still took out my card and entered the expressway. I wasn¡¯t able to set my worries aside. ¡­¡­ The X12 cut through the howling wind like a bolt of lightning. Rain continued to fall against my car like a hail of bullets, the sound only worsening the anxiety in my heart. Before too long, I suddenly saw the glaring strobe of harsh lights in front of me. Red and green chaotically intermingled in the darkness, causing my eyes to squint reflexively. Those were the lights of a traffic accident lamp. As expected, something happened here. I immediately stepped on the brakes and stopped the X12 on the shoulder of the road. I grabbed an umbrella and practically flew out of the car. When I got closer, I saw that there was only one traffic police car parked in the middle of the expressway. A sinkhole about one and a half meters long had appeared in the road in front of the police car and it interfered with both sides of the traffic. What was even worse was that two dump trucks carrying a full load of dirt had collided with a trailer truck on the opposing lane. The two dump trucks had been knocked on their sides and all of the dirt they were carrying had spilled on the road. The sudden collision had also caused several collisions behind them when cars desperately jammed their brakes to keep from colliding with the dump trucks. Some people might have even died in the huge car crash. "Why did a sinkhole appear here again? Didn¡¯t the government already fix everything in 2012?" someone asked. Those words drew an immediate and derisive response. "Hmph, shoddy roadworks as usual¡­" "Did anyone die? There are a lot of small vehicles that crashed into each other because of the collision. Man, it¡¯s been so long but the ambulance hasn¡¯t even come yet! What the hell is dispatching one traffic police car going to do?" "It¡¯s so late now and the ambulance definitely needs some time to respond. Who knows what time it¡¯ll arrive¡­" ¡­¡­ I walked onto the strip of grass separating both sides of the road before I hoisted myself over the railing in the middle of the grass strip. I walked over to where the dump trucks had fallen as I checked out the cars which had collided into each other. A Toyota Camry, nope... A Honda, nope... A BMW, nope... A Buick, still no... As I inspected all the cars which had collided with each other, I couldn¡¯t find the A8 that Murong Mingyue normally drove. I felt the tension bleed out of my body. Whew, it looks like Sis Mingyue didn¡¯t get caught up in this accident. That¡¯s great¡­ However, it was at this moment that a part of one of those huge dirt mounds collapsed to reveal the rear of a car that had been buried underneath it. Under the glaring lights, I could actually see the car¡¯s license plate. To my utter horror and shock, I realized that I was looking at the back of a red Audi with a "555" license plate. A sharp pain stabbed into my heart as the umbrella fell from my nerveless fingers and was blown away by the wind. I suddenly launched myself into the dirt mount, my hands frantically scrabbling against the cold, hard dirt. "Is that kid crazy?" someone yelled from the side. All of the noise around me was drowned out by the sound of pouring rain and blood rushing in my ears. I bent down to scoop up the dirt and mud with my arms, the rain soaked me through. The icy-cold rain actually set my heart ablaze with urgency and worry. God knew how long Murong Mingyue had been buried under this pile of dirt! Please be okay! Please be okay! A piercing pain shot through my body but I couldn¡¯t tell if it was my aching heart or the pain of having my fingernails ripped off by this hardened dirt. Before I even knew it, blood was trailing down my arms in small rivulets. There was some glass and metal mixed in with the dirt and they had left bloody scratches on my hands and arms. However, the pain in my arms would never be able to compare to the stabbing pain in my heart. Murong Mingyue¡¯s obstinate words rang incessantly in my ears as I desperately clawed at the dirt. "I wanna go home!" In the next instant, tears streamed down my face as I collapsed on top of the dirt pile and started to cry. "I¡¯m gonna bring you home. Murong Mingyue, I¡¯ll definitely bring you home!" A middle-aged man shouted from behind me, "Hey kiddo, stop digging, the whole thing is about to spill over!" A pile of moist dirt fell right on top of me before he had even finished speaking. Ugh, this was the second time I felt the sensation of being buried in dirt, and let me tell you, it definitely wasn¡¯t an enjoyable experience. I desperately flailed my arms to push aside the dirt that had fallen on top of me before I continued to dig. A group of people stared at me dumbfoundedly before one of them finally managed to whisper, "This kid¡­ There¡¯s definitely someone very important to him in that car¡­" Those words broke everyone out of their stupor. Someone immediately yelled, "So what are we waiting for!? Let¡¯s go help him! Someone¡¯s life is at stake!" Many people surged forward to help clear away the mud and dirt. I barely even registered their help as I continued to dig away at the hard dirt. As my fingers burned with pain, they suddenly jabbed into something that felt cool and smooth. That was the window of the A8. ¡­¡­ My actions grew even more frenzied as I threw dirt out of the way frantically. I managed to clear a palm-sized space around the window but everything else was still covered in the dirt. My heart burned with anxiety as I desperately pushed the dirt aside and continued digging. Soon, half the window was exposed and as I brushed away the dirt that obscured the glass, I saw Murong Mingyue lying against the steering wheel. To my horror I saw a line of fresh blood trickle down her face and stick to her long hair. "Sis¡­" I gasped. I felt as if a knife had been stabbed into my chest. The car had been sealed up for too long so there might not be any oxygen left in the car. When I realized that, I immediately balled my hand into a fist before I suddenly sent it crashing into the side of the window without caring whether I got hurt. I heard a small "bang" and saw that a shattered dent had been knocked into the glass. The enhancement my body had undergone because of the virus seemed to have some lasting consequences. At the very least, my bones still seemed strengthened, and my physical strength was nothing short of extraordinary. I rained down a few more blows before I finally broke open a hole in a corner of the window. The icy rain started leaking into the car and quickly started to drip onto Murong Mingyue. "Mingyue, hurry up and wake up! Hurry up and wake up, Murong Mingyue!!" I desperately yelled through the window, tears leaking from my eyes. However, Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t move a muscle. The rain was dripping down her long hair and had drenched her white blouse and her coffee-colored suit jacket. The people who had been trying to dig the car free fell silent. It was as if everyone had realized what had happened. Murong Mingyue¡¯s car had been right behind those dump trucks, so who knows what the massive impact from the collision might have done to her... ¡­¡­ The Audi¡¯s door was jammed but I still desperately pulled against it. I was using my legs to push the dirt away from the car door as I yelled in a hoarse voice, "Murong Mingyue, can you hear me!? You¡¯d better wake up right now! It¡¯s no time to be sleeping! Did you forget your promise? You said you¡¯d bring me home, right? Right now, everyone is at home waiting for you¡­ You can¡¯t just keep sleeping so irresponsibly, you dumbass!" I fell to my knees in despair. The heavy drops of rain stuck against my face and they seemed to be draining all of the strength from my body. As I let my head hang in anguish, I clenched my teeth angrily. Tears of regret leaked from my face. If I had chosen to accompany Murong Mingyue to Hangzhou, maybe none of this would have happened. Fresh blood flowed from between my fingers as I let out soft sobs. I slowly lifted an arm to claw away at the icy dirt blocking the door. No matter what, I had to open the door and bring her home... My head jerked up as I suddenly realized something! Murong Mingyue had already taken off the safety belt! There were quite a few scrapes and bruises on her face and her blood had hardened against her skin, but her beautiful eyes were staring fixedly at me and tears had started to leak out of them. She seemed on the verge of total collapse as she sobbed in a soft voice, "Lu Chen, you stinky brat¡­" Joy surged through my heart as I stared at Murong Mingyue. "You¡­ You¡¯re okay?" Murong Mingyue¡¯s tears poured down like the rainstorm around us as she sobbed, "I¡¯m fine, you¡¯re crying¡­" I quickly turned around and rubbed my eyes. Then, I managed to croak out in a quavery voice, "I¡¯m not crying, it¡¯s only the rain¡­ Why would I even cry in the first place? You¡¯re seeing things¡­" A shudder ran through Murong Mingyue¡¯s shoulders as she continued crying. "Yeah, no one is crying¡­" ¡­¡­ Finally, we managed to open the car door and I carried Murong Mingyue from out of the car. Her blouse had been stained red by blood and I didn¡¯t know just how bad her injuries were. The group of people who had helped me broke out into heartfelt grins and someone even ran over to hold an umbrella over Murong Mingyue. As I carried Murong Mingyue in my arms, I quickly scanned the area. The ambulance still hadn¡¯t come and only the heavens knew when it would actually arrive. I carefully placed Murong Mingyue against the side of the railing before I flipped over it and picked her up again from the other side. There weren¡¯t too many cars heading toward me, so I quickly dashed to the X12 and gingerly placed Murong Mingyue inside the passenger seat. "Wait a moment¡­" Murong Mingyue weakly clutched at my arm before she pointed toward the buried A8. She said, "Lu Chen, the preliminary agreement that I signed with Hangzhou¡¯s Tenglong Company is inside my bag. We need to retrieve that bag at all costs. It¡¯s more important than the car¡­" "Okay!" I could clearly see that the front of the A8 had been completely totalled. It would probably have to be scrapped. We wouldn¡¯t be able to salvage it even if we wanted to. We would be better off buying a new one than trying to repair it. I hurried back to the Audi and found Murong Mingyue¡¯s bag. I also managed to retrieve her favorite Tang Yurou figurine from the car as well. Now, there was nothing left in the car that had anything to do with Murong Mingyue. ¡­¡­ As I returned to the X12, I looked at Murong Mingyue and asked, "Are you hurt anywhere? Tell me right now. Are you bleeding heavily from any wound? Do you think you fractured any of your bones?" Murong Mingyue closed her eyes and shifted the car seat down as she reclined in it. She muttered, "No, I only feel really tired. I just want to rest for a while." "I¡¯ll bring you to the hospital!" "Okay¡­" I quickly turned the X12 around. I was unable to get onto the other side of the expressway so I had no choice but to break the rules and go against the flow of traffic. This was an extremely dangerous thing to do on the expressway so I opened my emergency warning lights and I kept flashing my headlights to warn oncoming vehicles. Was this reckless? Yes. Was this dangerous? Extremely. But I didn¡¯t think I had any choice in the matter. Getting Murong Mingyue to the hospital as quickly as possible was the only thing on my mind right now! ¡­¡­ Beep! Beep! BEEEEP! Drivers blared their horns at me as I drove recklessly down the road like a lawless asshole. Countless drivers glared at me as they flipped me the bird, but I had no choice but to bow my head apologetically and drive on by. Murong Mingyue¡¯s safety was worth it. As I glanced at the peacefully sleeping Murong Mingyue, I chuckled softly and said, "Sis, I¡¯m gonna bring you home¡­" Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t say anything, but two silent tears coursed down her cheeks. Chapter 578: This Little Girl Has Nothing Else To Give I knew where the nearest hospital was located. When Du Thirteen and I got into a fight against some other people, we went to the same hospital to get his nose fixed up. I sped towards the hospital and hurriedly carried Murong Mingyue into the emergency room when we arrived. The doctor on duty was extremely professional and kept his calm while examining her. When he concluded his examination, he turned towards me and said, ¡°Even though she lost quite a lot of blood, she just suffered a small cut on her forehead. This girl has a rather strong physique, so losing this much blood won¡¯t be an issue for her. However, since she was involved in a serious car accident, it would be for the best if she stayed for further examination so that we can observe her overnight. We¡¯ll give her another check-up tomorrow.¡± I nodded my head in agreement with the doctor. A few nurses stared at me before they finally couldn¡¯t stop themselves from giggling. One of them asked, ¡°Hey handsome, why do you look like a drowned rat?¡± What the heck, they finally couldn¡¯t resist asking me that question. I knew they were dying to ask me that from the start! I kept silent as I ushered Murong Mingyue protectively into her hospital room. Ring, ring, ring... He Yi¡¯s number flashed on my phone and I quickly answered it. Her anxious voice could immediately be heard through the phone as she asked, ¡°Lu Chen, where are you at right now? Beiming Xue said that you went to look for Mingyue. Have you found her yet?¡± ¡°Yup, I found her. We are at Hospital XX now.¡± ¡°Why did the two of you go to the hospital?¡± ¡°Sis Mingyue was involved in a horrible traffic accident near the highway entrance. The truck in front of her flipped and she rammed straight into it. I only found her after the fact.¡± He Yi was so shocked by that news that she lapsed into a frightened silence. My phone went silent for a while before she finally stammered, ¡°Lu Chen¡­ please tell me that Mingyue is¡­ is alright. Please?¡± I chuckled before replying, ¡°Yes, don¡¯t you worry. She¡¯s absolutely fine. She only suffered a few bumps and scratches.¡± ¡°Alright! I¡¯m heading over with Beiming Xue right now!¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± ¡­¡­ I chuckled before replying, ¡°Yeah, you could say that. It was definitely a matter of life and death.¡± The nurse shook her head while she helped me bandage my wounds. She glanced at the sleeping Murong Mingyue before she said, ¡°Is that your girlfriend? You ended up in this state because you saved her, right?¡± I shook my head and replied, ¡°She isn¡¯t my girlfriend.¡± ¡°Are you crazy? Why suffer so much for a woman who isn¡¯t your girlfriend?¡± The little nurse continued to grumble and complain. A smile crept across my face, but I didn¡¯t say anything. ¡­¡­ Creak! The hospital room¡¯s door opened after that as He Yi and Beiming Xue tiptoed into the room. He Yi immediately let out a sigh of relief when she saw Murong Mingyue sound asleep with an IV hooked into her arm. But when she turned towards me, she immediately noticed that my arms were wrapped in bandages. A panicked expression appeared on her face as she asked, ¡°Lu Chen, what happened to you?¡± He Yi hurriedly knelt at my side and cradled my hand, ¡°What happened to your arm?¡± I laughed before I jerked my hand back and said, ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I just suffered a few scratches¡­¡± He Yi clenched her teeth angrily before she whipped out her phone and pointed to the screen. She immediately said, ¡°Someone posted this photo on Weibo. A dump truck had flipped over and the dirt it was carrying had buried an A8. After that, an unknown individual saved the driver by desperately clawing away the dirt with his bare hands. Was that person you?¡± I nodded my head. ¡°Ah, this social media age is truly frightening. Nothing can be kept a secret anymore¡­¡± He Yi¡¯s eyes instantly turned red and she looked like she was on the brink of crying as she snapped at me, ¡°How dare you still smile as if everything¡¯s okay!¡± I stretched out a hand to clasp her shoulder. ¡°See, my wounds have been disinfected and dressed. Even the nurse said that I was fine. These are really just a few small scratches. Back in the day, when Du Thirteen and I got into a brawl with some other people, my skull was nearly bashed in. But look at me now. I¡¯m still alive and well¡­¡± He Yi spat out a soft laugh before she said in an annoyed tone, ¡°You actually dare to mention something like this now!?¡± Beiming Xue leaned on my side and caressed my hand. ¡°Doesn¡¯t it hurt, big bro?¡± I laughed. ¡°It hurts a lot. But how can this pain be compared to the one I felt when I saw Sis Mingyue being buried under all that dirt? If you were there, I¡¯m sure that either of you would have done the same thing.¡± Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes welled up with tears, ¡°Big bro¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Murong Mingyue finally woke up from her slumber at this exact moment, and she groggily whispered, ¡°Water¡­¡± He Yi hurriedly filled a cup with warm water before she passed it to Murong Mingyue. Murong Mingyue must have been completely exhausted, because she gulped down the water drowsily before she realised who had passed her the cup. She immediately said in a shocked voice, ¡°Ah? How could I let my boss pour me a cup of water. How embarrassing¡­¡± ¡°How dare you joke about this! You gave us such a fright¡­¡± Murong Mingyue gave a gentle laugh. ¡°I¡¯m fine! Life is full of ups and downs after all. I just happened to experience one of those ¡®downs¡¯...¡± ¡­¡­ He Yi helped move Murong Mingyue into a sitting position before she chatted with her for a while. They had already gotten someone to handle the registration of the company and they had even decided on the new company¡¯s name. We would be called ¡°Raincube Technology¡±, a name which had both an elegant and ethereal quality to it. It was a name that suited a company run by a female CEO. The next step was to transfer all of the property under the GGS Suzhou Branch to Raincube Technology. But this was also the most crucial step, so He Yi and Murong Mingyue couldn¡¯t let their guards down just yet. They had to continue to hustle to make sure that everything proceeded smoothly. However, Beiming Xue and I had sternly reproached them about their recklessness, so they decided to poach two chauffeurs from GGS to drive them around from now on so that they wouldn¡¯t overwork themselves. ¡°Lu Chen, what¡¯s going on in the game right now?¡± He Yi asked. I gave a deep sigh before replying, ¡°I was busy completing that quest that would give me the skill that combined both Alchemy and Cooking. I got a few sets of decent armor in the process, so I would say that I got quite a few things done today. Gui Guzi also brought a few thousand guild members to the Cyan Tiger Forest to grind. This is so we can tame Cyan Battle Tigers, a rare mount, for our guild.¡± ¡°Oh, the Cyan Battle Tiger? Is it a very powerful mount?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s a Level 125 Purple Gold Rank mount! Isn¡¯t that powerful? The only unfortunate thing is that it isn¡¯t a boss-tier mount. Otherwise, it would be able to completely trash your Snow Domain Windchaser¡­¡± He Yi pouted angrily, ¡°Omigosh! Could you at least give me some face!? My Snow Domain Windchaser is still really pretty, okay¡­¡± I nodded my head and replied, ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true. Sis He Yi, you can still use your Snow Domain Windchaser for now. The difference in stats isn¡¯t very big and it¡¯s a little weird to see a girl riding on top of a Cyan Battle Tiger.¡± Murong Mingyyue giggled. ¡°What¡¯s so weird about it? It¡¯s not like she¡¯s riding on top of a White Battle Tiger¡­¡± I glared at her. ¡°Damn it, woman! You haven¡¯t even gotten off the hospital bed yet! Can¡¯t you restrain yourself a little? Ai, what am I gonna do with you¡­¡± Murong Mingyue giggled again before she pressed her lips together mischievously. A few seconds later, He Yi asked, ¡°Will we be able to tame enough Cyan Battle Tigers to form a proper cavalry troop?¡± ¡°Yes, I believe so. The Cyan Tiger Forest is very big and the rate of a rare monster spawning is about 1%. Given the size of the map, I reckon that it should spawn at least two thousand of these rare mounts. With some luck, we¡¯ll be able to create a Cyan Tiger Cavalry that will be more than two thousand strong. Once the time is right, we will use this Cyan Tiger Cavalry to sweep our enemies clean off the battlefield. Heh heh¡­¡± ¡°Good! That sounds very good indeed!¡± He Yi said with a giggle. ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Murong Mingyue shouted as she clapped her hands. ¡°I heard that Warsky brought a bunch of people who had signed with Pepsi to challenge the ASUS e-sports club that Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng had signed with. Is that true? This set the forums abuzz and I could only spare two minutes of my time to read the forum thread while the contracts were being signed. Can anyone fill me in on the details?¡± ¡°Yeah, give us the details! I also didn¡¯t have any time to check it out.¡± He Yi chimed in, her beautiful eyes brimming with curiosity. I let out a small cough before explaining. ¡°Actually, the whole thing was a little embarrassing. We were supposed to duke it out using the WSL format. So there would be six matches of 1v1 followed by a single match of 2v2. Unfortunately, the match randomizer put me in the last match and by the time it was my turn, we had already lost four out of the first five rounds. Dammit all to hell, our luck was simply atrocious today. Li Chengfeng was also held up at the Shanghai airport for quite a while, so we actually lost to them in a WSL-style match.¡± ¡°Omigosh, these people from Warsky Alliance really enjoy stirring up trouble!¡± He Yi said as her tender hands curled into fists. ¡°They keep picking fights with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls too! Hmph, what did we do to deserve this¡­¡± I chuckled and said, ¡°It can¡¯t be helped. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is the most prosperous and powerful guild in Sky City, so everyone is going to be gunning for us. If Warsky Alliance wants to take the throne, they will have to step on our heads to get there. Of course, they could also target Snowy Cathaya. But with Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis, and Shadow Chanel around, they wouldn¡¯t feel absolutely confident of winning. So they had no choice but to go for Gui Guzi and the rest first. It¡¯s clear that they¡¯re picking off the weaker targets first, since they didn¡¯t dare to challenge our Lenovo gaming club.¡± He Yi couldn¡¯t help but giggle. A smile tugged at her lips as she asked, ¡°So what are we going to do next? You and Beiming Xue have already fought them. Is there no way we can turn this around?¡± I nodded my head and replied. ¡°Actually, we had another duel using the KOTH format. Luckily for us, Li Chengfeng managed to make it just in time and he volunteered to be the first one up. After he barely beat both Farewell Song and Lin Bing Dou Zhe, he went on to handily defeat Laughing At The Heavens, October Rain, and Warsky. He won all five of the matches by himself¡­¡± Both He Yi and Murong Mingyue instantly gasped in unison and exclaimed, ¡°Wow, Li Chengfeng is so strong¡­¡± I chuckled as I said, ¡°That¡¯s right. The deep-seated anger that had been simmering inside of Li Chengfeng finally unleashed itself during these duels. He¡¯s begun his transformation into a peak expert after this fight. With time, his PvP skills will rise to the level of experts like Dark Shadow Drifter and Candlelight Shadow and he will be in a tier above the regular super experts like Farewell Song.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Both girls nodded their heads happily. In truth, this was the case for many people. They just needed one opportunity to exceed their own limits. For example, many professional athletes would labor for many years with little to no success. However, if they managed to win a world championship, it would allow them to regain their confidence and transform them into elite athletes who stood at the peak of their sport! ¡­¡­ After we chatted for some time, all of the girls had finally grown tired. He Yi, who had run around the whole day with no time to rest, went to sleep on the other hospital bed. Beiming Xue slept on the couch while I sat in a chair next to Murong Mingyue before laying my head on the side of her bed. My head was buried in her blanket and I was so exhausted by the events of the day that I passed out instantly. I slowly woke up in a daze when I felt someone cupping my head. Shortly after, I felt a moist and warm sensation on the corner of my lips. My eyes shot open and I saw Murong Mingyue¡¯s face right in front of mine! Her rosy lips were plastered against the corner of my lips and her beautiful eyes were wide-open. When she discovered that I was awake, her lips instantly curled up in amusement and she stopped her excruciatingly ¡°painful¡± kiss. She then whispered in a mischievous voice, ¡°Don¡¯t make a sound. This is just repayment for saving my life. This little girl has nothing else to give, so I had no choice but to¡­¡± I glared at her incredulously before I said, ¡°Screw you!¡± ¡°Bring it on¡­¡± Murong Mingyue stuck out her pride and joy as she shot me a smouldering look. ¡­¡­ My head suddenly swam as I was assaulted by dizziness once more. So I put my head down and went back to sleep. Chapter 579: Agave "Achooo!" I rubbed my nose. As expected, even though my body had been strengthened by the virus, I was still an ordinary person. I had been drenched in the rain and I hadn¡¯t even had a chance to take a hot bath, so I ended up with the expected cold. Silvery laughter that tinkled like small bells rang out from behind me. He Yi and Murong Mingyue walked in the hospital room together and Murong Mingyue was holding a cup of hot tea. She smiled as she said, "Lu Chen, here¡¯s some cold medicine. Drink it first. We still have a lot of work to do today¡­" I took the cup of hot tea and sniffed it. The strong smell of medicinal herbs immediately hit my nose, this was definitely some Chinese cold remedy. I drank it down in one gulp. Ah, that felt good! "What are you going to be busy with today?" I asked. He Yi laughed. "I need to take a trip to Nanjing. There are some formalities there that I need to handle personally. That¡¯s because the GGS Nanjing Branch will simply ignore me if I don¡¯t go there and force things to happen. Oh, we¡¯ll also be able to get the company permit later in the morning. Heehee, Raincube Corporation is about to officially open for business!" I chuckled as I nodded my head. "Okay, so what can I do?" He Yi giggled as she patted me on the shoulder. "Raincube¡¯s most important mission is to provide technical support for Blue Star and the Eternal Moon Corporation. Hmmm, as for your role. I am going to build a Raincube Company virtual gaming hub. You will be in charge of this hub¡¯s security. Hehe, basically you will be the ace fighter who protects our holdings. The strongest shield who will guard against any attacks on our virtual gaming hub. Perhaps, we can sign ourselves to our own company once we have finished our contract with Lenovo." "Okay! Also¡­ when you say that I¡¯m your ace fighter who¡¯s in charge of protecting everyone, does that mean that I¡¯m like the martial scholar in the Flirting Scholar? I asked. He Yi nearly spat out whatever she was drinking before she said, "Why? Do you also want to have your own Sister Pomegranate?" "Oh, no, no! My tastes aren¡¯t that exotic!" "Heehee~" ¡­¡­ I looked toward Murong Mingyue and said, "Sis Mingyue, the hospital is discharging you today!? It would be best for you to rest for another two days. I mean, you suffered a bad shock yesterday, so it won¡¯t be easy for you to move about¡­" "Fuck my life. How was I supposed to know? Dammit¡­" I grumbled to myself angrily. However, I wasn¡¯t expecting her to suddenly step forward and kiss me on the cheek. She laughed before she said, "Oh, alright. Don¡¯t grumble so much. It¡¯s time for you, our martial scholar, to go back and keep watch over the house. I¡¯ll accompany Eve to Nanjing today. We¡¯ll have an experienced driver at the wheel, so you won¡¯t need to worry about us." "Hmm, okay. But are you coming back home first!?" "Of course I am! I need to change my clothes at the very least. My clothes were completely drenched by the rain yesterday and they¡¯re still not dry!" "Okay!" Of course, everyone had gotten drenched last night. But if all of us could make it home safe and sound, it was worth it. ¡­¡­ We found Beiming Xue, who had gone to buy breakfast. After we finished eating, we headed back to the workshop and took turns to wash up. After that, Murong Mingyue and He Yi changed into fresh clothes and immediately left for Nanjing with bloodshot eyes. They had run themselves ragged the last few days, and laymen like Beiming Xue and I hadn¡¯t been able to help. We could only do what we were good at, and that was to protect Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Dark Moon City. We needed to provide the Raincube Corporation with as much virtual firepower as possible! He Yi had also said something else. The Raincube Corporation was a newly-established company, so they were in desperate need of capital. Any monetary contributions would be great boons to the fledgling company, so I transferred ten million RMB of the twelve million RMB I had in my card to He Yi. Even though it wasn¡¯t much, it could pay for a portion of Raincube¡¯s salaries for three months. I still had to continue earning money after that, because He Yi¡¯s company was based on a shareholding system. She owned 50% of the stock, and she gave Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue, and I 10% each. She would use the remaining 20% to attract investors. All in all, they were building the company using GGS as the foundation while also banking on He Yi¡¯s influence in China and the Asia Pacific Region, so it was clear that Raincube Corporation would become an influential and powerful existence in the country. This was especially true because Raincube¡¯s technological expertise stood at the very top of Asia and even the world! It was precisely because of this point that the Eternal Moon Corporation and Blue Star would be willing to entertain He Yi and agree to cooperate with Raincube. After we sent the two ladies off, Beiming Xue and I went online. It was time to put our noses back to the grindstone! ¡­¡­ Wooosh! I appeared in the main square of Sky City and I swiftly received more than ten consecutive auction house notifications. I had sold all of the items I had put up for sale. The Bloody Dawn sets went for at least 250000 RMB and the highest price I got for one of them was 470000 RMB. There really were a lot of rich people in the world! As for the other items I had put up for sale, the Earth Fiend War Boots, Earth Fiend Helmet, and Earth Fiend Battle Armor had been bought by the same player and they sold for a grand total of 3750000 RMB. The Tempest Staff, an excellent magic staff in its own right, actually sold for 1400000 RMB all by itself! As a result, I had earned nearly ten million RMB just from the sale of the itemsI had farmed yesterday! This had turned out to be an unbelievable harvest! Of course, this was also because I had gotten very lucky. All the items I had gotten yesterday were extremely desirable. If my luck had been poor, I would only have been able to get normal Dark Gold and Purple Gold¨Cgrade items. Even if I had been able to get Spirit or Earth¨Cgrade items, they wouldn¡¯t be Outstanding either. In the end, I would only have been able to sell those items for less than one hundred thousand RMB. That was the worst-case scenario, but it was also something that could easily happen. I transferred another ten million to He Yi¡¯s card. I owned 10% of Raincube Corporation¡¯s stocks, and this company was also equivalent to the dream of our Frost Cloud workshop, so there was no reason for us to not contribute as much as we could to it. I heard that Beiming Xue also transferred the five million RMB in her account to He Yi. However, the truth of the matter was that He Yi was only having some cash flow difficulties right now. The entire Raincube Corporation, after taking over GGS facilities, would soon be worth at least ten billion dollars, so our stakes in the company could be considered worth around one billion dollars each. Our current contributions absolutely couldn¡¯t be counted as us being charitable to He Yi. In fact, He Yi was the one who was merrily shoving a huge steamed bun into each of our mouths. We were just paying for some pickles to go along with it as a side dish. ¡­¡­ I checked my level. I was currently at Level 142 and I only needed 23% more to hit Level 143. However, my leveling speed when I wasn¡¯t completing a quest was quite slow, so I was too lazy to find a place to grind. Alright, I will get my Spirit Cooking to Rank 8 first. Once I reach it, I¡¯ll have access to the Rank 8 versions of the Saint Spirit Pills and the various stat supplements. I used nearly one hundred thousand gold coins to buy up all the Rank 7 herbs and food ingredients I could find. After that, I started mass-producing Saint Spirit Pills! Not long after, I heard the ringing sound of the system notice in my ears. My Spirit Cooking had risen to Rank 8, and the new recipes appeared under my Spirit Cooking skill window. Agility Supplement VIII: Raises Agility by 400. Required Ingredients: Agave, Green Peppers. Intelligence Supplement VIII: Raises Intelligence by 400. Required Ingredients: Conyza Blinii, Green Peppers. Strength Supplement VIII: Raises Strength by 400. Required Ingredients: Agave, Fresh Ginger, Purple Cloud Net. Stamina Supplement VIII: Raises Stamina by 400. Required Ingredients: Agave, Garlic. Deadly Poison VIII: Reduces target¡¯s health regeneration by 80% while dealing a fixed amount of damage every second. Damage dealt is calculated based on the user¡¯s stats. Required Ingredients: Agave, Wild Pansy, Seven Star Grass. Blinding Poison VIII: Causes target to lose vision for 1 second. Required Ingredients: Agave, Purple Cloud Net. Silencing Poison VIII: Silences a target and prohibits them from chanting any magic spells. Target will not be able to cast any magic-based skills for 3 seconds. Required Ingredients: Agave, Seven Star Grass, Mimosa of Tranquil Silence. Curse Poison VIII: Curses target and drastically reduces their hit rate. Reduces target¡¯s hit rate by 30% for 12 seconds. Required Ingredients: Agave, Fragrant Poison Orchid, Lizard Venom. ¡­¡­ The Rank 8 Spirit Cooking recipes caused my eyes to shine brightly. All of the stat supplements were incredibly powerful. This was especially true for the Strength Supplement, which added 400 points of Strength. What did this mean? It meant that most fighter-class players who obtained this potion would be able to reach 1400 points of Strength after consuming it. After that, they could go learn Barrier Break from their class trainer! This was going to be a watershed moment for all the fighter class players in the game! Also, even if they didn¡¯t need to use this potion to learn Barrier Break, adding 400 points to one¡¯s Strength was incredibly broken. If a player consumed four different supplements, each stat would be boosted by 400, for a total boost of 1600! That was equivalent to 320 levels worth of stat points! It would allow a player to undergo a complete metamorphosis! Just the Stamina Supplement alone, which provided 400 points of Stamina, would boost a player¡¯s max HP by 4000! This was bonkers! Furthermore, the Deadly Poison was incredibly useful while fighting bosses and the Blinding Poison, Silencing Poison, and Curse Poison were all tailor-made for PvP. As long as a player used the right poison, they could absolutely abuse the opponent they were fighting! I was over the goddamn moon! Fuck me, this is awesome! However, there was one significant problem. The other ingredients needed were still obtainable at the very least, but Agave seemed to be an exceedingly difficult herb to acquire. It wasn¡¯t any ordinary herb, and that was evidenced by the fact that it didn¡¯t even appear in the ingredient list for the Rank 10 Health Potion! ¡­¡­ Goddammit! Oh well, let¡¯s take a look on the forums, I¡¯m pretty sure I can find some information there. After I searched the forums, I managed to find some news regarding Agave. In the depths of Sky Forest, there was a map called the Windmill Forest. The map was filled with high-level monsters but it also produced a Rank 8 herb called Agave. However, it seemed like this herb wasn¡¯t very popular and no one was willing to take the effort to go and gather it. Okay, I found my target! Time to set out! For the Agave! I ran through the Sky Forest for nearly half an hour before I finally arrived in a rather secluded place. I opened up the map and I could vaguely see the words "Windmill Forest" in the corner. I looked ahead to see a large and battered windmill standing in the center of the forest. It was swaying a little and it wasn¡¯t in operation any longer, it had clearly fallen into disrepair a long time ago. Joy surged through my heart as I ran forward and trampled on all of the fallen leaves on the ground. I grinned happily. This Spirit Cooking skill was incredibly useful. It looked like my Air Force One shop was about to start selling Spirit Cooking items en masse. Furthermore, this was something that only I could produce, so it was a one-of-a-kind product that would surely spread the name of my little store far and wide! ¡­¡­ As I rushed forward, a Level 122 warrior stepped out of the woods to block me. He raised his battle axe high in the air as he roared, "Halt, stranger! The Mad Dragon guild is hunting in this place, so no one is allowed to enter the Windmill Forest!" "Hunting?" I retorted with a raised eyebrow. "What the hell does that have to do with me? I¡¯m here to pick herbs¡­" 1. Flirting Scholar is a famous comedy starring Stephen Chow Chapter 580: The Battle over Agave I grinned back at the warrior and brushed past him on my way into the forest with my sword in hand. This loser wants to threaten me? Who the hell does he think he is? ¡°Damn you! You¡¯re looking to die!¡± The warrior¡¯s enraged voice rang out from behind me. The wind whistled as he launched a fierce Explosion Slash at my back, but I just kept on walking forward as if nothing had happened. It was as if I hadn''t even noticed his attack. Boom! 974! A damage number flew up above my head, but it hadn¡¯t even cracked four digits. The power behind the swing wasn¡¯t bad and it actually managed to cause the tattered Soul Suppressing Cloak to flap in the air. The warrior stared at my back with a dumbfounded look on his face. "How is this possible? I only hit him for less than a thousand damage, and it¡¯s just a melee fighter without a mount! What kind of defensive power is this¡­" I turned around, a warm and gentle smile appearing on my face. "Remember, you were the one who started it!" Whoosh! Light exploded out from the Cyan Netherworld Sword as a spiral of blazing indigo energy formed around its tip. When the Eight Trigrams formation appeared underneath my feet, the stagnant air suddenly swirled around me, causing the dead leaves to whirl up from the ground. A shudder ran through the warrior¡¯s spine as my blade exploded forward and instantly blew a hole in his chest! Puchi! 24572! I slowly retracted the Cyan Netherworld Sword as the light slowly faded from the warrior¡¯s enraged and unhappy eyes. The difference in our levels was just too wide. In fact, he hadn¡¯t even been able to see my ID before he died, and I didn¡¯t even bother to look at the potions that had dropped on the ground in the wake of his death. He hadn¡¯t dropped any equipment, but I was sure that a small fry like this wouldn¡¯t have dropped anything that was capable of catching my eye in the first place. I turned around and continued walking into Windmill Forest. To think that Mad Dragon would actually go so far as to reserve this place. Fucking hell, could there be something precious hidden here? ¡­¡­ Crack... The Stormy Waves War Boots suddenly shook when I stepped on something. I looked down to see that I had stepped onto a pile of withered animal bones. As I carefully inspected the area around me, I discovered that the floor was filled with the bones of animals. What the hell, what happened in this place? What creature killed all of these wild beasts in a fit of savage rage? As I parted the branches in front of me, my entire body trembled at the sight that greeted me. A skeleton of a gigantic dragon was actually lying in front of me in the middle of the woods. It looked for all the world like a little mountain and it was clear that this dragon had died a long time ago. Its bones had been washed a stark white by the elements, and its skull resembled a gigantic hut. When I walked closer, several wild bears roared in fright as they bounded out of the skull and fled into the depths of the woods. "Oh?" My eyes fell on a purplish-red plant sticking out of the ground. Its leaves were sticking up like triangular blades and it looked very beautiful. The name of the herb slowly materialized in front of me. Ah, this was the Agave herb that I had been looking for! I stretched out my hand and used my herb-gathering skill! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have gathered Agave x7! ¡­¡­ Hehe, this was good news! I could gather seven Agave plants at one go! My Rank 10 Herbalism was really living up to its reputation. The rate at which this skill gathered herbs was extremely efficient! I looked up to scan the area. There was another stalk of Agave not too far away from me. I happily ran over to collect it as well. And then I found another not too far from it! And another! I was practically bouncing to and fro, throwing stalk after stalk of Agave into my bag. My heart was dancing with joy. Hmmm, could it be that these Agave herbs only grew around dragon bones? If that¡¯s true, that¡¯s not too bad. This skeleton is huge, so there should be a lot of Agave growing right here, around it! As a result, I ran all around the dragon skeleton, managing to find more than thirty stalks of Agave in the process, resulting in over 200 Agave in my inventory. However, even though my Herbalism skill let me gather around 7 Agave per stalk, I needed far more. I have to find some other dragon skeletons. But it was at this moment that I heard a yell not too far away from where I was standing. "Second Brother, that¡¯s the bastard who killed me! He¡¯s inside that dragon skeleton! He¡¯s definitely gathering Agave. Damn it, this punk really did come for the Agave herbs!" "Let¡¯s go!" A deep voice boomed out of some trees nearby. I looked up to see a familiar face. It was the Level 121 warrior who I had killed just now and he had brought a dozen people with him this time. The person who seemed to be leading this little band of ruffians was a big-bearded man riding on a warhorse. He was casually spinning the broadaxe in his hand as he approached me. There was an ominous glint in his eyes as he yelled at me, "Friend, you are gathering herbs in Mad Dragon¡¯s territory and you even killed one of our brothers. What do you have to say for yourself?!" I stood up and brandished my Cyan Netherworld Sword, a smile surfacing on my face. "I only came here to gather herbs. Besides, your brother was the one who attacked me first. My actions afterward were pure self-defense. Why do I even need to explain myself?" "Fucking hell, you¡¯re trying to be a smartass, huh?" the magic knight roared. A bloody light shone from the broadaxe in his hand as he spurred his warhorse toward me. He yelled, "You can take that smart mouth of yours to the grave! The dignity of the Mad Dragon guild is not to be impinged!" "You¡¯re looking to die!" the magic knight roared in anger. He suddenly activated his Charge skill, fiery energy erupting from the blade of his battle axe. A smirk immediately formed on my face. This dumbass was a Level 127 magic knight but he was a fucking noob! He actually thought that he could use a simple Charge to hit an unmounted warrior? His warhorse wasn¡¯t anything special either, so its turn rate had to be pretty abysmal. He¡¯d basically doomed himself the moment he activated Charge. I only needed to shift slightly to the left or right to dodge his attack and the two seconds he would need to slow his horse down was all I needed to kill this hapless fool. As my feet danced across the ground, I made a diagonal cut to my right and appeared three yards away from where I had previously been standing. This simple movement caused the magic knight¡¯s rage to instantly vanish from his face. A look of shock soon replaced that rage as he realized that he hadn¡¯t run into some noob. This was a second-class expert at the very least! He wouldn¡¯t be able to deal with him as easily as he had originally thought! MISS! Just as I had predicted, the magic knight and his horse continued to charge forward several yards even after missing me with his attack. His mount¡¯s abysmal turn rate also prevented him from whirling around to defend against my attacks, so I rushed in with my blade raised high in the air. I stamped on the ground, and an Eight Trigrams formation lit up the ground. A blazing spiral of indigo energy formed on the tip of the Cyan Netherworld Sword as it drilled through the magic knight¡¯s shield and armor. I immediately followed that up with Burning Blade Slash. Three howling blades of fiery sword energy smashed into the unlucky magic knight as four damage numbers popped up above his head. 22098! 8762! 11023! 15239! This magic knight¡¯s Defense wasn¡¯t bad, but his ruined body was still sent tumbling to the ground by my flurry attack. Even his warhorse had been killed by the explosions of flame. The Mad Dragon players standing behind the magic knight stared at me with widened eyes. "That son of a bitch just killed Second Brother! Charge! Let¡¯s kill this bastard and take revenge!" I couldn¡¯t help but grin when I heard those words. I stretched out a leg to kick up the broadaxe that the magic knight had dropped. Tsk, it was only a 1-star Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade item. I kicked the shitty piece of iron contemptuously aside. This piece of trash wasn¡¯t worth picking up. "Hey, Second Brother¡¯s weapon¡­" The eyes of the dozen Mad Dragon players followed the arc of the flying broadaxe. After that, all of them immediately started scrambling after it. Just because I didn¡¯t want the item didn¡¯t mean that other people wouldn¡¯t want it. I took advantage of this moment of this distraction to dash forward and shoot Thousand Ice Slash in the direction of the broadaxe. Boom! Thousands of blades of icy sword energy erupted out of the Cyan Netherworld Sword before crashing into the crowd of players. All of them instantly collapsed to the floor in the aftermath of my attack. The archers and mages had been one-shot, and a few of the warriors followed soon after due to splash damage. My already insane attack power had been further boosted by Martial God¡¯s 193%, so I had been able to send most of these scrubs to the grave with a single attack. My sword drew a brilliant arc in the air as I cut through the remaining fighters. Not having much health left, all of them collapsed to the ground in a heap. Only a few seconds had passed since I had kicked that broadaxe away, but all of my enemies had been cleaved to death. That Level 121 warrior was now a Level 120. He stared at the Purple Gold¨Cgrade broadaxe longingly as he toppled to the ground. He then shot me a glare of resentment as he said, "That was too underhanded..." ¡­¡­ I grinned as I looked at the array of equipment on the ground. It''d be a waste to just leave them lying on the ground, so I picked up all of the items, the Purple Gold¨Cgrade broadaxe included. I would sell them all when I returned to the city. I should be able to get a few grand for them. It was better than nothing! I took a quick look around the area. There were definitely a lot of Mad Dragon players in Windmill Forest, and once news of this battle spread, the other players would start closing in on my position. Once that happened, it was very likely that I would soon be encircled and ambushed. I wasn¡¯t scared of taking on a few dozen people at once, but if there were too many enemies, a few concentrated barrages from a group of mages was still enough to send me to heaven! The thought of thousands of Ice Arrows, Windblades, and Fireballs smashing into my body instantly sent a shudder down my spine. Damn, the mere thought alone caused goosebumps to appear on my skin. Yup, I¡¯m not gonna be a training dummy for Mad Dragon! I continued to search for new dragon bones. While I was exploring the forest, I suddenly saw a large group of people burst out from the east. Shockingly enough, Inconstant was leading this group of people. He was riding a high-grade warhorse as he surveyed the area. "Goddammit, all of them had been killed off so quickly. Just who the hell is this OP son of a bitch? I can¡¯t believe he killed all of them so quickly¡­" A Level 120 mage at his side replied, "None of the ones who died could identify him. Their levels weren¡¯t very high, so they couldn¡¯t even see how high the enemy player¡¯s level was. That means that his level is definitely higher than 135¡­" Inconstant gritted his teeth in disbelief and frustration. "There are only around twenty players in the entire Sky City whose level is higher than 135! What is this dogshit luck of ours? Which expert did we offend this time?!¡± He ruminated for a moment before exploding. ¡°Ahhh, who cares! We¡¯ll find this guy, no matter what! We¡¯ll even flip the entire Windmill Forest upside down if we have to! After that, we¡¯ll rip him to shreds!" My body trembled with barely-restrained laughter. Fuck, that punk Inconstant was getting a little too big for his britches! The same mage replied, "Brother Inconstant, you should go over and help our boss. It seems like there¡¯s a guild killing a boss over where he is. The guild leader wants to take advantage of the situation and kill both the boss monster and the guild once the boss monster¡¯s HP has dropped to 10%!" Inconstant grinned. "Alright, I got it. I¡¯ll head over immediately. I want the rest of you to keep looking. Hmph, our imperial-grade herbalist is about to arrive. It¡¯s said that these Agave plants are necessary to create Rank 10 assassin poisons. We need to monopolize the market while we can! Heh heh!" Chapter 581: I’ll Use This Life To Avenge You But now wasn¡¯t the time to be thinking about Agave! The Mad Dragon guild is planning to ambush another guild? Hmph, I definitely won¡¯t let them get their way! The most despicable thing someone could do in the game was to ambush another person after they had nearly finished killing a boss! I didn¡¯t know which guild was currently fighting a boss, but I had already decided to help them out! ¡­¡­ I snuck through the undergrowth and carefully avoided all the Level 145 shadow rank monsters I came across. Soon, I heard the sounds of an intense battle ringing in the air. As I peeked my head out, I realized that these sounds were coming from a small vale just ahead of me. I moved forward and cleared the thick shrubbery in front of me to discover a group of two hundred-odd players fighting a Level 145 Spirit Rank boss Land Dragon. This Land Dragon only had about 15% of its HP left. ¡°Be careful, everyone! When the boss¡¯ HP dips to 10%, it might suddenly enter an enraged state or use its ultimate attack!¡± A young man, who was dressed in cloth armor, yelled from the middle of the pack of players. He looked to be about twenty-eight years of age, and his features were refined and elegant. He was holding an exquisite-looking steel fan in his hand and the light swirling around his feet showed that he was using a stratagem. He was clearly the party leader and tactician. I activated Dark Pupils to get more detailed information on this tactician from a distance. Lu Buyi LV-133 Miraculous Tactician Guild: Waste and Burn Position: Vice Guild Leader ¡­¡­ Miraculous Tactician? My eyes shone when I saw those words. What the hell? Was this the legendary hidden Tactician class? It sounded pretty good! Miraculous Tactician was one hell of a class name! However, this Lu Buyi didn¡¯t look very powerful, and it seemed like he was using Encourage V, which didn¡¯t even buff his party¡¯s attack power by 50%. So his performance definitely wasn¡¯t living up to his title. Furthermore, this guild called Waste and Burn wasn¡¯t very powerful either. Even though they were only fighting a Level 145 Spirit Rank boss, they looked like they were having a very hard time killing it. Players kept dropping like flies and this was especially true for their frontline fighters. A Level 128 warrior actually couldn¡¯t even tank two hits from the boss and it seemed like they didn¡¯t have a single proper magic knight! The boss was just slaughtering them willy-nilly and if they didn¡¯t bring a lot of people, they would have been party-wiped a long time ago. ¡°Comrades, the boss doesn¡¯t have much HP left¡­¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± The remaining players cheered as their faces flushed red. All of them seemed to be really hoping for the boss to drop something good. ¡­¡­ ¡°Ah! Ah! Aaaah¡­¡± Cries of misery suddenly rang out from the forest. My nerves immediately tensed up. Really? Could the tragedy already have begun? As expected, the expression of Lu Buyi¡¯s face suddenly changed as he yelled, ¡°Everyone¡­ we need to hurry up and finish off this boss. The guild leader and the rest of our comrades were ambushed by the Mad Dragon guild in the forest behind us. They were slaughtered to the last man. He ordered us to kill the boss as quickly as possible and bring the loot back to the city!¡± A cute female assassin said, ¡°Vice leader, the guild leader already died and the players from Mad Dragon are going to be here any minute! Do we¡­ Do we really have to keep fighting the boss? It still has 15% of its HP left, and that¡¯ll take us at least fifteen more minutes¡­¡± Lu Buyi¡¯s eyes were filled with a steely determination as he clenched his teeth and said, ¡°The guild leader has already entrusted his wishes to us, so we are going to beat this boss even if it costs us our lives! No matter how arrogant those Mad Dragon players are, we still need to stand up to them. Even though Burn and Waste isn¡¯t a big guild, we¡­ we can still stand up for our brothers and give them hell! Am I right!?¡± A group of Burn and Waste players immediately shouted, ¡°That¡¯s right! What¡¯s the worst that could happen? We¡¯ll be as good as new after we revive! We¡¯ll never betray the guild leader or our brothers!¡± I was quite impressed with the way Lu Buyi had rallied his guild members. It forced me to look at him in a different light. He was a man of good character who had both loyalty and a strong sense of responsibility! ¡­¡­ The ground and trees suddenly trembled at this moment. After that, a large group of high-level players charged out of the woods. As expected, the Mad Dragon guild had come out in force. Their guild leader, Roaming Dragon, was leading them and all of their key members were there, including the Gemini Stars and the beautiful archer Coldmoon Rose. They had brought at least a hundred Level 130 players with them, so it was clear that they hadn¡¯t come to play. Their firepower was overwhelming and they were a far superior force compared to the remaining Burn and Waste players. ¡°Hahaha, those were some stirring words. The bond of brotherhood that this guild shares is really something to be admired!¡± Roaming Dragon said as he pointed his spear towards the Burn and Waste players. However, his expression suddenly turned cold as he let out a chilling laugh. ¡°But no matter how stirring those words are, what use do they actually have? In the end, this world is ruled by those with power! Our Mad Dragon guild wants this Land Dragon boss, so if you know what¡¯s good for you, you¡¯ll get lost and hand this boss over to us. If not, we¡¯ll slaughter all of you!¡± Lu Buyi¡¯s expression turned indignant. ¡°Roaming Dragon? You¡­ You dog bastard who only knows how to bully the weak! I only see you bullying smaller guilds like us! Why don¡¯t I ever see you trying to bully Gods of Destruction, Bloody Mercenaries, or The Monarch Descends, huh!?¡± Roaming Dragon¡¯s handsome face immediately turned the color of pig liver, it was clear that Lu Buyi had hit him where it hurt. That was right! Even though Mad Dragon was a powerful guild in its own right, they never dared to go toe to toe against the big boys. In fact, they didn¡¯t even dare to challenge a guild like Gods of Destruction, so they naturally wouldn¡¯t dare to offend super guilds like Snowy Cathaya, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and Warsky Alliance.¡± Whoosh! Roaming Dragon swept his spear forward as he roared in anger. ¡°To think that you¡¯d still dare to shoot your mouth off in such a situation! Fucking hell! Comrades, it¡¯s time to attack! Kill all of these fools and start finishing off the boss. After we kill them, we¡¯re going to camp their corpses. We¡¯ll camp them until the next morning! I¡¯m going to see just how stubborn the Burn and Waste guild can be! Iron Pardon, I want you to focus on one thing and one thing alone! Kill that fucking tactician! Heh heh, to think that a lousy tactician would dare to become the vice leader of a guild. What the hell was his guild leader even thinking?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± The Mad Dragon players howled with bloodlust as they charged into the valley! They far outclassed their opponents when it came to numbers, levels, and equipment, so they were like a pack of wolves tearing into a flock of sheep. They only needed a single instant to kill several dozen of Burn and Waste¡¯s priests. As the priests in the backline collapsed, the frontline fighters,who were still tanking the boss, also started to drop like flies. Iron Pardon was as fast as a sprinting cheetah as he dashed towards Lu Buyi. His sharp blade flashed through the air, flames erupting from it, as he launched an Explosion Slash towards the tactician. Even though he belonged to one of the classes which wore cloth armor, Lu Buyi showed absolutely no fear. He swiftly swept his steel fan forward and actually managed to parry Iron Pardon¡¯s attack with a loud clang! However, Iron Pardon¡¯s massive advantage in Strength soon won out. His blow violently shoved Lu Buyi backward and it even dealt more than 3000 damage to him! The tactician¡¯s max HP was barely higher than 10000, and Iron Pardon had clearly outmatched him in power. ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Lu Buyi groaned as he steadied himself. After that, a dragon roar faintly rang out in the air as cyan light exploded out of his steel fan. As he thrust his fan forward, Lu Buyi yelled, ¡°Dragon Vein Art!¡± Whoosh! The image of a cyan dragon shot out of the ground and rammed into Iron Pardon. The tactician had actually launched a magic attack against him, causing a large damage number to pop up above the warrior¡¯s head. 8904! ¡°Huh!?¡± Iron Pardon had been caught completely off-guard by Lu Buyi¡¯s attack. He had not expected a tactician to have such a powerful magic skill. However, his sword still swept forward even as he started to retreat and it heavily smashed into Lu Buyi¡¯s chest! Pfffft! 6092! Thankfully, Lu Buyi had been able to down a health potion while he was still protected by his Dragon Vein Art. If not, Iron Pardon¡¯s attack would have taken his life. Lu Buyi¡¯s body wildly shuddered under the blow, but he chose to go on the offensive instead! His handsome face was filled with rage as his steel fan flashed out like a bolt of lightning. It hit Iron Pardon¡¯s neck with a loud ¡°thunk¡±. This wily tactician had suddenly switched from a magic to a physical attack! He was no ordinary player! 4200! However, that steel fan of his was quite lousy, so it didn¡¯t deal much damage to Iron Pardon at all. If his weapon had been better, Lu Buyi might still have been able to win this duel. ¡­¡­ Iron Pardon¡¯s shame soon turned into rage as he yelled, ¡°Get lost!¡± As he launched his brawny body towards Lu Buyi, Iron Pardon sent the hapless tactician flying with a vicious kick. Lu Buyi flew backwards and stumbled on the ground. He cut a rather sorry figure as he scrambled to get back to his feet. Things were beginning to look very grim for Waste and Burn. When Lu Buyi finally got a chance to scan the battlefield, he realised that most of his guild members had already been slaughtered by the Mad Dragon guild. He pounded his fist into the ground as he screamed, ¡°Fuck you!¡±. Hatred burned in the tactician¡¯s eyes and he probably hated that he didn¡¯t have the power to save his comrades and allow them to live freely under the sun. ¡­¡­ Rustle... Iron Pardon raised his sharp sword in the air as he grimly advanced towards the nearly-dead Lu Buyi. As long as Iron Pardon landed a single scratch, the tactician was done for. But it was at this exact moment that a cyan blade of sword energy suddenly shot through the sky and struck the rampaging Iron Pardon in the head! Bang! 8098! Iron Pardon was instantly shoved backwards as he yelled, ¡°Who was that!?¡± Wooosh! My sudden charge had caught Iron Pardon by surprise. He realized who I was as I dashed straight towards him. I grinned, ¡°It¡¯s been too long since we last met, Gemini Stars!¡± As Iron Pardon¡¯s eyes widened dramatically in shock, my Cyan Netherworld Sword blasted a hole straight through his chest. He had been oneshotted by my attack! ¡­¡­ Everyone suddenly stopped fighting and it seemed as if time itself had stopped. I brandished my sword as I stood protectively in front of Lu Buyi. I cut a majestic figure as my tattered Soul Suppressing Cloak fluttered in the air behind me. I had hidden the glow of my equipment, but my armor looked so fearsome that it still struck fear into the hearts of all the Mad Dragon players present. In fact, the thousand Mad Dragon players that had gathered had all stopped to stare at me. ¡°Gulp!¡± Roaming Dragon audibly swallowed a mouth of saliva before his gaze turned sinister and cold. ¡°You¡­ You! You¡¯re Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!¡± I chuckled darkly. ¡°What do you think? Come on, Roaming Dragon! I always wanted to have a duel to the death with you! How about we fight for three hundred rounds, right here, right now! Come on! Let¡¯s do this thing!¡± Roaming Dragon flew into a rage. ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, why are you always butting your nose into my business? Fucking hell! What does this Burn and Waste guild even have to do with you? Why are you even helping them?¡± It was my turn to stare at him coldly. ¡°What can I say? I¡¯m compelled to correct any injustice that I witness. I just can¡¯t stand by and watch someone get bullied, can¡¯t stand by and watch a certain person act like an overbearing despot. In fact, as long as I¡¯m still around, I will always do my best to uphold justice in this world!¡± ¡°Fucking hell! You¡¯re courting your own death!¡± Roaming Dragon grew even angier. He waved his spear in the air as he yelled, ¡°Everyone, charge! Kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! For the glory of the Mad Dragon guild! For our fallen comrades!¡± A bunch of Mad Dragon players charged at me in unison, but my sword suddenly flashed out as I launched a Thousand Ice Slash at them. After that, I furiously backpedaled before I hit them with a Burning Blade Slash. The score of Mad Dragon fighters who were charging straight at me instantly collapsed to the ground as ice and fire exploded in their midst! However, the Mad Dragon guild¡¯s counter-attack was extremely vicious. Countless arrows rained down on me and I had to be especially careful about Coldmoon Rose¡¯s attacks. The longbow in her hand definitely had a passive that allowed her to ignore a portion of my Defense, because she kept hitting me for more than 5000 damage. This wasn¡¯t the sort of attack power that an archer was supposed to have! But that was the least of my worries! Galaxy Explosion! Spiralling Arrow Blade! A relentless string of attacks continued to rain down on my head. ¡­¡­ As I soaked up one attack after the other, I charged into the enemy lines. By the time I had killed a hundred players, I had no choice but to use Tenacity of the Dead to recover health. After that, I swiftly whirled around and raised my sword to block an oncoming attack! Whooosh! Inconstant struck me from the side with a Charge! He had actually managed to stun me too! As he stared at the remaining 20% on my HP bar, a spiral of fiery energy immediately appeared on the tip of his spear. Barrier Break! Pchhhht! 13899! My vision blacked out as I slowly sank to the ground. I had died! ¡­¡­ ¡°Bastards! You bunch of bastards!¡± When Lu Buyi saw me die, he went berserk! He gripped his steel fan tightly as his eyes turned red with bloodlust. ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you died for me! So that makes you my brother! I definitely won¡¯t let your death be in vain! I, Lu Buyi, can offer up nothing else but this life of mine, and I will use it to avenge you!¡± Lu Buyi was about to impulsively throw his life away. It was at this moment that a loud ¡°thud¡± resounded in the air. A strong hand landed heavily on Lu Buyi¡¯s shoulder and grasped it. ¡°Hey, hey, why are you in such a hurry to die? There¡¯s no need for you to throw your life away over a small matter like this.¡± Chapter 582: Chasing One’s Dreams The Apparition Ring on my finger blinked with a ghastly light as I chuckled softly. ¡°That was only a clone that I created with a skill. It has 75% of my stats but it can¡¯t use any defensive skills. If not, do you think that this group of losers would be able to kill me so easily?¡± Lu Buyi¡¯s enraged expression swiftly became one of shock and joy. Roaming Dragon¡¯s expression turned extremely ugly as he stared at me from the distance. ¡°A clone skill? What the hell! Iron Pardon was actually done in by this asshole¡¯s clone?¡± Coldmoon Rose stared at me with a cold look in her eyes as she raised her longbow in the air. She said, ¡°Lu Chen is getting harder and harder to deal with. What should we¡­ do now?¡± Inconstant¡¯s eyes also turned cold as he said, ¡°We don¡¯t really have much of a choice left. I¡¯ll go and fight him with a few of our comrades. If I could kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand once, I can do it again!¡± Inconstant walked forward and waved his spear in the air, yelling, ¡°Lu Chen, prepare to die! Don¡¯t think that you¡¯ll be able to protect this guild just because you¡¯re here!¡± ¡­¡­ I ignored Inconstant as I turned to look at Lu Buyi and the few surviving players of Waste and Burn. I summoned out the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to help them kill the boss before I turned to Lu Buyi and said in a dry voice, ¡°Li Buyi, you knew that the strength of your forces were far inferior to Mad Dragon¡¯s, so why did you choose to fight to the death?¡± Lu Buyi: ¡°....¡± I continued, ¡°You¡¯re a tactician. Your true value lies in using your stratagems to buff a party. Yet you chose to use magic and physical attacks to PvP. If a support class player chooses to play like that, they will often get the short end of the stick. Didn¡¯t anyone ever tell you that before?¡± Lu Buyi balled his hands into fists as he jerked his head up to look me straight in the eyes. He continued staring into my eyes and he deliberately emphasized every single word that proceeded from his mouth, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true. Tacticians are a support class, but I believe that I can play this class the way I want to. Many high-level tacticians have told me the same things that you just did, but I kept telling myself that I wouldn¡¯t let anyone dictate what I could or could not do. The ones who have already failed will always tell you that you will fail as well! But I believe that a person should chase their dreams boldly. I will master this class with my own style and become the number one tactician in China!¡± Lu Buyi nodded his head vigorously before he said excitedly, ¡°Being able to battle shoulder-to-shoulder with Little Heavenly King Lu Chen is my honor!¡± I added Lu Buyi into my party after his passion-filled words. After that, I activated my Martial God skill to raise our attack power by 190%. This would greatly boost the damage of his Dragon Vein Art and Vein Splitting Fan skills! Lu Buyi turned pale as he stared at my stratagem with wide-eyed shock. ¡°What the hell! This attack buff is ridiculous!¡± I chuckled before I said, ¡°There¡¯s no need to be shocked. There will come a day when your stratagems far exceed mine. I mean, if you can¡¯t even beat me, then you can forget about ever becoming the number one tactician in China!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ After I finished encouraging Lu Buyi, I brandished my sword and stalked across the battlefield like a prowling tiger. I pointed it straight at Inconstant as I growled, ¡°You, surnamed In! What did you say just now? You said that you were going to fight me for three hundred rounds, right? Bring it on! Do you think I¡¯m afraid of you?¡± The muscles on Inconstant spasmed violently as he yelled back at me, ¡°My¡­ my surname isn¡¯t In, dammit! Fuck your grandfather, Lu Chen!¡± After he spat out those words, Inconstant took his longspear and charged toward me with several hundred Mad Dragon fighters. I too began to run forward. There wasn¡¯t a single hint of fear on my face, despite the horde of players bearing down on me. Lu Buyi¡¯s courage soared once he saw me dashing fearlessly across the battlefield. He waved his steel fan boldly in the air as he roared with laughter. ¡°Lu Chen! It was only today that I found out that you are a true hero!¡± I chuckled as well. No shit, I mean, I am risking life and limb to uphold justice here. Of course I¡¯m a true hero, dammit! However, I was just a dumb and clumsy one at best, as He Yi and Murong Mingyue kept reminding me on many occasions. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± I activated Ghost Deity Armor as I broke out into a dead sprint. Just before I collided with the first enemy player, I quickly raised my sword in the air and slashed downward, launching Thousand Ice Slash into the most packed group of players. At least fifty people were caught in that attack, and 70% of them were frozen, pinned to the ground. I waved my left hand at them, causing an Ice Cyclon Domain to form around. As icicles violently stabbed into the players caught in the area, the Mad Dragon players began dying one after another. They didn¡¯t even get a chance to be healed by their healers in the back. While that was happening, Inconstant and his squad finally got within striking distance. Countless blades erupted with energy as they smashed or stabbed into my body. The Crimson Rock Dragon Armor shuddered violently as it was struck from every direction, and a string of damage numbers began popping up above my head. 2245! 1029! 428! 521! 98! ¡­¡­ Only Inconstant posed any real threat to me. The rest of them were just small fry. In fact, a few of their magic knights could only deal double-digit damage to me. I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle every time they tickled me with one of their attacks. However, I couldn¡¯t get cocky, because even an elephant could be brought down by a horde of ants. If I wasn¡¯t careful, this endless rain of attacks would bring me to my knees. Besides, Coldmoon Rose¡¯s attacks were still as deadly as ever. I violently slashed at a group of players in front of me with Burning Blade Slash! Clang! Clang! Clang! Inconstant leaped forward to tank my attack! He braced himself behind his shield, using his Holy Shield skill to absorb those three burning blades of sword energy. Sparks flew in the air as they exploded against his shield, three damage numbers flying above his head. 4101! 7992! 11020! Inconstant¡¯s eyes widened in shock and pain as he stared at those damage numbers. His Holy Shield X raised his Defense by an absurd amount, to the point where most attacks could barely scratch him, but my flurry skill had dealt him more than 20000 damage! This was about half of his total HP. I wasn¡¯t able to kill Inconstant, but Burning Blade Slash was an AoE attack, and the fiery explosions had torn the fighters around him to pieces. Bang! I felt something smash into my chest and it made me lose 4000 HP. Shit, it was Coldmoon Rose again. This woman was really irritating! It was at that exact moment that I heard a dragon roar out from behind me. The image of a cyan dragon swept past me as Lu Buyi thrust out his fan and used his Dragon Vein Art again. The dragon made of cyan energy crashed into Coldmoon Rose and very nearly one-shot her! ¡°Hurry up and heal me¡­¡± Coldmoon Rose gasped as all the color drained from her face. The priests around her immediately started to heal her, but Lu Buyi refused to let up. His relentless attacks kept her HP at about 25%. That was the last straw! It was time to end this irritating farce. I suddenly stomped down on the ground with my Stormy Waves War Boots, activating War Crush to wipe out the enemies around me. I raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword high above my head, hurling it out. The 6-star Outstanding Heaven-grade weapon transformed into a whirling buzzsaw, the spinning sword drew a beautiful arc in the air as it slashed through multiple Mad Dragon players. The sword¡¯s final target was precisely Coldmoon Rose. She could only widen her eyes in shock when she realized that the beautiful blade was spinning toward her. It struck her right between her breasts, the deadly blade spinning through her torso with a sickening squelch. After that, it whirled back into my grasp, the blade and handle of the sword slick with blood. Tsk, tsk, that was fun! A huge damage number popped up above Coldmoon Rose¡¯s head. 17894! She glared at me with those wide eyes as she stumbled to the ground in the daze. Coldmoon Rose had left the stage! And she wasn¡¯t the only one who had died. More than a few of the Roaming Dragon¡¯s retinue had been killed together with her and even Roaming Dragon himself had been hurt by my attack. If magic knights weren¡¯t so tanky, he would¡¯ve ended up dying to my merciless blade as well. Inconstant flew into a fit of rage and he thrust his spear straight at my chest. However, I easily avoided his attack by slipping to the side. Then, I crouched and jumped toward the magic knight. I thrust my right knee toward him as I soared through the air. The sharp point of my greaves smashed into Inconstant¡¯s jaw, sending him stumbling backwards. When I landed, I immediately launched a flurry of blows at him. My final blow depleted the tenacity of his warhorse and he fell right off it. His head was spinning due to my strike to the jaw and his hard fall, so he attempted to bring his shield up and use his Holy Shield skill again. A pity that he forgot I had a skill that could utterly crush his guard. Wooosh! An Eight Trigrams formation appeared underneath my feet as a flaming spiral of indigo energy started swirling violently around the Cyan Netherworld Sword. It shot out like a striking viper, the fiery spiral of energy bored a hole through the magic knight¡¯s shield and impaled him! ¡°Die!¡± The spiral of energy exploded inside his chest and a huge damage number flew up above his head. A gigantic hole appeared in the magic knight¡¯s chest as he slumped to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut. ¡­¡­ ¡°Hahaha, that was a beautiful kill!¡± Lu Buyi said with a loud laugh. I turned around and walked away. ¡°Buyi, what the hell are you laughing for? Let¡¯s go. The boss is already dead. It¡¯s time for us to leave¡­¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± Lu Buyi immediately realized how serious the situation was. Even though we had killed many of Mad Dragon¡¯s experts, they still had many players left. Furthermore, I only had 27% of my HP left. I wouldn¡¯t be able to keep on fighting if I didn¡¯t get any support from a healer. We really only had one choice right now, which was to retreat! With the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s help, the players of Waste and Burn had managed to take down the boss, but only ten of them remained. Lu Buyi flew over and kept all of the boss drops in his inventory. After that, he yelled, ¡°Comrades, we¡¯re retreating together with Falling Dust!¡± After having helped them face down the strong Mad Dragon guild, I had become the spiritual leader of this bunch from Waste and Burn. In truth, I was also their only hope. ¡­¡­ As we hastily retreated, I formed a rearguard with Lu Buyi to fend off any pursuers. Roaming Dragon gritted his teeth in rage, but he was powerless to stop us from fleeing into the woods. ¡°Fuck their mothers! Those cowards! Don¡¯t they dare to face us in the field of battle?¡± Roaming Dragon hissed through clenched teeth as he sat astride his horse. A Mad Dragon player whispered to him from the side, ¡°Guild leader, they¡¯ve already taken out a significant chunk of our forces. We can¡¯t continue losing men like this. Lu Chen¡¯s Defense and HP are also way too OP. There¡¯s no way we can bombard him with long-range attacks if he hides in the forest, and we don¡¯t have enough firepower left either. There¡¯s no way that we can kill him right now. If we continue to pursue them, I¡¯m afraid that all one thousand of us will end up dying as a result.¡± ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s retreat for now. We¡¯ll regroup at those dragon bones over there. Let¡¯s guard those Agave plants. I heard that Lu Chen only came to Windmill Forest because he wanted to gather them. Hmph, we need to spoil his plans!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°Please wait a moment, Brother Lu Chen!¡± Lu Buyi hurriedly stopped me from leaving. He pointed ahead of me and said, ¡°Our guild leader has revived himself and he¡¯s not too far away from where we are right now. I¡¯ll bring you over to meet him. How does that sound?¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I nodded my head. This place was way too far from Cyan Tiger Forest and Gui Guzi and the rest were still busy catching Cyan Tigers too, so I had no intention of asking them to come over to flatten Mad Dragon. I had no choice but to cooperate with the players of Waste and Burn. At the very least, I had to make sure that all of the healers could revive. If I didn¡¯t, I would only be able to take on two hundred Mad Dragon players at most. After all, sustain would always be melee classes¡¯ weakness. What¡¯s more, I really wanted to recruit Lu Buyi, so it wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea to break some bread with Waste and Burn guild¡¯s leader. Chapter 583: Recruiting Talented People As he saw us enter the glade, Freezing Point hefted his battle axe and walked towards us. He let out a roar of laughter. ¡°It seems like we got into a bit of a scuffle with Mad Dragon. Thank goodness the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was around to help us. If not, we¡¯d have been completely destroyed. I glanced at the dozen or so survivors of Waste and Burn behind me. The truth was that they had practically been wiped out even with my help, but I merely laughed and said, ¡°It was nothing. I just happened to stumble upon what was happening, so I decided to help the side who was being bullied. Besides, the Mad Dragon guild is one of our longtime enemies, so it¡¯s inevitable for us to fight if we meet each other in the wild.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Freezing Point laughed as he nodded his head. He replied, ¡°Brother Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, I¡¯ll always remember the help that you¡¯ve given us today. If you ever need Waste and Burn¡¯s help, you just need to call! We¡¯ll be there, come hell or high water!¡± A small smile appeared on my face. ¡°So do you still plan on fighting Mad Dragon?¡± ¡°Mad Dragon slaughtered our comrades, so how can we just let bygones be bygones!?¡± Freezing Point yelled as his eyes went cold and flat. ¡°There isn¡¯t any reason for us to shirk from battle. Besides, Waste and Burn has been grinding in the Windmill Forest for a very long time. We won¡¯t surrender our home so easily! Am I right guys!?¡± The group of players behind him immediately waved their weapons in the air as they yelled, ¡°We¡¯ll follow the guild leader forever!¡± I asked, ¡°Freezing Point, how many players does Waste and Burn have altogether?¡± ¡°We established this guild about a month ago, and we have one thousand four hundred and seventy-eight people altogether. We haven¡¯t really been able to recruit anyone else¡­¡± Freezing Point said in a rather helpless voice. He waved his hands before he continued, ¡°There are far too many guilds, both small and large, in Sky City, and we don¡¯t have any iconic players who can recruit other people. However, we still have more than one thousand four hundred players, so we should be able to go head to head with Mad Dragon!¡± Freezing Point froze when he heard my words. After that, he cleared his throat loudly, but it was clear that he didn¡¯t know how to respond to what I had just said. The other members of Waste and Burn were just floored as their guild leader. It was only now that they understood the true measure of their opponent. Many of them couldn¡¯t help but suck in cold breaths of air. They thought that they had fought against Mad Dragon¡¯s main forces just now, but they had really only ¡°touched the tip of the iceberg¡±. After a good long while, Freezing Point finally nodded his head. He seemed to have come to a conclusion. He looked at me and said, ¡°Brother Broken Halberd, from your standpoint, what do you think Waste and Burn should do now?¡± I glanced towards Lu Buyi and said, ¡°I do have a suggestion, but it¡¯s really only a suggestion. You¡¯re free to accept or reject it and I wouldn¡¯t want to force you into doing anything.¡± ¡°Please feel free to speak, Brother Broken Halberd.¡± ¡°Well, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has become one of the top guilds in China, and we have already built a name for ourselves in Sky City, so we are actually in the process of expanding and establishing subguilds. Right now, we have seven subguilds but we can cooperate with Waste and Burn by creating an eighth. This eighth subguild will be mainly formed out of the members of Waste and Burn and you, Freezing Point, will continue to be its guild leader. We won¡¯t interfere with the everyday administration of the eighth subguild, we will only mobilize with you if we are doing a guild-wide activity. This way, Waste and Burn can come under Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls banner as our eighth subguild and you¡¯ll be able to fill up your ranks in no time at all! If you can quickly raise your guild¡¯s rank to 5, you¡¯ll be able to recruit ten thousand members and you¡¯ll be strong enough to face off against Mad Dragon¡¯s main guild.¡± I carefully observed Freezing Point¡¯s facial expression as I said those words. ¡°This is only a suggestion. The decision is wholly in your hands. You¡¯re free to reject it as you please. I won¡¯t try to force your hand.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Freezing Point slowly nodded his head. He wore a conflicted expression on his face, and it was clear that he was struggling with the idea. After a long time passed, Lu Buyi finally stepped forward and said, ¡°Freezing Point, why don¡¯t we take his offer. Right now, we really don¡¯t have the strength to go toe to toe with Mad Dragon. Since Lu Chen has already shown such sincerity, it¡¯s no use putting on airs.¡± Freezing Point let out a resigned sigh before he said, ¡°Okay, then Waste and Burn shall come under the banner of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. However, Brother Broken Halberd, there¡¯s one thing I still don¡¯t quite know. What exactly are your guild¡¯s objectives?¡± I laughed before I raised my fist in the air and spoke in a bright and clear voice, ¡°Before the Nation Wars, we aim to forge bonds of brotherhood which will last for all time! During the Nation Wars, we plan to fight off all comers and protect our home!¡± When Lu Buyi heard that, he started clapping vigorously. ¡°That¡¯s right! That¡¯s exactly the sort of attitude and bearing the vice leader of a super guild should have! Lu Chen, we are willing to follow under the banner of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. We will fight off all invaders and protect our home!¡± Freezing Point nodded his head as well. He grinned as he said, ¡°Then, I hope that we have a fruitful relationship!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± After that, I gave Freezing Point control over a new subguild and he started to quickly add all of the Waste and Burn players into them. They had officially become Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ eighth subguild and there were one thousand four hundred and seventy-eight of them in total. Ah, this is a little sad. When we had established the seven other subguilds, we turned them into Rank 3 guilds within three days and all two thousand slots were fully taken up the moment that happened. Waste and Burn really wasn¡¯t that powerful compared to them. ¡°Then, shall we go back to Sky City and start recruiting?¡± Freezing Point asked, the excitement apparent in his voice. I nodded my head. ¡°Yeah, that sounds good. Remember, the entry requirements must be set high. Don¡¯t take in any players who are weaker than Level 120 for now. Right now, the minimum standard for newly-recruited players is that they must all be fifth-promotion players. If not, the new subguild will be very weak.¡± Freezing Point was quite shocked. ¡°The entry requirements are that high?¡± ¡°Why? You don¡¯t have any confidence in yourselves?¡± ¡°Hahaha, don¡¯t you worry! I have confidence in spades. Trust me, vice leader. I¡¯ll definitely lead the eighth subguild well!¡± ¡°Okay, then I¡¯ll leave you to it!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Freezing Point took out a return scroll and disappeared before my eyes. Lu Buyi grinned at me and added me as a friend before he used a return scroll as well. After all, he was still one of Freezing Point¡¯s men. ¡­¡­ After I saw off the members of Waste and Burn, I continued to wander through the Windmill Forest. I killed Mad Dragon players whenever I encountered them and if I met any squad below a hundred men, I¡¯d just charge in and kill them. After that, I would use Earth Escape to disappear without a trace. They didn¡¯t have many high-level players, so they couldn¡¯t see through my Earth Escape, so it was the perfect ¡°getaway car¡±. There were quite a few dragon bones scattered around the Windmill Forest and Agave grew abundantly around these bones. I had a wild time harvesting all of them and I had collected nearly a hundred bundles of Agave by the time two hours had passed. Countless Mad Dragon players had died under my blade by then, and Roaming Dragon desperately chased after me with Coldmoon Rose, Iron Pardon, and Inconstant. However, with my hit-and-run guerilla tactics, they¡¯d never be able to find me in this huge forest. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Beep! Gui Guzi sent me a message: ¡°Boss Broken Halberd, are you having a lot of fun in the Windmill Forest? Mad Dragon is currently gathering a few of their subguilds and they said that they¡¯re going to flatten the entire place.¡± I laughed loudly: ¡°It¡¯s been alright. Oh right! Little Gui, what¡¯s the situation in the Cyan Tiger Forest right now? How many Cyan Tiger mounts did our guys manage to tame?¡± Gui Guzi replied: ¡°It¡¯s been going really well. We¡¯ve already managed to catch more than four hundred Cyan Tigers. So even the most conservative estimate would put us at over two thousand Cyan Tigers by the time we finish sweeping through this map. Basically, all of the magic knights and wanderers in the main guild will have a Cyan Tiger mount by the end of the day. Heh heh.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great news! Well done. Tsk tsk, it wouldn¡¯t be wrong to say that our main guild¡¯s cavalry troops will be invincible at this current stage of the game! Keep hustling!¡± ¡°Yeah, you too!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ I closed my chat window and burrowed my way into a little copse in the woods. Two assassin players were slowly creeping forward in stealth mode, but it was their unlucky day. No one could hide from my Dark Pupils. I burst out of the ground and swiftly cut through both of them. To my surprise, I saw Mad Dragon¡¯s main force just ahead of me. Roaming Dragon had gathered more than three thousand people in a vast clearing in the Windmill Forest. ¡°Ahhhh!¡± As he waved the spear in his hand, Roaming Dragon raged about angrily, ¡°That bastard Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is being too much! Comrades, we only have one mission today and that is to kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! We¡¯ll do it even if we have to flip the entire Windmill Forest upside down! I¡¯ve already summoned four more subguilds here! They will completely secure the Windmill Forest and protect all the Agave!¡± Inconstant said in a soft voice, ¡°Guild leader, Lu Chen seems to have picked the area clean of Agave plants. There isn¡¯t even one-third of them left¡­¡± The muscles on Roaming Dragon¡¯s face spasmed as he roared, ¡°Fuck Lu Chen¡¯s granddaddy!¡± I grinned when I heard those words. My granddaddy? Too bad, I only had a Third Uncle and he was currently happily harvesting his watermelons... ¡­¡­ I fished out a return scroll. I had already gathered more than enough Agave for my needs, so I didn¡¯t need to continue playing with Mad Dragon any further. After all, killing players didn¡¯t earn me any experience points. Wooosh! I returned to Sky City and I could see Lu Buyi and Freezing Point recruiting people in the distance. I checked on them and saw that the eighth subguild had swelled to more than four thousand eight hundred people. They were just about filled up. I walked over to the my warehouse and sent a message to Lu Buyi: ¡°Buyi, come over to the warehouse manager at the eastern gate plaza. I have something for you¡­¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Lu Buyi soon appeared. He ran towards me and grinned, ¡°Guild leader Lu Chen, what can I do for you?¡± I took out a fan from my warehouse and tossed it to him. ¡°There, this is the weapon that will help you become a top-tier tactician. Consider this a welcoming gift for joining our guild!¡± Lu Buyi caught the flaming fan. When he saw the fan¡¯s stats, he froze on the spot, nearly dropping the fan from his nerveless fingers. His entire body shuddered as emotions danced wildly in his heart. Burning Fan (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 750~1020 Attack, Intelligence +150, Stamina +145, Tactics +50. Passives: Increases user¡¯s stratagem¡¯s effectiveness by 25%, increases user¡¯s max HP by 30%. Outstanding Property: Strategy, the corresponding stratagem¡¯s Attack boost is increased by an additional 15%. Level Requirement: 130. ¡­¡­ ¡°Guild leader, this¡­ this present is way too expensive, isn¡¯t it?¡± Lu Buyi said as he audibly gulped. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m only an insignificant grunt who just joined the guild, but you¡¯re actually giving a 5-star Outstanding Earth-grade weapon to me!? This is¡­¡± Chapter 584: Long Live the Blackhearted Merchant! ¡°Lu Chen, does this fan truly belong to me now?¡± Lu Buyi stared at me with a fevered gaze as he held the Burning Fan tightly in his grasp. He couldn¡¯t quite believe that this was actually happening, so he asked me again just to be sure. My lips curled up as I burst into laughter. ¡°Why? You don¡¯t want it? If you don¡¯t, then give it back to me. I can sell this in the auction for at least a million gold. That¡¯s a lot of money, so I¡¯d gladly take it¡­¡± Lu Buyi let out a small chuckle before he said, ¡°I want it! Of course, I want it! But I really feel quite ashamed to accept such a good weapon from you right now. I mean, I haven¡¯t done a single thing to deserve this and I¡¯m just a nobody, so I can¡¯t understand why¡¯d you shower me with such favor.¡± I sucked in a deep breath before replying, ¡°Buyi, you should know that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has many Famous Generals, but did you know that we don¡¯t have a single top-tier tactician? So, I hope that you can be the one to break this trend and show the world that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls does have a world-class tactician. I want you to shock everyone who has ever looked down on the Tactician class and show them just how powerful a tactician can be!¡± ¡°Yessir!¡± Lu Buyi gave a heavy nod of his head before he growled in a low voice, ¡°I swear that I won¡¯t let you down, guild leader! I¡¯ll stake my very life on it!¡± I let out a satisfied laugh. ¡°Your promise is more than enough. Oh right, I still have something else to give you. This is my personal gift to you and it will definitely help you along the way to the top!¡± As I said those words, I took out a shiny skill book from the warehouse and presented it to Lu Buyi. ¡°I got this from killing a boss a few days ago. It¡¯s a skill book exclusive to Tacticians. Heh heh, I believe that this will be the stratagem that will make your name resound throughout the earth!¡± ¡­¡­ This stratagem boosted all stats by 15% and there was currently no hard cap on this skill at the moment! Indeed, this stratagem was absolutely broken. As Lu Buyi¡¯s Tactics stat increases, there is even a high chance it would outclass Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell! Lu Buyi cradled the Purple Dragon skill book in his arms. These two extraordinary gifts had rendered him speechless. A good ten minutes passed before he finally shook himself out of his stupor and said solemnly. ¡°I thought that I would have to put my nose to the grindstone for an entire year before I could become the top tactician in China. But with the help that you¡¯ve just provided me, I believe that I¡¯ll only need half a year at most!¡± I laughed heartily and exclaimed, ¡°Half a year is way too long! I need you to be the number one tactician within two months!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Just wait and see! Heh heh!¡± As I laughed, I discreetly glanced at his shoulder and saw that the guild emblem hovering was still Waste and Burn¡¯s. I said, ¡°Come to the main guild. Players who are part of our main guild can enjoy quite a few perks. Furthermore, I can assign you to a strong squad and have you grind together with them. I guarantee that you¡¯ll be able to hit Level 135 and learn that Purple Dragon stratagem within three days!¡± A rather pained expression appeared on Lu Buyi¡¯s face. ¡°Ah, I think¡­ I won¡¯t be able to join the main guild yet. I¡¯m going to continue to follow guild leader Freezing Point. This¡­ Lu Chen, I hope you can understand where¡­¡± My eyebrows knit together tightly as I asked, ¡°Buyi, how did you get to know Freezing Point in the first place? Also, how did you end up joining Waste and Burn? Can you tell me more about how everything happened?¡± Lu Buyi nodded his head and said, ¡°I first met guild leader Freezing Point two month ago. I was grinding with my friends when some people decided to kill us and camp our corpses. Guild leader Freezing Point saw this and came to our rescue. He led a group of players to kill the ones who had been camping us, so my friends and I joined Waste and Burn. Guild leader Freezing Point is a great guy, and he¡¯s outspoken and forthright. He¡¯s someone that is worth having as a friend.¡± I nodded my head and replied, ¡°Then I will have a discussion with Freezing Point later. The elite players of the various subguilds normally end up joining the main guild. This is to ensure that our main guild will always have an elite fighting force to contend against the top guilds like Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance.¡± ¡°Yes, I understand where you¡¯re coming from, but¡­¡± Lu Buyi frowned before he continued, ¡°I had already proposed this idea to guild leader Freezing Point before. He rejected it outright and told me to continue to stay in the eighth subguild. Furthermore, I also believe that the main guild and subguilds are all part of one big family. So if the main guild needs me to go anywhere, you just need to tell me and I¡¯ll be there.¡± I chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s fine too. If that¡¯s the case, then let me find a few people to help you level? It would be for the best if you hit level 135 as soon as possible so that you can learn Purple Dragon. What¡¯s your current Tactics stat?¡± ¡°312.¡± Lu Buyi let out an embarrassed laugh and said, ¡°My level alone gives me 133 points. It¡¯s just that my equipment is really way too lousy. All of my equipment added together only gives me 179 Tactics, and that is after I added the 50 points from the Burning Fan. If not, my equipment would only add 129 points to my Tactics stats in total. This is really embarrassing¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh when I heard Lu Buyi¡¯s reply. I did some quick calculations in my head before saying, ¡°Actually, that¡¯s still alright. With 312 Tactics and the 15% stat boost from your Purple Dragon stratagem, you¡¯ll be able to boost all of your other stats by 61.8%. Tsk tsk, this would put you barely behind the Famous General Skill of the Fruit Knife Goddess, Wind Fantasy. Hahaha, Buyi, you gotta work hard! If you¡¯re able to become a Famous General as well, you¡¯ll be the first grand strategist of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!¡± My words raised Lu Buyi¡¯s flagging spirit. ¡°Woah, a total boost of 61.8% to all stats? That¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s incredibly powerful! I¡¯ll become that powerful!? Tsk tsk, guild leader, your mental calculations skills are top-notch! ¡° ¡°Admire my ass! I was just able to open my calculator faster than you, that¡¯s all!¡± ¡­¡­ I opened up the voice chat and called Chaos Moon. ¡°Is the pretty Chaos Moon busy at the moment?¡± I asked. ¡°Nope!¡± Chaos Moon replied in an earnest voice. She laughed and said, ¡°What do you need me for, Lu Chen?¡± ¡°Yeah, there actually is something that I need you to help me with. Gather up a squad of ninety-nine fighters, priests, and archers. They have to be among the best that we¡¯ve got. I need you to party up with a player and go to the Dragonbone Mountain Range to grind high level mobs. Also, if a boss appears, it would be ideal if he could get the last hit. I need him to get to level 135 as fast as possible. ¡°Oh?¡± Chaos Moon replied in an astonished voice. ¡°It¡¯s a guy? Why are you treating a guy so well? What kind of man is he? Bloody hell, are you screwing him? Ho ho, I knew it! If an outstanding man like Lu Chen can resist the charms of Pure Love, he definitely can¡¯t be normal! As expected, you really were gay, Lu Chen¡­¡± I nearly vomited blood before I exclaimed, ¡°Gay your ass! I still like women! I love women! Do you hear me!?¡± Sis Chaos Moon giggled and said, ¡°Alright, alright! See, you¡¯re so riled up! So I must have hit the nail on the head! Okay, let¡¯s get back to business. It¡¯ll be easy for me to form a party like that. I¡¯ll even get that dumb slacker High Fighting Spirits to join us! With a bunch of high-level fighters, that friend of yours will level up in no time. Oh right, who exactly are we supposed to help again?¡± ¡°A tactician called Lu Buyi.¡± I said with a mysterious laugh. Chaos Moon was not expecting that answer. ¡°A tactician? To think that someone who is playing that useless class actually caught your eye? Man, he must be on the same level as Zhuge Liang, Guo Jia, and Xun Yu, right!?¡± I grinned. ¡°Well, I can¡¯t answer that question, but I do know this. Once he reaches level 135, he will be able to learn a new skill, a stratagem that will buff the stats of everyone in his party by at least 60%. So what do you think? Will you help me level this tactician? If you two become close, I¡¯ll even assign him to your squad permanently. Heh heh¡­¡± Chaos Moon was overcome with excitement. ¡°Wow! Is this tactician handsome?¡± ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s actually rather dashing! He¡¯s a healthy and robust man who is in his twenties, and he has thick eyebrows and large eyes. Hey, wait a minute, didn¡¯t you say that you would always be loyal to me? How¡­ how could you become so fickle-hearted at the mere mention of a handsome man¡­¡± ¡°What!? That¡¯s not true at all! He just piqued my interest, okay! My heart is still with you¡­¡± ¡°Bloody hell. Alright, that¡¯s enough nonsense from you for today. Hurry up and form that party. I¡¯ll get Lu Buyi to add you as a friend so that you can contact him directly. Remember, try your best to let him get the last hit whenever you¡¯re fighting a boss. Lu Buyi¡¯s stratagem will only be able to show its full power if he becomes a Famous General, heh heh¡­¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll go form the party now. Goodbye my dearest!¡± ¡°Screw you! Okay, I¡¯ll leave you to it then¡­¡± I closed the voice chat and let out a helpless sigh. Why do the girls in our guild always tease me when I get them to help me with stuff? Do I have the words ¡°tease me¡± written on my face, dammit? Yeah, I¡¯ll just wear a mask next time. ¡­¡­ Now that I had settled everything that I needed to settle with Lu Buyi, I could finally get back to doing my own thing! The first thing on my priority list was to create those Strength Supplements! They would definitely sell like hotcakes! Even the average player had gone through their fifth class promotion already, but most of them didn''t have powerful enough equipment to meet the Strength requirement to learn Barrier Break. These Strength Supplements, which boosted their Strength by 400 points, were an absolute godsend! My Spirit Cooking skill didn¡¯t give me a new recipe to create more powerful Strength Supplements until I hit Rank 8 in the skill, but the moment I saw that recipe, I immediately realized that a golden opportunity had landed in my lap. I¡¯m going to make a killing this time! Heh heh, once these potions hit the market, people will be lining up from one side of Sky City to the other to buy them! If anyone wants to learn Barrier Break before reaching level 150, they¡¯ll have to part with their savings first! A wide grin split my face as I started doing a little jig in my mind. There were a lot of players in this game and more than a few of them were rich! Yeah, it¡¯s time to take this opportunity to earn big bucks! I won''t let a chance like this go by! I immediately started crafting the Strength Supplement. 20 Fresh Ginger, 20 Purple Cloud Net and 1 Agave. Once I put in the ingredients into the skill window, I clicked on the ¡°Confirm¡± button. Ding! System Notice: You have created ¡°Strength Supplement VIII¡± x 5! ¡­¡­ Damn, I can create 5 of these at once!? This is great! I continued to create the strength potions. I had gathered nearly two hundred stacks of Agave, and each stack was one hundred portions. This meant that I could easily produce about a hundred thousand Strength Supplements VIII. Heehee, this is awesome! System notices continued to fly across my screen as the blood-red Strength Supplements swiftly filled up my inventory, and I soon had a few dozen stacks of them in my inventory. I was in no rush to sell these babies, so I continued to whip up even more of them. Half an hour later, I had used 5000 Agave plants to create 24592x Strength Supplement VIII. I had more than two hundred stacks of these potions lying around in my inventory. Ah, the sight of all of these potions simply fills my heart with joy! This would have to do for now. I stopped creating strength supplements and went straight to Air Force One. I put the potions up for sale, a thousand at a time. The minimal price was 5000 RMB. Each potion would go to the highest bidder once the one-hour timer had passed. Heehee, this was the best way to jack up the prices of these Strength Supplements! After that, I quickly spent 5000 RMB to post a shout. Ding! System Announcement (Player Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Shout): Attention all Warriors, Magic Knights and Wanderers! The Air Force One stall, located beside the potion shop in Sky City¡¯s eastern plaza, is currently selling Strength Supplements VIIIs. These potions can instantly add 400 points to your Strength. This will allow most of you to immediately learn the godlike fifth-promotion skill Barrier Break! So if you want to learn Barrier Break and become a super powerful fighter, what are you waiting for!? Come on down to Air Force One and start bidding for your potion today! The starting bid begins at 5000 RMB! The auction will close in one hour and each potion will go to the highest bidder! High-level players, you definitely don¡¯t want to miss out on this! Come get them before it¡¯s too late! Chapter 585: I’ll Never Fall In Love With You! Xu Yang: "What the fuck! Lu Chen, you punk, you actually know how to make Rank 8 Strength Supplements? 400 points of Strength! Even the trashiest Level 125 fighter will be able to learn Barrier Break with that boost¡­" Li Chengfeng: "That¡¯s right! Lu Chen, how did you get those potions? Tsk, tsk, they¡¯re OP as hell. This potion is gonna explosively boost the power of all the fighters in the server once it hits the market. If everyone has Barrier Break, then no one will be afraid of Spiraling Arrow Blade or Galaxy Storm anymore!" I couldn¡¯t help but laugh: "Chengfeng, do you think that these potions grow on trees? I need to use very valuable materials to make them, okay! I don¡¯t even have that many of them. In fact, the only reason I¡¯m even selling them in the first place is because Eve¡¯s company needs an injection of capital. If not, I¡¯d definitely hide these potions. Only an idiot would sell them¡­" Beiming Xue giggled: "Big bro, how many of these potions do you have exactly? Can you afford to spare some for our guild members first? That way, they can all learn Barrier Break." I nodded my head, "Yeah, I¡¯ve already thought of that. Five hundred fighters with the most guild contribution points will each receive a bottle. Tell them to use it wisely! They need to ensure that they¡¯ll have enough Strength to learn Barrier Break after they use it! I will also be giving a bottle to each of the riders under Gui Guzi¡¯s command. I want every competent fighter in the main guild to learn Barrier Break, heh heh! Xu Yang, come to the eastern gate of Sky City. I¡¯ll give you 2500 potions. You¡¯ll be in charge of distributing them¡­" Xu Yang immediately replied: "Okay, I¡¯ll be there in three minutes!" Everyone laughed heartily as they cheered him on. ¡­¡­ Xu Yang soon arrived in front of me and I traded him the 2500 potions and left him to handle the rest. I didn¡¯t want to cause any resentment in the guild over any perceived unfairness over who got these potions, so it was best to let the guild administrator handle it. If not, giving out these potions might very well backfire on us. After that, I immediately called Du Thirteen over and passed another 500 potions to him. I told him to give these Strength Supplements to the main fighters in Bloody Mercenaries. This would greatly increase the fighting power of both Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Bloody Mercenaries. Right before I was about to leave the main city, Lin Yixin sent a message to me out of nowhere: "Little Cheat! You know exactly what I¡¯m going to say to you!" A smile appeared unbidden on my face. I replied: "Yiyi, come to the warehouse near Sky City¡¯s eastern gate. I¡¯ll be waiting for you. I¡¯ve missed you¡­" "Oh, spare me¡­" It seemed as if Lin Yixin had completely overhauled her equipment in two short days. Yeah, she had probably killed some unlucky bosses to get these upgrades. "Hey, what are you looking at!?" Lin Yixin yelled angrily as her pretty eyes stared daggers at me. I shifted my eyes away from her "pride and joy" as I quickly wiped the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand. I replied, "Yiyi, it¡¯s only been two days, but you¡¯ve grown even prettier¡­" "Hmph! Offering up such glib words the moment we meet? You¡¯re definitely up to no good." "Oh, come on! You¡¯re clearly the one asking me for a favor this time! Cut me some slack!" "Oh right, I almost forgot about that¡­" Lin Yixin said as she stuck out her tongue at me in the most adorable fashion. After that, her silvery laughter rang in the air as she said, "Okay, okay! I¡¯m the one asking you for a favor this time! So¡­ just how many Strength Supplements do you still have? Can you provide some of them to my Snowy Cathaya at a better rate? The prices in your little shop nearly made me puke blood¡­" My lips curled up into a smile as I said, "Tell me how many you want. But I gotta warn you first, I¡¯m charging for these potions¡­" "Hmmm, okay! Money isn¡¯t an issue!" Lin Yixin thrust out "her pride and joy" confidently as she dazzled me with a stunning smile. "Little Cheat, name your price! If it¡¯s something I can swallow, I¡¯ll take them!" "Fine, let¡¯s go with the base price then. I¡¯ll sell you every bottle for 5000 RMB. How many do you want?" "Waaaaaah... One bottle for 5000 RMB? That¡¯s crazy expensive! Lu Chen, you know how poor I am! Apple pays us by the month, not by the year! Where am I going to find that much money to pay you, huh!? Do you want me to go and sell my body to buy these drugs?" The little beauty stared at me with stars in her eyes. "Come on, be a little flexible and give me an insider discount! Pretty please?" I raised up three fingers. "On account of the alliance between our guild, I can give you an insider price of 3000 RMB a bottle. I can¡¯t go any lower than that! I also have one more condition!" "Oh, oh, what condition?" Lin Yixin asked in a bubbly voice. "Let me kiss you once¡­" "Wah?" Lin Yixin¡¯s tiny face went bright red. She quickly looked around and she looked like she wanted to say something, but she quickly bit her lip and whispered angrily, "There are so many people here! Do you wanna die?" I took a step back as I parsed her words. Yeah, there were definitely at least ten thousand people in the square next to the eastern gate. If anyone took a picture of Lin Yixin and I, we were gonna become even more famous. I immediately changed my tack. "Then, I¡¯ll get my reward from you in real life¡­" "Ah?" Lin Yixin¡¯s tiny mouth dropped open as she stared at me in shock. Her face grew even redder as she whispered furiously, "Huh? Isn¡¯t that even worse for me? I mean... I haven¡¯t even had my first kiss in real life¡­" "Oh, come on! Then what did we do the last time, huh?" "Oh hush! Don¡¯t you dare!" The little beauty clenched a delicate fist and shook it at me threateningly. She was obviously trying to rewrite history here and she looked like she would never admit it, no matter what. In the end, we still made that deal. I gave her 1500 Strength Supplements for 3000 RMB a bottle, so she owed me a total of 4.5 million RMB. However, Lin Yixin wasn¡¯t hurting for money. In fact, I heard that she had earned more than 5 million RMB from all the equipment she had gotten from the Nine Lost Dragon Domains. When you added that to the money that Snowy Cathaya earned from their territory alone, the sum of 4.5 million RMB suddenly became a rather insignificant amount. We finished the trade and Lin Yixin threw the 1500 Strength Supplements into her inventory. After that, she stared at me resentfully as her lips puckered up into an adorable pout. "Owwww, I feel like someone just cut off a chunk of my flesh! It hurts! Hmph, how are you going to make it up to me, huh!?" I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at her antics. I reached out to loop an arm around her waist as I said, "Let¡¯s go find a place to grind together then! It¡¯s been such a long time since we leveled together. What do you think?" "Hmph, what sort of compensation is this¡­" "I¡¯m definitely compensating you. I mean, it would normally cost 500 dollars an hour to be accompanied by a handsome guy like myself¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s silvery laughter rang in the air once more. "Yeah, that¡¯s about the same price those gigolos at the host bars charge¡­" "Bloody hell!" I exclaimed as I glared at her. "To think that you¡¯ve actually been to such a place! Yiyi, I¡¯m beginning to lose my faith in this thing called love¡­" Lin Yixin shoved me away with a violent kick. "Get lost, you jerk! Since when has a heartless bastard like you ever believed in love? Waaaah, you incorrigible womanizer! I¡¯ll destroy you in the name of justice!" I immediately turned tail and ran away when I heard those words. Lin Yixin chased after me with her Blade of Violet Lightning in hand. We leaped down the floating stone steps that led up to Sky City without pausing and both of us were panting heavily by the time we reached the ground. "Little Cheat, you ran so far! Why didn¡¯t we just use the teleportation formation?" Lin Yixin gasped angrily. "Because both of us stopped using our brains! As expected, you¡¯ll also become silly if you get together with a silly girl. Oh no, will my IQ drop to zero¡­" "Who¡¯s a silly girl, you jackass!" Lin Yixin waved her fists at me angrily as she continued the chase. ¡­¡­ Actually, neither of us knew a good place to train, so we simply decided to head straight to the Dragonbone Mountain Range. The levels of the monsters were higher there, so it was quite likely for us to find a good grinding spot. After we had walked for a little while, both Lin Yixin and I came to a sudden stop. Uncannily enough, we practically voiced the same words at the unison right after that. "Hey¡­ do you wanna grab lunch together before we go up the mountains?" Both of us broke out into laughter and went offline. Alright, it¡¯s time to eat lunch! ¡­¡­ The X12 speedily arrived at Suzhou University. Lin Yixin was sitting down on a bench waiting for me. She was wearing a dark green windbreaker over a white T-shirt, and her white skirt flounced adorably in the air as she grabbed her small handbag and ran toward my car. "Get in!" I opened the car door for her. Lin Yixin got into my car as a bunch of men directed looks of envious hatred toward me. "Do you still remember what you promised me just now?" I asked. Lin Yixin stared at me dazedly before her eyes narrowed and she snarled, "What promise!?" "Bloody hell, I¡¯ve always kept my promises to you, but here you are, forgetting a promise you just made a few minutes ago¡­" I complained. After that, I pouted as I said, "Let me kiss you¡­" "Damn it. You still remember huh¡­" I turned to hug Lin Yixin before she could put up any resistance. She panicked at first, but when I pressed my lips against hers, she started to slowly close her eyes. A warm feeling spread through both our bodies as a soft tongue soon clumsily responded to my own. Lin Yixin¡¯s long eyelashes were trembling gently as she slowly leaned into the kiss. This was clearly a learning experience for her. ¡­¡­ The kiss lasted for a full thirty seconds before we finally parted. Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful face was dyed a pretty red as she slowly started to breathe again. After that, she glared at me and said in an indignant voice, "So, are you happy now?" "Definitely," I replied as I smiled at her and leaned back into my seat. After that, I suddenly blurted out, "Yiyi, I¡¯ve come to realize that¡­ I like you¡­" Lin Yixin huffily turned toward me and grabbed my collar. She jerked me forward as she planted another kiss on my lips. After that, she widened her eyes in the most adorable manner as she gave me a look that melted my heart into nothing. She whispered, "You jerk, don¡¯t you think that took you a little too long?" I grinned at her, but I chose not to say anything. "Do you ever feel like you love me, from time to time?" Lin Yixin said as she stared straight into my eyes. "Hmmm, don¡¯t know about that one¡­ I said as I lay down on a bench. Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful eyes widened angrily as she glared at me, "You blockhead! I¡¯ll never fall in love with you! Hpmh!" I chuckled. "Oh really?" "Yes, really!" Lin Yixin thrust out her 34D chest as she said in a very confident manner, "I¡¯ll never fall in love with you¡­" Blood rushed to my head as I stared at her chest. I said, "Yiyi, can I¡­" Lin Yixin saw through my obvious intentions and she said in a dull, flat voice, "Go ahead and try it if you wanna die!!!" ¡­¡­ I shuddered as I muttered in a soft voice, "Forget it, I want to live a long life¡­" Chapter 586: Corrosive Worm ¡­¡­ The restaurant was bustling with activity as a matter of course. Groups of people were sitting together and eating lunch. While I was chowing down my food, I looked up sneakily only to find Lin Yixin sneaking a glance at me as well. "What¡¯s wrong?" I asked with a smile. "Do you want me to feed you?" Lin Yixin turned red. "No!" "Let¡¯s not waste any more time then." "Mn!" It was at this moment we heard the students sitting at the table behind us conversing with each other in a clear and articulate Suzhou accent¡ª "Hey, did you guys hear that the students from architectural engineering, specifically those from room 209, 211 and 213 of the hostel have joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?" "Eh? I thought they had their own trash guild? How did they suddenly join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?" "I¡¯m not sure. At any rate, they somehow joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and became their eighth subguild. It¡¯s unbelievable¡­" "That¡¯s surprising. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls usually pick their people carefully, so I wasn¡¯t expecting them to recruit these troublemakers. Do you still remember that assault case from last month? They¡¯re all involved in that incident!" "Yeah, they¡¯re truly the black sheeps of our university!" "Yeah¡­" ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t help but frown after listening to their conversation. "Fuck me, are they talking about Waste and Burn?" "Waste and Burn?" Lin Yixin sounded surprised. "Mn, this morning, I ran into a guild called Waste and Burn whose tactician has the potential to become the best in China. Because of him, I recruited them and made them into our eighth subguild." "Oh, so you fancy their beautiful tactician, is that it?" Lin Yixin shot me a meaningful smile. I stared at her. "You¡¯re mistaken, okay? That tactician is a man, not a woman, and even if he was a woman, I would never abuse my power for personal pleasure¡­" Lin Yixin giggled. "That¡¯s hard to say¡­" Seeing as I was about to lose control, I immediately produced a Durex condom from my pockets and shook it. "See this? I¡¯ve been keeping this all this time! If you bully me again I swear I¡¯ll use this on you!" I replied, "If you think one isn¡¯t enough, I can buy a dozen¡­" Finally, Lin Yixin relented. "Fine, fine. Can we please not talk about this?" "Mn." "Oh right, why didn¡¯t you investigate Waste and Burn before accepting them? Unless the guys behind us were bullshitting, it didn¡¯t sound like they¡¯re particularly good people. You really should pay more attention to this. One of the main reasons Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was able to establish themselves in Sky City is because they¡¯re proud and strong enough not to bully the weak. It would be terrible if the guild lost its image and reputation because of a single subguild." "Mn, I got it. Don¡¯t worry, I can handle this!" "Okay. Now let¡¯s finish our lunch already!" ¡­¡­ After eating lunch and sending Lin Yixin back to the university, I returned to the workshop and went online immediately! Swhoosh! I crawled out of my tent after appearing in Sky Forest. A beep notified me that my satiety meter was below 50%, so I took out some dried dear meat and ate it. This consumable restored 10% satiety instantly, so I ate five of them in one go. While I was filling my stomach, Lin Yixin had also crawled out of the tent with the Blade of Violet Lightning in her hand. She said, "Come on, let¡¯s head to Dragonbone Mountain Range!" "Okay!" Lin Yixin hadn¡¯t summoned her mount probably because she didn¡¯t want me to feel bad. As we walked side by side, I felt like we looked more like a couple enjoying the scenes rather than a pair of adventurers set on a journey. My Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf was running circles around us as if it had boundless energy. Lin Yixin¡¯s Ice Fox had grown into an adult, but it was still only as big as a cat. It ran up its owner¡¯s arm and stood atop her shoulders, fur swaying slightly to the wind and an intimidating icy aura circulating around it. Since the Ice Fox matured, the power of its ice magic had grown by leaps and bounds. It was one of the reasons Lin Yixin was able to maintain her insane leveling speed. I looked through the official data for a bit before complaining, "Goddammit, more than half of the maps at Dragonbone Mountain Range are occupied. We¡¯re going to have to climb to the maps about 20% away from the peak to grind without interruption. However, there¡¯s almost no chance we¡¯re going to find an NPC up there, meaning that there won¡¯t be a quest to accept. Our leveling speed will suffer like this." A pair of beautiful dimples appeared on Lin Yixin¡¯s features as she smiled. "Actually¡­ I know a leveling map that I really wanted to grind at, but couldn¡¯t find a powerful player to team up with. Now that you¡¯re here, why don¡¯t we head there? It even has a repeatable quest¡­" "Ah? There¡¯s a place like this? Why didn¡¯t you tell me sooner?" "I was afraid that you might invite all the guys and girls of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to that map, duh. It can accommodate 5 to 10 people at most. With our current DPS, we should have no problems grinding that location!" "Alright then. Let¡¯s head over first and decide what to do later. Yiyi, you be the party leader!" "Mn!" After Lin Yixin was promoted to the party leader, she immediately activated her Famous General Skill. Bombshell had already reached its cap some time ago, but an 80% boost to all stats was still very impressive, especially for me. My base Attack was 6210 after the boost, and my real attack power was way higher than that. My HP was over 53k, and my base Defense was 7317. I shouldn¡¯t have any problem grinding Level 160 shadow-rank mobs now. ¡­¡­ After arriving at the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range, Lin Yixin and I automatically hid our ID and equipment glow, as if in tacit agreement. This way, most people would think that we were just normal players with slightly unusual equipment. Besides that, I pulled up my Soul Suppressing Cloak to cover my face and my blood-red eyes. Unfortunately, the characteristics of an Asura King were very identifiable. Lin Yixin also covered her pretty face so that people wouldn¡¯t know that she was the Fruit Knife Goddess. There were way too many players in that area, and neither of us wanted to deal with a mob asking to take photos or make memories with her. We didn¡¯t go far before a Level 117 barbarian magic knight sitting atop a wild boar rode up to us and asked, "Hey there, friends! Are you interested in forming a party and hunting the Level 127 Hill Boars halfway up the mountain range? I guarantee that the experience is great, and you¡¯ll be able to reach Level 130 soon!" I couldn¡¯t help but think to myself. I¡¯m Level 142 already, bro. Or are you suggesting I level back to 130? Lin Yixin giggled once before replying in a sweet voice, "Thank you for the offer, but big bro and I are gathering herbs in the mountain today, so¡­" "Is that so?" It would seem that the barbarian magic knight wasn¡¯t especially bright. "Then I¡¯ll leave you to be." I took the opportunity to put an arm on my ¡°little sister¡¯s¡± shoulder. "Yo, my good sister¡­" "Screw you!" Lin Yixin immediately bumped me with her shoulder. "Why the hell are you speaking like Simon Qing?" "Nonsense. Come on, let¡¯s go to that map before anyone else stops us again!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ We ran along a mountain for almost half an hour straight before we finally reached an area somewhat close to the mountaintop. The mobs here were all shadow-rank and above Level 145. They offered more experience and loot, but their power was greater as well. It was basically inaccessible to most players below Level 125. "We¡¯re almost there¡­" Lin Yixin smiled and pointed to the front. "There, that valley entrance over there!" "Wawa, quest, quest!" I gripped my Cyan Netherworld Sword and broke into a mad run. When I reached the small hill though, I was shocked by what I saw. The huge valley was filled with undead creatures of varying sizes, although the majority of them were Corrosive Worms. These strange creatures almost looked like aliens from outer space with their three legs and unusual mandibles. They had incredible movement speed, and when they opened their mouth completely, it was bigger than even their own head. Speaking of their head, it was triangular in shape, like cobras¡¯. It was bound to be a deadly mob, to say the least! I moved closer to a Corrosive Worm and waved my hand. Its stats screen immediately appeared in front of me¡ª Corrosive Worm (Ancient) Level: 160 Attack: 2100~2550 Defense: 2750 HP: 190000 Skill: Swallow, Rend, Corrosive Poison Introduction: A creature of the purgatory. The Corrosive Worms are born from dead bodies, and they possess incredibly sharp fangs. They are the central force of the Night Creature Legion, and they group in shockingly large numbers. ¡­¡­ I looked up. The Corrosive Worms were as numerous as the sea, but a kind of disgusting flying insect was pooping even more Corrosive Worms, Corpse Eaters, Cave Devils, and other monsters that were flying in the sky. It looked like the Night Creatures were planning an assault and exploiting the difficult terrain of the mountaintop to their advantage. These monsters were certainly growing smarter and smarter each day. Still, this amount of worms was¡­ Is Lin Yixin serious? Forget five to ten people, I think this sea of worms can flood over even a thousand-man party like nothing. "Hey, are you done looking? We should accept the quest first before we grind the mobs," Lin Yixin said. "Okay. Where¡¯s the NPC?" "Over there!" Chapter 587: My Reputation Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me before retorting, "I did no such thing, you bastard. I¡­ I just accepted a quest from him, that¡¯s all. Anyway, go talk with him and accept the quest to kill the Corrosive Worms already. With the two of us together, we should be able to turn in the quest once per 30 minutes. Since the quest is repeatable, it should amount to a sizable amount of experience!" "You¡¯ve fought here before?" "Mn, but I was alone and it was too dangerous to lure more than one to three Corrosive Worms at a time, so it took me half a day just to kill a total of 1000 Corrosive Worms. With you and your firepower though, we should be able to hit that quota much faster." "Okay!" I walked up to the scout captain and said, "Don¡¯t shoot, captain! It¡¯s me!" The scout captain glared at me. "Hi, boy. I don¡¯t remember seeing you before. Is that beautiful lass over there your woman?" I grinned. "Yep! She has the face, the tits, the ass, everything! Not bad, right?" The scout captain licked his lips before replying, "I suppose. She doesn¡¯t understand love though, if you get what I mean. The women at the inn in the southwest area of Sky City though, are amazing! When night falls, they are as wet as a rainy season. Even better, you get to enjoy three women for the price of 10 gold only! So risk your life and kill the Corrosive Worms, boy! Remember, every three Corrosive Worms equal one amazing woman!" I replied with great interest. "Got it, captain. But where is this inn you speak of, exactly?" The scout captain had to wipe away his saliva before replying, "It¡¯s at the west gate where¡ª" Lin Yixin was literally stomping her foot in anger at this point. She pulled out her Blade of Purple Thunder and pressed the sharp end against the back of my head. "Lu Chen, if you¡¯ve accepted the quest already then go! I¡¯ll kill you if you stay here any longer!" Astonished, I turned around and pushed the blade away. "What¡¯s the hurry? I just received the quest, didn¡¯t I? Alright then, let¡¯s go kill some Corrosive Worms. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll protect you!" Lin Yixin shot me a glare before following me. Unbeknownst to us, the scout captain stared at Lin Yixin¡¯s back for a long time before murmuring to himself, "This is the first time ever that I, captain Loque, the connoisseur of womenfolk was wrong about a woman. She doesn¡¯t know love? Quite the opposite, she¡¯s¡­ tsk tsk, that lucky boy¡­" ¡­¡­ "Yiyi, did you accept the quest already?" "Yes, yesterday." "What¡¯s the attack pattern of these Corrosive Worms? It shouldn¡¯t be too difficult, right?" "Hehehe, you¡¯ll know once you¡¯ve fought one yourself¡­" I found out the answer soon after. As usual, I kicked off my attack with a Dragon Slaying Slash to the head. The Corrosive Worm I attacked had immediately pounced toward me like a ferocious bulldog. When it got close enough, it jumped into the air toward my face, its small mouth growing bigger as the distance between us closed. I was going to stab the Corrosive with my sword as a matter of course, but its mouth suddenly widened without warning! Thud! My vision darkened, and my mind couldn¡¯t quite catch up to what was going on. What the heck? Did the Corrosive Worm just swallow my entire head? A jolt of pain from my shoulders told me that that was the case. I took a sizable amount of damage¡ª 2594! ¡ªbut it definitely didn¡¯t exceed my limits of endurance. I was buffed by Bombshell after all. That being said, I must look horrible right now. In fact, I could hear Lin Yixin¡¯s delighted laughter even from inside the mob. I swung my fist and canceled the devoured state with a Magic Piercing Punch. After it fell on the ground, I immediately followed up with a Universe Break, a Burning Blade Slash and a couple of basic attacks to finally kill it. Then, I stomped on its corpse repeatedly while swearing, "You think you could eat me, you little shit? Huh? Huh?" At this point, Lin Yixin¡¯s face was red with exertion. She looked like she was about to collapse from laughter. I glared at her. "Why didn¡¯t you help me earlier?" "Why should I?" She puffed up her chest proudly with a wide grin. "I even took a screenshot just now! Who would¡¯ve thought that the legendary CGL Hall of Famer and Protoss Genius would get eaten by a little worm one day? Hehe, this is so much fun! Do you want me to upload this to the forums?" "Fuck, my reputation¡­" I groaned out loud before going on the attack suddenly. "Hey, you must¡¯ve been swallowed before, haven¡¯t you? There¡¯s no way you could know that it swallows people otherwise. Using Corrosive Worm saliva as your face cream? Man, your tastes are so hardcore¡­" Lin Yixin immediately let out a cute whine. "Can we not talk about the painful past already¡­" I let out a satisfied snort before getting serious. "So, how do you break this Swallow skill?" "It¡¯s simple. Just cover your face with the flat side of your sword when the Corrosive Worm jumps toward you. It¡¯ll hit your sword but fail to devour you. The skill only activates at the beginning, and it won¡¯t swallow you after you hit them. For example, if I hit a group of worms with Ice Flame Slash, they won¡¯t swallow anyone." "Got it. By the way, is it possible to die by swallow?" "What do you think?" Lin Yixin giggled. "Yesterday afternoon, I saw a Level 122 warrior trying to solo kill a Corrosive Worm only to be swallowed by it. Because he lacked the strength to break free, the Corrosive Worm¡­ eventually swallowed him whole. The worm¡¯s stomach was fully stretched, and the poor bastard had to wait 10 full minutes before he was finally digested¡­" I stared at her. "What the fuck, you just let him be digested bit by bit?" Lin Yixin shrugged. "Well, he was a student from my university. He once bought me a car of roses to win my heart, but I rejected him¡­" "Well fucking done! People like him deserve to be digested and shat out as hot steamy worm shit!" I swung my fists in righteous anger. I only wished that I was the Corrosive Worm myself! It was Lin Yixin¡¯s turn to stare at me. "What are you getting so agitated for¡­" ¡­¡­ Since there were two of us, we could fight hordes of Corrosive Worms at once. Their attack power was high, but both Lin Yixin and I were tanky enough to withstand them. After all, my HP was over fifty thousand, and the worms only dealt 2000 damage or so to me per hit. Moreover, I had Regeneration of the Undead, Blood Rage from the Cyan Netherworld Sword, and a ton of Rank 8 Holy Spirit Potions. These were much better than a common Rank 10 Health Potion. "Let¡¯s go to that spot." Lin Yixin pointed at the corner of a valley wall and blinked at me. "I¡¯ll aggro the mobs since I have the Frostscythe Warhorse. You and the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf will assume position at the choke point and wait for me to arrive. Is that okay with you?" I nodded. "Be careful. Don¡¯t let the worms swallow you¡­" "I know¡­" After the discussion was over, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and I ran along the valley walls toward our destination. Lin Yixin summoned the Frostscythe Warhorse and urged her mount into the sea of mob. Anyone who saw her right now would identify her as a high-level female rider immediately. Her movements were quick and precise. Not only was she able to aggro the mobs, she never let them get close enough to her to use their Swallow skill. I had absolute confidence in Lin Yixin¡¯s skill and positioning. There were less than ten players in China who possessed the skill to put me under great pressure, and Lin Yixin was not only one of them, but also a greater threat than most. She was the reason Warsky Alliance would rather challenge Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls again and again than provoke Snowy Cathaya. It was because she never left Snowy Cathaya out of her sight for too long. If Lin Yixin wasn¡¯t around, Warsky Alliance probably would¡¯ve eliminated Snowy Cathaya a long time ago. A short while later, Lin Yixin returned with a horde of Corrosive Worms, and I tossed out three Ice Cyclone Domains at strategic spots. This slowed down the Corrosive Worms¡¯ movement speed and attack speed drastically and prevented them from swallowing us. Otherwise, the worms might not be able to kill us with their swallow skill, but it would still be incredibly disgusting. Swhoosh! Lin Yixin cut into her position perfectly, turned a hundred and eighty degrees around and fired an Ice Flame Slash into the horde. Then, she summoned her Ice Fox and ordered it to unleash its Ice Rain from behind, contributing a good chunk of DPS. Boom! My Thousand Ice Slash exploded among the mobs and dealt a ton of damage. All the mobs who took a direct hit from the skill lose 20k HP in one go, and because my sword had 40% splash effect the actual damage they took was 3 to 5 times that number. The mobs at the center of the skill lost between 70k to 100k HP, or half their health bar instantly. Lin Yixin looked astonished at my DPS. She looked at me and said, "OMG, slow down, hotshot. I want my experience too, you know¡­" I nodded. "Yeah, you should time your Ice Flame Slash to get the last hit on the mobs. The Blade of Purple Thunder is amazing in everything except the fact that it has no splash effect. It sucks when you¡¯re fighting against great numbers¡­" Lin Yixin curled her lips. "I guess. It¡¯s great for killing players though." "..." ¡­¡­ The slaughter continued in comfortable silence for a bit. Less than half an hour later, both of us had killed 1000 Corrosive Worms just as Lin Yixin had predicted. We happily swept the battlefield for some great loot before running back to the NPC and turning in our quest. Then, we accepted the repeatable quest again and went back to the grind. The second time we turned in the quest, a golden column of golden light enveloped Lin Yixin and raised her Level to 140. Tsk tsk, Lin Yixin was right to think that this really was a great place to Level. At this rate, we could probably hit Level 150 in less than a week! I waited at the choke point again while Lin Yixin aggroed the mobs. Once she returned, we mowed them down like a flesh grinder again! ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a party made up of ten people showed up outside. They were all between Level 125 to Level 130, and judging from their equipment they were just barely strong enough to fight one Corrosive Worm at a time. Anymore than that and they would probably be a party wipe for them. The Corrosive Worms were no small fries after all. A beautiful assassin clad in leather armor stood at the edge of the valley and stuck out her tongue with a smile. "Wow, these mobs are ridiculously high-level. Ah, look over there! It looks like two players are grinding those mobs. It¡¯s amazing¡­" Chapter 588: Cute Little Naughty and Intercourse "Yiyi, look over there. The girl over there is called Cute Little Naughty, and you¡¯re called Beautiful Little Pepper in the past, didn¡¯t you? That is quite the similarity¡­" I commented with a smile. Lin Yixin glanced at me and said, "You¡¯re eyeing her legs, aren¡¯t you?" I felt a bit embarrassed as I defended myself. "What are you talking about? You¡¯re way sexier than she is. I¡¯m not interested in flatboards, you know¡­" "Despicable¡­" "Oh right, seeing as these people are grinding here, should we tell them about the repeatable quest?" Lin Yixin shook her head. "Forget it. They¡¯re lacking in manpower and levels. It¡¯s highly unlikely they¡¯ll be able to complete the quest even if they want to." "Oh, is that so?" I looked back at the party just in time to see a Corrosive Worm swallowing half of the elf warrior¡¯s body. The poor guy was struggling painfully while Cute Little Naughty pulled at the worm¡¯s tail while screaming, "Get off our leader, you stinky worm! If you need to eat someone that badly then eat me instead¡­" Beside her, the priest said, "Naughty, try using Blind on it! It might break the skill!" "Oh, okay!" Cute Little Naughty let go of the worm¡¯s tail and cut the Corrosive Worm¡¯s head with her dagger. The stun was successful, and the worm finally let go of their leader¡¯s head. The way his face was completely covered in slimy liquid was extremely hardcore to say the least. ¡­¡­ I shot them another glance and sighed. "Fuck, what a disaster. The average level of their party can¡¯t be higher than 127, so what drove them into fighting Level 160 ancient mobs? At their level, even Level 150 shadow-rank mobs can give them a run of their money, let alone these Corrosive Worms." Lin Yixin chuckled. "Well, their fighters look pretty well-equipped,and they do have a bard and a tactician. If they use Iron Wall to drag out the fight, killing one Corrosive Worm at a time shouldn¡¯t be impossible. Also, that assassin girl really has amazing legs, doesn¡¯t she? You wouldn¡¯t stare at them non-stop otherwise." I turned red as I hit a group of mobs with Burning Blade Slash. "I am not. I just thought that she looks similar to Beiming Xue both in terms of age and behavior." "Oh? She¡¯s that endearing, huh?" Lin Yixin dished out an Ice Flame Slash before cocking her head at me, her expression clearly etched with ridicule. "I do what I want!" It was at this moment we heard a buzzing noise from the sky. A gigantic venomous bee even bigger than the average Holy Giant Dragon suddenly flew toward us, and the shell at its abdomen area suddenly opened to airdrop a ton of newborn Corrosive Worms and Corpse Eaters. These terrifying monsters let out a low hiss and flooded their surroundings like tidewater the moment they hit the ground. "Stop them!" I cried. An angry lightning abruptly shot out of Lin Yixin¡¯s Blade of Violet Lightning and turned into a lightning formation covering an area of 30x30 yards. It ravaged the mobs and dealt between 10k to 30k damage. It was one of the passive triggers of her weapon, and it was ridiculously powerful. She hadn¡¯t triggered it more than ten times up till now, but every time she did, it was a skill that could one-shot most things! "Don¡¯t worry, these mobs are no trouble at all. Oh shit, your Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf is about to die! Stop it from attacking for now!" "Fuck¡­" I hurriedly halted my pet¡¯s movements while dishing out Thousand Ice Slash to aggro the mobs, saving its life. Dammit, the little wolf attacked fast, but it also caused mobs to aggro onto it too quickly. It didn¡¯t have the HP or Defense to withstand the attacks of an ancient mob either, which was why it was in an awkward position right now. Unfortunately, this was always the case for all melee pets. In a high-level leveling map like the Dragonbone Mountain Range, pets could be used as damage dealers, but never meatshields. It was because they didn¡¯t have the Defense or HP to tank a high-level shadow or ancient-rank mob at all. Most of the time, the player was better off doing the tanking themselves. This was why very few players let out their pets when they grinded in such places. Of course, there were people who refused to accept reality and let out the Green Praying Mantises, Blue Praying Mantises, Wasps, and so on to help them, but they were wiped out almost as quickly as they were summoned. The little wolf wagged its tail and let out another yelp of pain before it finally stopped. Despite being an Epic Rank boss pet, it was starting to fall down the power slope. Mn, I¡¯m ditching this idiot as soon as I find a better pet! ¡­¡­ While the mobs were being killed, I took a moment to check out the other party. The bee had dropped a ton of mobs, and the party was affected by it as well. They were forced to retreat at least a hundred yards away from their original position, and they suffered a lot of damage during the process. But at least they survived. Pop! I looked down and was surprised to find a Corrosive Worm dropping a light blue-colored skill book. When I picked it up, my surprise grew even more¡ª Intercourse: Two party members attack a target at the same time, increasing its damage taken by 100%. This is a secondary stratagem that can be used together with the main stratagem. Level Requirement: 140. Reputation Requirement: 10000. Gender Requirement: Female. ¡­¡­ "Inter¡­ course?" Lin Yixin seemed speechless as she stared wordlessly at the skill book. "What the hell is this name¡­ even for the modern world, this is a little too¡­ out of the box ¡­" I hid a chuckle. "Well, that¡¯s a fantastic name. Anyway, you should take this since it¡¯s female only. Let¡¯s test out the effect after you learned it." "Oh?" Lin Yixin turned beet red as she said, "I can learn this, but you¡¯re not allowed to laugh, okay?" "Sure, sure. I¡¯m a very serious person, you know!" "Okay." Swhoosh! The skill book vanished from Lin Yixin¡¯s hands, and a new skill appeared in the stratagem window. It was of course the skill Intercourse. It stated there that both players could attack the same target to deal a combined amount of damage. I started laughing loudly as that was the last straw that broke the camel¡¯s back. An embarrassed Lin Yixin poked me once with the Blade of Violet Lightning and half-cried, "I told you not to laugh, you bastard!" "Yes, yes!" I suppressed my facial muscles like my life depended on it and said, "Let¡¯s try its effects, Yiyi. It¡¯ll work as long as we attack the same target, right?" "Yeah!" "Okay then, let¡¯s attack this full-health mob right in front of us!" "Okay!" Violet Lightning and Cyan Netherworld flashed at the same time, and the Corpse Eater we were targeting immediately screamed in pain. Two damage numbers popped above its head¡ª 19082! 16767! I couldn¡¯t help but shake my head in disappointment. "This can¡¯t be right, this is just the normal amount of damage we do. I don¡¯t see Intercouse working at all..." Lin Yixin replied, "That¡¯s because you attacked too soon, you idiot! You were about half a second faster than me, so of course that doesn¡¯t count as ¡®at the same time¡¯! Let¡¯s do this again, but watch my movement this time!" "Right!" Lin Yixin attacked again, and so did I. To my surprise, we had both chosen to use Barrier Break¡ªwell, my version was the Universe Break¡ªdespite not having discussed this beforehand. This time, the red and cyan cone hit the Level 160 ancient Corpse Eater at almost the exact same time! Clang! The two skills abruptly joined together to form a purple-red color energy, and it tore through the Corpse Eater¡¯s body like paper. As the Corpse Eater groaned in pain and collapsed to the ground, a shocking damage number floated above its head¡ª 112838! Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open. "Wow, what an amazing intercourse¡­" I nodded. "Yeah, this is amazing. Not even the strongest magic knight in the world will be able to stop us if our Intercourse is successful!" "Right!" Lin Yixin¡¯s smile was bright and sweet. "We should practice and improve our rapport as much as possible, Little Cheat. It¡¯ll make killing bosses twice as easy!" "Oh, sure¡­" I grinned, but an uncomfortable thought suddenly flashed across my mind. I said, "Yiyi, I don¡¯t want you to use this skill with anyone else besides me, okay?" "Why?" "For earth¡­" "..." Seemingly reading my thoughts, Lin Yixin smiled and replied, "Fine, fine, I¡¯ll only use this stratagem when I¡¯m with you, okay? Hmph hmph, even if you haven¡¯t asked, I wouldn¡¯t have the courage to reveal this skill in front of my guildmates, okay? This name is so embarrassing, you know?" "Yeah!" I swung the Cyan Netherworld Sword in front of me, and the blade abruptly brightened like the sun. It was the Cyan Netherworld Divine Dragon effect triggering again and slaying all the Corrosive Worms within its range like they were nothing. Man, this feeling is just exhilarating! Also, the fact that Intercourse dropped from the Corrosive Worms meant that it was possible for other stratagem skill books to drop as well. These days stratagems such as Encourage VII or Iron Wall VII were extremely valuable, and they could be sold for a lot of money. Of course, if something like Purple Dragon dropped, then I would deal with it a different way. Speaking of which, I had sunk a lot of valuables into that tactician, Lu Buyi. Not only had I given him the 5-star Outstanding Earth-grade Burning Fan, I also gave him the Purple Dragon stratagem. That skill book was so amazing that if I were to use it on myself, I could buff all my stats by 72%, which was only a tad weaker than Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell. Still, I decided to maximize its value and give it to Lu Buyi. I was sure I hadn¡¯t misjudged his character, and I knew he wouldn¡¯t disappoint me. You weren¡¯t truly living if you didn¡¯t have a dream, and I could see that he was a man of dreams just like me. ¡­¡­ I was hoping that one of these mobs would drop another Purple Dragon skill book so I could learn it myself, and the hope drove me to fighting even harder than before. Grinding was tough work, but with the Fruit Knife Goddess by my side, I could only feel pleasure. Chapter 589: Humility and Respec Beside me, Lin Yixin frowned a little and said, "Who the hell are these people? They think they can hoard this leveling map all to themselves? Hmph, let them try¡­" I sucked in a deep breath and focused on killing the thinning mobs in front of me as fast as possible. I would never allow someone to tarnish the reputation of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls right before my eyes. Life is short, but infamy could last forever... ¡­¡­ At the distance, Cute Little Naughty was pointing a finger at the guild leader of Waste and Burn, Freezing Point, and scolding him, "Hey beardy, why should we give up this place and leave? Is your name carved into the map or something? How about you go somewhere else instead? Do you think you can bully anyone you run into just because Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is a big guild?" Freezing Point replied, "Can you please speak reason, little girl? I already told you that you may leave whenever you want to, and I promise we won¡¯t do anything to stop you. But if you insist on staying, then the three thousand brothers behind my back won¡¯t accept it." Cute Little Naughty stomped her foot angrily, "Are you a dictator or what!? It took us a long while to find a leveling map like this, not to mention that we¡¯re nowhere strong enough to kill many mobs at all. How are we disturbing you?" Beside Freezing Point, a thin assassin stared lustfully at Cute Little Naughty¡¯s smooth legs, licked his lips and chuckled. "But you are. Who could stand a beautiful girl like you moving left and right before our eyes while we¡¯re grinding? What if we get killed because we¡¯re distracted? You know what, you should just join us, little girl. We promise we¡¯ll take good care of you!" Even the stupidest girl would know what the asshole was saying. Cute Little Naughty raised her dagger menacingly and declared, "Come and kill me if you dare! I¡¯ll never accept bastards like you even if I die!" Angered, the assassin said, "Boss, can I deal with her? Hehe, cute, innocent, and fresh girls like her are exactly my type!" A bunch of players raised their weapons and cheered excitedly, but most of them were original members of Waste and Burn. There were far more people who kept their silence because they disagreed with Freezing Point¡¯s actions, but also didn¡¯t want to act against a higher authority. ¡­¡­ "Motherfucker! There¡¯s no need to waste your breath on them, Naughty! These people want a fight? We¡¯ll give them a fight!" The elf warrior raised his sword angrily and shouted, "Naughty, enter stealth and cover us from behind. If you find a chance to leave, don¡¯t hesitate! We¡¯ll deal with them!" Instead of answering, Cute Little Naughty slowly vanished into thin air. She was clearly in stealth already. Angered by their resistance, Freezing Point personally unsheathed his weapon and pointed toward the party. "Men, give me some Volleys and Arctic Rains and force that assassin girl out of stealth! Quickly, we don¡¯t have all day!" The Volleys hit the ground, but not Cute Little Naughty. Clearly, she was no longer where the players thought she might be. It looked like she had surprisingly high movement speed! Naughty¡¯s party leader charged and swept his blade in front of him, knocking back several Waste and Burn fighters. Wisdom aside, he definitely wasn¡¯t lacking in courage. The mage in his party also chanted up a Galaxy Storm and killed some of the players in front of his party leader. Their numbers were few, but their fighting methods were sound for sure. Furious, Freezing Point ran toward the elf warrior and thrust his sword forward. Judging from the fiery red cone surrounding his weapon, it was clearly Barrier Break! Pu! 11810! The elf warrior instantly lost 60% of his HP. The sorry-looking man tried to withdraw to safety, but a couple Spiraling Arrow Blades killed him first. He dropped a sparkling sword, and the assassin from earlier picked up the weapon and commented with a chuckle, "Hehe, a 2-star Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade sword? Not bad, who would¡¯ve thought that a shitty party like this would have something this good? Kill them quickly, he can¡¯t be the only player who has good equipment. Now that I think about it, that girl¡¯s dagger also has this purple gold sheen to it. Kill her already, people!" "Fuck you!" A barbarian warrior swung his battle axe and hit Freezing Point squarely on the shoulder with Blaze. Unfortunately, Freezing Point¡¯s equipment was surprisingly good, and the skill only dealt around 3000 damage to him. It wasn¡¯t even close to being enough at all. "Are you trying to tickle me, you idiot? Hahaha!" Freezing Point laughed loudly before closing the distance between himself and the barbarian warrior without warning. After knocking his opponent off-balance with a shoulder charge, he stabbed him with Barrier Break, and the archers killed him with Devil Piercing Arrows. The barbarian warrior also dropped metal armor legguards which Freezing Point took as his prize. "Kill! Kill them all! Don¡¯t leave a single one of them alive!" Freezing Point¡¯s eyes burned with fury. Thud! Suddenly, a bloody mark appeared in between Freezing Point¡¯s neck. It was Cute Little Naughty¡¯s skill! Sliding behind Freezing Point, the beautiful girl swung her two daggers repeatedly and removed a huge chunk of HP from his health bar. Her burst damage was surprisingly high. "You are courting death, bitch!" After Freezing Point recovered from the stun, he shouted angrily, "Brothers, surround her with Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms! If I don¡¯t kill her today, Waste and Burn won¡¯t have the face to stand on Sky City anymore!" His people cheered and started bombing Cute Little Naughty with spells and arrows. Clang! Cute Little Naughty just barely parried an attack from Freezing Point and used the force to push herself far, far away from the man. As she flew backward, the remaining people in her party shouted, "Why are you still here, Naughty? Run!" Cute Little Naughty bit her lips. "No way! If we die, we die together! I¡¯m angry, and I¡¯m not going to let these terrible bastards bully us!" While this was going on, Freezing Point had killed the bard, the tactician, and an archer in Cute Little Naughty¡¯s party. Then, he chased after the assassin with a ferocious look in his eyes and laughed, "Where do you think you¡¯re going, naughty little girl? There¡¯s no one in this world who can save you, so die!" Swhoosh! He used Barrier Break again, and this time his attack angle was perfect enough that Cute Little Naughty couldn¡¯t parry, guard or dodge away from the attack. It was the end for her. "Uuuuuu¡­" Cute Little Naughty closed her eyes and waited for death to claim her! ¡­¡­ Clang! Sparks flew everywhere, and Freezing Point¡¯s sword hit solidly against a craggy battle armor and a swirl of ghastly spirits. A damage number rose above the target¡¯s head¡ª7904! "What?" Freezing Point was stunned. "How¡­ how did I deal so little damage?" He looked up and saw me staring at him coldly. I had arrived in the nick of time and eaten the fatal blow to Cute Little Naughty. Of course, the attack was only fatal to her. With over 50k HP, 8000 damage was practically nothing to me. "Ah?" Surprised that she was still alive, Cute Little Naughty opened her eyes and saw me blocking in front of her, and my cloak flapping behind my back. Gripping her daggers, she cautiously circled around me to take a look at my face. She saw an Asura King staring at Freezing Point expressionlessly. I abruptly revealed my user ID, and the line of text "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-142" appeared above my head. Exclamations of surprise immediately broke out all around¡ª "Heavens, that¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s Lu Chen! It¡¯s the vice leader! Why is he here?" "Oh shit, Freezing Point fucked up this time¡­" "Why did Lu Chen save that little girl?" "Hmph, I knew Lu Chen wouldn¡¯t stand by and watch something like this happen right before his eyes. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had always been an upright guild, and we had never done something so heinous until this Waste and Burn showed up! Freezing Point truly is the black sheep of our guild!" "Grab your popcorn, everyone. This is going to be good, hahaha¡­" ¡­¡­ "Guild¡­ guild leader?" Freezing Point stared at me in surprise. "What are you doing?" I judged him emotionlessly as I pushed away his sword. "Freezing Point, do you still remember what you promised me when your guild became our eighth subguild? You have sworn to defend our pride to your death. So why are you bullying the weak? What difference is there between you and the likes of Mad Dragon right now? Let it go, brother. Ancient Sword do not, and will not, kill other players to claim a leveling ground, not to mention that this place is more than big enough to fit everyone." Freezing Point deflated like a balloon. "But¡­ but this is unacceptable for a guild our caliber, isn¡¯t it?" I smiled. "There is no such thing, Freezing Point." After saying that, I turned around and faced Cute Little Naughty, "I apologize for our eighth subguild¡¯s actions, friend. Please accept this as compensation for your friends¡¯ losses. I hope you can forgive my allies¡¯ transgressions, and I promise you that this will not happen again." I produced seven high-grade items from my bag ranging between Dark Gold¨Cgrade to Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade. Some of them were even super equipment with +20 Tactics or more. This should be enough to make up for their losses. Cute Little Naughty stared at me in astonishment. Then, she abruptly turned her back on me and walked away without looking back. "It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t blame Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls anymore!" ¡­¡­ Freezing Point walked up to the assassin girl¡¯s female companion, a low-health priest, and lent her a shoulder. Then, they slowly stumbled out of sight. "Sigh¡­" Freezing Point frowned a little. "Guild leader, this party doesn¡¯t even have a guild of their own. Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re acting overly humble in front of them?" Chapter 590: Persuasion via Empathy I turned back toward the guild players and said, "This canyon is overflowing with very high-level Night Creatures, so I would advise all of you to exercise caution. Anyone who isn¡¯t playing a metal-armor class should not ,under any circumstances, get close to a mob, because they¡¯ll one-shot you. To be honest, I would even suggest you move to a different leveling map, Freezing Point. You may lose a lot of people if you stay here." Freezing Point nodded but said, "I want to give it a try. Please believe in our abilities." I didn¡¯t say anything else and returned to Lin Yixin¡¯s side. ¡­¡­ "A shame that that pretty little loli slipped through your hands, eh?" Lin Yixin said cheekily while looking at the direction Cute Little Naughty vanished to. I pursed my lips and defended myself. "Yiyi, I must inform you that I haven¡¯t saved Naughty because she¡¯s pretty. I just don¡¯t want a subguild of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to lose their morals. Also, I was thinking of recruiting her to our guild. You saw her technique just now, didn¡¯t you? What do you think?" Lin Yixin blinked once before answering, "Oh, there are a lot of good assassins in China. Assuming that Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow is the bar for perfect performance, then Farewell Song¡¯s score is between 95 to 100, Moonkiss¡¯s is between 90 to 95, and this Cute Little Naughty is between 80 to 85. Unfortunately, her equipment doesn¡¯t match her skill at all. It¡¯s so bad that she can¡¯t even beat this Freezing Point." I nodded and sucked in a deep breath. "Yes, her biggest weakness right now is her terrible equipment. If we can recruit her to the guild and provide her with what she needs, she could probably become an excellent assassin. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had never had a good assassin, so I¡¯ve been hoping to find someone who can hold our banner for that class. Since Moonkiss doesn¡¯t want to join us, this Cute Little Naughty is a pretty good alternative. She¡¯s responsible, she has principles, she¡¯s innocent¡­" Lin Yixin cocked her head at me. "I knew it! The real reason you want her is because she exudes an aura of innocence! Hmph hmph, I¡¯ve finally figured you out!" "What are you talking about? I¡¯m just stating facts here¡­" "Tch, stop lying and admit to the truth already!" "Let¡¯s get back to the quest, please¡­" "Mn." ¡­¡­ At the distance, Freezing Point was fighting the Night Creatures with the subguild. However, things weren¡¯t going well for them, and they lost almost a hundred players in less than ten minutes. Even then, they refused to back down and doggedly tried to do the impossible. Instead of interfering, I simply watched from afar with a frown on my face. I let out a bitter chuckle. "Well, it¡¯s necessary to recruit a subordinate of his." "Who¡¯s that?" "Lu Buyi!" "Oh, that guy with the Miraculous Tactician class? I¡¯ve actually heard about him before; he¡¯s a pretty famous guy among tacticians. I had no idea he was a subordinate of Freezing Point though, what a shame. Well, I understand your conundrum now. If you don¡¯t deal with Freezing Point carefully, Lu Buyi may reject you altogether." I nodded. "Exactly. It¡¯s the only reason I was extra polite with Freezing Point despite everything. You know me, I would¡¯ve kicked him from the guild and turned most of his players against him on the spot if this wasn¡¯t the case. There would be people that wouldn¡¯t listen to me, but I estimate their number to be a thousand at most. After all, the majority of the players there wanted to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, not his guild." "Yeah!" Lin Yixin gave me a smile, and we went back to the grind. We grinded until nighttime, and finally a column of golden light surrounded me and raised me to Level 143. It was a slog, but considering my level, it was very good already. A thousand thoughts raced in my mind as I grinded with Lin Yixin. However, I ultimately decided to search Cute Little Naughty¡¯s name and sent her a friend request. It took almost two minutes, but in the end I received a system notice: Player "Cute Little Naughty" has accepted your friend request! "Are you¡­ that big brother who saved me earlier?" Cute Little Naughty sent me a message. "Yes, it¡¯s me," I replied. "What is your business? Do you have something you want to say to me?" she asked. "Naughty, I sincerely apologize for what happened earlier again. Are you really not willing to accept my offer for compensation earlier?" "I¡­" Cute Little Naughty¡¯s voice sounded soft and gentle. "Brother Broken Halberd, I am aware of a weakling¡¯s responsibility. We died, so we lost our equipment. That is all there is to it¡­" "Naughty, that doesn¡¯t change the fact that I have a responsibility to fix this." "Of course you do!" Cute Little Naughty murmured, "You are the vice leader of the legendary Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and you failed to educate your subordinates properly. Who else is responsible if not you¡­? Because of you, big bro Cyan Hill and big bro Coming Wind lost their equipment. Do you know that it took Cyan Hill two months of salary to buy that 2-star Outstanding weapon? I¡­ I need to work harder so I can make him a weapon that¡¯s as good¡­" Speechlessness took hold of me for a moment. "How many of you are together, by the way? Why don¡¯t you have your own guild?" "Eight of us are friends in real life. We didn¡¯t make a guild because a Guild Token is super expensive. It costs over 4000 gold to buy one, and our numbers are few. The benefits just don''t justify the cost." I smiled. "Your party must¡¯ve been bullied a lot because of this." "Yeah!" Cute Little Naughty nodded strongly as she replied in an aggrieved tone, "We¡¯ve all been camped several times in the game, and the worst one was Flower Room camping our bodies for a whole day and night at a Bear Canyon at Sky Forest. Almost all of us lost at least five levels that day, it was terrible¡­" I agreed. "Yeah, campers are the worst. I had experienced that myself, and I was so angry that I honed my skills everyday. Today, I¡¯m the one who camps their bodies¡­" "Hehe¡­" Cute Little Naughty finally broke into a smile. "Is that true? You¡¯re a legendary CGL Hall of Famer though." "Not only that, I¡¯ve dropped all the way down to Level 0 before. CGL Hall of Famers are human too, you know. But despite the setback, I was able to level myself up again. After all, the strongest person in the world is the one who keeps getting back up no matter how many times they are beaten, am I right?" "Yeah." Cute Little Naughty agreed with a smile before saying in a regretful tone, "It¡¯s too bad I don¡¯t have your talent, Brother Broken Halberd. I was always the slow one. It¡¯s why I always do my best to protect my friends. I always fail though. Ahhh. If only I was strong, I could save my friends instead of watching them get camped from afar..." I inhaled deeply. "I understand your feelings." Then, I changed my tone. "If I say I can give you a chance to become strong enough to protect your friends, will you accept it, Naughty?" "Mn, of course!" After that long talk, we had finally gotten down to business. I said in a very serious tone, "On behalf of all the executives of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I would like to extend a guild invitation to you and your friends. Trust me, Naughty, my judgment of people is never wrong. Once you¡¯ve joined us, I promise you will become one of the best assassins in all of China. When that day comes, you will have more than enough strength to protect your friends¡­" Cute Little Naughty exclaimed in shock, "Am I hearing this right? Are you inviting me to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Brother Broken Halberd?" "Mn. Do you accept?" "I¡­" Hesitation, hope, worry. I could clearly see a mix of emotions fleeting across Naughty¡¯s face through the interface. She murmured, "Please allow me to discuss this with my friends first." "Okay." Cute Little Naughty cut off the connection for a moment. Less than two minutes later, she called me back and said helplessly, "I¡¯m sorry, big bro Cyan Hill and big bro Coming Wind both refuse to join your guild. They say they¡¯ll never join you for as long as Freezing Point is in your guild¡­" I felt a bit deflated. "What about you, Naughty? Will you join us?" "I¡­" Cute Little Naughty was hesitating when her expression changed all of a sudden. I saw her looking in a certain direction before whispering to me, "Oh no, I can¡¯t talk to you anymore, Brother Broken Halberd. Someone just killed Cyan Hill¡­ it¡¯s Flower Room! Oh no, we¡¯re going to get camped again, and there are so many people¡­" "Tell me your coordinates now!" "Dragonbone Mountain Range (12874, 0929). Are you coming, Brother Broken Halberd?" "Yeah, just hang on until I arrive!" "Oh¡­" ¡­¡­ I turned off the communicator and turned to Lin Yixin. "Yiyi, Cute Little Naughty and her party just got attacked by Flower Room. I need to help them!" "Oh oh, are you trying to play the hero and win the princess¡¯s heart?" "What the fuck, I¡¯m just trying to recruit her to the guild, okay?¡± I sighed. ¡°I want this assassin so bad¡­" Lin Yixin smiled sweetly. "Okay, okay. I¡¯ll come with you. I have nothing to do right now, and there¡¯s no point fighting these mobs on my own. Did you know that this idiot Li Le leaves a love letter in my mailbox everyday? After a while, he got so lazy that he started printing the letters instead of writing them! Have you ever seen such a shameless bastard in your life? Let¡¯s beat him up together, okay?" "Sure. That is shameless¡­" "Yeah, yeah!" ¡­¡­ We gave up the low-health Corrosive Worms we were fighting, swept the battlefield for a bit and left immediately. After the Ice Fox cleared out a group of Corrosive Worms with Ice Rain, we successfully broke out of the valley and ran toward the coordinates Cute Little Naughty had left me. A large party appeared in front of us in less than five minutes. They all belonged to Flower Room, and their levels were very high. However, I didn¡¯t recognize anyone in the party. They were players of Flower Room¡¯s first subguild, and their levels ranged between 128 and 135. There were about 80 of them, and Cute Little Naughty¡¯s party was forced back into a corner of the map. A body was lying flat on the ground. It was Cute Little Naughty¡¯s big brother, the elf warrior named Cyan Hill. A Level 129 Flower Room assassin was sitting on top of Cyan Hill¡¯s body eating bread. He abruptly spat a mouthful of saliva and bread crumbs on the elf warrior¡¯s face before chuckling, "How dare these trash come this far to grind. Don¡¯t break formation, and make sure you kill that Cute Little Naughty, brothers. Young Master Le wants to have a go at her, hahahaha¡­" Chapter 591: Snowing Sincerity A dark cyan wolf suddenly appeared in front of the assassin girl and let out a beastial roar. Then, it slapped the shield of the foremost magic knight and dealt over 4000 damage.The magic knight shuddered all over, but still bellowed with a sneer, "Whose animal is this? You think you can kill me with your pathetic attack power, motherfucker? Brothers, kill this suicidal wolf! I think it¡¯s some player¡¯s pet!" The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s attack power clearly wasn¡¯t enough to significantly penetrate its target¡¯s Defense anymore. Baring its fangs menacingly, it suddenly shifted to the right to allow me to slide right in. With a flaming cone in my hand and an Eight Trigrams formation beneath my feet, I let out a chuckle. "My pet can¡¯t kill you, but I can!" Universe Break! Pu! 24578! The unstoppable sword thoroughly penetrated the magic knight¡¯s shield, his armor, and his body and dealt a massive amount of damage. The magic knight was Level 130, which meant that he had around 30k health or so. Universe Break was almost enough to one-shot him. "Fuck, so powerful! Who is he¡­" The magic knight withdrew to the back while glaring at me in fury. He slapped his mount while asking, "Who are you? What do you think you¡¯re doing?" I raised my sword again as I replied, "We can speak after you¡¯re dead!" Swhoosh! A cyan energy cut through the air and smacked the magic knight¡¯s head, dealing 12592 damage. The Dragon Slaying Slash was as sharp as ever. Finally, someone pointed a finger at me and shouted in recognition, "Fuck, that¡¯s¡­ Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s skill! Fuck my life, he¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" I smiled, but I didn¡¯t say anything. There was a Level 135 magic knight riding a lowly Earth Dragon called Gao Hengxuan, and if I wasn¡¯t mistaken, he was the party leader. He wore well-made metal armor and wielded a spear. There was also a translucent, red-colored shield floating above his left arm. He pointed his spear at me and asked, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, why are you giving us trouble when we have no grudge with you?" Keeping my sword lowered, I said with a smile, "I wasn¡¯t planning to have anything to do with you lot at all, but that changed when you tried to harm this party. Cute Little Naughty is my friend." "Hmph!" Gao Hengxuan¡¯s eyes turned chilly. "You think you can protect their whole party alone? You are just one person, and we are Flower Room! Also, this is the Dragonbone Mountain Range, a public leveling map, not Dark Moon City! You don¡¯t have a say over anything!" I sucked in a deep breath. "So, you want to fight?" "Why not?" A hint of embarrassment immediately crept into Cute Little Naughty¡¯s features. The assassin girl looked back and forth between me and Lin Yixin. The Flower Room guys were stunned yet again. Gao Hengxuan¡¯s mouth fell wide open as he murmured, "Is¡­ is she the Fruit Knight Goddess, Wind Fantasy? Fuck, why is she here? What should we do? Shit! A Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is bad enough, but now the Fruit Knife Goddess is here as well..." ¡­¡­ It was at this moment the elf warrior revived, rose to his feet and moved behind Cute Little Naughty. Then, he saluted me with his fist and smiled. "Thank you for saving us, guild leader Broken Halberd!" I smiled back. "You¡¯re Cyan Hill, right? Your party is too small, and a single leveling party could wipe you out in a dangerous leveling map like this. Why don¡¯t you join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? I can at least provide you with some protection." Cyan Hill shook his head. "No, we can hardly forget the humiliation your eighth subguild brought to us. We will not join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" I asked, "Is there really no way to change your mind?" "Absolutely not!" Cyan Hill declared determinedly, "You¡¯re a good person, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, but your subordinates are fucking assholes. I will never join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" "Hey, Cyan Hill¡­" Suddenly, his priest called out to him and whispered a bit something beside his ears. She seemed to be persuading him or something. A few seconds later, Cyan Hill faced toward me again with a hesitant expression on his face. Then, he said, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, if you really want us to join the guild, I supposed that it¡¯s not completely non-negotiable. However, I have two conditions. One, we won¡¯t join your eighth subguild no matter what. Two, I want you to kill this 80-player party and prove that you have the strength to be worthy of our trust. If you can do these, then we are willing to fight to our deaths for the guild." I couldn¡¯t help but smile. "Is that all?" "Yes, that is all!" "That¡¯s simple. In this game, there¡¯s nothing I¡¯m better at than killing people!" My eyes turned chilly as I faced toward the Flower Room party. Then, I pointed my sword at them and declared, "Starting now, I¡¯m going to kill all 80 of you alone! If you have balls, you will fight me to the last man and prove that you¡¯re not a trash guild of cowards!" Gao Hengxuan¡¯s face turned red with fury. "Hmph, that is a big boast to make, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Do you think we¡¯re the same as the trash you faced in the past? We¡¯ll show you the power of the strongest party of Flower Room! We are different from all the Flower Room parties you¡¯ve ever encountered in the past!" Beside me, Lin Yixin whispered, "Watch out, Lu Chen. He isn¡¯t lying. I¡¯ve heard for a while that Li Le was spending big amounts of cash to unearth experts from all three main cities to make an ace thousand-man party. The average level of this party is 130, and at least thirty of them are over Level 130. Both their level and equipment are threatening, even for you!" "Mn." It wasn¡¯t like I didn¡¯t notice that this party was a lot stronger than the ones I encountered before, but I had made a promise to Cute Little Naughty and Cyan Hill, and I was going to fulfill it no matter what. I desperately needed Cute Little Naughty, and the guild needed an ace assassin to build around and lead an assassin party just as much! ¡­¡­ "Yiyi, please block the entrance, will you? Don¡¯t let a single Flower Room player escape from there!" "Hehe, this little one will gladly carry out your command~~" Lin Yixin rode toward the entrance in an instant and raised her sword menacingly, "Anyone who tries to escape through here will die starting now. Come try me if you dare!" I couldn¡¯t help but fall for Lin Yixin¡¯s intelligence all over again. Even if she wasn¡¯t participating in the battle, her presence at the only exit from this valley was more than enough to intimidate the enemy and shake their faith. Who wouldn¡¯t be if they were surrounded by two of the strongest CGL Hall of Famers in China? ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! A bloody energy, the undead energy enveloped the blade of my sword. I also activated Dark Pupils. Gao Hengxuan was boosting his 80-man party with Encourage VII, or 75% attack power, so there was a real chance I might die here if I didn¡¯t go all out against this 80-man party. "Kill him!" Gao Hengxuan led the attack, but he didn¡¯t use Charge. He simply ran toward me with his spear poised for attack. "Roar roar!" The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf pounced toward the magic knight under my order while I circled around him. Zigzagging across the terrain like a lightning bolt, I dodged the arrows and spells coming my way with irregular movement and unleashed Thousand Ice Slash! Boom! Ice rained on top of a group and killed 4 archers in one go, but unlike before the warriors who were caught in the skill only lost half their health or so. They were definitely more powerful than the ones I had fought before. "Kill him! Mages, predict his movement and hit him with Galaxy Storms! Archers, use Spiraling Arrow Blades to cut off his path and stun him with Shock Arrows if you can! All fighters who know Barrier Break, get up to his face and kill him!" Gao Hengxuan barked out a series of orders. The enemy had almost 20 high-level mages, and their control was pretty amazing. Instead of casting blindly, they tried to predict where I would go and fire their Galaxy Storms there, meaning that it was literally impossible for me to fight this out without taking damage. I would find my opportunities while enduring the bombardment. Boom boom boom! Pain ravaged my body as several Galaxy Storms hit me in a row. Magic spells did massive damage against metal armor classes, and the damage numbers rising above my head reflected that reality¡ª 4829! 3593! 5102! ¡­¡­ I had lost half my health in less than 6 seconds. This was a deadly situation to say the least. Gritting my teeth and making a snap decision, I locked onto a nearby mage and activated Charge. Like a lightning bolt, I dashed into a group of players and stomped the ground with War Crush! Bang bang bang! The triple-hit skill killed five mages in one go, and I found an opening to launch Burning Blade Slash at another seven mages. The first and second blow just barely tore apart their Magic Shields, and the third and fatal blow killed all seven mages at once! Unfortunately, the price of killing twelve mages in a row was a short pause in my movement. It was enough for the Level 135 magic knight, Gao Hengxuan, to hit me with a Charge! And he succeeded in stunning me! "Kill him!" Shit. Three warriors hit me with their Barrier Breaks in unison! Clang! Clang! Clang! 8904! 7941! 10293! The good news was that Ghost Deity Armor boosted my Defense just high enough to tank all three hits. However, my health was almost gone as well! The second I recovered from the stun, I slid away from the crowd before they could chain-stun me and gulped down a Rank 8 Saint Spirit Potion. At the same time, I used Tenacity of the Dead¡ª +13261! +5000! ¡­¡­ Having restored nearly 20k HP in one go and regenerating more thanks to Regeneration of the Undead, I just barely saved my own life. The good news was that I had taken out most of the enemy mages in one assault. The biggest threat in their party had been lessened by a great margin. I moved backward while sniping the enemy one by one with Dragon Slaying Slash. Swhoosh! While I was doing so, I noticed three Level 130+ assassins stealthing their way toward me thanks to Dark Pupils. They all wore sinister smiles on their faces. They were only 15 yards away from me, and their dagger gleamed with poison. They were clearly plotting to CC me with Blind and kill me afterward. I smiled and waved my arm three times in a row. Three Dragon Slaying Slashes exploded against their heads and dealt three damage numbers¡ª 14920! 15002! 17331! Just like that, all the would-be-ambushers were killed before they could do anything. Still, their HP was much lower than I expected. Beiming Xue was a leather-armor class too, but her HP was over 20k. That was just how big the gap of power was! This time, I locked my eyes onto Gao Hengxuan. He was the soul of this party, so he had to die for me to break the enemy¡¯s morale. However, a bard¡¯s buff had increased his HP to over 50k and his Defense to ridiculous levels. Even for me, it seemed rather difficult to one-shot the guy. "Hmm." Chapter 592: A Territory at The Wes I didn¡¯t know who was the one shouting, but Gao Hengxuan didn¡¯t look afraid in the slightest. He let out a chuckle before declaring, "Let him come. The guild leader spent 200k to recruit me from Wind City. I gotta show him that his money is well spent, yeah? I¡¯ve been longing to test out the skills of the so-called Protoss Genius anyway, and this is my chance!" After that lengthy declaration, Gao Hengxuan let out an angry roar and ran toward me while shining like a light bulb. A female bard¡ªa Level 131 player, so her Tactics must be pretty high¡ªhad buffed him with Divine Valor, Death Match, Physique, and more. I bet that his defensive and offensive stats were increased by 35% at least, meaning that she was almost as good a bard as Pure Love. ¡­¡­ "Come at me, Lu Chen!" The magic knight laughed loudly as he suddenly charged me on his earth dragon. Ice flew around his spear for a moment, and when I entered his attack range he thrust his spear at me five times in quick succession. Five Hit Mad Strike was a flurry skill that dealt 75% of a basic attack five times. It was without a doubt the killer move of many fighters! I raised my arms and guarded immediately. The strikes rattled my body and dealt between 500 to 2000 damage per hit. It wasn¡¯t fatal, but it definitely showed how high Gao Hengxuan¡¯s current stats was considering that one, I was guarding and two, I was buffed by Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell. Without her Famous General Skill, I would¡¯ve been hard-pressed to gain an advantage over a fully-buffed enemy. "You dare guard in front of me?!" Gao Hengxuan let out an angry shout and used Crushing Blow! I laughed. He thought he could hit me with this level of reaction speed? I abruptly canceled my guard, pressed my foot on a giant rock on the ground and leaped to the air. At the same time, I swung my sword downward in an attempt to hit him. Gao Hengxuan overextended a bit when he was using the Five Hit Mad Strike, but he still managed to react in time and parry the overhead strike. I supposed he wasn¡¯t too slow after all. Unfortunately for him, that was exactly what I wanted him to do. I wanted him to parry so he could open himself to my real attack! Dark Pupils active, I kicked his arm and destabilized his footing, exposing the weak point beneath his armpit. Then, I plunged a flaming cone of energy straight into his flesh! "Break!" 28909! The massive damage number drained all the blood in Gao Hengxuan¡¯s face. Before he could dodge out of the way, I followed up with a devastating Burning Blade Strike that left deep, ugly scars on the ground, much less the poor guy who took the full brunt of the attack. He even lost grip of his shield because of it! 6092! 9012! 28944! As Gao Hengxuan slowly toppled from his mount with denial riddled all over his face, I said, "You are worth 200k, and only 200k, moron. I write checks with more zeros than your idiot ass is worth¡­" Gao Hengxuan puked blood and died just like that. ¡­¡­ At the distance, the Flower Room players exclaimed in shock, "Fuck, the boss dropped his 3-star Outstanding Spirit-grade shield! We need to kill him and get back that shield!" A smile broke across my face as I kicked the shield into the air. The equipment drew a beautiful arc across the air, landing perfectly next to Cute Little Naughty¡¯s feet. "Naughty, your friend died twice, right? Please accept that as my welcoming gift. It belongs to your enemy anyway, so we¡¯re both happy about this, right?" This time, Cute Little Naughty picked up the shield without hesitation and smiled at me. "Thank you, Brother Broken Halberd! You really are a good person!" Beside her, Cyan Hill loosened up a little and nodded as he watched me dancing across the battlefield. He muttered in a mosquito¡¯s voice, "Mn, the legendary CGL Hall of Famer, the Little Heavenly King, really is as great as the rumors say¡­" ¡­¡­ After the kill, I continued charging in and out of the enemy party like an unrelenting lightning bolt. Like a deadly snake, I used their own allies as my cover and stabbed them repeatedly with the Cyan Netherworld Sword. It wasn¡¯t long before a ton of tacticians and archers were dead by my hands. "Focus him, mages! Quickly, before it¡¯s too late!" I didn¡¯t know who was the one who shouted the order, but the remaining four mages obeyed it and tried to chant their magic spells again. Of course, I wasn¡¯t going to give them the opportunity to do that. I ran toward them like the wind and tried to bind one of them with the God Binding Art, but it was nullified by their Magic Shield. The skill was OP, but it seemed like it was useless against mages with active shields. "Galaxy Storm! Die!" A red-faced Level 134 high-level mage shouted. It looked like the heat of the battle had gotten into his head completely. The enemy was able to predict where I was moving to and dropped my HP to 25% or so. "You think you can focus fire on me? Hehe¡­" I chuckled as a fiery cone of indigo abruptly surrounded the Cyan Netherworld Sword. Then, I dashed past the Level 134 mage and split his Magic Shield and his body in half with Universe Break. That wasn¡¯t the end of my assault though. As I spun around and froze a dozen or so combatants with Thousand Ice Slash, the Cyan Netherworld Sword suddenly ringed crisply and glowed like the sun. The image of the Cyan Netherworld Divine Dragon manifested into existence, and a gigantic cyclone of energy wiped out absolutely all the enemies standing in front of me. After that, it felt as if a great burden was lifted off my shoulders. The enemy had no mages left, and the only ones still alive were some fighters, bards, tamers, and a few archers. The tamers had powerful pets, but they weren¡¯t nearly strong enough to penetrate my Defense and deal the fatal blow, so I just ignored them completely. Crack! I diced two warriors to tiny pieces before firing another Burning Blade Slash, killing the five players behind me. They dropped a ton of equipment and potions, but no one was crazy enough to pick them up in this situation. With about 20% HP left in my health pool, I ran and killed and ran as the remaining enemies chased after me. The archers and tamers were hitting me with well-placed and well-organized attacks, but they couldn¡¯t really kill me because their attack power was subpar. A Level 129 assassin came at me with swinging daggers while shouting, "Flower Room is not a guild that anyone can bully as they please, you motherfucker! We may lose, but our soul will not submit!" He was a good assassin, so I had no idea why he chose enough to serve Li Le. Maybe he was too stupid to recognize the fact that he was serving a terrible master. A strong soul he might be, he clearly needed to work on his brain. I hit the assassin with Universe Break without hesitation. My sword pierced his body and caused two numbers to pop up¡ª 27894! +2789! The Cyan Netherworld Sword¡¯s passive, Blood Rage, converted 10% of damage dealt into health, and it was a powerful passive. It encouraged fighting aggression with aggression, and the fact that my health was growing as my enemies died proved that I was fighting the right way. In fact, Flower Room¡¯s eighty-man party already lost from the moment they lost their high-level mages and Gao Hengxuan. That being said, I had to admit that this eighty-man party was exceptionally powerful. They might even be as good as the strongest elites led by the Ego workshop considering that they were able to put me in a precarious position multiple times before I claimed my win conditions. I had four Earth-grade items, and my weapon was a legendary Heaven-grade sword. Usually, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem for me to kill a hundred-man party, to say nothing of an eighty-man party. ¡­¡­ By now, the remainder of Flower Room¡¯s party were sweating quite heavily. They all wanted to run away, but the only exit of the valley was guarded by the legendary Fruit Knife Goddess. Their only hope was to fight to the death. "God dammit, fight!" The last two warriors rushed me with their battle axes, and even one of them was wielding the Level 120 Spirit-grade weapon, Invincible. There was no way to tell if it was an Outstanding one like High Fighting Spirits¡¯ Invincible though. Meeting their charge with a smile, I wasted their attacks using a feint and zigzagged twice to hide myself from their vision. Then, I hit both of them twice and ended their misery. To my pleasant surprise, the poor bastard wielding Invincible actually dropped his weapon upon death. I picked up the weapon and gave it an overview. Eh, it wasn¡¯t an Outstanding Spirit-grade weapon, so it lacked critical passives and its stats were 30% lower than High Fighting Spirits¡¯ at least. It wasn¡¯t a bad weapon though, it was a Spirit-grade axe after all. I picked up the Invincible and tossed it to Cute Little Naughty¡¯s hands again. "Here, give this to your warrior!" Cute Little Naughty stared at me blankly. "Big brother Broken Halberd, we¡¯re the ones who asked you to save us. Even as compensation, we can¡¯t possibly accept this many items from you." I smiled and showed off my Cyan Netherworld Sword. "See this, Naughty? My weapon is the Cyan Netherworld Sword, a Heaven-grade weapon. With that in mind, why would I need a Spirit-grade weapon? Just give it to Cyan Hill already. Freezing Point took his weapon, and we weren¡¯t able to get it back from him, right? This Invincible is the rightful compensation he deserves." Cyan Hill nodded and accepted the axe from Cute Little Naughty. Then, he declared in a solemn voice, "Guild leader!" I smiled again. "Welcome to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, everyone!" Cute Little Naughty smiled sweetly. "Big brother Broken Halberd, which guild will we be staying in? Just in case, we are absolutely not joining your eighth subguild no matter what!" "Of course¡­" "About that¡­" Cyan Hill looked hesitant, but he gathered his courage and said, "Guild leader, I was the guild leader of a thousand-man guild in Spirit of Grief before. If you think my abilities are up to par, I would like to build a subguild of our own. Naughty, you were saying that you want to see how it¡¯s like to be a guild leader, right?" Naughty nodded repeatedly. "Yeah! I want to be a leader of people just like Wind Fantasy!" It was at this moment Lin Yixin walked over and gave her a word of encouragement. "Do your best!" I broke into a smile again. "Well, that¡¯s a good plan, but we currently don¡¯t have the space to fit your subguild. There are only the main guild, the Bloody Mercenaries and the eight subguilds right now¡­ how about I buy a Guild Token for you after I head back to the city?" "Yeah, sure!" Cute Little Naughty nodded repeatedly. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a system announcement rang above Sky City¡ª Ding~! Chapter 593: Hall of Immortality Xu Yang: ¡°Finally, the third territory of Sky City has appeared. This will be lively¡­: High Fighting Spirits: ¡°What should we do? Should we tackle this territory for The Monarch Descends?¡± Gui Guzi: ¡°The new territory is spawning in the west, and both Snowy Cathaya and our territory are in the east. It¡¯s just too far. Even if we managed to tackle the territory for The Monarch Descends, I doubt that they could hold it for long. Plus, Lu Chen made a bet with Warsky regarding this territory when he came to the ASUS club to support us. We would be breaking our word if our players appeared anywhere close to the third territory¡­¡± Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: ¡°It¡¯s simple, just send all our elites to Bloody Mercenaries and have Bloody Mercenaries attack the city!¡± But Li Chengfeng shot down the suggestion. ¡°That¡¯s way too obvious, not to mention that everyone knows that Bloody Mercenaries is a part of our guild. We¡¯ll be called a sore loser to the end of days if we pull something like this. Lu Chen, your thoughts? You must have a plan already, don¡¯t you?¡± I nodded. ¡°Well, it¡¯s unrealistic to think that we can send Bloody Mercenaries to the territory and not be criticized for it. There are several paths that lead to the west side of Sky City, right? My plan is to form a couple of battle lines along these paths and kill any Warsky Alliance player that tries to go through. Warsky shamelessly broke his word and challenged the ASUS gaming club in real life, so we¡¯ll give him a taste of his own medicine and intercept their players at the entrance. Let¡¯s see what he has to say after this!¡± Li Chengfeng couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°That¡¯s a great plan! Warsky can¡¯t say we broke our promise if we kill his men right outside the west gate! It will also greatly reduce the pressure on The Monarch Descends and Snowy Cathaya¡­ Tsk tsk, as usual, Lu Chen is the only one who can come up with fucked up tactics like this¡­¡± Me: ¡°Fuck you¡­¡± ¡­¡­ I immediately opened the friend list, sought Gui Guzi¡¯s ID and sent him a message: ¡°How are the preparations at Cyan Tiger Forest going, Little Gui? Is everyone ready for battle?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Gui Guzi replied quickly, ¡°Boss Broken Halberd, there are almost ten thousand of us here sweeping the map at breakneck speed. I even transferred some high rank mounted players from the subguild to the main guild to make our new cavalry. For now, the final count of our Cyan Tiger Cavalry is 3097, hehe! I guarantee that they are all elites!¡± ¡°Mn, I know. We won¡¯t disappoint Boss Broken Halberd or Ling Xueshang!¡± ¡°Good. Let¡¯s go!¡± ¡­¡­ I spent some time organizing things inside the guild for a bit until I finally looked up and saw Lin Yixin and Cute Little Naughty staring at me. ¡°So? What is Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ plan?¡± Lin Yixin asked with a smile. ¡°Ling Xueshang contacted me just now. She really wants the third territory, but she¡¯s also aware that it¡¯s too far away from our territory. If they were attacked in the future, we won¡¯t be able to reinforce them immediately, not to mention that the west side is usually camped by enemy guilds like Warsky Alliance, Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction.¡± I licked my lips before replying, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. In this case, we act first and think later. Even if we can¡¯t secure the territory, we¡¯re not letting Warsky Alliance take it without a fight. Our best case scenario is Warsky Alliance failing to get the territory. Warsky is too smart, and he¡¯s supported by October Rain. If they were to obtain it, it¡¯d be like a tiger given a pair of wings. The threat they represent is simply too much for us to ignore.¡± ¡°Right. I¡¯ve already ordered the guild and the subguilds to assemble and travel together with The Monarch Descends to the west side. What is your battle plan, by the way?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be heading there too!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± One hand on her waist and the other holding a dagger, Cute Little Naughty asked with a bright smile, ¡°It looks like we ran into something big before we even officially joined the guild. Could this be our chance to perform?¡± I shot them a glance and smiled awkwardly. ¡°You? Ahem¡­ to be honest, you are all lacking in equipment and level right now. There¡¯s nothing you can do in a largescale battle like this unless you want to act as cannon fodder. Ask me again when you¡¯re stronger. You¡¯ll have plenty of chances to perform when you become a subguild leader, Naughty.¡± ¡°Oh, I see. Okay! We still want to come with you though. We want to see how the clash between the two super guilds, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Warsky Alliance is like!¡± ¡°Sure. It¡¯s never a bad idea to broaden your horizons!¡± ¡°Mn, mn!¡± Cute Little Naughty nodded repeatedly before shooting Lin Yixin a glance. Then, she asked, ¡°How old are you in real life, Sister Fantasy? You look really young¡­¡± Lin Yixin smiled a little. ¡°I¡¯m 21. What about you, Naughty?¡± ¡°Oh, you really are young. I¡¯m 19, hehe. By the way, do you know who are my three favorite people out of everyone in the CGL Hall of Fame?¡± ¡°Who are they?¡± Lin Yixin asked curiously. Cute Little Naughty started explaining as if she had done this a hundred times before. ¡°My third most favorite CGL Hall of Famer is Brother Falling Dust. He¡¯s a powerful player in his own right, and although he lost to Candlelight Shadow he didn¡¯t give up on his promise and continued protecting Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls as Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Any girl who found a man who would protect her like that would have no regrets for the rest of her life. My second most favorite CGL Hall of Famer is you, Sister Fantasy. I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯re the most powerful female player in China right now!¡± Lin Yixin¡¯s smile was very sweet. ¡°Ohh, thank you. And the last one?¡± Longing entered Cute Little Naughty¡¯s eyes as she bit her lips. ¡°My most favorite CGL Hall of Famer is Sister Moonkiss. She is the strongest female assassin of China, and it only took her a short time to reach the level she¡¯s currently at. I¡¯ve always dreamed of becoming a top-tier assassin like her.¡± I smiled. ¡°Patience, Naughty. One day, you¡¯ll become as good as Moonkiss, and who knows, Moonkiss herself might even join us one day. When that day comes, hehe, no one will dare to say that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls don¡¯t have good assassins anymore!¡± Lin Yixin glanced at me. ¡°You can talk about recruiting Moonkiss another day. I need to return to the city and head to the west side with my people immediately, or Warsky Alliance will get ahead of us.¡± ¡°Mn, okay!¡± ¡­¡­ After adding Cute Little Naughty, Cyan Hill, and everyone else in their party to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, member capacity had reached the max again. It was a real pain in the ass to kick someone out of the main guild every time I wanted to add someone. This 10000 member cap was so annoying! I took out a return scroll and crushed it. Swhoosh! After appearing in Sky City, the first thing I did before anything else was to replenish my potions and repair my equipment. Level 143 was as far as I could climb today, and what comes next is the most exhilarating of battles! Countless players were moving about in Sky City such as those who went to the west gate to teleport to certain locations and prepare for the conquest of the new territory. There were more players who were just buying pots, making parties and grinding like every other day, however. At this point, most players had come to the realization that territories were something only the best of the best guilds could contest for. If they weren¡¯t in guilds like Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace, The Monarch Descends, and some others, they would only become cannon fodder if they went, so why bother? I was about to take off when suddenly, a new announcement rang across Sky City¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that player ¡°Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡± has submitted the ¡°Vassal Token¡± and issued a raid on the territory ¡°Dark Moon City¡± belonging to ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡± of Sky City, on behalf of their belonging guild ¡°Hall of Immortality¡± and their allies ¡°Rose of the Holy Domain¡± and ¡°Throne Seeker¡±. If they successfully kill all Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players in 10 hours, the raid will be considered successful, and ¡°Hall of Immortality¡± will take ownership of Dark Moon City! ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I sucked in a deep breath. When it rains, it pours. But how did this happen? Why did three of the strongest guilds in Vanished God City suddenly join forces to attack Dark Moon City? Everything was happening so quickly that most of our players couldn¡¯t even grasp what just happened¡ª Li Chengfeng: ¡°These dogshit bastards! They clearly timed this so that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls couldn¡¯t spare the hand to interfere with the conquest of the third territory!¡± Xu Yang: ¡°Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain and Throne Seeker are three of the top ten guilds in Vanished God City, and almost everyone in this list is far stronger than the Gods of Destruction led by Dominating Heaven Blade. These guilds have been keeping a low profile, but it¡¯s clear now that they were waiting for us to rank up our city so that they can take it all in one fell swoop!¡± Gui Guzi coldly snorted. ¡°Those motherfucking dreamers! They think they can take the city Boss Broken Halberd and Boss Eve have spent so much effort to build up? Over our dead bodies!¡± Chaos Moon: ¡°I¡¯m almost certain that Warsky Alliance is the reason the three guilds joined forces and issued a raid against us. October Rain is probably the one who came up with this scheme and forced us to choose between defending Dark Moon City or interfering with the conquest of the third territory. Heck, maybe she¡¯s even plotting to rob both territories from us. After all, the combined strength of the three strongest guilds of Vanished God City is no joke.¡± Gui Guzi: ¡°What should we do now, boss Broken Halberd?¡± I mulled over the situation carefully. ¡°Little Gui, your task is unchanged. You will lead our cavalry and kill all Warsky Alliance players on sight. Everyone else, teleport back to Dark Moon City now. If we lose this territory, all our efforts for the past month will go to waste, and the foothold we¡¯ve established will begin to crumble.¡± Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, and everyone else nodded in unison. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Chapter 594: If We Fight, We May Yet Survive It was a message from Ling Xueshang. "Lu Chen, this is a ploy against us. I heard through the grapevine that Warsky had sent October Rain to negotiate with the guild leaders of Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker, and Rose of the Holy Domain at Vanished God City. She succeeded. That is why the three great guilds launched a raid against Dark Moon City. The guilds of Sky City¡ªWarsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace, Gods of Destruction, and more¡ªaren¡¯t our only opponents this time. If we count their main guild and subguilds together, each one of the guilds from Vanished God City has over one hundred thousand troops in total. The situation is extremely disadvantageous toward us!" I smiled a little before replying, "Xueshang, just focus on leading your guild and tackle the third guild territory with Snowy Cathaya. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will deal with this ourselves. Hmph, the three guilds of Vanished God City aren¡¯t so powerful that they¡¯re worthy of my attention, so don¡¯t worry. If they come to Sky City, then I will fulfill my responsibilities as the host and ensure that they all die on this land!" Ling Xueshang replied with a smiley emoji and a question, "You sure you want to fight this on your own?" "Of course! What else should we do during this boring afternoon?" "Hehe. Alright! On behalf of all the players of The Monarch Descends, thank you very much for your support, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" "You¡¯re welcome. By the way, I¡¯ve sent Gui Guzi and three thousand elite riders to intercept Warsky Alliance¡¯s men at the western entrance of Sky City, but that is all the players I can spare for you. You must do the rest yourself." "Got it. Let¡¯s both do our best!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment the key players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡ªBeiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, and more¡ªappeared and walked toward me. Almost all the leaders of our guild were gathered next to the tiny blood pond of Dark Moon City and discussing about the upcoming raid¡ª "How many enemies are we facing this time?" Xu Yang asked. Li Chengfeng replied, "Our main enemies are the three guilds from Vanished God City, but the likelihood of our usual enemies, Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction, and so on joining in on the fight is also pretty high. In brief, it¡¯s not looking too good for us, and we¡¯d better give it our all if we don¡¯t want to lose Dark Moon City." I nodded in agreement. "Yes, we need to give it our all. Don¡¯t underestimate the three guilds!" Beiming Xue said, "I¡¯ve built plenty of arrow towers in the territory as of late; on average one every ten steps. This is the perfect occasion to use them. When an archer enters an arrow tower, their attack power is reduced by 10%, but their attack range is increased by 50%. I¡¯m sure this will put great pressure onto our enemies." Beiming Xue curled her lips slightly. "You were focusing on developing our cavalry, so our archers were neglected. Currently, we only have 1500 archers or so. It is a bit lacking, to be honest." High Fighting Spirits laughed. "It¡¯s fine, they¡¯re all elites, and they¡¯re led by Lu Chen¡¯s sister. I¡¯m sure they are all players who can 1v10 no problem!" I shot him a scrutinizing look. "You¡¯re right, but why do I feel like you¡¯re taking a jab at me¡­" Hearty laughter filled the air for a moment. ¡­¡­ A short time later, most of our players were gathered inside the territory. Of course, I had added all enemy guilds including Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker, and Rose of the Holy Domain as well into the teleportation access blacklist. If these invaders didn¡¯t deserve to be on that list, then no one did! A thousand thoughts raced inside my mind for a moment, and I decided that I didn¡¯t like our odds. The three great guilds numbered 300k players in total. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had 10k players, Bloody Mercenaries also had 10k players, and our 8 subguilds added up to 40k. Even for us, 5:1 number disadvantage wasn¡¯t easy to beat, not to mention that the three guilds might not be our only opponents. October Rain was a smart woman. If she could convince the guilds of Vanished God City to stick their hands into the war for Sky City, then she could convince other forces to intervene as well. Long story short, this wasn¡¯t the time to hide my cards. Dark Moon City would be in grave danger if I didn¡¯t employ every tool available. I opened my friend list and sought our Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s ID. Then, I made a call request¡ª "Hi, Luo Luo¡­" I called out to her sweetly. Luo River God of the Capital visibly shuddered. "Cut that out, you brat! Are you trying to disgust me to death? Anyway, judging from your tone you want something, don¡¯t you?" "Mn. Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker and Rose of the Holy Domain from Vanished God City just declared war on us, and I¡¯m worried the guild can¡¯t hold out on our own. Are you busy right now? If not, do you mind sending us some reinforcements? Dark Moon City is invaluable to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡­" Luo River God of the Capital replied helplessly, "I would like to help you, but Candlelight Shadow, that bastard literally just declared a raid on our territory on behalf of Candle Dragon¡¯s first subguild just a few minutes ago. We are probably in far more dire straits than you are¡­" "Ahem, I don¡¯t mind if you send only Moonkiss and a couple of assassins to help me¡­" "No way, that¡¯s my girl! Why on earth would I lend her to you?" "Damn!" "Hehe. Alright, let¡¯s both do our best. I trust you will survive this, so don¡¯t forget to say a prayer for Purple Lily, okay? Candle Dragon will be hitting us with everything they got, so this is going to be a big fight for us. I¡¯m planning to ask Peach Garden to help us. That guild is weak as hell, but their numbers are huge¡­" I was speechless. Peach Garden was a pretty powerful guild back in Floating Ice City. Now, they were just stuck between Purple Lily and Candle Dragon. Poor thing! I hung up. Well, Purple Lily clearly couldn¡¯t help us this time. Time to check another ally! This time, I sought out Stranger of Three Lifetimes and sent her a call request¡ª "Hi, Momo! Long time no see!" I greeted her with a brilliant smile. Stranger of Three Lifetimes was also smiling beautifully on the other side of the call. "Lu Chen, you know the saying ¡®One doesn''t visit a temple without a cause¡¯, right? Just tell me straight what you need already!" "Okay. Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker, and Rose of the Holy Domain just declared war on Dark Moon City. Wanna help out? They are some of the strongest guilds of Vanished God City, so I¡¯m sure your guild knows them pretty well. Can you send someone over to kick their butts?" "Ah?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ mouth fell open. "What unfortunate timing, the third territory just spawned at Vanished God City. Fate, Dirge of War, and Hunting Moon Dynasty are all fighting over it. I just promised to help out Come See The Snow Tonight of Baidicheng, and I can¡¯t really break my promise, can I? How about this: if this territory war turns out to be a lost cause, I¡¯ll send aid to Sky City. Of course, that is if you manage to hold out until I arrive, which is at least 5 hours from now. Is that fine?" I nodded. "Sure, it¡¯s better than nothing, right? I¡¯ll give your guild teleportation access to Dark Moon City. Come help us as soon as can, Momo!" "Yes, it¡¯s a promise!" "Thanks!" "You¡¯re welcome. We are allies, hehe~~" ¡­¡­ I finally managed to wring a promise out of one of our allies, but the reliability of their aid was questionable to say the least. After all, they could only help us if we managed to stall the three-hundred-thousand-strong enemy forces. In the end, our performance would be the deciding factor of this war. Gripping the Cyan Netherworld Sword, I walked around the territory until I saw Du Thirteen, Xue Lu, and Yamete standing together. I walked up to them and greeted them with a smile, "Hi, Thirteen, Lulu, Mamate!" Du Thirteen laughed. "God damn, our bad luck is catching up to us, huh? I don¡¯t think the fight against the three big guilds from Vanished God City will end well¡­" I shot him a dumbfounded look. "What the fuck, dude, can we get optimism in here?" Yamete replied, "We may as well pray and hope that the heavens strike down Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch, Emperor¡¯s Equal, and Rose Thorn with a lightning bolt in that case. This is so annoying! By the way, isn¡¯t the guild leader of Rose of the Holy Domain a pretty lady? I thought our Lu Chen was a casanova who attracts women of all ages, so why is Rose Thorn attacking him? It¡¯s so strange¡­" I retorted, "Come on, I¡¯m not even close to being that attractive, okay?! Did you forget that October Rain and Coldmoon Rose are two women who would very much like to see me dead? This Rose Thorn is just another person on the list. That being said, I admit that I¡¯m impressed that a woman had single-handedly turned Rose of the Holy Domain into the titan it is today!" Du Thirteen nodded in agreement. "Yeah!" Yamete¡¯s features darkened. "The ten guilds of Vanished God City have always been famous. It is common knowledge that Candle Dragon, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and Snowy Cathaya are the three strongest guilds in the three major cities, but if we¡¯re talking which major city is the strongest, then Vanished God City is the indisputable number one. One guild is bad enough, but today three guilds are working together to attack us. This is an unprecedented feat that will probably never happen again in the history of guild wars. What an ¡®honor¡¯¡­" I smiled. "Honored, my ass. I would rather not panic like an ant on a frying pan than having this honor!" Xue Lu giggled. "Calm down, Lu Chen. Is there anything Thirteen and I can do to help?" "Yes." I nodded and pointed at the teleportation formation not far away from us. "Lulu, I want you to guard this location with a group of archers. Archers have great anti-scouting abilities, so I want you to use Volley on the nearby NPCs every three seconds or so. This is to check if there are enemy assassins in the area. The teleportation formation must be protected no matter what, or Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends and the rest of our allies won¡¯t be able to reinforce us at time." Xue Lu smiled sweetly. "No problem, just leave it to me. I will station at least 500 archers around this area. No assassins will be able to slip past us!" Du Thirteen also raised his sword and said, "Don¡¯t worry, brother. I will station a couple hundred elites around the teleportation formation as well. No one will be able to slip past us." I nodded strongly. "Very well, I shall leave the city to you, Lulu and Mamate¡¯s hands temporarily." "Wait, what? Are you going somewhere?" Mamate asked in surprise. I gave him a smile before looking to the north with a kind of feverish flame in my eyes. "Oh yes, it is our responsibility to welcome our guests from Vanished God City, is it not? If we hole up in the city and wait for them to come to us, the only fate that awaits us is certain defeat. After all, you cannot rejoin the territory war if you die close to the territory. But if we bring the fight to them first, then we may yet survive this battle! My plan is to lead our main forces and engage the united army outside the canyon! I¡¯m going to prepare a great welcoming gift for them!" Mamate couldn¡¯t help but laugh. "That sounds awesome! Ten thousand versus three hundred thousand? You are a man with balls for sure, Lu Chen¡­" Du Thirteen also laughed. "Is this our suicide mission?" Chapter 595: Together, We Fulfill Our Oath Both He Yi and Murong Mingyue were very busy right now, so I was responsible for shotcalling the guild. However, I didn¡¯t want to underestimate my opponent, so I discussed the viability of the plan with Li Chengfeng, Beiming Xue, and Xu Yang first. All three of them agreed to the plan. Li Chengfeng offered his own input. "If Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker and Rose of the Holy Domain won¡¯t change their minds, then there¡¯s no reason for us to give them face, is there? All we need to do is to give them the slap of their life. Bloody Mercenaries and the subguilds will guard the territory. The main guild and its 7000 players will head to Cyanstone Valley and engage the enemy. We may be without our cavalry troops right now, but they don¡¯t scare us one bit!" "Very well. Xu Yang, give the order!" "Yessir!" After Xu Yang barked out the orders, all of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players besides the three-thousand-man cavalry led by Gui Guzi left Dark Moon City and traveled toward Cyanstone Valley. A terrible war would be fought before the day was over! ¡­¡­ As we marched, we encountered many players who were grinding peacefully. We stuck to the road to avoid disrupting them or cause unnecessary trouble. It was clear that they respected us, however. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was not the pathetic guild it was a long time ago, and today one might even describe it as the sun of Sky City. The only guilds who could still stand against us were Warsky Alliance and Snowy Cathaya. "What is the objective of this expedition, viceleader?" High Fighting Spirits asked mid-run. Keeping my eyes at the front, I said, "The objective is to intercept the three armies at Cyanstone Valley and deal as much damage to them as possible. Plant the seed of fear into their hearts and keep them at bay with the first engages. We can probably retreat after the Cyan Tiger Cavalry returns." A muscle twitched in High Fighting Spirits¡¯ features. "Most of us aren¡¯t going to survive, are we?" I nodded with a smile. "Yep, I at least have no plans of returning to Dark Moon City before dying. Why do you ask? You feeling the jitters or something?" Xu Yang joined in on the laughter and raised his own sword. "That¡¯s right! We may die, but we die together! If the name of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is relayed far and wide, to the entire world, after this battle, what¡¯s one or two deaths? Let¡¯s die then!" Li Chengfeng chuckled. "Well said. We die together!" Chaos Moon curled her lips. "Shut up, the battle hasn¡¯t even begun yet, and you¡¯re talking about dying already? In my opinion, we should fight with the absolute confidence to win¡­" Li Chengfeng shook his head. "Let¡¯s be realistic. We¡¯re only 7000 strong, while the enemy has over 300000 players. Moreover, I heard that they have a full regiment of cavalry. We¡¯ll be lucky to hold out for more than two hours." I said, "It¡¯ll be a win for us if the enemy can¡¯t push past us in two hours. It¡¯s because our Cyan Tiger Cavalry should be done with their battle by then. What we¡¯re doing now is buying time until their return. Little Gui, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and Heaven¡¯s Rain better perform well and come back to us before we¡¯re all dead!" Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang and everyone else clenched their fists and smiled. "Let us fight to our last breaths for Ancient Sword! We may die, but we¡¯ll bring as many of our enemies down with us as we can!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Half an hour later, we arrived at Cyanstone Valley. The mountain rocks were all covered in vines or trees, painting a beautiful, cyan-colored scenery on both sides of the road. No wonder it was called Cyanstone Valley. "Hoho, it¡¯s so beautiful¡­" Beiming Xue smiled beautifully as she gripped the Burning Shadow Bow and observed her surroundings. I smiled. "I guess? It¡¯s going to be drenched in red very soon." Li Chengfeng observed the surroundings for a moment before saying, "Lu Chen, let¡¯s make our formation here. This place is about three hundred yards and just enough to fit our army of seven thousand. We can make a perfect defense line here." I nodded and examined the surroundings carefully. Then, I pointed a finger to the distance and said, "Fighters, see that spot about 50 yards away from here? I want everyone to form a line there. Unfortunately, we are lacking in fighters right now, so I want everyone, especially tamers, to summon their pets and fill up space as well. The fighters will stand at the frontline. Next, see those tall, craggy rocks at the back? They¡¯re tall enough to increase vision range and shooting range, so Beiming Xue, please position our archers and mages up there. We¡¯re going to use heavy firepower to make up for our lack of magic knights and wanderers." Beiming Xue nodded with a smile. "Got it, big bro~" Moon Dew had also started arranging our priest squads accordingly. Meanwhile, I was feeling a bit worried. Our fighters were the strongest in the entire world, but a large majority of them had left with Gui Guzi. Therefore, we currently had a lot of firepower but not enough tanks to protect them. Our archers and mages were the key to stopping the enemy this time. Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon had also moved to the frontline and pulled out their weapons. Then, they waited patiently for the enemy to show up. ¡­¡­ Inside the guild channel¡ª Gui Guzi: "Live battle report, Boss Broken Halberd! We¡¯ve clashed against a Warsky Alliance squad! It¡¯s a two-thousand-man party led by Hundred Battler!" I asked, "How was it?¡¯ Gui Guzi chuckled. "It¡¯s a slaughter. Our organized charge is just too much for them to handle. They were killed before they were able to mount any sizable resistance at all. Heaven¡¯s Rain managed to poke Hundred Battler to death with Barrier Break, and I estimate that the battle will be over in 5 minutes tops. It¡¯s about 2000 kills to 100 deaths in our favor!" "Well done!" I smiled gladly. Although it took Gui Guzi and our mounted players nearly two days and nights to forge the Cyan Tiger Cavalry, it was absolutely worth the time and effort. We had cleaned out all of the Rare mounts in Cyan Tiger Forest, and our cavalry troops were currently unbeatable in the entire world. Warsky Alliance must be entertaining quite the headache right now. Xu Yang also cheered for him. "Well done, Little Gui! Keep it up!" Gui Guzi asked, "Brother Yang, are you with boss Broken Halberd and the others right now? What are you guys doing?" Xu Yang answered, "We¡¯re intercepting Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker and Rose of the Holy Domain at Cyanstone Valley to buy as much time for you as possible." Gui Guzi: "Will you die?" Xu Yang: "Hell yeah!" Gui Guzi declared, "Don¡¯t worry, I will return with everyone as soon as possible. I promise I won¡¯t allow my brothers and sisters to bleed more than is necessary!" Heaven¡¯s Rain also chimed in. "Yeah, please hold on, everyone!" ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng and I exchanged a smile with each other. We both couldn¡¯t help but be moved and gladdened by the atmosphere in the guild right now. Our party was united because we were all willing to throw our lives away for each other. Just as we were about to fight a suicidal battle to buy time for Gui Guzi and our mounted players, Gui Guzi and our mounted players were also fighting to defend their oath to protect Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! It was at this moment we started hearing the rumbling of horse hooves. It grew louder and louder until the entire valley was shaking with the noise. Soon, a seemingly endless wave of players appeared from the horizon like a black tide. The enemy¡¯s vanguard were cavalry troops, but unlike our homogeneous Cyan Tiger Cavalry, they were made up of all kinds of mounts. It looked neither uniform nor organized. "Here they come. God damn, they¡¯re fast!" Xu Yang said while gripping his sword tighter. Standing at the forefront and gripping my own weapon tightly, I growled, "Together, we fulfill our oath and protect the Ancient Sword!" Everyone pulled out their weapons in unison and responded in kind, "Together, we fulfill our oath and protect the Ancient Sword!" The declaration resounded throughout the valley and inside everyone¡¯s heart. When a person became determined, and they knew that the things they protected were worth protecting, they could give it their all even at the cost of their life! The enemy¡¯s random assortment of riders reached us in just the blink of an eye, the guild emblems on their shoulder shining brightly. The guild emblem resembled a pink rose, but it was the symbol of the second subguild of Rose of the Holy Domain, not the main guild! "Motherfucker!" Li Chengfeng uttered through clenched teeth. "How cunning! They sent a subguild to test us! This Rose of the Holy Domain is definitely no small fry!" I smiled. "Prepare for battle. Archers, Far Shot!" ¡­¡­ At the back, countless arrows cut through the air after Beiming Xue gave the order. Almost every archer had loosed more than 10 arrows in 3 seconds since max-rank Volley was composed of 12 arrows. A sea of iron arrows covered the sky for a time! Pu pu pu... Sparks flew everywhere as the powerful shots hit the knights¡¯ metal armor. However, at least one-third of the arrows managed to penetrate the metal and sink into their target¡¯s flesh, especially the Evil Spirit volley from Beiming Xue. The skill had exploded in between a group of players and dealt a shocking amount of splash damage. In that instant, countless riders fell off their mounts and died. They were just the second subguild of the Rose of the Holy Domain after all. Neither their equipment nor their levels were the best of the best. Moonlight Stone also aimed her staff to the front and shouted, "Mages, suppressive fire with Galaxy Storm!" Chapter 596: Stunning Everyone The mix of icy cyclones and deep blue-colored Galaxy Storms painted an incredibly beautiful picture on the battlefield. Spiraling Arrow Blade + Galaxy Storm really was one of the most powerful combinations of moves archers and mages could pull off after their fifth promotion. Both skills had incredibly shiny visual effects, so even the bloody violence spilling across the battlefield right now looked artful and aesthetic. ¡°Ahhhhh¡­¡± The bombardment nearly annihilated the 4000-strong cavalry troop. Only seven or eight people managed to break through the bombardment of Galaxy Storms and Spiraling Arrow Blades, and all of them had less than 50% HP left. Swinging their weapons and screaming weird battle cries on top of their lungs, they tried to charge our fighter group. High Fighting Spirits licked his lips and said, ¡°Damn, they look like a fearless bunch¡­¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± I smiled, let out a shout and tossed out the Cyan Netherworld Sword. The legendary weapon instantly drew a beautiful arc and slashed through the rider¡¯s armor, killing five magic knights instantly. I was using Martial God right now, so my attack power was beyond their imagination! After my Sword Boomerang killed 5 of them, I killed another two with Dragon Slaying Slashes. The last magic knight aimed his spear at me and charged. ¡°Leave this to me!¡± Li Chengfeng laughed and broke free from the battleline. Thrusting his sword forward like a dragonfly touching the water lightly, he hit the magic knight with Barrier Break and dealt over 16k damage. Li Chengfeng was using Blitz, so his attack power wasn¡¯t very high but it was enough to deal with a second-rate magic knight like this. ¡­¡­ Bodies, potions, and equipment filled the ground in front of us, but none of us showed any interest in them. It was because we understood that our formation would lose its integrity if we left to pick up the items. Our numbers were absolutely inferior to our enemies¡¯ and we couldn¡¯t afford to let down our guard for even a moment. The good news was that our ranged players were performing quite well so far. These riders were no experts, but we still managed to annihilate all 4000 of them before they really got close to us! Xu Yang grinned. ¡°Our archers and mages are quite powerful, huh?¡± I smiled. ¡°True!¡± ¡­¡­ We saw some movement from the enemy¡¯s formation again. They seemed to be discussing something. A short while later, a large number of foot soldiers and mounted players formed up at the front, archers and mages at the middle, and priests, bards, and tacticians at the back. It looked like they were going to push us slowly. It was definitely the most logical tactic considering this situation. We couldn¡¯t beat them without suffering casualties no matter how strong we were. The numbers advantage was completely on Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, and Throne Seeker¡¯s side. There was no reason for them to take mercy on our inferior numbers and fight how and where we wanted. Li Chengfeng spat on the ground before swearing loudly, ¡°So shameless! There are only 7000 of us, and they¡¯re going to do a slow push? So shameless!¡± My eyes turned cooler as I smiled. ¡°Get ready, everyone. The real battle is upon us. By the way, does anyone know which guld this party belongs to? Is it still a subguild of Rose of the Holy Domain?¡± Chaos Moon squinted at the distance a bit before answering, ¡°No, it¡¯s the first subguild of Throne Seeker. They must be getting serious. Wait, it¡¯s not just their first subguild, their second subguild is forming up as well. Damn, there are so many of them. There must be ten thousand of them at least¡­¡± High Fighting Spirits chuckled. "That¡¯s perfect. This¡¯ll be an exhilarating battle!" I smiled in agreement. "The main dish is being served alright. Bards, apply your buffs on any fighter who is over Level 135. When the fight begins, I want our high-level warriors to charge 20 yards forward to catch the enemy¡¯s firepower and protect the backline!" Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, and everyone else answered affirmatively, "Will do!" Gui Guzi and our cavalry troops weren¡¯t here, so we only had 25 fighters in total who were over Level 135. It should be enough though. Buffed by our bards and healed by our priests, they should be able to withstand the enemy riders¡¯ charge without too much trouble. Having hero-level players move to the front and attract most of the firepower did counter slow, methodological pushes to a great extent. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before the enemy entered our range. Since Beiming Xue and our archers were occupying high ground such as small hills and giant rocks, their attack range was increased by 50% or so. The terrain advantage was outstanding to say the least. That was why the enemy fighters got shot by Far Shots and Arctic Rains when they were still 80 yards away from us. Clang clang clang! The enemy magic knights at the front row raised their shields and blocked our ranged attacks. This time, the bombardment didn¡¯t nearly go as well because their defense line was tankier, and they were cooperating with each other much better than before. That being said, a lot of magic knights still collapsed under our arrow rain. Beiming Xue¡¯s archers were just too powerful. Thud thud thud¡­ The magic knights at the front fell off their horses and died, but that didn¡¯t stop the players at the back from pushing forward. Stepping on their comrades¡¯ bodies and continuing on their way, their archers and mages finally got into attack range and began retaliating in earnest. The archers drew their bows and started firing their own Far Shots at our frontliners. Clang clang clang clang! My HP decreased, but it was completely inconsequential. 200 damage was nothing at all. My comrades couldn¡¯t claim the same thing, however. Some of the lower-level players lost 50% of their HP in no time. They were only surviving because our numerous priests kept healing them non-stop. I smiled. "Alright, it¡¯s time. High-level fighters, move to the front and keep the enemy twenty yards away from our formation! Don¡¯t give them the chance to engage us in melee!" "Got it!" Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, and the others moved immediately. I was the fastest of all of them as I engaged three magic knights from the first subguild of Throne Seeker. Their levels were between 125 to 130, and they were all wielding spears. To my surprise, they actually let out a high-spirited laugh after they saw me. "Hahaha, who is this? It¡¯s one of the strongest fighters of Sky City, the Little Heavenly King Falling Dust! Let¡¯s kill him and show the world that he¡¯s nowhere near as good as he''s made out to be, hahaha~~~" An involuntary smile crept to my face as I released the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. Then, I charged toward the three magic knights! Whoosh! The moment I got within range, I immediately executed Burning Blade Slash! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! The three magic knights turned pale and raised their shields in a hurry to guard against the flaming sword aura. However, they were naive to think that this level of defense was enough to stop me. Flicking my wrist and changing my attack angle to bottom-up, I knocked their shields above their heads with the second strike and cut down both men and horse with the third strike. A bunch of damage numbers popped above their heads¡ª 4902! 13829! 20192! That satisfied my bloodlust greatly. Magic knights at their level were seriously fragile! I let out a shout and swung my sword in front of me. Thousand Ice Slash fell from the sky and landed at the center of a group, dealing an insane amount of damage to all the players caught within the blast radius. The one strike was so powerful that it had carved an entire hole in the enemy¡¯s formation. Players died and covered the ground in potions and equipment. "Holy shit, how powerful is he? Archers, why the fuck are you standing there and doing nothing? Shoot him! Fighters, Charge! Those with Barrier Break should go first!" an assassin shouted. A warrior responded to the command, "Like hell we¡¯re charging until our archers are done with him, not to mention that there are less than 20 people in our subguild who have Barrier Break, and not all of them are here¡­" The enemy archers started focusing me, forcing me to raise my left arm and block them with my wristguard. It was unfortunate that I was a warrior and not a magic knight, or I would be able to equip a shield and block the attack perfectly. Of course, no class was really better than the other. A warrior didn¡¯t have a magic knight¡¯s insane defense, but a magic knight didn¡¯t have a warrior¡¯s insane attack power either. A dozen or so fighters tried to surround me from all directions, so I stomped the ground and killed all of them with War Crush. Before they could recover from their shock, I tossed out an Ice Cyclone Domain onto a crowd and Barrier Break¡¯d a nearby target, killing a dozen or so archers in rapid succession. Then, I tossed my sword at the distance and watched as Sword Boomerang sliced through a couple of mages who hadn¡¯t activated their shields! Thud! After my sword had returned to me, I immediately slashed my left and right side and knocked two assassins out of stealth. The idiots thought they could ambush me while my Dark Pupils were active, and I proved it with the sword in my hand that their efforts were completely futile. They probably didn¡¯t know how they died until it was too late. Crack crack! I did a series of rapid slashes and sent a Level 132 magic knight stumbling backward. Suddenly a bright flash appeared from my ring¡ªit was the Silver Dragon Ring triggering its Silver Dragon Storm again¡ªand I launched a fearsome-looking silver dragon into the crowd. Everyone and everything that stood in its path was annihilated. ¡­¡­ The skill subsided a couple of seconds later. All the Throne Seeker players around me forgot what they were doing and stared stupidly at me. Chapter 597: Mountain Stagger Slash The wide-eyed people gulped visibly. "The sword Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is holding¡­ is the number one weapon on the Weapons Ranking, Cyan Netherworld Sword? It¡¯s a 6-star Outstanding Heaven-grade item and the weapon Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch of Hall of Immortality put up a ten million RMB bounty on¡­ it¡¯ll be a jackpot if we get his sword¡­" All kinds of delusional images filled their minds for a moment. It was as if the sword in my hand wasn¡¯t a deadly weapon, but a thick wad of cash, a luxurious mansion, a peerless beauty, and so on. Long story short, anyone who got their hands on this sword would get all the women, all the wealth and all the fame for having killed the seventh CGL Hall of Famer, Falling Dust. It was literally the fulfillment of every man¡¯s ambition¡ªand all they had to do was kill me. "Kill him! Kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and grab his Cyan Netherworld Sword! By the way, I heard the rest of his equipment is pretty strong as well, right? It¡¯ll be a jackpot if we could grab even one of his Outstanding Earth-grade items, hahaha!" "Gogogo!" "Attack!" ¡­¡­ Logic gave way to greed, and greed gave way to insanity. Every enemy player around raised their weapons and started charging me like mad. It was exactly the kind of effect I was hoping to induce. The more players I taunted, the less pressure my allies needed to endure, especially since I was the tankiest player of the group right now. I launched Thousand Ice Slash onto the crowd. Then, I tossed three Ice Cyclone Domains to the area about a dozen or so yards away from me. Anyone who wanted to attack me would have to go through them first, meaning that they would have to fight me while their movement speed and attack speed were drastically reduced. In a battle of attrition, the advantage was on my side. Boom! The Thousand Ice Slash one-shot all low-health players, and those who didn¡¯t die were mostly frozen as well. While they were immobilized, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf darted between them and finished the job with its teeth and claws. Not to be outdone by my pet, I ran into the crowd, used War Crush and swung the Cyan Netherworld Sword all over the place, giving these greed-blinded fools a taste of the divine armament in my hand. The enemy fired a concentrated volley of arrows at me, and many of them were Shock Arrows, a CC skill with a stun. However, the stun resistance provided to me by level and equipment advantage was so high that around 99% of them were useless. Still, there was like 1% chance of a proc, so it was only a matter of time before one of the hundreds of arrows stunned me¡ª Bang! Suddenly, my vision turned blurry, and my body shook madly. Shit, just when I thought about it! At the same time, a dozen or so Galaxy Storms devoured me and dealt massive damage¡ª 1982! 1728! ¡­¡­ It was terrible. I had lost almost 30k HP in less than five seconds. This would¡¯ve been fatal if Pure Love hadn¡¯t buffed me with Physique and increased my max HP by 45%. For now though, with a max HP of 43k, I could still recover from this! Swhoosh! A beam of bloody light penetrated the clouds as I activated Tenacity of the Dead and instantly healed myself for 10k+ HP. Then, I chugged down a Rank 8 Saint Spirit Potion and further restored myself to almost 30k HP. Finally, the priests including Moon Dew focused their healing on me and pushed my HP past the 90% mark at lightning speed. Just like that, I was safe and ready to go again! It was at this moment Beiming Xue shouted from the back, "There are too many enemies around big bro! We need to suppress them with Spiraling Arrow Blades as soon as possible!¡± Mere moments passed before she shouted again. ¡°Now!¡± The next moment, at least fifty Spiraling Arrow Blades exploded in a 20-yard radius around me, killing countless archers and mages. More than half of the enemy¡¯s ranged players close to me were killed just like that. Beiming Xue¡¯s archer party truly was the nuclear weapon of our guild. Every time they launched an assault, the results were absolute devastation. Feeling a great pressure departing my shoulders, I fired a Burning Blade Slash and killed the melee fighters standing in front of me. Now that my HP was full, I renewed my assault on the enemy with extra vigor. I killed the Throne Seeker players so quickly that not a single one of them was able to get close to me. They looked terrible to say the least. ¡­¡­ The battle had reached a climax at this point. The flames of war stretched hundreds of yards, and the light of skills shone so brightly and frequently that they made the sky look dim. Sea of Flames burned the whole valley, and arrows stole away the lives of players on both sides like a poisonous dart on a cold night. Li Chengfeng was standing at the frontline and cutting down players with broad sweeps, grinning. After hitting a group of players with a Reverse Scale Slash, he reversed the angle of his sword and took out the closest magic knight to him with a Barrier Break. The dragon warrior seemed almost invincible, and the priests behind his back made sure that that was the case. On the other side, Chaos Moon fired Rock Crush and crushed countless people beneath a cyan mountain range. The skill ignored a certain percentage of Defense, and the Bone Scythe set drastically boosted Chaos Moon¡¯s attack power. She was incredibly powerful to say the least! Pop pop pop... All the players who were killed by Chaos Moon dropped equipment like crazy. The floor of shiny loot beneath her feet was enough to distract anyone who was looking at her direction. Panicking, a Throne Seeker player pointed at her and shouted, "Holy shit, that girl¡¯s a goddamn weapon of mass destruction! Anyone she kills always drops a piece of equipment, so watch out! My second brother dropped three pieces after he died! He¡¯s lucky to have retained his underwear! This is too brutal!" Chaos Moon smiled sweetly at them and said, "What are you waiting for, brothers from Vanished God City? I¡¯m here¡­" The players of Throne Seeker immediately lost their self-control and rushed her. Naturally, the end result was a Rock Crush to the face and plenty of injuries. Truly, men were creatures who could give up their lives for women. Twenty yards to the right of Chaos Moon, a fearsome general was brute-forcing his way in and out of the enemy swarm. He was of course High Fighting Spirits. His offensive and defensive stats were drastically increased by our bards, and he exploited the advantage to the max by pouncing at the enemies like an animal. Every time he swung his battle axe and executed the Xiezhi Howl, an empty ring would appear around him, filling up with new waves of enemies. The man was like a vacuum or a black hole! On top of that, he occasionally tossed his axe to the distance and killed lines of players! It was a boomerang skill! "Axe Boomerang!" Boom! Again, Invincible tore through the enemy and reaped dozens of lives before finally flying back to his hand. Grinning, he abruptly sped up toward a magic knight and chopped off the poor bastard¡¯s head with Barrier Break. The skill penetrated 60% of his target¡¯s Defense, so there was absolutely nothing he could do at all. High Fighting Spirits was an animal, the kind that people set up warning signs for. He wasn''t the only animal in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls though. For example, fighting on the opposite side of the battlefield was Xu Yang, the other animal of the guild! Today, Xu Yang¡¯s level, equipment, and skill were nothing like his former self. He wielded a 3-star Outstanding Spirit-grade sword and wore a metal armor that was surrounded by the indiscernible glow of a protective skill, and reverberating with the sound of a faint, beastial roar. It was the Ironback Bear Armor, a skill book that he picked up after killing the Ironback Bear King, a Purple Gold Rank boss with Gui Guzi. At max rank, it boosted his Defense by 15% and Magic Resist by 9%. It was an incredible skill. "So eager to die, you bastards?!" Xu Yang shouted as the image of a green mountain rock appeared about 5 yards away from him. It was the AoE skill, Mountain Stagger Slash! Mountain Stagger Slash had a smaller attack radius than many AoE skills, but it was valuable because it ignored 30% of the enemy¡¯s metal armor defense. This meant that it was more effective against mounted players, and it could delete Mount Tenacity really, really quickly. It was very similar to an archer¡¯s Mountain Stagger Arrow, except that it was better. Boom! The magic knights and warriors standing on the wrong end of the Mountain Stagger Slash broke into tears. One of them cried, "Is he really Hot Sun, the noob of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? How is he so strong now¡­" Xu Yang shouted and killed another high-level magic knight with Barrier Break. For a few seconds, the man looked positively unstoppable. Then the enemy¡¯s elite mages started focusing their attention on him and gave him their tenderest Galaxy Storms and Dragon¡¯s Roar. It was Xu Yang¡¯s turn to cry as he ran back to his priests for healing. ¡­¡­ The battle was ridiculously intense, and both sides were giving it everything they had. A while later, it became clear that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls held the absolute advantage both in terms of firepower and defense in a direct engagement. Unfortunately, there was no avoiding casualties in a battle like this, and our fighters, archers, mages, and priests died despite our best efforts. This was war, and it was impossible to fight a war without bloodshed. The battle lasted for almost an hour or so. Eventually, the flames of war started subsiding, and after losing over 80% of their players, both the first and the second subguilds of Throne Seekers finally admitted that they were no match for us. Both guild leaders raised their swords and commanded, "We lost. Withdraw!" However, to everyone¡¯s surprise, a Level 136 magic knight suddenly broke ranks and galloped toward the subguilds. He shouted from far, far away, "You will not withdraw! You will fight to the last man! Did you think you can challenge the throne without sacrifice? Moreover, there are 10000 of you and 7000 of them, and you didn¡¯t even kill five hundred of them! You think a battle result like this is acceptable? Fight! Fight to your last drop of blood! Don¡¯t worry, your sacrifice won''t be for nothing, for Hall of Immortality is the next to go!" The speaker was none other than the guild leader of Throne Seeker himself, the Level 136 magic knight "Emperor¡¯s Equal¡±. He was an uncle, and a respected one, because his subordinates were so ashamed that they instantly changed course and attacked our formation again. ¡­¡­ In response, I raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword and said, "If they¡¯re so eager to die, then there¡¯s no need to show mercy from our side! Kill them all!" In less than five minutes, the one thousand or so players with incomplete parties all died before our feet. Without their priests, archers, and bards to support them, their charge could only be described as suicidal. Standing at the front, I sucked in a deep breath and ordered, "Xu Yang, count our casualties¡­" Xu Yang nodded and did as commanded. A short while later, he reported, "We lost 312 warriors, 45 archers, 12 mages, 41 tamers and 9 assassins. That¡¯s 419 casualties in total. We¡¯re still doing fine." I let out a sigh of relief before saying, "This is just the beginning. The strongest guild of them all, Hall of Immortality, hasn¡¯t acted yet. Thank goodness we chose to intercept them here, or else¡­ Anyway, I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be sending out their real elites very soon!" ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, lines of players with red light shining from their shoulders started creeping across the horizon. It was a guild emblem with a bloody skull on it; the symbol of the Hall of Immortality. Their numbers were great, and their class composition was sound. Gritting his teeth, Li Chengfeng uttered, "Damn, would you look at that. The first, third, fifth, and sixth subguilds of Hall of Immortality have all stepped into the open. That¡¯s got to be 30000 people at least! Tsk tsk, this will be a hard fight for sure¡­" Resting his battle axe on his shoulder, High Fighting Spirits chuckled. "So what? It¡¯s just one death." Chapter 598: One Man Holds the Pass I nodded. "Take care, everyone. This may be a much harder fight than before. There are a lot of experts hidden amidst their ranks, and both their levels and the quality of their equipment are far better than Throne Seeker¡¯s subguilds." Chaos Moon frowned and said, "It¡¯s a shame that Lu Buyi isn¡¯t a member of the main guild. His stratagem, Purple Dragon, would¡¯ve been incredibly useful. A 70% to all stats is almost as good as Beauty Lin¡¯s Famous General Skill." Xu Yang said gruffly, "He didn¡¯t join us because he wants to be considerate of Freezing Point. Hmph! It¡¯s almost as if he forgot that we are his brothers too. In my opinion, that Freezing Point is not a good person either. When he was the guild leader of a small guild, he was both cautious and conscientious. Now that he¡¯s the guild leader of our eighth subguild with 5000 players under his command, he immediately forgot himself and turned arrogant. He has only been with us for a while, but he already accrued plenty of criticisms from our other subguilds." I knitted my eyebrows sternly, "Xu Yang, keep your voice down. It¡¯s a bad habit to backbite someone, and Freezing Point is one of our brothers now. You know the saying ¡®trust those you employ, employ not those you distrust¡¯, right?" Xu Yang replied a bit indignantly, "Even if that is true, that is no reason to lower your guard completely, Lu Chen!" "I know¡­" I sucked in a deep breath. "Dammit, if only Eve was here. She¡¯s way better than me at dealing with things like this." "Yeah, we¡¯re just hatchlings compared to her¡­" Xu Yang sighed. It was at this moment Chaos Moon raised her eyebrows and said, "Lu Chen can call himself a hatchling, but you? What part of you has anything to do with the word ¡®hatchling¡¯? Definitely not your face!" Xu Yang blushed immediately. "Chaos Moon, you don¡¯t hold back when you slap people, do you¡­" High Fighting Spirits waved his axe and growled, "Hey, Hall of Immortality is advancing toward us, so stop teasing Chaos Moon already! Get ready, the battle will begin three minutes later!" ¡­¡­ By now, the distance between both sides had shortened to a hundred yards or less. They were so close that I could see even the pimples and acne on the face of a female warrior. Dark Pupils improved my vision and gave me the ability to discern an enemy¡¯s weakness, but a world that was too clear was also a curse. My newfound power wasn¡¯t a burden only when I was together with perfect women like Lin Yixin or He Yi. Swhoosh! Right now, our fighters were somewhat neutered because we were missing our mounted players, so our ranged players had to step up for us to win this. After all, not everyone was insanely powerful like me, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and the others, and the percentage of melee fighters with AoE skills in the entire world was below 0.01%. This meant that most people were still relying on Blaze and inferior Flurry skills to attack their enemies, and players who learned Barrier Break already were both rare and outstanding. For now, they were the kind of players everyone appreciated no matter where they went. That being said, a lot of Sky City¡¯s fighters had picked up Barrier Break since I started selling Strength Supplements at Sky City. Some players even traveled all the way from Wind City or Vanished God City just to purchase them in bulk. I had earned a lot of money because of this. Behind me, Beiming Xue drew her bow fully before saying softly, "It¡¯s time. Far Shot, loose!" All the archers bent upward and aimed forty five degrees above the ground. Then, they started firing arrow after arrow at the Hall of Immortality players directly ahead of us. Unfortunately, the enemy was so numerous that our arrows were like a small rain to them. I dashed to the front and met the eyes of several enemy fighters. I let out a chuckle and called out, "Come at me!" The fighters exchanged a glance with each other before shouting, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is here! Kill him and grow the fame of Hall of Immortality! Kill Legendary Brave and Chaos Moon to become the new heroes of the era! Brothers and sisters, charge!" Laughing, I swung my sword and launched a Thousand Ice Slash straight at them. "Show me what the ¡®heroes¡¯ of Hall of Immortality are made of!" "Boom!" Ten streaks of icy sword energy landed in a crowd of players and directly dealt between ten thousand to twenty thousand damage or so. However, the real killer was the 40% splash damage of my weapon. Like a chain reaction, the sword energies created a hole in the enemy formation almost immediately. However, a single Level 132 magic knight managed to survive my skill, and wearing a look of excitement on his face he laughed loudly and said, "Hahaha, you had your chance to kill me, but you failed. Now it¡¯s your turn to die, Broken Halberd Sinks to Sand! Die!" His warhorse let out a neigh as its rider urged it to move faster. The moment the magic knight reached me, he immediately used Blaze. That wasn¡¯t all though. A fiery cone came right after the flaming thrust, making it a Blaze + Barrier Break combo. The magic knight was a big dreamer alright. Pu! 1902! His Blaze left a scorch mark on my shoulder armor. Just before his Barrier Break could hit me, I abruptly hit his weapon with my left arm in hopes of parrying the skill. I had never tried this before. Would it work? Unfortunately, the skill still penetrated my chest and dealt a big damage number¡ª6983! Wait, it wasn¡¯t a complete failure. The Barrier Break should¡¯ve deleted 10k HP at least, but my technique had reduced its damage by 30% or more! Thud! I grabbed the magic knight¡¯s spearhead with lightning speed and grinned wickedly at him. Then, I pressed the Cyan Netherworld Sword against his chest and conjured an indigo cone! "Die!" 25674! A brilliant flash later, the flaming energy penetrated the enemy¡¯s chest and one-shot the stunned magic knight just like that. As expected, he was no match for me in a direct engagement. Thud thud thud... By the time I looked away from the ground, my chest was completely riddled with arrows. It was because the enemy archers were shooting me with everything they had. Despite Moon Dew and our priests¡¯ best efforts to heal me, they weren¡¯t able to keep my HP above the 50% mark. It was annoying. The enemy¡¯s attack was powerful and organized, but it wouldn¡¯t have been a problem if Murong Mingyue was around. I deeply missed her and her Famous General Skill, Bright Mirror. The stratagem already boosted a priest¡¯s healing power by 35%, but with Tactics it almost doubled the amount of healing a priest could do. For example, a Greater Heal could heal almost 20k HP with this stratagem active. How amazing would that be if Murong Mingyue was with us right now? Unfortunately, Murong Mingyue and He Yi had gone to Nanjing to negotiate a contract. They were likely to stay the night there, and it was highly unlikely that they would log into the game from there. They had left behind their gaming helmets at the workshop. Behind me, Beiming Xue shouted, "Big bro, withdraw 10 meters to the back! You¡¯re too far forward and we can¡¯t reach you!" "Got it!" I kept swinging my sword and hitting the enemies with Burning Blade Slash or War Crush whenever possible. The main reason I was able to hold on was thanks to the lifesteal passive of my sword. In just a short moment, I had dished almost 100k damage and regained 10k HP in return. The 10% lifesteal was absolutely crucial to my survivability. I beat a slow and steady retreat as I fired Dragon Slaying Slashes and left a trail of Ice Cyclone Domains. The Hall of Immortality players who were trying to get to me suffered greatly to say the least. Finally, I had moved close enough to my battle line for Beiming Xue and my archers to assist me with Volleys, Spiraling Arrow Blades and more. Now, anyone who tried to get close to me and hit me with their melee skills would have to consider if they could survive the bombardment first. Beiming Xue¡¯s attack power was so powerful that I doubted that there were many people in the entire world who could withstand her Spiraling Arrow Blade right now. At the very least, I was sure that less than 10% fighters in the world could endure her Spiraling Arrow Blade for more than 6 seconds. Boom boom boom! Galaxy Storms kept exploding around my feet. Some were friendly, some weren¡¯t. Regardless, pain kept assaulting my senses as the area 10 yards around me turned into a meat grinder. The fighters of Hall of Immortality in this death zone kept dying, but I stood strong thanks to my priests¡¯ tireless healing. Like a bright, fleshy target, I held my ground and stopped all Hall of Immortality players from pushing past me! At the distance, a Level 134 mage with the mark of a guild leader floating on his shoulder spat on the ground and cursed, "Sonuvabitch, if I wasn¡¯t his enemy I would almost be impressed by this! Brothers, focus down Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Wipe that fucker out of existence and prove to me he¡¯s mortal! No matter how strong he is, he only has so much Magic Resist!" He was wrong, actually. I had a base Magic Resist of 3710, and after all my buffs and skills my total Magic Resist was about 8000 or so. Assuming that the enemy mage was at the same power level as I was, the magic damage I took was reduced by 70% at least. That was why I was still standing despite being bombarded to hell and back. The mages walked to the front and tried to chant their spells. A wide grin spread on my face as I said, "Dream on, sucker!" My sword glowed brightly with the energy of a dragon¡¯s soul as I raised my weapon. Then, I threw it at the mages and watched it slicing through their bodies and reaping their lives like wheat. By the time the Sword Boomerang finished its cycle and returned to my hand, a dozen or so mages¡ªeven some who had their Magic Shields turned on¡ªcollapsed to the ground and died. My attack power was over ten thousand, and my current stratagem was Martial God. To all mages, my attack power was a nightmare to them! ¡­¡­ It was at this moment I heard a voice coming from my right¡ª "Oh shit, I think I¡¯m gonna... SHIIIII¡ª" Our Level 135 warrior, Wolf Fang died before he could finish his sentence. His Magic Resist wasn¡¯t high enough, so he was killed by the enemy¡¯s mages! Chapter 599: Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch The girl obeyed the advice and retreated back to the battle line safely. She was being bombarded by Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms, so she would have died in less than three minutes had she chosen to stay at the frontline. High Fighting Spirits, Li Chengfeng, and Xu Yang also followed her lead soon after. Staying close to the battleline meant that our priests were close enough to heal us. On the other hand, it also meant that our archers, tamers, mages abd more could enter the enemy¡¯s range. There was no avoiding it though. Whatever we did, we were definitely going to sustain some heavy losses this time. ¡­¡­ Bang! The Stormy Waves War Boots shook the ground as War Crush ravaged the dozen of Hall of Immortality fighters around me. The triple-hit skill was still pretty powerful, even after all this time. I held my Cyan Netherworld Sword in front of me and assumed a Guard stance. At least dozens of arrows hit me before I broke out of it and launched a Thousand Ice Slash at the enemy. The mages and archers shook like leaves, and any archer who was caught in the blast zone was basically as dead as a dodo. Some mages survived just barely thanks to their Magic Shields. Behind me, Chaos Moon asked, "Aren¡¯t you coming back, Lu Chen?" "No!" I answered firmly. I was currently at the center of our defense line and about 15 yards away from our formation. If I stayed here, I could cause havoc to the enemy and make them feel like there was a fishbone lodged in their throat. But if I withdrew, then the four subguilds would be able to come together as a cohesive unit and attack us with everything they got. Therefore, I had to stay there and protect my guild by denying them a chance to organize. Seeing that I was unwilling to retreat, Chaos Moon smiled and ordered, "Moon Dew, grab twenty priests with you and heal Lu Chen indiscriminately!" Moon Dew nodded. "Got it!" ¡­¡­ "Attack! They¡¯re going to break any moment! Charge!" yelled a subguild leader with his sword raised. A group of evil-looking dudes immediately heeded that order and charged. They were actually able to pass through our firewall of arrows and spells and engage our fighters at melee, but their bravery was met by a thousand cold steel wreathed in flaming cones. They were all Barrier Breaks! Thud thud thud... Screams filled the air as hundreds and thousands of players dropped like flies. Everyone¡¯s heads were alight with magical shimmer as countless fireballs landed on both sides. The battle was intense and bloody, and because both sides held a key advantage of our own¡ªthe enemy had superior numbers, and we had superior power¡ªthe amount of lives lost was positively insane! Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes were so red it almost looked like they were bleeding. He angled his sword and shouted mightily, "Reverse Scale Slash! Get back to your homes¡­" Boom! The skill stabbed into the enemy crowd with a draconic roar, killing a lot of people. He immediately followed up with a Dragonbone Flurry that deleted a couple of low-health magic knights who had survived the Reverse Scale Slash. Li Chengfeng was furious, and High Fighting Spirits was no different. Ignoring the dozen of Blazes sinking into his body, he marched forward, summoned a powerful gale and unleashed his signature move, Xiezhi Howl. It was as if a hurricane had descended to the earth as all the enemies around him were diced into bits. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... However, the subguilds of Hall of Immortality weren¡¯t lacking in combat awareness. They lined up. A dozen or so magic knights timed their Charges and successfully stunned High Fighting Spirits. At the same time, the mages and archers immediately turned their firepower on him in hopes of deleting a key player from the surface of the earth. High Fighting Spirits could do nothing but glare angrily at the enemy. Suddenly, a cyan, rock-ike energy wave hit the magic knights surrounding the barbarian warrior and elicited painful screams from them. It was none other than Chaos Moon¡¯s AoE skill, Rock Crush. A follow-up Mountain Stagger Slash from Xu Yang later, no one was left standing any longer! The three great experts of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had annihilated almost a hundred players in an instant. The counterattack was so ridiculous that the Hall of Immortality players who saw it actually forgot what they were doing for a second. No one was expecting Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to pack so much firepower they seemed to outdo even Candle Dragon in this department. ¡­¡­ "Attack! Kill the noobs on the battle line first and focus down their priests next. Without healing, even their greatest fighters are just trash!" An angry-looking subguild guild leader shouted while waving his staff, "There are only 7000 of them! Our four subguilds will be the laughingstocks of the city if we lose to them! Do you want to disappoint our leader, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch? No? Then fight till your very last breath!" I couldn¡¯t help but grit my teeth. Motherfucker, I should¡¯ve known that these guild leaders weren¡¯t idiots. Their plan was simple but deviously effective: wipe out our low-level frontliners first and kill our priests second, no matter the cost. Well, he was spot-on. Without healing, even the best of us were just trash in the face of overwhelming numbers. "Hold the line! Do not let the fucking trash take even a step past us!" High Fighting Spirits shouted on top of his lungs while swinging the Invincible. The enemy guild leader immediately retorted, "Fuck you, you are the trash!" "Oh yeah? You and your entire family are trash you trashy fuck!" The verbal battle ensued just like that, and all the players on both sides started swearing all kinds of obscenities on the enemy. They only wished that they could turn their saliva into Galaxy Storms and turn their enemy¡¯s face into a pulp. ¡­¡­ Inside the guild channel, I heard Gui Guzi and our riders speaking¡ª Heaven¡¯s Rain: "Ooooh, this battle is fiercer than I thought. How is Farewell Song so strong? Not only was he strong enough to fight against our Cyan Tiger Cavalry head-on, he single-handedly killed a dozen of us. He¡¯s an assassin, for heaven¡¯s sake! This is ridiculous¡­" Gui Guzi: "Well, Farewell Song has always been amazing. Not even Boss Broken Halberd can maintain a 100% win rate over him. This is as far as he goes though. If it was Boss Broken Halberd we were fighting, he would¡¯ve killed at least 100 of us before we finally killed him!" I interrupted their conversation, "Hey, stop talking behind my back. Anyway, how is the situation over there, Little Gui, Little Rain, You and Yun?" Gui Guzi answered, "We encountered Warsky Alliance¡¯s main guild as expected. Warsky, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Farewell Song. and October Rain and so on are all here. Their party is five thousand strong, and we¡¯ve been charging them for almost half an hour or so. We managed to kill Laughing At The Heavens, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, and almost 3000 players. However, we also lost over 500 people." Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun added, "It¡¯s not as bad as it sounds. On the contrary, we managed to send Warsky packing when we clashed against him, and when Lin Bing Dou Zhe stayed behind to protect the rear, hehe, Little Gui stabbed him five times in a row and deleted him from the game while Little Rain covered for him! It was amazing!" I replied, "If you haven¡¯t done it yet, I suggest you use Flying General when you¡¯re chasing after them, and Knight God after you caught up with them. This alone should be enough to scare the shit out of Farewell Song and Warsky." Gui Guzi laughed. "You are exactly right. We chased them like a train and hit them like a truck, and we killed almost ten thousand of their elite players and half of their main guild with this tactic. You know, You and Yun was like a fly who saw a dung every time he caught sight of Warsky Alliance¡¯s main guild¡­" The corner of my mouth twitched. "That¡¯s one hell of a metaphor alright¡­" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun sweared. "Fuck you, Little Gui!" Heaven¡¯s Rain giggled. "How are you guys doing, Lu Chen?" I thought for a moment before replying, "Our casualties are approaching the 2000 mark. It¡¯s fine, just keep doing what you¡¯re doing. We should be able to hold on for another hour or so, so you¡¯ll use your return scrolls and teleport back to Dark Moon City in an hour, no matter the battle result. Got it?" "Loud and clear!" everyone replied in unison. ¡­¡­ Boom boom boom! The sky was alight with skills like Galaxy Storms and Spiraling Arrow Blades, and the ground was aflame with Barrier Breaks. Our fighters were so powerful that a lot of enemy players actually shied away from the frontline and just let their ranged players do all the attacking. People were dying every second, and our guild was no exception. The good news was our offense was so powerful that Hall of Immortality had lost most of their players. We even managed to rout the first subguild of Hall of Immortality completely. Li Chengfeng had taken the risk of charging their guild leader and killing him with a combo amid their players. Eventually, the enemy¡¯s 30000 troops dwindled to less than 4000. Soon after, they gave up and withdrew. The battlefield was overflowing with the stench of fire and smoke. The heaps of bodies were big enough, but the hills of equipment and potions were even bigger. No one was moved by the literal mountains of treasures, however. All I did was organize some people to clear out the area within 20 yards away from our formation. Surprisingly, there were a lot of top-tier Purple Gold and Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment. Since I had brought my guild here to die, they definitely deserved some compensation. ¡­¡­ Drip. Drip. Blood trickled down my Cyan Netherworld Sword. The mountain wind only enhanced the mournful atmosphere of war further. Chaos Moon¡¯s metal armor was also covered in blood. She pushed aside the hair hanging in front of her head before letting out a sigh. "I didn¡¯t know you can get tired from hacking at enemies." Xu Yang said solemnly, "This is a harsh one. We killed over 20000 people, but we also lost almost 3000 as a result. There are less than 4000 of us left, and most of our casualties are archers and tamers. Finally, we lost over 300 frontliners in this fight. Our defense is severely lacking." I nodded. "Prepare to fight to the death in the next wave. This time, the elites of their main guilds will show up for sure!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ A ray of dawn broke from the horizon, and a lone rider slowly galloped toward us. He was the guild leader of Hall of Immortality, and a legend in Vanished God City. A couple lines of text floated brightly above his head¡ª Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch LV-137 Platinum Berserk Knight Guild: Hall of Immortality Position: Guild Leader ¡­¡­ Chapter 600: Going Head to Head with Hall of Immortality Li Chengfeng stabbed his long sword into the ground as he wiped the sweat from his forehead and laughed. "It seems like we won¡¯t be able to hold off this wave. The main and subguilds of Hall of Immortality have joined forces and are about a hundred thousand men strong. They have 25 times more people than us, which also means that each and every one of us will have to kill 25 enemies to emerge victorious." Xu Yang chuckled. "A few of us may be able to pull that feat off, but that¡¯s gonna be a tall order for most of our players. Besides, Hall of Immortality also has an expert who can take on 25 players at one go. I¡¯ve heard that the Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch is an extremely powerful fighter whose mechanical control and equipment are top-notch. Furthermore, Hall of Immortality has always been able to go head to head with Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ guild, Blazing Hot Lips." I lowered my Cyan Netherworld Sword and laughed. "Who cares? As you can see, we have successfully stopped the several hundred thousand players which make up the forces of Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker, and Rose of the Holy Domain, from entering our territory. We absolutely can¡¯t afford to retreat before Gui Guzi and his riders return to Dark Moon City. The moment they enter the valley, they will have a clear path of Dark Moon City, and I¡¯m afraid that we won¡¯t be able to hold them off if that happens." Chaos Moon gave a heavy nod of her head. "Yeah, Lu Chen is right! If we can stall them for two to four hours by sacrificing the 7000 players here, it will be a huge win for us. We definitely can¡¯t lose Dark Moon City, no matter what! Otherwise, we will lose our dominant position in Sky City and even idiotic guilds like Warsky Alliance, Gods of Destruction, and Hegemon Palace will be able to laugh at us!" "Get ready! Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch is charging toward us! We¡¯re about to clash against the main force of Hall of Immortality!" ¡­¡­ Battle cries rang in the air as the players of Hall of Immortality started to surge toward us like a swarm of locusts. The entrance to the valley could normally only hold a few hundred players, but now, nearly ten thousand players had squeezed themselves into this tight space. The enemy vanguard brandished their weapons as they charged toward us in heated excitement. They yelled, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has looked down on Hall of Immortality and Vanished God City time and time again! Let¡¯s give them a taste of Vanished God City¡¯s strongest guild today!" "Rubbish!" Li Chengfeng spat on the ground in disgust as he pulled his Tempest Sword out from the ground. He laughed heartily and shouted, "Brothers and sisters, prepare for battle! Let¡¯s show this bunch of idiots who the real kings of the battlefield are!" "Attack!" "Far Shot!" Since we had the geographical advantage, Beiming Xue and her archers could draw first blood. As they sent a storm of arrows raining down on Hall of Immortality, the fighters at the front of their formation tumbled to the ground as if they had been pierced by venomous spikes. After that, they were mercilessly trampled on by their comrades behind them. Moonlight Stone and her mages waved their staves in the air as they started casting their huge AoE spells. Galaxy Storms soon exploded inside the enemy formation, tearing armor and flesh alike into shreds. The enemy hadn¡¯t drawn close enough for us melee combatants to engage them, but our long-range players had already struck them a terrible blow. "Charge!" A Level 136 warrior dressed in golden battle armor charged in like a raging gale. A Spirit Monkey pet ran in behind him as he darted forward and sent a slash toward Li Chengfeng¡¯s left shoulder. Clang! 7893! Li Chengfeng had been battling against another magic knight so he was caught off-guard by this attack. The slash took a chunk out of his HP, causing him to growl in anger. He quickly shifted to the side and swung his sword toward the brazen warrior. He activated Barrier Break mid-swing and sent the swirling energy crashing into the warrior¡¯s chest. 14909! That warrior was actually a guild leader of a subguild. He grinned evilly before he laughed out loud. "Heh, that¡¯s all there is to the Legendary Brave?! Brothers, get rid of him!" However, he was already swiftly retreating even as he yelled those impudent words out. It was clear that he knew that he wasn¡¯t Li Chengfeng¡¯s match and his attack had been a mere show of bravado to encourage his players. Li Chengfeng clenched his teeth furiously and growled, "You actually think you can escape?" The dragon warrior¡¯s calves bulged before he exploded forward like a bolt of furious lightning. His superior speed allowed him to instantly catch up to that guild leader. As he appeared in front of the hapless warrior, he drove a heavy uppercut into his opponent¡¯s jaw. After that, he instantly crouched down into a classic Batt¨­d¨­ stance and performed a quick-draw strike, hitting the poor warrior with a Dragonbone Flurry + Cyan Dragon Horn right in the chest. A string of damage numbers popped up above the warrior¡¯s head as he fell to the ground with a dull cry. He probably hadn¡¯t expected the dragon warrior to be this powerful. Coming here may have been easy, but returning home wouldn¡¯t be! At this exact moment, Li Chengfeng¡¯s body suddenly shook violently. He had been stunned by a Level 134 archer! Even though it only lasted for a short two seconds, even that amount of time was fatal on the battlefield! "Focus your attacks on the dragon warrior!" No one saw who shouted that command, but it instantly caused a group of mages and archers to press forward and launch their attacks at him. Arrows and spells fell down toward Li Chengfeng like rain! I immediately exclaimed in great shock, "Priests, heal Li Chengfeng! Chaos Moon, come with me! We¡¯re gonna go rescue him!" Li Chengfeng¡¯s HP rapidly dropped below 20% right before our eyes. Luckily, Moon Dew¡¯s instant healing spells managed to keep him on his feet. Otherwise, he might have already been killed a few times. Boom! Chaos Moon¡¯s Rock Crush exploded inside the crowd of people! Her Bone Scythe set was extremely powerful, so a single attack from her was enough to send shudders down most people¡¯s spines. This was especially true, however, for archers and mages. Her Rock Crush ignored defensive skills, and Magic Shield of mages was no exception! However, Chaos Moon wouldn¡¯t be enough to save Li Chengfeng, who had gotten himself into a real pickle this time. Wooosh! I activated Thunderous Charge and streaked forward like a bolt of lightning, planting myself exactly ten yards in front of Li Chengfeng. My Cyan Netherworld Sword glowed brilliantly as I stomped my foot violently on the ground, light exploding up from under it. My War Crush instantly caused the surrounding archers and mages to fall to the ground in heaps. But I wasn¡¯t done yet! I immediately hurled my sword toward a row of archers in the distance, the Cyan Netherworld Sword quickly transforming into a spinning buzzsaw of death. As my Sword Boomerang tore through flesh and bone, a chorus of misery rang out in its wake. Thud! I firmly caught the handle of the Cyan Netherworld Sword as it returned to my grasp and immediately unleashed a Thousand Ice Slash. Even though it didn¡¯t hit anyone, this attack immediately froze Hall of Immortality players approaching us in their tracks. Not a single one of them dared to take even a step forward. Li Chengfeng had just managed to survive the onslaught. He let out a hearty laugh as he said, "Thanks for saving me, Lu Chen! Retreat quickly! I¡¯ll cover you!" "Alright!" Our intervention had allowed Li Chengfeng to get his second wind and recover nearly all of his HP. Meanwhile, my HP had dropped to less than 70%. Damn, the levels of these Hall of Immortality players were especially high and all of them possessed good gear. Their attacks were even powerful enough to penetrate my incredible defenses. I retreated quickly as Li Chengfeng¡¯s Reverse Scale Slash exploded inside a crowd of players. His AoE attack was so devastating that it caused Hall of Immortality players to reel backward in shock. It was at this moment that they finally started to realize just what kind of opponent they were dealing with. Pchht! Pchht! Pchht! The players from Hall of Immortality had finally managed to reach our formation. As players from both sides started to rush forward to meet their opponents, swirling spirals of fiery energy suddenly appeared around the weapons of a few dozen members from Hall of Immortality. To our shock and dismay, they actually had quite a number of players who could use Barrier Break! However, more than four hundred of our players immediately responded with Barrier Breaks of their own, causing cries of misery to echo throughout the enemy¡¯s formation! "What the fuck!" A Level 132 warrior from Hall of Immortality turned pale with fright as he shouted angrily, "Who was the bastard that said that the elite fighters of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls weren¡¯t here! Fucking hell! How are we supposed to fight when so many of them have Barrier Break¡­" Hall of Immortality¡¯s vanguard was being slaughtered mercilessly. However experts like Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and I didn¡¯t dare stand out too much either. After all, we didn¡¯t want to be marked as targets for the enemy. Instead, we blended in together with the rest of the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players as we ripped through the enemy as best as we could. Skills like Thousand Ice Slash, Burning Blade Slash, Rock Crush, Reverse Scale Slash, Mountain Stagger Slash, and Xiezhi Howl tore into Hall of Immortality¡¯s fighters with impunity, sending them reeling back in shock and despair. However, the overwhelming gap in numbers could not be closed by the presence of a few ace fighters. Our enemy had the absolute advantage in terms of firepower and healing, and they had at least two to five times the number of archers and mages we had. Though Beiming Xue and our archer contingent were very strong, there seemed to be an endless horde of enemy players for them to kill. ¡­¡­ Our men started to fall one after another as they were enveloped by heavy fire. This was especially true for our archers and mages, who were being targeted by the enemy. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch stared at the battlefield from a distance with a stern expression on his face as he stood on top of a large cyan boulder. He lifted his sword high in the air before he let out a hearty laugh and yelled, "Keep attacking! Don¡¯t even give them a chance to catch their breaths!" "Dammit¡­" Xu Yang glared at the distant Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch and shouted angrily, "Hall of Immortality¡¯s guild leader is a damn coward! He just sits there even as his comrades are selling their lives on the battlefield!" I nodded my head in agreement before I said, "That¡¯s true. But we won¡¯t have the chance to cut the head from the snake if he doesn¡¯t engage us in battle¡­" Li Chengfeng asked, "Should I form a headhunting squad to assassinate him?" I rolled my eyes at him and said, "Assassinate my ass! Before you get a mount, don¡¯t even dream of rushing through an army to take the head of its general! Given our current HP and speed, we¡¯d be blown off the face of the earth by the enemy¡¯s Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms before we could even make it halfway there!" Li Chengfeng shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Damn, even though what you said is the damn truth, it¡¯s really annoying to hear you put it that way¡­" That was simply the harsh reality of things. When engaged in a battle of this scale, only a troop of charging riders would be able to accomplish what Li Chengfeng had just suggested. One or two warriors simply wouldn¡¯t be able to do it, especially if their target was being as tightly protected as Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. ¡­¡­ My Cyan Netherworld Sword glowed brightly as it summoned the Cyan Netherworld Divine Dragon. The image of a divine dragon erupted from my sword and wreaked havoc in the enemy¡¯s midst, instantly taking the lives of nearly a hundred enemies around me. Less than six seconds later, my Silver Dragon Ring glowed brilliantly and a Silver Dragon Storm ripped into a bunch of enemy players, instantly carving out a clear space in front of me. However, the players from Hall of Immortality had already been overcome by their bloodlust. They threw all caution to the wind as they surged forward in neverending waves. There seemed to be no end to our enemies as one player instantly stepped up to replace the next. Bang! Bang! Bang! Beiming Xue¡¯s Evil Spirit Volley exploded amidst the crowd and took the lives of more than a dozen enemy fighters . She quickly followed that up with a Spiraling Arrow Blade that one-shot a few more fighters. The dark archer was absolutely dominating the battlefield right now! She was a sniper who casually picked off her targets from afar while suffering no retaliation. The only things her enemies could do was grit their teeth in anger as they helplessly watched their comrades die. Boom! Chaos Moon¡¯s Rock Crush sent cyan rocks flying at her enemies as she laughed. "Sigh, even if we died here, it would totally be worth it. We just started fighting but I¡¯ve already earned so many guild contribution points¡­" I burst out into laughter hearing the innocent remark. But she was right. Before the battle started we declared this a guild activity and turned on the guild contribution point system. During this period, killing players or monsters would yield points. The higher the enemy¡¯s level, the higher the reward! That was also the reason why I would love to kill Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch! I would definitely earn a lot of contribution points if I managed to pull it off and in the future, I could use these contribution points to get any boss drops I wanted when the guild went boss hunting again. Ah, what a beautiful thing that would be... ¡­¡­ "Arghhhh¡­" Five Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls fighters near me cried out in misery as they collapsed to the ground. Unfortunately for us, most of them were experts who had learned Barrier Break. Damn it all to hell, no one will be able to endure this continuous "baptism" of Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms for much longer! Chapter 601: Ghost Riders I shot a Thousand Ice Slash at a group of enemies, causing flying ice flowers to explode all around them. A group of warriors was frozen to the ground, their eyes widening in shock when they realized that they could not move. However, they didn¡¯t even have much HP left after they got hit by my Thousand Ice Slash, so Beiming Xue simply fired off an Evil Spirit Volley which accurately landed on each of the surviving fighters with a thud. Every single one of her arrows had a hit target and killed them, drawing a gasp of admiration from the archers around her. This ultimate display of skill had simply left them dumbfounded. "Fuck, that archer is freaking powerful!" a Hall of Immortality player gasped in stunned shock. "Fucking hell, that must be the legendary Dark Drcher Beiming Xue. Her attacks are way too powerful! Hehe, but I also heard that she¡¯s really beautiful and has a rocking figure to boot¡­" "Let¡¯s get out of here! What the fuck are you even thinking about at this critical stage in the game!" ¡­¡­ The unsuccessful yet relentless waves of attacks had still caused serious damage to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. In less than half an hour, our numbers fell from four thousand to two thousand. However, we had killed almost ten as many people on the Hall of Immortality¡¯s side with our superior individual firepower. Our archers and warriors had done so much damage to them that majority of Hall of Immortality approached us with trepidation painted on their faces. We had lost two thousand people, but we¡¯d also killed at least thirty thousand enemy players. This was simply unacceptable to Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. He waved his sword forward and yelled, "Old Four, Old Six, you¡¯re up next! Use your long-range firepower to get rid of Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Legendary Brave. They¡¯re causing our troops way too much trouble!" "Yes!" two archers yelled as they unslung their bows. I immediately shot a glance toward them. They were both at least Level 135 and they held the exact same bow in their hands. It was a longbow that flickered with purple light. The body of the bow was deep blue and there were purple-colored symbols etched onto it. For some odd reason, those bows looked extremely familiar. A jolt ran through my spine once I realized what those bows were! Fucking hell! It was the signature fifth-promotion weapon for the Archer class¡ªThunder! Thunder¡¯s Outstanding Property was "Thunderous Strike", which gave the user a chance to trigger an attack that would deal a defense-ignoring critical hit on an unlucky target. It was an extremely powerful passive and Clear Perfume¡¯s Thunder worked in the exact same way. Every time she triggered "Thunderous Strike", it would give one unlucky armored player the scare of their lives. "Great Shot, who do we kill first?" Bloodthirsty Sharpshooter asked. Great Shot laughed and said, "Let¡¯s leave the two main dishes for later. How about we kill that High Fighting Spirits first? That bastard¡¯s been fighting frantically over there and he¡¯s killed an awful lot of comrades. Fucking hell, I¡¯ve been wanting to kill him for a while, but boss didn¡¯t let me. Now that an opportunity has arrived, I say we use our Volleys to take care of him!" "Sounds good!" ¡­¡­ My heart sank as I anxiously yelled, "Fighting Spirits, be careful! Those two archers are gunning for you!" High Fighting Spirits raised Invincible high in the air as he let out a great roar of laughter, "Let those sons of bitches come then! I ain¡¯t afraid of them!" As he said that, High Fighting Spirit swung Invincible through the air as he mowed through the enemy players like a whirlwind. Broken bits of armor flew wherever his axe fell and he looked absolutely invincible in this moment. I clenched my teeth in frustration. Ah, this dumbass! Once he sees red, he doesn¡¯t listen to anyone! Not even me! Argh, he¡¯s actually charging forward? He¡¯s just looking for a quick death at this point! Clang! Clang! Two Barrier Breaks smacked into my chestplate, shaking me out of my reverie. There were two stern-faced warriors, who were both over Level 130, standing right in front of me. Both of them weren¡¯t opponents I could take lightly and I had taken more than twenty thousand damage from their Barrier Breaks, dropping my health to below 50%... "You¡¯re dead!" I yelled. I waved my left hand at one of them as I stepped forward, causing four divine weapons to whistle down from the sky and surround and bind one of the warriors! "What?!" the warrior exclaimed in great shock, but he couldn¡¯t struggle free from my God Binding Art. I pounced forward and light erupted from my Cyan Netherworld Sword. It whistled through the air as I executed a Burning Blade Slash, causing three blades of flaming sword energy to smash into that warrior¡¯s armor! This punk had lightning-quick reaction speed and he swiftly entered into a defensive stance, causing three rather sad damage numbers to pop up above his head. 2782! 4788! 7912! Argh, I didn¡¯t manage to kill him! However, I was expecting the warrior to pull off something like this, so after the third strike hit him, I immediately lashed out with a Crushing Blow. The interval between my third strike and my Crushing Blow was 150 milliseconds, and that was practically the limit at which the human brain could operate. A shocked expression appeared on the warrior¡¯s face, but he knew that there was no way that he could dodge this attack. 31092! Got ¡¯em! Awesome! Even as I one-shot the warrior with my Crushing Blow, I felt a fiery pain erupt from my shoulder. A huge chunk of my HP was shaved off as the other warrior hit me with a Blaze. Rustle... I smoothly slid to the side of the remaining warrior as an Eight Trigrams formation suddenly blazed up under my feet. In the next instant, the warrior¡¯s face was illuminated by an indigo light as I skewered him in the chest with a Universe Break! 27894! Okay, I had successfully one-shot another player! Even though these two warriors from the Hall of Immortality had been very strong, they weren¡¯t a match for me! If they had deliberately sought me out, then that was truly nothing less than seeking their own deaths! After I had finished killing those two high-level warriors, I looked up to check after High Fighting Spirits. He had just finished chopping up a dozen players when the two super archers from Hall of Immortality finally decided to make their move! He was in trouble now! They each had Volley X, so they launched twelves arrows at High Fighting Spirits each. Their mechanical skills were extremely good. They managed to hit the warrior with nine arrows each, a 75% success rate! Impressive! "HAH!" High Fighting Spirits yelled as he thrust out his battle axe in front of him. He had already assumed a defensive posture and this was the only way that he could endure the storm of arrows that was coming his way. As arrows thudded off his body, damage numbers began to pop up above High Fighting Spirits¡¯ head. The arrows were only hitting him for about 400 damage, but the fatal blow hadn¡¯t come yet! All of the sudden, Great Shot¡¯s Thunder flared with purple light as a lightning arrow formed on the bow! In the next instant, he let that arrow fly and it plunged straight into High Fighting Spirits¡¯ chest! Booom! 17899! That Defense-ignoring blow was way too fierce! Moon Dew swiftly went to heal High Fighting Spirits, but her healing simply couldn¡¯t keep up with the damage the two archers were pouring on. Soon, Bloodthirsty Sharpshooter¡¯s Thunder also flared up with purple light and another lightning arrow streaked toward the warrior! Pchht! It punched into High Fighting Spirits¡¯ breastplate and did 19042 points of damage. That was more damage than High Fighting Spirits could take right now. As his HP dropped to zero, our foolish warrior slowly sank to his knees, but that wasn¡¯t the worst thing that happened. His weapon, Invincible, had actually dropped to the ground along with his corpse! ¡­¡­ "Fuck!" I roared as I hefted my sword and dashed forward anxiously, but it was all too late. I could only watch as an enemy player stretched out to pick up the Invincible battle axe that was lying on the ground. This Invincible battle axe was High Fighting Spirits¡¯ beloved treasure and trademark, and he would be utterly inconsolable if he really did end up losing it. My vision immediately went red as I started charging forward recklessly. I was well aware that I could not get the weapon back, but I still continued to rush toward the enemy. Brilliant flashes of light erupted out of my Cyan Netherworld Sword as I cut down any foe who tried to stop my inexorable advance. It was at this exact moment that the player who had scooped Invincible let out a stifled groan as a blazing sword burst out from his chest. He fell to the ground like a wet sack as a small mountain of items fell from his corpse. His killer had unexpectedly been a beautiful female warrior dressed in spiky, bone-like armor. Her sharp sword in hand, she grinned and bent down to scoop up a blood-colored battle axe. "Ah, High Fighting Spirits, you dumbass! To think that I¡¯d have to come and wipe your backside for you¡­" All the tension instantly bled out of my body as a smile crept up on my face. Alright! Chaos Moon had solved the problem with her awesome "Plunder" stratagem. It really caused any opponent she killed to drop a ton of items. The assassin she had just skewered had practically dropped everything but his underwear! I really need to avoid offending this savage woman at all costs! "Chaos Moon, get back here!" I yelled. "Okay!" Chaos Moon threw Invincible into her bag before swiftly running back toward our defense line. As she backpedaled, she launched a Rock Crush behind her to stop anyone from chasing after her. ¡­¡­ The battle was growing so violent and desperate that even an expert like High Fighting Spirits had been cut down, so could our regular players be doing any better? Thud! Thud! The two ace archers launched a Volley at another one of our main fighters! As arrows rained down on our hapless warrior, he was eventually skewered by a streak of lightning that ended his misery. I gritted my teeth in anger and grudging admiration. Great Shot and Bloodthirsty Sharpshooter were extremely clever, they were using Volley to trigger their bow¡¯s "Thunderous Strike" passive since there was a 10% chance it would proc with every attack. Basically every Volley would give them twelve chances to proc that effect, which made it very likely that they would get off one Thunderous Strike per Volley. This was how they were picking off our fighters one by one. I turned around and yelled, "Little Xue, come here! Let¡¯s work together and get rid of those two archers first! They¡¯ve been a serious pain in the ass!" "Let¡¯s do it, big bro!" Beiming Xue agilely ran down the boulder she was standing on and crept up behind me. This way, the enemy wouldn¡¯t be able to tell that she was there and I would also be able to use my body to shield her from any attacks if our plan got exposed. It was also a good time to start, because Great Shot had set his eyes on Chaos Moon! Chaos Moon shot me a quick glance and immediately understood what I was about to do. After that, she started to retreat in a seemingly inadvertent manner to extend the distance between herself and Great Shot. I stared at Great Shot with extreme concentration as he slowly inched forward. Once he had entered Beiming Xue¡¯s range, I immediately yelled, "Little Xue, strike now!" Beming Xue had been waiting for my command all this while, arrow nocked in her bow. The moment I ducked aside, my fluttering Soul Suppressing Cloak revealed the little beauty who had been standing behind me. In the next instant, a pinpoint Shock Arrow had punched into Great Shot¡¯s chest! 13092! She had also successfully stunned him! Joy leapt up in my chest as I dashed forward and shot a Dragon Slaying Slash at him! Bang! 19803! Just as I had predicted, our combined attack had successfully taken out Great Shot! Bloodthirsty Sharpshooter felt a chill run down his spine as he cursed, "Fuck, how the hell did they do that¡­" ¡­¡­ "Big bro, there¡¯s still one more left!" Beiming Xue cried as she pulled her bow back and launched an Evil Spirit Volley at Bloodthirsty Sharpshooter. As twelve arrows streaked toward the archer like bolts of lightning, he reacted with blinding speed. He hurriedly dashed backward and dodged the first few arrows of Beiming Xue¡¯s Evil Spirit Volley, but it was all for naught. Beiming Xue had already predicted that Bloodthirsty Sharpshooter would be able to dodge the first wave of arrows, so she had placed the last few arrows further behind him. Bloodthirsty Sharpshooter had been pinned in place by Beiming Xue¡¯s clever placement of her arrows and had no choice but to bring himself to a sudden stop! This is my chance! I dashed forward and hurled my Cyan Netherworld Sword out with all of my might. The sword instantly transformed into a buzzing whirlwind of death as it spun toward Bloodthirsty Sharpshooter and tore through his body! 17672! Beiming Xue immediately launched a Spiraling Arrow Blade at him, finishing the archer off. ¡­¡­ The muscles on Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s spasmed violently as a high-level assassin said in a stern voice, "Guild leader, we can¡¯t afford to hold anything back any longer! Falling Dust, Beiming Xue, Legendary Brave, Chaos Moon are all god-tier players in Sky City. If this continues on, our entire army of 100000 will be ground to dust before we even see the gates of Dark Moon City. We¡¯ve already lost nearly fifty thousand men. We really can¡¯t afford to hold back any longer! It¡¯s time to use our trump card!" Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s eyes went cold as he nodded his head and said, "Fine. Mobilize the Ghost Riders!" ¡­¡­ The sound of thundering hooves reverberated in the air above us as the Hall of Immortality player in front of us scattered like straws in the wind. "Oh, what¡¯s happening?" Chaos Moon asked, her eyes as wide as saucers. "Is the Hall of Immortality about to admit defeat? Heehee, how interesting! They¡¯re gonna give up¡­" I shook my head in disagreement. "I¡¯m afraid that isn¡¯t going to be the case¡­" Li Chengfeng nodded his head as well. "Yeah, I have a bad feeling about this. Fucking hell, I have a feeling that our goose is about to be cooked¡­" ¡­¡­ A group of armored cavalrymen appeared on the horizon, a blood-colored skull floating above all of their shoulders. That was the emblem of the Hall of Immortality¡¯s main guild. As the riders slowly emerged, we realized that there were at least five thousand of them. All of them were riding on the same mount, a ghostly warhorse with a horn on its head, and they looked extremely intimidating as they lined up in a column. A look of shock and dismay simultaneously flashed through the eyes of all the tattered survivors in our guild. Clang! Chapter 602: A Company Of Heroes Li Chengfeng and I looked at each other in dismay. Li Chengfeng asked, "Lil Beiming, what are the stats of those mounts? Are they better than our Cyan Tiger mounts?" Beiming Xue laughed and replied, "Of course not! Our Cyan Tiger Cavalry is definitely superior! This is the cavalry troop that big bro went through great pains to create, you know! Those Ghost Riders are only using Dark Gold Rank Level 120 undead mounts. They¡¯re one entire rank lower than our Cyan Tiger mounts and their stats are 40% worse too! They can¡¯t even compare. However, if these seven thousand Ghost Riders decide to charge at us, we definitely won¡¯t be able to hold them off with the number of people that we have left." I nodded. "To hell with it! We will fight to the death! Archers and mages, I want you to climb onto boulders or climb to high places and fight on high ground! warriors, all of you are to come with me! Even if we die, we need to kill as many of these Ghost Riders as we possibly can! Fucking hell! Who the hell does Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch even think he is? He actually dares to come to Sky City to try to intimidate us?! Then let¡¯s show him who¡¯s boss! Right now, we don¡¯t even have two hundred warriors left, but we¡¯re just the appetizers! Once we die, it will be time for the Knight God Gui Guzi and his 3000 strong Cyan Tiger Cavalry to face off against these Ghost Riders! That¡¯s when the Hall of Immortality will truly understand the saying ¡®there will always be a taller mountain, there will always be something higher in the sky¡¯!" Xu Yang pumped his fist in the air and laughed loudly. "Lu Chen is right! It doesn¡¯t matter how many of them we manage to kill now. This diversion can already be considered a success, right?!" Li Chengfeng let out a great laugh as he nodded his head. "That¡¯s right! It¡¯s time to get back to killing! The more we kill, the better!" ¡­¡­ Rumble! At this moment, the earth started shaking violently as the seven thousand Ghost Riders started thundering toward us! Most of their magic knights were wielding spears while their wanderers were carrying cavalry sabers. The rays of morning glinted off their blades coldly as their fierce war cries echoed throughout the valley. Whoosh! Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch was riding on a large Ghostly Skeleton Horse that seemed to be the boss version of his Ghost Riders¡¯ mounts. He rushed toward the head of the formation as he raised his sword in the air and yelled, "Charge forward and kill them all! Shatter these foot soldiers from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Let them know that this era is now the era of mounted combat! Hahahaha! His grating laughter rang in our ears as Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng, and I started to gather our forces into a tight formation. We had less than two hundred warriors left, so we could no longer even form a proper battle line anymore. In fact, it would be quite remarkable if we could even withstand the first wave of the enemy cavalry¡¯s charge. The rumbling sound of hooves striking the ground started to get louder and louder as the 7000 Ghost Riders thundered toward us at full speed. The riders readied their weapons as they glared at us with a fierce look in their eyes. Rustle... I took a step forward, raised my Cyan Netherworld Sword and growled, "Be careful everyone! Don¡¯t meet these riders head-on! Their charge will stun you if you don¡¯t dodge it! Remember, mounted troops are at their strongest when they can launch an organized assault that rips through the enemy formation. Focus on dodging and using skills to slow down their charge. Their attacks will be a lot weaker once their speed drops!" "Yessir!" One of our fighters, a Level 132 warrior, rushed out to meet the charging horsemen with a battle cry. His sword shot toward the rider at the head of the enemy¡¯s formation as fiery energy started swirling around its tip. Barrier Break! Crack! 9056! However, the enemy rider merely shrugged off that hit with a small shudder. He continued riding forward as he swung his sword into the right shoulder of the brave warrior. 7290! As the first rider rode past the warrior, another horseman rushed past him and struck him with his spear. The horsemen streamed forward like a raging torrent and the poor warrior simply couldn¡¯t defend himself from this stream of constant attacks. He wildly swung his sword in the air until a spear savagely punched into his chest! He fell to his knees with an unceremonious thud as he died. Everyone was struck dumb by what they had just witnessed. This warrior had been strong enough to survive up to this point, but he had simply been overwhelmed by the torrent of blows that rained down on his head. No one had expected him to die without even being able to strike back once! "Here they come!" Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch roared with laughter as he charged forward with his horde of Ghost Riders. He lifted his heavy sword in the air and pointed it at Li Chengfeng. A spiral of flaming energy erupted from its tip as he lashed out toward the dragon warrior. He had actually been able to use Barrier Break while he was using Charge! Clang! Li Chengfeng¡¯s body swayed gently to the side as he knocked Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s blade away with a flick of his Tempest Sword. Then, he swiftly spun around and slashed the berserk knight across the back, dealing 5092 damage to him. However, the horsemen behind him charged in too quickly for either Li Chengfeng or I to react. We no longer had any time to dodge! My Cyan Netherworld Sword exploded outward as Thousand Ice Slash burst from my blade and smashed into the rushing horsemen. Snowflakes danced in the air as the horsemen at the head of the pack were suddenly frozen in place. The Ghost Riders behind them couldn¡¯t stop in time and started colliding into the frozen horsemen! The sound of metal and flesh colliding resounded in the air as players trampled over and got tangled up with each other. When this excellent opportunity presented itself to me, I immediately leaped forward and swung my sword in the air three times. Three fiery crescents of sword energy shot out of my sword and slammed into the densely-packed group of riders, causing a string of damage numbers to pop up into the air. Wails of misery instantly rang out in the air as the damage from my splash attacks ended the lives of these helpless horsemen. I grinned with satisfaction. With just a single blow, I had ended more than twenty lives. Boom! As Chaos Moon¡¯s Rock Crush exploded inside a crowd of people, a rider who only had half his HP left charged out of the morass. A fiery spiral of energy swirled around the top of his spear as he thrust it toward Chaos Moon¡¯s chest. "Hmph¡­" Chaos Moon gave a soft sniff of disdain as she saw the rider charge toward her. She shifted her body ever so slightly to the side as the blade of her sword knocked away her opponents spear. After that, she used her free hand to grab the handle of the spear as the same fiery energy started swirling around the tip of her blade. In one smooth action, she yanked the spear toward her as her sword dove toward the magic knight¡¯s throat! 19045! An instant death! The magic knight¡¯s body tumbled off the warhorse before it could disappear and the riders behind it swerved away to avoid a collision. Chaos Moon immediately took advantage of that small break to activate Charge. She smashed into one of the horsemen with a loud thump, stunning him instantly. After that, she swiped her blade across his throat, killing him then and there. Every single action she had taken had been precise and calculated, and she had used excellent pathing to minimize the damage she would take. Xu Yang¡¯s mechanical skill was very much lacking when compared to Chaos Moon. He could only stand in one spot and take the enemy¡¯s blows as they came. However, he possessed a skill that was the bane of all riders! He savagely swung his sword in the air as he yelled, "Get down from your mounts! Mountain Stagger Slash!" Boom! The image of a cyan boulder overlaid itself over his sword before it launched itself toward the horsemen rushing to claim Xu Yang¡¯s life. The mighty blow instantly exhausted the tenacity of all their mounts, causing them to disappear from under them. As these Ghost Riders suddenly transformed back into foot soldiers, the cavalrymen behind them couldn¡¯t stop their charge, so the hooves of their warhorses soon stomped down mercilessly on their own comrades. Meanwhile, Xu Yang stood his ground and activated Ironback Bear Armor as he swung his sword left and right. He clashed head-on with the enemy cavalry and it was clear that he had no intention to retreat at all. A few priests were pumping healing spells into Xu Yang to keep him alive as they crouched down on a boulder not far behind him. ¡­¡­ Clang! Clang! Clang! Sparks flew up in the air as countless weapons crashed against my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor, causing my Ghost Deity Armor to buzz and hum as it took hit after hit. Even though the enemy Ghost Riders were extremely strong, very few of them had actually learned Barrier Break. Thus, thanks to my absurd Defense, most of their attacks could only deal 1000¨C2000 damage to me. If this was all they got, I could use Tenacity of the Dead and my Saint Spirit Potions to keep fighting to the end. I unloaded Burning Blade Slash onto another group of horsemen, instantly killing dozens of them! After that, I stomped down hard and used War Crush to kill every rider in a 5-yard radius around me. Pity, there were simply too many of them and the elite Ghost Riders continued to pour toward us like an endless tide. There were just too many of them for us to kill! Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon still swung their swords tirelessly even as they slowly started to get overwhelmed by the onrushing cavalry. Their Strength was lower than mine, so they were actually sent flying into the air when a rider smashed into them with their mount. However, they immediately bounced back to their feet and unleashed Rock Crush and Reverse Scale Slash on their enemies. Even though the fighting was growing more and more vicious, they didn¡¯t let up one bit. Even as we were slaughtering all comers, the other fighters of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were still getting devastated by these Ghost Riders. The horsemen sent them flying by virtue of the superior power they had while mounted and the warriors of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls started dropping like flies as the riders slashed down at them with their weapons. In less than ten minutes, only Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, and I were left alive. This battle was so savage and relentless that it left the ground strewn with bodies and items, but no one was even bothering to pick any of these items up. Boom! Boom! Boom! Beiming Xue¡¯s Evil Spirit Volleys and Spiraling Arrow Blades continued to rain down on the Ghost Riders, her attacks cutting through them like a hot knife through butter. The splash damage from her Evil Spirit Volleys and two Spiraling Arrow Blades was enough to kill a horseman at full health. Due to her insane damage and range, I was very confident that she had killed even more riders than I had. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch seethed with rage as he watched the battle unfold. It was clear that things weren¡¯t going according to his plan. He pointed his sword at one of the distant boulders as he roared, "First squad! I want all of you to dismount and climb up those boulders! We need to get rid of those mages, archers, and priests, pronto!" It was evident that both sides were growing increasingly desperate. ¡­¡­ As he roared in pain, Xu Yang stubbornly held his ground and slashed at the enemies around him. However, his battle armor had practically been reduced to metal fragments under the relentless attacks of the enemy cavalry and when it finally broke, his Defense was reduced to nothing and he finally sank to his knees in defeat. Without the defensive stats provided by his armor, even a god-tier healer wouldn¡¯t be able to keep him alive. I quickly looked down to take a glance at my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor. It was full of dents, cracks, and tears too, and it was clear that it wasn¡¯t going to hold out for much longer. This battle was really too fierce, so there was no way that my equipment could hold up under the continuous stress of battle. Boom! I heard Rock Crush exploding among a group of people in the distance as I tried to search for Chaos Moon in the crowd. I could not see her anywhere but heard her faint voice over the guild¡¯s chat, "That¡¯s it for me. Lu Chen, Li Chengfeng, take care¡­" Li Chengfeng let out a sigh as he said over the guild channel: "Oh, don¡¯t worry¡­ I¡¯m about¡­ to join you¡­" I could only watch helplessly as Li Chengfeng¡¯s HP was reduced to zero. There was no way he could hold on without any support from our priests. Moreover, the enemy had mounts while we didn¡¯t, so the difference in power was far too overwhelming. It wasn¡¯t something that could be bridged by skill. ¡­¡­ Our archers, mages, priests, and buffers started to die one by one. Even Moonlight Stone, Moon Dew, and Pure Love soon exited the battle. There was simply no way that we could have pushed back these 7000 Ghost Riders after our forces had already been exhausted by the brutal gauntlet of battles in the valley. Less than ten Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players were still alive, and that included Beiming Xue and I. "Big bro¡­" As enemy players crowded in around her, Beiming Xue was no longer able to kite them. She desperately leaped down from the boulder she was standing on, and she landed with a painful-sounding thump. She let out a cry of pain but she immediately bounced off the ground and started running toward me. Unfortunately, her speed was far too slow compared to the mounted enemies chasing her. I could only watch helplessly as the inevitable occurred once more. Boom! A look of resignation crossed Beiming Xue''s face as she realized what was about to happen. As the enemy riders gained on her, she decided to stop running. She looked determined to make her life as expensive for the Hall of Immortality as possible. She immediately whirled around and let loose a Spiraling Arrow Blade which claimed the lives of three badly-wounded horsemen. But before she could release another arrow, her body shuddered violently as blood fountained from her snow-white neck. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch had been the one who had dealt the fatal blow! "Damn it all!" My eyes turned red as I activated God¡¯s Rage and flew straight toward Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch using my Thunderous Charge. My Cyan Netherworld Sword shuddered as a Thousand Ice Slash exploded into the crowd of people in front of me! Boom! All of my attacks were critical hits for the next sixty seconds, so all of the Ghost Riders who had been hit by my attack fell to the ground in a lifeless heap. Fear and panic flashed through Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s eyes when he saw the eye-popping damage numbers fly up in front of him. He immediately beat a swift retreat as he ordered the rest of the Ghost Riders to encircle me and cut off any escape paths! "Get lost!" Three flaming crescents of sword energy shot out of my blade as I unleashed my Burning Blade Slash on the nearest group of Ghost Riders. The exploding blades of energy forced them backward, which gave me the opportunity to bend down and pick up the Blazing Shadow Bow that Beiming Xue had dropped. I shoved it into my inventory before I charged forward to continue my killing spree. I took full advantage of God¡¯s Rage to decimate an entire squad of Ghost Riders, my display of brutal dominance cowing the rest of the horsemen around me. But good things didn¡¯t last forever. The enemy mages and archers soon arrived and my HP plummeted as countless Galaxy Storms and Devil Piercing Arrows started to rock my world. Pu! A Spiraling Arrow Blade punched into my chest and stole away the last of my health. Ding~! System Notice: You have died and your level has decreased by 1. You have dropped the Celestial Pole Gauntlets, Skullblaster Helmet, and Skullblaster War Boots. ¡­¡­ Thank god that I hadn¡¯t dropped Beiming Xue¡¯s Blazing Shadow Bow! That would have been a huge loss! Swhoosh! I resurrected in Dark Moon City and saw Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, and the rest of our guild members lounging around. When they saw me, all of them broke out into laughter and said, "Ah, you finally decided to come back¡­" My lips twitched as I growled, "Those Ghost Riders were way too brutal!" It was at this exact moment that the teleportation formation shone with a brilliant light. A beautiful girl riding on a Cyan Tiger flew out of the formation! It was Heaven¡¯s Rain, the Famous General who owned the Knight General skill! Gui Guzi, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and the rest of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry started to appear behind her. "Boss Broken Halberd, we¡¯re back! We pounded on the Warsky Alliance like an indian drum! How did you guys do?" Gui Guzi exclaimed as he smiled from ear to ear. I answered with a nod, "All of us fought like heroes!" I turned around and tossed the Blazing Shadow Bow at Beming Xue before continuing, "I hope that everyone didn¡¯t suffer too great a loss?" Chaos Moon had lost quite a few potions and Xu Yang had dropped a pair of Purple Gold¨Cgrade boots, but Li Chengfeng hadn¡¯t dropped anything important and Chaos Moon had gotten High Fighting Spirits¡¯ Invincible back. All in all, our core group of fighters had gotten off quite lightly this time. ¡­¡­ Clang! Chapter 603: Showdown of the Knights This blacksmith had a sharp eye and he had realized who I was the moment I stepped into his shop, but he still decided to gouge me on repair fees. The entire Dark Moon City was on a war footing, so the NPCs wouldn¡¯t even give their city lord a discount right now! Ah, the hypocrisy of this world! Just the repair cost of my Cyan Netherworld Sword was more than ten thousand gold. Just forking over the money made me feel like puking blood. However, this made me recognize just how badly I needed to earn more money! If I didn¡¯t keep grinding away, I wouldn¡¯t even have enough cash to repair my own damn weapon! After that, I got the eerie blacksmith to repair the rest of my equipment. I cried tears of blood as I paid him more than thirty thousand gold. The only good thing about this entire affair was that I had most definitely made the repair cost back and more! Any event that wore my equipment down this much was always a highly profitable one. The diversion at the valley had also been one such event! Even though everyone had ended up dying, all of the core fighters had an inventory full of great items that the enemy players had dropped. The players from the Hall of Immortality weren¡¯t poor or low-level, so we had picked up more Outstanding Purple Gold and Dark Gold¨Cgrade items than we could even count. If we threw all of our spoils of war into Sky City¡¯s auction, even the worst of the bunch would sell for a thousand gold. We would already cover our repair and potion cost once we sold a dozen of these items. ¡­¡­ After I finished repairing my items, I immediately walked over to the city walls. As a Rank 6 castle, Dark Moon City¡¯s walls were rather solid, and they had all been carved from a kind of hard black rock. Our gate towers were around twenty meters tall and three meters wide, and six to ten archers could fit inside one tower. Right now, the walls were already lined with archers and Beiming Xue and the best archers in our guild were all gathered in the tallest arrow tower in Dark Moon City. Height determined an archer¡¯s damage and the impact of their arrows. Shooting from high ground also extended the range of their arrows. Given Beiming Xue¡¯s insane attack power and her OP Famous General Skill, our archers would most certainly leave their mark on this battle. Gui Guzi held his Rainbow in hand and asked, "Boss Broken Halberd, was their cavalry troop very strong?" I chuckled at those words. Li Chengfeng quickly replied on my behalf, "Little Gui, their Ghost Rider cavalry division is around seven thousand men strong. The mounts they are riding on are Level 120 Dark Gold Rank mounts. We killed around two thousand of them in the Dragonbone Mountain Range, so there should only be about five thousand of them left. However, they still have enough numbers to pose a significant threat to us. You just asked if they were strong. The only thing I can tell you is that both Lu Chen and I died to their cavalry charge. So why don¡¯t you tell me if you think they¡¯re strong?" Gui Guzi¡¯s eye instantly started burning with excitement and raged. He roared with laughter before he said, "This is great! Our Cyan Tiger Cavalry finally has a foe worthy enough to face us in battle! Little Rain, You and Yun, let¡¯s prepare to move out!" "Okay!" Both Heaven¡¯s Rain and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun drew their blades as they prepared to sally forth to battle. Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s weapon was a broadblade, a type of sword commonly used by magic knights. As she walked past me, she shot me a grin. "Big bro Lu Chen, don¡¯t you worry! Our Cyan Tiger Cavalry is super strong! We¡¯ll definitely avenge you! Just stay in the city and watch us go to work!" "Okay!" I replied as I gave a heavy nod of my head. After that, I chuckled and said, "Little Rain, all of you still need to be careful. I think that these Ghost Riders will reach the city walls before the rest of their troops arrive. You can take advantage of that to give them one hell of a welcome first. But remember this! I don¡¯t want any of you to get too engrossed in fighting! The moment their main force starts to arrive, I want all of you to immediately retreat back to the city! We will use the archers and mages stationed on our walls to harass them first and the rest of us foot soldiers will come down and support you as well." Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s smile grew even sweeter. She nodded her head repeatedly as she said, "Okay, okay, I got it, big bro! Little Rain definitely won¡¯t let you down! Alright, Little Gui and I are going to head out!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun spoke up indignantly, "Then what about your big brother You and Yun?" "I got it, Uncle You and Yun!" "Ptooey!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun practically vomited blood. He was so angry that he tripped and fell down the stairs. He landed on his back and started cursing angrily, but at least he had saved himself the effort of climbing down the stairs. ¡­¡­ Soon, all of the riders belonging to our main guild had gathered at the city gates. Every single one of them was riding a Cyan Battle Tiger mount. They gathered under the banners of Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun as they drew their weapons and waited for battle. Everyone was quietly staring into the distance and just as expected, we soon started to see many tiny dots appear on the horizon! Those were the Ghost Riders who had decimated two thousand of our elites in the Dragonbone Mountain Range! Gui Guzi¡¯s gaze turned fevered as he raised his Rainbow high in the air. His lips curled up into a grin as he laughed and said, "Brothers and sisters, the invaders have arrived! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has never offended any guild in Vanished God City, but the Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker, and Rose of the Holy Domain chose to challenge us in spite of that! As heroes, we would rather die than surrender! We will never allow Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to be subjected to this sort of humiliation! Brace yourselves, everyone! It¡¯s our turn to show the Hall of Immortality¡¯s Ghost Riders who the strongest cavalry troop truly is! Charge!" After he finished his speech, Gui Guzi used Rainbow to whip the side of his battle tiger. The fierce beast below him let out an angry roar as it shot to the head of the pack! The halo of his Famous General Skill appeared underneath the battle tiger¡¯s paws. He had activated Knight God! Heaven¡¯s Rain also spurred her mount into action as she activated her Famous General Skill¡ªKnight General! Even though Knight General wasn¡¯t as powerful as Knight God, it was still an exceedingly useful skill, and if we managed to get a few more players with this skill, our cavalry troops would really become unrivaled under the heavens! As he saw the Cyan Tiger Cavalry sprint toward the enemy riders, Li Chengfeng let out an appreciative whistle. "Hot damn! Gui Guzi and Heaven¡¯s Rain are about to rip them a new one! That counts as some sort of revenge, eh." I nodded my head and chuckled. "Yeah. But don¡¯t forget, we¡¯re going to hit Level 150 soon. Once we reach that level, us warriors will be able to mount up too! Heh heh, that will be the true day of our revival!" Li Chengfeng let out a knowing laugh. "Hahaha, you got that right! I¡¯ve been waiting for this day to come for far too long!" Xu Yang interrupted us with a grim look on his face. "Lu Chen, we have about seventy thousand players defending the city right now, but our enemies are coming at us with more than three hundred thousand players. I think that we¡¯re still going to have a very rough time defending the city, and we don¡¯t even know what Hegemon Palace and Gods of Destruction are up to yet. If they join in the attack as well, we will be in some serious trouble." I gave a carefree laugh as I patted him on the shoulder. "Don¡¯t be so tense, Xu Yang. Everything will be alright! Besides, according to the rules of the system, if someone attacks a city, the defending party will be able to earn a huge reward for their city if they kill enough players within the confines of their territory. There¡¯s even a chance that the city will rise in rank! To me, Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker, and Rose of the Holy Domain didn¡¯t come to attack our city, they came to help us raise Dark Moon City to Rank 8! Hahaha!" Chaos Moon¡¯s sweet laughter rang in the air. "Heh, why are you always this hopelessly optimistic¡­" "Heh! Okay, time¡¯s a wastin¡¯ people! I want all warriors to follow me down to the city gates. We are going to form defense squads outside of the city and prepare to support Gui Guzi¡¯s cavalry!" "Roger that!" ¡­¡­ As we started to gather at the city gate, I called some warriors from Bloody Mercenaries over on the way. A group of five thousand elite warriors were split into squads to defend the city while we left our mages and priests on the city walls. It would be much easier for them to cast offensive and healing spells from high ground and it would also be harder for the enemy players to hit them as well. That was one of the natural advantages of being on the defense. The sounds of battle broke out in the distance as both cavalry troops finally crashed into each other! Clang! As Gui Guzi rode past a Ghost Rider, he slammed the tip of his spear into him. Burning energy spiraled out around the tip of his blade right before it slammed into the other party¡¯s chestplate, leaving a huge gaping hole in his armor. After that, he immediately hit him with a Death Combo! The impact of Gui Guzi¡¯s blows were so heavy that it sent the Level 134 magic knight flying straight off his horse! Our undead knight had killed him in two attacks! On the other side, red light illuminated Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s face as he launched a Rock Smash into a group of Ghost Riders which instantly killed some of them and wrecked their formation! In truth, AoE skills were still extremely important in mounted combat. They could not only inflict serious damage on a group of charging enemies, they could also completely disrupt and destroy their formation as they charged forward. This was invaluable when it came to fights between riders. "Die! Die!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s blade danced in the air as he kept hitting the enemy horsemen with his skills like Double Slash and Mount Hua Strike. The enemy Ghost Riders stared at him dumbfounded shock as one of them exclaimed in dismay, "Fuck me upside down! This wanderer from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is hella fierce! Could he be the Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯s uncle?" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun attacks grew even fiercer as he roared, "FUCK YOU ALL! I¡¯m not even thirty years old! I¡¯m not a god damn uncle!" Heaven¡¯s Rain had also charged into battle. Spirals of flaming energy erupted around her broadsword from time to time as she casually flicked her sword at her opponents. She was a very clever fighter who never aimed for a quick kill. Instead, she flitted around the battlefield while dealing as much damage as possible. It resembled the hit-and-run tactics used by guerilla fighters. Every time she rushed past a squad of enemy riders, she would shave off a big chunk of their HP. She would then immediately move on to her next set of victims while she let the Cyan Tiger Cavalry behind her finish off the wounded players she left in her wake. Of course, this fighting style didn¡¯t negatively affect her guild contribution points one bit. There were many ways to earn guild contribution points. Killing your target was one way, but dealing as much damage as possible was another. A priest¡¯s healing would also earn them contribution points if they healed wounded guild members, so a decently strong priest would have no problems earning points either. Murong Mingyue was a perfect example of this as she had always ranked in the Top 5 when it came to guild contribution points. Bang, bang, bang... As both cavalry troops collided into each other, the superiority of our Cyan Tiger Cavalry was immediately evident. The Ghost Riders¡¯ mounts actually swayed and stumbled backward under the impact from our charging tigers. Both parties pressed in and exchanged vicious blows before wheeling off to regroup and charge at each other once more. Bodies fell to the ground every time both groups clashed and nearly all of them belonged to the Ghost Riders. Our super cavalry had torn into them like a starving tiger and at least five hundred of these Ghost Riders had been sent to their graves. The brutal truth was that our Cyan Tiger Calvary was far stronger than the Hall of Immortality¡¯s Ghost Riders. In fact, most of them could barely even fend off the attacks from our riders. Both Gui Guzi and Heaven¡¯s Rain were very clever fighters. They exploited the advantage provided by their Famous General Skills to the limit by having the two hundred people in their parties form the tip of the spear which clashed with the Ghost Riders¡¯ formation every time. As a result, every time our troops clashed in battle, they would naturally come out on top thanks to the outstanding Attack and Defense buffs provided by Knight God and Knight General. There was simply nothing the enemy could do to the two hundred cavalrymen who were empowered by those skills. Chapter 604: Unwavering Loyalty Bang, bang, bang... Mounts, armor, and weapons continued to collide against each other incessantly as the fighting started to turn exceptionally savage. Even the Cyan Tiger Cavalry couldn¡¯t escape unscathed during this second big collision. Even as they were reaping the lives of their foes, a few of them started to drop off their mounts as well. The battle had turned white-hot! ¡­¡­ This continued for a whole twenty minutes and the field of battle, which was about three hundred yards away from the city gates, had turned into a river of blood. As the Cyan Tiger Cavalry ruthlessly hunted them down, Hall of Immortality¡¯s five thousand elite Ghost Riders were ground down into nothing. The biggest nightmare for these fleeing troops was Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s Famous General Skill, Flying General, which boosted the speed of his party fourfold. He flew across the battlefield with his men like a grim reaper, reaping lives wherever he went. All notions of escape were instantly banished from the minds of the players who were caught by him. Hall of Immortality¡¯s horsemen stared at him with shock and horror as they cursed at him, ¡°Fuck his grandfather! This uncle is way too fierce!¡± Fury bloomed on Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s face as his killing blows grew even more savage and he started to leave even more dead bodies in his wake. It was at this moment that even more tiny dots started to appear on the horizon. The main forces of Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker, and Rose of the Holy Domain had finally arrived. Their troops seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see as they started marching toward the city. As I surveyed the oncoming troops, I saw that this army was at least three hundred thousand strong, and this was even after we had killed about eighty thousand of them! Beep! I immediately sent a message to Gui Guzi: ¡°Little Gui, don¡¯t get too caught up in fighting! I need you and your men to retreat now!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± The distant Gui Guzi raised his Rainbow high in the air as he let out a roar of laughter and yelled, ¡°Comrades, Boss Broken Halberd has beat the gongs and signaled for us to retreat! We¡¯ll let these pathetic stragglers live. It¡¯s time to return to the city and prepare for the next wave of challengers!¡± Gui Guzi chuckled as he said, ¡°So? What do you think, boss?¡± I nodded my head in approval. ¡°That was an outstanding performance! Our guild didn¡¯t spend so much blood, sweat, and tears to build this cavalry troop for nothing! All of you have brought glory to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Sky City today!¡± Li Chengfeng stared at the distant enemy as he laughed. ¡°I think that not even five hundred of those Ghost Riders managed to escape. Tsk, tsk, that was a beautiful fight. You killed more than 4500 of them in a single engage! Well done!¡± Heaven¡¯s Rain rested her broadsword against her shoulder as her grin grew even wider. She said, ¡°Guild leader, we worked really hard, aren¡¯t you gonna give us a reward?¡± I chuckled, ¡°You want a reward? Fine! After this defense of Dark Moon City, every single member of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry will be rewarded with additional fifty thousand contribution points!¡± Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s tiny mouth dropped open before she squealed in delight. ¡°I just entered the guild, so my contribution points are really lacking! Is the guild leader really going to give all of us fifty thousand extra points? Hey, wait a minute¡­ you¡¯re the vice leader! Are you sure you can make such promises?¡± Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits immediately broke out into huge bouts of laughter. As he wiped tears from the corner of his eyes, Li Chengfeng said, ¡°Our pretty Rain, that¡¯s the one thing you don¡¯t need to worry about! Right now, the guild leader and the other vice leader are away on business, so Lu Chen¡¯s word is his bond. Hahaha!¡± Little stars appeared in Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s eyes. ¡°Wooow! So big bro is the one charge right now, huh! Hahaha, he¡¯s such a restrained person! In guilds like Flower Room and Mad Dragon, even a puny division leader already acts like the biggest shot in the room! Ah, big bro is so humble and restrained! He¡¯s crazy humble!!¡± I laughed out loud. I drew my Cyan Netherworld Sword and pointed it toward the distant Hall of Immortality players. I shouted, ¡°Brothers and sisters, prepare for battle! Once we manage to repel this first wave of attacks, we¡¯ll charge together with our cavalry! Let¡¯s kill Hall of Immortality¡¯s men and plunder their women! After that, we¡¯ll go to Vanished God City and wreck their homes!¡± Li Chengfeng hefted his sword. ¡°Damn! That sure sounds restrained and humble.¡± Heaven¡¯s Rain: ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ The huge army finally started to reach the outskirts of Dark Moon City ten minutes later. They had enough people to completely surround the city and then some. Li Chengfeng sucked in a deep breath. ¡°Holy shit. There¡¯s at least 500000 people here! Fucking hell, there are really a lot of people in Vanished God City, huh! They really are enthusiastic about creating subguilds over there huh¡­¡± I nodded my head. ¡°That¡¯s right. We honestly pale in comparison. Even building a single subguild makes me wanna die a little¡­¡± Li Chengfeng chuckled as he said, ¡°Well, the two of us are more suited to fighting than building. Let¡¯s wait until Eve comes back before we start talking about building subguilds again¡­¡± ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± Xu Yang hefted his sword and said, ¡°Are we going to retreat back into the city so that we can take cover under the city walls? If too many of us warriors are outside, we¡¯ll become easy targets for their mages and archers.¡± I shook my head and replied in a grim voice, ¡°We can¡¯t retreat, especially those of us who are here at the western wall! We need to defend this place or die trying!¡± ¡°Why?¡± Xu Yang asked. He was quite taken aback by the vehemence in my voice. I stretched out a hand to point at the enemy formation before I said, ¡°Xu Yang, look over there. These guilds came prepared to fight today. They even brought some siege weapons to the party. You see those ebon vehicles slowly trundling toward us? The system database calls those Thunder Chariots. They deal extreme damage to city walls and it¡¯ll only take them three minutes of continuous fire to destroy one. Can¡¯t the smiths in our subguild also make those?¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± Xu Yang gritted his teeth. ¡°Yeah, your judgement is always right. Thank goodness that we didn¡¯t decide to withdraw back into the city.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I waved my sword as I continued, ¡°We can¡¯t allow those Thunder Chariots to get near our walls. Archers, mages, I want all of you to keep your eyes peeled for them! A group of archers on the wall suddenly looked up and released a volley of arrows. As the arrows soared through the sky, they all landed more than one hundred yards away from the city walls. Beiming Xue and her group of elite archers were positioned even higher, and their range stretched up to a shocking one hundred and fifty yards. ¡­¡­ ¡°Halt!¡± Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch yelled as he raised the sword in his hand. ¡°It looks like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have already prepared their defenses! Heh heh, this will be an interesting battle indeed!¡± The guild leader of Throne Seeker, a magic knight called Emperor¡¯s Equal, wheeled his horse over toward him as he roared with laughter. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Battle Monarch? Are you feeling a shiver of fear after seeing the welcome mat that they¡¯ve rolled out for us?¡± ¡°Fear my ass!¡± Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch spat back, a look of rage on his face. ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls killed almost every single one of my 7000 Ghost Riders. I¡¯m definitely going to tear my pound of flesh from them for that before the day is over!¡± Emperor¡¯s Equal gave a hearty laugh. ¡°Now, now, there¡¯s no need to be anxious. The guild leader of Rose of the Holy Domain is about to arrive. Once she does, we can start discussing how to conquer this Dark Moon City!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± Soon, a crowd of players parted ways as a female knight riding on a pure white horse rode out from under the Rose of the Holy Domain¡¯s pink banner. She looked to be about twenty-five years of age and she was decked out in a full set of silver armor, a slender sword in her hand. She wasn¡¯t wearing a helmet right now, so her refined and exquisite features were on full display. Her bearing was extraordinary and she looked like the sort of player who was a successful career woman outside the game. A string of words were floating above her head. Rose Thorn LV-138 Guardian Knight Guild: Rose of the Holy Domain Position: Leader ¡­¡­ ¡°Eh?¡± A chill went down Xu Yang¡¯s spine: ¡°The guild leader of Rose of the Holy Domain is a little girl?! Holy shit, I guess the saying is really true! There¡¯s nothing more venomous than a woman¡¯s heart! Why is this little girl attacking us with those two burly men anyway!?¡± My lips curled up as I exclaimed, ¡°Who the hell knows!¡± At this moment, Rose Thorn hadn¡¯t said a word to either Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch or Emperor¡¯s Equal yet. Instead, she charged all the way to the front of her troops and only stopped when she was within a hundred yards of our city walls. As she reined in her horse, a few arrows were already streaking toward her. Ding, ding, ding... A silver shield of light appeared around Rose Thorn¡¯s body and deflected every arrow that was about to strike her body. Those arrows didn¡¯t even come anywhere near her. I furrowed my brow in consternation. It looks like this Guardian Knight class was as extraordinary as her looks. Just that defensive skill alone was enough to give us a huge headache. As she spurred her horse forward, Rose Thorn waved her sword in the air and shouted in an adorable-sounding voice. ¡°Hey, the leaders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! From Water, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, and Murong Mingyue! Come out here and talk to me!¡± Since both He Yi and Murong Mingyue weren¡¯t around, I had no choice but to walk forward to greet her. The blade of the Cyan Netherworld Sword trailed behind me as my Stormy Waves War Boots crunched into the ground heavily. The tattered Soul Suppressing Cloak fluttered wildly in the wind as I calmly walked toward Rose Thorn. My impressive-looking equipment made me seem both somber and calm and I looked like a death god who had just killed his way out of hell. Bloodlust was leaking out of every pore of my body, but I still seemed to be in complete control of myself. This wasn¡¯t something that players who had never been tempered by any harsh struggles could replicate. ¡­¡­ Rose Thorn looked rather shocked as she said, ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? Lu Chen?¡± Thunk! I thrust the Cyan Netherworld Sword into the ground and idly scratched my shoulder as I looked at Rose Thorn and replied, ¡°That¡¯s me. How can I help the guild leader of Rose of the Holy Domain?¡± Rose Thorn let out a dry chuckle. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t dare. I¡¯m just here for a bit of diplomacy. As you have already seen, Rose of the Holy Domain, Hall of Immortality, and Throne Seeker have entered an alliance to attack Dark Moon City. We only have one goal, and that is to conquer this territory. Lu Chen, you¡¯re the person ranked seventh on the CGL Hall of Fame, so you should be well aware that these contests over territory have nothing to do with righteousness or evil. As such, I hope that you won¡¯t regard Rose of the Holy Domain as your enemy, no matter the outcome of this battle.¡± I licked my lips and chuckled before replying, ¡°Don¡¯t you worry, guild leader Rose. I, Lu Chen, am a man of my word. I¡¯m not a petty person either. However, if a dog bites me, I¡¯m definitely going to have dog hotpot and beer for dinner that very night! So I hope you can understand me as well. Pardon me for being frank, but if Rose of the Holy Domain attacks Dark Moon City today, you will definitely be put on our blacklist from now on, and I¡¯m sorry to say that we will kill you and your people on sight if that happens!¡± A small shudder went through Rose Thorn¡¯s body before she started giggling uncontrollably. After she regained her composure, she spoke in a soft voice, ¡°I¡¯ve long heard about how loyal Lu Chen has been to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. In fact, you¡¯ve stayed true to this guild since the Spirit of Grief era. You used your blood, sweat and tears to protect this guild back then and it seems like you¡¯re doing the exact same thing right now. Since that¡¯s the case, I very much appreciate having the chance to face off against such a respectable opponent today! Let us meet again on the field of battle!¡± After she finished saying those words, Rose Thorn wheeled around and galloped back to her troops. After that, she raised her sword high in the air and yelled, ¡°Rose of the Holy Domain! Prepare to attack the city!¡± ¡­¡­ So we still had to fight in the end! I was also quite excited to meet this Rose Thorn and her Rose of the Holy Domain in battle. Any guild who could become one of the ten strongest guilds of Vanished God City was no slouch and Rose Thorn was definitely still hiding a few aces up her sleeve! She would definitely be a most excellent opponent! Chapter 605: Howl of the Wolves At the west walls, the sound of weapons pulling out of their sheaths filled the air as thousands of melee players unsheathed their weapons in unison. The Cyan Tiger Cavalry was constantly on the move because Gui Guzi knew that a cavalry troop¡¯s biggest strength lay in their mobility. Moreover, the walls were occupied by our priests, mages, and archers, so the Cyan Tiger Cavalry could always get a sufficient amount of healing and supporting fire no matter where they went. Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, and Xu Yang were gripping their blades tightly and staring forward with a grim expression on their face. Then, High Fighting Spirits broke into a grin and said, ¡°Let¡¯s send every one of these fuckers back to their city. I¡¯m curious to know exactly how many people had come to Sky City!¡± A handsome tactician appeared on the wall at this moment. It was none other than our new recruit, Lu Buyi. The Level 133 tactician was gripping his Burning Fan when he called out to me, ¡°Vice leader Lu Chen, I¡¯m not a Famous General, but I can still buff 39 players¡¯ stats by 72% with Purple Dragon! Please allow me to make my own party!¡± I nodded. ¡°Alright. You can pick your players right here and now. Your stratagem can boost all party members within 1000 yards, and you''ll be safer on the walls!¡± Lu Buyi smiled. ¡°Yes, but my Dragon Vein Art isn¡¯t useless, okay? I can put out some DPS too. Please trust me on this, guild leader!¡± ¡°Hahaha, let¡¯s all do our best!¡± It wasn¡¯t long before 39 elite fighters joined Lu Buyi¡¯s party. At 72%, Purple Dragon was only slightly inferior to Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell. It was why practically everyone was fighting to enter his party. After all, who doesn¡¯t want to enjoy a 72% boost to Attack, Defense, and HP? If my Martial God didn¡¯t boast a whopping 200% attack power, I would¡¯ve joined his party myself. Xu Yang glanced up the walls for a bit with a grin. ¡°Hehe, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls finally has its own named tactician, and one that¡¯s incredibly good too. There was this one time I dueled against him, and he wasn¡¯t afraid of me at all. Boss will be so glad when she comes back¡­¡± I rolled my eyes at him. ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯re too lousy¡­¡± Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits laughed loudly at that. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a chorus of battle cries entered our ears. The three guilds had finally launched their attack, and a thick swarm of players flooded toward us like tidewater. It was impossible to differentiate between main guilds and their subguilds. The engineers built siege weapons such as escalades and catapults on the spot while they were protected by their knights. A dozen or so black-colored Thunder Chariots were also being escorted toward the walls. I heard Beiming Xue ordering, ¡°Mages, archers, fire at will with everything you got!¡± Our mages started chanting their spells and throwing Galaxy Storms, Wind Blades, Fireballs, Arctic Rain, Rockfalls, and more to the ground. The area 40 to 100 yards away from the wall turned into a literal wall of wind, fire, ice and lightning, killing countless Hall of Immortality players before they even reached the walls. ¡°Ahhhhh¡­¡± Wave after wave of attackers died under our ridiculous firepower. In fact, almost no one managed to pass through the firewall for the first ten minutes of the battle. Our city was located next to high-level maps like Dragonbone Mountain Range and Black Coast, so their overall quality was better than even the three great guilds of Vanished God City. Finally, the beautiful guild leader of Rose of the Holy Domain, Rose Thorn lost her cool and shouted, ¡°Halt! Someone, assemble the Purple Thunder Cavalry! We will breach their firewall, occupy advantageous terrain and prop up the escalades in one go! Don¡¯t give them any chance to breathe! Remember, their allies are attacking the new territory right now, so no one is coming to their aid! Let¡¯s take down this undead castle in one go!¡± The armies parted, and a column of elite riders thundered out into the open. They wielded sharp blades and rode a warhorse with purple hair. The horse¡¯s head looked a bit sinister, and it had a horn that was sparkling with electricity. It struck chills in one¡¯s heart just looking at it. Clearly, we had reached a stage of the game where everyone was building up their own cavalry troops. ¡­¡­ ¡°Shit, what the hell are those things? There are so many of them¡­¡± Xu Yang murmured dazedly. Chaos Moon answered his question while looking to the front. ¡°I just checked the forums, and I can confirm that they are the ace cavalry of Rose of the Holy Domain, the Purple Thunder Cavalry. They are level 125 Dark Gold Rank mounts, and individually speaking, they are stronger than even the Ghost Riders. There are about 4000 of them, and it is the main reason Rose of the Holy Domain is able to fight super guilds like Blazing Hot Lips, Hall of Immortality, Hunting Moon Dynasty and more on even footing.¡± I let out a chuckle before ordering, ¡°Xu Yang, tell Gui Guzi to move to the left and Heaven¡¯s Rain to the right. When this Purple Thunder Cavalry reach us, we¡¯ll use Guard to keep them at bay while Gui Guzi and Heaven¡¯s Rain pincer them from both sides. Seeing as this cavalry is the main source of Rose Thorn¡¯s confidence, let us destroy it right here and now!¡± Xu Yang laughed loudly as he answered, ¡°Understood!¡± Then, he looked up the walls and shouted additional orders, ¡°Hey guys! Make sure you aim the Purple Thunder Cavalry when they get close, yeah? Show them what we¡¯re made of!¡± Moonlight Stone giggled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, big brother Xu Yang. They will learn our power!¡± ¡­¡­ The Purple Thunder Cavalry was incredibly swift. While we were talking, they were already 100 yards away from our defense line while we were still talking to each other. That was also the maximum range our ranged players could reach with their height advantage. They immediately launched a ton of Fire Rain, Ice Blades, Storms, and Arrow Rains at the riders! Bang bang bang¡­ Powerful arrows slammed hard into the riders¡¯ armor, but they merely grunted and kept charging. Although their comrades were dying all around them, they staunchly stayed on course and charged all the way to the walls. A normal player would¡¯ve lost control of themselves and panicked under such devastating amounts of firepower, but not these Purple Thunder Cavalrymen. Clearly, they were a cut above your average players and the only ones who could break through our firewall right now! ¡°Hah, here we come!¡± The first group of Purple Thunder Cavalry who broke through the firewall¡ªthere were about a hundred of them¡ªcharged toward us while laughing loudly, forcing Moonlight Stone and the mages to concentrate their spells on them instead. As a result, we were forced to shrink the width of our firewall, which was exactly what Rose Thorn was hoping to see. The moment she saw the opening, the wise and courageous guild leader immediately raised her sword and commanded her troops to push forward. I had to admit that Rose of the Holy Domain was much better than Hall of Immortality or Throne Seeker in terms of strategy. ¡­¡­ I waved my own sword and growled out, ¡°Fighters, it¡¯s our turn now! Once you make contact with the enemy, try to use Guard as much as you can, but watch out for their Crushing Blows, okay? Here we go!¡± The second I said that, I rushed forward and locked onto a Purple Thunder Cavalry far, far away in front of me. Then, I activated Thunderous Charge and turned into a lightning bolt! Bang! A direct hit later, I launched Thousand Ice Slash and froze dozens of Purple Thunder Cavalry in ice. The players at the back couldn¡¯t halt their momentum, so they crashed into the players at the front and dealt massive damage to their own allies. At the same time, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, and the others slammed into the enemies as well. ¡°Kill kill kill!¡± A team leader of the Purple Thunder Cavalry shouted as he swung his weapon wildly. Somehow, he was able to kill a couple of our fighters because he was mounted and they were not. Unfortunately, a foot soldier was very disadvantaged when fighting against a rider. I was fine only because my stats, equipment, and skills were insane. ¡°Fuck off!¡± I swung my sword three times and launched three flaming sword blades at seven or eight Purple Thunder Cavalrymen, scaring the shit out of them. They tried to raise their shields and block the attack, but it was too late. I was so familiar with the skill that I was able to complete it almost instantly. They died before they could assume a Guard stance. Unlike our Gui Guzi, these Purple Thunder Cavalrymen only had 30k to 50k HP or so, so they weren¡¯t able to survive my Burning Blade Slash. Of course, if they had guarded successfully, then they could¡¯ve easily saved themselves. There was a Level 134 rider in front of me who actually reacted quick enough to Guard the attack. However, he didn¡¯t look pleased in the slightest because I was running toward him like the grim reaper, red cloak flapping behind my back and a dragon¡¯s soul circling my blade! Worse, I was too fast for him to turn to another direction and dodge! ¡°Fuck you, I¡¯m not going down without a fight!¡± The knight raised his sword and hit my shoulder with everything he got. At the same time, an indigo energy surrounded my Cyan Netherworld Sword and penetrated his chest like nothing¡ª24891! Tsk tsk, it felt absolutely exhilarating to kill someone with Universe Break! With 90% armor penetration, it almost felt like I was chopping vegetables and not magic knights! Buzz! The Cyan Netherworld Sword and the dragon¡¯s soul circling it abruptly shone brightly. Knowing that I had triggered its passive skill, I thrust the weapon forward and watched it explode into a beam of divine energy, annihilating almost a hundred Purple Thunder Cavalrymen in just the blink of an eye! Not far away from me, Li Chengfeng cut off a Purple Thunder rider¡¯s head before looking at me with incredulity. ¡°Is it just me, or is Lu Chen¡¯s attack power absolutely bonkers?¡± Chaos Moon killed three riders in one move before replying expressionlessly, ¡°He has always been like this¡­¡± However, the battle wasn¡¯t actually going in our favor despite my devastating successes. Hundreds of us had died to the cavalry charge in just a moment, and if this continued, only us core members would be left in less than half an hour. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment we heard tiger roars from both sides. Finally, our reinforcements had arrived! ¡°Hah!¡± A spear pierced through the sea of bodies like an unstoppable beam. Gui Guzi was the first person to clash directly against the Purple Thunder Cavalry and pierce through the enemy¡¯s ranks. The roaring Cyan Battle Tiger he was riding was so powerful that it actually knocked over a Purple Thunder Warhorse. Gui Guzi¡¯s stats were seriously overpowered after he was boosted by Knight God. On the other side, Heaven¡¯s Rain dished out a Barrier Break and poked a hole in a team leader¡¯s body. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun then followed up with a Rock Smash that elicited painful screams from the rest of the Purple Thunder Cavalry. The tables were turned immediately. In less than ten minutes, the pincer attack had killed over 70% of their Purple Thunder Cavalry! ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud... Suddenly, I saw a bunch of arrows and Galaxy Storms flying our way. I was apprehensive. The main bulk of Rose of the Holy Domain¡¯s army had penetrated our firewall! ¡°Little Gui, Little Rain, retreat now! Retreat to the walls and reform the line where our priests can heal you! Retreat now!¡± Although Gui Guzi and the others were overcome by bloodlust, they listened to my order and pulled away from the center of the battlefield. Unfortunately, they were just a bit too late. Dozens of Cyan Tiger Cavalry died to the enemy¡¯s firepower just like that. Chapter 606: The Heroic Brother Blue Sky The sound of hooves striking the ground suddenly reverberated through the air as a group of mounted magic knights who were all holding golden shields suddenly flew out of Rose of the Holy Domain¡¯s formation. There were about one thousand of them and my Dark Pupils instantly gave me information on them. Shockingly enough, all of these players were magic knights who added five points to Stamina every Level, and even the frailest player in this unit had around forty thousand HP! Furthermore, all of them were quite well-equipped, so their defensive stats were extremely good as well! Clang! Clang! Clang! The magic knights instantly formed a single row as they angled their shields in front of them. They were forming an Iron Wall that would allow Rose of the Holy Domain to reach our city walls. Their archers and mages took advantage of the magic knights¡¯ protection to begin firing on our walls with their spells and arrows. I winced when I saw a storm of Volleys streaking toward our walls. Pccht, pccht, pccht... Blood flew everywhere as their furious assault killed dozens of our archers. No one had expected the Rose of the Holy Domain¡¯s players to get this close this quickly! "Galaxy Storm!" Moonlight Stone activated her Magic Shield immediately after she cast that spell. She yelled, "Let¡¯s welcome those magic knights with our Galaxy Storms! Make sure that they hit the long-range players behind them too! I want all of our mages to activate their Magic Shields! Don¡¯t be stingy with your magic consumables! If you¡¯re stingy now, you¡¯ll be dropping equipment later!" In the next instant, countless Galaxy Storms shot out from our walls and exploded into the crowds of players below them. The arrows and spells were flying thick and fast between both opposing sides. In the distance, more than a dozen catapults had been set up within 150 yards of our walls on Rose Thorn¡¯s orders. In the next instant, we heard the creaking of gears and pulleys as more than ten huge boulders flew toward us. Each of these boulders smashed into our walls with such immense force that it caused the entire Dark Moon City to shake. I winced once again when I saw how much damage had been done to the walls. Bang! I looked back up to the city walls and yelled, "Beiming Xue, can you use your Range stratagem to snipe those catapults in a single salvo of attacks?" Beiming Xue was sitting on the edge of an arrow tower as she loosed one arrow after the other. Her tender and snow-white legs were dangling in the wind as she shot me a faint smile. "Don¡¯t worry, big bro! I¡¯ll take care of them within five minutes!" After she finished speaking, Beiming Xue turned on her Range stratagem. The base skill boosted one¡¯s range by 25%, but Beiming Xue¡¯s high Tactics stat meant that this skill boosted the range of all the archers in her party by more than 100%! With the high ground given to them by our arrow towers, Range easily allowed them to snipe at these targets that were 150 yards away. Furthermore, they didn¡¯t need to specifically aim for a small target, they just needed to unleash a salvo of arrows in that direction since these catapults were fairly large. In the next instant, I heard more twanging sounds than I could count as Beiming Xue¡¯s archers unleashed their arrows. Beiming Xue put an incredible display of skill by actually using her Evil Spirit Volley. Amazingly enough, all of her arrows zoomed toward the rightmost catapult with laser-guided precision. A string of incredible damage numbers popped up in the air, reducing the catapult to zero health! "Hot damn! Someone actually managed to hit us all the way over here!" one of the players guarding the catapults yelled. A group of engineers and smiths immediately ran over to repair the catapults. Their hammers rose and fell rhythmically as they rushed to fix the damage that Beiming Xue and her archers had just done. A small smile appeared on Beiming Xue¡¯s face when she saw this. After that, her eyes focused as she drew back her bow once more. She let go of her bowstring, causing a Spiraling Arrow Blade to scream through the air and land right in the middle of those engineers! The attack exploded in their midst, instantly killing all of those frail engineers! I couldn¡¯t help but give a relieved chuckle. Alright! With Beiming Xue around, those catapults would no longer pose any threat to us! ¡­¡­ Whooosh! As I raised my Cyan Netherworld Sword in the air, I pointed my other hand toward Rose of the Holy Domain¡¯s formation of magic knights and yelled, "Comrades, let¡¯s go break down that Iron Wall! Once we do so, our long-range attackers on the city wall will be able to target anyone with impunity!" "Alright!" Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, and Li Chengfeng had long grown tired of waiting for their turn. Looks of fervent excitement appeared on their faces as they charged toward the enemy like streaks of lightning. I also activated my Thunderous Charge to fly across the ground and slam straight into the magic knight who was standing at the tip of their formation. This punk actually managed to shift his shield slightly to absorb the impact of my Charge, while he thrust his spear toward me with a practiced ease. Clang! 798! That pitiful Blaze didn¡¯t even deal four digits of damage to me. I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle when I saw this, but the magic knight actually grinned at me as well! He even proudly announced, "If you have the balls, come at me! I have a Defense of 9000 and more than 56000 HP! One-shot me if you can, asshole! Come on! Let me see how strong an expert from the CGL Hall of Fame really is!" Looks of admiration appeared on the faces of the female mages and archers standing behind this brash magic knight. They cooed, "Wow, Brother Blue Sky is so powerful! To think that he¡¯d actually be brave enough to call out the Little Heavenly King Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" A smile also appeared on my face. "Heh, you¡¯re actually shameless enough to act this arrogantly when you only have 9000 Defense? You¡¯re seriously thinking way too highly of yourself! Alright then, just watch how your daddy is gonna one-shot you!" As I said that, I suddenly sprang forward, a universe formation appearing beneath my feet. A spiral of indigo energy erupted around the tip of my sword as I thrust it into the magic knight¡¯s chest with no hesitation. Universe Break! "Huh!? A more powerful version of Barrier Break?" the magic knight gasped as his eyes very nearly popped out of his head. Barrier Break was already an overwhelmingly powerful skill in its own right, and it would only deal more damage if you tried to defend against it. Its effect truly suited its name to a tee. However, I had already predicted that this magic knight wouldn¡¯t defend against this attack. But his fate had been sealed once he didn¡¯t try to ward off the blow in any way! Just watch as I burn away nearly sixty thousand HP in one go! Pchht! My Universe Break blew a hole in his shield and armor. It was as if a beam of energy had completely skewered the poor Brother Blue Sky. His eyes nearly popped out of his skull once more when he saw the damage number that flew up above his head. 25087! My Universe Break had knocked his shield aside, so he could see the bland smile on my face as I suddenly smashed the hilt of my sword into the tip of his shield just as he tried to shift it in front of him. Sparks flew in the air as I knocked his shield away once more, preventing him from entering a defensive stance. In the next instant, the Cyan Netherworld Sword exploded toward him like a cyan dragon as three fiery blades of sword energy exploded into the magic knight¡¯s exposed breastplate. Another three damage numbers popped up into the air. 9805! 15092! 22172! ¡­¡­ All of the blood instantly drained from Brother Blue Sky¡¯s face. Even though he had a whole bunch of priests supporting him, my flurry of attacks was still way too overwhelming. It looked like I had completed my entire chain of attacks in 0.5 seconds and that didn¡¯t give those priests any time to heal Brother Blue Sky at all. As I stepped forward and thrust my sword into the magic knight¡¯s chest, I got to see the woeful expression on his face as he died. For some odd reason, seeing that look on his face filled me with an indescribable satisfaction. Furthermore, the splash damage my Cyan Netherworld Sword had dealt while I was slaughtering Brother Blue Sky had been extremely lethal as well. The two archers beside the hapless magic knight had been instantly killed by my splash damage. Meanwhile, the archers and mages behind him had simply been blown to bits by my Burning Blade Slash! But I wasn¡¯t done yet! The moment I stomped down hard on the ground, the remaining magic knights and the warriors who had rushed toward me instantly went pale. They knew that I had just used War Crush! Bang! Bang! Bang! The three consecutive hits from my War Crush one-shot an entire group of players and I immediately followed that up with a Thousand Ice Slash. Hundreds of icy energy blades exploded in the crowd of players in front of me and even mages with their Magic Shields up were unable to escape unscathed. The archers stationed on the city walls saw what was happening and they immediately unleashed a hail of Spiraling Arrow Blades on these hapless players, causing wails of misery to reverberate through the air. After the dust had cleared, the entire area around me had transformed into an empty clearing littered with corpses and items. The people who were battling near me were doing just as well! Chaos Moon activated Plunder before she used Rock Crush on a group of players! Her AoE skill tore them to shreds, and her Famous General Skill left them in tears after they died! Items dropped to the floor like candy from a pi?ata as her sword swept through her enemies! High Fighting Spirits had once again transformed into a raging beast on the battlefield. He ripped through a group of magic knights like a natural disaster, his axe in constant motion as he used Xiezhi Howl again and again! Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was covering his back and protecting him every time he overextended. He routinely used Rock Smash to clean up the surviving enemies High Fighting Spirits left in his wake. Li Chengfeng killed his way into the enemy formation. As his sword flickered left and right, he cut down anyone in his path as he dove even deeper into enemy lines. A switch had been flipped in his head and he entered a zone no other player around him could enter! The hundred players who crowded around him didn¡¯t even dare approach him as his sword whistled through the air. To their complete and utter dismay, they got first-row tickets to the Li Chengfeng show, and he was showing them exactly why he had gotten famous! Gui Guzi and Heaven¡¯s Rain scythed through the enemy formation with their two thousand Cyan Tiger riders time and again. The attack power of our Cyan Tiger Cavalry was incredibly high, and this was especially true for the ones who were buffed by Gui Guzi¡¯s Knight God. Their Attack was buffed by 150% and they moved in and out of the enemy formation with impunity. Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s Knight General wasn¡¯t bad either! Even though it couldn¡¯t be compared to Gui Guzi¡¯s Famous General Skill, it still gave a 100% Attack buff at its cap. This was more than good enough to give her party members an overwhelming advantage in battle. All of the sudden, our Cyan Tiger Cavalry had become the biggest thorn in our enemies¡¯ side. The players from Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker, and Rose of the Holy Domain sorely wished that they could yank it out right at this moment! Unfortunately for them, we were fighting at the walls of our own city, so we had a huge amount of supporting players lined up on those walls. Our foot soldiers were also ripping into the enemy with no fear whatsoever, so they couldn¡¯t exactly focus their firepower on the Cyan Tiger Cavalry. Moreover, we had many priests healing our riders, so they could practically ignore enemy attacks as they dove in and out of the enemy formation! ¡­¡­ Boom! The final catapult finally shattered as Beiming Xue completed her quest. After that, she said in a cheery voice, "Big bro, that was the last of them¡­" I darted forward to slash at two Purple Thunder horsemen who refused to leave me alone. I replied, "Alright. But we really need your help right now, so reactivate Bow God and start pouring on the arrows! I want you to use your arrows to suppress and control Rose of the Holy Domain¡¯s movements! Fucking hell, their offensive power is way too high, we¡¯ve already lost too many people!" "Okay!" It seemed like Rose Thorn had decided to throw all caution to the wind. She was throwing all of her frontline fighters, who numbered in the tens of thousands, toward us as she slowly edged forward with her archers and mages. Since she was pressing forward with everything she had, the losses for our fighters on the ground were terrible. We only had the players on one side of the wall to support the warriors here, and their firepower was vastly inferior to what Rose of the Holy Domain could output at full force. In fact, if our frontline fighters hadn¡¯t pushed the enemy further back, our situation would be even worse. Boom! Boom! Boom! Thousand Ice Slashes, War Crushes, Burning Blade Slashes, Sword Boomerangs, and Ice Cyclone Domains ripped through enemy players without ceasing. I held a line that was 50 yards long all by myself and I didn¡¯t give an inch. After about half an hour, I looked around and sucked in a deep breath. In the end, I was the only one left standing, the hundred Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players that had been with me had all died. I watched Heaven¡¯s Rain fearlessly lead a squad of Cyan Tiger riders forward. She struck a heroic figure as her broadsword whistled through the air and reaped the lives of her foes. Our mounted troops were still in fairly good shape, it was our foot soldiers who had been slaughtered by the baptism of fire gifted to us by the enemy mages and archers. Less than half of us were even alive. However, we had still done exceedingly well in battle. In fact, I had already lost count of how many Rose of the Holy Domain players we had killed. The plains around our city walls were littered with corpses and I suspected that more than 80% of the first fifty thousand Rose of the Holy Domain players who assaulted our walls had already been killed. ¡­¡­ Chapter 607: Werebeas Sching, sching, sching... Li Chengfeng leaned against a wall as he idly dragged his sword across it. I tilted my head to look at him. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Did you kill so many players that a screw came loose in your head?¡± Li Chengfeng nodded his head, ¡°PvP is way too intense man. I would still count my kills during our previous fights against other guilds, but I didn¡¯t even bother to do that today. I¡¯ve been playing games for so many years, and I¡¯ve even been the guild leader of a small guild before, but I¡¯ve never ever been involved in a battle of this scale before. Shit, this is way too fun¡­¡± I grinned at him, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s pretty addictive, huh. But our casualties are sky-high. Fuck, it¡¯s like Rose of the Holy Domain and Hall of Immortality are sharing a single brain right now. When Rose of the Holy Domain retreats, the players of Hall of Immortality surge forward at exactly the right moment to replace their pressure. They¡¯re not even giving us a chance to catch our breaths.¡± High Fighting Spirits, who was standing off to the side, rested his battle axe on the ground as he gave a hearty laugh. ¡°I think that the vice leader doesn¡¯t need to worry too much about this anymore. You saw what just happened. Rose of the Holy Domain attacked us with their full force of 130000 players just now, and we killed nearly half of them in the previous battle. They won¡¯t be able to keep pouring on the pressure like they have been.¡± Gui Guzi nodded his head. ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s the reason why that woman ordered her entire guild to retreat.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so¡­¡± Chaos Moon said as she stared into the distant. Her beautiful eyes shone with an intelligent light as she chuckled. ¡°There¡¯s only one way that three big guilds like Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker, and Rose of the Holy Domain would work together. They must have formed some sort of secret agreement with each other while also harboring ulterior motives of their own. Right now, Rose of the Holy Domain has suffered grievous losses, so Rose Thorn has to look out for herself and her guild. The reason why she called for a full retreat is to preserve the pieces in her hand.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle when I heard that. ¡°Yeah, Chaos Moon¡¯s idea sounds a lot more plausible. Little Gui, you need to get smarter¡­¡± Chaos Moon shook her head. ¡°Ah, I think it¡¯s already too late for him¡­¡± Gui Guzi spat out, ¡°Bloody hell!¡± ¡­¡­ At this time, Xu Yang walked over and started giving me the battle report. He said, ¡°Lu Chen, we suffered serious losses during the last hour.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know. Give me the butcher¡¯s bill!¡± I leaned against the wall and hugged the Cyan Netherworld Sword to my chest, taking in his words. I nodded my head and smiled. ¡°Yeah, our losses were pretty big this time. It looks like we might not be able to destroy this half a million strong army, huh.¡± As I said that, I looked up at the city attack timer displayed on the system interface. 05:11:45 ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s still more than five hours left. If we can hold this city for five hours without losing, it¡¯ll be our victory¡­¡± I looked around at everyone else and laughed. ¡°Go mobilize more warriors from the subguilds inside the city to replace the ones we¡¯ve lost. We need to make sure that the Hall of Immortality doesn¡¯t come within one hundred yards of Dark Moon City! We can¡¯t let them cripple our long-range support forces stationed on the walls!¡± ¡°I got it!¡± Xu Yang gave a heavy nod. He was a brave warrior and an able commander, but he knew that I was much better than him when it came to grand strategy. He would blindly follow all my commands when He Yi and Murong Mingyue weren¡¯t around. This was also probably due to the instructions that He Yi had given him as well. She must¡¯ve been afraid that this bullheaded warrior of ours would ignore my orders and rush into combat if he lost his head in battle, so she gave me the highest level of power and control over the guild to prevent such a situation from happening. After all, of the four elders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls back in the day, I was the one who was ranked fourth while Xu Yang was the one who was ranked first. It would definitely seem like my position and status back then were lower than his. ¡­¡­ Hall of Immortality¡¯s force started advancing about ten minutes later. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch sat on his ghostly horse as he stared at Dark Moon City with a stern expression on his face. He pointed his longsword toward it and shouted, ¡°All players, advance! We¡¯re going to force our way into the city! I want a squad of magic knights to protect Wing Breaker as he knocks down the city gates. Shit, I want those gates destroyed in half an hour, do you hear me!? Once we seize control of the city gates, the city itself will soon follow!¡± Hall of Immortality¡¯s players surged toward us like an inexorable tide. They braved fire from our long-range players as they charged straight into our defenses. Even though the Ghost Riders had already been destroyed as a unit, there were still about a hundred of them who charged forward with Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch at their helm. The berserk knight simply braced his shield in front of him and downed a health potion as he continued his mad charge. It was clear that he had no intention to retreat this time. He blocked most of the attacks shot at him with his shield, but he had already started to draw a lot of fire. Unfortunately for us, both his Defense and Magic Resist were extremely good, and this was especially true for his Magic Resist. Even Moonlight Stone¡¯s Galaxy Storm only dealt him a little over 2000 damage! That shield of his was definitely an OP item, and it was also very likely the item that had boosted his Magic Resist to absurd levels. ¡°Wing Breaker? Who the hell is Wing Breaker?¡± Chaos Moon asked in a puzzled voice. Li Chengfeng pointed at a man charging toward them. ¡°You see that big guy over there? Heh heh, he looks really strong, huh? Should I go over there and rain on his parade?¡± Everyone looked in the direction that Li Chengfeng was pointing in. There we saw a huge magic knight being escorted toward us by the remaining Ghost Riders. He was about three meters tall and he was sitting on a gigantic warbear. Dressed in a suit of black armor, he held a warhammer crackling with lightning in his hands. We could practically see his muscles rippling under his armor and he really did look very fierce. A string of words were floating above his head. Wing Breaker LV-135 Destruction Warrior Guild: Hall of Immortality Position: Corps Commander ¡­¡­ Xu Yang¡¯s pupils narrowed into pinpricks as he yelled, ¡°Goddammit! It really was that guy! I¡¯ve heard of Wing Breaker before. He got really lucky during character creation, and he got to choose ¡®Werebeast¡¯ as his race. As a result, his body is huge and he naturally gets 7 points of Strength every time he levels. The warhammer in his hands also has a passive that does extra damage to buildings. During the second territory war of Vanished God City, I heard that Fate had been about to take control of the city with the help of Blazing Hot Lips, but it had still ended up in the hands of Hall of Immortality. At that time, it was this Wing Breaker who had blasted open the city gates by himself, something which directly led to the defeat of Fate and Blazing Hot Lips.¡± Li Chengfeng was stunned by those words. ¡°Hot damn, he¡¯s that fierce? He certainly looks the part! Look at that warhammer in his hand! It¡¯s huge! It looks like it weighs a few tons. If we let that thing hit our city gates, even the gates of this Rank 6 city might not be able to withstand it. Fuck, we need to get rid of this Wing Breaker as soon as possible¡­¡± Xu Yang shook his head as he replied, ¡°Chengfeng, you¡¯re not the first person that wants to kill Wing Breaker. Look at that armor that he¡¯s wearing, and he can equip a shield too, so his Defense goes without saying. Furthermore, werebeasts get more bang for their buck when it comes to Stamina too. Every point of Stamina gives them fifteen points of health, so their HP scaling is incredible. It¡¯s way better than the HP scaling of us ordinary players, that¡¯s for sure. After he gets all his buffs, his HP will hit at least 70000 at minimum. It¡¯s way too hard to kill Wing Breaker! Many people died in order to take him down during Vanished God City¡¯s second territory war, and even Stranger of Three Lifetimes suffered a great loss when fighting him!¡± Li Chengfeng¡¯s lips curled up, ¡°Fuck me, I never said that I was gonna do it! Let Lu Chen go! He¡¯ll definitely be able to kill that punk, no sweat!¡± I brandished my Cyan Netherworld Sword angrily. ¡°Dude! Why do I always get the ¡®good parts¡¯!?¡± Everyone broke out into roars of laughter, but the fact of the matter was that no one in our guild could match me when it came to attack power. What was even better than that was that I still had extremely high HP and Defense even with my outrageous Attack. I seemed to have the perfect blend of stats and OP skills and this was something that no one else had! Xu Yang raised his longsword and shouted, ¡°The dumbasses from Hall of Immortality are about to arrive! Brothers and sisters, it¡¯s time to fight!¡± ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi led a bunch of Cyan Tiger riders forward as he said, ¡°Boss Broken Halberd, leave that Wing Breaker to us! You and Yun, Little Rain, and I will definitely make sure that he doesn¡¯t reach our city walls. I swear!¡± I nodded my head, ¡°Okay, but I want all of you to be very careful! We¡¯ll support you from behind!¡± ¡°Gotcha! Okay, everyone follow me!¡± Gui Guzi was filled with vim and vigor as he led Heaven¡¯s Rain and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun forward. The Cyan Tiger Cavalry turned into a blue blur as they shot out of our city gates like a cyan sword that shot straight toward Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch and his men. Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, and I led our contingent of warriors forward as well. We couldn¡¯t let the Cyan Tiger Cavalry dive in alone. If these 1552 players died, we would run out of cards to play. ¡­¡­ ¡°Hahaha, the players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul have come out to greet us!¡± Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch grinned, the bloodlust clear on his face. As he brandished his sword, he laughed and said, ¡°Look here, everyone! The CGL Hall of Famer Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand has come to greet us! The famous Dragon Warrior is here too! And here comes the Undead Knight himself, Gui Guzi! Fucking hell, turn on the video recorder now! I want the entire Chinese server to witness how our Hall of Immortality cuts down these legendary experts!¡± As he said that, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch spurred his ghostly horse forward to meet Gui Guzi¡¯s charge head-on! Bang! Both players shuddered to a halt after colluding with each other. Gui Guzi¡¯s reaction speed was just a mite faster than Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s, so his spear was already howling toward the berserk knight as he used Barrier Break. But Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch wasn¡¯t one to back down either, and he immediately responded with a Barrier Break of his own! Pchht! Pchht! As both players pierced the other with the weapons simultaneously, two damage numbers flew up into the air. 16892! 19023! Both players had about the same stats, but Gui Guzi had more HP than Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. The Undead Knight class had some racial bonuses and one of them was higher max HP than other magic knights. Gui Guzi¡¯s Undying Shield was extremely powerful because it allowed him to absorb half of the damage he had taken. All of this coupled with Gui Guzi¡¯s Knight God had put him at a distinct advantage over Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch! ¡°Fuck you, die!¡± Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch howled in rage. He viciously slashed at Gui Guzi with his sword as he used a three-hit flurry attack! 11020! 10281! 11028! The eye-popping damage numbers made everyone¡¯s jaws to drop to the ground. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch was only using Encourage VII, but his attack power was already this strong! This punk was definitely using some top-of-the-line gear! Gui Guzi¡¯s body shuddered as he was shoved backward. However, his Rainbow flashed out in an unyielding manner as a Death Combo slammed into his opponent¡¯s chest. Blood spurted into the air as Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s HP rapidly decreased as well. However, the berserk knight spurred his mount forward and delivered another Furious Slash into Gui Guzi¡¯s body. This blow was a critical hit, so it had seriously hurt Gui Guzi this time! He hurriedly wheeled around to avoid soaking another hit from Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch! ¡°Big bro Little Gui, tag me in!¡± Heaven¡¯s Rain flew over, a spiral of fiery energy erupting around her broadsword as she slammed it into Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s breastplate. Her Barrier Break shaved off half of the berserk knight¡¯s remaining HP in one blow. Gulp! Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch chugged down a health potion as he started to retreat. He let out a roar of laughter as he yelled, ¡°Bring it on! I want to see just how powerful Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ Cyan Tiger Cavalry really is!¡± ¡­¡­ Heaven¡¯s Rain took the bait and she rushed toward the berserk knight with a few dozen Cyan Tiger riders in tow. It was at this moment that Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch suddenly shifted to the side to reveal a black-robed mage standing behind him. The mage raised a blood-colored staff high in the air as he chanted, ¡°Oh, god of boundless frost, bless me with your icy power! Shatter this false star¡ªIceflame Drill!¡± The sky instantly turned the color of blood as countless flaming icicles started raining down on a 10x10 yard area. Bang! Bang! Bang! The icicles rent the armor of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry apart, dealing serious damage to every rider caught in the radius of this attack. Chapter 608: Spiritual Protection The enemy mage curled his lips up and sneered, ¡°Pretty little girl, do you think that you can actually escape? Die!¡± His staff shuddered as icicles exploded out of it and shot straight toward Heaven¡¯s Rain! At this exact moment, an imposing figure stood in front of Heaven¡¯s Rain. It was actually Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun who blocked the icicles and took more than ten thousand damage. It was life-threatening for a wanderer to become a human meat shield for a magic knight, especially when he wasn¡¯t able to activate his defensive skill in time. This showed how much love and concern that Eighteen Steeds of You had for this particular Knight General. Heaven¡¯s Rain was stunned by the sudden intervention and she immediately turned around to look at Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. ¡°Uncle You and Yun¡­¡± Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun kept silent as tears streamed down his cheeks. At this moment, the enemy¡¯s mages started to cast their enchantments as Iceflame Drills rained down again! A dozen Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls members were outraged at this and shouted, ¡°Damn it! Slaughter that fucking mage! That bastard killed too many of our brothers!¡± Immediately, a dozen Cyan Tiger riders activated Charge and locked their targets on that particular mage. They lifted their swords and attacked the mage when they got close to him. The words ¡®IMMUNE¡¯ popped up continuously on the combat log. Unfortunately, the mage activated his Origin Energy Shield, making him immune to their attacks! Origin Energy Shield was a high-level skill and could only be learnt by the most elite of mages, so it seemed that the Vanished God City still had a card up their sleeves. Their mage could do whatever and kill anyone he pleased when the Origin Energy Shield was active. ¡°Hehe, are you guys seeking death?¡± The mage grinned and chuckled as he waved his staff. Instantly, the ground trembled violently as countless gray dragons burst forth from the earth and attacked anything within their surrounding radius. A string of damage numbers amounting to more than a hundred thousand popped up as that dozen of Cyan Tiger riders collapsed to the ground. Not a single of them survived that attack! ¡­¡­ ¡°Damn it! What kind of mage is he¡­¡± Gui Guzi gritted his teeth in rage before shouting, ¡°Retreat back to the city and regain your health! Don¡¯t face that mage head on! Let Boss Broken Halberd deal with this pleb!¡± Guild: Hall of Immortality Position: Corps Commander ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng had a stupefied look on his face as he held his Tempest Sword. ¡°What the heck. This mage has such powerful attack skills! Iceflame Drill, Earth Dragon Howl¡­ Fuck, even Luo River God of the Capital may not be as powerful as him!¡± My gaze turned gloomy as I replied, ¡°No, Luo River God of the Capital is still a little stronger, but this guy isn¡¯t very far behind either. I don¡¯t know where the hell he managed to find those two skill books from, but his class skills are too powerful! Chengfeng, gather a few of our guys and come with me. We¡¯ll get rid of Galaxy Breaker Mage!¡± ¡°Yessir!¡± But in the end, Li Chengfeng and I did not take anyone along with us as we realized it would be a suicide mission for anyone else. Only the two of us would be able to withstand the powerful attacks of Galaxy Breaker Mage. I raised my hand and unleashed the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. It transformed into a ray of cyan lightning and immediately rushed at Galaxy Breaker Mage. Hopefully, it would be able to distract the mage for a short while while Li Chengfeng and I looked for an opportunity to attack. ¡°They¡¯re coming!¡± Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch growled as anger flashed through his eyes, ¡°Be careful everyone! Protect Galaxy Breaker Mage and kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Legendary Brave! Damn it, we must not let both of them leave this place alive!¡± Li Chengfeng gave a snort of disdain and growled, ¡°Shut up and die!¡± He activated Reverse Scale Flash right after using Charge. Dust flew up from the ground as Reverse Scale Flash enveloped Galaxy Breaker Mage. However, the mage was not harmed and that attack had only scratched the surface of his Origin Energy Shield. Even though Reverse Scale Slash did not damage the mage, it did injure a bunch of Ghost Riders nearby. Dust flew up and filled the air, greatly affecting the vision of everyone in the vicinity. Making use of this precious opportunity, I turned the skill of my Apparition Ring and summoned a clone. My clone brandished his sword and charged forward, unleashing Thousand Ice Slash + Burning Blade Slash immediately! Boom! Boom! Boom! The ground shook under my clone¡¯s continuous attacks causing Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch to tremble and retreat repeatedly. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch could no longer shield Galaxy Breaker Mage, leaving his front wide open. My clone wasted no time and zigzagged through the crowd, dodging a few attacks. The six-second cooldown was up just as he arrived behind Galaxy Breaker Mage. A fiery spiral of indigo energy formed at the tip of my sword as I unleashed Universe Break onto Galaxy Breaker Mage! Galaxy Breaker Mage was caught off-guard and hurriedly waved his staff to protect himself. Iceflame Drill fell from the sky like rain and hit the clone. The clone only had 75% of my stats and didn¡¯t have much Magic Resist. Moreover, it did not have the protection of my Ghost Deity Armor and his health depleted rapidly! 15092! 15929! 17298! Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch took a step back before suddenly activating Charge, targeting the clone. The clone was hit directly in the abdomen and he stumbled back when dizziness overcame him. Galaxy Breaker Mage wasted no time and followed up with Earth Dragon Howl. Without experiencing the full force of the Earth Dragon Howl, the clone collapsed to the ground and died. ¡°Hahaha! Broken Halberd Sinks into the Sand is dead! So much for his title of Little Heavenly King! When faced with Hall of Immortality, all these pathetic titles are meaningless!¡± Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch could not help but roar with laughter. Little did they know that Li Chengfeng gained an opportune moment while the clone was attacking. He activated Universe Break with a swing of his sword and rushed forth to stab Galaxy Breaker Mage in the chest. As long as Li Chengfeng gets a critical hit from Barrier Break with Encourage VII activated, there is no way that Galaxy Breaker Mage will be able to survive! But at this moment, a magic knight rushed forward and took the blow for Galaxy Breaker Mage! 19094! The magic knight collapsed with a whimper as Galaxy Breaker Mage heaved a sigh of relief. But before he could catch his breath, I emerged from the dense fog with my blood red cloak dancing in the wind and started to attack. A fiery swirl of indigo energy formed on the tip of my sword as I activated Universe Break! ¡°What?! Lu Chen is not dead yet?¡± Galaxy Breaker Mage and Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch both gasped in shock simultaneously. I positioned my attacks and managed to corner Galaxy Breaker Mage, leaving him with no escape routes. He was in desperate straits and all he could do was wait for death. Li Chengfeng activated Dragon Defense Armor as a ring of light started to circle around him. He retreated swiftly while laughing in a loud voice, ¡°Lu Chen, go on and kill that asshole!¡± I pressed my sword against the enemy¡¯s Origin Energy Shield with Universe Break still activated. Ignoring the Origin Energy Shield¡¯s defense, it penetrated through the shield and was about to stab Galaxy Breaker Mage in the heart. However, at this exact moment, a high-level magic knight in a navy blue armor charged and growled angrily at me. ¡°Trying to kill Galaxy Breaker Mage? Dream on! Spiritual Protection!¡± Whoosh! The magic knight stretched out his palm and fired a blue ball of light which enveloped Galaxy Breaker Mage. However, my Universe Break had still successfully penetrated through the mage¡¯s chest! Splurt! My blade was drenched in blood instantly but the HP bar of Galaxy Breaker Mage had not gone down in the slightest. Instead, the magic knight who fired that ball of light trembled as a damage number flew up from his head! 13902! ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I rushed to look at the combat log and was stupefied by what I saw. Combat Log: Player Dark Guardian Angel used Spiritual Protection. The player has absorbed the damage done to Galaxy Breaker Mage and will only suffer half of the damage. Player Dark Guardian Angel has taken 13902 damage! ¡­¡­ The hell, Spiritual Protection? What an OP skill! That magic knight, Dark Guardian Angel really was a guardian angel to Galaxy Breaker Mage. Dammit, he has at least 70000 HP when boosted by buffs! It¡¯s literally impossible to kill this tank! Pchhht! Pchhht! Pchhht! In an instant, Devil Piercing Arrow, Spiralling Arrow Blade, Galaxy storm rained down on me continuously. As my health started to drop drastically, I drowned a health potion immediately and retreated together with Li Chengfeng. It was impossible for me to solo this bunch. Galaxy Breaker Mage¡¯s magic attacks were too powerful, a single Galaxy Storm cast by him would deal 8k damage to me! If he had used Ice Arrow Spell to freeze me instead, I would¡¯ve lost my life then and there! Fortunately, Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and the others had returned for us. Under the protection of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry, Li Chengfeng and I barely managed to escape. Our assassination attempt had failed miserably as we were greatly outnumbered. It seemed as if Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch was not in a rush to get rid of us. He didn¡¯t do anything more than lead a group of riders to guard Wing Breaker as he prepared to break the doors down. Galaxy Breaker Mage spun his staff in his hands as he emotionlessly gazed at the city before him. He was clearly the Hall of Immortality¡¯s trump card while the magic knight, Dark Guardian Angel, was most probably his pocket guardian. This ¡®cycle¡¯ could be used to our advantage. Dark Guardian Angel used Spiritual Protection to protect Galaxy Breaker Mage and was healed by the priests. Under the protection of Origin Energy Shield, it was almost impossible to kill Galaxy Breaker Mage. To break this ¡®cycle¡¯, first we had to go for their priests, then Dark Guardian Angel, thirdly Galaxy Breaker Mage, and finally Wing Breaker. Only then would we be able to successfully guard our city. ¡°Dammit! We have to kill Galaxy Breaker Mage!¡± Li Chengfeng gripped his sword tightly and glared at Galaxy Breaker Mage in the distance. He was clearly unnerved by the opponent. But in all honesty, all of us could no longer remain calm at this current stage of the battle. I carried my Cyan Netherworld Sword on my shoulder and turned to shout, ¡°Beiming, come down here! Let¡¯s work together to kill that guy again, Galaxy Breaker Mage has to die! Everyone, disperse yourselves and only attack when the enemy is 25 yards away from the city gates. Kill the magic knight, Dark Guardian Angel, first before eliminating Galaxy Breaker Mage. Dammit all! We have to protect the city!¡± Understood!¡± Beiming Xue led a few of her strongest archers and gracefully leaped off the arrowtower. Landing on top of the city walls, they ran along it and positioned themselves behind me. ¡­¡­ Everyone held their breaths and waited patiently. Under the disguise of our ranged attacks, they continued to maintain their advancing speed. At long last, they have arrived! ¡°They are within 25 yards! Attack now! Be careful of Galaxy Breaker Mage¡¯s spells!¡± I leaped forward swiftly and stealthily made my way to the enemy¡¯s lines. I jumped out of hiding when I saw an opportune moment and unleashed Thousand Ice Slash on a group of enemies. Lady luck must¡¯ve been on my side as Dark Guardian Angel had been frozen by the Thousand Ice Slash. Immediately, I waved my hand and executed God Binding Art! Swoosh! God Binding Art took effect and Dark Guardian Angel was trapped in the middle of four divine weapons. Dopamine coursed through my veins when I saw that he could not move an inch! ¡°Go in, use Barrier Break and retreat immediately!¡± High Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, and the rest activated Charge at my command. With a wave of their swords, they activated Barrier Break and unleashed spirals of swirling energy from the tips of their swords. Without even firing a second shot, they retreated immediately after using Barrier Break. Boom! Boom! Boom! Galaxy Breaker Mage grew anxious as he waved his staff, activating Iceflame Drill. It smashed against the city walls as an entire row of players perched on it collapsed. Beiming Xue on the other hand was running back and forth quickly like a pretty little bunny, successfully dodging the attacks. While dodging the incoming attacks, she continued to unleash Mountain Stagger Arrows upon Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. In the blink of an eye, Dark Guardian Angel was left with just a sliver of his HP! Our chance has come! I swung my sword and it trembled as I activated Universe Break! 24091! Chapter 609: A Costly Lesson Whoosh! High Fighting Spirits activated Charge, stunning the Ghost Rider who was positioned behind Galaxy Breaker Mage. His Invincible howled through the air as he yelled, "Fuck you! You killed so many of our comrades, and you still think you can run away?! Have a taste of my Xiezhi Howl!" With an explosive boom, High Fighting Spirits¡¯ Xiezhi Howl created a vortex of energy that resembled a tornado. It battered Galaxy Breaker Mage¡¯s Origin Energy Shield as the famed berserker pounced at him like a savage god of war. He immediately cut off the mage¡¯s retreat path while he raised a hand to ward off Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s assault. His health started dropping rapidly! "Help Fighting Spirits! Charge!" Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, and Chaos Moon activated Charge at the same time, and all three of them had selected Galaxy Breaker Mage as their target. Spirals of fiery energy erupted from all of their weapons as they charged straight for the mage, the blazing energy forming a sort of fiery net in the air as they flew toward him. "Fuck¡­" Galaxy Breaker Mage¡¯s face went pale when he saw the three warriors charge straight at him. He darted around like a slippery weasel as he tried to use pathing to dodge the three Barrier Breaks heading his way. As his shoes slid across the ground, he caused a huge "MISS" to fly up into the air. He had managed to successfully dodge Xu Yang¡¯s attack, but he wouldn¡¯t be so lucky a second time. Li Chengfeng¡¯s mechanical skill was superlative and Chaos Moon had spent a lot of time honing her skills in the champion arena. Even though she wasn¡¯t as good as Li Chengfeng, she was still far better than Xu Yang. Pchht! Pchht! Both their weapons slammed into Galaxy Breaker Mage¡¯s Origin Energy Shield, shattering it instantly. Two damage numbers flew up into the air! 17902! 19045! That was it for Galaxy Breaker Mage! Galaxy Breaker Mage fell to the floor with a strangled cry. A round cloth cap that was the color of blood had dropped from his cold corpse. Chaos Moon had gotten the last hit, so her Plunder skill had struck yet again! When she was using her Famous General Skill, anyone she killed would definitely drop items. You could even say that Galaxy Breaker Mage was quite unlucky to have met someone like Chaos Moon today. I nodded my head. "Yeah, those are your spoils of war, go and sell them!" Chaos Moon giggled as she threw the cloth cap into her inventory. I wouldn¡¯t force our players to donate gear like this to the guild warehouse. After all, these were items that our players had won by killing enemy generals, so there was no reason for the guild to steal the fruit of someone¡¯s labor. The only thing Chaos Moon needed to do was to pass Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits something as a token of her appreciation, because they had helped her to kill the mage. We had completely reversed the situation on its head! Killing Galaxy Breaker Mage also meant that the enemy had lost their powerful "artillery" piece, and that they were now vulnerable to the attacks of the long-range players from our guild. The attacks of our archers were especially fierce and every time Beiming Xue stunned someone with a Shock Arrow, she never failed to kill them within the next two seconds. Bang, bang, bang... Beiming Xue managed to stun one of the magic knights that was riding besides Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. He was at full health, but eight arrows punched into his body about a second later, instantly killing him! "Huh?!" Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch was dumbstruck by that incredible damage, but there was more bad news waiting for him. As he turned around, he saw the Hall of Immortality players behind him being cut to pieces by Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and the rest of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry. "Fucking hell, where did we go wrong?" Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch roared as he swiveled around on his horse. He abandoned the rest of his men as he started to flee to safety. That ghostly horse of his was a boss-tiermount, so there was no way that I could catch up to him. To be honest, I wasn¡¯t even targeting him in the first place. I slowly turned to face the person whom I had designated as prey, the werebeast¡ªWing Breaker! There was a group of Ghost Riders protecting Wing Breaker as he continued his inexorable advance. The giant werebeast¡¯s eyes glowed with ferocity as he swung his huge warhammer as if it weighed nothing. Every swing of that dreadful hammer shattered the shield of a Cyan Tiger Cavalryman like it was nothing more than a plank of rotten wood. His attacks weren¡¯t the only thing that was incredible. His shield always seemed to be able to block every one of Beiming Xue¡¯s arrows as he charged toward Dark Moon City. In a matter of no time at all, he reached our city gates and smashed his warhammer into it with all of his might! Boom! The huge explosion caused everyone to stare at him with shock. No one had imagined that a player would be able to hit the gate of a city with that much force. Wing Breaker¡¯s warhammer had left a huge dent in the thick and heavy bone gate. Cracks had appeared on the surface of the city gates and a few more hits from his warhammer would completely destroy it! That one attack had already taken out a huge chunk of the gate¡¯s tenacity! "What the fuck?! You¡¯ve gotta be fucking kidding me!" I yelled, gunning straight for Wing Breaker. The archers and mages couldn¡¯t target him because he had come too close to the city. It was now up to the fighters on the ground to deal with him. When the Ghost Riders escorting Wing Breaker saw me rush toward him, their eyes turned cold and sharp. One of them yelled, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Legendary Brave are charging at us! We need to protect Wing Breaker at all costs!" Ice began to condense around my blade as I shot Thousand Ice Slash at the group of Ghost Riders. My sword divided into countless blades of ice that heavily smashed into the crowd of riders. The Ghost Riders immediately cried out in pain as their health started to plummet. They had been standing too close together, so the splash damage from my Cyan Netherworld Sword was doing incredible damage to them. Quite a few of them had even been one-shot by my Thousand Ice Slash because of that. However, since there had been at least a hundred Ghost Riders escorting Wing Breaker, I was unable to cut through them all. I winced as I heard the sound of another huge explosion. Wing Breaker¡¯s second hit had left our gates looking even more battered. It was at this exact moment that Li Chengfeng charged forward and used Reverse Scale Slash to open up a path for me. He yelled, "I¡¯ll take care of these small fries. Go and kill Wing Breaker! We can¡¯t let that dumbass continue his assault on our gates!" "Okay!" I dashed forward like a comet while Li Chenfeng immediately started ripping into the enemies around me. He kicked things off with Dragonbone Flurry, his three consecutive strikes causing a whole line of Ghost Riders to fall to the ground. But that was just the beginning. Li Chengfeng brandished his sword as wind started to swirl around him. After that, he shouted, "Whirlwind Slash!" Whoosh! He swept past the Ghost Riders in his path like a gust of wind, his sharp blade flashing through the air at an incredible speed. Dozens of riders instantly fell to the ground with a thud! They hadn¡¯t even been able to see what killed them. Damn, this Whirlwind Slash was awesome. It was an AoE skill that allowed its user to dash forward in a set direction! ¡­¡­ After Li Chengfeng had cleared a path for me, I rushed forward unobstructed. Hell, I could even see Wing Breaker¡¯s back now! I swiftly locked onto the werebeast and activated Thunderous Charge! Whoosh! I streaked forward like a bolt of lightning as my Thunderous Charge carried me toward Wing Breaker. Having already sensed my attack, he hurriedly spun around and braced his shield in front of him as he activated his Holy Shield skill! Thud! MISS! Holy Shield was a defensive skill that protected the user against both physical and magic attacks! This Wing Breaker was rather clever. He¡¯d actually used Holy Shield to avoid being stunned by my Thunderous Charge. However, that wouldn¡¯t be enough to save him! A spiral of energy appeared around the Cyan Netherworld Sword as an Eight Trigrams formation appeared beneath my feet. Before the destruction warrior could even react, my sword was already flying toward his chest! Universe Break! Wing Breaker¡¯s eyes went flat and cold but he kept his Holy Shield up. Flames erupted from his warhammer as he swung it toward me even as my blade shot toward him. Pu! 29079! A huge damage number popped up over his head. Taking that blow with Holy Shield had caused him to receive even more damage, but Wing Breaker was well aware of how fast I was. He knew that my Burning Blade Slash was even deadlier than my Universe Break, so he would definitely die if he didn¡¯t defend against it. As the warhammer fiercely smashed into my left shoulder, I instantly experienced the power of a werebeast who could add 7 points to Strength with every level. 13002! I ignored the damage that he had dealt to me as my sword swept up toward him. How about Crushing Blow! "What?!" Wing Breaker gasped in shock, quickly canceling his Holy Shield. However, my sword suddenly shifted as I struck with Burning Blade Slash instead. I hadn¡¯t even used Crushing Blow in the first place, I had merely imitated the wind-up of the skill to bait Wing Breaker into canceling his Holy Shield. It looked like the destruction warrior hadn¡¯t had enough PvP experience against peak experts of the game because his fighting style was still very naive! Unfortunately for him, all war was based on deception! Clang! Clang! Clang! Sparks flew into the air when my blade cut into the destruction warrior¡¯s breastplate three times, causing three damage numbers to pop up into the air. 9043! 15020! 23401! Wing Breaker had been taught a valuable lesson with these three hits. Since there weren¡¯t any priests around to heal him, those three consecutive slashes had been enough to finish him. He stared at me dumbly as he slowly collapsed from the back of his warbear. He had even dropped the shield that he had been wielding. I immediately picked up the shield. Good, an impressive item! My eyes swiftly swept over it. I had gotten a 5-star Outstanding Spirit-grade shield! Awesome! The surviving Hall of Immortality players around me were shaken to their core. "Fucking hell! Wing Breaker was killed by physical attacks! A warrior had actually managed to cut him down with physical attacks! What the hell is this?! Even Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow couldn¡¯t one-shot Wing Breaker, but a single flurry of attacks from Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand had put him down! Is this the difference in strength between the seventh-ranked CGL Hall of Famer and rankers lower than him?" I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. Hah, what difference?! The real difference was the 200% Attack buff from my Martial God skill. As long as this OP skill was active, I would be able to tear through any Defense like a hot knife through butter! ¡­¡­ Du Thirteen waved his sword in the air. "Well done, Lu Chen! Li Chengfeng also managed to kill a few of their experts! We should charge forward now and get rid of those annoying Thunder Chariots!" A squad of Hall of Immortality players had nearly managed to escort that pitch-black Thunder Chariot to our walls. This was a true siege weapon and it would immediately cause a major breach in our defenses if we allowed it to hit our walls or gates. In the next instant, Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng, and Chaos Moon launched a blitzkrieg assault on the Thunder Chariot with a squad of warriors. Beams of sword energy tore through the players defending the Thunder Chariot as the mages and archers on the walls pelted it with spiraling arrows and fiery blasts of flames. Attacks rained down on the Thunder Chariot without pause and it gave a sudden whine before it exploded. Thud! An assassin from Hall of Immortality fell to his knees in despair. As he looked at the ruins of their Thunder Chariot, he said in a disconsolate voice, "We¡¯re dead. The boss spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on this Thunder Chariot, but we lost it just like that. The boss is gonna skin us alive¡­" ¡­¡­ Chapter 610: Gangster Cavalry The shadow of a cyan dragon burst out of the ground with a draconic roar and devoured a Hall of Immortality warrior standing in front of Du Thirteen. The poor warrior was completely caught off-guard when a huge damage number popped above his head¡ª15092! It was the Dragon Vein Art, the signature move of our miraculous tactician, Lu Buyi! His attack power increased drastically ever since he obtained the Burning Fan, and now he hit harder than even most mages. The warrior felt like dying when he realized that it was a tactician who deleted a huge chunk of his HP. ¡°Fuck! You¡¯re just a puny tactician¡­¡± The angered warrior pounced toward Lu Buyi in an attempt to kill him, but Du Thirteen hit him with Barrier Break first and one-shot him where he stood. In the city, a group of lovely ladies immediately cheered in excitement, ¡°Wah, the guild leader is so cool!¡± Du Thirteen gladly accepted the shower of compliments while I watched silently from the sidelines. As the saying went, it is much easier to change rivers and mountains than a man''s character. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before Bloody Mercenaries turned into his fan club completely. The only question left for me now was whether Mamate battled for the other side. If he did then, phew, Du Thirteen¡¯s predicament was hardcore to say the least. Li Chengfeng walked up to me with a serious look on his face. Gazing to the distance, he said, ¡°To think that this single Galaxy Breaker Mage could drive us to the sorry state we¡¯re in¡­ ahhh. It looks like Beiming Xue is the only ranged ace we have. Everyone else is¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°Yeah. Candle Dragon has God¡¯s Dance, Snowy Cathaya has Shadow Chanel, Purple Lily has Luo River God of the Capital, and even Hall of Immortality has Galaxy Breaker Mage. But we¡­ Moonlight Stone still has a long way to go. It¡¯s not something that can be rushed though. Top-tier mages have always been an ultra rare commodity. Let¡¯s just wait and see what the future has in store for us.¡± Li Chengfeng grinned. ¡°Hall of Immortality and Rose of the Holy Domain¡¯s main forces are still alive, and they are attacking the west wall with everything they have. We stalled them for so long that both sides have suffered huge casualties, so I¡¯m expecting them to launch a do-or-die assault any time now. If they don¡¯t, time will run out, and the ultimate victory will belong to us!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. That is why we must protect our city for the last 4 hours with everything we got!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Our situation was as bad as ever. Our army was fully composed of our main guild, Bloody Mercenaries, and our eight subguilds, and after several hours of intense battle we had lost over 50% of our army. Right now, we had 30000 or so able bodies left to defend the city, and a large number of them¡ªover 8000 fighters beneath the walls and over 5000 ranged players on the walls¡ªwere concentrated on the west wall. They were the biggest numbers we could muster under these circumstances, but it was 13k versus 200k. The disadvantage was all ours even with a wall keeping us and the enemy separate. ¡°Here they come again¡­¡± Holding his Rainbow Spear by his side, Gui Guzi spat once on the ground before asking, ¡°Do or die indeed. It¡¯s another big army, and they¡¯re charging us all at once. What do we do, boss? We continue defending to the death, or?¡± I thought for a moment before answering, ¡°I don¡¯t think we can hold out like this for much longer. Their city buster, Wing Breaker, is dead, their Thunder Chariots and catapults have been destroyed, and the only siege weapons they have left are harmless things like ladders and siege towers. Let¡¯s do it this way: I will continue defending the city with 6000+ fighters. You, Heaven¡¯s Rain and You and Yun will lead 1000 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen to ambush the enemy from the flank. Don¡¯t try to stick to them, just kill a bunch of their mages and archers every time you go in and out of their formation. Let¡¯s give Rose of the Holy Domain and Hall of Immortality a taste of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry¡¯s superior mobility.¡± Gui Guzi replied with a smile, ¡°Sure. The boss is wise!¡± Heaven¡¯s Rain also replied with a cheerful smile, ¡°Why do I feel that big brother Lu Chen is so much smarter, reliable, and manlier than big brother Little Gui¡­¡± A helpless look immediately overrode Gui Guzi¡¯s expression. ¡°I¡¯m pretty manly, alright? You wouldn¡¯t say this if you saw me in a brick fight.¡± Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun laughed. ¡°Yes, he¡¯s so manly that he took a brick to the head and slept for an entire hour that day he got into a fight for Xue Lu. If Lu Chen wasn¡¯t as tanky and courageous as he was, our Little Gui would be working at a brothel as a prostitute right now¡­¡± Gui Guzi bared his teeth at him. ¡°Fuck, anyone who brings that up again will have to fight me, okay?! Cyan Tiger Cavalry, follow me! It¡¯s time to run outside and open a path to victory for our guild!¡± Raising his Rainbow Spear like a banner and leading a huge group of Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen behind him, Gui Guzi charged into the weakest spot of Rose of the Holy Domain¡¯s right flank where there were only 2000 players or so. Buffed by Gui Guzi and Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s Famous General Skill, the cavalry troops easily cut a bloody path through the enemy¡¯s formation before disappearing from view. Clang! I pulled out the Cyan Netherworld Sword and pointed toward the front with a smile. ¡°Brothers and sisters, the climax of our battle has arrived, so gather your courage and defend the pride and honor of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Hall of Immortality and Rose of the Holy Domain are targeting our home, so let us bury them beneath our city along with our blades and blood!¡± Everyone pulled out their weapons and roared in agreement. Then, they waited with bated breaths for the inevitable to come. A gloomy-looking Rose Thorn and Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch were walking side by side directly in front of us. When Rose Thorn raised her weapon, her players immediately let out a chorus of battle cry and charged toward us. The high-spirited troops broke through our line of arrows and magical storms in no time. ¡°Kill them!¡± I charged toward the enemy after barking the command and intercepted them about 30 yards away from the city walls. Faster than anyone, I froze a bunch of fighters with Thousand Ice Slash before wiping them from the surface of the earth with Burning Blade Slash! After the successful assault, I assumed a Guard stance to block a bunch of arrows, then stabbed a fighter who attempted to use Crushing Blow on me with a Universe Break. Sword imbued with the energy of a dragon¡¯s soul, I slashed horizontally and killed everyone who was within my attack range. The Purple Thunder Cavalry and the Ghost Riders were Rose of the Holy Domain and Hall of Immortality¡¯s trump cards, but we had already taken them out of the fight. Therefore, the enemies we were facing were less powerful and easier to handle. However, they still drastically outnumbered us, and the sheer number of arrows and Galaxy Storms chewing at my body were uncomfortable to say the least. Countering aggression with aggression, I spun like a top and attacked anyone and everyone around me like crazy. Every time I hit an opponent, I was healing myself for 10% of the damage I dealt, not to mention the splash effect. My DPS for this battle was 20k or higher, meaning that I was healing 2000 HP per second at least. Naturally, this was an awesome way to regain health. On the other side, Li Chengfeng was also spinning like a top and cutting down all the enemies around him like a hurricane. The Whirlwind Slash was both visually gorgeous and super effective in battle. When he skidded to a stop in the middle of a group and unleashed Reverse Scale Slash, the physiological and psychological trauma were devastating if I do say so myself. Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits, and everyone else were giving it their all too. Rock Crush, Mountain Stagger Slash, Xiezhi Howl; all sorts of AoE skills were exploding in the middle of the enemies and dealing a ridiculous amount of destruction. Like heroes, their presence terrified their opponents and invigorated their allies. As long as we remained standing, our people would know that there was still hope, and that we were still defending the honor of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls with our blood and sweat. Boom boom boom... The downpour of magic and arrows was growing by the minute. Knowing that they had the superior numbers, the enemy players ignored the bombardment coming from above the city walls and did everything in their power to wipe out our frontliners instead. Worse, Rose Thorn ordered some archers to attack our backliners with Far Shot, forcing Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone to move constantly or risk dying. We were drastically outnumbered, our firepower was limited, and even our priest count was steadily declining. A direct exchange like this was incredibly destructive for us. It was at this moment a chorus of thunderous battle cries came from afar. It was Gui Guzi and Heaven¡¯s Rain leading our Cyan Tiger Cavalry and slamming into the enemy¡¯s backline like a truck. The mages and archers couldn¡¯t kill our cavalry troops before they were hit, and not even guarding could save them from being trampled like pancakes. All they could do was wait for death to claim them as our cavalry troops reaped through them like a lawnmower. It took only a moment for our elite cavalry to sweep through the enemy like a whirlwind using Barrier Breaks. Three-thousand-strong ranged party of Hall of Immortality was annihilated just like that! Absolutely furious, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch raised his sword and shouted, ¡°Someone, chase that Cyan Tiger Cavalry and kill them all! These motherfucking sons of bitches!¡± A subguild of Hall of Immortality immediately heeded the order and chased after our elite cavalry with an army of five thousand, but Gui Guzi wisely retreated and lured them all the way to the edge of a forest. When the timing was right, he immediately turned around and clashed against the enemy, slaughtering them left and right as if their formation and numbers meant nothing to him. In fact, that was the case. The elite cavalry of 1000 easily punched through the enemy formation like an unstoppable train, and four of five charges later the subguild was all but wiped out! Clearly, our Cyan Tiger Cavalry held the absolute advantage on an open terrain as long as the enemy didn¡¯t outnumber them too much. This was especially true after they were buffed by Knight God and Knight General, a 150% and 100% buff to Attack, Defense, Magic Resist and HP. To put these horrifying buffs into perspective, an elite player of the same caliber as them couldn¡¯t even penetrate their defenses after the buff was activated. Chapter 611: This Guy Isn’t Human Caught off-guard by her sudden insult, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch placed a hand on the hilt of his sword and raised his eyebrows. ¡°What¡¯s that? Is there something you would like to share, Rose Thorn?¡± The woman giggled seductively. ¡°In a siege battle, the attackers are expected to outnumber their defenders at least 2 to 4 times if they wish to overtake a city. We¡¯ve lost enough people already, and now you¡¯re sending over 30000 players after a 1000-strong cavalry troop? If this isn¡¯t a brain fart, then what is? No matter how powerful the Cyan Tiger Cavalry is, there are only so many people they can kill at a time. Therefore, the order you just gave is exactly what Gui Guzi wants you to do; split up your army and slowly harass them while keeping them away from the siege proper. Just order your men to tighten your formation, and they won¡¯t be able to deal too much damage... Hmph, as expected of a Top 10 CGL Hall of Famer, Lu Chen has both the brains and the brawns.¡± Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch thought for a moment before smiling. ¡°You¡¯re right, Beauty Rose, tightening my formation is the best course of action. The Cyan Tiger Cavalry can attack us all they want; we¡¯ll just bombard them to death if they ever come close!¡± ¡°Yes, exactly.¡± Rose returned the smile. On the battlefield, the yellow sand beneath our feet was wet with blood. Layers upon layers of bodies were stacked beneath the city walls. After fighting for almost an hour, the number of our melee fighters had dwindled to just 5000 or so, and we had lost a lot of ranged attackers as well. The only good news was that Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang, and I were able to lodge ourselves deep within the enemy lines like poisonous thorns in their throats, so they weren¡¯t able to bear their full power upon the city. Bang bang bang¡­ Beiming Xue¡¯s Evil Spirit Volley exploded together with her allies¡¯ Spiraling Arrow Blades to wipe out a group of enemies. I seized the opening to retreat closer to the city¡¯s arrow towers. ¡°Motherfucker, don¡¯t even think you can run away!¡± A couple of Hall of Immortality players activated Charge and tried to stun me. All I had to give in response was a laugh and Guard! Bang bang bang! The enemy warriors and fighters rammed into me in succession, but before they could follow it up with an attack a huge arrow abruptly fell from the sky! Squelch! Crack! The giant arrow that skewered the unfortunate warrior to the ground was just the beginning. The next moment, giant arrows started raining everywhere from the walls. Squelch squelch squelch... For a moment, the sounds of giant arrows skewering flesh and bones resounded melodiously in everyone¡¯s ears. Thousands died as almost half of the enemies who came within range were instantly killed by the arrow towers. Li Chengfeng couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°This is gratifying!¡± I nodded, then whispered, ¡°Guys, our numbers are too small. It¡¯s time to move back. Let¡¯s set up a new defense line about 15 yards away from the city walls!¡± High Fighting Spirits asked, ¡°Why 15 yards?¡± Chaos Moon chided him. ¡°Stupid, Lu Chen isn¡¯t making this decision without reason. Our arrow towers aren¡¯t very tall, and it only has an attack range of 70 yards. Moreover, they are situated behind the city walls, so they can¡¯t hit anything that¡¯s less than 15 yards away, meaning that their real attack range is between 15 yards to 70 yards. That¡¯s why we¡¯re forming up 15 yards away from the city walls.¡± I smiled. ¡°Correct. Chaos Moon is a smart girl alright!¡± And so we withdrew quickly into the range of our arrow towers and formed a defense line about 15 yards away from the walls. The knights of our subguilds also raised their shields and used Holy Shields to protect themselves from the enemy¡¯s assault. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch raised his sword and shouted, ¡°Charge fearlessly! Victory is right before our eyes, and once we wipe out the remnants of our enemies the one and only Rank 6 undead castle in the whole server will belong to us!¡± Rose Thorn¡¯s eyes shone with the light of intelligence as she ordered, ¡°Pierce through their defense line! Their arrow towers can¡¯t shoot us past that point! Victory is ours once we get close enough to put up our ladders!¡± We all felt a headache when we heard Rose Thorn¡¯s command. She was just as intelligent and annoying as October Rain. We would much rather face brainless commanders like Roaming Dragon and Li Le than her. ¡°Defend to the death!¡± Li Chengfeng shouted, and the exchange of spells and blades renewed in earnest as we raised our weapons and clashed against the enemy again. Meanwhile, Gui Guzi had launched another cavalry charge while the enemy was in the middle of arranging their formation and cut off their tail like a well-honed blade. 4000 Rose of the Holy Domain players quickly found themselves surrounded and slaughtered by the Cyan Tiger Cavalry. However, Rose Thorn was a woman of steel. She immediately abandoned those people and continued commanding the assault on the west wall. She wanted to take down the west wall of Dark Moon City as soon as possible. It was a very satisfying battle. Everyone¡¯s contribution points were rising like crazy. There had never been such a terrible and intense battle since the opening of Heavenblessed. Over 600000 players were participating in this battle, and no casual guilds were involved in this fight. It was the battle between super guilds. Another hour passed in the blink of an eye. There was only an hour and a half left on the clock. However, our frontliners had dropped drastically to just 700 or so, and practically every party besides those that were led by Famous Generals had been annihilated. Meanwhile, Rose of the Holy Domain and Hall of Immortality had successfully reached our walls despite paying the price of 70000¨C80000 lives. Our backs were slowly but surely driven to the wall. Clang! Li Chengfeng growled to me after cutting down a Ghost Rider, ¡°Lu Chen, we can¡¯t hold on any longer! We¡¯re all going to die if we keep this up!¡± I nodded. ¡°Right. The walls still need us to defend them. Everyone, use the guild return scroll and escape now!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± I grabbed my own return scroll but didn¡¯t teleport back yet. The cast time of the return scroll was very short, allowing everyone at the back to teleport back into the city almost immediately. Meanwhile, us Famous Generals covered the retreat of our players until everyone was gone, and we had moved to the city gate. I shouted, ¡°Moonlight Stone, open the gate now!¡± ¡°Mn, got it!¡± Moonlight Stone was given control of the gate and once the overhung gate opened we immediately slipped inside. However, a hundred or so Hall of Immortality players were right behind us. ¡°Attack! Get inside!¡± shouted a group of enemy players while charging. Moonlight Stone¡¯s lips curled. ¡°Do they want to die this much?¡± Boom! She closed the city gate again. The block of metal was over ten thousand tons, so it instantly squashed the dozen or so Hall of Immortality players beneath it into pieces. Then, we turned around and stared menacingly at the dozens of Hall of Immortality players who had managed to rush into the city with us. The stunned bastards looked behind them and saw that the gate was fully shut. They looked back to the front and saw us licking our lips like cats ready to consume a tasty meal. ¡°Kill them!¡± My players tore them to shreds without needing me to lift a finger. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had been fighting a losing battle from the beginning until now, so we were all looking for a place to vent our frustrations. ¡°Get back to the walls and continue the battle!¡± I barked, and everyone rushed up the stone stairs in unison. As expected, a lot of ladders had been propped against the walls during our short absence, and a shitload of troops were already climbing their way up. On the walls, Beiming Xue and a group of archers were shooting at the enemies as quickly as they were able. At this range, they could kill someone with their eyes closed. They didn¡¯t bother to aim anymore. Looking at the sea of people beneath the city walls, I hurriedly dropped a couple of Ice Cyclone Domains to make life miserable for my enemies. Then, I proceeded to throw my sword into the ocean. Sword Boomerang spun through the enemy ranks and cut down dozens of people before returning to my hand. It was a satisfying feeling to say the least. ¡°Hold the walls!¡± While cutting down a Hall of Immortality warrior who had managed to climb all the way up to the wall, I declared with a laugh, ¡°Fighters, don¡¯t let the enemy climb up! Mages, archers, tacticians, this is your chance to earn them contribution points. Kill to your heart¡¯s content!¡± Everyone laughed. Despite facing an army ten times bigger than ours, we were able to maintain a jovial atmosphere. Suddenly, the sound of moving cogs entered our ears. We quickly spotted a gigantic siege tower being pushed by a group of knights toward our wall. The siege tower was exactly the same height as our walls, and the platform on top of the siege tower was crawling with Rose of the Holy Domain players. They numbered around two hundred players or so, and they wouldn¡¯t hesitate to charge the walls the second they got close. They were a huge threat to our defense. ¡°Fuck, this thing is scary¡­¡± High Fighting Spirits spat on the ground. Beiming Xue also looked to be at a loss as well. She stared at me and asked, ¡°What should we do, big bro?¡± ¡°Out of my way!¡± I let out a shout and ran a few steps to the back. I gripped my sword tighter and shouted, ¡°So what if the enemy has a siege tower? Just watch! I¡¯m going to show them what the meaning of OP is!¡± I abruptly launched myself forward like a lightning bolt. When my footsteps reached the edge of the wall, I abruptly launched myself into the air like a bolt and drew a beautiful arc across the air. A moment later, I landed perfectly on top of the siege tower! After I landed, the Rose of the Holy Domain players stared at be in dumb amazement. ¡°Wha¡­ what is going on?¡± ¡°Oh, nothing. I¡¯m just here to deliver y¡¯all dinner! Catch!¡± I chuckled and fired Thousand Ice Slash around me. The skill and the splash damage instantly annihilated an entire group of players. I moved backward into another group of players and stomped the wooden board beneath my feet, one-shotting another swathe of players with War Crush. The platform wasn¡¯t huge to begin with, and two devastating AoE skills later barely anyone was left alive around me. All I needed to do next was swing the Cyan Netherworld Sword and slice these ¡°vegetables¡± into pieces! ¡°Ahhhhhh¡­¡± Bloodcurdling screams filled the air for a time. Chapter 612: Betrayal The draconic soul entrenched on my sword abruptly shone brightly before pouncing toward my enemies. It howled mightily and ravaged most of the players standing atop the siege tower. The dozen or so enemies who weren¡¯t caught in the blast immediately were staring with flabbergasted expressions on their faces. Thud! The Stormy Waves War Boots hit the wooden board powerfully as I jumped from the siege tower back to the city walls again. Once I landed, I skidded across the floor for a time until Beiming Xue stopped my momentum with her shoulder. When I looked back, the dragon soul had already turned the siege tower into a wreckage. Even those at the bottom who didn¡¯t escape in time were squashed by the collapsing structure. The equipment of the dead was mixed within the wreckage, so plenty of nearby Hall of Immortality players succumbed to their greed and looted them for themselves. Meanwhile, the battle on the wall had crawled to a stalemate. It was difficult enough fighting an army who was tens of times bigger than ours, and after so long, many people were even starting to give in to despair. However, my destruction of an enemy¡¯s siege tower successfully renewed their morale and gave them the strength to hack away at our enemies again. I moved to a ladder and cut down anyone who tried to climb up from it. A magic knight on it tried to use his shield to block my attack, so I gifted him a Universe Break and killed him instantly. His body fell off and exploded into a pile of potions and metal armor wristguards. Boom boom boom¡­ Beiming Xue and the archers were firing Spiraling Arrow Blade after Spiraling Arrow Blade at the players on the ground and making life hellish for them. Our mages did the same with their Galaxy Storms. I myself tossed Icy Cyclone Domains at the ground and caused terror to anyone within 20-yard radius of the icicle trap. The players of Hall of Immortality were about to go insane. The piles of bodies beneath the city walls kept growing, but they still weren¡¯t able to overcome our walls. Although Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were losing players, the rate they and Rose of the Holy Domain were losing players was at least ten times ours! Even worse was the fact that there were only 55 minutes left on the clock. If the enemy couldn¡¯t breach the city and occupy the territory hall in this time frame, the siege would automatically be canceled, and the system would announce our defense of Dark Moon City a success. Who knows, we might even be rewarded handsomely for our efforts. An ashen-faced Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch kept running back and forth between places while shouting, ¡°Keep pressing! Do not let up the pressure! Fuck this, I will reward anyone who enters the city first 100k RMB! I am a man of my word!¡± Thud! I continued standing at the edge of the wall and swinging my Cyan Netherworld Sword like a tireless machine. Before I knew it, the tattered cloth flapping behind my back had become the banner of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Every time a Cyan Netherworld Dragon Soul or Silver Dragon Storm was triggered, my guild points would skyrocket, and my enemies would cower in terror. As a result, the amount of enemy players in the area I was guarding decreased steadily until I was forced to move elsewhere and reinforce another point on the wall. Beneath the city, the guild leader of the Rose of the Holy Domain, the magic knight Rose Thorn watched the ensuing battle blankly until a sigh escaped her throat. ¡°Sigh, From Water is so lucky to have Lu Chen by her side. They weren¡¯t kidding when they made that saying, ¡®whoever gets Lu Chen will get half the world¡¯...¡± Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch uttered in frustration, ¡°If you have the time to sigh and talk about useless things then think of a way to breach the city already! If this continues, the Vassal Token I spent millions to buy would be wasted, and the 500 RMB I paid each of my men to drop everything and come to Dark Moon City would be all for nothing as well! There are 180k members in Hall of Immortality, so that¡¯s over 90 million RMB! Fuck! My father will kill me for spending almost a hundred million RMB only to get nothing in return! This investment is only worth it if we successfully take over Dark Moon City!¡± Rose Thorn smiled carelessly. ¡°How is it my fault when you¡¯re the one who acted too hastily for a fast return? Besides, I know the kind of person you are. Assuming we lose, all you need to do is to fire your subguilds to cut down on costs and recoup your losses. Why are you acting that this is life or death for you? It¡¯s not like you haven¡¯t done something like this before.¡± Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch gritted his teeth. ¡°Rose Thorn! We are allies right now! Failing to come up with ideas and ridiculing your ally is unbecoming of you!¡± The corner of Rose Thorn¡¯s lips turned up. ¡°Relax. When the boat gets to the pier-head, it will go straight with the current. If Dark Moon City is yours, it will be yours. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch shook his wrist once before uttering angrily, ¡°You and your philosophical spiel; I have no idea what you¡¯re thinking. By the way, where is Emperor¡¯s Equal? Where is his Greedy Wolf Cavalry? We came here to siege a city, and he didn¡¯t even deploy his ace legion? This is too much even for him, isn¡¯t it?¡± Rose Thorn spread her arms and shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know what Emperor¡¯s Equal is doing, but he¡¯s not here at any rate. Last I heard, he and the main force of Throne Seeker went to attack the east wall.¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch spat on the ground, but he couldn¡¯t think of anything to swear. An alliance forged by self-interests was just as fragile as it sounded. ¡°Hahaha, there¡¯s only 30 minutes left on the clock! There¡¯s no way these idiots can breach the city any longer!¡± Li Chengfeng laughed loudly while supporting himself beside an arrow tower. ¡°Archers, take aim before you shoot those fuckers! Do not let their Thunder Chariot get close to the city gate! Fighters, fight zealously and keep the enemy¡¯s grubby hands away from your zone!¡± Everyone on the wall was wearing a pleased expression on their faces. At this point, it was clear how the siege battle would turn out. After nine hours of non-stop fighting, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was ultimately able to defend their territory. I looked back at the city behind me. At this point, our player count had dwindled down to almost nothing. Including the subguilds, our total player count was only 27k or so. Still, this should be enough people to defend Dark Moon City for the next half an hour. ¡°Hmm? Did anyone see the idiots who call themselves Throne Seekers?¡± Li Chengfeng suddenly asked hesitantly. Xu Yang tried, ¡°Are they hunting Gui Guzi or Heaven¡¯s Rain?¡± But Li Chengfeng pointed to the horizon and said, ¡°No. Look over there, Little Gui, Little Rain, and You and Yun are still wrecking the players of Hall of Immortality. It doesn¡¯t look like they¡¯re facing any real resistance¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. Where is Throne Seeker?¡± Xu Yang was a bit confused. We were all confused until a sudden chorus of angry shouts broke out in the guild channel¡ª ¡°Fuck! How the hell did Throne Seeker get into the city? What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Dammit, who¡¯s the fucker who opened the gate and let them in?¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I turned around and was met with a shocking sight. An army with blood red IDs above their heads had charged into the city, and they were led by none other than Emperor¡¯s Equal, the leader of the Throne Seeker. The Level 136 magic knight was followed by a column of mounted players riding red-colored battle wolves, and they were killing everyone who was unfortunate enough to enter their sight. Countless NPCs and support players were killed in an instant. ¡°What the hell happened¡­¡± Li Chengfeng was completely stunned. ¡°What the hell are the defenders on the east gate doing? They have no siege weapons there, so how on earth did the gate open?¡± Inside the guild channel, Pure Love revealed the truth in a tearful voice, ¡°It¡¯s terrible, the eighth subguild has betrayed us, it¡¯s that guild led by Freezing Point¡­¡± The IDs of all 5000 players of the eighth subguild changed from neutral white to hostile red in an instant. The guild emblems on their shoulders also changed from the subguild of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to the subguild of Rose of the Holy Domain, our mortal enemy! Swhoosh! Lu Buyi was no exception. The tactician stared dumbly at his blood red ID for a couple of seconds before a sudden fury seized him. ¡°Fuck! What the fuck is going on? How¡­ how the fuck did I become the enemy all of a sudden?¡± Beside him, Chaos Moon pointed her weapon at Lu Buyi and criticized him harshly, ¡°That is our question, Lu Buyi! What do you have to say about this? Why did your guild leader betray us?! You let us down, and you betrayed Lu Chen¡¯s trust! WHY?!¡± Tears swirled in his eyes as Lu Buyi gritted his teeth. He abruptly quit Waste and Burn and shouted, ¡°With the heavens as my witness, I, Lu Buyi, am not an ingrate!¡± I nodded and said, ¡°Lu Buyi is our brother, and we don¡¯t doubt our own! Come on, we¡¯ll head down there and find out the truth ourselves. Shit, are those wolf riders the Greedy Wolf Cavalry Throne Seeker is famous for? Let us see what they are really made of!¡± After that, I jumped down the wall and strode toward Throne Seeker. Obviously, their goal was the territory hall! Emperor¡¯s Equal and his men killed all the way to the entrance of the territory hall. However, he was met by Du Thirteen, Xue Lu, and almost a hundred Bloody Mercenaries. Even Yamete was there to help. ¡°Get lost!¡± Emperor¡¯s Equal said coldly. Yamete raised his staff and shouted, ¡°You¡¯re the ones who should get lost, you idiots! This city belongs to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and Bloody Mercenaries will fight to the death to protect it! Not a single one of you will get your hands on the territory hall for as long as we¡¯re here!¡± Chapter 613: Eternal Oath Thud thud... Two damage numbers rose above his head after he was hit by two Barrier Breaks¡ª 14502! 13920! Du Thirteen slowly collapsed to the ground in astonishment. He had failed to survive even the initial encounter. Unfortunately, he simply didn¡¯t have the strength to tank this many high-level Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen alone. A panicked Xue Lu fired a Spiraling Arrow Blade at the enemy while retreating, but there was nothing an archer could do to a super tanky rider of the Greedy Wolf Cavalry. Yamete complained helplessly while healing Xue Lu, ¡°Dammit, Thirteen¡¯s Defense is too weak! I can¡¯t heal him if he dies in the first exchange!¡± Emperor¡¯s Equal laughed disdainfully as he walked up to Du Thirteen¡¯s body. ¡°Is this the kind of trash you make your guild leader? Is this how the Bloody Mercenaries protect Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Pathetic! No wonder you guys are just a subguild! Men, slaughter every last one of them!¡± The Greedy Wolf Cavalry let out an excited battle cry and attacked the remaining Bloody Mercenaries. Suddenly, an aftershadow blitzed across the ground and stunned a Greedy Wolf Cavalry at the front row. Then, he unleashed the Thousand Ice Slash and froze a group of Greedy Wolf Cavalry. It was me, of course. Cutting off the head of a Greedy Wolf Cavalry and sending it bouncing across the ground with a kick, I shouted at Emperor¡¯s Equal, ¡°Hey fucker! I¡¯m the guild leader of Bloody Mercenaries too! Do you dare 1v1 me, leader of some shit third-rate guild?¡± ¡°You¡­¡± Emperor¡¯s Equal¡¯s face turned green as he looked at me. Clearly, he was aware that his chances of winning a duel against me were a big fat zero. However, he would lose face if he chose to reject my challenge. After all, his PvP skills were rated as first-class in Vanished God City, even if he wasn¡¯t a top-tier player! Glaring at me, Emperor¡¯s Equal suddenly shouted, ¡°Warriors of Throne Seeker, this is hardly the time for a duel when we¡¯re running on a timer, is it?! The sooner we occupy the territory hall, the quicker victory will be ours. Kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and charge into the territory hall now!¡± That sonuvabitch, he rejected my challenge using the siege as an excuse! This Emperor¡¯s Equal might look like the brawny type, but he wasn¡¯t without his repertoire of petty tricks! The Apparition Ring flashed as the Greedy Wolf Cavalry charged toward me. An apparition immediately appeared behind my back and launched a Thousand Ice Slash at the enemy. The doppelganger only had 75% of my attack power, but it was still ridiculously powerful thanks to my Famous General Skill, Martial God. While this was happening, my doppelganger rushed toward the enemy from the side and killed an archer with Universe Break. Then, he swung his weapon and used his own Burning Blade Slash, killing or wounding yet another group of players. After the successful assault, I made him move back so that the Greedy Wolf Cavalry couldn¡¯t catch him in a melee and kill him. Somehow, the two of us were able to halt the advance of 5000-strong Greedy Wolf Cavalry, preventing them from taking a single step into the territory hall! ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck! How is this possible!¡± Pissed off, Emperor¡¯s Equal urged his mount forward before shouting, ¡°Brothers and sisters, follow my lead! Attack Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand while Burning Blade Slash and Universe Break are on cooldown, and he¡¯ll be dead in no time! And you, Freezing Point! What the hell are you waiting for? Order your archers to shoot him already! I didn¡¯t pay you to stand there and do nothing!¡± An ashen-faced Freezing Point finally stepped out of a crowd and raised his weapon, shouting, ¡°Waste and Burn, I¡¯ve decided to betray Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls because they have been a cruel master to us! Let us kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand together as a gift to our new allies, Rose of the Holy Domain, Throne Seeker, and Hall of Immortality! With this act, we will free ourselves from servitude and let the world learn that Waste and Burn isn¡¯t an insignificant guild! Instead of vassals, let us become a king of the world ourselves!¡± Behind him, a group of archers slowly raised their bows and aimed at me. Most of them were original members of Waste and Burn, so they felt more loyalty toward Freezing Point than me. Countless Shock Arrows and Spiraling Arrow Blades flew my way immediately! Thud thud thud! I raised my arm and blocked the hail of arrows coming my way. It didn¡¯t hurt, but it was incredibly annoying. Emperor¡¯s Equal wasn¡¯t one to let go of an opportunity. He laughed and ordered. ¡°Greedy Wolf Cavalry, charge! Kill that doppelganger on the right first!¡± Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! The fiery red riders charged my doppelganger and stunned him immediately. Then, Emperor¡¯s Equal himself rushed to his side and hit him with a Universe Break and a triple thrust! Squelch squelch squelch... My doppelganger shook violently as his HP dropped¡ª 17892! 7891! 8023! 8120! A few more basic attacks from other Greedy Wolf Cavalry later, he dropped to the ground and died. I moved to the entrance of the territory hall with a dark expression on my face. As much as I wanted to launch a counterattack, my main duty was to prevent the enemy from stepping inside. Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng, Beiming Xue, Xu Yang, and High Fighting Spirits finally caught up to me and launched their own attacks. However, Freezing Point had let through all 5000 Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen into the city after taking control of the east gate with his authority as a subguild leader, and it was too big a number for us to chew through immediately, no matter how powerful we were. There was simply nothing our support players could have done to stop them. Clang clang clang... Blades hit armor and caused showers of sparks. It wasn¡¯t long before Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and the others were driven to the entrance as well. All we could do right now was block the entrance and prevent the enemy from entering to the death. ¡­¡­ Freezing Point walked toward us with a sinister expression, raised his hand and shouted, ¡°Waste and Burn, attack! Kill them with your arrows and magic!¡± It was at this moment a cloth-armor player wielding the Burning Fan appeared and stood right in front of us. He was none other than Lu Buyi. ¡°Stop!¡± Lu Buyi shouted before looking at Freezing Point with a pained expression on his face. He asked, ¡°Why, boss? Why did you do this? Why did you betray our main guild?¡± Freezing Point raised his eyebrows. ¡°Buyi, you are, and will always be, my brother and the best tactician of Waste and Burn, so get over here already! It is a bad look for the vice leader to stand on the wrong side, you know! Plus, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had never thought of us as their own anyway, hmph!¡± Lu Buyi abruptly growled. ¡°Silence!¡± Before a surprised Freezing Point could say anything, Lu Buyi said, ¡°Boss, I had thought that you are a virtuous man that I could give my life to serve, but what you did today is beyond disappointing. It is one thing to voice your opinion freely and side with your brothers and sisters, and another to ignore right and wrong completely and do whatever you want! From the day I joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, everyone in the guild has been like siblings to me, and you know I would never betray family! Starting now, I am no longer a member of Waste of Burn, and when this battle is over, you and I won¡¯t be brothers anymore. You have no idea what honor and respect means!¡± ¡°Bullshit!¡± Pissed off, Freezing Point pointed a finger at Lu Buyi and shouted, ¡°Your filthy traitor! You will lower yourself and become Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ dog just because they gave you something good?! Heavens, you¡¯re actually going to betray me, aren¡¯t you? Did you forget who¡¯s the one who took you in and gave you the tactician equipment you¡¯re wearing today!?¡± Lu Buyi smiled faintly. ¡°Just answer me this question: have you ever respected me, your brother?¡± Caught off-guard, Freezing Point couldn¡¯t say anything. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Emperor¡¯s Equal interrupted angrily, ¡°Why the fuck are you wasting your breath, you retard? Just kill that guy already! There¡¯s only slightly over 20 minutes left on the clock, and that is hardly enough time to do anything!¡± Freezing Point¡¯s expression turned frigid. ¡°Remember, you brought this on yourself, Lu Buyi!¡± Freezing Point abruptly ran forward and hit Lu Buyi with a Barrier Break! Squelch! The fiery red sword penetrated Lu Buyi¡¯s chest, and a shower of blood burst out of his back¡ª15920! Forget Guarding, Lu Buyi didn¡¯t even try to move a muscle. He abruptly opened his eyes and said, ¡°With this, I don¡¯t owe you anything anymore, boss. I hope you won¡¯t regret betraying Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡­¡± ¡°Die!¡± Freezing Point¡¯s weapon burst into flames, and he dealt another 10k+ damage to Lu Buyi. This time, the saddened tactician finally dropped to his knees and died. Lu Buyi had good PvP skills, and his attack power and HP were buffed by Purple Dragon. He certainly had a good chance of beating Freezing Point if he wanted to. However, the man wasn¡¯t willing to hurt Freezing Point even until the very end. Some Waste and Burn players turned cold on the inside when Lu Buyi died. ¡°Guild leader, how¡­ how could you kill the viceleader? You...¡± Many Waste and Burn players quit the guild at once. Some were former Waste and Burn players, and some were players that had joined the guild afterward. They were all criticizing Freezing Point harshly¡ª ¡°How could you kill your own vice leader! You never cared about anything but that tiny bit of power in your hands, did you?! Fuck, we could¡¯ve been someone in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, but no, you just had to become the dogs of Rose of the Holy Domain! Fuck you man, I quit!¡± ¡°Motherfucker, I wanted to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. How the fuck did I end up in this despicable Waste and Burn? This dog has got to be the most heartless and stupidest canine I¡¯ve ever met!¡± ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the west gate abruptly exploded into pieces. When the dust settled, we saw a pitch black Thunder Chariot sitting at the entrance. Shit! The enemy took advantage of our departure and breached the gate! Rose Thorn raised her sword and shouted, ¡°Kill them! Occupy the territory hall as soon as possible!¡± My scalp was tingling with trepidation. Not only were there enemies inside and outside the city, our surviving members were almost split in half. It was at this moment two figures appeared from the teleportation formation. One of them was a beautiful priest who was wholesome in more ways than one, and the other was a beautiful knight in exquisite armor. They were none other than He Yi and Murong Mingyue. ¡°Wah, what is this chaos? What the hell happened?¡± Murong Mingyue looked around her. ¡°Oh my, Dark Moon City is being invaded¡­¡± Chapter 614: Avengers Boom boom! 17894! 9089! Two damage numbers rose above the man¡¯s head at the same time. Emperor¡¯s Equal¡¯s HP and Defense were reduced by 30% because of Royal Road, so he had less than a third of his health left after the double attack. Paling, he tried to retaliate only to find that He Yi had galloped away from him. Fighting him directly had never been part of her plan. Mn, He Yi had pulled off a beautiful move there. The enemies were all Greedy Wolf Cavalry, and yet she was able to score a surprise attack on their guild leader and escape perfectly. It was proof that the countless bouts she had fought in the arena weren¡¯t a waste, and her grasp of tactics and techniques had improved by leaps and bounds! Clop clop clop... The Snow Domain Windchaser neighed softly when He Yi came to a stop in front of us. Frowning slightly, she asked me, ¡°Mingyue and I rushed back when we heard that Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, and Throne Seeker are attacking our city, and now our eighth subguild has betrayed us? What on earth is going on, Lu Chen?¡± I gritted my teeth as I answered, ¡°Waste and Burn¡¯s guild leader, Freezing Point, is too selfish and ambitious. He dreams of becoming the fourth power besides the three guilds, so he betrayed us and even killed his own brother, Lu Buyi.¡± ¡°Really? How shameless¡­¡± He Yi faced toward Waste and Burn frigidly and raised her sword into the air. ¡°What has Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls done to make you betray our bond, you good-for-nothings? Pooh!¡± High Fighting Spirits agreed loudly, ¡°Yeah! You think you betrayers can steal Dark Moon City from us? Dream on!¡± I looked to the distance. Rose Thorn and Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch were already riding in with their men, so our time to act freely was running out very soon. There weren¡¯t nearly enough of us left to organize a defense that could withstand the enemy¡¯s bombardment, but there was one person we had to kill no matter what! I growled out a series of orders, ¡°Chengfeng, come with me! High Fighting Spirits and Xu Yang, kill Freezing Point while we cover for you! We won¡¯t be able to face Lu Buyi if that traitor survives!¡± ¡°Hehe, no problem!¡± High Fighting Spirits grinned. ¡°This was exactly what I wanted! That bastard, Freezing Point, is so shameless that he would kill his own brother! I¡¯ve been thinking of killing him since a while ago!¡± ¡­¡­ ¡°Lu Chen, I¡¯ll take the right, so you take the left!¡± Li Chengfeng shouted. ¡°Okay!¡± I immediately launched an attack on the enemy¡¯s wing. Right now the territory hall was in danger of being assaulted by at least 500 Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen, and there was no way I could keep their attention all by myself. That was why I needed Li Chengfeng to play ball with me. If we gave the Greedy Wolf Cavalry the chance to launch a cavalry charge, the hundreds of defenders protecting the territory hall would be annihilated in the blink of an eye. Whoosh! I activated Charge and dashed into a group of riders like a lightning bolt. A quick Thousand Ice Slash and War Crush later, I killed a dozen or so players and grievously wounded almost a hundred immediately. Compact AoE attacks were always fucking awesome. My attack was so quick that the Greedy Wolf Cavalry were caught completely off-guard. Before they could react, the Cyan Netherworld Sword flew out of my hand and cut a swathe through the sea of bodies. On the other side, Li Chengfeng also rushed toward the enemy and activated Whirlwind Slash. He plowed through the enemy like a hurricane and used skills like Reverse Scale Slash and Dragonbone Flurry when the timing was right. Behind him, Moon Dew and our priests were healing him and keeping him alive. They were undoubtedly our best support right now. Angered by our counterattack, Emperor¡¯s Equal ordered loudly, ¡°Greedy Wolf Cavalry column one, all one thousand of you will surround Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Legendary Brave! Mages and archers, kill them with Shock Arrows and Galaxy Storms! I refuse to believe that two warriors are enough to defy reality!¡± Bang bang bang... A ton of Shock Arrows immediately hit my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor. There was nothing I could do about this though. All I could do now was pray that my stats were OP enough to avoid getting stunned. Not even god could save me if the enemy managed to chain-stun me! Li Chengfeng wasn¡¯t faring any better than me either. The Galaxy Storms ate through his HP like it was nothing. If he didn¡¯t happen to be close to Moon Dew and our priests, he would¡¯ve been killed already. While we were buying time, our actual kill squad was on the move. With High Fighting Spirits and Xu Yang by her side, Chaos Moon rushed toward the Waste and Burn traitors. Although the enemy was almost two thousand strong, our generals rammed into them without any fear or hesitation! ¡°Die, you fucking traitors!¡± Chaos Moon shouted like a man as her Bone Scythe equipment set deflected the enemy¡¯s arrows. She executed Rock Crush, and an entire group of archers and mages collapsed to the ground at once. Chaos Moon¡¯s attack power was too high for these people because her Famous General Skill, Plunder, also increased attack power by 20% at base, which was as good as an Encourage VII. Naturally, it was an incredibly useful Famous General Skill. ¡°Here I come!¡± High Fighting Spirits laughed uproariously as he cut down several Waste and Burn players with his battle axe. Acting as the spearhead of the group, he punched through the enemy¡¯s defense line and unleashed Xiezhi Howl. Countless cyclones joined together to form a devastating hurricane, and all the players around him were torn into shreds. A couple more charges like this later, he arrived directly in front of Freezing Point. Freezing Point was probably regretting his choice to kill Lu Buyi because his eyes looked red. Glaring at High Fighting Spirits, he shouted angrily, ¡°Fighting Spirits, you fool! How are you this happy to give your life for another person?¡± High Fighting Spirits sneered. ¡°If that person is my brother, why not?!¡± ¡°Then die, you retard!¡± Freezing Point abruptly thrust his broadsword forward. Barrier Break flew straight toward High Fighting Spirits¡¯ chest armor. Instead of dodging, High Fighting Spirits chose to take the blow head-on and retaliate with his own Barrier Break! 14092! On the other side, Xu Yang dashed over like a black shadow and smacked Freezing Point¡¯s head with a Barrier Break + Blaze combo. Although Freezing Point was constantly healed by his priests, the combo still dropped him to low health! Chaos Moon finally reached Freezing Point and unleashed the third Barrier Break! At the same time, Xu Yang roared and summoned the image of a magnificent hill around his sword. His Mountain Stagger Slash and Chaos Moon¡¯s Barrier Break hit Freezing Point at the same time! Bang bang! Freezing Point¡¯s battle armor was torn apart instantly. For all his anger and frustration, all he could do was drop to his knees. Before his body could hit the ground, High Fighting Spirits caught the back of his neck with Invincible and shoved him back with a furious kick. The man¡¯s neck was chopped off just like that, and it rolled all the way to the feet of the remaining Waste and Burn players. The traitors all looked stupefied and frightened to the bone. Their guilty conscience was already weighing on them in the first place, but the trio¡¯s assault was so devastating that it practically wiped out all their morale in one go. Xu Yang took a step forward and pointed his sword at the traitors, growling. ¡°There is no turning back after betraying Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Starting this moment, for as long as Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls still exists in this world, I will hunt all of you down until you delete your accounts! Don¡¯t believe me? Then just wait and see. I, Xu Yang, am a man of my word, and starting today, I am the captain of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ Avengers legion! Our sole duty is to kill scums like you!¡± A pleased smile spread across He Yi¡¯s lips when she saw this. ¡­¡­ ¡°Attack! Kill Lu Chen first, his equipment is better than the dragon warrior¡¯s. Make sure you surround him fully so that he can¡¯t escape at the last moment! Once Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand has fallen, the pillar of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will crumble, and there is no one in this trash guild that can threaten us anymore!¡± Emperor¡¯s Equal shouted loudly from the fringe of his troops. Encouraged by their guild leader¡¯s words, the Greedy Wolf Cavalry attacked even harder and hit me with all kinds of skills. Clang clang clang... I swung my sword rapidly and tried to parry as many attacks as I could, especially Ice Ray and Barrier Break. Ice Ray would reduce my speed, and Barrier Break would ignore a large percentage of my Defense. I wouldn¡¯t be able to last long if I didn¡¯t parry these specific skills as much as I could. Bang! My vision suddenly turned blurry. Finally, a well-placed Shock Arrow was able to stun me. An innumerable amount of Galaxy Storms started erupting all around me. Magical energy had devoured my surroundings completely, and it almost felt as if I was standing atop a black hole. My HP dropped to 10k or so in just the blink of an eye, and it looked like another second of bombardment would be enough to kill me where I stood. ¡°Kaka, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is about to die! Attack! Attack with everything you got!¡± Emperor¡¯s Equal shouted in pleasant surprise. He was so excited his eyeballs looked like they might pop out of their eye sockets. However, a brilliant column of healing light surrounded me the next moment and extinguished his passion thoroughly. The two healing numbers rising above my head warmed both my body and my soul¡ª +23488! +13902! ¡­¡­ Mn. I had no doubt who my healer was. Murong Mingyue was the only priest in all the servers who could dish out such a ridiculous amount of HPS. It was because she was the only priest so far to pick up the priest-specific Famous General Skill ¡°Bright Mirror¡±, a skill that increased her healing effectiveness by 35% and dispelled all negative effects from her target. Adding Tactics into the mix, her healing effectiveness was increased to a whopping 100%. For all intents and purposes, all the heals she dished out were like crits. The feeling of instant rejuvenation was too amazing. I immediately returned the favor by hitting the Greedy Wolf Cavalry with War Crush and Burning Blade Slash. Not far away, Murong Mingyue added Moon Dew and our last remaining priests¡ªthere were about a dozen of them¡ªinto her party and smiled, ¡°Time to go on the offense. Do your best, everyone!¡± Emperor¡¯s Equal¡¯s face looked extremely ugly. He barked, ¡°Greedy Wolf Cavalry column two, invade the territory hall from the flanks! Quickly, there¡¯s no time!¡± The battle wolves let out a howl and charged toward the entrance at high speed. Although He Yi, High Fighting Spirits, and everyone else tried to stop them, our numbers were ultimately too few. Almost a hundred Greedy Wolf Cavalry managed to slip in before we plugged the hole again. ¡°Fuck, this is bad!¡± I exclaimed in shock. He Yi turned her Snow Domain Windchaser and shouted, ¡°Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, follow me into the territory hall! We must not allow them to kill everyone!¡± ¡°Understood!¡± ¡­¡­ Everyone¡¯s heart was shaking in trepidation. It felt like the territory could change hands at any second. Suddenly, a figure in silver armor appeared and shouted in a sweet voice, ¡°Storm Slash! Out of my way!¡± Boom boom boom... Four stormy attacks exploded in the middle of a group of Greedy Wolf Cavalry. At least 20 riders lost most of their HP, and some were even one-shot where they stood. Everyone was stunned by the sudden turn of events. Chapter 615: False Unity Emperor¡¯s Equal tried to defend himself, ¡°Bitch! That¡¯s because I think highly of your abilities! I was going to move the Greedy Wolf Cavalry in first and let you and your people in later! It¡¯s hardly my fault that you got delayed this long, isn¡¯t it? If this is how you doubt your allies, then I would rather we sever our ties right here! Hmph!¡± Rose Thorn retorted frigidly, ¡°Bullshit! You didn¡¯t send me a single message when your Greedy Wolf Cavalry was invading the territory hall, and the siege battle will end in another twenty minutes. Do you think I¡¯m stupid, Emperor¡¯s Equal? Rose of the Holy Domain sacrificed all their Purple Thunder Cavalry to delay the enemy¡¯s elites and buy you time to slip through between the cracks, and this is how you repay me?¡± Emperor¡¯s Equal: ¡°Pooh¡­¡± Beside them, the guild leader of Hall of Immortality, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch looked like he was going to spit fire with his eyes. ¡°Motherfucker! My men were fighting to their deaths from the very beginning, so don¡¯t you dare talk about losses in front of me! The agreement was that Hall of Immortality will claim the territory, and I will reward you handsomely for your efforts. Now you¡¯re telling me you¡¯ve been plotting behind my back? Fuck you two, man! What disgusting allies you both turned out to be! Pooh!¡± Emperor¡¯s Equal and Rose Thorn turned toward Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch at the same time and sneered, ¡°Who the fuck do you think you are? What else do you know besides throwing cash at your army? You always boast how much money, houses, and branded cars you own, but did you earn even one of them through your own efforts? If I were you I would take a good look in the mirror, you human trash!!!¡± Pissed off, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch raised his arm and shouted, ¡°Brothers and sisters of Hall of Immortality, kill them all! Kill everyone that isn¡¯t one of us! Slice all these scumbags into a million pieces! FUCK!!!¡± ¡­¡­ At this point, the situation had spiraled completely out of control. Li Chengfeng and I were surrounded by Greedy Wolf Cavalry while the three great guilds were scheming against each other, and we just barely stopped ourselves from bursting out in laughter and drawing attention to ourselves. Rose of the Holy Domain: 19323 Throne Seeker: 35829 ¡­¡­ Damn, was this really our territory? The enemy¡¯s number was 21 times bigger than ours! We had killed off more than half of their players, and still they outnumbered us greatly! A single spark was all it took to start a huge blaze, and all four of our city gates were completely breached at this point. If the eighth subguild hadn¡¯t betrayed us and opened the city gate, we would¡¯ve been able to defend the city for another hour easily with its great defense, numerous arrow towers and helpful NPCs. The situation wouldn¡¯t have been as precarious as it was now. The city was overflowing with enemy players. Hall of Immortality¡¯s players had gone insane and were killing anyone they encountered. Rose of the Holy Domain and Throne Seeker were mustering their elites and attempting to breach the territory hall. Moreover, Throne Seeker had dispatched a large group of Greedy Wolf Cavalry to attack the arrow towers. I couldn¡¯t help but feel an ache in my heart as the structures collapsed one by one. They were the product of much resources and time after all! On Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ side, our last surviving fighters were protecting Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew, and Pure Love like our life depended on it. Beiming Xue was standing in front of them and firing Multi Arrow after Multi Arrow at the enemy, keeping them at bay. That was why no one could get to our remaining backliners. Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng and I were wedged deep inside the enemy¡¯s formations like a pair of poisonous thorns and greatly obstructing the two guilds¡¯ attempts to invade our territory. The guild channel was flooded by battle reports¡ª High Fighting Spirits: ¡°For fuck¡¯s sake, this is endless! There are only twenty or so of us and a couple hundred of them, fuck¡­¡± He Yi: ¡°Watch where you move and avoid their attacks as much as possible! We don¡¯t have any priest to support us! Someone, get in here and heal us as soon as possible! We can¡¯t hold out much longer!¡± Xu Yang: ¡°How is the situation outside? Can Lu Chen and Li Chengfeng really survive Throne Seeker¡¯s ridiculous firepower?¡± Li Chengfeng: ¡°No problem, we have healing!¡± Me: ¡°Chengfeng, find an opening to get inside the territory hall!¡± Li Chengfeng: ¡°Got it. Cover me!¡± ¡­¡­ I spent a moment to consider how I should do this. Individually speaking, the Greedy Wolf Cavalry was weaker than the Rose of the Holy Domain¡¯s Purple Thunder Cavalry. However, they could still deal a terrifying amount of damage to a foot soldier. What this meant was that Li Chengfeng couldn¡¯t slip away into the territory hall unless I found a way to diminish their number considerably. I gritted my teeth as I made up my mind. I¡¯m going all out! First, I activated the Shield of Evening of my Soul Suppressing Cloak. For 12 seconds, I was completely invincible! Swhoosh! A reddish orange armor that shone like the rays of evening appeared around me. After chugging down a Rank 8 Saint Spirit Potion and restoring both my HP and MP to full, I used my ultimate skill, Purple Dragon Howl! Swhoosh! Purple lightning gathered at the tip of my sword and transformed into a purple divine dragon. No one could hurt me because I was untouchable for 12 seconds. I smiled slightly and got ready to unleash the skill! Actually, this isn¡¯t enough. Let me boost my attack further with a super buff! I activated the God Suppressing Necklace¡¯s skill, God¡¯s Rage. For 60 seconds, all of my attacks would be critical hits! ¡°Here I come!¡± Now I swung my sword and unleashed the Purple Dragon Howl. The howling dragon blew through the walls of meat and one-shot absolutely everyone who was even touched by it. The damage number that popped above the victims¡¯ heads struck fear to even the bravest men¡ª 80942! 78894! 82010! ¡­¡­ My weapon was the Heaven-grade Cyan Netherworld Sword, my attack power was boosted by 200% thanks to Martial God, and all my attacks were critical hits thanks to God¡¯s Rage. It was unthinkable that there was anyone in the world who could survive this! ¡°Roar!¡± The divine dragon left hundreds dead in its wake. Since I had activated the Shield of Evening beforehand, no one could interrupt my attack either. As of now, this move of mine was absolutely uncounterable unless the enemy had an Invincibility skill as well. Thud thud thud... Li Chengfeng stared dumbly at the sea of corpses around him for a moment. He looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn¡¯t find the right words. ¡°What are you waiting for? Go!¡± I shouted. ¡°Right!¡± Li Chengfeng nodded strongly before running straight into the territory hall. His addition should be enough to stabilize the crisis happening inside the territory hall. He was the epic and skilful dragon warrior after all. The ground was littered with equipment and potions, but no one could be bothered to pick them up right now. The moment Purple Dragon Howl ended, I immediately rushed toward an enemy group and one-shot all of them with Thousand Ice Slash. God¡¯s Rage wasn¡¯t over yet, so I still had 40 seconds or so to crit the shit out of them! Emperor¡¯s Equal was absolutely furious, but he couldn¡¯t think of a way to stop me. My attack power was literally unstoppable, and Beiming Xue was killing his and Rose Thorn¡¯s players from range. Neither of them could think of an effective way to stop this. ¡°Come on, Rose Thorn!¡± Emperor¡¯s Equal shouted angrily, ¡°Order your people to stop Hall of Immortality already! That idiotic Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch has gone completely insane!¡± Rose Thorn¡¯s gaze sharpened, but she ignored Emperor¡¯s Equal¡¯s shout completely and moved toward the territory hall instead. Whoosh! Summoning a couple of fighters to my side, we blocked in front of the entrance to the territory hall and growled, ¡°No one else is invading our territory hall today, you fucks!¡± A dozen or so Greedy Wolf Cavalry charged us. We all worked together to keep them at bay. It was at this moment we heard the noise of battle coming from outside the city. A short time later, several hundred cyan-colored riders rushed through the gate and toward us. It was none other than the Cyan Tiger Cavalry! Swinging her blade and urging her tiger to go faster, Heaven¡¯s Rain shouted, ¡°We¡¯re here, big brother Lu Chen!¡± Gui Guzi glared at his surroundings while gripping the Rainbow Spear next to him, ¡°Are these the underhanded fucks who colluded with that stupid Freezing Point? So shameless!¡± ¡­¡­ I broke into a wide smile. ¡°Your timing is perfect. Come help us block the entrance to the territory hall already!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Gui Guzi and his one hundred elite cavalry trampled over the enemy¡¯s troops again like a hundred lawn mowers. Throne Seeker and Rose of the Holy Domain¡¯s morale immediately dropped because the Knight God-empowered riders were practically invincible in a narrow terrain like this. I looked at Heaven¡¯s Rain and said, ¡°Rain, take a hundred riders with you and reinforce Eve and Li Chengfeng inside the territory hall! It¡¯s up to you and your Knight General to defend the territory hall for the next 15 minutes!¡± ¡°No problem!¡± Heaven¡¯s Rain swung her sword and declared, ¡°Everyone, follow me!¡± A hundred Cyan Tiger Cavalry answered her call and followed her into the territory hall. Her Knight General boosted all her mounted allies¡¯ Attack and Defense by 100%, so there was no chance they were losing this fight. I finally relaxed knowing that not even a miracle could save the Greedy Wolf Cavalry inside the territory hall now! ¡­¡­ Time passed little by little. The siege battle could be over any moment now. If we succeeded, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would be the guild who single-handedly thwarted the invasion of an army of five hundred thousand. How incredible was that?! Who else could doubt our strength after this?! It was at this moment Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch shouted, ¡°Attack, this is our final chance to break through them! Get the Thunder Chariots over and knock down the territory hall¡¯s walls!¡± ¡°What the fuck?!¡± Both Gui Guzi and I blurted out in shock when we heard this. A few minutes later, a Thunder Chariot was escorted to the territory hall by several thousand players. Not even Gui Guzi¡¯s cavalry troops were able to break through them! Boom! There was a loud bang, and¡­ Are you fucking kidding me? It actually blew a huge hole in the wall! Gui Guzi and my jaw clattered on the floor at the same time. ¡°What the flying fuck are these walls made of? Soybean dregs?!¡± ¡­¡­ Laughing like a madman, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch pointed his sword at us and declared, ¡°Attack! There is only ten minutes left on the clock! Once all the players inside the territory hall are annihilated, this territory will be ours!¡± Shit! Tens of Thousands of Hall of Immortality players were gathered in one place, and they found a goddamn bug at the worst possible timing! And they were all elites too! Was this truly the end for us? It wasn¡¯t. The teleportation formation flashed repeatedly, and a group of players rushed into the open. The guild insignia on their shoulders was the best thing I had seen in a while. Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends had come to help us! The guild leader of Snowy Cathaya, Lin Yixin rushed over on her Frostscythe Warhorse while shouting, ¡°Seal the gates, Snowy Cathaya! Eliminate all opposition inside Dark Moon City!¡± I exclaimed, ¡°Did you guys take over the third territory already, Yiyi?¡± Chapter 616: Soul Breaker Shield Ling Xueshang chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Geographically speaking, that territory was too deep in the west and too far away from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya. If the enemy successfully breached the teleportation formation, then no one could arrive in time to save us. I would rather wait for a new territory to spawn then grab one that is this geographically disadvantageous. Also, Warsky Alliance made a contract with Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon, and recruited the aid of four guilds from Wind City. Even if we managed to take the territory in the end, we would lose too many people for it to be worth it.¡± I looked at Lin Yixin, and she shrugged with a smile. ¡°You know the saying ¡®sacrifice the rook to save the king¡¯, right? If we lose Dark Moon City, it will be a massive net loss for the three of us even if we got a new territory out of it!¡± ¡°Right!¡± I nodded. While adjusting my grip on my tattered Cyan Netherworld Sword, I said, ¡°It¡¯s great to see you all. Those Hall of Immortality scums went fucking insane a moment ago¡­¡± Lin Yixin smiled and beckoned Purple Marquis to her. ¡°Take some men with you and wipe out that Hall of whatever. Also, secure the gates and make sure no one escapes through them!¡± After the order, Lin Yixin examined my broken, tattered armor and blood-drenched cloak for a bit. Then, she pressed her lips into a smile and said, ¡°No one bullies my Little Cheat this badly and gets away scot-free. Wait here while I get some payback for you!¡± I grinned. I wasn¡¯t sure whether to smile or cry. ¡­¡­ Purple Marquis and the almost ten thousand strong Snowy Cathaya players behind him were both fresh and powerful. They instantly cut Hall of Immortality¡¯s camp in half and almost caused Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s eyeballs to pop out of his eye sockets. He never thought that Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends would appear in this fashion until they did, and he regretted deeply not destroying the magic crystal that fueled the teleportation formation while he still had the chance. ¡°Kill them!¡± Gui Guzi shouted while keeping his spear high. The arrival of our allies injected a huge dose of morale into every Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls player who survived until now. The Cyan Tiger Cavalry under Gui Guzi¡¯s leadership looked positively unstoppable as they charged in and out of the enemy¡¯s formations! I smiled a little. ¡°Our dream is to conquer the world. If we can¡¯t even beat guilds like these, then we may as well give up on our dream now.¡± Ling Xueshang nodded. ¡°I see. The path to becoming the king of China is a bloody one alright. The Monarch Descends is honored to have an ally like you!¡± ¡°Same here.¡± I turned my sword and dove into a group of enemies again. This time, I went into the territory hall. There were only a couple of minutes left on the clock now, and it was utter chaos inside the town hall. The players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, the Monarch Descends, Hall of Immortality, and Throne Seeker were all mixed together with one another. The sky itself was shaking from the noises of battle. ¡­¡­ ¡°Kill! Kill them quickly! There isn¡¯t much time left!¡± On his warhorse, Emperor¡¯s Equal was shouting and glaring at his surroundings angrily. Throne Seeker didn¡¯t have many players left, but they were still trying to occupy Dark Moon City. Gui Guzi came up to me from behind before asking, ¡°Boss Broken Halberd, wanna kill that Emperor¡¯s Equal together? I¡¯ll cover you while you kick his ass!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Gui Guzi charged toward Emperor¡¯s Equal like a beam of light. He wasn¡¯t trying to hide his attack, so the guild leader quickly noticed it and dodged to the right. The fact that Emperor¡¯s Equal managed to dodge the Charge proved that his skills weren''t too bad, but Gui Guzi already predicted that his Charge would miss. Allowing his momentum to carry him into the thick, Gui Guzi then blasted the players in front of him using Aurora Thrust! Boom! The group of Greedy Wolf Cavalry shook violently. Melee AoE skills were always a pain to deal with, especially when the attacker was someone like Gui Guzi. He might not be a 5-Strength magic knight, but with 150% boost to his Attack and Defense, his Aurora Thrust was enough to scare the living wits out of anyone. Emperor¡¯s Equal thought that he had escaped danger when he dodged Gui Guzi¡¯s Charge. He was unable to react at all when I blitzed toward him with Thunderous Charge! Thump! A successful stun later, I slashed him four times across his chest armor without pause! Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash! Clang clang clang¡­ Sparks flew everywhere as my sword cut his battle armor into pieces. Even his torso wasn¡¯t safe from devastation as a string of damage numbers rose above his head¡ª 27619! 9023! 14809! 22102! Clearly, Emperor¡¯s Equal didn¡¯t have the Defense or the HP to withstand my combo even though he had a bard¡¯s Physique buff on him. The man hit the ground like a rock and dropped a red-colored shield just like that! I picked it up and gave it a look. Tsk tsk, not bad¡ª Soul Breaker Shield (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): 895 Defense, 790 Magic Resist, Strength +140, Stamina +150. Increases user¡¯s max HP by 4000. Outstanding Property: Soul Breaker, chance to knock back an enemy with a shield attack. Level Requirement: 130. Class Requirement: Magic Knight. ¡­¡­ Not bad at all. I decided to throw it into the warehouse and put it up as a reward for those with enough contribution points. In fact, I was going to leave a note stating that it was a loot from the guild leader of Throne Seeker himself. Our players fought like hell to defend the city, so they had every right to receive a reward from me. I might not be rich enough to pay them a salary like Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch, but I had no problem rewarding them with an enemy¡¯s equipment at all. I abruptly decided not to hunt down the remnants of Greedy Wolf Cavalry. Gui Guzi and Heaven¡¯s Rain could deal with them themselves. Instead, I set my eyes on my next target, the guild leader of Hall of Immortality, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. This was the man who orchestrated this whole war. This was the man who wanted to conquer Dark Moon City and caused the deaths of over 80% of our players because of it! Not far away, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch was hacking away at a couple of Snowy Cathaya players while urging his players, ¡°Brothers and sisters of Hall of Immortality, do not give up until the very last moment! They don¡¯t have many players left, and we are but one step away from conquering this city! There is absolutely no reason for us to give up now!¡± High Fighting Spirits spat on the ground and said, ¡°Pooh, I can¡¯t believe that shameless bastard has the face to say that after everything. Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, wanna work together and take him out?¡± But Li Chengfeng pointed down a certain direction. ¡°Nah, there¡¯s someone who wants to kill him even more than you do. Just cover for him, and he¡¯ll get the job done!¡± High Fighting Spirits looked at the direction Li Chengfeng was pointing and found me already running toward Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. Judging from the killing intent in my eyes, I wasn¡¯t going to stop until this fucker was dead. ¡°I¡¯ll go first!¡± High Fighting Spirits laughed loudly and charged Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. To the surprise of no one, a couple of Hall of Immortality players immediately got into position and blocked his way. Undeterred, High Fighting Spirits summoned a cyclone of energy and let out a resounding Xiezhi Howl! The animalistic halo of light surrounding him was eye-catching to say the least! Boom! All the enemy players around him dropped to low health at once. Before they could react, Chaos Moon rushed forward and killed them all with Rock Crush. Because her Famous General Skill, Plunder was active, the players she killed dropped two or even three pieces of equipment. I was certain that her victims were absolutely crying and regretting their decision to participate in this siege battle right now. The WMD that was Chaos Moon was just too much for them to handle. Xu Yang used his Charge after Chaos Moon and unleashed his Mountain Stagger Slash at the enemies. However, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch was able to parry the attack and knock him back with a retaliatory strike. ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch swung his sword and laughed. ¡°Hot Sun, do you seriously think a second-rate warrior like you can kill me? Dream on! I can kill you with my eyes closed! My Top 10 ranking in the champion arena of Vanished God City isn¡¯t for show, you know!¡± Xu Yang was furious, but he was bogged down by a couple of Hall of Immortality players before he could do anything else. He had missed his chance to attack Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. Well, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch was pretty skillful, but the main reason he was able to parry Xu Yang¡¯s Mountain Stagger Slash with ease was because of his equipment. There were two factors that came into play during a parry. One, the player¡¯s proficiency with the action itself. Two, the equipment power gap between the attacker and the defender. The bigger the gap, the easier it was to parry an attack. ¡­¡­ I let out a growl after I finally reached them. ¡°Let me through, people! I¡¯ll kill him for you!¡± Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon immediately opened up a path for me. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s face turned cold and angry as he yelled, ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?! Are you finally going to fight yourself?¡± I laughed while running, ¡°What the fuck are you talking about? I¡¯ve been fighting since the beginning of this battle!¡± I leaped into the air to get the height advantage. Then, I aimed a basic attack at Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s head. ¡°Hehe¡­¡± Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch cocked his head to one side and knocked my sword away with his shield. Then, he counterattacked with a painful slash to my waist¡ª10929! As I thought, his equipment was really amazing. I couldn¡¯t recall the last player who dealt this much damage to me with a basic attack. I launched another attack before my feet could hit the ground. Thanks to Dark Pupils, I had identified a weak point in his equipment. It was the area just above his abdomen. ¡°You dare pull the same trick twice?!¡± Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch tried to use the same shield parry + basic attack combo to counter me, but he saw the smile on my face too late. ¡°Shit!¡± I abruptly pulled my sword away and moved much quicker. Blood-red energy centering around my left fist, I punched the guild leader above the abdomen and followed up with a Burning Blade Slash. I doubted that Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch knew this, but every hit had landed on his weak point. 7902! 12048! 18089! 23678! Surprisingly, the man was still alive after the quadruple strike. With only a sliver of health left in his health pool, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch was nothing more but a defeated dog before me. Panicking, he cried, ¡°Priests, heal me, quick¡ª¡± I shouted, ¡°What are you waiting for, Chaos Moon!¡± Chaos Moon dashed past me and engulfed the guild leader and his mount with Rock Crush. Nice, let¡¯s go! Pop pop pop~~ Chapter 617: Generous Reward The players of Hall of Immortality watched in shock as Chaos Moon walked up to Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s corpse and picked up his equipment. A player could equip up to nine pieces of equipment in total: one weapon, one chest armor, one pair of leg or shin protectors, a helmet, one pair of wristguards, one cape, one necklace and two rings. Normally speaking, a player only had between 20% to 40% chance to drop an item when dying. However, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch was so unlucky that he dropped 3 equipment, or 33%, of his gear in one go. He probably felt like dying right now. This was exceptionally unlucky even considering that his drop chance on death was increased by Chaos Moon¡¯s Plunder. Chaos Moon said cheerfully while carrying the three pieces of equipment in her arms, ¡°Lu Chen, we¡¯re rich! The shield and the boots are 3-star Outstanding Earth-grade, while the helmet is 5-star Outstanding Spirit-grade. This kind soul sure carried a ton of good stuff on him¡­¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°From what I heard, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch spent tens of millions to buy the equipment he¡¯s wearing today. Misers like us just can¡¯t compare to spenders like him!¡± Chaos Moon asked, ¡°How should we distribute these items?¡± I gave it some thought before answering, ¡°Give me the shield and helmet, you may keep the heavy boots to yourself. I¡¯m going to deposit these in the warehouse and reward our brothers and sisters for their hard work.¡± ¡°Sure. Do what you want!¡± Chaos Moon happily accepted the heavy boots. She was wearing the Bone Scythe set, so she most likely wouldn¡¯t equip it herself. However, she could sell it for a lot of money. For elite players like us, money was an indispensable and important resource. After Chaos Moon gave me the other two items, I looked at them again and confirmed that both equipment¡ªespecially the 3-star Outstanding Earth-grade shield¡ªwas extremely powerful. In fact, I know just the person to give it to¡ªHeaven¡¯s Rain. It would make her even stronger than she already was for a fair sum of guild contribution points. As the leader of a big guild, I must nurture my generals with the far future in mind. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a system announcement rang above the city and froze absolutely everyone in their tracks¡ª Ding~! ¡­¡­ Columns of golden light filled the entire city for a while. It was the visual effects of a level up for everyone there. The reward didn¡¯t just include surviving Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players, but also those who died and even our allies, Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends. It was a huge compensation for all the losses we suffered in this war. All these were nothing compared to the city rewards though. As expected of the reward of the first ¡°glorious battle like none other¡± of Heavenblessed, Dark Moon City¡¯s rank was increased from 6 to 8 immediately. Had we taken the normal path, it would¡¯ve taken us at least two months to reach it. The reward of 10000 Dark Insects was absolutely insane as well. After all, they translated directly to the productivity of the city! Moreover, we were rewarded with 4000 Rank 6 Dark Knights, 2000 Rank 8 Umbra Sharpshooters and even 1000 Rank 9 Ghost God Knights Again, the rewards of this war were absolutely insane. Had we had to recruit these units normally, mn, the amount of resources it would take was literally unthinkable! I brought up the city details of Dark Moon City and took a look. I couldn¡¯t stop myself from grinning like an idiot¡ª Dark Moon City (Lord: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand) Rank: Rank 8 Undead Castle Gold Production: 50000 per hour (+50%) Wood Production: 50000 per hour (+20%) Stone Production: 50000 per hour (+11%) Crystal Production: 42000 per hour (+8%) Dark Insects: 14200 Buildings: 19 Troops: 7321 Wall Durability: 2500 Teleportation Formations: 2 Secondary Lord: Dark Knight Hero Udal ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, with a production like this, getting to rank 9 was just a matter of days. Moreover, I had hidden all 321 of the NPCs I hired earlier in the blood pond because there weren¡¯t even enough of them to use as cannon fodders, much less anything else, and now the system just gave us 7000 of them in one go. From now on, everyone would have to think twice before attacking our city! In fact, I was looking forward to people attacking the city in the future. So far, I thought the siege battles of Heavenblessed were really well made, although I wondered if absorbing the souls of the dead to upgrade a city¡¯s stats was a trait that was unique to the Undead Castle only. Regardless, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, and Throne Seeker¡¯s attempt to take over our city didn¡¯t only end in failure, they even helped us upgrade it to a high rank city. How embarrassing was that? Twang... A Hall of Immortality player was so stunned by the system announcement that he actually lost grip of his iron sword. He murmured, ¡°What the fuck is this? We fought 10 full hours for nothing? No, it¡¯s worse: Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls got everything while we lost everything¡­¡± Xu Yang laughed tauntingly at him. ¡°Now this is a classic example of going for wool and coming back shorn, hahahaha~~~¡± Some distance away, a group of Throne Seeker players erupted. ¡°Dammit, they killed our guild leader! Take revenge for Emperor¡¯s Equal! Kill them all!¡± And so the armies clashed again in a fight to the death. Boom! A huge, burning icicle suddenly pierced the air before crashing down on the noisy fellows. It was of course Lin Yixin¡¯s Ice Flame Slash. One of the victims screamed, ¡°What the fuck, the Fruit Knife Goddess is here? Oh no¡­¡± Giggling a bit, Lin Yixin said, ¡°The war is over, so the players outside can¡¯t get into the territory hall anymore. Now is the time to clean house! Let¡¯s kill them all as soon as possible.¡± Purple Marquis, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang, and everyone else laughed heartily before diving toward the stranded enemies like tigers in a flock of sheeps. Oh the other side, Rose Thorn was clashing blades against He Yi. Their stats were almost equal, but Rose Thorn¡¯s stratagem was Encourage VII, while He Yi¡¯s was Royal Road. As a result, Rose Thorn was sent stumbling a couple of steps backward. He Yi asked Rose Thorn icily, ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and the guilds of Vanished God City have always stayed out of each other¡¯s way, so why are you three raiding Dark Moon City?¡± Rose Thorn replied with a smile, ¡°The winner is king, the loser, an outlaw. Let¡¯s duel and see who¡¯s the better fighter, shall we?¡± He Yi smiled and rushed toward Rose Thorn with a direct but devastating Green Wave Slash + Barrier Break, forcing the latter backward. However, Rose Thorn immediately retaliated with her own Storm Slash, which everyone except He Yi had seen already. At the distance, Beiming Xue shouted, ¡°Watch out, Sister Eve!¡± Knowing from Beiming Xue¡¯s reaction that it was a deadly skill, He Yi hurriedly raised her shield and used Holy Shield. It was a good skill against both magic and physical attack! Boom boom... Four stormy energies hit He Yi continuously and dealt a huge amount of damage¡ª 12023! 11879! 12100! 11899! Thankfully, He Yi¡¯s Royal Road increased all her stats by 50%, and a Bard¡¯s Physique buff increased her HP by another 35%. Rose Thorn¡¯s Storm Slash was strong, but it ultimately wasn¡¯t enough to one-shot He Yi. Not only that, Murong Mingyue tossed a Greater Heal and Instant Heal on her and healed all of the damage she sustained with ease. +17890! +39002! Rose Thorn¡¯s expression grew cloudier after the heal. If even Storm Slash wasn¡¯t enough to kill He Yi, then there was literally nothing more she could do to win this fight. He Yi counterattacked, so Rose Thorn conjured a silver shield in front of herself. It was the skill Guardian Soul, an excellent defensive skill. Thud thud thud... However, Rose Thorn¡¯s Guardian Soul was quickly shredded into pieces by a hail of arrows from Beiming Xue. Despite owning the hidden class ¡°Guardian Knight¡±, Rose Thorn ultimately wasn¡¯t strong enough to fight both He Yi and Beiming Xue at once. That wasn¡¯t the end of Rose Thorn¡¯s woes either. Chaos Moon joined the battle with a chuckle, ¡°Don¡¯t let her go, Sister Eve. We must kill her today!¡± He Yi nodded, and the girls shot cruel looks at Rose Thorn together. Dumbfounded by the ever increasing amount of enemies, Rose Thorn said, ¡°Ah, forget it. I guess Rose of the Holy Domain really has chosen the wrong opponent this time. But there¡¯s no way you people can kill me. Watch me use my ultimate technique¡­¡± First, she shouted, ¡°Players of the Rose of the Holy Domain, it¡¯s time to find a corner to hide and teleport back to the city! There¡¯s no need to fight anymore! We lost!¡± Then, ignoring the fact that Beiming Xue and He Yi were attacking her, Rose Thorn abruptly turned on her Invincibility skill and took out her return scroll. Fuck, it really is the legendary ultimate technique¡ªinvincibility skill + return scroll! Swhoosh! Once Rose Thorn teleported away, the battle at the territory hall became completely one-sided. ¡­¡­ About ten minutes of slaughtering later, nearly all the enemy players inside the territory hall had been killed. Although it was still full-blown chaos outside¡ªthere were still tens of thousands of Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, and Throne Seeker players fighting out there¡ªthey were really just fish stuck inside a barrel. After I set our relationship status with their guilds to ¡°Hostile¡±, all the NPCs in the city began attacking in earnest. I sent an order to the Dark Knight Hero Udal, and a platoon of Umbra Sharpshooters dashed up the remaining arrow towers and rained hell on them. The power of the NPCs couldn¡¯t be ignored. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... All the players who had died in the war started teleporting back to Dark Moon City as well, eager to enact bloody vengeance upon the invaders of their home. The territory war was over by this point, and this was just the clean-up battle. They quickly reaped the enemies¡¯ lives with the aid of our allies. It was a complete slaughter where I wasn¡¯t needed, so I ran around the city to repair my equipment, the city itself and so on. To an outsider, it might even look like I was taking a leisurely stroll. A while later, He Yi rode up to me, and I turned around to face her. I gave her a smile and asked, ¡°You flew back from Nanjing?¡± ¡°Mn, we rushed back overnight.¡± ¡°I see. Hmm, I¡¯m so hungry. Wanna eat supper together?¡± ¡°Of course~~¡± ¡­¡­ Chapter 618: Clean Break I wordlessly led He Yi through the eastern gate and toward the edge of the forest. As expected, a group of players including Freezing Point were right there. This fucker had teleported to Dark Moon City while everyone was too busy to pay attention to him and came here with several hundred Waste and Burn players. Lu Buyi was staring at Freezing Point icily. Behind him, Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng, and dozens of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players were ready to take action if necessary. Although they were outnumbered by the enemy, Xu Yang and Li Chengfeng were both one-man armies today. They could take care of Freezing Point with ease if they wanted to. ¡­¡­ ¡°What are you doing?¡± I might be guildless right now, but that doesn¡¯t change the fact that I am a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls,¡± Lu Buyi said indifferently. A distressed expression appeared on Freezing Point¡¯s features. ¡°Buyi, it¡¯s been a while since Waste and Burn was established, and everyone in the guild is as thick as thieves. How did it come to this?¡± Lu Buyi smiled. ¡°It came to this because I was too blind to recognize the truth.¡± ¡°You!¡± Freezing Point¡¯s eyes widened in anger. ¡°Is that your roundabout way to criticize me? Damn you, did you forget how we gave everything to help you? Did you forget how we party-wiped twice to kill that bear boss at Moonlight Forest and helped you complete your secret class promotion quest?¡± Freezing Point then pointed at Lu Buyi¡¯s nose and yelled agitatedly. ¡°You¡¯re the betrayer here, not me! Dammit, who do you think grinded the equipment you¡¯re wearing? Who do you think powerleveled you to your current level? If it wasn¡¯t for us, you would never have come under the notice of Lu Chen, the seventh-placed CGL Hall of Famer! You are nothing without us!¡± Lu Buyi calmly pulled out his cloth-armor boots and discarded it on the ground. Then, he said in a loud voice, ¡°In that case, I¡¯ll return everything I owe you!¡± Lu Buyi then took off his alchemist robe, his wristguards, legguards, cap, everything. At the end, he was only wearing the beginner¡¯s robe and wielding the overpowered Burning Fan. His back was tall and straight as he looked at Freezing Point. ¡°I¡¯ve given back everything to you. If you want to, I¡¯ll even let you kill me until I¡¯m below Level 100. I am the man who will become the greatest tactician of China, and I will never accept the charity of a scoundrel like you. Even if I have to restart from zero, I am confident that I will become the best tactician of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls because I have two things you lack: faith and conviction!¡± Lu Buyi chuckled. ¡°You think you saw through the human heart? How could you see anything with a heart as ugly and dirty as yours?¡± The comment caused Freezing Point to explode. ¡°Oh really? Then I¡¯ll show you just how ruthless I can be! Don¡¯t think I wouldn¡¯t dare to kill you all the way down to Level 0! Lu Chen is a guild leader who doesn¡¯t know how to respect his subguild, and you, his lackey, are no better!¡± Freezing Point gripped his blade tighter and acted to take a step toward Lu Buyi. The tactician only had a weapon equipped, so there was no chance he could survive a round of attack from Freezing Point even if he turned on the Purple Dragon stratagem. ¡­¡­ ¡°Stop!¡± It was at this moment Li Chengfeng spoke up, ¡°Have some shame, Freezing Point! Do you think Xu Yang and I are decorations? Lu Buyi is our brother since the day he joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and anyone who attacks our brother in front of us is slapping our faces! You should know that there¡¯s nothing I hate more than people face-slapping me!¡± He Yi and I arrived even before Li Chengfeng could finish his sentence. Our beautiful guild leader blocked in front of Lu Buyi, held her sword in front of her and examined the players of Waste and Burn coldly. ¡°Who dares harm the best tactician of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Just try me!¡± Although He Yi hadn¡¯t logged in for a couple of days and dropped out of Sky City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking as a result, she was still the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and a famous person who stayed on top for a very long time. If her appearance made the players of Waste and Burn turn as gray as ash, then it was even worse when I appeared beside her. Lu Buyi stared at us dumbly. ¡°Guild leader, vice leader, I¡­¡± I turned around and smiled at him. ¡°It¡¯s okay, you were absolutely right. A man is born into this world to live with a clear conscience. Even without their equipment, no one can stop you from progressing to the top.¡± I kicked Lu Buyi¡¯s equipment toward Waste and Burn after saying that, and their players picked them up gingerly. There was no reason for them to turn down perfectly well equipment, but in my eyes, these items were mundane at best. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ warehouse was filled with Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade, Purple Gold¨Cgrade and even Spirit-grade equipment. I¡¯m sure I could gather a full set of tactician equipment for Lu Buyi that was at least as good as the one Waste and Burn had given him. After that, I grinned and said, ¡°Alright, Lu Buyi has paid back what he owed, and now it¡¯s your turn to do so, traitors of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! How dare you waste our trust in you!¡± I pointed my sword at them and ordered, ¡°Buyi, you can stay where you are. Everyone else, kill them all! Don¡¯t leave a single person alive!¡± Li Chengfeng and Xu Yang immediately ran forward and unleashed Reverse Scale Slash and Mountain Stagger Slash. Their attack power was so strong that Waste and Burn¡¯s formation was disrupted instantly despite the fact that they were several hundred strong. When He Yi joined the battle as well and summoned a Hurricane with her Whirlwind, Freezing Point looked as though he might faint from terror! The battle was over in just ten minutes. A wide-eyed Freezing Point was nailed to a small pine tree by Xu Yang. The moment he died, pain flashed across Lu Buyi¡¯s features almost too fast for me to catch. I was glad. This proved that Lu Buyi was a person with a heart. I would¡¯ve been worried if he was absolutely ruthless toward Freezing Point. ¡­¡­ ¡°Alright, job¡¯s done. Buyi, it¡¯s time to join the main guild!¡± I sent Lu Buyi a guild invite. He was a member of the eighth subguild until they betrayed us. Now, most of them were unaffiliated, including Lu Buyi. A ding notified that the invite was successful. Lu Buyi nodded at me and said directly, ¡°I promise I¡¯ll live up to everyone¡¯s expectations, Lu Chen.¡± I nodded with a smile. ¡°Mn, we all believe in you. Come on, let¡¯s head back to Dark Moon City and get you a new set of equipment!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± We turned back under the escort of a group of Cyan Tiger Cavalry. The clean-up battle in Dark Moon City was nearing its end, and almost everyone from the three guilds had been killed. There were still small pockets of people putting up a last hurrah, but they clearly were no match for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends combined. I looked around for a bit after arriving at the guild warehouse. Cloth armor, high Defense, high Tactics, and high HP. Put all these requirements together and the pool of applicable equipment became drastically smaller. Thankfully, we got so much loot out of this war that I was able to filter out three Spirit-grade and four Purple Gold¨Cgrade pieces of equipment that fit Lu Buyi. He put them all on, a smart and cultured tactician in cyan robes was born just like that. The attire complemented him well because he was born with an intelligent-looking face. ¡°These items are amazing, hehe¡­¡± Lu Buyi chuckled as he examined his own stats. ¡°I have almost 400 Tactics, so my stratagems are amplified by 400%. With this, Purple Dragon can boost everyone¡¯s stats by 75%!¡± He Yi¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Beauty Lin¡¯s Bombshell has a hard cap of 80%. Did you see anything like this for Purple Dragon, Lu Buyi?¡± ¡°For now, I don¡¯t see any mention of a hard cap.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s awesome!¡± I smiled as well. Lu Buyi¡¯s stratagem might actually be able to surpass Lin Yixin¡¯s one day. Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell was heralded as the strongest Famous General Skill of Heavenblessed, so it wouldn¡¯t be wrong to call Lu Buyi the strongest tactician of China once his Purple Dragon surpasses her Bombshell. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a panicking Level 132 magic knight galloped past me. Behind him, High Fighting Spirits was giving chase and shouting, ¡°Stop running, you shameless fucker! Are you a man or what!?¡± The magic knight didn¡¯t listen to him, forcing High Fighting Spirits to pant like a dog as he gave chase. Crack! Suddenly, a red flash appeared and stunned the magic knight in his tracks. Then, a beautiful figure appeared out of nowhere and hit the guy¡¯s neck three times in a row with a dagger. It was the skill Blade Vortex, and it was one of Farewell Song¡¯s most familiar moves. Thud thud thud! 8042! 7899! 8125! Three hits later, the assassin girl followed up with an Eviscerate that almost emptied all of the magic knight¡¯s health. Behind him, High Fighting Spirits finally caught up and ended his misery with an axe to the neck. Then, he praised the girl with a hearty laugh, ¡°Aiyo, where did you come from, little missy? That is some impressive assassin moves you got there!¡± The girl was none other than Cute Little Naughty, the girl I was planning to recruit until a war declaration suddenly smacked me in the face. I was surprised to find that she had shown up herself. High Fighting Spirits was a lolicon, so he absolutely adored Cute Little Naughty¡¯s appearance, although granted anyone could fall for a girl with a cute face and a cute body like her. Rubbing his arms and salivating unconsciously, High Fighting Spirits asked, ¡°Where did you come from, little girl?¡± Cute Little Naughty slowly turned her back on High Fighting Spirits before looking at me. ¡°Big brother Broken Halberd, did you forget our promise already?¡± In that moment, High Fighting Spirits felt like killing himself. I answered, ¡°Of course not. But do you want to join the main guild, or do you want to build a subguild of your own?¡± Chapter 619: Thief Party "What do you think, Lu Chen?" He Yi inquired my opinion. Smiling, I shrugged and said, "I have no opinion. I already promised Naughty to make her the leader of a subguild, and I was planning to give her the eighth subguild. Unfortunately Waste and Burn betrayed us, so we¡¯ll have to establish a new guild and begin from zero. It¡¯s a huge headache." He Yi chuckled. "That¡¯s simple. Mingyue has a friend at Wind City who has a Rank 4 guild. They¡¯re just 20% experience away from hitting Rank 5. However, her friend later joined Peach Garden, disbanded the guild and left it in another person¡¯s hands. I can buy the guild shell off that person¡¯s hands for 10k RMB and give it to Naughty. After that, all that¡¯s left to do is to spend 10k gold at the NPC and change its name." It was a most pleasant surprise. "That¡¯s perfect!" Cute Little Naughty also grabbed He Yi¡¯s hands in a friendly manner and thanked her. "Thank you so much, big sister guild leader! You¡¯re too nice!" He Yi giggled. She seemed to be very fond of the guileless assassin. Scratch that, everyone who saw Cute Little Naughty was clearly fond of her. All around us, suspicious uncles were shooting her fervent looks and possibly cooking up a goldfish scheme. Grinning widely, I faced Li Chengfeng, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Yamete, and so on and threatened, "Cute Little Naughty is the guild leader of our assassin squad, so anyone who dares to harm her will face my wrath, understand?" Li Chengfeng exclaimed in shock, "Damn, that¡¯s terrible¡­" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun sighed regretfully. "That¡¯s another pretty little flower we can¡¯t defile. Ai¡­" Chaos Moon immediately poked his mount¡¯s butt with her sword. "Defile yourself, you animal! You guys are way too lacking in discipline. You know what, since Lu Chen values Naughty so much, I volunteer to become the guardian protector of our assassin squad, hehe¡­" Cute Little Naughty chirped in happiness. "Oh, you¡­ you¡¯re Sister Chaos Moon! I¡¯ve been hearing about you for a long time now. You are the strongest female foot soldier of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" The corner of Chaos Moon¡¯s lips curled downward. "Ugh, that sounds terrible. Just you wait, I¡¯ll become the strongest female knight one day¡­" He Yi complained, "Hello? Did you forget about me?" He Yi bloomed into a satisfied smile. ¡­¡­ A short while later, a skinny guy with the insignia of Wind City on his shoulder hurried out of the teleportation formation. Judging from his level¡ªonly Level 92¡ªhe was clearly using a spare account. I was surprised that he was the guild leader of a big guild. The guild name was extremely vulgar though. It was called "Doggystyle¡±. "Dang¡­" I felt my face reddening a little. When Lin Yixin rode over to me and saw the skinny guy¡¯s guild name, she turned as red as an apple as well. Glaring at me, she said, "Bastard, I knew that your male acquaintances are all fucked in the head!" Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang, and everyone else looked at her immediately. "What did you just say, little knife?" Lin Yixin flaunted her Blade of Violet Lightning and smiled menacingly at them. "Oh, you guys wanna fight?" Their anger was immediately replaced by smiles. "Of course not, you understand us too well¡­" I glared at them. "What the fuck? Where are your balls, people?" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun retorted, "Only a maniac would dare to challenge their vice leader¡¯s girlfriend to a fight, okay?" Me: "..." He Yi: "..." Lin Yixin: "..." ¡­¡­ The transfer process went smoothly. Cute Little Naughty joined "Doggystyle", and He Yi paid the skinny guy ten thousand RMB. Then, she gave Cute Little Naughty 10k gold to change the guild name to "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Eighth Subguild" and added the suffix "assassin" to portray the guild¡¯s function. "I have one more request!" Cute Little Naughty said after running back to me. I nodded. "Speak!" "Can big brother Cyan Hill and my friends join the main guild as team leaders?" "Sure, there are plenty of empty team leader positions in the main guild right now." "That¡¯s great. I was worried because there are ten of us or so. It¡¯s a deal then!" "Yes, it¡¯s a deal!" I promoted Cute Little Naughty¡¯s friends to team leaders before transferring nearly 800 assassins to our new eighth subguild. Our assassins had always felt like they didn¡¯t belong because the main guild was a fighter and archer only haven, so they should be happy with this transfer. "It¡¯s time to make some recruitments!" Cute Little Naughty declared ambitiously. "Yeah, be seeing you¡­" "Wait, wait, I have one more request, big brother Broken Halberd¡­" I was almost numb at this point. "Right, speak." "Can you please make the announcement for me? Just say that the eighth subguild of Ancient Sword is looking to recruit assassins above Level 125 at the northern plaza of Sky City!" "Can¡¯t you do the announcement yourself?" "Well, you¡¯re a famous person, and¡­" Cute Little Naughty hesitated as she caressed her daggers. "I¡¯m super poor. Where am I going to gather 5000 RMB for the system?" Smiling a little, I transferred 100k gold to Naughty on the spot and said, "Here, this should be enough to cover the initial fees required to develop the eighth subguild. Everything else after that is up to you." "Mn, mn!" After that, I brought up the system announcement interface, composed a message and sent it out at the cost of 5000 RMB¡ª Ding~! System Announcement (Player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" Shout): Atten-hut, thieves of Sky City! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is officially establishing its assassin-exclusive squad as the eighth subguild of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. The guild leader is Cute Little Naughty. Assassins proficient in hiding in darkness and dancers who enjoy dancing atop a knife¡¯s edge, this is your chance to challenge your limits!! Cute Little Naughty will begin recruitment at the Northern Plaza of Sky City RIGHT NOW, so what else are you waiting for? Now then, the requirements: we accept good lookers with a golden heart, lone wolves who are capable of offense and defense, and even bandits who, deep down, are really good souls!! Also, please be Level 125 or above, and have three Dark Gold¨Cgrade pieces of equipment with you at least! Lastly, those with great skills, good looks, or smart minds who score all the scholarships in their schools get first priority! ¡­¡­ Cute Little Naughty turned red when she saw the recruitment notice I posted. She said, "Big brother vice leader, your literary talent truly knows no bounds¡­" Her "praise" made me blush a bit. "Sorry, I think I read a bit too much toilet literature..." Cute Little Naughty nodded. "Well, that¡¯s done. Sister Chaos Moon, do you want to come with me and do the recruitment together?" Chaos Moon shook her head hurriedly. "Nah, you should do this yourself. It¡¯s not right for me to assume your responsibilities!" I smiled. "What you really mean to say is that you don¡¯t want to part with your guild contribution points, right?" Chaos Moon narrowed her eyes at me. "Say the truth again and I¡¯ll beat you up, boy!" Surprisingly, Lin Yixin immediately gripped her dagger and watched Chaos Moon warily. She looked poised to strike the second Chaos Moon put her words into action. Clear Perfume patted her shoulder once and asked in confusion, "What are you doing, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin blinked once before answering, "I¡¯m the only one who gets to beat up my Little Cheat¡­" Chaos Moon threw her arms into the air. "Oh my god, fine, forget I ever said anything. Where¡¯s Lu Buyi? Come on, let¡¯s go get some supper before getting back to the grind!" ¡­¡­ I checked the time and noted that it was very late, so I said to Lin Yixin, "Yiyi, you must be tired. Go grab some food and get some rest already!" Lin Yixin nodded. "Mn, I¡¯m off to bed then. You should sleep too!" "I know. See you!" Lin Yixin took out a return scroll and teleported away just like that. Our people were still celebrating the victory, and to be fair it was an epic victory. We were vastly outnumbered, and not only did we manage to kill a ton of players, our territory increased a ton of levels as well. Thanks to this war, we gained a super fortress that no one had the power to take away from us! ¡­¡­ "Let¡¯s log out and have supper as well!" Murong Mingyue spoke up. "Eve and I predicted that something like this might happen, so we packed some supper before coming back home, hehe! Don¡¯t forget to tell Lil Beiming too!" "Mn." I logged out after sending Beiming Xue the message. I took off the helmet and took two deep gulps of fresh water. I was exhausted after being online for a dozen or so hours. When I left my room, the girls were already unwrapping the food they bought at the living hall already. There was fish soup, fried meat with chili peppers, a roasted chicken, a plate of boiled peanuts, and beef slices. It was a fairly rich supper. They even bought porridges to help wash away the oiliness of the food. Their thoughtfulness was appreciated to say the least. I felt my appetite rising the second I smelled the food. I sat down next to He Yi with a smile and commented, "Man, I feel so hungry all of a sudden¡­" He Yi giggled. "It would be strange if you felt after being online for so many hours. Just take your time. There are some steamed buns too¡­" I drank the porridge, took a bite from a bun, and ate the delicious dishes on the table ravenously. I felt like my life was worth it as I ate supper while surrounded by three gorgeous women. I shot He Yi a question while eating, "So, Sister Yi, how goes your business at Nanjing?" "Everything went very smoothly." He Yi answered while taking tiny bites from her porridge. "Mingyue and I split up and did what we had to do. Since Nanjing was our headquarters even before the fallout, it was easy to arrange for the transfer of manpower and resources. The subsidiary company for Raincube will be established in a week at most, and once that is done we¡¯ll be able to supply the Nanjing server of Heavenblessed with technical and manpower services directly." "Mn, that¡¯s great. Issues like disconnections should happen far less frequently if Raincube can provide their expertise. One time, we lost hundreds of players to mobs on a leveling trip because of a disconnection. Later, we learned that it was because the server at Hangzhou had experienced a sudden shut down. It was terrible¡­" He Yi smiled. "Yes. Blue Star is an electronic-focused company, so they are lacking in the virtual software department. It¡¯s also why Ling Xue and Ling Yue look forward to cooperating with us. After all, not even Blue Star can avoid answering to the parent company of Eternal Moon Corporation, and if they do a poor job in this project they could be fired at any moment." Taking a bite out of her own steamed bun, Murong Mingyue stared at me and said, "We¡¯re gone for only one day, and Lu Chen caused such a big commotion inside the game already, hehe¡­" I rolled my eyes at her. "You say as if I wanted this to happen. The enemies were over five hundred thousand strong, and all our guilds combined are only seventy or eighty thousand people at most. I never want to be outnumbered like this ever again. When you guys are finished with your work, please focus on increasing the number of our subguilds!" "Got it, we¡¯ll do our best~" Murong Mingyue giggled. "We managed to dig another group of core technical experts from India today. They¡¯re all Eve¡¯s former subordinates, so they have no qualms quitting their jobs and joining her at Raincube. Hehe, I¡¯m sure the top level of GGS is having a massive headache right now!" I sighed. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned¡­" Murong Mingyue shot me a look. "Oh, you heartless bastard. Who do you think Eve is doing all this for¡­" ¡­¡­ Chapter 620: Can’t Hold Back "Haah¡­" I exhaled deeply and closed my eyes, feeling tired enough to fall asleep right on the sofa. Right now, all the war and conflict inside the game mattered less than getting some shut-eye to me. Maybe a hundred years would pass when I opened my eyes again. Maybe I would begin a new life as a whole new person. A rustling sound entered my ears. It was He Yi just finishing her bath and moving to the balcony with a cup of clear tea. She put the cup gently on the table and smiled at me. "You¡¯re not sleeping yet?" "Mn. Just a moment." I smiled back while taking in He Yi¡¯s beautiful features. "You look very tired, Eve." "Of course. I¡¯ve been running around all day, and it¡¯s past 1 am already. You should rest soon as well." "Mn." I stood up and straightened the front of my shirt a bit. I was about to pass by He Yi when I suddenly came to a stop, turned around and looked at her. "Thank you." "Oh? For what?" I could see an enchanting light dancing in her eyes as she watched me. I pursed my lips before answering, "Thank you for staying with me. I know that leaving GGS was a very hard choice to make." "Oh, right¡­" He Yi blinked her long eyelashes before dodging my gaze. She stared at the floor before stuttering, "I¡­ I just¡­ oh, I don¡¯t know. One moment I was angry, and the next I was leaving GGS. Sometimes, I wonder if I¡¯m sick or something." An involuntary smile crept to my face. I hugged her gently before whispering, "Still, thank you¡­" I could feel He Yi shivering a little in my arms. A while later, she finally returned the hug. Her lovely, pajamas-wrapped body felt both warm and tempting. "Mm¡­" He Yi looked up at me with eyes full of complex emotions. She looked afraid, expectant and¡­ something else. "I worry that I will lose you and be alone again." "I know." I gave her a smile and said, "The dream of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, huh? I will do it, Eve. I swear I¡¯ll serve you and conquer the world for you forever!" "Hehe¡­" He Yi giggled softly before standing on her tiptoes without warning. Wrapping her flexible arms around my neck, she moved her hot lips toward my own and kissed me. "Mm, mm¡­" At this point, I was out of control. My hands automatically slid down her waist and explored her round, firm butt. After I gently lifted her into the air, turned around and pressed her against the sofa, my left hand started snaking toward her sacred hills like it was possessed by the devil. No prior practice was necessary whatsoever. "Ah?" He Yi looked at me in astonishment, and I looked back at her. "We¡­" He Yi shivered with embarrassment and desire. She said as if she was begging, "We¡¯re really going to lose control if we continue, Lu Chen¡­" But her words failed to clear my head. I covered her breast with my hand, bent down to kiss her once before rushing out the words, "Eve, I can¡¯t hold back any longer. What should I do¡­" He Yi turned even redder. "Not here¡­" I looked up. Although it was late, the district including our balcony was illuminated in some way. I suppose we should move somewhere else. It was at this moment we heard a calm voice next to us. "Yeah, SLR technology is really advanced these days. If someone took a picture of you two and uploaded it to the Caoliu forums, the two of you would become celebrities overnight." He Yi and I looked up. We had no idea when she was there, but Murong Mingyue was sitting cross-legged on a chair next to the coffee table by the window and holding a hot drink with one hand. The smile on her face was about as naughty as it could get. "You¡­" Both He Yi and I panicked a little. We were lost for words for an entire half a minute until He Yi finally asked, "When did you get here, Mingyue?" Murong Mingyue took a sip from her drink once before replying, "Oh, don¡¯t mind me. By all means, continue. I was going to dry my clothes, but I don¡¯t mind watching a show as I work¡­" She pointed at the laundry basket beside her. It was filled with laundry alright, and at the top of the pile was a huge, pink-colored Sloggi bra. He Yi¡¯s face was very red. "There won¡¯t be any show, you! Go dry your clothes already. Nothing happened¡­ between Lu Chen and me¡­" Murong Mingyue giggled. "Indeed. Nothing happened, and I didn¡¯t get to see what I wanted to see the most. Shame." ¡°Hmph!" He Yi rose to her feet and straightened my messed up collar like a traditional wife would. It was at that moment I realized just what a wonderful woman He Yi was. Murong Mingyue carefully walked up to He Yi before whispering something I couldn¡¯t hear beside her ears. The latter immediately turned bright red and chided her. "Mingyue, you glutton, how can you say that about us¡­" I asked, "What did she say? Share please¡­" Murong Mingyue turned around, put a hand on her waist and shot me a flirtatious smile. "Oh, I¡¯m just telling my Eve that it¡¯s fine for you to do that if you really do love each other~~" "..." Clearly we were all exhausted and a bit out of sorts today. I felt at a loss as I stood by the window ledge and watched He Yi helping out Murong Mingyue with the laundry. Was my feelings for He Yi love or not? If I really did it with He Yi, could I still hold Lin Yixin¡¯s hand like before? Only the heavens could answer that question. ¡­¡­ I took a bath and returned to my room. Finally, a terrible wave of sleepiness overcame me. It was late morning by the time I opened my eyes once more. I could hear Murong Mingyue and He Yi chatting cheerfully outside. Beiming Xue was awake as well. I opened the door, and a captivating smell entered my nostrils. To my surprise, He Yi¡ªwearing a coffee-colored uniform and a white apron today¡ªwas cooking in the kitchen. "Oh, you¡¯re awake?" He Yi shot me a smile and said, "I cooked a pot of pumpkin porridge this morning. By the way, you should avoid eating steamed pork buns from now on. The bun most likely has additives on it, and the pork is probably untested meat." I curled my lips. "Eve, your thinking is way too pessimistic. You need to think optimistically, okay?" He Yi burst into laughter. "I¡¯m just caring for everyone¡¯s health, that¡¯s all. Now go wash your face and get ready to eat. Mingyue is out buying us ¡®healthy¡¯ breakfast, or so she claimed!" "Oh, she¡¯s buying breakfast?" "Yeah!" Murong Mingyue returned at this exact moment with a plastic bag. She held it in front of her and snickered loudly. "Hey Eve, I bought three catties of wonderful meat buns for you! Don¡¯t worry, the shop owner promised me over and over again that he used neither recycled cooking oil nor stale pork to make his buns¡­" He Yi replied expressionlessly, "Fuck you¡­" I nearly fainted from laughing too hard. Wrapping an arm around He Yi¡¯s shoulder, I said, "Give up, it¡¯s impossible to find healthy food at this day and age unless you grow everything yourself. Let¡¯s buy a dozen or so acres of land and plant some bok choy, cauliflower and so on when we¡¯ve earned enough money. I¡¯ll fish at the river, and we¡¯ll enjoy some healthy, 100% organic food every day¡­" He Yi giggled. "Sounds great!" Murong Mingyue was also smiling. "It¡¯s a promise then. Don¡¯t forget the two of us, alright?" Beiming Xue chirped with a look of happiness. "Big bro is going to raise us? That¡¯s awesome¡­" I complained while moving toward the bathroom. "God dammit, I¡¯m just making a suggestion. There¡¯s no need to go this deep¡­" ¡­¡­ After I was done washing myself, I sat down to eat breakfast with the girls. My appetite was better than ever before as I drank the sweet pumpkin porridge and ate the delicious meat buns. It wasn¡¯t long before the buns were all gone, and I ate the most out of everyone. It was probably because I spent too much stamina and brain power as of late. "Lu Chen, what are you going to do after breakfast?" He Yi asked. I thought for a moment before answering, "I¡¯m going to level up and get myself a super quest!" "Oh, a super quest?" He Yi smiled slightly. "You¡¯re going to speak with that amazing loli Xinran, aren¡¯t you?" "Yeah." I nodded. "Although, it¡¯s been so long she¡¯s no longer a loli. I think she was an amazing person in the purgatory, but I¡¯m not sure. What I do know is that Xinran will never hurt me, and that¡¯s enough. Knowing her identity, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll be able to receive an amazing main quest from her, hehe~~" Murong Mingyue looked up while wiping the porridge stains at the corner of her mouth. "Shame that Eve and I have to go to Hangzhou in a moment, or we would come with you and leech some experience." I said, "Yeah, the two of you are about to get outleveled by everyone. Sis really didn¡¯t get to use her Bright Mirror much despite it being such an amazing Famous General Skill, and you were both absent for most of the territory war. Our priests are really lacking without your Famous General Skill, you know that? If you came back even a moment sooner, our defense line may not have crumbled as early as it did." Murong Mingyue shrugged before pointing her chopsticks at He Yi. "You think I want to be absent? I have to travel places with your beloved. If possible, I want my life to be less busy as well. I want to heal people online from time to time, leech experience from my party, and marry a super rich handsome guy so I can just eat and sleep every single day!" I rolled my eyes at her. "You really are a glutton!" Beiming Xue giggled. "Alright alright, Sister Eve and Sister Mingyue will get a break eventually, so don¡¯t worry. Anyway, I¡¯m going to find a quest and make a rush for Level 150 as well. I want to be the first sixth-promotion super archer of China!" Chapter 621: Winged Silver Dragon The rest of the structures inside the city also underwent a massive transformation. The walls were taller and longer than before. The city itself was expanded and protected by many arrow towers and watchtowers. Udal was patrolling the city with a thousand Ghost God Knights. These Level 150 ancient-rank NPCs were extremely powerful, and they could easily fight ten enemies by themselves. Moreover, their level and stats automatically increased based on average player level, so they would always be a critical component in our army when defending against a raid, or when raiding another city ourselves. The rank increase of the city also increased the rank of the barracks, the Desolate Knight¡¯s Grave, to 8. Once it hit Rank 9 I could start mass-producing Ghost God Knights, so I refrained from recruiting Dark Knights. Stat-wise, the Rank 9 Ghost God Knight was at least 35% stronger than the Rank 6 Dark Knight, not to mention that high-rank units would be the backbone of future territory wars or even Nation Wars. All low-rank units would become cannon fodder eventually, and I do not welcome cannon fodder in my ranks! There was still an empty space in the city however; the Dragon¡¯s Grave. It could only be constructed when the city had reached Rank 10. A Dragon¡¯s Grave was used to recruit the ultimate unit an undead castle could produce, the Dark Earth Dragons, and I could hardly wait for that day to come. For now though, I decided against recruiting any units and save up about a week of resources to upgrade the city to Rank 9. An attacked city couldn¡¯t be challenged again for 15 days, and it was a breather our guild appreciated for sure. Of course, I welcomed anyone to try and attack us. As a guild who grew our strength through war, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls feared no challenge. ¡­¡­ After loitering inside the city for a bit and repairing my equipment, I took a moment to check my bank account. What I saw caused me to jump on my feet. It was because my balance had skyrocketed by a whopping 120 million RMB! I rubbed my eyes in disbelief as I stared at the number. What happened? Where did this money come from? Did I buy a lottery and forgot completely about it? Overwhelming joy filled my heart for a moment. The opportunity to earn money was fleeting. If I missed it now I would have to find a new one. Right now everyone still needed the Rank 8 Strength Supplements to learn Barrier Break, but that could change entirely in just a week or, worst case scenario, three days. The potion would be worthless once everyone grinded enough levels to accumulate 1400 Strength or more, so I should make more Strength Supplements while it was still valuable and earn as much money as possible. The reason so many people buying the Strength Supplements at this ridiculous price was because the major guilds were building up their ace fighters. Sky City alone had tens of millions of fighters which meant that 10000 Strength Supplements clearly weren¡¯t enough to meet the demand. I wondered how many people were wishing that they could be me right now? I ran to the warehouse, took out the Agaves, bought a bunch of herbs and food ingredients and began synthesizing more Rank 8 Strength Supplements right away. Less than half an hour later, I unloaded a truck load of supplements on Air Force One, put up an ad post and happily waited for more money to flood into my bank account. I couldn¡¯t help but feel proud of myself as I stared at the gold in my game account. Who would¡¯ve thought that the first true pot of gold of my life would be earned from selling these unassuming potions and not some divine equipment? At first glance, 10000 RMB wasn¡¯t much, but the sales were so good that the wealth I gained from them was absolutely ridiculous! Fuck yeah! I transferred a hundred million RMB to He Yi¡¯s bank account right away and kept the remaining twenty million or so earnings to myself. A man¡¯s savings was the equivalent of his backbone, and any man with at least twenty million in their bank account could say almost anything with some confidence. Also, He Yi and Murong Mingyue had been very busy establishing their new company. As their ¡°shareholder¡± I didn¡¯t mind investing in their business at all. Less than two minutes later, I heard a call notification¡ª Beep! System Notice: Your friend ¡°From Water¡± is calling you from a Multi-SIM phone. Do you accept? After I accepted the call, He Yi asked me immediately, ¡°Lu Chen, did you rob a bank or something? W-why did I receive a message that you transferred a hundred million RMB to me?¡± I smiled. ¡°Nah, I just exploited something that¡¯s almost a bug and earned a lot of money, that¡¯s all. What¡¯s wrong? Is it too little?¡± He Yi smiled very sweetly. ¡°Of course not, hehe. Mingyue and I are heading to Changzhou right now, and it so happens that the subsidiary company over there is lacking in capital. Your timing couldn¡¯t be any more perfect, Lu Chen! You are the super savior of Raincube for three days!¡± That deflated me a little. In the end, even a hundred million RMB was only enough to keep the boat afloat for three days. ¡°Alright, you should focus on your driving. I¡¯m going to find a place to grind now.¡± ¡°Mn, see you later! Let¡¯s have dinner together when Mingyue and I come back!¡± ¡°Okay~¡± I closed the call and took to the road with renewed spirits. First, I teleported to Violet Empire. Then, I traveled to the palace hall and sought out Shadow Dancer Xue Wei. She should be able to lead me to Xinran at the God Domain. Thud thud thud¡­ I ran up the stairs until I entered the palace hall. I saw Queen Sophia sitting regally in her throne and her subjects standing on both sides of the hall. Shadow Dancer Xue Wei was among them as well. ¡°Eh? Why are you here?¡± Xue Wei walked up to me with a friendly smile. I shrugged and replied, ¡°Long time no see, Xue Wei. I¡¯m here to see Xinran. Is she still at the God Domain?¡± ¡°Yes, Lord Wind Singer is still searching for the divine sites. Should I take you to her?¡± ¡°Yes, thank you!¡± I followed Xue Wei all the way to the altar. She summoned a magical formation and tore open a rift in space. Xue Wei wasn¡¯t coming with me, so she simply nodded from the side and watched as I leaped into the rift. Swhoosh! My vision brightened as the apocalyptic sight of the God Domain entered my eyes again. The ground was littered with the bones of the gods, giant statues in their image were crumbling or destroyed, and all that was left of their sacred halls were rubbles. I didn¡¯t walk far before I saw a flash of red in the sky. It was a girl clad in red cape and wielding the colorful Dragonbone Spear. Directly in front of her was a savage-looking winged dragon spitting flames from its mouth. It was only five meters long though. ¡°There is nowhere for you to escape to, brute!¡± Xinran shouted and struck the giant dragon so hard with her Dragonbone Spear that it screamed in pain. After she opened her palm and pulled herself onto the back of the giant dragon¡¯s back, she hammered its head ruthlessly and growled, ¡°You will pay for the lives you¡¯ve taken and the damage you¡¯ve caused!¡± To my surprise, the giant dragon actually looked back at her and begged in a deep voice, ¡°I lost, Wind Singer. Please let me go, I promise I won¡¯t eat humans anymore.¡± Xinran simply responded with a punch so hard that it sent the scales on its head flying. ¡°You dare beg for mercy? You think I didn¡¯t know what you did when the Dragon Speaker showed you mercy and let you go? You were one of their antagonizers during the Dragon Domain War! Hmph, brutes like you should be beaten to death!¡± Xinran punched the dragon non-stop as she spoke. Unable to maintain its flight any longer, it fell from the sky and started gliding toward my direction! Bang! A giant cloud of dust erupted from the point of impact, and the screaming dragon skidded across the ground until it came to a stop just one meter away from my Stormy Waves War Boots. The animal was at death¡¯s door already, but when it looked up and saw me it said in the arrogant voice of a dragon, ¡°Heh, a human here in God Domain? Unbelievable. Hey boy, you look like you have several pounds of flesh on you. Do you wanna be my supper tonight?¡± I unsheathed the Cyan Netherworld Sword in one fluid motion and said, ¡°Xinran, do you think it¡¯ll shut up if I cut its head from its neck?¡± When Xinran saw who I was, she immediately jumped off the dragon¡¯s head and jumped into my embrace. Burying her face into my chest, she said happily, ¡°Big brother, you finally came to see Xinran¡­¡± For a second, I couldn¡¯t tell if this Xinran was the scarily powerful Wind Singer or the mushroom-picking loli I had met a long time ago. The giant dragon visibly shuddered when it saw how friendly I was with Xinran. It immediately changed its attitude to reverence and cordiality. ¡°Oh, honorable human brave, how can you turn that dark and gloomy sword on your loyal servant? Did you not know that I, Akachi the Winged Silver Dragon, am the Wind Singer¡¯s most loyal servant¡­?¡± I shot the dragon a glance before putting an arm around her shoulder and pointing a finger at it. ¡°What the hell is this thing, Xinran? I¡¯ve never seen such an ugly dragon in my life.¡± Akachi the Winged Silver Dragon immediately started shivering when its eyes met Xinran¡¯s. Xinran giggled. ¡°Big brother, this dragon¡¯s name is Akachi. It¡¯s a cruel, wicked, and cunning monster who destroyed many human towns. I¡¯ve been tracking it for over a month, and today I finally found a chance to wound it seriously.¡± I immediately raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword with a smile. ¡°That¡¯s wonderful. Can I kill it? It¡¯ll level me up, and it might reward me with a pet dragon egg!¡± Chapter 622: Roland’s Demise I felt a bit down hearing that. I looked at the area between the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s legs but couldn¡¯t find any identifiable parts. I tried to check its level, but literally all of its stats were hidden by question marks, meaning that its level was leagues ahead of mine. If Xinran wasn¡¯t here, I would¡¯ve run away a long time ago. From what I heard from Xinran, this dragon would never let a weak dragon slayer like me escape. ¡°Big brother?¡± Xinran cocked her head at me while asking, ¡°What do you want to do? This dragon¡¯s fate is in your hands¡­¡± I pondered for a moment before replying, ¡°How about you make it your mount instead?¡± ¡°Oh? But why? It¡¯s a brutal creature,¡± Xinran asked in surprise. I took a few seconds to organize my thoughts before answering, ¡°It is exactly because this dragon is cunning and brutal that it needs you to be its tamer. You¡¯ll be able to save a lot of time and energy if you use this Winged Silver Dragon as your mount, and it won¡¯t be able to harm anyone with you keeping a tight rein on it. Also, you¡¯ve always been fighting alone, and I think you¡¯ll be safer if you have a powerful dragon by your side¡­¡± Xinran blushed and giggled. She hugged me again and said, ¡°Are you worrying about my safety, big brother? Tell me!¡± I smiled helplessly at her and nodded. ¡°You often travel back and forth between the God Domain and the purgatory, so of course I¡¯m worried about you. This Winged Silver Dragon might be an incredibly ugly bastard, but as a mount it¡¯s a pretty good choice.¡± Xinran nodded and looked at the Winged Silver Dragon. She said, ¡°Akachi, you are a despicable bastard, but I¡¯m giving you a chance to live right now. Will you abandon your sinful ways and become my mount? Or will you die?¡± Akachi nodded hurriedly, ¡°It is my honor to become the mount of the goddess of purgatory!¡± ¡°Very well!¡± Xinran smiled sweetly before turning toward me. ¡°Big brother, it¡¯s been a long time since you came to God Domain to see me!¡± I was about to say something when I noticed a gleam of cruelty flashing across the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s eyes. Ice condensed around its horn without warning, and it attempted to skewer Xinran from behind! ¡°Xinran, watch out!¡± I shouted in a hurry. My worry turned out to be unnecessary. Seemingly knowing that the dragon would try to ambush her, she turned around and parried the attack with ease. Then, she grabbed the dragon¡¯s horn and said in a menacing tone, ¡°You dare act up against me, you stupid dragon?¡± Crack! The horn was crushed by her bare hands just like that. What strength! The Winged Silver Dragon immediately groaned in pain. I was glad to see that both Xinran¡¯s insight and power were absolutely stronger than the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s. No matter how unruly this dragon might be, it would never be able to harm her. ¡°Ohh, my goddess, I swear I¡¯ll serve you loyally for eternity!¡± The Winged Silver Dragon screeched. ¡°But please, hit anywhere but my face, I beg you! I am an exceptionally handsome male among the dragons, so please don¡¯t hit my face¡­¡± Xinran punched it a couple more times before she finally stopped. She warned, ¡°If you dare to attack me or my big brother ever again, Akachi, I swear I¡¯ll refine your soul into a horse hoof and gift it to the dirtiest human brave. I will make sure that you suffer the biggest humiliation in a human¡¯s hands and trample your so-called princely pride to nothing!¡± The Winged Silver Dragon screamed, ¡°My master, my goddess, my loyalty is sworn to you for eternity. Please, do not doubt your loyal servant any longer¡­¡± Finally relaxing, Xinran bit open her index finger before placing a bloody palm on top of Akachi¡¯s head. As she chanted the words of a master-slave contract, the dragon begged, ¡°My beloved master, can we sign a beast contract instead? A master-slave contract is too rude for the likes of¡ª¡± Xinran¡¯s eyes turned chilly. ¡°One more word and I¡¯ll chop your head off!¡± ¡°Oh, okay, my cute master¡­¡± The Winged Silver Dragon finally submitted to its fate and signed the master-slave contract. I still warned Xinran. ¡°Keep a tight leash on this dragon like you would a rabid dog!¡± Xinran nodded. ¡°I know, big brother¡­¡± ¡­¡­ The Winged Silver Dragon obediently curled next to Xinran. When it tried to rub its ugly ass head against her smooth legs, Xinran kicked it away without hesitation before hugging my arm. ¡°So, big brother, you haven¡¯t come to see me in a long time. There must be something you want from me since you came all the way to God Domain, am I right?¡± I nodded. ¡°Yep. I would like to receive a quest from you. Do you have any to offer me, Xinran?¡± ¡°A quest?¡± Xinran stuck her tongue at me. ¡°What if I send you to kill the Nine Sovereigns of Hell?¡± I shuddered. ¡°Something easier, please!¡± ¡°Hehe¡­¡± Xinran let out a giggle before humming in thought for a moment. Then, she said, ¡°Actually, I do have a quest you can do. It¡¯s very difficult though.¡± ¡°Oh? What is it?¡± Xinran gazed to the distance and started, ¡°When the old Silver Moon Alliance crumbled into nothing, a powerful country called the Roland Empire had appeared on the continent. Back in the days, it was one of the most powerful countries in the world, one that was charged with the heavy responsibility of protecting the continent. However, one day an incredibly powerful divine weapon called the Blade of Thunder emerged from the purgatory, and any human who was seduced by its power would find themselves lost to its influence. That was why the greatest swordsman of the Roland Empire, a man named Thunder, willingly turned himself into a devil to obtain it. He had walked into the palace himself, killed his own king, and led an army of Corpse Eaters to slaughter the entire city.¡± Xinran let out a long sigh before continuing, ¡°Today, all that is left of the great Roland Empire is a forgotten ruin. If it¡¯s okay with you, I want you to travel there and seek out the body of Mengchuan, the Imperial Knight Captain of the Roland Empire. I have found his soul in the purgatory, and I plan to reforge his body with its power to resurrect him back to life. But for that, I need his body. This ancient brave possesses incredible strength, and I am sure he¡¯ll be of great aid in the human resistance against the Night Creatures.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± The moment I nodded, I received a quest notification¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You¡¯ve accepted the quest [Roland¡¯s Demise]! (Current Quest Rank: SSS-) Description: Head to the ruins of the Roland Empire find the body of the Imperial Knight Captain, Mengchuan, and bring it to Xinran the Wind Singer. But be careful, the Roland Empire is now a land of devils and undead creatures after it has been transformed into a purgatory entrance. Countless braves who were once famous throughout the continent had ended their lives there. ¡­¡­ I rubbed my palms excitedly after seeing the rank and the description. Hehehe, a triple S-rank quest is the equivalent of a divine quest at this stage of the game, right? Xinran must think highly of my abilities if she gave me such a difficult quest. Should I find a couple of helpers before I go? Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t look like that was possible. The quest couldn¡¯t be shared with anyone. Oh well, I supposed that was better for everyone. Even I couldn¡¯t be sure I could survive this quest, and I wasn¡¯t in the habit of dragging my friends to their graves. I opened the map and checked the location of the Roland Empire. It was located in a desolate jungle to the south of Sky City, Floating Ice City and even the Violet Empire. Moreover, the region was almost fully occupied by the Night Creatures and swarming with the undead. The visuals on the map alone made it clear just how difficult the quest would be. Technically, I could hire a priest to accompany me on this quest. However, Murong Mingyue was traveling to Changzhou with He Yi, so she couldn¡¯t help me unless I delayed the quest until nighttime. As for everyone else, I couldn¡¯t bring myself to trouble them for a personal quest, and that included my good friend Yamete, who was the chief priest of Bloody Mercenaries. In the end, I decided that I would solo the quest as intended. ¡°Alright then, I¡¯m going, Xinran!¡± ¡°Mn. Be careful, big brother!¡± Xinran gave me a sweet smile before grabbing the Winged Silver Dragon by its broken horn. Then, she ordered, ¡°Come on, we¡¯re going to the hills in the west to murder some mermaids there!¡± Akachi hurriedly replied, ¡°Oh, my cute master, this little one shall fly as you commanded!¡± ¡­¡­ I shot Xinran a dumbfounded look as I pulled out a return scroll. Xinran isn¡¯t suffering from a split personality disorder, is she? The way she treats me and that dragon is night and day... I crushed the return scroll and returned to Sky City. After taking out some Saint Spirit Potions from the warehouse, I teleported to Floating Ice City. It was way faster to travel to the ruins from there. Swhoosh! It had been a long time since I was last here. I exited the city and started running through the forest that I once fought in. Not far away, I saw a bunch of new players fighting with all their might against my old friend, the Green Praying Mantis. The new players couldn¡¯t hide their envy when I passed by them. Clearly, they saw me as a super expert. Ah shit, I forgot to turn off my equipment¡¯s visual effects. I wasn¡¯t someone who enjoyed flaunting my superiority in the norm. No, I was the kind of person who lay low in the norm and shone only when the time was right. When that time comes, hah, I will shine like the sun that wakes the entire world! ¡­¡­ The trekking lasted almost an hour before a coniferous forest finally appeared before me. However, the ground was crawling with purple, diseased air, and I couldn¡¯t sense any life anywhere. The undead¡¯s strongest weapon had always been their poisonous corruption, and the plague was how they attacked. Through the plague they transformed the living into their brethren. Bit by bit, they corrupted the land and enslaved everything in their wake. In comparison, the undeads of the Violet Empire were much more peaceful. Despite being a Night Creature herself, Queen Sophia made sure to clean up the pestilence within her domain completely. Her undead civilians didn¡¯t only give up their blood thirst and cruelty for more peaceful ways of living, they were even trading with the merchants of Floating Ice City and Sky City. Violet Empire was a living miracle and one of the reasons Princess Karinshan decided not to attack them after reclaiming her birthright. Of course, the Violet Empire was a powerful force in its own right, and Sophia was able to assemble large groups of undead cavalry thanks to Xinran¡¯s support. A military force made of tens of thousands undead itself was a powerful deterrent. Chapter 623: Zealous Battle Axe Not far in front of me, there was a group of skeletal warriors hissing. It was an uncomfortable sound that was distinctively shrilly. A layer of darkness covered my bloody pupils, their levels and stats revealed themselves to my Dark Pupils. They were Level 155 shadow-rank mobs, and their stats were average, meaning that they were unqualified to satisfy my needs. I was Level 143 already, so I needed to kill mobs that were at least 20 levels above me to earn a good amount of experience. I needed to find something else to grind. For now, though. Summon Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf! "Roar roar!" The little wolf appeared with a growl. When it saw the skeletal warriors, disdain overcame its expression for a moment. Clearly, even my pet was looking down on these low-level skeletons. Moreover, this was just the perimeter of the Roland Empire. It would be best if I didn¡¯t waste too much time here. I checked my map for a bit before running forward. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and I escaped after breaking through the group, leaving behind a dozen or so skeletal remains in our wake. The area after the walls was a wasteland. We had to walk very far before we finally saw a couple of buildings. It was a town that bordered a forest. The Cyan Netherworld Sword looked dazzling in the night. The draconic soul coiling around its blade looked dignified and intimidating. I met no resistance as I strode through the open entrance, but I quickly discovered that my destination was a deserted ruin. No matter how hard I looked, I couldn¡¯t spot a single sign of life anywhere. Well, except for the bit of light coming from a large building about a hundred meters away from me. As I drew near, I could see that it was this ghost town¡¯s adventurer¡¯s inn. The iron door that was the entrance to the inn was rotten, rusted and crawling with vines and spider¡¯s webs that clearly had been there for a very long time. In fact, the vines had entangled the handle completely. Heaven knows how long it had been since someone set foot in this place. What was strange though, was that I could hear the sounds of clinking cups and loud conversations coming from inside the building. The speakers all had raspy voices, for some reason. I gave the iron door a hard push. A loud creak later, it collapsed to the ground with a loud boom! Shock overcame me when I saw what was really inside the building. A group of rotten undead adventurers were sitting around a table and drinking merrily from their empty cups. Their armors were rusted, the leather on them was rotten, and the broadswords on the table were snapped in half. "Jie jie¡­" The beastman berserker shouted, "Damn, an adventurer who dares to enter the little town of Maya? Let¡¯s kill him and cook his heart for dinner, brothers! It¡¯s been a long time since we all tasted blood, haven¡¯t we? For the glory of the Roland Empire!" Chuckling, I pulled out my own weapon and said, "The Roland Empire fell a long time ago, you damned monsters. If you¡¯re in such a hurry to die, I don¡¯t mind sending you to Hell. You should have gone there a long time ago anyway!" While saying this, I used Dark Pupils to check the adventurers¡¯ stats. They were all ancient mobs with levels between 160 and 165, which made sense, since they had died at least tens of thousands of years ago. They weren¡¯t bosses, so they were of no threat to me. "Yayaya, kill him!" The beastman berserker was the first enemy to charge at me. I immediately fired Burning Blade Slash into the group of adventurers and followed up with War Crush. An exhilarating sensation flooded my body as a chain of shocking damage numbers rose above their heads. Almost every hit dealt over 15k damage. Clang! At the same time, the beastman berserker¡¯s axe landed on my shoulder and dealt 3786 damage. It hurt a little, but it was well within my ability to endure. The 10% lifesteal from Blood Rage alone was enough to keep me rejuvenated for this battle. Swhoosh! I penetrated his body with Universe Break, followed up with yet another Burning Blade Slash. A critical hit and a couple of swipes from the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf later, the unfortunate beastman berserker was almost dead. His eyes widened in shock as he shouted, "Dammit, to think that I would die to a short-haired animal like this, dammiiiiiit¡­" I cut off his head and ended his misery. Then, I used War Crush again and elicited painful screams from the dozen or so undead adventurers surrounding me. After chugging down a Rank 8 Saint Spirit Potion and recovering a big chunk of HP, I dove right back into the battle! About 5 minutes later, all the undead adventurers were killed. Although the Level 165 ancient mobs dealt quite a lot of damage to me, I was able to keep myself afloat between 50% to 80% HP. Though I was aware my Defense wasn¡¯t high enough to guarantee absolute safety. The fight could definitely get precarious if I allowed myself to be surrounded by them. The mobs dropped 5 pieces of equipment in total. I picked them up and wasn¡¯t disappointed by what I saw. Tsk tsk, the beastman berserker¡¯s axe is not bad¡ª Zealous Battle Axe (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): 770~900 Attack, Strength +130, Stamina +120, increases user''s attack power by 19%. Outstanding Property: Zealotry, increases user''s attack speed by 15%. Level Requirement: 140. ¡­¡­ I wasn¡¯t expecting a non-boss to drop such a nice Purple Gold¨Cgrade item. 38 Luck was really amazing. The battle axe wasn¡¯t good enough to garner immediate attention from the top rankers, and right now, there were only a handful of players in all the servers who were Level 140 or above. However, that would change in 10 days or so, and when that day comes this battle axe would surely sell for a good price. After all, not everyone could afford Earth or even Spirit¨Cgrade equipment. Plenty of players spent every day grinding common mobs instead of partying with others to kill bosses, so their equipment was absolute trash despite reaching a high level. I threw the Zealous Battle Axe into my bag and looked up. There were still plenty of undead inside the adventurer¡¯s inn, but unlike the ones who had attacked me, they were simply shivering in a corner. Clearly, not every undead was fond of killing. I glanced at the corner of a table with the number 2 on it. There was a big undead dog covered in scabies sitting there and cocking its head at an undead thief. Drinking his ale and staring at the dog with blood-red eyes, the thief growled out a warning, "Get lost, or I¡¯ll tear your intestines apart!" The dog barked twice as if in pain. Its murky eyes were full of sorrow. It was at this moment the inn owner¡ªa rather brawny fellow for a skeleton¡ªran out and hit the dog with his broom. At the same time, he shouted, "Get out of my inn, you ugly thing! There is nothing for you here!" The dog whined and escaped through the entrance. However, it stopped not far away and stared at the building with hopeful eyes for some reason. It wasn¡¯t until a long time later before it finally left. I curled my lips and put down my cloak, revealing the bloody pupils of an Asura King. Then, I asked the inn owner, "What¡¯s with that dog, boss?" The inn owner visibly relaxed when it saw that I was an undead as well. Then, he replied in a disdainful tone, "That cheap dog is called ¡®Dada¡¯. It was the guard captain¡¯s beloved pet until the man was killed in battle. A lot of people tried to give it a new home, but every single day, without fail, it would escape and come to the table. It¡¯s because it¡¯s where the guard captain usually drinks, you see. That cheap dog probably still doesn¡¯t know that the guard captain¡¯s head was chopped off. Hehe, what a sorrowful thing¡­" My heart shuddered. I couldn¡¯t help but look at the ugly dog outside with sad eyes. "Do you want a drink, swordsman?" the inn owner asked me. "No, thank you." I shook my head and walked out. However, I couldn¡¯t find the dog anywhere. Oh well, time to get back to the grind. This was just a town beyond the castle. I was still some way away from the center of the ruins. I continued on my journey until a ruined castle appeared at the horizon. The structure had mostly collapsed, but I could still catch glimpses of its former glory. Run down it might be, the palace was at least as big as the palace of Sky City. At a training field outside the castle, I could see countless soldiers carrying spears wandering around the area. They were all elite undead creatures clad in metal armor. Their eyes were bloody, and they growled gutturally like animals. Suddenly, I heard a loud rebuke from inside the camp. "Get lost, you animal!" It was immediately followed by a couple of painful yelps as a black thing was kicked out of the camp. It was none other than Dada, the dog I saw at the inn. There were rows of wooden houses inside the camp, and I had no doubt that its owner¡¯s house was one of them. How many times had it tried to get in only to be kicked out by the guards? I couldn¡¯t even imagine. A couple of sword-wielding undead warriors rushed out of the camp at this moment. They were followed by a dozen or so undead knights. Suddenly, the knights tossed their spears at the dog! Thud thud thud! The intimidating spears hit the ground not far away from the dog. They were clearly using it as their plaything. "Arf arf arf¡­" The big dog yelped in fear as it escaped to a nearby bush. However, it couldn¡¯t stop looking back at the houses with yearning and reluctance. I glanced at the soldiers. They were Level 165 ancient mobs, and their stats were incredibly powerful. I might be able to kill a large number of them in a short time, but there was no way I could fight a protracted battle without a priest, or enough supplies. Without warning, my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf suddenly puffed up its hair and bared its fangs menacingly at the undead soldiers who were chasing Dada. Then, it let loose a mournful howl, charged toward an undead knight like a cyan shadow and pulled it off its horse all without my orders. "Fuck, that stupid wolf!" Chapter 624: Diamond Dus ¡­¡­ "Jie jie, this lowly adventurer!" An undead knight spun his spear while laughing. "Brothers, let¡¯s kill him and wet our blades with his blood!" A bunch of swordsmen and knights charged at me, and I retaliated with Burning Blade Slash + War Crush and activated Deterrence the moment the timing was right. Although their level was so high that Deterrence only reduced their stats by 15% instead of the promised 25%, it was still pretty good. 15% less HP and Defense makes the battle much easier than it would¡¯ve been. Activating Martial God and boosting my attack power by 200%, I clashed directly against an undead knight and began swinging my sword recklessly. Instead of pursuing parries and Guards like I normally did, I did my best to maximize my damage output. In this scenario, fighting aggression with aggression and healing myself with Blood Rage was the royal road to victory! Bang bang bang! Cyan sword auras spread across the body of the skeletal soldiers as I attacked them. The main reason my grinding speed was among the best in the entire world was thanks to the 40% splash effect of the Cyan Netherworld Sword! The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf vigorously bit and clawed at its adversaries with every available tool, but unfortunately it simply didn¡¯t have enough attack power to do much to the high-level undead at all. Some distance away, Dada was lying under a bush and whining sorrowfully at us. It looked like it wanted to help, but couldn¡¯t muster the courage to face the powerful enemies. ¡­¡­ Clang clang clang¡­ Swords and spears pierced my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor and ate away my HP very quickly. It just wasn¡¯t possible to survive while being surrounded by a bunch of Level 165 ancient mobs. Unable to endure the sight of my rapidly emptying HP, I hastily activated both God¡¯s Rage and Blood Fiend. Only then I was barely able to leech enough HP to stay afloat. "Little wolf, you bastard, we need to withdraw now! Can¡¯t hold on much longer!" My order was somehow ignored, so I hollered at the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf instead. My pet was a master of agility. With its tail between its legs, it left the combat zone and escaped into the forest behind it immediately. Bang bang bang! After killing the skeletal knights behind me with War Crush and Burning Blade Slash, I hurriedly slipped away into the forest as well. That being said, I felt much better after taking a glance at my experience bar. The battle had lasted less than ten minutes, but my experience bar had risen by almost 5%. If I had a priest by my side, this would be a completely different story. I might even be able to get 2 or 3 levels in a single day. Well, there¡¯s no hurry. I will come back and annihilate every last soldier in this camp eventually! ¡­¡­ I looked back and saw the dog, Dada, crouching inside a bush. Its murky eyes were staring at me. I extended a hand toward it and gave it a friendly smile. "I won¡¯t hurt you, Dada. Do you want to come with me? I¡¯ll protect you and search for your master together with you¡­" "Whine¡­" Dada wagged its tail, but it immediately turned frightful when it saw the Cyan Netherworld Sword behind my back. It quickly turned around and escaped into the forest in the blink of an eye. "Sigh¡­" Just what drove such a weak dog to approach the camp and adventurer¡¯s inn it feared again and again? Was a hundred years, a thousand years, even ten thousand years not enough to grind away its love and loyalty for its master? A moment of silence later, I decided to put this to the back of my mind. It wasn¡¯t like I could do anything about it right now. Speaking of which, I hadn¡¯t picked up the loot from the undead soldiers I killed. I should pick them up and lure some undead soldiers to me while doing so. Maybe I¡¯ll spend the afternoon grinding here slowly. I took a moment to calculate the statistics. The Level 165 ancient mobs dealt about 2000+ damage to me each time, and my burst damage was about 50k+ damage or so, or 5000+ HP. With pots and Regeneration of the Undead, I should be able to fight 5 Undead Roland Soldiers at a time. That wasn¡¯t too bad all things considered. I returned to the camp with the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. The quest could wait until I cleared out the mobs at this place. When I got close enough, I used Dark Pupils and read the undead knights and undead swordsmen¡¯s stats¡ª Undead Roland Soldier (Ancient) Level: 165 Attack: 2550~2980 Defense: 2750 HP: 240000 Skills: Heavy Slash, Dying Strike, War Zeal Introduction: When the Roland Empire collapsed, these brave soldiers were corrupted by the undead plague and turned into puppets of the undead. These bloodthirsty soldiers are extremely scary because they not only retained their original fighting capabilities, but also gained the zeal of the undead. ¡­¡­ Oh, no wonder they hurt this badly. If even I had to cry foul with my level of Defense, I couldn¡¯t imagine how another person would do in this place. The fact that these mobs were so powerful meant that these Undead Roland Soldiers wore very impressive equipment and the massive amount of experience they yielded meant that they were exactly the mobs I needed to kill right now. After all, my goal was to hit Level 150 as soon as possible and become the first mounted warrior of the game. This was the royal road to victory in war! I tried looking for a choke point, but unfortunately, no such thing existed in this open field. Having no choice, I decided to strain myself more than usual and make up the lack of advantageous ground with pure skill. With my current movement speed and skill, I should be able to aggro 10 to 30 Undead Roland Soldiers and make them run into themselves constantly, reducing the amount of damage I would take. At the same time, I would reduce their numbers rapidly with AoE skills. It shouldn¡¯t be too difficult like this. My mind made up, I gripped my sword and walked toward the camp. But unlike the beginning where I charged head first into the thick like a headless chicken, I cautiously wandered around the edges and got a tail of 20 or so Roland Undead Soldiers before I realized it. I hurriedly backed away and moved further away from the zone! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... I tossed three Ice Cyclone Domains across the open field to cover a large area. When the twenty or so Undead Roland Soldiers entered my attack range, I immediately turned around and executed Burning Blade Slash + War Crush! Bang bang bang... The sword auras ravaged the undead¡¯s bodies and dealt a ton of damage. It was always pleasing to watch big numbers popping off a mob¡¯s head. As planned, I didn¡¯t hang around to be beaten up by them. I zigzagged within the Ice Cyclone Domains and let the icicles slow down the Undead Roland Soldiers and toss them into the air. The extra blanket of safety was definitely appreciated. Just like that¡ªusing the 7-second cooldown War Crush as my timer¡ªI turned around and tossed 2 AoE skills at the mobs every 7 seconds. Sometimes, I would even use Thousand Ice Slash + Burning Blade Slash for even bigger damage. The amount of damage the Level 165 high-level mobs could do to me was minimal as I roamed the fringes of the Ice Cyclone Domains like a patient hunter. I never got into direct contact with the mobs, relying purely on my AoE skills to reduce their HP. "Roar roar roar¡­" Eventually, the group of Undead Roland Soldiers collapsed to the ground and died. The battle was over in less than 3 minutes. They dropped a lot of high-quality magic stones and even a couple of equipment drops. Items already dropped very frequently for me thanks to my high Luck, but it was even better when the mob was of a higher level than me. I walked up to two grayish golden metal armor equipment sitting quietly in a bush and picked them up. It was a pair of wristguards and a helmet¡ª Roland Wristguard (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): 450 Defense, 375 Magic Resist, Strength +125, Stamina +120. Increases user''s attack speed by 8%. Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s critical hit rate by 3%. Level Requirement: 135. Part of the Roland Equipment Set. Roland Helmet (Purple Gold, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): 480 Defense, 395 Magic Resist, Strength +135, Stamina +125. Increases user¡¯s Accuracy by 400. Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 2000. Level Requirement: 135. Part of the Roland Equipment Set. ¡­¡­ Oh wow, I wasn¡¯t expecting set equipment to drop from these mobs, much less 3-star Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade one. If I could collect a full set and put it up for auction, it would sell for an exorbitant amount of money for sure! I happily tossed both equipment into my bag before getting back to the grind. There was nothing better than grinding levels and earning money at the same time! I kept up the routine until 4 pm or so. I was just 3% away from hitting a heart-pounding Level 144 when two system announcements suddenly interrupted me¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Diamond Dust (Sky City)" has successfully defeated the Purple Gold Rank Boss, Dark Valley Plunderer, and reached Level 137. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the twenty-ninth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and a Famous General Skill, "Knight General"! Knight General: Increases Attack and Defense of all mounted players in the party by 25%. Skill effectiveness is affected by Tactics. This Famous General Skill is not unique and can be learned by multiple players. Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Nongfu Spring (Vanished God City)" has successfully defeated the Earth Rank Boss, Forest Giant King, and reached Level 137. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the thirtieth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and a Famous General Skill, "Bow General"! Bow General: Physical ranged attack power increased by 25%, and attack speed increased by 10% for all allies. Skill effectiveness is affected by Tactics. This Famous General Skill is not unique and can be learned by multiple players. ¡­¡­ Holy shit, it looked like two players had become Famous Generals at almost the same time, and they both learned the poor man¡¯s version of existing Famous General Skills. This meant that there were two players with Knight General in China now. One of them was our Heaven¡¯s Rain, but this new person, Diamond Dust, was a complete enigma to me. Bow General, the poor man¡¯s version of Beiming Xue¡¯s Bow God, had appeared as well. Although its power was not even half of Beiming Xue¡¯s Bow God, it was still fairly amazing. I hurriedly opened my friend list and sought out Chaos Moon. Currently, she was designated the diplomat of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls because she was beautiful, eloquent, popular locally, and online for many hours a day. I said immediately after the call connected, "Chaos Moon, can you recruit these two Famous Generals?" She replied, "I can give Nongfu Spring a try, but not Diamond Dust¡­" Giant disappointment welled inside my heart for a moment. I was hoping to build a super cavalry unit, so of course the more Knight Generals we had the better, but Chaos Moon had shot me down immediately. A while later, I asked, "But why not?" Chaos Moon burst into a giggle. "Lu Chen, you idiot, Diamond Dust is already a member of our guild. Did you forget that magic knight who acted coquettishly around you already? You bastard, I knew you wouldn¡¯t be able to recall all the women you¡¯ve been together with¡­" Chapter 625: Thunder the Blade of Death I curled my lips in dissatisfaction. "Goddammit, Warsky¡¯s recruitment speed is seriously broken. It must be October Rain again. Sigh, we¡¯ve lost so much great talent to her¡­" Chaos Moon giggled. "There¡¯s no need to feel too dejected. You can¡¯t possibly recruit every expert in the world. Some people play games because they have a dream to achieve, and some because they want to earn money, plain and simple. This Nongfu Spring is the latter. Did you know that the money grubber told me that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls must offer him a yearly salary of 3 million if we wish to recruit his service? I told him to fuck off on the spot. He must be incredibly delusional to think that he¡¯s worth that much. Also, he¡¯ll be worthless if Famous General Skills get nerfed in some future patch." An involuntary laugh escaped me. "Mn, you¡¯re right. We shouldn¡¯t make careless recruitments. Oh right, where is Diamond Dust right now? I¡¯d like to develop her into a pro if at all possible. It¡¯s only then that we can rely on her in the future battles." "I got it, I¡¯ll persuade her to listen to reason." "Mn. See you later." "Oh right, what are you doing right now, Lu Chen?" "Grinding and completing a quest!" "Oh, then I¡¯ll leave you be. I¡¯m going to a high-level map with Lu Buyi myself." ¡­¡­ I turned off the communicator and continued fighting the Undead Roland Soldiers. Finally, a column of golden light surrounded us and increased my level to 144. I am now another step closer to Level 150! I checked my bag and noted that I had collected a total of 3 complete Roland equipment sets. Its drop rate was incredibly low since this was all I got even with my crazy Luck. Right now, the only person in China whose item drop rate rivaled mine was probably Chaos Moon. She became the most sought-after party member in the guild ever since she learned her Famous General Skill. While her Plunder was active, the item drop rate of all mobs was increased by a whopping 160%. These days, there was nothing more joyous than being able to grind levels and farming top-tier equipment for sale. I checked the time, and it was past 5 pm. I had killed plenty of Undead Roland Soldiers by now, so I felt that it was time to continue my quest. I packed up the loot and circled around the Roland encampment. Then, I stepped on the limestone path that led to the capital city of the Roland Empire. Rustle rustle rustle... The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf stayed close to me as I walked into the city. There were undead adventurers, bards, shop owners, guards, and so on. They were dead, but they still carried out their daily routine faithfully. I silently walked past them. I was a bit surprised that no one tried to stop me. There was a working bakery at a corner of the streets. The shop owner was a skeletal old lady in tattered clothing. She was kneading a dough made of leaves, ragged cloth and worm-filled soil as if these ingredients could somehow be baked into a delicious loaf of bread. "Wuuu¡­" A familiar whine entered my ears at that moment. It was Dada. The big dog was tilting its head at the old lady and staring at her with great passion and dependence. Clearly, its former master, Mengchuan, must¡¯ve frequented this bakery often and fed it the bread he bought here. That was why Dada spent some time waiting at this location every day. It was hoping that its master would reappear, hug its neck, and feed it a loaf of fragrant bread again. When the working lady discovered Dada, she immediately hit it with her rolling pin and cursed, "Get out of my sight, you greedy devil¡­" Dada barked and ran away with its tail between its legs again. This time though, I was determined not to let Dada escape from me. It was because I had no idea where Mengchuan¡¯s body or soul was, and I was sure that it could lead me to his remains at least. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and I ran like crazy as Dada vanished around corner after corner. The mad chase lasted over ten minutes before we finally stopped in front of the royal palace. It started wagging its tail and howling mournfully at the palace. There was a group of Undead Roland Soldiers guarding the entrance to the palace. A guard captain wearing a golden helmet walked up to the dog with a sneer. "This stray dog is camping this place again. What on earth are you waiting for, you filthy little thing?" Beside him, a soldier replied in a subdued voice, "Captain, I think this dog is Captain Mengchuan¡¯s beloved pet¡­ it probably doesn¡¯t know that the captain is dead yet¡­" A sinister smile spread uncontrollably across the guard captain¡¯s face. "What a sorrowful thing it is. That Mengchuan was executed because he was too foolish to capitulate when necessary. Hmph! That is why we are Lord Thunder¡¯s most loyal servants, and not him. Now get this dog out of my¡ªactually, no, tell our archers to get here. I¡¯m sure they will enjoy a live target, hahaha¡­" Dada¡¯s eyes were immediately filled with terror. However, it was still wagging its tail and barking at the palace as if the act could summon its master to its side and bring it home. Meanwhile, a group of archers appeared and drew their longbows without hesitation. Then, a hail of arrows fell from the sky! Fuck! I can¡¯t stand it any longer! I rushed forward and stood in front of Dada, blocking the arrows before they could hurt the dog. Then, I raised my sword and sent Thousand Ice Slash crashing into the archer group. They lost almost one-third of their HP to the splash effect because they were standing too close to each other, and more than half of them were frozen in ice. I seized the opportunity to fire Burning Blade Slash, deleting even more of their HP. Then, I swung my sword around like mad and cut them down one by one. All of the archers were killed in less than two minutes. Furious, the guard captain pointed his sword at me and shouted, "Dammit, a human has slipped into our kingdom! Men, kill him now!" A group of Undead Roland Soldiers rushed me, but unlike last time, I was prepared to deal with them. I blocked in front of the palace entrance before they could flood out and used it as my choke point. Then, I went full offense and cut them down as quickly as possible. Not far behind me, Dada was wagging its tail happily because it finally saw a chance to find its master. The violent combat lasted ten whole minutes, and my HP dropped all the way down to 10% before I finally took down the guard captain. I was forced to chug health potions, buff myself and even consume supplements that added 400 Strength and Stamina¡ªand good thing I did¡ªbecause the Level 165 ancient mobs were almost too powerful for me to handle. The floor was littered with bodies as I picked up Roland War Boots from the ground. Before I knew it, Dada was wagging its tail and rushing into the back garden while barking. Hmm? Is that where Captain Mengchuan is? I hurriedly chased after Dada with the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf. I wouldn¡¯t be able to sleep easy if Dada got hurt again. ¡­¡­ The back garden was barren and overgrown with wild grass. It was also an execution ground. There was a giant stone wall in the garden engraved with drawings of mountains, rivers, flowers, birds, gods, spirits, and mortals. It looked like the engravings of some sort of belief or curse. A man was nailed to the wall with two swords plunged into his chest. There was a deep wound on his skull, almost as if it was someone had cracked it open a little with an axe. A battle axe was also stuck in his neck. Is he an undead? Surprised, I activated my Dark Pupils and looked. As expected, there was a line of text floating above his head¡ª Mengchuan LV-170 Roland Palace Knight Captain ¡­¡­ "Awoo woo woo¡­" Dada looked incredibly happy at first¡ªwagging its tail and running to its master¡¯s side immediately¡ªbut when it saw the two swords in its chest, the joy slowly turned into sorrow. At that moment, it finally realized that its master had been killed. "Arf¡­" Dada barked mournfully as it licked its master¡¯s bony palm. Then, it pressed its head against Mengchuan¡¯s arm as if pretending that he was still alive. When I walked closer, I noticed that the battle axe was glowing a red light. It seemed to be sealing something. Thud! I grabbed the hilt of the battle axe and pulled with all my might! When the battle axe departed Mengchuan¡¯s neck, a jolt immediately coursed through his body. Then, he slowly opened his dead eyelids and revealed a pair of murky eyes. The first thing Mengchuan noticed was Dada pressing its head against his arm. He shuddered visibly before saying hoarsely, "Dada, my friend¡­ I finally found you again¡­" Dada wagged its tail and jumped around Mengchuan happily for a moment. Then, it ran toward me and pushed its head against my hand. Clearly, it was asking me to save its master. I walked up to Mengchuan and grabbed the two swords this time. Then, I pulled them out of the man¡¯s chest in one swift motion. "Ah¡­" Mengchuan let out a painful scream before collapsing limply on the ground. Dada hurriedly ran up to him and fervently pushed itself into its lap. Mengchuan looked at me and said hoarsely, "Young adventurer, you should leave as soon as possible. The axe you just pulled out is a sealing weapon, so that damned Thunder must know of your interference already. He will be returning to the human world very soon, and you will die if you don¡¯t escape by then!" His plea only elicited a slight shake of my head. "No. I will save both you and Dada. Your dog has been waiting for you ten thousand years every day, and I will not let its wish be in vain!" ¡­¡­ "Ah¡­ hah, I see that you¡¯re also a fool¡­" Mengchuan looked at the sky while hugging Dada¡¯s head. He murmured, "Thunder the Blade of Death is coming. I¡¯m sorry for dragging you down, young adventurer. If my soul enters the purgatory, I promise I will pray for your safety from the blood ponds." Suddenly, the ground started shaking violently. It was to the point where it felt like the Roland Empire was on the verge of collapsing. Rumble rumble rumble... Suddenly, a dazzling column of purple light burst out of the ground and turned the enormous palace before my eyes into rubble. The scale of destruction resembled the apocalypse, and I believed that notion for a moment. Chapter 626: Loyal Guardian Soul Crack crack crack... The bloody hole was about two hundred meters wide. Countless purple lightning bolts could be seen shooting across its interior. It also proved my suspicions because it was well known that Thunder was an expert of controlling lightning. He must¡¯ve used his powerful mastery of lightning to tear a spatial rift and connect the purgatory and the human world. A series of rumbles later, a steady but shrill voice entered my ears, "Mengchuan, my old friend, what are you up to again?" A figure clad in dark blue armor suddenly emerged from the center of the web of lightning. There was a runic sword surrounded by lightning in his hand. Clearly, this was the legendary sword that corrupted Thunder, the Blade of Thunder! I used Dark Pupils, and Thunder¡¯s stats appeared before my eyes¡ª Thunder the Blade of Death (Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 195 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: Thunder the Blade of Death was once the strongest expert of the Roland Empire. He was famed throughout the continent as the man who single-handedly killed the three-headed ancient dragon who invaded the kingdom, and honored as the empire¡¯s greatest brave. Unfortunately, a unique divine weapon named the Blade of Thunder appeared from the cracks of purgatory not long after his achievements, and it was so powerful that it could corrupt anyone who touched it. Thunder was no exception, lost within its power the second he touched the weapon. He killed his own ruler, the guard captain Mengchuan, conquered half the continent with the Blade of Thunder, and turned the Roland Empire into a place of desolation. ¡­¡­ The truth was finally revealed, and I was ready to fight at a moment¡¯s notice. At the same time, I groaned inside my head, "Xinran, you¡¯re killing me again. How on earth am I going to beat a Level 195 Immortal Rank boss?" However, Thunder didn¡¯t even seem to notice me. He simply stared at Mengchuan and sneered tauntingly, "Old friend, do you know how pitiful and saddening you look right now? What a joke. Look at me, I now possess enough power to rival heaven and earth. In the purgatory, I am worshipped like a god, and in the human world, I am the god of slaughter. I can annihilate a human empire with a turn of my palm!" Thunder erupted in anger. "You stubborn fool! Why would I serve under that foolish and decrepit ruler when I can wield unrivaled power instead? Even now, you are just a prisoner, and I, Thunder, am the god, the king, the ruler of everything! How can you not see who is the final victor, Mengchuan?" Mengchuan retorted disdainfully, "I am not yet savage enough to gain power through betrayal. Thunder, I¡¯ve seen through your despicable nature a long time ago. My only regret is not advising the king to execute you when I still had the chance!" Lightning raged around Thunder as pointed his sword angrily at Mengchuan. "What impudence even in your moment of death! Hmph, I¡¯ve had enough of your blind loyalty. I don¡¯t wish to hear your voice ever again. Come, I shall release you from your misery right now!" Mengchuan sneered. "Blind loyalty? My loyalty lies with the Roland Empire. That is why I hate you more for your inhuman murder of our people than your loathsome murder of our king! Thunder, you heartless devil, when will you realize that the ultimate power is to protect, not destroy!" Thunder sneered right back. "Is that so? Why don¡¯t you show me how strong the power to protect is, then?" Thunder abruptly descended from the sky and landed on the ground. His dark blue war boots rasped loudly against the grainy ground as he walked toward Mengchuan. It was clear from his lightning sword and his killing intent that he planned to murder his former friend. ¡­¡­ "Arf arf arf¡­" Dada jumped out of its master¡¯s embrace and blocked in front of him even before me. It glared at Thunder with ferocious eyes. "Oh? Are you looking to die as well, tiny animal?" Thunder¡¯s eyes sharpened. He abruptly kicked Dada and launched at the wall where Mengchuan was sealed earlier like a cannonball. The unpleasant sound of breaking bones entered my ears, and Dada collapsed limply by its master¡¯s side. Even now, it was barking, wagging its tail weakly and trying to lick its master¡¯s palm. "Dada, my friend¡­" Mengchuan tried to crawl to Dada with all his might. I blocked in front of Thunder and stopped him from approaching the duo. One, allowing Thunder to kill Mengchuan meant that I would fail my quest. Two, there was no way in hell I was allowing anyone to kill Mengchuan and Dada before my eyes. "Damn adventurer!" Thunder shouted in anger before swinging the Blade of Thunder at me. Knowing that there was no chance I could endure or parry the attack, I hurriedly assumed a Guard stance! Bang! My arms shook violently from the impact. A seemingly infinite amount of lightning flooded my senses and turned almost half my body fully numb. As the powerful blow threw against the wall, I lost more than half of my HP¡ª31092! What the fuck, he did how much damage to me in one hit?! If I wasn¡¯t guarding, I wouldn¡¯t even be able to withstand one hit from him! ¡­¡­ Thunder chuckled disdainfully before throwing Mengchuan¡¯s body into the air with his sword. Then, he slashed him in half and sent his body flying at least over ten meters away. "Arf arf¡­" Dada slowly got to its feet and walked toward Mengchuan. It was wobbling, but its eyes were still shining with a fierce light. It growled mournfully and painfully as it tried to make it to its master. Thunder simply watched indifferently from the side. Mengchuan was also looking up at Dada. When he saw how his pet was swaying on its feet, tears actually dripped out of his murky eyes, and his mouth was open in a hoarse, powerless scream. It sounded even worse than a person¡¯s wails. Step by step, Dada walked toward Mengchuan. Second by second, time was sapping away its life energy. In the end, it dropped powerlessly to the ground before it could rejoin its master. It died¡­ it died just like that... "Dada¡­" Mengchuan roared hoarsely as if he was crying, "My friend, my eternal friend¡­" ¡­¡­ Thunder laughed arrogantly before walking toward me. I was the only one left who could be a threat to him, no matter how small. I drank a health potion and used Tenacity of the Dead immediately. +8617! +5000! Thunder¡¯s sword was brimming with intimidating power. Energetic thorns sprouted from the blade as if he was planning to deal me the fatal blow. "Roar roar¡­" Suddenly, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf blocked in front of me, hair raised and glaring hatefully at Thunder. I was surprised. The little wolf I knew was a cowardly animal, and this was the first time it risked its life for me. Was it affected by Dada¡¯s death? "Heh, another animal!" Thunder laughed disdainfully and kicked the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf into the air. The gap of power was way too big, and it bounced multiple times across the walls before it finally landed back on the ground, yelping in pain. It so happened that it landed right next to Dada, their heads touching. ¡­¡­ "You motherfucker!" Furious, I raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword and used the God Binding Art! MISS! I wasn¡¯t surprised by this result in the slightest. With my current level and stats, there was not a chance in hell I could¡¯ve shackled Thunder. I hurriedly activated the Shield of Evening and made myself invulnerable for 12 seconds. Against a boss like this, every second I didn¡¯t die was a second earned. Plus, what else could I do in a situation like this? I launched my most powerful combo, Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash at the boss''s head. It was also everything I had. Thunder¡¯s level was so high that not even Dark Pupils could identify a so-called weak point. In fact, a super boss at his level might not even have a weak point to speak of. The only way to beat him was with absolute power. Clang clang clang! A bunch of sparks exploded from Thunder¡¯s body as four damage numbers appeared¡ª 8074! 904! 1035! 1290! It was such a pitiful amount of damage that it was depressing. Universe Break was the only skill that did a noteworthy amount of damage because it basically ignored Defense. As for the Burning Blade Slash, Thunder didn¡¯t even bother reacting to it. Despair and shock filled my heart. I could teleport back to the city now, but I was reluctant to do so. I couldn¡¯t and wouldn¡¯t give up on Mengchuan, Dada, and the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf no matter what! "Haha, you damned kid!" Thunder swung his sword and hit the Shield of Evening seven or eight times in a row. If this shield wasn¡¯t unbreakable, I would¡¯ve been cut into shreds by his ridiculous power already! My eyes were almost bloodshot with urgency as Thunder knocked me back repeatedly. Suddenly, a draconic roar suddenly broke from the sky. Then, an ugly dragon¡¯s head poked out of the clouds, stared at me and said sincerely, "Oh, my beloved master¡¯s big brother, master and I have come to save you. Hey you, despicable Thunder the Blade of Death, your days as a despicable man have come to an end¡­" Joy overwhelmed me when I looked into the sky. Xinran had finally arrived on the Winged Silver Dragon. If she was even a few seconds late, I would¡¯ve been decapitated by Thunder already. Xinran abruptly jumped off the dragon¡¯s back and floated into the sky. Her bloody cape flapped loudly against the wind, and the way she was holding the Dragonbone Spear looked ridiculously cool. She smiled at me and said, "Sorry for putting you on such a harrowing journey, big bro. I¡¯ll take care of this¡­" Completely caught off-guard by this sudden turn of events, Thunder murmured, "Wind¡­ Wind Singer Xinran? Why are you here, you traitor?" Xinran pointed her spear at him. "Remember that time I cut your ribs in half, stupid? Come, Blade of Death, it is time we end our fight. This time, I won¡¯t allow you to escape." ¡­¡­ I was brimming with excitement when a sudden burst of red light behind me caught my attention. I was stunned when I turned around and saw what it was. The Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf had gotten up to its feet before I realized it. Next to it, Dada¡¯s body was dissolving into red light and concentrating on the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s body. The wolf¡¯s fur was dyed red in color, and it looked more fearsome and deadly than before! Ding~! Chapter 627: Phantom Wolf King I rubbed my eyes to confirm that I wasn¡¯t seeing things. And I really wasn¡¯t. My little wolf and Dada¡¯s souls were merging together, meaning that both of them would survive. Naturally, this was amazing news of course, not to mention that there was a high chance my pet¡¯s rank would increase after the process. After all, Dada was the pet of Mengchuan, an Epic Rank NPC. His loyal companion was bound to be formidable. Crack! Crack! The little wolf¡¯s bones cracked loudly as they were reformed. It grew so big that it reached my chest at a standing position, and it looked a lot more dignified and ferocious. I just wondered if its stats would change as much. Even Thunder and Xinran had temporarily stopped fighting. It looked like they were going to fight after the transformation was complete. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Bloody totems rose from beneath the little wolf¡¯s feet. It looked like they were refining its body and modifying its soul. The now red-haired little wolf raised its head and let out its first howl. The dazzling golden light dying the edge of its hair gave it a completely different aura from before. Finally, the former aardwolf had evolved into a true king of the wolves! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your pet "Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf" has successfully absorbed the loyal guardian dog¡¯s soul and evolved into "Phantom Wolf King"! ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the little wolf started shrinking rapidly. In the end, it turned into a wolf cub that was only as big as my palm. Dammit, you¡¯re telling me that I have to retrain it from Level 1? This is a scam, I¡¯m telling ya! However, all my complaints flew away from my head the moment I saw the little wolf¡¯s stats¡ª Phantom Wolf King (Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 1 Attack: 92 Defense: 85 HP: 100 Agility: 100 Skills: Phantom Form, Claw of the Storm, Purgatory Storm Phantom Form: Go into stealth. Incredibly difficult to be discovered. Movement speed increased by 50% Claw of the Storm: A claw attack with a 10% chance to trigger Storm. Decimate all targets in a 10x10 yard area in front of you. Purgatory Storm: Summon a big storm to attack your target. Deal massive damage to all targets within a 40x40 yard area. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Growth¡ª Attack: Immortal 9 Stars Defense: Immortal 8 Stars HP: Immortal 9 Stars Agility: Immortal 10 Stars ¡­¡­ I felt myself tearing up as I watched the little wolf¡¯s new stats. Holy shit, my karma must be exploding today. Not only did the little wolf evolve into an Immortal Rank boss pet, its new stats were 92 Strength, 85 Defense, 100 Agility and 100 HP. That was 377 BN at Level 1! How amazing was that? Even better, the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s biggest strength lay not with its BN, but its active skills. Phantom Form allowed it to go into stealth and assassinate unknowing enemies. Claw of the Storm and Purgatory Storm were ridiculously powerful attack skills that would be useful both in PvE and PvP. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that my overall offensive power just increased drastically thanks to its evolution. The little wolf had finally regained its title as my indispensable helper once more. ¡­¡­ I hugged the little wolf and summoned it back into my pet space. After all, what could a Level 1 pet possibly do in a battle between super bosses? I¡¯ll train it after this battle is over! Back to the battle. Xinran was floating in the sky, and Thunder was standing on the ground. Swhoosh! The Hell Sovereign raised his Blade of Thunder and shouted, "Wind Singer Xinran, your ploy will not succeed! Just watch, I will give you a big surprise!" A set of gray, complex runes appeared beneath Thunder¡¯s feet before transforming into a high-level magic formation. Blood dyed his surroundings as Thunder chanted, "O¡¯ slumbering devils of hell, open your eyes and witness the ugliness of this world! In the name of Thunder, the Blade of Death, I summon thee¡ªMad Purgatory Dragon!" Boom! The earth shook violently as an intimidating column of bloody light burst out of the ground, revealing the head of an ugly dragon. After the hellish dragon crawled out completely, it shook away the soil covering its head and glared at Xinran with its blood-red pupils. Xinran stared back calmly as cyclones spun around her spear. The Winged Silver Dragon immediately shouted, "Oh, my cute master, this Mad Purgatory Dragon used to be an underling of mine. Please allow me to tame it to your command! I am sure it will listen to me!" Xinran nodded. The Winged Silver Dragon immediately flew toward the ground, but to its surprise the Mad Purgatory Dragon spat a jet of burning hot breath at it and turned its body bright red. The Winged Silver Dragon shrieked in pain, "Heavens, it attacked me? My once loyal subordinate attacked me, its king? Heavens, I¡¯ll never believe in loyalty ever again¡­" Xinran shot the Winged Silver Dragon a glance. She seemed to be swearing "fuck you" with her eyes. While this was going on, I stayed close by Mengchuan¡¯s side to protect him. The undead was incapitatated and dying. Even an accidental debris could kill him if I didn¡¯t keep an eye out. ¡­¡­ "Rampage and tear apart this false world with your claws!" Thunder the Blade of Death ordered its summoned creature to attack. The Mad Purgatory Dragon obeyed and charged Xinran. "Hmph, animal!" Xinran snorted quietly before firing a spear beam straight at the dragon¡¯s head. A loud bang later, the Mad Purgatory Dragon collapsed to the ground just like that. As it turned out, it couldn¡¯t withstand even a single strike from Xinran. "Eh? Where¡¯s Thunder?" Xinran looked around her. I saw everything from the side, so I pointed at the bloody hole on the ground and shouted, "That sonuvabitch escaped through the cracks of purgatory! Pooh!" Xinran also frowned and imitated my action. "Pooh, what an embarrassment¡­" The Winged Silver Dragon swooped to the ground with a roar and bit the Mad Purgatory Dragon right on the neck. Then, it shook its head and tore out a huge chunk of flesh, causing the Mad Purgatory Dragon to thrash violently in pain. "Damn you, you traitorous, inferior dragon! I will murder you on behalf of the heavens!" It took the Winged Silver Dragon only a couple of attacks to tear the Mad Purgatory Dragon to shreds. Who would¡¯ve thought that such a terrifying Heaven Rank boss was just a small fry before Xinran and the Winged Silver Dragon? Now that I thought about it, I couldn¡¯t help but worry: Xinran didn¡¯t think me lesser than a small fry, did she? ¡­¡­ Xinran slowly dropped down on the ground beside me. I asked her a question while staring at the bloody hole on the ground, "Are we letting Thunder slip away just like that?" "Yes, what else can we do?" Xinran nodded helplessly. "I had tried many times to kill Thunder while I was in the plane of purgatory, but I never succeeded because he was both powerful and cunning. Also, I¡¯m almost certain that an ambush is waiting for me on the other side of the crack. If the Nine Sovereigns were to attack me at once, there¡¯s a high chance I may not be able to come back. I especially do not want to run into Sophie and Lin Na¡­" Xinran tilted her head at me and asked, "Big bro, do you want me to chase after Thunder?" I shook my head immediately. "It¡¯s fine. I would rather you stay with me." She smiled sweetly at my answer before saying, "Big bro, you¡¯ve successfully completed your mission and protected Mengchuan¡¯s remains. Now, you need to fulfill his will before I can take away his remains and revive him." "Mn." Xinran floated from the ground and said, "I¡¯ll be waiting for you at God Domain, big bro!" "Yeah¡­" Xinran hit the ground with one foot and shot to the sky like a rocket. On the way, she grabbed the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s tail and tossed it into the sky. Then, she stepped on the dragon¡¯s back and hit its butt repeatedly, reprimanding, "Stop devouring your own kind already, you greedy dragon! Come on, there are still plenty of devils we need to cleanse in God Domain!" "Yes, my cute master. Your direction is my direction!" I couldn¡¯t help but sigh a little when I heard the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s terrible, cringy flattery. Who would¡¯ve thought that a king of dragons would become the mount of a young girl, and be humiliated to the extent it was? Still, it was its own fault for being cruel and cunning. There was no way it could serve anyone loyally unless they were a tough master like Xinran. ¡­¡­ I took a moment to compose myself. This quest was an incredible mission considering that even the weakest Sovereign of Hell, Thunder the Blade of Death, had shown up, even if only for a moment. I could totally see why this quest was part of the main questline, not to mention that the quest was handed to me by Xinran herself. After bidding Xinran goodbye, I walked up to the remains of the royal knight captain of the Roland Empire, Mengchuan, and crouched. I asked him softly, "Is there anything you¡¯d like me to do, Mengchuan? Do not hesitate to ask me anything!" Mengchuan opened his eyes and looked at me gratefully. "First, I would like to thank you for accepting Dada, young adventurer. I am already at peace knowing that its soul is no longer without a place, and that it has found a new home. That being said, there is one thing I would like to ask your help with." "Mn, speak!" Mengchuan said, "The soldiers at the Roland encampments have succumbed, turning into cruel spirits. They are so deeply influenced by Thunder that they may as well be his puppets. I don¡¯t want them to commit any more sins than they already have, so please exterminate these corrupted Undead Roland Soldiers for me!" "Alright, no problem!" A system notice dinged beside my ears right after he finished¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You¡¯ve accepted the quest [Mengchuan¡¯s Request (1)]! (Current Quest Rank: SS) Description: Head outside the capital city of the Roland Empire and kill at least 10000 Undead Roland Soldiers. Collect the soul fragments of 100 Undead Roland Soldiers and bring them back to Mengchuan. But beware, these Undead Roland Soldiers are incredibly powerful. It is best if you seek out some helpers before you carry out your task. Quest can be shared with other players. Party size limit: 3. ¡­¡­ Oh, this quest can be shared with other players? That¡¯s awesome! Right now the Phantom Wolf King was so weak it could die to a stiff breeze. At Level 1, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that a single spit from an Undead Roland Soldier could kill it. For that reason, I very much welcomed the prospect of recruiting two party members to help me with this quest. Chapter 628: Soul of the Foo "OMG, which one should I eat first¡­" At the dining table, Beiming Xue hesitated for a long time before finally picking up a slice of pizza and taking a bite out of the Anhui stinky Mandarin fish. She beamed. "It¡¯s so tasty¡­" He Yi smiled back. "We bought it from that old Anhui restaurant when we passed through the new district. It¡¯s pretty renowned far and wide, you know? It only sells 30 dishes of Anhui stinky Mandarin fish a day. I had to book it with my phone to buy one." I spread my arms for a moment before rubbing the gauze between my fingers with a frown. Seeing this, Murong Mingyue immediately rose to her feet and grabbed my hand. She asked, "Is it still hurting?" "It¡¯s okay. The wound is almost fully scabbed," I replied with a smile. It was the injury I inflicted upon myself when I was trying to dig out Murong Mingyue that day, and there hadn¡¯t been a day gone by where she wasn¡¯t worried about it. "You should avoid getting water on your wound as much as possible. It¡¯ll scab faster that way," said Murong Mingyue. I laughed. "How am I going to avoid water while bathing, for example? Or are you going to wash my back for me?" Murong Mingyue smiled sweetly. "Sure! If even you don¡¯t mind, why would I?" I immediately sounded the gong of retreat and escaped to the seat next to He Yi. I picked up a slice of pizza, sauced it with a bit of stinky mandarin fish sauce, and¡­ mm hmm, the combination of flavors was truly exquisite! The next food combo I went for was white buns + steamed bullfrog. ¡­... Half an hour of ferocious eating later, we were all filled to the brim. "What did you do today, Lu Chen?" He Yi asked me with a wide smile on her face. I thought for a moment. "I accepted a quest from Xinran that I haven¡¯t finished yet. The next quest in the chain is to kill a lot, and I mean A LOT, of Level 165 ancient mobs. It¡¯s difficult, and the enemies are so strong that I can¡¯t AoE them like I used to, which means that grinding will be very slow. Luckily, this quest can be shared with two other players, so I want you and sis to come online and join me later. It¡¯s been a long time since the two of you went online, right? This is the perfect time for you to catch up in levels!" He Yi replied pleasantly, "Sure. It so happens that Mingyue and I don¡¯t have any important business to attend tomorrow. We can afford to sleep late tonight. We¡¯ll join you on your grind." "I know!" "Don¡¯t forget to restock your Health Potions and Magic Consumables¡­" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ After the meal, we drank a few glasses of water and went back to our rooms for a new battle. Swhoosh! My vision brightened, and I was back at the ruins of the Roland Empire. I climbed out of my tent and looked around me. The sky was gray dark, and the barely alive Knight Captain Mengchuan was still lying beneath the wall and waiting for me to complete my quest. I couldn¡¯t bring his remains to Xinran unless I completed all the quests he had given me. Of course, this was a golden opportunity to grind some levels, one that not many people could come by. Beep! Beep! The moment He Yi and Murong Mingyue came online, I immediately sent them a party invite, since it had no range limitations. They accepted it immediately, and I could see the two dots representing them moving toward me on the world map. The Snow Domain Windchaser had great movement speed, so I was sure that they would reach me in 20 minutes or so. All I needed to do was wait for them to arrive. I walked out of the capital city and went to the camps. Even from a distance, I could see the place crawling with Undead Roland Soldiers. There had to be tens of thousands of them at least, which was more than enough to fulfill my quota. I was in no hurry to complete the quest, however. The more I killed, the more Roland equipment set I could collect, and this place was overflowing with mobs! You know what? I¡¯m going to kill some of them until He Yi and Murong Mingyue arrive! And so I baited eight Undead Roland Soldiers to my side and killed them slowly and methodically. It was much harder to create an advantageous position for myself without the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to help me, but it wasn¡¯t beyond my capabilities. It cost more resources than usual to fight, but a worthwhile grind like this wasn¡¯t bad at all. After killing a bunch of mobs, I took a seat atop a pile of magic stones and two low-grade items to rest. I brought up the guild channel¡ª Xu Yang: "God damn, three Famous Generals in an hour? Was there a bug in the system or something?" Li Chengfeng: "Nah, it¡¯s just going through a seizure¡­" Chaos Moon: "Three Famous Generals and not a single one of them is ours. So sad!" I asked hurriedly, "What happened? Did someone say that three Famous Generals appeared in the past hour?" Chaos Moon: "Yes, and that¡¯s not all. Check the Famous General Rankings. All three of them learned the same Famous General Skill called ¡®Soul of the Foot¡¯. It¡¯s quite bizarre¡­" "Soul of the Foot?" I was confused. I brought up the Famous General Ranking quickly and saw three new Famous Generals on the list as mentioned earlier. The stratagem they learned was called Soul of the Foot, and it increases the attack power and defense power of all physical-based players who were on foot by 25%. The cap was 100% for both attributes. It wasn¡¯t a unique Famous General Skill, meaning that more people could learn them. At the current stage of the game, it was very useful because not many people were on a level they could ride mounts. A 100% boost in attack power and defense power was extremely powerful to say the least. All three Famous Generals belonged to Wind City. After I investigated their profiles for a bit, I was astonished to find that all three of them were members of Candle Dragon. More specifically, one of them was a member of the main guild, and the other two, members of the first subguild. Candlelight Shadow must be smiling so much that he looks like Joker right now, isn¡¯t he? I let out a chuckle before replying, "Golden Age Hero, Blood Slash, and Song of Pig are all players from Candle Dragon, but it¡¯s fine. Soul of the Foot demands its players to be on foot, but in the future most people will be riding mounts for the massive stat boosts, meaning that Famous Generals with Soul of the Foot must choose if they want to ride a mount or use Soul of the Foot. Hehe, they¡¯re the ones who''re going to have a headache, not us!" Li Chengfeng also added with a hearty laugh. "That¡¯s right, all our Famous General Skills, Knight God, Knight General, Martial God, Royal Road, Bow God and the like are many times stronger than this Soul of the Foot. This is especially true in the case of Knight God. I¡¯m sure that the endgame meta will still revolve around Little Gui¡¯s Knight God, Lu Chen¡¯s Martial God, Beiming Xue¡¯s Bow God, and Eve¡¯s Royal Road!" High Fighting Spirits joined in. "Yes, Li is correct. The three ¡®Gods¡¯ and Royal Road are our trump cards. Candle Dragon can never compare to us in this regard." I nodded. "Right. Let¡¯s grind harder while we still hold the advantage. I heard that Candle Dragon has been organizing a lot of leveling events as of late. We can¡¯t fall behind them." Gui Guzi: "Okay, me and my thousand-man cavalry party will be heading out in a jiffy, hehe!" ¡­¡­ After the short conversation ended, I continued killing mobs while waiting for He Yi and Murong Mingyue to arrive. Throughout the fight, I didn¡¯t summon the Phantom Wolf King because its level was too low and would only require extreme protection. I would only let it out when He Yi and Murong Mingyue showed up, and we found a choke point to grind the mobs en masse. Hopefully, the little wolf could leech enough experience to level up to 100 before the end of the day. Considering that it was an Immortal Rank boss pet, it should have enough stats to help out by that point. It was at this moment I heard the sound of galloping hooves. A snow-colored warhorse was heading my way, and its riders were none other than He Yi and Murong Mingyue. He Yi was swinging her sword and controlling her mount. Murong Mingyue was hugging the magic knight¡¯s waist tightly and looking like she was in a bliss or something. It was a very beautiful yuri moment to say the least. Stop!" I ran up to them and stopped them before they could get any closer. Then, I pulled Murong Mingyue down the horse and greeted, "Great to see you both. Now, the mobs are Level 165 ancient mobs, so don¡¯t be complacent when you heal us later, sis. We will die if you make too many mistakes." Murong Mingyue nodded. "Got it. How should we do this?" "With our numbers? We AoE them down, of course!" I looked around. After searching for a very long time, I finally found a somewhat usable choke point for the party. Specifically, it was two imperial totem pillars that had broken down and crossed each other at a 75 degree angle. It was big, but He Yi, I, and the girls¡¯ pets were just barely enough form a triangular choke point where Murong Mingyue and the Phantom Wolf King could be protected. I pointed at the choke point, and the girls understood my meaning immediately. After we got close, I told them where to take their positions. He Yi stood outside and summoned her Firelight Mouse to occupy some space. Murong Mingyue¡¯s pet was the cruel, melee-oriented Ironwing Dragon. It was now Level 107, and it was big enough to take up about a 2x2 square of space. It also had massive Defense, so it could absolutely be used as a meatshield. Although the Ironwing Dragon was a Heaven Rank boss pet, it was still weaker than my Phantom Wolf King. After the pets were in place, I left an empty space for myself and He Yi. He Yi blinked her beautiful eyes before asking, "Why is the space next to Mingyue empty?" "Ahem, that¡¯s because there¡¯s one more guy who¡¯s going to share our experience!" "Oh? Who¡¯s that?" I waved my hand and summoned a magic formation. A wolf cub that looked like a furball immediately crawled out and wagged its tail rapidly. It was clearly very eager to acquire He Yi¡¯s attention. "Wah! What a beautiful little doggie!" Both He Yi and Murong Mingyue were beaten by the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s cuteness immediately. He Yi even got off her horse and carried the Phantom Wolf King in her arms. The little wolf looked like it was having the time of its life kneading its paws against He Yi¡¯s breasts, but I was the complete opposite. Pulling it away from He Yi and dropping it next to Murong Mingyue, I said, "This guy needs some experience." "Oh, I see. Did you get a new pet?" "Yes." "You mean this cute little doggie? What skills does it have? Is there something like ¡®Kill the World with Cuteness¡¯?" "..." Chapter 629: Powerleveling Murong Mingyue was also staring at me in astonishment. "Lu Chen, you really are OP as hell. I can¡¯t believe you killed an Immortal Rank boss at this stage of the game¡­" I replied with a grimace, "You¡¯re both overthinking this. I have not killed an Immortal Rank boss. In fact any Immortal Rank boss can more or less one-shot me at this stage. This Phantom Wolf King is actually the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf, it has just evolved and become tens of times stronger than it used to be after merging together with the loyal guardian soul¡­" "Evolve? Merging?" Unfortunately my explanation only made them completely confused. I had no choice but to spend a moment to tell them about Mengchuan and Dada. At the end of the story, they both lamented the sad death of Dada from the bottom of their hearts. Still, Dada¡¯s soul was able to merge with the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf¡¯s. It wasn¡¯t the worst ending, all things considered. ¡­¡­ The girls paid the Phantom Wolf King special care and attention after that, although, to be fair, the wolf cub did look pretty cute. It was especially attractive to older sister-type girls like He Yi and Murong Mingyue. Murong Mingyue smiled at me after making sure that the Phantom Wolf King was secure. "Alright, you can go aggro the mobs now, Lu Chen. I¡¯ll make sure that your wolf cub is safe and sound. "Mn. Activate the party sharing mode, sis!" "What party sharing mode?" Murong Mingyue asked in confusion. I nearly puked blood when I heard that. "How do you not know about this? It¡¯s common sense! If you have multiple parties in one big party, you can activate party sharing mode and split the experience based on DPS, damage taken, and HPS. Party sharing mode is limited to 3 subparties at most. Eve and I will be using Martial God, but you should make a subparty and activate Bright Mirror for that 100% healing boost. If your effective HPS is high enough, you can gain more experience than you normally would." Murong Mingyue nodded in understanding. "I had no idea. That sounds great, hehe!" And so our party split into two subparties. He Yi and I shared one, and Murong Mingyue, the other. I wasn¡¯t worried though. This time Murong Mingyue was by my side. ¡­¡­ "Jiejie¡­" The Undead Roland Soldiers let out guttural cackles and chased after me as I zigzagged between them in full concentration. I made sure that I was close enough to brush past their aggro zone, but never close enough for them to actually reach me. Having perfect distance control meant that I was never really in danger. Rustle rustle rustle... When I finally ran back to the party, at least seven hundred Undead Roland Soldiers were chasing after me. They flooded toward us like tidewater. After cutting into my position and turning around rapidly, I tilted my body toward He Yi a little and said in a low voice, "Get ready. Don¡¯t let the pets attack. Having them take up space is enough." "Okay," replied both girls. A short while later, the first group of Undead Roland Soldiers reached us amidst a cacophony of shouting. I immediately launched Thousand Ice Slash to freeze them! Over 70% of the hit mobs were frozen, and a column of damage numbers rose above their heads. Although they were Level 165 and of the ancient class, the skill still deleted a ton of their HP. 40% splash effect was no joke after all. At the same time, He Yi unleashed her own Green Wave Slash into the mob. Thanks to Martial God drastically boosting her attack power, her DPS couldn¡¯t be underestimated as well. Next, I executed Burning Blade Slash and dropped the dozen mobs standing in front of me to low health. A couple of basic attacks from He Yi later, four Undead Roland Soldiers dropped dead in the blink of an eye. It was that quick. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ At the corner, golden light surrounded the Phantom Wolf King and increased its level 4 times in a row. There was so much experience that it was leveling up like a rocket! High reward didn¡¯t come without high risks, however. The mobs immediately attacked me like crazy after they reached me! 5 Undead Roland Soldiers swung their blades at my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor wildly, causing sparks and damage numbers to fly all over the place. Because their levels were too high, I even ate 2 critical hits amid these attacks. It was quite dangerous to say the least¡ª 2091! 4228! 4012! 1979! ¡­¡­ I lost over 20k HP in just two rounds of attacks. However, thanks to the Blood Rage effect of the Cyan Netherworld Sword, War Crush also damaged the dozen mobs surrounding me and converted 10% of it to HP. I was able to recoup 10k+ HP as a result. Enraged, the Undead Roland Soldiers used their unique skill, Dying Strike. The skill had a high chance of ignoring its target¡¯s Defense, so I dropped all the way down to ? HP again. Not budging even in the slightest, I used Burning Blade Slash and restored some of my health back to the bar. I would die even faster had I chosen to defend myself! Deeply worried, He Yi tried to persuade me. "Why don¡¯t you let me use Royal Road? It¡¯s much safer to do this with a 50% increase to HP and Defense¡­" I didn¡¯t say anything though. Even Murong Mingyue rejected He Yi¡¯s suggestion firmly by saying, "There¡¯s no need. Just stick to Martial God as planned! It¡¯s much faster to grind with an additional 200% Attack, and I¡¯m confident I can heal Lu Chen¡¯s HP in time! Both of you, just focus on doing as much damage as you can and leave your HP to me!" While speaking, Murong Mingyue slapped the Greater Healing she had been channeling for 3 seconds and an Instant Heal on my head. Two healing numbers appeared in a row¡ª +17894! +9032! Incredible! Just incredible! Chuckling, Murong Mingyue followed up with a lucky critical Intermediate Heal¡ª +28204! What else could I say? It barely took a second for me to regain my full health. With a priest this powerful supporting me, there was simply nothing I needed to worry about. An overwhelming sense of happiness brimmed inside of me as I launched attack after attack at the enemy mobs. Occasionally, Silver Dragon Storm and Cyan Netherworld Dragon Soul would trigger and quicken our killing speed even more than it already was. Undead Roland Soldiers kept dying in front of us, and both their bodies and their loot¡ªmagic stones, equipment, and even skill books¡ªformed tiny hills on the ground. We were too engrossed with the killing to pay them any attention though. Looting could always wait until the battle was over! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ The little wolf kept leveling as the mobs died one after another. Its growth was also reflected on its physical body. Its body grew bigger, its red hair took on a golden shine, and its canine teeth grew longer and longer. It was slowly but surely looking like the wolf king it was meant to be. The changes also made the girls adore it more than ever before. If the little wolf at its juvenile stage was a cute little boy before, now it was a hot-blooded male among wolves. Thud thud thud... I kept piercing the Undead Roland Soldiers¡¯ bodies with the Cyan Netherworld Sword. In less than twenty minutes, all 700+ mobs were killed to the last. The battle wasn¡¯t as hard as it could be because they were affected by my Deterrence. Speaking of which, the first thing I did after killing all the mobs was AoE absorb their undead soul sparks! I looked at the ground and found several Roland sets as expected. There were also some top-tier Dark Gold¨Cgrade and Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment. All metal armor equipment that added attack power, defense power and max HP could be considered top-tier, and those that boosted Tactics by over 15 points were even better. There was even a 3-star Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade robe that boosted its wearer¡¯s max HP by 3000. It was the difference between life and death for a priest with low health! It was only after I picked up all the equipment that I recalled that I hadn¡¯t shared the quest with the girls. Thankfully it wasn¡¯t too late to share the quest yet, and I was planning to clear out the entire area before returning to Mengchuan anyway, so meeting the quota was definitely not a problem. After I took care of everything, I took a look at the Phantom Wolf King and discovered that it was already Level 54. This leveling speed was seriously incredible! Even more incredible were its stats though. Even I jumped a little when I saw the status window¡ª Phantom Wolf King (Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 54 Attack: 5400 Defense: 4320 HP: 43200 Agility: 27000 Skills: Phantom Form, Claw of the Storm, Purgatory Storm ¡­¡­ Holy shit! The Phantom Wolf King had over 40k HP! That was way higher than my HP even though it was only Level 54! If the Phantom Wolf King were to hit Level 150, it could have over 150k HP! Who could kill it if it had a great amount of Defense as well? Its Defense, Attack, and Agility were also incredible. Right now it only had 4000+ Defense, so it wasn¡¯t tough enough to tank the mobs yet. Once we cleared out another three waves of mobs and leveled it up to 100 though, it should be sitting around 8000 Defense and strong enough to help out. Hehe, this was definitely an amazing quest. When we turned in the quest, I bet that it shouldn¡¯t be a problem for it to hit Level 120. Yeah, I¡¯ll even let the little wolf join in as an attacker as soon as it hits Level 100. It¡¯s a complete waste not to use its super AoE skills Claw of the Storm and Purgatory Storm! The girls were also speechless when they saw the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s stats. Caressing its head, Murong Mingyue said, "My Ironwing Dragon is a dragon, and¡­ and it is so far behind the Phantom Wolf King it¡¯s not even funny. This is so unfair¡­" I chuckled. "The Phantom Wolf King is a king, you know. Your Ironwing Dragon may be a dragon, but there¡¯s a huge difference between an extra and the main actor, so relax ¡­" Murong Mingyue puffed up her amazing breasts with a harrumph. "Go aggro the mobs already, you. I¡¯m going to level up the Ironwing Dragon to 130 as soon as I can! I bet it¡¯ll be very powerful then!" "No problem." Oh well, I always knew that it was my life to toil. Once again, I ran into the mobs and aggroed them toward my party. Chapter 630: Claw of the Storm The Undead Roland Soldiers howled pitifully as my sword slashed through their ragged armors. They collapsed at the edge of the broken wall and joined the heaps of bodies that were piling up. The ground was shining with prismatic light as equipment, magic stones, and skill books slowly piled up. Killing ancient mobs more than twenty levels higher than you really did give you a lot of items! Whoosh! Two columns of golden light simultaneously enveloped Murong Mingyue and the Phantom Wolf King. They had leveled up! "Wow, I¡¯m leveling really quickly¡­" Murong Mingyue crowed with joy as she glanced at her current level. "I actually managed to gain three levels in less than five hours!" I laughed and explained to her, "We¡¯re using party sharing mode right now. Even though you aren¡¯t dealing any damage directly, you¡¯ll earn just as much experience as Eve as long as you do enough healing. In fact, you might even be getting more than her. Alright, let¡¯s keep grinding until the both of you reach Level 140 tonight. You¡¯re almost there anyway!" He Yi giggled as she nodded her head. "Yeah, we¡¯ll definitely hit Level 140 once we turn in the quest later! Speaking of which, the players from Sky City sure level up quick. Everyone was just Level 135 a few days ago, but there¡¯s already a bunch of Level 140 players now! Honestly, your leveling speed is really quite slow compared to theirs, Lu Chen." I pouted and said, "Haven¡¯t I been busy making Saint Spirit Potions to sell? If I was focusing all my energy on leveling, I would have shot straight to Level 150 by now¡­" Both of the girls covered their mouths and giggled, "Alright, let¡¯s go pick up those items before we continue grinding!" "Mn." I walked up and started tossing all the good equipment into my inventory. We had been grinding for so long that my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor only had 57% durability left. It wouldn¡¯t hold up for much longer if we continued grinding at this intense pace. However, we really did reap some fantastic rewards from our labor. There were nearly three hundred pieces of good equipment in my bag and a good number of them were Level 135 Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade or Purple Gold¨Cgrade items! Every single one of these items would sell for at least one thousand gold in the auction house! With my high level and Luck stat, I would always earn good money, no matter where I was grinding. Once they had split the loot, each person wasn¡¯t left with a lot of cash. They probably only had about enough to replenish the pots and consumables they had used while hunting. This was what life was like for most parties. Luck determined the drop rates of the mobs you killed, it determined how often you would use the upper bound of your attack power to damage an enemy, and it determined your equipment drop rate when you died. A difference of just ten Luck was like the difference between heaven and earth when it came to item drop rates. Moreover, I had a whopping 38 points of Luck, something that even money couldn¡¯t buy! ¡­ My eyes shone with greed as I quickly picked out a dozen pieces of extremely good equipment from the pile and threw them into my inventory! I had also managed to find four skill books! Two stratagems, Encourage VI and Prime V, one mage skill book, Dragon¡¯s Roar, and one warrior skill book, Soul Breaker Slash. "Not bad!" I murmured as I nodded my head in satisfaction at a particular skill book. Soul Breaker Slash would deal 170% of one¡¯s attack power as damage and ignore 50% of the target¡¯s Defense. There was also a fixed chance for it to inflict the ¡®Soul Break¡¯ effect, which would render the target immobile. Even though its attack wasn''t as powerful as Barrier Break, it had a ¡®Soul Break¡¯ effect. This made the skill a very useful and practical one. Moreover, Soul Breaker Slash couldn¡¯t be learnt in conjunction with Barrier Break. This skill book isn¡¯t bad at all, I should sell this to a warrior with personality! These last few hours of grinding had also given me lots of cards! These Undead Roland Soldiers were really quite generous and their warriors and knights even dropped different kinds of cards! Roland Berserker Card: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 20% and attack speed by 10%. Duration: 120 minutes. Level Requirement: 130 Roland Bloodknight Card: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 40% and Defense by 15%. Duration: 120 minutes. Level Requirement: 130 Thankfully, multiple copies of the same card would be stacked together in the same inventory slot. I currently had a total of 27 Roland Berserker Cards and 17 Roland Bloodknight Cards, and I had to admit that they were pretty good. I was already using the Roland Berserker Card to boost my grinding speed right now, but I would be saving the Roland Bloodknight Cards for difficult boss fights. This card would increase a player¡¯s health by 40%. Coupled with Pure Love¡¯s Physique, which gave a 40% buff, and Lu Buyi¡¯s Purple Dragon stratagem, which gave 80%, my total health would be increased by 160%. This would boost my HP by 2.6 times, to nearly 80 thousand! How wonderful would that be! ¡­¡­ Murong Mingyue and He Yi were sweeping through the battlefield like two dutiful and hardworking wives. They picked up every single useful item from the ground while I circled the field and hunted down every single precious Soul Spark of the Undead. Since the soul sparks left by these Undead Roland Soldiers were extremely powerful, I wanted to absorb as many as I could find. They would definitely help me evolve into an Asura God sooner rather than later! As I aggroed and lured another bunch of mobs toward the party, I noticed that the Phantom Wolf King had already reached Level 105. Its stats were off the charts, so now was its time to shine! Phantom Wolf King (Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 105 Attack: 10500 Defense: 8400 HP: 84000 Agility: 52500 Skills: Phantom Form, Claw of the Storm, Purgatory Storm Master: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand ¡­¡­ I chuckled and said, "Little wolf, swap positions with the Firelight Mouse. Let it use its spells while you rip into these mobs. Damn, your 80000 HP is more than enough to deal with these Undead Roland Soldiers!" The little wolf let out a pitiful-sounding howl as it trudged toward the front. Murong Mingyue let out a gentle laugh before comforting it, "Don¡¯t worry, I definitely won¡¯t let you die." Once again, I aggroed a large bunch of Undead Roland Soldiers and started our killing spree! Boom! Thousand Ice Slash exploded in the midst of the mobs as damage numbers started popping up from their heads. 18904! 17290! 19023! Yup, this kind of damage was much better! The splash effect of my sword increased my total damage by 3 to 5 times. A single blow of my sword was able to shave off about 40% of these Undead Roland Soldiers¡¯ HP bars. The Phantom Wolf King swiftly entered battle mode. Its huge body trembled as it let out a loud howl. Its blood-red fur stood on its ends as the Phantom Wolf King brandished its sharp claws and landed a hit on its target! Thunk! 15782! The Phantom Wolf King was only Level 105 but its attack was almost as powerful as mine. Since it was an Immortal Rank boss pet, it would definitely have certain secret skills that we don¡¯t know of yet. The little wolf¡¯s attack speed was extremely fast! It could deal three continuous strikes with its paw in just one second. When delivering its fourth strike, it would let out a howl of rage and release a freezing hurricane into the herd of mobs. Boom! Boom! The hurricane wreaked havoc as Undead Roland Soldiers were spun off the ground and sucked into the hurricane. The furious winds tore their way through the mobs as a string of damage numbers of around 20k started to pop up. I couldn¡¯t help but grin inwardly. Damn, the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s Claw of the Storm were so fucking powerful! I eagerly assumed control over the little wolf and unleashed its skill, Purgatory Storm! In an instant, the proud little wolf raised its head and let out a roaring howl. The sky turned crimson and dark clouds started to cover the sky as a massive tornado burst forth from the ground and sucked up a bunch of mobs. A column of damage numbers of an average of 100k flew up as the tornado continued to rip through the mobs. "Damn¡­" My jaw went slack with shock. He Yi was also left stupefied. She murmured under her breath, "This pet¡¯s way too OP! If it had been around during the battle of Dark Moon City, it could have unleashed a Purgatory Storm on our enemies once every two minutes. That would have been¡­" Murong Mingyue laughed heartily and said, "This is awesome! Even though we don¡¯t have a super mage, we have an Immortal Rank pet that has super-powerful physical and magic attacks! Good job Lu Chen! Well done! Haha!" I remained silent as I tried to contain my glee. The Phantom Wolf King¡¯s super OP! ¡­¡­ In the blink of an eye, another four hours had flown by as we continued grinding mobs. Bang! I swung my sword and eliminated a Undead Roland Soldier. Looking around the camp, I noticed that I had killed the last mob and that we had swept the place clean. He Yi and Murong Mingyue were close to leveling up and reaching Level 141 while my EXP bar was at 87%. I was sure that once I turned in my quest, I would be able to reach Level 145! Noticing that it was past 1 am, I said to the rest, "Alright, we¡¯ve killed all the Undead Roland Soldiers and have achieved our goal. Shall we turn in this quest? I¡¯m pretty sure that there¡¯s another follow-up quest that we can accept." "Sure!" He Yi hefted her Whirlwind sword over her shoulder and smiled. "Let¡¯s go!" I turned around and whistled, signaling for the Level 121 Phantom Wolf King to follow me. The Phantom Wolf King heard my whistle and followed me closely like a giant loyal dog. Every time I looked into its eyes, I swore that I could see a little bit of Dada¡¯s eyes in them. Even though it could very well be a trick of the eye, I knew one thing for sure. The Phantom Wolf King would never betray me! This wasn¡¯t just a feeling, it was a firm of conviction of mine! ¡­¡­ I brought He Yi and Murong Mingyue to the capital city of the Roland empire and found Mengchuan¡¯s remains beyond those stone walls. I immediately presented the quest items and the kill quota to him. In a low voice, I said, "Mengchuan, I¡¯ve finished the quest according to your wishes. The soldiers in the Roland Encampment outside the city have all been killed." Mengchuan opened his blurry eyes and whispered in a raspy voice, "Thank you, young and brave adventurers. Come, here is the reward you deserve!" Ding¡«£¡ System Notice: You have completed the quest [Mengchuan¡¯s Request (1)]. You have obtained 12000000 EXP, 7000 Reputation and quest reward: "Bone Eroding Arrow"! ¡­¡­ Whoosh! A beam of golden light enveloped me as I leveled up and reached Level 146. To my delight, I had even obtained a skill book, Bone Eroding Arrow. I hurriedly opened my inventory window to see a dazzling skill book in it. Bone Eroding Arrow: Condense necrotic energy to unleash an attack that erodes the target¡¯s bones. The target¡¯s Defense will be lowered by 60% for 30 seconds. Class Requirement: Archer. Level Requirement: 135. Race Requirement: Undead. I was absolutely delighted at the requirements needed to learn this skill. This was a skill book tailor-made just for Beiming Xue! Bone Eroding Arrow could lower a target¡¯s Defense by 60%! This is just awesome! Beiming Xue could use this skill to lower the Defense of a boss when we meet one in the future! He Yi and Murong Mingyue were grinning from ear to ear. It looked like both of them had gotten great reward from the quest too. I chuckled inwardly as I accepted the next quest. Mengchuan desperately gasped for breath as he whispered weakly, "Young adventurer, I have another perilous task for you to complete." I nodded my head and said, "Please, tell me." Chapter 631: The Mad Warrior [Mengchuan¡¯s Request (2)] was another SS-rank quest, but this time it was an assassination quest! I would have to kill a boss to complete this quest, so it definitely wouldn¡¯t be as easy as the first one had been. Even though I didn¡¯t know just how powerful this Mad Warrior Buffett was, our party consisted of two tanky DPS in He Yi and I, as well as a super priest in Murong Mingyue, so he would be manageable as long as he wasn¡¯t a Heaven or Immortal Rank boss. It was almost impossible for any player to take down an Immortal Rank boss at this stage of the game. Even Thunder, one of the Nine Sovereigns of Hell, was an Immortal Rank boss, so it would be quite reasonable to assume that his lackey would be an Earth Rank boss at most. I accepted the quest and called the two girls over. "Eve, sis, I got a new quest. Let¡¯s go!" "Alright! Lead the way!" The two girls giggled as they fell in behind me. Their current leveling speed had left them giddy with joy and they were still basking in the afterglow of satisfaction. ¡­¡­ The Phantom Wolf King was walking by my side as I strolled through the barren streets of the city. I hefted the Cyan Netherworld Sword in my hand as I stepped on the broken bones that covered the ground and raised my head to look at the murky sky. This city was once considered a jewel of the continent tens of thousands of years ago, but it had now been reduced to a barren ruin. A sigh of lament passed through my lips before I had even realized it. Countless empires dotted the annals of history and every single one of them had gone through their so-called "golden age¡±. The people who had lived in those times had clamored that their empire or dynasty would exist through the ages, last for all eternity, but in the end, the only thing that was left of them was old and withered bones waiting to be dug up by the people of the present. Spring still came, just like it always had, but a thousand years had already passed since the fall of these kingdoms. Even though the kingdoms that succeeded these kingdoms had already fallen, the world still continued to turn on its axis. These people and their dreams had already turned to dust. Perhaps, a thousand years after their passing, these people of the past would be mocked and ridiculed as fools when the "kindly" hypocrites of the present sought to "memorialize" them as an emblem of foolhardy idealism. A group of pitiful people, dreaming ridiculous and pitiful dreams. ¡­¡­ I opened up my minimap to confirm that this was the right place. If we wanted to enter the palace halls, we would definitely have to kill all of these undead guardsmen in front of us. I carefully crept forward, the Phantom Wolf King slinking alongside me. I stopped when I was about thirty yards away from the closest undead guardsman. The levels of these mobs were too high, making it all too easy to aggro one of them. A profound black light shone from my eyes as I activated Dark Pupils. After that, I shared their stats in the party chat. Roland Imperial Guardsman (Ancient) Level: 168 Attack: 2590~3050 Defense: 3200 HP: 250000 Skills: Heavy Slash, Dying Strike, War Zeal Introduction: These brave warriors were infected by the curse of undeath after the fall of the Roland Empire. These valiant souls were twisted into the bloodthirsty puppets and accomplices of the dreadful undead, but they still possess all of the vaunted skills they had in life. They now fight with the implacable relentlessness of unlife, making them even more fearsome than they were in life. ¡­¡­ The attack power of monsters that weren¡¯t bosses had finally reached 3000. These Roland Imperial Guardsmen were the elite of the elite and their stats were quite a fair bit higher than those ¡®Undead Roland Soldiers¡¯. They were going to be a lot harder to deal with, and it would be impossible for the three of us to clear them all unless we managed to come up with a foolproof plan. "Jie jie¡­" A few of the undead guardsmen brandished the swords they held in both hands, rotten and dried-out patches of muscle and skin covering their gruesome-looking skulls. Their exposed muscles resembled threads of fabric that had been worn away by the wind as they quivered and spasmed with every move these guardsmen made. However, their armor was bright and pristine, still glowing with a menacing light. Magic staff in hand, Murong Mingyue followed tightly behind He Yi. She looked at me and said, "Their levels are really high and their attack power is dreadful! If one of them starts chasing after me, I¡¯m dead meat!" I nodded my head and replied, "Don¡¯t worry. As long as our beloved boss and I are around, you won¡¯t be in any danger of dying!" An extremely sweet smile appeared on He Yi¡¯s face as she came to a stop beside me. She pointed at a wall inside the palace. "That place looks like it would be a good choke point. Lu Chen, go lure the mobs away. I¡¯ll bring Mingyue over there first, and then you and your little wolf can bring the rest of the mobs to us after!" I quickly surveyed the area. This would be no easy task. The imperial guardsmen were all milling about together and one wrong step would end with me being surrounded by a sea of these ancient undead monsters. I would be extremely lucky to make it out alive if that happened, but I felt fairly confident that I could pull it off with my mechanical skill. After all, the 80% movement speed boost granted by my Stormy Waves War Boots was nothing to scoff at. They didn¡¯t lower my turning speed either, so I could still bring all of my skill to bear. "Alright, I¡¯ll go and lure the mobs. Eve, keep an eye on the rightmost imperial guardsman. I won¡¯t be able to lure it away, so you will definitely attract its aggro on the way to the choke point. You need to keep it away from Sis Mingyue and make sure that its aggro is firmly latched on to you. We won¡¯t be able to grind these mobs successfully if our priest dies." "Yeah, I got it!" I brandished my sword as I rushed toward the mobs. I cut a brilliant arc in the air as I zipped past all of them like a swooping hawk. Dozens of undead guardsmen instantly let out guttural howls as they ran after me. As soon as I neared the choke point, I instantly swerved away at lightning speed as I led the undead monsters on a merry chase to the other side of the map. I flicked a glance toward the choke point and saw that He Yi and Murong Mingyue had already taken up their positions there. The Snow Domain Windchaser let out a loudy whinny as it stamped its hooves on the ground and the Ironwing Dragon stood by its side. The dragon had already reached Level 130 and its stats and attack skills were powerful too, allowing it to become a proper DPS and tank in its own right. The Phantom Wolf King darted to the Ironwing Dragon¡¯s side under my control. It raised its head proudly in the air and its aura was even more overwhelming than that of the Ironwing Dragon, a member of the dragon race! Murong Minyue was more than a little annoyed by that! Rustle... My concentration was at its peak as my war boots skidded across the broken stone tiles. I had perfectly drawn all the aggro from this group of mobs and when I had just about reached the choke point, I spun on my heels, the Cyan Netherworld flashing through the air. I slid perfectly in between the Ironwing Dragon and He Yi as I shot Thousand Ice Slash at the imperial guardsmen chasing me! Boom! Fragments of ice appeared in the air but they swiftly melted away as three fiery crescents of sword energy exploded into the undead monsters. He Yi swiftly joined in with Green Wave Slash and Barrier Break, the light erupting from our skills mixing together chaotically in a brilliant explosion. I immediately started to plant Icy Cyclone Domains all around us, controling the attack and movement speed of the monsters around us while simultaneously pelting them with a deadly rain of icicles. The Firelight Mouse hopped about vigorously beside Murong Mingyue. Huge clusters of flame formed around its tail before it launched them toward the sea of monsters in front of us. This complemented my Icy Cyclone Domains perfectly, plunging the guardsmen in front of us into a hell of ice and fire. Wooosh... The Phantom Wolf King¡¯s claws danced in the air as it unleashed two consecutive Claw of the Storm into the enemy mobs. This skill had a 10% chance of proccing, so it would continue to fire off at a pretty decent rate. I also ordered it to use its other skill, Purgatory Storm, which caused the ground to shake. Dust started flying in the air as countless burning cracks opened up in the ground. The Purgatory Storm tore into the undead guardsmen in front of the Phantom Wolf King, shaving away a large chunk of their health. Just a single round of attacks from us had caused a huge group of Roland Imperial Guardsmen to collapse. Our DPS was just too OP! My Martial God¡¯s 200% boost to Attack wasn¡¯t just for show and it even boosted the attack of the Phantom Wolf King, Ironwing Dragon, and Firelight Mouse by 200% as well. This boosted our grinding speed by far more than just three times. At the current stage of the game, a first-rate expert would deal about 4000 to 9000 damage per hit to an ancient mob that was twenty levels higher than them. Moreover, the first-rate experts we were talking about here were melee fighters like Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits. Of course, Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue were in a different category altogether. However, Martial God¡¯s 200% Attack buff had boosted our damage to over 20000 damage a hit. This absurd attack power contemptuously ignored the Defense of these mobs and the entire situation was honestly quite ridiculous. "Rooooaaar¡­" The Ironwing Dragon¡¯s sharp claws dug into the skull of one of the undead guardsmen as it unleashed a blast of dragon breath. The powerful blast dealt at least 15000 damage to every monster caught in its path. Every time the Ironwing Dragon made a physical attack, it had a 25% chance of using its dragon breath to attack as well, making it a superb companion when it came to grinding. Murong Mingyue had been extremely lucky to have gotten it back then. In less than two hours, we had lured five groups of mobs to the choke point, practically wiping out all of the Roland Imperial Guardsmen surrounding the palace. We even managed to pick up seven full Roland sets while we were at it! How lucky! "Lu Chen, how many full Roland sets do we have?" He Yi asked with a soft laugh. I checked my inventory. "We have eight altogether! That¡¯s a lucky number!" "Hehe, not bad! You can throw them in the auction once you get back to the city! Keep all of the money you earn from them! Mingyue and I don¡¯t want a single cent of it." "Why?" "Because you were the one who brought us along on this quest. Besides, we¡¯ve already picked up a lot of items while we were grinding, so we aren¡¯t shameless enough to ask you to split the money you earn from these sets with us." "Now that you mention it¡­" I thought about it for a moment. The girls definitely didn¡¯t look like they needed this bit of cash. Only a miser like me would count every penny like this. After we finished cleaning up the battlefield, I reached Level 146 and both girls had reached Level 141. They reentered Sky City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking once more and they were rapidly climbing up the board thanks to this incredible quest. ¡­¡­ I raised my head to look at the grand hall in front of me. This used to be the imperial palace of a great empire, so it still retained some of its former grandness and opulence even after it had been ruined. The steps up toward the hall were carved from one huge gold-gilded crystal and each step had been inscribed with dragons, the race synonymous with kingly dignity and authority. Four high-level guardsmen stood at the sides of the grand hall as they held golden broadswords vigilantly in their hands. There were words blazing above their heads. Golden Guardsman LV-170 (Earth Rank Miniboss) Hmmm, they were only Earth Rank minibosses, but the problem was that there were four of them. If we only had to deal with two of these guardsmen, it would be quite straightforward. He Yi and I would tank one each while Murong Mingyue healed us. But taking on four of these minibosses with only the three of us raised the difficulty tremendously. As I peered into the distance, I saw that there was a small metal cage hanging in front of the grand hall¡¯s gates, a rotted head sitting inside of it. That was the head of the Roland Empire¡¯s previous king and a menacing-looking undead warrior stood directly below that cage. He towered in front of the gates, the bulging muscles on his body rippling with unexpressed violence. Fucking hell, that is the boss that we are supposed to kill¡ªMad Warrior Buffett! Chapter 632: Broadsword Storm I swallowed audibly before I casually traced out the strategy we were going to use. ¡­... After I finished my explanation, He Yi pulled on the reins of her Snow Domain Windchaser as she said doubtfully, "Hmmm, this strategy¡­ Will we be able to kill those four minibosses this way?" "Don¡¯t worry, we should be fine¡­" I said encouragingly. To be honest, I didn¡¯t have supreme confidence in my own plan. "We¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯ll use God Binding Art to trap one of them while the Phantom Wolf King lures another one. Eve and I will tank one miniboss each and we¡¯ll focus them down one by one. Sister Mingyue will be in charge of healing!" "That settles it then! Lu Chen, go lure the mobs!" "Let¡¯s pull this one away from the others and kill it in the courtyard. It¡¯ll be much easier to move around there!" "Yeah!" The girls ran toward the courtyard, their pets trailing behind them. I took my sword and crept forward carefully. After that, I performed a simple slashing motion with my sword, causing a cyan energy blade to shoot out of it. The Dragon Slaying Slash fiercely smashed into the head of the Golden Guardsman standing furthest away from the hall. It immediately turned around, a shrill hissing sound coming from its rotten lips. Its gruesome, rotting face was framed by its splendid helmet and a long rotten tongue that was at least ten centimeters long lolled out of its mouth. My eyes shone with a black light as I scanned this Level 170 miniboss. Golden Guardsman (Earth Rank Miniboss) Level: 170 Attack: 3240~3950 Defense: 3500 HP: 5,000,000 Skills: Blade Slash, Blade Armor Defense, Broadsword Storm Introduction: This elite warrior used to be one of the Roland Empire¡¯s most loyal guardians, the stout pillars of the empire. Unfortunately, they could only watch as their empire fell into ruin and the plague of undeath invaded their bodies. They were transformed into slaves of the undead and the blades which they once used to protect their king and country were now turned against all of humanity. All sense of morality was stripped from their minds and they are now nothing more than brutal beasts of slaughter and destruction. ¡­¡­ My entire body tensed up as I swiftly backpedaled. I had only hit one of them with my Dragon Slaying Slash, but the other three Golden Guardsmen had immediately started chasing after me as well! This was no small matter! Whoosh! I raised my hand in the air, causing four heavenly weapons to shoot down from the sky and slam into the ground. They surrounded the Golden Guardsman who was the furthest back, trapping him inside. This effect would last for fifteen seconds, buying us precious time. The minibosses were coming! I immediately started using buffs like Wild Roar, Deterrence, and everything else I had. We needed every advantage we could get. "It¡¯s time! Prepare to pull its aggro!" When I got within five yards of He Yi, I immediately spun on my heel and shot Thousand Ice Slash at the Golden Guardsmen who were right behind me. An explosion resounded in the air as the feet of the first two guardsmen froze to the ground. Only the last guardsman could continue moving forward. As he bounded toward me, I immediately instructed the Phantom Wolf King to attack one of the immobilized Golden Guardsmen. "Roooooaaar!" The little wolf let out a howl of fury as its claws danced in the air. The Golden Guardsman wailed as its sharp claws dug into its armor. This flurry of attacks successfully transferred the aggro of that guardsman over to Phantom Wolf King. My little wolf had nearly 100000 HP so it would take a good long while for this boss to hack through it. This was one of the things we were relying on to kill all four of these minibosses. "Quickly, we need to lock on the one in front and kill him!" I trained my eyes on the guardsman right in front of me and I swiftly flicked my Cyan Netherworld at it. Burning Blade Slash! Three burning blades of energy howled out of my sword and shot toward a small chink in its right pauldron. It was glowing bright red under the effects of my Dark Pupils. This crack was the Golden Guardsman greatest weakness, and the three energy blades crashed into it. 10923! 19020! 27834! I immediately stomped down on the ground and activated War Crush, causing three more damage numbers to pop up above its head! 12929! 13982! 13200! Just as I had expected, an attack that didn¡¯t strike an enemy¡¯s weak point did far less damage than an attack that did. However, War Crush was an AoE attack that spread through the ground, so there was no way I could target a weak point with it. It is what it is. He Yi continued slashing at the undead guardsman with her sword, but a puzzled look had appeared on her face. She turned her beautiful eyes toward me and asked, "Lu Chen, what¡¯s up with your damage?" I swung my sword at the guardsman¡¯s right shoulder, my basic attack hitting its weak point. I said, "Attack the spot that I just struck. This is its weak point. Your attack can¡¯t be too far away from the weak point or it won¡¯t count. The closer to the center your attack lands, the more damage you will deal to the enemy." "Oh, so that¡¯s what you¡¯re doing¡­" He Yi gave me an admiring smile as she thrust her sword forward! Barrier Break! Pchhht! 28904! The huge damage number caused my heart to dance with joy. But it was time for the guardsman to hit us with a riposte. It raised his blade in the air and started to spin. It had used its skill, Broadsword Storm! A flurry strike! Clang! Clang! Clang! Our HP dropped like a rock as both He Yi and I were sent staggering backward. This boss''s attack was extremely strong and the other two were already breaking out of the ice. We were in big trouble!! Murong Mingyue swiftly healed us as she shouted, "This isn¡¯t good! The levels of the minibosses are too high! Lu Chen, Eve, we can¡¯t use Martial God anymore! Let¡¯s use Royal Road instead! If we don¡¯t, we¡¯ll definitely get wiped!" I immediately understood what she was saying and I passed the role of party leader over to He Yi. He Yi quickly activated Royal Road, instantly boosting our attack, defenses, and HP by 50%. The same thought flashed through our heads as all of us tossed out a card in unison. It was the Bloodknight Card that we had just obtained. This card raised our HP by 40% and Defense by 15%, so right now, everyone¡¯s HP had been buffed by 90%. I quickly glanced at my HP bar as I did a merry jig in my heart. Hot fucking damn! I actually had more than 56000 HP! That will be more than enough! Murong Mingyue¡¯s healing is so powerful that our boosted stats were more than enough to overwhelm these four minibosses! The other two bosses charged toward us together as they immediately used a combo of Blade Slash + Broadsword Storm. I hurriedly shot out Burning Blade Slash at them before I positioned my sword to defend against their attacks. Clang! Clang! Clang! Sparks flew from the clashing blades as my body shook from the impact. Three damage numbers popped up above my head. 289! 2789! 4011! ¡­¡­ Even guarding against their attacks didn¡¯t stop them from damaging me. These minibosses really had absurd physical attack power. This was especially true for that Blade Slash skill. It seemed to be able to penetrate a certain amount of Defense and it dealt more than 10000 damage to He Yi even after she had activated Holy Shield! I kept using War Crush to pull their aggro as I continued to assault the very first guardsman with my skills. They only had 5,000,000 health, which was very manageable for me. Soon, the Golden Guardsman who had been caught by my God Binding Art ran over, doubling the pressure on both He Yi and I. I was a constant blur of motion as I used the length of the battlefield to avoid taking any unnecessary damage. Once another fifteen seconds were up, I used God Binding Art again. Now that I had reached Level 146, this skill was showing its maximum utility potential! It had a nearly 100% success rate against these Level 170 minibosses. Boom! My Thousand Ice Slash exploded in the middle of these four minibosses again, freezing three of them in place. He Yi hurriedly retreated backward and unleashed Green Wave Slash. She had cleverly caught all four guardsmen in her attack, dealing the most amount of damage possible. The Phantom Wolf King howled as it summoned a Purgatory Storm. A wild storm instantly came into existence around us as it savagely ripped into the four minibosses. Damage numbers continued to pop up above the Golden Guardsmen''s heads, the Purgatory Storm nearly causing all of the aggro to shift to my little wolf. He Yi and I immediately launched a round of fierce attacks to pull the aggro back. We couldn¡¯t afford to slip up even a little bit. The Ironwing Dragon let out low growls as its claws smashed into the head of the miniboss it had chosen as its victim. It unleashed another stream of dragon breath as it continued to fight furiously. He Yi¡¯s Royal Road boosted the stats of our pets as well, and they had become even more fearsome than they already were. This was especially true for the Phantom Wolf King, who was already an Immortal Rank pet in the first place, now had more than 140000 HP! My little wolf was an extremely dreadful existence right now! As long as we focused our fire, the 5,000,000 HP that each miniboss had really wasn¡¯t much. In less than five minutes, we had reduced the health of the first Golden Guardsman to less than 5%. The other minibosses had also taken some splash and AoE damage, and they had around 80% of their HP left. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... Holy light continued to rain down on us as Murong Mingyue¡¯s perfectly-timed heals kept our health at around 50%. Moreover, Murong Mingyue¡¯s timing and control when it came to healing could be counted among the best in Sky City. Her effective healing was more than 80% of the potential output, which was outstanding. Some inept healers would even cast their heals on party members who were at full health, so their effective healing wasn¡¯t even at 30%. If a party was unfortunate to have one of those healers, their adventure would only end in tears. The Cyan Netherworld Sword scored two consecutive critical hits on the first Golden Guardsman, sending it tumbling to the ground. I instantly noticed that my EXP bar had grown by more than 15%. Fucking hell, killing a boss always felt awesome! Clang! Clang! Clang! I raised my arm to receive the blows from the other two minibosses before He Yi, the Phantom Wolf King, the Ironwing Dragon, and I collapsed on the second Golden Guardsman. I had to say that killing these Golden Guardsmen had become a lot easier once the first one had fallen. They hit us for about 5000 to 8000 damage with each strike, but Murong Mingyue¡¯s timely heals kept us out of trouble. She would toss in a group heal from time to time just to boost our HP even higher. She had even cast Pool of Life beneath where He Yi and I were standing, so it would be hard for us to die even if we wanted to. Time slowly crawled by as we fought the three remaining minibosses. They started to fall one after the other. I killed another one while He Yi and the Ironwing Dragon killed the other two. Murong Mingyue got quite a lot of experience when the Ironwing Dragon killed the last guardsman. Having a pet like that to help her grab the lion¡¯s share of the boss''s experience was her good fortune. We quickly inspected the battlefield. The item drops from minibosses weren¡¯t anything special, and the best item we got was a pair of Outstanding 4-Star Spirit-grade leather wristguards. I tossed it to He Yi and let her handle it. I couldn¡¯t use it and it didn¡¯t catch my eye and right now, this Outstanding 4-star Spirit-grade item wasn¡¯t worth more than the eight Roland sets in my inventory. ¡­¡­ Once we were done, our HP bars were topped up by Murong Mingyue. With the Cyan Netherworld Sword in hand, I strode up the stairs. A faint smile appeared on my face as I said, "Mad Warrior, we have come to take your life! Prepare yourself!" Chapter 633: Tripletasking I brandished my Cyan Netherworld Sword as I approached Mad Warrior Buffett with a faint smile on my face. This boss was a proper undead and his blood-colored eyes looked awfully similar to mine. However, they contained far more violence and malice than my own. It was clear that Mad Warrior Buffett was at least an Asura-class undead. Yeah, I had to remember to absorb his undead soul spark after we finished killing him. When I recalled that, I immediately stretched out a hand to absorb the undead soul sparks of the Golden Guardsmen, causing power to surge through my chest. These things were similar to food for me, so I always felt as if my veins were thrumming with a boundless power after absorbing them. At the same time, I used Death Plunder on the four guardsmen, but they only rewarded me with what all the other bosses had rewarded me with; a few shards of broken and tattered armor. These things were so useless that even a blacksmith like Yamete couldn¡¯t do anything with them. It seemed as if the system had noticed me and was controlling the way Death Plunder developed as a skill. It hadn¡¯t given me anything of value for the longest time and I didn¡¯t even feel like using it anymore. ¡­¡­ ¡°Jie jie¡­¡± The Mad Warrior whirled his battle axe and strode toward me, every step leaving a print in the stone floor! Even though he was walking on decayed stone tiles, it showed that this boss was an absolute powerhouse. Even someone with my strength couldn¡¯t duplicate his feat! Damn, I don¡¯t know how many girls would swoon over me if every step I took left a mark in the stone tiles which paved the streets of Sky City. With my suit of exquisite armor and my Cyan Netherworld Sword, I would look absolutely handsome ruining the day of all the road workers in Sky City. ¡°Damnable humans.¡± The Mad Warrior¡¯s voice was deep and menacing. The handle of his axe glowed with a menacing blue light as he continued to whirl it in the air, and a dense aura of blood radiated from the sharp blade of his axe. He roared, ¡°Judgement from Purgatory is about to descend upon your heads. Your petty scheming against Lord Thunder has only led to one thing. Your demise!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. ¡°Thunder the Blade of Death? Haha, that coward has already been chased back to Purgatory by Xinran. He wouldn¡¯t even dare to take a peek outside right now. To think that an idiot like you would still be willing to play his watchdog in this place. What sort of joke is this? Have your brains been reduced to a puddle of rancid water? You¡¯re not very smart, are you?¡± He Yi poked me with the handle of her sword and said, ¡°Hey, this NPC is assassinating your character, haha. This is the first time I¡¯ve ever seen such a thing¡­¡± Rage boiled up from within me as I imperiously slashed the air in front of me. The cyan dragon soul resting within the blade of my sword circled my sword as it let out a deep roar. It sounded as if it was hungering for a good battle. ¡°Fuck you! Bring it on! I¡¯m going all out!¡± I fished out a Stamina Supplement that added 400 points to my Stamina and consumed it while flinging a Bloodknight Card into the air. My HP instantly swelled to over 60000! The radiance of my Ghost Deity Armor wreathed me, protecting me from large amounts of damage and I looked like a little boss monster right now! The blood-colored fur of the Phantom Wolf King stood on end as it stared at Buffett sinisterly. It let out a howl filled with enmity and anger. Murong Mingyue asked, ¡°So how are we going to kill him?¡± I chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s simple. Eve and I will control his movements and chip him down. You only need to concern yourself with healing, sis. We also need to make sure that our pets are dodging attacks and obstructing the boss at the right moments. Don¡¯t let them die too quickly.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ After I said that, I hefted my sword and advanced toward Buffett. On my way, I casually raised my other hand and used God Binding Art, but a huge ¡°MISS¡± flew over his head even though the four divine weapons surrounded him. I didn¡¯t even skip a beat as dark light shone from my eyes. I immediately used Dark Pupils to scan the boss and obtain all of his stats. It was an understatement to say that I didn¡¯t like what I saw. Mad Warrior Buffett (Heaven Rank Boss) Level: 170 Attack: 3940~5580 Defense: 5500 HP: 35,000,000 Skills: Blade Slash, Blade Armor Defense, Broadsword Storm, Purgatory of Ice and Magma Introduction: Mad Warrior Buffett used to be a dragon warrior of the Dragon Domain. When the Dragon Domain was reduced to ruin, he became a powerful mercenary, but his misfortune had not ended yet. He soon caught the eye of Thunder the Blade of Death, and was seduced by the insidious power of the mighty Blade of Thunder. Thus, the Mad Warrior willingly became a warrior of hell and Thunder used his infernal powers of undeath to transform his body and soul. ¡­¡­ ¡°Shit, those are some incredible stats! He really turned out to be a Level 170 Heaven Rank boss. We¡¯re in for a fight now¡­¡± I said with an audible gulp. ¡°Prepare to lose your lives!¡± The girls nodded their heads. ¡°We were prepared from the very start!¡± I flashed them an appreciative smile before I used Thunderous Charge to dash toward Buffett. My body shot forward like a streaking bolt of lightning as I slammed into his abdomen. The Mad Warrior was huge in stature and I only reached up to about his lower torso. When I slammed into him, I could immediately tell that his Strength was much higher than my own. My entire body shook like a reed in the wind, but I was fortunate enough to stun him for 3 seconds. ¡°Charge!¡± I swung my sword out and three crescent blades of flaming sword energy howled out of my sword and smashed into the Mad Warrior¡¯s chestplate. Brilliant sparks flew in the air, but none of my attacks managed to penetrate his armor! 6894! 10921! 16788! Ugh, even Burning Blade Slash did this little damage. Buffett¡¯s Defense was self-evident. Even my Dark Pupils were hard-pressed to find a weakness in the Mad Warrior¡¯s perfect defense. There were no hidden weaknesses to exploit at all, a fact that left me utterly speechless. My blade danced in the air as I tried again. Universe Break! Pu! A flaming spiral of indigo energy plunged into Buffett¡¯s chestplate, causing a huge damage number to pop up above his head. 23578! Now that we knew that we could put a dent into this boss, all of us breathed a sigh of relief. Whoosh! He Yi rushed toward the action as well. Her Snow Domain Windchaser lunged at the Mad Warrior, its head slamming into Buffett¡¯s waist. She pulled her arm back as Whirlwind transformed into a beam of cold light that blitzed toward Buffett¡¯s throat. A spiral of fiery energy exploded around the tip of her blade as it drove forward. Barrier Break! 17893! He Yi was only able to deal this much damage to the Mad Warrior in spite of her high attack power. Furthermore, He Yi¡¯s Charge didn¡¯t stun him either. ¡°Be careful¡­¡± Murong Mingyue¡¯s voice immediately rang out behind us. As expected, Buffet¡¯s axe whirled out to smash into He Yi¡¯s shield the moment my stun had ended. He had started out with a mighty Blade Slash! Clang! He Yi¡¯s beautiful body shook as the knight was forced back by the force behind Buffett¡¯s strike. Even her beautiful horse let out sorrowful whinny as it reeled backward. He Yi had lost 21092 HP in that attack alone! I hurriedly spun toward Buffett, my sword piercing into the armor near his armpit. Unfortunately, I only dealt him 9088 damage. This wasn¡¯t his weak spot either! The Phantom Wolf King let out a furious howl as it unleashed a flurry of claw strikes into Buffett¡¯s torso. Those attacks did a respectable amount of damage. Not to be outdone, the Ironwing Dragon dashed in and started rending the Mad Warrior with its claws. Our two gigantic melee combat boss pets attacked together and I could actually see Buffett¡¯s HP bar start to drop. ¡°AHWOOOOOO¡­¡± The Mad Warrior let out a furious howl as he used Broadsword Storm. He spun toward us like a top, causing damage numbers to pop up above our heads. 19042! 24898! His attacks were way too fierce! We could barely even withstand them! Murong Mingyue was clearly feeling the pressure from healing us! This motherfucker was hitting us for tens of thousands of damage every time and another priest would have probably started crying by now. However, Murong Mingyue still continued to do her best even though a grim look had started to form on her face. At this time, He Yi¡¯s pet, the Firelight Mouse, launched a huge ball of fire from its tail. The giant fireball smacked Buffett right in the face before it exploded. Damn, the little mouse had just hit him with a powerful single-target magic spell! The Mad Warrior was a heavy armor warrior extremely vulnerable to magic; this attack caused him to wail in pain and anger. ¡°Die, you disgusting maggot!¡± Buffett let out a furious roar as wind energy suddenly started to dance around his battle axe. My eyes widened in shock as I yelled anxiously, ¡°Be careful! That¡¯s¡­ Whirlwind Slash?!¡± Just as expected, Buffett¡¯s body suddenly started spinning like a top. His wildly flailing axe slammed into both He Yi and I, blasting us both aside as he shot forward like a gale. His axe transformed into a streaking bolt of lightning that cleaved right into the Firelight Mouse¡¯s head! Crack! 49088! Shit, the Firelight Mouse¡¯s Defense was extremely low and its HP was only average. There was no way it could survive such a ferocious strike. This strike made the little mouse fall limply to the ground. It had been one-shot! ¡°Ah, my poor little mouse¡­¡± A stricken look crossed He Yi¡¯s face as she muttered those words. The Mad Warrior let out a jeering laugh. After he used his Whirlwind Slash to kill the Firelight Mouse, he immediately set his sights on Murong Mingyue. He raised his battle axe high in the air as he charged toward her. No way, this boss¡¯s AI was way too intelligent. It actually ignored the aggro we had gathered from it and selected our frail priest, Murong Mingyue, as his primary target! I hurriedly raised my hand and used God Binding Art again! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... Four rays of red light streaked down from the sky as the four divine weapons surrounded Buffett again. Not bad! My God Binding Art had actually succeeded! I rushed up to the Mad Warrior and furiously slashed at him with my sword. He ate a Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo which slammed into his breastplate. I needed to pull his aggro toward me as soon as possible! After I finished my first round of attacks, I immediately twisted the Apparition Ring on my finger, forcing it to let out a ghastly wail. A new ¡°me¡± instantly appeared to the side of Buffett. It immediately raised another Cyan Netherworld Sword in the air as he attacked with a Universe Break + Pardon + basic attack combo. My clone¡¯s Attack was only 75% of mine, so its uses were very limited. I had no choice but to use my armor penetration and armor break skills to deal the maximum amount of damage. He Yi looked at it and smiled. ¡°Oh, oh, not bad! Is this the clone that your Apparition Ring creates?¡± I nodded my head. ¡°Yeah.¡± Murong Mingyue backpedaled as she continued to heal me. When she saw my clone, she burst into laughter and said, ¡°Two Lu Chens, huh? That ain¡¯t bad. If only he could use this skill in real life, then our Eve wouldn¡¯t be fighting Beauty Yi tooth and nail over this rascal¡­¡± He Yi¡¯s face turned as red as a tomato. ¡°Since when have I ever fought tooth and nail with Beauty Yi?¡± Murong Mingyue giggled in response. ¡°It¡¯s a secret war!¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t have the time to participate in the banter though. The Mad Warrior¡¯s attack power was simply absurd and all of my brain power was being used to control the Phantom Wolf King, my double, and myself at the same time. This tripletasking was one of the highest order. I was attacking Buffett from multiple angles using different attack and movement patterns. One person would always retreat while the other attacked, as I kept up a constant rain of damage on the boss. I coordinated the attacks of the three characters under my command in what seemed to be a very casual manner, but every action of mine was deliberate and calculated. In fact, it only took three minutes for my back to be soaked with sweat, and my lips started trembling due to the exertion. Tripletasking definitely wasn¡¯t something that a human was supposed to do. Chapter 634: Purgatory of Ice and Magma I managed to barely block the boss''s attack with my sword, but my body shifted subtly after that. My clone moved over and used his Cyan Netherworld Sword to strike at Buffett¡¯s axe. That strike perfectly diverted the Mad Warrior¡¯s mighty blow while also reducing the damage I had taken to the minimum. He Yi was learning how much force to use with each strike and which angle to attack from as she watched me tripletask. She followed each of my actions with exacting precision, the Snow Domain Windchaser letting out shrill neighs as if to encourage its beautiful owner. The Phantom Wolf King had risen to Level 117 after killing those four minibosses and its stats were crazy OP right now. When it reached Level 170, it would probably be able to go head to head with a Level 170 Heaven Rank boss. Right now, the Phantom Wolf King had already become an important damage dealer in our party. Its claws danced in the air as it attacked Buffett with both claws and the summoned winds. Murong Mingyue stood far away as she gently waved her wand in the air. One healing spell after another fell on He Yi and I as Mingyue¡¯s Pool of Life gurgled beneath our feet. Her constant and steady healing was keeping us in the game. Two players and two pets surrounded the boss in our desperate struggle. Buffett¡¯s battle axe blasted us aside with loud thunks, but the next person would immediately rush in and hold him in place. We were all dancing on the edge of death, but it was thanks to Royal Road that we hadn¡¯t been obliterated already. The 50% boost to our stats and the 10% debuff to Buffett¡¯s stats had made it a fight instead of a massacre. ¡­¡­ The guild channel was quite noisy right now. Xu Yang: "Hahaha, here comes our boy Lu! I have something to discuss with you!" Lu Buyi: "How can I help you, Brother Xu Yang?" Xu Yang: "It seems as if that bastard Freezing Point didn¡¯t go to Vanished God City in the end. Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, and Throne Seeker all went back on their word and stopped helping Waste and Burn. Hmph, I just received word that Freezing Point is grinding together with around 2000 players from Waste and Burn at the middle section of the Dragonbone Mountain Range. What do you think?" Lu Buyi chuckled. "I¡¯m a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls." Xu Yang gave an appreciative chuckle. "Okay, those were my sentiments exactly! Li Chengfeng, it would be great if you could come! Little Gui is already gathering his troops! How about Miss Chaos Moon? Are you gonna come with us as well?" Chaos Moon immediately replied, "Nope, I¡¯m busy hunting for a handsome guy! I don¡¯t have any time to spare?" Gui Guzi: "Oh? Are you trying to hunt down Boss Broken Halberd?" Chaos Moon: "Nope, it¡¯s way too hard to hunt Lu Chen¡­" I jumped into the conversation. "Damn, you¡¯re not loyal to me at all¡­" Chaos Moon immediately giggled. "Aiyah, is our Lu Chen actually jealous? Come join me! Pure Love, Cute Little Naughty, and I are currently grinding at Crocodile Marsh! The monsters here are really high-level! Are you gonna come?" "What the hell, I thought you just said that you were going to hunt for handsome guys¡­" Chaos Moon¡¯s sweet laugh rang out over the guild channel. "Heehee, I am! I was setting bait for you!" Xu Yang immediately said, "Lu Chen, you¡¯re currently partied up with boss and Mingyue, right? We just decided to hunt down Waste and Burn. Do you think we should proceed with our plan?" I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I don¡¯t see any flaws in your plan. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is one of the preeminent Chinese guilds in Heavenblessed, so we need to let everyone know that we won¡¯t allow anyone to trample over our dignity! Shit, Waste and Burn dared to betray us, let¡¯s kill them until they dare not take a single step out of the city! Set up shifts for this duty. We can¡¯t let this affect anyone¡¯s leveling speed! If I have time at night, I¡¯ll join in on the fun!" Li Chengfeng¡¯s laughter was even louder this time. "Yeah, there shouldn¡¯t be any problems with our plan since even Lu Chen agrees with it. Let¡¯s get ready to move out! Let¡¯s waste Waste and Burn before they even know what hit them!" Xu Yang replied, "Okay, I¡¯ll leave it to you and Little Gui. I¡¯m grinding with a party right now. Oh right, have you heard about this, Lu Chen? Warsky Alliance started recruiting on the forums after they took that territory to the west¡­" I pursed my lips. "Let¡¯s leave them to it. Regardless, we will definitely have to go to war with Warsky Alliance eventually, so there¡¯s no need to be overly anxious as of now!" "Hahaha¡­" Cheers rang out in the guild channel. After the recent battle over Dark Moon City, morale was extremely high in the guild. We even managed to beat back the combined forces of three of the ten strongest guilds in Vanished God City. Our name was currently resounding through the China server after that and everyone had to admit that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was a new contender for the throne after that battle! ¡­¡­ Tripletasking was way too taxing, so I decided to take a break for a while. I allowed the Phantom Wolf King to tank Buffett for a while. Since it had high HP and Defense, it could hold its ground for a while. I immediately opened the forums and the first thing I saw when I entered Sky City¡¯s forums was a red-hot forums topic at the top of all the posts. It was Warsky Alliance¡¯s announcement and the person who had made the post was Warsky himself. The title of the post was "Warsky Alliance. We contend with the heavens, war with men, and fight against destiny itself!" After that, I read the contents of the post: "The Warsky Alliance spent ten blood-filled hours winning this territory from the three superguilds, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, and The Monarch Descends. Right now, we have erected a new city on this hotly-contested territory called Warsky City. Warsky City will become the dreamland for our guild, our very own utopia! We hope that all righteous comrades will come forward to join our guild. Let¡¯s protect our dreams and uphold our honor together! We will let the whole world know our name! Our enemies will tremble at its sound! Warsky Alliance is setting up ten subguilds this week. We are looking for guild leaders to take care of these guilds and their members. We are looking for upright people! We don¡¯t need any cowards or villains in our guild! We only want stalwart comrades! Comrades who will spill blood together with us! People whom we would be proud to call friends!" The passionate words in that manifesto had even managed to stir up my blood and I very nearly had the urge to join Warsky Alliance as well! Fucking hell, this punk Warsky was really born to be a leader. He was even-tempered and broadminded, and his eye for talent was first-class. This was also why Warsky Alliance had grown from a tiny guild into one of the most famous super guilds in China in the short span of just a few years. Right now, Warsky Alliance finally had their own city, which happened to be a barbarian city. This was extremely good news for Warsky and his guild. Now that they had established a foothold, October Rain¡¯s clever schemes and the might of his Famous Generals would ensure that the Warsky Alliance would definitely blow up in Heavenblessed! The Warsky Alliance had also officially established itself as Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ strongest rival in Sky City. Now that they had a territory, Warsky Alliance would undergo a complete transformation and their recruiting would grow even more heated! Even though Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had a galaxy of talent, we hadn¡¯t broken into the Heavenly Ranking for guilds. This ranking board would only be refreshed once every three months, so it was high time for it to change! ¡­¡­ Ah, fuck it, I¡¯m not going to think about these stupid things anymore. Let¡¯s kill this boss first! In the end, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had a Rank 8 castle and first-class Famous Generals like Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, and Beiming Xue. Hmph! No matter how strong the Warsky Alliance got, I still had the confidence to face them in battle! Clang, clang, clang... The Mad Warrior¡¯s battle axe shook my Ghost Deity Armor repeatedly, dropping my HP like a rock. After that, he actually scored a critical hit on me, which instantly dropped me below 20% HP! "Ah! Lu Chen, be careful!" Murong Mingyue cried in alarm. I immediately used Tenacity of the Dead along with a Saint Spirit Potion VIII, recovering a huge chunk of my health. +15310! +5000! Murong Mingyue¡¯s timely heals also allowed me to keep pressing forward. It was too bad that I couldn¡¯t equip a shield. If not, given my superlative skills, I¡¯d be able to make my attack and defense even more perfect. When our desperate struggle neared the thirty minute mark, I saw that the Mad Warrior¡¯s HP had dropped to around 50%. We started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. "Let¡¯s keep up the good work! Another thirty minutes should do it!" Murong Mingyue said with a laugh. "Well, as long as Buffett doesn¡¯t spring a surprise on us of course!" However, hoping that a Heaven Rank boss wouldn¡¯t spring a surprise on you was like wishing for a miracle in a world with no gods! "Awhoooo!" The Mad Warrior Buffett suddenly let out a furious howl when his HP dropped to about 40%. He leaped high into the air before crashing down, heavily smashing his battle axe into the ground. The ground started to violently shake as countless glowing red spikes shot out from it. This was his Purgatory of Ice and Magma skill. It cracked open the land and caused countless glowing hot spikes to jut from the ground. Gouts of magma started to spurt up from the cracks in the ground as spears of ice started pouring down from the sky. Bang! Bang! Bang! Huge explosions rang out all around us and we didn¡¯t even have a chance to run away or heal ourselves as a 100-yard area was instantly engulfed by Buffett¡¯s skill. The back of the Roland Imperial Palace was also destroyed as the Purgatory of Ice and Magma quickly reduced it to rubble! "Oh no, I¡¯m dead¡­" Murong Mingyue stood fixed in place as she helplessly looked at the ground crack beneath her feet. Countless gouts of scarlet magma shot out of the ground as blades of ice continued to pour down from the sky, completely shredding her priest shield apart! "Urgh¡­" Murong Mingyue slowly collapsed to the floor as three damage numbers that exceeded 10000 damage each popped up above her head. She had died! He Yi and I flew backward swiftly, but it was already too late. Sharp spears of ice and gouts of magma constantly assaulted us and our HP started to drop at a crazy speed. The Snow Domain Windchaser gave a shrill whinny as it collapsed to the ground, causing He Yi to fall into a pool of magma as well. I was on my last legs as well, so I hurriedly activated my invincibility skill¡ªShield of Evening! Whooosh! My invincibility skill activated, but it would only last for twelve seconds. However, the Mad Warrior was still madly pursuing me! ¡­¡­ In the party chat. Murong Mingyue: "Hey, the graveyard is at the border of the ruined altar outside the palace. It¡¯s quite near to where we were¡­" He Yi: Yeah. Lu Chen, hold on! Mingyue and I are charging over right now! It¡¯ll take three minutes at most¡­" ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t help but cry out: "Three minutes?! How the heck am I supposed to hold on until then?" As I said that, I used the Phantom Wolf King to obstruct Buffett¡¯s path. I used this time to run far away from the Mad Warrior, but I still frequently turned around to shoot Dragon Slaying Slashes to keep his attention on me. I couldn¡¯t afford to die! I had to keep the boss in combat mode. The moment he left combat mode, his HP regeneration would be ten times greater than normal and he would go back to full health in the matter of minutes. This wasn¡¯t something we could handle. I ran straight out of the palace¡¯s grand hall and I saw the two dots that represented He Yi and Murong Mingyue rushing toward me on the minimap. Pchht¡­. The Mad Warrior¡¯s blood-colored axe kept cleaving into the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s hide. This punk¡¯s attack power was simply insane and the Phantom Wolf King could barely hold on! "Ah! Lu Chen, hold on! We¡¯re almost there!" He Yi soon caught sight of me and she spurred her warhorse forward. However, my poor Phantom Wolf King died before she could catch up to me and the Mad Warrior leaped at me from behind! He immediately unleashed Broadsword Storm once he was in striking distance! I hurriedly turned around and raised my Cyan Netherworld Sword in front of me! Guard! Clang! My sword shook violently as the last of my health disappeared. A sinister grin appeared on the Mad Warrior¡¯s face as he snarled, "Heh, lowly undead, time to meet your maker!" Crack! His axeblade whistled through the air and I limply fell to the ground. Fuck me, I died! Ding~! Chapter 635: Super-high Drop Rate Whoosh! I appeared in the nearest graveyard. I revived with 50% of my HP and all of my buffs had disappeared. As I stared at my open hand, I realized that the Cyan Netherworld Sword I had grown reliant on had dropped as well! I quickly used a bunch of cards and potions to restore most of my buffs. After that, I sprinted toward the boss as fast as I could as I yelled, "Eve, sis, run toward the graveyard and link up with me. Also¡­ also¡­ my Cyan¡­ my Cyan¡­" Murong Mingyue let out a snort of laughter, "Ah, stop hemming and hawing about it. Your Cyan Netherworld Sword has already been picked up by Eve. We¡¯re already running to the graveyard. Be prepared to take on the boss at any moment. Hurry, his attacks are insane!" "Gotcha!" I raised my hand, summoning a magic circle to appear in front of me. A howl rang through the air as the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s gigantic body burst out of the magic circle. It had also disappeared after its owner had died. What a pity though, if I had survived, the little wolf could¡¯ve helped me tank a few hits from Buffett. Its extremely large pool of HP wasn¡¯t just for show. I continuously leaped past several obstacles as I sped toward the palace. When I finally reached the wall that was near the grand hall, I saw He Yi and Murong Mingyue running over. "Your weapon!" He Yi suddenly threw an object glittering with cyan light toward me as her Snow Domain Windchaser surged forward. That was my Cyan Netherworld Sword! I suddenly leaped up in the air and caught the handle of the sword with extreme precision. When my feet hit the ground, I immediately activated Thunderous Charge and rushed toward the Mad Warrior who was hot on our heels! Whoosh! MISS! Another MISS! The immunity a Heaven Rank boss had toward our CC skills meant that it was very hard for players at our level to fight one. Mad Warrior Buffet¡¯s level was higher than ours by a full thirty levels and he was also a Heaven Rank boss. It was a minor miracle that we had already managed to hold on for so long! I raised my left hand in the air and an odd ghostly wail reverberated through the air. Four blood-colored divine weapons shot down from the heavens and slammed into the ground around Buffett with resounding thumps. Blood-red lightning immediately formed a chain between all four divine weapons, successfully trapping the Mad Warrior within! Murong Mingyue finally stopped running. She hurriedly healed He Yi, who had only 20% of her HP left, before casting a Pool of Life near where Buffett was. He Yi and I immediately rushed forward with our pets and unleashed a ferocious chain of attacks! We had no choice but to wing it now! Buffett¡¯s Attack and movement speed were shockingly high and he wasn¡¯t very big either. It was impossible to find any sort of cover. Clang! Clang! Clang! God Binding Art¡¯s effect vanished after fifteen seconds and the Mad Warrior slammed his axe into He Yi¡¯s shield several times. The colossal impact of his blows actually shoved He Yi and her horse backward even though she had already activated Holy Shield. Those string of attacks had dealt her more than twenty thousand damage. Buffett¡¯s flurry attack was way too powerful! "Holy shit! This boss is way too powerful! That was an AoE attack too! Damn it all¡­" Murong Mingyue complained bitterly as she swiftly cast her healing spells on He Yi, but it wasn¡¯t enough to pull her back up to full health. The Mad Warrior let out a terrifying scream of rage as he whirled his axe above his head. A huge blazing image of a battle axe appeared above the weapon before he slammed it down in He Yi¡¯s direction. The AoE skill instantly engulfed our beautiful guild leader! Boom! 19083! He Yi and her Snow Domain Windchaser dashed out of the smoke and dust that billowed in the air. She activated a Charge against Buffett and, surprisingly enough, a stun icon appeared above the Mad Warrior¡¯s head when she slammed into him. Even though it only lasted for a single short second, it interrupted what the Mad Warrior had been about to do. Bzzzzzz! The Cyan Netherworld Sword violently shuddered as I lashed out at Buffett with a basic attack. My Heaven-grade weapon¡¯s Outstanding Property had finally been triggered. The soul of the Cyan Netherworld Dragon that circled around the sword transformed into a beam of glittering light as it soared into the sky. It then drew a beautiful arc in the air, falling straight toward the Mad Warrior. Boom! Boom! Boom! After the Mad Warrior had been ravaged by our attacks, we could see that his health had been steadily dropping. A hopeful grin appeared on my face. I was still holding one trump card in reserve, my Purple Dragon Howl. Hell yeah, I would use it at the critical moment before this boss died. He Yi and I continued to attack him from the sides as we dodged his flaming axe skill. Buffett¡¯s health continued to drop steadily under our constant barrage of attacks. When it had nearly dropped to 30%, he finally let out a furious howl that shook our eardrums, mysterious symbols appearing around his body. He was summoning that ancient power yet again! Purgatory of Ice and Magma! He was using that move again! I let out a low yell as I darted forward and shot my left fist toward him. Bloody energy spun around my fist as I tried to use my Magic Piercing Punch to interrupt his fatal attack! Bang! My armored fist rammed into the Mad Warrior¡¯s chest with great force, making him shudder violently. However, it didn¡¯t manage to interrupt his ultimate skill. It only cut its duration by half. God fucking dammit, this Heaven Rank boss''s level and rank were too high. There was no way for Magic Piercing Punch to be of any use. "Hurry up and retreat!" I yelled. He Yi and Murong Mingyue ran toward the back as I hurried after them, but it was all too late. When the earth started to shake, it slowed all of us down. Glowing hot spikes of magma shot out of the ground and scalded our legs, but what really hurt was the spears of ice hurtling down from the sky. They were so cold that we shuddered every time one of them hit us. How the hell were we supposed to escape from this calamitous hell of ice and fire?! "Urghh¡­" I gave a low groan as I limply sank into the hot red magma. Ding~! System Notice: You have died. You dropped the items "Soul Suppressing Cloak" and "Stormy Waves War Boots"! ¡­¡­ Fuck! Was this boss a weapon of mass destruction like Chaos Moon!? Did he have the Plunder stratagem?! Even a player with 38 Luck like me had dropped two items upon death! Those were two of my favorite items too! What the fuck, was there still justice in this world!? Light flashed before my eyes and the next thing that I saw was that familiar graveyard. Murong Mingyue was right beside me and she had dropped her staff as well. She looked thoroughly flustered by this turn of events. She had never imagined that this Heaven Rank boss would actually trample over us like this. He Yi¡¯s voice rang out in the party chat: "Hurry up and come back! I¡¯m barely managing to hold the boss off right now! Lu Chen, Mingyue, hurry¡­" I drew the Cyan Netherworld Sword from its sheath as I hurried over on bare foot. The imposing, blood-red Soul Suppressing Cloak that normally fluttered behind me was nowhere to be seen, so I no longer looked like an awe-inspiring general. Instead, I just looked like some elite footsoldier! Murong Mingyue noticed that as well and she immediately broke out into a fit of laughter as she said, "So you also have times when you look this pathetic, huh." I pursed my lips and retorted, "Hmph, back when Blue Sky Scar was hunting us down, I looked much more pathetic than this. It happened far more often too! It¡¯s not as if you weren¡¯t there to witness it¡­" Murong Mingyue continued to giggle. "That is true. But ever since you entered Heavenblessed, you¡¯ve steadily climbed back to the top! That¡¯s why I have to say that it¡¯s really rare to see you cut a sorry figure in this game." "Quit yapping and nurse me!" "Wah¡­" ¡­¡­ When we reached, we saw that He Yi was using her own pathing and her Firelight Mouse to block the boss. Furthermore, Murong Mingyue had managed to get off one large healing spell before she died to Buffett¡¯s ultimate technique and it had been a critical heal at that, so it pulled He Yi back to 70000 HP. Since my Magic Piercing Punch also managed to cut the duration of Purgatory of Ice and Flame by half, it allowed He Yi to survive this calamitous attack. "We¡¯re here!" I leaned forward and I dashed forward. My body soon dipped into a roll as I quickly grabbed the items that I had dropped. I put them on with lightning speed as I also picked Murong Mingyue¡¯s staff up from the ground. I then spun around and used God Binding Art on the Mad Warrior. Divine weapons whistled through the air and slammed into the ground around Buffett. The Mad Warrior had been in hot pursuit of He Yi, but the four divine weapons suddenly bound him up and stopped him from moving! I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle softly. Very good! God Binding Art really was the best move I had when it came to hunting bosses. This skill was definitely a divine skill, because even Rinser hadn¡¯t been able to teach it to me. It was a skill given to me by Xinran, and it would probably have been extremely hard for me to learn this skill if it wasn¡¯t for her. Whoosh, whoosh... Holy light flashed in the air as Murong Mingyue desperately restored He Yi¡¯s HP. I bounded toward the Mad Warrior and knocked off a small chunk of his HP with a furious flurry of blows. I also summoned the Phantom Wolf King and allowed him to rejoin the fray. The little wolf let out a howl of fury as it tore into Buffett. Fucking hell, even though it had become a wolf king, it had to witness this boss wreck his owner over and over again, so it seemed to be boiling with unbridled rage. As I stared at Buffett, a thought suddenly emerged in my heart. This bastard had killed us so many times. It had better give us drops worthy of a Heaven Rank boss. If he didn¡¯t, we would probably cry tears of blood. ¡­¡­ Flames and ice continued to shake the ruins of the Roland Empire¡¯s capital. We foreign adventurers had worked so hard to halt the invasion of these Night Creatures and we only had the Mad Warrior Buffett left to kill. Once we killed him, Thunder the Blade of Death would lose his representative in the human world. If that happened, it might really be possible to rescue the Roland Empire from the darkness. Time crawled by and when Buffett¡¯s health finally dropped to 20%, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and I shuddered instinctively. Fuck me sideways, he¡¯s about to use Purgatory of Ice and Magma again, huh! It had already become an unspoken rule that this boss would use that skill every time his health dropped by 10%. Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk... He Yi used the flat of her sword to spur her warhorse forward. Murong Mingyue was riding together with her, so they both managed to escape that hell of ice and flames. They left the rest of us behind. The Phantom Wolf King, my clone, and I had no choice but to make a break for it! Purgatory of Ice and Magma had a radius of roughly 100 yards, so we would live if we started running fast enough. Just as we expected, the ground started shaking violently not long after and the boss''s HP bar was glowing with the color of blood. Countless javelins of ice and spikes of magma devastated the land around him and it seemed as if Buffett was going to tear the ruined palace to the ground with this skill. The Mad Warrior stood proudly amidst the sea of destruction, his axe raised proudly in the air. Just as expected, the Phantom Wolf King, Ironwing Dragon, and Firelight Mouse all died. They were the victims of his attack this time around. ¡­¡­ He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and I breathed a collective sigh of relief. We grinned at each other as we said, "We didn¡¯t die this time¡­" Thirty seconds later, I charged back in with the Cyan Netherworld Sword held high. We managed to shave off 10% of the Mad Warrior¡¯s health in ten minutes even without our pets, leaving him with measly 10% of his health bar left. As soon as their res cooldown ended, we immediately summoned our pets back into the fray! We threw our fodder army forward and beat a quick retreat! Chapter 636: Dragonbone String The Cyan Netherworld Sword stabbed into the stone ground, seemingly summoning the soul of a divine dragon that had been slumbering beneath the ground. In the next instant, purple energy began to coalesce into existence around the sword and ancient symbols made of faint cyan light began to spread out from around my feet. My entire body started to tremble as countless streams of energy surged into me with great vigor! I forcefully pulled the Cyan Netherworld Sword out from the ground. A large cluster of purple energy had already formed on its tip at this time. I immediately activated God¡¯s Rage and unleashed Purple Dragon Howl! The huge cluster of energy shot out from the tip of my sword and instantly obliterated everything that it touched. The fragments it left in its wake swirled violently in the air, as a small hurricane began to form around it. The swarming purple energy dragons slammed straight into the Mad Warrior¡¯s chest like a storm conjured by a heavenly dragon. Buffett let out a howl of rage as the first dragon head hit him. He tried to swing his axe at the storm of draconic energy, but he just couldn¡¯t defend against it. God¡¯s Rage ensured that all of my hits would be critical hits for the next sixty seconds! Boom! Boom! Boom! A string of damage numbers flew up... Chapter 637: Blade of the Earthen Soul In Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, the three strongest riders we had outside of He Yi and Gui Guzi were Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and Diamond Dust. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun had been the core wanderer in our guild since the start, so he was obviously loyal to us. Diamond Dust and Heaven¡¯s Rain only truly came into the limelight after they gained their Knight General skills. In fact, Heaven¡¯s Rain only joined us after she got her Famous General Skill. However, because everyone knew how important the Knight General skill was, we needed to do everything in our power to keep these two girls in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. If we could use a simple Crystal Shield to ensure the loyalty of one of our core Knight Generals, that would be an amazing deal! Alright, I¡¯m going to give this Crystal Shield to Heaven¡¯s Rain. She had dropped everything she was doing in another city and joined us without a single complaint, so we had to treat her sincerely as well. If we didn¡¯t, we would never become proper heroes. He Yi had always been a smart and decisive woman. It was absolutely the smarter decision for her to give up this Crystal Shield. This was also why Xu Yang, Murong Mingyue, Lian Xin, and I were willing to follow her to the ends of the earth. ¡­¡­ The fourth item was that golden pendant. Crystal Pendant (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï): Strength +150, Stamina +145, Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 12%. Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 2000. Level Requirement: 145. It was another Earth-grade item! We had gotten four Earth-grade items! Mad Warrior Buffett had really dropped some incredible stuff! Even though this Crystal Pendant was also an Earth-grade item, it was only 1-star Outstanding. Its stats weren¡¯t that great either and even my 5-star Outstanding Spirit-grade necklace, the God Suppressing Necklace, was better than that. I tossed the pendant to Murong Mingyue and said, "Sis, take this and sell it in the auction house. You¡¯ll be able to earn some money from it." "Okay." Murong Mingyue put the pendant in her inventory. In truth, we all knew that the money she earned from this would be immediately pumped back into the Raincube Corporation. She wouldn¡¯t earn a single cent from its sale. Of course, I gave her the pendant because she had been working so hard to heal us, but she didn¡¯t have a single thing to show for it, and that simply wouldn¡¯t do. Moreover, He Yi and I would have died to Buffett a couple thousand times if she wasn¡¯t here to heal us. The last item was the longsword that was shining with an intense golden light. I already promised He Yi that this sword would be hers, no matter what grade it was, because I called dibs on the Battle Flame Wristguards. Whoosh! Attack: 1250~1420 Agility: +195 Stamina: +190 Tactics: +47 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 50% Passive: Increases the damage of earth-element skills by 100% Passive: Increases user¡¯s splash damage by 25% Slots: 7 Outstanding Property: Soul of the Earth. There is a 2% chance of triggering Earth Soul, an attack that hits all targets in a set area. Introduction: The Earth is the mother of all things. After many millennia, the energy contained within the soil would slowly be condensed into divine weapons of absolute power. This Blade of the Earthen Soul is one such weapon. Vast power radiates from its every swing, and countless devils tremble at the sound of its name. Now that the Blade of the Earthen Soul has appeared in the human realm once more, it will definitely stir up a squall of blood and violence once more. Level Requirement: 145 ¡­¡­ ¡°Damn, these stats are incredible¡­" My mouth dropped open in incredulous disbelief. This Mad Warrior Buffett had really given us way too much face. Every single piece of equipment he dropped had been Outstanding Earth-grade and the Dragonbone String and Blade of the Earthen Soul were especially overpowered! At this current stage of the game, such weapons could absolutely be counted on just your fingers! I immediately opened up the weapon ranking to confirm my suspicions. As expected, they were about as OP as I thought they were. My Cyan Netherworld Sword was very comfortably sitting on top of the leaderboard but the Blade of the Earthen Soul had instantly jumped into the fourth spot. The Dragonbone String that we were going to give to Beiming Xue had taken the sixth spot, while Lin Yixin¡¯s Blade of Violet Lightning rounded out the Top 10. At this moment, three of the best ten weapons in the China server belonged to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! I tossed the Blade of the Earthen Soul to He Yi without any hesitation and laughed. "Grats, Eve! You¡¯re now an elite knight that can both attack and defend!" He Yi caught the Blade of the Earthen Soul, and her joy was plain on her face. A look of admiration appeared in those eyes as she slowly rubbed the surface of her new sword with her jade white fingers. She couldn¡¯t stop herself from caressing her shiny new toy as she giggled. "Wow, its stats are incredible, but I¡­ I¡­ don¡¯t know when I¡¯ll be able to equip it¡­" I laughed. "After we report our success to Mengchuan, the quest should reward you with enough EXP to gain a level. You¡¯ll be Level 143 then, just a step away from Level 145. If you work hard tomorrow, you should be able to hit Level 145." "Yeah, yeah!" He Yi put the Blade of the Earthen Soul in her bag. She excitedly handed over the tasks that she and Murong Mingyue were supposed to complete over the next two days to the head managers at Raincube. They would "rest" for the next two days and raise their levels as fast as they could. After all, it would look quite bad for any of the leaders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to lag behind in levels. I continued to sort through the items. Buffett had dropped quite a few magic stones and we quickly divided them among us. I also spied a sky-blue card lying amongst the items he had dropped. I quickly picked it up and the words written on the card stunned all three of us. "Spirit Dragon Warrior x250": Rank 10 Elf Castle Unit. The strongest generals and protectors of the elven nation. ¡­¡­ What the fuck?! Buffett actually dropped a troop card too? Weren¡¯t¡­ weren¡¯t these things something that only bosses spawned by territories would drop? It looks like Buffett had already reached a new level of existence as a subordinate of Thunder. I threw the card in my bag. Our guild couldn¡¯t use this card, so I¡¯d give it to Lin Yixin when I saw her again. Her Elven Castle, Silver Fir City, was growing at a tremendous pace and these Spirit Dragon Warriors would give it an even greater boost. Even our Dark Moon City didn¡¯t have any Rank 10 troops and that should be the highest rank of troops available to any city. Lin Yixin¡¯s luck was pretty good. I continued to sort through the items Buffett had dropped. A sudden burst of light caught my eye and I looked down to see a dark-gold book radiating a yellow light near the Mad Warrior¡¯s feet. I picked it up and yelled with excitement. Yes, we got something awesome! Purgatory of Ice and Magma: Unleash sword energy imbued with the power of the earth five times. Imbue your sword energy with power of the earth to attack all targets within a 4x15 yard area five consecutive times. Every strike will deal 75% of your attack power in damage. This skill will also summon the power of ice and frost to freeze your opponents, greatly reducing the movement speed of any target hit by this attack. Level Requirement: 140. Reputation Requirement: 50000. Cost: 10000 gold. Reputation Cost: 5000. Class Requirement: Warrior, Magic Knight, Wanderer. ¡­¡­ Blood started to rush to my head as I read the skill description again. An AoE attack that hits five times! This was an absolute gem of a skill! The way this Purgatory of Ice and Magma functioned was different from the Purgatory of Ice and Magma that Buffett had been using, but it was still very strong. I believed that skills would also start to change as players reached new heights of power, and this Purgatory of Ice and Magma might very well become the same as Buffett¡¯s one day¡ªa hundred-yard AoE skill that chewed up everything caught in its path! He Yi laughed. "That¡¯s awesome! Can you learn it, Lu Chen?" I tried to learn the skill but a system notice told me that I couldn¡¯t learn this skill because it conflicted with my Burning Blade Slash. Damn, such a pity! This skill covered far more ground than my Burning Blade Slash did and it would be excellent for grinding. Of course, this skill only did 75% of its user¡¯s base attack power in damage, so its overall damage would be lower than that of Burning Blade Slash. It would also be ineffective against opponents with high Defense. As a result, I tossed the Purgatory of Ice and Magma skill book to He Yi and said. "Eve, I can¡¯t learn this skill. I¡¯ll give it to you. I don¡¯t think you have any flurry skills yet, so this just so happens to fit you¡­" He Yi¡¯s damage wasn¡¯t very great when it came to boss-killing. She was deathly afraid that this great skill would be wasted on her. It was only when she saw that I couldn¡¯t learn it that she reluctantly accepted the skill book. She raised her head toward me in a most adorable manner as she whispered, "Can I¡­ really learn this skill?" When I saw how timid my beautiful boss was acting, I couldn¡¯t help but let out a chuckle. I reached out to grab her shoulders in a reassuring manner. "It¡¯s fine, just learn it. This is something that Sister Mingyue definitely can¡¯t learn anyway." "Okay." A beam of light soared into the air and the Purgatory of Ice and Magma skill book disappeared from He Yi¡¯s hand and transformed into a skill inside one of her skill slots. Murong Mingyue giggled. "Alright! Can we have a demonstration please?" "Okay." He Yi raised Whirlwind, a determined expression appearing on her perfectly beautiful face. She slashed her sword through the air, causing many earth-colored radiances to erupt from her body. Countless beams of sword energy shot out five consecutive times, hitting everything fifteen yards in front of her. The ground started to crack apart as the energy sword sliced through the air. Magma started spurting up from the ground as blades of ice started to pour down. "Wow!" Murong Mingyue exclaimed. "It looks so cool¡­" I also gave a vigorous nod of my head. The attack looked nearly exactly the same as the one Buffett had launched at us. It was just that the area of effect was much smaller than the version Buffett had been using. Yeah, from now onward, He Yi would truly transform from a turtle knight with high Defense and HP to a beautiful knight who could attack and defend with equivalent finesse! ¡­¡­ "Alright, this is perfect!" I laughed as I held up the Mad Warrior¡¯s head. I said, "Let¡¯s go and turn in our quest. Eve should hit Level 143 after that. As long as you work hard tomorrow, you¡¯ll definitely be able to hit Level 145 and equip the Blade of the Earthen Soul!" "Okay!" All of us left the palace in high spirits. After our battle with Mad Warrior Buffett, we saw that his super Purgatories of Ice and Magma had truly turned the palace into a ruin. We walked out of the devastated palace and arrived in front of the stone wall. Even though we were still far away from him, we could see Knight Captain Mengchuan¡¯s body lying powerlessly on the ground. However, Mengchuan¡¯s eyes started to shine the moment he saw Buffett¡¯s head firmly grasped in my hand. He struggled to stand as his voice shook with uncontainable excitement. "Brave young adventurers! Your power and skill have simply left me astounded! You actually managed to kill that devil Buffett!" I simply nodded my head and tossed Buffett¡¯s head toward him. It hit the ground and rolled until it came to a stop at Mengchuan¡¯s feet. As he stared at Buffett¡¯s head, Mengchuan¡¯s eyes filled up with fury. He stretched out a hand to slap the head as he shouted, "You damned devil! How many brave warriors of the empire fell to your terrible axe? To think that a bastard like you would actually be reduced to this. Heh, I knew that justice would descend upon your head one day!" As he said that, Mengchuan raised his head to look at us. He continued, "Brave adventurers, I thank you for everything that you have done for me. Come and receive the reward you so greatly deserve!" I heard the "ding" of the system notification, but we didn¡¯t get any equipment reward. We did, however, get a lot of experience! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Everyone went up a level! Even I had managed to gain one! This was great, I was only one step away from finally hitting Level 150! ¡­¡­ He Yi leaned against the wall, a trace of exhaustion on her face. After she made a delicate yawn, she said, "Lu Chen, I¡¯m done for the night. I¡¯m going to head to bed. How about you?" "Get some rest. I¡¯m going to bring Mengchuan¡¯s body to the God Domain. Xinran is waiting for me there. I¡¯ll continue grinding away at this quest." "Okay, then we¡¯re heading to bed first." "Sweet dreams!" Chapter 638: Purgatory Thunder Beas I hurriedly said, "Thunder single-handedly brought about the destruction of the Roland Empire! Do you not even bear a shred of resentment toward him? In present times, Thunder has the power to cover the heavens with a single hand and he still rampages about unchecked in the three realms. Mengchuan, if you still consider yourself a man, then accept this resurrection that the Wind Singer is offering you. Fight on! For the dignity of the human race! For your fallen comrades and loved ones!" "You¡¯re right¡­" A flicker of life appeared in Mengchuan¡¯s cloudy eyes. "Young warrior, you are like a bright lamp shining in this eternal night. You have my thanks!" I chuckled. "Your comrades would definitely want to see you pull yourself together. Since Dada has fused with my Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf, then you have also become my friend! Come with me! We will go to the Violet Empire and look for Xinran. She definitely knows of a way to resurrect you." "Alright, let¡¯s do it!" ¡­¡­ It was time to wrap everything up now that I had finished all of the quests that Mengchuan had given me. I sheathed the Cyan Netherworld Sword before crouching down and carefully picking up Mengchuan¡¯s corpse. I was deathly afraid of dropping any of his bones by accident, so I used the Soul Suppressing Cloak to wrap up his remains. After that, I summoned my clone and the Phantom Wolf King to protect him as we left the ruined capital and started to sprint toward the Violet Empire. It was at this moment that I heard a beep. It was a message from Beiming Xue: "Big bro, I¡¯m tired. I¡¯m gonna go to bed first. What time will you be sleeping?" I replied, "In about an hour? Go to sleep first, Beiming. I have two nice surprises for you once you wake up, heh heh¡­" "Oh? Oh?! What nice surprises?!" Beiming Xue exclaimed excitedly. I paused for a moment and then shared the screenshots of the 6-star Outstanding bow, the Dragonbone String, and the Bone Eroding Arrow skill. The first was a super long-range weapon, the divine weapon ranked sixth in the entire server! The second was a skill that would greatly lower an enemy¡¯s Defense, something that would be invaluable when fighting against metal-armor players and bosses! "Oh? Well, that¡¯s fine too, I guess. Just busy yourself with something, I¡¯ll be done soon enough." "Alright! Be careful, big bro! I¡¯ll just set up a stall in Sky City and wait for you!" "Gotcha." I turned off the chat window. Both the Dragonbone String and Bone Eroding Arrow were treasures that money couldn¡¯t buy. My Luck was pretty darn good. I managed to get both of them from this excursion to the Roland Empire¡¯s ruins. Of course, killing Mad Warrior Buffett, a Level 170 Heaven Rank boss, could be considered a miracle in and of itself. However, we had paid a heavy price as well. Our three-man party of Famous Generals had died twice while fighting this boss, so it could be said that we had used these lives to buy our victory. Then again, if it was another party with less firepower and healing, even a thousand lives wouldn¡¯t be enough against that insane boss. Even my attack power wasn¡¯t enough to truly cut through the Defense of this Level 170 Heaven Rank boss, so there would be very few people in the China server who would be able to hurt him. Furthermore, He Yi¡¯s Royal Road had boosted all of our stats by 50%, and this made my HP and Defense extremely high too. I could well imagine Mad Dragon¡¯s main force trying to kill the Mad Warrior. Losers like Iron Pardon and Roaming Dragon would be one-shot by Buffett¡¯s flurry attack and Coldmoon Rose might not even be able to break through his Defense. Even if they brought a hundred thousand players with them, most of them would likely be nothing more than fodder. Heavenblessed¡¯s system allowed bosses to rise in level and rank, just like players. The more players they killed, the stronger a boss would become. That was why bosses like Thunder and Coldblade would only grow stronger and stronger. In fact, there was a distinct possibility that they would eventually be practically impossible to kill. ¡­¡­ A man, a shadow, and a little wolf darted through the forest at lightning speed as they sprinted toward the Violet Empire. After running for a full 45 minutes, we finally entered the Violet Empire¡¯s territory. We went straight to the palace and I didn¡¯t disturb the Shadow Dancer Xue Wei this time. I personally went to the altar and selected the teleportation formation. Just as expected, one of the destinations I could choose was the God Domain. Xinran had already opened the door for me. Whoosh! Teleporting to the God Domain was free. When I clicked on the button, a dazzling light blinded me and I appeared in the gloomy and mysterious God Domain. I raised my head and saw a tiny dot slowly grow bigger as it dashed down from the sky filled with blood-red clouds. It was that ugly and sinister-looking Winged Silver Dragon. A tiny beauty clad in dark red armor was sitting on the back of the ugly dragon. Her long hair danced in the wind as she beamed at me. She shouted, "Big brother, did you finish all the quests in the ruins of the Roland Empire?" "Yes." I nodded my head and looked toward Mengchuan¡¯s remains. I continued, "I brought Mengchuan¡¯s corpse here, but the energy of his soul is very weak. Xinran, can we begin the resurrection ritual right away?" "Yeah." Xinran hopped off Akachi¡¯s back and ran toward me. She grabbed onto my arm and said, "Big brother, hold on tightly to Mengchuan. I¡¯ll bring you the magic formation I prepared to resurrect him." "Okay¡­" A wild and fierce power tugged against my arm as Xinran leapt into the air while holding on to my arm. Ah, she was really fast! Akachi¡¯s voice rang out from below us. "Oh, my adorable master, wait for your most loyal slave. My wings are simply too heavy, so there¡¯s no way that I¡¯ll ever be able to catch up to you as you streak across the sky like a comet¡­" I turned around and scowled at Akachi. I really wished that I could smack that disgusting and wicked dragon with my sword at this moment. The blood-red clouds in front of us slowly parted as Xinran swooped down toward the earth. The ground rapidly grew larger in my eyes as I sped toward the ground. I soon saw that a huge magic formation glowing with a faint blue light had been drawn into the earth. It was practically as big as half a canyon and there were many mysterious-looking magic stones flickering within it. "It¡¯s done¡­" After she landed on the ground, Xinran pointed a finger at the center of the distant pentagram formation and said, "Big brother, put Mengchuan in that spot¡­" "Alright!" I strode forward and put Mengchuan in the center of the magic formation. After that, I quickly ran out of the formation and stood beside Xinran. After Xinran waved a hand, the Dragonbone Spear started to appear. Seven gloomy red lights flickered around the handle of the spear and those lights were the fragments of Mengchuan¡¯s soul! Crack! The Dragonbone Spear thrust itself into the ground as Xinran swiftly flew across the ground. A vast swell of energy instantly surged out of the earth, instantly lighting up the whole magic formation. The six-sided star glowed with a flowing light as Mengchuan, who was in the middle of the formation, raised his rotten head to observe what was happening around him. When he saw Xinran floating in the air, a serene smile appeared on his face. Xinran soon raised her beautiful face toward the sky as those blood-red eyes stared at all the heavenly bodies arrayed in it. Her lips curved up into a smile as she started chanting her spell. "O¡¯ great lord of Purgatory, break the contract of the soul and indulge the desires of the dead! Let the never-ending cycle of reincarnation of hell come to a pause! Fresh sacrifices have already been prepared, so I, the Wind Singer, beseech you! Purgatory Reincarnation¡ªResurrection!" The earth rumbled and cracked apart as a huge blood-red hand stretched out from Hell and grabbed Mengchuan¡¯s body. Xinran raised her hand and a beam of light shot out of her palm and smacked into the blood-red hand. She repeated the process a few more times before the huge arm finally fled back into Purgatory in an almost resentful manner. The Winged Silver Dragon descended from the skies. As it beat its wings, it threw several bisons and large lizards down to the hole in the ground. These magic beasts squealed as they fell into hell. Those must be the fresh sacrifices that Xinran had mentioned. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... A response echoed out from the purgatory and beams of blood-colored energy shot into the sky and gradually engulfed Mengchuan¡¯s corpse. In the next instant, flesh actually started to grow on Mengchuan¡¯s withered bones, and his bones themselves were being transformed! Even though the process looked quite gruesome, it was a good sign that his resurrection was going well! A long time later, Mengchuan¡¯s body finally finished reconstituting itself. Strong muscles rippled across his frame as new skin stretched out over it. His face regained the color a living person had and his rejuvenated features looked as sharp as a blade. His eyes were solemn and determined and he had a full head of long golden hair. But Xinran wasn¡¯t done yet. She did not only resurrect Mengchuan, she had even prepared a full suit of weapons and armor! Whoosh, whoosh... A gray longsword fell to the ground and landed right in front of Mengchuan. A full suit of ebon armor also followed right after. What came next was even more outrageous. An undead skeleton horse wreathed in purple flames actually fell to the ground as well. Mengchuan¡¯s eyes were full of shock as he slowly changed into his new armor. He grasped the handle of the gray longsword as he leapt onto the back of the skeletal horse. As he raised his longsword in the air, it gave a long whinny as if to vent ten thousand years of rage and frustration. Thud! Mengchuan leapt off his new mount and fell to his knees in a show of devotion. He said, "Lord Wind Singer, I am yours to wield as you see fit! There is nothing that I, Mengchuan, can do to repay you for granting me new flesh, but I am yours to command until the end of my existence!" A satisfied smile appeared on Xinran¡¯s face as she said, "Mengchuan, you were originally a fierce warrior who wasn¡¯t the least bit inferior to Thunder. Now that I have given you a new life and raised your cultivation, you need to swear this solemn oath. Swear that you will devote this new life to the protection of all living things in this world! Swear that you will stop the bloody shadow of the undead from eating away at this continent!" "Yes, my lord!" ¡­¡­ A small smile appeared on my face as I whispered to Xinran, "Xinran, congratulations on gaining a fierce general!" Xinran giggled and turned to look at me. After that, she clung onto one of my arms and said, "Big brother, this was all because of your hard work. If you hadn¡¯t accomplished your quest, I would have never been able to lure Thunder out. Hmmm, Xinran doesn¡¯t really have many treasures to give to big brother. But this¡­ well, this might be something that big brother can use¡­" When she finished saying those words, the system notice rang in the air and told me that I had gained a large amount of experience. After that, Xinran presented a large black pearl to me with both hands. "Hmmm, what is this? I asked in a puzzled voice as I stared at the black pearl. "Just take a look and see!" "Uh huh¡­" I took the pearl from Xinran. My eyes immediately lit up when I examined it. It really was something good. Chapter 639: Beiming Xue’s Kiss Although the Purgatory Thunder Beast¡¯s rank was slightly lousier than the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s, it was still incredibly powerful. At the current market, this pet egg would sell for 5 million gold at least. The average person couldn¡¯t even dream of getting such an item. But I had no plans to sell the pet egg. There were many other ways to earn gold, and pets were a rarity at this stage of the game. Currently, most tamers were more or less stuck with useless pets, and anyone who had a Dark Gold Rank boss pet was considered OP. This Thunder Beast was even better than He Yi¡¯s Firelight Mouse or Lin Yixin¡¯s Ice Fox, so I had to consider this carefully! In the end, I decided to give it to one of my dear sisters, Beiming Xue. She was Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ strongest ranged damage dealer, and she could definitely use a powerful melee pet, be it for grinding or PK. With the Thunder Beast driving back the enemy away from her, she would have a much easier time kiting the enemies. I could only think of a handful of players who could escape her wrath. While I was handling the Purgatory Thunder Beast pet egg, I suddenly realized that our Lil Beiming just got three treasures in a row. I eagerly look forward to her growth, hehe! ¡­¡­ Xinran beckoned the resurrected knight captain Mengchuan to her side and promised to make him a commander of the Violet Empire. The man himself looked forward to leading a powerful cavalry once more. The Violet Empire¡¯s goal was to fight against the Night Creatures and protect the land of the living, and Mengchuan¡¯s hatred for the Night Creatures could only be described as bottomless. Naturally, they were a perfect fit for each other. "We¡¯re leaving now," Xinran tilted her head slightly and said to me. I nodded. "Mn. Take care, Xinran. You absolutely must stay safe, okay?" "I know¡­" Xinran smiled slightly before jumping onto the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s back. Then, she disappeared from my view in the blink of an eye. Riding an undead knight and following her on the ground, Mengchuan too vanished from my view in the blink of an eye. Dammit, high-level knights are just too good! I checked my level and noted that my experience bar was 75% full. I was just 25% away from hitting Level 150 now. Once I leveled up to 150, I could perform my sixth promotion quest and gain a mount slot. The day I become a high-level knight is very close now! It was time to go back. I took out a return scroll and crushed it in my hand! Swhoosh! "These motherfucking animals¡­" I thought to myself while squeezing through the crowd. I mean, sure, I myself was thinking the same thing, and in fact I was one of the few people who got the honor to see Beiming Xue in black stockings, but that was besides the point, wasn¡¯t it? Anyway, Beiming Xue was a cold-resistant girl who could wear black stockings even during the coldest of winter and terrorize the people with her beauty. ¡­¡­ I walked up to her and gave her a smile. "Beiming, put away your stall and come with me, will you?" "Okay!" Beiming Xue¡¯s lips curled upward as she put away her stall quickly. Then, she rose to her feet and hugged my arm, saying, "You¡¯re finally here, big bro!" "Yep. C¡¯mon, let¡¯s find somewhere quieter." "Okay!" And so I led Beiming Xue away under the murderous gazes of the male players. After we arrived at the back of the holy temple, I finally started a trade with her. First, I took out the Dragonbone String. The arc was shaped from the bones of a dragon, and the string was made from the tendon of a dragon. Faint draconic roars could be heard from it from time to time. The glowing bow contained a tremendous amount of power, and Beiming Xue looked overjoyed the moment she touched it. "OMG, this¡­ this is incredible! Big bro, I love you!" Beiming Xue then stood on her toes and gave me a strong kiss right above the chin. Oh, this is bad for my heart. Next, I passed her the Bone Eroding Arrow skill book and said, "This skill book lowers the target¡¯s Defense by 50%. From now on, you¡¯re a super boss killer as well!" Beiming Xue beamed at me and said again, "Love you, big bro! Hehe~~" There was a flash of light, and the skill book was absorbed into Beiming Xue¡¯s body. Finally, I took out the Purgatory Thunder Beast pet egg. Of all the things I was going to give Beiming, this was clearly the best of all of them! "This one¡¯s for you as well, Beiming. You were lacking a powerful pet all this time, but not anymore!" I passed over the Purgatory Thunder Beast smilingly. Beiming Xue shivered and stared dazedly at the egg. She didn¡¯t say anything for a very long time. Then, she suddenly grabbed without warning and dragged me toward the adventurer¡¯s inn. Then, her avatar started disappearing from my view. She logged off?! "Hmm? What is she planning to do?" I exclaimed in surprise. A few seconds later, I heard a "tok tok" sound from my helmet. What the fuck? Who¡¯s tapping my gaming helmet? I hurriedly logged out and took off my gaming helmet. Before I could even sit up from my bed, I felt something soft and fragrant hugging me tightly. "I love you, big bro¡­" Oh no, did Beiming Xue¡¯s love for me finally burst through the dam in her heart? The girl looked wild with joy as she pecked my cheeks again and again. She exclaimed, "A Heaven Rank melee pet! I don¡¯t even know what to say, big bro! How could I possibly thank you for everything you¡¯ve done for me?" I tried to shoot her a glare and say, "Look, you can¡¯t act like this no matter how grateful you are. According to the teaching of Confucius and Mencius, men and women should not touch hands when they give or receive things¡­" But Beiming Xue ignored my protests completely and pouted. "Big bro, I love you so much I don¡¯t know what to do! How about you give me a kiss? If you don¡¯t I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to fall asleep tonight¡­" "..." Seeing that I had chosen to stay silent, Beiming Xue pointed at the room next door with a glint of cunning in her eyes. "If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll tell Sister He Yi that you¡¯re sleeping with Brother Gui Guzi!" "What the fuck!" For a second, I felt like I had been transported back to the time where I met the quirky Beiming Xue for the first time. Our time together had shaved away at the barrier between us, and Beiming Xue had always tried to present her innocent and cute side in front of me. Right now though, her true self had finally returned to the surface. "Fine¡­" I let out a sigh and surrendered. Smiling like a victor, Beiming Xue gave me a nod before looking up at me from my lap. Then, she slowly closed her eyes and waited. Her long eyelashes were clearly shaking with nervousness. I sucked in a deep breath. It should be fine if I just gave her a peck on the lips, right? I didn¡¯t even want to think what would happen if she told He Yi that I forced my way with her or something. So I leaned down and tried to kiss Beiming Xue lightly. However, as if knowing that I would act like this from the start, the cunning girl suddenly hugged me tightly and pushed our lips together. Her small, wonderful tongue met mine eagerly and completely shredded my plan into pieces. The kiss that was supposed to last one second at most suddenly became six to seven seconds long! Beiming Xue¡¯s chest wasn¡¯t big, but I could still feel how bouncy they were as they pressed against my own. When she finally moved away, she looked at me with rosy cheeks and asked, "How was it, big bro?" I feigned calmness and replied, "Not bad. Now go to bed, you." Beiming Xue giggled. "Can you sleep after this though?" "I¡¯ll be fine, I¡¯ll sleep in Eve¡¯s room later¡­" Beiming Xue burst into laughter. "Sure! If you¡¯re really bold enough sleep with Sister He Yi, then I¡¯ll be bold enough to listen in on you two¡­" "Fuck!" I rolled my eyes at her before hitting her once on her perky bum. Damn, it felt as round and bouncy as it looked for sure. "Where on earth did you learn this stuff anyway?" I said in a dumbfounded tone. Still curled up in my lap, Beiming Xue giggled before answering, "Sister Chaos Moon¡¯s the one who taught me this¡­" "Holy shit¡­" My heart sank. Did that woman corrupt our little white flower beyond redemption already? Beiming asked in a begging tone, "Big bro, can I sleep with you tonight? It feels lonely to sleep alone, and I don¡¯t even have a pillow in my room¡­" I stared at her. "Don¡¯t take an inch and ask for a mile, girl. Now get back to your room before I decide that you¡¯ve crossed the line, Beiming!" "Wuuu, fine¡­" Beiming Xue pouted before pecking me on the cheeks one last time. "Good night, big bro! Oh wait, it¡¯s good morning already. Anyway, I¡¯m going back to bed!" "Yeah. Don¡¯t forget to eat lunch with us during noon." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I sighed in relief when Beiming Xue finally left the room. The sooner the devastating imp found her true love and marry, the better¡­ but what was this weird reluctance sitting inside my heart? It was almost like I didn¡¯t want her to leave me. Ahhh, I feel so conflicted! Anyway, my mouth was dry due to Beiming Xue¡¯s antics, so I left my room to get a glass of water. Having found a slice of bread, I ate it, took a bath and went back to bed. I couldn¡¯t fall asleep, however. I couldn¡¯t stop thinking about how I was about to level up to 150 and become the first sixth-promotion player in the entire China. Moreover, I would be able to ride a mount after I hit Level 150. Even my Phantom Wolf King¡¯s growth and stats were occupying a space in my mind as well. My racing thoughts made me too excited to fall asleep. As a result, I picked up my notebook and surfed the internet. The official website was as busy as ever although it was super early in the morning. When I checked the forums, I was surprised to find that it was overflowing with promotions related to Warsky Alliance¡¯s territory. Somehow, Warsky had somehow managed to convince the entire forums to do his bidding. Besides this, there were also some hot news from Vanished God City and Wind City. Candlelight Shadow had tried to take over Purple Lily¡¯s Rank 5 territory by force, but Luo River God of the Capital just barely managed to stop him after joining hands with Peach Garden and other guilds. Both sides had suffered tremendous losses during the battle, and they were currently in recuperation. Stranger of Three Lifetimes from Vanished God City also went through some hard times. Despite her best efforts, Blazing Hot Lips was outmatched by her competitors and lost a territory to a guild that no one had even heard of before. The girl must be feeling pretty bummed right now. At least it wasn¡¯t her own territory that she lost. This incident showed that a lot of powerful guilds had been biding their time in Vanished God City. Heaven knows how many more hidden dragons and crouching tigers are hiding there. Chapter 640: Broadback War Elephan Bang, bang... Someone was knocking on my door furiously, and I subsequently heard Murong Mingyue yell at me like a bossy older sister, "Get up already! Hmph, someone said that he would be working really hard last night, but Luo River God of the Capital somehow managed to become the first player to complete her sixth class promotion! She even got a 3-star Outstanding Heaven-grade staff out of it! Great, just great! Hurry up and haul your lazy ass off the bed! It¡¯s time to eat lunch¡­" I groggily got up from my bed, put on my clothes, and opened the door. I was startled when a fist almost collided with my face as Murong Mingyue had intended to knock on my door again. Fortunately, I reacted quickly and caught her fist with my hand before asking, "What is it¡­ What¡¯s the big deal about the first player to get her sixth class promotion? So what if it¡¯s a Heaven-grade staff? I have no use for it anyway¡­" Murong Mingyue looked at me bitterly and muttered, ¡°But I do¡­" I glanced at her and said, "That¡¯s not advantageous to me in the least. You wouldn¡¯t give me a single cent even if I gave you a Heaven-grade staff. Why the hell do I care¡­" "Hmph, you brat!" At this moment, He Yi spoke up, "Alright, cut it out you two. Go wash up so that we can head out for lunch. Lu Chen, work hard and become the first warrior to complete his sixth class promotion. In the end, a warrior¡¯s leveling speed can¡¯t be compared with a mage¡¯s, so it¡¯s fine." I nodded my head before rushing to the washroom to wash up. Finally, the first sixth class promotion player! This was the beginning of a new era! I wondered what skills Luo River God of the Capital had learned now that she had finished promotion. She must have grown even more powerful! Furthermore, the second Heaven-grade item had finally appeared in the China server, and it was a Heaven-grade weapon at that! The mysterious Heaven-grade items had finally started appearing in the server. This was a good thing! ¡­¡­ We quickly scarfed our lunch down, eager to return back to the game. Wasting no time, we went online immediately after returning back to the workshop. I continued grinding so I could reach Level 150 and attain my sixth class promotion. Meanwhile, Beiming Xue decided to equip her Dragonbone String and train her Purgatory Thunder Beast. He Yi also continued to grind so that she could equip the Blade of the Earthen Soul at Level 145. Swhoosh! I could well imagine how many players would end up bidding on those sets when they hit the market. I¡¯m sure that even players from other cities would come and bid on them! Every guild was trying to create their own ace warriors and this Level 135 Roland Equipment Set would definitely tick most of those boxes. This was especially true for rich players like Pillar of the Nation, Roaming Dragon, and Li Le. Buying super equipment to recruit players was a commonly-used tactic of theirs. Next on my to-do-list was to find a good map to grind in! After thinking about it for a while, I decided that the map that Lin Yixin had brought me to last time, the one that was in the middle of the Dragonbone Mountain Range was a decent map to grind in. With my current stats and the Phantom Wolf King, I could sweep through it without breaking a single sweat. I reckoned that I would be able to reach Level 150 in less than three hours! If so, I should get a mount in advance. I grinned happily as I reopened the auction house interface. I clicked on the Mount Pet Egg filter and set the level range filter to between 130 to 150. After I clicked on the search button, nearly a hundred mount eggs appeared on the results page. The best of the bunch was a Ghost Wolf, a Level 135 Spirit Rank mount, but it was being sold at an utterly ridiculous price! My eyes widened in shock as I exclaimed, "What the heck, what a rip-off! They¡¯re asking for 900000 RMB?! I¡¯m definitely not paying that amount!" I continued scrolling through the list of Mount Pet Eggs until I decided on one which had decent stats and was decently priced. Broadback War Elephant (Dark Gold Rank Mount) Strength: +170 Stamina: +100 Attack Increase: +27% Defense Increase: +5% Attack Speed: +35% Movement Speed: +10% Attack Range: +15 yards Max HP: 8000 Turn Rate: -90% Mount Tenacity: +10% Passive: Movement state cannot be easily interrupted, resistance to ice magic +10% Level Requirement: 125 Reputation Requirement: 10000 ¡­¡­ This war elephant was gigantic, incredibly eye-catching and fulfilled all my Requirements! Furthermore, this Level 125 Dark Gold Rank Mount Pet Egg only cost 250 gold coins. What a steal! I instantly bought out the Mount Pet Egg and a "ding" rang out as the Broadback Elephant Mount Pet Egg appeared in my inventory. I scratched my head in confusion as I tried to figure out why an elephant, a mammal, would be able to lay eggs. Forget it! Only a dumbass would bother thinking too deeply about the game¡¯s design. I left the city and headed past the Sky Mountain Range and entered the Undead Region. Sky City sure had a large quantity and variety of mobs. There were no lack of Corpse Eaters, Cave Devils, and Corrosive Worms in the Undead Region which was extremely advantageous to me. I brandished my sword and charged into the horde of mobs. I then proceeded to aggro a large bunch of them into the groove of a triangular stone wall before I started my killing spree. Boom! Boom! Boom! Burning Blade Slash, Thousand Ice Slash, and my other skills exploded into the group of monsters and I noticed that my Silver Dragon Storm and Cyan Netherworld Divine Dragon were proccing much more frequently. Perhaps this was due to my higher level, but the monsters started dropping like flies as they were ravaged by this skill. Awooo! The Phantom Wolf King raised its head proudly and howled. Brandishing its claws, it landed a swift smack on a Corpse Eater¡¯s head. Turning around swiftly, it unleashed Claw of the Storm readily amidst a group of mobs. I took control over the Phantom Wolf King and released Purgatory Storm every two minutes. I grinned in satisfaction as the tornado wreaked havoc among a group of mobs, effectively killing many of them. I also constantly repositioned myself to protect the little wolf. Even though its health regen was very high, it couldn¡¯t drink potions or use recovery skills like Tenacity of the Dead. Moreover, I wasn¡¯t a tamer, so I couldn¡¯t use the "Comfort" skill to swiftly heal it. This was the only way I could prevent it from dying. I didn¡¯t even bother picking up any of the equipment that had been dropped by the mobs. I was solely focused on killing them. I kept glancing at my experience bar and I saw it slowly inch up every time I killed a bunch of monsters. I had even forgotten about my quest! Forget it, I¡¯ll just continue to grind until I reach Level 150. I¡¯ll turn in the quest later! I glanced at the clock and noticed that it was 4:30 pm. After grinding for about three hours, I had finally leveled up! Swhoosh! I was enveloped by a golden ray as a ringing sound reverberated beside my ear. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have reached Level 150. You have gained one mount slot and attained the qualifications for a sixth class promotion! ¡­¡­ Yes! I get to ride on a mount at last! It was at this exact moment that I noticed a familiar figure in the distance. A smile crept up on my face when I recognized who it was. Lin Yixin was moving toward me, her Ice Fox yipping at her heels. I gasped in shock when I saw that she had already hit Level 147. I had no idea where she had been grinding but her level had risen really fast. She hadn¡¯t leveled any slower than me, so she must have been off doing some high-level quests during this time. "Oh, you¡¯re here too?" Lin Yixin giggled as she urged her Frostscythe Warhorse forward. The Frostscythe Warhorse struck an impressive figure as it trotted forward slowly. Icy armor covered its entire body and snowflakes puffed out of its nostrils with every breath. It was indeed an extraordinary pet. Lin Yixin tilted her head slightly to the side as she glanced at my level. After that, she immediately exclaimed in shock, "OMG! Little Cheat, you¡¯re already at Level 150?" "Mn!" I patted my chest before laughing, "Yiyi, am I powerful or what?" "Have you gotten yourself a mount to ride?" Lin Yixin asked with a soft laugh. "Mn, I found one that¡¯s not too bad! Wanna take a look at it?" "Of course I do¡­" The beautiful girl before me dismounted as she gracefully made her way to my side. She giggled and said, "Quickly! I wanna see Heavenblessed¡¯s very first warrior to become a rider!" "Alright, watch carefully! I¡¯ll become really dashing so you better not fall for me¡­" "You¡¯re really shameless¡­" "God dammit!" "Haha!" I continued to laugh as I retrieved the Broadback War Elephant Mount Pet Egg from my inventory. I clicked on the Mount Pet Egg, dragged it to my only mount space and started to summon the mount! Swhoosh! Six bright shining stars appeared from the tip of my sword and began to spin in a circle. The circle of stars revolved and expanded beneath our feet as a blackhole started to appear at the center of the circle. A trumpeting sound rang out from it as the Broadback War Elephant started to materialize out of its sealed space. I gasped in shock as the elephant was as huge as a small hill! Creases covered its long winding trunk and leftover vegetables were still stuck on its tusks. It nudged his gigantic head-on my arm in an affectionate manner before looking at me with its large eyes and letting out a joyful rumbling sound. Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful eyes were filled with astonishment as the elephant appeared before her. Soon after, she started to burst out in laughter as she pointed at the Broadback War Elephant with tears in her eyes and said, "This pillar of meat is actually a mount?" I grimaced at her words and muttered, "What the heck, can you please not laugh so exaggeratedly. I¡­ I really like this elephant. It adds 170 points to my Strength and increases my Attack by 27%. It¡¯s really quite powerful, you know¡­" "Oh is that so¡­" Lin Yixin curbed her laughter as she nodded her head and smiled. "That¡¯s not too bad! Quick, get on it and take a look!" "Mn!" I only noticed how broad the elephant¡¯s back was after I climbed on it. I looked like a retard riding on such a huge mount. My frown only deepened when I heard Lin Yixin burst out in laughter once more. Wiping away her tears of laughter, Lin Yixin flipped herself gracefully on to her Frostscythe Warhorse. Pointing to a big tree in front of us that was around 500 yards away, she said, "Lu Chen, I¡¯ll race you! The winner has to treat the loser to dinner, deal?" I was at a loss for words and simply stared at her. Without even waiting for my reply, she counted down and started to charge forward. I blinked myself out of my stupor when she counted down and quickly urged the elephant forward, shouting, "Run like the wind! Let me have a taste of your F1 speed!" The Broadback War Elephant started to run joyfully on the open field and the ground trembled with every step it took. I stared at it in shock and gave myself a facepalm looking at her back. What the fuck? Am I running on foot? Lin Yixin¡¯s mount has already reached the damn tree in the blink of an eye!! I smacked the elephant¡¯s ass with my Cyan Netherworld Sword but it refused to go any faster. I reached the designated tree only half a minute later and was greeted by Lin Yixin¡¯s wide grin. "Hehe that grandfather of a mount isn¡¯t bad at all. It moves at the speed of light! It¡¯s no wonder that they say that girls with thunder thighs can¡¯t run fast and are easy to get¡­ Little Cheat, you¡¯ll have to treat me to dinner tonight! Don¡¯t be a sore loser!" I glanced at her pale long legs underneath her legguards and nodded my head. "Alright then, I¡¯ll treat you to dinner. But only if you come in black stockings¡­" ¡°Asshole, what perverted thoughts are you thinking of right now¡­"Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me in exasperation. I shrugged my shoulders and replied, "A five hundred dollar feast will be waiting for you tonight. It¡¯s yours if you wanna come. But for that, you¡¯ll have to wear black stockings. The decision is yours. I¡­ really want to see them though¡­" Lin Yixin contemplated for a long while before biting her lip. She lowered her head in resignation and replied, "Alright then. I¡¯ll wear the stockings. But I get to order the dishes¡­" "Alright, you¡¯ve got yourself a deal. Haha!" I was so excited that I had almost forgotten what I was supposed to do. Hurriedly, I turned to Lin Yixin and said, "I have to go and get my sixth class promotion now. Yiyi, do you want to come and watch?" "Nah, call me once you¡¯ve completed your class promotion! We¡¯ll go out for a meal and celebrate when you¡¯re done!" Chapter 641: Earthfire Realm I let out a smug grin as I looked at the spoils of war on the ground and threw some choice equipment into my inventory. I then hefted my Cyan Netherworld Sword over my shoulder in excitement and anticipation. Yup, it¡¯s time to get my sixth class promotion quest. Unfortunately, my trainer was an undead mage and not an undead swordsman. Thus, I would be unable to learn melee skills of the Warrior class. Ahh, nevermind all that. There surely must be a reward for the first ever warrior player to get a class promotion! My trainer was located at the peak of the Dragonbone Mountain Range, a ten-minute travel from where I currently was. Alright, I¡¯ll just walk there! I urged the Broadback War Elephant forward as I gripped my Cyan Netherworld Sword in one hand. Laughing heartily, I said, "Let¡¯s go!" The Broadback War Elephant moved much faster than I did. Moreover, the elephant added 8000 HP and increased my Attack by 27%. The added stats made me so much more powerful! Having a mount is so much better, I feel like a completely different person! Rumble, rumble, rumble¡­ The ground vibrated as the Broadback War Elephant made its way up the Dragonbone Mountain Range to the peak of the Snow Domain step by step. Its shockingly large footprints left deep imprints in the snow with each step it took. What a goddamn monster. The elephant had an extremely broad back. I could ride on the elephant in any position I wanted to and even do a little dance on it without worrying that I would fall off its back. I continued my journey on the elephant¡¯s back as I saw my destination growing closer and closer. I dismounted after reaching the peak and ran to my trainer, Rinser, who looked so fragile as he trembled in the cold. He noticed me and spoke in a low voice, "My beloved disciple is finally back. Let me see how powerful you have become!" I stared at him and replied, "Trainer, I¡¯ve come for my class promotion. I want¡­ I want to become an even more powerful swordsman!" "Oh, I see..." Rinser¡¯s words trailed off as he scratched his scarred head. After a long while, he let out a sigh and replied, "Pity, because I¡¯m an undead mage specialized in elemental magic. I have nothing to teach you in the field of swordplay. However, you still have to complete the next part of your training. It is then that I will pass you this skill book that I went through great pains to scam from Sword Saint Andrew. But only if I deem you worthy after your training is complete!¡± "Oh?" My eyes lit up when Rinser said that he had scammed a high-level attack skill book from someone called the Sword Saint. Awesome! Tsk tsk! This trainer is definitely better than that Undead Swordsman Suren! "Yes master! What kind of training shall I undergo next?" I asked excitedly as my sixth class promotion was right around the corner! Ding~! System Notice: You¡¯ve accepted the quest [Earthfire Realm Promotion]! (Current Quest Rank: SS) Description: Kill any 500 random players and then return to Rinser. You will then be qualified for the Earthfire Realm Promotion and will trigger a chance for ¡®Great Earth Transformation¡¯. ¡­¡­ Alright! The Earthfire Realm was a completely new system. It was a whole new realm for the sixth class promotion, which sets it apart from the previous class promotions. Players who have reached Level 150 and have successfully gained their sixth class promotion would be able to step into the Earthfire Realm. In that realm, their hidden abilities would not only be multiplied, many other benefits will also be given to them. One of the benefits I knew about included guild rank expansion if the player was a guild leader. The player could sacrifice his or her Reputation in exchange for the guild rank increase. This could result in guild growing to Rank 7, increasing the number of slots to 50000. The very thought of such an army made a shiver run down my spine. It would be awesome if the upper limit of the number of members in the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was increased so much. I would totally be able to form a 30000-strong mounted cavalry! And when that happens, we would usher in the era of riders! I was beyond excited to start the quest. Alright, I have to go down the mountain and kill 500 players. It isn¡¯t a large number, but neither is it a small one. I have the Broadback War Elephant with me. It boosts offensive and defensive capabilities, so it¡¯s definitely doable! I opened up the guild channel and asked, "Hey is everyone grinding hard? Is anyone PvPing right now? I¡¯ll be glad to help!" Li Chengfeng asked in a flabbergasted voice, "OMG, aren¡¯t you busy leveling up? Why are you looking for a PvP session?" Chaos Moon giggled. "Lu Chen is in a bloodthirsty mood. The girls around him probably got him frustrated so he needs to take it out on others. How despicable¡­" I replied gloomily, "What do you mean by frustrated? I have a very optimistic personality! No one can get me frustrated..." Chaos Moon snorted and burst out into laughter. Gui Guzi answered, "Boss Broken Halberd wants to PvP? You¡¯re in luck. Cute Little Naughty just PMed me and said that the eighth subguild was attacked by some guild called ¡®God''s Mercenaries¡¯ in Sky Forest. Even though they have almost a thousand members in their guild, they¡¯re not high-level players. Most of the players are not even Level 120." I rolled my eyes and said, "Are they crazy? How dare they attack our eighth subguild with such low-level players. The members in Little Naughty¡¯s guild are definitely not so weak!" Gui Guzi laughed and replied, "That¡¯s right. But Little Naughty had only brought a hundred players with her to grind while the opponent has almost a thousand. They are currently being surrounded and are unable to escape. I¡¯m forming a rescue team as we speak. Does Boss Broken Halberd want to come with us?" I replied in a low voice, "You don¡¯t have to go Little Gui. Send me their coordinates. I¡¯ll go by myself!" Xu Yang exclaimed, "Damn! Did you get hit on the head? How are you going to solo a thousand people? You¡¯re clearly suicidal¡­" I grinned and replied, "Do you think that a bunch of players that aren¡¯t even Level 120 can pierce through my armor? Hehe. Look at my entire set of Heaven-grade and Earth-grade equipment. Do they look like decorations? Just you wait. I¡¯ll be able to flatten them all on my own¡­" My confidence left Xu Yang speechless. ¡°Alright then¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Soon, Gui Guzi announced his coordinates, which was right in Sky Forest. Going there would only take ten minutes and that place was a 125-meter area densely covered in shadow-rank mobs. It was no wonder Little Naughty and her party would encounter them there. As for why God''s Mercenaries went to attack our eighth subguild, it was probably the thoughts of getting famous getting to their heads. They didn''t dare touch the main guild so they made do with bothering the eighth sub guild. Then they¡¯d probably post screenshots and videos on the official website forums with some ridiculous caption that said "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are nothing much" or something along those lines. I crushed a return scroll and was sent to Sky City. Without wasting time, I instantly teleported to Floating City, the nearest teleportation point to Sky Forest. I gripped my sword and spurred the Broadback War Elephant to charge toward the coordinates on my map. I reached the forest in less than ten minutes and heard combat sounds ringing out in the near distance. I charged toward the direction of the sounds and soon, a large group of densely packed players within the forest came into view. Each of them wore a crimson skull emblem on their shoulder. This must be God''s Mercenaries. They do look like an intimidating bunch. A Level 127 magic knight with a vice leader¡¯s emblem on his shoulder raised his spear and pointed it toward Little Naughty. In a loud voice, he shouted, "Dammit! We¡¯ll show Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls how powerful we are! God''s Mercenaries may be a small guild but we will not let others trample our dignity! Slaughter them all! We¡¯ll let all of Sky City know that we will not stand to be bullied and humiliated by others!" Cute Little Naughty gripped her dagger in one hand, pointed her other toward the vice leader and shouted angrily, "How shameless of you! You¡¯re the one who attacked us when all we did was just pass through this forest. How dare you accuse us of bullying you! Hmph! Does this patch of forest belong to you? How overbearing and hateful¡­" The vice leader smirked and said, "That¡¯s right, God''s Mercenaries has been grinding here for a week! You¡¯ll have to pay the price for stepping onto our property! Brothers and sisters, attack! They don¡¯t have many on their side so we¡¯ll be done with them if we all attack together!" The enemy started to attack as their archers released their arrows and their mages casted their enchantments. Even though the enemy outnumbered them, Cute Little Naughty remained calm and collected. A bunch of our guild members ran to the thicket to take cover but they still couldn¡¯t escape their demise. Arrows and spells rained down on them as they collapsed with a howl. Boom! Galaxy Storm exploded among a bunch of enemies as a few half-health God''s Mercenaries players and they collapsed to the ground and died. The caster was a Level 138 mage, a pretty high level at this stage of the game. Cute Little Naughty clutched her dagger and positioned herself in a fighting stance. She leaped forward and used Ambush + Blade Vortex, instantly killing three warriors with a beautiful combo. Little Naughty had pretty good equipment. Coupled with her impressive mechanics, these low-level players were clearly not her match. ¡­¡­ I had no intentions to watch from the sidelines. I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and grasped the Cyan Netherworld Sword in my hand. I then spurred the Broadback War Elephant and charged over from afar! Swhoosh! The massive war elephant slammed straight into a group of players and sent them flying through the air. The elephant showed no mercy on its opponents and trampled all over them while I executed Burning Blade Slash amid a large crowd of enemies. Glittering light rays popped up as various equipment pieces scattered all over the ground. Bang! Bang! Bang! With a swing of my sword, I unleashed three continuous arcs of raging flames but was momentarily shocked by what I saw. What the hell! My AoE attack¡¯s radius had actually extended to as long as 15 yards! This increase in range is ridiculous! Originally, my Burning Blade Slash could only reach 5 yards in front of me, but now this range was tripled! Mounted players truly were the kings of the battlefield! I wrecked havoc with my Burning Blade Slash as the players from God''s Mercenaries collapsed to the ground one by one. Equipment and bottles of low-level potions started dropping like flies and covered the ground. What a penniless group. My melee skills were long-range attacks now! The Cyan Netherworld Sword was able to release crescents of energy upon enemies within a 15-yard radius. Even when I focused my attacks on a single enemy, other players within the line of attack would also take damage, albeit halved. It was just¡­ awesome! My power had skyrocketed! Given my high Defense and HP, I was like a tiger in a sheep¡¯s pen. My attacks were so powerful that no one dared to come close to me. They were all scared out of their wits and could only stare at me with eyes wide open. "Fuck! Who is this guy? Such powerful attacks¡­" "It¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! This guy is placed 7th in the CGL Hall of Fame! How powerful!" "Dammit all! How did this attract the attention of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ vice leader? How troublesome¡­" ¡­¡­ The numbers on my quest screen increased steadily with each player that I killed. In the blink of an eye, I had already killed 98 players! Alright! Another few more minutes and I¡¯ll be done with the quest! Cute Little Naughty was overjoyed by my appearance. She chuckled and said, "Wow, Big Brother Lu Chen has come to save us! This is great! Let¡¯s kill them all!" Meanwhile, the dozen or so assassins that had been ambushing in the forest started to attack as they sliced through their enemies like hot knives cutting through butter. However, the enemy numbers were simply overwhelming and I had been encircled by nearly a thousand of them! Arrows and magic spells rained down everywhere and I could not avoid getting hit. Devil Piercing Arrow and Dragon¡¯s Roar were the worst as they dealt the greatest damage to me. Even though the enemy¡¯s attacks were not fatal, their constant attacks from all sides caused my health to decrease rapidly. Boom! Thousand Ice Slash exploded amid a bunch of players and one-shot them. The Broadback War Elephant was so slow that a bunch of enemy riders easily outran it and started hacking at it. The enemy numbers were overwhelming, forcing me to retreat as I swung my swords in all directions. "Come at me! Come and kill me if you dare!" As I had expected, a bunch of outraged bloodthirsty God''s Mercenaries players started to charge at me. At this moment, arrows started to rain down on the enemy. What a powerful attack! Pew pew pew! A dozen magic knights collapsed one by one as a string of damage numbers popped up from their heads. Everyone gasped in shock as each number that popped up was higher than 15000. Furthermore, the splash effect of those arrows was also extremely powerful. Oh? Has a powerful archer come to aid me? Chapter 642: Armored Ice Qilin Horse I was momentarily stunned by her appearance and had forgotten about God¡¯s Mercenaries. Luckily, Beiming Xue¡¯s attacks managed to strike fear into their hearts causing them to stop in their tracks. Most of them recognized her and gasped in surprise. "Fuck! It¡¯s Beiming Xue! It¡¯s the Dark Archer Beiming Xue! What¡­ What is she doing here? Is she looking for Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?" "Yeah, it seems like it!" "Rumor has it that members from the workshop that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and From Water created, live in the same house. Could it be true that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Beiming Xue are in a secret relationship?" "It must be true then!" "A friend in my dormitory really likes Beiming Xue. He would be devastated if he knew about this¡­" ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue grasped her Dragonbone Longbow in one hand and ran up to me. Grabbing my wrist, she said, "Big bro, come down. Send this stupid elephant back to your mount space¡­¡¯ "Why?" I asked in surprise. Beiming Xue swiftly took out a pitch-black pet egg from her inventory and said, "I knew you wouldn¡¯t get a mount for yourself so I got you one instead! This mount was really expensive! I had to give a blackhearted merchant from Vanished God City a 3-star Outstanding Earth-grade shield and additional 100000 gold in exchange for this mount!" "Oh? What kind of expensive mount is this?" I took the Mount Pet Egg from her and opened its stats window. My jaw dropped and I was struck dumb by what I saw. Armored Ice Qilin Horse (Earth Rank Boss Mount) Strength: +800 Stamina: +820 Attack Increase: +45% Defense Increase: +40% Attack Speed: +55% Movement Speed: +150% Attack Range: +30 yards Max HP: 12000 Turn Rate: -30% Mount Tenacity: +50% Introduction: An armored horse from the western lands ate the grass which grew on the burial mound of the legendary Qilin. The energy in the Ice Qilin¡¯s blood fertilized the grass and ended up coursing through the veins of the armored horse. It now possesses the extreme speed and toughness of the Ice Qilin, making it the world¡¯s rarest and most precious mount.¡¯ Level Requirement: 150 Reputation Requirement: 240000 ¡­¡­ I continued to stare at the mount info with wide eyes in disbelief before turning my head to the side ever so slowly and stuttered, "Beiming... This is an Earth Rank Boss Mount Pet Egg. How could this be exchanged for a single Earth-grade item? It would have fetched for millions on the market¡­ How, how did you get your hands on this?" I immediately glanced at Beiming Xue¡¯s wrist and noticed that she was wearing Spirit-grade wristguards. She¡¯d actually given up her own equipment in exchange for this rare mount! "Beiming, you¡­" I was overwhelmed by her gift that I was lost for words. Beiming Xue giggled gently. She lifted her head to look at me and said, "Big bro, you¡¯ve given me a lot of things. Can¡¯t I do something for you in return? Besides, equipment can be easily replaced. But the same cannot be said for a mount. I outbid hundreds of thousands of players just for this Armored Ice Qilin Horse. I spent so much time and effort on this so you had better treasure my goodwill, alright¡­" Moved by her words, I walked forward and drew her in a bear hug. I grinned and said, "Mn, I understand. Don¡¯t worry Beiming, I won¡¯t let your sacrifice be for naught¡­" "Quick! Let¡¯s see you ride the mount!" "Alright!" The Broadback War Elephant looked at me with eyes full of sorrow, as if it had already known its fate. A single tear rolled down its cheek as it whimpered, "Master, you¡¯re so horrible¡­" With a swhoosh sound, the Broadback War Elephant disappeared. I only had a single mount space so I had to sacrifice the Broadback War Elephant to make way for the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. Besides, the Broadback War Elephant moved way too slowly! It only gave me an additional 10% movement speed while the Armored Ice Qilin increased my speed by 150%! Moreover, only players who were Level 150 could mount it. This meant that I was the only player in the entire China server to be able to use it! After establishing a blood contract with it, the pet egg started to crack and a black light ray flew straight into my mount space. Similar to the Cyan Netherworld Sword, a dazzling magic circle appeared in front of me when I summoned the mount. A loud neigh reverberated through the forest instantly as the Armored Ice Qilin Horse was born! At the appearance of the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, everyone stopped fighting. Even Cute Little Naughty and the players from God''s Mercenaries in the distance were staring at it in amazement. After all, no one had ever seen such a beautiful mount before. Its entire body was covered in pitch-black barding. Blade-like spikes protruded from parts of the metal armor and the tips of these spikes gleamed with a chilling light. The warhorse had a pair of crimson red eyes which held a fierce glint in them. It had a sharp, blade like horn extending from the armor that protected its head. Its crimson eyes coupled with the horn gave it a vicious and sinister look. As it reared its head proudly in the air, the muscles of its strong and powerful body rippled underneath that metal armor. Its long tail was dark cyan and it resembled a long trail of icy flame when it swished through the air. Frost and snowflakes formed with every breath it took, making it look grand indeed! I had to admit that this Armored Ice Qilin Horse looked extremely cool and imposing! Beiming Xue giggled gently as she coiled her hands around my arm and said, "Do you like it big bro?" I nodded my head quickly and laughed, "Haha! I love it so much! I love you to death, Little Xue!" "Mn, let¡¯s get on!" "Alright!" Putting one foot on the saddle, I hoisted myself over the horse and mounted it. Instantly, energy surged through my entire body, filling me with power. My stats had increased tremendously thanks to the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Purgatory Thunder) Class: Undead Swordsman (Platinum Swordsman) Level: 150 HP: 51190 Attack: 3652~4330 Defense: 4565 Magic Resist: 4110 Reputation: 328900 Tactics: 419 (+344) Luck: 38 ¡­¡­ Such powerful stats! 50000 base HP! If I were to use a Roland Bloodknight Card to increase my HP by another 40%, I would have a total HP of 70000! What an insane number! Moreover, I get to enjoy a hidden attribute of an additional 40% increase in Defense and Attack. My attributes with and without the Armored Ice Qilin Horse are as different as night and day! If I get buffed by both a Famous General Skill and Physique, my max HP will exceed 100000! How powerful and domineering will I be when that happens?! The most important thing was that my attack power, attack speed, and movement speed had been greatly increased as well, and it was to an extent that I wouldn¡¯t imagine in my wildest dreams! I eyed the bunch of players before me with inward glee. I¡¯ll test out my skills on two thousand players from God''s Mercenaries. How dare they even think of touching the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ eighth subguild! Yup, you¡¯ll do just nicely! I¡¯ll use you guys for fodder first! Beiming Xue chuckled behind me and said, "Go on, big bro! I don¡¯t think you need anyone¡¯s help now do you?" She was absolutely right, there were no experts among this group of players before me. If there were a few experts like Farewell Song, Little Piglet, and Lin Bing Dou Zhe hidden within, I would surely be in mortal danger. But with my new Armored Ice Qilin Horse, these guys were but puny insects waiting to be swatted. "Attack!" I raised my Cyan Netherworld sword and charged forward without any hesitation, the Phantom Wolf King following right behind me. I had no intentions of retreating whatsoever as I swung the Cyan Netherworld Sword and unleashed a crescent of bone-piercing sword energy into a crowd of players. The energy exploded heavily among the enemies and tore through armor and flesh. The entire crowd of players collapsed, leaving a pool of blood on the ground. An icy aura surrounded the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and vapor could be seen every time it exhaled. Neighing furiously, it charged left and right, trampling on the God''s Mercenaries guild and their dreams of emerging victorious. A few yards away, the Phantom Wolf King howled and brandished its claws. With three consecutive strikes, it activated Claw of the Storm and unleashed havoc within a group of players. Forget about me, just the Phantom Wolf King alone was enough to give them a painful headache. "Shoot him dead! Hurry up, use your Devil Piercing Arrows to kill him! Devil Piercing Arrow ignores 50% of the target¡¯s Defense! We¡¯ll be able to kill him if the archers all use it on him at once!" The vice leader, a Level 132 mage waved his staff and shouted orders over the group of people. It was clear that he had been scared out of his wits. Thud thud thud¡­ Arrows started to fall on the Armored Ice Qilin Horse like heavy rain but they did not pierce through the mount¡¯s armor. Instead they simply bounced off and did not deal much damage. Even the Devil Piercing Arrow could not pierce through its defenses, dealing only double digit damage to us. With my insane Defense and Attack stats, it seemed as if I was mocking them. I swung my blade and it trembled as I activated a Burning Blade Slash that exploded into a group of magic knights. Lifting my Cyan Netherworld Sword, I turned to face the vice leader and gave him a ranged Dragon Slaying Slash! Bang! Dragon Slaying Slash penetrated through the enemy¡¯s Magic Shield successfully! Before the enemy could even condense a second Magic Shield, I activated Sword Boomerang and hurled the Cyan Netherworld Sword right at him! Swhoosh! The blade was sent spinning through the crowd, wrecking havoc like a tornado in its wake. The Cyan Netherworld Sword carved a straight line through the crowd of players as everyone in its way had been one-shot and collapsed to the ground. The vice leader of God''s Mercenaries was one of them and he died without even putting up a fight. Smack! The Cyan Netherworld Sword returned to my hand and I urged the mount forward. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a resounding neigh before charging forward once again. The Cyan Netherworld Sword glowed brilliantly as I continued swinging my sword left and right, cutting down anyone unfortunate to be in its path.Meanwhile, the numbers in my quest window continued to increase steadily. ¡­¡­ God''s Mercenaries were completely struck dumb by the scene before them. They were a group of nearly 3000 players, and yet, not one of them could stop me. Even without a priest, my health continued to remain above 70% no matter how many came at me. All I did was rely on the Cyan Netherworld Sword¡¯s 10% lifesteal to gain back any health lost. I looked at the numbers on my quest screen and saw that I had nearly killed 500 people in less than ten minutes. I¡¯m almost done with the quest! A large group of players started to appear behind me as I turned my head to glance at them. Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits, and the rest had just arrived to aid me. However, they all halted in their tracks with widened eyes as they looked at the battle situation. Xu Yang shouted, "What the heck! Our boy Lu Chen already has a mount! And it looks¡­ like a really powerful one too!" High Fighting Spirits rolled his eyes and said, "What the fuck. If Lu Chen was wearing silver armor and a white cape, I would¡¯ve thought he was Zhao Yun! Soloing so many at once and killing anything in his path without any thread of fear in him whatsoever. This isn¡¯t PvP, he¡¯s just killing noobs¡­" Chaos Moon sighed deeply and said, "Lu Chen is too horrible. The highest-leveled player of this bunch is just Level 130, and he has crappy equipment too. On the other hand, Lu Chen even got himself a mount. It would be strange if he wasn¡¯t ¡®killing noobs¡¯¡­" Xu Yang¡¯s lips curled up into a grin and asked, "So, should we go help him?" Chaos Moon shrugged her shoulders and said, "We¡¯ll see how things go." ¡­¡­ Once I had reached my kill quota, I stayed my hand and charged out of the crowd. Stopping in front of Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, and High Fighting Spirits, I pointed behind me and said, "I¡¯m leaving these guys to you. I have to go turn in my sixth class promotion quest now!" Xu Yang rolled his eyes and said exasperatedly, "Fuck! What¡¯s the meaning of this? Giving us your hand-me-downs once you¡¯re sick of playing with them¡­" Before he could finish his sentence, a ball of flame flew toward him and landed right smack on his face. The ball of flame left a round patch of soot on Xu Yang¡¯s face and smoke could be seen coming out of his ears. He growled in anger and gripped his sword before charging right into the crowd. I chuckled involuntarily at his predicament. Alright, it¡¯s time for me to turn in my quest. I¡¯ll just get there on my new mount! There is no limit to the strength of the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s legs after all. I¡¯ll be there in fifteen minutes tops! Chapter 643: Frightening Slash When the Ice Qilin Horse reached the icy peak, I could see my teacher, the Undead Holy Magus Rinser, cutting an imposing figure in the midst of a snowy field. As he waved his magic staff in the air, he stared intensely into the sea of snow in front of him. He licked his withered lips as he said, ¡°Ever since the Wind Singer forbade us from harming the living, I have not been able to enjoy the taste of meat. Now that winter is about to come, it¡¯s time for me to store up some food to tide myself over the next few months. I¡¯ve already stored up several sacks of potatoes from Heavenly Medicine Mountain and Chinese skullcaps from the Qilin Hole. Sigh, my tastebuds are gonna wither up and die if these are the only things that I can eat to pass the winter. And I don¡¯t even know when Lord Wind Singer¡¯s prohibition will end...¡± ¡­¡­ I chuckled as my horse trotted toward him. This guy seemed to have a lot of complaints and I briefly wondered if he had asked me to kill five hundred players in an act of petty vengeance. If it had been somebody else other than me, killing those five hundred players really would have been quite difficult. Of course this was without taking into account those despicable scumbags who would go to newbie cities to kill noobs. When the Armored Ice Qilin Horse grew near enough, I leaped off its back and walked up to Rinser. I handed in the mission. ¡°Teacher, I have completed the task that you have entrusted to me!¡± ¡°Oh?!¡± Rinser¡¯s murky eyes shone as he laughed. ¡°Kiddo, you really didn¡¯t let me down! You actually finished this fast. It looks like Lord Wind Singer really does have a good eye. In the future, you will become a powerful existence that won¡¯t be the least bit inferior to a god of slaughter. Come and receive your reward!¡± After Rinser finished speaking the sound of the system notice reverberated over the main cities. Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± for completing his sixth class promotion. He has entered the brand new Earthfire Realm, and he has a 5% of receiving the Earthfire Legacy, which will cause him to undergo the Great Earth Transformation. There is a 1% chance that he will trigger the Divine General system and transform into an invincible Divine General. He has gained the title of ¡°Great Earth Swordsman¡± and as the second player to become a sixth-promotion player, he has received the reward ¡°Cyan Qilin Blade¡±! ¡­¡­ Thunk! I gleefully opened up my inventory and took out the blood-red skill book. When I read the skill description, my lips curled up in satisfaction! Frightening Slash: Use qi containing the power of the divine ghost to deal a frightening blow to the target. Frightens the target and reduces their MP. This skill ignores Magic Shield. Cooldown: 12 seconds. Level Requirement: 150. Class Requirement: Warrior, Magic Knight, Wanderer. Hell yeah, it was an anti-mage skill! And it was a really powerful one at that! It ignored Magic Shields and reduced the target¡¯s MP. If I had to fight a mage in the future, my incredible Attack might allow me to take all of their MP with a single blow from Frightening Slash. And what use was a mage without any MP? Even if mages could consume Magic Consumables to resolve their immediate crisis, if they were hit by two consecutive Frightening Slashes, it would be over. I didn¡¯t think that there was any mage out there who could endure such an assault. After all, the cooldown for Magic Consumables was 120 seconds while the cooldown for Frightening Slash was merely 12 seconds! I¡¯d seen this skill on the forums before. It was the common Level 150 Warrior skill and it was meant to be used together with the Level 120 skill, Barrier Break. That combination of skills would be an absolute nightmare for any mage on the battlefield. Frightening Slash would deplete all of their MP and Barrier Break would end their lives. They wouldn¡¯t even be given an opportunity to use Blink. ¡­¡­ However, there was one thing that really bugged me. Fucking hell! Rinser told me that he had scammed this book from the Sword Saint, but it was a skill that any player of my class could learn once they hit Level 150?! What sort of scam was this?! I glared at Rinser testily as I briefly considered whether I should kick him off the side off a snowy cliff. I continued to talk to Rinser to try to wheedle out some more skills from him, but this dumbass really didn¡¯t have any other skills for me to learn. It was a real tragedy to be a swordsman without a proper swordmaster to instruct him. However, there was nothing to be done. Rinser¡¯s skills in the martial arts were extremely limited. In fact, I could probably be his teacher when it came to martial skills! What could he really teach me? Moreover, my Intelligence was too low to learn the forbidden curses that he knew. That was nothing but a fleeting dream as well. I was quite perplexed by this situation. However, it was good that I still managed to be the second player to achieve their sixth class promotion. Unfortunately, I had been rewarded with a dagger for my troubles. Well, let¡¯s take a look at that dagger first. I opened up my inventory to stare at the dagger that was quietly shining with a cyan light. I waved my hand over it and its shocking stats immediately flew up in front of me. Cyan Qilin Blade (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï) Attack: 950~1295 Strength: +198 Stamina: +190 Agility: +205 Tactics: +47 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 40% Passive: Cyan Qilin. There is a fixed chance of triggering Cyan Qilin Energy Blast when attacking a target. Slots: 6 Outstanding Property: Penetrating Bone. When attacking a target, there is a 100% chance of ignoring 20% of their Defense. There is also 40% chance of trigger Bone Penetrating Strike, which will ignore 60% of the target¡¯s Defense instead. Introduction: When the ancient Cyan Qilin died and fell to the earth, its bones were used to forge a sharp blade containing its power. The result was named Cyan Qilin Blade. Level Requirement: 145 Class Requirement: Assassin ¡­¡­ Holy shit, it¡¯s actually a Heaven-grade weapon! This mission had actually rewarded me with a Heaven-grade weapon! That¡¯s insane! This reward had not let all of the blood, sweat, and tears I shed while rushing to this level go to waste. Even though it was only a 1-star Outstanding weapon, it was still extremely OP! Its attack power was amazing and it would allow any Assassin class player to reach the peak of their potential! If I were Roaming Dragon or Pillar of the Nation, I would probably use this dagger to poach Moonkiss or Farewell Song. However, I wasn¡¯t those two, and given my personality, I¡¯d much rather give this dagger to our own ace assassin. If we can¡¯t even keep our own aces, how would we be able to recruit the aces of other guilds? A smug grin appeared on my face as I took out the Cyan Qilin Blade and called up my friends list to look for Cute Little Naughty. She was the assassin with the highest level in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Level 141, and that was a rare sight. She was the only assassin who could potentially compete with Farewell Song in our guild. Even though her chances of victory weren¡¯t high at all, there was still hope for her to realize her potential! We would slowly nurture her! Honestly, I wasn''t too greedy of a guy, so getting this Cyan Qilin Blade as my reward for being the second sixth-promotion player was pretty good. I had even learned an extremely powerful skill, Frightening Slash, too. It would be quite useful in duels against other fighters. If you managed to hit your opponent with Frightening Slash first, they would only be able to hit you with basic attacks while you¡¯d be able to hit them with skills like Barrier Break and Blaze. That was an overwhelming advantage. Cute Little Naughty¡¯s name was still lit up so I immediately sent her a message: ¡°Little Naughty, are you still grinding with the others?¡± ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re moving to the grinding spot. How can I help you, Lu Chen?¡± Cute Little Naughty swiftly replied. I thought about it for a moment before I asked for her coordinates. After that, I wheeled the Ice Qilin Horse around and flew down the mountain. I traveled way faster than her, so it would be much more convenient for me to deliver this dagger to her. ¡­¡­ After a few minutes of wild galloping, I finally caught sight of Cute Little Naughty¡¯s figure. Her guild was an all-assassin guild, but in reality about 10% of her players were playing other classes. There was a good mix of tacticians, priests, and warriors. It would be way too ridiculous for the guild to really be made up of only assassins. If they ever met a boss in the wild, they would just be lining up to get killed by it. ¡°Little Naughty!¡± I quickly pulled on my horse¡¯s reins. The Ice Qilin Horse had great turning ability, so it stopped right in front of Cute Little Naughty with perfect accuracy. I took out the Cyan Qilin Dagger and simply tossed it into her arms as I laughed. ¡°This fucking system actually rewarded me with a dagger and not a sword! I have no choice but to let you take advantage of me this time. Hurry up and get to Level 145. Once you get there, you will become one of the few super assassins in Sky City!¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Cute Little Naughty¡¯s cherry lips parted in shock and she stared at me with eyes as wide as saucers. She stammered, ¡°B-b-big brother Lu Chen, this is a Heaven-grade item you know! You can count the number of Heaven-grade items in the server on one hand¡­¡± I gave a hearty laughter before saying, ¡°So what? Little Naughty¡¯s trust in me is worth more than a hundred Heaven-grade weapons. Since Little Naughty was willing to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I¡¯m also willing to give her this Cyan Qilin Blade!¡± ¡°This¡­¡± Cute Little Naughty¡¯s face suddenly went bright red as she murmured, ¡°Lu Chen, I heard that¡­ when a guy gives a girl a really powerful item in a game, it means that he likes her and wants her to be his girlfriend. Could it be that you are¡­¡± I immediately blushed as well. After that, I whirled my horse around and escaped while yelling, ¡°I¡¯m not! Hurry up and level, Little Naughty!¡± I heard Chaos Moon¡¯s and Xu Yang¡¯s laughter echo out of the forest. After that, Cute Little Naughty spun around and said, ¡°I need to get to Level 145 as quickly as possible, so¡­ a Level 141 high-damage assassin is looking for a party! Are there any powerful parties that are willing to accept me?¡± Chaos Moon raised her sharp blade and giggled, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll assemble a squad just for you! Lu Buyi will be the party leader! His Purple Dragon is going to be indispensable! Xu Yang and I will be the tanks. Moonlight Stone and Beiming Xue will be the primary DPS. Moon Dew will be the healer. Is this party strong enough for you? We¡¯ll grind in one of the higher levels of the Dragonbone Mountain Range. Hmph, I guarantee that you¡¯ll hit Level 145 in two days!¡± Cute Little Naughty¡¯s face lit up with excitement. ¡°Thank you, Sister Chaos Moon!¡± ¡­¡­ When I was riding on the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, all of my stats were boosted by an incredible amount. I was practically invincible at this stage in the game. As I swept through the enemies with my sharp sword, my Phantom Wolf King savaged their flanks. There was no longer any monster that could pose a threat to me. The Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s stats were laid bare for all to see. 800 Strength and 820 Stamina, that was more than four times what my Cyan Netherworld Sword gave me and it only further proved how important mounts were to high-level fighters! When I checked the ranking system, I saw that a new ranking board had appeared next to the Famous General ranking board. It was the Divine General ranking board and it was completely empty at the moment. However, the appearance of this board presaged the imminent appearance of a Divine General Skill! Damn, Famous General Skills were already OP as hell, so how incredible would these new Divine General Skills be?! I silently chuckled with joy. Heh, there''ll be plenty of opportunities to become one. The official information given already clarified that the first condition to become a Divine General was to become a sixth-promotion player and reach the Earthfire Realm. Furthermore, I was already a Famous General too! Therefore, Luo River God of the Capital and I had the highest chance to become the first Divine General! It was at this exact moment that... Beep! Chapter 644: Awkward He Yi was standing at the territory hall not far away from me. Her mouth fell open a little in astonishment when she saw my Armored Ice Qilin Horse. "Ah, is that¡­" I smiled at her, climbed down my mount and gave its tough armor a pat. "Not bad, right? Lil Beiming¡¯s the one who gifted this to me, hehe. Such a handsome boy¡­" He Yi pouted. "Beiming treats you really well, doesn¡¯t she? I even heard that she gave up one piece of her gear. It¡¯s hard to find sisters like her these days¡­" "Yeah¡­" I sighed. "Oh right, why were you looking for me, Eve?" "Mn, I want to talk about expanding the guild!" said He Yi while pointing at the territory hall. "If the guild leader is a sixth-promotion player and a territory owner, they can sacrifice their Reputation to increase their guild¡¯s size. Lu Chen, it¡¯s all up to you now¡­" "I knew it¡­" "Hehe, come on!" He Yi pulled me into the territory hall and sought out Dark Knight Hero Udal. As expected, I saw a new line when I opened the management window¡ª Guild Size Upgrade: Increase your guild¡¯s rank to 6, accommodate a maximum of 30000 players. Costs 100000 Reputation. ¡­¡­ "What the fuck, one hundred thousand Reputation?" My eyes goggled. "This is a scam! I don¡¯t even have 300000 Reputation points yet, not to mention that I have to save some Reputation to wear my equipment!" He Yi looked startled. "It costs that much to expand the guild? Then¡­ forget it. I¡¯ll do it myself once I¡¯m Level 150." But I shook my head and said, "It¡¯s fine, I can afford to pay 100k. But it¡¯s probably going to cost even more Reputation points to expand the guild to Rank 7, so we may have to wait for a bit." "Got it. For now, let¡¯s get the guild to Rank 6 first so we can accommodate an extra 20000 players." "Alright!" I confirmed the expansion and sacrificed 100k valuable Reputation points immediately! Ding~! Guild Notice: All players, please be informed that the guild rank has been increased to Rank 6. The maximum number of players has been increased to 30000. Please continue improving the guild¡¯s cohesiveness and become an ever-victorious army! ¡­¡­ The guild channel immediately erupted into activity¡ª Li Chengfeng: "Holy shit, you actually can improve the guild rank to Rank 6? Hahaha, that¡¯s amazing! Was it you who did it, Lu Chen?" I replied, "Yes, it costs 100k Reputation points to upgrade the guild. The next rank is 200k Reputation points though, which is beyond even my capabilities right now. I¡¯m going to wait for half a month and see if I can upgrade the guild again." Murong Mingyue: "That¡¯s because you¡¯re a noob. Lu Chen is nothing like you¡­" High Fighting Spirits: "Oh right, when Lu Chen became a sixth-promotion warrior and entered the Earthfire Realm, the system mentioned something about a chance to ascend to a ¡®Divine General¡¯, and a chance to learn the ¡®Great Earth Transformation¡¯. I wonder what those are? It sounds like a player¡¯s ¡®realm¡¯ is incredibly important after they reach their sixth promotion." He Yi: "Yes, the power of realms and domains is really starting to show as our levels increase." Li Chengfeng: "This is truly an era of heroes. I have a feeling that the first person to become a Divine General will have their names written in the official history of Heavenblessed, if not all of them. This is a great chance to spread our name worldwide!" I jumped in the conversation. "Yeah. That¡¯s why you should all work hard to increase your levels. There is a greater world waiting for you here. Of course, you must learn a Famous General Skill first before you can qualify for these benefits, so do your best to become a Famous General, everyone." Xu Yang: "Considering that the Divine General patch is now released, I have a feeling that the chance to become a Famous General will be pretty high. On average, our guild is 3.7 levels higher than Warsky Alliance, 1.6 levels higher than Snowy Cathaya, and 0.98 levels higher than Candle Dragon. What this means is that this is our best chance to add as many Famous Generals as possible to our ranks, and it¡¯s critical that we do not let go of this opportunity because Famous General Skills are the biggest contributing factor to a guild¡¯s power right now." Murong Mingyue burst into a giggle. "Yeah, Xu Yang finally said something good for once. As he says, the number of Famous Generals a guild has is critical to its success right now, and the ascension rate will probably be much higher than usual for the next couple days. High-level players, this is your chance to become Famous Generals!" Gui Guzi: "Yes, we definitely should increase our levels as much as possible!" The Undying Knight had popped in without warning, so I asked, "What are you doing right now, Little Gui?" "Chaos Moon asked me to powerlevel Cute Little Naughty¡­" Gui Guzi lamented. It sounded like he had no way of refusing Chaos Moon at all. I didn¡¯t say anything, however. It would be troublesome if Chaos Moon asked me to powerlevel Cute Little Naughty as well. After all, I had a dinner date with Lin Yixin later. She said she would be wearing black stockings tonight... ¡­¡­ I checked the auction house again as excitement brewed inside my heart. Already, the Roland equipment sets I had consigned were climbing up the price levels. The earnings would be more than enough to treat Lin Yixin to a table full of expensive dishes! After I decided that it was time to take a break, I went to Sky City and purchased all kinds of food ingredients and herbs. Then, I cooked until I finally reached Rank 9 Spirit Cooking. Rank 9 Saint Spirit Potion was incredible in that it restored 6000 HP and 3000 MP. It was definitely the kind of stuff you stocked up on for boss fights or PvP. It would be even better if I could mass produce Saint Spirit Potions to sell them¡ªI could imagine how well they would sell already¡ªunfortunately though, the herb required to produce the Saint Spirit Potion was too difficult to gather. For now, I could only make enough to satisfy my own demand. I waited until it was past 5 pm before I messaged Lin Yixin: "I¡¯m logging off now. Should I fetch you at the university entrance?" "Mn, I¡¯ll come out in 30 minutes!" "Remember to wear that, okay?" "I know, bastard¡­" The avatar in the dialog window was very small, but I could still see that Lin Yixin¡¯s cheeks were bright red. I wasn¡¯t sure if she wore something like this in the past, but after all my nagging she had to wear it for tonight¡¯s dinner at least. I checked the time and noted that it was probably time to head out. I sent the girls of the workshop a message each¡ª To He Yi: "Eve, I¡¯m having dinner with our ally tonight¡­" To Murong Mingyue: "I won¡¯t be having dinner in the house tonight!" And to Beiming Xue: "Big bro¡¯s heading out tonight, don¡¯t wait for me with dinner." The content of the messages were more or less the same, but the replies I got were completely different¡ª He Yi: "Got it. Come home soon and don¡¯t make us worried, okay?" Murong Mingyue: "It¡¯s a date with Beauty Lin, right? Make sure you use protection, hehe¡­" Beiming Xue: "See you later~~" ¡­¡­ I logged out, put on my clothes, and rushed out of the apartment like the wind. Now that I thought about it, it had been a long time since I ate dinner with Lin Yixin. More accurately, I hadn¡¯t even seen her in real life since the condom incident. I stepped down on the gas pedal of my X12 and vroomed all the way to Suzhou University. Then, I got out of my car, stood up straight, and stared at the gate with shiny eyes. I couldn¡¯t wait to see how Lin Yixin was dressed today. I didn¡¯t have to wait too long. Lin Yixin appeared just five minutes later. She carried a coffee-colored handbag and wore a woolen black-and-white coat on the outside. It was so long that the bottom part of the coat might as well be a skirt. As promised, she wore a pair of thin, black stockings that matched up perfectly with her long, beautiful legs. I already knew that this would happen, but this attire seriously looked way better on my Fruit Knife Goddess than those non-mainstream women. For a moment, I completely lost myself in the sight of her beautiful legs until she walked up to me and hit my arm lightly with her handbag. "How long are you going to stare at my legs, you bastard?!" I hurriedly looked up and beamed at her. "Yiyi, you look absolutely gorgeous today!" "Enough with the flattery. Where are we eating tonight? I want to eat somewhere where I can order a lot of expensive food!" "No problem, let¡¯s head to Happy House then. A new restaurant just opened at the garden area, and it¡¯s a high-class restaurant that costs at least 500 RMB per meal for two people." "Now we¡¯re talking." Lin Yixin climbed into the passenger seat and fastened her seatbelt. When she looked at me and realized that I was still staring at her legs, she immediately broke into a sweet smile and asked, "Wanna touch them?" "Fuck¡­" Red-faced from being caught red-handed, I wordlessly started the engine. Lin Yixin pouted. "Hmph, I can¡¯t believe how shameless you are. I¡¯ve never bought any stockings in my life until you asked me to, you know that? I had to steal these from Qingqing¡¯s wardrobe!" I turned green in the face. "The legendary Wind Fantasy stole her roommate¡¯s stockings? Aren¡¯t¡­ aren¡¯t you embarrassed?" Lin Yixin turned even redder. "How dare you mock me when you¡¯re the one who insisted I wear them! I wouldn¡¯t steal them if you didn¡¯t ask me to!" I said placatingly, "Fine, fine, I promise I¡¯ll compensate you later. You definitely won¡¯t be disappointed with tonight¡¯s dinner!" Lin Yixin smiled in satisfaction as she stroked her flowing hair. "Now we¡¯re talking¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ By the time we reached Happy House, it was past 7 pm already. The restaurant was packed full of people, and it took a lot of effort just to find a table for two. After Lin Yixin pulled down the hem of her dress and opened the menu, she started ordering all kinds of expensive dishes. She was delighted, but I was clenching my fists and bleeding inside my heart. If I had the kungfu to poke her yamen point and silence her, I would¡¯ve done so already. I would¡¯ve been satisfied with just a plate of tofu with vegetables and Yuxiang shredded pork. In the end, Lin Yixin ordered over 1000 RMB worth of dishes and left a terrible wound in my wallet. Goddammit, these so-called turtle meat and game meat are so expensive! Still, I supposed 1000 RMB was a cheap price considering the sight I was treated to. After all, not everyone got to see the Fruit Knife Goddess herself wear black stockings. The dishes were served on short notice, and I wasn¡¯t going to let my money go to waste. In less than half an hour, we cleared out the table like a pair of ravenous tornadoes. "Waiter, bill please!" I beckoned a waitress. "Sir, your bill is 1314 RMB¡­" "Damn, that¡¯s a lot!" My heart ached as I tried to dig out my money from my pocket. However, I wasn¡¯t able to do so even after half a minute. God dammit, why does that thing keep entering my palm?! "What are you doing?" Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t bear it any longer. "Is your money scalding hot or something? Just put it all on the table and count them one by one!" I stared at her. "You sure about this?" "Sure!" "You said it!" I hardened my determination and put all the contents of my pocket on the table. A second later, the waitress burst into a giggle. It was because there was a pack of blue-colored, Durex-brand condoms stuck between my cash, car key, and bank cards. It was of course the same pack Lin Yixin had left with me last time. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin immediately turned beet red. "You haven¡¯t thrown it away?" I replied, "Nope." Chapter 645: You’re Not Allowed to Make Me Cry Lin Yixin¡¯s face turned pale in an instant as she stared wide-eyed at someone behind me. When I slowly turned around and looked up, I saw a middle-aged man in a western suit. I knew the guy because we met once in the past. He was Lin Yixin¡¯s father, Lin Xiao. Lin Xiao¡¯s face was as ugly as you might expect as she stared at the pack of condoms on the table. Seemingly thinking that something unthinkable had happened between us, he shot Lin Yixin a painful look before saying, "It¡¯s true that I failed you in the past, Yiyi, but I never thought that you would decline to this Level. You, you bastard¡­" Lin Yixin shook her head hurriedly. "You misunderstood, it¡¯s not what¡ª" "I know what I saw!" Lin Yixin¡¯s expression turned ice cold when he looked at me. "What did you do to my daughter, Lu Chen?" I didn¡¯t contradict him immediately because I knew that his misunderstanding was at least partially my fault. Also, he was accompanied by three brawny men that looked like his bodyguards. It would be crazy to act recklessly in a situation like this. I defended myself. "Uncle, it¡¯s not what you think. There really isn¡¯t anything between Yiyi and me." "Nothing? How do you explain that thing on the table then?" Lin Xiao pointed at the Durex condom pack. Lin Yixin whined a little and shot me an aggrieved look. She seemed to be blaming me for not discarding it sooner and allowing ourselves to be caught "red-handed" by Lin Xiao. Lin Yixin didn¡¯t back down though. She stared at Lin Xiao and said calmly, "Dad, forget that Lu Chen and I haven¡¯t done anything, it¡¯s none of your business even if there was something between us, is there? I¡¯m 20 years old; an adult with her own personality and dignity. My private life is not yours to control." Lin Xiao seemed a little startled. He didn¡¯t think that his daughter would refute him in such a clever but unyielding manner. Clearly tormented by even greater self-blame, he replied, "Yiyi, I just visited your mother this afternoon. I don¡¯t care if the two of you accept my apology or not, but I cannot accept my daughter dating a dubious man no matter what. How can someone who only knows how to play games possibly be good for anything?" The comment instantly pricked the softest part of my heart. Eyes turning cold myself, I faced Lin Xiao directly and growled, "Bullshit! Don¡¯t you dare slander our dreams with your ignorance! Competitive gaming is no different from competitive sports such as soccer or basketball!" Lin Xiao¡¯s face immediately turned green with anger. "You!" Lin Yixin jumped to her feet and ran up to me before anymore outburst could happen. "Dad, can we please talk about this outside? Can we not humiliate ourselves in front of a crowd?" Her tone was almost begging. I had never seen her speaking to anyone this way. Once her father was gone, Lin Yixin looked at me with red eyes and said, "Why did you contradict him like that, you stupid? Hmph, I¡¯m a fool. You don¡¯t care about me at all¡­" I said sincerely, "You know that isn¡¯t true at all, Yiyi." "You just don¡¯t!" Lin Yixin stomped the ground once before heading outside. I hurriedly chased after her after paying for the meal. Right now, my mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts and emotions. I never dreamed that we would run into Lin Xiao today, much less let him see something as incriminating as a pack of condoms. Maybe this was inevitable, and it was eventually to happen sooner or later. ¡­¡­ A cold wind was blowing outside. Colorful lights swayed among the night. Lin Yixin followed Lin Xiao all the way to the edge of a garden outside the restaurant. She was shivering a little from the cold because she wasn¡¯t wearing much. I walked up to her and put a coat around her. Lin Xiao¡¯s gaze grew even icier because of it. "Dad, it really isn¡¯t what you think¡­" Lin Yixin said in a low tone. She sounded like a kitten begging for forgiveness. Lin Xiao replied icily, "Yiyi, it¡¯s been a long time since we talked to each other properly. Why don¡¯t we sit down and do just that¡­ without the interference of an outsider?" Lin Yixin shot me a look before saying, "Lu Chen is my friend. He¡¯s the one who stayed by my side during the hardest times of my life, not you!" "Never mind¡­" Lin Xiao pulled out a cigarette, lit it and took a deep breath. With his back against us and his eyes staring at the moon on the sky, he said, "Yiyi, everything I did is so that you and your mother could have a better life. It¡¯s true that I might¡¯ve neglected something as a result of it, but I still wish that the two of you could forgive and give me a chance to make up for my mistakes. Now that my businesses at Southeast Asia and South Africa have stabilized, I have sufficient time and energy to keep you both company. Is that okay?" Lin Xiao¡¯s voice sounded deep and powerful. When he turned around though, he touched his temple and said with a tremor that wasn¡¯t there before, "I¡¯m growing old. I would like to keep my wife and my daughter company. I would like to take care of my family. Is that okay?" Lin Yixin pursed her lips and stayed silent. Her hands were clenched into fists around the hems of her shirt. Seeing that his words was getting through to her, he decided to strike while the iron was hot, "For the past month, I¡¯ve been travelling back and forth between the USA, Canada, England and so on with Wanru¡¯s medical report. It was at Vancouver I found a famous neurologist who used to be the good friend¡¯s lecturer. It took a lot of effort, but I was ultimately able to persuade him to treat Wanru¡¯s illness. Therefore, I would like to take Wanru to Vancouver. The treatment process could take up to a month, half a year or even longer. By the way, you should be making preparations as well. I¡¯ve already applied for the transfer for you, and you will be finishing your studies at the University of Victoria." "What? I have to go to Canada¡­" A visible shudder coursed through Lin Yixin¡¯s body. She was as shocked and dazed at the news as she could be. She looked back and forth between me and Lin Xiao before murmuring, "Why¡­ why should I complete my studies at Canada? I don¡¯t want to! I¡¯m staying!" LIn Xiao suddenly raised his voice. "Don¡¯t be selfish, Yiyi! Don¡¯t you want your mother to recover? Dr. Alex said that the chances of your mother waking from her coma is at least 60% or above after his treatment. Are you going to abandon your mother for your selfish desires?" "But¡­ but¡­" Lin Yixin still couldn¡¯t come to a decision. Lin Xiao suddenly glared at me frigidly before growling, "Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re hesitating because of him? What part of him do you fancy? I¡¯ve investigated him, and yes, I know I¡¯m sticking my nose in your business, but I found out that he¡¯s living with three beautiful women right now! Hmph! You don¡¯t deserve someone like him!" My eyes widened, but I couldn¡¯t say anything in defense of myself. Lin Xiao continued to put pressure on me angrily, "I dare you to say that you love my Yiyi. I dare you to say that you¡¯ll care for her from the bottom of your heart. No? Then what can you sacrifice for my Yiyi? You¡¯re just a weak brat you can¡¯t even face your own feelings directly!" "Stop talking already, dad¡­" Lin Yixin cried after saying that. It was the kind of tears I never wished to see on her face. She looked at me and murmured, "I¡¯m sorry, Little Cheat, but I¡­ I¡­" I felt something in my own nose. "Yiyi, I¡­" Lin Xiao said, "Yiyi, you¡¯re still too young to understand love. The reason you¡¯re with him right now is because this emotion seems fresh to you. You don¡¯t really love him at all. When you grow tired of him, you will forget him completely yourself. Come with me to Vancouver, will you? Let us begin our new life there together." Lin Yixin bit her lips as tears poured down her eyes like a waterfall. She suddenly turned toward Lin Xiao and shouted, "You bastard! How do you know I don¡¯t love him at all? How dare you decide my feelings for me?" Lin Xiao shuddered from head to toe. It looked like he had never seen his daughter this angry before. "Yiyi¡­" I called out to her and tried to touch her shoulder, but she dodged away as if she was pricked by electricity. Her eyes were closed, and tears slid down her cheeks soundlessly. Even now, she looked impossibly beautiful under the moonlight. A long time later, Lin Yixin opened her eyes and asked me dazedly, "Little Cheat, you can¡¯t love me and me only, right? You won¡¯t leave He Yi and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, right?" My emotions were a jumbled mess. I thought of He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, High Fighting Spirits and more. How could I possibly abandon them? "I¡­ I won¡¯t leave Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I¡¯m sorry¡­" I murmured. Eyes cold, Lin Xiao said, "Do you see that? This man won¡¯t sacrifice anything for you. There is nothing positive about him. Give it up, Yiyi. He really doesn¡¯t deserve you." Lin Yixin slowly closed her eyes and cried even harder than before. Her delicate shoulders jerked occasionally as tears slid down her soft skin. A long, long time later, Lin Yixin finally opened her eyes again and stared at the swaying grass on the ground. She said quietly, "Thank you for keeping me company for so long, Little Cheat. I was happy; really, really happy that you were there for me, hehe. But I need to go to Canada for my mom. I will be leaving your side for a very, very long time. Please forgive me, okay?" I nearly broke into tears there and then. I was the one who failed her, and yet Lin Yixin thought that she was the one who owed me for leaving so suddenly. ¡­¡­ I looked away just in case my tears broke loose. After controlling the urge to cry, I looked at Lin Xiao and asked, "When are you departing for Canada, uncle? And how long will you be there?" Lin Xiao stared coldly at me. "Why do you want to know?" I murmured, "Yiyi is the most important person in my life. I care about her." Startled, Lin Yixin¡¯s tears started dripping again. There was about 5 meters of distance between us, and neither of us could see each other¡¯s faces clearly. That didn¡¯t stop us from feeling the helplessness and love of the other person. Lin Xiao clenched his teeth once before replying in an emotionless voice, "We¡¯ll be departing in about half a month¡¯s time. Whether or not Yiyi is going to inform you when she leaves is up to you!" I nodded and said, "Thank you." I turned to look at Lin Yixin, and she looked at me as well. A moment later, she gave my jacket a pull before asking softly, "Can you give me your jacket? I¡­ I want to look at it when I think about you¡­" Tears threatened me again as I replied, "It¡¯s a cheap 120 RMB jacket though¡­" Lin Yixin cried again. "You¡¯re not allowed to make me cry, stupid¡­" ¡­¡­ In the end, Lin Yixin left with Lin Xiao. They would be departing to Canada in half a month¡¯s time, and I couldn¡¯t do anything to stop them. For one, I had no ground to stop Lin Xiao at all. Lin Yixin gave up almost everything so that her mother could recover. I couldn¡¯t possibly become an obstacle in her path. Standing in the frigid wind, a wave of sorrow and helplessness assaulted me as Lin Xiao¡¯s car shrank from view. "Du du¡­" Suddenly, my phone rang. Xu Yang was the one who called me. "Lu Chen, a Vassal Token just dropped for Li! We¡¯re planning to use it for revenge and launch a raid on Hall of Immortality tomorrow at 10 am sharp, so prepare yourself. Everyone will be in higher spirits with you around!" I clenched my fists tightly. "Got it!" Chapter 646: Raiding Hall of Immortality I knew this, but I still couldn¡¯t help but feel regretful toward Lin Yixin. I grabbed my phone, found Lin Yixin¡¯s name and composed a message: "Yiyi, I won¡¯t give up on you!" I hesitated for a moment. It took me nearly two minutes to finally harden my determination and click the send button. The message was sent a few seconds later. "Ugh¡­" I leaned against my seat and felt incredibly exhausted all of a sudden. I waited for a long time for Lin Yixin to reply to me, but the message never came. Lin Xiao must be stopping her from replying to me, and I couldn¡¯t help but think about the worst because of it. Every time I considered the possibility that the Fruit Knife Goddess might disappear from my life, my heart hurt like someone had twisted a knife in it. Would I be sad if I couldn¡¯t see Lin Yixin again? I think I will. I started my car and drove away. It was at this moment I heard my phone beep. It was none other than a message from Lin Yixin. "I won¡¯t give up either, Little Cheat, so don¡¯t forget about me. Remember me." I replied, "I will." Lin Yixin didn¡¯t send me any more messages after that. I supposed there was no need to say anything more than that. ¡­¡­ It was past nine when I finally returned to the workshop. I didn¡¯t log into the game since Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would be launching an assault on Hall of Immortality 10 am sharp tomorrow, and I wasn¡¯t feeling good as a matter of course. I decided to leave tomorrow¡¯s business tomorrow and went to bed early. I closed my eyes and got trapped in a nightmare. It took me a long time before I finally fell asleep. I felt both muddle-headed and uncomfortable. Early the next morning, I tried to send a message to Lin Yixin only to receive an automated response in return: Failed to send message! "What the fuck? I got blocked?" I exclaimed in bafflement. It had to be Lin Xiao¡¯s work again. The guy sure has a lot of power, doesn¡¯t he? Well, there was nothing I could do about this. I should eat breakfast and go online first. I went to the living hall. Murong Mingyue was holding a cup of hot milk when she tilted her head and stared at me as if she could see right through my thoughts. She asked, "What¡¯s wrong, Lu Chen? You look kinda listless." I pursed my lips and replied, "It¡¯s nothing. Last night¡¯s date didn¡¯t go very well, that¡¯s all." "What happened?" He Yi asked with clear concern. ¡­¡­ The girls were shocked by my story. Beiming Xue clenched her delicate fists and said angrily, "That Lin Xiao went too far! He doesn¡¯t have the right to separate big bro and Lin Yixin! This¡­ this is just too forceful¡­" He Yi said softly, "Everyone can see that beauty Lin likes Lu Chen a lot. The reason she¡¯s leaving for Vancouver is purely because she¡¯s planning to treat her mother¡¯s illness, so don¡¯t you worry too much, Lu Chen. She will come back, and if she doesn¡¯t you can always travel to Canada to see her!" Murong Mingyue also smiled a little. "That¡¯s right, it¡¯s just a temporary separation. Plus, if the treatment does work, and Lin Yixin¡¯s mom wakes up because of this, it¡¯s overall a good thing, am I right?" I nodded, but I still felt a little suffocated, so I changed the subject and asked, "How is the guild planning to attack the city? I haven¡¯t thought of anything since I wasn''t feeling it last night. Does anyone here have a plan? Also, I¡¯m surprised that Hall of Immortality even has a city, I¡¯ve never heard about this until just yesterday¡­" He Yi chuckled. "Well, there are a total of three cities in Vanished God City. The first city belongs to Stranger of Three Lifetimes of Blazing Hot Lips, the second city belongs to Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties of Hunting Moon Dynasty, and the third city that just recently spawned belongs to Dirge of War. However, the guild leader of Dirge of War, Transient seemed to urgently need money for something, so he ultimately sold the territory to Hall of Immortality for 40 million gold. That was how that retard Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch ultimately satisfied his ambition of owning a territory, hmph hmph. However, the territory transfer was completed the day before yesterday, and Li Chengfeng got the Vassal Token yesterday. It¡¯s a mighty wonderful coincidence, don¡¯t you think? Hehe¡­" I burst out in laughter. "Man, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch is seriously unlucky. Of all the timing he could obtain a territory, he chose the one that was practically suicide. Oh right, what was the arrangement regarding the Vassal Token?" Murong Mingyue replied, "Li Chengfeng listened to our suggestion and gave the Vassal Token to Come See The Snow Tonight of Vanished God City. We will be joining forces with Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng to attack the rank 3 city, and the ownership will go to Baidicheng if we succeed. Speaking of which, we are already allied with Baidicheng. This means that we now have two reliable allies in Vanished God City, Momo of Blazing Hot Lips and Come See The Snow Tonight of Baidicheng. For us, this is an act of diplomacy and our first revenge against Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker and Rose of the Holy Domain!" I nodded while chomping at the bread in my hand. "Sounds great. I can¡¯t wait for us to go online and conquer the shit out of their city, hmph hmph!" "Yep, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is going to make their name in Vanished God City very soon!" He Yi said brightly, "After you expanded the guild last night, we burned the midnight oil to transfer the highest-leveled players of the subguilds to the main guild, and set up new recruitment spots at all three major cities. As a result, we were able to fill up every slot in the main guild at the cost of just a tiny bit of average Level. Moreover, the size of our cavalry troops has increased drastically, and we now have over 17k fighters in the main guild! At least 10k of them are made up of wanderers and magic knights!" The amazing news caused my blood to boil up in excitement. "Very well! Our riders shall thunder across the soil of Vanished God City! Let us show the retards from Hall of Immortality that we are no pushover, and that we will exact frenzied revenge upon all those who dares to seize Dark Moon City!" Beiming Xue giggled. "Yep! After we go online, we¡¯ll teleport straight to Vanished God City. The territory is located at the periphery of Yellowstone Desert and exactly two hours from Vanished God City. It¡¯s a pretty good territory since I heard that the mobs on Yellowstone Desert are between Level 150 to Level 210." "Mn. Let¡¯s finish up quickly and go online!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Yiyi¡¯s coming departure was sitting inside my heart like a blocked vein right now, so I needed some murder to soothe my feelings. Sorry not sorry, Hall of Immortality, but you¡¯re going to be my vent for the day. Swhoosh! The moment I appeared in Sky City, I received a message from a stranger. Surprisingly, it was Lin Yixin. "Little Cheat, dad is watching me real close today, and he even ordered me to delete you from my friend list. Sorry, but I can¡¯t contact you right now. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll kick that old fool away the moment mom wakes up, so wait for me, okay? I¡¯m still here!" I was dumbfounded, but I couldn¡¯t reply to Lin Yixin because her name had vanished from my friend list. I looked at the emptied chat log and murmured to myself, "Mn, wait for me too, Yiyi. I will find you¡­" I gripped the Cyan Netherworld Sword and summoned both the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and the Phantom Wolf King. Then, I got up my mount and trodded across the paved road of Sky City. I drew gazes from both sides of the road because my pet and my mount were too eye-catching even after I hid my ID and equipment luster. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse wore armor that looked like ice condensed from the tail of an Ice Dragon King. It looked quite formidable to say the least. I repaired my equipment and took out some backup Saint Spirit Potions and magic consumables from the warehouse. A fierce war was going to happen very soon, and there was no reason not to give it my all. I even shared my Rank 9 Strength Potions, Agility Potions and Stamina Potions with the core members of the guild because of this. This was exactly the kind of battle these potions were made for. After the preparations were complete, I went to the teleportation formation and paid the attendant an exorbitant amount of gold. A second later, I had appeared in Vanished God City. This was the first time I entered this city, and I could hear a musical tune in my ears. There were also a lot of player stalls around the area. I was a foreigner to this city, so I had no plans of hiding my strength. Still sitting on the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and accompanied by the Phantom Wolf King, I revealed my ID and turned on my equipment luster. Radiant colors instantly burst out of my body as I urged my mount to move forward. A resounding neigh and a clatter of hooves later, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse carried me out of the gate amidst shocked gasps and noisy discussions¡ª "Wah, who was that guy? He looks super powerful¡­" "God damn, wasn¡¯t that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand of Sky City, Lu Chen? Why is he here? Is it because of the territory war at Yellowstone Desert? Who the fuck¡¯s the one who managed to persuade the Little Heavenly King himself to take action? How impressive!" "Uuuu, that¡¯s Lu Chen? He¡¯s so handsome! I love him so much!" "Imma looking down on you, gurl!" ¡­¡­ The Armored Ice Qilin Horse had great movement speed, so it took me only a minute to traverse the city area and enter the forest. Beside me, the Phantom Wolf King was zigzagging between the trees like a red lightning bolt. It was much faster than even my mount. Beep! It was a message from Xu Yang. "Where are you, Lu Chen? Since you¡¯re now a mounted player, it¡¯s time you lead your own party. Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust are already waiting at the edge of Yellowstone Desert, and Little Gui¡¯s exact coordinates are (28901, 10929). I don¡¯t think his coordinates are going to change anytime soon, so head over there!" "Okay!" I accepted the order gladly. I wasn¡¯t present for yesterday¡¯s strategy meeting, so Xu Yang was the one directing the battlefield today. All I was going to be today was a frontline general, especially since Yiyi wasn¡¯t talking to me anymore. I need to kill someone to make myself feel better! Your judgment day has come, bastards of Hall of Immortality! Chapter 647: Contest of Heroes "Phew¡­" My face felt a bit painful as a burning hot wind blew against it. Thankfully, the Armored Ice Qillin Horse was cold by nature, so I felt less heated than I could¡¯ve been. I saw a lot of Level 150+ shadow-rank mobs such as Desert Sand Wolves and Hell Hyenas as I gazed to the distance. They were not suitable prey for me, however. As a Level 150 sixth-promotion player, I had to fight Level 170+ ancient mobs at least to gain enough experience for the next level. Soon, a towering barbarian castle appeared at the edge of the desert where the yellow sands blew. It was surrounded by greenery¡ªmeaning that it was built atop an oasis¡ªso it served as a place of respite and refuge to passersby. It was also the city we were going to raid later, the territory of Hall of Immortality¡ªthe Immortality City! Although Immortality City was just a Rank 3 Barbarian Castle, its remote location made it extremely valuable for several reasons. To begin, it was situated in between the vast northern forests and the southern Yellowstone Desert. A clear, uninterrupted stream of water flowed through the city and supplied it with a rich amount of resources. It was also surrounded by high-level mobs, making it a fantastic leveling map. Its potential was even greater than the human castle Stranger of Three Lifetimes currently owned, the Red Lips Nation. Currently the city was surrounded by players. Some of them came from Vanished God City, some came from Sky City, and there were even Wind City players in the mix. A consecutive series of guild battles had been fought until now, and after just three days of respite, the undercurrents at Vanished God City had caused everyone to stir restlessly again. ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud... The Armored Ice Qilin Horse carried me into the oasis at top speed. Already, I could see a group of cyan-colored fighters directly ahead of me. They were none other than the Cyan Tiger Cavalry led by Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. The number of Cyan Tiger Cavalry had increased again after a moment of respite, and now there were almost 5000 of us. It was an incredibly powerful army for sure. Gui Guzi¡¯s Knight God, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust¡¯s Knight General, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s Flying General, and now my Martial God. A new troop of unstoppable riders was born at this moment, and soon every force in China would learn to fear us! "I heard that something happened to you and Beauty Lin? Showy Cathaya actually refused our invitation to attack Immortality City today," Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun inquired. I pressed my lips into a smile. "Don¡¯t worry, Yiyi and I ran into some trouble, true, but there¡¯s no bad blood between us, and I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll overcome these difficulties very soon. No matter what happens in the future, our relationship with Snowy Cathaya will never change. They are, and will always be, our friends." Everyone relaxed after hearing my assurance. While we were talking, Heaven¡¯s Rain urged her Cyan Battle Tiger forward and circled me once. Then, she asked in astonishment, "Guild leader, is it just me, or is your mount incredibly powerful? Can you show us what its rank is?" I nodded. "Sure, why not?" I waved my hand and brought up a holographic stats screen of the Armored Ice Qilin Horse for about 15 seconds. Everyone who read it went slack-jawed with shock¡ª Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s mouth fell open. "OMG, this¡­ this is incredible. It gives over 800 points to both Strength and Stamina stats! Our Cyan Battle Tigers look like trash compared to it¡­" Gui Guzi nodded in agreement. "Yeah, this Armored Ice Qilin Horse is so stupidly powerful. Lil Beiming traded away her own equipment to get it, right? Boss Broken Halberd, Lil Beiming calls me big bro too, but why is our treatment so different¡­" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun laughed. "How can you possibly compare to boss?" Diamond Dust was also smiling gently as she urged her mount toward us. "Lu Chen is Beiming¡¯s real big brother, and you¡¯re just a fake. It¡¯s that simple." The merciless comments left Gui Guzi dumbfounded. "Damn, I guess I have to work harder¡­" ¡­¡­ I gazed to the distance again. So many players were running around Immortality City and kicking up sand clouds that it became impossible to tell which direction was where. "What¡¯s the battle situation right now? Is it just me, or is someone attacking the city already?" I asked with concern. Gui Guzi nodded and pointed at the walls. "Immortality City is just a Rank 3 territory, but you won¡¯t believe how much attention it¡¯s gotten. Over 40 guilds had come to play just from Vanished God City alone. Although Come See The Snow Tonight¡¯s the one who turned in the Vassal Token, it is theoretically possible to wipe out all of Baidicheng¡¯s players and seize the territory hall while both sides are weakened. Everyone¡¯s looking out for number one, you see." I nodded and gazed to the distance again. To my surprise, I saw a familiar face. There was a group of players behind a small hill. The leader was none other than the guild leader of Hegemon Palace, the Level 137 Pillar of the Nation himself. It had been a while since I last saw him, and the guy was currently decked in a full set of golden armor. Beside Pillar of the Nation was grim-faced Little Piglet wearing a dark cyan battle armor and wielding Hurricane. I looked behind them and saw a seemingly endless swarm of players. There had to be at least tens of thousands of them. It looked like Hegemon Palace was going all out this time. "God damn, Hegemon Palace is here too?" I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. "Interesting, I wasn¡¯t expecting Immortality City to attract this many forces. Did Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch grow a punching bag for a face? It¡¯s amazing how many people showed up the second he got a hold of a territory." Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was holding a flaming blade. The representative of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ wanderers carelessly stepped forward and answered my question, "Originally, Hall of Immortality¡¯s motto was to keep a low profile and hone themselves in silence until the time was right. However, Bloodthirsty Blood Monarch did a one-eighty and offended a lot of people after the territory system came out. Today, there are barely a handful of guilds who haven¡¯t suffered in the hands of Hall of Immortality. Take Zero Pitch Sonata for example. The poor bastards were party-wiped multiple times by Hall of Immortality¡¯s hands, and their guild leader was so pissed that he actually contacted Candlelight Shadow offline and tried to persuade the Martial God to take revenge for them. I don¡¯t know if he agreed to the request though. So far, Candle Dragon hasn¡¯t made a move." The corner of Gui Guzi¡¯s lips curled up as he confirmed his suspicions. "I have the answer to your question. Just a couple of hours ago, Candle Dragon issued a mobilization notice and assembled their men. In fact, they are already on the way here. Of course, Candlelight Shadow is no fool, so he isn¡¯t going to attack Immortality City right away. He¡¯s going to let the chaos run its course for about 5 hours or so before cleaning up the mess." Heaven¡¯s Rain blinked before asking, "But why would Candlelight Shadow want to contest Immortality City? His own territory is Rank 6, right?" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun sneered. "That¡¯s because he¡¯s not here for the territory itself. For Candle Dragon, this was just an opportunity to show off their power, and more importantly, interfere with their sworn enemies, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. If my guess is correct, the second we launch our assault on Immortality City, Candle Dragon will join forces with Hall of Immortality and turn their weapons on us, even if it means offending everyone else participating in the offense!" Heaven¡¯s Rain looked even confused. "But why?" Heaven¡¯s Rain was too young and innocent to understand the intricacies, so I smiled and explained things to her, "That¡¯s because Candlelight Shadow is well aware who his biggest enemies are. They are Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya of Sky City and Purple Lily of Wind City. Since we are participating in this fight, it¡¯s only natural that Candle Dragon would want to use Hall of Immortality as an excuse to fight us. This is a battle between two great powers, and whoever loses will lose their morale and honor." "Oh, I see¡­" Heaven¡¯s Rain didn¡¯t look like she got it, but it didn¡¯t matter. It wasn¡¯t like I was trying really hard to make her understand myself. As long as she could activate Knight General and charge at our enemies, it was fine. Gui Guzi looked at my title for a moment before chuckling suddenly. "Boss Broken Halberd, you¡¯ve completed your sixth promotion and reached the Earthfire Realm. The amount of players you can party with should¡¯ve increased, right?" I nodded. "Right, a Level 150 sixth-promotion Earthfire Realm player can party up to 200 players. Being a Famous General also doubles my party size limit, so I can party a total of 400 players right now." "Holy shit!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s eyes widened. "That¡¯s amazing. 400 people with Martial God buffing their attack power by 200%? There¡¯s practically no party in the world that can beat you, is there? We fourth-promotion Famous Generals can only party with 100 players tops. Your party size is four times ours!" I smiled. "Martial God is powerful, but it doesn¡¯t boost Defense in any way. That makes my party sharp but brittle. Ultimately, it is best to leave the frontal charge to parties who are empowered by Knight God and Knight General, and the flanking to my party. This way, we won¡¯t lose so many men that we become unusable." Gui Guzi rubbed his palm eagerly. "It¡¯s settled then! Boss Broken Halberd, please choose 399 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen to join you!" "Okay!" I rode forward and circled around our cavalry troops for a moment. I made sure to select players with high level, high Defense, and excellent shields to join me. My party had more than enough attack power, so I needed to cover its weakness as best I could. Anyone who was tanky was fine by me. A 400-man party was formed in no time, and after I activated Martial God, a ring appeared beneath everyone¡¯s feet. Out of the 399 players I chose, only a dozen of them were female players. Everyone was excited to fight under the leadership of a sixth-promotion, Earthfire Realm player, especially one who could buff their attack power by a whopping 200%. It was something most of them couldn¡¯t even dream of having. Gui Guzi asked me after I was done, "Should we begin our attack, Boss Broken Halberd? It looks like Come See The Snow Tonight hasn¡¯t activated the Vassal Token¡­" I pointed my sword to the east and said, "Look! The fourth subguild of Hall of Immortality is assembling at the edge of that forest! I¡¯m sure we can catch them off-guard and kill them with zero losses! This is also a good chance for everyone to warm up so they won¡¯t fuck up during the real battle later!" "Got it!" Gui Guzi, Diamond Dust, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and everyone else pulled out their blades and cheered, "Cyan Tiger Cavalry, for our kingly dreams, charge!" Chapter 648: Frightening Slash A ghastly energy spread to my surroundings as I turned the Apparition Ring. I pointed my palm to my side, and my body double took shape beside me. It was of course the Apparition effect of the Apparition Ring. Just like me, it was riding the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and wielding the Cyan Netherworld Sword. The only difference between me and it was that its stats were 25% lower than mine, and it didn¡¯t have its own Phantom Wolf King. Right now my stats were absolutely crazy, so a body double with only 75% of my power was still incredibly powerful. This was especially true for its Attack stat. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to compare it to the incarnation of a godslayer. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the 5000-strong fourth subguild of Hall of Immortality was assembling at the edge of the forest. Columns of riders occasionally rode past their formation. Suddenly, an archer looked behind himself and felt his pupils widening in fear, his expression contorting into deep fright. He shouted, "Holy fuck, Ancient Sword¡¯s Cyan Tiger Cavalry is charging us! We need to assemble a defense line right now! Fuck, those shameless fuckers didn¡¯t even give us a warning¡­" In front of the archer, a Level 142 high-rank magic knight carrying a cyan circular shield on his left arm let out a growl. "Shit! That man riding that black frost horse is the sixth-promotion Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! And there are two of them! This is so fucking stupid¡­" A high-level mage that managed to keep a cooler head than the duo shouted, "No one is allowed to trample on our dignity, even if that person is Lu Chen himself! Get into position and get ready to send him and his riders back where he came from! Warriors, magic knights, wanderers, form a defense line as soon as possible! Mages, get ready to fire your Galaxy Storms! Archers, shoot them with Mountain Stagger Arrow and knock them off their horses! They are just weaklings without their mounts!" It looked like the fourth subguild of Hall of Immortality wasn¡¯t a complete pushover. At the very least, they were able to form a defense line and prepare for our arrival very quickly. The enemy archers raised their bows and got ready to fire their Far Shots at a moment¡¯s notice. As the man leading the charge, I made sure to maintain me and my double¡¯s speed at 50% or so not to step out of our line. It was still incredibly quick though. The captain of the archers read my movement and shouted, "Loose!" However, I was prepared for the enemy¡¯s reaction. I abruptly cranked my movement speed to the max and moved so fast that my figure was a blur to anyone who was watching me. The archers could only watch with stunned expressions as their Volleys, Mountain Stagger Arrows, Devil Piercing Arrows, and more missed entirely. They shouted, "Really? Really now? This Lu Chen is way too sly! Magic knights, wanderers, warriors, watch out!" I activated Charge the moment the enemy frontliners entered my skill range! Swhoosh! I disappeared from my original spot and slammed into the shield of the magic knight right in front of me hard. Size-wise, my Armored Ice Qilin Horse was a whole head taller than the enemy¡¯s mount, but the Strength difference between the two mounts was even bigger. I raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword and fired Thousand Ice Slash right away! Boom! My mount increased my attack range, and Thousand Ice Slash was no exception. The size of the skill was increased by nearly 100% as it splashed down atop the enemies in a cone shape, dealing over 20k damage to all the affected. The archers, tamers, and priests were one-shot where they stood, and even the tanky magic knights lost half their health due to the sheer amount of splash damage they took. They couldn¡¯t help but stare at the bodies of their companions in shock. "Holy shit, what the hell is that attack power¡­" Not far away, a Level 141 magic knight exclaimed in shock while he tried to rush me. All around me, the half-health magic knights also tried to overwhelm me with sheer numbers. If they didn¡¯t act as meatshields for their ranged players, then there was no way in hell they could keep me down. I couldn¡¯t help but smile when twenty or so players tried to surround me. Swinging my sword in front of me three times in a row, three flaming sword auras swept across the group and one-shot them all! Again, my mount had drastically increased the skill range of Burning Blade Slash! "What the hell, this is way too fucking broken!" Once again, the players of the fourth subguild of Hall of Immortality were left speechless by my assault. Behind me, the Cyan Tiger Cavalry finally showed up only to discover I had created a kill zone all by myself. Dumbfounded, Gui Guzi said, "Boss Broken Halberd, can you tone down your OP-ness a bit? You¡¯re going to crush their spirit if you keep this up¡­" My body double unleashed its own Burning Blade Slash and Thousand Ice Slash while Gui Guzi was talking. Before the enemy could react, it ate a Saint Spirit Potion to restore itself to full, pulled its sword and summoned the image of a purple dragon! It was none other than the Purple Dragon Howl! "Roar!" The gigantic dragon merciless tore everyone in its path to shreds. If the Hall of Immortality players weren¡¯t terrified before, they were now. I could summon an apparition of myself every 20 minutes, and it always manifested with all their skills ready to go. What this meant was that I could now make my body double use Purple Dragon Howl every 20 minutes even if its Attack was only 75% of mine. That certainly was enough destructive power to make the Hall of Immortality players cry rivers of tears. Gui Guzi charged into the enemy as Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust rode next to him like bodyguards. Escorted by the girls, he and the other 399 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen in his party hit the enemy and screamed like banshees as if they could shatter the enemy¡¯s courage with noise alone. "Boom boom boom!" All kinds of skill exploded amidst the enemy, but instead of finishing off the survivors the riders kept charging and tore down every player who was standing in their way. At this point, the poor subguild had lost control of the situation completely. It was bad enough that their power was drastically inferior to ours, but they were even outnumbered by us, if just a little. They never had the chance to stop us. The human players weren¡¯t the only ones who were wreaking havoc too. Every time my Phantom Wolf King swung its claws, it would tear apart armor and flesh like they were nothing at all. Occasionally, it would trigger Claw of the Storm and shred the enemy with unstoppable wind blades. It was like a walking signboard that said ¡°living things beware¡±. "Will anyone join me? Archers and mages, let¡¯s focus fire on that pet and kill it first!" a barbarian warrior shouted. He was a team leader, and he seemed to have a bit more influence than the usual lackeys. Behind him, a large number of archers and mages raised their weapons in unison and aimed at the Phantom Wolf King. I immediately took control of my pet and made it howl. A moment later, the sky became darkened by bloody clouds, and the Purgatory Storm burst into existence right at the center of a group of enemies. For a time, screams of pain and death filled the air. ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi was running his mount back and forth through the enemy formation like they didn¡¯t exist. However, a gigantic icicle suddenly hit him in the chest! Bang! 10992! The spell had been conjured by a Level 143 mage called "Ximen Chuixue¡±. We were all caught by surprise because we weren¡¯t expecting to encounter an expert of this level in a subguild of Hall of Immortality. Not only that, the rainbow lights shining from the mage¡¯s equipment made it pretty clear that most of his items were of Outstanding quality. His dragon-like scepter was especially eye-catching. It had to be a powerful mage scepter, or there was no way he could¡¯ve dealt 10k damage to Gui Guzi. "How dare you hit me, you motherfucker¡­" Gui Guzi waved his spear and urged his Cyan Tiger Cavalry to run down Ximen Chuixue, but the mage moved in a unique way that kept Gui Guzi from catching up to him. Not only was he kiting Gui Guzi like a boss, the Galaxy Storm he threw at him dealt massive damage to the riders next to Gui Guzi. Three Cyan Tiger Cavalrymenhad lost their mounts in less than half a minute. Gui Guzi was wide-eyed with anger, but he couldn¡¯t find an opportunity to Charge. The mage¡¯s control was so perfect that there was always a 35 to 40¨Cyard distance between the two of them. Unable to bear the disgraceful sight any longer, I shouted, "Little Gui, go kill someone else! Leave him to me!" "Got it!" Gui Guzi obeyed and moved away. I gripped my sword and slapped my mount once. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a sharp neigh before thundering toward the mage at high speed! "Huh, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?" The corner of Ximen Chuixue¡¯s mouth curled up slightly. "Doesn¡¯t matter who you are, you lowly warriors and magic knights will always be trash before a mage! I¡¯ve been exploring the jianghu for decades, and I¡¯ve never met my match. If I was online during the raid, Hall of Immortality would¡¯ve slaughtered you all already¡­" I grinned. "Nope, never heard of you before. Bye!" Swhoosh! I swung my sword right down on Ximen Chuixue¡¯s head. The Armored Ice Qilin Hose was so fast that the mage simply didn¡¯t have a chance to put his running skills to use. His failure was also partially due to the fact that he was busy slowing down Gui Guzi with his icicles up until a moment ago, so he was driven into a corner in no time at all. That being said, I had to admit he was quite a skillful player. He had calmly stepped behind an obstacle and avoided my attack! Boom! He stomped the ground once, and an inferno suddenly exploded from beneath my feet. The literal fire wall immediately deleted a huge chunk of HP from my health bar! 5990! 5389! 5523! ¡­¡­ Fully confident in his abilities, a smiling Ximen Chuixue continued to kite me calmly while saying, "I guess this is as far as the seventh CGL Hall of Famer and a Heavenly King can go!" "Is that so?" I smiled, and the Ice Qilin Horse abruptly shattered the stone it was standing on. First, I launched two extended basic attacks to cut off the enemy¡¯s retreat path. Then, I used the sixth-promotion warrior¡¯s skill, Frightening Slash! Swhoosh! A purply, ghastly aura surrounded my blade and penetrated the Ximen Chuixue¡¯s Magic Shield in the blink of an eye. Instead of losing HP though, he lost a ton of MP¡ª25792! Very good! Not even the strongest mage in the world could have any remaining MP after this attack! "Ah?!" Ximen Chuixue obviously wasn¡¯t expecting the skill. The loss of all his MP disrupted his original battle plan and stopped him from using Blink to get away to safety. I immediately thrust my sword forward and hit him with a devastating Universe Break! Squelch! 29092! It was a one-shot. Right now, there shouldn¡¯t be a mage in all the servers who could withstand a Universe Break from me yet. Ximen Chuixue was holding a Magic Consumable right in front of his mouth, but he died before he could drink it. ¡­¡­ Pop! A scepter dropped from his dead body. I picked it up and saw that it was a Level 140 3-star Outstanding Spirit-grade item. Now I understood why Ximen Chuixue was able to deal so much damage to Gui Guzi and me. Still, he was dead, so he was no longer a problem. After that, I turned my mount around and joined the others. Ten minutes later, every last member of the fourth subguild of Hall of Immortality had been killed and sent back to their cities. Right on time, Come See The Snow Tonight officially submitted the Vassal Token and started the raid. Just like last time, the system announcement urged us, the attacker, to take down Immortal City in 10 hours! I rode my horse to the city and looked up at the wall. Hands pressed against an arrow tower and eyes staring at me in anger, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch shouted, "Just you wait, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" On one side, the guild leader of Rose of the Holy Domain, Rose Thorn, was holding a sword in silence. On the other, the guild leader of Throne Seeker, Emperor¡¯s Equal, was present as well. It looked like the three guilds had come together yet again. In the end, there was no such thing as eternal enemies or friends in the name of profit. Chapter 649: Shameless Bitch Gui Guzi retorted with a wave of his spear, "Bullshit!" I smiled. "Time to retreat, guys. At any rate, this city will change hands when the day is over!" I turned my mount around and left with the Cyan Tiger Cavalry after leaving behind the ominous threat. It felt pretty great to slaughter the fourth subguild of Hall of Immortality right before Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch, Rose Thorn and Emperor¡¯s Equal¡¯s eyes without them being able to do anything. ¡­¡­ I counted our losses. In total, we lost less than a hundred Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen to annihilate a subguild of 5000 players; almost a flawless assault. It was obvious how much stronger we were compared to them. As we reentered the edge of the forest, we saw a sea of players appearing from behind the woods. An ancient sword was floating on their shoulder. Our main force had finally arrived. In total, our main guild and 10 subguilds added up to almost 100000 players. There were a lot more of us than before for sure. He Yi was clad in a snow-white battle robe and riding the Snow Domain Windchaser as usual. Her weapon was the Level 145 5-star Outstanding Earth-grade weapon, Blade of the Earthen Soul. Not only was she ridiculously powerful and tanky, being a super high-level player meant that her resistances were pretty impressive as well. She was definitely one of the best close-range players of our guild. "You¡¯ve arrived, boss." I rode up to her with a greeting. "Mn." He Yi gave me a nod of acknowledgment before gazing at the city. "Looks like Hall of Immortality is prepared for a siege from the start. Their numbers are high, and there are arrow towers all around the city. This Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch must¡¯ve splashed a ton of gold to build them. Scary¡­" I smiled reassuringly. "Don¡¯t worry, they¡¯re just paper tigers, and it¡¯s not like we have to be the rock that tests the waters. Let¡¯s save our strength and leave the grunt work to the other guilds. We¡¯ll take down the city in one mighty swoop when there¡¯s 5 hours left on the clock." He Yi asked with a smile, "But we¡¯re here to assist Baidicheng, right? It feels a bit disingenuous to just wait around and do nothing." "Not a problem. I¡¯ll help them attack the city." I patted my chest confidently. "I promise I¡¯ll get in and out alive!" Gui Guzi immediately chimed in. "Boss Broken Halberd, let me join you!" "Sure!" Xu Yang said, "It¡¯s a shame I haven¡¯t done my sixth promotion yet, or I might be joining you two!" "Mn!" I also checked the Heavenly Ranking of Sky City in passing. I was still at Level 150, but the second-placed ranker, Lin Yixin, was already Level 149. Clearly, she hadn¡¯t slept a wink last night. "Yiyi¡­" I murmured in dejection. Seemingly noticing my thoughts, Beiming Xue walked up to me and pulled my arm comfortingly. "Don¡¯t be sad, big bro. I¡¯m sure Sister Lin Yixin would very much prefer to be with you if she could. I heard that she, Purple Marquis, and Shadow Chanel went away to complete a big quest. The reason she¡¯s trying so hard to prove herself is because she doesn¡¯t want to be looked down by her father, and¡­ because she doesn¡¯t want to let you down, I think¡­" "She doesn¡¯t want to let me down?" "Yeah!" Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes shone intelligently as she spoke. She then moved closer to my ears and whispered, "Girls are strange creatures, you know. No ordinary girl can be your girlfriend, and Sister Lin Yixin knows that. The reason she¡¯s working so hard is to become a woman who¡¯s worthy of you. Don¡¯t you think so?" I shivered; touched by what Beiming Xue told me. I gripped the Cyan Netherworld Sword tightly and declared, "Beiming, from this point onward, every battle I fight in will be half for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and our dream, and half for Yiyi. I refuse to let her down and become the man Lin Xiao thinks me to be!" "Mn. Do your best, big bro!" I felt much better after my little sis consoled me. At the very least, the gloom and doom hanging over my head didn¡¯t feel as thick as before. Lin Yixin might have vanished temporarily from my life, but I could sense that she was hard at work somewhere. She must be missing me as much as I am missing her, right? ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a figure emerged from atop a hill and ran toward us. His movement speed was amazing, and he was clad in a set of crimson gold metal armor. He wielded a double-edge sword with draconic runes engraved into its body, and ancient runes floating just above the surface. Clearly, it was no ordinary sword. The line of text floating above his head was very familiar to everyone¡ª Legendary Brave LV-148 Platinum Dragon Warrior Guild: Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Position: Corps Commander ¡­¡­ "Hahaha, finally back from your adventure, Li?" High Fighting Spirits walked up to him with a laugh. He looked clearly impressed when he saw Li Chengfeng¡¯s level and clicked his tongue. "God damn, it¡¯s only been two days since we last met! How did you gain so many levels so quickly? You must have completed a super main quest or something, right? Hmm, you changed your armor and your weapon too?" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun walked up to Li Chengfeng and started rubbing his hands all over Li Chengfeng¡¯s metal armor and shoulder armor. "Feels good¡­" Li Chengfeng immediately jumped a few steps backward and said warily, "What the fuck dude, get your hands off me!" The dragon warrior then walked up to He Yi and me and greeted us with a smile. "Sorry for being late, guild leaders. As you can see, I was away for training. Did I miss anything?" I shrugged. "Nah, the battle hasn¡¯t even started yet! By the way, it looks like your new equipment and weapon are pretty good. How good are they?" Li Chengfeng let out a proud chuckle before answering, "I got this 4-star Earth grade chest armor from a black dragon, and the sword was a quest reward. It¡¯s called ¡®Blade of Ghastly Wind¡¯, and it¡¯s a 5-star Outstanding Earth-grade weapon with 1420 max Attack, +30% attack speed, +55% attack power and +5% chance to ignore the target¡¯s Defense. Pretty impressive, right?" Both He Yi and I were stunned by the stats he revealed. This Blade of Ghastly Wind was in no way inferior to He Yi¡¯s Blade of the Earthen Soul, so of course it was amazing. It looked like Li Chengfeng got incredibly lucky during his solo adventure. He was much stronger than before. "Chengfeng, I think you should continue grinding as you¡¯re doing until you¡¯re Level 150. We¡¯re in dire need of powerful mounted players right now." Li Chengfeng waved his sword carelessly. "It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll burn the midnight oil right after this territory war is over. Speaking of which, aren¡¯t you the one who¡¯s slowed down recently? Beauty Lin is about to catch up to you, you know." I smiled helplessly before answering, "There has been some stuff I needed to deal with recently, and I don¡¯t really need to grind higher than Level 150 right now. Also, if I¡¯m lucky enough to learn the Great Earth Transformation, I have a feeling I¡¯ll become incredibly powerful." "Of course. When are we attacking the city?" "There¡¯s no hurry. Let¡¯s wait for an opportunity to present itself." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ And so, the main bulk of our army waited at the edge of the forest while us executives took hold of a high ground to observe the battlefield. Someone was going to lose their cool and take the lead eventually, so we were in no hurry whatsoever. Beneath the walls, we could see a bunch of riders patrolling the area. A short time later, a new army emerged from the distance, and they were all riders. Surprisingly, all of their mounts were earth dragons. Although the earth dragons looked pretty ugly, they were still dragons for sure. "Wow, Mad Dragon did something amazing this time¡­" I smiled. "They actually managed to assemble a group of dragon knights! Look, there¡¯s got to be 2000 of them at least. It looks like they¡¯re aiming to take over the world¡­" He Yi couldn¡¯t stop herself from giggling. "You call them dragon knights? Really?" Li Chengfeng explained, "The mount they¡¯re riding is called ¡®Corrosive Armor Earth Dragon¡¯. Legend says that it¡¯s a cross-breed between a Corrosive Lizard and a Numemon, although I have no idea how it got categorized as a dragon. The reason Roaming Dragon pushed to capture these Corrosive Armor Earth Dragons and make a cavalry troop out of them is because they fit well with their guild name, ¡®Mad Dragon¡¯. In reality, they¡¯re subpar Level 120 Dark Gold¨Cgrade mounts and way weaker than our Cyan Tiger Cavalry. The name is literally all they got going for." Eighteen Steeds You and Yun said while rubbing his palms eagerly, "She looks pretty beautiful though. I wish I could ride her myself!" I shot him an incredulous look. "What is wrong with your sense of aesthetics? That Corrosive Armor Earth Dragon¡¯s head looks like a toad¡¯s! You seriously want to ride something that disgusting?" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun immediately corrected me. "Nah, you got me wrong. I¡¯m talking about Coldmoon Rose." "Fuck¡­" He Yi: "Fuck¡­" Li Chengfeng: ¡°What the fuck!!!" ¡­¡­ With Coldmoon Rose sitting in his lap, Roaming Dragon urged his Corrosive Armor Earth Dragon forward and led his army all the way to the walls. After he greeted a couple of guild leaders whose guilds we couldn¡¯t even be bothered to remember, he declared in a loud voice, "The main guild and 19 subguilds of Mad Dragon are here! We are over 150k players strong, and our Earth Dragon Cavalry makes up a third of that! I see that some of you don¡¯t even have 50k players! Who do you think is the better choice to lead this battle, us or you?" A while later, an assassin guild leader with a pointed mouth and thin face said, "Fine, Mad Dragon can lead the attack. You guys attack the east gate while the rest of us feint or hard push the other gates. Let¡¯s try to breach the city within an hour, hehe! However, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, and Throne Seeker are no slouches, so you¡¯d better be careful!" "Worry not!" Roaming Dragon declared with a raise of eyebrows. "Mad Dragon ain¡¯t no vegans, you know? We¡¯re the 17th strongest guild on the Guild Ranking!" He then turned around, raised his spear tall and shouted, "Brothers and sisters of Mad Dragon! Form your lines, advance slowly, and ready the siege weapons and escalades! We¡¯ll be attacking the east side of Immortality City in ten minutes!" ¡­¡­ Mad Dragon¡¯s 100000-man army started swarming into the empty space on the east side of the city and preparing their assault. Their army was so huge that many guilds automatically gave up the best siege positions to Mad Dragon. Creak¡­ But to everyone¡¯s surprise, the eastern gate of Immortality City suddenly opened on its own. A female knight with a cold expression on her face pointed her sword at Mad Dragon and cried out, "Purple Thunder Cavalry, charge!" The ground shook like an earthquake as Rose Thorn and several thousand Purple Thunder Cavalrymen slammed right into Mad Dragon¡¯s army. Caught completely by surprise, Mad Dragon lost a ton of escalades, catapults, and other siege weapons before they could mount a response. Roaming Dragon¡¯s face was green as he stared at the unstoppable cavalry. "This shameless bitch! She didn¡¯t even give us a warning!" Chapter 650: The Dark Side of Humanity Rose Thorn was the spearhead of her party. Buffing her and her allies¡¯ attack power with Encourage VII, she cut down all the enemies in front of her with Storm Slash and looked more like an invincible, unstoppable general. The 5000-strong elite cavalry she led was also very skilled, and they ran through Mad Dragon¡¯s formation four times before losing just 100 riders. Rose Thorn then ordered a retreat and went back to the city. ¡­¡­ A furious Roaming Dragon screamed atop his Corrosive Armor Earth Dragon for his Earth Dragon Cavalry to chase after Rose Thorn, but Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch on the walls raised his sword and ordered, "Archers, Far Shot these retards to hell!" Twang twang twang twang¡­ The sounds of bow twangs filled the air as a hail of arrows covered the sky. The elite archers of Hall of Immortality were gathered on this front, and hundreds of Volleys, Spiraling Arrow Blades, Multi Arrows, and more drilled holes into the players¡¯ bodies, eliciting countless bloodcurdling screams. Almost a hundred cavalrymen were knocked off their horses upon first contact. Worse, the arrow towers also launched their arm-thick, spear-long steel arrows at the cavalry and dealt even more damage! Thud thud thud... The steel arrows penetrated the riders¡¯ armor and exploded into showers of blood. The Mad Dragon parties who chased Rose Thorn and the Purple Thunder Cavalry to the gate suffered massive casualties as a result. Roaming Dragon¡¯s face turned green as he held his shield in front of him and blocked a couple of steel arrows himself. He was lucky his equipment was good, or that one volley would have been enough to delete him from existence. "Guild leader, we can¡¯t hold on for much longer! If we don¡¯t reconsider our assault plan at length we¡¯re going to lose a ton of people!" Inconstant shouted while raising his own shield. After his general gave him the excuse to back off, Roaming Dragon shouted, "Retreat!" Just like that, the parties attacking the city withdrew. The brief clash had cost them almost thirty thousand players, and the biggest reason behind the loss was undoubtedly Roaming Dragon himself. The idiot wasn¡¯t bad at hiring people, but to ask him to lead his subordinates and fight a virtual war of courage and wits was simply too much. ¡­¡­ Of course, their battle plan was idealistic at best. In a real battle, no one could predict what might happen next. The war horns were blown again after ten minutes or so. This time though, it was the players of Immortality City who blew the horn of assault, not the players of Mad Dragon! Creak¡­ The sounds of rattling chains and creaking gates filled the air for a moment. Shockingly, the east gate, south gate, and north gate of Immortality City all opened in unison. The army at the east gate was still Rose Thorn and her Purple Thunder Cavalry. The army at the south gate was Emperor¡¯s Equal and his Greedy Wolves. Finally, the army at the north gate was Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch and his 10000 Ghost Riders. The Purple Thunder Cavalry charged Mad Dragon¡¯s formation directly from the front while the other two cavalries attacked from the sides. The elite cavalries of all three guilds had emerged from the city to destroy Mad Dragon! Finally realizing what was going on, Roaming Dragon swore loudly, "Fuck! Those motherfucking trash guilds aren¡¯t stopping the army from the north gate and south gate at all! Are they planning to make us fight three armies ourselves!" Some distance away, the guild leader with a pointed mouth and thin face who made an agreement with Roaming Dragon earlier was laughing loudly. "Mad Dragon is 140k players strong, so surely they aren¡¯t afraid of mere tens of thousands of riders, right? Come on, fight them and show us how strong an ally you are, Mad Dragon!" Iron Pardon clenched his teeth hard enough to shatter them. "Fuck! We¡¯ve been deceived! Those fuckers and Immortality City are on the same side! They were bribed by Hall of Immortality from the start!" Inconstant shouted, "Boss, make up your mind quickly! Are we fighting, or are we withdrawing?" Roaming Dragon raised his weapon high and declared, "For the honor and glory of Mad Dragon, attack! If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls could defeat these Purple Thunder Cavalry, Greedy Wolf Cavalry, and Ghost Riders with just 3000-strong Cyan Tiger Cavalry, then we, Mad Dragon can do it as well! Fight for glory, Mad Dragon!" Mad Dragon¡¯s battle preparation was alright, but their overall strategy and deployment were abysmal to say the least. Not only was Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker, and Rose of the Holy Domain attacking Mad Dragon together, even the fighters and archers holing up inside the city had emerged to assist their cavalry troops. Of course, the three elite cavalries probably didn¡¯t need the assist because they were the deadliest troops of the army. The combined assault easily tore Mad Dragon¡¯s formation to shreds. To put it bluntly, Mad Dragon had great numbers but zero quality. Blood and the light of skills filled the battlefield for a moment. The soil turned into rivers of blood as the players of Mad Dragon did everything in their power to resist. Unfortunately, they were unable to stop the enemy¡¯s march, and half an hour later, the main bulk of Mad Dragon¡¯s army was basically destroyed. Less than 20000 players were able to retreat to safety under Roaming Dragon¡¯s guidance. The battlefield was covered in bodies. The storm of blood and death was over for now, but no one could tell how long the temporary equilibrium would last. Roaming Dragon felt extremely defeated, and his gloomy expression was a reflection of that. Inconstant and Iron Pardon consoled him, "Guild leader, victory and defeat is commonplace in military operations. This time we lost because we were deceived by scumbags, but next time we¡¯ll definitely pay back both the principal and the interest! Hall of Immortality, hmph! Fuck their sisters!" Roaming Dragon gritted his teeth and nodded. "Right!" ¡­¡­ Beneath the city, the three guilds spent a short moment to sweep the battlefield before withdrawing back to the city. The main force of Mad Dragon was completely destroyed, and only a handful of Earth Dragon Cavalrymen survived the battle. The funniest thing about this whole fight wasn¡¯t that they lost horribly, but that not a single guild thought to help them during the hour Mad Dragon was trampled. There were at least a hundred guilds in the area who could¡¯ve lent them a helping hand or at least attacked the city while it was empty, but everyone just stood by and watched until the three guilds were done ravaging the shit out of Mad Dragon. It showed just how infamous Mad Dragon was. Roaming Dragon still wasn¡¯t able to accept defeat despite having withdrawn all the way to the edge of the desert. Looking back at Immortality City, he said in a helpless tone, "God dammit, why is this happening? It was 140k vs tens of thousands at most. How the hell did these three guilds beat us so quickly¡­" Iron Pardon hummed for a moment before replying, "Guild leader, our party formation and composition is flawed, and I noticed that our members are too afraid to perform their roles without hesitation. That is why we lost as quickly as we did. When we head back, we really should consider how to improve our players¡¯ morale." Roaming Dragon nodded. "Mn, what you said makes a lot sense¡­" Coldmoon Rose pointed to the east and said, "Look, a new group of players just emerged from the desert. Is it just me, or is their guild emblem familiar to you?" She wasn¡¯t wrong. The group of players Coldmoon Rose was pointing came from Sky City, and they all carried the same guild emblem. "Hmm?!" Roaming Dragon¡¯s pupils shrank suddenly. "Fuck, they¡¯re¡­ Flower Room! That retarded Li Le is here too?" Iron Pardon immediately crossed his blade in front of him. "Prepare for battle!" At Sky City, Mad Dragon, Flower Room, Hegemon Palace, and Gods of Destruction didn¡¯t fight against each other because they all shared a common enemy, namely Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. However, they weren¡¯t allies either. To put things simply, their relationship was so bad that they would¡¯ve murdered the shit out of each other if we weren¡¯t around! It took only a short time for Flower Room¡¯s cavalry to reach Mad Dragon, and they looked surprisingly elite. Every single rider was mounted atop a Cyan Battle Wolf, the mount that had made waves on the forums recently. The Cyan Battle Wolf was a powerful Level 125 Dark Gold¨Cgrade mount, and it was clear that Li Le had been planning this for a while. Rumors said that he and his subguilds monopolized the wasteland to the north of Floating Ice City and grinded 20000 Cyan Battle Wolves to create his cavalry troop. Even I had to admit that it was some impressive effort. No wonder the people on the forums were spreading the quote: ¡°The Cyan Battle Wolves emerge, and the world trembles in fear!¡± Of course, whether or not the quote was true remained to be seen, but I knew for sure that the Cyan Battle Wolf Cavalrymen were averagely skilled at best. After all, Flower Room had always had mediocre players, and all they got going for them was impressive numbers. Our players could be riding wild donkeys and still challenge any adversary without fear. ¡­¡­ Protected by a group of Cyan Battle Wolf Cavalrymen and carrying a flaming sword by his side, Li Le rode up to Roaming Dragon and laughed at him. "Brother Lu Chao, I heard that Mad Dragon suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of Immortality City? This little one is truly sad to hear it!" Roaming Dragon¡¯s face turned green. "You dare delight in my misfortune, Li Le?!" A dark gleam flashed across Li Le¡¯s eyes before he said in a sincere tone all of a sudden, "Brother, we are both guilds from Sky City, so how could Flower Room stand by and do nothing after the horrible humiliation you suffered in the hands of Vanished God City? Don¡¯t worry, I, Li Le, promise that I will take revenge for you! Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch won¡¯t even be able to cry when my Cyan Battle Wolf Cavalry is done with him!" Roaming Dragon was moved by the touching words. "Are¡­ are you speaking the truth?" "Of course! In fact, why don¡¯t you join us on our conquest of Immortality City? Let us defeat those two sonuvabitches, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch and Emperor¡¯s Equal together and claim Rose Thorn as our mistress of the fort!" "Very well!" Blood pumping with passion, Roaming Dragon and his players joined Li Le and turned back toward Immortality City. A large group of Cyan Battle Wolf Cavalry immediately ran over and merged as one with Mad Dragon. ¡­¡­ "Huh, that¡¯s strange¡­" He Yi frowned slightly. "This can¡¯t be right. Mad Dragon and Flower Room have never seen eye to eye, and now they¡¯re joining forces with each other? Something¡¯s weird about this¡­" Chaos Moon chuckled. "Who knows, maybe Mad Dragon and Li Le are fucking each other in secret?!" I shook my head. "Nope, there¡¯s definitely something else going on here. Look at the Cyan Battle Wolf Cavalry¡¯s formation!" "What?" Chaos Moon exclaimed in surprise. ¡­¡­ When Mad Dragon and Flower Room¡¯s players returned to Immortality City again, Li Le suddenly raised his sword and shouted, "Brothers, the time to take revenge for Night Sorrow is now! Murder these fuckers who only think with their lower half!" Clang clang clang! The Cyan Battle Wolf Cavalry suddenly turned toward the center and attacked the remaining Mad Dragon players! Chapter 651: For Lin Yixin The sounds of sharp blades tearing through armor joined as one. Caught completely by surprise, almost a thousand Mad Dragon players were slaughtered by Flower Room¡¯s Cyan Battle Wolf Cavalry immediately. The yellow sand blowing past their cold, dead bodies painted a dismal picture of the situation. Although Roaming Dragon was shocked, he was able to react immediately by punching his spear right through the chest of a Cyan Battle Wolf rider directly in front of him with Barrier Break. He then urged his mount forward and pushed nearly the entire length of his spear through his victim¡¯s body before pulling it out from his back. The kill hardly brought him any joy though, if the expression of warped anger was any indicator. He shouted at the Cyan Battle Wolf Cavalry slaughtering his men, ¡°Fuck your ancestors, Li Le! Why did you ambush us?!¡± Pssh! Li Le¡¯s slashed a Mad Dragon archer across the neck and drew a shower of blood. Judging from the flames surrounding his weapon, it was clearly a high-grade sword of some sort. He turned around to shoot Roaming Dragon a look, smiled sinisterly before shouting harshly, ¡°You¡¯re asking me why? Lu Chao, do you still remember that mixed-race babe Kety from The Way We Were last month? The one you inebriated and had your way with her while she was blacked out? She¡¯s Night Sorrow¡¯s woman, you motherfucker! Flower Room may have to lay low once in a while, but they never forget the humiliation they receive! The fellowship of Flower Room will not endure this transgression, and today¡¯s the day you pay your debt!¡± An archer stepped out of the crowd right after he said this. It was none other than Night Sorrow, one of the three heads of the Ego workshop. They used to work for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, but they left not long after I returned to the guild. Today, they served Flower Room as corps commanders. Night Sorrow¡¯s skill was close to first-rate in the first place, but it looked like he had upgraded his equipment and his level a lot since I last saw him. No wonder Li Le valued him as highly as he did. ¡°Eat this, fucker! I ain¡¯t human if I let you bully my brother for free!¡± Spring Mud also stepped up to take revenge for Night Sorrow. He charged Roaming Dragon before he got close, but he still managed to stun Roaming Dragon because Mad Dragon was sorely outnumbered. His broadsword sliced through the air as he followed up with a Barrier Break! Thud! 13902! It was good damage from Spring Mud considering that Roaming Dragon¡¯s Defense was pretty high. Before Roaming Dragon could recover, the last person of the Ego workshop, Moon Shadow, showed himself and attacked Mad Dragon¡¯s leader. He also used Charge + Barrier Break and dealt 12k+ damage to Roaming Dragon. The guild leader was in imminent peril in just the blink of an eye. Bang bang! Roaming Dragon¡¯s mount tenacity dropped to zero as he abruptly fell off his mount. With less than 20% HP, he withdrew and used Earth Shattering Slash at the same time to drive Moon Shadow and Spring Mud away from him. However, there was nothing he could do to block the arrows from Night Sorrow flying his way! ¡­¡­ Boom! Fire danced through the air as a flaming blade cut in front of Roaming Dragon. It was Iron Pardon coming to his guild leader¡¯s rescue with a look of fury on his face. He shouted, ¡°Guild leader, Inconstant and I will cover your retreat. Please lead our brothers to safety! We can always take revenge on these despicable bastards some other day!¡± Angry but given no choice, Roaming Dragon stabbed a couple of Flower Room archers close to him and made his escape. A mounted Inconstant stayed close to him and protected him as best he could. Coldmoon Rose was dancing through the crowd like an elf and firing Spiraling Arrow Blade after Spiraling Arrow Blade into the enemies. Thanks to Iron Pardon and Inconstant giving it their all to hold back the tide that was Flower Room, Roaming Dragon was ultimately able to break through the encirclement of Cyan Battle Wolf Cavalry and escape into the forest not far away from our current location. Less than a hundred members of his guild had survived, and Iron Pardon and Inconstant just barely made it back to Roaming Dragon. Staring at his generals, the guild leader stabbed his spear into the ground, dropped listlessly to his knees and stared at the blue sky, murmuring, ¡°140000 troops gone just like that. What on earth happened¡­¡± Gripping a blade coated in blood, Iron Pardon said, ¡°Guild leader, it¡¯s natural to win or lose a battle. As long as we keep training our army, we will be able to get revenge eventually. Most of our brothers and sisters have revived at Sky City, so I think we should head back, lift everyone¡¯s morale a little and grind at a leveling map. What do you think?¡± Roaming Dragon nodded and rose to his feet. He took out a return scroll and said, ¡°Alright, time to go home!¡± Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ The remaining members of Mad Dragon vanished in flashes of light. This was how Mad Dragon suffered a terrible defeat and became the first loser of the territory war. ¡­¡­ It was crowded as hell beneath the walls of Immortality City as usual. Li Le gripped his flaming sword and stared at Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch on the walls, laughing. ¡°Don¡¯t think Flower Room will be as stupid as Mad Dragon, Immortality City! We won¡¯t be attacking anytime soon! Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch, do you dare challenge my 20000-strong Cyan Battle Wolf Cavalry with your pissass Ghost Riders?¡± Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch merely sneered, ¡°Despicable trash.¡± Li Le¡¯s expression turned cold, but he quickly withdrew his anger and looked at Rose Thorn instead. He licked his lips and put a smile on his face. ¡°I see that the guild leader of the Rose of the Holy Domain, Rose Thorn, is an unparalleled beauty. What a shame that you associate yourself with brutes like Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch and Emperor¡¯s Equal. What a shame¡­¡± Leaning against a wall and hugging her broadsword, Rose Thorn giggled a little before replying, ¡°Oh? Have you developed feelings for me? In that case, why don¡¯t you and your army join Rose of the Holy Domain as a subguild? I promise I¡¯ll make a special corps just for you. What do you think?¡± Rose Thorn was a deadly woman for sure. Her beauty might be slightly inferior compared to He Yi or Lin Yixin, but what she lacked in appearance, she more than made up for in charm and experience. The way she charmed the soul out of a person¡¯s body with words and movement alone was a skill that only a true veteran of love could learn. Infuriated that his taunt was beautifully countered by Rose Thorn, he retorted, ¡°Hmph, I propose a toast and you insist on drinking a forfeit? Forget that I¡¯m not lacking beautiful women, even if I was, I would never give up Flower Room for the likes of you, hmph! Did you know that Lin Yixin, the Fruit Knife Goddess, is a classmate of mine? Now that¡¯s a woman who¡¯s worthy of my attention! I don¡¯t know how wild she is in bed, but the wilder, the better! Hahaha¡­¡± A look of disdain flashed across Rose Thorn¡¯s features. ¡°Trash!¡± ¡­¡­ Rose Thorn might not be angry on Lin Yixin¡¯s behalf, but I was. The fucker was so loud that I could hear him all the way from here. Clang! I pulled the Cyan Netherworld Sword out of its sheath. All around me, Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and everyone also drew their weapons even though I hadn¡¯t said anything at all. Gui Guzi smiled at me before asking, ¡°Boss Broken Halberd, your decision?¡± I replied in a cold voice, ¡°Kill them all. It¡¯s bad enough that they¡¯re a bunch of treacherous, ruthless bastards, and now they dare slander Yiyi? If they wish to die this badly, then I¡¯ll grant them their wish!¡± He Yi nodded and drew her sword. She pointed at the east side of the city and declared, ¡°We will march in formation toward Flower Room! The cavalry will lead the way while Xu Yang and Chaos Moon¡¯s parties pincer them from two sides! Do not enter within 100 yards of the city, but work together with Hall of Immortality to annihilate Flower Room!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± It looked like everyone knew about my recent troubles with Lin Yixin, they just kept quiet about it. My apparent anger only increased the authenticity of the rumors even more. Riding atop the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and standing at the forefront of the guild, I pointed at the city and declared loudly, ¡°Today, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls declares war on Flower Room for a woman I love so much my heart aches! Will you fight with me, brothers and sisters?!¡± Li Chengfeng laughed heartily and raised his Blade of Ghastly Wind. ¡°You are our brother, so of course we¡¯ll support you! Brothers and sisters, for Lu Chen¡¯s secret crush, charge!¡± ¡°The hell are you saying? Since when is my crush a secret¡­¡± I stared at him dumbfoundedly. Li Chengfeng stared right back. ¡°Dude, stop spoiling the mood and charge already!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I tightened my knees, and the Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a long neigh. That was the signal for me, the 5000 Cyan Battle Tiger Cavalrymen, and all the other cavalry troops of our main guild and subguilds to take off. Right now, the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild was almost one hundred thousand strong, and our mounted players made up one-third of that number. What this meant was that over 30000 riders were thundering out of the forest and charging toward the city right now! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Once again, I created an apparition of myself. The Phantom Wolf King, me and my apparition ran side by side while Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun followed behind us. No one was faster than us. We charged toward Flower Room as swift as a lightning bolt and as loud as a thunderstorm. My vision was shaking violently, but it wasn¡¯t so bad that it affected my assault. It wasn¡¯t until I and the Cyan Battle Tiger Cavalry was right in front of the Flower Room players before they realized what was going on and turned green in fear¡ª ¡°Fuck me, that¡¯s the Cyan Battle Tiger Cavalry of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Why are they attacking us?¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on¡­¡± ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡­ fuck, it¡¯s Lu Chen! Who can stop Lu Chen as he is now?!¡± ¡°What are you waiting for? Protect our back now! Magic knights, you gotta hold no matter what!¡± ¡­¡­ I was the first to pierce through the bodies and detonate Thousand Ice Slash right in the middle of the enemies. Despite facing a large number of magic knights, archers and mages, I charged on without fear while dealing a ton of damage¡ª 19804! 22891! 21029! 47822! Thousand Ice Slash was powerful enough, but those who ate a crit were basically one-shot without mercy. Moreover, my crit rate was around 25% or so, so plenty of magic knights fell to my skill as well. The Phantom Wolf King let out a roar and clawed at the enemies in front of it repeatedly. It triggered the Claw of the Storm and caused a deadly storm to explode in between the bodies. Not only that, I took control of the Phantom Wolf King briefly and followed up with a Purgatory Storm, blowing a huge hole in Flower Room¡¯s battle line in just the blink of an eye! Shocked, Spring Mud walked up to me and shouted, ¡°What are you doing, Lu Chen? Aren¡¯t we both from Sky City? Why are you attacking Flower Room?¡± My eyes turned a tad icier. ¡°I¡¯m killing you for Lin Yixin. That a good enough reason for you?¡± After that, I raised my sword and shouted, ¡°Kill them all! Leave no one alive!¡± Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, and the others arrived at the perfect timing and ran down Flower Room from the front. For a time, the sounds of battle filled the air, and the players on the walls were stunned by the unexpected turn of events¡ª Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch: ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls attacked Flower Room? Interesting. Looks like a dog-eat-dog situation between two Sky City guilds¡­¡± Emperor¡¯s Equal: ¡°Hehe, who would¡¯ve thought that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand would go berserk for one Wind Fantasy? Interesting!¡± Rose Thorn: ¡°That boy¡­¡± Chapter 652: Overwhelming Victory Night Sorrow replied, "I¡­ don¡¯t think they care about that at all¡­" Li Le: "..." ¡­¡­ Boom! Silver Dragon Storm was ravaging a bunch of Flower Room players. The passive skill of the Silver Dragon Ring was an obscenely good fit with my insane attack power. Acting as the spearhead of my guild, I kept pushing forward no matter how many Fireballs, Icicles, Galaxy Storms, and Spiraling Arrow Blades I ate along the way. Maybe it was because I was a sixth-promotion player and entered the Earthfire Realm, but very few players were able to penetrate my Defense. Some couldn¡¯t even punch through my Ghost Deity Armor. As a result, the highest damage number I saw was only in the low 900s. My base HP was 51190. I had drunk a Rank 9 Stamina Supplement earlier and boosted myself by 450 Stamina, or 4500 HP. I also used a Bloodknight Card that increased my HP by 40%. There was also Pure Love¡¯s Physique to account for, which together with my own equipment boosted my HP by another 50%. In total, my total HP was increased by over 90% to 101761 HP, breaking the 100k HP mark. As the first swordsman ever to ride a mount, I had to say that I was pretty proud of my own powerful stats. Speaking of which, Pure Love had also buffed me with Death Match, a buff that increased my Defense by almost 50%. I was basically a moving fortress of war in this battle. Thud thud thud! The enemy archers tried to focus me down, but most people couldn¡¯t even deal more than 100 damage. In total, I took less than 10k damage per second, and that was not nearly enough damage to threaten my wellbeing. The Cyan Netherworld Sword flashed brightly as I stabbed a mage in the chest with Universe Break. His Galaxy Storm was pretty powerful, which was why I had decided to take him out first. The poor guy could only stare at me in shock as a terrifying number popped above his head¡ª67844! Damn, it was a critical hit, a critical hit on a weak point no less! The mage could have +400% health, and he still would¡¯ve died to my attack! That wasn¡¯t all. Thanks to Cyan Netherworld Sword¡¯s passive skill, Blood Rage, I absorbed 10% of the damage I dished out as health and recovered 6784 HP. The warming sensation of healing was always welcomed! "Come on, try your best to kill me!" I laughed loudly as my body count kept rising. He Yi also joined me with Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew in tow, so I was safer than ever before. Flower Room lacked top-tier experts, meaning that there was literally no one in their entire guild who could threaten me! The massacre lasted for ten whole minutes. We pushed deep into the enemy formation and didn¡¯t relent for a second. Behind us, Ling Xueshang, the guild leader of The Monarch Descends, had also come to our aid as well. They had more subguilds than us¡ªaround 20 or so¡ªand their army was 150000 players strong. But instead of joining us on the offense, they simply stayed back and made sure that no one could sneak up on us. Ling Xueshang knew well that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was an unstoppable blade, and as long as someone covered our backs, we could cut through anything and anyone! ¡­¡­ "God dammit, we can¡¯t kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand at all! We¡¯re just wasting our firepower trying to focus him down! Who was the idiot that told us to kill him at all costs?" A Level 135 archer couldn¡¯t help but complain. A Level 137 warrior replied, "Young Master Le¡¯s the one who made the call. What, you got something to say?" "I¡­ fuck!" The title "deputy commander" was removed from the archer¡¯s name tag a second later. Flower Room did not tolerate anyone who insulted their guild leader. Swhoosh! High Fighting Spirits rushed into a crowd and swung his battle axe into a Xiezhi Howl. All the players around him were wiped out by the giant, beastial hurricane that came out of nowhere. He usually wasn¡¯t this strong though, so I suspected that he was buffed by a high-level bard lady! Li Chengfeng was stronger than ever before after getting new armor and a new weapon. It was to the point where he felt less like a warrior and more like a magic knight with super high attack power. Wherever he and his Blade of Ghastly Wind traveled, Flower Room players shied away like terrified chicks. The skills of the dragon warrior were both gorgeous and powerful, so it was no wonder many girls in the guild fell for him. They only wished that they could make him their husband. Bang bang bang... Evil Spirit Volley exploded in the crowd as Beiming Xue darted around with elfen agility. Every time her bow twanged, a Multi Arrow would tear through the air. Her bow, the Dragonbone String, had an added splash effect, so a single hit was all it took to delete a massive chunk of HP from a whole group. Her victims gawped at her and screamed, "Fuck, you call this an archer? This is obviously a cannoneer!" Boom! Stones flew everywhere as a sword beam exploded in a crowd and drilled a long, deep hole across the yellow sand. It was Chaos Moon¡¯s Rock Crush. She was smiling, and the price to see that smile was a certain death. Beside Chaos Moon, He Yi was riding the Snow Domain Windchaser and swinging the Blade of the Earthen Soul left and right. It looked like no one could stop her. "Holy shit, that beauty is Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ guild leader, From Water!" a Level 141 high-level magic knight exclaimed in excitement when he saw He Yi. He shouted to the players behind him, "Brothers, come take out From Water with me! She¡¯s a noob, so we can definitely one-shot her without problems! Cut off the head of a snake, and the body will die!" "Yeah, third brother is right!" A huge group of people immediately surrounded He Yi. A couple of magic knights also charged her at close range. Chaos Moon shouted out a warning, "Watch out, Sister He Yi! They¡¯re gunning for you!" "Oh?" He Yi glanced at her enemies and smiled beautifully. First, she moved her mount exactly one step backward and dodged all the Charges coming her way. Her movement was perfectly natural. Next, she thrust the Blade of the Earthen Soul in front of her and used her new skill, Purgatory of Ice and Magma! Crack crack crack... Five streaks of frozen sword energy surged toward the enemy and hit in a cone-shaped area of effect. Then, lava burst into the open as the ground split in half. The visual effects of the skill were gorgeous enough, but the skill range and the damage it dealt were even more pleasing to watch¡ª 11092! 10239! 12002! ¡­¡­ Every hit dealt at least 10k damage, and the Blade of the Earthen Soul had a splash effect. Therefore, every player that was hit by the skill took over 80k damage in one go. Naturally, no one in Flower Room was tanky enough to survive that much damage, and everyone who was caught by the skill dropped dead in front of a smiling He Yi. "The enemy¡¯s too strong. Run!" A large group of Flower Room players backed away from He Yi just like that, surprising her. She didn¡¯t think that a single Purgatory of Ice and Magma was all it took to burst their courage. Aren¡¯t they a bit too cowardly? But the real MVPs of this battle were the 400 Cyan Battle Tiger Cavalrymen in my party. Buffed by Martial God, they were so powerful that Flower Room¡¯s defense line practically crumbled at the mere touch of our weapons. The Cyan Battle Tiger Cavalrymen themselves had pretty high attack power, but a 200% attack buff on them made them an absolute menace. Suppose a certain Attack is hitting a certain Defense. With tripled the Attack, the difference in damage against the same Defense would be huge, and not as simple as three times higher. That would be the case in any game. For example, if a Cyan Battle Tiger Cavalryman''s Attack was 3k, and the enemy''s Defense was 2k. They would already be doing considerable damage. Now that Martial God boosted their Attack by 200%, the amount of damage they could dish out would be many times higher, rendering their Defense stat nearly void. This was not to mention that we also had Knight God, two Knight Generals, Bow God, Royal Road, Blitz, and Plunder. To make a comparison, it was like an egg smashed against a stone or wheat standing in a way of a scythe. There was literally nothing Flower Room could do but die in a fair fight. ¡­¡­ "Shit, we can¡¯t hold any longer! We must retreat, retreat!" As Flower Room¡¯s morale hit rock bottom, their players started disobeying their superiors¡¯ orders and scattering like rabbits. One Cyan Battle Wolf party who was crushed by a Cyan Battle Tiger Cavalry tried to run toward the city and take the roundabout way to escape. Unfortunately for them, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch raised one hand and shouted, "Archers, Far Shot at Flower Room! Show these clowns what we¡¯re capable of!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! A hail of arrows fell from the sky. The Cyan Battle Wolf Cavalry had great speed and Attack, but their Defense was so-so at best. Few were able to survive the arrow rain that the elite archers of Hall of Immortality were shooting their way. A couple of tanky players managed to survive long enough to enter the area beneath the walls, but then the arrow towers came alive and fired their thick steel arrows! Thud thud! Blood scattered everywhere as nearly a hundred Cyan Battle Wolf Cavalrymen were turned into corpses beneath the city. Not a single one of them had survived the assault. Together, the three guilds sported enough firepower to give even us a hard time, to say nothing of the likes of Flower Room. The battle lasted for almost an hour, and by the end of the battle, all of Flower Room¡¯s players had been killed. Even Li Le had half his head hacked off by a bloodthirsty High Fighting Spirits. Two of the three heads of Ego workshop were killed by Chaos Moon, and the third was stabbed to death by Li Chengfeng. The crushing defeat of Flower Room was set in stone at this point. After Li Le died and respawned at the city, he seemed to have given the order to retreat. Unfortunately, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls strongly disagreed with his decision and stopped them from teleporting away. It wasn¡¯t long before we annihilated all twenty thousand or so Flower Room players, making their crushing defeat even worse than Mad Dragon¡¯s. ¡­¡­ Some time later, I turned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse away from the battlefield and came to a stop at the edge of a short hill near the city walls. He Yi, Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, and Xu Yang were with me as well. "Do we have a battle report yet? We didn¡¯t suffer too many losses, did we?" He Yi was concerned that we might have suffered more battle losses than was intended. Xu Yang gave her an affirmative nod before reporting, "Mn, we managed to annihilate all 20k of Flower Room¡¯s army and lose only 6000 players or so. The good news is that most of the casualties belong to our subguilds. The main guild¡¯s cavalry is just too good, hehe. Those idiots were so weak that they couldn¡¯t even kill our cavalry¡­" He Yi smiled. "Very good. Lu Chen may have acted rashly, but our morale is sky-high thanks to this battle. It¡¯s time to prepare for the siege!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a new army with huge, swaying banners appeared from the distant mountains. It was none other than the former second strongest guild of the Guild Ranking led by Dominating Heaven Blade, Gods of Destruction! Chapter 653: Hot and Sour Noodles Li Chengfeng chuckled as well. ¡°Interesting, it¡¯s almost like we all agreed to show up at the same time. Who would¡¯ve thought that a mere Rank 3 territory at Vanished God City would draw out this many top-tier guilds? Even Candle Dragon is apparently on their way right now. This is basically a war between all the guilds in the China servers, hehe!¡± Xu Yang said, ¡°It¡¯s been a while since Gods of Destruction showed their faces. Dominating Heaven Blade has been focusing on running his guild and purging lazy members who didn¡¯t take the game seriously. I even heard that he reorganized at least 30 small to middle-sized guilds in Sky City, so they are far larger and stronger than Mad Dragon or Flower Room.¡± He Yi nodded in agreement. ¡°Dominating Heaven Blade is cunning, bold, and powerful. His guild is a lot stronger than the likes of Mad Dragon and Flower Room. Considering that we¡¯ve been fighting them almost since the beginning of the game, I suggest that we hold our ground for the moment. I don¡¯t want to be stabbed in the back later.¡± I rode up next to He Yi before voicing my agreement. ¡°Eve is right. Dominating Heaven Blade is no stranger to backstabbing. It¡¯s better to be safe than sorry. The siege has officially begun, and no player within five kilometers of the city is allowed to revive on the spot or return to the siege area after death. There¡¯s no second chance if we die here.¡± ¡°Right!¡± Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and the others nodded in unison. Surprisingly. Dominating Heaven Blade, Dominating Knight God, Dominating Arrow God, Dominating Mage God, and the other core players of Gods of Destruction walked up to us upon arrival. Dominating Heaven Blade wielded a sword that was crawling with lightning as he smiled at us from afar. ¡°Looks like you got here before us, friends! I heard you just wiped out Flower Room, and I¡¯m here to congratulate you on your success!¡± He Yi stepped out into the open and returned a polite smile. ¡°Oh? Do you have a problem with Flower Room¡¯s terrible behavior too?¡± ¡°Kinda.¡± Dominating Heaven Blade grinned. ¡°I dislike seeing the likes of Li Le running around and bullying people just because he¡¯s rich. By the way, I heard that the main reason you attacked Flower Room is because Li Le insulted the Fruit Knife Goddess. Is that true?¡± Li Chengfeng was the one who spoke up this time. ¡°Yes. What¡¯s it to you?¡± Dominating Heaven Blade raised his chin slightly. ¡°Nothing. I just thought it was interesting, that¡¯s all!¡± Behind him, the temperature in Dominating Warrior God¡¯s eyes dropped as he uttered, ¡°For Wind Fantasy? Hmph. I¡­ could do the same for Wind Fantasy too!¡± I urged my Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward and brandished the Cyan Netherworld Sword beside me. I then gave Dominating Warrior God a smile before saying, ¡°Oh really? You¡¯d better not lag behind next time then!¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± Dominating Warrior God sneered. ¡°I won¡¯t!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade glanced at his general before chiding him sternly, ¡°Warrior God, control yourself!¡± ¡°Boss, I¡­¡± Dominating Warrior God looked like he didn¡¯t know what to say. Dominating Knight God, Dominating Mage God, and Dominating Arrow God were also looking at us Famous Generals with helpless expressions as well. Their IDs were Knight God, Mage God and Arrow God, but Gui Guzi was the one who learned the Famous General Skill Knight God, Beiming Xue Bow God, and Luo River God of the Capital, the Mage God equivalent. Right now, their IDs were nothing but the symbol of their failure. ¡°Alright, time to go. We are moving away from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls so that we won¡¯t get in each other¡¯s way later.¡± Dominating Heaven Blade then clasped his fist and gave us one last smile. ¡°See you later!¡± Gods of Destruction marched past us after that, the hooves of their mounts thundering against the ground. I noticed that their cavalry looked surprisingly powerful, and their number was probably equal or higher than Mad Dragon or Flower Room¡¯s. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Murong Mingyue pointed to the east and said, ¡°Guys, look! We have a guest!¡± We turned around and saw a beautiful female knight wielding a spear galloping toward us. She was also accompanied by dozens of mounted players. When they reached our battle line, the female knight got off her mount and smiled at us. ¡°Hello, everyone! Sorry I couldn¡¯t come sooner to meet you all!¡± The polite woman was none other than the guild leader of Baidicheng and the main attacker of this siege battle, Come See The Snow Tonight. She was the 27th ranker on the CGL Hall of Fame, a legendary player and one of the few noteworthy magic knights in China. Her armor looked exquisite, and her spear looked to be Outstanding Earth-grade. The flaming warhorse with a horn on its head she rode looked pretty high-rank as well. He Yi replied with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s no problem.¡± Caught off-guard by He Yi¡¯s beauty, Come See The Snow Tonight stared at her for a moment before recovering herself and smiling sweetly. ¡°Sister From Water, you are as beautiful as the rumors say!¡± Slightly embarrassed, He Yi bowed her head before looking up again. ¡°Sister Snow, do you have a battle plan you would like to share with us? How would you like to conquer this city?¡± Come See The Snow Tonight looked at the Rank 3 city and wiped the saliva from her mouth. ¡°Hehe, I¡¯ve been eyeing this city for a very long time, and the chance to make it mine is finally here. However, I wasn¡¯t expecting to find this many competitors, and I even heard that Candle Dragon is coming. Uuuu, it won¡¯t be easy to conquer this city~~¡± I said reassuringly, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s true that a ton of super guilds are fighting for the city, but the pressure is equal for all sides. As long as we keep a cool head and consolidate at every step, there¡¯s no reason we shouldn¡¯t be able to conquer this territory.¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Come See The Snow Tonight gave me a smile. ¡°Well, you are here, so I can¡¯t deny that my guild¡¯s chances of seizing the territory are much higher than normal.¡± I pointed at the comrades behind me. ¡°It¡¯s not just me, my brothers and sisters are here to help you as well. Worry not! With our help, the territory is as good as yours! Hahaha!¡± Come See The Snow Tonight hummed, but before she could say anything else, a new group of people had appeared from the forest and walked up to us. It was Blazing Hot Lips, and the person leading the group was none other than Stranger of Three Lifetimes, a legendary mage. Currently, there were only three mages who had the prowess to challenge for the title of best mage in China, and they were Luo River God of the Capital of Purple Lily, God¡¯s Dance of Candle Dragon, and Stranger of Three Lifetimes of Blazing Hot Lips. Even Shadow Chanel with her secret class was slightly inferior to those three, let alone our Moonlight Stone. ¡°Hi, Momo! You came?¡± I greeted her. Stranger of Three Lifetimes answered with a smile, ¡°Yep. Good morning, Lu Chen!¡± ¡°Good morning to you too¡­¡± It wasn¡¯t long before Ling Xueshang joined us as well. Each of us was a super guild in our own right, and we had come together to conquer Immortality City. Frankly, the only real alliance here that could really still pose a threat to us was Candle Dragon¡¯s. We spent some time discussing battle plans before deciding that we would siege the east gate together. It didn¡¯t really matter from which direction we breached the city because we would always end up at the territory hall, the place where the final battle would take place. In that case, we might as well focus all our energy on breaching one gate and occupy the territory hall as soon as possible. ¡­¡­ We agreed to siege the city 5 hours before the countdown was up, but we were still less than 3 hours into the siege. Therefore, we simply loitered around and watched the other guilds do their thing. Right now, an army made up of 7 small or middle-sized guilds from Vanished God City was starting to siege the east side of the city. They were slowly pushing toward the walls with a long line of magic knights with shields, ladders and catapults like tidewater. On the wall, Rose Thorn unsheathed her sword in one smooth motion and declared, ¡°Attack!¡± Arrows rained from the sky, and magic ravaged the ground immediately. The defenders utilized their range advantage to the max and made the attackers¡¯ lives absolutely hellish. The magic knights eventually got close to the walls, but the defenders¡¯ fierce resistance wasn¡¯t their only trouble anymore. Thick steel arrows at least one meter long and three centimeters wide started flying out of arrow towers and penetrating their metal armor like lightning! Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch was way too rich for his own good. All the arrow towers he built were high-rank structures that cost a ton of gold. That being said, his investment was definitely worth it. A volley of concentrated fire later, at least a thousand magic knights had been killed where they stood. The united army fought methodically and properly, but their magic knights were far too fragile. The defenders were just too powerful for them to overcome. ¡­¡­ While the battle was raging, a group of players suddenly rode up to us. They were magic knights riding armored warhorses. A man who looked to be around 40 years old got off his mount after he got close and walked up to us while laughing. ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, The Monarch Descends, Baidicheng, and Blazing Hot Lips? Haha, it looks like today is a meeting of heroes!¡± ¡°Who are you, uncle?¡± Beiming Xue asked warily while gripping her bow. The 40-year old uncle didn¡¯t answer because the question caught him completely off guard. I saw his hidden ID and title though¡ª Hot and Sour Noodles LV-140 Platinum Magic Knight City: Wind City Guild: Righteousness Position: Guild Leader ¡­¡­ ¡°Righteousness?¡± I walked up to him with a smile. ¡°Not a bad guild name. You definitely look like you¡¯ve been through some stuff¡­¡± Hot and Sour Noodles smiled back. ¡°You¡¯re Lu Chen, right? We¡¯ve met offline before.¡± ¡°Oh? I... don¡¯t remember you though.¡± ¡°It was a summer day at year 2022. You were participating in a WSL offline tournament at Shanghai. I was the CGL Shanghai publicity director who gave a speech back then. Remember now?¡± Hot and Sour Noodles looked at me expectantly. Unfortunately, I had to disappoint him. ¡°Sorry, I think¡­ I was asleep when you were making the speech¡­¡± Hot and Sour Noodles was surprised, but he turned out to be a man with a big heart. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m no longer working for the VR department anyway. It¡¯s way better to be a professional player instead!¡± ¡°Does that mean you¡¯ve turned pro now?¡± He Yi smiled. ¡°Yeah.¡± Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. ¡°I built ¡®Righteousness¡¯ right after I quit. Although the guild was hardly impressive back at Spirit of Grief, we have built quite a bit of a reputation today. In Wind City, Righteousness comes after Candle Dragon, Purple Lily, and Peach Garden.¡± I took a moment to check the official database. Righteousness and Hot and Sour Noodles quickly appeared at the search results¡ª Hot and Sour Noodles: Zhang Chun, Shanghai VR Development Publicity Director. He founded the guild ¡°Righteousness¡± after quitting his post, but still maintains a close relationship with China¡¯s VR department. He¡¯s also a CGL administrator and the strategic commander of China¡¯s VR gaming alliance. He¡¯s a kind, honest, intelligent, and capable player who was trusted by many players all over China. ¡­¡­ ¡°Sorry, sorry¡­¡± I hurriedly got off my high horse and shook hands and Hot and Sour Noodles. He smiled. ¡°I¡¯m the one who should be saying that. Who would¡¯ve thought that I would get the chance to shake hands with the Little Heavenly King, the 7th CGL Hall of Famer as a professional player one day? Hehe, it¡¯s an honor!¡± He Yi also seemed to have checked Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ data, because she was smiling sweetly and him and asking, ¡°Uncle, why did you come to us?¡± Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. ¡°Yes. I came here to tell you something, and get on your friend list, I suppose.¡± He Yi and I asked in surprise, ¡°What did you come to tell us?¡± Hot and Sour Noodles smiled mysteriously. ¡°Do you know why Candle Dragon, Gods of Destruction, Warsky Alliance, Peach Garden, and other powerful guilds are participating in this particular territory war?¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°It¡¯s because this is a war that will decide the Guild Ranking. That¡¯s right, CGL is about to refresh the Guild Ranking, and how well you perform in this territory war will greatly affect the new rankings!¡± Chapter 654: Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. ¡°Right, getting a good placement in the Guild Ranking is incredibly important to a guild¡¯s development. Once the new ranking comes out, it won¡¯t change for at least a month, so the top ten guild gains a huge advantage in terms of recruitment, war, reputation, and more over other guilds.¡± His explanation made perfect sense to me. ¡°By the way, you¡¯re part of the staff, right? You must know Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ current points and ranking, don¡¯t you? Can you give us a sneak peek or something?¡± Hot and Sour Noodles burst out in laughter. ¡°Haha, do you even need to ask? Obviously, both Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya will be entering the top ten as rising rookies. I don¡¯t know your exact ranking though. In the end, whether you can contest the Top 3 spot contested by Warsky Alliance, Purple Lily, and Candle Dragon is up to you.¡± ¡°Got it!¡± I nodded before smiling. ¡°Hehe, we¡¯ll definitely win this territory war and improve our rankings!¡± Hot and Sour Noodles got on his mount again and added all of us as friends. He gave us one last smile before bidding us goodbye. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m leaving. Righteousness will be participating in this siege as well, so see you on the battlefield later!¡± I nodded. ¡°Be seeing you!¡± After Hot and Sour Noodles left, Ling Xueshang asked me, ¡°Lu Chen, you looked like you had a good time chatting with that uncle. Will you attack him if you really meet each other on the battlefield later?¡± I smiled. ¡°Sure! I¡¯ll kill him myself.¡± Come See The Snow Tonight: ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before the number of players in the combat zone displayed at the territory war interface exceeded 7 million. Guilds of all kinds from all three main cities had come to Immortality City. Practically every super guild beside Snowy Cathaya and Purple Lily were here. Hot and Sour Noodles wasn¡¯t wrong when he called this a meeting of heroes earlier. Almost three hundred thousand players were gathered to the south of Immortality City. A large majority of the players were over Level 130 and very well equipped. It was clear that they were a well-oiled army. They were separated into three distinct forces, and they were three of the Top 10 guilds of Vanished God City: Hunting Moon Dynasty, Immortal Sword Inn, and Zero Pitch Sonata! Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch couldn¡¯t help but laugh loudly. Putting a foot on an arrow loop and leaning against the wall, he replied, "Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties, aren¡¯t you a CGL Hall of Famer? How are you so blind to the truths of the world? Hmph, do you really think you can bring me to justice? The world is ruled by the law of natural selection, and I¡¯m just exercising my right as a superior! Those weaklings deserve to be trampled and eliminated, and there¡¯s nothing you can do to change that even if you throw your life away! Don¡¯t you agree?" Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties¡¯s expression turned colder. "The people of the world rally to the merciful, not a cruel tyrant like you! Just you wait, Hunting Moon Dynasty will flatten your Immortality City today!" This time, a smiling Rose Thorn appeared on the walls and said, "Wei-Jin, you talk so much crap about bringing evildoers to justice, but you can¡¯t deny you¡¯re using it to justify your invasion of Immortality City, can you? I¡¯ve met countless people just like you¡­" Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties retorted furiously, "Rose, you were an acquaintance, and I have no wish to fight against you. But why are you helping the tyrant to oppress the weak? What on earth did they offer you to make you stake your life for them?" Rose couldn¡¯t help but giggle loudly. "Stake my life? That¡¯s a bit exaggerated, don¡¯t you think? For starters, there¡¯s no such thing as right or wrong in a game. We¡¯re all here to realize our self-worth. As for what Hall of Immortality offered to buy my service, I can tell you right now that Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch paid me 12 million RMB upfront. I see no reason to turn him down when both the guild and I can use the money for various things. I think Throne Seeker was paid 8 million RMB to lend a hand as well. Not bad, right? Boss Bloodthirsty is quite generous, don¡¯t you agree?" "Pooh!" Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties spat on the ground. "I misjudged you. I thought you were an intelligent woman, but all you care about is money!" Rose Thorn chuckled. "Come on, don¡¯t be mad! Also, I¡¯m both smart and greedy. These aren¡¯t mutually exclusive traits, you know." "Hmph, you truly have no shame¡­" Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties relaxed a little before turning to Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. "As for you, you really are a prodigal young master. Why would you spend 20 million RMB to secure this city?" Leaning lazily against the arrow loop, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch answered, "Why, you ask? If I can defend this city, Hall of Immortality will become famous throughout China, and our guild¡¯s ranking will improve drastically. I¡¯ve spent over 50 million RMB for this war, and I¡¯m telling you right now it¡¯s all going to be worth it. Just watch, Hall of Immortality will surpass Hunting Moon Dynasty!" ¡­¡­ Furious, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties pointed his spear at the wall again and shouted, "Then there is nothing else to say today! Hunting Moon Dynasty, Zero Pitch Sonata, Immortal Sword Inn, prepare to attack!" Finally, the first true battle of this territory war had begun! The elite players of the three guilds started marching toward the walls, but they were much smarter than Mad Dragon or Flower Room. Experienced engineers measured the distance first before setting up their catapults about 140 yards away from the walls. It was far away for the defenders not to be able to attack, but close enough to the hurled rocks to hit the not-very-sturdy city and destroy it. Creak creak... A bunch of mechanical noises later, a dozen or so giant rocks were tossed toward the walls! Boom boom! Two giant rocks slammed into the walls and violently shook the entire wall on this side. The rest flew into the city and terrorized a bunch of players. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t quite enough damage to take down the wall, and catapults had two glaring weaknesses: one, it was incredibly difficult to aim properly. Two, its ammo was extremely limited. Every engineer could only carry 1 to 3 rocks on their person, and high-level engineers were a rare commodity. Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties stopped in front of a catapult and raised his spear. He declared, "Follow my command! Magic knights, raise your shields and stand at the front! Use Holy Shield to nullify the archers¡¯ Far Shots and protect the catapults! When the catapults are out of ammo, protect the ladders until they are propped up against the walls! Those P2W arrow towers have extremely high Attack, so make sure you Guard against their attacks properly! Priests, stay close to the magic knights! Players, move in groups of 1 magic knight, 1 warrior, 1 mage, 1 archer and 1 priest. Push in waves so that we can bring our firepower closer to the walls! After that, magic knights will cancel their mounts, climb up the cloud ladders on foot and protect the squishies with your shields! Let¡¯s take over the walls in one go!" All the players under his command nodded affirmatively and fell into position. Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties was definitely a talented field commander, although that wasn¡¯t surprising considering that he was a CGL Hall of Famer. There must be a reason Hunting Moon Dynasty was able to remain a strong guild across both Spirit of Grief and Heavenblessed. The united army launched hundreds of rocks at the city before finally running out of ammo. They were able to leave deep, shocking marks on the walls and kill thousands of players who were unfortunate enough to get crushed by the boulders from crumbling walls. Since the catapults had incredibly high attack power, anyone who took a direct hit was dead or almost dead without exception. The losses hardly mattered though. Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, and Throne Seeker¡¯s players alone totaled up to several hundred thousand, but Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch also bought a ton of random guilds to defend his city. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if the players entrenched inside Immortality City totaled up to a million or more. Superior numbers were the source of Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s confidence. The attackers still outnumbered the defenders 7 to 1, but it wasn¡¯t too big a gap to overcome considering that they were protected by fortifications. To be honest, it was impossible to conquer Immortality City without investing a considerable amount of effort. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties raised his spear again and shouted, "Begin the assault!" A cacophony of battles cries filled the air as the three guilds finally launched a united assault on Immortality City. A sea of people started swarming methodically toward the city. "Archers, fire at will!" Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch yelled. Arrows rained down from the sky and rattled against the magic knights¡¯ shield. The magic knights kept their Holy Shields up and protected their mage, archer, and priest from harm. Practically every magic knight on the frontline was buffed by Death Match, Physique and other defensive buffs, so being on the frontline of the assault wasn¡¯t impossible to endure. Thud thud thud... A dozen or so magic knights who were unlucky enough to be focus-fired dropped from their mounts and died. There were a lot of high-level archers on the walls, and the hail of Spiraling Arrow Blades they kept shooting was nothing to scoff at. "Don¡¯t panic! Hold the line and keep moving forward!" Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties shouted to raise his troop¡¯s morale. He was standing at the forefront with his spear on one side and his shield raised in front of him. Finally, the line of troops reached within 100 yards of the walls, and the arrow towers started raining havoc on them. The thick, long steel arrows penetrated the magic knights¡¯ armor and shield with ease, but the quality of Hunting Moon Dynasty¡¯s magic knights was way higher than Mad Dragon or Flower Room¡¯s. Moreover, their party had a priest healing them and keeping them alive, so they were surviving despite losing health at a rapid rate. Unable to stand this any longer, Rose Thorn pointed at the ground and ordered, "All archers within 20 yards of me are to attack the center area with Spiraling Arrow Blades! Flip these goddamned turtles over!" Bang bang bang! The focus fire worked, and droves of magic knights fell to the ground and died. The loss of his most elite fighters pained Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties since there was no reviving them for this battle, but their sacrifice was worth it if they could reach the walls! It was a bloodbath. People kept dying, and their blood turned into rivers. An entire layer of bodies, potions, and equipment covered the ground. Five painful minutes later, the frontline players finally reached within 10 yards of the walls. The arrow towers couldn¡¯t hit them there. Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties shouted, "Raise the cloud ladders and scale the walls!" ¡­¡­ Chiang! Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch unsheathed his blade furiously and ordered, "Fuck patience! Ghost Riders, ride with me and decimate our enemies!" Chapter 655: Damn Arrogant Bitches "Kill!" Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch let out a furious roar before launching a direct assault on his enemies. His broadsword was wrapped in thick, bloody light and the transparent head of a gigantic light gray-colored wolf. When he thrust his sword in front of him, a wide area 15 yards in front of him immediately exploded. It was the AoE skill, Furious Slash! Boom! The one attack was enough to cause the enemy magic knights in front of him to waver. Emboldened by his Strength advantage, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch galloped right into the middle of the enemies and attacked. The Ghost Riders were no exception. The sounds of warhorses ramming into armor were loud enough to quake hearts. ¡­¡­ Unable to stand this sight any longer, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties grimly rallied his own cavalry troops and charged Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. When two people meet, only one will emerge victorious. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch clashed against the CGL Hall of Famer without hesitation. A cacophony of thundering horse hooves deafened the ears as both sides tried their utmost to run each other through. It was an exciting battle to say the least. Boom boom boom¡­ On the walls, high-level mages were firing Galaxy Storms, and archers were shooting Spiraling Arrow Blades at the attackers. This meant that the united army of Hunting Moon Dynasty had to withstand both the Ghost Riders¡¯ charge and the ranged attacks from the walls. It was just a bit too much for them to handle, and they gradually fell into a disadvantage. Crack crack crack! The sound of metal cutting into armor was unusually melodious. The Ghost Riders were extremely powerful, and they were able to win many engagements against Hunting Moon Dynasty¡¯s cavalry. It was starting to become clear who was the victor and who was the loser of this clash, but Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties was also stuck between a rock and a hard place. He and his fighters were right beneath the walls. A harsh counterattack was imminent if they tried to retreat. But if they stayed, the possibility that they might all die beneath the wall was very real as well. Moreover, Hunting Moon Dynasty¡¯s warriors weren¡¯t able to climb the cloud ladders they had set up at all. Rose Thorn was an intelligent woman, and she ordered her men to stun players as soon as they got up the ladder with Shock Arrows before killing them with Icicle spells. Amazingly, the tactic was enough to keep Hunting Moon Dynasty¡¯s warriors at bay for 20 minutes straight. ¡­¡­ In the end, the guild leader of Zero Pitch Sonata, a Level 142 bard Dream Movement, lost his cool first and shouted, "Wei-Jin, we can¡¯t force this anymore! We¡¯ve already lost too many in the past hour, and we will lose even more if we don¡¯t withdraw now! I¡¯ll leave behind five thousand elites behind to cover our retreat, so go now! While the green hills last, there''ll be wood to burn!" The guild leader of Immortal Sword Inn, a Level 144 berserker warrior Ink Painting also nodded in agreement. "Wei-Jin, stop hesitating and withdraw already! Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng are supported by Ancient Sword and The Monarch Descends. How are we going to compete against them or fight against Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, and Throne Seeker if we lose all our men? It¡¯s not like we¡¯re the only ones attacking this city! We don¡¯t have to be the first guild to breach it!" Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties nodded heavily. "Alright, but you guys should withdraw first. My cavalry and I will cover your retreat. Go now!" ¡­¡­ Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties turned out to be a far more loyal and good-hearted person than Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch was. He really did fulfill his promise and stayed behind with tens of thousands of Hunting Moon Dynasty players to keep the counterattacking Purple Thunder Cavalry and Greedy Wolf Cavalry at bay. The battle was so fierce that warm bodies were turning into icy corpses every second. The united army receded like tidewater, but the arrow towers, archers, and mages still managed to kill plenty of them before they pulled out of range completely. The battlefield beneath the walls was a mess of decapitated bodies and blood. There were plenty of riders who got nailed to the ground by the arrow towers as well. It was an incredibly bloody battle for sure. By the time Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties and his remaining riders returned to safety, there were barely any of them left. They had suffered massive losses in this fight and left behind almost a hundred thousand bodies beneath the walls. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch returned gloriously and flamboyantly back to his city, but it didn¡¯t last long. The army at the north side started stirring almost right after the battle at the south side was over. ¡­¡­ I looked at the time and noted that there was still an hour left before the agreed time to attack. I said to He Yi and Beiming Xue, "You guys stay here while I check out the battle situation at the north side. Warsky is finally making a move!" Warsky Alliance was one of the best super guilds in Sky City, meaning their chances of breaching the city was much higher than most. They were also one of our main competitors in this territory war. Warsky Alliance had laid low for a bit after that last battle. Warsky¡¯s main focus was on recruiting talent and building up his army as usual, but he also built quite good social connections at all three main cities. Just like how I managed to befriend Purple Lily of Wind City, and Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng of Vanished God City, Warsky Alliance also made a few friends in both cities. The only difference between us was that the friends I made were stronger than theirs. The north of Immortality City was jampacked with players. They all wore the same guild insignia and belonged to either the subguild or the main guild of Warsky Alliance. Judging from the sheer amount of players crowding the area, I reckoned that Warsky had increased his guild members to three hundred thousand or more. Heck, their subguilds alone numbered around 50. Of course, this also meant that Warsky had to manage 50 guild leaders at least. It could be a double-edged sword if he wasn¡¯t careful. Obviously, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ development path was different from Warsky Alliance¡¯s, focusing far more on quality than quantity. Although we only had ten subguilds, and our total army only amounted to a hundred thousand or so, Warsky Alliance¡¯s army of three hundred thousand actually had less than 40% chance to beat us in a fair fight. The gap between our average levels and equipment was that big. I sat atop the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and simply observed them from afar. I neither wanted nor needed to act because our pre-planned time of assault was an hour later, not now. Warsky was clad in a brand new set of armor, and his weapon was a lightning sword. Eyes burning with the light of determination, he looked at the walls and said with a smile, "That sonuvabitch Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch is surprisingly fierce, huh? He came over to meet us right after he beat back Hunting Moon Dynasty. How interesting. Brothers and sisters, it is time to attack. Let¡¯s show Hall of Immortality the might of a top guild from Sky City and teach them the meaning of an unbridgeable gap, yeah!?" Laughing At The Heavens, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Hundred Battler, and more immediately unsheathed their weapons. Farewell Song and his band of assassins slowly melted into thin air, clearly up to no good. October Rain and her archers had already taken up positions while a young archer used his Famous General Skill, Bow General. It was of course that Nongfu Spring they had recruited just a while ago. ¡­¡­ October Rain smiled slightly as she glanced at my direction. She smiled and said, "Warsky, it looks like Lu Chen is watching us. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is entrenched at the east side of the city, so we can¡¯t afford to look bad, understand? We must teach Hall of Immortality an unforgettable lesson!" Warsky smiled widely. "Of course! We¡¯re hardly herbivores, are we?" October Rain giggled. "Alright, it¡¯s time to go! The escalade preparations are complete!" ¡°Mn!" Eyes burning with high fighting spirits, Warsky Alliance said to his general, "Lin Bing Dou Zhe, your Famous General Skill increases Attack and Defense. I want you to lead our first troop as the spearhead. Once the ladders are set up, everyone is to climb up and occupy the wall as soon as possible. We can talk about the rest of the battle plan afterward. Hmph, this is a narrow wall. They can¡¯t hurt us too badly. Oh, and watch out for stray shots coming from inside the city!" "Got it!" A smiling Lin Bing Dou Zhe nodded and walked to the forefront with a party of magic knights. Then, he activated his Famous General Skill, Renown. He was at max cap; his stratagem buffed his troops¡¯ Attack by 120% and Defense by 40%. His magic knights suddenly became a lot deadlier than before. Warsky Alliance marched forward after the arrangements were complete. They were so confident in their abilities that they didn¡¯t even bring any siege weapons with them. With Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s party running at the front and Warsky, October Rain and everyone else at the back, they screamed their battle cries and ran straight for the walls. The players of Hall of Immortality had never seen something like this. They simply exchanged glances with one another and shrugged. "Archers, Far Shot these clowns and take them out!" a high-level archer on the wall shouted. Arrows started raining from the sky, but most of them simply bounced off the magic knight¡¯s shield. In fact, even the steel arrows of the arrow towers couldn¡¯t penetrate their bodies completely and one-shot them. Renown had made them ridiculously tanky. It was immediately clear that Warsky Alliance was much stronger than Hunting Moon Dynasty. More accurately, a single Lin Bing Dou Zhe was all it took to transform the quality of the frontline. This was why Famous Generals were invaluable treasure to any guild. Warsky Alliance finally started losing men when they entered the mages¡¯ range. Galaxy Storms kept killing their players in droves. On the walls, the mages hooted and booed at Warsky Alliance as they threw thick swathes of Galaxy Storms to the ground. "Come at us, clowns! Didn¡¯t you say you want to show us how powerful Sky City is? Or is this all you got? Hahaha! In the end, a clown is just a clown, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is no exception! You didn¡¯t think Hall of Immortality is a guild you can provoke and go as you please, did you!?" Warsky¡¯s face was dark with anger as he ran to the walls. His engineers were trying to set up the cloud ladders, but the murderous archers killed them one by one knowing that every dead engineer meant less damage to city structures they took advantage of. It wasn¡¯t enough to stop all the ladders from being set up though. When almost a hundred of these had been propped against the wall, Warsky immediately climbed up the walls as quickly as he could. Hundred Battler, Lin Bing Dou Zhe and more were doing the same as well. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the players of Hall of Immortality pointed at one direction and shouted, "Fuck me, why the hell is he here! Knock¡­ knock him down before it¡¯s too late!" October Rain looked astonished. "Are they trying to focus Warsky?" But Warsky shook his head. "No, they¡¯re not pointing at me¡­ they¡¯re pointing in that direction¡­" October Rain and Warsky turned their heads at the same time and saw none other than me climbing up a ladder like the wind. Stunned, they exclaimed, "What the fuck? Why is Lu Chen sieging the city with us? This doesn¡¯t make any sense¡­" I was holding the Cyan Netherworld Sword with my teeth so I could climb up the ladder with both hands. When I noticed that October Rain and Warsky staring at me, I immediately grabbed my sword and shouted at them, "Those bitches talked shit about my guild, so I¡¯m going to teach them a lesson! Can you lend me your ladder for a bit? I¡¯ll beat your ass if you don¡¯t!" Chapter 656: Vendetta October Rain laughed so hard she was shaking. Grabbing the ladder with one hand and holding her bow steady with the crook of her arm, she shot a high-level mage off the walls before smiling at me. "Who would¡¯ve thought that two biggest rivals in Sky City would fight side by side one day? It feels surprisingly good. Why don¡¯t you join us, Lu Chen?" "No way. I¡¯m leaving right after I kill a couple of people!" I let out a chuckle before jumping off the ladder in one smooth motion. After parrying the arrows flying my way with my sword and landing on the wall, I opened my palm and summoned my pet. The first thing the Phantom Wolf King did after leaping out of the magic formation was to run into the middle of the enemies, roar and unleash Purgatory Storm. The moment red clouds covered the sky, a corner of the walls instantly erupted into storm and lightning. Countless archers, mages, and warriors were thrown into the air! Bang bang bang! An empty spot appeared on the wall temporarily, and the ground was covered in potions and equipment. My little wolf¡¯s level was pretty high now, so its Purgatory Storm was just as powerful. I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and got on top of it. Then, I used the Apparition Ring and summoned my body double. Together, we charged the mages on the walls while laughing madly, "Who¡¯s the fucker who called Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls a clown just now? Come have a taste of this clown¡¯s ultimate power then! Die, you retards!" Boom boom! We fired Thousand Ice Slash that caused the entire wall to shake, and the archers and mages to quake in fear. My Thousand Ice Slash was powerful enough to break the mages¡¯ shield, and my body double¡¯s Thousand Ice Slash was powerful enough to one-shot them even though its attack power was only 75% of mine. Worse, there was no place to run on the walls. Naturally, death was their only way out. The Phantom Wolf King roared angrily and sent a couple of magic knights flying with its claws. Some time during its attacks, the Claw of the Storm triggered and flung even more people off the walls. Even if the skill wasn¡¯t fatal, the fall damage was enough to end their lives. There were some players whose Strength stat was high enough to save themselves from being blown away by the hurricane, so my body double and I made sure to end their lives before they could try anything. An entire section of the wall was taken over by me just like that. The archers kept shooting at me, but almost the arrows that hit my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor bounced away harmlessly. My stats were pretty high, but being a sixth-promotion player at Earthfire Realm made me almost immune to their weak ranged attacks. ¡­¡­ "The fuck, is he invincible or something?" My killing intent couldn¡¯t be stopped after it appeared. I immediately rushed toward Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch! "Fuck, the arrogance!?" Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch held his mount in place before shaking his sword for a bit. "Archers, stun him with Shock Arrows! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand can¡¯t possibly fight us all alone! He may be a sixth-promotion player who has entered the Earthfire Realm, but he is still human in the end! He can be killed!" A ton of Shock Arrows and even Mountain Stagger Arrows started flying my way. However, they weren¡¯t sure who was the real me, so a large majority of the shots were wasted on my body double! Thud thud thud thud! My body double lost more than half of its 100k HP in an instant. Unfortunately, it could use all of my offensive skills, but not my defensive skills. It was probably one of the devs¡¯ measures to balance the skill. Not about to let the archers¡¯ mistake slip through my grasp, I charged right into a crowd of enemies and used War Crush, eliciting painful screams from my enemies and killing them where they stood. Thud! A black shadow suddenly flew past my vision, and my body double¡¯s warhorse let out a dying screech. A steel arrow had penetrated the apparition¡¯s chest. Dammit. The players couldn¡¯t hurt me, but the ridiculous amount of arrow towers above my head absolutely could. They were one of Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s greatest weapons for sure! However, these P2W arrow towers¡ªeach one cost 1500 RMB to build¡ªhad a fatal flaw. It could lock onto a target, but it took 0.3 seconds or so to launch its attack. What this meant was that it was theoretically possible for a player to dodge all of their attacks as long as they kept moving. Of course, this was nigh impossible to pull off. It took an incredibly skilled player to pull off a stunt like this, not to mention that the battlefield was constantly changing. Rustle rustle... The Armored Ice Qilin Horse leaped away just in time to dodge at least a dozen of steel arrows that riddled the ground with holes. If I hadn¡¯t dodged that in time I would¡¯ve died already! The Phantom Wolf King was as quick as lightning, so I wasn¡¯t worried that it might be hurt by the arrow towers. I simply gave it the order to keep moving and attack at will. As for myself, I also moved constantly so that the arrow towers couldn¡¯t hit me accurately. At the same time, I tossed all kinds of offensive skills such as Burning Blade Slash, Thousand Ice Slash, Icy Cyclone Domains, and more at the enemy and dealt as much damage as I could. There were a couple of reasons I had chosen to join in on the attack. One, I thought that I could use a warm-up. Two, I wanted to intimidate my enemies with my new promotion and Earthfire Realm. Three, I wanted to deal as much damage to the enemy as possible. The less enemies there were, the less damage my allies would take when we began our assault. If I could kill a guild leader or two during this surprise attack, even better. Bang! My Thousand Ice Slash killed a ton of enemies, but I was also engulfed in Galaxy Storms and arrow rains. Arrows were sticking out of my chest armor like a porcupine¡¯s quilts, and there were a couple of high-level archers whose attacks had a chance to ignore my Defense. Even with my level advantage, they were about to deal a total of 7000 damage to me in just a couple of shots. Their attacks would¡¯ve hurt even more if our levels were equal! It was time to heal myself. Tenacity of the Dead! Rank 9 Saint Spirit Potion! +26783! +6000! Dang, using Tenacity of the Dead when my max HP was high was awesome! This 25% insta heal was almost as good as Murong Mingyue¡¯s Greater Healing! ¡­¡­ Clang clang clang! 5902! 4829! 5420! Unfortunately, three steel arrows also punched through my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor and deleted about 15k damage from my HP immediately. Sigh, I had barely paused for a moment, but even that was enough to get hit. This was no place anyone wanted to fight at if possible. I was starting to understand why Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch could afford to act like an arrogant twat. As long as these arrow towers remained standing, it would be very difficult to take this city down. Not far away from me, Laughing At The Heavens was holding up his shield and blocking the incoming steel arrows with his Holy Shield. Warsky, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, and Hundred Battler had also climbed up the walls, but because they were less skilled and tanky compared to me, they weren¡¯t able to maintain a dodge rate of over 90%. As a result, they looked less like humans and more like walking beehives, and they would¡¯ve died horribly if their priests hadn¡¯t gotten to them in time. "Holy shit, this damage is fucking insane. There are so many arrow towers too¡­" Warsky inhaled deeply as he watched the forest of arrow towers raining death on them. "These P2W arrow towers are a scam, I swear. We need to buy some for our own city when this battle is over¡­" October Rain kept drawing her bowstring and loosing powerful shots into the enemies. Her bow had a splash effect just like Beiming Xue¡¯s Dragonbone String, and it made life absolutely miserable for the Hall of Immortality players who were shot by her. I saw first-hand the destruction a Multi Arrow with its high damage and splash effect can do. Eventually, Warsky Alliance was able to find a footing on the wall. Of course, it was all thanks to me drawing a ton of firepower away from them. Without me, they would¡¯ve suffered far more losses and taken far longer to achieve the same results. ¡­¡­ "K-kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand first! That fucker is way too powerful! We can take out Warsky and October Rain later! Also, where the fuck is Farewell Song?!" Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch was slightly losing his cool because the battle on the wall was slowly but surely slipping out of his control. Despite the power of money, we had managed to stabilize ourselves for the moment. It was at this moment a new group of players joined the battle. It was none other than the Rose of the Holy Domain legion led by Rose Thorn herself. They were a hundred magic knights escorting a big group of high-level mages to the walls. Did the cannoneers finally deign to show their faces? Clang! Rose Thorn pulled out her sword and shouted, "Look at where I¡¯m pointing and focus your Galaxy Storms there! No way a warrior can survive the concentrated firepower of one hundred high-level fifth-promotion mages!" The mages did as they were told. The next moment, a single point on the wall was bursting with Galaxy Storms! BOOM! It felt as if space itself was being ripped into shreds. Several high-level magic knights who were unfortunate enough to be at the wrong place at the wrong time died instantly. I had to hide my surprise. "Oh no, this is bad¡­" Warsky also shouted, "Fuck, this is bad. Can someone please one-shot these mages! We¡¯ll suffer huge losses if we don¡¯t get rid of them as soon as possible..." ¡­¡­ While everyone¡¯s attention was drawn away by the bombardment, I locked onto Emperor¡¯s Equal and used Thunderous Charge. Let¡¯s kill Throne Seeker¡¯s guild leader first! Whoosh! Emperor¡¯s Equal noticed me in time and dodged out of the way in a hurry. However, he couldn¡¯t react to my follow-up, Burning Blade Slash! "Holy fuck!" Emperor¡¯s Equal exclaimed in surprise and Guarded hastily! Clang clang clang! Emperor¡¯s Equal survived all three hits, but he also fell off the walls and hit the ground hard. The fall damage had deleted most of his health, and he looked up only to find a horde of manly warriors staring at him from every direction. "Fuck¡­" Emperor¡¯s Equal groaned. "Did you have a vendetta against me or something, Lu Chen¡­" Not bothering to reply, I turned around in a hurry and summoned an indigo, cone-shaped energy around my blade. This time, I tried to hit Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch with a Universe Break! "Fuck!" Caught off-guard, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch tried to back off only to realize that there was no ground behind him. He made the snap decision to jump off the walls, but he still failed to dodge my attack! Thud! 29048! Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s face was ashen in fear, but unlike Emperor¡¯s Equal, he fell inside the city instead of outside. He just barely got away with his life. Chapter 657: Aggroing The Enemy A bunch of Hall of Immortality players stared at me with wide eyes. It was as if they were looking at an alien. Their grip on their weapons slackened as they quaked in fear. The expression on Rose Thorn¡¯s face turned ugly and she growled in a low voice, "Omigosh, even Lu Chen is here! We¡¯re in deep shit now! Mages, bring the battleline forward. Bombard Lu Chen with Galaxy Storms! The morale of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will be greatly affected once their ace is dead!" ¡­¡­ Do you think that I¡¯ll even give you the chance, Rose Thorn? "I¡¯m not gonna play with you guys anymore! Bye bye!" "Retreat!" I shouted to the rest of my troops as I urged the Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward. Letting out a loud whinny, the horse leaped down the city walls and my troops followed suit. Goddammit, I am not gonna sacrifice my life. Especially not for the Warsky Alliance! The mages from Rose of the Holy Domain were so powerful that they would inflict heavy casualties on us even if we won. It definitely wasn¡¯t worth it to go head to head with them. Warsky looked at my retreating figure and said, "God damn! Lu Chen has no sense of loyalty at all¡­" October Rain giggled gently and said, "You planned a sneak attack on the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and even challenged their ASUS Gaming Club during an offline event. And you have the cheek to talk about loyalty¡­" Warsky grimaced at her words before he replied dejectedly, "Little Rain, why do you always side with Lu Chen¡­" "Concentrate on fighting! I¡¯ll use Multi Arrow to pin their mages down, so hit the ones who are injured. We also need to spread out so that their attacks don¡¯t hit too many of us! Galaxy Storm has a casting time, you¡¯ll be able to dodge the spell as long as you take note of that. Be careful, everyone!" October Rain continued to fulfill her role as Warsky Alliance¡¯s beautiful strategist. ¡­¡­ Bang! I landed heavily on the ground as the Armored Ice Qilin Horse buckled and collapsed with a soft cry. What the hell! That landing had shaved off 25% from its tenacity bar! It had already taken way too much damage from all of those Mountain Stagger Arrows, so that crash landing had dropped my mount¡¯s tenacity to a measly 17%. Without my superior level and my OP equipment, I¡¯m afraid that I would have been dragged off my horse a long time ago. As expected, taking on a hundred men wasn¡¯t a feat that any human should attempt. I had also lost about 20% of my health after that crash landing. I easily dealt with that by using Tenacity of the Dead, pulling my health back up to 50%. However, I wasn¡¯t done yet. I immediately wheeled around and charged toward another part of the city, the Cyan Netherworld Sword held high in the air. I saw Emperor¡¯s Equal downing health potions as he raised a shield to block the arrows that the Warsky Alliance¡¯s archers were shooting at him, filling it with arrows of all colors. However, their Attack was weak. None of their strikes were able to penetrate his Defense. Unfortunately for them, this attack only resulted in one thing, their demise. Emperor¡¯s Equal simply charged forward and it had only taken a single swing of his sword to kill a bunch of them. I could no longer sit on the sidelines anymore! I immediately spurred the Ice Qilin Horse forward and charged toward Emperor¡¯s Equal like a bolt of lightning. Swirling indigo energy started to form around the tip of my Cyan Netherworld Sword as I activated Universe Break. Even if Emperor¡¯s Equal had more than 50000 HP, Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash would still be more than enough to finish him! It was as if Emperor¡¯s Equal had sensed my killing intent, because he immediately turned around to look at me. His eyes filled with shock as he yelled, "Lu Chen, what kind of deep grudge do you have against me?! Why do you keep gunning for me?! I¡¯ll remember this!" Swhoosh! I activated Universe Break as a flaming spiral of indigo energy shot straight at the opponent¡¯s chest. Emperor¡¯s Equal turned pale with shock at my attack. He gritted his teeth as he turned a ring on his finger, causing a golden shield of light to instantly explode out from underneath him. He had entered a state of invincibility that would last for seven seconds! That was more than enough time for him to make his escape! He took out a return scroll from his inventory and crushed it instantly. It looks like Emperor¡¯s Equal has perfected the legendary ¡®invincibility>return scroll¡¯ combo that Rose Thorn used back in Dark Moon City. Before he disappeared, Emperor¡¯s Equal looked at me with hatred in his eyes and said, "Lu Chen, I¡¯ll be back for revenge! Just you wait!" I chucked and replied, "Don¡¯t go, let me stab you once before you go¡­" Ptooey! Emperor¡¯s Equal spat on the ground right before the ray of light enveloped and took him away with a flash. Not a trace of him was left, he had been teleported back to the safe zone. This poor guy had nearly been killed right outside his own city. He definitely wasn¡¯t having any fun today. ¡­¡­ I coolly stared at the Warsky Alliance players surrounding me as I leisurely galloped around the city walls, the Phantom Wolf King following closely behind me. All of them stared back at me warily but no one dared to attack me. The truth was that I would immediately slaughter all of them the moment someone attacked. If it¡¯s a fight they want, then it¡¯s a fight they¡¯ll get! A group of Warsky Alliance players acted as my bodyguards as we approached the city gates. I immediately tested the toughness of the gates by hitting it with my sword, but my attack hardly did anything to it. It looked like we would still rely on siege weapons to breach the city gates. If not, we would have to hack at it till the cows came home. It was at this exact moment that I heard panicked shouts ring out from inside the city. "Fuck, this is terrible! Farewell Song snuck into the city with a hundred assassins and assassinated the players guarding the teleportation formation. They also managed to kill off an entire squad of priests! Damn it all! Archers, use Volley to blanket the area. Let¡¯s flush those assassins out! How the hell did they even manage to sneak inside in the first place?!" I chuckled involuntarily at what I had just heard. Farewell Song truly lived up to his title as the number one assassin in the CGL Hall of Fame. He had made a great contribution by secretly infiltrating the city and successfully destroying the teleportation formation. Even though Cute Little Naughty was very strong herself, she did not have a Famous General Skill, much less one suited for assassins. Thus, there was no way that she would be able to infiltrate the city and assassinate the players guarding the teleportation formation. He must have used a cloud ladder to sneak into the city with his squad. His Famous General Skill, Sneak Attack, greatly increased the effectiveness of all stealth skills, and it allowed his entire squad to enter the city without being detected by anyone. In fact, even suffering a direct hit from an arrow might not be enough to knock them out of stealth! It was truly a powerful skill. I flew toward the east of the city where the troops of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips, and Baidicheng were gathered. A massive army had been formed where our guilds had assembled and I would bet my house that there were more than seven hundred thousand players gathered there. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had brought about a hundred thousand elite troops while the other three guilds had brought over two hundred thousand troops each. It was soon reaching the 5 hour mark and it was about time for us to mobilize our troops for a full-fledged attack. ¡­¡­ "Lu Chen, shall we begin?" He Yi asked. "Yup." I nodded my head. Turning to look at Stranger of Three Lifetimes, I asked, "Momo, are you ready?" "Yes, we are!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes grasped her staff as she looked toward the city and said, "I¡¯ve prepared more than a thousand cloud ladders and a dozen siege towers for this battle. Hehe, I¡¯m sure that we will be able to breach the walls in an hour and invade the city in two. We should be able to occupy the main hall within three hours of entering the city!" I nodded my head and let out a relieved smile, "Great! It¡¯s good that we¡¯re well-prepared. Let¡¯s begin, shall we?" "Okay!" Strangers of Three Lifetimes smiled confidently and said, "The fighting has been extremely fierce on the other three sides of the city. Hall of Immortality and Rose of the Holy Domain are currently busy dealing with Warsky Alliance. Since they are too busy to turn their attention to us, we¡¯ll make use of this opportunity to avoid the attacks of their arrow towers and breach the city. By the time they mobilize their troops to stop us, it will be too late!" "Okay! Let¡¯s prepare to advance and attack!" "Hold on." "What is it?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes pointed behind her and said, "We have a few hundred engineers here and all of them are carrying cloud ladders. However, I¡¯m afraid that the attacks of the arrow towers might be too strong for my cavalry troops to defend against. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ cavalrymen are renowned for their strength, could we trouble you to help us protect these engineers?" I nodded my head and said, "Alright, leave the engineers to me!" Smiling, I turned toward the group of engineers and said, "Comrades of the production classes, come with me! The riders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will protect all of you as we move forward!" The group of engineers nodded their heads one by one. I turned around and shouted, "Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, each of you gather a hundred riders and protect these engineers till they reach the city gates! Don¡¯t mess this up! These guys are our friends from Blazing Hot Lips and it would be better for us to get hurt than them¡­" Gui Guzi raised his sword and laughed, saying, "Don¡¯t worry, boss! Leave it to us!" "I¡¯ll advance with you guys. Reduce the speed of your mounts and advance slowly. I want everyone to put up their shields!" "Yessir!" ¡­¡­ I also led a troop of four hundred riders forward. However, I activated Iron Wall VII instead of my Famous General Skill this time. My current Tactics stat was 419, so it increased the effectiveness of all my stratagems by 419%. As a result of that, this Iron Wall VII, which normally increased the Defense of all players in my party by 20%, now increased their Defense by a whopping 103.8%! Although this was nothing compared to Little Piglet¡¯s Vajra, it was still extremely useful in situations like this. This was even more true for Famous Generals who had entered the Earthfire Realm, as their stratagems could be shared with four hundred other players! Being able to form large parties was truly the path to victory! After we had finished assembling into our respective formations, our troops began to move forward. I hefted the Cyan Netherworld Sword over my shoulder as I summoned a new double and started trotting forward, the Phantom Wolf King prowling right behind me. I was protecting a middle-aged engineer, and we were chatting leisurely as we advanced toward the city. "How old are you, uncle? It¡¯s admirable for someone of your age to still be playing games. What¡¯s it like playing as a production class?" "It¡¯s great actually! I do online marketing for a living and I have quite a bit of spare time, so I decided to play a production class in Heavenblessed. I¡¯ll spend my time either farming or mining, and I enjoy it very much! Lu Chen, you¡¯re really good at this game and many players in Heavenblessed idolize you!" "Haha, I¡¯m just alright¡­" "By the way, my daughter is in her second year of university and has always idolized you. I have to ask. Lu Chen, do you have a girlfriend?" Standing a few feet away from me, He Yi turned her head and glanced at me. I shivered slightly before replying with a sheepish smile, "Yes, I do¡­" "Oh, what a pity. My daughter is nineteen this year and she¡¯s really beautiful¡­" I let out an embarrassed cough before replying, "Oh yes, that really is a pity¡­" He Yi tore her eyes away from me and kept silent. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment that we entered the range of the arrow towers. We heard a loud twang as a storm of thick metal arrows flew toward us! Clang! Clang! Clang! The riders instantly raised their shields as the iron arrows bounced off them. However, I had no shield and I could only hold up my arm to protect myself. Murong Mingyue immediately started chanting and an AoE healing spell fell over our heads, instantly pulling our health back up. "Weather the storm and push on!" I commanded in a loud voice. The vanguard continued to advance slowly while the second battle line, consisting of Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, and Xu Yang, soon joined us. Once the ladders were in place, our people would be able to breach the city in no time. As we entered the attack range of the enemy archers, He Yi¡¯s sweet voice rang out, "You and Yun, go and draw the enemy¡¯s fire and soak up some damage!" "Alright!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun turned his head and signaled for his troops to follow him. Urging his mount forward, he activated Flying General, causing a bloody ring of light to start circling around him. He led a group of riders forward as they charged toward the city like streaking bolts of lightning! Even if my Armored Ice Qilin Horse was running at full speed, it still wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up with them! The row of archers and mages on the city walls turned pale with shock. "We have a group of enemy players rushing toward us at an insane speed! We need to focus our fire on them! Quickly!" Boom! Boom! Boom! Arrows and spells started to pour down from the walls, but Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and his troops were simply too quick. As a result, the enemy¡¯s Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms simply missed their targets, landing behind them and exploding like firecrackers. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun continued to arrogantly pace in front of the city walls, as he continued to do a magnificent job of drawing in the enemy¡¯s fire. Even then, he suffered extremely small losses as only a few dozen riders had died to that hail of metal arrows. The battle tactics of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were indeed superior to that of many other guilds! Chapter 658: Intense Collision I lifted my head and saw countless archers on top of the city walls. Bending over the wall as much as they could, they took aim and started to fire their arrows at the group of engineers at the base of the walls. "Beiming, kill all their archers!" I yelled "Mn!" Under the protection of Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue rushed forward while avoiding as many flying arrows as she could. Her Dragonbone String glowed brilliantly as she unleashed Spiraling Arrow Blade continuously at the city walls. Her arrows exploded as they came into contact with the city walls, throwing more than a dozen enemy archers off the top of the walls. Bow God increased her Attack by 150% making her attacks extremely domineering and powerful. However, the enemy numbers continued to increase and it was just impossible for Beiming Xue to deal with all of them by herself. Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ engineers were frantically trying to set up their cloud ladders while having to avoid the life-threatening volleys of Galaxy Storms and Spiraling Arrow Blades. Volleys of arrows continued to wreak havoc as they rained down on us. I glanced up at the city walls and noticed that there were many high-leveled and powerful archers. It looked like Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch had spared no efforts by sending all of his elite long ranged players to ¡®welcome¡¯ us. Bang! Bang! Bang! Three consecutive explosions of Spiraling Arrow Blade one-shot an engineer to my right. Those playing the production classes were well aware of their fighting strength. Therefore, they focused on stacking HP so that they wouldn¡¯t die easily. Unfortunately, they were still unable to withstand the powerful attacks of the enemy¡¯s combat players. Enraged by the engineer¡¯s death, I lifted my head and the Cyan Netherworld Sword started to glow radiantly in my hand. I made a sweeping motion and directed a crescent of sword energy toward the city wall. The indigo sword energy transformed into a spiraling tornado, blasting its way through the entire city wall region. Blood covered the city walls as the tornado continued to wreak havoc on countless archers and mages. The tornado was so powerful that many low-level players were killed instantly. Only a few high-level mages managed to narrowly escape death due to the durability of their Magic Shields. ¡­¡­ "What the fuck! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you¡¯re a dead man!" Clang! Rose Thorn pulled her sword from its sheath and growled, "Players of the Rose of the Holy Domain, heed to my command. Defend the city at all cost and don¡¯t let a single enemy climb up the city walls! Archers, use your Devil Piercing Arrows and Shock Arrows! Mages, focus your attacks on Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, From Water, Legendary Brave, and all the Famous Generals. Killing one will double your pay and the rest are just easy targets once we¡¯ve killed all their Famous Generals!" He Yi gripped her Blade of the Earthen Soul as it glistened brilliantly in the sunlight and tilted her head upward. Smiling at the three guild leaders, she asked, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has a total of eleven Famous Generals. Rose Thorn, do you think you can kill us all?" Rose Thorn gave her an icy glare and replied, "We will try even if it kills us!" He Yi¡¯s expression instantly turned stone cold and she pointed her sword toward the city. In an icy tone, she shouted, "Prepare to raid the city! We¡¯ll give them what they want!" ¡­¡­ One by one, the cloud ladders positioned right next to the city walls started to extend upward. If the engineers managed to set them up successfully within sixty seconds, the mechanisms of the cloud ladders would run automatically till it extends to the top of the wall. I laughed and shouted, "Everyone, dismount and attack!" With a neigh, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse was sent back to my mount space. Holding the sword with my teeth, I started to climb up the nearest cloud ladder. He Yi, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, and the others followed suit and started to climb up their own ladders as well. Bang! Bang! Bang! I continued to ignore the fireballs that came crashing down on me and concentrated on swiftly climbing up the cloud ladder. Once I enter the city, I¡¯ll be able to fight on solid ground. "Ahhhhhh¡­" Hearing a pitiful scream, I glanced to my left and saw High Fighting Spirits sprawled on the ground. A dozen arrows stuck out of his chest as a stun CC icon floated above his head. He was successfully stunned and was blasted off the cloud ladder. God damn, this idiot had actually lost half of his health. High Fighting Spirits groaned as he recovered from the stun and got back on his feet. He resentfully wiped the dirt off his nose and continued to climb up the ladder. Toward my right, both Knight Generals, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust, were halfway up the walls. However, like High Fighting Spirits, they were successfully stunned by Shock Arrow and blasted off by balls of raging fire instantly. Fortunately, both had activated Knight General which increased their Defense substantially, allowing them to escape death. Bang! Bang! Bang! One by one, our guild members continued to fall off the cloud ladders. Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, and Throne Seeker had sent their main force of elite players to fend us off. Not only were their players extremely powerful, they had the high ground as well. Even though our players were very powerful, they still could not withstand the barrage of attacks and were sent hurling off the cloud ladders. My jaw dropped when I saw that Li Chengfeng was the first to reach the top of the cloud ladder. His sword trembled slightly as he swung it and executed Reverse Scale Slash which exploded amidst a group of enemy archers. But before Li Chengfeng could even take a single step onto the city walls, six high-level murderous-looking warriors suddenly sprang forward. Swirls of spiraling flames started to form on the tip of each of their swords as they simultaneously used Barrier Break! Li Chengfeng was completely cornered and even god would not be able to save him now. Even though he had great Defense, he was not foolish enough to tank six Barrier Breaks at the same time. His eyes widened in shock and muttered, "What the hell, is this even allowed¡­" Li Chengfeng frowned, clearly annoyed by the ¡®special¡¯ attention he was getting. Facing six Barrier Breaks simultaneously, his only option was to fall off the cloud ladder to avoid being hit. The Dragon Warrior wasn¡¯t one to go down without a fight. Right before falling off, he activated Encourage VII, increasing his Attack by 80%. He immediately turned slightly to his right and made a sweeping motion with his sword, unleashing Barrier Break + Dragonbone Flurry. Bang, bang, bang, bang! 16902! 11929! 10223! 11248! Four consecutive attacks one-shot that warrior as he collapsed to the ground. Unfortunately for him, he even dropped his sword. It was a pity that Li Chengfeng had only managed to glance at the city for a split second before he was violently hurled off the city walls. "Fighting Spirits, catch me!" Li Chengfeng shouted. High Fighting Spirits gripped his Invincible as he ran toward Li Chengfeng swiftly and shouted, "Don¡¯t worry brother! I¡¯ve got you!" Boom! Dust flew off the ground as Li Chengfeng landed heavily on the ground, right smack in the face. Dirt covered his entire armor as he quickly scrambled up only to find High Fighting Spirits hugging Chaos Moon¡¯s thigh. Li Chengfeng glared at him and shouted, "What the hell! I asked you to catch me! Why in the world are you hugging Chaos Moon for¡­" Chaos Moon gave High Fighting Spirits a tight slap as she kicked him away with her free leg. In an annoyed voice, she said, "If you dare to take liberties with me again, I¡¯ll end you!" High Fighting Spirits face turned ashen by Chaos Moon¡¯s threats. Turning to look at Li Chengfeng, he said, "Do I look like I want to hug this girl? I intended to catch you but she fell from the sky and landed right on my face! What was I supposed to do¡­" Li Chengfeng facepalmed and murmured, "What the fuck¡­" Boom! Boom! Gui Guzi and Xu Yang too fell face first into the ground. Crawling back up, they glanced at their surroundings and asked, "What happened? What happened?" Li Chengfeng sighed exasperatedly and shouted, "What happened my ass! Climb up quickly! We¡¯re left with Lu Chen and the guild leader up there!" ¡­¡­ Clang! Clang! He Yi stood at the border of the city walls, raised her shield, and blocked two blows of Barrier Break. She gritted her teeth in pain as she lost 30000 HP immediately. Her Blade of the Earthen Soul shone radiantly as she thrusted into the ground and activated her new skill, Purgatory of Ice and Magma. The ground where she plunged her sword into started to cave in, creating a gigantic hole as scorching hot magma started to splurt forth from it. To add to her damage output, five bursts of icy cyclones continuously emerged from her sword and swept through the crowd of players. Bang! Bang! Bang! Explosions rang out as an entire group of enemies collapsed, instantly creating an empty zone around He Yii. None of the Hall of Immortality players within its attack range had survived, not even the Ghost Riders. However, a barbarian charged at He Yi and attacked her while she was activating Purgatory of Ice and Magma. With a swing of his sword, he unleashed three consecutive blows, two of which were Barrier Break and Blaze. After loud bangs, sparks flew off her armor as He Yi took the blows and was hurled off the city walls. That barbarian was actually Wing Breaker, who had taken part in the Dark Moon City raid previously. His Strength and skills were definitely above that of normal players! "Goddammit¡­" I growled in a low voice before stretching out my hand to grab a magic knight by his neck and throwing him off the city walls. Unable to ascend the cloud ladder, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, and the rest started to grow bored as they waited at the bottom of the city wall. When that magic knight landed at their feet, they grinned sadistically and started to hack him to death. Bang! My feet met with solid ground as I leaped from the cloud ladder onto the city wall. However, a volley of attacks enveloped me immediately. I was too busy defending myself from the various arrows and spells that I didn''t even have the time to summon my Armored Ice Qilin Horse. My Defense and HP were extremely low without my mount and I was left with only two thirds of my HP within seconds! I leaped high in the air with my Cyan Netherworld Sword raised and with a loud shout, I stomped my foot amidst a group of enemies. My sword glowed as I activated War Crush and dealt three consecutive attacks to the enemies. Everyone within my attack range was one-shot and collapsed instantly while I regained much of my health with the lifesteal. Swhoosh... I looked at a sky blue symbol when it appeared above my head and panic gripped me. Why does this skill symbol look so familiar? In the next instant, countless icicles started to rain down on me. God damn! This was Galaxy Breaker Mage¡¯s skill! Has the number one mage of Hall of Immortality come to welcome me? I retreated swiftly to the border of the city walls. It would be such a pity if I were to die in the hands of that mage! With a loud howl, the Phantom Wolf King appeared and started to charge at Galaxy Breaker Mage at my command. I was not out of the woods yet though. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch waved his hand as a group of enemies parted, making way for a large group of Ghost Riders. What the hell! Are they going to use Charge on these narrow city walls? Almost as if Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch was verifying my thoughts, he let out a sinister smirk and shouted, "Charge! Yeet Broken Halberd Sinks into Sand off the city walls! Don¡¯t let him get a chance to summon his Armored Ice Qilin Horse!" Whoosh... More than a hundred magic knights activated Charge and headed straight for me. I leaped onto an arrow tower and swung my sword, slashing out sword energy that landed on a magic knight with a loud bang, sending him flying off the city wall. Tsk, your Strength is nothing compared to mine! Bang! Bang! Bang! Like swatting flies, I swung my sword and sent another bunch of magic knights flying off the city walls. However, the enemy¡¯s magic knights continued to come at me in never-ending waves, no matter how many I killed. The crowd continued to surround me and at last, I was finally hit with a Charge! Bang! A loud sound rang out as a Ghost Rider charged at me and knocked squarely into my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor. Unable to brake in time, both the Ghost Rider and I were sent flying off the city walls. Boom! I landed face down but quickly flipped myself over and scrambled off the ground. I growled in anger as I swung my sword and one-shot that magic knight. ¡­¡­ Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch stood on the city walls and raised his sword, shouting, "Ghost Riders, jump down from the city walls and attack them head-on! We must defend the city and prevent Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls from raiding it! Ten minutes! That¡¯s all we need to hold them off for!" Emperor¡¯s Equal turned to look at Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch asked in a surprised tone, "Why ten minutes?" The corners of Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s mouth lifted up as he laughed arrogantly and said, "Because ten minutes is enough for Candle Dragon to finish off Warsky Alliance!" Chapter 659: We’ll Meet Again On The Battlefield Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch smirked and said, "That¡¯s right! It is impossible for us to defend Immortality City because we are greatly outnumbered. So, I invited Candle Dragon to help us. Warsky Alliance will be done once Candlelight Shadow, God¡¯s Dance, and Blue Sky Scar arrive. Why do you think Warsky Alliance was able to assault the northern wall with such ease?" Rose Thorn giggled and replied, "Oh, looks like Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch has such great foresight¡­" "Hahaha! That goes without saying! No one is¡­" "...infallible after all?" "Fuck you!" ¡­¡­ While the three guild leaders were busy chatting away, three hundred Ghost Riders plummeted down the city walls. As they landed, half of their mounts¡¯ tenacity bars were shaved off and they lost a third of their health. Unfortunately, the Ghost Riders landed among a group of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players and were instantly hacked into pieces. It was clear that many Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players were starting to get frustrated for not being able to scale the cloud ladders successfully. However, the three hundred Ghost Riders had also delayed our attack plans. Many players who were halfway up the cloud ladders were actually knocked off by the falling Ghost Riders. They could only grit their teeth and take their anger out on those Ghost Riders before scaling the cloud ladders once again. The rattling of chains could be heard as the eastern city gates started to open at this moment. Once the gates were fully opened, more than 10000 Ghost Riders began to charge out of the city! Dammit, there were so many of them! Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch decided to sacrifice his trump card just to stall us for ten minutes! I summoned my Armored Ice Qilin Horse, flipped myself onto it and yelled out, "Brothers and sisters, get on your mounts! Cyan Tiger Cavalry, come with me! Those of the Warrior class, stay here and continue to raid the city with Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends, and Baidicheng!" "Yessir!" It was clear that I had great influence over the members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Not a single person defied my command as 5000 Cyan Tiger Riders swiftly gathered. He Yi too joined the platoon and activated Royal Road as she started to form a hundred-man party. Following suit, many other parties were formed and Famous General Skills of all sorts such as Martial God, Royal Road, Knight God, Knight General, and Flying General were soon activated. The Ghost Riders of Hall of Immortality were going to have a hard time dealing with us! "Attack!" Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes lit up as he ordered the cavalry to activate Charge. The Ghost Riders had little time to prepare which resulted in a huge disparity between our strengths. As the Cyan Tiger Cavalry and Ghost Riders clashed with each other, the Cyan Tiger Cavalry managed to maintain their battle formation while the Ghost Riders were brutally slaughtered. The Cyan Tiger Cavalry looked like a sharp knife cutting through butter as they charged their way into the group of Ghost Riders, hacking at anyone standing in their way. In the blink of an eye, more than a thousand Ghost Riders had already collapsed. After killing an opponent, a Cyan Tiger Cavalryman would instantly turn to another opponent and activate another Charge! After five rounds of charges, the Cyan Tiger Cavalry managed to eliminate half of their enemy with minimal losses! At this moment, I looked to the distance and saw Ling Xueshang leading a large group of The Monarch Descends players. Her Unyielding could increase a player¡¯s Attack by 100% and HP regeneration by 200%, making it an extremely powerful skill! They charged in from the side and swiftly took control over the battlefield, even going so far as to cut off any retreat routes for the Ghost Riders. "Xueshang, I¡¯ll leave this place to you!" "Alright!" Ling Xueshang nodded her head and shouted enthusiastically, "Keep up the fight! While you guys attack the city walls, I¡¯ll go prepare the cannons to bust the city gates wide open!" "Alright, let¡¯s do this!" ¡­¡­ I signaled for the Cyan Tiger Cavalry to retreat back to the city walls and by the time we regrouped with the main force, half an hour had passed. Meanwhile, battle continued to wage intensely at the eastern walls. Whenever Beiming Xue and her party launched an attack at the enemies, they would counterattack and aggressively hurl our melee fighters off the city walls. All the elite fighters from the three guilds congregated at this part of the city wall. The enemy had deployed most of their troops to counterattack and focus their firepower on us instead of Warsky Alliance. It was impossible for us to scale the cloud ladders! Gui Guzi gripped his spear and was about to climb up the ladder, but stopped when he heard He Yi call out, "Little Gui, wait a moment!" "What¡¯s the matter, Eve?" Gui Guzi asked. He Yi glanced at another portion of the city walls with a serene gaze and said, "The situation¡¯s changed. We¡¯re not dealing with Hall of Immortality alone anymore." "Oh?" Gui Guzi and other players at the foot of the walls held up their shields to block incoming arrows and magic attacks as they turned their heads to look in the direction He Yi was looking at. She was absolutely right. A line of players emitting an aura of confidence could be seen marching in an orderly fashion on top of the city walls. The level of each and every one of them was shockingly high and they all wore the same emblem on their shoulders. Their leader was a Level 149 warrior dressed in a magnificent armor. There was only one Level 149 warrior in the entire China server, and that was Candlelight Shadow! He was not alone. Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, God¡¯s Dance, Transient Smoke and Clouds, and other elite players were following close behind him. Fuck! They¡¯ve finally made their entrance! Candlelight Shadow took a glance at our battle formation before smirking proudly and said, "Hmph, even though Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have made a name for themselves in Sky City, you think too highly of yourselves! How dare you extend your clutches into Vanished God City! Do you think that this is your territory?" He Yi clutched her sword and calmly replied, "The pot calling the kettle black, are we? Candle Dragon is here at the Vanished God City too after all. Do you really think that Candle Dragon is still the number one guild? Do you really think you can cover the heavens with one hand?" Candlelight Shadow glared at He Yi icily and said, "Just you wait and see!" After speaking to He Yi, Candlelight Shadow turned to glare at me. His eyes turned red with fury as he looked at my Earthfire Realm insignia. He was clearly annoyed that he had to delay his sixth class promotion for this battle. After all, the sixth class promotion¡¯s Earthfire Realm was extremely important to him. Candlelight Shadow had always harbored a grudge against me because of my Famous General Skill. Now that the Divine General Skill patch was finally out, he could only rely on that to recover some lost ground. ¡­¡­ Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch smiled as he clasped his fists and welcomed Candlelight Shadow, "Martial God, you¡¯ve finally reached Immortality City!" Candlelight Shadow smiled and replied, "My apologies for taking this long to arrive." Rose Thorn asked, "Candle Dragon entered from the western gate and headed straight for the northern walls to ¡®welcome¡¯ Warsky Alliance. What was the battle outcome? Warsky Alliance is rather powerful and they have six Famous Generals with extraordinary stratagems on their side. Candle Dragon is regarded as one of the Top 3 guilds in Sky City and on equal footing with Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. But even so, I doubt it would be that easy to eliminate Warsky Alliance. You only took thirty minutes after all." Even though Candlelight Shadow knew that Rose Thorn was sounding him out, he laughed and replied, "It was alright. Warsky Alliance isn¡¯t as powerful as you think they are. Don¡¯t forget, Candle Dragon has three Famous Generals, Golden Age Hero, Song of Pig, and Blood Slash. All of them have Soul of the Foot which raises the Attack and Defense of foot soldiers, making it an excellent stratagem when defending a city. Haha! Why should we fear Warsky Alliance at all?" Rose Thorn smiled and asked, "So what was the battle outcome exactly?" Candlelight Shadow smirked and said, "Warsky, October Rain, and Lin Bing Dou Zhe were forced to retreat, while Farewell Song was forced to teleport back to Sky City. Their Famous General archer, Nongfu Spring, was killed by Blue Sky Scar while Hundred Battler was killed by Tempest Shadow. Haha, October Rain was also struck with my Ghost God Prophecy. She will be dead in less than three minutes!" Tempest Shadow who stood beside Candlelight Shadow laughed and chimed in, "How could Warsky Alliance withstand our attacks when less than a thousand of them managed to scale the wall? Warsky left with his tail between his legs while the rest of the guild were left outside the northern walls, unable to decide if they should attack or retreat. They simply looked like pitiful lost puppies. And their pretty little military advisor, October Rain should be dead anytime now." Transient Smoke and Clouds laughed heartily and said, "Hmph, it won¡¯t do if you have all brains and no brawns! Old Blue, it¡¯s all your fault! I wanted to kill the Famous General archer first!" Blue Sky Scar laughed in reply and said, "You should have told me earlier! If you had, I would¡¯ve let you have your way!" ¡­¡­ The bunch of Candle Dragon players were chatting amongst themselves in such a relaxed manner, it was almost as if they were not in the midst of a battle. However, we could not help but notice that God¡¯s Dance had led a group of players and placed them along the top of the city walls. They were all elite archers and mages of above Level 140! It would be even harder now for us to scale the walls and enter the city. At this moment, two warriors, a magic knight, and an archer started to push their way through the crowd at the foot of the city wall with ashened faces. They were the core members of Warsky Alliance¡ªWarsky, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Laughing At The Heavens, and October Rain! Warsky gripped his sword in his hand as he frantically staggered through the crowd of players and made a beeline for me. Panting, he spoke in a low voice, "Lu Chen, you have to save October Rain no matter what¡­" "What¡¯s wrong?" I frowned. Before Warsky could reply, October Rain pointed at the Ghost God Prophecy symbol above her head. "I only have forty seconds to live. I¡¯m hoping that Beauty Mingyue will be able to save me with her Bright Mirror. I will be eternally grateful for your help and won¡¯t forget this life debt¡­" "OMG¡­" Murong Mingyue muttered in shock as she glanced at He Yi and I, silently asking for our opinions. I glanced at He Yi and understood her wishes when I saw her nod her head. I turned to October Rain and said, "Alright then, hurry!" Murong Mingyue instantly added October Rain into her party and activated her Famous General Skill, Bright Mirror! Swhoosh! A pale blue energy rippled under Murong Mingyue¡¯s feet before washing over October Rain, baptizing her. As the energy enveloped October Rain, the Ghost God Prophecy symbol above her head vanished instantly! ¡­¡­ "Shot!" Tempest Shadow gripped his pike tightly and stared at us with eyes wide open. "God dammit! Boss, your Ghost God Prophecy got washed away by that pretty priest! It¡¯s really gone!" Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eye twitched in annoyance and said, "I knew this would happen! Prepare to defend the city! We must not let a single one of them reach the top of the walls!" "Yessir!" Every Candle Dragon player pulled their swords out of their sheaths and prepared for battle. ¡­¡­ October Rain left the party and exclaimed gratefully, "Thank you for not holding a grudge against me and saving my life. I will be eternally grateful for this." I laughed and replied, "You don¡¯t have to thank us. I will be very thankful as long as you don¡¯t try to stab us in the back in future." October Rain giggled and said, "Alright, we will go back and attack the northern walls. We¡¯ll leave Candle Dragon to you guys. And then¡­" "If you guys dare enter the city first, we¡¯ll show you no mercy!" High Fighting Spirits growled mercilessly. October Rain laughed heartily and replied, "Well then¡­ We¡¯ll meet again on the battlefield!" ¡­¡­ 1. TL note: ÖÇÕßǧÂÇ,±ØÓÐһʧ is a whole idiom that Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch only said halfway. So Rose Thorn finished the idiom for him. Chapter 660: Storm of Destruction Blue Sky Scar was holding a longsword radiating green light. He laughed and said, ¡°Weren¡¯t you guys from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls acting really cocky before we arrived? Why are your balls shrinking now? Come at us if you have the guts! Candle Dragon will be waiting for you right here! Lu Chen, didn¡¯t you say that you wanted to trample over us? Then come at me bro! This is your big opportunity!¡± Blood rushed to my head as I brandished the Cyan Netherworld Sword and started to take a step forward. He Yi¡¯s voice immediately rang out from behind me. ¡°Don¡¯t let his words get to you, Lu Chen. We need to have a plan before we attack them. If we just rush at them stubbornly, we¡¯ll eat a huge loss. It might even spell our defeat!¡± He Yi continued in an animated voice as she stared at the players on the city walls. ¡°Golden Age Hero, Blood Slash, and Song of Pig¡¯s Famous General Skill, Soul of the Foot, is way too strong when it comes to sieges and all of them will be able to boost their party members¡¯ Attack and Defense by 70¨C100%. Lu Chen, have you realized that Candle Dragon¡¯s city defense strategy is different from Hall of Immortality¡¯s? Hall of Immortality primarily used archers and mages to defend their city, but Candle Dragon is relying on their warriors. They are practically daring us to assault their walls. Candlelight Shadow has always been a sly and cunning person. He¡¯s definitely doing this to lure us toward his walls so that he can kill all of us in one fell swoop!¡± Li Chengfeng nodded his head in agreement. ¡°Yeah, I second what the guild leader just said. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s totally trying to bait us into attacking the city. Once all of us get up there, he can pull their frontline back a little and coordinate with his long-range players to decimate us. He just needs to get rid of a few of our Famous Generals to greatly reduce the chances of our success.¡± Chaos Moon sucked in a deep breath as she said, ¡°Candle Dragon really is quite shameless¡­¡± High Fighting Spirits hefted the battle axe in his hand as he asked, ¡°So what should we do now?¡± He Yi giggled as she responded in a supremely calm voice, ¡°We need to settle on a strategy to break their defensive formation. If we can¡¯t think of a plan, our chances really won¡¯t look very good. Remember, Warsky Alliance assembled such a strong force, but they couldn¡¯t even hold out against Candle Dragon for thirty minutes. It¡¯s possible that we won¡¯t be able to do it either.¡± Gui Guzi said, ¡°How should we approach this?¡± I said, ¡°Let¡¯s wait for the siege towers that Stranger of Three Lifetimes prepared for us. Once those dozen siege towers arrive, all of our elite players should board them and attack the city together. We need to wrest control of the city walls from Candle Dragon in a single instant. Once we accomplish that, we¡¯ll just have to defend the walls from Candle Dragon¡¯s attacks. If we can hold on to those walls, we¡¯ll have nothing to fear from Candle Dragon.¡± Li Chengfeng chimed in, ¡°Don¡¯t forget one point. There are over a hundred P2W arrow towers in that city, so we have to be stronger than Candle Dragon if we are to conquer the city walls while they are pressuring us.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we will be!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡­¡­ We waited outside the city for nearly ten minutes before the twelve siege towers prepared by Stranger of Three Lifetimes stopped a hundred yards away from us. All of them were completely plated with metal armor and they looked extremely sturdy. The front of the siege towers seemed to be covered with an even thicker metal shell than the rest of it and it looked as if there was a giant shield fixed to the front of each of them. This ¡°shield¡± was also bristling with blades and spikes that looked sharp enough to skewer players with ease. Creak, creak... The siege towers let out the creaky sounds of an old, shabby cart as teams of magic knights slowly pushed them forward. Stranger of Three Lifetimes was standing on top of one of these siege towers and she waved her magic staff in the air as she yelled, ¡°Magic knights protect the¡­ err¡­ protect the second division commander. I want a group of our warriors to advance together with our friends from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! We need to launch a fierce attack on the city walls to draw fire from the enemy and create an opportunity for our siege towers. If not, the enemy mages are going to wreck those siege towers!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± A squad of warriors from Blazing Hot Lips surged forward and climbed up a ladder as we watched with dumbfounded expressions on our faces. They were continuously harassed by the enemy mages and archers the entire way up, but not a single one of them retreated even as their companions started falling one after the other. They attacked as if they had no fear of death whatsoever. Damn, every single one of these girls who had made it big were scary as shit. Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ ability to rally and command her troops was top-notch. Thunk, thunk, thunk... People kept falling to their deaths right above us and within the span of a few short minutes, the entire contingent of warriors from Blazing Hot Lips, a force that was several hundred strong, had been completely wiped out. Candle Dragon¡¯s firepower was simply way too overwhelming. Tempest Shadow¡¯s 120% Attack buff from Resolute and Blue Sky Scar¡¯s 150% Attack buff from Frenzy were both gamechangers. Moreover, they had three other players who had Soul of the Foot, which buffed the physical Attack and Defense of all unmounted players by 100%. It wasn¡¯t a stretch to say that Candle Dragon was currently at its strongest. Gui Guzi waved his spear in the air as he yelled, ¡°Brothers and sisters, we need to protect the siege towers. Quickly! They¡¯re our only hope!¡± A squad of Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen immediately responded to his call. Finally, when the siege towers had gotten within a hundred yards of the city walls, the countless arrow towers within the city started unloading on them. A storm of thick steel arrows slammed into the metal carapace of the tower relentlessly, causing brilliant sparks to fly up in the air. The siege towers started to violently shudder under the fierce impact of the arrows and expressions of alarm appeared on the faces of the magic knights at the base of the siege tower. No one had imagined that the arrow towers would be this fierce. Candlelight Shadow and his men, who were waiting for us on the top of the walls, finally sprang into action as well. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch gripped the handle of his sword tightly as he yelled, ¡°Fuck, that girl from Blazing Hot Lips, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, is really rich, huh?! Where the hell did she finagle so many siege towers from? God fucking dammit, does she really want Hall of Immortality¡¯s territory that much?!¡± Rose Thorn giggled. ¡°It¡¯s not that. She¡¯s just trying to gain Baidicheng¡¯s trust. A trusted ally is priceless after all. Moreover, Baidicheng¡¯s guild leader, Come See The Snow Tonight, is a CGL Hall of Famer too, someone with both fame and prestige. Her efforts today will be hugely beneficial for Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ growth in the future.¡± A smile flitted across Candlelight Shadow¡¯s face as he chimed in, ¡°Yeah, twelve siege towers is nothing special. Don¡¯t panic, everyone. We just need to destroy those siege towers before they can get too close to us. Besides, even though those siege towers have extremely high Defense, they don''t have any form of offensive weaponry. All of their offense will be reliant on the players inside. If we kill all of those players, what else is there to be afraid of?¡± God¡¯s Dance raised her magic staff in the air and said, ¡°That¡¯s right. There¡¯s nothing to be flustered over. They¡¯re only siege towers. Just a few days ago, you also used these things to attack Dark Moon City, but didn¡¯t Lu Chen also manage to destroy them with ease?¡± Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s face went ashen as he said, ¡°That¡¯s all dust in the wind now¡­¡± Candlelight Shadow let out a hearty laugh before he started issuing orders to his commanders. ¡°Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, God¡¯s Dance, Transient Smoke and Clouds, Golden Age Hero, Blood Slash, and Song of Pig, I want all of you to choose a siege tower each. Once that siege tower starts to get close, I want you to launch an attack and destroy it if possible. We can¡¯t allow Stranger of Three Lifetimes to have her way!¡± ¡°Yessir!¡± all of them cried out in unison. ¡­¡­ He Yi¡¯s elegant eyebrows started to knit together as a worried expression appeared on her face. ¡°Candlelight Shadow looks really confident, but where does that confidence come from?¡± Xu Yang shook his head and replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know. We¡¯ll have to charge in first to find out!¡± He Yi: ¡°...¡± At this point in time, the siege towers were less than fifty yards away from the city walls, but all of us were feeling very nervous. The players on top of those walls were evidently feeling as nervous as we were, because once we got within forty yards of those walls, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s furious roar echoed from them. ¡°Focus your fire and destroy those towers!¡± Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Countless arrows and spells started raining down on the siege towers. Brilliant explosions of light lit up the night sky as skills erupted all around the towers. Fireballs and spears of ice slammed into them with a relentless fury and even the ground itself started to shake. Unfortunately for the defenders, even this cavalcade of blows couldn¡¯t shake the siege towers as they slowly advanced. After all, if one could so easily destroy a siege tower that required an obscene amount of money to build, then they wouldn¡¯t be worth it at all! Li Chengfeng brandished his sharp sword as he ran over and yelled, ¡°High Fighting Spirits, follow me! We will charge in from the centermost tower. We need to get rid of those bastards as soon as possible!¡± High Fighting Spirits let out a spirited yell as he hefted his battle axe and charged over. The two of them led nearly two hundred of our elite warriors into the centermost siege tower and prepared to launch their assault. Meanwhile, Stranger of Three Lifetimes got off a tower and activated her Magic Shield. She advanced ahead of us, her Magic Shield deflecting countless arrows. However, its durability was hardly going down despite the beating it was taking. Mages of this level really was overpowered! The durability of a Magic Shield factored in the rank of the skill and, more importantly, Magic Attack of its user. The higher a mage¡¯s Magic Attack, the tougher their shield would be. A strong mage¡¯s shield wouldn¡¯t waver even under a storm of spells and arrows. Stranger of Three Lifetimes was one of the best mages in the game, so breaking her shield would be no laughing matter! ¡­¡­ I turned around and raised my sword in the air as I said, ¡°I need a Famous General to charge in with me!¡± Chaos Moon immediately leaped out and grinned. ¡°Me! Me!¡± ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go!¡± The two of us led a few hundred players up one of the siege towers. We heard the sound of gears creaking and clicking as the siege tower started to trundle toward the nearest city wall. Huge metal chains held up a gigantic metal drawbridge that was ten meters wide. The moment we neared the city walls, the chains would release this drawbridge and it would slam into the top of the walls, allowing us to charge across it. Of course, that was easier said than done. Everything would be decided in the next few moments. We could see the siege tower beside us through the gaps between the metal drawbridge. I could feel the energy radiating from High Fighting Spirits and Li Chengfeng as they eagerly waited for their siege tower to reach the city walls. They looked full of confidence this time. The previous attempt to use ladders to scale the city wall had put a huge damper on their mood, but the inexorable advance of these siege towers had raised their spirits once more. We were inching closer and closer. There were only twenty yards between us and the city walls now. Everyone¡¯s heart started thumping in their chest as the drawbridge in front of us continually shuddered under an unending barrage of fire and ice. The huge metal plate had been hit with so many fire spells that it started to glow cherry red. Chaos Moon brandished her sharp sword as she stared at me with anxious eyes. Complex emotions were warring in those beautiful eyes of hers. I glared at her and said, ¡°What are you looking at?¡± Chaos Moon rubbed a hand across her chest uneasily as she said, ¡°I have a bad feeling about this¡­¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡­¡­ Before she could even give voice to her thoughts, we saw God¡¯s Dance activate her Magic Shield in front of us and raise her staff high in the air. Arcane and mystical characters flowed from her lips as the weather itself started to change. ¡°O¡¯ great God of Storms, I beseech thee! Rouse the eye of the storm from its long slumber and let its destructive power rain upon this realm once more. Storm of Destruction!¡± Boom! A bolt of furious lightning fell from the heavens and split the ground apart. A gigantic storm immediately swirled into life as it tore apart the siege tower that was nearest to the walls. Broken parts, shattered words, and fragments of metal swirled in the air as many warriors from our guild started wailing in agony. ¡­¡­ ¡°Fuck!¡± My eyes widened into saucers. Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits had been in that siege tower! ¡°God¡¯s Dance, you bitch! Fucking hell, I¡¯m gonna kill you myself!¡± I growled as my hand curled into a fist. Chapter 661: Equal to a Thousand Men Chaos Moon bit down hard on her lower lip as she stared at the wreckage in front of her. Her sword arm had actually started to tremble as she gasped, "Candle Dragon¡¯s top mage is¡­ crazy strong!" I bellowed, "Prepare to assault the city walls. Fucking hell, we have to take revenge for Fighting Spirits and Chengfeng!" After I said that, I immediately summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. I leaped onto the back of my horse and slammed a sword into the drawbridge. I wasn¡¯t going to wait for it to be lowered! Bang! A huge ringing sound reverberated in the air as the drawbridge was knocked down by my mighty swing. The battlefield was suddenly unveiled before our eyes as the huge metal plate fell to the ground. We were currently about fifteen yards away from the city walls, but my Armored Ice Qilin Horse definitely had the jumping power to cross that distance. However, it was at this exact moment that an opposing player sprang into action. He ran up the city walls before leaping off. His body drew a beautiful arc in the air as he spun toward the siege tower to our left. It was Blue Sky Scar! He savagely thrust the longsword in his hand into the siege tower¡¯s plated hide. When it sank into the wooden frame, he used it to swing himself up to the top of the siege tower. After that, he immediately yanked out his sword and launched a wave of sword energy at the players inside the tower, causing the Blazing Hot Lips players inside to wail with pain. On the other side, Candlelight Shadow had used his sharp sword to draw a magic formation. A fierce and majestic-looking lion covered in dripping blood burst out of the formation in an explosion of light. It immediately reared back its gigantic head and let out a furious roar. The words "Bloodthirsty Lion King" floated above it. Candlelight Shadow had also switched pets! It was a Heaven Rank boss pet and it looked super strong! Killing intent flickered in Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes as he suddenly turned toward me. The look in his eyes turned haughty and mocking as he retreated a few steps. Then, he suddenly brandished his sword and shot forward like a missile. He flew straight toward me like an arrow as he leapt into the air! "Lu Chen, it¡¯s time to show me just how strong you¡¯ve become!" he yelled. The air around us seemed to freeze as everyone on the battlefield turned to look at us. Two legendary Heavenly Kings were about to do battle! What would happen next?! "Ice Qilin Horse, let¡¯s go!" I yelled in response as I spurred my horse forward. It leapt into the air and flew straight toward one of the arrow towers on the city walls. The Cyan Netherworld Sword dipped low as cold energy started pulsing along its blade. "Heh! You¡¯re looking to die!" Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes grew cold and suddenly executed a backward somersault midair! He used the momentum generated from his spin to fly right above me. His hand smacked against my right shoulder as he used it for support to spin back down toward my back. The Blade of Scarlet Flames glinted with a deathly cold light as a spiral of burning energy formed on the tip of its blade. Barrier Break! Pcchht! 20192! Even though he was using Encourage VII, I had to admit that Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Attack was incredibly high. The Blade of Scarlet Flames seemed to be a Level 140 5-star Outstanding Earth-grade weapon, so its attack power was extremely terrifying. Clang! Clang! Clang! Candlelight Shadow took advantage of the fact that a player couldn¡¯t turn around and attack while mounted to hit me again. He balanced expertly on the back of the Armored Ice Qilin Horse as he struck me in the back with his Blazing Purgatory Slash. Those three fierce strikes dealt nearly twenty thousand damage! That was forty thousand damage in the matter of seconds. I had no choice but to grit my teeth and take those blows but the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s steel-shod hooves had finally landed on top of the city wall. After that, my hand immediately shot out to grab Candlelight Shadow¡¯s as I snarled, "Have you had enough fun?" I gave a loud grunt as I bodily slung Candlelight Shadow toward the ground. The Cyan Netherworld Sword howled when I instantly hit him with Burning Blade Slash. Three blades of blazing sword energy mingled together as they shot toward the downed warrior. Candlelight Shadow barely had any time to react after I had hurled him off my horse, but he still managed to raise his sword to parry all three of my strikes! He had entered a defensive stance way too quickly! Clang! Clang! Clang! 2902! 6093! 11092! The difference between normal players and players in the Earthfire Realm was revealed in that instant. Even though Candlelight Shadow had managed to successfully parry my strikes, he still lost nearly 20000 HP. He only had about 50k health in the first place, so this fight would go very poorly for him if it continued like this! The tip of my sword suddenly shuddered as it suddenly shot out toward him yet again. Crushing Blow! If I managed to connect with that attack, Candlelight Shadow was dead meat! Unfortunately, his reaction speed was even faster than my sudden strike and he instantly stopped trying to defend against my attack. I changed my strike midway as Crushing Blow transformed into Universe Break! A flash of cold light erupted up from below the Armored Ice Qilin Horse as my Universe Break shot toward Candlelight Shadow like a venomous snake. "Shit!" Candlelight Shadow gasped in shock as he hastily backpedaled. His body suddenly started to bob and weave as he used the helix maneuver in a bid to dodge my attack. Unfortunately for me, it worked splendidly as he seemed to vanish from the arc of my strike like a flickering shadow. My attack swhooshed over his head as a huge "MISS" popped up into the air. He had actually managed to use pure agility and skill to dodge the Universe Break that seemed destined to hit him! Shock sprang up in my heart, but I had no choice but to grudgingly admit that Candlelight Shadow had never rested on his laurels and the title of "Martial God¡±. He was always diligently training his skills and refining his techniques to grow stronger. The current Candlelight Shadow was many times stronger than the Candlelight Shadow who had just turned pro and he was one of the few people who could simply use their mechanical skill to evade my Universe Break in that kind of situation. However, Candlelight Shadow was smart enough to not engage me in a direct battle after our first clash. The gulf in our stats was too wide! I had my super-OP mount, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, while he was still on foot! Even though he had more room to maneuver and display his skills, skill was useless in the face of absolute power. Besides, even if my agility was limited by my mount, I still possessed first-class skills and offensive power myself. He couldn¡¯t afford to be careless. ¡­¡­ He brandished the Blade of Scarlet Flames warily as he beat a quick retreat. Once he had retreated far enough, he waved a hand and used his Ghost God Prophecy against me as he yelled, "Archers, use your Shock Arrows to stun this asshole! After that, I want everyone to kill him!" A group of archers positioned on the city walls began to rain down fire on me! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! A flurry of arrows forced the Ice Qilin Horse backward! Candlelight Shadow had too many powerhouse players by his side and Transient Smoke and Clouds¡¯ bow was definitely an Earth-grade weapon at the very least. Furthermore, he wasn¡¯t unleashing a hasty barrage of arrows at me. He was slowly and methodically aiming at my weak spots before firing. His accuracy was startlingly high as well, and even my lightning-quick movements weren¡¯t enough to dodge his iron arrows! Bang! Bang! Bang! Those arrows exploded when they hit my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor. Transient Smoke and Clouds¡¯ attacks seemed to have an explosive property which dealt huge damage against heavy-armor opponents! 8293! 4592! 7291! ¡­¡­ The constant heavy blows had left me at my wits end as well, but I still wasn¡¯t willing to retreat yet. If I didn¡¯t hold their attention, all the siege towers that Stranger of Three Lifetimes had used a lot of time and effort to build would be destroyed! My blade swept forward as my Thousand Ice Slash exploded within the enemy¡¯s midst with a resounding boom. My attack one-shot many archers and assassins while restoring a huge amount of my health. My Phantom Wolf King had also leapt onto the city walls with a furious howl. It seemed extremely angry at the fact that its master had been ganged up on by so many people, so it dove straight into the crowd of Candle Dragon players and unleashed Claw of the Storm, carving huge slashes into the cobblestones that made up the city wall! Candlelight Shadow shuddered at the might of my pet, but he immediately ordered his own pet to launch a counterattack. The Bloodthirsty Lion King immediately wheeled toward the Phantom Wolf King, and I also urged my little wolf forward. In the end, the two kings of beasts smashed into one another as they tore at each other¡¯s hide. Countless streams of energy swirled around them as they ripped into one another, the savage display leaving the surrounding players dumbfounded. "All archers, focus your fire on Lu Chen! We need to take him out in one shot!" Transient Smoke and Clouds yelled. Nearly a hundred elite archers raised their bows at his command. The sound of them nocking arrows and pulling their bowstrings taut caused my heart to leap into my throat. Whoosh, whoosh... After I cut down a few Candle Dragon fighters, I immediately saw an opportunity and yelled, "Little wolf!" The Phantom Wolf King howled when it heard my call. It immediately bounded forward and unleashed Purgatory Storm in the next instant, the huge storm sweeping up most of the elite archers who had trained their bows on me. My precisely-timed attack had ripped most of them to shreds, but Transient Smoke and Clouds had reacted with supreme speed. He escaped the radius of that storm with a single Leap, saving his own life in the process. Candlelight Shadow gritted his teeth angrily when he saw that. Not allowing this to go on any further, he instantly shot straight toward me with the Blade of Scarlet Flames raised high in the air! Boom! I missed my first strike! Candlelight Shadow had managed to pull off a zigzag to dodge my first attack despite moving at such a fast speed. After that, his feet skidded against the ground as he instantly wove an "S" on the ground and got behind me. He slashed me a few times from behind before slipping away again. He was a blur of constant motion, and my slower turning radius while mounted allowed him to keep dancing around me. Was he trying to maneuver his way to victory?! I chuckled to myself when I realized what he was up to. Was he really that naive? I suddenly urged my mount forward, and the Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s superlative speed caused me to fly forward and out of the range of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s sword. Light exploded from the Cyan Netherworld Sword as I used Burning Blade Slash on a squad of his elite magic knights, instantly one-shotting most of them. The 200% Attack boost from my Martial God skill and the overwhelming offensive power of my Cyan Netherworld Sword turned Burning Blade Slash into a nuke that most players couldn¡¯t endure. Of course, more than a few of those elite players had managed to defend against my attack, which had saved them from the grisly fate of their companions. I did a half-spin as I cleaved players to the left and right of me with my Cyan Netherworld Sword. I had mowed down nearly a hundred Candle Dragon elites like so in the matter of seconds! I wheeled around once more to meet Candlelight Shadow, who had only just managed to catch up to me. His face had gone completely white. He clearly understood what my intentions were now. I was going to kill every player of Candle Dragon I could lay my hands on before his very eyes and dare him to stop me! ¡­¡­ It was at this precise moment that Galaxy Storm suddenly exploded all around me. My body went cold as I instantly lost 17829 HP. Fuck, that¡¯s one strong spell! I spun around to see that God¡¯s Dance was the one who had attacked me. This WMD of a mage had always been a huge thorn in our side. Her powerful magic and oustanding mechanical skill had utterly justified her reputation as the best mage in Candle Dragon. Whoosh! My Cyan Netherworld Sword flickered in the air as I immediately rushed toward God¡¯s Dance. I braved the countless spells and arrows that were raining down on me as I charged ahead. Bang! Bang! Bang! I had definitely overestimated my defensive capabilities. As God¡¯s Dance and Transient Smoke and Clouds poured fire down on me, I saw the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s tenacity bar grow shorter and shorter. In the end, it gave a sorrowful whinny and disappeared from beneath me. Goddammit, I really couldn¡¯t just charge in headfirst like that! Thud, thud, thud... I frantically scrambled across the ground as my health instantly plummeted. A bunch of fireballs and icicles were flying right at me even as I tried to dodge the first few spells and arrows. However, what made the situation truly grim was Tempest Shadow¡¯s sudden charge. His spear shot through the air like a bolt of lightning as he headed my way with Barrier Break! Chapter 662: Chaotic Clash of Heroes Tempest Shadow grinned with satisfaction as he saw his spear make its way toward me in an almost inexorable fashion. That grin was so twisted that it looked a little sinister. As one of the four War Gods of the Martial God, Tempest Shadow had always been in Candlelight Shadow¡¯s shadow despite being a CGL Hall of Famer himself. He didn¡¯t mind this at all, but he really wanted to prove himself to Candlelight Shadow. If he managed to kill me right here and now, his reputation would definitely receive a huge boost. However, I chuckled as I saw the spear soar toward me. Tempest Shadow¡¯s desperate desire to succeed was plain for all the world to see, but it was too bad that this doofus didn¡¯t have his boss''s matchless skills! Thud! I launched myself off the battlements and did a spin in the air, dodging Tempest Shadow¡¯s Barrier Break in an oh-so-casual manner. I executed a backward somersault when my feet hit the ground. This put me in front of Tempest Shadow. My arm immediately shot out and the Cyan Netherworld Sword glowed with the indigo light of Universe Break as it punched into the gap in Tempest Shadow¡¯s neck armor with the force of a speeding bullet! Pchhht! 24903! Tempest Shadow¡¯s eyes widened in alarm. He had just lost about one-third of his health in a single strike. But I wasn¡¯t done yet! My sword flickered through the air three times as a fiery energy surged from its blade. Burning Blade Slash! Clang! Clang! Clang! The three crescent blades of sword energy exploded against Tempest Shadow¡¯s shield, taking away another third of his health. His eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his skull as he scrambled backward. All I needed to do was hit him in a vulnerable spot to send him flying back to the city! Dark Pupils caused my eyes to shine with a black light as I immediately located the chink in his armor. It was at the base of his left thigh! One more attack would end this punk¡¯s life! Candlelight Shadow crashed into me just when I was about to swing my sword. He shoved me with the Blade of Scarlet Flames as he roared, "Lu Chen, it¡¯s time for you to get the fuck off these walls! Hall of Immortality¡¯s Immortality City isn¡¯t a place you should have come to!" Bang! The huge impact sent me flying off the city walls. Chaos Moon¡¯s mouth dropped open in shock when she saw me fall and she immediately led a group of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players up the wall. As I fell, I could only catch a glimpse of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s smug face and Chaos Moon¡¯s snowy thighs. ¡­¡­ Thunk! Rustle... Something suddenly stirred in the middle of that wreckage. After that, a blood-colored battle axe suddenly burst out from underneath the rubble! WTF, that was High Fighting Spirit¡¯s Invincible! "Ah, this is so fucking troublesome!" High Fighting Spirits snarled as he struggled to climb out of the ruined siege tower. His body and face was stained with dust and he only had about 10% of his HP left. When he finally climbed clear of the wreckage, I saw that he was holding Invincible in his right hand and a person in his left. It was Li Chengfeng! Li Chengfeng only had 5% of his health left, and it seemed like God¡¯s Dance attack had knocked him unconscious. "Hurry up and heal them!" I shouted as I hurriedly rushed toward them. I immediately positioned myself in front of them to block them from getting sniped by an archer. Thankfully, Chaos Moon and her squad had drawn most of the attention to themselves, so most of the enemy archers didn¡¯t have the leisure to pick off any stragglers below the city walls. If not for that, both Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits could be easily picked off by a salvo of Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms. Moon Dew and Murong Minyue started waving their magic staves in the air as several consecutive heals instantly filled up High Fighting Spirits¡¯ HP bar. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and Xu Yang had also rushed forward and they were currently staring at the unconscious Li Chengfeng. Xu Yang hefted his broadsword in his hand as he said, "What the hell? Li actually got knocked out by God¡¯s Dance? Is he even a dragon warrior? Hurry up and wake him up!" High Fighting Spirits glared at him fiercely. "This is a game! How the hell am I supposed to wake him up?" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun chimed in, "How about you try CPR?" High Fighting Spirits grinned. "Sounds good! You do it!" As he said that, he grabbed the back of Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s head and attempted to drag it toward Li Chengfeng¡¯s face. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun let out a shrill yell as he tried to struggle out of the warrior¡¯s grasp. "What the fuck?l!" Li Chengfeng slowly started to stir. When his eyes fluttered open, he immediately let out a startled shout and kicked both High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun away. He raised his sword high in the air and yelled, "Even though civilization has fallen into ruin, the rivers and mountains still remain!" Murong Mingyue looked up at the sky and sighed helplessly. "What the hell is going on? These bunch of idiots. We¡¯re smack dab in the middle of an intense siege, but here they are cracking jokes¡­" ¡­¡­ The battle on top of the city wall had turned white-hot as both Blazing Hot Lips and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls launched fierce assaults on the enemy lines. Even though nearly half of the twelve siege towers had been destroyed, the rest of them had managed to ram into the city walls. Players swarmed out of them and threw themselves at the enemy. On the other side of the city, The Monarch Descends was focusing all of their fire on the city gate. We had to destroy the city gate. If we didn¡¯t, there was no way for our mounted troops to rush into the city and destroy the numerous arrow towers. If we didn¡¯t get rid of the arrow towers, they would remain a huge thorn in our side. In fact, nearly half of our casualties had been caused by those damned arrow towers. "Ahhhh¡­" Cries of misery rang out in the air as players kept falling from the top of the city walls. Most of them were dead before they even hit the ground. Candle Dragon¡¯s counterattack had been deadly, the overwhelming firepower pinning most of our guild members toward the edge of the wall. Players continued to fall on both sides as the conflict slowly grinded itself into a stalemate. However, this battle of attrition would be devastating for us in the long run. We lost at least three players every time we killed a Candle Dragon player. This was the price to pay when you were the ones besieging an enemy city. As I stared up at the city walls, I brandished the Cyan Netherworld Sword and bellowed, "Brothers and sisters, prepare to mount those walls! The siege towers are moving targets and it''s too easy for us to get attacked while we are riding them. I want everyone to spread up and climb up the walls using the cloud ladders. Remember this! I want every mounted player to summon their mounts the moment they climb up the wall. Once we have enough mounted troops, I want you to launch a mini cavalry charge. It will be more effective that way! Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and Diamond Dust nodded their heads in unison. After that, the cr¨¨me de la cr¨¨me of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls started to quietly scale the city walls. He Yi was right behind me while Beiming Xue was nimbly flying up the cloud ladder, the Dragonbone String in her mouth. The speed and alacrity of a high-Agility class was plain for all to see. ¡­¡­ Unfortunately for us, an enemy archer noticed us scaling the walls and he immediately pointed toward us and yelled, "Damn it all! Everyone, we need to defend the walls, those guys from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are trying to¡­" Before he could finish speaking, a bright blade gorily burst out of his chest. As blood sprayed in the air, he let out a miserable wail and tumbled off the walls. Chaos Moon peeked her head out from where the archer had been standing, her fair face dotted with specks of blood. She grinned at us and said, "Hurry up! We can¡¯t hold them off for much longer!" Chaos Moon wasn¡¯t exaggerating one bit. She had to immediately whirl around to parry an enemy strike and the warriors around her were slowly being cut down or kicked off the walls by Candlelight Shadow and his men. Blue Sky Scar roared triumphantly as he cut a warrior down but his ragged breathing revealed just how savage the battle had gotten! I was overcome by an increased sense of urgency as I practically flew up the walls. I quickly swept my eyes over my skill bar and I saw that the button to summon my mount had lit up once more. Shit, I actually allowed those Candle Dragon guys to use Mountain Stagger Arrows and Ice Dragon Howls to deplete my mount¡¯s tenacity. Ah, how disgraceful! Wooosh! I had already started summoning the Ice Qilin Horse as I leapt high in the air. I waved a hand in the air as a magic circle flashed into life. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a piercing whinny as it burst out of the magic formation. My perfectly-timed jump allowed me to land on the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s back just as its hooves hit the top of the city wall. Killing intent practically rolled off my body as I entered a mounted state at the first possible moment. Blue Sky Scar gave a startled yell when he saw me, "Fuck, Lu Chen is back again! These Earthfire Realm fighters are a real pain to deal with! Boss, how are we going to deal with him?" Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes went cold. "Let¡¯s charge him together! We can adjust our formation after we¡¯ve gotten rid of Lu Chen. He¡¯s only a sixth-promotion player, there¡¯s nothing to be scared of! I want everyone to calm down and follow me!" "Yes!" They fanned out and started to advance toward me in a scattered formation. After that, God¡¯s Dance instantly used Galaxy Storm to impede my vision while Transient Smoke and Clouds took the opportunity to fire Shock Arrow at me! I unconsciously weaved left and right, which was enough to dodge his Shock Arrow. After that, my sword arm lashed out as I unleashed Thousand Ice Slash! Boom! My sword seemed to multiply into countless blades of sword energy as it exploded in the midst of a small group of players. Tempest Shadow was one of them and he was unlucky enough to have his mount¡¯s legs frozen by my attack! As the enemy players started surging forward, I immediately moved to protect Chaos Moon and the surviving members of her squad. I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward and slashed the air three times. Burning Blade Slash! Thud! Thud! Thud! Over a dozen Candle Dragon magic knights fell to the ground, engulfed by fiery explosions. Candlelight Shadow took this opportunity to launch an attack as well. He thrust his sword into the ground, and yelled, "Rock Thrust!" Bang! Bang! Bang! The cobblestones on top of the city wall fractured and split apart as a sharp row of stone spikes shot up from the ground and smashed into the people around me. It also did quite a fair bit of damage to me as well. Tempest Shadow shot toward me from the other side as he raised his spear high in the air. As he swung the spear toward me, a dense golden light erupted from its blade and swiftly condensed into the image of a snarling tiger. He yelled, "Fierce Tiger Slash!" Bang! A beam of energy instantly shot out from his spear and struck everything in its path! Chaos Moon and I had a front and center view of it coming our way! 16879! 24092! Shock immediately colored Chaos Moon¡¯s pretty face, she had very nearly died! God¡¯s Dance started casting another Galaxy Storm. Her Storm of Destruction was a large-scale forbidden curse spell, so its cooldown was at least two hours long. The cooldown for these spells had to be this long. If not, all the other players didn¡¯t need to bother playing the game! ¡­¡­ Arrows and spells flew through the air with reckless abandon as Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, and Golden Age Hero pressed forward with their men. Chaos Moon and I had no choice but to backpedal continuously. There was nothing we could do in the face of these impossible odds. It was at this exact moment that we heard a wild roar echo from behind us. Hell yeah! That¡¯s Li Chengfeng¡¯s voice. The dragon warrior had finally made his entrance! He barreled past us, the Blade of Ghastly Wind raised high in the air. Li Chengfeng had activated Charge the moment his feet hit the top of the city walls and he was targeting one of the Soul of the Foot Famous Generals, Golden Age Hero! Whoosh! Li Chengfeng had locked onto him with his Charge, but Golden Age Hero was no noob. He hurriedly wove an "S" shape as he backpedaled, but it wasn¡¯t enough to stop Li Chengfeng from hitting him with an explosive combo! Barrier Break + Dragonbone Flurry! Puchi puchi puchi... All four of Li Chengfeng¡¯s sword strikes had struck home. Even though Soul of the Foot was active, it wasn¡¯t enough to save his life. He sank to the ground in a pool of his own blood. All four of Li Chengfeng¡¯s attacks had pierced his throat, which dealt even more damage since they struck a weak spot. His exquisite accuracy caused the jaws of the players to drop open in amazement. High Fighting Spirits had also activated Charge when he leapt onto the top of the city walls. He had rushed into a crowd of Candle Dragon players and a cyan beast head flashed into existence as he unleashed Xiezhi Howl in their midst! The damage he dealt was absolutely shocking. Chaos Moon also seized this opportunity to strike, her Rock Crush sending Blue Sky Scar reeling backward. Xu Yang knew that his mechanical skill wasn¡¯t up to the mark, so he merely followed the path which High Fighting Spirits had opened up. He craftily waited for High Fighting Spirits to use Xiezhi Howl, using the distraction to hit Tempest Shadow in the head with a Mountain Stagger Slash! Bang! Tempest Shadow hurriedly backpedaled as color drained from his face. Xu Yang¡¯s attack had instantly deleted a huge amount of his mount¡¯s tenacity. He yelled in shock, "Fuck, why is that skill so despicable?" 1. Don¡¯t ask us how that¡¯s possible¡­ Chapter 663: What a Despicable Skill! ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow stared at us with red eyes. He barked at the top of his voice, "Charge at them! Don¡¯t let them get into their battle formation! If their riders get into battle formation, this region of the city will be lost! Blue Sky Scar, Song of Pig, and Blood Slash, gather your forces and charge at them! Break their formation and prevent them from summoning their mounts!" A group of Candle Dragon players started to charge at us with a battlecry. Two Soul of the Foot Famous Generals, brandished their swords with fury in their eyes and shouted, "Damn you! Trying to screw with Candle Dragon? Dream on!!" Song of Pig and Blood Slash led a hundred players into battle each and activated Soul of the Foot. That Famous General Skill increased the entire party¡¯s Attack and Defense by 100%, making it an extremely powerful skill. The two hundred players charged with a loud cry and clashed head-on with Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, He Yi, and I. Fortunately, Gui Guzi, He Yi and I had managed to summon our mounts beforehand so we could counterattack fearlessly! Boom! Boom! Boom! He Yi¡¯s Purgatory of Ice and Magma¡¯s five consecutive attacks exploded amid a group of enemies. Enemies who were buffed with Soul of the Foot retreated rapidly with fear in their eyes as they tried to avoid being killed. To our dismay, only a few of them were one-shot due to their 100% increase in Defense. This caught He Yi and I by surprise. We had not expected for the Soul of the Foot to be this powerful. God dammit! Even Li Chengfeng was forced to take a few steps backward when the enemy came at us head-on. The enemy¡¯s 100% increase in Attack was truly powerful and it seemed as if all of them had already learnt Barrier Break. Their consecutive attacks were insanely brutal and Li Chengfeng had taken three consecutive hits of Barrier Break! He let out a string of curses as his health was nearly depleted! Transient Smoke and Clouds laughed loudly and yelled, "Blood Slash, work with me! Let¡¯s eliminate one of their Famous Generals!" "Sounds like a good plan!" Blood Slash dashed forward suddenly and swung his sword at Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, unleashing a Barrier Break on him! 19820! Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun cried out pitifully as he collapsed from the Cyan Tiger he had been riding on. Just like that, he had become the first Famous General in the Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul to lose his life in the battle of Immortality City! ¡­¡­ I gritted my teeth at the scene before me in outrage and shouted, "Beiming! Eliminate two of those Soul of the Foot assholes!" "With pleasure!" Beiming Xue ran swiftly and leaped onto the city wall gracefully, her pale legs looked extremely mesmerizing in the moonlight. She slightly bent her waist over the edge of the wall to get a better aim as her Dragonbone String shone brilliantly in the dark. When she released her arrow, it whistled through the air and stunned Blood Slash successfully. He stood rooted to the spot and Beiming Xue instantly released a dozen arrows of Evil Spirit Volley at him. She smirked in satisfaction as eleven out of twelve arrows pierced his chest! Bang! Bang! Bang! Blood Slash collapsed with a pitiful howl and dropped his Cyanlight Helmet. A barrage of arrows was not something most melee players could stand up against. Beiming Xue continued to execute my command and did not stop to savor her victory as she turned to run along the city walls. Once she came to a stop, she swiftly positioned her dazzling bow and locked on to the enemy¡¯s last Soul of the Foot Famous General, Song of Pig! "Fuck! It¡¯s the Dark Archer Beiming Xue!" Song of Pig exclaimed frantically and retreated like the wind, holding up his hands in a defensive position hoping that it would be enough to save him from death. Beiming Xue sighed helplessly as she continued to rapidly fire thirteen arrows. Of which, 70% flew straight for Song of Pig! Bang! Bang! Bang! The hits were so powerful that his entire armor trembled. Song of Pig had barely withstood that round of attack and half his health had been shaved off. His face lit up with joy and exclaimed in relief, "Is this all the famous Dark Archer can do?! What a joke! I managed to Guard successfully¡­" At this moment, the Dragonbone String in Beiming Xue¡¯s hand started to tremble as a faint dragon¡¯s roar could be heard in the distance. Holy shit! The Evil Spirit Volley had actually activated the Dragonbone String¡¯s Outstanding Property! In the blink of an eye, a shining dragon shaped arrow started to form on Beiming Xue¡¯s bow string before she released it as it whistled through the air. It was an attack imbued with the power of the Dragonbone String. Proud Dragon Arrow! "What the hell?!" Song of Pig¡¯s was so stunned that he failed to react in time. The Proud Dragon Arrow flew at the speed of light and pierced through his armor, hitting him smack in the chest. Song of Pig could only watch with wide eyes as blood started to seep out from the arrow stuck in his chest. 31992! Everyone stared in shock at the damage number that floated above his head as Song of Pig slowly sank to his knees, collapsing onto the ground. Moreover, Proud Dragon Arrow was an AoE skill that was designed to eliminate all enemy players in a straight line. With a loud explosion, a few arrow towers in the distance collapsed into a mountain of rubble. Proud Dragon Arrow was so powerful that it could even destroy towers! I smiled proudly as three Soul of the Foot Famous Generals were all eliminated within a short span of time. Beiming Xue had killed two of them while Li Chengfeng did away with one. The enemy players were debuffed now that all their Famous Generals were killed. Now that the tables have been turned, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits stopped defending and immediately unleashed their attack skills. Reverse Scale Slash, Rock Crush, Xiezhi Howl, and other skills were unleashed into the crowd of enemies. Pitiful wails rang out immediately as the Candle Dragon players were brutally slaughtered without the buff from Soul of the Foot. When a party leader died, the party would be promptly disbanded. The fighting was so intense that none of them could spare time to create a new party. How would our enemies withstand powerful Famous General Skills like Blitz, Plunder, and Stamp without any buffs? ¡­¡­ Clang! Blade of the Earthen Soul clashed violently against Blade of Scarlet Flames as both guild leaders finally faced each other directly in battle. Candlelight Shadow sprung out of nowhere, hoping to catch Xu Yang off-guard. Fortunately, the latter managed to block his attack while He Yi saw an opening and thrust her sword at Candlelight Shadow. In the nick of time, Candlelight Shadow quickly held up his sword to parry her blow. Unfortunately for him, He Yi¡¯s equipment was exceptionally powerful and her Attack was further boosted by her mount. Even though Candlelight Shadow managed to parry He Yi¡¯s blow, the attack flung him back violently. "Goddammit, she¡¯s so powerful¡­" With an indignant snort, Candlelight Shadow planted his feet firmly into the ground and swiftly activated Burning Purgatory Slash. With a swing of his sword, he one-shot two Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players within his attack range. He turned instantly, performing a helix maneuver as he weaved into the group of players and activated Encourage VII. His attacks were extremely powerful and players collapsed instantly at a single swing of his sword! I glanced at Candlelight Shadow and decided that I would deal with him later as I had my hands full at the current moment. I rushed forward and unleashed various AoE attacks among the enemy while tanking most of the attacks from the arrow towers at the same time. We were right in the middle of the attack zone of the arrow towers, Without any form of protection or cover, many of our players were brutally slaughtered. Damn those arrow towers, we would have a much easier time dealing with Candle Dragon if it weren¡¯t for them! On the other side of the battlefield, Blazing Hot Lips¡¯s players had arrived and started hacking away at Candle Dragon players. Meanwhile, our opponent¡¯s cannoneer, God¡¯s Dance waved her staff as volleys of Galaxy Storm rained down, slaughtering many of our allies. Beiming Xue ran swiftly as she lifted her bow and took aim for God¡¯s Dance. Her Evil Spirit Volley rained down on the mage and rapidly reduced her Magic Shield¡¯s durability. God¡¯s Dance gasped in shock and stopped her attacks on the masses in face of a new threat. Needless to say, everyone heaved a sigh of relief now that God¡¯s Dance was preoccupied by our dark archer. At this moment, the leader of Blazing Hot Lips, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, finally managed to scale the cloud ladder and reach the top of the city wall. She activated her Magic Shield and glanced at the Candle Dragon players before her. She waved her staff with a giggle as Galaxy Storm + Icicle Flurry started to rain instantly upon the group of enemies before her! Bang! Bang! Bang! Such powerful skills! Tempest Shadow wailed out as he was caught in the blast and retreated readily. Gripping his pike, he shouted in fury, "What the heck! Stranger of Three Lifetimes is vicious! Transient Smoke and Clouds, go eliminate her!" Transient Smoke and Clouds shivered in fear and replied, "If I do that, you need to keep Beiming Xue and Lu Chen occupied for the time being! Otherwise I would be slaughtered before I even get close to the archer¡¯s attacking range!" Tempest Shadow sighed deeply before saying, "Let¡¯s go kill Chaos Moon then!" "Alright¡­" ¡­¡­ He Yi swung her Blade of the Earthen Soul with such quick movements that Tempest Shadow was forced backward. He eyed He Yi cautiously after getting a taste of how powerful she was. Even though he was a CGL Hall of Famer, He Yi¡¯s equipment was extraordinarily powerful. Her Blade of the Earthen Soul was definitely not any inferior to Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Blade of Scarlet Flames and even her mount was exceptional. She had nothing to fear when faced with Tempest Shadow or anyone of his rank for that matter. Beiming Xue continued to keep God¡¯s Dance busy with her constant attacks. Thus, God¡¯s Dance was unable to unleash her full potential and could not wreak havoc among her enemies. Meanwhile, Candlelight Shadow cruised along the borders and cut down every single Cyan Tiger Cavalryman in his way. But no matter how powerful an individual was, it was simply impossible for him to solo an entire army. Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ army continued to press forward while Stranger of Three Lifetimes led her mages into battle. A group of mages were exactly what Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls needed! They unleashed their Galaxy Storms in constant waves as they exploded amid the enemies, tipping the scales of battle in our favor. Our two Knight Generals, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust, led a dozen magic knights as they charged back and forth through the battlefield. Other Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen started to join them and their numbers continued to increase. As a battle formation started to take shape, it became harder for Candle Dragon to deal with their opponents. Candlelight Shadow gripped his sword and moved with lightning speed. With a thrust of his sword, he pierced through the armor of a Cyan Tiger Cavalryman and unceremoniously dragged him off his mount. Stepping on the rider¡¯s corpse with one foot, he shouted, "Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch, take your men and gun for Beiming Xue! Little Dance, come here and beat the shit out of those Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen!" Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch nodded his head obediently as he led a group of players toward Beiming Xue. Beiming Xue was forced to retreat when she saw the Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch charging at her but continued to release her arrows upon her enemies. Beiming Xue gritted her teeth in annoyance as she was forced to back away from God¡¯s Dance and could no longer stop her from attacking. God¡¯s Dance heaved a sigh of relief as Beiming Xue was no longer hassling her. She smiled and waved her staff instantly as Galaxy Storm rained down on Diamond Dust. Within seconds, Diamond Dust¡¯s mount tenacity was reduced to zero and as her mount collapsed with a loud thud. Candle Dragon smiled with glee when he saw that Diamond Dust was left with a third of her health. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he flew forward as thrusted his bright Flaming Crimson Blade toward her. ¡­¡­ Clang! Sparks flew in all directions as the Blade of the Earthen Soul blocked the incoming Blade of Scarlet Flames. He Yi stood over Diamond Dust protectively as she enveloped Candlelight Shadow with her Purgatory Ice and Magma instantly. Resounding bangs rang out as Candlelight Shadow was forced backward by the five consecutive hits. His face turned ashen with shock as he was almost one-shot by He Yi¡¯s skill. I applauded inwardly with glee. Finally, the day had come where He Yi could be absolutely confident of her abilities in the game. Not many dared to go head-to-head with Candlelight Shadow after all. He Yi¡¯s skills were far worse than Candlelight Shadow¡¯s, but she had actually dared to face him head-on. This took Candlelight Shadow completely by surprise and so he did not perform on the level he would have had he known the danger she posed. He Yi stared at Candlelight Shadow but directed her words at me, "Lu Chen, go kill God¡¯s Dance!" "Roger!" I leaped forward without hesitation, activating Thunderous Charge and locking my sights on the warrior beside God¡¯s Dance! Whhoosh! I flew swiftly to my target as lightning and thunder accompanied me. God¡¯s Dance noticed me from the corner of her eyes and swiftly retreated. A ball of red energy formed at the tip of my Cyan Netherworld Sword as I unleashed Frightening Slash. As I thrust my sword forward, it penetrated through the opponent¡¯s Magic Shield with a loud bang! 28819! Nearly 30000 of God¡¯s Dance¡¯s MP was shaved off instantly as she did not manage to get out of my attack range fast enough. She turned ashen instantly and exclaimed in shock, "God dammit! I can¡¯t believe such a despicable skill actually exists!" Chapter 664: Dragonblade Revolution I used my superior to speed to practically ignore God¡¯s Dance¡¯s attempts to evade me. My sword flashed through the air as a spiral of indigo energy appeared around its blade. This was the wind-up for Universe Break! "Ah¡­" God¡¯s Dance cried out in alarm as fear and shock filled her eyes. It was at this moment that a black shadow suddenly barreled in front of her. A huge golden shield heavily slammed into the ground in front of God¡¯s Dance. Someone was actually trying to save this damsel in distress! Puu! The Cyan Netherworld Sword bored into the huge shield like a power drill! Universe Break ignored 90% of a target¡¯s Defense, it wasn¡¯t something a shield could defend against. It wouldn¡¯t make a difference if the one blocking was the CGL Hall of Famer Tempest Shadow, the result would still be the same. 29092! Universe Break was even more OP when it was used while I was mounted. A single blow had taken out nearly half of Tempest Shadow¡¯s HP. But I wasn¡¯t done yet! I immediately unleashed Burning Blade Slash right after that! Clang! Clang! Clang! Tempest Shadow successfully defended against the three consecutive strikes, but he still lost a huge chunk of health. Only a few seconds had gone by, but Tempest Shadow¡¯s health had already dropped to critical levels. Tempest Shadow had realized this as well, and a look of shock flashed through his eyes as he cursed, "Fuck me, Lu Chen¡¯s attack power is absurdly high¡­" Beams of white light rapidly fell on his head. Candle Dragon¡¯s priests had pulled Tempest Shadow¡¯s back to half. However, it was at this moment that he ate Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ Galaxy Storm. ¡­¡­ "Hold your ground!" Candlelight Shadow thrust his blade ruthlessly into a Cyan Tiger Cavalryman¡¯s throat, causing blood to spray into the air. He wiped away the blood that had stained his face as he yelled, "We have the arrow towers on our side while Blazing Hot Lips and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls don¡¯t! I need frontline fighters to hold the line! Mages, archers, don¡¯t hold anything back! Focus on their Famous Generals and kill them one by one!" After he said that, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes turned flat and he yelled, "Smoke and Clouds, come here! Let¡¯s launch a combo attack!" Wooosh! The Martial God hit High Fighting Spirits with a casual ease. The berserk warrior¡¯s body shuddered as his Invincible fell to his side. Candlelight Shadow raised his Blade of Scarlet Flames, a fiery spiral appearing around the body of his sword. After that, he hit High Fighting Spirits with a Barrier Break + Blazing Purgatory Slash combo. All four strikes hit High Fighting Spirits and instantly depleted most of High Fighting Spirits¡¯ HP, which was already above 60000. Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew¡¯s eyes widened in alarm as they hurriedly cast healing spells on High Fighting Spirits. Beams of white light fell on his head like rain, but Candle Dragon wasn¡¯t going to just let our priests save his life. Transient Smoke and Clouds¡¯ bow shuddered as twelve arrows howled out toward High Fighting Spirits. They smacked into his breastplate with a thud, instantly deleting the health that our priests had just recovered. Candlelight Shadow didn¡¯t let up either. He stepped forward and simply swiped his sword across High Fighting Spirits¡¯ throat. Crack! 21092! Crimson blood sprayed into the air as High Fighting Spirits limply sank to the ground. He had been killed just like that! ¡­¡­ "Dammit! Uncle Fighting Spirits¡­" Diamond Dust brandished her sharp blade and spurred her Cyan Battle Tiger forward. Her blade shot out as she hit Candlelight Shadow with a Barrier Break! A huge damage number popped up above his head. 19039! "Heh!" Candlelight Shadow¡¯s lips quirked up into a small smirk. He was actually laughing at her! He abruptly spun around and grabbed the handle of Diamond Dust¡¯s sword. He jumped forward as he pulled her sword toward him. Just as his Blade of Scarlet Flames hit Diamond Dust¡¯s throat, a spiral of burning energy appeared around it. He used Barrier Break again! 42904! It was a critical hit! Diamond Dust was in danger! Candlelight Shadow surged forward, his blade pressing in fiercely. It seemed like he wasn¡¯t going to let our lady Knight General catch a break. Blazing Purgatory Slash howled out of his sword! Clang! Diamond Dust backpedaled furiously as metal screeched against metal. Fortunately for her, Candlelight Shadow was staggered backward by the slash of a beautiful lady knight. He Yi had come to her rescue! Of all the female knights on the battlefield, only she could clash against Candlelight Shadow and not come out any worse for wear. Diamond Dust¡¯s face had gone pure white as she hurriedly urged her Cyan Battle Tiger backward so that our priests could heal her. There was murder in Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes and he sorely wanted to kill Diamond Dust and He Yi, but there were too many enemy players around him. Beiming Xue, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, and Yamete were right behind He Yi, while Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Li Chengfeng and I were waiting on the flanks. It would be way too difficult for him to pull off a quick kill here. He astutely chose to retreat and as he retreated back to the head of Candle Dragon¡¯s formation, he chuckled and said, "Come at me if you have the balls!" ¡­¡­ One couldn¡¯t deny that Candlelight Shadow was an extremely intelligent person. We would suffer huge losses as long as he and his men used the arrow towers for cover. With his HP fully restored, Tempest Shadow cockily stepped forward and yelled, "Bring it on! Candle Dragon has the Seventy-two Earthly Demons, a troop of seventy-two warriors. If you have the balls, come forward and kill all of us! If you don¡¯t, then we¡¯ll have no choice but to kick Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls all the way back to Sky City!" There really were a bunch of Candle Dragon players which had the guild position "Seventy-two Earthly Demons" floating above their shoulders. All of these players were warriors and their levels were extremely high. Even the lowest-leveled warrior among them was above Level 140. Furthermore, all of them were decked out in excellent gear. It was clear that Candle Dragon had created a core group of elite fighters and it was the existence of this group of fighters that prevented Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon from penetrating their frontline. Clang! The shrill screech of metal on metal rang in the air as a thick iron arrow from one of the arrow towers slammed into Gui Guzi¡¯s chest. Even though he didn¡¯t move an inch, he still lost more than three thousand health in one go. If even a player whose Defense was his calling card had lost that much health, then one could imagine just how bad it would be for everyone else. "What do we do, Boss Broken Halberd?" Gui Guzi said in a rather stunned voice. "Our hundred-strong cavalry troop didn¡¯t manage to break their lines even after four charges thanks to these Seventy-two Earthly Demons. They even managed to kill quite a few of us in retaliation. Those arrow towers will nickel and dime us to death if this deadlock persists!" Li Chengfeng chimed in as well, "Yeah. Lu Chen, we need to settle this as quickly as possible!" I grinned as I raised my sharp sword high in the air. "Brothers and sisters, come with me! I don¡¯t believe that we won¡¯t be able to break the formation of those so-called Seventy-two Earthly Demons. Since Candle Dragon dared to take such a name, we have no choice but to destroy them to prove them wrong!" The Ice Qilin Horse suddenly let out a shrill whinny after I said those words. I also took the chance to activate my Apparition Ring, and my double stealthily melted into the crowd of players that had formed up behind me. I raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword high in the air as I yelled, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, for our oath and our bonds of brotherhood, charge! Kill all those who stand in our way! The Armored Ice Qilin Horse exploded into action as it shot forward like a bolt of lightning. Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and Diamond Dust were hot on my tail. I soon formed the edge of our "spear" that drove toward Candle Dragon¡¯s formation. This attack would decide whether we could break their defensive line or not. ¡­¡­ Bang! The Armored Ice Qilin Horse slammed into the body of a Level 144 warrior and sent him flying. After that, I raised my sword high in the air and unleashed Thousand Ice Slash! Boom! Ice crystals danced wildly in the air but the opposing players scattered in such smooth unison that it seemed as if their movements were synchronized. They had actually managed to dodge the splash effect of my skill. They really weren¡¯t just a bunch of ordinary players! They didn¡¯t stop there! The first three warriors instantly charged up to me and hit me with Barrier Break! Fiery energy spun around their blades as they smashed into the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s body, sending fierce stabs of pain coursing through my own body as well! 7803! 12829! 10038! Fuck! These punks had incredible offensive power as well! They really were worthy of being members of the Seventy-two Earthly Demons that Candlelight Shadow had picked out himself. They were too OP! I retreated two steps before springing forward. My sword shot through the air as a spiral of blazing indigo energy appeared around it! Universe Break! Puchi! My sword skewered the warrior closest to me and instantly one-shot him! Even if he was one of the Seventy-two Earthly Demons, he was still made of flesh and blood. I could kill him as long as my Attack was high enough! ¡­¡­ Tempest Shadow roared in fury, "That punk Lu Chen is way too arrogant! Does he think that he can break the Seventy-two Earthly Demons¡¯ formation just because he¡¯s a sixth-promotion player? All troops around me, advance! Surround that cocksucker!" Clang! Clang! Clang! A group of warriors flew forward and quickly encircled me. Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon exchanged a quick laugh as they also arrived at the flanks of the opposing warriors. Their blades gleamed in the sun as sword energy exploded out of them! "Reverse Scale Slash!" "Rock Crush!" The HP of the dozen warriors who had surrounded me dropped to critical levels in an instant. However, we weren¡¯t anywhere close to being done. About forty yards behind me, my double, which was at full HP and MP, gave a loud shout as it thrust its cloned Cyan Netherworld Sword into the cobblestones below it. When it pulled the sword from the ground, a purple-colored cluster of divine dragon energy swelled up from the ground. When it slashed its sword forward, that cluster of energy transformed into a huge purple dragon that exploded into the enemies in front of us. Rooooaaaar! The world turned purple right before my Purple Dragon Howl exploded into the enemy¡¯s midst! ¡­¡­ Color drained from Candlelight Shadow¡¯s shocked face. "Shit, we already have to defend against Lu Chen¡¯s Purple Dragon Howl, but¡­ but he actually had a clone that could use it as well?" Li Chengfeng let out a hearty laugh, "Is that all it took to shock you? Since that¡¯s the case, let me show you something else!" When he finished speaking, the dragon warrior suddenly retreated to the edge of the walls. Energy started to swirl all around him as a magic circle started rotating beneath his feet. He looked completely magnificent as he raised his Blade of Ghastly Wind high in the air. The energy around him suddenly coalesced into the image of a coiled golden dragon and the gigantic dragon meekly coiled its head around Li Chengfeng¡¯s arm. After that, Li Chengfeng gave a huge roar as he slashed forward, sending the golden dragon hurtling toward the enemy formation! "Dragonblade Revolution!" ¡­¡­ Rooooaaaar! The huge golden dragon started swimming through the air and sharp blades of dragon energy started forming around its body before plummeting down from the sky. They skewered into the bodies of the Seventy-two Earthly Demons with meaty thunks, causing a string of damage numbers to pop up in the air. 17239! 16287! 18293! ¡­¡­ Our attacks were too lethal! Purple Dragon Howl and Dragonblade Revolution had completely decimated Candle Dragon¡¯s pride and joy, the "Seventy-two Earthly Demons¡±. More than half of them had died in less than half a minute. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s face had turned greener than a cucumber. He raised his blade in the air and yelled, "Fucking hell, their attack power is way too crazy! Comrades, scatter into the city. Use the attacks of the arrow towers to launch attacks of opportunity!" 1. ¡°Seventy-two Earthly Demons¡± is a reference to a famous Chinese novel called Water Margin. They had 108 heroes, known famously as the 108 Stars of Destiny. These 108 stars were split into two groups, the 36 Heavenly Spirits and the 72 Earthly Demons Chapter 665: Attack Is The Best Form Of Defense Gui Guzi, Diamond Dust, and Heaven¡¯s Rain started rampaging through the city walls with hundreds of Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen. As they swept across the enemy lines, their flashing blades took away the lives of another twelve of the vaunted Seventy-two Earthly Demons. There were less than twenty of those Earthly Demons left and the sight of their ragged formation sent a chill down the spines of every Candle Dragon player nearby. ¡­¡­ The remaining four siege towers finally reached the walls and a huge amount of players surged out of them. The players of Baidicheng and Blazing Hot Lips had occupied the walls as well. This had been a splendid victory for our side. We managed to break through the enemy¡¯s defenses despite the stalwart efforts of Candle Dragon. Half of the eastern city walls now belonged to us. There were stone stairways that led down to the city built into the city walls and they were spaced a hundred meters apart. However, the bottom of those staircases were crowded with players, and most of them were mages and archers from Candle Dragon. We would definitely be hit by a barrage of attacks if we attempted to descend those stairs. Gui Guzi let out a hearty laugh as he raised his spear high in the air. "It looks like Candle Dragon only amounted to this much in the end. Brothers and sisters, let¡¯s rush down and sweep away any enemy before us!" He Yi pursed her cherry-red lips as she glanced at me with those limpid eyes of her. I instantly got the message so I shouted, "Wait a moment, please! Let¡¯s not be anxious to rush down the city walls. There are too many enemy players waiting for us. If we try to enter the city one at a time, we''ll all be picked off by enemy fire before we even know it! First, I want all our magic knights to mount up and prepare their shields. We¡¯ll need you to form a line along the inner edges of these walls. Mages, archers, I want all of you to group up and start raining down on the enemy below us. We will transform these walls into our defensive line and let Candle Dragon, Hall of Immortality, and Rose of the Holy Domain get another taste of our might!" Li Chengfeng let out a hearty laugh. "That sounds like a good strategy!" Beiming Xue raised her Dragonbone String high into the air and gave a soft shout. All of our archers raised their bows in unison before I heard the twanging of bowstrings reverberate through the air. A dense rain of arrows poured down from the city walls. We had the high ground advantage, so these arrows hit harder than the enemy¡¯s. The archers and mages gathered below the walls started screaming in pain and more than a few archers had been instantly killed by our first wave of arrows. With the advantage of high ground, we could hit them from ranges they couldn¡¯t reach. As long as our magic knights soaked up the attacks from those arrow towers, our archers and mages could slaughter the enemy players with impunity. ¡­¡­ Tempest Shadow immediately brandished his spear and roared, "Fucking hell, that punk Lu Chen is way too despicable! He¡¯d actually launched a counterattack from the top of the city walls! To think that this bastard would resort to such despicable tactics!" God¡¯s Dance let out a soft laugh. "Lonely Grave said this once. If anyone is able to command Candlelight Shadow or Falling Dust, the virtual world is theirs to take. Hmph, that old fox Lonely Grave really did know how to pick ¡®em. Lu Chen is very intelligent and his mechanical skill is out of this world. Now that he¡¯s managed to regain the skills he had at his peak, he really has become an extremely terrifying opponent." Blue Sky Scar brandished his sword and yelled, "This can¡¯t go on! We can¡¯t just keep holding our ground here like a bunch of idiots! We¡¯ll incur irrevocable losses! They¡¯re practically slaughtering us without suffering any loss at this point! Let me lead a squad up one of the staircases and try to retake the city walls! What do you think?" God¡¯s Dance waved a hand. "Do you have the ability to retake the city walls from Lu Chen, Legendary Brave, and Stranger of Three Lifetimes? Hehe, I don¡¯t want to end up having to burn joss paper for you next year¡­" Blue Sky Scar¡¯s face lost its color. Candlelight Shadow chose to chime in at this moment. He chuckled and said, "Forget it, get everyone to retreat one hundred yards from the wall. They won¡¯t be able to hit us there." Blue Sky Scar was absolutely shocked by those words. "Boss, aren¡¯t we just giving them everything around the wall if we do that? Won¡¯t we be in big trouble the moment Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls gains a foothold in this city?" Candlelight Shadow arched his sword-like brows. "What are you afraid of? Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has their Cyan Tiger Cavalry, but we have our own ace cavalry troop as well. Hmph, never forget that Candle Dragon is the number one guild in all of China. Even though we lost most of the Seventy-two Earthly Demons, we still have the Thirty-six Heavenly Spirits in reserve. Hehe, naturally, the Heavenly Spirits are more powerful than the Earthly Demons¡­" Blue Sky Scar¡¯s eyes shone as he asked, "Are we really going to mobilize our cavalry unit?" "Of course!" "That¡¯s great!" In the next instant, Blue Sky Scar waved his hand and swiftly retreated together with the combined forces of Candle Dragon, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, and Throne Seeker, leaving a huge empty space in front of us. ¡­¡­ He Yi rubbed her eyes as she observed the enemy alliance¡¯s actions from the top of the walls. "Hey, my eyes aren¡¯t playing tricks on me right? Candle Dragon willingly gave up the territory around the wall?" I nodded my head. "They are making a tactical retreat. They¡¯re not stupid after all. If they held their ground and allowed us to continue our counterattack, they would incur huge losses. I would¡¯ve done the same thing if I were them." Gui Guzi said, "So what do we do, Boss Broken Halberd? I gave a small smile. "It¡¯s time for the Cyan Tiger Cavalry to show their might once more. Gui Guzi, I want you, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and Diamond Dust to assemble a squad each and follow me down the city walls. We will charge all the way to the city gate and help The Monarch Descends bust it open from the inside. That will allow the bulk of our Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen who are still stuck outside to pour into the city and ravage it! Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Thirteen, take command of the rest of our elite players. After we start charging toward the gate, I want you to infiltrate the city and destroy whatever you can lay your hands on. You have one main objective. Destroy those damned arrow towers. Destroying all the arrow towers in Immortality City will pluck Hall of Immortality¡¯s fangs." Li Chengfeng and the rest nodded their heads in unison. "We hear you loud and clear!" ¡­¡­ The Armored Ice Qilin Horse gave a loud neigh as it reared backward and leaped off the city wall at my urging. Holy shit! Thankfully, the Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s tenacity was very high, so a simple fall wouldn¡¯t hurt it much. Bang! The cobblestones cracked as the Ice Qilin Horse landed heavily on the ground. It quickly found a firm footing and I saw that its tenacity hadn¡¯t taken a big hit either. Tenacity was something that regenerated very quickly and it would be back up to full in about two or three minutes. As long as I didn¡¯t suffer a string of critical hits, it would be very hard to dismount me. He Yi, Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and Diamond Dust had all leaped off the city walls as well while the other riders had surged down the stone steps. In the blink of an eye, three hundred riders from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls quickly grouped up inside the city. Candlelight Shadow and his men were staring at us with fierce and hungry eyes just a hundred meters away from us. I raised my arm to block the attack from those arrow towers. Fortunately for us, those arrow towers could only attack pre-established areas. If someone could freely control them and focus on a single target, there wasn¡¯t a single person on our side who could survive the rain of iron arrows for more than two minutes. I quickly surveyed the battlefield. There were about a thousand Hall of Immortality players bunched up below the city gates. It was the existence of this group of players that had stopped The Monarch Descends from breaching the city gates for an entire hour. If that wasn¡¯t bad enough, they were getting slaughtered by the Candle Dragon players stationed on the walls instead. No matter how good Ling Xueshang was, she was helpless before the prowess of the mighty Candle Dragon. I pointed my sword toward the city gate and yelled, "It¡¯s time to seize those gates and link up with our allies from The Monarch Descends! Brothers and sisters of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, charge!" He Yi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and Diamond Dust¡¯s laughter tinkled in the air. Meanwhile, Gui Guzi brandished his spear and laughed before he yelled, "Charge! Show them no mercy!" Horse hooves thundered through the air. Even though there were only about three hundred of us, we were the elite of the elite. With the four Famous General Skills, Martial God, Knight God, Royal Road, and Knight General, the stats of our group were extraordinarily high. The Cyan Battle Tiger was originally a very high-rank mount in the first place, so we fearlessly shrugged off the attacks of the enemy players around us! I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward as I welcomed the countless fire balls, icicles, and arrows being shot at me. I dove straight into a group of enemy players in the next instant. After that, I quickly glanced at my pet space and realized that my Phantom Wolf King had been killed without me noticing! I summoned it again, causing my little wolf to burst out of the magic circle and let out a savage howl. Its blood-colored fur stood on end as bloody clouds gathered in the sky above it. Purgatory Storm! "Charge!" I slaughtered my way through the crowd of enemies, my blade flashing left and right. I cycled through Thousand Ice Slash, Burning Blade Slash, and War Crush as quickly as I could, causing explosions to rip through anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in my path. My insane attack power left a trail of bodies piled up in my wake. Gui Guzi, Diamond Dust, and Heaven¡¯s Rain were hot on my heels. Gui Guzi¡¯s Aurora Thrust skewered a bunch of players and dropped their health to critical levels. He Yi flew toward them and sentenced them to death with Purgatory of Ice and Magma. The ground beneath the city gates cracked open as the five blades of icy sword energy tore into the enemy players. A huge amount of damage numbers instantly popped up into the air as Hall of Immortality¡¯s players died without being able to do anything. ¡­¡­ In the short span of five minutes, we had swept through the enemy formation and cut down enemy players like grass. The entire thousand-man contingent from Hall of Immortality had been wiped out by our fierce attack! Gui Guzi flew forward and thrust his spear at the lever which held the city gates shut. The thick ropes instantly started moving and the gates swung open in the matter of seconds. The bulk of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry had been faithfully waiting outside the gates for this precise moment. When it swung open, they instantly flooded in. The disciplined formation of The Monarch Descends was positioned right behind them, and our allies were also prepared to rush in at any moment. Longbow in hand, Ling Xueshang also ran over. She grinned at us as she said, "Did Candlelight Shadow voluntarily give up his defense of the city walls? Tsk, that asshole¡¯s plan went off without a hitch on this end though. We were forced to endure the baptism of those arrow towers and it was clear that they were trying to bait us into entering a killzone!" He Yi quickly surveyed the area before she laughed and said, "Xueshang, if Candlelight Shadow was really trying to corral you into a killzone, he would¡¯ve stationed troops outside to attack you at the right moment. We had better watch our backs!" Ling Xueshang giggled. "Sister He Yi, there¡¯s no need to worry. Hmph, I already saw through Candle Dragon¡¯s plans. Candle Dragon¡¯s main guild and their ten strongest subguilds entered Immortality City while they stationed nearly twenty subguilds outside the city. They had gathered nearly 150000 players to launch a counter-offensive against us. However, I already prepared 100000 players of my own and Sister See The Snow from Baidicheng also sent over many players to guard the eastern city walls. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is the cutting edge of our attack during this war, and we¡¯ll have to rely on you and your men to rip apart Candle Dragon¡¯s defenses." He Yi shot me a saccharine-sweet smile. "Yeah, I¡¯m leaving it all to Lu Chen!" The muscles on my face spasmed as I rubbed the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s head and said, "Yeah, no pressure, huh¡­" ¡­¡­ At this moment, Gui Guzi suddenly thrust his spear forward to point at something. He said, "Boss Broken Halberd, take a look at that! Candle Dragon has finally responded. Fuck, that looks like a really fierce cavalry troop¡­." Expressions of shock and dismay appeared on everyone¡¯s face as they looked in the direction of his spear. Chapter 666: Viper Dragoons Ssssss¡­. The collective hissing sounds of these vipers were enough to make one¡¯s skin crawl. However, the elite magic knights of the Candle Dragon were perfectly calm as they gripped their swords in one hand and held on to the ferocious snakes¡¯ heads with the other. Even though the snakes wore helmets, their movements were not hindered in the slightest. The snakes looked positively disgusting and frightening as their tails slithered and tangled with each other every time they moved. ¡­¡­ "What kind of mount is that? It¡¯s super disgusting!!" Heaven¡¯s Rain made a vomiting sound. Frowning deeply, she asked, "Big Brother Lu Chen, can we not fight against these disgusting things?" I shook my head and replied, "Unfortunately not. It looks as if these riders are Candle Dragon¡¯s ace. This was a premeditated move! Candlelight Shadow let us into the city so that we would be ambushed by those snake riders! Damn it! What kind of mount are those? They look really disgusting! Thank God I skipped lunch!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes pursed her lips as her eyes widened in shock. "Those mounts¡­ seem to be the legendary Viper Dragoons. Some Candle Dragon players were showing them off in the forums. They are a rare Purple Gold Rank Mount with extremely powerful stats!" "Oh, so they are of the same rank as our Cyan Tiger Cavalry¡­" I frowned and said, "That¡¯s gonna be troublesome. It looks like they have more than ten thousand riders. I wonder where Candle Dragon managed to get such powerful mounts from¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes gave a small smile and replied, "It¡¯s a simple feat for Candle Dragon. They are recognized as the top guild in Wind City, even Purple Lily and Peach Garden cannot be compared to them. These Viper Dragoons are rumoured to be descendants of dragons and they can be found in mountain caves. Candle Dragon occupied the entire map a month ago and prohibited other guilds from taking a single step on the mountain. Sister Luo River God of the Capital had brought a few players and they tried forcing their way through a couple of times, b, they were forced to retreat. Almost every Viper Dragoon in the entire Wind City now belongs to Candle Dragon. Their numbers are simply terrifying as they have more than 13500 riders! More than half of the elite magic knights in Wind City are part of this Viper Dragoon Cavalry!" I gripped the Cyan Netherworld Sword and smiled slightly, "Don¡¯t worry Eve. Don¡¯t forget, we are Sky City¡¯s top cavalry! No, we are the world¡¯s best cavalry! Even though we make up only half of our enemy¡¯s numbers, we have powerful skills like Knight God, Martial God, Royal Road, and Knight General! Why should we fear these insignificant Viper Dragoons? Though they are rumored to be descendants of dragons, they are but a bunch of snakes in reality! Haha!" I raised my sword high up in the air as I projected my voice toward the huge mass of Cyan Tiger Cavalry behind me. "Comrades! We will let these Candle Dragon retards have a taste of how the top cavalry does battle! Let¡¯s wipe them out and destroy their confidence completely!" That few simple sentences ignited everyone¡¯s lust for battle as they all raised their swords high and shouted, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will rule the world!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Candlelight Shadow stood in the center of the city as Viper Dragoons flanked his left and right, crowding the entire main plaza. The Candle Dragon guild emblem on their shoulders looked like a raging ball of fire, ready to consume the entire world with its flames. Tempest Shadow activated his Famous General Skill, Resolute, while Blue Sky Scar followed suit and activated Frenzy. Resolute increased a player¡¯s Attack by 120% while Frenzy increased it by 150%. Even though Blue Sky Scar was not a rider, he decided to fight alongside the Viper Dragoons. His party members would be very powerful with the additional 150% Attack. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would have a hard time dealing with them. Clang! Candlelight Shadow pulled out his Blade of Scarlet Flames as he stared into the distance with a hint of anger in his eyes. In a low voice, he growled, "We, Candle Dragon, have always held honor and comradery above our lives. Today, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have challenged our honor and pride. Comrades, today will also be the day we muster our courage and defend our honor! Under the protection of the arrow towers, we will tear this overly ambitious Cyan Tiger Cavalry into pieces. We will return freedom and honor to the China server!" A large group of Viper Dragoons pulled their swords out of their sheaths as a chorus of voices yelled out, "Uphold our sovereign dignity!" Tempest Shadow spit a mouthful of saliva on the ground before raising his pike and shouted, "Viper Dragoons, Charge! For glory, for our comrades and for our dreams!" Instantly, more than ten thousand vipers started to slither across the ground at frightening speeds. They actually managed to cover a hundred yards within a blink of an eye. Their speed could easily rival to that of our Cyan Tiger Cavalry! Moreover, the viper moved in an S shape and could easily twist itself which only made it harder for us to defeat them. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I urged the Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward, leaving behind a trail of frost. In all honesty, the Viper Dragoon Cavalry was every bit as powerful as the Cyan Tiger Cavalry. But fortunately for us, we had elite riders and powerful Famous General Skills on our side! Since I was the first warrior to ever ride a mount, I had to perform well on the battlefield and eliminate as many as I could! Otherwise, all the hard work I had put into my sixth class promotion would be for naught! "Attack!" Battlecries rang out in the city as the ground shook under the stampede of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry. Tiger riders activated Charge one by one and followed my lead. Gui Guzi, Diamond Dust, Heaven¡¯s Rain and He Yi each led a hundred players into battle while I had a whopping four hundred men in my party. All party members were buffed with a 200% increase to their Attack! In this tough battle, these superbuffed eight hundred Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen would be the key to our victory! Awooo¡­. The Phantom Wolf King let out a reverberating howl before turning into a streak of lightning and charging at a nearby Viper Dragoon Cavalryman. It appeared in front of its target in the blink of an eye and brandished its gigantic claws, landing a loud smack on its opponent¡¯s head. Immediately after, it unleashed Claw of the Storm into a group of enemy riders with a loud boom as the tornado started to wreak havoc. The tornado swept a bunch of riders up into the air, instantly tearing apart their battle formation. My Apparition Ring trembled as I summoned an apparition with a wave of my hand. The double was also mounted on an Armored Ice Qilin Horse and had 75% of my stats. It ran toward the center of the main plaza, brandished its sword, and activated Purple Dragon Howl. A purple dragon energy started to circle around the apparition before it was swiftly unleashed toward a group of enemies following a draconic howl. Wails rang out as the purple dragons started to wreak havoc among the targeted group of players. The jaws of Candlelight Shadow and his comrades dropped as their eyes widened in shock. They clearly didn¡¯t expect all of my clone¡¯s cooldowns to be refreshed on resummon. "What the fuck! This is atrocious! Kill him! Don¡¯t let Lu Chen break the battle line!" Tempest Shadow yelled as he gripped his pike in outrage. I chuckled at his words and swiftly took control over the Phantom Wolf King, unleashing Purgatory Storm! Awoo awoo! The little wolf raised its proud head and howled. A huge expanse of red clouds started to form in the sky and the ground collapsed suddenly, leaving a large hole as lava started to bubble up. Countless tornadoes sprung up and began to utterly devastated any enemy within a 40-yard radius. Pitiful cries rang out as the enemy collapsed one by one at the hands of the Level 147 Phantom Wolf King. Since it had extremely high stats, it was natural that it had exceptionally terrifying attack skills. Candlelight Shadow was thoroughly angered and decided to take matters into his own hands. Even though he was a warrior, he rushed to the frontlines and activated Charge. Locking onto Heaven¡¯s Rain, he swung his sword as it trembled slightly as activated Rock Thrust! Bang! Bang! Bang! Sharp pointed rocks burst from the ground in succession and pierced through the stomach of a few battle tigers as Heaven¡¯s Rain and a bunch of magic knights were violently thrown into the air. What a domineering skill! Candlelight Shadow did not have a mount and yet, he had the guts to slaughter so many riders head-on! This was something that normal players would not be able to achieve! Swhoosh! A blazing red energy started to form on the tip of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s sword and condensed into a swirling flame. He tilted his head upward, waiting for Heaven¡¯s Rain to hit the ground before one-shotting her with his Barrier Break. However, at this moment, Gui Guzi started to charge at Candlelight Shadow with his spear in hand, taking him by surprise. The force behind Gui Guzi¡¯s charge was so great that it flung Candlelight Shadow back. Candlelight Shadow took a few steps and gritted his teeth in anger when he realized his Barrier Break had been forcefully canceled. Clang! Gui Guzi instantly unleashed a Barrier Break of his own and shaved off more than 15000 of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s HP. Unfortunately for the Martial God, he had provoked the wrath of Heaven¡¯s Rain. Her eyes turned red as she picked herself up from the ground and unleashed three consecutive crescents of energy with a swipe of her sword. "Candlelight Shadow, be careful!" Tempest Shadow stood before Candlelight Shadow and held up his shield immediately to block that three consecutive blows. A bunch of Viper Dragoons swept past them swiftly, aiming for the Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen in front of them. To my surprise, those ferocious vipers fiercely opened their mouths and started to attack the battle tigers! The vipers swiftly bit the battle tigers on their heads, instantly shaving off nearly two thousand HP. God damn, it will be hard to deal with these Viper Dragoons if they can attack without getting close to us! Candlelight Shadow gripped his sword and shouted, "Charge! Break their battle formation!" Unfortunately, things did not play out the way he wanted it to. He Yi thrust her Blade of the Earthen Soul into the ground and activated Purgatory of Ice and Magma. Five hits of the skill burst forth, a bunch of enemies in its range. The flashy attack stopped many Viper Dragoon Cavalrymen dead in their tracks. Moreover, the enemy¡¯s vanguard was brutally slaughtered after being enveloped by Burning Blade Slash, Thousand Ice Slash, and the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s Purgatory Storm. Their battle formation was torn apart and they no longer had the courage or the drive to continue fighting. "Attack! Charge at them!" Gui Guzi roared as the Cyan Tiger Cavalry brandished their swords and charged into the crowd of enemies. Ignoring the Viper Dragoons¡¯ attacks, they swung their swords continuously and concentrated on attacking the enemy. I too lifted the Cyan Netherworld Sword and smacked the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, rushing into the group of enemies. Frost swirled around my Cyan Netherworld Sword as I unleashed Cyan Netherworld Divine Dragon upon the bunch of Viper Dragoons before me. Even though they were blasted with such a powerful attack, only half of their health had been eliminated. Dammit! These guys are all high-level with excellent equipment. Even Cyan Netherworld Divine Dragon is unable to one-shot them! Chapter 667: A Battle Which Crowns Legends The arrow towers lined on the side of Immortality City¡¯s main road were currently Candle Dragon¡¯s strongest ally. Metal arrows kept pouring down from the sky, causing loud ringing sounds to reverberate in the air as they bounced off my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor. Since my Defense was higher than most players¡¯, I could endure the rain of arrows for now. The magic knights had their shields for protection, so even though the arrow towers were putting them through the wringer, they were able to survive. However, it was undeniable that these arrow towers were giving us a huge headache. As I slashed my blade thrice, three streaks of flaming sword energy shot out from it. My Burning Blade Slash shot straight into a crowd of Viper Dragoons and exploded. Three consecutive damage numbers popped up over their heads and at least a dozen of them collapsed to the floor dead. Ssssssss... A viper¡¯s head lunged at the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, and it was clear that it was trying to get a hit in on my mount before its rider and I properly engaged in battle. However, the Agility of my Ice Qilin Horse far exceeded that Viper Dragoon¡¯s expectations. It simply flicked its head to the side before thrusting the sharp blade strapped to its head right into the viper¡¯s neck! Blood immediately sprayed into the air as that viper received instant karma for its actions. God fucking dammit, my mount is an Earth Rank boss mount, so give it some damn respect! There was no way a Purple Gold Rank rare mount could even hope to compare to it! Trying to use a special mount ability in front of my Armored Ice Qilin Horse was simply courting death! My sword flickered through the air and cleanly sliced off a sinister-looking viper head. Fuck, the special attack of these Viper Dragoons was really disgustingly powerful. It had utterly devastated our Cyan Tiger Cavalry. Clang, clang, clang... The sound of blade tearing through metal rang out in the air over and over again as both sides got bogged down in a bloody and desperate battle. Many Viper Dragoons collapsed to the ground dead, but our Cyan Tiger Cavalry wasn¡¯t faring much better. Soon, the entire street was stained with fresh blood as our Cyan Tiger Cavalry was slowly being whittled down by the enemy arrow towers. Metal arrows transfixed the bodies of many of them as they slumped to the ground in death, a grisly sight to behold. Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and Diamond Dust had activated their Famous General Skills a long time ago. They led their Knight God and Knight General¨Cempowered squads forward, charging through the battlefield. They ignored the enemy Famous Generals, Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, and Tempest Shadow, because personal strength was always relegated to the background in these large-scale clashes between cavalrymen. While powerful players like Candlelight Shadow and I could make a dent in the enemy¡¯s numbers, we wouldn¡¯t be able to turn the tide of battle. I had experienced that first- hand against Hall of Immortality¡¯s Ghost Riders in that valley. In the end, the strength of the overall formation would prevail over any individual player. ¡­¡­ I opened up my friend¡¯s list and quickly sent Li Chengfeng a message: ¡°Chengfeng, it¡¯s your turn now. Move out with your forces and destroy all of the arrow towers near the eastern wall. Our forces will only be safe once you take out those arrow towers. You need to quickly dispatch those arrow towers and link up with us as soon as possible. Fucking hell, Candle Dragon¡¯s Viper Dragoons are insanely powerful and we don¡¯t have enough Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen left. We won¡¯t be able to hold out for much longer, I need you guys to reinforce us!¡± Li Chengfeng swiftly replied: ¡°Okay, Beiming Xue and Chaos Moon are with me. We¡¯ll start the mission right away. Stranger of Three Lifetimes is also destroying the arrow towers with her own team. We should be done in ten minutes tops! These arrow towers don¡¯t have much durability or Defense, so it¡¯s quite easy to destroy them once we get within melee range!¡± ¡°Yeah, watch out for attacks from God¡¯s Dance and Transient Smoke and Clouds, but do whatever it takes to destroy all of those arrow towers. If you can¡¯t do that, we won¡¯t be able to regain our footing. I think that the entire Cyan Tiger Cavalry is going to be buried in this place. Those motherfucking snake riders¡­¡± Li Chengfeng laughed: ¡°Hahaha, don¡¯t be too heartbroken! These sacrifices will definitely be worth it! Besides, everyone who came here with you already prepared themselves for death!¡± ¡°I got it! Okay, hurry up and accomplish your mission!¡± ¡°Roger that!¡± ¡­¡­ The moment we charged, we heard the earth-shaking sounds of battle ring through the air on the other side of the city. Li Chengfeng, Beiming Xue, Chaos Moon, Du Thirteen, and Yamete had finally launched their attack. Squads of riders and warriors pressed in on the arrow towers and started furiously hacking at their base. This was undeniable proof that money didn¡¯t always buy quality. In fact, Li Chengfeng downed one of these shoddily-built arrow towers with just a few swings of his blade. Rooooaaaar! An arrow in the shape of a dragon streaked through the air and destroyed a dozen arrow towers in one go! Even the foundations of these arrow towers had been uprooted and blown to bits! That was the Outstanding Property of Beiming Xue¡¯s Dragonbone String, Proud Dragon Arrow! This attack was really OP! It would kill anything that was unfortunate enough to be caught in its path! As the arrow towers fell one after the other, the pressure we were facing on this side of the battlefield lessened greatly. However, the battle between both sides still raged on as fierce as ever. Both the Cyan Tiger Cavalry and the Viper Dragoon Cavalry were equally matched and they continued to struggle against each other as the battle slowly edged toward the center of the city. We had battled fiercely against them from the start of the great plaza road all the way to its end, as the riders on both sides kept charging at one another. The riders from both sides would immediately wheel around after each charge and as I turned my Armored Ice Qilin Horse, I flicked the fresh blood off my sharp blade, mix of human and snake blood a crescent streak headed for the ground. I had already lost count of how many Viper Dragoons I had killed. However, I knew that I had definitely killed more enemy players than either Candlelight Shadow or Blue Sky Scar had! As both sides continued to clash, all the Viper Dragoons immediately backed away the moment they caught sight of my ID. Not a single enemy player was willing to match blades with me, and even Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, and Tempest Shadow had consciously or unconsciously avoided me as I charged forward. They all knew the risk of dying against me was far too big in a head-on clash. Gulp! Gui Guzi swiftly chugged a health potion and He Yi also took the chance to drink one of my Rank 9 Saint Spirit Potions that recovered both HP and MP. They soon charged back into battle after that. A player couldn¡¯t afford to not cycle their skills as quickly as they could during a continuous running battle, so these kinds of battles were very taxing on everyone¡¯s MP bars. Furthermore, magic knights had immense survivability and sustain on the battlefield. All of them had the Health Recovery skill, which restored 25% of their HP over ten seconds, and the War God Recovery skill, which restored 100% of their HP over sixty seconds. This was the main reason why a group of magic knights could run amok without a group of priests backing them up. ¡°Haha, it¡¯s gotten a lot easier to kill these bastards¡­¡± Gui Guzi said with a hearty laugh. I nodded my head and replied, ¡°Let¡¯s continue. Most of the nearby arrow towers have already been destroyed. Let¡¯s keep up the good work, everyone! Continue charging forward! Fuck, let¡¯s just force a decisive battle with Candle Dragon¡¯s ace cavalry troop right here and now! We¡¯ll show Candlelight Shadow who¡¯s boss!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± Heaven¡¯s Rain raised her sword in the air and shouted in a sweet and girlish voice, ¡°Friends of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, press on!¡± The Ice Qilin Horse reared up on its back hooves and let out a loud neigh before it shot forward like a bolt of lightning. My HP had been fully restored, so I charged forward once more with my clone, which still had half of its HP left, and the Phantom Wolf King! It was time to decide the victor! ¡­¡­ Bang! Thousand Ice Slash exploded in the midst of a group of Viper Dragoons and froze most of them where they stood. Burning Blade Slash soon followed, and three blades of fiery sword energy soon smashed into the hapless snake riders, causing terrifying damage numbers to pop up above their heads. 14902! 18929! 24283! It was clear that my attack power was too high for them to overcome. In fact, the most damage one of these Viper Dragoons had dealt me was 4000. Meanwhile, I was hitting them back for four to five times the damage. Though this was mainly because of the 200% Attack buff that Martial God gave me. As for Candlelight Shadow, his Encourage VII and his Tactics stat, which was over 400, gave him an Attack buff that was higher than 100%. However, it was still a far cry from my Famous General Skill. A bloody battle raged around the Phantom Wolf King as its claws danced in the air. The Viper Dragoons that were unfortunate enough to be its victims let out miserable wails as they dropped to the ground. A party of one man, one clone, and one wolf was wreaking such utter havoc inside the enemy lines that all the Viper Dragoons unconsciously recoiled back from them in shock and terror. The Cyan Tiger Cavalry continued to relentlessly charge in from behind me. The battle had lasted so long that the durability of our equipment was reaching critical levels. Our weapons were nicked and chipped all over, but not a single person was willing to retreat. Everyone still continued charging forward relentlessly because we all knew that many legends would be birthed from this battle between Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Candle Dragon. The one who emerged the victor would be crowned the new Martial God of China! What were our lives worth in the face of such grandiose dreams?! ¡­¡­ Blood had pooled around our feet as countless brave cavalrymen continued to fall. Their bodies soon turned unrecognizable as the battle raged on around their bodies. Potions and equipment had piled up in stacks, but no one from Candle Dragon or Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls even bothered to pick them up. If someone gave in to the temptation and broke ranks to pick up equipment, the entire formations would crumble and lead to defeat. Both guilds had far too much discipline to do such a thing. The slaughter went on for nearly an hour and all of the arrow towers near the eastern wall had been destroyed as well. Everyone could feel that the battle between both cavalry troops would soon reach a resolution as well. ¡°Huff, huff, huff¡­¡± Gui Guzi roughly gasped for air and it looked as if his Rainbow had been bathed in a river of blood. My eyes were calm and composed as I sat astride my Armored Ice Qilin Horse. The Cyan Netherworld Sword dipped low, fresh blood slowly trickled down the groove of its blade. The blood-colored Soul Suppressing Cloak seemed even redder than usual and even my black armor was turning the color of blood. The white battle robes of He Yi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and Diamond Dust had also been stained crimson, but they barely even noticed it. Everyone¡¯s eyes were filled with grim determination. We all knew that we needed to strike a telling blow against Candle Dragon right here and now. If not, all of our effort would go to waste. ¡°Charge!¡± Upon hearing my fierce command, the ragged remnants of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry charged forward once more. I waved a hand in the air and resummoned my double and the Phantom Wolf King. Much to our enemy¡¯s dismay, they immediately used Purple Dragon Howl and Purgatory Storm again. Purple Dragon Howl was once again the star of the show as it mercilessly ravaged the enemy riders. Thud, thud, thud... Three magic knights fell to the ground one after the other and all of them had these words floating above their shoulders. ¡°Thirty-six Heavenly Spirits¡±! ¡­¡­ The muscles on Candlelight Shadow¡¯s face spasmed as he roared in furious discontent, ¡°Fuck you! Lu Chen, you shameless bastard! He actually¡­ actually used such a despicable strategy! Fuck!¡± Tempest Shadow gasped for breath. ¡°Of the Thirty-six Heavenly Spirits¡­ only six remain. This battle has taken a terrible toll on us. Is this¡­ it for us?¡± Tempest Shadow¡¯s words sent a shudder through Candlelight Shadow¡¯s body. His expression turned even more sinister as he grimly grasped the Blade of Scarlet Flames. Blue Sky Scar immediately yelled at Tempest Shadow, ¡°Stop spouting nonsense, you dumbass! What do you mean by ¡®Is this it for us¡¯? Take a good long look at our forces! We still have 2000 fierce Viper Dragoons left! Now take a good look at Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! They¡­ they don¡¯t even have 1500 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen. Both sides have acquitted themselves well and neither guild has been able to gain an advantage over the other¡­¡± Tempest Shadow replied, ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°But what!? Just shut up and continue fighting!¡± ¡°Alright!¡± ¡­¡­ Both sides clashed yet again, using their own blood to chronicle this terrible, legendary battle. Chapter 668: Circling Toward the Enemy’s Back A battle axe cleaved through a magic knight¡¯s breastplate as his spear skewered the player who had hit him. Both corpses toppled from their mounts and fell into the blood pooling beneath their feet. A ray of morning light peeked out from the eastern horizon, illuminating the savage battlefield. The scent of fresh blood was thick in the air and some of our players started to retch and gag at the smell of it. A tattered banner was swaying in the wind as it peeked out of the corpse-filled forest. It was full of tears and holes made from swords and spears and the bannerman holding it had already been killed. Both man and mount had been transfixed to the wall in a savage display of violence. When guilds warred against one another, every guild would bring a banner to battle. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls also had a banner, and it was currently wedged into the barding covering the back of Gui Guzi¡¯s warhorse. It wobbled unsteadily in the air as Gui Guzi urged his mount forward. ¡­¡­ Shunk! Sparks flew out from Candlelight Shadow¡¯s blade as he shoved it into the ground. He reached out and pulled Candle Dragon¡¯s banner from the ground before raising it high in the air and yelling, "We can¡¯t hold the defensive line anymore! Everyone, it¡¯s time to fall back to Immortality City¡¯s second line of defense! We¡¯ll rebuild our defensive formation at the small stone fortification and use it to blunt the charges of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ cavalry unit!" After he said that, Candlelight Shadow turned around and started running toward the location he had ordered his troops to fall back to. Tempest Shadow wheeled his warhorse around as he led a large group of Viper Dragoons away from the melee. This long and exhausting battle had finally run its course. I brandished my sword and yelled, "Do you think I¡¯m gonna let you guys come and go as you please? I¡¯ll have you leave your lives behind!" As I said that, I spurred my Ice Qilin Horse forward. It gave a long whinny before shooting forward like a bolt of lightning. I sped past the enemy line and stopped right in front of Candlelight Shadow and his men. After I wheeled my horse around to face them, I slashed my sword through the air without saying a single word. Boom! Thousand Ice Slash exploded in the midst of the enemy riders, causing a dozen injured magic knights to fall dead to the ground. Even though the Viper Dragoons had killed more than 70% of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry in their head-on clash, they had suffered over 90% casualties themselves. Furthermore, Stranger of Three Lifetimes was pressing in with Blazing Hot Lips from behind us, while Beiming Xue and Li Chengfeng were prowling along their flanks. Candle Dragon had already lost the will to fight. All they wanted to do right now was to retreat to their second line of defense. Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and Diamond Dust continued pursuing after the Candle Dragon players with their elite troops. I also urged the Ice Qilin Horse forward, the Cyan Netherworld Sword cutting down any Candle Dragon player unfortunate enough to be caught in its path. The Phantom Wolf King was hunting down Candle Dragon players like a true king of beasts. It soared through the air and rent apart the armor of its hapless victims with its sharp claws. This hunt was extremely brutal and by the time Candle Dragon¡¯s forces reached the small stone fortification, only 500 of the Viper Dragoons of the originally 13000 strong cavalry remained. It was a miserable sight indeed. ¡­¡­ The little stone fortification they had huddled up in really did serve as the city¡¯s second line of defense. They used the stone building to form a defensive line but it didn¡¯t really provide a lot of cover and protection. In fact, if the Cyan Tiger Cavalry hadn¡¯t been completely decimated in the earlier fight, they could have flattened this little stone fortification all by themselves. A moat that was about ten meters wide separated us from the fortification, and it looked like there was a river running through it. On the other side, God¡¯s Dance was surrounded by a huge squad of shield-toting knights as she waved her magic staff in the air. Behind her, countless mages, archers, and priests had assembled into their own class-based formations. Booom! God¡¯s Dance slashed her staff down and Galaxy Storm erupted in front of Gui Guzi, He Yi, and I. This stopped us from catching up to the retreating Candlelight Shadow and the last group of stragglers from Candle Dragon. Candlelight Shadow nodded his head as he rushed across the iron-chained drawbridge with the last group of Candle Dragon players. After that, God¡¯s Dance immediately ordered for the drawbridge to be pulled up, stranding us on the other side of the moat. Both sides stared at each other in befuddled silence for a few moments before Candlelight Shadow finally spoke. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s voice was cold and flat as he said, "Lu Chen, your Cyan Tiger Cavalry really did give me a bit of a surprise, but it¡¯s too bad¡­ Your Cyan Tiger Cavalry has been so utterly decimated that you have no chance of beating Candle Dragon!" I let out a hearty laugh. "Do you think that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls only has cavalrymen!? Hmph, just wait and see! Do you think that we¡¯ll really lose to you in long-range combat? If you have the balls, stay right there, and watch how we jerk the rug out from under your feet!" "Hmph, you sure know how to talk big!" Tempest Shadow roared. He was the person in Candle Dragon who bore the most hatred and animosity toward me. He has also been the loudest and most aggressive enemy combatant during this battle. The reason for his animosity was really simple. When Candlelight Shadow dispatched him to Floating Ice City to kill me, I completely humiliated him. To make matters worse, not long after I killed him, he was humiliated by the Fruit Knife Goddess. That was one of the greatest humiliations of Tempest Shadow¡¯s life, and he hated the super guilds of Sky City with passion ever since that day. I couldn¡¯t help but let out a great laugh as I raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword in the air. I let out a loud yell and undead energy swirled around my body as I tossed the Cyan Netherworld Sword forward. It soon turned into a whirling buzzsaw of death, sweeping past the river and the assembled magic knights, spinning straight into a squad of their long-range attackers. Fresh blood spurted in the air as countless archers and mages were cut to ribbons by my Sword Boomerang. No one had expected me to launch such a bold strike and none of them had ever expected a warrior to be able to deal so much damage from afar! A single Sword Boomerang had nearly broken the nerve of the entire Candle Dragon guild. A group of their magic knights started to glance at each other nervously as they shifted on their feet. Gulp! Blue Sky Scar sucked in a deep breath of cold air as his eyes drilled into me. He calmly said, "Then let¡¯s continue our battle. Candle Dragon will neither compromise nor surrender! Let¡¯s have it out then, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Let¡¯s see how much you¡¯ve grown since the last time we beat you!" He Yi brandished the Blade of the Earthen Soul as she laughed. "You¡¯ll definitely be in for a surprise then! Everyone! Form up and prepare to attack!" ¡­¡­ A voice rang out from behind us. It was the leader of Blazing Hot Lips, Stranger of Three Lifetimes. "Oh, is it time for a duel of long-range firepower? Alright, it¡¯s my turn now¡­" I nodded my head appreciatively before retreating together with Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, and He Yi. A few minutes later, Stranger of Three Lifetimes walked forward with a veritable horde of mages and archers. They took up position along the side of the river as she turned toward us and laughed. "Hey, I want the powerful Dark Archer Beiming Xue to join me as well! Let¡¯s show them what for!" "Alright!" Beiming Xue activated Bow God as she led a squad of a hundred archers forward. They took their place besides Stranger of Three Lifetimes and prepared to attack. After that, Stranger of Three Lifetimes gave a sharp command and all of the archers and mages from our side moved five yards forward and unleashed a shower of destruction. A storm of arrows, fireballs, wind blades, and Galaxy Storms fell toward the Candle Dragon formation as their own long-range players started attacking as well. Bang! Bang! Bang! Huge blasts of light and magic rippled across both sides of the river and the earth itself seemed to be shaking from these raucous explosions. Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms were the main stars of the show as they tore many players to shreds. It seemed as if most of the archers from both sides were downed by those skills the very instant the battle started. Even though their Defense and HP were higher than mages¡¯, archers didn¡¯t have shields of any sort, so they really couldn¡¯t take many hits. Thus, all archers had to rely on their agility to dodge attacks, but there was no real way to dodge magic attacks, and many of them died in the opening salvo of the battle. This brutal exchange continued for nearly ten minutes as countless long-range players died on both sides. They were dropping like flies and even the high-level archers in Beiming Xue¡¯s squad were not spared. Most of them had already died and only Beiming Xue, who had exceptionally high Defense and HP for an archer, had managed to survive without breaking a sweat. ¡­¡­ "This won¡¯t work! We¡¯re losing people way too fast¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes said as her staff danced in the air. As she launched Galaxy Storm at the enemy¡¯s best mage, God¡¯s Dance, she continued, "Lu Chen, think of something! We can¡¯t keep eating losses like this. Candle Dragon really has a lot of players and there are quite a lot of them on the outside. We are the ones attacking, so we can¡¯t afford to take these losses. Candle Dragon is also tying us down right now, and if another guild takes this opportunity to enter the territory hall, then all of this will be for naught." I immediately spurred my Ice Qilin Horse forward and hurled my sword out again. Another Sword Boomerang spun through the air and even God¡¯s Dance was forced to retreat from it. Candle Dragon¡¯s attacks faltered for a moment, but there was no way that I could suppress their long-range attackers on their own. It was a pipe dream to think that I could Sword Boomerang Candle Dragon to death. I stared across the river to see that the players from Throne Seeker were also fending off enemy attackers at the edge of the city. The enemy players seemed to be from Gods of Destruction. Dominating Heaven Blade heroically ran forward and cleaved enemy players with his huge blade. It was clear that he was buffed to the max as he yelled in a loud and exaggerated voice. "My fellow comrades, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Blazing Hot Lips have been held up by Candle Dragon. Now¡¯s our chance to rush into the city and take over the territory hall. Everyone, follow me!" Emperor¡¯s Equal roared out an angry retort, "Follow your sister! Do you think that I¡¯ll just let you waltz into the city!? You¡¯ll have to step over my dead body to get in!" The battle burned hotter and hotter, devolving into a savage brawl! ¡­¡­ I opened up my minimap and quickly looked it over. After that, my eyes lit up as I turned to Gui Guzi and said, "Gui Guzi, do a quick count of how many Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen are left. Also, find out how many riders we have left that are over Level 130!" Gui Guzi instantly replied, "Boss Broken Halberd, we still have 1350 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen who are ready for battle. Our main guild also has over 5000 riders who are above Level 130. What¡¯s your plan, boss?" I nodded my head and said, "Open up your minimap and take a look at this. There is another way to get across this moat. There is a stone bridge to the south of us that connects directly to the back of this little fort of theirs, and it can¡¯t be destroyed. It seems that Candle Dragon was too focused on retreating that they didn¡¯t see they could be flanked from farther back. We can use the superior speed of our cavalrymen to swiftly circle around the moat and launch an attack from behind! If we can pull that off, victory is ours! Candle Dragon wouldn¡¯t be able to hold up against attacks from both sides even if their army was a hundred thousand strong!" Gui Guzi¡¯s lips curved up into a wicked grin. "Okay, I¡¯ll immediately assemble the men!" Five minutes later, the remnants of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry assembled together with 5000 other riders from our guild. On my command, our entire group of cavalrymen flew toward the south! ¡­¡­ When we reached the stone bridge, it became clear that Candlelight Shadow had managed to find this weakness as well. A troop of 1000 players had been stationed there to defend it. However, it was clear that they had just arrived and hadn¡¯t gotten into proper formation yet. A vicious grin formed on my face as Heaven¡¯s Rain, Gui Guzi, He Yi, and I led our troops straight into the teeth of this shabby mess of a formation! We conquered the stone bridge with ease and as I waved my sword forward, over 6000 cavalrymen thundered toward the back of Candle Dragon¡¯s main force. Chapter 669: An Unexpected Foe More than half of the 1300 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen were buffed by Famous General Skills like Royal Road, Martial God, Knight God, and Knight General. The Cyan Tiger Cavalry¡¯s strength was greatly multiplied by these stratagems. Switching from defense to attack with great flow, they fearlessly tore through their enemies. Rustle... He Yi pulled the reins of the Snow Domain Windchaser as it came to a sudden halt. She brandished her sword and activated Purgatory of Ice and Magma from a distance as five rays of icy flames burst forth from her sword and wreaked havoc among a group of enemies. In the blink of an eye, almost every single player had collapsed to the ground without being given a single chance to retaliate! Pfff, pfff, pfff... As sword energy tore through armor, the pitiful cries of the enemy rang out as they collapsed. Because we surprised the enemy from the back, many of their casualties were long ranged players. "Attack! Kill every last one of them!" With a loud shout, I urged the horse forward and swung my sword, slicing through any archer, mage, or warrior standing in my way. The Cyan Netherworld Sword was the highest grade weapon at this stage of the game, making it an extremely powerful weapon. Even elite players like Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow would not be able to withstand my attacks, let alone other normal players. ¡­¡­ Following my lead, a large group of Cyan Tiger Cavalry behind me broke out into a run and started to charge. I glanced back and noticed that other random cavalries were running beside the Cyan Tiger Cavalry. "Greedy Wolf Cavalry, Fireblade Cavalry, Swift Panther Cavalry¡­ Where did all these random cavalries come from?" I muttered to myself in astonishment. Even though the different cavalries charged in a messy formation, the damage they dealt to the enemies was shockingly high. The most important thing was the sheer number of riders that we had. Candle Dragon was simply caught off-guard by the 6000 mounted players charging at them like a giant wave. Candlelight Shadow gripped his sword in the midst of the crowd and shouted, "Tempest Shadow! Do something! Stop our riders from getting charged at!" "God dammit!" Candlelight Shadow gritted his teeth and growled in anger, "Fine then! Melee fighters, we¡¯ll charge and block the enemy¡¯s riders! We have to protect our long ranged players till they have retreated safely to the main hall. We¡¯re done for if they all killed!" Tempest Shadow nodded his head and said, "Alright, I¡¯ll go with you!" ¡­¡­ Clang! I shoved Blue Sky Scar back with a heavy swing of my sword. A look of surprise appeared on his face as the War God of Candle Dragon was flung 10 whole yards. He had not expected that I would become so powerful in such a short time. Moreover, Blue Sky Scar did not dare to fight me. He knew full well what I was capable of, and the result of our battle was crystal-clear for him. I had no plans to kill Blue Sky Scar personally so I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition to keep him busy while I charged straight for the bridgehead! A bunch of high-leveled archers gasped in shock as they shouted, "What the hell! Broken Halberd Sinks into Sand¡¯s target is the drawbridge. Dammit! Everyone hold your ground! Hold your ground!" I laughed as I urged the mount to go faster. With a swing of my sword, I unleashed Thousand Ice Slash amid a group of archers. The skill froze them before any could even react and many of them were one-shot instantly. I flew like the wind and continued to slash anyone in my way, not stopping for anyone till I got to the bridgehead. God¡¯s Dance¡¯s Galaxy Storm enveloped me as I started hacking away at the drawbridge¡¯s iron ropes. Gritting my teeth, I ignored the flying arrows and concentrated on cutting the iron ropes. I knew that the moment the ropes broke, the drawbridge would be lowered and our main forces waiting on the other side of the moat would be able to enter the city. God¡¯s Dance gritted her teeth and yelled, "Blue Sky Scar, Candlelight Shadow, Tempest Shadow, we need to stop Lu Chen! Otherwise, the drawbridge will be lowered. If that happens, half the battle is lost!" Immediately, Tempest Shadow used Charge and appeared behind me. He swung the spear in his hand as he swept past, unleashing Blaze right at me! I noticed him in my peripheral vision and swiftly took a step back. A large ¡°MISS¡± floated above as he failed to strike me with Charge. Without wasting time, I held up my sword and parried his Blaze with a loud clang. A perfect parry! The angle and strength of my parry was absolutely perfect and I had lost only 400 HP. I would¡¯ve lost more health if I had chosen to activate a defensive skill instead! "Ah?!" Tempest Shadow¡¯s jaw dropped in shock. "Get lost!" I counterattacked with a swing of my own, unleashing Barrier Break at Tempest Shadow. Knowing that his reaction speed was slower than mine, he did not parry my attack and instead held up his shield. However, Barrier Break ignored both Defense and defensive skills, tearing through his shield and piercing his shoulder! Bang! 29835! The violent blow threw Tempest Shadow off his mount and into a crowd of players. Barrier Break was so powerful as it could ignore the target¡¯s Defense. Falling off his mount came as no surprise to me, since such a powerful strike was bound to throw him off-balance. "Attack together!" Blue Sky Scar and Candlelight Shadow charged at me simultaneously but in different trajectories. However, as they drew near to me, they switched places abruptly, their movements imitating the Chanel logo as two full arcs crossed paths. This was the rumored double helix maneuver! Compared to a single helix maneuver, it was almost impossible to guard against double helix maneuver. A killing blow awaited at every angle of the double helix! "Hah! Die you retard!" Blue Sky Scar gave a loud shout as a swirl of raging flames started to form on the tip of his sword. With a swift thrust of his sword, he unleashed Barrier Break right at the nape of the Armored Ice Qilin Horse! 16272! I gasped in shock at the damage dealt. Candlelight Shadow followed up and executed Barrier Break and another three consecutive attacks on my mount, shaving off almost all of its tenacity! I made a swift decision and sent the Armored Ice Qilin Horse back to the mount space. After that, I darted toward the metal chains on the bridge and used them as a springboard to power my leap into the air. My leap turned into a spin, forcing Candlelight Shadow¡¯s consecutive attacks to miss me. As I spun over his head, I locked onto my target and swept my sword down. Burning Blade Slash! Hehe, I prepared these killer moves just for you! "What the hell?!" I shocked Candlelight Shadow but he reacted quickly to the incoming attack. Retreating swiftly, he held up his sword and parried the first Burning Blade Slash attack with a loud clang. He quickly raised his arm in a perfect defensive position to block the other two blows. Two loud bangs rang out as raging flames of the Burning Blade Slash scorched his skin. 4290! 8901! Candlelight Shadow took a few steps back with a stupefied look on his face. He definitely had not expected me to do battle without my mount. Candlelight Shadow and Blue Sky Scar were elite players with excellent mechanical skills. Even though the mount made me extremely powerful, my range of movements was extremely limited. I couldn¡¯t even execute 50% of my mechanical skill while riding a mount. In PvP against experts, mechanical skills were just as important as the user¡¯s stats. Otherwise, one would not be able to even hit their opponent. In conclusion, it was far wiser for me to fight formidable opponents such as Candlelight Shadow and Blue Sky Scar on foot. Burning Blade Slash managed to force Candlelight Shadow back, but at this exact moment, Blue Sky Scar suddenly started to charge at me! Clang! Blue Sky Scar¡¯s spear jerked back with a loud bang. I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw Gui Guzi standing before me, blocking the blow meant for me. Raging flames surrounded his Rainbow spear as he turned his head over his shoulder and gave me a small smile. "Boss Broken Halberd, leave Blue Sky Scar to me! Go and cut the iron ropes at once so the others can enter the city. We have less than 10000 men so we can¡¯t prolong the battle, otherwise we¡¯ll all die!" "Alright!" I shot him a grateful look and continued hacking at the iron ropes. Given my current Attack stat, I could shave off 5% of its durability with every slice of my sword. This meant that the rope would be fully cut in about 30 seconds. Three months ago, Gui Guzi wouldn¡¯t have been Blue Sky Scar¡¯s match. However, things were different now. He had been killed by Lin Yixin and I countless times and had also participated in many fights. The current Gui Guzi had trained much and his mechanical skills and battle tactics had improved greatly. He is definitely capable of holding his ground against Blue Sky Scar. ¡­¡­ Clang! Clang! Clang! I brought my Cyan Netherworld Sword down heavily on the iron ropes, creating sparks as metal clashed against metal. I gritted my teeth in pain as I was instantly enveloped with volleys of arrows and spells from the enemy¡¯s archers and mages. Without the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, my HP, Defense, and Magic Resist were significantly lowered. It was so much harder to withstand the attacks of the enemy with such stats. If one voluntarily canceled the mounted state, the mount could be resummoned in just two minutes. However, if one was forced off their mount because its tenacity was reduced to zero, they would need to wait at least five minutes before being able to resummon their mount. Right at this exact moment, Heaven¡¯s Rain led a group of Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen to defend me. She activated Knight General and started to wreak havoc among the group of archers and mages. "How dare you bully big brother Lu Chen! I¡¯ll kill you!" Heaven¡¯s Rain shouted while slashing at our enemies. I chuckled at her protectiveness before continuing to hack away at the iron ropes. Clang! The Cyan Netherworld Sword managed to cut through the thick iron ropes at last. Without the thick iron ropes holding the drawbridge upright, it collapsed onto the ground with a loud boom! Boom! Clouds of dust flew up as the drawbridge collapsed, creating a path across the moat! Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, and Xu Yang gripped their swords and charged across. They had been waiting outside the city for so long and were finally able to quench their thirst for battle. Their eyes glinted with bloodlust, slashing at anyone in their path as they poured into the city. The map was soon flooded with the red emblems of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, blotting out the blue emblems of Candle Dragon. Candle Dragon had lost to the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls once again! ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow turned red with anger as his blood boiled at the battle situation. Making a swift decision, he turned to shout, "Comrades! Retreat and defend the main hall! We still have two more hours! We must fortify our line of defense and guard the main hall. Victory will be ours in just two hours!" At Candlelight Shadow¡¯s command, players of Candle Dragon retreated swiftly like the tide, unwilling to go head to head with us anymore. Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, and the other Famous Generals were just too powerful. Candle Dragon would surely be wiped out if the battle continued at this rate. How the tables have turned! Candle Dragon was always the one to wreak havoc on others but today, they were on the receiving end of it. Many of the Candle Dragon players were shocked by the turn of events and could not accept this reality. ¡­¡­ The two-minute cooldown was up and I resummoned my Armored Ice Qilin Horse. I smiled in delight when power surged through me as I mounted the horse. Yes! I¡¯m invincible again! I raised my sword and gave the mount a light smack on its ass. Charging to the front of the troops, I pointed my sword at the main hall in the distance and shouted, "Brothers and sisters, victory is right before us! Attack!" Excitement coursed through their veins as Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, and the rest responded with a loud battlecry. Charging forward without hesitation, they swiftly led their troops toward the main hall. But before we could get much further, countless arrows were shot out of a small forest by the roadside. They enveloped a whole group of players, piercing through armor and flesh! Almost a hundred archers and mages were one-shot as they collapsed to the ground with pitiful cries. "Who is it? Show yourselves!" Li Chengfeng roared in anger. A group of enemies slowly revealed themselves as they walked out from the forest. Their leader looked extremely impressive as he emerged dressed in black armor, with a white cape flowing behind him. Gripping his sword in one hand, he looked straight at us with a smile and greeted, "Hello old friends, we meet once again!¡¯ Li Chengfeng gritted his teeth in anger and he growled each syllable in a low voice. "Little Piglet!" Chapter 670: Porcupine Riders Little Piglet¡¯s gaze turned dark but he didn¡¯t say a word in response. He simply held onto his sword and stood there. At this moment, more people started emerging from the forest. The player at their head was precisely the leader of Hegemon Palace, Pillar of the Nation. It seemed as if that punk Wang Dongliang had been recruiting again recently, as all the players around him were elite players higher than Level 140. In fact, their levels outstripped their own guild leader. Little Piglet was outstanding even in that group. The Level 147 Cold Wind Swordsman was a force to be reckoned with. Wang Dongliang was an extremely handsome man. He walked forward and arched a perfectly-groomed eyebrow and said, "What do you mean by ¡®Candle Dragon¡¯s lapdogs¡¯? My Hegemon Palace has never bent the knee to Candle Dragon. The only reason why we are interfering with you here is because Hegemon Palace was designated as an enemy guild by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Is there anything wrong with us attacking an enemy guild? Besides, this battle over Immortality City is to help determine the next Guild Ranking. As a new guild, Hegemon Palace has to distinguish itself in some way, right?" Xu Yang pointed his sword toward Wang Dongliang and said, "Bullshit, you¡¯re clearly backing Candle Dragon up, so why bother making all of these excuses? Little Piglet, if you¡¯re a man, just bring it on! There¡¯s nothing left to talk about!" Little Piglet¡¯s lips curved up into a lazy smile as he said, "I¡¯m just a simple mercenary. I¡¯ll do the job for whoever pays me. Don¡¯t involve me in your petty squabbles. I¡¯m not interested in the fight between guilds. However, if you make a move against my guild leader, don¡¯t blame me for taking action!¡± "You really are a mercenary fellow¡­" Xu Yang scoffed in disdain. Little Piglet didn¡¯t waste his time trying to explain himself. He swept his sword in front of him and said, "Whatever it is, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls can forget about crossing this road today! Hegemon Palace is also trying to garner some fame and power from this battle, heh heh!" Chaos Moon brandished her sword and took a threatening step forward, "Garner fame and power? Based on what merit?!" "On what merit you ask?" Pillar of the Nation raised his sword high in the air and laughed. "Based on the fact that we have the strongest cavalry troop in the entire Sky City!" "Cavalry troop?" I couldn¡¯t help but ask. The thunderous sound of hooves soon reverberated in the air as countless shadows surged out of the forest. They were all players from Hegemon Palace! Fuck, the Hegemon Palace had actually managed to create an elite cavalry troop while they were laying low. Well, to be fair, no super guild would sit around doing nothing while the Nation Wars were around the corner. However, the moment Hegemon Palace¡¯s cavalry troops appeared, all the players from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, The Monarch Descends, Baidicheng, and Blazing Hot Lips burst out into laughter. Chaos Moon¡¯s reaction was the most exaggerated. She was laughing so hard that tears were about to come out from her eyes. As she pointed at Hegemon Palace¡¯s cavalrymen, she bent at her waist and gasped, "No way! Are these guys really a proper cavalry squad?" Huge porcupines with long canines sticking out of their mouths were slowly marching toward us. Sturdy metallic quills stuck out of their back and a special seat had been fitted on to them. They had a pair of round, liquid eyes and they were very short and broad in stature. The troops mounted on the back of these porcupines were as tall as everyone else, and some of the taller riders could actually plant their legs on the ground while they were riding on these things. As a result, they had to lift their legs awkwardly as the porcupines moved forward. This looked so hilarious that everyone was dying of laughter. ¡­¡­ "Damn, did Hegemon Palace come here to put on a comedy show?" Xu Yang was also laughing so hard his eyes had become teary. Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes went cold as he replied, "Hey, don¡¯t underestimate those bastards. I heard that those mounts are called Steel Needle Porcupines. They are Level 135 Dark Gold Rank rare mounts, so don¡¯t laugh at them just because they look short and ugly. They won¡¯t be too inferior to our Cyan Tiger Cavalry. Furthermore, these Steel Needle Porcupines provide a 10% splash damage passive to their riders, so they¡¯ll really be a thorn in our side when we start fighting them." I nodded my head. "Yeah, we can¡¯t underestimate the enemy. Cyan Tiger Cavalry, prepare to charge!" Clang! Clang! Clang! Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, He Yi, and the rest of the magic knights unsheathed their swords as their mounts started bristling at the prospect of battle. They were getting ready to charge straight at those porcupine riders. However, it was at this moment that Baidicheng¡¯s guild leader, Come See The Snow Tonight, raised her spear high in the air and rode over on a warhorse that swirled with flaming energy. She smiled at us and said, "Sis He Yi, Handsome Lu Chen, I think¡­ that the Cyan Tiger Cavalry won¡¯t be needed for this battle. You¡¯ve already lost far too many comrades during this battle. How about you let Baidicheng¡¯s cavalry unit take on Hegemon Palace?!" I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. "Oh, I¡¯m actually really interested in seeing what kind of cavalry unit Beauty See The Snow, the best magic knight of Vanished God City, managed to create!" Come See The Snow Tonight covered her mouth and giggled before replying, "Alright then. Please don¡¯t laugh at my performance, Little Heavenly King!" After she said that, Come See The Snow Tonight wheeled around and raised her spear high in the air. Her lovely voice rang out, "Riders of Baidicheng, it¡¯s time to show our friends from Hegemon Palace our true strength. We¡¯ll let them know that the guilds of Vanished God City can hold their own against the other cities! No one can trample over our dignity!" Baidicheng¡¯s huge formation dispersed like a tide, causing a path to form in the middle of their formation. They had managed to preserve most of their strength in this battle and as the sound of their hooves thundered in the air, a huge group of players riding on fiery red horses appeared. There were about ten thousand of them in all and every one of these horsemen was a well-equipped high-level player. It was clear that See The Snow had exerted a good amount of money, time, and effort to build up this unit. He Yi giggled before she said, "We finally get to see them in action. Baidicheng¡¯s elite unit, the Crimson Fire Cavalry!" "Oh? The Glutton Cavalry? I thought that only a cavalry troop established by Sister Mingyue would have such a name¡­" Thud! Murong Mingyue¡¯s staff smacked against my face. She stuck out her chest, causing her proud bosom to quiver mightily as she shouted angrily, "Do you want to die, you punk! Since when did I ever build a cavalry unit? Besides, it¡¯s Crimson Fire Cavalry, not Glutton!" "Oh, oh. So it was Crimson Fire¡­" A smile crept up on He Yi¡¯s face as she nodded her head and said, "Yeah, they¡¯re riding Level 120 Purple Gold Rank rare mounts, just a little bit worse than our Cyan Battle Tigers. Furthermore, their cavalry troop is two times bigger than ours, so our cavalry troops are about equal in terms of raw strength. They just don¡¯t have the Famous General Skills we do. This cavalry troop has allowed Baidicheng to quietly become one of the Top 4 guilds in Vanished God City." My mouth dropped open in shock. To think that our allies were so OP! ¡­¡­ Their metal hooves thundered against the ground as Beauty See The Snow led them forward. She activated Encourage VII as they charged into battle. The sound of their hooves was so loud that it even caused the ground to shake and it looked as if the distant territory hall was shuddering in response to this violent clash between guilds. This was the truth of the matter, the battle in Immortality City was a watershed moment for the super guilds in China. This battle would play a huge part in how we were ranked in the upcoming Guild Ranking. This was due to the fact that it was a recent battle that most of the super guilds had participated in, so everyone¡¯s strength would be laid bare in this moment. The cavalry troops from both sides fiercely crashed into one another! Even though Hegemon Palace¡¯s porcupine riders looked ridiculous, they were extremely fierce in battle. In fact, they didn¡¯t seem any less powerful than the Crimson Fire Cavalry. Come See The Snow¡¯s spear danced in the air as she hunted down one porcupine after the other, the steel-shod hooves of the Crimson Fire Cavalry turning the bodies into minced meat as they thundered in behind her. Even though Little Piglet wasn¡¯t a rider, he was able to stand toe to toe with them thanks to his Vajra. The 200% boost to his Defense allowed him to stand firm amid the onrushing wave of horsemen. He swung his sword through the air fiercely, batting aside riders as if they were ping-pong balls. Wind started swirling around his feet as a vortex of green energy started whirling in the air around him. After that, he gave a great shout as he slashed his sword out in front of him. A huge tornado shot out of his blade and tore into the Baidicheng players around him. "Damn, Little Piglet¡¯s become even fiercer¡­" Gui Guzi said with a dumbfounded look of amazement on his face. I nodded my head. "Yeah, when it comes to 1v1 fights, Little Piglet is definitely ranked among the Top 5 players in Sky City. His skills can¡¯t be doubted!" Xu Yang asked curiously, "Who¡¯s in your Top 5?" Li Chengfeng replied, "Among the players of Sky City, the king of PvP is undoubtedly our boy Lu Chen. Lin Yixin is probably on par with him, but it¡¯s too close to tell. After that, the Top 5 is rounded out by Beiming Xue, Purple Marquis, and Little Piglet. As for me? I¡¯m probably ranked somewhere between sixth to tenth!" Gui Guzi laughed, "Our boy Li is really humble. If you¡¯re in sixth place, everyone besides Boss Broken Halberd and the beautiful Lin Yixin would be too ashamed to declare it out loud.¡± Xu Yang let out a hearty laugh. "That¡¯s right. If it¡¯s just in Sky City, the best duelist outside of Lu Chen and Beauty Lin would be you! What the fuck are you trying to be humble about?! Purple Marquis and Little Piglet probably round out the rest of the Top 5¡­" He Yi chimed in and said, "You¡¯re forgetting one very important person¡­" "Who?" "Farewell Song. In terms of 1v1 duels, he actually has a pretty good chance against Lu Chen himself. How could you leave him out of your list?" "Oh right, but the way that guy fights is way too dirty..." ¡­¡­ Even though we started chatting, no one had let their guards down. Everyone had their weapons in hand, and we were waiting in the wings of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry. The moment any stragglers from Hegemon Palace appeared, we would immediately rush forward and chop them to pieces. This caused Pillar of the Nation to fume angrily, but there was nothing he could do about it. All of the experts he had brought with him had gone to reinforce Little Piglet, so he didn¡¯t have any strong players left to deal with our Cyan Tiger Cavalry. It was at this moment that a beautiful voice rang out in the air. The beautiful assassin, Shangguan Wan¡¯er, had appeared beside Wang Dongliang. Shangguan Wan¡¯er surveyed the battle in front of her, her eyebrows knitting together as she said, "Boss, we didn¡¯t manage to taunt out Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and we now have to contend with Baidicheng instead. However, Baidicheng isn¡¯t an opponent that will roll over for us either, so it looks like a little hitch has appeared in our plan¡­" Pillar of the Nation frowned. "It¡¯s fine. Little Piglet definitely won¡¯t disappoint me. How could the strongest general of Hegemon Palace lose to mere Baidicheng! Even if that girl, Come See The Snow Tonight, is a CGL Hall of Famer, Little Piglet definitely won¡¯t lose to her!" Shangguan Wan¡¯er pursed her lips, but she chose not to say anything. As she swept her eyes across the battlefield once more, a stunned look appeared in Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡¯s eyes. A beautiful figure had appeared around the edges of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ cavalry unit. It was another female assassin, and it was precisely the guild leader of our eighth subguild, Cute Little Naughty. "Heehee¡­" Shangguan Wan¡¯er vanished into the background, daggers in hand. Her laughing voice floated in the air, "Boss, just stay here. I¡¯m going to test the mettle of Ancient Sword¡¯s best assassin!" 1. It¡¯s a play on the two definitions of mercenary, one a noun and the other an adjective. Chapter 671: Don’t Let Little Piglet Escape Noticing the distant hostility as well, Cute Little Naughty stooped slightly and shook her cold, gleaming dagger for a bit. Then, putting on a confident smile on her face, she melted soundlessly into thin air and left behind only swaying grass amid a gust of wind. "A duel between two assassins? Heh!" Li Chengfeng smiled. "Interesting!" ¡­¡­ We had no plans of interfering with either the clash between the Crimson Fire Cavalry and the Porcupine Riders, or the duel between the two high-level assassins. I also wanted to know how much Cute Little Naughty had evolved since joining Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. The thundering horse hooves were noisy, but it didn¡¯t impact our viewing experience in the slightest. I balanced myself against my sword and activated Dark Pupils. I immediately saw two beautiful female assassins slowly approaching each other. When Cute Little Naughty moved forward, her ears were shaking slightly, and her eyes were watching her right side. It was as if every movement, natural or unnatural, fell within her perception; a quality that I expected every top-tier assassin to have. A disturbance suddenly ripped through the air, and metal sparked against metal three times in rapid succession. It was Cute Little Naughty and Shangguan Wan¡¯er clashing daggers with each other. Cute Little Naughty had slightly more Strength than Shangguan Wan¡¯er, so the latter was sent sliding back against her wish. "Heh!" Cute Little Naughty smiled slightly as she put strength into her smooth, armored legs and pounced forward. Her right dagger was glowing red with the power of Gouge. Shangguan Wan¡¯er stopped herself and reacted with lightning speed. She parried the attack and shifted to the right in one swift motion. However, it turned out that the Gouge wasn¡¯t Cute Little Naughty only move. Her right dagger was knocked to the side, but her left dagger was swirling with a bloody vortex of energy. It was her strongest skill, Blade Vortex! "Ah?!" Shangguan Wan¡¯er exclaimed in surprise. She hadn¡¯t expected Naughty to react this quickly. By the time she came to, the cold dagger was about to penetrate her chest. Shangguan Wan¡¯er bent backward and tried to parry the skill. She actually succeeded in parrying the first and second hit of Blade Vortex, but the third hit ultimately slipped past her defense and sank into her flesh! Thud! Blood flew everywhere as Cute Little Naughty landed a critical hit of 18084 damage. Her critical hit rate was probably 40% or higher considering her current equipment, meaning that she would crit once every two hits or so. It was scary to say the least. Naughty stubbornly hung on and returned the kick immediately, causing Shangguan Wan¡¯er to stumble backward. While the latter was drinking a health potion, Naughty smoothly transitioned into a spin and slammed her dagger into Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡¯s arm. 5902! Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡¯s expression changed drastically as she jumped backward on one foot. She then made a throwing motion at Cute Little Naughty! Thud! Something cut through the air like a rainbow and sank into Cute Little Naughty¡¯s chest. When she looked down, she saw that it was a dark green throwing dart. An assassin with a ranged attack? This may be a bit dicier than I thought. Caught off-guard and losing most of her health, Cute Little Naughty hurriedly backed away and drank her own health potion. When she looked up again, Shangguan Wan¡¯er had melted into thin air once more. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Suddenly, a dozen or so arrows flew toward Cute Little Naughty. A Hegemon Palace archer was trying to assassinate her while she was distracted! He Yi rushed in like the wind and raised her shield in front of Cute Little Naughty. She was able to intercept all of the arrows and even cause them to bounce off harmlessly thanks to her insanely high Defense. There was nothing the archer could¡¯ve done to He Yi. "Shameless fucker! How dare you sneak attack during a duel!" I urged my mount forward and crossed my sword in front of me. Then, I sent it spinning toward the archer who had tried to kill Cute Little Naughty. The bastard could only stare when the Cyan Netherworld Sword punched through his chest and left a giant hole in its wake. From his dazed expression, it looked like he wasn¡¯t expecting to die this easily. The archer wasn¡¯t the only one who died for his transgression. The mages around him were caught off-guard and killed as well. My attack was It was an attack of a player who had reached the Earthfire Realm, so of course I was able to one-shot them. ¡­¡­ Cute Little Naughty stomped her foot once before chiding me, "Guild leader big bro, my duel with that Shangguan Wan¡¯er isn¡¯t over yet!" "Save it, she¡¯s even resorting to hidden weapons to gain an advantage. How shameless is that? Anyway, we don¡¯t have much time left, so let¡¯s take out Hegemon Palace and occupy the territory hall already!" "Mn!" My cavalry got back up their mounts after hearing my order. At Hegemon Palace¡¯s formation, Pillar of the Nation gripped his blade and shouted, "Why are you breaking combat rules, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Are you going to attack us before a winner is decided between our cavalries?" Li Chengfeng laughed. "Why should we obey any rule against people like you? Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls obeys only strength and victory. We aren¡¯t so pedantic that we¡¯d let trash like you hold us hostage with words!" I raised my Cyan Netherworld Sword high and shouted, "Brothers and sisters, kill everyone whose ID has Hegemon Palace in it in half an hour! If they want to use us as their stepping stone so much, then let¡¯s help them on their way and make them a laughingstock once and for all!" Laughing in excitement, the Cyan Tiger Cavalry led by Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust charged the enemies and swept over them like a hurricane. Our main guild¡¯s cavalry had dropped to less than 10000. Bloody Mercenaries and our subguilds¡¯ cavalry had also dropped to 20000 or so. Even still, there was no chance Hegemon Palace could withstand our power because we still had several Famous Generals on our side, and they had none. Little Piglet, their one and only Famous General, was currently trapped by Come See The Snow Tonight at the centermost area of the battlefield. That wasn¡¯t all. The Monarch Descends and Blazing Hot Lips added to Hegemon Palace¡¯s misery by sending out their own ace cavalry, causing the latter¡¯s defense line to crumble like sand. Simply put, Hegemon Palace didn¡¯t even belong in the same league as us, so they were unable to push back even an inch. Battle cries and the stench of blood filled the battlefield. Somewhere in the city, Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, Gods of Destruction, Peach Garden, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, Throne Seeker and more guilds were fighting valiantly as well. Their goal wasn¡¯t to occupy the city, but to become the dominant guild in this epic war of guilds and improve their placement in the coming CGL Guild Ranking. The cavalry charged at the front while the mages and archers caused havoc from the back. In a direct fight, the upper hand was ours because the average quality of Hegemon Palace¡¯s players was inferior to ours, and their strength didn¡¯t even deserve a comparison. Moreover, the eighth subguild led by Cute Little Naughty had entered the forest, slipped behind the enemy lines and were assassinating their high-level mages and archers right now. Bloodcurdling screams broke out everywhere for a moment. The assault was so soul-crushing that Pillar of the Nation acted like a terrified rabbit. "Motherfucker, they¡¯re all attacking! This is so unfair! Wan¡¯er, Wan¡¯er, we need to retreat right now! Tell Little Piglet that it¡¯s time to go! Hegemon Palace has done enough for the day¡­" Shangguan Wan¡¯er was pulling a dagger out of a The Monarch Descends archer when she heard the order. She was dumbfounded and dissatisfied with his cowardice, but she nodded obediently and said, "Got it. However, Little Piglet is currently surrounded by the Crimson Fire Cavalry, so whether he can escape is all up to him¡­" Meanwhile, Little Piglet was charging left and right to break out of the encirclement he was trapped in. Every time the Cold Wind Swordsman dashed across the battlefield, the players of Baidicheng cowered in terror. Come See The Snow Tonight was the only one who could fight against him on equal footing. Her individual skill was no match for Little Piglet¡¯s, but her knowledge of battle formations more than made up for that flaw. She had Little Piglet trapped like a beast wrapped inside a net. ¡­¡­ "Archers, Shock Arrows! Don¡¯t let Little Piglet escape!" Little Piglet sent Come See The Snow Tonight stumbling with a Cold Wind Slash, but she retaliated by barking out an order. The dozens of archers behind her immediately changed skills and stunned Little Piglet in no time. "Shield walls, surround!" This time, the Crimson Fire Cavalry raised their shields high and surrounded Little Piglet completely, preventing him from escaping anywhere. Come See The Snow Tonight said with a smile, "Vajra increases Defense by 200%, but Defense is all it is. His Magic Resist is nothing special. Ah Lan, Rachel, summon the mages and send him back to his city with Galaxy Storms!" The two female mages and a group of mages immediately stepped to the front. They chanted loudly as Little Piglet tried to make his escape, but he couldn¡¯t even overcome the shield wall around him. He looked absolutely furious because dying this way as a super-tier player was shameful to say the least. Boom boom boom! Little Piglet shuddered violently as the Galaxy Storms rocked his body. He looked like a dying leaf shaking violently to the wind. Come See The Snow Tonight¡¯s declaration was absolutely spot on, and Little Piglet let out a death scream and died in less than half a minute. That was another Famous General gone from the battlefield! ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t help but sigh a little. Little Piglet was absolutely one of the most outstanding experts of China, but he hadn¡¯t entered the Earthfire Realm yet. If he could ride a mount and his resistance was just a bit higher, Come See The Snow Tonight wouldn¡¯t have been able to kill a Vajra-active Little Piglet as easily as she did. Heck, even we would have to invest quite a lot of effort to kill him. "Kill them!" After Little Piglet died, our morale skyrocketed while Hegemon Palace¡¯s collapsed. Countless players took out their return scrolls and teleported back to their city! Not even Wang Dongliang could stop his players from escaping. He murmured in shock, "Unbelievable, you shameless, thankless bastards, you¡ª" It was at this moment a beautiful knight killed her way toward Wang Dongliang. She was He Yi of course! "Long time no see, Eve! I heard that you quit GGS! Say, are you interested in working with Shanghai Shengyi¡­" Wang Dongliang stared at her like she was her last hope. He Yi smiled sweetly and brandished her Blade of the Earthen Soul. "Why don¡¯t you go back to Sky City and figure out my answer yourself?" Bang bang bang... Five sword auras of ice and fire exploded amidst the crowd, and Wang Dongliang was standing at the center of the explosion. Naturally, He Yi¡¯s terrifying Purgatory of Ice and Magma annihilated him from existence. Chapter 672: Reserved Woman Of course, that wasn¡¯t to say that it was a bad thing. Everyone loved slaughters, especially when they were the ones doing the slaughtering. ¡­¡­ Pop! Li Chengfeng walked up to a Level 144 elite magic knight who had died and dropped a shining sword . Kicking it into the air and catching it with his hand, he gave it a look. "Level 140, 3-star Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade, 1187 max Attack and an Outstanding Property that increases critical damage by 10%. Not a bad sword. Is there anyone who wants this?" A Level 140 swordsman in Li Chengfeng¡¯s party immediately raised his hand. "Me!" "Anyone else?" Li Chengfeng asked smilingly, "We¡¯ll roll the dice and decide the owner of this weapon right now. The luckiest person takes it all." Half a minute later, the Level 140 swordsman won the dice roll and equipped the weapon immediately. He said happily, "Hoho, I finally got my hands on an Outstanding-quality weapon! I¡¯m so happy! I¡¯m going to brag about it in front of colleagues tomorrow!" Li Chengfeng and I shook my head in unison. "This guy has no future¡­¡± ¡­¡­ Hegemon Palace had a ton of players¡ªthere were 200000 of them at least¡ªand it would¡¯ve been a pain in the ass to kill them all if 70% of them hadn¡¯t teleported back to the city of their own accord. We killed all those who remained behind, of course. They were hardly a challenge, but their equipment was pretty great. So, we spent a moment to pick up the loot on the battlefield and rewarded the brothers and sisters who joined us for the siege of Immortality City. We could keep the loot to ourselves, but that would be short-sighted to say the least. Why would anyone keep working for you when they didn¡¯t even get paid for their hard work? Half an hour later, there was only 1 hour and 45 minutes left on the clock. It looked like we would be cutting it a bit close. From the elevated position of my mount, I could see that the territory hall was surrounded by players from great guilds such as Candle Dragon, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain and Throne Seeker. There were also a plethora of other guilds of all sizes. They were allies Candle Dragon and Hall of Immortality had recruited to repel the invaders. I sucked in a deep breath. At least 400000 players were protecting the territory hall, a number that was entirely too big to force our way in without considerable effort. However, it looked like forcing our way in was also our only option. I nodded and raised my sword high. "Brothers and sisters, it is time to seize the territory hall! You all did super well this time, and we are just one step away from conquering this city! Let¡¯s make sure we succeed and become a Top 10 guild in the Guild Ranking! For our dreams and glory, charge!" Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Gui Guzi and everyone else also raised their weapons and shouted, "For our brothers and sisters! For our dreams!" Not far away, Come See The Snow Tonight burst into a giggle before saying, "I gotta admit, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ personality is a unique one in China. As expected of a guild led by Lu Chen, huh?" The guild leader of The Monarch Descends, Ling Xueshang, also said with a knowing smile, "Yes. With Lu Chen¡¯s help, the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild is destined to enter the history books as a legend. Sigh, I¡¯m so envious of He Yi!" It was at this moment Stranger of Three Lifetimes walked up to them and interrupted in a dumbfounded tone, "What is there to envy? If you really like him that much, then use every tool in your disposal to seduce him to your side! Beauty, body, feelings; one of them has to work, am I right?" Come See The Snow Tonight blushed bright red. "Oh no, I¡¯m a reserved woman!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes nodded and turned bright red as well. "What a coincidence, I am too¡­" Ling Xueshang stared at them for a moment before spitting out. "Pooh!" ¡­¡­ The four of us split up into four separate formations and pushed our way to the territory hall. Although Immortality City was just a Rank 3 Barbarian Castle, its territory hall was unusually majestic. As this was the castle of barbarians, its design was very free-form, and the rocks used to build it were ridiculously huge. So huge in fact that there were a couple of buildings that were really giant rocks with their insides hollowed out. The territory hall was a complete structure with only one large entrance, and standing right at the center of it was Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. Right now, he gave off the impression of a one man army who could hold millions of enemies at bay. Of course, that was just an illusion. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch was just an idiot, the real threat was Candle Dragon guarding not far away from the entrance to the territory hall. Candlelight Shadow was grimly talking to Tempest Shadow about something, but I had no idea what kind of sinister plot they were cooking. A few minutes later, He Yi suddenly said, "Not good!" I asked, "What¡¯s wrong, Eve?" "The ninth and tenth subguild guarding outside the city were just attacked by Candle Dragon¡¯s subguild and a couple of powerful allies. These people were fresh out of Wind City, and they numbered a couple hundred thousand players at least! Their firepower isn¡¯t something our subguilds can ignore!" "Tell them to meet up with Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng¡¯s outside party and defend the entrances together." "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I gripped the Cyan Netherworld Sword and urged my Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward. Beside me, the Phantom Wolf King had entered stealth and crouching on the ground, eyes staring coldly toward the front. Candlelight Shadow and his allies didn¡¯t say anything. Their enemies were just too numerous. Warsky, October Rain, Farewell Song and their players were also waiting for something not far away from us. October Rain shot us a glance before smiling. "Very good, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has broken through Hegemon Palace¡¯s blockade and reached the territory hall. Lu Chen is absolutely determined on conquering this territory, it seems." Warsky snorted out loud before saying, "Just you wait, Ancient Sword¡­ if possible, I want us to take this territory for ourselves. When we enter the territory hall, let¡¯s try and kill as many Famous Generals as possible. This war is being broadcasted live on the fourth channel, so countless people¡ªmaybe even the old fellows of the CGL committee¡ªare watching this right now. It¡¯s no exaggeration to say that a single data point can change our guild¡¯s ranking completely!" October Rain shot Warsky a glance before asking, "You want to enter the CGL Hall of Fame, don¡¯t you?" Warsky looked surprised, but he admitted with a smile, "It¡¯s every gamer¡¯s dream to enter the CGL Hall of Fame, so I¡¯d be a pretentious hypocrite if I replied ¡®no¡¯ to that question. Who doesn¡¯t want to enter the Hall of Fame and become a celebrity?" The corner of October Rain¡¯s lips turned up. "There¡¯s no need to be hasty. You are the guild leader of Warsky Alliance, and both your skill and your power are improving rapidly. It¡¯s only a matter of time before you enter the CGL Hall of Fame. Also, think of it this way: if even the likes of Laughing At The Heavens can enter the CGL Hall of Fame, why can¡¯t you?" Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ facial muscles twitched. "Little Rain, I¡¯m going to be really sad if you insult my life¡¯s biggest achievement again¡­" October Rain laughed loudly, but she didn¡¯t say anything else. ¡­¡­ To our right, a group of players led by a Level 145 warrior suddenly appeared and walked toward us. His armor looked shiny and elite, and he was followed by a couple of high-level archers and mages. It was none other than the guild leader of Peach Garden, Indigo Collar. It had been a very long time since I saw the man. Indigo Collar stopped some distance away from be and grasped his fist in greeting. "We meet again, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" I nodded and replied, "Well met!" He asked, "Seeing as Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and The Monarch Descends are interfering with Vanished God City¡¯s business, does this mean that you¡¯re working together with Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng?" I answered honestly, "Yes, we have allied with Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng." "That¡¯s an amazing alliance you have there!" Indigo Collar praised. "Am I also right to assume that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will support Baidicheng¡¯s ambition to conquer Immortality City with all their might?" "That¡¯s correct!" "Hahaha, I thought so!" Indigo Collar laughed loudly. "I should¡¯ve figured this out sooner. After all, who else has the power to force Candle Dragon back from the eastern walls, and defeat their Viper Dragoons at the eastern plaza? Hmph, there are only a couple of guilds in the entire world who can beat Candle Dragon right now." I waved my hand in a humble manner. "It¡¯s not really worth mentioning. While our cavalry troops managed to defeat the Viper Dragoons, it was a close victory at best. Worse, we lost most of our cavalry, but Candle Dragon still has a lot of reserve forces up their sleeves. They¡¯re just too powerful. It will take time to beat a colossus like Candle Dragon." Indigo Collar smiled refreshingly and nodded again. "That¡¯s right, beating Candle Dragon isn¡¯t something that can be done in a single battle. By the way, can I consider us allies since we share the same enemy?" I nodded affirmatively. "Let us slay Candle Dragon together!" Deep respect rose in Indigo Collar¡¯s eyes as well as he raised his own weapon and declared, "Let¡¯s!" Words were unnecessary when heroes spoke frankly with one another. ¡­¡­ Peach Garden had managed to preserve much of their strength until now. Indigo Collar barked out an order, and almost a 100000 elites launched an assault on the territory hall. More specifically, they were attacking Candle Dragon¡¯s square formation directly. The sound of horse hooves, bow twangs and chants of magic joined together to form a dirge of war. I unsheathed the Cyan Netherworld Sword and pointed at the left flank of Candle Dragon myself. "Brothers and sisters, it is time to attack! Our vengeance on Candle Dragon begins now!" Everyone pulled out their weapons and charged Candle Dragon under my lead! ¡­¡­ Leading at the front, I scared the shit out of the enemies in front of me with Thousand Ice Slash. Enduring all the arrows and magic blasts flying my way, I commanded the Phantom Wolf King to hit the enemies with Claw of the Storm first and follow up with Purgatory Storm later. The enemy subguildies screamed like little wussies when hit. Next, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang and everyone else caught up and unleashed their own AoE skills. Aurora Thrust, Rock Crush, Purgatory of Ice and Magma, Reverse Scale Slash, Mountain Stagger Slash and more painted a beautiful painting as they erupted across the enemy lines. Behind us, Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ ranged army was also unleashing hell upon the enemies. For several minutes, the first subguild of Candle Dragon couldn¡¯t muster any counterattack under the barrage. Chapter 673: The Last Chaotic Battle A loud roar suddenly exploded from somewhere. It was Dominating Heaven Blade charging into the middle of Candle Dragon¡¯s second subguild with a blade shining with cyan energy. The head of a gigantic tiger appeared above the man, and a sword aura swept across the area like a shockwave! The image in the air also changed into a cyan tiger pouncing toward its prey! "Cyan Tiger Fury!" Dominating Heaven Blade was buffed by Encourage VII, so his attack power was pretty impressive. The Cyan Tiger Fury was unstoppable, and Candle Dragon¡¯s second subguild was his prey. The skill exploded in the middle of the crowd and killed twenty or so players in one go. None of us was expecting Dominating Heaven Blade to be this powerful. ¡­¡­ "Hmm?" Gui Guzi exclaimed in astonishment and paused for a second. "That¡¯s strange. I thought Dominating Heaven Blade had given up on competitive gaming after Gods of Destruction was no longer strong enough to keep afloat in Sky City? Since when did he become this powerful? His Cyan Tiger Fury is way stronger than the last time we fought each other!" A skill¡¯s power was tied to a person¡¯s stats and level. The fact that his Cyan Tiger Fury became this powerful meant that Dominating Heaven Blade had grown drastically after a period of hard work! Xu Yang also looked confused. "He can¡¯t have drugged himself to get stronger, right? Also, he went straight for Candle Dragon just now. Did he have a grudge with Candlelight Shadow or something?" Beside him, Chaos Moon answered his question, "It¡¯s simple. A couple months ago, Dominating Heaven Blade went to negotiate an alliance with Candle Dragon as the ¡®number one guild of Sky City¡¯. He thought he was an expert just because Gods of Destruction was a runner-up on China¡¯s Guild Ranking. Anyway, Candlelight Shadow rejected him and even humiliated him in public because he didn¡¯t think that Gods of Destruction was worthy of Candle Dragon¡¯s attention at all. It¡¯s one thing to be rejected and another to be humiliated, which is why Dominating Heaven Blade held a grudge against him to this day. Right now we are all united against Candle Dragon, and Dominating Heaven Blade isn¡¯t the kind of person who would let a perfect opportunity to gang up on his humiliator slip past him, is he?" He Yi couldn¡¯t stop herself from smiling. "That¡¯s great! Candle Dragon barely has any allies because they¡¯re way too arrogant for their own good. No way they can fight us, Peach Garden, Gods of Destruction, and Warsky Alliance together!" "Yeah!" I nodded with a smile. "Prepare your popcorn, because the show is only going to get better and better, hahaha!" ¡­¡­ While Dominating Heaven Blade was going on a rampage, Tempest Shadow stepped out into the open with a spear in his hand. He laughed loudly at the guild leader and said, "Gods of Destruction? What a joke. You guys should really call yourselves Clowns of Circus instead, because only a clown would think they¡¯re good enough to challenge Candle Dragon. Come on, show me how much the guild leader of Gods of Destruction weighs!" "Fuck you!" Dominating Heaven Blade roared angrily before Charging a player next to Tempest Shadow without warning. Once he got into range, he suddenly spun around and hit the CGL Hall of Famer with an unexpected Barrier Break! Pu! 15237! It was just a single hit, but it scared Tempest Shadow so much that he stumbled backward like a drunkard. He had no idea that Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s attack would hurt this much until he actually got hit. The Barrier Break had penetrated his Defense completely. Tempest Shadow¡¯s embarrassment turned into full blown anger. He was a veteran CGL Hall of Famer, the so-called "Tempest War God" of Wind City, and a ruthless character who seldom met his match! Chiang chiang chiang! Tempest Shadow immediately retaliated with a rain of devastating attacks that overwhelmed Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s defenses and knocked him back unceremoniously. The fighter immediately laughed loudly and said, "You can¡¯t kill a god if you¡¯re dead, can you?!" Seeing that Dominating Heaven Blade was in danger, a couple of players immediately ran to his aid. They were a knight, a warrior, and an archer! "Boss, we¡¯ll help you!" Dominating Knight God activated Charge the moment he got within the skill range! Swhoosh! As it turned out, Dominating Knight God was very lucky today because he actually stunned Tempest Shadow. Dominating Warrior God also did the same before following up with a Barrier Break and a triple-hit melee flurry skill! Clang clang clang! Sparks flew everywhere the attacks left deep impressions on Tempest Shadow¡¯s armor. He had lost a lot of HP to the skill combo¡ª 13892! 4829! 5022! 6127! Tempest Shadow shook like a leaf and dropped to half health in just an instant. Before he could do anything else, Dominating Archer God hit him with a Shock Arrow before flicking his bow like a boss, landing a very good Volley. Finally, Dominating Mage God chanted from a distance and cast two spells in a row, Dragon¡¯s Roar and Galaxy Storm! Boom boom! Magic ravaged Tempest Shadow and nearly emptied his health bar. Dominating Mage God¡¯s Magic Attack wasn¡¯t to be underestimated! Swhoosh swhoosh! A pair of white light surrounded Tempest Shadow and pulled him from the brink of death. It was Candle Dragon¡¯s priests dutifully healing their general back to full health. Tempest Shadow¡¯s embarrassment and anger had only deepened, however. He was the Tempest War God, and he was almost killed by the rats from Gods of Destruction! How embarrassing was that? Even Candlelight Shadow couldn¡¯t watch this any longer. He ordered, "Blue Sky Scar, Transient Smoke and Clouds, go help Tempest Shadow. Hmph, no one is allowed to humiliate our corps commander like this!" "Will do!" The two generals immediately ran toward Gods of Destruction. Blue Sky Scar charged Dominating Warrior God and slashed Dominating Warrior God across the neck. Then, he turned around and followed up with a Barrier Break! Puchi! Blue Sky Scar¡¯s sword burst out of Dominating Warrior God¡¯s chest and dealt critical damage of 31478, killing the latter before he even realized what had happened to him. Dominating Warrior God was just way, way too weak compared to Blue Sky Scar. On the other side, Transient Smoke and Clouds darted across the battlefield and shot an explosive combo of arrows. All of his shots passed through Dominating Archer God¡¯s neck perfectly, and just like Dominating Warrior God he was killed before he realized what had hit him. Beside him, a couple of Gods of Destruction players picked up the equipment he had dropped before shouting angrily, "The Blackwater Bow is with me! Tell boss Arrow God to get it from me later! Brothers and sisters, the brutes of Candle Dragon just killed our brother, so what the hell are you still waiting for? Kill them all!" Despite losing Dominating Warrior God and Dominating Archer God, the rousing speech still stirred the players of Gods of Destruction to action. They immediately clashed against the main forces of Candle Dragon. The fires of war burned everywhere as Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips, Baidicheng, Warsky Alliance, Gods of Destruction, and Peach Garden ganged up on Candle Dragon at once. Melee fighters were hacking the shit out of one another in savage abandon, mages were chanting spells as if mana pots were free, and archers blotted out the sky with Far Shots. The battlefield quickly devolved into a chaotic mess. Not all guilds were allied with each other, and people were attacking with their attack mode set to "Guild¡±. Therefore, the possibility of hurting or dying from stray fire was very real. It was the main reason the people went absolutely bonkers after the free-for-all battle began. For example, heavy cannoneers like Beiming Xue and Stranger of Three Lifetimes farmed the shit out of Gods of Destruction, Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, Hall of Immortality, so on with their Multi Arrows and Galaxy Storms. ¡­¡­ It was a long, chaotic, fierce battle where no one could tell who was a friendly and who wasn¡¯t. As for me, I simply rode the Armored Ice Qilin Horse into a group of players and murdered anyone whose ID wasn¡¯t the color of friendlies, orange. Simple! This was also the first time the Cyan Netherworld Sword got to drink blood to its heart¡¯s content. If it was a demonic weapon, it would¡¯ve slaughtered enough souls to evolve a long time ago. Clang! Suddenly, someone parried my attack and shouted at me with bloodshot eyes. "What the fuck, Lu Chen! It¡¯s me!" I focused my attention and, oh, it was Indigo Collar from Peach Garden. Indigo Collar¡¯s sword was just as bloody as mine. He pointed his fingers at two different directions and said, "I go here, you go there¡­" I nodded. "Sure¡­" The fight continued after that short interruption. The Cyan Netherworld Sword was a Heaven-grade weapon, but its blade was inevitably chipped due to the sheer amount of players I had killed. I¡¯ll need to repair it soon. Thankfully, this battle won¡¯t last too much longer. Not far away from me, Li Chengfeng was pointing at Xu Yang¡¯s sword and laughing loudly, "Xu Yang, what the hell is that thing you¡¯re holding? It looks more like a saw than a sword¡­" Xu Yang checked his heavily-chipped weapon and realized that it really did look like a saw. He sighed. "Bah, who cares as long as I can kill someone with it? Anyway, continue!" Gui Guzi, He Yi, and Beiming Xue¡¯s kill counts were off the charts at this point. Wherever they went, they left a sea of blood in their wake. ¡­¡­ The battle lasted for almost an entire hour. Finally, the number of players was decreasing to a point where we could breathe again. The floor was absolutely stacked in layers upon layers of bodies, equipment and potions, and because there were too many guilds involved in this fight, everyone was just picking loot at random. It was completely up to luck and insight whether or not someone could pick up a top-tier item or two. Swhoosh! As I rode past a crowd of players, I bent down and picked up a gold-colored shield. To my surprise, it was a 4-star Outstanding Spirit-grade shield that was dropped by a high-level magic knight from Candle Dragon. I tossed it into Diamond Dust¡¯s hands immediately. It was exactly the equipment she needed right now, and a shield synergized perfectly with Knight General¡¯s 100% boost to Defense. ¡­¡­ At the entrance to the territory hall, Candlelight Shadow looked like he had just climbed out of a blood pool. Intelligent and cold-blooded, the warrior had somehow managed to kill all the players who attempted to invade the territory hall amid the chaos including Dominating Heaven Blade of Gods of Destruction, Moon Scar and Wheel Shadow of Peach Garden and more. It showed just how indomitable and powerful he was. Despite facing superior numbers, Candlelight Shadow maintained a cool head and fought like a machine. It was a quality that few people could emulate. "Who else dares to challenge me?!" Candlelight Shadow let out a mighty shout that actually stunned all the players fighting close to him. For a moment, it looked like no one could move past him. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Suddenly, a bloody light flashed past his person and immobilized him. A big stun icon appeared above his head. "What the fuck, the Martial God got stunned? Who¡¯s the assassin with such giant balls?!" Xu Yang¡¯s jaw almost hit the floor when he saw this. Chapter 674: Whirlwind Slash VS Whirlwind Slash A dagger cut through his armor, punched through his bone and brought out a shower of blood. That was just the beginning, however. The murderous dagger then burst into a poisonous green light and entered Candlelight Shadow¡¯s chest, stabbing him three times in a row until its wielder used up all of his energy. Thud thud thud! Almost every attack penetrated over 50% of the target¡¯s Defense. Not even Candlelight Shadow could shrug off a combo like this and pretend that it was nothing¡ª 15829! 9201! 9928! 10028! ¡­¡­ Four consecutive hits later, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s HP dropped from 100 to almost zero. Even with a Physique buff, he only had almost 50k HP. In this regard, he was no match for a high-level magic knight. Unfortunately for the assassin, Candlelight Shadow recovered just in time to parry away three consecutive strikes that would¡¯ve killed him. Eyes as cold as ice, he shouted, "Farewell Song, you sure gave me a good time!" While withdrawing so that the priests behind could heal him, he shouted angrily, "Just you wait, I swear I¡¯ll wipe out Warsky Alliance!" Instead of answering his challenge, Farewell Song silently slithered back into the darkness. As an assassin, Farewell Song never overextended or put on a show. After failing to kill Candlelight Shadow in one go, he immediately retreated and waited for his next opportunity to arrive. He was exactly the kind of top-class player that Candlelight Shadow and I were most afraid of. A tenacious, cunning, and cruel assassin like Farewell Song was like a gangrene that you couldn¡¯t escape from. Candlelight Shadow had to be feeling very uncomfortable right now. Chiang! Warsky raised his weapon and shouted, "Warsky Alliance, keep up the pressure on Candle Dragon! We must wipe out their forces in half an hour¡¯s time!" October Rain nodded and carried out the order. She and a group of archers fired a ton of colorful Multi Arrows into Candle Dragon¡¯s ranks and made life hellish for them. ¡­¡­ Bang! The guild leader of Bloody Mercenaries, Du Thirteen, was swinging his sword in front of him and launching a short-range AoE skill at five Candle Dragon magic knights. While they were staggering backward from the attack, he pounced toward them, used Barrier Break on one, pierced the throat of another, killing two people in quick succession. From behind him, Xue Lu enveloped the rest of the knights with her magic, cleaning them all up. The two lovers had come to form a wonderful rapport with each other. "Lu Chen!" Du Thirteen took the moment of respite to ask me, "Why are these sons of bitches from Warsky Alliance fighting so hard today? Warsky isn¡¯t the kind of person who would waste his energy on fruitless endeavors, and they should know that their chances of getting the city are low¡­" "I see. Let¡¯s do our best too!" "Yes¡­" ¡­¡­ The battle was extremely bloody. In less than 20 minutes, every Candle Dragon subguild at the outer ring had collapsed under heavy fire. Not everyone could handle being focus-fired by dozens of middle to big-sized guilds. The player count on the siege battle window was decreasing rapidly as well. The number of defenders had dropped from 1.74 million to 470k, and a large majority of them were stuck outside the city. The actual number of defenders guarding the territory hall was less than 200k. Meanwhile, the number of attackers was over 2 million. At this point, it was crystal clear that Immortality City was destined to fall, but Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch was still fighting with all his might. He had invested too much money and energy into the city to give up now. He believed that Immortality City was secure with Candle Dragon around, but our cavalry troops had shredded that confidence and Candle Dragon¡¯s cavalry troops into pieces! In fact, the turning point of this war was the battle between Candle Dragon¡¯s Viper Dragoons and our Cyan Tiger Cavalry. When Candle Dragon lost that battle, they had lost both their aura of invincibility and their morale. Not even their own players believed that Candle Dragon was the supreme god of the battlefield anymore. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls might have lost 4000 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen in that battle, but in exchange, we tore their confidence to shreds. The battlefield was chaotic, with people moving about randomly, battle cries filling the hall. At this point, Candle Dragon¡¯s main guild was the only guild still defending the territory hall. Candlelight Shadow had healed back to full health and joined the battle once more. His four War Gods¡ªBlue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, God¡¯s Dance, and Transient Smoke and Clouds¡ªwere holding their positions and showing off their strength. Like four beacons of hope, their very presence supplied their players with seemingly endless faith and energy. The only true way to defeat Candle Dragon was to kill Candlelight Shadow and the four CGL Hall of Famers! I glanced at Warsky from a distance, and he glanced at me. Despite not having exchanged any word with each other, we understood each other¡¯s intention and nodded at the same time. It was time to dispatch our strongest players and eliminate the enemy¡¯s CGL Hall of Famers! I raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword and shouted, "Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Chaos Moon, Moonlight Stone, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, follow me! We will take out Candlelight Shadow and his goons! It¡¯s about time we ended this war!" Chaos Moon nodded and replied, "Yes, let¡¯s take out those CGL Hall of Famers!" He Yi also urged her Snow Domain Windchaser and joined us as we ran toward the territory hall. She was the guild leader, so I couldn¡¯t give her a direct order. However, she was also an intelligent woman, and she picked up my meaning without me having to say anything. Now that she had the Blade of the Earthen Soul and the Purgatory of Ice and Magma, she was a key player of our elite forces as well. She understood that it was her responsibility to fight with us. In front of the territory hall, Tempest Shadow was riding back and forth on his mount and killing a ton of people with his spear. Like a god of war, he shouted, "Comrades, there are less than 40 minutes left on the clock! We will be the ultimate victors of this war if we manage to defend the territory hall! We need every one of you to defend our title of the sovereigns, so kill them all! Pave the path to our throne with the blood of our enemies!" A group of magic knights immediately let out strange battle cries and attacked the enemies around them like madmen. Although Tempest Shadow seemed like an unreliable guy in the norm, he was surprisingly good at leading his players. In that sense, he was very similar to Xu Yang. Unfortunately for us, Tempest Shadow was at least seven or eight leagues ahead of Xu Yang in terms of skill and personal strength. They didn¡¯t belong in the same weight class at all. "Kill!" On the other side, Warsky, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Laughing At The Heavens, and October Rain burst into the open together. Warsky shot all his generals a glance before ordering, "Let¡¯s take out Tempest Shadow together!" Laughing At The Heavens laughed loudly from his mount. "I shall face you, magic knight of the CGL Hall of Fame!" Tempest Shadow side-eyed him before sneering, "Laughing At The Heavens? Just because you¡¯re in the CGL Hall of Fame doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯re worth shit, loser. Did you forget I¡¯m the 18th player on the list, and you are the 22th? I may not be able to kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, but I can definitely kill you!" While he was speaking, he urged his mount forward and brandished his spear. The way he cut in diagonally toward Laughing At The Heavens did look pretty professional. He stabbed Warsky¡¯s general three times in the chest with lightning speed, and the attack angle he chose was incredibly tricky. Even better, they all hit Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ weak spot, dealing almost 30k damage to the magic knight in one go. Thud! 13829! While all this was going on, Laughing At The Heavens only managed to retaliate with a single Barrier Break. It must be said that there was a definite skill gap between the two magic knights. Tempest Shadow had a better understanding of PvP than his opponent, and Laughing At The Heavens was too reliant on skills. It was why he had lost the upper hand to Tempest Shadow. Swhoosh! But before Tempest Shadow got to boast again, Lin Bing Dou Zhe charged and successfully stunned the War God. He slashed three times¡ªDouble Slash + Barrier Break¡ªand dealt almost 30k damage. Although the latter was stunned, he had consciously moved his shield toward Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s direction right before the Charge hit him. Therefore, two of the three slashes had been blocked by his shield. "Not bad! Now die!" Tempest Shadow recovered from the stun and raised an arm, applying War God Recovery to himself¡ªrestoring 100% HP over 60 seconds¡ªand drinking a health potion at the same time. He must¡¯ve done this countless times in the past judging from how smooth his movements were. Then, he thrust his spear forward and hit Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s chest with a Barrier Break! Thud! 17287! The counterattack hit Lin Bing Dou Zhe hard, but the fighter simply sneered and grabbed the spear shaft. At the same time, his sword flashed across the air in front of him like lightning! Swish! Tempest Shadow was shocked, but he couldn¡¯t react in time. By the time pain exploded from his neck, he had suffered massive damage to a weak point already! 21982! No one was expecting Tempest Shadow to lose this badly. Tempest Shadow himself had completely underestimated Lin Bing Dou Zhe thinking that the man was just lucky to have learned a Famous General Skill. He never thought that the fighter himself was a super-tier player who was inferior to Li Chengfeng and Purple Marquis, but only by a little. Thud! After Lin Bing Dou Zhe pulled Tempest Shadow off his horse and stabbed him one last time, the magic knight died and dropped a ton of potions and a blood-red helmet. "Look, it¡¯s a 3-star Outstanding Spirit-grade item! Not bad!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe praised as he picked up the piece of equipment. Not far away, Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar and the rest almost burst a lung watching this. "You motherfuckers dare to kill Tempest Shadow? Die!" Blue Sky Scar lost his cool and pounced toward Lin Bing Dou Zhe. The force behind his swing was so huge that the fighter was actually knocked a dozen or so steps away from his original position. Then, he swung his sword and executed Whirlwind Slash, tearing a dozen or so Warsky Alliance magic knights into pieces instantly. The Blue Sky War God was definitely a lot more powerful than Tempest Shadow. Chiang! However, someone knocked his sword away before he could do anything else, and Blue Sky Scar looked up to find Li Chengfeng smiling at him. "The CGL Hall of Fame is a legend among gamers, but that doesn¡¯t mean that you are one. Die, boy!" Li Chengfeng stomped his boots on the ground and activated Blitz, drastically improving his movement speed. The next second, he vanished from Blue Sky Scar¡¯s sight so quickly that he left behind an afterimage! "What?!" Blue Sky Scar exclaimed in shock. "Why don¡¯t you test out my Whirlwind Slash?!" Li Chengfeng said from behind Blue Sky Scar. The man turned around in despair as the dragon warrior rotated his waist and swung his storm-shrouded sword toward him! Crack crack crack crack... The sound of metal tearing through armor rang melodiously in everyone¡¯s ears. The moment Li Chengfeng activated Whirlwind Slash, he also switched out his Blitz for Encourage VII. The result was absolutely brutal! Thud... Blue Sky Scar¡¯s chest armor was torn apart, and his eyes were filled with disbelief as he slowly dropped to his knees. He couldn¡¯t believe that Li Chengfeng had nearly chopped him in half with just one Whirlwind Slash to the waist! Chapter 675: Killing Gods As it turned out, Blue Sky Scar¡¯s luck wasn¡¯t that much better than Tempest Shadow¡¯s. He dropped wristguards that Li Chengfeng picked up and tossed into his bag without even looking. He was that confident in his ability to stay alive and not drop his loot in this war. I could already imagine him examining his prizes in the safe zone of Sky City at his leisure. "Fuck! Even¡­ even boss Blue Sky Scar is¡­" The jaws of several Candle Dragon magic knights hit the floor. They simply couldn¡¯t believe that their CGL Hall of Famers¡ªinvincible warriors who won every battle they fought and were just one step away from becoming legends¡ªwould be killed in action, and in such a clean and decisive fashion no less. October Rain smiled when she saw that the players of Candle Dragon were shaken. "Alright, let¡¯s keep up this momentum and take out the remaining three CGL Hall of Famers, everyone!" ¡­¡­ Her words terrified them even more. A CGL Hall of Famer was the walking banner of a guild and a hero to all players, but in October Rain¡¯s words it was almost as if Candle Dragon¡¯s CGL Hall of Famers were just bounties to be claimed. To give an example, it was like Guan Yu talking about killing Yan Liang and Wen Chou. To the great general of Shu, killing Yan Liang and Wen Chou was just a matter of when and where. Swhoosh! An arrow suddenly flew out of nowhere and hit a Level 143 Warsky Alliance magic knight in the head. It was a Mountain Stagger Arrow. When the magic knight shuddered and fell off his mount, he immediately ate a Volley to the chest. A column of damage numbers appeared above his head, and he dropped dead just like that. His killer was the archer, Transient Smoke and Clouds! "Motherfucker! It¡¯s Transient Smoke and Clouds! Don¡¯t let him escape!" Furious, Warsky brandished his war blade and charged straight toward the archer. Not only did he give off the impression that he could solo an entire army himself, I could see that he had improved by leaps and bounds just looking at his attack angles and battle rhythm. It wouldn¡¯t be long before he evolved from a first-class player to a super-tier one. People like him were scary because they had the cunning and the willpower to improve themselves constantly. Transient Smoke and Clouds shouted right back, "Pooh! You think you can defeat me, Warsky? What else do you know besides buying people¡¯s loyalty with that tiny pile of wealth you have?" The archer fired a Shock Arrow at Warsky. If he could stun Warsky, then Candle Dragon¡¯s mages could one-shot the guild leader with Galaxy Storms. Warsky was a warrior and not a magic knight, so he didn¡¯t have a mount just yet. Thud! "Flowing Light Slash!" Warsky shouted as a sword aura flew out of his sword and traveled about 20 yards in a straight line! Transient Smoke and Clouds was standing right on top of the line of impact! 18283! Transient Smoke and Clouds nearly pissed himself when he saw the huge damage number rising above his head. He was that close to being one-shot by Warsky. The attack might not seem like much, but its super-long range was a deadly threat to anyone who wasn¡¯t expecting it. The archer immediately used Leap to move away to safety. The skill was an excellent escape skill, and a perfect complement to Freezing Arrows when kiting melee players. It was one of the most common combos an expert archer could use. Unfortunately for the CGL Hall of Famer, I was observing him when he jumped. Bursting into uncontrollable laughter, I taunted him, "You¡¯re dead, Transient Smoke and Clouds!" "What?!" Terror filled Transient Smoke and Clouds¡¯ eyes when he turned toward me in midair. When he saw the spiraling energy around the blade of my sword, his heart turned as cold as ice. Inside my head, I calmly and quickly calculated the distance between the two of us, his landing point and the force behind my swing. After the calculations were complete, I abruptly dashed exactly 6.5 yards to the front and launched Sword Boomerang right at the archer! Swhoosh! A beautiful whirlwind of death flew in an arc and cut down entire groups of archers and mages in an instant. Transient Smoke and Clouds himself was exactly in the path of collision. The archer couldn¡¯t change positions in the air, so all he could do was watch himself falling toward the spinning blade of death with a complexion that was as pale as death. The calculation behind the strength, angle, distance, and enemy¡¯s landing spot was all perfect. He had absolutely no chance of escaping his death! Bang! There was a loud bang, and the sword punched a giant, bloody hole in the center of Transient Smoke and Clouds¡¯ chest before he even landed on the ground. He collapsed to his knees, dropped a ton of potions and died with his eyes opened. Not far away, Warsky raised his sword and laughed loudly. "Well done, Lu Chen! That is how you take out them CGL Hall of Famers! Show them no mercy!" Suddenly, I heard the sound of Dragon¡¯s Roar and Galaxy Storm. Shit, the enemy¡¯s super mage God¡¯s Dance has arrived! Bang bang! 18272! 12993! The two spells nearly one-shot the hooting guild leader. Scared out of his mind, Warsky hastily drank a health potion and dodged the follow-up spells from God¡¯s Dance. There was nothing he could do against this cannoneer because he couldn¡¯t break her Magic Shield before she escaped. Hell, she could even kill him before he got close to her. I immediately shouted, "Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, take out God¡¯s Dance! Little Gui, Little Rain, Diamond Dust, block Candlelight Shadow while we kill her!" "Okay!" Gui Guzi immediately charged toward Candlelight Shadow and clashed weapons with him twice. The brief duel went slightly in favor of Candlelight Shadow, but Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and nearly a hundred Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen showed up just in time to assist him. Not even Candlelight Shadow could delete these Knight God and Knight General¨Cempowered magic knights from existence in a short time. That wasn¡¯t all he had to deal with. When Candlelight Shadow saw He Yi charging her with the Blade of the Earthen Soul beside her, he shivered a little before retreating to the back, shouting, "Archers, give me an arrow rain!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile on the other side of the battlefield, Li Chengfeng had carved open a path for Chaos Moon to get close to God¡¯s Dance. She immediately locked onto the mage and used Rock Crush! Bang! Pieces of rocks covered the air and scared the shit out of the magic knights who got hit. However, God¡¯s Dance Magic Shield only warped a little and lost 15% of its durability after eating the skill. It showed just how powerful God¡¯s Dance was. Her Magic Attack was insanely high, and that translated into a super tough Magic Shield. Her survivability exceeded even a large number of magic knights! Unwilling to admit defeat, Li Chengfeng replaced Chaos Moon¡¯s position and shot three long-ranged attacks at God¡¯s Dance¡ªDragonbone Flurry! Thud thud thud! The three sword auras hit God¡¯s Dance Magic Shield and deleted a huge chunk of durability. However, God¡¯s Dance calmly retaliated with two Galaxy Storms that forced Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon to halt their charge and heal themselves. A reckless fighter was just prey to a powerful mage like God¡¯s Dance. It was at this moment Xu Yang arrived and let out a mighty roar, intimidating his opponent with the sheer volume of his voice. While she was surprised, he hit her Magic Shield with a Mountain Stagger Slash! "OMG, why is this idiot here?" God¡¯s Dance exclaimed in surprise while she took a direct hit. Mountain Stagger Slash was the melee version of Mountain Stagger Arrow, but it was surprisingly effective against Magic Shields as well. God Dance¡¯s Magic Shield durability dropped even lower as a result. ¡­¡­ "Uuuu¡­" God¡¯s Dance moved backward while leaving a trail of fire lotuses in her tracks. It was a kind of continuous AoE skill and a literal trial by fire that Chaos Moon and Li Chengfeng had to go through if they wished to get to the mage. Everyone was getting really anxious at this point. God¡¯s Dance was so good that she single-handedly held off the three super experts of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Suddenly, a shadow emerged from the darkness and charged straight toward God¡¯s Dance. The mage immediately exclaimed in fear, "Farewell Song!" Instead of replying, the assassin kept running until he came within range of God¡¯s Dance. Then, he slashed the mage¡¯s Magic Shield with his dagger and turned her face as white as a sheet of paper. Shield Pierce was the signature skill of a high-level assassin. It ignored a mage¡¯s Magic Shield completely and dealt full damage to the target as if they were shieldless. Naturally, it was a skill widely feared by many mages, and the CGL Hall of Famer God¡¯s Dance was no exception. Its skill book was incredibly rare, but Farewell Song had it. "Ah!" God¡¯s Dance screamed and collapsed slowly to the ground. Her Magic Shield wasn¡¯t even broken when she died. "What?!" Li Chengfeng exclaimed in shock when he caught up. He didn¡¯t think that their kill would be stolen by Farewell Song. Before he could say anything, the cold-blooded assassin turned his daggers on him and executed Blade Vortex! "Out of the way!" Li Chengfeng¡¯s sword pierced the air! Clang! Sparks flew everywhere, and Farewell Song was sent sliding across the floor from the sheer force behind the strike. Li Chengfeng¡¯s strike might seem clumsy at first glance, but it came at Farewell Song at an angle that prevented him from parrying the attack in any way, forcing him to Guard to survive the blow. "Hmph, I¡¯ll deal with you later¡­" Unperturbed by his failure, Farewell Song smiled before fading into the darkness once more. I hurriedly activated Dark Pupils to give Li Chengfeng an advantage, but even with the skill Farewell Song continuously faded in and out of my vision. What the hell was his stealth anyway? Not even Dark Pupils were able to reveal him completely. Farewell Song was truly an amazing assassin! Thankfully, Farewell Song meant what he said and didn¡¯t attempt to attack Li Chengfeng again. I hurriedly recalled the dragon warrior and charged toward the final CGL Hall of Famer of Candle Dragon, Candlelight Shadow! At this point, we had killed the four War Gods of Candle Dragon. Once we took out the strongest and last of them, Candlelight Shadow the Martial God, Candle Dragon was as good as dead! Warsky, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, and the rest of Warsky Alliance was swiftly approaching the space where Candlelight Shadow was making his last stand as well. The guild leader raised his war blade and declared on top of his lungs, "Kill Candlelight Shadow! Flatten Candle Dragon beneath our feet!" I also raised my weapon with a smile. "It is time to settle things with Candle Dragon!" Candlelight Shadow glanced back and forth between me and Warsky. His eyes were angry, but there was a tinge of resignation in them as well. He knew that it was impossible for him to turn the tide around by himself no matter how powerful he was. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a deep voice suddenly came from a crowd. "Stop!!" Chapter 676: Spokesperson The speaker was none other than Hot Sour Noodles, the guild leader of Righteousness and an official of the CGL committee. He was linked to the VR economic union in countless ways, and his opinion would majorly impact the new CGL Guild Ranking too. We couldn¡¯t not ignore him. I lowered my sword and glanced at him briefly. I asked, "What is it, Mr. Hot Sour Noodles? Can it wait until we defeat Candle Dragon?" Hot Sour Noodles shook his head. "No, I need to tell you this right now. Warsky, you too. Can you please tell your comrades to stop fighting temporarily and listen to what I have to say?" Warsky was a man of reason, and he knew full well he couldn¡¯t afford to offend a heavyweight like Hot Sour Noodles. Zhang Chun was a VIP in the CGL committee, while the two of us were competitors who chased the throne of the king of all guilds. It would be irrational at best for us to anger someone like Hot Sour Noodles. He Yi also got off her mount and stood next to me, asking, "Please state your business, Mr. Hot Sour Noodles." The man nodded and started, "I have a suggestion." "What is it?" Li Chengfeng asked. Hot Sour Noodles smiled and pointed at the layers of bodies around us. "The battle of Immortality City is the battle with the highest number of participants in all of China. It has lasted for 10 hours, and Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, The Monarch Descends, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and other powerful guilds have taken part in it as well. Therefore, this battle definitely deserves to be rated as an ¡®like none other¡¯. However, we all suffered massive losses, and practically everyone except an extremely small percentage of players will lose a level. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯ll be unwise to allow this to continue right before the start of the Nation Wars?" Hot Sour Noodles pointed to the north before continuing, "To the far north beyond Wind City and Sky City lie the three main cities of the USA, Seven Star City, Titan City and Hero City; the main city of Korea, Burning City; the main city of England, Sunset City; and the main city of Vietnam, Hot Sand City. ¡­¡­ "How do you propose we settle this peacefully?" asked Xu Yang with raised eyebrows. "Okay. So?" I asked with a smile. Hot Sour Noodles paused and said, "So, there is no need to fight any longer because the battle has already been decided. Candle Dragon will withdraw from the battle now and return to Wind City, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Baidicheng will occupy Immortality City." Not far away, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch of Hall of Immortality immediately flew into a rage, "Fuck! Who the fuck do you think you are, Hot Sour Noodles? Who gave you the right to give my rightful territory to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Who?!" Hot Sour Noodles didn¡¯t give in to anger. He simply looked back at Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch with a smile and replied, "Simple. It¡¯s because you already lost. As the defender of this war, Hall of Immortality¡¯s kill count didn¡¯t even reach 10% of Ancient Sword. Why should you get to occupy this valuable city, and how are you going to use it to protect Vanished God City?" "You shove your bullshit back into your own mouth!" Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch raged with bloodshot eyes. "This city is mine, and no one can change that! There¡¯s still 30 minutes left on the clock, and if the attackers cannot take down the territory hall in time then they will all have to fuck off my territory, end of story! This is my territory, and I¡¯m going to kill anyone who tries to take it! Candlelight Shadow, why are you being so quiet? Don¡¯t tell me you already forgot your promise to Hall of Immortality! You gave your word that you will aid in the defense of Immortality City no matter what!" Candlelight Shadow also plunged his sword into the ground and said in a low, stern voice, "He¡¯s right, Zhang Chun. I appreciate your words, but you can stop talking now. The battle isn¡¯t over yet, and I can hold this city for another 30 minutes, so please, take your men and go away. We are friends. I won¡¯t ask you to help Candle Dragon, but I will ask that you don¡¯t turn on us." Hot Sour Noodles stared at him in frustration. "Did you hit your head in the battle, Candlelight? How many of your people are still alive? How can you possibly hold back the experts of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls with so few people? Forget 30 minutes, you might not even be able to survive for another 20. You know I¡¯m not a selfish person. We may be friends, but I will never discriminate in Candle Dragon¡¯s favor because of that." Not far away, October Rain chuckled out loud. "Oh? You and Candlelight Shadow are friends, Mr. Hot Sour Noodles? In that case, please tell us why you¡¯re stopping us from killing him. You¡¯re not going to say that it¡¯s in the nation¡¯s interest to keep him alive, are you?" Hot Sour Noodles turned to look at October Rain for a moment before laughing all of a sudden. "Chen Yu, let me ask you a question: Who is the player who led the army of China and won a great war during the last two years of Spirit of Grief? Who¡¯s the man who carried China to the top and made the world tremble when they heard our IDs?" October Rain looked caught off-guard. She answered, "It¡¯s¡­ Candlelight Shadow!" "Correct! It¡¯s Candlelight Shadow!" Hot Sour Noodles pointed at Candlelight Shadow¡¯s direction and said, "That¡¯s right! It¡¯s this man that wiped out three of India¡¯s main cities and forced the United States of America to move their capital city 6 times with his godly army! It is this man who extended China¡¯s domain to the literal edge of the zone, occupied over 30% of Spirit of Grief¡¯s world map, and increased China¡¯s virtual economy by 80% and more! He is the man whose very name scares the shit out of those Korean and Indian experts, a god to our players, and the soul of our very server! Now tell me, are you going to destroy this symbol with your own hands?" Startled, October Rain fell quiet after she ruminated over his words. I finally understood what Hot Sour Noodles was going on about. I got up my mount, urged it forward, and tossed the Cyan Netherworld Sword on the ground right in front of Hot Sour Noodles and Candlelight Shadow. I growled at them, "We have our own symbol! We will not live under another person¡¯s shadow!" Warsky also shouted, "Well said! We have our own dignity, and we will not become another person¡¯s vassal! We will accomplish our dreams with our own two hands!" Hot Sour Noodles looked stunned by Warsky and my determination. For the first time, he looked a bit uncertain and couldn¡¯t say anything for a long time. About half a minute later, Candlelight Shadow suddenly looked up at the sky and laughed. "Hahahaha! I knew that the two of you won¡¯t disappoint me! From this moment onward, I acknowledge Lu Chen and Warsky as worthy opponents! Now come! Let us settle this battle right here and now! I, Candlelight Shadow, would rather die than live in shame!" "Then die!" The Armored Ice Qilin Horse exploded into motion as I said this. I picked up the sword I just tossed in the ground and rushed toward Candlelight Shadow! "Kill them!" Behind me, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, and the others also joined me. They would never let me fight all of Candle Dragon¡¯s players alone. ¡­¡­ Boom! I launched Thousand Ice Slash that hit Candlelight Shadow and all the players around him. Half of his players were killed in an instant, and Candlelight Shadow himself lost a huge chunk of HP. His pet, a Bloodthirsty Lion King roared and abruptly pounced toward me. "Out of my way!" I furiously slashed its stomach three times in a row with Burning Blade Slash and sent it rolling across the floor in pain. Before it could roll too far away, my Phantom Wolf King emerged and bit it ruthlessly in the neck, refusing to let go. Its HP dropped as quickly as the blood that was spilling out of its wounds. That wasn¡¯t all. Beiming Xue¡¯s Purgatory Thunder Beast and Murong Mingyue¡¯s Ironwing Dragon were working together to attack the enemies as well. Candlelight Shadow was standing in front of the entrance to the territory hall and managed to kill a couple of Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen. Although Stranger of Three Lifetimes was engulfing him with her spells, he trusted his priests to keep him alive and refused to budge an inch from his position. "Kill Candlelight Shadow! Eliminate Candle Dragon!" Warsky shouted. Candlelight Shadow uttered with bloodshot eyes. "Come at me if you dare!" Laughing At The Heavens answered his challenge, but Candlelight Shadow tricked him with a feint and jumped onto the back of his horse. Five consecutive strikes later, Laughing At The Heavens fell off his mount and died just like that! Everyone was stunned by the incredible one-shot. Laughing At The Heavens was a CGL Hall of Famer who was famous for his impressive HP and Defense, but he couldn¡¯t even take a single combo from Candlelight Shadow. Just how strong was the best active CGL Hall of Famer? Thud! Suddenly, a bloody light flashed past Candlelight Shadow and stunned him. The man was furious, but there was nothing he could do until the status condition was gone. Behind him, Farewell Song smiled coldly and stabbed him right through the neck, dealing 21828 damage! God damn, that was a scary amount of damage. This is what the apex of the Assassin class looks like! ¡­¡­ Warsky, Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang and Chaos Moon didn¡¯t let the chance slip by their grasp. Four Barrier Breaks, Rock Crush, Cyan Tiger Shatter, Mountain Stagger Slash, and Cyan Dragon Horn ripped across Candlelight Shadow¡¯s body! Not even a god could take the full combo of this many experts head-on! Swhoosh! The light of the soul flashed before our eyes, and Candlelight Shadow collapsed to the ground. Finally, the guild leader of Candle Dragon and the so-called Martial God of China had fallen! ¡­¡­ The death of Candlelight Shadow didn¡¯t mean the battle was over, however. Li Chengfeng narrowed his eyes and took a shot at the nearby Farewell Song! The assassin was smiling himself as he caught Li Chengfeng¡¯s attack with his dagger and brushed it aside from a strange angle. At the same time, Li Chengfeng lifted his foot and sent Farewell Song stumbling at least a dozen of steps away. Clearly, the two strongest players of their respective guilds had a beef with each other. Both were eager to end the rivalry between them! ¡­¡­ Farewell Song kept his daggers in front of him as he melted slowly into thin air. He was going to launch another sneak attack. However, Warsky suddenly shouted, "Stop, Farewell Song!" Chapter 677: Live Together Warsky¡¯s eyes looked like a hawk¡¯s as he said, "Our battle is already finished, Farewell Song. It was finished the moment Candle Dragon was eliminated from this territory war. Remember, our goal has always been to deal a heavy blow to Candle Dragon, not seize this territory for ourselves. We have completed the objective we set out to do, and even the Martial God lies dead beneath our feet. Therefore, whatever happens next is no longer our concern. It is time to withdraw." After that, he raised his sword and laughed heartily. "Today, we have carved out our fates with our swords and laid bare the strength of Warsky Alliance for the entire world to see! Well done, my brothers and sisters! Now, let us depart!" The players of Warsky Alliance accepted their guild leader¡¯s praise with nods and smiles. Farewell Song also ceased fighting Li Chengfeng completely and withdrew a dozen or so steps away to the back. Finally, he crushed a return scroll and disappeared in the blink of an eye. In less than five minutes, all of Warsky Alliance¡¯s players had teleported back to the city and withdrawn from the battle as Warsky commanded. ¡­¡­ Chiang! Li Chengfeng sheathed his sword as he gazed toward the distance. "Warsky¡¯s a shrewd one for sure. A wise man naturally knows to look after his own hide, but this one also knows how to give and take with equanimity." Chaos Moon giggled. "Yeah, Warsky Alliance¡¯s entire reason for coming here was to improve their placement in the CGL Guild Ranking, so their decision to avoid clashing against Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Blazing Hot Lips and withdraw after beating Candle Dragon is infinitely wise¡­" I nodded. "It¡¯s for the best of everyone. Anyway, there¡¯s half an hour left in the clock, so let¡¯s get ready to enter the territory hall!" "Yessir!" Everyone nodded in unison and started clearing out the remaining enemies outside the territory hall. After the symbol of their guild, Candlelight Shadow had fallen, Candle Dragon took a huge hit to their morale. They were unable to hold back our united assault, and the battle fell into our control completely. Speaking of which, Peach Garden had sounded an early retreat immediately after their guild leader, Indigo Collar, was taken out by Candlelight Shadow. Dominating Heaven Blade of Gods of Destruction was also killed in action after taking a huge amount of Galaxy Storms to the face. Without an oppressive amount of HP and Defense, it was simply impossible to survive concentrated attacks of any sort. The guild leader was taught a harsh lesson today. I nodded. "I agree. How do you plan to fight this out? Do you want us to open up a way for you?" "No, we¡¯ll like to give it a try first!" The guild leader¡¯s eyes were brimming with excitement when she ordered, "Men, charge the entrance!" "Yes, ma¡¯am!" Two Level 144 super magic knights stepped into the open. Together, they brandished their spears and galloped through the pitch black entrance of the territory hall. Ten seconds passed. Not a peep could be heard from inside. "How did it go?" He Yi asked. Come See The Snow Tonight shook her head before replying, "They both died." I said, "You need to send more men if you want to make it inside!" "Yeah." Stranger of Three Lifetimes echoed in agreement. "Hall of Immortality must have surrounded the entrance with a ton of mages. As long as they concentrate their fire at the entrance, practically anyone who tries to go inside would be destroyed." "One more time!" Come See The Snow Tonight wasn¡¯t willing to give up so easily. She raised her sword and ordered again, "Let¡¯s form a vanguard of a hundred riders and try again! No way we can¡¯t breach a simple entrance! Once you get inside, spread out so that they can¡¯t just focus all their firepower on one area! And don¡¯t hesitate!" "Yes, ma¡¯am!" The players of Baidicheng raised their weapons and formed up once more. This time, a hundred elite knights that were packed like sardines charged through the entrance together. Also, they were followed by several hundred warriors and even more archers and mages. The entire process took less than a minute. However, three whole minutes passed, and we still couldn¡¯t hear anything from inside. "How is it?" I asked from above the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. Come See The Snow Tonight shook her head again. "We¡¯ve been wiped out again. We underestimated Rose of the Holy Domain and Hall of Immortality¡¯s archers and mages. Our players died almost the instant they got through the entrance. We lost a lot of good equipment this time too¡­ Oooh, what should we do? Do I have to go in myself¡­" I smiled. "You tried. It¡¯s time to leave it to your ally!" I turned around and turned serious. "Okay, boys and girls! As you know, that idiot Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch has set up a kill zone inside the entrance, so it¡¯s our job to get inside and tear it to pieces! I¡¯ll go in first with my invincibility skill and kill as many players as I can. Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, Li Chengfeng, and Chaos Moon will follow me afterward. Once you¡¯re inside, spread out in every direction! Finally, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew, and Moonlight Stone will come inside. No matter the outcome, we¡¯ll live and die together, so there¡¯s nothing to be afraid of!" Gui Guzi laughed heartily and raised his spear high. "Well said! We live and die together!" "Haha!" Li Chengfeng raised his sword with a chuckle. He Yi also raised her Blade of the Earthen Soul. Clearly, she had no intentions to be left behind even though I hadn¡¯t given her an order. It was at this moment Stranger of Three Lifetimes walked forward and offered, "I want to come too. My Magic Shield¡¯s tougher than most others¡¯!" I frowned. "We can¡¯t do that, Third Wheel. You are the guild leader of Blazing Hot Lips. What do we do if you actually die during the charge?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes looked caught between vexation and amusement. "Do you want to die? My nickname is Momo, not Third Wheel!" "Fine then. Let¡¯s charge together!" After that, Come See The Snow Tonight and Ling Xueshang offered to join us as well, causing my confidence to skyrocket. How could we fail when all four guild leaders were charging together? "Alright, I¡¯m going in! Come in 10 seconds later!" I declared. Everyone nodded in unison. I sucked in a deep breath. As a sixth-promotion player who had entered the Earthfire Realm, both my Magic Resist and Defense were greatly increased. Whether or not we could breach the enemy¡¯s kill zone was completely up to me. The Apparition Ring flashed, and a body double of myself quickly took form beside me. After the Phantom Wolf King got into position as well, I sucked in another deep breath and activated multiple skills at once¡ª Shield of Evening: Concentrate a great amount of true qi and shield oneself from all damage. Lasts 12 seconds. Blood Fiend: Regain 10% HP when dealing a critical hit to a target. God¡¯s Rage. User enters a berserk state upon activation and crits 100% of the time. Lasts 60 seconds. ¡­¡­ Alright, all my super buffs were activated. Time to go in! The Armored Ice Qilin Horse neighed loudly as I charged through the entrance. The next moment, my vision was almost completely blotted by fire, ice, wind blades, rocks, and arrows. Holy shit. Heaven knows how many players were cooped up inside the territory hall, and I almost couldn¡¯t see where I was going. Moreover, I spotted a lot of high-level Candle Dragon mages mixed among the players of Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain and Throne Seeker. Candlelight Shadow must¡¯ve ordered them to stay behind. After all, if Candle Dragon managed to protect the city, then their operation today wasn¡¯t a complete failure. At the very least, it would save them some face even though it was still a loss overall. Thud thud thud... A ridiculous amount of firepower pitter-pattered against the Shield of Evening, unable to deal any damage to me at all. I continued charging forward and trampled over a dozen or so magic knights. After I arrived at an empty space, I raised my sword, summoned the soul of a purple dragon and activated Purple Dragon Howl! Boom boom boom! The draconic energy dealt massive damage to everything it touched. Even high-level mages with their Magic Shields active were shredded in the blink of an eye. The AoE skill was just too powerful for anyone to stop, and an area of death appeared inside the territory hall in no time. That wasn¡¯t all. I leaped into another group of players and summoned a storm of icy blades. A super long-ranged, fan-shaped energy immediately collapsed on top of them. It was my Thousand Ice Slash! Bang! Ice flew everywhere, and countless players became trapped inside blocks of ice. They looked like frozen prawns that lost all mobility after a twitch. Shield of Evening was definitely a great skill. It was an invincibility skill that could absorb an infinite amount of damage while it was active, so using it to absorb enemy firepower was without a doubt the best way to use it. Behind me, my apparition caught up with me and used its own Purple Dragon Howl! "Roar!" The skill was ridiculously powerful even though the apparition¡¯s attack power was only 75% of mine. Therefore, the enemy lost almost another one hundred players or so. Unfortunately, it was losing health rapidly because the mages of Candle Dragon were bombarding it with spells. The apparition couldn¡¯t copy my defensive skills, and its HP and Defense stats were also only 75% of mine. It was incredibly fragile to say the least. "Awooo¡­" Finally, the Phantom Wolf King leaped into a group of players and attacked them violently, shredding the metal armor of many magic knights with ease. Like a king, it howled proudly and unleashed a Purgatory Storm that shredded both the bodies and the hearts of a party of Hall of Immortality players. Just a moment ago, they were still rejoicing over the fact that they were able to kill over a thousand Baidicheng players with zero casualties, accumulate points, and obtain their equipment. Now, the situation had been turned completely on its head! A couple of flashes appeared at the entrance. My beautiful guild leader, He Yi was the first person to enter the territory hall after me. When she swung her blade and launched an Purgatory of Ice and Magma at a packed group of Rose of the Holy Domain players, their faces instantly turned as gray as death. Then, Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, and Come See The Snow Tonight also appeared at the entrance and drew the enemy¡¯s firepower to themselves. Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, and Chaos Moon were right behind them, and soon Beiming Xue appeared with her Dragonbone String as well. She fired two Multi Arrows at a group of Throne Seeker players the second she showed up and made them cry for their moms and dads. Finally, a shielded Stranger of Three Lifetimes appeared at the entrance. She was the true cannoneer of our group, and it took her only a couple of super Galaxy Storms to zip up the mouths of Hall of Immortality. ¡­¡­ Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch murmured in a daze, "Is this the end?" Suddenly, a system announcement rang in the air¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Wind Fantasy (Sky City)" has successfully defeated the Heaven Rank Boss, Magic Breaker Faroll, and reached Level 150. They have also met the criteria to learn the Great Earth Transformation and became the first Divine General of China! They have gained Luck +5, Tactics +10, and an exclusive Divine General Skill, "God¡¯s Tear"! God¡¯s Tear: ???? Chapter 678: Grand War "Did Beauty Lin just learn a Divine General Skill?" Li Chengfeng exclaimed in astonishment. Xu Yang nodded. "Yep." Gui Guzi took out a couple of Hall of Immortality archers with one sweep of his spear before humming out loud, "God¡¯s Tear? They even hid its effects. I wonder what¡¯s going on there¡­" I said, "It must be very powerful. Yiyi is probably the strongest 1v1 player in China right now¡­" Li Chengfeng nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I¡¯ve heard of the effects of Great Earth Transformation. When it is active, all resistances are increased by 50%, attack power is increased by 100%, and you¡¯ll be surrounded by a domain called Earthfire Realm that gives you a high chance of negating weak attacks completely. In PvP, this is almost the same as activating an invincibility skill, not to mention that it complements perfectly with Beauty Lin¡¯s amazing skills." Feeling a bit saddened for some reason, I sucked in a deep breath and glanced at my friend list. However, her ID wasn¡¯t there anymore. ¡­¡­ "Kill kill kill! Kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand first!" I heard Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch shouting behind me. The idiot was assembling a team of a hundred riders and hoping to mount a comeback. Unfortunately for him, the glory times of Hall of Immortality were long gone. When I breached the entrance, at least a thousand Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players had rushed in after me. It took us only five minutes to claw back to even ground, and ten minutes to turn it into a one-sided slaughter. The ten thousand defenders in the territory hall just couldn¡¯t withstand the onslaught. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a long neigh and raised its hooves. I seized an opening to charge into a group of players and fire Burning Blade Slash. The sound of my sword slicing and dicing bones into pieces was incredibly melodious, and practically no one could withstand the full brunt of the skill at all. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch especially was moving backward in fright. "You think you can escape?!" I was no longer the highest contributor in the guild because I had spent them on several items , and killing an enemy guild leader would reward me with a handsome sum of guild contribution points. This was the perfect opportunity for me to regain my throne once more! "Roar roar!" The Phantom Wolf King pounced toward Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch from behind and sank its teeth into his arm. It deleted a massive chunk of health and pulled him off his mount. In fact, this part of the game was exploitable. One could designate a small guild as an enemy guild, find a random person to be the guild leader, and kill them 100 times to accumulate 1 million guild contribution points in one go¡­ or that was the theory anyway. In reality, it wasn¡¯t that easy to execute. For starters, none of our top players were shameless enough to use such an exploit. Second, our enemy guild list was only reserved for giant guilds like Hegemon Palace, Flower Room, Candle Dragon, and more. Anyone else smaller than them just didn¡¯t deserve to appear on our enemy guild list. With that in mind, would Candlelight Shadow, Wang Dongliang, Li Le, and the rest let us kill them repeatedly to farm contribution points? Of course not! ¡­¡­ The battle was quickly approaching the end. The guild leader of Rose of the Holy Domain, Rose Thorn, had activated her invincibility skill and teleported back to her city in a flashy display of her favorite PvP combo. The guild leader of Throne Seeker, Emperor¡¯s Equal, was taken out by Chaos Moon¡¯s Rock Crush, and two of their vice leaders were also killed by He Yi. He Yi¡¯s PvP skills had been improving by leaps and bounds thanks to constant trials, and I was very glad for her. There were barely a handful of enemy players left in the territory hall when the countdown approached the last 10 minutes. "And, done!" I said to everyone, "Alright, it¡¯s time to leave, everyone! Let¡¯s move outside and guard the entrance so our Baidicheng friends can take over the territory hall!" "Mn!" Everyone nodded and followed me out of the hall. It wasn¡¯t long before the players of Blazing Hot Lips and The Monarch Descends did the same. When only Baidicheng¡¯s players were left in the territory hall, a system announcement rang¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to guild "Baidicheng" for occupying the city "Immortality City." There is still 8 minutes and 12 seconds left on the clock before the battle is over. If "Hall of Immortality" fails to mount a comeback in time, "Baidicheng" will take over "Immortality City" permanently! ¡­¡­ The dust had settled, and all that was left to do was wait. The war had continued for more than ten hours, and terrific battles had been fought on every wall of the city. It wouldn''t be an exaggeration to claim that bones covered the ground beneath the walls completely. It was said that success was built atop a mountain of corpses, but even that hyperbole wasn¡¯t good enough to describe this war. Literally millions of players had died here today. The occupation of the territory hall was a success, but just in case something unexpected happened, He Yi and Gui Guzi led some players back into the hall. 8 more minutes, and our expedition quest would be well and truly complete. This time, we were able to show off the power of our elite cavalries to all of China. Not only were we able to conquer the city, we were able to decimate Candlelight Shadow¡¯s prided Viper Dragoons. It wasn¡¯t really their fault though. The Viper Dragoons were pretty powerful units, but they lacked a Famous General that could really buff them to obscene levels of power. Meanwhile, we had Martial God, Royal Road, Knight God, and even two Knight Generals that greatly increased our cavalry¡¯s Attack and Defense. The five of us were without a doubt the biggest reason behind the defeat of the Viper Dragoons, so much so that I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if it left a shadow in Candlelight¡¯s heart. Behind me, the territory hall was surrounded by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Baidicheng, Blazing Hot Lips, and The Monarch Descends players. Outside, a lot of Hall of Immortality, Candle Dragon, Rose of the Holy Domain, and Throne Seeker players were still trying to make it back into the city, but with less than ten minutes left on the clock, not even a living deity could turn things around for them. I couldn¡¯t be bothered to get back into the territory hall and socialize with the others right now, so I got off my mount, led it to a corner by a wall, stabbed my sword on the ground, and sat down. The Phantom Wolf King also let out a small whine before withdrawing its savage battle form and curled up next to me like a dog. It kept rubbing its furry head against my arm and enjoying itself. I leaned my head against a stone wall and exhaled deeply. The war was finally over, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls finally defeated Candle Dragon, and our name was spread throughout China. I wanted everyone to know that Candle Dragon wasn¡¯t invincible, and that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was back with a vengeance! ¡­¡­ Suddenly, I thought of the recently ascended Lin Yixin. She had learned a Divine General Skill and the special ability one could trigger after becoming an Earthfire Realm player, Great Earth Transformation. Since the skill came together with a Divine General Skill, it made sense that one would learn Great Earth Transformation after they became a Divine General. It sounded like an amazing skill too. Right now, I¡¯m sure that Lin Yixin¡¯s fighting capability is the best in the entire server. I brought up my friend list, but Lin Yixin¡¯s ID wasn¡¯t there anymore. I selected Clear Perfume¡¯s profile and sent her a call request. If Lin Yixin wouldn¡¯t contact me, then I would speak with her best friend instead! "Mn. Lu Chen?" Sun Qingqing¡¯s voice came from the other side of the communicator. I nodded. "Yes, it¡¯s me. Are¡­ are you with Yiyi right now?" "Yes, why?" Sun Qingqing replied. I swallowed and nearly couldn¡¯t suppress a sob. "How is she doing?" "She¡¯s doing very well. Snowy Cathaya didn¡¯t participate in the war of Immortality City, so she took us to a big map instead. When we killed the last boss, she even became a Divine General. You saw it too, didn¡¯t you? Hehe, Yiyi is so amazing. She¡¯s the first Divine General in all of Heavenblessed¡­" "Mn." "Lu Chen, what¡¯s wrong?" I blinked hard and blew away the sand in my eyes. Then I said, "Qingqing, Yiyi is there with you, right? Can you tell her to add me back to her friend list? Please?" "Sorry, she doesn¡¯t want to." "In that case, tell her that I miss her¡­" In the end, I couldn¡¯t stop myself from saying this. Qingqing didn¡¯t say anything for a long time. She probably ran into some trouble while she was relaying my message to Lin Yixin. Almost half a minute later, she finally said, "Oh, right. I gave Yiyi your message already." "What¡­ what did she say?" Sun Qingqing scolded me. "She didn¡¯t say anything, she¡¯s just laughing like an idiot. Man, I feel like punching someone right now!" I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. "Mn. Thanks, Qingqing." I hung up and looked at the sky, the corners of my eyes turning upward and starlight brushing against my cheeks. Yiyi would be leaving for Canada soon. A few minutes later, just when I was feeling rather drowsy, Sun Qingqing suddenly sent me another message: "Lu Chen, cherish Yiyi, okay? I¡¯ve known her for many years, but I¡¯ve never met anyone who gave her so much happiness until you." "Mn. I know. I will." ¡­¡­ I got up to my feet again. The battle had to be over soon, right? A short moment later, a system announcement rang and declared the conclusion of the territory war! Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to guild "Baidicheng" for successfully occupying the territory "Immortality City." The war is categorized as a "Grand" war as countless souls have perished in this battle. The first player on the war contribution leaderboard, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand", is given the reward: Luck +2, Level +3. The 2nd and 3rd players on the war contribution leaderboard, "Candlelight Shadow" and "Stranger of Three Lifetimes", are given the reward: Luck +1, Level +2. Players ranked 4th to 10th on the war contribution leaderboard are given the reward: Luck +1, Level +1. Finally, players ranked 11th to 1000th on the war contribution leaderboard are given the reward: Level +1. ¡­¡­ The war was finally over, and the rewards were handsome. War contribution points were basically accumulated via kill count, and at least one-third of the players in the Top 1000 were Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players. This war was an overall win for us, especially since Baidicheng and Blazing Hot Lips gave us first dibs on the loot on the battlefield. Neither girls were willing to mistreat their ally. "It¡¯s over¡­" I exhaled. "Yes, it¡¯s over!" Hot Sour Noodles, the guild leader of Righteousness appeared out of nowhere and gave me a smile. "The CGL committee has decided to burn the midnight oil and tally the points tonight. We will be releasing the new ranking on Heavenblessed¡¯s official website tomorrow at 9 am sharp. Do look forward to it, Lu Chen!" "Mn, got it. Thanks for your hard work, Mr. Hot Sour Noodles." "Hahaha¡­" The man left just like that. Chapter 679: New Ranking Swhoosh! After I returned to Sky City, I looked at the arrow holes and blade marks on my armor and decided to repair my equipment first. My Cyan Netherworld Sword was chipped all along the edge as well. As the player with the highest kill count of the territory war, my weapon suffered the most damage out of everyone. Not even a divine weapon could live without repair and maintenance, especially since my sword had destroyed heaven knows how many armors during this battle. Beep! He Yi sent me a message: "It¡¯s late, and both Beiming and Mingyue are howling in starvation! Log off soon so we can go for supper!" "Okay! I¡¯ll be there soon!" I quickly repaired my equipment and restocked my potions and consumables. Then, I went to an inn and logged out. I took off my gaming helmet and sucked in a deep breath. Another great war, another massive strain on my poor body. I stretched my arms and punched the air a couple of times, but they lacked any force behind them. Man, gaming professionally can be so harmful to the body. I should work out more in the future. ¡­¡­ The girls were already fully dressed up and ready to go by the time I walked out of the room. We took off immediately after I joined them. We hopped into my X12 as usual. He Yi¡¯s Lamborghini was way too conspicuous for a casual supper, and all cars eventually rusted away if left unused. It was past 8 pm in the night. We chose a hotpot restaurant for our meal. The girls¡¯ faces looked flushed behind the steam bubbling from the soup. It was a sight beautiful enough to put in a painting. Sometime during the supper, He Yi got up and ordered two bottles of red wine. When she came back, she smiled at me and offered, "Today¡¯s a day worthy of a celebration, Lu Chen. Wanna drink with me?" Startled, I replied, "Drinking? But¡­ it¡¯s supper, and drinking this late is bad for the skin. I don¡¯t care about that, but you¡­ Also, people usually drink to forget their sorrows, not the other way around, right?" Beside me, Murong Mingyue elbowed me in the rib before scolding me, "Stupid, Eve is offering you a drink exactly because she knows you¡¯re not feeling well today. Why are you so stupid?" A bitter but slightly sweet scent flowed down my throat. The wine was extremely good, but I couldn¡¯t quite feel it due to the jumbled thoughts in my mind right now. He Yi kept up with me as I drank again and again. It wasn¡¯t long before we finished both bottles and felt a bit dizzy. "Alright, it¡¯s time to go home! Give me your keys. I¡¯ll drive." After giving Murong Mingyue my car key, I lifted He Yi to her feet and supported her. Beiming Xue also came over to support me just in case I was feeling wobbly on my feet. While we were walking to the entrance, she said in a small voice, "Big bro, it will be fine. Sister Lin Yixin isn¡¯t going away forever. She will come back." I put my head-on Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulder and murmured, "I feel like I disappointed her, and boss even more so. I just don¡¯t know what to do¡­" Beiming Xue snorted. "At least you¡¯re self-aware. Personally, I think you should just continue being yourself. I can see that both Sister He Yi and Sister Lin Yixin like you. The question is¡­ if your feelings for Lin Yixin are real, then what about He Yi?" "..." I didn¡¯t give her a reply. I looked at the starry sky above my head as the chilly wind of autumn blew against my skin. Murong Mingyue had left to get the car, and He Yi was leaning on a street lamp while we waited. Her head was tilted, and her black coat was hanging sideways on her shoulders. I walked up to her and held her shoulders gently. "Boss?" She rubbed her eyes and looked up with a smile. "What¡¯s wrong?" I felt like a knife went through my heart when I saw the tear stains at the corner of her eyes. However, I didn¡¯t know what I could say to make her feel better. In the end, I looked at the ground beneath my feet and apologized, "Sorry, I¡­" "Don¡¯t. You didn¡¯t let down anyone." He Yi¡¯s eyes were full of meaning as she smiled at me. "Love is a reward, not a cost. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t think about it too much¡­" "Mn," I replied noncommittally. The car finally came, and He Yi got into the car. However, Murong Mingyue got out of the driver¡¯s seat, passed me a bottle of water and pressed me against the wall all of a sudden. She stared at me closely before asking, "Both Eve and Beiming Xue are inside the car, so you can tell me the truth now: Do you love Eve or not? I won¡¯t let anyone bully her, you hear me?" "Cut it out, sis¡­" I brushed aside her hands and said, "I don¡¯t know the answer to that myself, so please don¡¯t push me, okay?" "Oh?" Murong Mingyue¡¯s eyes gleamed with cunning as she tilted her head at me. "Let me ask you a question then: Does your heart hurt when Eve is unwell?" I pursed my lips and sighed. "Yes, a lot¡­" "Then don¡¯t hurt her!" Murong Mingyue shot me a glare before finally pulling away from me. Before she went back to the driver¡¯s seat, she said, "Stupid boy, you don¡¯t even know how much you love Eve¡­" I didn¡¯t know what to say. Beiming Xue came out and pulled me into the car. ¡­¡­ He Yi sat up and looked at us. "Mingyue, what were you and Lu Chen talking about?" Murong Mingyue shrugged before answering, "Nothing. It¡¯s just some random talk." He Yi eyed her a bit warily. "I¡¯m warning you, my business with Lu Chen is ours to handle. If you interfere¡­" Unperturbed by the threat, Murong Mingyue buckled her seat belt and puffed out her chest. "Oh, are you finally going to lay a hand on me?" Amused and exasperated, He Yi slowly leaned back into her seat before saying, "Anyway, don¡¯t make things harder for Lu Chen than they already are. He¡¯s a muddle-headed guy, he¡¯ll get confused if he listens to too many voices." "I¡¯m not muddle-headed¡­" I uttered suddenly as I clenched my fists. "Oh? What are you doing?" Murong Mingyue turned to look at me. I ignored her and squeezed to the front. I gave He Yi a peck on the cheek and said with a smile, "I don¡¯t know if I love Eve or not, but I know I like her a lot. Anything I can do for Lin Yixin, I can do for Eve as well. If someone insults Lin Yixin, I¡¯ll give my life to destroy the bastard. Just the same, I¡¯ll destroy anyone who insults Eve as well!" Shocked, He Yi stared at me with wide eyes for a moment. A while later, her eyes turned watery, and tears started flowing down her cheeks. "Uuuu¡­" Furious, Murong Mingyue smacked the steering wheel and accidentally sounded the horn as she shouted, "Lu Chen, you are bullying Eve! I¡¯m going to beat your ass right now!" The situation was so awkward that Beiming Xue had no idea what to say. She hurriedly pulled out her phone and distracted herself by messaging Chaos Moon. He Yi hurriedly wiped her tears before an idea came to her. "You know what¡­ I don¡¯t feel like sleeping anymore. Do you guys want to go to the karaoke box and sing for a bit?" "Sure!" I nodded quickly. Murong Mingyue abruptly spun the steering wheel and turned the car 180 degrees around. The drivers on the opposite side of the road were so scared and furious that they kept honking at us. I stared at her. "Fuck, I finally understand why you crashed into a dump truck on the highway. Who the fuck drives like this??" Murong Mingyue replied without any shame whatsoever, "Oh, so you guys can get high, but I can¡¯t?" "..." What could I even say? As I sank back into my seat in defeat, Beiming Xue giggled. "We¡¯re going to a KTV? That¡¯s awesome! To be honest I don¡¯t feel like sleeping either, my belly is still pretty full¡­" I had nothing to say in response. ¡­¡­ At the city area, Cashbox KTV. We booked a big room, ordered a ton of snacks and drinks and went inside. As the one who suggested we come to the KTV in the first place, He Yi took the lead and sang a gentle "More Simple, More Happiness" and "Heart Wall¡±. Her voice was sweet and melodious; mellow and cleansing. It wasn¡¯t something an innocent girl who hadn¡¯t seen the world could emulate. Then, Beiming Xue completely destroyed that atmosphere and us by singing 7 songs by Xu Song in a row. Murong Mingyue and I had to force her to sing a "Pretty Young Thing" by Baby Zhang to restore her image as a pretty girl. Beiming Xue tried to make me sing, so I did. However, the girls were one-shot practically the second I opened my mouth. After much wrangling later, they decided that I was only allowed to sing half a song. Otherwise, they feared that they wouldn¡¯t be able to fall asleep tonight. The fun continued until 11 pm or so. Finally, the girls were growing a bit tired. "Alright, let¡¯s sing the last song together!¡± Mingyue glanced at me menacingly. ¡°Not you Lu Chen. Okay girls?¡± Beiming Xue and He Yi agreed immediately. They took a while to make their selection, but they ultimately chose a gentle song and got onto the small stage. They even discarded their outer coats for the final show. The way their bodies swayed beneath the golden light was enchanting to say the least. "Gulp¡­ gulp¡­" I was so enchanted that I didn¡¯t notice that the mineral water I was drinking was dripping down my neck. He Yi saw my shameful behavior, but wasn¡¯t affected by it. Smiling like the sun and staring at me with endearment, she sang, and sang, and sang. I was wet by the time they finished. ¡­¡­ The girls couldn¡¯t stop giggling when we escaped from the KTV and rushed into the X12. It was exactly 12 am midnight when we finally returned to the workshop. He Yi said while looking at the time, "Mn, the CGL committee will be announcing the latest Guild Ranking at 9 am tomorrow, and I¡¯m sure our guild will be up there at the top. Let¡¯s sleep soon so we can welcome the good news together tomorrow!" "Okay!" A tinge of anticipation throbbed in my heart as we all went back to our rooms. ¡­¡­ The next morning, I woke up at around 8 am. Despite all the excitement last night, my sleep quality turned out to be better than expected. After I washed myself and ate breakfast, I joined He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue in front of the notebook and waited for the announcement of the latest Guild Ranking! At 9 am sharp, China¡¯s Guild Ranking everyone was anticipating was announced without delay. The name of ten guilds was displayed in shiny banner and powerful brush strokes on the right side of the official website¡ª "Candle Dragon" Guild Leader: Candlelight Shadow (Vice Leaders: Blue Sky Scar, God¡¯s Dance) "Warsky Alliance" Guild Leader: Warsky (Vice Leaders: October Rain, Lin Bing Dou Zhe) "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls" Guild Leader: From Water (Vice Leaders: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Murong Mingyue) "Purple Lily" Guild Leader: Luo River God of the Capital (Vice Leaders: Moonkiss, Moonlight Beneath A Rock) "Snowy Cathaya" Guild Leader: Wind Fantasy (Vice Leaders: Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume) "Blazing Hot Lips" Guild Leader: Stranger of Three Lifetimes (Vice Leaders: Eyes Like Water, Lasting) "Hegemon Palace" Guild Leader: Pillar of the Nation (Vice Leaders: Little Piglet, Shangguan Wan¡¯er) "Hunting Moon Dynasty" Guild Leader: Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties (Vice Leaders: Ghastly Demon Blade, One Meter Sunlight) "Fate" Guild Leader: Predestined (Vice Leaders: Hero In A Dream, Wind-marked Moon) "Gods of Destruction" Guild Leader: Dominating Heaven Blade (Vice Leaders: Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God) Chapter 680: Recruitmen My eyes were wide with cheer as I stared at the ranking on the screen. "Not bad at all! We weren¡¯t even in the Top 100 before this, but now we¡¯re the third best guild of China! Our hard work wasn¡¯t in vain!" He Yi was also smiling sweetly and triumphantly. "Hoho, this is wonderful. With this, we are now truly a super guild in China, both in name and in strength! We¡¯re also qualified to fight top-tier guilds like Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance as equals now!" Murong Mingyue nodded smilingly. "Yes. I wasn¡¯t expecting us to break through the ranks this quickly!" Beiming Xue agreed with her. "Yeah. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has achieved so many great things for the past half a year or so that the committee will have to be blind to miss them." It had been an entire year since the CGL Guild Ranking was updated. The old ranking was determined by the past one to three years of performance, and since Candle Dragon had reigned supreme for 3 years, they were still the leader of the Guild Ranking. Warsky Alliance was originally the fourth strongest guild on the Guild Ranking, and because they performed well during the... Chapter 681: Divine Dayflower I revealed my user ID and my new title, Earthfire Realm. The Soul Suppressing Cloak flapping loudly behind me, I pointed my sword straight at the magic knight¡¯s face and smiled. "Can I pass through here now?" The magic knight instantly dropped his arrogance and made mumbling but agreeing noises. The group of Mad Dragon players behind him deflated like balloons, their ego and morale gone in an instant. They knew they were no match for me even with a hundred people against one. The power gap between an Earthfire Realm player and a fifth-promotion player was huge, not to mention that their opponent would be me, with all the mechanical skill to make full use of that advantage. An archer carrying a war bow said, "Give it up, Two! The guild leader told us to grind more and PK less, right? This would just be a waste of time anyway." The magic knight wordlessly nodded before cupping his fists at me. "See you sometime, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" I smiled back and returned the gesture politely. "See you!" The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a neigh, and I rode past the Mad Dragon players with the Phantom Wolf King beside me. It felt good. Life wasn¡¯t all about fighting, and sometimes being a good boy was just as rewarding as a battle won. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before the sky started snowing. Near the peaks, snow was a normal and never-ending phenomenon. On the way, I had to circle around a bunch of Polar Bears. Although they were Level 160 ancient mobs, I was Level 153 now. This meant that only mobs who were 20 levels higher than me¡ªLevel 173 or above to be exact¡ªcould satisfy my needs. Unfortunately, it looked like Dragonbone Mountain Range wasn¡¯t good enough for me anymore. I continued riding forward until a tall mountain that looked like a dragon¡¯s neck rising to the sky appeared in front of me. The peak was covered by black clouds, and it was mostly covered by ice and snow. However, I did catch a glimpse of some pine trees growing between the rocks. The Divine Dayflower was said to grow atop frozen rocks, meaning it was highly likely that it could be found on this peak. If it wasn¡¯t here, then I couldn¡¯t think of another place in the entire Sky City domain where it might exist. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse was slightly strained because it was running on snow. The sound of its hooves crunching against snow sounded weirdly pleasant. When I reached the bottom of the mountain, I received a system message¡ª System Notice: You have entered the neutral map, "Ice Dragon Ridge"! ¡­¡­ There was a somewhat obscure mountain path in front of me, and I urged the Armored Ice Qilin Horse to gallop along it. The path circled around the entire mountain, but many parts of it were missing due to nature¡¯s course. My mount was able to leap over the gaps repeatedly, but I could almost feel its primal fear. It was rather obvious that my mount¡¯s legs lacked the usual strength it possessed. The Phantom Wolf King was far more courageous than it was. Its claws gave it solid footing on the icy rocks, meaning there was no chance it was going to fall off a cliff or anything of the sort. Suddenly, a loud roar broke out from the path ahead of us. A gigantic ice creature that looked like a mix between a wild bear and a mad lion rushed toward the Phantom Wolf King and slapped it in the head, even dealing some frost damage in the process. The little wolf screeched in pain and lost 17822 HP instantly! Holy shit, what the hell is this monster? Its attack power is insane! I trained my eyes on it and activated Dark Pupils. Its stats immediately appeared before me¡ª Frozen Predator (Ancient) Level: 175 Attack: 2850~3580 Defense: 3250 HP: 280000 Skills: Rend, Freezing Strike, Beastial Passion Introduction: Guardian of the Ice Dragon Ridge. Frozen Predators were giant beasts before they were seduced by the power of evil and corrupted into terrifying monsters. These cruel monsters have protected the Ice Dragon Ridge for tens of millions of years, and the number of human warriors who perished under their giant claws is innumerable. ¡­¡­ Alright, a Level 175 ancient monster! Now this was a mob that deserved my attention! I activated Thunderous Charge from behind the mob and stunned it successfully. I immediately followed up with a devastating Burning Blade Slash. Although the Frozen Predator was covered from head to toe in thick, icy armor, the flaming energy easily cut into their flesh. The Level 175 mob might have 3250 Defense, but it might as well not exist before my current attack power. Burning Blade Slash was able to do an insane amount of damage¡ª 18298! 25722! 67124! Awesome! I even dealt a critical hit during the last hit, deleting over 100k HP, about one-third of the mob¡¯s health, just like that. Burning Blade Slash really was the strongest burst damage skill I possessed. Another War Crush later, the Level 175 mob dropped to half health. The Phantom Wolf King roared and swiped at the Frozen Predator madly. It was also regenerating health at a rate much faster than the ancient mob¡¯s because of its status as an Immortal Rank boss pet. Less than half a minute and two skills later, the Frozen Predator dropped dead and caused a bump in my experience bar. Tsk tsk, not bad. If I could draw a bunch of mobs to me and kill them en masse, I should be able to level up very quickly. Moreover, I had 10% lifesteal, Tenacity of the Dead, Regeneration of the Undead, and Rank 9 Saint Spirit Potions. I could easily solo these mobs provided that I could find a good choke point. Pop! The Frozen Predator dropped a card when it collapsed on the ground. I picked it up and it was pretty useful¡ª Frozen Predator Card: Increases user¡¯s damage by 75% when using ice-based skills. Duration: 120 minutes. Tsk tsk! What an incredible buff! This was perfect for those mages who majored in ice-based skills. For example, that Hall of Immortality super mage called Galaxy Breaker Mage had an AoE skill called Icicle Flurry. If he buffed himself with a Frozen Predator Card and increased his ice attacks¡¯ damage by 75%, his Icicle Flurry would be unstoppable by most mobs or players. Even Famous Generals like Li Chengfeng or Gui Guzi wouldn¡¯t be able to tank his spells without flinching. I threw the card into my bag since I had no use for it right now. Speaking of which, I had spent gold to expand my personal warehouse to ten thousand slots, so I could afford to throw anything inside. The good thing about warehouses was that your items were perfectly safe inside it. You wouldn¡¯t lose anything you kept in a warehouse even if you got murdered to Level 0. I continued forward after packing my stuff, and less than half a minute later, I ran into two Frozen Predators. They came at me from left and right and hit my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor with Freezing Strike! Thud thud! 11932! 12848! I took massive amounts of damage even with my current Defense. Another warrior or magic knight would already be crying foul at this point. I swung my sword horizontally and forcefully separated the two mobs. Then, I ordered the Phantom Wolf King to handle one mob while I handled the other. While fighting, I consciously adjusted my angle so that my Burning Blade Slash could hit both mobs. Otherwise, my DPS would drop, and it would take forever to climb to the top. Also, no one had ever discovered this Ice Dragon Ridge, and no information about it could be found in the forums. It was why I was almost certain that there was something fishy about this place. It didn¡¯t matter though. No matter what stood in my way, high-level boss or something else, I would overcome it for the sake of my Divine Dayflower! As I continued to ride up the mountain, the path grew even more steep and narrow. Near the end, the path itself was almost completely gone, forcing the Armored Ice Qilin Horse to create new footholds by crushing the ice beneath its hooves. Tsk tsk, this high-level mount was seriously amazing. Both its survival instincts and protectiveness toward its master was top-notch. It was all thanks to Beiming. If she hadn¡¯t given up her own top-tier wristguards to exchange for this mount¡¯s egg, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse might¡¯ve become Candlelight Shadow¡¯s or even Warsky¡¯s. That would¡¯ve been incredibly bad for us. Love you, Beiming. About an hour and many dead Frozen Predators later, I managed to collect a dozen or so Frozen Predator Cards. I¡¯m sure they would be very useful in the future. I tried to move forward, but the Armored Ice Qilin Horse came to an abrupt stop. After exchanging stares with my mount for a moment, I looked to the front and understood why it refused to budge. The "path" ahead was steeper than 45 degrees, and Earth Rank or not, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse was a land-bound mount. This was as far as it could climb. I leaped back down to the ground and gave the Armored Ice Qilin Horse a pat in the head. "Good job, Armored Ice Qilin Horse. You can go back to the pet space now. I¡¯ll climb the rest of the path myself!" To my surprise, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse replied with a neigh before scattering into a shower of white light without any action from me. I should¡¯ve known that high-level pets would have better AI. It actually understood what I said and returned by itself. Behind me, the Phantom Wolf King wagged its tail and looked at me fervently. Clearly, it wanted to stay by my side and continue the journey until the end. This must be Dada¡¯s soul at work, because the old wolf I knew would¡¯ve ran all the way back to Sky City a long time ago. Anyway, it was time to focus on the task at hand, the task also known as rock climbing. A fall from this height was basically death, so I couldn¡¯t afford to make a mistake. ¡­¡­ Clang! I pulled out a sword from my bag to use as an ice axe. It was a Level 150, 2-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade weapon dropped by a Frozen Predator earlier, and its name was the Blade of the Predator. It was just the right occasion to use it. I started plunging the Cyan Netherworld Sword and the Blade of the Predator into the rock to scale the mountain. I could use my hands, but that would be way more dangerous and unreliable. Behind me, the little wolf brandished its claws and clung tightly to the rocks. Not bad! Immortal Rank pets can even scale steep cliffs as if they were flat ground, it seems! Clang clang clang... Sparks kept erupting as I plunged the swords into the icy cliff repeatedly. The climb lasted for almost ten minutes before I looked up to check my progress. Holy shit, this cliff is almost vertical! However, I caught sight of something that caused my eyes to light up. It was a translucent, cyan-colored flower growing between the rocks and swaying slightly to the blowing wind. It was the Divine Dayflower! 1. Author¡¯s Note: (PS: Of course, whether or not Lost Leaf remembers to use them is completely up to fate¡­) Chapter 682: Ice Dragon Ridge Clang! I stabbed the Cyan Netherworld Sword into the rock and held the Blade of the Predator in my mouth. Then, I extended my free arm at the Divine Dayflower and used the Spirit Cooking¡¯s supplementary gathering skill. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have gathered Divine Dayflower x5! ¡­¡­ Awesome, I got 5 herbs in one go! This should be enough for me to make one Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion at least. The reason I came this far to gather the Divine Dayflower was because the Rank 10 potion was absolutely amazing. It instantly restored 15k HP and 7.5k MP upon usage, and regenerated 25% of the user¡¯s HP and MP over 60 seconds. Its effect was amazing for someone with over 100k HP, healing for a total of over 40k HP in total. It was a number that could make an enemy player weep and trouble a lot of bosses. In Heavenblessed, the average potion or consumable had a cooldown of 120 seconds. However, the Saint Spirit Potion was not your average potion. Besides the benefits mentioned above, its cooldown period was half of that of a normal potion, greatly increasing one¡¯s survivability. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to call it the best healing item obtainable during the mid-game, be it for PvE or PvP. Therefore, my plan was to make as many Saint Spirit Potions as I could for the girls of Frost Cloud workshop and core players like Li Chengfeng. It was just too good even if you considered the absurd difficulties one had to go through to obtain its core ingredient like long travel time, terrible weather, and deadly terrain. I started climbing upward again to search for more Divine Dayflowers, and I wasn¡¯t disappointed. Cold ice and stinging winds aside, I spotted a couple of Divine Dayflowers on the frozen walls. "Hahaha, I¡¯m rich¡­" I climbed my way toward the herbs while beaming like the sun. Behind my back, the Soul Suppressing Cloak was flapping loudly against the wind and making me look like a fierce general who was fighting against nature itself. Of course, said general was really sweating like a pig and feeling a little weak in the knees because he was one slip away from a bottomless abyss, not to mention that this type of climbing was extremely exhausting. The Phantom Wolf King wasn¡¯t nearly as tired as I was, however. Not only did it climb the cliff with far more ease than I did, it almost felt like it was eating popcorn and enjoying a show, namely me. Of course, it immediately stuck out its tongue and wagged its tail dutifully when it caught my gaze. It took 5 Divine Dayflowers to create just one Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion. Even an idiot could tell how precious the herb was. Five gathers later, the environment directly above my head suddenly grew much darker. I had climbed into the clouds before I realized it, and I could even see lightning streaking across the condensed water vapor from time to time. I felt like I was training in hell, and worse, my feet were literally suspended in midair. It was scary to say the least. It was at this moment that I spotted the sixth Divine Dayflower atop a protrusion of rock. It was covered in ice, and it didn¡¯t look like it would be easy to cut through. I was just about to extract it when I heard a hiss right next to the Divine Dayflower. Next, the sinister-looking head of a snake appeared and bit my extended arm! Puchi! 12272! A wave of dizziness and pain assaulted my senses at once. What the hell is this thing? I narrowed my eyes and saw a thick-bodied snake that was three meters long and covered in bluish scales. Its head was triangular in shape, and its venomous fangs were gleaming dangerously in the wind. In fact, I was afflicted with the Poisoned status condition. Right now, my HP regeneration was cut in half, and I was losing 400 HP per second. How terrible! "Roar roar!" Beside me, the Phantom Wolf King roared as if it couldn¡¯t believe that the bloody snake had the gall to attack its master. It immediately smacked the snake in the head for almost 20k damage before sinking its fangs into its weak spot. Blue blood immediately started pouring out of its wounds. Frozen Snake was a Level 178 ancient mob with amazing attack power. In Sky City, not even the Fruit Knight Goddess herself could deal this much damage to me with one basic attack, and right now she was probably stronger than even me. A Level 178 mob was a deadly threat, especially because I wasn¡¯t mounted right now. Thankfully, the Phantom Wolf King was an Immortal Rank boss pet who was as loyal as it was courageous. There was no way it was going to lose to the stupid snake. However, I was still suspended in midair, and there could be more dangers lurking in the dark. If possible, I wanted to keep my pet as healthy as possible, so I immediately freed the Cyan Netherworld Sword and launched Burning Blade Slash at its weak spot. I was even lucky enough to land two critical hits in a row! The rest of the fight fell completely in the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s favor. Clinging to the wall with three paws and striking with the fourth, it managed to trigger a Claw of the Storm and left a deep mark on the rock. The mob itself was almost flattened by the blow that killed it! Pop! The snake dropped a lot of items in midair, and among them were two humongous magic stones. I grabbed everything instead of leaving behind the magic stones like usual because loot was hard to come by at this place. Magic stones could be sold for money as well, so I wasn¡¯t going to waste them. The snake also dropped a blue dagger. It turned out to be a high-level dagger, and its blade was clearly covered in poison¡ª Poison Fang (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï): 870~1100 Attack, +135 Agility, +120 Stamina, Increases user''s attack power by 20%. Outstanding Property: Increases user''s critical rate by 10%, Level Requirement: 150, Class Requirement: Assassin, Warrior. ¡­¡­ Holy shit! Who would¡¯ve thought that a mere ancient mob could drop something this amazing? Although it was just a 1-star Outstanding dagger, it increased attack power by 20% and critical rate by 10%. Its base attack power was pretty good too. A lot of players would be hitting Level 150 very soon, and I had a feeling that it would be snapped up immediately if I sold it for 2000 gold. After all, Spirit-grade weapons were still a top-tier weapon that countless people sought after at the current stage of the game. In a world where the majority of players were still using Dark Gold or Purple Gold¨Cgrade weapons, a Spirit-grade one was the cream of the crop, Earth-grade was a luxury, and Heaven-grade weapons were like divine armaments, stuff of players¡¯ pipe dreams. As for Immortal-grade, even I had never seen an Immortal-grade weapon yet, much less the others. I tossed the dagger into my bag so I could sell it after I returned to the city. I wasn¡¯t expecting a normal mob to drop something this amazing. The moment I thought that I could farm Divine Dayflowers for herbs and kill Frozen Snakes for EXP and loot, my journey suddenly felt a lot cheerier than before. As I continued forward, I soon discovered that the Frozen Snakes were hidden inside the tiny holes along the wall. As long as I put my arm in front of the hole, a Frozen Snake would immediately jump out and bite me in the arm. After that, it was simply a matter of cooperating with the Phantom Wolf King and kicking their asses to kingdom come. If the girls heard about this, they would probably call my fighting style suicidal, and say that I was way too OP again. Like a happy climber, I climbed up the mountain with two swords and put one bundle of Divine Dayflowers after another into my bag. It was a kind of happiness that only one could get when making bank. Occasionally, I would also take out Level 178 Frozen Snakes that gave an obscene amount of experience and loot drops. Maybe it was because this map was special, but normally the loot drop rate of a normal Level 178 ancient mob was less than 10% of that of the Frozen Snake¡¯s. In just an hour, I had earned 16% experience, 7 Spirit-grade items, and 21 Purple Gold¨Cgrade items. They were all of the Outstanding quality too. There were two reasons why the loot was so amazing. One, the Frozen Snake itself was a special mob with a ridiculously high drop rate. Two, I had a total of 43 Luck after earning 5 Luck from the battle of Immortality City. I¡¯m so happy! I wouldn¡¯t give away my account even for a billion dollars! ¡­¡­ I decided to skip lunch today, so I sent Beiming Xue a message and told her to pack me some lunch and bring it home. The good stuff obviously, the 18 RMB box from a nearby stall with pork chop, a drumstick, green pepper, shredded potatoes, braised pork, and preserved vegetables. I wasn¡¯t poor anymore, I could afford such extravagant expenditure! Another half an hour flew by in the blink of an eye. By now, I was so high up that the wind was blowing like a storm, and bolts of lightning were passing behind my head endlessly. One strike would probably be all it needed to kill me where I hung. Suddenly, I saw a most wonderful sight. It was an entire patch of Divine Dayflowers! There were at least hundreds of them, and they were all swaying in the wind and singing the song of happiness! They looked like leeks waiting to be gathered! "Here I come¡­" I wiped my saliva and started gathering the Divine Dayflowers. It took me five whole minutes before I grabbed everything. Satisfied and happy, I was about to continue forward when I suddenly spotted a shiny orange rock on a dark wall! "It must be a treasure!" What else could it be considering this place? I touched the rock, and its info appeared before me¡ª Qilin Stone: Embed to a mount to increase its stats drastically. Quality: 100, Level Requirement: 150. ¡­¡­ It was a treasure, one that could improve the stats on a mount! If I put it to my Armored Ice Qilin Horse, it would be like attaching a pair of wings to a tiger! When I pulled out the Cyan Netherworld Sword and tried to pry out the Qilin Stone, I noticed that it was surrounded by round, hard objects that looked like black pimples. I also caught the stench of something unpleasant when I pried them out of curiosity. "What the hell is this?" I have no idea but, oh well, who cares? My goal was the Qilin Stone, not these whatchamacallits! Suddenly, the entire mountain that made up the Ice Dragon Ridge started shaking violently. Countless rocks fell from the sky, and the ice was breaking everywhere. To my absolute astonishment, the mountain peak above me suddenly bent in an unnatural manner, and a gigantic head pierced through the clouds and glared at me with its deep blue pupils. I started shaking, and it wasn¡¯t because my environment was shaking. An ice dragon?! I looked around me and finally realized what was going on. This section of the "mountain" was really the ice dragon¡¯s body, and right now I was hanging at the Ice Dragon¡¯s butt hole. The ice dragon must¡¯ve swallowed the Qilin Stone some time ago, and it somehow survived an entire digestive system and made it to the anus. Now, what would you do if someone poked around inside your anus in search of treasure? "Gulp¡­" I swallowed loudly. I completely understood the ice dragon¡¯s fury. Chapter 683: Beauty Ice Dragon "A dragon¡­" I shivered as I looked down at the Qilin Stone I was prying out with the Cyan Netherworld Sword. Yep, my sword was stuck in its butt hole, and right next to it was a piece of frozen dragon dung. Heaven knows how long this ice dragon had been hibernating at this place for its dung to be as hard as a rock. It wouldn¡¯t even be inaccurate to assume that it had been constipating for tens of thousands of years. If someone hadn¡¯t been poking around in its anus, it would still be sleeping peacefully. I felt my facial muscles twitch once as I put the Qilin Stone into my bag. Heart beating like a drum, I put on a smile and said, "Look, big brother, I¡¯m uh¡­ I¡¯m just treating your constipation, that¡¯s all. Don¡¯t¡­ don¡¯t eat me, please? I haven¡¯t taken a bath in a hundred years, and I¡¯m not even big enough to fit the gap between your teeth, so you wouldn¡¯t want to eat me. Seriously, don¡¯t eat me, okay?" Whoosh! The ice dragon¡¯s nostrils twitched once, and a pair of icy streams burst into the open. Its dark blue pupils grew even more murderous as it opened its mouth and let out a mighty roar! "BOOM¡­ BOOM¡­" The roar itself was loud enough, but it was blowing directly at me. As a result, my body was freezing, my eardrums felt like they would break at any moment, and the ice dragon¡¯s breath was out of the world. It must¡¯ve been ages since it last gargled. When it was done roaring, the ice dragon abruptly moved closer and acted to swallow me! I was nervous of course, but I wasn¡¯t a man who would resign myself to a grisly fate. You think you can eat me? Did you think the Heaven-grade weapon in my hand is for show? Crack! I pulled out the sword stuck in the rock and let myself fall downward. After turning around and catching myself in mid-fall again, I launched my strongest offensive skill at the ice dragon¡¯s chin¡ªBurning Blade Slash! Bang bang bang! The explosive, fiery energy hit the ice dragon¡¯s chin squarely and left sword sword marks across its thick, scaly armor. However, not only did they fail to penetrate its Defense at all, the damage numbers that popped from the wound caused my jaw to hit the floor in disbelief¡ª 787! 1327! 3281! In that moment, my eyes turned as wide as goggles. "Are you kidding me? I couldn¡¯t penetrate your Defense at all? Just how much Defense do you have¡­" Level: 185 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: Kris used to be the ruler of the deep sea until the continent underwent a massive transformation, and the oceanic trench that was its domain rose to surface level. Unable to find her way home, the former ruler of the deep sea had no choice but to stay in her old lair alone. Over time, her lair turned into a mountain range, and her own hibernating body turned into the Ice Dragon Ridge. ¡­¡­ Oh, it¡¯s a girl, a girl with super high Defense no less! Barely clinging onto the slippery rocks using the recoil from Burning Blade Slash, I looked at the female dragon and shouted, "Where are your manners, girl? Blood and murder are unbecoming of a lady!" The ice dragon simply shot me a disdainful look and turned her head to one side. At this point, she had broken free from Ice Dragon Ridge completely and was sending countless rocks pitter-pattering against my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor. Then, she extended her sky-blotting wings without warning, stared at me with merciless eyes and opened her bloody mouth at me. She¡¯s trying to hit me with a dragon breath! "FUCK MY LIFE!" This was no joke. I had no doubt in my mind I would turn into an ice sculpture and become part of the scenery if I got hit! I hurriedly let go of the iron sword, gripped the Cyan Netherworld Sword tightly and ran down the cliff. That¡¯s correct, somehow, someway I was running down a 90-degree vertical cliff to escape the ice dragon¡¯s breath. A human¡¯s potential was truly terrifying when survival instincts kicked in. Right now, I was the mirror image of those godly martial artists who could scale the walls with Qinggong! Boom! The ice dragon¡¯s breath struck the pillar I was hanging on earlier and snapped it like a twig. A terrible rumble later, that entire section of the mountain started crumbling into pieces and falling down the mountainside. Motherfucker, I just wanted to gather some Divine Dayflowers! Was this all really necessary?? Rocks fell from the sky like rain, and occasionally one or two would hit me in the back of my head and left behind burning hot pain. My HP dropped to 60% in just the blink of an eye, and even the Phantom Wolf King was yelping in pain. Although my pet was an Immortal Rank Boss, it was ultimately just a pet. Its stats and domain powers were completely incomparable to the ice dragon as a matter of course. Players with Immortal Rank pets would literally be unbeatable otherwise. Whoosh! I felt a chill and looked behind me. My heart immediately jumped to my throat. The ice dragon was almost right behind me before I knew it, and it was in mid-swipe already! It wasn¡¯t giving me the chance to react at all! I raised my sword in front of me and used Guard! Bang! 21092! A terrible, rending pain spread across my entire body, and when I opened my eyes again I realized that I had been smacked into the cliffside. Not only did her attack leave a terrifying mark on the rock, I myself was stuck in my human-shaped hole and unable to get out! Who would¡¯ve thought that the mighty Little Heavenly King would face a crisis like this one day? It was at this moment my pet bounced off the cliff and landed onto the ice dragon¡¯s head as quick as lightning, its sharp claws tearing off a scale. Then, it raised its paw and hit the boss in the left eye with all its might! Not only that, it accidentally triggered Claw of the Storm and left a deep mark in the dragon¡¯s eye! "Roar! Roar!" In pain, the ice dragon twisted its body and wobbled like a giant ship that tethered at the edge of capsizing. Its long tail smacked against the rocks and caused the crumbling mountain to explode into pieces! The next moment, I heard the Phantom Wolf King letting out a scream of pain. The ice dragon had closed her eyes and slapped herself in the face, flattening my poor pet in the process! Motherfucker! Furious, I used Tenacity of the Dead and drank a health potion to pull myself over the 70% mark. Then, I jumped off the cliff myself and shot toward the ice dragon¡¯s head like a cannonball. Thanks to Dark Pupils, I could see that the wound on her head was her biggest weak spot. The moment I landed, I immediately stabbed it with Universe Break! Crack! 23718! The sword penetrated the giant dragon¡¯s head, but there was a problem. The Cyan Netherworld Sword wasn¡¯t nearly long enough to pierce her completely. Even if I managed to sink the weapon completely into her flesh, it was still as shallow as someone given acupuncture treatment with a needle. There was no way I could deal any real damage to her like this. "Hah! Die!" I let out a shout and used Burning Blade Slash, firing flaming sword energy directly into her brain. The skill was a ranged attack, so the blades of energy could travel quite far before coming to a stop. This time, I knew I did real damage to her because the damage numbers that appeared was unlike anything I had ever seen¡ª 129393! 192875! 523892! A chance like this¡ªa direct attack into a boss''s brain¡ªwas one of a kind, and the result was six-digit damage numbers per tick! And holy shit did it feel amazing! The ice dragon screamed in pain, but she was a dragon, the race with the most formidable vitality in the world. It was highly unlikely that I could kill her this easily. Thud! My suspicions were proven true by the sound of my bones exploding. The ice dragon had repeated the same move she used on the Phantom Wolf King earlier and flattened me just like it did my poor pet! Holy shit! Am I dead? I felt unusually calm even though I died. It wasn¡¯t shameful to die to an Immortal Rank boss, and even Thunder, one of the Nine Sovereigns of Purgatory, was just an Immortal Rank boss. This ice dragon was at least as powerful as that bastard, if not stronger. Dying to her was more honorable than shameful for sure. Unfortunately, it turned out that the heavens weren''t accepting people today, because Immortality triggered and revived me to full health! "Haha, I am immortal!" I stabbed the ice dragon again and used Burning Blade Slash again. She was an ice-attribute monster, so fire-attribute attacks like Burning Blade Slash did the most damage to her! "Roar roar¡­" The ice dragon screamed again before turning 180 degrees around. I immediately lost my balance and fell toward the bottomless abyss! Seriously, I couldn¡¯t even see the bottom from up here! It took me over two hours to climb this freaking mountain, so heaven knows how tall it really was! To make things worse, the ice dragon appeared right above me and swiped at me. I could even see her sinister gaze and disdainful grin! Bang! The moment I assumed a Guard stance, the claw struck me and sent me flying like a ball that just got hit by a baseball bat. Pain crawled throughout my body as I flew even faster toward the ground like a cannonball! Shit shit shit! I¡¯m so dead! I hurriedly activated Shield of the Evening. I could still save myself with the invincibility skill! But it didn¡¯t work. The system notice said, "Sorry, you cannot use the skill in your current state!" ¡­¡­ Are you fucking kidding me? That ice dragon somehow sealed away my Shield of Evening?! Suddenly, I came to the realization that no amount of luck was going to save me today. I was absolutely going to get crushed by this powerful ice dragon! The ground quickly expanded before my eyes. Worse, my face was going to hit the ground first! Nooo, not the face! Bang! I slammed against the ground like a meteor and sank deep into the rock and snow. However, it looked like a miracle had happened again! Somehow, I had hit the jackpot twice¡ªalthough in hindsight, a 40% chance to revive on death was a lot¡ªand revived through Immortality again! ¡­¡­ "Ughhhhh¡­" Suddenly, I heard a painful groan coming from beneath me. Shocked, I looked down and realized that I was sitting atop an ugly-looking fellow, and the Cyan Netherworld Sword was stabbed right through his chest. The good news was that it was an undead, so the blow wouldn¡¯t kill him. Second, he was actually someone I knew. "Ah? Teacher Rinser? Why are you here?" I exclaimed in shock. Rinser glared at me while groaning, "That¡¯s my question, you brat! Why did you fall from the sky? What the hell were you doing?" "No time. Let¡¯s get out of this hole first!" I carried Rinser on my back and climbed up. When I grabbed the edge of the giant pit and pulled myself upward, I looked up and saw a pair of beautiful legs. It was a beautiful girl wearing a pair of dark cyan war boots and exquisite armor. Pieces of cloth were flapping at the edges of the armor scales. She smiled at me and asked, "Where did you come from, big brother?" Chapter 684: Resurrection Ar She lent me a helping hand as I crawled back onto the surface with Rinser. When she saw the ugly marks on my chest armor, she couldn¡¯t help but ask with a frown, "Big brother, your injuries¡­ What on earth did this to you? And how did you fall from the sky? I thought you didn¡¯t know how to fly yet?" "You¡¯re right. I was thrown down here by an enemy!" "What? Thrown down? Enemy?" Xinran repeated in confusion. It was at this moment a draconic roar entered our ears, and a gigantic creature dropped down from the sky. It was of course the ice dragon Kris, the dragon ruler of the deep sea! Shock filled my expression. "Fuck me, here it is again! This is the dragon who beat the shit out of me!" "I see!" Expression turning cold and murderous, Xinran jumped into the air and made a grabbing motion, red light condensing into the Dragonbone Spear in her palm. Then, she charged toward the ice dragon! ¡­¡­ Rinser looked at the sky in astonishment. "Heavens, it¡¯s that ice dragon sleeping atop the Ice Dragon Ridge? How on earth did you awaken her? This is terrible. If Lady Xinran wasn¡¯t here today, she might¡¯ve eaten me as her first meal!" I shot him a glance before insulting him, "I don¡¯t think that an ice dragon has the appetite for sweet and sour ribs!" "You brat!" Rinser grabbed my neck and shook me back and forth as he shouted, "Do you know how important I am? Do you know how many rulers had asked me to join their empire and become their court master of arcane arts? I am the legendary undead holy magus, and you made me your fall mat and embarrassed me in front of Lady Wind Singer? I¡¯m going to fucking kill you!" I pointed at his pants. "Hey teacher, your pants are torn!" Rinser immediately looked at the hole in his pants before sighing in relief. "Thank heavens there¡¯s nothing there¡­" I gave him a shit-eating grin. "You can get one if you become an Asura!" Rinser immediately started choking me again. "You dare make fun of me, you fucking brat? I¡¯m a scholar of undead magic, I would never fall so low as to absorb another being¡¯s undead soul spark! It¡¯s beneath me, you understand? Or are you so blind you can¡¯t see how noble I am?" I replied immediately, "Oh really? Does that mean you¡¯re willing to stay an incomplete man forever?" Rinser couldn¡¯t say anything to that. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Xinran was swinging her shining spear at the ice dragon¡¯s giant paw. Despite how disproportionate their size was, Xinran¡¯s tiny body seemed to contain an unimaginable amount of strength. She was actually able to knock the giant paw aside! Bang! There was a metallic clang, and the ice dragon let out a scream of pain. A bloody gash immediately appeared on her paw! Boom! The mountain-sized dragon landed right on top of the ancient temple Rinser lived in and crushed it into pieces. He immediately groaned at the same time as the ice dragon. "NO¡­" In the air, Xinran looked down on the ice dragon and asked in an angry tone, "Sinful dragon, what did my big brother do to you to harm him so? Tell me now, or I swear I¡¯ll annihilate you where you stand!" The ice dragon looked up angrily. She knew that her struggle was futile, but she still tried to take to the sky again and duel Xinran to the death. Xinran¡¯s power was absolutely dominant, however. She raised a hand above her head, summoned a bloody spear and tossed it at the ice dragon! Puchi! The spear pierced the ice dragon¡¯s tail and nailed her to the ground. Xinran then summoned another four spears and nailed all her limbs to the ground, immobilizing her. It almost looked like a sealing ritual of sorts. Finally, Xinran slowly descended to the ground and pressed her spear blade against the dragon¡¯s neck. She said, "I have heard of you, Kris the Ice Dragon. You were once the ruler of the deep sea, but your home is long gone. Today, the continent you live in is the shared home of the humans, elves, dwarves, barbarians, succubi, and the good undead. If you insist on conquering Heavenblessed, then don¡¯t blame me for delivering you to hell!" The ice dragon didn¡¯t answer her. She kept groaning in pain as dark blue blood flowed out of the wound on her head. Suddenly, the ice dragon started shaking all over, and Xinran withdrew her seal hurriedly. Eyes filled with shock and doubt, she looked at me and asked, "Big brother, did you damage Kris¡¯s brain earlier?" I nodded. "Yeah, I did. What about it?" "Well¡­" Xinran bit her lips before replying, "It looks like you damaged her brain core; her crystal core. Not even an ancient dragon like Kris can handle damage this bad. Therefore, she has to regress and regrow a healthy brain, from a chrysalis." "What do you mean?" "It means that she has to undergo a transformation¡­" "Ah?!" I stared in astonishment as the spasming ice dragon started shrinking visibly right before my eyes. New skin grew where her giant scales fell off on their own before shrinking again. The mountain-sized dragon had shrunk to a meter long in less than ten minutes, but the metamorphosis still wasn¡¯t over yet. It shrank and shrank until finally, it curled into a ball and covered itself in ice. When the ice fell off, there was a cocoon where the dragon used to be. It had literally regressed all the way down to an egg! "Gulp!" I swallowed. Is it just me, or is this an Immortal Rank pet egg? Seemingly noticing my thoughts, Xinran let out a giggle before pulling my arm, "Big brother, this ice dragon is naturally violent, so you mustn¡¯t think of taking her as your pet no matter what. She would attempt to devour you the second she awoke from her slumber. It¡¯s because she recognizes you as her nemesis, and that impression isn¡¯t going to change anytime soon." I couldn¡¯t help but wring my hands in disappointment. What a shame! However, Xinran still held up the ice dragon egg and said, "You should still take this pet egg though. You might not be able to use it yourself, but you can give it to someone else. Anyway, just try to avoid this dragon for now. You are still weak, so you won¡¯t be able to fight this ice dragon on even footing." I nodded in thanks. I supposed that it wasn¡¯t a loss after all. This ice dragon was obviously insanely powerful, and even if I couldn¡¯t use it myself I could gift it to others. Murong Mingyue had the Ironwing Dragon, and Beiming Xue had the Thunder Beast. They didn¡¯t need to switch their pets. I suppose that means I should gift it to He Yi. Suddenly, an idea flashed across my mind. No, wait, there¡¯s one more person who could use this pet. Lin Yixin! That¡¯s right. Lin Yixin had just become a Divine General, so she could definitely use a powerful pet. An Immortal Rank pet would definitely suit her. With the ice dragon to support her, she should become even stronger than before, right? Moreover, Lin Yixin had fallen behind a lot because Snowy Cathaya had stayed out of the war of Immortality City. She was definitely the best candidate to receive this pet egg. I abruptly broke out of my train of thought and snorted derisively at myself. I could make up excuses all day, but the truth of the matter was that I really just wanted to give it to her. I¡¯ve always felt like I owed her too much, even though I didn¡¯t know what exactly. ¡­¡­ I put the ice dragon egg away. When I first came to Ice Dragon Ridge, I never thought I would be leaving with the map¡¯s very master in my bag. Although the process was hardly the cleanest, it was still absolutely worth it. I glanced at Rinser when an idea suddenly flashed across my mind. I said to Xinran, "Rinser didn¡¯t teach me a single skill after I entered the Earthfire Realm¡­" Rinser¡¯s face turned deathly pale when he heard my complaint. Gaze sharpening, Xinran turned to Rinser and curled her lips. "Old man, did you hide something from my big brother?" Rinser replied in fear, "Of¡­ of course not. He is like a son to me, why would I hide a skill from him? I¡­ I didn¡¯t teach him my unique skill a few days ago because he wasn¡¯t strong enough to learn it yet. Now that he¡¯s here, I can teach him the skill right away¡­" I smiled. I knew that the old fool was hiding something from me. How shameless! Rinser walked up to me and raised his arm. A skill screen immediately appeared in front of me¡ª Book of Resurrection (Forbidden): Upon use, the user can revive immediately within 1 hour without any item drop penalty. Level Cost: 3. Level Requirement: 150. Race Requirement: Undead. MP Cost: 1000. ¡­¡­ My eyes turned into saucers. What the fuck? Is this a joke? Revive once within an hour, but lose 3 levels as a result? I¡¯d rather just die then! Do you know how hard it is to level up even once after Level 150? However, I received a system notice right after stating that the skill could be merged with another skill! Ecstatic, I immediately chose to merge it with an existing skill that shared similar effects to the Book of Resurrection, Immortality. Considering how OP Immortality was, it should be even better after fusing with Book of Resurrection, right? I confirmed the two skills for fusion, and... Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your skill "Immortality" has successfully fused with "Book of Resurrection". You have produced a new skill¡ª"Resurrection Art"! ¡­¡­ "Resurrection Art?" I hurriedly brought up the skill list, and I saw a new skill with the icon of nirvana attached to it. When I checked its details, I was absolutely overjoyed by what I saw¡ª Resurrection Art: 30% chance to revive upon death. If the skill is active and the passive revival doesn¡¯t trigger, forcefully revives the user with no item drop penalty. Active revival consumes 1 level upon activation, and user¡¯s attack power is increased by 10%. The effect can be stacked endlessly. Chapter 685: Super Qilin Stone Resurrection Art granted me a 30% chance to revive on death, and even if it didn¡¯t trigger, I could still forcefully revive myself at the cost of 1 level. It was a much more tolerable price, and it made sense that death must have a penalty. Also, the item penalty when dying was removed, meaning that I wouldn¡¯t drop any equipment no matter how many times I died. Now that, was seriously incredible. Moreover, my attack power was increased by 10% per death, and there was no cap on the increase. If I died 25 times in a row, my attack power would be increased by 250%! How amazing was that? Of course, losing levels to increase attack power was still a pretty terrible trade-off. The ideal scenario was still to murder the shit out of my enemies without losing any level. Despite its flaws, I still adored this Resurrection Art. I had always been fond of Daredevil Third Brother skills like this, and I knew full well that sometimes there was no such thing as absolute power, only giving it your all and hoping for the best. The fruits of such labor were usually some of the sweetest as well. ¡­¡­ Still holding my arm, Xinran asked me smilingly, ¡°This Resurrection Art isn¡¯t bad, right big brother?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s very good!¡± I smiled back. ¡°In that case, I¡¯m going back to the God Domain ruins now!¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± I reluctantly bade Xinran goodbye and watched her summon the Winged Silver Dragon and fly away. Then, I looked at Rinser and realized that the old fellow was shooting me unfriendly looks. I was still no match for Rinser right now, so I quickly crushed a return scroll and teleported away to safety! Swhoosh! After I appeared at Sky City, I checked the time and noted that it was 2 pm in the afternoon. My stomach was growling in hunger, so I logged out of the game and chowed down the high-quality boxed lunch I had asked the girls to buy for me earlier. After lunch, I immediately went back into the game and continued the good fight. It was time to refine some Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potions, and the more the better considering how valuable they were! Ice Dragon Ridge was now gone. I would have to find harder maps if I wished to gather more Divine Dayflowers. The good news was that I had already gathered a ton before I ran into the ice dragon, and they should last me a very long time. Standing on the eastern plaza of Sky City, I opened my palm and summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. It was time to embed a certain gem into my Level 150 Earth Rank mount, haha! Ding~! System Notice: You have successfully embedded the Qilin Stone into your mount, "Armored Ice Qilin Horse"! I quickly brought up the mount¡¯s stats. The stat changes were absolutely massive¡ª Armored Ice Qilin Horse (Earth Rank Boss Mount) Strength: +800 Stamina: +820 Attack Increase: +45% Defense Increase: +40% Attack Speed: +55% Movement Speed: +150% Attack Range: +30 yards Max HP: +12000 Turn Rate: -30% Mount Tenacity: +50% Introduction: An armored horse from the western lands, it ate the Ice Qilin Grass within the Qilin Tomb and obtained the bloodline inheritance of the Ice Qilin. It is a precious and rare mount that possesses incredible speed and tenacity. Embed Attribute (Qilin Stone): Max HP increased by 20000, attack power increased by 25%, defense power increased by 20%, mount tenacity increased by 120%, and resistances greatly increased. Damage done by Mountain Stagger Arrow, Dragon¡¯s Roar, Spiraling Arrow Blade, Mountain Stagger Slash, and other skills that damage mount tenacity is reduced by 75%. Level Requirement: 150 Reputation Requirement: 240000 ¡­¡­ Once again, this Qilin Stone was seriously amazing. Not only did it increase max HP by 20000, it also increased mount tenacity by 120% and resistances to mount-damaging skills such as Mountain Stagger Arrow by 75%. With the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s new stats, I could charge an entire army alone and no longer fear being demounted by any archer or mage. Even a top-tier archer like Beiming Xue would have to spend five whole minutes shooting me with Mountain Stagger Arrow to knock me off my mount. By then, she would have been long dead already. Tsk tsk, the trip to Ice Dragon Ridge was truly a rewarding one. This Qilin Stone I got from the ice dragon¡¯s anus especially was even more valuable than I had anticipated at the beginning! I held back the urge to laugh like a madman and withdrew the Armored Ice Qillin Horse back into my pet space. If there was one flaw about my mount, it was that it was way too conspicuous. Unnecessary attention is unnecessary. After all that was done, I moved to the center of the plaza and shouted, "WTB 100 sets of Rank 10 Dragon Meat at the price of 1 gold, or 100 gold per set of Dragon Meat! Limited purchase of 100 sets only! Make your sale while you can!" In less than half a minute, I was surrounded by a bunch of high-level hunters. All these players were over Level 135, so they had the strength to challenge the Earth Dragons and sell some Earth Dragon Meat for extra income. It wasn¡¯t bad business at all, but the number of master chefs in Sky City was incredibly scarce. As a result, the most popular Magic Consumable in the market was still the Rank 9 Dragonfish Soup. Dragon Meat cost 1 gold each, and it took 20 Dragon Meat or 20 RMB to create 1 Dragon Soup. It was no wonder that the normal players were reluctant to splash this much money. However, the HP recovery effect of my Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion was 3.3 times stronger than a normal Rank 10 Health Potion¡¯s, and its MP recovery effect, 3 times stronger than Dragon Soup¡¯s. Moreover, it also regenerated 25% HP and MP over 60 seconds. It was the kind of potion everyone deserved to enjoy, and it made perfect sense that the food ingredients used to make it would be rare and expensive. No investment, no return, right? After purchasing 10000 Dragon Soup, I stored them all in the warehouse before purchasing the Green Peppers and Skyspirit Water next. After I had gathered all the ingredients, I took them out and started refining Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion right next to the warehouse manager! 30 Dragon Meat, 20 Green Pepper, 5 Divine Dayflowers, and 10 Skyspirit Water. After I placed all the ingredients on the creation screen and selected confirm¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have made "Saint Spirit Potion X¡± x4! ¡­¡­ Very good, one set of ingredients gave me 4 potions in one go! Nice! I was boiling with excitement as I continued my production. To be honest, my stock of Divine Dayflowers was hardly infinite, and chances were I wouldn¡¯t be able to find more Divine Dayflowers after I used up everything. Also, while the reward of my adventure at Ice Dragon Ridge was awesome, the exact process¡­ left much to be desired. Who the hell would want to freeze in high altitude, accidentally aggro a giant ass dragon and get smacked around like a baseball? Even before that, I had had to stretch out my arm to let the Frozen Snakes bite me! The process was fucking disgusting! Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion was a golden liquid stored inside a small golden bottle. It almost looked like a tiny perfume bottle. It was both aesthetically pleasing and functionally useful. Almost 10 minutes later, a total of 752 Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potions were stored in my bag. I didn¡¯t even have enough ingredients to make a Rank 10 poison or anything else. Feeling extremely pleased with myself as I checked out the potions, I sent He Yi a message: "What are you doing right now, Eve?" "I¡¯m creating Dark Insects at Dark Moon City right now..." "Come to Sky City! I have a great gift for you!" "Okay!" The beautiful guild leader appeared in the city in no time. She was clad in light silver armor. The snow white cloak behind her accentuated her snow white countenance perfectly. Moreover, the Blade of the Earthen Soul gleaming in her hand added a bit of heroism to her image. Her appearance instantly drew the gazes of over 90% of the stall owners in the area and turned their throats dry. "So, what is that gift you said earlier?" He Yi gave me a small smile as she walked up to me. I passed her 50 Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potions and said, "Here. But use them sparingly¡ªpreferably only when your life is in danger¡ªbecause the ingredients are very, very hard to come by." He Yi inspected the potion I gave her before exclaiming in surprise, "Wow, they add so much HP! Where did you get them?" "I made them myself, hehe!" I smiled proudly before giving her another 100 potions. "Distribute these to our core members, namely Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, High Fighting Spirits, You and Yun, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, Lu Buyi, Chaos Moon, and Cute Little Naughty. Each person gets 10 potions, and no more than that. It¡¯s limited after all." "Sure!" He Yi happily accepted the potions before adding, "With these, not even Candle Dragon¡¯s main army is a match for us anymore!" "Mn. Let¡¯s do our best!" "Okay¡­" He Yi replied with a giggle. Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around me before giving me a kiss on the cheek right in front of everyone. Then, cheeks as red as a rose, she enveloped herself in a magical formation and teleported back to Dark Moon City. "..." My mind was blank. I could still feel some of her warmth on my cheeks. Behind me, Murong Mingyue appeared and said, "It looks like our Eve finally decided to launch her own attack. Lu Chen, do you know how lucky you are to have two gorgeous women chasing after you? Sigh. Another person would be drowning in happiness right now¡­" I pursed my lips. "What are you talking about? I am drowning in happiness¡­" Murong Mingyue laughed. "Oh yes, I¡¯m fully aware how slow you are. You never fail to make them feel anxious!" "..." ¡­¡­ Murong Mingyue turned around and left just like that. Of course, she didn¡¯t forget to cheat me out of twenty Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potions before she left. Oh well, there was nothing I could do before a woman like her. She could grab all the potions she wants from me... After Murong Mingyue left, I took out the dark blue-colored pet egg¡ªKris the Ice Dragon¡ªand examined it for a moment. It was much more valuable than Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue¡¯s pets, and at the same level as the Phantom Wolf King. In fact, it should be stronger because of its draconic bloodline. I opened my friend list, but Lin Yixin¡¯s ID was still missing from it. I looked at the sky and sucked in a deep breath. Who else could I trust to pass this pet egg to Lin Yixin? There was only Lin Yixin¡¯s good friend and vice leader of Snowy Cathaya, Clear Perfume. So, I messaged Clear Perfume directly. "Qingqing, are you free? Can you come to the eastern plaza of Sky City now? There¡¯s something I would like you to pass to Yiyi. Please?" Chapter 686: Hundred Beasts "Of course not, you¡¯ll know once you come over. My gift is a million times more sincere than something as vague as a rose¡­" "Hoho, fine. Yiyi is waiting for me though, so I can only spare you two minutes!" "That¡¯s enough. Come quickly!" "Okay!" About half a minute later, Snowy Cathaya¡¯s best archer stepped out of the teleportation formation in crimson leather armor. Sun Qingqing was now Level 149, just one step away from reaching Level 150. Lin Yixin definitely spared no time and effort to turn her into a top-class archer. "I¡¯m here. So, what is this mysterious gift that you¡¯ve prepared for my Yiyi?" Sun Qingqing asked smilingly. I nodded and took out 60 Saint Spirit Potions from my bag. "These are the potions I created earlier. Its ingredients are extremely rare, and it¡¯s unlikely I¡¯ll ever be able to refine this many again. Use them sparingly. They restore 15000 HP immediately, so it¡¯s best used for fighters like Yiyi. I¡¯ve prepared 50 for Yiyi and 10 for you." "Ah?" Sun Qingqing¡¯s mouth fell open when she saw the exact stats of the Saint Spirit Potions. She murmured in a daze, "OMG, they instantly restore 15000 HP and 7500 MP, and recover 25% HP and MP over 60 seconds? OMG, and Yiyi and I treated our Rank 10 potions like our babies. There is just no comparison¡­" I laughed. "It¡¯s not that bad. The requirement to create the Saint Spirit Potion is very strict, and its ingredients are extremely difficult to get. I¡¯m not even exaggerating when I say I traveled to heaven and hell to acquire it, so seriously, use them sparingly. Save them for when you¡¯re about to die." "Got it. 10 of these are mine, right?" "Mn." "Hehe, this is awesome!" Sun Qingqing split the potions accordingly¡ª50 for Lin Yixin and 10 for herself¡ªin her bag before looking up. "Yiyi and her father will be leaving the country in a couple of days. Is there anything you would like to say to her?" I let out a sigh before whispering, "I want to see her. I miss her so much¡­" Caught off-guard for some reason, Sun Qingqing stared at me for a moment. "That¡¯s a challenging request. Yiyi is afraid to see you." "What? Why?" "Because¡­" Sun Qingqing bit her lips and glared at me. "Because it¡¯ll be a very long time before she comes back. Because she¡¯s afraid she¡¯ll renege on her decision if she sees you, stupid. Do you really think that Yiyi doesn¡¯t miss you or want to see you?" I bowed my head and fell silent. Sun Qingqing¡¯s eyes sharpened, but she let out a sigh before smiling reassuringly at her. "It¡¯s going to be fine. Yiyi is a strong girl. If she really wants to see you, she¡¯ll chase you even to the ends of the world. You¡¯re probably the only person in the entire world for whom she¡¯d go this far." "And how are you going to do that, exactly?" "You never heard of the saying that the mysteries of heaven must not be revealed?" "Hmph¡­" Sun Qingqing nodded with a smile. "Okay then, I¡¯m leaving. You don¡¯t have anything else you want me to bring to Yiyi, right?" "Wait!" "Oh. You actually have more?" "Mn." I carefully took out the dark blue pet egg from my bag; the product of metamorphosis of the Ice Dragon of the Deep Sea, Kris. An Immortal Rank boss pet was no joke. Something this valuable had never appeared in the market, and if I were to put it up for auction, it would be worth 5 million RMB at the minimum! I trusted Lin Yixin, and I knew that only a person of outstanding moral character could become her close friend. So, I decided to put my trust in Sun Qingqing as well. I handed her the pet egg and said, "This is¡­ priceless, Qingqing, so make sure that you pass it to Yiyi with your own two hands¡­" "Oh, what pet is this?" Sun Qingqing accepted the pet egg and inspected it. The next moment, she shivered and froze as if she was petrified by a Medusa. "An Immortal Rank boss pet¡­ an Immortal Rank boss pet? Wow, a person stupid enough to give away something this valuable actually exists?" "Hello? I¡¯m right here." "Hehe, right!" Sun Qingqing stored the pet egg before commenting, "I¡¯m glad to know that Yiyi hasn¡¯t put her trust in the wrong person." "But of course¡­" I raised my head proudly this time. However, Sun Qingqing wasn¡¯t done with me yet. She shot me a scrutinizing look before shooting a probing question, "Lu Chen, why didn¡¯t you give Sister He Yi this pet egg? I know you treat her as well as Yiyi at least. Does this mean that Yiyi is slightly more important to you than He Yi?" It was a surprising question. I took my time to think before replying, "I don¡¯t think such a comparison exists because they¡¯re both very important to me. Eve taught me how to fight for my dreams, and Yiyi taught me how to enjoy the game. They¡¯re like the two suns of my life, and I cannot live without both of them." Sun Qingqing giggled. "Good. This means Yiyi hasn¡¯t fully lost yet. Yes, there¡¯s still a chance¡­" "What are you talking about?" "Don¡¯t mind me. Anyway, I¡¯m leaving, Yiyi is still waiting for me¡­" "Mn. Don¡¯t forget to give the pet egg to Yiyi. If you keep it to yourself I swear I¡¯ll hunt you down even if you escape to the ends of the world, hahaha¡­" "What the hell, I¡¯m but the messenger here. I demand better treatment¡­" Sun Qingqing stomped her foot in mock anger. A while later, she brought up the territory window, waved me goodbye and teleported away. ¡­¡­ Alright, my gift delivery for the day was complete! I checked my level and noted that it was Level 153, 97%; just a short grind away from reaching Level 154. In fact, I¡¯m going to do that right now. Although I didn¡¯t kill many mobs during my trip to Ice Dragon Ridge, I still managed to accumulate a generous amount of experience. It really was a great map. I repaired my equipment and summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and the Phantom Wolf King. The moment I got atop my mount¡¯s back, I immediately filled a surge of strength filling every inch of my body. After embedding the Qilin Stone, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s new stats were positively OP. Even without any buff, my stat screen looked incredibly impressive¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Purgatory Thunder) Class: Undead Swordsman (Great Earth Swordsman) Level: 153 HP: 71190 Attack: 3672~4350 Defense: 4565 Magic Resist: 4110 Reputation: 228900 Tactics: 420 (+344) Luck: 43 ¡­¡­ My max HP was now over 70k, and it was a terrifying number to say the least. At the current stage of the game, only a magic knight who pumped all their stats into Stamina could reach this level of hit points. Moreover, if I buffed myself with a Blood Knight Card, a high-rank Physique and Lu Buyi¡¯s Purple Dragon which gave 80% to all stats, that would be a whopping 160% boost to my HP, or 180k+ HP in total. Add that to my Defense and my Ghost Deity Armor, and my survivability would be completely off the charts! Just as I had predicted before, a fighter that reached Level 150 and entered the Earthfire Realm was completely OP. A warrior might not be able to beat a magic knight in terms of Defense and HP, but their DPS was the complete opposite. Moreover, warriors could learn a ton of offensive skills such as Blaze, Ice Ray, Double Slash, Triple Slash, and so on. Their DPS was especially scary after they acquired a mount. Full of ambition, I teleported to Dark Moon City and spent a minute checking the buildings. He Yi and Murong Mingyue were the ones managing the city for the past couple days, and they did an excellent job as I expected them to. After that, I rode out of the territory and entered the Black Coast. I wasn¡¯t particularly concerned about what I was going to grind to get the last 3% of my experience, so I made a snap decision to kill high-level sea turtles. Who knows, maybe I could gather some top-tier turtle shells and send them to Yamete for armorsmithing. It was at this moment I heard a system announcement¡ª System Announcement: Player "Eternal Totem (Vanished God City)" has successfully defeated the Earth Rank Boss, Floater, and reached Level 149. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the forty-third Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and an exclusive Famous General Skill, "Hundred Beasts"! Hundred Beasts: The stats of all pets are increased by 40%, and the pet summon limit is increased by one for all party members. Skill effectiveness depends on the user¡¯s Tactics. Skill exclusive to player "Eternal Totem." ¡­¡­ I was surprised by the announcement. The heck? There are 43 Famous Generals in China already? I hadn¡¯t checked in on the Famous General Rankings because I was busy grinding or PvPing for the past couple days, and suddenly Famous Generals weren¡¯t a rare commodity anymore. Beep! Li Chengfeng had sent me a message: "You saw that? Eternal Totem is a member of Blazing Hot Lips, and he just picked up a Tamer-exclusive Famous General Skill. It looks like they¡¯re going to get a lot stronger the next time we meet them." "Oh. Does Blazing Hot Lips have a lot of Famous Generals?" "Of course!" Li Chengfeng turned on the communicator to speak with me face to face, "Check out the Famous General Rankings. Stranger of Three Lifetimes learned Repel a while ago, Eternal Totem learned Hundred Beasts just now, and last night, another one of her subordinates, King of Huainan, learned a Famous General Skill called ¡®Mandate of Heaven¡¯. It increases all stats by 15% and mob item drop rate by 40% for all party members. It¡¯s amazing¡­" Somewhat speechless, I asked, "How about our own guild? Did we gain any new Famous General?" "Sure! There were three players in the main guild that became Famous Generals in the past three days, and they are Beauty Hymn of the Apocalypse¡ªyou know, the girl who¡¯s been sticking around Lil Beiming since the beginning? Guess she¡¯ll stick around for now. As for the remaining two¡ªYama Slayer and A Lazy Cat. They both learned Soul of the Foot, which is an okay Famous General Skill I suppose¡­" I smiled. "Looks like our army is growing stronger day by day¡­" Li Chengfeng laughed heartily. "True! Still, we¡¯d best be prepared for the future. Candle Dragon also has new Famous Generals, and I have a feeling that Candlelight Shadow will return for his vengeance very soon. Here, I¡¯ll send you a list!" "Okay!" Very soon, Li Chengfeng sent me a couple of messages. They were all Candle Dragon players who became a Famous General recently¡ª Eagle-eyed: Physical attack power is increased by 10%, and attack range is increased by 50% for all party members. Max 200% attack range and 40% physical attack power. Skill exclusive to Autumn Carrot. Execution: When the target is below 20% HP, the user gains 10% chance to execute the target. Max 25% execution chance. Skill exclusive to Dancing Spear in Pear Blossom. ¡­¡­ I fell silent for a moment. Both Famous General Skills were incredibly threatening! Chapter 687: Alligator Shell Execution was equally scary. A chance to execute an opponent when they were 20% HP or below might not seem much, but for highly skilled players like me, Candlelight Shadow and Farewell Song, we usually clinched our victories around that HP range. Execution would drastically reduce the usability of my Tenacity of the Dead for example, as I could be executed before I used the skill. It was a headache to say the least. Motherfucker. It looked like the wheels of fortune had turned, and it was finally Candle Dragon¡¯s turn to pick up two excellent Famous General Skills. Moreover, one must pick up a Famous General Skill first before they could get a Divine General Skill, so these were all immediately deployable power and investment capital for the future. Like it or not, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s trump cards were growing for sure. ¡­¡­ Oh well. It wasn¡¯t like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were slouches. Even if Candle Dragon gained two new Famous Generals, they still couldn''t beat us unless they found a way to overcome our cavalry. Moreover, everyone¡¯s levels were growing everyday, and our guild was expecting several thousand players to hit Level 150 and complete their sixth promotion quests within the week. What this meant was that a large majority of elite warriors such as Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits and more would finally be able to ride a mount. They had suffered long and hard as foot soldiers, and it was finally time for them to be promoted to a knight. Speaking of which, I think Li Chengfeng is Level 150 already. I hung up. There was no way to stop another guild from growing their power, so the next best thing was to increase our own power and maybe even produce a couple of Divine Generals as soon as possible. Only then could our guild persevere and continue their fight against Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse had infinite stamina, and the Black Coast was in sight less than ten minutes after I took off. Just as I expected, a ton of unmoving sea turtles with blood-red names were lying on the shore. It would be unwise to take their slowness as weakness, however. These giant beasts were as slow as they were powerful, and they could kill their prey in just the blink of an eye. The Phantom Wolf King stayed close to me as a low, guttural growl escaped its throat. It was at this moment a Level 142 warrior walked up to me. He was a member of Peach Garden. "Hey there, friend! I can¡¯t see your level, so it must mean you¡¯re over Level 147, right? Tsk tsk, impressive. Anyway, did you come to Black Coast alone? If so, are you interested in partying up with us and grinding the sea turtles? There¡¯s a chance a Level 175 Earth Rank Sea Turtle King might spawn in this location, so you might be devoured if you¡¯re alone and careless. Come on, we¡¯re just 1 person short of a full party. We have 2 tanks, 5 damage dealers and 2 healers. If you join us, we¡¯ll have exactly the right party composition to deal with anything on this map, including the Sea Turtle King. We also have Encourage VII!" Logically speaking, a 10-man party was the most scientific party one could make for grinding. It was just the right amount of people to ensure high grinding efficiency and a good influx of experience. Even if you could make a bigger party, it wouldn¡¯t necessarily improve grinding efficiency, and the experience you get would definitely be too little to be worth it. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t interested in partying up with them. For starters, they would suspect my identity the second I did work. I could deal over 20k damage to these sea turtles with a basic attack, while they could only do between 3000 to 5000. In fact, anyone who could deal over 6000 damage to these mobs would be worshipped as experts by the casuals. So I shook my head and replied smilingly, "Sorry, but I¡¯m not here to grind. I¡¯m here to farm some sea turtle meat and get some money out of it." "Oh, you¡¯re a hunter! Hehe, sure, no problem. There¡¯s no point in forcing you to do something you don¡¯t want to. See you later, and be safe out there!" "Mn, thanks. You too!" ¡­¡­ I turned away and continued toward my destination. This Level 142 warrior seemed like a good person. There was a saying that a king¡¯s personality was reflected by his people, and this was definitely the case for Peach Garden. Their guild leader, Indigo Collar, was a righteous and hot-blooded person. Although Peach Garden was far inferior to Candle Dragon, Indigo Collar had never given up on trying to compete against the hegemon. On the other hand, an arrogant fool like Roaming Dragon could only raise an equally arrogant guild like Mad Dragon. That being said, Mad Dragon still managed to place 20+ or so on the CGL Guild Ranking, so the RMB he spent definitely hadn''t gone to waste. Of course, Roaming Dragon¡¯s expenditure was nowhere close to Wang Dongliang¡¯s or Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s, and their respective placements were a reflection of that. The Phantom Wolf King roared, and I activated Charge. We both dashed toward an Alligator Sea Turtle on the beach! Swhoosh! I slashed it three times in a row after lightning surrounded the Level 170 ancient mob and stunned it. The sea turtle¡¯s thick shell was incapable of blocking my blade at all, and I dealt at least 15k damage per hit. The damage numbers rising above the mob were a pleasing sight to say the least. I quickly searched for my next target after destroying my first opponent. The sea turtles were scattered sparsely throughout the beach, but each one gave a ton of experience. It was no wonder that Black Coast was brought up a lot in the forums and nicknamed the grind haven for five-man or ten-man parties. Any lower than that, and you would have to be a Famous General to survive this place. After all, these Level 170 Alligator Sea Turtles could bite even me for almost 3000 damage, so it could only be worse for another player. ¡­¡­ I grinded until almost 4 pm when a player called Rose suddenly sent me a friend request. I checked out her avatar, and as expected it was a beautiful elf player with a very familiar face. She was the team manager of our roster, Rose. She was only Level 120+ though. As the team manager, it was her duty to find out everything about the game, but she didn¡¯t have anyone to help her. Knowing that, I found it impressive that she was able to increase her level this much in just a month. "Hi, Lu Chen! It¡¯s me!" Rose messaged me. "Mn. Good evening, Rose. :)" "Are you busy right now?" "No. What¡¯s wrong?" "Lenovo is holding a gathering at the second floor of Zijing Hotel 6:30 pm tonight. A total of 17 players including you are expected to attend. Can you, He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue arrive on time? I promised the CEO that all of you will show up, so please don¡¯t make me break my word¡­" Dumbfounded, I complained, "Rose, you should¡¯ve spoken to us first." "Hehe, come on, you have to show up, please? If you don¡¯t I¡¯ll harass you over the phone all night!" "Fine, fine, you got me. Have you told Eve, Sister Mingyue and Beiming about this already?" "Yep!" "Okay then, see you tonight!" "You don¡¯t need to drive over; a car will arrive at your apartment at 6:10 pm tonight." "Good!" ¡­¡­ I hung up and went back to the grind. Tsk tsk, who would¡¯ve thought that I would have a driver one day? So far, Lenovo definitely seemed sincere about our agreement. The Alligator Sea Turtles gave good experience, and the item drop rate was acceptable. After two hours of grinding, I got a pair of 2-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade metal wristguards and a bunch of common Gold, Silver and Dark Steel¨Cgrade equipment. It was an okay amount of loot all things considered. Moreover, the Alligator Sea Turtles dropped a Rank 10 armorsmithing material called Alligator Shell. When I sent a screenshot of the material to Yamete, the guy immediately brightened up like a light bulb. "Hahaha, you saved me again, Lu Chen! This is exactly the material I¡¯m lacking right now! I tried asking Little Gui and Li Chengfeng to help me with this, but they eventually gave up because the Alligator Sea Turtles were too strong for them to fight solo at the time, and the drop rate was too low for it to be worth the effort. How many Alligator Shells do you have, by the way?" "12. Why?" ¡°12? Holy fuck, that¡¯s amazing!" Yamete laughed heartily. "I can forge a Blood Alligator Battle Armor with just 3. Here, take a look at its stats!" Yamete sent me a stats screen immediately, and it was as good as he claimed it was¡ª Blood Alligator Battle Armor (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï) Defense: 720 Magic Resist: 550 Strength: +125 Stamina: +130 Tactics: +27 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 13% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 1200 Outstanding Property: Mad Assault, increases user¡¯s attack power and attack speed by 10% Slots: 2 Level Requirement: 145 ¡­¡­ "It is pretty good!" I agreed with a smile. Yamete laughed proudly. "Of course! This is a master-grade armor we¡¯re talking about! I¡¯ve forged 5 Blood Alligator Battle Armors so far, and this is only the third best crafting result. The best one added 21% Defense and 2300 max HP in total, and it¡¯s worn by High Fighting Spirits right now!" "Mn, not bad at all. Keep it up! I¡¯ll give you all the Alligator Shells I got later!" "Yeah, you too!" ¡­¡­ This time, I made sure to use Death Plunder on every mob I killed. As expected, they almost always gave me an Alligator Shell. By almost 6 pm, I had collected a total of 65 Alligator Shells, and they were all of different quality. In general, the higher the quality of a material, the higher the chances Yamete could forge a great armor with it. ¡­¡­ Beep! It was at this moment He Yi sent me a message: "Hey, it¡¯s almost time to attend the Lenovo gathering. Mingyue and I also have to head back to Yulifang¡¯s subsidiary company after that." "Got it. I¡¯ll be out in a jiffy!" I teleported back to the city and summoned Yamete. When he saw the 65 Alligator Shells I collected, he was so happy he couldn¡¯t close his jaw. ¡­¡­ I logged out of the game, took off my gaming helmet and ran out of the room. The girls dressed up specifically for the upcoming feast¡­ or on the second thought, maybe not. They always dressed excellently, regardless of occasion. Chapter 688: Dark Ritualis I pulled a gray coat over my shoulders and grabbed my car keys out of habit. When I arrived at the door, I saw that He Yi was shivering a little in the wind. The car that was supposed to fetch us hadn¡¯t arrived yet. "Eve, why are you dressed so lightly?" I asked after shooting her a glance. She was wearing a coffee-colored windbreaker and a black-and-white plaid shirt only. The pairing was simple, but it still made her look stylish and relaxed. Though, with class like hers, any clothes would seem fitting and beautiful on her. She looked up from her spot and gave me a smile. "It was warm when we were inside the workshop. How could I know that our car would be late?" "Yeah¡­" Car keys still in hand, I walked up to her and brushed against her hand by accident. The moment I noticed that it was ice cold though, I couldn¡¯t help but take her hand and say, "It¡¯s really cold, isn¡¯t it?" "Mn," He Yi replied with a gentle nod and dazzling eyes. I guided her arm toward me and stuffed both our hands into my coat¡¯s pockets, injecting both of us with a surge of warmth. He Yi gave me a beautiful smile before leaning closer to me. We looked like a pair of lovers waiting for their taxi in the wind. For a moment, it felt like time had frozen for us forever. ¡­¡­ Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue shot us a knowing glance and wisely said nothing. But when Beiming Xue turned to grab Murong Mingyue¡¯s arm, the latter immediately hugged the girl and lamented in mock sorrow, "We¡¯re the only two left now¡­" He Yi burst into a giggle. "Cut the nonsense, you two!" Beiming Xue asked smilingly, "Big bro, are you and Sister Eve a couple now? If you aren¡¯t, you really should seal the deal already¡­" I shivered at the same time He Yi¡¯s grip tightened around my hand. She chose to say nothing about Beiming Xue¡¯s question. "Er¡­" I stuttered a little. "I suppose that I can consider it if Eve doesn¡¯t think I¡¯m unworthy¡­" Eve looked up at me and smiled. Murong Mingyue looked like she couldn¡¯t stand me. "Your partner¡¯s the former Asia Region Vice President of GGS, the current vice president of Raincube Corporation, and a gorgeous woman with almost 5 billion RMB in total assets, and you¡¯re hesitating to accept her? People like you should receive a 24-hour shock treatment from psychiatrist Yang!" My lips curled as I replied, "Lifelong matters should be treated with prudence!" Murong Mingyue retorted, "Lifelong my ass, Eve might agree to become your girlfriend, but marriage? You have a long road ahead of you, dreamer..." Unable to hold her silence any longer, He Yi faked a punch at Murong Mingyue while saying, "Are you suggesting that I¡¯m not good enough to get married? Come here, you!" A few minutes later, a brand new Buick minivan stopped next to us. It was none other than the car Lenovo had dispatched to fetch us. We went into the car and departed for the rumored Zijing Hotel. ¡­¡­ We arrived at the hotel twenty minutes later. It wasn¡¯t as luxurious as the hotel He Yi¡¯s second uncle, He Jin, had taken us to, but it was still an incredible place. At the very least, a 5-star hotel was more than capable enough to receive professional players like us. It showed that Lenovo valued its players. They could¡¯ve treated us to a Dapanji at a stretched noodles shop and achieved the same results. Rose was already waiting for us at the receptionist desk. She was wearing a black uniform and her work badge in front of her. Beiming Xue and I exchanged a bitter smile with each other. Fuck, I can¡¯t believe we forgot to bring our Lenovo badges for this meeting. I jumped out of the car and led the girls to the receptionist desk. After greeting Rose with a smile, I asked, "Rose, we forgot to bring our badges. Will it be a problem?" Rose giggled behind her hand. "It¡¯s fine. At this point, who hasn¡¯t heard of the Little Heavenly King Lu Chen, the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls From Water, their best priest Murong Mingyue and the Dark Archer Beiming Xue? Why would you need a badge to identify yourself when your photos are plastered all over the forums? Come on, this way. Everyone¡¯s waiting at the banquet hall already." "Mn." We went up the floors with Rose until we arrived at a rather large banquet hall. There was a surprisingly large number of people inside. There were players with badges identifying their real names and game IDs, Lenovo planners and media people with cameras. Obviously, Lenovo was planning to use this even to promote their brand. They did sign us for an obscene amount of money, so it made sense that they wouldn¡¯t let their money go to waste. After we went in, Rose introduced us to a couple of people¡ª "This is the Director of Planning, Rabo!" "This is the Director of Sales Operations, Oska!" "This is the logistic manager of our Heavenblessed rosters, Dina!" "Oh, and this VIP here is the CEO of the East China region¡­" He Yi shook hands with all of them. In fact, she turned out to be acquainted with the CEO. The plump man let out a hearty laugh while he was holding our guild leader¡¯s soft hand. "Haha, aren¡¯t you the Asia Region Vice President of GGS, Eve? I wasn¡¯t expecting to see you here! This is truly an honor¡­ are you here as a player?" "Yes, I am." He Yi looked at me and saw me staring at her hand. She immediately sent me a concealed smile and withdrew her hand quickly. "In Heavenblessed, I am the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, From Water. Lenovo wanted to sign our top players, and I¡¯m just the extra. Speaking of which, I guess I¡¯m your subordinate now, President Luo¡­" The plump man¡¯s face was red with cheer. "Oh no, you flatter me too much, President Eve¡­ I heard you left GGS and founded a company called Raincube Corporation? It¡¯s an impressive company for sure, snapping up at least 4% of the current market shares the moment it was established. Did you know that the Hsu Corporation was forced to finance the creation of new market shares?" He Yi smiled humbly. "Now you¡¯re praising me too much. Me and my employees are just trying to make ends meet~~" "If this is what you call making ends meet, then I might as well quit my job right now!" "Hehe, you are exaggerating, President Luo~~" While the duo were busy being courteous with each other, I was dragging Beiming Xue with me and looking around for food. My stomach was growling with hunger, and no amount of talking was going to fulfill its appetite! ¡­¡­ "Lu Chen, wait!" Rose called out to me from behind before catching up to us. "The two of you should sit at the table #1. My colleagues from planning department would like to get acquainted with you two, and some of the members of our rosters would like to discuss season schedules as well." "Sure, but when is dinner starting exactly?" "Er¡­ it¡¯s coming, it¡¯s coming¡­" Rose looked dumbfounded as she led us to our tables. Anyway, the bald or half-bald Lenovo employees stared at us as we took our seats, but the way they looked at Beiming Xue made me feel especially uncomfortable. A few minutes later, a couple more players walked over to us and sat down at the table as well. He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue and I were sitting together, and Rose was just a seat or two away from us. Smiling, she said, "The feast hasn¡¯t started yet, so why don¡¯t we take this time to introduce ourselves? Let¡¯s start by telling us your IDs. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, if you may?" Not affected by stage fright in the slightest, I stood up and smiled confidently. "I¡¯m Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" On the opposite side of the table, a couple of female players immediately goggled at me and whispered among themselves, "Wow! I told you that that guy is Lu Chen. The Little Heavenly King is so handsome¡­" Next, He Yi rose to her feet and introduced herself. "I am From Water." The guys were almost drooling from their mouths. Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t stand up. She simply tapped the table with her glass and smiled. "I am Murong Mingyue of Ancient Sword." Again, everyone¡¯s gaze was trained on her. It was a good thing she didn¡¯t stand up, or countless pure-hearted virgins would die at the sight of her giant breasts. Beiming Xue stood up though. She was wearing a mini skirt and a pair of black socks, and there was about a 20-centimeter gap between them. There was just enough of her cream-colored thighs revealed to make anyone who was looking at her gulp visibly, and not even I was an exception to the rule. Beiming Xue had finished her first bloom, and it was only a matter of time before she became a beauty that could wreck countries with her smile alone, just like the Fruit Knife Goddess herself. "I am Beiming Xue, and I¡¯m an undead player just like big bro!" Beiming Xue then leaned affectionately against my shoulder before asking with a smile, "Do we look like siblings? We do, right?" On the opposite side of the table, a young man asked shakily, "Are Beiming Xue and Lu Chen really siblings?" Murong Mingyue replied expressionlessly, "One is surnamed Beiming, and the other, Lu. Even with your toes you should be able to figure out that they aren¡¯t blood-related." The young man nodded. "You¡¯re so smart, Murong Mingyue!" Murong Mingyue: "..." ¡­¡­ It was time for the others to introduce themselves. A brawny youngster rose to his feet and smiled genially. "I am Remains, a warrior from Vanished God City. I¡¯m currently serving Blazing Hot Lips and my guild leader is Stranger of Three Lifetimes. Oh right, she¡¯s pretty close to Lu Chen, isn¡¯t she?" I pursed my lips and cursed him on the inside. What the fuck man, you¡¯re going to make He Yi jealous like this! My relationship with Stranger of Three Lifetimes is as pure as a white paper, okay!? Next, a beautiful girl wearing a red shirt rose beside Remains. "I am Hidden Fragrance, a Level 149 magic knight. I am serving Purple Lily of Wind City!" Then, a girl who looked to be about 18 years old next to Hidden Fragrance rose to her feet. To my confusion, she shot me a couple of weird looks before introducing herself timidly, "I am Butterfly Dance, a Level 144 Dark Ritualist. It¡¯s a hidden mage class. I er¡­ I¡¯m from Wind City, but I¡¯m from Candle Dragon. Please don¡¯t hit me, Lu Chen¡­" I nearly spat out the tea I was drinking. "And why on earth would I do that?" "Aren¡¯t Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Candle Dragon at war right now?" Butterfly Dance asked softly. I shrugged and gave her a reassuring smile. "You¡¯ve heard of the saying ¡®enemies online, brothers offline¡¯, haven¡¯t you? It¡¯s very common to treat online and offline relationships as separate in the gaming world. Also, the feud between Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Candle Dragon really belongs to me and Candlelight Shadow only, so you don¡¯t need to worry about it. As members of the same team, it makes perfect sense for us to be friendly with each other." "Okay," Butterfly Dance replied softly with a nod. "By the way, did you say you were a dark ritualist, a hidden class earlier? That sounds amazing. Do you happen to be interested in joining us?" I leaped on the opportunity to poach Butterfly Dance, and He Yi shot me an approving look. Apparently, she would¡¯ve done the same thing if I had chosen to keep my silence. Chapter 689: The Truth Unveiled I nodded. "That¡¯s fine too. Candle Dragon¡¯s first subguild is a good guild at least. I know your guild leader, Purple Dawn. He¡¯s a powerful archer for sure." Butterfly Dance¡¯s eyes lit up like a bulb at that. "Mn mn, Purple Dawn is the number one expert of our school, and his girlfriend is my roomie! She¡¯s a very cute little girl¡­ Speaking of which, do you know Purple Dawn, Lu Chen? Are you on good terms with him?" I grinned. "Oh yes, very good terms even. Every time we meet inside the game, I make sure to beat him up¡­" Everyone started laughing at the same time. The grudge between Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Candle Dragon was a well-known fact. Now that I thought about it, players from many different forces were all gathered at one table right now. This was turning out to be an interesting gathering for sure. With that done, a sharp-looking youngster stood up and introduced himself. "Good evening, everyone. I am Unwilling to Fight, a Level 148 archer from Wind City. I¡¯m currently in the second subguild of Peach Garden, and my champion arena ranking is 249th. Nice to meet you all¡­" While he was talking, I chided Beiming Xue a little. "Do you see how polite this guy is? Now think back to your own introduction. You didn¡¯t even say good evening to the others¡­" Beiming Xue stared innocently at me for a moment. Then, she employed her cutesy tactic, her eyes watering as if at will. While we were fooling around, I heard He Yi speaking, "Unwilling to Fight, there aren¡¯t many Level 148 archers at this stage of the game, much less one that placed this high in the champion arena. Would you like to join our main guild? It¡¯s certainly better than serving a subguild of Peach Garden, right?" Unwilling to Fight¡¯s eyes lit up. "Oh? Are you serious? I¡¯ve always wanted to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, but I just couldn¡¯t find a way to get connected with your guild. I had no avenue, no guides¡­ is this a promise you can give?" He Yi put down her glass and smiled a little. In that instant, every male around the table was electrocuted by her beauty. As if sensing the growing heat around the table, He Yi caught herself, tidied her clothes and sat back down beside me before nodding. "Of course. I am the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I don¡¯t think anyone will disagree with my choice of recruits." I nodded. "Naturally. When Eve says the word, we obey. She is the guild leader!" "Mn, no problem. Welcome to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" I welcomed him smilingly. Seeing that the gathering was about to turn into an interview to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Rose hurriedly interrupted us and said, "Alright, enough. Shall we talk about the team now?" He Yi and I nodded and replied in unison, "Speak¡­" Rose giggled. "There shouldn¡¯t be any big tournaments for the next two months to come. There are small, regional tournaments such as the PCL league tournament at the Shanghai Carnival, which will be attended by many clubs such as TCL, Founder, Dell, Apple, Asus and more¡­ but top-tier players such as Candlelight Shadow, Wind Fantasy and Legendary Brave all refused to participate. For that reason, Lenovo believes that it¡¯ll be better if we refrain from sending our best players, Lu Chen and Beiming Xue as well. Instead, we¡¯ll send our secondary roster, namely Remains, Butterfly Dance, Unwilling to Fight and so on to attend the tournament and gain some experience in the process. I don¡¯t know if this decision is fine with you though, Lu Chen, so I would like to hear your answer right now!" He Yi and I exchanged a smile with each other before turning around. "No problem, the youngsters can have their fun. We are way too busy handling the stuff going on in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls anyway, hahaha¡­" On the other side, Dark Fragrance added with a giggle, "I know it¡¯s because the top-tier players such as the Martial God Candlelight Shadow, the Fruit Knife Goddess Lin Yixin, and the guild leader of Purple Lily Luo River God of the Capital aren¡¯t attending. There¡¯s no challenge even if you chose to attend, am I right?" I smiled and allowed my silence to be taken as acceptance. Rose nodded affirmatively before saying, "That¡¯s settled then. Still, the two of you must participate in super tournaments like the WSL, okay?" "Of course!" Rose smiled and rose to her feet with her glass raised. "There are two objectives behind this gathering. One, it¡¯s to let our club members get acquainted with one another. Two, it¡¯s to celebrate Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ success at Immortality City and miraculous rise from the 41892th place to the 3rd place on the CGL Guild Ranking! Congratulations! I was a bit dumbfounded by her declaration. "You still remember our old ranking?" "But of course, it¡¯s quite difficult to forget¡­" "Fuck¡­" ¡­¡­ Get-togethers really do get people together. It didn¡¯t take long before the alcohol started to pry open some mouths, and even better, Hunting Moon Dynasty¡¯s Heart Like Water, Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ Little Little Hero and Purple Lily¡¯s Dark Fragrance all requested to join our main guild. The reason they wanted to join us was because they weren¡¯t valued despite being experts in subguilds, and we were only all too happy to accept them. The gathering lasted until past 8 pm. I told He Yi I needed to go to the gents before leaving. Because I was drunk, I accidentally went the wrong way and found myself at the entrance of the hotel instead. When I looked to the opposite side of the street, I suddenly noticed a giant board with the flashing words "Second Affiliated Hospital¡±. Hey, isn¡¯t that the hospital Lin Yixin¡¯s mom was staying in? I still remember where her ward is. Maybe... I immediately put my thoughts into action. With luck, I might even find Lin Yixin in the ward right now. She had been avoiding all this time, so it was time for me to take a bit of initiative. While the traffic lights were still green, I ran across the street and toward the high-class sick ward at the high speed of 9 metres per second. I quickly located the familiar-looking, villa-styled sick ward and went upstairs. Almost all of the lights were dark. When I went into the room and looked around, I found that the room was cleaned and returned to its original condition, and the person living there was gone. The medical instruments on the table were gone as well. I saw a wilting flower on the window sill. Obviously, it was a flower Lin Yixin had brought for her mother. She has probably been gone for several days now, hasn¡¯t she? Thud! I leaned against the window sill and inhaled deeply. Lin Yixin¡¯s mom was transferred out of the hospital this quickly? ¡­¡­ Suddenly, I heard a voice behind me. "Boy?" I turned around and saw that it was a janitor. "Hey there, auntie. What happened to the patient here?" "She was transferred away this morning. Are you her family or something?" "I¡¯m a friend of her daughter. I came here before." "Ohh, I remember now!" The auntie¡¯s smile suddenly grew a lot wider. "She was a really beautiful girl. Are you her boyfriend? I understand now why she wasn¡¯t willing to meet my nephew even though I tried many times to change her mind. You¡¯re quite the handsome boy, aren¡¯t you?" Slightly embarrassed, I said lamely, "Oh, well. I guess I should go then¡­" "Wait!" "What is it?" I stopped in my tracks. The janitor opened a cabinet before procuring a thick bundle of papers from within. "Your girlfriend left so urgently that she even forgot to grab her medical report and pathology report. Since you¡¯re her boyfriend, can you give it to her? I wouldn¡¯t know how to deal with this otherwise¡­" "Oh." I accepted the documents but wasn¡¯t sure what to do myself. As I walked out of the sick ward and got on a small forest path, I thought to myself: How am I going to give these to Lin Yixin? It was at this moment the wind blew a piece of paper to the ground. "Oh?" I bent down and picked it up. The moment I saw the contents of the paper though, I froze as if I was struck by thunder. It was a certificate of blood donation, and it stated clearly¡ª Donor: Lin Yixin Recipient: Lu Chen Amount: 500 cc Note: Per Lin Yixin¡¯s request, the blood donation will be kept a secret from Lu Chen. ¡­¡­ How¡­ how can this be?!! I felt like the world had just turned upside down. My mind turned blank as I collapsed to the floor. So Lin Yixin has known about my condition all along, and stuck by my side ever since. Not only was I completely oblivious to this, I even bullied her on occasion. What the hell is wrong with me? My heart felt like someone was twisting a knife in it when I recalled the tournament. At the time, Lin Yixin looked pale when she lost horribly in the hands of Peach Garden. Remembering the aggrieved look in her eyes, I knew that she had wanted to spill it all on me back then. Instead, she hid it in her heart and never said a word. 500 cc was an amount of blood no ordinary person could normally function without, and I heartlessly poked fun at her before the final... "What¡¯s wrong, boy?" Behind me, an auntie sweeping the floor caught sight of me and asked. I rose back to my feet while feeling like I had run a marathon or something. "It¡¯s nothing¡­" "You look really pale, boy." "It¡¯s really nothing¡­" I quickened my footsteps and ran out of the hospital. Then, I took out my phone and gave He Yi a call¡ª "Where are you, Lu Chen? I couldn¡¯t find you." He Yi¡¯s voice sounded a bit worried. I sucked in a deep breath before replying, "Eve, can you take Beiming with you to the company? I don¡¯t think I¡¯m going back to the hotel, but don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be back at the workshop later tonight." "Okay. Come back soon!" "Got it." He Yi seemed to have noticed that something was wrong with me, but she chose not to stop me from whatever it was I was doing. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment my phone suddenly rang. It was an unfamiliar number, and when I clicked Receive I heard Sun Qingqing¡¯s voice from the other side of the call¡ª "Hello, is this Lu Chen? I¡¯m Qingqing!" "Hey, Qingqing!" My heart skipped a beat as I asked, "You callin¡¯ me for something?" Sun Qingqing giggled. "Oh yes, something great. Yiyi was¡­ overjoyed with the pet egg you gave her, so she decided to repay the favor, you lucky man. Yiyi is going to fly tomorrow afternoon, and she managed to cheat an hour out of her father¡¯s strict schedule to see you. She¡¯ll be waiting for you at the eastern gate of the university, 11:30 am tomorrow. Remember, you only have an hour. If you miss it, you¡¯ll regret it for the rest of your life!" It was like the night had turned into day. "Really? That¡¯s great! Can¡­ can I speak to her right now?" "No way, she¡¯s enjoying her dinner right now!" "Fine, tell her to be careful not to choke on the food while eating." "What the fuck, dude, can¡¯t you wish something pleasant for once¡­" I let out a hearty laugh before ending my call with Sun Qingqing. Lin Yixin¡¯s going to meet me in secret tomorrow? This is probably our last meeting for the next couple months to come, isn¡¯t it? Only heaven could tell exactly when she was going to come back from Canada. ¡­¡­ At that moment, I felt like someone had recharged my battery to full. Alright, time to go back and upgrade Dark Moon City¡¯s buildings a bit. After that I should sleep and get ready for the meeting with Lin Yixin tomorrow! Chapter 690: Waiting in the Rain After setting up a stall at Sky City and selling random stuff until 1 am or so, He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue finally came back from the company. They went to bed immediately after going online briefly to repair their equipment and restock their supplies. Everyone was tired after an entire day of hard work. ¡­¡­ After that, I went back to Black Coast and grinded sea turtles again to increase my level and collect some Alligator Shells for Yamete. Stuff like this was incredibly important to a middle to high-level player, and the more I gathered the more high Defense fighters Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would have. At around 4 am, or so, I opened the Heavenly Ranking of Sky City and noted that Level 150 players were now everywhere. Li Chengfeng, Warsky, Little Piglet and more warriors had completed their sixth promotion quests and entered the Earthfire Realm. From now on, I was no longer the only mounted warrior in the world. The entire continent would be welcoming an era of cavalry dominance! I briefly wondered what kind of mount Li Chengfeng had prepared for himself. Knowing him, he must have planned for this already. Oh well, it wasn¡¯t my problem. I checked the time again and noted that I really should catch some sleep now. I mustn¡¯t miss my 11.30 am date with Lin Yixin at the university gate no matter what. So I logged off, drank some water and fell asleep immediately. ¡­¡­ When I woke up, it was already past 10 am. After washing myself in a hurry and taking my time to choose a slightly better attire than usual, the clock hand moved to 11 am sharp. It only takes 10 minutes to drive to the university, so I still had plenty of time! I walked out of the workshop and drove away on my X12. On the streets, maple leaves were falling, and autumn was on its last legs. Suddenly, I caught sight of three familiar figures by the road. They were none other than Beiming, Murong Mingyue and He Yi, and from the looks of their shopping bags they had been doing some shopping. No wonder I hadn¡¯t seen them in the workshop. They sure were in high spirits today. I slowed down my car and let down the car window. Then, after taking a leisurely sip from my breakfast milk tea, I asked them smiling, "What a coincidence, ladies! Want me to give y¡¯all a ride?" Murong Mingyue burst into a giggle. "Sure! Take us home, handsome, it¡¯s a 4P¡­" To my shock, Beiming Xue betrayed me. "It can mean nothing if you don¡¯t mind, handsome." Me: "..." It looked like Beiming Xue was corrupted by Murong Mingyue due to prolonged exposure. I could envision the bleak future ahead of us already! He Yi chuckled. "We didn¡¯t call you because you seem very deep in sleep this morning. We were going to eat lunch with you after we got back, but since you¡¯re here we can save the return trip. Where do you want to eat?" I curled my lips. How should I tell her about Lin Yixin? It was at this moment He Yi¡¯s phone rang. She took a look at the number and smiled helplessly. "OMG, it¡¯s mom¡¯s number. She can¡¯t have arranged another engagement for me, can she? Sigh¡­" However, her face suddenly turned a little pale when the call connected. We could hear that the voice speaking from the other side of the phone was a male¡¯s. The next moment, He Yi panicked so much she almost broke into tears. "Mom¡­ where are you right now? Where¡ªSan Xiang Road? Okay¡­ okay, I¡¯m coming right away!" "What¡¯s wrong, Eve?" I asked. He Yi said urgently, "My mom was run down by a Honda. Q-quickly, you need to send me to Sanxiang Road Stadium right now, it¡¯ll only take ten minutes¡­" "What? Auntie was run down?" Just as disconcerted as she was, I said, "Get in the car. We¡¯ll go there right now!" After the three girls went into the car, I pressed down on the pedal and sped toward our destination like I was in an F1 race. I blazed across a couple of roads and ran through a couple of red lights, but I was beyond caring at that point. Less than five minutes later, we stopped not far away from the stadium. As expected, there was a group of people on the east side. We saw some people making phone calls or hailing a car by the roadside, but this particular road was so busy that hailing a taxi was practically impossible. "Mom¡­" He Yi stumbled down the car and toward the crowd with me right behind her. After we squeezed our way through, we saw auntie slumping on the ground and bleeding from her head. Beside her, there was a fat, middle-aged man holding his car keys. His red complexion clearly indicated that he was drunk, and he said after seeing He Yi, "Is she your mother? She¡­ she walked into the road without checking for vehicles, so it¡¯s not my fault¡­" He Yi immediately glared at him. "Whose fault is it then? Mine?" I pushed the fatty aside and carried auntie in my arms. "Eve, jot down the culprit¡¯s car plate. For now, let¡¯s send auntie to the hospital!" The middle-aged fatty immediately grew anxious. "What¡­ what are you jotting down my car plate for? I know, you just want my money, don¡¯t you? I¡¯ll pay, dammit¡­ do you know who I was having lunch with just now? You¡¯ll shit your pants if I tell you!" He made a grab for his wallet while he said this. Furious and in disbelief, I walked up to the fatty and kicked him right in the groin. He immediately let out a bloodcurdling scream before slumping on the ground. "Pooh! No one wants your fucking cash!" I growled at him. "Drunk driving in the fucking morning? I don¡¯t care who you eat lunch with, I¡¯m calling the cops and throwing you in prison no matter what! Not even the emperor himself could save you now, you bastard!" The crowd around us actually gave us a cheer as we took the fatty¡¯s number. In fact, the people of China don¡¯t hate the rich. These people cheered for us because some of these rich people had committed atrocious acts to gather their wealth. If their wealth really was the fruit of their their own hard work and talent, why would anyone hate them for it? If a rich person remained humble despite having gathered a huge sum of wealth, why would anyone hold a grudge against them? The people had better things to do than that. Long story short, you get what you give, whether it¡¯s bad or good. ¡­¡­ Auntie was already awakening by the time I carried her into the car. When she saw He Yi right next to her, she smiled and caressed her daughter¡¯s beautiful hair. "Why are you crying, my dear?" He Yi knew her mother was doing okay in that moment. She broke into a smile and said, "How can I not when you look like this? What happened, mom? How did you get run down by a car?" Auntie shook her head as she replied, "I don¡¯t know either. I saw a car coming toward me like the wind, and¡­" I interrupted. "Save the questions, Eve. That guy was drunk driving. Whatever might have happened, it wasn¡¯t auntie¡¯s fault for sure." "Mn." I drove around a corner and arrived at the hospital. The second affiliated hospital was in fact located very close to the stadium, which made me incredibly annoyed with the crowd of people earlier, especially those who were dialing 120. Seriously, a fit youngster could¡¯ve carried auntie on his back and run her to emergency department in five minutes. When the hospital personnel burst through the door with a woman who was bleeding from her head, they immediately pushed over a hospital bed so I could lay auntie on it. After that, she was rushed into an emergency room for treatment while the rest of us waited outside. He Yi¡¯s eyes were filled with worry. Her fingers were clenched around her bag, and she was biting her lips tightly. I gently hugged her shoulders and said, "It will be fine. Auntie looked clear-headed, even healthy when she woke up earlier, so I don¡¯t think it¡¯s any serious injury. Also, I checked the front of that Honda earlier and saw only a small depression in the plastic bumper, so I¡¯m sure that auntie is fine." Murong Mingyue nodded in agreement. "Mn. Lu Chen doesn¡¯t usually say reliable things, but this isn¡¯t one of those times. Auntie¡¯s injuries are only superficial." He Yi nodded. "I hope so¡­" Beiming Xue pursed her lips and said nothing. Despite our verbal reassurances, we all knew that what we said wasn¡¯t necessarily the reality. Huddled together in trepidation, we waited for almost an hour when the door to the emergency room finally opened, and the chief physician walked out. "Who¡¯s He Yi?" "I am!" He Yi raced up to him. "Oh. Your mom¡¯s condition has already stabilized. She¡¯s only suffered some scratches and shock, and we¡¯ve given her the appropriate treatment. You may grab a number and pay the medical fee now!" "Mn. Thank you, doctor!" As everyone let out a deep sigh of relief, a thought suddenly crossed my mind. I cursed under my breath, "Shit! Shit¡­" "What¡¯s wrong?" He Yi asked. I shook my head and grabbed my car keys. "You girls stay with auntie. I need to leave first for something important¡­" "Oh¡­" He Yi didn¡¯t know what was bothering me, but she didn¡¯t prod either. ¡­¡­ As I raced out of the door, I realized that it was raining outside. My heart clenched at the sight of this. Is the heavens playing with me today? Lin Yixin¡­ she can¡¯t still be waiting for me, can she? There isn¡¯t even a shade to hide under at the gate... I drove to the university entrance like lightning, but there wasn¡¯t anyone there. I drove into the university, ran to the bottom of Lin Yixin¡¯s hostel and shouted under the rain, "Lin Yixin! Lin Yixin!" No one replied to me, however. A few minutes later, the door to the hostel opened, and a teary-looking Sun Qingqing walked out with her umbrella. "You¡¯re an idiot, Lu Chen! A bastard! Where the hell were you? Do you think it¡¯s funny to make Yiyi wait for you in the rain for an hour?" My mind turned blank. Lin Yixin, you fool. Did you really wait for me in the rain for an hour? Suddenly bursting into tears, Sun Qingqing ran up to me and hit me hard with her umbrella. She cried as she hit me again and again, "You¡¯re a bastard! Did you know how much Yiyi wanted to see you before she left? I¡¯ll never forgive you for betraying her hopes like this!" Me: "..." Sun Qingqing glared at me as she wiped her tears. "Tell me the truth! Was it He Yi that kept you from seeing Yiyi?" Dazed, I nodded numbly. Sun Qingqing¡¯s eyes immediately drowned in disappointment. "What a bastard. What a bastard! Lu Chen, you will regret missing Yiyi for the rest of your life! You will regret making Yiyi pushing us away to wait for you, even as she cried to herself in the rain! You will regret making her pay like this for the rest of your life!" My emotions were a thick blend of confusion, grief and bitterness. I grabbed the umbrella and murmured, "Qingqing, please stop. I¡¯m hurting too. Can you tell me which airport Yiyi is at, and what time her flight is? Is it Shanghai Pudong, Hongqiao or Wuxi Shuofang?" Sun Qingqing answered tiredly, "Forget it. Yiyi told you not to look for her." I grabbed Sun Qingqing¡¯s shoulders and begged her. "Qingqing, please, I¡¯m begging you. Which airport is Yiyi at right now? I¡­ I miss her¡­" Sun Qingqing took one powerless step backward before murmuring, "She¡¯s at Pudong International Airport. Her flight is 3 pm." "Got it. Thank you¡­" ¡­¡­ I turned around, raced into the car and blazed into the rain. My heart hurts, that foolish girl. Chapter 691: Love You, Hate You The airport had a dozen or so gates, and every gate was jam-packed with people because it was a weekend. It made finding someone even harder than it already was. I checked the time and saw that it was 2 pm. It was almost time for Lin Yixin to check in and board her plane. ¡­¡­ I ran back and forth across the airport like a madman, but I wasn¡¯t able to find Lin Yixin no matter where I looked. Panic growing, I grabbed a nearby stewardess and asked, "Can¡­ can I ask where the airport¡¯s broadcast room is?" The stewardess was completely caught off-guard by my sudden action. "Wh¡­ why do you want to know?" "I¡¯m searching for someone!" "It¡¯s in the south area. You¡¯ll find the room if you go up the elevator¡­" "Thank you!" This time though, it was the stewardess who grabbed me before I could run away. "Hey¡­" "What¡¯s wrong?" I turned around to look at her. "Are you Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?" Me: "..." The stewardess grew excited when she saw my reaction. "Hoho, you really are the Little Heavenly King! My boyfriend and I play Heavenblessed as well, but since I have to fly almost every day I¡¯m only at Level 117 right now. In the game you are our idol, not Candlelight Shadow! So, can you take a photo with me?" I felt like dying for some reason. "But, but I have an urgent matter to¡­" "It¡¯s fine, it¡¯ll only take a couple of seconds!" The tall, slim stewardess refused to let me go until I obliged her request, so I had no choice but to let her snap a photo of us with her phone. Only then she said with a smile, "Alright, you may go now! Let¡¯s meet each other again some time!" "Me: "..." I turned around and raced toward the broadcast room at the speed of 100m sprinter. The employees were shocked when I showed up. "Sir, what are you doing?" I replied, "I¡¯m looking for someone!" "In that case, please register your name and the name of the person you¡¯re looking for¡­" "Ah?" It was at this moment I heard the announcement that the flight to Vancouver was about to take off, and that the check-in had started. Anxiety peaking, I grabbed the mic from an employee¡¯s hand and shouted, "Lin Yixin! Lin Yixin! Do you hear me? It¡¯s me, Lu Chen! Maybe you can¡¯t hear me, or maybe you just don¡¯t want to see me, I don¡¯t care! I just want to tell you that¡­ I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m here now. I¡¯m here to send you off¡­" The female employee whom I snatched the mic from was completely stunned by my antics. She just goggled at me as if she was watching something unbelievable. The woman next to her suddenly burst into giggles, and one of them said teasingly with rosy cheeks, "Wow! If a handsome guy barged into the airport broadcast room for me, I might just marry him right there and then¡­" It was my turn to be stunned by her. Eternal Moon Corporation¡¯s influence was truly astounding. Who would¡¯ve thought that I, a nere gamer would become as famous as those top-rated movie stars one day? ¡­¡­ Covering up my face, I ran out of the broadcast room and toward the Vancouver boarding gate. Only half of the people had gone inside, and I spotted a lot of young women still waiting at the queue. However, half of them were foreigners, and the other half looked nothing like the outrageously beautiful woman Lin Yixin was. Speechless and disappointed, I waited by the boarding gate until the flight took off. Even then, I was afraid to leave because I felt like I was never going to see her again if I did. I took a seat at a gate while feeling like a complete mess. It was only now I realized just how important Lin Yixin was in my heart. Losing her felt like losing the energy to breathe. I sat until it was past 6 pm before I finally got to my feet and ate fried rice with beef at a fast food restaurant. It was disgusting, and it cost 75 RMB. After that, I stood by the window and stared at the airplanes expanding their metal wings and taking off to the sky. I felt like my thoughts were chasing after their tail. There were a lot of people pointing fingers at me from behind me, but it didn¡¯t matter anymore. They could do whatever the hell they wanted. When it was past 9 pm, the second flight to Vancouver had taken off as well. I desolately turned around and went back to my car. The windshield was completely covered by violation tickets at this point. It was time to go back to Suzhou. ¡­¡­ I reached the workshop just before 12 am. Beiming Xue was still in the game, and He Yi had left behind two plates of food for me. I warmed them up, ate them and logged into the game. I had been absent for the entire day, so I wanted to check if I had missed anything. I logged into the forums first, and to my shock I discovered a message sent to me by Lin Yixin herself. The message was handwritten, and every dot and stroke seemed to imprint themselves in my soul¡ª "Hi, Little Cheat! I hate you. I hate you for standing up our date. No one has ever done that to me before! But¡­ thank you for coming to the airport to send me off, hehe. I saw you, you know. After I tricked dad into entering the plane first, I came back down and changed my flight to the one at 9 pm. I watched you getting all sad and worried about me in secret. It¡¯s the punishment you deserve, I suppose. Goodbye, Little Cheat. I¡¯m going to Vancouver, and we may not be able to see each other for a very, very long time. I¡­ don¡¯t know how to say this, but¡­ love you, hate you!" ¡­¡­ My nose felt tingly as I stared at her beautiful handwriting. Lin Yixin hadn¡¯t left. She had been watching me in secret until the last moment. Love me, hate me, huh? She was right. Even I was hating myself for not meeting Lin Yixin on time. But what could I have done differently? Ditch auntie and let He Yi bear all the worry and pain herself? I couldn¡¯t. Fate had played a cruel trick on me this time. It had forced me to MISS my meeting with Lin Yixin. This wouldn¡¯t be the last time we crossed paths, however. In this world, there were only people you didn¡¯t want to meet, never people you couldn¡¯t meet. As long as I kept giving it my all, I would be together with Lin Yixin again someday. She was now a permanent mark in my heart, and no one could take her memory away from me. ¡­¡­ After I logged into the game, I received a message from Sun Qingqing. "Hi, Lu Chen. You¡¯re a bastard, but at least you went to the airport to look for her. I¡­ just received a message from Yiyi. She expressed deep disappointment in your failings, so she doesn¡¯t want to accept your favor for free. She can¡¯t return the ice dragon pet egg to you because she has already signed a contract with it, so she¡¯s going to repay the favor with something else instead. Do message me immediately after you come back online!" "Repay the favor?" I muttered to myself, "Come on, that¡¯s too heartless, Yiyi¡­" I brought up the chat window and messaged Sun Qingqing, "Qingqing, I¡¯m up now." "OMG, you finally came back¡­" Sun Qingqing sounded a bit dumbfounded. "I was this close to logging out of the game, you know? How long does it take to send off someone at the airport?" It looked like Yiyi hadn¡¯t told her what had happened in between this time. I simply said, "About that ¡®compensation¡¯ told you to give me? You can keep it, Qingqing. I had given her that pet egg out of my own volition, and I had never expected anything in return. You can give it back to her once she returns to the game." Sun Qingqing couldn¡¯t help but laugh. "Seriously? You don¡¯t want it?" "That¡¯s correct," I said seriously, "I¡¯m not accepting this compensation. Frankly, it feels like she¡¯s trying to end our relationship once and for all with this. I¡¯m not happy with this." Apparently my reply angered Sun Qingqing because I could see her swinging her fists in the tiny avatar window on the screen. "You idiot! Just how slow are you? Do you even know what Yiyi¡¯s planning to give you? It¡¯s the kind of stuff most people couldn¡¯t even dream to get! Hmph! If Yiyi really was just hoping to repay the favor, she could¡¯ve just sent you away with a Earth-grade equipment, you stupid man! I can¡¯t believe that you¡¯re the one Yiyi¡¯s so deeply in love with¡­" Me: "..." A long time later, I finally said, "Fine. I¡¯ll wait for you at the eastern plaza of Sky City. Just give me whatever it is Lin Yixin wants me to have." "Now we¡¯re talking. I¡¯ll be there in five minutes!" ¡­¡­ Sun Qingqing showed up at the agreed location as promised. The bow-wielding archer in leather armor said to me with a smile, "Yiyi sounded pretty moody. You need to try harder, boy!" "She¡¯s in Vancouver, I don¡¯t have her phone number, and I can¡¯t even contact her inside the game. How the hell am I supposed to try anything?" I rolled my eyes at her. Sun Qingqing pouted. "Whatever. Here, take this¡­" "Oh?!" To my surprise, Sun Qingqing gave me an ancient-looking scroll. It had the appearance of a quest item, but something told me that that wasn¡¯t quite it. When I inspected the item, my astonishment immediately grew tenfold¡ª Dragonlight Canyon Treasure Map: Grants the opportunity to enter Dragonlight Canyon. Dragonlight Canyon hides countless treasures, and the owner of this treasure map may party up to 5 people before entering it. This is a restricted zone, so only those with a treasure map may enter. After the treasure map is used, the party is granted a total of 72 hours of access. Level Requirement: 150. Luck Requirement: 20. ¡­¡­ "Dragonlight Canyon? Treasure map?" I said out loud. "This looks like an amazing map. Just look at this Level Requirement¡­" Sun Qingqing nodded. "Yiyi got this when she completed her class promotion, and I don¡¯t have to tell you how precious it is. Originally we were going to use this for ourselves, but after Yiyi left the country neither me nor Purple Marquis met the Luck Requirement necessary to use this map. That was why Yiyi decided to give it to you. Remember, you only have 72 hours after you use this map. If you waste it, Yiyi will bite your ass¡­" I smiled. "No problem. She¡¯s free to bite my ass anytime she wants¡­" Sun Qingqing suddenly froze for an entire half a minute. I had a feeling that she might have misinterpreted my meaning, but before I could say anything she chided me with a blush, "You rascal, I just don¡¯t understand how Yiyi came to fall in love with you¡­" I gave her a grin but said nothing. Sun Qingqing logged off after she bid me goodbye. I felt a bit anxious as I gripped the Dragonlight Canyon Treasure Map. The fact that Lin Yixin had purposely left this map to me, and the fact that Sun Qingqing treated it like it was one of the most valuable item in the world meant that this Dragonlight Canyon might be far, far more extraordinary than even the one where the ice dragon Kris had resided in, the Ice Dragon Ridge! The party size limit was 5 people. He Yi and I could be the tank, Beiming Xue the damage dealer, and Murong Mingyue the healer. We were still lacking a damage dealer though. In the end, I decided to ask Moonlight Stone to join us. This meant that any mage equipment we came by wouldn¡¯t go to waste, and we could turn her into a super mage for the guild. Chapter 692: Dragonlight Canyon He Yi, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, Moonlight Stone and I had a very important quest to do today. It was of course to enter Dragonlight Canyon with the treasure map and find its hidden treasures. At the very least, I knew that our levels would be climbing like crazy since the requirement to enter the map was Level 150. At the workshop, Murong Mingyue poked fun at me while eating her bread. "So, how did your mad chase for Beauty Lin go, Lu Chen?" I replied while holding up my porridge bowl, "What did you expect? Yiyi left the country, and that¡¯s it. I went to the airport, but I wasn¡¯t able to see her." Beiming Xue said, "That¡¯s a shame. I¡¯m sure Lin Yixin misses you a lot." I gave her a smile. "I guess." "It¡¯s all my fault¡­" He Yi looked a bit glum. She stared at me apologetically and said, "Yiyi wouldn¡¯t have had to stand in the rain for that long if it wasn¡¯t for me¡­" Murong Mingyue exclaimed in shock, "Are you okay? Why are you apologizing? Did you forget that Yiyi¡¯s your love rival?" He Yi pursed her lips for a bit before answering, "Personally, I don¡¯t really think of her as a rival. We both share the misfortune of falling in love with the same dummy¡­" I immediately said, "No personal attacks, please!" He Yi chuckled. "Fine, fine, I won¡¯t attack you anymore~" I then changed the subject. "Anyway, there¡¯s nothing to be worried about. Yiyi isn¡¯t such a narrow-minded person. The quest we¡¯re going to do today? You need a treasure map to get inside, and Yiyi¡¯s the one who gave it to me." "Wow¡­" While the girls were expressing their surprise, Beiming Xue said, "Big bro, if I were sister Lin Yixin, I would¡¯ve beaten you up for making me stand in the rain for a whole hour!" Both Murong Mingyue and He Yi nodded in agreement immediately. "For fuck¡¯s sake, do you girls want to go to Dragonlight Canyon or not?" I rolled my eyes at them. "If yes, then shut up and finish up your food. If no, that¡¯s fine too, I¡¯ll just party up with Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng instead! Who knows, the party may even be stronger as a result!" "No, bring us with you¡­" Murong Mingyue pleaded in between giggles. ¡­¡­ After breakfast was over, we returned to our respective rooms and began a new day inside the game. Every player in the entire world was rushing to hit Level 150 right now, and in Sky City, lone players who had completed their sixth promotion quests and entered the Earthfire Realm were almost everywhere. If we didn¡¯t increase our levels as soon as possible, we would be outstripped by the others and turned into the mundane. I also carried 10 Bloodknight Cards with me, the ones that buffed max HP by 40% and Defense by 15%. Finally, I grabbed some supplements that increase Stamina, Strength and so on by 450 points. The party didn¡¯t have a high-level bard, so these supplements could be very useful later. After I created the party, I added He Yi, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue and Moonlight Stone as my party members. Then, I said in the party channel, "Alright! There¡¯s no telling when we¡¯ll come out after we enter Dragonlight Canyon, so make sure to bring your tents and fill every slot you have with potions and supplies! Don¡¯t worry about them going to waste, because there¡¯s no way in hell you won¡¯t be using them in this map. I expect us to level up 3 times by the time we¡¯re finished with the map!" "Mn, mn!" The girls nodded repeatedly. "Once you¡¯re ready, head to the east gate of Dark Moon City and wait there. Dragonlight Canyon is about one and a half hours to the east of Dark Moon City." "Got it, party leader!" I immediately teleported to Dark Moon City and went to the east gate. A wave of loneliness assaulted me as I was standing in the wilderness, so I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and the Phantom Wolf King. I got up my mount while the little wolf darted energetically around the area, his nose sniffing constantly in search of danger. Dark Moon City was growing stronger day by day, and the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild was very famous in China right now. Therefore, it was no surprise that our city had grown into a hub for leveling and resupply no less critical than a main city. Countless players were walking in and out of the city, and many of them were shooting me looks of astonishment because I hadn¡¯t bothered to hide my ID. Both the name and the emblem that marked me as the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls on my shoulder made me stand out like a sore thumb. I spent a moment to thank the fact that no one had decided to come over and speak with me. I could handle partying up with strangers and grinding with them, but talking to one was an entirely different story. The girls didn¡¯t take long to show up. He Yi was riding her Snow Domain Windchaser as usual. Although we had reached a point where her mount could no longer be considered a super-tier mount, He Yi didn¡¯t want to change it because its appearance was extremely beautiful. Beiming Xue was clad in dark leather armor and wielding the Dragonbone String. Her red-colored eyes looked incredibly attractive, and her attire clung tightly to her body. Her now fully formed breasts looked like they were struggling to escape their bindings, and her snow white legs swaying beneath the battle robes were dazzling to say the least. Murong Mingyue¡¯s beauty was a completely different kind compared to Beiming Xue. She wore a priest robe and wielded a scepter. Her robe had a deep neckline that revealed the amazing globes swaying slightly beneath the thin layer of fabric. The sky-blue cloak fluttering behind her back seemed to imply her status of a super priest. Moonlight Stone was dressed like what you would expect from a high-level mage. Her weapon was the Dragonbone Scepter, a 2-star Outstanding Earth-grade weapon if I remembered correctly. The girl had grown a lot compared to her old self. She was a stubborn girl who never stopped grinding to become the chief mage of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and thanks to her hard work she was slowly but surely shortening the gap between herself and top-tier mages like God¡¯s Dance and Luo River God of the Capital. ¡­¡­ "Alright, everyone¡¯s here. Eve, I¡¯m giving you the party leader so you can use Royal Road. The 50% boost to all stats should make us all a bit tankier." "Got it!" He Yi activated her stratagem after I transferred the party leader position to her, and my max HP immediately increased by a whopping 50%. I then tossed a Bloodknight Card into the air and further increased my max HP by another 40%. To put it simply, my current HP was absolutely no joke. Beiming Xue blinked curiously as she asked me, "How much HP do you have now, big bro?" I shot her a glance and smiled. "135261." "What?" Moonlight Stone¡¯s mouth fell open. "That¡¯s ridiculous! A warrior with 135k HP? You put Gui Guzi and Heaven¡¯s Rain to shame!" I chuckled. "Nah. If Little Gui had the Royal Road buff on him, his HP would be higher than mine. Oh right, what is your HP, Eve?" He Yi glanced at me before answering, "It¡¯s 104k, a bit lower than yours. Your Armored Ice Qilin Horse is just too good¡­" "Mn, it¡¯s still over 100k, so that¡¯s great. Alright, it¡¯s time to depart! We ain¡¯t going back to Sky City until our bags are full of treasures, everyone!" "Let¡¯s go!" And so, we excitedly embarked on the journey to Dragonlight Canyon, a treasure hunt with no competitors, because we were the only ones with the treasure map. This meant that the mobs, the boss, the loot, everything was ours to claim. How amazing was that? ¡­¡­ When we passed through the Cyan Tiger Forest, we took a moment to reminisce. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to call the Cyan Battle Tiger one of the symbols of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and the reason we were undefeated in the war of cavalry. It was a milestone both literally and metaphorically. We couldn¡¯t be satisfied with just the Cyan Battle Tigers, however. They weren¡¯t Level 150 mounts, so they couldn¡¯t be considered top-tier, and even if they had been, it would only be a matter of time before they became outdated. To compete against the other guilds, we had to always strive to obtain better mounts that could be mass-farmed for everyone. The fact that Warsky Alliance was ranked second in the CGL Guild Ranking proved that their ambition to replace Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls as the strongest guild of Sky City had never vanished. Warsky was a good person, but I had no doubt that he would show up and take Dark Moon City away from us the moment we became weak. Every city was the foundation of a super guild. The reason we were able to recruit many high-level players was because we possessed some of the strongest players and the highest-ranked city in the entire world. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that the prestige we currently enjoyed was all thanks to Dark Moon City. ¡­¡­ On the way, the Phantom Wolf King and I acted as the point of the party and killed all the mobs who were blocking our way. If the Armored Ice Qilin Horse was swift and powerful, then the Phantom Wolf King was a bolt of lightning that tore apart everything in its path. It easily shredded the Level 160 Cyan Battle Tigers to pieces. Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone were ranged attackers, so they helped to contribute some DPS. He Yi and Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t need to do anything. About one and a half hours later, we arrived at an empty, desolate region. There were high-level Night Creatures such as Graveyard Devil Mockers, Undead Knights, Corpse Eaters and so on all over the place. The Level 175 ancient Undead Knights especially were so powerful that even I had problems soloing them myself. It was no wonder that no other player had ventured into this place. It wasn¡¯t like they didn¡¯t try, mind you. In fact, we saw a couple of 50-man parties attempting to kill a couple of stray Level 175 mobs outside the edge of the forest. However, a single charge from the Undead Knight had resulted in the death of a couple or archers and mages, and these people quickly wised up and retreated elsewhere. This map was just beyond their current capabilities right now. Our party was unperturbed, of course. The average level of our party was above 150, and everyone was armed to the teeth in excellent equipment. These Level 175 ancient mobs just couldn¡¯t pose a threat to us. We soon arrived at the foot of a black mountain range. The entrance was shrouded by smoky darkness that blocked our entry. I took out the treasure map and used it! Swhoosh! The map transformed into a ray of light and activated a magical formation in front of us. It was as if we had opened a door to another world. Chapter 693: Killing Bears I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, and it dashed right into the magic formation after responding with a neigh. The next moment, I had passed through the curtain of darkness and arrived at a whole new area¡ªthe map of Dragonlight Canyon. The first thing I noticed about the scenery in front of me was how gray it was. I could see trees swaying lightly on the ground and a pair of mountain ranges hugging a wide canyon at the center. From a bird¡¯s eye view, it looked like the gap between two dragons that were crawling side by side to each other. There was also a stream at the center of the canyon stretching toward the distant horizon. It was the lifeline of Dragonlight Canyon and the entire reason this forest could survive this place. An animalistic roar suddenly broke out from somewhere far away. It sounded so sharp and violent that I couldn¡¯t help a shiver. I had no doubt that this canyon was crawling with high-level monsters that might pose a good challenge for our party. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Light flashed behind me, and the girls appeared. He Yi rode up to me with her Blade of the Earthen Soul unsheathed and said smilingly, "Hoho, this map is pretty big! No wonder it has a 72-hour limit. Assuming that this whole map is crawling with mobs, it¡¯ll definitely take us three days or so to clear completely." I smiled back. "Yes. Anyway, let¡¯s not waste any more time. You, sis and Moonlight Stone are all and just a bit away from hitting Level 150, so let¡¯s try to get you all to Level 152 or so so you can get sixth promotion the moment you get out. We can¡¯t fall behind our competitors too much." "Mn. Let¡¯s go!" "Go!" ¡­¡­ The Armored Ice Qilin Horse raised its hooves and dashed forward, the Phantom Wolf King following right behind it. On top of that, I summoned my apparition to double my firepower. There shouldn¡¯t be any mob I couldn¡¯t deal with now. Our first mob didn¡¯t take long to appear. It was a Level 170 black bear covered in armored spikes called ¡°Spiked Ironback Bear¡±. Its Attack and Defense were so powerful that it would basically murder the shit out of everyone except Level 150 sixth-promotion players if it were to spawn in a plaza of Sky City. "Let¡¯s go!" He Yi charged the mob but failed to stun it. She immediately followed up with a fiery Barrier Break that penetrated its body and dealt 16820 damage. Thanks to the effects of Royal Road, she did pretty good damage despite the level discrepancy. I used my own Charge after He Yi, and¡ªmaybe because I had entered the Earthfire Realm, and He Yi hadn¡¯t¡ªI was able to stun it immediately. While the Spiked Ironback Bear was paralyzed by lightning, I hit it with Universe Break and Burning Blade Slash. The outpour of sword energy rocked the mob¡¯s body and dealt a ton of damage¡ª 25893! 13829! 19233! ¡­¡­ He Yi couldn¡¯t help but pout a little when she saw the damage numbers. "OMG, your Burning Blade Slash is way too OP. This is a Level 170 mob, and your last hit dealt almost 30k damage¡­" I smiled. "Do you want me to be the party leader before we run into a boss, Eve? You can do over 20k damage per hit as well if I activate Martial God!" Behind me, Beiming Xue voiced her agreement, "Yeah, yeah! Let¡¯s do it! Big bro¡¯s Martial God is better for grinding mobs, and it¡¯ll also make my attacks stronger!" Moonlight Stone nodded as well. Martial God was the best PvE Famous General Skill bar none because it boosted everyone¡¯s attack power by 200% and made grinding mobs way easier than it should be. That being said, poverty-stricken players might prefer Chaos Moon¡¯s Famous General Skill, Plunder, over Martial God. 100% increased attack power and 200% increased drop rate were absolutely nothing to scoff at! After I turned on Martial God, everyone¡¯s attack power, including the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s and the Ironwing Dragon¡¯s, was increased drastically. It was nice that the Famous General Skill affected both players and pets. The Ironback Bear let out a dying scream and collapsed after the Cyan Netherworld Sword and Blade of the Earthen Soul tore its body apart. It dropped a Phantasmal Magic Stone that rolled a long, long distance away. Moonlight Stone walked over to the Phantasmal Magic Stone and picked it up. She exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "Wow, it¡¯s a 84 Quality Phantasmal Magic Stone! That¡¯s 84 gold or 84 RMB! Does anyone want this?" I shook my head and said, "Finders keepers. You can keep it¡­" Moonlight Stone did just that before declaring smilingly, "Next!" We moved on. There was no way a Level 170 Ironback Bear could stop us. We stayed close to the river as we traversed the meandering canyon. Looking at the big map, the darkening red signaled that the mobs would grow stronger the deeper we ventured. Of course, we didn¡¯t know when we would get there, only that we would go in after we had cleared out all the outside mobs first. ¡­¡­ "Ah, there¡¯s a rich ore vein over here!" Moonlight Stone cheered in excitement from the front. Her secondary profession was a miner, so she immediately pulled out her mining tools and started digging away the vein of Thorium. Thorium was a Rank 9 mineral and very popular because it was an essential material when forging Rank 9 and 10 metal armors. The unusually high number of master weaponsmiths and armorsmiths in Sky City also ensured that the demand was high. A stack of Rank 9 mineral could be sold for 500 RMB, and a stack of Rank 10 mineral, a ridiculous price of 2000 RMB. It was why a large number of players ventured deep into the mountains in search of minerals every day, turning even a gigantic map like Dragonbone Mountain Range upside down. Of course, countless players died to the mobs as a result. Without sufficient strength, it was practically suicide to invade one¡¯s home and rob them of their ores. He Yi and I stayed close to Moonlight Stone while she dug her ores. She was a mage, so there was almost no chance she could survive if she was caught alone with a mob. Two minutes later, Moonlight Stone finally finished her work and rose to her feet. Her face was rosy with excitement, "Hoho, I got 3 stacks of Thorium in total! That¡¯s 1500 RMB! What a jackpot!" I replied with a joke. "I demand a dividend!" He Yi shot me a scornful glance. "You have no shame¡­" Murong Mingyue pointed her scepter to the front and said, "Do you guys mind looking to the front before you talk about loot distribution? I think we pissed off the bear clan. Oh? There¡¯s even a super large bear in the middle of the pack. Is it the boss?" I glanced to the direction she was pointing, and true enough, an entire horde of bears had appeared on the open plain right outside the forest. They were all Level 170 to 172 ancient mobs, and at the very back, standing atop a big rock, was an exceptionally huge bear with cyan-colored fur and narrow eyes. It definitely looks like the king of the pack alright. I activated Dark Pupils and performed a super long-range inspection. Yep, it was definitely the boss of the group, and its name was ¡°Cyanlight Bear King¡±. Once again, we were made to realize just how valuable this map was. It was incredible how soon we ran into a boss already. In Heavenblessed, the best equipment basically dropped from bosses, and our party was strong enough to challenge even Heaven Rank bosses. Therefore, most bosses were just walking bags of wealth and experience to us! "God damn, it sure has a lot of lackeys¡­" I gripped the Cyan Netherworld Sword and said leisurely, "Girls, it looks like we have to clear out the small fries first. Trust me, you do not want to get obstructed by the mobs while we fight against the boss." He Yi nodded in agreement and said, "Lu Chen, your mount is faster, so you should be the one to aggro the mobs. Then we¡­ actually, let¡¯s find a choke point first. We¡¯ll die if we get swarmed by the mobs¡­" I laughed. "No need, we have a bigger party this time. There¡¯s you, me, the Ironwing Dragon, the Phantom Wolf King, my apparition and Beiming Xue¡¯s Purgatory Thunder Beast. The six of us can easily surround sis, Beiming and Moonlight Stone and create a solid half-circle near the edge of the map. While I aggro the mobs, find a spot where the mountain is behind us and get into position. Also, stay alert. These are Level 172 ancient mobs. It¡¯ll be embarrassing to get party-wiped here, right?" He Yi chuckled. "We know, so get going already. We¡¯re not that noob¡­" "Alright. See you in a jiffy!" I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and galloped away. When I entered the mobs¡¯ aggro range, they raised their heads and looked at me. Then, they started swiping at me with their big paws. Thud thud thud... My mount left behind deep marks on the ground as it galloped in between the trees and the rocks. We were able to zigzag away from their attacks and aggro them to maximum effect. It wasn¡¯t long before an entire sea of bears started chasing after me, but they were so slow that they were unable to catch up to me at all. It was all they could do not to lose track of me. Less than three minutes later, I returned to He Yi¡¯s side and took my position. At the same time, I ordered my apparition to stand in front of Beiming Xue. For some reason, the dark archer wore a blissful look on her face as she leaned on the back of her fake big brother. Then, she drew her Dragonbone String and fired a devastating twelve-arrow Evil Spirit Volley at the incoming horde! Boom boom boom! The Evil Spirit Volley was imbued with a splash effect, so it detonated like missiles and dealt a ton of damage when it hit the mobs. I immediately followed up the attack with Burning Blade Slash where the crowd was the thickest, rocking their bodies and causing their HP to drop even further. In fact, the third strike of my Burning Blade Slash dealt close to 40k damage, a feat that was possible only when Martial God was active. He Yi wore a serious look on her face as she launched five sword auras in front of her. Every hit of Purgatory of Ice and Magma dealt 18k damage or more, for a total of 100k damage by the time the animation ended. Moreover, her weapon had a splash effect, so the bears on the left side of our half-circle dropped from 100 to 0 just like that! They¡¯ve actually been one-shot! "Wow¡­" Moonlight Stone¡¯s mouth fell open. "Sister He Yi is so amazing¡­ she one-shot the mobs¡­" Even I couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit of envy. He Yi¡¯s Purgatory of Ice and Magma was even stronger than my Burning Blade Slash! Meanwhile, the Ironwing Dragon opened its mouth and fired a draconic breath, setting at least a dozen bears on fire. It was a gladdening sight. The Ironwing Dragon had finally picked up an AoE skill, adding much to Murong Mingyue¡¯s DPS. My Phantom Wolf King was even more impressive, of course. Purgatory Storm was deadly enough, but it also triggered Claw of the Storm non-stop and wreaked havoc in the ranks of Spiked Ironback Bears. I would be sad for the bears if I was on their side. Moonlight Stone was also a major contributor of our firepower. Galaxy Storm and mages in general were just way too powerful, and with repeated casts, her DPS wasn¡¯t too far behind Beiming Xue¡¯s! ¡­¡­ Less than ten minutes later, almost 500 bears dropped dead. Everyone was bursting with happiness as our experience bars filled up considerably. While we were sweeping the battlefield, Beiming Xue suddenly let out a scream, "Wow, look at this!" "What¡¯s wrong, Beiming?" I walked over and saw Beiming Xue holding up a ring with a dazed expression on her face. Chapter 694: Cyanlight Bear King I asked, "What is this ring?" Beiming Xue raised it and answered my question with a question, "Doesn¡¯t it look cool, big bro?" A muscle twitched in my face. "It looks¡­ okay. What are its stats?" "Here!" Beiming Xue waved her hand across the ring, and its stats screen appeared in front of me. Huh, not bad, especially considering that this is a ring; an accessory¡ª Ring of the Silver Berserk (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï) Agility: +132 Stamina: +117 Passive: Increases user''s ranged attack power by 15% Outstanding Property: Berserk, increases user''s critical hit rate by 17%, the effect stacks with other bonuses. Level Requirement: 150 Reputation: 150000 ¡­¡­ I was stunned by the time I finished reading the entire stats screen. This was supposed to be an average ring even with a passive that increased ranged attack power by 15%, but if you took its Outstanding Property into consideration then it was as good as an Earth-grade ring or even a Heaven-grade ring! 17% crit rate was amazing enough, but a stackable 17% crit rate was even more amazing. This one ring made Beiming Xue¡¯s crit rate even more monstrous than before! Beiming Xue switched on her new ring, checked her new stats and said with a sweet smile on her face, "Oh, this is wonderful. My total crit rate is now 54.9%..." My heart shuddered in fear when I heard her comment. Holy shit, that¡¯s over 50%! My own crit rate is less than 25%! There is just no comparison! Of course, if my crit rate was equal to Beiming Xue, it would be my enemies¡¯ turn to cry foul. There was practically no one I couldn¡¯t kill with that kind of crit rate and Martial God. After we were done looting the battlefield, I left to aggro a new group of mobs. We shouldn¡¯t waste too much time killing the bears, so I tried to maximize our grind efficiency. Forty minutes and 4 groups of bears later, a dozen or so top-tier, high-level items¡ªa large majority of them added Tactics as well¡ªwere added to my inventory. They were pretty popular in the current market right now. As for experience, I was now sitting at Level 154, 14%. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I should be able to level up once or twice per day on this map at least. It was exhilarating to say the least! "Alright, it¡¯s time to kill the boss¡­" Beiming Xue said while staring at the bear king at the distance. "Do you want to go first, big bro?" "Of course." Level: 175 Attack: 3440~5280 Defense: 5100 HP: 25,000,000 Skills: Berserk Rend, Armor of the Wild, Roaring Whirlwind Introduction: The Cyanlight Bear King is a ruler of the forest. It possesses incredible strength and physique. Legend says that the Cyanlight Bear King could roll off a cliff from the mountaintop and be completely unharmed after hitting the ground. Countless human adventurers had tried to hunt down the Cyanlight Bear King, but they only managed to become its next meals. Even the famous captain of Ironspear Mercenaries died in its paws. Since then, the mere mention of its name is enough to chill one¡¯s blood. ¡­¡­ Thud! The Armored Ice Qilin Horse rammed its head against the Cyanlight Bear King¡¯s and stunned it successfully. It was just a Level 175 Earth Rank boss, so my current Attack and Defense stat were enough to kill it. Also, there was only a 20-level gap between us, and my resistances were pretty good thanks to the Earthfire Realm. "Use Royal Road, Eve!" Just in case, I gave He Yi the party leader position and told her to activate Royal Road. A 50% boost to Defense was always useful, especially against a brute boss like this Cyanlight Bear King. Bang bang bang! I slashed the boss''s chest repeatedly and dealt so much damage that its attention was locked firmly on me. The plan was simple. I would fight as the sole tank with Murong Mingyue as my dedicated healer. It was safer this way, and it kept the demand for skill from everyone else to a minimum. "Roar roar¡­" Humiliated by the human adventurers, the Cyanlight Bear King immediately let out an angry roar and swung its claws three times in a row. However, my Defense was insanely high, and I had Ghost Deity Armor that increased that number even further. Three damage numbers rose above my head in succession¡ª 6829! 6290! 7127! ¡­¡­ It was an embarrassing amount of damage. I had a whopping 130k HP right now, so its skill only deleted around 15% of my health. Swhoosh! An Instant Heal from Murong Mingyue later, I returned to full health, just like that. The bear king looked a bit frustrated, so it tried harder and struck with the power of a whirlwind behind its claws! Buzz! 18290! Not bad! This time, it did more damage to me and even hurt the nearby He Yi, Phantom Wolf King and Ironwing Dragon for about 25000 damage or so. Seeing this, Murong Mingyue threw a Pool of Life beneath our feet and healed us all at once. The pressure was instantly removed yet again. At the back, Beiming Xue kept changing positions out of habit as she attacked even though she could¡¯ve just done so from a stationary position. One of the most basic requirements to become an elite archer was to learn how to shoot on the move to dodge enemy fire. Only the laziest and noobest of archers would shoot standing still. Moonlight Stone wasn¡¯t idle either. She chanted her strongest single-target spell, Dragon¡¯s Roar, again and again and dealt 20k+ damage to the boss per cast. It was very impressive. The boss fight went extraordinarily well. If it wasn¡¯t clear that our party was extremely powerful before, it was now. We had super-tier tanks, super-tier DPS and super-tier healing. We were practically invincible in this fight. In less than 20 minutes, the Level 175 Earth Rank boss had dropped to red health! ¡­¡­ "Watch out, its HP has dropped below 10%..." He Yi said, "I wasn¡¯t expecting this fight to go this smoothly, hehe. Keep it up, everyone!" Murong Mingyue put a hand to her chest and ate a Rank 10 Magic Consumable before replying, "Normally, a boss fight that goes too well is unnatural, so watch out for enrage¡ª" Before she could finish her sentence, the bear king abruptly let out an earthshaking roar and thumped its own chest repeatedly. As a column of cyan light surrounded it, its flesh and bones started expanding rapidly until it was almost 1.5 times bigger than it originally was. It even grew a sharp horn on its forehead. Murong Mingyue¡¯s words of caution had been spot-on! Amused and annoyed at the same time, He Yi complained, "You and your big mouth, Mingyue!" Murong Mingyue replied carelessly, "It¡¯s fine, we have Lu Chen¡­" Me: "..." Full of confidence, I let out a loud laugh before saying, "It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s actually a good thing the boss enraged because its drop rate and the quality of its drops increases proportionally to its stats! Just watch, this bear king¡¯s going to give us our first Heaven-grade item of the map!" I thrust my sword forward and held onto boss''s hate with a Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash combo. The bear king¡¯s arms had become as hard as steel after it enraged, and when it used its Berserk Rend again, it actually managed to crit me twice in a row! 16287! 33284! 38722! ¡­¡­ I lost over 80k HP in an instant and dipped below 10%. Moonlight Stone was so frightened that she yelped, "Watch out! Don¡¯t let it pancake you, vice leader!" Her comment nearly made me puke blood as I raised my arm and surrounded myself in a column of red light. Tenacity of the Dead + Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion, go! +34463! +15000! I had recovered 60k+ HP in an instant, and a Greater Heal from Murong Mingyue later, my HP was back to 100k. Seeing that it was just a false alarm, Moonlight Stone sighed audibly and said, "He survived that? Lu Chen truly is the Unkillable War God¡­" "Dammit girl. Less talking, more fighting!" I ordered my apparition to go all out on the boss. The pressure sitting on our shoulders was building rapidly after the boss had enraged, but we had Murong Mingyue and me, a super tank with 130k HP. It was definitely possible to kill the boss without losing anyone. "Roar roar roar¡­" Five minutes later, I hit the boss with one last Burning Blade Slash, and it collapsed in a death scream and dropped a ton of loot! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Swhoosh! Both He Yi and Murong Mingyue leveled up to 150 at once. Once they exited this map, they could complete their sixth-promotion quests and enter the Earthfire Realm. "Let¡¯s check out the boss''s loot, shall we?" He Yi said to me. "Yeah." I walked up and picked up the loot. The enraged boss definitely had higher drop rates because it dropped a total of 5 pieces of equipment. Not bothering to check them one by one, I brought up 5 stats screens at once and showed them to the girls¡ª Cyanlight Battle Armor (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): 1120 Defense, 985 Magic Resist, +155 Strength, +150 Stamina, increases user''s Defense by 27%. Outstanding Property: increases user¡¯s max HP by 4000. Level Requirement: 150. Cyanlight Helmet (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): 1040 Defense, 920 Magic Resist, Strength +150, Stamina +160. Increases user¡¯s hit rate by 40%. Outstanding Property: Increases user''s attack power by 15%, Level Requirement: 150. Necklace of the Green Berserk (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï): Strength +125, Stamina +120. Increases user''s attack power by 20%. Outstanding Property: Berserk, increases user''s critical hit rate by 9%, the effect stacks with other bonuses. Level Requirement: 150. Wild Cloak (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï): 710 Defense, 440 Magic Resist, Intelligence +145, Stamina +140. Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 19%. Outstanding Property: Wild, increases damage of berserk-type attacks by 10%. Level Requirement: 150. Aurora Dagger (Purple Gold¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï): 750~990 Attack, Agility +120, Stamina +115. Increases user¡¯s chance to ignore Defense by 6%. Outstanding Property: Fierce Assault, increases user''s attack power by 14%. Level Requirement: 150. Chapter 695: The Hero Saves the Damsel? I also gave her the Necklace of Green Berserk. It increased critical hit rate by 9%, so it could improve her DPS by a lot. Wild Cloak was Earth-grade cloth armor, so I gave it to Moonlight Stone. The 19% Magic Attack boost would be wasted on Murong Mingyue. Finally, I gave the Aurora Dagger to Beiming Xue since neither He Yi nor I had a use for it, and an archer could switch to daggers when fighting at close range. Although archers were way less proficient with the weapon than an assassin as a matter of course, it gave them the ability to parry an incoming attack while searching for an opening to distance themselves from their opponent. It was a reliable tactic and a good complement to Beiming Xue¡¯s skills. A top-class archer would know not to constraint themselves to fighting from a distance only. Fate wouldn¡¯t always be on your side, and if you had to fight on unfavorable terrain then it was up to you to create favorable fighting conditions for yourself. For example, there was one time Transient Smoke and Clouds dueled Warsky in the arena, and the archer had created some distance between himself and Warsky using a dagger parry right before the warrior was able to lock him down. A combo of Shock Arrow + Freezing Arrow later, he successfully claimed Warsky¡¯s point for himself. The duel was showered with praises on the forums and even heralded as a textbook duel between an archer and a warrior. ¡­¡­ We moved on. The chilling wind caused rustling sounds across the wilted forest. "Look! I think that¡¯s an NPC¡­" said Beiming Xue after discovering some activity at the edge of a mountain range. It was a simple camp with cooking smoke rising from the chimneys, so it definitely looked like there were NPCs in that place. This was good because it meant that there were quests to be received in Dragonlight Canyon. I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward, and as expected, I found a dozen or so shabby-looking NPCs sitting inside the camp. Their armors looked severely damaged, and even their swords were showing signs of rusting. Their eyes were dim and lifeless. I walked up to them and started a conversation, "Hello. Which corps do you come from?" "Ah?" I answered, "We are adventurers from Sky City. We found this place when we were looking at a treasure map. What happened to you people?" A dejected expression immediately overcame the half-beastman¡¯s glare. "Sigh, another group of pitiful adventurers who entered this death trap by accident. I bet that you¡¯ll all become the food of monsters in half a day or less." "How can you say that?" He Yi raised her Blade of the Earthen Soul and said, "We¡¯re pretty powerful, you know!" Surprised at her retort, the half-beastman looked at us again, much more seriously this time. Whatever he saw must¡¯ve satisfied him because he immediately said with a respectful demeanor, "Oh, you are high-level adventurers from Sky City! Well, you do seem very powerful, but to be honest with you I still think your chances of walking out of this place is pretty low. There are so many deadly threats in this canyon that our 3000-strong legion was reduced to a handful in just half a year¡¯s time." He let out a long sigh before continuing, "This was a forgotten area until it suddenly appeared in our borders some time ago. We had come to investigate and clear it under Princess Karinshan¡¯s order, but we lost so many men that I doubt that we¡¯ll be able to fulfill our duties any longer." I unsheathed the Cyan Netherworld Sword and declared smilingly, "What is the creature that gave you so much trouble? From my understanding, an elite legion of Sky City should be able to deal with most Night Creatures¡­" The half-beastman looked to the east with sorrow and anger. "It is those evil dragon girls who killed our warriors and strung their corpses on the walls. Dammit, I am well aware of all the atrocities they have committed, but they are just too powerful for me to stop¡­" I was slightly caught off-guard by his reply. "Dragon girls?" "Yes." The half-beastman nodded strongly. "They are a race born from the unnatural breeding between man and dragon. They are a hateful race that seek to take revenge on the world that abandoned them by hunting every traveler and adventurer that passes through this canyon. Hmph, they are so powerful that a human legion is powerless against them!" I raised my sword and declared, "You don¡¯t need to speak any longer. We will take them out for you!" "Really?" A bit of hope peeked out of the half-beastman¡¯s eyes. "If you can kill these dragon girls, my remaining warriors and I will be able to return to Sky City and report back to Princess Karinshan. Dragonlight Canyon is an evil place that serves the Night Creatures! Be on your way, young adventurers. If you can kill 2000 Dragon Girls and gather 200 Dragongirl Scales for me, you will receive a generous reward!" Murong Mingyue looked the NPC up and down. Then, she sneered out loud and said, "Let¡¯s do this. I¡¯m curious to see where he¡¯s going to conjure this ¡®generous reward¡¯ of his from when he¡¯s almost naked!" As usual, her comments were blood puke-inducing. At the same time, a system notification rang beside our ears¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Your party has accepted the quest "Kill the Dragon Girls"! (Current Quest Rank: SSS-) Description: Find the Dragon Girls¡¯ settlement within the deeper areas of Dragonlight Canyon. Kill 2000 Dragon Girls and collect 200 Dragongirl Scales. Bring them to Guard Captain Dio for a generous reward! But beware, the Dragon Girls are extremely cunning, and countless human warriors have perished beneath their sharp claws. Be sure to prepare yourself to fight them at your absolute best! ¡­¡­ "Alright, an SSS- Rank quest! I wasn¡¯t expecting this quest to be ranked this highly. I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be a rewarding quest!" I said to everyone. "Yeah, let¡¯s go! I want to see what the deal is with these ¡®Dragon Girls¡¯!" He Yi then added hopefully, "Who knows, we may even be able to capture these dragons as mounts and swap out our Cyan Tiger Cavalry! We¡¯ll be much stronger than those disgusting Viper Dragoons of Candle Dragon then!" Beiming Xue chuckled. "Only if it doesn¡¯t look as disgusting as the Viper Dragoons, Sister Eve. Superior stats or not, disgusting is disgusting¡­" "Yes, of course!" He Yi nodded with a smile. I rode at the forefront with the Phantom Wolf King following beside me on land and a shadow following in the sky. It was, of course, Murong Mingyue¡¯s Ironwing Dragon. The Ironwing Dragon was almost a full adult, and its meaty wings were as tough as steel. Unfortunately, it looked more like a gadfly and nowhere as powerful or elegant as a soaring frost dragon, a fire dragon or a thunder dragon and so on because it was just a low Rank dragon. I made sure to ride the Armored Ice Qilin Horse slow because I had 3 ranged players to protect behind me. The mobs were apparently so powerful that they were able to devastate a 3000-strong human legion like it was nothing, so I wasn¡¯t going to charge in mindlessly. It didn¡¯t take long before we arrived at a bamboo forest and heard a strange scream from the front. It almost sounded like a girl was crying sorrowfully. "Huh? What¡¯s that sound?" He Yi shot me a doubtful look. I was just as confused as she was. "Is that another NPC?" "I don¡¯t know¡­" Beiming Xue walked up to us and said, "Well, let¡¯s go take a look, big bro!" "Yeah!" I spurred my mount and rode into the forest. The sky had turned dark by now, and the desolate land before us lit only by the moon was growing blurrier and blurrier. Behind me, He Yi stayed close to the three girls to protect them. "Big bro, over there!" Beiming Xue was a succubus and an archer, so she could see and sense much better than me. I looked at the direction she was pointing, and I saw a white figure wriggling atop a barren hill. I immediately rode toward the figure, and I when I got closer I was shocked by what I saw¡ª It was a half-naked girl with the lower half of her body buried in the ground for some reason. She had glossy dark hair and a tear-stained but beautiful face. Although she wasn¡¯t talking, the way she stretched her arms toward me and looked at me with begging eyes clearly indicated that she wanted us to help her. Also, since she wasn¡¯t wearing any clothes at all, it was impossible to miss the naked body glistening under the moonlight and the bouncing mounds that sorely tested my patience. ¡­¡­ "God damn, what kind of brute would¡­" Murong Mingyue looked speechless for a moment. "They raped her and buried half of her in the ground? How inhumane¡­" "Who told you she was raped? Stop making assumptions..." Rolling my eyes, I got off my mount and walked up to her. Looks like another NPC quest. I grabbed the girl¡¯s hand and asked, "Hold onto my hand and climb. I¡¯ll pull you out of there. By the way, where is your house? This place seems completely desolate." Instead of answering me, the girl grabbed my wristguards tightly with both arms. At the same time, a glint of cunning flashed across her dark pupils. Behind me, He Yi said suddenly, "This is a plot that has been retold many times in Strange Stories, stupid Lu Chen¡­" "Strange Stories¡­" I shuddered suddenly. What were some of the more famous stories in Strange Stories? For example, there was this poor scholar who was reading in a countryside book store when he heard a girl crying for help. When he tried to save her, the girl pushed him to the ground, tore off his clothes, climbed on top of him and¡­ sucked his life force dry, killing him on the spot! At the same time, I felt a tremendous power around my arms as the girl slowly crawled out of the ground. Her hands and her breasts were digging deeply into my arms. That wasn¡¯t the problem, however. The problem was that her face was growing uglier and uglier, and her buried lower body was a scaled, animalistic body! A pair of tentacles with scythe at the ends stretched out of her waist and slashed toward me mercilessly! "Hiss¡­" That wasn¡¯t even the end of it. She suddenly opened her mouth and hissed at me with her bloody tongue! "FUCK!" I shouted. I finally understood why the girl hadn¡¯t spoken a word from start until the end. It was because she wasn¡¯t a human! Chapter 696: Dragonblade Wristguard I scrambled backward and tried to pull myself free, but the girl¡¯s grip was just too powerful. What the hell is this shit?! At the same time, the scythes rocked my waist and caused sparks to fly out of the Crimson Rock Dragon Armor. Two damage numbers popped above my head¡ª 12988! 12737! ¡­¡­ Not good! I wasn¡¯t mounted right now, so I only had 60k+HP or so. There was no way I could endure this one-sided beating for long! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Murong Mingyue quickly dished out a couple of healing spells and healed me back to full. Thank goodness she was here! Meanwhile, the mob was slowly pushing itself out of the hole with its powerful legs and revealing its true body. It was a scorpion-like body that was covered in dragon scales instead of a carapace. Its head was actually the entire upper body of that of a girl. What a shameless and cunning mob! It buried its true body beneath the ground so it could lure righteous youngsters like me to their deaths! Dark Pupils revealed the mob¡¯s stats, and I shared it inside the party channel¡ª Dragon Girl (Earth Rank Mini Boss) Level: 178 Attack: 3140~4780 Defense: 5000 HP: 9,000,000 Skills: Dragon Claw Rend, Armor of the Wild, Dragonblade Storm Introduction: The Dragon Girls are a cross-breed between a dragon and a human. The eggs are abandoned in the wild since birth, and only 10% of them had a chance to hatch successfully. Having lost their parents since the moment they were born, these vengeful and violent creatures gathered at Dragonlight Canyon and became its killers. The only joy they know in this world is that of tearing a human apart and cutting them into pieces. ¡­¡­ "Fuck, it¡¯s a miniboss!" I exclaimed. He Yi Charged the Dragon Girl and was able to land an incredibly lucky stun. She immediately said to me, "Free yourself now, Lu Chen!" Right now, the Dragon Girl was gripping me in midair and attempting to slice through my waist with its twin scythes. If I didn¡¯t free myself now, it would most certainly succeed in its grisly endeavor! I immediately kicked out with both legs and struck the Dragon Girl squarely in the chest. At the same time, I swung the Cyan Netherworld Sword and fired a Burning Blash Slash at its ugly body! Bang bang bang! Fire rocked the Dragon Girl¡¯s body, and finally I was able to break free from its grip. At the same time, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse neighed loudly and caught me perfectly with its back. Truly, this was a level of intelligence only an Earth Rank boss mount or better could display! I instantly entered a mounted state and enjoyed a drastic boost in all my stats. It was time to take out this miniboss! "Come on! It¡¯s time to kill this Xiaolongn¨¹!" ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue drew her bow and launched Devil Piercing Arrows and Spiraling Arrow Blades at the Dragon Girl. Moonlight Stone burst into laughter when she heard me addressing the Dragon Girl as Xiaolongn¨¹. "OMG, now that I think about it, you really did almost get raped by a Xiaolongn¨¹, didn¡¯t you¡­" I looked again at this so-called Xiaolongn¨¹. Her upper body was perfect, sure, but her lower body was disgusting to say the least. I would rather die than be raped by this thing! Chiang chiang chiang! Sparks flew everywhere as my sword tore apart its scale armor. In a fair fight, my strength was equal, no, better than this Level 178 Earth Rank miniboss. Moreover, Murong Mingyue was healing me, and He Yi was fighting right by my side. For a moment, the night was alit with the sparks of metal clashing against draconic scales. Swhoosh! A cold light flew away from Beiming Xue¡¯s Dragonbone String and nailed the miniboss right beneath its chin. A sickly, purple light instantly enveloped its entire body. It was the Bone Eroding Arrow, a skill that lowers the target¡¯s defense power by 50%. Thanks to it, we would be able to end this fight a lot faster! "Roar roar¡­" Xiaolongn¨¹ finally said her first words, but what came out of her sweet, red lips was a beastial roar. Veins were popping on her face because we had taken out almost 10% of her HP in the blink of an eye. Not even a miniboss could withstand our devastating offense for long. Suddenly, she swung her claws in mid-scream and spun around like a top, summoning a bloody storm around her. It was the skill Dragonblade Storm! Thud thud thud! The skill was about 10x10 yard wide, and both He Yi and I were struck by the draconic blades. Three damage numbers popped above our heads as our health dropped drastically¡ª 18982! 19283! 21737! God damn, that would¡¯ve been fatal for our ranged players were they inexperienced newbies who stayed close to the miniboss like they were melee fighters. Luckily they were not, and they were able to escape its skill range in time. Neither He Yi, me, or even my pet, the Phantom Wolf King was cowed by the miniboss in the slightest. We all tanked its attacks head-on and retaliated with a strike of our own. Beiming Xue¡¯s Thunder Beast was close to full maturity, so it also helped out and struck Xiaolongn¨¹¡¯s with its claws. Occasionally, its claws would paralyze the miniboss¡ªits attacks dealt additional lightning damage¡ªand greatly lower its attack speed and movement speed, improving our situation even more than it already was. The fight lasted nearly 5 minutes, and Xiaolongn¨¹¡¯s HP dipped below 20%. She roared and used Dragonblade Storm again, but she was facing me and He Yi, a pair of high-level mounted players whose stats were buffed by 50% thanks to Royal Road. Her fate was sealed from the moment she failed to one-shot us with her greatest skill. Swhoosh! Another two minutes later, I pierced Xiaolongn¨¹¡¯s body with a Universe Break. Finally, the Dragon Girl collapsed in a roar and kicked up a cloud of dust. Not only that, it dropped a pair of purple stones. The miniboss didn¡¯t drop any equipment. It only dropped 2 magic stones and a scale; a quest item. "Wah! It¡¯s a magic stone!" Moonlight Stone was a magic stone-con, so her eyes turned misty when she picked them up from the ground. "Wow, they¡¯re Purple Crystals! One of them is quality 97, and the other quality 89! Lu Chen¡¯s Luck is seriously OP, even the magic stones he got from his kills are of high quality¡­ how should we distribute this?" Purple Crystal was a grade higher than a Phantasmal Stone, and it could be sold for 10 to 1000 gold at the shop depending on its quality. For example, the 97 quality Purple Crystal could be sold at the shop for 970 gold, or 970 RMB in real life. Throw the 89 quality Purple Crystal into the mix, and that was almost equal to the one-month salary of some workers. He Yi said, "Purple Crystals are extremely valuable, so let¡¯s split it by cycle: the first stone goes to Moonlight Stone, the second goes to Lu Chen, the third goes to Beiming, the fourth goes to me and the fifth goes to Mingyue. It¡¯s fairer this way, and there are still plenty of minibosses to kill. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll amass a ton of Purple Crystals in no time." Murong Mingyue nodded smilingly. "Yep. By the way, did you guys see how much experience the miniboss gave? My experience bar filled up visibly when it died! Level 178 Earth Rank miniboss are seriously amazing¡­ all these healing is making me go through my magic consumables really fast though. Handsome, did you bring enough magic consumables for this adventure?" I replied, "Of course! I know how MP hungry you are, so I brought a total of 290 sets of Rank 10 magic consumables besides the Saint Spirit Potions. You can consume them three days and nights and still not be done, so don¡¯t worry about it. What¡¯s the point of refining a ton of magic consumables if I don¡¯t use them, right?" Murong Mingyue smiled happily. "Awesome! Now give me 50 sets first!" "Sure!" We moved on after I traded the magic consumables to Murong Mingyue. There obviously was more than one Dragon Girl in this lifeless wilderness, or it would be impossible to complete the quest. As expected, it took us less than 20 steps to cross to the other side of the small hill and run another Dragon Girl. This one¡¯s upper body was sticking out of a bush, and just like before it was showering me with teary looks and stretching its arms toward me like the perfect damsel in distress. I immediately pulled out my sword and cursed her, "Fuck you!" Beiming Xue didn¡¯t even bother to swear at the Dragon Girl, opting to skip straight to the murder part of the show and loosed a Mountain Stagger Arrow. It lodged into the center of its chest and caused the breasts to bounce uncontrollably! Bang! The Dragon Girl entered a half-stun state after eating the skill and shed off its pitiful appearance. Pulling its gigantic, ugly lower body out of the ground and growling something hoarse and incomprehensible, it ran toward us like a scythe-wielding truck intending to run down its enemies. It was targeting Beiming Xue because she was the one who hurt it. "You are courting death!" I fired a Dragon Slaying Slash at the Dragon Girl¡¯s head and dealt over 20k damage, instantly pulling its attention toward me. Before it could get close to me, I tossed the Cyan Netherworld Sword and carved up its stomach with a Sword Boomerang. Swhoosh! My combo wasn¡¯t over yet. Charging toward the boss, I grabbed the hilt of my sword and executed War Crush! My mount¡¯s hooves smashed the ground thunderously! Bang bang bang! Both the planning and the execution were flawless. Moonlight Stone¡¯s mouth fell open as she murmured, "OMG, is this how the Little Heavenly King fights? What an impressive combo and skill mastery¡­" Once again, we surrounded the Dragon Girl and showered her with blades, arrows and magic. It died as a matter of course, but this time it dropped two Purple Crystals and a scaly wristguard! I spurred my mount toward the equipment and picked it up from the ground. When I willed its stats screen into a hologram, the girls immediately exclaimed in pleasant surprise¡ª Dragonblade Wristguard (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 670 Magic Resist: 550 Strength: +130 Stamina: +125 Passive: Increases user''s critical hit rate by 4% Outstanding Property: Draconic Energy. User¡¯s Light stat and damage dealt to undead units is increased by 5%. Property: Dragonblade Set, Wristguard Level Requirement: 150 Chapter 697: Dance of Draconic Energy Beiming Xue looked overjoyed as she said to me, "Big bro, this outstanding property, Draconic Energy increases Light stat and damage dealt to undead units by 5%. If we manage to gather a full set, this outstanding property should be even stronger, right? Since a large majority of Heavenblessed¡¯s enemies are undead, this is a very useful attribute to have!" I replied approvingly, "Correct. It¡¯s also a Level 150 high-grade equipment, so I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll sell like hot cakes. Even if we ignore the outstanding property, it still gives +4% crit rate. I¡¯m pretty sure you can make a super-tier fighter with a full set. This is going to be fun¡­" He Yi counted with her fingers for a bit before saying, "We need to kill 2000 Xiaolongn¨¹s to complete this quest. If we let Lu Chen land the last hit on all of them, we should be able to gather 20 full sets of Dragonblade sets or more. That¡¯s 20 first class fighters to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" "Yeah!" I nodded strongly before gazing toward the distance. "High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and Heaven¡¯s Rain are all mounted players, but their equipment is so-so at best. If we can equip them with a Dragonblade set, they could all become one-man armies!" Moonlight Stone voiced her agreement. "Yeah, yeah! Let¡¯s work hard and gather the equipment for everyone! By the way, Lu Chen, why don¡¯t you equip the Dragonblade Wristguard temporarily? The full list of the set¡¯s effects should show after you equip it." "Sure!" I did as she said and equipped the Dragonblade Wristguard. As expected, the set effect lit that was hidden before immediately became visible. I shared it with everyone so they could see it¡ª Dragonblade Set: 1 piece: None 2 piece: Increases user''s defense power by 40% 3 piece: Increases user¡¯s HP by 8000 4 piece: Increases user''s attack power by 45%, and attack speed by 20% 5 piece: Dance of Draconic Energy. User may inject their weapons with draconic energy and increase damage dealt to undead units by 80%. ¡­¡­ The stats were so impressive that the girls were literally speechless for a time. The pieces themselves were already pretty impressive¡ªthey were Level 150 and Spirit-grade after all¡ªbut the set effects were out of the world. 40% extra defense power, 45% extra attack power, 8000 extra HP and even an OP as shit passive that adds 80% extra damage against undead units? It was unbelievable! Let¡¯s put it this way: if Farewell Song dueled me while he wearing this equipment set, my chances of winning against him was less than 30%. 80% increased damage was absolutely no joke especially in PvP. According to Heavenblessed¡¯s calculation formula, +80% damage was definitely superior to +80% attack power between two players of the same level. Moonlight Stone turned red. "Sure, sounds pretty good, but uh, can you please not call me Moonlighter? I¡¯m a hardworking and frugal girl, so I definitely don¡¯t need a second job to maintain my expenditure, nope. Also, it sounds weirdly sexual for some reason¡­" Beiming Xue was giggling behind Moonlight Stone¡¯s back, and He Yi was shooting me an approving look. As I had mentioned earlier, I was planning to sell these Dragonblade set to Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and Xu Yang and so on. They were all signed to a big club with a starting salary of 2 million per year at minimum, so 200k was entirely within their ability to afford. Also, the Dragonblade set was so powerful that I guarantee it would see for 2 million at least at the auction. If anything, they were the ones who should be thankful that I¡¯m charging them only 10% of this equipment set¡¯s true value. Also, I hadn¡¯t suggested to sell the equipment for my own sake. I didn¡¯t lack this bit of money, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for Moonlight Stone. Although the girl was perfectly willing to gather these equipment for her sisters for free, it wasn¡¯t something I could allow. One of my responsibilities as the vice leader was to speak up in situations like this one and make sure that my guild members were treated fairly. Anyway, back to the present. We moved on and continued to hunt for Xiaolongn¨¹s, using more or less the same battle plan as before. Beiming Xue would bait the miniboss out of its trap with Mountain Stagger Arrows, and the rest of us would pummel it until it was dead. He Yi and Beiming Xue were incredibly intelligent girls, so they always stopped attacking when the boss had less than 3% HP and gave me the last hit. There was no reason to waste my 43 Luck after all. Right now I had the highest Luck in the entire server, followed by Candlelight Shadow with only 28 Luck, and finally Lin Yixin with 26 Luck. Luck could only be obtained through main quests or big events, and in this game it was the most important stat of all stats! And my Luck definitely didn¡¯t disappoint. Two hours passed by in the blink of an eye, and we killed over 50 Xiaolongn¨¹s and dropped 5 Dragonblade set pieces. Although there were duplicates and thus couldn¡¯t make a full set, it was clear that our dream to gather ten sets of Dragonblade sets wasn¡¯t a dream! After that, we devised a new plan to kill the mobs faster. Beiming Xue would aggro 3 Xiaolongn¨¹s at once. He Yi, me and the Phantom Wolf King would tank a Xiaolongn¨¹ each. We would fight within a 10x10 yard area so that my Icy Cyclone Domain could cover all the mobs, and Beiming Xue could hit them with her AoE skills such as Multi Arrows and Evil Spirit Volleys. With proper control and positioning, I was also able to hit all three mobs with just one use of Burning Blade Slash, Thousand Ice Slash, War Crush and so on. Sure, it was dangerous¡ªour HPs dipped dangerously low if we made even the slightest mistakes¡ªbut our grinding speed improved tremendously as a result. Also, it was a risk we had to take because it took too long to kill the Xiaolongn¨¹s one by one. ¡­¡­ The fight lasted until the wee hours. Although we had been grinding for a dozen of hours or so, the girls didn¡¯t seem tired at all. It was because everyone had leveled up once or twice during this time thanks to the insane amount of experience entering our pockets, and we had gathered 7 Dragonblade sets in total. This trip was absolutely worth it even if we called it quits and went back now. "Should we go to bed and continue tomorrow?" I suggested after checking the time. "It¡¯s early morning already. We¡¯ll be burning the midnight oil if we stay up any longer." Beiming Xue checked her bag before replying, "I still have 100+sets of arrows and enough supplies to fight for another 24 hours straight, so I don¡¯t mind either way." Moonlight Stone said, "Let¡¯s burn the midnight oil then! I want to enter Sky City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking¡­" He Yi chuckled. "Well, you heard her. Let¡¯s continue, Lu Chen!" "Alright!"I replied with a smile. If they weren¡¯t tired, then I wasn¡¯t tired either. I was a professional gamer who dabbled in the industry for many years, so 10+hours of login time only tired me slightly. To make a comparison, I was like a tenacious camel that could go 72 hours without food or water¡ªseriously, I did that before¡ªand this bit of strain was nothing at all. And so we continued hunting for Xiaolongn¨¹s. They must die I couldn¡¯t forgive them because for tricking righteous young men like me with their upper bodies. Of course, the main reason was because they dropped the Dragonblade set. At this point, I don¡¯t even care about the quest quota anymore. I would do my best to kill as many Xiaolongn¨¹s as possible because the nation wars could begin any moment now, and we needed to improve our Famous Generals¡¯ strength as much as possible. ¡­¡­ At this point, my body had gotten so used to the repetitive fights that I could afford to split my attention. I was glad to see that our beautiful guild leader had finally evolved from a complete newbie to a proper second-rate expert. In fact, she was slowly but surely growing to become a first-rate expert. Her attack angles, timing, movement and positioning were very proper, and she already possessed the basic qualities to become a first-rate expert. Given more time and training, I¡¯m sure that she would reach even the level of the CGL Hall of Famer, Laughing At The Heavens. I felt almost zero pressure since He Yi and Phantom Wolf King were taking care of the other two minibosses. So, I decided to check the forums. A wise gamer would stay up to date at all times and pay close attention to even the slightest peeps from the devs so that they wouldn¡¯t be caught off-guard by unexpected surprises. Just like before, the new CGL China Guilds Guild Ranking was displayed on the home page, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was sitting proudly at third. There were also the Level Heavenly Ranking, Equipment Heavenly Ranking, Divine General Ranking, Famous General Ranking and General Ranking. I sighed quietly. Lin Yixin is probably playing the game from somewhere on the other side of the ocean, isn¡¯t she? I wonder how the net speed at Canada is like. Eh, it¡¯s got to be at least a couple hundred times better than China¡¯s... ¡­¡­ I opened the forums and saw three pinned threads. The first one was the recruitment thread I posted earlier. Man, the admins were such nice people. Pinned, stickied, awarded, and so on; they did practically everything they could for the thread. The second thread was an announcement regarding the Divine General Skill patch. I could ignore this one since it was really just some standardized statements. The third thread caught my attention, however. The title in deep blue font stated: "The Fruit Knife Goddess, Wind Fantasy¡¯s First Battle Report After Becoming a Divine General!" I clicked it open and saw a video as expected. Chapter 698: Fighting While Carrying a 34D To my surprise, the battle had taken place in the open world; the middle area of Dragonbone Mountain Range to be exact. Lin Yixin¡¯s main threats were Little Piglet and Shanggong Wan¡¯er. Little Piglet had equipped a mount and transformed into the Coldwind Knight because he was level 150. He was also accompanied by a dozen or so magic knights and using Vajra, the Famous General Skill that boosted him and his ally¡¯s defense power by 200%. In the video, a smiling Lin Yixin confidently spurred her Frostscythe Warhorse forward and summoned a gigantic beast into existence. It was none other than the pet I gifted her earlier, the ice dragon Kris. However, instead of fighting together with her pet, she ordered it to take to the skies while she crossed her sword in front of her chest. Suddenly, cyan-colored lotus petals appeared around her and formed a halo beneath her feet. It was none other than the rumored Great Earth Transformation! What happened afterward¡­ was almost too terrible to describe. Lin Yixin murdered the crap out of her opponents one-sidedly without even bothering to use her Divine General Skill. Even Little Piglet was killed where he stood, and Shanggong Wan¡¯er was sent flying down a cliff by an Ice Flame Slash. It was a complete one-sided slaughter. ¡­¡­ I was speechless when the two-minute plus video was over. Little Piglet and Shanggong Wan¡¯er¡¯s attacks had been completely ineffective against Lin Yixin. When their weapons hit her armor, a cyan ripple appeared and seemingly reduced the damage she took by 75% or more. As a result, Shanggong Wan¡¯er¡¯s triple-hit skill, Blade Vortex couldn¡¯t even do over 4000 damage to Lin Yixin. It was simply impossible for them to injure their opponent severely. Besides that, Great Earth Transformation improved Lin Yixin¡¯s attack power tremendously. The cyan lotus petals surrounding her Blade of Purple Thunder were both beautiful and deadly, and there was practically nothing her opponent could do to stop them. Little Piglet¡¯s Defense was infuriatingly high, but she had carved him up like a hot knife through butter and killed him with an Ice Flame Slash through the torso in a head on fight! Divine Generals truly are invincible existences! My heart started beating in trepidation, but not for the reasons one might think. Becoming a Divine General meant learning the Great Earth Transformation, and Lin Yixin¡¯s transformation was undoubtedly beautiful. However, the thought that every attack I made had flower petals swirling around them was¡­ ugh, my stomach aches just think about it... I begged the heavens to not give me such a visual effect when I picked up the Great Earth Transformation. I would rather die if that happened. ¡­¡­ Little Piglet was a famous person in Sky City. Not only was he one of the very few Famous Generals in China, both his skill and his equipment were considered super-tier. He was also said to be on par with the likes of the Dragon Warrior and Farewell Song. That was why it was shocking to see how easily Lin Yixin had carved up the supposedly immovable fortress. Snowy Cathaya might not have participated in the battle of Immortality City, but no one could doubt their strength and their status in Sky City. I thought for a moment before posting a short reply below the 2987283th user. ¡°Keep it up, Little Knife! Love you forever~~¡± I immediately felt a warm feeling in my heart. Soon, a couple of people replied to my post and expressed their astonishment¡ª ¡°Hey, isn¡¯t this Lu Chen? Is he publicly declaring his love to the Fruit Knife Goddess?¡± ¡°Oh no, we don¡¯t even have a chance anymore now that Lu Chen¡¯s on the move¡­¡± ¡°Take out Lu Chen for us, brothers! Let¡¯s reclaim our Fruit Knife Goddess!¡± ¡­¡­ I was a bit dumbfounded by the replies, but then I saw a notification stating that the poster of the thread had replied to me. It was Lin Yixin replying to me with a quote, ¡°Hehe, you too, Little Cheat. P.S. I don¡¯t love you~~¡± Feeling very hurt, I replied, ¡°I miss you, Little Knife¡­¡± She responded, ¡°Focus on your grinding, man¡­¡± I shot her a ¡°...¡±, and she shot back ¡°:)¡± before logging off the forum. Well, she wasn¡¯t wrong. The Xiaolongn¨¹s were pretty powerful, and any mistake could easily result in fatalities. It had been tens of hours since we began our grind, and it would hurt the soul to lose a level at this point. ¡­¡­ The night passed by in the blink of an eye. The grind at the middle area of Dragonlight Canyon went very smoothly, and by the time the clock hand passed 10 am we had finally scoured the middle area almost completely. I had killed at least 4000 Xiaolongn¨¹s, and my level had risen to 155. He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Moonlight Stone and Beiming Xue had also leveled up twice or thrice. The players beyond the map were probably rioting at our insane speed right now. ¡°Mn, so sleepy¡­¡± He Yi stroked her hair as she put the Blade of the Earthen Soul back into its sheath. We could no longer see any Xiaolongn¨¹ anywhere, which probably meant that our long grind had almost come to an end. She looked at me and asked me with a smile, ¡°Lu Chen, how does my eyes look? Are they red? They have to be red since we¡¯ve grinded the whole night, right? Do I look like a rabbit? Do I?¡± I chuckled a little before hugging her shoulders. ¡°A little. You¡¯ve definitely the prettiest rabbit I¡¯ve ever seen in my life though. Let¡¯s go turn in our quest, shall we? After that, we can log out and finally catch some sleep. We¡¯ll return here before 8 pm and continue exploring Dragonlight Canyon afterward. We haven¡¯t even explored 50% of the map, so I¡¯m sure that there are still a ton of good stuff waiting for us to claim them all!¡± Beiming Xue nodded smilingly. ¡°Yeah, yeah! Leveling in this map is like riding a rocket. Besides the Dragonblade equipment set, we also got a ton of top-tier Spirit-grade equipment and Purple-grade equipment. I have enough loot to sell and earn tens of thousands of RMB everyday for an entire week!¡± Beiming Xue¡¯s hopeful look brightened my mood as well. I asked, ¡°So, how is everyone¡¯s supply situation? Do you think you can continue fighting a bit longer?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so¡­¡± He Yi checked her own equipment before commenting, ¡°The Blade of the Earthen Soul only had 30% durability left, and my wristguards are completely broken¡­¡± ¡°Same here actually¡­¡± I pointed at my legguard while grinning. ¡°I had to fight with my thighs exposed at some point during the grind!¡± ¡°Come on,¡± the girls complained as they stared at my lower body, ¡°you think that¡¯s bad? Look at Eve, she is fighting with her 34D almost fully exposed. Now that¡¯s what you call a true warrioress¡­¡± I glanced at He Yi, and expected her armor was nowhere intact enough to cover up her wonderful curves. Sensing my glance, He Yi hurriedly covered herself up with her cloak before shooting me a glare, ¡°OMG, stop staring already, I can¡¯t believe you actually listened to them. Anyway, we can¡¯t fight any longer, so let¡¯s teleport back to the city, restore ourselves and come back here at 8 pm sharp. The entrance will remain open for 72 hours, right?¡± Beiming Xue nodded. ¡°Yeah, we should head back and resupply. My arrows have dwindled to less than 30 sets, which is nowhere near enough for the upcoming battles¡­¡± ¡°We¡¯re all in agreement then. Let¡¯s turn in the quest, return to the city and come back later tonight!¡± I declared as the leader of the party. It was at this moment He Yi asked me, ¡°Lu Chen, how many Dragonblade sets have we gathered so far?¡± ¡°Give me a moment¡­¡± After I tallied the equipment, I replied with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s 27. Not bad at all, hehe¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s great. Have you decided who¡¯s going to wear these already?¡± ¡°Well, whoever we choose must be mounted, level 150 and have entered the Earthfire Realm at least. There should be plenty of players like these among the Cyan Tiger Cavalry.¡± ¡°Alright then, let¡¯s come up a name list and go through them now!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± ¡­¡­ And so we started choosing the 27 players we were going to give the Dragonblade equipment set to while we traveled back to the NPCs. We came to a final decision just as we arrived at the camp¡ª Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang,Gui Guzi, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust were within the list as a matter of course. Besides that, A Lazy Cat and Yama Slayer¡ªour two Soul of the Foot Famous Generals¡ªwere included in the name list as well. They were given the privilege because they had proven themselves to be promising rookies with great skills and high levels. Li Chengfeng wasn¡¯t included in the list because he was powerful enough to kill a boss on his own, meaning that his equipment was even better than the Dragonblade set. He Yi was excluded from the least for the same reason as well, not to mention that we would be fighting stronger bosses in the immediate future and obtaining Outstanding Earth-grade equipment or better. A full set of random Earth-grade equipment had to be better than the Dragonblade set. When we arrived at the temporary camp, we submitted the 200 Dragon Girl Scales that we were asked to gather. I turned in the scales carefully because they had to be extracted from the Dragon Girl¡¯s butt, and it was a difficult process to say the least. The NPC praised us like crazy, but the quest rewards he gave me were only experience and gold. It was a bit disappointing to be honest. Moonlight Stone was the only one out of all of us who got an equipment reward, a one-star Outstanding Earth-grade shield to be exact. We planned to sell it since He Yi¡¯s current shield was much better. ¡­¡­ ¡°Alright, it¡¯s time to go back!¡± He Yi declared. ¡°Yeah!¡± We took out our teleport scrolls. A second later, five flashes illuminated the middle area of Dragonlight Canyon and took us back to Sky City. Swhoosh! The noise that enveloped Sky City filled me with a deep sense of familiarity. He Yi smiled at me and said, ¡°You go distribute the Dragonblade set. Mingyue and I will log off first and order us some lunch. Sleeping the day away on an empty stomach just doesn¡¯t seem like a good idea.¡± ¡°Sure, see you later!¡± After He Yi, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue all logged out of the game, I created a new party and added all 27 players on our finalized name list into my party. ¡°Come to eastern plaza, everyone!¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± It didn¡¯t take long before everyone assembled at the plaza. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why did you add us to your party, Lu Chen?¡± Chaos Moon asked. Gui Guzi was just as surprised. ¡°Yeah, almost everyone who¡¯s over level 150 in the guild are here. Are you planning something again, Boss Broken Halberd?¡± I smiled. ¡°I have good news to share, of course! Take a look at this!¡± When i shared the stats of the Dragonblade set inside the party channel, the girls of the party immediately gasped in shock. Chapter 699: Winning the Hear Chaos Moon blinked visibly to confirm that she wasn¡¯t seeing things. Surprise filled her beautiful face as she said, "These stats are ridiculous enough, but this Draconic Energy is even more amazing. It¡¯s perfect for grinding mobs and killing undead players like Lu Chen, Gui Guzi and Lil Beiming¡­" Me: "..." Gui Guzi let out a laugh before saying, "It¡¯s an amazing equipment set alright. HP, Defense, Attack; it has everything. It¡¯s much better than the random equipment I¡¯m wearing right now. Where did you get these, Boss Broken Halberd? Did you call us over to make us roll for this?" I shook my head. "No, no need. I have 27 Dragonblade sets in total." "What? 27?" High Fighting Spirits exclaimed in shock. "Holy shit, does that mean everyone here is getting a set?" I smiled and said, "That¡¯s right. Eve, sis, Beiming Xue, Moonlight Stone and I grinded an entire day and night at Dragonlight Canyon to get these. I¡¯m not giving these away for free though. I¡¯ll name a price, and you will decide if you want to buy it or not. I didn¡¯t grind these by myself, so I can¡¯t just give them away for free." "You¡¯re right, but please give us a discount!" Heaven¡¯s Rain begged hopefully, "None of us are exceptionally rich even though we¡¯ve managed to earn some money through equipment sales. Frankly, there¡¯s no way we can buy this at the auction price." Diamond Dust also agreed. "Yeah, my total earnings from selling equipment and magic stones for the month is only 500k+ gold or so. There¡¯s no way I could afford this¡­" Xu Yang was the only exception of the group who was crying about how poor they were. He tapped his chest confidently to show that he could pay the equipment set at its full price if necessary. ¡­¡­ I let the group throw a tantrum for a bit before saying in amusement, "Alright, alright. Eve and I have already discussed this earlier, and we¡¯ve decided to sell the Dragonblade set for 200k only, or 10% of its true price, 2 million. Surely you guys can afford this much? The reason we¡¯re selling it this cheaply is because we wish to build a squad of Dragonblade fighters that is exclusive to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls only. We killed literally every mob that drops the Dragonblade set at the map, so if you buy them you¡¯ll probably be the only 27 Dragonblade fighters in the entire server." "Wait, really? You¡¯re charging only 200k?" Chaos Moon¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up. She hurriedly walked up to me and tapped my chest armor with a smile on her face. "Glad to see you still have some conscience in you! I¡¯m sure everyone here can afford to fork 200k. So, where¡¯s this set? I can pay immediately¡­" I nodded. "Mn. All 27 sets are in my bag, so prepare your gold and trade with me one by one. And no, you¡¯re not allowed to buy more than one set, understand?" "Hehe, we know!" The trade went smoothly, and almost all of the equipment sets except one was gone in the blink of an eye. It was at this moment a female warrior carrying a leopard cat in her arms and a rapier around her waist walked up to me and said in a timid voice, "Brother Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, I¡­" I recognized her. She was the introverted girl who just became a Famous General not long ago, A Lazy Cat, or Cat as people preferred to call her. Ever since she learned Soul of the Foot, she had instantly risen through the ranks and become a core player of our guild. Soul of the Foot was an essential Famous General Skill because it was far more useful than Knight General in certain situations, such as scaling the walls during a siege battle. It was why He Yi, Murong Mingyue and I placed great value on Cat and Yama Slayer and included them in our name list. I gave her a friendly smile before asking, "What¡¯s wrong, Cat?" Cat¡¯s cheeks turned red as she replied, "Well¡­ my dad was hospitalized this month, so I¡¯ve converted most of my gold to RMB to pay for his hospital fees. What I¡¯m saying is I don¡¯t have the gold to buy this equipment right now¡­ can I pay you at a latter date? I promise I¡¯ll pay you back in full¡­" Even as she spoke, she couldn¡¯t help but shoot glances at the Dragonblade set again and again. She clearly desired the equipment set, but she also couldn¡¯t afford to buy it right now. She looked conflicted to say the least. I pursed my lips and said, "Well¡­ sure! That¡¯s not a problem!" I brought up the trade window and added the equipment set. Not only that, I added 1 million gold and said, "Take good care of your dad, okay? You only have one dad in the entire world. Once he¡¯s better, you can pay back the money you owe me! And you better, cuz I don¡¯t ever forget a debt, hahaha!" "Uu¡­" Cat¡¯s eyes reddened, and she nearly burst into tears there and then. Barely holding back the tears, she said again and again, "I¡¯ll pay you back! I¡¯ll definitely pay you back for this!" I gave her a strong nod and said, "I trust you. Now take this and grind hard! Ah, but don¡¯t burn the midnight oil everyday, okay? Also, you should spend more time with your dad¡­" "I know!" An extremely moved Cat accepted the trade and equipped the Dragonblade set immediately. A beautiful warrior immediately appeared before all of us. The Dragonblade set looked pretty on a woman, but handsome on a man as well. Its design automatically changed to fit the person who was wearing it. Everyone present saw what I did for Cat and was encouraged by it. My choice to help Cat both alleviated her burden and increased the unity of our core members, so I considered my million well spent. Moreover, Cat was a stubborn girl, so I knew she would do everything in her power to repay everything I gave her today and the interest. ¡­¡­ Over half of the 27 players I summoned were qualified to wear the Dragonblade set, so they did. At a glance, it was almost as if we were conducting a military parade or something. The way they climbed onto their horses and brandished their weapons and the emblem of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls on their shoulders proudly instantly caused a wave of commotion among the randos on the plaza. They probably thought that we were plotting something big again. "All done!" Holding the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s rein and carrying the Cyan Netherworld Sword, I said, "Work hard, everyone. Remember your promise to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and don¡¯t let me down. In the future, you are the ones who will carry the guild¡¯s name to every corner of the world and conquer them, so fight hard for our dreams and our brothers! Now then, I¡¯ve been online for 24 hours, and I¡¯m so sleepy I can black out at any moment. So I leave the rest to you all!" High Fighting Spirits waved his battle axe once and laughed, "We got it, so take your rest already!" "See you all later!" I gave them all one last nod before walking into the adventurer¡¯s inn and logged out! ¡­¡­ After I took off my gaming helmet, the first thing I did was to run into the toilet and relieve myself. I drank a lot of water before I went online earlier, so right now I felt like my bladder was about to burst! When I finally swayed out of the toilet, He Yi had already returned from outside with ten boxed lunches in plastic bags. "Hmm? I thought we¡¯re having a great lunch today" I asked with a smile. He Yi rolled her eyes at me before chiding me a bit, "What, are these boxed lunches not enough for you? Anyway, this is just the rice. I ordered some dishes from the restaurant downstairs, and they¡¯ll be delivered to us very soon. Where¡¯s Beiming and Mingyue, by the way?" "They¡¯re in their rooms, I guess." "Well, tell them to come out and get ready for lunch!" "Okay!" I pushed open Beiming Xue¡¯s door and found her standing in front of her vanity mirror. She was holding up a dark blue mini skirt when she looked back at me and asked, "Big bro, do I look good in this skirt?" I instantly turned as red as an apple. "Beiming Xue, I¡¯m sorry, but can you please wear a bra even when you¡¯re inside your own room?" "Huh¡­" Beiming Xue looked down and saw her red T-shirt clinging tightly to her attractive body. The fabric was rather thin, so there were two visible bumps on her beautiful mounds. She immediately understood why I looked as embarrassed as I was. "Hmph! You¡¯re such a bad person, big bro!" Beiming Xue closed the distance between us quickly before turning around toward the door. "I¡¯ll come out for lunch after I change, so get out already!" "Okay." I closed the door for her and looked at Murong Mingyue¡¯s door. Having learned my lesson, I slapped the door and shouted from outside, "MISS Murong, it¡¯s lunch time already!" The door opened immediately, and Murong Mingyue said to me with a smile, "No need to be hasty, Sir Lu. This one is ready!" I nearly puked blood at the spontaneous response. There was just no beating Murong Mingyue. ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take long before the waiter delivered our food to us. It was quite convenient living at this apartment because all the food we could possibly order like Hunan, Sichuan, Shandong, Cantonese and so on were all downstairs. All we needed to do was head down and make the order, and it would be delivered to us in no time. After paying the waiter and sending him away, we sat around the table and started chowing down on our food. We hadn¡¯t eaten anything for 24 hours, so all thoughts of proper appearance were thrown right out of the window, at least until we were done filling our bellies. Half an hour later, I leaned comfortably against the sofa and let out a burp. I closed my eyes and felt like I could fall asleep on the spot. Beside me, He Yi poured me a glass of clear water and passed it over. "Here." "Thanks." I accepted the water and took the chance to wrap my arm around He Yi¡¯s shoulder. She happily leaned against me before asking, "Have you distributed the Dragonblade set?" "Mn. I sold 26 of them and lent the last one to Cat because her dad¡¯s hospitalized, and she doesn¡¯t have the money right now. I also borrowed her a million RMB." "Well done. That is how it should be." "Mn. Now let¡¯s head to bed!" "Yes!" ¡­¡­ I returned to my room and pulled my blanket over me. I slept like a log to say the least. In my dreams, I fought a million battles and shed a seemingly endless amount of blood and tears on my way to the top. I heard people laughing madly and crying tearfully. I saw the winners win and the losers lose. I saw legends being carved into the history books, but no one knew just how much sweat and blood they shed to achieve the feat. When I woke up and looked outside, it was already dark outside. The time showed 7.30 pm, and it was the perfect time to get up and get ready to resume our adventure. Dragonlight Canyon gave us the Dragonblade sets yesterday, and I wondered what other pleasant surprises it had in store for us. I couldn¡¯t wait. Chapter 700: Beast Emperor Murong Mingyue was calling out to Beiming Xue from outside her room. Her voice was sweet as her lines were epic. I myself got up from my bed and entered the washroom. A while later, all four of us went downstairs to enjoy a quick dinner. It had been 36 hours since we activated the treasure map, so it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that every second counted right now. If we didn¡¯t make haste, we might not even get to meet the final boss. Dragonlight Canyon was a huge hidden map. The only way to use it was to suck up every bit of profit and leave nothing behind. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After I went online, I walked out of the inn, repaired my equipment and bought 50 sets of Fine Steel Arrows for Beiming Xue. It was because Multi Arrows and Evil Spirit Volleys were skills that consumed a lot of arrows to use, and she had been casting them like crazy for this adventure. We couldn¡¯t even ask her to take it easy because her DPS was indispensable to the party. Besides that, I also spent some time to organize the contents of my warehouse and fill my back with potions and magic consumables. After everything was ready, I created the party, added the girls and Moonlight Stone and agreed to depart 5 minutes later. During this 5 minutes, I ran to the plaza and unloaded all the equipment I took out from the warehouse at Air Force One. Although the auction house easily snatched away 99% of my business, the shop still provided me with a steady income of 30k to 50k RMB per day. It was better than nothing. Speaking of which, Dark Moon City had even livelier after it was upgraded to a Rank 9 Castle. At least tens of millions of players used its teleportation formation every day. Every teleportation cost between 1 to 3 gold, and the profit was split 50-50 between Dark Moon City and the main city. That 50% profit we got was then taxed by another 90%, so the daily net income of the teleportation formation was really 700k to 800k or so. All in all, accounting for all other sources of income in Dark Moon City such as reparation, consumables and more, Dark Moon City earned a million gold or so per day or thirty million gold per month. ¡­¡­ "It¡¯s time. To Dragonlight Canyon!" A beautiful knight declared while riding up to me. It was of course He Yi. I could also see the Firelight Mouse running back and forth on her shoulders and making cute chirping noises. Its cuteness was the main reason He Yi couldn¡¯t bear to part ways with it even though there were better pets out there. I also summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and the Phantom Wolf King. After Beiming Xue, Moonlight Stone and Murong Mingyue had arrived, we teleported directly to Dark Moon City, cut across Cyan Tiger Forest in a straight line and arrived at the flat plains outside Dragonlight Canyon. As expected, the teleportation formation was still active when we arrived, and we could even see our IDs floating around it. It marked the teleportation formation as exclusive to ourselves, and only we had the right to pass through it and enter Dragonlight Canyon. Swhoosh! Once more, we vanished from the plains and entered the desolate forest that was once occupied by the wild bears. We quickly trekked past the area and the canyon center where the Dragon Girls used to reside until we arrived at a place where the walls were engraved with all kinds of runes. The runes were ancient runes from Eternal Moon Continent, and suffice to say it was unreadable to ignorant people like us. Besides that, the top of the hills were covered in all kinds of statues such as gigantic totems, war gods, Tiangou and more. One of the statues was exceptionally huge, and it depicted a barbarian hero lifting his sword high and looking like he would ascend to the heavens at any moment. Right now though, it was just a statue that was of interest to no one. Staring at the walls on both sides of the path, Beiming Xue lithely ran up to me and blinked her red eyes, saying, "This place looks like it¡¯s overflowing with history¡­" I grabbed her hand and pulled her up onto my mount. When the Intimacy Level between two players reached a certain Level, they would unlock several functions such as the ability to ride the other person¡¯s mount. Beiming Xue and I had grinded together for a very long time, so our Intimacy Level was max ed a long time ago. The succubus¡¯ cheeks were red with excitement as she exclaimed from the front, "Wah, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse is so fast! It¡¯s so much faster than me running on my own¡­" I smiled. "Of course. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse increases movement speed by 150%, and I wasn¡¯t slower than you in the first place." "Hehe!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment He Yi suddenly slowed to a stop. Keeping her sword lowered and pointing a finger to the front, she whispered, "Hey, look. What is that thing¡­" "Hmm?" We looked at the direction she was pointing and found a gigantic statue at the center of the canyon. It was a hunter carrying a war bow with a tiger by its sight. Although time had eroded much of the engravings, its eyes remained sharp and thoughtful. It gazed toward the distance as if it wanted to say something, but all it managed was a lonesome silence that had lasted thousands, or even tens of thousands of years. There was a giant stone tablet in front of the statue. After I rode up to it, Beiming Xue leaped down from the horseback and read the words engraved on the tablet. "The Beast Emperor Olida was the master of beast taming. He was the one and only tamer in the entire continent who successfully tamed a holy giant dragon, a forest python, a fierce mountain tiger and even a Hellhound through his own strength. Legend says that the Beast Emperor possessed the power to communicate with wild animals, and that he once slipped into the domain of dragons, hunted many a dragonling essence and refined them. Since then, his stories became sung as epics, and he was known as the peerless Beast Emperor!" Beiming Xue frowned after she finished reading the engravings. "I think this guy is the father of all tamers? Judging from the description he seems incredibly powerful, but why is this placed at Dragonlight Canyon? Could there be actual dragons in Dragonlight Canyon?" Murong Mingyue let out a chuckle and said, "It wouldn¡¯t be surprising. Did you forget that the mobs we fought earlier are called Dragon Girls? Considering that they¡¯re even stronger than an Earth Dragon, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if a holy giant dragon literally resides somewhere in the latter half of the map." I agreed with Murong Mingyue¡¯s assessment. "Yeah. With our party¡¯s strength, not even the deities or even the Buddha himself can stop us! A holy giant dragon is just a gift box holding our equipment and dragon eggs, am I right?" Beiming Xue smiled. "Yeah, yeah! With big bro and sister Eve as our tanks, there is nothing that can harm us! Let us continue!" This time, we didn¡¯t walk too far before we heard an odd scream from in front of us. When we looked, we saw a wizened old man dressed in strange clothes beneath a red maple tree. He was carrying a short wooden bow behind his back, and he was followed by a hunting dog that was covered in scabies. It was faithfully protecting its master. The old man was screaming because of a bloody wound in his stomach. It looked like some sort of animal had gored him with its horn. ¡­¡­ I spurred my mount toward the old man. Then, climbing down to the ground and kneeling on one knee to inspect his wound, I asked, "Old man, why are you here by yourself?" "Why am I here by myself?" The old man shot me a self-derisive look before asking, "Young adventurer, you hail from Sky City, am I right? You must not have heard of my name then. I¡¯ve been living in this canyon since a millennium ago. In fact, Dragonlight Canyon is my home!" "A millennium ago?" He Yi walked up from behind me before staring at the old man¡¯s face intently. "Now that I think about it, I feel like I¡¯ve seen you from somewhere¡­" Beiming Xue exclaimed in surprise, "Wait, I recognize him! He¡¯s the Beast Emperor! That statue has a wart on the right side of his face, and from the side he looks a bit like Zhao Benshan!" I sucked in a deep breath and said, "That can¡¯t be right! The statue of the Beast Emperor looks mighty impressive, but this guy is... old man, please tell me you¡¯re not the Beast Emperor." The old man smiled. "You are correct. I am the Beast Emperor. Are you surprised?" "Of course I am!" I yelled as I stared at the mangy dog that was licking its groin. It didn¡¯t look like the fearsome beast beside the statue at all! Expressing my disbelief yet again, I asked, "Old man, you must be a strong dude if you really are the Beast Emperor, so tell me: how on earth did you get that wound in your chest?" For the first time, a bit of fear entered the old man¡¯s eyes. He gazed toward the distance and said, "I was researching something, and I succeeded. I found out that it was possible to inject a draconic energy into a horse; to combine a dragon¡¯s holiness and a warhorse¡¯s wild nature, and the result of said fusion is a power strong enough to destroy the world itself. Hahaha, I succeeded!" Beiming Xue asked, "Grandpa Beast Emperor, can you explain things better? How did you get hurt exactly? We can take revenge for you!" The old man¡¯s name finally appeared on his head, and as expected it was "Beast Emperor Olida." He looked at us and growled, "No, you can¡¯t take revenge for me, for your opponent is the scariest thing you¡¯ll ever meet in your lives! It will tear you all to pieces!" I asked again, "What on earth is this thing? If it¡¯s really as scary as you claim then¡­" The Beast Emperor let out a sigh and said, "You will see what I mean if you continue along this path for another kilometer or so. You will find my proudest but scariest achievement¡­" "FFS, can¡¯t you just give us a straight answer¡­" Pissed off, I climbed back onto my mount and growled, "C¡¯mon, girls! Let¡¯s check out this thing that terrifies the Beast Emperor so ourselves!" They nodded in unison. "Mn, let¡¯s go!" Chapter 701: Dragonlight Armored Horse The five of us left behind the old Beast Emperor and charged straight toward the canyon ahead of us. There were wilted leaves and branches everywhere, and a short while later the ground became level and smooth. Pitch black lampstands forged from iron peeked out from between the trees as a decrepit hall entered our view. Most of the walls had collapsed, and the hall was almost completely in ruins. Even a blind person could tell this place was inhabited since a while ago. The lintel was engraved with the fading words, "Beast Emperor Hall", and it looked like it had been here for several thousand years at least. This was probably where the Beast Emperor used to live a long time ago. However, the Beast Emperor had devolved into a decrepit old man, and he looked nothing like the emperor he had used to be. I was trying to puzzle out the situation when Beiming Xue suddenly pointed toward the east. "Big bro, look! What is that thing?" "Hmm?" He Yi and I looked in the direction she was pointing in unison. It was there we spotted an ancient, indigo-colored metal statue of a creature that almost looked like a horse, but not quite. The reason I said so was because the "horse" had a horn as sharp as a blade, and a body that was covered in scales. There were even spikes protruding from the front part of its body. The statue looked a bit red because a magical bonfire was burning beneath it. The temperature was incredibly high, and I could hear a dragon¡¯s roar coming from somewhere for some reason. I rode up to the edge of the statue and looked at it with a frown. "What is this thing?" I tried hitting the statue with my sword, but nothing happened. He Yi observed the statue carefully before saying, "I... feel like there¡¯s something inside this statue for some reason¡­ it feels very unsafe¡­" Murong Mingyue also shot it a glance and said, "This is a warhorse-type creature, I think. Its head looks like a holy giant dragon¡¯s, its limbs look incredibly powerful, and it¡¯s covered from head to toe in dragon scales. It even has a cool and wild appearance. It would be great if this horse was a capturable mount, am I right Lu Chen?" I nodded in agreement. "I guess. It¡¯s still inferior compared to my Armored Ice Qilin Horse though¡­" Murong Mingyue pouted. "How is that a fair comparison? Your Armored Ice Qilin Horse is an Earth Rank boss mount, the one and only in the entire server right now! It would¡¯ve taken you ages to find another one like it if Lil Beiming hadn¡¯t given up her own top-tier wristguards for it! Hmph hmph!" I smiled. "Yes, Beiming is a good sister¡­" I replied, "We can see some goldfish together after we¡¯re done with Dragonlight Canyon¡­" "..." Beiming Xue fell silent for a moment before blinking her eyes in confusion. "Sister Mingyue, what did big bro mean by goldfish? And why does big bro want to see them with me?" Murong Mingyue thought for a moment before answering, "I don¡¯t know what he means by that either, but I do know that no good can come out of his mouth! Hmph hmph!" It was at this moment He Yi pulled out her Blade of the Earthen Soul and struck the copper statue with everything she got. However, all she managed to do was wobble the statue a bit. "What¡¯s wrong, Eve?" I asked. He Yi pointed her sword at the statue and declared confidently, "I have this feeling that something¡¯s wrong with the statue. As a knight of the light, I can tell that an incredibly powerful evil is hidden inside it. Lu Chen, work with me. Let¡¯s crush this statue together and see what¡¯s inside." "Oh?" I looked at the statue again. Could she be right? The entire statue was bright red with heat because of the bonfire beneath it. Even if something was inside the statue, it should¡¯ve been burned to death a long time ago, right? Still, my beautiful guild leader¡¯s order must be obeyed, so I immediately hit the statue¡¯s head with Burning Blade Slash. In the end, nothing happened. Bang bang bang¡­ The two of us kept hitting the copper statue, but it was as still as death. ¡­¡­ A while later, Murong Mingyue glanced to the side and pointed. "Hey look, there¡¯s a giant rock hammer over there. Why don¡¯t you try hitting the statue with it, Lu Chen? It can¡¯t be worse than what you¡¯re doing right now, seeing as you haven¡¯t even breached the statue¡¯s shell¡­" I turned around and saw what Murong Mingyue was saying. There was a huge stone warhammer sitting not far away from the statue, and it was apparently usable even though it didn¡¯t count as equipment. I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward and bent down to grab it. To my surprise, it was so heavy that it almost pulled me and my horse down to the ground. God damn, if even I, with my Strength stat, could barely lift this, then it could only be worse for the others. "Get out of the way, Eve! Here I come!" I laughed loudly and swung the hammer right at the copper statue. The thing was even bigger than the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, making it basically impossible for me to miss even though the stone hammer was unwieldy as hell. He Yi hurriedly moved back as I struck the statue right in the waist and caused debris to scatter all over the place! Bang! A dull but clearly angry noise came from the statue as it rocked like a leaf from the impact. The next moment, the red hot copper on the statue started peeling off on its own to reveal the true entity hidden beneath it. My surprise only grew, however. As it turned out, there was an actual horse hidden inside the statue. It was covered in dragon scales that looked as sharp as blades, and I couldn¡¯t tell if it was alive or dead because its eyes were closed. It was an indigo-colored warhorse covered in layer upon layer of armor. A sharp horn surrounded by beautiful cyan flames was protruding from its forehead. Besides that, a ring of low-temperature, smoke-like flames was swirling around the warhorse. It was draconic energy. It had to be the "achievement" the Beast Emperor was talking about! I walked up to it and lifted a piece of copper from its skin, revealing the dragon scales beneath. The flames had literally burned the scales into the warhorse¡¯s skin and fused a dragon¡¯s blood into its flesh. This meant that the creature in front of me was none other than the legendary dragonhorse! Words couldn¡¯t describe my current feelings right now. The Beast Emperor had embedded a wild horse with dragon scales, stuffed it inside a copper statue containing a dragon¡¯s soul, and barbecued it alive with draconic energy. Just how hardcore was he to come up with such a beastial method, as fitting as it was for someone called the Beast Emperor? I had to admit that the warhorse looked extremely handsome though. Appearance-wise it wasn¡¯t too far behind my Armored Ice Qilin Horse, and technically, they were the same kind of creature except that my mount had absorbed a qilin¡¯s soul, while this one had absorbed a dragon¡¯s blood. They both had their own strengths! However, it looked like the Beast Emperor¡¯s experiment had failed because I could literally smell its cooked flesh from where I was. Apparently the fire was too much for the horse to bear, and the fake barbecue turned into a real one... The corner of my lips curling upward, I hit the horse¡¯s back with my sword before saying, "Peel away the scales and find the meat within? This is literally the horse version of the Beggar¡¯s Chicken, haha! Is there anyone who wants a bite? Just give the word, and I¡¯ll cut a piece of meat for you¡­" Beiming Xue whined, "Big bro, your taste is so hardcore!" Moonlight Stone nodded in agreement. "Yeah, yeah, we can¡¯t possibly eat this¡­" Before I could say anything else, Murong Mingyue suddenly widened her eyes and shouted, "Back off now! That horse isn¡¯t dead yet!" I hurriedly moved in front of Beiming Xue and backed a few steps away from the creature. "How do you know that?" "Are you dreaming or what? Its name just appeared!" "Wah!" we all exclaimed in surprise. As Murong Mingyue said, a name was gradually appearing above the warhorse¡¯s head. After I activated Dark Pupils, its stats immediately entered the party channel¡ª Dragonlight Armored Horse (Earth Rank Miniboss) Level: 180 Attack: 3340~5280 Defense: 6000 HP: 11,000,000 Skills: Hoof Trample, Armor of the Wild, Dragonblade Pierce Introduction: The Dragonlight Armored Horse is the fusion between a warhorse and a dragon¡¯s soul. It is the result of a lifetime of research of the genius tamer, Beast Emperor. He had procured refined souls from magical springs as fuel, forged shells from the Rainbow Bronze, and trapped a warhorse inside it for refinement. He successfully infused it with the power of the holy giant dragon and made it even more impenetrable than ever. Influenced by draconic power, the warhorse became an incredibly violent creature that wants nothing but to tear everything in front of it to shreds. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The warhorse finally opened its eyes, and the merciless red behind its eyelids caused even my heart to skip a beat. This thing was a Level 180 Earth Rank miniboss, and I was almost certain that it was even harder to kill than even the Dragon Girls. "Attack!" I charged the mob and swung my sword at the same time He Yi launched her skill. Faster than both of us, the Phantom Wolf King struck the Dragonlight Armored Horse in the head, only to cause a shower of sparks. It looked like the mob¡¯s Defense was as formidable as it was described! "Roar roar¡­" The Dragonlight Armored Horse suddenly raised its front hooves and let out a mighty neigh. The next moment, lightning surrounded its hooves, and it hit the ground with a devastating stomp. Lightning arced all over the place, and both He Yi and me were within its skill range. Pain wracked my body as my HP dropped¡ª 18929! Holy shit, it was an AoE attack! It was similar to my War Crush except that it was one hit instead of three. The Dragonlight Armored Horse acted like a wild, untamed horse. It kept charging all over the place and hitting my armor with its horn again and again. Luckily, I had Murong Mingyue to heal me, so the battle wasn¡¯t as dangerous as it could¡¯ve been. It was a pleasure to fight while her Pool of Life was healing me from beneath my feet. Suddenly, the Dragonlight Armored Horse lowered its head and stabbed He Yi¡¯s shield three times in a row. There was so much force behind the strike that she and her horse were sent skidding seven or eight meters away from the point of impact. Worse, the horn strike had literally pierced through her shield and dealt some serious damage to her, deleting almost 50k HP from her health bar in an instant. Even I had to admit that it was some impressive damage! "Steady!" I shouted and seized the threat with Burning Blade Slash. At the same time, I summoned a body double and coordinated with the Ironwing Dragon and the Phantom Wolf King to increase my DPS even further. A few minutes later, the fearsome Dragonlight Armored Horse finally died under our assault and dropped two Purple Crystals. Although it hadn¡¯t dropped any equipment, the experience it gave was very impressive. ¡­¡­ "Next!" I declared with a smile. We walked forward for a bit and saw another horse statue. Now that I knew what to do, I simply grabbed the nearby stone hammer and hit it once. Its shell fell apart, and another Dragonlight Armored Horse appeared in front of us. However, Beiming Xue suddenly pointed a finger at the mob with her mouth agape. She exclaimed in deep astonishment, "Big¡­ big bro, look, it¡¯s a Rare mount¡­" 1. T/N: referring to an incident where a middle-aged man tried to bait little girls into following him to the rooftop by offering to show them the goldfishes he kept and rape them. After that the term "goldfish man" became synonymous with pedophile. Chapter 702: Extra Condition Moreover, since I had Dark Pupils on, its stats screen was automatically displayed in front of me and shared into the party channel. The atmosphere was filled with silence as everyone¡¯s mouth fell open¡ª Dragonlight Armored Horse (Spirit Rank Miniboss Mount) Strength: +400 Stamina: +420 Attack Increase: +30% Defense Increase: +30% Attack Speed: +35% Movement Speed: +120% Attack Range: +25 yards Max HP: +8000 Turn Rate: -45% Mount Tenacity: +20% Additional Skill: Hoof Trample Introduction: The Dragonlight Armored Horse is the fusion between a warhorse and a dragon¡¯s soul. It is the result of a lifetime of research of the genius tamer, Beast Emperor. He had procured refined souls from magical springs as fuel, forged shells from the Rainbow Bronze, and trapped a warhorse inside it for refinement. He successfully infused it with the power of the holy giant dragon and made it even more impenetrable than ever. Influenced by draconic power, the warhorse became an incredibly violent creature that wants nothing but to tear everything in front of it to shreds. Level: 150 Reputation Requirement: 240000 ¡­¡­ "A Spirit-grade Miniboss Mount¡­ Such incredible... Chapter 703: A Promise October Rain shot me a glance before shaking my hands away. "You really are an animal!" "So, what¡¯s this condition?" "Hmm¡­" October Rain pondered for a moment before replying, "To be honest with you, I haven¡¯t thought of one yet, so why don¡¯t we do it this way. You, Lu Chen will owe me one. In the future, if I make a request of you, you must grant it no matter what the content is. Is this acceptable?" I shivered. "Wait a second¡­ Why does this sound so familiar? Holy shit, isn¡¯t this what Zhao Min said to Zhang Wuji in The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber? No no no, absolutely not! I never accept a promise lightly, and I never promise something I¡¯m not confident of fulfilling! I alway honor my word, and no one can take that from me." October Rain huffed. "Come on, it¡¯s just a promise! Do you have to act like this?" I said, "I won¡¯t commit atrocities or things that damage our nation¡¯s interest." "Of course not!" "I won¡¯t harm others or do things that go against my feelings!" "Of course not!!" "I won¡¯t disregard my moral compass and become a hypocrite either!" "Of course not!!!" "Lastly, I... er¡­ I won¡¯t date you or any of the sort. That falls under the ¡®goes against my feelings¡¯ category, you see¡­" "WHAT THE FUCK!" October Rain blushed bright red before punching me on the shoulder. "Who do you think I am? I, Chen Yu, am at least a beautiful girl with great skin, great looks, and great shape in all the right places! Do you really think I have to throw myself at you! Hmph! Do you even have to ask? There¡¯s no way I¡¯d make a request like that!" Then, she hesitated for a moment before shooting me a look, "I really can¡¯t ask for that?" I rejected her immediately, "Absolutely not!" "Fine¡­" October Rain shrugged before giggling. "Well, that¡¯s enough teasing for the day. Don¡¯t forget, Lu Chen. You owe me a promise, and one day I¡¯ll have you fulfill it. Now come on, these 3000 Sealing Stones you¡¯re looking for are in my warehouse. Just this once, I¡¯ll abuse my authority." "Mn, thanks!" We started walking to the warehouse. I followed behind her and stared at her fluttering cape and her swaying, round bottom. I couldn¡¯t help but admire it for a little. Thud! "Okay!" I quickly selected 4.5 million RMB. My account was bound to Dark Moon City¡¯s income, so it had over 50 million RMB right now. 4.5 million wasn¡¯t much for me at all. After the sum was confirmed, and the bank confirmed that I had enough money to pay, the trade button turned green and clickable, and click it I did. The trade was complete just like that, and 30 stacks of brand new Sealing Stones appeared in my bag. Awesome! After confirming that everything was in place, I smiled at October Rain and said, "Thank you, seriously. I won¡¯t forget our friendship, October Rain." She smiled back. "Good. Never forget that, even if the grudge between our guilds runs as deep as the sea one day. We may belong to enemy guilds, and you are free to hate Warsky Alliance however you like, but you will never sever the bond between us, understand?" I nodded. "Understood. I will keep this promise for the rest of my life!" October Rain hid her smile behind her hand. "Now go. I know you must have encountered something in a map or something. I look forward to your performance, Little Heavenly King of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and China~~" After that, October Rain turned away and left. She took a few steps and transformed into a beam of light. Clearly, she had returned to her guild territory, Warsky City. ¡­¡­ I put away my stall and summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. Then, the Phantom Wolf King and I teleported to Dark Moon City and raced toward Dragonlight Canyon at top speed. It took us less than ten minutes to reach the entrance, and a flash later, I was back inside the map again. I brought up the minimap and saw four orange dots meandering about at the center of Dragonlight Canyon. They were none other than He Yi, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, and Moonlight Stone. They were probably killing the Dragonlight Armored Horses that weren¡¯t mounts right now. Thud thud thud! The Ice Qilin Armored Horse¡¯s hooves crushed the grass and soil it stepped on. It took me only a moment to return to their side. "How is it? Did you succeed?" He Yi asked smilingly. "Of course! My negotiation success rate is 100%, hahaha!" After that, I rode down the direction Beiming Xue pointed me to and found three Rare mounts waiting there. After locking onto a target, I took out a Sealing Stone and began taming! Swhoosh! A taming formation appeared beneath the mount as I opened my palm and cried out, "Catch!" MISS! Looks like the first try is a fail. Again! MISS! Another fail. Again! Five failures later, my 43 Luck finally did its magic and pulled the Dragonlight Armored Horse into the Sealing Stone. The orb immediately turned from black to indigo color; the color of the Dragonlight Armored Horse¡¯s dragon scales. I checked the stats of the sealed pet to confirm that it was identical to He Yi¡¯s. With this, the dream to make a Dragonlight Cavalry was officially not a dream anymore! The Dragonlight Armored Horse didn¡¯t only have good stats, but also an active skill called Hoof Trample. Just like my War Crush, using it at the end of a Charge was amazing at tearing apart an enemy¡¯s formation. At the very least, it was hundreds of times better than Bite of Candle Dragon¡¯s Viper Dragoons! I happily put the Sealing Stone in my bag before moving onto the next Dragonlight Armored Horse. Three attempts later, I put away the used Sealing Stone while feeling like a millionaire. Top-tier mounts like these were usually one of a kind, and if I were to sell it for money, its base price would be 100k RMB at least. Right now, I was sealing a couple of them per minute! How exciting was that? A round later, 7 Sealing Stones with Dragonlight Armored Horses in them sat inside my bag as a stack. For a moment, I was surrounded by overwhelming happiness. ¡­¡­ After I returned to the girls¡¯ side, I began fighting the Dragonlight Armored Horses again and sped up the party¡¯s grinding speed by at least 40%. I, my apparition, and my Phantom Wolf King contributed a ton of DPS every fight. Every time a statue turned out to be a Rare mount, I immediately stepped forward to seal them with my Sealing Stones. The process was swift, and Dragonlight Canyon didn¡¯t disappoint us. A ton of Dragonlight Armored Horse mounts were hidden in this map, and the more mounts we captured, the harder it became for us to control the grin on our faces. I couldn¡¯t wait to see how many Dragonlight Armored Horses we could capture by the end of this. In the next 3 to 5 days, the amount of fighters who would have reached Level 150 in our guild would approach the 10000 mark. The main guild alone would be welcoming a total of 5000+ sixth-promotion Earthfire Realm fighters. So far, the best of the best players were catching up with levels real quick, and even I, the highest-leveled player in Sky City, was only 6 levels ahead of the 1000th player on the Heavenly Ranking. After He Yi brought up the map and examined it for a moment, she said with a smile, "Well, I see a lot of zones that share the same color as this one. If everything goes well, we should be able to seal at least a thousand Dragonlight Armored Horses in this map. How do you think we should distribute them, Lu Chen?" I gave it some thought before answering, "Let¡¯s decide using the guild¡¯s player ranking!" "Player ranking?" He Yi sounded a bit confused. I nodded. "It¡¯s a ranking based on a player¡¯s level, battle contribution points, PvP contribution points, and equipment contribution points. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has over 15k warriors, magic knights, and wanderers, so we¡¯ll make a ranking comprising these three classes and specific to the criterias I mentioned earlier. After that, all we need to do is to distribute them to the highest-ranked players." Beiming clapped her hands and praised me, "Yes, that¡¯s a good idea. You¡¯re so smart, big bro!" Moonlight Stone wasn¡¯t so quick to trust, however. She asked, "Lu Chen, assuming that we capture a total of 1000 Dragonlight Armored Horses, some in the Top 1000 are bound to be new recruits. How can you entrust such a valuable Sealing Stone to someone who hasn¡¯t even fought a war with us before?" I laughed. "Don¡¯t worry. You know the saying ¡®Do not doubt those you trust, and do not trust those you doubt¡¯? I have faith in everyone who joins our guild. A person¡¯s heart is made of flesh, not steel. If I treat them with kindness and honesty, they will reciprocate the favor. I can¡¯t deny that some of them might have had ulterior motives when joining, but I¡¯m sure with enough time and trust between us, we will become brothers and sisters in the end. That¡¯s how I lead my life anyway!!" A starry look immediately appeared on Moonlight Stone¡¯s face. She gripped her staff and said, "Alright, I finally understand why simple-minded people like Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits are so loyal to you. You really do possess your own unique charisma. It¡¯s no wonder Chaos Moon can¡¯t stop fantasizing about you¡­" As if I wasn¡¯t embarrassed enough by the praise, He Yi let out a cough that tuned up the awkwardness tenfold. I hurriedly said, "Anyway, it¡¯s time to get back to the grind. We don¡¯t have much time left, and we have to grab every Dragonlight Armored Horse there is on this map. If we miss this opportunity, we will never get another chance like it." "Mn. Let¡¯s do our best!" ¡­¡­ As He Yi had predicted earlier, the number of mounts on this map was insanely high. Almost 50% of the statues we shattered turned out to be mounts, proving once more how invaluable that the treasure map Lin Yixin had given me was. If I had to make a comparison, a treasure map that could create a top-tier cavalry like this was as valuable as a territory, or even Dark Moon City itself! The moon hung silently in the sky as we fought riotously on the ground. We netted both joy and cash as one Dragonlight Armored Horse after another fell into my bag. Chapter 704: King of Strange Beasts Chiang chiang chiang! A Dragonlight Armored Horse was being cut down to size by a storm of swords. It wasn¡¯t long before it let out a death scream and dropped a pair of pitch black war boots. After Beiming Xue went over to pick it up, she said, "Level 150 3-star Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade boots, big bro! Not bad¡­" He Yi nodded in agreement before saying, "Finders keepers, so they go to Beiming. Next!" I looked at the time and saw that it was 10:30 am in the morning already. Before I knew it¡ªseriously, I didn¡¯t notice the passage of time even once until just now¡ªit had been 14 hours since we logged back into the game. It was simply impossible to care while there were more Dragonlight Armored Horses to seal. One of these mounts was amazing enough, but now I was sealing hundreds of them with no end in sight. The treasure map Lin Yixin gave me truly was valuable beyond imagination. ¡­¡­ Murong Mingyue asked, "Lu Chen, we¡¯ve cleared over half of the map already. How many Dragonlight Armored Horses have you sealed so far?" I checked my bag before smiling. "Well¡­ my Luck is high, so my fail rate is low. I¡¯ve only failed to seal 2 Dragonlight Armored Horses so far, so in total I have 977 Dragonlight Horses in my bag right now. Not bad, right?" "What? You¡¯ve sealed 997 mounts already?" Both He Yi and Beiming Xue exclaimed in astonishment before chirping delightedly, "That¡¯s wonderful! This means that it¡¯s not impossible to make a 2000-strong Dragonlight Cavalry!" I nodded. "Indeed, it¡¯s very achievable!" "Hehe, that¡¯s wonderful!" He Yi said, "Lu Chen, why don¡¯t you contact Chaos Moon and tell her to create that fighter ranking of yours right now? I would normally leave such a thing to Xu Yang, but the girl is more scrupulous and Xu Yang is loyal to a fault. The player ranking he makes may not be completely fair." "Okay!" I contacted Chaos Moon while I aggroed yet another Dragonlight Armored Horse¡ª "Hi, Chaos Moon!" "Hi, big bro vice leader¡­" "Big bro yourself! Anyway, I have work for you!" "Sure, what is it?" Chaos Moon replied with a giggle. I took some time to organize my words before starting, "I want you to make a fighter ranking of our main guild using criterias such as level, equipment, skill, control and more. After you¡¯re done, I want you to embed it into our guild system and make it refresh automatically every once in a while. Think you can do it?" Caught off-guard, Chaos Moon said, "Huh, that¡¯s a very intellectual task you have for me. Well, lucky for you I once worked with statistics at a company before, so it¡¯s not beyond my capabilities¡­" "Will do!" "See you later!" "Wait, give me a kiss before you go¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ After bidding Chaos Moon goodbye, the girls and I continued exploring the depths of Dragonlight Canyon. So far, this map had turned out to be profitable beyond even our wildest dreams. After the battle of Immortality City, the power gap between the three main cities of China seemed to have narrowed considerably. A war was expected to break out between the Top 10 guilds at any moment, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild was threatened by top guilds such as Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, Hegemon Palace, Gods of Destruction and more. If we didn¡¯t improve our power as quickly as possible, it was only a matter of time before the predator became the prey. After all, Dark Moon City was a Rank 9 territory founded at an excellent geopolitical position. How could we protect our land and keep the wolves away if we grew complacent and negligent? A deep sense of achievement welled inside of me as I stared at the Dragonlight Armored Horses inside my bag. With these Sealing Stones, we could forge a 1000 to 2000 strong cavalry that was almost certainly the strongest cavalry in the entire world right now. Moreover, our Dragonlight Cavalry would be extremely deadly because most of the non-magic knight fighters in our main guild had finally reached Level 150 and gained a mount slot. Magic knight was a defense-oriented class, whereas warrior was balanced both in terms of offense and defense. Therefore, a warrior¡¯s offensive power was far greater than a magic knight¡¯s after they equipped a mount. Take High Fighting Spirits, Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon for example. Their Xiezhi Howl, Reverse Scale Slash and Rock Crush would absolutely devastate a battlefield once they obtained a mount. ¡­¡­ "Huh? What¡¯s that¡­" Suddenly, He Yi let out an exclamation of surprise and pointed her Blade of the Earthen Soul down a certain direction. Beiming Xue also narrowed her eyes before smiling. "Hehe, it looks like the object of our desire has finally shown up! It¡¯s a boss!" I looked at the direction they were pointing and found an exceptionally huge statue. It was a Dragonlight Armored Horse, but it was much larger than normal and covered in icy flames. It also had three horns protruding from his forehead that looked like a triangle from the front. It was obviously a boss of some sort. He Yi rode up to it and smashed it with a stone hammer. A rumbling noise immediately filled the air as the copper casing peeled away on its own to reveal the indigo scales beneath. Again, the boss looked no different from a normal Dragonlight Armored Horse except it was larger and had three horns. As the boss raised its head and let out a mighty neigh, I extracted its stats screen with my Dark Pupils¡ª Dragonlight King of Strange Beasts (Heaven Rank Boss) Level: 180 Attack: 5540~7250 Defense: 6000 HP: 50,000,000 Skills: Hoof Trample, Armor of the Wild, Dragonblade Pierce, Stampede of the Hundred Beasts Introduction: The Dragonlight King of Strange Beasts is the superior of all Dragonlight Armored Horses. It was exceptionally intelligent even when it was just a wild horse, and the Beast Emperor couldn¡¯t tame it despite trying for ten years. In the end, the Beast Emperor had no choice but to shackle it with his magic and pour Dragon Armor Lava over its body. After the King of Strange Beasts absorbed the dragon blood, it underwent a mutation and became extremely violent and aggressive. It would definitely wreak havoc if it ever broke out of its shell. ¡­¡­ "Holy fuck!" I gasped audibly. "A Level 180 Heaven Rank boss? This is going to be one hell of a fight! Look at its stats, its max Attack is over 7000, and if we account for its hidden stats then its effective Attack is at least 20k or more! Stay alert, everyone. Eve and I may not be strong enough to tank it completely!" He Yi nodded in agreement. This boss was so powerful that we couldn¡¯t even claim a 50% chance of winning against it. Moonlight Stone turned a little pale. "Will it wipe us¡­?" Murong Mingyue chuckled. "Calm down. In general, a party wipe won¡¯t happen as long as the tank stays alive. In other words, we should be fine as long as Lu Chen doesn¡¯t go soft on us~~" Me: "What the fuck are you saying? I¡¯m a warrior! A warrior shouldn¡¯t be expected to be the main tank, much less an unbreakable tank! This is so unfair¡­" Murong Mingyue giggled. "Cut the bullshit, you¡¯re complaining like you aren¡¯t the only crazy warrior out there with three or four AoE skills and defensive skills like Ghost Deity Armor and Immortality. Hmph, who else is more qualified to be a tank than you? Now get ready already! The boss''s AI is about to awaken immediately!" "Got it¡­" I pulled out the Cyan Netherworld Sword. The blade was currently shrouded by a red light that represented the power of undead energy. This horse king counted as a living unit, so undead energy would deal extra damage to it. Besides that, I passed the party leader position to He Yi so we could fight the boss with Royal Road. The Famous General Skill improved all our stats by 50% and reduced the boss''s stats by 10% or so, increasing our chances of winning by 30% at least! Finally, I opened my palm and summoned my body double from the Apparition Ring. An extra body that could function both as a damage dealer and a tank was always a good thing! ¡­¡­ "Alright, get ready, everyone!" I ordered, "Beiming Xue, use Corrosive Arrow to lower its Defense, and Mountain Stagger Arrow and Freezing Arrow to lower its movement speed and attack speed. Remember, you are not the damage dealer this time. Your only role in this fight is crowd control, understand?" "Got it, big bro!" Beiming Xue nodded seriously. We had never encountered such a high-level Heaven Rank boss before, so we were fighting this battle with the utmost caution. "Eve, pay close attention to aggro transfer, and absolutely watch out for its Dragonblade Pierce skill. Whatever you do, don¡¯t let it one-shot you. If the boss targets you with Dragonblade Pierce, use Holy Shield immediately to Guard and let me aggro it, understand?" "Got it!" "Sis, keep us healed. Moonlight Stone, use Ice Dragon Howl to keep the boss slowed. We¡¯re looking to kill the boss safely, not quickly." "Mn!" Once the girls all nodded their understanding, the battle began in earnest! First, I locked onto the boss and activated Thunderous Charge! Swhoosh! Both my figure and my apparition blurred toward the boss at the same time. I was Level 157 and my apparition shared my level, so my chance of stunning the boss was pretty high. ¡­ or that¡¯s what I thought, until the boss slapped me right in the face with two fat MISSes! "Roar roar!" The image of a holy dragon appeared on top of the horse¡¯s head, and it abruptly used Hoof Trample. The shockwave hit me, He Yi, my avatar and the Phantom Wolf King at once¡ª 29034! 41772! 62883! 37285! Holy shit, a single Hoof Trample was enough to make us cry like a bitch, and my apparition was the one who fared the worst out of everyone, losing half its HP in one go! "Motherfucker, this thing¡¯s crazy!" I met the boss head-on. After Beiming Xue lowered the boss''s Defense by 50% with a Corrosive Arrow to the head, I immediately unleashed Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo to its neck. The King of Strange Beasts let out a scream of pain as four damage numbers rose above its head¡ª 17376! 25237! 32488! 29834! After its Defense was lowered, Burning Blade Slash showed its true power and dealt even more damage than Universe Break with its third hit, stackable attack power of its successive hits overcoming armor penetration. After the boss''s aggro was firmly captured by me, He Yi rode up to the boss from behind and used Purgatory of Ice and Magma. The five sword auras hit even me, but luckily, friendly fire didn¡¯t happen because her attack mode was set to ¡®Guild¡¯. Bang bang bang¡­ Utterly pissed off after eating five sword auras in a row, the King of Strange Beasts abruptly shook its head and used its Dragonblade Pierce on her. Unlike the usual Dragonlight Armored Horse, the skill was a triple-hit skill because it had three horns! He Yi was in grave danger! Thankfully, He Yi¡¯s control was nothing like back in the days. She quickly moved her shield downward and used Holy Shield from atop her mount! Chiang chiang chiang... Sparks flew everywhere as the draconic horn slammed into the holy shield three times in a row. Golden sparks flew everywhere as He Yi shuddered like a leaf and lost half her HP in one go! That was dangerous! Chapter 705: Stampede of the Hundred Beasts The situation was critical, and I consciously controlled the apparition to block in front of He Yi. After my apparition unleashed a Universe Break+ Burning Blade Slash to its head, and I hit it from behind with War Crush, I finally managed to drag its hate back to me again. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! A cyan pond appeared beneath our feet. It was of course Murong Mingyue¡¯s Life Pond. Besides that, she used a bunch other AoE heals to try and keep us healthy. The problem was that this boss had an AoE skill, so single target heals couldn¡¯t keep up with the demand. However, it was also very easy to slip up and lose someone if she used AoE heals only. The demand for constant good decision making troubled Murong Mingyue deeply. He Yi managed to keep her panic to a minimum and steady her footing. She then raised her hand and healed herself with War God Recovery, a skill that healed 100% HP over 60 seconds. In a crisis, the skill could be the difference between life and death. "Roar roar!" The boss roared angrily, and its horn shone a cold light once more. Dragonblade Pierce again? WTH, just how short is its cooldown? Is it 6 seconds just like my Universe Break? This is terrible! I urged the Armored Ice Qilin Horse to move backward as I raised my arm to block the boss''s skill. At the same time, I hit it with an Icy Cyclone Domain so that its movement speed would be greatly decreased, and moved the apparition into the Life Pond to heal itself. Chiang chiang chiang! I reacted the moment its horns moved toward me. I tried parrying the skill from three different angles, but unfortunately the gap between our Strength stat was just too big. The boss was able to knock away my arm three times in a row and gore my chest with its horns, but¡ª 8932! 11293! 7261! ¡ªthankfully, the parries weren¡¯t completely useless, or I would¡¯ve lost at least twice as much HP. After all, my Defense was ultimately inferior to He Yi¡¯s. At the same time, Beiming Xue hit the boss''s chest with a Freezing Arrow+ Mountain Stagger Arrow, causing it to let out a mighty roar. Its hate toward us was growing by the second. The boss almost 300k HP in just 10 short seconds. The apparition¡¯s attack power was only 75% of mine, but it was more than good enough. "Eve, keep the boss busy while I use another Purple Dragon Howl! We don¡¯t have much time left, and we still have more Dragonlight Armored Horses to seal!" I ordered while moving backward. He Yi responded affirmatively, "Got it!" After I moved a safe distance away from the boss, I relinquished my control over my apparition and focused on the Phantom Wolf King and myself only. Calmly, I switched back and forth between my view and the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s view a dozen of times in an instant while activating God¡¯s Rage, a property that gave me 100% critical hit chance for 60 seconds! Purple Dragon Howl, go! "Roar roar!" An earthshaking roar erupted from my sword as a purple dragon soul climbed up the blade. Then, I sent it flying toward the boss and caused an entire column of 100k+ damage numbers to rise above its head! The skill deleted over a million HP in just 10 seconds¡¯ time. It was some of the most enjoyable hits I had ever done for sure. One problem though. The boss had so much health that 1 million HP was just a small chunk of HP in its health pool. It was a sad fact of life every MMO gamer had eventually learned to accept. I entered a weakened state for 3 seconds. It was the negative side effect for using Purple Dragon Howl! The boss raced toward me, but He Yi caught up from behind and pierced its back with an Ice Ray, greatly lowering its movement speed. The Phantom Wolf King also did its utmost to block the boss with its body. Together, they bought just barely enough time for me to regain my strength and continue the fight! I counter-Charged the boss and actually managed to stun it this time. However, I failed again when I tried to follow up with a God Binding Art. The Level 180 Heaven Rank boss was so powerful that the success rate of my CC skills was probably less than 10%. It was a tragedy. Again, I hit the boss with Burning Blade Slash + War crush combo, but this time its HP finally dropped low enough for Dark Pupils to glimpse its weak point. There was a tiny gap between the scales about 5 centimeters long just below its eyes; possibly a flaw in the process while it was absorbing the dragon¡¯s blood. However, it was only about as big as a coin. Only the absolute best of the best players would be able to hit a coin-sized target considering how erratic the boss''s movement was. I hurriedly marked the weak point in the shared party interface before calling out to Beiming Xue, "Aim here, Beiming! This is its weak spot!" I didn¡¯t forget to attack the weak point myself while I was giving instructions. Universe Break! Squelch! I managed to hit the pathetically tiny weak point and draw a bloodcurdling scream from the boss. The fiery cone penetrated its head almost completely, and the damage number rising above its head reflected it¡ª76273! Moonlight Stone¡¯s mouth fell open involuntarily. "Wow¡­" After receiving my order, Beiming Xue calmly moved to the side and jumped over a narrow ravine. While she was still in the air, she drew her bow and loosed an Evil Spirit Volley at its weak point! OMG, if all the skills she could use! Is she trying to show off or something? The twelve arrows flew toward the boss''s head seemingly without direction. However, it really was the result of careful aiming! Bang bang bang bang... The boss screeched in pain as a series of explosions enveloped its body. A column of damage numbers rose from its head¡ª 26738! MISS! 29382! 61234! MISS! ¡­¡­ Evil Spirit Volley consisted of 12 arrows, and Beiming Xue was able to land 9 of them. Not only that, 6 of them landed squarely on the boss''s weak point. At this point, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to compare her archery skill to laser-guided shots. There couldn¡¯t be more than 10 players in the entire China, no, the entire world who could perform such a feat, not even if their ID was Transient Smoke and Clouds or October Rain! I was a melee player, and I had some trouble trying to hit that tiny weak point from point blank. Meanwhile, Beiming Xue had launched her attack from 20 yards away. The further away a ranged player was from its target, the more important predicting the enemy¡¯s movements and skill became. It must be over ten times harder for her to land her attack on that tiny weak point than it was for me, and yet she managed to do it 50% of the time over 12 shots! That was absolutely incredible! I couldn¡¯t help the joy blooming inside my heart. Beiming Xue¡¯s growth had been nothing short of astounding, and she was looking more and more like the greatest archer of the entire China! After that, Beiming Xue fell back to her original role and continued to CC the boss with Freezing Arrows and Mountain Stagger Arrows. Nearly every shot landed squarely on the boss''s weak point, freezing its upper body and slowing it drastically. He Yi and I no longer had to keep the boss''s attention like our life depended on it, and the way we alternated between offense and defense reminded me of Tai Chi for some reason. The boss was ridiculously powerful, but it was unable to unleash it completely due to our control. After almost ten minutes of trying, we finally slipped into a rhythm that we were comfortable with. Although the battle was still pretty dangerous and tiring, it was all worth it as long as we could beat the boss. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh... After Murong Mingyue hit He Yi with two healing spells and healed her to full, she said smilingly, "Since this boss is a Heaven Rank boss, one of us might just be able to ascend and become a Divine General~ Beauty Lin¡¯s Divine General Skill hadn¡¯t been revealed yet, so let¡¯s try and make this second Divine General Skill our own!" I smiled. "I don¡¯t know, if this is all it takes to become a Divine General then a second Divine General would¡¯ve appeared already. I¡¯m very interested in the boss loot, however. A Level 180 Heaven Rank boss, man. With my Luck stat and karma, getting Heaven-grade equipment out of this should be no trouble!" Beiming Xue giggled. "This boss is covered from head to toe in tough scales, so I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll drop a metal armor or two. Big bro and Eve are going to get an upgrade real soon!" He Yi shook her head and said smilingly, "Whatever the boss drops, Lu Chen should get priority over me. After all, he can unearth the full potential of the equipment, but I can¡¯t. I¡¯m not so ignorant that I can¡¯t realize that such a valuable resource will be wasted on me¡­" Murong Mingyue and I immediately started encouraging He Yi. Contrary to the battle, a peaceful atmosphere enveloped our party for a moment. ¡­¡­ The boss fight lasted over an hour. Thanks to our amazing firepower, we were able to bring the boss down to 10% HP or so. This was also the most dangerous moment of the boss fight, however. We all kept our eyes wide open and waited for the boss to go ham! The King of Strange Beasts didn¡¯t disappoint us. Raising its proud head, it let out an earthshaking roar and¡ª Beep! Combat Log: Please be informed that Dragonlight King of Strange Beasts used the skill "Stampede of the Hundred Beasts"! ¡­¡­ "Fuck, it¡¯s a massive AoE skill! Retreat!" I shouted. The earth quaked and ruptured all around us. Countless blue energy in animal shape such as lizards, wolves, tigers and more brushed past our bodies and deleted 20k+ HP immediately. It was a continuous, full map AoE skill, and there was absolutely nothing we could do to survive it! After blocking the first wave of Stampede of the Hundred Beast with her Priest Shield, Murong Mingyue shouted, "We¡¯ll revive from the graveyard outside the map and run over! But we can¡¯t let the boss enter an idle state, or it¡¯ll recover at least 50% of its HP by the time we reach it! Lu Chen, use your invincibility skill and keep it busy! Hold on until we come back to you!" "Okay!" We were ready. We couldn¡¯t interrupt the boss''s skill, so death was the only option. That being said, it wasn¡¯t that big of a loss. It wasn¡¯t like we could get pregnant if we died in a game. Swhoosh! Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue and Moonlight Stone dropped dead at the same time I activated Shield of Evening. He Yi quickly followed them a few seconds later. Sigh, no amount of tankiness was enough without an invincibility skill! Shield of Evening only lasted 12 seconds, so i tried to interrupt the boss''s ultimate with Magic Piercing Punch and Burning Blade Slash during this time. Unfortunately, none of them worked, and Stampede of the Hundred Beasts clearly wasn¡¯t going to end any time soon. Shit! I¡¯m gonna die! Rustle rustle... A rustling sound later, Shield of Evening faded away and left a chill in my heart. I glanced at the skill I didn¡¯t want to use if at all possible¡ª Resurrection Art: 30% chance to revive upon death. If the skill is active and the passive revival didn¡¯t trigger, forcefully revives the user without any equipment penalty. Active revival costs 1 level per revive. Attack power is increased by 10% after revival and can be stacked endlessly. Chapter 706: Dragonlight Shatter Buzz! Golden light surged toward the sky as a pair of translucent wings appeared behind my back before vanishing into my armor. Visually my avatar hadn¡¯t changed whatsoever, but Resurrection Art was definitely online. The boss would have a much harder time to kill me now. I pressed my sword to the King of Strange Beasts¡¯ weak point and unleashed Burning Blade Slash, deleting an entire chunk of HP. However, it continued to ignore me and channel Stampede of the Hundred Beasts almost as if it knew that I would die as long as it kept this up. Certainly, I couldn¡¯t withstand its ultimate for more than 10 seconds even with the Armored Ice Qilin Horse empowering me. Crack crack... My body shook like a leaf as countless blue energies penetrated my body. Finally, I died where I stood! However, I received a system notice saying that I had come back to life. It was Immortality that revived me back to life! At this point, I threw all caution to the wind and attacked its weak point with everything I got. After all the trouble it put me through today, I swore I was going to cut down the animal no matter what! Stampede of the Hundred Beasts continued to impact my body until finally, I died a second time. This time I wasn¡¯t lucky enough to trigger the passive revival, so I had no choice but to revive myself at the cost of a level. The moment I did so, a golden light flew away from my body and vanished into the sky. God dammit, an entire Level worth of experience was gone just like that! I continued hacking away at the boss''s weak point until it was an unrecognizable mess of flesh and blood. The size of the weak point also grew as more and more dragon scales fell off. In pain, the boss''s bloodcurdling screams resounded non-stop inside the canyon. Swhoosh swhoosh... Another two animalistic energies penetrated my body and deleted more than half of my 130k health pool in an instant. It wasn¡¯t long before I died again without triggering Immortality, and was forced to revive myself at the cost of one Level! Luckily, Resurrection Art kept me from losing my equipment, and since my death wasn¡¯t a "true" death I didn¡¯t even need to reapply my buffs. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse and I simply rose back to our feet and hacked away at the boss''s weak point like zombies. Speaking of which, the Phantom Wolf King had died and returned to the pet space a long time ago, and behind me Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone had dropped a pair of boots and a necklace each. It looked like the girls were even unluckier than me today, seeing as they had dropped an equipment upon death. ¡­¡­ Inside the party channel, He Yi asked me, "How is it going, Lu Chen?" "I died three times and lost two levels¡­" "..." Beiming Xue said encouragingly, "Big bro, we¡¯ll be there in three minutes, so hang on¡­" ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t stop swinging my sword while I was chatting with the girls as a matter of course. The good news was that Stampede of the Hundred Beasts only lasted about 120 seconds or so, and I finally triggered Immortality again when I died for the fourth time, reviving at no cost to myself! "Roar roar!" After the King of Strange Beasts had done channeling its ultimate, it let out an angry roar and attempted to gore me with its horns. God damn, this motherfucker had used its Dragonblade Pierce immediately after it used its ultimate. How bullshit was that? Of course I couldn¡¯t let it get the better of me, so I crossed my sword in front of me and used Guard. I was the only player in the area, so I didn¡¯t need to worry about OT. Bang bang bang! A ripple spread around my body every time I took a hit. It looked like a full Guard was stronger than a magic knight¡¯s Holy Shield because I only lose 30k HP or so after the attack. It was within my ability to withstand for sure. I raised my hand and used the God Binding Art! Four divine weapons fell from the sky and surrounded the boss, forming a barrier.This time, it shackled the near berserk boss almost perfectly. Finally, after failing to take effect countless times in the past, God Binding Art finally worked on the boss. Maybe it was because it had lost too much health, or maybe it was because a huge hole had appeared in its defenses. It didn¡¯t matter. What mattered was that God Binding Art had bought me some much needed breathing room and reduced my chances of dying again. After all, who in their right mind would want to lose a level if they had any other choice? If this boss wasn¡¯t a legendary Heaven Rank super boss, I would¡¯ve invincible teleported back to the main city a long time ago! I would gladly surrender my role to anyone who was willing to throw their Level away like it was nothing! ¡­¡­ While the boss was immobilized, I moved as far away as I could before tossing Dragon Slaying Slashes toward its head. After all the damage I did, its HP had dropped to 8% or so. It was very close to passing through death¡¯s door now. Not far behind me, reinforcements had finally arrived. It was He Yi and Murong Mingyue riding together on one horse. The Dragonlight Armored Horse was swift, so He Yi brought Murong Mingyue over first. It was the right decision because a priest was exactly what we needed to guarantee our survivability. "Let¡¯s go!" I let out a chuckle and raced toward the boss again. Two minutes later, Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone returned as well. With Freezing Arrows, Ice Dragon Howls and more crowd control skills reducing the boss''s mobility, our inevitable victory became even more secure. The King of Strange Beasts kept roaring angrily, but there wasn¡¯t really anything it could do to threaten us. Both He Yi and I were top-tier main tanks were a ridiculous amount of HP and Defense, and as powerful as it was it lacked the ability to one-shot either of us. If we were a normal Level 140 hundred-man party, the King of Strange Beasts could¡¯ve one-shot the frontliners again and again before their priests a chance to heal them. At the very least, Dragonblade Pierce would be one-shot one-kill as there were less than 10 players who could tank a full Dragonblade Pierce in Sky City right now. Time passed little by little. When the boss''s HP dropped to 1%, He Yi abruptly pulled away and said, "Beiming, Moonlight Stone, stop. If Lu Chen kills this boss we¡¯ll get more equipment and reward, and he needs the experience to restore the levels he lost anyway!" The two girls nodded and backed away in unison. Murong Mingyue was the only one who stayed behind to heal me. It was at this moment I triggered the Cyan Netherworld Sword¡¯s passive, Cyan Netherworld Divine Dragon again. This was the 12th time the passive triggered throughout this entire boss fight, and it was the strike that deleted the boss''s final sliver of HP! Boom! The ferocious boss let out a furious scream as the draconic soul ravaged its gigantic body. It finally collapsed to the ground and died! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! I leveled up 3 times in a row, and the girls in my party at least once. That was one helluva increase in experience. Not only did I recoup the 2 levels I lost, I was sitting at Level 158 right now! He Yi then said to me with a smile, "Lu Chen, why don¡¯t you see what the boss dropped? It should¡¯ve dropped a ton of equipment knowing your Luck stat." However, my heart turned ice cold when I kicked away the boss''s legs and checked the loot beneath them. "It looks like my Luck didn¡¯t work this time. I only see three items..." "What¡­?" Even He Yi sounded a bit speechless. There were three pieces of equipment lying on the ground. The first equipment was a metal armor helmet shining a bloody light, the second equipment was a spiky longhammer shining a rainbow light, and the last equipment was a red necklace with an intimidating gleam. I wondered what was the history behind these equipment? No one was expecting a legendary Heaven Rank boss to drop 3 equipment only! Beiming Xue consoled me. "The boss only dropped three pieces of equipment, but maybe that¡¯s because they¡¯re all super amazing. Come on, show us their stats already, big bro¡­" "Right." I nodded and picked up the metal armor helmet first. When I waved a hand across the equipment and brought up its stats screen, the girls immediately held their breaths¡ª Dragonlight Helmet (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 1450 Magic Resist: 1200 Strength: + 275 Stamina: + 260 Agility: + 255 Tactics: + 75 Passive: Increases user¡¯s HP by 12000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 35% Slot: 7 Outstanding Property: Dragon Totem. 10% chance to trigger Dragon Totem and damage the enemy when attacked. Introduction: Dragonlight Canyon is a mysterious place situated at the center of the continent and over millennia old. A long time ago, it is said that a divine dragon took the form of a human warrior and fought the demons residing in this canyon, losing its life in the process. After its soul became refined and fused with cold metal, it became a divine item known as the Dragonlight Metal Armor. Level Requirement: 155 ¡­¡­ "Amazing!" I couldn¡¯t help myself from praising. "This Level 155 helmet is seriously amazing!" The girls had to blink a couple of times before they finally recovered from their shock. Moonlight Stone said with obvious envy, "The metal armor class is seriously blessed. The Defense of this one helmet is almost higher than my total Defense¡­" I was just about to ask how we should distribute this when He Yi cut me off with a smile. "This one¡¯s yours. I¡¯m still 3 levels away from Level 155, and why should it collect dust in my bag when you can wear it right now?" Murong Mingyue agreed. "Yes, I think this Dragonlight Helmet should go to Lu Chen as well. Your contribution in this fight is invaluable, and you lost levels for this. There is no reason you shouldn¡¯t receive your rightful compensation¡­" "In that case, I¡¯ll gladly accept this¡­" I replaced the God Suppressing Helmet with the Dragonlight Helmet immediately. The new equipment was far better than the Spirit-grade God Suppressing Helmet, and it had an Outstanding Property called Dragon Totem that damaged the enemy when I was attacked. It was something the God Suppressing Helmet couldn¡¯t compete with at all. Next, I picked up the war hammer that shone with a rainbow light. It looked incredibly powerful¡ª Dragonlight Shatter (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 1150~1420 Strength: + 210 Stamina: + 225 Agility: + 190 Tactics: + 50 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 55% Passive: Increases user¡¯s splash damage by 24% Slot: 8 Outstanding Property: Shatter. When attacking, the power of the divine dragon grants the user an extremely high chance to ignore enemy Defense and deal true damage. Level Requirement: 150 ¡­¡­ Holy shit, this war hammer was just as amazing as the helmet. My Luck hadn¡¯t misfired after all, or we would never have gotten 2 Heaven-grade equipment at once. The Dragonlight Helmet alone could shock the world, but now we got the Dragonlight Shatter as well. The drop rate was insane to say the least. I tossed the war hammer into my bag and asked, "This is a fighter¡¯s weapon. Should we keep it in the guild warehouse, or sell it at the auction house?" Moonlight Stone looked conflicted for a moment, but He Yi let out a chuckle and declared, "It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll buy it for 2 million." I gave He Yi a knowing smile before tossing the Dragonlight Shatter into He Yi¡¯s hands. After she traded 2 million gold to me, I declared, "We¡¯re splitting this evenly, so everyone gets 400k. Here, Moonlight Stone, this is yours¡­" In fact, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue or I didn¡¯t care about the money at all. We were doing this purely to compensate Moonlight Stone and gain the right to dispose of the equipment as we pleased. After I shot He Yi a private message, I confirmed that she was planning to sell this hammer to High Fighting Spirits for cheap. He was one of the wearers of the Dragonblade equipment set, and he was soon to ride a Dragonlight Horse. If he could wield the Dragonlight Shatter as well, his HP, Defense and Attack would be off the charts. He would no doubt become one of the strongest generals the guild had ever seen! Chapter 707: Necklace of Azure Pupil I gave her a reassuring smile and replied, "Don¡¯t worry, High Fighting Spirits is a passionate and loyal guy. He won¡¯t let the weapon go to waste or bring shame to our guild!" He Yi smiled back before saying out loud, "Now, let¡¯s check out the last equipment drop, shall we?" "Mn!" I picked up the necklace. The pendant was shaped like a silvery round moon, but it was surrounded by a red, flame-like aura. Despite the contrasting energies, I could feel a tremendous power seeping into my palm. The necklace clearly had amazing stats, and judging from its appearance, it was most likely another Heaven-grade item. I brought up its stats screen, and just as expected¡ª Necklace of Azure Pupil (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Agility: +280 Stamina: +275 Intelligence: +240 Tactics: +59 Passive: Increases user¡¯s physical ranged attack power by 50% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 20% Slot: 7 Outstanding Property: Azure Pupil. 30% chance to land a critical hit on the next attack. Level Requirement: 150 ¡­¡­ "Oh? A Heaven-grade necklace?" The corners of my lips turned upward. "This is the first Heaven-grade necklace in the entire server. Hahaha, our luck is truly off the charts today!" Murong Mingyue chuckled. "Since this one adds physical ranged attack power, it¡¯s Lil Beiming¡¯s!" Beiming Xue stared at the necklace admiringly and said, "Wah, this necklace is even more beautiful than the one I¡¯m wearing right now¡­" "Take it. You¡¯re the only one who can use it anyway." "Mn mn, thank you, big bro!" Beiming Xue quickly equipped the Necklace of Azure Pupil, and the way the pendant hung between Beiming Xue¡¯s breasts was so attractive that I actually lost my train of thought for a moment. She even looked seductive when she glanced downward to examine the necklace. The young girl had grown up a lot for sure. "Well, all that¡¯s left is the small stuff. Let¡¯s distribute them quickly and get back to sealing Dragonlight Armored Horses!" I flipped over the boss''s body and found a ton of Purple Crystals beneath it. In fact, there was even a golden Divine Crystal in the midst. I held up the item and let out a sigh of admiration. "Holy shit, I heard that a 1 Quality Divine Crystal of worth 1000 gold, so that means that a 100 Quality Divine Crystal can be sold for 100k¡­" I glanced at its stats before grinning uncontrollably. "It¡¯s 92. Hahaha, this thing is worth 92k RMB! We¡¯re rich¡­" "Let¡¯s split the money between us then¡­" "Sure!" I put away the Divine Crystal and gave everyone the appropriate sum of money in exchange. No one was taken advantage of. It didn¡¯t look like the boss dropped anything else, and when I tried using Death Plunder on it, I only got a shoddy scale that was a Rank 8 armorsmithing material. At our level, the material was almost useless to us because both my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor or He Yi¡¯s chest armor were far better than anything this material could make. It was at this moment I glimpsed a ray of indigo light coming from a pit beneath the boss''s body. "Come on, Lu Chen! It¡¯s time to get back to the Dragonlight Armored Horses!" "Wait!" "What¡¯s wrong?" He Yi looked back at me. I got off my mount and removed the leg that was blocking my view. After I pushed away the soil covering the item, a round, indigo object appeared before us. I could actually feel a tinge of faint warmth when I touched its surface. "Huh? What¡­ what is this thing?" The girls exclaimed in astonishment. When I picked it up and waved my hand across it, the girls¡¯ astonishment turned into full blown shock¡ª Dragonlight Spirit Beast (Pet Egg): Earth Rank Boss Mount. Incubation Level Requirement: 150. Reputation Cost: 40000. Gold Cost: 20000 ¡­¡­ "Holy shit, it¡¯s a Level 150 Earth Rank Boss mount¡­" I gasped. It was at the same level as the Armored Ice Qilin Horse! This was the true reward my Luck stat had led us to! Murong Mingyue burst into laughter. "This is awesome! This means that Eve doesn¡¯t need to ride a common Dragonlight Armored Horse like everyone else! Lu Chen, this Dragonlight Spirit Beast is Eve¡¯s, you hear me? You can¡¯t keep this for yourself when you have the Armored Ice Qilin Horse already¡­" "But of course!" I smiled and passed the egg to He Yi. "In fact, you should hatch it right now, Eve. Our task would be easier with the king of the Dragonlight Armored Horses aiding us!" He Yi was so happy that cheeks were rosy. She carefully dripped a drop of blood onto the egg to confirm her ownership, and a second later, a mature Dragonlight Armored Horse that was as big as the Armored Ice Qilin Horse manifested into existence with a long neigh. Appearance-wise, it looked very similar to the Armored Ice Qilin Horse except that it had three horns. It was also way larger than a normal Dragonlight Armored Horse! After He Yi climbed up the mount, she exclaimed in astonishment, "Oh wow, my HP just increased by a lot¡­" I nodded smilingly. "Very good. Now we can continue sealing more Dragonlight Armored Horses and build a cavalry of eternal victory!" "Mn mn. Let¡¯s go!" Our beautiful guild leader¡¯s confidence skyrocketed like never before. In fact, her strength had climbed to a whole new height, and her Attack wasn¡¯t too far behind mine after she gained the top-tier mount. ¡­¡­ After that, the five of us continued to search for more Dragonlight Armored Horses amid the endless mist. Looking at the time and the size of the map, we should be done more or less when our time limit was up. However, the grind screeched to a halt at around 5 pm or so. It was because the girls couldn¡¯t hold on any longer. "Ai, we¡¯ve been online for 22 hours straight. I¡¯m almost certain the dark circles around my eyes right now can rival Kung Fu Panda¡¯s. What should I do¡­" Beiming Xue complained with a sigh. He Yi nodded. "Yeah. Now that I think about it, I have a board of directors meeting to hold the day after tomorrow. So torturous¡­" Murong Mingyue also said, "You age faster if you burn the midnight oil, and more importantly¡­ I¡¯m so hungry I could die¡­" Unwilling to push the girls any harder than this, I said, "Log out and eat your dinner. Rest until midnight, then come back and grind until the time limit is up. This map is simply too precious to waste." "What about you?" He Yi asked me. "I can still continue. I can fight the minibosses here alone, and I have a body double and the Phantom Wolf King. Also, don¡¯t forget that I have the God Binding Art and ranged skills like the Dragon Slaying Slash. The grind won¡¯t tax me too much. Also, I¡¯m going to avoid fighting the mobs if possible and focus on sealing the Rare mounts only!" "Okay. But you should at least eat dinner with us before you get back to the grind!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ We set up our tents and logged out of the game. We agreed to meet up again at 12 am sharp. I got ready to log back into the game after eating dinner with the girls. At least 15% of the map was still unexplored, and I couldn¡¯t let even a millimeter of it go to waste. For every Dragonlight Armored Horse I captured, a new top-tier rider was born in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! During the meal, Murong Mingyue said while staring at some data on her notebook, "Chaos Moon sure is an efficient worker. She has already created the ranking we asked her to. It looks like everyone is grinding levels like mad for the past few days, hehe. There are over 800 players in the main guild above Level 150 and after sixth promotion, and over 4000 players who are Level 149. I reckon that the number of Level 150 players will reach 3000 by tomorrow afternoon!" "That¡¯s amazing!" I laughed while tearing a piece of cooked beef. "Oh right, how many Dragonlight Armored Horses have we captured so far, Lu Chen?" He Yi asked. I thought for a moment before answering, "I think it¡¯s around 1400 or so. After tonight, we should be able to seal close to 2000 Dragonlight Armored Horses. After today, our best cavalry will be welcoming a new upgrade! The Cyan Battle Tigers are nothing compared to the Dragonlight Armored Horses!" He Yi nodded in agreement. "That¡¯s true. The Dragonlight Armored Horses are Spirit Rank Miniboss mounts after all. Of course the Cyan Battle Tigers are inferior to them." Murong Mingyue said, "Now that more and more players are hitting their sixth class promotion, I¡¯m expecting the devs to unleash the Nation Wars patch very soon. When that happens, all the maps situated in between the main cities will disappear, and the borders will be clearly defined. The Nation War is the perfect time for our Dragonlight Cavalry to make its name and conquer the world!" I chuckled. "Don¡¯t get arrogant. Otherwise, the Dragonlight Cavalry might just break and sink into sand¡­" "What the fuck! Why are you cursing our own cavalry?" "Fine, I¡¯ll say something nice. Sis, it looks like you¡¯ve grown bigger in the past two days¡­" "Is that so?" Murong Mingyue looked down at herself. "What a conundrum. I¡¯ve almost ran out of underwear shops at this point¡­" I suggested, "You can always wear a dudou like the ancients, you know?" "Fuck off, who will want me if they sag? You?!" "It¡¯s fine, your baby won¡¯t need to worry about the quality of their powdered milk at least¡­" "Go to hell!" Both Murong Mingyue and I had turned complete red by this point. The problem with NSFW dialogues was that they were impossible to stop once they began! Beiming Xue kept digging into her food and pretended that she had no idea what we were talking about. He Yi was already used to this, so she simply smiled gracefully like a mother watching over her arguing children. ¡­¡­ The girls went to bed immediately after they finished dinner. Pretty girls needed sleep to maintain their beauty, and they certainly had suffered enough in the past few days. They would definitely beat me up if I tried to push them any further. I, on the other hand, was a camel of gaming, so I logged back into the game after relieving myself in the WC. Sigh, I definitely feel more like a mule than a human these past couple days! Chapter 708: Northern Alliance Swhoosh! There was a flash of blue light, and the last Rare mount vanished from my view and appeared in my bag. There were almost no red dots left on the entire map. With this, I could finally say that our party had conquered the entire Dragonlight Canyon, and the journey was a very rewarding one. Not only did we gain a bunch of levels and a ton of top-tier equipment, my bag was filled with Sealing Stones containing Dragonlight Armored Horses. I felt happy just looking at them. ¡­¡­ Despite our prior agreement, the girls slept well past 5 am before they finally woke up and joined me. They looked like they had a full recharge, while I looked like I had worked as a miner at a Shanxi coal mine for half a year. Suffice it to say, my complexion looked quite unhealthy. I lowered my Cyan Netherworld Sword and sat down next to a dead Dragonlight Armored Horse. "You must be very tired." He Yi climbed down her mount and walked up to me with clear concern in her eyes. She put her hands on my shoulders as if she wanted to give me a massage, but of course I couldn¡¯t feel a thing through my thick metal armor. I would be ecstatic to enjoy a little bit of hand service from my beautiful guild leader if this wasn¡¯t the case, if you get what I mean. "Mn, it¡¯s okay. I¡¯ll live¡­" I replied with a tired expression. "At least we got all the Rare mounts, and without you girls I managed to grind a lot of EXP¡­" That¡¯s right. After grinding the minibosses like crazy for the entire night, I had leveled up twice and reached Level 159. In Sky City, I continued to lead far, far ahead of everyone, but in China, I was only the third highest-leveled player. China was full of godlike players after all. The first place was claimed by Luo River God of the Capital, and the second place was claimed by God¡¯s Dance. Giggling a little and leaning on my back in an affectionate manner, He Yi asked, "Mn, our efforts for the past three days hadn¡¯t gone to waste¡­ so, how many Dragonlight Armored Horses did you capture in total?" I glanced at her before smiling. "2001. Not a bad number, right?" He Yi simply smiled at me. Murong Mingyue commented, "It¡¯s pretty good. This means our guild will have a total of 2001 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. It is an ace cavalry for sure at this stage of the game!" I nodded. "Yes, but let¡¯s make it 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen instead of 2001. Gotta round up the number, you see." "What do you want to do with the last Sealing Stone then?" "Yes, you¡¯re right. We¡¯ll do as you say then!" He Yi rose to her feet and gave me on the shoulder. Then, she said with a smile, "Alright, there¡¯s only 3 minutes left on the clock, so you might as well log out sooner, eat some food and catch some ZZZzzzZZZzzz. Mingyue, Beiming and me will take care of everything, so sleep as much as you like! I¡¯ll wake you up for dinner or supper later!" "Okay!" I gave He Yi the 2000 Sealing Stones and Dragonlight Shatter before saying seriously, "The Dragonlight Cavalry is to become a symbol of our longevity and the face of our power in the future, so make sure you choose its riders carefully. It will suck if some shady guy runs away with them." He Yi nodded and smiled reassuringly at me. "Yes, I understand what you mean. We¡¯ll make our pick from the Top 2500 players of the fighter ranking Chaos Moon made and narrow it down further to the people Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon and so on trust the most. In general, we¡¯ll only pick loyal friends who trust each other enough to give their life for the other person, so don¡¯t worry!" "Alright, sounds good¡­" I took out a return scroll and said one last time, "It¡¯s time to log out!" "Mn!" We left before the countdown was up. Everyone turned into white light and disappeared after tearing the return scrolls. Swhoosh! My vision brightened. After leaving the dark, gloomy map that was Dragonlight Canyon for good, I couldn¡¯t but feel a sense of endearment toward this bright city of many races. The first thing I did was to run back to Air Force One and unload all the top-tier equipment in my bag. I left my NPC, White Fox, to set the price and organize the items herself while I went to repair my equipment and stock up on potions. Because I had to grind Dragonlight Canyon on my own last night, I had to consume all my Rank 9 Saint Spirit Potions and even one Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion to stay alive. It was necessary, but it was a waste nonetheless. My brain was fully overloaded by that point. I logged out of the game, ate some food and returned to my room. I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow. ¡­¡­ "Bastard!" In my dreams, I woke to a dreamy voice and found myself standing amidst a forest of withered trees. A beautiful girl wearing a Level 20 Dark Steel¨Cgrade metal armor and a blue cape and wielding a shining rapier was glaring at me with a pout. Her purple pupils were astoundingly beautiful, and her gaze seemed capable of befuddling the mind. I couldn¡¯t help but lose myself in it. "Yiyi¡­" I called out to her hoarsely. My throat felt very dry, and my voice didn¡¯t sound like my own at all. It was at that moment I realized that my body wasn¡¯t really my body. Somehow, I had turned back into a skeleton covered in simple armor again. Fuck, how did I turn back into a full Night Creature? This appearance is so ugly... The girl in front of me¡ªthe name Wind Fantasy hanging proudly above her head¡ªpointed her sword at me and declared, "Frost Mound belongs to the Lins starting today, and that includes you! From now on, you will follow my surname and call yourself Lin Halberd Sinks Into Sand! If anyone tries to bully you, just give them my name!" I couldn¡¯t help but feel a deep sense of fondness toward her. Smiling playfully at her, I said, "Okay, I¡¯m yours from now on. May I know what your name is?" "My¡­ my name is¡­" The girl whined and searched around for a bit, but for some reason she couldn¡¯t seem to recall her name. A while later, she simply huffed at me and said, "My name is my business? Why do you want to know my private details anyway? Are you plotting something nefarious?" I replied, "If you don¡¯t have a name, then can I call you babe instead?" "Babe¡­" She turned as red as an autumn apple, but she tossed her sword to the ground in front of her and declared with determination, "Okay, fine, you may address me as¡­ babe from now on¡­" I couldn¡¯t help but hug my stomach and laugh at her cuteness. Suddenly, I noticed that there was only a pair of pelvis beneath my armor and nothing else! I immediately groaned in despair. What the hell is this?? Suddenly, the scene shifted to a new one. A beautiful girl was standing under the moon and smiling at me. Her outline looked incredibly smooth under the moonlight, and she was clad in high-level battle armor. The exposed parts of her legs looked long and white, and her cape was fluttering lightly behind her. I stretched out to grab her as a hoarse voice escaped my throat, "Yiyi¡­ Lin Yixin¡­ where are you going? We promised to eat together everyday! Don¡¯t leave, I¡¯ll scorn you for the rest of your days if you do¡­" Lin Yixin suddenly wept, tears misting her eyes and sliding down her cheeks in large droplets. Shaking like a leaf, she cried, "It¡¯s too late¡­" The world around us suddenly darkened. The darkness slowly devoured Lin Yixin until she was gone completely, leaving behind only the memory of her tearful face in my heart. ¡­¡­ "Ah¡­" I abruptly woke up from my dream and looked outside the window. It was morning, and the autumn wind was blowing frantically outside. Had I fallen asleep for an entire day and night? My forehead was covered in sweat, but I forced myself to disbelieve my earlier nightmare. Lin Yixin might have left me for now, but I knew she would come back to me one day because I missed her, and maybe she missed me as well. I wiped my forehead before climbing to my feet. I had no idea how much sweat I had excreted last night, only that my entire body was sticky with it. I put on some clothes and walked out of the room, intending to catch a bath first before starting the day. I saw He Yi and Beiming Xue washing strawberries when I went out. Beiming Xue immediately greeted me with a smile when she saw me, "You¡¯re finally up, big bro. You were asleep for over 20 hours, and we couldn¡¯t even wake you up last night¡­" He Yi said, "Should I order some food while you take a bath?" "Sure!" I gave her a nod before asking, "Did anything big happen in the game while I was out?" "I guess?" He Yi answered, "For starters, we¡¯ve distributed all 2000 Sealing Stones to our players, so the title of the most elite cavalry in the entire server now officially belongs to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and more are all Dragonlight Cavalrymen now!" "As it should be, hehe!" I laughed. "Alright, it looks like our guild is officially done with preparations. We will show the world what we¡¯re made of once the Nation Wars begin!" Beiming Xue said, "Oh right, there¡¯s been some updates regarding the Nation Wars, but before that you really should take a bath, big bro! You stink!" "I got it!" I entered the bathroom and turned on the shower. An immensely refreshing feeling overcame my senses as hot water washed over me. It looked like Murong Mingyue had woken up as well since I could hear her speaking from outside the bathroom. ¡­¡­ After I was done bathing and putting on a new set of clothes, I entered the living hall and sat down next to Beiming Xue, "So, what are these updates regarding the Nation Wars?" Beiming Xue said, "Eh, why don¡¯t you tell him, Sister He Yi? You¡¯re the guild leader, your words have more weight than mine¡­" He Yi: "..." Me: "Well?" "Fine¡­" He Yi let out a helpless chuckle before starting. "It¡¯s not good news though. As you are already aware, the three main cities of China are situated at the center of Heavenblessed Continent and titled the Center. There are 8 super main cities¡ªthree from America, and one each from Germany, France, England, Korea and Vietnam¡ªdirectly to our north, and maybe it¡¯s because China performed too well in Eternal Moon and Spirit of Grief, but they have all entered an alliance called ¡®Northern Alliance¡¯ and posted the details on the international forums. Their objective is to drive all Chinese players from the Center and conquer it¡­" I couldn¡¯t help but gasp. "Holy shit, this is serious!" Chapter 709: Forum Battle He Yi nodded and said seriously, "Eternal Moon and Spirit of Grief lasted a total of 9 years or so, and China has been making waves since the beginning. From Lin Fan attacking Nino City, to Frivolous Scholar conquering Sainthelm City, and finally Candlelight Shadow taking down three Indian cities during the latter half of Spirit of Grief, we just shone too bright for our enemies to ignore. That is why they decided to join hands and take us out of the equation first¡­" Beiming Xue pouted and complained a little, "Why should we be the ones to pay for the sins of Lin Fan and Frivolous Scholar¡­" I sucked in a deep breath and said, "Damn, I can already imagine the world burning down in flames already. What a lousy time to be playing this game!" ¡­¡­ He Yi brought up the world map page and pointed at the screen. "As you can see here, the Northern Alliance is directly to our north. Wind City is the closest city to our enemies; separated only by the Dragonbone Mountain Range. Our Dark Moon City is up next, and there¡¯s a high chance we¡¯ll have to turn into a forward base of sorts. There are 27 cities¡ªeach representing a country in real life¡ªto the west of the Northern Alliance, but they¡¯re weak and their main cities are only tier 2. They are commonly known as the Chaotic 27. The moment the Nation Wars begin, these cities are going to fight themselves silly as none of them are willing to submit to the other." I picked up a white steamed bun and took a bite. "Let¡¯s ignore the Chaotic 27 for now. They won¡¯t be able to spare the energy to attack us anyway. The eight main cities of the Northern Alliance is the real threat here as all their servers are hostile toward us. They¡¯ll be the first countries to try and take revenge on China the moment the Nation Wars begin." Beiming Xue also pointed at the map and said, "Dawn City will be the first city to be attacked because it is the closest territory to the Northern Alliance. Although it is protected by natural barriers like Dragonbone Mountain Range and Black Coast, there is a small pass at the center of Dragonbone Mountain Range called the Windy Trail. Barring any unusual circumstances, the Northern Alliance must pass through the Windy Trail to attack us, so as long as we hold the pass, the enemy won¡¯t be able to catch us by surprise." I nodded but felt incredibly anxious anyway. It was bad enough that the map was designed that we were surrounded by enemies, but they also dumped some of our major opponents to the north and gave them the opportunity to form this so-called Northern Alliance. It was also impossible for us to go on the offensive because anyone who appeared on the other side of Dragonbone Mountain Range would instantly be pummeled from all sides. It would be plain suicide. ¡­¡­ "What is the solution then?" He Yi asked me while propping up her chin with her right hand. It was at this moment Murong Mingyue served up the dishes she had just reheated. "Let¡¯s talk after we fill our stomachs, shall we?" "Okay!" I grabbed a bun and ripped into it. I hadn¡¯t eaten for so long that I felt like I was turning into a hungry ghost. While He Yi, Beiming Xue and I were sweeping the food, we suddenly discovered that Murong Mingyue was hugging her chest and not eating at all. She was obviously staring at the roasted chicken with great interest, and yet she was also holding herself back for some reason. This behavior was uncanny of the number one glutton of the Frost Cloud workshop. "Why aren¡¯t you eating, sis?" Beiming Xue and I asked at nearly the same time. Murong Mingyue pouted before answering in a helpless tone, "Uu, I weighed myself this morning and found that I weigh 101 pounds now. As the saying goes, ¡®a good woman doesn¡¯t go above 100¡¯, so I¡¯m trying to lose some weight¡­" Dumbfounded, I persuaded her, "It¡¯s not good to skip a meal, you know. An empty sack can¡¯t stand upright!" He Yi also supported me. "He¡¯s right. You can eat less, but you cannot function on an empty stomach." Still staring at the roasted chicken, Murong Mingyue was suddenly seized by a burst of poetic inspiration. She chanted, ¡°I want to be thin, and I want to eat. But it can only be one or the other, what the fuck is this shit?¡± "PUUUU!" Beiming Xue instantly spat out the cola in her mouth. ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t hurry online after finishing my meal and returning to my room. I was currently Level 159, and chances were I wasn¡¯t going to run into another super map full of minibosses like the Dragonlight Canyon in the immediate future. Knowing that I could grind for an entire day and still not go up a level, I decided to take it easy and browse the forums for now. Considering that the Nation Wars were rumored to begin at any moment, the forums must be up in flames right now. I lay by the window sill and allowed the sunlight of late autumn and coming winter to splash against my face. Setting the notebook on my legs, I brought up the official forums and saw the threads refreshing at a mind-boggling speed just as I thought it might. First, I checked out the stickied threads. My recruitment post was still up there, followed by a pre-war mobilization post from the guild leader of Righteousness himself, Hot and Sour Noodles. Zhang Chun was a CGL official and a man of virtue and prestige, so his words carried more weight than most others¡¯. After he moved on from Spirit of Grief and entered Heavenblessed, he had played the role of the commander of the Nation Wars, which meant that he was the perfect person to make a post like this. The red highlighted text caught the eye immediately¡ª "The enemy approaches our gates, and we must fight!" Beneath the title were several walls of text. The first paragraph stated: "The Nation Wars are about to begin, and to our north lies Titan City, Seven Star City, Hero City, Chariot City, Eternal Love City, Hot Sand City and Burning City. These eight cities have come together under one banner for one, and only one, purpose, and that is to take the three main cities of China¡ªSky City, Wind City and Vanished God City¡ªaway from us. They are our homes, and it is our duty to defend them, no matter how powerful our enemies may turn out to be! That is why I believe it is time for our guilds to turn their weapons away from each other and toward the enemies who desire to devour all of us. To put it concisely, the enemy approaches our gates, and we will fight!" The second paragraph read very impressive and fitting for the situation. It was clear that Zhang Chun had put a lot of thought into it. "We, the China server, prefer to be philanthropists, not dominators. We fight only when provoked. Today the Northern Alliance declared their intention to conquer our homes, and if we do not rise up to protect ourselves, who will? In the past, we had kings of kings such as Lost Paradise, Sword & Rose, Snow Moon and Soul Battle Robes to protect us. Today, we have legendary guilds such as Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Purple Lily and Snowy Cathaya to fight by our side, so let us defend our homes together! Dawn City will be the first city to make contact with the enemy, so I suggest that the guilds dispatch their elites to grind at the center of Dragonbone Mountain Range. This way, we¡¯ll be able to defend Windy Trail at a moment¡¯s notice and suppress the attack of the Northern Alliance! The time to unsheath your weapons and protect your homes is now, everyone. We will all be legends when our blood and sweat seep through the soil of our home, and when countless graves are made at the frontier!" ¡­¡­ I smiled. Hot and Sour Noodles definitely had the knack for leadership. For example, not everyone had the ability to compose such a passionate yet reasonable statement. It was more or less the best mobilization speech one could give before the war. The thread had tens of thousands of replies, and a lot of famous people were mixed among them too¡ª 1723th comment (Player Warsky): Hot and Sour Noodles is absolutely right. Warsky Alliance will do its best! 4282th comment (Player Dominating Heaven Blade): They want a fight, we¡¯ll give them a war! We are not afraid! 4298th comment (Player Candlelight Shadow): As the representative of Candle Dragon, I swear that our guild will fight to the last person to protect Dawn City! We will not allow anyone to blaspheme our city! 7939th comment (Player Clear Perfume): Snowy Cathaya will do their best too. ¡­¡­ I was scrolling down the replies when suddenly, I saw a familiar name and shivered from head to toe¡ª 10293th comment (Player Lin Xiao): To be honest, it¡¯s very unwise to defend Dawn City. You are basically one blip on the radar trying to defend against an entire line of enemies, and it is far too easy to get surrounded from all sides. In my opinion, we should consider taking one step backward today for two steps forward tomorrow: First, we give up Dawn City to the Northern Alliance. Second, we use this tasty bait and make them fight against one another until they¡¯re drained. Finally, we unite all the forces of Sky City and Wind City, surround Dawn City ourselves and wait for the inevitable slip-up. I was pretty shocked by what I read. This has to be Lin Yixin¡¯s dad, right? I checked the account¡¯s details, and sure enough it was registered at Shanghai, and its gaming account was only Level 45. Knowing Lin Xiao, he wouldn¡¯t spend too much time on playing the game or grinding levels, so this level was just about right. I immediately logged into my own account and replied to his comment directly, "Give Dawn City up to the Northern Alliance? That¡¯s not taking one step backward for two steps forward tomorrow, that¡¯s submitting to the enemy, fanning the enemy¡¯s morale and killing our own before we even start fighting! There is no wisdom behind this strategy whatsoever. What we really need is a war that will strike the fear of god into our enemies even if it ultimately ends with our loss!" I appeared as the 17893th poster after sending the reply. My ID was gorgeously displayed, and there was a golden badge at the end of it. It was a badge of honor all CGL Hall of Famers got, and there were only 28 other players who got the privilege to display it behind their IDs in the entire forums. It took less than a minute for Lin Xiao to reply to me. "Hmph, you¡¯re Lu Chen, aren¡¯t you? I¡¯m sorry to say this, but you can¡¯t win a war with passion alone. In fact, I dare say that the Northern Alliance will crush Dawn City in three days flat after breaking through Windy Trail. Do you believe me?" I replied immediately, "I will tell you with my own blade that the impossible can be possible!" Lin Xiao responded, "Leaving Dawn City to the Northern Alliance is the most logical strategy here whether you like it or not." I sneered. "Is that so? Your winning strategy is to give up your main city to your enemies and abandon your kin, supports and newbies to slaughter? I¡¯m sorry, but my principles are different from yours. I would rather die than retreat in shame!" Countless people who were watching the show responded to our online spar immediately. Even Warsky dropped in to leave a comment, "Hahaha, well said Lu Chen! That¡¯s right, we¡¯d rather die than retreat in shame! If I must pay a price to retaliate against our aggressors, then it shall be paid! I will rather give up my flesh and blood than the dying breaths of the weak for this win!" Seemingly unable to come up with a proper response, Lin Xiao left one last comment, "Very well, don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you when you fail to defend your so-called principles. When Dawn City is lost, when you are apologizing to all the players of China, I want you to remember that you are the one who single-handedly pushed Dawn City toward destruction, and delete your account!" I replied, "I¡¯ll show you alright! And if I manage to defend Dawn City, all I ask of you is to get off your high horse. You are nothing in the world of gaming, understand?" Lin Xiao didn¡¯t say anything else. He was probably hitting his table and chair right now. Chapter 710: First Foray into Dawn City Wind Fantasy sent me a message via the forums: "Little Cheat, you bastard! Are you dumb!? What did you agitate my father for? I only just managed to lure him into the game, and you just had to pop out of nowhere and piss him off! Wuuuuuuuu, two days of painstaking effort wasted just like that! You dumbass¡­" I couldn¡¯t help but laugh before I replied: "I¡¯m sorry, I really couldn¡¯t hold back any longer. I just couldn¡¯t stand him acting like a stubborn stick in the mud! That¡­ Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll definitely do everything I can do to defend Dawn City. Even if the enemy is the Northern Alliance, I¡¯ll still give it my best shot! I definitely won¡¯t let your dad turn his nose up at me!" Lin Yixin probably didn¡¯t know how to respond to that statement, so she sent me a smiley emoticon instead. A few words were attached to the emoticon: "Alright then. I¡¯m going to go grind! You should be busy too, right!?" I immediately replied: "Yiyi, I miss you¡­" After a few minutes, she finally sent me another smiley emoticon with this message attached to it: "Oh okay, I got it. Hehe¡­" Lin Yixin didn¡¯t respond to my declaration of love, darn it. She actually didn¡¯t give me a proper response... ¡­¡­ I grumpily closed the forums page and proceeded to connect to the server. It was time to enter the game! Wooosh! I appeared in a bright and gleaming Sky City. White clouds drifted through the sky and the city itself seemed to be peaceful and quiet. The plaza next to the eastern gate was filled with players who had set up stalls. There were players selling metal, herbs, and food ingredients all over the place. There were also quite a few people selling the equipment that they had forged. Many players had advanced their professions considerably at this stage of the game. There were even people who could forge Level 140 1-star Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment, and those sold like hotcakes once they hit the market. I realized that I didn¡¯t have anything to do in Sky City, so I teleported over to Dark Moon City. Light flashed and I appeared in the city lord¡¯s hall. As I strode out of the gate, I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and flipped onto its back. After that, I started roaming around the city. Beep! I immediately received a message from Gui Guzi: "Boss Broken Halberd, you¡¯ve finally come online." "Yeah, what¡¯s up?" I asked. "Yeah, I know. I¡¯ll be there in a minute. Where are you guys right now?" "We have gathered about 1.5 kilometers north of Dark Moon City. All 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen are here and Boss Eve is also here on her super Dragonlight boss horse. We currently have 2001 riders altogether and you¡¯ll be the 2002th! Haha!" "I¡¯ll be right there!" In any case, I wasn¡¯t in a hurry to gain levels, so I decided to join them on this little trip. Gui Guzi was right. If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. We definitely had to familiarize ourselves with the terrain around Dawn City to gain the advantage in the upcoming Nation Wars. If we just barged in willy-nilly, I would really be the person that Lin Xiao had described. A silly youth who was all brawn and no brains, someone who fought on passion and emotions alone. I spurred the Ice Qilin Horse forward and it gave long whinny as it shot out of the city gates. Since I was Level 159, 99.9% of the players around me couldn¡¯t see my level or ID. However, when everyone saw my horse sweep pass them, there were more than a few players who recognized me as the legendary Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. After all, many of the screenshots in the reports on the battle of Immortality City had captured my image, so it was impossible for people not to recognize me. I covered the distance of 1.5 kilometers in a flash. Fallen leaves littered the ground, and the game had finally entered the fall season. As I trotted into a forest of maple trees with fiery red leaves, I could hear the faint neighing sounds of the Dragonlight Armored Horses in the distance. When I ventured in a little deeper, I soon saw a distant clearing in the vast forest. A huge group of Dragonlight Cavalrymen had assembled in a tight and neat formation in that clearing, and it was as if they were waiting for my arrival. Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, High Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were geared for war. They struck fierce figures as they sat astride their Dragonlight Armored Horses, looking like commanders about to perform a military review for all the world to see. He Yi brandished her Blade of the Earthen Soul as she sat on the king of the Dragonlight Armored Horses, which possessed three of those deadly draconic horns. She stood at the head of the formation and was currently facing the rest of them as she cheerfully talked to them. Everyone¡¯s eyes were filled with determination and vigor and our Dragonlight Cavalry looked extremely powerful and awe-inspiring now that they had lined up in formation. "Lu Chen is here!" Chaos Moon said with a laugh. Everyone immediately straightened their backs as they saw me enter the clearing. Li Chengfeng rested a hand on the handle of his sword and shouted, "Okay, let the vice leader hear our battle cry!" After he shouted those words, Li Chengfeng suddenly unsheathed his sharp sword, which caused a chain reaction among the crowd. Metal rasped against metal as all the Dragonlight Cavalrymen unsheathed their weapons. Everyone raised their weapons high in the air as they yelled, "Vice leader, Lin Xiao said that you definitely wouldn¡¯t be able to defend Dawn City, so we swear that we will use our blood and honor to defend its dignity! Even if it costs us our lives, we will definitely get Lin Xiao to bow his head toward us in shame!" Joy leapt through my heart. These were truly comrades who would stick with me through hell and high water! I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward as I pulled the Cyan Netherworld Sword out of my sheath and raised it high in the air. I shouted, "Remember, we don¡¯t do any of this for money or personal gain. We will defend Dawn City for our honor! To defend our homeland! To defend the dignity of all Chinese players! Let¡¯s work hard, brothers and sisters! We¡¯ll make sure that the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s name will shake the world during this Nation War! Everyone will know our name once this war is done!" Everyone started to laugh loudly as they sheathed their blades. ¡­¡­ My Ice Qilin Horse trekked forward and I saw that Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, High Fighting Spirits and the rest had swapped to the Dragonblade sets. Their armor looked extremely powerful and the only difference between them were their shields, necklaces and rings. Of course, those played a huge role in determining a player¡¯s strength. For example, Gui Guzi¡¯s shield was an Outstanding Earth-grade shield and it boosted his HP and Defense to a whole nother level compared to Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust. Li Chengfeng, on the other hand, was wearing a set of deep blue armor. I shot him a glance. "Chengfeng, that armor looks pretty nice! Where¡¯d you get it from?" "Heh!" Li Chengfeng chuckled. "I got it from killing skeletons in the barrens around the Dragon Domain. It¡¯s called the Frost Dracolich armor set, and its overall set effect is stronger than the Dragonblade set¡¯s." "Hmmm, not bad. Not bad!" High Fighting Spirits steered his horse toward us. He brandished the Dragonlight Shatter in his hand as he let out a hearty laugh. "Lu Chen, you¡¯re way too OP! To think that you¡¯d actually dare to butt heads with Beauty Lin¡¯s dad! Aren¡¯t you afraid that he¡¯ll make life difficult for you once he becomes your father-in-law?" An awkward expression appeared on my face, and I didn¡¯t quite know how to respond to that. Chaos Moon rapped her sword against High Fighting Spirits¡¯ helmet as she yelled, "You dumbass! You¡¯re the one who is being OP here! How dare you say that in front of guild leader Eve!? You really are all brawn and no brain, you oaf!" He Yi giggled before she replied, "It¡¯s nothing. He¡¯s just cracking a joke. Besides, Lu Chen hasn¡¯t married Beauty Lin yet. There¡¯s nothing to be anxious about¡­" I coughed to interrupt this taboo topic and said, "Okay, let¡¯s head out, everyone! It¡¯s about time we started making our way to Dawn City. Even though the Dragonlight Armored Horses move very fast, we¡¯ll still need at least an hour to get there. I don¡¯t want anyone to cause any trouble while we¡¯re on the road. Maintain a tight formation and don¡¯t disturb any of the players who are grinding in the areas that we pass through. The Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s mission today is to scout the terrain, not bully people with our power!" "Yes!" everyone echoed with a nod of their heads. ¡­¡­ After I had given my command, I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward, and He Yi followed right behind me. It wasn¡¯t surprising as He Yi and I both had the strongest and fastest mounts among all the riders present today. The thunderous sound of hooves echoed out from behind us, causing the birds in the forest to scatter into the air in fear. The entire maple tree forest seemed to be trembling as we galloped through it. I felt my blood heat up at the sight behind me. Hot damn, just 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen already looked so imposing. If we had 10000 of them, wouldn''t we be able to trample these mountains flat? However, it was practically impossible to get any more Dragonlight Armored Horses, so the chances of us forming any new troops of Dragonlight Cavalry were practically zero. Two thousand riders thundered through the forests of Dragonbone Mountain Range as we crossed Wind City¡¯s territory¡¯s borders. After we had galloped at full speed for nearly an hour, we finally entered a valley. As we rode down from the top of the hill, we could see a majestic-looking city that shimmered with golden light in the middle of the valley. Just as we had expected, Dawn City¡¯s terrain was quite suited for defense. There was enough space for at least a hundred million players to fight in this spacious valley, and the mountainous terrain in the valley was perfect for ambushes and fast-paced engagements like flanking. Cavalry troops would be invincible in the areas surrounding these hills. The road continued to wind into the distance and it eventually stretched into a bunch of mountains which formed what looked like a dragon swimming in the air. That was the Dragonbone Mountain Range. The road eventually led to a place called Windy Trail. This was the place which would eventually lead to the eight main cities of the Northern Alliance. This also meant that it would be the major flashpoint of this conflict. The moment the Nation Wars version was patched in, the barrier around the Windy Trail would disappear and the border system would be cancelled. That was when the battle would truly begin. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng raised his sword high in the air as he rushed forward with a troop of Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Meanwhile, He Yi and I remained on top of the hill as we continued to survey the terrain. We had our fair share of both brave warriors and cunning fighters among the melee players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, and Xu Yang were our best fighters when it came to the hot-blooded types, while Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, and He Yi were the best fighters among our coolheaded combatants. But there was only one player among them who was a general that was skilled in both tactics and fighting, and that was Li Chengfeng. He had the skills of a super-elite player and a calm mind, so he was the type who would catch any mistakes his opponent made while not giving them a single opening. "This Dawn Valley is really big¡­" He Yi said with a giggle. As she stared into the distance, she continued. "We definitely need to stuff the head of the Windy Trail with a lot of troops so that we can obstruct the enemy¡¯s advance. We also need to line the hills on both sides of the trail with archers and mages. Let¡¯s greet the players of the Northern Alliance with a baptism of fire." I nodded my head. "Yeah, the moment they enter flat ground, we can use our cavalry troops to charge through their lines and carve up their formation. Whatever it is, we¡¯ll need to do our best to whittle away at their strength before they can gather all of their troops. We should get the profession-based players in our subguilds to make as many catapults as we can. Ballistae and catapults will be very effective when we finally have to defend the city proper." "I got it!" A gentle smile appeared on He Yi¡¯s face as she spurred her Dragonlight Spirit Beast forward. She laughed. "Let¡¯s go over and check out what the Windy Trail looks like too!" "Alright." Two horses charged forward under the rays of morning light and our armor seemed to be plated in gold as it gleamed in the sun. Chapter 711: The First Internal Conflic However, Dawn City was also located in the northernmost part of the China server¡¯s continent, so it was the closest city to the Northern Alliance. This was also why it was so critical for us to defend Dawn City. The moment we lost the city, the Northern Alliance would be able to use it to establish a beachhead to pour millions of troops into our territory. At that time, we might not even have the ability to fend off the Northern Alliance after pooling together the might of several cities, much less launch a counterattack. In the end, Dawn City was for the China server what Jieting was for the state of Shu in the Three Kingdoms period. The moment Shu lost Jieting, they lost the ability to resupply their army as they launched the first Northern Expedition. Likewise, if we lost Dawn City, our road to attacking the Northern Alliance would be sealed. Furthermore, Wind City, Sky City, Dark Moon City, Silver Fir City, and Warsky City would all be vulnerable to the attacks from the Northern Alliance. We would lose far more than what Lin Xiao had predicted. Even though Lin Xiao¡¯s words made sense, he was ignoring the fact that this was a virtual war. A battle here could be resolved within 24 hours. There wasn¡¯t as much flexibility and opportunities to salvage the situation as there were in a real war. Perhaps Lin Xiao hadn¡¯t properly looked at the map of the China server, and this may have very well led to our quarrel on the forums. ¡­¡­ After He Yi and I caught up with the rest of the Dragonlight Cavalrymen, we assumed the point. As we led our troops around the perimeter of Dawn City, the sound of our hooves thundered through the valley. It had undoubtedly startled more than a few people. As I spurred my Ice Qilin Horse forward, I glanced to the side to look at the distant Dawn City. We were not going to enter the city. After all, we didn¡¯t want to cause any panic. As I stared at those silver walls, I sucked in a deep breath and said, "Even though the sturdiness of Dawn City¡¯s walls and its defensive facilities can¡¯t compare with the three main cities, it¡¯s really quite good. If we station ourselves here, we will need to make full use of these advantages to destroy as much of the Northern Alliance¡¯s core strength as we can. Once the battle starts, we can¡¯t even allow the thought of retreat to enter our minds! We will only be advancing from there on out!" Gui Guzi laughed as he said, "Boss Broken Halberd, what kind of strategy are you planning on employing? Are we all going to enter the city and wait for a chance to launch a counterattack?" Li Chengfeng gave me a steady look as he said, "Yeah, what strategy do you plan on using?" Xu Yang gave a flamboyant flourish of his sword as he laughed. "It¡¯s simple. All of us will be stuffed into the Windy Trail. Defending the Windy Trail will be as good as defending the gates to Dawn City." I couldn¡¯t help but laugh, "Yeah, Xu Yang has a point. However, I looked at the map and I don¡¯t think the Windy Trail will be so easy to defend. The Northern Alliance has no lack of super experts, and we won¡¯t be able to stop them from attacking Dawn City itself, no matter how hard we try. I don¡¯t have a specific plan in my head right now, but I do know one thing. Our single objective is this. We definitely need to kill as many of the enemy¡¯s cavalry troops as we can before they reach Dawn City. We will sap the Northern Alliance¡¯s core strength before they can even reach the city and show them that the China server isn¡¯t so easy to bully!" High Fighting Spirits raised his Dragonlight Shatter warhammer in the air as he gave a roar of laughter. "Lu Chen is right! That¡¯s exactly what we need to do! What does that old fart Lin Xiao know? If we look weak in the very first Nation War we fight in, we will only galvanize the enemy forces and let them believe that we are easy targets! Furthermore, losing this battle will also allow them to rampage willy-nilly in our territory! In fact, it might very well be an irrecoverable loss and there¡¯ll be no way to stir up the spirits of our players by then!" He Yi giggled as she nodded her head. "Yeah, Fighting Spirits is right on the money. However¡­ could I trouble you to show Lin Xiao a bit more respect. After all, he is still Lin Yixin¡¯s father¡­" High Fighting Spirits rubbed the back of his head with embarrassment before he started laughing yet again. "This¡­ You¡¯re right! I did indeed forget something. I forgot that this old fart might actually become Lu Chen¡¯s father-in-law one day¡­" He Yi pressed her lips together as her beautiful eyes turned bloodshot. It was obvious that she was forcing down the words that she wanted to say! Chaos Moon yelled angrily, "Can you shut your mouth, Fighting Spirits!? Didn¡¯t I already say that this topic was off-limits¡­" He Yi looked around before whispering in a small voice, "It¡¯s fine. In fact, it¡¯s too early to say anything right now. I will definitely fight for my happiness!" Chaos Moon giggled as she moved her horse close to He Yi and grabbed her arm. She flashed her a grin as she said, "Yeah, I¡¯ll definitely be supporting you, Sis Eve! I¡¯ll do everything I can to help! Even if that punk Lu Chen gets his soul stolen by Beauty Lin, I¡¯ll just use a soul summoning banner to lure it right back!" He Yi¡¯s silvery laughter tinkled in the air. She tightened a delicate fist before she said in a very confident voice, "That¡¯s fine! Why so serious? Right now, Lu Chen is still a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and none of the people under my banner are so easily seduced! Hmph! Am I right, Lu Chen?" I obediently nodded my head as I replied, "Our boss is wise, I won¡¯t ever leave..." Everyone erupted in laughter. ¡­¡­ After we passed through a dozen maps, we finally saw the valley start to narrow. The two huge mountains to either side were growing closer to one another, causing the area around us to shrink to a space that was only a few hundred meters wide. If we stuffed the two mountains with archers and mages, it was clear that this would make for a great ambush spot. It was also the place that we had to defend. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was moving at a frightening speed. He was ahead of all of us, and his four hundred party members kept pace with him as he flew forward, his black blade in hand. Sixth-promotion players could lead a party of up to 200 players. If the sixth-promotion player was a Famous General, that number increased to 400. If that player was a Divine General, it increased to 600! This was also why Lin Yixin had been able to sweep boss monsters so easily after she had become a Divine General. If she formed a full party and activated Bombshell, that meant that all 600 players in her party would have their stats boosted by 80%! What kind of boss wouldn¡¯t she be able to kill now!? "There are people ahead!" Chaos Moon shouted as she urged her horse to go faster. As she pointed her sword ahead of her, hesitation filled her beautiful eyes. "Tsk, are they players from Candle Dragon?" "What? Players from Candle Dragon!?" He Yi and I exclaimed in shock. The Ice Qilin Horse gave a loud neigh as I urged it forward. As I raced forward, I saw that there was a big group of players in the valley. There were about 3000 of them and they had taken up the entire space. Every single one of them had the emblem of Candle Dragon floating above their shoulders, but they weren¡¯t part of Candle Dragon¡¯s main guild. These players were all from Candle Dragon¡¯s first subguild, but they were not to be underestimated. Even though they were only a subguild, they were still one of the strongest forces in Wind City. In fact, they could directly battle against a big guild like Peach Garden without any support from their main guild. ¡­¡­ "Halt!" A dozen magic knights raised their huge shields as they moved their mounts over to block the road. One of them swung his sword in the air as he yelled, "The first subguild of Candle Dragon is training in this area. We request that our friends who have come to visit from afar take a detour! We don¡¯t want any unfortunate misunderstandings to occur!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun brandished his long blade as he retorted, "Oh? And why exactly won¡¯t you let us cross this area?" "We don¡¯t need to give you a reason!" A Level 151 magic knight spurred his mount forward, the haft of his long spear resting against its neck. He laughed as he said, "Oh, I know who this is! To think that it was one of the Famous Generals of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun! No wonder you dared to talk to us in such a manner! I¡¯m really very sorry. Even if it¡¯s Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, we will still have to request that you make a detour. In Wind City, we have already designated the left side of this area as Candle Dragon¡¯s responsibility to defend! As such, we request that you make a detour!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun had always been a frank person, so he pointed his sword at the magic knight and asked, "If I may be so bold as to ask. Exactly which guild decided how this area would be defended?" The magic knight chuckled before he replied, "Candle Dragon, Candle Dragon¡¯s first subguild, Candle Dragon¡¯s second subguild, Candle Dragon¡¯s third subguild¡­ Hahaha, why? Do you have a problem with that?" "Ptooey!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun brandished his long blade as he let out a roar of laughter. "Your words just gave me a reason to kill you! Do you have the balls to fight me one on one?" "Bring it on!" The two hotheaded warriors charged toward each other. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s long blade shone with a glaring light as he switched to Encourage VII before his opponent could hit him. After that, he delivered an exquisite Barrier Break to the magic knight¡¯s chest! Pchhht! 15237! The magic knight¡¯s eyes widened in shock but his spear trembled as he activated Barrier Break as well. Unfortunately for him, he was just a step slow. By the time he had activated his Barrier Break, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun had already made his move. His blade carried the might of a mountain as it smashed into the magic knight¡¯s neck! He had actually hit a weak point with his Mount Hua Strike! 25842! After two exchanges, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun had shaved off nearly all of his opponent¡¯s health while only losing 15% of his HP. As he urged his mount forward, he gave a furious roar, "Die, you punk!" Light erupted from his blade as the magic knight hurriedly activated his Holy Shield skill. However, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun brash actions had disguised his cunning. Horror filled the magic knight¡¯s eyes as he realized what skill Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun had used when his blade hit his shield. Crushing Blow! 18381! Three hits was all it had taken to send the man toppling from his horse. ¡­¡­ "Fucking hell, this punkass bitch actually killed our squad leader. Let¡¯s go! It¡¯s time to kill this bitch!" A group of players from Candle Dragon¡¯s first subguild flew into a rage as they unsheathed their weapons with steely rasps. Both the fighters and the long range players started to move toward us. A high-level archer quickly strode out of the crowd. As he raised his longbow in the air, he yelled, "Fucking hell, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have gotten too big for their britches! They actually dared to kill one of ours in our own territory! Comrades, prepare yourselves for battle! Candle Dragon¡¯s first subguild will kill all of them, no matter how many cavalrymen they brought today!" ¡­¡­ "Dammit! Eighteen Steeds, you idiot! Why did you go and create a mess for us¡­" Chaos Moon pursed her lips as she sighed helplessly. "The Nation Wars are about to start, so are we really going to have an internal conflict right before this?" I swiftly flew forward and cut in front of Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. I drew the Cyan Netherworld Sword with a steely rasp, and pointed it straight up. After that, I smiled at Purple Dawn and said, "Purple Dawn, that¡¯s enough. Let¡¯s not fight." Purple Dawn, the guild leader of Candle Dragon¡¯s first subguild, let out a cold laugh. "On what basis are you trying to stop this fight? Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun just killed one of our corps commanders. How are you going to account for that?" I pointed my sword forward and smiled as I said, "The first reason is that we haven¡¯t come here to fight. We came here to help defend Dawn City, and we don¡¯t wish to come into conflict with any other guild from the China server. The second reason is that Eighteen Steeds only killed your man because you were trying to hog this area. Don¡¯t forget, this is a public map. It¡¯s not yours just because you say so. As for the last reason? It¡¯s really very simple. Pardon me for being blunt, but do you, Purple Dawn, think that the few thousand players you have here are enough to fight the two thousand cavalrymen that I brought with me today?" "You!" Purple Dawn gritted his teeth as he stared at the players behind me. He soon discovered that most of our famous super experts, such as Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Gui Guzi, and Chaos Moon, were all present today. They had also drawn their weapons and it was clear that they were ready for battle. Just a single command from me would cause our ace cavalry troop to descend upon these Candle Dragon players like a pack of wolves. Candle Dragon¡¯s first subguild didn¡¯t even have a 10% chance of winning this battle. 1. The Battle of Jieting was a key loss for the State of Shu during the Three Kingdoms Period. The loss of Jieting cut off the supplies from the advancing Shu army, directly contributing to the failure of Zhuge Liang¡¯s first Northern Expedition against Wei. Chapter 712: The Era of Nation Wars However, Purple Dawn had no choice but to carefully calculate his chances of victory. Even 10000 elite players might not be enough to overcome a bunch of steely veterans like us, let alone Purple Dawn and his noob brigade. ¡­¡­ Sensing Purple Dawn¡¯s hesitation, He Yi urged her Dragonlight Spirit Beast forward. The three horns on top of its head glowed like a blazing flame and looked exceptionally formidable. Our beautiful leader brandished her Blade of the Earthen Soul and laughed gently. "Purple Dawn, you¡¯re one of Candle Dragon¡¯s top commanders. Since we are at a standoff, I have a suggestion that I hope you will consider." Purple Dawn nodded his head and said, "I¡¯m all ears, Guild Leader From Water." He Yi pulled at the reins of her mount and as it turned around, she pointed her sword to the center of the canyon. Smiling, she said, "Why don¡¯t we settle this dispute over here with a friendly match. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will send a hundred riders while Candle Dragon¡¯s first subguild will send a thousand. How about it? If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls wins, you¡¯ll let us pass through the Windy Trail. If we lose, we¡¯ll turn around and go back, deal?" "What?! A hundred of your riders versus a thousand of mine?" Purple Dawn blinked his eyes in shock before laughing heartily, "Guild Leader From Water, don¡¯t get too cocky. Even though I must admit that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls riders are top-notch, how certain are you that your hundred riders will be able to emerge victorious?" He Yi giggled and held up her five fingers in front of her chest before clenching them tightly into a fist. "I am a hundred percent certain!" "Alright then, I accept this challenge!" Purple Dawn gripped his bow in one hand and said, "But I have a condition. Lu Chen, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng and you are not allowed to participate. Is that alright?" "No problem!" He Yi turned around and glanced at us with a smile. Laughing gently, she said, "Heard that? Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust, take a hundred riders with you into battle! Don¡¯t let me down alright!" I laughed internally as I knew He Yi¡¯s intentions all too well. This was clearly a ploy to test our newly-formed Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s strength. Moreover, our opponents were the riders from Candle Dragon''s first subguild. They were definitely not weak; suitable target practices for all intents and purposes! ¡­¡­ "Wait a moment!" Purple Dawn raised his bow abruptly and shouted, "You can¡¯t use Famous General Skills either! Not even Knight General!" "How troublesome¡­" I pursed my lips into a thin line before shouting, "Little Rain, activate Encourage VII. That additional 20% increase in Attack will still be enough to kill those retards. Hah! A hundred riders vs a thousand! You can do it! Today, all of you are the representatives and spokespeople of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" One by one, the hundred riders lifted their swords in the air and laughed. "Don¡¯t worry, vice leader. We won¡¯t let Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls down!" I had absolute confidence in them as almost twenty out of the hundred riders were wearing the Dragonblade equipment set. Their Attack and Defense stats were much higher than a normal player¡¯s. Not to mention that their Dragonlight Armored Horses were top-tier boss mounts which increased their Attack and Defense by 30% and added another 8000 to their max HP. To add on to that, their mounts had an additional skill, Hoof Trample. With all these advantages, the Dragonlight Cavalry could easily eliminate 99.9% of any other cavalry in the game. Haha! Purple Dawn would never be able to predict just how powerful these hundred riders were, not even in his wildest dreams! We had only completed our Dragonlight Cavalry less than 24 hours ago and this was our first time riding the Dragonlight Armored Horses into battle. No one had any intel on our newly-formed cavalry and even the onlookers were puzzled by our prestigious and majestic mounts. Other than the dragon scales covering the mounts from head to toe, no one else had any clue about them. Purple Dawn was merely puzzled that we had not arrived with our Cyan Tiger Cavalry. Little did he know, these mounts before him were so powerful that they could eat the Cyan Battle Tigers for breakfast! A thousand riders from the Candle Dragon''s first subguild stood in formation, awaiting orders from Purple Dawn. Not all of the thousand riders had the same mount, and nearly a hundred of them were made up of the Viper Dragoons. Heh, those Viper Dragoons gave the Cyan Tiger Cavalry a hard time during the battle of Immortality City, so this is the perfect opportunity for us to take revenge! "How shameless! That¡¯s 1057 people!" Diamond Dust pointed a finger at the enemy riders in front of her. Purple Dawn turned red with embarrassment and said, "Goddammit, get rid of 57 people right now! You useless bunch of idiots, can¡¯t you even do simple math¡­" Our opponent quickly rectified their mistake and kicked 57 players out of their party and completed their battle preparations. Meanwhile, many players had started to gather around us, of which quite a few of them even hailed from Vanished God City and Sky City. As I glanced at the growing crowd, I noticed that a few elite players from Purple Lily, Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance were among the crowd. The crowd of people continued to increase, forming a gigantic circle around us. ¡­¡­ "Haha, this is interesting¡­" October Rain toward the front, emerging from the crowd of Warsky Alliance players. With her bow in one hand, she smiled and asked, "What kind of cavalry is this? It looks so impressive! Tsk tsk, is the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls gonna use Purple Dawn¡¯s guild as a training dummy?" Zi Chuanyu from the Snowy Cathaya carried his sword in hand and laughed heartily, "I¡¯m afraid that even a thousand men of Candle Dragon''s first subguild would not be able to withstand the attacks of their opponent¡¯s hundred riders. The riders trained by Lu Chen are surely top of the crop!" The crowd continued to increase as many people were intrigued by this battle. The Nation Wars were imminent and the main forces of many guilds had decided to permanently reside at Dawn City. There were many high-leveled mobs at Windy Trail and it made perfect sense to grind levels and scout the territory at the same time. Thus, many players from Purple Lily, Peach Garden and guilds from all cities had gathered for a good show. In less than ten minutes, word had spread and ten thousand players had gathered around us. Even the elite players from each guild had decided to join the crowd and watch the match. Pooh! Dominating Heaven Blade spit out a mouthful of saliva as he gripped his sword and laughed. "This is so interesting! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is so fearless and domineering. I can¡¯t believe that they would publically issue a challenge to Candle Dragon''s first subguild just like that. I wonder how Candlelight Shadow will ever show his face again if Purple Dawn loses¡­" Among the crowd, God¡¯s Dance turned red with anger and pointed her staff at Dominating Heaven Blade. "Hey, you! The bold guy over there! What do you mean by that?! Are you asking for a fight?" Dominating Heaven Blade was taken aback at her words as his face turned ashen. "Hmph, I¡¯m just here to watch the show. Besides, I only said a few careless words. What, can¡¯t bear to accept the truth? Then come at me! I¡¯ve got hundreds of thousands of comrades to back me up!" God¡¯s Dance glanced behind him and saw a large group of Gods of Destruction players. Even though their guild was no longer ranked among the Top 10, Gods of Destruction continued to remain united. Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God and Dominating Archer God followed Dominating Heaven Blade loyally. At his command, all of them would attack without hesitation. Meanwhile, God¡¯s Dance had only brought a hundred players with her and she definitely could not afford to act rashly. "Hmph! You old asshole!" God¡¯s Dance swallowed her anger and did not engage in a fight. At this moment, a Level 153 magic knight at the front of Candle Dragon''s first subguild¡¯s cavalry pulled his pike out and shouted, "Hey! Those black-armored riders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Are you gonna fight or not?" Chiang! Heaven¡¯s Rain pulled her sword from her sheath and pointed it at her opponent before shouting in a commanding voice, " Dragonlight Cavalry, charge with me! Let¡¯s tear these morons into pieces!" Instantly, the earth started to shake as the Dragonlight Cavalry started to charge forward. The Dragonlight Cavalry were standardized mounts and thus, they moved at the same speed. The riders followed the two Knight Generals, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust and charged forward fearlessly, buffed by Encourage VII as a ring of light circled each of them. This group of elite riders had already gone through their sixth class promotion. Their stats and individual prowess were definitely not something that the opponent could handle. ¡­¡­ The Dragonlight Armored Horse moved at lightning speed toward their enemies. Before the opponent could react, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust crossed their swords with amazing rapport and unleashed Barrier Break simultaneously. Two loud bangs rang out as their Barrier Breaks hit that Level 153 magic knight square in the chest, killing him instantly. He was simply unable to withstand the might of the Dragonlight Cavalry. "Attack!" With the elimination of their leader, Candle Dragon''s first subguild¡¯s morale plunged greatly. Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust took advantage of their low morale as they dashed into the enemy crowd and swiftly activated their mount skill, Hoof Trample! Bang! Bang! The ground shook as two consecutive waves of energy exploded among the enemy riders sending damage numbers popping up all over the map. The two Knight Generals stopped for nothing and continued their killing spree while the rest of the Dragonlight Cavalry caught up with them. Our riders activated Hoof Trample one by one with great rapport and even managed to stun the enemy riders! Clang! Clang! Clang! The sound of a sword plunging into metal armor was like sweet music to my ears as both cavalries clashed in battle. The Dragonlight Cavalrymen could deal more than 7000 damage to their enemies in a single hit while their opponent could not even deal more than 3000. I struggled to maintain a straight face when I saw some of our opponents dealing triple-digit numbers. However, the onlookers were not so kind and burst out laughing without restraint. "So this is the extent of Candle Dragon''s first subguild¡¯s strength?" In all honesty, it wasn¡¯t that Purple Dawn¡¯s men were weak. Our Dragonlight Cavalry was just simply too powerful. The Dragonlight Cavalry was so powerful that it exceeded the expectations of every onlooker! Activating Hoof Trample caused the riders to glow brilliantly while they tore their opponent¡¯s battle formation into pieces. Meanwhile, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust were like two sharp swords, tearing their enemy¡¯s defenses like they were wet tissues. The hundred riders continued to charge back and forth a couple of times, sweeping their swords at their enemy. Their swords pierced through armor and flesh, eliminating the enemy riders swiftly. ¡­¡­ Everyone stared in disbelief at the scene before them. They had thought that this was going to be an exciting battle but it turned out to be a one-sided bloodbath instead. Cold metal blades continued to pierce through armor as the fields were covered in broken rocks and drenched in blood. Pitiful wails rang out as bodies continued to pile up in a heap. Within a short span of just ten minutes, a thousand enemy riders had been eliminated. They were completely inferior to the Dragonlight Cavalry in terms of equipment, level, mount and skills. Purple Dawn turned ashen as he stared at the pile of corpses in disbelief. "Fuck, how is this even possible¡­" Heaven¡¯s Rain hefted her sword over her shoulder with a smug smile and made her way to He Yi and I. Raising her sword high up in the air, she laughed and said, "We didn¡¯t let you down and eliminated them all with zero losses!" He Yi smiled gently and said, "You¡¯ve all done splendidly! Return to your position!" "Yes ma¡¯am!" ¡­¡­ I walked forward and said, "Purple Dawn, you¡¯ll let us pass now right, as per our agreement? Hmph, if you still won¡¯t let us pass, we¡¯ll just have to force our way through. You¡¯ve just witnessed the might of a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen. If you want to have a taste of all 2000, I¡¯ll be glad to grant your wish!" Eek... Purple Dawn glanced to his right with a panicked look in his eyes, silently asking God¡¯s Dance for help. God¡¯s Dance sighed helplessly as she slowly walked out of the crowd. As the vice leader of Candle Dragon, her words certainly carried weight. In a gentle voice, she said, "Let Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls pass. We will defend this Windy Trail together!" "Yes¡­ yes, vice leader¡­" Purple Dawn¡¯s eyes held a cold chill in them as he nodded his head with great reluctance. "Comrades, make way. Anyone may pass through and we no longer have to restrict this area. We¡¯ll just see who will be able to withstand against the Northern Alliance when the time comes. God dammit¡­" ¡­¡­ I gripped my sword and urged my mount forward. However, before we could continue much further, a bell sound rang out over the Dawn Canyon. Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that the server will be closed in half an hour. The server will reopen in twelve hours, officially kickstarting the Nation Wars system. Once the server data has been patched, the nation borders will disappear! ¡­¡­ Countless pairs of eyes gazed at the sky above the canyon. The era of the Nation Wars had finally come! Chapter 713: Swear an Oath with Blood-smeared Lips Damn, doesn¡¯t everything seem to be happening a little too quickly? I didn¡¯t waste any time in making my next decision. I immediately sent an order via the guild channel: "Everyone, listen up! I don¡¯t care what you¡¯re doing or where you are right now, I want every player from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to return to the city immediately. Repair your equipment and replenish your potions before using the teleportation formation to hop over to Dawn City. I want the leaders of our subguilds to issue the same orders as well! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will defend Dawn City with everything that we¡¯ve got! We will defend our northeastern corridor if it''s the last thing we do!" "We got it!" the commanders in the chat immediately replied. ¡­¡­ I sat astride my Ice Qilin Horse as I stared at the Windy Trail in front of me. Fucking hell, this Nation War crept up on us like a thief in the night. Since we didn¡¯t have any time to prepare for this, the Northern Alliance shouldn¡¯t be too prepared either, right? Ah forget it, we won¡¯t even have time to think about these kinds of things once the Nation Wars begin in earnest. Beep! I received a message from Hot and Sour Noodles, the administrator in charge of China¡¯s VRMMO alliance. "Lu Chen, I need the three leaders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to immediately go to Dawn City¡¯s royal palace. We need to discuss the upcoming Nation War. Things are happening far too quickly, so I hope that we can gather as soon as possible¡­" "Yeah, I got it!" I glanced at He Yi and Murong Mingyue. It seemed like they had received a similar message as well. So I immediately turned around and addressed Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng, and Gui Guzi. "I want the rest of you to lead our elite Dragonlight Cavalry to the entrance of the Windy Trail. Set up camp there and go offline. I need all of you to come online at 10 pm sharp. We need to weather the first wave of attacks and buy enough time for the rest of our allies to gather!" Gui Guzi nodded his head before replying in a solemn voice, "Even if we have to sacrifice ourselves, we definitely won¡¯t allow the players from the Northern Alliance to charge into our territory!" Li Chengfeng laughed and replied, "Robbing the rich and giving to the poor is my duty as a cop!" Chaos Moon smiled cheerily at me. "Don¡¯t worry about us!" ¡­¡­ I immediately took out a return scroll and crushed it. It would be faster for me to return to Sky City and teleport to Dawn City from there. Whoosh! Whoosh! Hot and Sour Noodles was sitting on a dais in front of the royal palace that was covered in fallen maple leaves. His sword was by his side as he twirled a maple leaf roguishly in his mouth. He looked just like one of those battle-crazed generals from a period drama. "Ah, you¡¯re here?" "Yup." He Yi helped Murong Mingyue dismount as I swung myself off the Ice Qilin Horse. We immediately kept our mounts in our mount space and stood to the side as we waited for the rest of the guild leaders to assemble. Hope fluttered in my heart as we waited. Lin Yixin should be among the players in attendance too. After all, we were gathering to discuss a most important matter! The long-awaited Nation Wars had finally begun and we had to score a win in our very first fight! People kept streaming in one by one as all the guild leaders hurried over. Candle Dragon and his men arrived first, and Warsky, October Rain, and Lin Bing Dou Zhe arrived right behind them. A few minutes passed before Luo River God of the Capital, Moonkiss, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Dominating Heaven Blade, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties and the rest of the guild leaders arrived. Nearly all of the leaders of the Top 20 guilds in China had arrived, but there was one extremely conspicuous exception. Snowy Cathaya¡¯s guild leader, the Fruit Knife Goddess Wind Fantasy, wasn¡¯t here today. Purple Marquis and Clear Perfume had arrived in her stead. "Qingqing?" I stepped forward and asked in astonishment, "That¡­" Sun Qingqing grinned at me. She knew what I was going to ask even before I had opened my mouth. "Yiyi is holding up the deal she made with her dad. She won¡¯t be able to see you for a while and she¡¯s already gone offline to eat a meal with her dad to apologize on your behalf. You dumbass, why did you provoke Lin Xiao like that on the forums? You totally wasted Yiyi¡¯s previous efforts¡­" "Keke¡­" "Alright, the meeting is about to start. Pay attention¡­" "Okay." ¡­¡­ Once everyone formed a circle around the dais, Hot and Sour Noodles instantly grabbed the sword that was lying beside him and shot to his feet. He said, "Comrades, the Nation War is upon us, so let¡¯s cut the bullshit! Get all of your guild members to teleport to Dawn City immediately. Our greatest enemy is the Northern Alliance who is attacking from our northeastern corridor. We have to defend Dawn City or die trying!" Warsky nodded his head and said, "I already got Laughing At The Heavens to take Warsky Alliance¡¯s crack cavalry unit to the Windy Trail. They went offline after setting up camp there. The moment the server reopens, we will be the first to greet the enemy. We¡¯ll buy enough time for everyone, no matter the cost." Hot and Sour Noodles shot him an appreciative gaze as he continued. "We have gathered everyone here under the banner of the CGL and our main purpose is to discuss how we are going to divide our forces. After all, all of us are leaders of super guilds, so we can¡¯t just pool all of our forces in Dawn City. We¡¯ll have to defend the positions that lead to the city as well." Candlelight Shadow cut in, "Zhang Chun, just speak your mind. What do you have planned for us? As long as it makes sense, everyone here will definitely fall in line." Hot and Sour Noodles nodded his head. "Okay. The Windy Trail is long and narrow, so we have to make best use of this stretch of land. In my opinion, we should get Blazing Hot Lips to set up camp in the mountain directly to the west of Windy Trail. Warsky Alliance will set up camp in the mountain to its east. Both of these forces will be in charge of laying down suppressive fire and providing support for our allies in the valley proper. This will definitely be a punch in the mouth for the Northern Alliance." Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Warsky nodded their heads. "We got it, we will definitely send our best players to reinforce that position." "Thank you!" A small smile appeared on Hot and Sour Noodles face as he waved his hand in the air, sharing the map with us. As he pointed at the expansive ravine outside of the Windy Trails, he said, "Once they break through the Windy Trails, the Northern Alliance will definitely try to create a huge battle line. As such, we need to lay an ambush for them at this point. We¡¯ll need to surround this area and bombard them with fire from all sides. We can¡¯t let them walk out of the Windy Trail unscathed. This is my proposal. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Purple Lily will take the western and eastern flank respectively, while Candle Dragon will face them head-on. If our three ace super guilds combine their forces, we¡¯ll definitely be able to annihilate a large portion of their troops." He Yi nodded her head. "We got it." Candlelight Shadow smiled and said, "Gotcha. Candle Dragon will definitely make these invaders rue their decision to attack us!" Luo River God of the Capital replied in a bland voice, "We¡¯ll definitely give it our all." ¡­¡­ Hot and Sour Noodles pointed at the map again before continuing. "The Northern Alliance¡¯s army is simply far too big, so our three ace guilds might not be able to hold their positions for too long. The area behind our first line of defense is a marshy area known as the Sunset Swamp. It will be impossible for any riders to mount up in that kind of terrain, and movement speed will be slowed by about 30%. It¡¯s a treacherous piece of ground to cross and it¡¯s the best place for us to snipe them from afar. As such, I want Gods of Destruction and Peach Garden to dispatch their elite long-range players to that area to lie in wait for the Northern Alliance¡¯s army. Hit them where it hurts!" Dominating Heaven Blade raised his sword in the air as he shouted, "Understood!" Indigo Collar gave an appreciative smile as he said, "Okay!" At this moment, Clear Perfume chimed in, "Why does all the top-ranked guilds have missions assigned but us? Uncle Hot and Sour Noodles, what is Snowy Cathaya going to do? Don¡¯t treat us as if we¡¯re not here, okay!?" Hot and Sour Noodles couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. "We aren¡¯t. After all, who would dare ignore the guild led by our Fruit Knife Goddess, Beautiful Little Pepper? We have a very important mission for you. Snowy Cathaya is to act as the reserve army and the main defensive force for Dawn City. The moment anything goes wrong, we¡¯ll have to rely on Snowy Cathaya to put up a brilliant defense of this city!" Purple Marquis let out a hearty laugh. "Okay! This is a mission that I like! I¡¯ve always found siege battles to be the most interesting!" ¡­¡­ Hot and Sour Noodles laughed and nodded his head as he started going into the details of his plan. He described his entire strategy in detail, from the first engagement to our plans for fighting in the streets of Dawn City if it came to that. I had to say that Hot and Sour Noodles was truly a talented strategist. He arrived at the same conclusions as I did even though we hadn¡¯t discussed anything beforehand. I felt very assured after this little meeting of his. Appointing a person like this at the helm was a very wise decision indeed. Once he finished detailing his strategy, Hot and Sour Noodles suddenly looked toward me and chuckled. "Lin Xiao thinks that our decision to defend Dawn City is a foolish one, so both I and Lu Chen have something to prove in this battle. Let¡¯s show him that we can win this ¡®impossible battle¡¯! Let¡¯s show him the strength of those who never give up!" I nodded my head as I shot Hot and Sour Noodles a grateful smile. I unsheathed my sword with a steely rasp and raised it high in the air as I said, "It is my honor to fight beside each and every one of you on this glorious day. May this battle be one that carves our name into history! Even if we fall into obscurity, even if no one remembers our faces or deeds, they will at least remember our names! Our names that will have been carved into the annals of history now and forevermore!" Warsky, Indigo Collar, and Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties unsheathed their swords and raised them high in the air as well. My little speech had clearly gotten their blood pumping. They let out hearty laughs as they declared, "We won¡¯t stop fighting until we die!" The female guild leaders covered their mouths and laughed. This was the sort of grand battle that every man dreamed of. Men really were bellicose creatures! ¡­¡­ When Hot and Sour Noodles saw that we were about to swear an oath with blood-smeared lips, he nodded his head appreciatively and said, "Alright, then it¡¯s settled! Everyone, go and make the necessary arrangements for the upcoming battle. Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance will be positioned all the way in front, so it¡¯s very likely that you will suffer the heaviest casualties in this battle. My apologies in advance!" "There¡¯s nothing to apologize for!" Neither Stranger of Three Lifetimes or Warsky were petty people. Hot and Sour Noodles laughed. "Okay, then go offline as soon as you can. We have twelve hours to rest! The battle commences at around 10:30 pm, so we should all get some sleep if we can. It¡¯ll be very likely that we¡¯ll be online for a very long time after this. Of course, the ones who die first can turn in early, haha!" Everyone laughed at that last remark of his before we went our separate ways. He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and I made a quick trip around Dawn City to make sure that our engineers were building catapults and other siege weapons to defend the city. After that, we repaired our armor and replenished our potions. I stocked up on my Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potions and gave some to both He Yi and Murong Mingyue as well. After that, I gave a bunch of Dragonlight Armored Horse Sealing Stones to Du Thirteen. He was practically dancing with joy as he took the Sealing Stones from me and he instantly bound one to himself on the spot. ¡­¡­ When we arrived at Dawn Valley, we saw that our guild had already established its defensive line. We had formed a line that was about ten kilometers long to the right of the entrance to the Windy Trail. Candle Dragon had assembled right beside us and Purple Lily was facing us. Fate was truly a fickle thing. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Purple Lily had deep grudges against Candle Dragon, but fate had seen fit to tie all three of us together in this alliance to beat back the army of the Northern Alliance. Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue and the rest of the ranged and support players set up camp in our designated zone before they went offline. Our cavalry troops had another important role to play in this battle. The 10000 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen and the 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen would be our ace in the hole during this battle. We would wait for the perfect opportunity to unleash them on the battlefield. We would only use our trump card when it could be used to the most devastating effect. ¡­¡­ "Lu Chen, go offline and rest!¡¯ "Damn it, I just woke up¡­" "Just go offline anyway. Be good! The Nation Wars are about to start, so your big sis will treat you to lunch¡­" Murong Mingyue¡¯s voice was so unbearably cloying and sticky that it sent a shudder down my spine as I went offline. Chapter 714: Heaven’s Rain’s Arrival ¡­¡­ We reached the restaurant at about noon, and we were ushered into a private room the moment we entered. There were two tables laid out for us and Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang and the rest of the gang had already seated themselves at a table. They were currently playing poker and Gui Guzi¡¯s face was practically covered in paper slips with the number "2" written on it. Chaos Moon had just slapped another paper slip on Gui Guzi¡¯s forehead as we walked in. A vivacious smile gleamed on her pretty face and it was clear that she was in high spirits. "The guild leaders have arrived!" Li Chengfeng said with a grin as he sipped a cup of tea. He Yi nodded her head with a giggle. "Has everyone arrived?" "We¡¯re still waiting for one more person¡­" Gui Guzi said. "Oh, who?" "Heaven¡¯s Rain. After she went offline, she told us that she would make her way over. This just so happened to coincide with our lunch, so I told her to come over to the restaurant. Also, she¡¯s going to be staying at our base of operations from now on." A silly grin appeared on Gui Guzi¡¯s face. "At first, Heaven¡¯s Rain wasn¡¯t intending on coming. She¡¯s a single girl after all. However, High Fighting Spirits told her that she¡¯d be able to see Boss Broken Halberd in the flesh if she moved here. Sigh¡­ the way girls worship their idols these days is truly a terrifying thing to behold. Once he said that, Heaven¡¯s Rain immediately dropped everything and said she was coming to Suzhou. She just called me to tell me that she was going to arrive in ten minutes. Should we give her a surprise and get Boss Broken Halberd to welcome her personally?" Du Thirteen jumped at the chance to stir up some trouble. "That¡¯s right! Lu Chen should go and introduce himself!" I glared at him before I replied sheepishly, "That might not be too appropriate, right¡­" A wicked grin appeared on Du Thirteen¡¯s face as he said, "Alright, then Lulu and I will go and welcome her. I¡¯ll tell Heaven¡¯s Rain that I¡¯m Lu Chen and that Lulu is Beiming Xue. And if Heaven¡¯s Rain just so happens to offer up a kiss, I¡¯ll have no choice but to accept it on your behalf, right?" I chuckled, "Alright, go on then. I¡¯ll just sit back and watch. I want to see exactly how you¡¯re going to receive that kiss." Xue Lu gave Du Thirteen a vicious pinch that caused him to howl in pain. The man very nearly wept because of that pinch! I nodded my head helplessly. "Alright then. You guys keep having fun, I¡¯ll go down and wait for her.¡± Li Chengfeng leaned against the window with a cup of tea in his hand as he said, "Alright, off you go. I¡¯ll brave the wind just so that I can observe how you¡¯re going to receive that kiss, haha¡­" He Yi couldn¡¯t help but laugh as well. "Alright, stop teasing him already! Lu Chen and Beiming Xue will go down to welcome Heaven¡¯s Rain while the rest of us will keep having fun. Order whatever you¡¯d like! It¡¯s time to open up a second stomach, because all expenses will be paid for by Raincube Corporation today!" The usual gluttons, High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds, immediately yelled out in joy. These knaves wasted no time at all. They immediately called a waiter over and ordered all of the delicacies on the menu that they had never tried before without a single bit of shame. ¡­¡­ Cars continued to flow by as we waited below the restaurant. Every time a taxi stopped in front of the hotel, Beiming Xue and I would squint to look at the people who got off it. "Beiming, does Heaven¡¯s Rain look the same in real life?" I asked. "Yeah, I heard that she didn¡¯t tweak her appearance at all," Beiming Xue replied with a nod. I breathed a sigh of relief as I patted my chest and said, "Ah, that¡¯s good then¡­" Beiming Xue couldn¡¯t stifle her laugh as she smacked me on the shoulder with her tiny fist. "Big bro, how can you be like this? Are you afraid that Sis Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s beauty will take your breath away?" "Haha, it¡¯s always smart to play it safe¡­" It was at this moment that a sky-blue taxi slowly came to a stop outside the hotel. The taxi¡¯s door swung open, and a girl who was wearing a pink blouse and a black miniskirt slowly stepped out of the car. "Little Rain?" I bent my head down to look at her. The girl was quite beautiful but I couldn¡¯t confirm that it was Heaven¡¯s Rain. The girl looked at me curiously as she tilted her head to the side. She giggled before she asked, "Oh, is that our beloved vice leader?" I nodded my head before I extended my hand in a gentlemanly fashion. "Yes, I¡¯m Lu Chen. It¡¯s nice to meet you! I¡¯m truly glad that you made it!" Thud! I was already moving to shake her head, but Heaven¡¯s Rain just lightly batted my hand away as she lunged forward. Her small white handbag fell to the ground as she wrapped her arms around me. Before I even had a chance to react, she quickly stood on her tiptoes and planted a soft kiss on my cheek. After that, she flew backward and let out a lilting laugh as she said, "Heh, I finally managed to kiss Lu Chen. Heehee, it¡¯s my lucky day¡­" The thought of committing seppuku flashed across my mind as my face went pale. God damn, did I really have that much potential to be a gigolo? I was clearly the one who had gained something from this encounter, but why was Heaven¡¯s Rain smiling like she had just picked up a bar of gold from the ground!? Even the middle-aged taxi driver was staring at us in shock. His view of the world had just been utterly rocked. It was bad enough that this lovely young lady had thrown herself into a guy¡¯s arms, but she was smiling so sweetly that it seemed like someone had popped a piece of candy in her mouth. Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, and High Fighting Spirits, who had all gathered to watch the festivities, started whistling immediately after they witnessed what had just happened. After that, Heaven¡¯s Rain boldly looked up at them and grinned. "Hello, everyone!" High Fighting Spirits¡¯s face went red. "Hello, Little Rain, you¡¯re really pretty!" Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s silvery laughter tinkled in the air. Beiming Xue helped to take Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s luggage out of the trunk of the car while I paid for her cab fare. It was more than 100 RMB! After that, I picked up her luggage and brought her upstairs. This was Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s first time visiting Suzhou, so she received an exceptionally warm welcome from all the guys. Their eyes practically burned holes into her as they stared at the pretty little lady in front of them and they were practically licking their "parched" lips as one of them asked, "Little Rain, do you have a boyfriend?" Heaven¡¯s Rain shook her head. "Nope, but I don¡¯t plan on getting one any time soon. Hmph, if anyone wants to be my boyfriend, they¡¯ll have to join the CGL Hall of Fame first!" Li Chengfeng let out a deep sigh before he said, "Once we¡¯re done with these Nation Wars, the first thing I¡¯m going to do is to request to be admitted into the CGL Hall of Fame¡­" High Fighting Spirits, "Me too¡­" Gui Guzi, "Me too¡­" Du Thirteen, "Me too¡­" Xue Lu immediately smacked Du Thirteen upside the head and yelled, "Me too your sister!" Everyone burst out into laughter before we sat down at our two tables. The waiters started bringing in the dishes that we had ordered and the smell of delicious food soon filled the air. ¡­¡­ The two other guild leaders were seated at my table, along with Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and Chaos Moon. All of the officers that could come here were present today. He Yi gave Heaven''s Rain a concerned look as she said, "Since Little Rain has decided to come to Suzhou, then she should stay at our base of operations. Murong Mingyue will draw up a contact with a basic salary for you. It¡¯s not a lot though, and it definitely won¡¯t be able to compare with what you can earn in the game. However, it will at least give you a place to stay. Hmmm, can I¡­ trouble you, Chaos Moon, to handle the arrangements for Little Rain¡¯s accommodation?" Chaos Moon nodded her head, "Okay! The room beside mine is still empty, so Little Rain can move in! This is great. I have a partner in crime now! Also, Moonlight Stone and Diamond Dust also stay at our base of operations. Heehee, more people are joining us!" I nodded my head. "Yeah. Also, if any of the male players harasses you, immediately inform Xu Yang. He¡¯ll make sure that justice is served!" Heaven¡¯s Rain smiled cheerily as she nodded her head. "Okay, I got it!" Xu Yang had the most authority in the place where Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was based. After all, he was older than most of the players and an elder in the guild. Every player who joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls knew about the legend of the four founding elders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, "Sunmoon Stardust¡±. As the leader of the four elders, Xu Yang possessed an unquestionable charisma. No one dared to defy him at back at the gaming base, and he had personally booted out at least ten black sheep from our gaming base. ¡­¡­ As the meal went on, everyone had replaced alcohol with soft drinks. The Nation Wars would start at 10 pm, and no one would allow their carelessness to affect the coming battle. If we lost Dawn City, our Dark Moon City would become vulnerable to siege. It was only about an hour away from Dawn City after all, so our geographical location would leave us very open to an enemy attack. My phone suddenly rang as I was digging into the food. I quickly took it out of my pocket and looked at my screen. Moonkiss was calling me. I hurriedly stood up and walked toward the window before I answered the call. Moonkiss¡¯s sweet voice soon rang in my ears. "Hi, handsome Lu Chen! Long time no see!" "Ah, Moonkiss, what¡¯s up?" I asked bluntly. Moonkiss giggled. "Haha, you¡¯re being really blunt today, huh! You didn¡¯t even bother to greet me properly! Ah¡­. This is about the upcoming Nation Wars. Sis Wang Luo is way too busy, so she asked me to call you instead!" "So what matter is so pressing that the beautiful Moonkiss needed to handle it herself?" I said with a chuckle. Moonkiss sucked in a deep breath before replying, "The Northern Alliance has eight cities altogether and they are a coalition of six different countries. They have at least two hundred million players in their army, so we¡¯ll be facing a lot of pressure in our defense of Dawn City, Lu Chen. We definitely won¡¯t be able to hold the Windy Trail for very long either. Warsky Alliance and Blazing Hot Lips are the guilds who are going to set up an ambush in the Windy Trail, but they¡¯re nothing but cannon fodder for an army like that. Meanwhile, Purple Lily and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have been assigned to guard the entrance to the valley together with Candle Dragon. I¡¯m calling you right now to warn you about Candle Dragon. Candlelight Shadow isn¡¯t as simple as you think he is, and he might take this battle as an opportunity to whittle down the strength of your guild. Sis Wang Luo instructed me to pass on this message to you personally. Be careful of Candlelight Shadow, and preserve the strength of your crack troops when the war begins. Use your subguilds to tank the first few waves of enemies." I gave a deep sigh. Moonkiss had a point. Even though everyone had a common enemy in the Northern Alliance right now, no one could guarantee that Candle Dragon wouldn¡¯t try to pull something during the battle. After all, one always had to be wary of his enemies, even when they were fighting together for a common cause. "Yeah, I got it. I¡¯ll definitely watch my back!" "Alright, that¡¯s good enough for me. If anything else happens, I¡¯ll message you in game. I¡¯m just passing you a warning right now!" "Alright! Then I¡¯ll see you in the game!" "Okay! Byeeee!" ¡­¡­ I ended the call and went back to my meal. I had been too busy to have a proper meal recently, so I would definitely make full use of this opportunity to stuff my belly! After we finished eating, we called in one of Raincube¡¯s company buses to send the people who came from the gaming base and the ASUS esports club back home. After that, our small group returned to the workshop. The servers would be down until nighttime and we didn¡¯t bother searching for any more information on the web. What we needed the most right now was rest. We needed enough energy to take on the upcoming Nation War. The battle of Immortality City paled in comparison to a proper Nation War. It definitely wasn¡¯t something that would be resolved in 24 hours. In fact, it was very likely that we wouldn¡¯t be able to log off for a very long time. As a veteran of a few VRMMOs, I was well aware that a Nation War was a marathon and not a sprint. All of us went to bed at around 1 pm. I woke up at 8:30 pm sharp and I felt completely refreshed. I silently congratulated myself for having the constitution of a night owl as I went to wake up the girls and order some food from downstairs. It was 10:15 pm by the time we finished eating, so we still had ten minutes to spare before the servers opened up again! ¡­¡­ I excitedly wore my gaming helmet and went online. When I saw the countdown timer appear in my HUD, I felt a jolt of adrenaline surge through my body. Pinch me! The Nation Wars, the event that had given birth to countless legends, was finally upon us! The time to create our own legend has come! Chapter 715: Official Confrontation Swhoosh! I went online with a bright flash and appeared in my personal tent, located in the canyon. Grasping my sword, I slowly stepped out of the tent only to be greeted by numerous densely packed tents before me. Many players had logged in the second that the server had reopened. Countless tents started to vanish one by one as players stepped out of it. I looked at the distant vast open plains and saw thousands of tents that seemed to stretch on for miles, their lamps flickering under the stars. Many players had even decided to set up bonfires to illuminate the dark night. Wow, I can¡¯t believe that Nation Wars are actually going to start at night! ¡­¡­ At this moment, someone in the crowd of players shouted, "What the hell! I have news from the frontlines that the Northern Alliance players on the other side of Windy Trail had already woken up. All of them had entered Windy Trail and both parties had already started to engage in battle! Be careful everyone!" Players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls came online one by one. Players of other random guilds started to grow nervous as our opponents were 2 to 4 times more numerous than the players we had in all three major cities. Moreover, troops had to be deployed to defend the major cities as well, further reducing the number of people that could be dispatched to Windy Trail and Dawn City¡¯s defense. We could not afford to be careless about this, otherwise it would be utterly embarrassing for us. I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and the Phantom Wolf King as I jumped up onto high ground. Pulling my sword out of its sheath, my equipment started to glow brilliantly and even my game ID had been revealed. Raising my glowing Cyan Netherworld Sword, I shouted, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, we will guard this place with our lives! Kill any enemy that dares to step foot on our soil. Party up and prepare for battle!" The players of the smaller guilds turned quiet and started to calm down at my speech. They were reassured that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had their backs and CGL Hall of Famers would fight alongside them. Leaders were absolutely necessary in this era of the Nation Wars. Having a CGL Hall of Famer lead the way would encourage and ignite the fighting spirits of countless players! He Yi, Beiming Xue, and the others started to come online, appearing near me. Remembering Moonkiss¡¯s words, I walked to He Yi¡¯s side and said, "Eve, form a powerful party of magic knights and aid Blazing Hot Lips. The Dragonlight Cavalry and Cyan Tiger Cavalry will remain here. Please allow me to assume command over these two cavalries for this Nation War!" He Yi nodded her head and smiled, "Alright, I¡¯ll leave them to you!" I urged my mount forward and entered the depths of the canyon. I spotted Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, and the others riding on their mounts, waiting for me from a distance. More than twenty of them were dressed in the Dragonblade set, looking rather magnificent and pleasing to the eye. "Boss Broken Halberd!" Gui Guzi gripped his pike and smiled when he saw me draw near. "What is our plan?" I shook my head and said, "We don¡¯t have one at the moment. We need to send scouts to gather some information and assess the battle situation before making any plans." Li Chengfeng nodded his head in agreement and said, "Ok, Cute Little Naughty had already sent out her scouts. More than 10000 Ancient Sword Dreaming assassins had been scattered among the battlefield, ready to assassinate the enemy¡¯s priests and archers at will. Lu Chen, when will our Dragonlight Cavalry move out?" I paused for a moment to think before replying, "Be patient Chengfeng. I will take command over both calvaries in this battle. All commands will come from me personally, all other commands are not to be obeyed, understand?" "Yessir!" Li Chengfeng smirked with glee and said, "It¡¯s a good thing that you¡¯re taking command. If it were Xu Yang, I¡¯m sure that we would be sent to our deaths¡­" Xu Yang grabbed his sword and replied, "You asshole, stop making fun of me. I didn¡¯t say I want to be the commander¡­" I laughed and spoke in a gentle tone, "The Dragonlight Cavalry is our final ace and we can¡¯t show our hand until the last moment. We will sound the Dragonlight Cavalry war horn only when the Northern Alliance enters into the canyon. Remember, we thrive on the open plains, not in canyons. We won¡¯t go there, otherwise we will just be asking for death. It would be a complete waste if we do that." "Mn, I agree!¡± Li Chengfeng nodded his head in agreement. I gripped my sword and said, "Chengfeng, Little Gui, stay and guard this place while I go to the frontlines and assess the situation. I may even be of some help while I¡¯m there, heh!" Li Chengfeng pouted and said, "I really wanna go too but I¡¯m afraid that I won¡¯t be able to withstand the powerful attacks of the enemy. Having said that¡­ Lu Chen, you¡¯d better not die. If you do, our morale will be terribly affected¡­" I chuckled and replied, "Don¡¯t worry, I have over 100000 HP and my Defense is much higher than yours. If I really do get surrounded and am on the brink of death, I¡¯ll just enter invincibility state and crush a teleportation scroll¡­" "Haha, you¡¯re too despicable." ¡­¡­ I pulled on the reins of my mount and turned around as I activated the Bloodknight Card and downed a Rank 9 Health Potion. Pure Love buffed me with Physique while I activated Martial God and smiled in glee as my health points rose to 165661. Tsk tsk, my new Dragonlight Helmet added a whopping 12000 HP, making me beyond strong. I still had such high HP even though I hadn¡¯t been buffed by He Yi¡¯s Royal Road. The Northern Alliance was going to have a hard time dealing with me! "Lu Chen, wait!" I turned my head to look at Chaos Moon when I heard her voice. "You have to beware of those Northern Alliance players with a crimson flag on their backs. Those are top-tier players and even you may not be able to fight against them if two or three of them manage to surround you!" "Oh? Crimson flag? What¡¯s that?" I asked puzzledly. Chaos Moon frowned and said, "Sigh, do you not read the forums? A few countries in the Northern Alliance share a single server, with America as their core country. Very much like our CGL Hall of Fame, their players would also vote for the top elites of their server. These top players are known as ¡®Heroic Bannermen¡¯ and a crimson flag is shown on their backs. They have less than a hundred of such players but if you do meet them, you must be careful!" "Alright, I got it!" I muttered in a low voice, "I will be careful. Heroic Bannermen huh. Interesting!" ¡­¡­ Amid the sound of hooves, the Ice Qilin Horse left Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ defense region and continued forward. The flat ground began to narrow, forcing me to stick close to the mountain range and travel through the forest. As I continued forward I saw countless Blazing Hot Lips players laying out their defenses. Their warriors brandished their shields by the edge of the forest while their ranged players stood guard behind them. Because they had the high ground, their shooting range would be increased by a whole two hundred yards. If they worked together with Warsky Alliance who was on the other mountain range, their firepower would be able to envelop the entire Windy Trail. As long as the warriors in the canyon are able to withstand their opponent¡¯s attacks, it is completely possible to cause fatal damage to the Northern Alliance¡¯s army. "Hey, Lu Chen!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes appeared among the crowd with her staff in hand and greeted me, "Where are you going?" "I¡¯m gonna take a look at the frontlines!" "So you¡¯re asking for death, huh?" "That¡¯s right!" I urged my mount forward into a run as I heard Stranger of Three Lifetimes giggling behind me. Windy Trail was getting more and more narrow as the area in front grew dim. The mountain ranges on both sides of the canyon looked like giants, making Windy Trail look extremely narrow in comparison. However, hundreds of thousand players were squeezed into the narrow canyon. Flashes of light rays from magic spells and skills lighted up the canyon as the battle raged on. I came to a halt as the canyon became too crowded, then turned the reins of my mount and decided to climb up the rocks at the borders of the canyon. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse was able to climb to places that players on foot could not. My Phantom Wolf King stretched out its claws and grasped the rock firmly, climbing up the rocks alongside me. Since we¡¯ve even scaled Ice Dragon Ridge before, this canyon is nothing compared to that. As my mount ran on top of the mountain range, I glanced below at the intense battle. Countless players were engaged in battle and it was getting hard to tell friend from foe. Galaxy Storms and Spiraling Arrow Blades exploded among the masses, blasting armored players into pieces and spilling fresh blood to fertilize the hot soil. A proud feeling warmed my chest at the sight of this group of players trying their best to resist the enemy. Among this group, some of them might even belong to the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Even though they knew that death was inevitable, they were still willing to fight and buy us time. These players are truly brave warriors! ¡­¡­ Not far from me, a magic knight riding on a black antelope shouted as the star and stripe symbol floated above him. It was a player from America¡¯s Titan City! I frowned as I did not understand a single word that he spoke due to my poor command of english and all I caught was the word ¡®fuck¡¯. He looked intimidating and ruthless on his mount as he hacked away at his enemies. His level was extremely high and he wore exceptional equipment, putting him in a cut above the rest. A group of players behind him were also from Titan City and had been wreaking havoc for a long time, eliminating countless China players. I swiftly activated the system¡¯s translation service that translated any foreign language to mandarin before continuing forward. A Level 146 Warsky Alliance player raised his sword and yelled, "Attack! Slaughter those antelope bastards! They¡¯ve killed too many of us!" The group of antelope-riding magic knights laughed and shouted brashly, "These stupid Chinese players are seeking death. Do they honestly think that they can fight against our Northern Alliance¡¯s tanks? Hahaha, we will flatten Dawn City and wipe out the entire China server! Just you wait and see!" The bunch of magic knights lunged forward as a swirl of energy formed on the tips of their swords and executed Barrier Break. The Level 146 Warsky Alliance player collapsed instantly without even putting up a fight. The antelope riders smirked maliciously as they swept their swords, unleashing various skills among their enemies! Boom! A dozen melee and ranged players were hit by the enemy riders. Ranged players were one-shot and collapsed under the powerful attack of the enemy. The antelope riders had been buffed by Encourage VII and other stratagems, increasing their Attack by 100%! "God dammit, we can¡¯t hold on any longer!" A few Warsky Alliance players panicked and retreated swiftly. They were the vanguards and yet, they were unable to withstand Titan City¡¯s elite magic knights. At this moment, I gripped my Cyan Netherworld Sword and jumped down from the boulder. In midair, I shouted, "Stand aside! I¡¯ll deal with them!" ¡­¡­ "Ah, it¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks into Sand!" The faces of a few Warsky Alliance players lit up and the crowd quickly parted like the Red Sea. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse landed on the ground and immediately charged at a few Titan City players! "Oh? A pro is here?!" A magic knight riding on an antelope laughed loudly and shouted, "Attack! Eliminate him!" ¡­¡­ I chuckled inwardly and spurred on my mount. It suddenly ran forward and executed a helix maneuver! The Phantom Wolf King and I had excellent rapport and completed an intersecting double S maneuver. While charging at the side of the antelope rider, I made a sudden turn and aimed for his back instead. I swung my sword violently and unleashed Barrier Break + Pardon + a basic attack! 24884! MISS! 31387! The magic knight was one-shot without a doubt as he collapsed to the ground with a groan. I turned my body to the side and unleashed three crescents of projected sword energy, forcing the dozen sixth-promotion Earthfire Realm players back. Once my six-second skill combo cooldown was up, I activated Burning Blade Slash again and sent three surges of blazing energy hurling into the group of players! Chapter 716: Dawn Archer I grinned at the sweet sound of my sword piercing through my enemy¡¯s armor. A dozen Titan City¡¯s magic knights were one-shot instantly under the consecutive attacks from my Cyan Netherworld Sword. "Damn it, who the hell is this guy? Why is he so powerful?" Many of the Northern Alliance players shouted with anger. Windy Trail was filled with their allies and they held the advantage in the current battle situation. "Look! He has a CGL symbol at the end of his ID!" An archer with blond hair and blue eyes raised his bow and shouted, "I know that symbol, it represents the elites of China! There are only 29 CGL Hall of Famers in the entire China! Everyone, attack! Once we eliminate him, the morale of the Northern Alliance will be greatly boosted!" I gave a small smirk as a group of players started to charge at me. In the next instant, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and unleashed Claw of the Storm. The skies turned crimson as dense dark clouds started to gather and countless lightning bolts lit up the skies. The winds started blowing heavily and in the next short few seconds, a dozen tornadoes were formed in the narrow canyon, wreaking havoc among the enemies! Boom! Boom! Boom! Countless players were swept into the tornadoes as blazing winds of fire and ice blades tore through the Northern Alliance players. The Phantom Wolf King was already a Level 159 Immortal Rank pet, making its skills and damage exceptionally powerful. Its skills were definitely not something that this bunch of players could withstand. ¡­¡­ "Mages, focus your firepower and eliminate this asshole!" Someone among the crowd gave an order and soon, a large swarm of mages with the yin-yang symbol of Korea¡¯s flag appeared before me. They were high-level mages who were above Level 150 and their attacks were not to be trifled with! "Give them a Galaxy Storm! Let these China players have a taste of our attacks!" Countless Galaxy Storm started to rain down on me at the command of a Level 154 mage at the frontlines. Players around me started to cry out in agonizing pain when the Galaxy Storms pierced through their armor. The attacks of these bunch of mages were ridiculously powerful! Even though I had great Magic Resist, I still managed to lose 30000 HP in a matter of six seconds! How could the normal players be able to withstand such powerful attacks? I gritted my teeth as I looked around at my allies who collapsed instantly under the heavy fire of the enemies, lining the ground with their potions and equipment. I was all that was left as I turned and faced the sea of Korean players. Their national flag symbol above them blended into an ocean of white while the red 5-starred flag above my head stood all alone. Bang! The energy of my sword turned into frost aura that covered the group of enemies amid an explosion. The large patch of mages brought their Magic Shields up to defend themselves. The AoE skill made a dent in them and some of the mages were even frozen. However, none of them were one-shot and I had only managed to shave off half of their Magic Shields¡¯ durability. God dammit! These mages are too powerful, my attacks can no longer one-shot them! "Attack, little wolf!" I growled as the Phantom Wolf King and I dashed forward at lightning speed. I violently swung my sword at the frontmost and highest-leveled mage with Universe Break, unleashing an indigo spiral of energy right at his chest. It penetrated through his Magic Shield and hit him smack on the armor, dealing damage of 31723! Ahhhh.... The mage¡¯s eyes turned as wide as saucers and let out a pitiful wail. He had not expected my attacks to be this powerful and my lightning-speed moves did not give him a chance to dodge. At least his horizons were broadened after witnessing my Universe Break which was a skill that was similar to Barrier Break and I reckon that he died without any grievances. ¡­¡­ A bunch of Titan City players charged forward, coordinating perfectly with a group of Korean mages. A dozen magic knight riders brandished their sword as a swirling blaze started to form on their tips. They surrounded me and swiftly unleashed Barrier Breaks and the spiraling energies, headed straight for me. God damn, such perfect coordination. These players must be the elites of the Northern Alliance, otherwise they would not have such great rapport. I sucked in a deep breath and waited for an opportunity to present itself. The moment the enemy lunged for me, I smacked my mount and moved swiftly in a Z line, appearing on their right and penetrated through their battle formation. My sword trembled as I swung it and feigned three attacks. Chiang! Chiang! Chiang! Sparks flew as I held up my sword and parried three consecutive Barrier Breaks from my enemies. "What? Is that...even possible?!" Three Titan City¡¯s warriors stood rooted in shock as they had not expected that the invincible Barrier Break could be so easily parried by a player. They had probably never seen such a feat before this. This move however, was actually a simple feat to me because of my top-notch mechanical skills and top-tier equipment. Also, I had experimented with this move countless times before I could execute it perfectly. Grasping the perfect timing, I abruptly pulled on the reins of my mount. The Ice Qilin Horse quickly dug its hooves deep into the ground and skidded to a stop as I swept my sword across and unleashed Burning Blade Slash! Bang! Bang! Bang! Three crescents of flaming sword energy exploded among a group of sixth-promotion mages. The Thousand Ice Slash I had unleashed previously had shaved off more than 50% of their Magic Shields¡¯ durability. Without giving them a chance to recover, I unleashed three consecutive blows of Burning Blade Slash the moment I saw an opening. The first and second blow cracked their Magic Shields and the bunch of mages turned ashened at the force of the third blow. No one had expected a warrior to be this powerful, or his attack range to be so ridiculously long! Cries of desperation rang out as more than twenty sixth-promotion mages had collapsed under the power of Burning Blade Slash. They died with their eyes wide open, outraged that their collective efforts were still not enough to deal with me. Neither did they expect my attack range to be so extensive. "God dammit, this rascal is so powerful! Attack quickly, kill him!" The Northern Alliance players started to panic out of fear. However, at this moment, a Level 158 elite archer appeared, wearing leather armor and holding a bow in his hand. A crimson flag appeared on his back and a golden halo surrounded his feet. This was the Northern Alliance¡¯s Heroic Bannerman! I activated Dark Pupils and the stats of that player were revealed to me. ID: Frosty Night (Korea) Level: 158 Class: Dawn Archer Attack: 2984~4140 Defense: 3370 HP: 69035 Skills: ??? ¡­¡­ Damn it! Such a high Attack! It even reached a maximum of 4140 which was even higher than Beiming Xue and not much lower than mine. Even his HP almost reached 70000! Can such an archer even exist? Only god knows how good this player¡¯s equipment is. Such an opponent will be a big thorn in our side! The Northern Alliance started to calm down at the appearance of Frosty Night because he was a Heroic Bannerman. As their leader, his appearance demands their immediate submission! Frosty Night looked straight at me as he gripped his bow and shouted, "This man is the 7th CGL Hall of Famer! If he dies, it will smash the morale of all of China¡¯s players! I will keep him busy while the magic knights stab him with Universe Break! As for the archers and priests, attack together and restrain him!" Before he even finished his sentence, countless battlecries started to ring out. I hurriedly tugged on the reins of the mount while commanding the little wolf to attack and draw their attention while I attacked from the opposite side. I have to avoid their vanguard first before forming a plan to get rid of that Heroic Bannerman, Frosty Night. Hmph, that guy looks like a formidable opponent! Bang! Bang! Bang! Explosive Arrows, Shock Arrows and other skills started to explode all around me. The Ice Qilin Horse cried out in pain while I gritted my teeth when my HP had been reduced from 160000 to 70000 in the blink of an eye. I whipped out my precious Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion swiftly and drowned it to recover some health. "Trying to focus fire on me? Die, you retards!" I turned around suddenly and hurled my sword with a loud cry. The Cyan Netherworld Sword left my hands and spiraled through the air, generating powerful tornadoes as it spun through the air. Ultimately headed for Frosty Night, it skewered all the enemies in its path! "Hah!" Frosty Night sneered before leaping backward nimbly, the Sword Boomerang narrowly missing his nose. God damn, such precise judgement! However, the spiraling blade continued to penetrate through the enemy archers. Even though it missed Frosty Night, the others were instantly killed. Given my powerful attacks, I am able to one-shot even those clad in leather armor. ¡­¡­ Frosty Night only took a few steps back before leaping forward and positioned his bow. Cocking his head slightly to the side, he pulled the string of his bow and a glowing arrow started to form. In the next instant, he released his fingers and the arrow started to fly! Bang! My body trembled as that glowing arrow pierced my chest, shaving 17364 of my health. The Dawn Archer had released Arrow of Light! What a powerful attacking skill! "Mn?" Frosty Night arched his brow and said, "What is this Defense?! The CGL Hall of Famers truly do live up to their name¡­" Bang! The Phantom Wolf King unleashed Claw of the Storm as it exploded among the enemy. Frosty Night was within its attacking radius and so, he was forced to retreat, but a dragon¡¯s howl rang out and a cyan energy blade pierced him squarely on his shoulder! Bang! 28377! Frosty Night turned pale with shock, jumped backward and retreated swiftly after being pierced by my Dragon Slaying Slash. He knew that if he faced me head-on, he could very well be one-shot if I used another fatal skill. A melee fighter with ranged skills at his disposal was definitely someone he would not be able to kill! ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, I continued to fight and retreat simultaneously. My health had dropped to 50000 which was less than a third of my HP bar. It would be very easy for my enemies to kill me if I decided to charge forward with such low health. Moreover, I had caught the attention of an elite of the Northern Alliance. I could be easily one-shot if I made any rash moves. Right at this moment, our reinforcements arrived. Two elite magic knights dashed forward and shouted, "Don¡¯t retreat! Everyone come with me and attack! Let¡¯s slaughter these Northern Alliance assholes!" Relief washed over me as I glanced backward to see two CGL Hall of Famers, Laughing At The Heavens and Li Chengfeng, rushing toward me. Even though they were not highly ranked, they still belonged to the CGL Hall of Fame. Chapter 717: Headhunting A group of Warsky Alliance fighters instantly raised their weapons in the air as they yelled, "We¡¯ll contend with the heavens, war with men, and fight against destiny itself! The Warsky Alliance has never accepted the will of the heavens and we swear that we will fight these wretched invaders until our last breath! Charge!" There were around 2000 players from Warsky Alliance, and all of them were Warsky¡¯s crack troops. There were more than a few Level 150 sixth-promotion players here, but Warsky, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, and Hundred Battler weren¡¯t among them. It looked like he hadn¡¯t mobilized his crack troops yet, and that was hardly a surprise. No one would be willing to dispatch their ace units to battle when the Nation Wars had just started, because it was even possible that they wouldn¡¯t be able to come online once they died. No one wanted to take that risk this early in the battle. The 2000 elite riders followed behind Laughing At The Heavens as he dove into the Northern Alliance¡¯s formation. All of them displayed the steely grit that Warsky himself was known for, as they welcomed the countless arrows and spells without flinching. Tempest Shadow wasn¡¯t lagging behind either. He was also leading a group of ragtag riders forward. As he waved his spear in the air, he yelled, "Charge! Defend the kingly dignity of Candle Dragon, the top guild in China! Let all the players in the China server witness the might of the people on the frontlines of our country! Candle Dragon! We are the indomitable scions of dragons! We are kings amongst men!" The thunderous sound of hooves striking the ground filled the air as a few thousand riders under Candle Dragon¡¯s banner started a fierce attack as well. They smashed into the Northern Alliance¡¯s frontline with a resounding crash. As he waited in a crowd of players, the Dawn Archer Frosty Night, one of the enemy¡¯s Heroic Bannermen, grinned coldly. He yelled, "Fighters at the front, I want you to let them in! Let those riders from China enter our formation! Since they seem to be so anxious to see our power, let¡¯s give them a good show!" I cursed silently before I brandished my sword and yelled, "Laughing At The Heavens, Tempest Shadow, don¡¯t fall for the enemy¡¯s trap! They¡¯re obviously trying to lure your forces into a confined area..." Unfortunately, my words were too little, too late. Tempest Shadow urged his mount forward as he raised his sword high in the air. His intentions were as clear as day, he wanted to kill Frosty Night. If he successfully killed this Heroic Bannerman, it would greatly raise the morale of our troops! However, this dumbass hadn¡¯t realized that the opposite was also true! If he, a CGL Hall of Famer, got killed by the enemy, it would greatly impact the morale of our troops as well! A large group of China players were following Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance¡¯s lead. As they entered the "container" in the other ravine, Frosty Night immediately leapt on top of a boulder and raised his hand in the air as he yelled, "Attack! Kill them all! Wipe them off the face of the earth!" A large group of Northern Alliance players instantly started attacking our riders. They obeyed Frosty Night¡¯s command, regardless of their city or nationality. Countless balls of fire, spikes of earth, blades of wind, and arrows started falling on our troops. They had unwittingly pushed in too far, and they were now within the boundary of Vietnam¡¯s Hot Sand City. A sea of red names greeted them as the area around them started to widen. It was only then that the idiots who had charged into the enemy formation realized their fatal error. "Shit! We fell for it¡­" Bang! Bang! Bang! Arrows exploded all over the battlefield as Galaxy Storms blasted players apart. It had only taken a single second for the enemy¡¯s barrage of fire to kill more than a thousand of our players, and the scorched and bloodied battlefield was a terrible thing to behold. The enemy had at least ten times the number of players that we had, and our firepower simply couldn¡¯t compare to theirs. Even the players from Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance weren¡¯t faring much better. One of Candle Dragon¡¯s cavalry units tried to brave that rain of fire, but even they lost huge chunks of their health bars in just a single instant. ¡­¡­ "Fuck, we¡¯ve been had!" Tempest Shadow¡¯s face had gone completely ashen. This fellow had never been anything more than one of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s best fighters. His tactical acumen wasn¡¯t even a tenth of his glorious leader¡¯s. He was competent enough to lead a charge, but he was completely outclassed by Frosty Night when it came to diversions, feints, and traps. A player who was wearing a golden shield rushed out of the crowd of enemies. It was a Level 158 magic knight decked out in outstanding equipment. He had the features of a middle-aged man and South Korea¡¯s flag was proudly swaying above his head. A mocking smile played across his lips as he said, "Melee fighters! Advance! Cut off their retreat! Kill them all! Don¡¯t leave a single one of them alive!" A blood-red flag was strapped to his back. Another Heroic Bannerman had appeared! This player¡¯s ID was "Enlightened Heart" and he was another player from Korea. Even as he shouted that command, Enlightened Heart flew forward, and a group of Korean fighters charged in along with him. "Fuck! Do you think I¡¯m scared of you dullards?" Tempest Shadow raged as he raised his spear high in the air. "Comrades! Heroes who share a common goal! Charge! Let¡¯s teach these retards a lesson they¡¯ll never forget! We¡¯ll show them what Candle Dragon is made of!" Tempest Shadow activated Resolute as he charged in with his men. Riders from both sides collided into each other, the sound of metal smashing into metal reverberating in the air. The telltale light of Barrier Break repeatedly shone in the air as players skewered each other willy-nilly. It was a reckless and crazy way of fighting and neither side gained any advantage from this exchange of blows. Many players had been toppled off their mounts, but the Northern Alliance also had a huge army of long-range players supporting their frontline fighters, so they already had a natural advantage there. Things started to look grim as Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance¡¯s losses started to mount. I rushed toward the battle as I used Tenacity of the Dead and Regeneration of the Undead to restore my health! Bang! As I rode by, I slashed my sword at a bunch of Northern Alliance warriors. Three of them got hit by the sword energy that shot out of my blade and were sent tumbling backward. The Phantom Wolf King soared in and tore into the three vulnerable warriors, every swipe of its claw taking a life. When I reached the other side of the map, I immediately received a system notice. Ding~! System Notice; You have entered a Nation War map¡ªHot Sand City (Vietnam)! ¡­¡­ Fucking hell, this place is not only included in the territory of Vietnam¡¯s main city, it is also very near Sunset City and Burning City. No wonder there are so many Vietnamese and Korean players here. A brilliant explosion of light erupted close to me. The Korean magic knight, Enlightened Heart, had thrust his sword into Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ chest! It was a showdown between a Heroic Bannerman and a CGL Hall of Famer! 17263! Laughing At The Heavens had just eaten a Barrier Break, but he immediately struck back with a flurry attack! Unfortunately for him, those three strikes only elicited a cold smile from Enlightened Heart. Sparks flew in the air as Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ spear struck his chest, but it dealt less than 20000 damage altogether. Furthermore, 20000 HP wasn¡¯t even 10% of Enlightened Heart¡¯s total health, meaning his health pool exceeded 200000! "Huh?" Laughing At The Heavens gasped in shock. He hurriedly retracted his spear, but Enlightened Heart was one step ahead of him. His hand shot out to grab the haft of the spear as he swiftly lashed out with his blade three times. The sound of metal screeching against metal rang in the air as Enlightened Heart¡¯s blade landed on Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ neck. It was only a simple flurry attack, but it had dealt nearly 50000 damage to the hapless magic knight! "Damn it, I¡¯m fucked!" Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ face went pale. He only had about 100000 HP altogether, so there was no way he could endure this kind of abuse. He immediately leaned forward and smashed an armored fist into Enlightened Heart¡¯s chest. It was only then that he managed to wrest his spear free from the Korean magic knight¡¯s grasp. He urgently wheeled his horse back after that, and he cut a very sorry figure as he turned tail and ran from his opponent. It was at this moment that a beam of cold light exploded into Laughing At The Heaven¡¯s chest. The Dawn Archer, Frosty Night, had finally made his move. He yelled, "Enlightened Heart, go in for the kill! Finish your headhunting mission! Let¡¯s kill this CGL Hall of Famer and stick his head on a flagpole! We¡¯ll parade it in front of all the Chinese players once the Nation War really begins!" ¡­¡­ All color drained away from Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ face. He finally realized just what sort of predicament he had gotten himself at this moment. This bunch of people were far stronger than he had imagined, and this was doubly true for these Heroic Bannermen of theirs. Their Attack, Defense, and HP were completely on par with the super experts in China! "At The Heavens, hurry up and retreat! We¡¯ll cover you!" A high-level magic knight led a dozen fighters forward as they attempted to rescue Laughing At The Heavens. They cut in between Enlightened Heart and the dying knight, but three Galaxy Storms instantly engulfed them. This group of valiant riders had been killed in the very first exchange! The enemy mages were really uncommonly strong! Thousands of our riders had died, and it hadn¡¯t even been five minutes since our players charged into the enemy formation. There were less than a hundred survivors now and Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ face had somehow managed to turn even paler. "We¡¯re finished. How did this happen¡­" He wildly galloped back toward our side of the map and his only goal right now was to escape with his life. He couldn¡¯t let the enemy take his head as a war trophy! Laughing At The Heavens knew just how serious the situation was right now. It wasn¡¯t that he was afraid to die, but he knew that the enemy would use the death of a CGL Hall of Famer to strike a huge blow against our players¡¯ morale. Simply put, Laughing At The Heavens just couldn¡¯t afford to die at this moment. Pchht! Bloody light flashed in the air, as something struck Laughing At The Heavens square in the back. The blow instantly caused him to stop moving. He had been stunned! An assassin wearing maroon leather armor suddenly appeared behind him. There was also a Heroic Banner strapped to his back. His dagger danced in the air three times as his Blade Vortex caused Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ health to plummet! "Die!" Enlightened Heart flew forward, his sword splitting the air! 19902! Laughing At The Heavens let out a loud wail as he sank to the ground. He really had become the first general to fall in the Nation Wars! ¡­¡­ Tempest Shadow was being continuously pushed back on the other side of the battlefield. The enemy¡¯s firepower was simply too fierce, and even a player as powerful as him had been pushed to under 20000 HP! The situation was growing more perilous by the second! Enlightened Heart hadn¡¯t even paused to gloat after he had killed Laughing At The Heavens. He immediately spurred his mount forward and attacked us from the rear. As he streaked toward Tempest Shadow, I realized that he attacked in a very unique manner. His sword slid in at an extremely weird angle as he shot a Barrier Break at Tempest Shadow¡¯s back. "Huh!?" Tempest Shadow¡¯s face went even paler but he only had enough time to turn around and take the blow on the chest. There was no way for him to block that strike. Just as the sword was about to hit him, a cyan light suddenly struck it! Clang! After I parried Enlightened Heart¡¯s attack with exquisite accuracy, I immediately positioned my horse in front of Tempest Shadow and yelled, "Hurry up and lead your people back into the Windy Trail. Stop trying to court death!" "Alright!" Even though Tempest Shadow was an arrogant and volatile man, he immediately gave his assent. This was because he was well aware that he simply wasn¡¯t able to display any of his strengths on this battlefield right now. Without enough troops reinforcing him, there was no way for him to kill anyone. Chapter 718: A Crazy Massacre System Announcement: Hero City, Seven Star City, Titan City, Hot Sand City, Warhammer City, Burning City, Sunset City and Eternal Love City have decided to attack China. Will you declare war on them? ¡­¡­ The sound of the system announcement had caught me by surprise. I stopped and quickly pressed down on the "Confirm" button before swearing, "Fucking hell! Why wouldn¡¯t we want to fight invaders who are coming to raid our cities?" According to the rules of Heavenblessed¡¯s Nation Wars, one party had to make a declaration of war in order for that party to raid their opponent¡¯s city. Moreover, the top hundred guilds in that nation¡¯s server would all receive a notification once the declaration of war had been made. They would then choose whether to accept or reject the notice. Once all the requirements had been met, the players who were killed in an enemy server¡¯s maps would not be able to enter those maps again for the next 72 hours. Half a minute later, we heard another "ding" ring out in the air. A new system announcement has been made. Ding~! System Announcement: The requirements of Nation War have been met. Hero City has declared war on China! Seven Star City has declared war on China! Titan City has declared war on China! Hot Sand City has declared war on China! Warhammer City has declared war on China! Burning City has declared war on China! Sunset City has declared war on China! Eternal Love City has declared war on China! Ding~! System Announcement: CGL player from China, Laughing At The Heavens, has been killed by Enlightened Heart (Korea)! ¡­¡­ My eyes widen as I angrily muttered, "Fuck! What a huge loss for us!" If Laughing At The Heavens had been killed before the announcement, he could still participate in the battle and we wouldn¡¯t have suffered such a great loss. However, his death was actually broadcasted to the entire server! The Northern Alliance¡¯s morale would be boosted greatly at the announcement of the death of a CGL Hall of Famer! A bunch of archers in front of me pulled back their bowstrings as their leader laughed out loud and said, "Heh, I knew it. These CGL Hall of Famers don¡¯t deserve their reputation. Comrades, continue the advance! We¡¯ll charge into Dawn City and kill all 29 of those CGL Hall of Famers! Let¡¯s show them the might of the Northern Alliance!" Tempest Shadow immediately retreated into Windy Trail with a huge group of Candle Dragon players, leaving me all alone at the borders of the canyon. I frowned deeply as the Cyan Netherworld Sword glowed crimson with undead energy. I whipped my head up suddenly, red light bursting from my eyes, as I charged toward them! "You wanna kill me? Then show me what you¡¯ve got!" I charged forward into the group of riders without a trace of fear. My sword flickered through the air three times, sending three of those mountain goat riders flying. Sparks flew in the air as my sword violently tore through their breastplates and pierced through flesh. Martial God¡¯s 200% Attack buff was simply way too OP! "Get lost!" I turned my body and swung my sword as three burning crescents of sword energy slammed into a group of riders. Startling explosions rang out in the air as everyone retreated swiftly from the raging flames of my Burning Blade Slash. With just a single strike, I had nearly killed all of these riders from Titan City, and I wasn¡¯t going to let them off the hook just yet. I grinned as I felt my arm go cold. That was the wind-up effect of Silver Dragon Storm! Roooaaar! Cries rang out as Silver Dragon Storm tore through a group of players and started to wreak havoc. The impressive blast left scores of enemy players dead. There were no survivors. I tugged on the reins of the Ice Qilin Horse, causing it to zigzag across the ground as I charged toward my opponents, my sudden cuts allowing me to move out of the range of the enemy archers and mages. My sword continued to slash through the air as I penetrated a weak spot in their defensive formation, instantly one-shotting a bunch of archers and assassins. The art of war ultimately revolved around two principles, minimizing the amount of damage taken while maximizing the amount of damage dealt. This was the ideal way to fight. The Phantom Wolf King flew through the crowd of enemy players with lightning speed. Its sharp claws tore through the leather armor of an archer before it opened its mouth wide and bit down on that hapless archer¡¯s neck. Blood sprayed all over the place as the archer collapsed limply to the ground. When the mages around the Phantom Wolf King tried to use their magic to lock it down, it danced away, quick as lightning. It was simply impossible to restrain it. This group of players soon understood just how difficult it was to face off against an Immortal Rank boss pet. Tempest Shadow was pushing his way through the chaotic battlefield as he brandished his spear and shouted angrily at me, "Fucking hell! Lu Chen, you bloody idiot! Why are you charging straight into the teeth of the enemy? Goddammit, do you really have no fear of death!? Hurry up and retreat! We¡¯ll cover you while you retreat back to Dawn Canyon! We¡¯re in the enemy¡¯s territory right now!" His words fell on deaf ears as I ignored him and continued to charge through the enemy lines. Hmph, Laughing At The Heavens'' death had caused our morale to plummet, and now I had to salvage the situation! I would regain the honor that the Warsky Alliance had lost for us! ¡­¡­ One of the enemy players had finally figured out what I was trying to do! It was a player with a crimson flag on his back standing in a crowd of people. His eyes turned as wide as saucers as he shouted, "That bastard¡­ that bastard is targeting our Heroic Bannermen! He wants to kill the Heroic Bannermen!" "Damn it! It¡¯s not gonna happen!" A bunch of battle-axe wielding berserk warriors rushed to the front of that Blazing Pulse assassin to shield him. It was this exact assassin who had stunned Laughing At The Heavens, giving other players the opportunity to kill him, which ultimately resulted in the announcement of the death of a CGL Hall of Famer. Grasping the reins in one hand, I gave it a quick flick. The Ice Qilin Horse gave out a loud neigh and dashed forward. Stones and gravel flew from the ground as it zigzagged into the group of berserk warriors from the side. I spread my fingers as the Apparition Ring glowed brilliantly, summoning my apparition! "Attack!" I shouted with a loud battlecry as my apparition brandished his sword and activated Purple Dragon Howl! Bang! Bang! Bang! Purple Dragon Howl wreaked havoc among the enemies as a group of battle axe wielding warriors started to panic seeing their friends being one-shot. I swiftly activated Dark Pupils and my surroundings suddenly became so distinct and clear. I leaped forward and swung my sword, unleashing Thousand Ice Slash! Boom! Streams of icy sword aura burst forth and exploded among a group of warriors as they cried out in agony. The explosions reverberated through the canyon and one-shot almost a hundred berserk warriors! "Bastard, do you think you can kill me?" The assassin Blazing Pulse lifted his dagger as he leaped backward abruptly, slipping into a void and entering into stealth mode. Unfortunately, he did not know that I had Dark Pupils and did not think that I was still able to see him even though he was invisible to others. Even though this assassin¡¯s mechanical movements were exquisite, he was nothing compared to Farewell Song¡¯s ghost-like movements. Even without the aid of Dark Pupils, I would still be able to tell his approximate position. I swung my sword and thrust it in the neck of a magic knight. He cried out pitifully, unable to retaliate even though his sword was in his hands. Both he and his mount were dragged several steps before I pulled my sword out and dealt another blow, ending his misery instantly! At this moment, the assassin charged swiftly at me, his blade glimmering with an icy chill! "Heh, there you are!" I chuckled as my horse lunged forward, enticing that assassin to gain speed and chase after us. However, I quickly pulled the reins and the Ice Qilin Horse rose on its two hind legs before stomping its front legs and activating War Crush! "Shit!" Blazing Pulse had not expected me to pull such a move but reacted nimbly and leaped back to avoid being hit. Unfortunately for him, I had great reflexes too. I pushed myself off the horse in a quick move and swiftly ran behind Blazing Pulse before locking my sights on a player right behind him and used Charge! Swhoosh! I stopped using Charge midway and swung my sword, releasing a crescent of sword energy right at Blazing Pulse¡¯s back! "God damn!" Blazing Pulse¡¯s gaze burned with passion, and his blade danced swiftly, meeting with my sword with a clang as he parried my attack. Moreover, a cold blast of energy accompanied that right dagger, clearly indicating that he was well-versed with his move. I did a flip backward and smacked the ground with my left palm as my crimson cape danced behind me. I stretched out my right leg and did a high kick, landing a hit on my opponent¡¯s armpit! 6892! My attack was extremely powerful! That single kick shaved off so much of his health. Blazing Pulse stumbled back clumsily and, taking advantage of that opening, I did a quick drop and roll. A swirling crimson energy formed on my blade before swinging my sword and unleashing it at my opponent¡¯s legs! 17382! Blazing Pulse screamed in agony as he collapsed to his knees. I did another roll on the ground toward him and swiftly plunged my sword through his chest. In a low voice, I growled, "Die!" Pcchtt! 29838! Blazing Pulse¡¯s eyes widened in disbelief as he looked down at my Cyan Netherworld Sword that nailed him between the crevice of two boulders. Without any priests to heal him, he was utterly doomed. Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that Heroic Bannerman, Blazing Pulse (Korea), has been killed by Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (China)! ¡­¡­ Chiang! I abruptly pulled my sword out of his chest before doing a backflip. My Ice Qilin Horse ran to my side and I swiftly flipped myself over its back. Grasping its reins, I gave it a quick flick as it charged forward at lightning speed, leaving the attack range of Galaxy Storm and Spiraling Arrow Blade. I would have certainly died if my mount had been any slower. I glanced at my HP bar which was at 50% and heaved a sigh of relief. I was so fortunate to be able to eliminate a Heroic Bannerman and escape unscathed! I glanced to my left at the Phantom Wolf King near me as it continued to fight alongside me with 45% of its health, gunning for the Northern Alliance players who fought alone. Numerous Korean and American players were gathered there, both countries top-tier when it came to virtual gaming competitions. Both were homes for many elites, evident from Blazing Pulse¡¯s exceptional mechanical skills. Unfortunately for him, he met me. Ding~! System Announcement (Player Hot and Sour Noodles Shout): I, Zhang Chun will give out Nation Wars commands through system announcements from now on! And erm¡­. Lu Chen, you should return to Dawn City quickly. If you die, we lose one of our leaders. This is my first command! ¡­¡­ I snorted indignantly but did not comment any further. I stared at a crimson flag in the distance before narrowing my eyes when I recognized the Heroic Bannerman. He was the Dawn Archer, Frosty Night! "Attack!" I raised my Cyan Netherworld sword and swung it down, killing a few Northern Alliance archers and regained some health before continuing my killing spree. There are almost a hundred Heroic Bannermen, how is killing only one gonna affect our warriors¡¯ morale?! Frosty Night stared back at me without a thread of fear in his eyes. He gripped his bow and pulled its string back before releasing seven brilliantly-glowing arrows straight at me! I increased my movement speed and immediately waved my sword to block the incoming arrows. Sparks flew from my sword as I blocked two of the arrows. At the same time, I lifted my armored left hand and accurately caught an arrow with a loud bang! I grimaced as the other three arrows managed to pierce me. What a skilled archer! Every arrow shaved off 10000 of my health and so, I had lost almost 30000 HP. Frosty Night gritted his teeth and muttered, "What the heck¡­ how is this possible? How can this be an actual human being¡¯s reaction speed?" Awoo... The Phantom Wolf King raised his head and howled, unleashing Purgatory Storm upon Frosty Night! Frosty Night gasped in shock and jumped backward, retreating instantly! Meanwhile, I adopted a two-pronged approach. I activated Dragon Slaying Slash and hurled the Cyan Netherworld Sword, unleashing Sword Boomerang! Swhoosh! Both the spiraling blade and Dragon Slaying Slash landed on Frosty Night¡¯s weak points. His face turned ashened with shock before collapsing onto the ground. Boom! The blade tore through armor and pierced through flesh. Frosty Night was a top-tier archer but he was caught off-guard and was slaughtered by my two-skill combo! 28923! 49020! Lady luck was definitely not on his side, the Sword Boomerang had actually landed a critical hit on him! Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that Heroic Bannerman, Frosty Night (Korea), has been killed by Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (China)! Chapter 719: A Duel Between Heroes System Announcement (Player Hot and Sour Noodles Shout): Lu Chen have you gone crazy? Stop charging forward! Northern Alliance has already occupied more than 80% of Windy Trail! How are you going to come back? ¡­¡­ Mr Hot and Sour Noodles was starting to get annoyed at me. That was perfectly understandable, considering that I had completely ignored his very first command. Ping! He Yi sent me a message and asked, "Lu Chen, why are you not coming back? Zhang Chun had turned red with anger and I can almost see smoke coming out of his ears, hehe¡­" I swung my sword and hacked away at a few riders and used lifesteal to regain 10% of my health. I laughed and replied, "Rules are meant to be broken. Moreover, I have no obligations to take orders from others. I will continue on the path that I think is right without second thoughts!" He Yi sent a smiley emoticon and asked, "How many Heroic Bannermen do you intend to kill before you come back?" "A grand total of three! Otherwise, our men¡¯s morale will not be boosted. That idiot, Laughing At The Heavens died too soon! Our players¡¯ morale plummeted because of that!" "Mn, I support you! Go for it! Mingyue and I are currently organizing the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls battle formation. Our main guild has 30000 players and four of our subguilds have reached Rank 6, bringing our total members to over 200000!" "That¡¯s great!" ¡­¡­ I swiftly closed the chat and concentrated on fighting. He Yi did not know the situation I was in currently. Northern Alliance players filled the entire canyon while I stuck to the borders. I continued to charge and attack at the enemy¡¯s weak points while regaining my health at opportune moments. All while I searched tirelessly for another Heroic Bannerman. God helps those who help themselves. After ten minutes, I finally spotted the third Heroic Bannerman at a corner of the canyon, a top-tier Korean magic knight. That magic knight was someone I had been itching to kill the most. A Heroic Bannerman, Enlightened Heart. This was the magic knight who had killed Laughing At The Heavens! If I manage to charge into ten thousand enemies and personally relieve Enlightened Heart of his head, the humiliation we suffered would be washed away! Swhoosh! I summoned my apparition once again and he activated Earth Escape the second he appeared. I then commanded the Phantom Wolf King to activate Charge and dash into the crowd of enemies. Enlightened Heart was the guild leader of a top-tier guild in Korea and would have many elite players by his side. Killing him would be a difficult feat indeed. Awoo... Enlightened Heart raised his brows and laughed loudly. "Alright! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you¡¯re the bravest player of your country! Come, your daddy wants to see how you intend to kill him in his territory! Magic knights, to your battle stations and attack at full force! Kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand at once. This asshole has slaughtered two of our Heroic Bannermen and we cannot let him continue on like this!" Clang! Clang! Clang! Countless Korean magic knights pulled their swords out of their sheaths and charged at me. Avoiding the attacking range of the Phantom Wolf King, they waved their swords and dashed toward me with a loud battlecry. A bunch of players in the distance activated Charge soon after, clearly intending to run me over! I promptly made a decision and gritted my teeth as I activated the same skill as my opponent. I took aim for the magic knight at the center of the crowd and activated Charge! Swhoosh! I dashed forward at lighting speed as thunderbolts were shot from the sky, colliding head-on with the group of magic knights. The Ice Qilin Horse let out a loud neigh as intense sounds of collisions rang out continuously! Bang! Bang! Bang! I collided with the Korean riders with so much force that a large bunch of them were hurled off their mounts. Their Strength was no match for mine and it was laughable that they thought they could stun me with their Charge. The Ice Qilin Horse raised its front legs high in the air before stomping on the ground violently, unleashing light rays of War Crush. It instantly recovered a huge chunk of my HP, bringing me from 55 to 87%! This way of regaining health was much more effective and reliable than any regeneration skill! I swung my sword and unleashed Universe Break as it violently exploded on the head of the frontmost magic knight. He was already turned pale with fright when he held up his shield and activated Holy Shield! I chuckled at his mistake with glee. My Universe Break¡¯s attack power will only be amplified under the effects of Holy Shield! Clang! The ray of sword energy penetrated through the shield with a loud clang as a frightening damage number floated from that magic knight¡¯s head. 48929! He was one-shot instantly! God damn! I locked eyes with Enlightened Heart in the distance and he stared back with a fierce look from under the protection of his subordinates. He had at least 150000 HP, so it looked like he pumped all his stats into Stamina. His Defense and HP were in no way inferior to Gui Guzi¡¯s. Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break would definitely not be enough to kill this tank. Moreover, as a Heroic Bannerman, he should possess exceptional movement and may even be able to parry my attacks. I can only rely on my apparition to kill him with Purple Dragon Howl. My apparition is my secret weapon and these losers will not be able to guard against him. I ignored the arrows as they enveloped me like heavy rain and pelted on my armor. I continued to swing my sword in all directions, killing the warriors near to me to regain my health. The 10% lifesteal was just brilliant! I would definitely not be able to fight and keep my health high at the same time without it. Ahhhh... Miserable shrieks rang out as not a single melee warrior was able to withstand my continuous attacks. Thousand Ice Slash, Burning Blade Slash, War Crush and other skills continued to explode and massacre a bunch of players. Enlightened Heart turned pale and growled in outrage, "You bastard, don¡¯t get too cocky! Mages, attack! Baptize him in Galaxy Storms and let him have a taste of how powerful Korea¡¯s team of mages is!" At the command of Enlightened Heart, a large number of mages started to surround me. Chorus of incantations started to arise as countless Galaxy Storms started to rain down! I turned to the right and dashed out of the attack range. Only an idiot would just stand there and be hit by those spells. I ran in the direction away from my apparition so that the Galaxy Storms would not be able to nullify its Earth Escape state. My Ice Qilin Horse picked up speed and dashed forward, avoiding 70% of the Galaxy Storms. I was not one to get the short end of the stick and I unleashed Thousand Ice Slash, freezing a huge bunch of mages before crushing them with three consecutive waves of Burning Blade Slash. Countless mages were one-shot instantly by the three crescents of sword energy while I continued to charge at Enlightened Heart, reducing our distance to seventy yards. Another thirty yards to go and I would be able to lock on to him and activate Charge! Enlightened Heart frowned and gripped his sword at the bloodbath before him and growled, "Kill him! I refuse to believe that we cannot bring down a single CGL Hall of Famer with so many of us! No matter how powerful he is, he is still flesh and blood! He is not invincible!" Hearing those encouraging words from a Heroic Bannerman, a bunch of Korean players started to attack as if they were in a frenzy. A bunch of Titan City players nearby baptized the Phantom Wolf King and I with their arrows and spells. Even though the little wolf was an Immortal Rank boss, its HP regeneration rate was not very outstanding. In a blink of an eye, its HP had dropped to almost 10%. Ding~! System Announcement (Player Hot and Sour Noodles Shout): Lu Chen you¡¯d better come back this instant! Have you gone insane?! Do you really think you can solo 10000 enemies? And there¡¯s more than that beyond the canyon!! ¡­¡­ I continued to ignore Mr Hot and Sour Noodles and concentrated on multitasking instead. On one hand, I continued to advance toward my target, killing my way through to get to him. On the other hand, I took control over the movements of both Phantom Wolf King and my apparition, all while noticing that the cooldown on Claw of the Storm was done. Bang! I thrust my sword into the chest of a magic knight and sent him and his mount hurling through the air. The Ice Qilin Horse sprinted forward, leaving a trail of dust in its wake before I swiftly pulled on its reins, causing it to come to an abrupt stop. Yes! I¡¯m 40 yards away from Enlightened Heart, this attack range is sufficient! I raised my Cyan Netherworld sword and swung it down violently, unleashing Dragon Slaying Slash! Bang! A draconic energy circled around the Cyan Netherworld Sword as I unleashed Dragon Slaying Slash at Enlightened Heart¡¯s back. He panicked at the sudden attack and did not manage to block my blow as the hit landed right smack on his armor! 21092! That blow landed heavily on him but it was far from enough to kill him. However, this was all part of my methodical plan. The Phantom Wolf King skidded to a stop, raised its head at the brink of death and unleashed Purgatory Storm! Boom! Tornadoes exploded in the midst of the crowd and unluckily for Enlightened Heart, he was standing at the core of the crowd and had nowhere to run. Three strings of damage numbers popped up from his head instantly! 31983! 29841! 30219! After the Phantom Wolf King released its consecutive attacks, a few archers behind it loosed their arrows upon it. The Phantom Wolf King howled in pain and turned into a white ball of light before flying directly into my pet space. At this exact moment, my apparition appeared among the crowd and activated War Crush + Burning Blade Slash in an instant. The players around it quickly retreated and it swiftly downed a Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion. Without a second to lose, the avatar raised his sword and unleashed Purple Dragon Howl which took a whole three seconds to be fully charged. The unexpected appearance and unleashing of Burning Blade Slash by the apparition caused the opponents to flee. This bought him time to activate the Purple Dragon Howl successfully without any disturbance from his opponents! "Damn it!" Enlightened Heart turned deathly pale and shouted angrily, "Priests, heal me immediately! I have to withstand his attacks!" A bunch of priests behind him raised their staffs and healing spells enveloped him instantly. It would be extremely tough to kill Enlightened Heart who had 150000 HP if his priests healed him constantly. Bang! Bang! Bang! Purple Dragon Howl wreaked havoc among my enemies before locking its target on Enlightened Heart. Wave of explosions burst out in its wake, sending groups of magic knights hurling through the air. Purple Dragon Howl was too powerful and its attacks were not something that normal players could withstand. Enlightened Heart was a clever man and had good mechanical skills. He swiftly lifted his shield and activated Holy Shield which was a skill resistant to both magical and physical attacks, rendering its defense extremely high toward an AoE skill such as Purple Dragon Howl. The golden shield merely flickered as the Purple Dragon Howl collided against it with a resounding bang but did not manage to break through the shield¡¯s defense. Only ten thousand was shaved off Enlightened Heart¡¯s health which was far from enough to eliminate him. While he was occupied by the Purple Dragon Howl, I took advantage of this opportunity and unleashed my true move! Locking my sights on Enlightened Heart, I swiftly activated Charge! Swhoosh! I rushed through the crowd, splitting it in half and leaving a trail of dead bodies behind me. The Ice Qilin Horse leaped high in the air and I raised my sword above my head, aiming for Enlightened Heart¡¯s head. Enlightened Heart lifted his head and was overwhelmed with shock, "Ah¡­" Crushing Blow! Without giving my opponent a chance to react, I unleashed a skill which could break through his defense. My sword pierced through Enlightened Heart¡¯s Holy Shield and penetrated through his shield! 38912! Following that, I activated Universe Break! Swhoosh! A swirling indigo flame formed at the tip of my Cyan Netherworld Sword and swung my sword in a rapid motion. I unleashed Universe Break which was also a skill that ignored the opponent¡¯s defense! 41289! Even after taking two hits, Enlightened Heart that tank still had a sliver of health left. The crowd of priests behind him helped him regain health too quickly! At this moment, a chill shot up my arm as the Cyan Netherworld Sword started to tremble with a clanging sound. Alright! The Cyan Netherworld Divine Dragon was actually triggered in a life and death situation such as this! Bang! The Divine Dragon burst out of my sword and tore through Enlightened Heart¡¯s armor, exposing his flesh. Enlightened Heart¡¯s breastplate had been ripped apart like a wet tissue as he jumped back in shock. His mount let out a pitiful wail as the Divine Dragon had stripped off all of its Defense and HP! Ahhhhh... Enlightened Heart stared at me in disbelief, his mouth opened wide as blood spurted out from it. His mount buckled as he rolled off it and collapsed to the ground. ¡­¡­ Ding~! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that Heroic Bannerman, Enlightened Heart (Korea), has been killed by Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (China)! Chapter 720: A Gigolo Just like that, Enlightened Heart was slaughtered by China¡¯s seventh placed CGL Hall of Famer right in front of his own guild members! Countless volleys of arrows and spells rained down on my armor as I shrugged them off. I no longer felt any pain from the attacks due to the adrenaline coursing through my veins and swung my sword, unleashing Icy Cyclone Domain. A giant icy cyclone appeared instantly, creating a domain that reduced my opponent¡¯s attack and movement speed. Even though I wasn¡¯t bothered by the arrows and spells that pelted on my armor, the same couldn¡¯t be said for my mount, The Ice Qilin Horse had been hit by countless arrows and cried out pitifully. "Loose your arrows! Use Mountain Stagger Arrows and eliminate his mount!" Hatred and anger rose within an elite archer as he barked, "Bastard! Do you think you can escape unscathed after killing our guild leader? Die!" My sword trembled as I swung it and unleashed Thousand Ice Slash before growling in a low voice, "If I wanted to leave, do you think you would be able to stop me?" ¡­¡­ The Ice Qilin Horse had been hit by countless Mountain Stagger Arrows and even though it was a Earth-Rank Boss mount, it was still unable to withstand such intense attacks. Moreover, some of the enemy¡¯s archers were sixth promoted Earthfire Realm archers. Their attacks were so powerful that it¡¯s tenacity was reduced to a pitiful 4% within a few seconds. God damn, if they kept this up, I would have to fight without a mount! Swhoosh! A crimson ray descended from the sky and enveloped me, saving me from the brink of death. Tenacity of the dead had allowed me to recover over forty thousand HP. The enemy¡¯s attacks were too overwhelming and I could no longer withstand their attacks. Anyone able to handle such intense and continuous attacks was definitely not human. I would have been long dead without my extremely powerful life steal skill. I swiftly flicked the reins of the horse and started to make my retreat, but could not get very far due to the sheer number of enemies. I frowned and begrudgingly activated Invincible, Shield of Evening! At this moment, a rider on a flaming red war horse charged at me and shouted, "Broken Halberd Sinks into Sand, don¡¯t leave! Your daddy has come for your life!" Ahhhh!!! He wailed in agony as it seems as if I had broken his back. His Max HP did not even reach fifty thousand and was unable to withstand a single blow of Burning Blade Slash. I swung my sword and tossed that magic knight¡¯s body to the side before chuckling. Turning to a bunch of Northern Alliance players, I said, "Want to raid our cities? Come at us if you dare! I¡¯ll be waiting for all of you at Dawn City!" The sea of Northern Alliance players were utterly stunned by my speech. Every one of them stood rooted to the ground, at a complete loss for words. I brought a return scroll out from my inventory and crushed it instantly! Swhoosh! After returning to Sky City, I clicked on Dawn City on the teleportation page and was swiftly teleported to my destination! ¡­¡­ The moment I arrived at Dawn City, I headed straight for the blacksmith to repair my equipment. "Better take advantage of these NPCs while they are still here." I muttered to myself. The tenacity of the Ice Qilin Horse was back at 100% so I summoned it and flipped myself up onto it. Urging the horse forward, I headed out of the city and straight for the frontlines. As I drew near to a small hill in Dawn City¡¯s canyon, I noticed that many leaders and core members of the big guilds were gathered there. The head commander, Mr Hot and Sour Noodles was gathered there as well. They turned their heads and placed all their attention on me as I galloped toward them. He Yi laughed joyfully as she rode on her Dragonlight mount and said, "Job well done!" Warsky laughed too and said in a low voice, "Awesome job dude! Only Lu Chen is capable of something as awesome as killing three Heroic Bannermen in succession, amidst ten thousand enemies!" Blue Sky Scar hefted his sword over his shoulder, smirked and said, "If it was the Martial God, he would have definitely accomplished something greater than that!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes laughed as she held her staff and said, "Oh? So why was it Lu Chen who dared to go into battle and not the dear Martial God you always speak of?" Blue Sky Scar growled, "Mind your own business! Shut Up!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes raised her brows and said, "What? Are you asking for a fight? Come at me then! Your momma¡¯s not afraid of you! I can¡¯t believe that someone as trashy as you is a CGL Hall of Famer. I can beat up two of you with one hand! Just you wait, in six months, my CGL Hall of Fame ranking will surely surpass yours!" Blue Sky Scar gritted his teeth in anger but held his tongue knowing full well that he would never win in an argument against a petty woman. In all honesty, Blue Sky Scar might not even win in a duel against Stranger of Three Lifetimes. After all, an elite mage like her was extremely powerful and her ranking in the solo arena was even higher than Blue Sky Scar¡¯s! At this moment, Candlelight Shadow gripped his flaming Sword and growled, "Blue Sky, that¡¯s enough! Squabbles like this won¡¯t help with our battle situation. We need to put our heads together and form a plan to defend our cities from this invasion!" Hot and Sour Noodles nodded his head and smiled, saying, "Alright then. Even though Lu Chen did not obey my command, he managed to kill three Heroic Bannermen, boosted the morale of our warriors and taught the Northern Alliance a lesson. Perhaps, they have even started to become fearful because of Lu Chen¡¯s bravery." October Rain asked, "Uncle, we should focus on a plan of attack. I¡¯ve sent some elite players into Windy Trail to block our enemies. However, that didn¡¯t stop the Northern Alliance and they¡¯ve started to enter the canyon by scaling the mountain ranges, completely ignoring the zone map restrictions. It¡¯s only a matter of time before the enemy breaks through our defenses in Windy Trail once they work in collusion from within and without." Hot and Sour Noodles sucked in a deep breath as he nodded gravely and said, "That¡¯s right, I had not expected for the Northern Alliance to be so powerful. Their troops are well trained and they attack with great determination. It seems like they would stop at nothing to take down Dawn City. How are the preparations for Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance outside Windy Trail coming along?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes replied, "We have two hundred thousand long range elites and a hundred thousand guards awaiting orders. If the Northern Alliance enters our attack range, our men will give them a hard time." October Rain nodded her head and said, "Warsky Alliance has also prepared three hundred thousand men outside Windy Trail. However, most of them won¡¯t be able to make it out alive and will only be able to stall Northern Alliance for about four hours. Lu Chen, you managed to return alive. You are the person who should have the biggest say in this matter!" I glanced at Laughing At The Heavens before pointing my finger at him, saying, "Laughing At The Heavens was killed outside the city. He knows best how powerful the Northern Alliance is!" Laughing At The Heavens turned ashened as he gripped his shield and said, "The Northern Alliance is far more powerful than we¡¯ve ever imagined. The intensity of this battle would at least be two hundred times that of the Hall of Immortality¡¯s battle. Given my Defense and HP, I would be dead in a minute without replenishing my health. This goes the same for Candlelight Shadow and Tempest Shadow as well!" Tempest Shadow snorted but didn¡¯t deny what Laughing At The Heavens said because he knew that Laughing At The Heavens was absolutely right. Northern Alliance was extremely powerful and even I felt the pain from their attacks, let alone the two of them. They were one up over us, be it in terms of mechanical skills or equipment! Hot and Sour Noodles sucked in a deep breath and said, "Fuck, if they are so powerful, our chances of winning are only one third¡­" Candlelight Shadow asked, "So, what should we do?" I clenched my fist and shouted, "What do you mean what should we do? We act according to our situation! Since the Northern Alliance wants to eliminate us, we have to fight back!" Warsky clenched his fist and pumped it in the air, shouting, "That¡¯s right! I¡¯ll give my all and fight to the end!" Purple Lily¡¯s guild leader, Luo River God of the Capital had finally appeared with Moonkiss. Smiling, she said, "Wow, Lu Chen displays such manliness. The young and immature boy two years ago has become so charming and delightful¡­" Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eye twitched in annoyance as he said, "Wang Luo, we are facing Nation Wars right now. It¡¯s not the time for you to be taking liberties with this gigolo isn¡¯t it?" Luo River God of the Capital giggled but kept silent. However, Moonkiss gripped her dagger and said, "Pooh! Pooh! Pooh! Lu Chen fought solo and eliminated three Heroic Bannermen! If he¡¯s a gigolo, what are you Candlelight Shadow? Go out now and kill three Heroic Bannermen if you have the guts! If you do that, I¡¯ll admit that Lu Chen is a gigolo!" Candlelight Shadow turned ashened and said, "Hmph, I don¡¯t care for brawns without brains!" "Pooh! How shameless!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes chimed in. Candlelight Shadow pursed his lips in embarrassment. He definitely was no match for these women. Hot and Sour Noodles quickly intervened and said, "Alright, let¡¯s not fight anymore. Core members of all guilds, let¡¯s go to Windy Trail and closely observe the battle from a high vantage point. We¡¯ll leave the rest to guard the defense zone." "Alright¡­" ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and the rest stayed behind to guard the defense zone. While He Yi, Murong Mingyue and I followed Hot and Sour Noodles and the other guild leaders to a high point at the entrance of the canyon. We glanced down at the canyon and saw an intense battle raging on at Windy Trail. Many Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance players had been miserably slaughtered in the canyon and most of the survivors had already left the canyon. "Bring out your large shields and block the attacks!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe grasped his sword as he stood at the front of Warsky Alliance¡¯s vanguard and pointed a finger toward his front. Shouting at the top of his voice, "Block their attacks! Long-range players, attack! Block their riders¡¯ Charge! Comrades, guard every single inch of our ground even if it costs us our lives!" A large group of Northern Alliance riders started to enter Windy Trail and activated Charge in the narrow canyon! "Attack!" Battlecries arose and reverberated throughout the canyon as Lin Bing Dou Zhe brandished his sword and urged his mount forward. Clashing head-on with the enemy riders, he was thrown backward by their Charge repeatedly while the magic knights behind him were one-shot. Volleys of magic spells and arrows rained down on a large group of Warsky Alliance players and almost every player collapsed under their attacks instantly. In comparison, only ten Northern Alliance players were killed! However, Warsky Alliance and Blazing Hot Hips held the advantage over the terrains and could still slaughter their enemies. This was a great opportunity for them to earn points in the Nation Wars. Almost all of the top hundred players from the Nation Wars scoreboard were from Warsky Alliance and Blazing Hot Lips. I was placed third on the ranking board after killing so many enemies outside the city. While the first and second place belonged to two elite mages from the Northern Alliance. Only the heavens knew how many people they had managed to kill inside the Windy Trail. ¡­¡­ Hot and Sour Noodles frowned deeply as he watched the battle from above unfold before him and said, "Judging by our casualty rate, Warsky Alliance and Burning Hot Lips will be completely routed in about two hours. Lu Chen, what do you think?" I nodded my head in agreement and replied, "Perhaps, it would take even less than that as the Northern Alliance players are coming in endless waves. Moreover, take a look at the borders of the Windy Trail, Uncle. Quite a number of assassins, archers and warriors have already scaled the mountain range and infiltrated into Warsky Alliance and Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ battle formation. It would be our mages and archers¡¯ greatest nightmare if the enemy¡¯s assassins enter the mountain forest region!" Everyone turned their heads and saw that indeed, many Northern Alliance players had already infiltrated the canyon. Stranger of Three Lifetimes clenched her fists and bit her bottom lip in anger. Growling in a low voice, she said, "This cannot be tolerated¡­ I¡¯m sending my men over to kill them right now!" Chapter 721: Fairytale Killer "Ke, ke!" Hot and Sour Noodles coughed. I waved my hands and said, "Use archers, they are also an agility-based class and their Shock Arrows and Spiraling Arrow Blades are an assassin¡¯s nightmare. You should also bring a few mages with you. Get them to cast Fire Rain and Ice Rain repeatedly to lay down suppressive fire. This will stop any assassins from sneaking up on you. Make sure that you place your archers in a proper formation. If you do, you¡¯ll kill as many assassins as they can throw at you. I guarantee it." "Haha, thank you!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes said with a laugh. Warsky and October Rain spent some time discussing their strategy going forward before they left with Laughing At The Heavens and Hundred Battler. The borders of the Windy Trail was their territory, and they had to kill as many enemy players as they could, even if they couldn¡¯t hold on to the area. If they didn¡¯t, there was no way that Warsky Alliance or Blazing Hot Lips could lift their heads high in Dawn City. ¡­¡­ Shortly afterward, most of the archers and mages from Blazing Hot Lips turned to the left and started to lay down a pattern of suppressive fire. Fire Rain and Ice Rain spells kept pelting the forested hills, and Stranger of Three Lifetimes had even assigned two groups of warriors to form a defensive line inside the area which they were bombarding. Right now, everyone was in the Nation Wars setting, so their attacks would only hurt players from enemy servers. Flames erupted all over both sides of the mountain range as the Northern Alliance started their attack as well. Countless players surged into the Windy Trail and buried the remaining Chinese defenders under them like a tidal wave. After that, they immediately started skirmishes all over the defensive line set up by Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance. Players kept squeezing themselves into the Windy Trail as the sounds of battle filled the air. A large number of archers and assassins appeared in the forests as they launched flanking attacks against the two defending guilds. The assassins on Blazing Hot Lip¡¯s flank tried to go into stealth, but the rain of suppressive fire she had laid down stifled their best efforts. City: Titan City Nation: USA Guild: League of Assassins Position: Guild Leader ¡­¡­ Fairytale Killer stared at the rain of suppressive fire as he yelled, "Use Ambush to stun their warriors! Roll through this sea of fire and use your fluorescent powder to hide. After that, rip through their defenses! These Chinese players are taking us way too lightly if they think that they can use these petty tricks to stop Titan City¡¯s advance!" The appearance of a Heroic Bannerman instantly boosted the morale of the Northern Alliance players. A huge number of Northern Alliance assassins suddenly appeared all around Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ first defensive alliance. Daggers which gleamed with cold light slashed across the necks of those warriors. They had actually managed to catch Blazing Hot Lips unawares and hit them with Ambush, a skill that could stun a player for up to three seconds! Pccht, pccht, pccht... Fresh blood sprayed in the air. This group of assassins were all players from the League of assassins, so their levels were all very high. Their chance to stun was also shockingly high and it seemed as if all of the warriors who made up Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ first line of defense had been stunned instantly. Fairytale Killer was leading the charge. His dagger flashed in the air as he stunned the lead magic knight. After that, he leapt into the air and landed on the head of one of the mounts. He used the head as a springboard to leap into the sea of fire. His dagger was flickering left and right as he deflected the flaming projectiles that were raining down on his head. He even managed to deflect the Spiraling Arrow Blades that had been shot at him as he dashed about a dozen steps forward. Wooosh! Fluorescent powder twinkled in the air as Fairytale Killer forcefully reentered stealth at 75% HP. His actions were smooth and fluid, and he practically seemed to flow from one movement to the next. Even we had no choice but to praise his mechanical skills as an assassin, because there weren¡¯t more than five assassins in China who could match those moves! "Did they use their fluorescent powder already?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes quickly swept her eyes across the area as her staff danced in the air. After that, she shouted, "Bombard this area with fire! Force that rat out of his hidey-hole! Ptooey! How dare he act so brazen in this woman¡¯s territory!?" Countless Volleys and Fire Rains instantly rained down from the sky, but this cavalcade of attacks still wasn¡¯t enough to pin down the shadow of this Heroic Bannerman. This caused Stranger of Three Lifetimes to grow even more cautious and wary. As she lightly tapped her foot with the ground, a Magic Shield immediately coalesced into existence and covered every inch of her voluptuous body. Her mage robes fluttered in the wind as Stranger of Three Lifetimes swept her eyes across the area and shouted a command, "Don¡¯t let that Heroic Bannerman mess up our formation. Continue to lay down suppressive fire and block all the other enemies from advancing." Once Fairytale Killer had broken through our lines, many of the assassins in his guild had aped their guild leader¡¯s movements, and slipped past Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ warriors one after the other. Of course, more than 50% of the assassins who made the attempt never got past that rain of spells of arrows. Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ contingent of long-range players were extremely strong, and their spells and arrows put a serious dent in these enemy assassins. "AAAAAAHHHHHH¡­" A bunch of assassins let out agonized wails as they collapsed in the sea of fire and ice. Some of them managed to use fluorescent powder to forcefully reenter stealth, but the Spiraling Arrow Blades of Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ archers knocked them right back out of it. Many of the arrows even ended up skewering these hapless assassins. A dozen assassins had gotten past Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ defensive line. A sinister grin curled up on their leader¡¯s face as he brandished his dagger and shouted, "Activate Swift Dash and go for that female guild leader. Tsk, this little girl really is quite the looker, but don¡¯t let me catch any of you going easy on her because of that!" The assassins immediately activated Swift Dash and split off in different directions. They flew toward Stranger of Three Lifetimes from all directions as they quickly encircled her. However, Stranger of Three Lifetimes was far from intimidated. Her eyes sparkled and a faint smile appeared on her face as she raised her staff and shouted, "It looks like these idiots want to die! Bring it on, dumbasses! I haven¡¯t had the chance to earn any Nation War points yet!" Waves of cold started to emanate from her magic staff as it danced in the air. Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ robes flared up in the next instant as frost started to swirl all around her. A miniature icy-blue storm appeared on the tip of her staff before she hurled it out and yelled, "Icy Storm!" Boom! Countless shards of ice swirled within that rapidly-expanding storm as it engulfed the area all around her. By the time the storm subsided, the only things that were left around her were the corpses of those twelve assassins and the items they had dropped. The jaws of a group of Titan City assassins hit the ground as they stared at the bodies of their comrades in shocked awe. No one had thought that this Chinese girl knew such violent and damaging spells. Her overwhelming magic attack power was strong enough to send shudders down their spines. Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ face was still cool and calm even after she had one-shot those twelve assassins. However, she quickly jerked her head around as if she had spotted something. "Hmm? There seems to be¡­" Before Stranger of Three Lifetimes could even finish her sentence, a blood-red blade had appeared out of thin air and swiftly snaked toward her! It was Fairytale Killer¡¯s blade! Fairytale Killer soon appeared as well, as he seemed to step out of the void to appear in front of our imperiled mage. Crack! Stranger of Three Lifetimes backpedaled furiously, but the assassin still managed to strike a telling blow against her Magic Shield, shaving off a huge chunk of its durability! "You¡¯re looking to die!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ staff weaved and bobbed in the air. She was furiously casting a spell even as she was attempting to put some distance between herself and Fairytale Killer! Bang! Countless shards of ice erupted from the ground as she used Frost Explosion! This Frost Explosion skill would seal Fairytale Killer¡¯s movements if he was caught in it. The layer of ice it formed was very thick, and if Fairytale Killer was shackled by it, he would pay with his life. A group of Blazing Hot Lips players were about to launch an attack on Fairytale Killer when they saw his body get locked up by the ice. However, this assassin was dreadfully calm. He simply turned a ring on his finger, and the ice that was trapping his body simply fell away. After that, he smoothly dipped into a forward roll as his dagger flashed up toward Stranger of Three Lifetimes yet again! Pchht! Stranger of Three Lifetimes got hit one more time! This assassin¡¯s fleeting attacks and slippery movements were spinning her around in circles. "Ice!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes wasn¡¯t foolish enough to cast any spells which required a long channeling time while she was dueling this deadly assassin. A spear of ice shot out of her hand and smashed into Fairytale Killer¡¯s chest with a loud thud, dealing 12090 damage to him! His eyes instantly widened in shock when his HP bar sharply dropped! This simple spell had been strong enough to knock off 25% of his total health! "Hah!" Fairytale Killer let out a yell as he activated Swift Dash. He dove toward Stranger of Three Lifetimes like a bolt of red lightning as his dagger flashed in the air. A long line of light appeared in the air before a wave of energy shot out of it! He had used an AoE skill! Deadly Blade Sweep! Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ Magic Shield finally fizzled out with a loud pop. A look of consternation crossed her beautiful face, but she raised her staff and thrust out her left arm. Her snow-white fingers were spread wide as violent flames erupted from them! The flames soon coalesced into a flaming dragon which soared out and clamped its jaws around Fairytale Killer¡¯s head. A huge damage number popped up above him after that¡ª24828! Alarm bells started ringing in Fairytale Killer¡¯s head! He only had about 25% of his HP left, but he hadn¡¯t even put a scratch on his opponent yet! Stranger of Three Lifetimes had clearly proved herself to be a super mage in her own right, and he knew that he would have to pay a terrible price to kill her. Even though he was dancing on the edge between life and death, Fairytale Killer continued to dart toward Stranger of Three Lifetimes. He kicked off against the rocky ground, his body shooting toward the mage like a spinning arrow. His blade seemed to bend in from impossible angles as it flickered out at her three times. All three strikes came from different angles and everyone winced as they expected the inevitable to happen. After all, all three of these attacks would definitely hit a mage without their Magic Shield. However, Stranger of Three Lifetimes soon pulled off a move that stunned everyone present! She clenched her teeth as she grasped her magic staff with both hands. After that, she started to twirl it like a monk¡¯s staff. Two loud clangs soon rang out in the air. Stranger of Three Lifetimes had actually managed to deflect two of those attacks with her magic staff! "Fuck, look at the way she¡¯s parrying those attacks. How is this a mage¡­" Laughing At The Heavens gasped as his jaw dropped open. Blue Sky Scar and Little Piglet were equally astounded by her skill. From this moment onward, all doubts over Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ guild ranking disappeared. No one would question how they made it into the Top 10 any longer, because the mechanical skill of their guild leader was absolutely world-class! ¡­¡­ Unfortunately for Stranger of Three Lifetimes, she had been able to block the first two blows, but there was no way she would be blocking the third. Fairytale Killer¡¯s attacks were simply too swift and he finally succeeded in hitting her with his third blow, his blade sinking into her chest! Pchht! Blood sprayed in the air as a huge damage number popped up above her head¡ª26165! Heaven was definitely on her side today, because Stranger of Three Lifetimes actually still had a sliver of health left after taking that deadly blow. Her equipment was as excellent as I had suspected it was, and her total HP neared thirty thousand! ¡­¡­ "That¡¯s enough!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes let out a furious yell as she thrust her magic staff into the air. Ice exploded out from under her feet as a wave of ice shot toward Fairytale Killer! "Huh!?" Fairytale Killer gasped in shock. He hurriedly backpedaled as he threw a bunch of fluorescent powder into the air, his figure soon disappearing amidst the billowing frost. The heart-stopping battle had finally come to a close. As the leader of Blazing Hot Lips, Stranger of Three Lifetimes had actually chosen to surrender the inherent advantages her class had over assassins in this duel! She had just taken a super expert head-on, and they had even fought to a draw despite it practically being a melee duel! "Bombard the area! I want you to ferret out that rat!" A few of the male archers from Blazing Hot Lips instantly fired off their arrows in anger, but none of them managed to pin down that slippery assassin. Fairytale Killer was far too quick and elusive for these attacks to expose his position. Stranger of Three Lifetimes was healed up by her priests as she stared into the distance with a worried look on her face. Large squads of archers and mages had appeared on the horizon, and each of these squads consisted of at least five thousand players. Their assassins had failed to penetrate the enemy lines even after they launched an all-or-nothing attack, so the Northern Alliance had finally activated one of their elite guilds to bombard China¡¯s defensive line. Chapter 722: Vienna’s Sorrow Galaxy Storms, Spiraling Arrow Blades, Volleys, and many other abilities devastated our defensive line, killing nearly a thousand Blazing Hot Lips warriors in the span of less than a minute! Their bodies collapsed amidst the sea of blazing flames and swirling ice. ¡­¡­ "Shit! Blazing Hot Lips definitely won¡¯t be able to hold out for much longer!" Hot and Sour Noodles said with a frown on his face. As I observed the state of the battlefield, I licked my dry lips before I said, "There are four Heroic Bannermen leading the enemy forces, which number about one hundred thousand strong. Blazing Hot Lips doesn¡¯t even have thirty thousand men left, so there¡¯s no way that Stranger of Three Lifetimes will be able to fend off the enemy forces." Candlelight Shadow jumped on his horse before he brandished his blade and shouted, "Tempest Shadow, prepare our forces for battle! Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance will definitely be defeated in less than two hours! Seal the entrance to the Windy Trail with our forces and kill the enemy as they come. We mustn''t allow the Northern Alliance to gain a foothold in our real territory. We cannot let them invade Dawn Valley!" Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s beautiful eyes widened in shock as she exclaimed, "Seal the entrance to the valley? Are you insane? There are still hundreds of thousands of players from Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance in the Windy Trail. If we seal off the entrance, it¡¯s tantamount to just sitting there and watching as they get slaughtered by the Northern Alliance!" Candlelight Shadow¡¯s expression grew cold as he declared, "That¡¯s the price of war!" "The price of war your sister!" I growled as I glared at him coldly. "The reason why we chose to defend Dawn City was because we weren¡¯t willing to see our kinsmen get slaughtered. The players of Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance are part of these ¡®kinsmen¡¯ that we speak of. Since they are family, why should we sacrifice them? I don¡¯t care what you say, but Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will definitely leave the door wide open for the players of Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance to retreat! If there is a need, we will use our bodies to shield them from the enemy!" Predestined, the guild leader of Fate, looked at me with eyes filled with approval. He nodded his head and said, "I support Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Warsky Alliance and Blazing Hot Lips has taken the head of the spear for us, there¡¯s no reason why we should just leave them to die!" Candlelight Shadow let out a cold snort. "Do what you want then. If the defensive line ends up collapsing, then it¡¯s on your heads. This sort of petty kindness will be what causes victory to slip from our hands!" Color instantly drained from Candlelight Shadow¡¯s face before he sneered, "You¡¯re measuring my greatness by your own petty yardsticks!" Ling Xueshang hefted her bow and stepped forward. "Ptooey! Great my ass! You¡¯re just a petty man with meager ability!" The situation was about to get out of hand, so Hot and Sour Noodles hastily stepped in to smooth things over. "Alright, let¡¯s stop fighting. I¡¯ve already decided how we¡¯re going to organize Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance¡¯s retreat, so just obey my commands in regards to this." I nodded my head and said, "I hope that Uncle has made a wise decision!" Hot and Sour Noodles sucked in a deep breath before replying, "Don¡¯t worry!" However, I was sure that Hot and Sour Noodles received the actual message that I sent when I said those words. If he didn¡¯t make a wise decision, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls definitely wouldn¡¯t just blindly obey his orders. I would only ever be loyal to this country and the people living in it. I would never bend my knee to anyone who styled themselves a dictator or warlord. ¡­¡­ I quickly yelled out in the guild channel: "Chengfeng, Little Gui, Beiming, it¡¯s time to get into formation. I want our high-level magic knights, wanderers, and warriors to form the very first line of defense. We need to defend the entrance into the valley! Do not let a single player from the Northern Alliance get behind us! Little Gui, I also want you to make preparations to lead a troop of cavalrymen into the Windy Trail at a moment¡¯s notice. Once you are activated, your quest will be to rescue our allies from Blazing Hot Lips! We can¡¯t give up on our comrades!" Li Chengfeng responded in a solemn voice: "I understand! Leave it to me!" Gui Guzi replied: "Don¡¯t worry, Boss Broken Halberd. I¡¯ll never give up on a single comrade or friend!" High Fighting Spirits bellowed: "Lu Chen, I also want to enter the valley and slaughter our enemies! Just give me the order and I¡¯ll lead a troop of Dragonlight Cavalry into the Windy Trail. My blood has been boiling since a while ago!" I immediately shot back an angry reply: "Control yourself man! You need to learn how to control yourself! Fighting Spirits, your one flaw is your rash impetuousness. This Nation War is going to last for several days, and the Dragonlight Cavalry is our trump card. We absolutely cannot use them now! The battle in the Windy Trail is far too chaotic, and our Dragonlight Cavalry won¡¯t even be able to show off its superiority in speed and strength in such a messy brawl. In fact, they might very well die in that huge mess, and we¡¯ll be screwed. We can¡¯t afford to lose this battle, no matter what! You hear me?" High Fighting Spirits chuckled helplessly: "Fine. I know I¡¯m a rash person, but¡­ Lu Chen, don¡¯t get angry at me. I was just talking nonsense. I¡¯ll wait together with Chaos Moon and the rest, and I¡¯ll only join the battle once the enemy starts attacking our frontline." I chuckled as well: "Why would I be angry at you? Don¡¯t worry! The Northern Alliance¡¯s forces are several times our own, you¡¯ll have your chance to earn as many points as you need to! Everyone, prepare yourselves. In two hours, we will finally face the enemy head-on!" "Yes!" everyone replied boisterously. ¡­¡­ The battle had grown extremely chaotic and messy within the narrow confines of the Windy Trail. The light of magic and spells erupted all over the place as one player was killed after the other. The sounds of battle and slaughter shook the air as the entire trail seemed to be engulfed in blades and fire. Blazing Hot Lips, Warsky Alliance and around a hundred other small guilds were defending this area, and there were about two million Chinese players in all. However, they were facing off against a force that was at least five times larger than them. Furthermore, these Northern Alliance players weren¡¯t the least bit inferior to the Chinese players. They had all mobilized their elite players for their siege, and it seemed as if they had marked out Dawn City from the very start of the game. They wanted to deliver a haymaker that would shatter the confidence of the Chinese players. As she surveyed the situation in the small valley, He Yi frowned and whispered to me, "I¡¯ve been keeping count of the number of Heroic Bannermen who have appeared, and I¡¯ve already counted up to twenty-one Heroic Bannermen in this area alone! They¡¯re definitely going in for the kill! Most of these players are Famous Generals too, and there¡¯s no way that Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance can hold out in the face of twenty-one Famous Generals! Hot and Sour Noodles nodded his head and replied, "That¡¯s right. There aren¡¯t just twenty-one Famous Generals here either. The Famous Generals from other countries are basically the same as our own, and they have many Famous Generals with skills like Soul of the Foot and Knight General. They have even more than we do! So if our troops face a squadron of riders led by a Knight General, it isn¡¯t something that they can deal with. Just look over there and observe the attacks of those riders¡­" ¡­¡­ Everyone looked in the direction that Hot and Sour Noodles was pointing at. To our shock, we saw about a thousand riders clad in identical black armor riding on mounts clad in spiked barding, There were three fighters leading them and all three of them were Heroic Bannermen. They were also Famous Generals who possessed the Knight General skill! A warrior who was wielding a warblade stood at the very head of the charging formation. He was also a Heroic Bannerman who was using the Knight General skill, and there were some words floating above his head. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow LV-159 Great Earth Berserker City: Hero City Country: USA Guild: Kismet Position: Guild Leader ¡­¡­ It was actually an Earthfire Realm player who had a hidden class! He was also a Famous General who had the Knight General skill. No wonder he was acting so boldly. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow gave a furious howl as his warblade danced in the air. Dreadful waves of light shot out from his blade as he beat back any player that stepped up to face him. Even Warsky Alliance¡¯s Lin Bing Dou Zhe couldn¡¯t last more than three rounds against him! There was simply nobody who could duke it out with Vienna¡¯s Sorrow in direct combat, he was way too powerful! "Holy shit! How is he so strong!?" Lin Bing Dou Zhe wheeled his horse around as he retreated together with a bunch of Warsky Alliance magic knights. He yelled, "archers, use your Mountain Stagger Arrows to throw him off his mount!" October Rain replied, "We can¡¯t! Our Mountain Stagger Arrows are practically useless against him! His mount is probably a boss mount that is Spirit Rank at the bare minimum. Our Mountain Stagger Arrows are barely doing anything to it!" It was at this moment that Vienna¡¯s Sorrow let out a furious roar and charged forward. "Brave warriors of Hero City, charge! It¡¯s time to wipe all of our previous humiliation clean! Let¡¯s show these Chinese people how powerful Hero City is! Trample their dignity and conviction with your iron hooves!" As he spurred his mount forward, a huge bunch of Kismet cavalrymen charged in right behind him. Their warblades flashed in the air as they tore through the rearguard that Lin Bing Dou Zhe had managed to scrape together. Lin Bing Dou Zhe himself was soon surrounded by those riders from Hero City. His breastplate was stained red with blood and countless enemy cavalrymen had already died beneath his blade. "Kill him!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow licked his lips before he activated Charge, his blade swinging toward Lin Bing Dou Zhe! Clang! Lin Bing Dou Zhe tried to parry that attack, but the force of the blow was too great for him to fully resist. Even his mount had been sent staggering back by that mighty blow! A long trail of dirt was dragged in the rocky ground and that single blow had demonstrated the gulf between him and his opponent! Pchhht! A rider from Hero City hit Lin Bing Dou Zhe with a Barrier Break from behind, dropping his health to below 40%! "Get off your horse!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow yelled. His blade swooped in from a strange angle and struck Lin Bing Dou Zhe under the armpit! The magic knight immediately let out a muffled groan as his mount got cut out from under him. He tumbled to the ground and rolled a fair distance away. ¡­¡­ All of the sudden, a loud explosion rang out in the air as a beam of sword energy smashed into the crowd of Hero City cavalrymen. Warsky charged in through the crack created by that sword blast, his men swiftly pouring in behind him. He yelled, "Hurry up and save Lin Bing Dou Zhe! The Warsky Alliance will never abandon our fallen brethren!" Hundred Battler rushed forward, but a single blow from Vienna¡¯s Sorrow sent him reeling backward. The berserker was clearly out of his league! October Rain hit him with another Mountain Stagger Arrow, but it barely seemed to do more than a mosquito bite. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow hardly even felt it! Just when Vienna¡¯s Sorrow seemed to be utterly invincible, a red light suddenly streaked toward him. Farewell Song had finally made his entrance! His dagger flashed in the air as he stunned Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. He quickly followed this up with a few penetrating strikes, and his flurry of attacks brought Vienna¡¯s Sorrow down to half health! However, Farewell Song felt a chill run down his spine as he continued his fierce attack. He had never expected that Vienna¡¯s Sorrow would have a HP pool that matched his insane Attack. How exactly were they going to deal with him!? "Get lost!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow unleashed a mighty blow which Farewell Song barely managed to parry with his daggers. Even though the assassin had managed to block the blow, he was still sent skidding backward by the impact. After that, he immediately tossed a handful of fluorescent powder in the air, causing him to disappear into thin air. "Ptah! You despicable bandit!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow exclaimed in disdain. After that, he lifted his warblade high in the air and shouted, "Brave warriors of Kismet, hear me!! For the glory of Hero City, charge! Don¡¯t leave a single person alive! The eagle¡¯s flag will fly above the gates of Dawn City!" ¡­¡­ Crack! Warsky beheaded a rider from Hero City with a single swipe of his blade. After that, he raised his sword in the air and roared, "Retreat! Mages, archers, I want you to use your spells and skills to cover us! Hurry up and retreat!" ¡­¡­ All of Warsky Alliance¡¯s Famous Generals couldn¡¯t handle a single Vienna¡¯s Sorrow! As Candlelight Shadow surveyed the battlefield, he said in a dry voice, "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. The man who is rumoured to be the strongest American player. His skills truly do live up to their reputation!" Chapter 723: Brink of Collapse I unsheathed the Cyan Netherworld Sword instantly. Warsky Alliance might be an enemy guild, but I just couldn¡¯t stand by and do nothing while they were slaughtered like cattle. Hot and Sour Noodles immediately grabbed my sword hand and said, "Calm down, Lu Chen! This is Warsky Alliance¡¯s fight, not yours or ours! If you interfere now Warsky will think that you¡¯re looking down on him!" I gritted teeth before uttering, "I just can¡¯t stand how arrogant Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is acting! Does he really think he can defeat the second strongest guild of China himself?" Hot and Sour Noodles replied reassuringly, "Don¡¯t worry, Warsky Alliance isn¡¯t as weak as they seem." He Yi also nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Warsky can fight his own battles." Candlelight Shadow simply watched coldly from the side and said nothing. Luo River God of the Capital was clenching her scepter, and Moonkiss¡¯ dagger was half-unsheathed. Even the girls were growing restless. ¡­¡­ The battle in the canyon grew fiercer and fiercer. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s elite cavalry left only death and destruction in their wake, and part of the reason they were so successful was because of the Famous General Skill, Knight General. His Knight General boosted all mounted players¡¯ Attack and Defense by 100%, and even a guild as strong as Warsky Alliance was hard-pressed the second they engaged with the enemy. That being said, October Rain eventually managed to steady her guild¡¯s footing. Countless mages and archers worked together to create a nigh impenetrable web of firepower, and Warsky¡¯s 400-man mage party was especially outstanding in this battle. Hegemon increased critical hit rate by 40%, meaning that almost half of their spells were critical hits. When even the simplest Fireball could deal a ton of damage, it made sense why Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had to back off from time to time to catch his priests before returning to the fray. Laughing At The Heavens climbed up his mount and raised his spear. Then, he shouted to his comrades, "Riders of Warsky Cavalry, mount! It is time for us to charge!" Nearly ten thousand riders responded to his command and counter-charged the Northern Alliance. Battle cries filled the air as flesh and bones crumpled beneath the weight of steel and mass. Surprisingly, the counter charge was so successful that the Northern Alliance¡¯s formation was driven back almost 200 meters backward. Although their losses were huge, the Northern Alliance finally stopped underestimating them. Stranger of Three Lifetimes was currently standing in a forest, biting her lips and tossing Ice Blasts into a crowd of enemies. Her magic attack was incredible, and the icicles easily pierced the enemy¡¯s armor for tons of damage. Unfortunately, she was just one person, and there was nothing she could really do to staunch the bleeding. They were outnumbered by the enemy at least 5 to 1, and their formation had holes that were widening by the minute. It was just impossible. Crack! Blood scattered everywhere, and the Heroic Bannerman and assassin, Fairytale Killer appeared once more to delete two high-level mages from Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ ranks. His Shield Pierce was just too powerful, and the mages had lesser HP than Stranger of Three Lifetimes. There was no way for them to escape their fates. "Kill that bastard! Don¡¯t let Fairytale Killer escape!" a couple of Blazing Hot Lips magic knights and archers shouted as they ran toward the assassin. Unfortunately, Fairytale Killer¡¯s movements were as orderly as his eyes were calm. He easily zigzagged out of harm¡¯s way and even tore apart an archer¡¯s leather armor with his dagger. His attack speed was super high, and he could kill an archer with his twin daggers in just one combo. Weaving in and out of his enemy¡¯s formation like a dancer, he was able to dodge many attacks with good movement, parry those that did manage to land on him, and even kill dozens of archers in the process. His control was smooth and flawless. The players of Blazing Hot Lips were fuming, but there was nothing they could do about it. Stranger of Three Lifetimes didn¡¯t have the ability to split herself into two, so she had no choice but to leave Fairytale Killer alone and put extra energy into her own efforts. She attacked every mounted player who managed to force their way through her guild¡¯s web of firepower with Ice Blasts and Galaxy Storms, killing them before they could even get close to her. No one was expecting the fragile-looking mage to be as powerful as she was. "Out of the way! I will kill that mage myself!" There was an angry shout, and a man wielding a warblade rushed out of the Northern Alliance¡¯s ranks. It was none other than the Berserker, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow himself. Weapon raised high up in the air, the man pounced toward Stranger of Three Lifetimes like a ferocious lion. The mage watched him calmly and fired three icicles toward his chest. Unfortunately, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s stats were too high. The spells did good damage, but the man continued to charge as if he didn¡¯t even notice. It was at this moment a beautiful knightress spurred into action. She met Vienna¡¯s Sorrow head-on and clashed blades with him! Boom! A loud boom resounded within the canyon, and the beautiful knightress stumbled backward in surprise. The emblem of the vice leader floated above her arm, and she was none other than the Level 157 warrior, Eyes Like Water! "Heh. Not bad!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow licked his lips before continuing, "One more time! Show me what you¡¯re made of, girl! Today, I will tear down the corner of the fortress and see if the so-called Top 10 guilds of China truly are worthy of the Center!" He crossed his sword in front of him, and a fiery red energy floated to the blade. The next moment, the head of a wolf appeared above Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s head, and his sword erupted into a rapid cyclone of flames. He swung the sword at Eyes Like Water and shouted, "Eat this! Beast Howl Slash!" "Roar!" A bestial howl accompanied the swing. Eyes Like Water calmly raised her sword in defense and pressed her left palm to the flat side of the blade! Chiang! 28738! Unfortunately, the attack couldn¡¯t be parried. Beast Howl Slash drastically increased Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s Attack, and it was impossible for Eyes Like Water to stop it. The girl let out a painful groan as her mount vanished on its own, and she was sent rolling unceremoniously across the ground. The knightress hadn¡¯t given up, however. Stopping next to Stranger of Three Lifetimes, she rose to her feet again and pounced toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow once more! Stranger of Three Lifetimes couldn¡¯t stand this sight any longer. She shouted, "Come back, Eyes!" Bang! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow suddenly froze in place as the stunned icon appeared above his head. It was a Shock Arrow loosed by a beautiful archer standing next to Strange of Three Lifetimes. It was Scentless Water, the strongest archer of Blazing Hot Lips! Eyes Like Water seized the opportunity to hit Vienna¡¯s Sorrow with a Barrier Break and a warrior¡¯s Double Slash, but she only managed to delete around 20% of his HP. Without her mount, she could barely penetrate his defense, much less kill him. "Shit¡­" Eyes Like Water had no choice but to retreat and let the archers and mages focus fire Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. In less than 5 seconds, the infamous Berserker dropped below 30% HP and was forced to withdraw. However, he managed to kill a Blazing Hot Lips magic knight with a Triple Slash and absorbed almost ten thousand HP in the process. No wonder he was able to dominate the battlefield as he did despite going up against both Warsky Alliance and Blazing Hot Lips. His equipment gave him the lifesteal attribute. Wary of Scentless Water¡¯s power, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow finally stopped trying to force his way through the bastion of players surrounding Stranger of Three Lifetimes. Instead, he roamed the edges and focused on cutting down Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ key players, taking apart their defenses little by little. An hour passed by slowly as the fight dragged on. The only ones in Blazing Hot Lips who were still keeping a tight formation was Stranger of Three Lifetimes and her hundreds of defenders. Everyone else was routed or in the process of being routed by the enemy¡¯s unstoppable offense. Warsky Alliance was starting to show signs of defeat as well. They gave ground repeatedly as a dozen or so Heroic Bannermen battered their battle line again and again, and of all these players Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was the strongest of them all. This man was so powerful that Even Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Laughing At The Heavens and Warsky could do nothing about him. If the Berserker wasn¡¯t wary about Farewell Song ambushing him from the dark, he would¡¯ve plowed right through them and wreaked havoc already. ¡­¡­ We continued to observe the battlefield from the mountains as the battle dragged on. Hot and Sour Noodles said, "Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance will crumble in half an hour at most. I wasn¡¯t expecting the Northern Alliance to attack so fiercely. They¡¯re practically throwing themselves at us without a care, and the number of Heroic Bannermen on the battlefield had passed the 40th mark. I¡¯m not surprised that Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance are falling apart considering that they¡¯re all the elites of their respective cities¡­" It was at this moment Tempest Shadow raised his spear and said, "Candle Dragon is ready to take over this fight!" Blue Sky Scar smiled and said scathingly, "Who would¡¯ve thought that Warsky Alliance and Blazing Hot Lips would be this weak? They seem strong when they¡¯re fighting among themselves, but their weakness is exposed the second they engage the Heroic Bannermen!" Eyes turning steely, I glared at him and growled, "Shut your trap, Blue Sky Scar! You would¡¯ve died in Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s hands already if you were in Lin Bing Dou Zhe or Eyes Like Water¡¯s position! What right do you think a piece of shit like you has to mock those who are giving it their all on the frontlines?" God¡¯s Dance frowned but said nothing. Candlelight Shadow however, grabbed the hilt of his sword and growled back, "You¡¯re the one who should control yourself, Lu Chen! How many Nation Wars have you fought? Who do you think you are to criticize my men?!" I sneered. "This is the first time I fight in a Nation War, but so what? I just can¡¯t stand people like him. Fuck, if he criticizes Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance again, I¡¯ll kill him right here right now!" "You!" Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes bulged. Hot and Sour Noodles stepped out with a helpless smile on his face. "Guys, can you please give me face and stop arguing? In fact, please go to your defense zone right away. Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance could collapse at any moment, and it¡¯s up to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Candle Dragon and Purple Lily¡¯s turn to replace them. Don¡¯t forget, this Nation War is being broadcasted live, and every fan in the world is watching us right now!" "Hmph!" Neither Candlelight Shadow nor I could stand each other¡¯s presence. We both returned to our camps in a black mood. Chapter 724: Prepare to Battle As we galloped toward the valley entrance, a Northern Alliance player or two would occasionally jump out to try to stop us in our tracks. However, they posed no threat because they could usually be taken out in just a swing or two. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle rustle... Outside the valley entrance, flocks of birds suddenly took off to the sky as if they had sensed the arrival of war. A terrible battle was going to break out in the gigantic map that was Dawn Valley, and the answer to who was stronger¡ªthe shield of China or the spear of the Northern Alliance¡ªwould be revealed very soon. An entire stretch of Candle Dragon cavalry was standing by at the valley entrance. Tempest Shadow was sitting atop a black warhorse, and behind him were the Viper Dragoons. Candlelight Shadow definitely wasn¡¯t holding anything back seeing as he had deployed his strongest force and trump card from the start. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was camped on the west side of the valley. Even from far away, we could see entire columns of shield-wielding riders and land bound fighters were packed into tight, uniform formations, and our banners flapping lightly in the air. We could also hear the sounds of people and horses joining together to form a cacophony of noises. Our backliners¡ªthe mages, archers, tamers, priests, bards and more¡ªwere on alert, and our frontliners looked ready to act at a moment¡¯s notice. "The guild leaders have returned!" shouted High Fighting Spirits while raising his Dragonlight Shatter, laughing loudly. I reined in my mount after I got close enough. After giving everyone a nod, I turned my mount around and moved to the front of the formation. He Yi joined me while Murong Mingyue retreated to the back. I looked behind me and saw Beiming Xue standing right next to Chaos Moon. The girl was completely unafraid of fighting an enemy at melee, and the blue dagger she wore at her waist was the source of her confidence. I was aware that she was skilled enough to engage most melee players at melee. Having a powerful ranged attacker at the frontline could prove to be very useful in the upcoming battle as well. Li Chengfeng was wearing a set of excellent metal armor and wielded the Blade of Ghastly Wind. He asked me, "Lu Chen, how is the situation at the frontline? I could hardly believe it when I heard that Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance had faltered less than two hours into the battle. It sounded impossible knowing how strong they are." "Got it." Li Chengfeng nodded seriously, but he couldn¡¯t conceal the excitement and war zeal in his eyes. He let out a chuckle and said, "I can¡¯t wait to see how good these so-called Heroic Bannermen are, haha!" Gui Guzi also raised his spear and declared, "That¡¯s right! I don¡¯t care who they are, anyone who tries to despoil our server will be removed from existence!" I nodded smilingly before raising my sword high. Then, I shouted, "Brothers and sisters, war is upon us! We seek neither fame nor wealth from this fight, only that our flesh is enough to protect our homeland, and to make the impossible possible! Let us show those nonbelievers that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would rather die than give in to our enemies!" Everyone raised their weapons in unison and answered my call, "We will defend our homeland! We would rather die than give in!" No more words was necessary at this point. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls wasn¡¯t afraid of dying, and we would display our full strength no matter how powerful the enemy was! ¡­¡­ After that, we waited quietly for the inevitable to arrive. Only the neighs of horses could be heard from time to time. My Famous Generals and some first-rate riders were the only ones who were standing with me on the frontline. We had hidden the Dragonlight Cavalry and Cyan Tiger Cavalry in the flanks so they could counterattack the enemy at any moment. A honed blade was best used as a cutting tool, so it was up to us to hold off the enemy until the timing was right. We could hear the low, distant rumble of horse hooves coming from inside the canyon. It almost sounded like an earthquake. Heaven knows how terrible the battle that was taking place there was. Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Xu Yang, Chaos Moon and everyone else held their breaths as they stared toward the horizon. Everyone¡¯s eyes was full of excitement and devoid of fear. For the past half a year or so, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had transformed from a small, unknown guild to a super guild that was known nationwide, and although we had beaten practically every guild in the country at least once, we hadn¡¯t gotten the chance to prove ourselves in a Nation War. It was why this battle was very important to us. We would show the world the bravery, decisiveness and power of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and cement ourselves in the annals of history once and for all! Time passed little by little. I sucked in a deep breath and noted that it had been two and a half hours since the Nation Wars began. Although the rumors made it sound like Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance had suffered a crushing defeat, they were ultimately able to carry out their duties. They had managed to intercept and kill off a huge number of Northern Alliance players inside the canyon. They just couldn¡¯t push them back because the enemy outnumbered them many times over. A while later, I finally lost my patience and tapped Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ name on the friend list. I sent her a message that stated, "How is the situation, Momo?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes turned on her communicator directly and replied with heavy breathing, "Lu Chen, we¡¯ve suffered massive casualties, and we won¡¯t be able to hold on for much longer. Our frontliners are almost completely dead, and we had to fill the gaps with our archers and mages! We were hundreds of thousands strong when we arrived, and now less than fifty thousand of us are still alive. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is currently organizing his people to encircle us. I think he plans to surround and annihilate us all inside the canyon¡­" I gritted my teeth and replied, "Forget Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ order and retreat now. Anyone who¡¯s still alive at this stage is a powerful unit we cannot afford to lose, so tell them to break out of the enemy¡¯s encirclement while they still can! And keep to the west side when you escape through the entrance, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will be there to receive you!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes whined a little before answering, "We¡¯ll try our best, but their cavalry is coming for us. I¡­ I¡¯m not sure how many of us will still be alive when we reach the entrance¡­" "Even one person is still better than nothing. Now move!" "Okay. I think Warsky Alliance is retreating as well. We¡¯re really retreating then¡­" "Yes, you¡¯ve already completed your mission, so withdraw as quickly as you can!" "Mn!!" ¡­¡­ After I turned off the communicator, I immediately laid out an order. "All Dragonlight Cavalry, move to the west side of the canyon now! Stranger of Three Lifetimes and the remnants of Blazing Hot Lips are currently withdrawing out of the canyon, and the elite troops of the Northern Alliance are sure to be nipping at their legs. When the number of enemies who make it through the canyon reaches 50000 or so, I will give the signal to charge, and the Dragonlight Cavalry will charge into the enemy from the flanks and cut their formation in half. Meanwhile, the troops at the front will launch a frontal attack and annihilate their stranded cavalry! Beiming Xue, Lu Buyi, the two of you will lead the frontal attack! Dragonlight Cavalry and Cyan Tiger Cavalry, you will follow my lead! Let us teach the Northern Alliance a lesson in blood!" Everyone answered my command in unison, "Yessir!" I led He Yi, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and more mounted players to the edge of the canyon. We had 2000 Dragonlight Cavalry in total, and 1200 of them were partied with Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust for the Knight God and Knight General buff. The rest of them were commanded by He Yi and me for the Royal Road and Martial God buff. Every Famous General Skill in this 2000-strong party was superb, and the Dragonlight Cavalry possessed exceptional HP and Defense. This should be more than enough to give the Northern Alliance a pleasant surprise. Besides that, I ordered Du Thirteen to become the commander of our 10000 Cyan Tiger Cavalry. I told him to reinforce the Dragonlight Cavalry the second we cut off the enemy¡¯s retreat. There was no way I was going to let the Dragonlight Cavalry suffer too many losses. Everyone looked excited to be able to participate in an extraordinary virtual war like this. It was practically a dream come true for every gamer! Almost half an hour later, we finally heard some noises coming from inside the canyon. A knight had charged out of the entrance, and it was a Level 145 Blazing Hot Lips magic knight. His back was covered in arrows, and he only had a sliver of HP left in his health bar. The dude was literally one hit away from dying a porcupine. "Hahaha, you think you can escape? Eat this!" Behind him, a Level 150 sixth-promotion magic knight caught up to him and swung his sword at his neck. The Blazing Hot Lips magic knight was beheaded just on the spot. "Fuck!" Gui Guzi gripped his spear and tried to Charge the enemy. We were currently hiding at a location behind the canyon where there were large rocks blocking the view, so the enemy hadn¡¯t noticed us yet. However, Gui Guzi would reveal us the second he showed himself. I kept a firm hand on Gui Guzi¡¯s shoulder and said, "Calm down, Little Gui. Leave this guy to me!" I raised my arm and used God Binding Art the moment I finished talking! Swhoosh! For bloody divine weapons dropped from the sky and surrounded the magic knight. The dude was recovering his HP rapidly using War God Recovery, so I needed to kill him before it was too late! I let out a shout and fired a Dragon Slaying Slash at my target. He was currently immobilized by my God Binding Art, so there was no way I could miss this shot. As the energy blade slammed against his head, I sent the Cyan Netherworld Sword spinning toward his torso! Bang! The sword penetrated the magic knight¡¯s chest and deleted his last sliver of HP. The sixth-promotion magic knight dropped dead just like that. Since the attack was over in an instant, I doubted that there was anyone who saw how the poor bastard was turned into a corpse. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a new group of players charged out of the canyon. It was a mix of Blazing Hot Lips warriors, assassins and archers. They were all drenched in blood, and their weapons looked chipped and bent. After two long hours of fighting, they were in dire need of replenishment and supply. It was at this moment a beautiful knight stumbled out of the entrance. It was the vice leader of Blazing Hot Lips, Eyes Like Water. She looked behind her and shouted, "Momo isn¡¯t out yet!" Beside her, an assassin shouted, "No, wait, she¡¯s coming!" Swhoosh! A flash later, Stranger of Three Lifetimes appeared at the entrance. The mage was panting heavily with a complexion that was devoid of any color. Stumbling on her own feet and having to plant her staff into the ground to steady herself, she said, "Eyes, go receive the rest of our people, will you? There should still be some inside¡­" "We¡¯re everyone, guild leader. There are only 10000 or so of us left, and Lasting was killed by Vienna¡¯s Sorrow to cover for us¡­" Eyes Like Water lost control and teared up where she stood. Chapter 725: Shooting Fish in a Barrel Stranger of Three Lifetimes murmured in a daze, but a flash of determination soon passed through her eyes. "Ten thousand is fine too. Let¡¯s move, everyone! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is right ahead of us!" "Mn!" About five hundred meters to the front, Beiming Xue ran toward the Blazing Hot Lips remnants alone while shouting, "Sister Momo, retreat quickly! Leave the rest to me!" "Mn¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Eyes Like Water and the rest of Blazing Hot Lips ran like the wind while a bunch of ferocious enemies chased behind them. Just as I expected, they were all elite players over Level 140, and many of them had standardized mounts and equipment. The majority of them belonged to two guilds from Seven-Star City, so I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if the guilds were famous in Seven Star City. The arrogant bastards were currently giving chase and laughing like they were on top of the world. Beiming Xue took a step forward and drew her Dragonbone String. The next moment, a Mountain Stagger Arrow hit a magic knight¡¯s mount squarely in the head! Bang! The visual effect of the impact looked like a shockwave had rippled across a mountain. The next moment, the warhorse lost all of its mount tenacity and collapsed to its knees, dumping its rider unceremoniously to the ground. Beiming Xue immediately followed up with a rapid Evil Spirit Volley, and amazingly, not a single arrow had missed its target. Her archery skill was superb as a matter of course, but I was even more impressed when I recognized that she was moving while landing her shots. She was so well-trained that she automatically placed 40 yards between herself and her target without needing to think about it. She drew the enemy¡¯s attention in no time, and a magic knight raised his blade and shouted, "That Chinese girl is a Level 157 archer, and her equipment is good enough to dismount Jack in one hit! Kill her!" "Kill kill kill!!" The magic knights changed directions and started charging toward Beiming Xue. Like an elf, Beiming Xue darted between the rocks and shot as she retreated. She shot a Shock Arrow behind her and stunned the foremost magic knight, causing his own comrades to trample over him and crush him. She then followed up with a Spiraling Arrow Blade and Multi Arrow that caused the one hundred or so magic knights at the front to squeal in pain. Moonlight Stone raised her scepter and shouted to Beiming Xue, "Beiming, we¡¯re coming to save you!" But Beiming Xue shouted back, "No! Just stay there and maintain the formation! Do not let big bro¡¯s strategy go to waste! Let them come!" By now, everyone could see that Beiming Xue was using herself as bait and luring the enemy magic knights toward our trap. She was probably the only archer in the entire China who had the confidence and the skill to carry out such a feat. As the horse hooves continued to rock the ground, the players of Seven Star City looked up and saw rows upon rows of Chinese players waiting for them to come on the open plains directly in front of them. Their blood boiled with excitement, and their blades gleamed menacingly beneath the sun. "Can we go now?" Gui Guzi growled. Chaos Moon also said, "Beiming Xue may be in danger if we wait any longer. No matter how fast she is, she can¡¯t possibly be faster than a mounted player¡­" But I shot down their suggestion and said, "No. I trust in Beiming¡¯s abilities, and the number of cavalry who made it in hasn¡¯t even exceeded twenty thousand yet. That¡¯s nowhere near enough players for us to carry out our plan! Just be patient and hold for another two minutes! Just two minutes!" He Yi nodded in agreement and voiced her support. "Mn. Be patient and believe in Lu Chen¡¯s judgment, everyone!" At the distance, the enemy kept closing the distance between themselves and Beiming Xue. Although she kept disrupting their charge with Shock Arrows, the line of enemy cavalry chasing after her was literally an entire kilometer long. The entire west side of the canyon was flooded by enemies. "Die, little girl!" A magic knight barked out a sinister laugh as he finally caught up to Beiming Xue. He brought down his sword and attempted to cleave the archer¡¯s back. However, Beiming Xue caught the man off-guard by turning around with a gleaming dagger in her hand. After parrying the enemy¡¯s strike perfectly and using the knockback force to send herself flying a dozen or so meters to the front, she drew her bow and dismounted the magic knight with a Mountain Stagger Arrow. A chorus of cheers immediately broke out from the distance. At the same time, Moonlight Stone waved her scepter and commanded, "Wings, advance! Protect Blazing Hot Lips and let no harm come to Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Eyes Like Water any longer!" Our people immediately responded to her order and advanced toward the front. The magic knights raised their shields to form shield walls and covered Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ retreat as they slipped into the lines. ¡­¡­ I stared at the scene in front of me until I was certain that fifty thousand¡ªno, it was probably more than that¡ªenemy cavalry had rushed through the entrance. Now was the time to show the Northern Alliance our strength and annihilate our prey! Chiang! I unsheathed the Cyan Netherworld Sword, raised it to the sky and shouted, "It is time, brothers and sisters, Ride with me to battle!" Chiang chiang chiang... The sounds of countless weapons being unsheathed rang across the air, and the moment I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward all 2000 of my Dragonlight Cavalry took off as well. We charged in a wedge formation so that we could slice through the enemy like a hot knife through butter! "Kill!" Reaching the battle line in no time, the first thing I did was to hit an entire group of cavalry with Thousand Ice Slash, rocking the riders and freezing the horses¡¯ limbs in ice. After the Armored Ice Qilin Horse sent flying a couple of cavalrymen that were blocking its way like a truck, I unleashed a 30-yard long Burning Blade Slash into a crowd and dealt an unbelievable amount of damage, killing practically all of them in one go. After receiving a ton of buffs from Pure Love, my Attack, Defense, HP were greatly increased. Moreover, I was fearless because I was accompanied by powerful companions such as Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and more! Riding atop the king of the Dragonlight Armored Horses and leading the cavalry, He Yi unleashed her Purgatory of Ice and Magma the second she made contact with the enemy. The skill was at least as powerful as my Burning Blade Slash, so a vacuum appeared where her skill had landed as well. He Yi didn¡¯t pause to admire her work. She followed my path and tore apart the enemy¡¯s formation like she was cutting apart a wave. It was Chaos Moon¡¯s turn after He Yi, so when the time was right she fired a great deal of energy from her volume and enveloped her enemies in a transparent cyan mountain range. The skill was none other than Rock Crush! Bang! Countless Northern Alliance mounted players turned white with fear, screaming. They weren¡¯t expecting such a powerful force to appear from their flanks at all. That wasn¡¯t the end, of course. Li Chengfeng appeared next and threw out a Reverse Scale Slash that annihilated countless low-health enemies. Then, he raised his sword and summoned a swirl of draconic energy around his blade. Countless cyclones revolved around him, and a ring of light was spinning beneath his feet. He looked ridiculously handsome in that moment. When a golden dragon took form, he tossed it down the direction with the most players¡ªDragonblade Revolution! Boom boom boom! A series of explosions threatened our eardrums. One attack from the dragon warrior was enough to scare the shit out of countless opponents! Gui Guzi himself was stabbing enemies left and right while Li Chengfeng was showing off. Aurora Thrust was now powerful enough to one-shot his enemies, not to mention that Gui Guzi with a shield was a metal fortress that practically none could penetrate. He fearlessly walked to the outermost area of the battlefield, kept his shield facing toward the charging enemies and activated Undying Shield, blocking heaven knows how much damage for Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust. Chiang chiang chiang! 148! 312! 122! The damage numbers rising above Gui Guzi¡¯s head were positively hilarious. He already had a ridiculous amount of Defense in the first place, and Knight God boosted that number further by 150%. Even better, he was riding a Dragonlight Armored Horse, so this so-called elite cavalry of the Northern Alliance was unable to do anything to him at all. "Who dares to hurt my brother!" High Fighting Spirits charged toward the enemy with an angry shout and swung the warhammer, Dragonlight Shatter, at them. The impact instantly knocked five magic knights to the back and shattered their shields. Huh, that¡¯s surprising. I didn¡¯t think it had a hidden shield breaking attribute. High Fighting Spirits continued to swing his hammer in a circle and surround himself with a cyclone. It wasn¡¯t long before the giant image of a Xiezhi beast appeared in midair, and a gigantic hurricane suddenly tore all the players around him into peaces. The Xiezhi Howl had stunned the enemies and showed the strength of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ number one berserker to the world! Not to be left behind, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Xu Yang, Wolf Fang and the others all joined the slaughter and swung their weapons left and right. They too killed like they were playing a single-player game. The Dragonlight Cavalry had utterly baffled the enemy the moment they appeared. They weren¡¯t expecting their prey¡¯s reinforcements to be this powerful. The Dragonlight Cavalry was in a completely different class compared to Blazing Hot Lips or Warsky Alliance! ¡­¡­ Boom! As a Silver Dragon Storm ripped through a crowd, I summoned my apparition and Phantom Wolf King at the same time and made them open up a path ahead of me. After tossing out another Burning Blade Slash and forcefully cutting a dozen or so Northern Alliance players to shreds, I shouted, "Cut them off! It¡¯s enough to just cut them off and block the entrance so that no more reinforcements can get into the canyon! Cyan Tiger Cavalry, what are you waiting for? Go!!" A new set of hooves joined the cacophony of noises as Du Thirteen rode out on his Dragonlight Armored Horse, shouting, "Cyan Tiger Cavalry, charge with me! We defend the Dragonlight Cavalry!" Players riding ferocious tigers joined the battle and wrapped the Dragonlight Cavalry in a protective formation. They were playing bodyguard as they were commanded, but... "What the fuck, I don¡¯t need no protection! Gimme more kills¡­" High Fighting Spirits cussed out loud as he swung his hammer at a group of enemies, eliciting screams of pain from them. This time I didn¡¯t say anything. The Dragonlight Cavalry needed to show their power, and practically all the players who made it past the valley entrance were riders. Since physical attacks were extremely ineffective against the Dragonlight Cavalry, and everyone was buffed by a super Famous General Skill of sorts, I saw no reason to act with excessive caution. The battlefield stretched about a kilometer or so. The battle was fierce and bloody, but the aid of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry greatly reduced our burden. Seeing that the tide was swinging in our favor, I ordered without hesitation, "Alright, Thirteen will stay behind with 5000 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen and guard the entrance. Everyone else, follow me and annihilate the Northern Alliance¡¯s cavalry! It¡¯s about time we show these grandsons that Dawn Valley is a one-way stop to hell!" Everyone laughed as they followed me toward the heart of the enemy¡¯s cavalry. Together, we formed a sharp blade that plunged through the enemy¡¯s chest instantly. Chapter 726: Oath of Four Seas Battle cries filled the valley for a moment. So far, the give-them-a-taste-of-their-own-medicine tactic was working surprisingly well. The battle was over in less than twenty minutes. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had displayed a staggering amount of firepower and crushed almost 90k enemy cavalrymen like it was nothing. I saw a party of almost a hundred players still resisting with all their might not far away from me. They were led by a Heroic Bannerman¡ªI was surprised to see one here¡ªwho was probably the famous guild leader in Seven Star City. He was fighting like a furious, cornered animal because his men were being killed left and right. ¡­¡­ "Leave this one to me!" Li Chengfeng let out a shout and raced toward the Heroic Bannerman like the wind. "Hmph. Dragon warrior!?" The Heroic Bannerman spurred his mount toward Li Chengfeng the moment he saw his title. His HP was less than 50%, and his equipment was covered in marks, but Li Chengfeng wasn¡¯t a pedantic fighter. He killed both the weak and the strong equally. "Come on, show me what you got!" Banner shuddering behind him due to the movement of his mount, the magic knight thrust his sword at Li Chengfeng with a sudden Barrier Break. "Heh¡­" Li Chengfeng smiled a little before committing himself to a shocking move. He leaped away from his own mount and parried the enemy¡¯s Barrier Break. Still in the air, he spun around and hit the back of the magic knight¡¯s head with a Barrier Break + Dragonbone Flurry combo. Clearly it was a weak point. Bang bang bang bang! A series of damage numbers flew up the guy¡¯s head, and a system announcement rang¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: All players, Heroic Bannerman "Mountain Walker" (USA) has been killed by player "Legendary Brave" (China)! ¡­¡­ High Fighting Spirits let out a hearty laugh as he said, "Well done, Li! That horse-jumping technique of yours is bloody perfect! Not even a Heroic Bannerman was able to dodge your attack!" Chaos Moon rolled her eyes beside him. "That¡¯s called a dismount technique, not a horse-jumping technique, idiot. It¡¯s a high-level mounted combat skill you might never learn in your lifetime¡­" High Fighting Spirits grinned carelessly. "Brute force is the only thing I need to know!" That shut up Chaos Moon completely. When the last of the enemy cavalrymen was killed, I immediately pointed at the valley entrance and ordered, "Mages, archers, priests, assist our Cyan Tiger Cavalry now! Dragonlight Cavalry, withdraw and stand by. Also, someone give me a casualty report!" "Mn. Reorganize our troops and join up with the Cyan Tiger Cavalry. We¡¯re going to the frontlines!" "Okay!" Us Famous Generals immediately ran to the frontline and buffed the Cyan Tiger Cavalry with our Famous General Skills. Even Lu Buyi had gone to the frontline and buffed everyone with Purple Dragon, increasing their stats by 95%. It was even more powerful than Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell! Sadly, Lu Buyi informed us that his stratagem was capped at 100%, but it was still incredibly powerful. I highly doubted that there was anyone among our enemies who could really threaten the 200 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen whose stats were buffed by 95%. ¡­¡­ The moment I reached the battle line, I immediately launched Burning Blade Slash at the enemies in front of me. However, I was astonished to find that only one-third of the canyon had turned into a battlefield. Neither Candle Dragon nor Purple Lily had engaged the Northern Alliance yet because Warsky Alliance had held out longer than Blazing Hot Lips. In fact, it was only now that small groups of players had finally trickled back to us. "What¡¯s going on?" Li Chengfeng frowned as he cut apart a magic knight¡¯s shield. He glanced to the right and asked, "Why hasn¡¯t Warsky Alliance retreated yet? Warsky can¡¯t have lost his mind and decided to sacrifice his entire guild for his country, has he?" "Who knows¡­" I replied indifferently. ¡­¡­ "Ahhh¡­" Suddenly, two arrow-riddled assassins flew out of the canyon. They belonged to Warsky Alliance, and they had been turned into porcupines by the enemies. They were dead before their bodies even hit the ground. Six Northern Alliance archers then appeared right after them, running away and shooting behind themselves at something. It was futile though. A mounted warrior quickly caught up to them and killed them all, and it was none other than Warsky himself. He was using Hegemon right now, so he kept landing critical hit after critical hit. The archers¡¯ weak Defense and HP couldn¡¯t stop his attacks at all. It looked like Warsky Alliance had finally returned! Thud thud thud... After Warsky showed up, October Rain appeared from the valley as well. She didn¡¯t forget to look back and shoot the players chasing after her to death. "Warsky Alliance has come back!" Stepping into the open to receive them, Moonkiss shouted, "Warsky, how many more players do you have who can retreat safely?" While Warsky was turning his mount around to face his enemies, he replied, "About 60k or so! Our main guild fared better than our subguilds, but we lost too many people to make a proper count right away! Moonkiss, can you tell your guildmates to support us? We suffered huge losses this time¡­" "Got it!" Countless Warsky Alliance players started emerging from the canyon, but they all looked like they had been through hell. Their armor was damaged, their weapons were chipped, their expressions looked a little downcast, and they were covered in blood from head to toe. A large majority of these players were mounted players because they had high survivability and high mobility. Naturally, they were the likeliest players to survive the battle. A deafening cacophony of battle cries erupted from behind Warsky Alliance even as they made a rapid retreat toward Dawn Valley. It was the Northern Alliance chasing them closely from behind! ¡­¡­ A commotion stirred among the ranks of Candle Dragon for a moment. Suddenly, a warrior pointed toward the front and shouted, "Look, the number one expert of Hero City, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, is coming! He¡¯s leading a huge army as well! He¡¯s clearly using Warsky Alliance as bait to make us open the gate to Dawn Valley for them!" Tempest Shadow immediately galloped to the front and shouted, "We cannot let the Northern Alliance¡¯s devious ploy succeed! We cannot surrender the northern gate of China to our enemies just like that!" A ruthless gleam passed through Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes, and he ordered, "Move our defense line to 20 yards before the valley entrance. Halt the Northern Alliance¡¯s advance with Far Shots and magic!" "Yessir!" Candle Dragon¡¯s magic knights immediately spurred their horses forward until they were in front of the entrance. Then, they laid down their shields and formed an impassable wall around it! ¡­¡­ Warsky¡¯s eyes turned red in an instant. He pointed his sword at Candle Dragon and swore at him, "What the fuck is the meaning of this, Candlelight Shadow? Why are you blocking our retreat? Is this how you treat us after we battled the enemies for two hours straight?" Candlelight Shadow replied darkly, "Think of the bigger picture, Warsky. If we surrender this gap to the Northern Alliance, they will be able to advance to the south unhindered. Our land will be exposed to the iron hooves of the enemies. We can fight with you, Warsky Alliance. I promise to give you the supplies you need!" Warsky shouted, "Supplies my ass! My brothers and sisters are battle weary, our pots are about to run out, and our equipment durability is under 20%! How the fuck are you going to supply us with everything we need? And even if you have the supplies, the enemy is about to reach us right away! They will die long before your supplies arrive!" Candlelight Shadow merely snorted and said nothing this time. Tempest Shadow raised his spear and said, "Call us ruthless if you want to, but Candle Dragon will lock down this pass if it¡¯s the last thing we do. This is for the greater good!" ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before all of Warsky Alliance¡¯s defeated army had arrived. However, their path was completely blocked by Candle Dragon. Laughing At The Heavens was withdrawing with a group of magic knights when they suddenly knocked into Candle Dragon¡¯s shield formation and bounced forward. They looked back at Candle Dragon in disbelief. Behind Warsky Alliance, the army of the Northern Alliance descended ruthlessly upon their enemies. The light of skills were exploding everywhere, and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was killing Warsky Alliance¡¯s players left and right. When he pointed his sword forward, at least hundreds of thousands of elite cavalry responded to his command and charged at the final forces of Warsky Alliance, intending to end their lives once and for all. Lin Bing Dou Zhe shouted, "Brothers and sisters, let¡¯s stop them one more time! Go!" The vice leader of Warsky Alliance didn¡¯t even hesitate as he countercharged the Northern Alliance and killed many players in the process. However, he was quickly ganged up upon by two Heroic Bannermen¡ªan archer and a mage¡ªand ate a devastating Fire Dragon Spell and Freezing Arrows to the chest! Bang bang bang! He bled everywhere as he staggered backward uncontrollably. Before he could do anything else, a magic knight dashed toward him and slashed right at his neck. A bloody line appeared between his neck as Lin Bing Dou Zhe slowly slid down his mount, dead. Hundred Battler was also charging with a group of low-health magic knights, but they were quickly run over and trampled to their death! Surrounded by enemies, Laughing At The Heavens shouted to vent his fury. Chiang chiang chiang! Then, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow landed three devastatingly powerful strikes on his armor, and a dozen or so Northern Alliance knights used Barrier Break on him at once! Thud thud thud thud... The attacks literally tore to shreds! ¡­¡­ "Fuck¡­" Warsky dropped to his knees and cried, "My brothers and sisters are being killed like animals, but I¡­ I¡­" Bloodcurdling screams filled the air as the grim slaughter continued, but the players of Candle Dragon were completely unmoved. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng clenched his fists so tightly that veins popped on the surface. "Bastard!!" Xu Yang¡¯s eyes were red with fury, and Gui Guzi was shaking from head to toe. Feeling like molten lava was scorching my insides, I shouted, "Dragonlight Cavalry, follow me to fuck Candlelight Shadow¡¯s mother!" Chapter 727: The Justice One Can Only Hear, but Not See Swords were pulled out of their sheaths. The Dragonlight Cavalry that was about to withdraw came back to us. I spurred my Armored Ice Qilin Horse around before looking at Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and everyone else. "We will charge Candle Dragon¡¯s shield formation and open up a path home for Warsky Alliance! For the justice one can only hear, but not see!" Li Chengfeng clenched his own fist and raised his sword into the air. "For justice!" High Fighting Spirits waved his Dragonlight Shatter and shouted, "CHARGE!" "Neigh¡­" The Armored Ice Qilin Horse neighed loudly and became the first mount to charge forward, my generals following closely behind me. Around 200 Dragonlight Cavalrymen were added into Gui Guzi¡¯s party immediately. We didn¡¯t bother to hide our activity at all. ¡­¡­ "Huh? What is Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls doing?" A magic knight of Candle Dragon standing at the front of the shield formation looked at us in surprise. "Why are they coming here when they¡¯re supposed to be guarding the west side of the canyon?" Beside him, a wanderer with pointy lips and thin face said, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has been duking it out with Warsky Alliance since the beginning, so they must be planning to hit them while they are down. These poor bastards, not only are they being slaughtered by the Northern Alliance, they¡¯re about to be ambushed by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls too. Haha, they should just die quickly and save us all the trouble!" Suddenly, I changed my direction and changed straight toward Candle Dragon. Raising the Cyan Netherworld Sword high above my head, I shouted, "Those who stand in my way will die!" I fired Burning Blade Slash and one-shot a ton of people on the spot. The next moment, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse rammed head first into the magic knights at the front row! Bang! The tremendous impact caused the frontmost magic knights to grit their teeth unconsciously. At least a dozen or so magic knights staggered backward a dozen or so meters because the gap between our Strength stats was that huge. The next moment, High Fighting Spirits, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi and the others also slammed into Candle Dragon¡¯s shield formation. Utilizing our Strength advantage, we were able to force Candle Dragon¡¯s shield formation to move backward again and again. Tempest Shadow shouted from amidst his people, "Have you gone insane, Lu Chen?! You¡¯re attacking your ally at this time? Is this your retirement act or something?" Instead of replying, I bound him with a God Binding Art and launched a Sword Boomerang that penetrated his shield and dealt almost 30k damage to him. The Viper Dragoons around him had dropped to half health as well. "Madness, truly madness!" The only response he got from his commander was a dark snort. Blue Sky Scar stopped talking after his question was met with a non-committal response. In fact, both of them knew full well that Candle Dragon would be branded as traitors the second they ordered a counterattack. That was why Candlelight Shadow decided to do nothing in hopes of pinning the crime of treason onto Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls later. They were the ones who attacked first. Bang bang bang... I punched the magic knights in front of me with my left fist to avoid killing them. I didn¡¯t really want to kill them in the first place, it was just that they had crossed a line with their inaction earlier. I looked behind me and shouted, "Xu Yang, take a group of people with you and guide Warsky Alliance into Dawn Valley! Little Gui, take 400 Dragonlight Cavalrymen with you, intercept the Northern Alliance and cover Warsky Alliance¡¯s retreat! Everyone else, continue what you¡¯re doing and knock Candle Dragon¡¯s shield formation backward!" Gui Guzi accepted his orders and left. High Fighting Spirits¡¯ chest was covered in arrows, but he ignored them completely and kept smashing his hammer against the shields of the pale-faced magic knights and roaring like crazy. The magic knights¡¯ Strength stat was incomparable to a warrior who dumped all his points into Strength at all, so they had no choice but to stagger backward again and again. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before Warsky Alliance¡¯s remnants led by Warsky and October Rain successfully withdrew to the flanks while Xu Yang and a group of Dragonlight Cavalry carved open a path for them. Gui Guzi and his Knight God¨Cempowered cavalry also fought at the frontlines and stopped Vienna¡¯s Sorrow from progressing. Bang bang bang! Gui Guzi ate at least a dozen of strikes from Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, but Undying Shield converted much of that damage into HP. After Chaos Moon threw a Rock Crush at his direction to support his counterattacks, they were miraculously able to force Vienna¡¯s Sorrow to back away temporarily. However, Gui Guzi had dropped to red health, and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow still had 30% HP when they disengaged. The power gap between the two players was clear. At the distance, Moonkiss and Purple Lily¡¯s cavalry also appeared at the front of the formation. While they were charging Candle Dragon¡¯s shield formation and aiding Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls in their efforts, she shouted, "Warsky, this way quickly! Candlelight Shadow hasn¡¯t given up on killing you yet!" A grateful Warsky looked back at Xu Yang and said, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, you are the true pride of the China server. I will never forget what you¡¯ve done for us today!" Xu Yang replied with a wave of his sword, "Get your ass back to Dawn City already, we don¡¯t need Warsky Alliance here anymore. You can repay the favor by blocking the Northern Alliance¡¯s advance when they finally reach the city!" "Got it. Let¡¯s go!" The remaining 20k+ players of Warsky Alliance heeded his call and ran toward Dawn Valley while Purple Lily was covering for them. They desperately needed the resupply right now. ¡­¡­ Seeing that our mission was complete, I immediately rode up to Gui Guzi¡¯s side and helped him murder the mounted players charging his way. Then, I shouted, "Mission complete, everyone! Unless you want to play cannon fodder for Candle Dragon, I think it¡¯s time to go back to our camp! They call themselves the number one guild of China, so they can deal with the wolves of the north themselves!" I turned my mount around and left immediately. The Dragonlight Cavalry retreated with me as well. We had mobilized almost all of our elite players this time, and even our beautiful guild leader was standing at the frontlines and reaping countless northern souls with her Blade of the Earthen Soul. It was a declaration to the world that she was no longer a vase who was only good for show anymore. Beep! When I returned to our camp, I received a message from Hot and Sour Noodles. "Lu Chen¡­" I turned on the communicator and said frankly, "Zhang Chun, I know that you and Candlelight Shadow are good pals, but you¡¯ve seen it yourself how Candlelight Shadow blocked the entrance of Windy Trail and attempted to annihilate Warsky Alliance to the last. Hmph! Did you forget that Warsky Alliance has CGL Hall of Famers like Farewell Song and October Rain? If they die, our people¡¯s morale will suffer greatly, and that is before I even mention how much I detest despicable acts like this in a Nation War!" Hot and Sour Noodles let out a sigh. "I¡¯m aware that Fang Zhuo didn¡¯t do the right thing in this matter, but that¡¯s just how his personality is. He always picks the most extreme measures in battle, and the fact is your action has pushed back our battle line by almost a hundred meters. With the Northern Alliance this close, it¡¯s definitely going to cost us more energy to reclaim these lands." Anger abruptly rushed to my head. "None of the reasons you stated is a good reason to choose cowardice in battle! If the only way to cover up for my weakness is to fuck up my own ally, then I would rather withdraw of this war right now! Hmph! If Candle Dragon can beat back the Northern Alliance then good for them, but if not, they should just fuck off and surrender the best defensive terrain of this entire battlefield to someone else! I bet you that Snowy Cathaya could¡¯ve done much better than Candle Dragon!" Hot and Sour Noodles smiled helplessly. "Fine, fine, I¡¯m well aware that Fang Zhuo and you share plenty of grudges, so let¡¯s not talk about this and fight together as before, okay? Any time after the Northern Alliance is beaten back is a better time and place to fight a civil war than now, especially since Vienna¡¯s Sorrow has shown up. I heard from a reliable source that he¡¯s the highest point contributor of the Northern Alliance right now. I¡¯m not exaggerating when I said that he had killed at least ten thousand China players at Windy Trail alone!" I nodded. "Got it. Take care of yourself, uncle. Whatever happens, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will do their best to safeguard every inch of the west side of Dawn Valley. At the very least, we¡¯ll make sure that the soil we stand on is fully nourished by our enemies¡¯ blood for every inch we lose!" Hot and Sour Noodles smiled. "Got it. My Righteousness is about to engage the enemy with Purple Lily, so I¡¯m hanging up now!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I turned off my communicator and continued to run back and forth across the battle line. The Cyan Netherworld Sword shone brightly as it devoured the enemy¡¯s lives with every sword aura it unleashed. "Gui Guzi!" "I¡¯m here. What is it, Boss Broken Halberd?" Gui Guzi shot me a glance while he was killing the enemy with his spear. "How many did we lose during that battle?" I asked. Gui Guzi gave me a reassuring smile and said, "Very few. Their ranged parties weren¡¯t caught up with their vanguard, so they couldn¡¯t really damage our people. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow killed three of our Cyan Tiger Cavalry, and the damage to our Dragonlight Cavalry is negligible. In general, the Heroic Bannermen were all held off Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng and me before they could do anything to our Dragonlight Cavalry." "Well done!" I praised him. "Tell the Dragonlight Cavalry to retreat and reorganize. The Cyan Tiger Cavalry and the rest of our riders are good enough to hold the frontline. I want all our Famous Generals at the front so that our strength can be displayed to the fullest degree. Also, reorganize the parties to fit one Knight God, two Knight Generals, two Souls of the Foot and one Royal Road. That¡¯s 2400 players holding the line. Teach these northern fuckers a lesson they won¡¯t forget!" "Got it, I¡¯m carrying out your orders right now!" ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take long for the parties to be reorganized. I myself added 399 people to my party, although unlike the others, most of them were archers, mages and other ranged players. Martial God¡¯s 200% boost to attack power was no joke, and ranged players didn¡¯t need to worry about being caught in a crossfire. This was the best use of Martial God right now, and the frontliners were better off beefing themselves up with Knight God, Knight General and Royal Road anyway. I stood at the frontline and kept hacking away at the enemies. Every time a Silver Dragon Storm or Cyan Netherworld Divine Dragon triggered, the enemies died in droves and increased my Nation War contribution points like mad. However, the battle wasn¡¯t without its casualties. The Northern Alliance¡¯s offensive power was nothing to scoff at, and even with Knight General, plenty of allied magic knights still died to Galaxy Storms and Spiraling Arrow Blades. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Healing light kept enveloping our frontliners. It was Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew and the rest of our healers healing us with their spells. Since Bright Mirror increased the effectiveness of their healing spells by 50%, they decided to use AoE heals most of the time. It was the right call. AoE heals and healing over time skills were much more effective than single-target heals in large-scale battles like this. ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang¡­ A Bow General player soon appeared in the enemy lines. He carried a heroic banner behind his back and led a group of high-level archers. They shot a barrage of arrows in my direction, and three Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen by my side were instantly killed by their Spiraling Arrow Blades. Chapter 728: Forest Battle I nodded. "I¡¯ll give it a try!" I raised my arm and attempted to use the God Binding Art. As long as the skill was successful, all I needed to do was one-shot the guy with Dragon Slaying Slash and Sword Boomerang. That being said, I needed to ensure that both skills landed at the same time so that the enemy had no chance of healing in between skills. However, the archer smiled a little and backed away a couple of steps just as I was about to use God Binding Art on him. He had easily moved out of my skill range! Fuck, this guy was an exceptionally skilled player. I wasn¡¯t expecting him to be mindful of my movements all along, and I was almost certain that I would only be wasting my cooldowns if I tried to hit him with my ranged skills! Chaos Moon pouted a little before relenting, "Never mind, let¡¯s just focus on the enemies in front of us¡­" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, High Fighting Spirits and his party were charging the enemies next to a craggy wall. Every time he swung his hammer and used Xiezhi Howl, a group of enemies was sure to suffer terribly. However, he also ate a faceful and chestful of arrows, which made for quite the amusing sight. Still, the enemy¡¯s archers and mages were ridiculously powerful. The only reason he was still alive was because our healers had been healing him non-stop! Bang bang bang bang bang! He Yi unleashed the five-hit Purgatory of Ice and Magma and deleted an entire swath of Northern Alliance players in one go. Then, she looked at Beiming Xue and ordered, "Beiming, I want you and a thousand archers to climb up the rocks and shoot the enemy archers and mages from above. We need to lessen the pressure on our troops." Beiming Xue blinked and shot a question, "Sure, but what should we do if their assassins and archers climb up the mountain as well, Sister Eve? Warriors and knights can¡¯t climb these walls, and Agility-based classes don¡¯t pose much of a threat." I said, "This is the time to test our eighth subguild. Tell Cute Little Naughty and her 2000 assassins to escort your troops up the hills. I believe she¡¯s a pro in forest battles. Also, take 100 priests with you to be safe!" "Got it. We¡¯re going!" "Mn!" After Beiming Xue had made her selection, she and almost 2000 archers immediately started scaling the walls with unbelievable agility. The way the sharp-eared archers almost flew up impossible terrain was definitely not something us Strength-based players could emulate. Also, Cute Little Naughty, the guild leader of our eighth subguild, also arrived with her assassins and climbed the walls right behind our archers. When the second barrage of arrows arrived, the Northern Alliance players had no choice but to withdraw to the back. The pressure on the battle line immediately lessened drastically. On the ground, the archers of the Northern Alliance were pissed at the surprise attack. A group of Vietnamese players pointed their longbows up the hills and shouted, "Shoot back at them! Kill them all!" Twang twang twang¡­ The arrows flew into the air, but their flight slowed drastically when they passed the 40-yard mark. By the time they finally reached Beiming Xue¡¯s position, they were so weak that they could be brushed aside with the flick of a hand. Naturally, the counterattack did very little damage. Beiming Xue chuckled and responded with Evil Spirit Volley. The explosions caused the Northern Alliance players to run like rabbits. Finally, the Heroic Bannerman archer lost his patience and growled angrily, "I want 1000 men to follow me! Let¡¯s scale the walls and take out those archers!" Someone said next to him "Guild leader, that Chinese girl is a Famous General with Bow God. That¡¯s a 150% boost to ranged attack power. Be careful¡­" "Relax, you don¡¯t seriously think I¡¯d lose to her, do you? There has never been a top-class archer in China!" "Yeah. Do your best, guild leader!" The Heroic Bannerman scaled up the walls in no time. However, he seemed to have severely underestimated us because he brought only 1000 archers with him. Even from below, we could see a tight formation of archers moving straight toward Beiming Xue¡¯s troops from the flanks. It didn¡¯t look good for them. "Lil Beiming will be fine, right?" Gui Guzi asked in a worried tone. Beiming Xue did call him big brother Gui Guzi before. Li Chengfeng burst into laughter immediately, causing Gui Guzi to turn and glare at him. "What the fuck you laughing at, Li?" Li Chengfeng curled his lips. "Little Gui, your IQ is definitely your primary weakness¡­" "What do you mean¡­" "Think about it. How many people did the guild leader send up the hill earlier? Who else is up there besides the archers and priests?" "Cute Little Naughty and her 2000 assassins." "Correct. Now tell me, where are these assassins?" "They¡¯re¡­ nowhere?" Gui Guzi slapped his head in disbelief. "Wait what? How can this be? Did the native monsters eat them because it¡¯s the fifteenth day of the month or something?" Li Chengfeng rolled his eyes. "You¡¯re the one who got your brain eaten, you idiot. They¡¯re assassins! They know stealth!" Gui Guzi nodded in realization when he finally got what Li Chengfeng was trying to say. Chaos Moon was laughing so hard that she almost shed tears. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng was completely correct, of course. Right now, Cute Little Naughty and her 2000 assassins were spread out inside the forest, invisible. The Northern Alliance archers never discovered them or even realized that they were there, possibly because our archers and assassins had scaled up the walls from the Vietnam archer¡¯s blind spot earlier. When the 1000 enemy archers climbed to an elevated position, they immediately aimed their bows at Beiming Xue¡¯s direction. The Heroic Bannerman shouted, "Loose! Kill them all!" Beiming Xue had superior eyesight, so she quickly spotted the enemy and dished out an Evil Spirit Volley + Spiraling Arrow Blade combo to suppress them. The explosions blinded the forest and caused countless red maple leaves to fall from the trees, forcing the enemy archers to halt their advance temporarily. "Continue. Attack!" The Vietnamese archers loosed their arrows, and this time they were able to a dozen or so of our archers. Beiming Xue chose to play it safe and retreat to the back. The Vietnamese archers chose the opposite and rushed forward because they managed to score the first blood on their ambushers. I licked my lips with bloodthirst as I cut down an enemy in front of me. "It¡¯s time. Where are you, Naughty?!" As if they were trying to prove my declaration, the forest on the hills suddenly shook with activity. Countless red lights erupted from the back of the enemy archers¡¯ heads or waists. It was Ambush, a skill that would stun them for 1 to 2 seconds! Thousands of assassins ambushed their prey in unison, and half of the archers dropped dead in a second. Another second later, their number had dropped to less than 10%! "Fuck, assassins! Very high-leveled assassins!" The surviving archers scattered like rabbits, but they couldn¡¯t outrun the Swift Dash¨Cempowered assassins. One by one, the Vietnamese archers fell to our assassins¡¯ daggers. ¡­¡­ "Still think you can run, uncle?!" Cute Little Naughty smiled predatorily at the Heroic Bannerman before ordering, "Stun him!" "Don¡¯t even think about it!" The archer abruptly leaped to the back and fired a Spiraling Arrow Blade at his original location. The dozen or so stealthed assassins surrounding him were instantly shredded to pieces! Thud! The archer landed solidly on his feet, but a cold chill suddenly pierced his waist. He never thought that he would be stunned even after he had used his Leap skill. It was a beautiful female assassin who stunned him from behind. Cute Little Naughty activated Swift Dash, ran toward him and stunned him yet again. The archer had almost 50k HP, but it was dropping rapidly as the assassins ganged up on him. "Motherfucker!" The archer pulled out his dagger and cut Cute Little Naughty once before running away in an orderly fashion. He really was a good archer seeing as he didn¡¯t panic even considering the dire situation he was in. Unfortunately, Cute Little Naughty¡¯s movement speed was at least twice of his since she had activated Swift Dash, and Beiming Xue had finally arrived! Bang! Beiming Xue landed a Mountain Stagger Arrow squarely in the chest as the archer attempted to leap to safety, stunning him. Then, she fired one last Evil Spirit Volley! Bang bang bang! The archer collapsed in a scream as the explosions engulfed him. He even dropped a pair of leather armor wristguards! Ding~! System Announcement: All players, Heroic Bannerman "Lake Baikal" (Hot Sand City) has been killed by player "Beiming Xue" (China)! ¡­¡­ Very good. Earlier, Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ death was announced to all players because he was a CGL Hall of Famer. But now, Lake Baikal¡¯s death had greatly restored our morale! "Attack! Push the line forward!" Xu Yang shouted, and the Cyan Tiger Cavalry fought with everything they got. The timing of his order was perfect, and our battle line slowly shifted two hundred yards to the front. What this meant was that all the players within these two hundred yards had been killed! Our magic knights stood at the forefront and held the shields high to block the enemy¡¯s arrows and magic. They were all using Holy Shield because the skill blocked both magical and physical attacks; a wonderful defensive tool in this warring era! Suddenly, we heard the sound of mechanical springs from the distance! Twang! Twang! Twang! A shrill noise cut through the air. We saw a dozen or so giant rocks flying past our heads and smashing into our people! Boom! Boom! Boom! Dust clouds exploded where the rock struck. Our formation fell into disarray as countless people became flattened by the rocks! "Pooh!" Xu Yang spat on the ground and swore loudly, "Those shameless wolves brought fucking catapults to this battle! So shameless!" I raised my sword and shouted, "Maintain the formation and don¡¯t panic! Listen, in this war a river of blood will be spilt. We aren¡¯t so strong that we can win it without any casualty whatsoever! Focus on protecting your teammates and keep a cool head when you see a rock flying toward your direction! As long as you don¡¯t panic, you¡¯ll be able to dodge out of the way! Now, continue!" Our players were highly professional, so it took them little time to cool their heads and steady themselves. I stared at the flying rocks in the sky and smiled brightly. "These fuckers sure have a lot of creative ideas, huh?" Chapter 729: Titan God Chiang! Candlelight Shadow raised his sword and pointed it to the front. "Viper Dragoons, ride with me! It is time to send these losers back to the north!" Candlelight Shadow once conquered many lands and terrorized countless national servers back in Spirit of Grief. Today, he rallied his people once more to challenge the rumored number one expert of Hero City, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow! On the other side, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow licked his lips when the rumbling of horse hooves began. "Pooh! Your mount is a snake monster? Has Candle Dragon truly fallen this low? In that case, it no longer looks like you deserve the title of the strongest guild of China! Everyone, charge! Slaughter these outrageous Chinese!" The riders of Hero City had incredible vigor. They met the Viper Dragoons¡¯ challenge head-on and clashed against them! Bang bang bang! The horrid sound of meat ramming against meat resounded incessantly across the battlefield. For now, it looked like both sides were evenly matched. Candlelight Shadow and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow exchanged four quick strikes with each other during their first engagement, sparks flying everywhere as they parried, guarded or countered the other person¡¯s attacks. Both players saw the astonishment in each other¡¯s eyes. There was no such thing as an absolute overlord in VR e-sports because the best players in the world could be replaced by someone better the next day, and not even Candlelight Shadow could keep his throne forever. This was the first time he fought Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, and he discovered that his opponent¡¯s skill rivaled his own already. How could he not be astonished by this? It didn¡¯t look like Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was in a hurry to decide a victor between himself and Candlelight Shadow, however. He turned his mount toward another direction and cut down all the Viper Dragoons who were unfortunate enough to stand in his way. The battle slowed to a stalemate for a time. Unable to withstand this sight any longer, Tempest Shadow raised his spear and ordered, "Snow Lion Cavalry, Greedy Wolf Cavalry, Cyan Thunder Cavalry, charge together and eliminate these invaders!" Candle Dragon¡¯s inferior cavalries joined the battle at his command. Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain and Throne Seeker had also joined Candle Dragon¡¯s party and met the elite cavalry of Hero City head-on. At least 200000 riders were locked at the center of the valley entrance and attempting to grind each other down to paste! ¡­¡­ The war continued for a very long time. At this point, victory had become a question of who had the stronger and greater amount of troops. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was locked in a fierce battle against Hot Sand City, Burning City and Sunset City as well. It looked like we had managed to piss off Vietnam, Korea and England altogether, and they wouldn¡¯t stop until a victor was decided between us. The battle lasted almost 7 hours. It was such a long battle that both our equipment durability and player stamina were sorely tested. Somehow, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Candle Dragon and Purple Lily were able to keep the canyon from being breached. Not once was the Northern Alliance able to set foot in Dawn Valley throughout these seven hours. It was a miracle. ¡­¡­ Ding~! System Announcement (Player Hot and Sour Noodles Shout): Well done, everyone! Keep grinding down their effective strength like this! Once the enemy is killed in our server, they won¡¯t be able to set foot in Windy Trail anymore. Also, the Nation War only lasts for 72 hours. If the enemy cannot beat us in 72 hours, they won¡¯t be able to set foot in our territory again for 15 days straight. Keep this up for just 72 hours, and victory will be ours! ¡­¡­ I smiled. "That uncle sure knows how to lift his troops¡¯ morale. 72 hours is neither too long nor too short a time for a Nation War¡­" "Mn!" He Yi nodded seriously before replying with a smile, "That being said, barring any surprise or sudden cut of supply, we should be able to strangle the Northern Alliance in Windy Trail and stop them from even setting foot on our soil." "Heh. Alright, back to the grind!" I raised my sword and shouted, "Anyone whose equipment is below 10% should withdraw from the battle immediately and buy a return scroll to Dawn City! Come back after you¡¯ve repaired your equipment!" High Fighting Spirits came over with his Dragonlight Shatter. "Oh, okay then, I¡¯m leaving. My hammer¡¯s just about to break." "How are you running out of equipment durability already? My Cyan Netherworld Sword still has 40% durability, you know¡­" "That¡¯s because your Cyan Netherworld Sword is a Heaven-grade weapon!" "Bullshit, the reason you¡¯re running out of equipment durability this quickly is because you keep aiming at the opponent¡¯s shields like a brute! Always aim at the enemy¡¯s weak points such as the neck, eyes, and the gaps between their armor and so on if you want to reduce your durability loss!" "Urk, got it. I¡¯m going¡­" It wasn¡¯t long before Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, Chaos Moon and more took my advice and returned to Dawn City. They came back only after they fully repaired their equipment and stocked up on supplies to the brim. Speaking of which, this battle was taking place at a valley, so it put a huge strain on one¡¯s stamina. Our satiety consumption rate was so high that I had lost more than 150% Satiety in just 8 hours. I had to eat two stacks of bread just to keep fighting. If this continued, I would have to ask around for food already. I discussed the details with He Yi for a bit before ordering Du Thirteen to take a thousand players back to Sky City and purchase some high-rank bread and dried meat. Provisions were critical to an army. Without food, we would all starve to death in Dawn Valley! At the same time, I called over Li Chengfeng and said, "Can you speak with Purple Lily and tell them to send some people to protect Dawn City¡¯s teleport NPCs? The passage between Dawn City and Sky City needs to be secured as well. If the Northern Alliance manages to ambush our supply lines, this battle will become incredibly difficult for us." Li Chengfeng nodded. "Got it. I¡¯ll leave this to Purple Lily!" "Mn." ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Hot and Sour Noodles galloped into our camp with a stern expression on his face. It looked like something terrible had happened. "What¡¯s going on, uncle?" I knocked back a few magic knights with a slash before asking. "I got terrible news!" Hot and Sour Noodles uttered through gritted teeth, "Just a few minutes ago, a group of assassins managed to slip into Dawn City and take out our teleport NPCs. Both Sky City and Windy City were also under attack by several groups of light cavalry as well." "What?" He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open in astonishment. "That¡¯s impossible. How did those assassins slip past Dawn Valley?" Hot and Sour Noodles clenched his fists and answered, "They didn¡¯t come from Windy Trail. They spent almost three hours scaling Dragonbone Mountain Range to infiltrate our land!" Li Chengfeng said, "That¡¯s not good. If Dawn City¡¯s teleportation formation doesn¡¯t work, resupplying our frontlines will become very difficult. Not only do we have to run back to Dawn City for repairs on foot, we don¡¯t have enough food to keep fighting. The bread and dried meat in Dawn City are only good enough for Level 100 players!" I nodded. "That¡¯s right. Level 100 food will only give us Level 150 players 10 points of Satiety or so. On the other hand, Level 150 food will increase our Satiety by 50 in one go. There¡¯s no comparison." Hot and Sour Noodles sucked in a deep breath. "Worse, the rules state that every player can only carry 10 stacks of food with them at a time. Many of us are going to have to fight on an empty stomach for sure." It was at this moment a new rider entered our camp. To our surprise, it was Hegemon Palace¡¯s vice leader, Little Piglet! Little Piglet was clad in black armor and riding a slick, black horse. After he jumped down his mount, he said loudly, "Is this really the time to have a leisurely conversation?" I shot him a glance. "What now?" Little Piglet growled. "What now? Sky City was attacked by the enemy! An enemy cavalry of 20000 spent over 5 hours riding through Bone Desert and circling around Frosty Night Hill to arrive at our city! They¡¯re currently slaughtering everyone at the gates!" "What? They managed to travel all the way to our gates¡­?" Li Chengfeng exclaimed in surprise before frowning deeply at Little Piglet. "What the fuck is Hegemon Palace doing? We didn¡¯t even ask you to defend Dawn Valley, and now you can¡¯t even secure Sky City? It¡¯s only 20000 riders! Don¡¯t tell me you can¡¯t even beat that number? Get your ass back to Sky City and protect our gates already!" Little Piglet turned red in the face. "Fuck you, you think I don¡¯t want to? The people who attacked Sky City teleported from Titan City to India¡¯s Elephant City!" "So what?" "The leader of the attackers is a man called Titan God!" "Titan?" Li Chengfeng¡¯s frown abruptly deepened. "I see. You mean that Titan God?" "That¡¯s right!" Little Piglet said sternly, "I heard that their mounts are all Level 145 Purple Gold Rank boss mounts. Frankly, there¡¯s no way Hegemon Palace can stop them by ourselves." I browsed the database quickly and found the information I sought quickly¡ª Titan God Lv-159 Great Earth Thunder Warrior City: Titan City Guild: Titan Position: Leader Introduction: The number one player of Titan City. Single-handedly founded the Titan guild from nothing and became a critical figure in Titan City in no time. A Heroic Bannerman and the face of North America¡¯s VR gaming. ¡­¡­ I had heard of this guy before. He was an incredible player who joined Spirit of Grief during the latter stage of the game. He was a player who fought Candle Dragon on equal footing when Candlelight Shadow and Candle Dragon were at their peak. He was an epic and incredibly influential legend in the North America server, and not in a million years did I imagine that he would reach Sky City so quickly. "What do you think, Lu Chen?" Hot and Sour Noodles looked at me. I grinned. "Well, I don¡¯t see how this has anything to do with us. No matter how strong Titan God is, he only has 20000 cavalry. He can¡¯t possibly fight his way into the palace and kidnap Princess Karinshan as his mistress of the fort, can he? I¡¯m not worried at all. It¡¯ll only take Karinshan one or two hits to kill him¡­" Then Little Piglet said, "Titan God is attacking from the eastern gate. I heard that he¡¯s planning to murder your Airforce One!" I immediately pulled out my sword and declared, "Everyone bears responsibility for the prosperity of our country. I will head back with my men and eliminate them right now!" "Wait¡­" Before I could leave, Hot and Sour Noodles stopped me. "I received news just a few seconds ago from Snowy Cathaya. Apparently, Wind Fantasy is bored out of her mind doing nothing at Dawn City, so she offered to leave with Purple Marquis and challenge Titan God at Sky City!" That only added to my determination to leave. "Alright, I¡¯m going too!" Then, I heard He Yi saying quietly, "Do you really want to go on a date when we¡¯re fighting a Nation War¡­" That brought me back to my senses and turned my cheeks red. "Okay, I¡¯ll stay behind and fight against Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles broke into a smile. "Good. Let¡¯s continue defending the entrance to Dawn Valley then!" Chapter 730: Fire Catapul ¡­¡­ The sun slowly set on the west side of the mountain range. The ray of red shining on our faces and reflecting wildly off the surface of our blades almost looked like blood. Chiang! Gui Guzi stabbed his spear into the ground and wiped the blood and sweat from his forehead. He exhaled deeply before saying, "We¡¯ve been fighting for 12 hours straight, and we haven¡¯t allowed the Northern Alliance to set even half a foot in Dawn Valley. Hehe, we¡¯re doing pretty well, aren¡¯t we?" "Not necessarily!" Li Chengfeng pointed to the right. "Take a look at Candle Dragon!" "Urk¡­" Gui Guzi groaned when he discovered that Candle Dragon¡¯s entire troop formation was crumbling bit by bit. Their enemies were the main armies of Hero City, Seven Star City and Titan City, and their casualties were severe to say the least. Even their allies¡ªHall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain and Throne Seeker¡ªhad lost almost half of their overall numbers. "Candle Dragon¡¯s about to fall apart." Li Chengfeng said with a cold glint in his eyes, "When Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow and Transient Smoke and Clouds left to repair their equipment, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow caught them with their pants down and killed almost 5000 Viper Dragoons in one go. Hero City¡¯s players sure are amazing; they¡¯re at least way better than the bangzi!" Gui Guzi asked, "What should we do? Should we send someone to reinforce Candle Dragon?" Li Chengfeng spat on the ground. "Of course not! Didn¡¯t you notice Candle Dragon withdrawing their formation and leaving almost half of the defense line to us? We were supposed to guard 33% of the entrance only, but now almost 50% of the gap is filled by our men! Sure their casualties are severe, but we¡¯re not faring much better either! We¡¯ve lost almost ten thousand magic knights in our main guild, you know? Those useless bastards, pooh!" Xu Yang asked me, "What should we do then, boss, Lu Chen?" Slicing apart a magic knight¡¯s shield with her Blade of the Earthen Soul, He Yi looked back at us and said, "What else? Keep plugging the valley entrance, of course. If Candle Dragon¡¯s defense line does crumble, we must fly over and save them. If we lose this entrance, the elite cavalry of the Northern Alliance will be able to ride straight into our domain unhindered. What can we possibly do to stop them then?" Xu Yang grinned. "Alright then, we have a decision! Everyone, keep your heads up and keep defending the pass! Also, let¡¯s tell the core forces of Bloody Mercenaries to replace us temporarily! Our main guild could definitely use a 4-hour break!" "Okay!" I nodded. We were just humans, and we had been fighting for over 12 hours. Countless people were so tired that they could barely keep their eyes open. It was at this moment Hot and Sour Noodles showed up with a greeting shout, "How is Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls doing, Lu Chen?" I pointed at the battle happening right in front of us and said, "It¡¯s fucking crazy out there, we¡¯re losing people every second, and worst of all, we¡¯re all tired as fuck. Any ideas?" Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. "That is exactly what I came here for. I¡¯ve contacted Hunting Moon Dynasty, The Monarch Descends and Zero Pitch Sonata, and they¡¯ll be replacing Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Candle Dragon and Purple Lily in an hour. You only have 7 hours to rest though. They won¡¯t be able to hold on for too long." "Good, that¡¯s good, heh!" "Well, that¡¯s all I have to say. I¡¯ll be checking out other corners of the battlefield." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Hot and Sour Noodles turned his mount around and was just about to leave when the ground suddenly shook a little. The next moment, we heard the shrill noise of mechanical springs being discharged, and saw a hail of flaming rocks falling toward us! My pupils shrank. Holy shit, what is this bombardment?! Bang bang bang... The flaming rocks exploded amidst our players and caused bloodcurdling screams to rise everywhere. Almost 50 players were dead in an instant, and even Hot and Sour Noodles was sent stumbling backward by the shockwave. When a flaming debris scratched his shoulder, it caught on fire and caused him to lose over 10k HP! Who would¡¯ve thought that even something so tiny could do so much damage!? "What happened, Lu Chen?!" Hot and Sour Noodles exclaimed in shock. I looked to the distance and uttered through gritted teeth, "Shit, it looks like the Northern Alliance decided to use their heavy artillery during our moment of exhaustion! I¡¯ve read about this weapon on the forums before. It¡¯s a siege weapon mass-produced by Titan City and Seven Star City, the Fire Catapult. It¡¯s far stronger than a normal catapult, and it deals continuous burn damage. I thought it was just a rumor at the time, so you can imagine how surprised I am right now!" On the hills, Beiming Xue said to me from above the branch of a low hanging pine tree, "Big bro, I spot almost 100 of those Fire Catapults from up here, and they¡¯ve all been set up into formation already! Be careful!" I looked up and asked, "Beiming, do you think you can reach them? The Fire Catapult¡¯s HP and Defense aren¡¯t too high, so a single concentrated volley should be enough to one-shot it!" But Beiming Xue shook her head and said, "It¡¯s too far away even for my Range stratagem, unless¡­" "Unless?" "Unless we leave it to Autumn Carrot, the Candle Dragon archer with Eagle-eyed, a Famous General skill that boosts attack range by 200% to lead the assault team!" "Got it!" I hurriedly turned around to rush to Candle Dragon¡¯s camp, but I was greeted by a sea of flames! ¡­¡­ "Ahhhh¡­" Candle Dragon had suffered a concentrated bombardment from the Fire Catapults, and people were screaming and dying everywhere. No magic knight was strong enough to withstand this many flaming rocks, and the first defense line of Candle Dragon was shattered instantly! "Shit!" Hot and Sour Noodles clenched his fists. "Fuck! Candle Dragon¡¯s about to break!" I hurriedly leaped atop my mount and shouted, "Dragonlight Cavalry, ride with me! We¡¯re all dead if we don¡¯t take out as many Fire Catapults as possible!" Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and everyone else got on their horses, and the four great Famous General Skills of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡ªKnight God, Knight General, Martial God and Royal Road¡ªcame to life once more. Two thousand vigorous Dragonlight Cavalrymen dashed out of the frontlines with me acting as the point. Stretching my arm to one side to summon my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King on the other, I carved through the enemy ranks like a hot knife through butter until I reached the center of the enemy¡¯s formation. As expected, a row of Fire Catapults¡ªthey looked a bit like tractors from where I was¡ªwere aligned about 100 yards away from us, and rocks wrapped in oiled cloth were burning inside the buckets. Once the rocks were set alight, they were launched into the air to crush and burn the people on the ground. ¡­¡­ "Attack!" He Yi and I launched our AoE skills, Burning Blade Slash and Purgatory of Ice and Magma, at almost the same time. We also happened to be targeting the group of elite magic knights directly in front of us. The defense line was made up of the Northern Alliance¡¯s best magic knights, and it was a fact that these magic knights had stood up against Candle Dragon for 5 hours straight. However, they were incapable of surviving my and He Yi¡¯s attack, and over 70% of them were one-shot before they could bring up their Guard! The sound of equipment and potions dropping resounded for a few seconds! Beside me, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s Rock Smash and Chaos Moon¡¯s Rock Crush joined together and wreaked havoc amid the enemies. High Fighting Spirits also charged right into the center of the enemy formation and used Xiezhi Howl, starting a beastial hurricane that tore all surrounding players to pieces. Our sudden assault greatly disrupted the Northern Alliance¡¯s formation. A pale-faced, Level 148 magic knight staggered to the back in fear as he stuttered, "Fuck, this Dragonlight Cavalry is coming again. Dammit, just how many will they kill before they¡¯re satisfied? Their Defense is so high that there¡¯s nothing we can do to them at all¡­" Suddenly, a sword burst out of the magic knight¡¯s chest and killed him on the spot. He was none other than the front commander of the Northern Alliance, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. His comrade¡¯s body still hanging from his sword, he shouted, "Slaughter these arrogant Chinese riders to the last! Show them what a knight¡¯s oath really means!" An entire troop of elite cavalry instantly responded to his command and counter-charged us! When two people meet, only one will emerge victorious. I spurred my mount to move even faster and charged straight toward the enemy player in front of me, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. It¡¯s time to decide a winner between the two of us! I raised an arm and pointed at the magic knight behind Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, shackling him with the God Binding Art. As a result, the magic knights behind him ran into the poor bastard and collapsed into an unsightly mess for a time. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow instantly became the only rider to still be charging toward us! "Let¡¯s go! Kill Vienna!" I shouted as I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow didn¡¯t underestimate me as he zigzagged for a bit before dashing toward me from the side! "Heh!" I reined in my mount and changed my speed, direction and accelerated in one fluid motion. My APM skyrocketed past the 700 mark, and every detail was executed to perfection. Thanks to the Armored Ice Qillin Horse¡¯s impressive turn rate, I was able to maneuver behind Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and fire Burning Blade Slash at his back! "What?" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow didn¡¯t expect me to be this quick, decisive and skillful. Even for him, the only thing he could do in this situation was to lift his sword and parry the skill. It was an ultimate duel of skills! MISS! 27812! 34878! To Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s disappointment, he only managed to parry my first attack. I had consciously changed the attack angle of my second and third strike, catching him off-guard. There was nothing he could do to stop them! ¡­¡­ "Chengfeng, Little Gui, I leave him to you!" I didn¡¯t stop to fight Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. After hitting him once with Burning Blade Slash, I continued to speed toward the Fire Catapults without pause. It was because our goal was to destroy the Fire Catapults, not dick around with Vienna. Behind me, Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng pincered Vienna¡¯s Sorrow from both sides and cut off his path of retreat with Dragonbone Flurry and Aurora Thrust. Then, they used Barrier Break together and attempted to end Vienna¡¯s Sorrow life once and for all. "Fuck!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had never fallen into such dire straits before. He had no choice but to use his invincibility skill and protect himself from dying. He retreated to safety and called out to his comrades at the same time, "Fire Catapults, change targets and destroy these black riders now!" ¡­¡­ Creak... The Fire Catapults turned around and aimed at us. The next moment, countless flaming rocks flew toward the Dragonlight Cavalry! 1. slang for Koreans Chapter 731: Shredded Defense I could feel a scorching heat approaching me as the flaming rock flew toward my direction, so I steered my mount to the side to dodge it. The maneuver was ridiculously simple to pull off because the Armored Ice Qilin Horse had a high turn rate, and I glided out of harm¡¯s way like I was drifting. However, the flaming rocks exploded in the middle of the Dragonlight Cavalry behind me and caused a ton of direct and splash damage. Practically every damage number rising above their heads was above 10k; a deadly number for the Dragonlight Cavalry because their average HP was between 50k to 90k only. There was no way they could hold out for long if this continued! I swung my sword and fired Thousand Ice Slash in front of me. At the same time, I shouted, "Speed up! Speed up! We¡¯ll reach the Fire Catapults in just half a minute! Be sure to destroy them as a group for maximum efficiency! The Fire Catapults must be destroyed no matter the cost!" ¡­¡­ Boom! This time, a flaming rock launched in my direction moved too swiftly to dodge. Burning with anger, I swung the Cyan Netherworld Sword right as it was about to make contact! Bang! To my surprise, my swing actually split the rock in half. However, the burning oil still spilled across my body and deleted over 30k HP in an instant. How deadly! Not far away, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow shouted, "Intercept them, riders! Don¡¯t let them get close to the catapults! Archers, stun them with your Shock Arrows and Mountain Stagger Arrows! Dammit, where the hell did the Chinese find these elite mounts? Who even are these people?? I¡¯ve never heard of them before!!" The elite cavalry of the Northern Alliance charged us from the sides in an attempt to surround us. We paid them no heed and continued charging forward. Bang bang bang! Three cavalries slammed into each other at once. The sound of horse meat smashing against horse meat was unpleasant to say the least. Suddenly, Li Chengfeng raised his sword and shouted, "It is time! Hoof Trample!" Every Dragonlight Cavalryman activated their mount skill once and injected the fear of death into the enemies. The next moment, every magic knight who was too close was one-shot where they stood. This one engagement had reaped almost a thousand lives in one go! "Keep charging! Magic knights, keep your shields up and use your Holy Shields to resist the enemy¡¯s Mountain Stagger Arrows!" After I gave the order, He Yi, Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and every other magic knight rushed to the forefront and raised their shields in front of their chests. The golden light surrounding the equipment signified the usage of Holy Shield! Bang bang... After tearing down the enemy¡¯s defense line like paper, I became the first player to launch Burning Blade Slash at a Fire Catapult! Chiang chiang chiang! 19838! 26376! 31043! One more swing and two swipes from the Phantom Wolf King later, the Fire Catapult¡¯s 100k HP dropped all the way to zero! He Yi, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and the others had also begun attacking the Fire Catapults. The Dragonlight Cavalry were able to tear down the Fire Catapults one by one, but it wasn¡¯t without losses. Countless people died to the enemy¡¯s arrows, magic and flaming rocks, but not a single person had run away in fear. To us, this was a do-or-die battle we would never regret committing to till the end of time! ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang! By now, practically every Dragonlight Cavalryman had been hit by at least a dozen of Mountain Stagger Arrows and Shock Arrows. Their stats were high, but it was only a matter of time before they were stunned and gave the Northern Alliance cavalry the chance to use their Barrier Breaks and kill them. Barrier Break was a skill that ignored a huge percentage of Defense, and even with stratagems like Knight God boosting that stat to obscene numbers, and it was also the main skill that killed our Dragonlight Cavalry. Thud! A shot deleted the final sliver of mount tenacity of a Dragonlight Cavalryman fighting next to Gui Guzi and caused him to drop to the ground. But instead of waiting for death to claim him, he bravely rushed into a group of archers and killed seven or eight people before more arrows finally claimed his life. "Fuck!" Xu Yang¡¯s eyes turned red when he saw this. Charging left and right like an unstoppable truck, he shouted, "Tighten our formation and don¡¯t get separated! Don¡¯t let the enemy divide and conquer us!" It was at this moment my avatar activated its Purple Dragon Howl and fired its draconic energy. After tearing three Fire Catapults in one go and entering the three-second period of weakness, it was killed by a hail of arrows. It was simply too fragile without Ghost Deity Armor. I saw a thick swath of enemy archers and mages in front of us. The few Dragonlight Cavalrymen who tried to charge them were torn to shreds by their arrows and magic. Worse, I saw at least 5 mages carrying a red banner behind their backs, meaning that they were Heroic Bannermen. Almost all of them wore more than two Earth-grade items on their person, and they were the bane of all mounted players, even those as strong as the Dragonlight Cavalry. I cursed inside my head, "Shit, the enemy mages have caught up to us¡­" He Yi looked at me worriedly, "What do we do, Lu Chen? We might be routed if we try to brute-force this!" I nodded in agreement. I couldn¡¯t knowingly steer my comrades toward a dead end. Although we had destroyed over 30 Fire Catapults¡ªand the original plan was to destroy every last one of them¡ªthis should be enough to buy China some time. So, I raised my sword and shouted, "Dragonlight Cavalry, tighten formation and retreat along the path we came from! The rear is now the vanguard, and the vanguard is now the rear! Charge!" We started riding back to our battle line. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was no idiot, so he made the sensible decision and chased after us with his men! It was exactly what I hoped they would do. When the closest enemy got near enough, I hit him with Burning Blade Slash and killed him where he stood. Then, I followed up with a Sword Boomerang! Boom! The spinning blade wreaked havoc among the enemy ranks before returning to my hand. Pointing my sword downward and staring at them coolly, I said, "Come on. I¡¯ll kill everyone you throw at me!" I saw a muscle twitch in Vienna¡¯s face, but he didn¡¯t fall for my taunt. Eyebrows raised, he shouted, "Hero City, continue the assault! Protect our remaining Fire Catapults and advance steadily! We will breach their defenses and set their Dawn City on fire with our Fire Catapults, hahaha!" I shot him a dark look. The fucker was more patient than I thought, and both his courage and wits were excellent. With an opponent like this, my hopes that this Nation War would end in a boring manner was as good as dead. ¡­¡­ Du Thirteen had come to our aid with several thousand Cyan Tiger Cavalry as we made our escape. They helped block the enemy¡¯s advance and gave the Dragonlight Cavalry the room to retreat and reorganize. "How was it? How many Fire Catapults did you destroy?" Hot and Sour Noodles asked hopefully. I counted for a moment before answering, "We took out 37 Fire Catapults in total. It was all we could do since their mage party showed up before we could destroy everything. They would¡¯ve wiped out our ace cavalry had we continued on our course!" Hot and Sour Noodles nodded strongly. "I understand. Thank you for your hard work, Lu Chen. Every player in China will remember you and your Dragonlight Cavalry. You are all the pride of our server!" "What is there to be proud of? So many people died¡­" I thought to myself as I turned around to shoot Xu Yang a question, "Xu Yang, can you make a tally and tell me how many Dragonlight Cavalrymen we¡¯ve lost?" He grinned at me and said, "No need, I have the results already. We lost 197 Dragonlight Cavalrymen in total, so we still have over 1800 remaining. Honestly, we can¡¯t keep doing this. A few more fights like this and we¡¯re going to lose everyone¡­" I gave him a reassuring smile and said, "Don¡¯t worry, not all battles are going to be this hard. We destroyed 37 of their Fire Catapults, and that has to have at least put a lid on their arrogance. We would have all died otherwise." "Yeah. Let¡¯s get back to the fight then. The Fire Catapults are about to go for another round again¡­" "Yeah. Fuuuuuuck¡­" ¡­¡­ Nighttime officially arrived inside the game, but the fight was still continuing. The canyon was alight with light of skills, magic and flaming rocks. Bang! A dozen or so magic knights ate a chestful of arrows and magic before being crushed by a flaming rock. A big gap appeared in between Candle Dragon¡¯s defense line because of it. Tempest Shadow raised his spear and ordered, "Plug the gap, men!" But there was no one left to plug the gap except a couple of assassins and archers left. The task he asked of them was impossible to fulfill. Who would¡¯ve thought that Candle Dragon¡¯s defense line would diminish to this extent!? The Northern Alliance riders at the front saw the opportunity and shouted, "This is our chance! Rush inside and tear apart their defenses!" A group of riders immediately rushed into the gap and widened it more and more. The iron hooves of war horses trampled over the leather-armor and cloth-armor classes as if they didn¡¯t even exist. A series of slashes, stabs, smashes and stomps later, Candle Dragon¡¯s entire formation collapsed almost instantly. At the battle line, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow raised his sword and laughed, "The historic moment is now, brothers and sisters! Charge! Once we conquer Dawn Valley, Dawn City will be ours to take!" It was a disaster. Candle Dragon was the last guild everyone expected to crumble under the enemy¡¯s assault! Candlelight Shadow cut down a couple of players coming his way, but he was incapable of reverting the situation in front of him. Left with no choice, he shouted, "Retreat! Retreat to the second defense line where Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain and Throne Seeker¡¯s cavalry troops are waiting! We can continue halting the enemy¡¯s progress there!" However, that was exactly what Vienna wanted to happen. He pointed his sword forward, and entire mountains quaked to the Northern Alliance¡¯s hooves. The true invasion had finally begun! Chapter 732: Eye of the Storm Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun said, "What else? We need to withdraw with them, or we¡¯ll be pincered from three sides and wiped out!" He Yi nodded. "Yes. Let¡¯s tighten our formation and retreat to the back. We¡¯ll draw the Northern Alliance¡¯s army to Dawn Valley and kill them with its complex terrain!" "Lu Chen will cover our retreat, and the Dragonlight Cavalry will charge the battle line one more time to minimize our losses. Is that fine?" Li Chengfeng looked for my approval. "That works. Go!" The Dragonlight Cavalry was already standing by for orders. Once we joined the parties and took over as party leaders, we all activated our stratagems at once! "Attack! We¡¯re covering our men¡¯s retreat!" After I barked out the order, all 1800 Dragonlight Cavalrymen activated their Charge and ran the enemies over. When it came to guerilla warfare, our cavalry held the absolute advantage. At the very least, it would be incredibly hard for anyone to kill us with our stats. The Cyan Tiger Cavalry¡¯s numbers had dwindled to 7000 or so, and they were also covering our troops¡¯ retreat under Du Thirteen¡¯s leadership. We were able to withdraw slowly to the deeper parts of the valley. Candle Dragon was doing much worse because the enemies were literally on their asses. Behind Candle Dragon was Winter Pine Forest, a map about one kilometer wide, and normally it would be filled with Level 165 mobs. However, this was the Nation War, and the players of three major cities were gathered here. Level 165 wasn¡¯t too threatening, so the mobs were probably swept clean a long time ago. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Hot and Sour Noodles was riding across an open plain and shouting, "Withdraw slowly to the valley! Stay in formation! Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon, Flower Room, cover for Candle Dragon right now!" Roaming Dragon and his cavalry were standing by on an empty plain in front of the forest, but he curled his lips and said, "Why should we? Candle Dragon has always treated us like dogs, so why should we take a bullet for them? Candle Dragon can die for all I care. We¡¯ll fight if the cowards of the Northern Alliance attack us, but that¡¯s all!" Flower Room¡¯s Li Le was of the same opinion. "That¡¯s right. Candle Dragon thinks we¡¯re inferior, and Candlelight Shadow barely gives a shit about us. In that case, he can suffer the consequences of his own inability. Pooh, Candle Dragon thinks they¡¯re unbeatable in the entire world, when really they¡¯re nothing without us! I¡¯m going to stand right here and watch you die, you fool!" Spring Mud grinned widely. "The guild leader is wise!" Li Le grinned back. "Of course!" Little Piglet grinned in understanding. Shangguan Wan¡¯er walked up to Pillar of the Nation and asked, "Are we not going to help Candle Dragon, guild leader?" Pillar of the Nation curled his lips. "Nah. In fact, I can¡¯t wait for Candle Dragon to die so that Hegemon Palace can do well in this Nation War! Hmph hmph, when the Guild Ranking is refreshed, Hegemon Palace must advance to the Top 5!" Little Piglet said, "Okay. Guild leader is wise! By the way, my contract period has been over for quite some time... How much are going to add to my salary for the extension?" Pillar of the Nation declared magnanimously, "Just give me the number, and I¡¯ll sign the contract!" "The guild leader is wise and peerless!" ¡­¡­ Dawn Valley was a big, complex map that encompassed smaller maps such as Winter Pine Forest, Sunset Swamp, Horse Hoof Valley and more. It was also overgrown with mobs and the place where the victor of this war would be determined. Why? Because Dawn City was right behind Dawn Valley, and withdrawing into Dawn City was the last resort. Dawn City was only a tier 2 city, so there was no way it could survive the bombardment of lethal siege weapons such as the Fire Catapults. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was able to withdraw to the valley as the Dragonlight Cavalry covered their retreat. By now, the Northern Alliance had breached China¡¯s domain completely and was flooding toward us like tidewater. Tens of thousands of elite cavalry had come together as one to trample over the China server. "Form up and assume defensive positions right¡­ now!" Both the main guild and the subguilds halted exactly when I told them to and assumed positions. The magic knights ran to the frontline, thrust their gigantic shields into the ground and prepared to use Holy Shield at a moment¡¯s notice. Behind them, thick rows of archers, mages and other ranged classes were ready to open fire at any moment as well. The random Northern Alliance guilds who were chasing after us stopped in their tracks at once. They understood without saying that they would all die if they treated our defense formation lightly, even if their numbers might be ten times, twenty times or even a hundred times bigger than ours. Moreover, there were still 7000 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen and 1800 Dragonlight Cavalrymen waiting for their turn behind the shield formation. They were the sharpened talons of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and they would tear the enemy to shreds as soon as they found an opportunity! ¡­¡­ The assault of the great army of the Northern Alliance had cut off the thin thread of communication that linked us and Candle Dragon up until now. On the plains, hordes of Northern Alliance cavalry were engaging Mad Dragon and Flower Room in a fierce battle. What this meant was that our guild had become fully isolated on the southwest side. Fine by me! It only makes the battle more exciting! I slowly walked the Armored Ice Qilin Horse slowly in front of the battle line as I gazed toward the distance. My guild emblem was incredibly conspicuous, but no more conspicuous than the five-pointed star on a red flag floating above my head and before my ID. In a Nation War, flags were added to a player¡¯s ID so that friend and foe could be differentiated. I turned around and shot a question to Beiming Xue. "Beiming, you have further vision than us. Can you see ahead and tell me who are our pursuers, and how many Fire Catapults they¡¯ve brought?" Beiming Xue nodded and leaped up a nearby hill. Sitting atop the branch of a red maple tree and swaying her legs, she said smilingly, "Big bro, I see 30 Fire Catapults and way too many people to identify who is coming after us exactly. However, I think more than half of them are players from Hot Sand City?" ¡°Hot Sand City¡­ Vietnam?" I frowned a little. "The Vietnamese sure are a loyal bunch. They didn¡¯t even hesitate to come after us. Well, this is fine¡­" It was at this moment Li Chengfeng came to me and said under his breath, "I contacted a colleague at the Beijing Information Department and asked them to hack into Vietnam¡¯s internal network. I¡¯ve found out their plan¡­" "What the fuck¡­" Both He Yi and I couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit of astonishment. Hacking the other party¡¯s network? Information warfare never felt more real than now. "What is their plan?" I asked him. Li Chengfeng explained grimly, "There are 13 Heroic Bannermen in Hot Sand City, and their leader is a player called Eye of the Storm, also the guild leader of ¡®The Storm¡¯. He¡¯s the one who united the other 16 big guilds of Hot Sand City and formed an alliance called ¡°The 17¡±. Yep, they¡¯re the army right in front of us. Not long ago, they received a mission to purge all hostiles from the southwestern side of Dawn Valley, also known as the land we¡¯re standing on now, so yeah, there¡¯s no avoiding this battle." I sucked in a deep breath before asking, "How many people do they have?" Li Chengfeng smiled. "Vietnam¡¯s total population is about 80 million or so, and about 7% of them are participating in this virtual war. Roughly speaking, we¡¯re facing between 3 million to 5 million players, but no more than that!" I clenched my fists before declaring, "Very well, we shall bury all 5 million of their players at Dawn Valley today. No one will escape our wrath!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the ranks of Hot Sand City split up to admit a magic knight riding atop an armored warhorse. As expected, he was the Level 158 magic knight, Eye of the Storm. The guild emblem on his shoulder was shaped like a blue whirlpool, and most of the players around him belonged to The Storm. Riding his horse across the autumn grassland, Eye of the Storm slowly approached to hearing distance before calling out to us, "We meet again, friends from China!" Chaos Moon simply swung her sword and said, "Cut the bullshit and fight us already!" Eyes turning steely, Eye of the Storm pointed his sword forward and ordered, "The Storm, Azure Shadow, Wings of the Azure Sky, Obliterate, everyone, heed my order! The enemy before us is Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and they¡¯re the third best guild in the China server and a worthy opponent. Kill them all!" Iron hooves started thundering across the ground as the enemy charged! He Yi swung her Blade of the Earthen Soul and ordered loudly, "Archers, stick to Shock Arrow, Mountain Stagger Arrow and Far Shot to kill the enemies! Mages, aim 45 degrees to the sky and launch your Ice Dragon Howls! Freeze these magic knights!" The twang of bowstrings resounded through the air as countless arrows took flight. Many of them were imbued with the power of Bow God, Bow General, Martial God and Purple Dragon! Bang bang bang! The Shock Arrows detonated brightly across the magic knights¡¯ chests and stunned many of them, turning them into obstacles for the comrades behind them. The Mountain Stagger Arrows deleted hundreds of tenacity bars in one volley and forced them to bear our Galaxy Storms on foot. Bloodcurdling screams filled the air for a moment! The sheer amount of fireballs being tossed about the battlefield caused the entire area to become covered in thick smoke, but large groups of magic knights still managed to charge through the wall of fire and approach us. Although our archers easily sniped anyone who got close enough, they kept coming without any hesitation whatsoever. In fact, they held a huge number advantage over us. Hot Sand City¡¯s army was at least 3 million strong, whereas Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ main guild and subguilds had only 200k players. Even counting the dozen or so random guilds who were following us during our retreat, we just barely had enough players to form a defense line that was a million strong and nowhere as firm as it should be. ¡­¡­ "There¡¯s too many of them. A melee is inevitable!" I abruptly unsheathed my weapon and shouted, "We¡¯ll charge together and occupy the first line! Lu Buyi, party only magic knights to boost their HP and Defense! The melee is about to begin!" Behind me, Lu Buyi nodded affirmatively. The number one tactician of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls possessed the stratagem, Purple Dragon, that boosted all player stats by 95%. Suffice it to say, his stratagem was absolutely broken, and if I didn¡¯t have a party to boost with Martial God, I would¡¯ve joined his party myself. ¡­¡­ "Dragonlight Cavalry, form up on the west wing now!" "Cyan Tiger Cavalry, hold the front." "Mages and archers, aim before you shoot, dammit! You have eyes for a reason!" I gave order after order until I was finally done. Then, I looked up and gazed toward the distance. He Yi let out a chuckle beside me. "Hey, what are you looking at?" "The Fire Catapults. They¡¯re getting closer. Only 200 yards more!" "What are you planning?" He Yi looked at me with surprise. "Hehe, just watch!" I licked my lips like a predator eyeing its prey. I could almost feel my blood boiling up with excitement. Chapter 733: Luring the Tiger Away Li Chengfeng raised his sword high and brought it down on the enemy shield in front of him hard. Then, he led a short charge and successfully drove back the enemy a little. Suddenly, a group of players led by a beautiful girl showed up behind our formation. When she raised her scepter and fired an Ice Blast, everyone caught within the explosion of icicles lost at least 20k HP. Some players were even one-shot where they stood. There were only a handful of players in the entire China server who possessed this level of magical power, and among them, the only one who could spare a hand to help Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls right now was of course Stranger of Three Lifetimes of Blazing Hot Lips, our reliable ally. Eyes Like Water rode up to the first battle line and gave He Yi a smile. "Blazing Hot Lips has finished resting and we¡¯re prepared to earn some contribution points. Do you mind, guild leader From Water?" He Yi smiled back. "Of course not, there are way too many contribution points and too few hands to collect everything. Feel free!" Our mage party was still the guild¡¯s biggest shortcoming, so Stranger of Three Lifetimes and her several thousand strong elite mage party was the perfect complement to our weakness. Stranger of Three Lifetimes especially could suppress a hundred-meter battle line with AoE spells all by herself, and that was exactly the kind of firepower we needed right now! "Kill them!" At the front, Xu Yang was spurring his Dragonlight Armored Horse and shouting out skill names as he performed them, coordinating attacks such as Mountain Stagger Slash with his comrades. He looked every bit the part of a fierce general. Countless fireballs and arrows were flying above everyone¡¯s heads, and the battle line where frontliners clashed against frontliners was where the firepower was most concentrated. Everyone who remained standing and fighting despite the seemingly endless baptism of steel was an untouchable angel. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a group of cavalry appeared from our wings and approached us. It was the guild leader of Righteousness, Hot and Sour Noodles. It would seem that he was patrolling the battlefield with his subordinates. "Lu Chen, how is the battle going? Can Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls hold the southwest area of Dawn Valley alone?" Hot and Sour Noodles shouted from beyond our formation. I replied, "We¡¯re doing fine. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll eat up any troop that comes our way, and we won¡¯t lose the southwest area no matter what. The real question is, can Candle Dragon hold the center?" "It¡¯s going to be hard!" I smiled. "Why are you still patrolling then? Go help Candle Dragon already?" "But¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles frowned. "It looks like your guild is facing quite the pressure yourself. Are you sure you can hold this land yourself? Their Fire Catapults are about to show up!" I laughed. "Don¡¯t worry!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment we heard a loud mechanical twang from the distance. A flaming rock hit the battle line and crushed a dozen or so players immediately. "Fuck, speak of the devil¡­" Li Chengfeng uttered through gritted teeth. "Hot Sand City didn¡¯t have this many Fire Catapults, but I heard they agreed to a military order with Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and borrowed over 20 Fire Catapults to assemble their formation of 30. They¡¯re absolutely trying to bury us with those siege weapons!" I raised my eyebrows and ordered confidently, "All Dragonlight Cavalry, move to the left and stand by! Everyone, move the formation 1000 meters to the back right now! Make sure the line is intact and don¡¯t panic! Withdraw now!" Hot and Sour Noodles panicked immediately. "Did your brain burn out, Lu Chen? How could you disrupt your formation after you¡¯ve engaged the enemy? This is suicide!" "Calm down!" I leaped onto my horse and moved to the left side myself. Not ones to waste time, our 1800+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen and Famous Generals such as Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and Chaos Moon were all there. The Northern Alliance chased us every step of the way as we withdrew. The cavalry rushed to the forefront and hacked away at the shields at the back as if they were having the time of their life. However, unbeknownst to the Northern Alliance, their 30 Fire Catapults had become separated from their main army immediately. It was exactly as I had planned. The siege weapon¡¯s movement speed was less than 10% of their cavalry¡¯s, so it would be a miracle if they could keep up with them. This was our chance. Having lost their cavalry, archers and mages¡¯ protection, the Fire Catapults were completely exposed! Chiang! I abruptly unsheathed the Cyan Netherworld Sword and shouted, "Alright, this is our chance, brothers and sisters! Dragonlight Cavalry, charge the Fire Catapults and destroy all 30 of them! Cyan Tiger Cavalry, encircle the enemy¡¯s army from the wings and stop them from intercepting our troops!" "Got it!" Du Thirteen departed with his orders. With my sword pointed in front of me, I squeezed the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and rushed forward like the wind. Behind me, the Dragonlight Cavalry burst out of their forested cover, killed everyone in their way and charged straight for the Fire Catapults! ¡­¡­ "Ah¡­" I saw only a dozen or so warriors standing guard beside the closest Fire Catapult, and a dozen of engineers reloading the siege weapon with rocks and fuel. Not a single one of them was a worthy opponent. One of the warriors widened his eyes and cursed angrily, "Shit, we fell for their trick! They lured our army away from us! Tell the guild leader and the others to turn around before it¡¯s too late¡­" But it was too late. I rushed right past the Fire Catapult and hit it with Burning Blade Slash. Every engineer around the structure was killed, and the Fire Catapult lost more than half its HP. I didn¡¯t bother securing the last hit and moved onto the next Fire Catapult at the back. My apparition followed right beside me, and this time I made it hack away like normal instead of using Purple Dragon Howl. It might only have 75% of my stats, but it was still powerful enough to kill the Northern Alliance players like nothing! The Phantom Wolf King was also darting around the crowd like lightning and killing people with Claw of the Storm. It was an AoE skill, and it made life hell for the heavy-armor players and the Fire Catapults as well. "Someone, turn the Fire Catapults around to attack the enemy cavalry!" I heard someone shouting the order, but they had missed their timing a long time ago. We were simply too fast for the slow-moving siege weapons, and one back and forth was all it took for us to turn all 30 Fire Catapults into piles of rubble. There were multiple pails of black tung oil set beneath the siege weapons, and a chuckling Li Chengfeng came up with a devious idea. After lowering his sword and penetrating an archer¡¯s chest with a Barrier Break, he touched the oil before the flaming energy of the skill faded and instantly set it on fire. The flames instantly devoured a Fire Catapult and drove back the engineers who were hoping to repair it. Everyone copied his behavior, and it wasn¡¯t long before 30 gigantic bonfires chased away the darkness of Dawn Valley and illuminated everyone¡¯s faces. By the time Eye of the Storm and his troops finally came back, all they saw were thirty burning piles of rubble. Face ashen with fury, he shouted, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, it is either you or us!" By now, the Dragonlight Cavalry was already circling back to our main army. On the way back, we realized that the enemy¡¯s mages and archers hadn¡¯t caught up with their cavalry yet, so we seized the opportunity to unleash a fierce assault. The Dragonlight Cavalry was so good that The Storm never had a chance to stop us, so like a hot knife through butter, we rode in and out of their army seven times until Eye of the Storm finally reached us. Only then did we run back to our forces to recuperate and resupply. On an empty field, Hot and Sour Noodles and the several hundred players he brought with him stared at Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls blankly for a very long time. He murmured in a daze, "What a tactic¡­ I finally understand what Lonely Grave meant when he said that getting either Falling Dust or Candlelight Shadow is enough to conquer the world¡­" ¡­¡­ The war wasn¡¯t over yet, so the moment the Dragonlight Cavalry was fully healed I immediately ordered the bards to refresh their buffs. All 1800+ of our Dragonlight Cavalrymen were buffed, and according to the rules of the Nation War, a portion of the contribution points we earned were shared with the bards who buffed us. It was an important rule that prevented the class from going obsolete. Of course, priests could earn contribution points via effective healing as well. For example, I was currently the runner-up of the contribution ranking, and every time Murong Mingyue healed me for 50% of my HP, she would gain at least 100 kills¡¯ worth of contribution points from me. It was because I had killed so many people that I was metaphorically buried under a mountain of contribution points. The assault was a resounding success. We destroyed all the Fire Catapults and lost only 4 Dragonlight Cavalrymen in exchange. This meant that the Dragonlight Cavalry was almost unscathed every time they set out for an operation. Knight God, Royal Road and Knight General were just simply too good, and the sadder the Northern Alliance was, the happier we became. It would be a waste not to deploy the Dragonlight Cavalry, so of course we were going to maximize its value by deploying it from the start until the end of the war! Chiang! I pulled out my sword again and shouted, "Brothers and sisters, if you¡¯re done resupplying yourselves, we¡¯re going to attack again! All those whose Satiety is below 40% should eat bread right now! How much longer can we keep this up?!" Li Chengfeng answered, "We¡¯re on our last loaf of bread. Personally, I¡¯ll be entering a starved state in 8 hours, and I¡¯m sure almost all of us are the same." High Fighting Spirits swung his war hammer and declared, "It¡¯s fine, I can fight on an empty stomach!" But Chaos Moon shot him a glance and said, "Idiot, your Attack stat will be greatly diminished when your Satiety is below 30%. Are you trying to commit suicide?" I smiled. "It¡¯s fine, Bloody Mercenaries is transporting our supplies. They¡¯re returning from Sky Forest right now, so let¡¯s focus on earning more contribution points and spread the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s fame throughout the world!" "Alright!" Everyone pulled out their weapons in joy and attacked the enemy from the flanks. The charge resulted in the demise of an entire priest party. When that was over, we rode to the center of The Storm¡¯s army next and ravaged the hell out of an archer party. Eye of the Storm was absolutely furious because of this. "God dammit, is this cavalry immortal or something? Who is their commander?" Eye of the Storm erupted. Beside him, an archer answered, "Guild leader, I found out the news you wanted. This cavalry is called the Dragonlight Cavalry, and they are the ace cavalry of China¡¯s third best guild, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Their vice leader is that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, the 7th CGL Hall of Famer, and their guild leader is a powerful female knight called From Water!" Eye of the Storm said with chilly eyes, "Everyone, follow me! We¡¯re going to take out From Water and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" Chapter 734: Horse Hoof Valley "Sure!" Li Chengfeng agreed. "Lu Chen will hit him from the right, and I, from the left. Boss, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Little Gui and everyone else will charge him from the front. Let¡¯s try and kill this Eye of the Storm in one go, yeah?" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun exclaimed dumbfoundedly, "Think of Eye of the Storm¡¯s feelings, you monster." ¡­¡­ "Turn around, attack!" We turned our mounts around and counter-charged the enemy, the rest of the Dragonlight Cavalry copying our movements. They knew to keep formation because a stranded and out-of-position cavalryman was easy to cut down. Moreover, cavalry troops relied on their explosive strength and speed to charge the enemy formations, and it was impossible to plant a seed of fear in the enemies with small numbers. I could see the anger on Eye of the Storm¡¯s face. He was accompanied by another Heroic Bannerman who was also a magic knight, and they were riding side by side straight toward me. Li Chengfeng couldn¡¯t help but laugh. "Look at them! They are both attracted to you because your CGL Hall of Fame badge is too shiny! Hehe, they must think they can¡¯t lose because it¡¯s 2 Heroic Bannerman versus 1 CGL Hall of Famer!" Chaos Moon giggled. "In that case, should we show him the power of nobodies?" I nodded seriously. "Yes, you guys can kill them. I¡¯ll stay my hand this time!" "Wait, you¡¯re actually not going to fight?" Li Chengfeng glanced at me in astonishment. I nodded again. "Yes, I¡¯ll be the bait this time. Everyone, get ready. I¡¯m heading out¡­" "Oh?" I abruptly sped up and surged forward like a lightning bolt. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse was an Earth Rank Boss mount, so of course it was faster than the Dragonlight Cavalry. The moment I got close to the two riders, the magic knight next to Eye of the Storm immediately raised his spear in an attempt to skewer me! Thud! A beam of light about ten meters long burst out of the tip of his spear. Having expected this from the start, I pulled the reins abruptly and shifted to the side, narrowly dodging the attack. Eye of the Storm barked, "You are courting death!" His warhorse neighed menacingly as Eye of the Storm charged toward me and attempted to hit me with a knight¡¯s Triple Slash and a basic attack. Surprisingly, each attack came at me from a different angle! 17663! The combination attack deleted less than 20% of my max HP, shocking Eye of the Storm. Before he could react, I moved past him and fired Burning Blade Slash at the riders at the back, killing a ton of The Storm players in an instant. Behind me, Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon passed by the other Heroic Bannerman and hit him a Rock Crush + Barrier Break and Dragonbone Flurry + Cyan Dragon Horn combos with near-perfect synchrony, deleting most of his health in an instant. The terrified man tried to retreat, but Gui Guzi caught up to him and executed his long-range Aurora Thrust! Thud thud thud... As it turned out, Gui Guzi had gotten much better at grasping his skill distance. The spear beams extended about 17 yards or so and hit the Heroic Bannerman squarely on the back. Everyone knows that the flame of an alcohol burner is hotter on the outside than on the inside, and Gui Guzi¡¯s attack followed the same principle. The end part of the skill dealt the most damage! "Ah¡­" The magic knight let out a terrible groan and dropped dead instantly. Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, Heroic Bannerman "Celest" (Vietnam) has been killed by player "Gui Guzi" (China)! ¡­¡­ Very good, it was an instakill. It looks like not even a Heroic Bannerman could withstand the combined assault of our braves! Eye of the Storm turned white immediately. He thought that I was the only powerful and skillful player in my guild, and that everyone else was just relying on their equipment and mount advantage to tear down our enemies. Well, he thought wrong. Every one of our Famous Generals was as good as a Heroic Bannerman, if not better! Swhoosh! Unfortunately, Eye of the Storm managed to activate his invincibility skill before He Yi¡¯s Blade of the Earthen Soul could claim his life. He shouted as he ran, "Just you wait, The Storm will return for vengeance!" "Pooh!" Li Chengfeng spat once on the ground as he stared at Eye of the Storm¡¯s shrinking back. "And he calls himself an expert." ¡­¡­ After that, I continued to lead the charge and wreak havoc to the enemy lines. Three hours passed by in the blink of an eye, and we killed so many players that our bodies were literally shaking with exhaustion. It was impossible to say exactly how many enemies we had killed so far, but 37 players from our Dragonlight Cavalry were in the Top 100 of our server¡¯s Nation War contribution ranking. We¡¯ve created a miracle for sure! Thud thud thud... All of us were soaked in blood by the time we returned to the camp. He Yi¡¯s snow-white cape was dyed blood-red, and my Soul Suppressing Cloak was even worse¡ªblood was literally dripping off the tattered fabric. Drip... The blood droplets bloomed like beautiful red flowers against the green grass. I jumped off my mount and stabbed the Cyan Netherworld Sword on the ground next to me. Then, I leaned against a pine tree and closed my eyes. Bone-deep fatigue washed over me for a moment. He Yi sat down next to me and said, "You look tired, Lu Chen." "Mn." "I¡¯m tired too, but it doesn¡¯t look like we¡¯re going to get a break anytime soon." "Yeah¡­" I opened my eyes and looked at He Yi. With an exhausted look on her face, she took off her helmet and let her hair cascade against her shoulder like a waterfall. I gave her a smile and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "You¡¯ve been working really hard for the past few days, Sister Yi. Keep this up, and you¡¯ll become a famous expert in China for sure!" He Yi nodded. "I know. Back in the days I couldn¡¯t focus on the game, but now¡­" "Now?" "It¡¯s different now, hehe¡­" He Yi replied noncommittally before leaning against my chest. "Lu Chen, you know you¡¯re the current runner-up on the Nation War contribution ranking, right? You¡¯re only 3% away from Luo River God of the Capital." "Yeah. Sister Wang Luo is a mage, so it¡¯s just impossible to beat her in this department. She can kill countless players with a simple spell, while all my AoE skills have cooldowns¡­" "Yeah, it¡¯s just unfair¡­" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a group of players walked up to us. They were Xu Yang, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, and Chaos Moon. Xu Yang plopped his butt on the ground immediately after he reached us. "Boss, Lu Chen, the casualty report for the last five hours is ready!" "Hit me¡­" I mentally prepared myself for the worst. Xu Yang nodded and said, "We have 1755 Dragonlight Cavalrymen left, and it is the troop that lost the least amount of people despite killing the most enemies. We have 4578 Cyan Tiger Cavalry left. Including the Dragonlight Cavalry and the Cyan Tiger Cavalry, we lost a total of 13982 people in the main guild, or in other words, almost half. Our subguilds are doing even worse. Almost all of the magic knights in the first to third subguild are dead. The Northern Alliance possess too much firepower, and the Bloody Mercenaries had been fighting on the frontlines all this time, so their casualty rate is 87%. There are only a thousand or so of them left now. Roughly speaking, we only have 110k+ troops left that we can mobilize, which isn¡¯t many at all¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes added, "Blazing Hot Lips lost another 2000+ players in the battle just now, so we only have 7000 able-bodied players left in the entire guild. This has been a most costly war¡­" He Yi said quietly, "It¡¯s a bit unrealistic to think that we can beat several million enemies with just 110k. Moreover, the terrain we¡¯re fighting on is quite open, and we¡¯re losing too many mounted players. If this continues, we¡¯ll be annihilated for sure." Xu Yang asked, "But what else can we do except keep fighting?" I opened the map and looked instead of joining the conversation. Behind us was a dense forest, and to the southwest direction lay a deep valley called "Horse Hoof Valley¡±. Just as its name might suggest, the valley itself was shaped like a horse hoof. It wasn¡¯t a big valley, and it was so secluded that most people were dissuaded from grinding in it. Horse Hoof Valley had a narrow entrance and a wide interior, but it wasn¡¯t a good place for cavalry battles. I asked, "What is the strongest troop type The Storm currently possesses?" Xu Yang answered immediately, "Riders. Just an hour ago, Eye of the Storm declared that he will flatten our guild with the one million elite cavalry he brought from Hot Sand City." "Very well!" My eyes turned steely. "We will annihilate this elite cavalry and send Eye of the Storm packing! We¡¯ll do it like this: first, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will withdraw its mages, archers, bards, tacticians and other backliners to Horse Hoof Valley and move into ambush positions. After that, everyone will withdraw to Horse Hoof Valley except the Dragonlight Cavalry!" Xu Yang asked in surprise, "What are you planning?" I smiled. "Eye of the Storm couldn¡¯t wait to see the Dragonlight Cavalry destroyed, so we¡¯ll use the Dragonlight Cavalry as bait and lure their one million elite cavalry into Horse Hoof Valley! Once the enemy is in place, we¡¯ll coordinate with our backliners, seal off the valley and annihilate all one million of their troops!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ eyes lit up. "That¡¯s a good idea! Cavalry can¡¯t really charge inside valleys, and the terrain is usually narrow enough to force them to trample over each other. It¡¯ll be like shooting fish in a barrel! Eye of the Storm will die for sure!" I nodded and rose to my feet. "Give the order to begin the operation immediately. This is a critical battle for us because we cannot reorganize and aid Dawn City until we¡¯ve wiped out all the Vietnamese players of Hot Sand City!" "Got it!" Xu Yang and went to discuss the details with Li Chengfeng immediately. After he gave the order, the troops at the back withdrew silently into the valley and left our 20000 riders to fend for themselves for a moment. ¡­¡­ I climbed up my mount again, pulled out the Cyan Netherworld Sword and smiled at them. "Dragonlight Cavalry, whether or not we can defend our homeland successfully is up to you now. Kill the enemies for duty and glory!" Chapter 735: Tempting Bai At the battle line, a blade-wielding Northern Alliance berserker laughed madly as he chased after our withdrawing troops. However... Thud! An arrow hit him squarely on the head and dragged him down his horse. It was none other than Beiming Xue herself shooting Mountain Stagger Arrow at him. Beiming Xue was the last ranged player to retreat from the battlefield, and she calmly let loose her Spiraling Arrow Blades and Evil Spirit Volleys to reduce the pressure on Du Thirteen¡¯s Cyan Tiger Cavalry. Outdone only by the Dragonlight Cavalry, the Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen led by Du Thirteen were without a doubt the most outstanding fighters of the Nation War. They had played all sorts of roles such as tanking, charging, and covering our retreat, and the losses they suffered was a testament to their hard work. Even now, they had to shoulder the undesirable burden of covering our army¡¯s retreat again. ¡­¡­ Eye of the Storm was swinging his blade left and right and leading the pursuit on Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ withdrawing troops. Battle cries could be heard everywhere in the small open plain. Suddenly, the Dragonlight Cavalry led by me, Gui Guzi, He Yi and Li Chengfeng appeared from their wing and cut right into the center of their army. Behind me, the 1700+ riders buffed by all kinds of skills and stratagems hacked away at the enemy troops like mad. "Shit! The Dragonlight Cavalry appeared again!" The ally guild of The Storm was called Dawn. Their guild leader, a Heroic Bannerman and a warrior was shouting, "Watch out, everyone! The Dragonlight Cavalry is the strongest cavalry of China! Eye of the Storm, surround their troops from the wing and pressure their troops already! Otherwise, we¡¯re no more than fishes on the chopping block!" Eye of the Storm laughed loudly and pointed to the front. "There¡¯s no need to be afraid, friend! Did you forget that we have a million riders, and the Dragonlight Cavalry numbers less than two thousand? Surround these bastards and kill them one by one!" "Alright!" Eye of the Storm was already charging toward the Dragonlight Cavalry with raging eyes. Clearly, the humiliation where we forced him to escape with his tail between his legs was still fresh in his mind. He shouted, "Grind them down! Don¡¯t let even a single Dragonlight Cavalryman escape! The ace cavalry of the China server will be buried by our power, hahahaha¡­" ¡­¡­ "What the fuck is that?" However, the moment the skill faded, Eye of the Storm charged him and landed a triple hit on his shoulder! Bang bang bang! 16277! 13472! 14282! High Fighting Spirits only had 80k HP or so, so it wasn¡¯t an insignificant amount of damage. Li Chengfeng immediately came to his aid and knocked Eye of the Storm¡¯s Barrier Break to the side. He also seized the momentum to ram his Dragonlight Armored Horse into Eye of the Storm¡¯s mount. Boom! Gathering the power of the cyan dragon¡¯s soul around his right fist, Li Chengfeng slipped into Eye of the Storm¡¯s lap and punched him right on the chest! Bang! The Heroic Bannerman screamed in pain. It was bad enough that the nobody had punched him for 27833 with his bare hands, but skill-wise he was completely outclassed by his opponent as well! "You bastard! I¡¯m going to kill you!" Eye of the Storm¡¯s eyes were bloodshot at this point. Li Chengfeng didn¡¯t bother replying to the threat. He simply thrust his sword forward and used Dragonbone Flurry! Chiang chiang chiang! Eye of the Storm managed to parry the first strike but not the remaining two strikes. Then, Li Chengfeng dodged his counterattack with a beautiful half-arc trot around his enemy¡¯s mount before pouncing back for another strike. This time, his sword glowed with the power of Cyan Dragon Horn! Eye of the Storm panicked and tried to Guard with his shield. However, Li Chengfeng immediately followed up with a Crushing Blow that dropped his HP to less than 30%! "How¡­ how is this possible?" In the end, the defeated Eye of the Storm had no choice but to escape with his bodyguards. If he dared to prolong the battle any further, the dragon warrior would kill him for sure. ¡­¡­ The guild leader of Dawn was unperturbed, however. He swung his weapon and shouted, "Charge! Surround and kill them!" Dawn¡¯s men started charging and encircling around our troops. It wasn¡¯t good news for us, of course. If the enemy managed to surround us, there was a real chance that our Dragonlight Cavalry would be routed by the enemy. He Yi pointed her sword behind us and shouted, "Let¡¯s break out and hit and run! Don¡¯t fight them head-on!" Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits nodded and led the reverse charge. While this was going on, I pointed my palm at the guild leader of Dawn and immobilized him with God Binding Art. After hitting him twice with Dragon Slaying Slash, I threw my sword at him using Sword Boomerang! Bang bang bang! 19838! 20191! 27272! Finally, I commanded the Phantom Wolf King to use Purgatory Storm! Boom! A gigantic storm engulfed the crowd with that guild leader right in the middle of it. Even through the bloody storm I could see the fleeting astonishment in his eyes. He probably never thought there would be a day where he was destroyed by a warrior from range. He toppled limply from his horse after his HP reached zero. Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, the Heroic Bannerman "Wise Eternal" (Vietnam) has been killed by player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China)! ¡­¡­ The kill lifted everyone¡¯s spirits. We laughed as we fought and pulled away from the enemy in an orderly manner. I looked to the horizon and saw the last group of ranged players entering Horse Hoof Valley. Another ten minutes or so, and we wouldn¡¯t need to delay the enemy any longer. Li Chengfeng asked, "Lu Chen, do you really think the Vietnamese would be this stupid? Would they really follow us into Horse Hoof Valley even though it¡¯s obviously a trap?" I smiled. "Well, you have to think about it this way. Eye of the Storm has a million cavalrymen, and there are only 100k or so of us. It is practically inconceivable that they¡¯d lose to us, and you¡¯ve seen yourself how confident he looked earlier. That being said, you do have a point. To make sure that they¡¯ll definitely be baited into Horse Hoof Valley, I want you and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun to take a couple hundred men with you and lose horribly. Get it? The sorrier you look, the better! It is the key to all feints!" Li Chengfeng smiled back. "God damn, you¡¯re truly a shameless bastard. I know what to do¡­" Li Chengfeng beckoned Gui Guzi and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun to follow him. Then, the three of them took 400 Dragonlight Cavalry with them, activated Knight God and started covering our retreat. As I was riding toward the valley, I looked back and saw Li Chengfeng and the others engaging the enemy already. After causing a bit of havoc and losing about 75% of their HP, they started running toward our direction. Thud! Suddenly, Li Chengfeng¡¯s mount stumbled and dropped its rider on the ground. Before the dragon warrior could get back to his feet, the horse actually took off and escaped on its own. Li Chengfeng stumbled behind his mount¡¯s butt while screaming, "Why the fuck are you running, horse! Wait for me! I¡¯m gonna die!" Behind him, the previously-shamed Eye of the Storm immediately started chasing after him. The good news was that Li Chengfeng ultimately managed to catch up to his mount and climb back to the harness. The bad news was... Chaos Moon looked at me with twitching lips. "This¡­ this is too fake, isn¡¯t it??" I grinned. "What are you talking about? This is first-class acting considering that Chengfeng¡¯s all looks no substance type¡­" He Yi: "..." ¡­¡­ We swiftly entered Horse Hoof Valley and waited while Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and the 400 Dragonlight Cavalrymen were still baiting Hot Sand City¡¯s troops. Eye of the Storm had to be out of his mind with rage since he shouted even after he was advised by his subordinates, "So what if it is a trick! I have a million cavalry, you doofus! I can flatten this entire valley if I want to! Now charge! I will not stop until this entire Dragonlight Cavalry is dead!" And so, the Vietnamese riders continued chasing after Li Chengfeng and the others at increasing speed. Both groups grew closer and closer. It wasn¡¯t long before a huge blob of enemies started pouring into the valley at high speed. From my position, I estimated that at least half of them had fallen into a death trap! When the enemy was finally about to catch up to them, Gui Guzi passed the party leader to Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and laughed, "Fly, Flying General!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun laughed back and activated his Famous General Skill, boosting everyone¡¯s speed by a whopping 300%. They instantly left the enemy¡¯s attack range like lightning! Xu Yang¡¯s eyes widened as he exclaimed, "Holy shit, it¡¯s like they¡¯re on a high-speed rail or something!" ¡­¡­ The sight of his prey slipping right through his grasp pissed off Eye of the Storm to no end. He shouted angrily, "Chase them! There is nowhere to go in this valley, so once they¡¯re driven to a dead end all they can do is wait for us to kill them! Once we take out the best cavalry of the China server, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and his band of fuckers won¡¯t be able to talk shit and look down on the warriors of Hot Sand City. Charge!" "Little Gui, over here! Everyone, fall back!" I led everyone back until we reached a rocky part of the forest. The terrain greatly affected a rider¡¯s mobility, especially those with low-rank mounts. It was to the point where many Hot Sand City magic knights had no choice but to walk on foot after entering the valley. I opened the communicator and contacted Du Thirteen, "Thirteen, block the valley entrance when their army is more or less inside. I leave the ninth and tenth subguilds to you as well. Do not let them escape no matter what!" "Okay!" Du Thirteen received the order gladly. After being a noob for countless years, he finally got to enjoy being on top. ¡­¡­ I looked at the complex forest terrain before ordering decisively, "Alright, everyone, get off your mount and summon them after we¡¯re halfway up the hills. Work with our comrades who are already on top of the hill and prepare for the hunt!" Everyone laughed and carried my order as instructed. Then, we started climbing up the hills. As I was running along a mountain path, I suddenly saw a woman clothed in leather armor smiling at me from an elevated position. "Hi, Lu Chen!" Chapter 736: Beast in the Ne I grabbed a dry branch and pulled myself up the slope. Standing still next to Ling Xueshang, I asked with a smile, "Why are you here? I thought The Monarch Descends is supposed to defend the center?" Ling Xueshang nodded. "We were supposed to, but the frontline had crumbled way faster than anyone could¡¯ve imagined. Unlike Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, those failures from Candle Dragon couldn¡¯t withstand Hero City¡¯s assault at all. You were far more reliable than they were." I shrugged and said, "Well, not anymore. The 17 guilds of Hot Sand City are attacking us, and they have at least a dozen Heroic Bannermen with them. We couldn¡¯t hold them back all by ourselves, so we had to lure them into Horse Hoof Valley and pray for a big victory." Ling Xueshang chuckled. "That is exactly why I¡¯ve come to reinforce you with a hundred thousand elites. We¡¯ve been on the move ever since Sister He Yi messaged me, and we just finished arranging our troops. Hehe, what do you think? I¡¯m a timely rain, aren¡¯t I?" "Yes you are!" I nodded strongly. "With the brothers and sisters from The Monarch Descends aiding us, today can only be a nightmare for the Vietnamese players of Hot Sand City! Be ready for the slaughter!" "Got it!" He Yi, Beiming Xue, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang and everyone else were already waiting at the middle of the mountain. By the time I returned to them and stood in the middle of the group, the floor of the valley was overflowing with Northern Alliance cavalry already. "It¡¯s almost time. Should we close the door and start the mission?" Li Chengfeng asked. "Yeah!" I gave him an affirmative nod and unsheathed my sword. Then, I shouted loudly, "Cyan Tiger Cavalry, cut off the enemy¡¯s retreat now! Everyone else, raise your shields and form a perimeter around the forest edge! Mages, archers and all backliners, attack and bury all these riders in Horse Hoof Valley!" The Dragonlight Cavalry wasn¡¯t mounted right now, but that didn¡¯t stop them from pulling out their weapons and charging toward their positions. On the ground, the confused players of Hot Sand City abruptly realized they had walked into a trap and became angry. Eye of the Storm even shouted, "Climb up the mountains and kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and From Water. Our one million elite cavalrymen are invincible on horseback or on foot! Kill them all!" It was chaotic. A sea of people started surging toward the fortified positions our people had manned themselves in. Once the defense line was fully formed, the archers and mages started shooting their arrows and magic at a 45-degree angle. Once the battle began, the cacophony of explosions was constant, with Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ spells being the standout of them all. The halos and shock waves she caused were a complete nightmare to the Northern Alliance riders. "Dammit, these despicable Chinese players!" Eye of the Storm was furious. He had a couple of riders who were almost at the same height as Gui Guzi and Diamond Dust because they were still mounted, and they hacked away at their shields like they were tireless machines. However, they were unable to threaten our magic knights at all because they were naturally strong and healed by our priests. He Yi walked closer to the enemy and summoned her Firelight Mouse. The little guy ran up her shoulder and swayed its fiery tail. A moment later, fire rained from above and burned the enemy riders like hell. High Fighting Spirits showed off his manliness by leaping off the natural barrier and landing in the middle of the enemies. Once he let out a shout and surrounded himself in a cyclone of energy, the Xiezhi Howl instantly turned all surrounding players into dead bodies and drops. "K-kill that High Fighting Spirits!" shouted a Northern Alliance rider, but found it hard to actually engage our berserker. It was a mountainous terrain and a forest, so mounts couldn¡¯t walk on the ground properly without chafing their hooves, much less run on it. At this point, the mounts were a burden, not a benefit. This section of the valley was definitely unsuitable for cavalry battles. I let out a laugh before barking the next order, "Where are our Soul of the Foot players? Don¡¯t let that 100% Attack and Defense boost go to waste, people! Get ready to tighten our formation and slaughter these bastards!" Yama Slayer and A Lazy Cat immediately jumped off the rocks and activated their stratagems. After they invited a bunch of warriors into their group, they coordinated with our ranged players and attacked the enemies. I also leaped down the rocks and used Burning Blade Slash before I even hit the ground. The three flaming auras dealt heavy damage to the enemy and left deep marks on the ground. Thud! After landing firmly on my feet, I crossed my sword in front of me and stomped my foot, tearing the dozen or so enemies charging me into shreds with War Crush. Having earned a lull for myself, I summoned my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King and charged toward a group of enemies. There was only Hot Sand City cavalry in this valley, so every Galaxy Storm, Spiraling Arrow Blade, Volley, Ice Blast and so on being tossed around belonged to us. As a result, I felt no pressure whatsoever. Standing at the edge of a rock, He Yi ordered, "Lu Buyi, add 200 Dragonlight Cavalry into your party and let them slowly push toward the enemies while mounted!" Lu Buyi accepted the order gladly and called out, "Powerful Dragonlight Cavalry who would like to enjoy a 95% boost to all stats, get on your horses and come to me to register as a party member!" Countless Dragonlight Cavalrymen immediately responded to the order and filled up the party slots in no time. Even High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were among the volunteers. After the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s stats were boosted by 95%, they unleashed even greater strength than before. The mountain forest was treacherous, but the Dragonlight Armored Horses were Spirit Rank boss mounts. Their movement speed was reduced by 50% or so, but their combat capabilities were unaffected. Battle cries filled the air as the Dragonlight Cavalry carved into the enemy¡¯s ranks. After they were boosted by Purple Dragon, they became so powerful that almost all of the enemy¡¯s attacks were negligible. It was only natural, however. Their HP and Defense were high, and they only had to worry about physical attacks. In fact, Chaos Moon used Guard and let a dozen or so magic knights Barrier Break her. Somehow, she managed to survive their combined attack! Everyone¡¯s confidence soared even higher thanks to this. They began hacking away at the enemy with wanton disregard! ¡­¡­ Eye of the Storm shouted, "Take out that tactician, Clear Light! Pooh, how could there be such a powerful tactician in the China server? That Purple Dragon is way too powerful!" A beautiful Level 157 archer carrying a heroic banner darted behind the magic knights. She was also a guild leader. An archer couldn¡¯t outrun mounted cavalry, so I reckoned that someone had carried her on their mount when they gave chase earlier. That fucker Eye of the Storm wasn¡¯t so stupid after all. Clear Light managed to use Leap to get all the way to the edge of the forest without being caught by our ranged firepower. She abruptly charged forward and shot Devil Piercing Arrow and Volley straight at Lu Buyi! "Buyi watch out!" I shouted in warning. "What?" Lu Buyi saw the attack, but panicked less than I expected he would. He took a step backward and swung his Burning Fan right in front of his chest. Miraculously, he actually parried the Devil Piercing Arrow! After that, Lu Buyi gritted his teeth, withdrew unto himself and used Guard! Chiang chiang chiang... Clear Light managed to land a whopping number of eight shots on Lu Buyi, rocking his steel fan and causing sparks to scatter everywhere. Luckily, Lu Buyi only lost 81% of his HP because he had good HP and Defense. One Greater Heal from Murong Mingyue later, he was restored to full health in an instant! "This is impossible¡­" Clear Light¡¯s mouth fell open in disbelief. She never thought that a tactician would dare to parry her Devil Piercing Arrow and actually succeed at it, and she definitely wasn¡¯t expecting her full-powered combo to fail to delete a mere tactician from existence. Swhoosh! I didn¡¯t wait for Clear Light to recover from her astonishment. Summoning four divine weapons from the sky and locking her in place, I shouted, "How about you play with me instead!" I immediately launched a Dragon Slaying Slash and Sword Boomerang at her! Clear Light knew that there was no dodging this, so she crossed her bow in front of herself and Guarded! However, I wasn¡¯t the only one attacking her. Chaos Moon found an opening to fire the mounted long-range version of Rock Crush, and He Yi leaped right down the rocks to activate Purgatory of Ice and Magma! Bang bang bang... Sword auras enveloped Clear Light in an instant. Of course, there was no chance the tiny archer was going to survive this! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, Heroic Bannerman "Clear Light" (Vietnam) has been killed by player "From Water" (China)! Perfect. The fact that the kill credit went to He Yi could only be beneficial to our guild. It proved that she was a master of both the pen and the sword. ¡­¡­ Some distance away, I saw the Cyan Tiger Cavalry running back and forth across the valley entrance and cutting off the only escape path the Northern Alliance cavalry had. Du Thirteen was even waiting at the center of the valley entrance as if daring the Northern Alliance cavalry to come at his direction. You wanna get out of this valley? Sure! Just let me poke you a couple thousand times first, give or take. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Blazing Hot Lips and The Monarch Descends players swarmed toward the elite cavalry of Hot Sand City from every direction, filling their bodies with steel, arrows and fireballs. It was a complete slaughter! By now, Eye of the Storm had completely lost his mind and was charging back and forth like a wild beast. He only had himself to blame though. If he wasn¡¯t as arrogant as he was, we would never be able to entrap him like this. The Dragonlight Cavalry and even I got on our mounts. There was enough space at the center of the valley to perform some mini cavalry charges, and there was nothing the Northern Alliance could do to us because they only had cavalry. More importantly, Knight God and Knight General were such amazing Famous General Skills that it would be a waste not to use them to the fullest. Chapter 737: To Protect With One’s Life Eye of the Storm died to Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi. Unwilling to accept this conclusion even in the very end, the man had pointed at the sky and shouted as if there was blood in his throat, "I yearn to repay my country, but my strength failed me!" Li Chengfeng relieved him of his head right after that, and that¡¯s how a man¡¯s dream of flattening Dawn City with one million cavalrymen ultimately died. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Even if their commander hadn¡¯t died, the will of Hot Sun City was already disrupted by the death trap they had walked into. To them, it seemed like they were surrounded by an endless amount of Chinese players, when in reality our troops didn¡¯t even make up 20% of their number. However, the Northern Alliance cavalry were stuck in one place, and they could only watch as we cut down their HP with ranged attacks and beat them down row after row. Without healing, magic knights were nowhere as tenacious as they should¡¯ve been, and in this scenario they were no more than lambs to the slaughter. ¡­¡­ Three hours later, Horse Hoof Valley positively stank with the stench of blood. The ground was littered with countless corpses, and the trees were covered with blood-shot vultures. They looked like they couldn¡¯t wait to feed on the bodies that hadn¡¯t been cleared out by the system yet. Riding atop the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and looking down on the valley from an elevated position, I couldn¡¯t help but let out an emotional sigh. When the old people said, "Blood flowed like the river, and millions of bodies were strewn across the battlefield", they were probably referring to this scene, weren¡¯t they? We had wiped out almost all of Hot Sand City¡¯s mobile troops in this battle, and only small pockets of mages and archers protected by meatshields were still alive to tickle us. It was only a matter of time before they were crushed by our cavalry. "Phew¡­" Li Chengfeng sucked in a deep breath and leaned against a rock. He closed his eyes and said, "Finally. I¡¯m not even the one taking a beating and I¡¯m exhausted as hell. This mission is fucking inhumane, dammit. If that isn¡¯t bad enough, we can¡¯t even resupply ourselves. Ugh, I¡¯m so hungry! Where are the supplies Thirteen promised us, by the way? Why aren¡¯t they here yet?¡± Du Thirteen walked over with a grim expression on his face before Li Chengfeng finished his sentence. "I forgot to tell you, but our supply team encountered a Titan City cavalry troop at the edge of Dragonbone Mountain Range two hours ago, and they robbed all 5000 people¡¯s worth of 24-hour food supply!" "They took everything?" I shivered. "A lot of us are going to starve to death, aren¡¯t we?" He Yi sat down behind the rock next to mine and sighed. "This is bad. I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d fail to protect our supply line. Does that mean we have no choice but to eat the low-rank bread sold at Dawn City? At our level, we¡¯ll be starving for at least 8 hours a day. Worst case scenario, we might even have to fight with our stats reduced by 40%." I clenched my fists worriedly. "We can¡¯t let that happen. Horrible death awaits us if we fight a war on an empty stomach!" Chaos Moon nodded in agreement. "Eternal Moon Corporation is so shameless. The second we enter the Nation War phase, they immediately tighten the restriction on food¡­" Xu Yang said, "Eh, it¡¯s mostly because fighting players is so much more tiring than fighting mobs. Usually, 3 loaves of Rank 10 bread can last for 3 days and nights. But in these conditions, they can only last for 24 hours." Du Thirteen said, "Anyway, the new plan is to buy only bread that can sustain us for 24 hours at Sky City. Then, the supply team will teleport to Dark Moon City and make their way over through a shortcut. It¡¯ll still take around 3 hours for our cavalry to reach us, but it¡¯s either that or everyone starves to death in Dawn Valley." Stranger of Three Lifetimes gave her tummy a rub before saying, "I¡¯ve been starving since a while ago¡­" Li Chengfeng said, "The war is just too fierce right now. For example, Little Piglet¡¯s Steel Needle Porcupine Cavalry is currently slaughtering Hot Sun City¡¯s mages, priests and archer parties outside the valley right now. If there¡¯s one thing Wang Dongliang is good at, it¡¯s his ability to outrun the strong and bully the weak, that shameless bastard." I smiled. "It¡¯s a good thing this time. Our guild has fought too many hard battles in a row and suffered too many losses, so we must plot our next battle with care." Stranger of Three Lifetimes said, "The battle of Horse Hoof Valley is well fought though. We¡¯ve annihilated Hot Sand City¡¯s one million cavalry, and Hegemon Palace is fucking up the rest of their ranged parties. Hot Sand City is basically out of the game at this point, meaning that one of the eight cities of the Northern Alliance is wiped out!" It was at this moment Xu Yang reported, "The casualty report is out. We¡¯ve lost zero Dragonlight Cavalrymen this battle, so we still have 1700+ men. We¡¯ve lost many Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen, and their number has dwindled to 5000 or so. Our main guild and subguilds add up to a total of 100843 players, or just above 100k. In conclusion, we¡¯ve suffered very minor losses in Horse Hoof Valley." I nodded and gripped the Cyan Netherworld Sword tighter. "Get ready to leave the valley and enter Winter Pine Forest. We¡¯ll find an opening to take out the invaders from there." "Okay!" Everyone stood up and summoned their mounts. After the battlefield was swept, everyone¡ªeven me¡ªgot distributed exactly one loaf of bread, meaning that we could only fight normally for another 8 hours. After that period of time has passed, even Blazing Hot Lips and The Monarch Descends would be starving with us. We exited Horse Hoof Valley and marched to the east. On the open plains to the north, we saw Hegemon Palace¡¯s cavalry slaughtering Hot Sun City¡¯s ranged parties. As expected, Wang Dongliang had been building up his strength this whole time, and the result¡ªthe Steel Needle Porcupine Cavalry¡ªdidn¡¯t look half bad. At the very least, they had no troubles cutting down defenseless ranged players whatsoever. We could leave this place to them for sure. Beep! It was a message from Hot and Sour Noodles: "Lu Chen, congratulations on your victory at Horse Hoof Valley! Everyone¡¯s spirits are lifted by it! We have a new problem, however. Titan God and his ten thousand cavalrymen had decided to stop sieging Sky City and intercept our supply lines instead. Titan God is a man who says what he means. After engaging Wind Fantasy and Snowy Cathaya at Sky Forest for about an hour or so, he lost around 7000 Fire Rhinoceros Cavalrymen and is left with only a little over 12k. The Fire Rhinoceros is a Purple Gold Rank Boss mount, so they are too powerful for most people to beat. We need someone to take them out and protect our supply lines!" I sucked in a deep breath and said, "Uncle, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had been fighting battle after battle since the beginning, and we took out an entire Hot Sand City at the cost of half our men. After everything we¡¯ve done, you¡¯re asking us to protect the supply lines? There are over forty thousand guilds in Sky City, Vanished God City and Wind City. Must you make us do this?" Hot and Sour Noodles replied apologetically, "I know I¡¯m putting you between a rock and a hard place, but the situation is really, really desperate right now. Candle Dragon and Purple Lily have worn themselves to the bone fighting against Hero City, Seven Star City, Chariot City and Burning City at the frontlines, and even Snowy Cathaya has dispatched their cavalry to aid in the battle. No one expects the casual guilds to be able to sway the tides of the battlefield too much at this point. The burden is all on the Top 100 guilds of the Guild Ranking." He added, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is a rising guild and the hope of this Nation War. I¡¯m not blind, I can see that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is even stronger than Candle Dragon, not to mention that you¡¯ve proven yourself to be capable of overcoming seemingly impossible odds with your ploys multiple times already. So¡­ what I¡¯m getting at is, this is the time to use our strongest card. If I send any other guild besides yours, I¡¯m afraid that they¡¯ll only become the Titan God and the Fire Rhinoceros Cavalry¡¯s food." I frowned and answered, "Fine, I¡¯ll head over right away." "Wait, no!" Hot and Sour Noodles hurriedly stopped me, "You¡¯ll have to split your army. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ main forces are needed at Winter Pine Forest because the situation there is critical, and Candle Dragon could use your help at any moment. The Northern Alliance¡¯s army is also still pouring in endlessly from Windy Trail, so someone has to reinforce Winter Pine Forest¡­" I yelled angrily, "What the hell, who the hell do you think we are? Do you really not know how strong Titan God is? That is a player whom even Lin Yixin had troubles defeating, and you¡¯re telling me to split my army?? Are you trying to use Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls as cannon fodder, uncle? This is my brothers and sisters¡¯ lives we¡¯re talking about!!" Hot and Sour Noodles took another deep breath before reporting, "Candle Dragon lost 70% of their men, Purple Lily lost 58% of their men, Throne Seeker is completely annihilated, Hall of Immortality lost 59% of their men, and Rose of the Holy Domain 63%. Our enemy is powerful beyond imagination, and everyone is giving it their all right now. The only way we can protect our homeland is to shed every last drop of sweat, tears and blood, so please, Lu Chen, I¡¯m begging you!" I uttered through gritted teeth, "Fine. The supply line is located at a canyon called Breeze Canyon, right? Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will protect that route. You are the supreme commander of this Nation War, so you¡¯d better mobilize as many Vanished God City and Wind City reinforcements as you can!" "I know. Baidicheng, Immortal Sword Inn, Zero Pitch Sonata and more will be arriving in two hours. Some of Russia¡¯s players from Iron Horse City had made it through Cyan Scale Straits and parked their boats about five kilometers away from Yellow Stone Desert. They¡¯ll come over immediately after the threat to Vanished God City is eliminated." "Understood. I¡¯m going!" "Okay! Remember, you mustn¡¯t leave the main defense zone! Send someone else to protect the supply line!" "Fuck, I know!" "..." ¡­¡­ I closed the communicator and turned around to face everyone. I said, "Hot and Sour Noodles just send us new orders. Titan God and 12000 cavalrymen have cut off the supply line from Sky City close to Dragonbone Mountain Range. We are required to split our army and send someone to take down the bastard. Who has the courage to carry out this quest?!" "Titan God¡­" Everyone sucked in a deep breath. His strength was well known to everyone, and even Lin Yixin with her Great Earth Transformation didn¡¯t have a 100% chance of beating him. Who could possibly take up such a task? Finally, a man carrying a blade spurred his mount forward and smiled at me. "I guess I¡¯m the only one who can do this." I looked and saw that it was Li Chengfeng. The man was wearing a lazy smile as usual, but I could see his clear eyes brimming with determination and fervor. ¡­¡­ "Chengfeng, I can¡¯t afford you too many men, and the Titan God¡¯s cavalry may not be the only enemy you will encounter. You know that, don¡¯t you?" I asked. Li Chengfeng crossed his sword in front of himself and replied calmly, "I¡¯ve already been chased by a million elite cavalrymen before. What could possibly be scarier than that?" I smiled. "Okay, I¡¯m giving you all 5103 of our remaining Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen and over 10000 riders from the subguilds. Godspeed, Chengfeng. Your battle will literally decide our fate." Li Chengfeng nodded and declared solemnly, "I will protect our server¡¯s dignity with my life!¡± Chapter 738: Behemoth ¡­¡­ Winter Pine Forest was a desolate map with polar climate. Its plants were needle-leaved because of the coldness of the earth, and sometimes it snowed even though it was located right next to the ever-hot Horse Hoof Valley. The map was designed to be a weather phenomenon in the game. I rode at the front as we made our way across Winter Pine Forest. The map was incredibly huge, and we managed to take out a couple of Northern Alliance parties we ran into on our way. However, we couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of unease at the sound of distant battles cries coming from somewhere. "Lu Chen, do you really think Li can fight the Titan God himself?" High Fighting Spirits licked his dry, cracked lips once before continuing, "Li only has 5000 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen and a bunch of riders with random mounts. Titan God is a famous veteran, and he is protected by a team of elite cavalry. He might even have reinforcements. When I checked the surroundings of Horse Hoof Valley earlier, I saw many regiments of Northern Alliance cavalry roaming the perimeter of Dragonbone Mountain Range. It won¡¯t be hard for them to slip into Sky City or Wind City¡¯s domain." I exhaled a little before replying, "Trust in your brother. I have faith that Chengfeng will not lose to Titan God!" Gui Guzi nodded as well. "Yeah. Li is a guy who can beat me over 80% of the time. There¡¯s no way he¡¯ll lose to a nuisance like Titan God!" I smiled and fell silent once more. ¡­¡­ Dawn City as a whole was so gigantic that, even after all the Northern Alliance players that had crossed the border and entered its domain, we could still spot some mobs here and there in Winter Pine Forest. Of course, no one was interested in grinding right now. It had almost been half an hour since we reorganized, and the itch for battle was starting to creep up our fingers again. The sooner we found a Northern Alliance party to kill, the better. I looked at the players beside me. I had sent away most of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry and riders to aid Li Chengfeng, so there were only 1700+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen, 20k riders and 20k foot soldiers left in our party. The archers, mages, priests, bards, tacticians, assassins and tamers also added up to a total of 40k+ troops. I nodded and felt my heart growing heavier. This war was far more desperate than anyone could¡¯ve imagined. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a cacophony of thundering hooves came from the distance. A short while later, a swarm of elite cavalry with blood-red IDs appeared at the horizon where the forest lay. The cavalry belonged to the Northern Alliance; the Korean cavalry of Burning City to be exact. There were about twenty thousand of them or so! "Prepare for battle!" I raised my arm and barked out. Beside me, Ling Xueshang said while staring to the front, "Hmph, I knew this would happen. While Hero City and Chariot City are mounting a direct assault, the Koreans are circling around the back and looking for an opportunity to ambush Snowy Cathaya¡¯s backliners. I guess Beauty Lin is too busy to notice this." The corner of my lips curled upward as I tightened my fist and yelled, "Alright, let¡¯s save Snowy Cathaya from this crisis, everyone! It looks like the enemy hasn¡¯t spotted us yet, so hide yourselves in the forest to our left and right now! Cute Little Naughty, I want you and the eighth subguild to spread out and ambush them after we disrupted their formation with Shock Arrows. Dragonlight Cavalry, charge the enemy when they least expect it. Mages and archers, give it your all when the battle begins. We must annihilate them all in ten minutes at most!" Everyone hid themselves behind the foliages after receiving my orders. The assassins of the eighth subguild spread out and assumed positions as well. By now, the Korean riders were getting closer and closer to our position. Creaaak¡­ Beiming Xue drew her Dragonbone String until it resembled a full moon and waited for the enemy to arrive. Beside her, the archers did the same with the light of Shock Arrow brimming from their arrow tip. Shock Arrow was much more useful than any other archer skill when attacking a cavalry troop that was on the move. "Big bro?" Beiming Xue turned around and requested permission to begin the assault with her eyes. I waited for almost ten seconds before finally giving her the nod. Beiming shouted, "Loose!" Shock Arrows immediately flew out of both sides of the path and stunned the enemy magic knights! Bang bang bang bang¡­ The riders at the back couldn¡¯t reined in their horses in time, so they instantly rammed into their companions in front of them and fell into disarray for a time. A rider with a blade scar on his face swung his weapon and shouted angrily, "Ssibal! Ambush! Charge them and take out these archers!" The riders were just about to turn around and make a move when red lights exploded from the back of their heads. It was Cute Little Naughty and her assassin party making their move. First, they dipped their weapons in poison and hit the enemy with Blade Vortex after stunning them. Then, they CC¡¯d them even longer with Blind and Cold Blood. No class was better than assassins when it came to dishing out single-target damage, and the enemy cavalry fell into even bigger disarray because of it. Chiang! I pulled out my sword and ordered with a smile, "Dragonlight Cavalry, the time to continue our conquest and annihilate these bangzi is now!" I rushed toward the enemy with He Yi, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and the others right beside me. As usual, the Dragonlight Cavalry was buffed by Royal Road, Martial God, Knight God and Knight General. Since there wasn¡¯t enough Dragonlight Cavalrymen to use all our buffs, I added another 300 mages into my party. Martial God¡¯s 200% attack power boost applied to Magic Attack as well, so even the lousiest mages could transform into great weapons of destruction. The Dragonlight Cavalry rammed into the enemy and cut down everyone in our way. The ranged attacks from Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Beiming Xue and Ling Xueshang were especially deadly, filling nearly every corner of the forest path in Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms. "Ssibal!" The humiliated Korean riders charged toward Beiming Xue, but a single Evil Spirit Volley was all it took to send them back to Burning City. The slaughter took no time at all, and in fifteen minutes, all 20000 Korean riders were killed in the path. They probably didn¡¯t expect a group as powerful as ours to ambush them, and it was possible that their intel on us was inaccurate. One mistake was all it took to cause the death of this elite cavalry troop. After looting everything we needed from the battlefield, I pointed to the east and said, "Snowy Cathaya is over there, so we¡¯ll head over and meet up with them. Prepare to fight a full-on battle!" Everyone nodded. The exhaustion on their faces was clear, but no one looked like they wanted to call it a day. That being said, some people strongly requested a toilet break, so we had to rest in the forest for 30 minutes. Everyone logged off to go to the toilet, drink water and fill their stomachs. It had been almost 29 hours since the Nation War began, and we hadn¡¯t had a real opportunity to log out of the game until now. Murong Mingyue, He Yi, Beiming Xue and me also logged out of the game to take care of our business. However, there was no time to eat a proper meal, so we all ate a loaf of bread and swallowed it down with warm water for now. The celebration could wait until the war was over. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Thirty minutes was over in the blink of an eye, and almost everyone except a handful of players had come back online. When we called these players to check in on them, we discovered that they had fallen asleep on top of the toilet. We spent a moment reorganizing the parties before officially departing to the east. After we passed through a dense forest, long stretches of Snowy Cathaya troops abruptly entered our view. Not only that, we saw Purple Lily, Mad Dragon, Rose of the Holy Domain, The Monarch Descends, Baidicheng and even Warsky Alliance as well. Warsky Alliance only had tens of thousands of troops left, but that didn¡¯t stop their leader from fighting on the frontlines and laughing. "Beat these cowards and send them back where they came from! Don¡¯t let them enter Winter Pine Forest!" I spurred my mount forward and reached Snowy Cathaya in the blink of an eye. However, I saw everyone¡ªClear Perfume, Purple Marquis, Shadow Chanel and Zi Chuanyu¡ªexcept Lin Yixin. I hadn¡¯t been able to meet Lin Yixin when she repelled the Titan God and moved back to Dawn City, and now I still wasn¡¯t able to meet her. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of growing disappointment. "Qingqing!" I shouted. "Oh?" Sun Qingqing stopped shooting and turned around. When she saw me, she gave me a smile and said, "Ohh, Vice Leader Lu has finally returned to us? I heard that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls fought a beautiful ambush at Horse Hoof Valley earlier. The battle was even streamed live on the gaming channel and praised by everyone, hehe~~" I was in no mood to entertain this subject, so I simply looked around and made an inquiring noise. "Hmm?" "Cut it out, you¡­" Sun Qingqing rolled her eyes at me. "Yiyi logged out of the game half an hour ago. Both she and her father left for the hospital because her mother will be receiving some very important treatment today. It¡¯s highly probably that she¡¯s not going to log back into the game until the Nation War is over, so after delegating the defense of the city to me and Purple Marquis, she logged out at the entrance of Dawn Valley." What could I even say? "Ah¡­" "Ah, what? Anyway, stop loafing around and prepare for battle already. Everyone¡¯s suffered huge losses, and we can definitely use Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ aid. Hmph hmph, Candle Dragon is an interesting bunch. They withdrew almost all 300k of their players into Dawn City claiming that they need to rest and defend the city, when really they¡¯re just avoiding the fiercest battle of the day¡­" I nodded and said, "Let¡¯s continue!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I sent our cavalry and warriors to the frontline and spread out our formation. Then, we began engaging the Northern Alliance players in battle. We swung our weapons at each other in practiced fashion almost as if we had rehearsed this before, and the resulting deaths were innumerable. The battle line was a hundred meters wide, and flesh and blood was spilled all across the battlefield as parties fought against parties. About two hours later, I suddenly heard a cry from the front, "Not good, Hegemon Palace has lost the battle! Even Little Piglet is almost killed¡­" "What?" My eyes widened. I looked to the plains and saw a group of defeated players running toward our direction. It was none other than the remnants of Hegemon Palace. I thought they were slaughtering the ranged parties of Hot Sand City, so what happened, and how did they lose this quickly when they had several hundred thousand troops? ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the ground began to rumble threateningly. It obviously didn¡¯t belong to your usual cavalry. When He Yi and I looked to the horizon, we were shocked to discover a stretch of giants riding toward our direction! They were cavalry riding on giant beasts, and the emblem on their shoulder marked them as players of Chariot City. They were Germany¡¯s elite cavalry! "Wh¡­ what the hell are those things?" He Yi said in a shaky voice. The giant beasts had claws as huge and powerful as a lion¡¯s and full body scales that looked like dragon scales. They also had a long tail and an incredibly ugly head. They walked on three limbs, and one of them floated slightly above the ground. I could see a stone cone embedded between its claws. ¡­¡­ "Behemoth¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ pupils shrank into needles. "It¡¯s the Behemoth Cavalry, the trump card of Chariot City! Behemoth is a Purple Gold Rank Boss mount that can only be found in Chariot City, and they are intelligent enough to attack without direction from a player. It¡¯s over. The Germans used their last trump card on this Nation War¡­" Chapter 739: Soothsayer Gui Guzi gripped his spear tightly and uttered, "There¡¯s¡­ got to be at least a hundred thousand of them, right? Have the Germans gone insane? How on earth are we going to defeat this many Behemoths?" Hot and Sour Noodles said, "That¡¯s why their city is called the Chariot City. Their specialty lies in producing giant-sized mounts that fight like walking steel fortresses!" I walked forward while saying, "Most of our riders have been sent to Breeze Canyon to deal with Titan God. We cannot play the spearhead this time." Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. "Understood. I¡¯ll summon Candle Dragon over and tell them to send their Viper Dragoons!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, the Behemoth Cavalry reached us in literally earthshaking fashion. The earth shook like it would crumble beneath their giant hooves, and the several thousand cavalry Hunting Moon Dynasty sent to deal with them were rammed into shambles the moment they made contact. In less than three minutes, almost all of them were routed where they stood! "Holy shit, this is bad¡­" Xu Yang licked his lips as he commented, "These Behemoths are a bit too powerful, aren¡¯t they?" "Let¡¯s hope Candle Dragon¡¯s Viper Dragoons can do something about it¡­" "Mn." Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ order quickly reached Candlelight Shadow, and it wasn¡¯t long before the Martial God exited Dawn City and rushed to the frontlines. He raised his sword and shouted, "Brothers and sisters of Candle Dragon, prepare to fight the Behemoth army! Viper Dragoons, get on your mounts and ride with me! For the dignity of the China server and the promise we once made, kill them all!" Almost 10000 Viper Dragons made a bunch of hissing noises as they surged forward to the enemies. Although the Viper Dragoons lost quite a bit of players earlier, they were relatively well preserved compared to the rest of their troops. It was 10000 Viper Dragoons versus 100000 Behemoths. A grand battle was about to begin! "Kill them!" Candlelight Shadow reached the enemy before anyone else and conjured light from his sword, stunning a dozen or so Behemoth Cavalry instantly. He then used Rock Thrust and tossed an entire group of Behemoth Cavalry into the air. He carved into the enemy¡¯s ranks like an unstoppable blade and ignored their counterattacks completely. There was a bone-shuddering impact as the Viper Dragoons and the Behemoths rammed into each other. I saw a Viper biting a Behemoth¡¯s face with lightning speed, but the latter quickly retaliated with a fearsome swipe to the head. Pssh pssh pshh... Deep, bloody gashes immediately appeared on the Viper¡¯s head. The Behemoth¡¯s rank was higher than the Viper¡¯s, and it was clear who was the superior between the two after the exchange. I led the Dragonlight Cavalry to the front and guarded a section of the battleline, forbidding any Behemoths from breaking through us. Behind us, the ranged players attacked with all their might and killed a ton of Behemoths right in front of our main army. The bodies were literally stacking on top of each other. The Dragonlight Armored Horse¡¯s rank was much higher than the Behemoths¡¯. Therefore, we were the superior ones in a direct engagement. The stalemate didn¡¯t last, however. Half an hour later, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s cavalry couldn¡¯t hold the enemy back any longer! "Retreat!" Candlelight Shadow shouted and led around two thousand Viper Dragoons to the edge of the battleline. Their mounts were wounded, and their armors were covered in scars. It was unrealistic to expect them to fight any longer. ¡­¡­ "Not good! Candle Dragon withdrew!" October Rain shouted. It was as she said. The moment the Viper Dragoons fell back, the Behemoth Cavalry immediately charged our camps and dealt heavy damage in just a single exchange. "Kill them all! Tear all their defenses to pieces, hahaha! We shall sing the victory song of Chariot City atop the walls of Dawn City!" a Heroic Bannerman cheered loudly. He wielded a heavy sword, and he led a troop of Behemoth Cavalry into Warsky Alliance¡¯s army, killing everyone he saw. Warsky Alliance had already suffered huge losses earlier, so much so that their troops were missing bits and pieces here and there. There was no way they could resist the enemy. I gritted my teeth and pointed my sword forward, shouting, "Dragonlight Cavalry, get on your mounts and charge with me! Someone has to fight the enemy!" Gui Guzi and Heaven¡¯s Rain immediately abandoned their rest and got on their horses. After the parties were formed, we charged straight toward the Behemoths. Every Dragonlight Cavalryman was fully buffed by a bard, meaning that our overall stats were 30% higher than the enemies¡¯. Moreover, they were further buffed by our Famous General Skills, and the Dragonlight Armored Horse itself possessed outstanding stats. We were absolutely superior to the Behemoth Cavalry so to speak. I charged faster than anyone and cut my way into the center of the Behemoth army like a hot knife through butter. Then, I raised my sword and executed Thousand Ice Slash! Boom! The skill damage and splash damage deleted much of the enemy¡¯s HP. Worse, many players were immobilized at the feet. Before they could break free from their icy prison, I followed up with Burning Blade Slash that deleted the remaining 65% of their HP. I was glad to know that my Thousand Ice Slash + Burning Blade Slash combo was just enough to instakill these elite cavalrymen. Behind me, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi, He Yi, High Fighting Spirits and everyone else were also charging the enemy as well. Through sheer brute force, we were able to stop the enemy from crushing Warsky Alliance outright and buy the latter some time to reorganize and renew their assault on the Behemoths. Crack! Crack! The blade of the Cyan Netherworld Sword chipped ominously. We had fought for such a long time that even the Heaven-grade weapon¡¯s durability had dropped to 37%. I could tell that it wouldn¡¯t last much longer. In fact, the item¡¯s stats dropped drastically when its durability dropped below 10%. The Dragonlight Cavalry was unstoppable, and wherever we went we cut down the Behemoths like wheats and wet the ground with blood. However, it wasn¡¯t without losses as the Behemoths were no herbivores. No Dragonlight Cavalryman could withstand a dozen or so Behemoths Barrier Breaking their asses at once. "Ugh¡­" A female knight next to Heaven¡¯s Rain groaned and died after eating 7 Barrier Breaks and Ice Ray. Worse, her body was trampled by the giant hooves of the Behemoth Cavalry. At least her soul had returned to Sky City. Her death seemed to signal the beginning of the end of the Dragonlight Cavalry as many more of our riders died after her. But of course, the Dragonlight Cavalry killed at least 10 enemies for every member they lost! "Charge to the right and follow me!" I turned a corner and charged straight to the heart of the Behemoth Army. A burst of light exploded from the Cyan Netherworld Sword, and I immediately cleared out an area with Cyan Netherworld Divine Dragon. Beside me, my apparition timed Burning Blade Slash and cleared out a path for the Dragonlight Cavalry as well. The Phantom Wolf King was fighting directly ahead of me, triggering many Claws of the Storm and even activating Purgatory Storm between attacks. The damage caused many Behemoth Cavalrymen to scream in pain and death. Swhoosh! I also tossed my Icy Cyclone Domains at a group of enemies, freezing their asses and puncturing their legs with icicles that kept growing from the ground. Right now, there was nothing I enjoyed more than making life hell for the enemies around me. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment I saw movement in front of me. A blood-red banner emerged carried by a German uncle with a savage-looking face appeared into view, and it was none other than the commander of the Behemoth Cavalry¡ª Soothsayer LV-159 Molten Knight City: Chariot City Guild: Prophecy Position: Leader ¡­¡­ "Dammit, we can¡¯t let these Dragonlight Cavalrymen run free like this!" As a Heroic Bannerman and the guild leader of Prophecy, I understood completely why uncle Soothsayer didn¡¯t enjoy the situation he was put in. Speaking of which, he had a special class called Molten Knight. He must be pretty tanky, right? Unable to withstand the sight of the Dragonlight Cavalry slaughtering his men any longer, uncle Soothsayer pointed his sword at us and shouted, "Behemoth Cavalry, kill that CGL Hall of Famer! He is the leader of this cavalry! Now!" I raised my own sword and growled out, "Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi, Fighting Spirits, Eve, follow me! Destroy the commander, and the army will collapse! Kill that Heroic Bannerman!" We charged toward each other while harboring the same objective in our minds. Uncle Soothsayer was a Heroic Bannerman, so it was only natural that he had great skill. Even before he got close to us, he pulled at his reins and made his horse run in a zigzagging pattern. It was so that he could catch me off-guard and attack me from the side. That wasn¡¯t all. Three Behemoth riders were charging me from the front, and their blades were all shrouded by flames. Are they trying to kill me with Barrier Breaks? I let out a chuckle before I rose to my feet on top of the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and planted one foot on the back of Gui Guzi¡¯s mount. Then, I said, "Little Gui, let me borrow your horse for a bit!" "Do as you please!" Gui Guzi shouted back. I jumped into the air, the force so great that Gui Guzi stumbled backward a bit. I used the momentum to tap a Behemoth Cavalryman¡¯s throat with my sword before running past him in a beautiful S pattern. Not done yet, I performed another S-shape maneuver to complete the helix maneuver! The essence of the helix maneuver was to keep the enemy guessing my position, and the end point of the maneuver was also the flash point. In this case, my end point was uncle Soothsayer! "Ì죡" "Gods!" Soothsayer¡¯s pupils shrank as I dashed toward him. He immediately threw Light Flame Slash at me. "Heh¡­" I let out a chuckle and replaced the last section of the helix maneuver with a standard zigzag instead. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse crossed my path at the perfect moment for me to climb back on top of it, and drew a line across his neck as we passed by him. Crack! 28738! At the same time, Soothsayer shouted and swung his shield toward his back. He successfully smacked me with it for 10k+ damage. But that was all he could do, because Chaos Moon¡¯s Rock Crush, He Yi¡¯s Purgatory of Ice and Magma and Gui Guzi¡¯s Aurora Thrust hit his chest at the same time. The biggest difference between me and him wasn¡¯t our skill, but the quality of our men. His soldiers were only normal experts, but mine were all first-rate experts! I turned around and swung my sword at his neck in a flash! Crack! Blood spilled everywhere as Soothsayer¡¯s head flew into the air. I caught it with one hand and raised it into the air, shouting, "I¡¯ve killed your boss, Behemoth riders! Come at me if you dare!" Chapter 740: Sunset Swamp System Announcement: Attention all players, Heroic Bannerman "Soothsayer" (Germany) has been killed by player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China)! ¡­¡­ The system announcement resounded through the entire Dawn Valley and hammered against the hearts of the Northern Alliance players again and again. Soothsayer was one of the best experts in Chariot City and the leader of their strongest guild. Naturally, his loss was a heavy blow to their morale. Absolutely furious at the loss of their leader, the Behemoth Cavalry glared at us hatefully and shouted, "You will pay ten times over for the murder of our boss!" The vice leader of Prophecy and a Heroic Bannerman was also a middle-aged uncle. He shouted, ¡°Behemoth Cavalry, hunt down the Dragonlight Cavalry! Don¡¯t let even a single one escape! I swear I won¡¯t rest until every last one of them is dead!" The fact that I was still holding up Soothsayer¡¯s head must fill them with shame, even though it was already starting to fade from existence. For obvious reasons, the game wouldn¡¯t allow me to carry an enemy¡¯s head like a trophy. "What are you doing drawing all the hate on yourself, Lu Chen? Are you trying to kill yourself?" Chaos Moon yelled. I said in a quiet voice, "The Behemoth Cavalry is too strong to be allowed to roam free about the battle line. The Northern Alliance will crush Dawn City faster than they already are if we don¡¯t draw them away from the main battlefield and find a way to kill them one by one. Besides, is there anyone who¡¯s more qualified than us to eat this 100000-strong Behemoth Cavalry? Hmph¡­" Chaos Moon pouted. "Are you sure we have the teeth to chew through all this prey, dear?" I laughed. "Let¡¯s go. We¡¯ll be surrounded if we dilly dally any longer!" The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a long neigh before charging out of the enemy¡¯s encirclement. There was no one in the world that could stop the Cyan Netherworld Sword, and by extension the Dragonlight Cavalry. We swiftly left the battlefield with a hundred thousand Behemoth Cavalry breathing behind our backs! It felt like an earthquake was chasing after us as the Behemoth Cavalry chased after us. Chaos Moon, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust were all a bit pale with fright because of it. The Behemoth Cavalry shouted in anger and gave chase like they would chase us to the end of the world, "Give us back our guild leader¡¯s head!" In reality, Soothsayer¡¯s head had vanished a long time ago, but I took out a helmet I had gotten from an enemy and wrapped it in my battle robe and hung it beneath my armpit to pretend that I was still carrying it. It didn¡¯t affect my ability to fight, and it made sure that the Behemoth Cavalry would keep chasing after us. "Where are we going, Lu Chen?" He Yi asked. Wait¡­ swamp¡­ cavalry¡­?! My eyes lit up immediately. "Eve, I got an idea. Let¡¯s take the long way and take the Behemoth Cavalry on a tour around Winter Pine Forest, shall we? Don¡¯t worry, this 100k Behemoth Cavalrymen will be ours for sure. Everyone of them are carrying a sizable amount of contribution points, and their 10% will shoot us up the rankings like crazy!" He Yi didn¡¯t know what I was thinking, but she gave me a smile and replied, "Sure, whatever you say!" At the same time, I opened a channel with Beiming Xue¡ª "Where did you escape to, big bro?" Beiming Xue asked in an urgent tone. I smiled. "It¡¯s called a tactical retreat, not an escape, get it? It¡¯s the same concept as the Long March of the Red Army." I saw Beiming Xue¡¯s portrait sniffing in the dialog box. "Fine, tactical retreat it is. What are you planning to do?" I looked at the coordinates on the map and said, "Beiming, I want you to take over command temporarily and lead our forces next to coordinates (18237, 7999). That place is Sunset Swamp. I want you to hide yourselves in the forest next to it and wait until I draw the Behemoth Cavalry into the swamp. Mounts and even players¡¯ movements are greatly reduced inside a swamp area, so the Behemoth Cavalry will be stuck like a pot of porridge. Once that happens, our ranged players will be free to blast away to their heart¡¯s content. Now go!" Beiming Xue broke into a wide grin. "Hehe, you¡¯re so smart, big bro! I love you to death! I¡¯m going now, I¡¯ll live up to everyone¡¯s expectations for sure!" That was the end of my conversation with Beiming Xue. After turning off the communicator, I blanked out for a bit as the Dragonlight Cavalry and I galloped along the edges of Winter Pine Forest. ¡­¡­ Some time later, Xu Yang galloped up to me and He Yi and reported, "Boss, we suffered quite a bit of losses just now. We lost almost 200 Dragonlight Cavalrymen, and we only have 1545 Dragonlight Cavalrymen left. Our numbers are slowly but surely diminishing." He Yi nodded in acknowledgment. "Got it. Have we heard anything from Li Chengfeng yet?" "Yeah!" Xu Yang nodded strongly. "Li has already engaged the enemy. The good news is the Cyan Tiger Cavalry is still good enough to get the job done and deal a sizable blow to Titan God. I also heard that Li is fighting against Titan God right now and going about even with each other. As you are aware, pure cavalry battles usually take a while to determine the victor." He Yi smiled. "Understood. I¡¯m sure Li Chengfeng won¡¯t disappoint us." "Yeah! Li is an amazing player!" High Fighting Spirits clenched his fists and laughed from atop his mount. "I¡¯m absolutely certain he¡¯ll return to us with the Titan God¡¯s head in his hands!" Everyone laughed with him, and the solemn, murderous atmosphere that was permeating the air earlier lightened a bit. Heaven¡¯s Rain asked, "Vice leader big bro, are we baiting Behemoth Cavalry?" I nodded. "Yep. Little Rain¡¯s a smart girl!" "I am, but are they dumb enough to fall for it?" "Of course not¡­" I pointed to the west and said, "You see that? The Behemoth Cavalry has already split away about thirty thousand people to the wing. They¡¯re trying to surround us!" Xu Yang exclaimed in shock, "What do we do? We¡¯re fucked if they manage to succeed!" "Your sister is fucked!" I rolled my eyes at him. "We are faster than them. Therefore, there are at least a million ways we can escape their encirclement." He Yi giggled. "Tell us one of them?" "We slow down and let the enemy meet up first. Then, we slip through the cracks and circle back to the south!" "Okay!" I maintained a regular speed until the enemy had met up in front of us. Then, I turned around, sped up and easily shook off the Behemoth Cavalry¡¯s attempt to intercept us. The fools swore loudly and swung their weapons in fury, but there was nothing they could do to us. "Wait, it looks like they¡¯re abandoning the chase," said He Yi while gazing to the distance. I looked and saw that the Behemoth Cavalry were leaving just as she said. However, this wasn¡¯t a problem at all. I swung my sword once and ordered, "Time to kill a couple hundred people at the sides and fan the flames of hatred a little, everyone!" Laughing, we charged toward the Behemoth Cavalry, slaughtered a couple hundred people and returned to our original path. This time, the Behemoth Cavalry was definitely not going to let us escape until we were all dead. Beep! It was at this moment Beiming Xue sent us a message: "Big bro, we have reached the coordinates you mentioned and in position!" "Okay. We¡¯ll reach you guys in ten minutes at most!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I turned off the communicator and looked up just in time to see a swampy region emerging from the horizon. On the surface, the swamp looked just like any other grassland, but the real threat was the sticky water beneath it. Over 90% of the swamp was made up of water, and 5% to 10% was muddy terrain consisting of water plants. It was incredibly easy to make a wrong step and become stuck in the mud, which was why the entire Sunset Swamp was considered a death zone. This was before mentioning the starving giant crocodiles that inhabited the place for hundreds of years. Any player who fell into the swamp was more or less crocodile food. In fact, the terrain of Sunset Swamp was so bad that barely anyone grinded in that map. Dying to a mob wasn¡¯t shameful, but dying by drowning most definitely was. It was why the players preferred to call Sunset Swamp "Trap Swamp" instead. I checked out Sunset Swamp for a moment and took note of a couple of browny, middle paths that stretched all the way to the center area. Solid paths like these were rare and unstable. It was very possible that the soil might crumble and sink into water on its own, joining the watery traps around and creating an even bigger death zone. This was especially probable with a couple thousand cavalrymen charging through them. I activated Dark Pupils and observed the watery areas ahead of us, analyzing. As I thought, the murky pools were at least five meters deep, and the paths were really sapropel that would break apart with just a bit of force. It was why it was highly inadvisable to ride a horse through the murky waters since it was highly probable to fall in. That being said, the ground could definitely support a person¡¯s weight as long as they didn¡¯t stay in one place for too long. After marking a couple of spots on the map, I shouted, "Everyone, follow behind me and don¡¯t stray off the path! We¡¯re going to ride through the middle route!" I took off the second I gave the order, leaving some Dragonlight Cavalrymen with confused expressions on their faces as they chased after me. They didn¡¯t know what I was planning, but they had a feeling that it was probably something great... ¡­¡­ Behind us, the Behemoths roared like the giants they were as they chased after us. The one hundred thousand Behemoths didn¡¯t even pause to consider the terrain around them as they stepped onto the sapropel path I led them onto. I could see them waving their weapons and hear them shouting about something, but they were too far away for me to know exactly what they were shouting about. It was probably some swear words. We quickly reached the heart of Sunset Swamp, but that wasn¡¯t enough. I continued to lead everyone forward until... Pu¡­ Suddenly, both High Fighting Spirits and his mount fell into the swamp! "What the fuck? What¡¯s going on here? I can¡¯t climb back up the road. Am I going to die here?" High Fighting Spirits exclaimed in shock. I looked at Gui Guzi, and the kid wisely extended his spear to High Fighting Spirits. "Fighting Spirits, cancel your mount and grab onto my spear. I¡¯ll pull you up!" After High Fighting Spirits was dragged back onto the path, I looked around and noted that the flimsy path was starting to crumble atop our combined weight. I immediately shouted, "Everyone, cancel your mounts right now!" "Ah?" Everyone was confused by my order, but they obeyed and got off their mounts. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the 100000-strong Behemoth Cavalry we had lured into the swamp was already feeling the effects of the swampland. Countless people were struggling futilely in the mud, and the path they were standing on was turning flimsier than ever before. Finally, someone shouted, "Shit, they tricked us! They wanted to lure us to a swampland where cavalry battle is impossible! There must be an ambush somewhere!" ¡­¡­ Chiang! I pulled out the Cyan Netherworld Sword and stared at the Behemoth Cavalry with fervor. I shouted, "Brothers and sisters, prepare for battle! Let us show these Germans that our cavalry is the strongest cavalry in the world, with or without our mounts!" Chapter 741: Hero of the Day As more and more Behemoth Cavalry dropped into the swamp, the players finally realized the severeness of the situation. The vice leader of Prophecy hurriedly shouted, "Dismount, dismount now! It¡¯s impossible to fight a cavalry battle in a swamp, your mount will only drag you down here!" He then unsheathed his sword and growled, "Prepare to battle on foot! Show the people of Dawn City the strength of the elite fighters of Chariot City!" The vice leader¡¯s face was ashen. In less than ten minutes, he had led almost 10000 Behemoth Cavalrymen into a death trap where they were almost certainly going to die a worthless death. Enraged and resentful, he abruptly ran toward Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and shouted, "Dragonlight Cavalry doesn¡¯t have their mounts as well, so charge! Take them out and take revenge for our guild leader!" ¡­¡­ I smiled coolly at the incoming enemy. "Cancel Knight God and Knight General and activate Royal Road and Soul of the Foot, quickly!" Very soon, Royal Road, Martial God and double Soul of the Foot took over the parties¡¯ stratagem slots. A large majority of the enemies were using Encourage VII, and, at best, the stratagem boosted their Attack by just 80%. In terms of stratagems, the advantage was completely on our side. "Kill!" I became the first person to charge toward the enemies. I had no qualms fighting on foot because I was covered from head to toe in Outstanding Earth-grade equipment! Chiang! I sent a magic knight¡¯s spear flying away and hit his chest with Universe Break, dealing 31887 damage and killing him on the spot. As it turned out, the magic knights were much more fragile without their mounts, and killing them took barely any effort at all. I love swamp terrains! Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, He Yi and the others charged forward as well. When two people meet, only one will emerge victorious. A ton of AoE skills lit up and caused a shower of flesh and blood! Thud! Standing in the mud, drenched in muddy waters,both sides hacked away at each other to kill the other party. It wasn¡¯t long before the soggy mud of the swamp became red with the blood of the players. The Phantom Wolf King was also doing its best in the soggy terrain by picking off players with high Attack and low Defense. It had greater movement speed than almost everyone in the swamp, so it was able to run all over the place. In a battle like this, people with great Attack would always be the bigger threat than tanks with high Defense and low Attack. High Fighting Spirits let out an angry roar and unleashed Xiezhi Howl in the middle of a group. The unstoppable Dragonlight Shatter he wielded crushed all the enemies around him like nothing and dealt great damage to those who were brushed by the skill. ¡­¡­ "I knew there would be ambushers. Someone, wipe them out from the wings!" the vice leader ordered again. Several thousand dismounted Behemoth Cavalrymen tried to carry out his order, but it was practically impossible to chase anyone when the mud was literally clinging to your feet. Even Charge was unusable in a terrain like this, and the Behemoth Cavalry was killed long before they reached our ranged players. Our morale and our contribution skyrocketed thanks to this. By the time the battle finished, the mud was completely red. Countless Chariot City players had sunk into the mud, and the cries of death resounded above the trees of Sunset Swamp. In less than half an hour, we had killed at least 30000 enemies while losing almost no one. We had ranged support and the enemy had none, so we were able to ignore the enemy¡¯s counter-offense completely. He Yi, Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain and the rest of our magic knights had their HP and Defense increased by 40% thanks to Royal Road, so they couldn¡¯t be killed even with multiple Barrier Breaks. Most importantly, we were healed by a super priest party led by Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew. The Behemoth Cavalry had come to Sunset Swamp alone, so they didn¡¯t have any backup at all, and their health pools were limited. ¡­¡­ Seeing that the situation was worsening rapidly, the vice leader of Prophecy barked out yet another order, "We can¡¯t fight in a place like this! Withdraw now!" They hurriedly moved toward the exit, but the giant crocodiles lurking in the swamp kept ambushing their men and pulling them into the deep waters. By now, they were all regretting their foolishness and hating our guts for luring them into this death trap. Suddenly, an army carrying the banner of Sky City appeared at the horizon, and it was none other than Gods of Destruction. It looked like they hadn¡¯t encountered many battles because I counted about a hundred thousand of them. It was almost a miracle how well-preserved their troops were considering how fierce this war had turned out to be. At the same time, I also recalled that Hot and Sour Noodles had requested Gods of Destruction and Peach Garden to guard Sunset Swamp earlier. Dominating Heaven Blade dismounted and raised his blade with a grin, "Hey look, it¡¯s the invincible cavalry of the frontline, the Behemoth Cavalry! What on earth happened to you guys? Hahaha! Well, it¡¯d be unkind of us not to help out Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls after the wonderful trick they pulled to lure our prey right into our domain, so kill them all, my brothers and sisters! Don¡¯t let even a single one of them escape!" Grief and indignation scorched the army of Chariot City. Had they encountered Gods of Destruction on a normal terrain, they could¡¯ve wiped the guild out even with their numbers reduced to 50000. But this was the swamp, so there was no longer any hope for the Behemoth Cavalry to survive this battle. Gods of Destruction¡¯s army was pretty intact, and their mage, archer and priest parties were all present. They had nothing to fear from their opponents at all. Dominating Heaven Blade roared, and his old-timers¡ªDominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God, Dominating Archer God and Dominating Mage God¡ªcharged into the swamp and engaged the Behemoth Cavalry. Behind them, the archers and mages wreaked havoc upon their enemy, and the priests kept their fighters healthy and spirited. ¡­¡­ "Er¡­ man, Gods of Destruction sure is shameless. I can¡¯t believe they¡¯re actually stealing our kills¡­" Chaos Moon said with a dumbfounded expression on her face. I smiled. "It¡¯s fine, their intervention means that we¡¯ll lose less people. Everyone, continue the chase! Don¡¯t forget that these Behemoth Cavalrymen are walking bags of contribution points! When the Nation War is over, all these contribution points will be converted into experience, and those who are ranked high enough on the ranking will even gain the legendary Luck stat!" He Yi nodded with a smile and said, "Yep. Keep chasing the enemy, everyone!" Caught between a rock and a hard place, the lives of the 50000 Behemoth Cavalrymen were made even worse. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ assault was especially fierce as our fighters went as far as to jump into the swamp to chase after the enemies. Who would¡¯ve thought that the elite Behemoth Cavalry would become someone else¡¯s object of slaughter one day? The Behemoth Cavalry themselves certainly hadn¡¯t seen this coming until they fell into our trap. Beep! I received a message from Hot and Sour Noodles. "How are things, Lu Chen? Thanks for luring the Behemoth Cavalry away, by the way. It would¡¯ve been real bad if they were allowed to remain on the battlefield¡­" Instead of answering, I shared my POV for half a minute. When he saw countless brave Behemoth Cavalrymen being killed in the swamp like lambs to the slaughter, he grew so excited that his voice was shaking, "Holy fuck! Well done! Well¡­ done! Hahahahaha! The Behemoth army is dead! Chariot City might as well be dead as well! Hahaha, I can¡¯t believe you actually managed to take out Chariot City¡¯s strongest army. All I¡¯m wondering now is whether the gaming channel is broadcasting your battle. If they are, then Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will surely become famous throughout China¡­" I laughed. "Don¡¯t worry, uncle. It is definitely being broadcasted. You can check out the home page of the forums yourself!" "Oh, that¡¯s wonderful!" A livestream was embedded at the home page of the Chinese forums, and it was broadcasting the battle of Sunset Swamp right now. The title was, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls tricks their enemies once more by luring 100000-strong Behemoth Cavalry into Sunset Swamp! They are without a doubt the hero of the day!" ¡­¡­ After bidding Hot and Sour Noodles goodbye, we continued our annihilation of the Behemoth Cavalry. However, just because the Behemoth Cavalry were no longer a factor didn¡¯t mean that our allies were having an easy time on the other battlefield. The Northern Alliance¡¯s assault was as fierce as ever, and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s Fire Catapults put great pressure on everyone. Now that Candle Dragon had lost most of their Viper Dragoons, the option of sniping the Fire Catapults with a cavalry charge was no longer on the table. Luckily, we had destroyed 30 Fire Catapults during the battle against Vietnam¡¯s Hot Sand City. Otherwise, the enemy would¡¯ve had the firepower to destroy the walls of Dawn City instantly. The Fire Catapults were that terrifying. ¡­¡­ The battle lasted for almost half an hour. In the end, all 100000 Behemoth Cavalrymen failed to change their fates and died in Sunset Swamp. There were countless equipment drops as a matter of course, but a large majority of them had sunk into the bottom of the swamp, impossible to be collected. This time I managed to snatch two loaves of bread for myself, and I gave one to He Yi. There was no way I was going to let my guild leader fight on an empty stomach. We left the battle zone and returned to dry land. Then, we climbed back onto our mounts. "Casualty report, please," I said to Chaos Moon. A few minutes later, Chaos Moon reported, "We lost 105 Dragonlight Cavalrymen, so only 1440 are still alive. Their numbers are seriously shrinking. We lost over 5000 archers and mages during this battle, and our total casualties reached 12773 people. We only have around 60k soldiers left now¡­" I inhaled deeply. Motherfucker, you just couldn¡¯t appreciate how precious every soldier was until the war actually began. Our numbers were slowly but surely dwindling, and I spared a moment to wonder how Li Chengfeng was doing against Titan God. The battle must be more of a stalemate that I thought, or the dragon warrior would¡¯ve sent us a message by now. I looked at my equipment. The Crimson Flame Armor was in tatters, and the Stormy Waves War Boots were covered in blade marks. Heck, they were on their way to becoming flip flops, I could clearly see my toes peeking out. Not a single one of my equipment had over 15% durability right now. If we didn¡¯t repair our equipment, we would have to fight naked! So I ordered, "Alright, time to march back to Dawn City to repair our equipment, buy our pots and stock up on supply!" "That¡¯s exactly what I wanted to hear¡­" Gui Guzi nodded. Beiming Xue echoed in agreement, "Yeah, I¡¯m about to run out of arrows¡­" ¡­¡­ After bidding Gods of Destruction goodbye, we returned to Dawn City and spent a brief moment to resupply ourselves. To call today a hectic day would be a massive understatement. Speaking of Gods of Destruction, Dominating Heaven Blade and his goons had returned to the edge of Sunset Swamp and waited for the next prey to walk into their death trap. It didn¡¯t look like these shameless bastards were going to engage the enemy¡¯s main army anytime soon. Chapter 742: Preparing for the Breakou ¡­¡­ The clanking sounds of metal rang in my ears. Right now, the equipment repair shop was surrounded by the Dragonlight Cavalry. Out of all our troops, the Dragonlight Cavalry was the unit that suffered the most equipment damage. Countless people had to fight on bare asses, literally. I saw the fatigue on their faces and felt a bit of pity for them. Xu Yang said with a frown on his face, "We can¡¯t hold on much longer. The other guilds such as Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon all got to rest over 10 hours already, but we haven¡¯t slept a wink since the war began over 30 hours ago. If we don¡¯t rest soon, I¡¯m afraid that some of our people are actually going to die from exhaustion." I nodded in agreement and contacted Hot and Sour Noodles. "Uncle!" "What is it, Lu Chen?" "I want to inform you that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is logging off to take a 10-hour break. My men are exhausted and starving in real life, and if they keep this up, they¡¯re probably going to suffer from health problems. The other guilds should be able to hold the frontline while we¡¯re gone, right?" Hot and Sour Noodles replied, "But the situation at the frontline isn¡¯t good. Candle Dragon lost almost half their entire army, Snowy Cathaya isn¡¯t faring much better, and Baidicheng and Hunting Moon Dynasty lost over 40% of their troops in less than 5 hours. If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players log off now, then¡­" I smiled indifferently and said, "Uncle, I¡¯m not negotiating with you, I¡¯m informing you. That¡¯s that. Don¡¯t tell me you can¡¯t win a Nation War just because we¡¯re gone for a while." Hot and Sour Noodles was caught off-guard by my forceful tone, but he relented and said with a helpless smile, "Got it. Please log in immediately after 10 hours. We¡¯ve all witnessed Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ power, and we know it¡¯s going to be very difficult to defend the city without you." "Mn." ¡­¡­ "Hell yeah!" Everyone was pleased to hear this. I added, "Dragonlight Cavalry, your rest schedule will be different from the others. You will only get six and a half hours rest, because I want to see you all at 8:30 am sharp tomorrow, understand?" "Are you planning something?" Gui Guzi and Chaos Moon asked at nearly the same time. I said with steely eyes, "Correct. Tomorrow, we will ride through Windy Trail and raid the Northern Alliance¡¯s supply lines! We will starve the millions of Northern Alliance players who invaded our homeland to death!" High Fighting Spirits laughed loudly. "Now that¡¯s a mission I can enjoy!" Of course you do. Everyone likes to raid someone¡¯s behind, if you get what I mean... ¡­¡­ After everyone had logged out of the game, I took a moment to contact Li Chengfeng. "Chengfeng, how is it? The gang just logged out to take a 10-hour break. What about you guys? Can you log out and rest for a bit?" I heard Li Chengfeng panting. "No! I¡¯ve already talked about this with everyone. We¡¯ll continue fighting until we draw our last breath!" I asked, "How is the battle situation over there?" Li Chengfeng let out a chuckle but avoided a direct answer, "Don¡¯t worry. Just log out, take your rest and leave everything to me. I promise you that no harm will come to China¡¯s supply lines, and who knows, maybe that fucker Titan God will be dead by the time you log back into the game!" I swallowed some saliva and asked, "Titan God is very strong, isn¡¯t he?" Li Chengfeng replied grimly, "Yep. He¡¯s as skilled as Farewell Song, and his equipment is almost at the same level as guild leader Eve. To call him a tough nut to crack would be an understatement. I¡¯ve clashed against him several times already, but I wasn¡¯t able to end his life. I understand why the Fruit Knife Goddess failed to kill him now!" "Got it. Keep up the good fight, okay?" "Of course!" I brought up the system interface and logged out of the game. However, I couldn¡¯t help but feel a tinge of worry. Everyone knew that Lin Yixin¡¯s killing potential was exceptional, and there was almost no one in the entire China server who could take a combo from her under the armor break effect of Extreme Break. But the fact was Titan God survived Lin Yixin and proved himself to be some of the absolute best players in the entire world. I understood now why this man was considered the invincible king of Titan City. ¡­¡­ The world darkened, and I took off my helmet. It was very late in the night, it seemed. I walked out of the room and poured myself some warm water. After He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue came out of their rooms, we discussed for a bit and decided to buy some food at the nearby night market. After gaming for over 30 hours, bread simply wasn¡¯t enough to satisfy our appetite anymore. I spent half an hour washing my face and rinsing my mouth. To save time, He Yi and Murong Mingyue entered the bathroom together and tugged at my heartstrings with the sounds of splashing water and cute laughter. A while later, Beiming Xue sat next to me with a glass of boiled water in her hands. She said with half-closed eyelids, "Big bro, I feel so sleepy¡­" "Not yet. You can sleep after you eat supper. You¡¯ll definitely feel it in the morning if you fall asleep now." "Mn." Beiming Xue leaned her head on my shoulder and said, "This Nation War is just too big. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is powerful, but I feel like a flimsy boat in the middle of a raging thunderstorm that is the Nation War. There were plenty of moments we could¡¯ve faltered and lost everything. Hehe. I wonder if we can really hold on for another 36 hours." I exhaled and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Leaning back against the sofa, I said, "Man proposes but God disposes. If we give it our all, our conscience will be clear even if we do lose in the end." Beiming Xue smiled. "Mn!" Fifteen minutes later, He Yi and Murong Mingyue exited the bathroom to let Beiming Xue in. After everyone was done bathing¡ªan activity I skipped to preserve time¡ªwe went downstairs and ordered a couple of dishes at an open-air restaurant at the night market. After filling our tummies with hot, steamy rice, we returned to the workshop, pulled the blanket over our bodies and slept like the dead. I dreamed of many chaotic things. I saw flashing blades, shadowed swords, scattering blood, iron hooves and more. It was as if my entire gaming life was playing out before my eyes like a movie until finally, they all converged into the singular image of a female fighter carrying a dagger. I miss Lin Yixin so much... ¡­¡­ Du du... The next day, I woke up reluctantly to the alarm. Six hours had passed by in the blink of an eye! After I got out of bed and put on my clothes, I attacked the kitchen and heated some food. I had no idea how long it had been lying inside the fridge. I was sweaty after I finished breakfast, so I spent 7 minutes taking a quick bath and came out feeling as fresh as new. I then rushed back into my room and logged back into the game! Swhoosh! When I appeared in Dawn City¡¯s inn, I saw a lot of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players logging in as well. They were all Dragonlight Cavalry. I ran out of the hotel and summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. I then summoned my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King after I climbed onto my mount. Less than five minutes later, all 1400+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen including Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, High Fighting Spirits and the others had come online as well. Everyone was here except He Yi. She had wanted to join the expedition, but after I said, "What if the all-nighter affects your beauty?", she relented and returned to her bed. "And... that¡¯s everyone!" Gui Guzi said with a smile. We formed our parties. We didn¡¯t have Royal Road, but stat-wise, it wasn¡¯t too big of a detriment since we still had Martial God, Knight God and two Knight Generals. We rode to the city gate only to discover that Dawn City was jampacked with players inside and outside the city, and the archers had taken the top of the walls in well-organized formations. It looked like the Northern Alliance had made it all the way to the city during the 8 hours we were gone. Many archers and mages were busy buying potions near the northern gate of Dawn City before rushing back up the walls. I saw tensed knights and archers ready to take action at a moment¡¯s notice, and heard loud choruses of battle cries everywhere. A sea of red seemed to fill the horizon. What the fuck? Did the enemy surround Dawn City already? Chiang! I unsheathed my weapon and said, "Follow me!" The moment I led the Dragonlight Cavalry out of the gate, I saw Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Hunting Moon Dynasty, Righteousness and more guilds holding the line about 500 meters away from the city. They were in the middle of a fierce battle right now, with blade clanging, fireballs flying about and flaming rocks crashing on top of unfortunate Chinese players who happened to be in the area. I let out a sigh of relief. It would¡¯ve been really dangerous if the Northern Alliance had gotten close to the city. The Fire Catapult was a siege weapon, so its true power lay in its ability to damage defensive structures during sieges. There was no way in hell Dawn City could¡¯ve survived a hit from those things. "Lu Chen, you¡¯ve finally returned!" Hot and Sour Noodles rode up to us and said, "The battle is way too intense, dammit! The Northern Alliance had taken out every man and woman they could, and their army is at least 3 to 5 times bigger than ours. Thankfully, we hold an advantage over them in a battle of attrition, and we know that they¡¯re running out of potions, consumables and food because their advance has slowed considerably. Right now, they¡¯re mostly resorting to using their Fire Catapults to push back our battle lines." I asked, "How many Fire Catapults do they still have, uncle?" "There are probably 20 Fire Catapults left, and they¡¯re all focused around the northern gate. See that?" Hot and Sour Noodles pointed to the front. "It¡¯s right over there. Practically no one could survive the focused fire of 20 Fire Catapults, and even Snowy Cathaya¡¯s elite cavalry troop was driven back multiple times despite being led by Purple Marquis himself." I gritted my teeth and said, "Just leave it to us! Uncle, I want you to mobilize ten thousand riders and tear open a hole in the wing so that I and my Dragonlight Cavalry can break through the encirclement." "Oh? What for?" "Without people on the outside, we won¡¯t be able to attack the enemy¡¯s supply lines or reinforcements. The Northern Alliance soldiers in Dawn Valley must be starving right now, so we might as well worsen their hunger. In the next 24 hours, me and my men will do our best to starve them all to death!" Hot and Sour Noodles burst out laughing. "You only have a little over a thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen left. Do you really think you can complete this mission?" I raised my sword and declared, "If not us, who can?" That shut up Hot and Sour Noodles immediately. He gave us a nod and said, "Alright, we¡¯ll do as you say. I¡¯ll order my own guild¡¯s Greedy Wolf Cavalry to cover for you while you escape. Boy, know that this 10000-strong Greedy Wolf Cavalry is my baby, so I¡¯m literally giving up my baby so you can carry out your mission. Do not disappoint me!" "Understood!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before a troop of 10000 wolf riders appeared before us. Chaos Moon and I exchanged a knowing smile with each other, and she said, "Hmph hmph, Hot and Sour Noodles truly is a cunning and shameless man. We never even saw the shadow of his elite cavalry until now. Still, the fact that he¡¯s deploying them now does prove that he¡¯s mostly a selfless person." "Yeah. Anyway, let¡¯s begin!" I spurred my mount and charged forward before anyone else. My ability to breach the enemy lines exceeded the Greedy Wolf Cavalry¡¯s absolutely, so I¡¯ll be the first person to knock on the enemy¡¯s doors! Chapter 743: Vengeance For Our Porcupines A Level 155 magic knight from the Hot Sand City stood at the forefront of the battle line, his giant golden shield in one arm. He glared at us with a stern look before looking away and yelling, ¡°It¡¯s the Dragonlight Cavalry! That''s the cavalry that lured our troops into a trap and killed them! Goddammit! Hold your ground! Don¡¯t let them get past us!¡± I charged forward and met that magic knight head-on. Noticing my actions, he swiftly lifted his shield high to block my attack! Bang! A swirl of indigo energy appeared on the tip of my Cyan Netherworld Sword while an Eight Trigrams formation whirled below the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. I hit the magic knight with Universe Break, my strongest armor penetration skill! 28934! That magic knight took two steps back under the powerful force of my attack. However, he refused to back down and continued to adopt a defensive position. I chuckled and swung my sword once again as a golden light enveloped it. That golden light was the prelude to the skill, Crushing Blow. If I destroyed his shield, my attack would deal double damage to him. The magic knight turned pale as he quickly swiftly moved his shield away and sent it back to his inventory. Little did he know, that move of mine was just a ruse. I cancelled Crushing Blow before I could activate it completely and instead, unleashed Burning Blade Slash. Wails rang out as three burning crescent waves were shot into the group of players before me. Burning Blade Slash was even more powerful than Crushing Blow and it sent that Level 155 magic knight and his mount crashing to the ground. The three consecutive hits from my Burning Blade Slash were truly too OP! A loud explosion rang out behind me as Chaos Moon unleashed her Rock Crush amid a group of enemies. That explosion was followed by other explosions from High Fighting Spirits¡¯ Xiezhi Howl and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s Rock Smash. Dragonlight Cavalry easily tore through the defense line of the enemy and slaughtered almost a thousand of them. We were truly invincible! At this moment, Hot and Sour Noodles pointed his sword and growled, ¡°Greedy Wolf Cavalry, charge!¡± Ten thousand Greedy Wolves started to howl before charging head on at the weak point of the encirclement we had created. They continued to charge toward the core of the hundred meter thick encirclement, slaughtering their enemies along the way. With the help of the Greedy Wolf Cavalry from the outside, the Dragonlight Cavalry managed to break through the encirclement. However, our problems were far from over. Under the protection of a small group of riders, the twenty Fire Catapults were launching large pieces of rocks at our camps continuously. ¡°Attack! Destroy those Fire Catapults!¡± The Greedy Wolf Cavalry retreated the moment we destroyed the Fire Catapults. However, they suffered great losses under the envelopment of countless arrows and spells. They did not have high-leveled mounts, neither did they enjoy the buffs from Knight God and Knight General. Since their stats were incomparable to that of the Dragonlight Cavalry, they were naturally unable to charge around as freely as we could. I reckon that the Greedy Wolf Cavalry would lose about 70% of their players before they could return to Dawn City. Uncle Hot and Sour Noodles truly gave up everything he had just to help us... ¡­¡­ There weren¡¯t many Northern Alliance players in Dawn Valley left as more than 90% of them were sieging Dawn City. I glanced into the distance at the direction of Wind City and saw groups of Chinese players who were most probably Wind City¡¯s reinforcements. However, given their level and equipment, I highly doubt that they would even make it into the city. They would most probably be slaughtered by the Northern Alliance players before they even get close to the city walls. "Boss Broken Halberd, where are we going?" Gui Guzi asked. I smiled and replied, "We¡¯re going to Windy Trail! We¡¯re gonna raid their supplies!" "Hahahaha! Let¡¯s go!!" High in spirits, we urged our mounts forward toward Windy Trail and reached our destination in less than ten minutes. As expected, there were only a few Northern Alliance players guarding the place. There were a thousand players in front of us, their levels ranged from 140 to 150. Every one of them had three corn symbols above their heads. This meant that every one of them had three Rank 10 food supplies. Their only job was to transport food supplies to their comrades at Dawn City before returning to their city. After gathering new supplies, they would set out for Dawn City again. They would continue to go back and forth and continuously transport supplies. This way, the Northern Alliance players at Dawn City would never starve to death. "Time to raid their supplies!" I laughed loudly and said, "Chaos Moon, lead a team and activate Plunder! The chances of picking up any form of ration will be slightly higher!" Chaos Moon nodded her head and Diamond Dust handed her the position as party leader. Together with Gui Guzi¡¯s party, eight hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen charged toward the Northern Alliance players at lightning speed. As the ground trembled, they turned to look at us with stunned faces. They had not expected to attract the attention of such a large group of expert players just by transporting supplies. I led a party of two hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen and activated Martial God as we charged forward. Another transportation party of eight had appeared within the narrow valley. Of which, none were expert players. It was safe to assume that the Dragonlight Cavalry would suffer zero losses when faced with such opponents. In addition to that, everyone had just repaired their equipment. It was truly the best time to start our killing spree! "Attack and plunder!" I urged my mount forward and unleashed Thousand Ice Slash with a swing of my sword, freezing a bunch of Northern Alliance players. High Fighting Spirits led a bunch of Dragonlight Cavalrymen and charged at the enemies, his Dragonlight Shatter smashing right on top of the shields of a few magic knights. Goddammit! A leopard never changes its spots! He has no consideration for the durability of his weapon whatsoever. Forget it, he¡¯s hopeless! Thankfully, Dragonlight Shatter was a Heaven-grade weapon. It had a relatively high durability so he could keep this up a while longer. Pchhtt! I shot Universe Break straight at an archer¡¯s chest, piercing through his armor. He glared at me angrily before dropping a pair of legguards as he collapsed. What made me happier was the white Rank 10 sturgeon he had dropped. Eating that piece of sturgeon enough to fill Satiety of a Level 150 player for at least eight hours. This is good stuff. Many players in this Nation War were on the verge of starvation. Those who were unable to cope with their hunger gave up fighting and teleported straight back to the city. Our 1440-strong Dragonlight Cavalry sealed the entrance of the valley and killed any Northern Alliance players who tried to enter. Everyone continued their killing spree with great morale. What made us even happier was that our Nation War contribution points continued to increase dramatically. As I opened up the point ranking, my eyes widened in surprise. I was actually first on the list. It seemed almost impossible for others to surpass my rank after I had accumulated so many points from my previous battles. NameLevelWar PointsBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand 1602749920Luo River God of the Capital 1631839200Stranger of Three Lifetimes 1631629390Beiming Xue1581523980Legendary Brave 1581423880 Candlelight Shadow 1591420930 Wind Fantasy 1591402820 God¡¯s Dance 1571327370October Rain 1571320490From Water 1581273840 The two elite mages of China, Luo River God of the Capital and Stranger of Three Lifetimes, took second and third place respectively. Beiming Xue, our Dark Archer was fourth. Li Chengfeng, Candlelight Shadow and Lin Yixin claimed fifth, sixth and seventh places. Li Chengfeng had been online for a long time and was currently protecting our supply line at Breeze Canyon. He must have killed many elite opponents to have claimed the fifth spot on the ranking. He Yi¡¯s Purgatory of Ice and Magma was so OP that relying on that one skill alone was enough for her to make it into the Top 10. She would be generously rewarded for her contributions after this Nation War. ¡­¡­ Boom! Boom! Cries rang out as Rock Crush and Xiezhi Howl exploded amid a group of enemies. The sight of the enemies inside made me wonder. Maybe they like being abused? These delivery players were not elites and we had arrived in a hurry, our plans to raid them were only formed a few moments ago. Thus, our enemies did not send troops to protect these delivery players. Even if they did, sending ordinary troops to deal with us would be pointless. Their vaunted Behemoth Cavalry was completely eliminated by our Dragonlight Cavalry. What could ordinary riders do to us? We charged out of Windy Trail and entered the common territory of Burning City and Hot Sand City. Gui Guzi stayed behind to seal off the entrance of the valley, preventing any enemy player from passing through. Meanwhile, I led the rest of the Dragonlight Cavalry toward enemy territory, killing every player with a red ID along the way. Dragonlight Cavalry ran forward, arriving at a valley. We seemed to have arrived at one of Vietnam¡¯s tier 2 cities. Chaos Moon asked, "We always do things with caution. Should we attack the city?" "We attack! We have to get in¡­" I raised my sword and urged my horse forward, charging straight into the city. My Phantom Wolf King followed closely behind me as we easily eliminated a dozen NPC guards. A thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen followed my lead and charged into the city, starting their killing spree. We started our massacre without fear as those NPC guards were merely Level 155 ancient-rank mobs. Most of the player merchants were still at their fourth or fifth class promotion. Taking them down was like a walk in the park. After wreaking havoc within the city for half an hour, I pointed my sword away from the city and commanded, "Retreat immediately!" High Fighting Spirits who was having the time of his life asked in shock, "Lu Chen, why are we retreating? I haven¡¯t had enough fun killing¡­" Chaos Moon gave him a tight slap on his cheek and said, "Listen to our vice leader you moron!" I let out a cough before saying, "Reinforcements will be here soon. If we don¡¯t leave now, we¡¯ll be surrounded within the city. No matter how high our HP or Defense are, we may not be able to survive their attacks when we¡¯re trapped." "Mn, let¡¯s retreat!" We swiftly retreated like the wind to avoid encountering enemy reinforcements. At this moment, Gui Guzi sent me a message: "Boss Broken Halberd, you have to return right now! The Northern Alliance has sent groups of ten thousand troops to the Windy Trail! I¡¯ll bet that they are here to eliminate us!" I laughed and replied, "Little Gui, lead your troops up the mountain range. We will cross the Dragonbone Mountain Range itself to reach the Windy Trail. The Dragonlight Armored Horses have great leg strength, so they won¡¯t have an issue travelling through the mountains. We will hit them from the side! We may even be able to force them to dispatch a small army to deal with us!" "Alright!" ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi set off with his party of four hundred and the 1440-strong Dragonlight Cavalry charged straight into the Dragonbone Mountain Range from Hot Sand City¡¯s territory. They dashed through the mountain range at lightning speed and leaped right off the moment they saw the enemy! Wails rang out in the distance as a dozen warriors stepped out of the forest. After a few rounds of Charge, they actually managed to kill a porcupine! One of the assassins whipped out his dagger swiftly and gutted that porcupine. He then put that porcupine on a skewer like an expert and roasted it over a bonfire. Hundreds of players sat around the bonfire and eyed the roasting porcupine. They licked their lips and wrung their hands in anticipation for their meal to be barbecued. According to the rules, players could procure their own food supply. Unfortunately, the rank of the product would not be very high. At times like these though, it was the best temporary solution to satiate hunger. "These bunch of assholes really do know how to enjoy gourmet food. How dare they kill OUR porcupines in OUR territory¡­" I muttered resentfully. Chaos Moon unsheathed her sword with a clang as her gaze turned icy cold. "Comrades, attack! We will have vengeance for our porcupines!" Chapter 744: Mystic Alliance The Phantom Wolf let out a loud howl before turning invisible and stealthily entering the heart of these camps. Taking control of the wolf, I quickly attacked three mages with a swipe of its claws. They cried out pitifully and collapsed as the sharp claws tore through their armor. Giving out another howl, the Phantom Wolf King activated Purgatory Storm. A tornado wrapped itself around the wolf before ripping its way through a bunch of players who were busy barbecuing! "Attack!" Xu Yang pulled his sword out of its sheath and laughed loudly, "Don¡¯t allow them a chance to recover!" Everyone swept across the ground at lighting speed and killed every single player who was resupplying. The ground was littered with bodies in the blink of an eye and we started to search their drops carefully. However, it seemed as if these people had been squeezed dry and none of them dropped a single piece of bread. Almost every Korean player had a crimson corn symbol over their heads. Just like us, they were starving. ¡­¡­ I swiftly changed directions and led a large group toward the rear of the enemies. I continued to destroy scores of replenishment camps and completely severed the Northern Alliance¡¯s supply line. "Kill those riders! Quickly! Protect our supply line!" a magic knight shouted as he brandished his sword and led a few hundred players toward us. It seemed as if he was a guild leader of a small guild from the Northern Alliance. Dragonlight Cavalry turned back sharply and charged toward the few hundred men. In just three minutes, the entire squadron of enemies had been killed. The buffs from Knight God, Knight General and Martial God made the Dragonlight Cavalry too OP. Normal riders and melee fighters were simply too weak to withstand our attacks. Moreover, our Dragonlight Horses had Hoof Trample, a skill that could stun our enemies. They did not even get a chance to try and escape. Due to the great agility of the Dragonlight Armored Horses, I commanded them to charge back and forth. Sweeping through the entire north east map of the Dawn Valley, we successfully blocked the Northern Alliance¡¯s supply line. The sight of our Dragonlight Cavalry was enough to strike terror into the hearts of many, putting a great amount of pressure on our enemies. The ground started to rumble as a great wave of over ten thousand players started to charge in our direction. Their leader was a Level 156 magic knight wielding a battle axe. He was charging at us on an impressive looking flaming red horse with a crimson flag on his back. Clearly, this man was a Heroic Bannerman. "Here they come!" Chaos Moon frowned and said, "13000 riders¡­ This must be the elite cavalry of the Northern Alliance." Xu Yang turned to look at me and asked, "Lu Chen, what are we gonna do? Dragonlight Cavalry moves quickly. If we act now, we can still escape!" I shook my head and replied in a low voice, "Millions of Northern Alliance players are attacking Dawn City right now. Since we¡¯ve charged our way out of the city, we should help reduce the pressure on Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends and Warsky Alliance. Goddammit! Since this guild¡¯s 13000-strong cavalry dares to challenge us, we¡¯ll swallow them whole! However, we may have to pay a price for that." High Fighting Spirits raised his warhammer and shouted, "Since we have decided to do battle, we are willing to make sacrifices! We¡¯re not afraid of death!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun grabbed his sword and nodded his head. "Yeah! If we die, we¡¯ll drag them down with us!" Gui Guzi looked at me and asked, "Boss Broken Halberd, do you have any plans up your sleeves?" I chuckled and said, "I do have a plan. But I¡¯m not sure if it will work." Chaos Moon laughed and said, "Then let¡¯s go! We believe in you!" "Mn!" Gesturing with my hands, I started to explain the plan. "Gui Guzi will lead four hundred riders buffed with Knight God and go head to head with our enemies. Engage in battle for a short while and retreat swiftly. Don¡¯t prolong the fight! You need to retreat quickly and be careful to not get stunned by their Charge. Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust will lead 400 Dragonlight Cavalrymen each and buff them with Knight General. After that, enter into the forest and hide there. As for me, I will lead 240 men to the enemy¡¯s rear. When their riders enter the forest, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust will ambush them from both sides. I will block off their retreat route and Gui Guzi will turn back and slaughter them. We will trap them and attack from all sides! Once they start to panic, it will be easy to finish them off!" "Alright!" Gui Guzi nodded his head in approval. I raised my Cyan Netherworld Sword and pointed it forward with a laugh. "Comrades! Some of you may die in this battle! But there is value and meaning to death! For our server! For our guild! We will give our lives! Move out!" We parted ways and the two Knight Generals made their way to the dense forest. I led 240 men into a narrow valley and charged toward the rear of the enemy¡¯s battle formation. Gui Guzi flipped himself on his mount as he and his four hundred men charged forward fearlessly with a loud battle cry. Clang! Seven Star City riders pulled their swords out of their sheaths one by one. "Attack! Eliminate Dragonlight Cavalry! We will prove that we are the world''s top cavalry!" ¡­¡­ Bang, bang, bang, bang... The two cavalries charged at each other head-on as Gui Guzi brandished his spear and stabbed the opponent rider. A battle between two cavalries was a long and tiring one because all riders had high HP. You could only kill your opponent by continuously charging him and chipping his HP. Making use of this, Gui Guzi continued to weave in and out of the crowd. Although he was getting hit continuously, his Undying Shield reduced the enemies'' damage and drinking Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potions helped him recover much of his HP. He was definitely not going to die during these short engagements. After clashing head-on with the enemy for three minutes, Gui Guzi shouted, "Retreat! We can¡¯t beat them!" The Dragonlight Cavalry retreated like the wind and the Seven Star City¡¯s cavalry gave chase. They were red with fury at the fact that ten thousand of them could not eliminate 400 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. To add salt to their wound, we even managed to kill a dozen enemies before retreating unscathed! The ground shook under the stampede of horse hooves as 10000 Seven Star City¡¯s cavalrymen entered into our trap in the blink of an eye. Opening the guild chat, I shouted, "Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, begin!" Instantly, rumbling of horse hooves rang out from both sides of the forest. Eight hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen rushed out of their hiding place and started to kill their enemies. The Seven Star City¡¯s cavalry was taken aback by the sudden ambush and their battle formation descended into chaos. Clang! I pulled my Cyan Netherworld Sword out and led the 240 Dragonlight Cavalrymen toward the enemy¡¯s backliners. "Comrades, attack! Let¡¯s show these idiots how to properly fuck the rear!" "How despicable of you!" Chaos Moon scolded me but was the first to pull out her sword and charge forward. She grinned with excitement as the rest of the 240 Dragonlight Cavalrymen followed after her, charging into the opponent¡¯s backliners in the blink of an eye. "What is going on¡­" Before a bunch of Seven Star City¡¯s riders could grasp their situation, they were enveloped by rays of Rock Crush. Without giving their opponents a chance to react, Dragonlight Cavalrymen activated Barrier Break and thrust their sword into the enemy riders. Pitiful cries rang out from the rear of the Seven Star City¡¯s cavalry as they collapsed one by one. The 200% Attack buff from Martial God was way too OP! Even when the opponent¡¯s riders guarded, the damage taken from each hit was more than 15000! I unleashed Thousand Ice Slash among a group of enemies as a series of damage numbers of 30000 started to pop up from their heads! "OMG! Our rear is being attacked! Our enemies are flanking us on both sides as well! We¡¯re doomed¡­" someone amid the crowd shouted that sentence, which was later translated into English by the translation service. That voice however, sounded like Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. That clever bastard knew exactly how to confuse the enemy. A tossed stone raises a thousand ripples. In the next instant, Seven Star City¡¯s riders started to fall into disarray as all 1400+ of the Dragonlight Cavalrymen charged back and forth at them. The enemies collapsed like flies and the forest ground soon turned into rivers of blood. ¡­¡­ The intense battle continued on for almost half an hour. In the end, only a hundred enemy riders had managed to escape with their tails in between their legs. Each of them was on the brink of death as they retreated. "Goddammit! I¡¯ll activate Flying General and chase after them! I won¡¯t let a single one of them escape!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun spit a mouthful of saliva on the ground. I hurriedly put my hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Stop! Don¡¯t chase after them. We are few in numbers and may not be able to withstand the attacks of their main army. It¡¯d be easy to eliminate them if their army only consisted of riders. But we will definitely have a hard time if they have more mages and archers." Gui Guzi nodded his head and said, "Boss Broken Halberd is right. We need to play to our strengths. Our Dragonlight Cavalrymen are few in numbers¡­" Chaos Moon did a mental calculation and said, "Even though we¡¯ve killed almost 99% of our enemies, we¡¯ve lost 140 Dragonlight Cavalrymen in that battle. We only have 1300 Dragonlight Cavalrymen left¡­" I sucked in a deep breath before saying, "That¡¯s quite alright. We did pretty well in that battle! We managed to go against the Seven Star City¡¯s elite riders even though we had fewer men. Not only that, they lost horribly and their entire cavalry was almost eliminated! The results of the battle will surely embarrass the North American players of Seven Star City." Gui Guzi laughed and shouted, "You¡¯re right!" ¡­¡­ At this exact moment, Beiming Xue¡¯s voice was heard through the guild chat. "This is bad! An extremely powerful group of mages has appeared. More than three thousand Hunting Moon Dynasty¡¯s players were one-shot by Galaxy Storm! They¡¯re too frightening¡­" Gui Guzi asked in an urgent voice, "Lil Beiming, are you alright? Who are those people?" Beiming Xue replied, "I don¡¯t know. But these mages are exceptionally powerful and they all wear the same armband. Those navy blue arm bands have a crescent moon on them. I don¡¯t know who they are." Chaos Moon¡¯s eyes widened in shock as she said, "I know who they are. They¡¯re¡­ the Mystic Alliance from France¡¯s Eternal Love City. They are an elite group of mages, consisting of highly-ranked mages from seven great guilds. They are Eternal Love City¡¯s most powerful weapon in their expedition to Dawn City! Mystic Alliance is made up of nearly a hundred thousand elite mages! Nothing has ever survived a barrage of their Galaxy Storms¡­" High Fighting Spirits spit out a mouthful of saliva before saying, "Hunting Moon Dynasty is screwed. Meanwhile, the riders of Hall of Immorality and Rose of the Holy Domain are charging at them head-on!" I quickly chatted with Beiming Xue and asked her to share her POV. From her POV, I could see thousands of Purple Thunder Cavalrymen and Ghost Riders at Dawn City activating Charge. However, their opponent was a dense group of mages and unleashing and they didn¡¯t have to focus anyone with single-target spells. The group of mages waved their staves and countless Galaxy Storms enveloped both the Purple Thunder Cavalry and Ghost Riders instantly! Bang, bang, bang... Riders collapsed to the ground in succession. Within the next few minutes, the Purple Thunder Cavalry and the Ghost Riders were completely massacred! ¡­¡­ "Fuck¡­" I sucked in a deep breath and shook my head. That group of mages was so powerful they were worthy of my admiration. Yet, they would probably be the biggest thorn in our side. At this moment, Beiming Xue exclaimed, "Oh? This is strange¡­ A large group of Mystic Alliance players have actually retreated. Where are they going?" My eyes narrowed in suspicion. Why would they give up such a great opportunity? A sudden message from Hot and Sour Noodles answered my question. ¡®Lu Chen! You have to be careful! I just received a secret report. The Mystic Alliance had pulled back 80k mages from the siege! They swiftly left the battlefield under the protection of 20000 riders. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s orders were clear. They are to annihilate the Dragonlight Cavalry completely!" Damn it! We are their target... Chapter 745: Backed Into A Corner Hot and Sour Noodles laughed apologetically and replied, "I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t be more specific than that. In short, you guys have thoroughly angered Seven Star City, Titan City and Hero City. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had no choice but to deploy a large group of troops to annihilate your Dragonlight Cavalry. Lu Chen, you guys are on your own for this battle outside Dawn City. You guys have to survive for the next 24 hours!" "Understood¡­" I ended the chat swiftly without so much as a goodbye. Hot and Sour Noodles had no intentions on deploying any reinforcement to aid us. Damn it! We¡¯re on our own! That useless commander is just leaving us to die! ¡­¡­ The Mystic Alliance continued to advance slowly, bound in a tight, uniform formation. Their navy blue arm bands formed an ocean of blue, threatening to drown our mere 1300 riders. "They hold us in such high regard to send eighty thousand mages after our heads¡­" Gui Guzi rubbed his nose and spoke in a resentful tone, "Should we thank our lucky stars that they value as such?" Chaos Moon giggled and said, "The Dragonlight Cavalry consists of elite players. We¡¯ve attracted too much attention by slaughtering Hot Sand City¡¯s one million cavalrymen and eliminating 100k Behemoths at Sunset Swamp. The Northern Alliance has been scared out of their wits! They shudder in fear at the mere mention of Dragonlight Cavalry! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is absolutely right, by sending elite troops of mages to annihilate us, he kills two birds with one stone. The China server will be dealt a heavy blow while the morale of the Northern Alliance will be greatly boosted!" I nodded my head in agreement and said, "You¡¯re right. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow must not have seen this coming. He thought that he would flatten Dawn City with ease because the Northern Alliance outnumbered us greatly. He definitely did not think that we would retaliate so fiercely. It has been 48 hours since the start of Nation War and they have not even set foot into the city. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow must have grown impatient and decided to show his hand at this moment." Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was only doing his duty. He was the lead commander of the Northern Alliance and stood above all the other players. His honor and reputation rested solely on the outcome of this Nation War. ¡­¡­ "Look over there! That¡¯s the cavalry protecting the Mystic Alliance!" Xu Yang stretched out his hand and pointed toward the distance. A group of riders on a dark gray mount started to emerge from the deep valley. Their mounts definitely did not look like a horse, but rather some sort of dark gray beast. Each rider had a Hero City insignia on their arm signifying that they were players of the Hero Alliance. This was Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s guild! Chaos Moon did a quick search on the internet before speaking, "Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry. The Bloodthirsty Beast is a high-level monster that is extremely hard to tame. It is a Spirit Rank Boss mount, with stats 25% inferior to our Dragonlight Armored Horses. However, the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry is more than ten times the size of the Dragonlight Cavalry!" Xu Yang looked into the distance as his eyes turned as wide as saucers. "More than ten times?! There must be at least 30000 Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen then! Goddammit! We¡¯re in deep shit!" High Fighting Spirits raised his warhammer and shouted, "Hmph! Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry my ass! It¡¯s probably similar to the Behemoths anyway! Let¡¯s attack and finish them off!" I growled in a low voice, "High Fighting Spirits, stop! Their battle formation has been carefully arranged and they can easily flank us if we are not careful! Their commander must be well-versed in the gaming world¡¯s military tactics. We must not act rashly! We would surely emerge victorious if we had the same number of riders as our enemy. However, the Dragonlight Cavalry makes up less than 10% of theirs. As the ace of the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, we can¡¯t afford the slightest loss due to negligence!" High Fighting Spirits started to grow anxious and asked, "What shall we do then? We only have five minutes! And this Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry is starting to draw near!" I pointed a finger behind me and said, "Everyone! We will retreat down the mountain range and prepare to enter the forest! Damn it! Those mages can¡¯t outrun our mounts.¡± "Yessir!" I glanced toward the distance and saw a bunch of Dragonlight Cavalrymen coming our way. A female rider at the forefront dorned a silver cape drew close and met up with us. That rider was He Yi. "Our guild leader is back!" a bunch of Dragonlight Cavalrymen exclaimed with joy. He Yi was certainly the heart and soul of our guild. "Eve!" "Mn, I¡¯m back!" I glanced at the traces of blood on her cape and noticed that she had 45% HP left. "How did you get out of the city? Don¡¯t tell me that you had to force your way through¡­" "Yeah, that¡¯s exactly what I did. I relied on my Purgatory of Ice and Magma and Firelight Mouse to carve a path out of the city¡­" He Yi said with a bright smile. I was rendered speechless. She had actually managed to force her way through the dense crowd of enemies. The He Yi before me had become a powerful and domineering warrior. We continued to travel north of the mountain range. I looked back and was shocked when I saw 50000 Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen charging toward us. Goddammit! The elites of Hero City had caught up to us! "Should we test the waters first?" Chaos Moon asked. He Yi and I looked at each other and laughed. "Alright!" Five hundred Bloodthirsty Beast riders at the forefront were led by a Heroic Bannerman. The entire Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry followed closely behind their leader and charged toward us! "Attack!" 1300 Dragonlight Cavalrymen started to charge forward at my command. I unleashed God Binding Art, Burning Blade Slash and Universe Break at the enemies as we clashed head-on a few seconds later. My eyes widened in disbelief as multiple hits of Burning Blade Slash did not manage to one-shot a single Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalryman. I had to follow up with a Universe Break before the enemy riders collapsed. Their max HP had to be above 70000! Clang, clang, clang! The sound of sword piercing through armor was music to my ears. Under the powerful attacks of the Dragonlight Cavalry, the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen started to fall off their mounts one by one. However, the Dragonlight Cavalrymen were also injured in the process. The intense battle continued on for seven whole minutes. At last, the opponent¡¯s Heroic Bannerman turned his horse around and shouted, "Head east! Hurry!" The remaining 100 Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen swiftly left the battlefield at their leader¡¯s command, leaving behind their comrades¡¯ corpses on the borders of the mountain range. I glanced at the piles of bodies on the ground and left the Cyan Netherworld Sword in my hand turn chilly. Damn it! What an intense and terrible battle that was! He Yi said, "Twenty-four of us were lost in just seven minutes. Those¡­ those Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen truly are elite players¡­" I nodded my head and said, "There are too few of us. We cannot afford to clash with the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry head-on anymore. They are advancing toward the east, which means that they intend to flank us as we retreat. Look at the map. The 50000-strong Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry has us surrounded but has not attacked yet. They are clearly trying to cut off our retreat routes and have the Mystic Alliance annihilate us!" "How despicable of them¡­" Heaven¡¯s Rain muttered under her breath. He Yi let out a gentle laugh and said, "Looks like Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is a military strategist, seeing his patience and understanding of military operations. It seems we¡¯ve met our match. What do we do, Lu Chen?" I shrugged my shoulders helplessly and said, "There are so few of us left. What else can we do but run. Let¡¯s run to the west! We¡¯ll charge our way out before the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry completely surrounds us!" Mn." ¡­¡­ The weather started to grow colder and white snowflakes started to fall from the sky. A layer of snow started to form on the ground, burying the corpses of the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen underneath. The ground looked like a giant strawberry sundae as blood of the fallen riders seeped into the accumulating pile of snow. He Yi stretched out a hand as a snowflake gently floated on to her palm. A gentle smile broke out on her beautiful face as she said, "It¡¯s snowing¡­" Chaos Moon stretched out her snow-covered sword and gently shook it. As the snow slid off her sword, she smiled and said, "So this is the calm before the storm. We have to face a bloodbath later. Let¡¯s get out of here quickly. The Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry has already begun to tighten the encirclement¡­" "Mn." We had no other choice but to run along the mountain range. As we got to the border of the mountain range, we found thousands of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen waiting for us in a densely-packed battle formation. I reckon that not many of us would make it out alive if we were to charge out with brute force. A rider in the distance laughed loudly and said, "Dragonlight Cavalry, it''s time to meet your maker! Charge at us if you dare! The Mystic Alliance¡¯s fireballs and icicles are waiting for you! Don¡¯t bother escaping through the mountain trails either! We¡¯ve known for a while that it would snow at Dawn City. Look at the glacier behind you! I highly doubt that you can pass through that!" He Yi and my gaze met as we turned our heads to look behind. A chill ran down my spine as ice started to cover the Dragonbone Mountain Range at an alarming rate. In the blink of an eye, the entire mountain range had turned into a glacier! Even the forest and narrow trails between mountains had been completely blocked by ice! Even my Ice Qilin Horse wouldn¡¯t be able to scale the mountain range, let alone the Dragonlight Armored Horses! "We fell into their trap¡­" Chaos Moon gripped her sword tightly as she turned red with anger. In a loud voice, I quickly gave out my command, "Charge toward the east immediately! Hurry now! The Mystic Alliance is coming!" "Yessir!" We tugged on the reins of our mounts and swiftly made our way eastward. However, we could not go very far as a dense group of mages blocked our way. They had already been expecting us. We were trapped with no way out. At this point in time, we were staring at death in the face! ¡­¡­ "What are we going to do¡­" Gui Guzi trembled as he spoke. Whether it was the cold weather of fear of death, we would never know. High Fighting Spirits shouted angrily, "These bunch of assholes only know how to ambush us. I bet that we could eliminate these mages if we charged at them head-on!" For once, he was right. Only decisive brute force could save us now. I nodded my head and said, "Alright then. We can only face them head-on. Attack!" We urged our mounts forward and charged toward the Mystic Alliance. Swhoosh... The Phantom Wolf King dashed forward at lightning speed. Brandishing its claws, it pounced on a few mages and sunk claws into their flesh. The other mages learnt from the mistakes of their fellow comrades and activated their Magic Shields. The defensive attitude made them harder to kill. A choir of incantations caused Galaxy Storms and icicles to rain down on us! Boom! Boom! Boom! In the blink of an eye, the three Dragonlight Cavalrymen that were closest to the enemy were hit by nearly twenty Galaxy Storms! They were instantly hurled off their mounts and killed by that explosion of magic! Galaxy Storm! Every rider¡¯s worst nightmare! Even though we managed to slaughter a few hundred mages, a few of our comrades were killed too. My heart ached at the sight of their lifeless bodies on the ground. However, the worst was yet to come. A dense crowd of mages was right in front of us, making it impossible for us to charge through the crowd! ¡­¡­ "We¡¯re doomed¡­" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun muttered in disappointment. Chapter 746: An Avalanche I yelled and continued to swing my Cyan Netherworld Sword, unleashing Burning Blade Slash and Thousand Ice Slash into the crowd of enemies. We needed to push them back and stop them from advancing any further. Blazing balls of fire fell from the sky and wreaked havoc amid the Dragonlight Cavalry. Xu Yang¡¯s armor was scorched by the flaming spheres and his health dropped below 10%. Turning red with anger he shouted, "Goddammit!" The Dragonlight Cavalry continued to retreat swiftly. However, we were forced into a dead end again. An icy cliff was right behind us! ¡­¡­ "We can¡¯t retreat anymore!" Chaos Moon looked at me and yelled, "Lu Chen! We will really be eliminated here if we continue to retreat!" I opened up the map quickly and scanned the terrain nearby. As I quickly scanned the map for escape routes, I noticed a small bear cave just behind us. However, its entrance had been sealed by a layer of ice when it snowed suddenly. I urged the Ice Qilin Horse forward and led a group of people toward the entrance. However, ice formed extremely fast inside the game. I gritted my teeth in anger when I saw that the entrance was covered with a layer of ice that was a few feet thick! "This¡­" He Yi threw me a questioning look and asked, "Are we gonna hide in that bear cave?" "Mn, that¡¯s our best option for now." I raised my sword and shouted, "Those with high Attack, attack that layer of ice! Our survival hinges on being able to carve a path into that cave!¡± Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, He Yi and Gui Guzi raised their swords and charged toward the entrance of the cave. In the next instant, skills such as Burning Blade Slash, Universe Break, Rock Crush, Xiezhi Howl, Purgatory of Ice and Magma were all launched at the thick layer of ice. Bang sounds rang out continuously and the thick layer of ice started to crumble within a matter of seconds. Roar! A wild bear lunged at us suddenly as the thick layer of ice to the entrance of the cave crumbled. It was most probably angry at us for invading its home. "Get inside!" I quickly dismounted from the horse and sent the bear flying back into the cave with a single kick. Signalling to the rest of the cavalry, I said, "Quick! Dragonlight Cavalry, get inside the cave! The cave is narrow so the enemy mages will not be able to attack us head-on. We¡¯ll kill anyone who dares to enter! Get in now!" I stretched out a hand to grasp He Yi¡¯s cold, dainty palm and pulled her into the bear cave. The Phantom Wolf King¡¯s fur stood on its end as it dashed into the cave with a howl. It sunk its teeth into the wild bear, killing it instantly. ¡­¡­ A bunch of enemy mages caught up to us and surrounded the entrance of the cave. They unleashed many domain-type spells like Icy Rain, locking down the entrance to the cave. A high-level mage turned red with anger and shouted, "Shit! That Dragonlight Cavalry has killed too many of our allies! We¡¯ll surround them, set the cave on fire and make roast pork out of them! Pooh! All they do is escape! So much for China¡¯s best cavalry! Pooh!" Another mage spoke out, "Let¡¯s seal the entrance with heavy fire so that they can¡¯t escape. Quickly! Inform the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry to charge into the cave and slaughter every last Dragonlight Cavalryman! We have to help the Behemoth Cavalry regain the honor of the Northern Alliance! Hmph! The Germans will surely owe us big time now!" The rumbling of horse hooves gradually grew louder. As we waited anxiously in the chilly bear cave, I continued to hold He Yi¡¯s hand as her eyes glistened in the dark. I squeezed her hand and said, "The Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry will be here soon. We¡¯ll be trapped like sitting ducks if we simply do nothing! Their priests can heal them but we can¡¯t recover our HP!" He Yi opened up the map, now updated for the cave we were in, and her eyes swiftly swept across it. Soon after, she broke out into a small smile and said, "Lu Chen, look! This bear cave has two openings. One of them is at the foot of the mountain and the other is located halfway up the mountain. We can exit the cave through the other entrance!" I raised my sword with excitement and said in a low voice, "Alright! Eve and I will go scout the other opening. Chaos Moon and Little Gui will stay here and send two or three men to guard the entrance. Kill any Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalryman that comes in. We must not let them in, otherwise we¡¯re doomed!" "Understood! Don¡¯t worry, Boss Broken Halberd!" Gui Guzi twisted his spear around and laughed. "I¡¯ve picked up some maneuvering skills from Beauty Lin! I lost to her many times at the arena just a few days ago..." I was speechless at Gui Guzi¡¯s words. Lin Yixin has been hiding in the arena then! No wonder I haven¡¯t been able to find her anywhere. ¡­¡­ After bidding goodbye to the rest, I summoned my apparition and led He Yi further into the cave. The Phantom Wolf King was more than enough to handle the wild bears residing in the cave as they were only Level 160. He Yi and I raced through the cave, unaffected by the wild bears. We had to be quick. Otherwise, the Dragonlight Cavalry would suffer losses. We ran down the winding path of the cave as it led up the mountain. I held my Cyan Netherworld Sword in front of me, illuminating the cave with its glow. He Yi followed closely behind me, as we continued up the mountain. Her cheeks started to turn pink as she panted heavily. After running for about five minutes, we heard Gui Guzi¡¯s voice in the chat, "They¡¯re here! Fuck! Is there a need for such a big fuss? 50k Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen are right outside the entrance of the cave and they are gonna charge in with the help of the mages. Chaos Moon, you and High Fighting Spirits defend on the other side! Those with ranged skills, go to the frontlines and get ready to defend! Everyone, use your Barrier Breaks as much as possible! Attack!¡± Following that, sounds of swords piercing through metal started to ring out and I frowned in worry. Damn it! Those Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen are truly eager to annihilate us! The battle has already begun, so He Yi and I have to be quick! ¡­¡­ We continued down the path with the glow of my sword as our only light source. Meanwhile, 80000 elite mages and 50000 Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen of the Northern Alliance had congregated at the foot of the mountain. The only goal of this group of elite players was to annihilate our 1100-strong Dragonlight Cavalry. It only showed how humiliated the Northern Alliance was. "Almost there! I see a thread of light above..." He Yi said as she tilted her head to look up. I laughed in relief and continued to hold out my sword so I could see in the dark. My other hand grasped He Yi¡¯s hand so she wouldn¡¯t slip and fall. ¡­¡­ After climbing up the slope for another hundred feet, we looked up and noticed that a layer of ice had formed over the opening. Damn it all! Of course the entrance was blocked! If it snowed at the bottom, it would also snow halfway up the mountain! Only god knows how thick this layer of ice is! Fuuuuck! "OMG! The layer of ice is so thick¡­" He Yi looked up and said, "I don¡¯t know if Purgatory of Ice and Magma and Burning Blade Slash will be enough to break such a thick slab of ice." I sucked in a deep breath and said, "Let my apparition try breaking it with Purple Dragon Howl!" "Mn!¡¯ A purple ray exploded beneath us as my apparition activated Purple Dragon Howl. A purple dragon energy rushed forward and collided heavily against the thick layer of ice! Bang, bang, bang! A draconic roar rang out as the layer of ice trembled. Cracks started to form on the layer of ice as it broke into pieces and gave way. The cave was instantly lit up as rays of sun shone through the opening of the cave. Alright! We can pass through now! He Yi and I glanced at each other with excitement and started to crawl out of the cave. As I exited the cave, I glanced at my surroundings and noticed that we were close to the peak of the mountain range. The snow around us was almost two feet thick and the entire Dragonbone Mountain Range had already been covered in white shimmering snow. "Alright! Let¡¯s tell everyone to retreat!" He Yi laughed. "Hold on¡­" I reached out a hand to stop He Yi before pointing a finger into the distance. "Eve, look over there. Is that¡­" I was pointing at a pine tree that was laid on the ground, buried underneath a pile of snow. He Yi¡¯s gaze followed my finger as she shivered. "Did that Purple Dragon Howl cause a small avalanche?" "It did!" I nodded my head heavily. I grinned as I looked at the crowd of Northern Alliance players and the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry below us. The unsuspecting bunch of Northern Alliance players was too focused on killing every single Dragonlight Cavalrymen. They had no idea of the impending danger! ¡­¡­ "Lu Chen, are you thinking of burying those Northern Alliance elite players under an avalanche?" He Yi asked as she looked at me with mesmerizing eyes. I nodded my head and smiled. "Mn. I think it¡¯s a feasible course of action." I looked to the edge of the mountain and saw a giant boulder which looked like it was about to roll off the mountain. However, there were three other smaller rocks of different sizes underneath that boulder, holding the large boulder in place. All we had to do was to smash those smaller rocks so that the large boulder would roll down the mountain. That would trigger a snowball effect! Surely it would create an absolutely shocking avalanche! However, a full-blown avalanche would surely shake the heavens and the earth. Half of the Dragonbone Mountain Range would tremble under the force of the avalanche and a small map such as the bear cave would surely collapse then. The 1100 Dragonlight Cavalrymen inside the cave would surely be buried alive under the weight of the snow. That was something I would never want to witness. After discussing the plan with He Yi, we came to a decision. Opening the guild chat, I said, "Little Gui and Chaos Moon, lead the cavalry and return to the city. You¡¯ll be able to return in an hour if you teleport to Wind City and make your way to Dawn City from there!" "Alright!" Without asking for an explanation, he led the main cavalry back to the city. ¡­¡­ "Prepare yourselves!" I raised my Cyan Netherworld Sword and took aim for those rocks. Then I unleashed two ranged attacks, Burning Blade Slash and Thousand Ice Slash. He Yi followed suit as she unleashed her Purgatory of Ice and Magma! Boom, boom, boom! Snow started to slide down the mountain range as the mountain trembled from the blast. However, our attacks had only gotten rid of the small rocks. The other rocks were too big and did not move an inch! "Goddammit!" I gritted my teeth in anger before glancing at the cooldown on my Purple Dragon Howl. Yes! It¡¯s ready! The cooldown on it is done because I used my apparition to use it most of the time! I downed a Saint Spirit Potion and regained a full bar of MP. It¡¯s time to begin! Bang! I thrust my sword into the ground and it shook violently. I swiftly pulled my sword out and swung it, unleashing a dragon of purple energy. The divine dragon roared as it flew forward and exploded against a few large boulders! Boom, boom, boom! Sounds of exploding rocks rang out continuously. I gasped in shock when the Purple Dragon Howl reduced the large boulders to rubble. A hundred feet tall boulder trembled and started to roll down the mountain, accumulating tons of snow along the way and growing bigger and bigger at an exorbitant rate! The Dragonbone Mountain Range trembled violently and an avalanche struck! He Yi and I quickly entered battle mode and ran away from the avalanche. However, it also meant that we were unable to use our teleportation scrolls to teleport to safety. ¡­¡­ "Eve! Grab onto me!" I wrapped an arm around He Yi and heavily stabbed the Cyan Netherworld Sword into a boulder. I held on to my sword tightly as we were suspended from the side of the mountain and watched the rocks roll off the mountain one by one. A large mass of snow started to slide off the mountain range rapidly, enveloping everything at the base of the mountain. Ding~! System Announcement (Player Hot and Sour Noodles Shout): What''s going on at the Dragonbone Mountain Range? Why are there tremors?! What¡¯s happening? Who¡¯s at the Dragonbone Mountain Range?!" Chapter 747: Shadow War A player holding a broad blade in his hand slowly looked up as his mount paced about in the middle of the Northern Alliance formation. A blood-red flag fluttered above his head and his figure was imposing even amid the sea of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen surrounding him. As he looked at the mountain range above him, his eyes were filled with shock and fear as he shouted, "Can anyone fucking tell me what just happened? Why did the entire mountain range shake? Why did I suddenly enter combat mode?" The Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen around him shook their heads in confusion as they replied, "We have no idea¡­" "Go ask those Frenchmen. Maybe they know what is happening?" "I just contacted them. They don¡¯t have a clue either¡­" ¡­¡­ As the rumbling sound swiftly grew nearer and nearer, the eyes of one of the mages suddenly widened in shock as he yelled, "Shit! We¡¯ve been had! That is¡­ That is an avalanche! Fucking hell, they deliberarely lured us to this place so that we would be caught by this avalanche! Damn it, what should we do now?" The mages exchanged bewildered glances before someone yelled, "We can¡¯t return to the city when we¡¯re in combat mode! Everybody, run!" Unfortunately for them, it was too late! Boom! That enormous boulder had now transformed into a snowball that was several times its size as it crashed into the enemy below! "Shield formation, defend!" A bunch of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry riders formed up in an incredibly calm and collected manner as they raised their shields to defend themselves. Pchhht! Large shards of ice were also mixed in with the snow that rushed toward them. These shards of ice stabbed into the armor of these warriors before the snow simply swallowed them up. They were finally struck by another huge snowball, and their formation completely collapsed. The whole place had turned into a disaster zone, and most of the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen had been buried by the snow. Some parts of the snow had been dyed a deep red, and it was safe to say that none of these Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen had imagined that they would meet such an ending. The avalanche swiftly thundered toward the Northern Alliance players and it seemed as if the ground itself was cracking apart as it poured downward. Countless mages tried to use Blink to escape, but their efforts were in vain. They still weren¡¯t able to escape the gigantic avalanche and the rain of ice and stone soon buried most of them. ¡­¡­ The entire avalanche continued for around twenty minutes. Most of the 80000 Mystic Alliance mages and the 50000 Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen had been buried at the foot of this snowy mountain. They no longer had a chance to step into Dawn City during this Nation War. A report came in from Dawn City and Hot and Sour Noodles turned dizzy with delight. After that, he sent out a system announcement with a huge guffaw of laughter and he didn¡¯t hold back on his praise. "That was spectacular! To think that you managed to use an avalanche to bury 80000 mages of the Mystic Alliance and 50000 riders of the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry! Simply magnificent! No one can dim the glory that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has accrued during this Nation War. All of you are the pride of China!" Warsky also sent me a message: "Haha, that was spectacular indeed! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has simply outdone themselves during this Nation War!" Congratulations started to pour in. ¡­¡­ He Yi and I exchanged looks which could be best described as bittersweet. We might have achieved a glorious result in batte, but we were literally hanging off the edge of a cliff right now! "What should we do next?" I said as I looked at He Yi. My beautiful guild leader simply laughed as she confidently unsheathed her sword and stabbed it into the rock wall above us. After that, she took out a Purple Gold¨Cgrade spear from her inventory and stabbed it into the wall as well. After that, she smiled at me as she stretched out a hand. "Come on. Your big sister here will pull you up¡­" The muscles on my face spasmed. "Thank you, big sis¡­" So, that was how the two of us helped each other scale up that cliff wall. The moment we planted our feet on solid ground, we exited combat mode. Okay, it¡¯s time to return to the city! Wooosh! After we entered Sky City, we summoned our mounts and rushed to repair our equipment. After that, we went to Wind City and disembarked from there. We managed to find Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, and Xu Yang¡¯s dots on the minimap, our swift mounts allowing us to close the distance as we galloped forward. ¡­¡­ We managed to catch up with the remaining Dragonlight Cavalrymen half an hour later. "Haha, boss and leader have arrived!" Gui Guzi said with a hearty laugh. High Fighting Spirits grinned as he said, "That was way too cool! You guys used an avalanche. You actually used an avalanche! Why can¡¯t I think of such cool plans?" Chaos Moon smiled sweetly. "If you could come up with such plans, you wouldn¡¯t be High Fighting Spirits anymore. In fact, you could be our guild leader instead, haha!" Heaven¡¯s Rain wheeled her mount toward me and laughed, "Vice leader big bro! Did you really get rid of all 130000 of those darned Northern Alliance players?" I nodded my head. "Yeah, I got all of them, which also includes the five Heroic Bannermen who were leading them. Heh heh¡­" Gui Guzi exclaimed in excitement, "That¡¯s great! The 50000-strong Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s biggest trump card! He must have thought that they would trample over all his enemies when he dispatched them, but he never imagined that Boss Broken Halberd and the guild leader would actually bury all of them at the foot of the Dragonbone Mountain Range. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow must be so angry that he¡¯s practically foaming at the mouth!" I chuckled, "Let¡¯s keep up the good work. The Northern Alliance¡¯s main force is still alive, so there¡¯s still a long way for us to go! Oh, that¡¯s right! How is Chengfeng¡¯s battle going?" Xu Yang¡¯s face turned cold the moment I asked that question. He replied in a solemn voice, "It¡¯s looking extremely grim. Titan God summoned the players from his subordinate guilds and assembled an army of 90000 players. All of them poured into the Breeze Canyon, and our Cyan Tiger Cavalry¡¯s casualties have exceeded 70%. Right now we only have about 7000 people left in Breeze Canyon, and all of them are still fighting for their lives. However, Li has got balls of steel. Even though there is such a huge disparity in the overall strength of both forces, he actually managed to kill more than 40000 of the players under Titan God¡¯s command. Right now, it¡¯s his 7000 men versus Titan God¡¯s 50000." Li Chengfeng had definitely already hit his limit a long time ago, and he must be covered in wounds right now. Furthermore, Titan God was no noob. When two experts clashed, even the winner wouldn¡¯t emerge unscathed, so there was no way that Li Chengfeng was faring very well. I swiftly wheeled my horse around and shouted, "There¡¯s nothing left to say. We are to immediately head for Breeze Canyon and back up Li Chengfeng. We¡¯ll never abandon any of our comrades!" "Wait a minute!" Gui Guzi hurriedly stopped me. "Boss Broken Halberd, Old Li sent us a message: He told us to leave Titan God to him, and he doesn¡¯t want any of us to interfere. If we do, he¡¯ll cut ties with all of us! Furthermore, Dawn City just sent out an SOS signal. The Northern Alliance forces have come within view of the city, and Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends are already engaging them in battle. Our walls have been battered by many siege weapons and some of them are already on the verge of collapse. They probably won¡¯t be able to hold out for much longer. Dawn City clearly needs our help right now." I clenched my fist tightly as I ground my teeth together in anger. "Damn it all, Chengfeng clearly doesn¡¯t want to drag us down any further. But even if he said that, I still¡­" Xu Yang moved his mount toward me and patted me on the shoulder. He said, "I feel the same anger that you¡¯re feeling right now, but Li is determined to have his fateful showdown with Titan God in Breeze Canyon. Likewise, we also need to reinforce Dawn City. Even though we are on two different battlefields right now, we¡¯re still fighting back to back! For the glory of our nation!" I clenched my jaw in anger and grief before I said, "Let¡¯s go back to Dawn City!" "Yes!" ¡­¡­ All of us started galloping back toward Dawn City. There were only a thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen left, and we looked like a deep blue stream as we flew through Wind City¡¯s territory. In truth, Dawn City was one of the cities which protected Wind City, but less than 30% of Wind City¡¯s players had showed up to defend it and we didn¡¯t know why this was the case. When we entered the territory around Dawn City, we saw a bunch of Chinese players from Sky City struggling to charge through the enemy and reach Dawn City. However, our Dragonlight Cavalry had no trouble slicing through the enemy and we easily reached the city walls. Battle raged all around us, but our riders tore through the enemy like a sharp blade. AoE attacks exploded into the crowds of enemies around us, instantly clearing an empty space around us. I raised my sword and looked up at the city walls before I yelled, "Hi, is the one in charge of the gate there? Get them to open up the gate! We¡¯re from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" An archer belonging to Candle Dragon peeked over the wall. It was Purple Dawn. He gave a cold chuckle as he said, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Aren¡¯t you launching an attack outside the city? Why did you come back?" "Cut the crap! Open the city gate and let us come in. We need cover fire as well!" "No can do. Go back to where you came from!" "Fuck!" I angrily unsheathed my sword and stared up at the city walls before I yelled, "Candle Dragon, you bunch of fucking losers! Are you actually trying to stir up internal conflict at this critical time? Do you still have any shame?" "That¡¯s right! Does Candle Dragon even fucking understand the meaning of the word shame anymore? Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ Dragonlight Cavalry were practically butchered out there, but they still don¡¯t want to let them inside?" Many Chinese players stationed atop the walls started to cry out their support for me. Now that the situation had turned on its head, Purple Dawn had no choice but to relent. He gave a sharp nod of his head and said, "Okay, open the gates!" As the metal chains started to clink, the city gate started to rise. After that, we swiftly entered the city. Thunk, thunk, thunk... The Ice Qilin Horse sprang straight up the steps to the city wall as I rushed to the top as soon as I could. I immediately leaped off my horse and straight toward Purple Dawn, my hand shooting toward his neck at lightning speed. I grabbed the collar of his robe and pulled him toward me, the Cyan Netherworld Sword gleaming with a cold light as it rested against his neck. I yelled, "Fuck you! My comrades from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls fell one after the other in this battle, and none of them uttered even a single word of resentment as they died. Meanwhile, you¡¯ve been sitting pretty in this city like the bastard you are, yet you dared to act so arrogantly toward us! Do you really want to die that much?" A few of the warrior¡¯s from Candle Dragon¡¯s first subguild rushed out and yelled, "Release our guild leader!" "Get lost!" I swiveled around and kicked out with my right leg, causing Burning Blade Slash to erupt from it. Even though its damage was nowhere near what it usually was when I used it with my Cyan Netherworld Sword, it still hit the warriors with great impact. A single kick from me had sent around eight Candle Dragon players tumbling off the city walls. ¡­¡­ "Have mercy, Lu Chen!" Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ voice rang out from behind me. He was accompanied by a bunch of players from Righteousness as he said, "I know that Purple Dawn bears a grudge against your guild, and I really don¡¯t want to poke my nose into the bad blood between guilds, but we¡¯re currently under siege. We can¡¯t afford to go around killing our own leaders before the enemy has even arrived. Just forget it for now. You¡¯ll have more than enough time to settle this debt with him after the Nation Wars are over." I nodded my head as I curtly shoved Purple Dawn aside. After that, I pointed my sword straight at him and said, "If there¡¯s a next time, even Candlelight Shadow himself won¡¯t be able to save you! In fact, I¡¯ll kill the both of you myself!" Purple Dawn straightened his collar as he sneered, "Hmph, you¡¯ll get yours sooner rather than later!" ¡­¡­ "Big bro, you guys finally made it back!" Beiming Xue¡¯s voice rang out from behind me, and it instantly caused the tension to bleed out of my heart. When I turned around, I saw Beiming Xue, Moonlight Stone, Moon Dew, Murong Mingyue, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Moonkiss, Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume, and a few other familiar faces waiting for me. Everyone was currently discussing strategies to beat back the enemy, but the unfortunate truth was that the city had already been surrounded, so any plan we could come up with wasn¡¯t going to work anyway. The only choice we had not was to fight them head-on and win! Chapter 748: The Avengers Unfortunately, the city had already been surrounded. Roars from both players and mounts filled the air around the city as the Northern Alliance slowly advanced forward. The bulk of their army remained in tight formation, their mounted troops and archers milling about in great numbers. All of them calmly stared at the city in a confident manner. They knew that the Northern Alliance already had victory within its grasp. Everyone could see the huge disparity in the number of troops on each side when they looked it up in the game. China: 18977733 Northern Alliance: 67328489 The enemy outnumbered us by over 250%! Furthermore, the eight main cities of the Northern Alliance had created a huge amount of unique siege weapons for this very day. If we hadn¡¯t gone to destroy most of those Fire Catapults, they would have probably taken down the city walls by now. ¡­¡­ A snowflake slowly drifted through the air to land in the middle of a fair and tender palm. When the owner of that palm unfurled her fingers, the snowflake had already melted. He Yi stood at the edge of the city walls, her blood-stained mantle, which was once as white as snow, fluttering gently in the wind. She raised her head to look at the sky as she muttered, "I can hear the sound of my heart thumping in my chest. The siege is about to begin!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes hefted her staff as she stood beside He Yi and nodded. "Yeah, they¡¯ve gotten all their troops into formation. The Northern Alliance has seven Famous Generals who have the Soul of the Foot skill, and they unsurprisingly form the core of the enemy¡¯s attack. We can¡¯t afford to hold anything back at this juncture. If we do, we might not even be able to last for an hour." Hot and Sour Noodles stood behind us, his hand resting on his longsword. He said, "Yeah, the Northern Alliance is vast and powerful, and they¡¯ve had the upper hand in this battle from the very beginning. Now they have managed to gather most of their forces outside Dawn City and their morale is through the roof. This siege is almost upon us, so I need everyone to raise their spirits as well! Lu Chen, how many people does Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul still have?" Xu Yang spoke up in a grim voice, "Don¡¯t bother counting the people that Chengfeng brought with him. They most likely won¡¯t be coming back." He Yi bit down on her bottom lip before she said, "Uncle Zhang Chun, you¡¯re thinking of asking Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to defend one side of the city, correct?" "Yes." Zhang Chun gave a heavy nod of his head as he said, "This northern wall will face the brunt of the Northern Alliance¡¯s assault, so it is the wall that is most vulnerable during this siege. Furthermore, it seems like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has managed to preserve more of its strength than the other guilds, and Lu Chen himself has become a figure who¡¯ll strike fear into the hearts of the enemy. Therefore, I think that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is the best choice to defend the northern wall." I sucked in a deep breath before I replied. "Okay. If we have the help of another guild, we¡¯ll be able to serve as your main force once more. So¡­ can you give Blazing Hot Lips to us?" "No problem!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes smiled at me and nodded her head. Even though Blazing Hot Lips had been decimated, their 10000-strong mage brigade was precisely what we needed right now. With their oppressive firepower, we would be able to hold onto these walls for a fair bit longer. ¡­¡­ Hot and Sour Noodles raised his sword in the air and said, "The Monarch Descends, Warsky Alliance, Gods of Destruction, I want you to defend the eastern wall. Snowy Cathaya will defend the western wall. Candle Dragon, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, and Throne Seeker will defend the southern wall. Righteousness has 100000 troops, and we will remain here to help Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls defend the northern wall. Comrades, the final battle is upon us. We only need to hold on for 17 more hours, and the final victory will be ours!" Everyone nodded their heads at those words. I set one of my Stormy Waves War Boots on the edge of the city walls as I stared down at the sea of people approaching us. My heart trembled as I said, "Uncle Zhang Chun, we have so few troops with us right now, so it will honestly be very hard to defend this city. Don¡¯t you have any ace up your sleeve? We have more than one hundred million players just from the three main cities alone! Our forces shouldn¡¯t be this paltry!" Zhang Chun replied, "You¡¯re right. Around thirty million Chinese players have died in the three days since the battle for Dawn City began. There are also nearly ten million high-level players who didn¡¯t participate in this battle. Most of these players are from our main cities, and they couldn¡¯t participate because of their own extenuating circumstances. Lu Chen, don¡¯t you worry. Candlelight Shadow and I already came up with a plan. We¡¯re using the fame of the CGL Hall of Fame to mobilize more troops! This new force will be called ¡®Avengers¡¯ and we¡¯ve already contacted 374 big and medium guilds. Once the time is right, they will rush over from Sky City and Wind City and attack the enemy from behind. We¡¯ll be the anvil to their hammer and crush the Northern Alliance forces between us!" My eyes immediately brightened. " Avengers? That sounds great! How many people do they have?" "At least seven million players! Tension bled out of my heart. "Okay. If that¡¯s the case, then we¡¯ll still be able to muster up the courage to keep battling on! Let¡¯s prepare for our vengeance!" "Yes!" After that, Hot and Sour Noodles gave out his orders, and Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume, Dominating Heaven Blade, Rose Thorn, Indigo Collar and the other leaders led their guilds to their designated walls. ¡­¡­ War drums boomed in the air as a warrior who was riding astride a battle tiger charged forward. A red flag was strapped to his back and he pointed his sword at the city as he yelled, "Comrades of the Northern Alliance, our past shame still burns! It still sneers mockingly at us! Even though we swore to die rather than to surrender to those strong invaders, we still failed! But today, we have stained this devilish ground with blood, fighting as one to tear apart the darkness that has been shrouding our hearts for years! Now it is time to attack and wipe away all of the past humiliation! Charge! Seize Dawn City!" The Heroic Bannerman¡¯s hearty shout spurred the fully-prepared Northern Alliance into action. They once more assumed the role of the attacker as countless players surged toward Dawn City. What was more concerning was the rows of catapults, siege towers, battering rams and other siege devices which began trundling toward us under the protection of a troop of magic knights. Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! The sound of their footsteps rang out rhythmically as the infantry squads slowly pressed in toward Dawn City. In front of them was a veritable army of magic knights who were advancing with their shields raised. Archers, mages, and priests hid behind them as they slowly advanced together with the frontliners. The Northern Alliance¡¯s formation was nearly perfect and it was clear that they were poised to strike us a fatal blow. As the enemy formation grew closer and closer, Beiming Xue turned her beautiful eyes toward me and said, "Big bro, should we begin our attack now? If I activate Range, we should be able to hit them." I quickly calculated the distance before giving a firm shake of my head, "No, wait a few more seconds. Right now, they¡¯re still two hundred yards away and the damage of attacks launched by Range will be reduced. We can¡¯t afford to waste our first volley of Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms like that. We need to take their cooldown timers into account as well." "Okay." Hot and Sour Noodles drew his sword and said, "I can mobilize the Greedy Wolf Cavalry to delay the enemy¡¯s arrival. How does that sound? Stranger of Three Lifetimes replied, "If you¡¯re prepared to make a one-way trip, go ahead. The plains outside the city are crawling with Northern Alliance players, there are no guarantees that you¡¯ll be able to return alive." Hot and Sour Noodles smiled sheepishly. "Forget it then! I¡¯ll just wait for them to reach the city walls." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ As the enemy grew closer and closer, I turned my head toward Beiming Xue. She immediately raised her bow high in the air and shouted, "Prepare to fire! I¡¯m activating Range! Mages, archers, hit them with your best shot!" Bowstrings strummed as our archers unleashed a barrage of arrows. Many mages started chanting as well and countless purple lights soon started falling rapidly from the sky. They landed in the midst of the enemy troops and went off like fireworks. The Volleys and Spiraling Arrow Blades of the archers followed soon after. A veritable storm of arrows fell on the Northern Alliance troops with a steady rhythm, some tearing apart the bodies of the soldiers that approached the walls, while others simply bounced off the shields of the magic knights protecting them. Clang, clang, clang... Arrows feathered the shield of one of these magic knights, and he had lost a little over ten thousand HP to this furious assault. He raised his sword high in the air and bellowed, "Full speed ahead! Push the battle line to the city walls! Don¡¯t be afraid of their firepower!" Hooves started thundering across the ground as countless Northern Alliance riders activated Charge. Shwing! I unsheathed the Cyan Netherworld Sword and pointed below the battlements as I shouted, "Give it everything you¡¯ve got! Seal their path forward with your spells and arrows! Don¡¯t let them approach the city gates!" After I said that, I kicked my Phantom Wolf King off the city walls and sent my avatar tumbling behind him. It was fine if my pet and clone died, but I couldn¡¯t enter the battle myself yet. Stranger of Three Lifetimes unleashed three consecutive Ice Blasts, causing countless flowers of ice to erupt in the enemy players¡¯ midst. A bunch of Northern Alliance riders instantly collapsed under her fierce assault, but she wasn¡¯t done yet! The sea of fire that she had created continued to burn, scorching countless enemy riders to death. No enemy player had been able to get within twenty yards of the wall that Stranger of Three Lifetimes was protecting. The attack power of a super mage was truly a marvel to behold! However, it was soon evident that these Northern Alliance riders didn¡¯t fear death. They continued to charge through the sea of ice and fire even though their losses were mounting, and they eventually began to break through the field of fire. Unfortunately for these doughty riders, the only thing waiting for them were Mountain Stagger Arrows and Devil Piercing Arrows of our archers! Thud, thud, thud... Three riders collapsed one after the other, their breastplates filled with arrows. However, even more enemy riders burst out from behind them as they recklessly charged into the teeth of our defense. We didn¡¯t have enough long-range players on the walls to deal with the inexorable tide of enemy players. This lack of numbers also directly translated into a lack of firepower, and a group of eight magic knights finally reached the city walls. Beiming Xue shouted, "Ignore them and continue laying down suppressive fire. Seal that path off and let our frontline fighters deal with anyone who reaches the city walls!" I immediately realized the wisdom of her orders, so I directed my little wolf and my clone toward that group of magic knights. The lethal duo tore through those injured magic knights with ease, instantly resolving the threat to our walls. However, more and more Northern Alliance players arrived below the ramparts as our attempt to stem the advance of the enemy finally failed. As such, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Beiming Xue started directing the long-range players to focus their spells and arrows on the players who were threatening to scale our walls. Thunk... A cloud ladder was secured to the side of the wall as it latched itself to the cracks between the stones that made up the wall. I could see Northern Alliance players preparing to climb up. "Fucking hell! Anyone who has the balls, come with me! Priests and bards, be prepared to cast healing spells and buffs at any moment. Every player who is above Level 155 and who has effective Defense exceeding 10000, follow me! We¡¯re going down these cloud ladders!" Even as I shouted those words, I leaped right off the city walls. Fuck it, I wasn¡¯t going to bother with a crummy cloud ladder! I wouldn¡¯t die from the impact anyway! Furthermore, there was a cloud ladder right beside me, so if I really couldn¡¯t take the heat, I would be able to use it to climb back up the city walls. Since I had an escape route, what was there to be afraid of? The tattered Soul Suppressing Cloak fluttered in the howling wind as I fell straight from the sky. An Eight Trigrams formation appeared below my feet as I struck the first enemy I saw with a Universe Break! Pchht! 31937! I skewered a high-level magic knight, my attack one-shotting him! But I also suffered more than 50000 damage from the fall. I bulled through the impact of the fall and immediately lashed out with my Cyan Netherworld Sword. Energy erupted from my sword and exploded into the crowd of enemy players in front of me! Blazing Blade Slash! My attack one-shot all of the players around me, and the fifty thousand health that I had lost was instantly restored by that attack. ¡­¡­ Bang! Bang! Bang! Light exploded all around me as He Yi, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, and the other high-level players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls unleashed their skills right before they crashed into the ground around me. Chapter 749: Beast Tamer As he let out an explosive yell, the wild streams of bestial energy swirled around High Fighting Spirits and tore through the armors and shields of the magic knights around him. As one of the fierce generals of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, High Fighting Spirits immediately unleashed Xiezhi Howl when he hit the ground, his ferocious attack scaring the wits out of the Northern Alliance players around him. In fact, his strong Attack allowed him to one-shot some of these riders even though he wasn¡¯t mounted himself! High Fighting Spirits lost more than 40000 HP when he fell. Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew hurriedly waved their magic staves in the air when they saw this, pulling his HP back up! They would make sure that we would be able to keep fighting! The sleeve of her robe swung out gracefully as energy erupted from her sword. The five consecutive attacks of Purgatory of Ice and Magma exploded into a group of Northern Alliance players, sending them straight to heaven. I yelled, "Eve, Fighting Spirits, charge together with me. We need to push the battle line away from our walls! Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Little Gui, Heaven¡¯s Rain, use this opportunity to summon your mounts!" Summoning one¡¯s mount only required two to five seconds, but if a player was interrupted while summoning their mount, they would have to wait for thirty seconds to begin the summoning again. The attacks of both High Fighting Spirits and I had cleared out a space for the rest of the frontline fighters who had jumped down the walls, so they could use this short lull to summon their mounts. ¡­¡­ "Neigh¡­" Whinnies rang out in the air as a dozen Dragonlight Armored Horses appeared behind me. Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, and the rest of them quickly leaped onto their horses and charged forward. Gui Guzi activated Knight God, causing their stats to shoot up like a rocket. It was time for High Fighting Spirits and I to retreat and summon our mounts. I summoned the Ice Qilin Horse and flipped myself on its back. He Yi and High Fighting Spirits summoned their mounts as well and soon, there was nearly a score of mounted experts pacing beneath the walls of Dawn City. We were fully buffed and we had our priests nursing us, so the Dragonlight Cavalry was currently enjoying something they hadn¡¯t been able to enjoy during this entire Nation War. As long as we had priests healing us, we were practically unkillable and this joyous feeling was something that we couldn¡¯t experience as we were charging behind enemy lines. I shouted orders as I raised my longsword in the air, transforming into the dignified commander of the northern battlefront. Truth be told, I had been personally directing the entire war effort of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls from the beginning of this Nation War, but to be able to command an entire front by myself was something else altogether! ¡­¡­ A huge black shadow flew through the air! Clang! A gigantic obsidian boulder heavily crashed into He Yi¡¯s shield and sent our beautiful guild leader staggering backward. Her shoulder slammed into the city wall as her Dragonlight Spirit Beast lost 10% of its tenacity. She had also lost a little over 10000 HP from that strike alone. It was actually quite fortunate that the boulder had hit He Yi. It would have left a gaping hole in our wall if it had missed her. I looked up at the ramparts and shouted, "Beiming, gather a group of archers and use your Range stratagem to destroy those catapults. Do you think it¡¯s possible?" Beiming Xue nodded her head. "It¡¯s no problem at all, big bro!" Soon, a stream of swift and fierce arrows flew from our city walls and fell on the enemy. A gigantic catapult collapsed to the ground shortly after the arrows had fallen, the exploding arrows tearing it apart. Boulders kept flying toward us and we were having a very hard time blocking all of them. Thankfully, every player who had leapt down from the walls was an expert, so it was impossible for any of us to get one-shot by these boulders. "Bring it on, grandsons! Your granddaddy is here!" High Fighting Spirits twirled his warhammer in the air, gusts of wind accompanying his every blow. His bracers shone with light as he swung his weapon. It was an Earth-grade item that had a set chance of triggering an AoE hurricane with every attack. This had come in very handy during this Nation War. He had blasted the Northern Alliance players with thousands of hurricanes throughout this Nation War, and it had allowed him to quietly accumulate enough war points for him to be ranked among the Top 20 in China. Everyone knew that warriors generally couldn¡¯t accumulate as many points as archers and mages. There were two main reasons for that. First, we needed to get near to the enemy to kill them. Second, we didn¡¯t have many AoE attacks in the first place. Therefore, all the frontline fighters who managed to be ranked in the Top 20 on the Nation War contribution ranking were outstanding experts. I immediately positioned myself in front of the city gates. I struck an imposing figure as my Phantom Wolf King and clone, which was barely alive, moved to stand behind me. I guarded the place by myself as my attacks kept triggering the Cyan Netherworld Sword¡¯s dragon soul attack and my ring¡¯s Silver Dragon Storm. My attacks were so fierce that one group of Northern Alliance players veered away from me. They stared at me with frightened eyes as they allowed their archers and mages to focus their fire on me. I quickly backpedaled to avoid most of the skills, allowing Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Beiming Xue to deal with those pesky long-range attackers. ¡­¡­ Twenty Dragonlight Cavalrymen defended the northern wall by themselves for an entire half an hour. We didn¡¯t let any enemy player successfully scale the walls during this time. The Northern Alliance simply couldn¡¯t bear to watch this farce any longer. The sound of hooves thundered in the air as a troop of cavalrymen charged toward us. They looked very familiar from the distance and as they drew closer, I soon realized that they were our old friends, the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry! Their Spirit Rank boss mounts were incredibly strong and there were around 30000 of them here! No one had thought that Hero City would still have so many of these high-level riders after we buried 50000 of them at the base of the Dragonbone Mountain Range. "Be careful, those grandsons are really fierce!" I shouted as I raised my sword high in the air. A large unit of Bloodthirst Beast Cavalrymen had already rushed over by the time I finished speaking. They let out wild whoops as they thrust their weapons forward and used Barrier Break! As light erupted from their weapons, a Dragonlight Cavalryman next to High Fighting Spirits collapsed with a wail. He had been instantly killed in the first exchange of blows! These enemy riders were simply way too powerful! He Yi suddenly thrust out her blade, five beams of sword energy instantly erupting from it. She yelled, "Hold the line! Don¡¯t let them near the walls! The siege weapons of the Northern Alliance are right behind them. We mustn¡¯t let any of those weapons near our walls!" We held on bitterly, but the twenty Dragonlight Cavalrymen were surrounded in the blink of an eye. Stranger of Three Lifetimes and her mages were hitting the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen with AoE spells, but they kept using Holy Shield, which caused at least 50% of these magic attacks to miss. Stranger of Three Lifetimes sighed helplessly when she saw this, there was nothing more she and her mages could do. Bang, bang, bang... My War Crush fractured the ground, causing a bunch of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen to stumble. I immediately swung my sword at them, unleashing Burning Blade Slash. The three fiery blades of sword energy ripped into them, causing them to fall into critical health. My clone instantly followed up with Thousand Ice Slash which finished the entire group of riders! However, things were starting to look grim for us. Chaos Moon barely had any HP left and Xu Yang wasn¡¯t doing much better. They swiftly flew back to the walls and cancelled their mounts as they prepared to run up the cloud ladders and escape to the safety of the city walls. It was at this moment that a tactician suddenly appeared on the walls. It was Lu Buyi! The glow of his stratagem, Purple Dragon, could be seen radiating out from under his feet as he yelled, "I want two hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen to mount up and join my party right now! After that, jump down the walls and reinforce our commanders! I don¡¯t believe that my 95% buff to all your stats won¡¯t allow you to beat the brakes of those rubbish beast riders!" A group of Dragonlight Cavalrymen immediately got on their horses and joined Lu Buyi¡¯s party. All of their stats instantly shot up once they received the buff provided by his Purple Dragon, and all of them jumped off the walls to join us once they had formed up. Their Defense, Magic Resist, and HP had been boosted to absurd levels and many of them activated Hoof Trample as they fell to the ground. Blood-colored explosions filled the area as our fearless riders leaped right into the teeth of the enemy forces. Clang! Clang! Clang! As their blades whirled in the air, all of the Dragonlight Cavalrymen who were boosted by Purple Dragon seemed to be possessed by a war god as they cleaved through the enemies. The archers and mages on the walls timed their attacks to match the attacks of the rampaging Dragonlight Cavalrymen below them, and they soon swept away all of the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen who were within thirty meters of the city walls. Even if they were riding Spirit Rank boss mounts, they still couldn¡¯t endure the constant assault from land and air. ¡­¡­ The moment I saw this glimmer of hope, I immediately yelled, "I want all of Dragonlight Cavalrymen to get down here right now! Join the parties of the commanders with Royal Road, Knight God, and Knight General. We need to defend the northern wall at all costs! However, once your equipment¡¯s durability drops below 20%, you are to immediately return to the city to repair your equipment and replenish your potions. Comrades on the wall, please focus on providing healing and suppressive fire. As long Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is here, the Northern Alliance players can forget about entering Dawn City!" Everyone immediately burst into action. The Dragonlight Cavalrymen leaped off the walls once they received their buffs, and some of them lost 30% of their mount¡¯s tenacity. However, there was nothing to be worried about. As long as we had priests healing us, their tenacity would recover at a frightening rate. The thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen rampaged across the battlefield as they scythed through the Northern Alliance¡¯s formation and completely devastated any Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalryman in their path. The Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry finally decided to cut their losses after nearly half of them had been killed. Even though the boulders, spells, and arrows were undoubtedly doing damage to us, our Dragonlight Cavalry was practically invincible with the support of the healers from the wall. One advantage of being a defender in a siege was that you had the high ground. This was especially helpful to archers as they received two perks from shooting from high ground. The first was that their range was extended by 50%. The second was that their attack power was also boosted considerably. This made life extremely miserable for the long-range players of the attacking side. ¡­¡­ The Northern Alliance army, which numbered more than ten million, started to retreat from the northern walls like a receding tide. They seemed to have realized that their current approach wasn¡¯t working. "What¡¯s happening? Have they lost their balls?" Xu Yang asked as he hefted his longsword in his hand. Du Thirteen barked out a laugh. "As if! Their army is at least three times larger than ours! There¡¯s no way they¡¯d give up that easily. I think that the Northern Alliance is having an internal debate about whether to bring out one of their secret weapons." "Tsk. What sort of secret weapon could they possibly produce?" High Fighting Spirits scoffed. The ground suddenly shook violently as if it was mocking his words. "What¡¯s going on?" I looked all around me as I felt the ground shake again. "Can anyone tell me what¡¯s happening?" He Yi asked as her back stiffened once more. Chaos Moon climbed up one of the cloud ladders and stopped in the middle, her hand pointed toward a distant location. "Omigosh! What is that!? The Northern Alliance players are really shameless! They¡¯re actually sending gorillas against us!?" "What gorillas¡­" I didn¡¯t quite know how to respond to that. However, the moment when I saw those towering Iron Arm Apes start lumbering toward the city from the distance, I was shocked beyond words. Wasn¡¯t that a monster? How the heck did those Northern Alliance players tame them? ¡­¡­ There were ten Iron Arm Apes altogether. They were huge and brawny, their figures as imposing as mountains. Their entire bodies bristled with needle-sharp fur and their arms seemed like gigantic steel pillars that could blow a hole in a mountain with a single strike! "Hey, look at that! There¡¯s someone riding on top of the head of the Iron Arm Ape in the middle¡­" He Yi exclaimed as she pointed toward the Iron Arm Ape in question. As expected, there was a person wearing a conical bamboo hat on his head. He held a bamboo flute to his mouth, a weird off-key song coming from it. It was a tamer. It was a god-like tamer who managed to tame ten boss-tier monsters at once! This tamer could solo all the tamers in China! Chapter 750: Dimensional Teleportation A bunch of Dragonlight Cavalrymen turned around and eyed the giant beasts in the distance with cautiousness. The Iron Arm Apes started to cry out before leaping forward, their hind legs bursting with energy. They charged forward swiftly, like arrows loosed from a bow! None of us had expected that they would move at such astonishingly great speeds. Swhoosh! I was left shocked when an Iron Arm Ape dashed past me at lightning speed. "God damn! They¡¯re too quick!" Gui Guzi shouted. In the next instant, the ten Iron Arm Apes had already reached the city walls. They stretched out their giant arms and swung them at the China players standing on the top of the wall! "Block! Magic knights, activate Holy Shield!" Hot and Sour Noodles who was on the city walls yelled out. Bang! Seven magic knights formed a shield formation but were all sent hurling through the air with a single attack of the Iron Arm Ape. Some were sent flying outside the city while others landed inside. After that, the eyes of the Iron Arm Ape turned crimson and it waved its arms around wildly. Loud bangs rang out as it started pounding its limbs on the city walls, killing countless archers and mages instantly. Stranger of Three Lifetimes held her staff in one hand and casted her spells. Powerful icicles soon slammed down on the Iron Arm Ape¡¯s head while she shouted, "You bastards! Come and kill me!" She successfully managed to draw the attention of those Iron Arm Apes as they turned to follow her. They raised their arms high up only to bring them down violently onto Stranger of Three Lifetimes. She quickly activated her Magic Shield and successfully blocked their attacks. Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ Magic Attack was extremely high and thus, her Magic Shield¡¯s durability was many times higher than a normal mage¡¯s. On the other side of the battlefield, Beiming Xue pulled her bowstring and released Shock Arrow. The arrow exploded among a group of Iron Arm Apes and successfully stunned them. "Bombard them with attacks! Slaughter these Iron Arm Apes first!" A group of mages continued to cast their incantations and unleashed their spells on their enemies. Boom, boom, boom! The Iron Arm Ape continued to smash at the city walls with its iron-like limbs, sending pieces of rocks hurling through the air. Our arrow towers collapsed one by one and within a short moment, the city walls were in a complete state of mess. Fortunately for us, the Iron Arm Ape¡¯s health continued to drop under our continuous attacks. Killing it was not an extremely difficult task as its max HP was lower than the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s. It was just shocking how much damage it could do to the city walls from its powerful attacks, that¡¯s all. The Dragonlight Cavalrymen were enveloped in a golden ray once again as they activated Charge in their battle formations., stunning every Iron Arm Ape in their way. Beiming Xue ran along the city walls alone before jumping onto the Iron Arm Ape¡®s shoulder nimbly. Steadying herself, she pulled on her bowstring and unleashed Evil Spirit Volley above the head of another Iron Arm Ape. She was aiming for the Level 157 tamer on a ten-limb Iron Arm Ape! "Hey!" A tamer laughed as he tilted his body slightly to the side and the word ¡°MISS¡± floated above his head. He had managed to angle himself such that he only took two out of ten of Beiming Xue¡¯s arrows, losing only half of his HP. "Haha! Little missy, are you trying to kill me? Dream on! You¡¯re just a puny little archer!" The tamer laughed arrogantly. That Iron Arm Ape raised its arm and started to punch itself on its shoulder in an attempt to smash Beiming Xue. Beiming Xue remained calm as she pulled her bow strings once again. She activated a skill that would increase her speed and soon, a green pair of wings started to circle around her ankles. In the next instant, Beiming Xue¡¯s figure flashed and disappeared. She ran along the Iron Arm Ape¡¯s limb at lighting speed, charging toward the ten-limb ape. Bang! Beiming Xue looked like a beautiful sprite who grasped her hands tightly onto the Iron Arm Ape¡¯s waist and quickly climbed her way up its arm. As she reached its shoulder, she swiftly pulled on her bowstring and unleashed Storm Arrow! The tamer turned pale with shock and retreated rapidly, brandishing his whip as he did so. With a flick of his wrist, the whip made a cracking sound as flames shrouded it instantly. Swinging the whip at Beiming Xue, the two leather-armor players started their exciting duel then and there! 11263! Beiming Xue lost more than 10000 HP from taking a single hit from that whip. However, she had actually caught the end of the whip in one hand and started to coil it around her arm. She raised her right arm and slung her bow behind her before taking out a dagger from her waist. The dagger gleamed with an icy chill as she forcefully pulled on the whip, using it as a rope to climb onto the Iron Arm Ape¡¯s head. "Damn it! What are you gonna do!?" The tamer started to panic. He did not imagine that this pretty little China lady would have such great melee skills! Beiming Xue¡¯s lips curved into a sweet smile as she said, "Anyone who dares stir up trouble for big bro must die!" Pcchtt! Her blade swept past her opponent¡¯s throat and a string of damage numbers started to float above his head. The tamer started to grow dizzy as Beiming Xue kept on zigzagging around him. He simply could not catch her movements as she was too quick for him. Her dagger gleamed with an icy chill as she brought it down violently and unleashed Freeze! 18773! The tamer let out a pitiful wail as the rest of his HP was deleted by Beiming Xue. He collapsed on top of the Iron Arm Ape¡¯s head and dropped a piece of bread as well as a whip with an orange glow. That leather whip was without a doubt an extremely powerful weapon for tamers. Beiming Xue picked the whip up and threw it into her inventory. The moment the tamer was killed, the ten-limb Iron Arm Ape also collapsed with a cry. After all, a pet was unable to continue fighting without its owner. The giant Iron Arm Ape collapsed with a loud bang. Beiming Xue who was standing on the head of the Iron Arm Ape let out a surprised cry as she started to fall from a height of more than ten meters. I quickly swung my sword at a group of Northern Alliance riders, causing them to back off instantly. I dashed toward Beiming Xue and spread out my arms to catch her midair. When Beiming Xue noticed who her savior was, she smiled from ear to ear and said, "Big bro, did I do well?" "Mn! Not bad at all! Go on up!" I curled an arm around her ample bosoms and threw her toward the city walls. Beiming Xue resembled a cute little kitten as she landed ever so nimbly on a cloud ladder by the city walls. She grasped the cloud ladder with one hand as she turned her head to look at me and smiled. "Big bro please be careful! Don¡¯t die too quickly alright!" "Alright, I got it¡­" I cursed under my breath as my mind suddenly turned blank. "Goddammit! I¡¯ve been stunned by the enemies!" Taking advantage of that tamer¡¯s Iron Arm Ape¡¯s attack, a large group of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen started to charge at us once again. Those riders were highly leveled and had powerful equipment. They could easily use Charge on me while I was stunned! ¡­¡­ Clang, clang, clang! My Ghost Deity Armor trembled from a string of attacks on my back but I was not worried about being one-shot. I had Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew and the other priests healing me after all. Moreover, my max HP was about 160000! If you want to one-shot me, you¡¯ll have to pay with your life! "Get lost!" I swiftly turned around after the stunned effect wore off and unleashed Thousand Ice Slash amid a group of enemies. Streams of icy aura were shot at a dozen Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen, freezing them instantly. As they stood rooted to the spot, a group of mages from Blazing Hot Lips unleashed three rounds of Galaxy Storm, killing every single one of them instantly. At this moment, the city gates were thrown wide open! At least 5000Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen started to charge out of the city. Hot and Sour Noodles raised his sword and bravely charged into a group of enemies as his cavalry followed closely behind. The counter-charge was a great success and stumped Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry¡¯s advance instantly! Hot and Sour Noodles was a great strategist. He deliberately cut off the enemy¡¯s path of retreat and coordinated with the Dragonlight Cavalry and the long-range classes on top of the city walls. He had every intention to slaughter these 20000Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen! "Lu Chen! The Greedy Wolf Cavalry will cover you! Kill them quickly!" Hot and Sour Noodles shouted from afar. I nodded my head, raised my sword and shouted, "Dragonlight Cavalry! Eliminate Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry! Kill every single player with a red ID! Show them no mercy!" Charging toward the enemy, 1000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen split their forces into five groups. He Yi, Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and I led groups of two hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen each. We activated our Famous General Skills and charged back and forth, eliminating every Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalryman in our way. Volleys of spells and arrows continued to rain down on the enemy while healing spells of our priests enveloped us. The Dragonlight Cavalry grinned with bloodlust as they continued to massacre their enemies bravely. The intense battle lasted for an hour until the battlefield was finally ridded of every single Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalryman. We even managed to kill three Heroic Bannermen during that battle! News about the Nation Wars had clearly stated that half of the ninety Heroic Bannermen who entered Dawn City had been killed in battle. Even if the Northern Alliance won in the end, it would not be a glorious victory. Moreover, we had not given up yet! They would have to give up their lives before they can take Dawn City! ¡­¡­ Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ remaining 3000 Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen returned to the city to repair their equipment. Righteousness had suffered great losses in order to annihilate the 20000-strong unit of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry. However, it could be seen that Hot and Sour Noodles was indeed a good commander. From that intense battle alone, he displayed both boldness and selflessness. The powerful attacks of the Northern Alliance continued on. A large number of siege towers continued to advance slowly with the help of the giant beasts. Those siege towers stood as tall as the city walls and had a tough exterior which made it extremely difficult for us to destroy it head-on. The siege tower had a drawbridge and when lowered, it would create a path for our enemies to enter the city with ease. "Archers, unleash Spiraling Arrow Blades! Blast those siege towers!" Hot and Sour Noodles shouted from the city. A bunch of archers quickly did as they were told, unleashing their arrows at the siege towers, striking the outer shell protecting the machines. However, the damage they had dealt was minimal at best! Goddammit! These siege towers are truly tanky! We definitely can¡¯t rely on the archers to take down! Twenty siege towers were only a hundred yards from our city walls! We were in grave danger now! Hot and Sour Noodles was so nervous that his forehead was drenched in sweat. Turning to me, he shouted, "Lu Chen, think of something! We cannot allow those siege towers to attack our walls head-on!" I nodded my head and raised my sword with a laugh. "Comrades! Let¡¯s get down to business!" Gui Guzi, Xu Yang and the rest laughed heartily before we urged our horses forward and charged out. High Fighting Spirits charged from the side and managed to crawl under it! With a shout, a circle of light appeared around him as he activated Xiezhi Howl. That idiot¡¯s attack was so powerful that it tore the siege tower to pieces! He Yi attacked the giant beast from its side, unleashing her Purgatory of Ice and Magma. Explosion sounds rang out and another siege tower collapsed as five waves of sword energy wrecked its tough exterior. Meanwhile, I charged at one of the siege towers head-on and unleashed Universe Break! Bang! My Cyan Netherworld Sword easily penetrated the tower¡¯s armor. Hah! You may be able to block our archers¡¯ attacks but you can¡¯t block mine! ¡­¡­ At this exact moment, Stranger of Three Lifetimes who was perched on the city walls pointed her finger in the distance and shouted, "This is bad! Look at those mages casting some spell! There¡¯s something fishy about them!" ¡­¡­ In the distance, three mages stood in a triangle formation with their staves raised high in the air as a beautiful enchantment circle spun around beneath them. In the next moment, three pillars of light started to soar into the sky from the walls of Dawn City. The pillars were crystal clear and were about ten feet in radius. Swhoosh... One by one, valiant Northern Alliance riders started to charge out of the pillars of light! "We¡¯re screwed¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes turned pale as she stuttered, "This¡­ this is a Dimensional Teleportation formation¡­" Chapter 751: Dawn City, Attack Gui Guzi stared up at the city walls and said, "These Northern Alliance players are really quite shameless, huh. To think that they¡¯d even manage to pull off something like an air-drop. Our walls are in trouble now." Heaven¡¯s Rain asked, "Do we go and help them?" "No!" I shook my head and replied resolutely, "If Uncle Zhang Chun can¡¯t even hold off a little assault like this, he doesn¡¯t deserve to be the supreme commander of the China server." He Yi giggled. "Yeah, we¡¯ve already done more than our fair share of work. Let¡¯s leave what¡¯s happening in the city to Hot and Sour Noodles. Righteousness still has a lot of their unmounted fighters." "Yeah, we¡¯ll let them deal with the problem!" ¡­¡­ We weren¡¯t shaken in the slightest. Hot and Sour Noodles was already organizing the Righteousness players within the city and he sent players with shields to surround the three teleportation points. He used these shield formations to wall in the Northern Alliance players who had been teleported into the city as he used long-range attacks to kill them. They managed to weather the storm for now, but we were teetering on the edge of disaster. Gui Guzi pointed toward the Northern Alliance army and said, "Boss Broken Halberd, we definitely won¡¯t be able to hold out much longer if this continues. The three mages who are maintaining the teleportation formation are about a thousand yards away from us. How about we charge through the enemy lines and assassinate them?" Xu Yang nodded his head in agreement. "That¡¯s right. We¡¯ll charge in, kill those three mages and break apart their magic formation. That way, we¡¯ll be able to defend the city walls without climbing back up." I shook my head. "That¡¯s a bad idea." "Why?" Heaven¡¯s Rain asked in a puzzled voice as she turned to look at me. I pointed toward the same spot that Gui Guzi was pointing at and said, "Look, there is a full complement of sixth-promotion riders two hundred yards in front of those mages and a huge number of archers and mages just fifty yards behind those cavalrymen. There are also riders with shields stationed next to the mages. Furthermore, you can see constant rustling from the shrubbery around those mages, so it¡¯s obvious that there is a huge number of assassins hidden there as well. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is clearly trying to bait us into attacking those mages. The moment we take that bait, he¡¯ll bury the entire Dragonlight Cavalry." Gui Guzi immediately sucked in a deep breath. "Fuck me. He¡¯s way too despicable. Thankfully for us, Boss Broken Halberd is still keeping a cool head. Had we done what I suggested, we¡¯d be in huge trouble." Xu Yang grinned. "That¡¯s right! Lu Chen¡¯s tactics have been outstanding during this Nation War. To think that this hot-headed punk could really keep his cool throughout this entire battle. That¡¯s rare indeed¡­" He Yi couldn¡¯t keep a wicked grin off her face as she replied, "It¡¯s very simple. Beauty Lin hasn¡¯t been around us this entire Nation War, so Lu Chen hasn¡¯t been distracted. That¡¯s all¡­" I glared at her. "Not you too, Eve!" He Yi simply giggled in response. Chaos Moon chimed in, "That¡¯s true! Lu Chen always gets flustered when Beauty Lin is around! If that had been the case, we¡¯d all already be dead, haha!" I scowled. "Stop playing around! Catch a breath and prepare to continue fighting. Fucking hell, those three mages¡­ Yeah, we may not be able to go ourselves, but we can certainly send someone in our stead." After that I looked back toward the city and shouted, "Little Naughty, it¡¯s your time to shine! Get rid of those mages with a squad of assassins!" "Okay!" Cute Little Naughty had been itching to get some action, so she practically flew down the cloud ladder. After that, she entered stealth and disappeared into plain sight along with the squad of assassins under her command. However, I was still quite worried about them, so I got my Phantom Wolf King to enter stealth and tag along as well. I was doing triple-tasking again. My clone and I would charge together with the rest of the Dragonlight Cavalry, while the Phantom Wolf King, which only had 55% of its health left, made a beeline for the three mages who were maintaining the teleportation formation. Getting rid of these players was critical to protecting Dawn City¡¯s northern wall! ¡­¡­ After ten minutes, I heard a beep. Cute Little Naughty had sent me a message: "Big bro Lu Chen, we¡¯re about to make our move!" "Okay, do it!" Bloody light erupted in the horizon as one of three mages maintaining the teleportation formation was instantly taken out. Cute Little Naughty had been the one to do the deed. Most of the magic knights who had been stationed to protect these mages had been stunned as well. The other two mages instantly activated their shields. They hadn¡¯t been one-shot, so their health bars were instantly filled up by the priests around them. "Little wolf, you go too!" The Phantom Wolf King suddenly leaped out of the darkness, its sharp claws flashing. After three consecutive swipes, it tore open the chest of one of the surviving mages. That was the second one down! Unfortunately for us, there were too many archers around. In the next instant, a fusillade of Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms fell on our assassins. Cute Little Naughty managed to scramble out of range in time, but the most of the assassins that had gone with her were one-shot by that attack. Even the Phantom Wolf King had been stunned by one of those arrows, and a group of riders immediately charged toward it. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was among them and his vicious slashes sent the howling Phantom Wolf King to its grave! Just as we had expected, it was a trap. However, we still managed to kill two of those mages. "Hurry up and blanket the area with AoE spells! Find that assassin and kill her!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow bellowed with rage as he sat astride his mount. The players around him swiftly blanketed the area with fire but none of their spells hit Cute Little Naughty. Realization dawned on Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s face as he turned around and snarled, "Heh, I got it!" He swept his longsword through the empty air until it collided with something! Cute Little Naughty suddenly appeared beside Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. His guess had been right. Cute Little Naughty had been sticking to Vienna¡¯s Sorrow all this while. That was the only way she could avoid being exposed by those AoE spells. Thud, thud... Her boots slammed into the ground as she was pushed back by the force of that blow. However, she attacked instead of retreating, her dagger flashing with cold light as it streaked toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s left armpit. Crack! 14727! A damage number popped above his head, but Vienna¡¯s Sorrow continued his relentless assault. His sword swept forward like a gale as it slashed through Cute Little Naughty¡¯s leather chest armor. An eye-popping damage number appeared over the pretty assassin¡¯s head¡ª58944! It was a critical hit! She had been one-shot! Cute Little Naughty slowly collapsed to the ground with an unreconciled look on her face. ¡­¡­ However, the thing that made me burn with regret was that the teleportation formation still hadn¡¯t been cancelled even after two of three mages had died. Fucking hell, we¡¯d been had this time! This might very well have been a trap from the get-go! I let out an angry growl as my hands curled into fists, remorse flooding my heart. He Yi suddenly said in a soft voice, "Don¡¯t beat yourself up over this. Everyone trusts you. This gambit failing hasn¡¯t lessened our trust in you by one iota! Let¡¯s keep going! There¡¯s still a war for us to win!" "Yeah!" It was at this moment that I heard a string of curses echo from the city walls. "Fucking hell, where did all these Northern Alliance bastards come from? How did they enter the city? We¡¯re fucked, there¡¯s so many of them!" I hurriedly replied, "Uncle Zhang Chun, what¡¯s going on?" Hot and Sour Noodles surveyed the city below him as he roared in anger, "We¡¯re in huge trouble. A lot of Northern Alliance players suddenly appeared in the blacksmith district of Dawn City¡¯s northern plaza! Most of them are cavalrymen and they¡¯re currently busy killing our NPCs. Fuck me, how the hell did they even get in!?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes replied in an extremely calm voice, "I just received a full report. Five hours ago, they dispatched a thousand miners to an area two kilometers away from Dawn City and they have been busy digging a tunnel toward Dawn City. As you can see, that tunnel is now complete. We always knew that miners could dig tunnels, but we never expected them to be used in this way. The Northern Alliance really is full of talents¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles gripped the hilt of his sword as he shouted, "Okay! Lu Chen, don¡¯t be distracted by this! I already contacted Warsky and he¡¯s coming over with Farewell Song, October Rain and 20000 Warsky Alliance players. They¡¯ll kill all of the Northern Alliance players invading our northern plaza and collapse the tunnel after that. I already ordered them to break the embankment around Garden Lake. The water will gush into the tunnel and flush those rats out!" "Yeah!" My heart grew even heavier as I hefted my sword in my hand. We were truly facing an extremely terrifying opponent this time. They were attacking us from every direction. They had even dropped troops on us and dug tunnels below us. It was a three-pronged multidimensional attack strategy! If we hadn¡¯t been defending these walls together with Blazing Hot Lips and Righteousness, the northern walls would have collapsed a long time ago. ¡­¡­ Lights continued to flash over our city walls as countless Northern Alliance players were teleported onto our walls. They clashed with the Chinese players in a grand melee and the distracted players on the walls couldn¡¯t provide the support that they used to. We lost a lot of supporting fire and healing, so our defensive line began to slowly creep backward. We heard the grinding of gears as nearly a hundred black figures emerged from the mist. Those were the siege chariots we had fought earlier! There were also countless battering rams rolling alongside them. These battering rams had huge spikes made of obsidian which would do deadly damage to any walls they struck! Chaos Moon gripped the handle of her sword tightly as her shoulders trembled. "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow has finally run out of patience. Their main push is coming." "Yeah." I hefted the Cyan Netherworld Sword as I looked at everyone and grinned. "Prepare for battle! Whoever kills Vienna¡¯s Sorrow will be conferred a title and awarded with gold¡­" Everyone erupted into laughter when they heard those words. High Fighting Spirit raised his warhammer high in the air as he roared, "Alright! I finally have the chance to become a noble!" ¡­¡­ Hoofbeats shook the air as the Northern Alliance players surged toward us like a tidal wave. Archers got into position as the cavalrymen charged forward, their blades glinting in the falling snow. Hot and Sour Noodles brandished his sword as he roared, "Fucking hell, it¡¯s time to put it all on the table! I want all the riders in the city to go out and support the Dragonlight Cavalry! The Northern Alliance wants a pitched fight, so it¡¯s a pitched fight they¡¯ll get! This is a new era! Who dares to seize the win!?" I couldn¡¯t help but laugh when I heard those words. "Well said, uncle! So what if they¡¯re strong! Victory will go to the brave!" The city gates swung up as countless Chinese riders flew out of it. They were accompanied by an even greater amount of foot soldiers! We were putting all our cards on the table for this conquest! Players poured out of the city like waves of the ocean as nearly a million Chinese players drew their weapons and prepared for battle. Their eyes were all grim and determined as they stared at the gigantic horde of Northern Alliance players bearing down on them. A horse whinnied in the distance as an explosion shook the earth. Everyone heard a loud click as countless boulders soared through the air and crashed into our formation. The numerous catapults within Dawn City unleashed their fury as well as a veritable shower of boulders fell on the Northern Alliance army as well. Boom, boom, boom... The sound of boulders shattering deafened our ears as every one of those giant rocks created an empty space in our ranks. However, none of our players cowered back as we saw the Northern Alliance¡¯s cavalry finally launch their attack! Shwing! The Cyan Netherworld Sword slid out of its sheath with a steely rasp. I yelled, "Dawn City, attack!" Chapter 752: All-out Brawl Our cavalry formation, which stretched nearly two kilometers long, slammed into the enemy riders with a resounding crash. Mounts neighed and howled as blades clashed against one another. The sound of armor being rent apart mingled with grunts of pain and cries of despair, as the telltale lights from Barrier Breaks erupted all across the frontline. Everyone was opening up with their fatal moves as the battle soon turned into a brawl. ¡­¡­ The snow instantly turned red as fresh blood continuously sprayed into the air, and soon, even the ground itself had been dyed a scarlet hue. As bodies slumped to the ground one after another, the battle turned even more intense. The light from skills erupted all over the battlefield as blades turned red with blood. The Dragonlight Cavalry remained in formation as we scythed through the battlefield like a hot knife through butter. We spammed our Hoof Trample skill as often as we could as we charged across the battlefield, and even Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s personal cavalry unit had to give us a wide berth. The archers and mages in the backline were going bonkers and there were enough arrows in the sky to block out the sun. Fireballs flew through the air as high-level mages repeatedly pelted players with huge spells. Squads of magic knights charged forward with Holy Shield activated as they tried to drive a hole into the enemy formation and force them to their heels. Meanwhile, Northern Alliance riders continued to be teleported onto our walls by that teleportation formation, but they were immediately mired in a grand melee with the players from Righteousness. Thud! Stranger of Three Lifetimes had turned on her Origin Energy Shield and leaped off the walls. She landed solidly on the ground and immediately started waving her staff in the air as she led a squad of Blazing Hot Lips players forward. Ice Blasts erupted from her staff as it weaved and bobbed, each one creating a hole in the crowd of Northern Alliance players. After that, she immediately cast Fire Rain all around her, preventing any enemy players from closing the distance with her. She was a one-mage army and she had created her own inviolable domain the moment she stepped onto the battlefield. "Hurry up and attack! We need to kill that high-level mage!" A dozen Northern Alliance riders brandished their blades as they charged toward Stranger of Three Lifetimes. Eyes Like Water brandished her sharp blade as she ordered her squad of cavalrymen to surround and protect their leader. Even though Stranger of Three Lifetimes hadn¡¯t brought many of the Blazing Hot Lips players with her, the ones she did bring along boasted incredible firepower. Her mage squad was especially powerful. Just two spells from any one of them was enough to blast away 50000 HP from an opponent. Even mounted magic knights would be sent straight to heaven after a few attacks. Even our Lu Buyi had joined the fray. He was leading a bunch of mages and archers, and Purple Dragon had made their defenses and health incredible. With their toughness as their calling card, they charged straight into battle with no fear. This was doubly true for the mages under his command, because Purple Dragon even boosted the durability of Magic Shield by 95%, which allowed them to stand their ground even as the battle raged all around them. Rooaaaaaaaar! A huge dragon flew over our heads before it swooped down, its claws tearing through three riders. It immediately followed up with a blast of dragonbreath which carved a line of death into the Northern Alliance¡¯s formation. The appearance of this dragon even caused our players to jump in fright, but they soon settled down after they realized that it was Murong Mingyue¡¯s Ironwing Dragon Thunk, thunk, thunk... A flurry of purple arrows exploded in the Northern Alliance¡¯s ranks and they were quickly followed up by a storm created by Spiraling Arrow Blades. Those attacks were strong enough to instantly dismount two dozen enemy riders! Of course, there was only one archer in this battle that could boast such firepower and that was our Beiming Xue! "Fucking hell, it¡¯s that archer again! She killed our best tamer too! Charge! Let¡¯s kill her and get revenge for our tamer!" A dozen unmounted fighters glared at Beiming Xue with bloodshot eyes before they activated Charge and rushed toward her. Rustle... Beiming Xue nimbly formed a "Z" in the snow as she hopped back three steps, causing all of those warriors to "MISS¡±. After that, she whistled and the Thunder Beast flew in out of nowhere. Its sharp claws danced in the air as electricity crackled around them. Bolts of lightning suddenly fell to the ground and exploded into the dozen warriors with a series of loud bangs! The eyes of these hapless warriors widened to their limit as they saw their health bars rapidly turn empty. After that, Beiming Xue pulled back her bowstring and sent them on their way with a Multi Arrow. ¡­¡­ Pccht, pccht, pccht... Fresh blood sprayed into the air as a dozen Chinese riders collapsed to the ground in front of us, their bodies feathered with arrows. The sight of them dying only spurred me forward, and I immediately unleashed Thousand Ice Slash the moment my Ice Qilin Horse brought me close enough! It exploded into the small army of enemy archers with a loud bang. It was a formation of at least 10000 enemy archers, so they couldn¡¯t be ignored or underestimated. They were like a swarm of hornets who would sting any frontline player who got within reach to death. In fact, it was likely that they¡¯d turn most ordinary players into porcupines the moment they stepped into their range. "Fire!" A group of archers immediately turned their bows toward me and fired. My heart thumped in my chest as I swiftly retreated. I made three consecutive diagonal cuts as I ran away, and also held up my free arm in front of my defensively. Arrows started clanking off my gauntlet and armor as my health dropped by nearly 70000 points! Fuck me, how strong are these archers!? They are scary as hell! However, this didn¡¯t deter the rest of our commanders at all. Xu Yang let out a fierce howl as he led the charge straight into the teeth of the enemy formation, and Eighteen Steeds, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, and He Yi all charged in along with him. Naturally, the rest of our riders followed along. God damn, everyone¡¯s gone mad... Explosions of light erupted all over the battlefield as the Dragonlight Cavalry tore into the army of archers. Xiezhi Howl sent the broken bodies of countless archers flying while Rock Crush pummeled them into the ground. Rock Smash, Mountain Stagger Slash, and Purgatory of Ice and Magma also ripped through these hapless archers as the mounted players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls showed off their stuff! They ripped apart a formation of ten thousand archers through pure brute force, and the rest of the Chinese riders charged right into the fray and finished the job. The corpses of nearly ten thousand Northern Alliance players littered the ground and there were puddles of blood everywhere. This carnage had been wrought in less than ten minutes, and it was clear that this brutal battle was not for the faint-hearted! ¡­¡­ This all-out brawl continued for nearly four hours, but the Northern Alliance army eventually gained the upper hand. They were exerting too much pressure and the army that was defending Dawn City was slowly being pushed in toward the city walls. We had far too few people and our army wasn¡¯t even one-third of the Northern Alliance¡¯s one. Furthermore, our casualties in this battle had been extremely high. We had lost more than 60% of our players in this 4-hour battle and there were less than eight million players left defending the city. There was no way that these eight million players would be able to defend this tier 2 city, because the Northern Alliance still had more than forty million players left! Yes, they still had more than five times our numbers even after this brutal fight. There was no competition at all. Bang! Countless ice fragments flew in the air as my Thousand Ice Slash exploded into the enemy and robbed more Northern Alliance players of their lives. As I urged my mount forward, the Cyan Netherworld Sword shot out like a striking viper and skewered a magic knight in front of me. Blood gushed from his mouth and wound as I brutally yanked out my blade. After that, I whirled around and shouted at Hot and Sour Noodles, "Hey, uncle! We can¡¯t keep fighting like this! It¡¯s a losing proposition. There are still players coming into Dawn Valley to reinforce the Northern Alliance, so where the hell are our reinforcements!? Where did that army from Wind City and Vanished God City go!? Aren¡¯t they part of the group that you and Candlelight Shadow formed, the Avengers!? Wasn¡¯t that supposed to be an army of more than ten million players!?" Hot and Sour Noodles sucked in a deep breath before shouting a reply, "Don¡¯t get too agitated when I say this, but they¡¯re being stalled right now!" "Fuck!" Even as I was pushed back, I shouted, "Get back into formation! Don¡¯t lose your heads!" Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, He Yi, Heaven¡¯s Rain and the rest of the Dragonlight Cavalry charged out from the mass of enemies and reformed at my side. Our crack cavalry unit had started to suffer some heavy losses in this wild melee. "I want a head count, now!" He Yi shouted. Chaos Moon quickly swept her eyes over our riders and replied, "We only have 508 Dragonlight Cavalrymen left, we¡¯ve suffered about 50% casualties¡­" "Damn, we really lost a lot of men¡­" "Yeah¡­" Most of us didn¡¯t know how to respond to that report. We simply continued to cut down the enemy players around us, but there were less and less Chinese players around the wall. Most of the players who had put their lives on the line in this desperate battle had already died, and the survivors were currently being pushed back and suppressed by the Northern Alliance¡¯s attacks. There was no way for us to fight back at all. Hot and Sour Noodles and I exchanged a glance before he raised his sword in the air and yelled, "All forces, retreat! Retreat back to the walls and hold the line there. We can¡¯t hold them back any longer!" The Northern Alliance forces pressed in sharply as we continued to retreat. By the time I reached the city walls, I discovered that the enemy catapults had already riddled them with holes. Those three pillars of light on the top of the walls continued to teleport Northern Alliance players in and the sounds of battle filled the city. "Get off your mounts and go up the walls!" I scrambled up a cloud ladder with the Cyan Netherworld Sword in my hand and I was immediately greeted by the sight of three Northern Alliance magic knights charging toward me with swinging axes! "Get lost!" I slashed the air in front of me, causing the Cyan Netherworld Sword to shudder as three crescent blades of fire erupted from it and tore through the three charging warriors. Hmph, I can one-shot these noobs even without my mount! Everyone clambered up the walls as I cast an Icy Cyclone Domain over each teleportation point. The spears of ice that constantly rained down on the area around the pillars of light tormented the Northern Alliance players who were being teleported in. Stranger of Three Lifetimes added to their misery by casting three Seas of Flames around the teleportation points as well. The players who were being ported in were greeted by a nasty surprise of fire and ice. After that, our archers would simply use Volley to finish the job. ¡­¡­ "Those siege towers are coming¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles said as he pointed his sword toward the nearest one. He sighed as he looked to his left and his right and discovered that most of his comrades from Righteousness had already been killed. He shrugged helplessly as he continued, "Damn it all, we¡¯ll have no choice but to fight on the back foot from here on out. We¡¯ll only be throwing our lives away if we rush out of the city again¡­" I nodded my head, "The army that had been defending the northern walls has dwindled to a force of less than 500000 players and we don¡¯t even have 100000 players defending the walls. It¡¯ll practically be suicide for us to go out right now." The huge siege towers continued their inexorable advance, and there were about fifty of them altogether. They were immediately baptized with spells and arrows the moment they neared the city walls, but we didn¡¯t manage to destroy even one of them. Shwing, shwing, shwing... Warriors unsheathed their weapons as they lined up on the city walls. I grinned as I said, "Alright, one person to one siege tower! We¡¯ll charge in before they can charge out and kill as many as we can. Everyone who still has big AoE skills hidden in their pockets, don¡¯t keep them tucked away for a rainy day anymore! Use them to take down these siege towers! This is an objective that¡¯s worth it!" Everyone laughed at my words. But I wasn¡¯t done yet! I retreated a few steps before I made a running jump off the edge of the city wall. I landed on top of one of the siege towers with a loud thunk. Before it could even release its boarding bridge, I slashed my sword between the gap and unleashed Burning Blade Slash! Boom, boom, boom... Tongues of fire spurted out from the seams of the siege tower as my burning blades of sword energy exploded into the enemies waiting inside the siege tower. I immediately followed it up with Thousand Ice Slash which caused the siege tower to crack open. I made a running jump off the siege tower even as it started to crumble. I landed safely on top of the city walls and I simply dusted myself off. I had destroyed one siege tower in one clean and easy motion, greatly boosting the morale of the troops defending the wall. However, more siege towers continued to line up against the city walls. Their bridges landed on the walls with loud thumps as a veritable ocean of Northern Alliance players swarmed out from them! Chapter 753: Joining Hands High Fighting Spirits swung his warhammer violently and shouted, "I¡¯m gonna yeet you off!" Raging flames burst forth from his warhammer and sent a bunch of Northern Alliance riders flying from the ramparts. At this moment, High Fighting Spirits trembled as he was hit by eight fireballs and countless arrows. Even the Northern Alliance mages and archers had started to fill the city and put pressure on our troops. The battlefield had gotten so chaotic that it was hard to tell friend from foe. I summoned my Ice Qilin Horse and charged back and forth on the ramparts. The Phantom Wolf let out a howl as it followed after me and killed any opponents within its attack range. He Yi swung her Blade of the Earthen Soul, hurling any Northern Alliance players off the ramparts. Meanwhile, the Firelight Mouse on her shoulder waved its tail and instantly enveloped a group of enemies with blazing fire. Beiming Xue ran gracefully, reaching the borders of the city walls. With a tug of her bowstring, her arrows were shot at a bunch of enemies. Her Purgatory Thunder Beast was by her side, brandishing its claws and sinking them into the flesh of our enemies. At the same time, it continuously unleashed bolts of lightning upon its enemies. It was so powerful that many enemies were killed instantly! ¡­¡­ The numerous arrow towers were activated within the city. Thick steel arrows were shot out continuously as they whistled through the air and pierced through the armors of the Northern Alliance players. The P2W arrow towers of a tier 2 city were OP. Their great attack power made them one of our best forms of protection. "Defend the city! We will never give in!" Hot and Sour Noodles shouted. Under the command of He Yi and I, a group of Dragonlight Cavalrymen started to summon their mounts. Getting into battle formation, we activated Charge and dashed forward on the ramparts. Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain and the other magic knights moved swiftly and formed a line at the edge. Proving to be our best form of protection, they held out their shields and blocked our troops from the enemy¡¯s volleys of arrows and spells. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow urged his mount forward and shouted, "Everyone attack! Attack with everything we¡¯ve got! Fuck! I refuse to believe that we can¡¯t take down this puny Dawn City! Archers, I want you to focus on the CGL Hall of Famers! Focus fire and kill Broken Halberd Sinks into Sand!" My gaze turned cold and I growled in a low voice, "Eve, Little Gui, Little Rain, continue to defend the city. I¡¯ll go meet with that bastard Vienna¡¯s Sorrow!" "Alright, be careful!" "What?" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow jerked his head to look at me before swiftly bringing his sword up to block my sudden attack. Clang! My eyes widened in shock when he parried my Universe Break. Rarely had anyone parried my Universe Break! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and I exchanged grins as our swords clashed. My body seemed to freeze in the air for an instant, and I felt like a hero in an action movie. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t Neo so the laws of gravity still applied to me. I immediately started to fall, but I managed to plant my left leg firmly on the head of Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s mount. I immediately swung my right leg at his chest, a cluster of fire erupting around my foot as it slammed into him! Bang! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow grunted in pain. My kick had done over 6000 damage to him. However I was not done with him yet! I grabbed hold of his mount¡¯s reins with one hand and swung myself around its body, my sword fiercely jabbing toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s side. Clang! I gritted my teeth in frustration. My sword was once again parried due to Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s precise judgement. However, in a duel between two experts, one could not just rely on parrying attacks. I retracted my sword and swiftly delivered a kick to Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s face! Bang! 7892! That kick thoroughly humiliated Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and he flew into rage instantly. Without waiting for the cooldowns of his attacks, he lifted his left hand to deliver a punch with a loud cry. I too brought up a fist swiftly, our knuckles meeting with a loud bang. I trembled at the great impact before doing a backflip, landing beautifully on the back of my Ice Qiin Horse. A bunch of Northern Alliance riders behind me turned red with anger. Raising their swords, they shouted as they charged at me, "Goddammit! It was this bastard that slaughtered our 100000-strong Behemoth Cavalry and 50000-strong Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry! He must die! Comrades, attack! Our city lords will definitely knight us if we manage to kill this asshole!" I laughed heartily at their words as I retreated swiftly. Soon after, my back hit the city wall with a bang. With a swing of my sword, I unleashed Burning Blade Slash. Three consecutive crescent waves of sword energy were shot out and exploded amid a group of enemies! Bang! Bang! Bang! These three consecutive attacks had a 200% Attack buff from Martial God making them extremely OP. A string of damage numbers amounting to more than 200000 floated above the heads of that group of magic knights. Their eyes turned as wide as saucers when they noticed that the last attack had dealt more than 50000 damage. Needless to say, that group of magic knights collapsed to the ground and died instantly. My attacks were too OP and the damage I dealt to my opponents was far greater than their max HP. It was easy for my sword to tear into armor and flesh, leaving the body parts of my enemies scattered across the battlefield Vienna¡¯s Sorrow turned red with anger when he saw that I had one-shot his trusted aide. Raising his sword, he charged straight at me and shouted, "Broken Halberd, die!" Clang! A look of surprise appeared on my face as he knocked the Cyan Netherworld Sword aside. Oh shit! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow really knew some amazing techniques. He had slid his sword in at an angle, completely diverting my blade away from its intended destination. It would take another 0.5 seconds for Universe Break¡¯s spiral of indigo energy to coalesce around my sword again. A supreme expert could do many things in half of a second. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow roared as the golden light poured from his blade. The image of a snarling beast¡¯s head appeared above the tip of his sword before he fiercely thrust it toward my chest, causing a huge damage number to pop up above my head. Unfortunately for me, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow wasn¡¯t done yet! His blade flashed out with lightning speed as he immediately followed up with Triple Slash! I hurriedly brought my sword up, but I could only block one of those three attacks. The string of damage numbers that followed instantly caused my face to go pale with shock. 51781! MISS! MISS! 25832! 26623! ¡­¡­ He had instantly dealt more than 100000 damage to me! His attack power was simply terrifying! This was especially true for that first skill of his, Beast Howl Slash. Just how high had it boosted his Attack to? It had to be some insane number, because he had actually managed to deal more than 50000 damage to me in one hit! No one in the entire China server had managed to do that before! Bang! I quickly grabbed hold of his blade with one hand and tried to ignore the burning sensation on my palms. I thrust my blade forward and unleashed Universe Break + War Crush right at Vienna¡¯s Sorrow! Pchhtt! A string of damage numbers flew up instantly as Universe Break tore through the armor of Vienna¡¯s Sorrow with ease. 39088! 21832! 21029! 19237! I returned the favor and dealt 100000 damage to Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. Unfortunately for me, his equipment was extremely OP. His equipment was even more powerful than mine! His Famous General Skill, Knight God, buffed his Attack and Defense by 100%. To add on to that, his Berserker class allowed him to equip a shield. He definitely possessed the upper hand in this duel. Clang! Sparks flew as Vienna¡¯s Sorrow parried my blow. Under the intense force of our attacks, our arms trembled as we both took a few steps backward. I gritted my teeth as I felt the attacks of the Northern Alliance players bombard me from behind. I waved my hand and a crimson ray enveloped me instantly¡ªTenacity of the Dead! +41727! I downed a Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion after recovering a large amount of health from using Tenacity of the Dead. My health regenerated at breakneck speed due to my passive skill, Regeneration of the Undead and with the help of my Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow raised his sword in the air, and caused threads of energy that resembled green vines to crawl up around him and his mount. His HP started to refill at an alarming rate. ¡­¡­ "You truly are a formidable opponent!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow looked straight at me as a small smile appeared on his face. "You¡¯re even stronger than the acclaimed Martial God of China, Candlelight Shadow. How shocking! I had to activate my invincibility skill because he used Ghost God Prophecy on me. I wonder what exactly you¡¯ll force me to give up today." I raised my sword and spat out every word slowly with a smile, "YOU CAN GIVE UP YOUR LIFE!" "Hmph! What arrogant words!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow held his sword at an angle as he urged his mount forward. At this moment, rays of healing spells by the Northern Alliance priests started to envelop him. Each spell added ten thousand to his health and he regained full health within a matter of seconds. I started to panic at the sight of this. He was a powerful opponent whose max HP was in no way lower than mine. To kill him, I would have to deliver extremely powerful attacks in a blink of an eye to prevent him from recovering any health. Raising my hand, I unleashed Icy Cyclone Domain into a group of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen behind me. They were there for two reasons. Firstly, to protect Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and secondly, to find opportunities to eliminate me. I truly had too much on my plate. I had a formidable opponent before me and a large group of enemies behind me. Goddammit! I¡¯m in deep waters now! Ding! I received a message from Beiming Xue: "This isn¡¯t fair, big bro! He has priests to heal him but you don¡¯t! Let me help you out!" "Yes! I love you to death, Beiming!" I exclaimed happily. Beiming Xue giggled and replied, "I love you too, big bro! You can do it! Kill that bastard goat rider!" ¡­¡­ Bang, bang... I urged my mount forward and dashed through the falling snow, leaving the area I was in far behind. I charged toward the city in order to avoid being chased by the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen. I flicked the reins of my mount and zigzagged toward the city at top speeds to avoid being locked on by the archers. I ran around in a random pattern and changed the speed of my mount every now and then. The enemy archers probably wanted to tear their hair out in frustration as their arrows landed everywhere but on me. "Hey!" A look of shock flickered in Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s eyes before he chuckled involuntarily. Brandishing his sword, he charged toward me in a zigzag motion. Our swords tilted forward as we prepared to exchange blows with one another. All of the sudden, our mounts stopped zigzagging as we changed to a helix maneuver. God damn, we had both thought of the exact same thing! "Die!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow attacked the moment an opportunity presented itself! Flames erupted from his blade as he actually used a magic attack against me! A floating blade slashed my back, shaving off more than twenty thousand HP in an instant! Swhoosh, swhoosh, swhoosh... The Ice Qilin Horse charged through the snow before I pulled on its reins, and abruptly turned right. I swiftly ducked behind the shield of a Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalryman. That was an extremely successful move as Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s attack had completely missed me. His eyes turned as wide as saucers as he pointed a finger at that rider and shouted, "Goddammit! You, get lost!¡± I urged my Ice Qilin Horse and charged out from behind the shield. I swiftly unleashed a crescent wave of sword energy at Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, narrowly missing him. As I shot that wave of sword energy, I yelled out, "Beiming! Now!" Pchhtt! A dark green arrow flew at Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and landed smack on Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s chest. As the arrow pierced through his breastplate, green light started to ripple from that arrow. Combat Log: Player "Beiming Xue" used "Broken Feather Arrow", dealing 14657 damage to player "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡±. Target will not be able to recover HP for ten seconds!" 1. Neo is the main character from the movie Matrix, where characters routinely defy the laws of physics Chapter 754: Collapse of the City Walls I was overjoyed when shock filled Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s eyes. Without a second to lose, my left arm exploded out and knocked his sword aside with a loud clang. A swirl of indigo energy appeared on the tip of my sword as I unleashed Universe Break at him. The Cyan Netherworld Sword pierced through his armor easily and drilled into his flesh! 35887! As my sword pierced through Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s armor, a purple arrow hit him smack on his head about 0.5 seconds later. Alright! It was Beiming Xue¡¯s Bone Eroding Arrow which reduced Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s Defense by 50%. Our synergy was truly flawless! As shock overtook Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, I took advantage of this opening and unleashed my highest-damage attack¡ªBurning Blade Slash! Bang! Three blazing crescent waves were shot out of my sword, hitting Vienna¡¯s Sorrow squarely on his back. His mount wailed out in pain and moved away from me instantly as three shocking damage numbers popped up from his head. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s Defense had plummeted greatly thanks to Beiming Xue¡¯s Bone Eroding Arrow. 27829! 33262! 45283! The supreme commander of the Northern Alliance, the proclaimed king of the Northern Alliance, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, was reduced to 15% of his health in the blink of an eye. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow turned pale but managed to land a hit on my shoulder. His goat let out a painful wail and he retreated swiftly after landing a hit on me. I waved a hand and laughed heartily. ¡°Vienna! You¡¯re done for!¡± Swoosh! Four divine weapons fell from the sky and thrusted into the ground, surrounding Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. Lighting then erupted from the four swords, instantly binding him to the spot. Even a god would not be able to escape from God Binding Art. Let alone someone like Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, a mere human expert in the Earthfire Realm. ¡°Protect Vienna! Quickly! Everyone, protect Vienna!¡± A magic knight wielding a spear shouted angrily as he charged toward me. Like Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, he had a crimson flag on his back. Both of them were Heroic Bannermen. Their guild must be similar to Candle Dragon in this regard, with the leader and his generals all being ¡°Hall of Famers¡± of their country. Broken Feather Arrow¡¯s effect only lasted for ten seconds! My mind was calm and my train of thought was clear. We were left with three seconds, but that was more than enough! I held up my arm and blocked the attack of that magic knight. I then raised my right hand and unleashed Dragon Slaying Slash before activating Sword Boomerang. As I hurled my Cyan Netherworld Sword out, it started spinning like a boomerang and tore through a group of enemies! Bang! 20834! At this moment however, that magic knight before me stretched out his hand and yelled, ¡°Earth¡¯s Protection!¡± Swoosh! A ray of light appeared between him and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, connecting the two of them together. The damage that had been dealt to Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had been instantly transferred to that magic knight! Goddamnit! I had seen this technique before! That Dark Guardian Angel from the Hall of Immortality had used a similar skill once, but I hadn¡¯t expected someone to use a variant of this skill to save Vienna¡¯s Sorrow! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow turned red with outrage as he swiftly activated Invincible. A golden circle of light circled around him as he gave a nasty smirk before retreating. ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks into Sand, Beiming Xue, I¡¯ll remember this humiliation! Just you wait! When we take down Dawn City, I vow to massacre everyone!¡¯ ¡­¡­ My gaze turned icy as I growled, ¡°Like hell you will! Die, you retard!¡± My sword flickered as I unleashed three basic attacks + Burning Blade Slash. The combo was shot directly at the magic knight who used Earth¡¯s Protection. He ate every single attack and his health was completely depleted. ¡°Ahhh¡­¡± He collapsed with an agonizing cry before dropping a piece of bread and pitch-black wristguards. I swiftly collected them and threw them into my inventory. Those wristguards were pretty decent. They were a 3-star Outstanding Spirit-grade piece of equipment after all. Ding! System Announcement: All players, please be informed that Heroic Bannerman The Year of Happiness (America) has been killed by Broken Halberd Sinks into Sand (China)! I had lost count of how many times I had heard that system announcement already. But one thing I did know, there weren¡¯t many Heroic Bannermen left on the battlefield! ¡­¡­ Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s figure soon melted into the mass of Northern Alliance players, and it was clear that he was hiding from us now. It was quite possible that the combo attack Beiming Xue and I hit him with had left a shadow in his heart. Beiming Xue¡¯s Broken Feather Arrow prevented its target from being healed for ten seconds. It was extremely deadly when used in combination with my attacks, because my insane Attack was definitely enough to take him out in those ten seconds. He was well aware of this fact, so he would not make any conspicuous movements until he knew that both Beiming Xue and I were dead. After all, invincibility skills had a cooldown of at least 8 hours and some of these cooldowns stretched to as long as 24 hours. As the supreme commander of the Northern Alliance, he couldn¡¯t afford to risk his neck another time! I turned around and unleashed Burning Blade Slash at a group of enemies. I regained a large amount of HP, pulling my total health back to 75%. I heaved a sigh of relief and glanced at the city walls. My eyes widened instantly and I shouted, ¡°Beiming, be careful! Behind you!¡± A Korean fighter was charging towards Beiming Xue with a sword in hand. He knew this beautiful Chinese archer all too well. After all, she had been the one who had rained death down on their heads while flitting across the walls of Dawn City like a butterfly. ¡°Die!¡± As the fighter thrust his sword towards Beiming Xue, she whirled around and parried his blow with the dagger that had suddenly appeared in her hand. As she leaped back, she quickly swapped the dagger for her Dragonbone String. She immediately unleashed Evil Spirit Volley and Devil Piercing Arrow at the warrior as she continued to retreat, eliciting a furious cry of pain from him. However, he chose to rush toward Beiming Xue instead of retreating, and he lashed out with a Barrier Break the moment he got in range! Beiming Xue let out a whimper as she quickly swapped back to her dagger. She held it at an oblique angle as she attempted to parry the strike, but she didn¡¯t manage to pull it off perfectly. The warrior¡¯s sword pierced through the crook of her arm and dealt her 16273 damage! Fortunately for her, she managed to reduce the damage of that attack by more than 50%! If not, that Barrier Break would probably have ended her life. Beiming Xue stretched out her hand and swiped her dagger at that fighter¡¯s throat. She retreated swiftly after and pulled her bowstring, releasing an arrow straight at his mouth. A loud bang rang out as that arrow pierced this mouth and exploded inside it... 27366! Beiming Xue retreated swiftly after one-shotting that fighter. I shouted in shock, ¡°Beiming, be careful! The walls are about to collapse¡­¡± ¡°Ahhh¡­¡± A loud explosion rang out as part of the city walls came crashing down. The base of a ten-yard part of the city wall had been destroyed by two catapults, causing the entire section of the wall to be reduced to rubble. As the section of the walls started to collapse, Beiming Xue too fell with the walls. I urged my mount urgently and rushed toward the falling city walls. Leaping over the collapsing wall, I stretched out a hand to grasp her arm and pulled her into my embrace. Goddamnit! I managed to pull that off and enter the city at the same time! A tossed stone raises a thousand ripples. Explosions rang out as countless siege towers were destroyed. As the northern city walls came crashing down, so did the players standing on their ramparts. Many players who were unlucky were instantly killed by the collapsing walls. ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi stood at the edge of the broken city wall with a look of shock on his face. ¡°Damn it! This city wall is too weak! Boss Broken Halberd, what do we do now?¡± I shouted, ¡°Jump down and continue to fight within the city. Dawn City is a tier 2 city! There is another wall within the city!¡± Hot and Sour Noodles urged his mount forward and shouted, ¡°That¡¯s right! Everyone, jump down from the ramparts! We will enter the city and continue to defend it! Archers and mages, retreat and defend the inner city wall! Prepare for a second wave! We must defend Dawn City at all costs! Comrades, only a few more hours left on the clock and we¡¯ll be able to finish this mission!¡± I asked Hot and Sour Noodles, ¡°Uncle, did we manage to defend the other three sides of the city walls?¡± Hot and Sour Noodles spit out a mouthful of saliva and replied, ¡°Defend my ass! If even we couldn¡¯t pull it off, what makes you think they did!? We already lost the other three walls four hours ago! Everyone has retreated to the second battle line! Let¡¯s go, quickly!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± I hugged Beiming Xue close to me as we entered the city. We were surrounded by our enemies and it was not safe to let go of her. The chances of one-shotting an archer right as she tried to mount up was very high. The light of Barrier Break erupted all over the battlefield. Being surrounded by players who could use this skill was a nightmare for all mages, archers and assassins alike. In such circumstances, a ranged player needed the protection of a magic knight. Otherwise, they would be easily torn into shreds. ¡­¡­ The Northern Alliance players swiftly entered the city while the Chinese players retreated. Gui Guzi, He Yi and the rest led the remaining five hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen and pulled away from the enemy. Dawn City was filled with arrow towers that unleashed their steel arrows at our enemies. The city walls blocked the arrow towers within the city from firing. However, now that our enemies were within the city, the arrow towers could shoot their hearts out. Countless arrows rained on the Northern Alliance players, instantly turning the city into a bloodbath. I brandished my sword and laughed, ¡°Alright, everyone is to surround the arrow towers and defend them! We must not let them anywhere near! We¡¯ll let these bastards have a taste of our powerful, thick, and long¡­¡± Chaos Moon glanced at me with a bashful look. ¡°What did you say?¡± I stuck out both hands and waved them frantically, ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything¡­¡± He Yi giggled and said, ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll continue to defend the city. Beiming and Mingyue will stay at that side of the rampart. I don¡¯t think we will be able to hold them off for long¡­¡± ¡°Alright!¡± Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had thousands of players still standing. We swiftly made our way to the inner city wall to set up our defense line. However, it was clear that the durability of the inner wall was far from that of the first one and wouldn¡¯t stand for long. ¡­¡­ Vienna¡¯s Sorrow raised his sword and shouted from a distance, ¡°Attack! Catapults, aim for those arrow towers and destroy them! How many Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen do we have left? Gather 100000 riders and charge at the players surrounding the arrow towers! Hehe, resistance is futile! It must be devastating to be crushed like an ant!¡± The rumbling of horse hooves rang out soon after as the Northern Alliance players started their killing spree once again. Though their battle formation was a little messy as they charged through the main streets of Dawn City, the force behind their attacks was as powerful as ever. The enemy riders brandished their swords and started to kill any troops within their attack range. ¡°Defend the arrow towers!¡± I brandished my sword and swung it violently at the Northern Alliance players. As they dropped like flies, I quickly turned to another group of enemies and unleashed Burning Blade Slash. With Gui Guzi, He Yi and I guarding the arrow towers, the Northern Alliance players did not even have a chance to advance toward them. Meanwhile, the arrow towers behind us continued to release a fusillade of arrows at our enemies. Thick steel arrows pierced through the Northern Alliance riders¡¯ armors, their blood spilling all over the ground as they collapsed. It was truly a devastating scene to behold. Chapter 755: Battle Soul Possession ¡­¡­ "Yeah, we¡¯re done here. Form a fighting retreat! Once you reach the walls, go up and help out in the defense! We need to give up the arrow tower formation, our losses are too heavy¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles gave those orders with a grim look on his face. In truth, most of the players who had been defending the arrow towers had already been killed, so Hot and Sour Noodles orders were merely a formality at this point. "Retreat! We¡¯re retreating!" I shouted as I waved my sword high in the air. After that, Gui Guzi, He Yi, and I led the rest of our troops to the second gate within the city. When our troops passed the gates, Hot and Sour Noodles immediately shut it behind us. The inner city was well-prepared for a siege too. I spurred my horse up the walls and I saw that Beiming Xue, Moonlight Stone, and Stranger of Three Lifetimes was already lined up there with the rest of our elite long-range players. All of them sucked in a deep breath as they stared at the onrushing horde of Northern Alliance players. "We still have to hold on for fourteen more hours. Can we really hold out for that long¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes said in a worried voice. Hot and Sour Noodles clenched his fists tightly as he shouted, "Let¡¯s just do our best! Let¡¯s try so hard that even the heavens and the earth will acknowledge our efforts!" Gui Guzi laughed as he said, "Yeah, let¡¯s just give it our all! As long as we can say that we died without any regrets, right?" He Yi chimed in, "Definitely. At the very least, I can proudly say that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have already done our best!" ¡­¡­ "Archers! Bows up at forty-five degrees! Prepare to fire at any moment!" Beiming Xue shouted in a loud voice. All of the archers along the wall instantly raised their bows up and pulled back their arrows. After she gave a shout, the players let loose in unison with the arrow towers inside the inner city. The huge swarm of arrows blotted out the sun as they rained down on the enemy and washed the streets with their blood. Many white beams of light shot up into the air as thousands of Northern Alliance frontline fighters died in that salvo. However, most of the enemy cavalrymen had arrived at the walls. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow immediately ordered them to rush the arrow towers and even though they lost tens of thousands of players rushing forward, the riders finally charged into the arrow towers and started wildly hacking away. The arrow towers started collapsing to the ground one after the other. God damn, these arrow towers are way too fragile! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow surveyed the battle as he sat astride his wargoat. His eyes were sharp and cold as he shouted, "Comrades, we do not have much time left! I want you to break through this second line of defense like a pile of rotten wood! Charge into the city and invade the palace! As long as we manage to capture or kill the NPC ruler of this city, it will be counted as our victory! Tsk, I even heard the Dawn City is being ruled by a queen! I¡¯ll be deathly envious of the rascal who has the good fortune of capturing her and bringing her back to Hero City!" A group of Hero City players instantly broke out into great laughter as they charged toward the inner city. They escorted their engineer players toward the wall and braved the deadly fire that rained down on them. Once the engineers reached the base of the wall, they immediately got to work. The sound of hammers rising and falling started to fill the air as they swiftly began to construct cloud ladders. We could only watch as these cloud ladders were constructed right below our noses. We couldn¡¯t destroy them once they¡¯ve begun deploying them. The only option we had was to kill the enemy players that climbed up them. Shwing! My sword escaped from its sheath with a steely hiss as I spurred the Ice Qilin Horse forward and shouted, "Protect the city, and kill the enemies as they come! I don¡¯t believe that there¡¯s really no end to these big noses!" Everyone unsheathed their weapons at this moment, their naked blades glimmering in the snow. Thud, thud, thud¡­ Countless Northern Alliance cavalrymen dismounted and started clambering up the cloud ladders. The magic knights who led the charge had already positioned their shields over their heads with practiced ease to block any unnecessary damage. I brandished the Cyan Netherworld Sword as I watched a magic knight climb up the walls. Once he got within range, I fiercely thrust out my sword and hit him with Universe Break. The Cyan Netherworld Sword sank through his chest with a sickening crunch and sent him straight to heaven. A berserker leaped up from the cloud ladder beside me. Just as his feet were about to hit the ground, High Fighting Spirits rushed forward and kicked him in the crotch. He yelled, "Get lost, you son of a bitch!" Blades flashed in the air as the defenders began to chop the players who were scaling up their walls. The sound of metal striking metal rang in the air as the snow on top of the walls was swiftly dyed a bright red. Stranger of Three Lifetimes eyes were deathly calm as she shouted, "Mages, archers, focus your fire on those siege tanks! Every siege weapon we get rid of will help preserve our defenses for even longer!" That¡¯s right. Even though these siege tanks weren¡¯t large, the damage they had done to our outer walls had been outstanding. They had been instrumental to the destruction of Dawn City¡¯s first layer of defense. If they weren¡¯t around, we would have been able to hold out for even longer. ¡­¡­ The twanging sound of uncoiled springs could be heard as the catapults started launching huge boulders at our inner walls. The fighting had grown white hot all around the inner walls. The royal palace was inside these inner walls, so the Northern Alliance¡¯s catapults could actually reach them now. Boulders howled over our heads as they smashed into the palace behind us. The ground shook under the impact of these huge rocks and many of the NPC palace guards were killed or wounded by them. I stood at the edge of the wall and took a flurry of arrows to the face as I started casting Icy Cyclone Domains into the horde below me. The ice spears started to skewer the enemy players as I hurled out my Cyan Netherworld Sword. Sword Boomerang swept through a group of players like a buzzing chainsaw, one-shotting a group of archers who had been hit by it. One of the mages who had just barely survived the lethal attack exclaimed in fright, "Fuck! That warrior can use a super long-range attack himself! That¡¯s way too scary! Hey, it¡¯s that CGL Hall of Famer! Fuck me, it¡¯s that damned Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! That undying spirit who killed so many of our Heroic Bannermen¡­" The commanders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls exchanged grins with each other when they heard that frightened shout. It was at this moment that Li Chengfeng¡¯s voice rang out in the guild channel: "Damn it, I don¡¯t think I can hold out for much longer¡­" I anxiously asked: "Chengfeng, what¡¯s happening?" He replied: "That bastard Titan God simply won¡¯t let us go and it seems as if he has an endless supply of players to throw at us too! Fucking hell, we¡¯ve already killed more than a hundred thousand players but there¡¯s no end to them!" "More than a hundred thousand¡­" Xu Yang muttered with a stunned look on his face. After that, he said: "Chengfeng, that bastard Titan God supposedly ordered his own guild and subguilds back to Breeze Canyon just to deal with you!" Li Chengfeng exclaimed, "Fuck! He really thinks that highly of us, huh!" I asked: "How many men do we still have?" Li Chengfeng¡¯s voice grew strained: "The riders from the other guilds have all been killed and the Cyan Tiger Cavalry only has three hundred men left. We¡¯re currently trying to find a way to spring ourselves from this death trap. God fucking dammit, the players from Titan God¡¯s guild really did come! There are currently more than 20000 players trying to encircle us¡­" Chaos Moon replied, "Titan God¡¯s guild has just a little over 200000 players altogether. He¡¯s already dispatched 150000 of them to Breeze Canyon just to deal with you. Li Chengfeng, you¡¯re frigging awesome. You actually led a troop of 12000 riders to kill more than 80% of his guild¡­" Li Chengfeng replied in a pained voice: "Ah, stop talking about it. I¡¯ve nearly lost all of the troops I commanded. God damn, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll last much longer myself. Guild leader, Lu Chen, comrades, I think I¡¯m going to go ahead of you guys!" I replied: "Yeah, I expect that we¡¯ll join you soon enough! Chengfeng, you¡¯ve exceeded all expectations this time! All of us are proud of you!" "Hahahaha¡­" Li Chengfeng¡¯s laughter echoed in the guild channel as he turned off his chat messenger. ¡­¡­ "Ah, that punk Chengfeng is just too stubborn. He won¡¯t let us send even a single player over to help him¡­" Xu Yang grumbled with a scowl on his face. Chaos Moon replied, "That¡¯s because he knows just how precious every player is to the defense of Dawn City right now! We really can¡¯t spare any troops to reinforce him right now¡­" I split open a magic knight¡¯s shield with my sword before dispatching him with another mighty blow. I gasped for breath before I said, "Let¡¯s all work hard then! We won¡¯t let our comrades or heaven down!" "That¡¯s right! We won¡¯t let our comrades or heaven down!" Hot blood surged in our veins as we continued our ferocious attack. Even though our comrades were slowly falling to arrow and spell, not a single one of us faltered. ¡­¡­ Soon we suddenly heard the sound of a system announcement reverberate in the air. Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Legendary Brave" (Sky City)" has accumulated enough Kill Points to learn the Great Earth Transformation! After killing an enemy, they became the second Divine General of China! They have gained Luck +3, Tactics +6, and an exclusive Divine General Skill, "Battle Soul Possession"! Battle Soul Possession: The power of the Battle Soul swells in your body, greatly boosting your Attack, Defense and Magic Resist! Your attacks will also be imbued with divine power and this effect depends on user¡¯s stats. This skill is exclusive to Legendary Brave. ¡­¡­ "Fuck, it¡¯s a Divine General Skill! That punk Li became a Divine General¡­" Xu Yang didn¡¯t know whether to laugh or cry. His mouth had flopped open in shock and he looked like a dead fish right now. I was overjoyed. "Heh, He¡¯s one lucky bastard! So that means that Chengfeng possesses the buffs provided by Great Earth Transformation now, right?" Li Chengfeng¡¯s voice rang out in the guild channel: "Fuck me, this Great Earth Transformation is insane! I think I can last a little while longer! Who cares if there are too many of them, let¡¯s all die together!" He Yi giggled: "Keep up the good work, the first Divine General of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" Cheers rang out along the walls. This system announcement had greatly boosted the morale of the Chinese players. As for Ancient Swords Dreaming Souls, we had finally gotten our first Divine General, the first one to appear after Lin Yixin! This Battle Soul Possession was a buff, and it sounded like an incredibly powerful one at that! I took a quick glance at the contribution rankings. As expected, Li Chengfeng had swiftly risen to the fourth place. He was only lagging behind Luo River God of the Capital, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, and I right now. Only the heavens knew just how many enemies this punk had killed! Hope started to swell up in my heart as well. It looks like killing players also counted as one of the conditions for becoming a Divine General. That was great! I had killed even more players than Li Chengfeng, and my unparalleled Luck stat meant that I had a very good chance to become the next Divine General after Li Chengfeng! ¡­¡­ The crazed slaughter continued for what seemed like an eternity and the inner walls were already riddled with holes. However, all the Chinese players were determined to hold on until the bitter end. The players around me continued to dwindle in numbers and most of the Dragonlight Cavalry had died as well. All of us had sacrificed far too much to defend this city. As I stared into the horizon, I saw that a large group of players had appeared at two separate entrances to Dawn Valley. Those were the entrances that led to Wind City and Vanished God City respectively. All of the IDs of those players were tagged with the bright red flag of China! Alright, the Avengers had finally arrived!" Chapter 756: Breaking Ou Saliva flecked High Fighting Spirits¡¯ lips as he raised his warhammer in the air. Hope shone in his eyes as he looked at the distant army and laughed. "Now that these twenty million players have finally arrived, we¡¯ll be the anvil to their hammer! We¡¯ll definitely be able to kill all of these Northern Alliance bastards within the next ten hours! Heh heh, the time for our counterattack has finally arrived!" I nodded my head as my heart filled up with relief and joy. "Yeah, they¡¯ve finally come! Hot and Sour Noodles let out a hearty laugh as well. "Alright, what happens next is going to be simple! The Northern Alliance only has about thirty million troops left. If we act as the anvil to their hammer, we¡¯ll definitely be able to win this Nation War with no problems at all! Hahaha, it really hasn¡¯t been easy, but we actually managed to hold our ground against this alliance of eight cities!" ¡­¡­ Dainty snowflakes landed on He Yi¡¯s equally dainty shoulders as she stood at the edge of the wall. Her beautiful eyes stared at the distant army before she swiveled toward me. She blinked away the snow that had fallen on her long eyelashes before she said, "I¡¯ve discovered a problem." "What problem?" "The Avengers have finally arrived from Wind City and Vanished God City, but¡­ haven¡¯t you guys realized something? Ever since they assembled at the entrance to Dawn Valley, they haven¡¯t moved an inch. It¡¯s as if they have no intention of reinforcing Dawn City at all." "They haven¡¯t moved an inch?" Hot and Sour Noodles and I both gasped in shock. We immediately turned to look at the army and we realized that He Yi was right. They hadn¡¯t moved a single inch and it seemed as if they were waiting for something. As for what they were waiting for? No one knew. "What¡¯s going on, uncle?" I said as I looked toward Hot and Sour Noodles. "Didn¡¯t you and Candlelight Shadow set up the Avengers together? Why does it seem like they¡¯re not planning to aid Dawn City?" Hot and Sour Noodles frowned. "I don¡¯t know why this is happening either. Let me send a few messages to the guild leaders of the bigger guilds in Avengers to get a read on things." "Okay." It was at this time a group of cavalrymen galloped in from the other side of the inner city. Every single one of them bore the emblem of Candle Dragon on their shoulders. The person who was leading the group was Candlelight Shadow himself and his lieutenants were trailing along right behind him! After a few minutes, Candlelight Shadow rode up the city walls with a few thousand Candle Dragon players. As he leapt off his horse, he shouted at us from the distance, "Zhang Chun, something is wrong." "What¡¯s happening?" Hot and Sour Noodles asked. "Leave the city?" Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ face went cold. "Fuck, are these guys idiots? We¡¯re already completely surrounded! Even a group of ten thousand cavalrymen might not be able to break through this siege, but they actually want Candle Dragon to leave the city and talk to them? Isn¡¯t charging the Northern Alliance army¡¯s rear the best possible move right now?" "I have no idea what they¡¯re thinking either¡­" Candlelight Dragon replied as his hands balled into fists. "Something must have happened. I think that the three main guild leaders must still be harboring some doubts and that''s why they asked me to leave the city. However¡­ we do need to rely on their strength right now. Thunder has 12000 Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen, Wings of Awakening has 18000 Fire Lizard Cavalrymen, and Silver Soul has 20000 Ice Leopard Cavalrymen. These guilds have always been our allies, so this move of theirs is extremely bizarre..." Hot and Sour Noodles sucked in a deep breath and cursed. "Fuck!" Blue Sky Scar said, "What do we do now? We can¡¯t let Candlelight Shadow leave the city by himself. Those three guild leaders are definitely up to no good and the moment Candlelight Shadow leaves the city, Candle Dragon will become a rudderless ship. How will we be able to defend the city then?" Candlelight Shadow sighed before replying, "There¡¯s nothing we can do. We really do need their strength right now. This is especially true in regards to Thunder, Wings of Awakening and Silver Soul. The moment they enter the battle, the whole situation will immediately be reversed." Hot and Sour Noodles said, "Okay, then Candlelight Shadow will leave the city and link up with Thunderbolt, Bloody War God and Wind Slayer. Let¡¯s see what those three scumbags have to say for themselves. Fucking hell, I don¡¯t believe that they can pull any tricks at this stage of the game!" Candlelight Shadow nodded his head. "Yeah, but I don¡¯t have many riders left and the people that I have with me right now won¡¯t be enough to break out of this siege." After that, he looked toward me and said, "However, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ cavalry can pave open a road for us." "Ptooey!" Chaos Moon waved a fist at Candlelight Shadow and said, "You can wipe that notion from your head! You want our Dragonlight Cavalry to act as cannon fodder so that you can escape the city!? Who the hell do you think you are!?" A look of embarrassment appeared on Candlelight Shadow¡¯s face. Hot and Sour Noodles cleared his throat and said, "Forget it, I still have 1500 Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen left. I¡¯m not sure if they¡¯ll be able to accomplish the task, but we can give it a try. They¡¯ll act as your vanguard and escort as you try to break out of the city." Candlelight Shadow nodded his head. At this time, I raised my hand and said, "Forget it. There¡¯s no way that uncle¡¯s 1500 Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen will be able to break out of this siege. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow has been eyeing us like a hawk, so he¡¯ll definitely be on guard for anything like that. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls still has around 400 Dragonlight Cavalrymen left. We¡¯ll be the ones to escort Candlelight Shadow out of the city. But remember this! We aren¡¯t doing this for Candle Dragon! We¡¯re doing this for Dawn City!" Candle Dragon nodded his head. "Understood!" Hot and Sour Noodles grinned. "Okay, let¡¯s help Candle Dragon break out of this siege. The moment Candlelight Shadow reaches the entrance of the valley and meets with three main guild leaders representing Avengers, you are to immediately lead that army toward Dawn City. The inner city won¡¯t be able to hold out for much longer." Candlelight Shadow chuckled. "I got it. Candle Dragon definitely won¡¯t let you guys down!" As he said this, Candlelight Shadow put his fist against his palm and thrust it out toward us. His expression was resolute and determined as he said, "Candle Dragon definitely won¡¯t do anything to dishonor China¡¯s fight in this Nation War, even if we have to squeeze out every last drop of our blood. We won¡¯t let down Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips, Warsky Alliance and every other guild who has sacrificed themselves during this Nation War. I, Candlelight Shadow, thank everyone right now! It¡¯s time to set off!" Candlelight Shadow still had several thousand riders under his command, but they were a haphazard unit slapped together from other cavalry units. Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ 1500 Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen wouldn¡¯t be enough to help them break out of the city, so our Dragonlight Cavalry had to lead the way. I turned toward everyone and said, "Okay, I want all the Dragonlight Cavalrymen to gather together and join Gui Guzi¡¯s party and receive the buff from his Knight God. After that, we¡¯ll set out and help Candlelight Shadow break out from this siege!" "Okay!" Every Dragonlight Cavalryman got off the walls and summoned their Dragonlight Armored Horses. After Pure Love and the other bards buffed them, they got on their mounts and charged along with the Greedy Wolf Cavalry. Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, and Tempest Shadow swiftly rode out behind them. ¡­¡­ The metal gates swung up and Hot and Sour Noodles was leading his Greedy Wolf Cavalry from the front. He brandished his sword and yelled, "Charge! It¡¯s time for vengeance!" The Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen braved a storm of wind blades, fireballs, and arrows as they rushed out the gates. Nearly a hundred of them had been killed by that initial salvo! The Northern Alliance had completely taken over the area outside the inner city, so the firepower they could dish out was simply overwhelming. The air was still filled with flying boulders and even us riders were helpless against these things. "Charge! Don¡¯t look back!" Hot and Sour Noodles roared as he started hacking at the Northern Alliance players to his left and right. He Yi, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and I charged straight out. Knight God had raised our Attack and Defense by 150%, so every single one of us was like an iron wall as we charged out together with the Greedy Wolf riders. Thunk, thunk, thunk... Arrows rattled off our armor but none of them could land a telling blow. Unfortunately, the Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen had started dying in droves, and it seemed as if all of them were charging across a literal sea of flames as their health bars rapidly plummeted. We didn¡¯t have access to any priests on this mad dash out of the city, and it was clear that drinking potions wouldn¡¯t cut it against this high and consistent damage. All of the riders had dashed out of the inner city within the span of a few minutes. However, we had all the thrust and power of a rusty blade. We barely managed to cut into the sea of Northern Alliance players in front of us, but we refused to yield or retreat. Hot and Sour Noodles let out a desperate roar as he used up the last of his strength to hack down the enemy players around him. His Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen were rapidly dying around him, and there were now only a few hundred of them left even though the battle had just been joined. "Uncle ain¡¯t gonna live for much longer¡­" He Yi said as she looked toward me. I swiftly waved my sword in the air and shouted, "Dragonlight Cavalry, to me! We will take the point and finish the mission that the Greedy Wolf Cavalry started!" The Dragonlight Cavalry picked up speed as they dashed to the head of the pack. Blades flashed up and down as we cut down any enemy players who stood in our way. We scythed through the enemy like a cutting wind as we maintained top speed, but the baptism of spells had cost us more than a few riders as well. The strong Dragonlight Cavalrymen couldn¡¯t endure such a constant barrage of spells. After all, Gui Guzi¡¯s Knight God buffed only physical Defense and not Magic Resist, so our fatal weakness was still magic attacks. Blue Sky Scar urged his mount forward as he yelled, "Comrades of Candle Dragon, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is paving the way for us. We need to hurry up and break through and fight side by side with them! We can¡¯t let them look down on Candle Dragon!" A group of Candle Dragon riders swiftly blazed forward to ride shoulder to shoulder with us, but they were quickly killed by the hail of spells and arrows which hit them. Boom! A fan-shaped burst of sword energy exploded into the enemy as Candlelight Shadow slaughtered the Northern Alliance players with a cold look on his face. He immediately followed that up with Rock Thrust that flung a bunch of Northern Alliance riders high into the air. Blood flowed like rivers as this chaotic battle grew exceptionally intense. The sea of Northern Alliance players was like a meat grinder that was chewing up the surviving elites defending the Dawn City. But they were also paying for that in blood. ¡­¡­ "Someone¡¯s coming!" A general riding on a goat charged to the head of the Northern Alliance army. It was Vienna¡¯s Sorrow himself. He pointed his sword toward us as he let out a loud roar of laughter. "It looks like the current Martial God of China, Candlelight Shadow, and the God of Death who has been wreaking havoc and destruction in our ranks, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, have both graced us with their presence. Now that these two mighty CGL Hall of Famers have decided to show their face, there¡¯s only one way for us to respond. Let¡¯s charge forward, shatter their formation and devour them whole! Archers, serve up some Shock Arrows and Mountain Stagger Arrows! Let¡¯s drag these arrogant Chinese riders off their high horses!" "Fuck you, you bastard!" Candlelight Shadow flew into a rage. He dashed forward and thrust a hand toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. Just as he was about to activate Ghost God Prophecy, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow very agilely slipped into the crowd of Northern Alliance players. After crossing swords with Candlelight Shadow once, he knew just how powerful Ghost God Prophecy was, so there was no way in hell that he would face Candlelight Shadow head-on. Once he had safely retreated to the backlines, he waved his sword forward and a large crowd of elite Northern Alliance riders charged toward us. "Maintain your formations and keep pushing ahead!" I yelled as I rushed forward with the Dragonlight Cavalry at my back. Blue Sky Scar clenched his teeth before he resolutely shouted, "Candlelight Shadow, Lu Chen, continue your breakout. I will protect you. First squad, follow me!" A thousand riders immediately peeled off together with Blue Sky Scar as they charged toward the Northern Alliance forces. They were swiftly encircled by the enemy cavalry and even Vienna¡¯s Sorrow joined in the fight. Soon, we heard the sound of the system announcement ring in the air. Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, please be informed that CGL Hall of Famer Blue Sky Scar (China), has been killed by Vienna¡¯s Sorrow (USA)! Chapter 757: Betrayal Snowflakes that looked like goose feathers fell on top of a cold, icy armor. Inside the canyon, droves of players were looking to the front with deep worry in their eyes. Their weapons were unsheathed and shivering a little in the wind, but no one was making a move just yet. Almost a million players were gathered at the valley entrance facing toward Dawn City. They were the players of Thunder, Wings of Awakening and Silver Soul. A magic knight carrying a bloody spear galloped to the front of the army before jumping up a small hill. He then raised his weapon and said loudly, "Everyone, if you¡¯d allow me to speak, I am the guild leader of Thunder, Thunderbolt!" The crowd quieted just a little. Thunderbolt continued. "We have all been invaded and harassed by the enemy at Vanished God City and Wind City, and we suffered a lot of losses because of it. However, the super guilds such as Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya have taken out at least 70% of the enemy, and all there¡¯s left for us are scraps! Even if we invade Dawn Valley and retake Dawn City now, how will the world see us? They will criticize us and call us a bunch of cowards who only fight the easy fights!" Thunderbolt swallowed once before continuing his impassioned speech, "A real man would achieve something great during troubled times, and I believe that applies to us now. Dawn City is just a tier 2 city; what does it matter even if we managed to save it? In my opinion, we should attack a tier 1 major city such as Vietnam¡¯s Hot Sand City or Korea¡¯s Burning City. Now that, will be a peerless achievement. Don¡¯t you all agree?" His speech won traction just as he expected it would. In fact, the guild leader of a middle-rank guild in Vanished God City raised his longbow and said, "Thunderbolt¡¯s speech does make a bit of sense. Let¡¯s say we march to Burning City now and claim the bangzis¡¯ one and only super city. Surely we¡¯ll be rewarded handsomely for our achievement, and some of us¡­ may even be admitted into the CGL Hall of Fame, right?" Even more players became seduced by the dream he presented to them. Then, the guild leader of Wings of Awakening, Bloody War God, galloped up to Thunderbolt¡¯s side and raised his own sword. "The 18000 Fire Lizard Cavalrymen of Wings of Awakening is willing to serve as the vanguard to conquer Burning City and deal a painful blow to the bangzi! It will be like raiding an empty city considering that their forces are all concentrated at Dawn City!" It was the final nail in the coffin. The players laughed in high spirits and waved their weapons to show their support to their leaders, "Let¡¯s go! Let us avenge the China server and tell those cowardly invaders that we are no saints who will turn the other cheek when we get slapped!" ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang! Three flaming auras exploded in the middle of a group of enemies and deleted them instantly, courtesy to my powerful attack and splash effect. At the same time, I pointed to the west and said, "Candlelight Shadow, break through this gap now! Even a bitch should be able to break through a human wall that¡¯s less than 20 meters thick!" Candlelight Shadow looked to the front and nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you, Lu Chen! Brothers and sisters, ride with me!" In fact, Candlelight Shadow didn¡¯t have many men left. Tempest Shadow and several hundred elite cavalrymen were all he had left as he charged toward the hole I helped create for him. Still, they were all elites. I was one hundred percent sure he and his men would be able to make it outside. A blood drenched Hot and Sour Noodles shot me an agitated look. "Well done! We have completed our mission. Now then, shall we turn back and punch through the Northern Alliance¡¯s defense line in one go, Lu Chen?" I grabbed his shoulder and pushed him to the back. "You stay at the back and take a breather, uncle! I¡¯ll open up a way for us!" Hot and Sour Noodles laughed loudly. His Greedy Wolf Cavalry had dwindled to less than two hundred, but he felt like fire was burning inside his chest. He shouted, "After a battle like this, I can truly say I don¡¯t regret this life!" ¡­¡­ "Dragonlight Cavalry, charge!" I raised my sword into the air and led the counter-charge with Gui Guzi, He Yi, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang and the others. Everyone wore red faces and bloodshot eyes because our companions kept dying as we fought our way back to Dawn City. It was a kind of anger that could only be vented via murder. By the time we reached the city gate again, our total number had dwindled to less than 200. The Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s numbers had dropped to 155, and Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ Greedy Wolf Cavalry had dropped to 37. They were one bad hit away from being annihilated. "Big bro and the others are back!" On the walls, Beiming Xue pointed to the ground and ordered, "Open the gates and give me some suppressive fire!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes and the other mages hurriedly blasted the ground with Galaxy Storms as we escaped through the gates, killing all of the Northern Alliance cavalry who attempted to give chase. Stranger of Three Lifetimes and her mages possessed incredible Magic Attack, and there was practically no one who could withstand dozens of Galaxy Storms in one go. After we went back into the city and ran back up the walls, we gazed toward the horizon and watched a troop of cavalry breaking out of the heavy encirclement surrounding Dawn City and entering toward Dawn Valley. They should make contact with the Avengers in no time. Hot and Sour Noodles said with a smile, "Everything should be alright now. Once the Martial God reaches the Avengers, he should be able to assume command without trouble. If nothing else, Candlelight Shadow is quite the popular guy." But He Yi replied with a frown, "I¡¯m not too sure, actually. If the Martial God was as popular as you claim, we wouldn¡¯t have had to escort him to the Avengers in the first place. Unless you plan to tell me that the guild leaders of Thunder, Wings of Awakening and Silver Soul are so noob that they don¡¯t know the way to Dawn City without Martial God, I think we should wait and see what happens next." I smiled and put an arm around He Yi¡¯s shoulder. "You worry too much, Eve. Sometimes, you need to think positively. The Avengers are players from Vanished God City and Wind City, also known as our allies, so why wouldn¡¯t they want to help us? Plus, what else could they possibly do in this situation except retaking Dawn City? They¡¯ll all have to be retarded if they pick any other course of action!" Chaos Moon tilted her head at me and said, "How dare you tease our guild leader in public, boy. Keep your hands to yourself unless you want us to throw you off the walls¡­" But He Yi said happily, "They¡¯ll have to go through me first." Chaos Moon curled her lips. "Oh no, our guild leader has completely succumbed to Lu Chen¡­" We all laughed loudly for a moment. ¡­¡­ Boom boom boom... Flaming rocks continued to rock the walls of Dawn City. It wasn¡¯t long before terrifying cracks started appearing on the second wall as well. We paid it no heed and continued to fight with everything we got, but before we knew it, the number of players around us grew smaller and smaller. As our numbers continued to dwindle rapidly, we received news that the second wall had collapsed as well. Our players had begun engaging the enemies in melee inside the city. "We can¡¯t hold on any longer¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles said as he looked at the interface, "Dammit, it¡¯ll be another 10 hours before the Nation War ends. Are we really going to lose during this 10 hours?" I shook my head. "Never. Keep fighting!" It was at this moment Beiming Xue pointed to the west. "Look, the Avengers have begun moving. They¡¯re finally going to assist Dawn City!" But He Yi shook her head and said, "No, something¡¯s not right. They¡¯re not moving in the right direction!" Chaos Moon also nodded. "Yeah, they¡¯re not coming to Dawn City. They¡¯re¡­ What the fuck? What the fuck are they doing? Why are they moving toward Windy Trail?!" Hot and Sour Noodles hurriedly opened the communicator and half-shouted, "Fang Zhuo, what the hell are you doing? Why are the Avengers heading toward Windy Trail?!" We couldn¡¯t hear what Candlelight Shadow¡¯s reply was, but... Thud... All the blood suddenly drained away from Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ face as he dropped to his knees. The blood on the floor stained his pants as he said with a dazed expression, "Animals! Those animals¡­" "What happened, uncle?" I crouched on the floor and asked. Zhang Chun clenched his fists as he glanced at me. "I¡¯m sorry, Lu Chen. I couldn¡¯t fulfill my promise¡­" "What on earth happened?" I shivered from the bottom of my heart. "Thunder, Wings of Awakening and Silver Soul took control of Candlelight Shadow and forced him to become their army commander. He¡¯s now leading the Avengers on a sneak attack on Korea¡¯s super city, Burning City¡­" "WHAT THE FUCK!" With bloodshot eyes, I rose to my feet and threw my sword against the floor, shouting, "How could they do this? What do they think we are? Why did we even resist for so long and sacrifice so many lives to protect this city if they¡¯re just going to throw it all away? Motherfucking sonuvabitch! And what the fuck is Candlelight Shadow doing? How can he call himself the Martial God when he submits to his own kidnappers? Why didn¡¯t he at least try to resist?? Why??" He Yi said indifferently, "Such is the struggle for dominance. Candlelight Shadow himself probably wanted this to happen¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles forced himself to rise to his feet and grip his sword once more. He looked like he had aged a couple of years in a minute. He whispered, "Whatever happens, don¡¯t forget that we gave it our all. Now, let¡¯s keep up the good fight!" I rose dazedly to my feet. I heard a loud crack next to me, and the entire wall started crumbling beneath its own weight. I heard the angry shouts and bloodcurdling screams of dying players. Had we really lost? ¡­¡­ The Northern Alliance chose this moment to launch a ferocious assault. They swarmed the entire northern wall almost instantly. I didn¡¯t remember how I fought my way down to the capital. It was only when I looked up and saw a shiny barrier that I finally regained my senses. The walls of the capital city were invincible and indestructible, and an azure barrier had appeared around the entrance. It was the protective spell cast by all the palace mages and the final resistance of the NPCs. "The Life Barrier has appeared¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles looked at the barrier behind himself and said in an indifferent tone, "Maybe not all is lost yet. The Life Barrier is incredibly difficult to breach, and all units who enter the Life Barrier will enjoy its protection. However, you can¡¯t leave once you get inside unless you¡¯re willing to pay a most heavy price." Gui Guzi asked, "What price?" "A 30-level penalty!" Hot and Sour Noodles said heavily. Everyone was shocked. Hot and Sour Noodles smiled despairingly and said, "That¡¯s why you shouldn¡¯t enter the Life Barrier unless you have no other choice." ¡­¡­ The iron hooves of the enemy continued to crush our homes mercilessly. Eventually, the players of the Northern Alliance came through the snow and appeared at the palace entrance. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow stood at the forefront of his army and glared at us with murderous intent. He was accompanied by at least a couple million soldiers. Meanwhile, we had fought a hopeless battle for almost half an hour. Almost all our mages, archers, assassins, priests, warriors and more were killed, and there were less than a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen behind me. We were all standing at the entrance blankly. How on earth are we going to protect this entrance with less than a thousand players? "Have we¡­ lost?" Chaos Moon murmured as the fighting spirit in her eyes gradually disappeared. High Fighting Spirits also lowered his war hammer, with not a word said. Everyone knows that the departure of the Avengers¡¯ twenty million troops meant that all hope for Dawn City was lost. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I crossed the Cyan Netherworld Sword in front of me and rode to the front. I spent a moment to stare at the well-organized troops directly ahead of me before looking back at my brothers and sisters. "Everyone, this is our final battle. Will you be cowards for the rest of your days, or will you be heroes for just a couple of minutes?" Chiang chiang chiang! Everyone pulled out their weapons with determination in their eyes. 1. Author¡¯s Note: why do I always write "laugh loudly", you ask? It¡¯s totally not because I can¡¯t think of any other adverb, I promise¡­ Chapter 758: Your Momo is Dead We were less than a hundred Dragonlight Cavalry strong, but we still charged toward our enemies without any hesitation whatsoever, hacking away with wild abandon. Already, some of our men were falling off their horses, covered from head to toe with arrows and magic. It was the final battle, but the intensity of the battle didn¡¯t decrease in the slightest. Even Vienna¡¯s Sorrow couldn¡¯t help but feel deep veneration at our suicidal assault. He raised his sword and declared, "They are a worthy opponent. Northern Alliance, grant them a regretless death. Attack!" The ground quaked under the enemy¡¯s hooves. The Northern Alliance had deployed their strongest weapon, and their elite cavalry were launching their final assault. Metal clashed against metal as countless AoE skills such as Xiezhi Howl, Roch Crush, Purgatory of Ice and Magma and more erupted among the enemies. People kept dying in droves. ¡­¡­ In the end, the Northern Alliance was able to devour our last inch of ground. A group of cavalry rushed into our backline and slaughtered our mages, archers and tamers. Boom! An Ice Blast erupted in the middle of a group and engulfed all the magic knights in the area. It was none other than our mage, Stranger of Three Lifetimes. After swinging her scepter and taking out an entire line of enemies with Fire Blast, she shouted, "Come at me if you dare, idiots of the Northern Alliance! Your great-aunt ain¡¯t afraid of you!" Her taunt drew the enemy¡¯s attention as expected. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow immediately sent a large troop of cavalry after her. Thud thud thud¡­ Many spears stabbed toward Stranger of Three Lifetimes, but they only managed to warp her Origin Energy Shield a little. Paying no heed to their ineffective assault, she kept throwing Ice Blast after Ice Blast into the cavalry troops and reaping their lives like the god of death, showing off the power of a high-level mage completely. Not only that, she kept moving around the battlefield to reduce the amount of damage taken as much as possible. There was only so much damage the Origin Energy Shield could take after all. Still, the mage was standing her own against all the cavalry around her. Boom boom! As she cleared out yet another space with Fire Blast, a spear hit her from the back and made a soft noise. Her Origin Energy Shield finally began to disappear gradually. "Hmm?!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ eyes turned steely as she shifted to the right and threw out another Ice Blast. A dozen or so magic knights instantly fell to the spell, and even more people were frozen in place. "Her shield is gone! Take her out now!" The magic knights laughed loudly as they thrust their spears wantonly at her direction. "Hmph!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes kept retreating until she could retreat no longer. Just when the spearheads were about to hit her, she swung her scepter and parried three attacks in a row, stunning the magic knights who were attacking her to speechlessness. A triple parry wasn¡¯t a technique even a first-rate fighter could claim they could pull off 100% of the time, and yet the mage had pulled it off perfectly. Pu! 18277! In the end though, it was impossible to parry every attack from every direction, and the mage hurriedly drank a potion after taking a hit to the body, all the while dancing like a falling leaf that could be crushed by the storm she was subjected to at any moment. When the 6-second cooldown was finally up, she stomped on foot on the ground, resummoned her Origin Energy Shield and fired Ice Blast straight at her enemies! Boom! The spell killed a ton of enemies in an instant. Three Galaxy Storms later, no one dared to approach her for a moment. ¡­¡­ "Let me!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow finally decided that he couldn¡¯t watch this any longer. He pushed his way through the crowd and charged toward Stranger of Three Lifetimes. Following next to Vienna was a Heroic Bannerman; a mounted fighter. It was clear that he was cooperating with Vienna to trap Stranger of Three Lifetimes and kill her in one go. Thud thud thud... Stranger of Three Lifetimes kept flying here and there like a dancing butterfly. At the same time, she left behind a trail of chilly Ice Blasts and fiery Galaxy Storms in her wake. People died wherever she went, and it took her only a couple of minutes to rack up a thousand bodies and counting. "Begin!" Vienna shouted and charged with the Heroic Bannerman in unison. They ran in a spiraling pattern and landed blow after blow on Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ Origin Energy Shield. But to their surprise, the mage didn¡¯t try to retaliate. She simply backed away, hid behind their allies, and tossed her Ice Blasts, Galaxy Storms and Seas of Flames everywhere but her attackers. Clearly, she knew that killing Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was unrealistic and focused on taking out as many enemy players as she could instead. She had grasped the essence of the mage class completely. The stalemate continued for almost ten minutes. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow couldn¡¯t help but agonize over the mountain of allies she had taken out during this time. Finally, Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ Origin Energy Shield disappeared for the eleventh time. "Now!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow abruptly closed the distance between himself and the mage and slashed her. "Ah?!" Caught off-guard, all Stranger of Three Lifetimes managed was a half-parry that cost her over 10k HP. Then, another sword brushed against her shoulder and deleted another huge chunk of HP, putting it below 20%! Finally driven to a dead end, Stranger of Three Lifetimes gritted her teeth and backed away suddenly. Then, she fired three Fireballs and an Ice Blast in a row! Bang bang bang! The Heroic Bannerman who ambushed her fell off his horse and died. She actually deleted the guy with a chain of spells! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, Heroic Bannerman "Desolate Sand" (USA) has been killed by player "Stranger of Three Lifetimes" (China)! ¡­¡­ Crack! A blade passed right through her chest, and the mage slowly dropped to her knees. She had abandoned all her defense to kill one last Heroic Bannerman, so how could she possibly escape the pursuit of Vienna¡¯s Sorrow? One of the last few Chinese mages still standing on this battlefield died just like that, and to Vienna¡¯s Sorrow no less. At this point, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was without a doubt the player with the highest Chinese kill count and the number one enemy of the China server! ¡­¡­ "Your Momo is dead!" Chaos Moon looked at me as she knocked back a couple of Northern Alliance cavalry. I replied simply, "No problem, you¡¯ll be following her very soon¡­" "Fuck you!" Chaos Moon nearly turned traitor there and then. It was at this moment a big uproar appeared behind us. It was Snowy Cathaya punching through the enemy lines and joining up with us. The 4000+ players were led by Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume and more, and they didn¡¯t look much better than we were. "Holy shit!" Purple Marquis¡¯ eyes widened. "I was hoping that Ancient Sword could help us, but they look even worse off than we are¡­" Shadow Chanel said, "That¡¯s because they¡¯re facing off against Vienna¡¯s Sorrow himself, you doofus. Now go help them already¡­" "Yeah!" As expected of the number one general of Snowy Cathaya, Purple Marquis had annihilated a row of enemies with a single Vacuum Slash. Out of all the people who served Lin Yixin, he was unquestionably the one she valued the most. Boom! After killing a group of enemies with Burning Blade Slash, I met up with the main bulk of Snowy Cathaya¡¯s army and yelled, "Yo! What is keeping Yiyi? We¡¯re practically at the end of this Nation War already!" Purple Marquis shrugged. "The guild leader¡¯s mother is receiving treatment right now. It¡¯s almost been two days since I heard from her. That being said, I have a feeling that she¡¯s going to show up anytime now." I gripped my sword tighter. "That¡¯s a shame. Yiyi is the only one who knows Great Earth Transformation, so it¡¯s so unfortunate she didn¡¯t get to show up during this Nation War." "Yeah!" Purple Marquis sounded just as regretful as I was. "I heard that Great Earth Transformation increases the user¡¯s Attack, Defense and all resistances by 100%! I¡¯ve tried fighting her while she¡¯s in that state before, and my chance of winning was lower than 20%!" "Fuck¡­" I sucked in a deep breath and shot another question, "Well, where are the other guilds? Tell them to come over to the north gate! We need to defend the entrance to the royal palace!" "How should I know? Everyone¡¯s scattered by the enemy!" Purple Marquis complained, "We ran into Luo River God of the Capital and Moonkiss on the way, but there was barely anyone who was still alive in Purple Lily! They said they¡¯ll be coming over in a moment, but who knows? I didn¡¯t see Warsky Alliance anywhere either, but since there hasn¡¯t been any system announcements yet, Farewell Song, October Rain and Warsky are probably all still alive." "Who would¡¯ve thought that the war would turn out like this¡­" "I know right?!" Purple Marquis swore through gritted teeth, "Candlelight Shadow, that motherfucker! He said that he would bring the Avengers over and save the city, but then he changed his mind and went to fucking Burning City, those fucking idiots! Burning City is guarded by almost a million players from Hero City and Chariot City precisely because the enemy has considered the possibility that we might invade their city while they are gone! Now it¡¯s too late even if they change their minds and come back! We¡¯re all fucking dead!" "Fuck¡­" It was back to fighting after taking a moment to vent our frustrations. Despite the dire situation, we were able to keep the Northern Alliance from getting close to the palace entrance for the moment. ¡­¡­ "Don¡¯t let them through the palace entrance!" Xu Yang and Du Thirteen stood side by side as they cut down every Northern Alliance player that came their way. The two bros had finally found their hidden strength during our greatest crisis. "Leave Vienna to me! I¡¯ll deal with him!" Purple Marquis shouted. I was fairly confident in Purple Marquis¡¯ abilities. In Sky City, he, Li Chengfeng and Farewell Song were second only to me and Lin Yixin. As a super-tier player who was one step away from reaching the top, all this guy needed was a chance to break through his limits and become a Heavenly King. That being said, it was unrealistic to think that Purple Marquis could beat Vienna alone. To give an example, it was like sending Zhang Fei to solo Lu Bu. It was impossible unless he had a Guan Yu to support him. "Wait!" I shouted. "Take one person with you!" "Who will follow me to slay Vienna?!" Purple Marquis looked around himself. Boom! A magical storm annihilated a group of enemies at this moment, and the great mage of China, Luo River God of the Capital finally made her way from the walls all the way to the northern gate. Beside her, the dagger-wielding Moonkiss said with a chuckle, "I will help you, Purple Marquis! Killing Vienna is a mission I can definitely enjoy!" "Alright, let¡¯s go!" Purple Marquis laughed and charged toward the enemy while Moonkiss activated stealth and melted into thin air. No one knew where she went, but we were certain that she would appear during the moment Purple Marquis needed her the most. As the assassin CGL Hall of Famer who was second only to Farewell Song, Moonkiss¡¯s PvP skills were some of the best out there. Chapter 759: Gods of Destruction Arrive The sound of mechanical springs unloading entered our ears, and a moment later countless rocks erupted all over the place. As it turned out, the Northern Alliance had grown so frustrated that they actually started bombarding the battlefield regardless of friendly fire. Clearly, they weren¡¯t expecting mere tens of thousands of people to put up so much resistance that they couldn¡¯t approach the palace entrance at all. "There isn¡¯t much time left. Dispatch all our troops and hold nothing back! All forces are to focus down the northern entrance to the palace and occupy it within an hour!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow pointed to the front and declared grimly, "I refuse to believe that tens of thousands of people can hold back our twenty-million-strong army!" ¡­¡­ The war had entered the annihilation phase since a while ago. Most Chinese parties were slaughtered like prey, and our numbers dwindled rapidly in just a short time. There were nearly 7 million of us before the walls were breached. That number had dropped to 70k+ in just an hour, while the enemy was still 22 million strong. There was just no comparison. Purple Marquis and Moonkiss never came back. I didn¡¯t even have a clue where they were right now. The remnants of Snowy Cathaya were blocking in front of the entrance and coordinating with Beiming Xue and Luo River God of the Capital to create zones of suppressive fire, squeezing out every ounce of strength from their bodies to protect the Life Barrier. It was literally the last barrier standing between us and defeat. "Charge forward! Slaughter the group before you!" Some distance away, a mounted player carrying a blood-red banner and war axe with the ID "Blade of Kings" pointed at his enemies with a smile. "Knights, take turns charging and stunning the enemy. Archers and mages, I want you to hit the guild leader of Righteousness with Mountain Stagger Arrow, Devil Piercing Arrow and Dragon¡¯s Roar. I heard that he¡¯s the supreme tactical commander of the China server, so taking him out will destroy the enemy¡¯s morale!" The man himself charged toward Hot and Sour Noodles after giving the order. Chiang! Hot and Sour Noodles was in the middle of pulling out his weapon out of the chest of a Northern Alliance player he stabbed when the ¡°Stunned¡± icon appeared above his head. It was a Heroic Bannerman, Blade of Kings, who had stunned him. "Protect the guild leader! Protect the guild leader!" The few remaining Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen tried to rescue their guild leader, but Blade of Kings swung his war axe and left a trail of fire in its path, knocking back the Greedy Wolf Cavalry and deleting at least 20k HP per person. His Attack was simply too high. Swhoosh! Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ eyes widened, but there was absolutely nothing he could do while he was still stunned. He recovered after taking an axe to the shoulder that cost him 10k+ HP, but another three blurs rushed in and stunned him yet again. Blade of Kings¡¯ subordinates had very good coordination, it seemed. Thud thud thud... After three Barrier Breaks pierced Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ body, Blade of Kings laughed and hit him with one last Triple Slash, "Die, you dogshit supreme commander!" Crack crack crack! The battleaxe bit into the supreme commander¡¯s flesh repeatedly. Hot and Sour Noodles never had the best Defense to begin with, and his opponent was a super expert no less. There was no chance he could turn this around. The destroyed supreme tactical commander fell off his horse and died just like that. ¡­¡­ "Uncle¡¯s¡­ gone!" He Yi informed me. I nodded, the sense of helplessness in my heart expanding even greater than before. Although the enemy was grinding down our forces to paste, we couldn¡¯t spare the energy to save anyone. The Dragonlight Cavalry had to charge the enemy¡¯s formation repeatedly to keep their ranged players at bay, so they were literally a kilometer away from Righteousness when they were attacked. They couldn¡¯t save Hot and Sour Noodles even if they wanted to. A mad laughter broke out from the crowd. "Hahaha, taste my power and be crushed!" A Level 162 sixth-promotion mage was swinging his scepter and killing droves of Chinese players with just one Galaxy Storm. He also carried a blood-red banner behind his back. He was the Heroic Bannerman "Grief of the Dark"! Just like Blade of Kings, Grief of the Dark was a peak-level player from Titan City and an absolute headache to all those who had to face him. The number of Heroic Bannermen had been decreasing steadily since the war entered its final phase, but due to natural selection all those who came this far were almost as good as Vienna¡¯s Sorrow himself. As a result, the pressure on our shoulders kept increasing instead of decreasing. Bloodcurdling screams filled the air, and the remaining hundred or so players of Righteousness all died in the hands of Blade of Kings. With this, Righteousness had been annihilated and officially knocked out of the Nation War! "Kill!" Gui Guzi shouted as he charged left and right and penetrated enemies with his spear again and again. He Yi, Chaos Moon, me and the rest of our frontliners had been tossing out their AoE skills freely, controlling the amount of enemies in the area in front of the palace entrance. We were literally the last line standing between the enemies and our backliners such as Beiming Xue and Luo River God of the Capital. Suddenly, Chaos Moon pointed to the horizon and cried out, "Hey, look! Someone carrying the banner of China is coming over from the wing? Who¡¯s that?" Everyone looked at the direction she was pointing in unison. It was Dominating Heaven Blade riding atop a black warhorse and leading his faithful generals and dozens of elites riding toward us. They all looked like they had been through hell; their HP half-missing and their weapons chipped and their armor torn in multiple places. Dominating Heaven Blade shouted encouragingly as he swung his blades, "Our destination is right in front of us, everyone! Once we make it to the palace entrance, we¡¯ll be able to meet up with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya! In less than 4 hours, the Nation War will be over, so let¡¯s give it our all to protect the palace entrance and keep Dawn City out of the hands of the northerners! Don¡¯t even think about hesitating!" However, the group barely made it to the perimeter when a Sea of Flames suddenly hit them out of nowhere. It was cast by none other than Grief of the Dark himself. The mage then chanted something we couldn¡¯t hear and summoned a bunch of cyan-colored earth spikes from the ground! Thud thud thud thud... The AoE skill deleted Dominating Warrior God almost instantly. Dominating Knight God¡¯s armor was shredded as he collapsed in a pool of blood with a look of clear reluctance on his face. Dominating Heaven Blade roared in fury and swung his blade like crazy, but in the end, he couldn¡¯t kill nearly enough enemies to save his men¡¯s lives. They all died to the Galaxy Storms of the Northern Alliance¡¯s mage party. Bang! When the last Fire Blast deleted Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s last sliver of health, Grief of the Dark lowered his scepter and sneered. "Fools. Do they really think they can defend Dawn City with that level of strength?" ¡­¡­ Everyone was stunned by this turn of events. Gods of Destruction had already performed way beyond expectations by surviving this far, but in the end they were still instakilled by Grief of the Dark like ants. Clearly, this mage was far stronger than most of the opponents we had faced until now. Boom! A ferocious sword energy suddenly scattered the crowd. A new group of players showed up practically right after Gods of Destruction had perished, and they were led by a Famous General riding a black horse and clad in black armor. He was none other than the man whose stratagem boosted Defense by 200%, Little Piglet. Surprisingly, Hegemon Palace¡¯s troops were almost a thousand strong and relatively intact all things considered. It was all thanks to Little Piglet¡¯s Vajra boosting their survivability to insane levels. Of course, whether it would be enough for them to survive this battle was up for question. Blade of Kings¡¯ eyes turned steely as he lifted his war axe. "Grief of the Dark, let¡¯s work together and take out this group! No Chinese reinforcements shall reach the palace entrance!" "Very well!" The two Heroic Bannermen rallied a group of players and charged toward Hegemon Palace. The latter''s thousand-man army looked incredibly fragile in that moment. Little Piglet declared grimly, "Come at me if you dare, you bitches! I¡¯m not afraid of you!" He spurred his mount forward and charged the attackers right after he said that. A column of golden light fell from the sky, and it was none other than Little Piglet¡¯s signature skill, Divine Weapon From Heaven. It was a skill that greatly increased his Attack and mitigated his only weakness, a lack in offensive power. At the same time, a storm of frozen swords floated around him as he activated Freezing Heat, drastically increasing his movement speed and attack speed for a short period of time. All things considered, Little Piglet was definitely some of the best players out there. Chiang! Little Piglet¡¯s sword brushed past the enemy¡¯s war axe. Then, he made a sudden turn and cut Blade of Kings for over 10k damage. Unfortunately, the fighter was surrounded by his priests, so his health returned to full in no time. Blade of Kings¡¯ PvP skills weren¡¯t too far behind Little Piglet¡¯s. After taking a hit from the Cold Wind Swordsman, he thrust his axe forward and knocked the guy back. However, he only dealt a paltry 4762 damage! "Heavens, what crazy Defense!" Blade of Kings¡¯ eyes sharpened, but he quickly relaxed again and chuckled, "So what? I have a total of 120k HP. Do you really think you can kill me?" "Is that so?" Little Piglet charged toward Blade of Kings again. The moment he got close to the man, he abruptly split away from his mount and hit the enemy in the sides¡ªIce Breaking Slash! Crack! The skill actually froze Blade of Kings and his mount. For 3 seconds, no healing could reach him until he defrosted. Not about to let the opening slip past him, Little Piglet got up his mount again and stabbed the fighter three times in a row with Ice Ray Flurry. Not only that, his pet, the Ice Giant, raised its gigantic arm and smacked Blade of Kings right in the head! Blade of Kings¡¯ HP dropped to 50k or so after a series of blows. Behind him, Wang Dongliang and his men tried to come to Little Piglet¡¯s aid, but a single Sea of Flames from Grief of the Dark was all it took to keep them at bay. ¡­¡­ "Blade of Kings! Grief of the Dark!" Suddenly, a loud voice broke out behind Little Piglet. It was none other than Vienna¡¯s Sorrow himself. The man stabbed Little Piglet with his broadsword and used Beast Howl Slash! 39882! Little Piglet let out a muffled groan. Directly in front of him, Grief of the Dark cast Dragon¡¯s Roar and 2 Galaxy Storms in quick succession! Pop... His last sliver of HP departed his body, and Little Piglet hit the floor with a thud. Another famous Chinese player had dropped to Vienna¡¯s Sorrow! Chapter 760: The Final Battle Pillar of the Nation was swinging his sword like crazy. His heart had shattered like glass when he saw his cherished general ganged up by three Heroic Bannermen and killed. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow simply let out a cold chuckle and flicked his sword at Wang Dongliang, signaling his men to take him out. He never even looked back as he moved to a different part of the battlefield. Perhaps he looked down on players at Wang Dongliang¡¯s level from the bottom of his heart. "Pepper them with arrows and take them all!" A rain of arrows answered Grief of the Dark¡¯s call, and a short moment later, all one thousand of Hegemon Palace¡¯s players were shot to death. With this, another Top 10 guild on the China Guild Ranking, Hegemon Palace was knocked out of the Nation War. Just like Gods of Destruction, not a single one of them survived to see the end of this war! ¡­¡­ "That¡¯s another group of reinforcements gone¡­" I looked behind me grimly after one-shotting a group of players with Thousand Ice Slash. He Yi pressed her lips together and said, "I just received news that Mad Dragon and Flower Room were shot to death by Hot Sand City¡¯s archers at the southeast side of the city. They weren¡¯t strong enough to breach the enemy¡¯s defenses, but they were too stupid to find an easier path to us, so they died." I sighed and spent a moment to check the CGL Hall of Fame screen on the Nation War interface. Ling Xueshang, God¡¯s Dance, Transient Smoke and Clouds, Come See The Snow Tonight, Transient, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties, Predestined and more¡ªall of these names had dimmed before I knew it. The war had been so intense that I didn¡¯t even notice their passing until now. Our allied guilds, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng were all annihilated, and the only ones who were still standing were the 2000 players¡ªno, not even that¡ªof Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. The Dragonlight Cavalry, the troop Hot and Sour Noodles claimed to be the "strongest ace of the entire China server", had dwindled to 42 players, and even now, the number of casualties were still increasing. The area in front of the palace entrance had turned into a blood-soaked purgatory at this point. One by one, our comrades collapsed to the ground and died. Everyone was lost and terrified. No one knew how much longer we could hold on until we finally couldn¡¯t. It was at this moment a voice broke out from the guild channel¡ª Li Chengfeng: "Are you guys¡­ still there?" "What¡¯s wrong, Chengfeng?" I asked hurriedly. "Li¡­" Gui Guzi murmured. ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, multiple system announcements broke out in succession¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, Heroic Bannerman "Smile of the Reaper" (USA) has been killed by player "Legendary Brave" (China)! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, Heroic Bannerman "Wee Hours Town" (USA) has been killed by player "Legendary Brave" (China)! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, Heroic Bannerman "Titan God" (USA) has been killed by player "Legendary Brave" (China)! ¡­¡­ That was three system announcements in a row! Somehow, Li Chengfeng had killed three Heroic Bannermen at the same time! "Holy shit, Li is unbelievable! He¡­ he even killed that monster, Titan God!" High Fighting Spirits clenched his fists and shouted in excitement. But He Yi said with a downcast expression, "Li Chengfeng¡¯s ID just turned dark. He¡¯s gone as well¡­" Beside her, Xu Yang said quietly, "To tell you all the truth¡­ all our Cyan Tiger Cavalry and riders were killed at Breeze Canyon 30 minutes ago. Chengfeng had kept over 5000 enemies at bay by himself, killing nearly 4000 and even dragging 3 Heroic Bannermen to the grave with him during his final moment¡­" Xu Yang then waved a hand and showed us Li Chengfeng¡¯s battlefield¡ª It was cold and biting in Breeze Canyon. Hills of corpses could be seen everywhere, and at the center of the canyon stood Li Chengfeng with his eyes closed permanently. Two iron spears had pierced his chest and damn near nailed him to the ground. His hand was gripping Titan God¡¯s sword even after he died, and his Blade of Ghastly Wind was lodged at the center of Titan God¡¯s neck. The dead men were standing in the middle of a deep pit caused by Dragonblade Revolution. It was the skill that had taken out all three Heroic Bannermen in one go. Traces of dissipating whirlwind could still be seen in the video. This was how Li Chengfeng had fought to the bitter end. ¡­¡­ I sucked in a deep breath before exhaling, "Chengfeng, you fool¡­" Gui Guzi chuckled. "Well, we ain¡¯t any better than him¡­" It was at this moment a new system announcement broke out¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, CGL Hall of Famer "Moonkiss" (China) has been killed by Vienna¡¯s Sorrow (USA)! Moonkiss was dead! I turned around in a daze just in time to catch Clear Perfume and her troops collapsing beneath the enemy¡¯s Galaxy Storms. The Northern Alliance¡¯s firepower was just too much to handle! "Where is Purple Marquis?" I asked. Gui Guzi uttered through gritted teeth. "He¡¯s probably dead as well. That damn Vienna! How many more of our brethren will he kill until he¡¯s satisfied? The worst part is that this fucker never engages us directly. He always skirts around the edges and attacks only when he sees an opportunity." I nodded. Enemies like him were the scariest of them all! ¡­¡­ Boom boom boom¡­ A series of magical storms and powerful arrows assaulted us for a moment. Finally, even Luo River God of the Capital let out a painful cry and lost her Magic Shield. A couple of magic knights hurriedly rushed forward to kill her. Swhoosh! However, Beiming Xue pulled out her dagger and rushed to the defense just in time to parry three consecutive attacks. Not only that, the Thunder Beast managed to drive away the enemy with its claws and bought 6 precious seconds for Luo River God of the Capital to reactivate her Magic Shield. "Kill! Kill off the last resisters!" Blade of Kings swung his axe and ordered, "There¡¯s no need to move forward, frontliners! Just surround them from all sides and hit them at range! Do your best to take out their backliners without losing anyone!" I panicked. Our last defense was starting to crumble after the group of fighters in front of us died to enemy fire. The situation was so desperate that even Beiming Xue, an archer, had to fight at the front. A furious Ironwing Dragon swiped and blasted away at the enemy from the sky, but a concentrated storm of arrows ultimately brought it down and sent it back to its pet space. Even with its Defense, there was no surviving this many attacks. There were less than 30 Dragonlight Cavalrymen around me now, and everyone had less than 30% to 50% HP left. If this situation was allowed to continue, we would be routed for sure. "Retreat!" I shouted, "Everyone, retreat into the Life Barrier and let it buy us some time!" He Yi looked astonished. "But¡­" "No time for buts! We¡¯re going to die whether or not we enter the Life Barrier anyway, so we may as well wait until they destroy it and stall for some time!" I looked at the interface and said, "There¡¯s only 3 hours left! Victory is ours as long as we can hold them off for another 3 hours!" Finally, my beautiful guild leader made up her mind and nodded. "Alright. Everyone, enter the Life Barrier now! It should buy us a bit more time!" Behind us, the azure-colored light screen that was the Life Barrier rippled incessantly as Beiming Xue, Pure Love, Murong Mingyue and everyone else rushed through it. Eventually, even the Dragonlight Cavalry was forced to enter the barrier as well. "They¡¯re running away! Break that barrier and kill all of them!" Blade of Kings¡¯ face looked almost distorted as he said that. He stared at me coldly and laughed, "That Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand especially must die a slow death! That fucker has killed too many Heroic Bannermen already!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh... Gui Guzi and He Yi entered the Life Barrier together. Rustle! The Armored Ice Qilin Horse neighed as I forced it to a halt just one step away from the Life Barrier. Now, I was the only one left standing outside the barrier. Everyone stared at me in astonishment as He Yi cried out, "What are you doing, Lu Chen? Come in already!" I smiled. "Sorry. The Life Barrier has a durability bar, so someone¡¯s gotta protect it. Since you¡¯ve all gone inside, I¡¯m the only one left who can do this." "Have you gone insane, Lu Chen? Do you even know what you¡¯re doing?" Luo River God of the Capital stared at me. "Can you really hold back twenty million people all by yourself?" I turned around and stared indifferently at the endless sea of enemies in front of me. A smile crossing my face, I said, "I don¡¯t know, and I don¡¯t care. All I know is that they have to step over my corpse if they want to get to the Life Barrier. I said before that Dawn City is a part of our homeland, so I will never surrender it to the enemy under any circumstances. I will never sacrifice Dawn City, no matter the cost!" "You fool¡­" Luo River God of the Capital let out a sorrowful sigh. Beiming Xue whispered, "Big bro, we¡­ we¡¯ll come out and help you right now!" "Stop right there!" I said harshly, "Do you not understand the consequences? Anyone who entered the Life Barrier will lose 30 levels if they step out again. You are all the souls of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and our guild cannot afford such a loss! Don¡¯t forget that you all have a responsibility to yourself and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" Chaos Moon uttered through gritted teeth, "Bullshit! How dare you say that when you¡¯re the one who¡¯s being irresponsible to yourself!" Her words caught me slightly off-guard, but I waved my sword once and gave her a smile. "My responsibility is to be a sword to protect you all." ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle rustle¡­ The progress of war cared not for the sacrifice of the dead. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow walked out and stared at me silently. "What are you doing? Do you really think you can hold us off yourself?" I didn¡¯t answer him, unless you counted the red, undead light surrounding my sword as an answer. "Fuck him!" Blade of Kings growled. "Vienna, there¡¯s no need to waste your breath on him. He¡¯s already killed too many of our people, so let¡¯s kill him and be done with this! He¡¯s the highest scorer on the Chinese Nation War¡¯s ranking, and killing him will appease everyone!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow nodded. He stayed where he was as he ordered, "Go. This is the final battle!" ¡­¡­ I looked at the sky and laughed almost arrogantly. After applying the Resurrection Art to myself, I crossed my sword in front of me and shouted, "Come! This is the final battle!" Chapter 761: Ascension A couple of Northern Alliance foot soldiers stumbled backward in astonishment. Feeling deeply humiliated, Blade of Kings spat angrily, "Pooh! What are you afraid of, you cowardly cockroaches? Get up there and kill him already!" They obeyed his order and moved toward me cautiously. I tossed Icy Cyclone Domain right in front of me. The icy spikes bursting out of the ground instantly deleted huge chunks of their HP and scared the living wits out of them. "Grr¡­" A puffed up Phantom Wolf King crouched low next to the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and let out a guttural growl. ¡­¡­ Blade of Kings pointed his axe at me and shouted, "Kill him!" A troop of cavalry behind him activated their Charge. Even more archers rushed forward and nocked their arrows the moment they got close enough! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ The cold glint of enemy weapons surrounded me, and I was past caring about the enemy¡¯s arrow fire at this point. Tanking the damage head-on, I sped up and swung the Cyan Netherworld Sword three times in a row, hitting the enemies in front of me with Burning Blade Slash. An empty space appeared in front me as countless magic knights toppled onto the bloody floor. "Snort!" My mount snorted loudly as I abruptly slowed down and galloped to the sides. Then, I fired Thousand Ice Slash that took out a group of archers who were shooting at me at the same time the Phantom Wolf King launched an attack from the wings. This was a critical battle, so I chose to go all out and control both my avatar and the Phantom Wolf King at the same time. I made sure that the Phantom Wolf King always escaped to safety after it landed a successful hit so that it would take minimal damage and remain in the battle for as long as possible. Swhoosh! That wasn¡¯t all. I waved my arm once, and my apparition charged into a group of enemies and crushed them all with Burning Blade Slash + War Crush. By now, I had been shot or hit in the chest almost a hundred times already, my HP dipping below half in no time. I raised my arm and surrounded myself in a column of red light, healing myself for 25% instantly with Tenacity of the Dead. At the same time, I threw my sword forward and used Sword Boomerang. I charged left, right, forward and backward, but I never moved beyond 20 yards from the Life Barrier. It was to suppress the enemy¡¯s ranged attacks and prevent the Life Barrier from getting attacked. The only thing to do here was to buy as much time as possible, or the sacrifice of the tens of millions of Chinese players would be all for naught. There was no other option. ¡­¡­ "Mad. You¡¯ve all gone mad!" "Got it!" The high-level mage approached me while being escorted by a dozen or so magic knights. A while later, a devastating Galaxy Storm engulfed me! 17378! God damn, it almost felt like I was being burned alive! I pointed a finger at him and used the God Binding Art. However... MISS! God dammit, I knew that God Binding Art wouldn¡¯t be able to shackle a shielded mage. Worse, both my Burning Blade Slash and Thousand Ice Slash were incapable of one-shotting the guy. There was absolutely nothing I could do to stop this! Left with no other choice, I pretended as if I wasn¡¯t being bombarded with Galaxy Storms and continued slaughtering every enemy I could reach. My survival was all up to the 10% lifesteal of the Cyan Netherworld Sword now! Despite the ferocious counterattack, I was able to go on a rampage for almost three minutes until finally, inevitably, an arrow erupted across my chest and stunned me. Who are these fucking high-level archers? Their stun success rate was almost unbelievably high considering that it was me that they were shooting! Boom boom boom... Galaxy Storms, Spiraling Arrow Blades, Devil Piercing Arrows and Dragon¡¯s Roars hit me in rapid succession. My HP immediately started dropping like crazy. I hastily healed myself for 25% of my HP with Tenacity of the Dead after the stun faded, but I was still taking too much damage. In the end, I hit my limits! Squelch! A magic knight rode up to me and plunged his weapon right through my chest. I felt my body relaxing as death took over me, but Resurrection Art allowed me to revive at perfect condition. When I grabbed the hilt of the magic knight¡¯s sword, he screamed in shock, "What? How the?!" Thud! The Cyan Netherworld Sword burst out of his back, and I activated Burning Blade Slash! Boom! The magic knight¡¯s body rocked like a leaf as the flaming energy tore him and the Northern Alliance players behind him to shreds. Dying once had boosted my attack power by 10%, and it would remain so until I logged out of the game! ¡­¡­ Blade of Kings was clearly growing anxious. He waved his battle axe again and shouted, "How many Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen do we still have? Send everyone! Tie him up and kill him!" The remaining nine thousand or so Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen immediately emerged into the open and thundered toward me! I couldn¡¯t help but feel a coming headache. Fuck! Not them again! Rumble rumble rumble! The Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen used their Blaze and deleted huge chunks from my HP before they even got close to me. I couldn¡¯t just stand where I was and let myself be killed, so I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward and cut to the right without warning. Taking advantage of the chaotic battlefield, I recovered 17% HP with lifesteal from War Crush and Thousand Ice Slash. Roar roar roar! I didn¡¯t even have a millisecond of respite as the enemy¡¯s Dragon¡¯s Roars had been chasing my back all this time. However, my head felt clear, and I was fighting at almost my absolute peak. Still on the move, I cut into the incoming Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry and cut down many elite riders. Swhoosh! Swhoosh! Unfortunately, I was stunned yet again after two enemy Charges. The next moment, I felt a tearing sensation as nearly a hundred Dragon¡¯s Roars hit me. Again my avatar relaxed and dropped a level, and again my Attack was boosted by 10%! "Die!" I launched Sword Boomerang at a nearby group of shielded mages and killed them all. This time, even Grief of the Dark couldn¡¯t help but retreat in astonishment, "What the fuck? His Attack is getting higher and higher! Is he even human?!" By this point, I stopped resummoning the Phantom Wolf King. Instead, I summoned my apparition every time I died and came back to life and ordered it to use Purple Dragon Howl, Burning Blade Slash and War Crush. After that? Well, there was no after that. The apparition was simply too fragile to survive a battle like this for long without Ghost Deity Armor. ¡­¡­ While I was charging back and forth the area in front of the Life Barrier, Luo River God of the Capital, Chaos Moon and the others were speechless with shock¡ª "Lu Chen¡­ is so strong!!" Chaos Moon muttered. Luo River God of the Capital nodded. "If Purple Lily had a general like him, our cavalry wouldn¡¯t have been routed as quickly as it did¡­" Chaos Moon said, "That fool, he¡¯s literally giving away his life for this battle. Does he really think he can buy three hours¡¯ worth of time with his levels? It¡¯s impossible. No one can hold back the enemy for that long¡­" He Yi¡¯s eyes burned with anxiety as she tightened her grip around her Blade of the Earthen Soul. "Can we¡­ can we really stand here and do nothing while Lu Chen protects us?" Murong Mingyue put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Eve, I¡¯m well aware how anxious you are, but no one here has Lu Chen¡¯s stats or his Resurrection Art. Right now, the best thing we can do right now is to watch his back and avoid adding more burden to his shoulders. You once called Lu Chen our Divine General, and now is the time for him to prove his worth!" He Yi bit her lips and said nothing. Her eyes were still brimming with worry and reluctance. ¡­¡­ Chiang chiang chiang... A magic knight hit my shoulder with Triple Slash and dealt almost ten thousand damage to me. I immediately grabbed the blade of his sword and hit him with Universe Break! 47266! The increase in Attack was very useful. My Universe Break had almost one-shot the unbuffed magic knight. After securing the kill with a basic attack, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse raised its forelimbs and struck the ground three times in a row, staggering or killing the enemies around me and restoring my HP by the tens of thousands. Bang bang bang¡­ Feeling a volley of scalding arrows punching into my back, I turned around and retaliated with Sword Boomerang and Dragon Slaying Slash! The Sword Boomerang chopped down a ton of players like weeds and met up with the Dragon Slaying Slash to instakill a Level 157 archer. High-level, well-equipped players like him must be given special treatment to prolong my own survival for even a second. The enemy wasn¡¯t idle despite my success as a matter of course. I kept being hit by Galaxy Storms and Mountain Stagger Arrows, but I didn¡¯t dare to cancel my mount because I would be reviving dismounted if I died. Moreover, I wouldn¡¯t be able to resummon it in time considering how dense the enemy¡¯s firepower was. Boom! A red fiery Fire Blast tore apart my Crimson Rock Dragon Armor and dropped me to my knees. This time though, I triggered the free revival of Immortality! ¡­¡­ "Fuck this shit! Is he unkillable or something?" someone shouted. Blade of Kings simply said, "Hmph! There¡¯s only so much firepower a person can take, so keep attacking and don¡¯t let up! He will die permanently eventually!" "Get lost!" I shouted and sent an entire group of magic knights flying through the air, killing most of them. The reason I was able to defend the Life Barrier until now wasn¡¯t because I was immortal, but because my attack power had stacked up to a point where no one could penetrate the line of death I created with my attacks. ¡­¡­ Time passed slowly, and one hour almost felt like forever. An hour later, I had died 10 times, stacked up a 100% Attack boost, and triggered Immortality 13 times. That meant that I had died a total of 23 times and dropped to Level 150 until this point. Right now, the Northern Alliance was absolutely hating my guts because I had single-handedly killed tens of thousands of players and delayed their advance by an entire hour. "Move out of the way! I¡¯ll deal with him myself!" Finally, Blade of Kings could stand this no longer. He approached me from the distance while shouting, "Give me some cover! Archers, stun him with Shock Arrows!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Amazingly, I was actually stunned by the arrows he called! Swhoosh! Blade of Kings charged me with his war axe raised high up in the air. He then hit me with a Barrier Break and Triple Slash! 27616! 17633! 18229! 17387! I was dead even before I recovered from the stun, but thankfully I triggered Immortality and got a free revive. Had I been forced to use the active revive, I would¡¯ve fallen past Level 150 and lost any chance to learn the Great Earth Transformation, much less a Divine General Skill! Thud! I grabbed Blade of Kings by the collar before he could react and scanned him with Dark Pupils. After noting that his right shoulder was his weak point, I plunged my sword into the area and used Barrier Break and Burning Blade Slash! Bang bang bang! A chaotic whirlwind of light racked his body. Blade of Kings groaned and died immediately! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, Heroic Bannerman "King of Blades" (USA) has been killed by player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China)! To my pleasant surprise, another system announcement entered my ears and warmed my whole body, as if a deity was possessing it¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Sky City)" has accumulated enough Kill Points to learn the Great Earth Transformation! After killing an enemy, they learned the Great Earth Transformation and became the third Divine General of China! They have gained Luck +3, Tactics +6, and an exclusive Divine General Skill, "Ancient Seal"! Ancient Seal: Summon the power of the divine and create a seal that deals area of effect damage. The attack power depends on the skill user¡¯s stats. Skill exclusive to Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. ¡­¡­ I had finally ascended and become a Divine General! Chapter 762: The Oath A new icon appeared in my skill list. According to the latest data, Great Earth Transformation costs 1 Divine Energy Point per minute to maintain, and a player started with max divine energy, or 200 Divine Energy Points, right off the bat. Divine Energy Point: Points needed to create divine energy. Kill 100 units to gain 1 Divine Energy Point. Great Earth Transformation: Create a totem of the Great Earth and transform. Hidden Attack, HP and Defense greatly increased, all resistances increased by 100%. ¡­¡­ Nice! Great Earth Transformation increased all my resistances by 100%, meaning that I was now a lot more resistant toward arrows, magic and even stuns. However, what concerned me the most right now was the Divine General Skill. I glanced at the corner of the skill window and saw a golden icon. I received a system notification when I attempted to trigger it¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Good day, player! This is the first time you trigger the Ancient Seal. Please enter two characters to confirm the contents of the seal! "Huh?!" I was confused to say the least, but there was no time to figure out exactly what it meant, so I immediately typed in the words "Sword" and "Soul¡±. The reason I chose these two words were very simple. One, a human cannot call themselves a human without a Soul. Two, a Sword is necessary to defend this Soul. Finally, it was a reflection of the name of our guild, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Ding~! System Notice: The contents of the seal have been confirmed. You may use the skill now! ¡­¡­ I sucked in a deep breath and killed the dozen assassins attempting to sneak up on me with Burning Blade Slash. Then, I activated Greath Earth Transformation! BOOM BOOM BOOM... Three cyan dragons immediately burst out of the ground and transformed into swords. They spun around me slowly almost as if they were defending me from harm. Besides that, a layer of cyan flames appeared on my armor, and swirls of energy appeared around my sword every time I swung it. I didn¡¯t realize that Great Earth Transformation would look this awesome because I initially thought that the visual effects were identical across the board. As it turned out, male and female players didn¡¯t share the same Great Earth Transformation visual effects. Lin Yixin was surrounded by indigo lotus petals, while I was surrounded by cyan swords. Now then, it¡¯s time to test out the Ancient Seal! After I activated the skill, a golden seal with the word "Sword" immediately appeared in my palm. Under my conscious control, the seal abruptly flew into the clouds in a rush before coming back down a lot bigger than before! Before the enemy could react, it imprinted on the ground and dealt AoE damage to all players within 20x20 yards! Boom! Golden light filled everyone¡¯s vision as the word "Sword" was physically etched onto the ground. It almost looked like the light was bursting out of the ground. Countless jaws hit the floor as the players hit by the skill dropped to the ground and suffered unbelievable amounts of damage¡ª 138278! 136273! 163676! ¡­¡­ My own jaw was on the floor, to be honest. I never expected the Ancient Seal to be this powerful! I also noticed that using Ancient Seal reduced my Divine Energy by 1 point. Obviously, this meant that the skill couldn¡¯t be used infinitely¡­ but in a war like this where enemies were everywhere, and every 100 kills restored 1 Divine Energy Point? It might as well be! I swung my sword to the side and cut an archer and his bow in half. At the same time, I summoned another golden seal¡ªthis time it was the word "Soul"¡ªand cleared out another patch of the battlefield. Next, I quickly identified the locations of the enemy¡¯s archer and mage parties and dished out 5 seals in a row. Screams immediately filled the air, and countless bodies exploded into potions and equipment as my seals hit them. The Ancient Seal was unbelievably powerful! I used 7 seals in a row and consumed 7 Divine Energy Points. However, I also recouped 6 Divine Energy Points after all the people I killed. Technically speaking, I could use it infinitely as long as the enemies were packed tightly! ¡­¡­ "Fuck¡­ this is so OP¡­" said Xu Yang after sucking in a deep breath. High Fighting Spirits gulped. "God damn, the vice leader is almost invincible at this point, isn¡¯t he? This Ancient Seal is literally godlike¡­" Beiming Xue smiled. "Mn, mn! Big bro is the best forever!" Chaos Moon said, "Now that Blade of Kings is dead, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is probably going to join the battle soon, isn¡¯t he?" He Yi murmured, "Do your best¡­" Luo River God of the Capital let out an optimistic chuckle. "Alright, I guess there is a bit of hope after all. Who would¡¯ve thought that Lu Chen would be this OP?" ¡­¡­ A while later, I silently stared at Vienna''s Sorrow from a distance while standing atop a sea of corpses. "Hmph!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow snorted and said indifferently, "There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of. He¡¯s just a Divine General who learned Great Earth Transformation, that¡¯s all. Did you see how low his level is? The bigger the level gap, the greater the level penalty is. Eventually, even resistances will be ignored. Once he falls below Level 130, he¡¯ll be as weak as a child, no matter his status or transformation!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow then ordered, "Now, keep up the attack! Also, all catapults, aim at Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and crush him with your rocks!" The remaining 6000+ Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen and the mages, priests and archers behind them advanced toward me in formation again. This time, a large group of assassins stealthed over and attempted to stun me with their daggers. Boom boom boom! I easily one-shot them all with War Crush. However, I was also struck by the rain of rocks falling out of the sky. It hurts despite the power of Great Earth Transformation! My HP dropped rapidly once more, proving that neither Great Earth Transformation nor Divine General was a status of invincibility. I charged forward and cleared out a path with three seals and Burning Blade Slash. Originally, my plan was to take out the enemy catapults, but when I got about a hundred yards in I was surprised to find that nearly a thousand catapults had been set up in various corners. It would take forever to break them all one by one. Left with no choice, I charged back to the Life Barrier and defended it with my life. I was only one person, and there was only so much I could do. I had no choice but to fight under the seemingly unending bombardment. "Charge!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow commanded a troop of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry to attack, but most of them were killed before they even got close to me. Great Earth Transformation boosted my hidden attack power, Resurrection Art increased my Attack by 100%, and Martial God, by 200%. Even the simplest attack could deal 50k damage or more. I was lethal to say the least. Swhoosh! Another Ancient Soul Seal rushed into the clouds and crashed atop a troop of cavalry, killing nearly a hundred of them in an instant. They had exactly one chance to survive the Ancient Seal. It was game over if their HP wasn¡¯t high enough! It took me less than twenty minutes to kill 6000+ Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen. Forget Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, even I was shocked by my own DPS. Like a god of slaughter, I paid no heed to the attacks thrown my way and killed everything that came my way. During this time, I died three times and had to activate Resurrection Art twice, dropping my level to 148. This meant that I no longer met the equipment requirement anymore. Of course, as long as I didn¡¯t take off the equipment myself, they would still remain functional. There was no need to take them off while repairing them either. All it took was one tap, and everything would be as good as new. One-key repair banzai... ¡­¡­ My perception of time was growing slower and slower. As my level dropped lower and lower, a fatal flaw started appearing in my battle strategy. My attack power had dropped considerably when I fell to Level 131, but that was nothing compared to the drastic reduction of my resistances. The enemy¡¯s Charges were growing more and more effective on me. Bang! A Shock Arrow stunned me once more. A couple of laughing magic knights immediately ran up to me and hit me with 7 Barrier Breaks! Thud thud thud thud... It absolutely didn¡¯t feel good to be skewered. After I came back to life, a dozen or so Dragon¡¯s Roar struck me next and forced me to lose another level. My Attack boost was sitting at 400% at this point. I raised my arm and launched Thousand Ice Slash! Boom! The icy storm dealt a ridiculous 200k+ damage to each unit struck, but the problem was that 50% of its hits missed their target! I could no longer hit some of my opponents because there was at least a 20-level gap between us! ¡­¡­ Vienna¡¯s Sorrow sneered as he continued to look at me from afar. "Give it up, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. There¡¯s no way you can hold on for another hour. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re still not satisfied with the amount of people you dragged into your grave? It¡¯s time to admit that the Northern Alliance isn¡¯t a power you can resist, and that Dawn City will be ours one way or another!" I clenched my sword and growled, "Dream on! I won¡¯t let you set one foot into Dawn City¡¯s palace even if I drop to Level 1!" "Stubborn fool!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s face grew angry. I had taken out all 10000 of the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry, so the Northern Alliance sent another group of elite cavalry to engage me. I continued blocking in front of the entrance and fought with all my might. ¡­¡­ Resurrection Art triggered repeatedly, and my level fell below 100 in just the blink of an eye. At this point, my attacks couldn¡¯t hit my opponents even 25% of the time. What was the point of having high Attack if you couldn¡¯t hit your enemies? My Divine Energy Point had also fallen below 40, but there was still an entire hour to endure. Anxiety scorched against the walls of my heart. Chiang! A Level 156 berserker warrior riding a black warhorse hit my armor with his axe. He then laughed savagely at me and said, "Drop to your knees, king of China!" Boom! The level penalty was too great. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse lost control of its forelimbs, and I actually dropped to my knees. "Fuck¡­" A nameless fury burned in my heart, but a dozen of arrows hit my chest just as I rose back to my feet. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse finally lost all of its mount tenacity and vanished, and I took another killing blow to the chest only to rise once more like a zombie. ¡­¡­ "FUCK THIS SHIT!" Suddenly, a crying Gui Guzi drew his spear and shouted, "Boss Broken Halberd! I¡­ I don¡¯t care anymore! I¡¯m going to save him no matter what the cost!" Gui Guzi charged out of the Life Barrier, and a thunderbolt fell from the sky. Gui Guzi lost 30 levels because of it! Chapter 763: If I Love I looked back at the Dragonlight Cavalry and shouted at them, but they no longer obeyed my orders. Even He Yi, Chaos Moon and the rest of the girls rushed out of the barrier regardless of the penalty. Every time lightning struck, a top-tier expert in our guild was reduced from a sixth-promotion player to a fifth-promotion player! ¡­¡­ "Worse comes to worst we die together! It¡¯s no biggie!" Du Thirteen rushed toward an enemy and struck a heavy blow, but less than ten seconds later, he was killed by a concentrated volley of arrow and magic! "Thirteen!" I shouted futilely. Boom boom! Chaos Moon¡¯s Rock Crush and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s Rock Smash exploded in the middle of a crowd, but the 30-level penalty reduced their damage by at least 50%. However, they continued to charge fearlessly. Grief of the Dark chanted a spell and summoned earthen spikes from the ground, deleting a large chunk of High Fighting Spirits¡¯ HP in an instant. He immediately followed up with three Fireballs that deleted the rest. "Fuck you!" High Fighting Spirits cast Xiezhi Howl right before he died. He was able to drag dozens of enemies to the grave with him. Beiming Xue roamed the fringes and dished out as much firepower as she could. The Purgatory Thunder Beast was also roaring and killing everything in its path. Now Level 126 Murong Mingyue was swinging her staff and healing every player that could be healed. There were almost three hundred Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players behind the Life Barrier at the beginning, and they all charged fearlessly at the enemy. Then, the Northern Alliance killed them all. Bang bang bang! Fire Blasts kept coming from every direction. It wasn¡¯t long before He Yi¡¯s health hit rock bottom. I tried to reach her, but my path was blocked by a couple of magic knights. During her final moment, she let out a chuckle and said, "We¡¯ve done our best, so we have no regrets!" I couldn¡¯t do anything even though He Yi had died right in front of me. The Ancient Seal was powerful, but nowhere near enough to decimate the millions and millions of enemies still on the battlefield. It was impossible to turn the tide around no matter how many people I killed. The battle was a one-sided slaughter. The highest-leveled player in our guild was the Level 129 Beiming Xue, and the lowest was me, Level 100. Our attacks missed the enemy 50% of the time, but the enemy dealt increased damage to us due to the level gap. There was no comparison. "Hah!" "You bitches! How dare you take so many levels from Boss Broken Halberd! I¡¯ll make you pay many times over for your sins!" Gui Guzi abruptly switched to a sword and charged into a group of enemies on foot. I inspected the moment and discovered that it had a splash effect and lifesteal. No wonder he abandoned his spear even though its Attack was higher. "This fucker¡¯s an undead! Light mages, take him out!" a player from Hero City shouted. A high-level mage immediately responded to the call and summoned a golden holy light from the sky. Gui Guzi¡¯s skin immediately started rotting and stinking as if he was bathed in acid. "Fuck!" Gui Guzi went completely ballistic. He Charged the light mage and pierced his chest with Barrier Break. Then, he bit him on his neck and started feeding on his flesh like an actual corpse eater! +20000! +20000! +20000! He started recovering HP at an incredible rate. Holy shit. An active lifesteal? Where the hell did Gui Guzi pick up such a hardcore skill? ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud! Mountain Stagger Arrow worked incredibly well against mounts, and it only took a couple of hits to drop Xu Yang to the ground. But despite losing his mount, he charged fearlessly toward the enemy and hit a magic knight with Mountain Stagger Slash. The rocky skill instantly dismounted the magic knight and allowed Xu Yang to thrust his sword through his neck, killing him on the spot! "Take him out!" Grief of the Dark shouted while summoning Fire Rain, deleting Xu Yang¡¯s HP continuously. A group of archers answered the mage¡¯s call and started shooting Xu Yang in an organized fashion. Despite the warrior¡¯s best attempts to block the arrows, he was ultimately knocked to the back and killed where he stood. "Boss¡­" He groaned, plunged his sword to the ground and dropped to one knee. He Yi¡¯s body was just two meters in front of him. I blocked in front of He Yi¡¯s body and swung my sword repeatedly. Burning Blade Slash might be missing like crazy, but anyone who got hit was basically one-shot where they stood. I fired another golden seal into the clouds, and the Ancient Soul Seal hit the ground with a boom and killed dozens instantly. Those who were lucky enough to miss the attack could only stare at the ridiculous damage numbers floating above their allies¡¯ head. The Ancient Seal was doing almost 200k damage at this point! I looked back and felt my heart freeze over. Even Xu Yang was gone! Despite being surrounded by enemies from all sides, Chaos Moon parried many attacks and fired Rock Crush after Rock Crush that dealt a considerable amount of damage. It was to the point where the Northern Alliance dared not underestimate the female warrior even though she was only Level 125. At the very least, her equipment didn¡¯t reflect her current level at all! A cry broke out from behind me at this moment. When I looked back, I saw Murong Mingyue stumbling backward with three Devil Piercing Arrows in her chest. Her back hit a wall, and she slowly slumped to the ground. She died as well. Moon Dew and Moonlight Stone were incapable of fighting a protracted battle. They all died one after another. Less than ten people were still standing in front of the palace entrance in the blink of an eye. "Big bro¡­" Beiming Xue cried and tried to run to my side, shooting the magic knights chasing after her as she ran. However, a fireball hit her and engulfed her completely before she could reach me. "Beiming!" It felt like a knife was twisting in my heart. I never thought that things would turn out like this; that I would one day watch my loved ones die horribly right before my eyes. On the other side, someone managed to knock Gui Guzi¡¯s aside and sent him stumbling. A broadsword abruptly pierced his chest and erupted into the floating rune a cyan beast. It was the Beast Howl Slash! 57126! The level gap was just too huge. There was absolutely nothing Gui Guzi could do to stop Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s attack at all. The next moment, Triple Slash passed through the Undying Knight¡¯s body and dropped him to the ground. Pooh! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow slowly pulled out his sword and stepped on Gui Guzi¡¯s lifeless head. "Undying Knight? You¡¯re just a piece of shit!" ¡­¡­ Buzz! My mind turned blank at that moment. Words were no longer adequate to describe the fury boiling in my heart. I abruptly roared like an animal, activated Great Earth Transformation and charged straight toward Vienna. Countless arrows pierced my body and killed me on the way, but death couldn¡¯t stop me for even a second. I shouted, "Die, you animal!" "Huh?!" Vienna abruptly turned around, but when he saw me he simply smiled and pierced me with a Barrier Break! Pu! 79872! The level gap was bad enough, but the fucker landed a critical hit on me as well. My buffs had expired at this point, so the attack one-shot me instantly. I immediately revived and grabbed Vienna¡¯s blade, uncaring that the sword was still shifting inside my body. I pushed myself off the ground and slammed my knees right into his chin, eliciting a painful groan from the man. Before he could fall to the ground, I had already slammed my sword into his open mouth. Pu! 37644! Not far away, Grief of the Dark turned completely green. "Pri¡­ priests, heal Vienna now! He must not be killed no matter what! QUICKLY!" But they were too late. Burning Blade Slash erupted inside the fucker¡¯s throat! MISS! MISS! 78912! My damage was insane, but it still wasn¡¯t enough to kill Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. I raised my palm into the air, and the golden seal "Sword" flew into the clouds. A moment later, it crashed on top of the both of us! It didn¡¯t miss this time! 223477! It was a one-shot. There was no second chance for Vienna! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, Heroic Bannerman "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow" (USA) has been killed by player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China)! ¡­¡­ Without a word, I turned around and activated Thunderous Charge right away. My target was none other than the super mage, Grief of the Dark! Swhoosh! Grief of the Dark was prepared for this, so he used Blink to flash away right as I was about to hit him. However, I was much faster than the mage thanks to my Stormy Waves War Boots, so after I opened up a path with Burning Blade Slash, I closed the distance between the two of us in no time and used Universe Break! Pu! 41737! The skill penetrated his Magic Shield, but surprisingly didn¡¯t kill him. What the hell, he must have full buffs on him! Before the mage could react, I raised my palm and fired three seals in a row. I couldn¡¯t stack the seals on top of one another for extra damage, but I could cut off all avenues of retreat! This time, you die! Swhoosh! A screeching noise grated against everyone¡¯s ears as the ancient seal tore Grief of the Dark¡¯s Magic Shield apart. I charged forward and landed one final hit on his back! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, Heroic Bannerman "Grief of the Dark" (USA) has been killed by Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (China)! ¡­¡­ Finally, the last Heroic Bannerman of the Northern Alliance has been killed. Still under the effects of Great Earth Transformation, I fought my way back to the palace entrance only to discover that everyone in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had been killed. I was the only one left still alive on the land of blood and bodies via Resurrection Art. I looked up and stared at the sky for a moment. Snow was falling from the sky and freezing my face a little. Pointed toward the ground, the Cyan Netherworld Sword continued to glow blood-red. ¡­¡­ At the front, a sea of Northern Alliance players slowly advanced toward me with grim eyes. However, no one actually dared to charge me probably because I had traumatized them with my killing of Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and Grief of the Dark. There were still 57 minutes left on the Nation War. All hope was lost... "K-kill him! Archers, mages, give it everything you got!" A ton of ranged attacks tore my body to shreds. In less than ten minutes, I died another 47 times and dropped to Level 70. At this point, I was no longer a threat to the enemy. The only reason the enemy frontliners still weren¡¯t approaching me was because all of my skills were one-shot kills if they hit. Inside the Life Barrier, Luo River God of the Capital clutched her scepter and whispered, "Forgive us, Lu Chen. Forgive us for not stepping out of the Life Barrier¡­" I slumped dejectedly against the palace wall and nodded. "It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s all on you guys after I die, Sister Wang Luo. Just¡­ just do your best to delay the enemy until the end of the Nation War as much as you can¡­" "Mn. We will!" Luo River God of the Capital promised me with a nod. ¡­¡­ I laughed bitterly as I stared at the enemies in front of me. Who would¡¯ve thought that the very first Nation War would turn out like this? Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was annihilated, and I was the only one who was still alive... "Come on!" I raised my sword high and shouted fearlessly, "Don¡¯t even think about stepping on this piece of land until you¡¯ve gotten me down to Level 0!" Boom boom boom! A couple more Galaxy Storms later, I dropped a level yet again. Ding~! System Notice: Player, please be informed that you¡¯ve used Resurrection Art more than 80 times. Your account will be deleted if your level drops below 0! "Fuck¡­" Cold sweat dripped down my neck as I sucked in a deep breath. It was over. It truly was all over. It was at this moment a dozen or so Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen rushed me. Every swing of the blade knocked me back unceremoniously and plastered me against the icy wall, the bloodstained Soul Suppressing Cloak dying the white walls of the palace red. I looked at the sky and felt like crying and laughing at the same time. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a commotion broke out amid the enemies. A cyan light pierced the heavens, and a sword of ice wreathed in flames crashed right on top of them. That¡¯s¡ªLin Yixin¡¯s Ice Flame Slash?! It has to be her! My mind suddenly cleared up. Riding atop the Frostscythe Warhorse, Lin Yixin activated Great Earth Transformation, cut a path through the enemy¡¯s ranks and rode all the way toward me. When she finally arrived, she looked at me gently before breaking into a smile. "Why do you always look so sorry every time I see you, Little Cheat?" She pressed her lips together cutely. "Do you really think you can woo a girl like this?" I clung to the wall and barely pulled myself up to my feet. Propping myself up with the Cyan Netherworld Sword, I smiled at her and called out her name tremblingly, "Yiyi¡­" Words couldn¡¯t describe how aggrieved my tone sounded. I had fought for an insane amount of time and lost all my troops. I myself had been reduced to an unbelievably sorry state. Maybe that was why I felt impossibly aggrieved and tired when I finally saw her again. Lin Yixin got off her horse and stood in front of me. She asked, "Do you love me?" My mind was completely blank. I didn¡¯t know how to answer her. "Heh¡­" The corner of Lin Yixin¡¯s lips pulled upward as if she wanted to say something. Her eyes were brimming with tears, and her shoulders were shaking slightly. "You¡¯re so stupid. You¡¯re the biggest dumb dumb in the entire world!" "Yiyi¡­" I tried to touch her arm, but she pulled back like she was electrocuted. Her tears flowed down her cheeks, and she stared into my soul as she murmured, "They all say I don¡¯t love you, that I know not what love is¡­ but I know that the emotion in my heart is love, and that my love is unrivaled¡­ for I only love once in a lifetime!" My love is unrivaled... Lin Yixin¡¯s words imprinted themselves into my mind as she raised her smooth, white arm, all the while weeping uncontrollably like a child. The dazzling, prismatic light shone so bright that the entire sky was alight. Then, a pure tear fell to the ground. Drip! The tear erupted into light when it hit the snow. Then, with Lin Yixin as the center, a shockwave spread outward and engulfed everything like a nuclear storm! The Northern Alliance¡¯s army was annihilated, just like that. Not a speck of dust was left behind. ¡­¡­ Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Wind Fantasy" has used the Divine General Skill, "God¡¯s Tear" and dealt a map-wide attack. In exchange, her account is permanently deleted. ¡­¡­ My mind turned completely blank, and I shuddered from head to toe. How can this be? Lin Yixin was still staring at me, but her hair suddenly dissolved into purple light. The digital breakdown spread to her face, her head and her body, her legs, and eventually¡­ her entire person scattered into a shower of starry light and flew into the sky. It was as if she never existed. Drip drip drip! The sky suddenly rained without warning. As the icy droplets splashed against my face, I looked up and felt my heart breaking into a million pieces. Chapter 764: I Miss You Rustle rustle¡­ Luo River God of the Capital walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder armor. She whispered, "I know you¡¯re feeling very sad and guilty right now, but that was the path Lin Yixin chose to walk. Everyone¡¯s giving it their all to do the right thing, so Lin Yixin sacrificed herself not just for you, but for Dawn City as well¡­" I shook my head with a bitter smile on my face. "Thank you, Sister Wang Luo¡­" The Life Barrier had vanished before I knew it. The NPC palace mages must have canceled it after realizing that the crisis was over. Countless corpses littered the entire Dawn Valley. The Northern Alliance was nearly a hundred million players strong when they first entered the valley, but not one person had managed to walk away unscathed. Lin Yixin especially had one-shot twenty million people in one go with God¡¯s Tear! To call this feat a world-shocking achievement would be an understatement! ¡­¡­ Luo River God of the Capital sat down on the snowy ground and hugged her knees. She asked, "Lu Chen, you and your comrades have shown me the dedication and perseverance of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I must say that I am deeply ashamed of my own inferiority¡­" I said quietly, "Sister Wang Luo, please. The cost is just¡­ just¡­" Luo River God of the Capital smiled. "Are you going to stay depressed just because you dropped to Level 70?" "No. I¡¯ll grind back to my original level for sure!" "Exactly. In the same vein, Gui Guzi, He Yi, Beiming Xue and everyone else only lost 30 levels, and it wouldn¡¯t take them much effort to grind them back. With their current equipment and stats, it won¡¯t take too much time at all." "It¡¯s not that. I just¡­" "I know. Lin Yixin, right?" "Mn." Wang Luo let out a chuckle as she leaned against the icy cold wall. "Permanent account deletion is quite the problem, and restarting a character from scratch also means resetting your skills, pets, equipment; everything. Even with help, it¡¯ll be very hard for someone to catch up to the top players." Wang Luo¡¯s tone abruptly changed to a positive one. "However, absolutes do not exist in this world. Whoever said that it¡¯s absolutely impossible to recover an account that had been permanently deleted? Heavenblessed is ultimately a game made and controlled by Eternal Moon Corporation, so as long as you could find the right higher-up to speak to, it won¡¯t be impossible to recover Lin Yixin¡¯s account!" My eyes lit up. "Is that true?" "Of course it is!" I jumped to my feet as if I had been given new life. I grabbed the Cyan Netherworld Sword and walked to the front. ¡­¡­ "Lu Chen!" Warsky spurred his mount and rode up to me, but he frowned when he saw my current Level. "What¡­ what happened to you?" I replied indifferently, "I was killed repeatedly by the enemy, that¡¯s all. It wasn¡¯t like you guys were around to take turns." Warsky apologized, "I¡¯m sorry. We were completely stuck at the east side until Wind Fantasy killed everyone with God¡¯s Tear. The good news is that we managed to rally almost twenty thousand new troops from Sky City, so Dawn City should be safe now." I gazed at the ruins that were Dawn City for a moment before replying, "Yeah, I think you¡¯re right. I¡¯ll leave the rest to you guys then." Warsky nodded before clenching his fists suddenly. "That Candlelight Shadow is a fucking animal! He claimed that he rallied twenty million people to protect Dawn City, only to run off on his own to attack Burning City! Pooh! The Avengers my ass, both them and Candlelight Shadow are the lowest of the low!" "Lu Chen, where are you going?" Luo River God of the Capital caught up to me when she noticed that I was leaving. I turned around and gave her a weak smile. "Nothing. I¡¯m logging off to sleep, that¡¯s all." "Ah?" Luo River God of the Capital stared at me for a moment before asking, "When are you coming back online then?" "I don¡¯t know¡­" I shook my head before replying, "Maybe... after I¡¯ve recovered Lin Yixin¡¯s account¡­" October Rain chimed in. "Wind Fantasy sacrificed herself in service of the entire China server, so it¡¯s only right that we reciprocate in kind! Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll petition Eternal Moon Corporation for the recovery of Wind Fantasy¡¯s account until it succeeds!" "Mn, thank you!" I took out a tent and logged out immediately. At this point, I couldn¡¯t care less about the battle anymore, not to mention that Warsky¡¯s new army should be able to defend Dawn City until the end considering that all enemy players in Dawn Valley had been killed. Moreover, there were many players from the Avengers who were rushing over to reinforce the city through Windy Trail. Although a large majority of them had fallen under the sway of Thunder, Wings of Awakening and Silver Soul, the remaining few did sincerely want to reinforce Dawn City. They just couldn¡¯t make it in because the Northern Alliance had been keeping them at bay. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! My vision turned dark after I logged out of the game and pulled off the helmet. This was one of the worst I had ever felt in my life. I walked to the living room and found everyone there. He Yi, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue all looked at me until He Yi spoke up, "We¡¯ve heard about Lin Yixin¡­" I nodded. Beiming Xue spoke next, "Don¡¯t be too sad, big bro. All problems can be solved one way or another!" I nodded again and looked to Murong Mingyue. "D-do you still have Qin Yun¡¯s number? The vice president of Eternal Moon Corporation¡¯s Shanghai Branch?" "Yeah. I¡¯ll send it to you right now." "Thanks." I called Qin Yun¡¯s number immediately after I received it. A couple of dial tones later, the call was accepted¡ª "Hello. Is this¡­ Lu Chen?" Huh, it looks like she saved my contact number last time. "Mn." I nodded to no one in particular before starting, "It¡¯s me. President Qin, I want to talk to you about¡ª" "Lin Yixin¡¯s account, right?" Qin Yun cut me off before continuing apologetically, "I¡¯m sorry, but I really can¡¯t help you with this, Lu Chen. This was a Nation War involving 7 major countries and especially the USA and Korea. We cannot overturn this decision, or the entire China branch of Eternal Moon Corporation will be denounced for this." I nodded again before continuing, "But all problems can be solved one way or another, and given enough effort, Lin Yixin¡¯s account will be recovered, am I right?" Qin Yun let out a helpless chuckle from the other side of the phone. "Er, no? I want to help Beautiful Little Pepper myself after the sacrifice she made, but this is a matter of company principle. I simply cannot do what you¡¯re asking!" Me: "..." "If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯m hanging up. I still have a meeting to attend. Bye!" Qin Yun hung up in a hurry. She was clearly afraid of the possibility that I might hound her until she caved. ¡­¡­ "Did it work?" Beiming Xue asked. "No." "God¡­" He Yi said, "There¡¯s no need to rush things. Lu Chen, why don¡¯t you rest first and come back to us with a fresh mind? After that, we¡¯ll launch a billion people petition and force Eternal Moon Corporation to submit. In the game industry, anything can be solved with enough player pressure!" Murong Mingyue nodded in agreement. "Eve is right. Players are a game company¡¯s bread and butter. They wouldn¡¯t give up on their livelihood, would they?" I sucked in a deep breath and acquiesced. "Mn. I¡¯m going to sleep then." ¡­¡­ I took a bath, ate some light food and went to bed. I slept all the way until the next morning. I was that tired. The deletion of Lin Yixin¡¯s account bothered me so much that I couldn¡¯t even muster the energy to take a peek inside the game. But according to Beiming Xue, Dawn City was defended successfully, and I was nominated the MVP of the Nation War. My total contribution points was 9 times of the runner-up¡¯s! After I ate breakfast and fully recovered my spirits, I decided to check out how Lin Yixin was doing and call Sun Qingqing. However, Sun Qingqing called me right before I was about to call her! "Hi, Qingqing!" "Mn. Can you come over to my hostel right now? Yiyi sent me some gifts from Canada via express delivery, and one of them is for you!" "Oh, okay!" ¡­¡­ After I hung up, I ran down the stairs, grabbed my car, and zoomed toward the university at top speed. I hadn¡¯t gone there ever since Lin Yixin left the country. Sun Qingqing was already waiting beneath the hostel when I arrived. Her eyes looked red, and she punched me in the arm the moment she walked up to me. "Bastard!" I didn¡¯t avoid the strike. I asked in a quiet voice, "Qingqing, can you please give me Yiyi¡¯s new number? I miss her so much. I just want to talk to her." "No." Sun Qingqing glared at me. "Yiyi is feeling very distraught right now, and she doesn¡¯t want to speak with you. Here, this is the gift she prepared for you." I held up the gift. The paper box was only as big as a soccer ball. "Alright, I¡¯m going back to my room." Sun Qingqing didn¡¯t say anything else to me as she stomped her way back upstairs. ¡­¡­ After I carried the paper box back to the car, I unwrapped its pink packaging only to find that there was another azure packaging on the inside. It was riddled with English words, and I recognized them to be Lin Yixin¡¯s handwriting. They all said, "I hate you!" I hate you... The fact that every inch of the paper was written with the line "I hate you" upset me more than ever before. Maybe I really was a love idiot just like everyone kept telling me. Just how many times have I disappointed Lin Yixin? Guilt and regret filled my heart. The possibility that Lin Yixin might truly have come to hate me for my indecision scared me so much that I dared not unveil the contents of her "gift¡±. ¡­¡­ After I returned to the workshop, I sat by the window sill and blanked out with the gift in my lap. No one disturbed me since it was obvious that I was feeling down. My heart hurt as I stared at the cars on the streets and recalled every memory I shared with Lin Yixin: the day I met the bombshell of succubus wanderer at Frost Mound, the day our guilds joined hands to fight the enemy, the bitter, the sweet. And now, after all of that, I was the only one left in this city. Alone. Thud! The gift slipped off my legs and dropped to the ground before I realized it. I hurriedly picked it up only to discover that a corner of the wrapping paper was chafed from the drop, revealing a third wrapping paper inside. It was pink. I hurriedly tore away the second wrapping paper. I discovered that the pink wrapping paper beneath was completely covered in the words: "I miss you!" ¡­¡­ My nose wrinkled, and my tears broke like a waterfall in that moment. Chapter 765: Long Lost Brother In fact, the elegant words "Dark Moon City" were written right above the hall. It was Lin Yixin¡¯s handwriting, and unless I was mistaken, she made this model after she had gone to Vancouver. The intricate details on the buildings were simplified or removed for obvious reasons, but I noticed two tiny humans in front of the city hall. One of them was a young man with red eyes and metal armor, and the other one, a female wanderer with purple pupils. The female wanderer was pulling the young man¡¯s ears and holding the reins of a horse as they walked toward the gate. The horse was the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, and the young man was me of course. The Crimson Rock Dragon Armor was pretty recognizable. There was also a maple tree behind Lin Yixin and my statue, and beneath it, a female knight was glaring at us and posing to run after us. Judging from her attire, I had no doubt that the female knight was He Yi. ¡­¡­ Finally, next to the spot Lin Yixin and I were standing, a clear message engraved into the street. "If you love me, then elope with me!" An unconscious smile crossed my face as I caressed the model lovingly. Lin Yixin knew everything from the start. She was aware how close I was to He Yi, and how deep I probably loved her, but she still wanted to elope with me no matter what. In fact, a look of determination was etched on the face of her statue, and it fit her personality very well. My heart suddenly hurt a bit. I miss her so much... I carefully placed the model on a bookshelf. I would probably keep it with me for as long as I lived, for it was the proof of an unforgettable love in my life. When my children arrived in this world, I might just show them this model and tell them that it was the gift from a girl I loved; the same girl who was their mother. ¡­¡­ I gave my red, swollen eyes a wipe before walking toward the door. "Big bro, you finally came out!" Beiming Xue walked up to me immediately after she saw me exiting my room. "What¡¯s wrong?" I asked. "It¡¯s nothing¡­" Beiming Xue looked at me with a smile. "Sister Eve, Sister Mingyue and I all voted on the petition to restore Lin Yixin¡¯s account on the forums already. Even if she has to restart from zero, her account must be saved no matter what. We¡¯ve gathered almost ten million votes in half a morning!" He Yi said, "It sounds like you¡¯ve come up with a plan, Lu Chen." "Yep. We believe that we should take the initiative, so I¡¯m planning to go to the Shanghai branch headquarters and speak to Qin Yun, Ling Xue and Shusheng myself. I refuse to believe that it¡¯s impossible to recover Yiyi¡¯s account!" "I¡¯ll come with you!" He Yi rose to her feet. But I shook my head and said, "Thank you, but not this time, Eve. I can do this myself. Also, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls suffered a terrible blow during this war, and you, Beiming Xue and sis all need to grind back your levels back to par¡­" He Yi chuckled. "Well, that¡¯s true. The guild¡¯s grinding at Dragonbone Mountain Range right now. By the way, did you know that Li Le and Flower Room tried to contest a high-level grinding map with us, thinking that we¡¯re no longer a threat because we dropped 30 levels?" I smiled. "Oh yeah? What happened next?" He Yi burst into a giggle. "He got swept by our Divine General Li Chengfeng and our Dragonlight Cavalry, of course¡­" The little gossip amused me deeply. "That¡¯s what I thought. Did the idiots from Flower Room really think that our Divine General is non-existent? Sure, I might not be able to fight them at my current level, but Chengfeng didn¡¯t lose any levels and he¡¯s OP as hell. Those idiots must have been suicidal or something. Anyway, I¡¯m glad to hear that Chengfeng will be protecting the guild while I¡¯m gone." Murong Mingyue asked, "Speaking of which, when are you logging into the game? You were the highest-leveled player in Sky City, and now you¡¯re Level 70, and have been for almost two days already. Even I¡¯m starting to get a bit antsy¡­" I grinned and said, "There¡¯s nothing to worry about. Once I get Yiyi¡¯s account back, I¡¯ll log back into the game and climb to the top again. Seriously, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse is bound to me, my equipment is still equipped, and the Phantom Wolf King is above Level 150. It¡¯ll only take me half a month at most to get to Level 160, trust me!" He Yi let out a chuckle. "Okay then, let¡¯s all do our best. You sure you don¡¯t want me to come with you?" "Really. I¡¯m going now." "Mn. Take care, and drive slower!" ¡­¡­ I bade everyone goodbye and left the apartment after putting on a black coat. Then, I drove the X12 up a highway and sped toward Shanghai. It was a smooth ride all the way. At 11:40 am, I reached the Shanghai headquarters of Eternal Moon Corporation. After I was done parking my car, I stared at the super luxurious office building wordlessly for a moment. There was a statue of an in-game character outside the headquarters, and if I remembered correctly, it was the final boss of Spirit of Grief, the Great Saint. Eternal Moon Corporation had two main headquarters in China. One of them was situated in the north, Beijing, and the other in the south, Shanghai. The president of the southern company was Ling Xue and the fifth player in the CGL Hall of Fame. She had a legend to her name as well. I skipped the reception desk completely and went up the building on my own. After I inquired around and learned that the president¡¯s office was on the 17th floor, I ran straight toward my destination. However, I still ran into a receptionist there. "Who might you be looking for, sir?" The beautiful receptionist asked politely. I walked up to her and said, "I¡¯m looking for Ling Xue!" "Ah?" The girl¡¯s mouth fell open. "Er, President Ling isn¡¯t here right now. Would you like to come back in the afternoon? She¡¯ll be back by then. Alternatively, you can register your name, and I¡¯ll pass it to President Ling." "No need." I waved my hand and said, "Ling Yue, Shusheng, Qin Yun¡ªone of them has to be around, right? Please don¡¯t tell me they¡¯re all absent." "Actually, they¡¯re all in a meeting right now." "I see. In that case, you don¡¯t need to report to anyone. I¡¯ll go look for them myself." "Ah? Before you leave, can you please give me your name so I can register it? It¡¯s a mandatory process¡­" "I¡¯m Lu Chen!" I didn¡¯t look back as I answered, so I didn¡¯t see the receptionist staring at me in shock. "Lu Chen¡­ is he the Little Heavenly King Falling Dust? Oh my god, he really is as handsome as the rumors say¡­" ¡­¡­ I went to the president office first and found no one. The room further up ahead was the conference hall. A group of people in suits exited the venue before I could make my way toward it. There were both men and women, and they all wore serious expressions on their faces. However, they were not my targets, so I kept waiting until finally, a man and a woman chatting amiably with each other came out of the conference hall. I recognized the young man almost immediately. He was the VVIP of Eternal Moon Corporation and the Heavenly King of Spirit of Grief, Ding Shusheng himself. He was also the current number one ranker in the CGL Hall of Fame and an absolute legend. I strode up to them and blocked their way, asking, "Excuse me, but are you Shusheng?" Ding Shusheng stared at me for a moment before exclaiming, "You¡­ I¡¯ve seen your photo before! You¡¯re Lu Chen!" I smiled. "Yes, I am." The smiling young man shook my hand and asked, "A pleasure to meet you. But why have you come to our company? Didn¡¯t you just finish a Nation War?" I nodded. "Well, I need your help with something, so¡­" "Help?" Ding Shusheng stared at me in confusion for a moment until a memory jolted. He smiled immediately and said, "Oh, I¡¯m just a nobody. The one you really should be asking for help from is her." I looked to the person he was pointing to. She was a gorgeous woman dressed in dark blue-colored uniform. My hand was already extended in her direction before I even looked at her. "A pleasure to meet you, Vice President Ling Yue!" For some reason, Ling Yue was staring at my face dumbly as she shook my hand. Then, she shot an aggrieved look at Shusheng and said, "Can you believe this? A guy who met me for the first time just recognized me immediately! You on the other hand, still confuse me and Ling Xue from time to time even though we¡¯ve been living together for years! What do you even want me to say, you!?" Shusheng rubbed his nose in embarrassment before asking me, "How did you recognize her, my dude? They¡¯re identical twins, and they look exactly identical!" I pointed my lips at Ling Yue¡¯s chest. "It¡¯s written right on her chest badge¡­" "Oh, fuck me!" Shusheng exclaimed in realization. ¡­¡­ Ling Yue gave me a smile and said, "Anyway. You came all the way here for Lin Yixin, didn¡¯t you, Lu Chen?" "How did you know that?" "The entire China server is rioting because of you two. How couldn¡¯t I know as the PIC?" Since she already knew, I went straight to the point. "So, is it at all possible to recover Lin Yixin¡¯s account?" "I¡¯m sorry, but no¡­" Ling Yue said apologetically, "There is a set of principles we obey in our company, and one of them is to never bend or break the rules in favor of someone. Lin Yixin¡¯s account was deleted by the system itself, and her God¡¯s Tear was designed to be a one-time use skill, not to mention she killed a ton of Northern Alliance players with it. If I were to restore her account, a severe punishment will be dealt to the entire China server for sure." I slumped weakly against the glass door. I wasn¡¯t even sure what else to say after hearing that. "You should go home soon¡­" Ling Yue said kindly. But I turned down her offer and said, "I¡¯m not leaving until Lin Yixin¡¯s account is restored¡­" Ling Yue broke into a smile and looked at Shusheng. "Look! Doesn¡¯t his shamelessness remind you of someone?" Shusheng rubbed his nose again. "Whatever are you talking about? I was as pure as a little white flower back then. There is no comparison between the two of us¡­" Seeing that I wasn¡¯t going to leave anytime soon, Ling Yue shot me a helpless smile before offering, "Well, Shusheng and I are heading for lunch. Do you want to come with us?" I nodded and followed them. We arrived at the company cafeteria together. It seemed pretty luxurious. Originally the security was going to bar me from going in, but Shusheng saved me by giving his permission. After that, I grabbed a tray, grabbed all the tasty food I could find and sat down on the opposite side of Ling Yue and Shusheng. I gotta say, their food was pretty good. ¡­¡­ "Lu Chen, are you seriously not going back to your house?" Ling Yue asked me helplessly. I nodded. "Lin Yixin sacrificed her account for me, so I must get it back at all costs. I don¡¯t care even if the company decides to reset her levels and equipment. There can only be one Wind Fantasy account in China, do you understand me?" Ling Yue looked a bit moved by that. "To tell you the truth, I really do want to help you. Why don¡¯t you go back first and wait for our news? We¡¯ll do whatever we can and tell you the results by phone later." "No. I¡¯ll wait right here until the results are out!" "You are so stubborn¡­" After that, I spent the entire afternoon waiting at the lounge outside Shusheng and Ling Yue¡¯s office room. When they got off from work, I ran after them, stopped their business car at the car park and slipped into the front passenger¡¯s seat before anyone could say no. It was at this moment another beautiful woman opened the driver¡¯s seat and saw me. She exclaimed in shock, "Yah! Who is this guy? When did he get into the car?" Shusheng said helplessly, "Right, I forgot to introduce him to you. Little Xue, he¡¯s Lu Chen, or Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand in Heavenblessed. He¡¯s the guy who took out Candlelight Shadow¡­" "O-oh, you¡¯re the Little Heavenly King!" Ling Xue gave me a smile and shook my hand. Then, she asked, "I have been looking forward to meeting you for a long time! By the way, what are you doing inside my car?" I almost blushed. Almost. "Well, you guys ain¡¯t restoring Lin Yixin¡¯s account, so I got no choice but to follow y¡¯all back to your house¡­" Ling Xue¡¯s face instantly turned frigid, but the target of her ire wasn¡¯t me, but Ding Shusheng. "Is he your long lost brother? I knew you were lying when you said you were the only child, you pedant! This level of shamelessness can only be shared at a genetic level!" 1. You may know him as Frivolous Scholar, MC of our author''s previous work, Virtual World: Conquering the World Chapter 766: Sister I was sitting at a lonely hall with a cup of cold coffee in my hands. Despite having come to the home of the legendary Shusheng, Ling Yue and Ling Xue, I didn¡¯t even get a room to myself. Well, I supposed that this was a part of the price I had to pay to get what I wanted. There was a couplet hanging on a wall, and I rose to my feet to give it a look. Illuminated by moonlight, the powerful brushstrokes joined together to form the words: The snow moon is eternal, its domination unchallenged! Oh! Was this the start of that legend? ¡­¡­ ¡°Not bad, right?¡± A sweet, female voice broke out behind me, and I turned around to see that it was Ling Xue. She was holding a thick blanket and saying, ¡°Sorry to make you pass the night here. Turn up the heat so you don¡¯t catch a cold, alright?¡± I nodded. ¡°Thanks.¡± Ling Xue set down the blanket, but didn¡¯t leave right away. She stared at me for a time before asking with a smile, ¡°Is that girl really that important to you?¡± I exhaled once before confirming her suspicion. ¡°Yeah. I owe her too much already¡­¡± Ling Xue smiled. ¡°You should let go of your obsession. If she really does love you, giving up everything for you is a kind of happiness to her as well. You know that, right?¡± I smiled. ¡°I know, but I still want to do something for her, and getting back her account is the first step toward reparation, I think.¡± ¡°Love is not a business. You can¡¯t make up for it just by way of compensation.¡± ¡°I love her.¡± Ling Xue seemed surprised by my calm declaration. A second later, she broke into a smile and said, ¡°Forget I said anything then.¡± After that, she turned her back on me and waved her hand lazily, ¡°Alright, I¡¯m going to bed. You should get some rest soon!¡± ¡°Ling Xue, wait¡­¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Is there really no chance to recover Lin Yixin¡¯s account at all?¡± I asked earnestly. A troubled expression appeared on Ling Xue¡¯s face as she answered, ¡°It¡¯s not that we don¡¯t want to help you, but our own HQ has no intention of taking a risk with something this major, do you get me? Restoring Lin Yixin¡¯s account is technically easy, but it means going up against the HQ and facing the criticisms of the CEOs of USA, Korea and Vietnam branches.¡± I gritted my teeth in frustration. ¡°But... there¡¯s no one else who can help me besides the three of you.¡± All I could do was nod in agreement. I supposed that there truly was nothing I could do at this point. ¡­¡­ The next day, early in the morning. ¡°Big bro Shusheng, are we heading out today?¡± A girl¡¯s voice came from the corridor. Shusheng was holding a bouquet of white flowers and walking toward the front door. He nodded. ¡°Are you coming with us, Summer?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± The girl¡¯s smile looked as bright as the sun itself. ¡°It¡¯s been half a month since I saw you guys, since Sister Iced Tea left! Are you visiting sister¡¯s grave, big bro?¡± ¡°Mn.¡± Shusheng nodded again. While this was going on, I sneakily went out of the back door, called a cab and traveled back to the HQ. Then, I grabbed by X12 and drove back to Suzhou. By the time I reached home, it was past 10 am already. I dialed He Yi¡¯s number, and the call connected. ¡°Are you in the workshop now, Eve?¡± ¡°No. Mingyue, Beiming and I are at the flower shop beneath the apartment right now. We¡¯ll wait for you here!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± When I walked inside the store, I saw He Yi clutching a bouquet of flowers and wearing a black dress. In fact, Beiming Xue and Murong Minyue were wearing black dresses and looking very serious as well. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I asked while walking up to them. He Yi shot me an unfathomable look before saying softly, ¡°Lu Chen, I told you before that I wasn¡¯t the one who founded Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, but I never actually told you anything about the true founder of the guild, did I? Well, today is the day I reveal that to you!¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Her words confused me greatly. Before I could say anything, Murong Mingyue grabbed my wrist and pulled. ¡°Come on. Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll know it once we reach our destination. Lil Beiming doesn¡¯t know about this either.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± ¡­¡­ We all entered my X12, except He Yi was the one who was driving this time. We passed through the city center and stopped next to a public cemetery. As we all got out of the car, He Yi led the way and walked right into the cemetery with the bouquet of flowers in her hands. ¡°Seriously¡­ what on earth is going on here?¡± My confusion was growing instead of decreasing. ¡°You¡¯ll know right away.¡± Murong Mingyue chuckled. We walked for about five minutes before stopping in front of a row of gravestones. Then, He Yi put down the bouquet of flower on a grave with a small coconut tree planted in front of it. The aged photo on the gravestone showed an image of a young girl. Who would¡¯ve thought that someone so young would pass away so soon? Grave of Xu Yan, my sister. A bit of surprise jolted in my mind as I read the inscription. Kneeling quietly in front of the grave, He Yi beckoned me to her side, ¡°Come here and kneel with me, please¡­¡± Despite my confusion, I obeyed her command and knelt next to her. The deceased deserved respect no matter who they were. ¡°What¡¯s going on, Eve?¡± I asked. He Yi murmured, ¡°My older cousin, Xu Yan, left Suzhou a long time ago to build her guild in the north. She is the one who founded Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and I was just a noob who had no idea what I was doing back then. It has been nine years since she passed away, but I can still remember the day she took me to kill goblins as clear as yesterday¡­¡± He Yi¡¯s tears flowed down her cheeks as she continued, ¡°Sis always said that she wanted to make Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls one of the best guilds in the entire world, but¡­ she didn¡¯t live to see her dream come true¡­¡± I sucked in a deep breath before asking, ¡°How did she die?¡± ¡°She died because of a heartless man¡­¡± ¡°...¡± He Yi wiped her tears before grabbing my hand. She then looked at the gravestone and said, ¡°See this guy here, sis? He¡¯s Lu Chen, the strongest player of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and the second best active CGL Hall of Famer of China. Not long ago, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls defended Dawn City and became the guild with the highest contribution points in the entire Nation War. Today, we are one of the best guilds in the entire China. Can you see what we¡¯ve achieved, sis?¡± I wrapped an arm around He Yi¡¯s shoulder as her emotions poured out of her uncontrollably. I pulled her into my chest and said, ¡°I¡¯m sure she saw everything, Eve.¡± Beiming Xue also grabbed He Yi¡¯s arm and whispered softly, ¡°Sister Eve¡­¡± Not far away, Murong Mingyue leaned against a tree and watched out backs quietly. Her eyes were filled with tears as well. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a young man carrying a bouquet of fresh white flowers appeared behind us. He shuddered in surprise when he saw who we were. ¡°You¡­¡± I turned around and exclaimed in surprise as well, ¡°It¡¯s you?¡± The young man walked up to the grave, confirmed that it was the right grave and put down the flowers. ¡°Hi, sis¡­¡± He Yi immediately looked at him in astonishment. ¡°Who¡­ who is my older cousin to you?¡± He Yi asked. The young man looked just as surprised as she was. ¡°I¡¯m the one who brought her ashes back and buried her here. You¡¯re¡­ From Water of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Why¡­ why are you here?¡± He Yi asked, ¡°You¡¯re Shusheng, aren¡¯t you? How did you know my sis?¡± The newcomer was none other than the vice president of the southern HQ of Eternal Moon Corporation, Ding Shusheng the Frivolous Scholar. Still in shock, he answered, ¡°11 years ago, when sis was still in northern China, she was the one who taught me everything about the game. Two years later, after she committed suicide, I brought her ashes back to this city of her desires for burial. From Water, are you really her younger cousin?¡± He Yi wiped her tears and nodded. ¡°Mn. Sis is the one who founded Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I¡¯ve always dreamed of realizing her dream to make Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls world famous!¡± Shusheng dropped to his knees and let out a sorrowful sigh. ¡°Sis, is¡­ is this the guild you once talked to me about? Heavens¡­ I can¡¯t believe I¡¯ve never known about it until today!¡± Shusheng then turned around and faced He Yi. ¡°I want to do everything I can to reduce sister¡¯s regrets as much as possible. Are there any problems you¡¯re facing right now, He Yi? Tell me, and I, Ding Shusheng, swear to do everything in my power to solve them!¡± He Yi nodded and said, ¡°In that case, please restore Lin Yixin¡¯s account. It is my one and only request to you. Lu Chen already owes her too much as it is.¡± Shusheng immediately rose to his feet and declared, ¡°Got it. I¡¯ll fly to the New York HQ tonight and get this done! I promise I¡¯ll restore Lin Yixin¡¯s account, no matter the cost!¡± ¡°Mn. Thank you!¡± ¡°No need. You¡¯re her sister, which means we¡¯re family. It¡¯s only natural for family to help each other out!¡± ¡°Mn.¡± ¡­¡­ Shusheng then looked at me and gave me an approving nod. ¡°Lu Chen, I¡¯m aware how strong you are. There are only a handful of people in the entire world who can beat Candlelight Shadow, so give it your all. The rise of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls depends on you!¡± ¡°I will,¡± I replied quietly. Shusheng turned around and left just like that. He beckoned his girls to follow him, went into his car and left as quick as lightning. ¡°Do you guys think he can be¡­ trusted?¡± Beiming Xue asked while staring at the direction Shusheng had vanished to. Murong Mingyue chuckled. ¡°He¡¯s the same type as Lu Chen; stupid to a fault, but exceptionally reliable. What do you think?¡± Beiming Xue broke into a smile. ¡°Does that mean... that Sister Lin Yixin¡¯s account might get restored after all?¡± ¡°Yep!¡± ¡°Hehe! That¡¯s great!¡± ¡­¡­ It was at this moment my phone rang. The number belonged to Sun Qingqing¡ª ¡°Lu Chen!¡± ¡°Mn. What is it, Qingqing?¡± ¡°I have some good news to share!¡± I perked up. ¡°Oh yeah? What is it?¡± ¡°Yiyi¡¯s mom has finally awakened! Hehe!¡± ¡°Really? That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s awesome!¡± ¡°Also, Yiyi is coming back on an afternoon flight. She¡¯ll be staying at her father¡¯s place!¡± ¡°Then, her number¡­¡± ¡°She told me to keep it a secret. I¡¯m already kinda breaking my promise to my best friend by telling you all this, so don¡¯t even think about it!¡± I said urgently, ¡°But Qingqing, I really, really miss Yiyi¡­ so please give me her number¡­¡± Sun Qingqing hesitated for a moment before declining, ¡°No way. Yiyi¡¯s account got deleted because of you! Do you know how much effort she poured into that account? You keep saying that you miss her, but what did you ever do to show it, you heartless bastard? No, I don¡¯t believe you. There¡¯s no way I¡¯m giving you her number!¡± I gritted my teeth. ¡°I¡¯m doing my best to recover Yiyi¡¯s account¡­¡± ¡°Really? Then call me after her account is officially reinstated. Otherwise, don¡¯t even think about it!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± I hung up the call. All that was left to do was wait for Shusheng¡¯s good news. Chapter 767: New CGL Ranking I was lying on top of the bed doing nothing because I didn¡¯t feel like logging into the game or grinding. When I clicked on the forums, I saw a stickied thread that was highlighted in red. It was none other than the petition thread to restore Lin Yixin¡¯s account. Countless people had chipped in their signature including Warsky, Farewell Song, October Rain, Ling Xueshang, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Luo River God of the Capital, Moonkiss, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties and more. Countless CGL Hall of Famer emblems had graced the thread. I took the opportunity to add my own signature to the petition. Practically every active CGL Hall of Famer besides those from Candle Dragon had signed the petition, and even those who were retired¡ªFrivolous Scholar, Windy Snow, Wind That Touches The Moon, Iced Tea, Zhi Yun¡¯er, Seven Star Lamp and Lonely Grave¡ªhad chipped in their signatures. It needed not be said how many people were moved by Lin Yixin¡¯s God¡¯s Tear. I was sure that Ling Xue was the one who requested those retired experts to throw in their support. With this, almost every expert in the entire China server was joining forces to put pressure on Eternal Moon Corporation. This amazing level of support should give Shusheng more cards when he negotiates with the New York HQ as well. ¡­¡­ Next, I checked the latest news regarding the war of Dawn City and learned some useful information¡ª The war of Dawn City had resulted in the annihilation of the Northern Alliance. The 120 million players who entered China¡¯s domain were all dead, and Dawn City was rewarded handsomely because of it. Their walls were strengthened, their size was increased, and a lot of NPC troops were added to their ranks. Although it was still a tier 2 city, its actual defense was on par with a major tier 1 city. Moreover, Princess Karinshan herself had ordered her best generals to travel to Windy Trail. They had reshaped the canyon, built a military fortress called the "Fortress of Iron Halberd", and even garrisoned several powerful NPC armies there. This meant that the Northern Alliance couldn¡¯t even consider a second attack because attacking an NPC fortress without preparation was folly at best. The cost would be disastrous, and the payout, a big fat zero. Speaking of which, the name of the fortress was generated by the system. Hot and Sour Noodles had left behind a message stating, "The MVP of this Nation War, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, stood in front of the palace entrance and stalled millions of enemies for almost two hours all by himself. He truly deserves to be called the Divine General of China. For the same reason, the name of the fortress was generated from his ID. Lu Chen is the pride of the China server and the patriotic Divine General who protects his homeland!" It was clear that Candlelight Shadow had made the wrong bet this time. He thought he could save Candle Dragon¡¯s reputation by conquering Burning City, but all he got was a terrible defeat because he severely underestimated the enemy and overestimated the Avengers¡¯ power. Almost all of the most elite forces of China were deployed at Dawn Valley, meaning that the follow-up parties from Wind City and Vanished God City were second-rate at best. Of course they wouldn¡¯t be able to conquer Burning City. ¡­¡­ As a result, countless players expressed their disdain for Candlelight Shadow and petitioned for the cancellation of his title, believing him to be unworthy of the name "Martial God" anymore. In the end, the cries of disapproval drew a thread from Blue Sky Scar¡ª Sorrow of the King: "Candlelight Shadow, the Martial God of China once commanded an army of tens of millions and conquered countless main cities. Today, the tables were turned, and the Northern Alliance was the one who invaded our homeland with several times our numbers. It was Candlelight Shadow who commanded Candle Dragon¡¯s million-strong army and fought at the frontlines. It was Candlelight Shadow who fought Vienna¡¯s Sorrow for two days and nights. In the end Candle Dragon was decimated completely, but not a single one of our men had withdrawn out of cowardice. Ask yourselves this: Who was the one who fought the enemy¡¯s strongest on the frontlines? Who was the one who stopped Hero City¡¯s blades with their flesh and blood? Who was the one who fought to the last man and woman in defense of Dawn City¡¯s honor? No matter what the dissenters might say, Candle Dragon deserves its title as the king of this battle!" ¡­¡­ All too predictably, Blue Sky Scar¡¯s statement drew scornful retaliation from countless reputable players¡ª 11737th comment (Player Warsky): Pooh! I can¡¯t believe you had the snake to say that! It was us, Warsky Alliance, who stopped the enemy¡¯s first and strongest assault until our numbers had dwindled to tens of thousands! All you fuckers did was order your shield formation to block our only retreat in a despicable attempt to use us as your cannon fodders! 17363th comment (Player Stranger of Three Lifetimes): Pooh! When your Viper Dragoon Cavalry was trashed by the enemy¡¯s Behemoth Cavalry, who was the one who came up with the genius tactic of luring them into Sunset Swamp and wipe them out with a terrain advantage? It was Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, not Candle Dragon or Candlelight Shadow! Pooh pooh pooh! 21737th comment (Luo River God of the Capital): Pooh! It¡¯s amazing how people can keep a straight face after lying out of their ass these days. Did you really deploy your main forces to do anything? Back in the canyon, you fuckers blocked our retreat with your formation and forced our cavalry to fight at the frontlines for 24 hours straight! All this time, your Viper Dragoons were simply chilling at the side and doing nothing! There are many ways to preserve your strength, but you just had to choose the most despicable and disgusting way to go about it, didn¡¯t you? Pooh pooh pooh! 26716th comment (Beiming Xue): Pooh! In defense of Dawn City my ass! Who was the one who protected the supply line between Dawn City and Sky City? You knew that Titan God was powerful, so why didn¡¯t your so-called four War Gods of Candle Dragon deal with him? Why did you make our dragon warrior challenge that monster with less than a tenth of his army? Pooh pooh! You¡¯re so shameless even I feel ashamed for you! 28717th comment (Li Chengfeng): Pooh! 28771th comment (Gui Guzi): Pooh! 28934th comment (Chaos Moon): Pooh! 29110th comment (Wind Fantasy): Pooh! 30198th comment (Moonkiss): Pooh! Oooh, Beauty Lin just appeared in the 29110th comment! Anyway, Candle Dragon is so shameless. They rallied the Avengers, but instead of saving Dawn City, they went to attack Burning City instead. This is not how you besiege Wei to save Zhao, you idiots! 31837th comment (Farewell Song): Hehe, this is fun. I bet Candle Dragon must be busy wiping away all the saliva on his face right now. But girls, you really shouldn¡¯t have done that. He doesn¡¯t even deserve your salivas, he might actually like it... 34722th comment (Hot and Sour Noodles): Ahem, please calm down, everyone. While certain parts of this Nation War were rather unseeming, Candle Dragon¡¯s heart was ultimately in the right place. Plus, Candle Dragon did fight to the last person, so please just calm down, okay? Ai, I don''t know what to say anymore. ¡­¡­ Clearly, not even Zhang Chun could really bring himself to defend Candlelight Shadow. Out of all the missteps he took in this battle, abandoning Dawn City to attack Burning City with the Avengers was clearly the worst of them all. Not only did he fail to earn points with the public, he managed to earn the scorn of practically every player within the country. The eyes of the spectators weren¡¯t clouded, and the truth was open for all to see. On an unrelated note, it looked like Lin Yixin was feeling pretty good today, or she wouldn¡¯t be logging into her account and posting a reply. The fact that she could post a reply also meant that her account wasn¡¯t fully deleted, or she wouldn¡¯t even have an account to log in to. So I carefully clicked her avatar and sent her a message: "I miss you, Yiyi. Where are you right now?" Lin Yixin replied with a smiley emoji and nothing else. I continued messaging her. "Yiyi, I received your gift. The model of Dark Moon City looks amazing, but why did you make it so that you were pulling at my ears? I¡­ I really miss you¡­" There was nothing from her for a very long time. Ten whole minutes later, Lin Yixin finally replied to me. It was still an emoji, but this time it was the crying face "ToT." She didn¡¯t respond no matter what else I sent her afterward. I supposed that she hadn¡¯t forgiven me yet. ¡­¡­ Speechless, I continued checking the forums before I saw yet another important news. Apparently The CGL Hall of Fame would be adding two new players to their ranking and refresh it in two hours. The results would be posted on the game¡¯s official web page. This was surprising because the CGL committee was a serial offender when it came to keeping their promises. They could announce something for this year¡¯s spring, and wait until next year¡¯s winter before they actually came through. It was completely unusual for them to announce an update to the CGL Hall of Fame in two hours! Something must have happened to make them change their mind, but that didn¡¯t matter to me. What really concerned me was who were the two new entrants to the prestigious CGL Hall of Fame! I mulled over the possibilities before coming to the decision that our Li Chengfeng had the highest chance out of everyone to enter the CGL Hall of Fame. Leading 10000 riders of Ancient Sword, the dragon warrior had transformed into a Divine General at Breeze Canyon and slaughtered ten times the number of players before he ultimately fell. Even then, he killed a super expert like Titan God, so that was definitely enough merit for him to enter the CGL Hall of Fame. Even if I disregarded that, Li Chengfeng already had the skills, level, equipment and even the status¡ªa Divine General¡ªto qualify as a CGL Hall of Famer, so I had no doubt that his efforts would be rewarded. I had no idea about the other person, however. Oh well, the answer will reveal itself in two hours! ¡­¡­ I continued checking out the forums in search for a reliable leveling map. Right now I was a Level 70 noob, and Lin Yixin¡ªassuming that she got her account back¡ªwould most likely be a Level 0 no-equipment noob when she came back to the game. It would be prudent to prepare now since I would have to carry the both of us back to Level 160. I searched the database for two hours, and finally, the new ranking was displayed on the Heavenblessed homepage¡ª 1-5: Frivolous Scholar, Vegetable Tofu Soup, Murong Shanshan, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Wind Fantasy 6-10: Candlelight Shadow, Seven Star Lamp, Windy Snow, Zhi Yun¡¯er, Luo River God of the Capital 11-15: Farewell Song, Wind That Touches The Moon, Power Cooker, Ling Xueshang, A Dust 16-20: Moonkiss, God¡¯s Dance, Legendary Brave, October Rain, Blue Sky Scar 21-25: Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Come See The Snow Tonight, Lonely Grave, Transient Smoke and Clouds, Transient 26-30: Blood Red, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties, Predestined, Tempest Shadow, Laughing At The Heavens ¡­¡­ Two new players joined the CGL Hall of Fame, and they were Li Chengfeng and Stranger of Three Lifetimes. It was well deserved all things considered. Li Chengfeng¡¯s achievements were supernatural, and Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ efforts during the Nation War didn¡¯t go unseen. Moreover, Li Chengfeng had started right out of the bat at the 18th spot, which was a rare achievement for sure. Finally, I had jumped from the 7th to the 4th spot, and Lin Yixin had surpassed Candlelight Shadow and entered the 5th spot on the CGL Hall of Fame. It was her God¡¯s Tear that turned the tables and allowed her to surpass the Martial God. Speaking of which, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s placement hadn¡¯t changed one bit even though he, the Martial God and his guild, the number one guild in China, just fought an unprecedented Nation War. It was ironic to say the least. Candlelight Shadow must be so ashamed right now... Chapter 768: Let Me Kiss You Firs There was one thing that confused me, however. Lin Yixin¡¯s account was deleted, so why hadn¡¯t the committee removed her from the CGL Hall of Fame? I thought about it long and hard, and only one possibility came to mind. It must¡¯ve been the result of Shusheng and Ling Xue¡¯s negotiations with the CGL officials. Lin Yixin¡¯s ID wouldn¡¯t have appeared in the updated CGL Hall of Fame otherwise. Regardless, this was good news through and through for me and Lin Yixin. ¡­¡­ When nighttime arrived, I learned that Warsky had visited the Beijing HQ of Eternal Moon Corporation with October Rain, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Farewell Song and more in tow. As the representatives of Warsky Alliance, they formally expressed their wish to see Lin Yixin¡¯s account restored. Not long after, Luo River God of the Capital¡ªwho lived close to Beijing¡ªMoonkiss and Stranger of Three Lifetimes also showed up to do the same thing. They were all influential people in the game, so the people of the HQ dared not treat them lightly. The vice president himself had personally received them and promised to do the best he could. We were all Chinese, and only an animal wouldn¡¯t help out their own. I waited until past 6 pm, but I didn¡¯t hear any new information. Knock knock... He Yi knocked on my door a couple of times before calling out to me, "Lu Chen, we¡¯re holding a celebration party at the city. Are you coming with us?" He Yi¡¯s tone was tentative because she knew what a jumbled mess my thoughts were right now. I mulled over it for a bit and decided that I should go. It would be rude of me not to attend the celebration just because I wasn¡¯t feeling well, not to mention that Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and everyone else had done their utmost to support Lin Yixin. Everyone had given it their all, and it was now up to fate whether or not our efforts would bear fruit. I replied, "Mn, I¡¯m coming out right away." I could almost hear He Yi smiling. "Wear some thicker clothes, by the way. It¡¯s cold out there." "Okay!" I put on a black coat and wrapped a scarf around my neck. Then, I left the room. The girls were already waiting for me outside. No one criticized me for my recent behavior because they knew that the reason Lin Yixin used God¡¯s Tear was completely because of me. It would be stranger if I wasn¡¯t wrapped in self-guilt and acted like my usual self. "Are you feeling better, big bro?" Beiming Xue asked while holding my arm. Beiming Xue broke into a smile of her own and said, "Mn, I¡¯m glad you can think of it this way!" He Yi looked rather silent, so I smiled at her and grabbed her hand. It felt a bit cool to touch. "Sister Yi, if Lin Yixin gets her account back, I would like to take a few days off and grind with her. Is that okay?" He Yi nodded with a smile. "Of course." It was at this moment Murong Mingyue butted into the conversation. "Man, Beauty Lin sure did well this time. I can¡¯t even imagine how much love points she earned with this one epic move. Are you sure Lu Chen will return after he goes away with Lin Yixin, Eve? You don¡¯t imagine that your position is that secure, do you?" "Of course I¡¯m returning, what are you talking about¡­" I replied a bit awkwardly. Murong Mingyue let out a devious chuckle before pushing my beautiful guild leader into my arms. "How about this: if you successfully win Beauty Lin¡¯s heart, both Eve and Beauty Lin will become your girlfriends. What do you think?" The mere thought sweetened my heart like honey. Which man wouldn¡¯t like a fairytale outcome like that? Still, I had to show some shame. "No, that is unfair to everyone¡­" Murong Mingyue glared at me and said, "Dude, your acting doesn¡¯t match your real thoughts at all..." He Yi slapped Murong Mingyue¡¯s hands away lightly before saying, "Alright, enough teasing. I¡¯m technically not Lu Chen¡¯s girlfriend, but I¡¯m staying with him right now, aren¡¯t I? Anyone who wants that status can take it for all I care." Beiming Xue whispered, "But big brother Thirteen said that girlfriends are the kind of girls you can have sex with¡­" He Yi turned beet red and scolded the younger girl, "Du Thirteen is also a terrible person. You¡¯re forbidden from talking to him from now on, Beiming! Now come on!" "Mn!" We left after the awkward conversation ended, and the outside was as cold as He Yi mentioned earlier. Before I knew it, we were neck deep in the winter season already. ¡­¡­ At a certain hotel in the city. The celebration party was a big one just like last time. We spent hundreds of thousands to book a hall all to ourselves and invited all the core members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to attend. Everyone was seated already. When we arrived, Chaos Moon welcomed us at the entrance with a smile, "Alright, the guild leader, the two vice leaders and Beauty Beiming have arrived!" Almost everyone rose to their feet at once. Holy shit, at least a hundred people are present in the hall. Sensing my confusion, Xu Yang said, "Besides the players at our gaming base, some of our brothers and sisters came all the way from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and more to attend. Everyone here is registered, so don¡¯t worry. We are all Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls here!" "Nice!" I nodded smilingly before asking, "So, where do we sit?" "At the main table, of course. Over there!" "Oh, thanks!" I followed He Yi to our table, and everyone there was an executive-level player in the guild. A total of 18 people¡ªHe Yi, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and a couple of subguild guild leaders¡ªwere all present, and the atmosphere seemed pretty good. There was a large screen at the front replaying the battles of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls in the Nation War, and right now it was showing the battle against the Behemoth Cavalry at Sunset Swamp. It was a very fierce battle. ¡­¡­ After we took our seats, I immediately said, "Eve, you¡¯re the boss, so I leave the opening speech to you¡­" He Yi let out a helpless chuckle, but she acquiesced and rose to her feet. "Hello, everyone. I¡¯m From Water. Without your support and cooperation, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls wouldn¡¯t have been able to show up as well as we did in the Nation War, so I¡¯d like to extend my sincerest thanks to everyone. Here¡¯s a toast of respect to everyone present and those who died in the Nation War!" We all raised our glasses and drained our drinks in one go. The next part of the celebration was eating, drinking and chatting as usual. However, I couldn¡¯t quite muster the energy to engage the others, and I kept at least part of my concentration on my phone at all times. It was past 10 pm when the party was over, but I still hadn¡¯t heard anything from Shusheng. It was absolutely frigid outside of the hotel. There were even snowflakes mixed within the storm of wind. It¡¯s snowing. "Woo, it¡¯s finally snowing!" The happiest among us at the snow were without a doubt Beiming Xue, Diamond Dust and Heaven¡¯s Rain. They promised one another a snowball fight after the floor was fully covered in snow. However, my cheeks burned hot the second I heard the words "snowball fight¡±. The corner of Du Thirteen¡¯s mouth was twitching as well. A few years ago the two of us were involved in a snowball fight, and the participants were monsters who hit hard, accurate and without mercy. I suspected that one of us would literally die if we chose to play with the girls. ¡­¡­ I returned to the workshop, but no news came throughout the whole night. Just like before, I surfed the forums instead of logging into the game. The next day early morning, I pulled apart the curtains and was shocked by the scenery outside. The city was completely coated in silver overnight, and it was still snowing. It had been years since it snowed this heavily in Suzhou. I could even hear Beiming Xue laughing from the balcony. Everything was quiet and peaceful. Unfortunately, I still didn¡¯t hear anything from my contacts. This inactivity lasted until the evening. My phone finally rang, and Ling Xue¡¯s number was displayed on the screen. "Hello? Is this Lu Chen?" "Yes. It¡¯s me, Ling Xue!" "Hehe. It¡¯s done!" My heart leaped to my throat in joy. "Really? Did you really restore Lin Yixin¡¯s account?" "Mn." Ling Xue let out a chuckle. "But don¡¯t get too happy yet. The account is restored, but all of her equipment, levels and warehouse inventory are completely reset. That being said, she still has her Famous General Skill and Divine General Skill, meaning that she can use Great Earth Transformation at Level 1! Awesome, right? We even managed to save her pet, the Ice Dragon, after considerable effort. This is a Level 0 Immortal Rank boss pet we¡¯re talking about~~" I was overjoyed to say the least. "That¡¯s great, that¡¯s great! How on earth did you do it?" Ling Xue giggled. "Well, after Shusheng went to the New York HQ, he immediately sought out the director, Mark, and submitted a report on the latest CGL Ranking. He then threatened Mark with the fact that Lin Yixin¡¯s was the fifth ranker on the CGL Hall of Fame and a super popular player in China, and showed him the petition on the forums. At first, Mark didn¡¯t budge in the slightest, but then Shusheng stayed overnight at Mark¡¯s house and even invited a few Chinese students to start a party at his fireplace. I probably don¡¯t need to tell you how bad it is to hear someone singing ¡®Ke Guan Bu Ke Yi¡¯ in the middle of the night, do I? Long story short, Mark threw in the towel and agreed to restore Lin Yixin¡¯s account, hehe!" "Mn! Thank you, thank you!" "It¡¯s nothing. We take care of our own, that¡¯s all. Well, I¡¯m heading out for dinner now. See you again sometime!" "Bye!" I hung up and called Clear Perfume immediately. The moment the call got through, I said rapidly, "Qingqing, Yiyi¡¯s account is restored, so tell me where she is already!" "Really? It¡¯s really restored?" "Absolutely. The president of the southern HQ of Eternal Moon Corporation, Ling Xue herself, gave me the confirmation. What do you think?" "Fine. You want to see Yiyi now?" "Yeah! Do you have an address?" "Not only that, I just came back from there, hehe. It¡¯s closeby, in Shanghai. I¡¯ll message you the address right away, so go!" "Okay! Thank you so much! I¡¯ll treat you to a meal when I¡¯m free!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I hung up the call and waited. A while later, Sun Qingqing messaged me the address I requested. I informed He Yi and Beiming Xue about my outing, and all He Yi had to say was: "It¡¯s snowing and the road¡¯s slippery, so do NOT go over 80 mph, you hear me?" "I know~~" I rushed down the stairs and started the engine. Then, I vroomed straight toward the streets. ¡­¡­ It was snowing heavily, so I drove at a snail¡¯s pace and turned on every car light there was. Similar to Ling Xue and Shusheng¡¯s place, the address was a villa in the suburbs of Shanghai. By the time I reached Shanghai, the sky had darkened completely. The endless snow impeded my vision more than ever. I finally reached my destination when it was past 8 pm. Thud! I walked out of the car, and it took only a moment for my head and scar to be covered in snow. I paid them no heed, held up the paper strip with the address written on it and searched for the villa I was looking for. Finally, I found a red villa sitting at a corner and glowing a warm light through the windows. I could see the shadows of people moving inside. The house was made of wood and styled somewhat traditionally. Clearly, Lin Xiao was a fairly rich man. I circled around the building once until I heard a voice from the rightmost room on the ground floor. It was Lin Yixin¡¯s voice. "Mom, do you want some milk tea? I¡¯ll warm one for you¡­" "It¡¯s okay. Go do your own thing!" It¡¯s really her! Overjoyed, I searched around but couldn¡¯t find anything I could give her as a present. It looks like I must resort to drastic measures... #\%@#%\% later. ¡­¡­ Knock knock knock¡­ I tapped lightly on the window to Lin Yixin¡¯s room, and she immediately walked over to open it. Covered in snow and smiling a dumb smile on my face, I said to her the moment the window opened, "I finally found you, Yiyi¡­" "Ah?! Lu Chen¡­" Lin Yixin stared at me with dumb shock. I couldn¡¯t tell if she was happy, shocked or both, but I could see tears misting over her eyes. I pointed at a heap of snow next to a fake hill behind me and asked, "You see that? Do you like it?" Lin Yixin looked out and saw a message on the ground: "EE, I LOVE YO" "Hmm?" Lin Yixin tilted her cute head and asked, "Why is that ¡®you¡¯ at the end missing a ¡®u¡¯? I think you¡¯re missing an alphabet¡­" I immediately blushed bright red. "Well, I ran out of piss at the end, so¡­" "You!" Redness flushed her cheeks as she glared at me. The next moment, she surprised me by opening the window completely, stepping on the sill with her furry slippers, and jumping on top of me. As I crashed unceremoniously on the snow and found a gorgeous pair of eyes staring at me at almost zero distance, Lin Yixin said with a bright smile, "Shut up and let me kiss you first, okay?" Me: "..." Chapter 769: Sweet Reunion I hugged Lin Yixin tightly as she pressed her wet, warm lips against my own, quietly basking myself in this moment of ecstatic sweetness. She was still so inexperienced in the art of kissing that it was amusing; her tiny tongue clumsily attempting to respond to my ministrations and her wet tears dripping on my cheeks. I could feel her shivering slightly in my arms. A while later, she started sobbing while our lips were still pressed together. She had definitely endured too much in the past couple of months. ¡­¡­ A while later, I put my coat around her and asked, "Are you cold?" "What do you think?" said Lin Yixin while looking at me from above. Her long eyelashes were already covered in snowflakes, and some of it fell on my face when she blinked. I said again, "I missed you so much!" "Mn." She made a noncommittal noise and kissed me again. It was at this moment a deliberate coughing sound came from the living hall, and Lin Yixin jumped to her feet as if she was electrocuted. Helping me to my feet and pushing the hems of her pyjamas together nervously, she bowed a bit at the young lady standing at the entrance to the living hall and smiled. "Mom¡­" That¡¯s right, the woman standing at the entrance was none other than Mama Lin herself. She had awoken from her coma. I must confess that I had no idea how to react at that moment. It wasn¡¯t every day you got caught red-handed by your girlfriend¡¯s mother after all. However, Mama Lin smiled gracefully and said, "You must be Lu Chen. Come in now, unless you want our Yiyi to turn into a snowman?" I smiled back awkwardly before supporting Yiyi back to the villa. A comforting warmth instantly enveloped our bodies the moment we stepped into the house. Lin Yixin patted away the snow on her person before smiling at me. "I¡¯m surprised you managed to find this place. Well done. It was Qingqing who told you where I was, wasn¡¯t she?" I nodded. "Still, Qingqing was pretty loyal. It took me days of threats and pleading to finally break her down." "So what? She still spilled the secret, hmph hmph!" ¡­¡­ I looked up at Mama Lin and greeted her politely, "Good evening, auntie!" "Come now, there¡¯s no need to act so courteously!" Mama Lin smiled at me and said, "I remember your voice from when I was still in a coma. I also know about your relationship. You haven¡¯t eaten dinner, have you? Yiyi and I were just about to eat a steamboat. You should join us!" Instead of answering, I stretched my neck higher and tried to look around the corner. I recalled my argument against Lin Xiao on the forums and felt a chill up my back. "How could I not¡­" Mama Lin said with a smile, "Just ignore him. For whatever reason, the old fool¡¯s stubbornness is growing with his age. I¡¯ve heard about the bet from Yiyi already, and I believe that you did the right thing as well. Plus, you did manage to protect the city in the end and rescue much of China¡¯s virtual wealth, didn¡¯t you? You proved that you were right in the end." I felt guilty, however. "But¡­ it came at a great cost to Yiyi¡­" Lin Yixin had wrapped herself in a leather robe before I knew it, and she looked even prettier than before. She said, "It doesn¡¯t matter, I can just retrain a new fighter account. You¡¯ll have to carry me though!" I shot her a mysterious smile and said, "Actually, you don¡¯t need to retrain anything." "Huh?" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes widened. I revealed the truth. "I went to the southern HQ of Eternal Moon Corporation and freeloaded off President Ling Xue and Shusheng themselves a few times. Long story short, Shusheng personally traveled to the New York HQ himself to get your account back, and half your account is restored. Your level, equipment and warehouse inventory is reset, but your pet, class, skill and even your Famous General Skill, Divine General Skill and Great Earth Transformation have been saved." "Really?" Lin Yixin was beyond happy. She abruptly jumped into my lap again and kissed me on the cheeks. "Hello, I¡¯m here," Mama Lin teased her daughter. Lin Yixin turned bright red, but she said, "Mom, you said you were going to prepare the steamboat, right? Go on, I want to eat some fresh meat¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ A short while later, the three of us sat around a steaming pot surrounded by frozen vegetables, beef, lamb meat and more. Lin Yixin and I damn near chanted "Food! Food! Food!" as we clutched our chopsticks and stared at the boiling soup in the pot hungrily. While waiting, I said, "Yiyi, your equipment, level and even pet level were completely reset, so you¡¯re basically restarting from zero. I¡¯m planning to bring you to a Level 100 map so you can grind up the EXP faster without missing too much. We¡¯re gonna get you back to Level 100 in a single day!" Lin Yixin giggled. "Cut the show-off. You¡¯re only Level 70 yourself¡­" I declared proudly, "I¡¯m different from you. I may be Level 70 only, but I¡¯m clad from head to toe in high-level equipment. I have the Heaven-grade Cyan Netherworld Sword, the Dragonlight Helmet, the Earth-grade Crimson Rock Dragon Armor, the Soul Suppressing Cloak, the Battle Flame Wristguards, the Stormy Waves War Boots, the Apparition Ring and even the Level 150 Phantom Wolf King. What do you think?" "Well, I guess you¡¯re right¡­" Lin Yixin pouted. I laughed. "EXP distribution depends on DPS, you know. You can¡¯t get experience if you do nothing at all." "Oh right!" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes suddenly widened. "You were the MVP of the Nation War, right? You must¡¯ve gotten an equipment reward, right?" "I think so? I haven¡¯t checked yet, to be honest¡­" "Well, that equipment is mine!" "Sure!" I agreed and blurted out before my impulse control could stop me. "I¡¯ll give you myself if you want, let alone a piece of equipment¡­" Lin Yixin immediately blushed again. Meanwhile Mama Lin said while chopping vegetables, "I didn¡¯t hear anything, please continue¡­" My god, what an amazing mother! ¡­¡­ By the time we finished dinner, it was already past 10 pm. Mama Lin went to sleep after cleaning up the table and the dishes. I was arranged at the room at the right side of the house; a room with an exceptionally comforting design. However, it didn¡¯t take long for boredom to get to me as I stared at the nearby fireplace. I didn¡¯t feel sleepy yet, but I didn¡¯t even have a computer to keep me busy. Lin Yixin¡¯s room was right next to mine. What is she doing right now? I walked to her door and raised my hand to knock. In the end though, I just couldn¡¯t muster the courage and retreated in shame. A few minutes later, someone knocked on my door. I opened it, and as expected it was Lin Yixin with a blanket wrapped around her. She gave me a smile and asked, "What are you doing?" "Thinking about you," I replied without hesitation. Lin Yixin replied with reddened cheeks, "Mn, I was thinking about you too. I¡¯ve been thinking about you for a very long time." I hurriedly closed the door and hugged her. "Yiyi, don¡¯t you want to log into the game and take a look at your account?" "No, I¡¯ll wait for you." Lin Yixin smiled at me with cunning dancing behind her eyes. "You were waiting for me to log into the game too, weren¡¯t you? I know you haven¡¯t played the game even though you dropped all the way to Level 70." "Mn, okay then, I¡¯ll head back tomorrow and log into the game with you." "Mn." Lin Yixin sat quietly on my bed for a moment before turning red for the umpteenth time of the day. She asked in a small voice, "Can I¡­ can I sleep with you tonight?" I nearly turned into stone there and then. I never dreamed that the words I would never dare to say would be spoken by the girl of my dreams. I could¡¯ve passed to the afterlife peacefully in that moment. My mind raced like a million stars in that moment. I replied, "Sure, but¡­ I"m not ready yet?" "Ready for what, exactly?" Lin Yixin giggled. I said honestly, "I might¡­ just lose control¡­" "Oh, you have nothing to worry about!" Lin Yixin pointed at the wall and said with a bright smile, "The walls of a wooden house are thin, and mom is sleeping right over there. If you dare to try anything at all, I¡¯ll scream and send you to the cops immediately!" My mouth twitched a bit. "Fine¡­" ¡­¡­ We laid down on the bed together. Lin Yixin¡¯s back was pressed up against my chest, and we stared at the falling snow outside the window together. Everything was quiet and peaceful. A while later, Lin Yixin unconsciously closed her eyes and fell asleep with a beautiful smile on her face. Holding her in my arms, I pulled the blanket over our bodies, closed my eyes and fell asleep myself. Everything was perfect in my dreams today. ¡­¡­ The next day, early in the morning. "Ah¡­" I heard a girlish cry next to my ears and opened my eyes in a hurry. I was immediately greeted by the sight of a curled up Lin Yixin glaring at me with her eyes, "Are¡­ are you okay?" I nodded. "Yes? I slept very well. What¡¯s wrong?" "Your¡­" Lin Yixin said embarrassedly, "What¡¯s wrong with your¡­ you know?" My mind turned blank for a second. Goddamn, this is bad! I hurriedly explained, "Have you read the Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre?" "Yeah?" "Then you must know the ultimate move Zhang Sanfeng taught Zhang Wuji¡­" Lin Yixin turned even redder and punched me. "How dare you say that to my face. Do you want to die¡­" "Alright, alright, time to get up and get grinding. We don¡¯t know when the next Nation War will begin, and surely you don¡¯t want to clash against the enemy as an itemless, Level 1 noob, do you?" "Mn, fine¡­" Lin Yixin was a bright and beautiful girl. She quickly jumped out of the bed and sneaked back into her own room. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin and I bade Mama Lin goodbye and returned to Suzhou together. She still had her university courses to attend. Mama Lin prepared many delicious dishes and insisted Lin Yixin bring them all with her. Even I got Jinhua ham by association. Jinhua ham was some of the most delicious food you could barbecue over an alcohol burner. Lin Yixin wore a snow white down-filled garment as Mama Lin sent us to the door. The snow had stopped, and the sky had returned mostly to azure. Considering how thick the snow was, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if the girls were making snowmen at our Suzhou gaming base right now. We drove back to Suzhou and reached the university at 12 pm. While escorting Lin Yixin back to her hostel, we promised to meet up in the game at 1 pm and grind all the way until midnight. When I finally returned to the workshop, He Yi, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue were all waiting for me in the living room. ¡­¡­ "Is it done, big bro?" Beiming Xue asked with a smile. Murong Mingyue said, "You only need to look at his face to know that it¡¯s done. Who knows, he might even have taken Beauty Lin¡­" He Yi looked at me nervously. I hurriedly denied, "I did no such thing¡­" "Well, let¡¯s eat lunch. It¡¯s time for you to grind back your levels!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ After lunch was over, I logged back into the game. Chapter 770: Ultimate Grinding Ar There was a flash, and my character popped into existence inside Dawn City. The plaza was pretty close to where I was, and I could see that it was flooding with people. After the Nation War ended, every mob in Dawn Valley had experienced a level-up, turning the map into a new grinding sanctuary. This was good news, for the more players were camped at Dawn City, the less tempted the Northern Alliance would be to attack the great city. I opened the world map and saw the usual maps such as Sunset Swamp, Dragonbone Mountain Range and so on. However, there was a new dark red map at the entrance of Dragonbone Mountain Range, and it was none other than the new map, Fortress of the Iron Halberd. I had heard that a couple of powerful NPC armies including one of the strongest, if not the strongest, cavalry were stationed here to protect Dawn City against both enemy players and the Night Creatures. With this, Dawn City was absolutely secure. Unless the Northern Alliance collectively lost their minds, there was no way they would try to siege Fortress of the Iron Halberd by force. It would take a very strong set of teeth to chew through a super fortress like this. Moreover, Dragonbone Mountain Range still acted as a natural barrier, and less than 10% Northern Alliance players had the skill and ability to overcome it. Therefore, it was equally unrealistic for them to trek across the mountains to lay siege on the city. The undead entrenched on Dragonbone Mountain Range alone had the ability to tear their bodies and their desires into pieces. ¡­¡­ Lifting my sword, I repaired my equipment and summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. I hopped onto the back of the Level 150 Earth Rank Boss mount without any problem despite being a Level 70 noob right now. The mount requirement would only apply again if it was unbound. I whistled once, and the red-haired Phantom Wolf King awoke from its long slumber and flew out of the pet space. As it turned out the wolf¡¯s mind was still stuck at the time of the Nation War, so it was growling, baring its fangs and puffing up every hair on its body to appear as intimidating as possible. However, it quickly realized that it was inside a city overflowing with Chinese players, and that its aggression and display of violence were no longer necessary. Deflated, it ran up to my side and wagged its tail happily. I checked my stat screen and saw very minor changes. The only problem here was my level and the massive reduction of my hidden stats. Beep! System Notice: Player "Wind Fantasy" has sent you a friend request. Do you accept? Of course I do. If I refused, Lin Yixin might just burst into the Frost Cloud workshop and challenge us to a fight to the death. ¡­¡­ After I added her to my party, I asked, "Where are you right now, Yiyi? I¡¯ll come right over¡­" I saw Lin Yixin looking at her surroundings in confusion before replying, "It looks like I¡¯m at the starting village, and I don¡¯t have even a single piece of equipment. Uu, what a tragedy¡­" "Which starting village?" "The 7th starting village under Floating Ice City¡­" "Alright, I¡¯m coming right now. Wait for me in the safe zone, okay? As you are now you¡¯ll only be bullied by the baddies¡­" Lin Yixin: "..." After hanging up the call, I rode toward the teleportation formation. Every equipment piece I was wearing was highlighted red to indicate that I didn¡¯t meet its requirements, but it didn¡¯t matter. As long as I didn¡¯t take them off myself, they would still function as normal. It was also why I activated Resurrection Art immediately after I came back online. I absolutely couldn¡¯t risk dropping equipment on death because I wouldn¡¯t be able to equip it back. I would rather lose levels than equipment at this point. ¡­¡­ A lot of players and stall owners looked at me when I got close. Many of them recognized me right away¡ª "Wah, that¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, right? He¡¯s still at Dawn City?" "I heard that he didn¡¯t come online for days because of Wind Fantasy. It looks like the rumors are true!" "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is such a handsome boy. He had killed countless enemies with a single attack and single-handedly kept two million Northern Alliance players at bay. His Divine General Skill, Ancient Seal, is especially gorgeous. One hit was all it took to kill the person, the pet and even the fleas on their body in one go!!" "Uu, Lu Chen is so handsome! I¡¯ll never get off my bed if I have a pretty boyfriend like that to myself!" "..." Everyone turned to stare at the pretty girl who made the comment. I¡¯m not gonna lie; that conversation nearly made me fall off my horse and instakill me. I just barely made it to the teleportation formation manager and selected Floating Ice City as my destination! Swhoosh! It had been a long time since I appeared on these streets, but it was no time to reminisce about the good old times. After pinpointing the direction to Starting Village No. 7, I spurred my mount and took off to the distance. With the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s speed, it would only take 10 minutes at most for me to reach her. However, I galloped back to Floating Ice City and went to the auction house after just half a minute or so. It was because I just remembered that I should buy some newbie equipment for Lin Yixin! I searched for high-quality armor between Level 25 to 40, no price limit. Several choices appeared to me very soon¡ª Wither Battle Armor: Level 25 Gold-grade. Divine armor for all newbies! 105 Defense, Strength +20, Stamina +14. 2000 gold. Fire Dance War Boots: Level 40 Gold-grade. 130 Defense, +25 Strength, +20 Stamina. 3000 gold. Fire Cloud Axe (Gold-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï): 100~175 Attack, Strength +40, Stamina +32, Attack +18%. Outstanding Property: Increases max HP by 2000. Level Requirement: 40. 12000 gold. ¡­¡­ Alright, I¡¯m picking up these three items. Everything else was trash and would only serve to humiliate our Fruit Knife Goddess. Unfortunately I couldn¡¯t find a high-level dagger, so that was that. The Fire Cloud Axe was an excellent Level 40 weapon with very high Attack and an Outstanding Property that increased max HP by 2000. As an EXP leech, there was nothing more important to Lin Yixin than HP right now. She needed the HP to survive the high-level mobs we were going to grind later. I bought all 3 items and bade goodbye to almost 20000 gold immediately. The cost didn¡¯t faze me in the slightest because it was for Lin Yixin. Finally, I exited the city and rode toward Starting Village No. 7 as planned earlier. Twelve minutes later, I emerged from a forest and found an old, dilapidated lumberyard. Behind it was a peaceful village¡ªthe No. 7 Starting Village I was looking for¡ªoverflowing with new players. It had been more than half a year since Heavenblessed came online, but new players were still pouring into the game. There were also veterans who leveled their class wrong and decided to start over. This was a common sight in many MMORPGs. Outside the village, I saw a ton of newbies equipped with iron swords and sackcloth fighting against axe-wielding screaming goblins. I immediately spotted a gorgeous girl letting out a mighty shout and punching a mob with her bare fist. The unusual thing here was that she was using Barrier Break... Thud! Every jaw in the vicinity hit the floor with a resounding thud. Many people exclaimed out loud, "A Level 1 who knows Barrier Break? Isn¡¯t that a Level 120 skill? What kinda hax is this?" The unusualness of the scene was only compounded by the fact that the girl was gorgeous as fuck. The way her long hair danced across the wind, her beautiful face was scrunched in concentration and her smooth, long legs moved beneath her simple shirt made her look like a super expert of sorts. "Ahh, it hurts!" And then, the goblin counterattacked and dealt a painful blow to Lin Yixin. It was extremely comedic. I rode up to her and one-shot the goblin. Then, I started laughing uncontrollably. Who would¡¯ve thought that the famous Fruit Knife Goddess would fare worse than even a newbie? Forget a weapon, she didn¡¯t even have basic clothing. If she didn¡¯t have a guild¡ªand the system-generated guild outfit tailor-made for her¡ªshe would have to run around in her birthday suit. "Don¡¯t laugh! I¡¯ll kill you!" Lin Yixin swung her fists at me in displeasure. I controlled myself immediately and said, "Let¡¯s go to a high-level map now, Yiyi. I¡¯ll drop the mob to red health and let you last-hit them with Barrier Break!" Lin Yixin nodded and sighed helplessly. "Ah, this is terrible. Level 1s have such measly MP pools that it can¡¯t even sustain more than 1 Barrier Break¡­" I silently dismounted and grabbed her hand. "Let¡¯s go!" "Mn." The Phantom Wolf King acted as our bodyguard and slaughtered the blocking goblins with Claw of the Storm. The newbies immediately turned as pale as death. "Holy shit that pet is crazy!" ¡­¡­ After we ventured into the deeper areas of the forest, the goblins turned into Level 30 Gray Bears. Alright, we¡¯ll start here! I hit the mob once and killed it instantly. "I only got 10% from that¡­" Lin Yixin said dumbfoundedly, "The EXP I get without any contribution at all is too terrible. I may as well fight it myself¡­" I said, "You¡¯re a Level 1 now, so what can you do? Once you level up a bit and gain a bit of Attack, you can use Barrier Break to last-hit the mobs. Remember, the one who scores the last hit gets 50% of the experience!" "Mn." I tried to give Lin Yixin the last hit, but the Level 30 Gray Bears just couldn¡¯t survive my attacks no matter what I tried. Even my weakest attacks dealt almost 50k damage, no shit it couldn¡¯t survive. "You know what, I¡¯m not even going to attack anymore. I¡¯m just going to let it attack me until it triggers Raging Flames, a 10% chance to burn 25% of the mob¡¯s HP. After I burn it 4 times, you¡¯ll use Barrier Break to last hit the few points of HP it will have regenerated between the ticks, okay?" I said. Lin Yixin burst into a giggle. "Mn mn, that¡¯s a great idea! You¡¯re smarter than I expected, dear¡­" My heart melted when I heard the endearing title. "Yiyi, call me dear again, please¡­" "Cut it out and start aggroing the mobs already¡­" So I walked to the front and let the bears attack me however they liked. All their attacks missed me because my Defense was too high. It was to the point where the Gray Bears couldn¡¯t even deal the minimum 1 damage. Whoosh whoosh whoosh... Flames flew out of the Battle Flame Wristguards from time to time and burned the Gray Bears¡¯ HP. Finally, one of them dropped to almost no health, and Lin Yixin immediately assumed a battle pose and punched it with a Barrier Break! Thud! 172! The bear dropped, and Lin Yixin gained 7 levels in a row. A wide grin immediately broke out on her face. ¡­¡­ A dozen or so Gray Bears later, we discovered that the method was more reliable than we thought and sought out Level 50 Crocodiles next. Since such mobs were considered elites, they yielded more experience! Chapter 771: Smooth Sailing I commented in amusement, "Yiyi, you look very cute as a child¡­" Lin Yixin turned red and puffed up the pride of her life. "Excuse me? Who are you calling a child?" "Oh no, forgive me, I was completely mistaken! Anyway, where should we grind next?" Lin Yixin chirped excitedly, "Let¡¯s go to a high-level map next!" "Which one?" "Dragonbone Mountain Range!" "Are you suicidal!? You¡¯re only Level 40!" "What¡¯s there to be afraid of? It¡¯s exactly because my level is so low that dying once or twice hardly matters¡­" "Well, that¡¯s true. Let¡¯s go then!" ¡­¡­ Side by side, we travelled to the teleportation formation of Floating Ice City and teleported to Dark Moon City. Then, we moved straight to Dragonbone Mountain Range. Dragonbone Mountain Range was the most valuable map in the entire Center, so there was no better place to grind up one¡¯s level as quickly as possible than there. Even better, it was a map where I could also level up alongside Yiyi. I hid my equipment¡¯s visual effects completely and adjusted the luster to the lowest setting possible. I even altered the shape of the equipment so that I could hide my profile as much as I could. After grabbing a couple more Silver-grade items for Lin Yixin, we finally exited the city. To the undiscerning eye, it looked like we were two noobs on their first adventure in this strange, new world. However, our levels were so poor that practically everyone around us could ignore our settings and see our IDs, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy, the two most famous IDs in the entire China server right now. It was practically impossible to keep a low profile like this. ¡­¡­ "Oh right! I almost forgot about something very important, Little Cheat!" Lin Yixin¡¯s sudden halt and turn around caused me to bump into her, which I immediately turned into a gentle hug before asking, "What is it?" "You promised to give me the MVP reward of the Nation War, right? Did you even check what it is yet?" I exclaimed in realization, "Holy shit, you¡¯re right. I completely forgot about it. I sure hope I haven¡¯t sold it to a vendor!" "You are dead if you did!" Lin Yixin raged cutely. The first time I scanned through my bag, I found nothing. Thankfully, I spotted rose-colored metal armor wristguards with silver bells attached to them on my second attempt. The bells made crisp, melodious sounds when shaken. It was extremely soothing to the ear. Defense: 4400 Magic Resist: 3750 Strength: +1100 Stamina: +1150 Agility: +1050 Intelligence: +1000 Tactics: +120 Passive: Increases user''s attack power by 50% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 10000 Outstanding Property: Sure Hit. User¡¯s attacks will never miss. Slots: 12 Property: Level Requirement nullified. Introduction: During the ancient times, devils roamed the lands, and an evil beast threatened to upend the roots of the universe. A goddess was dispatched by the heavens to deal with the evil beast, and in the end, both entities killed each other in combat. The goddess¡¯s crystallized divine soul absorbed the evil beast¡¯s remains and transformed into a Divine Armament after countless years. Today, it is known as the Devil Bell, an item that can disrupt a person¡¯s mind and charm its enemies. Level Requirement: 200 ¡­¡­ I was silent for a very long time, and so was Lin Yixin. In the end, I started, "Devil Bell, huh. A Level 200 Cambrian-grade Divine Armament, huh¡­" Lin Yixin could barely keep herself from splitting her cheeks. "Is that so? Sounds pretty amazing. Now give it to me. You promised!" To say that I was reluctant to part with the item would be a massive understatement. My hand literally shook when I passed it to Lin Yixin. I never thought that the MVP reward of the Nation War would be a top-tier equipment that one could use even during the latter stages of the game, and the fact that it appeared now only made it all the more precious. Its Defense and Magic Resist were so broken that Lin Yixin could wear the wristguards only and still bash faces in without any problem whatsoever! Lin Yixin absolutely adored the Devil Bell wristguards. It was an extremely beautiful pair of armor, and it had a property that nullified the level requirement, allowing it to be worn by even a Level 1 player. Obviously, this item was perfect for the current Lin Yixin and could only go to her. Moreover, its Outstanding Property, Sure Hit, ensured that the user¡¯s attacks would never miss, meaning that Lin Yixin could always land a hit regardless of the level gap¡ªforced misses in PvP battles were an exception, of course. Long story short, it was ridiculously broken. Whoosh! Lin Yixin whined in happiness when she equipped the wristguard and checked her stats. "Wah, my stats are skyrocketing! I have over 10k HP at Level 40! My Defense is so high¡­" I rolled my eyes at her reaction. "Of course your stats are amazing; it¡¯s a Divine Armament! Now come on, your grinding speed will definitely skyrocket with this Devil Bell!" "Hmm, now that I think about it, what is a Cambrian-grade Divine Armament?" Lin Yixin held my arm and asked as we walked together. I thought for a moment before answering, "I haven¡¯t gone online for the past couple of days, so all I did was read up on info regarding Heavenblessed. From what I remember, Immortal is the next grade after Heaven, and Divine Armament is the next grade after Immortal. Divine Armaments can generally be split into three categories, namely Basic Divine Armaments, Average Divine Armaments and Advanced Divine Armaments. However, advanced ones aren¡¯t the strongest. There are another four grades above that which are called Cambrian, Ancient, Archean and Hadean. Long story short, this Devil Bell is almost some of the best of the best equipment you could have¡­" Lin Yixin nodded and caressed the wristguards lovingly. "I¡¯m going to wear these wristguards you gave me until the end, Little Cheat¡­" "Mn mn!" The bells of the wristguards rang melodiously as the two of us walked through the forest side by side. It sounded as crisp as we were happy. ¡­¡­ We encountered several Level 130 Wild Bears at the foot of the mountain, but they were all taken out with ease by the Phantom Wolf King. I easily rose from Level 70 to Level 81 thanks to it. My pet didn¡¯t gain much experience because the Wild Bears shared almost the same level, but in my case, it was the same as killing mobs 60 levels above me. Naturally, the experience reward was absolutely incredible. We also encountered a group of Sky City players who were attempting to assemble a full 10-man party on an open plain, but neither Lin Yixin nor I were interested in joining them. Using the forest as our cover, We sneaked our way up the mountain without being noticed. The higher we climbed, the higher the mobs¡¯ levels were. However, it still wasn¡¯t enough to satisfy our demands. In fact, Lin Yixin was so ambitious that she insisted on challenging Level 160 ancient mobs with her noobish Level 50 character! We eventually entered a maple tree forest somewhere on the mountain range. It was currently autumn season in the game, and the falling red leaves looked incredibly beautiful. I had the Armored Ice Qilin Horse out, but didn¡¯t ride it. Lin Yixin had her tiny Ice Dragon Kris out as well. Having to restart from zero just like her master, the little female dragon was Level 37 and the size of a millstone right now. She soared in the sky like a small black crow and sounded almost as shrill as one. I asked, "Can the ice dragon carry you, Yiyi? Dragon knights, man!" Lin Yixin shook her head. "Unfortunately, no. It¡¯s a pet, not a mount!" I curled my lips and was about to say something when the ice dragon suddenly swooped down from the sky and bit my arm. I couldn¡¯t shake her off no matter what I tried! "Huh. Why does it look like she holds a grudge against you?" Lin Yixin asked in surprise. I blushed, but I dared not bring up the time I dug out a Qilin Stone from her pet¡¯s asshole, so I said, "Maybe she just can¡¯t stand how straight-laced I am." "You think I¡¯c believe that?" Lin Yixin giggled a bit before pointing to the front. "Look, Little Cheat! That looks like a high-level mob. What level is it?" I activated Dark Pupils and shook my head. "I can¡¯t see its level. It must be at least 60 levels higher than me!" "In that case, it has to be a Level 150+ ancient mob. Let¡¯s go!" "Okay!" The mob was a brawny mountainous giant lizard. It looked a bit like a dragon, except it was smaller and lying between a pair of hills with its eyes closed like a crocodile. It was actually quite scary especially since I was only Level 80 or so. The mob¡¯s level was literally twice my own. "Go, little wolf¡­" As usual, the cannon fodder goes first. The Phantom Wolf King was Level 150, so it didn¡¯t suffer any level penalty and wouldn¡¯t miss its attacks. It was safe to have it roleplay the pillar of the party! After I used my pet to launch an attack, I attacked from the side at the same time! Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash, go! Thud thud thud! A column of damage numbers popped above the Mountainous Giant Lizard¡¯s body¡ª 27832! MISS! MISS! 19283! My damage wasn¡¯t bad, but it was nothing compared to the time I used Resurrection Art repeatedly and stacked attack boosts like a madman. That version of me would¡¯ve dealt over 100k damage per hit, and sadly, I still missed 50% of my attacks! The good news was that the Phantom Wolf King had no such problems. It wasn¡¯t long before the ancient mob¡¯s health dropped to rock bottom. Thud thud thud! I backed away and stopped the Phantom Wolf King from attacking at the same time. Then, I shouted to Lin Yixin, "Now, Yiyi! Just use your strongest move¡­" Lin Yixin didn¡¯t have a ¡°strongest move¡±. What she had was the strongest combo. She immediately pulled out a Dark Steel¨Cgrade Level 40 dagger at her waist, activated Moon Gaze, and executed an Extreme Break + Barrier Break combo! 9828! 5827! It was just enough to delete the mob¡¯s final sliver of HP. She actually did it! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! She gained 3 levels in a row. It was an incredibly efficient way to grind, and I foresaw that leveling past 100 before the day was over was no problem at all. ¡­¡­ And so, we grinded Mountainous Giant Lizards in Dragonbone Mountain Range. The Phantom Wolf King was the main character who carried the heaviest burden of the grind while the two of us leechers fought to out-killsteal each other. Whoever got the last hit, got the last hit. We left behind a long trail of Mountainous Giant Lizards and collected a ton of magic stones and equipment during this time. It was smooth sailing all the way. We continued grinding until 9:30 pm or so, and I had risen to Level 110, and Lin Yixin, Level 102. She was flying through the levels because I had given up most of the experience to her. From the looks of it, both of us would be catching up with the average player level in a week or so. Chiang! After Lin Yixin hit a giant lizard in the head with her axe and killed it, Lin Yixin looked at me and said, "So hungry. I¡¯m starting to miss you, Little Cheat¡­" I nodded knowingly. "Wait for me. I¡¯m coming over to eat supper with you right now!" "Good. Show up soon!" Chapter 772: Simping "Let¡¯s eat at Chuanxiangge¡­" Lin Yixin said immediately after she entered the car. "Sure!" The restaurant was only a few minutes away, and we happened to be the first supper customer to attend the restaurant. We ordered a couple of small dishes and a plate of white steamed buns. It was a pretty novel experience to chew on stir-fried pork with green peppers and a bun at the same time. "Our grinding speed today is pretty good, right Yiyi?" I asked Lin Yixin with a smile. She nodded. "Yeah, it¡¯s great. At this rate, it really does look like we can hit Level 150 in a week. In fact, once I hit Level 140 or so, I could get a set of Spirit-grade equipment and actually reduce your burden." I let out a chuckle. "Oh no, it¡¯s no burden at all to carry you." Her smile was as sweet as honey. "Mn, I see." Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice from behind me. "Aiyo, what a coincidence¡­" I turned around and saw Zi Chuanyu walking over to our table with a girl. The girl was probably his girlfriend as she was holding his arm in an affectionate manner. Lin Yixin waved a hand at them and greeted them with a smile. "Hi, Senior Zichuan! I didn¡¯t think I would run into you here!" When Zi Chuanyu reached us, he abruptly gave Lin Yixin a military salute and declared, "Greetings, guild leader!" Lin Yixin immediately broke into a giggle. I pointed at the free spaces around the table and offered, "Come take a seat and eat with us! We¡¯ll just order a couple more dishes!" "That¡¯s very kind of you! I¡¯ll gladly accept your offer!" After both people took a seat, Zi Chuanyu introduced us to his girlfriend. "Lil Meng, as you already know, this beauty here is our guild leader, Lin Yixin. As for this guy, he¡¯s¡ª" The girl interrupted him with a chuckle. "Shut up you, I know who he is, hoho. You¡¯re Lu Chen, right? The legend whose contribution points in this Nation War were literally 8 times that of the runner-up, Luo River God of the Capital? You¡¯re so amazing. Right now there¡¯s no one in China who¡¯s as strong as you are!" I responded with a humble smile, "Those contribution points came at the cost of 90 levels, so it¡¯s really nothing to be proud of." Lil Meng then asked Zi Chuanyu, "Hey, how much contribution points did you get? If I remember correctly, you got less than Purple Marquis, didn¡¯t you? You both share the surname Zi, so why is he so much better than you¡­" Zi Chuanyu blushed red. "Oh come on, if I didn¡¯t run into Vienna and got one-shot by him on the second day, I would be rolling in contribution points, okay?" Zi Chuanyu groaned. "How do you know so much about Lu Chen, Lil Meng?" "I¡¯m his hardcore fan. You should already know this¡­" Lil Meng shrugged. Zi Chuanyu replied while rolling his eyes, "I brought this on myself, didn¡¯t I? I shouldn¡¯t have agreed to sit at this table." I laughed. "It¡¯s nothing, really. As long as you keep up the hard work, it¡¯s only a matter of time you become strong as well. Lil Meng probably doesn¡¯t know this, but back in the days, a single Tempest Shadow was all it took to force me to change major cities again and again¡­" Lil Meng replied cheekily, "That¡¯s different. If you change cities, it¡¯s called a tactical retreat. If Zi Chuanyu changes cities, it¡¯s called running with his tail between his legs. Don¡¯t you agree, Lin Yixin?" Lin Yixin let go of the white bun she was clenching and responded dumbly, "Uh, huh? Can you repeat what you said?" "My god, you¡¯re such a glutton, Yiyi¡­" I couldn¡¯t help but feel embarrassed on Lin Yixin¡¯s behalf, but the girl simply stuck her tongue out at me and said, "Come on, I¡¯ve been grinding levels all day! It¡¯s only natural that I¡¯m real hungry!" ¡­¡­ A while later, Zi Chuanyu cleared his throat and got serious. "Lu Chen, guild leader, did you hear what happened after the both of you went offline that day?" "No¡­?" Both Lin Yixin and I shook our heads at the same time. Zi Chuanyu answered, "Less than ten minutes after Lu Chen logged out of the game, Candlelight Shadow returned to Dawn City with 300000 troops. When he saw that the army surrounding Dawn City was gone, he actually dropped to his knees and cried out loud!" "What?" Lil Meng looked surprised. "Why would he do that? Isn¡¯t he the Martial God?" A hint of intelligence fleeted behind Lin Yixin¡¯s pupils as she answered, "Candlelight Shadow knows full well that the world belongs to those who can win the heart of the people. However, he made the wrong move and left for Burning City even though he was technically under duress at the time. He wasn¡¯t crying because he felt guilty for betraying Dawn City, he cried because he knew that Candle Dragon¡¯s status in China was truly shaken now. His decision to invade Burning City with the Avengers instead of saving Dawn City had deeply disappointed countless Chinese players, and Candle Dragon can no longer claim that they were more reputable than Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls today." Lin Yixin then looked at me with a proud look on her face. "My Lu Chen definitely fought well this war even though the cost was great, and I had to sacrifice myself in the end¡­" I replied cheekily, "So what? You¡¯re my woman. It¡¯s only natural that you sacrifice yourself for me¡­" She let out a sweet giggle at that. Staring at the two of us in shock, Lil Meng asked, "Did you two¡­ you know¡­ did that already?" "What on earth are you talking about!?" I stared at her. "It¡¯s not what you think! In fact, we¡¯re the ones who should be asking if you and Zi Chuanyu have done that already!" Lil Meng was about to answer when Zi Chuanyu covered her mouth in a hurry for fear of her chastity. He then defended himself saying, "Hahaha, we haven¡¯t done anything, haha, it¡¯s totally the truth¡­" "You really think anyone would believe that?" Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at him. ¡­¡­ Zi Chuanyu took a bite out of a bun before eating a pickled pepper. Tearing up from the scalding heat burning his tongue, he said, "Now that the Fortress of the Iron Halberd had appeared like a gift from heaven and sealed off the Northern Alliance¡¯s only entrance to Dawn City, we should have a short period of peace. What are your opinions regarding the latest situation?" Lin Yixin set down her chopsticks and took a sip from her fruit juice. She then looked to the distance and said, "It¡¯s simple. The Nation War lasted 3 full days, and the Fortress of the Iron Halberd is blocking the way to Dawn City. The Northern Alliance will be using this time to rest and recuperate, and I don¡¯t see them invading Dawn City for the next half a month at least. This means that Lu Chen and I can focus fully on grinding back our levels during this time. This is good for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls as well since Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Sister He Yi and more all lost 30 levels during that war." I nodded. "Our biggest threat now becomes the southeast main city of India, the Elephant City and Cyan Earth City. When we were fighting against the Northern Alliance, Elephant City had already dispatched a small troop of cavalry to harass Sky City. We absolutely must keep a close eye on them. Besides that, there¡¯s one more variable we have to pay attention to." "What is it?" Zi Chuanyu asked with knitted eyebrows. I answered, "Practically speaking, the territory to the north of Wind City belongs to the Northern Alliance, but that isn¡¯t completely true. There is a barren land at the northwestmost side of the map where 27 smaller countries, the Chaotic 27, are engaged in a seemingly endless civil war including Argentina¡¯s Black Earth City, Serbia and more. If these nations were to come under one united banner, they¡¯d become a force no one could ignore. In my opinion, we can use them to control the Northern Alliance¡¯s progress. We can also sow dissension between the eight major cities of the Northern Alliance and let them destroy themselves. You don¡¯t always need to defeat an enemy by force, even if it¡¯s the most gratifying method of them all." Zi Chuanyu sucked in a deep breath. He was so agitated that the bun he was holding was crumpling under his grip. "Fuck, I felt like my horizons are broadened just speaking to you. I didn¡¯t realize that you¡¯re such a forward planner, Lu Chen. My earlier considerations could only be described as short-sighted compared to yours¡­" Lin Yixin gave him a gentle smile and advised, "Zi Chuanyu, this is one part where you really need to improve on. Both you and Purple Marquis are the commanders of Snowy Cathaya, and as a commander, you require both martial prowess and strategic thinking. Lu Chen might look like a simple boy on the outside, but in reality he¡¯s one cunning motherfucker. It¡¯s no wonder Lonely Grave once said that anyone who obtained either Candlelight Shadow or Falling Dust would be able to conquer the world¡­" I complained, "Since when am I a cunning motherfucker? I¡¯m just analyzing the situation based on the current facts!" "Yes, yes, you¡¯re just a simple boy!" Lin Yixin cooed. Lil Meng¡¯s eyes were starry. "Lu Chen in serious analysis mode is so handsome¡­" Lin Yixin immediately coughed. "Lil Meng, your boyfriend is Zi Chuanyu, not Lu Chen. Understand?" Zi Chuanyu rubbed his nose embarrassedly, and Lil Meng stuck out her tongue in cute defiance before saying, "It¡¯s fine, a bit of simping won¡¯t affect my relationship with Zi Chuanyu¡­" Zi Chuanyu asked, "If the Chaotic 27 were to start a war against the Northern Alliance, does that mean we can play the fisherman of this conflict?" I smiled. "Why don¡¯t we eat our supper and consider that another time? Those days are still a long time away. Don¡¯t worry, China has absolutely stumped the Northern Alliance during this Nation War, so it¡¯ll be a long while before they can regain their team spirit, if ever." "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Like starving ghosts, we swept clean the table after ordering a couple more dishes. By the time we finished eating and returned to the university, we realized that the gate was already closed. Zi Chuanyu grabbed Lil Meng¡¯s hand and said to her, "It¡¯s late. Let¡¯s find some place to rest, shall we?" Lil Meng nodded with an obvious blush in her cheeks. Behind the duo, I whispered to Lin Yixin, "See that? I told you they did it already¡­" "So what? It¡¯s none of your business!" Lin Yixin slapped my shoulder with a smile. "The real question is, where am I sleeping tonight?" I looked at my car and voiced my scheme, "If you think a hotel is too much, we can sleep in the car this time¡­" "No way!" Lin Yixin immediately rejected the suggestion with a pout, "I¡¯m sure people would stare at us in the morning!" "Where do you want to go then?" For a while, Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes looked everywhere but me. She was clearly avoiding my gaze for some reason. Suddenly, she whispered in a small voice, "Lu Chen, can I sleep at the workshop tonight?" I was shocked. "Seriously?" "It¡¯ll be fine." She turned around and grabbed my arm. "I¡¯ll sleep with Beiming. Also, it¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve seen Sister He Yi and Sister Mingyue in person. Please?" I still hesitated, unable to come to a decision right away. Lin Yixin kept shaking my arm up and down. "Come on, take me home, please?" ¡­¡­ On the pavement, a passing uncle turned green in the face when he overheard our conversation. He couldn¡¯t believe that the dude had the gall to look reluctant when his female companion begged him to take her home. Full of regret, he lamented the fact that he was past his prime, and he wanted nothing more than to be young again and say a million yeses to the beautiful woman. In the end, I couldn¡¯t deny Lin Yixin, so I held her hand and said, "Alright. We¡¯ll head home!" "Mn!" Chapter 773: Come to My Bed Now Knock knock! I carefully opened the door and looked into the living room after knocking. The lights were all turned on, and He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue were all sitting on the sofa looking like they were waiting for me. "Big bro is back!" Beiming Xue said with a smile. He Yi asked, "Why are you just standing there? Come in already!" I pointed behind me and said, "Er¡­ well¡­ I brought someone back with me¡­" "Oh really? It can¡¯t be a certain pretty babe, can it?" Murong Mingyue replied with a giggle. "..." ¡­¡­ "Get in already!" After Lin Yixin pushed me through the door, she slipped into the workshop and greeted everyone from the entrance, "Sister He Yi, Sister Mingyue, Beiming! Long time no see, everyone!" Beiming Xue exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "Wah! Sister Lin Yixin came back with you, big bro?" I replied awkwardly, "Er¡­ her university was closed by the time we finished supper, and Yiyi said she wanted to come here since it¡¯s been a long while since she saw everyone. Do you mind her sleeping in your room for the night, Beiming?" Beiming Xue nodded. "Not at all!" ¡­¡­ Before He Yi and Murong Mingyue could rise to their feet, the intelligent Lin Yixin had already latched onto He Yi¡¯s arm and shot her an affectionate smile, saying, "Sorry for missing most of the time for this Nation War and letting Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls bear all the burden, Sister He Yi. Please don¡¯t get angry with me, hehe¡­" He Yi burst into a giggle herself. "Of course not. If it wasn¡¯t for your God¡¯s Tear at the end, Lu Chen would¡¯ve dropped to Level 0." I added, "My account would¡¯ve been deleted if I had dropped to Level 0." "Ah? It was that bad?" He Yi exclaimed in surprise. I nodded affirmatively. "Yeah. Resurrection Art isn¡¯t a perfect skill." Murong Mingyue immediately said, "This is a classic ¡®beauty saves the beast¡¯ story alright¡­" I glared at her. "Who are you calling a beast?" Beiming Xue suggested, "Should we play Legends of the Three Kingdoms since there are five of us today? We can sleep after a game or two¡­" I nodded. "Sure. What do you girls think?" The three girls nodded in unison. "Let¡¯s do it!" ¡­¡­ The battle began after the cards were put down, everyone had taken their seats. During the first match, He Yi was the Emperor, and Beiming Xue and I were the Rebels. We pretended to be Loyalists, but the true Loyalists, Lin Yixin and Murong Mingyue, quickly figured out our ruse. Murong Mingyue¡¯s Zhang Fei was unbeatable, so she annihilated both of us an instant. During the third match, Lin Yixin threw in the towel very early into the game. While we were busy murdering the hell out of each other, she took something out of her handbag and went away to the kitchen. A while later, she carried a tray of five tea cups to us and said, "I learned a little sado from a cute Japanese girl while I was abroad in Vancouver. Please give it a taste, everyone. It¡¯s a Ning Shen Tea¡­" I asked, "Awakening (Ning Shen) Tea? Will it keep us from falling asleep?" "No way, I¡¯m nowhere skilled enough to produce such an effect¡­" While saying this, Lin Yixin carried a cup of tea to He Yi herself and said carefully and politely, "Sister He Yi, please give it a taste!" He Yi accepted it without a word. Murong Mingyue commented as she watched the scene, "What a lovely scene this is. Don¡¯t you agree?" He Yi and Lin Yixin both looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean, lovely?" Murong Mingyue giggled. "I was just reminded of the olden days when a man receives a new concubine. This is exactly how the concubine serves tea to the first wife¡­" "Pu¡­" An amused He Yi looked like she didn¡¯t know how she should react. Lin Yixin turned red as if she was found out. ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue said with a smile, "Now that you mention it, it does look like that. Big bro, are you marrying both Sister He Yi and Sister Lin Yixin?" I replied awkwardly, "What the fuck girl, I¡­ haven¡¯t thought about this yet¡­." Lin Yixin let out a chuckle. "In his dreams!" He Yi nodded in agreement. "Yeah, like something this fantastic would happen to him. Yiyi and I ain¡¯t that easy!" I curled my lips and rose to my feet. I then wrapped a hand each around their waist and said with a smile, "Wives, I¡¯m going to sleep, so come to my bed immediately¡­" Murong Mingyue goggled at the unbelievable sight. "He¡¯s acting uncharacteristically bold today. Was alcohol served at your supper, Yiyi?" "No!" Suddenly, Lin Yixin let out a devious laugh and caught He Yi¡¯s hand in her own. "Come on, Sister He Yi! Let¡¯s go to his room and wait for him right now! Let¡¯s see if he actually has the guts to carry out his claim!" He Yi laughed. "You serious about this?" "Sure I am!" "Alright then¡­" The two girls acted to walk into my room, and I immediately turned as white as a paper. It was one thing to say about such things and another to actually do them. I was sure I wouldn¡¯t survive the night if this actually happened. So I hurriedly stopped them in their tracks. "Wait¡­" "What¡¯s wrong?" both girls asked me in unison. "My legs are shaking, so¡­" "So shameful¡­" ¡­¡­ In the end, Lin Yixin waved a hand at me and returned to the sofa, taking small sips from her tea cup. He Yi also sat back down before shooting me a glance. "By the way, Lu Chen, you really should take a shower. Mingyue told me that it¡¯s been a week since she saw any of your clothes in the laundry basket¡­" "I know¡­" I blushed and ran into the shower room. Outside, the girls burst into cheerful laughter. Jokes aside, everyone here could see that Lin Yixin had willingly made a compromise and improved her relationship with He Yi and Murong Mingyue greatly as a result. Not that there was anything wrong with allies improving their relationship with one another, but it was clear that both He Yi and Lin Yixin were locked in a mighty struggle of wits and psychological warfare for my love. Unfortunately, the object of their affections, namely me, couldn¡¯t do anything to break this tie. One was the boss I deeply loved, and the other, a girl I loved just as deeply. How could I possibly make a choice between the both of them? ¡­¡­ The night passed by in the blink of an eye, and by the time I woke up it was already 8 in the morning. Lin Yixin had already called a cab and gone back to the university. We had promised each other to continue the grind at 8:30 am sharp! Swhoosh! After logging into the game, I crawled out of the tent just in time to hear a rustling sound from the tent next to mine. A while later, a beautiful wanderer carrying a war axe and wristguards with a pair of devil bells on them appeared. The Cambrian-grade item was quickly becoming a symbol of Lin Yixin, spawning a saying: ¡°If you hear the ringing of the Devil Bell, then you know that the Fruit Knife Goddess has arrived.¡± "Where are we grinding today?" Lin Yixin asked with a smile. I thought for a moment before answering, "Let¡¯s fight at the mountaintop. There are Level 170 ancient mobs up there, and at our current level, they¡¯ll give five times the experience or more! We¡¯ll definitely hit Level 120 before the morning is over!" "Alright then, let¡¯s go!" I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse while Lin Yixin followed me on foot. Yesterday¡¯s hard work gave us plenty of experience and equipment, so Lin Yixin was now wearing an absolutely broken Cambrian-grade Divine Armament and two Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade pieces of equipment right now. Both of these items were Level 100 metal armor, and although they were nothing compared to the Devil Bell, the increase in Defense was still much appreciated. Currently, the Devil Bell was sitting at the top of the Equipment Ranking and point-wise, it scored more than 30 times the runner-up. It was a sight that could drive a player into crying hax. According to Murong Mingyue, the only reason I got a super equipment like the Devil Bell was because my Nation War contribution points were eight times higher than Luo River God¡¯s; an impossible achievement that could only be properly compensated with an equally impossible reward. In comparison, the 2nd place of the Nation War, Purple Lily¡¯s super mage, only got a 4-star Outstanding Heaven-grade mage robe, nothing at all compared to the Devil Bell. The 3rd place¡¯s reward was even worse; an Earth-grade item only. That being said, everyone in the ranking got a level reward, which was great for them and pointless for me because I had dropped to Level 70 or so at the time. The 7-Luck reward was definitely worth it, however. ¡­¡­ We continued to climb up the mountain. The thick snow on the mountaintop was showing signs of melting, and after we reached the top, the entire map was colored blood-red. The color was meant to tell players that they were in the territory of the undead; a map that had fallen to the Night Creature faction. The mobs¡¯ levels were super high, and most players wouldn¡¯t train here because the cost was too high. Lin Yixin and I paid no heed to the visual warning, however. With the Phantom Wolf King, an Immortal Rank Boss pet, carving open a path for us, we felt no pressure whatsoever! A long trek later, we finally arrived at a map with rotten, pitch-black ground. Further ahead, there was a territory of the dead where large graves littered the ground until horizon, and ghastly cries filled the air¡ª Beep! System Notice: You have entered the map "Ghastly Wail Cemetery"! ¡­¡­ "Ghastly Wail Cemetery?" Lin Yixin blinked once before saying, "I¡¯ve read about this place in the database. Even the weakest mob here is a Level 170 ancient mob. Are we sure we can do this?" I raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword and declared confidently, "No problem. Did you forget that I¡¯m the 4th ranker in the CGL Hall of Fame, and you are the 5th? If people our caliber were to be afraid to grind in a map like this, then who in the world would respect us?" Lin Yixin raised her eyebrows as she replied, "Check your level again before you say that, you shameless, Level 110 bastard¡­" "It¡¯ll be fine! Risk and profit are two sides of the same coin, and with me around, nothing will dare to hurt you!" The ground suddenly shook before I could finish my sentence. The next moment, an earthen spike burst out of the ground and pieced both me and Lin Yixin. It hurts! 17263! 20182! Lin Yixin turned as white as a sheet of paper as she backed away. She had almost been one-shot. "What the hell is this thing! It¡¯s way too powerful! Little Cheat, it¡¯s all on you now¡­" "What the fuck, my level is only a bit higher than yours¡­" "Well your equipment¡¯s better, so get your ass in there already!" Left with no choice, I Charged toward the estimated source of the attack and hit the ground with War Crush. A bunch of damage numbers rose from the ground, and the rotten earth split apart to reveal an ugly, ghastly scorpion¡ª Cave Devil Scorpion LV-170 (Ancient) Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Introduction: One of the protectors of the Ghastly Wail Cemetery, the Cave Devil Scorpion used to be the overlord species of the mountain. They transformed into the puppets of the Night Creatures after they were infected by the death plague. The Cave Devil Scorpions possess incredibly powerful twin blades and an incredibly poisonous tail. Countless adventurers had perished beneath their sharp talons. Chapter 774: Devil Giant Card I unleashed my god-tier skill with a shout, but all it achieved was a big fat miss. My level was simply far too behind the mob¡¯s. Swhoosh! I took a few steps back and used Thunderous Charge. Again, it was a miss, but this time the Phantom Wolf King nailed the mob in place like a wedge and swiped it repeatedly with its claws. It dealt an incredible amount of damage with its basic attacks and Claw of the Storm. I moved to the Cave Devil Scorpion¡¯s rear. Then, I thrust my sword into its butt and used Universe Break and Burning Blade Slash. Chiang chiang chiang! The eruption caused the Cave Devil Scorpion to scream in pain and lose 70k HP in one go. It wasn¡¯t very good damage, however. At my peak, this combo could¡¯ve easily dealt over 150k damage. The level gap was simply too huge! Despite its pain, the Cave Devil Scorpion reacted swiftly and tried to scissor me with its giant pincers. I immediately withdrew out of range on the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. My resistances might have dropped considerably, but my stats were almost the same as before. My movement speed didn¡¯t affect my control or my ability to move in the slightest. "Watch out!" Lin Yixin suddenly shouted behind me. Something sank into my back, and I knew that it was the Cave Devil Scorpion hitting me with its tail. The attack had deleted 30k HP from my HP and poisoned me at the same time. Some distance away, Lin Yixin laughed at my miserable state. "Little Cheat, you look just like the Hulk right now¡­" I shot back. "Doing nothing and laughing at me, Beauty Lin? Just you wait, I¡¯m coming to kick your ass once this big guy is dead!" The fierce battle continued for a moment, and three minutes later, the Cave Devil Scorpion¡¯s HP was almost empty. "Yiyi, now!" "Got it!" Lin Yixin answered my call without hesitation and dashed toward the Cave Devil Scorpion. She landed Barrier Break + Extreme Break combo on the mob¡¯s neck and dealt great damage¡ª 15277! 11983! Tsk tsk, Lin Yixin¡¯s offensive power had increased a lot after she reached Level 102. It was all thanks to the Cambrian-grade Divine Armament, Devil Bell, greatly increasing her stats. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Lin Yixin jumped to Level 103 right after she landed the killing blow. My own experience bar filled up by 87% in one go. Killing ancient mobs that were 60 levels higher than me was so awesome! In a party, the distribution of kill experience generally goes like this: The last hitter gets 50% of the mob¡¯s experience, and the rest is distributed by order of DPS. Since I was the one who dealt almost all of the damage to the mob, the leftover experience, which was 50% or so, all went to me. This meant that both Lin Yixin and I were leveling at equal pace, which was good for the both of us. Pop... We continued forward, but roamed the perimeter of Ghastly Wail Cemetery only. The reason we didn¡¯t dare to go deeper was because three Cave Devil Scorpions or more could easily put us in serious danger. My God Binding Art couldn¡¯t immobilize the mobs, and the Phantom Wolf King couldn¡¯t tank two Cave Devil Scorpions at the same time. My apparition was also paper as hell and could only really be used as bait when we needed to escape to safety. The Cave Devil Scorpions dropped one by one, entertaining us with the sight of our experience bars refilling again and again. We took over 20+ Cave Devil Scorpions in nearly one and a half hours, and I was now at Level 119, and Lin Yixin, Level 115. It wouldn¡¯t be long before she could participate in the battle as well. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Lin Yixin pulled my fingers and pointed to the distance. "Little Cheat, look. What is that scary-looking thing?" I looked at the direction she was pointing and saw a gigantic creature deep within the graveyard. It was covered in green moss, and it looked like a giant stone creature that had gone through some sort of surgery before. Its bulging muscles and skin lumps looked incredibly strange, and it looked like it was sewn together using many body parts. Its arms looked like a mountain giant¡¯s, the left side of its head was a ferocious tiger¡¯s, and the right side, a leopard¡¯s. Its torso was swollen, and its chest area was an amalgamation of several different lumps of flesh. It had four claws and a swift movement speed that didn¡¯t match its appearance. It was covered in moss and stony skin. It was a literal Frankenstein of sorts. Devil Giant LV-175 (Ancient) Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Introduction: One of the protectors of the Ghastly Wail Cemetery, the Devil Giant is the result of an undead shaman¡¯s experiments; an artificial creature put together using many different monster body parts. It possesses four legs that move with incredible speed, and its powerful arms can crush rocks with ease. It is known as the stone guardian of Ghastly Wail Cemetery. ¡­¡­ "Get ready. This is a fierce one, and it¡¯ll take too long if we don¡¯t fight this mob together," I said before tossing a Level 100 2-star Outstanding Dark Gold¨Cgrade bow and two sets of grayish, rusted arrows into Lin Yixin¡¯s arms. "Here, use these and attack the mob from range!" "OMG¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open. "Where did you even get this bow? Also, these arrows are way too terrible. The steel arrows Qingqing bought are +250 Attack at minimum¡­" I curled my lips. "Don¡¯t be picky now. Be a good girl and control the mob from range¡­" "But I don¡¯t have any ranged skills¡­" "It doesn¡¯t matter, I just need you to control the mob." "Fine." I charged the mob and snatched the Devil Giant¡¯s aggro with the Cyan Netherworld Sword with ease. Then, I worked together with the Phantom Wolf King to chip away at its HP. The Devil Giant possessed great Attack, and every basic attack dealt over 20k damage to me. The level penalty was simply too great. The good news was that I had used the Bloodknight Card and increased my HP by 40%, so I wasn¡¯t afraid of its offensive power. Plus, the little wolf was the tank of the party, not me. The Level 110 Ice Dragon Kris was also firing icy breaths at the mobs from above, but what really surprised was the fact that it dealt over 20k damage per hit. It was almost unthinkable that this was the damage of a Level 110 pet. It could¡¯ve easily one-shot another pet of the same level. Lin Yixin was standing above a giant rock and firing a bunch of arrows at the mob. To my surprise, she possessed impressive archery skills despite playing a melee character all this time, and her accuracy could put over 90% of existing archers to shame. Once I figured out the mob¡¯s weak point with Dark Pupils, I shouted, "Yiyi, the Devil Giant¡¯s weak point is its right eye! Shoot it with everything you got!" "Got it! You should attack its weak point too, Little Cheat!" "It¡¯s too tall for me to reach¡­" "You shortie¡­" "Come on, the damn mob is three meters tall. How the hell am I supposed to reach its right eye¡­" Lin Yixin giggled. "My angry Little Cheat jumped into the air, but he was only tall enough to hit the stone giant¡¯s knee~~" "Fuck fuck fuck¡­" I sweared incomprehensibly. Thanks to the combined strength of two top-tier players and their two pets, we were able to delete 97% of the mob¡¯s HP in around 7 minutes. I stopped attacking, and Lin Yixin rushed over with her giant axe and smashed its head apart like a barbarian princess! Swhoosh! Just like that, I rose a level. Grinding at this place was seriously awesome. ¡­¡­ Pop! The Devil Giant dropped a ton of magic stones and a cyan card. When I picked it up and gave it a look, I couldn¡¯t help but break into a grin¡ª Devil Giant Card: Increases max HP and Defense by 30%. Duration: 90 minutes. ¡­¡­ I said with a smile, "Damn, this card is good. I¡¯ll be using this, Yiyi! If more Devil Giant Cards drop, I¡¯ll give them to you!" "Sure!" Lin Yixin replied while checking her own stats. "Hmm, it¡¯s a shame that I only have 100+ Tactics points right now, or Bombshell could be pretty useful here¡­" I asked, "How much Tactics do you have exactly?" "184¡­" "Mn, that¡¯s still a 71% boost to all stats. Here, I¡¯ll give you the party leader, and you can use Bombshell. This¡¯ll boost my survivability and allow us to challenge two Devil Giants at a time!" "Okay!" I gave Lin Yixin the party leader and watched all my stats go up by a whopping 71% under the effects of Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯s signature stratagem. Add the Devil Giant Card into the mix, and my stats were starting to look OP again. I now had a max HP of 160k, and my hidden Defense was also increased by a lot. "Haha, this Devil Giant Card is seriously great. If we can collect enough of them, they¡¯ll be incredibly useful in arena or guild battles. It¡¯s almost like empowering oneself with a powerful stratagem." "Yeah, that¡¯s true. Anyway, let us continue!" "Alright¡­" ¡­¡­ We continued forward, aggroed the Devil Giants, killed them together with our pets, and were rewarded with a generous amount of experience. It was always a delight to grind high-level mobs with low level but amazing stats. Chiang chiang chiang¡­ There was a time I was sent stumbling backward by a Devil Giant, and I immediately pointed my palm to the sky and launched a golden seal. The Ancient Sword Seal crashed on top of the Devil Giant with such force that it was nearly knocked off-balance. A huge damage number floated above its head¡ª78379! ¡­¡­ "Wow! Is that your Divine General Skill, Little Cheat?" Lin Yixin looked at me in astonishment. "It¡¯s so beautiful¡­" I smiled. "Yeah. The Ancient Seal is an active offensive-type Divine General Skill. It was the reason I managed to keep the Northern Alliance at bay until you arrived." "Hehe, it¡¯s a beautiful skill. I envy you¡­" Lin Yixin said with a pout. It was because she was a Divine General herself, but her Divine General Skill was unusable. ¡­¡­ I was about to console her when the sound of thundering horse hooves suddenly entered our ears. A short while later, a troop of cavalry riding on Fire Greedy Wolves appeared and surrounded the two of us in the blink of an eye. The Greedy Wolf Cavalry walked up to us and declared solemnly, "Excuse me, but the Ghastly Wail Cemetery is now Thunder¡¯s leveling map. Leave immediately, or we won¡¯t be showing any mercy!" Chapter 775: Thunder’s Taun I looked left and right for a bit before turning my mount around casually. "You were a guild from Wind City, weren¡¯t you? Why have you come to Sky City?" Before the other player could say anything, Lin Yixin swung her axe and declared like a true barbarian, "Why are you wasting words on them, Little Cheat? Let¡¯s kill them all and get back to grinding already~" I groaned on the inside before lowering my voice, "My dear great aunt, did you forget that we are not Level 160 Earthfire Realm players anymore? We are at least 30 levels weaker than they are, if not more. This is not a fight we can take¡­" "In that case, let¡¯s reveal our identities and wise them up¡­" Lin Yixin said. "Mn." It was a good idea. There was practically no one in the entire China server who hadn¡¯t heard of Lin Yixin or me today, so this guild should understand the correct course of action after we revealed our identities. The next moment, I turned on my equipment visual effects and revealed my ID¡­ although, I had a feeling that they already knew who we were from the beginning. Their levels should be high enough to ignore our settings. "I see, you are Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy!" The Greedy Wolf Cavalryman who was speaking to us earlier smiled a smile that didn¡¯t reach the eye. "But still, you two must leave this place right away. Our guild leader wants to secure a foothold in Dragonbone Mountain Range, and he has ordered us to occupy Ghastly Wail Cemetery at all costs. So please leave this map now, or we will¡ª" ¡­¡­ Chiang! I pulled out my sword before he could say anything else and pierced his chest with Universe Break. Then, I executed Burning Blade Slash through his torso into the nearby cavalry before ending the combo with an Ancient Seal, killing a group of players who attempted to retaliate after my sudden attack. The enemy might have the level advantage, but even then, killing that Greedy Wolf Cavalry wasn¡¯t too difficult. On my sword, the Greedy Wolf Cavalryman who was talking a lot of smack earlier slowly vanished with, his mouth agape in fury and disbelief. It looked like he couldn¡¯t believe that someone my level would dare to attack him. Thud! I threw his corpse to the ground and made sure to trample over it a couple of times with the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. Then, I pointed my sword at him and spat, "I gave you face and this is how you repay me, you motherfucker? Dragonbone Mountain Range is a public map, and there isn¡¯t any guild in the entire server who has the gall to call it their own! Even if there was one, it would be the likes of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya, not a shit-tier guild like Thunder! How small is your brain to come all the way to Sky City and play monkey of the mountain, you fucking joker!?" Behind me, Lin Yixin cheered with a giggle, "Show them who¡¯s boss, Little Cheat!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a new troop of Greedy Wolf Cavalry appeared from the inner area of Ghastly Wail Cemetery. They were accompanied by many archers, manges, priests, bards and tacticians as well. The party was very well-equipped, and their leader was a spear wielder clad in refined battle armor and riding a black Dragonscale Warhorse. The text above his head stated: Thunderbolt LV-160 Magic Knight Guild: Thunder Position: Leader ¡­¡­ The newcomer was none other than the guild leader of Thunder himself, Thunderbolt. This was the man who kidnapped Candlelight Shadow during the battle of Dawn Valley and forced him to invade Burning City unsuccessfully. "Haha, your reputation is well-deserved, Lu Chen. Your moves are impressive even at your current level." Thunderbolt swung his fire spear before continuing, "I wasn¡¯t going to take Ghastly Wail Cemetery by force, but it¡¯s clear that you intend to humiliate my guild to the very end. Hmph! You said that Thunder is a shit-tier guild, didn¡¯t you? Let¡¯s see if you can say that again after we wipe the floor with you!" Thunderbolt then pointed his spear and shouted, "Brothers and sisters, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is a tyrannical guild that believes themselves to be the king of Sky City. Today, we, Thunder, will challenge their guild leader¡¯s mettle and see if they are truly worthy! The entire world may be favoring you right now, but my favor is one you will never gain! Advance! Kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy with a three-pronged attack!" Lin Yixin finally couldn¡¯t restrain herself anymore and walked up to my side with her battle axe. "Thunderbolt, just admit that you want to bully us while our levels are low already. Anyone who isn¡¯t blind can see this." The corners of Thunderbolt¡¯s lips curled upward. "Everyone is born with a mouth, so you¡¯re free to say whatever you want. But one way or another, the two of you are dead even if the world may scorn me for this!" "Come at us then¡­" Lin Yixin crossed her axe in front of her before thinking better of it and said, "Little Cheat, go get me a Level 120 single-handed sword, will you? This axe is only Level 40 and should¡¯ve been discarded a long time ago!" "Okay!" I smiled as I was just thinking the same thing as her. Lin Yixin had leveled up to 120 since we came to Dragonbone Mountain Range, but she was still wielding the low-level battle axe because we hadn¡¯t teleported back to the city to resupply. Since Thunder was kind enough to come all the way here and let us loot a Level 120 weapon off their dead bodies, it would be mean-spirited to turn their gift down their gift, right? "Come at me, my grandchildren! I promise it won¡¯t hurt too much!" I waved my sword tauntingly at them. Thunderbolt declared with a furious expression, "Kill them! Surround them so they can¡¯t escape!" The Greedy Wolf Cavalry immediately acted to trap us in a circle. "Yiyi, move to the back and shoot them with the bow! I¡¯ll hold them off!" I shouted. "Okay¡­" Lin Yixin retreated in a straight line and left behind a trail of footsteps on the rotten ground. I made sure that Resurrection Art was active and engaged the enemy. At this point, I didn¡¯t really care if I lost a level or two. Back then, I had fought against millions and millions of Northern Alliance elites and killed even the likes of Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. Naturally, these clowns posed no pressure to me whatsoever. Boom! I fired Thousand Ice Slash at a group of enemies and froze them while the Armored Ice Qilin Horse galloped along the sides. Now that I was Level 124, I no longer feared these Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen. I rushed toward the frozen riders and hit them with Burning Blade Slash. The triple-hit skill immediately drew a chorus of bloodcurdling screams! Pop pop pop... Countless souls rose into the air as the bodies dropped. They were surrounded by even more Health Potions, Magic Consumables and equipment. Meanwhile, Lin Yixin kept shooting while she put some distance between herself and the enemies. Although the bow wasn¡¯t strong, Lin Yixin was empowered by the Devil Bell and the 71% stat boost from Bombshell. Even at her level, she was able to deal over 10k damage per hit. "Archers, hit them with Mountain Stagger Arrows and Shock Arrows! Stun them to death!" Thunderbolt ordered, but dared not to engage us himself. He seemed to be afraid of our attack power, and he didn¡¯t want to risk throwing his own life away and leaving his army without a commander. ¡­¡­ I sang praises to my enemies as their archers and mages stepped to the front and attempted to assume positions at the small, narrow spaces of Ghastly Wail Cemetery. This is perfect! Swhoosh! The Cyan Netherworld Sword flashed like the sun, and I instantly launched Sword Boomerang at them. Standing in a row? You guys are practically asking to be killed! Boom! The Sword Boomerang rushed toward the enemies like a cyclone and shredded the archers in an instant. At the same time, I backed off a dozen or so steps just in time to dodge an entire volley of arrows. Thank goodness I dodged in time, or with my poor level, there was at least a 40% chance for each archer to stun me with their Shock Arrows. It would be terrible to get chain-stunned to death. Swhoosh! I saw that I still had 37 Divine Energy Points, so I activated Great Earth Transformation without hesitation and watched three gigantic dragons bursting out of the ground and transforming into three cyan swords. They defended me and greatly increased all my resistances. Now I could put on a real fight! I intentionally moved out of the mages and archers¡¯ attack range and fought as I retreated. Greedy Wolf Cavalry kept dying one after another around me. "Roar roar roar... Not to be outdone, the Phantom Wolf King abruptly fired a Purgatory Storm into a crowd. A ton of magic knights and archers instantly dropped dead to the rotten ground. At the same time, I charged toward the enemy and raised my arm imposingly. Firing three Ancient Seals into the clouds in a row, the golden seals crashed down on the players of Thunder and killed almost a hundred of them in rapid succession! That wasn¡¯t all. I acted swiftly and picked up three pieces of equipment from the ground in one smooth motion. Two of them were swords, and one of them was a cloak. The first sword was a Level 140 Spirit-grade weapon, and the other one was Level 120 Purple Gold¨Cgrade. The cloak was a Level 115 Spirit-grade item. They all had pretty good stats! "Hahaha!" I laughed loudly as I ran to the back, but I quickly discovered that Lin Yixin was being driven back by a dozen or so Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen. She was fighting back with her battle axe, but there was only so much damage she could do with a Level 40 weapon. "Hahaha, is this all you got? Now is the time to put the Fruit Knife Goddess on the floor, my brothers! Hahaha¡­" a couple of Greedy Wolf Cavalry declared vulgarly as they laughed. I rushed to her aid and sent a Greedy Wolf Cavalryman flying. Then, I tossed the cloak and the Level 120 sword to Lin Yixin and said, "Equip these!" Lin Yixin nodded and switched out her equipment immediately. A Level 120 Purple Gold¨Cgrade sword appeared in her hand, and a black cloak flowed down her back and beautiful legs. It made for a very soothing sight. ¡­¡­ Crack! The sword glowed with power before slamming into a Greedy Wolf Cavalryman¡¯s chest. Then, Lin Yixin activated Great Earth Transformation as well and surrounded herself in cyan lotus petals. She twirled a couple of times like a top¡ªher sword leaving deadly holes in her enemies¡¯ necks¡ªand less than half a minute later, the dozen or so magic knights all dropped to the ground. Boom! That wasn¡¯t the end of her dance, however. A gigantic pillar of ice covered in flames expanded around her sword, and the Ice Flame Slash crashed down on a crowd and dealt over 20k damage per person. The Thunder players turned as white as paper as we had proven to be stronger than they imagined. ¡­¡­ A green-faced Thunderbolt clenched his fists tightly and growled, "Fuck! That stupid pig Tempest Shadow! The intel he gave us was wrong; Wind Fantasy had leveled up to 120 in the past 24 hours! Shit, there¡¯s no way we can kill them in a narrow terrain like this. Withdraw! We must withdraw from Ghastly Wail Cemetery now!" The Thunder players immediately started retreating. But to their surprise, a draconic roar suddenly erupted from their rear, and a cyclone of draconic energy killed a ton of players. Someone had ambushed them! ¡­¡­ A new troop of elite cavalry appeared from the inner area Ghastly Wail Cemetery, and the high-level warrior leading them declared proudly from atop his mount, "You think you can retreat unscathed after you threatened our vice leader?" Chapter 776: The Northern Agreemen ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi said with a loud laugh, "Are they attacking you because your level is low, Boss Broken Halberd? These pathetic bullies are seriously despicable." I looked above their heads. Gui Guzi and Chaos Moon had already passed the Level 130 mark. With the power of the Dragonlight Cavalry and their Famous General Skills, they too needed less than a week to grind back to Level 150. Smiling, I raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword and pointed at Thunderbolt. "Is there anyone who will kill Thunderbolt with me? Let this be the guild¡¯s wipeout event of the day. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, leave no Thunder player alive in Ghastly Wail Cemetery!" "This one¡¯s mine!" Li Chengfeng answered my summon with a laugh, activated Great Earth Transformation and surrounded himself with three cyan swords just like I was, and charged toward Thunderbolt right away. The moment he engaged the guild leader, he zigzagged out of harm¡¯s way and landed a four-hit combo right at the center of Thunderbolt¡¯s chest. The skills easily tore apart his armor and killed him where he stood! "Fuck¡­" Thunderbolt was swearing on top of his lungs as he fell off his horse and died. He probably never imagined that his guild would meet such an outcome. Although Thunder¡¯s Greedy Wolf Cavalry was an elite cavalry, they were nothing but nothing but vegetables before the honed blades that was the Dragonlight Cavalry. Our cavalry was a king of cavalries that could destroy even the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry, to say nothing of the weaker Greedy Wolf Cavalry. ¡­¡­ "Kill them! Leave no one alive as the vice leader commands! Beauty Chaos Moon, take some men with you and surround them before they escape!" Gui Guzi shouted. The cavalry split up and pincered Thunder from the top and the bottom. Despite having less than 10% of their opponent¡¯s numbers, the Dragonlight Cavalry was able to crush the 10000-strong army in less than 20 minutes. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin pursed her lips and commented, "OMG, now I understand why the Dragonlight Cavalry was able to play a major role in the Nation War. This level of strength is positively terrifying¡­" I smiled. "Yeah, they¡¯re pretty good!" It was at this moment Li Chengfeng rode up to us. "Long time no see, Beauty Wind Fantasy! Are you satisfied with our vice leader¡¯s carrying skills?" Lin Yixin giggled. "It¡¯s not bad¡­" Lin Yixin replied, "Isn¡¯t it obvious? The mastermind is Candle Dragon. It¡¯s already been spread all over the forums that Candlelight Shadow is planning to recruit Thunder, Wings of Awakening and Silver Soul as their subguilds or form an alliance with them as equals. Whatever the case, it¡¯s clear that Candlelight Shadow is plotting something big again, and that he intends to transform the Avengers into his sword." I curled my lips distastefully and said, "Can we not talk about that disgusting Avengers alliance anymore? Ugh¡­" In fact, the Avengers were wholly at fault for our current predicaments. If they had reinforced Dawn City as initially promised, we wouldn¡¯t have lost so many levels, and Lin Yixin wouldn¡¯t have been forced to use God¡¯s Tear and lose her account. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng said, "Candlelight Shadow is plotting something alright. According to an unconfirmed rumor I heard, Candle Dragon had been sweeping through the leveling maps and collecting all kinds of health-boosting, defense-boosting cards like crazy in preparation for future Nation Wars in the past two days. If I¡¯m not mistaken, Wind City will be launching a regional-level Nation War with Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Avengers at the helm. Their plan is to march an army of ten million across the Eternal Ice Snow Region and tackle the three tier 2 major cities surrounding Eternal Love City. Candlelight Shadow wants to destroy all the cities around Eternal Love City first before launching an all-out assault on France¡¯s one and only major city." Surprised by the boldness of the plan, I said, "Candlelight Shadow sure has a big appetite." Li Chengfeng nodded. "Yeah. Back in Spirit of Grief, this was how Candlelight Shadow took down most major cities during the latter stages of the game; cracking the weaker cities first before sweeping an entire region. Now he¡¯s planning to use the same strategy again, and whether the French are ready for it remains to be seen." A pondering smile appeared on my face. "Interesting¡­" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, I received a message from Hot and Sour Noodles: "Are you there, Lu Chen?" "Yep. What is it, uncle?" "You¡¯re Level 124 already? Not bad, not bad. I need you for something. Are you with Lin Yixin right now?" "Yep. Is that a problem?" "Not at all! I want the both of you to come to Dawn City right now. He Yi, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Warsky and October Rain are already here." "Oh, okay. We¡¯ll come over right away!" It looked like something big was coming up. Almost all of the guild leaders of the super guilds had arrived at Dawn City. I told Lin Yixin what happened, and she agreed to attend the meeting without hesitation. Now that she was back to being the guild leader of Snowy Cathaya, she must shoulder the responsibility that came with it. Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and the rest of the gang didn¡¯t accompany us. The two of us were the only ones who teleported back to Dawn City! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Dawn City had gotten a whole new look since the last time I saw it. The city looked a lot more fortified, its defense towers got a lot more variety¡ªI spotted Fire Arrow Towers, Frost Arrow Towers, Magic Arrow Towers and more¡ªand its walls were covered in thick layers of anti-magic armor. The city¡¯s defense was a lot stronger than before, and it was clear that the Northern Alliance wouldn¡¯t have nearly as easy of a time breaching it even if they managed to make it here a second time. Hot and Sour Noodles rode up to us before greeting us with a smile, "Come, I¡¯ll add you to my party. We¡¯ll be heading to Dragonbone Mountain Range right away." "What are we doing there?" I asked. "Welcome some VIPs." "Oh?" Instead of pressing him further, I simply walked into the city with Lin Yixin. The Fruit Knife Goddess now met the Level Requirement of her mount and was able to ride her Frostscythe Warhorse once more. She also purchased several high-level equipment from the auction house in one go and equipped them. She was starting to look like the high-level war goddess she was once more. Warsky, October Rain, He Yi, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Luo River God of the Capital, Candlelight Shadow, Dominating Heaven Blade, Little Piglet and more were already waiting at the city gate. It definitely looked like something big was going on. After everyone was ready, we departed toward Dragonbone Mountain Range under Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ lead. A lot of players were grinding outside Dawn City, and they noticed our 37-man party almost immediately. Every single one of us was a guild leader that could shake the China server with a stomp of our foot, and together we could literally guide the general direction of our server in whatever way we wanted. ¡­¡­ Our party ran, no, slaughtered, our way up to the peak of Dragonbone Mountain Range without slowing down even once throughout the journey. In fact, the ones doing the slaughtering were my Phantom Wolf King, Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ Tiger King, Warsky¡¯s Ice Wolf and Lin Yixin¡¯s Ice Dragon only. At our level, our pets were enough to take any mobs who might stumble upon our way. However, when we reached the peak of the mountain, we immediately saw a party with red IDs waiting for us on a flat plain. In fact, almost everyone there was a familiar face: Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, Blade of Kings, Titan God, Frosty Night and Eye of the Storm were all present! Chiang! Warsky and I pulled out our weapons at the same time. Both of us got ready to engage our opponents. "Stop!" But Hot and Sour Noodles stopped us in a hurry and said, "We¡¯re not here to fight this time." Both Warsky and I were confused by his words. October Rain asked, "Is this a negotiation of sorts?" Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. "That¡¯s right. It¡¯s about time we speak terms with the Northern Alliance." "But why don¡¯t I see the French representative?" He Yi hit the nail in the head immediately. Hot and Sour Noodles replied with a smile, "That is exactly why we¡¯re having this negotiation." Candlelight Shadow let out a hmph, but didn¡¯t add anything to the conversation. ¡­¡­ We got off our mounts before walking up to the Northern Alliance party. It was a sign of respect toward our opponents. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow did the same before looking at us one by one. His gaze landed on me in the end before he said with a smile, "We must fight again in the future, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" I replied with a nod, "Anytime!" Blade of Kings wore a frigid expression as well. It was at this moment a female mage from Sunset City called "Dark Night¡¯s Rose" stepped forward and said, "Let¡¯s talk business, shall we?" "Mn." Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. Dark Night¡¯s Rose shrugged before she began, "The Northern Alliance is made up of six countries and eight cities. After the previous assault, some¡­ conflicts broke out between members of our group, which I¡¯m sure that you all, the elites of Heavenblessed, have already noticed. For example, we discovered that France¡¯s Eternal Love City has had close contacts with the Chaotic 27 recently, and there were even two incidents where their players attacked Titan City. For that reason, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had decided to attack Eternal Love City. The French can join the Chaotic 27 since they love them so much. The plan is to occupy Eternal Love City and send them packing into the Barren Lands." Lin Yixin commented, "Is this how you treat your allies?" Dark Night¡¯s Rose replied calmly, "There are no eternal friends, only eternal profit." Candlelight Shadow spoke up. "If I hear you correctly, you want us to attack the French and force them to split their attention between two fronts, am I right?" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow nodded. "Correct!" I spoke up next. "If Eternal Love City is brought down, how should we split the cities?" Dark Night¡¯s Rose smiled at me. "I see that you¡¯re a straightforward person, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. It is simple. Eternal Love City possesses one major city and five tier-two cities. We¡¯ll give you Eternal Love City and split the five tier-two cities between ourselves." He Yi chuckled. "It can¡¯t be that simple. Is there another reason you¡¯re giving us such a big share of the pie?" Dark Night¡¯s Rose shot He Yi a surprised look, but recovered herself instantly. "You are correct. We wish for the China server to sign an agreement with us. We can give you Eternal Love City, but we demand that you don¡¯t attack us or reinforce the Chaotic 27 while we invade them." Hot and Sour Noodles exclaimed in surprise, "You¡¯ve laid pawns in the Barren Lands already?" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow said with a smile, "Of course! Anyway, if you agree to this, then we can sign the agreement right away and launch the attack on Eternal Love City in two days. What do you think?" ¡­¡­ There was no reason to object, so the agreement was signed very quickly and confirmed by the system itself. Of course, the agreement was really just a useless piece of paper with no restrictive power whatsoever. The system might confirm it, but it wasn¡¯t a witness. "Do you trust them?" Lin Yixin asked me. I whispered back as I went down the mountain, "Ever heard of the saying ¡®plotting a hunt with a tiger¡¯? Only an idiot would believe the Northern Alliance¡¯s promise¡­" Chapter 777: He Yi’s Confession The reason why was hardly complicated. Eternal Love City was located in between the Chaotic 27 and the three major cities of the USA; a venomous fang lodged deep in the Northern Alliance¡¯s side. If this city were to fall into our hands, Titan City, Seven Star City and Hero City could hardly pretend that all was well, could they? The saying "one mountain cannot hold two tigers" exists in some form in every corner of the world, and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and Dark Night¡¯s Rose must know this as well. Even a blind person could tell that this war was going to be full of scheming and deception. That was why our alliance: Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng, all arrived at the mutual understanding that we would stay out of the siege battle that would take place two days later! During these two days, Lin Yixin and I swept through nearly every corner of the peak of Dragonbone Mountain Range and turned Ghastly Wail Cemetery into our playground. We murdered mobs as soon as they respawned, and we even took out two Level 170 Earth Rank bosses and earned boundless experience. We slept only a total of 10 hours in the last two days, and we spent nearly every waking moment grinding together until I returned to Level 152, and Lin Yixin 150. After Lin Yixin procured some high-quality equipment from her guild, she had regained at least 80% of her full power, be it in terms of stats or levels! ¡­¡­ I reached Level 155 on the fourth day, and although I still hadn¡¯t returned to the Heavenly Ranking, I was at 95% strength and only 8 levels behind the current leader, Li Chengfeng. When a player hit Level 160, the experience required to level up a character would increase massively. Moreover, our equipment and skill were excellent for both PvE and PvP, so it was only a matter of time before we caught up with the average. Knock knock... I heard a knocking sound from my door. It was Murong Mingyue. "Lu Chen, get up! Wind City will be traversing Eternal Ice Snow Region and attacking Eternal Love City today! It¡¯s the second Nation War!" I groaned from under my blanket. "And why should I care? I¡¯m not participating in the war against France¡¯s major city." "Be that as it may, you still have to get up and grind up your levels!" Murong Mingyue declared in a tone that would accept no rebuke, so I had no choice but to leave the warm embrace of my blanket and struggled down the bed. Eyes half-closed in sleep, I staggered out of my room and entered the washroom. "Ah¡­" Blushing, He Yi turned around and chided me, "Hey, you shouldn¡¯t close your eyes when you¡¯re walking¡­" I pressed my back into the wall behind me and didn¡¯t even dare to breathe too deeply. "Eve, why are you dressed like this?" Her white, jade-like skin seemed to shine through her pyjamas, and her breasts jiggled a little when she turned toward me. This was without mentioning the shapely butt I saw the moment my eyes truly opened and now the expression of cute anger He Yi was shooting me. The average man would¡¯ve lost control and jumped her already. He Yi looked both amused and exasperated with my reaction. "How much longer do you plan to stare at me?" I replied, "I-I¡¯m done¡­" "You¡¯ve been grinding pretty hard for the past couple days, haven¡¯t you?" He Yi asked. "Mn, I guess. I wanted to sleep a bit longer, but sis has a different opinion." "Hehe!" He Yi closed the door behind her and moved closer to me. She then pressed a light kiss on my cheeks before smiling at me. "I¡¯m done washing my face, so it¡¯s your turn. Be quick and don¡¯t make us wait for you for breakfast, okay? Also, we may not be participating in the Nation War between Wind City and Eternal Love City, but that¡¯s no reason to let our guard down. No one knows what the Northern Alliance is truly scheming behind our backs." "Mn." I could smell the faint fragrance on my cheek. Giving my dry lips a lick, I said in a soft voice, "Eve, are you really okay with me and Lin Yixin? I¡­ I think that I would be angry in your place¡­" He Yi pouted before replying in a slightly grudgeful but helpless tone, "What do you even want me to say? I couldn¡¯t find you when you were sick, and when I finally found you, Beauty Lin had already slipped into your heart and became someone very important to you. Moreover, how can I muster the heart to demand more from you, when you have already given me your life to protect me?" He Yi stared at me for a moment before breaking into a smile. "What I really want to know is this: I know that you like Beauty Lin, but do you like me?" Right now, He Yi looked nothing like the all-seeing, all-powerful GGS vice president she was and more like a neighbor girl seeking romance after washing her face. As a surge of warmth flowed into my heart, I hugged her shoulders and said, "I like you. I¡¯ve liked you from the very beginning. Forgive me, Eve, for I don¡¯t know what to do. I just can¡¯t bear to give up you or Lin Yixin." He Yi chuckled. "I¡¯m fine with leaving our relationship as it is now, and I won¡¯t ask you to leave Lin Yixin. This isn¡¯t a TV drama, not to mention that this kind of love is ridiculously tiring. I¡¯m satisfied as long as you remain by my side." "Really?" He Yi raised her eyebrows before chuckling, "Who do you think I am? Do you think that I¡¯m one of those small-minded girls who would commit suicide over a man? Well, you have nothing to worry about. At this day and age, an optimistic outlook is the key to a happier life." Regret filled every corner of my heart. I knew that He Yi hid a fragile heart behind her tough exterior. After all, how many people could claim that they were truly fine with their partner seeing another person? In fact, she might be acting tough precisely because she cared too much. I murmured, "I¡¯m sorry Eve, I¡¯m really sorry¡­ If there¡¯s one thing I can promise you, it¡¯s that I¡¯ll never leave your side for as long as I live!" He Yi giggled, put her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly. "I love you so much, but I don¡¯t really want to fight Beauty Lin for you either. What do I do?" "I don¡¯t know either. It¡¯s all my fault¡­" "Alright, alright, enough self-blaming. Now go brush your teeth and wash your face for breakfast already. Mingyue and I have to travel to the company in Shanghai later!" "Mn, okay." ¡­¡­ After I washed myself, I exited the door just in time to see Beiming Xue walking up the stairs on a pair of high-heels with some packed breakfast in her hands. She smiled at me and said, "Big bro, I bought the shaobing you love so much!" Me: "..." Everyone logged into the game after we finished breakfast. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The first thing I did upon appearing in Sky City was check my bag. All the loot I had collected in the past few days was here, and I unloaded all the items into the warehouse at Air Force One. My beautiful fox NPC, White Fox, smiled at me as she gave me the daily report. I noticed that her butt kinda wagging along with her tail. "Master, we earned a total of 178993 gold yesterday. If we deduct the taxes and operation fee, then the net profit is 122992 gold. Also, I think that our earnings today will exceed yesterday¡¯s." I was pleased. The shop was basically my regular source of private income. Dark Moon City¡¯s income might be tens or even hundreds of times bigger than Air Force One¡¯s, but those funds didn¡¯t belong to me alone. At least 50% of them was spent on the guild, and the majority of the remaining income belonged to the company behind Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Raincube Corporation. The good news was that 10% of the company shares belonged to me, so I was in no danger of starving to death. ¡­¡­ I teleported to Dark Moon City after I repaired my equipment. Dark Moon City was currently a Rank 9 territory, and it was still a long way away from reaching Rank 10. One of the prerequisites to increase the rank of the territory was to rank up all the buildings in the territory to max, and that was a grand project to say the least. Last time, Vanished God City "saved" us a ton of resources by invading Dark Moon City and losing, but there was no changing the fact that leveling a territory was going to be slow and steady work. Still, a Rank 9 territory at this stage of the game was hardly a mundane territory. According to my knowledge, Candle Dragon¡¯s territory was Rank 7, Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ was Rank 5, and Lin Yixin¡¯s Silver Fir City was Rank 7 only. They were quite a ways away from catching up to us! Moreover, Dark Moon City was a border city neighboring various maps such as Dragonbone Mountain Range, Dawn City, Black Coast, Bone Desert and more. It was the city that defended the northeast side of the China server against powerful threats such as the major city of India, Elephant City, in the east and the Northern Alliance in the north. Dark Moon City must grow stronger if we were to keep these enemies at bay, especially because it was a strategic location perfect for both offense and defense. It had been absolutely worth it back when we fought to the death to occupy Dark Moon City. ¡­¡­ I surveyed the territory hall for a bit and noted that everything was progressing smoothly. The Dark Knight Hero Udal was patrolling the territory with a troop of Ghost God Knights. Large numbers of Umbra Sharpshooters were keeping an eye out for any sign of activity atop the arrow towers. The size of a Rank 9 territory was at least 10 times the size of a Rank 1 territory, and although it was only 20% as big as Dawn City, its walls were secure, and its structures were as good as a tier 2 city¡¯s. Thud thud thud... It was at this moment I heard Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang and the others riding back into the city and dismounting in front of the territory hall. After nearly a week of hard grinding, everyone had returned to Level 150 and gained the possibility to become a Divine General once more. "Heh, your grinding speed is crazy, Lu Chen!" Li Chengfeng couldn¡¯t help but praise me when he saw my level. Chaos Moon said, "Nah, Wind Fantasy¡¯s crazier. She literally went from Level 0 to Level 152 in a week!" Du Thirteen shrugged. "What can you do? Beauty Lin¡¯s boyfriend is one of the best, if not the best player in the server, and he still had all his equipment. It would be stranger if someone Lu Chen¡¯s carried couldn¡¯t fly up the levels." I asked, "I¡¯ve been so busy that I didn¡¯t pay attention to anything that happened for the past couple of days. Chaos Moon, is there any in-server news that I should know about?" Chaos Moon pursed her lips and answered, "Well, Candle Dragon, Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker, Rose Thorn, Thunder, Wings of Awakening, Silver Soul and another 400+ guilds came together to form Wind City¡¯s invasion army. They number over 30 million people, and they just departed to Eternal Ice Snow Region an hour ago. In other news, around 20 new Famous Generals were born this week, and the majority of them were Soulas of the Foot, Bow Generals and more. The number of Famous Generals is growing to the point where even the system didn¡¯t bother to announce them anymore. Finally, you, Li and Beauty Lin are still the only three Divine Generals of the China server." "Mn, good job." "Really? Then come over here so I can give you a kiss!" Me: "..." Chapter 778: Sea Battle He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, and Chaos Moon were all present. It was also around this moment Wind City officially marched past Eternal Ice Snow Region. ¡­¡­ I selected an in-game livestream channel¡ªthe one that was broadcasting the battle between Wind City and Eternal Love City right now¡ªand projected it on a side wall. A moment later, a scene where a sea of players carrying red-colored, 5-star flags running all over the battlefield appeared clearly. The edges of Eternal Ice Snow Region were connected to a grassy plain. Large groups of Chinese cavalry were currently assaulting a pass the French players of Eternal Love City were defending. From the looks of things, the victor wouldn¡¯t be decided anytime soon. The spotlight of the broadcast was firmly locked onto Candlelight Shadow¡¯s figure. The man was currently killing players left and right and throwing Ghost God Prophecies at powerful players from time to time. Those poor bastards had no choice but to wait for death to claim them. "Ghost God Prophecy is such a disgusting ability¡­" He Yi said, "During the War of Dawn City, 9 out of 11 of the Heroic Bannermen Candlelight Shadow killed had died to his Ghost God Prophecy. I bet the Northern Alliance has the skill on a blacklist or something. Hmph, if it wasn¡¯t for that skill, I doubt that Candlelight Shadow could¡¯ve killed as many Heroic Bannerman as he did." Xu Yang voiced his agreement, "Yeah. Candlelight Shadow is strong, but to be honest, he can¡¯t quite catch up to our Lu Chen anymore." Li Chengfeng said with a grin, "That being said, his individual skills are still top-tier. If he becomes a Divine General, there¡¯s still a chance he can become a peak-level contender who can fight Lu Chen on even footing." High Fighting Spirits said, "Who cares? Divine General or not, he¡¯s still going to die in our hands!" Du Thirteen, Xu Yang and the others laughed heartily. High Fighting Spirits might be an honest man who usually spoke without thinking, but he perfectly portrayed everyone¡¯s thoughts at this moment. ¡­¡­ Back to the broadcast, Candle Dragon was giving their all in the battle. "Why are they trying so hard?" Beiming Xue asked after blinking once. He Yi simply smiled and said nothing. Beiming Xue giggled and held my arm, "Big bro, can you tell me something honestly? Do you want to become the king of the China server?" I shook my head without hesitation. "I want Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to become the king of China, not me. My personal glory is nothing compared to everyone¡¯s dreams!" Li Chengfeng nodded approvingly. "Yeah. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is all our dreams combined!" Gui Guzi clenched his fists excitedly and declared, "Say, why don¡¯t we launch our own invasion? Let¡¯s exit Fortress of the Iron Halberd and attack Burning City or Hot Sand City! Show the Vietnamese and the Koreans the true power of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" Chaos Moon giggled. "Ah, Little Gui is being stupid again¡­" Heaven¡¯s Rain blinked once before asking, "What do you mean, Sister Chaos Moon?" She answered with a smile, "It¡¯s simple. After losing the War of Dawn City, the Northern Alliance is pissed off and looking for a place to vent all their frustration. If we leave the protection of Fortress of the Iron Halberd and taunt them now, they¡¯ll definitely drop everything they¡¯re doing and swarm us from every direction. How do you suppose we stop all these cities ourselves?" I nodded. "Chaos Moon is correct. Now is not the time we go on the offense yet. Trying anything now while the Northern Alliance is still united would only be suicide." Chaos Moon giggled happily. "Glad that I haven¡¯t given you that kiss for nothing, hehe¡­" He Yi immediately shot me a wary look. "What did you do this time¡­" I would only look guilty if I protested my innocence, so I said, "Nothing. Do you really think that Chaos Moon is up to my standards?" "I suppose that¡¯s true¡­." He Yi smiled and nodded, but I was sure that her thoughts were the opposite of her words. Lin Yixin was probably the only woman in the entire world she could tolerate being in a relationship with me, not that I had any plans to woo another woman. A fickle man was a dead man after all. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng continued to analyze the situation, "Eternal Love City is an important strategic location that stands between Hero City, Titan City, Wind City and the Chaotic 27. Unless the heads of the Northern Alliance collectively lost their minds overnight, they should never have agreed to surrender Eternal Love City to us. If China successfully seizes Eternal Love City, we can absolutely use it as a forward base to attack their cities. We may even be able to devour the entire north one day." He Yi nodded approvingly. "Chengfeng is correct. The Northern Alliance isn¡¯t stupid¡ªquite the opposite, everything they¡¯ve done in the War of Dawn City such as raiding our supply lines, attacking another city to split up our forces, splitting up our encirclement and more showed that they¡¯re far shrewder than we initially imagined¡ªso it makes no sense that they would give up Eternal Love City for free." Chaos Moon leaned against a totem pole and tapped the hilt of her sword against the throne absentmindedly, "So, what are they really plotting here?" My eyes turned steely all of a sudden. "Assuming that you¡¯re the Northern Alliance, who would be your most hated enemy? Which forces would you want to remove more than anyone else?" Li Chengfeng exclaimed in realization, "That would be Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! You mean to say that the Northern Alliance is plotting against us!?" "That¡¯s right!" I clenched my fists tightly before continuing, "We are Vienna¡¯s Sorrow greatest enemies, and someone as smart as him would never ignore such an obvious threat without good reason. Just the same, Chariot City is just itching to take revenge for the 100000-strong Behemoth Cavalry and Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry we killed." Gui Guzi asked quietly, "If what you say is true, then they must be close to taking up arms very soon. But why are there no signs yet?" "Signs?" I smiled. "Assuming that the Northern Alliance wants to deal a severe blow to our guild, shouldn¡¯t you already know what their first target would be?" This time, it was He Yi who exclaimed in realization, "Dark Moon City! They¡¯re going to attack Dark Moon City!" Li Chengfeng also looked shocked. "Holy shit, they¡¯re really setting their eyes on our city!? Those motherfuckers! But how are they going to come here?" I waved my hand in front of me and brought up the world map. "Looking at the map, we know there¡¯s no way they can attack us by land because the Fortress of the Iron Halberd and Dawn City is standing in their way. That leaves only one possibility left: the sea! In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that the Northern Alliance¡¯s naval fleet is on their way already!" Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes widened. "These bastards are crossing the Black Sea to attack us?!" "That¡¯s right!" I nodded. "Even if they failed to occupy our city, they could deal enough damage to reduce our combat strength tremendously. After that, all they need to do is to ramp up the pressure until we are utterly crushed. Once Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is gone, who else is left to stop Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s path of conquest? Candle Dragon, Hall of Immortality, Thunder? How could they possibly be a match for him?" ¡­¡­ "Unbelievable. These cowards are planning to ambush us from the sea?" Du Thirteen exclaimed in disbelief, and beside him Xue Lu was nodding as well. "Lu Chen, are you sure about this?" I gave him a helpless smile. "I wish I was wrong too, but the chances of this being wrong are pretty low to be honest!" He Yi took over and declared with determination, "Tell all our members to return to Dark Moon City and prepare for war right away! Tell Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng that we need help to intercept the Northern Alliance¡¯s fleet as well!" "Understood!" I immediately carried out the order and informed them all four ally guild leaders about the crisis Dark Moon City was facing. At the same time, we received confirmation from a China exchange student in Korea that an army of 10 million had rallied at the shores of Black Coast, entered their ships and were sailing toward us right now. It would only take them three hours to reach Dark Moon City! ¡­¡­ After that, I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and led my generals and elites toward the shores of Black Coast first. There was a big harbor there where players could purchase warships for naval warfare. These warships could also ferry players and engage other enemy ships in melee battle. Our allies answered our cry for help and came through the teleportation formation. It wasn¡¯t long before a cheerful-looking Lin Yixin led Snowy Cathaya out of the gates and rode over to us. When she arrived, she said, "It¡¯s been non-stop warring as of late, eh? The timing¡¯s perfect though. It¡¯s a study week this time around, so I can fully concentrate on this naval battle!" I shot her a glance. "Shouldn¡¯t you be studying for the upcoming exam?" "Why would I?" Lin Yixin looked at me in surprise. "I barely even attended any classes. It¡¯s way too late to start studying now." I nodded. "Yiyi is truly a model student!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Ling Xueshang showed up next, and they both looked at the shores with excitement on their faces. "I¡¯m so excited. We¡¯re finally playing the defender on our home ground for once, and it¡¯s a naval battle no less!" I asked them all, "How many troops can you spare, my friends? Our naval army is vastly outnumbered by the enemy¡¯s, so please note that there¡¯s a high chance that we¡¯re all gonna be wiped out in combat." Lin Yixin replied, "Snowy Cathaya¡¯s main guild and subguilds will be arriving very soon. There are about 500k of us." Strangers of Thee Lifetimes replied, "Blazing Hot Lips is more or less the same, maybe slightly more than that to be exact." Ling Xueshang: "The Monarch Descends can afford 400k troops." Come See The Snow Tonight: "Baidicheng can only afford 250k troops." He Yi added, "Many of our subguilds reached Rank 6 for the past two days, so our total player count is over 300k." ¡­¡­ I thought for a moment before saying, "2 million people, huh? That¡¯s perfect. Let¡¯s buy 2000 warships and load 1000 people onto each. Eve, prepare to fork the money¡­" Each big warship cost 10000 RMB, so this was absolutely a war of financial power and manpower. That being said, He Yi could definitely afford 20 million with Raincube supporting her, not to mention that the money in her individual account far exceeded this number. As the president of the Raincube Corporation, her total assets were worth over 1 billion. This level of expenditure was nothing to her! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ It didn¡¯t take long for the seashore to become jam-packed with 2000 dark red warships. It was an impressive sight, and as the buyer He Yi owned all of them. The boarding began after she shared the usage rights with all five guilds. The Northern Alliance¡¯s ten-million-strong army must not be allowed to reach the shore, or Dark Moon City would suffer massive damage. Our only chance was to intercept them on the sea and crush them completely! Chapter 779: Deep Sea Encounter Battle "Got it." I nodded before adding. "Can you buy another four Dragon God Warships for our allies, Eve? Their guild leaders could use the ride too. The Northern Alliance is only gunning for Dark Moon City this time, but Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng still came to help us without complaints. I think they deserve that much, not to mention that some extra firepower and defense is always a good thing." "Mn." He Yi easily accepted the suggestion and bought another four Dragon God Warships like she hadn¡¯t just spent over 20 million RMB earlier. This was definitely a battle of financial power. The winner would gain their money¡¯s worth, and the loser would lose everything. The Northern Alliance had to buy ten thousand ships to ferry their ten-million-strong army across the sea, so that was 100 million gold at the minimum. It wasn¡¯t a cheap sum even if converted into USD currency. ¡­¡­ I spurred my mount up the plank as I created an 800-man party. The biggest party a sixth-promotion player could create was 200, 400 for a Famous General, and 800 for a Divine General, so this meant that I could buff 800 players¡¯ Attack by 200% at the same time. We were a terror to all our enemies. He Yi also partied 200 players and got on the Dragon God Warship. The wide, orderly deck was the best place to stand on the ship. All the metal armor players led by He Yi and me moved to the edge of the deck to form a shield formation, and Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue¡¯s archers, mages and priests stood at the center of the deck. Thank goodness the warship was almost as big as an aircraft carrier, or fitting this many people on the deck would be next to impossible. Ding~! System Notice: You have been granted the right to command the Dragon God Warship! ¡­¡­ A command interface appeared in front of me the next moment. I had the right to order the ship captain to sail the ship in any direction, and the use of various tools such as cannons, hooks, gangplanks, iron chains and so on. It would take skill to command the ship properly. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit of excitement. This would be the first time I commanded a naval battle, and almost certainly, the first naval battle for 99% of the players present as well. Everyone looked excited for the upcoming battle. A sea of players started boarding the line of warships that was parked near the shore after everything was ready. It looked like everyone here was fairly professional and well-disciplined because the boarding went smoothly and orderly. A little less than an hour passed by, and finally, all two thousand warships were fully loaded and ready to set sail! Beep beep beep... Our ally guild leaders sent me a message: "The preparations are complete. When should we set sail?" On the deck, I pulled out my sword and pointed in front of me, declaring, "It is time to raise the anchors and take off, everyone! Seeing as our grandchildren at the Northern Alliance can¡¯t wait to cross the sea and fight us, we shall oblige them, sink their souls in the deep sea and dye the waters of the Black Sea red with their blood! Destination: the center of the Black Sea!" Battle cries filled the air as everyone unsheathed their weapons. Carrying Dark Moon City¡¯s hopes and dreams, two thousand warships left the shore and set sail toward the deep sea. Whether or not Dark Moon City could be saved depended entirely on our performance in the upcoming naval battle. ¡­¡­ Waves lapped against the Dragon God Warship¡¯s armor incessantly, and seagulls soared in the sky above our heads. A huge bird whose name was unknown to me let out a shrill cry and started hunting them down one by one. I opened the world map and activated Dark Pupils, gazing into the distance as our warship continued to sail toward the Black Sea. I could see nothing on the perfectly blue screen except the orange dots that represented our two thousand warships. So far, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. During this time, He Yi pulled out a red banner with the emblem of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls sewn on it from her bag, walked up the ship railing and plugged it at the front of the ship. Then, she returned to me and stood by my side with a smile on her face. "Based on the time we set sail, I estimate that we¡¯ll encounter the Northern Alliance¡¯s fleet in an hour or so. How do you plan to fight this naval battle?" I shook my head. "I don¡¯t know yet. I¡¯ve never fought a naval battle before¡­" He Yi giggled. "I guess we can only improvise then. I¡¯ve never fought a naval battle either, and I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s the same for the Northern Alliance. The only question is: will their top experts such as Vienna¡¯s Sorrow cross the sea to invade Dark Moon City, or will they stay where they are and contest Wind City over Eternal Love City?" "Who cares?" I smiled. "I would only be happy if Vienna showed up. He must¡¯ve thought I managed to take him out only because my attack power was greatly increased by the Resurrection Art last time. If he dares to show his face in front of us again, I¡¯ll slaughter him fair and square and see what other excuses he has." He Yi nodded. "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Behind us, Beiming Xue was giving instructions to the archers, "Unlike our Dragon God Warship, the body of a common warship is mostly made of wood. That is why we¡¯re going to use Blaze Arrows and set the enemies¡¯ ships on fire first when we encounter the enemy. Mages, the same goes for you! Don¡¯t hold back on those Flame Blasts!" The ranged players nodded obediently and responded, "Understood, commander Beiming!" Beiming Xue was the corps commander of our archer party, and her official guild position was only a level below mine, so she was very well respected within the guild. Moreover, she was the legendary Dark Archer and a cute girl to boot, so she was adored by everyone! ¡­¡­ I surveyed our surroundings before sending out the order, "All ships, spread out and form one long battle line. Don¡¯t let even a single Northern Alliance warship escape our notice! Also, estimated time left until engagement is 40 minutes, so stay on your toes!" Everyone including our allied guilds obediently moved into position. Our banners stretched at least dozens of kilometers long. "Lu Chen, have you thought about the safety of Dark Moon City?" He Yi asked me suddenly. I smiled. "Don¡¯t worry, I had discussed this with Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Yiyi, and they rallied an army of one million from Sky City and Vanished God City to protect Dark Moon City. They aren¡¯t elites, but they should be able to repel any threat who might think to attack Dark Moon City while we are gone." "I¡¯m glad to hear that you prepared, hehe." "Of course. It¡¯d suck if our home got attacked while we were fighting on the frontlines. Planning ahead is a must with such things!" "Mn, well done!" ¡­¡­ A while later, the color of the sea turned dark blue. It meant that we had officially entered the deep sea. Gigantic waves and vortices were everywhere. Bang! Suddenly, a gigantic head appeared on the sea surface, causing High Fighting Spirits to let out a shout of surprise. "Holy shit, what the hell is that thing?" The barbarian warrior grabbed his war hammer and tensed up. He looked like he was poised to use Xiezhi Howl at any moment. I hurriedly shouted, "Fighting Spirits, stop! Do not even think about attacking that mob! This is a sea king, and it generally won¡¯t attack warships unless we provoke it first, so we¡¯re just going to circle around it. Fuck, I can¡¯t even see its level, so it has to be Level 200 at the minimum. There¡¯s no way we can fight something like this right now!" "Got it!" High Fighting Spirits commanded the surrounding ships to circle around the mob, and as expected, the ugly giant didn¡¯t react to our presence. It had come to the surface simply to breathe. A moment later, it sank back into the deep sea and left behind a gigantic vortex in its wake. ¡­¡­ After the terrifying but harmless encounter, our vision range suddenly became a lot wider. Sunlight was pouring down the cloudless sky. "I see them! I see the Northern Alliance¡¯s ships! There¡¯s so many of them¡­" said Heaven¡¯s Rain as she pointed toward the horizon. It was impossible to say if the expression on her beautiful face was panic or excitement. Li Chengfeng immediately barked, "Don¡¯t open fire yet! Every ship has a limited amount of ammo and firepower. Shoot only when they¡¯re 50 yards away or closer!" Everyone held their breaths as the enemy¡¯s fleet grew closer and closer. It was to the point where we could see the surprised expressions on their cavalry¡¯s faces. Clearly, the Northern Alliance didn¡¯t think that we would anticipate their sneak attack and intercept them on the sea. With the command interface right in front of me, I locked my sight on the warship directly ahead of us and shouted, "Dragon God Warship, fire!" Bang! The entire ship shook as a burning hot shell exited our cannon and crashed onto the deck of the enemy¡¯s warship. Almost a hundred fighters lost over 70% of their HP instantly, and many people were knocked into the sea by the shock wave. In the deep sea, players could only swim for a very limited period of time. This was without mentioning the existence of terrifying aquatic creatures such as piranhas, great white sharks and more. According to the game¡¯s settings, it was impossible to crush a ship with cannon fire alone. The players must get involved to do that. ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue pointed to the front and shouted, "45 degrees to the northeast, that blue ship over there! Have you readied your Blaze Arrows yet, archers? Good! Ready, aim, loose!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Countless flaming arrows flew over the sea and landed on the enemy¡¯s deck and sails, setting them on fire in the blink of an eye. However, the enemy¡¯s ranged players also retaliated by hitting our frontliners with their Spiraling Arrow Blades, Volleys and Fireballs. Once the distance between our ships had been reduced to 30 yards or so, I picked a good time to move to the front of the ship and throw the Cyan Netherworld Sword into the air! Swhoosh! Like a mobile cyclone, the sword penetrated the ship¡¯s body like a hot knife through butter. God damn, my Attack became amazing ever since I ascended to become a Divine General! Bang! Half of the ship was damaged by the explosion instantly. I then launched a golden seal into the sky before watching it crashing down onto the enemy! Boom! Bloodcurdling screams filled the air as the devastating attack tore apart the already breaking ship. Almost a thousand players fell into the water, and they could do nothing but struggle and cry for help. ¡­¡­ Our engagement was hardly the only one taking place on the sea. Cannon fires started ringing throughout the entire battle line, and players threw storms of magic at each other. Already, the battle was white-hot the moment both forces engaged one another! Chapter 780: Battle of Black Sea I immediately ordered, "Get close to that ship and prepare for boarding! Fighters, summon your mounts and get ready to charge the moment we make contact! We¡¯re going to slaughter every last one of them!" He Yi blinked once as she commented, "Look, that ship is sailing toward us as well. They must be led by a Famous General, or they wouldn¡¯t dare make such a risky maneuver." "Mn." ¡­¡­ The enemy¡¯s warship was charging directly at us, and we to them. As the distance between us grew shorter and shorter, Beiming Xue raised her Dragonbone String and shouted right before the ships entered the archer¡¯s range, "Get ready! Let¡¯s start with Spiraling Arrow Blades and Volleys first!" He Yi also shouted, "Knights, raise shields!" The archers and mages obeyed the order at once, and countless arrows and spells took to the air. 50% of them missed and landed in the water, and about 25% of them bounced off the enemy¡¯s shields. Almost at the same time, the enemy¡¯s arrows and spells hit our magic knights and burned their shields bright red. ¡­¡­ We were getting closer and closer. There was only 20 yards of space between our two ships now! Riding atop her mount, our beautiful guild leader rode to the edge of the deck and launched Purgatory of Ice and Magma. Five waves of devastating sword energy instantly sliced through the air! Bang bang bang... The enemy¡¯s magic knights tilted their shields and imbued it with the golden energy of Holy Shield. Even then, the skill had deleted almost half of their HP. It was my turn. I leaped up to He Yi¡¯s side and raised my palm toward the sky. The next moment, Ancient Seal crashed down exactly at the spot I was aiming! Boom! The golden seal seeped into the deck¡¯s boards and scalded the poor magic knights. At least dozens of people were one-shot where they stood. "Fuck! They have a Divine General! It¡¯s that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!!" someone roared on top of their lungs in fury. It looked like they hadn¡¯t expected this encounter at all. As our two ships sailed past each other, I grabbed my sword tighter and shouted, "Get on the ship now! Destroy their Dragon God Warship!" Chiang chiang chiang¡­ Hundreds of elite Dragonlight Cavalrymen unsheathed their weapons and prepared for battle. They were all imbued by Martial God or Royal Road. "Shit! Get him off the ship now!" At an elevated position on the ship, a high-level mage stared at me with steely eyes and waved his staff menacingly at me. He was imbuing his party with "Soul General", a stratagem that increased all Magic Attack by 100%. Almost a hundred mages chanted their spells in unison and dropped innumerable Galaxy Storms on top of my head. It was terrifying to say the least! I zigzagged twice and managed to move away from the center of the magical storm. As I fired Burning Blade Slash at a group of players, I forced my way closer to the mage party and activated Ancient Seal five times in a row regardless of the cost. Bloodcurdling screams filled the air the next moment. Ancient Seal already did an incredible amount of damage, but its power was boosted even further by Martial God, so not even shielded mages could survive it! Barring those with exceptional HP and Magic Attack, all the mages that were hit by the Ancient Seals dropped like flies! The Ancient Seal was the nightmare incarnate of all low-health classes! My attack cost me 5 Divine Energy Points, but it bought me an incredible advantage. Alone but not powerless, I fought my way to the center of the Dragon God Warship and immobilized the mage with Soul General with God Binding Art. The mage¡¯s Magic Shield had been shattered by my Ancient Seal, and he was unable to summon another one for a short time. Not about to let the opening slip by, I fired a Dragon Slaying Slash straight at his torso! Squelch! 31723! Just like that, the pitiful mage was killed where he stood. The guy was unlucky, to be honest. Being part of the Dragon God Warship¡¯s crew, the chances of him dying in this naval battle were in fact quite low. Unfortunately for him, his opponent was the command ship of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Behind me, I heard the Dragonlight Cavalry led by He Yi finally boarding the ship. They were able to hack through the enemies like wolves loosed into a herd of sheeps because the latter was mostly disabled by my five Ancient Seals. It barely took us any effort to sweep the rest of the army. Moreover, the two ships were currently aligned parallel to each other, so our ranged players were able to unleash their firepower to their hearts¡¯ content and lighten the load on our Dragonlight Cavalry even further. At the end of the skirmish, we were able to rout the enemy¡¯s thousand-man party with nearly zero losses. ¡­¡­ "We need to destroy this ship. It¡¯s durability is too high, and if we leave it alone, it will only be taken over by another Northern Alliance party. It will continue to pose a threat to us until we destroy it," He Yi declared. I nodded in agreement and suggested, "The Dragon God Warship is covered in draconic armor that is impenetrable by skills and magic, but it¡¯s a different story if we destroy the ship from the inside." "Good idea. Let¡¯s do just that!" "Okay!" I rode into the hold of the ship, and just as I expected the interior was mostly made of unprotected wood. After ordering the Dragonlight Cavalry to get back to our ship, I exchanged a smile with He Yi before we fired Purgatory of Ice and Magma and Burning Blade Slash through the wood! Boom boom boom! The entire warship shuddered from the attack, and the next moment water started filling the bottom rapidly. Just as I thought, it didn¡¯t take much effort to sink the ship at all if we attacked it from the inside. "Time to run, Eve!" I said. Chuckling together, we returned to the deck and leaped back to our ship. The gigantic Dragon God Warship tilted sideways and slowly sank into the water. Soon, the sea engulfed it completely as if it never existed. ¡­¡­ Back on the deck, Murong Mingyue praised us, "Well done! Let¡¯s keep sniping the enemy¡¯s Dragon God Warships and opening the way with AoE skills and Lu Chen¡¯s Divine General Skills! Let¡¯s see how many enemy Famous Generals we can kill today!" I nodded and pointed my sword to the front. "See that? It looks like two ships are headed our way. Let¡¯s lock our ships together with hooks and split up. I¡¯ll attack the ship on the right, and Eve¡¯ll attack the ship on the left. They¡¯re not Dragon God Warships, so it shouldn¡¯t be much trouble to take them down. Everyone, this is your chance to earn your Nation War contribution points." The name "Battle of Black Sea" had already been generated on the system interface. This war was on a much smaller scale compared to the War of Dawn City, so naturally the reward wouldn¡¯t be as great as last time. Still, something was better than nothing. (The Nation War reward is determined based on the number of casualties on both sides. The more enemies killed, the better the reward.) The Dragon God Warship tilted slightly as countless hooks erupted from the sides and caught the two ships, dragging them toward us by force. Even before they got close, I was already firing Burning Blade Slash and Thousand Ice Slash to damage the enemies as much as possible. After that, I calculated the distance between our ships, cleared a 10-yard jump and landed steadily on the enemy deck again. The fighters were surprised by my sudden arrival, but they recovered quickly. The next moment, I was hit by at least a dozen Barrier Breaks. Thud thud thud... The Armored Ice Qilin Horse moved several steps to the right and successfully avoided most of the attacks. At the same time, I swung my sword at the enemy and cut them with a sword energy that was several meters long. The distance would be longer if I were to use a spear, but it was still pretty good overall. After that, I instakilled almost a hundred frontliners with War Crush and another Burning Blade Slash. I myself still had more than half of my HP. The enemy¡¯s counterattack was surprisingly fierce, and their attack power was boosted by 100% by a Level 156 tactician, which was just as good as that Famous General mage¡¯s Soul General I had killed earlier. Even a Fireball left a painful mark on my skin. I raised my palm and hit the mages and archers with three Ancient Seals, killing a large majority of them and scaring the shit out of the rest. There was practically no chance in hell these low-health players could survive my attack, so most of them dissolved into white light and flew back to the city. ¡­¡­ After the enemies were sufficiently devastated, the Dragonlight Cavalry rushed up the decks and launched an organized assault with our ranged players, Beiming Xue and Moonlight Stone. This time, the vanguard we encountered were the Koreans of Burning City. "Fuck! Kill that Divine General!" a Korean player shouted angrily only to be killed by Hoof Tramples and a storm of swords the next moment! When the skirmish was more or less done, I ordered the Dragonlight Cavalry to return to our ship and pointed the Cyan Netherworld Sword at the deck. Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice combo later, the deck instantly exploded into smithereens. As it turned out, Divine Generals possessed improved destructive power, as evident by the gigantic hole I carved on the deck with just a simple two-skill combo. I could actually see the NPC sailors¡¯ panicked faces from where I was as seawater started filling the hold. I turned around and jumped back to the Dragon God Warship. That was another skirmish done, and the remaining 300+ Burning City players we didn¡¯t bother to cut down were shot to death by our ranged players. A short while later, the warship sank into the sea and left behind pieces of broken wood. The few survivors were clinging onto planks and swearing at us with words we couldn¡¯t understand. On the other side of the ship, He Yi had also finished her battle. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, cannon fire was abundant on Snowy Cathaya¡¯s side of the battlefield. Suddenly, a flaming sword of ice crashed down onto a ship and literally cut it in half! Murong Mingyue goggled at the sight. "Holy shit, Beauty Lin is a goddamn brute!" Beiming Xue shook her head, "All Divine Generals are like that¡­" She was correct. On the other side, Li Chengfeng had also turned a ship into a beehive with three Dragonbone Flurries and sunk it. Chapter 781: Maelstrom A violent naval battle was breaking out on the sea. Ships were breaking under the bombardment of skills, and the sky was changing color from the sheer amount of skills that both sides were throwing at each other. Even the powerful tides paled in comparison to the massive battle above them. ¡­¡­ Almost two hours of head-on battle later, the Northern Alliance¡¯s fleet finally turned around and retreated. Ship fragments could be seen everywhere, and countless players had died in the sea. Players couldn¡¯t swim in the deep sea for long because their movement speed was only 25% the usual, and their satiety consumption rate was 10 times higher. They would starve to death in an hour or two at most even if no one bothered to secure the kill, not to mention that there were plenty of aquatic carrions and flesh eaters like the piranhas that would love to feed on them. "They finally retreated¡­" Chaos Moon gazed toward the distance from her deck. Her ship wasn¡¯t a Dragon God Warship, so there were a lot of holes in it. A smiling He Yi was also gazing toward the distance. "It won¡¯t be long before they return. They¡¯re simply reorganizing their troops because the battle turned out to be disadvantageous for them." "Mn." I nodded in agreement. Li Chengfeng asked, "What are your losses, Lu Chen?" I replied, "Well, our command ship took little to no damage, and our Dragonlight Cavalry is perfectly unharmed. We only lost a couple of archers in total. What about you guys?" Li Chengfeng smiled. "We¡¯re doing okay. We took out 12 ships in total and lost 174 players. By the way, where is Xu Yang? I remember seeing his ship for a bit, but after that it was like he just vanished into thin air." Du Thirteen replied from the distance, "That¡¯s because his ship was crushed by the enemy. He¡¯s currently aboard my ship right now¡­" We all laughed when we heard that. It was at this moment Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Dragon God Warship sailed up to us. The proud Fruit Knife Goddess reported, "I¡¯ve tallied our casualties. We destroyed 409 enemy ships and lost 102 ships in exchange. Clearly, we have the upper hand in this naval battle." I nodded. "Well, that¡¯s natural. A Divine General deals far more damage to a ship than a Famous General. There are 3 of us, and they have none." Lin Yixin nodded in agreement. "So, do we wait for them to come back to us, or do we press the attack?" He Yi gazed to the distance again and pointed. "It¡¯s fine, the enemy has already decided that for us¡­" "Oh, their main force has finally arrived¡­" said Lin Yixin while following He Yi¡¯s gaze. ¡­¡­ "OMG. Just how rich are the Koreans?" Chaos Moon exclaimed in astonishment. "Wouldn¡¯t it hurt to lose all these ships?" Li Chengfeng laughed. "It¡¯d better! Get ready, everyone! It¡¯s time to take out these Dragon God Warships!" "Let¡¯s go!" I raised my arm as well. The naval battle was about to restart! ¡­¡­ At the beginning, both sides exchanged a volley of gauging shots, not really dealing too much damage to each other. Then, Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon¡¯s warships rushed toward the enemy fleet while Li Chengfeng beseeched the golden war god to possess his body, empowering himself. He launched three sword auras straight at the Dragon God Warship closest to him. Chiang chiang chiang... The impact resulted in shrill, metallic noises, but the Dragon God Warship only suffered some scratches on its armor. It didn¡¯t falter even though its attacker was a Divine General. "Fuck¡¯em!" Enraged, Li Chengfeng raised his sword high and summoned a magical formation beneath his feet. A moment later, a couple of cyclones rose into the air, and the image of a golden dragon manifested around his body. Dragonblade Revolution, go! Boom! This time, the AoE skill managed to pierce a huge hole in the Dragon God warship¡¯s armor. As sea water poured ferociously into the ship, the Korean players exclaimed in astonishment, "Aaaah, What the fuck!? He could pierce even Dragon God Warship¡¯s armor!? Wait, the boss said that he¡¯s doubling the bounty on the dragon warrior! His killer will get a million gold as a reward!" A couple of Dragon God Warships immediately turned their ships around and pointed their cannons at Li Chengfeng. A high-level player carrying a warblade shouted, "Open fire! Destroy his ship!" Bang bang bang! A ton of cannonballs pierced through Li Chengfeng¡¯s ship and tore it to shreds in no time. Countless Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players were killed or severely injured in that one moment. When the smoke faded, all that was left on the sea surface were fragments and litter. Thud! Li Chengfeng and his mount were lucky to remain standing on a broken plank after that bombardment, but the rest of his troops didn¡¯t fare nearly as well. He shouted encouragingly to the brothers and sisters floating on the sea, "Hang on! Help is coming right away!" Not far away, Chaos Moon¡¯s ship was destroyed in the exact same manner! Unable to restrain myself any longer, I ordered, "Come on! We need to cover for them! Du Thirteen, rally our ships and rescue Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon from the water!" Lin Yixin also volunteered to help. "I¡¯ll come with you!" A Dragon God Warship could only be dealt with by another Dragon God Warship. After all, the dragon armor was strong enough to ignore cannonfire, meaning that a normal ship was useless against them. ¡­¡­ Even with Lin Yixin by my side, we were two Dragon God Warships versus 50 enemy Dragon God Warships at least. That didn¡¯t mean we were afraid in the slightest, of course. "Kill!" The Koeans pulled out their weapons, turned their ships around and rammed them straight into ours. A moment later, both sides were engaging each other in melee already. He Yi unsheathed her weapon and took out an entire swathe of enemies at the ship¡¯s railing. I myself charged straight toward the enemy and¡ªhaving learned my experience from the earlier battles¡ªused War Crush the moment I landed on their deck and followed up with five Ancient Seals in a row. While they were busy screaming in pain, I rushed into the ship hold and used Burning Blade Slash and Thousand Ice Slash! Bang bang bang! The entire ship started shuddering madly, and it was only after I leaped back to my ship did the enemy realize what I had just done. The next moment, they squealed like a pig, "Oh shit, oh shit! That CGL ranker penetrated our ship! How the fuck did he do this!" The enemy players who jumped onto our ship to fight us were only more shocked than they were. They no longer even had a ship to go back to. Our Dragonlight Cavalry easily killed or knocked the invaders down into the sea. ¡­¡­ Less than half an hour later, our ships were surrounded by at least dozens of Dragon God Warships. No one had expected the Korea server to spend this much money and purchase this many Dragon God Warships for a single battle. As a result, our casualties kept increasing as a seemingly endless amount of mounted players rushed onto our decks in an attempt to overwhelm us. And they were succeeding. Despite He Yi and my best attempts¡ªeven our pets were giving it their all¡ªthere was just no winning this battle. The enemy simply outnumbered us too much! On Lin Yixin¡¯s warship, the Ice Dragon Kris was breathing draconic fire at the enemies and slaughtering them like cattle. After an Ice Flame Slash crashed down atop of a group of enemies and annihilated them, Lin Yixin leaped up to the bow of her ship and shouted, "Little Cheat, we can¡¯t keep fighting like this. We¡¯re almost fully surrounded, and we¡¯re almost separated from even our own forces. We need to break out and find a better opportunity¡­" "Mn, got it. Let¡¯s do it!" I immediately turned the ship around and sailed full speed toward the southeast direction. Of course, I didn¡¯t forget to clear out all the enemies on the ship as fast as possible by cooperating with Beiming Xue and the rest of our ranged players. Behind us, Lin Yixin¡¯s warship was following closely behind. However, at least 50 enemy Dragon God Warships were giving pursuit. They already realized that only our guild leaders possessed Dragon God Warships, and they fully intended to take us out first. In this case, toppling the king first was most definitely a sound strategy! ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang... We had been bombarded non-stop since the beginning of the battle. Although the cannonballs couldn¡¯t damage the ship, us players weren¡¯t nearly as impervious. Even I took over 10k damage per hit, to say nothing of everyone else. It was annoying to say the least. "We can¡¯t let this continue! It¡¯s only a matter of time before we sink!" He Yi said urgently. I grabbed her hand and said steadily, "Calm down, Eve!" "Does that mean you have a plan?" "Nope!" "Oh, you!!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Lin Yixin pointed to the front and shouted, "Little Cheat, look! The waves ahead of us seem a bit strange!" "Yeah!" I had noticed it as well. Instead of the usual wavy pattern, the sea water was spinning as if it was trapped in a circle or something. What on earth is going on here? He Yi stared at it for a moment before exclaiming in realization, "It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s a maelstrom!" "A maelstrom?!" "Mn!" He Yi nodded seriously before continuing, "When different streams of water clashed against one another, it could form gigantic maelstroms that are extremely dangerous to anything around them. A maelstrom is a natural phenomenon that is shaped like a funnel, and the moment you get into range, it¡¯ll be next to impossible to escape! We need to turn the ship around right away!" "But there are 50 Dragon God Warships biting at our tail right now¡­" I reminded her. He Yi bit her lips worriedly as she tried to think a way out of this. Suddenly, she looked at me and smiled. "Lu Chen, I have a very bold idea that I want to try. Will you support me?" I pointed at the crew on the deck and said, "There are less than 500 people left on this ship anyway. Feel free to try anything!" He Yi nodded. "Alright then. Full speed ahead!" Beiming Xue exclaimed, "But Sister Eve, we¡¯ll fall into the maelstrom!" "Correct! That is the plan!" He Yi¡¯s eyes shone brightly as she explained, "Once we¡¯ve entered the maelstrom, we¡¯ll follow its orbit and speed up our ship at the last moment! With luck and good timing, there should be enough centrifugal force to break our ship free of the maelstrom¡¯s influence! Our enemies may not know about physics, so I think we can use that to our advantage!" "Alright, let¡¯s do it!" I nodded and told Lin Yixin the suggestion. She agreed immediately because she also thought that He Yi¡¯s idea was viable. ¡­¡­ And so, both our ships sailed straight toward the maelstrom. Behind us, the 50 enemy warships continued to give chase without any idea of the danger that lay directly ahead of them. It was because the sea waters they were sailing on were still relatively calm, and they were too keyed in on our butts to pay attention to anything else. Chapter 782: Imminent Change of Weather Beiming Xue hugged my arm tightly as she stared nervously at the dark blue maelstrom in front of us. The wind was blowing at our sails like crazy and pushing us full speed toward the center. "Pull down the sails!" I ordered before cupping Beiming Xue¡¯s icy hand in my own and giving her a reassuring smile. "Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll just revive at Dark Moon City." "Ah¡­" Beiming Xue opened her mouth, but she still looked very afraid. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, He Yi looked behind the ship and smiled. "Hehe, the Northern Alliance has fallen into our trap. They can¡¯t see the maelstrom in front of us because we¡¯re blocking their vision, and by the time they do, they would have been dragged in by the centripetal force already." Next to us, Lin Yixin had also pulled down her sails. Both our ships sped up at the same time, but it wasn¡¯t the result of an order. It was because we had finally entered the range of the maelstrom and were being dragged in by it! "Grab something and steady yourselves, everyone!" I shouted. At the same time, I dismounted and grabbed the iron railing of the ship, standing side by side with Beiming Xue and He Yi. Everyone looked both nervous and excited. ¡­¡­ Behind us, the enemy players on the ship suddenly shouted in surprise, "Huh? What¡¯s going on? Why isn¡¯t the ship responding to our commands?" "Boss, it¡¯s bad! There¡¯s a gigantic maelstrom right ahead of us! Those despicable Chinese lured us into a natural disaster!" "Fuck, we¡¯re dead!" ¡­¡­ Behind us, the 50+ Dragon God Warships panicked and tried to turn around, begging the NPC sailors to give it their all. Unfortunately, it was probably too late for most of them. Their ships were pulled to the center of the maelstrom whether they wanted it or not. Meanwhile, both Lin Yixin and my warship were spinning rapidly inside the maelstrom. The wind was howling, lightning strikes occasionally dropped down from the sky, and when I looked down, all I saw was a pitch black hole that seemed to be depthless and all-consuming. Motherfucker, our ship would definitely be torn apart if we let the maelstrom pull us all the way down! As the ship moved faster and faster, several Dragonlight Cavalrymen started screaming on top of their lungs, "AAAAH, I¡¯M SEASICK¡­" I laughed. "Keep it down! It¡¯ll all be over very soon!" "Does that mean we¡¯re all gonna die, boss?!" "Of course not! Since when have I led a brother or sister down a dead end? Have faith in your guild leader! She promised she can save us, and so she will!" "The guild leader is wise! Please be wise, or we¡¯re all going to die¡­" ¡­¡­ Every NPC on the ship started acting at the same time. In fact, Lin Yixin actually gave the exact same order on her Dragon God Warship as well. The two girls had arrived at the same decision despite not having communicated it beforehand. Swhoosh! The sails were completely filled by the wind the second they were pulled up. Then, both ships abruptly changed directions and cut a straight line toward the edges of the maelstrom at an unbelievable speed. In fact, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that the storm happening inside the maelstrom was so powerful that it almost lifted the entire ship into the air. "AAAAAAAAAA¡­" Everyone started screaming like pigs that were about to be slaughtered, and it was all we could do not to be thrown off the ship. Still, our ship continued to move insanely quickly thanks to the power of the wind. A bunch of cracking noises suddenly resounded behind us. It was three Dragon God Warships masts breaking under the sheer pressure it was put on. The ship might be a Dragon God Warship, but it could still be damaged by poor control especially under conditions like this. Countless Korean players were dragged into the bottomless core of the maelstrom as they screamed. It was highly unlikely that anyone of them would survive this. Being stuck inside the maelstrom was the same as being in combat, so no one could use a return scroll. Technically speaking, those who had an invincibility skill could activate it and teleport away safely, but the percentage of players who were lucky enough to come by such a skill was few and far between. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The wind filled the sails one last time, and our warship jumped onto the surface almost as if we were spat out by the maelstrom before landing back down on calmer waters. He Yi still hadn¡¯t loosen up, however. She ordered, "Pull down the sails again and row at full speed! Let¡¯s escape the maelstrom while the momentum is still on our side!" Beside us, Lin Yixin¡¯s ship did the exact same thing. Her NPCs too were rowing with all their might. ¡­¡­ I looked behind me and watched the galore of panicking Korean ships smashing into each other, tearing themselves apart or straight up being pulled into the center. We could hear their bloodcurdling screams even from where she was, and it almost felt like we were watching a natural disaster movie or something. No one had expected this to happen until it did. A few minutes later, both ships finally left the maelstrom area completely, and everyone raised their arms and screamed on top of their lungs. It wasn¡¯t a surprising reaction because one, we somehow escaped a near-death scenario, and two, we managed to take out 50+ Dragon God Warships with minimal losses. It was an amazing achievement to say the least! Suddenly, Beiming Xue pointed to the side and said, "Look to the right! There are two enemy Dragon God Warships who managed to escape using the same tactic as us!" I immediately yelled, "Yiyi, you take the left one and I take the other?" Lin Yixin unsheathed her sword and responded, "Of course! There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of if it¡¯s a 1v1!" ¡­¡­ Everyone let out hearty laughs as our ships rapidly approached the enemy. Seemingly noticing the danger coming their way, the enraged Korean players pulled out their weapons and shouted, "Get them! Slaughter these despicable bastards and avenge our fallen comrades!" Four ships rammed into each other at almost the same time. Both sides were very angry. Just like before, I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, leaped over to the enemy deck and kicked off the assault with War Crush. Four Ancient Seals later, the Koreans lost all their morale and practically surrendered themselves to slaughter. There was literally nothing they could do against a transformed Divine General with a powerful Divine General Skill to boot. "Loose!" Volleys of arrows filled the air at Beiming Xue¡¯s order and reached the enemy first, killing many of them. Behind me, the Dragonlight Cavalry leaped onto the deck and murdered the shit out the enemies with Hoof Trample. In a narrow space like this, it could only be a one-sided slaughter. This time, we chose to kill all one thousand players on the ship instead of destroying the hold and let it sink on its own. Then, we swept through the battlefield for equipment and supplies before returning to our ship. The problem with naval battle was that most of the item drops fell into the sea and couldn¡¯t be picked up. It was to the point where even our desire to slaughter the enemies was lessened. ¡­¡­ On the other side, Snowy Cathaya took down the other enemy ship with equal ease under Lin Yixin¡¯s guidance. After that, we happily made our merry way back. I brought up the world map to discover that our forces were still neck deep in battle. Less than 2000 yards in front of us, a fierce battle was happening between two groups of orange and red dots. The cries of battle filled the air, and players were rushing onto enemy decks to cut down their foe close and personal! Right now, Li Chengfeng was committing murder left and right on a Dragon God Warship. Dragonbone Flurry, Cyan Dragon Horn, Reverse Scale Slash and more, every skill he dished out scared the shit out of the Korean players. Moreover, after he buffed himself with his Divine General Skill, he became a lot tankier and he reflected a percentage of all the damage he received. He was like a fortress of war that left nothing but dust and remains in his wake. Gui Guzi was doing very well with his spear as well. Wherever his spear traveled, Korean players were killed or sent flying into the water. There was nothing they could do to resist at all. The tides of battle were entirely commanded by our Famous Generals. Like locusts, they annihilated a ship before moving on to the next one. It was an incredibly arrogant way of fighting to say the least. Some distance away, I saw a bunch of icy explosions happening on the sea surface. It was Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ special skill. Surprisingly, the skill could free a small portion of the sea surface, and the mage exploited this by freezing enemy ships in place. Unable to move even an inch, the enemy could only wait for death to claim them as Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ mage parties ravaged them with Galaxy Storms. At Baidicheng¡¯s side, Come See The Snow Tonight was riding a blood-red warhorse and jumping back and forth between her own ship and the enemy¡¯s. It was because she was using a Knight General stratagem and leading hundreds of riders on a cavalry charge. Her cavalry troops were practically unstoppable, and since she kept all her ships locked together with chains, it was almost as if she was fighting on land. The Northern Alliance suffered huge damage as a result. ¡­¡­ "What is this, the Battle of Red Cliffs?" I curled my lips. "Come See The Snow Tonight sure is a bold woman. If the northerners read our books and used fire to burn her ships¡­" He Yi chuckled. "That¡¯s not a problem at all, actually. A mage¡¯s ice magic is far more effective than even a fire extinguisher. Games aren¡¯t reality after all." "Yeah. Let¡¯s keep up the attack!" "Mn!" Our two Dragon God Warships sailed straight toward the enemy and knocked apart a five-ship formation upon first contact. Then, our ranged players terrorized them so much so that He Yi and I didn¡¯t even bother to get off the ship. We simply attacked them with Purgatory of Ice and Magma and Burning Blade Slash from range and killed them all. The sky was clear, but the sea was dyed red with blood. Countless players were floating in the water haplessly as bloodthirsty creatures swam over to savor a chunk of their flesh. The deep sea was a high-level map, and we were starting a war right atop the mobs¡¯ territories. It was no wonder that the locals were protesting via extreme violence. At this point, the battle slowed into a small stalemate. Our troops were composed of super guilds such as Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng. Our martial prowess far exceeded our enemies¡¯, and our unity and teamwork were a touch better than most as well. Meanwhile, the Northern Alliance¡¯s troops were composed of Korea¡¯s Burning City, Vietnam¡¯s Hot Sand City, and Germany¡¯s Chariot City. Despite being members of the same alliance, they fought on their own and didn¡¯t cooperate with their allies at all. As a result, Korea¡¯s forces started showing signs of crumbling after the naval battle stretched to four hours in total. If they didn¡¯t vastly outnumber us, we might¡¯ve removed them from the battlefield already. ¡­¡­ Crack! Suddenly, a lightning strike hit the sea surface, and gloomy clouds started covering the sky. Chapter 783: Ocean Storm Purple Marquis sighed while looking at the sky. "Damn, are we about to face an ocean storm?" Zi Chuanyu said, "The weather of the sea is like a woman¡¯s mood; liable to change at a moment¡¯s notice. If this storm is a big one, forget us, even the ten thousand ships of Northern Alliance are going to sink!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes waved her scepter at them and chided, "What are you doing? Less lamenting, more killing!" Eyes Like Water also said, "Yeah, do you fancy yourself a scholar or something? I almost can¡¯t believe you have the gall to remain a vice leader of Snowy Cathaya with contribution points like yours¡­" Purple Marquis turned bright red. "I was busy devising strategies, so¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes only smiled at him instead of answering, causing his face to turn even redder. I was solidly in the first place since the start of this naval battle. With powerful skills like Ancient Seal and Burning Blade Slash, as well as the pet like the Phantom Wolf King stealth-killing the enemies non-stop, there was no reason I couldn¡¯t take first place. Stranger of Three Lifetimes ranked second because she was the strongest mage of this war, and her Magic Attack was insane. Lin Yixin ranked third despite having restarted from Level 0 about a week ago because she was a Divine General with a ton of hidden attack power, and her Ice Flame Slash was a skill that struck fear into the hearts of all her enemies, capable of one-shotting entire groups of enemies each use. This was without mentioning that the Northern Alliance was still traumatized by the fact that the girl had one-shot over twenty million troops with a single tear. The mere sight of her caused heart attacks and weak-minded people to cower in fear. ¡­¡­ Drip drip... He Yi looked up when she felt rain water splashing against her cheeks. "This is definitely going to be a thunderstorm considering how thick the clouds are. We need to come up with a plan as soon as possible." Not far away, Lin Yixin replied, "Sister Eve, I believe that it¡¯s time we withdraw our main force. Our presence here had disrupted the flow of the wind and the water, so a great storm is bound to happen. We¡¯ll die a horrible death if we get caught up in it." He Yi asked, "But where should we withdraw to, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes flashed with cunning as she said, "We¡¯ll leave 500 ships behind to keep the enemies busy and send 1000 ships to raid Burning City¡¯s harbor. Without it, the Koreans won¡¯t be able to hire more ships and replenish their numbers, and victory will belong to us!" He Yi¡¯s eyes lit up. "Oh, that¡¯s a good idea! You¡¯re so smart, Yiyi!" Lin Yixin smiled sweetly from her ship. "You praise me too much¡­" I grinned. "What are you talking about? I never lie." ¡­¡­ A while later, I called over Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and Chaos Moon while Lin Yixin called Purple Marquis, Shadow Chanel and Clear Perfume. "What¡¯s wrong, Lu Chen?" Li Chengfeng asked. I went straight to the point. "We¡¯ve got a new plan. Eve and I will stay behind to draw the enemy¡¯s attention while you, Little Gui and Chaos Moon withdraw to the back. I want you to use the fog as a cover, slip past the Northern Alliance¡¯s battle lines from the flanks and head straight to Burning Harbor. Once you¡¯re there, destroy it so they cannot dispatch any more troops to the sea." Li Chengfeng straightened a little. "If I take our elites to attack Burning Harbor, what about you two? Can you and the guild leader really fend off so many Northern Alliance elites with second-rate troops?" "We¡¯ll deal with it one way or another. Now go!" "No way!" Li Chengfeng implored. "We can¡¯t possibly let our guild leader and vice leader be the cannon fodder! I will stay behind to hold down the enemy while you two attack Burning Harbor." I smiled. "Save it. Worse comes to worst, we die once and revive at the city. It¡¯s not like we¡¯ll get pregnant from death, so what are you so worried about? Now obey your orders and get lost, general!" Li Chengfeng sighed. "Well¡­ fine. But Chaos Moon is staying with you. Without sufficient troops, the Northern Alliance can easily surround and destroy you." "Mm, okay!" On the other side, Snowy Cathaya had also made similar arrangements while informing The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng about the plan. After a short discussion, the three guild leaders also sent a portion of their troops to follow Li Chengfeng and Purple Marquis. By now, lightning strikes were a constant backdrop of the battlefield, the wind was howling like crazy, and the sea waves rose as tall as ten meters at times. We could no longer see Li Chengfeng and the troops¡¯ ships from where we were. Leading at the front, I exploited the Dragon God Warship¡¯s strength to my advantage and took down one enemy ship after another. At this point, our only thought was to earn enough contribution points to celebrate the new year. ¡­¡­ The wind grew stronger and stronger as time passed. Howl! A terrifying noise later, the howling wind started pulling water into the air and forming a hurricane. Illuminated by lightning and looming over everyone¡¯s head like a dragon, the hurricane looked absolutely terrifying. The sea waters were also growing more and more turbulent as a result. He Yi¡¯s sword hand was shaking a little. She was a girl, and many girls were afraid of the many forms of mother nature such as lightning. The fact that He Yi, Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, Chaos Moon and more had courageously chosen to stay behind and fight the enemy despite the crazy weather we were in was praiseworthy already. It was simply unrealistic to demand them to remain calm in the face of a hurricane that could tear us from limb to limb at any moment. "Turn 30 degrees to port now! Quickly, or we¡¯ll run into the hurricane!" I shouted. Beside us, Lin Yixin and Chaos Moon were turning their ships as well. BOOM BOOM BOOM... It was bad. Another four hurricanes appeared out of nowhere and started ravaging everything in its path, and worse that was just the beginning! This part of the sea had turned into a living hell almost immediately after we sent away our shock troops. The system must really "love" us today! "All units!" I abruptly raised my sword and shouted, "Withdraw from battle and avoid the lightning storm at all costs! Our biggest enemy now isn¡¯t the Northern Alliance, but the very sea we¡¯re on!" Everyone nodded in agreement and fear. No one had thought that the weather would become this bad in our very first naval battle until it did. Was the system really making a fatal joke at our expense today? ¡­¡­ At the distance, a hurricane caught up to a dozen or so German ships who failed to dodge it in time! BOOM BOOM BOOM! The ships were torn apart almost instantly, and countless players screamed in terror amid the sea waves, storm and lightning. It was the fucking apocalypse. "Fuck, this is beyond scary¡­" A white-faced Murong Mingyue was leaning on me and pressing her gigantic, shivering breasts against my arm before I knew it. I shot her a glance. "Please have some self-respect, sis¡­" Murong Mingyue glared at me and said, "If you don¡¯t be my bolster tonight, I will hang Eve¡¯s underwear on your balcony every day¡­" "You¡¯re a monster! And don¡¯t distract me right now, dammit! Row faster and stay away from the hurricane, crew!" The Dragon God Warship swerved full speed ahead to the right just in time to avoid a gigantic hurricane. Had we run straight into it, we would have been on our merry way to the city already! "Take care, everyone!" I kept shouting, but the rest of the fleet couldn¡¯t always keep up with our speed or my orders. Two Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls ships at the front were pulled into the sky, and an instant later, the sound of crushed wood and bloodcurdling screams joined into one. The lightning strikes illuminated the shock in all our expressions. Whoosh! The Dragon God Warship managed to break through a wave and continue toward safety, but Chaos Moon¡¯s normal warship didn¡¯t possess the speed we had. A failed dodge later, she too was dragged into the hurricane! Swhoosh! The entire ship and hundreds of players were devoured by the hurricane just like that. "Fuck! Chaos Moon!" Staring at the flying fragments in the air, I clenched my teeth and gripped my sword tightly until veins bulged on my hands. Dammit! Did that energetic girl really die just like that? "Ah¡­" Even He Yi was gritting her teeth in sorrow, "Why is this happening, why is this happening¡­" Suddenly, we heard a scream from above us. Then, almost a hundred figures fell from the sky! Thud! A beautiful figure landed right on top of our sail, and after grabbing onto a rope to steady herself she said with a laugh, "Aiyo, I didn¡¯t expect to survive that. I must be born under a lucky star or something, hehe¡­" "Fuck!" Despite our swearings, both He Yi and I let out a sigh of relief and helped Chaos Moon down the sails. We also slowed down a bit to pick up the hundred or so Dragonlight Cavalrymen who landed in the sea next to our ship. The elite cavalry that slaughtered countless enemies in every Nation War they had participated in were as powerless as puppies in the sea, and when they were finally rescued, they sweared angrily, "Fuck this storm! It damn near boiled us like bullfrogs!" ¡­¡­ I looked around us and noted that the apocalyptic scene stretched over several kilometers. Countless ships had been thrown into the air, and dodging was almost impossible due to how fast the hurricanes were moving. Most of the ships belonged to the Northern Alliance. I had no doubt that this forbidden-zone level ocean storm was enough to annihilate their entire naval army. I, Lin Yixin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Ling Xueshang and Come See The Snow Tonight continued to weave around the hurricanes without a drop of blood on our faces. No one had predicted the war to turn out like this; the power of nature overwhelming absolutely everything in its wake. In this storm, the power of Famous or Divine Generals was worth exactly nothing. ¡­¡­ Beep! It was at this moment I received a message from Gui Guzi: "Boss Broken Halberd, I noticed that the battlefield has turned into a hell zone. Are you guys doing alright?" I replied, "So far so good. How about you guys?" "We¡¯ve escaped the storm and are on the way. We should reach Burning Harbor in two hours!" "Mn. When you reach the harbor, use every cannonball you have in five minutes and turn Burning Harbor into rubble. Tell Chengfeng not to get tied up with the enemy and retreat immediately after you¡¯ve destroyed the harbor!" "Got it!" Chapter 784: Outer Flame ¡­¡­ So far, our fleet was still stuck in the storm. Cold and starving, the Dragonlight Cavalry had no choice but to hug their mount¡¯s neck for warmth. Standing at the bow of the ship, I paid close attention to the patterns of the storm around us because the only realistic way to avoid the hurricanes was to predict their movement ahead of time. If I reacted after a hurricane had made a move, it would most likely be too late already. "It feels like the storm is less intense than before¡­" Chaos Moon panted heavily as she leaned against the mast and pressed a hand to her chest. This battle hadn¡¯t been easy on her for sure. Not only did she lose her ship, more than 80% of her crew were killed in the storm. Worse, we still hadn¡¯t escaped the storm, and the elements were putting great strain on her. Our source of illumination came from the lightning storm that seemed like it would never end. We could see around 20 gigantic hurricanes towering over the sea and ravaging every ship that was unfortunate enough to be in his path. Our fleet had dwindled to less than a hundred ships, and the number of casualties was innumerable by now. The Northern Alliance suffered even bigger losses as their fleet was right at the center of the storm when it happened. Their fleet was 10000 ships strong, and they had already lost almost 3000 ships during the battle. After the storm, their number had dwindled to less than 1000, and whoever funded the purchase of these ships was probably going to cry a storm of their own when they heard about this. It was bad enough that the money spent to buy these warships was all for naught, but the levels, items and equipment they lost made things even worse. It was the kind of loss no guild leader could tolerate. "It doesn¡¯t look like there¡¯s many of them left¡­" Lin Yixin said. I nodded in agreement. "Yeah¡­" Suddenly, He Yi pulled out her sword and said in an urgent tone, "Not good. I see about a hundred ships approaching us from the front. The Northern Alliance still hasn¡¯t given up on the assault!" "Prepare for battle!" I unsheathed my sword as I barked the order. On every ship, the hundreds of survivors pulled out their weapons and stared at the enemy as one. The lack of light only made the gleam of our blades look sharper. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment something unexpected happened yet again! Bang bang bang... The sea surface suddenly exploded as something, no, many gigantic things suddenly burst onto the surface. It was a strange-looking creature with an unbelievably long neck like that of a tanystropheus of the Jurassic period. Its neck was dozens of meters long and covered in scaly armor. Its head was ugly, craggy and covered in thick armor. It was staring hungrily at the remnants of the Northern Alliance fleet with its dark green eyes. Bang! Something pierced a Korean warship and shattered it to pieces. Many players fell into the sea while screaming. The sea monster opened its mouth to reveal its scary fangs. Then, it pounced toward the falling players and devoured three or four of them in one gulp! A hunt. This was a hunt where the ancient creature was the predator, and we, the players, were the prey! Even more sea creatures started emerging from the bottom of the sea and attacking all the players in their range. There was nothing the players could do to stop the mad feast because the attack seemed to be some sort of devouring skill. Even full-health players were devoured without any resistance. ¡­¡­ Drip drip... Sea water suddenly splashed around us, and two sea creatures emerged right next to our Dragon God Warships and stared at us hungrily. The sea monsters were finally close enough to reveal their stats¡ª Black Sea Dragon (Earth Rank Miniboss) Level: 190 Attack: 4040~5980 Defense: 6800 HP: 15,000,000 Skills: Whale Swallow, Icicle Attack, Stormy Waves Introduction: Black Sea Dragons are descendants of an ancient divine beast. They are fiercely protective of their homes. They possess strong bodies and thick armor that can¡¯t be penetrated by normal weapons. Black Sea Dragons have lived in the deep sea free from the conflicts of the continent for millions of years. ¡­¡­ "Fuck! Not good! These things are Level 190 minibosses¡­" I hurriedly shouted, "Stun it, Beiming! We can beat one with sheer numbers! Beauty Lin, I leave the other one to you!" Lin Yixin was already darting toward the miniboss like lightning before I even finished speaking. Cling to its neck like a butterfly, moonlight covered her eyes before she pierced her dagger into the Black Sea Dragon¡¯s neck. Then, she switched to her sword and followed up with a devastating Barrier Break! Thud! Lotus petals danced around her feet as she activated Great Earth Transformation. After dealing a couple of devastating strikes to the miniboss, she kicked herself off and landed back on the deck like the gorgeous goddess she was. One Ice Flame Slash to the head later, she shouted, "Lock your sights on the boss!" Lin Yixin was giving it her all, so of course I couldn¡¯t stay idle either. I spurred my mount to the bow and waved my hand in front of me. God Binding Art! Swhoosh! Four divine weapons fell from the heavens and plummeted into the sea. Amazingly, they somehow managed to immobilize the sea dragon. Next, I used Sword Boomerang on the miniboss before catching my sword again and using Burning Blade Slash. Its aggro transferred to me after my blade tore its flesh apart. "Roar roar¡­" The Black Sea Dragon let out a furious roar before moving its mouth toward me. It was the devouring skill! Thud thud thud! The Armored Ice Qilin Horse trotted a couple steps to the right at top speed. A loud bang later, the miniboss missed and screeched in pain, but it still left behind a terrifying bite mark on the steel deck. "Beiming, lower its Defense! Everyone, lock your sights on the bastard! We need to kill it as soon as possible, or a hurricane will catch up to us!" Beiming Xue¡¯s Corrosive Arrow lowered the miniboss''s Defense by as much as 50%, and an arrow volley later, its HP dropped drastically. While this was going on, I, He Yi and Chaos Moon acted as the main tanks and secured the boss''s aggro in the front. The waves smashed into the ship, and several icicles suddenly pierced the deck. Caught off-guard, some archers were killed before they could react. The boss''s Attack was simply too high! It was impossible to kill this boss without losses, so we went all out to bring it down as quickly as it could. Almost 5 minutes later, we smashed the Black Sea Dragon with brute force and got the 20% Encourage VII, a few Spirit-grade and Dark Gold¨Cgrade items, which I gave to Chaos Moon to distribute later. Next to us, Snowy Cathaya¡¯s battle against their Black Sea Dragon was approaching its end as well. A short time later, it let out a death scream and died! ¡­¡­ "Shit! Look at the ripples on the sea! Heaven knows how many Black Sea Dragons are beneath the sea surface!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes shouted as she stared at the turbulent waters, "Lu Chen, Beauty Wind Fantasy, I suggest that we retreat! Considering how powerful the storm and the sea dragons are, it¡¯s just unwise to stay any longer! Let¡¯s leave and let the Northern Alliance¡¯s last one thousand ships die on their own!" "Got it!" I checked the time and noted that Li Chengfeng¡¯s troops were almost at the harbor, so there was no point stalling the enemy any longer. Withdrawing now would save everyone¡¯s level and equipment, and it was undoubtedly the wisest choice I could make here. I told Li Chengfeng not to get tied up in battle, and I should heed my own advice. "Withdraw! Withdraw back to the Black Coast of Dark Moon City!" I ordered loudly. Our remaining ships turned around and escaped like the wind. Behind us, the Northern Alliance¡¯s fleet tried to give chase, but they kept getting caught up by the hurricanes and suffered huge losses. Not only that, they were harassed by a legion of sea dragons when they passed through the center. In the end, only dozens of warships were still on our tail by the time they finally shook off the mobs and natural disaster. They were powerless even if they managed to catch up with us. We withdrew because the entire point of this battle was to protect our harbor and our city, not to invade the Northern Alliance. It would be foolish to attack the enemy¡¯s base and forget our own. ¡­¡­ In the guild channel¡ª Me: "Chengfeng, Little Gui, how was it?" Li Chengfeng laughed loudly before replying, "We¡¯re one thousand ships versus an average-sized harbor! What do you think? Give me a sec, I¡¯ll share the battle scene in the guild channel!" The next moment, a livestream of the ongoing battle was shared in the guild channel. We saw a wooden harbor being bombarded to hell and back, and the city itself was burning in flames. The ship factories, lumberyards, fishing ports and more had all been destroyed. A lot of Korean players appeared on the shore and tried to fight back, but they were sent fleeing by the sheer amount of cannonballs they were bombarded with. Xu Yang couldn¡¯t help but laugh at the sight. "Well done! Burning Harbor is dead, and only the system knows when it¡¯ll refresh! What else can the idiots from Northern Alliance possibly do to us? Hahahaha!" ¡­¡­ I asked, "How goes the war on the other side, by the way?" Li Chengfeng replied, "I heard that Wind City¡¯s main army is facing massive pushbacks on Eternal Love Plains right now. It looked like all this really was a trap by the Northern Alliance. Instead of aiding Wind City to attack Eternal Love City, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow did the opposite and attacked Wind City from the flanks! We¡¯re lucky we didn¡¯t follow them." I nodded. "Yeah, the battle of Eternal Love City is just a ruse. Their true aim was to ambush Dark Moon City, those sly bastards!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a melodious ring entered our ears¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Candlelight Shadow (Wind City)" has accumulated enough Kill Points to learn the Great Earth Transformation! After killing an enemy, they learned the Great Earth Transformation and became the fourth Divine General of China! They have gained Divine Energy: 200/200, Luck +2, Tactics +5, and an exclusive Divine General Skill, "Outer Flame"! Outer Flame: Summon flames from the outside to attack all enemies within a certain area. The attack power depends on user¡¯s stats. Skill exclusive to Candlelight Shadow. Chapter 785: Sea Suppressing Poleyn I nodded affirmatively before replying, "Yep, he did. He must¡¯ve gone all out in the war for Eternal Love City. He had to, or Candle Dragon¡¯s fame would plummet like a rock, and his so-called China¡¯s No.1 status would shatter into nothing." Li Chengfeng said in the guild channel, "That shameless bastard truly has no shame. The nerve of him to learn a Divine General Skill. From the looks of it, it¡¯s an AoE skill just like Lu Chen¡¯s Ancient Seal, but I wonder about its attack power." I replied with a smile, "It¡¯s fine, we¡¯ll know the next time we see him. Chengfeng, return immediately after Burning Harbor is destroyed!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ The number of Northern Alliance players standing in our way steadily decreased as we made our return journey. Finally, less than 10 hours after the Nation War began, we received a system notification that signaled the end of the war¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have the highest contribution points in the "Battle of Black Sea." You have obtained the MVP reward: Level +3, Luck +1, Reputation +100000, and an equipment reward, "Sea Suppressing Poleyn"! ¡­¡­ Hmm? Sea Suppressing Poleyn? I hurriedly opened my bag and found dark blue poleyns sitting in a slot. They had craggy armor platings that gave them an awe-inspiring appearance, and were icy to touch when I lifted them from the back. When I checked their stats, I was delighted to learn that the 10-hour long battle was very much worth it¡ª Sea Suppressing Poleyns (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 1350 Magic Resist: 1100 Strength: +255 Stamina: +260 Agility: +245 Tactics: +60 Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 18000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 45% Slots: 7 Outstanding Property: Sea Suppression. Greatly increases user¡¯s resistance toward ice-based magic. Damage taken from ice-based magic is reduced by 75%. Introduction: During the ancient times, some of the sea gods who resided in the deep sea launched a war between gods and devils that resulted in the death of many ancient gods. Their soul essences condensed together to form various equipment, and the pair of Sea Suppressing Poleyns are one of the results. Imbued with divine power, the Sea Suppressing Poleyns make its user immune to cold and strengthens them. Level Requirement: 155 ¡­¡­ Jackpot! What a pleasant surprise! I wasn¡¯t expecting to get Level 155 Heaven-grade equipment! I checked my level and noted that I was exactly Level 155. The MVP reward also awarded me 3 levels, and I welcomed it since it sped up my return to the Heavenly Ranking of Sky City. I equipped the Sea Suppressing Poleyn, and my stats jumped up visibly¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Purgatory Thunder) Class: Undead Swordsman (Great Earth Swordsman) Level: 155 HP: 102290 Attack: 3910~4620 Defense: 6415 Magic Resist: 5610 Reputation: 328900 Tactics: 508 Luck: 54 ¡­¡­ My current max HP was seriously insane. The Sea Suppressing Poleyns increased my max HP by a whopping 18k, so my base health alone was over 100k. Assuming that Lu Buyi increased all my stats by 90% with Purple Dragon, Pure Love increased my HP by 50% with Physique, and I increased by HP by 40% with a Bloodknight Card for a total boost of 180%, I could have as much as 280k HP. If I wasn¡¯t a tank, then who was? Of course, max buff states happened rarely as I couldn¡¯t bring Lu Buyi and Pure Love with me all the time. Usually, a Martial God and an HP-boosting card that brought my health to 140k or so was enough. ¡­¡­ I wasn¡¯t the only one who leveled up. All around me, people were surrounded by golden light once or twice in a row. We all killed a lot of enemies and earned a ton of contribution points in this battle. On Lin Yixin¡¯s ship, Lin Yixin had also leveled up twice and earned a lot of Reputation points because she was ranked third on this Nation War. Right now, Reputation points were some of the most important stats she needed to re-earn because they had been reset to zero when her account was deleted. Some high-level equipment required high Reputation to wear, so she needed to earn at least 150k as soon as possible if she didn¡¯t want to miss out on the really good stuff. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Chaos Moon exclaimed next to me, "Lu Chen, Dark Moon City just sent me some bad news!" "What happened?" Both He Yi and I looked at her in surprise. Chaos Moon gritted her teeth and said, "Hegemon Palace joined forces with Mad Dragon and Flower Room to assemble an army that¡¯s 1.5 million troops strong. Those shameless fucks are trying to occupy our city while we¡¯re gone! They have already reached the plains outside Dark Moon City, and they¡¯ll be arriving at our walls in ten minutes at most!" He Yi smiled a little. "Hegemon Palace and Wang Dongliang are as shameless as ever, I see." Chaos Moon asked, "What do we do? We don¡¯t have enough players right now. The majority of our players are still sailing with Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi!" I replied, "It¡¯s simple. Tell them to leave behind a skeleton crew to command the ship, and have the rest including Lu Chengfeng and Gui Guzi teleport back to Dark Moon City. We¡¯ll be doing the same as well. I wonder what kind of shit Hegemon Palace is going to pull this time? Truly, a dog can''t stop himself from eating shit." Chaos Moon nodded. "Got it. Let¡¯s go!" And so, we used our return scrolls and teleported back to the city after leaving behind a couple of players to steer the warships. After we informed our allied guilds about the crisis, they generously offered their aid and teleported to Dark Moon City to assist in the defense as well. No matter how weak the enemy might be, 1.5 million troops wasn¡¯t the kind of number anyone could ignore. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I appeared in a flash in Dark Moon City. He Yi, Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, Murong Mingyue, Gui Guzi and more flashed into existence as well. "Guild leader! You¡¯ve finally returned!" A Dragonlight Cavalryman who had died early in the naval battle greeted us with a smile and said, "The battle is about to begin in a couple of minutes, so you are just on time! The shameless Hegemon Palace plotted to take our city while we¡¯re gone, but I bet they didn¡¯t expect us to end our Nation War as quickly as we did!" "Haha, you¡¯re right. Now let¡¯s head up the walls and take a look, shall we?" "Yeah!" I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and led a platoon of elite Dragonlight Cavalrymen up the walls. As a Rank 9 castle, Dark Moon City¡¯s walls were just as impressive as Dawn City¡¯s. They were made from grayish white stones that I had no knowledge of, and every arrow tower had a gigantic metal head of a bone dragon carved into its structure. It made them look a lot deadlier. From my elevated position, I could see that the plains were overflowing with players with red IDs. Mad Dragon and Flower Room had joined hands with Hegemon Palace, but Hegemon Palace was their head. The latter was one of the Top 10 guilds of China. Using the fame to his advantage, Wang Dongliang had made mass recruitments and expanded his guild¡¯s size to almost 800k players. To give an example of how impressive their number was, Hegemon Palace had more than 100 subguilds in Sky City alone. Of course, noobs were just that, noobs, no matter how numerous they were. In any battle, they might crumble under the slightest pressure. "Pillar of the Nation has already turned in his token. The city is theirs if they manage to occupy it in 10 hours." Li Chengfeng checked the time and said, "Heh, these bastards sure know how to pick an inopportune time. It¡¯s already 8 pm and night, and most of us have been online for tens of hours straight. They were clearly waiting to strike at our weakest moment, these shameless bastards¡­" Xu Yang replied with a reassuring smile, "Don¡¯t worry, we aren¡¯t fighting alone this time. Hmph hmph, I¡¯m pretty sure we¡¯ll destroy their so-called 1.5 million troops if every guild here dispatches even 25% of their troops." "Mn!" ¡­¡­ A lone rider rode up to us while we were talking. It was none other than the vice leader of Hegemon Palace, Little Piglet! Once he came within hearing range, Little Piglet reined in his mount, kept his Vajra active and said to us with a smile, "Please don¡¯t shoot my head, archers! I¡¯m not afraid even if you do!" I dismounted and planted a foot on a stone brick. Then, I leaned forward a little and asked, "Little Piglet, how curious to see you here instead of the Nation War happening at Eternal Love City. Aren¡¯t you afraid that your despicable actions will be criticized by our playerbase?" Little Piglet shrugged. "I am but a servant to my master, and that master is Hegemon Palace right now. It is my responsibility to fulfill my master¡¯s wishes, not to decide who Hegemon Palace shall face in battle. Brother Lu Chen, as a show of my respect toward your unyielding will during the War of Dawn City, I have come to inform you that Hegemon Palace shall launch an all-out attack on Dark Moon City in ten minutes. Be prepared." Suddenly, Li Chengfeng stepped on the edge of an arrow tower and surrounded himself with three cyan swords, activating his Great Earth Transformation. Then, he leaped down to the ground and used the momentum to shoot toward Little Piglet like an arrow! A cold glint shone from his blade. He kicked off the surprise attack with Dragonbone Flurry! "Fuck!" Shocked, Little Piglet raised his sword in defense but only managed to parry the first strike of the triple-hit skill. Next, Li Chengfeng hit him with Cyan Dragon Horn and dealt massive amounts of damage! MISS! 27272! 31928! 41828! Incredibly, Little Piglet didn¡¯t die from the combo thanks to his buffs. After knocking Li Chengfeng backward with a punch to the chest, he withdrew to the back while empowering himself with Strength of Divine Arms and healing himself with Wind of Recovery. He then pointed a finger at Li Chengfeng and sweared angrily, "This is despicable, Li Chengfeng! You don¡¯t kill the messenger!" Li Chengfeng arrogantly raised his sword and replied with a grin, "Lu Chen is too important to cut down a messenger like you, so it¡¯s up to me to teach you a small lesson!" Chapter 786: Recruiting In Your Face Little Piglet¡¯s voice trailed behind him as he galloped away to safety. "A Divine General bullying a mere Famous General? You sure have no shame, dragon warrior! Just you wait, our army will trample over your city¡­ Well, to be honest, it could be the other way around, but eh, whatever, I¡¯m just a mercenary carrying out my business¡­" I laughed. Little Piglet was a strange guy of conflicting emotions. He was greedy as fuck, but he also had the strength to support said greed. The fact was, Li Chengfeng wouldn¡¯t have been able to dominate him the way he did earlier if he wasn¡¯t a Divine General. After all, Little Piglet had proven time and time again that he was a super-tier expert. ¡­¡­ At the distance, Hegemon Palace¡¯s forces took the center while Mad Dragon and Flower Room provided support from the wings. They weren¡¯t their whole army though. There were almost a hundred smaller guilds who had formed a united army and come to attack Dark Moon City as well. Their reason was simple: to perform the extraordinary act of conquering our city and become famous as a result. Right now, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was as dominant as the sun above one¡¯s head, and our performance during the Nation Wars earned countless envy from every corner of the world. Naturally, a lot of people would prefer to see us gone than flourish. We lived in a high-pressure society these days, and there were few places to vent those frustrations. A human¡¯s capacity to become twisted far exceeded your or my imagination. After Li Chengfeng returned to the city, he shot me a smile and said, "An invasion army of 1.5 million! This is a grand event, Lu Chen! How do you plan to defeat them?" I unsheathed my sword and declared, "It¡¯s simple. We just need to get out there and kill them all!" He Yi hurriedly grabbed me before I could do anything rash. "Calm down, you! What kind of strategy is that¡­" However, Stranger of Three Lifetimes chuckled beside us and said, "Our forces are absolutely stronger than the enemies, and the Battle of Black Sea is over already. Moreover, assuming that we rally every player available in our guilds, we can assemble an army of 2 million at least, meaning that we actually outnumber them. Therefore, Lu Chen¡¯s suggestion to just head out there and kick their asses is actually perfectly viable." "But that¡¯ll be so boring! We should spice things up a little¡­" Lin Yixin giggled. "I think we should send some troops to the back and cut off their retreat. Only then we head out and force them to choose between staying behind and being killed, or teleporting away to safety, hehe¡­" ¡­¡­ "Well, that would certainly work, but¡­" He Yi looked hesitant, but in the end she chose to voice her opinion, "I personally think we should just let Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon and Flower Room attack the city while we play the defender¡­" "Huh? But why, Sister Eve?" Lin Yixin exclaimed in surprise. He Yi giggled. "Do you remember what happened last time? Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker and Rose of the Holy Domain launched a massive assault on Dark Moon City, but because they lost, all those deaths helped to level up our city twice. The player death count is how the war experience is calculated, and it¡¯s also why the rewards for the War of Dawn City was way higher than the Battle of Black Sea. Therefore, the more enemies we kill near to the city, the better the reward for Dark Moon City. What do you think, Yiyi?" "I see. I get what you mean now, hehe~" Lin Yixin nodded with a smile. "Alright then, we¡¯ll let them come close to the city before attacking them. This is a good chance to check out the defenses of a Rank 9 castle too!" "Yeah." ¡­¡­ The Ghost Arrow Towers of Dark Moon City did not shoot normal arrows. Instead, they shot bony arrows that were imbued with some sort of red light that almost looked like the undead energy. As for how powerful they were exactly, we were about to find out using Hegemon Palace¡¯s players as test subjects. I raised my sword and shouted, "Brothers and sisters of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, brothers and sisters of our allies, keep the gates protected and don¡¯t exit the city no matter what! Elite cavalry, form up inside the city and prepare to launch a counterattack at a moment¡¯s notice! Archers and mages on the walls, make sure that you are fully stocked up on potions and consumables, and if you¡¯re not, they¡¯re available for purchase within the city! Finally, make sure that all your equipment is repaired! The battle will begin in ten minutes!" Just as I predicted, Wang Dongliang spurred his mount to the front ten minutes later and raised his sword high up in the air. He let out a laugh before declaring, "Brothers and sisters, in this era of emerging heroes, the world does not belong to any one person, and it never will. So let us ride together and defeat Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Let us conquer Dark Moon City and make it the cornerstone of our dreams of becoming the ruler of the world!" Countless Hegemon Palace players roared their support and charged. A lot of them were cavalry! "Pooh! What nonsense! If a guild like theirs could become a king of guilds, then it would truly be the end of China! Hmph!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes huffed angrily. It wasn¡¯t long before the enemy troops approached our city. The closest ones were less than 100 yards away from our walls. I smiled. "Ranged players, you may attack the enemy now. The more players you kill, the better the reward you¡¯ll get when the siege ends, so do your best to slaughter the idiots of Hegemon Palace, Flower Room and Mad Dragon! They are worth more than any experience you could possibly grind in any leveling map!" "Mn!" Beiming Xue nodded, drew her bow and activated her stratagem, Bow God. Then, she let loose Spiraling Arrow Blade + Evil Spirit Volley combo straight into a group of enemies. Hundreds of thousands of attacks soared over the walls as our mages, archers and even bards, tamers and tacticians fired their offensive skills at the enemies. The enemy couldn¡¯t get to them because of the walls, so they were free to pour down an absolutely tremendous amount of firepower! Boom boom boom! The mage spell, Galaxy Storm, was the main actor of this stage. Countless mages chanted the spell in unison and tossed it at the enemy players, shredding them into pieces. Not a single person was able to break through the line of fire. Bang! Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ scepter turned cold as she fired two successive Ice Blasts into a group of Steel Needle Porcupine Cavalrymen, freezing them in place. Another two Galaxy Storms later, the 30+ riders all dropped dead without exception! "Holy shit, Momo¡¯s ranged attack power is crazy¡­" My mouth twitched a little at the merciless slaughter. Pleased by my praise, Stranger of Three Lifetimes looked up and said, "Envy me?" I asked her, "Hey, do you want to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? I can make you a vice leader¡­" "Ah, hmm, I¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes actually looked tempted for a moment. Eyes Like Water immediately grabbed the hilt of her sword and said quietly, "Don¡¯t you dare seduce our guild leader! Blazing Hot Lips cannot be without its head! Lu Chen, I¡¯m going to hurt you if you keep acting like this!" This time, it was Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust¡¯s turn to grow anxious and grab their weapons. "If you hurt big brother Lu Chen, then we¡¯ll hurt you back!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes burst into a giggle. "OMG, the girls of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are so cute! Are you interested in joining Blazing Hot Lips? I can promise you a good life, an endless amount of gold and handsome men!" "Fuck¡­" High Fighting Spirits¡¯ mouth kept twitching. Lin Yixin rolled her eyes. "Can you stop? This is so silly!" I said, "Yeah, you¡¯re all so silly!" Lin Yixin glared at me with an exasperated smile on her face. "I¡¯m talking about you, you shameless bastard!" Everyone laughed heartily at that. The tense atmosphere that permeated the walls due to the siege had disappeared before we knew it. ¡­¡­ The situation lasted about half an hour or so. Finally, after Hegemon Palace lost almost 10000 Steel Needle Porcupine Cavalrymen, their engineers got close enough to prop the cloud ladders to the walls under their magic knights¡¯ protection. Hegemon Palace was climbing up. Chiang! I unsheathed my weapon and declared with a smile, "We stopped even the Northern Alliance from taking Dawn City, and these noobs are way weaker than them! Fighters, this is your chance to collect your contribution points. Do not hold back and kill everyone who gets into your range!" A Level 155 magic knight had already scaled up the walls before I even finished giving my speech. He shouted, "I am the captain of Hegemon Palace First Platoon!" Du Thirteen immediately responded with a Blaze to the face, but unfortunately the skill hit the shield instead of the person and was greatly weakened as a result, dealing only 6893 damage. High Fighting Spirits laughed heartily. "Thirteen, move aside, please!" The barbarian warrior swung his hammer and sent the magic knight¡¯s shield flying, allowing Du Thirteen to land Double Slash + Barrier Break right through the chest and kill the poor guy where he stood. It was chaos beneath the walls, and when I looked down I saw Hegemon Palace¡¯s mages and archers throwing their spells at us from below. However, they weren¡¯t deploying any siege weapons so far, so they were no threat to our walls. I made no changes since the current exchange was advantageous to us. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I let out the Phantom Wolf King and allowed it to wreak havoc on the ground with Purgatory Storm. It was a nightmare to all Hegemon Palace unfortunate enough to stand in its path. Its deadly claws could tear apart even the metal armor of high-level knights, and the mages and archers were even less of an issue. The battle continued for almost three hours. The siege battle was still continuing as fierce as it was at the beginning. After Lin Yixin knocked over a group of enemies with Ice Flame Slash, she let out a cute yawn and looked at me. "I¡¯m getting sleepy. Can we end this sooner?" "What do you want to do?" "I¡¯m going to send out our cavalry and launch a counterattack." "Sure!" I nodded curiously. Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had fought separately during the Battle of Black Sea, so I hadn¡¯t had the chance to witness their elite cavalry in action! ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin led Purple Marquis and Zi Chuanyu down to the ground. A while later, almost ten thousand fighters stood together in one place and summoned their mounts under Lin Yixin¡¯s order! Chapter 787: Little Piglet Refuses to Figh Purple Marquis raised his weapon, and all the fighters climbed up their mounts in unison. Their mount was a war beast with an ugly head that resembled a dragon. I wasn¡¯t expecting Lin Yixin to use a mount like that to be her cavalry¡¯s standard mount. The Fruit Knife Goddess herself was still riding the low-rank Frostscythe Warhorse. Maybe the reason she didn¡¯t change it was because she liked its appearance too much. "Open the gate, Little Cheat!" Lin Yixin called out to me from the ground. I nodded and opened the gate as she requested, and the 10000 Purple Dragon Cavalrymen rode out at high speed! ¡­¡­ "When did you guys make the Purple Dragon Cavalry, Qingqing?" I asked Clear Perfume who was shooting next to me, "Why haven¡¯t I seen it during the Nation War?" Clear Perfume answered, "The Purple Dragon is a kind of earth dragon that we only really started to tame en masse during the two days after the Nation War ended. Purple Marquis and Zi Chuanyu barely slept a wink that whole time to complete the task. During the Nation War, we only had 2000 Purple Dragon Cavalrymen or so, so it wasn¡¯t really big enough to play a major role. Also, we lost them all while clashing against the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry, which was why you didn¡¯t see them." "It looks like a good mount¡­" "Naturally!" On the ground, the iron chains pulled the gate open, and countless Purple Dragon Cavalrymen rushed out to meet the enemy. Lin Yixin was at the forefront, activated the Great Earth Transformation and made herself look like a cyan lotus goddess. The moment she emerged, she immediately crashed Ice Flame Slash onto a group of enemies! Boom! The skill terrified the Hegemon Palace players, but that was just the beginning. Above her, a dark blue dragon swooped into the air, opened her mouth and burned a ton of enemies to death with her breath. Ice Dragon Kris was now Level 150, and it was incredibly huge. It might have looked like a big dog when it was curled up by Lin Yixin¡¯s side, but on the battlefield, it was the equivalent of a nuke. It ravaged the enemies with three successive AoE skills, and it was as deadly as my Phantom Wolf King! Behind Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis, Zi Chuanyu and the rest of the Purple Dragon Cavalry cut down all the enemies in their path. There was no one in Hegemon Palace who could put up a fight, not even against the weakened Lin Yixin. It wasn¡¯t an unexpected sight, however. Lin Yixin had returned to Level 150 and over 80% of her original strength in just a week, and although her current equipment was nowhere near as strong as her old equipment, the downgrade was mitigated by the Devil Bell I gave her. The Cambrian-grade wristguards were literally peerless at the current stage of the game. In fact, her stats were on par with her old self already. ¡­¡­ The gang grew restless after they saw Snowy Cathaya heading out to have fun. Eyes Like Water smiled a little at Stranger of Three Lifetimes and asked, "Momo, can we¡­?" The guild leader nodded. "Go!" "Hehe! Be seeing you!" Eyes Like Water was so excited that she jumped right down the wall and summoned her mount. After she rallied the cavalry of Blazing Hot Lips, she too went out of the gates and attacked the enemies. This time, it was Li Chengfeng¡¯s turn to lose his patience. "I want to go too!" I nodded and said, "No problem. I have an important mission for you!" "Ooh, what mission?" Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes burned with excitement. "Anything¡¯s better than fucking boring wall defense! There are contribution points to be earned!" I smiled. "I want you to take 50k cavalry with you and exit the northern gate. Little Gui, High Fighting Spirits and me will be leading the Dragonlight Cavalry and 10k+ Cyan Tiger Cavalry and attack the enemy from the front. You will slip behind the enemy and trap them in a pincer. Let¡¯s annihilate Hegemon Palace¡¯s offense in one go." "Got it!" Li Chengfeng happily accepted his orders and went away to rally his men. I gave him control over all the cavalry from the main and subguilds except the Dragonlight Cavalry and Cyan Tiger Cavalry. Li Chengfeng was now one of the four Divine Generals of China, and his level was higher than both Lin Yixin and me. The dragon warrior was probably the only one who was fit to become the guardian of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls until I returned to Level 160. ¡­¡­ Wall defense was extremely boring, especially when your opponent was an alliance of second-rate guilds like Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon and Flower Room. Mad Dragon and Flower Room were second-rate for sure, and Hegemon Palace, while technically one of the Top 10 guilds of China, was really weaker than even Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties and Hunting Moon Dynasty in terms of overall strength. The only reason Pillar of the Nation¡¯s joke of a guild got anywhere was due to a single man¡ªLittle Piglet! Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits could barely restrain themselves at this point. They were all staring at me with hungry, bloodthirsty eyes and waiting for me to give the order. This hot-headed bunch might just jump off the walls if I delayed any longer, so I said hurriedly, "Alright, it¡¯s time to head down the walls and rally the Dragonlight Cavalry and Cyan Tiger Cavalry!" "Hell yeah!" The gang practically ran down the walls after I gave them the permission. A while later, 2000-strong Dragonlight Cavalry and over 15000¨Cstrong Cyan Tiger Cavalry were gathered in place. Everyone here was a professional, so they knew to make their own parties. I was a Divine General, so I added 800 players to my own party. The rest formed parties with Royal Road, Knight God, Knight General, Plunder and so on as their stratagems. It wasn¡¯t long before the only thing left to do was to order the attack. Chiang! I unsheathed the Cyan Netherworld Sword and spurred my mount to the front. Trotting slowly across the columns of cavalry, I said with a smile, "I¡¯m sure you¡¯re all familiar with our old friends, Hegemon Palace, Flower Room and Mad Dragon. These cowards have discarded their morality without hesitation and attacked our city, so it¡¯s only right that we repay the favor, don¡¯t you agree!? Hmph, Pillar of the Nation thinks he can score one over us just because our core members lost 30 levels? Let¡¯s show him that we are still the world¡¯s top cavalry as long as we sit atop the Dragonlight Armored Horses! Plus, we aren¡¯t even 30 levels behind anymore, are we?" Everyone laughed and unsheathed their weapons in high spirits. Back in the War of Dawn City, we were outnumbered and put through a hellish time to say the least. Now, we actually outnumbered our opponents a little, and we were way stronger than they were. It was time to let these bold fools taste the strength of our blades. ¡­¡­ The heavy iron gate opened once more, and as I spurred my mount forward, I shouted, "Ancient Sword Elite Cavalry, kill!" Horse hooves thundered against the ground, and the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s indigo armor gleamed with dark light as we rushed into the sunlight at high speed. While it was true that only a week had passed by, and we hadn¡¯t returned to our pre¨CNation War strength yet, we had caught up enough to no longer suffer from the level penalty, not to mention that there was absolutely nothing to be feared from a bunch of noobs. "Kill!" High Fighting Spirits shouted and charged straight at the enemies. Like a beast, he executed Xiezhi Howl and tore apart all the Steel Needle Porcupine Cavalrymen around him. After that, the Dragonlight Cavalry caught up to him and flattened the rest of the enemies like pancakes. Bang bang bang! The sky became alight with skills as we unleashed Purgatory of Ice and Magma, Burning Blade Slash, Rock Crush, Mountain Stagger Slash and so on at our enemies. The already powerful skills were boosted to ridiculous levels by our Famous General Skills. ¡­¡­ Hegemon Palace¡¯s players were flabbergasted by our counterattack. Shangguan Wan¡¯er was barking orders in a hurry, "What¡¯re you waiting for, Porcupine Riders? Stop them! Hold them back with shield walls and Holy Shields! Archers and mages, give me some actual firepower and fire your Mountain Stagger Arrows and Galaxy Storms continuously, dammit! Don¡¯t give Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls a chance to breathe!" Chiang chiang chiang... The Porcupine Riders immediately obeyed their vice leader¡¯s command and used Holy Shields immediately. Xu Yang, Gui Guzi and the others rushed them and battered their defense line repeatedly, but miraculously, Hegemon Palace¡¯s formation was picture perfect today. Their priests stood very close to their tanks, and they were locking their heals on their respective targets. There was barely any healing overflow at all. Somehow, they actually managed to stop the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s first charge. The biggest reason behind their success however, was because their levels were high. All mounted players had a ridiculous amount of HP at this level, and it took a tyrannical amount of attack power to one-shot them. "Fuck! I refuse to believe that the likes of you can stop me!" Chaos Moon swung her sword barbarically at a magic knight and hit him with Barrier Break and Triple Slash. Squelch! She succeeded, and the magic knight let out a bloodcurdling scream and died. However, another magic knight immediately stepped out from the back, took the empty spot his dead colleague had left behind and nullified all of Chaos Moon¡¯s efforts. "OMG, this isn¡¯t working. Let¡¯s use AoE skills to break apart their formation instead!" He Yi suggested. I stepped out from the back and said with a smile, "Allow me!" I pointed my palm to the sky and launched five golden seals in a row. The next moment, they fell through the clouds and crashed on top of the enemy¡¯s shield formation like a literal oracle from god. Ancient Seal was a Divine General Skill and not something a normal player could block, so a ton of Porcupine Riders were killed instantly. Combined with the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s assault, we instantly shattered their defense line and trampled over their core in unstoppable fashion! ¡­¡­ "Fuck, they just cannot be stopped¡­" Pillar of the Nation shook his head before calling out to his general, "Little Piglet, get there and stop them!" Little Piglet complained, "Fuck no, boss. If they can break through this many Porcupine Riders, they can break through me as well. Do you think that I¡¯m the shield of the Thunder God or something? I¡¯m not that great¡­" Our cavalry troops laughed at Little Piglet¡¯s apparent cowardice, but I knew better. Yes, Little Piglet had no intentions of committing suicide in a battle where he was clearly outmatched, but he also didn¡¯t want to be a part of a shameful battle like this, at least not seriously. Back in the War of Dawn City, this man had charged head first into Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and his twenty million army without any hesitation. Flawed he might be, the one thing he didn¡¯t lack was courage. ¡­¡­ A losing army was like a landslide. Hegemon Palace was being routed in just the blink of an eye. That being said, this outcome wasn¡¯t surprising because they were facing 2000-strong Dragonlight Cavalry and 15000-strong Cyan Tiger Cavalry. And even if their formation was more impressive than we initially thought, they were still no match for my Ancient Seal! Divine Generals were definitely a major factor to be considered in a war! Chapter 788: Land of Soul Suppression Chaos Moon pointed to the wing, and I saw a group of mounted players riding atop Cyan Battle Wolves and charging toward us. They were none other than the players of Flower Room, and their guild leader, Li Le, and vice leader, Spring Mud, were leading the charge. Flower Room was going all out this time. It seemed that even Li Le realized the threat Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls posed to his plans. Although our core players died tragically during the War of Dawn City and suffered massive losses as a result, our reputation in China had also reached an unprecedented level. One might say that over half of the people in China thought of us as the king of all guilds in the China server, not Candle Dragon anymore. If Flower Room remained as meritless as they were before, they would never be able to escape their label as Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ enemy. Just like Pillar of the Nation had said before, there was no such thing as good or bad people in an era of heroes and warlords. The victor becomes the king, and the loser becomes the bandit. That was why Flower Room was giving it their all into this fight! ¡­¡­ "Take out Li Le! Rid these worms off their head!" I ordered with a smile. "Leave it to me!" Du Thirteen spurred his mount forward. Li Le had a first-rate expert, Spring Mud, by his side, and I wasn¡¯t sure if Du Thirteen could handle both of them at once. So, I looked to my side and said, "Chaos Moon, help Du Thirteen take out Li Le and Spring Mud!" "Got it!" Chaos Moon slapped her mount¡¯s butt and rushed forward at high speed. Knowing that she was followed by almost a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen, my mind was completely at ease. "Here they come!" Li Le raised his sword. When he saw that his attacker was Du Thirteen, he immediately let out a vulgar laugh and said, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls thinks that a small fry like him can challenge Flower Room? The arrogance! I¡¯ll kill him right before their eyes!" Swhoosh! The two guild leaders traded two blows each as they passed by each other. Du Thirteen landed both his attacks on Li Le¡¯s neck, a weak point, and one of the attacks was Barrier Break. In contrast, Li Le landed both his attacks on Du Thirteen¡¯s armor. As a result, Du Thirteen lost less than 15k HP, while Li Le lost half his health. ¡­¡­ Li Le withdrew quickly because he had lost the exchange. Du Thirteen tried to give pursuit, but he was blocked by Spring Mud and took a Barrier Break to the torso. His HP dropped to dangerous levels as the skill dealt over 20k damage! "Fuck!" Du Thirteen angrily smashed an elbow into Spring Mud¡¯s shoulder to knock him away. At the same time, he drank a potion and put some distance between himself and his opponent. Spring Mud wasn¡¯t going to let a kill opportunity like this slip past his fingers, so he charged forward the moment he regained himself and thrust his weapon! Du Thirteen was shocked, but he simply didn¡¯t have the health to fight Spring Mud. It was at this moment a beautiful figure appeared and intercepted the attack from the flank and landed two hits on Spring Mud¡¯s back, Barrier Break and Rock Crush. It was none other than Chaos Moon herself. Two damage numbers appeared above his head in succession¡ª 24727! 22102! Before Spring Mud could react, Chaos Moon did a beautiful turn and swung her sword right across his neck! Crack! 19822! Spring Mud¡¯s HP dropped to zero, and he died with eyes wide open with shock. He probably never thought that he would die to Chaos Moon in a single exchange! The skill gap was just that big though. Chaos Moon was an incredibly intelligent woman who could give even an expert like Li Chengfeng a good fight. She absorbed knowledge regarding control and positioning like a sponge, and her control was top-tier even in the entirety of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and the like were no match for her, and even Gui Guzi¡¯s win rate against her was less than 60%! ¡­¡­ Pop! Spring Mud dropped two pieces of equipment after he died. One was a sword, and the other, a helmet. Li Le¡¯s eyes goggled as he exclaimed in shock, "Fuck, Spring Mud dropped his Fire Nether Helmet and Serene Passing Sword!" Chaos Moon picked up both equipment and let out a giggle. Then, she hit Li Le¡¯s head with Barrier Break + Double Slash and killed him as well, dropping a necklace from his dead body and turning the Flower Room players¡¯ hearts into ice. Li Le had spent a ton of money to purchase his and his generals¡¯ equipment from the auction house, so every equipment loss was akin to a robbery! There was nothing they could do though. Chaos Moon was a WMD, and her PK drop rate was insanely high. Anyone who became her opponent but didn¡¯t possess the skill to kick her ass was fated for a tragic end. "Kill!" Finally, Chaos Moon raised her sword and commanded the hundreds of troops behind her to attack the enemy. Platoons of Dragonlight Cavalry and Cyan Tiger Cavalry immediately carried out the order and put great pressure onto Flower Room¡¯s Cyan Battle Wolf Cavalry. They had lost both their guild leader and a vice leader to a single knightress, so their morale was low to say the least. ¡­¡­ Our troops were positively unstoppable at this point. We wreaked havoc among the enemies while completely disregarding the arrows and spells flying our way, shattering the glass hearts of Hegemon Palace, Flower Room and Mad Dragon¡¯s ranged players in the process. The power gap between our guilds was just that huge. At the distance, Pillar of the Nation raged, "Fuck! Didn¡¯t Lu Chen, Eve, Gui Guzi and the rest of their key players lose 30 levels or more? How¡­ how is their cavalry still so powerful?" Beside him, Shangguan Wan¡¯er replied indifferently, "It¡¯s simple. We invaded too late, that¡¯s all. With their equipment and grinding speed, getting back 30 levels in 3 to 5 days isn¡¯t a problem at all, not to mention that they had advantages that we couldn¡¯t even dream of such as super Famous General Skills like Royal Road, Martial God and Knight God. We only have Little Piglet¡¯s Vajra to rely on, and it¡¯s a defensive Famous General Skill no less¡­" "Fuck!" Pillar of the Nation sweared. "What do you think we should do now, Wan¡¯er?" "We¡¯re currently stuck between a rock and a hard place¡­" Shangguan Wan¡¯er shrugged. "I already told you yesterday that this war isn¡¯t a righteous one, and that invading Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was absolutely the wrong choice. For starters, we had already missed our best timing, and two, we don¡¯t have the power to take down Dark Moon City. Even if Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and their allies were too busy battling the Northern Alliance to return, do you really think that the other guilds would just stand by and do nothing?" "There are other guilds?" Pillar of the Nation exclaimed in shock. Shangguan Wan¡¯er smiled. "Do you know that there are 100k Warsky Alliance elite players grinding to the west at Cyan Tiger Forest right now? At least, that is what Warsky claims they¡¯re doing. In reality, that map is nowhere big enough to fit 100k people, and they¡¯re really just waiting for this war to end. If we fail to occupy Dark Moon City, he¡¯ll attack our remaining troops and earn a free favor off Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ hands. If we succeed, then they will definitely take Dark Moon City for themselves or return it to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls for a super large favor. Warsky Alliance¡¯s advisor is just too intelligent, and most of her deals are win-win scenarios!" Pillar of the Nation sucked in a deep breath. "I¡­ suppose that we¡¯ve really made the wrong choice this time. What do we do now? Do we retreat?" Little Piglet chuckled from the side. "Retreat? Hell no. We keep fighting until we¡¯re all dead. If we retreat now, Mad Dragon and Flower Room will never help us with anything ever again. Are you really going to toss away our own two allies, guild leader?" Wang Dongliang shivered. "Right, you¡¯re right. We must fight to the last person if only for the sake of preserving our morale¡­" Little Piglet said sarcastically, "Morale? That I think we¡¯ve lost quite a while ago¡­" Wang Dongliang: "..." ¡­¡­ Smoke was rising everywhere from the plains where the battle was taking place. Snowy Cathaya, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng had all dispatched their cavalry troops to destroy the invaders, and among them there was a total of 6 CGL Hall of Famers: Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng, Ling Xueshang, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Come See The Snow Tonight and I. It was clear who held the upper hand here. We were absolutely dominant, be it in terms of strength or reputation, and even the star of the War of Dawn City, the Dragonlight Cavalry, had been deployed in this battle. All these factors only served to further demoralize the already dispirited enemies. The war was a one-sided slaughter. Usually, a territory war would have to last 10 hours before the system ended it with territory hall¡¯s occupant as the victor. In this case, we could wrap things up in just three hours or so! "Brothers and sisters, this war is lost!" Roaming Dragon raised his spear and shouted, "Withdraw with me! We must leave this place as soon as possible!" The Corrosive Armor Earth Dragon Cavalry were the first ones to retreat, and that caused the entire battle line to crumble in earnest. At the back, Li Chengfeng and tens of thousands of cavalry troops were grinding down the escaping troops until they lost even the will to retreat properly. Left with no choice, Roaming Dragon produced his return scroll and shouted, "Use your scrolls and teleport back to Sky City¡ª" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Countless white flashes later, half of the players on the battlefield were gone just like that. ¡­¡­ "Nooo, our contribution points just teleported away¡­" Chaos Moon lamented. Heaven¡¯s Rain held a different opinion, however. "It¡¯s better that they¡¯re gone. I¡¯m both hungry and sleepy right now." "Mn." I nodded and said, "We¡¯ll eat and rest after we clean up the rest of the enemies." "Yeah, sure¡­" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Li Chengfeng rode up to me and said, "Guild leader, Lu Chen, I have something new to report! Please check the home page right away! There¡¯s been some new changes at the borders of Wind City!" "Oh?" I opened the home page in a hurry and saw the line of text immediately: The Land of Soul Suppression Opens Tomorrow! Land of Soul Suppression? I looked down at the details. Originally, there was a map in Wind City¡¯s territory, at a valley at the center of Dragonbone Mountain Range called Kuilin Town. With recent developments, it had been invaded by Night Creatures and turned into a new map, Land of Soul Suppression¡±. The Land of Soul Suppression had two entrances. One of them faced toward Wind City, and the other, the Northern Alliance. This meant that the map was sure to be contested. Of course, the Land of Soul Suppression had required the player to be Level 140 or above, and also to have a certain Reputation stat to boot. Anyone who didn¡¯t meet these requirements could only stare at the map from outside. ¡­¡­ "Pooh! This is a map within our borders, so why is the Northern Alliance allowed to enter it?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes complained. Li Chengfeng licked his lips. "From what I heard, it was a compromise for restoring Beauty Lin¡¯s account. Our town is sacrificed and turned into a super high-level map, and our server and the main cities of the Northern Alliance are free to contest its contents. Unless I¡¯m sorely mistaken, there is a ton of profits to be gained from the Land of Soul Suppression!" I checked the time and noted that Land of Soul Suppression would be opened at noon sharp tomorrow, so I said, "Alright, let¡¯s wrap this up and get some rest already. I want everyone to gather at Wind City 11 am tomorrow and arrive at Land of Soul Suppression before its grand opening. There¡¯s no way we¡¯re missing out on a profitable map like this!" Li Chengfeng laughed in agreement. "Yeah!" Chapter 789: Shadowchaser System Announcement: Due to insufficient number of attackers, the guild "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls" has successfully defended its territory. Territory "Dark Moon City" is awarded the following rewards: all resources +400000, Wall Defense +40%, Ghost Arrow Tower attack range +150 yards, 4000x Umbra Sharpshooter, and 3000x Ghost God Knight! ¡­¡­ Everyone let out a sigh of relief when they heard the system announcement because it was already midnight. Thank goodness today¡¯s battle was finally over! "Finally. These Flower Room pests were easy to kill, but seriously annoying!" Xu Yang laughed as he pulled his bloody sword from the chest of a Flower Room player. Li Chengfeng said with a grin, "Tsk tsk! The territory rewards ain¡¯t bad at all, but why aren¡¯t the personal rewards announced yet? We had to have accumulated enough contribution points to earn personal rewards, right?" I nodded. "They should be announced anytime now." Before I could finish my sentence, another ring resounded in our ears¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You''ve accumulated 237720 contribution points in this Nation War. You¡¯ve gained the rewards: Level +2, Reputation +40000, 50000 gold, and an item reward: Shadowchaser! ¡­¡­ "Oh? Shadowchaser?" I hastily opened my bag and found a dagger shrouded in purple flames sitting in one of the slots. I checked its stats, and it looked pretty good¡ª Shadowchaser (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 1150~1400 Strength: +210 Stamina: +225 Agility: +190 Tactics: +40 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 55% Passive: Extremely high chance to increase user¡¯s Attack by 50% Slots: 8 Outstanding Property: Shadowchaser. When landing a hit on a target, 25% chance to deal shadow damage. Enemy inflicted with this condition loses a total of 15% HP over 15 seconds. Level Requirement: 155 ¡­¡­ It was a very good dagger. 4-star Outstanding Heaven-grade item was a super divine weapon at this stage of the game, and its attack power was almost on par with my Cyan Netherworld Sword. This was incredible considering that it was a dagger-type weapon. Whenever I obtained an equipment through my own personal effort, I always considered my interests first, treating the guild secondary. Therefore, I immediately thought of giving the dagger to Lin Yixin. The Devil Bell was a great item, but it was also the only good piece of equipment she had on her right now. Everything else she was wearing was either second-rate or not even worth mentioning. So I beckoned Lin Yixin over and said, "Yiyi, come here!" The smiling girl walked over lithely and asked, "What is it?" I passed her the Shadowchaser while replying, "Take this. It¡¯s the equipment reward I got for winning this territory war¡­" "How would I know? Maybe I just have good karma?" "Are you trying to say that you have better karma than me?" Lin Yixin immediately threatened me with a wave of her fists. "No, no. Now equip it. Your DPS will be higher with this¡­" "Mn." Lin Yixin caressed her new dagger lovingly as she said, "It¡¯s so powerful! It¡¯s way stronger than even the sword I¡¯m wielding right now, hehe¡­" "Yep. Now go get some rest already. See you tomorrow at the Land of Soul Suppression!" "Okay. You should rest sooner too. I don¡¯t want to see you with a pair of panda eyes tomorrow, get it?" "I got it, so go catch some ZZzzZZzz already! Okay?" "Okay¡­" The Fruit Knife Goddess was surprisingly meek today¡ªwhen she was facing me at least¡ªbecause she obediently took out her return scroll and logged out of the game just as I had requested her to. It was so unnatural that Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume and the rest of her guild members stared at her in shock, "Was our guild leader always this obedient?!" ¡­¡­ Our allies left one by one. It wasn¡¯t long before Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was the only guild left in the area. I checked my levels and noted that I was still a ways away from the best players out there. Still, I was the MVP of wars today, and the experience reward was so handsome that I had leveled up from Level 152 all the way to Level 157. It wouldn¡¯t be hard to catch up from here. Even the currently highest-leveled player in the China server, Luo River God of the Capital, was only Level 165, and past the Level 160 mark, every level was an absolute chore. Therefore, I had good confidence that I would be able to catch up to the super mage, especially since I still held a slight advantage in terms of equipment and pet right now. "Dark Moon City will refresh in half an hour¡¯s time," He Yi said with a smile. Murong Mingyue also smiled as she looked at our city. "I sure hope siege battles like this will happen a couple more times. We may be able to rank up our city to 10 in just a month if that¡¯s true." Xu Yang laughed. "The territory reward we got this time was really good. Additional 40% Wall Defense, additional 150 yards to our arrow towers¡¯ attack range; all that stuff benefits the territory permanently. It¡¯ll be incredibly difficult for any guild to attack Dark Moon City from now on." "Mn." I smiled in response before shooting a question, "Xu Yang, how is Warsky City developing? Did you check it at all?" Xu Yang shook his head, but Li Chengfeng said, "I did. They¡¯re a Rank 5 castle right now, and Warsky has been purchasing Resource Bags and troop cards from all over the place. They have swept clean practically every area they could find in the north, and long story short, Warsky is doing everything in his power to increase Warsky City¡¯s rank as fast as possible. He clearly hasn¡¯t given up on his ambition yet¡­" "Mn. I want you all to keep a close eye on Warsky City. Dark Moon City¡¯s rank is too high, and its forces are too powerful. There¡¯ll always be someone coveting our city¡­" I said with a nod. Beside me, Beiming Xue blinked in puzzlement as she asked, "Big bro, we cooperated with Warsky Alliance during the War of Dawn City, right? You¡¯re also friends with Warsky, right? So why do we need to be wary of Warsky City?" I chuckled. "Beiming, ever heard of the saying ¡®all is fair in war¡¯? It¡¯s true that we were comrades-in-arms during the Nation War, but that doesn¡¯t mean that our competition to become the greatest guild of Sky City is over, especially during the rest period. There can only be one king in Sky City, and Warsky Alliance has always been prepared to replace us at a moment¡¯s notice!" He Yi nodded approvingly. "Lu Chen is correct. Plus, it¡¯s hardly a bad thing to remain cautious." "Mn. Anyway, it¡¯s time to log out and get some rest. Tomorrow 11 am, I want all players who are above Level 140 to assemble at Wind City. We don¡¯t know what traps are waiting for us in Land of Soul Suppression, but there¡¯s no way we are sitting this one out. It would be sad as fuck if we missed out on some super divine item or something." Chaos Moon chuckled. "That¡¯s so like you. You don¡¯t want to lose out, no matter what!" But Heaven¡¯s Rain retorted, "You¡¯re wrong! Vice leader big bro is not like that, or he wouldn¡¯t have lost 90 levels to protect the palace entrance of Dawn City¡­" Chaos Moon giggled. "But little one, that is exactly why I like him so much¡­" Murong Mingyue shook her head. "Sigh, you just can¡¯t beat a guy who gets confessed to everyday. Now, let¡¯s log out and fill our stomachs already! Once I hit the sack I don¡¯t plan to wake up until it¡¯s noon. I¡¯m so sleepy¡­" "Yeah, sure!" ¡­¡­ After the discussion, we went back to Dark Moon City. This was our base, and we had everything such as equipment repair merchants, potion merchants, auction houses and more. As a Rank 9 castle, we were also incredibly powerful. That being said, it wasn¡¯t like Dark Moon City was without its flaws. For example, the goods auctioned at our city weren¡¯t nearly as varied as the ones at Sky City. To give an example, Sky City¡¯s auction house was similar to Golden Eagle. The quality of their goods was absolutely guaranteed. On the other hand, Dark Moon City¡¯s auction house was similar to Taobao. Everyone was free to auction their stuff, good or bad, with minimum restrictions, and there was absolutely no fairness to speak of. Items were usually snapped up on the spot, and both sides were satisfied with the result. Long story short, it was the trading center for frontier adventurers who were too lazy to travel back to Sky City and go through the necessary procedures. ¡­¡­ I took off my gaming helmet. It was another day of hard work and mind-blowing starvation as usual. With the night-wind howling in our ears, we traveled to a night market and sat around an unwiped table. After ordering four warm dishes and a soup, we waited impatiently for our egg fried rice to be served. "I¡¯m starving, I¡¯m starving!" Murong Mingyue whined with hopeful eyes. I shot her a suggestion. "You can eat the table if you want." "Fuck you¡­" It was at this moment a couple of deathly guys who looked like the living reincarnations of evil spirits sat down at the table behind us. After a discussion about eating their table that ended up going nowhere, they moved onto the next topic and said¡ª "God damn, today¡¯s battle was an exhilarating one! I didn¡¯t think we would live for tens of hours without dying! We¡¯re slowly but surely getting stronger, hahaha!" said the student wearing a peaked cap. Another student wearing an earring said, "Stop dreaming. If you happen to run into Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, you¡¯re still going to die in a single exchange, hahaha!" The peaked cap student chuckled. "Speaking of which, Candlelight Shadow is a pretty good player. That Divine General Skill, Outer Flame, he just learned is just as good as Lu Chen¡¯s Ancient Seal, and he killed a ton of enemies and Heroic Bannermen thanks to it. Hehe, it looks like the Martial God is finally going to show his true power, hehe!" "Doesn¡¯t matter though¡­" another student wearing a red scarf said. "We suffered huge losses after Vienna and Dark Night¡¯s Rose slammed into our flank with tens of millions of troops. Hall of Immortality¡¯s 200k troops tried to stop them, but they were annihilated before they could even make a peep. That idiot Bloodthirsty Monarch almost cried because of this. No matter how strong Candle Dragon is, they just aren¡¯t strong enough to stop Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s assault." The earring guy added, "I heard that Candlelight Shadow gave up on conquering Eternal Love City right before I logged out of the game. It just wasn¡¯t possible with his current army, so he set his sights on some French tier 2 city instead. Now this is a lot more doable. It¡¯s a shame though. We could¡¯ve conquered Eternal Love City if Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya were with us." Red scar guy sneered. "Are you kidding? Candlelight Shadow¡¯s betrayal caused Lu Chen to lose 90 levels, and the Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯s account to be deleted! Only an idiot would help them after the kind of shit they pulled. In fact, if I wasn¡¯t a member of Wind City, I wouldn¡¯t participate in this Nation War myself. Hmph!" "To put it bluntly, this is a war for Candlelight Shadow to save face. If he succeeds in taking this tier 2 city, then all is well. But if he fails, heaven knows how many people are going to criticize Candle Dragon." "Yeah. Speaking of which, are we going to continue this Nation War tomorrow?" "Of course not! Land of Soul Suppression is opening tomorrow, and the map is said to be full of loot. We¡¯ll catch some quality sleep tonight, teleport back to the city tomorrow, and pray for the best when we head to Land of Soul Suppression. It¡¯s not like there¡¯s anything we can do in a Nation War without good level and equipment anyway. Plus, can you imagine how frustrating it is to run away every time you run into someone who¡¯s stronger than you?" "Yeah, fuck the Nation War! Only an idiot will throw their life away for the Martial God!" "Yeah!" I nearly burst into laughter as I listened in on their dialogue. Candlelight Shadow was definitely stuck between a rock and a hard place right now, but the students were right in saying that he could save some face by occupying that French tier 2 city. He must, because it was his only chance left. ¡­... After we devoured our supper, we returned to the workshop and slept peacefully until noon. ¡­¡­ It was already 10:30 am when I woke up. After washing myself in a hurry and finishing the boxed lunch Beiming Xue bought for me, I logged back into the game and got ready to conquer the Land of Soul Suppression! Chapter 790: I Have Good Cooking Skills Coincidentally, I appeared at Dark Moon City at 11 am sharp. It was overcrowded with players as everyone was preparing to head to Land of Soul Suppression. Everyone knew that the percentage of players who would walk away from Land of Soul Suppression a winner was less than 1%, but the number of people who actually balked at the knowledge were few and far between. After all, the jianghu was ever-changing, and everyone wanted to carve a better future for themselves. Who knows, maybe Lady Luck would grace them with her presence and reward them with a Divine-grade equipment, right? ¡­¡­ "You¡¯re up, Lu Chen!" Li Chengfeng said to me from the guild channel, "Almost everyone is ready to go. Many of them are waiting at Wind City already. The Dragonlight Cavalry will be participating in this event. Overall, around one hundred thousand guild members will be participating as well." I nodded. "Yeah, Land of Soul Suppression is a fairly huge map, and I¡¯m sure the Northern Alliance and the forces from other parts of the China server will be participating as well. Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you all, but it¡¯s highly probable that this battle will be on the same scale as a Nation War." Xu Yang said, "Many of our players don¡¯t meet the Level 140 requirement to enter Land of Soul Suppression, so I told them to focus on grinding their levels as usual. Even if they could come in, they¡¯d just die a pointless death without good levels or equipment, not to mention that it absolutely sucks balls to die in a place filled with the vengeful dead¡­" I laughed. "You¡¯re absolutely right, Brother Xu Yang!" A chuckling Gui Guzi asked, "So, should we travel as a group, or do you have something else in mind, Boss Broken Halberd?" Instead of replying immediately, I asked, "What do you guys think?" Chaos Moon replied, "Let¡¯s just stick together after we enter the map. It would suck if we got caught by the Northern Alliance forces while we¡¯re split." He Yi agreed. "Chaos Moon is correct. Let¡¯s take a moment to rally after we enter the map. We can split up after we find proper grinding spots." "Alright, it¡¯s decided then. Those who haven¡¯t stocked up on supplies yet, do it now. The rest of you, teleport to Wind City and gather outside the map!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I ran straight to the repair merchant and tapped the one-key repair all option. Now that I had gotten back most of my levels, I was no longer afraid of losing equipment. I could just re-equip them even if I died. I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and got on top of its back. Then, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and set it to follow-protect mode. What this meant was that the Phantom Wolf King would stay close to me, and that it would automatically engage my attackers. Anyone who dared to touch a hair on my body would have to face the wrath of my loyal wolf. Swhoosh! I teleported to Wind City. This wasn¡¯t the first time I had come here, and while it was grand, it was visually slightly less impressive than Sky City. On the other hand, it stretched over a bigger area, had a bigger population, tons of NPC armies and incredible city defenses. It was why Wind City was one of the three main cities of the China server. "Lu Chen, we¡¯re assembling at the northern gate! The Dragonlight Cavalry is moving together!" He Yi messaged me. I rode to the northern gate, and as expected, I saw my beautiful knightress waiting for me just beyond the edges of a lush forest with a smile. Behind her, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi and the rest of the Dragonlight Cavalry were at the ready. All around us, people were shooting our cavalry looks of respect and/or envy because they knew that these were the people who terrorized the Northern Alliance and gave their lives to protect every inch of the land during the War of Dawn City. In fact, countless people dearly wished that they could become a part of the Dragonlight Cavalry. In their opinion, it was an honor and a dream worthy of pursuit, plus, who wouldn¡¯t want to join the ranks of heroes? I greeted everyone with a smile as I rode up to them, "Fuck, you guys are fast¡­" Li Chengfeng rolled his eyes. "You¡¯re the one who¡¯s slow. What were you doing anyway?" "Cooking¡­" "What the fuck? Our vice leader is cooking his own consumables?" "What can you do? I have good cooking skills." "Fuck¡­" ¡­¡­ After the short banter, I stopped in front of my troops and said, "Alright. Dragonlight Cavalry! Let us depart to Land of Soul Suppression!" I took off, and everyone followed behind me. A dark red aura seemed to linger around our indigo outline and paint us in a murderous picture. We were a cavalry of nation protectors and a sharp blade that cut down all our enemies. We wouldn¡¯t hesitate to declare war on anyone who would dare to infringe on our dignity! As we traveled, I asked He Yi, "How goes the Nation War of Eternal Love City? Is it over yet?" "I think it ended prematurely, but I¡¯m not sure since I wasn¡¯t paying attention¡­" He Yi stuck out her tongue cutely. "I¡¯m almost as clueless as you are, hehe!" I smiled embarrassedly, but luckily Li Chengfeng rode up to us and came to our rescue. He said, "I logged in rather early in the morning, and I¡¯ve been paying attention to the news. From what I heard, Candle Dragon and the Avengers attacked Eternal Love City for a whole day and night, but it seemed like they were ultimately thwarted by Vienna¡¯s Sorrow army. Failing that, they moved onto a tier 2 city called ¡®Skyview City¡¯ and occupied it. The system is currently updating the map and putting it under Wind City¡¯s jurisdiction right now." "Oh, Candlelight Shadow actually managed to take over a tier 2 city? I guess he succeeded in achieving his objective in the end¡­" I commented. But Li Chengfeng let out a chuckle. "I guess, but I really think that the occupation is pointless¡­" Chaos Moon asked, "What do you mean? It¡¯s still a tier 2 city. How can it be pointless?" Li Chengfeng answered, "It¡¯s simple. Skyview City is situated on the other side of Dragonbone Mountain Range and far, far away from Wind City or Dawn City. If the tier 2 city¡¯s teleportation formation is destroyed, there is no chance in hell any reinforcement could reach the city in time. On the other hand, it¡¯ll take Titan City and Eternal Love City less than two hours to reach Skyview City, not to mention that Skyview City¡¯s defense is incomparable to that of a main city as a matter of course. What this means is that Skyview City is really a burden that our enemy can invade repeatedly to exhaust our strength. Ever heard of the term ¡®white elephant¡¯? The city¡¯s still a valuable asset, but the disadvantages are pretty damning!" I smiled. "Mn, my opinion is more or less the same as Chengfeng¡¯s. A tier 2 city is nothing to be afraid of, and its defenses are pretty weak. It¡¯s why it¡¯s always better to occupy a main city. In this case, it¡¯s even worse because there¡¯s a chance this is all really a trap the Northern Alliance had set up for us." "A trap?" He Yi and Chaos Moon looked at me in unison. "What do you mean?" "Just think about it. Skyview City is a part of China now, and Wind City would be garrisoning its NPC armies there to protect it. Will Titan City and Eternal Love City endure this indignity and do nothing? Of course not. I expect them to invade Skyview City repeatedly and kill the NPC armies garrisoned there again and again, but avoid retaking it. Once Wind City runs out of NPC armies to send to Skyview City, they¡¯ll switch targets and launch a true invasion on Wind City. Without any NPC army to help us, our chances of defending Wind City successfully will drop by 30% at least, especially since NPC armies will take part in the wars between main cities. Heck, they may even lead the war themselves!" My explanation hit everyone like a lightning bolt. Thud! Li Chengfeng punched his own palm before swearing, "Fuck, I can¡¯t believe I didn¡¯t think about this! That bastard, he was so absorbed in pulling Candle Dragon out of a rut that he didn¡¯t think that his action would lead to the Northern Alliance eating away at our virtual strength! We lose out big no matter how you look at it!" "Mn!" I nodded in agreement, but I said, "Objectively speaking though, this was the only choice Candlelight Shadow could¡¯ve made even if he knew what it might lead to. By taking down a tier 2 city¡ªthe first successful occupation since the Nation War became active too¡ªhe had more or less made up for his failures and rescued Candle Dragon¡¯s reputation from disaster. After all, not everyone can think as clearly as us, and Candlelight Shadow has a ton of diehard fans who¡¯ll forgive him at the drop of a hat." Li Chengfeng smiled and clenched both his fists. "That¡¯s fine. We have all the time in the world to crush Candlelight Shadow¡¯s dynasty! We may as well take it slow and enjoy the journey to its fullest!" I laughed in agreement. "Exactly! We¡¯ll make him suffer in the worst way imaginable!" Chaos Moon criticized us, "For a second I thought you guys are great people who worry over the bigger picture, but no, you¡¯re just brutal avengers¡­" Gui Guzi smiled and spat on the ground. He immediately earned Chaos Moon¡¯s ire. "Why are you spitting in my presence? Do you want to die? Don¡¯t pick up Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ bad habits, you!" ¡­¡­ It took us almost half an hour to pass through Wind Forest, and that was only because the Dragonlight Armored Horse was fast. A foot soldier would¡¯ve to walk at least an hour no matter how fast they were. That was why He Yi was carrying Murong Mingyue on her mount, and I, Beiming Xue. Sitting behind my back, the Dark Archer suddenly asked a random question while she was scrutinizing my weapon, "Big bro, why is your scabbard so ugly?" I couldn¡¯t stop my facial muscles from twitching. "How should I know? Fuck¡­" It was at this moment He Yi pointed to the front and said, "Look, we¡¯ve reached the teleportation point!" "Ohh!" ¡­¡­ As we continued forward, a wide plain and a ton of teleportation formations started entering our view. Each teleportation formation was guarded by an old NPC mage who was responsible for teleporting us to Land of Soul Suppression. Without them, the only other way to get there was to climb over the mountain range, and from what I heard, there was an evil and tyrannical Level 220 Dark Dragon guarding the peak. Only an idiot would attempt that. Candle Dragon had apparently dispatched several thousand-man parties to challenge the Dark Dragon in the past, but they were annihilated by the lackeys before they even reached the final boss. It was embarrassing to say the least. "Let¡¯s wait. It¡¯ll be another half an hour before the teleportation formations open!" He Yi stood next to an old mage and said, "We¡¯ll travel to the Land of Soul Suppression through this teleportation formation. I wonder what¡¯ll be waiting for us on the other side¡­ Well, what are you guys waiting for? Let¡¯s surround this formation before someone can take it from us¡­" We immediately walked over to her and surrounded the teleportation formation as commanded. I had to admit that we looked pretty stupid like this. About 100 yards, there was another teleportation formation that was guarded by Hall of Immortality players. I even spotted Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch over there. ¡­¡­ "Hey look, it¡¯s Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡­" a little mage exclaimed in surprise when he saw us. Sitting atop his mount, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch shot me a glance and let out a wordless harrumph. Li Chengfeng immediately stepped out and pointed his sword at the guild leader menacingly, "What are you looking at? If you want a 1v1 then come at me! I just happen to be free right now!" Chapter 791: Scavenger Imp I raised my arm, and the two thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen around me spread out and assumed battle formations like clockwork. For a moment, the air was rife with tension. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s mouth twitched at the sheer amount of murderous intent pointed at his direction. A second later, he growled, "Put down your weapons. The map is going to open very soon, and there¡¯s no need to waste time with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Plus, they won¡¯t be smiling very soon. We¡¯ll settle our score with them once we¡¯re inside Land of Soul Suppression! Hmph!" Land of Soul Suppression was set so that a player could only enter it once per 72 hours. This meant that no guild could replenish their numbers immediately. He Yi nodded as well and said, "This is not a good time to start a fight. Let¡¯s help out the guild members who are on foot and fetch them over as soon as possible. It won¡¯t be long before the teleportation formation is open." "Mn." ¡­¡­ We waited in silence. The map was covered in blue dots, and practically every NPC was surrounded by layers upon layers of people. To say that the place was packed like a sardine can was an understatement. A grueling wait later, the time finally ticked to 11:57. There were only 3 minutes left now. "Get ready. We¡¯re going in the second it opens." I was the closest person to the NPC. I spoke to him, and a teleportation window popped in front of my face. The entry fee was an exorbitant 100 gold and 4000 Reputation. It was like paying a vial of blood to enter a dangerous land with no certain profit. Eternal Moon Corporation definitely knows how to make their money. Time passed bit by bit. The confirmation button lit up when it was finally noon, and I tapped it as quick as lightning. My gold and Reputation decreased, and I was dragged into another map by magic. Swhoosh! When my vision cleared up, I was standing on an empty ground surrounded by misty forest. My surroundings were unclear, and the ground was covered in small stones and wilted grass. It was a barren land that barely anyone had frequented before. Finally, the name on the map interface changed to ¡°Land of Soul Suppression¡±. I was in! I spurred my mount and rode forward for a bit. Behind me, countless players were teleporting in rapidly. The place became crowded in just the blink of an eye. "Looks like almost everyone¡¯s here. It¡¯s time to depart to the center of the canyon!" I opened the map and spent a moment studying it closely. The map was circular in shape and covered in red dots. Clearly, there were a ton of smaller spots to fit all the players that were about to pour into Land of Soul Suppression. Of course, no matter how big the map was, it was only a matter of time before we encountered the Northern Alliance. The war between the China server and them had begun with the War of Dawn City, and it wasn¡¯t looking to end any time soon. ¡­¡­ "Where are we going? "He Yi asked. I answered as we rode, "We¡¯ll try to get as close to the center of the map as possible. It has the darkest red, and I suspect it¡¯s where the most important section of the entire Land of Soul Suppression is. We can¡¯t let our enemies get the first prize, can we?" "Mn!" As one, the Dragonlight Cavalry and Cyan Tiger Cavalry rode toward the center. Horse hooves thundered across the land. Suddenly, Heaven¡¯s Rain came to a halt and pointed her sword to the front. She shouted, "Big brother Lu Chen, look! I see a mob!" "Yeah." There was a group of Scavenger Imps wandering the barren forest in front of us. The Scavenger Imp was a kind of human that was corrupted by the undead plague. Its body was hideously distorted, and its life force and soul had departed its empty shella long time ago. The Scavenger Imps were carrying steel pitchforks and picking up some trash from the ground. I stared at them with Dark Pupils and read their stats¡ª Scavenger Imp (Ancient) Level: 180 Attack: 5700~6850 Defense: 5900 HP: 450,000 Skills: Stealing Magic, Stealing Life, Scream Pierce Introduction: The Scavenger Imps are a bunch of pitiful humans whose souls were stolen by the undead. They are incredibly strong despite their corrupted bodies, and they entertain themselves through acts of scavenging and stealing. ¡­¡­ "Level 180 ancient mobs, huh?" Li Chengfeng smiled. "6850 max Attack is insanely high. It¡¯s almost comparable to a boss''s Attack." I said, "Be careful, everyone. These Scavenger Imps are numerous. Cavalry, advance slowly and don¡¯t leave the priests¡¯ healing range. Mages, AoE them with Galaxy Storms. Archers, stun them with Shock Arrows first, then DPS them with Spiraling Arrow Blades and Volleys. Keep formation and don¡¯t let these mobs slow us down¡­" Everyone nodded in unison. My orders made sense, and I had proven myself multiple times during the Nation War. There was nothing more important to a commander than his guild members¡¯ trust. Chiang chiang chiang¡­ Blades were unsheathed as the Dragonlight Cavalry moved to the first line, and the archers and mages to the second line. Bards started applying buffs, and tacticians started applying stratagems to those who didn¡¯t belong in a Famous General party. Right now, almost all tacticians above Level 150 had around 300 Tactics. What this meant was that a basic 20% Encourage VII could be boosted up to 80%. That was good enough for most purposes. ¡­¡­ I pulled out my own weapon and tossed it at the band of Scavenger Imps. The Cyan Netherworld Sword swept across the grass and impaled a good number of mobs in a row! 31727! 29838! 31093! Chaos Moon pouted as she watched the damage numbers floating above the mobs¡¯ head. "Fuck, your Attack is just so stupid. Even Level 180 mobs with 5900 Defense are like training dummies to you!" Enraged, the Scavenger Imps waved their pitchforks and rushed me. Their expressions were ugly, and they let out screeching noises as they charged. "Barrier Break! Shields up!" The cavalry did exactly as I commanded. First, they plunged their flaming weapons into the Scavenger Imps¡¯ chests, drawing black blood. Then, they raised their shields and blocked the pitchforks aimed in their direction. Despite the timely guard, plenty of people lost over 10k HP per hit, taking serious damage. The Level 180 ancient mobs were so strong that they dealt tons of damage even to the Dragonlight Cavalry. If this was Hall of Immortality¡¯s cavalry, someone would probably be dead already. An untimely heal from a lousy priest was all it took. Suddenly, the Scavenger Imps glared at us and shouted in a ghastly voice, "How dare you set foot on our territory, damned humans! You must be here for our treasure! Die!" The pitchforks glowed red, and they stabbed the Dragonlight Cavalry again. A bunch of damage numbers rose above their heads¡ª 18737! 12772! 9836! ¡ªbut this time, a bunch of healing numbers rose above the Scavenger Imps¡¯ heads as well. +18737! +12772! +9836! ¡­¡­ God damn, the skill "Stealing Life" was about as literal as it could get. The Scavenger Imps were literally sucking the life out of our players! Li Chengfeng couldn¡¯t help but let out an incredulous laugh. "100% lifesteal? Holy shit, these imps are seriously insane! Quick, kill them before they turn our players into mummies!" A hearty laughter later, the gang turned serious and went all out. Galaxy Storms and Spiraling Arrow Blades tore chunks of flesh from the mobs¡¯ body while holy light kept our frontliners healed. Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew and the rest of our priests all had noteworthy HPS. I swung my sword three times and hit a dozen or so Scavenger Imps with burning Blade Slash, dealing a ton of damage. In fact, the last hit of the skill dealt almost 50k damage, which was 10k higher than my maximum damage output before I lost 90 levels in the war. It was because becoming a Divine General came with increased hidden stats. If I used Great Earth Transformation, I would do even more damage as a matter of course. But of course, I wasn¡¯t going to use it for a trivial fight like this. Great Earth Transformation cost 1 Divine Energy Point per minute to maintain, and I had less than 100 Divine Energy Points right now. I would rather save it and earn more points through the act of killing mobs. Once we entered the heart of the map, we would encounter the Northern Alliance and even Candle Dragon. Since this wasn¡¯t a Nation War, I had no intentions of ignoring Candle Dragon if we ran into them! ¡­¡­ Pop! One of the Scavenger Imps let out a stupidly loud death scream and dropped a card¡ª Scavenger Imp Card: Increases user¡¯s attack speed by 40% and mob drop rate by 25%. Duration: 90 minutes. Ooh, this is a great item! I was fully buffed and I had healing from Murong Mingyue, so I didn¡¯t need to use a Bloodknight Card here. 40% attack speed and 25% mob drop rate was way better than 40% HP in this case! Swhoosh! The card flew into the sky and enveloped me in a column of light. I swung my sword a few times, and sure enough, my attack speed went up visibly after using the card. Very well, continue! He Yi also got a Scavenger Imp Card, and she used the item without needing me to say anything. Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Heaven¡¯s Rain and the rest of our players also did the same thing because they knew that our true goal was not to kill Candlelight Shadow or Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, but to walk away with bags of riches. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls ain¡¯t changing their motto for ten thousand years at least! Chapter 792: Soul Suppressing Ruins Not to mention, the recovery speed of Divine Energy Points was extremely slow! A player could recover two points for every hour they were online and one point for every hour they were offline. For every hundred monsters or players killed, the Divine General could recover one point. Needless to say, killing mobs was the fastest way to recover divine energy. "Chengfeng, how many Divine Energy Points do you have right now?" I asked. Li Chengfeng swung his sword and sent a few Scavenger Imps flying through the air. He replied with a laugh, "79 points. Why do you ask, boss?" I replied, "Damn it. You have so many points. I only have half of that..." Li Chengfeng grinned and said, "That goes without saying! Due to my Divine General Skill¡¯s lasting effect, the power of the battle soul comes upon me. A Divine Energy Point is used up for each minute that my Divine General Skill is activated. If I activate Great Earth Transformation at the same time, two points are used per minute! There¡¯s no way around it. Ah, but your Ancient Soul is really a scam. Each seal costs one Divine Energy Point¡­" "You¡¯re absolutely right! This is a scam!" Chaos Moon glared at us and shouted, "Scam my ass! Your Ancient Seal deals damage that is a few hundred times stronger than what Li Chengfeng dishes out. Stop complaining when you actually struck the lottery, you asshole!" I grimaced and kept silent. Girls who hadn¡¯t become Divine Generals yet couldn¡¯t be trifled with! ¡­¡­ Our battle line continued forward steadily as we eliminated the monsters one by one. About a stone¡¯s throw away from us, Hall of Immortality had also started killing the Scavenger Imps. However, things didn¡¯t look too good for them at all. The forefront row of magic knights dropped like flies from the loud shrieks and three consecutive jabs of the Scavenger Imps. The entire group of Hall of Immortality players had descended into chaos. Clang, clang, clang! The Scavenger Imps¡¯ attacks were too powerful and its pitchfork left three deep slashes on Gui Guzi¡¯s shield. Letting out a loud shriek, it landed three consecutive hits on Gui Guzi, shaving 50000 off his HP. Fortunately for him, he regained full health after receiving two rounds of healing spells from Murong Mingyue. Then again, the Scavenger Imps posed no threat to Gui Guzi whatsoever. After all, his max HP could reach 200000 when he was fully buffed! "Goddammit! These Scavenger Imps are too ferocious! We can¡¯t hold them off any longer!" "Goddammit! Who was the bastard that said that Land of Soul Suppression was filled with treasures and gold? We¡¯re gonna be cannon fodder!" "Priests, keep on healing! Don¡¯t let everyone get one-shot!" "How do we do that?" "Intersect your heals between the hits! Highly skilled players do it! How have you not heard of this you retard!" "Fuck your sister! I only know how to pocket heal!" ¡­¡­ Our guild was coping well but Hall of Immortality descended into chaos. Nearly a thousand Scavenger Imps had gathered into smaller groups to kill and eliminate Hall of Immortality players. Almost all of their frontline riders had been wiped out. The sight of this disparity between our guilds warmed the cockles of my heart. Not only were these Scavenger Imps Land of Soul Suppression¡¯s first line of defense, they could also move about freely. The area that we had swept clean just half an hour ago was once again filled with new Scavenger Imps. This also meant that those who did not have the strength and power to kill these imps would unlikely be able to enter into the inner parts of Land of Soul Suppression. These Level 180 ancient monsters would most probably be able to keep at least 90% of the players out from entering the core of the map. This meant that players who were able to make it to the core are the elite and powerful ones. Otherwise, they would not be able to pass through the defense line of Scavenger Imps. Our killing spree continued on for three more hours, until finally, we managed to get past the Scavenger Imps¡¯ line of defense. Not only did we gain an incredible amount of EXP, the drops from the Scavenger Imps were not bad at all. The best drops we had gotten were Purple Gold¨Cgrade pieces of equipment! This Land of Soul Suppression is filled with treasures indeed! ¡­¡­ In front of us were a line of crumbling fences and dilapidated walls. The area was desolate, the bones of warriors peaked out under the rubble of broken concrete. I urged my horse forward to take a closer look. As I stepped foot on to the pile of broken concrete, I heard a light ring. Ding~! System Notice: You have entered a contested area¡ªSoul Suppressing Ruins! Map Introduction: This piece of land is filled with resentful and ruthless souls. Ten thousand years ago, during the battle with the Night Creatures, millions of human soldiers were massacred here. They were slaughtered after the battle was lost and their souls haunt every corner of this land. Their commander, Ovia, died and was corrupted by a devil spirit. He turned into a demon and became one of the Nine Sovereigns of the Night Creatures¡ªOvia the Bloody Finger. To appease the anger of his fallen soldiers, Ovia had built a tall pagoda called "Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower" on the remnants of the battle to suppress the souls of those who had died unjustly. To this day, the Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower stands tall above in the sky. Countless souls of heroes could not be put to rest and suffered the torment of the Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Towers day after day. ¡­¡­ "Oh? Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower?" I took in a deep breath before saying, "It looks like this place is somehow related to the main quest. That Ovia the Bloody Finger is ranked fourth among the Nine Sovereigns. Another human traitor! I can¡¯t believe he actually built the Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower to suppress the souls of his own soldiers. How shameless of him¡­" He Yi giggled and replied, "The Soul Suppressing Ruins are the outermost area and we have to pass through them before we can reach the tower. If my guess is right, the core of this Land of Soul Suppression is that Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower, and that¡¯s the sole reason we are here!" "Mn." I nodded my head readily and chuckled. "You¡¯re right, the purpose for our journey is that Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. However, we have to fight our way to get there. The undead monsters in front are high-level. Everyone, be on your guard. Underestimate them and you may lose your life!" Li Chengfeng¡¯s gaze grew stern as he said, "You¡¯re right. Those huge skeletons are Level 185 ancient monsters. Hmph, their stats are even more powerful than those Scavenger Imps¡¯¡­" Xu Yang raised his sword and shouted, "Attack! Kill those skeletons!" "Yessir!" ¡­¡­ I charged forward and unleashed a green sword, piercing through the head of a large skelton. A damage number of 26553 floated above the skeleton instantly. These numbskulls¡¯ Defense is much higher than that of Scavenger Imps! Ahhhh.... A low growl rang out as that large skeleton started to charge forward. Wearing black rusty armor and pointed helmet, it brandished a worn-out sword. As it charged toward me, a single line of words floated above its head¡ª¡ª Soul Suppressing Guard (LV-185 Ancient) ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I activated Charge and locked on to that Level 185 ancient monster. Flames enveloped my Cyan Netherworld Sword as I unleashed Burning Blade Slash. The three crescent waves tore through the skeleton¡¯s arm, with the last slash being a critical hit, dealing double damage to the skeleton. My Attack was so powerful that it ripped its arm clean from its body. "Goddammit! Lu Chen is too OP!" Chaos Moon gasped in shock. However, in the next instant, that huge skeleton raised his sword and landed a heavy blow on my arm. A shocking damage number floated over my head immediately. The worse thing was that it was actually a critical hit! 38714! "God damn, I was wrong. Lu Chen is so weak¡­" Chaos Moon shook her head in contempt. He Yi turned to glare at Chaos Moon and said, "Omigosh, Lu Chen isn¡¯t weak. It''s this skeleton that is too powerful! Everyone, be careful. Form groups of ten and aggro a skeleton each. Don¡¯t aggro too many! We won¡¯t be able to deal with too many of them at once!" Healing light enveloped me as my HP soared thanks to Murong Mingyue. Goddammit, these Soul Suppressing Guards are truly powerful. Moreover, these high-level undead skeletons knew how to aim for a player¡¯s weak points and ignored at least 25% of their Defense. That was why it could deal such high damage to me. Sadly, I had lost many levels during that Nation War, and I hadn¡¯t gotten all of them back yet. Therefore, the level penalty I was experiencing right now was quite severe and it really felt like I was punching a wall with my bare fists right now. Ancient monsters only had a max HP of 400k to 500k while my DPS was about 30k. If I added the damage that my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King dealt, it would be even higher. If I was healed continuously, I could kill a full-health Soul Suppressing Guard in 15 to 18 seconds flat. Three rounds of Barrier Break + Burning Blade Slash would do the trick. I also made sure that I got the last hit, so I would get the most EXP from each kill. Gaining EXP was the most important thing to me at this moment. I needed to level up and reach Level 160 as soon as possible! It¡¯s too embarrassing to call yourself a Divine General when you aren¡¯t even Level 160! ¡­¡­ Bang! A huge skeleton collapsed to the ground and dropped a round Phantasmal Magic Stone. I picked it up and tossed it to the Dragonlight Cavalryman behind me. The saying goes, one man¡¯s trash is another man¡¯s treasure. After all, that stone is worth quite a few bucks! The entire Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls opened fire and formed groups to aggro the monsters. It was much easier to kill the monsters when they were separated from each other and soon, we started to pave a way through this Land of Soul Suppression. Countless Soul Suppressing Guards guarded the path in front of us while Hall of Immortality, Mad Dragon and Gods of Destruction kept the dense crowd of Scavenger Imps behind us busy. Those idiots would not be able to catch up with us within a short period of time. It was as if we had reserved the entire area all to ourselves. Though this was a good opportunity to grind and gain EXP, it would not last long. Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, Snowy Cathaya and other guilds would appear soon. Killing those Scavenger Imps would be a walk in the park given how strong they were. ¡­¡­ In the hazy distance, under the dim glow of the moonlight, I could vaguely make out a large, towering object in the middle of the valley. If my guess was right, that should be the Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower! That was our true target, no questions asked. I was sure that many players were also busy trying to clear the monsters on the outermost parts of the map as quickly as they could. All of them had the same target as we did, to get to the Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. The first player to enter the tower would very likely also be the person who got the most loot. Boom! Chaos Moon unleashed Rock Crush as it exploded amid a group of monsters before retreating swiftly. She cleverly disrupted the formation of five huge skeletons and dispersed their attack power. Explosions rang out as Beiming Xue continued to engulf the monsters with her Evil Spirit Volley. All of a sudden, she stopped in her tracks as her pointy ears started to twitch. She turned to look at me and said, "Big bro, someone¡¯s approaching us from the west!" "Can you see who it is?" "I can¡¯t tell who they are. But¡­" Beiming Xue¡¯s pupils shrank into needles as she muttered, "Their IDs are red!" "Goddammit, it''s the Northern Alliance!" High Fighting Spirits raised his warhammer and said, "How are they here already? They¡¯re so quick¡­" I raised my sword and shouted, "Cyan Tiger Cavalry, continue fighting the monsters! Dragonlight Cavalry, assemble! Prepare for battle!" Chapter 793: Olympus I activated Dark Pupils and the map instantly became clear as day to me. A group of crimson dots were coming at us at an extremely fast pace. If the opponents did not have anyone with a skill like Dark Pupils, they would not have seen us yet. Due to the dense fog, the map would not reveal other players or monsters which were too far away. Beiming Xue stood on a withered pine tree and squinted her eyes. Her eyes glowed a pale red, fully revealing her dark archer¡¯s sensing abilities. She looked into the distance and whispered, "There¡¯re about two hundred players approaching us, who are high-level and have good equipment. It¡¯s Chariot City, I think! It''s the Behemoth Army we fought at Sunset Swamp. Yes, I¡¯m sure of it! It''s the Behemoth Cavalry!" "Two hundred players?" Li Chengfeng laughed before asking, "What shall we do?" I raised my Cyan Netherworld Sword and chuckled, "Well that¡¯s simple. We kill them all! Look, the forest in front serves as a perfect cover. Little Gui, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, take 400 Dragonlight Cavalrymen with you. Activate Flying General and hide yourselves inside that forest. You guys will cut off their retreat routes while Eve, Chengfeng and I will charge in from the front with the rest of the Dragonlight Cavalry. Beiming Xue will lead the archers and mages and attack from the flank. Let¡¯s end the fight in five minutes!" "Yessir!" Gui Guzi raised his spear and laughed. "My party members, come with me! You and Yun, lead the way!" "Alright!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun took over as party leader and swiftly activated Flying General. Instantly, a pair of glowing red wings appeared at the sides of the Dragonlight Armored Horses. They headed for the forest at lightning speed as their movement speed was buffed by 400%. Soon after, Gui Guzi sent me a message: "Boss Broken Halberd, give me the signal and we¡¯ll engage!" "Mn." I raised my Cyan Netherworld Sword and urged my horse forward. "Come with me. We need to hide ourselves first. These 200 Behemoth Cavalrymen could very well be German scouts. We must eliminate them as quickly as we can and not give away too much information about ourselves. More importantly, we must not let the Germans know how many players we have! They will not dare to make any rash moves as long as they do not have enough intel on us!" "Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ Bang, bang, bang... The rumbling of hooves continued to get louder and louder. Dark Pupils could detect the opponent¡¯s exact location on the map. They were now two hundred yards away from us. If I was right, they would also be able to see us on their map. Clang! I unsheathed my Cyan Netherworld Sword and growled in a low voice, "Attack!" I urged my horse forward and sent a message to Gui Guzi, "Begin!" Immediately, battlecries rang out from the forest in the distance. Gui Guzi and his 400 Dragonlight Cavalrymen who were buffed with Flying General charged out. Meanwhile, He Yi, Li Chengfeng and I led 1600 men and did likewise. We charged out of the fog and came face to face with a bunch of startled, wide-eyed Behemoth Cavalrymen. Even though all of their IDs were red, none of them was a Heroic Bannerman. This proved to us that they were truly scouts! I dashed forward at lightning speed, locked on to a target and used Charge! Swhoosh! My target¡¯s mechanical skills were rather good. He quickly retreated when he saw me charging at him as a big "MISS" word floated above his head. However, my aim was not to stun him. I wanted him to move to a specific location and he did just that. Right after I activated Charge, a roar resounded from Cyan Netherworld Sword as Thousand Ice Slash + Burning Blade Slash were shot into a group of enemies, piercing into the bodies of the Behemoth Cavalrymen! Boom, boom, boom! Burning Blade Slash was especially deadly as each wave dealt almost 100000 damage each. This was something that a normal mounted player could not withstand. Even elites such as Dragonlight Cavalrymen only had max HP of 120000 when fully buffed. "Ahhhh¡­" Cries rang out as a group of Behemoth Cavalrymen collapsed, littering the ground with various potions and equipment. It seemed like my attack power had increased dramatically when I got the Sea Suppressing Poleyn! "We¡¯re being ambushed! Retreat, immediately!" a player carrying a broadsword shouted. Unfortunately for him, He Yi turned to him and unleashed Barrier Break that pierced through his armor. Right after, Chaos Moon and Xu Yang charged at him and also unleashed their Barrier Breaks. The hapless rider was flung off his horse and killed instantly. Boom, boom, boom! Mere moments later, Purgatory of Ice and Magma, Rock Crush, Mountain Stagger Slash exploded amid the remnants of our enemies. Anguished cries rang out as the entire group of Behemoths collapsed instantly. At this moment, High Fighting Spirits charged into a group of players and brandished his Dragonlight Shatter. An image of a green ferocious beast hovered over his warhammer as he unleashed Xiezhi Howl. The group of Germans were almost frightened to death as a cyclone of energy surrounded him and slaughtered them instantly. Gui Guzi, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Heaven¡¯s Rain and the rest also unleashed their skills. Beiming Xue and the other ranged players surrounded the Behemoth Cavalrymen and baptized them with their arrows and spells. It was a one-sided bloodbath! In less than five minutes, we had eliminated 200 Behemoth Cavalrymen. None survived! ¡­¡­ The Behemoth Cavalrymen wore good equipment and so the items they dropped were ones of good quality. Thus, the Dragonlight Cavalrymen swept the battlefield enthusiastically in hopes of attaining good equipment. Even though we had great equipment as well, there were no guarantees that some of the equipment they dropped weren¡¯t better than ours. Furthermore, constantly upgrading one¡¯s equipment was integral to one¡¯s strength as a player, so we definitely couldn¡¯t neglect any items that a powerful enemy dropped. He Yi glanced into the distance and spoke gently, "I didn¡¯t expect the Northern Alliance to catch up so quickly. Were the Scavenger Imps too easy for them?" I shook my head and replied, "No, the Scavenger Imps would have prevented 90% of the Northern Alliance players from advancing. However, these Behemoth Cavalrymen were too powerful and managed to charge their way in. Now that we¡¯ve killed their scouts, Chariot City will surely make their next move." He Yi replied confidently, "Contact our allies, especially those who are closer in location. We will be able to help each other quickly when attacked." "Mn." I nodded my head and laughed. "Everyone should continue to clear the field. We need to reach Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower as soon as possible. Let¡¯s not waste time and linger around for too long." "Got it!" I quickly contacted Lin Yixin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Ling Xueshang and the rest and found out that we were near each other. Lin Yixin was only ten minutes away from us while Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Ling Xueshang and Come See The Snow Tonight were twenty minutes away. We were ready to come to each other¡¯s aid at any point in time. We would be able to go head to head with Hero City¡¯s elite Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry as long as our guilds worked together! ¡­¡­ In the meantime, we continued to grind the Soul Suppressing Guards and earn ourselves some EXP. Fortunately, we did a great job in ambushing and killing the earlier 200 Behemoths. The Chariot City players were probably thrown into confusion and did not dare to act recklessly, leaving us to grind in peace. About two hours in, our players managed to tear into the defense line of the Soul Suppressing Guards. Thousands of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players quickly took advantage and charged through that opening. Swhoosh! My Ice Qilin Horse charged out of the crimson fog and my view turned clear instantly. The bright moon illuminated the sky, causing the armor of the Dragonlight Cavalrymen to shine brilliantly from its reflection. In the distance, under the moonlight stood a giant tall tower. It was a massive sealed grinding map! It was without doubt, where the greatest treasures of Land of Soul Suppression lay. This Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower was the very essence of this giant map! He Yi¡¯s face turned grim as she ran alongside me and said, "I checked the official website and found out that Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower seems to be linked to the main storyline. If we are able to clear it, we may even get a quest from the main storyline. If so, we will have truly struck gold¡­" I laughed and replied, "Mn, let¡¯s be the first to enter Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower then!" "Alright!" "Full speed ahead!" At my command, the Cyan Tiger Cavalry and Dragonlight Cavalry started to increase their speed and charge forward. At the back, Beiming Xue and the other players travelling by foot would catch up with us gradually. It was only wise for the riders to rush forward and occupy Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower first. We would be on the losing end if we allowed our enemies to get ahead of us and step foot into the tower before us! ¡­¡­ "Quick, look! It¡¯s the Northern Alliance cavalry!" Chaos Moon pointed a finger at the distance. Sure enough, a large group of crimson figures could be seen on the other side of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. They were Northern Alliance players of the Titan City, riding on their Fire Rhinoceroses. The armors of the 2000-strong cavalry shone in the dark and their swords glistened under the moonlight. Li Chengfeng¡¯s gaze grew stern as he shouted, "Goddammit!" I stared at the large group of enemies and cursed. Goddammit, it''s the Titan City¡¯s Fire Rhinoceros Cavalry! The player at the forefront had a crimson flag on his back signifying that he was a Heroic Bannerman. Two words floated above his head¡ªTitan God! I instantly understood Li Chengfeng¡¯s burning anger. It was this Titan God who had commanded the army which had decimated Li Chengfeng¡¯s forces in Breeze Canyon. However, Li Chengfeng had managed to destroy his army as well, so there was no love lost between the two of them. ¡­¡­ "What are we gonna do, Boss Broken Halberd?" Gui Guzi pointed a finger into the distance and asked, "Many are coming! That¡¯s Titan God¡¯s guild, Olympus! They have archers and mages following behind as well! There must be almost 100000 players!" I unsheathed my Cyan Netherworld Sword and growled in a loud voice, "The battle is won by the brave. Prepare to attack!" Clang, clang, clang! Dragonlight Cavalry and Cyan Tiger Cavalry unsheathed their swords at my command and Li Chengfeng¡¯s gaze grew hardened. Anger and hatred stirred in his heart at the thought of meeting the enemy soon! ¡­¡­ Ding! At this moment, Beauty Lin sent me a message: "Hehe, wait for us Little Cheat! Snowy Cathaya¡¯s 50000 troops are in the forest just next to you. We¡¯ll attack from both sides in five minutes and slaughter Olympus!" "Great!" My spirits were lifted instantly! It was Olympus¡¯ honor to die by the combined efforts of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya! Chapter 794: Double Helix Maneuver Titan God carried a broadsword in one hand and rode on a Fire Rhinoceros that was entirely covered in armor. He raised his head and looked into the distance, his eyes burning with fury. "Hmph, it¡¯s that Chinese player! I will never forget him! Never!" An archer beside him said, "Guild leader, that player is now a Divine General. He is called Legendary Brave, China¡¯s one and only Dragon Warrior. He is extremely powerful! We suffered great losses because of him the last time. His Defense is ridiculously high when he activates Battle Soul Possession. Even Barrier Break isn¡¯t able to penetrate his defenses!" Titan God¡¯s gaze grew icy as that archer continued talking, "Also, that person beside Legendary Brave. That player riding on the Ice Qilin Horse is Broken Halberd Sinks into Sand. He¡¯s the one who guarded the Life Barrier for several hours. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, The Blade of Kings and Grief of the Dark all suffered greatly because of his Divine General Skill, Ancient Seal. Also¡­" Titan God clenched his palms into tight fists and interrupted him, "Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower is right ahead! We would meet them sooner or later anyway. Hehe, why not settle all our grievances now!" The archer asked, "Guild leader, shall we wait for the other guilds? Vienna¡¯s guild, Heroes Alliance, will be able to reach Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower in just half an hour!" Titan God shook his head and said, "We shan¡¯t wait for them. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is proclaimed to to be the number one player of Hero City, Titan City and Seven Star City. Hmph, why should I give all the good things to him? We¡¯ll eliminate Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls today and kill two Chinese Divine Generals! Titan will become number one on USA¡¯s Guild Ranking!" "Understood!" "Gather all our Fire Rhinoceros Cavalrymen immediately! Prepare for battle! Bards, buff us! Mages, archers, priests, advance together! Kill that bunch of Chinese players before they can get anywhere near the Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower! Hmph, that giant tower belongs to the Northern Alliance!¡¯ "Yessir!" ¡­¡­ In a flash, a large group of Fire Rhinoceroses started to appear. Titan God was going all out to kill us. At least 15000 Fire Rhinoceroses had gathered on the overgrown plains surrounding the Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. We could hear the sounds of people and horses joining together to form a cacophony of noises. Their swords glowed under the moonlight as they unsheathed them and prepared for battle. Clang! Titan God pulled his blade out and shouted, "The time for vengeance is here! Titan City comrades, let us show how powerful we are! Attack!" The ground rumbled under the horse hooves and the Fire Rhinoceros Cavalry started to activate Charge! An earthshaking battle was about to take place! ¡­¡­ Flames hovered over my Cyan Netherworld Sword as I pointed it in front of me. Laughing, I said, "Fortune favors the bold! Brandish your swords, my brothers and sisters!" Instantly, 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 1500 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen unsheathed their swords, the look in their eyes resolute. Another huge battle was about to take place around Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. "Attack!" I urged my horse forward and the Phantom Wolf King followed closely behind me. I waved my hand and summoned my apparition before the two of us charged to the front. The rumbling of horse hooves could be heard behind us as both calvaries started to charge forward. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls riders were renowned and it was time for us to show off our prowess! When enemies meet on a narrow road, only the brave will emerge the victor. The players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls who had experienced the Nation Wars first hand understood this full well. The gazes of He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, Du Thirteen and the rest grew stern as they brandished their swords. They urged their horses forward and charged toward the enemy¡¯s giant army without a thread of fear in their eyes! Swhoosh! Three green dragons burst out and transformed into three swords that circled around me protectively. I entered the Great Earth Transformation state swiftly but had yet to clash with the enemy. Stretching out a hand, three golden characters flew into the air and illuminated the night sky with their glow. In the next instant, they crashed into the ground, imprinting the battlefield with Ancient Seals, flattening the enemies underneath. Boom, boom, boom! Ancient Seal was extremely powerful. More than half of the Fire Rhinoceroses within the three 20x20 yard areas were one-shot instantly. Even those who managed to escape death were only left with less than 20% of their HP! "Charge!" Cyan blades circled around Li Chengfeng protectively as an image of a crimson god of war rested upon him. All of his stats had been greatly buffed instantly. His sword glowed as he unleashed three consecutive attacks of Dragonbone Flurry and followed up immediately with Reverse Scale Flash. With just two skills, Li Chengfeng managed to tear through the enemy¡¯s battle formation and killed nearly forty Fire Rhinoceros Cavalrymen. Divine Generals¡¯ attacks were simply too OP! Awoo! A howl rang out as High Fighting Spirits charged into a group of enemies and swung his warhammer. When he was completely surrounded by his enemies, he swiftly unleashed his Xiezhi Howl. A large group of Titan players were instantly stupefied as nearly a hundred players were torn to pieces by that beastial hurricane! ¡­¡­ "Goddammit!" Titan God was outraged as he charged forward and brandished his broadsword. His armor buzzed and glowed as electricity coursed through. He raised his sword and unleashed a bolt of lightning into a group of players about fifteen yards away. The group of Dragonlight Cavalrymen were hit by that AoE skill and strings of damage numbers popped up above their heads. 38728! 41092! 41288! God damn! Such powerful attacks! Titan God pounced forward without giving the Dragonlight Cavalrymen the chance to retaliate. Lightning enveloped his sword as he shouted angrily, "Lightning Fury! Die you idiots!" Boom, boom, boom! Three consecutive bolts of lightning landed on the two frontmost Dragonlight Cavalrymen, killing them instantly! ¡­¡­ "Omigosh! This is too outrageous!" He Yi tugged on the reins of her horse and activated Charge. A loud bang rang out as she rammed into Titan God, forcing him to take two steps backward from the impact. While Titan God was still unsteady, a spiral of blazing energy formed on the tip of He Yi¡¯s sword. She urged her horse forward and thrust her sword at Titan God with lightning speed. Titan God¡¯s reaction took everyone by surprise. He brandished his sword and parried He Yi¡¯s Barrier Break accurately! "MISS£¡" MISS! Everyone around them gasped in shock! Titan God parried He Yi¡¯s attack perfectly! However, He Yi¡¯s moves were extremely shocking as well. Her reaction speed was unusually quick! In that split second when her attack was parried, the beautiful guild leader swung the shield in her left hand. The heavy shield crushed Titan God¡¯s shoulder, dealing a damage of 7663. Without waiting for him to catch his breath, He Yi thrust her Blade of the Earthen Soul at his chest swiftly. Flames erupted from the sword as He Yi unleashed her Purgatory of Ice and Magma! "Goddammit!" Titan God had not expected for this beautiful rider to be so OP. He quickly raised his arm and curled himself into a defensive position! Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang! Explosions from He Yi¡¯s five consecutive attacks rang out. However, Titan God managed to curl into a defensive position thus limiting the amount of damage he took. Even so, he lost almost 40000 HP from He Yi¡¯s attack. "Dammit!" Titan God urged his Fire Rhinoceros forward and managed to take his revenge by landing a heavy blow on He Yi¡¯s back with his elbow. Without giving her a chance to recover from that blow, he brandished his broadsword and unleashed Barrier Break + Lightning Fury! Bang! 32771! 28717! 30988! 28721! The string of damage numbers that popped up were frighteningly high! Fortunately, the one receiving the damage was He Yi. Otherwise, the hapless player would have already died. Titan God had dealt critical hits and yet, He Yi¡¯s health had only dropped by 60%. His attacks were still not powerful enough to endanger her life. ¡­¡­ "Protect the guild leader! Titan God is too powerful!" Diamond Dust flew forward and unleashed Barrier Break at Titan God, successfully driving him backward. The battlefield was too crowded and I couldn¡¯t simply dash forward to help them. I could only watch the duel from afar. Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng was currently busy killing another group of players and could not help He Yi either. The Titan guild was truly powerful, even more powerful than guilds like Hegemon Palace. They were a force not to be trifled with. Boom, boom, boom! The Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s Hoof Trample dealt great damage to the Fire Rhinoceros Cavalry. During the Nation Wars, the Fire Rhinoceros Cavalry had been engaged by the Cyan Tiger Cavalry and not the Dragonlight Cavalry. They weren¡¯t expecting the Dragonlight Cavalry to be so OP. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls charged back and forth through the battlefield and in less than ten minutes, we had already gained the upper hand. At this moment, battle cries filled the air behind us. It was the Snowy Cathaya who had come to help us! Purple Marquis charged out of the forest like a purple flame, burning a large group of archers, mages and priests. Beauty Lin unleashed Ice Flame Slash as it exploded among a group of enemies. The cyan lotus flower floating beside her glowed with peerless beauty and yet was filled with killing power. The male players of God Realm felt an ambivalence about her. Feelings of love and hatred clashed with each other in their hearts. ¡­¡­ "Yes! Snowy Cathaya is here!" Li Chengfeng laughed loudly and shouted, "The Monarch Descends and Blazing Hot Lips have already charged through Soul Suppressing Ruins¡¯ defenses. They will arrive very soon!" Gui Guzi frowned deeply and said, "We¡¯ve got trouble! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and The Blade of Kings are quickly making their way over with their army to aid Titan! Also, a large bunch of Koreans and Vietnamese have appeared in the northeast. Our situation doesn¡¯t look very optimistic!" Li Chengfeng said in a low voice, "Goddammit, what do we do now¡­" I raised my sword and shouted, "Chengfeng, follow me! We¡¯ll work together and eliminate Titan God! Let¡¯s slaughter this guild before their reinforcements arrive!" "Alright!" ¡­¡­ We activated our Great Earth Transformation and charged back, killing anyone who stood in our way. Not too far from us, Heaven¡¯s Rain, He Yi and Diamond Dust were fighting against Titan God who had 70% of his health left. That asshole¡¯s HP regeneration skills are pretty powerful! Swhoosh! A cyan blade descended from heaven as I unleashed Dragon Slaying Slash! "What!?" Titan God remained calm and leaped backward to avoid my energy blade. Moving swiftly, he also dodged Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust¡¯s attack. Locking his sights on He Yi, he urged his mount forward and ran in a double zigzag pattern. Appearing behind He Yi, he thrust his sword at her! I quickly shouted, "Eve, activate Holy Shield!" Knowing that she could not keep up with her opponent, she swiftly activated Holy Shield. Raising her shield, she blocked Titan God¡¯s consecutive attacks without falling off her mount. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng and I charged in from both sides. He Yi was being healed by priests and Titan God knew full well that he would not be able to kill her. He had to retreat swiftly. Otherwise, he would be encircled and killed by Li Chengfeng and I. "Come at me!" Titan God dashed at me suddenly, running in beautiful half arcs that intersect each other continuously. It was the helix maneuver! Li Chengfeng stared in shock before turning to look at me and said, "Double helix maneuver?" "Alright!" I laughed and charged forward while brandishing my sword. Li Chengfeng and I crossed paths in a practiced fashion and moved even faster than Titan God. The double helix maneuver required two players to move in a beautiful S pattern and cross paths to form a spiraling helix. It looked like both players were weaving a strand of DNA together. They would deal a frightening amount of damage to the target player every time they crossed paths with each other. As long as both players coordinated perfectly with each other, the double helix maneuver was absolutely the best tactic in a 2v2 duel! Chapter 795: Flesh Eater "My god!" Titan God gasped as he swiftly backpedaled. He had been completely overwhelmed by our dual assault and he wasn¡¯t even able to launch a single counter at us! "Time to die¡­" Li Chengfeng said with a hearty laugh as the light of his Cyan Dragon Horn erupted from his sword. Titan God knew how powerful that blow was so he bent backward as he swept his broadsword out in front of him, perfectly parrying Li Chengfeng¡¯s mighty blow. Unfortunately for him, Li Chengfeng¡¯s attack had only been a feint! Half a second after Titan God parried the Blade of Ghastly Wind, energy started rapidly swirling around Li Chengfeng¡¯s left fist as he smashed it into Titan God¡¯s chest! Bang! 9098! The punch didn¡¯t do much damage, but its impact caused Titan God to stagger backward! It was also at this moment that I rushed in from the side and slammed my left arm into Titan God¡¯s head. The Ice Qilin Horse also kicked its hooves forward as I activated War Crush! Bam! Bam! Bam! Titan God¡¯s health dropped to precipitously low levels! "Watch out, he still hasn¡¯t used his invincibility skill!" Li Chengfeng shouted. However, my left fist was already wrapped in swirling blood-red energy before he had even said those words. My Magic Piercing Punch exploded straight into Titan God¡¯s chest! A player that got hit by Magic Piercing Punch wouldn¡¯t be able to use any skills, and that included any invincibility skills provided by items! Titan God¡¯s face instantly turned ashen. He had been far too confident in his own mechanical skills, and he had never imagined that he would lose so miserably to our combined assault. In fact, he didn¡¯t even have a 10% chance of winning! ¡­¡­ "Get lost!" Electricity crackled around the tip of Titan God¡¯s blade as he lashed out at us. Li Chengfeng hurriedly skipped backward, which allowed Titan God to initiate his own expeditious retreat. "You think you can leave!?" I waved my left hand forward and activated God Binding Art. The four divine weapons whistled through the air as they landed in a perfect circle around Titan God and bound him just as he was trying to slip away! Li Chengfeng let out a hearty laugh. "Lu Chen, well done!" Whoosh! A golden seal appeared in the sky as Li Chengfeng used his Dragonbone Flurry skill, which instantly ripped Titan God¡¯s body to shreds! A bunch of Fire Rhinoceros riders simply stared at us dumbly as one of them gasped, "Oh my God! Our guild leader is so strong, yet¡­ yet he was killed in such a casual fashion by these Chinese players. How¡­ how is this even possible!?" ¡­¡­ "Charge!" As we gave a loud shout, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls started their all-out assault. Lin Yixin also charged forward with the rest of Snowy Cathaya as they sliced into Olympus¡¯ flanks. We quickly crushed the enemy formation between the two of us. It was at this moment that we heard the sounds of battle break out on the other side. Eyes Like Water and her men had slammed into Olympus from the other side! Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ cavalry had joined the battle! We finished the battle in about twenty minutes. The battles within our own territory were even more brutal than that first Nation War, and Olympus naturally didn¡¯t stand a chance when three big guilds like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, and Blazing Hot Lips joined hands just to crush it. More than a hundred thousand players had either been killed or chased back to their city, and the entire guild had simply collapsed in the blink of an eye. There wasn¡¯t a single trace of Olympus left in the entire Land of Soul Suppression. Olympus was an unquestioned legend in Titan City, and they were also said to be its top guild. Unfortunately for them, such was the fate of the losers in this battle for supremacy. After all, winners wrote the history books and the rise of one legend was almost always precipitated by the fall of another. Only the winner of this tournament between kings could continue writing their legend! ¡­¡­ We hurriedly cleaned up the battlefield and every single item was picked up and shoved into inventories. Once we were done, we prepared to move out once more. The Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower was only about two kilometers from where we were, so it wouldn¡¯t take us long to reach it. "Let¡¯s move out! To Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower!" I spurred my horse forward, and the Dragonlight Cavalry followed me closely. Lin Yixin and Stranger of Three Lifetimes were also leading their elite forces after me. Now that we were all gathered near Soul Suppressing Tower, we could finally take a good look at it! It was a beautiful ancient tower of exquisite craftsmanship which was made of pitch-black rock. The base of the tower was the shape of an exceptionally huge octagon that seemed to have a radius of one kilometer. By the looks of things, the tower was designed to accommodate up to ten thousand players. There were no sentries around the tower, but there were a few huge undead monstrosities slumbering around it. They looked like giants crawling on the ground and there was a huge thurible chained to their broad backs. A mass of thorny vines grew out of those enormous thuribles, and we could see that there were many skeletons and rotting corpses stuffed into them. It was a grotesque thing to behold. "God damn, what are those things. They¡¯re way too disgusting¡­" Chaos Moon exclaimed as her lips curled up in disgust. I waved my hand in the air, causing an image of the mobs¡¯ stats to appear in front of everyone¡ª Flesh Eater (Earth Miniboss) Level: 185 Attack: 5040~7280 Defense: 7000 HP: 15,000,000 Skills: Sickle Sweep, Corpse Poison Strike, Corpse-littered Field Introduction: Flesh Eaters are lords of the undead race. They were once mighty human warriors whose bodies were twisted into these warped and bloated monstrosities. They are bloodthirsty and violent, wield sharp sickles in their hands. As the guardians of countless graves and grand necropoleis, these creatures lug around large censers to store corpses in . The rotting bodies inside are used to slowly provide Flesh Eaters with power of undead energy. ¡­¡­ We saw a nearby Flesh Eater stagger across the ground as its body swayed, flies buzzing around it. Lin Yixin wrinkled her exquisite nose in disgust as she looked at me and said, "What a grotesque miniboss! It¡¯s all yours¡­" My lips puckered up in distaste as I said, "Purple Marquis, you¡¯re up¡­" Purple Marquis immediately growled, "Why the hell am I the one taking this shit job¡­" I immediately replied, "Okay, then Chanel can do it." Purple Marquis immediately yelled, "I¡¯ll do it!" He activated Charge and stunned the Flesh Eater closest to us before immediately starting to scramble backward. His sword flickered out rapidly as he retreated, sending beams of biting cold sword energy plunging into the Flesh Eater¡¯s body. Rooooooaaaar!! The giant, which was surrounded by a cloud of noxious gas, let out a loud howl. Its swollen, rotting legs thundered against the ground as it bounded toward us! Purple Marquis, you asshole! You actually led the monster right toward us! The giant thurible chained to the Flesh Eater¡¯s back contained all sorts of animal corpses and it stunk to the high heavens. But that wasn¡¯t even the worst thing about it! The body of the Flesh Eater itself was completely rotten and putrefied strips of muscle and flesh dangled off its body like strips of bacon. We could see white maggots burrowing in and out of its rotten flesh, causing some of us to gag in disgust. "Wuuuuu¡­" Lin Yixin retreated as fast as she could and He Yi was right behind her! In an instant, our combat power had been cut by more than 30% as all of the girls firmly rejected the notion of even engaging in battle with this disgusting creature. "Alright! Gentlemen with strong stomachs, you¡¯re up!" I waved a hand in the air as four divine weapons whistled through the air and bound the Flesh Eater. Divine energy radiated from these godly weapons, completely restricting the wildly-struggling Flesh Eater. After I barked my command, the men with iron stomachs charged forward. Xu Yang was at the head of the group and he immediately struck the Flesh Eater¡¯s right calf with a thunderous Mountain Stagger Slash the moment his weapon could reach it! Pchhht! 16516! It was a pretty decent attack, but it also caused the Flesh Eater¡¯s rotten fluids to spray out all over the place. The stench was as revolting and nasty as we had imagined it to be. "Blargh¡­" Xu Yang made a retching sound as he wiped his face with the sleeve of his robe. After that, he continued slashing at the Flesh Eater. Gui Guzi brandished his spear as he spurred his mount forward. The tip of his weapon sank into the miniboss''s body rapidly as it blew open several large holes in the Flesh Eater¡¯s body. After that, he hit the Flesh Eater with a mighty punch, causing the flabby flesh on its buttock to quiver wildly. Gui Guzi¡¯s face didn¡¯t even twitch at that sight as he immediately followed up his attack with Barrier Break, the flaming spiral of energy scorching all rotten flesh that it touched. Gui Guzi¡¯s face was flushed red from his exertion as he yelled, "What the fuck, why does its flesh smell rather good after being roasted!? It smells like a steak done medium-well, or that famous Huangshan stinky mandarin fish¡­" My lips twisted in disgust as I retorted, "Yeah, you can have as much as you want! Don¡¯t mind me¡­" After I said that, I turned around and yelled, "Beiming Xue, stop running and hit this boss with a Bone Eroding Arrow! Let¡¯s kill this monster as quickly as we can! All of you male priests, hurry up and move forward and heal our fighters! Stop being pussies!" Thunk! Beiming Xue¡¯s Bone Eroding Arrow had already plunged into one of the Flesh Eater¡¯s eyes with a meaty thunk before I had even finished speaking. What a frighteningly accurate shot! After she hit the boss with that arrow, Beiming Xue turned back to continue her conversation with Lin Yixin. She really liked Lin Yixin, a big sister who was as strong as she was bold. It also helped that she treated Beiming Xue unbelievably well and the night she stayed over at the workshop, she chatted with our little archer for an unbelievably long time. Lin Yixin had always been a cunning girl and she was milking the "divide and conquer" strategy for all it was worth. She was planning to first win over the "easiest mark" in the workshop, Beiming Xue. He Yi and Murong Mingyue had responded with a charm offensive of their own by showering Beiming Xue with affection over the last few days. They even kept saying they¡¯d bring her out to eat and shop. This tug-of-war had quickly become a headache for me. ¡­¡­ All of us focused our fire on the miniboss, and even its fifteen million health points were quickly depleted by our furious attacks. Finally, the dragon soul in my Cyan Netherworld Sword let out a furious howl as it smashed into the Flesh Eater, causing a huge damage number to pop up above its head. My attack ended its life, letting me claim half of the mob¡¯s EXP and bumped my EXP bar to 29%! Awesome! Boom... The Flesh Eater¡¯s mountainous corpse tumbled to the ground, equipment and magic stones bursting out of it. Gui Guzi quickly scanned the items on the ground, a grin appearing on his face. "There are five pieces of Purple Crystal and two gems that can be used for socketing. One of them is a Rank 9 Dragonstone Gem and the other is a Rank 11 Cyanfire Gem. As for the equipment drops¡­ There is a Level 155 2-star Outstanding Earth-grade sword. There is also a Spirit-grade axe and an Earth-grade ring, both are 3-star Outstanding items." I said, "Split them among yourselves, but give that Earth-grade sword to Snowy Cathaya! The rest of the spoils belong to us!" "Okay!" Purple Marquis took that Earth-grade sword while Gui Guzi used his guild contribution points to claim the Earth-grade ring. It was a super accessory that added 20% to his max HP, which was perfectly suited for Gui Guzi¡¯s class. After all, he was always in need of more HP, Attack, and Defense. As we continued to make our way forward, we found that there was a Flesh Eater waiting for us every twenty yards. No one dared to make any reckless moves because of this and even the distant Northern Alliance players could only slowly chip away at them. If we didn¡¯t, these minibosses would show their "true might" by splattering rotten flesh all over us. That wasn¡¯t something any of us wanted to experience again. Chapter 796: Bronze Beas The body of the third Flesh Eater slowly toppled to the ground as we cleared the area of monsters. There weren¡¯t any monsters within eighty yards of us, but the level of these Flesh Eaters was way too high, so their alertness was far above average as well. A player would aggro one of them simply by coming within fifty yards and this prevented us from advancing carelessly. "What¡¯s the situation with the Northern Alliance?" He Yi asked. I peered into the distance before replying, "They¡¯re also killing the Flesh Eaters. I see Blade of Kings and Grief of the Dark, but Vienna¡¯s Sorrow hasn¡¯t made his appearance yet. I wonder what he¡¯s up to." Chaos Moon chimed in, "Time''s a-wastin''. We managed to find a way in, so we should send a group of assassins to infiltrate Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower and scout the situation for us first!" "Sounds good." I turned back toward our forces and said, "Cute Little Naughty, you¡¯re to infiltrate the tower with a squad of assassins!" "Yes!" Cute Little Naughty smoothed back her short hair before she hefted her dagger and started her advance. As her cloak fluttered behind her, her small and lithe figure vanished into the shadows as light bent around her. The 199 assassins following behind her similarly vanished as all of them entered stealth mode. I frowned. Even though an assassin¡¯s stealth was a very powerful weapon, there was no way they could kill high-level mobs without meatshields around them, so I said, "Eve, Chaos Moon, I¡¯ll follow along behind them. I¡¯ll leave the Flesh Eaters to you guys. Once you¡¯ve killed four to six of them, everyone should be able to proceed with no issues." He Yi nodded her head. "There are eight entrances to Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower altogether, so the other powers are definitely doing their best to get rid of all the Flesh Eaters surrounding it. There are more and more players massing around the Soul Suppressing Tower, and there definitely won¡¯t be any shortage of monsters on its first floor. Lu Chen, don¡¯t get distracted with killing monsters once you enter the tower! Your main objective is to pinpoint the location of the first floor¡¯s boss!" "Yeah, I got it!" After I said that, I waved my hand in the air, causing bloody light to erupt all around me. My body transformed into countless streams of blood-colored light which then shot into the ground. It had been a long time since I used Earth Escape. In fact, I hadn¡¯t had to use it ever since I had grown in strength. After all, I didn¡¯t need to skulk in the shadows when I killed players in the wild. I simply rushed them together with my pet most of the time. ¡­¡­ I made a detour around two Flesh Eaters, avoiding their aggro, as I followed along behind our assassins. Whooosh! I chuckled. "I came here to lead your squad!" After I finished speaking, I raised my head to look at the heavy and bloodstained metal door. As I stared at the rust on the door, I wondered just how long it had been sealed for. We could even see the tiny black holes created by rust corrosion. Streams of cold air steadily blew out from between the gaps in the door and there was a dense mass of runes scribbled along both sides of it. I didn¡¯t understand any of them, but I guessed that they were magic symbols used to seal the undead. I stretched out an arm and laid my palm firmly against the door before I gave it a strong push. Creaaaaak... The metal door slowly started to crack open, but only a small gap had opened up before it refused to budge any further. A careful inspection revealed that there was being held in place by a chain on the inside, but this chain had also become completely rusted. I drew the Cyan Netherworld Sword and took careful aim before my sword arm flashed out. The chain was severed cleanly in half and it fell to the ground with a clatter. A gust of dark and cold wind billowed out of the tower as the door swung open on their own, and the ugly squeak of rusted axles moving and clicking grated our ears as it did. "Awhooo!" A dark shadow bounded out from the tower as it let out a shrill shriek. What the hell is this!? I steadfastly held my ground as I greeted the unknown assailant with a swing of my sword. My sword smashed the creature back with a loud bang, but I also felt a scorching hot pain erupt from my right shoulder. God damn, a single swipe of its claws had dealt me more than 19000 damage! This monster¡¯s attack power had to be really high to deal that much damage to me while my Ghost Deity Armor was active! "Woah! What is that!?" Cute Little Naughty exclaimed in shock as she stared at the revealed creature. It was a huge beast covered in a "coat" of greenish copper, and long copper spears protruded from its back like a hedgehog. Even though it stood on all fours, it was as tall as a person. Its head was extremely small despite its size, and it let out a low growl as it stared at us with its glowing red eyes. Bronze Beast (Dread) Level: 185 Attack: 6200~7450 Defense: 7000 HP: 650000 Skills: Introduction: These Bronze Beasts were originally humans, pitiful souls who were experimented on by foul necromancers who broke their bodies before fusing them with copper, reforging them as creatures of eternal undeath. These pitiful creatures lost their souls long ago, becoming bloodthirsty, cruel and merciless guardians of the first three floors of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. They have become the nightmare of many adventurers who have challenged the tower. In the past ten thousand years, an untold number of heroes have died under the vicious and cruel claws of these Bronze Beasts. ¡­¡­ "God damn!" I silently cursed. After that, I said, "These are dread-rank monsters, and they¡¯re a notch above even ancient-rank monsters. Fucking hell, it looks like elite and shadow¨Crank monsters are about to become obsolete now that even dread-rank monsters have appeared. I want every assassin here to engage these monsters very carefully. These Bronze Beasts have a monstrously high Attack, so they won¡¯t be easy opponents to deal with!" I drew a few lines in the air with my sword, causing an azure magic formation to appear on the ground in front of me. The Phantom Wolf King jumped out of the formation with a howl as it immediately sprang toward the Bronze Beast with its claws bared. I brandished the Cyan Netherworld Sword and advanced as well, flames bursting from the tip of my blade. My Dark Pupils had allowed me to identify the proverbial chink in the Bronze Beast¡¯s armor. The three crescent waves of flaming sword energy produced by my Burning Blade Slash struck the Bronze Beast¡¯s eyes with exquisite accuracy, dealing a massive amount of damage. This was the most efficient way to fight this terrifyingly powerful creature. Hammering away at its outer shell was a fool¡¯s errand, since most of the assassins behind me wouldn¡¯t even be able to breach its 7000 points of Defense! Whoosh! An Eight Trigrams formation appeared underneath my feet as I plunged the Cyan Netherworld Sword into the Bronze Beast¡¯s eyes. Universe Break! A huge damage number immediately popped out above its head. 37176! Alright! That was a good hit! Cute Little Naughty made a bold attack at the same time as me, her dagger coated with the poison from the Poisoned Weapon skill. After that, a bloody light erupted from her dagger as she struck the Bronze Beast again, the blow causing the monster to freeze in space. She had managed to successfully stun it with Ambush! The other assassins around us immediately launched their attacks as well. They hit the monster with Eviscerate + Cruel Blade combo, as both skills ignored a significant amount of their target¡¯s Defense. This proved to be very effective as a string of damage numbers that exceeded 5000 popped up over its head. All of the assassins here were the best assassins in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, a squad that Cute Little Naughty had raised herself. When that thought flashed through my mind, I realized just how capable this little lady was. She had managed to recruit elite assassins from all over the place, and she was far cuter than those useless female assassins who only knew how to flirt. ¡­¡­ The party of assassins continued to wail on the Bronze Beast as I firmly held on to its aggro. This allowed us to finish it in less than twenty seconds! "Aouuuu¡­" The Bronze Beast let out a miserable wail as its copper armor shattered and it slumped to the ground. Two magic stones dropped from its body along with a pair of Bronze-grade bracers. Cute Little Naughty stared at the Bronze-grade item in consternation. "What the heck!? A dread-rank mob actually dropped a Level 160 Bronze-grade item. Are they mocking us, vice leader big bro!?" I chuckled. "Who knows? Alright, let¡¯s go in and take a look at the place!" "Okay!" When I stepped into the tower, I saw the surrounding area slowly start to brighten up. Even though the lighting in this place wasn¡¯t the best, there were little windows surrounding the tower which let moonlight spill into it, illuminating every spot it fell on. I also turned on the lighting effect on my weapons and equipment, which caused my body to shine like a glittering lamp. The lighting effects of my rare items were beautiful and dazzling, and even Cute Little Naughty stared at them with envy and admiration. The Earth and Heaven¨Cgrade items were particularly eye-catching, and they also provided the best illumination. The moment I stepped onto the flagstones of the tower, a lot of tension immediately bled out of my heart. Even though there were many monsters hidden in this tower, it was still something that had been made by man. Ding~! System Notice: You have entered the map "Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower" and have automatically received the quest "The Sin of Ovia the Bloody Finger"! (Current Quest Rank: SSS) Description: Enter the Soul Suppressing Tower and kill the guardian bosses of all nine floors. Once you have obtained nine Tiger Soul Essences, you will be granted the power to open the barrier blocking off the final floor. Enter the top floor of the Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower and open up the Soul Sealing Box to release the tormented souls of the heroes of humanity which have been trapped within! You will be rewarded handsomely for your success! ¡­¡­ "Holy shit!" Everyone was shocked by the system notice. We had actually gained a god-like SSS Rank quest just like that! Fuck, there really are nine bosses in this tower. However, it wouldn¡¯t be easy retrieving the items dropped by these bosses in this current situation. We would already have a dogfight on our hands if this map had been opened to Chinese players only. The participation of the eight major cities of the Northern Alliance would only make the fighting even more fierce! ¡­¡­ I immediately tried to summon the Ice Qilin Horse to see if it was possible within the confines of this tower. The tower was so huge that it actually succeeded and I immediately leaped onto the back of my horse. My stats immediately soared when I mounted up. Alright, I¡¯m even tankier now! After that, I opened the map and a look of consternation immediately crossed my face. The floors of this tower were very big, even bigger than what it looked like from the outside, and there would be absolutely no problem for tens of thousands of players to enter the tower and grind if it was just based on the space alone. However, there was one major problem with this place. There were many walls which blocked your way moving forward, and it practically resembled a maze. A gigantic red dot lay in the very center of this floor and it was obvious that it was where the boss was waiting for us. However, due to the labyrinthine layout of this map, it would not be easy for us to reach the center. The paths were long and winding and it would be a headache to figure out which path led to the boss. There were eight different paths for us to choose, which immediately elicited a groan of frustration from everyone present. "I hate mazes. Which path should we take to find the boss?" Cute Little Naughty asked with an adorable pout. ¡­¡­ I waved a hand and saved a screenshot of the map. After that, I stared at it for a good ten minutes as I tried to figure out this puzzle. I finally managed to mark out a path that would take us to the heart of this floor, but it was a long and winding one which would most likely require us to kill many monsters. "Let¡¯s go in from here, we¡¯ll definitely be able to reach our destination!" I said with absolute confidence. Cute Little Naughty immediately nodded her head. She was never one to doubt my words, so she hefted her dagger and started moving forward. "Hold on! Get one of the assassins to recce the area with their pets!" "Okay." One of the assassins nodded and got his pet to move ahead. It was Level 154 Fire Blade, a low-rank pet, and it was quite surprising that he had raised it up to such a high level. As the Fire Blade floated toward the corner, three Bronze Beasts suddenly pounced out from the darkness! The Fire Blade didn¡¯t even have time to react before it was torn to shreds by the claws and fangs of the three fierce monsters. Having lost the target of their aggro, the three monsters slowly moved back around the corner to wait for new prey. "That was close¡­" Cute Little Naughty silently sucked in a breath of cold air as she covered her modest chest with her hands. She thanked her lucky stars that she had not moved forward. If not, she would have definitely died. Chapter 797: A Maze of Traps Charging forward, I activated God Binding Art and bound a Bronze Beast while my Phantom Wolf King drew the attention of another one. As for the third one, I worked together with Cute Little Naughty and the other assassins to get rid of it. "Ggrrrrr!" The Bronze Beast was extremely violent as it clamped its jaws down on the arm of an assassin. The assassin cried out in pain as the Bronze Beast activated Bite and a damage number of 30000 floated above his head. Fortunately for that assassin, he was not one-shot because he had good equipment. "Stun that Bronze Beast!" However, it was too late. In the next instant, that Bronze Beast stomped its legs violently and the steel spears on its body stood erect, then shot into the air with a whistling sound, enveloping a group of assassins. They cried out and collapsed instantly, unable to withstand the attacks of the Bronze Beast. This dread-rank monster had finally revealed its abilities. It was so terrifyingly powerful that it might as well be passed off as a boss monster! Grabbing hold of Cute Little Naughty, I pulled her behind me and held my sword up. The clanging of metals rang out as the steel spears from the Bronze Beast bounced off my sword. However, my sword did not block off all of them and I was pierced by quite a few of them. I was closest to the Bronze Beast and thus took the most damage. Fortunately, I had high Defense and each spear only managed to shave off a thousand HP. I had only lost a total of 40000 HP and was not in any life-threatening danger. "Vice leader big bro¡­" Little Naughty clutched my wrist as her face turned pale and said, "Let¡¯s not fight this monster, it¡¯s too dangerous¡­" I nodded my head and shouted, "Everyone, retreat! Leave these monsters to me! Move twenty yards back!" "Yessir!" As a group of players retreated swiftly, I worked together with the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition to slaughter the Bronze Beasts. After nearly five minutes, I managed to kill all three Bronze Beasts. The three of them dropped a few rocks and two pieces of equipment, one of which was a pair of leather boots and the other was some 1-star Outstanding Purple Gold¨Cgrade item. Since I had no use for any of those items, I gave them to some assassin. At this moment, a ping sound rang out. It was He Yi who sent me a message: "Lu Chen, what¡¯s going on inside? Can we come in?" "Mn." I replied quickly, "Take the fourth path to your right. Little Naughty and I are over here." "Alright!" ¡­¡­ Soon after, a large group of players came rushing toward us. Countless Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players started to swarm into the first floor of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. There were so many of us that we looked like a flock of birds! He Yi stepped forward and shouted, "There are a total of eight paths. Everyone scatter and grind on your own. No matter which path you take, the end of your path will lead you to the boss! Core force, with me! We will charge our way through!" The main force of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls split into two groups. One group followed He Yi, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and I. The other group which consisted mostly of Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen was led by Li Chengfeng. Each group was further split into four other groups, each taking a different path to grind. Rather than sticking together, splitting up to grind was a better option so that everyone could have a chance to gain EXP. ¡­¡­ After splitting up, we were left with three thousand players. It was still a rather large number for a grinding party, so we could make do with it. Having Beiming Xue, He Yi, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi and the others in the party made our lives so much easier. We killed countless Bronze Beasts and swept the area clean at breakneck speeds. After travelling halfway through the path, a blue curtain appeared in front of us. Whenever a player came near to it, the curtain would ripple and the player would be thrown back. We had absolutely no idea what was happening. ¡­¡­ "Everyone, stay where you are!" Beiming Xue who was at the front, raised her hand and signaled for us to stop. Her beautiful eyes continued to stare in front of us as she said, "Big bro, there¡¯s a trap over there!" "Trap?" I asked in shock. "Is there one? Nothing looks out of the ordinary to me!" "I can sense it!" Beiming Xue pouted and folded her arms. I immediately turned behind and said, "You, summon your pet. Let it scout that area for a bit!" High Fighting Spirits summoned a blue praying mantis eagerly. Brandishing a large sword, the mantis started to move forward with no fear or reluctance. All of a sudden, a piece of stone slab sunk down. A loud bang rang out as an icy spike exploded from the ground, cruelly piercing through that blue praying mantis. "God damn!" Everyone¡¯s jaws dropped simultaneously in shock. "Eternal Moon Cooperation is so shameless! How do they expect us to move forward with these traps in place?" Chaos Moon exclaimed in exasperation. I summoned my apparition and said, "Sis Murong, focus on healing my apparition. I¡¯ll go and scout the area ahead of us. There must be a way to avoid the traps! Once we understand the mechanics of these traps, moving forward will not be a difficult feat." Murong Mingyue nodded her head. A bard behind me added a full buff to my apparition instantly. I took control of the apparition and started to test the waters. The path in front of me was filled with rows of stone slabs. Both sides of the path were lined by iron fences which were impossible to jump over. Each slab was about a meter wide, and they were all arranged in tidy and uniform rows. After testing the waters continuously, I was sure that the fourth slab on the first row was safe. The other nine slabs would activate the icy spikes. I continued on to the second row and as my apparition took a step on to a slab, the sharp spike exploding from the ground and piercing its chest. Murong Mingyue quickly cast her healing spells on my apparition, saving it from certain death. Goddammit, those spikes deal ridiculous damage! A single spike shaved off more than 30000 HP! After triggering the mechanism nine times, I was finally certain that the fifth slab on the second row was safe. For the subsequent three rows, I was greeted by frost magic formations instead. I could barely watch as my apparition was frozen repeatedly. After those three rows, the icy magical formation was replaced by a flaming magical formation. It was one of those annoying traps that spat out flames every other second. I finally managed to figure a way out after running and jumping around for nearly half an hour. Taking in a deep breath, I slumped against a corner for a quick break. "How was it? Did you find a way to pass through the maze of traps?" He Yi asked with great concern. I nodded and began my explanation. ¡°Alright, pay attention. There are fifteen rows of slabs and you need to step on them in order. In each sequence, only one slab is safe to step on. The first five rows and their safe slabs are: 1-4, 2-5, 3-6, 4-4 and 5-5. Once you reach the fifth row, you¡¯ll need to pause for 1.5 seconds and wait for the frost magic formation to cool down. Following it will be flame traps, spouting flames at 2.5-second intervals. You¡¯ll need to jump through 5 rows within that time frame. The order for these is 6, 7, 4, 5, 6 respectively. Your jumps need to be precise not to get burned, but quick enough to get to safety within 2.5 seconds. Plan ahead, and prepare for the next jump in the air. This will be an ultimate test of your mechanical skills! I cleared my throat to make sure that everyone was paying attention. ¡°Now this is where things get tricky. Next up, wind and thunder formation. You start with the first slab, then the second, then the fourth. Then you jump back to the third slab of the twelfth row and immediately lunge forward through the last three rows in 345 order. Slightest misstep and the formation will turn you into a roasted duck¡­¡± As I finished my long speech, I shared the directions with them via chat. Xu Yang¡¯s mouth twitched for a moment before he asked, "This¡­ this is too complicated. Are you sure that a human is able to pass through?" I waved a hand and laughed. "This maze of traps was put in this spot to impede the progress of the players in this map at a critical juncture. This will prevent most players from entering the core of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. We¡¯ll just have to bite this bullet and clear this hurdle if we want the treasures that lie ahead." Chaos Moon licked her lips and giggled. "These traps seem rather complicated and it¡¯ll take a lot of skill to follow your steps. If that¡¯s the case, can we really get past these traps with ease? Lu Chen, why don¡¯t you give us a demonstration first?" I laughed and said, "Alright, watch and learn¡­" Clang! I sheathed my Cyan Netherworld Sword and sent my mount back to its space. My eyes turned focused as I stepped onto the first slab and agilely skipped across the next four slabs. When I stepped on the fifth slab, I waited for the frost magic formation to begin its cooldown before charging out once again. Once I reached the tenth slab, I sucked in a quick breath before swiftly hopping across the next three slabs. After that, I jumped back to the twelfth row before dashing across the next three slabs in the correct order. I looked as if I was dancing across a sea of clouds as I cleared the death trap with ease! Bang! I stood on the other side of the maze of traps without a single scratch on my body. I grinned at everyone on the other side as I said, "Just do what I did! There are treasures waiting on the other side¡­" Heaven¡¯s Rain gripped her sword in one hand and her eyes glittered like the stars above. "Wow, you actually managed to pass through in a single move! Big bro Lu Chen, you truly live up to your name as Little Heavenly King! You¡¯re too OP!" Chaos Moon pouted and said, "It still looks really difficult. One wrong move and we may become roasted pigs¡­" He Yi¡¯s eyes were filled with excitement and nervousness. Letting out a giggle, she said, "If a few more manage to cross over, I too will give it a try¡­" Xu Yang¡¯s hands trembled in nervousness as he said, "So¡­who wants to go next?" Beiming Xue raised her bow and giggled. "Big bro already made it across, so it¡¯s my turn now!" "Mn, be careful Beiming!" Beiming Xue giggled as her boots glowed radiantly. She deftly leaped onto the slabs like a pixie, matching my movements perfectly. Her movements, turns and timing were precise and exact. Leaping off the last slab a few seconds later, she stood beside me and laughed, "Big bro, how''s my mechanical skill?" Filled with joy, I laughed and said, "Very good! Haha! Who¡¯s next?" He Yi raised her Blade of the Earthen Soul and laughed. "I¡¯ll go!" Anxiously, I said, "Eve, be careful. Plan your moves in advance before you try to clear these traps." "Mn." He Yi nodded her head. She gripped her sword and stepped onto the first slab. Unlike Beiming Xue, she had to stop quite a few times. She would only start moving again when she was confident of her next step. Our beautiful guild leader¡¯s judgement was outstanding indeed. When He Yi finally leaped off the last slab, there wasn¡¯t a single scratch on her either. She looked at me with a sweet smile on her face, and I could tell that her confidence had increased by leaps and bounds... ¡­¡­ "This maze of traps is such a scam¡­" Chaos Moon pouted before saying, "Alright! It¡¯s big sister¡¯s turn to make an entrance! Cheer for me everyone!" Xu Yang, Gui Guzi and the rest quickly started clapping rhythmically as they chanted, "Trip! Trip! Trip!" "Get lost, assholes¡­" Chaos Moon pouted playfully before hopping onto the first slab. The pitter-patter of her feet filled the air as she skipped from one stone slab to the other. She moved with such ease that it made He Yi look like a rank amateur in comparison. Damn it, this girl had been hiding her true potential! Not many players in our guild could mimic her calm judgement or her precise movements. Murong Mingyue went next. She looked as skittish as a lamb as she carefully crossed from one stone slab to the next. She finally cleared the maze after what felt like an eternity. It was time for the guys to have a go! Gui Guzi and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun went up first, and both of them managed to successfully rush through the maze of traps. "Here I come!" High Fighting Spirits gripped his warhammer in one hand and took a step forward with a resolved look on his face. He perfectly hopped across the first five slabs. However, he stepped on the wrong slab on the sixth row, and an icy spike pierced his thigh! "Shit! Fighting Spirits, you¡¯re gonna die!" Everyone gasped in shock. Fortunately, High Fighting Spirits remained calm and crawled back to the fifth row. His high HP had prevented him from getting one-shot by that ice spike. After recovering to full health, he continued forward. A few steps later, he was burned by flames, making him look like a roasted pig. At last, after several ordeals, High Fighting Spirits managed to pass through the series of traps with a sliver of his health left. Crawling toward Murong Mingyue on all fours, he grabbed her milky thighs with his charred hands and pleaded, "Sis Mingyue, please save me¡­" Murong Mingyue did not know if she should laugh or cry at the pitiful High Fighting Spirits. She shrugged helplessly and waved her staff in the air. Healing spells instantly enveloped the charred warrior, instantly saving him from the brink of death. I had to say that High Fighting Spirits was really quite impressive. Anyone who could pass through this series of traps with brute force was not to be taken lightly! ¡­¡­ In the next hour, nearly two hundred players had successfully crossed over the maze of traps. However, the rest of the group was too scared to even give it a try. After all, not everyone was as skillful as we were. "Guild leader, go on without us! We¡¯ll stay on this side and continue grinding. Don¡¯t miss us too much alright! Goddammit, this stupid scam of a tower! We hate you, Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower!" A bunch of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls wept as they turned around resentfully. It was better for them to return and slaughter those Scavenger Imps than to get killed by these traps. They would, at the very least, gain a lot of EXP from grinding. Life was like that sometimes. A person needed to know when to give up in order to succeed in life! Chapter 798: Poseidon ¡­¡­ "Let¡¯s split up into separate parties!" I quickly took stock of our players and said, "We will split into four parties and the party leaders will be Eve, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and I. I know I don¡¯t need to say this but activate your Famous General Skills once we form them. Every party will be composed of fifty players and we will split up to grind. We will boost everyone¡¯s leveling speed this way. There are still many monsters on the first floor of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower, so there¡¯s more than enough experience points to go around." Everyone nodded their heads and started to split into the various parties. Murong Mingyue, Moonlight Stone, Xu Yang, and High Fighting Spirits joined He Yi¡¯s party, which would receive a 50% buff to their stats across the board. Meanwhile, Beiming Xue, Moon Dew, Pure Love, Du Thirteen, and Yamete joined my party. This was quite the optimal party composition. I would act as the tank and there was more than enough healing and DPS in the back to support me. Even though Yamete and Moon Dew weren¡¯t Murong Minyue¡¯s equals as priests, the two of them combined would definitely be able to provide more healing than a single Murong Mingyue. ¡­¡­ I summoned the Ice Qilin Horse and swung myself onto its back. After that, Pure Love once again buffed me with Physique, Death March, Divine Valor, and more, boosting all of my stats. After that, I used a Scavenger Imp Card, which boosted my attack speed and monster drop rate. This was how my party would get more goodies! "Let¡¯s go!" As I pointed my sword forward, I rushed out to the head of the formation, Du Thirteen hot on my heels. He was riding on one of the Dragonlight Armored Horses, so he managed to keep up with me. Furthermore, the 200% Attack buff from my Martial God boosted his Attack to insane levels as well. When I took a glance at Du Thirteen, who was trailing right behind me, I exclaimed in shock, "Hey, when did you become a Famous General, Thirteen!? I didn¡¯t even know about it¡­" The emblem that was representative of the "Famous General" status was floating above his head. Even though I didn¡¯t know what his Famous General Skill did, this confirmed that he did in fact have one. "Heh, it was on the night you went to find Beauty Lin, so I decided not to disturb you." "Oh, what¡¯s the name of your Famous General Skill?" "Fuck, Poseidon? What does it do?" "You¡¯ll know soon enough¡­" What the hell!? This punk is planning to keep me in suspense until he actually uses the skill! ¡­¡­ As we advanced, we saw two Level 185 dread-rank Bronze Beasts waiting for us, their heavy bodies swaying side to side. Their blood-red eyes glared at us, the unwelcome guests to this tower, as they let out bloodcurdling roars. These huge lumps of metal had staggering HP, Defense, and Attack, so they were very hard opponents to deal with. I hurriedly shouted, "Priests, mages, archers, fall back immediately! Maintain distance of at least thirty yards from these monsters. All warriors whose HP exceeds 70000, follow me! We¡¯ll meet these two Bronze Beasts head-on. Lil Beiming, remember to use Bone Eroding Arrow to lower their Defense. We¡¯ll be able to kill them faster that way. I also want all the fighters to watch out for those copper spears ! Once a Bronze Beast shoots one at you, you¡¯re to immediately assume a defensive stance. You¡¯ll be able to reduce the damage by at least 50% that way!" "Yeah, we got it!" Du Thirteen and the seven other mounted warriors that had accompanied him all nodded their head in unison. All of these fighters were Dragonlight Cavalrymen, so they were the best of the best in our guild. This also meant that I didn¡¯t really need to worry about their safety during these fights, which was a relief for me. I waved my hand at the Bronze Beasts, causing four divine weapons to come howling down from the ceiling. My God Binding Art bound one of them with exquisite accuracy, which also attracted the aggro of the other one. It immediately lunged at me with a furious howl, but it wasn¡¯t moving at a very fast speed. This combined with its huge mass made it seem as if a copper wall was rushing toward me. Wooosh! Electricity crackled in the air as I activated Thunderous Charge and stunned the second Bronze Beast in the middle of its bullrush. By the time I raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword to strike it, Beiming Xue¡¯s Bone Eroding Arrow had already smashed into its head with a loud bang. A sickly purple aura spread across its skin as the debuff reduced the Bronze Beast¡¯s Defense by 50%. Even though it was a metal beast, it was also humanoid, so the Bone Eroding Arrow was able to affect it. I immediately hit it with Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash. My skills erupted out of my sword and smashed into the Bronze Beast¡¯s weakened head, causing the sound of metal crashing against metal to ring in the air. The head was also the Bronze Beast¡¯s weak point and any attacks which struck it there would deal at least 25% more damage. This was a technique used for grinding, where you would learn to exploit even the smallest advantage for maximal effect. In fact, I would say that the difference between a so-called expert and an ordinary player was that one side sought to constantly refine their techniques and skills. In my opinion, there was no such thing as an absolute genius. A string of damage numbers popped above the Bronze Beast¡¯s head as it wailed in agony. My flurry of blows had shaved away a good amount of its HP. 51099! 25673! 35272! 46266! I hit it with two basic attacks, dropping the Bronze Beast¡¯s HP below 50%. My incredible attack power had allowed me to burn away that much health in an instant, and I was probably the only one in the server who could deal that much damage in a burst. "God damn, he only hit it with two combos¡­" Yamete exclaimed incredulously. "This damage¡­ is way too high. Ah, where is Du Thirteen going to hide his face now? You really are a terrible brother¡­" I bared my teeth at Yamete. "You can¡¯t blame me! The effect of Beiming Xue¡¯s Bone Eroding Arrow is simply incredible. Without her armor break, my attacks would deal at least 40% less damage!" Beiming Xue giggled as she cheered us on. "Go team, go!" "Alright!" Spiraling Arrow Blades and Dragon¡¯s Roars immediately converged on the hapless Bronze Beast. It didn¡¯t even last fifteen seconds before it collapsed to the ground, dead. My party¡¯s DPS was simply too high! After that, we swiftly dispatched the other Bronze Beast, causing our experience bars to jump a tick. Hot damn! Even though we were sharing experience points among so many people, we could still see our experience bars jump after killing just two of these things. These Bronze Beasts simply gave way too much experience. If¡­ if I could grind here by myself, that would be a dream come true. My levels would rise like a rocket and what a wonderful thing that would be! ¡­¡­ After I finished my short daydream, we continued to move forward. Even though the monsters in this place gave us an abundant amount of EXP and items, it was still filled with all sorts of hidden dangers. For one, the boss couldn¡¯t be soloed, so taking it down wouldn¡¯t be easy or quick. Furthermore, there were far too many enemies moving about in the area. Putting aside the monsters and the players of the Northern Alliance, we had also heard that Candle Dragon had entered the tower. A fierce battle would be inevitable the moment any of our forces came into contact with Candle Dragon. After all, we had designated each other as enemy guilds, so we would definitely come to blows if we saw one another. "Big bro¡­" Beiming Xue pointed at the dark and gloomy hallway in front of us and giggled. "We¡¯re moving rather fast right now. Sis Eve and Sis Chaos Moon are still lagging behind us and there are an awful lot of monsters ahead¡­" "Heh, what do we have to be afraid of!? Lure them all over to where we are! Let¡¯s just get rid of them!" "Teehee, okay, I¡¯ll go lure the mobs over right now. You¡¯d better hold on tight¡­" A naughty smile flashed across Beiming Xue¡¯s face as she drew back her bowstring. An ominous feeling immediately swept over me. What was this rascal of a little sister up to now? I understood the reason behind that smile in the very next instant. Beiming Xue¡¯s bowstring buzzed loudly when she finally released her attack. Twelve arrows that glowed with purple light howled out of her bow as she used Evil Spirit Volley. They each whistled toward different locations and the enraged roars of Bronze Beasts soon reverberated in the darkness as those arrows found their mark. After that, we heard metal paws pounding toward us from several different directions! As the Bronze Beasts emerged into the light, we saw that there were eight of them altogether! "Fuck me! Beiming, you brat!" Both Du Thirteen and I shared the exact same expression of shock and dismay. Eight Bronze Beasts!? This is way too crazy!! We didn¡¯t have much time to react, but I immediately ordered the Phantom Wolf King to aggro one of them. At the same time, I activated God Binding Art with a swish of my hand, the four divine weapons successfully restricting another one. Once I did that, I turned the ring on my finger and summoned the clone to go aggro a third Bronze Beast. It was then that I finally shouted, "Every Dragonlight Cavalryman is to tank one Bronze Beast on their own! Gather them in the center so we can fight as a unit! Priests, we need you to be at the top of your game! Don¡¯t let anyone die!" The Ice Qilin Horse swiftly surged forward as I slashed the air with my sword. Three crescent waves of flaming sword energy burst out of my sword and engulfed the group of Bronze Beasts rushing at us. I managed to drag seven of them toward me and I started to release Icy Cyclone Domains as I ran. The area in front of us soon turned into a "slow zone" for the monsters. This was to minimize the damage we would take, as fast monsters could always spring a surprise on unsuspecting players. "Rooooaaaaarr..." The Bronze Beasts¡¯ roars shook the hallway as we clashed with them. I was kiting four of them by myself, and my constant movements made them miss most of their attacks. I wasn¡¯t doing this to show off. If I tanked hits from all four of those Bronze Beasts, I¡¯d be dead in no time. The damage they dealt to me would far outpace what our priests could heal. After all, I only had five priests in my party, so their healing had to be rationed appropriately. Pure Love was holding a staff in one hand as she raised the other in the air. This caused snowflakes to start to fall over the area. It was an ice magic spell that wasn¡¯t very strong, but every little bit of damage helped. After that, she raised both hands in the air and green-colored vines soon burst out from the ground and started healing the riders who were tanking the Bronze Beasts. Not bad! The Bard class was a true jack-of-all-trades. After they cast their buffs, they could even use attack magic and healing spells. Even though their damage and healing couldn¡¯t be compared to mages or priests, their overall utility wasn¡¯t in any way inferior to either class. "It¡¯s finally my time to shine¡­" A big grin appeared on Du Thirteen¡¯s face as he rushed in between two Bronze Beasts. After that, he raised his sword high in the air and shouted, "Poseidon! It¡¯s time to flood Jinshan!" Boom! A huge amount of water suddenly appeared out of thin air and a lake seemed to appear around my Icy Cyclone Domains in an instant. It didn''t affect the players in our party at all, but the eight Bronze Beasts suddenly started moving as if they were swimming. Their movement speed dropped even lower and they were even starting to take damage from the water. ¡­¡­ "Holy fuck, so this is Poseidon¡­" I gasped in shock as I stared at the small lake that had appeared. It looked to take up an area that was about 40x40 yards in size. Du Thirteen nodded his head. "That¡¯s right. It isn¡¯t bad is it. It¡¯s an active Famous General Skill that lasts for 60 seconds and has a cooldown of 120 seconds. You wouldn¡¯t wanna get hit by that, right?" I nodded my head in reply. "Fuck me. I definitely wouldn¡¯t want to get hit by that¡­" After I finished speaking, I immediately got the Phantom Wolf King to unleash another Purgatory Storm. This immediately caused Du Thirteen to jump up in fright as he thought that a mage had used some sort of forbidden spell. "Aooouuu¡­" The withering attack power of my party sent these Bronze Beasts to their grave one after the other. Even though Du Thirteen and I were down to 60% of our health by the end of the battle, no one had died and that was what was important. A smile crept up on my face as I glanced at my experience bar. These eight Bronze Beasts alone had boosted it by more than 3%! This was awesome! ¡­¡­ Thunk! After all the Bronze Beasts died, there were two drops that immediately caught my eye. One was a dark green card and the other one was an ocean blue helmet. "Oh, oh! Something awesome dropped¡­" Beiming Xue crowed with excitement. I stepped forward and picked up the items. I looked at the card first and a smile immediately appeared on my face. Not bad! Not bad at all! Bronze Beast Card: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 15%, Defense by 40%, and max HP by 20%. Duration: 120 minutes. Level Requirement: 120. 1. This is a reference to an old Chinese folktale "Madam White Snake" where Jinshan Temple gets flooded during a clash between supernatural beings Chapter 799: Ambush In The Hallway I let out a heartfelt sigh. This OP card could greatly increase one¡¯s Attack, Defense and HP. Those steel-like Bronze Beasts had extremely high Defense. This card that could increase one¡¯s Defense by 40% was even better than any Spirit-grade or Earth-grade equipment! Even if it were an Earth-grade equipment, I highly doubt that it would be able to boost one¡¯s Defense by a whopping 40%! In addition to that, this card added another 20% HP and 15% Attack! I love this card to death! Tossing the card to Du Thirteen, I laughed and said, "Thirteen, use this card. It will increase your HP and Defense, so you won¡¯t get killed so easily." "Mn." Du Thirteen activated the card and his Defense increased instantly by 40%. With his HP and Defense increased significantly, I did not have to keep looking out for him. It was too tiring for me to do so. Glancing back at the navy blue helmet in my hands, I waved a hand over it to take a look at its stats. Everyone turned their heads immediately to get a closer look and gasped in shock. "What an OP helmet!" Cyanblade Helmet (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 800 Magic Resist: 720 Strength: +115 Stamina: +125 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 20% and attack power by 10% Outstanding Property: Reflect. There is a 1% chance that the damage taken will be reflected onto the target. Property: Cyanblade Set, Helmet Level Requirement: 155 ¡­¡­ "Mn? Cyanblade set¡­" I muttered under my breath, "Does Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower drop sets? Did anyone check the database¡­" Pure Love replied, "It does indeed, Lu Chen. I just checked the database. The first three floors of the Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower drop the Cyanblade set. However, no one knows what equipment will drop on the fourth to sixth floors. And only the heavens know what high-level equipment will be awaiting us on the last three floors¡­" I licked my lips and replied, "Goddammit, this Cyanblade set is really strong. It¡¯s even stronger than the Dragonblade set that some of you are wearing right now. It¡¯s no wonder that they all said this Land of Soul Suppression is full of treasures. Even a normal monster here drops Spirit-grade equipment! This map does not disappoint indeed! Let¡¯s do our best, everyone! Gather as many Cyanblade sets as you can!" "Mn! Let¡¯s do our best!" Everyone¡¯s spirits were lifted at the thought of a new set. That Cyanblade set was of high level and had good stats. One could make a fortune just by selling it. Equipment sets were few in Heavenblessed, high-level sets were even rarer! Moreover, a Level 155 set was perfect for the top players. Every such set was practically priceless! ¡­¡­ I asked in the guild chat, "Chengfeng, how are things on your side?" Li Chengfeng replied, "We encountered a few traps and only a hundred or so players made it through. The rest were not willing to try and come over. Meanwhile, Hall of Immortality and Rose of the Holy Domain have caught up with us. I¡¯ve told the rest to go grind the Scavenger Imps as they give rather high EXP. Lu Chen, what about yours?" "Only 190 or so players made it past that goddamned trap. We¡¯re slaughtering Bronze Beasts now. Everyone, pick up the pace! We need to reach the boss as quickly as we can!" "Yessir!" ¡­¡­ The road ahead split into eight different paths, but each led to the boss anyway, so it didn¡¯t matter which path we took. He Yi spoke up, "Let¡¯s part ways. Each group will take a path." "Mn, let¡¯s split ourselves. The more mobs we kill, the more EXP we¡¯ll get." "Let¡¯s go!" Our party chose the rightmost path and we split ways with the other three parties. The path was nearly thirty meters wide and it was packed with Bronze Beasts. Everyone¡¯s blood was pumping with excitement as growls rang out in the air. The countless Bronze Beasts before us were bags of EXP and equipment! That Cyanblade set was appealing enough to make one drool all over. Stepping over the bodies of those Bronze Beasts, we swiftly pushed forward. Beiming Xue would aggro eight or so Bronze Beasts and I would activate my Icy Cyclone Domain. Du Thirteen would then quickly trap them with his Poseidon while everyone else quickly hacked away at the Bronze Beasts. It took less than two minutes to eliminate a bunch of Bronze Beasts and our EXP continued to increase dramatically with each kill. Even players who were simply leeching from us were receiving an insane amount of EXP. Leveling up had never been quicker! Bang! A bluish-green whip and Phantasmal Magic Stone fell to the ground and I picked them up to get a closer look. Sure enough, it was a Cyanblade Whip that we have been yearning for. Now, I had two pieces of the Cyanblade set in my inventory! After two hours of grinding and gaining a huge amount of EXP, I had managed to level up and reach Level 158. Even so, I still was not on Sky City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking. Goddammit, everyone was leveling up at an insane speed! It was going to be a difficult feat to enter the Top 10 once again! ¡­¡­ At this moment, we heard a noise from the back. Cute Little Naughty gripped her dagger and melted into the air. "Vice leader big bro, I¡¯ll go scout it out. It seems like we have company!" "Mn." There were four assassins in our party and one of them was Cute Little Naughty. Odds of winning in a PvP battle were much higher when one had assassins in their team. We continued to grind while Little Naughty went to scout things out. A few minutes later, Cute Little Naughty sent a message inside the party chat: "Vice leader big bro, we have company! It¡¯s Candle Dragon! They have¡­ about a hundred players in total!" "Goddammit! Candle Dragon came with so many players?" Who¡¯s their leader?" I asked. "It¡¯s Purple Dawn! It¡¯s Candle Dragon¡¯s first subguild!" "I¡¯ve got it! Little Naughty, follow them closely." "Vice leader big bro, what should we do next?" "Stop grinding and slaughter Candle Dragon¡¯s first subguild! This is our territory now, we will not let them pass! We will not have any enemy appear before us while we are grinding. Hmph, Purple Dawn had actually chosen to take the same path as us. They refused to take the stairway to heaven and instead chose the highway to hell. Everyone, stop grinding! Prepare for battle!" The Dragonlight Cavalrymen summoned their mounts immediately at my command while Beiming Xue and the other ranged players got into their battle positions. ¡­¡­ The sound of movement continued to grow closer and closer to our present location. I swiftly entered into the Great Earth Transformation state and laughed. "Thirteen, take the Dragonlight Cavalrymen and block the path ahead but don¡¯t attack yet. Cute Little Naughty and I will ambush them from the back. We¡¯ll attack from both sides and eliminate Candle Dragon''s first subguild!" "Alright!" My speed was reduced by the Great Earth Transformation and yet, I leisurely strolled over to a hiding spot. The voices started to become clear as nearly seventy Viper Dragoons came into view under the dimly lit hallway. At the back of the troops was Purple Dawn who wore a set of excellent leather armor and carried a pale blue bow. He looked around cautiously as he led a group of Candle Dragon''s first subguild players forward. ¡­¡­ Purple Dawn frowned at the bodies of the Bronze Beasts on the ground and said, "These monsters have been killed. Looks like our information was right. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players have indeed chosen this path. Everyone prepare yourselves! A battle may break out at any moment!" Red Dawn, a Level 155 magic knight spoke up. "Don¡¯t worry! Our intel is absolutely reliable. Not many Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players managed to pass through the traps. Unlike us who risked our lives to pass through them, they decided to preserve their strength. Less than two hundred of them made it through! We have nothing to fear!" Purple Dawn grinned and said, "Hmph, out of a thousand Viper Dragoons, only a hundred made it past the traps. Even though we outnumber Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, we paid a high price for that! We¡¯ll let them pay the price for underestimating us! If they thought that they could go about as they pleased in this Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower, they can continue to dream on! Tell our comrades at the back to keep up! I would like to see how Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls die in the hands of 500 elite Candle Dragon players!" Red Dust looked at the dark hallway in front and said, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have split up to grind and we have no idea whose party is in front of us. Let¡¯s hope it¡¯s From Water¡¯s party so we can slaughter their guild leader. Hehe, that will teach them a painful lesson!" An assassin to the side chimed in, "Guild leader, Candlelight Shadow said that we would do well not to provoke Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls inside Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. The Northern Alliance is watching us too. If we make a move on Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Candlelight Shadow will get angry¡­" A look of jealousy crossed Purple Dawn¡¯s face as he growled, "Candlelight Shadow has grown weak! The Nation Wars have him completely confused! Hmph, is Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls that frightening? I think not! We¡¯ll kill them as planned! Have our comrades caught up with us or not? Everyone is to continue and pass through those traps! Even if only 5% of us make it past, we would still have a total of one thousand five hundred players! There¡¯s no need to be afraid!" "Mn, guild leader is wise!" ¡­¡­ I was stunned by what I had heard. Purple Dawn was truly cold-blooded for forcing his own comrades to pass through the series of traps. One could only imagine the losses they must have suffered. One must be fortunate, nimble and swift and to also be healed by priests in order to pass through these traps. Goddammit, this asshole truly does not regard his guild members as his brothers and sisters! What a cruel man! Moreover, Candle Dragon''s first subguild had over 500 players while we only had 50. This was a race against time as we were outnumbered. We would be at a disadvantage if we had to face them head-on. "Vice leader big bro¡­" In the darkness, Cute Little Naughty was hunched over like a pretty kitten about to pounce on its prey. Looking at me, she giggled and said, "Shall we attack together?" "Mn." I nodded my head and said, "I will unleash an AoE skill and lock that bunch of Viper Dragoons in place. Meanwhile, search for an opportunity to stun Purple Dawn and help me slaughter that asshole! We¡¯ll attack together at my command." "Mn, understood!" ¡­¡­ We waited patiently for the group of Candle Dragon''s first subguild to enter into the region we were at before starting our ambush! "Attack!" I yelled inside the party chat before turning into countless crimson light rays and shooting out of my hiding spot. Summoning my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King, my apparition unleashed Purple Dragon Howl into the hapless group of enemies. Meanwhile, the Phantom Wolf King raised its head up high and unleashed Purgatory Storm at another group of players. "This is bad! We¡¯re being ambushed! It¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s party!" Purple Dawn turned ashen. Without giving him any time to react, a crimson light flew past him. Cute Little Naughty¡¯s Ambush succeeded and she managed to stun Purple Dawn. She activated Haste and ran in a beautiful arc around Purple Dawn swiftly. Swiping her dagger three times, she shaved off a large portion of Purple Dawn¡¯s health. I locked my sights on Purple Dawn and activated Thunderous Charge. Without giving him a chance to recover, I swung my sword, unleashing three consecutive waves of Burning Blade Slash straight at him! Boom, boom, boom! A bunch of Candle Dragon players were scared out of their wits. Two AoE skills, Purple Dragon Howl + Purgatory Storm enveloped them, shaving off 40% of their health instantly. Du Thirteen led a large bunch of Dragonlight Cavalrymen and charged out of the dimly lit hallway. The enemies were gripped with fear when they saw a beautiful dark archer emerge from the shadows. Red Dust turned ashen as he looked to the front and shouted, "Goddammit, we¡¯re trapped on both sides! We¡¯re royally screwed! The guild leader has really underestimated our enemies! Fuck!" Chapter 800: Heavenstealing Tiger Waters rose rapidly and the place started to flood. Du Thirteen dashed forward and unleashed Poseidon at the frontliners. As a result, scores of melee players had to swim to dry land instantly to avoid drowning. Beiming Xue continued to unleash Volley + Spiraling Arrow Blade, instantly slaughtering a hundred players at the frontlines. ¡­¡­ "Goddammit, hold your ground! Our reinforcements will arrive soon!" Red Dust shouted as he continued to charge back and forth. At this moment, Cute Little Naughty said, "Vice leader big bro, many players are coming from behind us. They are all from Candle Dragon''s first subguild! What shall we do?" I summoned my Ice Qilin Horse, flipped myself onto it and charged toward the back. I stood imposingly before hundreds of Candle Dragon players and stretched out my palm suddenly. A golden "soul" word appeared on my palm instantly and started to pulse. It was waiting to be unleashed at any moment! Everyone recognized this Divine General Skill, Ancient Seal, due to the battle at Dawn City. The group of Candle Dragon players stood rooted to the spot, no one had dared to take a step forward. It seemed like we had reached an impasse. However, I grew impatient and decided to send a message to Chaos Moon: "Rally your troops and charge from the back. We will fight from both sides and eliminate Candle Dragon''s first subguild." Chaos Moon asked in shock, "Oh? Have you been ambushed?" "Mn. You¡¯re the closest to us! Quickly get here and help us!" "Mn. We¡¯ll be there in two minutes!" ¡­¡­ Du Thirteen gripped his sword and rushed toward me, a few Dragonlight Cavalrymen following behind him. In a low voice, he said, "The battle at the back is over and we¡¯ve eliminated all 109 of them. However, we lost one mage. Red Dust one-shot him with Barrier Break." "Mn." I nodded my head before turning my gaze back to the few hundred Candle Dragon players who were waiting in their battle formation. Flames were dancing above the staff of a group of mages and like a dragon waiting to breathe out fire, those mages were about to make their move. "What are we waiting for?" Du Thirteen asked. "For reinforcements!" "Reinforcements? We have reinforcements?" "Of course we do!" At this moment, a radiant wave of cyan sword energy flew over the ground and scythed into the enemy players, blowing a hole in the formation of Candle Dragon¡¯s first subguild. Right after that, the Dragonlight Cavalry burst onto the scene. All of them activated Charge as they rushed straight at the Candle Dragon players. The moment they smashed into enemy formation, they immediately activated Hoof Trample, sending Purple Dawn¡¯s lackeys into disarray. "Chaos Moon is here!" Du Thirteen exclaimed in joy. ¡­¡­ Candle Dragon¡¯s subguild descended into chaos and a group of players were scared out of their wits. "God damn! We have enemies behind us too! Where are our reinforcements? Why aren¡¯t they here yet! Fuck, that Chaos Moon is really fierce!" Beiming Xue and the other archers released their AoE skills, sniping many players at once. The eights paths leading to the first floor¡¯s boss were very narrow, and as a result, the small entrance was in absolute chaos. The battle ended in less than five minutes. We were so powerful that we managed to eliminate this entire group of Candle Dragon at the small cost of three players. Swhoosh, swhoosh! I was at the frontlines and had to eat the attacks of the enemy¡¯s long-range players. However, Yamete healed me so sporadically that my health had dropped to 25%. ¡­¡­ Potions, food supplies and equipment piled up on the ground. Players who could enter Land of Soul Suppression were all elites, especially being from Candle Dragon¡¯s first subguild. Naturally, the items they dropped would be of a certain calibre. After looting and distributing spoils evenly, Chaos Moon waved her hands and said, "Alright, our work here is done! We¡¯re going back to grind now." "Mn, go on then!" I raised my sword, turned around and said, "Let¡¯s go and continue to kill those Bronze Beasts. Let¡¯s pick up the pace and be the first group to reach the boss. We¡¯ll aggro the boss and slaughter him once he is out of his lair and obtain the very first Tiger Soul Essence!" "Mn, let¡¯s go!" Du Thirteen was high in spirits as he had managed to kill seventeen players consecutively in the previous battle. He had successfully demonstrated his prowess as the leader of Bloody Mercenaries and was about to burst with pride. ¡­¡­ We pushed on and continued to kill the Bronze Beasts ahead of us. My party enjoyed Martial God¡¯s 200% Attack buff, making it extremely efficient for us to grind monsters. Furthermore, we were dealing a great amount of damage to the monsters as Beiming Xue and I were the main DPSers of the team. Coupled with the help of the Phantom Wolf King, Thunder Beast and other pets, we were clearing the fields at breakneck speeds. We eliminated all of the Bronze Beasts an hour later and even managed to gather an entire Cyanblade set. Its drop rate was pretty decent thanks to my high Luck. As we continued to press forward slowly, I glanced at the map and noticed that we were drawing nearer and nearer to a large crimson dot. "Big bro!" Beiming Xue grasped my wrist and said, "The boss is over there¡­" Turning to where Beiming Xue had pointed to, I noticed a gigantic cage made of steel. Even though rust had corroded it over hundreds of thousands of years, the floating magic formation below that cage continued to glow and fade at regular intervals. In that cage, a large silhouette of a body could be seen in the shadows. "Fuck, that¡¯s one huge boss¡­" I licked my lips in nervousness before saying, "Little Gui, Eve, Chaos Moon and Li Chengfeng¡¯s teams should be arriving soon right?" "Mn, Sis Eve and Gui Guzi have arrived!" Beiming Xue pointed her finger to the side. True enough, He Yi and Gui Guzi¡¯s group had appeared at the core of the map. The Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was the first guild to reach the core of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower¡¯s first floor and this showed just how powerful we were. Chaos Moon¡¯s group arrived a few minutes later and joined the main army. As the party leader, Lu Buyi buffed us all with his Purple Dragon. Purple Dragon stratagem was able to buff all stats by a maximum of 100%, making it even stronger than Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell. It was entirely deserving of its title as the number one stratagem. Moreover, Lu Buyi had become a Famous General. However, his Famous General Skill was Soul of the Foot and it was practically useless when juxtaposed with Purple Dragon. Everyone¡¯s confidence started to soar as our stats received a 100% buff. I was especially elated as my max HP had risen to a whopping 270000! My HP was now higher than magic knights¡¯! Out of all the players in the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, only He Yi and Gui Guzi could reach my level of health points. "Prepare to fight the boss!" I raised my Cyan Netherworld Sword and shouted, "Beiming, lure the boss! Dragonlight Cavalry, mount your horses! Encircle the boss the moment it comes out. Ranged players, cycle its aggro. If we are lucky enough, we will be able to slaughter this boss without any casualties." "Yessir!" Beiming Xue charged forward and arrived beside the cage and shouted, "Big bro, the cage is locked." "I¡¯m coming over!" I urged my horse forward and stood beside Beiming Xue. Sure enough, a thick steel lock was latched to the door of the cage. The lock looked so sturdy that even the boss himself would have a hard time trying to get out of the cage. Ggrrrr... A low growl rang out and I finally took a good look at the boss from the glow of my Netherworld Sword. The boss in the cage was a giant black tiger that was more than two meters tall. The gorgeous stripes on its body were hidden under a layer of thick metal armor. Its blood-red eyes gleamed menacingly in the dark as it stared straight at Beiming Xue and I. A single line of words floated above its head¡ª Heavenstealing Tiger (Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 185 ¡­¡­ I unsheathed my sword and brought it down heavily. Sparks flew as metal clashed with metal and successfully broke the lock on the cage. I grabbed Beiming Xue by the hand and retreated swiftly before shouting, "Archers, prepare to fire your Shock Arrow! Try and stun the boss!" Ggrrr! A deafening roar rang out as the Heavenstealing Tiger clamped his jaw down on the door of the cage. In one swift movement, it ripped the door from the hinges, spat it away and charged out at lightning speed. "Block its assault! Magic knights, use Charge!" High Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang, Gui Guzi and the rest quickly activated Charge at the boss. However, the word "MISS" floated above the Heavenstealing Tiger consecutively. Heavenstealing Tiger¡¯s level was too high and it was easy for it to avoid being stunned by our Charge. I swiftly locked on to the spot that was five yards in front of the Heavenstealing Tiger and used Charge. Even though I had rammed into the Heavenstealing Tiger, a "MISS" popped up above its head once again. My level was lower than Gui Guzi and the rest after all. If they couldn¡¯t stun the Heavenstealing Tiger, I wouldn¡¯t be able to either. ¡­¡­ Bang, bang, bang! I urged the Ice Qilin forward and ran around in a continuous zigzag pattern, forcing the Heavenstealing Tiger to stay in place. Meanwhile, I landed a few hits on the boss and successfully drew its aggro toward me. I took a few steps backward before waving a hand and activated God Binding Art! Swhoosh! Four peerless divine weapons descended from the sky and miraculously pinned the boss to the spot! A bunch of Dragonlight Cavalrymen quickly encircled the boss and started unleashing their Barrier Breaks at it. However, each Barrier Break could only deal around 7000 damage because the boss¡¯s Defense was too high. Not to mention, even Beiming Xue¡¯s Bone Eroding Arrow had missed and didn¡¯t reduce the boss¡¯s Defense. It was extremely painful for everyone to have to face a boss as strong as this. ¡­¡­ Fifteen seconds later, a wave of energy exploded from Heavenstealing Tiger as it let out a loud growl. Flames appeared above its claws before it brought it down heavily! Boom! The flames spread like wildfire, turning the area into a sea of fire. A bunch of Dragonlight Cavalrymen who were burnt by the scorching flames screamed out in anguish and lost 50000 HP instantly. Fortunately, all of them were in Lu Buyi¡¯s team. Thanks to the 100% buff to all stats, none of them had been one-shot. "We can¡¯t keep encircling it anymore, keep your distance! Hold its aggro!" I quickly changed my tactics as I had not expected for this Immortal Rank boss to be so ferocious. Xu Yang raised his sword and urged his mount forward, shouting, "Heavenstealing Tiger, take this!" Boom! He unleashed Mountain Stagger Slash on the Heavenstealing Tiger, dealing critical damage to it and successfully drew its aggro. The Heavenstealing Tiger growled loudly, it was clearly angered by Xu Yang¡¯s attack. All of a sudden, golden light started to pulse on the top of its head as golden symbols started to circle around it. "Xu Yang, be careful!" I had a bad feeling about this. However, it was too late. Xu Yang did not manage to retreat in time. The Heavenstealing Tiger suddenly stretched out its neck before taking a bite out of Xu Yang! Ding! Combat Log: Heavenstealing Tiger used ¡°Heavenstealing Technique¡± and successfully stole the item "Spirit Origin Plate" from the player "Hot Sun". ¡­¡­ I turned to look at Xu Yang who had been stripped off his armor. All he was wearing was his Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ guild shirt. His armor was actually stolen by that boss! "God damn! What are we gonna do now?" Xu Yang exclaimed in shock. Chaos Moon gulped in nervousness and said, "We¡¯re doomed. I don¡¯t wanna be topless. How are we gonna fight this boss¡­" ¡­¡­ At this exact moment, Lu Buyi stretched out his Iron Bone Fan to the right and shouted, "This is bad! We have company!" Everyone looked to the right only to see a large group of players with crimson IDs charging toward us. The Northern Alliance players had arrived! Chapter 801: Protect Our Allies The players under the command of Blade of Kings belonged to a guild called "King of Mercenaries¡± Needless to say, the guild leader was Blade of Kings. King of Mercenaries was once known as the number one guild in Titan City. However, their strength diminished after battling with Titan God, causing their ranking to drop to the second place instead. But now, Blade of Kings actually managed to reach the core of the first floor before Titan God did. Blade of Kings raised his axe high up and laughed. "The boss has been lured out! Comrades, prepare for battle! Hehe, those players are our long-time enemy, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Show no mercy and charge forward! Kill every single Chinese player!" ¡­¡­ Seeing the menacing look on Blade of Kings¡¯ face, Gui Guzi raised his spear and said, "Boss Broken Halberd, you guys continue to kill the boss. I¡¯ll lead my men and slaughter them!" "No!" I stretched my hand out to stop him and looked into the distance. "Blade of Kings has brought nearly a thousand players with him. We are at a number disadvantage either way, so let¡¯s not fight with them. We¡¯ll let them have this boss." "What do you mean? We don¡¯t want the boss anymore?" Gui Guzi asked in shock. Chaos Moon giggled and said, "I understand what Lu Chen is getting at. Mn, let¡¯s withdraw a few hundred yards first. We¡¯ll let them have the boss!" "Mn!" Without further objections, everyone retreated swiftly. Meanwhile, Blade of Kings led a bunch of ferocious Titan City players toward the boss, swinging his axe at the nearby Heaven¡¯s Rain. The girl leaped back and retreated swiftly. With no losses, we disengaged and left the boss to Blade of Kings¡¯ guild. Blade of Kings laughed heartily and shouted, "These losers dare step foot into Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower! They¡¯re asking for death! I want three hundred men to guard this place! Don¡¯t let a single Chinese player get into this place! Everyone else, come with me! Kill the boss!" ¡­¡­ In the distance, a group of Titan City players encircled the boss and unleashed their skills at it. At the same time, curses and shouts started to ring out. "Fuck! Where are my legguards?!" "My¡­ my shield is missing! What¡¯s going on?" "Goddammit! Boss¡¯s helmet is missing too!" "Fuck! That Heavenstealing Tiger has ¡®Heavenstealing Technique¡¯! We need to kill it immediately and get all our stuff back!" ¡­¡­ Bang, bang, bang! The Heavenstealing Tiger continued to wave its sharp claws and unleash raging flames among a group of players. Cries rang out as batches of King of Mercenaries players dropped like flies. However, there was no other way around it. All they could do was to keep on fighting, backing down was not an option. "Blade of Kings is just too unlucky. Why did he have to be such a busybody¡­" He Yi laughed and said, "What a pity. About a thousand King of Mercenaries players managed to get here. Ten thousand probably died while trying to cross over the series of traps. And now, the Heavenstealing Tiger keeps on stealing their equipment. How unlucky¡­" "It can¡¯t be helped. They are all willing participants." I simply laughed. Blade of Kings shouted out a string of curses as his armor was also stolen by the Heavenstealing Tiger. It seemed like that armor was a pretty high-grade item, evident from the rage visible on Blade of Kings¡¯ face. Nearby, a magic knight lost his legguards, helmet, boots and shield. His Defense was so low he could no longer fulfill his role as a tank and moved to the back. Alas, before he could reach safety a random swipe of a claw got him and one-shot him instantly. How unfortunate of him to lose so many items. "Everyone, hold your ground!" Blade of Kings raised his axe and shouted words of encouragement, "I¡¯ve contacted our allies! The greatest two allies of King of Mercenaries will be here soon! Hold your ground! The boss has less than 50% of its HP left! Continue to kill it!" Just like Blade of Kings had said, a group of Northern Alliance players arrived a few minutes later. However, the majority of them were just cannon fodder! ¡­¡­ Ding! Li Chengfeng sent me a message: "Lu Chen, what¡¯s the plan? We¡¯re gathered southeast of the boss." I replied, "When the boss is left with 10% health, attack at once. Kill the boss as well as Blade of Kings. We have to obtain the Tiger Soul Essence!" "Alright, understood! We¡¯ll wait for your signal." "Mn." ¡­¡­ Heavenstealing Tiger¡¯s growls reverberated through the tower. Meanwhile, the number of players of the King of Mercenaries continued to diminish. Heavenstealing Tiger¡¯s AoE skills were extremely powerful and it was also an Immortal Rank boss. To take down such a powerful entity would require the sacrifice of countless players. Blade of Kings brandished his axe and shouted, "Comrades, keep fighting! The boss only has 25% HP left! This is an Immortal Rank boss so there is a chance of getting Immortal-grade equipment! If it drops Immortal-grade equipment, I, Blade of Kings will be impartial! To demonstrate fairness, Immortal-grade equipment will go to the guild¡¯s treasury. Everyone can bid for them using guild points!" The players of King of Mercenaries broke out in laughter and shouted, "The boss is wise!" Immortal-grade equipment was as rare as a god at the current stage of the game and I had yet to lay eyes on such an item. Of course, there was Lin Yixin¡¯s Devil Bell which was a Cambrian-grade Divine Armament. However, that didn¡¯t count because it was merely a beautiful accident. It was obvious how much everyone lusted for a piece of Immortal-grade equipment. For that, I¡¯d even sell my sons and daughters, if I had any! ¡­¡­ We turned around to see a bunch of players walking toward us. The leader was a player carrying a broadsword, Dominating Heaven Blade. His loyal subjects, Dominating Knight God, Dominating Archer God and the rest followed behind. They had less than a hundred players in total. Needless to say, I was shocked that the Gods of Destruction could actually make it this far. "Hey, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls comrades. What are you waiting for?" Dominating Heaven Blade shouted from afar. "Someone¡¯s fighting the boss up ahead!" Gui Guzi answered. "Who is it?" Dominating Heaven Blade asked. Gui Guzi stretched his spear out and said, "The Northern Alliance stole the boss from us. This boss belongs to us. You can forget about stealing it from us¡­" Dominating Knight God smirked and said, "Who says this boss belongs to you guys? Are the words ¡®Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ written on the boss¡¯s head?" I turned around and thrust my sword into the ground with a loud clang. My sword penetrated the stone ground as I glared at Dominating Knight God and said, "Dominating Knight God, mind your words. On the account of your performance during the Nation Wars, I don¡¯t wish to do you harm. I hope that you will also show us some respect. Otherwise, don¡¯t blame me for showing no mercy!" Dominating Heaven Blade was a smart man. He raised his sword, laughed and said, "Knight God, shut your mouth! First come, first served! This is a principle of old! Since the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls arrived first, they should have the boss. Once they have killed it, we will move on to the second floor. Our goal is not to kill the bosses but to obtain as many Cyanblade sets as possible!" "Yes, boss!" Dominating Knight God responded resentfully. It was clear that Dominating Heaven Blade was as important as the sun to Gods of Destruction. His words were obeyed by everyone under his command. Moreover, Dominating Heaven Blade was a calm and collected man. Otherwise, they would have been eaten alive by power-hungry guilds such as Hegemon Palace and Flower Room. ¡­¡­ "Vice leader big bro, the boss has 11% health¡­" Heaven¡¯s Rain reminded me gently. I pulled my Cyan Netherworld Sword from the ground and informed Li Chengfeng, "Chengfeng, attack in 10 seconds! I will one-shot the players around the boss with my Ancient Seal. Eve will lead a group of players and aggro the boss. You are responsible for killing the remaining players in the area. This boss should drop all the equipment it has eaten once we kill it, and oh boy has it eaten many! Hehe, all these treasures will definitely belong to us!" "Hehe, they are ours for sure!" Li Chengfeng laughed out loud and said, "Leave it to me! Prepare to attack!" I pointed my sword to the front and shouted, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, prepare for battle! This bunch of assholes stole our boss because they thought that the Chinese are weak! Now we¡¯ll show them the meaning of true power. Charge! Kill anyone without a five-pointed star on a red flag above their heads!" I charged out immediately only to clash head-on with 300 Titan City players, a force not any inferior to our own! ¡­¡­ "Dammit! They were just waiting for us! Everyone, hold your ground! Riders, activate your shields and defend!" a magic knight shouted. High Fighting Spirits laughed heartily as he swung his Dragonlight Shatter. He unleashed his Xiezhi Howl right as Chaos Moon unleashed her Rock Crush and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun unleashed his Rock Smash. Over a dozen players were instantly killed by the combination of three skills. I urged my horse forward and waved my hand. Instantly, three golden seals flew up and imprinted themselves onto the crowd. The ground shook violently, instantly killing an entire horde of King of Mercenaries players. The Ancient Seal was simply too powerful! Even Holy Shield was unable to protect them because Ancient Seal was an attack of pure light, and thus of the same element as their magical shields! Ice Qilin Horse activated Hoof Trample and I charged my way past the three hundred players. The Phantom Wolf King let out a howl and followed after me, killing any player that tried to get close. About three hundred players encircled and trapped the boss and Blade of Kings was also within that party. He wore an ugly look on his face as many of his items had been stolen by the Heavenstealing Tiger. To be attacked by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls at this moment was like adding salt to his wound. He could only turn his head and glare at me with hatred in his eyes. ¡­¡­ Purgatory Storm! The Phantom Wolf King raised its head high as brimstone and sulfur rained down from heaven, wreaking havoc amid a group of enemies. After that, He Yi unleashed her Purgatory of Ice and Magma, slaughtering more than a dozen King of Mercenaries players in an instant! At this moment, Li Chengfeng charged in from the side and unleashed his Dragonblade Revolution. As the green dragon energy spun around, Blade of Kings staggered back to avoid being hit. However, Chaos Moon quickly dashed forward and thrust her sword through his back, one-shotting him instantly. Half of Blade of Kings¡¯ equipment had been stolen by the Heavenstealing Tiger, so his Defense was pitiful, not even close to being able to withstand a blow from Chaos Moon. His eyes were full of resentment as he collapsed to the ground. ¡­¡­ "Eve, you and Little Gui handle the boss! Attack it until it¡¯s dead!" I shouted. I took a few steps back, summoned my apparition and unleashed Purple Dragon Howl at once. The boss had little HP left so we had to be quick and get rid of all the players from King of Mercenaries. Otherwise, they may get the last hit. At this exact moment, we heard a group of people charging at us from the east. The leader of that group was Blue Sky Scar, Candle Dragon¡¯s vice leader. His eyes lit up when he saw that the Heavenstealing Tiger was left with less than 10% of its HP. He shouted with excitement, "Comrades, attack! Only the brave and powerful will win! Since the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls dares to slaughter our subguild, we shall annihilate their main guild!" A group of menacing Candle Dragon players let out a battlecry and started to charge at us. At this moment, a rider appeared out of the blue and dashed out from my right. It was a beautiful lady on a Frostscythe Warhorse. She pointed her sword in front of her as cyan lotus flowers bloomed all around her. It was a player who had undergone her Great Earth Transformation, Lin Yixin! "Snowy Cathaya, kill anyone who attacks Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Defend our allies until they kill the boss! Candle Dragon, come at us if you dare! We aren¡¯t afraid of you!" Chapter 802: We’re Rich ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow looked at Lin Yixin before smiling "Beauty Lin, I respect you for saving us with your God¡¯s Tear during the Nation Wars. However, could you not be so biased?" Lin Yixin giggled and said, "I¡¯m not biased. I just can¡¯t stand to see others bully my Little Cheat. What, you got a problem with that?" Candlelight Shadow gritted his teeth in frustration before saying, "God¡¯s Tear is a forbidden skill so you can¡¯t use that anymore. Why make an enemy of me? Do you really think that you are a match for my Outer Flame?" Candlelight Shadow raised a hand as a blazing flame hovered in the center of his palm. It was his Divine General Skill, Outer Flame. Having an active Divine General Skill made Candlelight Shadow much stronger than Lin Yixin currently. Purple Marquis charged forward and swung his sword, releasing three consecutive waves of sword energy at the head of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s mount. Candlelight Shadow was forced to take a few steps back from the impact of the attack and even lost 50k HP. Purple Marquis¡¯s gaze turned chilly as he said, "I¡¯ll slaughter anyone who dares to threaten our guild leader! So what if you have a Divine General Skill! Come at us if you dare, Candlelight Shadow! I¡¯m not afraid of you!" "Fuck, what arrogance!" Tempest Shadow raised his spear and shouted, "Candlelight Shadow, let me kill this asshole!" Candlelight Shadow remained calm as he said, "Stand back. You¡¯re not on the same level as he is." Candlelight Shadow turned to look at Lin Yixin and said, "Beauty Lin, you have my respect. I implore you to understand us. Hmph, a few hours ago Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls eliminated a thousand of Candle Dragon First Seed players. I, Candlelight Shadow must have revenge for my brothers and sisters! I will make Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls pay with their lives for what they did!" Lin Yixin raised a delicate eyebrow and giggled. "Attack then. After all, we¡¯re all rivals here, aren¡¯t we? Didn¡¯t Candle Dragon also declare war on Snowy Cathaya? Are you not attacking because you don¡¯t feel fully confident of winning? Is it because your six allies, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, Throne Seeker, Thunder, Wings of Awakening and Silver Soul have not arrived yet?" "The audacity!" ¡­¡­ At this moment, the clanging of swords rang out from the side. Soon after, a Level 153 magic knight sprinted toward us before tumbling to the ground and shouted, "Fuck! That lass is too powerful!" Before he could climb to his feet, he was engulfed by a fire dragon from behind. It was a high-level mage¡¯s Fire Dragon Spell. Bang, bang, bang! Stranger of Three Lifetimes walked over with her staff in hand as Eyes Like Water, the tamer Lasting and other guild members followed closely behind her. Blazing Hot Lips has finally arrived. "That person was¡­ a player from Hall of Immortality¡­" Transient Smoke and Clouds muttered. He lifted his head suddenly and turned to Stranger of Three Lifetimes before shouting, "What¡¯s the meaning of this! How dare you attack your comrades just as the Northern Alliance is entering Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower! Blazing Hot Lips has no sense of morality or justice!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes blushed red before shouting, "Pooh! How dare you slander me! Hall of Immortality ambushed Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ main party and even killed two of my priests! They should thank the heavens and the earth that I did not dig up the graves of their ancestors as revenge! How dare you speak about morality and justice to me! Which of you morons from the Avengers understand the meaning of justice and morality?" Candlelight Shadow¡¯s mouth started to twitch but he remained silent. He was clearly a man of actions, not words. Lin Yixin and Stranger of Three Lifetimes were clever ladies after all. They would never lose in a battle of words. ¡­¡­ At this moment, God¡¯s Dance shouted, "Candlelight Shadow, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is here!" "What? Vienna?!" Candlelight Shadow¡¯s gaze turned cold as he gazed to the south. True enough, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was leading a large group of Hero City players this way. There were many of them and all of them were elites. Clang! Candlelight Shadow unsheathed his sword and growled, "Candle Dragon listen to me! Stop fighting with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls for now and come with me! Our opponents have arrived! It¡¯s time for Candle Dragon to shine! Attack!" Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow and the rest charged toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and his troops. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow brandished his sword and did the same while shouting, "Comrades, attack! The Chinese are battling against Heavenstealing Tiger! Eliminate them and take the very first Tiger Soul Essence for ourselves!" Candlelight Shadow swung his sword and shot a crescent wave of sword energy into the crowd. "Trying to steal the Heavenstealing Tiger from us? Dream on!" ¡­¡­ If memory serves me well, Candle Dragon suffered greatly during the battle at Eternal Love City. Three of Candle Dragon¡¯s core members had been killed by Vienna¡¯s Sorrow resulting in their great enmity with Heroes Alliance. Although Candle Dragon was settling their personal vendetta, they had also relieved our troubles. While Candle Dragon kept Heroes Alliance busy, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls could fully concentrate on killing the boss. "Attack!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow brandished his sword and killed three Candle Dragon players in one go. Candlelight Shadow charged in from the side and slammed into the man. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was forced back by the impact and lost a huge chunk of his health. After that, Candlelight Shadow stretched his hand out as flames flew out and exploded among a group of enemies. Unleashing his Outer Flame, raging flames descended from heaven and enveloped an area of 20 by 60 yards. Heroes Alliance players dropped like flies and many retreated swiftly to avoid being hit. "Great job!" Blue Scar Sky laughed loudly before brandishing his sword as a sword energy circled around him. The moment Outer Flame was unleashed, Candle Dragon gained the upper hand over Heroes Alliance solely because Candlelight Shadow was a Divine General. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow retreated quickly but calmly. Pointing his sword forward, he growled, "Fire your Shock Arrows!" Pchhtt! Arrows whistled through the air and successfully stunned the frontmost Viper Dragoons. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow raised his hand and shouted, "Unleash Galaxy Storm and eliminate them!" Boom, boom, boom! Galaxy Storm rained down on a group of Candle Dragon players, one-shotting a dozen riders at the forefront. The powerful attacks left many Candle Dragon players stupefied as they did not expect for the players of Heroes Alliance to be this powerful. Moreover, there were at least a thousand of them! ¡­¡­ While Candle Dragon was busy dealing with Heroes Alliance, we continued attacking the Heavenstealing Tiger. Every time its head glowed, I would deliver Magic Piercing Punch to it and interrupt its attempt to use Heavenstealing Technique. This put our players at ease so they could concentrate on encircling the boss and killing it quickly. I turned around and was shocked by the battle situation between Candle Dragon and Heroes Alliance. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s troops were extremely powerful. In addition to that, there were many of them. Stranger of Three Lifetimes gripped her staff and said, "Omigosh, when did Heroes Alliance get such a powerful mage team? Didn¡¯t the series of traps prevent players from using Leap and Flash? How did so many of their mages pass through those traps¡­" Lin Yixin replied, "Simple. They activated their Magic Shields and forced their way through. I highly doubt that all of them possess the mechanical skills to pass through the series of traps. Even Zi Chuanyu had to crawl and roll through those traps, let alone those bunch of players." Zi Chuanyu rubbed his nose awkwardly and said, "Guild leader, could you not mock me so harshly? I¡¯ll treat you to dinner¡­" Lin Yixin giggled and replied, "There¡¯s no need for that. Little Cheat will pay for my meals!" Zi Chuanyu and Purple Marquis were left stumped for words. ¡­¡­ At this moment, Heavenstealing Tiger gave out a loud growl. That was the final straw! After taking thousands of hits, he had only a sliver of health left and was in imminent danger. "Time to gain some EXP!" Li Chengfeng laughed loudly as a group of players unleashed their skills all at once. Dragonbone Flurry, Burning Blade Slash, Purgatory of Ice and Magma and other skills exploded at the Heavenstealing Tiger at the same time. Awoo, awoo, awoo... The battered and bruised Heavenstealing Tiger gave out a pitiful cry and collapsed. Everyone¡¯s eyes lit up as the ground was instantly littered with stones and equipment. Dashing forward, I quickly picked up the dropped items and presented all five of them for everyone to see. Sword of True Crimson (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Attack 1200~1450, Strength +200, Stamina +215. Increases user¡¯s attack by 40%. Outstanding Property: Improves blood circulation, increasing user¡¯s HP regeneration by 150%. Level Requirement: 155 Necklace of Compassion (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï). Intelligence +190, Stamina +200. Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 35%. Outstanding Property: Pity, increases user¡¯s healing power by 40%. Level Requirement: 155 Cyan Wings Wristguards (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï). Agility +120, Stamina +190. Increases user¡¯s Agility by 20%. Outstanding Property: Cyan Wings. When activated, user¡¯s movement speed will increase by 70% for 60 seconds. Level Requirement: 155 Cyan Wings Ring (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï). Agility +175, Stamina +180. Increases user¡¯s melee attack power by 15%. Outstanding Property: Cyan Wings. When activated, user¡¯s movement speed will increase by 30% for 60 seconds. Level Requirement: 155 The last item was a Purple Gold¨Cgrade staff. We were considered lucky to have obtained three Earth-grade, one Spirit-grade and one Purple Gold¨Cgrade item from an Immortal Rank boss. It was a pity that I did not get the last hit in. Otherwise, it may have very well dropped Immortal-grade equipment, or at least Heaven-grade. After all, my 54 Luck was nothing to sneeze at. Sword of True Crimson had the highest Attack so I gave it to Chaos Moon. Necklace of Compassion went to Moonlight Stone, Cyan Wings Wristguards went to Beiming Xue and the Cyan Wings Ring went to Cute Little Naughty. Each piece of equipment had found its owner. ¡­¡­ "Where are all the items that Heavenstealing Tiger stole¡­" Xu Yang ran over to us huffing and puffing like an angry bull. "My armor! Where is it¡­" I glanced to the side and nudged the sack like stomach of the Heavenstealing Tiger with my feet. "Perhaps, it¡¯s somewhere in there¡­" "Oh?" Xu Yang¡¯s eyes lit up as he swiftly opened the stomach up and was instantly greeted by a ton of glittering equipment. ¡­¡­ "Goddammit! We¡¯re rich¡­" Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits and the rest stared at Xu Yang as saliva dripped from their mouths. Chapter 803: Bronze Armor Wolf While everyone was filled with excitement, He Yi remained calm and turned to her two vice leaders. "Lu Chen, Mingyue, how shall we distribute this?" "I have no opinions on this¡­" Murong Mingyue shrugged her shoulders. She was a rather easy-going person after all. I picked up a black Tiger Soul Essence from the Heavenstealing Tiger¡¯s corpse and put it into my inventory before laughing. "Simple. We¡¯ll have everyone come and take their pick. If they see any item that¡¯s better, they should equip it immediately. If there isn¡¯t, they shouldn¡¯t take anything. Our chances of winning will increase if we have better equipment. What¡¯s left after the selection will be put into the guild¡¯s treasury to buy with contribution points. That should settle it!" He Yi nodded her head in satisfaction and said, "Great idea. We¡¯ll do just that. Everyone, come and take your pick!" A whole group of people rushed forward to pick out equipment that satisfied them. I stood in a corner after deciding not to pick out any equipment from the pile. I had great Attack, Defense and HP stats, Tenacity of the Dead and Regeneration of the Undead. Given such great HP regeneration skills, I could solo a boss with full confidence. I had plenty of chances to grind for better equipment in the future! ¡­¡­ Ten minutes later, everyone was satisfied with their selection of equipment and we could move on. Chaos Moon entered into the tiger¡¯s cage and pointed at the glimmering magic formation. "The Heavenstealing Tiger was the guardian boss of this floor. A teleportation formation appeared the moment it was killed. However, players transported to the second floor will appear in random spots. No one knows the exact location you will spawn at. This means that everyone may have to fight solo from here on. Prepare yourselves! Don¡¯t get killed by the monsters the moment you teleport from here¡­" Li Chengfeng nodded his head with a cautious expression on his face. "Mn. Mages and priests activate your shields. assassins, enter stealth mode and you will be fine. Melee players, if there are few monsters around you then kill it. You may not be able to outrun them even if you try to." Gui Guzi raised his spear and shouted, "I¡¯ll go first and pave the way!" "Do as you please. We need to be quick, everyone else is staring at this teleportation formation like vultures¡­" I glanced into the distance to see Hall of Immortality and Rose of the Holy Domain looking back at us. Moreover, many Northern Alliance players are swarming into the hall in waves. If we don¡¯t go now, we will have to engage in another bloody battle! Swhoosh! I was enveloped in a bright light for a second and was greeted by similar iron walls and stone ground. The air felt dry and the place was dimly lit. I was currently on the second floor of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. Awoo... My Phantom Wolf King let out a sharp howl at a giant wolf enveloped in thick rugged armor not far from us. That giant wolf was about 1.5 meters tall and looked as strong as a warhorse. It glared and bared its fangs at us, its uninvited guests. Mechanical sounds filled the air when it moved its front legs that were encased in armor. I was sure that this wolf was also an undead monster like the Bronze Beast. Bronze Armor Wolf (Dread) Level: 156 Attack: 6400~7750 Defense: 6700 HP: 550000 Skills: Ruthless Bite, Bloodthirsty Attack, Battle Howl Introduction: Bronze Armor Wolf was originally a ruthless wolf whose kind ruled the forest. However, their bodies were cast in bronze by fallen necromancers, which bestowed upon them the eternity of undeath. This process also turned them even more savage and merciless. These Bronze Armor Wolves guard the first three floors of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower and they have become the nightmare of every adventurer that has ever entered the tower. The number of heroes that have fallen to their claws and fangs over the past ten millennia cannot be counted. ¡­¡­ Another dread-rank monster, except that this Bronze Armor Wolf was one level higher than the Bronze Beast. Even their stats were similar, high Attack and Defense and low HP. Both monsters did not have an AoE skill either. Even so, they were not to be underestimated. From what I have experienced in previous Eternal Moon Cooperation games, undead monsters could ignore 25% of a target¡¯s Defense while wolf monsters had a 25% attack speed buff. This meant that the Bronze Armor Wolves were both fast and powerful, making them much more terrifying than the Bronze Beasts. "Little wolf, attack!" I charged forward after summoning my apparition. Locking my sights on a Bronze Armor Wolf, I activated Thunderous Charge and slammed into it. After successfully stunning the monster, I swiftly unleashed Burning Blade Slash + War Crush at it. While the Bronze Armor Wolf was still stunned, my apparition also activated Charge and unleashed the same combo as I did. A string of damage numbers popped up from its head, shaving off 40% of its HP instantly. With the additional attacks of the Phantom Wolf King, the Bronze Armor Wolf was killed in no time! Grinding solo while buffed by Martial God was truly the best way to gain EXP! Awoo! The Bronze Armor Wolf howled before swiping its claws at me. That attack penetrated through my armor and left a deep gash on my chest. I winced in pain as a large damage number popped up from my head¡ª11824! Goddammit! Its attack was truly powerful! However, it was not done with me yet. In less than a second, a second claw came straight at me! In the face of a dread-rank monster as quick as this, one had to be faster than it. Otherwise, I would be easily killed with no priests to heal me. Clang, clang, clang! My Cyan Netherworld Sword flashed out, slashing away at the breastplate of the Bronze Armor Wolf continuously. In less than twelve seconds, I managed to shave off every last health point of the Bronze Armor Wolf. Even though I had lost 50000HP in the process, I regained full health with Regeneration of the Undead. Regeneration of the Undead was truly handy when grinding solo! The Bronze Armor Wolf collapsed with a loud bang and dropped a bronze card. Grinning, I picked it up to get a closer look. My 54 Luck was truly OP! I managed to get a card just by killing a single Bronze Armor Wolf! Bronze Armor Wolf Card: Increases user¡¯s attack speed by 65% and Attack by 20%. Duration: 120 seconds. Level Requirement: 150 ¡­¡­ This was a good card indeed. It increased the user¡¯s attack speed by 65% and Attack by 20%. That was equivalent to doubling one¡¯s damage output! Where else was one to find a card as OP as this?! Swhoosh! The card flew up before condensing into a ball of light over my head. As my stats increased, a warm feeling spread through my body. A 65% boost in attack speed was insanely powerful! Slaughtering Bronze Armor Wolves would be so much easier! I looked ahead to see a dozen or so Bronze Armor Wolves pacing up and down the long hallway. They were neither far nor near each other so I had to be careful not to attract the attention of more than one at a time. I brandished my sword and unleashed Dragon Slaying Slash at the Bronze Armor Wolf¡¯s head. Right as the wolf leaped into the air, I activated Charge. My apparition and I sliced through the armor of the monster as we flew past it at lightning speed. In less than six seconds, the monster was left with less than 50% of its HP. In the eighth second, I unleashed another skill and followed up with a basic attack. Just like that, the second Bronze Armor Wolf collapsed. Bang! My luck was insane! The Bronze Armor Wolf dropped another card and a pair of boots! To no one¡¯s surprise, it was a pair of Cyanblade War Boots. The boots were a part of the equipment set that we had been trying to assemble! ¡­¡­ I glanced at my EXP bar and noticed that it had increased by 2% after killing two Bronze Armor Wolves. This meant that each Bronze Armor Wolf netted me 1% EXP. Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower was truly a place filled with treasures. This was a great opportunity for me to grind my way up to the Heavenly Ranking! I had gotten quite good at aggroing and killing the Bronze Armor Wolves one by one. I would use God Binding Art to bind the monster, which allowed me to kill it without losing any health at all. However, the downside to this was that my grinding speed would become rather slow. To be honest, I didn¡¯t even need to kill them this way. Given my 10% lifesteal, I would actually be able to tank them without any issues. I continued to push my way forward through the long hallway. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the guild chat was buzzing with activity. Li Chengfeng said, "Where is everyone? I¡¯m near the center of the map. I¡¯ll be able to reach the boss in about thirty minutes¡­" Xu Yang laughed and replied, "Go solo the boss then!" "I don¡¯t feel like dying just yet¡­" Li Chengfeng muttered. Chaos Moon said, "I was teleported farther from the center, to some god-forsaken corner. There¡¯s a Burning Sand City player in front of me. Mn, once I finish off these Bronze Armor Wolves, he¡¯ll be next! Wuwu, these Bronze Armor Wolves are too powerful! It¡¯s so hard to solo them! I have to rest for two minutes before I can move on to the next one¡­" Pure Love chimed in, "You¡¯re better off than me. I don¡¯t even dare to move from my spot. There are Bronze Armor Wolves in front and behind me. If they notice me, I¡¯m screwed¡­" Lu Buyi laughed and said, "Pure Love, hurry up and make a vow that you¡¯ll marry the person who gets you out of there!" Pure Love replied, "I don¡¯t want to! I only want Lu Chen!" Staying silent was my best bet. A few girls giggled at Pure Love¡¯s response. He Yi said, "Everyone, put your coordinates into the chat so we can find each other. My coordinates are 5782, 19981. Everyone near me should gather at my location. Gather together and form parties as soon as possible." "Mn." ¡­¡­ Everyone started to form parties immediately while I quickly opened up the map to search for players near me. To my utter dismay, there wasn¡¯t a single orange dot within a hundred meters. Was this god¡¯s way of telling me that I was destined to be alone? I was the only one in this entire region, besides the Northern Alliance players of course. Rustle... The sound of a whip being dragged across the sandy ground rang out. A familiar feeling coursed through me as a wave of energy rippled through the air. Swhoosh! My eyes glowed black as I activated Dark Pupils. My vision became clearer instantly and I saw a hazy figure drawing closer to me, with his back against the edge of the walls. He crouched down low with two daggers in hand and a mask on his face. He glared at me with a pair of chilly eyes as he stepped toward me with caution. His ID was crimson red signifying that he was a Northern Alliance player. It was a Level 157 assassin from Korea¡¯s Burning City! ¡­¡­ Pretending to not notice him, I raised my hand and unleashed God Binding Art at a Bronze Armor Wolf in the distance. My Phantom Wolf King dashed toward the monster readily without even telling it to do so. I quickly urged my Ice Qilin Horse forward and charged toward that Bronze Armor Wolf. That assassin¡¯s eyes lit up with joy as he slowly made his way toward me. He raised his dagger and was about to activate Ambush. If he was successful, his follow-up attacks would be absolutely terrifying. With no lucky CC resists, I would very likely be stunlocked until he killed me. An assassin who specialized in CC skills was the most terrifying opponent to face in the open world. Chapter 804: Arthur A murderous dagger flew my way. It felt like time itself had frozen for a second. I abruptly spun down my horse¡¯s back and slid the Cyan Netherworld Sword across my back. It parried the incoming blow with unerring accuracy. "What?" Shocked, the assassin hurriedly tried to stab his right dagger through my neck. I wasn¡¯t going to give him too much leeway, so I slammed my entire foot into his back and sent him stumbling toward the ground. There was no chance an assassin could outdo an undead warrior in terms of Strength. 13662! After I dismounted and landed steadily on the ground, I started beating the crap out of the arrogant assassin. I was sure he had seen my ID and recognized me as the infamous warrior who single-handedly stalled the entire Northern Alliance during the War of Dawn City, but he still chose to ambush me. He was way too arrogant for his own good. Bang! I kneed him in the stomach, pinned him against the wall and stabbed him right through the chest. A huge damage number rose above his head, and the fool only had a sliver of HP left. I stared at his unreconciled eyes and smiled at him. "Do you really think I¡¯m one of those warriors who only know how to charge ahead without taking note of my surroundings? Rest in peace!" I slashed his neck, and the assassin slowly dropped to his knees and dropped a loaf of bread and a floor of potions. I picked up the bread and went back to grinding. Right now, my main focus was leveling with the help of Bronze Armor Wolves. ¡­¡­ According to the chat in the guild channel, PvP was breaking out everywhere, small skirmishes under 5v5 happening all over the place. The corridors of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower were long and complex, and a ton of Bronze Armor Wolves and Bronze Beasts were blocking the path. It was impossible to run through the area unhindered, which was also why it was some of the best locations for PvP. This map was destined to become the generator of many classic battle reports. "How is it going, everyone?" I asked in the guild channel after grinding for a bit. Xu Yang: "I partied with Thirteen and Yamete and took out two Hot Sand City priests. It¡¯s so satisfying, muahaha¡­" Chaos Moon: "You killed priests and you¡¯re boasting about it? I ran into Moonkiss, and we took out a five-man mage party from Hero City together, hehe!" I chuckled. "Not bad! Are you close with Moonkiss or something?" Chaos Moon: "Nah. It¡¯s just that I saved her when she had been chased into a corner by two warriors, and she was so grateful she almost gave me her hand in marriage¡­" He Yi giggled. "Why don¡¯t you accept her? We are in dire need of powerful assassins anyway. Cute Little Naughty alone isn¡¯t enough!" He Yi: "..." Gui Guzi: "I¡¯ve gathered 14 people at the east side of the map, (3261, 7676). Six of them are Dragonlight Cavalrymen, but our healing is quite lacking. Are there any priests nearby who would like to join us?" Murong Mingyue: "Little Gui, I¡¯m grinding with Beiming Xue at (4288, 8512) right now. Can you and your party come to our location? And be quick, we just ran into a six-man party from Chariot City not long ago, and if it wasn¡¯t for Beiming Xue and our two pets we would¡¯ve been dead already." Gui Guzi: "Mn, I¡¯m coming over right now, so hang in there! We¡¯ll be there in 20 minutes tops!" Li Chengfeng: "Little Gui, Xu Yang, come to (5512, 5119) after you¡¯ve met up with the others. I¡¯ve gathered 23 players, and we are very close to the boss area. Let¡¯s try and take out this boss before anyone else finds it!" Gui Guzi: "Sure! Oh right, where is Boss Broken Halberd?" Chaos Moon: "If I¡¯m not mistaken, that guy must be solo-grinding right now. The Bronze Armor Wolves give an insane amount of experience, so there¡¯s no way he¡¯s going to let go of this opportunity¡­" "Solo-grinding?" Xu Yang gulped. "I almost got soloed by a Cyan Armor Wolf just now, and you¡¯re solo-grinding, Lu Chen? How long does it take you to kill one Cyan Armor Wolf?" I thought for a moment before answering, "8 to 9 seconds." "Uh¡­" Everyone fell silent for a moment. A long time later, Xu Yang finally said, "You¡¯re as OP as ever¡­" I asked, "Does anyone know Vienna¡¯s coordinates?" Everyone seemed confused for a moment. Gui Guzi asked, "Where would we even get that information? What are you planning, Boss Broken Halberd?" I smiled. "Create a chance encounter and take him out, duh¡­" "What the fuck¡­" My declaration silenced them even longer than just now. Everyone knew just how powerful Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was, and normally speaking, his enemies would want to stay as far away as possible from that monster, not the other way around. Right now, the only players in the entire China server who would dare to entertain the idea of seeking out Vienna¡¯s Sorrow voluntarily were Lin Yixin, Candlelight Shadow and me. Only Divine Generals had the power and confidence to kill Vienna¡¯s Sorrow in a fight! ¡­¡­ Two hours passed by in the blink of an eye. I had passed through 7 corridors and killed countless Bronze Armor Wolves and Bronze Beasts during this time, and my experience bar had filled up to Level 159 97%. Level 160 was just a moment away from me, and I had collected over 20 Bronze Armor Wolf Cards and 4 complete Cyanblade sets. My 54 Luck wasn¡¯t for show after all. The corridor was shrouded in darkness, so my vision range was greatly reduced. After killing a couple more Bronze Armor Wolves, I noticed that the area in front of me was widening into a hall of sorts. Suddenly, the vague sound of battle entered my ears. Judging from the intensity of the noises, it was a battle between players! ¡­¡­ I hurriedly ran forward and activated Dark Pupils, increasing my vision range by 100% or more. I quickly spotted a group of players embroiled in a battle! They were members of Gods of Destruction! Dominating Heaven Blade hit a magic knight¡¯s shield with a broad blade three times in a row, but not only did he fail to penetrate the latter¡¯s Defense, he was knocked back by the rebound. The magic knight was Level 162, and his shoulder bore the emblem of Chariot City. He was riding a Behemoth, and his ID was "Arthur", a name that was borrowed from a legendary king of the fifth century. "Haha, kill them all! Leave no one alive!" Arthur abruptly moved his shield aside and thrust his spear forward, piercing Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s defenses and knocking him back. At the same time, the Behemoth Cavalry behind Arthur¡ªsubordinates of Arthus, since they were all wearing the same guild emblem¡ªrushed forward and surrounded the dozen Gods of Destruction players. At the back, a withdrawing Dominating Archer God was parrying away a couple magic knights¡¯ attacks with his dagger and just barely hanging on for dear life. When he found an opening, he abruptly executed Mountain Stagger Arrow + Volley combo and shouted at the same time, "Boss, escape now while I¡¯ll hold them back! Meet up with Knight God, Warrior God and Mage God!" But Dominating Heaven Blade rejected the suggestion, "Unnecessary! Worse comes to worst, I¡¯ll stop them with my life! Land of Soul Suppression was originally a Chinese territory, and it is still ours even if it was changed into a leveling map! We must protect our homeland with our life! Everyone, focus your fire on that Arthur first, worry about the others later!" ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, it¡¯s great to have dreams, but reality is a cruel mistress. Swhoosh! After taking a magic knight¡¯s life with Barrier Break, Arthur performed a long-range thrust that knocked Dominating Heaven Blade off his horse and pierced two mages at the same time. His attack power was just too much for them to handle. "Pooh! You talk about defending your homeland when you¡¯re this weak?" Arthur let out a laugh before spurring his mount forward. He then pressed the tip of his spear against a female priest¡¯s breast and taunted, "Now, how should I kill you?" The priest was a stubborn one. She tried to smack Arthur¡¯s spear away with her staff while shouting, "Get lost, you bastard!" Unfortunately, the Strength difference was too great. Her offender¡¯s spear didn¡¯t even budge one bit. ¡­¡­ Around 40 or so Chariot City players attacked Gods of Destruction from every direction. Dominating Heaven Blade was bleeding men by the second. Not waiting for them to be annihilated, I rushed out of the darkness and sent Burning Blade Slash at the enemy¡¯s flank. Three flaming auras engulfed a dozen or so Chariot City players instantly! Boom boom boom! Their metal armor was torn into pieces. The Behemoth Cavalry screamed in pain. "Shit! Enemy ambush! It¡¯s a strong player!" someone shouted. Arthur hurriedly looked toward my direction. He was scared out of his wits when he saw my ID, "Shit! It¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, that devil that killed Vienna and Blade of Kings!" I was already moving past him before he even finished shouting. A cyan light over took my blade, and I stabbed the guy¡¯s throat with Universe Break. It was a critical hit! 90872! Arthur¡¯s HP immediately saw red after the attack. Claw of the Storm from my Phantom Wolf King later, both Arthur and the few players behind him were decimated by the skill. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I immobilized a running player with the God Binding Art before stunning the other with Thunderous Charge. Then, I froze a couple more with Thousand Ice Slash before shouting at the Gods of Destruction players, "What the fuck are you waiting for? Kill them all before they escape!" "Oh¡­ right!" Dominating Heaven Blade and his men broke out of their daydream and finally began the counterattack. They clearly hadn¡¯t expected me to help them. A couple minutes later, all 50 or so subordinates led by Arthur were dead. The Phantom Wolf King and I hunted down all the players who tried to escape. ¡­¡­ I picked up wristguards Arthur had dropped. They were 4-star Outstanding Spirit-grade equipment, and I could tell that they would be worth a lot of money! It was at this moment Dominating Heaven Blade and his dozen of survivors walked up to me from behind before saying respectfully, "Thank you for saving us, Lu Chen¡­" Even Dominating Archer God said reluctantly, "I didn¡¯t think you would help us!" I smiled. "It¡¯s only because your opponents were people from Chariot City. I wouldn¡¯t bother wasting my weapon durability if you were fighting a Chinese party!" Dominating Heaven Blade smiled. "Understood. Good luck to you!" "Mn." I left after picking up a couple more items. By saving Gods of Destruction, I had also leaked my own coordinates. It would be bad if I dilly-dallied too long and became caught by the enemy¡¯s reinforcements. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Gui Guzi called out to me from the guild channel, "Come quickly, Boss Broken Halberd! We¡¯ve gathered about 100 people, and we¡¯re starting the boss now!" Chapter 805: Heaven-devouring Tiger On the minimap, I saw a ton of blue dots surrounding a red dot. The boss of the second floor had already been aggroed. It was most likely Gui Guzi and the gang fighting the boss. ¡­¡­ A couple more corners later, I started seeing flashes of Barrier Breaks, Galaxy Storms, Greater Heals and so on directly ahead of me. I also heard angry roars of a ferocious tiger. I saw a group of players surrounding a red, brawny tiger that was covered in spots. It was about as big as the Heaven-stealing Tiger, and coincidentally or not, it was called ¡°Heaven-devouring Tiger¡±. It was a Level 186 Immortal Rank boss, and it was slapping Gui Guzi¡¯s shield with its sharp claws. To my surprise, Gui Guzi was just barely holding on under the assault, and he would¡¯ve died if Murong Mingyue and the others hadn¡¯t been healing him with all their might. Rushing to his aid, I activated Thunderous Charge the moment I got into range! Swhoosh! The stun was successful. I followed up with God Binding Art, and again, the skill landed successfully. To be honest I was a bit surprised that both my skills had worked on the boss, probably because I had finally caught up in levels. It was a gratifying feeling to say the least! Thud! Not far away, Beiming Xue landed Bone Eroding Arrow and lowered the boss''s Defense even further. Thanks to her help, I was able to delete a hefty 200k HP with Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo! "Roar roar roar¡­" The Heaven-devouring Tiger was losing HP rapidly due to the sheer amount of attacks it was bombarded with. In fact, it was only now I noticed that Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ players were present as well. Eyes Like Water was cutting the boss with her sword, and Stranger of Three Lifetimes was launching icicles repeatedly at the boss. It was no wonder that the boss was already at 85% health. At this rate, we could take out this Immortal Rank boss in 15 minutes or so! Boom! He Yi swung her Blade of the Earthen Soul and used her five-hit skill, Purgatory of Ice and Magma. A visible part of the boss¡¯s HP was chunked away, just like that. I continued looking around for a bit before asking, "Hmm? Did anyone see Li Chengfeng or Du Thirteen? Where are they? They can¡¯t be slacking off, can they?" Gui Guzi replied, "No, they came." "I don¡¯t see them anywhere though?" The Undying Knight pointed at the Heaven-devouring Tiger¡¯s stomach, "They¡¯re in there¡­" "Holy shit, you mean the tiger ate them?" I exclaimed in shock. "Fuck¡­" I was speechless to say the least. He Yi giggled. "It¡¯s fine. Li Chengfeng and Du Thirteen will be spat out if the Heaven-devouring Tiger is killed. They will only have 5% HP though." "Okay, let¡¯s kill this thing before the other guilds could show up!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ "Roar!" A while later, the Heaven-devouring Tiger raged and opened its bloody mouth. A terrible stench snaked into our nostrils as cyclones started gathering inside the boss''s mouth.This was definitely the prelude to the devouring skill! "Ah¡­" Chaos Moon exclaimed in fear. Out of all of us, she was the one who hit the boss the hardest and attacked its weak point again and again, and it seemed that the heavens had decided that it was time she paid for her sins. The Heaven-devouring Tiger¡¯s mouth was pointed straight at her! I hurriedly withdrew my sword and blocked in front of Chaos Moon. Then, I summoned a cyclone of bloody energy around my right fist and punched the boss right beneath the chin! Magic Piercing Punch! Bang! The Heaven-devouring Tiger let out a painful howl and staggered backward. I had actually managed to interrupt its devouring skill. That wasn¡¯t the end, however. Next, the Heaven-devouring Tiger opened its mouth again and spat out a jet of deadly flames. Shit! It¡¯s an AoE skill! Whoosh! Pain washed over my whole body as both Chaos Moon and I were struck by it. The conical AoE skill hit at least a dozen or so people including Murong Mingyue. Luckily for us, she wasn¡¯t one-shot because her Priest Shield was active. Chaos Moon and I didn¡¯t have such a skill though, and we both lost a ton of HP! 28872! 58785! My Magic Resist was way higher than Chaos Moon¡¯s, so my damage taken wasn¡¯t even half of Chaos Moon¡¯s. However, the Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen behind us were even more fragile, and they all died before they could escape the flames. The continuous damage was too much for them to endure, and even with Chaos Moon¡¯s Magic Resist, she had lost almost 60k HP in total. To make a comparison, some Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen had lost almost 100k HP in a second. The importance of Magic Resist was made clear in this one exchange. ¡­¡­ I launched God Binding Art at the Heaven-devouring Tiger and successfully bound it again. The Phantom Wolf King immediately seized the opportunity to ravage the boss''s ass, and the others also dished out every bit of damage they had. Countles fireballs, wind blades, arrows and melee weapons bit into the boss''s flesh in the instant it was immobilized. Speaking of which, we made Lu Buyi our party leader so that he could buff all our stats by 100% using Purple Dragon. It was ridiculously powerful, and I was almost certain that we were the only party in the world who could brute-force an Immortal Rank boss right now! Lu Buyi was standing next to Murong Mingyue. Unlike the lazy assholes who happily did nothing after they turned on their stratagems, the tactician was waving his fan and constantly firing Dragon Vein Art at the boss, dealing 4000 damage or so per hit. Not only that, when Gui Guzi¡¯s health dropped too low, he enveloped the Undying Knight in a column of green light and healed him for 30k+ HP in one go. It was a high-level tactician skill, Blessing. The skill healed a single target for a percentage of their max HP. Although a tactician¡¯s HPS was nowhere as great as a priest¡¯s as a matter of course, it was still a useful skill depending on the situation. "Thanks, Buyi!" Gui Guzi said with a laugh. Lu Buyi smiled back. "You¡¯re welcome. We¡¯re all brothers, aren¡¯t we?" After Chaos Moon made the boss squeal with Rock Crush, she said, "I can feel your homo energy all the way from here!" Lu Buyi and Gui Guzi turned red at the same time. "Shut up! We¡¯re not gay!" Chaos Moon calmly retorted, "Only a person who has something to hide would say that!" Both men gritted their teeth in frustration, but there was nothing they could really do to keep Chaos Moon under control. Chaos Moon was literally the best female player in the entire guild after He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue, and despite having the appearance of a cute, innocent girl, she was really a brash and tyrannical queen at heart. As contradictory as it sounded, all the guys in the guild both hated and adored her! ¡­¡­ "Keep up this pace, everyone! The boss only has 40% health left¡­" He Yi declared encouragingly, "Let¡¯s try to take it out in 5 minutes!" It was at this moment a beautiful figure appeared at the perimeter. It was our assassin, Cute Little Naughty. The girl was staring at the passageway behind us with a serious expression and saying, "I have bad news, boss. A party of Seven Star City players is moving here from the east, and Candle Dragon, Thunder and Silver Soul are coming from the south. I¡¯m not sure about the other directions but¡­ it¡¯s safe to say that there are enemies everywhere. They¡¯ve already taken out the Bronze Armor Wolves, and they are coming our way!" "What should we do?" Murong Mingyue asked. He Yi declared with determination, "Lu Chen, Chaos Moon, the two of you will continue fighting this boss. Gui Guzi, pick a couple of Dragonlight Cavalrymen and follow me to stall our enemies. Do not allow anyone to approach the Heaven-devouring Tiger for the next five minutes! This boss is ours to take!" "Got it!" Our beautiful guild leader and her party left, but several hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen joined us at just the right time. They were the ones who were stuck trying to cross the trap at the first floor. Many of them didn¡¯t have the skill to traverse the traps the way I showed them, so in the end they gave up and waited for some priests to join them. They slipped past about half of the traps the proper way, then ran through the rest as quickly as possible while the priests healed them. The good news was that they weren¡¯t the only ones who were making their way over. Dragonlight Cavalrymen were moving to this location from every direction, and I heard that there was a party of 100+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen fighting their way toward us from the southeast corner right now. It was a boon for sure. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle... Suddenly, I saw a black figure slowly approaching a boss. He didn¡¯t know that I could see him with the help of Dark Pupils. It was a high-level Hegemon Palace assassin! "Is he trying to KS the boss? Or is he trying to steal the Tiger Soul Essence?" Whatever the guy¡¯s plan might be, he was clearly in over his head. Did he really think he could hide himself successfully before all of us? I was going to kill him, but the Heaven-devouring Tiger attacked first. It opened its mouth and acted to devour the assassin! "Gulp!" The assassin didn¡¯t expect this at all, so he was swallowed by the Heaven-devouring Tiger in one gulp! "That¡¯s another one gone¡­" Chaos Moon said in a panicked tone, "This boss had already eaten an entire squad of Mad Dragon players when we showed up, and afterward it ate a ton of our players. Just how many more is it going to eat until it¡¯s satisfied¡­" Suddenly, the Heaven-devouring Tiger let out a painful howl before lifting its tail up high. A second later, something black exited its butthole and landed in a plop¡­ are you kidding me? It¡¯s pooping because it ate too many players? We all looked at the black thing it pooped, and we were stunned to find that it was Night Sorrow of Mad Dragon. The guy was a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls until he betrayed us and left. Night Sorrow¡¯s HP was sitting at measly 5%. As we were told earlier, whatever the reason might be, everyone who left the tiger¡¯s stomach would have 5% HP. "Take him out!" I ordered. Xu Yang sent him back to Sky City in one hit. I bet the fucker had no idea what happened until the moment he died. Mad Dragon was one of our many sworn enemies, and these fuckers and Hegemon Palace had tried to invade Dark Moon City while we were fending off Burning City on Black Sea. There was no way in hell we were going to let him live. As the battle dragged on, the Heaven-devouring Tiger continued to devour any frontliner it could get its jaws on. Chaos Moon and I might be skilled enough to avoid its skill, but not everyone could claim the same thing. Finally, after devouring an unknown amount of people later, the Heaven-devouring Tiger growled and pooped out another person. Swhoosh! Three draconic symbols turned into three cyan blades and surrounded the person before he even hit the ground. It was none other than the transformed Li Chengfeng! Deeply embarrassed, the dragon warrior channeled all his rage into his blade and hit the boss with Dragonbone Flurry and Dragonblade Revolution combo! At the same time, Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew and the rest of our priests healed Li Chengfeng and pulled him away from the 5% mark. Li clearly wasn¡¯t expecting himself to be eaten by the boss, and he definitely wasn¡¯t ready to meet our gazes after he was pooped out by the boss. The guy was probably so embarrassed he could die right now, or he wouldn¡¯t have used a super AoE skill like Dragonblade Revolution like this! Boom boom boom! Finally, the Heaven-devouring Tiger let out a death scream and dropped limply to the ground. Pop¡­ The boss didn¡¯t drop any equipment, but it did "drop" a ton of people. They were all Dragonlight Cavalrymen including Du Thirteen, and they were all sitting at 5% HP. These poor bastards! Chapter 806: Li Le’s Hope "Mn." He Yi strode over to the boss, grabbed the pile of loot and shared the details with everyone. Just like last time, there was nothing surprising about this loot. We gave two leather-armor Earth-grade items it had dropped to Beiming Xue and another archer, and the remaining three Spirit-grade items for others to distribute. This time, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and I were basically doing community service for the guild. We got nada from the boss besides its experience. "Take the Dragonlight Cavalry to the third floor!" While giving out the order, I picked up the Tiger Soul Essence and rode through the teleportation formation that appeared after the boss died myself. Everyone¡ªCandlelight Shadow, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis and more¡ªimmediately stopped fighting and rushed toward the teleportation formation as well. Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower was an incredibly profitable map, and every mob or boss killed was a profit gained. No one knew what the third floor boss was yet, and everyone wanted to kill it for themselves. The faint blue portal flashed repeatedly as players kept being teleported to the third floor. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow growled as he stared at my back. "Brothers and sisters, finding the boss takes precedence when we get to the third floor! We must have it no matter what! Also, set up a bounty for Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sands¡¯ coordinates! The Tiger Soul Essence always drops upon death, so he¡¯s just holding it for us for now!" His players nodded affirmatively before rushing into the teleportation formation. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! My vision darkened as I appeared on the third floor of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. When I brought up the map, I was disappointed to find myself located at the southwestmost corner of the floor. The only way to get to the boss was to kill everything that stood in my path, also known as grinding. The boss would be long dead by the time I reached it. He Yi said inside the guild channel, "OMG, the boss is so far away! I¡¯m at the northeastmost corner of the floor. Is there anyone close to me?" Gui Guzi: "I see you, boss! Wait for me! There are three Bronze Armor Wolves behind you and a ton of Bronze Beasts to your right. Let¡¯s kill them together!" He Yi: "Okay¡­" Li Chengfeng: "What the fuck, where the hell am I? If you¡¯re going to teleport me so far away from the center, you may as well send me all the way back to Sky City!" Chaos Moon: "Less talking, more acting. Ooh, I see three Dragonlight Cavalrymen right in front of me. Lucky! Guys, let¡¯s party up and grind the mobs together!" "Take care!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ A few seconds later, we heard a couple of bloodcurdling screams from the guild channel. It was High Fighting Spirits murdering all three Hero Alliance players with one Xiezhi Howl, but he also exposed his coordinates because of it. He needed to move immediately or risk being ganged up by other enemy players for revenge! I checked the time after rearranging the supplies in my bag for a bit. It was already nighttime, and Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower was a big map that could take 2 to 3 days to complete, so I decided to grind first and think about the next move later. I had basically given up on the third floor boss at this point because one, it was too far away, and two, the path leading toward the center was chock-full of Level 187 Bronze Armor Wolves and Bronze Beasts. The players could be fighting the fourth floor boss by the time I finally got there. As for the Tiger Soul Essence, I was in no hurry to collect them all. Just like Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had said himself, they were just holding the item for me until it was time. I had no intention of giving up even one Tiger Soul Essence to anyone! ¡­¡­ I fought my way through the long corridor for about an hour or so. It was during this time I finally leveled up to 160 and returned to my previous height. The journey would¡¯ve taken a lot longer if this map wasn¡¯t as profitable as it was. Anyway, my next objective was to catch up to the highest-leveled players¡ªLi Chengfeng, Candlelight Shadow and Luo River God of the Capital. As strong as I was, I was still at a disadvantage if I tried to duel them while being underleveled. "Roar roar¡­" Back to the present. A dozen or so Bronze Beasts and Bronze Armor Wolves were blocking the path ahead of me. I was just wondering how I should take out these mobs when a large group of imposing-looking people suddenly appeared behind me. They belonged to Flower Room, and there were about two hundred of them. "Earth Escape!" I canceled my mount and my pet and slowly sank into the ground. It could be dangerous to fight this many people alone no matter how strong I was, not to mention that divine energy was an incredibly precious resource. It had taken me a lot of effort to accumulate a total of 89 Divine Energy Points, and there were still more bosses and players to kill. I couldn¡¯t possibly waste any of it here. From the shadows of the corridor emerged a group of players, and the leader of the group was none other than the guild leader of Flower Room, Li Le. The warrior was riding a red warhorse, and he was accompanied by Spring Mud and 40 or so Cyan Wolf Cavalrymen. They were the elite troops of Flower Room, and their arrangement of mages, priests and archers was surprisingly scientific. Flower Room had been making mass recruitments at Sky City, and I supposed that some of these recruits had to have some skill. It would also explain why they had this many mages and priests. Still, Flower Room must be blessed by Lady Luck today. It was insane how many players they managed to gather even though the teleportation was supposed to be random. I opened the map and found an answer to my puzzlement. There was a large corridor directly behind me, and many players were teleported to that location. Since Flower Room sent at least a thousand players through the portal at a time, it made sense that their parties were more concentrated than ours. Still, out of the 12 possible passages they could¡¯ve chosen to travel from that location, they had to choose the one where I was. In a sense, we truly were "destined" for each other. ¡­¡­ Li Le frowned when he saw the corpses of Bronze Armor Wolves and Bronze Beasts on the ground. "Fuck, these mobs had been killed by someone. Someone has already been to this place¡­" "I don¡¯t think so?" Spring Mud looked around the area. "I¡¯m not seeing anyone, and considering how tightly packed the Bronze Armor Wolves and Bronze Beasts are, it¡¯d take at least a 50-man party to challenge them. You know how strong the Bronze Armor Wolves are." "You say that, but where is this 50-man party?" Li Le asked in puzzlement. I immediately tossed a loaf of low-rank bread I had picked up earlier on the ground in front of me. "Look, there''s food over there," Spring Mud said with a smile. "They must¡¯ve been taken out by the Bronze Beasts. In fact, I¡¯m pretty sure they fought until they ran out of supplies completely because I don¡¯t see any dropped potions anywhere." Li Le grinned. "In that case, let us feast on the fruits of their labor and finish what they started. Everyone, spread out the formation and give me all the firepower you got. Priests, keep our Cyan Wolf Cavalry healed. Archers, don¡¯t attack randomly and aggro only 3 mobs at a time. Any more than that and our brothers will die, understand?" Spring Mud reported ambitiously, "Guild leader, we¡¯ve gathered a full Cyanblade set. If we keep this up, we may be able to assemble 3 or 5 complete sets before the whole thing is over." Li Le grinned again. "That¡¯s wonderful news! Lin Yixin will be returning to the university for the final exam in a few days, so that¡¯s my chance¡­" Spring Mud asked, "Boss, are you still hung up on Lin Yixin? You know that she¡¯s basically inseparable from Lu Chen, right?" "So what? It¡¯s not my style to give up on a woman I¡¯ve set my sights on!" Li Le clenched his fists and declared, "Since the first day Lin Yixin came to the university, I¡¯ve vowed to myself that she can only be my woman and no one else¡¯s! Even Lu Chen must wait until I¡¯m done using her!" Licking his lips vulgarly, he continued, "Did you know that Lin Yixin had never had a boyfriend during the first couple of years she entered the university? And thank goodness for that, for only a prideful girl like her is worthy of my attention! Hahaha! For Lin Yixin, I can declare war on any power! Send out the word that all solitary Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players are to be killed on sight! Once Lu Chen has his hands full trying to stop us, Candle Dragon, and Hero Alliance from weakening his guild or worse, keep himself alive, he won¡¯t have any opportunity to get close to Lin Yixin. Wait for me, Fruit Knife Goddess. I¡¯m coming for you once I reach the ninth floor of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower, hahahaha¡­" The same vulgar smile crossed the lips of the rest of the Flower Room players. I clenched my fists tightly and smiled myself. And my smile wasn¡¯t of the good kind. Good job moron, you¡¯ve just sealed your own doom. Just wait, every one of you is going to wish you were dead when I¡¯m done with you! ¡­¡­ Half a minute later, Flower Room started fighting the mobs. They only aggroed three mobs at a time, and they made sure that the Bronze Beasts¡¯ attacks only hit the shields of their Cyan Wolf Cavalrymen. The priests and mages stood far enough that they weren¡¯t caught by the attacks, and there was a Level 154 tactician wielding a red bone fan buffing everyone¡¯s Defense by 89% with Iron Wall, greatly improving their survivability. Overall, Flower Room¡¯s party formation was pretty good today. I calculated in my mind how best to wipe out the 200-man party without spending any Divine Energy Points. I soon realized that I must let the mobs do the dirty work for me. There was no way in hell I was letting even one of these Flower Room players escape, not to mention that Flower Room had always stood on the opposite side, be it in the Nation Wars or the territory wars. I could save a guild like Gods of Destruction from the clutches of the Northern Alliance, but I would never spare even an ounce of my strength to save Flower Room. It was better for everyone if a useless and arrogant bastard like Li Le was dead. I spotted about 20 Bronze Armor Wolves growling in the darkness some distance from me. They were my opportunity. I sneaked my way to the mobs until there was only a 5-yard distance between us. I couldn¡¯t go any further because it would break my Earth Escape. Behind me, Flower Room was fighting the three Bronze Beasts they aggroed, and from time to time I could hear the painful squeals of the Cyan Wolf Cavalrymen. It was understandable. The Bronze Beasts¡¯ Attack was so high that even Dragonlight Cavalrymen were threatened by it, to say nothing of these pathetic Cyan Wolf Cavalrymen. Swhoosh! I abruptly emerged from the ground and used War Crush, dealing damage to the pack of 20 Bronze Armor Wolves and earning their aggro. I then turned around, locked onto a Cyan Wolf Cavalryman and activated Thunderous Charge without hesitation! Swhoosh! I covered almost 30 yards of distance in an instant, and while the Cyan Wolf Cavalryman I targeted was staring at me in shock I dissolved into several rays of bloody light and slipped underground once more. Behind me, the chasing Bronze Armor Wolves instantly changed targets and attacked Flower Room. ¡­¡­ "Fuck! We were ambushed! It¡¯s that bastard Lu Chen!" Li Le¡¯s face turned green as he shouted. He pointed at the ground where I was and shouted, "Archers, force him out with Spiraling Arrow Blades!" I had moved as quickly as I could the moment I entered the ground, so by the time Li Le gave the order to hit me I was already at the back of Flower Room¡¯s formation. No one noticed me when I emerged from the ground once more, so I seized the opportunity to summon the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, get on top of it and trap Flower Room in a pincer attack with the Bronze Armor Wolves. Burning Blade Slash sliced through a ton of players, and not even shielded mages were able to survive the skill. I had gained a lot of hidden stat bonuses ever since I ascended to become a Divine General, and even without using Great Earth Transformation it was enough to drive Flower Room crazy. Chapter 807: Ice Stream Blade "Hold, hold!" While Spring Mud was fending off three Bronze Armor Wolves on his own and failing, he shouted, "Assassins, kill Lu Chen! Priests, heal me! Mages, don¡¯t attack at random and slow Lu Chen down with ice attacks! Archers, I want 20 of you to stun the Bronze Armor Wolves with Shock Arrows and reduce their movement speed and attack speed with Icy Arrows! Don¡¯t use Spiraling Arrow Blades and do your best to reduce their damage for now! The rest of you, kill Lu Chen¡¯s mount with Mountain Stagger Arrows! Hold steady and protect our tactician! His 89% Defense boost is the key to our victory!" Perhaps I should¡¯ve expected this from the former boss of the Ego workshop, but Spring Mud displayed an outstanding ability to command during the moment of crisis. He did have a couple of years of hard-earned experience under his belt, and in this regard he was way better than his current superior, Li Le. That trust fund baby had almost zero gaming talent unless you counted his ability to spend money like water. It was a tragedy. Thud thud thud thud... The Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s mount tenacity rapidly due to the sheer amount of Mountain Stagger Arrows I was receiving, and I was slowed by all the icicle attacks, Freezing Arrows and Ice Arrow Spells flying my way as well. However, I didn¡¯t activate Great Earth Transformation because I wanted to save my Divine Energy Points for later. This was natural. No matter how well-equipped or powerful a person was, no one was immune to a coordinated assault. Of course, it was a different story if I activated Great Earth Transformation. ¡­¡­ I raised my arm and used God Binding Art! Swhoosh! Four divine weapons fell from the sky and surrounded a certain person. Spring Mud¡¯s eyes nearly fell out of their sockets when he saw who it was. "Fuck! He¡¯s trying to kill our tactician! Priests, protect him with a magic shield now and heal him with everything you got! He cannot die no matter what!" I smiled and summoned a hexagonal formation next to my feet. A moment later, the Phantom Wolf King appeared and fired Purgatory Storm! I launched a Dragon Slaying Slash straight at the tactician¡¯s head. Less than 0.4 seconds later, the Cyan Netherworld Sword flew out of my grip and sped toward the tactician as well like a cyclone of death. Both skills hit the tactician at nearly the same millisecond, and the guy¡¯s HP had already been reduced by Purgatory Storm. No amount of priests was enough to outheal the damage the pitiful bastard was about to receive. "Ugh¡­" The tactician groaned as the Cyan Netherworld Sword penetrated his chest. ¡­¡­ I decided to retreat after killing about a hundred people. It was because the Bronze Armor Wolves were getting too close for comfort, and I had no intentions of fighting an entire pack of Level 187 dread-rank mobs on my own. Three Bronze Armor Wolves were tough enough to kill, any more than that and dying was a serious possibility! Thud thud thud¡­ The Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s hooves thundered against the ground as I mounted a retreat. Of course, I didn¡¯t forget to kill a couple Flower Room players with well-placed Dragon Slaying Slashes while retreating. Li Le¡¯s complexion was about as bad as one could imagine. He probably never expected me to be in the vicinity, and that I would use the Bronze Armor Wolves to destroy his party. "Bastard¡­" Li Le growled, "I don¡¯t care anymore! Spring Mud, let¡¯s leave ten people to cover our retreat! The rest of you, come with me and hunt down Lu Chen! I¡¯m going to kill him if it¡¯s the last thing I do!" Spring Mud and less than 50 Flower Room players obeyed his order and chased after me. ¡­¡­ I never stopped attacking as I ran away from Flower Room. I kept chipping away at their HP with Sword Boomerang and Dragon Slaying Slashes, and left behind Icy Cyclone Domains to stall their pursuit. A short time later, Spring Mud yelled with bulging eyes, "Guild leader, we can¡¯t keep chasing after him like this! That fucker has long-range attacks and a fast mount. His hit-and-run tactic is going to fuck us up sooner or later!" (Note: Hit-and-run is somewhat similar to 1v1 kiting. You run for a bit, turn around to fire a long-range attack, before running again.) Li Le gritted his teeth and uttered, "Archers, where the fuck are you aiming your Shock Arrows?? Predict where he¡¯s going to move before you release your bowstrings! If we stun Lu Chen even once, we¡¯ll have a chance to take him out! Motherfucker, Flower Room has suffered under Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls for too long, and we will not stand this any longer!" I chuckled as I continued to run in front of the party. Every time I swung my blade, someone would eat a Dragon Slaying Slash and lose a chunk of HP. Dragon Slaying Slash was far less accurate than any archer skill, but my prediction ability was hundreds of thousands of light years ahead of these fools. They were practically committing suicide. That being said, Spring Mud did remind me that hit-and-run was a very famous tactic a long time ago. It was a tactic many experts employed successfully and left an important mark in many classic battles. Back in Spirit of Grief when Candlelight Shadow fought the USA at the ruins of Saint Helm City, Candlelight Shadow had used that exact tactic to achieve a perfect victory over their main army! Unfortunately, hit-and-run¡¯s usability was too limited today. For starters, we were in the era of mounted players right now, and warriors, magic knights and wanderers all had incredible movement speed. Hit-and-run was useless against them unless you had both great movement speed and long-range attacks. ¡­¡­ During the time I was waiting for Lin Yixin¡¯s account to recover, I saw in the news that archers could obtain a mount pet slot through certain ways after they reached Level 180 and completed their seventh promotion quest. When that happened, archers would be reborn as a whole new troop type, mounted archers. A mounted archer¡¯s mobility and killing power was top-class, and it might even give birth to whole new tactics in future Nation Wars. I was pretty sure that mounted archers would become many guilds¡¯ top choice in guerilla warfare! I could only imagine how amazing Beiming Xue would be if she could ride a Dragonlight Armored Horse and devastate all those who attempted to chase after her with Spiraling Arrow Blades and Evil Spirit Volleys. She would be almost invincible as not even a mounted player would be able to catch up to her anymore. And if we could create an entire troop of mounted archers, then sweeping entire armies would no longer be just a pipedream! But of course, no one knew how an archer was supposed to gain a mount pet slot as of now. And even if the method was known, they still had to reach Level 170 and complete their seventh promotion quest. The grind past Level 160 was already hard enough, but to grind all the way up to Level 180 where the seventh promotion quest awaited? That was a goddamn myth as of now. It would take at least a couple of months before anyone could reach that point. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a group of hundreds appeared at the distance down the direction I was retreating. Their armor looked clean, and their guild emblem was shaped like a cathaya leaf. The well-armored female fighter leading the party looked at me and asked, "Oh, Little Cheat! Why are you here?" That¡¯s right, it was Lin Yixin and Snowy Cathaya! I didn¡¯t see Purple Marquis, but Zi Chuanyu, Lifetaking Sword and everyone else were present. Over half of them were elite Purple Dragon Cavalrymen, and I had no doubt that there were few enemies who could pose a threat to them. I was about to answer her question when an arrow suddenly pierced through the air! Thud! The first arrow hit me squarely on the shoulder. Half a second later, my entire back was covered in arrows. I almost looked like a porcupine. "Bastard!" Enraged, Lin Yixin unsheathed her weapon in one smooth motion and declared, "Purple Dragon Cavalry, charge! I don¡¯t care who it is, kill everyone behind that fucking corner!" A "yes ma¡¯am!" from Zi Chuanyu later, the group of cavalry charged forward and rammed into Flower Room. Their party was already partially destroyed by the Bronze Armor Wolves and I, so of course they were no match to the Purple Dragon Cavalry. Under Zi Chuanyu¡¯s leadership, Snowy Cathaya practically ran over the remnants of Flower Room. ¡­¡­ After pulling an arrow stuck to my head, I smiled at Lin Yixin like nothing was happening and asked, "How did you get here, dear?" Lin Yixin blushed and shot me a wary look. "Bastard, I¡¯m the one who should be asking that. Many of our players including me were teleported around this area, but what about you? How did you get into a fight with those idiots from Flower Room?" I shrugged. "Well, Li Le said he¡¯s going to make you his mistress of the fort, so I kicked his ass¡­" "That fucker said what?" Lin Yixin¡¯s expression turned frigid immediately. She suddenly bent her sword backward. Then, she let out a "hah!" and tossed the sword in one mighty motion, shouting, "How dare he said such a thing! Well, he¡¯s not going to get any face from me!" Swhoosh! The blade flew past my cheeks with only centimeters to spare. Like a meteor, it sailed toward a certain someone and¡ª! Bang! The Great Earth Transformation-empowered sword hit a player squarely on the chest and nailed him to the wall. It was none other than Li Le himself! After the pitiful young master spasmed for a couple of seconds, his head lolled to the side, and he died just like that. ¡­¡­ "Gulp!" I swallowed. Holy shit, is this really the Beauty Lin I know? Since when did she get this violent? Is this how our married life is going to be? Lin Yixin calmed down after Li Le died. A sweet smile appearing on her face once more, she said, "How are you alone, Little Cheat? Did Sister Eve give you up or something? That¡¯s fine, come join Snowy Cathaya! Our vice leaders will be happy to have you¡­" I shook my head immediately. "Sorry, but Purple Marquis doesn¡¯t fall under my sexual preferences." Shadow Chanel immediately glared at me. "Do you want to die, Lu Chen!?" ¡­¡­ I let out a laugh and was about to say something when i was interrupted by a system announcement¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow (Hero City)" has successfully defeated the Immortal Rank Boss, Heaven-slaughtering Tiger, and has met the requirement to learn Great Earth Transformation! They have become the first Famous General of the USA! They have gained Luck +5, Tactics +10, and an exclusive Divine General Skill, "Ice Stream Blade"! Ice Stream Blade: Summon the divine power of ice to possess the user¡¯s weapon. The power of ice-based attacks is increased by 50%, Attack is increased by 120%, and attack range is increased by 20 yards. Skill exclusive to Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. Chapter 808: Separated Lin Yixin agreed. "A skill that adds attack range is pretty troublesome." I said, "Come on, it¡¯s time we went to the fourth floor. It¡¯ll be bad if we keep letting the Northern Alliance get ahead of us." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ When we fought through the corridors and arrived at the center where the boss was, its body was long since cold and dead. The Heaven-slaughtering Tiger had been killed, its Tiger Soul Essence had been taken away by Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, and its body had turned into a teleportation formation. A group of Candle Dragon players were rushing into it right now. Swhoosh! I appeared on the fourth floor of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. Every entry was a reshuffle where players were randomly teleported onto the map, and parties had to be reformed. That was why whoever entered a map first had a natural advantage over the others. It had nothing to do with strength and everything to do with luck. Whoever killed the boss first would get to enter the next floor first and potentially become the king of that stage! Beep! Li Chengfeng sent me a message: "What took you so long, Lu Chen?!" "What is the situation on the fourth floor?" I asked. Li Chengfeng sounded very urgent. "We entered the fourth floor a bit late, and at least a hundred Northern Alliance guilds had gotten ahead of us. They all accepted the newly ascended Vienna¡¯s Sorrow as their commander and are currently doing a sweep across the whole floor! Take a look at the map. There are Northern Alliance players guarding nearly every point of the floor, and they are trying to split up our players and kill them one by one. Their goal is to wipe out every Chinese player who entered the fourth floor! Moreover, the four main passages leading to the boss''s location are also guarded. Just ten minutes ago, they managed to trap 50+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 200+ Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen at a corner and killed them all!" "Fuck!" I opened the map and noted that the layout of the fourth floor was a bit different from the previous floors. Like a head-to-head circuit, there were points where pathways converged, or intersected, into one every bit of the way.. It was also how the Northern Alliance gathered their strength and defeated the separated Chinese players with superior numbers. "Chengfeng, I have an order I want you to deliver." "Sure, tell me!" "Upon teleporting to the fourth floor, our players are to wait for more Chinese players to join them. They will attack the Northern Alliance¡¯s defense line only if their party has 50 people or more. Avoid solitary operations at all if possible, and take back control of the fourth floor one step at a time!" "Mn, got it!" I looked at the map again and saw no friendlies around me. Then, I activated Dark Pupils and saw a dense pack of red dots about 400 yards ahead of me. It was a group of Northern Alliance players gathering around an entrance. I should clear the way first and think about my next move later. I got up the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and moved forward slowly with my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King next to me. As my vision widened, I spotted a silver figure standing on the dry, rotten floor some distance away from me. When I got closer, I realized that it was a humanoid warrior wearing rusted silver armor and wielding a rusted spear. It shambled toward an unknown destination while letting out a guttural growl¡ª Silver Halberdman (Dread) Level: 188 ¡­¡­ God damn! It was a Level 188 dread-rank mob with incredible stats and multiple skills such as Thrust, Charge, Stampede and more; a true fighter in every sense of the word. It was also an undead mob that was forged into an automaton with molten silver, so it had an insane Defense of 7500! "Hiss¡­" Noticing my presence, the Silver Halberdman let out an angry growl and charged toward me daringly! Thud thud thud¡­ I jumped three times to the back, timed my movement and dodged the dread-rank mob¡¯s Charge almost perfectly. When its skill came to an end, my Cyan Netherworld Sword was already biting into its neck, its weak point, and erupting into Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo. A column of high damage numbers rose above its head¡ª 27873! 31992! 37626! 41098! Hmm, the mob¡¯s Defense was so high that I wasn¡¯t able to crush it like rotten wood even with my Attack. That was fine though as I was accompanied by the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition. Both Universe Break and Burning Blade Slash had a cooldown of 6 seconds, and I estimated that it would take 3 combos of Universe Break and Burning Blade Slash, or 20 seconds, to kill the mob. It was no trouble at all. "Roar roar¡­" The Silver Halberdman retaliated with a hit to my shoulder, dealing over 15000 damage and leaving behind a hot, painful sensation. This thing was way stronger than the Bronze Armor Wolves and Bronze Beasts on the first to third floors. Squelch! Just as I had predicted, I was able to claim the Silver Halberdman¡¯s life at the end of my third Universe Break. I checked my HP and saw that I was sitting at 65%. Even with lifesteal and a recovery skill, I still lost about 70k of my HP. The good news was that I had Regeneration of the Undead, so it wouldn¡¯t take long for me to regenerate back to full health. Struggling I might be, I should be able to fight my way through without too much delay. On the map, the red dots that were the Northern Alliance players hadn¡¯t strayed away from their original positions too much. From time to time, I saw one or two dots at most moving toward a certain point almost as if they were aggroing a mob. It was natural. If they aggroed too many Silver Halberdmen at a time, a tragedy was sure to happen. I slowly made my way forward. Level 188 dread-rank mobs gave more experience, and they absolutely satisfied my need to grind up the level ladder faster. For now, I wanted to grind up to Level 180 as soon as possible. I shouldn¡¯t be satisfied with just being at Earthfire Realm, especially when I knew that there was a realm above it. Only a lazy person would think that way... ¡­¡­ Pop! The third Silver Halberdman I killed dropped a silver helmet. When I picked it up, I was surprised to see how good it was. Looks like I have another reason to grind! Silverblade Leather Helmet (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 570 Defense: 420 Agility: +125 Stamina: +115 Passive: Increases user¡¯s evasion rate by 25% and increases user''s ranged attack power by 15% Outstanding Property: Eyeshot. Increases user¡¯s critical hit damage by 10% Property: Silverblade Set, Helmet Level Requirement: 155 ¡­¡­ Not bad at all. It was a 4-star Outstanding, Level 155 leather armor set, and from the looks of its stats, it was probably tailor-made for archers. Metaphorically speaking, it was spring season for any archer who managed to gather a full set. I tossed the Silverblade Leather Helmet into my bag and continued the fight. I currently had exactly 10 complete Cyanblade sets in my bag, and now it looked like it was time to gather the Silverblade set. No matter what might happen next in Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower, I would be leaving as a winner. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, a riot was going on in the guild channel¡ª Xu Yang raged, "Those shameless motherfucking sonuvabitches are blocking the exit and keeping about 30 of us trapped! It¡¯s bad enough that there are almost a hundred of them, but worse still are the two Heroic Bannermen playing guardsmen! If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that there are hundreds of Silver Halberdmen standing between us, they might¡¯ve killed us all already!" Gui Guzi: "Calm down, Brother Xu Yang, I see you, and I¡¯m not too far away from you. I¡¯m currently on the move with Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and about 40 or so of our brothers and sisters. Our coordinates are directly ahead of yours. Once we take out the mobs blocking our way, we¡¯ll catch these people in a pincer attack and kill them all." Xu Yang: "Got it. Man, the Northern Alliance is playing so dirty this time!" He Yi let out a chuckle. "Well, they were the first people to enter the fourth floor, and they waited around the boss''s body for 20 minutes and assembled almost ten thousand players before they teleported. It¡¯s no wonder that they were able to secure all the passages of the fourth floor so quickly. Just hold steady and take things one step at a time. I¡¯m currently at coordinates (1737, 9898), and all those who are near me should come to my side. I¡¯m planning to hit the first Northern Alliance blockade of my position in ten minutes..." Li Chengfeng let out an insidious chuckle as he joined in the conversation. "By the way, do you guys know that Hegemon Palace lost three 100-man parties when they entered the fourth floor? Not only did these idiots charge blindly into the fray, they managed to provoke both the Northern Alliance and the mobs at once! I can¡¯t believe these idiots managed to make it into the Top 10 guilds of China¡­" "Come on, they¡¯re pitiful enough already¡­" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun laughed. "In my case, I saw Laughing At The Heavens leading a 70-man party against a defense line where Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was present, failing and escaping with only 7 people left. We mustn¡¯t underestimate Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, by the way. His new Divine General Skill is an offensive one, and he even changed his weapon to an Immortal-grade spear called ¡®Frostwound¡¯. Its Attack is so high that he nearly instakilled un-Guarded Laughing At The Heavens in one combo. You wouldn¡¯t believe how purple the guy looked when he almost died¡­" He Yi let out an incredulous chuckle. "The situation is really bad, isn¡¯t it?" Li Chengfeng: "Yes, but don¡¯t worry. This is just the fourth floor of the tower, and we have plenty of chances to turn things around. Lu Chen, can you rally the friendlies around you? We are all separated right now. No one should challenge your authority considering your current strength and reputation." I looked around me and saw a group of people walking toward me from behind at that exact moment. I chuckled. "Fine, I¡¯ll see what I can do to lead these people¡­" "Mn." ¡­¡­ I cut down the Silver Halberdman in front of me and picked up a pair of Silverblade Legguards. Then, I turned around and rode up to a small Chinese party. Their emblems on their shoulders marked them as players of Wind City, and worse, they belonged to an enemy guild, Silver Soul. They belonged to the Avengers, so I had no doubt that this group served under Candlelight Shadow. Still, I had to consider the bigger picture, so I waved a hand at them and greeted, "Hello!" The captain of the party of a dozen exclaimed in surprise when he saw me, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?" "Yep!" I pointed behind me and said, "There are almost 20 Silver Halberdmen down that direction, and almost a hundred Northern Alliance players guarding the exit, so I suggest that we cooperate and break through their defenses together. What do you think?" The leader¡ªa magic knight¡ªstepped forward with a dark expression on his face. "We are Silver Soul, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is our enemy. Why should we listen to their vice leader?" 1. (T/N: yeah don¡¯t ask me why it¡¯s like this I¡¯m just the tler) Chapter 809: Turncoa The eyes of the magic knight called "Rose-tinted Spectacles" turned cold. "We serve our country with our body and soul. All the players who attacked Burning City are true warriors, and you have no right to dishonor them!" I nodded. "Of course, I¡¯m not denying that every Chinese player who took part in the attack on Burning City is a courageous person. But if you¡¯re not literally retarded, you should know that abandoning Dawn City to attack Burning City was an impossibly stupid plan. You were all just the sacrificial pawns in Candlelight Shadow, Thunderbolt, Bloody War God and Wind Slayer¡¯s game for power!" The corner of Rose-tinted Spectacles¡¯ lips twitched as he glared at me hatefully, but he didn¡¯t deny the truth of my words. A while later, he said, "Fine, we¡¯ll cooperate temporarily. How are we going to do this?" I smiled and said, "Join my party, and I¡¯ll turn on Martial God. Once we take out the Silver Halberdmen blocking our way, I¡¯ll lure the Northern Alliance over to you. Tell your assassins to ambush them mid-way, and your archers to kill them with Spiraling Arrow Blades. Hopefully, we can take them out without any losses." Rose-tinted Spectacles nodded. "Alright, may our cooperation succeed!" ¡­¡­ That was what he said, but I spotted a glint of cunning behind his eyes. Clearly he wasn¡¯t a simple-minded person, and to cooperate with him was like to cooperate with a tiger. Still, I had no other choice. Unfortunately, none of my guild members or even my allied guild members had teleported close to my location, and the possibility of dying was too huge if I rushed in alone. I could resurrect myself with the Resurrection Art, but that was the last resort. After all, level equaled strength, and no amount of skill and equipment was enough to make up for a lack of levels! We made our party. There were 47 Silver Soul players in total. "Wah, Martial God increases attack power by 200%..." A young archer¡¯s eyes immediately lit up right after he joined the party. "What an amazing Famous General Skill! This is the first time I got to enjoy such a powerful stratagem, not to mention that our captain is the CGL Hall of Famer and Little Heavenly King himself, Lu Chen. Hoho, I¡¯m so happy¡­" "Have some self-respect, Windless!" Rose-tinted Spectacles shot the archer a glare, but the latter simply stuck out his tongue in response and smiled. I asked, "Did your party have to fight your way over?" I smiled. "It¡¯ll be fine from now on. I¡¯ll be the sole MT of the party. Priests, give me Restore now and prepare for battle. Let¡¯s take out all the mobs in the area first before we attack the Northern Alliance, and keep a low profile! The Northern Alliance hasn¡¯t noticed us yet, and we don¡¯t want to catch their attention too soon!" "Mn." Even Rose-tinted Spectacles nodded in agreement. Dark Pupils was a special racial vision skill, and it could see through stealth, weak points and greatly increase my field of view on the minimap. That was why I could see the Northern Alliance¡¯s hundred-man party on the minimap, but they couldn¡¯t see me through the fog of war. While there was a chance someone in that party had a similar skill to mine, it was very unlikely. Skills like these were so rare that even the likes of Lin Yixin, Candlelight Shadow and Li Chengfeng didn¡¯t possess them, much less the average players. Swhoosh! Green light hit me as several priests cast Restore on me at nearly the same time. Only the strongest spell took effect, however. My HP started regenerating rapidly. I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward and raised my hand. Dragon Slaying Slash! Bang! The skill hit a Silver Halberdman in the head and drew its aggro. This particular mob moved surprisingly quick and activated Charge the moment it got within range! "I¡¯ll help too!" Rose-tinted Spectacles clearly didn¡¯t want to give up all the credit to me, but his angle was so terrible that the mob¡¯s Charge actually stunned him instead of me after I took a couple of steps backward. The players behind us immediately broke out into laughter. Rose-tinted Spectacles turned blue in the face, but I ignored him and focused on striking the mob¡¯s weak point with Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break. Naturally, I dealt far more damage than Rose-tinted Spectacles could ever do. The archers in the party shot the Silver Halberdman, but even with my stratagem they only managed to do between two to four thousand damage. I understood now why Silver Soul had lost as many players as they did. With this level of DPS, it would be stranger if they suffered no casualties. These archers were so weak that they almost couldn¡¯t penetrate the dread-rank mob¡¯s Defense. Well, lucky for them, I was the main attacker of the party now. Stunned by how rapidly the Silver Halberdman¡¯s HP was dropping, some Silver Soul players actually clapped their hands and cheered me on. "Hmph!" Rose-tinted Spectacles saw everything and stopped attacking. I had a suspicion that he was scheming something nefarious, and it wasn¡¯t long before I was proven correct. I saw three assassins slowly shifting their way to my back. A bit of anger grew inside my heart. I¡¯m working with you fuckers to kill the Northern Alliance dogs, and this is how you repay my kindness? Humankind has truly fallen low these days. Still, these assassins were being way too obvious. They were clearly waiting for my health to drop and ambush me when the time was right. Rose-tinted Spectacles was such a simple man that I could practically read what he was thinking right now. I was Silver Soul¡¯s number one enemy, so if he managed to kill me here and catch it on record, he could claim credit with his guild leader, Wind Slayer, and maybe even get the unofficial head of committee of the Avengers, Mr. Candlelight Shadow himself, to send him a congratulatory message: God, this guy is so despicable. Thud thud thud... Suddenly, my apparition withdrew from the frontline and moved behind me protectively under my control. It was the eyes behind the back of my head to protect myself from harm. Seemingly noticing my wariness, Rose-tinted Spectacles smiled at me while attacking the Silver Hlaberdmen. "Why did you withdraw your apparition, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? This¡¯ll go much faster if you use it to kill the mobs." I smiled back. "The apparition isn¡¯t one hundred percent loyal all the time, you see. It¡¯s switched to follow mode since it¡¯s currently in a rebellious phase." "I see." Rose-tinted Spectacles smiled a smile that didn¡¯t reach the eye. Still, the threat was enough to keep the fool from acting. The apparition was simply too big of a threat for them to ignore. ¡­¡­ The three forces¡ªnamely me, Silver Soul and the Northern Alliance¡ªin this area were stuck in a weird relationship right now. The Northern Alliance was Silver Soul and my common enemy, and we had agreed to cooperate with each other temporarily to defeat them. However, Rose-tinted Spectacles was clearly plotting to kill me, and his subordinates could attack me at any moment. I was alone and I needed their priests¡¯ healing, so I had no choice but to leave them be for now. It wasn¡¯t long until the last Silver Halberdman blocking our way was lured over by my Dragon Slaying Slash and killed. The Northern Alliance players were still impeded by the fog of war and unaware of our situation. Rose-tinted Spectacles was trying to steal the last hit on the mob with a premeditated Universe Break, but he didn¡¯t succeed before and he wasn¡¯t about to start now. I was amused to say the least. The guy¡¯s gaming skill was average at best, and there was a 0.8-second gap between his attacks. On the other hand, the time gap between my attacks was less than 0.2 seconds. How on earth did he think he was going to beat me? Stepping on the body of the last Silver Halberdman and claiming the Silverblade Armor it dropped for myself, I pointed at the corners and said, "Assassins, stealth over there and wait until the enemy is in ambush range. Hey you, pooh, get the fuck away from me and stay in the corners like I told you too! Follow me again and don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you when you die! Archers and mages, move back a little and hit the mounted players with Mountain Stagger Arrows and Ice Dragon Howls when they appear. They¡¯re nothing without their mounts. Priests, keep the frontline healed as per usual!" Everyone nodded in unison. The assassins also backed away from me, albeit reluctantly. ¡­¡­ I spurred my mount forward and traveled at full speed. The reason I chose not to skulk my way over was one, they couldn¡¯t see me yet, and two, my plan was to hit them fast and confuse them! The Armored Ice Qilin Horse was fast, but the Phantom Wolf King was even faster. Together, we burst out of the fog and saw a 200-man party engaging three Silver Halberdmen in battle. The good news? The mages and archers standing at the back of the party were very close to me. Overjoyed with my luck, I wasted no time in engaging them in battle! I charged forward and hit a dense pack of mages with Burning Blade Slash and War Crush. The first skill destroyed the high-level mages¡¯ shields, and the second skill instakilled them before they could even think to Blink away to safety. Screams of pain filled the air for a time. Next, I raised my palm and shot two golden seals into the sky. They fell back down on a group of archers, and 40 archers were dead just like that. Ancient Seal was seriously amazing especially against ranged players. It was unfortunate that I didn¡¯t have enough Divine Energy Points to use this skill as I pleased. ¡­¡­ "Fuck, someone¡¯s attacking us! It¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" The party leader who was also a Knight General abruptly turned around and commanded his panicking men. "All riders, turn around and take him out!" I was already making my escape before they could move toward me. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse had infinite stamina, and I vanished into the dark in just the blink of an eye. The thundering hooves behind my back were all I needed to hear to know that the Northern Alliance¡¯s cavalry was chasing me! Suddenly, I heard Rose-tinted Spectacles¡¯ voice from in front of me. "Ready, loose! Use Spiraling Arrow Blades, and switch your mode to free-for-all!" Thud thud thud¡­ Countless Spiraling Arrow Blades exploded in the narrow corridor. Not only did they hit the Northern Alliance¡¯s cavalry, they also hit me as well. I lost an entire chunk of HP because of it. Fuck! These Silver Soul fuckers are turning on me already!? Chapter 810: Joining the Light Side I stifled a groan of pain and hurriedly changed directions. As the Armored Ice Qilin Horse rounded a corner, my entire person was slanted 45 degrees above the ground as if I was a MotoGP rider. I lowered my sword to keep my balance, the tip drawing sparks and leaving behind a long skidmark on the ground. Bang! When the Armored Ice Qilin Horse was about to hit the other wall, it launched a mighty kick and forcefully changed our trajectory. Thanks to this, we were able to avoid most of the cavalry charging behind us and the projectiles being fired by the Silver Soul players. A Dragon¡¯s Roar from a Silver Soul mage dealt at least 5000 damage, so I would rather not get hit by one if at all possible. Swhoosh swhoosh... It was at this moment two Silver Soul assassins rushed me at the same time. It was clearly the prelude to the skill, Ambush. "Fuck!" Truly enraged, I swung my sword left and right and grazed the two assassins in the middle of their throats with my sword. My basic attack dealt over 40k damage to each assassin, and they didn¡¯t have the HP to survive it. They dropped to the ground and died just like that. At the back, Rose-tinted Spectacles screamed in anger, "How is this possible?" While I was thwarting Rose-tinted Spectacles¡¯ schemes, the Northern Alliance¡¯s cavalry caught up to us in just the blink of an eye. The sword-wielding Knight General slammed into Silver Soul¡¯s formation and shouted, "An ambush? Brothers and sisters, charge! Do not leave a single Chinese player alive!" The Northern Alliance party had almost 50 riders, and majority of them rode on Bloodthirsty Beasts. Worse, they were all empowered by Knight General, so there was no way in hell the Silver Soul party would be able to endure it. I turned around and commanded the Phantom Wolf King to attack the Bloodthirsty Cavalry. I myself spammed Barrier Break + Burning Blade Slash off cooldown at the enemy¡¯s weak points again and again because that was usually enough to instakill a Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalryman. While enemies were busy fending off the Phantom Wolf King and I, I moved my apparition dozens of yards away and made it fire Purple Dragon Howl! "Roar!" The skill instantly took out a dozen or so Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen. Less than two minutes later, over half of their numbers fell by my hand. Now that the situation was turned around, Rose-tinted Spectacles shouted loudly, "Everyone, take out Lu Chen first! We cannot let him show us up any longer! Mages, use Dragon¡¯s Roar! Assassins, stun him!" The Silver Soul players obeyed the order and focused all their attacks on me instead. They didn¡¯t need to worry about being attacked by the Northern Alliance because the latter was intimidated by my power and was doing everything they could to eliminate me. ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud¡­ It was at this moment the young archer at the back of the Silver Soul party suddenly tore off the guild emblem on his shoulder and yelled, "Fuck, what the hell is this? Lu Chen helped us take out the mobs and cooperated with us to kill our enemies, and this is how we repay his kindness? Are you people even human? I quit! I would rather be guildless than be a part of this shameless guild! My bottom line wouldn¡¯t allow it!" "Do you want to die, Windless?" Rose-tinted Spectacles raged. However, a dozen or so angry priests and mages also quit the guild at the same time and declared, "Fuck this shit. We¡¯ll follow you, Brother Windless! We quit! Silver Soul was supposed to be a righteous guild, but it looks like even their corps commander doesn''t have a sense of shame! We¡¯re all better off without this trash guild!" Gladdened by this sight, I yelled, "Brothers, if Silver Soul will not take you, then we will! Don¡¯t worry, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would never resort to such despicable methods! For now though, let¡¯s take out the Northern Alliance trash first!" The dozen of players nodded in unison and turned their weapons onto the Northern Alliance once more. Thanks to their help, the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry kept falling to my powerful attacks, and the priests kept me alive with their heals. Whatever chance the enemy had to kill me was completely gone now. A short while later, the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry had all been killed, although Silver Soul didn¡¯t have many players left either. Their remaining frontliners had all died in the battle. ¡­¡­ A few more minutes passed by, and I took out the last member and Knight General of the Northern Alliance with Ancient Seal + Burning Blade Slash combo. The guy was kind enough to drop a great helmet. "Fuck!" Rose-tinted Spectacles¡¯ weapon hand was shaking with anger. The blue-faced party leader pointed a finger at his former guildmates and uttered, "Thankless wretches! Silver Soul spent half a year nurturing you thankless wretches for nothing!" The young archer couldn¡¯t help a sneer on his face. "Nurture? What on earth are you talking about? We¡¯ve always taken care of ourselves, and we joined Silver Soul purely to enjoy the game with a bunch of like-minded friends. We never thought we would come to serve under a despicable little bitch like you though. Pooh! It shames me to even think about it!" The shaking having spread to his entire body, Rose-tinted Spectacles raged, "Very well, if that is what you want, then I shall cleanse the guild of your taint right now!" "Cleanse my ass instead, I¡¯ve already quit the guild, you dumb fuck!" A mage raised his scepter threateningly and said, "Touch us and we¡¯ll give you a taste of our power!" I said, "Why even wait? By my right as the vice leader, I declare you all members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ 12th subguild, and your first mission is to take out Rose-tinted Spectacles. This is a man who thought to backstab a fellow countryman even when he was under a foreign attack. The entire world will be better off without his kind. Kill him!" "Understood!" The party responded affirmatively and started throwing flames, wind blades and meteors at Rose-tinted Spectacles. The enraged magic knight tried to attack them, but I blocked him with my apparition until he was eventually overwhelmed. These ranged players might not be strong enough to beat a dread-rank mob, but they were definitely experienced in the art of PvP. "Just you wait, Silver Soul will take revenge for me!" These were Rose-tinted Spectacles¡¯ last words before he died. I chuckled and kicked away the magic knight¡¯s body. Then I said, "Alright, come around me, everyone! Apply to join our subguild now so I can approve your application!" "Okay!" After the 17 people who had defected from Silver Soul joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls 12th subguild, the color of their IDs immediately turned friendly. The reason I recruited these people wasn¡¯t because we were lacking in recruits, but because they were okay players with an actual brain in their heads. Plus, I was in dire need of party members¡ªespecially priests and mages¡ªand there was still a long battle ahead of us. Neither of us could do without each other. ¡­¡­ While the eighteen of us were sweeping over the battlefield, 7 Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players appeared from the passages behind us and greeted me with a smile. "Vice Leader Lu Chen! You were teleported here too?" I smiled back. "Come, join my party and let¡¯s fight our way into the boss zone!" "Okay!" Our party became stronger, and the strength of the Dragonlight Cavalry opened the eyes of our new recruits. It was an honor and blessing for them to be able to call such powerful players their comrades. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Xu Yang called out to me from the guild channel, "Lu Chen, yellow alert! Lu Chen, yellow alert!" "What¡¯s wrong, Xu Yang?" I asked. He replied solemnly, "A 400-man Northern Alliance cavalry party led by a Heroic Bannerman is making their way toward you right now. Whatever you did, it was too big for them to ignore. These people are highly dangerous, so be careful!" "Thank you for the warning, but don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s just one Heroic Bannerman, right?" I replied with a chuckle. "I¡¯m accompanied by 7 Dragonlight Cavalrymen right now. We should be able to deal with this without much trouble!" Heaven¡¯s Rain spoke up, "Worry not, vice leader! I¡¯m with 77 Dragonlight Cavalrymen right now, and we¡¯re about 500 yards to your right! We¡¯ll be coming to you as soon as possible, hehe!" He Yi: "Very good, with Beauty Rain¡¯s support there¡¯s not even a chance the Northern Alliance might get lucky and threaten Lu Chen anymore. Mm, from the looks of it, Lu Chen and Heaven¡¯s Rain had more or less assumed control of the southwest corner of the floor. Everyone else still needs to work harder though. The counterattack to destroy all of the Northern Alliance¡¯s bases begins now, everyone! The sooner we reach the boss area, the better! We cannot let the Northern Alliance be the victor of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower!" Li Chengfeng: "Mn! I passed by a battlefield just now and saw Warsky and Lin Bing Dou Zhe leading a bunch of Frostscale Cavalrymen and chasing down some Northern Alliance players. Also, Candlelight Shadow is said to be mounting a counterattack from the northeast, and Beauty Lin from the north. The China server has many amazing players, so I have full confidence that we¡¯ll come out victorious in the end, haha!" We all laughed. It was exactly the kind of encouragement we needed to hear. ¡­¡­ After I turned off the guild channel, I looked at everyone and said, "A large group of enemies is swiftly approaching us, so I want everyone to stay alert and listen to my orders. Otherwise, we¡¯ll all die a horrible death, understand?" Both the Dragonlight Cavalry and the new recruits nodded in unison. "Of course!" Our party continued forward, aggroing the Silver Halberdmen blocking our way and killing them one by one. I continued collecting the Silverblade sets, but instead of selling them like I had usually done, I planned to unload them all in the guild warehouse. It would be better for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls if our cavalry could wear these Silverblade sets! A short while later, we started to hear thundering hooves from the fog ahead of us. A Dragonlight Cavalryman immediately warned everyone, "It¡¯s them! Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry¡¯s hooves sound very dull, so I¡¯m sure it¡¯s them!" I nodded and yelled loudly, "Brothers and sisters, form up and prepare for battle!¡¯ I spurred my mount to the forefront and kept my sword lowered in readiness. The Phantom Wolf King was crouching next to me and growling in anticipation as well. A few minutes later, a troop of fast-moving cavalry burst out of the fog and charged toward us. As expected, they were all Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen, and there were about 400 of them; so numerous that they practically filled up the entire width of the corridor. When the leader of the cavalry troop¡ªI noticed that he carried a red banner behind his back¡ªsaw me, his eyes immediately lit up with greed, "Haha, looks we¡¯ve found our main course, brothers and sisters! Kill that CGL Hall of Famer and become a hero!" Whoosh! At the same time, I raised my weapon and growled, "Dragonlight Cavalry, prepare to charge!" There were only 7 of them, but every Dragonlight Cavalryman wore a serious expression on their face. They were ready to go the second I gave the command! ¡­¡­ Before I could do anything though, a loud boom suddenly erupted from the crossroad directly ahead of me. It was a troop of cavalry appearing from the side roads and intercepting the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry! The female knightress leading them was none other than our Knight General, Heaven¡¯s Rain! Chapter 811: Rage of the Snow Goddess I gave the reins a pull, and the Armored Ice Qilin Horse neighed loudly and bolted forward like lightning. As it slammed into an enemy cavalry, I threw Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash combo into the crowd. Due to how narrow the area was, almost a hundred Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen were struck and frozen by the combo right away. Before they could heal themselves, I raised my palm to the sky and fired five golden seals into the sky in a row! The next moment, they crashed back down and flattened the cavalry troops like pancakes! Bang bang bang... A small half of the tower itself was shaking due to the sheer force of the Ancient Seals. I could not stack two or more seals on top of one another, but I could cover an incredible area with successive casts. In just the blink of an eye, a hundred Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen fell off their mounts, dead. There was simply no way for them to survive Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash + Ancient Seal combo. Heaven¡¯s Rain cheered after killing a couple of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen herself, "Wah, not bad at all, vice leader! Everyone, give it your all and take out these Northern Alliance bastards!" The Dragonlight Cavalrymen in Heaven¡¯s Rain party were positively unstoppable because their Attack and Defense were boosted by 100% thanks to Knight General. They were utterly fearless despite facing over 200 enemies. Meanwhile, Heaven¡¯s Rain and I acted as the point of our parties and wreaked havoc in the heart of the enemies. The 17 Silver Soul players I had just added to my subguild also pulled their weight. Some of them assumed the role of damage dealers and fired Galaxy Storms and Spiraling Arrow Blades into the enemies. Others acted as the crowd control and drastically reduced the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry¡¯s combat capabilities with Arctic Rain and Freezing Arrows. Their efforts definitely helped to ease our burden. Crack crack¡­ Suddenly, I saw two steely flashes and one fiery explosion hitting the Dragonlight Cavalryman at the furthest corner. The poor guy let out a muffled groan and died. His attacker was an axe wielder called "Ghost Warrior¡±. His mount was a fearsome-looking Bloodthirsty Beast, and his eyes were burning with rage. He shouted, "Attack the Dragonlight Cavalry from both sides and kill them all! The others, ride with me to kill the enemy¡¯s Divine General!" Heaven¡¯s Rain immediately looked at me. "I¡¯ll cover you, vice leader!" "It¡¯s fine!" I said with a casual smile on my face, "I was hoping that they would come to me!" "Charge!" At least a dozen Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen activated their Charge at once, and they came at me in a cascade so that the skill wouldn¡¯t be wasted. This meant that I had to dodge as many times as there were Charges or risk getting chain-stunned until my death. Their stun rate couldn¡¯t be ignored because the gap between my level and the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry¡¯s was pretty small. Thud thud thud¡­ I moved my mount backward a couple of steps before changing directions abruptly. After dishing out Burning Blade Slash, I dropped an Icy Cyclone Domain and let the sprouting icicles do the killing for me. It was at this moment I felt a cold wind behind my back. Just as I expected, Ghost Warrior¡¯s true attack had arrived, and the skill he used was none other than Barrier Break itself! "Die!" He shouted as the flaming cone flew toward my direction. At the same time, a gigantic ice axe appeared out of nowhere above the battle axe and fell toward me as well. Shit, it¡¯s an AoE attack! Chiang! I crossed the Cyan Netherworld Sword in front of me and moved the Armored Ice Qilin Horse two yards to the side. Unfortunately, I only had enough time to parry the Barrier Break, and the ice axe¡¯s range was surprisingly huge. A blast of cold energy engulfed my entire person the moment the axe hit the ground. It hurts! 19887! Swhoosh swhoosh! Two Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen seized my temporary lapse of concentration to Charge me from behind. They actually succeded in stunning me! Panicking a little, Heaven¡¯s Rain shouted, "I need a couple of Dragonlight Cavalrymen to circle back and protect the vice leader right now!" ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud¡­ Barrier Breaks penetrated my chest again and again as 5 Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen attacked me frantically. I had lost more than half my HP in less than 2 seconds! This cannot continue! "Get lost!" The first thing I did upon recovering was to use War Crush. Then, I waved my hand at Ghost Warrior and shackled him with God Binding Art! "He¡¯s yours!" I said to Heaven¡¯s Rain before rushing toward a group of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen at the distance. After landing Burning Blade Slash on 20 enemies or so, I instantly regained almost 100k HP. God damn, the 10% lifesteal of the Cyan Netherworld Sword was insane especially when the enemies were jam-packed. I was almost unkillable as long as there were enemies near me! ¡­¡­ Behind me, Ghost Warrior wore an ugly expression on his face as Heaven¡¯s Rain and two Dragonlight Cavalrymen deleted over half his HP with Barrier Breaks. At the distance, my new mages were shooting Dragon¡¯s Roars at him as well. As powerful as a Heroic Bannerman might be, there was nothing they could do to escape the confines of God Binding Art. In the end, he died and dropped a pair of legguards. There were still over 200 Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen clashing against our Dragonlight Cavalry when the Heroic Bannermen died, so Heaven¡¯s Rain and I wasted no time in diving back into the fray and killing them. Dozens of kills later, a new party of players suddenly emerged from the corridor at the side. The chanting of mages filled the air, and dozens of Galaxy Storms suddenly erupted across the battlefield. Over a hundred Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen were deleted from existence just like that! The newcomer was none other than Purple Lily, and the party leader, Luo River God of the Capital herself. Sitting at Level 169, she was the highest-leveled player in the entire China server right now. She was accompanied by the beautiful assassin Moonkiss, and a well-established party made of cavalry, archers, mages, bards, tacticians, tamers and more. There were about 500 of them. ¡­¡­ After I picked up a couple of loot from the ground, I walked up to Purple Lily and greeted them with a smile, "Long time no see, Sister Wang Luo! I wasn¡¯t expecting to see you here¡­" Luo River God of the Capital shot my ragtag band of players a glance before commenting, "Why are you here and not with your main army? Are you trying to roleplay the lone hero or something, o¡¯ greatest Divine General of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?" "Of course not, Heaven¡¯s Rain is with me! Thanks for the timely assistance, by the way. We might¡¯ve had to lose a couple more Dragonlight Cavalrymen if you didn¡¯t show up." "Hehe, you¡¯re welcome!" Luo River God of the Capital then looked at the direction where the center of the fourth floor was before saying, "The Northern Alliance think they could stop us by posting guards at every node of the map, but you and I both know that they underestimated us too much. So far, my party has encountered and taken out all the obstacles we¡¯ve encountered along the way. What about you guys?" "We¡¯ve split up into several parties and are breaking the enemy¡¯s control over the floor right now." "Sounds good. Let¡¯s join forces and continue to the center, shall we?" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ We spent a quick moment reorganizing the parties. First, we gathered almost 200 riders from each party and put them all under Heaven¡¯s Rain. It would be wasteful not to utilize her 100% boost to Attack and Defense to the maximum. Everyone else joined my party to enjoy the 200% Attack boost provided by Martial God as there were still countless dread-rank Silver Halberdmen and Northern Alliance blockades to punch through. Unlike Knight God, Mage Soul and most other Famous General Skills, Martial God¡¯s Attack boost applied to every class. Considering our current circumstances, it was undoubtedly the king of all offensive stratagems! We continued forward after everything was ready. A while later we encountered a group of shambling Silver Halberdmen, and Moonkiss asked, "Guild leader, Lu Chen, I count around one hundred dread-rank mobs blocking our way. How should we deal with this?" I thought for a moment before replying, "Let¡¯s take this slowly¡­" But Luo River God of the Capital smiled and said, "You know, if you can keep these mobs busy for thirty seconds, I bet I can kill them all. What do you say, Lu Chen?" "Really?" "Purple Lily will join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls as a subguild if I fail!" "Alright then!" I smiled. "I¡¯ll aggro the mobs and try my best to keep them busy for 30 seconds. I¡¯m counting on you, Sister Wang Luo!" "Leave it to me!" ¡­¡­ I spurred my mount and charged toward the pack of dread-rank monsters. "Hiss hiss¡­" The undead halberdmen were wailing until they spotted me. Then, every last one of them used Charge! "Oh shit! Oh shit!" I groaned on the inside as I zigzagged for dear life. Changing my direction and speed repeatedly, I was able to dodge a dozen or so Charges per second! "OMG, this Lu Chen is¡­" Moonkiss¡¯s eyes widened in shock. "Is he even human? I didn¡¯t even think this is possible¡­" Luo River God of the Capital replied calmly, "Well, he is Lu Chen. Some of his talents are irreplicable even by Candlelight Shadow himself." It wasn¡¯t long before I aggroed the hundred or so Silver Halberdmen. After tossing down two Icy Cyclone Domains and running rings around the dread-rank mobs, I shouted, "Sister Wang Luo, it¡¯s time! Do it!" "Got it!" Luo River God of the Capital raised her scepter high and surrounded herself in icy vapor. Eyes burning with determination, a hailstorm suddenly erupted from her weapon and hit the mobs head-on! I shivered. It was because I saw this skill mentioned on the official webpage before¡ª Rage of the Snow Goddess: Offensive AoE magic, 3-second cooldown. This skill increases the user¡¯s magic attack power to godlike levels, but its drawback is that it costs 1000 MP per cast. Players who don''t have enough max MP shouldn¡¯t even bother with it. Most mages would¡¯ve run out of MP in 4 casts, but Luo River God of the Capital had over 10k MP. The skill that would¡¯ve sucked the life out of most mages was only slightly taxing to her. ¡­¡­ BOOM BOOM BOOM! There were icicles mixed within the hailstorm, and each one dealt over 90k damage per hit. I finally understood why the mage was as confident as she was. My Martial God boosted her attack power by 200%, so her Rage of the Snow Goddess was stronger than ever before. She wasn¡¯t boasting when she claimed that she could kill all these Silver Halberdmen in 30 seconds tops. I didn¡¯t slack off simply because my ally turned out to be capable, of course. I fired my Burning Blade Slashes and Thousand Ice Slashes at the mobs to kill them as soon as possible. "Roar roar roar¡­" The powerful dread-rank mobs could only scream and die as our skills destroyed them, and the battle was over in the blink of an eye. With me as the tank and Luo River God of the Capital as the damage dealer, the party¡¯s mob killing efficiency was destined to break records. ¡­¡­ Beside us, both Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Purple Lily members were staring at us with their mouths open. Even after the battle was over, they all looked like they were stuck in a daze. Even Moonkiss was glancing back and forth between Luo River God of the Capital and me. The look in her eyes was weird to say the least. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, I received a message from the Fruit Knife Goddess, Lin Yixin. "Little Cheat, come to the center right now! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is starting the boss of the fourth floor, and we absolutely cannot surrender it to him!" Chapter 812: Eagle-eyed Moonkiss nodded in agreement while I declared with a raise of my sword, "Dragonlight Cavalry, we will make our way to the boss area within three minutes! We will not be engaging the Silver Halberdmen since there¡¯s no time left! Let¡¯s go!" After I said that, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and made it run in front of me while I rode at the back. The little wolf was faster than any of us, so I used it to draw away the dread-rank mobs blocking the way and open up a path for us. The Dragonlight Cavalry and Purple Lily¡¯s cavalry were able to ride unhindered toward our destination because of it! Luo River God of the Capital was running on foot, but she Blinked every few steps and was actually keeping pace with us. The mage¡¯s movement speed was pretty impressive. ¡­¡­ The further we traveled, the more Chinese players we encountered. In fact, we saw the players of Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace, Silver Soul and more. The center of the floor was a super huge plaza with a cage that extended all the way to the top. Judging from the sounds of battle and lights of skill appearing from the cage, it was clearly the boss zone. From the looks of it, the Northern Alliance was inside the cage, and the Chinese players outside. "Lu Chen!" I turned around to see He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Li Chengfeng and the rest of our elites standing at a corner. She pointed to the center and said, "The boss is down to 80% HP, but we can¡¯t get inside yet. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had surrounded the perimeters with a band of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry and mages from the Mystic Alliance. Not a single Chinese player had been able to make it in so far." "I see. Let¡¯s take a closer look!" "Mn!" I spent a quick moment assembling the parties. The Dragonlight Cavalrymen stuck at the first floor had broken through the trap by force, so around a thousand of them were gathered at this place. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a long neigh as I led the charge. Surprised, the Chinese players standing in our way opened up a path instinctively and let us all through. It didn¡¯t take long before I saw a swathe of blood-red IDs directly ahead of me. As mentioned, a ton of Northern Alliance players were gathered at this place and trying to monopolize the boss of the fourth floor. It was a ferocious tiger with azure-colored skin and the name "Heaven-opening Tiger¡±. It was roaring, swiping and killing the Northern Alliance riders surrounding it almost too easily. As expected of a Level 189 Immortal Rank boss, its Attack was nothing to scoff at. ¡­¡­ Little Piglet took off with almost 400 Steel Needle Porcupine Cavalrymen following closely behind him. In the Mystic Alliance¡¯s formation, a golden-haired woman in sexy robes let out a giggle and said, "Mystic Alliance, show them what you¡¯re made of. Bombard the area with Galaxy Storms!" The female mage herself weaved a spell of destruction before tossing it to the front. A wall of destruction immediately appeared in the cavalry¡¯s path! Bang bang bang! The sounds of magic tearing into armor pierced everyone¡¯s ears. In just a few minutes, the bodies of hundreds of porcupines and their riders were strewn across the ground. After killing a dozen or so mages by force, Little Piglet dropped to low health and was forced to retreat. "Sorry, guild leader. The enemy¡¯s firepower is simply too strong. There¡¯s no way to punch through such a powerful bombardment unless we slowly push our way in," Little Piglet reported. The corners of Wang Dongliang¡¯s lips twitched. He was hoping to show off his guild¡¯s prowess before the people, but he wasn¡¯t expecting the Mystic Alliance to be this strong. His mistake had cost him a ton of elite cavalry. "Should we try this one more time? We still have over 800 riders of an inferior cavalry troop that we can use. There¡¯s a chance we can break through the enemy if we let the priests, mages and archers assist them from the back," Little Piglet said while staring at the Mystic Alliance. His sword hand was shaking, but it wasn¡¯t out of fear, but excitement. The failure only seemed to fuel his hunger for battle. Wang Dongliang shook his head. "It¡¯s fine. If we can¡¯t win, then we¡¯ll let someone else do the dirty work for us!" ¡­¡­ Another group of players made a break for Mystic Alliance¡¯s formation. It was Candle Dragon led by Candlelight Shadow himself. The man seemed to be full of confidence now that he had joined the ranks of Divine Generals and gained the powerful Outer Flame. He said with a smile, "Prepare for battle! I will charge the enemy¡¯s mage formation. Carrot, come here and rally our best archers!" "Yessir!" A Level 159, well-equipped archer responded to the call and stepped into the open. He was none other than Autumn Carrot, a Famous General of Candle Dragon with the Eagle-eyed skill. After raising an arm and crying out an order, a large group of Candle Dragon archers rushed to his side and aligned themselves in rows. There were about 300 of them. Candlelight Shadow then pointed his sword to the front and laughed. He ordered, "Archers, fire Volleys and Spiraling Arrow Blades at will! Tear this Mystic Alliance to shreds!" Despite being 150 yards away from the enemy, the 300 archers drew their bows and released the bowstrings in unison! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ The arrows flew into the air like an unnatural storm. Their attack range was boosted by 200% by Eagle-eyed, it was never a question whether or not their attacks could reach the enemies. The arrow rain landed squarely on the group of Mystic Alliance players! Bang bang bang¡­ The Spiraling Arrow Blades and even some mages¡¯ Galaxy Storms erupted across the battlefield. The enemies screamed in pain as their Magic Shields started distorting visibly under the concentrated assault. Their protection could falter at any moment. Chiang! At the same time, Candlelight Shadow unsheathed his sword and declared, "Attack!" The Martial God charged first and dodged the enemy¡¯s bombardments with a couple of beautiful zigzags. The moment he made contact with the enemy, he immediately unleashed two AoE skills and cut down entire swathes of mages like weeds. The arrow rain from earlier had already strained their Magic Shields, so there was no chance they were going to survive Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Encourage VII¨Cboosted assault. Not pausing to check out his work, Candlelight Shadow waved his left palm and unleashed yet another attack. It was none other than the Divine General Skill, Outer Flame. Seven blasts of fire engulfed the enemies, and each blast dealt at least 50k damage. It was a terrifying skill to say the least. Screams of pain filled the air. Who would¡¯ve thought that the seemingly unbreakable Mystic Alliance would crumble this easily before Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Outer Flame? Not only that, the one thousand Viper Dragoons at the back charged forward and seized the upper hand completely. The enemy guild was being routed! However, the back of Candle Dragon¡¯s formation suddenly fell into disorder. It was because Autumn Carrot¡¯s ranged party had been attacked by someone! Blue Sky Scar shouted, "Candlelight, come back to us now! It¡¯s Vienna¡¯s Sorrow!" The thundering hooves belonged to the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry, but with one key difference¡ªthis time, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was leading them himself. Wielding an Immortal-grade spear and looking to be in high spirits, the Divine General laughed and fired a frozen beam about 20 yards long from his spear tip. It was of course his Divine General Skill, Ice Stream Blade! ¡­¡­ "Get out of my way!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow shouted as the icy skill slammed into Blue Sky Scar¡¯s chest armor. The super long¨Crange attack couldn¡¯t be stopped even by the Blue Sky War God himself. He lost over 70k HP in one go and was sent flying across the sky. I gripped my sword and ordered in a hurry, "Go! We need to save Candle Dragon¡¯s backline! Blue Sky Scar is no match for Vienna!" I spurred my mount and charged straight toward the enemy. Boom! After killing a group of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen with Thousand Ice Slash, I raised my palm and fired a seal into the sky. The Ancient Sword Seal crashed right on top of Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and dealt an insane amount of damage¡ª80982! "It¡¯s you?" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow shot me a hateful look before backing a few steps to let his priests heal him. He then waved his Immortal-grade spear and shouted, "Take out that fucker!" A couple of Heroic Bannermen and many more Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen immediately answered his call. "Go!" He Yi swung her sword, and all our generals rushed forward to meet the enemy. Empowering himself with Great Earth Transformation, Li Chengfeng ran toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow like lightning and hit him three times in a row from three different directions. However... Chiang chiang! MISS! MISS! Amazingly, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow swung his spear expertly and was able to parry two of Li Chengfeng¡¯s attacks. The dragon warrior was hardly done, however. Instead of faltering, he circled to Vienna¡¯s flank and executed Dragonbone Flurry to the ribs. This time, he was able to delete almost 100k HP! "Die!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow swung his spear horizontally and hit Li Chengfeng squarely in the chest. The long-range beam attack was simply too powerful! 78723! Li Chengfeng gritted his teeth and was forced to retreat. Despite being a Divine General himself, his Attack and even equipment were clearly inferior to Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s. The Divine General was growing stronger and stronger each day, and he definitely deserved his title as Hero City¡¯s best player. ¡­¡­ I rushed to Li Chengfeng¡¯s aid and blocked in front of him. Then, I rode toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. "Hmph!" To my surprise, the Divine General swung his spear one last time to kill the dozen of Candle Dragon archers around him before backing away. It seemed like he didn¡¯t want to clash against me head-on. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a tiger¡¯s roar suddenly shook the air. For some reason, the Heaven-opening Tiger suddenly tore through the Northern Alliance¡¯s defense line, jumped and landed in between the Chinese forces and the Northern Alliance¡¯s forces. It then swung its claws and summoned a rain of fire! "Fuck me, this fucking boss!" Chaos Moon groaned as she was forced to retreat. Chapter 813: Spatial Rif Candlelight Shadow finally made it back to his people, but he was already too late. He clenched his fists as he glared at Vienna¡¯s back and sweared angrily, "Fuck! I can¡¯t believe that fucker managed to slip away!" Blue Sky Scar asked in a hurry, "The boss is here, Candlelight. What should we do?" "Tell Autumn Carrot and his archer party to shoot the Northern Alliance forces on the opposite side of the boss! The rest of us will tackle the boss itself!" "Ancient Sword, Purple Lily and Blazing Hot Lips are all here. What do we do with them?" "Focus on the boss. Whoever kills it, kills it!" "Understood!" ¡­¡­ It was clear what everyone¡¯s stance was. Internal conflict was a no-no before our greatest enemy, but the boss and the Tiger Soul Essence were also too important to give up. Naturally, all eyes were set on the Heaven-opening Tiger. I walked with Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, He Yi, Chaos Moon and the others while saying, "Charge with me once I give the signal. If an opportunity presents itself, seize it and take out the boss. The Northern Alliance must not get it no matter what. Healers, make sure you heal us properly. Frontliners, watch out for any strange movements from the opposite side. I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t give up the kill easily." "Mn!" Everyone nodded in unison. "Beiming!" At my order, Beiming Xue released her bowstring and loosed an icy arrow straight at the Heaven-opening Tiger¡¯s head. A sickly purple aura spread across its skin and reduced its Defense by 50% instantly. Bone Eroding Arrow is fucking awesome! Next, I fired a long range Dragon Slaying Slash and Sword Boomerang at the boss''s head as well. My Attack was unrivaled, so the skills easily tore into the boss''s flesh and dealt over 100k damage. The aggro target changed, and the Heaven-opening Tiger let out a roar. It moved away from the Candle Dragon players engaging it and ran straight toward our formation. "Shields up! Keep the boss''s aggro on us!" He Yi ordered. The Dragonlight Cavalry at the front immediately raised their shields and used Holy Shield to reduce damage taken as much as possible. The Heaven-opening Tiger¡¯s Attack was super high, and we didn¡¯t have many priests with us right now. As powerful as their healing was, it wasn¡¯t quite enough to cover everyone. Candlelight Shadow grew alarmed when the boss moved away from him and toward our camp. He chased after the boss while shouting, "Candle Dragon, follow me and kill the Heaven-opening Tiger¡ª" Swhoosh! But a single rider blocked their way and raised his sword threateningly. It was Li Chengfeng with his Battle Soul Possession turned on. "Please don¡¯t come too close to our camp, Candle Dragon. Otherwise, we will treat it as a breach of agreement and deal with it accordingly." "What do we do now, Candlelight?" Blue Sky Scar asked, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is clearly planning to claim the Heaven-opening Tiger for themselves. Should I tell Autumn Carrot to cease their suppressive fire? We can let up the pressure on the Northern Alliance and make Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls suffer the consequences of their greed!" The light behind Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes flickered for a moment before gathering into steely determination. "No, keep the suppressive fire up. Viper Dragoons, follow me to charge Vienna! We may not get the Heaven-opening Tiger today, but we are not giving up on Vienna¡¯s head! Candle Dragon, attack!" The 1000-strong cavalry troop moving to attack the boss stopped in their tracks and turned toward Hero Alliance immediately. At the same time, Autumn Carrot¡¯s party was also dropping suppressive fire on Mystic Alliance to focus on Hero Alliance. What this meant was that the mage collective and the female mage, Dark Night¡¯s Rose, were now free to send her mages after us. After all, killing the Heaven-opening Tiger was everyone¡¯s ultimate objective on this floor, and no one wanted to give it up without a fight. "Fuck!" High Fighting Spirits swung his war hammer angrily and said, "That shameless Candlelight Shadow! On the surface it looks like he¡¯s not fighting the boss with us, but in reality he¡¯s abandoning the frontline so that Mystic Alliance can hit us directly! So shameless, I can¡¯t believe he has the face to call himself ¡®Martial God¡¯¡­" Chaos Moon said with a smile, "I think it¡¯s a smart move, actually. In one move, he unloads a powerful enemy on a rival guild and focuses his full strength on Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. He¡¯s killing two birds with one stone." He Yi looked at the approaching enemy forces worriedly. "Mystic Alliance is getting closer and closer, and I count at least 3000 mages. What do we do? We¡¯re in trouble if we don¡¯t find a way to cut them off from the boss." "I¡¯ll go!" I volunteered myself. "Give me a troop of Dragonlight Cavalry, and I¡¯ll stall them until you¡¯re done with the boss. What do you think?" "Sure. Just leave it to¡ª" Before Xu Yang could finish speaking, the boss abruptly smacked him in the head and caused blood to pour all over his face. Then, the poor guy took a blast of fire to the face and lost almost 130k HP in a second! Swhoosh swhoosh! Lucky for him, Murong Mingyue saved him with a timely heal before giggling. "My dude, even the boss disagrees with your reliability! Stay here, Lu Chen. We need you to fight the boss, and look, our ally has come to help us!" "Oh?!" ¡­¡­ I looked at the direction she was pointing and saw a troop of purple cavalry slamming into Mystic Alliance¡¯s formation from the flanks. It was none other than Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Purple Dragon Cavalry! Lin Yixin was leading at the front with cyan lotus petals surrounding her body. She raised her sword into the air, and a second later a flaming sword of ice crashed down on the enemies and annihilated the Magic Shields. Then, Lin Yixin opened her left palm and cried out, "Ice Storm!" Swhoosh! A great amount of energy seeped from the center of her palm and shot into the air, a storm of icicles following soon after. It covered an area of 20x20 yards in front of her. A good amount of mages screamed in pain as icicles pierced into their body, killing them and dying the ground red in just a second. It was a horrible sight to look at. It looked like Lin Yixin had learned a new AoE skill, and its area of effect was practically comparable to that of a Divine General Skill. That being said, it must have a cooldown of sorts. I counted in my head, and as expected, she used the skill again after 15 seconds had passed. This probably meant that Ice Storm had a cooldown of 15 seconds, which was pretty good considering its area of effect and attack power. No wonder Lin Yixin was shooting up the levels like crazy lately. In the sky, the Ice Dragon Kris added to the enemy¡¯s misery by shooting jets of blue flames at them. Even better, most of them discovered that they were unable to pierce Kris¡¯s abnormally high Magic Resist; a common characteristic of the dragon race. That was why Kris barely lost any HP despite tanking several rounds of Galaxy Storms head-on. ¡­¡­ "Hahaha, Snowy Cathaya truly is a most reliable ally! They always send help when we need it!" Li Chengfeng laughed. I walked closer to Snowy Cathaya and shouted, "Yiyi, can you come over with Purple Marquis? The Heaven-opening Tiger is a pretty difficult boss to kill!" "Okay." Lin Yixin nodded and came to our aid with an elite party. We surrounded the boss and bombarded it with attacks and skills. The Heaven-opening Tiger was powerful, but the frontliners surrounding it were all top-class players like Lin Yixin, He Yi, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Purple Marquis and me. None of us were so fragile that the Heaven-opening Tiger could kill us in one hit, and with our priests healing us non-stop it meant that the boss could be killed without losing anyone. Suddenly, someone shouted out a warning, "Watch out! Someone¡¯s charging toward us!" "Who?" We turned around and saw a party of Chinese players, It was none other than Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch leading the Ghost Riders of Hall of Immortality himself. The guild leader was laughing loudly and swinging his blade when he shouted, "Kill them all, brothers and sisters! The boss is right in front of us, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ numbers are lacking! This is our chance to claim the boss for ourselves!" I counted at least 3000 Ghost Riders, and they were coming at us with clear organization. I didn¡¯t think that Hall of Immortality would risk so many people just to snatch a boss, but at any rate, they were definitely a deadly threat we couldn¡¯t afford to ignore. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the Heaven-opening Tiger let out a roar almost as if it could sense a threat to its being. Lightning energy surged around its forelimbs, and it swiped the empty space in front of it and created a spatial rift. Somehow, the boss had torn apart the fabric of space itself! "What the fuck? A spatial rift? What is that¡ª" Swhoosh! A couple of Dragonlight Cavalrymen were sucked into the spatial rift before they could react. Caught by surprise, nearly a hundred Ghost Riders stumbled into the spatial rift as well. At the same time, the bell of a system notice kept ringing in everyone¡¯s ears¡ª Beep! Combat Log: Heaven-opening Tiger used the skill "Spatial Rift". Player "Light Feather Flies Lightly" is teleported to the map "Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower First Floor"! Beep! Combat Log: Heaven-opening Tiger used the skill "Spatial Rift". Player "Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch" is teleported to the map "Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower Eighth Floor"! Beep! Combat Log: Heaven-opening Tiger used the skill "Spatial Rift". Player "Past Nostalgia" is teleported to the map "Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower Ninth Floor"! Beep! Combat Log: Heaven-opening Tiger used the skill "Spatial Rift". Player "Another Bottle" is teleported to the map "Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower Third Floor"! ¡­¡­ Everyone was speechless with shock. No one was expecting the boss to possess such a brutal skill! He Yi warned in a quiet voice, "Careful, everyone. It looks like this boss can tear apart space itself and randomly teleport a player to any floor of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower¡­" The spatial rift lasted around 4 seconds. It revealed the stupefied faces of the Ghost Riders behind it after it disappeared. "The boss¡­ the boss was teleported to the eighth floor¡­" "The mobs on the eighth floor must be pretty powerful. There¡¯s no way he¡¯s going to survive it¡­" "What should we do then?" "Let¡¯s pretend we DC¡¯d and teleport back to the city!" "Oh, that¡¯s a great idea!" ¡­¡­ I chuckled. "Interesting! I wonder if the boss would be so kind as to send me straight to the ninth floor? I would like to fight the final boss right now¡­" "Keep dreaming¡­" Lin Yixin teased me. However, as if a deity had possessed it to fulfill our careless wishes, the Heaven-opening Tiger swiped its thunderous claws right between me and Lin Yixin and created a spatial rift yet again! "OH SHI¡ª" All I saw before I got pulled into the spatial rift was the surprise on He Yi¡¯s face. Whoosh! Then, a warm body landed squarely in my lap. Lin Yixin was pulled into the spatial rift as well. We plunged across the unusual space for a moment before a system notice entered our ears¡ª Beep! Combat Log: Heaven-opening Tiger used the skill "Spatial Rift". You¡¯ve been teleported to the map "Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower Seventh Floor"! Beep! Combat Log: Heaven-opening Tiger used the skill "Spatial Rift". Player "Wind Fantasy" is teleported to the map "Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower Seventh Floor"! Chapter 814: Dark Prisoner After the Ice Qilin Horse fell heavily to the ground, it let out a shrill neigh as it was forced back into my mount slot. The Heaven-opening Tiger¡¯s Spatial Rift had instantly gotten rid of my mount! This skill is way too OP! It actually sent me straight from the fourth floor to the seventh floor! I didn¡¯t even need to clear the fifth or sixth floors! This was actually a good thing though! Given my current strength, I should be able to explore the seventh floor without any problems. I also wouldn¡¯t have to worry about any players stealing my monsters or sniping the boss. Furthermore, if my memory served me right, Lin Yixin had also been teleported to the seventh floor. Working together, even taking on the floor¡¯s boss wasn¡¯t that much of a pipedream! ¡­¡­ I hefted my sword in my hand as I slowly rose up from my knees. After that, I carefully surveyed my surroundings and saw a black figure in front of me. It was a humanoid monster clad in metal armor with its back facing toward me. Its long black hair fluttered in the night wind as it let out a hoarse moan. I could see stark-white bones showing through the gaps in that armor and it was clear that this monster belonged to the Night Creatures. However, the most intimidating thing about this monster was the weapon that it was holding. It held a huge, two meter-long warmaul in its hands and the head of the maul was studded with sharp spikes. I brandished the Cyan Netherworld Sword as I licked my lips and summoned the Phantom Wolf King. After that, I slashed forward with my sword and used Dragon Slaying Slash. The cyan blade of sword energy immediately illuminated the seventh floor, which had been blanketed in darkness, as it shot toward the undead monster. Bang! 26615! The dark shadow shuddered and swayed before it slowly turned around. A horrifying, half-rotted face framed by an ebon helmet greeted me. I shuddered as I stared at that terrifying face. Rotting strips of meat hung off its withered face and one of its eyeballs was dangling out of its socket. When it stretched open its rotted mouth and let out a shrill wail, a noxious stench wafted out from between its greenish-black teeth. I instantly activated my Dark Pupils, causing the monster¡¯s stats to appear in front of me. Dark Prisoner (Dread) Level: 191 Attack: 6900~8250 Defense: 7700 HP: 800000 Skills: Darkness Slash, Deathblow, Warhammer Storm ¡­¡­ One of the dread-rank creatures from the upper floors was finally revealed. It was a Level 191 monster whose Defense was slightly lower than the Bronze Beast¡¯s, but it compensated by having a far higher Attack! This Dark Prisoner also had very good attack skills, so it definitely wasn¡¯t going to be some pushover. If I don¡¯t approach this fight with extreme caution, I might very well slip up when I least expect it! "Rooooaaarrr¡­" The Dark Prisoner let out a howl of fury as it charged toward me. Sparks erupted from the head of the gigantic maul as it was dragged across the ground. My Dragon Slaying Slash had utterly enraged this beast seeing how fast it was closing the distance between us. One couldn¡¯t be careless when fighting high-level monsters like this, so I sprang into action before he got within striking range. I swiftly calculated his speed and the remaining distance before I waved a hand in the air. Divine energy surged out of my left arm as God Binding Art caused four divine weapons to form in the air and whistle sharply toward the Dark Prisoner. They perfectly encircled and bound the undead brute, instantly halting the Dark Prisoner in its tracks. These mobs weren¡¯t bosses, so their resistances toward crowd-control skills like God Binding Art weren¡¯t high. I couldn¡¯t help but grin as I activated Thunderous Charge. After I slammed into the monster, I immediately hit it with War Crush + Burning Blade Slash. Even though the Dark Prisoner¡¯s Defense was quite high, it was no match for my ridiculous Attack. My clone and pet also attacked it furiously, and we quickly took out 400k of the monster¡¯s HP. I deliberately slowed down the tempo of my attacks. I wanted to see exactly how hard this Level 191 dread-rank monster could hit! The Dark Prisoner let out an earth-shaking roar as my God Binding Art slowly dissipated. It fiercely swung its spiked maul toward my left shoulder. Black sword energy instantly surrounded the maul in the shape of the blade as it used its Darkness Slash skill! Bang! My body shuddered slightly as pain shot through my left shoulder! The Dark Prisoner had hit me so hard that a crack appeared in my left pauldron! 15081! God damn, that is some crazy attack power! It hit me for so much fucking damage that it can start comparing notes with a boss monster! It followed up that Darkness Slash with Deathblow that hit me for a good amount of damage as well. I decided that I had seen enough, and I swiftly surrounded the Dark Prisoner with my clone and the Phantom Wolf King. Perhaps we had triggered an attack based on our positioning, because the Dark Prisoner suddenly let out a furious roar and threw out its war maul. The gigantic spiked maul flew through the air as it whirled around the Dark Prisoner and smashed into all three of its attackers, causing all of us to lose a great amount of health. Okay, the testing was definitely over! I had the measure of my foe now. Taking on one or two Dark Prisoners at the same time wouldn¡¯t be too much of a problem, but taking on three to four would push me to my limits. If I had to take on five or more, I would definitely die unless I activated Great Earth Transformation! Pchhht! I skewered the monster with my Universe Break and robbed it of its last slivers of health. After that, I felt warmth surge through my body as a large stream of experience filled my being. The Dark Prisoner had also dropped a magic stone, so I simply picked it up and threw it into my bag. After that, I waved a hand and absorbed the floating undead spark. It would be a waste for me to not absorb the spark of such a mighty undead creature. After all, I wasn¡¯t content with just being an Asura. I wanted to become an Asura King, and eventually, an Asura God! When I finally reached that state, my Deterrence might very well do a lot more than reduce the stats of enemy undead by 15%! ¡­¡­ I sent a message to Lin Yixin: "Yiyi, what are your coordinates? I¡¯ll go to where you are! After that, we can team up and grind mobs!" Lin Yixin swiftly replied: "Yeah, I¡¯m currently at (18734, 9872). How about you?" "I¡¯m pretty close. Give me five minutes and I¡¯ll be there!" "You¡¯re gonna charge over?" "Charge your ass! There are so many Level 191 dread-rank monsters. They¡¯ll stomp me to death! I¡­ I¡¯ll sneak over¡­" I could practically see Lin Yixin¡¯s smirk when she replied: "Okay! Hurry up and get over here!" "Gotcha!" I glanced at my mount¡¯s cooldown timer. It would be seven minutes before I could summon the Ice Qilin Horse again, which would be about just enough time for me to use Earth Escape to reach Lin Yixin¡¯s side and party up with her. I could see that she was in the corner of the third hallway, which wasn¡¯t too far from where I was. Whoosh! I transformed into streaks of bloody light which burrowed into the ground. As I slowly crept forward, I saw that the area in front of me was packed with monsters. I snuck past them like a burglar as I carefully avoided coming in range of their aggro. If I got too close to any of these high-level dread-rank monsters, they would notice me even if I was using Earth Escape. If that happened, they would dig me up and eventually wear me down. However, I was quite lucky that none of these monsters crossed paths with me. The moment I entered that dark corner, I could see Lin Yixin mounted on her ice horse. She seemed to be staring dazedly into the distance, as if she didn¡¯t know where to go next. Meanwhile, her female ice dragon, Kris, circled around her protectively like a large dog protecting her beautiful master. Whoosh! As I burst out of the ground, I made a flourish with the Cyan Netherworld Sword as I arrived in front of Lin Yixin. I grinned at her and said, "Yiyi, it¡¯s been a long time since I last saw you!" "Oh really?" Lin Yixin dryly remarked as she rolled her eyes at me. It was at this moment that a black shadow rushed over and the smell of fresh blood overwhelmed my sense. I didn¡¯t see anything, but I could clearly feel a huge critter latch its fangs around my head! Fucking hell, it was the ice dragon. As expected, she was still really "devoted" to me. Thank god I didn¡¯t take her as my pet last time. If I had, I¡¯d have become the butt of countless jokes. Lin Yixin gently patted the female ice dragon on the jaw as she said, "Little dragon, stop biting him. Only the heavens know how long it¡¯s been since he last took a bath, so this meat might not be too clean, you know¡­" "Pooh!" The Ice Dragon Kris immediately spat me out, but she still fiercely glared at me with her deep blue eyes. ¡­¡­ I wiped off the ice dragon saliva on my face as I summoned the Ice Qilin Horse and flipped onto its back. After that, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and brandished my sword fiercely as I bellowed, "Damn it! I¡¯ll bear the consequences of whatever happens next, but I¡¯m gonna teach this naughty dragon a lesson today, no matter what! Shit, I¡¯ll teach you not to look down on me!" Lini Yixin giggled. "Oh, come on! This is just how my little dragon greets you. I know it¡¯s a little unique, but just bear with it for now. Anyhow, we have bigger fish to fry, don¡¯t we? We need to hurry up and make our way to the boss of this floor and kill it before Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and his lackeys get here. If we don¡¯t get that Tiger Soul Essence before they arrive, we¡¯d have wasted this free trip to the seventh floor." "Yeah, that¡¯s right. Let¡¯s be off then. I¡¯ll activate Martial God and you activate that secondary stratagem of yours, Intercourse. As long as we get the timing of our attacks right, we¡¯ll only need twenty minutes at most to reach the boss." "Okay." I was a player who always chased after the highest damage and a belligerent little beauty like Lin Yixin was exactly the same type of player as me. As a result, Martial God was the best stratagem for us. This was further boosted by the existence of the secondary stratagem Intercourse, which boosted our damage to ridiculous levels if we managed to strike the same target at the same time. ¡­¡­ We saw a Dark Prisoner dragging its heavy maul along the ground as it circled the area. This would serve as our first test dummy! "Attack!" "Alright!" I waved a hand at the monster and successfully restricted it with my God Binding Art. After that, I activated Thunderous Charge and Lin Yixin activated Charge a second after me as we rushed toward the hapless monster. Crack! After we slashed it a few times, we dealt around 30000 damage to it. The Dark Prisoner only had about 800000 HP, so our DPS clearly wasn¡¯t cutting it. Lin Yixin fluttered her eyelashes at me coquettishly as she said, "Little Cheat, where¡¯s our synergy. We need to match the timing of our blows!" "Yeah, let''s use our Break skills!" "Okay!" Flaming cyan energy started swirling around my sword as I activated Universe Break as a similar swirl of burning energy appeared around Lin Yixin¡¯s sword as well. Our timing and synergy were excellent! Whoosh! Whoosh! Two swords slammed into the Dark Prisoner, causing a huge explosion of light. The two dazzling explosions of light tore away at the Dark Prisoner¡¯s chest as our swords skewered him like hot knives through butter. The effect of Intercourse had procced! Bang! A damage number that caused both our jaws to drop open flew up above the Dark Prisoner¡¯s head. 265167! Even though it hadn¡¯t been a critical hit, it had still dealt this much damage! What a terrifying strike! I couldn¡¯t help but grin as I matched Lin Yixin¡¯s tempo and hit it again with a basic attack. As our swords struck the monster, purple energy tore into the monster¡¯s chest again. We had successfully procced Intercourse again, dealing another 180000 damage! That was plenty scary for a basic attack! "Hehe, if we can keep this up, killing one Level 191 dread-rank mob will only take ten seconds!" Lin Yixin said with a saccharine sweet smile "Yeah!" I replied as I nodded my head. Being able to grind with a girl as pretty and intelligent as this was truly one of the greatest luxuries in this game... Chapter 815: Dark Prison Se We finally got our first special item after we killed our 27th Dark Prisoner! It was an ebon helmet which seemed to radiate a murderous aura. Ohoh, this is clearly a good item! When I picked up the helmet to inspect it, a huge grin appeared on my face. This was what I had been waiting for! Dark Prison Helmet (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï) Defense: 1024 Magic Resist: 950 Strength: +185 Stamina: +160 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 30% Outstanding Property: Grip of Darkness, attacks deal 10% additional darkness damage. Property: Dark Prison Set, Helmet Level Requirement: 155 ¡­¡­ "Damn, an Earth-grade set¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s adorable mouth dropped open in shock. After that, she let out a stunned laugh. "This is incredible. This is the first time I¡¯ve seen an Earth-grade set!" I nodded my head and said, "Hmmm, the drop rate isn¡¯t too high though. We killed nearly thirty Dark Prisoners before we got our first piece of the Dark Prison set, and that is after taking into account that our Luck stats which are both over 50. If it were normal players, their drop rate would probably be about five times lower! It¡¯s possible that they wouldn¡¯t get one of these even after killing 150 Dark Prisoners..." Lin Yixin giggled as she nodded her head. "Yeah, this also means that this Dark Prison set will be the most sought-after item excluding the boss drops. If a player manages to scrounge up a full set of these items, I¡¯m afraid that their stats will be quite close to yours, Little Cheat." It was my turn to laugh. "Ah, don¡¯t even mention that! I¡¯m still wearing some Spirit-grade equipment, you know! If not for the fact that they have very unique skills, I would have switched them out a long time ago. The moment someone equips a full Dark Prison set, their stats will be at least 10% to 25% stronger than mine! Of course, that¡¯s only if I don¡¯t get anything from this Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. However, that is probably going to be impossible¡­" Lin Yixin giggled before she playfully hit me with her tiny fists. "Ohoh, you¡¯re really confident, aren¡¯t you!?" I grabbed Lin Yixin¡¯s hand and shoved the helmet toward her. "Take it. If we manage to get a full Dark Prison set, I¡¯ll let you wear it first. This helmet is probably way better than the Spirit-grade helmet you¡¯re wearing right now." "Yeah!" Lin Yixin obediently took the helmet from me. After that, she took off her own helmet, causing her long hair to spill out in a graceful and beautiful cascade. I sighed appreciatively as this thought flashed through my mind. The top goal of any girl gamer is definitely to look pretty. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment that my guild channel suddenly burst into life. Li Chengfeng''s voice sounded cold and stern as he shouted: "The boss is dead! Fucking hell, I had my hands full with Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and that archer, Frosty Night! Who managed to get their hands on the boss drops after it died?" He Yi gasped heavily as she replied, "The players from Silver Soul and Hall of Immortality deliberately blocked my way and prevented me from cutting Candlelight Shadow off. Chaos Moon also seemed to have been beaten back by him¡­" Chaos Moon whined unhappily: "Candlelight Shadow is really annoying! I only managed to grab a 5-star Outstanding Earth-grade mage staff! The rest of the loot has been plundered by him!" I immediately asked in a loud voice: "What about the Tiger Soul Essence?" Chaos Moon: "I don¡¯t know what happened to it¡­" He Yi asked: "Lu Chen, what¡¯s the situation like on the seventh floor?" "Ah? It¡¯s going quite well actually. Since Yiyi is here with me, killing mobs isn¡¯t a problem. Okay, back to the main topic. Eve, we need to figure out who took the Tiger Soul Essence. We can¡¯t finish the quest if we don¡¯t have those items¡­" He Yi gave a helpless sigh: "The situation was simply too chaotic just now. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Candle Dragon, Hero Alliance, Silver Soul, Hall of Immortality, and Blazing Hot Lips all took part in the boss fight. The last part of the fight was an all-out brawl and we don¡¯t even know who killed the boss. Ah, it was really far too messy¡­" Xu Yang spat out venomously: "Fucking hell! It was probably taken by that shameless bastard, Candlelight Shadow! Hmph, he threw Vienna¡¯s Sorrow to ole Li and snatched the boss by himself! What a despicable thing to do..." It was at this moment that a very soft voice piped up in the guild channel: "Ah¡­ the leader of the eighth subguild, Sis Little Naughty, wanted me to tell you that the Heaven-opening Tiger¡¯s Tiger Soul Essence is with her. Guild leader Eve, Little Naughty is going to trade it to you straight away, since you¡¯re going to transfer it to vice leader Lu Chen later." He Yi let out a chortle of delight: "Really?" "Yeah! Sis Little Naughty said that the person with the highest chance of gathering all nine Tiger Soul Essences in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is Lu Chen, so she¡¯s just gonna hand it over¡­" "Great. This is awesome¡­" He Yi¡¯s smile grew even sweeter. I chimed in: "Hurry up and enter the fifth floor. You mustn¡¯t fall behind. Lin Yixin and I will scout out the seventh and eighth floors first. I also have a piece of good news to share with everyone! The monsters on the seventh, eighth, and ninth floor drop pieces of a 2-star Outstanding Earth-grade armor set! Li Chengfeng laughed: "I know. You¡¯re talking about the Dark Prison set, right?" "Eh, how did you find out?" "Haha, I just used a VPN to check Hero City¡¯s forums. Some employees from Eternal Moon already spilled the news on their forums. The true battle of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower only starts from the seventh floor onward! Lu Chen, you and Beauty Lin need to make full use of your god-given opportunity to sweep the seventh floor. It would also be best if you could kill the boss of the seventh floor as well. Heh heh, we¡¯ll come and join you guys in plundering the spoils as soon as we can!" "Yeah! Focus on killing the bosses on the fifth and sixth floors!" "Got it!" This was the current situation. The Tiger Soul Essences from the first and second floor were in my hands. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow managed to get his grubby hands on the third one, but we managed to secure the fourth one. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls held a definitive edge above all the other guilds. Furthermore, Lin Yixin and I were probably the only two Divine Generals on the seventh floor, so no one could really oppose us. As such, killing the boss and getting that Tiger Soul Essence wasn¡¯t a pipedream either! ¡­¡­ We continued grinding for about half an hour, but we hadn¡¯t gotten a second Dark Prison item drop yet. This told us just how low the drop rate of these items really was. However, we were getting a ton of experience, and both our experience bars had risen by a considerable amount. Furthermore, even though we hadn¡¯t found a second piece of Dark Prison gear yet, the Dark Prisoners were still dropping fairly decent items. They even dropped Spirit-grade equipment. Spirit-grade items were currently the baseline for equipment in the game, and a player would be able to earn tens of thousands of dollars from an excellent Spirit-grade item! In fact, Beiming Xue sold a Spirit-grade axe for 240000 bucks just the other day! This was because the axe had 7% lifesteal. Lifesteal items were always considered top of the line gear, because they allowed you to grind mobs in a group instead of one by one. This was something I was intimately acquainted with. Crack! Yet another dread-rank monster fell to the ground, but Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful eyes lit up this time. She picked up a pair of ebon boots from the ground and smiled. "Dark Prison War Boots! Heehee, we¡¯ve struck the lottery¡­" "Hurry up and put them on. I wanna know the set bonuses." "Okay." Light flashed around her snowy legs as the outline of a pair of black boots started to form around them. These ebon boots made her look even fiercer than before. Now that she had gotten two items of this Earth-grade set, Lin Yixin gleefully checked her stats. After that, she laughed and said, "This is awesome! Wearing two items from this set increases user¡¯s Attack by 35% and Defense by 40%. That is on top of the 10% bonus darkness damage passive per item¡­" "Cool," I said as I nodded my head. As Lin Yixin continued grinding, I quickly noticed that she dealt two different types of damage, causing two numbers to pop above the head of these Dark Prisoners. One of these numbers was in red and the other was in black. Furthermore, the number in black was precisely 20% of the number in red. This was the incredible effect of her 20% bonus darkness damage passive! ¡­¡­ As we continued grinding, we suddenly a tiger¡¯s furious roar resound from the great hall that we had to turn into. Lin Yixin and I exchanged stunned looks when we heard that sound. Did someone already start the boss? This meant that Lin Yixin and I weren¡¯t the only ones who had been sent to the seventh floor. In fact, when I thought about it logically, I realized that there was no way that only Lin Yixin and I had been sent to the seventh floor. There were so many people around us, so there were definitely others who had been caught in the Heaven-opening Tiger¡¯s teleportation skill. "Let¡¯s go and take a look!" I said as I hefted my sword with a merry grin. "Yeah!" Lin Yixin bent her waist forward and crept behind me. She looked for all the world like a beautiful female thief as she inched forward carefully. However, it was also clear that she was a wild, heavily armed little bandit who would simply rob you at swordpoint if she didn¡¯t manage to steal the item she wanted. I shuddered a little as that thought flashed through my mind. One must never offend these sorts of girls. ¡­¡­ I stuck my head out to take a peek before we rounded the corner. Just as expected, there was a fierce tiger wreathed in violent cyan flames stalking the great hall. It was currently roaring in rage as it chased after a bunch of pitiful players. "Little Cheat, there are some people from the Northern Alliance!" Lin Yixin tugged on my arm as she peeked her head out. "Hey, they¡¯re players from the Hero Alliance. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s men!" "Let¡¯s kill them then!" "No need, the boss will kill them for us! Let¡¯s wait for all of them to die before we make our move!" "Okay." ¡­¡­ I activated Dark Pupils as I silently observed a dozen Hero Alliance players get methodically slaughtered by the Heaven-shaking Tiger, an Level 191 Immortal Rank boss. "Rooaaaar!" The Heaven-shaking Tiger raised its sharp claws in the air and beams of cyan light shot out of it, instantly stunning seven of those players. This skill was so powerful that it caused both Lin Yixin and I to stare at it in shock. After its sharp claws whistled through the air a few times, a few mounted players slumped to the ground. Even the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen couldn¡¯t take this much abuse. As their cries of misery rang in the air, the dozen Hero Alliance players were picked off one by one, and not a single survivor remained. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin pursed her lips before she giggled. "Hah, these noobs actually thought they could take on an Immortal Rank boss! They really don¡¯t know how to measure their own strength, huh. Little Cheat, let¡¯s go. It¡¯s our turn." "Wait a minute!" I said as I grabbed one of those beautiful shoulders. "There are still two assassins in stealth mode, and they seem to be waiting for reinforcements! We need to get rid of those two assassins before we focus on the boss!" "Why can¡¯t I see them?" "I have a detection skill." "Oh¡­" "Yiyi, I¡¯m going to kill the first assassin. I¡¯ll leave the second one to you. His coordinates are (0983, 0087). Let¡¯s move!" "Alright!" My Ice Qilin Horse gave a loud neigh as I spurred it forward. I had already unleashed a Dragon Slaying Slash which was flying toward the assassin and I immediately followed up by hurling my sword forward. As my sword spun through the air, the assassin on the right let out a cry of misery as he slowly slumped to the ground. Lin Yixin¡¯s Ice Flame Slash exploded into the empty air at nearly the same time. However, the assassin still had a sliver of health left, so he hurriedly backpedaled. Unfortunately for him, Lin Yixin had already urged her mount forward and a cold streak of light flashed past his throat as she lashed out with her dagger. The assassin¡¯s body crumpled to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. The fight was over as soon as it began! Chapter 816: Augustus’ Spear I yelled as I spurred my mount forward and used the God Binding Art! Swhoosh! Four divine weapons landed around the Heaven-shaking Tiger, but the desired effect didn¡¯t happen because the skill failed to shackle it, resulting in a miss. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin rushed past the boss at the same time and flashed her shiny dagger. She struck it beneath the mandible three times in a row using a Moon Gaze + Extreme Break + basic attack combo! Extreme Break reduced the boss''s Defense drastically for a short time. This was my chance! I penetrated its stomach and executed Universe Break and Burning Blade Slash in rapid succession. At the same time, I noticed through Dark Pupils that the center of its forepaw was its weak point! 41988! 31982! 37267! 39918! Four devastating attacks later, I easily pulled the aggro back onto myself before passing the party leader to Lin Yixin. Bombshell boosted all stats by 80% and was a much safer stratagem than Martial God was. After all, the difference between having 80% more HP and Defense and not having it was night and day. ¡­¡­ "Roar roar!" The Heaven-shaking Tiger aimed a slap at Lin Yixin. Judging from the cyan flames surrounding its giant paw, it was the stun attack it had used earlier. Unable to dodge the attack in time, Lin Yixin had no choice but to raise her delicate arms in front of her and wait for the inevitable. Both her and her mount were knocked a couple of steps back as the ¡°Stunned¡± icon appeared above her head. Her beautiful purple eyes turned silver gray, and she was frozen in place. I gritted my teeth. This motherfucking boss had proven to be extremely powerful so far. For one, it had the ability to ignore the usual rules of aggro. The fact that it chose to attack Lin Yixin despite me owning all the aggro right now was the proof of that. Having dealt with Lin Yixin temporarily, the Heaven-shaking Tiger turned back to face me and swiped my shoulders three times in a row. It dealt a positively dangerous amount of damage¡ª 29878! 30192! 26651! Lin Yixin seemed astonished after she recovered from her stun, but she quickly summoned an icy energy in her palm and cried out, "Ice Storm!" A small area of space instantly turned into a frigid purgatory. Biting wind and deadly Icicles punched bloody holes in the Heaven-shaking Tiger¡¯s fur¡ª 30881! 31664! 31038! ¡­¡­ Ice Storm was incredibly powerful. In fact, it wouldn¡¯t be incorrect to say that Lin Yixin¡¯s overall strength had jumped to a whole new level after she learned this skill. Too bad its cooldown was a bit too long, or it could be measured on the same pedestal as my Ancient Seal for sure. Swhoosh! At the same time I recovered 25% of my HP with Tenacity of the Dead, I said, "Yiyi, we can¡¯t fight this boss head-on. The Heaven-shaking Tiger is a melee attacker, so I suggest we kite it while your Kris roasts it with draconic flames! You, I, the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition will keep it busy from four separate directions. I¡¯ll use ranged attacks like Dragon Slaying Slash and Ancient Seal to attack it." Lin Yixin puckered her lips for a bit. "You sure you can control three characters at the same time?" "Yeah! Don¡¯t worry!" "In that case, let¡¯s use Great Earth Transformation and go all out! This is the time to use the Divine Energy Points we¡¯ve been saving, and the sooner we end this battle, the less damage we¡¯ll take!" "Okay!" Now that we had a plan, I summoned my apparition while Lin Yixin¡¯s ice dragon was chipping away at the boss''s health from the sky and drawing its attention. After Lin Yixin and I split up and moved to opposite sides of the boss, I started hitting the boss with ranged attacks like Dragon Slaying Slash and Sword Boomerang. The Phantom Wolf King was really fast, so I used it to impede the boss''s movements as much as possible. Behind it, Lin Yixin tossed one powerful skill after another, absolutely devastating its HP. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! I activated Great Earth Transformation, and the shadows of three cyan dragons transformed into three floating swords that protected my surroundings. Lin Yixin was a female player, so her Great Earth Transformation surrounded her in falling petals that made her look like a barbarian goddess who descended to the mortal realm to exact her vengeance. ¡­¡­ Our strategy was successful. The Heaven-shaking Tiger might be a Level 191 Immortal Rank boss, but it kept losing HP as we forced it to run back and forth between the two of us. Sure, the Phantom Wolf King and the apparition were killed repeatedly in the process, but as long as Lin Yixin and I stayed alive then all was well. We were just too skillful to be suppressed by an AI. Less than thirty minutes later, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King for the third time and made my apparition use Purple Dragon Howl the second after Lin Yixin used Extreme Break, causing the boss''s HP to drop sharply like a rock! "The boss only has 10% HP left. Let¡¯s keep this up!" Lin Yixin ran in an unpredictable but calculated manner that saved her from the boss''s stun attack this time. Not going to let the opportunity slip by, she quickly closed the distance and slashed repeatedly at the boss. ¡­¡­ "Roar roar!" Suddenly, the Heaven-shaking Tiger raised its head and roared again and again. Then, countless dark red meteors began falling from the sky! "Shit! A super AoE attack?!" I rushed forward and hit the boss''s mandible with a Magic Piercing Punch! Bang! 12673! Unfortunately, the skill had failed to interrupt the boss''s casting. An Immortal Rank boss simply had too many ranks on me! Lin Yixin backed away quickly while saying, "Leave that area now, Little Cheat! I¡¯ll buy time with my ice dragon, so quickly!" "Mn!" Unfortunately, I was too late. One of the meteors hit me squarely on the head, spreading pain and dizziness throughout my entire body. Holy fuck, did a meteor just stun me? Dammit, I should¡¯ve known that stuns are the Heaven-shaking Tiger¡¯s signature skill! The stun lasted 7 seconds too long. There was no way in hell I was surviving this. The good news was that I had activated the Resurrection Art prior to the battle. Depending on how tenacious this boss was I might have to lose another 1 or 2 levels after this, but it was an acceptable cost since I could regain most, if not all of my levels after killing the boss. Lin Yixin and I were the only ones who were fighting the boss, and if I landed the last hit on it, at least 75% of the experience would fall to me. A Level 191 Immortal Rank boss should have enough experience to level me up two or even three times at my current level! ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud! Dark red rocks kept falling on top of my head painfully and dealing over 50k damage per hit. I had almost 250k HP right now, but that wasn¡¯t enough to survive the skill as a matter of course. Immortality didn¡¯t trigger after I died, so I revived myself and increased my attack power by 10% at the cost of 1 level! Now that I was back, I had another chance to interrupt the boss''s skill. After making sure that Great Earth Transformation was active, I aimed at the boss''s body and hit it with Magic Piercing Punch again! Bang! This time I succeeded, and fragments of energy flew everywhere. The Heaven-shaking Tiger stumbled two steps backward after its greater spell was forcefully canceled by me. At the distance, I saw Lin Yixin running back toward me with only 25% HP. She was faster than me, but even she didn¡¯t manage to avoid all of the meteors. I just took more damage because I was closer to the boss. "Go!" An Extreme Break later, Lin Yixin and I used Universe Break at the boss''s weak point at the same time as if we shared a telepathic link with each other. Intercourse triggered, and a purple energy crushed the boss''s armor like it was nothing and dealt an insane amount of damage! 390877! "Holy shit, that¡¯s broken¡­" I pushed my surprise aside and used Burning Blade Slash, still aiming at the boss''s weak point. This time, Lin Yixin used the Quadruple Slash, an exclusive skill of the Light Wanderer class and matched my Burning Blade Slash perfectly. Chiang chiang chiang! Intercourse triggered three times in a row. You only needed to hear the Heaven-shaking Tiger¡¯s wails to know how much damage it took! The boss only had a sliver of health left, so Lin Yixin immediately withdrew her weapon and said, "Little Cheat, you can take the kill since you dropped a level just now. The eighth floor boss is mine though!" "Okay!" I raised my weapon and slashed away in a frenzy. Since the Heaven-shaking Tiger had less than 2%, or several hundred thousand, HP left, I didn¡¯t bother to dodge its attacks. Suddenly, the Cyan Netherworld Sword shone brightly. It looked like I had triggered its passive skill, the Cyan Netherworld Divine Dragon! My luck made a grin break out on my face. The draconic soul penetrated the Heaven-shaking Tiger¡¯s body and elicited a scream. Finally, the huge beast reached the end of its evil life and died! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! As I had predicted earlier, a Level 191 Immortal Rank boss possessed enough experience to level me up thrice in a row, meaning that I was now Level 162. If the two of us could kill a couple more bosses like this, then catching up to Li Chengfeng, Luo River God of the Capital, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and everyone else on the Heavenly Ranking wouldn¡¯t be a dream anymore! ¡­¡­ I picked up the Tiger Soul Essence from the ground and gave Yiyi a smile. "Can I have this quest, Yiyi?" "Mn." She smiled and nodded at me. "But you¡¯d better remember to bring me with you when you carry out the follow-up quests!" "Of course!" Next, I moved the boss aside and checked the loot it dropped. It only dropped 3 items in total: a blood-red spear, an indigo leather armor cloak, and a dark red necklace with a pendant that was shaped like a broken red sword. It was surrounded by an orange glow, so I was sure that it was an amazing piece of equipment! ¡­¡­ I brought up the spear¡¯s stats screen first¡ª Augustus¡¯ Spear (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 1290~1550 Strength: +240 Stamina: +245 Agility: +220 Tactics: +60 Passive: Increases user''s attack power by 70% Passive: Increases user''s splash damage by 35% Slots: 8 Outstanding Property: Augustus¡¯ Rage. Become enraged in the middle of a battle. 3% chance to deal 250% damage when attacking a target. Level Requirement: 160 ¡­¡­ I was astonished. It was one of the most powerful offensive spears I had ever seen; almost the perfect weapon for a mounted player! "Do you want to use this?" I gave the weapon a wave as I asked Lin Yixin. She pouted a bit and shook her head. "It¡¯s fine, I prefer shorter weapons¡­ give it to Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi or Chaos Moon. They are Divine General¨Clevel players people can¡¯t get even with an impossible amount of money, so it¡¯s only right that you show them your appreciation from time to time." "You can keep it for Purple Marquis if you want to." "Purple Marquis is a swordsman to the end of his life. I¡¯ve dueled him when he used a spear-type weapon before, and he¡¯s about as clumsy as those immoral people who try to siphon waste oil with their tools. Long story short, he sucks balls with a spear¡­" "..." I put away the spear in my bag and nodded. "If I find a good sword-type weapon or two, I¡¯ll reserve them for you and Purple Marquis!" "Mn. Now, let¡¯s check out the rest of the equipment, shall we?" "Yeah!¡± Chapter 817: Necklace of the War God’s Broken Blade Defense: 985 Magic Resist: 850 Agility: +275 Stamina: +250 Strength: +235 Passive: Increases user''s ranged attack power by 40% Passive: Increases damage of user¡¯s Spiraling Arrow Blade by 50% Slots: 8 Outstanding Property: Daphne¡¯s Grasp. Upon activation, the user becomes invisible for 30 minutes. Level Requirement: 160 Class Requirement: Archer ¡­¡­ My eyes were practically glued to the stats screen. What an incredible leather armor cloak! Not only did it have a melodious and elegant name, its stats were crazy good, and its passives boosted the attack power of ranged attacks by 40%, and Spiraling Arrow Blade by 50%! Any archer who got their hands on this cloak would transform into a god of killing that not even I or Lin Yixin might be able to withstand! Thud! I immediately pulled the cloak closer and stared into Lin Yixin¡¯s beautiful eyes, begging, "Give me this cloak, and I¡¯ll listen to any request you have, Yiyi!" Lin Yixin stared at me disdainfully. "Bastard, you just want Beiming Xue to become the first archer to get a top-tier Heaven-grade cloak! Hmph! This is too much!" I hurriedly hugged her shoulders and said persuasively, "When Beiming Xue traveled all the way to Bloody Mercenaries workshop alone, I already swore to treat her like my younger sister. That¡¯s why I want to give her this Daphne¡¯s Cloak¡­" "Younger sister, you say?" Lin Yixin tilted her head like a ghost from a horror movie. "You sure that¡¯s the extent of your relationship?" I turned pale. "Of¡­ of course! What are you even thinking?" "Ceh!" Lin Yixin punched me once in the arm before replying, "Alright. Starting now, I¡¯m the one who decides which item goes to who, you hear me? All of them¡­ Dammit, Qingqing is my dearest sister, and I¡¯ve never gifted her an item that¡¯s as good as this cloak. How are you going to repay me for this failure, huh!?" "I get it, I get it already. Now let¡¯s check out the last item and head to the eighth floor, okay?" "Mn!" The last equipment was a necklace and an obvious treasure. Its pendant was a broken red sword, and its design was cool and murderous. It was exactly the kind of an accessory a militant like me loved¡ª Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Strength: +750 Stamina: +800 Agility: +720 Tactics: +99 Passive: Increase user¡¯s physical attack power by 50% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist by 50% Slots: 12 Introduction: During the ancient times, a terrible war broke out between the gods and devils. Countless gods died in the battle, and one of them was the Golden War God himself. Fragments of his broken sword fell to the human realm and were picked up by a divine smith. After applying a mysterious divine metal to the fragments, he reforged them into the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade. A tremendous amount of divine energy is contained within the pendant, and the necklace became the dream treasure of countless adventurers. Level Requirement: 160 Class Requirement: Warrior, Wanderer, Magic Knight Reputation Requirement: 300000 ¡­¡­ "Holy shit, what an amazing necklace¡­" I muttered while wiping away my saliva. If Heaven-grade equipment was considered top-class, then Immortal-grade equipment was beyond even that. The stats alone showed that the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade was three times higher than that of a Heaven-grade equivalent, meaning that the total power of two or even just one Immortal-grade item was easily equal to almost a whole set of Heaven-grade equipment. The further the game progressed, the more important extraordinary equipment like this would become. This time, I passed the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade into Lin Yixin¡¯s hand without hesitation and said, "Here, this is yours¡­" But Lin Yixin laughed playfully and teased me, "Please, you would eat me if I took this necklace from you¡­" "Of course not¡­" I blushed. "If I wanted to eat you, it would not be because of a necklace¡­" "What are you talking about?" It was Lin Yixin¡¯s turn to blush as she passed me the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade. "Take it. I already have the Devil Bell, so I don¡¯t mind Immortal-grade equipment at all. Plus, I don¡¯t yet have the level or reputation to equip it. I would look down on myself if I hoarded equipment I can¡¯t even use like some miser." "Alright¡­" I smiled brightly. "Stop being so generous, we¡¯re all family here. If you keep acting like this I¡¯m going to start feeling embarrassed¡­" Lin Yixin replied, "If that¡¯s true, then why can¡¯t sense a shred of shame in you, you shameless bastard¡­" ¡­¡­ I laughed and switched out the Soul Suppressing Necklace for the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade. To be honest, the Soul Suppressing Necklace was an amazing item with an active that gave me 100% critical hit chance for 60 seconds. It was an item that I was going to miss for sure. On the other hand, the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade gave me a 7% chance to stun an enemy for 7 seconds, and utility-wise it wasn¡¯t inferior to the Soul Suppressing Necklace in the slightest. I had been missing something like this ever since I took off the Paralysis Ring, and now my dream had finally come true! I could feel my displayed and hidden stats improving visibly after I equipped the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade. Immortal-grade equipment was amazing enough, but a 6-star Outstanding one could only be better. My 54 points of Luck weren¡¯t just for show. When it works, it works like a miracle. A warm stream of energy flowed out from my neck area and spread throughout my whole body. All my stats experienced a drastic increase¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Purgatory Title) Class: Undead Swordsman (Great Earth Swordsman) Level: 162 HP: 111290 Attack: 4410~5270 Defense: 6415 Magic Resist: 5610 Reputation: 328900 Tactics: 586 Luck: 54 ¡­¡­ My max HP had jumped over 110k, and my upper limit ofAttack soared over 5k. If I factored in the boosts from my equipment that the number was even crazier. I roughly estimated that my equipment boosted my Attack by 210%. 65% from the Cyan Netherworld Sword, 45% from my mount, 50% from the Necklace of War God¡¯s Broken Blade, 25% from the Battle Flame Wristguards and 25% from the Silver Dragon Ring. Add Martial God to the mix, and that is a total boost of 410%. 5270 Attack times 5.1 equals 26877 effective Attack, so it makes perfect sense why not even a boss could tank my damage. In a MMORPG like this, attack power was a culmination of equipment, skill, stats and more! Also, my Tactics stat was a crazy 586 right now. It was way beyond the necessary amount to cap my Famous General Skill. I complained as I stared at my stats screen, "Sigh, why would I even need 586 Tactics? What a waste¡­" However, Lin Yixin stared at me and asked, "Wait, you don¡¯t know?" "Whatever do you mean, dear?" "Stupid¡­" Lin Yixin curled her lips and explained as she pulled me toward the teleportation formation, "Divine General Skills are the ascended version of Famous General Skills, so your Tactics affects it as well. A Divine General Skill¡¯s attack power is split half-half between your true Attack and your Tactics, meaning that the higher your Tactics stat is, the more powerful your Divine General Skill becomes. This is why your Ancient Seal does more damage than Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Outer Flame. It¡¯s because his build leans too deep into Attack and not enough Tactics. Therefore, you should always try to raise both your Attack and Tactics when you improve your equipment." "Oh, I see¡­" Before I knew it, we had one foot inside the teleportation formation already. Lin Yixin smiled at me and said, "See you on the eighth floor, Little Cheat! You¡¯d better come find me!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! When my vision brightened again, I was already on the eighth floor of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. Not far away, I saw a bunch of Dark Prisoners roaming the area. The dread-rank mobs were now Level 192. I opened the map and noted that I was teleported to the south of the boss, and Lin Yixin to the north. Fuck, it¡¯s going to be a while before we meet up again! Beep! Lin Yixin sent me a message that said: "Looks like we¡¯re pretty far apart from each other this time. Let¡¯s meet up at the area on the left side of the boss. With luck, we¡¯ll be together again in a little over an hour. Be careful, these dread-rank mobs seem pretty powerful, and our bard buffs have expired. With our current Defense, we can only fight 2 to 3 Dark Prisoners at a time." "Mn, I know. You should be careful too, Yiyi. The mobs aren¡¯t the only enemies here; remember to keep an eye out for those players who got teleported to the eighth floor earlier, okay?" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ Looks like we would have to fight for ourselves this time. After tidying my bag for a bit, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition and continued the battle! While I was fighting, I listened in on the others speaking in the guild channel¡ª Xu Yang: "What the fuck, it¡¯s so fucking chaotic around here! Candle Dragon was holding the fifth floor boss until Warsky Alliance showed up and scattered them. Then Hero Alliance snatched it from them, and then a Korean alliance backstabbed Hero Alliance and scattered them instead. I bet Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is about to die from anger any moment!" Li Chengfeng: "Hahaha, I was watching the show myself. Anyway, don¡¯t forget to rush the boss when its HP drops below 20%. Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits, lead the attack on the boss and leave Candlelight Shadow and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow to me. Fuck, if only the vice leader was here. He could¡¯ve 1v2¡¯d Candlelight Shadow and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and saved me so much trouble¡­" He Yi: "Don¡¯t get careless, Chengfeng!" Gui Guzi: "Yeah! I know you¡¯re a Divine General, but you absolutely mustn¡¯t underestimate Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and Candlelight Shadow, Li! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s Ice Stream Blade could deal tens of thousands of damage to me in one hit!" Li Chengfeng: "Are you guys joking? Of course I¡¯m not going to underestimate them; both those fuckers have the stats to match their skills. When I say leave them to me, I really mean trying not to die and buying as much time as I can¡­ heal me please, sisters!" Beiming Xue: "Everyone, I see a small group of Hall of Immortality players behind us. Can you kill or stall them for as long as possible, Chaos Moon? The boss''s HP is only 27% now!" Chaos Moon: "My god, three minutes ago guild leader Eve asked me to stop Candlelight Shadow, two minutes ago Gui Guzi asked me to kill Wind Slayer, one minute ago someone asked me to fuck Vienna up and now I have to fight Hall of Immortality all by myself? I¡¯m not Nezha, people! I don¡¯t have three heads and six arms!" Murong Mingyue: "There, there. Now go!" Chaos Moon: "Go where?" Murong Mingyue: "Go finish all your tasks, duh!" Chaos Moon whined. "Lu Chen you bastard, get back to us already! This was your job, not mine!" ¡­¡­ On the eighth floor, I laughed heartlessly as I continued fighting the Dark Prisoners. It felt so nice to be far, far away from my responsibilities, if only for a moment! Chapter 818: Tiger Leopard Knigh "Roar roar¡­" Suddenly, the Phantom Wolf King lowered its head and growled menacingly at something directly ahead of me. Every hair around its neck was standing on its end. Clearly, my pet had sensed something. I immediately assumed a cautious stance and slowly spurred my mount forward. Some time later, I started hearing the sounds of fighting and even catching glimpses of fiery light flashing from the darkness. It was obviously the visual effect of Barrier Break. There¡¯s a battle going on in front of me! Once I had an inkling what was going on, I rushed forward with almost no hesitation. The enemy was in the open, and I was in the dark. When met with a Gordian knot, the best course of action was to slice it in half! ¡­¡­ Driving away the darkness in front of me with the light of the Cyan Netherworld Sword, I soon discovered two magic knights battling one another to the death. The first player was a magic knight from Hero City. The other, also a magic knight, was from Candle Dragon. The latter was called "Tiger Leopard Knight", and his mount reflected his ID perfectly; an animal that looked like a fusion between a tiger and a leopard. Both combatants seemed to share the same level of strength. The magic knight from Hero City had excess Attack and slightly inferior Defense, but he had a self-recovery skill that allowed him to gain the upper hand. Tiger Leopard Knight also had great Attack, but there were only so many Barrier Breaks he could tank with one health bar. As it was, he would die to the magic knight from Hero City for sure. "Fuck!" Tiger Leopard Knight backed off from his opponent and attempted to escape. However, the older magic knight let out a scornful laugh and taunted him, "Is this the extent of the power of a Chinese general? Is the so-called number one guild in China, Candle Dragon, full of cowards like you?" Tiger Leopard Knight abruptly stopped in his tracks and turned around to face his opponent once more. He gripped his spear tighter and sweared angrily, "I¡¯m not even afraid to die, and you think I¡¯m afraid of you? Come at me, you motherfucker!" "Die!" The older magic knight pierced Tiger Leopard Knight¡¯s shoulder with Barrier Break and dealt 18776 damage, deleting most of his remaining HP immediately. Tiger Leopard Knight retaliated with a strike to the shoulder himself, but the Hero City magic knight still had over 40% HP. There was no way he could kill him in time! "This is the end¡­" Tiger Leopard Knight let out a sigh of resignation and was about to close his eyes. ¡­¡­ It was time for me to act, or another fearless Chinese general would die in the hands of the enemy. This Tiger Leopard Knight looked rather well-equipped and righteous, and although he belonged to an enemy guild, I couldn¡¯t leave him for dead under these circumstances. Swhoosh! Four red divine weapons descended from the sky and immobilized the Hero City magic knight instantly. No matter how hard his mount struggled, it was unable to break free from its confines. "Dammit, what the hell is this¡­ an ambush?" The older knight finally noticed me as I and the Phantom Wolf King slowly stepped out of the darkness. Keeping the Cyan Netherworld Sword lowered, I smiled at Tiger Leopard Knight and said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Kill this Northern Alliance knight already." "Huh?" Tiger Leopard Knight exclaimed in shock, "It¡¯s you, Lu Chen?" "Less talking, more killing! God Binding Art doesn¡¯t last forever!" "Got it!" Tiger Leopard Knight immediately turned on the offense and started hacking away at the older knight. A while later he succeeded, and to the surprise of us both, his opponent dropped a shiny battle armor upon death. It was obviously excellent. Tiger Leopard Knight picked up the metal armor and passed it to me. He said, "1-star Outstanding Earth-grade metal armor. It may not be up to your standards, but the kill really belongs to you, so take it." "It¡¯s fine." I gently pushed away the loot before replying, "I just used a skill. You were the one who fought him from the beginning and gave it your all, not me." While saying this, I glanced at his shoulder and noticed that his title was "Thousand-man Corps Commander¡±. I wasn¡¯t expecting him to be such an important person in Candle Dragon! Seemingly noticing my intent, Tiger Leopard Knight grew alarmed and backed a few steps. "Candle Dragon and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are enemy guilds, and I¡¯m grateful that you helped me in spite of that. That being said, we are enemies, and I¡¯m not about to start betraying my own guild. Come at me if you wish, Lu Chen. Just know that I won¡¯t go down without a fight!" I sucked in a deep breath before replying, "Hmph, there¡¯s no point in killing you. For one, you¡¯re not one of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s trusted aides, and two, you and I don¡¯t have a grudge against each other. Be on your way, Tiger Leopard Knight. I wish you luck on the eighth floor. By the way, Wind Fantasy and I have reserved this floor¡¯s boss to ourselves, and I would advise you and the rest of your friends to stay away. I will not show mercy if you try to take it from us. You are not a bad person, and I don¡¯t wish for you and I to become enemies." Tiger Leopard Knight lowered his spear and nodded. "I know. Your virtue is well known, and your courage to face a million enemies alone during the War of Dawn City deserves the respect of all Chinese players. But no matter how much I respect you, I belong to Candle Dragon, and you are from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. The next time we meet, we meet in battle." I smiled. "That may be true, but today will not be the day we meet in battle. Now leave already, I¡¯m a busy man." "Hehe, fine¡­" Tiger Leopard Knight spurred his mount and passed by my side. He gradually disappeared into the darkness. ¡­¡­ I gritted my teeth a little. My coordinates were now exposed, so I couldn¡¯t stay here for long. Tiger Leopard Knight wouldn¡¯t pursue me, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for everyone else. Thousands of people were teleported to random locations during the battle against the Heaven-opening Tiger, and I was sure that Lin Yixin and I weren¡¯t the only ones here. There had to be at least a hundred players scattered across the eighth floor. An idea suddenly crossed my mind as I stared at the dozen or so Dark Prisoners wandering about in front of me. After slipping underground using Earth Escape, I moved past the mobs and continued forward. This way, no one could find me even if they roughly knew where I was. These Level 192 dread-rank mobs were goddamned destroyers, and most parties wouldn¡¯t be able to go through them unless they had someone with extraordinary recovery abilities or stats. It was at this moment I heard Li Chengfeng swearing from the guild channel, "Fuck! Shit! I miscalculated and let Candlelight Shadow steal Heaven-opening Tiger¡¯s equipment drops and Tiger Soul Essence!" Xu Yang: "Yeah, fucking hell!" Chaos Moon: "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is chasing down Candlelight Shadow right now. What do we do? Do we attack Candle Dragon or the Northern Alliance?" He Yi: "Vienna. We need to consider the bigger picture!" "Yeah, the guild leader is right. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow first, Candle Dragon second. Remember to watch out for his Ice Stream Blade, everyone¡­" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ It looked like the fifth floor¡¯s Soul Tiger Essence and I weren¡¯t fated to be together. I wasn¡¯t expecting Candlelight Shadow to be the one to take it, although in hindsight, that fucker had always been a thorn in my side. The fact that he overcame Li Chengfeng, Vienna, Farewell Song, Luo River God of the Capital and countless more super experts to snatch the Tiger Soul Essence proved how capable he was. An hour passed by quickly, and the distance between Lin Yixin and I was steadily decreasing. Another Dark Prisoner died in my hands and dropped a pair of dark black legguards. When I picked them up and gave them a look, I was happy to see that they were part of the Dark Prison equipment set. With this, Lin Yixin was just chest armor away from completing her set and becoming the first player to wear a complete Earth-grade equipment set. I could only imagine how powerful she would become! I saw Lin Yixin riding up to me at this exact moment. Contrary to her smile, the Ice Dragon Kris soaring above her head and growling at me just as hostilely as ever. "Come on, it¡¯s time to take out the boss!" I tossed the legguards into Lin Yixin¡¯s hands. Once she equipped them, her stats immediately jumped up a level again. "Hmm¡­" her face was red with excitement. "This set is so powerful¡­ if we can gather a full set, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll have a much easier time killing the boss." "Yeah, there are still plenty of mobs ahead of us. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll gather a full set by the time we reach the boss." "Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ Now that we were together, we continued to push deeper into the heart of the eighth floor, stepping over countless Dark Prisoners that had died under our swords. A Dark Prisoner Helmet dropped less than 20 minutes later, but the chest armor was still nowhere to be found. We could already see the tiger¡¯s cage from where we were, and we should reach the boss in about 50 Dark Prisoners or so. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of growing excitement. Another Immortal Rank boss¡ªa Level 192 one no less¡ªanother bag of experience and loot. With some good luck, it might even drop Immortal-grade equipment! The more I thought about it, the more excited I got. One of the reasons Vienna¡¯s Sorrow became nearly untouchable was because he had an Immortal-grade spear to pair with his Divine General Skill, Ice Stream Blade. Otherwise, there was no way he could¡¯ve fought his way in and out of our army like we didn¡¯t even exist! ¡­¡­ Another 15 minutes later, the last Dark Prisoner in the area collapsed in a groan and dropped two pieces of equipment, causing both our eyes to lit up. We couldn¡¯t believe that the dread-rank mob would drop two items in one go! One of them was a pair of wristguards, and the other, chest armor. They were both part of the Dark Prison set. "Hahaha, our luck is off the charts today¡­" I couldn¡¯t stop myself from grinning as I passed the chest armor to Lin Yixin. "Quickly, show me its overall stats after you¡¯ve equipped it!" "Mn." Lin Yixin accepted the chest armor and equipped it. A "Ka" sound later, the exquisite armor appeared around her torso. The obsidian-like armor accentuated the curves and sexiness of a female player, and the contrast between its dark color and Lin Yixin¡¯s milky white skin was especially appealing, not to mention that the woman before me was one of the most gorgeous women in the world. I felt like my eyeballs were sucked into an abyss of no return. "Here, take a look at this¡­" Lin Yixin waved a hand and brought up the complete Dark Prison equipment set¡¯s stats screen¡ª 2 pieces: Increases Attack by 35%, increases Defense by 40%, and attacks deal additional 10% darkness damage 3 pieces: Increases Attack by 25%, increases max HP by 10000 4 pieces: Increases Defense is increased by 50% and attacks deal additional 10% darkness damage 5 pieces: Increases max HP by 40000 and grants the user a passive skill. Dance of the Dark: 2% to trigger when attacked. When triggered, grants a buff that lets the use ¡°Great Dark Slash¡± 10 times in quick succession.. Chapter 819: Ghost Banner I was practically salivating as I stared at the stats screen and caressed the craggy but exquisite shoulder armor. What a work of art this was! Not only was the armor super powerful, it had the appearance to match the stats as well. On a female player, the armor looked elegant and graceful. On a male player, I imagined that it would look powerful and unstoppable. "You done touching yet?" Lin Yixin looked away from my hand and stared at me. "Does this count as sexual harassment?" I hurriedly removed my arm from her waist before declaring in a righteous tone, "It¡¯s time to kill the boss, Yiyi! Let us forget all the unhappiness and forge a new era!" "Bastard¡­" She curled her lips disdainfully. "You don¡¯t seriously think you can get away with this, do you?" "The boss is coming out, Yiyi¡­" I pretended she didn¡¯t say anything and pointed at the cage. "Do you want to aggro it, or should I? I¡¯m just saying, but your Defense is way higher than mine right now¡­" The girl shot me an affectionate glance before replying, "Fine. I¡¯ll aggro the boss while you summon your pet and apparition and prepare for battle." "Got it!" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin rushed forward and broke the lock on the cage in one strike. The next moment, the boss inside the cage let out a fearsome roar and pounced toward her. To our surprise, the boss was a burning tiger with incredible stats¡ª Heaven-burning Tiger (Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 194 Everything else about the boss including its skills was hidden. This would be a hard battle for sure! ¡­¡­ "I¡¯m coming, Little Cheat!" Lin Yixin ran toward me at top speed as I dropped three Icy Cyclone Domains on the ground to create an advantageous terrain in a hurry. Next, I tried using God Binding Art on the boss and failed to no one¡¯s surprise. The boss''s level and rank were incredibly high, so it was only natural that the God Binding Art¡¯s success rate would be pitifully low. To my surprise, the Heaven-burning Tiger pounced toward me before I even took a step. The first thing it did was to open its bloody jaws and spit me a faceful of fire! It wasn¡¯t called ¡° Heaven-burning¡± for nothing! Whoosh! The burning flames engulfed me, Lin Yixin, the Phantom Wolf King and the apparition. My entire body felt like they were melting away. It hurts! 90088! I lost an insane amount of HP even with my Magic Resist. This boss was a bit too OP, wasn¡¯t it? Lin Yixin was wearing the complete Dark Prison equipment set right now, so she only lost 80k+ HP. Her Magic Resist had surpassed mine, and her max HP was a whopping 300k. In terms of survivability, if we only counted one HP bar with no regen skills, she was way stronger than I was. Of course, it was a completely different story if I were to use the Resurrection Art. Moreover, the Heaven-burning Tiger¡¯s flame breath covered an obscenely wide area; a cone-shaped area with a 40-yard radius to be exact. Thank goodness we were the only combatants around, or this place would¡¯ve turned into a hell on earth already. The flame breath was powerful enough to one-shot over 80% of the elites in this tower, and the only ones who could really survive it were top-class magic knights. ¡­¡­ "Roar roar!" The Heaven-burning Tiger roared angrily and looked like it was about to spit yet another flame breath, so I hurriedly ran forward and punched it beneath the jaw with Magic Piercing Punch! Bang! Thankfully the skill worked, and while this was going on, Lin Yixin moved behind the boss and destroyed its armor with Extreme Break and Ice Storm. I threw in War Crush and Burning Blade Slash myself, and some of the hits matched with Lin Yixin¡¯s to trigger Intercourse. Together, we dealt almost 500k damage to the boss in one go. The Heaven-burning Tiger had 20 million HP, but with our level of rapport and stats, we could probably take it out in 30 minutes tops. Of course, that was assuming that the boss failed to kill us during this time. "Roar roar!" The Heaven-burning Tiger swiped at us repeatedly and dealt between 20k to 30k damage per hit. This wasn¡¯t beyond our limits of endurance because one, I could lifesteal HP with my weapon and two, Lin Yixin¡¯s Dark Prison equipment set gave her increased hidden HP regeneration. More importantly, we abandoned the idea of fighting it head-on and kited it using various skills and techniques. Together, we just barely managed to withstand the boss. "Roar!" The Heaven-burning Tiger breathed another sea of fire, and this time, the Phantom Wolf King whimpered and returned to my pet space. Unfortunately, land-bound pets just couldn¡¯t compare to airborne ones such as Lin Yixin¡¯s Ice Dagon Kris even if they shared the same rank, and in this case, Kris¡¯s Magic Resist was so high that a flame breath only dealt 30k+ damage to it. With a max HP of 400k and a super regeneration rate thanks to her draconic lineage, Kris was undoubtedly the biggest variable of this boss fight. ¡­¡­ Ten minutes passed, and the boss''s HP dropped to 70% or so. I had to die once and drop a level to protect Lin Yixin during this time, but it was a small price to keep the both of us transformed Divine Generals in the fight. At the current stage, only a handful of people could even dream of fighting a Level 194 Immortal Rank boss with just two players. After all, a boss at this level could easily deal hundreds of thousands of damage in one hit. Of course most people wouldn¡¯t be able to endure this. "Throw some Saint Spirit Potions on the floor, Little Cheat! I¡¯m about to run out of potions!" Lin Yixin said urgently in the middle of the battle. I nodded and dropped two stacks of Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potions on the ground. Then, I ran past the boss and hit its sides with Burning Blade Slash, forcing it to turn around so that Lin Yixin could use this lull to heal herself. After she picked up the healing supplies and drank a Saint Spirit Potion, she rejoined the battle looking as good as new! Suddenly, a system announcement rang for the entire world to hear¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Warsky (Sky City)" has successfully defeated the Immortal Rank Boss, Heaven-devouring Tiger, and met the requirements to learn Great Earth Transformation! They have become the fifth Divine General of China! They have gained 200/200 Divine Energy Points, Luck +2, Tactics +5, and an exclusive Divine General Skill, "Ghost Banner"! Ghost Banner: Beseech the power of the Ghost God and steal the souls of your enemies temporarily. All players within 20 yards of the user enter a Soulless state and become stunned for 5 seconds. Skill can only be used every 10 seconds, and each use costs 5 Divine Energy Points. Skill exclusive to Warsky. ¡­¡­ "Ghost Banner?" I exclaimed in astonishment, "Of all the people who could become a Divine General, Warsky is the one who won the lottery? This is truly unexpected. This Ghost Banner seems incredibly powerful. I wonder if it¡¯s a guaranteed stun?" Lin Yixin shook her head. "I don¡¯t know, but we need to kill this boss as soon as possible. Now that the sixth floor boss is dead, it won¡¯t be long before everyone rushes into the seventh and eighth floor. If we¡¯re even a bit slower, someone might show up and snatch the boss away from us. We don¡¯t want that to happen now, do we?" "Yeah." Inside the guild channel, everyone was talking about Warsky¡¯s ascension¡ª Gui Guzi: "God damn, I can¡¯t believe Warsky got ahead of us. Is that Ghost Banner a guaranteed AoE stun? If it is, then it¡¯s OP as hell..." Chaos Moon: "Man, Warsky is so lucky!" I asked, "Hey, I know Warsky Alliance killed the boss, but who got the Tiger Soul Essence?" He Yi: "I don¡¯t know. The battle was so chaotic that I didn¡¯t even see who landed the last hit on the boss, much less the loot. I know that I got Earth-grade wristguards and Gui Guzi got a Heaven-grade ring. As for the Tiger Soul Essence¡­ hmm, according to reliable info, it was taken by Candlelight Shadow. He had exploited a blind spot and fooled our dear Chaos Moon¡­" Chaos Moon: "Uuuu, please don¡¯t elaborate any further. It was so embarrassing¡­" I laughed. "Well, get to the eighth floor as soon as you can. Lin Yixin and I are fighting the boss right now, and the seventh floor boss is already dead. Cover us as soon as possible so that no one can snatch it from us!" "No problem. Hang on, you two! We¡¯re coming right now!" He Yi chuckled. Li Chengfeng: "So, Warsky became a Divine General, huh. I know that that guy has been doing his best to improve his guild and himself everyday. Apparently, Warsky Alliance¡¯s rather average performance during the War of Dawn City had shamed him and driven him to become a better man. The fact that he became a Divine General now means that the balance between our guilds had finally been broken, and that we are no longer the strongest guild in China anymore. Candle Dragon, Snowy Cathaya and Warsky Alliance are all growing at an incredible pace." I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. We all should work hard to defend the name of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. One day, we will sit on the throne as the indisputable conqueror of Heavenblessed!" Gui Guzi let out a hearty laugh as he said, "Well said, Boss Broken Halberd! Let¡¯s give it our all everyone! We are the one and only conqueror of Heavenblessed!" ¡­¡­ I closed the guild channel and focused on the boss after that. There was no doubt that the power balance between the forces of China was growing murkier and murkier every day. Warsky had learned a powerful Divine General Skill that could stun an entire group of people. Not only that, the skill had a cooldown of 10 seconds and a duration of 5 seconds. I doubted that there were many people who could survive an all-out assault during this time. For now, it looked like the only way to beat Warsky was to kill him in 5 seconds after recovering from the stun. Otherwise, it would be a defeat for sure. Thud thud thud... Back to the present. I continued to pull the boss to places and cover for Lin Yixin while I resummoned the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition. Out of all of us, the Ice Dragon Kris was the most reliable variable of the entire fight. It spent practically every moment tearing, biting and spitting its dragon breath at the tiger, like a true boss. Another 15 minutes passed by in the blink of an eye, and the boss''s HP dropped to 20% or so. However, our anxiety was also more or less at its peak. It was because we were worried that someone might show up, steal the boss and waste all our hard-earned effort. While the chances that a Level 194 Immortal Rank boss might drop Immortal-grade equipment was only 1%, it was a different story if I was the one who landed the last hit. Considering the level difference, my Luck stat and other factors, I dare say that the chances of Immortal-grade equipment dropping was as high as 30%. And as for how powerful Immortal-grade equipment might be, one only needed to look at the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade hanging around my neck. It wouldn¡¯t be inaccurate to say that Immortal-grade equipment was the factor that defined the strong and swayed the tides of war right now. It was why I didn¡¯t want to let go of this chance if at all possible! ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, our prayers went unanswered. I sweared in my head when a chorus of hooves suddenly appeared behind us. FUCK, someone¡¯s coming! A group of people emerged from the darkness of the night, and their IDs were all blood-red in color. The newcomers were not part of the Northern Alliance, but they did belong to an enemy guild, Wings of Awakening. I counted around 70 people, and most of them were Fire Lizard Cavalrymen. The axe-wielding party leader was none other than the guild leader himself, Bloody War God! Chapter 820: Death of Bloody War God Bloody War God exclaimed rapturously as stared at the low-health boss, me and Lin Yixin with unbridled desire. He then raised his battle axe and laughed madly. "This is our chance, brothers and sisters! Take out that Heaven-burning Tiger and the two Divine Generals, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy! We won¡¯t be this lucky next time!" However, a tactician behind him frowned a little and said, "Boss, are you sure we want to do this? There¡¯ll be no repairing our relationship with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya, and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy will definitely want to take revenge. They might even travel all the way to Wind City just to pursue us¡­" Bloody War God frowned right back. "In an era of war and chaos, the ambitious and ruthless is king! Plus, there¡¯s nothing to be afraid of. If we die, we only lose a level, but if we win, we¡¯ll have our first Tiger Soul Essence and maybe Immortal-grade equipment! Can you imagine that? Even you can become as powerful as Vienna¡¯s Sorrow if you can get your hands on Immortal-grade equipment! If that is what you desire, then ride with me! In this world, you realize dreams through blood and slaughter! Now go! Kill them and the boss!" ¡­¡­ The Fire Lizard Cavalry led by Bloody War God himself set their sights on me and charged. Bastards, it was obvious what these bastards were planning; they wanted to stun me and let the boss take me out! A sweet smile crossed Lin Yixin¡¯s lips. "Are you afraid, Little Cheat?" "Like hell I am!" In fact, veins popped on my head in anger. "Let¡¯s give these fuckers a taste of the flames of the Heaven-burning Tiger! Yiyi, prepare to initiate evasion measures!" "Okay!" I fired Burning Blade Slash at the boss''s head and angered it. The animal immediately opened its mouth and unleashed a jet of flames at me. I dashed to the side until I was between the boss and the Wings of Awakening. This way, the Fire Lizard Cavalry couldn¡¯t escape the flame breath! Boom! I used Tenacity of the Dead to restore 60k+ HP as the flame breath hit me for over 90k damage. My entire body was hurting, but I smiled because I knew that the Fire Lizard Cavalry would only fare worse than me. After all, they neither had super equipment nor a godlike defensive skill such as my Ghost Deity Armor! The flame breath turned the space behind me into a cone-shaped sea of flames. The Wings of Awakening cavalry panicked as they weren¡¯t expecting the boss to possess such a powerful skill. Some of them were burned into crisps before they could react. Some tried to run away only for their butts to be set on fire literally. Screams of pain and terror and thick columns of damage numbers filled the air for a time¡ª 197673! 172656! 183674! 221093! ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin hid a chuckle as she shook the boss with an Ice Storm + Extreme Break combo. I smiled. "Rest in peace, Bloody War God!" "You!" Bloody War God looked at me, but the only thing that was reflected in his pupils was the growing image of the Cyan Netherworld Sword. I used Sword Boomerang and Ancient Seal in rapid succession so as to give him no chance to escape his predicament. Two damage numbers later, the foolish guild leader slowly dropped to his knees and died. 39027! 78993! It was the perfect outcome. If Wings of Awakening had to fight Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya to the death, then we would happily oblige them, not to mention that people like Bloody War God totally deserved to die. No one likes assholes who try to pour salt on others¡¯ wounds. ¡­¡­ "Now, quickly!" said Lin Yixin with a chuckle. She was doing her utmost to maximize her DPS because our lives were on a timer. At this rate, the boss would die in 5 minutes tops! Unfortunately, reality was ever the cruel mistress. When the boss dropped to 9% health, I died again but was fortunate enough to trigger Immortality and revive for free. Just as I rose to my feet, a new group of players appeared behind me. They belonged to Hegemon Palace, and Pillar of the Nation, Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er were all present. Shangguan Wan¡¯er behind her delicate waist and vanished into thin air the moment she saw us. Fuck assassin stealth, man! ¡­¡­ "Looks like luck is on our side today¡­" Pillar of the Nation said with a smile, "The boss''s HP is just perfect. Get ready, everyone! Coordinate with Wan¡¯er and kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy, and the boss will be ours!" However, Little Piglet looked at the floor of dropped equipment and potions and said with a frown, "Guild leader, wait. There¡¯s something fishy about this. Looking at the ground, it looks like over a hundred people were killed by an AoE skill. We must act cautiously!" Pillar of the Nation raised his eyebrows. "It¡¯ll be fine, there¡¯s nothing to be afraid of. Now go!" Little Piglet gritted his teeth and tried again, "Guild leader, why do you appoint me as your general if you won¡¯t listen to my advice? In my opinion, the best strategy here is to take a circuitous route, hit Lu Chen from afar and force him to waste Divine Energy Points. It¡¯s not like the boss is going anywhere, right? Please listen to me!" Pillar of the Nation grew a bit angry. "Who is the guild leader here, you or me? Anyway, I have listened to your advice, but I simply think that you¡¯re overthinking it! There are 200 of us and only 2 of them! Now go! Show Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya the power of Hegemon Palace!" Little Piglet sighed sorrowfully. "There is no point speaking to the deaf¡­" "You little!" Wang Dongliang stared at Little Piglet. "Hmph! You really should follow Wan¡¯er¡¯s example! She¡¯s already on the move! Anyway, are you going or not? If not then I¡¯ll lead the troops myself!" Little Piglet replied in a helpless tone, "I¡¯m going!" ¡­¡­ That was close. If Little Piglet had gotten his way and harassed Lin Yixin and I from the sides, he would¡¯ve been able to disrupt our rhythm and deplete my remaining Divine Energy Points. I would¡¯ve done the same thing. Unfortunately, Wang Dongliang was too prideful to listen to his own general and sealed his own fate. I turned around and paid close attention to Hegemon Palace as Little Piglet and the Porcupine Riders charged. It was rather menacing considering the circumstances. Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes flashed. "Now!" "Yeah!" Indigo flames surrounded the Cyan Netherworld Sword as I hit the boss''s mandible with Universe Break¡ªits weak point¡ªat nearly the same time. Instead of penetrating the boss''s body, our energies merged into a purple halo before exploding for over 170k damage! "Roar!" By now, we had figured out that the Heaven-burning Tiger would use a flame breath every time it suffered a terrible blow. Since Intercourse was successful, it meant that the boss was definitely going to use its flame breath in retaliation. Whoosh! I backed away and activated Great Earth Transformation as a stream of flames washed over me, taking reduced damage thanks to the cyan swords protecting me. The same couldn¡¯t be said for the Porcupine Riders, however. The Hegemon Palace cavalry screamed in pain as the cone-shaped flame engulfed nearly all of them, including Little Piglet himself! Wang Dongliang stood slack-jawed with surprise as each and every one of his Porcupine Rider suffered over 150k damage in one go. Not even in his wildest imagination could he imagine this kind of outcome. Other than the Porcupine Riders who were lucky not to get caught in the attack, Little Piglet was the only one who emerged from the hill of corpses with 32% HP and charged toward me. After he enhanced himself with Strength of Divine Arms and recovered his HP using Wind of Recovery, he executed Ice Ray Flurry at me while growling, "What have you done, Lu Chen!" Instead of retreating, I met his attack head-on and parried two of the three hits of Ice Ray Flurry. The third hit was too fast for me to block, so it pierced my chest armor, erupted into a small shower of snowflakes and dealt 27616 damage! That was an impressive amount of damage even though I had nullified two-thirds of the skill. Little Piglet¡¯s Attack was as powerful as ever, it seemed. As we rode past each other, the man jumped up from horseback and tried to slash me from behind! I felt my blood boil with excitement. There were only a handful of people in the entire Sky City who could pull off such an elegant maneuver! I bent my body a little and avoided Little Piglet¡¯s first strike. Then, setting my arm across the back of the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, I pushed myself upward with all my might, kicked away Little Piglet¡¯s arm before he could hit me a second time, and slashed him right across the helmet! Chiang! 38712! Little Piglet almost had no health at this point, but he didn¡¯t retreat. The force of my attack caused him to drop to one knee and slide two yards across the ground, but he quickly planted a foot on the wall next to him, pushed, and flew toward me again with Ice Breaking Slash. I steadied my footing and grabbed my sword with both hands. Trusting in Great Earth Transformation, I swung my sword at his blade and actually managed to knock his attack to the side! Bang! The deflected sword energy splashed against a corner of the wall. Unfortunately for Hegemon Palace, Shangguan Wan¡¯er happened to be skulking at that exact spot. Letting out a cry of pain, she appeared with only a small amount of HP left and dropped a Poison Bomb on the ground. She shouted, "Little Piglet, run now!" Little Piglet uttered with grim eyes. "Well played, Lu Chen. We¡¯ll duel again the next time we meet!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The God Binding Art dissipated from my fingers, but not because Little Piglet did anything to stop me. I just didn¡¯t feel like killing him today. Chapter 821: Give Him a Kiss Another group of people emerged from the back, but this time, their numbers were much bigger and varied than both the enemy forces we beat back earlier. They were all here for the Heaven-burning Tiger. The Level 194 Immortal Rank boss represented an unimaginable amount of profit, and the battle of the Soul Suppressing Tower was a chance for every guild to show off their strength. Moreover, the CGL committee was taking the results of this battle into account for the next update of the Guild Ranking, so of course everyone was giving it their all. ¡­¡­ "Shit, it¡¯s the Northern Alliance¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes were full of worry as she dodged out of the way of the boss''s attack while gazing toward the distance. "Quickly, we¡¯re really running out of time¡­" Failing to withdraw in time, Little Piglet and Wang Dongliang had no choice but to hide themselves in a corner. The leader of the party was a rider with an angry expression on his face. He was none other than the best player of Hot Sand City and the Heroic Bannerman we had bested during the War of Dawn City, Eye of the Storm. He was accompanied by at least 300 players, and most of them were cavalry. It wasn¡¯t a force we could afford to underestimate. "This is bad¡­" I repeated the trick that had annihilated two parties earlier and made the Heaven-burning Tiger fire a stream of flames at the Northern Alliance party, but... "Retreat!" barked Eye of the Storm as he raised his shield and used Holy Shield at the same time. To my surprise, the Heaven-burning Tiger¡¯s attack only dealt 60k+ damage to him. Eyes twinkling with cunning, he said, "Move to the corners and surround them!" Shit! I felt a chill in my heart. Eye of the Storm was way smarter than Wang Dongliang, and he had figured out the best thing in this situation immediately. Lin Yixin and I were dead the moment we were surrounded. I checked my stats screen, and I only had 17 Divine Energy Points left. It wasn¡¯t nearly enough to defeat this many Vietnam cavalrymen. Lin Yixin and I would definitely be at a disadvantage in a head-to-head battle because we had exhausted most of our divine energy to kill the boss as quickly as possible. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a chorus of thundering hooves appeared from the sides. Very soon, a beautiful figure entered the boss area, and it was none other than a knightress of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Heaven¡¯s Rain! "Stop them!" Heaven¡¯s Rain pointed at the enemy, and a troop of Dragonlight Cavalry instantly rushed toward Eye of the Storm. A sweet smile bloomed across Lin Yixin¡¯s face. "Ohh! I love you so much, Sister Mingyue¡­" Murong Mingyue smiled back. "It¡¯s not free! If the boss drops priest equipment, it¡¯s mine¡­" "Sure, no problem!" ¡­¡­ Fights started breaking out all over the boss area. The guild had assembled quite the number of Dragonlight Cavalrymen¡ªover 800 of them, in fact¡ªand they were led by powerful players like He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Heaven¡¯s Rain and High Fighting Spirits. They were able to tear apart Eye of the Storm and his Vietnamese players with ease. "Hmm, it looks like we¡¯re late¡­" However, a new force emerged from the right, and it was Candle Dragon led by Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow and God¡¯s Dance. Another force emerged from the left, and it was Warsky Alliance and the newly ascended Warsky. The guild leader activated Great Earth Transformation and rushed toward me with a hearty laugh. "Why so hasty, Lu Chen!? Do share the boss with us!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Laughing At The Heavens, Hundred Battler and Farewell Song rushed me at once and added to my headache. Warsky Alliance would never be a trustworthy ally of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and our conflicts would never end for as long as one of us dreams of ruling over all. Thud thud thud... I backed a few steps and drank a Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion, restoring my HP and MP instantly. Then, while Lin Yixin¡¯s Extreme Break was still active, I fired Purple Dragon Howl that absolutely devastated the Immortal Rank boss. The Heaven-burning Tiger screamed as damage numbers rose above its head¡ª 117623! 129388! 120394! ¡­¡­ The boss''s last sliver of HP disappeared in just an instant. A warm feeling wrapped around my body as I jumped two levels in a row and reached Level 164! After picking up all the equipment dropped by the Heaven-burning Tiger, Lin Yixin said with a smile, "Time to retreat. See you again on the ninth floor, Little Cheat¡­" "Nooo! Let¡¯s split the loot first!" I raced toward her. Lin Yixin shot a glance at her own bag before tossing Tiger Soul Essence into my hands. She said, "An Earth-grade sword that Purple Marquis can use, a Heaven-grade cloak that I can use. Mmm, yeah. Don¡¯t look so disappointed, Little Cheat. Here, this is for you! Now then, see you on the ninth floor!" Lin Yixin equipped the dark red-colored Heaven-grade cloak she mentioned and improved her good looks instantly. She then tossed me an item with dancing flames before stepping through the portal that led to the ninth floor, disappearing in an instant. My heart thumped wildly as I stared at the equipment in my hands. God damn, all that trouble we went through to kill the Heaven-burning Tiger was worth it after all! The equipment was a battle armor with dancing flames on its surface and craggy scales. At the center of the battle armor was the sinister image of a bloody tiger. I could even hear the faint roars of a tiger from time to time. When I brought up its stats screen, what I saw blew my mind away¡ª Heaven-burning Armor (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 2900 Magic Resist: 2750 Strength: +850 Stamina: +820 Agility: +750 Tactics: +89 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 65% Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 40000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Resist by 110% Outstanding Property: Heaven-burning Flame. When attacked, 2% chance to damage all enemies around you with heavenly flames. Slots: 12 Introduction: During the ancient times, the Fire God gifted the humans heavenly flames so they could cook their food over the fire. However, the gods perished after the War of Gods and Devils, and the divine flames scattered across the human world and melted into tall mountains. Tens of thousands of years later, it was finally discovered by a stonemason and brought to a divine smith. The divine smith used it to create this legendary Heaven-burning Armor. Level Requirement: 160 Reputation Requirement: 250000 ¡­¡­ Tak! I immediately removed the Crimson Rock Dragon Armor and replaced it with the Heaven-burning Armor. Like seriously, my precious Crimson Rock Dragon Armor was practically trash compared to this baby! Not only did it give a whopping 2900 Defense, it boosted my Magic Resist toward all types of magic by 110%! This meant that I was growing more and more resistant toward mages despite my class disadvantage. Even better, the armor gave me 40k HP, which put me at a total HP of 155k. If I buffed myself with cards, bard buffs and Famous General Skills for a maximum HP boost of 200%, that number would be 450k! How awesome was that? All smiles, I looked around me. The Dragonlight Cavalry was already withdrawing, and plenty of people jumped into the teleportation formation floating above the dead body of the Heaven-burning Tiger. As He Yi, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and everyone else walked toward me, Gui Guzi greeted me with a smile, "Let¡¯s go, Boss Broken Halberd! The final, greatest clash of titans is soon to begin!" Noticing my new armor, Beiming climbed up the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and gave the Heaven-burning Armor a good rub. She giggled and said, "You got new equipment, big bro? Let¡¯s see¡­" As she checked the equipment ranking, her eyes widened in astonishment. "Hmm? The best chest armor right now is a Level 160 Immortal Rank metal armor called the Heaven-burning Armor. Big bro, could it be¡­" I looked down on my armor and the red flames dancing around it. I asked her back, "Does this look like a Heaven-burning Armor, Beiming?" "Totally¡­" He Yi said from the side. "Then I suppose it is, hahahaha¡­" Words couldn¡¯t describe how pleased i was feeling right now. Whether or not I managed to collect all nine Tiger Soul Essences in the end, there was no changing the fact that I had gotten two Immortal-grade items, the Necklace of War God¡¯s Broken Blade and Heaven-burning Armor from this trip. This alone was enough to make me the biggest winner of the battle of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. Once again, I couldn¡¯t help but feel deep gratitude toward Lin Yixin. She was acting generous, probably to make up for the Devil Bell I had gifted her. Next, I took out a gorgeous, moon-colored cloak from my bag. It was none other than the super Heaven-grade cloak, Daphne¡¯s Cloak. Its Outstanding Property, Daphne¡¯s Grasp, allowed its wearer to go into stealth, making it the perfect item for archers who were well-versed in the art of forest warfare and stealth operations. "Here, Beiming. This is yours!" I passed the Daphne¡¯s Cloak to Beiming Xue. When she touched the cloak and saw its stats, happiness instantly bloomed in her eyes, "Wah, this cloak is so beautiful¡­ so powerful..." The girl was so excited that she hugged me tightly before planting a kiss on my cheeks. Before I could react, she jumped off my mount, spun on her feet and equipped the gorgeous cloak. A "swhoosh" later, the Dark Archer vanished into thin air, just like that. ¡­¡­ "Heavens, an archer who can enter stealth? What were the devs thinking¡­" Li Chengfeng curled his lips in incredulity and disbelief. I smiled again and tossed the Augustus¡¯ Spear next into Li Chengfeng¡¯s hands. The dragon warrior caught the weapon, took a glance at its stats and exclaimed in astonishment, "Holy shit, these stats are crazy. Is this for me?" I nodded. "Yep, I had to argue with Beauty Lin long and hard to get this. What, you don¡¯t know how to use a spear? That¡¯s fine, Gui Guzi can have it then¡­" Li Chengfeng hastily slipped the Heaven-grade spear into his bag and said, "Of course I know how to use a spear. In fact, I¡¯m a weapons master who can wield even a meteor hammer since youth, much less a spear! By the way, how do you want me to repay you, Lu Chen? This weapon is too amazing!" Chaos Moon said from the side, "I got an idea. Why don¡¯t you learn from Beiming Xue and give him a kiss? Guys, give them a round of applause, please!" The fucking Dragonlight Cavalry actually obeyed her order and clapped. Feeling a twitch at the corner of my lips, I said, "Come on, let¡¯s go to the ninth floor already!" ¡­¡­ Thankfully, I wasn¡¯t the only one who was feeling awkward. Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, October Rain, God¡¯s Dance and everyone else couldn¡¯t untwist their faces for a very long time. Chapter 822: Teleportation Tactic I stepped through the teleportation formation. A flash of light later, I appeared on the ninth and most likely the highest floor of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. "Roar roar roar¡­" However, I immediately heard a devil¡¯s roar and felt a burst of pain from my shoulder. What the fuck was this shit teleportation? I got attacked by three dread-rank mobs the moment I appeared! After my eyes adjusted to the light, I looked around and saw three undead knights clad in metal armor. Each of them was carrying a spear that was glowing a red light, and the spear was covered in scary-looking barbs. The real threat wasn¡¯t getting impaled, but having your blood, flesh, intestines, kidneys, gallbladder, urinary bladder and more pulled out of your stomach when the weapon was pulled! What a scary mob! I immediately activated Ghost Deity Armor. The undead knights kept hitting me, but my new armor was so OP that I actually took far less damage than I did on the previous floors¡ª 7809! 7662! 6722! ¡­¡­ Good. Not even a Level 195 dread-rank mob can threaten me any longer. I can fight them head-on! The Armored Ice Qilin Horse raised its hooves and hit the ground using War Crush, hitting the dread-rank mobs three times in a row and eliciting screams from them. While they were flinching from my counterattack, I checked out their stats and noted that they were called "Dark Guardians¡± and were Level 195 dread-rank mobs with much higher stats than the Level 193 Dark Prisoners. Swhoosh! Suddenly, a mob¡¯s spear became shrouded in flames, and I was astonished to see that it was using Barrier Break. This was the first time I saw a mob using this super skill! Thud! 18767! I took a sizable amount of damage, but the Heaven-burning Armor suddenly lit up and erupted into a ring of flames. The Heaven-burning Flame damaged all targets who were close to me, and the three undead knights were no exception. Unlucky bastards, the battle barely began and they already triggered my armor¡¯s passive skill. The fight was shortened drastically thanks to the lucky trigger. In less than twenty seconds, I used Burning Blade Slash for the third time and killed all three undead knights at the same time. Pop! A few Phantasmal Magic Stones and a pair of black wristguards dropped on the ground. I picked up the equipment and noted that it was part of the Dark Prison set. Not bad. Continue! ¡­¡­ I pointed at a dread-rank mob and shackled it with the God Binding Art while the Phantom Wolf King drew the attention of another mob. The Dragonlight Cavalrymen immediately felt a lot less pressured than before. One of the Dragonlight Cavalrymen¡ªa beautiful knightress¡ªbloomed into a wide smile the moment she turned around and saw me. "Wah, it looks like luck is finally on our side! To think we would run into the vice leader almost immediately after we entered the ninth floor!" She was none other than our Knight General, Diamond Dust. "Mn." I gave them a nod before saying, "Join my party. We are far away from the boss, so we¡¯ll be using Martial God to fight our way to the boss." "Okay!" A temporary party was formed, and I was the main tank. It was because my Defense was giga-boosted by the Immortal-grade Heaven-burning Armor, and my Attack was high enough to hold the enemy¡¯s aggro for as long as I wanted to. There was no one here who was more suited to be the party¡¯s tank than me. Half an hour later, we cleared out two corridors and met up with another twenty or so Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players. In total, there were now 35 of us. Most of them were of the Dragonlight Cavalry because the traps on the first floor were too dangerous for mages, archers and other fragile classes to charge through by force. On the other hand, Dragonlight Cavalry had no such problems as long as a priest was present to heal them halfway through the traps. Me and my party of 20+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen and a small number of mages, priests, archers and assassins continued on our way. It wasn¡¯t long before we heard the clangs of weapons and the battle cries of players. "Kill that woman now!" A particularly violent voice shouted. I hurriedly ran forward and saw a girl carrying a scepter stumbling across a corridor and attempting to escape the two magic knights and three archers at her tail. Swhoosh! The girl healed herself with a green spell before casting pools of gray mud that slowed down her pursuers temporarily. At the same time, she buffed herself with Death Match and Physique. It was impressive that a bard could fight this well. In fact, she was someone we were all very familiar with¡ªPure Love. "Fuck! They¡¯re hurting sister Guanyue!" Diamond Dust raged. I smiled. "Follow me!" I rode past Pure Love and summoned a cone of cyan flames around my sword. Then, I stabbed a Northern Alliance magic knight right through the chest and, exploiting my much greater Strength stat to my advantage, lifted him right off his horse and blasted him with Burning Blade Slash. Even the archers behind him were caught by the sword auras and one-shot as well. My Attack was just too strong for them. Diamond Dust rushed forward to take out another magic knight with a few strikes, and the last enemy magic knight was ganged up on by the others and killed. The battle was over in an instant. ¡­¡­ "Uu¡­" Now that she was out of danger, Pure Love looked at me and Diamond Dust before moaning in grief, "I was so unlucky. Not only was I chased the moment I teleported to this floor, there were only Northern Alliance players wherever I went¡­" I added her to my party and said, "It¡¯s all fine now. We¡¯ll get back at all those people who tried to kill you!" "Aiyo, you are making me fall in love with you all over again, sweetheart¡­" Beep! System Notice: Player "Pure Love" has been kicked out of the party! "Aiyo, I¡¯ll stop teasing you, so let¡¯s go take revenge already¡­" Beep! System Notice: Player "Pure Love" has been added to the party! ¡­¡­ We soldiered on. Pure Love cast all her buffs on me since I was the point of the party. Now that she was no longer alone, all she needed to do was to cast a spell or two from the backline. We encountered several more 30-man Northern Alliance parties along the way, but since I always spotted the enemy first with my Dark Pupils, we were able to annihilate them all without casualties. A while later, Beiming Xue appeared from the north with a 70-man party and met up with me. My party was now a force to be reckoned with. While all this was going on, a lot of news came through the guild channel¡ª Gui Guzi: "Everyone, meet up with your brothers and sisters as soon as possible. I heard that Vienna¡¯s Sorrow has gathered almost a thousand players and is guarding the boss right now. They may even have started already. Fuck, how are these fuckers moving this fast? They must have incredible movement speed¡­" "No, they don¡¯t," Li Chengfeng replied immediately. "Do you still remember how the Northern Alliance teleported their cavalry to the walls of Dawn City, Little Gui? It¡¯s the same trick. Their mages are teleporting their allies directly to the boss area. You don¡¯t actually think that Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is a god, do you? Dude¡¯s just a human like all of us¡­" Gui Guzi: "Mn. Well, it doesn¡¯t matter if they get there first. The last boss is ours no matter what. Once that is done, all we need to do is to snatch the remaining Tiger Soul Essences from Candlelight Shadow and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, and our quest here is complete." Xu Yang: "Eve and I are very close to the boss already. I heard that Luo River God of the Capital and 200 Purple Lily players are attacking the Northern Alliance¡¯s defense line right now, and Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance are gathering their men already. Looks like everyone¡¯s bringing their A-game for this last floor!" Me: "Send a few of our assassins to check if it has already been started. I want eyes on the boss''s HP bar and the guarantee that the last hit is ours." However, He Yi replied, "I don¡¯t think it can be done. Little Naughty sent 20 or so assassins over just now, but they were all found out by Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. It looks like he has an insight skill like you, Lu Chen. We already have too few assassins on the ninth floor, and we cannot lose any more men." I thought for a moment before saying, "Okay, then we¡¯ll wait. My party will be arriving at the boss area in ten minutes tops. Once we assemble 500 Dragonlight Cavalrymen, we¡¯ll charge their battle lines right away. Hmph, the ninth floor is a wide map, so this is the perfect opportunity to make the Northern Alliance relive the taste of our Dragonlight Cavalry!" "Mn. Be quick!" ¡­¡­ I turned off the communicator and focused on fighting the mobs. We took out all the Dark Guardians blocking our way and got a couple more Dark Prison set pieces in the process. I took them all so that they could be put in the guild warehouse and purchased by the guild members with contribution points later. They weren¡¯t of much use separate anyway. Ten minutes later, we arrived at the boss area and discovered that the place was like a giant, open-air plaza. A battle had already broken out at the center where tiger roars could be heard, and large groups of Northern Alliance players were blocking our way. I scouted the area with my Dark Pupils, and just as I had feared, the fuckers had already started the boss. I didn¡¯t know what the boss of the ninth floor was, but judging from how intense the battle looked even from outside I suspected that they weren¡¯t close to finishing anytime soon. Li Chengfeng raised his spear with a smile and asked me, "We going?" "We are. Come on!" We managed to gather over 700 Dragonlight Cavalrymen in total. After everyone was buffed as best they could, we set off to punch through the Northern Alliance¡¯s defense line! ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a troop of Sky City cavalry emerged from a corner in front of us. It was none other than the Earth Dragon Cavalry led by Roaming Dragon, Iron Pardon and Inconstant themselves! "What the fuck? That¡¯s Mad Dragon. What the hell are those idiots planning?" Li Chengfeng exclaimed in astonishment. I shook my head. "I don¡¯t know¡­" We saw the mages of Mystic Alliance aiming their scepters at Mad Dragon. The next moment, a torrent of spells turned all the Mad Dragon riders into shreds. "They must have come to satisfy their inner masochists¡­" I said with absolute conviction. He Yi, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and everyone else nodded in agreement. Chapter 823: Joining Hands Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... A hail of arrows¡ªI spotted Spiraling Arrow Blades, Volley, Shock Arrows and more¡ªflew toward the Northern Alliance¡¯s camp. Again, I was surprised to see that they actually did good damage to the enemy¡¯s Magic Shields. There were less than 200 archers in this archer party, and yet their explosive power was surprisingly high. After lying low for such a long time, Mad Dragon had actually managed to build a good archer party. ¡­¡­ Their good fortune didn¡¯t last long, however. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow pointed his Immortal-grade spear at the archer party and growled, "Daybreaker, command the Behemoth Cavalry and eliminate those Chinese archers, quick!" A troop of Vietnam cavalry immediately took action. There were about 150 of them, and they were all riding Behemoths. These mounts were unique to Chariot City of the German server, and yet they were now in the hands of the Vietnamese. Clearly, the two countries were close partners. A hint of panic flashed across on Coldmoon Rose¡¯s beautiful face as the enemy riders charged toward her party. She ordered, "Shoot them down with Mountain Stagger Arrows!" Unfortunately, an archer party size needed to be 5 times bigger than the cavalry troop if they wished to defeat them without any losses. That clearly wasn¡¯t the case here. Chiang! I unsheathed my sword and shouted, "Dragonlight Cavalry, take out these Behemoths! Let us clip Vienna¡¯s wings first!" Gui Guzi, He Yi, Li Chengfeng and everyone else copied my action, shouted a battle cry and charged straight toward the Behemoth Cavalry. Bang bang bang... Trusting in the Dragonlight Armored Horses¡¯ superior stats, we slammed fearlessly into the Behemoth Cavalry¡¯s flank and fired our Burning Blade Slashes, Dragonbone Flurries, Rock Crushes, Xiezhi Howls and more with reckless abandon. The Dragonlight Armored Horses¡¯ Hoof Trample gave the Behemoth Cavalry quite a bit of trouble as well. Screams of pain filled the air. The Behemoth Cavalry were no match for us in a direct fight as both their numbers and their Quality were far inferior to ours. In less than five minutes, they were all shredded into bits! A shower of equipment and potions dropped to the ground. We took what we could and prepared to face the next battle. Coldmoon Rose gritted her teeth as she looked back and forth between me and He Yi. "Thank you. We didn¡¯t think Ancient Sword would help us¡­" He Yi simply replied with a smile, "Sure. Just don¡¯t stab us in the back in the future." ¡­¡­ With that small intermission over, I rushed toward the boss next while shouting, "It¡¯s the final boss, everyone! Take apart their defenses, drive a wedge into their hearts and snatch the boss from their hands!" I dashed forward like lightning and activated Great Earth Transformation as the Armored Ice Qilin Horse neighed. Behind me, He Yi, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits were following closely behind. The Northern Alliance was currently engaging Purple Lily and Snowy Cathaya¡¯s cavalry in battle. It didn¡¯t look like a victor would be decided anytime soon. "Hold the gap! Kill all Chinese players!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was unstoppable as he charged in and out of the Chinese troops. Every swing of his spear left a small cyclone in the wake, and even Purple Marquis didn¡¯t have the strength to take a direct hit. Droves of Chinese players died every time his spear spat out a 20-yard long beam. His killing power was just too great right now! Crack crack crack... Another spear beam swept across a dozen or so Purple Dragon Cavalrymen and dealt over 50k damage, killing them where they stood. With DPS like this, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow could almost hold an entire section of the battle line by himself. ¡­¡­ "Let me!" Lin Yixin roamed the sides before speeding toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. The Frostscythe Warhorse was panting heavily as if the battle was too intense for it. "It¡¯s you!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow suddenly lost his cool demeanor and shouted when he saw Lin Yixin. "You will pay for the twenty million lives you took!" Swhoosh! He swung an Ice Stream Blade at Lin Yixin and, caught by surprise, all Lin Yixin managed to do was raise her hand into a block. She let out a groan as the attack knocked her backward and disrupted her rhythm. 49872! Empowered by Ice Stream Blade, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s melee attacks had turned into ranged attacks, and they were a lot stronger than before. Lin Yixin was obviously no match for him in a head-on clash. However, Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes remained as clear as water as she regained control of her mount. Instead of fighting against the momentum, Lin Yixin let it carry her into a wide arc before charging toward Vienna again. She had also switched out her sword for a dagger. "Hmph, are you trying to commit suicide?" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow said with a laugh. He swung at her again with Ice Stream Blade. Thud! Lin Yixin pushed herself off her horseback in an instant. Dismounting like a pro and flying through the air like a beautiful elf, she rolled past Vienna and stabbed him behind the neck with an impeccable Moon Gaze + Extreme Break combo. Still in the air, she pulled her sword from her back and stabbed the same spot with Barrier Break, dealing an incredible amount of damage¡ª 49082! 54871! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow screamed in pain. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that the little girl who destroyed all his efforts with her Divine General Skill, God¡¯s Tear, would be as skilled as he was. That being said, his reaction wasn¡¯t slow in the slightest. Before his scream even ended, he turned around and cut Lin Yixin¡¯s shoulder with his spear, dealing over 30k damage. Then, he threw a punch at the exact same spot! Bang! Lin Yixin crossed her arms to block the punch before clinging onto the Immortal-grade spear like a human-shaped vine. Then, the Devil Bell around her arm ringing melodiously, she lifted one foot and kicked Vienna right in the face! Thud! 17265! It was a stunning sight. Who ever thought that the King in the North, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow himself, would one day be shamed this way? The kick might not be particularly strong, but it was a blow to the pride for sure. Moreover, Lin Yixin¡¯s attack dealt double damage: her basic attack plus her equipment¡¯s additional darkness component. That was the benefit for completing the Dark Prison set. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was embarrassed and angry, but he didn¡¯t allow much of his emotions to show on his face, much less affect his judgement. Punching Lin Yixin on the shoulder again and staggering her, he used Beast Howl Slash and sent her flying through the air like a broken kite. In the end, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was still stronger than Lin Yixin stats-wise. ¡­¡­ "Yiyi is no match for Vienna¡­" He Yi murmured in a daze before recovering herself and pulling out her Blade of the Earthen Soul. "Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, follow me! We are helping Lin Yixin!" "Got it!" The two technicians rode after He Yi while Gui Guzi and I attacked from the flanks. I had to fire three golden seals into the enemies to clear a path, and Gui Guzi just raised his Undying Shield, swung his spear at everyone and everything around him and lodged himself in the enemy¡¯s ranks like an irremovable thorn. The fearless Undying Knight gave the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry plenty of trouble. Our ranged players such as Moonlight Stone and Beiming Xue were also firing their spells and arrows, providing us with support. Meanwhile, October Rain smiled merrily as she said, "Mm, it looks like it¡¯s time to attack. Warsky, we will work with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and wipe out the Northern Alliance. You can decide whether to fight them or not afterward¡­" Warsky raised his weapon and shouted, "We will kill the North, slay Candle Dragon and meet Ancient Sword on the final battlefield! Brothers and sisters, show them what Warsky Alliance is made of!" The members of Warsky Alliance let out battle cries and charged. Laughing At The Heavens laughed loudly as he said, "Kill! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow must die!" Warsky Alliance had suffered plenty of humiliation at the hands of Hero Alliance. This was their chance to take revenge. ¡­¡­ At that moment, it was as if every Chinese force within the area had arrived at a wordless agreement; regardless of our relationship, we all agreed that our mutual enemy, the Northern Alliance, had to die first. Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower used to be a part of our domain, and these northern wolves ain¡¯t going to steal anything from us! A ring of flames exploded among the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry and elicited howls of pain. It was Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Outer Flame. Even Candle Dragon had joined in on the "rain on the Northern Alliance¡¯s parade" party. "Kill kill kill! Kill them all!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow raged as he swung his Immortal-grade spear wildly. He was accompanied by twenty Heroic Bannermen, and the elites he gathered were nothing to be scoffed at. Not even our Royal Road¨Cempowered Dragonlight Cavalry could withstand the concentrated firepower of his mages and archers. The reality was that the Heroic Bannermen were all incredible players, and their offensive power couldn¡¯t be underestimated! ¡­¡­ "Work with us and take out Vienna!" Candlelight Shadow shouted to me. I nodded and spurred my mount forward, yelling, "I¡¯ll be the point and the rest of you the support! Best case scenario, we stun Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and kill him where he stands! Archers, keep your eyes on the enemy priests and interrupt their healing!" I charged toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow in a straight line, immediately drawing the attention of several Heroic Bannermen. One of them was a female assassin who absolutely knew what she was doing, staying out of range of her would-be attackers but just close enough to me to be a threat I couldn¡¯t ignore with just careful steps. It felt as if her daggers would fly toward my vital spots the second I wasn¡¯t paying attention to her. "Here it comes!" The assassin suddenly activated Swift Dash and zigzagged toward me. She made sure to use the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry as cover and escape my field of view. When the time was right, she thrust her dagger at me and attempted to hit me with a lightning-quick Blind! "Fuck, what a pain!" I had to use War Crush to force her away. At the same time, I threw Burning Blade Slash in Vienna¡¯s direction! "Hmph!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow raised his Immortal-grade spear and assumed Guard. He managed to nullify over 70% of the Burning Blade Slash¡¯s total damage. I predicted that he would do this, so I abruptly closed the distance between us¡ªcutting down a nearby assassin while doing so¡ªand used the God Binding Art! However, Vienna was prepared for this. A couple of sidesteps were all he needed to avoid the skill. Bang! At the same time, an enemy warrior beside me hit me with Barrier Break + Triple Slash. Even with my Heaven-burning Armor, it wasn¡¯t the kind of damage I could ignore. Since I was deep inside the heart of enemy troops, everyone around me could be a deadly opponent! ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a new player joined the battle. It was none other than Warsky himself. Swhoosh! A blood-red banner rose above the guild leader¡¯s head, swayed a couple of times and caused all the Northern Alliance players around him to freeze as if they had lost their souls or something. It was of course his Divine General Skill, Ghost Banner. His chosen position was perfect, and he managed to stun a dozen or so Heroic Bannermen in one go! Chapter 824: Tiger King I praised the guild leader out loud while stabbing the female assassin closest to me to death in two strikes. While the Phantom Wolf King was distracting everyone with Purgatory Storm it had unleashed in the middle of a crowd, I moved far, far away to the back and fired deadly Burning Blade Slash at the stunned enemies. I even tossed an Icy Cyclone Domain to minimize their chances of somehow surviving this predicament. Not far away, I saw Lin Yixin making a comeback and firing Ice Flame Slash + Ice Storm combo at the stunned Heroic Bannermen. Riding right next to her and launching Purgatory of Ice and Magma was my beautiful guild leader, He Yi. It was a completely one-sided slaughter. "Arghhhhhh¡­" The 14 Heroic Bannermen who had been surprised by Ghost Banner were killed just like that. Although their priests tried to keep them alive, they weren¡¯t able to outheal our combined damage, not to mention that He Yi, Lin Yixin and my attacks had hit the 14 Heroic Bannermen at nearly the same time. "Dammit!" If Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had the strength to crush his own teeth, he would. He hadn¡¯t expected to suffer such a huge loss right at the beginning of the engagement, and it was all because he underestimated the guild leader of Warsky Alliance too much. To his knowledge, the second strongest guild of China was powerful, but their martial power was really propped up by the likes of Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Farewell Song and October Rain. Their guild leader was supposed to be a useless trash in this regard. However, not only had Warsky beaten all his generals and become a Divine General first, the Divine General Skill he got was powerful beyond imagination! How painful was it to lose 14 Heroic Bannermen in one go? It would be like losing me, Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng, October Rain, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and another 9 CGL Hall of Famers to an enemy ambush. There was probably no player in the entire China who wouldn¡¯t be hurt by such a devastating loss. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! A figure dashed toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, and it was Candlelight Shadow using Charge. The former was able to dodge the skill, but Candlelight Shadow doggedly stayed on his tail. After cutting down half a ring of enemies with his sword, he raised his palm and detonated the enemy archer party with a cast of Outer Flame. Countless people were burned into crisp in just a second. Facial muscles twitching, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow shouted, "Mystic Alliance, send them packing with your spells! The rest of you, follow me into the inner area and take out the boss!" The enemy mages chanted their spells, and soon, a sea of destruction blocked our advance. They shredded the Viper Dragoons into pieces with Galaxy Storms and Dragon¡¯s Roars, and some of them even possessed rare, powerful spells such as Cold Wind Blade, Scorching Rock, Earth Spring Blast and more. No one was able to make it through for a time. Standing just outside the range of the magical bombardment, Candlelight Shadow raised an arm and ordered, "Eagle-eyed! Kill them all!" Candle Dragon¡¯s top archer, Autumn Carrot, immediately activated his stratagem. His party¡¯s attack range and physical attack power were increased drastically! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Spiraling Arrow Blades, Volleys and more soared across the air before landing atop the enemy mages. The counterattack distorted many a Magic Shield and killed many who couldn¡¯t weather the assault. Beiming Xue and Coldmoon Rose also activated Range and shot at the enemies. There weren¡¯t many Chinese players who had and chose to use Range as their stratagem of choice, but there were enough of them to give the northern mages one hell of a time. After all, there couldn¡¯t be more than 50000 players on the ninth floor of the Soul Suppressing Tower. It was impossible to have a protracted battle. ¡­¡­ "Are we just going to wait here and do nothing?" Lin Yixin asked somewhat helplessly as she watched the aerial exchange from a distance. "Yeah. But don¡¯t worry, the boss still has 55% HP!" I said with a nod. "And how would you know that?" She looked at me and asked. I grinned. "I have good eyesight¡­" "Hmph hmph!" After the short conversation, I walked to the dead Dark Guardians and absorbed their undead soul sparks. I didn¡¯t want to waste them knowing that high-level dread-rank mobs were hard to come by outside the Soul Suppressing Tower. Right now I was just a small, insignificant Asura, and the sooner I evolved into an Asura King or the rank beyond that, an Asura God, the better. ¡­¡­ Our tactic was proven to be sound. It wasn¡¯t long before the northern mages started faltering under our superior firepower and range. Chiang! I pulled out the Cyan Netherworld Sword and declared, "It¡¯s time. Dragonlight Cavalry, prepare to charge!" I took off first and charged straight toward the enemy in a straight line. I was unafraid because I had buffed my HP by 40% using the Blood Knight Card, and Pure Love had applied a 50% Physique buff on me, pushing my total HP to almost 300k. Moreover, the Heaven-burning Armor gave me a ridiculous amount of Magic Resist. There was nothing these dying mages could do to me. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse neighed loudly as we charged through the magical fire. As expected, I only lost 30k HP or so despite having tanked a ton of Galaxy Storms and Dragon¡¯s Roars. It was well within my limits of endurance! Boom! I fired Burning Blade Slash at a crowd of enemies and charged toward a different target. Once I had lodged myself in the heart of the party, I used War Crush and killed all the mages around me. They were unfortunate to have me as their opponent. Behind me, a beautiful figure charged through the magical fire and unleashed Ice Flame Slash and Ice Storm immediately, the wristguards around her arms ringing melodiously to every movement. It was none other than the Fruit Knife Goddess herself wringing tears from the enemies by making them realize that they were no match for her at all! Things were only going to get worse for them as the Purple Dragon Cavalry and the Dragonlight Cavalry emerged behind us. Not even the strongest mages could endure an entire troop of cavalry running up to their faces and cutting off their heads! ¡­¡­ In less than five minutes, thousands of high-level mages were driven into a corner and slaughtered. From my position, I could see the Northern Alliance engaging the boss in a costly battle. The Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry was running up to the boss one by one only to die in a couple of hits. The boss was a black-and-white striped king of tigers. It was a Level 195 Immortal Rank boss with stats so high that they were only marked with question marks. Its name was "Yin Yang Tiger¡±. Swhoosh! The tiger king swung its paw with thunderous energy and tore open a rift. It was the Heaven-opening Tiger¡¯s ability! A dozen or so Bloodthirsty Cavalrymen were instantly sucked into the rift and transported to god-knows-where. Growing anxious, Vienna shouted, "Tanks, get your ass in there now! Mages and archers, keep the damage coming! The boss is going to die very soon!" I watched the battle for a moment before realizing something. "Eve, Yiyi, did you guys notice that the boss''s eyes have been closed throughout the battle?" "Yeah, I noticed¡­" He Yi nodded in agreement. Lin Yixin also said, "Mn, I think so." Li Chengfeng asked, "What will happen if the boss opens its eyes?" Chaos Moon replied, "Something bad, probably¡­" "Is that so?" Gui Guzi bared his teeth and grinned. ¡­¡­ As if to prove that our speculation was correct, the Yin Yang Tiger abruptly opened its left eye¡ªa golden eye¡ªand fired a golden beam at its enemies! Swhoosh! Ridiculous damage numbers popped above the players¡¯ heads wherever the golden beam traveled¡ª 131292! 125636! 172662! ¡­¡­ The players of the Northern Alliance remained calm, so this clearly wasn¡¯t the first time they witnessed the attack. The same couldn¡¯t be said for the rest of us, however. Moreover, the attack dealt an insane amount of damage, but not a single player had died during the attack. Everyone who was hit was left with 1 HP! Next, the tiger king let out a roar and unleashed a flame breath at its attackers. It was perfect. The low-health players, including the Bloodthirsty Cavalry, were killed before they could heal themselves! The boss closed its eyes again after the attack, however. At this point, I understood what the golden eye represented. It was the Yang Eye, and it was absolutely deadly! Less than half a minute later, a tragedy befell the Northern Alliance again. This time, the Yin Yang Tiger opened the other eye, the Yin Eye! Swhoosh! Our surroundings turned pitch black in an instant. It was as if our eyes were blindfolded by something, and we couldn¡¯t see more than two steps away! "Fuck, what the¡­ what the fuck is this skill?" Gui Guzi swung his spear wildly while yelling, "What do we do if someone ambushes during this time?" "Ahhhhhhh¡­" High Fighting Spirits cried out suddenly. "Stop poking me, Gui! Fuck, everyone here is a friendly STOP MOVING ALREADY! I¡¯ll break your fucking neck if you swing that spear one more time¡­" ¡­¡­ "I see. So this was how they were fighting against the boss. No wonder Vienna couldn¡¯t spare the men to attack us¡­" Li Chengfeng commented with a sigh. Not far away from us, Candlelight Shadow ordered the second the effects of the Yin Eye had passed, "Kill! The time to snatch the boss is now! Show these northern wolves the strength of Candle Dragon, people!" Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, Transient Smoke and Clouds and the rest of his troops charged immediately. The Northern Alliance was really on its last legs at this point, so even Candle Dragon alone could take them out. Warsky also raised his sword and growled, "Warsky Alliance, attack! The boss is ours!" At the same time, Luo River God of the Capital, Ling Xueshang, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties, Indigo Collar, Dominating Heaven Blade, Pillar of the Nation and countless other guild leaders all ordered their men to attack. Almost every major guild in China had set their sights on the "final supper", and no one wanted to give it up to another guild. The Northern Alliance was already out of the fight because they had lost too much and spent too long to kill the boss. ¡­¡­ "Boss Broken Halberd, are we going yet? The boss only has 40% HP left!" Gui Guzi looked at me for directions. Li Chengfeng also raised his Augustus¡¯ Spear and said, "Yeah, let¡¯s go already. It¡¯d be sad to miss a festival like this¡­" But I shook my head and said, "Hell no, we ain¡¯t provoking the boss! We¡¯ll move to the flanks and kill Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. He has the Heaven-slaughtering Tiger¡¯s essence in his bag, and we¡¯re taking it from him!" He Yi giggled. "See? Lu Chen¡¯s the only one who managed to keep a cool head in this situation¡­" Chapter 825: First Come First Served ¡­¡­ I led my generals¡ªHe Yi, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon¡ªand my allies¡ªLin Yixin, Purple Marquis, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Ling Xueshang¡ªbehind the boss while protected by the Dragonlight Cavalry. That was where Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and his remaining troops¡ªthere weren¡¯t even a hundred of them left¡ªwere panicking as they tried to fend off the Chinese players and the boss at the same time. "Have you thought about how you want to kill him?" Lin Yixin asked. I looked at everyone around me and nodded. "Everyone here is a top-tier expert with all kinds of stats and skills, so don¡¯t worry, I have at least ten thousand ways to toy with Vienna to death. Beiming, I want you to use Broken Feather Arrow to stop Vienna from being healed while Eve, Yiyi and me engage him in battle. Third Wheel, use your Ice Blast to CC the enemies. Xueshang and Beiming will be our ranged crowd-controllers as well. Li Chengfeng, block the flanks so that the fucker can¡¯t escape this time. Best case scenario, we get him to drop the Tiger Soul Essence and his Immortal-grade spear. It is an incredible weapon, isn¡¯t it?" "Mn!" He Yi and Lin Yixin nodded in unison. They looked like they would obey any order I gave them. Stranger of Three Lifetimes waved her scepter at me. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Third Wheel!?" Ling Xueshang said, "It¡¯s time. Work as one, people!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng and a dozen or so Dragonlight Cavalry left first to occupy an advantageous terrain. The rest of us advanced straight toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. It didn¡¯t take long for the king of the north to notice us and sneer. He said, "I was wondering when you would show up. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is the strongest opponent I ever faced, but is catching people when they¡¯re weak really the only tactic you know?" I laughed. "Pot calling the kettle black much? Who was the fucker who tried to overwhelm us with sheer numbers during the War of Dawn City? Kill him!" He Yi, Lin Yixin and I ran toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow at once in a triangular formation with me as the point. Lin Yixin and I both activated Great Earth Transformation. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was a peak expert, and even we could fumble if we decided to go easy on him. "Eve, charge him!" Thud thud thud! Just as I predicted, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow moved to the back to avoid being hit by He Yi. During this time, Lin Yixin summoned a giant flaming sword of ice and brought it right down on his head, staggering him. At the same time, I raised my palm and fired an Ancient Seal at his exact location! 79718! It was a terrible blow that deflated Vienna¡¯s Sorrow like a balloon. He shouted, "Priests, heal me!" before slamming his spear into my Heaven-burning Armor in retaliation. But instead of retreating, I stayed close to his mount and stabbed him multiple times, leaving three bloody holes in his chest. Even better, Beiming Xue let loose a Broken Feather Arrow before the priests could heal Vienna, blocking all healing for the next 10 seconds. Next, Stranger of Three Lifetimes cast an Ice Blast that dealt over 70k damage. While this was going on, Lin Yixin rushed toward Vienna with her dagger at the ready. The King in the North turned green in that moment. He knew full well how skillful the Fruit Knife Goddess was. If he failed to nullify the attack he would die, it was as simple as that! Left with no choice, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow gritted his teeth and activated his invincibility skill! "Retreat!" I ordered without hesitation. He Yi and Lin Yixin backed away immediately so that he couldn¡¯t force himself onto us and perhaps score a lucky kill while he was invincible. ¡­¡­ I remained to stop Vienna from catching up to the girls, but despite a series of successful parries, my arm still shook from the impact, and every hit dealt at least 20k damage to me. Ice Stream Blade was simply too powerful. If my max HP wasn¡¯t as high as it was, I would¡¯ve been killed already. Thud thud thud! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow tried to move past me and chase after Lin Yixin and He Yi, but I saw his movements perfectly and followed him like a shadow, blocking in front of him no matter how he moved. Besides that, I kept blocking and parrying repeatedly so as to minimize the damage I took as much as possible. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow couldn¡¯t kill me in a short time, but I could most certainly hold out until his invincibility skill ran its course. It was the Achilles'' heel he couldn¡¯t make up for no matter what. "Dammit!" In the end, Vienna had no choice but to give up and withdraw to safety. I immediately chased after the bastard to prevent him from making another escape. Rustle rustle... I could see the golden light around his body fading away. Vienna would lose his invincibility any moment now. Li Chengfeng appeared in front of Vienna¡¯s Sorrow at the perfect moment and laughed. "I have come to fight you, Vienna!" Swhoosh! However, an assassin appeared out of nowhere and twisted his dagger into Vienna¡¯s flesh, scoring three hits in a row and removing most of his HP! Li Chengfeng yelled, "Fuck, don¡¯t you dare Farewell Song!" The assassin simply smiled at him. "First come first served, my friend!" However, Vienna wasn''t a lamb waiting for slaughter. He punched Farewell Song right in the chest! 18726! The attack actually knocked the assassin back and stunned him for a short time. It was at this moment Lin Yixin dashed over from the sides and hit Vienna¡¯s Sorrow with a perfect Extreme Break + Ice Flame Slash combo. Her sword pierced right through the man¡¯s chest! "Ugh¡­" In the end, the ruthless King in the North ultimately collapsed in the chaos of battle. His life was ended cleanly and quickly by the amazing Fruit Knife Goddess. When the Tiger Soul Essence dropped, Lin Yixin caught it while it was still in midair and tossed it into my hands. Having failed to score the final blow on Vienna, Farewell Song silently tossed a fluorescent powder to the ground and vanished into thin air. Only he knew when he would reappear and terrorize his victims. Assassins like him were fucking deadly because they never moved when the time wasn¡¯t right, and when it was, you most likely would be dead at the end of their CC chain. ¡­¡­ "What a shame his Immortal-grade spear didn¡¯t drop¡­" Li Chengfeng licked his lips as he stared at Vienna¡¯s corpse. "Worse, he died before I even got to touch him¡­" I curled my lips. "Well, the dude¡¯s corpse is right here, so feel free¡­" Li Chengfeng responded with a tug of the lips of his own. "My taste ain¡¯t that hardcore. C¡¯mon, let¡¯s move on to Candlelight Shadow already¡­" "Wow, how did you guess that¡¯s my next move?" "But of course, he has two Tiger Soul Essences! And even if he didn¡¯t, I would still go to kill him anyway!" Li Chengfeng admitted frankly as he laughed. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the Yin Yang Tiger was still rampaging against the crowd and dealing over 100k damage per swipe of its flaming claws. Even crazier, its melee attacks had a splash effect, so the Candle Dragon¡¯s frontliners surrounding it were losing HP like crazy. All of them had dropped to red health in less than half a minute. Of course, the boss''s Yang Eye was even deadlier. One eye beam, 1 HP for everyone who got hit. It was brutal to say the least. Candlelight Shadow had been roaming around the boss and attacking only when the opportunity presented itself, so he barely took any damage, not to mention that he was able to avoid the Yang Eye beam with ease. His brain processing speed and skill were top-notch, and there were only a handful of players present who could rival him in these departments. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Gods of Destruction slowly shifted their way toward the boss. Dominating Heaven Blade was carrying his weapon and growling, "Candle Dragon¡¯s busy fighting the boss, so this is our chance! Kill them!" Dominating Warrior God, Dominating Knight God and the rest of his generals attacked the Viper Dragoons from the back without hesitation. Gods of Destruction and Candle Dragon had never had the best of relationships, and everyone wanted a piece of the pie. Of course they weren¡¯t going to play coy. Candlelight Shadow shot them a glance and sneered audibly. First, he launched a sword aura at Dominating Knight God and Dominating Warrior God, knocking them backward. Then, he raised his palm and hit them with a devastating Outer Flame that killed them on the spot. The poor bastards, despite having survived nine floors of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower, they ultimately weren¡¯t strong enough to endure the Divine General Skill of Candlelight Shadow! "Fuck!" Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s eyes bulged as he felt the looming threat and shouted, "Archers!" Tens of thousands of arrows took to the sky, forcing Candlelight Shadow to parry those that flew his way. He barked, "One hundred Viper Dragoons, take out these idiots now!" Blue Sky Scar immediately turned around and clashed against Dominating Heaven Blade, Dominating Mage God and Dominating Archer God. Gods of Destruction might not be strong enough to wipe out Candle Dragon, but they certainly helped divert a lot of troops and attention. Warsky Alliance was even fiercer than Gods of Destruction was. The moment the last Northern Alliance player was killed, Warsky immediately turned around and ran toward God¡¯s Dance, stunning all the players around her with Ghost Banner. If God¡¯s Dance hadn¡¯t used Blink to run to safety in time, she would¡¯ve been stunned already. "Kill them!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe and Laughing At The Heavens rushed the stunned players, and the backliners unleashed their magic and arrows. You couldn¡¯t drink a potion or Guard while you were stunned, so it only took a moment for the Candle Dragon players to be wiped out without resistance. God¡¯s Dance glared angrily at them. "These shameless bastards! They didn¡¯t hesitate to attack us! Everyone, change your attacks to guild attack mode and fuck them up! Kill Warsky first so that he can¡¯t use his Divine General Skill again!" While saying this, she waved her scepter and froze Warsky in place with ice spells. However... ¡­¡­ I had Dark Pupils on, so I could see a shadow roaming around God¡¯s Dance. I smiled. You¡¯re dead, God¡¯s Dance! Chapter 826: Slaying Two Gods Thud! Farewell Song stunned God¡¯s Dance with Ambush almost instantaneously, but her Magic Attack was so strong that her Magic Shield didn¡¯t break immediately. Rustle rustle rustle... Boots crunching against crushed stones and dagger glowing a cold, cyan light as he ran toward God¡¯s Dance, the assassin thrust his weapon forward when he was three yards away from his target. It was none other than the skill Shield Pierce! Crack! 41773! God¡¯s Dance¡¯s HP hit rock bottom in just one hit. Pouncing at her like a beast, he drained almost all of his energy and unleashed Eviscerate + Blade Vortex that shredded the mage¡¯s Magic Shield like nothing. By the time God¡¯s Dance reacted and took a step back, the dagger was already flying toward her! Pssh! God¡¯s Dance looked at the dagger lodged in her chest in shock, disbelief and anger. Who would¡¯ve thought that a battle between two CGL Hall of Famers would end this quickly? The best assassin in China was exceptional in terms of control, equipment and skill, and the result was clear for all to see¡ªGod¡¯s Dance died without being able to do anything after Ambush landed successfully. ¡­¡­ "Little Dance!" Candlelight Shadow fumed when he looked over and saw God¡¯s Dance demise. He immediately rushed toward Farewell Song and launched a deadly Blazing Purgatory Slash at him! Farewell Song calmly executed a helix maneuver and dodged the first hit of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s skill. Then, he waved his dagger in two different directions and parried the second and third hits, somehow nullifying the triple-hit skill perfectly. The players of Candle Dragon were stunned by what they saw. The duel between Candlelight Shadow and Farewell Song was basically the duel between a pinnacle warrior and a pinnacle assassin. Despite having the first move, Candlelight Shadow had failed to gain any advantage from it. Farewell Song dared not treat Candlelight Shadow lightly though. Fire grew from his dagger tip after the sword strike sent him skidding across the floor. "Eviscerate!" The dagger left a bloody mark across Candlelight Shadow¡¯s chest armor, but Candlelight Shadow had already dismounted from his horse. Pushing the flat side of his blade at the dagger and knocking it away, he spun in midair and struck a painful blow at the back of Farewell Song¡¯s head. Bang! 16267! Farewell Song tossed fluorescent powder to the ground and tried to escape. Unfortunately, Candlelight Shadow wasn¡¯t going to give him the opportunity. He shouted, "Farewell Song, you may be the strongest assassin in China, but you will never be able to catch up to me!" The warrior aimed his palm at Farewell Song and fired four jets of flames in a row. The flames joined together to form a "Ìï"-shaped blast that was 40x40 yards wide, and not even Farewell Song with his movement speed could dodge out of the way in time! Boom! Farewell Song muffled a groan as he rolled across the floor in flames. A big damage number popped above his head¡ª69872! He had less than 2k HP left! Candlelight Shadow grimly walked toward Farewell Song, determined to kill the assassin no matter what. He fired another 3 Outer Flames after he got back atop his mount. In the end, the no cooldown, almost infinitely spammable skill was too much for Farewell Song to handle. While he was busy dodging the Outer Flames, Candlelight Shadow rode right past him and slashed him in the back. Blood spurted everywhere, and the number one assassin of Warsky Alliance slowly dropped to his knees. Pop! He even dropped what looked like an Earth-grade dagger. It was his secondary weapon. Candlelight Shadow picked up the dagger and tossed it into his bag. He then declared in an indifferent tone, "You have a bone to pick with me. I welcome it. Warsky Alliance may be the second strongest guild on the Guild Ranking, but Candle Dragon isn¡¯t afraid of you. Brothers and sisters, heed my command! Stop the enemy¡¯s advance and defend your kingly honor!" Farewell Song was a very famous person in the China server, so Candlelight Shadow¡¯s decision to smite him with his Divine General Skill was definitely the right call. It greatly improved Candle Dragon¡¯s morale and dealt a severe blow to Warsky Alliance¡¯s! ¡­¡­ Warsky witnessed Farewell Song¡¯s defeat and was enraged by it. He gripped his sword tightly and growled, "That shameless fucker! He thinks he¡¯s hot shit just because he, a metal armor player and a Divine General, defeated an assassin? Brothers and sisters, kill these Viper Dragoons and annihilate their defense line! Frostscale Cavalry, I don¡¯t care who stands in your way, be it Candle Dragon, Snowy Cathaya or Ancient Sword, slaughter them all and snatch the boss for Warsky Alliance! Show no one mercy!" Warsky Alliance went berserk. Almost a thousand elite Frostscale Cavalrymen used Charge to assault Candle Dragon¡¯s defense line, and the two riders leading them were none other than Warsky and Lin Bing Dou Zhe themselves. Lin Bing Dou Zhe was using his Famous General Skill "Renown" and buffing his party¡¯s Attack by 120% and Defense by 40%, turning the Frostscale Cavalry into nearly unstoppable war machines. Warsky himself was using Ghost Banner and stunning an entire troop of Viper Dragoons, turning them into lambs for slaughter! Bang bang bang! When the two cavalry meet, I could feel the impact of metal slamming into metal even from where I was. Painful groans and the sounds blades hacking against armor filled the air as both sides tried to destroy one another. Candlelight Shadow had deployed nearly a thousand Viper Dragoons to hold back the Frostscale Cavalry, but they were not enough to tip the scales against Warsky¡¯s Divine General Skill. In fact, Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow could be fighting with their Viper Dragoons, and they still wouldn¡¯t be able to beat Warsky Alliance. "Fuck!" Blue Sky Scar shouted angrily. "That Divine General Skill is too strong! Tempest Shadow, follow me! Let¡¯s take out that Warsky before he does too much damage!" "Got it!" The two CGL Hall of Famers charged toward Warsky from the wings, intending to catch him in a pincer attack. However, Warsky let out a fearless laugh and said, "Lin Bing, Hundred Battler, work with me! Let¡¯s take down the so-called Blue Sky War God and Tempest War God and crush Candle Dragon¡¯s myth of invincibility with our own hands!" When Blue Sky Scar got close to Warsky, he crossed his sword in front of himself and fired a sword aura at the two Frostscale Cavalry blocking his way. It was a stunning skill, so the two frontmost riders were frozen in place. However, Warsky stepped away from his own bodyguards and caught Blue Sky Scar¡¯s sword with his own. Blue Sky Scar was quite the skillful player, so he immediately changed the angle of his sword into a thrust and hit the guild leader¡¯s chest with a Barrier Break. At the same time, he raised his left arm¡ªthere were wind blades surrounding his fist¡ªand shouted, "Tempest Punch!" Bang! The punch left an imprint on Warsky¡¯s head and dealt 48167 damage. For a bare-handed skill, it was a mighty impressive one. However, Warsky¡¯s response was to sneer at his attacker and wave his bloody banner, stunning him. Blue Sky Scar must have known what he was getting into. If he hadn¡¯t gotten close to Warsky, he wouldn¡¯t be able to kill the guild leader. But if he did, he was 100% going to be hit by Ghost Banner. Blue Sky Scar was slower than me, Candlelight Shadow or Lin Yixin, so the option to move out of the skill¡¯s range before it landed was never considered. He wasn¡¯t alone though. The moment Tempest Shadow saw that his partner was stunned, he immediately slid into the space in front of him and hit Warsky with Barrier Break + Flame Thrust. Warsky¡¯s HP immediately hit rock bottom. Thud thud thud... Warsky was knocked backward, but he laughed and said, "Prepare to die, Tempest Shadow!" Hundred Battler, Lin Bing Dou Zhe and Laughing At The Heaven rushed out from behind. Before Tempest Shadow could react, he took a Shock Arrow to the knee¡ªcourtesy of October Rain of course¡ªand got stunned as well. ¡­¡­ Lin Bing Dou Zhe grimly landed Barrier Break + Quadruple Slash on Blue Sky Scar¡¯s weak point. Laughing At The Heavens and a group of Warsky Alliance archers were also doing the same with Barrier Break and Spiraling Arrow Blades. The warrior had left his troops to attack Warsky, so he was way out of range of his healers. One more strike from Lin Bing Dou Zhe later, he dropped to his knees and died. Hundred Battler and October Rain tried to kill Tempest Shadow, but the magic knight had too much HP and survived everything that was thrown at him. After forcing his attackers to retreat with a sweep of his spear, he immediately turned around and made his escape. "Chase him! Tempest Shadow must not leave alive!" Warsky ordered while his sexy priests cared for him. It didn¡¯t look like they would be on time though. Just a bit more, Tempest Shadow would reach the Viper Dragoons. It was at this moment a rider clad in black metal armor emerged from the flank while surrounded by the image of divine arms. It was none other than Hegemon Palace¡¯s hired thug, Little Piglet! "What the fuck?" Tempest Shadow exclaimed in shock. Little Piglet hit Tempest Shadow with a lightning-quick Ice Breaking Slash and Ice Ray Flurry. Countless icicles riddled the magic knight¡¯s chest with holes, and having escaped with less than 30% HP,, there was nothing Tempest Shadow could do to survive this combo. He let out a groan, fell off his horse and died as well. Pop... A red ring dropped where Tempest Shadow died. It was surrounded by a hint of red, violent energy, and it was clearly a great item; Earth-grade at the very least. Little Piglet picked up the ring and turned his mount around immediately. Before he left, he shouted, "All who stand in my way shall become my possession!" ¡­¡­ Hundred Battler blurted out in disbelief, "Did that fucker really show up just to steal Tempest Shadow¡¯s equipment?" Warsky was all smiles, however. "Hehe, Little Piglet is quite the interesting guy, it seems. Anyway, let us continue. Attack Candle Dragon and take the Yin Yang Tiger! It is the strongest boss of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower!" The players of Warsky Alliance roared. It was as if victory was in their grasp already. ¡­¡­ On the other side, the united army of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends and Blazing Hot Lips were assaulting Candle Dragon¡¯s troops again and again. Now that the Northern Alliance was all dead, it was finally time for some good ol¡¯ civil war. Unfortunately, the Viper Dragoons were clogging the path and protecting their priests, archers and mages with all their might. Even if victory was certain, it didn¡¯t seem likely that we would be able to break through them in a short time. I couldn¡¯t afford to waste my Ancient Seals because I had less than 10 Divine Energy Points left. Li Chengfeng had already spent all of his divine energy on Battle Soul Possession. As for Lin Yixin¡¯s God¡¯s Tear, well, that wasn¡¯t even a consideration in the first place. This meant that we had no choice but to break through the old-fashioned way. The good news was that Candle Dragon was making very slow progress, and time was on our side! "Roar roar¡­" It was at this moment the Yin Yang Tiger let out another angry roar and opened its bloody jaws. It was pleasing to watch its flame breath decimating nearly 20 Viper Dragoons in one go! Chapter 827: Well of the Abyss Candlelight Shadow was standing at the front and dueling Purple Marquis and Li Chengfeng at the same time. After a couple of exchanges, he had no choice but to withdraw and avoid a head-on clash. Candle Dragon¡¯s numbers had shrunk drastically because they had chosen to step out of the line earlier and surround the Yin Yang Tiger when Northern Alliance was still fighting it. Despite being the strongest guild in China, it was incredibly difficult for them to fend off all the remaining guilds by themselves! These days, very few guilds were truly loyal to another stronger guild. For example, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, Silver Soul, Wings of Awakening and more might follow Candle Dragon now, but they all wanted to be the king one day. Moreover, there were many more guilds who challenged Candle Dragon directly for the throne like the forces under Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Purple Lily, Snowy Cathaya and Warsky Alliance. ¡­¡­ The Cyan Netherworld Sword sang quietly as thousands of icy sword auras covered the sky. Thousand Ice Slash landed atop dozens of Viper Dragoon Cavalry, freezing them and allowing Chaos Moon and Xu Yang to kill them with their signature skills, Rock Crush and Mountain Stagger Slash. Candlelight Shadow was panicking a little at this point. Not even a godlike player could maintain a perfectly cool head at this stage. The boss''s HP had dropped to 9%, and Candle Dragon no longer had the strength to beat it. Moreover, the Yin Yang Tiger had incredible HP regen and even lifesteal on some of its attacks. Every time it slapped a player to death, it would restore some health and make things harder for its would-be killers. The battle continued. The Viper Dragoons used their flesh and blood to stop our advance as the boss''s HP continued to drop little by little. Finally, when the Yin Yang Tiger had 4% HP left, Lin Chengfeng lost his cool and asked me, "Boss, it¡¯s time! Who do we kill first, Candlelight Shadow or the Yin Yang Tiger?" I replied, "The boss first. Players with a Tiger Soul Essence can¡¯t log out of the game and return to the city, so don¡¯t worry about him running!" "Got it!" "We attack together and clear out all hostile forces surrounding the forces. Don¡¯t hold back on my account!" "Yessir!" Li Chengfeng laughed heartily as all the high-level players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls launched an all-out assault at once. Candle Dragon¡¯s already crumbling defense line was torn to shreds almost immediately. "Roar roar¡­" The Phantom Wolf King leaped into the crowd, raised its head and unleashed Purgatory Storm. It engulfed a dozen of Candle Dragon archers and mages. "Roar!" The Yin Yang Tiger roared angrily and opened its Yin Eye. Darkness instantly shrouded everyone¡¯s vision and forced us to attack based on memory of our surroundings before the skill. While someone might be tempted to stop moving and wait for the skill to pass, that was really the worst thing to do in this situation. Unlike the rest of us, the boss wasn¡¯t affected by its own skill and it fully intended to exploit our temporary weakness. Plus, practically no one who stood on this battlefield was a weakling or a coward. Regardless of our differences, right now we all shared one clear goal: we came for the boss, and anyone who stood in our way must die! ¡­¡­ "Kill while the darkness is still active!" He Yi¡¯s simple but clear-cut order entered my ears. Thud thud thud thud thud! I heard five meaty impacts in a row, and I knew that it had to be her Purgatory of Ice and Magma. The skill caused havoc both to the boss and the enemies. We weren¡¯t worried that we would hit our own allies with our skills because we had all set our attack mode to ¡°no friendly fire¡±. "Roar roar!" A draconic roar shook the clouds as Li Chengfeng activated his Great Earth Transformation. Leaping into the air while draconic energy cycled around his body, he tossed his weapon forward and used Dragonblade Revolution. Screams of pain immediately filled the air! Behind him, a troop of Dragonlight Cavalry was charging forward and killing anything and everything they ran into. They were past caring at this point. However, a blazing flame suddenly engulfed them, and the Dragonlight Cavalrymen with half health or less instantly dropped to the ground and died. Fuck, it was Candlelight Shadow using his Divine General Skill while protected by the shroud of darkness! "Lu Chen!" He Yi immediately looked at me. I couldn¡¯t see her face, but I understood her meaning right away. I rushed forward and launched 9 golden seals into the sky in a row. The next moment, they came back down a lot larger and struck nearly the entire boss area like a thunderstorm. For a time screams filled the air, and I gained 3 Divine Energy Points from that. This meant that I had killed at least 300 enemy players with that attack. Awesome! "Well done!" Li Chengfeng laughed. Xu Yang, Gui Guzi and Chaos Moon fought side by side, throwing out Mountain Stagger Slashes, Aurora Thrusts and Rock Crushes every few steps or so. With the three of them carving open a path for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I doubted there were many people left who could threaten our battle line. ¡­¡­ The flash of skills was the only source of illumination under the curtain of darkness. It was practically a night battle at this point. The darkness finally dissipated a long while later. When light was restored to the ninth floor of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower and we looked at the boss, we were stunned to see that it only had 2% HP left. Motherfucker, we were so busy tossing our AoE skills and murdering as many of our enemies as possible that we didn¡¯t even realize the Yin Yang Tiger could die at any moment! Xu Yang and Gui Guzi immediately shouted with a laugh, "The boss is about to die! Go go go!" Almost a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen rushed toward the boss at once. However, the Yin Yang Tiger suddenly let out a furious roar and opened its Yang Eye! Swhoosh! A golden beam passed right through Gui Guzi, Xu Yang and several unfortunate Dragonlight Cavalrymen¡¯s chest. A shocking damage number floated above Gui Guzi¡¯s head¡ª289736! The skill couldn¡¯t one-shot, but it could unconditionally drop him to 1 HP! The good news was that Gui Guzi was protected by the Undying Shield. A green number followed next as a huge chunk of that damage was converted into health¡ª +144968! Phew, thank goodness... ¡­¡­ Our troubles weren¡¯t over, however. A battle cry broke out from the left side of the battlefield, and it was Warsky roaring and charging with a group of Warsky Alliance players. The ground was littered with the bodies of Candle Dragon¡¯s players, so they were the only guild left that could possibly pose a threat to us. Most of Candle Dragon¡¯s allies like Hall of Immortality were currently stuck at the perimeter, so they wouldn¡¯t be a threat for now. Whoosh whoosh! The bloody banner above Warsky¡¯s head swayed once, and the Dragonlight Cavalrymen including Chaos Moon were stunned immediately. "Kill them!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe laughed loudly as he charged with the Frostscale Cavalry. Murong Mingyue waved her scepter repeatedly and threw all her healing spells at Chaos Moon. At the same time, she shouted, "Protect our people!" Beiming Xue leaped into the inner area of the plaza and fired two successive shots at Warsky, stunning him on the spot. She then followed up with a Broken Feather Arrow that Moonlight Stone immediately capitalized on with Galaxy Storm and Dragon¡¯s Roar, deleting most of his health. Together, they were able to force the guild leader into a temporary retreat. "Kill the boss now!" I shouted as I restored my HP and MP to full. Then, I plunged the Cyan Netherworld Sword into the ground¡ªpurple dragon soul crawling over the blade until it reached the breaking point¡ªpulled it out and launched a devastating Purple Dragon Howl at the boss! "Roar roar roar!" While the purple energy was ravaging the boss and the players around it, I shouted, "Eve, use your Purgatory of Ice and Magma now! This is our best shot to take out the boss!" "Mn!" He Yi spurred her mount and rushed toward the boss. After unleashing Purple Dragon Howl, I temporarily entered a weakened state. ¡­¡­ Thud! Unfortunately, I took an arrow at this exact moment and lost an incredible amount of HP¡ª102773! Fuck! My Defense was a big fat zero while I was weakened. I could definitely die the way I was now! The shot had been fired by none other than October Rain herself. Staring at me with determination, she ordered, "Kill Lu Chen and get him to drop his Tiger Soul Essences with Spiraling Arrow Blades. Priests, heal Warsky. This time, it is Warsky Alliance¡¯s turn to shine!" Countless Spiraling Arrow Blades flew toward me. There were enough of them to engulf me whole. Thwack thwack thwack! However, Lin Yixin and her Frostscythe Warhorse showed up in the nick of time to block in front of me. After she knocked away all the arrows headed my way, she said, "Never say something like that before the fact, October Rain. This quest won¡¯t be yours to take. Purple Dragon Cavalry, take out October Rain!" Purple Marquis and the others heeded her command, and October Rain was forced to retreat. The Frostscale Cavalry had suffered heavy damage up until this point, so she couldn¡¯t have withstood the assault even if she had chosen to stay. ¡­¡­ Thankfully, my weakened state only lasted three seconds. When I looked at the boss''s HP and saw how low it was, I hurriedly said, "Forget about me, Yiyi! Go grab the boss''s equipment and the Tiger Soul Essence!" "Got it!" Lin Yixin left and went for the boss. Practically everyone was doing the same thing! He Yi managed to hit the boss with her Purgatory of Ice and Magma, but the boss still had a sliver of health left. It almost felt like it would remain this way forever. Angry, Beiming Xue moved closer to the boss, drew her Dragonbone String and let loose a Evil Spirit Volley almost point-blank into the Yin Yang Tiger¡¯s mouth. To everyone¡¯s surprise, it turned out to be its weak point. By the end of the skill, the Yin Yang Tiger let out its death throes and finally collapsed to the ground! Swhoosh! I leveled up once. The amount of experience I got was insane even if I wasn¡¯t the one who scored the last hit. ¡­¡­ "The loot!" The boss died, and absolutely everyone rushed forward to grab as much of the loot as possible. Even Little Piglet and Lin Bing Dou Zhe appeared out of nowhere to join in on the treasure hunt. At the same time, a system announcement rang throughout the continent of Heavenblessed¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Beiming Xue (Sky City)" has successfully defeated the Immortal Rank Boss, Yin Yang Tiger, and met the Requirement to learn Great Earth Transformation! They have become the sixth Divine General of China! They have gained 200/200 Divine Energy Points, Luck +2, Tactics +5, and an exclusive Divine General Skill, "Well of the Abyss"! Well of the Abyss: Summons a well of the abyss and traps all enemies within a 20x20 yard square. The skill lasts 15 seconds. Players trapped inside the well cannot move or be attacked, and they lose 50% HP. Each use of the skill costs 3 Divine Energy Points. Skill exclusive to Beiming Xue. Chapter 828: Moonchaser Tiger Well of the Abyss was an offensive CC skill. All targets trapped within the well couldn¡¯t be attacked for 15 seconds, but they would lose 50% of their HP at the end of the duration. It was a powerful skill to say the least. The system announcement didn¡¯t mention its cooldown, but all things considered, it couldn¡¯t be too short. Otherwise, Beiming Xue could just trap any opponent with the Well of the Abyss repeatedly until they died... ¡­¡­ "Haha, well done! Beiming became a Divine General!" Xu Yang cheered loudly. The people of Warsky Alliance were stunned. They didn¡¯t expect that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ Dark Archer would be the one to take out the final boss. Still wielding the Ghost Banner, Warsky declared angrily, "Keep fighting! The Tiger Soul Essence must be in their hands! The boss may be dead but the fight isn¡¯t over yet!" The guild leader and his people rushed toward us. I raised my sword and growled, "Dragonlight Cavalry, prepare for battle!" However, the expected clash didn¡¯t happen. Rays of prismatic light suddenly erupted from Beiming Xue¡¯s body, and lotus flowers made of cyan cyclones appeared beneath her feet. In that moment, she looked like a beautiful elf who had transcended the mortal coil. There was some variance, but the visual effects of Great Earth Transformation for female players were more or less the same. Also, Beiming Xue¡¯s divine energy was full since she just became a Divine General, and she saw no reason not to use it right now. She waved her hand downward, and countless strands of golden light rushed into the air. The next moment, everyone around Warsky and October Rain screamed in surprise as the ground beneath them dissolved into a pool of golden mud that continuously dragged down toward the unknown bottom. For 15 seconds, they would be stuck in it! Well of the Abyss truly was an impressive skill! ¡­¡­ Warsky Alliance¡¯s players were stunned for a moment. Divine energy curling around her fingers, Beiming Xue smiled at the enemies and asked, "Is there anyone else who wants to try my Divine General Skill? My Divine Energy is almost full, so please don¡¯t hold back on my account! You are worth it!" "Gulp!" Wang Dongliang swallowed and stared longingly at the boss''s body. He was obviously reluctant to give up, but Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls made their stance pretty clear: anyone who tries to put their grubby hands on the boss will pay the price in blood. Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties put away his spear and ordered his subordinates, "Alright, the battle is over, and it¡¯s time to leave. The final victor hasn¡¯t yet been decided, but that doesn¡¯t have anything to do with us, does it? Let¡¯s go kill some dread-rank mobs and farm more Dark Prison sets, everyone!" But unlike the Chinese players, the Northern Alliance had reappeared at the perimeters to stare at us with greedy eyes. These new players had just come up the ninth floor, and their numbers had exceeded ten thousand already. If they were led by a good leader, they could definitely deal a huge blow to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Catahya! Among them was a high-level mage called Shabby Castle from Sunset City, England. He said, "Vienna has perished on the battlefield, and the time to fight to the death is now, braves of the Northern Alliance! Charge and kill the CGL Hall of Famers! Avenge our fallen brothers and sisters!" The Northern Alliance cavalry immediately activated their Charge. The ground immediately shook beneath the hooves of their mounts. It was at this moment a rider appeared in front of the Chinese ranks. It was none other than Lin Yixin and her Frostscythe Warhorse. The Devil Bell ringing melodiously to her movement, the cutie shot the enemies a bright smile as she toyed with her dagger. The thundering hooves of the Northern Alliance instantly came to a halt. A couple of magic knights pointed at Lin Yixin and exclaimed in shock, "It¡¯s her! It¡¯s that succubus murderer! How is she still alive, and¡­ is that the wind up to God¡¯s Tear that I¡¯m seeing? My god, is she planning to kill us all again??" Their voice was literally shaking as they said this. They looked like they were about to piss their pants. I hastily whispered to her, "Don¡¯t use it, Yiyi!" "I know!" Lin Yixin turned around and stuck out her tongue playfully at me. When she turned back, she had put on a serious mask once more. Raising her dagger and smiling at the Northern Alliance players, she said, "You want the reward of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower, don¡¯t you? Come on then. Allow me to remind you of the taste of God¡¯s Tear!" Shabby Castle shivered from head to toe as an assassin next to him said, "Boss, we can¡¯t do this! Hundreds and thousands of our brethren are in the Land of Soul Suppression right now. If she uses God¡¯s Tear and does a map-wide wipeout again, our losses will be unthinkable. The Wild Boars we recruited from Scotland would riot for sure!" Shabby Castle nodded. "I know¡­" Another Heroic Bannerman walked up to Shabby Castle and supported the assassin¡¯s argument, "There¡¯s no need to hesitate any longer. If we had a small winning chance before, that chance is now gone forever. Hmph! We could¡¯ve owned this map completely, but most of the best players from Titan City, Seven Star City and Eternal Love City refused to come. Now the Chinese are the ones who hold the absolute advantage. Castle, I¡¯m leaving with my people. This is no longer our battle." "Fine¡­" Shabby Castle let out a sigh before ordering, "Time to return to our cities, everyone! You can stay behind if you want to farm the Dark Prison sets, but the ninth floor is crawling with Chinese, so don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you if you die! Take care!" Finally, Shabby Castle shot Lin Yixin an angry glare before growling, "Just you wait, Wind Fantasy. I will file a complaint to Eternal Moon Corporation and tell them to remove God¡¯s Tear! We will not settle for anything less! Hmph, Eternal Moon Corporation¡¯s leaders must¡¯ve hit their head on a rock or something. How can they allow such an OP skill to exist in an MMO? Ridiculous!" Lin Yixin blushed before shooting back, "Oh yeah? Do it! Anyone who dares to delete my Divine General Skill will face the consequences, hmph hmph¡­" Shabby Castle glared at Lin Yixin one last time before pulling out his return scroll and shouting, "Our operation has failed! Northern Alliance, retreat!" Lin Yixin let out a melodious laugh as the enemy teleported away. Realization was starting to dawn on me, but I couldn¡¯t say anything at the time. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Warsky, October Rain and the rest of the people trapped in Well of the Abyss recovered themselves. Beiming Xue raised her bow and asked, "Are you withdrawing or not? We have already taken the boss, so what else can you possibly want to do in this situation?" Warsky chuckled. "Well, there¡¯s still Candlelight Shadow, right?" "Not anymore." He Yi spoke up and opened her palm to show two Tiger Soul Essences. "Candlelight Shadow was hit by the Yin Yang Tiger¡¯s eye beam earlier and taken out by a random Galaxy Storm during the confusion earlier. Now both his Tiger Soul Essences are in my hands. Surely you aren¡¯t planning to fight us for them, are you?" "You have Tiger Soul Essences?!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s eyes lit up. He looked like he wanted to snatch them from her hands, so Beiming Xue immediately unleashed another Well of the Abyss and trapped him and his allies inside its vortex, showing Warsky Alliance once more that there was really nothing they could do to us. Sure, they could activate an invincibility skill and negate the Divine General Skill¡¯s effects, but that would basically be a declaration of war. By themselves, Warsky Alliance was no match for us. ¡­¡­ He Yi walked to me and passed me her Tiger Soul Essences. Chaos Moon also gave me the Yin Yang Tiger¡¯s Tiger Soul Essence. Apparently, she had grabbed it the moment the boss died and dropped its loot. Truly an impressive display of reaction speed and hand-eye coordination. Now all 9 Tiger Soul Essences were in my hands. At the same time, I received a system notification. It said: Do you wish to activate a 5-man main quest right now? I gave it some thought but decided not to do so. Everyone here had been online for 15 hours at least, and to start an important quest now would be to push them to the brink of exhaustion, not to mention that rest and sleep was necessary to perform at maximum capacity. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment I heard a melodious ding¡ª System Notice: Congratulations, you have gained 187230 contribution points in Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower quest. Your rewards are: Level +2, Luck +1, Reputation +12000, and the items: Dragonstone Gem X x3, Dragonstone Gem XI x2, and Dragonstone Gem XII x1! Swhoosh swhoosh! I leveled up to Level 167 immediately. This trip had helped Lin Yixin and I to regain our pinnacle strength, and this new main quest would only make us stronger. The stronger we became, the further we could travel along the path of conquest. The opposite was equally true, so all these were good news for the both of us. Moreover, the quest rewarded me with 6 incredibly valuable Dragonstone Gems. Dragonstone Gems increased equipment¡¯s Defense, and right now there were only Rank 1 to 9 gems for sale in the market of Sky City. Anything higher than that was basically priceless. Therefore, I couldn¡¯t thank the system enough for gifting me 6 of these gems, and I was absolutely going to use them to enhance my Heaven-burning Armor the moment I went back to the city. A 6-star Outstanding Immortal-grade item was definitely worth slotting a Rank 12 gem, especially since the stat boosts went up by 5% for every increase in rank, meaning that a Rank 12 Dragonstone Gem would increase my Heaven-burning Armor¡¯s Defense by 60%! It would be like adding wings to a tiger! After pleasing myself with the contents of my bag, I looked at the others and asked, "The Ying Yang Tiger should¡¯ve dropped a lot of good stuff. What else did you all get?" He Yi replied, "I got an Earth-grade metal armor, and I gave it to Gui Guzi." Lin Yixin also said, "I got a Heaven-grade ring that adds 45% Attack, and I¡¯m keeping it for myself. Little Cheat, you¡¯re an agile guy, I refuse to believe you didn¡¯t get any loot from the boss. So?" I simply shot her an enigmatic smile and changed the topic. "Well then¡­ I guess it¡¯s free time. Grind or log out and rest, do whatever you want, people. The Tiger Soul Essence main quest is a 5-man party quest. Since I had an agreement with Snowy Cathaya earlier, Lin Yixin will be joining the party. Eve and me will be joining as a matter of course, and sis as well since every party needs a priest. Who do you guys think I should recruit for the last party slot?" Chaos Moon said, "Take your sister with you, duh. She¡¯ll bite you if you don¡¯t. Of course, if that is your fetish then feel free to pretend that I haven¡¯t said anything¡­" Lastly, I checked the time and heard a rumble from my stomach, so I said, "Alright, it¡¯s time to log out and rest. We¡¯ll come back online and activate this main quest in 15 hours. Thanks for your hard work, everyone! Again, feel free to stay behind and grind in Nine Tigers Soul Suppression Tower a bit longer if that¡¯s what you want! Chengfeng, come here. I¡¯m giving you a Dark Prison set and a couple Cyanblade sets. You decide who you want to give them to!" "Okay!" Li Chengfeng accepted the responsibility without complaint. ¡­¡­ It was a long, hard battle, and everyone was tired. He Yi, Beiming Xue and even Gui Guzi logged off to get some rest. Lin Yixin was going to do the same thing, but just as she was about to crawl into her tent, I grabbed her hand and stopped her. "What¡¯s wrong, Little Cheat?" She asked while shooting me a puzzled look. I smiled at her and said, "I have something super amazing to give you. Here!" "Ah? What is it?" I opened my palm and revealed a shiny pet egg. Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open as excitement and joy filled her eyes¡ª Moonchaser Tiger (Immortal Rank Mount): Binding Requirement: Level 160, 150000 Reputation. Chapter 829: Stealing Strength: +1200 Stamina: +1120 Attack Increase: +65% Defense Increase: +70% Attack Speed: +75% Movement Speed: +240% Attack Range: +32 yards Max HP: +30000 Turn Rate: -25% Mount Tenacity: +90% Introduction: A beast egg created from the Tiger Soul Essences of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. After bathing in moonlight and sunlight from countless years, the egg began showing signs of life and divinity, and a Moonchaser Tiger like nothing the world has ever seen before was about to be born. Level Requirement: 160 Reputation: 150000 ¡­¡­ The mount¡¯s stats and image appeared in the Petopia. It was a ferocious-looking tiger with fur as white as a snowy moon, and stripes that looked like cyan tattoos. It still looked like a tiger though, and it was one of the reasons I didn¡¯t want to take the mount for myself. It felt weird riding a tiger as a man, but a woman? Beauty and the beast was a combination that would never grow outdated. "Well, what are you waiting for? This was the loot drop I got from the boss earlier!" I handed the mount egg to Lin Yixin while smiling. "You should be able to bind it right away. Its stats are way higher than your Frostscythe Warhorse¡¯s, and it¡¯s pretty beautiful. I¡¯m almost certain that the Yin Yang Tiger didn¡¯t drop Immortal-grade equipment earlier because this egg took up the majority of the loot table." Lin Yixin didn¡¯t accept it, however. She curled her lips and said, "No, Sister Eve will get mad if she knows that you gave me something this valuable. Plus, it¡¯s your drop, not mine. You should equip it yourself!" "It¡¯s fine. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s stats aren¡¯t too far behind the Moonchaser Tiger¡¯s, so it¡¯ll be a waste to change it. Also, don¡¯t worry about Eve. She¡¯s not a stingy woman, and there¡¯s no way she¡¯ll get mad at you over something like this. You gave me two Immortal-grade items, the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade and the Heaven-burning Armor earlier, so it¡¯s only right that I give you this Moonchaser Tiger. You don¡¯t want to make me into a selfish person, do you? Now come on, bind the pet egg and show it off already. I¡¯m so tired I can fall asleep at any moment!" "Mm, okay¡­" Lin Yixin finally accepted the pet egg. Upon use, a white light broke out of the egg and flew into her mount space. When she raised her sword, a hexagram formation appeared in front of her, and a ferocious tiger appeared from the center with a roar. It looked mighty good for sure! "Go on!" I smiled encouragingly. "How is it? Your stats skyrocketed, didn¡¯t they?" I asked with a smile. "Mm!" Lin Yixin nodded excitedly. "It¡¯s amazing! It deserves to be ranked as an Immortal Rank mount for sure, hehe. How should I thank you for this, Little Cheat?" "Well, you can come sleep with me¡­" "Haha, I can try if you don¡¯t mind Sister Eve throwing me out the windowr¡­" I grinned. "It¡¯s just a joke. I wouldn¡¯t dare let you into my room even if you did show up. Well, this is it. Log out, rest well, and see you tomorrow for the Tiger Soul Essence quest!" "Mm. See you!" Lin Yixin and I put down our tents side by side to each other. Then, we returned to the real world. ¡­¡­ I summoned the system fairy and logged out. I exhaled deeply the moment I took off my helmet. I exited the room and found He Yi and Beiming Xue already sitting in the living room. Murong Mingyue had just returned with some packed fast food, and the four of us sat down to enjoy the delicious meal. "Our journey in Land of Soul Suppression went pretty smoothly today, hehe. Do you guys want to report your earnings?" He Yi asked while taking small bites of her food. Beiming Xue started first. "I collected three Cyanblade sets and two Silverblade sets. I gave them all to the guild¡­" Murong Mingyue went next. "I¡¯m just the healer, so I didn¡¯t get anything. I live for the people, you see." He Yi then looked at me, and I blushed a little, knowing my spoils of war were ridiculous. "Well, I probably profited the most out of all of you. I got countless Cyanblade sets and Silverblade sets. I also got two Dark Prison sets, and I gave one to Lin Yixin and left the other for the guild. Finally, I got an Immortal-grade necklace called ¡®Necklace of War God¡¯s Broken Blade¡¯ and an Immortal-grade battle armor called ¡®Heaven-burning Armor¡¯. Suffice it to say, my stats are super broken right now¡­" He Yi smiled widely. "Hehe, that¡¯s great news, not to mention that you¡¯re holding all nine Tiger Soul Essences now. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is without a doubt the biggest winner of the Land of Soul Suppression event!" I nodded in agreement. "Yes, we are. It¡¯s all thanks to everyone. By the way, we should give Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and High Fighting Spirits the first pick on the equipment sets. They absolutely deserve a reward, and we¡¯re going to use the nine Tiger Soul Essences to do a quest that only we can reap the benefits from. It would be unfair to neglect them." He Yi giggled. "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make sure to compensate them fully. Do I look like a person who would neglect her subordinates?" Beiming Xue immediately threw in her support. "Yeah, yeah! Follow Sister Eve, and a good life you shall have!" Murong Mingyue smiled. "Setting that aside, Shanghai¡¯s Blue Star is inviting you to a board meeting tomorrow, Eve. Are you going?" A surprised He Yi asked, "What time will the meeting begin?" "10 am." "Mm, in that case we must go. They are our biggest business partner, and it is only right that we show them the appropriate sincerity!" He Yi gripped her chopsticks and replied seriously. Murong Mingyue smiled again. "Yay, our CEO is finally doing her job! Oh right, the board meeting of the Hangzhou branch, Arcsoft¡¯s cooperative meeting, and the Technological Arch Summit held by India Heaven Technology all require your participation this week. I¡¯ll prepare the flights¡­" A conflicted look immediately twisted He Yi¡¯s features. "Nooo, that¡¯s way too much. I can participate in the Hangzhou branch board meeting in person, but I¡¯m doing teleconferences for the rest. There¡¯s no way I¡¯m flying back and forth like that. Raincube Technology has good technology and good capital, and there¡¯s no need for us to beg others for their cooperation. If you don¡¯t show some backbone from time to time, you¡¯re going to exhaust yourself, you know¡­" Murong Mingyue replied helplessly, "Yes, my wise master¡­" Me: "..." Beiming Xue: "..." ¡­¡­ There was nothing else to do except sleep after the meal, so I did exactly that. I hugged my blanket and blacked out for an unknown amount of time. Dawn was just breaking when I awoke from my slumber. The ray of sunlight nearly blinded my murky, professional gamer eyes. I rubbed my eyes and checked the time on my phone. It was 7 am in the morning, meaning that I had slept for almost 14 hours straight. Damn. Well, nothing else to do except to get out of my bed and check if I could activate the follow-up quest for Land of Soul Suppression. The nine Tiger Soul Essences were said to trigger a main quest that was tied to one of the Nine Sovereigns, Ovia the Bloody Finger. I was sure that there would be plenty of profit to be earned there! The moment I exited my room, I was immediately greeted by the sight of Beiming Xue brushing her teeth in her pyjama dress. She looked at me and said something that was completely garbled by the bubbles in her mouth. I only caught a glimpse of her body as I walked toward her, but I could already tell that the little girl was growing at all the right places. It wouldn¡¯t be long before she caught up to the impressive He Yi and Lin Yixin! I stopped next to Beiming Xue and readied myself for battle. Fight, I mean, brush! Unfortunately, I used too much strength and hurt my gums. The pain actually made me frown a little. Beiming Xue burst into a giggle when she saw my mistake. "Big bro, you¡¯re brushing your teeth, not fighting. What are you using so much strength for?" I smiled and asked in a garbled voice, "Where¡¯s He Yi and sis?" "They flew to Shanghai for their meeting already!" "Damn, I thought we were going to do the follow-up quest today¡­" "We can just do that tomorrow. I called Sister Lin Yixin earlier, and she said that she¡¯s going to be busy with advanced algebra and English exams, so she probably won¡¯t be able to join us during the day anyway." "Fine¡­" I washed my face after brushing my teeth. While doing so, I was talking to myself, "What should we do today then¡­" "Take me to Humble Administrator''s Garden, big bro!" For some reason, Beiming Xue suddenly grabbed my towel arm and shook it up and down excitedly. "I¡¯ve been in Suzhou for a long time, but I¡¯ve never been to any park around here before!" I couldn¡¯t control my arm, and my towel was flying all over the place. Left with no choice, I put my face in the general direction of the towel and wiped my face like that before saying, "Fine, we¡¯ll go to Humble Administrator¡¯s Garden in the morning and head to Tiger Hill in the afternoon. Let¡¯s spend the day relaxing together, okay?" "Yay! Long live big bro!" Beiming Xue cheered. There were only the two of us in the workshop, so after we finished washing ourselves we ate some simple breakfast and departed straight for Humble Administrator''s Garden. Since we were living in the New Area, Humble Administrator''s Garden wasn¡¯t the closest destination we could choose, especially because it was rush hour right now. The roads were all jam-packed with traffic. Beiming Xue surfed the internet on her phone while sitting at the front passenger¡¯s seat. Even now, she looked to be in high spirits as she said, "China has 6 Divine Generals, and 3 of them are in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, hehe! We¡¯re pretty amazing, aren¡¯t we?" I smiled in agreement. "Yeah, we are. There aren¡¯t any forces in the entire China server who could compete against us on their own anymore, and even Candle Dragon must absorb guilds like Hall of Immortality, Silver Soul, Rose of the Holy Domain and more to strengthen themselves. Otherwise, we can just march to the west, flatten Wind City, and end the warring era after the tides of Nation Wars subside!" Beiming Xue let out a giggle before continuing her report. "Ohh, look. There are a total of 29 Divine Generals in the entire world right now, and number-wise, China currently sits at the top with 6 Divine Generals. India has 4, the USA has 3, Japan has 3, Korea has 1 and Russia has 3. There are others, but I don¡¯t know how to read their country¡¯s name. Ohh, Vatican has a Divine General too¡­" "Fuck¡­" I grinned and shook my head. Heavenblessed Continent was crawling with the main cities of each server, so it was chaotic to say the least. As more and more Divine Generals appeared, the intensity of the war would only continue to increase until it hit its peak. ¡­¡­ When the clock ticked past 9 am, we finally arrived at Humble Administrator''s Garden. I wasn¡¯t particularly excited as I enjoyed the peaceful stroll with Beiming Xue, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the girl beside me. She kept grabbing my arm and asking questions like, "Big bro, look! Is that cutie¡¯s skirt to your liking? If it is I¡¯m gonna buy one for myself! Also, what color of stockings do you like?" There was nothing I could do except accept my fate as every man and woman in the garden enjoyed my misery in the hands of the beautiful young girl. ¡­¡­ However, our stroll came to an abrupt end when my phone suddenly rang. It was Xu Yang¡¯s number! "What¡¯s wrong, Xu Yang?" "Where are you right now, Lu Chen?" "I¡¯m strolling with Beiming Xue and enjoying a day off. What¡¯s wrong? Calm down, didn¡¯t I teach you to be as immovable as a mountain, no matter what life throws at you? How are you still so brash¡­" Xu Yang¡¯s volume nearly climbed an entire octave as he half-shouted, "Fuck, I want to be calm too, but someone just came to our base to steal our mage! Moonlight Stone is packing her belongings and leaving right now! You think you can stay calm after hearing that?!" "What the fuck!?" I punched the tree next to me hard. "Who¡¯s the ballsy motherfucker who¡¯s trying to steal our only powerful mage? Wait there, I¡¯m coming to the base right away!" "Yeah, be quick!" Chapter 830: Hole in the Guild The recruitment wasn¡¯t the problem. People tried to recruit excellent players from other guilds every day. The problem was that Moonlight Stone was one of the vertebrae that made up the backbone of the guild and our best mage, and from the sounds of it, she actually chose to accept the offer and leave us. It was a threat to the guild like we had never seen before. The Mage class as a whole was growing more and more important each day as the game progressed, and super mages such as Luo River God of the Capital or Stranger of Three Lifetimes were practically jewels in the crown. If possible, every guild wanted a powerful mage to carry their banner. It was critical to the growth and development of the guild. In a war of sword and magic, cavalry charges were undoubtedly the most threatening assault an army could face. However, standing on the opposite side of that paradigm was positional warfare. In positional warfare, two classes reigned supreme over all the other classes: archers and mages. Archers dealt physical damage, so they could only do so much against heavy cavalry. Mages dealt magic damage, so they were destined to become the bane of all cavalry! Super mages were the only ones who could keep an entire cavalry troop at bay by themselves. We were no longer in the early game, and I had already experienced how important it was to have powerful mages in the guild. The stronger our mages, the better their anti-cavalry ability, which was why it was absolutely necessary for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to establish a powerful mage party. As strong as Beiming Xue was, she and her archer party were nowhere near enough to meet the guild¡¯s demands! That was why I was shocked to hear that our best mage had been taken away from us. What on earth did they offer her? I must change her mind no matter what, or it will be akin to losing a foundation stone of the guild! ¡­¡­ We reached the gaming base at around 10:30 am or so. The guards didn¡¯t stop Beiming Xue and I from rushing into the building because they recognized us. A lot of people were waiting at the hall of the first floor already. Moonlight Stone was wearing white coat, staring blankly into the air and dragging a heavy suitcase. Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, and Chaos Moon were all here. They should be at ASUS¡¯ gaming base right now, but clearly this incident was serious enough to draw everyone over. "Lu Chen is here!" Xu Yang said quietly. As I walked up to them, Moonlight Stone turned around to face me with an apologetic look on her face. She said, "I¡¯m sorry, Lu Chen, but I¡­ I have to leave. I can¡¯t let my big brother fall under someone¡¯s thumb because of me, not even for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡­" "Big brother?" Xu Yang bumped my shoulder lightly and motioned at another person. I looked over and saw a young man about 27 or 28 years old. He wore a black jacket and carried a bag. I felt like I recognized him from somewhere. "He¡¯s Moonlight Stone¡¯s older brother, and he¡¯s currently working for Candle Dragon. Candlelight Shadow had asked him personally to ¡®persuade¡¯ Moonlight Stone to leave us." An unknown anger rushed into my head as I finally made the connection. I started, "I know you. You¡¯re Tiger Leopard Knight!" He looked just as surprised to see me. "It¡¯s you, Lu Chen?!" The young man before me was none other than the rider I had saved in Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower, Tiger Leopard Knight. He was a thousand-man cavalry commander and a key figure in Candle Dragon. However, I had no idea that he was Moonlight Stone¡¯s older brother, and that he would repay the favor I had done to him with evil! "Lu Chen, I¡¯m sorry!" Tiger Leopard Knight stared at me quietly and said, "I belong to Candle Dragon, and Candlelight Shadow is the hero I revere. That is why I cannot allow my younger sister to stay with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls any longer. I¡¯ve thought about this for a very long time, and it is only this morning that I came to this decision. Candle Dragon has established headquarters in Shanghai, and I believe that the both of us will lead a better life there." I asked in an indifferent tone, "Long story short, you want Moonlight Stone to join Candle Dragon, is that it?" "That¡¯s right." Tiger Leopard Knight said with determination, "A few months ago, I had a small guild that was pushed to the brink of destruction by Mad Dragon. It was Candlelight Shadow and Blue Sky Scar who saved me and called me a brother. For that alone, I, Tiger Leopard Knight, swore an oath to never betray Candle Dragon. However, I don¡¯t wish to face my own sister on the battlefield, so the only solution here is to have Moonlight Stone leave Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and join Candle Dragon!" I sucked in a deep breath and turned to Moonlight Stone next. I asked her, "Moonlight, you¡¯re an adult. The decision truly lies in your hands. Will you¡­ leave Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and join an enemy of ours?" Moonlight Stone bit her lips as her eyes reddened. It wasn¡¯t long before she broke into tears and cried. "Lu Chen, I¡­ I just have to go. Our parents passed away when we were still young, and he is the only brother I have left. Big brother¡­ must have had no choice when he made this decision, and I just can¡¯t make things even harder for him than it already is. I¡­ I may leave Ancient Sword, but I swear I won¡¯t use a single spell when the enemy is Ancient Sword. Please? Lu Chen?" I fell silent. At this point, I knew that there was no changing this outcome. Moonlight Stone was going to leave no matter what. "Okay!" I turned around and said to Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and everyone. "Open the way, people. Let¡¯s send Moonlight Stone off properly and happily, okay? No matter where she goes to, she will always be the Moonlight Stone we know." I turned back to the sniffling Moonlight Stone and smiled at her. "Goodbye. Know that you are, and always will be, our friend!" Bursting into tears again, Moonlight Stone hugged me and cried like it was the end of the world. "You know I didn¡¯t want to leave! You know it, didn¡¯t you!?" I remained as still as a wooden stool as I nodded. "Of course I know that. We all have our different paths to walk. Just always be happy, okay Moonlight?" "Mm." A while later, Moonlight Stone finally stopped crying and wiped away her tears. She then looked at Tiger Leopard Knight and said, "We can leave now, big brother." Tiger Leopard Knight gave me a nod, grabbed Moonlight Stone¡¯s hand and walked slowly toward the entrance. With everyone behind me, I quietly saw them off all the way to the road. A taxi was already waiting for the duo. Before Moonlight Stone and Tiger Leopard Knight entered the car, I said to them, "Moonlight, the door of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will always be open to you. If you ever feel unhappy with your choices, always keep the way home in your mind! You too, Tiger Leopard Knight. Our door is also open to you, and you are free to bring Moonlight over whenever you feel like it." Tiger Leopard Knight nodded and replied, "Thank you." Moonlight Stone stared at us with teary eyes through the car window. The taxi slowly drove away until we couldn¡¯t see its back anymore. ¡­¡­ "She¡¯s gone¡­" Moon Dew said sadly. Gui Guzi shrugged and said, "At least it was a good farewell¡­" Chaos Moon retorted, "Pooh! Good farewell, my ass! That Candlelight Shadow is such a shameless bastard. The moment he figured he can¡¯t fight Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls head-on, he immediately resorted to dirty tactics!" Li Chengfeng sucked in a deep breath. "To be honest, there¡¯s one more thing I haven¡¯t told you, Lu Chen." "What is it?" I was getting a bad feeling about this. Li Chengfeng replied, "Last night, Warsky sent October Rain and Lin Bing Dou Zhe to seduce our players. In the end, they were able to seduce 759 players with promises of greater profits." Gui Guzi asked, "That¡¯s not too bad, right? It¡¯s not even a thousand players." Li Chengfeng let out a mirthless chuckle. "The problem is that 87 of these players are mages from the Top 100 mages of our guild ranking, and 458 of them are from the Top 1000! Our mage party is dead, dammit! All we have left are second-rate players who don¡¯t amount to much!" I shivered. "Fuck! When it rains, it pours! Did those fuckers come to an agreement with Candle Dragon or something, that piece of shit Warsky!" Li Chengfeng smiled. "It¡¯s not difficult to understand their reason though. Ancient Sword currently has three Divine Generals, and both Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance view us as their biggest enemy. We¡¯re not that big of a threat that they could set down their grudge and become allies, but they are perfectly willing to do anything in their power to weaken us. Speaking of which, I have one more bad news to share with you. Are you ready?" "Mm, speak¡­" "The 17th and 18th subguilds had left us to become the 34th and 35th subguilds of Candle Dragon. It was the guild leaders who made the decision." I clenched my fists tightly. "Impossible. You¡¯re telling me that everyone in the subguilds left with them?" Li Chengfeng shook his head. "No, it¡¯s not that bad. As you are aware, the maximum capacity of a subguild is just 10000 members. They took away our shells, so Xu Yang and I had to crawl out of our beds in the middle of the night and create another two subguilds. Thanks to our quick response, the bleeding stopped at less than 30%. Moreover, those who chose to leave us were all original members of the subguilds, so they didn¡¯t feel a shred of loyalty toward us." I looked at the sky for a moment before replying, "This is fine actually. I don¡¯t want opportunists like this in my guild, and it¡¯s better that they¡¯re gone now than to have them stab us in the back later." "Mm, I completely agree!" Li Chengfeng agreed with a smile. ¡­¡­ Xu Yang spoke up. "I haven¡¯t told this news to boss or Mingyue. What do we do now, Lu Chen? In what direction should we continue developing our guild? Are we really going to give up on building a mage party?" "Of course not, when have I ever said that?" I shot him a reassuring smile before looking to the others. "Chengfeng, Little Gui, Chaos Moon, the development of our mages will be our first priority starting now. I want you three to scour every inch of the land for powerful mages! Our cavalry is currently renowned throughout the world, and it is only right that our mages become just as powerful!" Gui Guzi smiled in support of my decision. "Leave it to us. Our cavalry has already been sufficiently developed, so now is the right time to focus on our mages. They will grow, one way or another." Chaos Moon added, "But you gotta spare us some budget, man. How else do you think Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance managed to seduce our players? It¡¯s all about that upfront payment. If we want to recruit the experts, we have to be willing to afford them. People won¡¯t care about our reputation if we can¡¯t pay them enough to put food on the table!" I nodded. "Completely understandable. Starting now, you have 10% of Dark Moon City¡¯s net profit to play with. I want the three of you to focus on developing our mage party. Can you do it?" "Now that we have the money? Of course we can!" Chaos Moon said excitedly, "We¡¯re already pretty famous. We can probably pay 25% of what Warsky Alliance offered and still recruit players of the same quality!" "Mm, let¡¯s all do our best, everyone¡­ you know what, since it¡¯s already noon why don¡¯t we all go eat lunch together? It¡¯s my treat!" "Okay!" The atmosphere brightened considerably after the conversation. I¡¯m sure all the sorrow we felt from Moonlight Stone¡¯s departure would lighten considerably after we downed several glasses of Red Star Erguotou down our throats. Chapter 831: Sword and Magic After He Yi and Murong Mingyue returned and learned that Moonlight Stone and most of our high-level mages were seduced from the guild, He Yi fumed for five whole minutes until Beiming Xue and I promised to treat her to supper. We agreed to delay the follow-up quest of Land of Soul Suppression temporarily because one, we needed to steady everyone¡¯s morale and two, we needed to remake our mage party. ¡­¡­ After we ate supper, I logged into the game. Swhoosh! After I appeared in the Soul Suppressing Tower, I used a return scroll and I teleported back to the city right away. The Tiger Soul Essences in my bag had transformed into quest items, so they no longer imposed any sort of restriction penalty like before. I could delay the quest until I was done with this business. After I appeared in Sky City, the first thing I did was to repair my equipment as usual. Next, I traveled to Air Force One and unloaded all the random but definitely top-tier items I had accumulated since my previous journey to the counter. Some of these items had been dropped by dread-rank mobs, and some, by enemy players. Regardless, they were all excellent goods that would fetch me 500+ RMB a piece. I wouldn¡¯t have picked them up if they weren¡¯t worth at least that much. My shopkeeper, White Fox, wagged her tail as she stared at the pile of equipment atop the counter and asked me with a smile, "Master, are these the new goods we¡¯re going to sell?" I nodded. "Yeah. What do you think?" "It¡¯s amazing!" White Fox praised me without any hesitation. "These items are way better than the stuff we sold before, and it is exactly the kind of high-level goods the shop is lacking right now. I can¡¯t believe you managed to collect so many precious pieces of equipment, master! You truly are a capable adventurer!" "Haha, you praise me too much, lass¡­" I replied while blushing a bit. After I gave White Fox a new set of business orders, I left the shop and traveled straight to Dark Moon City. If there was one place on the Heavenblessed Continent that counted as our headquarters, it would be there. Swhoosh! A flash of light later, I appeared at my Rank 9 Undead Castle. Dark Moon City was now a prosperous and well-guarded territory where countless players resupplied or did business here every day. In fact, there was a small crowd of people setting up stalls on the plaza at the southeast, creating a small shopping area. Our city afforded them the convenience of trading all the equipment they grinded at Dragonbone Mountain Range, Black Coast and Cyan Tiger Forest immediately. Beep! It was at this moment He Yi sent me a message: "Lu Chen, are we upgrading the guild to Rank 8?" "It would take 400k Reputation at minimum to upgrade the guild to Rank 8, right?" I asked. I could almost imagine He Yi smile as she replied to me, "It¡¯s fine. I have 480k Reputation right now, so it¡¯s well within my ability to afford, not to mention that none of my equipment has a Reputation Requirement. I can always grind it back up again once the upgrade is complete. It¡¯ll just take a couple of boss kills." "Mm, okay!" "I¡¯m doing it then!" A while later, a system notice informed everyone in the guild that the main guild had been upgraded to Rank 8. We could now add another twenty thousand players into the guild for a total of fifty thousand. ¡­¡­ For a time, the guild channel was rife with activity¡ª Chaos Moon: "Wow, we¡¯ve finally become a Rank 8 guild. Guild leader sacrificed her Reputation for all of us¡­" Xu Yang: "Fifty thousand capacity. Gold!" Li Chengfeng: "Should we transfer the elites of the subguilds into the main guild now? The main guild is the core of our fighting forces, and we should always look for ways to strengthen it." Me: "That¡¯s right. We must strive to create a main guild that¡¯s so strong that we can solo an entire enemy guild all by ourselves! Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, I leave it to you three to get some new blood in our main guild. You are also free to recruit from other guilds as long as you don¡¯t do it in a way that is considered inappropriate or questionable. Also, we¡¯re only recruiting ten thousand players. The rest of the quota will be reserved for high-level mages that will form our ace mage party in the future!" Everyone cheered and said, "Yeah, the vice leader is wise!" I added, "Well, you guys keep doing what you need to do, and I¡¯m going to post a mage recruitment thread. Don¡¯t forget to show your support when it¡¯s up, okay?" "Sure~~" ¡­¡­ Sitting atop my horse and waiting in front of the entrance to the territory hall, I brought up the official forums, logged into my account and spent a moment thinking what I wanted to post. A while later, I started with the title: "Sword or Magic, the Strong Reigns Supreme. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Recruiting All Kinds of Powerful Mages NOW!" For the first paragraph, I wrote: "Since Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls rose to power, we have established a Rank 9 Undead Castle called Dark Moon City, and recruited high-level players such as Legendary Brave, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, From Water, Murong Mingyue, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Lu Buyi and more. Would you like to fight side-by-side with these legendary experts? If that¡¯s the case, then contact Chaos Moon and Hot Sun and join us now! Prove your strength, and we will pave the path to heroism for you!" In the next paragraph, I wrote: "As for why you might want to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, please check out some of the efforts I listed below. Let¡¯s begin with our guild territory, shall we? A territory is a guild¡¯s foundation, so you gotta choose the best location, hire the best fighters to defend it, and build the strongest walls, tier 1 city level, to protect it, right? Well we got all that and more. Not only does our teleportation formation teleport you directly to your desired locations, we have four of them across the entire city! Potion vendors, blacksmiths, stables, we got everything you could possibly imagine. Next to the territory hall is the Desolate Knight¡¯s Grave, and next to the Desolate Knight¡¯s Grave is the city¡¯s barracks, the Blood Pond Cemetery. We have a hundred Ghost God Knights protecting this Blood Pond Cemetery¡ªyou know, the kind wielding spears and riding on skeletal horses?¡ªand if any player passes by them, they will always greet you with their native knight¡¯s accent by saying, "You are the pride of the Silver Moon Alliance, young adventurer." Feels good, doesn¡¯t it? Besides that, the guild territory also has gorgeous women tending to your every need 24/7, and they are all in the same class as Chaos Moon and Beiming Xue. Of course, their service is expensive as hell, and even a simple equipment repair will cost you 10000 gold or more! We usually welcome guild leaders like Warsky, Luo River God of the Capital, and Stranger of Three Lifetimes to be our customers, and while we don¡¯t turn away people of lower status, let¡¯s just say that Tempest Shadow would be too ashamed to even pass through the territory. Now, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re all thinking right now: How much do I have to pay to enter a territory like this? It¡¯s gotta cost at least a hundred a month, right? Boy, you have no idea how wrong you are! Not only does it cost you nothing to enter our territory, I¡¯ll be paying you 1000 RMB per month for your presence¡ªprovided that you are strong enough to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! That¡¯s right. As I¡¯ve said from the beginning, prove us your strength and we will welcome you with open arms! So, what are you waiting for? Heavenblessed¡¯s top guild, territory and comrades await you!" ¡­¡­ Not gonna lie, I felt a bit nervous after I finished writing the whole thing. Did I go overboard? Bah, send first, regret later! It didn¡¯t take long for the thread to become popular. A lot of our supporters were CGL Hall of Famers too¡ª 17th floor (Legendary Brave): Take my support, vice leader! By the way, feel free to contact me if you want to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls as a mage, but fair warning: if you ain¡¯t a young, beautiful and sexy mage, don¡¯t bother. 32th floor (Chaos Moon): Hehe, join us now, handsomes and pretties! If you¡¯re strong enough, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will welcome you with open arms! 104th floor (Gui Guzi): Are you kidding me? I was only late by a few seconds, and I got booted out of the Top 100 already? 481th floor (Beiming Xue): Take my support, big bro! Love you~ 1028th floor (Moonkiss): Aiyo, Lu Chen is recruiting personally? I¡¯m so tempted to change classes and sign up for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls right now! 1327th floor (Luo River God of the Capital): You dare? You are mine, Moonkiss... 2019th floor (Stranger of Three Lifetimes): Lu Chen, open your mouth. I refuse to believe you didn¡¯t twist your tongue after all that nonsense you just spouted. 4192th floor (Warsky): So, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is finally going to strengthen their mage party, huh? 5182th floor (Stranger of Three Lifetimes): Pooh! Pretending like you don¡¯t know anything, 4192? You were the one who stole their people in the first place! I can smell your hypocrisy all the way from here! 5592th floor (October Rain): Now now, calm down people. It¡¯s perfectly normal for players to jump guilds, hehe. 10928th floor (Wind Fantasy): Poster, let¡¯s have dinner together tomorrow. 11292th floor (From Water): ... ¡­¡­ The merrymaking lasted the entire night, and on the surface it looked like nothing was happening. In reality though, Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon had already set up recruitment points in front of our territory hall and were testing the sea of mages who had appeared. I stood next to Li Chengfeng and watched him test the candidates. A Level 157 mage with a bright scepter stepped up to him and asked, "I used to be a mage from Mad Dragon, but I want to turn over a new leaf. Is that okay?" Li Chengfeng nodded. "Sure! Now, hit me with a Galaxy Storm. If you damage me for more than 3000, then you pass. Crits do not count, okay?" "Okay!" The mage backed a few steps and did as Li Chengfeng said. To the dragon warrior¡¯s surprise, the attack actually dealt 4889 damage to him. All Divine Generals enjoyed hidden stat boosts, so it wasn¡¯t actually easy to deal this much damage to him. Naturally, we recruited the guy right away. On the other side, Chaos Moon was testing the players the same way, except that the damage threshold was increased to 5000. There were some exceptions, however. For starters, we didn¡¯t recruit people with incredibly questionable morals. There were a couple of vulgar-looking mages who requested for Chaos Moon¡¯s QQ number the moment it was their turn. Even if some of them passed the test, Chaos Moon ultimately decided to reject their application. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls could do without people who only came for the girls. At the back, Moon Dew was Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon to prevent Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon from dying as a matter of course. The process went more or less smoothly, and we were able to recruit a ton of excellent mages. However, we didn¡¯t encounter any first-rate mages so far. I saw Northern Alliance mages who managed to hit Li Chengfeng for over 10k damage or even tens of thousands of damage before. Therefore, a mage who couldn¡¯t deal more than 10k damage to the dragon warrior was qualified to become a staple of the guild, but a key member? Absolutely not. The kind of mage we were looking for was a mage who could deal 13k damage to Li Chengfeng with a single spell; a Moonlight Stone at the minimum! The recruitment process lasted most of the night, and in the end over 7000 mages were added to the guild. Although the quality was a bit questionable, it did make up for the massive gap we were left with somewhat. After I logged out of the game, I lay on the bed and fell asleep in no time. However, even in my sleep I was dreaming of a super magus joining our ranks and leading the guild! Sigh. Ever since Moonlight Stone left, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was wanting a mage that could carry the banner like a thirsty man in a desert! Chapter 832: Attacking White Horse City I was woken up by the sound of Murong Mingyue knocking on the door and calling out to me, "Wake up, Lu Chen! There¡¯s a new event today!" "What event? Isn¡¯t there just the follow-up quest for Land of Soul Suppression¡­" "No, it¡¯s not. Now get out of your bed, or I¡¯m kicking the door down!" "Fuck!" ¡­¡­ After I washed myself, I asked Beiming Xue, "What¡¯s happening? Sis is acting like she¡¯s hiding a ten-year-old pregnancy." Beiming Xue replied, "It¡¯s nothing big, really. It¡¯s just that the Nation War situation has changed in an expected fashion yet again." "Oh? What is it?" Beiming Xue explained while holding her tea cup, "Yesterday, Candlelight Shadow and his men ambushed Eternal Love City again. He didn¡¯t manage to occupy the city, but he did draw the Northern Alliance to station much of their troops at White Horse Plains. There¡¯s a tier 2 city under Hero City at White Horse Plains called White Horse City. It looks like the Northern Alliance is planning to march to Wind City from there!" I pondered for a moment before asking, "Beiming, if I remember correctly, isn¡¯t there a natural barrier standing between White Horse Plains and Wind City? The Dragonbone Mountain Range?" "You are correct, big bro¡­" Beiming Xue giggled. "There is a reason why they suddenly decided to do this. While someone was grinding at Dragonbone Mountain Range, they discovered a hidden mountain trail that connected White Horse Plains and Wind Forest together just like Windy Trail. It looked like the Northern Alliance was focusing most of their forces at Eternal Love City, but in reality, it was just a distraction. Their real aim was to gather troops at White Horse Plains until they had the manpower to invade our domain through the hidden trail." I pressed my lips together a little. "We just can¡¯t catch a break, can we?" Beiming Xue set down her cup before continuing, "The trail is also connected to a place called Poplar Valley. There is an NPC lumberyard that belongs to Black Earth City of the Chaotic 27, and an NPC army belonging to the Chaotic 27 is garrisoned nearby. That is why the situation is somewhat dangerous. Poplar Valley is too small for large-scale warfare, so Hot and Sour Noodles requested every guild that we dispatch our best elites to Poplar Valley and intercept the interlopers who would try to invade our homeland." I sucked in a deep breath before smiling. "Hot and Sour Noodles is definitely a defensive commander. If it was me, I would¡¯ve charged right through Poplar Valley and taken out the Americans¡¯ White Horse City! What could they possibly do after they lost the one city they were using to rally their troops?" "Okay!" I clenched my fists before complaining, "Sigh, the old saying, ¡®the road to happiness is strewn with setbacks¡¯, is so true. I guess we¡¯ll have to delay Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower¡¯s follow-up quest until we¡¯ve dealt with White Horse City!" "Yeah!" "Oh right, where¡¯s Eve?" "She left for a meeting at Shanghai after she instructed us to participate in the Poplar Valley operation¡­" "I see. So I¡¯m the commander today?" "You have always been the commander, big bro!" "Hehe!" ¡­¡­ After the three of us finished our breakfast in a jovial mood, we logged into the game and readied ourselves for yet another small-scale Nation War. This time though, the Chaotic 27 were involved as well. Things were definitely going to get a bit messy. Chaotic 27 were made up of poorer countries from South Africa, Southwest Asia, and more. Argentina and Guinea¡¯s main cities were located within the borders of the Chaotic 27 as well. Thieves and bandits could be found everywhere, and PKing for wealth was a daily occurrence. Their playstyle was brutish to put it mildly. No one dared to criticize their behavior, however. In fact, not even the three major servers bordering the Barren Lands¡ªthe USA, France and we¡ªdared to lay their hands on the Chaotic 27. These people might be embroiled in a never-ending civil war, but they were a force to be reckoned with if they decided to unite in face of a common enemy. Poplar Valley belonged to the strongest city of the Chaotic 27, Black Earth City, and they were protected by an NPC legion. Long story short, their interference was a huge factor in determining the victor of the upcoming Nation War. Both sides knew about this, but the war must continue regardless because, like it or not, Eternal Love City was the city everyone wanted to get for their ambitions. The French didn¡¯t want to lose their main city, and Candlelight Shadow wanted to take it to restore Candle Dragon¡¯s reputation. This would be a war where only one side emerged victorious in the end! Our mission for the day was very simple. If we followed Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ plan, all we needed to do was to intercept and kill any Northern Alliance player who entered China¡¯s soil. It would be a passive defense where the primary goal was to teach the enemy a lesson and give them a warning. Swhoosh! After we appeared at Dark Moon City, Li Chengfeng, and Chaos Moon walked up to us. "Less than 80% of our members are online. We have 1500+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 11000+ Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen at the ready. Should we head over with our current numbers, Lu Chen?" Li Chengfeng asked. Chaos Moon suggested, "I¡¯ve checked out Poplar Valley earlier, and it¡¯s only big enough to fit a 100000 players at most. I think we can go now." However, I said, "No, we¡¯re going to wait until more people come online. Not only are we going to involve our mages and archers, we¡¯re going to bring some engineers with us as well. Tell the engineers to ready the ladders and siege engines. We¡¯ll be departing as soon as everything is set. The Dragonlight Cavalry and Cyan Cavalry will open up a path while the backline slowly advances into Poplar Valley. Then, we¡¯ll take a roundabout route and arrive at White Horse Valley." Chaos Moon¡¯s mouth fell open. "Wait a second, that doesn¡¯t match Zhang Chun¡¯s instructions. What are you planning?" I smiled. "I¡¯ve read up on some data before I came online. White Horse City is a tier 2 city bordering the Barren Lands, and their walls aren¡¯t nearly as tough as our Dark Moon City, not to mention that it has been in a state of disrepair for a very long time. Its only value is its one teleportation formation that can bring in players from Hero City and Seven Star City from thousands of kilometers away." Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up. "I think I get your meaning now. Hot and Sour Noodles set his sights too low, but not Lu Chen. He understands that defending Poplar Valley is akin to treating the symptom and not the cause. We¡¯re going to invade White Horse City and eliminate this threat completely, am I right Lu Chen?" I nodded. "That¡¯s right. In siege battles, you get the option to abandon a city upon killing the regent, and that is exactly what we¡¯re going to do. We won¡¯t be able to hold White Horse City after occupying it anyway, so the second best choice is to turn it into an abandoned city. I¡¯d rather give up the city to the Night Creatures than Vienna¡¯s Sorrow!" Li Chengfeng laughed loudly. "Well said! This is exactly the kind of strategy I expect from a true military commander! I¡¯ll contact Cute Little Naughty right now and tell her to dispatch her assassins. White Horse City is so shabby that it only has one teleportation formation, so once it¡¯s gone, it¡¯ll take Hero City, Seven Star City and Titan City at least seven or eight hours to reach it. There¡¯s no way they¡¯ll be able to save the city in time!" "Yeah. Now get ready. We¡¯ll be assembling outside Wind City!" "Yes sir!" ¡­¡­ I filled my bag with Health Potions, Magic Consumables and food as usual. To be honest, I didn¡¯t need this much supplies. I was carrying them for players such as Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue, who required a ton of supplies to function at their best but was hampered by their miniscule bagspace. Murong Mingyue especially used so much MP that her consumption rate rivaled that of an entire party. She would kill me if I didn¡¯t carry some supplies for her. Swhoosh! After teleporting to Wind City, I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and the Phantom Wolf King and climbed up the back of my mount. Then, I rode out of the city and arrived at the rally point. Our players swelled in numbers in just a short period of time, and Cute Little Naughty had already taken off with several thousand assassins. Most people were unaware of their goals, but Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and I knew exactly what their mission was. We set off toward our destination immediately after our army was assembled. Our cavalry acted as escorts and ran back and forth between our troops repeatedly. Our siege engines and almost a thousand engineers slowly advanced to the front. They were easily the most important asset of this mission. White Horse City¡¯s walls might be as fragile as Oreos, but they were still insurmountable if we didn¡¯t have catapults to throw rocks at them. The hooves of the Cyan Tiger and Dragonlight Cavalries rocked the ground. Our cavalry troops had long become the symbol of our guild, and practically every guild we encountered along the way such as Mad Dragon and Flower Room stepped aside immediately after they spotted us. Their total army was less than ten thousand, and that was nowhere near enough numbers to challenge our cavalry head-on. Not far away, Hot and Sour Noodles rode up to us with a smile. "Hi, Lu Chen. Is Ancient Sword on the move?" "Yep." He then looked at our troops for a bit and said, "OMG, did you mobilize your entire guild or something? I count at least a couple hundred thousand of you! What are you planning? We don¡¯t need this many people to intercept the Northern Alliance at Poplar Valley. I¡¯m not sure you can fit even 10% of your troops in there!" I smiled. "Uncle, our objective is White Horse City, not Poplar Valley. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?" "Oh!" Hot and Sour Noodles wasn¡¯t a fool, so he figured out my plan right away. He burst into laughter and said approvingly, "I knew you were a special person. If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls truly has the guts to attack White Horse City, then I¡¯ll be the first person to support your decision! When the battle at Poplar Valley is over, allow me and my 20000 Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen to join you in your siege!" "That would be much appreciated!" I exclaimed in pleasant surprise. Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ promise of support meant that our chances of invading White Horse City successfully just went up considerably. After all, the Northern Alliance had stationed around 5 million players in White Horse City. No matter how weak the city was, it wouldn¡¯t be easy for us to defeat it by ourselves. I also sent a message to Lin Yixin and informed her about our intent to attack White Horse City. The beautiful girl agreed to my plan immediately. She too thought that defending Poplar Valley was a boring, unchallenging strategy, and she agreed to mobilize the entirety of Snowy Cathaya and join in on our siege! ¡­¡­ It took a really, really long time to travel to Poplar Valley since we were using a roundabout route. After marching for almost two hours, we finally arrived at the edge of Dragonbone Mountain Range and the hidden trail that led straight to our destination. Chapter 833: Native Banditry Clad in what looked like a set of brand new metal armor, Candlelight Shadow looked at Hot and Sour Noodles and asked, "Should we begin the offense now or wait a bit longer, Zhang Chun?" Hot and Sour Noodles spurred his horse forward and said, "Let¡¯s begin the offense. Candle Dragon will be acting as the vanguard. I¡¯ve heard from reliable sources that the Northern Alliance has already begun setting up defenses in Poplar Valley, so they¡¯re most likely already aware that we¡¯re coming. In that case, let¡¯s fight speed with even greater speed and make them bleed before they finish their preparations!" "Very well!" Candlelight Shadow raised his sword and shouted a command, and the Viper Dragoons followed the Martial God into Poplar Valley. The battle had officially begun. "All troops, advance!" Hot and Sour Noodles ordered. "Enter Poplar Valley, crush the Northern Alliance¡¯s plot and protect Wind City!" Warsky, Purple Marquis, Eyes Like Water, Luo River God of the Capital and many more players rushed into the valley. Almost one hundred thousand players were gone in the blink of an eye. "It¡¯s our turn to advance as well!" I looked at the players behind me and declared in a loud voice, "Attack and occupy Poplar Valley! Let¡¯s teach the Northern Alliance a lesson in true positional warfare!" All the Dragonlight Cavalrymen unsheathed their weapons at once. Then, they rode behind their generals¡ªLi Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, Heaven¡¯s Rain and more¡ªand rushed through the entrance! White breath exited the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s nostrils as it galloped at the forefront of the army. Directly ahead of us was Snowy Cathaya¡¯s cavalry, and the most eye-catching rider of them all was none other than the black-armored beauty wielding a sword and a dagger and riding a ferocious white tiger, the Fruit Knight Goddess. "Ooh, it looks like Beauty Lin got a new mount!" Chaos Moon commented with a smile, "It¡¯s the Immortal Rank mount, the Moonchaser Tiger, right? I saw its picture on the forums yesterday, but this is the first time I¡¯m seeing it in person! Tsk tsk, what a powerful mount!" I nodded. "Yeah. Lin Yixin and Snowy Cathaya will be joining us on our march to White Horse City later!" "That¡¯s great. Our chances of winning will be higher like this!" "Yeah." ¡­¡­ My vision widened when I exited the narrow trail. The valley was jam-packed with players, and over 70% of them belonged to the Northern Alliance. Despite our inferior numbers, we were slowly pushing forward with Candlelight Shadow leading the charge and killing countless players with his weapon and Divine General Skill. A system ring entered my ears. The amount of players in Poplar Valley had reached a point where it was officially recognized as "The Battle of Poplar Valley¡±. If the number of players continued to increase, then it might even be recognized as ¡°A Glorious Battle Like None Other¡±. Chances were it wasn¡¯t going to happen, however. Dawn Valley was way bigger than Poplar Valley¡ªthat map could fit at least 100 Poplar Valleys or more¡ªand its terrain was far more varied and thus, forced the players to fight in many creative ways. Be it in terms of scale or tactics, the War of Dawn City was currently still the most impressive Nation War thus far. It was why the videos of the key battles of the War of Dawn City still had some of the highest number of clicks on the official forums. Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and Purple Lily were the main forces of the Chinese faction this time. The two Divine Generals, Candlelight Shadow and Warsky were wreaking havoc at the frontlines, but Luo River God of the Capital was in no way inferior to them thanks to her ridiculous Famous General Skill and magic skills. Battle cries resounded across the valley, the flash of skills blinded the eyes, and the ground shook slightly beneath thundering hooves. The battle hits its peak intensity practically from the very moment of contact! Chiang! I pulled out the Cyan Netherworld Sword and pointed to the right, shouting, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, we will stay close to the walls and punch through the enemy line in an hour! Hmph, once we are through, we¡¯ll be able to march straight to White Horse Plains!" Everyone unsheathed their weapons and shouted, "Fight!" Leading at the front, I charged fearlessly toward the fireballs, wind blades and arrows flying my way. The Phantom Wolf King was even faster than I was, reaching the enemy in no time and unleashing a devastating Purgatory Storm that split the ground and knocked the enemy magic knights upside down. Before they could recover themselves, I unleashed Thousand Ice Slash right on top of their heads! Boom! Many enemies were killed, and even more saw their feet frozen in ice. I completely understood why they looked as shocked as they were. My current stats were beyond OP, and my two Immortal-grade items greatly boosted Thousand Ice Slash¡¯s chances to freeze the enemy. I reckoned that it was over 50% at minimum. Beside me, I heard shrill noises of impact as Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and the others¡¯ mounts rammed into the enemy¡¯s shields. Despite the knights using Holy Shield, our frontliners were able to deal great damage with Barrier Break and AoE skills such as Reverse Scale Slash, Rock Crush, Aurora Thrust and more. All the Northern Alliance magic knights who were facing us were screaming in pain or letting out death throes. "You want to die!?" High Fighting Spirits sent 5 magic knights stumbling to the back with a mighty swing of his axe. Then, he rushed toward them to split the ground and summon pillars of flames using Earth Shattering Slash. Finally, he unleashed his killer move, Xiezhi Howl and murdered the five magic knights and the dozen archers behind him all at once. The bloodthirsty berserker still wasn¡¯t done, however. His axe escaped his fingers as he shouted, "Die!" Boom! The battle axe turned into a spinning blade of doom and cut through a dozen or so archers before returning to High Fighting Spirits¡¯ hands. It was surprisingly similar to my Sword Boomerang! Meanwhile, I pushed forward like a madman and took down every enemy around me like they didn¡¯t even exist. The enemy magic knights surrounded me and tried to eliminate me with a concentrated barrage of Barrier Breaks, but all they did was trigger the Heaven-burning Armor¡¯s passive and set themselves on fire. Heaven-burning Flame was extremely deadly, and it dealt continuous damage just like a mage¡¯s Fire Wall. As a result, I left a literal trail of flames in my wake as I slaughtered the enemies. The enemy¡¯s counterattack was fierce as a matter of course. Even as I fired my Thousand Ice Slash and Burning Blade Slash at different directions and deleted huge groups of enemies, I tanked countless magic spells and arrows in return, losing HP at an insane rate. Thankfully, I hadn¡¯t strayed too far away from my own people, and I was still within range of Murong Mingyue¡¯s healing. A simple Restoration was enough to keep me going for a very long time. ¡­¡­ Not far away from us, Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Purple Dragon Cavalry was creating their own destruction under Lin Yixin¡¯s leadership. Purple Marquis¡¯s Absolute Zero terrorized every enemy around him, and Lin Yixin was shooting sword auras left and right while riding atop the Moonchaser Tiger. The gorgeous tiger babe and her subordinates didn¡¯t meet too much resistance as they pushed through the enemy. The fight lasted almost ten minutes, and as expected, the Northern Alliance players blocking our way crumbled and made a run for it. 20% of the battle line was swallowed by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya just like that. "Why do I feel like something is amiss?" Gui Guzi asked with a puzzled expression. I nodded. "I agree. We haven¡¯t seen a single Heroic Bannerman thus far. What the hell is the Northern Alliance planning? Are they trying to lure us into the deeper parts of the valley and ambush us?" "That definitely sounds like a possibility¡­" Lin Yixin replied. So, I looked at Li Chengfeng and said, "Chengfeng, take a hundred cavalrymen with you and scout ahead!" "Understood!" Li Chengfeng handpicked his troops and even brought Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun with him. After he was ready, he and a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen cut down about a hundred Northern Alliance mages and tamers¡ªthey had fallen behind their allies while making a run for it¡ªbefore entering a narrow pass. There was a sudden, violent noise, and I saw moving shadows above both sides of the pass. It took me a moment to realize that they were mages and archers with white IDs¡ªit meant that they were neutral players who hadn¡¯t declared war on us. More importantly, the nation emblems behind their IDs were mostly different from one another, and I recognized two of them. The sea blue-colored flag was Argentina, and the green one was Brazil. Fuck, the Chaotic 27 are on the move! A high-level mage barked from the crowd, "Attack!" And a dense mass of arrows and magic instantly dropped toward the ground. Their target was none other than Li Chengfeng and his cavalry. Li Chengfeng remained calm despite the sharp spiral of the situation. He shouted, "Keep calm and stay where you are! Activate your Holy Shield and War God Recovery! In 10 seconds, I¡¯m going to pass the party leader to You Yun, and we will make a break for it using Flying General, understand? Pooh, the Northern Alliance is truly shameless. I can¡¯t believe they actually made a deal with the Chaotic 27!" Magic and arrows thudded against their shields, and Li Chengfeng¡¯s call was soon proven to be correct. None of the Dragonlight Cavalry had died from the bombardment, and after he passed the party leader to Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, the latter immediately activated Flying General and boosted everyone¡¯s movement speed by 400%. They were able to escape while the players of Chaotic 27 were still winding up for the next volley. ¡­¡­ After Li Chengfeng and our cavalry returned, our priests immediately got to work and healed them to full. "Motherfucker!" That was the only comment Li Chengfeng had for me. I grinned. "Yeah, we saw everything¡­" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun then asked, "What should we do now, vice leader?" "I¡¯m not sure. Let¡¯s wait a moment and see what happens." "Mn." ¡­¡­ Some time later, a troop of Northern Alliance cavalry made a run for the narrow pass, probably to meet up with their main army or something. But to our surprise, the Chaotic 27 players on the mountains attacked again and killed at least hundreds before they finally got through. A few minutes later, a dozen or so archers climbed down the mountain, grabbed all the equipment and returned to the top. Then, they hid themselves behind the trees and bushes and waited for the next haul. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng sucked in a deep breath. "Holy fuck, this is daylight robbery if I¡¯ve ever seen one! It¡¯s not just us, they¡¯re killing anyone who tries to pass through Poplar Valley and stealing their equipment! The people of Chaotic 27 truly have ¡®outstanding¡¯ personalities¡­" Chapter 834: Pincer Attack "Yes, it¡¯s become clear¡­" I nodded in agreement. "While we and the Northern Alliance fight each other to the death at Poplar Valley, the Chaotic 27 stays neutral and is ready to rob the crap out of anyone who¡¯s at the wrong place at the wrong time. Their only goal is our equipment and items, and they don¡¯t care much for everything else." Gui Guzi exclaimed in disbelief, "What is this modern day barbarism?" Chaos Moon chuckled. "They¡¯re called the Chaotic 27, but they don¡¯t just have 27 tier 1 cities, you know? They have 27 tier 1 cities, 27 tier 2 cities, and over 400 tier 3 cities. You¡¯ve never seen something like this before, haven¡¯t you? Their tier 3 cities aren¡¯t much bigger than our Dark Moon City. Over 80% of the main cities of the countries that are ranked in the bottom 100 of the global economy ranking are located at the Barren Lands. It is even rumored that their gaming helmets are free gifts distributed by Eternal Moon Corporation itself and not something they purchased on their own. If you¡¯re starving and you know that a single Purple Gold¨Cgrade item is enough to feed you for an entire month, even you would set up an ambush and rob your victims blind!" Gui Guzi asked, "Aren¡¯t Brazil and Argentina soccer nations? How are their citizens so poor?" Lin Yixin replied, "The economic lifelines of developing countries are grasped in the hands of a small subset of people, meaning that the rest of them are as poor as ever. I would be doing the same thing if I was them¡­" I shot her a glance and said, "Don¡¯t say that. You¡¯re spoiling your own image¡­" "Fine¡­" Lin Yixin nodded smilingly before standing close to me like an obedient girlfriend. Purple Marquis, High Fighting Spirits and everyone else almost died from sheer envy. ¡­¡­ "Well, what should we do?" Gui Guzi asked in puzzlement again. He was a straightforward person with no knack for planning or trickery. He could be trusted to fight at the frontlines, but it was better to leave the strategizing to people with greater life experiences such as Li Chengfeng, Murong Mingyue and Chaos Moon. So I looked at the others and asked, "What do you guys think we should do? Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and Purple Lily are only planning to defend Poplar Valley. In fact, they¡¯re nearly done with their mission. Our road, on the other hand, is much longer and different compared to theirs." Li Chengfeng said, "In my opinion, we should just charge through the pass, ignore those ruffians and head straight to White Horse City. If they dare to meet us on White Horse Plains, then we¡¯ll kick their asses and show them who¡¯s boss." Li Chengfeng looked at her excitedly. "You like me?" "No, I mean I like barbarism." Chaos Moon swung her blade once to emphasize her point. The dragon warrior smiled awkwardly. "Damn, I keep getting rejected everyday¡­" Chaos Moon chuckled. "You don¡¯t get the right to say that. I know you turned away all the girls who tried to invite you out inside the game." Du Thirteen agreed. "Yeah! This guy even turned down one-night stands! Where is your manhood, man!" The conversation was steering in the wrong direction, so I glared and scolded them, "What are you guys doing? We¡¯re in the middle of a Nation War! Now form up and get ready to break through the Chaotic 27¡¯s blockade already! I¡¯m pretty sure the Northern Alliance has set up an ambush at the exit of the pass, so be prepared to face anything! The Dragonlight and Purple Dragon Cavalries will lead the charge!" "Yessir!" everyone answered in unison. ¡­¡­ However, something unexpected happened just when we were about to launch our assault. Led by a beastman berserker wearing a red helmet and wielding a battle axe, countless elite cavalrymen with red IDs and the same type of equipment and mount suddenly appeared from the pass and charged toward us with murderous intent. The berserker shouted, "You bastards, you shall not stain the holy soil of the Chaotic Empire with your filthy hands! Slay them all, my braves!" I nearly cried on the spot as the Northern Alliance¡¯s intent finally dawned upon me. Somehow, they had managed to lure the NPC legion garrisoned at Poplar Valley to us! It was bad. Both our guilds had spread out our formation, so it was impossible for us to dodge out of the NPCs¡¯ way. The only thing we could do here was to fight! "Fuck! NPC legion!" Li Chengfeng also wore a sad expression on his face. "What do we do? Do we meet them head-on, or...?" Chiang! Lin Yixin unsheathed her weapon and declared, "An enemy nation¡¯s NPC is categorized as a monster, so this means that we can get equipment and EXP from them. Prepare for battle!" Everyone unsheathed their weapons at once, and large groups of riders moved to the front and waited for the NPCs to reach them. Usually they would be charging toward the enemy, but this time it was unnecessary because we were fighting NPCs. As the defenders in a positional warfare, we mainly relied on our mages and archers to damage the enemy, our priests to keep us healthy, and our bards and tacticians to buff us. With proper coordination, we could even defeat the NPC legion without losing anyone! This is my chance to earn some guild points! At the frontline, I charged toward the axe-wielding boss and hit him with Burning Blade Slash right away, pulling him toward me. He was a Level 195 Immortal Rank Boss, so his strength was probably between the Heaven-stealing Tiger and the Yin-Yang Tiger. He shouldn¡¯t be a problem to our army whatsoever. ¡­¡­ "Keep up the HPS and DPS, people!" Li Chengfeng shouted, "The boss has an axe AoE skill, so I don¡¯t want anyone to go near it unless you have high Defense and high Attack! You will die otherwise!" Me, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and a couple more players were the only ones who met these criteria. While we were surrounding the boss, I read the lines of text floating above the boss''s head¡ª Ned the Law of Chaos (Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 195 Introduction: The guard captain of the Land of Chaos. He commands the seventh legion of the empire. He became a great commander thanks to his formidable strength and battle axe. ¡­¡­ "Die, invader!" Cyclones appeared around Ned as he swung his axe around in a circle and knocked everyone back. His Strength stat was so high that even I was knocked a dozen or so steps back. "Shit, we lost the aggro!" Li Chengfeng shouted. The guard captain riding a black warhorse had already charged into our ranks while we were still recovering ourselves. Blood-red light appeared around his axe and fell from the sky, and a group of archers was one-shot just like that. Even the Dragonlight Cavalry at the front had lost nearly 100k HP from that one attack. A Level 195 boss like this was a lethal threat to any player whose defenses weren¡¯t up to par. That wasn¡¯t all. All over the place, NPC riders were slamming into our battle line and giving everyone a difficult time. It was bad enough that these Level 190 to Level 193 dread-rank NPCs were incredibly powerful, but their loot tables were actually worse than those of mobs with their level and rank. They were the kind of foe no one was willing to fight unless the circumstances were exceptional, and unfortunately for us, that was exactly the case right now. Swhoosh! I used the God Binding Art and was lucky enough to shackle Ned. Li Chengfeng immediately ran toward the boss and pierced his chest with the Augustus¡¯ Spear, dealing a huge amount of damage using Barrier Break. His Attack far exceeded that of a normal player after he activated Great Earth Transformation. We surrounded the boss again and kept it occupied while our archers and mages attacked. However, our arrows kept bouncing off the boss''s body even after Beiming Xue had reduced its Defense by 50% using Bone Eroding Arrow¡ªhis Defense was that high¡ªand our mages¡¯ firepower was subpar at best. The fact that they did only 2000 damage to the boss on average was frankly embarrassing as hell. Lin Yixin joined the battle on her Moonchaser Tiger and hit the boss with a powerful Extreme Break + Ice Flame Slash combo. A while later, she couldn¡¯t help but comment, "OMG, are there no good mages in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? None of your Dragon¡¯s Roars did over 10k damage. Our guild alone has 10+ mages who can do over 20k¡­" I whined. "Can you give us some of your mages¡­" "No way, this isn¡¯t something I can agree to¡­" Purple Marquis echoed in agreement. "Yeah. You may be the guild leader¡¯s boyfriend, but we are not your subguild, and the guild belongs to all of us!" "I know¡­" Sigh. Ned was a heavy-armor boss, so neither our fighters nor our archers could do as much damage as they usually did. Worse, this should be the part where our mages would shine, and yet, magic firepower happened to be our greatest weakness right now. What an awkward spot to be in. ¡­¡­ Our people died one by one as the Immortal Rank Boss kept swinging. Luckily, the Dragonlight Cavalry was pretty tanky, and most of them could tank an attack or two. They were in no danger of dying if they withdrew to the healers immediately after they took an attack. Our one advantage in this fight was our enormous numbers, and that was exactly what we were going to do; put down the boss with sheer numbers. The battle was very fierce. Fireballs exploded against armor, and arrows flew all over the place. Many of our players leveled up during the battle, and the highest grade a dread-rank mob could drop was Earth-grade equipment. Sure, the drop rate was incredibly low¡ªnot even 1 in 10000 from the looks of it¡ªbut the chance definitely existed, and lower-grade equipment such as Purple Gold¨Cgrade or Spirit-grade dropped far more frequently. Everyone was treated to pleasant surprises here and there. About 15 minutes later, the Immortal Rank boss let out his last scream and died. Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon both insisted that I score the last hit because I had high Luck and thus, high item drop rate. It would mean giving me 50% of the boss''s experience, but they believed that it would be worth it. Swhoosh! I leveled up to 168. It wouldn¡¯t be long before I hit Level 170 now! "Let¡¯s see the drops, Chaos Moon!" "Sure!" Chaos Moon quickly scooped up all the items beneath the boss''s body and showed it to us. There were 5 equipment drops in total¡ª Wristguard of the Law of Chaos (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Metal Armor of the Law of Chaos (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) War Boots of the Law of Chaos (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Flowing Light Bow (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï) Bonecrusher Sword (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) ¡­¡­ We shared the loot with Snowy Cathaya. It took a bit of wrangling, but we managed to retain the three Law of the Chaos set items for our dragon warrior Li Chengfeng. The Flowing Light Bow went to Clear Perfume, and the Bonecrusher Sword went to Purple Marquis. The twenty or so gems were distributed to the players with high contribution. However, just because we managed to kill the legion commander didn¡¯t mean that the assault was over. In fact, a large amount of infantry and archers just emerged behind their cavalry troops, and a war eagle with grayish brown feathers appeared in the air. There were people riding on top of the eagles, meaning that they were sky rider NPCs. This was going to be "fun"! ¡­¡­ "Prepare to intercept! Please give it your all, archers and mages!" I shouted. The bad news wasn¡¯t over yet though. Li Chengfeng bumped me in the arm and said, "Boss, the worst is still yet to come¡­" "What?" "Look to our left¡­" "OMG!" I saw clouds of dust from where Li Chengfeng was pointing. The elite cavalry charging toward us was none other than the Northern Alliance¡¯s Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry. Clearly, they had circled to our flank to catch us in a pincer attack. This was bad. If we didn¡¯t find a way to repel them somehow, both our guilds wouldn¡¯t survive the assault! Chapter 835: Fight? Fight! Gui Guzi stared at the incoming Northern Alliance cavalry and sneered. "We just can¡¯t stop running into that Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry, can we? It¡¯s almost like the two of us are connected by the threads of fate or something!" Li Chengfeng crossed his spear in front of his chest and said, "Clearly, the reason the Northern Alliance feigned defeat and lured us into the deeper areas of Poplar Valley was so that they could set up this ambush. Hmph! Well, It¡¯s not like I don¡¯t understand why they hate us so much. We are the ones who gave them the most trouble since the beginning of the Nation Wars!" I unsheathed my sword and laughed. "And we are proud to receive their hatred! Now get ready, brothers and sisters! When two people meet, only one will emerge victorious! We will not shrink away from the hardships of life!" Our weapons unsheathed, we took off. Once we were within range, we would charge the enemy at top speed. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a large group of players suddenly broke through the enemy¡¯s ranks from behind us. It was none other than Hot and Sour Noodles and his guild, Righteousness. The commander called out to me, "Lu Chen!" "Uncle?" "Leave this place to us. You want to attack White Horse City, right? Then you can¡¯t afford to waste your men here. I¡¯ve moved Warsky Alliance over. They¡¯ll be cooperating with my Greedy Wolf Cavalry and take Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry down a peg!" I nodded and smiled at him. "Thanks! In that case, we¡¯ll save our main army and dispatch the Dragonlight Cavalry only!" "Got it!" Hot and Sour Noodles raised his sword into the air before swinging it mightily in front of him, shouting, "Greedy Wolf Cavalry, ride with me!" 20000-strong Greedy Wolf Cavalry charged fearlessly toward the Northern Alliance¡¯s best cavalry, the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry, at once. Not only that, Warsky appeared on the other side of the battlefield as well. The ring of Great Earth Transformation surrounding him, he rode at the forefront while Laughing At The Heavens, Lin Bing Dou Zhe and nearly 10000 Frostscale Cavalrymen followed behind his back. It would seem like Hot and Sour Noodles was very well loved within the Chinese faction. Not everyone could convince Warsky Alliance to lend them their best fighting force. "Dragonlight Cavalry, attack!" Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ best cavalry charged at my command. When I hit the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse knocked aside at least a dozen or so enemy riders before it finally slowed to a stop. The enemy¡¯s mounts were huge, but their Strength stats were absolutely inferior to mine. In a direct clash, none of them was a match for me. Boom! That wasn¡¯t to say Kris wasn¡¯t wreaking havoc of her own. Every time the ice dragon swooped down from the sky and opened her mouth, countless people became wreathed in draconic flames. On the other side, Murong Mingyue¡¯s Ironwing Dragon was also going through the same motions, but instead of spitting flames it physically lifted the riders into the air and tore them to shreds. There seemed to be no one who could stop Li Chengfeng and his Augustus'' Spear too. Despite not using Greath Earth Transformation, he was able to tear through the enemies with ease. Behind him, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and Xu Yang were following closely behind and killing everyone around them as well. Aurora Thrust was deadly enough, but Chaos Moon¡¯s Rock Crush ignored even more Defense and hit even harder, not to mention that Plunder was an absolute monster of a Famous General Skill. There was no one killed by her who wasn¡¯t bawling like a baby. Bang! Xu Yang let out a guttural roar as his Mountain Stagger Slash slammed into several Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen and deleted their mount tenacity bars in an instant. Behind him, Du Thirteen rushed to the dismounted riders and slashed them three times in a row, killing them before they could do anything. The Dragonlight Cavalry was on a roll today. They cut through the enemy forces like a hot knife through butter. Our allies were doing similarly well. Ring ring ring... If you heard ringing sounds, that meant that the Fruit Knife Goddess had arrived. If you were an ally, then the melodious ring of the Devil Bell was akin to an antidepressant that kept everyone steady. It notified everyone that the main force of Snowy Cathaya was right around the corner. Purple Marquis was charging the enemy and swinging his weapon wildly. Behind him, 10000 Purple Dragon Cavalrymen were smashing the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry all over the place. "Roar roar¡­" The Moonchaser Tiger¡¯s roar was deafening to say the least. When the heroic tiger rider raised her sword, fire ascended a pillar of ice at least dozens of yards long before crashing atop a group of enemies. When she opened her palm and summoned cyclones of icy air, Ice Storm erupted among the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry and left a patch of vacuum instantly. "It¡¯s her¡­ it¡¯s her¡­ it¡¯s that devil¡­" The Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen close to Lin Yixin turned as white as death when they recognized her. To this day, the video where Lin Yixin used God¡¯s Tear and wiped out an entire map was still occupying a spot on the home page of the global forums. It was no exaggeration to say that the Fruit Knife Goddess was the cause behind the heartache that tormented every Northern Alliance player. Every night, countless players who worked their asses off just to earn a couple of gold per day would shudder awake from the nightmare that was that day and swear, "Son of a bitch!" Purple Marquis and Zi Chuanyu laughed easily and generally had a good time as they cut down the enemies. Although Snowy Cathaya¡¯s elite cavalry was no match for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯, they weren¡¯t really too far behind us. Moreover, they were led by a peak expert like Purple Marquis and the gorgeous Fruit Knife Goddess herself, so their morale was as high as the sky itself! Not far away, I could see Hot and Sour Noodles and Righteousness slamming into the Bloodthirsty Beasts¡¯ flanks and trading blows with them. Warsky Alliance¡¯s 10000-strong Frostscale Cavalry was also attacking the Northern Alliance army from behind. Now that Warsky was a Divine General, the mere appearance of his Ghost Banner greatly lifted his troops¡¯ morale. The Frostscale Cavalry was practically unstoppable as they split the enemy¡¯s formation in half. ¡­¡­ For a time, battle cries filled the air as the peak cavalry of each side clashed against one another. The battle lasted for almost an hour, and in the end, it was the Northern Alliance who lost almost all 50000 of their Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen. It was a miscalculation on their part. They didn¡¯t think that the Chinese would be this united, and that so many forces would come to the aid of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. "Don¡¯t let them escape! Kill them all!" Warsky barked out the heartless order before chasing after the escaping remnants of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry himself. He truly was a talented player with great skills¡ªhe was probably very close to reaching super-tier¡ªand even greater equipment. In terms of 1v1 prowess, Warsky was probably second only to Farewell Song today. He had most likely exceeded the likes of Lin Bing Dou Zhe and Laughing At The Heavens already. Not only was Warsky an outstanding, cunning and courageous commander, he was quickly catching up to us in terms of fighting power. Lin Yixin, Candlelight Shadow and I hadn¡¯t frequented the champion arena for a very long time, but Warsky still participated every day and had been battling Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, Farewell Song, Gui Guzi and more until he himself became a fine, tempered blade. In this case, He Yi was definitely inferior to Warsky. That being said, He Yi¡¯s key strengths lay in her charm and approachability. She was the reason why difficult-to-control super experts like Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and me shared a harmonious relationship with each other. We weren¡¯t naturally compatible with one another, but we were all willing to set down our differences for our guild leader, He Yi. ¡­¡­ "Alright, it¡¯s time to sweep the battlefield! Tsk tsk, not bad, not bad! Would you look at all these equipment drops, hehe¡­" I grinned from ear to ear as I stared at the sea of equipment littering the ground. The Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry was made up of the best of the best, so it was only natural that their equipment would be more or less the same. Even the worst items we found were Spirit-grade or higher. We swept across the battlefield like locusts, striving to outdo Warsky¡¯s Frostscale Cavalry in the looting department. Even Purple Marquis of Snowy Cathaya was riding back and forth with his Purple Dragon Cavalry. Of all of us, Hot and Sour Noodles and Righteousness were the only ones who surrendered their looting rights and graciously waited by the sidelines while we helped ourselves, even though they had lost 50% of their Greedy Wolf Cavalry during the battle. The war was still going on when we finished scouring the battlefield. I fully expected the Northern Alliance¡¯s blockades to remain unbreached for the time being. I was in no hurry, however. Cute Little Naughty and our assassins hadn¡¯t slipped into White Horse City yet, and our attack opportunity hadn¡¯t yet arrived. The timing must be right, or the entire operation could end in failure. ¡­¡­ "Lu Chen!" Suddenly, Chaos Moon called out to me and pointed to the southwest. "I received a report that Seven Star City is attacking a Level 195 Immortal Rank boss, and it only has 40% HP left! Candlelight Shadow has already organized his men and left to steal the boss, so it may be gone at any moment!" I immediately pulled out my own weapon and declared, "We¡¯re going too! There¡¯s no reason to give the Americans any Immortal-grade equipment, is there? Everything on this battlefield is belong to us!" Chaos Moon replied with a sweet smile on her face, "This one agrees completely, my master¡­" I rolled my eyes at her and said, "Behave yourself," but then... "It¡¯s fine, guild leader Eve isn¡¯t around today!" "Fuck!" I let out a helpless chuckle before departing for the boss with Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and the rest of our elites. Since Beiming Xue didn¡¯t have a mount, I put her in front of me so we could travel at the same speed. However, when I looked up, I could only see the backs of Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis, Warsky and more. Heavens, these people move as quick as lightning when there¡¯s a boss around! ¡­¡­ We rode all the way to the edge of the valley where there was an entrance leading to a smaller pass. It looked like the entrance to the lumber mill. Outside the entrance, a group of Candle Dragon players and God¡¯s Dance blocked our way and stopped us from advancing. She said with a smile, "Thank you for showing up, but Candle Dragon can deal with our own enemies. For now, your aid is unnecessary." Gui Guzi gripped his spear and asked angrily, "And if we must go inside no matter what?" God¡¯s Dance¡¯s eyes grew chillier as she smiled mirthlessly and said, "Then don¡¯t blame us for doing what is necessary!" ¡­¡­ I immediately raised my sword and shouted, "Kill them!" Warsky commented in a helpless tone, "Damn. Ask Ancient Sword for a fight, and a war you¡¯ll get¡­" Chapter 836: Legendary Mage Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang and other hot-blooded fighters couldn¡¯t restrain themselves any longer. We all wanted a piece of the Immortal Rank boss that could drop Immortal-grade equipment, and we definitely wanted a piece of the sworn enemy that was attempting to stop us from getting to the boss, Candle Dragon. There was no chance we were ever going to turn around and leave. Nearly a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen galloped at the forefront while the Frostscale Cavalry and Purple Cavalry covered the rear. Even Purple Lily, Blazing Hot Lips, Hunting Moon Dynasty and Hegemon Palace had shown up as well. It wasn¡¯t surprising though. For now, an Immortal Rank boss was hot stuff, and everyone wanted at least a piece of it. ¡­¡­ I was among the vanguard as I rode toward Candle Dragon at top speed. The Phantom Wolf King stayed close to me to prevent any enemy from sneaking up on me. Rumble rumble rumble... However, the sound of horse hooves started dispersing little by little, and we all noticed that the environment was covered in shrubbery and craggy rocks that were very detrimental to a cavalry charge. This was probably why Candle Dragon had dared to leave behind only a thousand mages and archers or so to guard the valley entrance. Most mounts would lose at least 75% of their movement speed in this terrain, and in this situation it was deadly to say the least. A group of archers appeared on a hill, and their leader was none other than Transient Smoke and Clouds himself. He looked down on us from above while laughing. "Use Far Shot, Mountain Stagger Arrow and Shock Arrow to dismount Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ riders, people! Little Dance, we¡¯re counting on you!" God¡¯s Dance nodded and shot him a confident smile. "Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t disappoint you!" Twang twang twang twang... The sound of bow twangs entered our ears in rapid succession, and the next moment a hail of arrows were falling toward us from the sky. Most of them were Mountain Stagger Arrows because the enemy wanted to delete our mount tenacity as soon as possible. This wasn¡¯t really a problem to me because I had two Immortal-grade pieces of equipment, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the others. Bang bang bang! Countless arrows exploded across our torsos. Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and everyone else was slowed down even more than they already were. The good news was Mountain Stagger Arrow was very weak against players and didn¡¯t do too much damage. It was at this moment God¡¯s Dance sneered and raised her scepter into the air. "Echelon One, freeze them with Arctic Rain. Echelon Two, damage them with Explosion Spells and Fire Dragon Spells. Echelon Three, give me all the Galaxy Storms you have! Show them what it means to burn in a freezing hell!" Boom boom boom! My HP kept decreasing, so I hurriedly drank a Saint Spirit Potion to recover myself. Not far away from me, several Dragonlight Cavalrymen failed to withstand the magical bombardment and fell off their horses, dead. God dammit, God¡¯s Dance and her party¡¯s Magic Attack was just too much for us. Mage Soul drastically increased Magic Attack, and in this scenario it was super effective against heavy-armor classes like us! "God damn, how are they so powerful¡­" Li Chengfeng dismounted, activated Battle Soul Possession and Great Earth Transformation, and cut down four archers with a horizontal sweep of his spear. Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and the others also followed his example. It was the right thing to do because it was actually faster to run on foot than to ride a mount on terrain like this. "Ahhhh¡­" Dozen more Dragonlight Cavalrymen dropped dead, and they were all elites among the elites who had been empowered by Knight God. I was heartbroken because I was hoping to deploy them in the upcoming siege of White Horse City, not lose them to my own countrymen. I also dismounted and desummoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. Beiming Xue leaped out of my lap, darted into the nearest forest and started killing the enemies with accurate shots. Thud thud thud... I ran toward the mages at top speed and fired Thousand Ice Slash toward the valley entrance, freezing an entire group of mages. Then, I killed them all with Burning Blade Slash and used 5 Ancient Seals in a row. All Candle Dragon players within 100 yards were hit by the Divine General Skill. Almost a hundred archers and mages were killed just like that. Someone among Candle Dragon shouted, "Fuck, what do we do?? Divine Generals are too powerful, and none of us can stop Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" God¡¯s Dance immediately cried, "Use¡­ use that! Hmph, no matter how strong Lu Chen is, he only has so much Divine Energy Points, so just forget about him and focus down their strongest knights! All mages, fire!" A hundred mages immediately obeyed her order and threw their Galaxy Storms at the craggy terrain, killing droves of Dragonlight Cavalry. Even our two little knightresses, Diamond Dust and Heaven¡¯s Rain, were forced to escape with only a sliver of HP left. "Protect Diamond Dust and Heaven¡¯s Rain¡­" Chaos Moon charged forward and hit a row of players with Rock Crush, but she failed to kill even a single person. Their Magic Shields were so strong that not even Chaos Moon could pierce them immediately. "Dragon¡¯s Roar!" God¡¯s Dance ordered with steely eyes, and a group of mages aimed their scepters at Chaos Moon. The bombardment nearly one-shot the warrioress, and she barely escaped with 5% HP left. All blood drained away from her face as she whined, "OMG, how are they so powerful¡­" Li Chengfeng was the next person to attempt a forced attack. He leaped into the air, surrounded himself with draconic images and shouted, "Dragonblade Revolution! Die!" The AoE skill killed almost a hundred mages, but Candle Dragon was swift to replenish their numbers. God¡¯s Dance was paying close attention to the battlefield, and she barked out another order without hesitation, "Focus Legendary Brave! Use your strongest skill to kill him!" Again, the world roared with the sounds of wind blades, fiery explosions and many more special magic spells. It looked like we had severely underestimated the power of Candle Dragon¡¯s mage party. "Holy fuck!" Li Chengfeng screamed like a girl as he fell on the ground and was knocked left and right by all the magical spells that were flying his way. He scrambled for safety as his HP fell to 20% in just the blink of an eye. ¡­¡­ "Save Li Chengfeng!" I hurriedly ran forward and made the Phantom Wolf King use Purgatory Storm. At the same time, I launched my Thousand Ice Slash, Burning Blade Slash and another 7 Ancient Seals in a row. I was literally going all out to save Li Chengfeng¡¯s life. It was at this moment Beiming Xue emerged from the edges of the forest. She raised her bow and unleashed Well of the Abyss! Boom! The space at a small area of the valley entrance distorted, and the Well of the Abyss dragged countless mages and archers into an infinite hole. Beiming Xue truly was a reliable lass. She had single-handedly reduced the firepower coming my way by 30% or more. Bang bang bang¡­ Even with my ridiculous Magic Resist, the Dragon¡¯s Roars hitting my Heaven-burning Armor non-stop still decreased my HP like crazy. By the time Li Chengfeng, Diamond Dust, Heaven¡¯s Rain and everyone else had finally withdrawn to safety, my HP had dropped to just 4%. It was so close that I had broken out in cold sweat. Wordless and temporarily stumped, we could only stare at the Candle Dragon mages hiding behind the forest surrounding the valley entrance for a time. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Transient Smoke and Clouds was standing beneath a birch tree and laughing arrogantly at us. "What¡¯s wrong? Where¡¯s all that gallantry from before? Hahaha! See, I knew that you cripples wouldn¡¯t be able to face up to reality! No matter how powerful your fighters are, a guild without good mages is nothing but a trash guild! To think that you fools actually believe yourselves to be the greatest guild in the world, pooh! You are nothing! In the end, it falls on us to carry China¡¯s banner, hahahaha¡­" Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and many more people ground their teeth hard enough to break them. They raised their weapons and growled menacingly, "That shameless fucker! I¡¯ll kill him!" I hurriedly stopped them and said, "Calm down! Don¡¯t you see that Transient Smoke and Clouds is just trying to bait you? If you fall for his provocations you¡¯ll be taken out by their magic! We can¡¯t just throw ourselves into the line of fire when we¡¯re clearly at a disadvantage!" It was at this moment I heard a ringing sound behind me. Lin Yixin had finally arrived, and the girl was frowning a little and declaring angrily, "Candle Dragon is so shameless today. Purple Marquis, gather our people and prepare for a forced charge. We will occupy the valley entrance in one go!" Suddenly, a long. Terrifying howl broke out from the front, and a group of Candle Dragon mages suddenly dropped to a column of fire. Then, a gigantic, colorful python that looked a little like a dragon slithered out of the valley entrance with Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar following closely behind. The creature was clearly the Immortal Rank boss, and for some reason, Candle Dragon had lost the aggro on it. "What the fuck, dude! Hold the boss!" Transient Smoke and Clouds shouted. A pale-faced Candlelight Shadow replied, "Watch your back! The Northern Alliance is attacking us like crazy! They have a ridiculously powerful female mage with them!" "What?!" Countless wind blades sliced and diced into Transient Smoke and Clouds¡¯ back before he could react, and Candle Dragon¡¯s number one archer died just like that! It was a powerful offensive skill, Dimensional Storm! ¡­¡­ Creak creak¡­ A pair of dancing shoes emerged from behind the valley entrance. It was a short female mage wearing a blue mage robe and wielding a ridiculously long scepter. A black cloak flowed down her back, and her face was obscured by the hood, but it was obvious that she was very angry. She muttered, "How dare you bastards take my boss. You are so dead¡­" She was followed by dozens of fearsome-looking Northern Alliance players. Their impressive entrance caused everyone to tense up. For a time, no one even looked at the boss. The female mage was that menacing. Warsky was the first to react. He ordered, "Heavens, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Hundred Battler, go get her. Little Rain, support them from range, will you?" "Mn!" They accepted his order and rushed toward the female mage. Laughing At The Heavens took point while Lin Bing Dou Zhe followed closely behind him. That wasn¡¯t all. Candlelight Shadow turned around and ordered, "Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, Tiger Leopard Knight, go help them! That woman isn¡¯t someone the likes of Warsky Alliance can handle!" "Understood!" The generals accepted their orders and charged the female mage with dozens of high-level players as well. Lin Yixin and I exchanged a look of astonishment with each other. Just how strong was this mage that Candlelight Shadow himself would claim that Warsky Alliance¡¯s best experts were no match for her? ¡­¡­ Almost a hundred Chinese elites charged the female mage at once. It should¡¯ve been a terrifying sight for anyone who wasn¡¯t their ally! "Hehe¡­" However, the female mage simply smiled, waved her scepter and surrounded herself in a cocoon of light. It looked like she was creating something. The next moment, a dozen or so balls of light descended in front of her enemies and erupted into octagonal force fields. The inside of the force fields was completely empty, and no one could pass through them. They were as tough as Iron Walls. Bang bang bang! Laughing At The Heavens, Lin Bing Dou Zhe and many more people slammed face first into the force fields and hurt themselves. They were like tiny, impassable hills that they could only walk around. "What the fuck, Origin Force Field? What is this? I didn¡¯t know a skill like this exists¡­" Blue Sky Scar groaned. The attackers started circling around the force fields, but the mage chuckled again and trapped them all inside some sort of black light. Their movement speed suddenly dropped drastically. The combat log marked it as ¡°Gravity Trap¡±. It slowed everyone inside by 75%! At this point, even I was starting to lose a bit of composure. "Here I come!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe was the first person to get close to the mage. He swung his sword at her, and the rest of the warriors worked with him by using their Barrier Breaks. If the attacks landed, she would be instakilled for sure! ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud¡­ The short mage took a few steps backward and waved her scepter again. The air around her immediately began freezing, and many complicated-looking runes and matrices appeared on the ground. A moment later, countless spiraling ice blades hit the attackers and killed all of them. Lin Bing Dou Zhe was the only one who survived, but even he only had 10% left in his health pool. His face was drained of all blood as he withdrew. "Motherfucker! This is unacceptable!" Unable to stand this any longer, Warsky charged forward to meet the mage. After he zigzagged around the Origin Force Fields, he closed the distance between himself and the mage and executed Flowing Light Slash + Cyan Tiger Shatter combo! The mage looked surprised. She clearly wasn¡¯t expecting Warsky to move as quickly as he did. While her Magic Shield ate both attacks and distorted a little, she retreated and dumped an Origin Force Field right where Warsky was. The spell knocked him back several yards and threw his form and movement into complete disarray. Dimensional Storm! Ice Spiral Matrix! The mage respected the threat Warsky represented and rewarded him with two huge AoE spells. His HP hit rock bottom, and he was forced to retreat just like that. He uttered in shame and humiliation, "Fuck¡­" ¡­¡­ Chiang! Lin Yixin pulled out her sword and declared frigidly, "I can¡¯t hold back any longer¡­" Neither could I. In fact, I had acted before her and took off toward the mage first. My sword was crossed in a way where I could use Burning Blade Slash or Barrier Break at the shortest notice. She would die if she got hit even once by my skills! Swhoosh! I reached the mage and used Burning Blade Slash. But to my surprise, she actually managed to parry the first two hits and tanked the last hit with her Magic Shield. Her shield was also special and was called "Telekinetic Shield", which most likely meant that it would be sturdier than normal Magic Shields. In fact, the last hit of my Burning Blade Slash only managed to delete 35% of its durability. Swhoosh! I didn¡¯t pause to admire her skillfulness. The Cyan Netherworld Sword glowing with the light of Universe Break, I declared in a steely voice, "Die!" Everyone held their breaths at the critical moment. Gui Guzi¡¯s mouth fell open unconsciously as he murmured, "Do it, Boss Broken Halberd. Kill her¡­" ¡­¡­ Thud! However, the female mage grabbed the blade of my sword with her small, delicate hands and stopped me. At the same time, a sweet voice entered my ears, "It¡¯s me, Lu Chen¡­" She pulled down her hood. A young but attractive face appeared before my eyes. Chapter 837: Manipulation of the Big Dipper "Yep." Lian Xin smiled and watched my face for a moment. Suddenly her expression changed, and she asked with a pout, "Maybe it¡¯s just me, but why do you look like you¡¯re engaging in debauchery, Lu Chen?" "Excuse me?" I felt like dying. It had been years since we saw each other, and this was the first thing she asked? How embarrassing was that? ¡­¡­ "Who is she, Little Cheat?" Lin Yixin asked me from afar. I replied, "Er, she¡¯s one of us¡­" But Lian Xin¡¯s eyes turned steely as she said, "Who¡¯s that dumb woman? Hey you! Why are you calling my Lu Chen a little cheat? Do you want to die?" Chiang! Lin Yixin unsheathed her weapon immediately. "You wanna fight?" "Why not?" I tried to stop her while shouting, "Stop!" ¡­¡­ However, Lian Xin was faster than I was. She used Blink to pass by me and ran straight toward Lin Yixin. Worse yet, Lin Yixin was running toward the mage herself! Unbelievable! The two bullish girls were actually going to butt heads with each other! Swhoosh! First, Lian Xin hit Lin Yixin with a Gravity Trap and slowed her movement speed by 75%. Then, she cast 7 Origin Force Fields in a row in an attempt to trap the wanderer in the center. If she succeeded, then she was free to rain spells on her opponent until she died. However, the Fruit Knife Goddess was a smart woman, and she identified the threat to her being immediately. While Lian Xin was still in the middle of casting, she locked onto a small animal nearby and activated Charge, escaping the danger zone in an instant. After that, she dismounted from her Moonchaser Tiger and unveiled a glint of steel behind her palm. The silver light flashing across her purple pupils was none other than Moon Gaze. Lian Xin calmly backed away from her opponent and slapped down another three force fields to block her advance. At the same time, she cast a matrix of stars right beneath the wanderer and hit her with a storm of spiraling ice blades! It was the 5x5 yard Ice Spiral Matrix! Boom boom boom! Lin Yixin stifled a groan as the spell cut into her body and inflicted a huge amount of damage¡ª78262! Lian Xin¡¯s Magic Attack was just too high. Not even Lin Yixin with her Magic Resist could withstand it. Thud thud thud! However, Lin Yixin shrugged off the attack and continued zigzagging around the Origin Force Fields. For one, she wasn¡¯t a quitter, and two, she knew that it was perfectly natural for the mage to land the first couple of hits in a fighter versus mage duel. Lin Yixin continued to leap toward the mage until suddenly, a flaming ice sword burst into existence! Swhoosh! Lin Yixin locked onto the empty space next to Lian Xin and used Charge again. Her dagger passed through the mage¡¯s Magic Shield as she executed Extreme Break! Pssh! Cracks started forming all across Lian Xin¡¯s Telekinetic Shield. The damage it took was finally about to exceed its durability. Lin Yixin immediately switched back to her sword and raised it high up into the air. Cloak flapping behind her back, she brought the blade down in one mighty swing! "Mm¡­" Lian Xin stifled a cry and parried the attack with her scepter. Naturally, she was sent skidding toward the back by Lin Yixin¡¯s strike. Lin Yixin was too fast for the mage. Before the mage could react, she ran up to her and kicked her in the torso! Bang! Finally, the Telekinetic Shield lost all of its durability and shattered into nothingness. A trace of satisfaction flashing across Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes, she thrust her sword forward and attempted to skewer her opponent with a Barrier Break! Lian Xin wasn¡¯t about to give up though. Gritting her teeth and crying out in determination, she opened her palm and placed an Origin Force Field right between herself and the wanderer, pushing them apart. At the same time, she waved her scepter and cast both her super wide AoE skills, Dimensional Storm and Ice Spiral Matrix. There was a high chance the wanderer wouldn¡¯t survive this if both spells scored a direct hit! However, Lin Yixin reacted immediately by altering her speed and direction, dashing behind the mage. Then, she used Barrier Break again and thrust it at the mage¡¯s back. At this point, both of them were sure to suffer grievous injuries or worse, die, if their skills landed! ¡­¡­ Chiang! It wasn¡¯t the easiest thing to pull off, but I had finally caught up to the girls to interrupt their duel. First, I put my sword in the Barrier Break¡¯s path and blocked the skill. Next, I hit Lian Xin¡¯s scepter with Magic Piercing Punch and interrupted casting of her two spells. "You!" "You!" Both girls glared at me and burst out at the same time. I glared right back and said, "For fuck¡¯s sake, would it kill the both of you to listen to what I have to say?!" Lin Yixin finally lowered her sword and pouted. "Fine, say your piece¡­" Lian Xin also lowered her scepter and asked, "Who is this dumb woman, big brother Lu Chen?" "Stop calling me dumb woman!" "But you are a dumb woman!" I hurriedly stopped them before they could go for another round. "Stop arguing, or I¡¯ll die in front of you both! Anyway... This is Lian Xin. She is one of the four original elders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, the ¡®Star¡¯ elder. She left the country to study abroad, which is why her ID was created in the Northern Alliance. Her ID is Lian Xing, and her real name is Lian Xin." Lin Yixin nodded in realization. "I see." Next, I looked at Lian Xin and said, "She is the guild leader of Snowy Cathaya and my friend. Ever heard of Wind Fantasy? This is her..." "I see¡­" Lian Xin looked back and forth between Lin Yixin and me before asking, "Is she your girlfriend? Is this why you look like your life has been sucked out of your body?" I almost spat blood at the comment. "What the fuck are you talking about? I haven¡¯t even gotten her first time yet!" It was Lin Yixin¡¯s turn to glare at me. "WHAT DID YOU SAY!? I DARE YOU TO REPEAT THAT TO MY FACE!" Lian Xin immediately raised her scepter threateningly and raged, "Stop bullying my big brother! This is not how a girlfriend should act around her boyfriend, you violent woman! Hmph!" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin¡¯s face was white with fury. Lian Xin¡¯s complexion wasn¡¯t much better than hers. Finally, I, the guy stuck between the two girls, couldn¡¯t hold in my own anger any longer. "Cut it out, you two! Yiyi, don¡¯t you have a boss to kill? Lian Xin, what were you doing before we came?" Lian Xin immediately complained in an aggrieved tone, "I was fighting that python boss with a couple of university friends when that shameless Candle Dragon sneaked up on us. That Outer Flame almost killed me during the first battle! After we retreated, we reorganized for a bit before returning to take back what¡¯s ours. You know what happened next. The boss escaped, and I was ganged up on the moment I exited the valley. Who are these noobs, by the way?" The corner of Warsky¡¯s mouth twitched once. "What did your girl say, Lu Chen? My ears must be deceiving me¡­" I hurriedly let out a placating laugh and distracted him. "Nothing! Nothing. By the way, why are you still here? Candle Dragon¡¯s about to steal the boss from you!" "Holy shit, you¡¯re right! I¡¯d better stop them right away!" After Warsky was gone, I turned Lian Xin toward my guild members and declared loudly, "Brothers and sisters, it looks like the light of hope of the guild has returned! This beautiful girl next to me is the one of the four elders of the guild, the Star Elder Lian Xin! Even better, she¡¯s a super mage, hahaha~~" Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes lit up. "Wow, the Star Elder is so cute!" Gui Guzi also said, "A player who can solo the likes of Warsky, Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow and go even against the Fruit Knife Goddess herself? Super mage indeed, hahaha! Spring has finally come to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" However, their comments caused Lian Xin to blush and ask me, "Big brother, is it just me, or do they look like bad guys to you? Is this the type of people we recruit these days?" Tears immediately slid down Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi¡¯s cheeks. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment I noticed that Candle Dragon was watching us, so I let out a hearty laugh and put my arms around Lian Xin¡¯s shoulders. I declared in a proud tone, "Who¡¯s the one who called our guild a cripple and said that we don¡¯t have any super mage again? It looks like we¡¯ll have to dispel those lies, starting by taking this boss for ourselves! No one will steal it from us!" Candlelight Shadow¡¯s expression looked incredibly ugly. Blue Sky Scar approached him and asked in a soft voice, "Candlelight, should we attack Ancient Sword now? Their main force isn¡¯t here. I¡¯m sure we can beat them!" Candlelight Shadow slowly shook his head. "Not now. That mage, Lian Xing, is too powerful, and she¡¯s clearly on their side right now. Hmph, there¡¯s no rush beating Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. We can discuss this again after we kill the boss!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ I wasn¡¯t paying attention, but Beiming Xue had walked out of the forest and returned to my side. She asked with a smile, "Is this Lian Xin, big bro?" "Yeah." I nodded affirmatively. When Lian Xin saw Beiming Xue, she immediately shot her a friendly smile and said, "I know you! You¡¯re Beiming Xue, the Dark Archer! You have no idea how moved I was when I watched you fight during the War of Dawn City!" Beiming Xue smiled back. "You are plenty powerful yourself, Sister Lian Xin. By the way, when are you coming back to the country? Your ID is still red, you know. I really don¡¯t want to risk friendly fire." Lian Xin replied, "I was busy preparing my thesis defense, so much so that I haven¡¯t even participated in the Nation War. The good news is that I¡¯ll be graduating in a couple of days, so I¡¯ll come back around that time!" "That¡¯s wonderful!" While they were talking, the fashionably late Murong Mingyue had finally showed up. She looked as wholesome and graceful as ever. When Lian Xin saw the priest, she immediately ran up to her and hugged her in excitement. "I miss you so much, Sister Mingyue!" Murong Mingyue gave her a rub on the back and smiled back. "Yo, looks like someone grew a nice pair after they went to America. Did you find yourself a boyfriend?" "What? Of course not!" Lian Xin denied it immediately. I watched the two chat amiably with each other while smiling from the side. Li Chengfeng asked from beside me, "Hey, the reunion is nice and everything, but we have a boss to tackle, right?" "Yeah. The boss was started by Lian Xin and her classmates, so it¡¯s only right that they get something out of it. We¡¯ll take the experience and Immortal-grade equipment and give them the rest of the loot¡­" I declared generously. Gui Guzi asked, "So, where are Lian Xin¡¯s classmates?" "They were annihilated by Candle Dragon a while ago¡­" "Oh, yeah¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ We all turned toward Candle Dragon and the colorful python at the same time. By now, the boss''s HP had dropped to less than 5%, and it was unlikely that it would last even another minute. So far, it looked like everyone was following the rules of friendly competition and fighting to score the last hit on the boss only. "Let¡¯s go!" I, Lin Yixin, Gui Guzi and everyone else ran toward the boss together. Lian Xin was the first to kick off the assault by activating safe mode and casting Ice Spiral Matrix right beneath the boss. The super powerful spell dealt almost 100k damage to the giant python with each tick. "Eh? What Famous General Skill are you using, Lian Xin?" Li Chengfeng asked suddenly. "How is your attack so powerful?" Lian Xin let out a devious chuckle before replying, "Well, I stole big brother Lu Chen¡¯s Martial God while he was looking away, so of course my spells are doing tons of damage¡­" "Stole¡­?" "Yeah¡­" Lian Xin shared the details of her Famous General Skill with us without hesitation. We almost went spartan when we saw it¡ª Big Dipper: Steal target party¡¯s stratagem. Divine General Skills cannot be stolen. Skill exclusive to Lian Xing. Chapter 838: Phantasm of Stars "Faster, people! The boss is about to die!" Candlelight Shadow shouted. I hurriedly backed a few steps before calling out to Murong Mingyue in a quiet voice, "Sis, heal me to full, will ya? I¡¯m going to KS the boss!" "Okay!" Murong Mingyue waved her scepter repeatedly and healed me to full in no time. After I drank a Saint Spirit Potion and recovered my MP as well, I waited until the boss had 1% HP left and used Purple Dragon Howl. An unstoppable cyclone of energy instantly erupted toward the python! Boom boom boom! The purple dragon spun around the boss and ravaged it continuously, dealing a lot of high damage numbers. While this was going on, I rushed forward to grab the boss''s loot the moment it died! "Roar roar¡­" As the boss dropped dead and exploded into a ton of loot, I moved like lightning and pulled a translucent spear away from Candlelight Shadow, Warsky and Little Piglet. The orange hue around its body was all I needed to see: this weapon had to be Heaven-grade at the very least. When Candlelight Shadow saw this, he slashed at me in an attempt to force me to drop the weapon. At the same time, Little Piglet stretched his hands forward to catch the equipment the second I let go. I gripped the spear tighter because there was no time to even toss it into my bag. Reversing my grip on the Cyan Netherworld Sword, I parried Candlelight Shadow and Little Piglet¡¯s attacks with a horizontal swing and withdrew at top speed. "Lian Xin!" The mage understood my meaning immediately, and several Origin Force Fields appeared around me in succession. Warsky, Little Piglet, Candlelight Shadow and the others were all forced to give up their chase after they were pushed back by the force fields. On the other side, Lin Yixin also managed to nab a wristguard from the boss. She threw it into Clear Perfume¡¯s hands and said, "Here, Qingqing! Heaven-grade leather armor wristguards!" Her roomie immediately broke into a wide grin. Swhoosh! A column of golden light enveloped me as I leveled up again to Level 169. Beiming Xue walked up to me and asked, "What kind of spear did you get, big bro?" I smiled and waved my hands over the weapon, and a hologram appeared above the translucent spear. The girls were stunned by what they saw. It was as impressive as the looks of astonishment on their faces might suggest¡ª Seven Star Veluriyam Spear (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 1900~2350 Strength: +820 Stamina: +835 Agility: +800 Tactics: +95 Passive: When attacking, deals 80% split damage to 5 to 8 targets around the user. Slots: 12 Outstanding Property: Veluriyam Lamp. When attacking, there is a 5% chance to summon a Veluriyam Lamp from the God Domain and restore 15% HP instantly. Introduction: During the ancient times, many divine Veluriyam objects were transformed into divine weapons and used to combat the Gods¡¯ enemies. However, the Veluriyam Spear was broken many times during the War of Gods and Demons. Later, Divine Smith Ouyang used a ray of light from the Seven Stars to concentrate its divine energy and complete the reforging of the Veluriyam Spear in one go. The Veluriyam Spear became reborn as the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear. Level: 165 Class Requirement: Magic Knight ¡­¡­ "God damn, another Immortal-grade spear?" Li Chengfeng licked his lips excitedly. "This baby¡¯s Attack is way higher than Vienna¡¯s Heaven Prison Spear! I reckon it¡¯s the strongest weapon to date, tsk tsk! Lucky us!" His elation only lasted a moment though. "Sigh, too many people were trying to grab the loot when the boss died. I didn¡¯t get anything because Little Gui was blocking in front of me." Gui Guzi complained, "Come on, I didn¡¯t get shit either! That sonuvabitch Little Piglet¡¯s a fucking monster when it comes to grabbing loot! It took him only a couple of swipes to grab an entire pile of gems!" Xu Yang shook his head. "Well, Little Piglet¡¯s only reason for being here is money. Can¡¯t blame a man for using his life-defining skill, dude¡­" Chaos Moon nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I can understand him completely." Staring at the Veluriyam Spear, High Fighting Spirits asked, "So, how should we deal with this spear, Lu Chen?" I looked at Lian Xin and said, "To be honest, the boss belonged to Lian Xin and her American friends, and we¡¯re the ones who took it from them. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls don¡¯t take from their own, so I would like to give this spear to Lian Xin. Is that okay with everyone?" Gui Guzi clenched his fists and declared, "Everything for the guild, I say! By the way, how old are you, Lian Xin? Should I address you as big sister or little sister?" Li Chengfeng immediately burst out in laughter. "Dude, are you seriously going to call her your big sister with that thick bush on your face? Not to mention that she looks 22 years old at most¡­" Lian Xin nodded smilingly. "The dragon warrior is correct. I am 21 years old." Li Chengfeng grinned at her. "Do you have a boyfriend?" "No." Lian Xin giggled before shooting me a glance. "But I would advise you not to hold out hope toward me because my future boyfriend must survive big brother¡¯s test. I won¡¯t accept anyone who disappoints him!" The gang of men instantly looked at me with bloodshot eyes and said¡ª "Do you like me, Lu Chen?" "Check out my biceps, vice leader! Surely you think I¡¯m strong enough to protect Sister Lian Xin, right?" "Brother-in-law, there are no brothers I cherish more than you, promise..." ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t stop my facial muscles from twitching rapidly. What the fuck is wrong with these people? Where is their shame?? "Quiet." I raised my hand to silence them before continuing, "While it is perfectly normal for someone to get married at a certain age, Lian Xin is only 21 years old. If she herself isn¡¯t worried about her romantic life, who am I to interfere with something so intimate? Plus, Eve is the one you should please, not me! For one, it has nothing to do with me, and two, I¡¯m not pissing off Beauty Lin again if it¡¯s the last thing I do. Anyway, it¡¯s time to form up, turn around and penetrate the Northern Alliance¡¯s defense line! Our goal is to cut through Poplar Valley, march across White Horse Plains and occupy White Horse City! Also, I know Lian Xin¡¯s ID is still hostile red, but no one is allowed to attack her, you hear me? She is one of our own, and she¡¯ll be attacking White Horse City with us! Is that clear?" "Yes, vice leader!" everyone answered in unison. Lian Xin asked Beiming Xue sweetly as she stood beside her, "Shall we walk together, Beiming?" Beiming Xue smiled right back. "Of course! We share the same big bro, so it¡¯s only natural that we stick together! Let¡¯s bully big bro every day after you come back, okay, Sister Lian Xin?" Lian Xin replied excitedly, "Oh, definitely! I¡¯ve been wanting to ravage him for as long as I¡¯ve been away!" "Heavens!" The corner of my mouth twitched as I passed Lian Xin the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear. "Here, this spear is yours. Who are you going to give this to? Are there any Level 165 magic knights among your classmates?" Playfulness danced behind Lian Xin¡¯s eyes. "You don¡¯t have to play such tricks with me, big brother. You know that the people I love the most after my parents are you and Sister He Yi. I already know Sister He Yi is a magic knight, and that her level is pretty high. Who else am I going to give this spear besides her? Oh right, where is she right now? Why haven¡¯t I seen her today?" "Oh, she left to attend a meeting in Shanghai. She¡¯ll only be returning at night." "I see. In that case, I¡¯ll keep this Seven Star Veluriyam Spear for now. I¡¯m going to hand it to her myself and give her a pleasant surprise!" "Very good, very good¡­" ¡­¡­ As we took off toward our destination, Lin Yixin and Snowy Cathaya followed at a suitable distance away from us. I noticed her looking Lian Xin up and down repeatedly with obvious jealousy. This continued until Chaos Moon finally lost control of her grin and bumped me in the arm. "You see that, you lucky, lucky man? Heavens, I didn¡¯t think a jealous Fruit Knife Goddess can be this cute~~" I replied jokingly, "Control yourself, woman!" After that, I sent Lin Yixin a message: "I love you, Yiyi¡­" Lin Yixin replied, "Get lost. I would punch you right now if I could!" "Hehe, don¡¯t be mad, Lian Xin has been with us since Spirit of Grief, you know? She¡¯s just a little sister to me, I promise~~" "Like hell I¡¯ll believe you!" We continued our journey. Now that we had Lian Xin the super mage, the guild¡¯s greatest weakness was no longer an issue. Ice Spiral Matrix + Dimensional Storm were a super AoE combo that could kill practically anything in their path, and I doubted that even a defense line formed by our own Dragonlight Cavalry could withstand it without casualties. If she cast them several times in a row, then not even the greatest priest in the world could heal them in time. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Lian Xin said to me, "There¡¯s something I need to tell you, big brother Lu Chen." "Sure, what is it?" "I¡¯ve actually applied to change my in-game nationality last week, but it was rejected. There are people in Eternal Moon New York headquarters who would do everything in their power to stop me from leaving Seven Star City. What should I do?" I nodded understandingly. Lian Xin was so powerful that only an idiot would let her go without a struggle. "Can you show me your class and main skills, Lian Xin?" "Sure." The next moment, a bunch of data appeared before me¡ª Phantasm of Stars Origin Force Field: A 5x5 yard wide force field. Drives a unit away from the target area. Can be cast successively up to a maximum of 12 force fields. Lasts 10 seconds. Gravity Trap: Trap. Slows the movement and attack speed of all targets within a 20x20 yard area by 75%. Dimensional Storm: Summons wind blades from another dimension. Deals a ridiculous amount of damage to all targets within a 20x20 yard area. Ice Spiral Matrix: Summons the icy power of the stars. Deals a ridiculous amount of damage to all targets within a 5x5 yard area. Telekinetic Shield: A shield refined with the power of telekinesis. Boasts durability 100% higher than a normal Magic Shield. Drains MP continuously to maintain. Cannot be pierced by any skill. ¡­¡­ Force field, gravity, dimensional, matrix and telekinesis were all famous sci-fi terms, and it was clear that the USA headquarters had gone through great efforts to create this king of classes. However, I bet they never expected that a Chinese girl would be the one to pick it up. That was why they would never allow Lian Xin¡¯s account to be transferred to Sky City if they could help it. Chapter 839: The Power of Force Fields "Yeah." I nodded while replying, "I¡¯ve received news from Cute Little Naughty that our assassin party has slipped inside White Horse City, and they¡¯ll be stirring trouble in one hour or so. Our objective now is to hit the enemy¡¯s defense line hard, attract their attention, and help them complete their mission successfully. Once we¡¯re through, it¡¯ll be a smooth journey all the way to White Horse City. All that¡¯s left after that is to occupy the city, hmph hmph!" Hot and Sour Noodles smiled. "Alright. As a show of my support, I¡¯m borrowing you my remaining 10000 Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen for this battle!" "Thank you, uncle!" I replied. A while later, I added, "Oh right, there¡¯s one more thing I need to ask your help with." "What is it?" "It¡¯s about Lian Xin." "Oh, you mean the Phantasm of Stars¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles shot Lian Xin a glance before sighing in admiration. "She is an incredibly powerful mage. Her unique class is already plenty powerful, but her overall strength isn¡¯t inferior to Luo River God of the Capital and Stranger of Three Lifetimes at all. Even better, she¡¯s one of your elders! You have my congratulations, friend." I smiled. "Well, that is all well and good, but it won¡¯t matter if Lian Xin can¡¯t transfer her account back home. Do you know that her transfer application was denied by Eternal Moon USA headquarters? That is what I want to talk to you about. Can you speak to the CGL committee and influence the process somehow? If Lian Xin successfully transfers her account, then China will gain a super mage." Zhang Chun nodded solemnly as he gave me his word, "Leave it to me. There are many things I can¡¯t do with my power, but this is one thing I¡¯ll complete no matter what!" "Thank you very much uncle. We¡¯ll be taking out leave then!" "Mn. Be seeing you!" ¡­¡­ After Hot and Sour Noodles left, the 10000-strong Greedy Wolf Cavalry joined up with our 2000+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 10000+ Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen. Together, we stood atop a hill and looked down at the Northern Alliance¡¯s formation about one kilometer away from our position. We saw countless neighing warhorses and Northern Alliance players blocking the exit of Poplar Valley. The exit was about 2000 meters wide, and they were protected by rows and rows of high-level magic knights at the front and powerful archers, mages and priests at the back. Besides that, we also spotted loaded Fire Catapults and archers with drawn bows, ready to attack at a moment¡¯s notice. It was a terrifying sight to say the least. "Fuck!" I nodded in agreement. "Even still, we must grind down their magic knights bit by bit before we can chew into the mages and archers. Did you notice how many Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry are acting as meatshields? It looks like the Northern Alliance are dispatching all their elites this time. What a conundrum!" Chaos Moon said, "Yeah. Even at a glance I counted almost 20 Heroic Bannermen among the defenders, so this is nothing like we¡¯ve faced before. We will suffer huge losses if we charge them thoughtlessly." Gui Guzi laughed without the slightest bit of thought behind his words. "Who cares if it¡¯s still a win? Let¡¯s do this!" I shot him a look. "It¡¯s a win, sure, but how do you suppose we attack White Horse City if we lose most of our troops here? Moreover, it¡¯d be meaningless even if we managed to kill every man and woman guarding the exit. The only true way to eliminate the threat to our server and score one for China is to destroy White Horse City!" Li Chengfeng commented, "Well, it¡¯s not actually too hard to defeat a defense line like this with small losses. The key is to find a way to separate the magic knights from their mages and priests. If the priests can¡¯t heal their knights, and their mages can¡¯t hit us with their spells, then the Dragonlight Cavalry will easily chop those Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen like vegetables." Beiming Xue nodded. "But that¡¯s exactly the problem, isn¡¯t it? There isn¡¯t a real way to separate them." We all fell silent for a moment. It was at this moment Lian Xin smiled beside me and said, "I think I can give this a try, actually." My eyes lit up. "You have a plan, Lian Xin?" "Yep." Lian Xin nodded. "You know that my Origin Force Field can push a player away from a specific location, right? If I throw out all twelve of my Origin Force Fields and create a line of impassable space between the magic knights and their support, you¡¯ll be able to kill them, right?" No one said anything for a moment. Then, Li Chengfeng slapped his thigh and laughed. "That¡¯s brilliant! Hahaha, Sister Lian Xin is truly a smart girl!" I nodded. "Alright, we¡¯ll follow this plan. Dragonlight Cavalry, prepare to attack at my command. Cyan Tiger Cavalry and Greedy Wolf Cavalry, standby for orders as well. We¡¯re charging through the moment we tore a hole in the enemy¡¯s defense line. Remember, our objective is to break through the blockade and make it to White Horse Plains only. Everything else is none of our business!" Everyone nodded. The sounds of unsheathing weapons filled the air for a time. ¡­¡­ I covered Lian Xin as she jogged toward the enemy¡¯s formation. Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon were also following us closely just in case something happened to our pretty little sci-fi mage. When Lian Xin got into range, she immediately waved her scepter and gathered the power of the stars. The next moment, 12 Origin Force Fields appeared out of nowhere! Bang bang bang... The force fields created a line of vacuum and distorted the enemy¡¯s defense formation. Large groups of magic knights were pushed forward while the mages and priests were pushed to the back. Before they knew it, they were out of their priests¡¯ range already. Overjoyed, I raised my sword and shouted, "Now is the time! Kill them all! Show these Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen our true power!" The ground started shaking beneath our hooves. Our cavalry formation was about 50 yards wide, and we penetrated the enemy¡¯s defense line like a hot knife through butter. Acting as the point of this blade, I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse to slam into the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry and used War Crush, nailing myself into the heart of their formation. Then, I used my usual combo, Burning Blade Slash and Thousand Ice Slash! Boom boom boom! The flaming sword auras and storm of ice blades were too powerful. Countless people were one-shot where they stood! The Phantom Wolf King roared as it darted between the enemy riders and sliced their armors with Claw of the Storm. Lin Yixin and the Purple Dragon Cavalry had also appeared from the flanks and charged. The Origin Force Fields themselves might not do any damage to the enemy, but this charge wouldn¡¯t have been nearly as successful without them. Bang bang bang¡­ Flesh rammed against flesh as the riders charged into one another. Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and Chaos Moon slaughtered everyone in their way like invincible gods of war. Behind us, Beiming Xue and a troop of archers finally caught up to us. It so happened that a column of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry was attempting to attack our flanks, so the dark archer smiled and waved a gigantic, red abyss into existence, trapping every magic knight that stumbled upon it. What a domineering skill! It was like a black hole that sucked everyone and everything into the center! "Sister Lian Xin, it¡¯s your turn now. Barbecue them!" Beiming Xue said with a giggle. A serious-looking Lian Xin waved her scepter beside Beiming Xue. The moment the Well of the Abyss vanished, she immediately cast Ice Spiral Matrix and Dimensional Storm in rapid succession! Boom boom! At least a thousand magic knights had been pulled toward a single point when Well of the Abyss vanished. Then, Lian Xin¡¯s Ice Spiral Matrix and Dimensional Storm hit them with nuclear strength and elicited countless screams of pain. Their teamwork was so good that even Purple Marquis couldn¡¯t help but cheer out loud, "Holy shit, that was perfect!" Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and everyone else laughed as well. At this point, there was nothing the Northern Alliance could do to stop us any longer. The light of skills illuminated the valley, and the sounds of weapons biting into armor turned melodious. In less than three minutes, the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry crumbled like a sandcastle and could do nothing except wait for death to claim them. Sensing their weakness, the intelligent Lian Xin recast her Origin Force Fields and opened a path in front of us like how Moses had split the sea, exposing the enemy¡¯s archer and mage parties completely! "Kill them now!" I, Lin Yixin, Gui Guzi, Purple Marquis and the rest of our elites rushed in and threw every skill we had at the enemy. The mages¡¯ Galaxy Storms weren¡¯t powerful enough to kill us, but their Magic Shields kept warping under the pressure of our skills such as Burning Blade Slash and Ice Flame Slash. Naturally, they died in just the blink of an eye, and the archers were even less of a problem. They were lambs waiting to be slaughtered after they used their only escape skill, Leap. The two girls, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin stayed close to us as they ravaged the enemy with AoE skills such as Evil Spirit Volley, Spiraling Arrow Blades, Ice Spiral Matrix, Dimensional Storm and more. At this point, the girls were the thorns the Northern Alliance sought to remove as quickly as possible, but unfortunately, they enjoyed the protection of the strongest cavalry in the world. No one was able to get close to them. ¡­¡­ Beep! Suddenly, I received a message from Cute Little Naughty. "Mission complete, vice leader! White Horse City¡¯s one and only teleportation formation is destroyed! A lot of our assassins died in the process, but thankfully, we were able to carry out our objective!" I smiled. "Are you out of danger now, Little Naughty?" "Yep! I¡¯m outside the city!" "Very good. Go enjoy the scenery while we make our way over to you. Our army will be arriving at White Horse City¡¯s front gates in an hour tops!" "Okay! I¡¯ll be waiting for you all!" ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before we tore apart the Northern Alliance¡¯s defense line completely. Lian Xin¡¯s strategy aside, the reason we were so successful was also thanks to Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Purple Lily and other powerful guilds diverting some of the enemy¡¯s firepower. Less than twenty minutes later, the united army that was Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips and The Monarch Descends successfully broke through the encirclement. All our frontliners were mounted players, and our total army was almost a million strong. Together, we shattered the silence of White Horse Plains and raced straight for White Horse City! Chapter 840: Back and Forth After our army of one million entered White Horse Plains, we traveled in a straight line toward White Horse City. ¡­¡­ "Full speed ahead!" I ordered lously, "All cavalry are to hit the city at top speed to catch the enemy by surprise! The infantry troops will stay behind to protect our mages and archers!" Li Chengfeng and other mounted players immediately unsheathed their weapons and rushed forward like crazy. As we rode forward, a shadowy, almost rundown city emerged from the horizon. The city was almost completely made of white bricks, and there was a white hill right in front of the city. The reason White Horse City was given its current name was due to the shape of the hill and the white, weathered rocks that made up the terrain. Several thousand riders were gathering outside the city as if they just noticed our true objective. Unfortunately for them, their response was too late. There was no way a force this small could hinder our main army, not to mention that our heavy cavalry alone numbered almost 30000, and our ranged and engineer players almost 70000! The Dragonlight Cavalry and Purple Dragon Cavalry were the fastest troops of our army, and we were almost at the walls in just the blink of an eye. I raised my weapon and ordered, "Kill all the players stationed outside the city! If possible, rush into the city and occupy the gates before they can react!" "Mn!" Lin Yixin¡¯s Moonchaser Tiger was running not far away from me. She added, "Purple Marquis, take your men and go with the Dragonlight Cavalry, but don¡¯t forget to watch out for the defending archers and mages on the walls!" The Chinese cavalry rushed toward White Horse City in unstoppable fashion! ¡­¡­ I was astonished. The hammer-wielding guild leader was smarter than I thought. Instead of engaging us on this wide, open land, he chose to withdraw all his forces into the city and allow his arrow towers, archers and mages to wear us down. It was the only way to really threaten our army, and he was completely right. The Northern Alliance¡¯s cavalry spilled out of the gates and stood guard right beneath their walls, forbidding us from attacking the city directly. With this, our last chance to strike a blow to the defenders with minimal losses was gone. "Halt!" I raised my weapon and called for a temporary halt. We would suffer huge losses if we continued like this. "What should we do?" Li Chengfeng asked. Purple Marquis suggested, "Why don¡¯t Ancient Sword players feign a frontal attack while I and the Purple Dragon Cavalry push down the side walls? It could work." But Lin Yixin shook her head and rejected the suggestion, "No, it¡¯s too risky. I heard that there are almost 4 million players garrisoned inside the city right now. They already outnumber us 4 to 1, if we split up our army further they might just be able to defeat us one by one. In my opinion, we should feign an attack from three sides and focus all elites on the southern gate! We¡¯ll try to take down the structure in one go!" I nodded. "Guild Leader Lin is correct. The best plan here is to focus all our strength and strike down the enemy in one go, and look, their southern gate is almost as rusty as a frying pan. It can¡¯t be too durable, can it? Yes, we¡¯ll send some of our subguilds to attack the other gates and draw away their firepower while we break down their southern gate via brute force!" Li Chengfeng smiled. "I¡¯ll get it down right away!" Gui Guzi raised his spear and asked, "What should I do, Boss Broken Halberd?" I pointed to the east and said, "Take the Bloody Mercenaries with you and fake an attack on the eastern gate. If you discover that their troops are lacking, then feel free to occupy it!" "Alright!" Gui Guzi let out a laugh of excitement before raising his spear. "You heard the boss, Bloody Mercenaries! Let¡¯s take down the eastern gate together! Hmm, I want the ninth subguild, the tenth subguild and Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ Greedy Wolf Cavalry too. Let¡¯s see who can breach the city first, alright Boss Broken Halberd?" "Haha, sure! Now go!" "Yeah!" The beacon of war was lit, and Gui Guzi left with a hundred thousand people to the east gate. The siege was soon to begin. ¡­¡­ Beneath the walls, the hammer-wielding Northern Alliance commander laughed at us and said disdainfully, "What¡¯s wrong? Are the wolves of the Center scared of little ol¡¯ White Horse City? You pathetic cowards, hahahaha! Fuck off if you¡¯re not going to attack, younglings! Don¡¯t lower yourself before your grandpa any longer!" It was at this moment Beiming Xue and Lin Xin rushed over to my side. My dark archer said calmly, "Big bro, he¡¯s just trying to incite us into launching a frontal attack. Look, they have an incredible number of arrow towers. Even now, someone¡¯s spending their money and buying more P2W arrow towers!" I looked toward the city, and it was exactly as she said. I saw silvery arrow towers rising slowly inside the city, and I could even hear the faint, springy noises of siege engines such as catapults and ballistas being set up inside the city. The Northern Alliance¡¯s people weren¡¯t stupid; they had reacted on time and did practically everything they could do. In fact, I already heard that Poplar Valley¡¯s main force was fighting their way back already. Luckily for us, our cunning Nation War commander, Hot and Sour Noodles, had blocked the exit with Righteousness and Warsky Alliance to buy us more time to take down the city. One way or another, the Northern Alliance wasn¡¯t going to get away scot free! High Fighting Spirits was a hot-tempered man, and so he couldn¡¯t stop glaring at the enemy¡¯s commander with rage. He started complaining, "What are we waiting for, Lu Chen? Why aren¡¯t we teaching them a lesson already?" I replied, "Give it twenty minutes." "Twenty minutes? But why?" High Fighting Spirits sounded extremely displeased. It was at this moment Li Chengfeng spoke up, "What do you think you¡¯re doing, Fighting Spirits? Are you questioning the vice leader¡¯s strategy? You know you¡¯re a dumb person, so why are you confusing our commander with your dumb ideas? I believe in Lu Chen¡¯s ability to command, and you should too! Trust me when I say that he¡¯s the only man in the entire China server who gets to command me!" I smiled placatingly at High Fighting Spirits before explaining, "Calm down, Fighting Spirits. You really should learn to rein in your recklessness already. The reason I¡¯m delaying our advance is simple. If we rush them now, there¡¯s a high chance we¡¯ll all die by the time we reach the walls. Look, there are arrow towers, archers and mages all over their walls. Bad enough that their defenders outnumber us, it¡¯s not like they¡¯re all slouches either. Generally, when sieging a wall, the attacker must outnumber the defender 2 to 1 before they have a real chance to succeed. That is why I¡¯m waiting 20 minutes; I¡¯m waiting for our backline to catch up with us. Once we set up our catapults and ballistas, that fragile wall will crumble like a house of cards." The berserker warrior scratched his head and laughed. "I¡¯m¡­ sorry, I wasn¡¯t doing it on purpose. I just can¡¯t keep it in when I see those grandsons ridicule us, you know?" I nodded understandingly. "I know. You¡¯ll have all the time in the world to teach them a lesson later. Okay?" "Yeah!" Lian Xin was staring at me while I was placating High Fighting Spirits. A while later, she moved closer to Beiming Xue and whispered, "Ohh, it¡¯s only been a year or so, but it looks like Lu Chen has matured a lot since the last time I saw him. He actually looks like a proper guild leader now! Beiming, you¡¯re his younger sister, right? Did you fall for his charm already?" Beiming Xue shook her head. "No? He¡¯s been my big bro since the beginning¡­" Lian Xin chuckled sneakily. "No way, I¡¯m one hundred percent sure that your love for him isn¡¯t the love between siblings!" Beiming turned bright red in an instant. She started fidgeting restlessly and playing with her bowstring. "Sister Lian Xin, what are you talking about? It¡¯s not like that, really!" Luckily for her, Lian Xin didn¡¯t intend to poke fun at her any more than she already did. She simply smiled and said, "Fine. I¡¯m returning to the country in a couple of days, so let¡¯s love him together when that happens, okay?" Beiming Xue stared at Lian Xin nervously like she wanted to say something, but in the end, she just pouted and kept quiet. ¡­¡­ A while later, it looked like the enemy figured out what we were planning. The hammer-wielding guild leader said grimly, "Wolf Cavalry, show them a taste of our power!" A hundred or so light cavalry immediately broke into a run. They were incredibly fast, and they were able to kill a dozen or so Blazing Hot Lips riders who strayed a bit too far from their formation. It was clear that they were taunting us. They were trying to provoke us into a rash move or better, an immediate assault on their city. They had the time to measure our army size, and they most likely figured out that our army numbered less than one million. Right now, every soldier was a precious resource. If our numbers fell below two hundred thousand, sieging the city would become practically impossible. "Ahhhhh¡­" The Wolf Cavalry¡¯s movement and attack speed was insanely high. Moreover, they didn¡¯t hang around long enough for us to take potshots at them. After they killed a dozen or so Blazing Hot Lips riders, they turned around and escaped. Stranger of Three Lifetimes wouldn¡¯t stand for this provocation. She waved her scepter and yelled angrily, "They dare attack my men!? Chase them and give me their heads!" "Wait!" I hurriedly raised my hand and stopped her. "You shouldn¡¯t go, Momo!" At the same time, I glanced at one of my generals and ordered, "Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, take Heaven¡¯s Rain with you!" "Hell yeah!" The rider laughed excitedly as he had been itching for a good fight since a while ago. Bringing Heaven¡¯s Rain and nearly 200 Dragonlight Cavalrymen with him, he activated Flying General¡ªa Famous General Skill that increased all riders¡¯ movement speed by 400%¡ªand intercepted the escaping Wolf Cavalry in no time. Then, he passed the party leader to Heaven¡¯s Rain for Knight General and started beating up the poor wolves. The light cavalry was no match for heavy cavalry like ours, so they were annihilated in just a couple of minutes. After they picked up the dropped equipment, they leisurely made their way back to us. ¡­¡­ I could see the enemy commander¡¯s face twitching and darkening with displeasure. What had been a taunt had turned into a rout in the hands of our Flying General. It wasn¡¯t a big loss, but it was a blow to the morale for sure. A couple minutes later, Ling Xueshang came over with The Monarch Descends and said, "I received reliable intel that Grief of the Dark and Titan God have rallied at least ten million troops from Hero City, Seven Star City and Titan City to reinforce White Horse City. Vienna had also posted a rally thread in the US forums and requested all players to assemble at White Horse Plains right away. They are clearly planning to smother us here." I nodded. "Sure. By the time they make it over, we will have taken down White Horse City and escaped already. It¡¯ll take them at least 5 hours to make it over from Hero City!" "I know right¡­" Ling Xueshang laughed in a sinister manner. I was certain that she had thought of abandoning White Horse City as well. "They¡¯re here¡­" It was at this moment Li Chengfeng spoke up while looking behind us. Just as he mentioned, our ranged damage dealers, supply and support players as well as countless engineers had finally shown up! Chapter 841: We Will Fight Again The defenders stood by on the wall with equal intensity. Their weapons and armors gleamed beneath the sun, and the flag of White Horse City fluttered loudly to the wind. The dense mass of archers standing on the walls was waiting for the Chinese players to enter their attack range so that they could riddle them with holes. Even now, more Silverlight Arrow Towers were being built inside the city. People massed in great numbers, and red clouds gathered above the city almost as if the heavens themselves were creating some flair to make the upcoming battle more exciting. The city wasn¡¯t just guarded by the Northern Alliance, but also the NPCs. In fact, there were a lot of them. White Horse City was an NPC-guarded city in the first place, and the city was so small that, once we began the siege, I had no doubt that they would fight us to the death. There was no reason for them to abandon a main city after all. ¡­¡­ "All magic knights with shields, move to the first line! Mounted warriors and wanderers, line up behind them! Defense formation, advance slowly toward the city until we are 100 yards away from them!" I was busy barking orders to get everyone ready as soon as possible. We hadn¡¯t discussed this beforehand, but all the main guilds participating in this battle¡ªAncient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips and The Monarch Descends¡ªseemed to agree that I was the supreme commander, and that my word was law. Lin Yixin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Ling Xueshang were probably the ones who had given that order. It made sense because the lack of a unified command meant that there was a high chance we would accidentally get in each other¡¯s way, leading to disadvantageous situations. I took a moment to look at the engineers behind me before nodding. "Alright, it¡¯s time to set up the catapults and ballistas. Let¡¯s give them a taste of our China-made siege weapons, shall we?" The gang laughed as they got to work. The engineers started by casting their support skills and pulling out parts from their bags. Then, they began assembling those parts into siege weapons. A short while later, rows of black-colored catapults with oracle bone characters floating above their surface were set up behind our formation. The siege weapon was the local specialty of Sky City, Vanished God City and Wind City, and it was called ¡°Black Tortoise Catapult¡±. Similar to the Americans¡¯ Fire Catapults, the construct was unique to the China server. The Black Tortoise Catapult didn¡¯t have a burning effect, but it dealt extra damage to city walls. Therefore, it was extremely useful when deployed in a siege battle as the attacker. "Assembling is complete, vice leader!" a Level 164 engineer said to me with a smile. I knew this guy. He was He Yi¡¯s trusted aide and one of the former managers of GGS Suzhou¡¯s marketing department. He was also a hardcore gamer, and he had been fighting by our side since all the way back in Spirit of Grief. We were all noobs back then, but things were different now. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was now a military powerhouse, and this guy had also become one of our top engineers. It was why he was jokingly called "4S shopkeeper" in the guild. Finally, I looked to Lin Yixin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Ling Xueshang, and all three girls gave me a nod and said, "Let¡¯s do it!" "Alright!" I smiled and raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword above my head. Then, I shouted, "Black Tortoise Catapults, aim at the walls and... attack!" Sounds of recoil springs filled the air, and the ground shook slightly from the sudden movement. An instant later, dozens of black rocks soared through the air and headed straight toward White Horse City! Swhoosh swhoosh... As the giant rocks flew, the air rubbed against the oracle bone characters surrounding the rocks and lit them on fire. But unlike your normal flame, it burned an eerie silvery purple color and resembled the flames of the Netherworld. The flaming rocks hit White Horse City¡¯s southern walls and caused many terrific explosions. The might of the Black Tortoise Catapults was on full display at that moment! Boom boom boom... The silver purple rocks left gigantic holes in the walls which shook like leaves under the bombardment, and those who were unfortunate enough to be struck directly were either dead or almost dead. After all, how many players could survive a 150k damage hit? The Black Tortoise Catapults¡¯ attacks were incredibly deadly. This was just the first round, but the walls were riddled with large holes that were around two meters deep, and there were parts that were strewn with web-like cracks already. They looked like they might crumble at any moment. ¡­¡­ "My god, just how powerful are these siege weapons!?" The hammer-wielding commander¡¯s eyes looked bloodshot with urgency. He waved his warhammer and declared, "We can¡¯t afford to wait here any longer! Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry and Behemoth Cavalry, ride with me! We must breach their formation and destroy these Black Tortoise Catapults now!" His troops immediately began amassing themselves. Soon, three mounted players with the Knight General stratagems stepped into the open and ordered grimly, "The time to slaughter our enemies and wet our blades with the invaders¡¯ blood is now, Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry! For the glory of the north!" God damn, three Knight Generals at once? They¡¯re not holding back alright! I raised my own weapon and ordered, "Get ready to repel the enemy! All parties with Knight General, Blitz and Bombshell buffs on them will move to the first line! Purple Marquis, see if you can nullify their Famous General Skill with Insight! We cannot let these Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen buff their Attack and Defense by 100%!" "Understood!" Purple Marquis nodded heavily. At this moment, every Chinese player gripped their blades tightly and waited for the inevitable impact. There was no need to countercharge because victory was ours as long as we held the line. Strategy-wise, we definitely held the upper hand this time. The Black Tortoise Catapults alone would be enough to crush the Northern Alliance¡¯s hopes and dreams. ¡­¡­ The green fields were trampled as the Northern Alliance¡¯s cavalry rode toward us. The sight of flying grass and the refreshing scent of grassy soil blowing into my nostrils made my mind feel clearer! "Here they come! Get ready!" I chuckled as I gripped my weapon. "Please do your best, backliners. They only have cavalry, and we hold the absolute advantage right now. Archers, use Mountain Stagger Arrows! Mages, use Galaxy Storms!" When the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry got within 50 yards of our battle line, Beiming Xue and the archers finally couldn¡¯t hold back any longer and fired their arrows at the enemies. Over 80% of the arrow rain was composed of Mountain Stagger Arrows, striking against the enemy¡¯s chest armor and chipping away at their mount tenacity. Beiming Xue¡¯s Mountain Stagger Arrow was especially deadly because her Attack was insanely high. She was able to delete 50% of a Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry¡¯s mount tenacity bar in one hit, meaning that she could dismount someone in just 2 hits. For the enemies, she was a nightmarish opponent for sure. Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng activated Great Earth Transformation. Standing at the forefront and letting out a chuckle, he used Dragonbone Flurry and riddled an enemy¡¯s torso with holes. His skill was both gorgeous and deadly! Purple Marquis also pointed in front of him and used his Famous General Skill. A party leader with Knight General immediately exclaimed in astonishment and disbelief, "Fuck me, my Knight General got Insighted! I need someone to replace me now! Fuck this disgusting stratagem!" Purple Marquis let out a chuckle before ordering, "Purple Dragon Cavalry, attack!" ¡­¡­ The silence looming over the battlefield was shredded as both sides clashed against one another. The instant I summoned the Phantom Wolf King, I swung my sword in two different directions and unleashed Thousand Ice Slash and Burning Blade Slash. Then, I rushed forward to knock a Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalryman¡¯s shield to the side and sent another enemy rider flying through the air. Players in different realms wielded different powers of domains. Naturally, the one with the superior realm was much stronger than the one with the inferior realm. Lin Yixin was spurring the Moonchaser Tiger to jump into an enemy group before hitting them with a devastating Ice Flame Slash. She was wearing a full 4-piece Dark Prison set and the one and only Cambrian-grade equipment in the entire world, so there was almost no one who could stop her. Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust were all fighting at the frontline as well. They were giving it everything they got. At the back, a scholarly-looking Lu Buyi was buffing all the stats of 400 Dragonlight Cavalrymen by 90% and unleashing one Dragon Vein Art after another at the enemies. A high-level tactician¡¯s offensive spells could be pretty powerful, so it wouldn¡¯t be a mistake to treat him like a high-level mage. Of course, one of our best AoE weapons of mass destruction was still Beiming Xue. Her Evil Spirit Volley already dealt an insane amount of splash damage, but her Spiraling Arrow Blade was even crazier. Every skill she used dealt around 70k damage to the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry, so two Spiraling Arrow Blades were all it took to delete them from existence. Depending on how fast her target was, sometimes they didn¡¯t even get the chance to restore themselves with potions. Moreover, all archers possessed a ridiculous number of AoE skills, so it barely took them any effort to wipe out all the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry in front of them. "Dammit, that archer is way too powerful! Richard, activate your Knight General and take her out!" The hammer-wielding commander shouted. Very soon, a warrior riding a Bloodthirsty Beast and wielding a war axe assembled a party of 400 and charged toward Beiming Xue with murderous intent. "Hmph! Come on, I¡¯m not scared of you¡­" Beiming Xue didn¡¯t look worried in the slightest. Controlling her aim with her bow flicking skills, she accurately let loose an Evil Spirit Volley and a Spiraling Arrow Blade into the incoming riders and deleted dozens of Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry in no time. However, the enemy riders moved too fast for a single archer to halt their footsteps. As they moved closer and closer, it seemed inevitable that they would reach Beiming Xue and engage her in melee. It was at this moment the dark archer smiled and moved to the back, saying, "Lian Xin, kill them!" "Oh oh~" Lian Xin responded cheerfully and replaced Beiming Xue. Then, she created a dozen of Origin Force Fields right in front of her, causing the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry to run right into them. Not only did their momentum come to a complete halt, the impact alone cost them a lot of HP. The two girls were clearly having the time of their life. Worse, a bluish formation appeared on the ground, and a storm of ice blades instantly cut into their flesh and armor. It was ironic, the unique skill the Americans had created themselves was being used against their own people. Still not satisfied, Beiming Xue used Well of the Abyss and trapped almost a hundred Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen immediately. Scared out of his wits, Richard turned his mount around and escaped while screaming, "We will fight again, you fiend!" Chapter 842: Ride to the City Bang bang bang! The flaming rocks slammed into many magic knights¡¯ shields and spilled burning oil all over the place. Several Dragonlight Cavalrymen had been sent flying into the air as their mount tenacity bars vanished, and their mounts let out painful whines before perishing. Some of the riders were lucky enough to survive with a sliver of health, and they quickly withdrew to let Moon Dew and the other priests heal them back to full health. Boom boom! When the rocks hit an archer party though, it was almost always a one-shot. Surviving was a matter of having enough health and not taking a direct hit as not even a super archer Beiming Xue could survive that. Long story short, it was a matter of luck. The good news was that Beiming Xue was as smart as she was swift. She shouldn¡¯t have too much trouble spotting the projectiles and getting out of harm¡¯s way with her high Agility. ¡­¡­ The entire battle line was engaged in combat at this point. The Dragonlight Cavalry, Purple Dragon Cavalry, Silver Leopard Cavalry (Blazing Hot Lips), Black Water Riders (The Monarch Descends) and other elite cavalry were doing everything in their power to keep the enemy at bay, even when their shields were turning red from the heat. The only reason they were still alive was because our priests were healing them with their spells. The Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry and Behemoth Cavalry fared even worse than us though. Not only were they slaughtered in droves, they didn¡¯t have their priests to support them. Although reinforcements kept pouring out of the gates, it was only a matter of time before they all became prey to our blades. Still, they kept coming, for they must die in order to buy enough time for reinforcements to arrive. After all, it didn¡¯t matter how many troops Vienna had mustered on the forums if the city was breached before he arrived. While this was going on, the enemy engineers set up ballistae on the walls to replace their archers. When they were ready, the command to fire was given, and countless steel arrows at least a meter long soared through the air. They were already plenty deadly on their own, but with a height advantage, their killing power was even greater than normal! Squelch squelch squelch... The steel arrows penetrated our frontliners and dealt an incredible amount of damage. One hit could deal over 100k damage if the victim was even a bit paper! The good news was that our Black Tortoise Catapults were better than their ballistae. They dealt great damage to both men and walls with incredible accuracy! Bang! A Black Tortoise Rock hit a section of the walls and shredded the stone and the ballista right above it. However, the impact failed to cancel all of its momentum, so it continued to barrel into the city while killing a dozen or so archers unfortunate enough to stand in its path. The Northern Alliance players were absolutely flabbergasted by the sight. It was clear that the Black Tortoise Catapult was as strong, no, even stronger than the Fire Catapults in terms of single-point damage! We expected the prolonged engagement to favor our side, and we were right. Less than an hour later, the stalemate was broken, and the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry started being routed. Already, their number of riders had decreased below ours. "Withdraw to the city and defend inside!" I didn¡¯t know who was the one who gave the command, but the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry started receding back to their fortification like tidewater. I hurriedly shouted, "Follow them! Push into the city in one go!" I charged forward at the same time I gave the command. Behind me, Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng, Purple Marquis, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Eyes Like Water and many, many more generals followed me as we rode fearlessly toward the city. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Cyan ripples appeared across Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng and my body as we activated Great Earth Transformation. We cut down all the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry in our path with Burning Blade Slashes, Ice Flame Slashes, Reverse Scale Slashes and more. It was an experience the Northern Alliance wouldn¡¯t be forgetting anytime soon. ¡­¡­ Seeing that the situation was critical, a Heroic Bannerman on the wall finally waved his spear and shouted, "They¡¯re about to make it in! Close the gate now!" The hammer-wielding Heroic Bannerman on the ground immediately shouted back, "Wait! We¡¯re not inside yet!" "Irrelevant! The gate must be closed, or we¡¯ll fall right into the Chinese¡¯s trap! There¡¯s no need to hesitate, do it now!" The order was obeyed, and the gate was closed before the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry could get in. Pissed off by the betrayal, they pointed their fingers at the defenders on the walls and shouted, "You ungrateful scum! Just you wait, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow will make you wish you were dead! We may die today, but you will be scorned for the rest of your life!" However, the Heroic Bannerman on the wall was unperturbed. "Scorned for the rest of my life? If it means successfully protecting the city, then so be it! And stop using Vienna to talk down on us, you fucker! Hero City belongs to all the citizens of the USA, he is just the current commander! If we can vote him into his position, then we can vote him out just the same! Now get ready, archers and mages! The battle has just begun!" The archers immediately raised their bows and aimed beneath the city. The moment we got close, we were greeted by a faceful of Mountain Stagger Arrows! "What do we do?" Lin Yixin looked to me for direction. "That¡¯s a lot of firepower!" My determination didn¡¯t waver though. "Grant these Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry their wish and kill them all! We can retreat after that!" "Okay!" And so we rushed all the way to the gates and attacked the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry who had their retreat cut off by their own allies. I was determined to cut them all down even if it meant weathering the defenders¡¯ assault and losing some men. It would be worth it if we managed to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies. "Ugh¡­" Plenty riders of Purple Dragon Cavalry, Dragonlight Cavalry and Cyan Tiger Cavalry fell off their horses and died, but the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen in front of us were dying faster. At this point, blood and murder were the only things left in our minds! Ten minutes later, we successfully killed all 30000 Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen stuck outside the city and withdrew. While we lost almost 20000 of our own, it was worth the price. The entire point was to murder the elite cavalry right before the American players¡¯ eyes and send a chill up their spines, and I was sure that we had succeeded! ¡­¡­ After we returned to our main army, I pointed at the walls again and shouted, "Continue the assault, Black Tortoise Catapults! Spare no ammo and smash those pussies to the ground, understand!?" Lian Xin and Beiming Xue hid a giggle as if they disapproved of my brash command, but the boys were of the completely opposite opinion. They shouted with increasing excitement as the walls of White Horse City grew flimsier and flimsier under our bombardment, "That¡¯s right! Smash them with everything you got, people! It¡¯s not like we¡¯ll be attacking another city anytime soon after this one, so don¡¯t hold back! Hahaha!" It took 10 hours for a Black Tortoise Catapult to generate 1 rock, and each catapult could only hold up to 20 of these. With ammo being so precious, the guys were absolutely correct to say that we wouldn¡¯t be attacking any city after this battle for three days at least. Only an idiot would attempt it without siege weapons... ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang... The Black Tortoise Rocks continued to rock the walls. It wasn¡¯t long before the structure resembled a beehive more than a defense fortification. However... Our 4S shopkeeper¡¯s eyes suddenly widened as he reported, "Fuck, we ran out of ammo, Lu Chen! Should we switch to normal catapults next?" I grinned. "Sure, but I have a feeling that it¡¯ll just be a waste of resources¡­" Chaos Moon teased me. "Oh really? How do you want to push it down exactly?" I replied, "You can do it if you¡¯re that thirsty¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes interrupted, "Please stop flirting in the middle of a serious war discussion. Now tell us what our next move is already." Ling Xueshang also joined in, "Yeah, how should we do this?" I looked at the walls again and said, "It looks like it¡¯s going to crumble at any moment. Okay, I want everyone with an AoE skill to follow me! We¡¯ll hit the southern wall with our AoE skills and send all its defenders to hell!" Li Chengfeng raised his eyebrows. "Oh, I like this plan!" Lin Yixin agreed with a sweet smile. "Me too!" "Alright, then we are all in agreement!" I unsheathed the Cyan Netherworld Sword and shouted, "Brothers and sisters, now is the time to launch an all-out assault! We will destroy the walls, crush White Horse City and sever the only bridge between the Northern Alliance and the Chaotic 27!" ¡­¡­ The ground rumbled once more as we rode toward the walls. I entered Great Earth Transformation state and led at the forefront. Following right next to me, Lin Yixin offered kindly, "Little Cheat, use your Purple Dragon Howl. I¡¯ll protect you while you¡¯re weakened!" "Mn!" I rushed forward a bit longer before skidding to a sudden halt. As the Phantom Wolf King ravaged the wall in front of it with Purgatory Storm, I pointed my sword in front of me and unleashed Purple Dragon Howl! Lin Yixin stood in front of me so that none of the enemy¡¯s arrows could reach me. I didn¡¯t want to get hit by an attack during the few seconds my Defense dropped to 0! "Roar roar roar¡­" The purple energy blew chunks of rocks away from the walls. Li Chengfeng also activated Great Earth Transformation and added his Dragonblade Revolution into the mix. When the brutish Chaos Moon reached the walls, she used Rock Crush and crushed countless bricks exactly as the skill name might suggest. High Fighting Spirits also screamed like a madman and spun his warhammer into a devastating Xiezhi Howl. Finally, Xu Yang hit the wall with his Mountain Stagger Slash! In the end, the 25-meter tall wall couldn¡¯t withstand our combined assault. An ominous noise affected the structure for a moment, and suddenly the whole thing crashed along with countless Northern Alliance players and city NPCs. We had backed off the moment we saw the signs, so no one lost even a point of health! ¡­¡­ When the dust had settled, a giant gap at least 50 meters wide appeared in front of us. Finally, the southern wall of White Horse City had been destroyed. Throughout the siege, we hadn¡¯t even bothered to touch the gate because we knew that their walls were their greatest weakness. The Northern Alliance knew that too of course, but it wasn¡¯t something they could do anything about. Simply put, our Black Tortoise Catapults had far exceeded their expectations. "It is done! Let us ride into the city!" I waved my sword, and countless troops charged through the gap at once. The elite cavalry of all four guilds poured straight into the city! Chapter 842: Ride into the City Bang bang bang! The flaming rocks slammed into many magic knights¡¯ shields and spilled burning oil all over the place. Several Dragonlight Cavalrymen had been sent flying into the air as their mount tenacity bars vanished, and their mounts let out painful whines before perishing. Some of the riders were lucky enough to survive with a sliver of health, and they quickly withdrew to let Moon Dew and the other priests heal them back to full health. Boom boom! When the rocks hit an archer party though, it was almost always a one-shot. Surviving was a matter of having enough health and not taking a direct hit as not even a super archer Beiming Xue could survive that. Long story short, it was a matter of luck. The good news was that Beiming Xue was as smart as she was swift. She shouldn¡¯t have too much trouble spotting the projectiles and getting out of harm¡¯s way with her high Agility. ¡­¡­ The entire battle line was engaged in combat at this point. The Dragonlight Cavalry, Purple Dragon Cavalry, Silver Leopard Cavalry (Blazing Hot Lips), Black Water Riders (The Monarch Descends) and other elite cavalry were doing everything in their power to keep the enemy at bay, even when their shields were turning red from the heat. The only reason they were still alive was because our priests were healing them with their spells. The Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry and Behemoth Cavalry fared even worse than us though. Not only were they slaughtered in droves, they didn¡¯t have their priests to support them. Although reinforcements kept pouring out of the gates, it was only a matter of time before they all became prey to our blades. Still, they kept coming, for they must die in order to buy enough time for reinforcements to arrive. After all, it didn¡¯t matter how many troops Vienna had mustered on the forums if the city was breached before he arrived. While this was going on, the enemy engineers set up ballistae on the walls to replace their archers. When they were ready, the command to fire was given, and countless steel arrows at least a meter long soared through the air. They were already plenty deadly on their own, but with a height advantage, their killing power was even greater than normal! Squelch squelch squelch... The steel arrows penetrated our frontliners and dealt an incredible amount of damage. One hit could deal over 100k damage if the victim was even a bit paper! The good news was that our Black Tortoise Catapults were better than their ballistae. They dealt great damage to both men and walls with incredible accuracy! Bang! A Black Tortoise Rock hit a section of the walls and shredded the stone and the ballista right above it. However, the impact failed to cancel all of its momentum, so it continued to barrel into the city while killing a dozen or so archers unfortunate enough to stand in its path. The Northern Alliance players were absolutely flabbergasted by the sight. It was clear that the Black Tortoise Catapult was as strong, no, even stronger than the Fire Catapults in terms of single-point damage! We expected the prolonged engagement to favor our side, and we were right. Less than an hour later, the stalemate was broken, and the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry started being routed. Already, their number of riders had decreased below ours. "Withdraw to the city and defend inside!" I didn¡¯t know who was the one who gave the command, but the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry started receding back to their fortification like tidewater. I hurriedly shouted, "Follow them! Push into the city in one go!" I charged forward at the same time I gave the command. Behind me, Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng, Purple Marquis, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Eyes Like Water and many, many more generals followed me as we rode fearlessly toward the city. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Cyan ripples appeared across Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng and my body as we activated Great Earth Transformation. We cut down all the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry in our path with Burning Blade Slashes, Ice Flame Slashes, Reverse Scale Slashes and more. It was an experience the Northern Alliance wouldn¡¯t be forgetting anytime soon. ¡­¡­ Seeing that the situation was critical, a Heroic Bannerman on the wall finally waved his spear and shouted, "They¡¯re about to make it in! Close the gate now!" The hammer-wielding Heroic Bannerman on the ground immediately shouted back, "Wait! We¡¯re not inside yet!" "Irrelevant! The gate must be closed, or we¡¯ll fall right into the Chinese¡¯s trap! There¡¯s no need to hesitate, do it now!" The order was obeyed, and the gate was closed before the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry could get in. Pissed off by the betrayal, they pointed their fingers at the defenders on the walls and shouted, "You ungrateful scum! Just you wait, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow will make you wish you were dead! We may die today, but you will be scorned for the rest of your life!" However, the Heroic Bannerman on the wall was unperturbed. "Scorned for the rest of my life? If it means successfully protecting the city, then so be it! And stop using Vienna to talk down on us, you fucker! Hero City belongs to all the citizens of the USA, he is just the current commander! If we can vote him into his position, then we can vote him out just the same! Now get ready, archers and mages! The battle has just begun!" The archers immediately raised their bows and aimed beneath the city. The moment we got close, we were greeted by a faceful of Mountain Stagger Arrows! "What do we do?" Lin Yixin looked to me for direction. "That¡¯s a lot of firepower!" My determination didn¡¯t waver though. "Grant these Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry their wish and kill them all! We can retreat after that!" "Okay!" And so we rushed all the way to the gates and attacked the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry who had their retreat cut off by their own allies. I was determined to cut them all down even if it meant weathering the defenders¡¯ assault and losing some men. It would be worth it if we managed to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies. "Ugh¡­" Plenty riders of Purple Dragon Cavalry, Dragonlight Cavalry and Cyan Tiger Cavalry fell off their horses and died, but the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen in front of us were dying faster. At this point, blood and murder were the only things left in our minds! Ten minutes later, we successfully killed all 30000 Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen stuck outside the city and withdrew. While we lost almost 20000 of our own, it was worth the price. The entire point was to murder the elite cavalry right before the American players¡¯ eyes and send a chill up their spines, and I was sure that we had succeeded! ¡­¡­ After we returned to our main army, I pointed at the walls again and shouted, "Continue the assault, Black Tortoise Catapults! Spare no ammo and smash those pussies to the ground, understand!?" Lian Xin and Beiming Xue hid a giggle as if they disapproved of my brash command, but the boys were of the completely opposite opinion. They shouted with increasing excitement as the walls of White Horse City grew flimsier and flimsier under our bombardment, "That¡¯s right! Smash them with everything you got, people! It¡¯s not like we¡¯ll be attacking another city anytime soon after this one, so don¡¯t hold back! Hahaha!" It took 10 hours for a Black Tortoise Catapult to generate 1 rock, and each catapult could only hold up to 20 of these. With ammo being so precious, the guys were absolutely correct to say that we wouldn¡¯t be attacking any city after this battle for three days at least. Only an idiot would attempt it without siege weapons... ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang... The Black Tortoise Rocks continued to rock the walls. It wasn¡¯t long before the structure resembled a beehive more than a defense fortification. However... Our 4S shopkeeper¡¯s eyes suddenly widened as he reported, "Fuck, we ran out of ammo, Lu Chen! Should we switch to normal catapults next?" I grinned. "Sure, but I have a feeling that it¡¯ll just be a waste of resources¡­" Chaos Moon teased me. "Oh really? How do you want to push it down exactly?" I replied, "You can do it if you¡¯re that thirsty¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes interrupted, "Please stop flirting in the middle of a serious war discussion. Now tell us what our next move is already." Ling Xueshang also joined in, "Yeah, how should we do this?" I looked at the walls again and said, "It looks like it¡¯s going to crumble at any moment. Okay, I want everyone with an AoE skill to follow me! We¡¯ll hit the southern wall with our AoE skills and send all its defenders to hell!" Li Chengfeng raised his eyebrows. "Oh, I like this plan!" Lin Yixin agreed with a sweet smile. "Me too!" "Alright, then we are all in agreement!" I unsheathed the Cyan Netherworld Sword and shouted, "Brothers and sisters, now is the time to launch an all-out assault! We will destroy the walls, crush White Horse City and sever the only bridge between the Northern Alliance and the Chaotic 27!" ¡­¡­ The ground rumbled once more as we rode toward the walls. I entered Great Earth Transformation state and led at the forefront. Following right next to me, Lin Yixin offered kindly, "Little Cheat, use your Purple Dragon Howl. I¡¯ll protect you while you¡¯re weakened!" "Mn!" I rushed forward a bit longer before skidding to a sudden halt. As the Phantom Wolf King ravaged the wall in front of it with Purgatory Storm, I pointed my sword in front of me and unleashed Purple Dragon Howl! Lin Yixin stood in front of me so that none of the enemy¡¯s arrows could reach me. I didn¡¯t want to get hit by an attack during the few seconds my Defense dropped to 0! "Roar roar roar¡­" The purple energy blew chunks of rocks away from the walls. Li Chengfeng also activated Great Earth Transformation and added his Dragonblade Revolution into the mix. When the brutish Chaos Moon reached the walls, she used Rock Crush and crushed countless bricks exactly as the skill name might suggest. High Fighting Spirits also screamed like a madman and spun his warhammer into a devastating Xiezhi Howl. Finally, Xu Yang hit the wall with his Mountain Stagger Slash! In the end, the 25-meter tall wall couldn¡¯t withstand our combined assault. An ominous noise affected the structure for a moment, and suddenly the whole thing crashed along with countless Northern Alliance players and city NPCs. We had backed off the moment we saw the signs, so no one lost even a point of health! ¡­¡­ When the dust had settled, a giant gap at least 50 meters wide appeared in front of us. Finally, the southern wall of White Horse City had been destroyed. Throughout the siege, we hadn¡¯t even bothered to touch the gate because we knew that their walls were their greatest weakness. The Northern Alliance knew that too of course, but it wasn¡¯t something they could do anything about. Simply put, our Black Tortoise Catapults had far exceeded their expectations. "It is done! Let us ride into the city!" I waved my sword, and countless troops charged through the gap at once. The elite cavalry of all four guilds poured straight into the city! Chapter 843: Princess of White Horse City Several steel arrows bounced away from my Heaven-burning Armor for tens of thousands of damage. These P2W arrow towers had so much Attack that they could pierce my Defense completely, to say nothing of the others. Already, countless riders were killed under their relentless assault. "Come on, let¡¯s flatten those arrow towers first!" Li Chengfeng activated Battle Soul Possession and charged a Silverlight Arrow Tower with his men. I circled around a group of Northern Alliance cavalry and hit another arrow tower from the side. These fortifications were dealing an incredible amount of damage to all our players, so we couldn¡¯t let them go to town on us any longer. I opened my palm, paid 10 Divine Energy Points and fired ten golden seals in a row. The next moment, the ancient seals descended from the heavens like some sort of outerworld sanskrit and imprinted themselves onto the arrow tower. The structure¡¯s durability was pretty low in the first place, so it didn¡¯t take much effort to destroy it. Lian Xin was following closely behind me with her Telekinetic Shield activated. She was being shot at by the arrow towers too, but unlike most of us, she wasn¡¯t faring too badly because her Magic Attack was high and her Telekinetic Shield was insanely durable. She was perfectly capable of withstanding the attacks. She waved her scepter and cast her super magic again, engulfing several arrow towers in sharp dimensional wind blades. The spell was already plenty powerful, but its 20x20 yard radius was equally ridiculous. I had no doubt that it was Lian Xin¡¯s best AoE skill! Boom boom boom! The arrow towers crumbled one after another. This was just the first contact, and already Lian Xin had proven herself to be the best arrow tower destroyer of all of us. I was very glad because her return gave the guild¡¯s mage party a much-needed boost. Who would dare to say that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls didn¡¯t have good mages after this? When Lian Xin returned, she would become the mage corps commander of our main guild for sure. Not only was she on par with the likes of Luo River God of the Capital and Stranger of Three Lifetimes, her unique class was even stronger than theirs. As long as she kept honing her skills, I could see her surpassing the current two mages in China with ease. Her experience grinding alone in a foreign country should¡¯ve helped hone her skills a lot, and currently, she looked to be on the same level as Chaos Moon, or at the cusp of the super tier, to put it shortly. Skill-wise, she was just a tad inferior to the likes of Farewell Song, Candlelight Shadow and Lin Yixin. During the battle at Poplar Valley, Lian Xin had single-handedly thwarted most of the experts who tried to kill her and even fought the Fruit Knife Goddess herself to a standstill. If that wasn¡¯t enough proof of her strength, I didn¡¯t know what was. At the city, a group of Northern Alliance archers were trying their best to protect the crumbling city. A high-level archer aimed his bow at Lian Xin and shouted, "I want all units to shoot that traitor and kill her! Motherfucker, why is a Seven Star City player helping the Chinese attack our own people?" Someone immediately replied, "That¡¯s because she¡¯s a Chinese exchange student. Also, I heard she¡¯s so strong that not even Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is absolutely certain that he could beat her!" "Tsk. Kill!" The archers obeyed their leader¡¯s order and started raining arrows at Lian Xin¡¯s direction. The mage broke into a smile as she moved backward in an orderly fashion and dodged much of the enemy¡¯s shots. At the same time, she waved her scepter and created a ton of Origin Force Fields on the walls, causing the group to fall off the walls and hit the ground with a splat. Origin Force Field was an instant cast skill, meaning that it didn¡¯t have a channeling time. With Lian Xin¡¯s reaction speed, accuracy and control, she could dish out 12 force fields in 1.5 seconds if she wanted to, making her an absolute menace to fight against. Moreover, every force field could last for as long as 10 seconds, but if she cast another force field after the initial 12, it would replace the first force field. This meant that Lian Xin could create space with the Origin Force Fields continuously and manipulate the battlefield as she wished. An Origin Force Field cost 100 MP to cast, and Lian Xin had at least 20k MP, so MP cost wasn¡¯t a problem for her either! Outside the city, Xu Yang was waving his sword and shouting, "Keep up the attack! Siege engines, tear down all the walls and turn White Horse City into rubble!" Thundering hooves crushed the defenders¡¯ dreams, and our siege engines moved to the walls and knocked down the walls one by one. The southern walls were completely destroyed in just the blink of an eye. On the other side of the battlefield, a huge gap had appeared on the eastern walls as well. Gui Guzi and the elites of Bloody Mercenaries were already riding into the city with Knight God. The Dragonlight Cavalry and Cyan Tiger Cavalry cut down all enemies in their path and approached the nearest arrow towers in no time, attacking them. Bang bang bang¡­ The arrow towers toppled one after another. The Northern Alliance could build all the P2W arrow towers they wanted, but there wouldn¡¯t be enough of them to withstand our assault. Since the southern walls were gone, the defenders couldn¡¯t hold the other three walls either. Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Ling Xueshang launched their own all-out assaults and invaded the city in no time. Smokes rose everywhere as the entire city became embroiled in a terrible battle. ¡­¡­ It took less than an hour to turn all the arrow towers into dust. As we progressed deeper into the city, we spotted buildings such as the smithy, the stables, the equipment shop and more. They were all closed, however. All the NPCs had escaped into the underground passages to avoid the onslaught. We took some time to reorganize our troops. We had lost almost 700 Dragonlight Cavalrymen¡ªleaving us with about 1300¡ªand 40% of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry during the ferocious assault. However, our archers, mages and priests were almost untouched. It was understandable though. Most of our casualties were incurred during the frontal engagement, and by the time our ranged parties arrived, the walls had already been turned into rubble. They barely met any resistance at all as they came in. I waited on a wide street inside the city. Behind me, the Dragonlight Cavalry, Purple Dragon Cavalry, Silver Leopard Cavalry and more were standing by for orders. "All that¡¯s left is the final assault. Let¡¯s fight our way into the inner city area and take out the regent," said Lin Yixin with a smile. "Mn." I nodded in agreement. "Everyone, it¡¯s urban warfare time. Let¡¯s charge all the way into the inner city area and give the enemy no chance to breathe whatsoever!" Everyone unsheathed their weapons and raised them over their heads, shouting, "Let¡¯s go!" We resumed our advance. Tens of thousands of riders galloped along the wide streets as we rushed toward the inner city area. However, we didn¡¯t get far before an arrow rain suddenly descended from the sky! Thud thud thud! The dozen or so Purple Dragon Cavalrymen at the front were turned into porcupines immediately. They were killed on the spot. "What¡¯s going on?!" Li Chengfeng hurriedly reined in his mount. ¡­¡­ Thud thud... A pair of fiery red war boots appeared at the end of the street. There was an NPC warrioress standing there and watching us with grim determination beneath her red helmet. She raised her sword and ordered, "Redstone Legion of White Horse City, heed my command! Kill these invaders and halt them in their tracks!" We heard thundering hooves as NPC riders and spear infantry emerged from both the streets and the alleyways. Archers appeared on the inner city walls, and mages started chanting their spells and turning the sky dark with their magic. Dammit, I knew that the NPCs wouldn¡¯t hesitate to attack us! The female warrioress in red battle armor was surrounded by cyan lotuses. It was clearly the visual effect of Great Earth Transformation. She was a high-level human warrior, and the text above her head stated¡ª Redstone, Baili (Immortal Rank Boss NPC) Level: 200 Introduction: Baili is the most famous war general of White Horse City. She is also the princess and the only descendant of the regent, Oli the Third. Baili spent her whole life conquering the surrounding lands so that the poor White Horse City could survive on this dangerous continent. She once killed an undead magus residing in an undead cave alone, and fought three of the Hero Empire¡¯s main forces to a standstill with just her and her soldiers. In White Horse City, Baili is a legend countless people look up to. ¡­¡­ "Looks like we ran into a true obstacle¡­" Li Chengfeng said thoughtfully, "It looks like this Princess Baili is very hostile toward us. We may not be able to kill the regent and abandon the city as planned if we don¡¯t kill her." Chiang! I abruptly pulled out my weapon and declared, "Then we kill her! No one shall stop us in our tracks now!" "Alright, let¡¯s go! Healers and mages, follow me!" Lin Yixin pulled out her sword with a melodious ring. We rushed toward the boss side by side. A ton of Galaxy Storms and Spiraling Arrow Blades flew toward us as we charged. These defenders were all Level 190 dread-rank NPCs, so they were even stronger than the players we had faced up until now. We lost over a hundred people in just a single volley. Our situation improved a little only after Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Ling Xueshang provided us frontliners with ranged support. ¡­¡­ Our response toward the infantry NPCs marching toward us was more straightforward. Us generals unloaded our Burning Blade Slashes, Ice Flame Slashes, Rock Crushes and other AoE skills on them while the Dragonlight Cavalry used Hoof Trample. Behind us, Lian Xin¡¯s Ice Spiral Matrices and Dimensional Storms destroyed even the Level 190 dread-rank NPCs like nothing because we outnumbered them drastically, and our formation was far more scientific. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Our priests¡¯ indiscriminate AoE heals also allowed our frontliners to focus on the enemy in front of them instead of their health bars. Suddenly, a fiery slash sent a dozen or so Dragonlight Cavalry falling toward the ground. They all lost at least 100k HP! It was the boss, Baili, who slashed them with her sword. Even now, her blade was glimmering with a hint of flame. She stared at us expressionlessly and declared, "Redstone Legion, attack! Show them no mercy!" Lin Yixin and I exchanged nervous glances with each other. Fuck, a Level 200 Immortal Rank boss? What if we can¡¯t beat her? ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I fired a God Binding Art at the boss, but the skill only caused a bloody ripple to spread across the aura of her Great Earth Transformation. It was, of course, a MISS. Chapter 844: Fire Godblade "I¡¯m here, Boss Broken Halberd. What is it!?" "Take 10 priests with you and keep the boss busy¡­" "What kind of tactic is this¡­" The Undying Knight didn¡¯t understand my order, so I explained, "We¡¯re going to take out Baili¡¯s Redstone Legion first while you keep her busy. Once she¡¯s alone, we¡¯ll focus all our firepower on her and take her out in 5 minutes!" "Got it!" Gui Guzi smiled excitedly and beckoned 10 powerful priests to his side. After he had the bards buff him with everything they got and Lu Buyi to increase all his stats by 90%, he activated Undying Shield and smacked Baili right in the waist, shouting, "Wait, beauty! I want to tell you something!" Baili turned around and struck him with Barrier Break immediately! Thud! 187267! +93633! The damage he took was suffocatingly high, but Gui Guzi was just too tough even for a Level 200 Immortal Rank boss''s Barrier Break to get one-shot. He was protecting himself with his shield, his skill absorbed 50% of the damage he took as HP, and the ten priests including Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew were casting their healing spells as soon as their cooldowns were finished. As a result, his HP remained solidly above 50%! ¡­¡­ "Alright, begin!" I swung my weapon and aggroed a group of NPC riders with Burning Blade Slash. Then, me and my Dragonlight Cavalry started cutting them down together. Among the pets, the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s Claw of the Storm and Purgatory Storm were the biggest highlights of the battle, although the Ice Dragon Kris wasn¡¯t too far behind, spitting draconic breaths at the NPC archers and mages from the sky. Every time her HP dropped too low, Lin Yixin would resummon her to her side and ask a priest to cast Restore on it. The inner city wall was nowhere as tough as the outer wall. In fact, it was short enough that our ranged players could attack the NPCs from the ground, so the battle became a duel of firepower instead. The good news was that our players had great teamwork, and our priests were absolutely killing it with their healing power and timing. On the other hand, the NPC legion almost had no priests to heal them. It was fair though. Their stats and levels were already far higher than the players¡¯, if they had priests to keep them healthy as well then it would be impossible to beat an NPC legion, period. Less than half an hour later, tens of thousands of Red Legion NPCs were turned into dead bodies, Nation War contribution points and streams of EXP. White Horse City¡¯s NPCs were already fewer than most because their map was poor, and their resources were few. At most, they had a legion of 100000 soldiers, which was nowhere enough to defend against our blades. As a result, their resistance grew weaker and weaker. Chiang chiang chiang¡­ "It¡¯s time. Let¡¯s kill the boss!" I shouted and ran toward the boss with everyone. I launched God Binding Art, but it missed just as I expected it would. The boss''s level was simply too high for the skill to land. "Beiming, try using Well of the Abyss and see if it¡¯ll work." "Mn!" Beiming Xue stepped forward and cast Well of the Abyss right beneath Baili¡¯s feet, but the latter smiled disdainfully before stomping her foot. A light¡ªher domain power to be exact¡ªexpanded from the point of contact, and the Divine General Skill was shredded just like that. Well, I should¡¯ve known that it wouldn¡¯t work on a boss. Well of the Abyss lowered the target¡¯s HP by 50%, and the chances that an effect this potent would work on a boss was next to nothing. ¡­¡­ "You are courting death, invaders!" Baili abruptly thrust her weapon forward and sent Gui Guzi slamming into the wall behind him. Then, she turned around and used Blazing Slash! Boom! Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits got hit and took an incredible amount of damage¡ª 90882! 108345! 98238! ¡­¡­ Lu Buyi¡¯s eyes widened. "Back off! The boss''s Attack is too high, and none of you have Gui Guzi¡¯s Undying Shield!" I watched Baili and the 89% full health bar floating above her head grimly. I dashed past her and stabbed her right in the throat; her weak point. Squelch! 26272! Even with my Attack, I wasn¡¯t able to penetrate her Defense too much. In fact, Gui Guzi and our mages had been fighting the boss for half an hour, and she had only lost around 10% HP. Before I could steady myself, Baili swung her weapon horizontally and hit me and the Purple Dragon Cavalry around me. A crack appeared on my Heaven-burning Armor¡ªher Attack was so high that even Immortal-grade metal armor was hard-pressed to withstand it¡ªand the others lost almost all of their equipment durability in one go. Their chest armor had been absolutely shredded by the attack. Beep! Combat Log: Redstone Baili used the skill "Rock Break", dealing 49827 damage to you and reducing durability of your "Heaven-burning Armor" by 17%! The skill dealt less than 50k damage to me, but the Purple Dragon Cavalry who had also been hit couldn¡¯t claim the same thing. They had all lost between 120k to 170k HP before dying. Their Defense was nothing compared to mine, not to mention that they weren¡¯t protected by Great Earth Transformation. "Shit!" Li Chengfeng growled, "Watch out, everyone! The boss can destroy our equipment! Equipment¡¯s stats won¡¯t apply once durability reaches zero! Hell, it¡¯s a fucking miracle Little Gui lasted this long!" Not far away, Gui Guzi was panting heavily as he pointed as his own thighs. "You don¡¯t say! I wouldn¡¯t fare this bad if my legguards, boots, helmet and wristguards¡¯ durability haven¡¯t all been reduced to zero! Fuck man, if you guys were any slower I would¡¯ve had to die for the guild¡­" I hastily ordered, "Beiming, slow the boss and reduce her Defense! Lian Xin, use Gravity Trap to slow the boss, and Origin Force Field to cover for our melee fighters! Listen to my commands as we fight! We will kill the princess in 10 minutes tops! She will not stop us in our tracks!" Everyone nodded in unison and got to work right away. Thud thud! Two arrows hit Baili right between the chest and drew a small shower of blood, shrouding the wound in purple light and freezing energy. It was Beiming Xue¡¯s Bone Eroding Arrow and Freezing Arrow, of course. The skill drastically lowered the boss''s movement speed and bought me more space to fight against her. Next, Lian Xin followed up with Gravity Trap, and I followed up with Icy Cyclone Domain, Although the boss was quite resistant, the combination of skills still managed to slow her to about 50% of her max speed. It was a perfect example of teamwork. Ring ring ring... A melodious ring signaled the beginning of Lin Yixin¡¯s assault. While Baili was busy dealing with me, the Moonchaser Tiger growled at the same time as she pulled out the dagger at her waist. Moon Gaze came active, and she hit the boss right in the neck with Extreme Break + Triple Slash! "Now is our opportunity to shine!" I faced toward the boss and unleashed Burning Blade Slash and War Crush immediately, causing a bunch of 30k damage numbers to scroll above her head. It was incredible how much Defense Bone Eroding Arrow and Extreme Break lowered! "Uuuu¡­" Baili might be an Immortal Rank boss, but even she was starting to falter before the strength of China¡¯s best players. Lian Xin¡¯s Origin Force Field also greatly limited her attack paths and prevented her from going to town with us. Suddenly, the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade flashed and injected a well of great strength into my body. Wonderful! It was the Outstanding Property¡ªBroken Blade Attack! Bang! A successful hit later, Baili shivered and froze in place. For 7 seconds, she wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything. Now this is more like it! Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and everyone else immediately rushed forward and attacked the boss. Together, we were able to remove a huge chunk of HP. Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits immediately withdrew after the stun duration was over though. Li Chengfeng could afford a protracted fight since he had Battle Soul Possession and Great Earth Transformation, but they couldn¡¯t. Baili could easily deal over 100k HP to them with one hit! ¡­¡­ At the distance, Beiming Xue¡¯s Spiraling Arrow Blades and Lian Xin¡¯s Ice Spiral Matrix put them both high on the DPS ranking. Other Sky City super experts like Purple Marquis and Shadow Chanel weren¡¯t far behind either. Everyone was showing off their power and hitting the boss with devastating skills! Less than five minutes later, Baili¡¯s health dropped below 25%. As expected, not even an Immortal Rank boss was a match for a human wave attack! Chiang! Suddenly, the burning sword in Baili¡¯s hand broke on its own, and her entire body became engulfed in flames. Staring at the sky with tears welling in her eyes, she roared angrily, "Gods above, please give me the strength to kill these invaders!" The sky crackled, and countless bolts of golden energy poured down on her. The next moment, Baili raised her broken sword and shouted, "I, Baili, offer a contract to the fire spirits slumbering beneath the icy snow. Devour everything in your path, o¡¯ murderous god of the arctic planes¡ªFire Godblade!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Red, fiery objects started falling through the clouds and heading straight toward us. They were giant, flame-wreathed swords with blades that were at least several meters wide. There was no way in hell we could survive even a single hit from this thing! I hurriedly rushed forward and punched Baili¡¯s shoulder with a Magic Piercing Punch, but the skill only extended the cast time by 50%! The boss''s skill couldn¡¯t be interrupted! ¡­¡­ Pale as a paper, Lin Yixin yelled, "Shit¡­ everyone retreat now! Activate your invincibility skill if you have them! Protect yourselves as much as possible!" Chapter 845: Oli the Third Li Chengfeng swore angrily while the boss was casting her ultimate, "Lu Chen and I will stay back to delay the boss, so take the others and retreat now, Chaos Moon! I refuse to believe we can¡¯t beat one little princess!" ¡­¡­ A moment later, the first Fire Godblade hit the ground and caused a terrifying ring of fire. The dozens of Blazing Hot Lips players who were unfortunate enough to be around that area took over 150k damage in one go, groaned and died at once. How terrifying! Bang bang bang! Another three Fire Godblades fell from the sky in rapid succession, destroyed the city streets and killed many Chinese players in the process. The impact itself was deadly enough, but the ring of flames spreading from the point of impact was just as bad. Even the slightest brush could cost the player at least 100k HP. Just like Li Chengfeng, Lin Yixin didn¡¯t retreat. She kept Great Earth Transformation active and left many wounds on Baili¡¯s body with her dagger. "Watch out! Here it comes!" Li Chengfeng shouted. Just as Li Chengfeng warned. a Fire Godblade was flying straight toward us. Baili was the caster, so the skill wouldn¡¯t harm her as a matter of course. The rest of us couldn¡¯t claim the same thing, however. "Guard!" I shouted as I raised my sword and blocked in front of Lin Yixin. Her equipment was good, but not good enough for this battle. For one, she had to forego one of the Dark Prisoner pieces to keep the Devil Bell and thus couldn¡¯t enjoy its full effects. Two, her HP was probably lower than mine because of that. Three, her Defense was also weaker because her protective skill, Profound Ice Armor, wasn¡¯t good as my Ghost Deity Armor. Li Chengfeng crooked his body a little, grabbed the reins of his mount tightly and crossed his spear in front of himself too. All three of us Divine Generals did everything in our power to withstand the attack. Bang! The gigantic blade hit us, and a scorching pain seared my entire body. It was as painful as the damage number rising above our heads¡ª 80873! 123874! 122848! I fared better than the other two because my resistances were higher. The Heaven-burning Armor wasn¡¯t for show after all. However, Lin Yixin and Li Chengfeng lost at least 40% of their HP from the direct impact, and the flames burned away much more HP. All of us lost at least 50% of our HP in just an instant. Crack... "We need to get out! We¡¯re losing HP like crazy!" I slapped the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s butt with my sword, and the mount jumped out of the pit with ease. Its jumping power was as great as ever. Lin Yixin¡¯s Moonchaser Tiger had no problems jumping out of the pit either. The only one out of the three of us who had to climb out of the pit with his own two hands was Li Chengfeng. The dragon warrior complained with a face covered in soot, "Fuck me, this is so embarassing¡­" ¡­¡­ Fire Godblades were still falling from the sky while this was going on. At least 10000 Chinese players had been slain by the powerful skill, if not more. No one was expecting the boss to possess such a deadly ultimate, and the losses we sustained absolutely reflected it. Worse, the only ones who managed to escape in time were our riders such as Gui Guzi, Purple Marquis and Chaos Moon thanks to their high movement speed. Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, Lian Xin and many more people were still trapped inside the ultimate. "Everyone, come to me!" Fire raining right above her head, Beiming Xue abruptly switched her attack mode to free-for-all and shouted, "Come to me now, or we¡¯re all going to die!" While saying this, she unleashed the blood-red energy pooling around her palm and cast Well of the Abyss right beneath her own feet. The Divine General Skill immediately affected Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue, Lu Buyi, Moon Dew and even herself, halving their HP and preventing them from taking any offensive action immediately. However, Well of the Abyss also made them immune to all attacks for a short period of time, meaning that they were immune to the fiery hell raining above their heads for the duration of the skill. 50% HP for temporary invulnerability? It was absolutely a smart move from the dark archer. However, Baili was still raising her half-broken sword and standing in front of the palace entrance, blocking our way. The Fire Godblades showed no signs of ending anytime soon either. "God dammit, I¡¯m going all out!" I abruptly rushed toward Baili and hit her with every skill I had. Burning Blade Slash, Thousand Ice Slash, everything. However, not even Thousand Ice Slash managed to interrupt the skill despite having encased Baili¡¯s feet in ice! "It¡¯s over¡­" Time limit of Well of the Abyss was almost up. Everyone looked wide-eyed and shocked. Who would¡¯ve thought that our dreams would be ended by an Immortal Rank boss''s ultimate? Maybe it was because the heavens heard our pleas, but the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade suddenly lit up again. Excitement immediately gripped Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng and me! Swhoosh! I slashed, and Baili was stunned a second time. I finally managed to interrupt the Fire Godblade skill! "We did it!" Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and the two hundred players protected by Well of the Abyss immediately locked onto Baili and went all out. It took only a moment for the Level 200 Immortal Rank boss''s HP to drop below 20%. ¡­¡­ Behind us, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi, Purple Marquis and everyone else rejoined the battle as well. The scales of victory once again slid in our favor. Beep! Suddenly, I received a message from Cute Little Naughty. "Vice leader big bro, a troop of Northern Alliance¡¯s cavalry just appeared on White Horse Plains. They¡¯re all high-level cavalry, and they¡¯ll be arriving at White Horse City in an hour!" "Got it." I was surprised, to be honest. The enemy had appeared far sooner than I expected, and at this rate, they would reach us in less than four hours. It seemed like the sense of urgency was equal on both sides. We had to end this battle as soon as possible. ¡­¡­ "Quickly! We need to kill Baili in three minutes!" I shouted. Everyone was going all out. Unless spit counted as an attack, there was literally no way to increase our DPS further. Suddenly, a man garbed in gray robes appeared on the city gates. He wielded a scepter shrouded in flames, and he said in a deep voice, "Baili, my best student, are you really going to end your life here? I just cannot accept this¡­" Baili abruptly turned around and looked at the old man in gray robes. For a moment, she looked like an aggrieved child about to burst into tears as she murmured, "Holy Magus Ancas, I¡­ I¡­" "Come, my child!" The holy magus spread his arms and said, "White Horse City is destined to fall, so allow me to take you to the palace and meet your father one last time¡­" Swhoosh! A hexagram appeared beneath Baili¡¯s feet, and the next moment she vanished into thin air. She transformed into specks of white light and flew toward the palace with the help of magic. ¡­¡­ "That¡¯s it?" Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes widened. I shouted, "Blast the gates open, now! The king is our goal anyway, not the princess! We¡¯ll kill him and abandon the city as planned!" We charged the pitch black gate and swung our weapons at it like crazy. A great number of mages and archers appeared on the walls and tried to push us back, but they simply didn¡¯t have the strength to do so. Most of the players guarding White Horse City were second-rate players as the real elites were either fighting at Poplar Valley or stationed at the other main cities such as Hero City right now. That was why the Northern Alliance was no match for our 600000-strong army even though there were still about 2 million of them right now. Beiming Xue and Lian Xin became our guild¡¯s greatest killers. Well of the Abyss, Spiraling Arrow Blades, Ice Spiral Matrix, Dimensional Storms and more; the two girls had transformed into little unkillables and ravaged everyone and everything on the walls. Anyone who dared to trade skills with them were killed where they stood. Chiang! I hacked the iron chain holding the gate together one last time, and finally, it broke and caused the gate to creak open on its own. We had finally gained access to the inner city, and while they were crawling with players and NPC, over 80% of the players were below Level 150. All the leveling maps around White Horse City accommodated Level 150 shadow-rank mobs, so most of the players who were attracted to this place were around that level. There was absolutely nothing these people could do to stop us. So, I raised my weapon and shouted, "Cavalry, charge! Our objective: the palace!" A chorus of horse hooves thundered behind Lin Yixin and I as we led the charge toward the palace. We didn¡¯t stay to engage any enemy and killed only those who were standing in our path. The Dragonlight Cavalry, Purple Dragon Cavalry, Silver Leopard Cavalry and more all followed our example. It didn¡¯t take much imagination to know what a slaughter it was. ¡­¡­ We fought until we reached the palace stairs where a platoon of halberd-wielding imperial guards were waiting. There, a Level 195 Heaven-grade miniboss glared at us as he pulled out his sword, shouting, "Protect the palace, warriors! Don¡¯t let these wolves set foot on our last piece of land!" Li Chengfeng immediately gave his Augustus¡¯ Spear a swing and declared, "Lu Chen, Beauty Lin, the gang and I will clear a path for you, so leave this to us and go kill the king!" "Got it!" Lin Yixin rushed past the miniboss while Li Chengfeng and our guildmates kept the imperial guards busy. No one was worried for Li Chengfeng as the dragon warrior was absolutely capable of slaying the miniboss by himself! Thud thud thud... Lin Yixin followed me closely as the Armored Ice Qilin Horse raced up the stairs. The presence of Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue and the rest of our elites also helped to bolster my confidence. Finally, victory was going to become ours! Meanwhile, a bunch of civil and military officials were standing on two sides of the court while a fat, middle-aged man sat at the throne. He held a golden sword and carried an extremely sexy woman in his lap. He was of course Baili¡¯s father, the king of White Horse City. "What¡¯s going on?" Oli the Third asked his officials. A fat man immediately stepped out to reply, "A band of hooligans have invaded our city, but there is nothing to worry about, Your Majesty. Our famous Redstone Legion is engaging the enemy right now." "Oh, I see. That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good¡­" Oli the Third said with a smile while caressing the woman¡¯s smooth leg with his left hand. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Baili stepped out of the right side of the court and dropped to one knee. Eyes full of disappointment, she said, "How much longer will you remain a fool, father?" Chapter 846: I’ll Give You My Head Baili replied, "The invaders from the Center had circled around Poplar Valley, sated their horses¡¯ thirst at White Horse River, and had been surrounding our White Horse City for three days and nights. Now, the outer walls have fallen, the inner walls have been destroyed, and some of their men are inside the palace already. But even after everything that has happened, you are still wallowing in wine and women without a care for the world. Do you really care so little for the hundreds and thousands of lives residing in White Horse City?" "What?" Oli the Third abruptly rose to his feet in anger. "Heaven¡¯s murder, how did the invaders get in this quickly? Deputy General Dioro, why haven¡¯t you spoken to me about this? And why did Baili¡¯s Redstone Legion fail to stop the enemy?" A general with a lean figure immediately dropped to one knee and said, "My king, I¡­ I had underestimated the invaders¡¯ strength. I wasn¡¯t expecting them to defeat our defenders as quickly as they did, and I definitely wasn¡¯t expecting our supposedly indomitable Redstone Legion to crumble at first contact¡­" Enraged, Baili raised her eyebrows and growled at him. "Where is your shame, you vile man! My Redstone Legion only has 90000 soldiers, while the enemy has over a million elite soldiers and a great number of siege weapons! How on earth did you expect us to stop the invaders? But you, you have 200000 soldiers at your command, but you sent them all away to fight the beastmen at the frontier because you want to build up your achievements! Worse, you prevented anyone from reporting the situation to father while I was leading our remaining army to protect the city, and now it is too late to summon our forces back to our city! How do you explain this, Dioro?" "You¡­ you lie!" Dioro hurriedly faced toward the king and dropped to his knees. He pleaded, "Your Majesty, the reason I sent our army to the frontier was purely to expand White Horse City¡¯s domain and chase those dirty, unworthy beastmen away from our rich lands. I have served my kingdom loyally for many years, and now I will be accused of treachery? Your Majesty is wise. With this blade, I will kill myself and prove my loyalty with my blood!" Chiang! Dioro unsheathed his sword and placed it right between his neck. "Wait!" Oli the Third hesitated. Then, he let out a sigh and said, "Dioro, my greatest minister besides Baili. I will not take your merit away from you. However, the enemy has invaded the palace, and what we need now is a way to repel these ambitious wolves, not someone to put the blame on!" Oli the Third nodded. "Very well, I will now grant your command over 5000 of our best imperial cavalrymen. Go now, repel the enemies, and don¡¯t betray my trust in you!" "Yes, Your Majesty!" Baili¡¯s eyes were full of anger. "Father, how can you still put your trust in that vile man? You should leave these 5000 brave soldiers to me, I can command them to repel the enemy just the same!" "Baili!" Oli the Third raised his voice. "Do not let arrogance overcome you simply because you are my daughter! And please, show some respect to General Dioro and don¡¯t question his integrity any longer!" Baili¡¯s shoulders shook, and her eyes were bloodshot. She uttered, "Remember, father. If White Horse City falls, you are the one who destroyed it!" ¡­¡­ After receiving the commander¡¯s tally, Dioro happily made his way out of the court. When he saw us, he immediately slipped out from the side exits, headed to the horse training ground and rallied the soldiers. He showed the commander¡¯s tally he was granted and declared, "The king has granted me command over 5000 cavalrymen! Now, follow me to the treasury, retrieve all the valuables and exit the city!" A soldier asked, "General, the palace is currently surrounded by enemies. What will the king do if we retrieve the valuables and leave the city?" "The king will be safe with Princess Baili and the Redstone Legion protecting him. Once we¡¯ve left the city, we will head to the frontier where our garrison is, rebuild our fortress and found a new palace. White Horse City will not be destroyed!" Dioro declared arrogantly. The cavalry unsheathed their weapons and responded, "As you command, general!" And so the cavalry moved to the treasury, took everything and began attempting to break through the encirclement. There was no telling if Blazing Hot Lips or The Monarch Descends would allow them to escape. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, an imperial guard stumbled into the court while shouting, "Your Majesty, it¡¯s terrible! After Deputy General Dioro received the commander¡¯s tally, he ordered the cavalry troop to plunder our treasury and escape to the west gate! They clearly aren¡¯t planning to protect the city! Also, the enemy has appeared at the guard station, and they¡¯ll reach us in a couple of minutes at most¡­" Clank... The golden cup Oli the Third was holding dropped to the ground, and he collapsed into his throne as if his spirit had suddenly departed his body. Looking much older all of a sudden, he murmured to himself, "Dioro betrayed me¡­ my greatest general and the strongest pillar of this nation actually betrayed me¡­ is this truly the end of White Horse City?" Baili said, "Don¡¯t give up yet, father. Please take the king¡¯s sword with you and head to the border now. We still have 200000-strong army at the frontier, and the generals leading them are all extremely loyal to you. I am sure that they will obey your command. Go while I cover your retreat! As long as you escape alive, we will be able to rebuild White Horse City one day!" But Oli the Third couldn¡¯t summon even an ounce of strength from his body. He shook his head and said, "Enough, Baili. White Horse City¡¯s fate has run dry, and I, Oli the Third, have failed my ancestors. To think that a city that has survived for 2300 years would end in my hands. It is fate, it is all fate¡­" "What fate!?" Baili declared, "I do not believe in such a thing! Men, carry my father and withdraw to the frontier! I and the brave remnants of Redstone Legion will cover your retreat!" The imperial guards moved toward Oli the Third and tried to carry him to his feet, but the blow seemed to be too heavy for him to bear. He was completely limp except for the tears that kept flowing down his eyes, "It¡¯s over. It¡¯s over. I failed my ancestors, and I simply don¡¯t have the face to live in this world any longer. Baili, I am passing the throne to you right now. May White Horse City return to its former glory in your hands one day!" Baili¡¯s eyes were bloodshot and full of tears. She said, "Father, I have no intent to become the regent. If you die, then I will come with you!" However, Oli the Third still refused to move. ¡­¡­ Crack! I slashed an imperial guard on the shoulder and became the first person to break out of the encirclement. The ten thousand NPC imperial guards outside the palace simply didn¡¯t possess the power to stop us. After an Ice Flame Slash punched another hole in the encirclement, Lin Yixin joined me on her Moonchaser Tiger while followed by Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng, Purple Marquis, Zi Chuanyu and everyone else. Baili angrily pulled out her sword and declared, "Warriors of White Horse City, the final battle is upon us! Protect the king and fight with me until the last drop of our blood!" Several hundred imperial guards rushed us at once. Baili herself charged us with only 15% HP left. She didn¡¯t look like she would stop until she died. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I used the God Binding Art again. I wasn¡¯t expecting it to land, but against all odds, it actually did. The Level 200 Immortal Rank boss, Princess Baili, could do nothing except glare at us from her position. "Little Cheat!" Lin Yixin dashed toward the boss and empowered herself with Moon Gaze, Extreme Break and Ice Flame Slash ready to overwhelm the enemy the second she got close. I cooperated with her and landed Pardon + basic attack + Universe Break on Baili¡¯s shoulder at nearly the same time. An instant later I realized that we triggered the co-op skill, Intercourse! Chiang chiang! Two bursts of energies exploded across Baili¡¯s chest with the strength of ten thousand arrows piercing through the heart. Baili stifled a painful groan as two terrible damage numbers rose from her head¡ª 298773! 318375! A huge chunk of HP vanished from the boss''s health bar in an instant. At the same time, I heard Lian Xin¡¯s Dimensional Storm roaring behind me and tearing apart both Baili and the dread-rank imperial guards¡¯ armors. Not only that, an azure-colored formation appeared beneath Baili¡¯s feet before spitting icy blades at the boss, dealing over 70k damage per hit. "OMG, that northern lass is so powerful¡­" On the stairs, Stranger of Three Lifetimes stared blankly at Lian Xin¡¯s back while commenting, "And she¡¯s on Lu Chen¡¯s side? Pooh, that shameless man. He found himself another new girl?" ¡­¡­ It was a very uneven battle. Baili¡¯s HP dropped like a rock. "Ugh, I¡¯ll never surrender White Horse City¡­" A blood-drenched Baili charged toward me and fired a sword beam that deleted 80k HP from my health bar. Thankfully, Murong Mingyue followed up immediately with Greater Heal and Instant Heal that pulled me right back to full health. Lian Xin waved her scepter and declared, "Let¡¯s grind her down from range just in case. I¡¯ll keep her trapped!" There was a surge of magical energy, and twelve Origin Force Fields appeared around Baili and trapped her completely. There was nothing she could do to break through. "You idiots¡­" Baili didn¡¯t stop even though she battered herself blue and black in an attempt to break through the force fields. She raged, "What the hell do you think you¡¯re doing, Arryn? Take my father and leave already! How much longer are you going to wait? Will you make my father watch as I die to our enemies?" Oli the Third remained slumped in his throne, silent and dejected. Again and again, Baili charged the Origin Force Fields and dealt terrible wounds to her own body. Her HP kept dropping due to Lian Xin and Beiming Xue¡¯s attacks, and as her armor pieces were destroyed one by one, the girlish clothes and horribly bloody body beneath it started becoming exposed. It was getting harder and harder for us to attack us for completely different reasons from before. ¡­¡­ "Big bro, are we¡­ really going to kill her?" Beiming Xue looked back at me. Lian Xin also stopped casting her spells and said, "I¡­ I don¡¯t know if I can keep attacking her¡­" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... The Origin Force Fields disappeared one after another. Baili only had 1% HP left, and she dropped limply to her knees. I could see her helplessness and her reluctance to part ways with this world from her eyes. Suddenly, she murmured, "Warrior from distant lands, I know that you have your duties to fulfill, and I¡¯m not asking you to let me live, but please¡­ not my father. Please allow White Horse City to preserve its final bloodline. I¡­ will give you my head if you will promise me this one thing. Kill me!" Chapter 847: Lian Xin Repels the Enemy I pressed the Cyan Netherworld Sword against Baili¡¯s neck. She closed her eyes. I could see her long eyelashes shivering a little. "Do it. You are a strong warrior, and I have no regrets dying in your hands. But you must remember my promise! Let father go and save White Horse City¡¯s final bloodline. If you don¡¯t, I will come for you even if I fall into the wheels of reincarnation or hell!" My hand shook a little as conflicted emotions boiled inside my heart. I found myself incapable of steeling my heart and killing the girl who would surrender even her life to protect her homeland. "Big bro, don¡¯t do it¡­" Beiming Xue said softly. Lian Xin also nodded. "Yeah, don¡¯t kill her, Lu Chen¡­ we¡¯re here to occupy the city, not to kill her. I love her personality, and I¡¯m willing to give up on the equipment drops if it means letting her live, so please, don¡¯t do it. I¡¯ll look down on you if you do!" I turned around and asked her, "If I don¡¯t kill Baili, I won¡¯t be able to kill the king. And if I don¡¯t kill the king, how are we supposed to occupy the city?" Both girls couldn¡¯t say anything to that. It was at this moment Cute Little Naughty appeared on top of the palace and cried out to me, "Vice leader big bro, the Northern Alliance has been spotted outside the city! They¡¯re only five minutes away from us!" "Shit!" Xu Yang slapped his thighs and said, "Lu Chen, decide quickly! If the Northern Alliance catches up with us, we won¡¯t be able to teleport back to the city or worse, we¡¯ll die here! The normal equipment drop rate on PvP death is 20%, but that¡¯s still tens of thousands of top-tier pieces of equipment! It¡¯ll be a tremendous loss!" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin stared at me for a moment. A long while later, she opened her lips and said, "Make your choice, Lu Chen. No matter what your decision might be, we¡¯ll always love and support you¡­" I closed my eyes and felt my arm shiver. I couldn¡¯t bear to see the determination in Princess Baili¡¯s eyes. She was the kind of person I would rather die than kill with my own two hands! It was at this moment Li Chengfeng unsheathed his spear and declared, "If you cannot do it, then I will! I, Li Chengfeng, am not afraid to be scorned my whole life!" Squelch! The Augustus¡¯ Spear sank into Baili¡¯s chest. Just like that, her last sliver of HP was gone. "Ugh¡­" Stifling her groan of pain, Baili stared at me during her last moments and repeated, "Remember the promise! Remember the promise!" ¡­¡­ Pop! She died and dropped a floor of equipment. Everything was playing out as the game should. I replied indifferently, "What kind of brother would I be if I let you make all the painful decisions? Let¡¯s just assume that I lied to her. I¡¯m not so great a man that I would sacrifice hundreds and thousands of brothers to keep one promise!" I brought the Cyan Netherworld Sword above the king¡¯s neck before swinging it down decisively. The king¡¯s HP was almost 1 HP, so one hit was all it took to send his head rolling across the stairs and drenching the floor in blood. ¡­¡­ Ding~! System Notice: You have killed the regent of White Horse City and gained 40000 Reputation. You now have the option to decide the city¡¯s fate. Will you include the city into China¡¯s domain or abandon it? I chose the latter option without hesitation. Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" has killed the regent of White Horse City and chosen to abandon it. White Horse City is now abandoned and a free target for any force. However, players will not be able to attack White Horse City for 15 days. The victor of the Battle of White Horse City is China! ¡­¡­ There was another ding, and the Nation War contribution point rewards were distributed. As the 3rd ranker, I was awarded Earth-grade leather armor and a level. With this, I officially reentered the Heavenly Ranking of Sky City as a Level 170 Undead Swordsman. Of course, it was just the 10th place, but it was still a pretty amazing achievement, all things considered. Meanwhile, the entire city was dimming as it entered an abandoned state. By eliminating White Horse City, we had successfully cut off the one connection between the Northern Alliance and the Chaotic 27, and rolled back the war situation where it was every man and woman for themselves once more. At the very least, the Northern Alliance could no longer simply ignore the threat the Chaotic 27 represented and focus all their strength on our server anymore. It wasn¡¯t all good news, however. Outside the city, all four of our guilds were already engaging the enemy in combat. The Northern Alliance had finally arrived. I stepped out of the palace and looked out to the plains. There were so many cavalrymen that I literally couldn¡¯t see an end to it. There had to be at least a couple of million enemy players, and they had moved too swiftly for us to withdraw. Worse of all, they were the Northern Alliance¡¯s true elites! ¡­¡­ "Shit, we¡¯re already fighting¡­" Li Chengfeng gripped his fists tightly. "Fuck! We¡¯re going to lose a lot of people even if we withdraw now¡­" I spurred my mount forward with a deep frown on my face. "Just look at their size. The Northern Alliance is clearly plotting to kill all of us here!" Chaos Moon said, "Even if we withdraw now, at least a hundred thousand of us are going to be stuck in combat. There¡¯s almost no chance they can teleport back to Sky City safely." At the same time, Lian Xin pointed to the distance and said, "Look, that violent woman is riding toward the frontline¡­" "What the fuck?" It was as she said, Lin Yixin and Snowy Cathaya¡¯s elites were riding toward the enemy. Clearly, the previous Nation War had failed to sate her bloodthirst, and she wasn¡¯t going to let this chance slip by. "What do we do now? Beauty Lin is so impulsive today¡­" Li Chengfeng said with a smile. "I¡¯ll call her back. There is no reason to continue when the Nation War is over, and our objective is achieved. We won¡¯t even get any Nation War contribution points out of this." "Yeah." I immediately sent Lin Yixin a message: "Withdraw back to White Horse City now, Yiyi! Our mission is complete, and it¡¯s pointless to fight any longer!" Lin Yixin replied, "We will lose a lot of people if we withdraw in the middle of a battle. There¡¯s no way I can let my brethren be slaughtered for nothing." ¡­¡­ "What should we do?" Li Chengfeng stared at the millions of enemy troops outside the city and said, "If we don¡¯t go to hell, then who? We¡¯ll draw the Northern Alliance¡¯s attention and buy time for the others to retreat! If we are to be routed at the end of it, then so be it. Someone has to stay behind, so it might as well be us." I pulled out my own weapon and smiled back. "Well said. Be ready to depart then!" Suddenly, Lian Xin walked up to me and grabbed the chains of my metal armor. She said, "Big brother, I want to tell you something¡­" "Oh? What is it?" I asked. Murong Mingyue teased her, "Ooh, is it a secret? Are you going to share a girl¡¯s secret with your big bro?" Lian Xin blushed. "No!" "Then what is it?" Lian Xin started, "As you already know, my plan is to rejoin Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls after I return to the country. However, I don¡¯t just want to be a corps commander. I want to be a vice leader!" Murong Mingyue immediately pouted. "Oh no! My sister is plotting to usurp me before she even comes home, what should I do¡­" Chaos Moon giggled in amusement. "Sister Mingyue, to be entirely honest with you, you really aren¡¯t suited to be a vice leader. One, you are a priest. Two, Lian Xin¡¯s a walking nuclear weapon of a mage, so it¡¯s not actually a bad idea to have her manage the guild as the vice leader. Three, this is your chance to promote yourself to a mastermind and pull strings from behind the curtains." I asked again, "Lian Xin, are you sure you want to become a vice leader?" "Of course!" Lian Xin nodded with a sweet smile on her face. "Back in Spirit of Grief, I wasn¡¯t strong enough to contribute anything. It¡¯s been over a year since, and Lian Xin had finally grown up to become a powerful player. I want to repay the guild, but if I want to do something truly meaningful, then I must become a vice leader. That is why I¡¯m applying for the position now." A meaningful smile crossed Murong Mingyue¡¯s lips. "Well, continue. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re not done talking yet, right Lian Xin?" The girl blinked once before continuing, "Well, yes. Frankly, over 90% of the guild¡¯s players are complete strangers to me, and vice versa. Therefore, the only way to make them truly submit to me is to prove myself via true strength!" I replied, "What do you mean?" "Hehe¡­" Lian Xin pointed at the northern riders and said, "What I mean, is that you should leave these people to me. I¡¯ll stall them while you all teleport back to Sky City." I frowned. "But you¡¯re just one person. You can¡¯t possibly fight them all by yourself." "Don¡¯t worry!" Lian Xin giggled. "In fact, just watch me. If big brother Lu Chen can hold back an entire army by himself at Dawn City, then I can too! I¡¯m not just proving my strength either. I¡¯m going to show every Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild member that I, Lian Xing, can sacrifice myself for the guild as well!" I still wanted to change her mind, but Murong Mingyue stopped me by saying, "Lu Chen, I know what you¡¯re thinking, but let her. Lian Xin will be very sad if we refuse to give her the chance to prove her worthiness. Now, tell our allies to come back to us already!" "Fine¡­" ¡­¡­ We all withdrew into the heart of the palace while our guild members teleported back to the city. The rest of us pillars stayed behind to watch the battle from afar. Outside the city, Lian Xin set foot on the yellow sand and declared loudly, "Snowy Cathaya, withdraw now and leave this place to me!" As she said this, she started firing her Ice Spiral Matrix, Dimensional Storm and other AoE skills at the enemy, beating back their advance. Not even an elite cavalry like the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry could withstand her super magic at all. It wasn¡¯t like Lian Xin was just standing there and waiting for the enemy to come to her either. She kept changing her position as she threw spell after spells at the enemy, damaging and killing tons of people. It wasn¡¯t long before the Northern Alliance players unsheathed their weapons and shouted, "Fuck, she¡¯s not one of our own! She¡¯s a traitor! Kill her now!" The ground shook as countless enemy troops charged toward her at once. Lian Xin continued running while stopping the enemy cavalry¡¯s advance with Origin Force Fields and blasting them with large AoE spells. She looked like a leaf that could be engulfed by the sea of enemies around her at any moment, but the fact was that she was able to escape the jaws of death again and again. Every Dimensional Storm she threw was as deadly as a storm of death, and every enemy unfortunate enough to enter her attack range was treated to the fright of their life! Chapter 848: CGL Reward Craggy blades covered in animal teeth clashed against Lian Xin¡¯s scepter again and again, but she was able to parry the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen¡¯s attacks and let the force behind the strikes carry her to the back. After drifting back around ten yards or so, her Dimensional Storm¡¯s cooldown was over, and she used it to kill a group of half-health Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen immediately. As she backed away from the enemy, she took out a Saint Spirit Potion from her bag, drank it to heal a large chunk of HP and continued the battle. Rumble rumble rumble... Fire, wind, ice and rocks kept erupting among the enemy riders. Somehow, Lian Xin was able to hold back tens of thousands of them all by herself. Like a small boat trying to survive the turmoiling storm around her, she consciously pulled the enemy¡¯s attention away from Sky City¡¯s players and covered their retreat. Less than ten minutes later, all of the players of the four great guilds successfully withdrew into the city, and most of them crushed their return scrolls to teleport back to Sky City. The Nation War was over, and there was no point continuing the fight. ¡­¡­ Bang! Blaze exploded against Lian Xin¡¯s scepter, and Barrier Break caught her completely by surprise and drastically distorted her Telekinetic Shield. No matter how in control Lian Xin was, there was only so much a single mage could do against an army of millions. She kept eating Barrier Breaks and losing her HP. "Oh no¡­" Beiming Xue bit her lips and said, "Sister Lian Xin can¡¯t possibly hold on for much longer. What should we do? Let me help her, big bro!" "No!" I said sternly, "You know what Lian Xin is planning, and from the moment she set foot outside the city, she had no intentions of returning alive, so don¡¯t let her sacrifice be in vain, understand? Everyone, teleport back to the city right now! We have achieved complete victory at White Horse City, and there¡¯s no need for us to stay any longer!" While this was going on, Lian Xin was still stubbornly holding back the Northern Alliance¡¯s advance with her magic. The Northern Alliance showed her no mercy because she recognized that she was a Chinese woman, not one of their own. Lian Xin was already hard-pressed to deal with the cavalry charges, but the archers tapping her Telekinetic Shield with Devil Piercing Arrows were an even bigger pain in the butt. It was only a matter of time before they killed her. Eyes Like Water commented as she watched the battle, "What a powerful and stubborn mage¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes murmured, "So this is the true form of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ mages... Well, a person who can call herself a friend of Lu Chen and From Water can¡¯t be ordinary¡­" "It¡¯s time to go back!" I said to everyone. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we can¡¯t let Elder Lian Xin fight all by herself!" Even Chaos Moon was watching Lian Xin with meaningful eyes. "Lian Xin, is it? Not bad, not bad¡­" ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t help but be gladdened by this sight. At the very least, Lian Xin had successfully achieved her goal of proving herself and making a favorable impression to the higher-level players of the guild. Her life for everyone¡¯s retreat; this was the gift from Lian Xin to the guild before she returned! "Come on, teleport back to the city now. We¡¯ll meet again at Sky City!" I took out my return scroll and added, "We need to leave now so that Lian Xin¡¯s sacrifice won¡¯t be for nothing. Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s just a level. It¡¯s a price she can absolutely afford. Now go!" I crushed my return scroll and teleported away right after I said that. Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and everyone else also followed suit and returned to Sky City. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! A flash of light later, I had reappeared at Sky City. After I sucked in a deep breath, I saved Lian Xin¡¯s phone number in my phonebook. I had always wanted to get her phone number, and now I finally got it. The girl would be coming back to China in a couple of days, and this was big news for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls because she was the second best or the best mage in the entire country. With a leader like her, building a first-rate mage party would no longer be a pipedream. In fact, I was certain that our new mage party would far surpass the time when Moonlight Stone was still with us! I walked to the plaza while checking my bag. It looked like I had collected a ton of equipment during the Nation War. It was natural. I had killed a couple of bosses and many more enemy players throughout the war. None of the loot was particularly exceptional, but it was still worth a lot of money. Next, I checked the time and noted that it was past 7 pm, so I sent Murong Mingyue a message to ask, "When is Eve coming back, sis? Why isn¡¯t she back yet?" Murong Mingyue replied, "She just called and told me that she¡¯s on the highway right now. She¡¯ll be returning to Suzhou in two hours, so let¡¯s wait for her to eat dinner together. Lil Beiming should eat some bread though. Even if she isn¡¯t growing, she must be starving right now." An unconscious smile crossed my lips as I replied, "In that case, I¡¯ll set up a stall at the plaza until He Yi comes back. In the meantime, why don¡¯t you contact Lian Xin and check the exact time she¡¯s coming home?" "Sure. I¡¯m logging off now!" "See you!" Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue¡¯s ID turned dim at the same time. After that, I set up a stall near a corner of the walls, placed some Purple Gold¨Cgrade and Spirit-grade equipment on the floor, and priced them accordingly. Then, it was business as usual. Today must be a good day because customers kept appearing to look at my wear. Most of the equipment I put up for sale was for Level 150, the level of equipment the majority of the player base was looking for right now. Also, of all my wares, the Outstanding Spirit-grade equipment was the most popular of them all. In their eyes, Spirit-grade equipment with Outstanding quality was top-tier, and to have one or two such items on their person would let them join the ranks of the experts. I finalized two transactions¡ªone Spirit-grade item and one Purple Gold¨Cgrade¡ªand earned a total of 1700 RMB in no time at all. I welcomed even such a sum, it would come in handy when I had to pay for the girls¡¯ meal later, not to mention that it was pure profit. These days, my wares were purely from donations of my Northern Alliance friends. If they gave me a bag full of equipment every time we met in the Nation War, I would really have to think of a way to thank them for their ¡°kindness¡±. It was at this moment I heard a beep. It was a message from Hot and Sour Noodles, Zhang Chun. "Turn on your communicator, will you?" "Okay!" After I connected to Hot and Sour Noodles via video chat, the uncle let out a hearty laugh and said, "Congratulations and well done, Lu Chen! No one thought that White Horse City would be destroyed in a single war, and I¡¯m sure that the Americans are crying over it right now. They were going to use it as their front base to launch their invasion, and now their entire plan was disrupted because of your surprise attack. This battle might not compare to the likes of the War of Dawn City in terms of scale, but it¡¯s a meaningful one for sure. In fact, the CGL committee just called me a few minutes ago to deliver you their congratulations!" I replied, "Is that all they have to offer? This surprise attack was a success only because we had the help of Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends and Blazing Hot Lips. Not only that, we had to spend a considerable amount of manpower and resources to take down that city. The ammo of the Black Tortoise Catapults alone is something we¡¯re going to be crying over for a very long time. If the CGL committee is truly sincere in their congratulations, they could show it with something more tangible, you know, like money¡­" "Heh, already ahead of you. I had already asked them to come up with an appropriate reward." "And?" "Well, the CGL committee made an application to the China VR department, and they responded that they¡¯ll give you a monetary reward of 8 million RMB as a praise for your efforts. So, congratulations! Not bad, right? The money will be split into four portions, meaning that each guild will be getting 2 million each. Is that okay with you?" I pouted. "8 million only? It¡¯s not really a lot, you know¡­" "Come on!" Hot and Sour Noodles snorted. "It¡¯s not like you don¡¯t know the CGL committee are a bunch of cheapskates! These people won¡¯t even organize a tournament with a prize money that¡¯s over 100k RMB, let alone give away 8 million RMB as a reward, so be satisfied with what you got, man. Plus, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has a Rank 9 Undead Castle, and heaven knows how much money you earn per day. Do you really mind this bit of prize money?" I laughed. "Well, that¡¯s true. 2 million is better than nothing. Alright, I¡¯ll distribute it to the guild members as labor pay or something. Even with our numbers, that¡¯s 1000 RMB per person at least!" Suddenly, Hot and Sour Noodles shot me a playful smile. "There is one more thing that I want to tell you¡­" "What is it?" "It¡¯s about Lian Xin." "Oh. How did it go?" Hot and Sour Noodles replied, "It went well, of course. The committee promised me that they¡¯d use the International VR Gaming Agreement to challenge Eternal Moon Corporation¡¯s actions and force them to allow Lian Xin to transfer her account back to China. Don¡¯t worry, Lian Xin is a Chinese citizen, and the New York headquarters had no right to deny her transfer application. Since we have all the moral and legal high ground, the transfer will go through for sure!" "That¡¯s great, hehe!" "Mm. And that¡¯s all I have to say. I¡¯m going to fetch my daughter now. It¡¯s weekend, and it¡¯s almost time for her to return home from her student gathering." "Yeah. See you, uncle!" "Bye!" ¡­¡­ Some time later, I received a message from my phone saying that He Yi had come home. I immediately logged out of the game. My stomach let out a growl after I took off my helmet. When I left my room, He Yi was just stepping through the front door. She was wearing a woman¡¯s jacket that was covered in snow. It had to be snowing really hard out there. Beiming opened the window and enjoyed the scenery outside for a moment. She commented, "I didn¡¯t think it would snow this hard while we were online." "Yeah!" He Yi set down her handbag with a smile, "It was such a heavy snow that the rain wiper almost stopped working." I asked, "You didn¡¯t run into any trouble on the road, did you?" "Nope. Everything was well. I drove back at a speed of 90 km/h." He Yi shot me a smile before continuing, "I checked my phone while I was stuck in a traffic jam, so color me surprised when I read that our guild took out White Horse City. Well done, you all!" "It was okay. By the way, is that all you¡¯ve heard? Did you not know about the other thing?" "I don¡¯t understand? What other thing are you talking about?" He Yi asked in puzzlement while blinking her long eyelashes. I replied, "Lian Xin is coming back!" "Really?" Hope and anticipation immediately entered He Yi¡¯s eyes. "Is she finally coming home?" "Yeah. In fact, we ran into her during the battle at Poplar Valley. She¡¯s really strong right now, you know?" Murong Mingyue explained. "Not only did she repel Warsky, Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow together with ease, she even fought Lin Yixin to a stalemate! Ah, they fought each other because they got jealous over Lu Chen, by the way." "Really?" This time, He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open in real astonishment. Her eyes were filled with pleasant surprise. "Our Little Lian Xin has grown this powerful? That¡¯s great! That¡¯s seriously great!" Beiming Xue nodded and said, "We just talked to Sister Lian Xin on the phone, and she said that she¡¯ll be flying back to the country tomorrow. She¡¯ll reach Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport around afternoon." He Yi smiled. "Good. We¡¯ll travel to the airport tomorrow and welcome her together!" "Yeah!" Chapter 849: Lian Xin Returns "How goes your business in Shanghai?" I asked He Yi. When I looked at her, I noticed that her brow was pinched with fatigue. The constant travel definitely hadn¡¯t been easy on her. He Yi brushed away the tendrils of hair sticking to her forehead before shaking her head a little. "The contract is signed, and the management and the operations of our Shanghai branch are almost on the right track. Almost all the major problems are settled besides some minor changes in human resource." I picked up a barbecue stick and pushed several pieces of barbecued meat to her plate with a small knife. Then, I smiled at her and said, "That¡¯s good news. Now eat. You¡¯ve grown thinner, you know¡­" He Yi cupped her own cheeks and smiled brightly at me. "Have I really? I¡¯ve always wanted to lose some weight. Did my dream actually come true?" I rolled my eyes at her. "Being too thin is bad, you know. You¡¯re just fine the way you are, not to mention that I love being able to feel your¡­" Murong Mingyue abruptly crushed the crab claw in her mouth and glared at me. "No teasing Eve in front of me and Beiming Xue! Do that again and I¡¯ll throw you out the window!" Beiming Xue giggled. "Feel free to continue, big bro. I don¡¯t mind as long as Sister Eve doesn¡¯t mind." He Yi smiled sweetly and proudly. "What are you talking about? I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying¡­" Murong Mingyue covered her forehead in despair. "Ah, once Eve starts feigning innocence there¡¯s no getting through to her¡­" He Yi: "..." While holding a lamb leg, I said, "Oh right! There was a boss that Lian Xin and us killed that dropped an incredibly broken Immortal-grade spear. We¡¯ve given the spear to Lian Xin, but she said that she¡¯d gift it to you after you came back online. It¡¯s a great weapon, Eve! It¡¯s even better than Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s spear!" "Oh?" He Yi¡¯s eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "Really? What are its stats?" Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue shook their heads in unison. "We don¡¯t remember. All we know is that its stats are ridiculous!" I hummed in thought for a moment before starting, "It¡¯s a 5-star Outstanding Immortal-grade spear called the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear. Its Attack is 1900 to 2350, it boosts Strength, Stamina and Agility by 800 or more, it has a passive that increases Attack by 85%, and it has a 5% chance of restoring 15% HP when attacking a target. Oh, and it also has a split damage effect." "OMG, those stats are amazing!" He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open. "OMG, your memory is amazing!" Beiming Xue¡¯s mouth also fell open. I gave her a smile while saying, "It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m just very sensitive toward equipment stats is all. One thing for certain, this Seven Star Veluriyam Spear is way stronger than my Cyan Netherworld Sword!" "Yeah. It¡¯s yours as long as Lian Xin didn¡¯t drop it when she died..." "Don¡¯t worry, Lian Xin told me earlier that she only dropped Earth-grade leather-armor wristguards. The Seven Star Veluriyam Spear is still in her possession," Beiming Xue reassured us. "Very good, very good¡­" He Yi said with a giggle, "Come on, we should finish dinner soon. Tomorrow afternoon, we¡¯ll all go to the airport to fetch Lian Xin." "Alright!" ¡­¡­ We returned to the workshop after dinner. I was drinking tea with Beiming Xue because the girl said she wanted to learn sado from Lin Yixin and bought an entire set to do so. Unfortunately, she wasn¡¯t able to brew the tea leaves properly. The edges of my lips were covered in tea leaves, but I kept nodding my head and said, "This tea is great¡­" Beiming Xue looked very satisfied with my praise. He Yi had just finished bathing and was walking toward us with a lazy expression on her face. Wrapped in a towel, she sat down cross-legged beside me and asked, "How¡¯s Beiming¡¯s sado? Did she improve?" Instead of answering her question, I said, "You¡¯ve been working the whole day. You should drink some porridge instead." "Nooo, I wanna drink tea¡­" "Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you¡­" While sipping the tea Beiming Xue brewed for everyone, she shot me a meaningful smile and said, "I just watched the footage of today¡¯s siege battle, Lu Chen. You are right. Lian Xin is really a lot more powerful than before!" "Yeah." "Ah, I¡¯m so tired today¡­" He Yi leaned back against the sofa while staring at the ceiling. "First, I flew to Hangzhou in the morning. Then, I flew to Shanghai in the afternoon. Finally, I had to drive all the way back at night. Yes, yes, I know I should¡¯ve requested for a driver at the Shanghai branch, but at the same time, I¡¯m absolutely terrified by the way they drive. Have you seen someone pushing pedal to the metal while driving a Gallardo? I used to think that Lu Chen¡¯s a speedy driver, but after those experiences, I think completely opposite¡­" "I know right?" I was very happy that my driving was up to He Yi¡¯s standards. "Next time you want to attend a faraway meeting, I¡¯ll drive you. I¡¯ve more or less figured out our Lamborghini¡¯s performance, so I¡¯ll definitely do better than last time." He Yi smiled and nodded at me. "Mn." Murong Mingyue was eating a piece of cake when she chose this moment to tease us again. "Lu Chen, you hold 10% of our company¡¯s shares, right? Don¡¯t you think that it¡¯s your obligation to do something for our magnificent Eve, after all the hardships she went through to secure the future of our workshop? You know, like massaging her legs or her back." I looked at He Yi and noticed that the flawless shoulders above her towel and the smooth, long legs beneath it. A single glance was enough to make my heart race. To say that He Yi¡¯s curves were perfect would be an understatement. "This isn¡¯t very appropriate, is it?" I said. "Is it just me, or did I hear the squeak of a coward?" Murong Mingyue taunted me. "Who are you calling a coward?" I looked at He Yi and asked carefully, "Sister Yi, do you mind if this unqualified masseur massages your legs?" He Yi nodded with a smile. "Sure. But only the legs, okay?" "Of course. I¡¯m not that kind of person¡­" "Come on!" He Yi repositioned herself for a bit and put her legs on my thighs. I could feel her warmth and softness even through the fabric of my pants. My hands were threatening to shake even before I touched her legs, and when I did, it was such an amazing sensation that I could hardly describe it. He Yi also jumped a little when she felt my hands, but she said nothing and continued to take sips from Beiming Xue¡¯s imperfectly brewed Oolong tea. Frankly, my massaging skill didn¡¯t even qualify to be called a skill. I was simply touching and pressing her legs wherever I felt was necessary slowly and gently. Her legs were soft, bouncy and smooth, and in less than two minutes, my breathing got heavier, and my heart felt like it would leap out of my throat. Suddenly, Murong Mingyue swallowed once and said, "Sis wants a massage too, Lu Chen¡­" I shivered from head to toe and blurted, "Fuck this shit, I¡¯m going to bed¡­" The girls immediately burst into giggles. It was almost as if they were celebrating a victory. ¡­¡­ Originally, we were planning to continue the follow-up quest of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower the following day, but since Lian Xin was coming back in the afternoon, we decided to delay it by another day. I spent the whole next morning killing high-level sea turtles at Black Coast and collecting turtle shells for Yamete. When noon arrived, I received the official word that Lian Xin¡¯s account had been successfully transferred. China was in the right this time, so New York could no longer fabricate excuses to delay Lian Xin¡¯s account transfer. Right now, her account, equipment, skills and everything else had already been transferred to China¡¯s server. ¡­¡­ When afternoon finally arrived, we drove to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. Lian Xin was supposed to arrive around 4 pm, but there was a flight delay that postponed the arrival time to 5:30. So, the four of us waited patiently at the arrival hall. There were no available seats, so the girls and I all stood at a corner as we waited. Of course, the magnificent He Yi, sexy Murong Mingyue and innocent Beiming Xue attracted countless admiring gazes during this time. There was no chance they could¡¯ve concealed their glamor even if they wanted to. As a result, a lot of people hit their heads against the curtain wall today, and I had to stand at a corner and play Plants vs. Zombies on my phone to avoid being murdered by all the jealous gazes around me. "Hey, stop playing. It¡¯s time!" Some time later, Beiming Xue patted my shoulder and broke me out of my concentration. We immediately walked toward a suitable spot. The crowd automatically opened up a path for us because the girls were leading the way. A short while later, Murong Mingyue suddenly waved her hand and called out with a smile, "Lian Xin! Over here! We¡¯re over here, Lian Xin!" A girl wearing a winter outfit and a red plush hat dragging heavy luggage immediately ran toward us. "Sister Mingyue!" Lian Xin addressed Mingyue sweetly before letting go of her luggage and giving the latter a tight hug. The two actually fell to the ground and rolled a bit, but they didn¡¯t let go of each other, and their joyous laughter infected almost everyone in the vicinity. Half a minute later, Lian Xin finally lifted Murong Mingyue back to her feet and walked back to us. "Boss, boss~~" Lian Xin jumped into He Yi¡¯s lap and said with a smile, "You came for me too, Boss He Yi?" He Yi let out a chuckle. "Of course I did, and we¡¯re not the only ones!" Lian Xin looked behind He Yi and saw Beiming Xue and me standing side-by-side. She hugged Beiming Xue next and said, "Nice meeting you, Beiming!" "Me too!" Beiming Xue nodded repeatedly. Finally, Lian Xin directed her gaze at me, and something in her eyes made me feel somewhat uncomfortable. "Er, well, I¡¯m a dude so you can save the¡­ pleasantries. Anyway, let¡¯s get back to Suzhou and catch dinner together¡­" Lian Xin nodded, but she hugged my neck and kissed me hard on the cheeks when I wasn¡¯t looking. Then, she threatened me, "Lu Chen, I¡¯ve wanted to confess to you for the longest time, and you dare pretend you don¡¯t know my feelings!? Do this again, and I¡¯ll confess to you once every day, you hear me!?" I shivered from head to toe. "It¡¯s dinner time!!" ¡­¡­ We got back into the car and traveled back to Suzhou. On the way, the girls chatted non-stop like a flock of sparrows, and even the usually reserved He Yi wasn¡¯t an exception. A while later, Lian Xin finally hopped onto a dangerous topic. "By the way, who is that Wind Fantasy? Is she Lu Chen¡¯s girlfriend or something?" I pretended that I didn¡¯t hear anything and focused all of my attention on the road. He Yi coughed once before replying, "That is an embarrassing topic, so let¡¯s not talk about it, please¡­" But Murong Mingyue ignored her protests and replied, "That¡¯s right. Lin Yixin is practically Lu Chen¡¯s official girlfriend at this point." "What about Boss He Yi?" Lian Xin asked with a blink. Murong Mingyue shrugged helplessly. "She¡¯s girlfriend number two, I suppose¡­" Enraged, Lian Xin clenched her fists and declared, "No way! I won¡¯t accept this! There is only one person in the entire world whom I¡¯ll accept to become big brother Lu Chen¡¯s girlfriend, and that¡¯s Boss He Yi! Besides her, if even I¡¯m not qualified, then no one else is! Just you wait, I¡¯ll wipe out this Wind Fantasy as soon as I get the opportunity!" Shuddering, I instinctively stepped down on the brakes and gave the Audi behind me the fright of his life. The driver wouldn¡¯t stop honking at us until I drove away. ¡­¡­ My relationships were already a mess, and Lian Xin the troublemaker was looking to make it worse! Shit! Chapter 850: Girl Genius Lian Xin had also threw our original plans for the follow-up quest to Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower into disarray, however. The quest could only accommodate five players, so someone had to, go no matter what. "Count me out this time. It¡¯s far more scientific to have 2 MTs, 2 DPS and 1 healer anyway," He Yi said when I talked about this. Lian Xin didn¡¯t like this. "No way, I¡¯m not going to replace you, boss. I¡¯ll go grind with Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng. I need to improve my relationship with our guild members anyway." "It¡¯s fine," He Yi said with a smile. "I won¡¯t be available since I and the directors of Suzhou Raincube have to travel to Shanghai headquarters and meet up with Blue Star for a cooperative meeting today. It¡¯s about expanding the game. And even if I go, a 5-man party doesn¡¯t really need 3 MTs. Your magic will be far more useful than my Defense." "I don¡¯t wanna!" Lian Xin complained with a pout. "There¡¯s no way I¡¯m working together with that violent woman Lin Yixin, not to mention that she almost PKed me at Poplar Valley and tried to take Lu Chen away from you, boss!" Not sure how to deal with this, He Yi looked to me for help. So I walked over and wrapped my arms around He Yi¡¯s shoulders, saying, "What do you mean, Lian Xin? I¡¯m right here with Eve and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, aren¡¯t I?" Lian Xin refused to budge. "It¡¯s no use. I can see right through you." "Fine then. Today, I¡¯ll skip the main quest and attend that meeting with Eve instead!" "You¡­" He Yi faced toward me. "Are you sure about this?" I nodded with a smile. "Of course. Don¡¯t you want me to spend more time with you?" "I do¡­" A small smile crossed He Yi¡¯s lips. "Alright then. You¡¯ll come with me to the meeting today and continue the follow-up quest tomorrow. I¡¯m not budging on the party composition though. If you still feel uncomfortable with this arrangement, then bring back a piece of equipment for me as compensation, preferably an Immortal-grade one. Is everyone okay with this?" Not even Lian Xin had anything to say after this. She was still pouting, but she acquiesced and said, "Fine. If you¡¯re really okay with this, then I won¡¯t say anything anymore." Murong Mingyue chuckled. "Aiyo, this is just the first day, and Lian Xin has already helped Eve to score one over Lin Yixin! Aren¡¯t you happy, Eve?" He Yi blushed. "What do you mean? You make it sound like Beauty Lin and I are fighting each other or something." He Yi looked down to hide her face. "Fine, just a little¡­" Unsure how to respond to this, I grabbed the car keys of the Lamborghini and said, "Come on, I¡¯ll be your driver for the day, Sister Eve. I promise you won¡¯t find a more reassuring driver than me." He Yi nodded with a smile. "Okay, we¡¯ll depart after we finish breakfast. The Suzhou branch has four directors, and they¡¯ll be taking our company¡¯s car to our destination. We¡¯ll meet up with them first and depart together!" "Mn." ¡­¡­ Lian Xin was wearing a beige-colored mini dress. She hesitated for a moment before starting, "Boss, big brother Lu Chen, I want to talk to you both about something." "Of course. What is it?" "I haven¡¯t told my mom that I came back to the country, so I¡¯m planning to travel home to Changzhou during the afternoon and eat dinner with her. I¡¯ll be back after that." "No problem. You definitely should spend some time with your family," I said. He Yi added, "In fact, why don¡¯t you take Mingyue and Beiming with you? Tell auntie I say hi when you meet her, and don¡¯t forget to buy some gifts before you go home, okay? You can¡¯t forget about these things!" Beiming Xue smiled. "Okay! I guess we¡¯ll be leaving the workshop too then! Lunch and dinner, here we come!" "See you all at night, then!" Murong Mingyue: "Yes, yes. Bye, Felicia!" Me: "Well shit, adieu to you too!" He Yi: "..." ¡­¡­ After that intermission, we barely had a break for the whole day. First, we traveled to Shanghai, ate a quick meal at the canteen, and made way for Blue Star¡¯s headquarters for the IT meeting. At the large meeting room, the projector was displaying a video of Heavenblessed on the projector screen. A group of veteran programmers were talking about the info displayed on it. A middle-aged man with a work badge identifying him as the director of Blue Star¡¯s technology department let out a cough before starting, "The technology regarding VR gaming is near perfect, but there are still some flaws regarding the ray tracing when a character is not stationary. Moreover, we received reports complaining that there is a significant delay in movement when a player is simultaneously being attacked. Unfortunately, we were so busy dealing with everything that we neglected to update this part of the algorithm. The example code you¡¯re seeing on the screen right now was developed by the Americans, but they had delayed sharing it with us time and time again. It¡¯s obvious what they¡¯re plotting. They want us to research and develop this incredibly complex latency-reducing interpolation algorithm ourselves." A beautiful female supervisor echoed in agreement. "Yeah, we spent two whole months trying to solve this problem, but we barely made any headway at all. Our best programmer almost drove himself insane, but unfortunately, he hasn¡¯t succeeded in completing this task. If this continues, our players¡¯ reaction time will always be slower than the players from other countries by 0.07 seconds. It¡¯s a tiny difference, but it¡¯s a difference nonetheless." The Blue Star technology director continued, "Eve, we¡¯re asking for your help because you¡¯re our technical support. President Ling Xue herself gave her word that she¡¯ll pen her signature on the East China technological architecture agreement if you can solve this!" He Yi¡¯s eyes lit up. "Really? Are you sure?" "Our promises are absolute!" I gave He Yi a nudge and asked, "How much is that architecture agreement worth, He Yi?" He Yi lowered her voice and whispered into my ears, "At a conservative estimate, our net profit will be 500 million RMB! Blue Star¡¯s technological prowess isn¡¯t up to snuff, so it¡¯s up to us to save the day!" After saying that, she turned around and said to two of the four directors of Suzhou Raincube who attended the meeting, "Pelo, Leo, I leave this problem to you both. I expect you to come up with a flawless solution in five hours, understand?" The two young directors nodded in unison. "No worries, president! We¡¯ll get it done!" "Alright, I¡¯m going to head out and take a breather. Call me when the solution is ready!" "Yes, ma¡¯am!" After giving out the instructions, He Yi held my arm and smiled at me. "Come on, let¡¯s hang out for a bit." After we walked out of the meeting room, I asked, "Where do you want to go?" "How about Xujiahui? Spring is near, and I feel like buying some clothes for myself, Lian Xin, Beiming and Mingyue. Even you need to get some new clothes for yourself." "Alright then, let¡¯s go!" The Lamborghini¡¯s engine roared. It wasn¡¯t long before we arrived at Xujiahui. At a street corner, we saw a woman with heavy makeup swaying her big butt and beckoning a Cayenne to come to her. After she got into the car, she glanced outside and happened to catch sight of our Lamborghini. She immediately pursed her lips and criticized in a disdainful tone, "Hmph, a Gallardo with a Suzhou license plate? I bet you the driver is fatty with shit for brains!" Immediately displeased, He Yi grabbed the handbrake and said to me, "Slow the car and move closer to that Cayenne. That little mistress needs a lesson in humility!" I obeyed and moved closer to the Cayenne. Then, I lowered the car window and shot the woman a toothy smile, catching her off-guard. I was dressed casually, and my eyes were a bit reddened from burning the midnight oil, but overall I still looked the handsome, sunny lad I was. The woman shivered a little but said nothing. The driver of the Cayenne, however, was a 40 years old middle-aged man. At first, he didn¡¯t react when he glanced at me. Then he saw He Yi, and his eyes bulged in disbelief, and his saliva nearly dripped down the corner of his mouth. After that, he kept glancing back and forth between me and He Yi as if he couldn¡¯t believe that a babe like her would deign to keep me company. He Yi saw this, so she grabbed my hand, placed it on her own thigh and shot the middle-aged man an arrogant smile. I caressed my beautiful guild leader¡¯s smooth thigh for a bit before stepping down on the gas and rushing into the car park like the wind. The poor driver could only stare at our backs in shock. He Yi couldn¡¯t stop laughing for a time. I was rather enjoying the small victory myself. Who would¡¯ve thought that a "friendly" duel between rich people was this fun? ¡­¡­ After we went to Metro City, He Yi bought an insurmountable amount of clothes and left only after my entire body was covered in handbags. The Lamborghini could barely fit all the things she bought. It was at this moment He Yi¡¯s phone rang¡ª "Yes, Leo? Is the solution ready?" He Yi asked. I could hear Leo¡¯s voice clearly. "Er¡­ sorry, Pelo and I attempted to decipher the program a dozen of times, but we just couldn¡¯t find a suitable solution. The American programmer who designed this must be a top professional. The nestings are so confusing that they almost read like a trap¡­" He Yi fell silent for a moment. Then, she chided them a little and said, "Very well, both of you are getting your salaries halved next month. Now wait there until I return. I¡¯ll solve this problem myself!" "Yes, please come back as soon as you can, Eve. The bastards from Blue Star are close to jeering at us¡­" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ After we rushed back to Blue Star¡¯s headquarters, He Yi strode into the meeting room, sat down on a sofa, and slammed her notebook loudly on the table. Then, she ordered, "Transfer all the data to my computer now." "Yes, ma¡¯am!" A few minutes later, He Yi began typing away on the keyboard with incredible speed and practice. The clatter of keyboard keys and the characters appearing non-stop on her display dazzled everyone¡¯s eyes. I watched He Yi quietly as I sat beside her. I couldn¡¯t help but admire the way she looked when she was working seriously. Her eyes looked as brilliant as the stars, her face was brimming with calm confidence, her lips opened and closed indiscernibly as she worked, and the coffee-colored uniform covering her chest rose and sank slowly as well. Behind us, the Blue Star veteran programmers and Raincube directors were watching her work as well. Their breaths were held unconsciously, and their eyes were bulging like a cow¡¯s. ¡­¡­ Almost three hours later, He Yi gave her notebook a push, copied her program into a USB device and said, "My friends, I have compiled the solution you requested. You may now commit it and begin debugging. Once you are done, please contact President Ling Xue and tell her that she may sign the contract now!" The Blue Star programmers copied the solution into their APIs and tinkered with the solution for about half an hour or so. At the end of the inspection, they stared at the display in disbelief and muttered to themselves, "Heavens, did¡­ Did she really solve a problem we spent three months solving to no avail in three hours? Why am I even still alive¡­" The technology directors of Blue Star looked like they were about to drown in shame before He Yi. Their leader even murmured to himself, "Incredible. The legendary girl genius of GGS is actually real. I can¡¯t believe that a genius like this actually exists¡­" ¡­¡­ A while later, the algorithm officially passed inspection, and Ling Xue showed up personally to sign the agreement. It was an amazing success! After turning down Blue Star¡¯s celebratory feast kindly, He Yi and I went to a nearby Hunan restaurant to eat dinner. We didn¡¯t mind what we ate as long as it filled our bellies. ¡­¡­ It was past 9 pm by the time we returned to Suzhou. Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue had already returned from their trip to Lian Xin¡¯s home. I gave Lin Yixin a call and set a time. Finally, after such a long delay, we were resuming the follow-up quest of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower! Chapter 851: Bloody Shield We assembled the party after we got out of our beds. He Yi wasn¡¯t with us because she had left again to attend a meeting in Beijing. Just like last time, she departed in the early morning and would be returning during the evening. We would be worried if she wasn¡¯t accompanied by a beautiful director from Suzhou Raincube. After we finished breakfast and prepared ourselves for a long grind by laying out fruits and drinks next to our beds, we went online. This was so that we could refresh ourselves on the spot when we logged out of the game. I didn¡¯t really need it because I was like a camel among gamers, capable of gaming an entire day and night without water or food. The girls could hardly claim the same. They were made of softer stuff and should be cared for as such. I also gave Lin Yixin a call¡ª "Good morning, Yiyi!" "I¡¯m eating breakfast right now, Little Cheat!" I could hear the sounds of cars from the other side of the phone call. I could already imagine her walking on the streets and eating a roujiamo as she spoke to me. "Get moving! We¡¯re all ready and waiting to activate the follow-up quest of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower!" "I¡¯ll reach my apartment in ten minutes. I¡¯ll log in right after that!" "Okay, see you in a bit! Muah!" "..." ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I logged into the game first. Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue were already waiting for me. "Where¡¯s Lian Xin?" I asked. "Sister Lian Xin is waiting inside the black room and performing a data transfer. The system confirmed that her immigration was a success, but she has to wait 5 minutes for the data transfer to complete. Let¡¯s wait," Beiming Xue said. "Sure, we¡¯re in no particular hurry anyway. Lin Yixin also needs a couple of minutes before she can log into the game. Let¡¯s just wait for all of them to get ready." "Yeah!" A while later, a magic formation flashed once, and a beautiful mage with a green ID stepped out of it. She was our Lian Xin of course. Lian Xin gave us a smile as she said, "Finally. Now, add me into the main guild!" "Mn." I sent her the guild invite, and a second later I heard a beep¡ª Beep! Guild Notice: Player "Lian Xin" LV-173 (Phantasm of Stars)¡± has joined the guild! ¡­¡­ The guild channel immediately erupted into a flurry of activity and excitement¡ª Xu Yang: "Hahaha, Little Xing is finally home! A Level 173 mage? That¡¯s amazing!" Li Chengfeng: "Welcome home, Star Elder, Little Lian Xin! From now on, no one will dare say that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls doesn¡¯t have powerful mages anymore, hahaha!" Lian Xin let out a giggle. "Cool your jets, Gui Guzi~~" Chaos Moon said, "Yeah, just ignore Little Gui, he can be an idiot sometimes, huhu. That being said, I¡¯m pretty sure God¡¯s Dance¡¯s chance of beating Lian Xin is less than 20%. Even Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Luo River God of the Capital would fare better than God¡¯s Dance, am I right Lu Chen?" I nodded. "Yeah. Lian Xin has an 80% chance to beat God¡¯s Dance, 70% chance to beat Stranger of Three Lifetimes, but only a 55% chance to beat Luo River God of the Capital. Your mage skills are better, but your mechanical skill needs a lot more refinement. Luo River God of the Capital wouldn¡¯t have allowed Lin Yixin to get close to her as easily as you did during that duel." Lian Xin agreed. "That¡¯s true. I¡¯ve beaten almost all the melee experts at Seven Star City, but I¡¯ve never met one who¡¯s as strong as Lin Yixin. She¡¯s too decisive when she moves, so it¡¯s hard to react before it¡¯s too late. I¡¯m sure I can become China¡¯s true best mage if you keep practicing with me though, big brother Lu Chen!" Li Chengfeng laughed. "Oh yes! Don¡¯t forget to save all the matches where Lu Chen lost, Lian Xin. We all would like to watch Lu Chen having his ass handed to him by a mage, hahaha!" The corner of my mouth twitched once. "Fuck¡­" Lian Xin replied smilingly, "Sure! Speaking of which, I heard that you¡¯re pretty skillful yourself, dragon warrior. You are among the top five best players in Sky City and a top player in the competitive arena, right? Let¡¯s hang out in the competitive arena together after my practices, okay? Okay, it¡¯s a promise!" Li Chengfeng turned green immediately. "Can¡­ can I say no?" Xu Yang replied, "Sure, if you want to die that is¡­" Gui Guzi laughed heartlessly. "Oh man, I can¡¯t wait to see Li being ravaged by a mage! You¡¯re not allowed to use Battle Soul Possession by the way, that¡¯s cheating!" Li Chengfeng complained. "Come on, I might not be able to beat her even if I use Battle Soul Possession, okay¡­" Gui Guzi: "Well, at least you aren¡¯t ignorant¡­" Li Chengfeng retorted, "Screw you! I might lose, but at least I was good enough to be the loser of the fight, unlike a certain Undying Knight who¡¯s so bad Lian Xin wouldn¡¯t even want to duel against him! Kakakaka¡­" Finally, Chaos Moon concluded, "Anyway, now that the four elders have finally reunited, we should work together to reclaim Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ former glory. With Xu Yang¡¯s leadership, Mingyue¡¯s charm, Lian Xin¡¯s firepower, and Lu Chen¡¯s wisdom and courage, there¡¯s no reason to believe we can¡¯t kick Candle Dragon¡¯s ass, is there?" I smiled. "The title is really just a title and a proof of our shared history. Now though, the future of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls belongs to everyone. Every man and woman here is a ray of hope for the guild, so I hope that all of you will grind hard for levels and equipment, becoming even stronger in the future. Also, the war of Baidicheng might¡¯ve made us famous, but that is no reason to fall into complacency. I suspect that a super war on the same scale as the War of Dawn City will happen very soon¡ªone month at the earliest, two months at the latest¡ªso we all must prepare ourselves for that war!" Everyone laughed and expressed their gratitude at my words. Beside me, Lian Xin let out a chuckle and said, "Mn, big brother Lu Chen has definitely grown up a lot since Spirit of Grief. He¡¯s getting better and better at manipulating all these people to his will¡­" I let out a cough and said, "What do you mean manipulate? This is just basic respect and honesty, okay?" "Fine, fine. So, when are we departing?" "Wait just a bit longer¡­" Speak of the devil. The magic formation Lian Xin came out from flashed again, and Lin Yixin stepped out with her sword in tow. Most of her body was covered in black armor, but the chest area was designed to have a low cut. Therefore, I could see the upper part of her awesome globes bouncing a little with every step she took. The amazing sight caused countless bystanders to hold their breaths unconsciously. "She¡¯s here¡­" Lian Xin immediately tensed up. Lin Yixin also unsheathed her sword halfway before asking me, "Why is she here instead of Sister He Yi?" I pushed her sword back into the sheath and said placatingly, "Eve can¡¯t attend because she¡¯s busy today. Lian Xin is a ranged DPS with a lot of powerful CC skills, so she definitely won¡¯t drag the party down. Promise me you¡¯ll work with her? Please?" Lin Yixin glanced behind me for a moment before nodding. "Fine. I¡¯ll try to avoid butting heads with her as much as I can." "Wonderful. Let¡¯s go then!" "Oh right, how are we going to compensate Sister He Yi? She deserves it considering how amazing this quest should be,¡± Lin Yixin asked on her own. "We already talked about that. Eve said to reserve Immortal-grade equipment for her if we find one. Are you okay with this, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin smiled. "Of course. It shouldn¡¯t be too hard to get Immortal-grade equipment to drop considering that this is a main quest." "I thought so too. Alright, let¡¯s go! To Land of Soul Suppression!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ After we repaired our equipment and restocked on our Health Potions and Magic Consumables, we moved to Land of Soul Suppression immediately. Lin Yixin and I were the fastest members of the party, so it was up to me to act as the point and Lin Yixin and her ice dragon, Kris, to protect our three ranged players. Be it in PvP or PvE, ranged players always needed the protection of melee players. It looked like the Land of Soul Suppression was no longer a restricted map like before. We saw at least thousands of Wind City, Sky City and Vanished God City players calling out for party members at the entrance to the Land of Soul Suppression. They needed a party because the strongest mobs inside the map were of the dread rank. We formed a party and gave Lin Yixin the party leader position. Her Bombshell increased all stats by 80%, making it a useful stratagem, no matter the class. We went straight for the Soul Suppressing Tower and passed through the trap formations with ease. We barely encountered any delays because most of the mobs on the first to seventh floor had been taken out by other players. Even now, countless people were camping at specific spots and killing the mobs almost immediately after they spawned. I thanked god that I wasn¡¯t one of those unfortunate monsters. We traveled all the way to the ninth floor without any troubles. With Lin Yixin and I as the tank, Beiming Xue as the physical ranged DPS and Lian Xin as the magic ranged DPS, there was nothing the Dark Prisoners could do to threaten us. After we returned to the teleportation formation where the boss of the ninth floor had died, I took out the nine molding Tiger Soul Essences in my bag and activated them. Ding~! System Notice: The five-man party quest and follow-up quest of Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower has been activated. Your party has acquired the main quest "The Betrayal of the Bloody Shield"! (Current Quest Rank: A Rank Divine Quest) Description: Head to the west of Vanished God City and find a domain called the Bloody Shield Domain. Occupied by the undead, it is a place overflowing with wailing ghosts and vengeful spirits. While normally restricted by a barrier, the Tiger Soul Essences have opened a path into the domain. Head in, overcome the defenses of the undead and find the ruins of an empire where the nest of Ovia the Bloody Finger lies. Venture into the nest, kill the Purgatory Sovereign, and bring his head to Princess Karinshan of Sky City for an extraordinarily generous reward! ¡­¡­ My eyes bulged as I shivered from head to toe. "What the flying fuck? It wants us to kill one of the Nine Sovereigns, Ovia the Bloody Finger? This isn¡¯t a quest, it¡¯s a fucking death sentence!" Contrary to my reaction, Lin Yixin looked very excited and pumped up. "Ohh, a quest to kill a Purgatory Sovereign? This is going to be fun!" Chapter 852: An Uncle’s Reques Beiming Xue brought up the world map and scanned it for a moment. ¡°The domain is within Vanished God City¡¯s jurisdiction, but it¡¯s near the borders and it¡¯s at least 2 hours away from the main city. The map is dark red in color, so if I had to guess, the mobs there are at least Level 200 or higher. The map isn¡¯t actually opened yet, but since the quest is sending us there I¡¯m sure we¡¯re qualified to enter¡­ right?" "I don¡¯t know..." I said, "Anyway, we need to return to Sky City and teleport to Vanished God City, so save the discussions for later. I¡¯ve already checked. From Vanished God City, it¡¯d take almost 3 hours to travel to Bloody Shield Domain on foot. The good news is I have two pairs of boots that increase movement speed by 50%, so Mingyue, Lian Xin, wear them when we¡¯re ready to depart later. Also, I suggest we depart from the tier 2 main city, Sangharama City. It¡¯ll take less than 2 hours to reach Bloody Shield Domain if we travel from there." "Okay." All the girls nodded in unison. We took out our return scrolls and teleported back to Sky City. Then, to Vanished God City and finally, used the teleportation formation to reach Sangharama City. The tier 2 main city was under Vanished God City¡¯s jurisdiction, which was why we could only teleport there from Vanished God City. Swhoosh swhooosh swhoosh¡­ The five of us appeared in the tier 2 main city, also one of the nine main cities of the China server, Sangharama City. It was on the same level as Dawn City and Floating Ice City, although, of course, Dawn City was reinforced by a fortress and had much tougher walls than any tier 2 city. In fact, after the War of Dawn City, it was the strongest tier 2 city bar none. It wouldn¡¯t be able to defend against the Northern Alliance¡¯s invasion otherwise. I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, climbed on top of it and looked around. Sangharama City was an average-sized city that was built using light blue bricks. There was also an impressive-looking statue in front of the west gate. It described a hero wielding a trident. We passed by the statue while the city¡¯s music resounded in our ears. When I glanced at the pedestal, it stated: Sangharama City is an old city with three thousand years of history. During the warring times, the great Hero King, Theuriau, slayed a powerful devil and built a new empire on these barren lands. It eventually replaced the once mighty Dharan Empire! "Dharan Empire?" Lin Yixin nodded and shared her view of the world map with us. She then pointed at the bloodiest area on the map and said, "This is the map we¡¯re headed to, Bloody Shield Domain. Now, look closely. Do you see the text? It¡¯s rather faint and blurry, but¡­" "Oh?" Everyone moved closer to take a look, and it wasn¡¯t long before Lin Yixin¡¯s observation skill was proven to be true. There was a faint text just below the name "Bloody Shield Domain", and it stated "Dharan Empire Ruins¡±. This meant that our destination was definitely the site of the former Dharan Empire. Coincidentally, the city we were in was built by their descendants after the empire¡¯s collapse. "Well, the history lesson can wait until later. Let¡¯s head to Bloody Shield Domain now. I¡¯m sure there¡¯s a ton of treasure waiting for us to pick up!" I sheathed my sword and said. "Yeah. Let¡¯s go!" Beiming Xue agreed with a nod. And so the five of us entered the forest next to Sangharama City and moved in the direction of Bloody Shield Domain. We encountered some mobs along the way, but they were mostly shadow-rank mobs between Level 140 and 180. After all the ancient and dread-rank mobs we had been fighting recently, they hardly deserved our full attention. On the way, a surprising amount of players sent us party invites in hopes of adding us into their parties probably because we looked reliable even though we had turned off our equipment luster. In the end, it got so annoying that we turned on all our equipment luster at once and damn near gave the poor bastards a heart attack. In fact, it was their fortune that powerful adventurers like us had decided to grace their city with our presence. The road was long, so we conversed to each other to pass time. Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue were pretty close to each other, so their conversation went pretty cheerfully. However, the same couldn¡¯t be said for Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯s conversation with Lian Xin, since the latter was a stubborn girl who would do everything in her power to defend He Yi¡¯s rights. Long story short, Lian Xin refused to accept Lin Yixin as anything but a party member. Still, it was much better than the time they first met. At least they weren¡¯t trying to murder each other anymore. Almost 100 minutes later, we exited the forest and arrived at a barren land. The trees were all wilted, the ground was black and rotten, and animal carcasses released a horrendous smell from the soil. We also spotted broken weapons and rusted shields along the way. A war must¡¯ve been fought here a long time ago, for shields usually took a considerable amount of time to rust completely. I checked the world map and noted that we had entered the border area. In fact, we hadn¡¯t encountered any player parties for the last half an hour or so. Most people wouldn¡¯t choose to grind here because the mobs here were Level 180 dread-rank mobs, and this place was too far away from the city to replenish one¡¯s supplies quickly, not to mention the plethora of Corpse Eaters and undead graveyards that littered the place. Only an exceptionally strong player would dare to venture into these lands. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Lian Xin pointed toward the distance and said, "Look, there¡¯s an NPC over there!" It was just as she said. A simple camp fenced by rotted deer horns had been erected among a forest of stones, and several terrible-looking soldiers were sitting around a bonfire and chatting to one another. Their pale faces alone spoke of the circumstances that had found themselves in. "Cough cough! That damned border guard captain, I can¡¯t believe he sent us to this hellhole to scout the undead. It¡¯s so cold¡­" a young soldier complained in a grudgeful tone. A broader middle-aged soldier licked his dry, cracked lips before replying, "Yeah, I miss the inns of Sangharama City. Their girls are hot and passionate, and they never hesitate to warm a cold traveller¡¯s body with their own, or tease an adventurer¡¯s soul with their tongue. If it wasn¡¯t for this damned mission, we would be drinking ale in an adventurer¡¯s inn, listening to a bard¡¯s song and even teasing his wife if she happened to be present. It was such a good life¡­" It was at this moment a greenhorn who looked around sixteen or seventeen years old suddenly hugged his broken spear and cried, "There¡¯s no way we¡¯re going to survive this! The Corpse Eaters had cut off our retreat, and we¡¯ll be entering Bloody Shield Domain if we venture any deeper. The old men told me that Bloody Shield Domain is a forbidden land of the dead that consumes all life, no matter how strong you are. Even the sword saint hadn¡¯t returned since he ventured into that accursed land. A sword saint, dammit! And let¡¯s not forget the plethora of legendary warriors such as the earth riders and sky riders who died before and after him. I don¡¯t want to die. I miss my beloved mama and her oatcakes¡­" The fat middle-aged soldier laughed loudly and gave the greenhorn a slap on the shoulder. "Don¡¯t cry, Little Jimmy! We¡¯re not going to die here. It¡¯s true that we¡¯ve lost more than half of our men, but¡­ Anyway, we¡¯re not going to die here. Come on, I¡¯ll play a tune for you¡­" The middle-aged man grabbed an old goat head Tovshuur and began playing. Unfortunately, he was a terrible musician, so his tune only caused Jimmy to cry even harder. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin spurred her Moonchaser Tiger forward until she reached the NPCs. Then, she dismounted and shot them a sweet smile. "Warriors of Sangharama City, we are adventurers of Sky City. Is there anything we can do to help you?" The middle-aged soldier brightened when he saw her. "Adventurers from Sky City? Oh, I recognize your kingdom emblem. You serve Princess Karinshan, right? Haha, we¡¯re saved!" All the NPCs rose to their feet and surrounded us in no time. It looked as if they had found their life-saving straw. The middle-aged man grabbed Lin Yixin¡¯s small hands and raved excitedly, "Your timing cannot be better, adventurers from Sky City! We almost failed our mission!" His action caught Lin Yixin by surprise so much that she nearly unsheathed her sword and killed him. After striding toward them and slapping his lecherous hands away from my girlfriend¡¯s, I said, "What can we do to help you?" The NPC uncle continued without showing the slightest shred of shame, "We were tasked to enter Bloody Shield Domain and spy on the Night Creatures because we heard rumors that the devil from hell, Ovia the Bloody Finger, had taken over. However, most of us were wounded or killed on our way here, so we would like you to escort us into Bloody Shield Domain and figure out their movements. If you succeed, I promise to reward you generously on behalf of the Silver Moon Alliance!" Ding! System Notice: Do you accept the quest "Azar¡¯s Request"? We accepted it as a matter of course. System Notice: Your party has accepted the quest "Azar¡¯s Request"! (Current Quest Rank: SS-) Description: Protect Azar¡¯s party and escort them to the edge of Bloody Shield Domain. Kill at least 10000 Night Creatures and bring their heads to Azar. ¡­¡­ I see, this is a mob-killing quest! Although it was just an SS- Rank quest, the experience and Reputation reward alone were worth it. At our level, Reputation was just as important as experience because guild expansion required a lot of Reputation. In Lin Yixin¡¯s case it was even more important because she had to restart from zero, and all good equipment also required the player to have a high Reputation stat. Chapter 853: The New God’s Tear The NPCs started marching slowly toward their destination. They weren¡¯t moving particularly fast, but it looked like they would be using the small mountain path not far ahead of us. It should take us straight into Bloody Shield Domain. "Let¡¯s go. Make sure to protect the NPCs, or the quest might fail, and we might even lose Reputation because of it," I said. Lin Yixin nodded and ordered, "You lead the way while I cover the rear. Beiming Xue, Sister Mingyue and Lian Xin, stay with the NPCs and prepare to deal with anything that comes your way!" "Mn." All three girls nodded in unison. Now that things were getting serious, even Lian Xin set aside her prejudice toward Lin Yixin for a moment and focused on the task at hand. ¡­¡­ The Armored Ice Qilin Horse neighed as I summoned the Phantom Wolf King. Side by side, we walked in front of the party as the light of dawn shone down on us. A thin fog was suspended in the middle of the forest, and morning dew dripped occasionally from the leaves. As we stepped on the watery ground, the Phantom Wolf King growled as if it had picked up the scent of a powerful foe. A short while later, a red fog suddenly appeared at the front and put the girls on high alert. However, it was only 10 meters thick, and our vision returned to normal after we passed through it. It was probably a barrier or sorts¡ªmore accurately speaking, the line that prevented players from entering an unreleased map¡ªbut it did nothing to stop our advance. Suddenly, Beiming Xue cried out, "Big bro, watch out! There¡¯s a mob in the bush in front of you!" "Oh?" I spurred my mount forward as the Phantom Wolf King leaped into the bush. The next moment, a screeching thing was pulled out of its hiding spot and thrown into the open. The mob was a three-meters-long centipede with a colorful exterior and terrifying appearance. It immediately engaged the Phantom Wolf King in battle after it recovered its bearing. I raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword and hit its back with a ferocious Burning Blade Slash. One Spiraling Arrow Blade from Beiming Xue and two Ice Spiral Matrix from Lian Xin later, the centipede let out a death scream and died. A Level 190 dread-rank mob wasn¡¯t enough to threaten our party anymore. Swhoosh! "Yeah." The lowest-leveled player in our party was the Level 168 Lin Yixin, and second lowest player the Level 169 Murong Mingyue. Lian Xin was Level 173 and the highest-leveled player of all of us. Since the party¡¯s average level was above 170, we felt zero pressure aggroing hordes of Level 190 dread-rank mobs at once and killing them all, not to mention that dread-rank mobs yielded a sizable amount of experience. I ordered the Phantom Wolf King, "Go get them, little wolf. But don¡¯t hang around to fight, okay?" The Immortal Rank boss pet¡¯s powerful AI came alive in that moment. It understood my order and ran toward the mob without needing me to control it. It jumped back and forth the bushes to aggro the centipedes, but didn¡¯t linger long enough to be attacked. If it happened to move too close to a mob, it knew to dodge their melee attacks and escape to safety. It wasn¡¯t long before the barking wolf returned with what looked like a black sea of centipede mobs. The girls looked dumbfounded by the sheer amount of mobs that were crawling our way. I said, "Sis, put Restore on me. I¡¯m going ahead to capture the threat. Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, attack the moment the mobs get into range. Yiyi, come with me!" "Mn." I abruptly charged forward and fired Thousand Ice Slash and Burning Blade Slash at the mobs. Next, I used War Crush and attracted almost a hundred centipedes at once. The reason I was able to do this was because the centipedes had a small hitbox, and thus could be packed tightly like sardines. I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by this outcome. Swhoosh swhoosh... Occasionally, I spotted purple haloes around my skills that stunned the centipedes who survived my attack. It was the Broken Blade property of the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade, of course. The passive gave me a 7% chance to stun a target for 7 seconds, and it was very useful against a big horde like this. "Roar roar¡­" The Moonchaser Tiger growled as Lin Yixin cut it from the sides. She raised her sword and saw a pillar of ice growing from the blade. Then, after a shroud of flames surrounded it, she slammed her weapon right in the middle of the mobs and saw the AoE skill and her splash effect dealing an insane amount of damage. Suddenly, she tossed her sword into the sky, and it shone brightly like a bomb that was about to explode. Then, the light condensed into a translucent, blue-colored blade, and it crashed against the ground and dealt damage to all mobs within 20 yards of it! At the same time, two pink-colored words appeared on the combat log: "God¡¯s Tear¡±, the sight shocking all of us. Beiming Xue asked while shooting the mobs with Spiraling Arrow Blades and Evil Spirit Volleys, "Sister Lin Yixin, was that your Divine General Skill, God¡¯s Tear?" "Yep!" Lin Yixin replied cheerily while sending a couple of centipedes flying across the air. Murong Mingyue was puzzled. "Isn¡¯t God¡¯s Tear a map-wide attack + account deletion skill?" "Not anymore¡­" Lin Yixin explained, "I received a phone call from Eternal Moon Corporation¡¯s headquarters yesterday. They informed me that God¡¯s Tear¡¯s effect was changed because the Northern Alliance players such as Blade of Kings and more complained that it was too powerful. So, they nerfed it and made it a small AoE skill similar to Lu Chen¡¯s Ancient Seal and Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Outer Flame." I said, "That¡¯s good news, actually. The original God¡¯s Tear was an OP but very situational skill, but now you can use it whenever you want to, and I don¡¯t have to worry that Yiyi¡¯s account will be deleted again." Lin Yixin nodded in agreement. "I know right? An AoE offensive skill is just perfect for killing mobs~~" Murong Mingyue giggled. "Hoho, it looks like our chances of sweeping Bloody Shield Domain clean just increased. Very good, very good!" "Let¡¯s continue¡­" ¡­¡­ I tossed down three 100x100 yards Icy Cyclone Domains to slow the centipedes, and at least 2000 of them had been affected by it. As the main tanks, Lin Yixin and I ran back and forth to avoid as many attacks as possible, but even so, our HP continued to drop at an insane rate. After all, a single centipede mob could deal over 4000 damage, and they were so numerous that we were attacked at least a dozen of times at a time. Thankfully, Murong Mingyue¡¯s healing power was up to the challenge. Her Pool of Life kept Lin Yixin and I healed almost all the time, and I myself could lifesteal HP from my enemies. All things considered, the grind went fairly smoothly. Thud thud thud... Lian Xin ran back and forth between the edges and hurled Ice Spiral Matrices and Dimensional Storms at the screeching mobs constantly. Her Ice Spiral Matrix was especially deadly as the ice blades shredded the centipedes into pieces. Beiming Xue was also throwing every skill at her disposal when she said, "Sister Lian Xin, you¡¯re pulling too much aggro to yourself. Why don¡¯t we run rings around the center so that big bro and Sister Lin Yixin could hold the aggro better?" "Mn.: The two intelligent girls started running rings around the centipedes and forcing the latter to trample over each other. Lian Xin also slapped down a lot of Gravity Traps and Origin Force Fields to slow their advance and improve the party¡¯s safety even further. Pop... Burning Blade Slash dealt at least 50k damage per hit. Level 190 dread-rank mobs like these didn¡¯t have much HP to begin with, so they died quickly and dropped layers upon layers of equipment drops and magic stones. We were currently too busy to pick them up though. The battle lasted about 15 minutes. At the end of it, 2000 centipedes had been killed and turned into shiny stones and equipment, many of them top-tier Spirit-grade. Murong Mingyue was eating Magic Consumables repeatedly to restore her MP. Even with her Magic Attack and MP, the sheer amount of activity was starting to strain her. I checked my equipment and noted that I had lost around 3% durability. The problem with battles like this was that they ate away at equipment durability as if you had poured acid on them. At this rate, we might have to pick our fights very soon. Still, I managed to kill a ton of mobs and gained 7 Divine Energy Points from this battle, so it was all worth it... "Let¡¯s sweep the battlefield as quickly as possible and continue our journey. We haven¡¯t even encountered any undead so far!" "Yeah." I dismounted and began picking up the loot. I ignored everything below Gold-grade because such items were almost worthless in terms of money, no matter how good their actual stats were. I also made sure to pick up equipment that added Attack, Tactics and Magic Attack because they were the kind of stats most players sought after. These days, Defense or HP¨Coriented equipment were almost always worth less than offensive equipment. After packing dozens of top-tier equipment into my bag, I moved back to the forefront and continued acting as the point. The NPCs were looking at us with respect and awe obviously because they were impressed by our slaughtering of the centipede horde. ¡­¡­ After we passed through the small grassy area, we saw an unnaturally red forest. Leaves that should be bright green were purple red in color, and even the cathaya trees were covered in a red hue. I now understood how the map came by its name. "Big bro!" Beiming Xue suddenly cried out softly. Her succubi ears were standing up in full, and her red eyes were staring intently in a particular direction. I knew that Beiming Xue must¡¯ve noticed something again. She was definitely qualified to be called the eyes of the party; her senses were still sharper than mine even after I activated Dark Pupils! "There¡¯s a mob over there!" Beiming Xue said while pointing at a blood-red bush. Judging from its unnatural movements, something was swimming their way toward us. Lin Yixin moved her Moonchaser Tiger next to me and said, "I sure hope it¡¯s not another giant centipede. I¡¯ve already seen way too many bugs in a day¡­" "It¡¯s not¡­" I replied while shaking my head. She looked at me in confusion. "How are you so sure?" I gritted my teeth before replying, "It¡¯s, it¡¯s because centipedes don¡¯t make wet thumping sounds¡­" Murong Mingyue¡¯s mouth fell open. "Wet thumping sounds? Isn¡¯t that the sound unique to February 14th?" Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Lin Yixin immediately faced toward me in unison. "What does she mean?" My face was deathly pale. How the hell am I supposed to answer that? Chapter 854: Mingshe "That¡¯s¡­" Lin Yixin muttered while staring at the mob. She couldn¡¯t find the words to describe her feelings. The black scaly creature slithering across the black soil was a snake. It was less than two meters long, and its appearance was nothing special. However, it was Level 200 and 10 levels higher than the centipede mob¡ªI could already foresee the sudden spike in difficulty¡ªand the thumping noise we heard from before actually came from its rattling tail. I moved forward slowly and caught its stats with Dark Pupils. I then shared the info inside the party channel¡ª Mingshe (Dread) Level: 200 Magic Attack: 7500~10200 Defense: 9000 HP: 1000000 Skills: Flameball, Venomous Bite, Mingshe Storm Introduction: The Mingshe is a beast that has lived on this continent since ancient times. It is said to be a natural controller of the wind element, and it can rattle its tail to disrupt the movement of wind sprites, greatly increasing the attack power of its wind magic. Proficient with wind magic, a tamed Mingshe once became famous during the human wars. ¡­¡­ "God damn, a magic mob with over 10k Magic Attack¡­" A grimace crossed my face as I asked, "How much Magic Attack do you have, Lian Xin? Is it comparable to this snake¡¯s?" Lian Xin blushed. "Why do you need to know? Excessive comparison is bad, big bro¡­" "Just tell me already." "It¡¯s over 5.5k, but not 6k yet¡­" I was dumbfounded by what I heard. Lin Yixin also shot Lian Xin a look of surprise. "Your Magic Attack is over 5.5k?" "Yeah, why?" The Fruit Knife Goddess replied, "Our strongest mage, Shadow Chanel, only has a bit over 4.7k. I wasn¡¯t expecting your Magic Attack to exceed hers by this much¡­" Lian Xin: "..." I spoke up. "Alright, enough. It is as Lian Xin said, excessive comparison is bad. Anyway, Yiyi, let¡¯s charge that Mingshe together, shall we? Considering how high its Magic Attack is, it¡¯ll be bad if it landed a hit on Beiming Xue." "Mn." I locked onto Mingshe from afar and launched a Dragon Slaying Slash straight at its head. A huge damage number immediately rose above its head¡ª31827! It didn¡¯t matter how high its Magic Attack was, my attacks were always going to penetrate its Defense easily. My base Attack might be 5970, but with my equipment and skills, my effective Attack must be over 30000. There was no way a magic-type mob like the Mingshe could withstand it. "Hiss hiss¡­" Lin Yixin joined in as well, and the Mingshe lost almost 300k HP in 3 seconds. If the mob had a mind, it would be quaking in fear right now. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t possible to delete 1 million HP immediately, no matter how high our Attack was. The moment it broke free from its stun, the Mingshe¡¯s tail rattled harder before it spat a ball of flames at me. It was its skill, Flameball! Pa! The ball smacked against my Heaven-burning Armor and scorched my flesh, dealing over 17000 damage. The power of 10000 Magic Attack shocked even Murong Mingyue, "OMG! Did a mob just deal over ten thousand damage to our Little Heavenly King?" That wasn¡¯t all. The Mingshe lifted its head high, rattled its tail and cast a big spell¡ªMingshe Storm! Boom! I felt like my body was being ripped apart as a cyclone engulfed me and Lin Yixin. At the same time, a damage number rose above my and Lin Yixin¡¯s head¡ª 21973! 26828! I fared better than Lin Yixin because my equipment was better overall. Lin Yixin had the Devil Bell, but the rest of her equipment was only Earth-grade, and her equipment set was incomplete and incapable of withstanding the Mingshe¡¯s firepower. As a result, the Moonchaser Tiger let out a painful groan as it staggered backward. This Mingshe Storm was instantaneous and deadly! Chiang chiang chiang! Less than half a minute later, the Mingshe lay dead on the ground. We had Murong Mingyue to heal us, but the Mingshe didn¡¯t. "Continue!" I picked up the equipment dropped by the Mingshe¡ªSpirit-grade leather-armor wristguards that added 31 Tactics¡ªand said, "This Mingshe is too powerful to lure a group and AoE them down, so we¡¯ll have to kill them one by one. Any more than two and there¡¯s a real chance we might be wiped." "It¡¯s fine, big bro! We trust in your and Sister Lin Yixin¡¯s tough skin!" Beiming Xue said. Me: "..." We continued forward. It was easy to deduce where a Mingshe was just by looking for unnatural movement amid the bushes, and very soon, Lian Xin baited out another Mingshe with a Dragon¡¯s Roar. We managed to take out the mob at the cost of one Mingshe Storm. There was another pop, but this time the mob dropped a card instead of an equipment. Pleasant surprise filled me when I picked it up and saw its description¡ª Mingshe Card: Heart of Magic. Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 60%, and casting time is reduced by 25%. Duration: 120 minutes. Level Requirement: 170. ¡­¡­ I immediately tossed the card into Lian Xin¡¯s hands and said with a smile, "Use it, Lian Xin. Plus 60% Magic Attack! I¡¯ve never seen a stronger magic-based card!" However, Lian Xin blinked at the card once before asking in a small voice, "Big brother Lu Chen, can I save this for later? I¡­ I¡¯ll use it when we find another Mingshe card. I just can¡¯t bear to waste it on grinding unless I have more to spare¡­" "Sure, do whatever you like¡­" A giggling Murong Mingyue hugged Lian Xin¡¯s shoulders and said, "Hehe, our Little Xin is getting better and better at housekeeping, I see! You¡¯ve even learned how to stock up on ¡®food¡¯!" Lian Xin turned bright red. "Cut it out, Sister Mingyue¡­" We went back to grinding after that little intermission. As it turned out, the Mingshe had crazy Magic Attack, but its drop rate was equally crazy. It dropped something almost 100% of the time, and even at the worst, it dropped at least Phantasmal Magic Stones. When the seventh Mingshe dropped another Mingshe card, Lian Xin gladly used the card she had hoarded, boosting her Magic Attack and casting speed. For the next two hours to come, she would be practically unbeatable. When noon arrived, we set up tents and logged out of the game temporarily. The three girls and I went downstairs to eat some fast food while Lin Yixin ate the fast food she had asked Clear Perfume to pack for her. Thirty minutes of rest later, we returned to the game and continued our conquest of Bloody Shield Domain. ¡­¡­ After we passed through a couple of mountain ridges and killed all the mobs that happened to be in our way, we officially left the fringes of the map and got closer to the heart of Bloody Shield Domain. The NPCs were looking everywhere for the undead, but so far, the only undeads within the vicinity were still Beiming Xue and I. Of course, I was an Asura King, so I looked exactly like a human being. Beiming Xue was a pretty woman and a natural Asura from the very start of the game, so normal human NPCs couldn¡¯t see through her disguise. We could probably cook these NPCs for dinner, and they still wouldn¡¯t know that we were undead. As we continued, the bush in front of us shook unnaturally once more. It had to be another Mingshe! Rustle rustle¡­ However, all tension left our bodies when this particular Mingshe crawled into the open. It was because it was smaller than the Mingshes we had encountered so far, and the text above its head revealed its true colors¡ª Mingshe (Dread) Level: 1 ¡­¡­ It was Level 1, and as we all knew, a Level 1 mob was a capturable pet! Everyone¡¯s eyes widened in greed for a moment. None of us was expecting to run into a pet mob here of all places, let alone a magic-type pet that could unleash that devastating Mingshe Storm. It would be like carrying a mini mage around with you. "Er¡­ does anyone here have a Sealing Card?" Murong Mingyue asked. I nodded. "Yep. I have a full set of unused Sealing Cards, all 1000 of them¡­" Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin nodded as well. Murong Mingyue sighed. "It¡¯s too bad we all have our pets already, not to mention that the Mingshe isn¡¯t a boss pet. It just isn¡¯t worth releasing our current pets for it. It¡¯s such a shame though¡­" Lian Xin echoed in agreement. "Yeah, it¡¯s a shame¡­" However, I said, "Now, now, it¡¯s too early to give up just yet." "What?" Both girls faced toward me in unison. I looked at Lin Yixin and asked, "Yiyi, do you still have the Creature Holding Stones?" Lin Yixin pouted. "Bastard, I knew you would want to use my babies¡­" "What¡¯s a Creature Holding Stone?" Beiming Xue asked in puzzlement. I explained, "It¡¯s a tradeable item that you can use to temporarily seal a pet. You can also sell it to another player. Not bad, right? Knowing Yiyi, she must¡¯ve brought a lot of Creature Holding Stones with her, right Yiyi? Hehe." "Hmph hmph¡­" Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me before replying, "Yes, I¡¯ve prepared 100 Creature Holding Stones. We¡¯ll split it evenly, or 20 per person, I guess." "That¡¯s awesome! Hehe!" Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue immediately clapped their hands and praised Yiyi. Even Lian Xin looked a bit embarrassed as she accepted the 20 Creature Holding Stones from Lin Yixin. She nodded at the wanderer and said, "Thank you¡­" Lin Yixin didn¡¯t respond to the thanks. She simply said, "Well, let¡¯s get sealing. May the lucky one get the Mingshe as their pet!" ¡­¡­ And so the five of us tossed our Sealing Cards at the Mingshe at the same time. The cards spun in a circle above the Mingshe¡¯s head before turning into a powerful magical sealing formation. Surprisingly, the Mingshe was sealed immediately, and it flew into Beiming Xue¡¯s Creature Holding Stone! "Wah! I did it!" Beiming Xue exclaimed in pleasant surprise. I said, "Share its stats with us?" "Yeah." The beautiful dark archer waved her hand and showed us the Level 1 Mingshe¡¯s stats screen¡ª Mingshe (Dread Pet) Level: 1 Intelligence: 65 Defense: 58 HP: 45 Agility: 32 Growth¡ª¡ª Magic Attack: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Defense: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï HP: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Agility: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Skills: Flameball (Level 20), Venomous Bite (Level 50), Mingshe Storm (Level 100) Chapter 855: Secret Operation Murong Mingyue¡¯s mouth fell open. "What an amazing magic-type pet! 9 stars under Magic Attack and exactly 200 BN? Amazing!" Lin Yixin nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it¡¯s even stronger than my Purple Gold Rank Boss pet, the Ice Fox. Dread-rank pets are quite something¡­" Lian Xin said, "The only unfortunate thing about it is that its HP and Defense growth isn¡¯t quite up to par." I said, "Who cares? All a magic-type pet needs to do is to sit behind a shield and throw its spells to the front, and with a 9-star Magic Attack growth, Mingshe is perfect for this role. Tsk tsk, even I¡¯m tempted to get one for myself¡­" Beiming Xue giggled. "What are you saying, big bro? Your Phantom Wolf King is an Immortal Rank Boss pet. Don¡¯t you want your Claw of the Storm and Purgatory Storm anymore?" I shook my head. "That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong, Beiming. I want that and Magic Attack¡­" All the girls burst into giggles for a moment before Lian Xin asked, "So, what are you going to do with this Creature Holding Stone, Beiming?" Beiming Xue replied immediately, "I¡¯m giving it to Sister Chaos Moon. She has always wanted a pet with an AoE attack, but to this day she¡¯s been stuck fighting with a physical DPS pet, Yellow Praying Mantis¡­" "Yellow Praying Mantis¡­?" Lian Xin tried to recall what the pet was. I helped her. "You know, the amazing pet whose only role is to sit on the frontline and get sliced and diced into a million pieces by the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry¡­" Lian Xin giggled. "When you put it that way, yeah, Sister Chaos Moon can definitely use a Mingshe." "Alright, let¡¯s continue. Can¡¯t let these precious bags of experience go to waste, can we?" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ We grinded until 3 pm or so. Not only did we earn a lot of experience, we encountered another 5 Level 1 baby Mingshes in total! It was some unbelievable luck to say the least. Beiming Xue sealed two pets, and the rest of us, one each. We could distribute it to our guild members or sell it on the auction house; either way, it was going to be a very profitable trip. Of course, the plan was to distribute them to our players first and sell the leftovers later because Dark Moon City was a Rank 9 city and a huge source of income, meaning that most of us didn¡¯t lack money. Right now, besides forging our mage party as soon as possible, it was more important to create a legion of magical pets than to earn some more cash we didn¡¯t need right away. I could already imagine a black sea of Mingshes unleashing their Mingshe Storm upon our enemies during the Nation War. It would be glorious. "Tsk tsk, Mingshe, my baby Mingshes¡­" I couldn¡¯t stop grinning as I sealed my third Mingshe. "If I remember correctly, Gui Guzi, Yamete and Thirteen don¡¯t have a magic-type pet yet. I¡¯ll distribute these Mingshes to them after we¡¯re done with this quest. Hehehe, this is so nice~~" Lin Yixin was also wearing a beautiful smile on her face as she said, "Yeah, magic-type pets are very useful in almost any situation, and unlike a player, they can be resummoned if they die during a Nation War. In that sense, they¡¯re even more useful than a high-level mage, so the more of these we seal, the better. This Bloody Shield Domain is seriously awesome~" Murong Mingyue looked very pleased as well. "Yeah, the equipment in my bag is really starting to grow too. Let¡¯s keep this up, people¡­" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment we reached the peak of a bloody mountain. Beiming Xue climbed up an elevated position, scouted for a bit before pointing toward the distance. "Big bro, look over there. Is it just me, or is that our destination?" "Oh¡­" We looked at the direction she was pointing, and sure enough, we spotted the ruins of a huge city hidden behind a cloak of darkness far, far away. It looked like it was coated in blood, and we could hear faint ghastly wails from it from time to time. It had to be our destination, the legendary main city of the Dharan Empire, and it was where one of the Nine Sovereigns of the Purgatory, Ovia the Bloody Finger, was waiting for us. It was already an honor to meet one of the nine main bosses of the entire game, but to kill it as well? My blood immediately boiled with indescribable fear and excitement when the thought crossed my mind. This would be one of the greatest quests I had ever embarked on, and if we really did manage to kill Ovia, he would have to yield us at least a Divine-grade item, right? Right?! You¡¯d better, Ovia! ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, we still had a long, long, long way to go before we could reach the city of Dharan. I spotted countless undead-infested forests and undead camps that we would have to pass through before we reached it. This journey was destined to overflow with copious amounts of blood, murder, equipment, experience and Reputation! To our left stood a bloody forest filled with Mingshe mobs and most likely Level 1 baby Mingshes. We wouldn¡¯t have the time to scour the entire map though. It was the same thing with the bloody forest to our right. Dammit, I hate being forced to choose between temptation and even bigger temptation! "What do we do? Are we really going to give up on all these baby Mingshes?" Lin Yixin looked just as conflicted as I was. I said, "You know what, we¡¯re overthinking this. I¡¯m going to ask Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and the others to bring our elites over and sweep through this location. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be able to seal a ton of Level 1 baby Mingshes. Our dream of a magic-type pet legion begins now!" It was at this moment Lin Yixin looked at me with dazzling eyes. "About that, Little Cheat?" "Yeah¡­?" "I don¡¯t ask for much. I just want to capture 500 baby Mingshes for Snowy Cathaya. If you¡¯re fine with this, I¡¯ll contact Purple Marquis right away and tell him to sweep this place with 500 Purple Dragon Cavalrymen. They¡¯re the core of Snowy Cathaya, and I promise you that they¡¯ll never reveal this location. What do you think?" I pondered for a moment. The forest was huge, and the mobs were tightly packed. If my calculations were correct, there had to be around 10000 baby Mingshes in this forest at least. Snowy Catahya was our ally, and Lin Yixin¡¯s contributions were essential during the fight for the nine Tiger Soul Essences. In the end, I decided that I had no reason to turn her down, so I nodded. "No problem. This has to be kept a secret though. We¡¯ll be in deep shit if Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance catch wind of this." "Yes, I know. I¡¯ll contact them now then!" "Okay!" I contacted Gui Guzi myself and explained to him our circumstances. He replied with incredible excitement, "Don¡¯t worry, Boss Broken Halberd! I¡¯ll choose only those we can trust absolutely, not that that is a difficult task at all. There are at least 40k trustworthy elites that we can mobilize from the main guild right away¡­" "Alright. Remember, this is a secret operation. No one can hear about this, understand?" "No problem!" He Yi had increased our main guild¡¯s rank to Rank 8, so it could now accommodate a maximum of 100k players. Although we hadn¡¯t filled up all the slots, we still had over 80k elite players. The 40000 players chosen to come to Bloody Shield Domain could capture the baby Mingshes and grind their levels at the same time, effectively killing two birds with one stone. ¡­¡­ After I was done giving out instructions, I told Gui Guzi the coordinates of the forests where the baby Mingshes were spotted, and the entrance to this particular area. Bloody Shield Domain wouldn¡¯t show up on the world map of a player who didn¡¯t have our quest, but with the correct coordinates, they could simply cut right across the mountain ranges and enter these forests. We went back to grinding. Our 5-man party walked down the hill and entered a foggy, bloody valley. A while later, and we finally spotted our first Night Creature camp. The canyon was littered with smelly undead graves and crawling with skeleton warriors, liches, undead magi and other powerful mobs. "Should we fight them?" Lin Yixin asked. I shook my head immediately. "Of course not. How long will this quest take if we fight every undead camp that we encounter along the way? It¡¯s not like there are Level 1 mobs to be caught there. Let¡¯s just circle around this graveyard and continue toward Dharan City ruins. Remember, our final objective is Ovia the Bloody Finger. We should avoid engaging any cluster unless we run into a camp we can¡¯t circumvent." "Yeah. Let¡¯s go!" And so, we stuck to the sides and circled around the undead territory carefully. On the way, I saw a group of Corpse Eaters feeding on dead boars that were clearly afflicted with the plague. No humans lived in this place as a matter of course, so the Corpse Eaters could only wet their appetite by feeding on low-level animals. It was actually a pretty sad life if you looked at it from their point of view. ¡­¡­ Some time later, Lin Yixin suddenly reined in her Moonchaser Tiger and said, "Mm! I don¡¯t think we can circle around this camp¡­" I looked up. As she said, there was a bloody fortress made of bones and a wall so long it reminded me of the Great Wall of China blocking the only path between the mountain ranges. If we wished to continue further, we would have to pass through the bloody fortress. Scaling the tall, bony walls seemed unrealistic, and none of us had a flying mount. The entrance to the fortress was shaped from the skull of a gigantic creature. It had a humanoid shape, but it definitely wasn¡¯t human. Its gaping mouth was also the gate. Its eyes looked like caves shining with a faint light, and I spotted a couple of undead archers clad in black armor standing guard inside. "How are we getting in, big brother?" Lian Xin asked me. I answered without thinking, "Via brute force, of course!" Lin Yixin chuckled. "I like brute force!" We didn¡¯t wait to consider our options. As usual, I acted as the point of the party and walked at the front. There were four Undead Axe Fighters on the ground and two archers in the "windows¡±. The moment the battle began, we would be facing five Level 200 dread-rank mobs at once. To be honest, it was a bit of a dicey situation. After all, you could bet that a Level 200 dread-rank mob would be way more powerful than a Level 190 one. "Be careful, everyone. Once I aggro the mobs, I want Lian Xin to split the enemy¡¯s formation in half with Gravity Trap. We¡¯ll take out the 4 axe fighters first before we move onto the archers. Sis, make sure you heal everyone!" "I know. Get in already!" I ran forward and used the God Binding Art, shackling one axe fighter immediately. Then, I ran back to my party while the other three Undead Axe Fighters roared and gave chase. During this time, Beiming Xue fired a Shock Arrow and stunned one of the archers. When the other archer tried to approach us, Lian Xin surprised us all with an amazing execution of skills. First, she knocked the archer back with a bunch of Origin Force Fields. Then, she cast 7 force fields in rapid succession and trapped both archers in the middle! "Well done!" Even Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t help but praise Lian Xin¡¯s skills. It was way easier having to deal with just the three Level 200 Undead Axe Fighters. A Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo and many AoE skills from Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin later, the three mobs were slain in less than a minute. After that, I took out the two archers first while shackling the last Undead Axe Fighter repeatedly with God Binding Art. At the end of the battle, it died and dropped a card with an axe image on it. It stated: "Axe Fighter Card: Increases user¡¯s physical attack power by 50%, and attack speed by 20%. Duration: 120 minutes. Level Requirement: 170." Chapter 856: The Path of Profi I tossed the card into the air, and it enveloped me in a cone of red light. This Axe Fighter Card increased one¡¯s physical attack power by 50% and attack speed by 20%, so it was perfect for a melee fighter¡ªespecially one who had been dropping all his stat points into Strength like me. We had taken out six Level 200 dread-rank mobs and breached the entrance in less than two minutes. As I stared at the bodies on the ground, I couldn¡¯t help but admire our party¡¯s strength. Our explosive power was positively insane, and I doubted that there was another party like us in the entire world. The reason I said this was because everyone here had the ability to rank high on the CGL Hall of Fame, establish our own guilds and create our own base of power. The only reason we were all together in one place today was because of He Yi. ¡­¡­ "I¡¯m going to open the door. Keep your eyes open, everyone. We don¡¯t know what else is inside the passage," I warned in a cautious tone. All the girls nodded in unison and said, "Yeah." I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and slowly approached the gate. I gave the heavy and rusted iron gate a push, but all I heard was the sound of twisting springs. The gate itself didn¡¯t budge in the slightest. Talk about a lack of Strength! Pa! This time, I put both hands on the iron door, growled and pushed with all my might, but it was futile. Left with no choice, I activated Great Earth Transformation¡ªthree cyan dragons instantly burst out of the ground, turned into guardian blades and surrounded me¡ªand tried again! Creak... Finally, the gate gave in and slowly opened. However, before I could do anything else, a fiery red sword suddenly appeared from the gap and hit my Heaven-burning Armor with a high-pitched noise. A 7000+ damage number rose above my head. Whoever did this to me must have an impressive Attack! That being said, it wasn¡¯t like I was completely helpless. The Heaven-burning Armor chose this moment to come alive and engulf my attacker in a blast of flames, forcing them to fall back while groaning in pain. The flames of the Heaven-burning Armor were no joke for sure. "Who¡¯s over there?!" Lin Yixin slammed into the gate and widened the gap further before thrusting her sword at the attacker, the Barrier Break forcing them to fall back another couple more steps. I hurriedly opened the gate fully while no one was attacking me. As expected, the passage was crawling with Night Creature guards, and they were all Level 200 melee fighters. Their classes were pretty diverse¡ªI spotted swordsmen, spearmen, axe fighters and more¡ªbut they all shared the same name, "Bloody Fortress Defender¡±. "Get inside!" Our actions aggroed all the Bloody Fortress Defenders in the area, so they rushed us while swinging their weapons and shouting, "I will devour your flesh, damned intruders! Fight to the death, my fellow Night Creatures! For the glory of Ovia the Bloody Finger!" If we weren¡¯t sure before, we now knew this fortress was definitely a part of the Bloody Finger¡¯s domain. Hmph hmph, it looked like the fourth strongest Purgatory Sovereign was assembling an army in Bloody Shield Domain, and once he was ready he would command it to attack Sangharama City. This was probably one of the Night Creatures¡¯ major strategies too. They were hoping to take control of the border cities first, eating away at the Silver Moon Alliance¡¯s strength from the outside bit by bit until they took out both the NPCs and the players! All one hundred Level 200 dread-rank mobs rushed toward us, but the action only amused us instead of striking terror into our hearts. It was because we had blocked off the passage with 4 high HP, high Defense units while our backliners rained hell upon the mobs, making it just like any other choke point battle. These Level 200 dread-rank mobs were very powerful, but their experience yield and item drop rate were equally handsome. No one here could resist the temptation. "Lu Chen, Beauty Lin!" Murong Mingyue said from behind, "The Bloody Fortress Defenders have high attack speed, so I may not be able to heal all of you in time! If your HP falls to 15% or so then please use Guard and protect yourselves! The path is blocked anyway, so OT is not a concern!" "We know!" Lin Yixin and I responded while using our AoE skills at almost the same time. Our Burning Blade Slash and Ice Flame Slash already dealt over 40k damage to the mobs per hit, but the splash damage boosted our overall damage output even further. One cast was all it took to delete over 100k HP from their health bars! Behind us, Beiming Xue was doing a considerable amount of damage as well with her Evil Spirit Volley, although her DPS was no match for Lian Xin¡¯s AoE magic. Dimensional Storm was almost big enough to cover the entire battlefield, and since the defenders were heavy-armor type, they took extra damage from magic attacks. Screams of pain filled the air as Lian Xin easily climbed to the top of the DPS chart. Chiang chiang chiang... Both Lin Yixin and I lost HP rapidly as the fearless Bloody Fortress Defenders swung their weapons at Lin Yixin and me again and again. That being said, Murong Mingyue was able to keep both our HPs above 75% for now. The Phantom Wolf King was doing splendidly as well. Every time it swiped at the enemy, there was a high chance it would trigger Claw of the Storm and annihilate huge chunks of HP from the mobs¡¯ health bars. In fact, its DPS outshone all the pets present including the Ice Dragon Kris. Dragon Breath was a powerful skill, but it had a 4-second cooldown. The Phantom Wolf King on the other hand attacked 2 to 3 times per second and triggered Claw of the Storm once every 2 seconds on average, so his DPS could only be higher. Lian Xin couldn¡¯t help but look at the Phantom Wolf King and comment, "Big brother Lu Chen, how did you come by this pet? It¡¯s way stronger than my Stone Giant King!" I shot her Stone Giant King a glance. The pet was a powerful, all-rounder unit that could tank hits up close and toss stones at faraway enemies, but its attack speed was terribly slow, attacking only once per 2 seconds. While it was slightly stronger than the Mingshe, the difference was fairly negligible. I explained to Lian Xin, "This wolf started as a slightly weaker pet from the wolf archetype, but it evolved into the Phantom Wolf King during a quest. Considering how I came by it, it¡¯s probably one of a kind." Lian Xin giggled. "I see. Well, if you find another offensive agility-type pet like this, remember to reserve it for me. I prefer pets like this!" "Sure!" We picked up a couple more Axe Fighter Cards as we slowly pushed forward, so Lin Yixin used one and buffed her own Attack and attack speed. As a Famous General Skill that boosted all stats by 80%, Bombshell was undoubtedly some of the best stratagems out there. However, all good things came with a trade-off, and in Bombshell¡¯s case, its cap wasn¡¯t as high as, say, Martial God¡¯s 200% Attack increase. The Axe Fighter Card helped offset that flaw slightly though. Speaking of which, there was an astonishing amount of mobs in the passage. Every time we killed the group of mobs in front of us, another group would replace them. Before we knew it, we had taken out almost a thousand Bloody Fortress Defenders already. Since everyone in the party had a healthy amount of Luck, the ground was positively swarming with equipment and magic stones! I paid attention to both the ground and the mob in front of me, and once in a while, I would scoop up a valuable item or two. For example, I just got a 4-star Outstanding Spirit-grade longbow with a max Attack of 1220, a passive that added 35% ranged attack power, and 40 Tactics. It was the kind of loot that would immediately sell for 3000 RMB at least at the eastern plaza of Sky City. The number of high-level archers were growing each day, and there was never enough supply of good weapons to meet the demand. Heavenblessed¡¯s drop rates for wristguards, helmets, armor, boots and legguards were low, the drop rates for necklaces and rings were lower, and the drop rate of weapons was the worst of them all. That was why every Heavenblessed player dreamed of getting a high-level, top-tier weapon at least once in their gaming life. For example, Li Chengfeng had been giggling to himself like an idiot for days after he obtained the Augustus¡¯ Spear. Almost all of his equipment was now Heaven-grade, but for some reason he just couldn¡¯t grind a Heaven-grade weapon until that day. Good skill didn¡¯t translate to good karma, so sometimes you just had to suck it up and deal with it somehow. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Some time during the grind, both Lin Yixin and Lian Xin leveled up once. Ten minutes later, I leveled up to 171 as well. The Bloody Fortress Defenders simply gave too much experience, and these days, leveling up via grinding non-bosses was a serious chore! Speaking of which, the number one player on Sky City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking was Lian Xing. High level was synonymous with high resistances, and the difference was obvious even when the gap was only 3 to 5 levels. For example, the chances of a knight successfully stunning a mage with Charge would be greatly decreased. That was why there was a saying that level was equal to life in the game. "This is some insane amount of profit¡­" Beiming Xue said with a blissful expression on her face. Lian Xin nodded repeatedly. "Mn mn! I¡¯ve never grinded such a profitable map at Seven Star City! It¡¯s so nice to be with you all!" Lin Yixin looked ahead and said, "Too bad it¡¯s almost over then. Look, the mobs are almost all dead, and the barracks aren¡¯t pumping out Bloody Fortress Defenders anymore. I think we wiped out an entire division worth of mobs during these two hours¡­" Beiming Xue chuckled. "Well, this isn¡¯t our final destination. When we reach the Dharan City ruins where the fourth Purgatory Sovereign, Ovia the Bloody Finger, is waiting, I¡¯m sure the stuff we got here will seem like nothing at all. Let¡¯s keep up this pace, everyone!" I said cheerfully, "Yep, Beiming Xue is completely correct. Anyway, let¡¯s grab the loot and continue forward already. Once we pass through this fortress, we¡¯ll reach another canyon. A couple more hills after that and we should reach the Dharan City ruins. Hehe, I bet that bastard Bloody Finger is itching for us to show up!" Lin Yixin tried to tease me. "You mean he¡¯s waiting to kill us all, right?" "Whatever. One way or another, it would be an honor to die in the hands of the fourth boss of the whole game!" "...¡± Chapter 857: God’s Gaze We also picked up all the cards. Lin Yixin and I collected almost 50 Axe Fighter Cards in total, a sum that could sustain both of us for a very long time. Not everyone could find a card that buffed their Attack by 50% and their attack speed by 20%, which was almost as good as the buffs of a high-level bard. "Let¡¯s go. I think the light ahead of us is probably the exit. Once we put this fortress behind us, we¡¯ll be one step closer to the Dharan City ruins," I said while checking my weapon for a bit. The Cyan Netherworld Sword still had 72% durability, but it was something I would have to keep an eye on. Usually, the stronger a mob, the more durability it cost to kill it. To make a comparison, I could spend an entire month killing the goblins at the newbie village and probably not lose even 10% durability. Meanwhile, Lian Xin was complaining while organizing her bag, "Oh no, my 240-slot bag isn¡¯t enough to fit everything, but there are still so many Gold-grade items to grab! Do I have to toss away this +17 Tactics Gold-grade wristguard? Maybe I can dump a set of Magic Consumables for it¡­" I pulled her up to her feet and chided her. "Dump my ass, a manaless mage is a useless mage. Also, there¡¯s no need to act like this over a shabby wristguard." Lian Xin retorted, "It¡¯s called ¡®every penny counts¡¯, okay? Boss used to drill it into our heads like a mantra¡­" Murong Mingyue commented in a robotic tone, "What a good girl you are. You should just get married already." It was at this moment Lin Yin said from the front, "Marriage can wait until later. Now come here, you three. I think I see a jackpot¡­" ¡°What do you mean, Sister Lin Yixin?" Beiming Xue asked. I spurred my mount forward and stopped next to Lin Yixin. It was then I saw a pair of red lights hanging in the darkness not far away from us. "Why is there a pair of lanterns in this place?" Murong Mingyue said while caressing her amazing tiddies, "Is it a welcoming party?" Beiming Xue shook her head before saying warily, "That¡¯s not a lantern, Sister Mingyue! It¡¯s a pair of eyes!" "Watch out! It¡¯s an Immortal Rank boss!" I walked forward warily while gazing at the boss with Dark Pupils active. Very soon, I shared its stats screen inside the party channel¡ª Froststone the Licker (Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 200 Attack: 11200~13400 Defense: 14000 HP: 40,000,000 Skills: Stone Skin, God¡¯s Gaze, Bloody Devour, Hellish Rockfall Introduction: The Licker was a Mountainous Giant Lizard who lived during the ancient times until an apocalypse froze it and the mountain ranges it resided in in ice. Tens of thousands of years later, a transformation took over the Licker, and it finally obtained the blessing of the gods, gaining a godly gaze and the ability to manipulate the earth. Hundreds of years ago, the Licker was tamed by Ovia the Bloody Finger and turned into the guardian beast of the Bloody Fortress. It is a violent creature who loves to devour human beings, and up until this point, tens of thousands or people have perished between its jaws. ¡­¡­ "Heavens, it¡¯s a Level 200 Immortal Rank boss¡­" My sword hand was actually shaking a bit with nervousness and excitement. "This thing¡¯s even higher level than the Yin Yang Tiger! It looks like this¡¯ll be a tough fight, everyone, hahaha! First things first, watch out for its skill! Beiming Xue, use Bone Eroding Arrow to reduce its Defense, or neither Yiyi nor I might be able to penetrate its 14k Defense! Our main damage dealer will be Lian Xin this time, so pay attention to your DPS and don¡¯t OT, Lian Xin!" The girls nodded in unison and said, "Got it!" "Sis, gimme Restore. I¡¯m going in!" I rushed in, but didn¡¯t go too close to the boss because it had a devouring skill. Let¡¯s just say that it wasn¡¯t my style to be devoured right at the beginning of the fight... First, I fired a Dragon Slaying Slash. The energy splashed across the boss''s head, and... Bang! 2781! My jaws nearly dropped when I saw the damage. Holy mother of God, if even I could only deal less than 3k damage to it with my Attack, just what was its effective Defense? This is insane! "Roar roar roar¡­" Offended by the attack, the Licker struggled to its feet, broke its restraints and ran straight toward us. The chains wrapped around its neck was as thick as a human arm, but it was nothing to a monster this size. I hurriedly dropped a couple of Icy Cyclone Domains as I retreated to slow it. Swhoosh! Lian Xin also dropped her Gravity Trap, but even our combined effort failed to slow it by much. Even Beiming Xue¡¯s attempts to control it with Shock Arrows and other CC skills failed miserably. Its level was simply too high for us to suppress. We didn¡¯t panic though. It was common sense that bosses had an incredible amount of resistances, causing most players¡¯ CC effects to be reduced by 70% or more. An enraged Phantom Wolf King also swiped at the boss again and again, but it only managed to deal around 3k damage per hit. The Licker had a passive skill called Stone Skin, and I reckoned that it increased its base Defense by 100%. If I factored in its hidden stats as well, then that was probably another 100%. 14k Defense times three equals a whopping 42k Defense and an absolute monster of a tank. There was no way us needles could pierce a steel wall. "Beiming Xue!" I shouted, "The Boss¡¯ weak point is the spot 5 cm below its eyes! You cannot miss this Bone Eroding Arrow, or we¡¯re all going to die here!" Beiming Xue immediately drew her bow and loosed a steel arrow enveloped in purple ripples of energy. It hit the Licker¡¯s weak point perfectly and lowered its Defense by 40%. Again, the skill effect was reduced because the boss was a boss, but it was just enough for us to penetrate its Defense. I turned 180 degrees around and charged the boss! Swhoosh! The Armored Ice Qilin Horse slammed its horn right into the boss''s head. Although the skill failed to stun the Licker, that didn¡¯t stop me from dishing out Burning Blade Slash¡ª 17288! 24582! 31200! It wasn¡¯t a bad result. Not only did my skill manage to penetrate its Defense, the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade triggered at the perfect moment and stunned the boss for 7 precious seconds. It was just the time we needed to reorganize our formation. Lin Yixin and her ice dragon rushed forward and attacked the boss. The Phantom Wolf King, the Thunder Beast and the Stone Giant also launched their attacks. Even Murong Mingyue had summoned her Ironwing Dragon and dropped it right on top of the Licker¡¯s back. The dragon tried to take a chomp out of the boss''s stone-hard skin, but it nearly broke its own teeth instead! "Roar roar¡­" After the Licker regained its freedom, it abruptly swung its tail like an iron whip and sent the Thunder Beast and the Stone Giant King into the wall behind them. They lost a huge chunk of HP, but thankfully, the blow didn¡¯t kill them outright. Then, the Licker opened its bloody mouth and used its devouring ability! Gulp! The Phantom Wolf King failed to dodge in time and was swallowed in one gulp. At the same time, the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s icon appeared beneath the boss''s UI. Beauty Lin said with a deathly pale face, "Little Cheat, look, there¡¯s two more slots in the devour bar. It means that it can devour another two units. You absolutely must be careful¡­" I was just as nervous as her. "I got it. You should be careful as well!" I activated Great Earth Transformation and used Universe Break. Once a bagua formation appeared beneath the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s hooves, and an indigo energy burst out of the blade of the Cyan Netherworld Sword, I stabbed the boss at its weak point again and used Burning Blade Slash! Bang bang bang bang! Four explosions cascaded in rapid succession, and the damage I dealt looked much better than before! 51092! 29388! 35727! 41282! The flurry of attacks seized over 80% of the aggro instantly. Growling, the giant lizard abruptly turned toward me and opened its giant mouth once more. I could even see the green, poisonous bubbles inside its mouth! "Watch out, big bro!" Beiming Xue shouted. I felt like I was about to suffocate. Tensed and fully concentrated, I abruptly moved to the side when the boss''s teeth were just 50 cm away from my head. Now was the moment of truth to learn if the skill could be dodged or not! Bang! The boss''s head slapped into the floor and caused a shower of rock and debris. At the same time, a gigantic MISS appeared before everyone¡¯s eyes. Lin Yixin exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "Beautifully done, Little Cheat!" While the boss was pulling itself out, I moved to its sides and hit it with another cycle of skills. The probe had been a resounding success. I had found out that Bloody Devour was a dodgeable skill, and as long as the timing was right¡ªnot too soon, but not too late either¡ªit was entirely possible to dodge the attack. Devouring skills usually had a good amount of delay slapped onto them due to how cheat-like they were. If a player couldn¡¯t exploit this level of opening, then they were better off not engaging a boss like this. Brute-force assaults might suit the likes of Mad Dragon and Hegemon Palace, but it was definitely not for us. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the boss raised its head and stared at our beautiful wanderer with its bloody eyes. I could see a pair of demonic flames dancing inside it. For some reason, Lin Yixin simply stood where she was and didn¡¯t react. A bolt of shock flashed across my mind as I shouted, "Yiyi, don¡¯t look at its eyes! Shit!" Swhoosh! It was too late. A golden light hit her squarely, and her entire body started turning into stone. It wasn¡¯t long before her legs, waist, armor, breasts and finally her face were completely covered in a layer of stone! Chapter 858: Dumb Girl Ain’t Dumb Combat Log: Froststone the Licker used "God¡¯s Gaze", petrifying player "Wind Fantasy¡±. Their Defense is increased by 200%, and they cannot act for 10 minutes! ¡­¡­ "Fuck me, the petrification lasts ten minutes?" My eyes widened. The party¡¯s frontline was basically halved without Lin Yixin, not to mention that her firepower was critical to the fight. How were we going to hold back this super Immortal Rank boss for ten minutes? We would be dead by the time she recovers! Bang! The Licker raised its claws and left a deep mark on my Heaven-burning Armor. It felt like I was being torn in half by the attack. 75417! The huge damage number definitely reflected the burning sensation I was feeling. "The boss is about to OT. What should we do?" Lian Xin asked as she attacked the boss with an Ice Spiral Matrix. The problem right now was that her Magic Attack was too strong, and she was drawing away most of the aggro. Not even I could hold the boss''s aggro away from her by myself, and once an OT happened, the fight would be over. "Please wake up, Sister Lin Yixin!" Beiming Xue shouted while pedaling backward and shooting arrows at the boss. Lin Yixin¡¯s blurry voice came inside the party channel, "I want to wake up too, but my body isn¡¯t responding¡­ s-sister Mingyue, take the party leader position from me and use Bright Mirror! Quickly, or we¡¯re all going to die¡­" The realization passed through our minds like a lightning bolt. That¡¯s right, Murong Mingyue¡¯s Bright Mirror is a super stratagem that removes all negative effects from herself and her party! As expected of the Fruit Knife Goddess, she managed to keep a cool mind even in a dire situation like this! The transfer was completed in an instant. When Murong Mingyue stomped the ground and caused a spread of blue ripple beneath her feet, the stony exterior covering Lin Yixin¡¯s body came off instantly. The beautiful and sexy wanderer immediately ran toward the boss again while shouting, "Pass the party leader to Lian Xin now! I won¡¯t be able to use Bombshell for the next ten minutes, but she can! I¡¯m sure she stole my Famous General Skill already!" Lian Xin exclaimed in surprise, "Huh, the dumb girl ain¡¯t dumb after all¡­" Lin Yixin immediately shot her a glare. "You¡¯re the dumb girl!" "Hehe¡­" Lin Yixin was correct. Lian Xin had used Big Dipper to copy her Bombshell in secret, and she could use it until she logged out of the game. Bombshell came active just in time to help me survive a double hit from the boss! "Lu Chen only has 10% HP left! I can¡¯t heal him in time!" Murong Mingyue shouted. I raised my arm and used Tenacity of the Dead, healing myself for 60k HP instantly. At the same time, I backpedaled and used Burning Blade Slash in hopes of controlling the boss''s movements. ¡­¡­ We finally stabilized, but just barely. Ever since Lian Xin¡¯s return, our success rate against high-level bosses increased exponentially. The Origin Force Field¡¯s ability to control the enemy alone was unrivaled compared to other CC skills. Chiang chiang chiang... Energy blades erupted across the boss''s head. After Lin Yixin retook her party leader position, we started using Intercourse to burst down the boss''s HP as quickly as possible. Barrier Break + Universe Break, Burning Blade Slash + Ice Flame Slash. As time passed, we grew more and more in sync with each other, and our success rate eventually crossed the 60% mark. As a result, the boss fight was significantly accelerated, and the lizard dropped below 20% HP in less than 20 minutes! Lin Yixin and my Intercourse was simply too powerful, and the boss''s Stone Skin protective skill failed to slow us down too much thanks to Beiming Xue¡¯s Bone Eroding Arrow. Lian Xin was also doing an insane amount of damage with her Ice Spiral Matrices and Dimensional Storms because magic attacks dealt extra damage to heavy-armored mobs, just like they did against metal-armor classes. We could practically feel the boss''s pain even though we were the ones doling out the punishment. Even so, it looked like it would take almost half an hour to kill the boss. It was a testament to its strength, or rather its Stone Skin and high HP regeneration. A slightly weaker boss would probably have died in less than ten minutes. Thud thud thud... The boss tried to use Bloody Devour on Lin Yixin, but the backpedaling Lin Yixin did a perfect U-turn and forced it to MISS perfectly. This was the 19th time the boss had tried to use its devouring skill, but every time Lin Yixin and I were able to spot it ahead of time and dodged it. If the boss had a mind, it would probably be screaming on the inside right now. There was nothing it could do against our party at all. Not far away, Lian Xin murmured as she stared at Lin Yixin¡¯s back, "Wow, that dumb girl has some surprisingly good moves¡­" Beiming Xue giggled. "But of course! Sister Lin Yixin is ranked third in the champion arena, and her individual skill is only second to big bro. You know, she¡¯s really a good person, and she loves both big bro and us¡­" "Well, I don¡¯t love her." Lian Xin pouted and declared stubbornly, "Boss He Yi is the only person I love, so I won¡¯t allow anyone else to love big brother Lu Chen besides her!" Murong Mingyue shook her head with a smile. "Stubborn little girl. Well, there¡¯s all the time in the world to change your mind. By the way, I think you¡¯re mistaken about something. Lu Chen already loves Eve, he just loves Beauty Lin just as much¡­" It was at this moment Lin Yixin looked back at them and said, "Can you lot like, keep your voices down? I can literally hear every word you¡¯re saying¡­" Beiming Xue burst into a giggle. Even Lian Xin couldn¡¯t help but chuckle a bit. "It¡¯s not our fault your hearing¡¯s too good, dumb girl! Also, why are you looking away from the boss? That¡¯s how you d¡ªah!" Lian Xin let out a surprised cry all of a sudden before warning, "Watch out! The boss is going to go boom!" ¡­¡­ "Roar roar¡­" The giant lizard abruptly looked up and let out a shrill cry. At the same time, a hexagram appeared beneath its feet, and brownish yellow energy started circulating around its body. The boss was using a big AoE skill, just as Lian Xin feared¡ª Combat Log: Froststone the Licker uses the forbidden spell, "Hellish Rockfall"! God damn, there wasn¡¯t even a casting time! Rumbling noises started above our heads, and our surroundings turned bright red in the blink of an eye. The next moment, burning meteors started falling from the sky and exploding against the fortress. The fortification didn¡¯t last more than a couple of seconds, and soon, one of the fiery meteors was falling straight toward us. Bang! I punched the boss in the head with Magic Piercing Punch, but it didn¡¯t work. God dammit. Every time the Magic Piercing Punch meets an Immortal Rank boss, it immediately becomes useless. Beiming Xue also used Well of the Abyss, but it also failed to CC the boss or interrupt the skill at all! "Shit! Dodge and pray you don¡¯t get hit!" I shouted. I kept hitting the boss though. Unlike the others, I had Resurrection Art, so I saw no point in retreating when I could be killing the boss faster. And it was the right choice. Lady Luck seemed to be watching over us today because my Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade triggered right after Beiming Xue lost over half her HP, and Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin were almost one-shot. The purple energy stunned the Licker and interrupted its forbidden spell! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Heart racing, Murong Mingyue cast her heals as she exclaimed in surprise, "OMG, is this Hellish Rockfall a map-wide skill? I¡¯m pretty sure I saw meteors falling in a distant valley too." "More or less¡­" Lin Yixin replied as she swung her blade, "Let¡¯s go all out. Ultimates like this usually have a long cooldown of around 10 minutes, so we¡¯d better kill the boss before it gets to use it again. It¡¯s foolish to think that Little Cheat will be lucky enough to trigger Broken Blade property when that happens." "Yeah. By the way, this is an Immortal Rank boss, right? That means it might drop Immortal-grade equipment, right?" Lian Xin asked, "So, who has the highest Luck in this party? I have 29 Luck." Lin Yixin answered, "Mine¡¯s 37." Beiming Xue answered, "I only have 27." Murong Mingyue sighed. "Must I tell you? Fine, I only have 11 Luck¡­" The girls then faced toward me in unison. "What about you, Lu Chen?" I shot them a glance before replying, "I have 54 Luck¡­" "You¡¯re crazy!" Lin Yixin whined. Lian Xin laughed. "Well, that¡¯s good. We¡¯re leaving the last hit to big brother Lu Chen then. Don¡¯t mind the experience; the chances that a 54 Luck player would drop Immortal-grade equipment, or even Divine-grade equipment, from an Immortal Rank boss are much higher than for the rest of us!" The girls all nodded in unison. "Mn. Lu Chen will score the last hit on the boss!" The arrangement was beneficial to both me and the party, so there was no reason for me to turn it down as a matter of course. At this stage of the game, no one on the Heavenly Ranking really had a significant level advantage over the other, so what really was the deciding factor in battles was one¡¯s equipment¡¯s strength. ¡­¡­ The Licker¡¯s HP kept dropping to our party¡¯s super firepower. Less than 10 minutes later, it was at death¡¯s door with only 2% HP left. Thud thud thud¡­ I ran to the back and healed my HP and MP to full. Then, I yelled, "Yiyi, use Extreme Break and break the boss''s Defense! I¡¯m going to Purple Dragon Howl this gluttonous bastard to death!" Lin Yixin giggled. "As you wish!" Swhoosh! A silver light flashed before my eyes, and the Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯ dagger became lodged in the boss''s eyes. For the next 15 seconds, the boss''s Defense would be drastically reduced. "Roar!" A purple dragon cycled around the blade as I raised the Cyan Netherworld Sword. I launched the swirling energy at the Licker, and it engulfed the boss and dealt an incredible amount of damage¡ª 142873! 136372! 141299! ¡­¡­ Finally, the boss let out its last scream and collapsed to the ground. At the same time, a column of golden light enveloped me and increased my level to 172. I was finally back to the Top 5 of Sky City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking. At the same time, a shower of loot exploded out of the Licker¡¯s gigantic body. Chapter 859: Mark of the Divine Arm Lin Yixin shot me a sweet smile and said, "Well, what are you waiting for? If you find metal-armor equipment, we¡¯ll roll and decide who it goes to, okay Little Cheat?" "Okay!" I leisurely strolled my way toward the loot. I wasn¡¯t worried that someone might pop out of nowhere and steal our equipment because I had Dark Pupils turned on. Only an assassin at Farewell Song or Moonkiss¡¯s level had a chance of remaining obscured under my skill. Thud! I kicked the Licker¡¯s head to the side and found four glowing pieces of equipment sitting atop some debris. There were also some odd-colored stones and a book. I sat down on top of the boss''s head and scattered the equipment so that everyone could see it. Then, I said, "Come over and take a look!" "Mn." Lin Yixin dismounted and sat down next to me with Murong Mingyue, while Beiming Xue stood next to Lian Xin. All four girls were looking at me with anticipation and waiting for me to distribute the loot. The boss had dropped four pieces of equipment in total. They were an orange leather chest armor¡ªthe color of the light marked it as high-grade equipment¡ªa pair of leather boots, a ring and a glowing sword. I checked out the leather chest armor first. I waved my hand across the equipment, and its stats screen appeared as a hologram to everyone. Beiming Xue couldn¡¯t stop smiling when she read it¡ª Windchaser Chest Armor (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 1100 Magic Resist: 950 Agility: +375 Stamina: +350 Strength: +320 Tactics: +45 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 40% Passive: Increases user¡¯s ranged attack power is by 20% Outstanding Property: Windchasing, increases attack and movement speed by 15% Property: Windchaser Set, Chest Armor Introduction: 25000 years ago, archery was a popular sport on the Heavenblessed Continent, and empires all across the land started a war called the Bow God War to determine the Bow God of them all. Many wars later, the title was won by a young man who came from the mountains. It wasn¡¯t until later that it was revealed that the young man was actually the incarnation of the Bow God of the Heavenly Domain. When the Bow God collapsed during the War of Gods and Devils, his body split into five and transformed into five armor pieces. They are called the Windchaser set. Slots: 10 Level Requirement: 170 Reputation Requirement: 250000 ¡­¡­ "Holy shit, a Heaven-grade leather armor equipment set?" I said to Lin Yixin in a dumbfounded tone while staring at the chest armor, "Yiyi, your Dark Prison set is practically trash compared to this Windchaser set¡­" I let out a chuckle before passing the Windchaser chest armor to Beiming Xue. "Well, I¡¯m giving this to Beiming Xue. No one is going to dispute this, right?" Lian Xin said, "Who else can we even give this too? She¡¯s literally the only archer in our party. Next!" "Mn." An excited Beiming Xue immediately put on the Windchaser Chest Armor. The orange glow circulating the leather armor and the dark red cape behind her back looked good on her. She tried to suppress the urge to smile, but the little twirl she did on her feet revealed all we needed to know about her happiness right now. A smiling Lin Yixin patted Beiming Xue on the shoulder and said, "Alright, calm down, it¡¯s too soon to be happy. Dance after you gather the full set on this map!" "Mn mn!" Meanwhile, I was picking up the orange leather boots and waving its stats screen into existence. Whatever calm the girls managed to gather a second ago was gone when they saw its stats¡ª Windchaser War Boots (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 1050 Magic Resist: 920 Agility: +370 Stamina: +330 Strength: +295 Tactics: +32 Passive: Increases user¡¯s movement speed by 175% Passive: Increases user''s ranged attack power by 20% Outstanding Property: Windchasing, increases attack and movement speed by 12% Property: Windchaser Set, War Boots Introduction: Introduction: 25000 years ago, archery was a popular sport on the Heavenblessed Continent, and empires all across the land started a war called the Bow God War to determine the Bow God of them all. Many wars later, the title was won by a young man who came from the mountains. It wasn¡¯t until later that it was revealed that the young man was actually the incarnation of the Bow God of the Heavenly Domain. When the Bow God collapsed during the War of Gods and Devils, his body split into five and transformed into five armor pieces. They are called the Windchaser set. Slots: 9 Level Requirement: 170 Reputation Requirement: 250000 ¡­¡­ It was once again a Windchaser set piece. As 5-star Outstanding Heaven-grade equipment, the war boots on their own had almost the same Defense as its chest armor counterpart. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out how powerful Beiming Xue could become once she had assembled all the pieces she needed. With stats like these, she could even grab a dagger and duel another knight at melee! "Here¡¯s the second Windchaser equipment piece, Beiming Xue~~" I smiled and passed the dark archer the war boots as well. Beiming Xue couldn¡¯t stop smiling at this point. She accepted the equipment and started thanking all of us one by one, "Thank you, big bro! Thank you, Sister Lin Yixin! Thank you, Sister Mingyue! Thank you, Sister Lian Xin!" We all smiled. This scene reminded me of a certain soccer match where, in order to delay time, a soccer player had run across the entire field and hugged every player and even the referee himself before he finally allowed himself to be substituted. In that moment, there was no one who represented the word "shameless" better than him. I moved onto the third item, a ring with a cyan animal shining above its surface. I gave it a rub, and its stats screen appeared in the air¡ª Cyan Beast Ring (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Intelligence: +770 Stamina: +700 Agility: +695 Tactics: +40 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 40% Passive: Increases user¡¯s max MP by 25% Outstanding Property: Cyan Beast. When attacked, chance to summon the Soul of the Cyan Beast to protect the user. Blocks any damage 5 times. Level Requirement: 170 Reputation Requirement: 200000 ¡­¡­ Everyone held their breaths at this moment. The girls stared at the Immortal-grade ring like they were mesmerized by it. We finally got Immortal-grade equipment! Yes, the ring had powerful stats, and yes, the ring had an amazing passive that increased Magic Attack by 40%, but they still weren¡¯t as good as its second passive, "increases user¡¯s max MP by 25%¡±. Everyone knew MP was akin to life for a mage. Usually, a mage who hadn¡¯t run out of mana was almost unkillable, but these days, Level 150 melee fighters could use Frightening Slash to drain a mage¡¯s MP and shorten their lifespan drastically. Therefore, on a battlefield where the melee fighters would drain their MP, it was practically impossible for mages to fight a protracted battle without high max MP. In fact, Lian Xin died during the battle of White Horse City not because the enemy had caught her out, but because she had run out of MP. Otherwise, it would¡¯ve taken the Northern Alliance considerably more effort to kill a powerful mage like her. I passed the Cyan Beast Ring to Lian Xin and said, "This ring is pretty good, and this Soul of the Cyan Beast blocks any damage 5 times. It¡¯s almost as good as an invincibility skill if you trigger it." Lian Xin nodded slightly at me before saying, "Yay, Immortal-grade equipment! This is the second god-tier equipment I ever got, hoho! Thank you, Lu Chen, thank you, Beiming Xue, thank you, Sister Mingyue, and er¡­ thank you, dumb girl¡­" Lin Yixin looked away from her. "Hmph hmph!" ¡­¡­ Finally, it was time to inspect the fourth item¡ªa dazzling sword with a blade that looked like translucent crystal. Judging from its color, it clearly wasn¡¯t an ordinary weapon¡ª Seven Star Veluriyam Sword (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 2000~2450 Strength: +870 Stamina: +845 Agility: +820 Tactics: +100 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 89% Passive: When attacking, deals 75% split damage to 7 to 11 targets around the user. Slots: 12 Outstanding Property: Veluriyam Lamp. When attacking, there is a 5% chance to summon a Veluriyam Lamp from the God Domain and restore 15% HP instantly. Introduction: During the ancient times, many divine Veluriyam objects were transformed into divine weapons and used to combat the Gods¡¯ enemies. However, the Veluriyam Sword was broken many times during the War of Gods and Demons. Later, Divine Smith Ouyang used a ray of light from the Seven Stars to concentrate its divine energy and complete the reforging of the Veluriyam Sword in one go. The Veluriyam Sword became reborn as the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword. Level Requirement: 170 ¡­¡­ "Holy shit!" I sucked in a deep breath. "Hot damn! I wasn¡¯t expecting the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear to have a twin weapon! A Level 170 Immortal-grade sword? Good shit!" Lian Xin sounded very excited as well. "Wah, it really is a good weapon! Big brother Lu Chen, you should take this weapon! You¡¯ll look perfect right next to Boss He Yi!" However, I shook my head and said, "Actually, no, Yiyi needs it more than me. I would have to be shameless to take this when she¡¯s still wielding an Earth-grade weapon. Don¡¯t even try to turn me down, Yiyi, I¡¯m not taking this sword no matter what you say. Of course, if we get another melee weapon drop, I¡¯m claiming it for myself!" Lin Yixin stared at the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword. She looked just as captivated as He Yi was back when the latter found the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear. No gamer girl could resist a beautiful and powerful weapon like this. A while later, she finally looked at me and asked, "You sure you want to give this to me, Little Cheat?" "Yep. A man¡¯s word is his bond!" "Hehe. In that case, I accept. I¡¯m also giving you any other fighter equipment we might get in the future!" "You said it! You¡¯d better not change your mind later!" "Of course. A woman¡¯s word is also her bond, hehe!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin thanked everyone just like Beiming Xue and Lian Xin did earlier. Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue said, "You¡¯re welcome. It¡¯s what you deserve!" but Lian Xin simply harrumphed just like Lin Yixin did earlier. It looked like the clash between the two girls wasn¡¯t ending anytime soon. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin equipped the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword after that, and I thought that it fit her very well. There were very few women in the entire world who paired well with such a beautiful weapon, and Lin Yixin and He Yi happened to be two of them. Meanwhile, Murong Mingyue shook her head and said, "Now that I think about it, two of Lu Chen¡¯s girlfriends, Eve and Lin Yixin are wielding Seven Star Veluriyam Spear, and the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword respectively, huh? Hmph hmph, I bet someone is overjoyed by this coincidence, isn¡¯t he?" I decided to keep my mouth shut. She was right though, and I was even happier that Lin Yixin didn¡¯t deny Murong Mingyue¡¯s claim despite her obvious embarrassment. ¡­¡­ "Alright alright, stop teasing my big bro in front of me already!" Beiming Xue raised her bow protectively in front of me before saying, "Big bro, can you check and see if there¡¯s anything else? If not, then we should depart for the Dharan City ruins now. That is the true heart of Bloody Shield Domain." "Yeah." I nodded and went through the rest of the loot one by one. While I was putting the high-level enhancement gems into my bag, I suddenly noticed a blood-red stamp lying on the ground. When I picked it up and brought up its stats, both the girls and I literally started shaking with uncontrollable excitement¡ª Mark of the Divine Arm (Divine) Effect: Equip to the user¡¯s left arm to activate its effect. Allows non-knight class players to wield a shield. However, a tremendous amount of arm strength is required to wield both a shield and a weapon at the same time. Level Requirement: 170 Reputation Requirement: 250000 Strength Requirement: 6000 Chapter 860: Cultivating Both Offense and Defense I swallowed loudly. Have I ever called something a Divine Armament before? My apologies then, because this was the real Divine Armament! It might just be an item, but it could break class limitations themselves, and that could only be described as divine! Up until this point, the reason a magic knight was able to dominate the battlefield of the Nation War was without a doubt thanks to their ability to equip a shield. It was because the stats of a shield were very similar to the total Defense provided by their chest armors, boots and helmets of the same grade. Shields held more stats than any one piece of equipment, and they increased parry chance as well. It was something no other equipment piece could compare with. That was why Mark of the Divine Arm, an expendable item, that granted its user the ability to use a shield, was so invaluable. ¡­¡­ "Wow, it looks like someone¡¯s about to defy the heavens¡­" Murong Mingyue chuckled as her breasts swayed up and down to a breeze. I shot a wary look at the exquisite beauty next to me and said, "Yiyi, you promised that you would give me any fighter-class equipment we pick up after the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword, right? So this Mark of the Divine Arm should belong to me¡­ right?" To my relief, Lin Yixin grabbed my arm and smiled sweetly at me. "Of course! This is all yours!" Overjoyed, I used the Mark of the Divine Arm immediately! Ding! System Notice: Sorry, your Strength is below 6000. You cannot use the Divine item "Mark of the Divine Arm"! ¡­¡­ "What the fuck!" It felt like someone had hit me with a bat. Still holding on to my arm, Lin Yixin asked me, "What¡¯s wrong, Little Cheat?" I said sadly, "This fucking Mark of the Divine Arm has a Strength Requirement of 6000! Whoever designed this must be fucking shameless. Even a pure Strength Level 170 player like me only has a base Strength of 850 at most¡­" Beiming Xue asked, "How much Strength do you have right now, big bro?" I took a look and replied, "I have a total of 4755 Strength right now, so that means I¡¯m 2245 Strength short." Lin Yixin said expressionlessly, "No, you¡¯re 1245 Strength short, stupid. Your Math teacher must¡¯ve passed away at a young age¡­" I cried a bit at that. Lian Xin asked, "What should we do? Is there any way to fix this?" But I shook my head as I replied, "I don¡¯t know either. It¡¯s not like I can magically conjure 1245 Strength out of nowhere." It was at this moment Lin Yixin patted my arm and said, "Did you forget something, Little Cheat? My Devil Bell is a Cambrian-grade item that adds 1100 Strength, and the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword adds another 870 Strength. That should be more than enough to help you reach a total of 6000 Strength, don¡¯t you think?" "In that case, please lend me your equipment for a moment, Yiyi! I¡¯ll give them back to you right after I use the Mark of the Divine Arm?" "No problem!" After I received the Devil Bell and Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and equipped them, my Strength stat easily passed the 6000 mark. I tried using the item once more, and... Swhoosh! The mark turned into a bloody rune and floated atop my left arm for quite some time. Eventually, it imprinted itself onto my arm like a tattoo and became permanently bound to my avatar. Starting now, I could wield a shield with my left hand and a one-handed sword with my right! "Hahaha! It worked!" I was practically dancing with joy as I returned the Devil Bell and Seven Star Veluriyam Sword to Lin Yixin and reequipped my much lousier Cyan Netherworld Sword and Battle Flame Wristguards. ¡­¡­ "Congratulations, big bro!" Beiming Xue beamed at me. "I can imagine the super offensive and defensive undead swordsman you¡¯re going to become already!" Lian Xin nodded in agreement. "Yeah. If Lu Chen didn''t count as a main tank before, he does now. And unlike your usual main tank, OT can¡¯t happen with him around because his Attack is as ridiculous as his Defense." I looked inside my bag before gasping, "Actually, the ridiculous Defense part might have to wait for a bit. I don¡¯t see a single shield in my bag¡­" However, Lin Yixin came to my rescue yet again and passed me a pure black shield. "Don¡¯t worry. See this Spirit-grade shield? I picked it up while we were killing the Bloody Fortress Defenders earlier. Here¡­" To be honest, the shield wasn¡¯t the finest thing to look at, and it looked more like a turtle¡¯s shell than a proper shield. Still, its Defense was quite impressive¡ª Bloody Fortress Shield (Spirit-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 2850 Magic Resist: 2400 Stamina: +190 Strength: +175 Parry Chance: +19% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 15% Level Requirement: 165 Reputation: 80000 ¡­¡­ Well, this was a shield alright. I never thought that Spirit-grade equipment would be almost as good as my Level 160 Immortal-grade Heaven-burning Armor! How crazy was that? Chiang! The Bloody Fortress Shield appeared around my left arm before fading into the rune on my left arm. When I tried to give it a swing, the shield immediately reappeared to block whatever was in my way. Tsk tsk, Eternal Moon Corporation never failed to come up with cool equipment visual effects. Beiming Xue beamed. "Hehe, big bro is a super main tank now!" I gave her a nod and said to Lin Yixin, "Dear, you may leave all the tanking to me from now on. I¡¯ll block anything that tries to hurt you, so you just focus on being the damage dealer!" Lin Yixin giggled as she gave her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword a wave. "Oh really? But my Attack is high, and I have Moon Gaze and Extreme Break. Are you sure you can out-DPS me?" I grinned. "I trust you to control your rhythm and not OT¡­" "Hehe!" The beautiful girl shot me a non-committal smile before continuing, "We¡¯ve delayed long enough. Let¡¯s distribute these enhancement gems and head to the inner area of Bloody Shield Domain already!" "ºÃ£¡" "Yeah!" The Licker was truly a generous boss. The sheer number of Rank 9, 10, 11 and 12 gems it dropped was enough to cover a section of the floor. I gave all the Attack-boosting Cyanfire Gems to Lin Yixin, and she embedded them all into her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword until only 1 slot was left, increasing the weapon¡¯s hidden Attack by 55%. Gem drops from bosses was always a wonderful thing. It was decided that the Defense-boosting Dragonstone Gems would be given to me, and I happily embedded them into my Heaven-burning Armor until it was fully stacked. In total, the gems increased by hidden Defense by 60%, an impressive amount to say the least. These days, it was considered "fashionably" embarrassing to wear a full set of top-tier equipment that didn¡¯t have at least a Rank 8 gem embedded in them. Finally, we gave Beiming Xue the speed-boosting Beast Haste gems and boosted her Windchaser War Boots to rank 11, or 11 slots taken, increasing her movement speed by a total of 55%. Thanks to this, she was as fast as a Dragonlight Cavalryman on foot, meaning that she could now join our Dragonlight Cavalry and wreak havoc with them if she felt like it! ¡­¡­ We continued advancing toward the heart of Bloody Shield Domain after the loot was fully distributed. Five hours had passed by before we knew it, and the guild channel was bustling with activity. While we were grinding the main quest, He Yi had taken Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and 50000 elites from the main guild to the edge of Bloody Shield Domain to take out and capture the Mingshes. Not only that, she also dispatched 100000 subguilders including the Bloody Mercenaries to the canyons beyond Bloody Shield Domain to grind the high-level Corpse Eaters over there. With this setup, we no longer had to fear the attacks of Candle Dragon, Mad Dragon, Hegemon Palace or other enemy guilds even if they learned about our activity. There was no guild in the entire China who dared to claim that they could take out 100000 Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls subguilders with minimal losses. Of course, our efforts to keep a low profile were partially aided by the fact that the relationships in the China server were pretty unstable right now. While everyone was trying not to bash each other¡¯s faces in and give the Northern Alliance or other enemy nations a chance to attack us, that didn¡¯t mean that we were on amicable terms with each other. For example, the strongest force in Vanished God City was Blazing Hot Lips right now, and their very presence kept even the so-called strongest guild in China, Candle Dragon, in check. Candle Dragon wouldn¡¯t dare to attack our main force in their domain, not to mention that most of the super guilds in Vanished God City were more or less on our side. Come See The Snow Tonight, the leader of Baidicheng was our ally, and the leader of Hunting Moon Dynasty, the CGL Hall of Famer Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties, respected our strength and honor. In fact, after he and He Yi became in-game friends, he started seeing himself as an ally of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls in most cases. Therefore, there was almost a 100% chance that he would challenge anyone who would dare to attack us in his domain! "Ahem!" I let out a cough in the guild channel before saying, "So, how is everyone doing in Bloody Shield Domain so far? This map is full of profits, right?" Gui Guzi replied with a hearty laugh, "Oh yes, this map is seriously amazing. I leveled up not long after we arrived, not to mention these Level 1 baby Mingshes are super cute! Li and I both caught a Mingshe already. We look forward to unleashing Mingshe Storms in all future Nation Wars, haha!" He Yi let out a chuckle and said, "I already have the Firelight Mouse, so I won¡¯t be getting a Mingshe for myself." Chaos Moon complained, "These brutes are ravenous, man! Did you know that they swept through an entire section of a forest in ten minutes?? A lot of people have gotten a Level 1 Mingshe already, but I haven¡¯t even seen its goddamn shadow! Woe is me!" Xu Yang said placatingly, "Calm down, you¡¯ll find a baby Mingshe eventually. That being said, I do think that Dragonlight Cavalry and mages should get first dibs on Level 1 Mingshes." He Yi asked me, "Xu Yang has a point, Lu Chen. What do you think?" I replied with a smile, "Why not? By the way, I checked the guides already, and I can confirm that a baby Mingshe can sit on their master¡¯s shoulder and launch their attacks from there. This means that our Dragonlight Cavalry will be able to use Hoof Trample and Mingshe Storm when they¡¯re charging. I don¡¯t know about you, but I can¡¯t wait to see the northern bastards¡¯ faces already!" Li Chengfeng laughed loudly, "Please stop, you¡¯re making me all hot and bothered now¡­" Heaven¡¯s Rain: "Excuse us??? You will not get hot and bothered over vice leader big bro! He belongs to us, you hear me!?" Li Chengfeng stuttered in fright. "Beauty Rain, are you alright? I¡¯m as straight as they come¡­" Gui Guzi: "Bullshit, you¡¯ve been gay for a long time now¡­" "Your sister¡¯s gay!" Li Chengfeng raged. "How dare you sully my reputation, Little Gui! Take this: Dragonblade Revolution!" "Oh yeah? Watch my unbeatable technique: invincibility + return scroll!" Chaos Moon: "..." ¡­¡­ Everything was progressing smoothly. Our main force had entered Bloody Shield Domain and begun tackling the Mingshe horde. I was sure that they would be a huge boost to everyone¡¯s pet fighting power. Not only that, Purple Marquis of Snowy Cathaya had joined us as well. They traded friendly greetings with our players before moving to a separate location to capture the baby Mingshes. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle¡­ Our party stepped across the tiled floor and emerged on the opposite side of the fortress. We were greeted by the sight of a barren canyon that reeked with the stench of death. I had no doubt that something was waiting for us in this dark place. "Let¡¯s go!" I declared with a raise of my sword. Chapter 861: Spirit Valley Corpse Eater The cries of high-level Corpse Eaters resounded throughout the valley. "Big bro, look!" Beiming Xue pointed to a wilted forest, and there, I spotted a Corpse Eater climbing out of the ground. It was covered in black armor, and its front claws were scarily sharp. It was clearly not your common Corpse Eater, but an enhanced one¡ª Spirit Valley Corpse Eater (Dread) Level: 202 Attack: 7900~10500 Defense: 8700 HP: 700000 Skills: Corpse Eating, Bloody Bite, Fatal Blow Introduction: Spirit Valley Corpse Eater is an enhanced version of a Corpse Eater. Corpse Eaters are usually low-level Night Creatures that are deployed as cannon fodder or civilian slaughterers only. However, when Ovia the Bloody Finger cruelly poured molten steel into their bodies to strengthen their physique, he created the incredibly powerful Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters. For hundreds of years, countless human warriors have perished to the sharp teeth of the Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters. ¡­¡­ "It¡¯s a Level 202 dread-rank mob with pretty high Attack," I said with a smile. "I¡¯ll aggro the mobs. I wanted to check out my current Defense anyway." Lin Yixin agreed. "Go. But don¡¯t aggro too many of them, okay? It¡¯s not our fault if you get zerged and killed." "Don¡¯t worry!" I spurred my mount forward and fired Dragon Slaying Slash at the mob¡¯s head. It immediately turned toward me, let out a furious roar and crawled toward me at a frightening speed! "Roar roar¡­" The Corpse Eater abruptly jumped into the air and tried to swipe me with its sharp claws. Naturally, I raised my left arm to block the attack. The rune that represented the Mark of the Divine Arm abruptly manifested the Bloody Fortress Shield, and I easily blocked both of the mob¡¯s attacks. As my body shuddered a little from the impact, two damage numbers rose above my head¡ª 3783! 4102! Behind me, Murong Mingyue let out a chuckle and said, "Very impressive Defense! As long as the mobs are physical-based, Level 202 dread-rank mobs are no longer a threat to you!" I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. It would be even better if I had a better shield." "Less dreaming, more fighting!" "Yeah!" We swarmed the pitiful Spirit Valley Corpse Eater and killed it in the blink of an eye. It dropped a worthless magic stone as it collapsed to the ground with both its arms chopped off by yours truly, but everyone saw a clear bump on their experience bar. The Spirit Valley Corpse Eater might be a miser, but the experience it carried was absolutely deserving of its level and rank! "Continue!" Staring at the distance, Beiming Xue blinked her pretty eyes before saying, "Big bro, there¡¯s a ton of Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters behind the shrubbery over there. In fact, I¡¯m pretty sure there are more than ten thousand of them. Do you want to kill them all before we proceed to the next area? With Sister Lian Xin around, AoE DPS is not a problem!" I mulled over the suggestion before replying, "It can be done, but we need to find a reliable choke point first. Don¡¯t forget, the Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters have a max Attack of 10500. It might not be able to hurt me much, but you guys are a completely different story. At the very least, we need to find a place where the mobs can¡¯t attack our three backliners directly." Murong Mingyue nodded in agreement. "Lu Chen is correct. If even he lost 4000 HP with his current Defense, I can¡¯t imagine how much damage Lian Xin and I would take if we were hit directly. 20k? 30k? At any rate, we¡¯ll die the second our spell shields are down." Lian Xin also said, "Yeah, my American coach told me that there is nothing stupider than engaging an enemy in melee as a mage. Range is our lifeline, he said." I smiled. "Well, I don¡¯t know. Before I got this class, I was thinking of playing a close combat mage¡­" Lin Yixin rolled her eyes and interrupted me before I could continue my nonsense, "Bullshit! Anyway, look over there. That looks like a choke point we can use, right?" We followed Lin Yixin¡¯s finger and saw a protrusion of rock at the edge of the forest. It was about ten meters tall, and a huge, fallen tree was leaning against its side. The plant had probably been struck by lightning or something. Anyway, the tree and the rock just happened to form a perfect triangle, and since the tree trunk was at least 4 meters tall, there was no way the Corpse Eaters were climbing over the plant to get us. It was about as perfect as a natural choke point could get. "Mn, that¡¯s a good find, Yiyi." I shot her an approving smile before ordering, "Lian Xin, sis, Beiming, head inside and wait for my signal. Yiyi, Kris, the Phantom Wolf King and Thunder Beast will form a line at the entrance. Remember to leave a space for me, okay?" "Ohh!" The girls obediently walked into the space between the tree trunk and the rock. Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue moved to the back and leaned against the tree. Lian Xin positioned slightly ahead of them because she was the main damage dealer of our party, and to maximize her firepower she couldn¡¯t hide herself in the deepest corner of the choke point. At the front, Lin Yixin and the Moonchaser Tiger, the Thunder Beast and the Phantom Wolf King formed a wall to block the soon-to-arrive Corpse Eaters. The Ice Dragon Kris had also descended from the sky to stand next to her master like an obedient guard dog. A single space was reserved for me in the defense line. With that done, all that was left to do was to aggro the mobs. "Give me five minutes. I¡¯ll be back with a sea of Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters very soon, hahaha!" I left their side and steered the Armored Ice Qilin Horse into the shrubbery. However, when I passed through the branches and leaves, I skidded to a halt and stared at the scene in front of me with a flabbergasted expression. The site in front of me was the biggest boneyard I had ever seen in my life. There were tombstones everywhere, and I spotted human graves, giant carcasses and even exposed dragon bones. More importantly, the place was crawling with Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters! "Holy f.u.c.k, this is¡­ too much, isn¡¯t it?" My voice was shaking a little. I could confidently say that I had never seen such a thick swarm of mobs in my whole life as a gamer. The red dots on the minimap were so numerous it was like the Corpse Eaters were holding a party, and their screeching howls were terrifying enough to send brave men running. It would actually take a courageous person to even aggro a swarm of mobs this thick, not to mention that the Corpse Eaters had pretty high movement speed. One misstep, and I might be surrounded and slaughtered where I stood. "Here I come!" That being said, I had absolute confidence in my control, so I smiled and rushed toward the horde. As I cut through the small trail of space between the Corpse Eaters, the mobs¡ªso sensitive that even those 30 yards away picked up my presence¡ªimmediately roared and chased after me. Clank clank clank¡­ My mind was as calm as a lake despite galloping atop a floor of bones and surrounded by a sea of mobs. I was able to predict the Corpse Eaters¡¯ positions in my head and plot several steps ahead to avoid being completely surrounded even as I zigzagged through the mobs with inches to spare. Hell, my mount was probably more frightened than I was, judging from its icy breaths and bulging eyes. If it could speak, it would probably say, "Master you sonuvabitch! Are you trying to kill me??" Three minutes later, a horde of Spirit Valley Corpse Eater like nothing I had ever seen before was chasing behind me. The ground was literally shaking from the concentrated impacts, and my palm was completely covered in sweat. When the time was right, I abruptly turned a corner and led the sea of mobs¡ªthere had to be 5000 of them at least¡ªstraight toward the tiny choke point. I was more elated than frightened though. If we could take out all these Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters, I was almost certain that we would level up once or twice. In fact, at the end of this main quest, I fully expected even the highest-leveled player among us to level up between 3 to 5 times. Of course, this was assuming that we didn¡¯t die and drop levels along the way, and seeing as our final opponent was Ovia the Bloody Finger, one of the Nine Sovereigns of the Night Creatures, himself, it seemed very unlikely. ¡­¡­ "Here it comes! Here it comes!" I could hear Beiming Xue laughing from behind the trees. "Over here, Lu Chen!" Lin Yixin had ridden away from the defense line temporarily to receive me, but when she saw the sea of Corpse Eaters her face turned as white as a paper. "Holy shit, what is this number? What if we can¡¯t beat them?" I laughed. "You serious, babe? We have damage dealers, tanks and a healer. These Corpse Eaters are really just walking experience bags!" "Yes, yes. Anyway, get into position already!" "Mn." Skid skid! The Moonchaser and Armored Ice Qilin Horse skidded across the ground and "drifted" into our respective positions perfectly. In fact, Lin Yixin and I worked so well together that even Lian Xin couldn¡¯t help but exclaim in admiration, "Damn, that¡¯s some smooth moves right there¡­" "Here they come!" The second I turned around, I was met with the pouncing figures of seven to eight Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters at least. They swiped me with their claws and deleted 40k HP from my health pool instantly. Thankfully, Murong Mingyue had cast a Pool of Life beneath our feet beforehand, so there wasn¡¯t even the slightest chance the Corpse Eaters could kill us. I executed Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo. Lin Yixin used Ice Storm and Ice Flame Slash. Our attacks caused the Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters to scream in pain, but they were nothing compared to Lian Xin¡¯s Dimensional Storm. Like a forbidden spell, it cut into the undead corpses¡¯ flesh and bones like a thousand blades. "Roar roar roar¡­" Two rotations were all it took to kill, no, massacre, the first group of Corpse Eaters. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that they were crushed like ants. When our pets joined in on the attack as well, the Corpse Eaters started dying at a symphonious rate. Mobs kept exploding into equipment, magic stones, items and countless streams of experience light, invigorating us even further. At this rate, the Heavenly Ranking of Sky City would be rewritten in 24 hours. Chapter 862: Bloodblade Ghost General Swhoosh swhoosh! Ten or so minutes later, Murong Mingyue and Lin Yixin became the first people of our party to level up. The Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters just gave too much experience! Countless pieces of equipment and gems stacked on top of one another on the ground. I couldn¡¯t wait to see what the Level 202 mobs had in store for us. Murong Mingyue couldn¡¯t stop grinning as she said, "Hoho, this is so much fun! Keep fighting, Lu Chen and Beauty Lin!" Beiming Xue said while firing a Spiraling Arrow Blade, "This is pretty fast already, Sister Mingyue. We are fighting five to six thousand Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters, you know. Speaking of which, can you pick up a card and see what its effects are, big bro? I see a lot of them on the ground." I did just that and shared its effects inside the party channel¡ª Spirit Valley Corpse Eater: Increase user¡¯s attack speed by 50% and Attack by 20%. Applies Zealotry, increasing user¡¯s HP regeneration speed by 25%. Level Requirement: 150. Duration: 120 minutes. ¡­¡­ It was more or less the same as the Axe Fighter Card. I threw it to Beiming Xue because higher attack speed equaled to shorter physical-based skill cooldowns. Speaking of which, Lian Xin herself was using a Fire Soul Card that increased her Magic Attack by 50% and MP regeneration speed by 10%. ¡­... Less than an hour later, we took out all 5000+ Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters. An insane amount of equipment, cards and magic stones covered the floor before us. "Alright, let¡¯s sweep the battlefield as soon as possible and move onto the next group! Just leave the trash gear and pick up the good ones¡­" I dismounted, separated the equipment with the Cyan Netherworld Sword and picked up those that I deemed worthy. It wasn¡¯t long before my bag was completely full. The lowest grade in my bag was Dark Gold, and to make space, I even threw away all the Gold-grade equipment I had collected earlier. In this case, the biggest winner was always the guy with the biggest bag. If only there was a bag with infinite space! I also picked up a total of 240 Spirit Valley Corpse Eater Cards. They were useful items that I could use, sell or gift to someone if I felt like it. One way or another, it wasn¡¯t going to go to waste for sure. With that done, I rode out and led several more thousand Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters back to the choke point again, repeating the cycle. It was past 7 pm by the time we took out this group, so all the girls were starving at this point. "I wanna eat She-crab Soup later¡­" Murong Mingyue stared at me grudgefully. I replied while cutting down the last Corpse Eater, "You don¡¯t say! I want to eat a bowl of sour soup with snakehead fish too!" Lin Yixin said, "Just one more hour; I see another 5000 or so Corpse Eaters over there. We¡¯ll log out and have dinner after we take them out, okay?" "No problem!" And so we grinded for another hour or so. In total, we had fought for three hours and killed almost twenty thousand Level 202 Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters. Everyone gained an unbelievable amount of experience, and even I had jumped from Level 172 to Level 174. Just a bit more, and I would join the Top 3 of Sky City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking. It was always a joy to know that your level was superior to most people¡¯s! Just like before, I kept replacing the inferior equipment with better ones until I was dumping even Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment that added 15 Tactics. It was very wasteful, but I just didn¡¯t have the inventory slots to fit it even if I wanted to keep it. "Well, it¡¯s time for dinner. Let¡¯s log back in at 9 pm, okay?" I asked the girls. Lin Yixin said, "The pizza I asked Qingqing to order is already here, so I¡¯ll be done very quickly. What about you guys?" Lian Xin replied, "We¡¯ll be eating at the fast food restaurant below our apartment, so it¡¯ll take 30 minutes at most. If we include the time it takes to drink water and go to the toilet, it¡¯ll be 40 minutes." Lin Yixin nodded. "Okay, we¡¯ll meet back here at 9 pm!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ The girls set up their tents and logged out of the game, but I stayed behind to absorb the undead soul sparks left behind by the Corpse Eaters. The good news was that I could absorb multiple undead soul sparks in one go if the bodies were stacked on top of each other, or this would take a very long time. After I was done, I felt like my body was overflowing with the unique death energy of the undead. Even my sword arm felt more energetic than usual. However, ever since I evolved into an Asura King, my undead rank progress bar barely budged, no matter how many undead soul sparks I absorbed. Even the twenty thousand Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters¡¯ undead soul sparks I absorbed just now were but a trickle. It was starting to feel like I wouldn¡¯t become an Asura God during my lifetime. That being said, the game was fair in the sense that the reward was equal to the amount of hard work invested. I am certain that my power would climb to an unprecedented level if I did manage to evolve into an Asura God. The three girls and I went downstairs and finished our dinner quickly. After that, we logged back into the game without delay. Swhoosh! After I appeared inside my tent, I poked my head out of the flap cautiously just in case there was danger nearby. Thankfully, nothing seemed to have changed since the time we logged out. The loot we discarded were still on the ground as well. I was going to ask He Yi to dispatch some men to pick them up, but our people were stopped outside Bloody Fortress. As it turned out, our killing of the Licker had alarmed the nearby garrisons, and an undead army of hundreds of thousands was guarding the fortification right now. Forget picking up the loot, it would be a long while before anyone could even reach our location. That being said, it wasn¡¯t a problem because our main objective had always been to capture the baby Mingshes, not grinding. These days, pets were incredibly useful, and magic-type pets especially could use AoE spells just like any mage. They were the type of pets all fighters dreamed of getting, and the Mingshe definitely fulfilled that demand to a certain extent. If we were to sell it on the market, it would sell like hotcake even at the price of tens of thousands of gold. Rustle rustle rustle¡­ The tents beside mine started rustling with activity. All four girls had come back online. As usual, we gave the party leader to Lin Yixin for Bombshell after we remade the party. We also buffed ourselves with cards because it felt n.a.k.e.d to grind at a high-level map without them. We stepped across the wilted shrubberies and entered the area where the sea of Corpse Eaters were waiting earlier. Considering how large their number was, it was pretty impressive how we managed to clear out the entire area. From our location, we could see the red city currently ruled by Ovia the Bloody Finger, the once magnificent Dharan City. I couldn¡¯t help but suck in a deep breath. The journey up until this point had been long and harsh, and still there were more unknown dangers lying ahead of us. At least the rewards were well worth the hardsh.i.p.s, be it in terms of experience or loot. For this alone, Ovia deserved our wholehearted gratitude! ¡­¡­ I was the point of the party, and my job was to blaze the trail we could tread through. Lin Yixin was the guard, and her job was to patrol close to the party and protect our backliners. Our party composition was very scientific, and even our pets could almost hold their own ground. Sometimes, it even felt like our party could fight toe-to-toe with a 10000-strong party from Hegemon Palace. In a game, soloing a hundred or even a thousand enemies by yourself wasn¡¯t a dream if you stood at the top. Night crept up on us before we knew it, and the barren fields were completely silent. We stayed alert as we trod a path beneath a hill, but we spotted no mobs no matter where we looked. Perhaps we really had killed everything there was to kill around the area. It was at this moment a ray of light appeared from above the hill. It looked like a ball of fire that was moving very slowly. "What is¡­ that?" Lin Yixin asked with her mouth slightly open. "It¡¯s gotta be a demon!" I declared confidently. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let¡¯s go!" Beiming Xue said with a smile. We quickly approached the light source. The moon was hanging brightly in the sky, so once we got close enough we had a clear view of the owner of the mysterious flame. It was an undead general riding a skeletal horse. He was clad in black armor and wielding a long, red blade. Dark and gloomy, he looked like a reaper of the night. After obtaining the monster¡¯s stats screen using Dark Pupils, I shared it inside the party channel. Bloodblade Ghost General (Immortal Rank Miniboss) Level: 205 Attack: 10200~11900 Defense: 11000 HP: 9,000,000 Property: +50% Magic Resist Property: Cannot be stunned by Shock Arrows or Charge Skills: Blood Slash, Mount Hua Cleave, Bloodblade Formation Introduction: The Bloodblade Ghost Generals used to be Earth Knights of the Dharan Empire. When the empire fell to an undead invasion, their generals-in-chief were lured into a trap, captured and transformed into leaders of Purgatory forces. Called by Ovia the Bloody Finger himself, these loyal Earth Knights were forcefully changed into servants of the undead. Not only do these undead creatures remember their martial techniques, they were taught the martial techniques of the dead as well. They are a terrifying existence, and millions have fallen to their blades. ¡­¡­ I was almost salivating when I saw the miniboss''s rank. Licking my lips, I said, "Oh man. Bloodblade Ghost General, a Level 205 Immortal Rank miniboss. Pretty sure this guy has a chance to drop Immortal-grade equipment. Get ready, you all. We¡¯re gonna kill it via brute force since it¡¯s way weaker than the Licker. I¡¯ll be the tank!" "Yeah. Go, Little Cheat!" Lin Yixin sent me off with a giggle. I feared nothing since I had the girls to cover my back. I used Thunderous Charge, but the skill was nullified. I followed up with God Binding Art, and this time it worked perfectly. There was nothing the Bloodblade Ghost General could do but be butchered while the skill was still active. Swhoosh! The Moonchaser Tiger roared, and Lin Yixin hit the Bloodblade Ghost General with her dagger before unleashing a devastating Ice Flame Slash + Barrier Break combo to the chest with her dazzling Seven Star Veluriyam Sword. Not only that, I timed my own attacks perfectly and hit the same spot as Lin Yixin using Universe Break, Pardon and a basic attack, resulting in a double Intercourse! Chiang chiang! It almost looked like we were stabbing the boss in the heart as our energetic blades pierced right through his chest armor. Two damage numbers rose above his head¡ª 342822! 412829! It was an insane amount of damage to say the least. Miniboss? Who cares! Behind us, Lian Xin and Beiming Xue also went all out and blasted the miniboss with every skill they had. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that the duration of a successful God Binding Art was always the happiest moment of our grind. ¡­¡­ "Roar!" When the Bloodblade Ghost General finally woke up, he swung his flaming sword across my chest and used Mount Hua Cleave. Tearing pain immediately assaulted my senses! 76276! F.u.c.k! It might be a miniboss, but it is still Immortal Rank! Chapter 863: Not Lacking Money Swhoosh swhoosh! Murong Mingyue cast two healing spells and restored my HP. While I was blocking another round of attack with my new shield, Lin Yixin swung her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and hit the Bloodblade Ghost General with the Wanderer skill, Triple Slash. It was one of her more explosive skills as each strike dealt more damage than the last, especially now that she had a couple of top-tier items on her person, such as the amazing Seven Star Veluriyam Sword or the even greater Devil Bell. Her Attack was at least as good as mine, if not higher. The equipment wasn¡¯t the only reason why she was dealing so much damage. For one, a white light about five centimeters thick was enveloping the blade of the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword. It was the Holy Energy passive that dealt extra damage to the undead. She also had her Killer Wind Swordplay, a skill that increased her Attack even further. In a sense, Lin Yixin¡¯s basic attacks were never really "basic attacks" because she constantly had Killer Wind Swordplay buff active. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Lian Xin was slowing down the Bloodblade Ghost General with Gravity Traps from the back. She also cast Ice Spiral Matrix repeatedly and dealt heavy damage to the miniboss. Godlike mage like Lian Xin was practically the nemesis of the heavy-armor miniboss. Beiming Xue was amazing as well. Her DPS was bolstered by the two new Windchaser equipment pieces she had just obtained, and her arrows never missed the Bloodblade Ghost General¡¯s visor¡ªits weak point¡ªeven once throughout the fight. That she was constantly on the move while shooting only served to solidify the fact that she was among the best archers in the China server right now. In fact, she had probably surpassed the two CGL Hall of Famers, Transient Smoke and Clouds and October Rain already. All true experts were born from the fires of war. Beiming Xue was already a natural in the first place, and she had never backed down from a fight, no matter how dire. As a result, her skills grew by leaps and bounds, and half a year later, the once nameless girl was looking like some of the strongest, if not the strongest archer in the entire China! ¡­¡­ "Roar roar!" Some time during the fight, Bloodblade Ghost General abruptly raised his blade and roared, "Damned travellers! I shall grant you death in the name of the War God! Witness the power of the ancient martial technique¡ªBloodblade Formation!" Swhoosh! The miniboss tossed his weapon into the air, and it suddenly split into a hundred blades. From the looks of it, the Bloodblade Ghost General was going to manipulate the blades remotely and rain hell upon us. "Watch out! All backliners, move to the back now!" I shouted, "Yiyi, stay with me and use Guard!" "Ohh!" Lian Xin was a mage, so it only took her one Blink to escape the boss''s range. Murong Mingyue ran backward as fast as she could with her Priest Shield turned on, and Beiming Xue used Leap to get to safety. Since Lin Yixin and I were too close to the boss, we simply took a few steps back. When Lin Yixin crossed her sword in front of her chest, the white light shining from her sword made her mounds look even whiter and smoother than they already were. I couldn¡¯t help but gulp at the sight, and when I remembered that she was my girlfriend, my heart started racing like a horse. I could have actually suffocated if I didn¡¯t remind myself to breathe. "Stop looking and start Guarding already, bastard!" Lin Yixin chided me with a fierce blush on her cheeks. I supposed that I was being too obvious. "Right¡­" I took another step backward and raised my left arm, and the Bloody Fortress Shield immediately winked into existence. With this, I had nothing to fear from the miniboss''s ultimate! Swhoosh! The storm of blades rained down on us, thudding against my shield and bouncing off Lin Yixin¡¯s Seven Star Veluriyam Sword. But to my surprise, both of us were hit about 10 times, and each hit deleted around 20k HP or so. By the time the Bloodblade Formation had run its course, both our HP had fallen below 25%. The Bloodblade Ghost General definitely deserved its rank. After the ultimate was over, Murong Mingyue ran up to us and healed us from afar. Her timing was so good that she healed both Lin Yixin and I for at least 100k HP each almost right after the Bloodblade Formation was over. A surprised Lin Yixin exclaimed, "OMG, Sister Mingyue¡¯s heals are seriously explosive¡­" I said, "Nah, she just got lucky and critted twice in a row¡­" "Oh." I pointed at the Bloodblade Ghost General and used God Binding Art. Once the skill landed successfully, we immediately launched a counterattack and recaptured the aggro in just a couple of attacks. The fact that our excellent party had nullified its ultimate almost perfectly proved that the miniboss was ultimately incomparable to a true Immortal Rank boss. It was only a matter of time before it died. Our blades and spells tore apart the Bloodblade Ghost General¡¯s armor. Less than five minutes later, its health had fallen to 28%. After we resisted another Bloodblade Formation, there was nothing the boss could do to threaten us any longer. When the boss''s HP dropped to 3%, Lian Xin said, "Everyone, stop! We need big brother Lu Chen to score the last hit so we can get better loot! Sister Mingyue, please focus your heals on him!" Lin Yixin nodded in agreement and lowered her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword. But instead of retreating, she stayed close to me just in case something unexpected happened and watched me tear the boss apart with Burning Blade Slash. A few rounds of attacks later, the Bloodblade Ghost General finally lost its last sliver of HP and collapsed to the ground. Suddenly, a red soul flew out of the dead husk and said to us, "Ah, I will not forget. I will never forget the glory of the Dharan Empire Earth Knights, the feast my king held for me, and our battle against the undead. Thank you for freeing me, warriors from distant lands. My soul can finally ascend to the heavens and be free from the eternal torment. Goodbye, my dear brethren!" The Bloodblade Ghost General¡¯s soul vanished into thin air just like that, leaving only his husk behind. And beneath, all the loot it had dropped! I pushed away the Bloodblade Ghost General¡¯s body and found a pile of stones. There were magic stones that could be sold for money such as the Purple Crystals, and there were gems that could be embedded into one¡¯s equipment such as the Dragonstone Gem. Long story short, the gems alone were worth over ten thousand RMB. Well, with myLuck stat, it was always going to be a profitable kill. There were three pieces of equipment: a fiery red axe, a metal armor helmet, and a pair of leather armor wristguards. I picked up the war axe first and gave it a swing. Its stats screen immediately appeared in the air¡ª Dark Flame War Axe (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 980~1340 Strength: +300 Stamina: +275 Agility: +100 Passive: Increases user''s attack power by 35% Outstanding Property: Split. 50% chance to split an attack into 3 to 5 attacks and damage all nearby enemy targets. Slots: 7 Level Requirement: 175 ¡­¡­ The axe had good Attack and stats, but the Level Requirement of 175 was a bit too much. Anyone who already reached Level 175 such as Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng wouldn¡¯t be satisfied with an Earth-grade weapon. That being said, it should fit the likes of Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun or Heaven¡¯s Rain quite well. Thud! I dumped the axe into my bag and said, "Let¡¯s put this in the guild warehouse when we get back!" However, I changed my mind when I saw Lin Yixin. "Actually, never mind, let¡¯s sell it at the auction house and split the money in half. It would be unfair to Yiyi otherwise!" Lin Yixin let out a happy hmph before replying, "It¡¯s fine, you can keep it for your guild. I don¡¯t need that bit of money¡­" "Okay then, Yiyi is so nice¡­" "Bastard¡­" We moved onto the second item and were stunned by what we saw. This proved that luck wasn¡¯t something you could guarantee. Even with my godly Luck, I never imagined that an Immortal Rank miniboss would drop something as shit as a Dark Steel¨Cgrade helmet¡ª Wild Walker Helmet (Dark Steel¨Cgrade, Outstanding¡ï) Defense: 775 Magic Resist: 500 Strength: +55 Outstanding Property: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 4% Level Requirement: 175 ¡­¡­ Thud! I literally threw the Wild Walker Helmet to the back of my head and complained, "F.u.c.k, talk about shit you don¡¯t want to take up a slot in your bag!" However, Lian Xin jogged to the Wild Walker Helmet, caught it in her arms and whined, "How can you do this, big brother Lu Chen? It might be shit, but it¡¯s still a boss drop! Does anyone have a bagspace to spare? Anyone?" We all stared expressionlessly at her for a moment. A while later, Lian Xin finally relented and said, "Fine, fine, we don¡¯t need this¡­" The last drop was the pair of leather-armor wristguards. When their stats screen appeared inside the party channel, the girls immediately jumped in excitement¡ª Windchaser Wristguards (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 1020 Magic Resist: 900 Agility: +375 Stamina: +330 Strength: +305 Tactics: +40 Passive: Increases user¡¯s attack speed by 45% Passive: Increases user¡¯s ranged attack power by 40% Outstanding Property: Windchasing. Increases user¡¯s attack and movement speed by 15% Property: Windchaser Set, Wristguards Introduction: 25000 years ago, archery was a popular sport on the Heavenblessed Continent, and empires all across the land started a war called the Bow God War to determine the Bow God of them all. Many wars later, the title was won by a young man who came from the mountains. It wasn¡¯t until later that it was revealed that the young man was actually the incarnation of the Bow God of the Heavenly Domain. When the Bow God collapsed during the War of Gods and Devils, his body split into five and transformed into five armor pieces. They are called the Windchaser set. Slots: 9 Level Requirement: 170 Reputation Requirement: 250000 ¡­¡­ It was another Windchaser set piece! And it was so powerful that it almost shouldn¡¯t fall under the Heaven grade! "Beiming, catch! Our time with this boss was definitely not wasted, hahaha¡­" I tossed the Windchaser Wristguards into Beiming Xue¡¯s hands. Right now, the girl looked as happy as a blooming flower. Now that she had 3 Windchaser set pieces, even stronger set effects were unlocked to her. She was far stronger than before, and her attack power and speed alone were 70% higher than what they used to be! Chapter 864: Mini Skirt "So this thing drops the Windchaser set piece too¡­" Lian Xin saiid while staring at the Bloodblade Ghost General¡¯s body, "From what I read, miniboss NPCs usually aren¡¯t unique. Should we try searching the area for more Bloodblade Ghost Generals? If possible, I would like Beiming to complete her Windchaser set first and increase our party¡¯s DPS before we tackle the Dharan City ruins. I can already see her dealing over 100k damage to a boss with a single Freezing Arrow!" Lin Yixin voiced her agreement. "Sounds doable. We have to pass through this field to get to the Dharan City ruins anyway, not to mention that the Bloodblade Ghost Generals give a lot of experience. Since we cleared out all the Spirit Valley Corpse Eaters already, we might as well grind these minibosses instead." "Yeah. Let¡¯s search around then!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ We roamed the fields for a bit, and in less than five minutes, we found another wandering Bloodblade Ghost General on the other side of the valley. Long story short, it took us less than five minutes to take out the Level 205 Immortal Rank miniboss. Unfortunately, it only dropped two Earth-grade items this time. It looked like the drop rate of a miniboss was much lousier than a proper boss¡¯s, and it took a lot of luck to drop a super-tier piece of equipment like the Windchaser set piece. Thankfully Lady Luck did hear our prayers, and after an hour of searching and 7 kills later, we got the pair of leather legguards from the seventh Bloodblade Ghost Generals. They were none other than the Windchaser Legguards! "Put them on, Beiming¡­" Lin Yixin threw the legguards into Beiming Xue¡¯s hands with a smile. Beiming Xue now had 4 pieces of the Windchaser set in total. When the dark archer equipped the legguards, she suddenly shivered and stared blankly at the space in front of her. "What¡¯s wrong?" I asked. "Big bro¡­" Beiming Xue looked up and blinked once. "I just received a notice that the Windchaser equipment set is bound to me. It¡¯s because I¡¯ve gathered four out of five pieces. The fifth and last piece of the Windchaser equipment set, the Windchaser Helmet, can only drop from an Immortal Rank boss or above with a success rate of 25%. Also, this equipment set is literally one and only in all the servers!" I exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "The one and only equipment set in the entire server? That¡¯s amazing. That being said, I suppose I shouldn¡¯t be surprised. This is a Heaven-grade equipment set after all. Congratulations, Beiming!" Lin Yixin chuckled. "Well, let¡¯s continue. I¡¯m sure there are more Immortal Rank bosses up ahead, and with Lu Chen¡¯s Luck stat, a 25% drop rate is more like 50%, or even more. It¡¯s only a matter of time until we gather a full set!" Beiming Xue nodded repeatedly. "Mn mn! Let¡¯s go already! It would suck if someone got ahead of us¡­" "Relax, we are in the heart of Bloody Shield Domain. I doubt there¡¯s any other player besides us¡­" "True." We continued forward with me acting as the point and Lin Yixin, the bodyguard. Lin Yixin¡¯s silver cloak flapped behind her back as she rode the Moonchaser Tiger. Sword hanging low around her waist but not forgotten, she kept a constant eye on her surroundings and made sure that no threat could reach our three fragile backliners. The girls must feel like they were the most important VIPs in the world right now. After all, the Fruit Knife Goddess herself was acting as their bodyguard, a privilege that only a handful in the entire world enjoyed. With her around, their protection was even better than a condom, I would say.. ¡­¡­ Not long after we departed, a system announcement suddenly rang across Bloody Shield Domain¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Ye Yuse (Sky City)" has successfully defeated the Immortal Rank Boss, Black Ball Wanderer, and met the requirement to learn Great Earth Transformation! They have become the seventh Divine General of China! They have gained 200/200 Divine Energy Points, Luck +2, Tactics +5, and an exclusive Divine General Skill, "Nether Curse"! Nether Curse: Beseech the power of the Ghost God and curse all enemies within a 50x50 yard area. 25% chance to inflict Petrify, Confusion, Drunk, Stunned, Blind and other random CC status effects to all targets inside. Each use of the skill costs 10 Divine Energy Points. Skill exclusive to Ye Yuse. ¡­¡­ "Another Divine General!?" I stared incredulously at the sky as I said, "Nether Curse? It¡¯s a very impressive skill for sure! Who is this Ye Yuse to learn such a powerful skill? Sis, can you contact her and see if she¡¯s interested in joining Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?" "Of course!" Murong Mingyue nodded and went to work right away. As of now, she was still the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and one of the best priests in the entire China server. She was also a gorgeous beauty, which meant that her seduction¡ªI meant recruitment skills¡ªwould always be better than mine. However, Lin Yixin shook her head and said, "There¡¯s no need, Sister Mingyue." "What do you mean?" Murong Mingyue asked in surprise. The Fruit Knife Goddess looked to the distance and said, "I just investigated this Ye Yuse¡¯s background. She was a player of Candle Dragon¡¯s 23rd subguild until 10 seconds ago. After the announcement, Candlelight Shadow immediately moved her to the main guild and asked God¡¯s Dance to surrender her position. Now, Ye Yuse is the new vice leader of Candle Dragon. Do you think you can persuade the vice leader of an enemy guild to switch sides?" Murong Mingyue chuckled in resignation. "It¡¯s pretty unlikely." Lin Yixin nodded and added, "It looks like Candle Dragon¡¯s fate hasn¡¯t run out yet. The addition of a new Divine General is definitely going to bolster their strength¡­" I searched Ye Yuse on the database and found an answer in no time. Ye Yuse was a Level 167 Charm Master¡ªa hidden class¡ªand her Famous General Skill was Bow General. Her hidden class was probably the reason she was able to trigger the unique Divine General Skill that was Nether Curse. Not only that, Ye Yuse was ranked 11th in the champion arena, a master of 1v1 fights. This wasn¡¯t good news for our guild for sure. "It looks like our next territory battle just grew harder!" I laughed. Lin Yixin broke into a smile as she asked, "What¡¯s wrong? Are you feeling pressured already? Rumor says that Ye Yuse is a beautiful woman, you know. Does that intimidate you?" I raised my sword and declared confidently, "Hmph, of course not! Divine General or not, any Candle Dragon player who stands in my way will die!" Murong Mingyue curled her lips as she teased me, "Yes, yes, you arrogant, stupid but cute fool~~~" Beiming Xue and Lian Xin burst into giggles when they heard that. ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, it looked like we had killed every single Bloodblade Ghost General on the field, so we had no choice but to graduate from the fields. There would be more mobs, minibosses and even bosses to kill on the road, not to mention that Ovia the Bloody Finger was a Sovereign-level boss. He would surely have a ton of lackeys for us to kill. The next area was a wasteland, and we spotted several sets of dragon bones lying on the ground. The place was brimming with phosphorescence and ghastly howls, the surrounding air growing colder as one walked deeper in, both in the literal and metaphorical sense. Soon, even the background music itself was changed into one that would fit a horror movie perfectly. The girls started looking around nervously as if afraid that a ghost would get the drop on them. "This place sure is eerie as hell," I started. "Mn." Lian Xin and Beiming Xue immediately nodded in agreement. I continued, "So, does anyone want to sing a song and liven up the atmosphere a little?" Beiming Xue offered, "I¡¯ll do it!" "Okay. What would you like to sing?" "There¡¯s a popular song titled ¡®Mini Skirt¡¯ lately. Is that fine?" It was, uhh, a bold choice, let¡¯s put it that way. "S-sure¡­" Beiming walked next to me and cleared her throat. Then, she started singing in a sweet and clear voice¡ª The spring rain falls, I woke up in the morning I still remember, your mini skirt Dancing in the wind, we walk together And all I wanted to do, was to flip your mini skirt Flowers bloom in my dream, but I know not your heart The sheets are white, someone is m.o.a.ning It is you and my voice, swaying in the wind The ears of the mini skirt listen only for you Oh my hesitant brother, how shall I figure out your heart Do you really know, that I am waiting to drop my mini skirt, for you ¡­¡­ The song ended, and no one said a thing for a very, very long time. Beiming Xue shook my hand back and forth. "Well, big bro? Did I sing well?" I replied expressionlessly, "It¡¯s pretty good. You still need to work on your voice though. Keep up the hard work." "I will!" Beiming Xue beamed. To say that words failed to describe our current feelings would be the understatement of the century. Lin Yixin even looked at me and commented, "She truly is your dear sister¡­" I wanted to cry. "What am I supposed to do??" Thankfully, an interruption just in time to break the awkward moment. Lian Xin pointed to the distance and shouted, "Look, what is that?!" A bump was slowly rising from the soft ground beneath a pale dragon bone. It looked like a mature carrot that was being pulled out of the ground. Clearly, a mob was hiding in that spot! Bang! There was a loud bang as a dark red object burst out of the ground. It was long and thin, and it floated in the air like a ghost. "What the f.u.c.k is that!?" I exclaimed in astonishment as I grabbed the handle of my sword. "It¡¯s an iron stick!" Beiming Xue declared confidently. But Lin Yixin shook her head and said, "I don¡¯t think so¡­" It was at this moment the "iron stick" spread out like an umbrella. However, the rib of the "umbrella" was craggy and made of some sort of bony substance. Its shaft reminded me of a rifle¡¯s barrel. A bloody glow surrounded it as it slowly rotated on its own. I gazed at the mob with Dark Pupils and captured its stats screen¡ª Ghost Chariot (Dread) Level: 210 Attack: 10500~12300 Defense: 12000 HP: 1,000,000 Property: Undead Control. Ignores 15% of target¡¯s Defense. Property: Lifesteal. Absorbs 5% of damage dealt as HP. Skills: Undead Stab, Double Hit, Ghost Chariot Slash Introduction: Ghost Chariot is a strange creature of unknown origin that is commonly found in the land of the dead. Some say that it is the blessed child of the Spirit Realm, and some said that it is the emissary of the dead that walks between the worlds. But one thing is certain, no one who encountered a Ghost Chariot has ever lived to tell the tale. It is why paintings of this creature are drawn and spread by undead mages, not humans. It is said that Ghost Chariots reside within the burial grounds of dragons, and those that have absorbed the energy of the undead dragons are even stronger than normal. Moreover, these violent-natured creatures possess incredibly explosive power, and they will kill anyone who invades their domain. ¡­¡­ Dark Pupils could even identify the specific characteristics of its skills. After I shared it in the party channel, I said, "Be careful, everyone. This is not a dread-rank mob we can afford to underestimate. Undead Stab is an armor penetration skill, so it deals 100% extra damage to leather armor and cloth armor classes. The second hit of Double Hit is 50% stronger than its first hit. Ghost Chariot Slash is an AoE attack that hits everything within a 5-yard area and ignores 35% of the target¡¯s Defense. Adding that to its property, Undead Control, that¡¯s a total of 50% Defense ignored, so seriously, be careful. Sis, keep a close eye on Yiyi and my health bar, please. I don¡¯t want to die here." Murong Mingyue nodded. "Got it!" Meanwhile, Lin Yixin murmured to herself as she stared at the Ghost Chariot, "Ohh, who would¡¯ve thought that a little red umbrella would be this powerful. How scary¡­" Chapter 865: Ghost Chariot Slash Swhoosh! I locked onto the Ghost Chariot and charged. I managed to stun it because it was a dread-rank mob, and I followed up with Burning Blade Slash at nearly the same time Lin Yixin used Triple Slash. Sparks flew everywhere as we struck the ¡°umbrella¡±. It almost felt like hitting a wall of steel, and our damage wasn¡¯t as good as it could¡¯ve been. However, its absolute Defense would falter once Beiming Xue hit it with a Bone Eroding Arrow. ¡°Growl¡­¡± The Ghost Chariot let out a low growl before spinning on its feet and closing itself. Then, it stabbed Lin Yixin right at the blade of her sword! Chiang! 12878! The beautiful wanderer staggered a few steps backward with a shocked expression on her face. ¡°Its Attack is quite powerful!¡± Behind us, Lian Xin cast Ice Spiral Matrix that engulfed the Ghost Chariot. It got hit twice and dropped a ton of HP¡ª 102929! 112734! Holy f.u.c.k.i.n.g shit, Lian Xin¡¯s Ice Spiral Matrix was crazy. No wonder she was able to terrorize the living shit out of top-class players like Warsky at Poplar Valley! However, Lian Xin also caused the Ghost Chariot to fly into a demonic rage. After its panels suddenly started glowing bright red and sharp blades protruded out of its tips, the mob started spinning like a top and cutting everything in its path. Caught completely off-guard, neither Lin Yixin nor I were able to move away in time! Bang bang! It was the Ghost Chariot Slash, a skill that ignored 50% of the enemy¡¯s Defense. In a sense, it was very similar to Barrier Break. The blades sank into my chest, and both Lin Yixin and I suffered massive amounts of damage¡ª 89023! 127474! I was fine because I had a shield and the Heaven-burning Armor, but Lin Yixin only had the Devil Bell. The Fruit Knife Goddess she might be, but she still lost almost 130k HP, or half of her total HP, in one go, forcing the Moonchaser Tiger to back away a few steps from the Ghost Chariot to protect its master. What a devastating skill Ghost Chariot Slash was! Murong Mingyue hurriedly healed Lin Yixin while saying, ¡°Holy shit, this Ghost Chariot Slash is ridiculous! Is this really the kind of power a dread-rank mob should have? Lu Chen, Beauty Lin, do you think you can Guard the attack? I¡¯m sure both of you have the reaction speed to pull it off.¡± But I said, ¡°That¡¯s not the problem, sis. Ghost Chariot Slash should be identical to Barrier Break, and Guard would only multiply damage taken!¡± ¡°Woo, this is one helluva mob¡­¡± Murong Mingyue laughed heartlessly at our plight. ¡°F.u.c.k you¡­¡± It was sad that there wasn¡¯t really much I could do to reduce the damage, but I was the tank, and the only food for a tank was damage. At least the Ghost Chariot couldn¡¯t heal itself like we could, so we weren¡¯t going to lose to it no matter what. Also, it only had a million HP, so one Bone Eroding Arrow from Beiming Xue was all it took for us to lower its Defense and destroy it. Boom! One last devastating Ice Flame Slash later, the Ghost Chariot screeched and died. It actually dropped a blood red card upon death! I picked up the card with the Ghost Chariot¡¯s image on it¡ª Ghost Chariot Card: Increases user¡¯s attack power by 65%. User¡¯s attacks ignore 35% of the target¡¯s Defense. Level Requirement: 170. Duration: 120 minutes. ¡­¡­ I stared at the Ghost Chariot Card silently for a moment. Then, I said quietly, ¡°This has to be the strongest card that has appeared in this game so far!¡± ¡°Plus 65% attack power, and ignores 35% Defense¡­¡± Lin Yixin repeated with a smile. ¡°Yep, this card definitely surpasses all the cards we¡¯ve seen so far by a mile. There¡¯s no better offensive card than this!¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to put this away then¡­¡± I said while tossing the Ghost Chariot Card into my backpack. Frankly, I was reluctant to waste such a good card even for a main quest. I would probably save it until another Nation War or an important competition like the WSL. Good steel should be used to forge blades, not handles! ¡­¡­ ¡°Well, I guess we should search for more Ghost Chariots in this dragon graveyard¡­¡± I spurred my mount forward while saying, ¡°Let¡¯s try to grind as many Ghost Chariot Cards as possible. If we can grind enough to give High Fighting Spirits, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and Xu Yang a card each, our fighting power will be unstoppable in any future territory war or Nation War!¡± "Yes. And even if they didn¡¯t drop the card, they still give a lot of experience. They are Level 210 dread-rank mobs after all, hehe!" Lin Yixin agreed with me. Only an idiot would choose to skip a map as profitable as this, especially since the first mob always had the highest drop rate. For example, assuming that we killed every Ghost Chariot in this area and grinded a total of 100 Ghost Chariot Cards, the next group to grind this map after the mobs respawned might not even be able to grind 10 cards, even if they did everything the same as us. It was the same for the Mingshes in the forests behind us too. After most or all of the baby Mingshes were captured, at least 90% of the total baby Mingshes in those forests wouldn¡¯t respawn again. It was so that its first finders could hold a key advantage over their competitors. Otherwise, occupying Bloody Shield Domain would just be a pointless endeavor. We continued forward until we heard an eerie rustling noise from the ground ahead of us. Then, two Ghost Chariots appeared in unison and charged toward us. I immediately made a snap decision and shouted, "I¡¯ll fight the right one, and Yiyi the left! Lian Xin, help Yiyi! Beiming, help me! Sis, keep us all healthy!" "Growl¡­" The Ghost Chariot let out a screeching howl and hit me with Undead Stab upon first contact. However, I cleverly used my shield to parry the attack and successfully triggered a MISS. Shields increased parry chance, and this chance was calculated based on a player¡¯s fine control. The better the player¡¯s control, the higher their chance to parry an attack with their shield. Long story short, control + stats decided everything in this game. Not far away, Lin Yixin was hitting the other Ghost Chariot until it abruptly spun and deleted 55% of her HP in an instant. She was lucky it didn¡¯t crit, or she would have been one-shot for sure. Lin Yixin abruptly thrust her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword at a panel and used Barrier Break. The sword¡¯s property, Veluriyam Lamp, actually triggered and healed her for a huge chunk of HP¡ª +41176! Veluriyam Lamp restored 15% HP to its player, and it was an impressive effect for sure. Its base chance was only 5%, but with Lin Yixin¡¯s Luck, it was safe to say that the real chance was around 10% or so. It was almost the same as lifesteal at this point. Starting now, Lin Yixin¡¯s ability to solo grind was unrivaled for sure. Of course, He Yi¡¯s Seven Star Veluriyam Spear had the exact same effect, so I was sure that she was doing fine in the Mingshe Forest. I bet she could even solo 2 to 3 Mingshes easily without the need for a priest to intervene. In this particular case, even Gui Guzi was probably inferior to her. ¡­¡­ "Growl growl!" The two Ghost Chariots died at almost the same time. They didn¡¯t drop any cards, but they did drop a couple of stones and a pitch black, 3-star Outstanding Earth-grade leather-armor helmet. I gave it to Beiming Xue just because I felt like it. We continued forward. Somewhere along the way, we had to pass through a gigantic dragon carcass. The bones blocked the moonlight like some sort of natural barrier. Murong Mingyue swallowed as she stared at the dragon bones above our heads. "Lu Chen?" "Yes, sis? What is it?" "These dragons died while lying on the ground, right? Look at their h.i.p.s. Why don¡¯t I see a¡­ err¡­ c.o.c.k bone anywhere?" I stared at her expressionlessly. "Who the hell told you that there¡¯s a bone in a guy¡¯s c.o.c.k?" "There isn¡¯t?" Murong Mingyue exclaimed in shock. "Then why did the p.o.r.nographic advertis.e.m.e.nt on websites always use the term ¡®hard¡¯, or ¡®stiff¡¯, or ¡®long-lasting¡¯ when describing c.o.c.ks? Is the world lying to me?" I felt sweat dripping down the back of my head. "And here I thought you knew everything. Look, if there really was a bone in a guy¡¯s c.o.c.k, then none of us would be able to wear a pair of jeans¡­" Lian Xin blinked innocently. "Why¡¯s that?" "Yeah, why?" Beiming Xue also asked. I gave it some thought before replying, "I have no idea. Ask again and I¡¯ll kill myself¡­" Lin Yixin stifled a chuckle but didn¡¯t say anything. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the ground in front of us shook again before a Ghost Chariot popped into existence. After it floated into the air, it abruptly opened itself and let out a scary growl. "Ah!" "Ah!" The girls¡¯ mouths fell open in shock and joy at once. Why joy? It was because the Ghost Chariot before us was a Level 1 mob! Ghost Chariot (Dread Boss Pet) Level: 1 Introduction: Ghost Chariot is a strange creature of unknown origin that is commonly found in the land of the dead. Some say that it is the blessed child of the Spirit Realm, and some said that it is the emissary of the dead that walks between the worlds. But one thing is certain, no one who encountered a Ghost Chariot has ever lived to tell the tale. It is why paintings of this creature are drawn and spread by undead mages, not humans. It is said that Ghost Chariots reside within the burial grounds of dragons, and those that have absorbed the energy of the undead dragons are even stronger than normal. Moreover, these violent-natured creatures possess incredibly explosive power, and they will kill anyone who invades their domain. ¡­¡­ Unbelievable. I could hardly believe how lucky we were. Not only did we encounter a pet, it was a boss-tier pet no less! Today truly was our lucky day! No one said anything, but we all took out our Sealing Cards and exchanged a knowing smile with each other. Then, I declared, "Begin!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Several Sealing Cards flew above the Ghost Chariot and summoned their magic formations at once. The Ghost Chariot tried to struggle against the magical energy dragging it toward the center, but in the end it vanished into nothing and turned into a white ray of light. Best of all, it flew straight into my Creature Sealing Stone! I couldn¡¯t describe how happy I was. Should I attribute it to karma, luck, or both? One way or another, I was the first person to capture a Ghost Chariot! The girls looked at me and urged, "Well, what are you waiting for? Show us the baby Ghost Chariot¡¯s stats already!" "Yeah." I waved my hand, and its stats screen appeared above the Creature Holding Stone¡ª Ghost Chariot (Dread Boss Pet) Level: 1 Attack: 92 Defense: 84 HP: 90 Agility: 72 Growth¡ª Attack: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Defense: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î HP: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Agility: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Skills: Undead Stab (Level 20), Double Hit (Level 50), Ghost Chariot Slash (Level 100) Chapter 866: Good Little Parasol The girls¡¯ mouths fell open. They all looked stunned beyond words. I was more or less feeling the same thing. The Ghost Chariot¡¯s stats were ridiculously good, and its Attack growth was a perfect 10¡ªwhether there was a higher score than this, I did not know. Objectively speaking, its Attack star rating was even higher than my Phantom Wolf King¡¯s, although my Phantom Wolf King was still stronger because it was an Immortal Rank boss. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin¡¯s lips were pressed together, and her eyes were shining with a dazzling light. She said softly, "Look, it can learn Ghost Chariot Slash at Level 100¡­" Murong Mingyue commented, "It has a BN of 338! This is crazy! Back in the day I thought a pet with 100 BN was top-tier already, but this blows all of them out of the water!" Lian Xin said, "It¡¯s true that the Ghost Chariot has great stats, but its true value lies in its Ghost Chariot Slash, am I right?" Lin Yixin nodded in agreement. "You are. Ghost Chariot Slash ignores 50% of the target¡¯s Defense, and it affects all units within a 5-yard radius. Imagine a powerful warrior hitting everyone around him with Barrier Break, and then imagine 3 to 5 Ghost Chariots unleashing Ghost Chariot Slash at the same time. Is there any shield formation in the world that can withstand a combo like this?" I did just that as I stared at the Creature Holding Stone. A while later, I broke out of my daydream and asked, "It¡¯ll be epic alright. However, I don¡¯t need the Ghost Chariot since I already have the Phantom Wolf King. Is there anyone who wants this?" Lian Xin gave it some thought before replying, "I¡¯ll take it if no one wants it, big brother Lu Chen. My Stone Giant King is a bit poor at this stage of the game, while Beiming¡¯s Thunder Beast, Sister Mingyue¡¯s Ironwing Dragon, and dumb girl¡¯s ice dragon are plenty powerful in their own right. By the time we reach Dharan City, it should be Level 100 and good enough to participate in a fight." "Alright!" I tossed the Creature Holding Stone right into Lian Xin¡¯s hands before staring at the stair-like mountain ranges and piles of dragon bones at the distance. I said, "This barren highland is pretty big, so let¡¯s keep searching. We still need to collect more Ghost Chariot Cards, and who knows, this might not be the only baby Ghost Chariot we¡¯ll run into along the way." Lin Yixin smiled in agreement. "Yes. Bloody Shield Domain¡¯s best specialty is probably its unusually high rate of Level 1 pets. We are lucky that we get to be the first to grind a blessed zone like this. Once we¡¯ve swept this whole map clean, there won¡¯t be much left for the latecomers anymore." "But of course!" I laughed. "We are the ones who gathered all nine Tiger Soul Essences at Nine Tigers Soul Suppressing Tower. It¡¯s only natural that the system rewardS us for our efforts!" "Mn." ¡­¡­ We continued. This time, we made sure to check every pile of bones be it dragon or monster. We soon discovered that there was always a Ghost Chariot lurking beneath a gigantic skeleton, and while they were not Level 1 baby Ghost Chariots, they were still Level 210 dread-rank mobs with high experience yield and excellent loot table. The reason I knew this was because our third Ghost Chariot dropped a 4-star Outstanding Spirit-grade sword that no one needed. Swhoosh! While we were fighting, Lian Xin brought her little bloody umbrella out of her summoning space to leech experience. The cute little thing jumped out of the hexagram and rotated slowly in midair. Since it was just Level 1, it was the size of a human palm and looked very cute to say the least. Lian Xin set it to "Follow" so that it would stay close to her and attack the enemy. Also, she changed its name to "Good Little Parasol", which was a¡­ "fantastic" name in my personal opinion. A man and woman¡¯s naming sense differed drastically from one another. If it was me, I would¡¯ve named the Ghost Chariot something powerful like "The Guillotine", "Hegemon Umbrella", "Swimming Dragon", "Roaming Dragon" or more. Names like "Pink Little Mushroom" or "Fiery Little Umbrella" would never cross my mind even if I renamed it a million times. When I killed the fourth Ghost Chariot, "Good Little Parasol" jumped a ton of levels and made Lian Xin smile. "Heehee, look at all this experience! My pet skyrocketed to Level 14 in one go!" "Of course. This is the experience of an a.d.u.l.t Ghost Chariot!" I said while picking up a Ghost Chariot Card¡ªthe second one thus far¡ªand threw it into Lin Yixin¡¯s hands. Now we both had a Ghost Chariot Card each. Once again, the mere thought of the card¡¯s effects excited me greatly. It was exactly the kind of card us melee damage dealers appreciated the most! A dragon¡¯s skeleton was incredibly huge and long. To put it into perspective, we killed a total of 27 Ghost Chariots as we traveled from the head to the tail. We also obtained 11 pieces of equipment and 4 Ghost Chariot Cards in total. After I gave Beiming Xue and Lian Xin a card each, we all used the cards to buff ourselves. When an effect states "attack power" and doesn¡¯t specify what type of attack it is, it usually encompasses both physical and magic attacks. It was the same with Defense ignore effect. That was why both Lian Xin and Beiming Xue could use the card. Again, it was safe to say that we had never encountered a card this OP until today. We continued our journey, but we didn¡¯t walk far before another Ghost Chariot popped out of the ground and blocked our way. Once again, the text floating above the mob was absolutely a delight to look at¡ª Level: 1 Lin Yixin was right. These baby Ghost Chariots were definitely appearing more frequently than usual. Assuming that we could catch enough baby Ghost Chariots, we might even be able to build a Ghost Chariot Legion. Just imagine Little Piglet trying to facetank our people with Vajra, only to be met by a horde of Ghost Chariots that can use an AoE skill that ignored half his Defense. It wouldn¡¯t be inaccurate to say that this pet was his living nightmare! Again, no words were necessary as we all pulled out our Sealing Cards. Five hexagrams appeared beneath the baby Ghost Chariot¡¯s handle, and two rounds later, the pet obediently flew into Murong Mingyue¡¯s Creature Holding Stone. This was the second baby Ghost Chariot we caught, and it was definitely not going to be the last. We soldiered on. ¡­¡­ To say that we went all out was an understatement. After trekking through damn near the entire place for 6+ hours, we finally murdered every Ghost Chariot in the valley and sealed a total of 82 baby Ghost Chariots. There were 29 baby Ghost Chariots in my bag alone. I checked the time and noted that it was past 3 am already. All the girls had bloodshot eyes at this point. Murong Mingyue lowered her scepter and raised her left arm while stretching, unknowingly exposing the shape of her flat tummy and round b.r.e.a.s.ts while doing so. For me at least, hard grinding like this was nothing if I got to enjoy sceneries like this every once in a while. "I can¡¯t do this any longer. Can we take a nap?" Murong Mingyue suggested. Lin Yixin spurred her mountain to the foot of a mountain range and gazed ahead. She said, "Yes, there¡¯s no hurry. We should reach the Dharan City ruins after we pass this hill. Since that is where the true challenge awaits, I suggest we fully rest and meet here in 6 to 9 hours. It¡¯s Ovia the Bloody Finger and his goons after this, and I would rather fight them while we¡¯re fully invigorated!" "True. We can use this opportunity to restore some equipment durability. Alright, let¡¯s log out right here." "Yes." According to Heavenblessed¡¯s rules, all equipment that was Earth-grade or higher would slowly regenerate durability as time passed. For example, my Cyan Netherworld Sword could regenerate around 25% durability if I didn¡¯t use it for 24 hours. Great longevity was one of the benefits of high-level equipment. Everyone set down their tent and prepared to log out of the game. After I crawled into my tent, I took a moment to check out my friend list and noted that He Yi was still online. It looked like she had jumped 3 levels while I wasn¡¯t looking. As expected, my beautiful guild leader¡¯s grind speed increased drastically after I obtained the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear! Beep! I sent her a message: "Eve, we¡¯re logging out. You should sleep soon as well." "Oh, sure. I¡¯m leaving this place to Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng anyway. Chaos Moon already went to sleep 3 hours ago, and she¡¯ll be replacing them around 6 am. Also, we¡¯ve caught over 4000 baby Mingshes during this time. Everyone¡¯s so excited that they could hardly sleep a wink!" "Even still, humans can¡¯t operate without sleep, you know. Anyway, I¡¯ll show you another super pet when we come back from our main quest. Trust me when I say it¡¯s several hundred times stronger than the baby Mingshe!" "Okay. I¡¯m logging out now!" "Yes." I summoned the system fairy and logged out after that. I felt a bit dizzy the moment I pulled off the helmet. After blanking out for two minutes or so, I stepped out of my room and found He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue already loitering in the living room. They were cooking some porridge to fill up their bellies before going to bed. I at least couldn¡¯t sleep with a growling stomach. He Yi was lying lazily on the sofa. She was wearing chocolate-colored pyjamas, and the way her chest rose and fell slowly as she breathed looked absolutely perfect. The skin seemingly glowing under the white lamp only served to accentuate her beauty even further. I walked behind He Yi, put my hands on her shoulders and slowly massaged them. She seemed to know that it was me because she kept her eyes closed, grasped my hand with her own and asked me, "New year is right around the corner, Lu Chen. Have you figured where you¡¯ll be passing the year?" I gave it some thought before answering, "I think I want to go home. It¡¯s been a while since I visited father and third uncle." He Yi nodded in agreement. "Yes, you should. It¡¯ll be New Year¡¯s Eve in just a couple of days¡­ I would accompany you on your trip, but I don¡¯t think mother will allow it¡­" "It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s only two or three days." "Heh¡­" He Yi turned her head and pressed her cheeks to the back of my hand. Her warm breath tickled my skin, but I couldn¡¯t deny that I enjoyed the moment of peace very much. ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue said, "I already told my parents that I won¡¯t be coming home this year. They¡¯re going to travel to France for a vacation anyway, so I may as well keep you company, big bro!" Lian Xin smiled. "Mn mn, I¡¯m going to check with my parents and see if I can skip New Year¡¯s as well." Suddenly, He Yi rose to her feet and wrapped her arms around my own. Standing on her tiptoes, she leaned across the sofa and kissed me once on the cheeks, blushing. "You know what? Screw it. Just this once, I¡¯m going wherever you¡¯re going for New Year¡¯s Eve, Lu Chen. I¡¯m an a.d.u.l.t and I can do whatever I want. Hmph!" Murong Mingyue walked out of the kitchen at the perfect moment to tease He Yi. "Oh, you sinful man. Look what you¡¯ve done to our He Yi¡­" He Yi¡¯s blush grew even deeper. "Don¡¯t laugh! Anyway, Beiming, Lian Xin and I are celebrating New Year¡¯s at Lu Chen¡¯s house, and that¡¯s that! We should also find some time to shop for the preparations!" At this point, I was the one who was getting embarrassed, so I nodded quickly and said, "No problem. We¡¯ll do that right after we¡¯re done with Bloody Shield Domain." Chapter 867: Worthless Validation The next day, I slept until noon before I finally got out of the bed. After finishing lunch, I noted that there was still ten or so minutes before 12:30 pm¡ªthe login time Lin Yixin and I had agreed on¡ªand checked the news on the forums first. A familiar red headline was still hanging on the home page even though two days had passed since: "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips and The Monarch Descends launch a surprise attack on White Horse City, and the Little Heavenly King Lu Chen abandons it after occupation! The Northern Alliance no longer has a deterrent force in the domain of the Chaotic 27!" Usually, the headline would¡¯ve been switched out already, but I wasn¡¯t going to complain about it. It raised our players¡¯ morale and boosted our reputation even more. These days, we were like the sun hanging in the sky. In contrast to our position, Candle Dragon was slipping away from their former status as the hegemon with each passing day. Candlelight Shadow, God¡¯s Dance and the others tried everything in their power to turn the tide, but things just weren¡¯t looking good for them. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls possessed super-tier experts like Li Chengfeng, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Chaos Moon and so on, as well as a Rank 9 castle, Dark Moon City. It was nearly impossible for anyone to unseat us from our throne at Sky City anymore. Snowy Catahya was our strongest ally, and they were just as unshakeable as we were. At Vanished God City, Blazing Hot Lips, Baidicheng, Hunting Moon Dynasty and more were standing their own ground, and more importantly, they would never fall under Candlelight Shadow¡¯s command because they all wanted to become a hegemon-level force themselves. This more or less described the power balance in the Chinese server. During the latter stage of Spirit of Grief, most of the bigger guilds ran out of energy and were unable to maintain their dominance. This was especially true after a great number of experts decided to retire from the game. As a result, Candle Dragon became the strongest guild of China at the time. Time never stops, however. Not even a year had passed since the opening of the game, and we were at the Golden Age of Heavenblessed right now. Countless ambitious people were fighting to become the master of the continent, and Candle Dragon was no longer the sole powerful guild in the country. Today, Candlelight Shadow might still be able to rule like a king at Wind City, but even that bit of power was slipping away from his grasp due to opponents such as Purple Lily and Peach Garden. It looked like all was lost until Ye Yuse, a subguild member of Candle Dragon, suddenly became a Divine General and won back some momentum for her guild. Well, it didn¡¯t matter. There were still many wars to be fought in the future! Besides that, there were five smaller news regarding the recent activities of the greater guilds. 1) Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Their key players have been missing as of late. Some suspect that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and From Water are grinding Bloody Shield Domain with their people. 2) Warsky Alliance. Warsky, October Rain, Lin Bing Dou Zhe and more have been spotted entering Frosty Night Hill and grinding the Dark Bears. 3) Candle Dragon. Candlelight Shadow and Blue Sky Scar led a party into Eternal Ice Snow Domain to explore its secrets. Candlelight Shadow gained 5 levels in 24 hours. 4) Gods of Destruction. Gods of Destruction formed a temporary alliance with Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon to punch through Bloody Rose Fortress. Their goal was to attack a tier 2 main city of Japan. The operation ended in failure. 5) 27 guilds of the Northern Alliance joined forces to attack Fortress of the Iron Halberd. Princess Karinshan herself personally showed up to defend the fortress and annihilated them with the Black Cavalry. The defeat absolutely dominated the Northern Alliance¡¯s forums for a time, and no one dared to set their sights on Fortress of the Iron Halberd any longer. ¡­¡­ Long story short, nothing much had happened as of late. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon and more were all grinding levels and developing their power. It was obvious that we were preparing ourselves for the future. Gods of Destruction, Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon though were losing influence in Sky City every single day, so they had no choice but to attack a small city of Japan and earn some validation for themselves. Unfortunately for them, they underestimated their enemy way too much. Purple Gr.a.p.e City dispatched an army of one million and wiped the floor with them. On another note, I was glad to learn that the players Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng chose to take to Bloody Shield Domain were truly reliable. There was no mention of the Mingshe pets anywhere, no matter how hard I looked. Considering that this was a party of fifty thousand we were talking about, it was an incredible feat of secrecy to say the least. I could now declare that these fifty thousand players would become the core of our forces in all future Nation Wars, and we could trust them to conduct any secret operation without having to worry about leaks. In an era of communication like this where a single offline phone call was enough to destroy a strategy completely, loyalty was the most valuable trait one could find. I loitered for a moment and went online. It was time to complete the final leg of our journey in Bloody Shield Domain. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! My vision lit up as I appeared inside the tent. When I crawled out, I saw that Lian Xin was already online, and Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue and Lin Yixin appeared soon after. Just like before, we made Lin Yixin the party leader so that we could use her Bombshell. After the Moonchaser Tiger let out a roar, it ran to the top of the hill and led us toward the edge of the Dharan City ruins. The mountain fog in the morning should be cool and refreshing, but all we could smell was the thick scent of death. When I reached the top of the hill and looked down, I was surprised to find that Dharan City was miraculously well preserved. Its walls, altars, palace, barracks and other structures were more or less intact. That being said, they were also completely covered in some sort of green fern plant. We also spotted a lot of complex-looking totems standing outside the city. They were so thick that it would take ten people to form a circle around them, and they were over 50 meters tall. They too were covered in fern. The presence of the plant was supposed to inject some life into the city, but all I sensed from it was death and absolute silence. "Wow! So this is Dharan City!" White cape flapping in the wind, Lin Yixin commented while standing next to me. Eyes filled with surprise and admiration, she continued, "It looks absolutely magnificent! What¡¯s with this eerie silence though? It¡¯s so quiet that all I feel from this ruins is anxiety. Ovia the Bloody Finger can¡¯t be so arrogant that he didn¡¯t station a single undead soldier in the city, right?" "Sure he did. You just need to look in the right places." I pointed with my lips and said, "See that blood-red forest about 3 kilometers away from the city? There are vultures and hyenas all over the place, and when those disgusting things are around, it can only mean that there are dead bodies to feast on nearby. A lot of them. Also, you can see that the branches and leaves are shaking unnaturally, so I¡¯m sure there¡¯s a Night Creature army stationed in that place. They most likely answer directly to Ovia the Bloody Finger." Lian Xin asked, "Should we take them out then, big brother Lu Chen?" "Hell no." I laughed. "This is a Purgatory Sovereign¡¯s army we¡¯re talking about. I imagine that they number at least several million, the kind of number we might not be able to take out even if we mobilize our entire guild. If we could, then Ovia should die from shame and just surrender his position to me, hehe!" Beiming Xue giggled. "What should we do then?" I thought for a moment before answering, "Our quest leads us into the ruins, not the forest. Therefore, I believe we should just avoid the Night Creature armies altogether and sneak into the city. We win if we find Bloody Finger and take him out." Murong Mingyue nodded in agreement. "Lu Chen is correct. There are only five of us and a countless horde of them, not to mention that we do not nearly have enough supplies or equipment durability to outlast those NPC mobs." I said, "Alright, let¡¯s go. There may be many scary things waiting for us inside the Dharan City ruins, so again, the plan is to sneak into the city and kill Bloody Finger before his subordinates realize it! Leave Princess Karinshan to deal with the undead army, our war belongs elsewhere." "Mn." We took off after the girls nodded in unison. ¡­¡­ Riding atop the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, I slowly slid down the rotten slope while Lin Yixin and the girls followed me from behind. We didn¡¯t dare to move too close to the forest, so we had to take a roundabout route. After circling around two rotten graveyards, we suddenly saw movement ahead of us. Lin Yixin¡¯s ears straightened as she stared at the front and said, "We have company. I see mobs at the same level or higher than the Ghost Chariots. Be careful, everyone." "Mn." I nodded. Thanks to Dark Pupils, I was able to scan the area in front of me thoroughly and spot 7 red dots near the edge of the forest. Gray Valley Forest encircled almost the entirety of Dharan City, so it was probably impossible to enter the city without going through it. We sneaked out way forward until we saw five skeletal soldiers sitting around a cold bonfire. They were growling at each other as if they were speaking, but none of us could understand what they were talking about. I might be an Asura King, but that didn¡¯t mean that I spent all my time interacting with the skeletons. There was no way I could understand the "native" language. "I count five Level 210 dread-rank Dharan Ruins Undead Soldiers!" Lin Yixin cautiously moved to my side and asked me, "They¡¯re all as powerful as the Ghost Chariots. How should we take them out?" "Wait." I said while pointing at a certain location, "Look, there are two hidden scouts over there. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll rush over if we attack their comrades." At the direction I was pointing, less than 100 yards away from our position, there were two undead riders loitering about. They were definitely close enough to hear the foot soldiers¡¯ cries and rush to their aid if we attacked them now. Beiming Xue declared confidently, "Leave them to me. I¡¯ll bury those two scouts with Well of the Abyss if they come closer. Hmph hmph!" "Alright, let¡¯s take them out as soon as possible! We¡¯ll kill the five foot soldiers first!" I abruptly burst out of my hiding spot and used Thousand Ice Slash! Bang! Ice flew everywhere, and all five undead soldiers were frozen where they sat. In fact, my domain even extinguished the bonfire they sat around! Lin Yixin hurriedly followed up with an Ice Flame Slash while Lian Xin unleashed several Dimensional Storms and Ice Spiral Matrices. The latter even sent her, now Level 117, Ghost Chariot forward and ravaged the frozen Dharan City Ruins Undead Soldiers with Ghost Chariot Slash. Three more Spiraling Arrow Blades from Beiming Xue later, the five mobs were killed before they could even let out a scream! "Tsk tsk, would you look at that DPS!" Murong Mingyue chuckled. The two undead riders at the side reacted and attacked us, but that was exactly what we wanted them to do. Lin Yixin and I aggroed one mob each and dealt with them easily. At this point, Level 210 dread-rank mobs posed absolutely no threat to us, not to mention that we both had over 100 Ghost Chariot Cards in our bag. A 65% boost to attack power and 35% Defense ignore were nothing to scoff at! ¡­¡­ The area was clear after we took out the enemy scout party. We passed through the short stretch of greenery and saw the walls of the Dharan City ruins. Chapter 868: Cloudway The wind blowing against our faces felt as sharp as it was icy. Our surroundings might look green and comfy, but the fact was the edge of the Dharan City ruins alone felt as cold as the depths of hell. It was almost unimaginable that a place of cold and death like this could exist at the Center, a region said to have eternal spring no matter the season. Suddenly, the Phantom Wolf King crouched low, puffed up the hair on its back and let out a low, guttural growl. It seemed to have sensed something ahead of us. I pushed aside the shrubbery blocking my vision and moved forward. We were now just dozens of steps away from the vine-covered totems that stood outside the city, and one step away from the truth that was buried in the annals of history for countless years. So far, the devs of Heavenblessed had done a good job of preventing the players from uncovering the various secrets and mysteries of the continent too quickly, and the identity and background of the Nine Sovereigns was one of them. ¡­¡­ After we arrived at the foot of the totems, I looked up and examined the dragon-like deity that was depicted on the totems. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, it was the guardian beast of the Dharan Empire. Besides that, I saw ten magnificent statues standing behind the totems and above the moat surrounding Dharan City. Five of the statues were warriors wielding swords, axes or spears. Their expressions were stern and angry, almost as if they were glaring at some unseen invaders at the horizon. The other five statues were two archers, two mages and one armor-clad woman kneeling on the ground on one knee. The woman¡¯s broadsword was plunged into the moat beneath her and slowly being chipped away by the passage of time. I unconsciously sucked in a deep breath as I stared at the scenery. I thought the city already looked magnificent from afar, but it was even more impressive up close. It was in no way inferior to our living miracle of a city, Sky City itself. At the same time, it was unimaginable that a human empire this powerful could be destroyed by the undead and corrupted into a den of one of the nine great evils, Ovia the Bloody Finger himself. After we passed through the totems and reached the edge of the moat, we saw a stone tablet inscribed in the language of the ancient Dharan Empire. The system automatically translated the text and voiced it in a deep and resounding voice¡ª "The Dharan Empire was a prosperous border city that stood strong against the undead despite repeated invasions. Our warriors are fiercely united against our common enemy, and countless heroes died to protect the empire. Among them, ten ancient braves were conferred the title of ¡®Ten Heroes¡¯. However, the enemy¡¯s cruelty far exceeded our imagination, and even they couldn¡¯t resist the enemy forever. Their heroic spirits will never falter, just as we, the citizens of the Dharan Empire, will always remember our beloved Ten Heroes." ¡­¡­ I smiled as I looked at the ten statues. "Ten Heroes? Interesting." Suddenly, Beiming Xue pointed to our right and exclaimed, "Big bro, look! There are people over there!" We looked at the direction she was pointing, and just as she said, we spotted about a hundred NPCs secretly surrounding the walls. They were friendlies because their names were green in color. Not only that, the city emblem on their shoulders marked them as NPCs of Vanished God City. I squeezed my legs and rode up to the party. At close range, it was clear that they had fought the undead some time ago. Their armor was covered in black blood, the color that obviously didn¡¯t belong to humans. The commander of the party was a young warrior who looked to be around 25 years old. He stopped doing whatever he was doing when he saw me and said, "Warrior from distant lands, do you hail from Sky City?" "I do." I gave him a nod of acknowledgment before continuing, "I received a quest to sneak into the Dharan City ruins and explore this undead-infested land." While explaining myself, I took a closer look at the NPC¡¯s name and was stunned by what I saw¡ª Malfor the Cloudway (Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 200 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: Cloudway is a noble of Vanished God City. He practiced martial arts at a young age, and he was famed for being the best student of Vanished God City¡¯s School of Magic and Martial Arts. After he graduated, he became the commander of Vanished God Army¡¯s main army. Cloudway has been a fiercely righteous man since a young age, and his one and only aim is to defeat the Night Creatures. He never took part in the fight for the throne even though he was the fifth prince, and he is well loved by all the commoners of his city. ¡­¡­ This was surprising. I wasn¡¯t expecting him to be a prince. The first thing I did after the realization was to press down on my Dragonlight Helmet to cover up my red eyes. Only then did I ask, "Your Highness, why have you come to this dangerous city?" Cloudway lowered his voice and answered, "It is not my intention to travel to this damned land of the dead, but the Night Creatures have been harassing our borders constantly as of late, and I received news that the Eye of the Purgatory at the center of the Dharan City ruins is emitting huge waves of energy. This means that countless undead are climbing out of the purgatory and onto the continent. I suspect that damned devil, Ovia the Bloody Finger, is up to no good again, and I¡¯m certain that this ploy is a sword pointed toward Vanished God City. This is hardly the first time Ovia has plotted against Vanished God City, so I came to investigate the ruins and find out what it is." Lin Yixin blinked once. "But why must you, a prince, undertake such a risky venture yourself? Is Vanished God City lacking capable people so much?" Cloudway gritted his teeth but kept his tone civil, "Hmph, those nobles only know how to drink, pleasure and politic for their own gains. None of them are willing to spare even a moment of their time to wonder about the Night Creatures, especially since they believe that our border fortresses are sturdy enough to protect our lands. Long story short, they¡¯re just unwilling to let go of their decadent lifestyle. However, someone must deal with the undead, and if they won¡¯t do it, then I will!" I gave the prince a respectful nod before shooting the ragtag band of troops behind him an incredulous look. "Your Highness, I¡¯ll be frank with you. If Ovia the Bloody Finger discovers you right now, you won¡¯t have nearly enough men to protect yourself!" Cloudway gripped his sword in anger as he voiced his agreement. "I know. We were twenty thousand strong until we were attacked by a band of Rot Feeders. At first, I thought that it would be a quick rout, but they kept coming almost as if their numbers were endless. In the end, only a hundred or so of us were left. Nevertheless, I will explore this place and deliver the information back to our garrison even if I am the last living person of my army." Worried for the fate of the prince, Beiming Xue gripped her bow and pulled my arm a bit. "Let¡¯s help them, big bro? If we don¡¯t, this brave prince is probably going to die." I nodded in agreement. "Yes." So I turned around and said, "Your Highness, we may be adventurers from Sky City, but we are all warriors of the Silver Moon Alliance. We are willing to offer you our aid to complete your quest!" Cloudway exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "Thank you! The fact that you were able to come this far already proves your strength, so I am sure that I will succeed with your aid! Now, let us walk together. Princess Karinshan of Sky City is a good friend of mine, and I have visited Sky City many times as an emissary. Today, our cities shall join forces and resist the Night Creatures together!" "Yes!" Of course, NPCs couldn¡¯t form a party with us, so we simply followed behind Prince Cloudway and his soldiers. ¡­¡­ Cloudway looked at the walls and lowered his voice again, "There aren¡¯t many undead soldiers in the city, but we shan¡¯t be careless nonetheless. There are 10 axe fighters on the walls, and we have 5 ropes in possession. Let us scale the walls in silence and assassinate them without alerting the giant beasts guarding the city." "Understood." There were two ropes right next to our party, so I grabbed one and unsummoned the Armored Ice Qillin Horse. As I scaled up the walls, Lin Yixin grabbed the other rope and climbed up as well. Beiming Xue and Lian Xin followed behind us, and Murong Mingyue behind them. Cloudway and his soldiers occupied the other three ropes. When we reached the top of the walls, I sneaked a glance and saw three axe fighters dozing off not far away from me. I bet these dirty undead never imagined that someone would be bold enough to attack Ovia the Bloody Finger¡¯s stronghold. I looked to the side and saw Lin Yixin staring at me with her big, round eyes. "Go?" "Go. I¡¯ll take the two on the left, you take the one on the right!" "Okay!" I abruptly jumped up the wall and waved my arm at an axe fighter. He was immediately bound by the God Binding Art. Before the other axe fighter next to him could react, I stunned him with Thunderous Charge, summoned the Phantom Wolf King and hacked away like crazy. Beside me, Lin Yixin had also stunned the third axe fighter. Shortly after, Beiming Xue scaled up the wall and fired her deadly single-target spells and arrows at the mobs. The axe fighters¡¯ HP dropped like a rock, and in less than half a minute, all three were dead where they stood. Our speed was nothing compared to Prince Cloudway¡¯s, however. When I turned around, I was shocked to find Prince Cloudway cutting off the axe fighter¡¯s heads with a single strike of his weapon. This meant that the NPC was dealing at least millions of damage per hit! It was the power of a Level 200 Immortal Rank boss, and it was something no player in the world could ever hope to achieve. "Careful. Look¡­" Cloudway pointed to our right, and we saw a spike-covered forest giant dozing off right beneath the gate. It was a Level 210 Immortal Rank boss, and it was surrounded by a ton of sleepy undead archers. Thank goodness we hadn¡¯t chosen to attack the gate directly, or the Immortal Rank boss and the archers could most likely instakill me even through my shield. ¡­¡­ We carefully sneaked our way down from the sides without alerting the giant. It wasn¡¯t like I wasn¡¯t tempted to kill the Immortal Rank boss, but it simply wasn¡¯t possible with our current manpower. It was accompanied by a thousand dread-rank mobs, and they would surely attack us at once if I aggroed a single one of them. There was only one outcome here, and that outcome was death. Speaking of which, a new SSS+ Rank quest had appeared in our quest log, and the quest objective was to scout the enemy with Prince Cloudway. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out how difficult this quest would be. Lin Yixin and I couldn¡¯t help but exchange a worried glance with each other. It was like pulling chestnuts out of the fire. Chapter 869: Holy Magus Dios The moss-covered city was swarming with rotten undead. In fact, even the undead soldiers themselves were covered in a thick layer of moss. They lay in grass, wilted trees and rubbles, and it looked like they hadn¡¯t moved a bone for centuries. The only reason they were still alive was because their powerful undead soul spark was sustaining them. Pitiful fellows. Undeads are immortal, but what does it matter if it came at the cost of one¡¯s soul? ¡­¡­ "We need a different plan. There are too many guards in this place!" Cloudway stared at the sea of undead on the ground with a deep frown on his face. "We¡¯re already vastly outnumbered by the enemy, but I also spot Lich Kings here and there. I¡¯ve witnessed their power myself, and I can tell that not even our best mages are strong enough to fight them. We will be routed if we continue like this." I looked at black-robed mages in groups of three standing behind the palace lamps. Their horrifying faces was all I needed to see to identify them as the legendary Lich Kings. The Lich Kings were Level 210 Immortal Rank minibosses¡ªI had gleaned their stats using Dark Pupils¡ªand on the same level as the Bloodblade Ghost Generals, but unlike those skeletal knights they used ranged magic, and stood together in groups of three. As Prince Cloudway said, it would be next to suicidal to engage them by force. The only thing we could do here was to seek out another path. I looked to the left and suggested, "We¡¯ll reach the smithy if we go down from there. There are less undead over there, and it¡¯ll take us to the Eye of the Purgatory. Once you confirm the reason behind its recent abnormalities, your quest will be complete, and you¡¯ll be able to return home, right?" Cloudway nodded in agreement. "That¡¯s correct. As soon as I obtain some concrete intel, I¡¯ll return to the borders of Vanished God City and rally a million troops for an assault!" "Let¡¯s go then!" This time, I was the one who acted as the guide and led the way. At the fourth junction, I walked down the stone stairs and arrived at an abandoned smithy. Most of the tools were completely rusted, and all that remained of the blacksmith was a skeleton lying on top of the table. We avoided a couple of axe fighters and secretly made our way into the inner city walls. This was almost too easy. The undead were lax in their security probably because they thought that no human would ever be able to breach the military lockdown set up at the forest. Up ahead, purple light was shining from inside the palace and illuminating many structures near the source. Prince Cloudway shivered once before saying, "We¡¯re here. I can feel the core of the Eye of the Purgatory from over here, and I can confirm now that they are summoning more undead from the Purgatory! Dammit! We need to move closer and see just how large and powerful this Eye of the Purgatory is!" "Be that as it may, we need to stay cautious, Your Highness," I reminded. Cloudway nodded in agreement. "Mn, I understand!" ¡­¡­ There were 15 undead soldiers guarding the entrance. They were Level 210 dread-rank mobs, and they were led by a miniboss riding a skeletal warhorse and wielding a fiery red blade. It was none other than the Level 210 Immortal Rank Bloodblade Ghost General. Lin Yixin said, "Cloudway, why don¡¯t you leave these undead to us? We can enter the palace after we take them out, right?" Cloudway nodded. "Please, young warriors!" Alright, it was time to reap some experience and loot. As Lin Yixin and I walked to the front of our party, I said, "I¡¯m going to use Dragon Slaying Slash to aggro the mob. With luck, we¡¯ll only aggro the Bloodblade Ghost General and 7 or so soldiers. I¡¯ll keep the Bloodblade Ghost General busy while you three deal with the 7 undead soldiers. Sis, you¡¯ll have to split your heals between Yiyi and me. Don¡¯t let us die, okay?" "I know." I raised my weapon, and a cyan blade energy smacked the Bloodblade Ghost General in the head, dealing 29837 damage. "Roar! Damned intruders, die!" The enraged miniboss charged me while 9 undead soldiers followed suit. That was two more than I had initially anticipated. Still better than 15 though! Chiang chiang chiang! The miniboss swung his weapon and hit me three times in the shield, dealing a not-miniscule amount of damage. Dammit, this miniboss was so powerful that it was almost bullshit. I rapidly moved into position and completed a coordinated attack with Lin Yixin. It was devastating. Thousand Ice Slash + Burning Blade Slash + Ice Flame Slash + Ice Storm was deadly enough, but it wasn¡¯t like the others were idle either. The Phantom Wolf King¡¯s Purgatory Storm, Lian Xin¡¯s Ice Spiral Matrix and Dimensional Storm, Beiming Xue¡¯s Spiraling Arrow Blade and even the Ghost Chariot¡¯s Ghost Chariot Slash deleted over half of the Level 210 dread-rank mobs¡¯ HP in the blink of an eye. Even the NPCs were stunned by our combined DPS. The battle continued. There was nothing especially worth mentioning about it except Lin Yixin¡¯s exceptional movements. She maintained a suitable distance between herself and the undead soldiers and played them like a butterfly. She minimized the damage she took without forgetting to dish out the pain. All 15 undead soldiers were taken out in less than three minutes. Then, they moved on to the Bloodblade Ghost General I was suppressing and killed it as well. Pop! A pair of Earth-grade boots dropped from the Bloodblade Ghost General¡¯s body; a pleasant surprise because his dead comrades hadn¡¯t been as generous with their loot. I gave it to Lin Yixin since it was about time Snowy Cathaya got something substantial out of this quest. ¡­¡­ When we turned our gaze at the now defenseless entrance, Cloudway said urgently, "Alright, let¡¯s head in. I will witness the summoning of the devils from the Purgatory with my own eyes!" "Yeah." We rushed in. Behind the steel door, there was a huge black vortex floating above the stairs with purple lightning spinning around it. It was so bright that it was difficult to look at, but I still noticed that this Eye of the Purgatory was exactly the same as the one summoned by Coldblade a long time ago. The stone of the stairs was utterly crushed by the vortex¡¯s power. Even now, more stones were sucked into the growing portal. The Eye of the Purgatory connected the mortal plane and the Purgatory plane, which was why roars could be heard from the other side of the vortex. Not only that, Corpse Eaters kept jumping through the portal and into our plane before they ran along the path leading to a nearby forest. The Eye was undoubtedly the reason the army of Night Creatures at the forest kept growing in numbers. "Dammit!" Cloudway clenched his fists and gritted his teeth angrily as he stared at the group of undead magi casting the summoning spell on the stairs. Suddenly, his eyes widened in shock, and he burst out, "Im¡­ impossible! How could this be!? You¡­ you¡¯re the one who wanted to destroy the kingdom??" An old magus clad in black robes and wielding a scepter suddenly let out a sinister laugh and lowered his hood, revealing an ancient face shrouded in dark energy. He shot Cloudway a terrifying smile and said, "So, you¡¯ve finally arrived, my child, my best student, and prince of the empire¡ªCloudway!" "Impossible¡­ impossible¡­" Clouway uttered through gritted teeth, "Sir Dios! You were my and my father¡¯s mentor! You were the 300-years-old founding magus of our empire, so why are you serving the Bloody Finger? Why are you opening the Eye of the Purgatory and allowing the undead to cross over to our world!?" We finally understood why Cloudway was so angry. Who would¡¯ve thought that the main spellcaster behind the Eye of the Purgatory would be the founding magus of Vanished God City himself? Holy Magus Dios (Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 215 Magic Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: A former magus of the Vanished God Empire. Having cultivated his power for 300 years, Dios is the mentor of many kings of the Vanished God Empire, and an incredibly powerful mage whose understanding of magic is nearly unrivaled. Unfortunately, far from being satisfied with his current power, Dios ultimately decided to betray the empire and submit to Ovia the Bloody Finger to obtain even greater power. ¡­¡­ Dios watched the enraged prince for a moment before breaking into a sudden smile. "Don¡¯t be angry, my child." Cloudway grasped his sword and uttered, "Why have you betrayed the empire?" Dios smiled savagely. "Betray? What is betrayal, and what is loyalty? All I ever wanted was greater power. Cloudway, you are too young to even comprehend what betrayal means. I, Dios, have served the Vanished God Empire for over three hundred years, but never once was I able to live a life that isn¡¯t under someone¡¯s thumb. I had witnessed nobles vent their rage against the commoners, rulers lying, negotiating and betraying others for their own selfish purposes, and I¡¯ve seen more than enough hypocrisy than I care to see any longer. The only betrayal I see here is that of the current authority toward its citizens, and my answer to that, is destruction. If I cannot change anything, then I may as well destroy it!" "No!" Cloudway unsheathed his sword and pointed it at his former mentor. "It takes time, but authority can be changed, and the nobles can be educated to serve the people eventually. But if you fall into the abyss even once, then you are betraying all of humanity! I, Cloudway, will stop your descent right here, my mentor! I¡ªwill¡ªkill¡ªyou!" Dios laughed after Cloudway declared that he would kill his mentor. "Very well, show me how much you¡¯ve grown, Cloudway. Just as you¡¯ll kill me without hesitation, I too will wipe out the future star of the empire without mercy. I will make that foolish ruler of mine suffer, hahaha¡­" ¡­¡­ Chiang chiang! Lin Yixin and I unsheathed our weapons in unison. It was time to challenge a Level 215 Immortal Rank super boss! Chapter 870: Divine Beast Slash Beep! I was about to act when I received a message from He Yi: "How¡¯s it going there, Lu Chen?" "We¡¯re just about to start a boss. What¡¯s wrong?" I replied. A whole minute later, He Yi sent her reply: "A few hours ago, we received news from the players at Dragonbone Mountain Range that one of the Nine Sovereigns, Sophia the Snow Minstrel, is leading an army down the mountains and charging straight for the USA¡¯s main city, Hero City. The entire Northern Alliance is in chaos right now. Sophia is ranked second among the Nine Sovereigns, and the army she¡¯s leading is over ten million strong. There are even blood-red undead flyers air-dropping Corpse Eaters, Liches and more around Seven Star City. They have a couple hours at most before the entire city will be fighting for their dear lives. Apparently, the reason Sophia launched an invasion out of nowhere is because some US player triggered a main quest. One way or another, this is going to be one helluva show¡­" I grinned as I replied, "How terrible, we¡¯re doing a main quest too, and our target is Ovia the Bloody Finger himself. We¡¯re probably all going to die, eh? Jokes aside, keep doing what you¡¯re doing. If you¡¯re done, try breaching Bloody Fortress and make it to the boneyard. There¡¯s a ton of Level 210 mobs and Rank 1 Ghost Chariots over there. It¡¯s a dread-rank boss pet! Better not let this opportunity go to waste!" Seemingly excited, He Yi put a smile emoji before her message: "Understood, I¡¯ll mobilize our men right away! Heehee, this Bloody Shield Domain is seriously amazing. When we¡¯re completely done with this map, our main guild¡¯s average level, equipment and skill will have improved by leaps and bounds!" "Mn. Keep up the good work. I¡¯m going to start working myself." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I turned off the communicator and prepared to fight. Prince Cloudway was shivering in fury, and after shooting his troops and us a glance he said, "Warriors of Vanished God City and Sky City, we must destroy the Eye of the Purgatory before we lose another strong city! I will deal with Magus Dios while the rest of you deal with his four accomplices!" "Yes, Your Highness!" His troops nodded in unison. I looked. The four accomplices he mentioned were the four mages standing around Holy Magus Dios. They were all Level 215, and if I had to guess, they were probably his disciples or something. Anyway, they were only Immortal Rank minibosses, and they were way weaker than their master in terms of offensive power, defense and HP. I climbed onto the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and ordered, "We¡¯ll focus down the minibosses one by one while the NPCs keep them busy!" "Yes!" The girls responded with a nod. I chose the closest miniboss to us¡ªa mage in purple robes¡ªand used God Binding Art. After it resulted in a MISS, I used Thunderous Charge and tried to stun him once more! Swhoosh! It worked this time, and the mage was temporarily stunned. He hadn¡¯t been able to activate his Magic Shield in time. "Beiming!" I shouted, but her Bone Eroding Arrow had already stuck the panicking mage before I even finished. At the same time, Lin Yixin dropped her sword and used Extreme Break and Ice Flame Slash! Bang bang! Man did it feel good to attack a cloth-armor enemy. Every attack dealt 50k damage at least, and one cycle later, the mage had already lost almost 700k HP! "Damn you, you lowly melee martial artists! Watch as I blast you to pieces!" The purple mage raged and fired Exploding Flame Spell right between Lin Yixin and me, dealing a ton of damage and sending the Phantom Wolf King flying. Judging from the scorching pain eating away at my body, the bastard¡¯s Magic Attack was most likely higher than Lian Xin¡¯s. 86284! 102923! Holy shit. Never underestimate the magical prowess of a boss. "Come! The baptism of the God of Fire awaits you!" The boss raised his scepter again and chanted, "Slumbering spirits of fire, awaken and devour everything! In the name of ahhHHH¡ª" The guy was screaming because I had thrown Magic Piercing Punch to his face and canceled his great summoning spell. It worked because my domain power had improved after I invoked Great Earth Transformation. "Kill!" Blades flew everywhere as Lin Yixin and I coordinated with Beiming Xue and Lian Xin to delete the boss''s HP as soon as possible. Even still, the Exploding Flame Spells, Fire Dragon Spells and more the f.u.c.ker kept shooting at us put us below 50% HP at all times, stressing Murong Mingyue a great deal. She had to throw heal after heal like a machine gun even though we were standing right in the Pool of Life she had cast. Swhoosh! Suddenly, the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade flashed and stunned the boss for 7 seconds. This was our best chance to maximize our DPS and HPS, and we did. 7 seconds later, the miniboss''s HP hit rock bottom while we were fully revitalized! "Roar!" The Cyan Netherworld Sword triggered its passive, and the Cyan Netherworld Divine Dragon devoured the old mage¡¯s last sliver of HP in one go. He let out an angry roar as he slowly slumped to the ground, "Receive me, god of hell!" Pop pop pop! He dropped a couple of equipment pieces, magic stones and more. There was no time to inspect the loot one by one¡ªall I knew was that there were no Heaven-grade items among them¡ªso I dumped them all into my bag and rushed the second miniboss immediately. At the same time, I said, "We need to work fast! There¡¯s no way Cloudway will be able to hold off the boss for long!" "Yes!" We swiftly took over the second miniboss from the NPCs and deleted his HP as fast as we could. Not far away from us, Cloudway was being repeatedly knocked back by Holy Magus Dios¡¯s spells, but he refused to give up. Imbuing his shield with Holy Shield, he protected himself as best he could while attacking the magus¡¯s Magic Shield again and again. However, the boss''s Magic Shield was way tougher than the minibosses¡¯, so it showed no signs of breaking anytime soon. Worse, Cloudway himself had dropped to 87% HP in this short time. Swhoosh! It was at this moment Murong Mingyue cast Restore on Cloudway and succeeded. The spell was percentage-based, which meant that the prince¡¯s life expectancy just increased significantly! "Way to go, sis!" I praised her. Murong Mingyue puffed up her two bundles of pride and said, "Less flattering, more fighting, boy!" ¡­¡­ The energies rippling across the air was incredibly intense. The Holy Magus Dios gathered a thick ball of flame at the tip of his scepter as he shouted, "Cloudway, my dear disciple! I am the one who raised you into a great magic warrior, and I will be the one to bring you to hell with me!" He then raised his scepter and chanted loudly, "O¡¯ great secrets of fire, heed my command and descend upon this world! In the name of Dios, I cast this spell at the price of life¡ªFire Current!" Boom! An incredible jet of flames burst away from the tip and flew straight for the prince. Cloudway raised his sword and pressed his left palm to the flat side of the blade. He growled, "Origin Shield!" The flame blast was so powerful that Cloudway was knocked to the back and out of the line of fire. His left wristguard was red hot from the heat, and I imagined that his left arm must be screaming in pain right now. However, the prince didn¡¯t let out a cry of pain even once as he landed on top of a bush. Meanwhile, the NPC troops he brought raised their shields to block the spell, but it was greater than they could¡¯ve imagined. One terrible explosion later, both the men and their shields melted away into nothing, leaving only the skeletons behind. Tears slid down Cloudway¡¯s cheeks as he said sorrowfully, "Mentor, you¡­ you really have learned an undead¡¯s magic¡­ you really have fallen completely¡­" Dios laughed loudly in response. "That¡¯s right! The old me would¡¯ve been hard-pressed to unleash such power! Child, come join me and attain a higher level of power!" "Dream on!" Cloudway pushed himself to his feet and shouted, "I will never spill blood of the innocent to build my power! Now come! Let me show you my new martial technique!" The prince growled as a beastial cry abruptly erupted from Cloudway¡¯s sword. The energy of the Xiezhi beast manifested above his head¡ªexactly identical to High Fighting Spirits¡¯ Xiezhi Howl, but far stronger in terms of power¡ªand started spinning like a cyclone. When a complex hexagram appeared beneath Cloudway, he shouted, "Eat this¡ªDivine Beast Slash!" Cloudway literally went all out with this strike. Any more than this, and he would have to sacrifice his own life force. It was all to stop his former mentor from continuing his descent into the darkness! Boom boom boom! The powerful attack resulted in the destruction of more than half of this part of the palace. When the terrible explosions ended, Holy Magus Dios was still standing, but his eyes were full of praise, and there was a thin trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth. "You¡¯ve definitely proven your talent, my beloved disciple. I am afraid I can¡¯t allow you to live any longer¡­" Killing intent flashed across Dios¡¯s eyes as he said this. He was clearly not going to hold back any longer. ¡­¡­ "Faster! Cloudway needs our help!" I barked. Lin Yixin replied, "I know, but we¡¯re already at max speed¡­" She was right, unfortunately. We were going all out already, but our opponents were Level 215 minibosses. Two magic blasts were all they needed to drop Lin Yixin and me to low health. We were lucky that our priest was Murong Mingyue and not someone lesser like say, Moon Dew, or we would¡¯ve been party-wiped a long time ago. A 30% difference in HPS was like the difference between night and day in a boss battle. Magic and martial skills flew everywhere as the fierce battle continued. All around us, things kept breaking down to tinier and tinier pieces not unlike our diminishing supply of potions. We had been chugging them almost immediately after their cooldown was finished. Even Prince Cloudway¡¯s HP had dropped to 40% or so. He was still alive only because Murong Mingyue kept casting Restore on him. ¡­¡­ Half an hour later, the three remaining minibosses finally dropped dead and left behind some rather shitty loot. Not one of the items was even Heaven-grade, let alone higher. This was hardly the time to complain about bad loot though, so we simply packed our stuff and turned all our attention onto Holy Magus Dios. The prince must live for two reasons: one, we would fail a valuable quest if he died. Two, he was a great NPC, and it would be a shame to lose him here! Chapter 871: Send to Hell "Flame Current!" A huge blast of fire engulfed Cloudway and deleted another 700k+ HP from his health bar. He only had less than 10% HP left now! "Quickly! We need to save Cloudway!" When I finally took out the fourth miniboss, I locked onto Dios and activated Thunderous Charge from maximum range! Swhoosh! I hit the great magus like a lightning bolt, but I didn¡¯t manage to stun him. Dios was protected by an exceptionally powerful Magic Shield, and it hadn¡¯t been broken yet. I raised my sword and slashed him four times in a row using Burning Blade Slash and Universe Break, distorting his shield and dealing a series of damage numbers¡ª 3982! 7267! 10292! 48277! It looked like Universe Break was the only skill that could significantly penetrate the mage boss''s Defense. Not only that, his Defense and Magic Shield were unusually tough, so much so that even the great Prince Cloudway couldn¡¯t possibly defeat him in a one-on-one fight. Still, Prince Cloudway managed to reduce Dios¡¯s HP to 48%, so that was some good news at least. Lin Yixin appeared after me wielding the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword in her right hand and a dagger in her left. She swung both weapons at the same time and landed Moon Gaze + Extreme Break + Barrier Break combo! 18299! 31726! She looked at me and said, "Little Cheat, we can¡¯t keep fighting like this! If we don¡¯t break his Magic Shield, he¡¯ll only regenerate more HP than we can delete!" I immediately shouted, "Beiming Xue, ready the Bone Eroding Arrow! Use it once we shred his Magic Shield!" "Mn!" Lin Yixin and I circled around the boss and attacked his Magic Shield again and again. However, the damn thing was ridiculously durable, and we were not even close to breaking it. ¡­¡­ "Kakaka¡­" Dios declared with a savage laugh, "Are you trying to scratch my itch? Do you really think you can kill me with such pathetic attacks, puny adventurers? Come! I shall deliver you all to hell with my legendary magic!" Dios raised his scepter high and chanted a spell. The next thing I knew, Flame Blast hit me and engulfed my whole body. I could almost pretend that I was being reborn as a phoenix if it wasn¡¯t for the scorching pain drilling all the way down to the bone. Unlike the Flame Blast I knew, this one barely had any cast time and traveled at the speed of lightning. The girls exclaimed in shock as a huge damage number appeared above my head¡ª 170287! It wasn¡¯t even a critical hit. This boss was a bit too broken, wasn¡¯t he? I raised my arm and used Tenacity of the Dead without hesitation, healing myself for 70k+ HP in one go. At the same time, I drank a Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion and received two timely heals from Murong Mingyue, pulling my HP over the 200k mark. It was still a dangerous situation, however. Next, Dios stomped his foot and summoned a sea of flames right beneath Lin Yixin and my feet. It dealt continuous damage and ate away at our HP rapidly. "We need to do something, Little Cheat! We¡¯re losing HP too rapidly!" Lin Yixin shouted. We both had Great Earth Transformation turned on, but it still wasn¡¯t enough to stop our health bars from emptying at an alarming rate. I hurriedly said, "Use your ice dragon to delay the boss! Its Magic Resist is much better than ours!" "Yeah!" One draconic roar later, the Ice Dragon Kris descended from the sky and tore, bit and spat at Dios like the wild animal she was. I also ordered the Phantom Wolf King to attack Dios¡¯s flank with Claw of the Storm. The mage boss panicked a little, he probably wasn¡¯t expecting a Holy Giant Dragon to aid us. Crack! Finally, that damn Magic Shield was shattered! "This is our opportunity!" I pointed at the boss and used God Binding Art. Please let it work! It looked like Lady Luck heard my prayers, because the God Binding Art actually managed to shackle Dios. Beiming Xue immediately shot the guy¡¯s head with a Bone Eroding Arrow and reduced his Defense drastically. Even if Dios summoned another Magic Shield, it would be a lot less durable compared to before. "Kill!" I executed a near seamless Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo, and Lin Yixin used Triple Slash and Barrier Break at the same time. Our teamwork was perfect, and three consecutive Intercourses dropped the boss''s HP all the way down to 43%. The bastard was still a mage, no matter how powerful he was. If it was just a matter of offensive power, ten out of ten times, his health pool wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand the combined might of Lin Yixin, Beiming, Lian Xin and I. "Watch out! The boss''s going to use a big spell!" Lin Yixin exclaimed suddenly. When we broke Dios¡¯s Magic Shield for the fourth time, Dios waved his scepter and chanted, "O¡¯ great God of Fire, heed my call and¡ª" I drilled him right in the chest with Magic Piercing Punch before he could finish, interrupting whatever spell he was going to cast and scattering blots of black, rotten flesh! Hell yeah! I wasn¡¯t expecting Magic Piercing Punch to be this effective while Great Earth Transformation was active, and since we grinded our Divine Energy Points to full during the earlier quests, we could now afford to keep it active at all times. No, I should say that this was exactly the kind of battle we grinded our divine energy to max for! The back and forth continued for a moment, but in the end, our party composition and strength were too much for even the Holy Magus Dios to suppress. There was also the matter of being completely countered by Lin Yixin¡¯s pet, the Ice Dragon Kris. Every time his Magic Shield was destroyed, Kris would attack and impede him from the sky. He, on the other hand, couldn¡¯t do anything to her because the dragon had 200% Magic Resist, courtesy of its legendary draconic scales. ¡­¡­ Dios¡¯s HP dropped to 10% around 20 minutes later. We were all wary because this was the point where a super boss usually began their do-or-die counterattack, even if it came at a great cost to themselves! "Roar!" A fiery rune appeared beneath Dios as his eyes grew as hard as steel. He growled, "No one will stop me from opening the Eye of the Purgatory! When Lord Bloody Finger awakens, he will wipe all of you ants from the surface of the Heavenblessed Continent! Now come and taste the might of a forbidden spell!" The next moment, Dios chanted, no, roared out his spell in a trembling voice, "O¡¯ slumbering dragons of the Purgatory, descend upon this world in all your eternal glory! Let the world know of your power and rage! Destroy everything in your path! In the name of Dios, I summon thee¡ªHellish Dragonrise!" ¡­¡­ "Roar roar!" Countless cracks appeared across the earth, and the stairs of the palace shattered into a million pieces. The next moment, countless fire dragons of the Purgatory appeared through the cracks and rushed toward us. The flaming dragons weren¡¯t actually real, but the pain they brought to anyone that came into contact with them was real enough! "Watch out! Don¡¯t get one-shot¡­" Lin Yixin shouted while running left and right to avoid the spell. I gathered my strength and punched Dios again, growling, "Go back to hell, old man!" Bang! The red energy struck Dios squarely in the chest, but this time, I failed to interrupt the spell. "Oh shit¡­" said Lin Yixin as her face turned as white as paper. Bang! A flaming dragon exploded right next to me and seared my arm. The pain was nothing compared to the terrifying damage number that appeared above my head though¡ª 279028! What the f.u.c.k! My current max HP was less than 300k, and this one spell could almost one-shot me! It definitely deserved to be called a forbidden spell for sure! The ground was still tearing itself asunder. It looked like we were all going to die. It was at this moment an idea passed through Beiming Xue¡¯s mind. She shouted, "Big bro, Sister Lin Yixin, come to me now!" The next moment, the dark archer changed her attack mode to free-for-all and cast Well of the Abyss, protecting both me and Lin Yixin. For the next 15 seconds, we were immune to all damage at the cost of 50% of our remaining HP. Since I was already at low health, it hardly mattered. Time passed little by little, but the boss showed no signs of stopping his forbidden spell yet. The walls of the palace had long been shattered by the Hellish Dragonrise spell, and even the inner city walls were starting to be affected as well. It was way too powerful. Well of the Abyss was going to end any second now, but neither of us had a way to stop the boss. The second the Divine General Skill ended, we would all die to the fiery attack! Suddenly, Cloudway rose from a pile of rubble at the last moment and shouted with determination, "Teacher, I will not stand you killing any more innocent people than you already did! I will stop you even if I must die to do so!" Cloudway raised his sword and made his way toward his mentor. The earth continued to crumble, and the dragon-shaped spell left terrifying burns on the back of Cloudway¡¯s arms. However, none of it could stop the prince from approaching the magus. Fear started creeping into Dios¡¯s eyes. "What are you doing, child?" Swhoosh! Cloudway raised his sword and growled, "I¡¯m sending you off to hell!" He thrust his sword forward and skewered the old mage¡¯s chest. The spell was interrupted at almost the same time Well of the Abyss ended. 3980029! Cloudway¡¯s brave strike deleted almost 10% of Dios¡¯s HP immediately. The magus could only gape at his former disciple with barely any HP left in his health bar. "Experience¡­" I muttered to myself before tossing the Cyan Netherworld Sword at the magus. Sword Boomerang, go! ¡­¡­ Crack... There was a crisp sound, and five columns of golden light descended from the sky at once, granting everyone a level and healing us to full health. God damn, Dios sure was worth a ton of experience! Chapter 872: Dragon God Shield Chiang! Cloudway¡¯s sword slipped through his fingers and pierced the ground. He knelt next to Dios¡¯s dead body and murmured to himself, "I¡¯m sorry, teacher. I¡­ really didn¡¯t want to kill you, but more innocent people would die in your hands if I hadn¡¯t. I had no choice¡­ May your soul find redemption in the Purgatory!" Cloudway slowly closed his eyes after that. He could no longer fight because had suffered too much damage when pushing through the forbidden spell. The good news was that he still had a sliver of HP, so he wasn¡¯t dying anytime soon. Swhoosh! Murong Mingyue cast Restore on Cloudway and said with a smile, "It¡¯d be a shame to lose such a handsome prince!" I teased her, "Oh? Does that mean you want to make him yours, sis?" Murong Mingyue shot me an aggrieved look before replying, "Don¡¯t worry, I still prefer cute little gangsters like you. It¡¯s not like I can eat handsome for breakfast¡­" "Who are you calling a cute little gangster?" I retorted. "Also, did you just imply that I¡¯m ugly? I¡¯m almost as handsome as Cloudway, okay? Beiming, Lian Xin, what do you girls think?" Beiming Xue replied with a sweet smile, "No one is more handsome than big bro, of course!" Lian Xin echoed in agreement, "No objections there! Big brother Lu Chen is the most handsome man in the entire world!" Lin Yixin shook her head in amus.e.m.e.nt. "You satisfied now?" I grinned. "I guess. Now, let¡¯s check out the boss loot already. I¡¯m sure a Level 215 Immortal Rank boss dropped something amazing for us!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ The first thing I did after approaching Dios¡¯s dead body was to absorb his undead soul spark. His soul could fly into the sun for all I cared, but I wasn¡¯t going to let his undead cultivation slip through my grasp. A tremendous energy instantly filled my chest. As expected of an Immortal Rank boss, his undead soul spark was richer than 10 Bloodblade Ghost Generals combined! Next, I crouched on the ground and inspected the loot scattered amid the rubble and grass. Dios only dropped three pieces of equipment in total, but they all seemed mighty impressive in their own way. There was an orange helmet, a red battle shield, and a ring with the image of a black dragon engraved onto its surface. I picked up the helmet first, and just as we hoped it was the equipment we needed the most right now¡ª Windchaser Helmet (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 1000 Magic Resist: 920 Agility: +355 Stamina: +380 Strength: +310 Tactics: +29 Passive: Increases user''s hit rate by 80% Passive: Increases user''s ranged attack power by 15% Outstanding Property: Windchasing, increases user¡¯s attack and movement speed by 15% Property: Windchaser Set, Helmet Introduction: 25000 years ago, archery was a popular sport on the Heavenblessed Continent, and empires all across the land started a war called the Bow God War to determine the Bow God of them all. Many wars later, the title was won by a young man who came from the mountains. It wasn¡¯t until later that it was revealed that the young man was actually the incarnation of the Bow God of the Heavenly Domain. When the Bow God collapsed during the War of Gods and Devils, his body split into five and transformed into five armor pieces. They are called the Windchaser set. Slots: 10 Level Requirement: 170 Reputation Requirement: 250000 ¡­¡­ It was the best kind of karmic retribution. Who would¡¯ve thought that Dios would drop the final piece of the Windchaser set? With this, Beiming Xue¡¯s search for the Windchaser set had come to an end! I passed the Windchaser Helmet to Beiming Xue with a smile. "Here. Let¡¯s see what the final effect of the set is, shall we?" "Mn." Pop! The Windchaser Helmet covered Beiming Xue¡¯s head for a short while until she tweaked the settings and made it invisible. Most girls preferred to show their features rather than hide them after all. A moment later, the full stats of the Windchaser set were shared inside the party channel¡ª Windchaser Set: 1 piece: None 2 pieces: Increases ranged attack power by 50% 3 pieces: Increases ranged attack power by 30% and attack speed by 60% 4 pieces: Increases Defense and Magic Resist by 75%. Increases max HP by 70000 5 pieces: Blade of Windchasing. Increases user¡¯s movement speed by 150%, lets user ignore 45% of the target¡¯s Defense, adds 40% splash effect to all attacks and increases evasion rate against physical attacks by 35% ¡­¡­ For a while, Lin Yixin, Murong Mingyue, Lian Xin and I couldn¡¯t say anything. To say that this Heaven-grade set defied common sense was a massive understatement. In total, the set increased Beiming Xue¡¯s Attack by 80%, Defense and Magic Resist by 75%, attack speed by 60%, and even added 70k max HP. Could you really call an archer with over 100k HP an archer? She was practically unbeatable at this point. Right now, the best archers in China such as October Rain and Transient Smoke and Clouds only had a max HP of 70k or so. Beiming Xue¡¯s Windchaser set not only put her max HP at over 120k, her Defense was as good as some of the metal armor players out there. She even had 45% Defense ignore and 40% splash effect added to all her attacks! I don¡¯t think that I have ever heard of an all-rounder archer until now! Even better, the set also granted Beiming Xue 35% chance to dodge all physical attacks. Archers already had high evasion rate, and this set pushed her right past the 50% mark. In an archer versus warrior duel, assuming that the warrior was just average, she could potentially end the enemy¡¯s life before they even landed a hit on her! Lin Yixin smiled at Beiming Xue and said, "Beiming?" "Yes, Sister Lin Yixin?" "Starting now, shoot me a message before you head to the champion arena, okay? I don''t want to run into you¡­" Lin Yixin said with a giggle. I echoed in agreement. "Me too, I ain¡¯t fighting against you either¡­" Murong Mingyue said in a dumbfounded tone, "No need to tell Farewell Song though. At this stage, he¡¯s probably the only player in the entire country with over 50% chance to beat Beiming." However, I said, "Not necessarily. I can think of a couple of players." "Who?" Lin Yixin asked. "Luo River God of the Capital, Lian Xin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Moonkiss. Don¡¯t forget, this set only increases Beiming Xue¡¯s Magic Resist by 75%, and Beiming Xue has to punch through a mage¡¯s Magic Shield before she can kill them. Luo River God of the Capital, Lian Xin and Stranger of Three Lifetimes all have at least a 40% chance to beat her." Beiming Xue nodded humbly. "Big bro is correct. It¡¯s never easy to beat a mage as an archer, and now that everyone¡¯s sixth-promotion, failing to pierce a mage¡¯s Magic Shield is equal to death. Not much we can do in that department though, mages just hard-counter archers right now." I consoled her. "It¡¯s okay. Maybe it¡¯ll be the other way around when you hit Level 180 and learn your seventh-promotion skills." "Yeah. Anyway, let¡¯s look at the rest of the equipment, shall we?" "Yeah." ¡­¡­ Next, I picked up the glowing red shield. It looked like it was made from dragon armor, and its surface was etched with draconic patterns. There were also illegible runes circulating around it. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that it was an extraordinary item. Even so, the girls were shocked when I brought up its stats screen¡ª Dragon God Shield (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 7200 Magic Resist: 5500 Stamina: +920 Strength: +900 Agility: +850 Tactics: +120 Parry Chance: +54% Passive: Increases user''s Defense by 70% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 40000 Outstanding Property: Divine Dragon Protection. Summon the Dragon God to protect oneself. Become invincible for 25 seconds. Introduction: During the ancient times, the humans and dragons fought a great war that ended in the devastating defeat of the humans. A dozen or so empires sent hundreds of their greatest sword saints and magi into battle, but they only managed to kill 17 Holy Giant Dragons despite losing over 90% of their numbers. In the end, an expert known as the Thief God slipped into the Dragon God¡¯s residence, killed the Dragon God¡¯s child and stripped them of their dragon armor. The draconic scales he had ripped off were then used to forge the Dragon God Shield. However, enraged by the cruel murder, the Dragon God attacked several border empires with a great army and destroyed them all. The Dragon God Shield was the witness of that destruction. Slots: 12 Level Requirement: 175 Reputation Requirement: 300000 ¡­¡­ Overjoyed, I laughed like a madman while saying, "Hahaha! What luck! A godlike shield is exactly what I need right now! Is this fate?" Lin Yixin let out a happy chuckle and said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Equip it already. I¡¯m sure your final stats will look impressive!" "Yeah!" I was qualified to equip the Dragon God Shield because I was now Level 175. I switched out the lowly Bloody Fortress Shield without hesitation and watched as the image of a divine dragon appeared across my arm. At the same time, I felt a great power inside me like nothing I had ever felt before. If my Defense and HP didn¡¯t count as overpowered before, they did now! ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Purgatory Thunder) Class: Undead Swordsman (Great Earth Swordsman) Level: 175 HP: 204290 Attack: 5610~6870 Defense: 15515 Magic Resist: 12950 Reputation: 328900 Tactics: 759 (+672) Luck: 54 ¡­¡­ A single shield was all it took to boost my base defense way past my base Attack, as it should be. One only needed to look to the Nation Wars to know how tanky a shield-wielding magic knight could be. These days, it was very difficult for a mounted player to break apart a shield formation because there was really only one common fighter skill that could penetrate one¡¯s Defense, and that was Barrier Break. Therefore, the best way to defeat a shield formation was to exploit class advantage and let a group of mages blast them with AoE spells. Nothing would be good enough if the players failed at teamwork though. All things said, my current Defense was stupidly high right now. Already, I couldn¡¯t wait to meet the Northern Alliance players in battle and savor their incredulous expressions. The Dragon God Shield was a 6-star Outstanding Immortal-grade shield with a 25-second long invincibility skill and pretty good Magic Resist. In fact, it was starting to look like I might be a better tank than an attacker. ¡­¡­ So far, Dios had turned out to be a most excellent kill. Not only did he gift us an extraordinary amount of experience, he also gave me and Beiming Xue exactly what we needed the most! How lucky! It was at this moment Beiming Xue broke my bubble of ecstasy and urged me, "Big bro, there¡¯s still a ring to check." "Oh, right." I picked up the black dragon ring and brought up its stats screen. Murong Mingyue cheered, "Oh my god, finally!" Dark Dragon Arcane Ring (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Intelligence: +790 Stamina: +800 Agility: +755 Passive: Increases user''s healing effectiveness by 85% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 24000 Outstanding Property: Wings of Dark Dragon. Reduces damage taken by 30%. Level Requirement: 170 Reputation Requirement: 150000 Chapter 873: Devouring the Heart 85% healing boost, 24k HP, 30% damage reduction. Every single one of these stats was godlike, and it was clearly meant for a priest. Since Murong Mingyue was the only priest in the party, it was obvious who the ring would go to. I tossed the Dark Dragon Arcane Ring to Murong Mingyue. Before our quest in Bloody Shield Domain, her level wouldn¡¯t be enough to equip it, but after a few bosses and minibosses, that was no longer the case. The 85% healing boost meant that even her weakest healing spell, Instant Heal could heal for 50k HP at least. If it critted, that was over 100k of healing. If it was the 3-second CD Greater Heal, it could heal 85k HP in one go. Now this was what we called an ace priest! ¡­¡­ The equipment distribution was over, but there were still some miscellaneous items to be distributed. Dios dropped around 20 gems, and the best of them all was a Rank 12 Dragonstone Gem, one of the best gems one could possibly obtain right now. We rolled the dice to decide its owner, and I won. I immediately slotted it into the Dragon God Shield to further increase its Defense by 60%. The Dragon God Shield was Immortal-grade equipment after all. It would be a shame not to slot it with gems completely. It was at this moment Prince Cloudway slowly rose from his own pool of blood, looked at us and the crushed soldiers strewn across the ground. All the elite soldiers he brought from Vanished God City had perished in battle, but at least we managed to kill the undead Holy Magus Dios in the end. "Respectable adventurers of Sky City!" Cloudway said with a solemn look in his eyes, "Allow me to thank you on behalf of Vanished God City. It is your bravery that allowed us to eliminate the threat to Vanished God City, and our citizens are proud to have you as our heroes. Please accept this as my token of respect!" Cloudway then gave us a standard knight¡¯s salute. Ding~! A system notification rang beside our ears. We had successfully completed the quest to help Prince Cloudway scout out the heart of Bloody Shield Domain, and the experience it gave boosted me all the way to Level 175, 82%. I wasn¡¯t far away from Level 176 now. In fact, hitting Level 180 should be easy peasy if I could keep running main quests like this. Standing inside a depression on the ground, I looked up at Cloudway and asked, "Your Highness, all your subordinates have perished in battle. What are you going to do now?" Cloudway clenched his fists resolutely and declared, "I¡¯ll be returning to the empire and mustering all the garrison troops of the seven great fortresses. The plan is to destroy this undead-infested land before the Night Creatures¡¯ full army can make it through the Eye of the Purgatory. This was our home and the land the Ten Heroes died to protect. That is why I¡¯m going to do everything in my power to restore the Dharan Empire no matter the cost!" I nodded. "Alright. In that case, this is where we bid goodbye!" "Yes. Be careful, you all!" Cloudway smiled at me and said, "And feel free to visit Vanished God City anytime you want. I will always remember you all, my friends!" "Yes¡­" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the sky turned dark red, and thunder boomed beside our ears. At the same time, an immense pressure enveloped all of us! "What¡¯s going on?!" Lin Yixin exclaimed in shock. Cloudway opened his mouth as if he wanted to scream something, but a jet of blood flew out of his throat instead. His eyes were filled with shock and resistance. "Wah¡­" Puchi! Without warning, a single arm burst out of Cloudway¡¯s chest in a shower of scarlet blood. The disheveled and stunned prince vomited blood like crazy as he fell to his knees and bled a new pool of blood across the floor. "Ahhhh!?" My sword arm shook as I gritted my teeth strong enough to crush them. The arm that had penetrated Cloudway¡¯s chest opened its palm to reveal a beating heart. It belonged to none other than Cloudway himself! "Shit!" My heart sank. Who would¡¯ve thought that Cloudway would be killed this way? ¡­¡­ The culprit slowly withdrew his arm and allowed Cloudway to collapse on the ground. Even as the prince groaned in pain, he turned around with all his might so he could see his killer¡¯s face before he died. The man who ambushed Cloudway was a general clad in dark red armor. His blood-drenched arm looked like that of a monster¡¯s, and dark red runes were glowing across his arm. The general cackled evilly as he stared at the prince with grayish brown, animalistic eyes. "Is this all you got, fifth prince, strongest commander of Vanished God City? How disappointing. That said, I think your heart will make a fine tribute. What do you think, Prince Cloudway?!" Cloudway was rapidly losing life force as the bastard spoke. Even more blood spilled out of his lips when he finally saw the face of his killer. "Hmph¡­ you are! Ovia the Bloody Finger! Aren¡¯t you?!" The bloody general cackled loudly. "Oh? You remember my name? A defeated general like me? What a surprise! Hahaha!" Cloudway continued, "Ovia! You¡­ you were one of the Ten Heroes of the Dharan Empire until you destroyed it with your own hands! You damned animal! How can you stand murdering millions of innocent citizens for your ambitions? I only regret that I can no longer kill you with my own two hands, you devil!" "What? One of the Ten Heroes?" Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open. "Bloody Finger¡­ the Bloody Finger was one of the Ten Heroes of the Dharan Empire? How¡­ how is that possible?" Murong Mingyue threw Greater Heal after Greater Heal on Cloudway in a desperate attempt to save his life, but it didn¡¯t seem to improve his condition whatsoever. It made sense though. No amount of healing or strength was enough to save a man who had lost his heart. ¡­¡­ "Ahhhhh¡­" Cloudway let out another scream of pain before tears started pouring out of his eyes. He murmured, "Seniors, is this devilish monster truly one of the Ten Heroes? But how¡­ how could he think so lowly of human lives and commit such terrible atrocities? How could an animal like this have become one of the Ten Heroes¡­" Bloody Finger cackled some more, but didn¡¯t say anything. Instead, he opened his mouth¡ªit was literally filled with sharp, animalistic teeth¡ªand consumed over half of Cloudway¡¯s heart in one bite. Fresh blood dripped onto the ground as Bloody Finger made a savoring face as he chewed. "As expected of the royal bloodline, your heart is quite delicious. Thank you so much for your tribute, Prince Cloudway, hahahaha¡­" Cloudway could do nothing except fight against his pain and stare at his heart disappearing into the bloody jaws of the Bloody Finger. After Ovia licked off the last drop of blood from his fingers, his expression abruptly darkened, and he shouted, "Very well! I will tell you why I became a devil!" With a most hateful expression on his face, Ovia the Bloody Finger pointed at the ruins behind him and shouted, "A long time ago, there was an undead castle to the north of this city! I was close to breaching it with an army of two hundred thousand when our supplies ran low, so I dispatched my aides repeatedly to ask for more supplies from the city. However, not only did Duke Cangye and Duke Lin Nan refuse to send us reinforcements, they even refused to send us our supplies! Eventually, my troops had no choice but to feed on grass, and later on, the rotten corpses of the undead just to survive!" Ovia the Bloody Finger moved his face closer to Cloudway. The strained muscles on his face gave him a horrible appearance as he continued, "Do you understand my pain? My troops were all heroes who would rather die in battle than retreat in shame. Not a single one of us ate the bodies of our brothers even until the very end. But what did we get for our sacrifice? The three aides I sent back to the empire to request for reinforcements were labeled as deserters and burned to death on the totems by Duke Cangye! Those fat nobles were afraid that I would let my power get into my head and threaten their wellbeing, so they used the undead to weaken my strength!" Bloody Finger looked up and shivered from head to toe. "That is why I wanted to take revenge for all the brothers who died in that battle. That is why I made a deal with the Purgatory and traded my soul for greater power!" Bloody Finger let out another cackle. "After that, I returned to the empire with a great army, killed three of the Ten Heroes in a single night, and destroyed the empire with ease. I stabbed Duke Cangye 107 times and r.a.p.ed his wife and daughter before they transformed into Corpse Eaters. I ordered the Lich Kings to burn the army camps, and the Cave Ghouls to tear out the hearts of the citizens. I wanted revenge, and I wanted to destroy this unfair world with my own hands! Who gave those filthy nobles the right to enjoy all the spoils of my brothers¡¯ blood, sweat and tears? If that is the only way, then I would rather destroy it with my own hands!" ¡­¡­ "You¡­ you devil¡­" Cloudway was close to passing through death¡¯s door at this point. Still, he found the strength to point at Bloody Finger and murmur, "The Ten Heroes were your comrades-in-arms, and you killed them? You animal!" "Hahaha¡­" Bloody Finger abruptly stomped his foot on Cloudway¡¯s chest and grinded it repeatedly. He taunted, "Those who submit to me will prosper, and those who oppose me will perish. Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t understand something this simple?" ¡­¡­ "F.u.c.k! I can¡¯t stand this any longer!" I abruptly leaped to the back, kicked myself off a giant rock, and rushed toward Ovia the Bloody Finger with the light of Universe Break shining around my Cyan Netherworld Sword. I shouted angrily, "You may be a Purgatory Sovereign, but you¡¯re still f.u.c.k.i.n.g dead!" "Hmm?" Caught off-guard, Ovia the Bloody Finger wasn¡¯t in the right position to avoid my attack. So, he raised his bloody arm to block me. "Oh, another fly? Hehehe¡­" Pu! Universe Break ignored 90% of a target¡¯s Defense, and not even a Purgatory Sovereign was an exception. My sword penetrated Bloody Finger¡¯s arm with ease and landed right on top of his head! 37987! Thud thud thud! The force behind my attack was so great that the Purgatory Sovereign actually stumbled a few steps backward. A trace of astonishment appeared in his eyes as he said, "Hmph, pretty good for an ant, I say. Are you a subordinate of Cloudway? Hehehe, to think that an adventurer of this caliber exists in Vanished God City. You must have graduated from the School of Magic and Military Arts with top grades, haven¡¯t you?" "I haven¡¯t been to a school for a long time, you idiot!" I raised my sword again and used Burning Blade Slash. Three flaming auras instantly slashed across the Purgatory Sovereign¡¯s body and caused a shower of fiery sparks. Bang bang bang! This time though, Ovia the Bloody Finger stood as firmly as a mountain. He tanked my attack head-on with his incredible Defense! 1928! 3282! 6226! ¡­¡­ Despair filled my heart immediately. What kind of Defense is that? Chapter 874: Mountain Crush Thud! A purple arrow abruptly nailed Bloody Finger in between the neck and drew a metallic spark. Although Beiming Xue¡¯s Bone Eroding Arrow hadn¡¯t quite hit her intended target, it still successfully reduced Bloody Finger¡¯s Defense. Bloody Finger was one of the nine Sovereigns of the Night Creatures, so Bone Eroding Arrow only reduced his Defense by 35% instead of the usual 50%. That was still a huge help though. Without it, we wouldn¡¯t be able to penetrate the boss''s Defense. ¡­¡­ "Jiejie, you have helpers?" Bloody Finger looked at the four beautiful women behind me and licked his lips l.u.s.tfully. "Oh, they¡¯re quite pretty too! Wonderful, it looks like today¡¯s my lucky day!" "Lucky your sister!" I made a sudden move and launched a God Binding Art at the boss, but it only resulted in a MISS. I then activated Great Earth Transformation and slashed his side, more specifically a 0.5-cm gap between his arm and his chest armor. Unfortunately, it was Ovia the Bloody Finger¡¯s only weak point. One might say that this boss was near invulnerable. Pu! 47127! I was surprised. I wasn¡¯t expecting my basic attack to do so much damage, even though I was attacking a weak point. "How dare you!" Bloody Finger shouted and summoned a column of flames around his bloody arms. Then, he tried to punch me in the chest. The Heaven-burning Armor was tough, but I wasn¡¯t willing to test its durability against the attack, so I raised my left arm and summoned the Dragon God Shield to block it. A divine dragon rose from the tattoo across my arm before turning into the Dragon God Shield! Bang! Bloody Finger¡¯s attack left a deep scratch mark and sent me skidding across the ground. As it turned out, not even an Immortal-grade Shield was a match for the boss''s power, and I lost a ton of HP despite a partial parry¡ª87677! "What an insane Attack¡­" Murong Mingyue exclaimed in astonishment as she healed me. After that, we all released our pets and attacked the boss together. Slim it might be, going all out was our only hope of beating the Purgatory Sovereign. ¡­¡­ "Roar roar!" The Phantom Wolf King darted across the ground like lightning before clamping its jaw around Bloody Finger¡¯s thigh, its teeth rubbing against armor and drawing showers of sparks. The Ice Dragon Kris took to the sky and spat draconic breaths onto the boss''s head. On the ground, the Ghost Chariot, Thunder Beast, and Ironwing Dragon were doing their best as well. Ovia the Bloody Finger was losing HP rapidly, but he didn¡¯t seem to care in the slightest. His HP numbered in the millions, so losing a couple hundred thousand HP was like an itch to him. "Hahaha, you ants. Die!" He swung his bloody claws and tore the Ghost Chariot¡¯s body to shreds, dealing an insane 265169 damage. As the Level 120+ Ghost Chariot hasn¡¯t fully matured yet, there was no way it could withstand the attack. Bloody Finger didn¡¯t stop after one-shotting the Ghost Chariot. He grabbed the Thunder Beast¡¯s head next and bit it right in the neck. Then, it pulled and tore the poor pet¡¯s head right off the torso. The two damage that rose above its head caused Beiming Xue¡¯s mouth to fall open¡ª 182737! 221828! Clearly, not even the Level 170 Thunder Beast was a match for Bloody Finger. "Die, you ants! You don¡¯t deserve to live in this world!" Bloody Finger continued to laugh like a madman as he came to a standstill. He pointed his hand at the Ice Dragon Kris, and a red icicle that looked like it was made from blood flew toward the dragon and pierced her neck. Thud! Kris let out a scream of pain, but before it could do anything else, Bloody Finger jumped into the air and kicked the dragon right beneath the chin. Then, he smashed her head with his claws and left behind a seemingly bottomless wound. Finally, mouth split into a mad grin as savage laughter escaped his throat, he summoned a gigantic fireball above his head and said, "You disgrace of a Holy Giant Dragon, die!" Boom! Lin Yixin looked deathly pale. The boss was out of our attack range, so there was literally nothing we could do except watch her beloved pet be killed by Bloody Finger. In the norm, Kris was a near invulnerable tank with tenacious dragon armor and over a million HP. However, her defenses were as fragile as tofu before the mighty Purgatory Sovereign. Standing in the sky, Bloody Finger stared at us for a moment before dashing toward my apparition like an arrow. He then punched it right in the chest! "Neigh neigh¡­" The fake Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a dying neigh before hitting the earth with a loud thump. Bloody Finger had killed it in a single punch. ¡­¡­ "Keep calm and CC the boss!" I shouted as I slapped the Bloody Finger¡¯s head with a Dragon Slaying Slash and an Ancient Seal. Then, I tossed Sword Boomerang right into his neck. 19782! 71281! 26736! The triple hit dealt a tremendous amount of damage, but it also drove Bloody Finger into a flying rage. He looked down on me and cackled menacingly. "Are you truly fearless, damned adventurer of Sky City? Or are you emboldened by your loyalty to that little girl, Karinshan? Kakaka, it looks like I should pay her a visit at Sky City after I¡¯m done with you all!" I caught my returning sword before growling out, "No need. You won¡¯t live to go anywhere after today!" "Jiejie, is that so? Then show me the power you claim to possess!" Swhoosh! Ovia the Bloody Finger appeared in front of me in just the blink of an eye. It was as if he had shattered even the restriction of the laws of space itself. Not satisfied with just a deadly swipe across my shield, he conjured the bloody icicle that pierced Kris earlier and threw it at me! Bang! Bang! Two explosions rocked the Dragon God Shield and my entire body. For a second, I thought that his attacks had literally blown me to pieces. One only needed to look at the damage numbers rising above my head to know just how great his Attack was¡ª 172889! 212834! My base HP was around 200k. Bombshell buffed it by 80%, and the Bloodknight Card buffed it by 40%. In total, I sat at 440k HP. But even with my Defense and HP, Bloody Finger still managed to bring me to red health in two hits. Not even Murong Mingyue could heal me back to full in time. I raised my palm and slapped Bloody Finger¡¯s face with an Ancient Seal again. At the same time, I used Tenacity of the Dead and healed myself for 110k+ HP. I was hardly out of danger though. Bloody Finger channeled yet another icicle in his right arm and looked like he was going to kill me. It was at this moment a beautiful figure dashed past Bloody Finger and landed Moon Gaze + Extreme Break + Barrier Break combo, stabbing her sword right into his heart. The combination of skills critted and dealt well over 100k damage. "Damn you!" Enraged, Bloody Finger turned to attack Lin Yixin next and sent her flying across the air in just one hit. Not only that, his claws actually chipped the blade of the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword a little. Immortal-grade equipment was nothing before a boss like Bloody Finger. Seeing that Lin Yixin was about to be one-shot, Beiming Xue cast a free-for-all Well of the Abyss and trapped Lin Yixin in it. She just barely saved the light wanderer¡¯s life. MISS! At this point, both our tanks were temporarily incapicated, and an OT inevitably took place. So, the furious Bloody Finger attacked Lian Xin next as she was the highest damage dealer of all of us. For the past half a minute or so, she had been blasting Bloody Finger with Ice Spiral Matrices and dealing almost 70k damage per hit. It was no wonder that the boss was eager to wipe her from the surface of the Heavenblessed Continent. "Take this, baddie!" A grim-faced Lian Xin moved to the back and slapped down a couple of Origin Force Fields, stopping Bloody Finger dead in his tracks and reducing his HP a little. However, the humiliation also enraged Bloody Finger completely. "Die!" A harsh light burst out of Bloody Finger¡¯s claws as he dashed toward Lian Xin. Then, he stabbed her right through the torso and dealt an insane 291038 damage! "Shit!" I sweared inside my head. Lian Xin¡¯s Telekinetic Shield had failed to block the attack because it turned out that Bloody Finger had the ability to pierce shields. It was over! That wasn¡¯t even the worst of our misfortunes though. Murong Mingyue hadn¡¯t stopped healing during this time, so the threat transferred to her next and caused Bloody Finger to throw a bloody icicle at her. The skill tore her Spell Shield like paper and killed the party¡¯s one and only healer. Only three people were still alive in our party now, and Lin Yixin was close to dying. Beiming Xue couldn¡¯t even tank a single hit from the boss, so it was all up to me to hold Bloody Finger off. Honestly though, I didn¡¯t think I could stop him for more than a couple of seconds. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! A Thunderous Charge later, I barely cut in front of Bloody Finger before he could reach Beiming Xue and swung my blade. I was pleasantly surprised when a tremendous energy suddenly surged into my arm. Broken Blade procced! Pu! The all-out attack successfully stunned Bloody Finger and stalled him for a moment. I quickly followed up with Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo to draw the aggro. "Beiming, run now! Teleport back to the city if you can! There¡¯s no way we¡¯re killing this boss here!" I shouted. Beiming Xue obeyed, but she couldn¡¯t help but look back as she escaped. "Big bro¡­" On the other side, Lin Yixin was gritting her teeth in reluctance and resignation as well. She murmured, "We can¡¯t beat this boss¡­" ¡­¡­ "Jie jie, you ants. Die!" After Bloody Finger recovered, he laughed madly and hit me twice, deleting another 300k HP from my health bar. I refused to retreat even if my death was certain. Keeping Great Earth Transformation turned on, I struck back with Ancient Seal after Ancient Seal and dealt a ton of damage to the boss. However, his max HP was far too high for a miracle to happen. The sad reality was that we had only managed to reduce his HP by around 3% so far, not to mention that he was regenerating health every second. "If you are so eager to die, then I shall fulfill your wish, lowly adventurer!" Bloody Finger cackled. "It is time the world learns of the divine armament I found in the purgatory anyway. Now come! Be destroyed alongside the world around you!" Chiang! There was a sharp ring, and a dazzling, purple sword appeared in Bloody Finger¡¯s right hand. Its blade was translucent, its grooves were engraved with runes, and its body was glowing with an intimidating purple light. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that it was a super divine armament. If we fared this badly when Bloody Finger was unarmed, what the f.u.c.k could we possibly do now? "Come! Taste the strength of a divine armament!" Bloody Finger shouted and swung his sword at me. The only thing I could do was to raise my shield, but to my shock the attack rocked my entire body and... Bang! The Dragon God Shield suddenly shattered into several pieces! What the hell!? Beep! Combat Log: Ovia the Bloody Finger triggered the effect "Mountain Crush¡±. Your Dragon God Shield¡¯s durability is 0. You cannot use it until it is repaired! ¡­¡­ "It¡¯s over¡­" I stumbled to the back and fell off the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. "Die!" Bloody Finger leaped into the air and brought his sword right down on me! I was despairing at this point. I was about to close my eyes and give up when... Chiang! There was an explosion of sparks and energy. Out of nowhere, a bloody spear appeared from a spatial rift and knocked the sword aside. Chapter 875: Murder That Bastard "Who are you?!" Wariness surfaced from Bloody Finger¡¯s eyes as he stared at the spatial rift. He even looked a little nervous. ¡­¡­ Whoosh! A smooth, white leg appeared from the red ripple in the air, followed by a swaying battle skirt and finally Xinran herself. The spear-wielding girl clad in black armor smiled at me and said, "Big brother, you haven¡¯t visited me for a very long time!" I didn¡¯t know what to say. It did feel like I hadn¡¯t visited her for a very long time. "Come out, you lazy bastard!" Next, Xinran pushed her hand into the spatial rift, grabbed something and heaved, dragging the Winged Silver Dragon into this plane by force. Just like before, the Winged Silver Dragon nodded at me and wagged its tail like an obedient dog the moment it saw me. "Aha, long time no see, my beloved master¡¯s dear brother. You look like you¡¯re stronger, more handsome and durable than before!" I shot it a glare and said, "Shut up." "Yes, my wise master¡¯s big brother!" Lin Yixin lost her cool and blurted, "This dragon can talk? Why can¡¯t my dragon do the same?" The Winged Silver Dragon raised its non-existent eyebrows and wagged its tail even harder when he saw that the speaker was a gorgeous woman. It answered, "I shall answer that question considering how sincere you are, pretty miss! I am a noble among the ancient dragon race, and the Winged Silver Dragons have always been close relatives with the Dragon God itself. Naturally, my bloodline is far nobler than your lowly ice dragon¡¯s. So, what is your name, pretty miss? I am pleased to make your acquaintance. Say, do you want to adopt me as your pet? My current master is a tad too brutal for me, you see. I¡¯ve been leading an inhuman and indragon life in the Purgatory for the past couple¡ª" Xinran smacked the Winged Silver Dragon on the head before it could finish. "Say one more word, and I¡¯ll dig out your heart and cook it for big bro!" Ooh, that isn¡¯t a bad idea. "Hear, hear¡­" "Are you sure, big bro?" Xinran was smiling, but the question was clearly serious. Noticing this, the Winged Silver Dragon said with a deathly pale expression, "You can¡¯t do this! Ahhhh, surely you¡¯re not interested in eating me, right, dear and kind brother of my master? I ate a lot of Corpse Eaters during my time at the Purgatory because I was hungry, so my heart smells like rotten meat right now. Surely you don¡¯t like to eat smelly meat, right?" I replied calmly while healing myself and looking at Bloody Finger floating in the sky, "It all depends on how you cook it. But since you¡¯re this sincere, I¡¯ll give you a chance to redeem yourself. Help us kill that bastard, and all shall be forgiven!" The Winged Silver Snake looked up, saw Bloody Finger and immediately started shivering in fright. "Heavens, isn¡¯t that Ovia the Bloody Finger, one of the Nine Sovereigns of the Purgatory? You want me, a lowly dragon, to kill a god? How cruel! How inhuman! The only person who could deal with a devil like that is my wise, beautiful, young and generous master!" I shook my head. This dragon hadn¡¯t been Xinran¡¯s "pet" for too long, but it was already as tame as your house dog. A cunning one, sure, but the point still stands. ¡­¡­ Xinran looked up and smiled at Bloody Finger. Her eyes looked like they were staring right through his heart. "We meet again, Ovia!" The turbulent energy leaking out of Bloody Finger¡¯s bloody arm showed just how unsettled he was by Xinran¡¯s arrival. He yelled angrily, "Wind Singer Xinran, traitor of the purgatory! Why are you here? I thought Lady Sophia and Lady Linda were hunting you! It makes no sense for you to show yourself here! Why are you doing this?" "The why is simple. I have come because you bullied my big brother¡­" Xinran shot me a smile before continuing, "And anyone who bullies my big brother will suffer a fate worse than death!" Xinran¡¯s expression suddenly turned murderous. It was an expression a pretty girl shouldn¡¯t have. Clearly, years of cultivation in the purgatory had washed away all of the youthful innocence she once had and left behind only well-honed steely resolve. Even so, Xinran always acted like the little girl she used to be when she was with me. To this day, she still reminded me of that child who promised me that she would become a great priest one day. Lin Yixin looked at Beiming Xue and teased her, "It looks like Little Cheat¡¯s other little sister is stronger than you, Beiming." Beiming Xue clenched her fists and declared, "I¡¯ll work hard so that Xinran isn¡¯t stronger than me by much!" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Bloody Finger abruptly faced toward the sky and laughed. He pointed a finger at Xinran and said, "Your cultivation may have improved, but so what? I am backed by the great purgatory legion and Lord Lin Na himself! You, on the other hand, are only backed by the weak Violet Empire! Do you really think you can do whatever you want now?" Xinran smiled. "It is true that the Violet Empire is still very weak, but that doesn¡¯t mean I am powerless to do what I aim to do today, and that is to slaughter your monstrous ass, you animal!" "Pooh! Pot calling kettle black much? Your hands are drenched in just as much blood as mine!" "Hmph!" Xinran raised her Dragonbone Spear threateningly and said, "You will not remind me what I did pre-reincarnation. I¡¯ve discarded those memories a long time ago, so it is pointless even if you bring them up. Ovia, you are one of the Ten Heroes of the Dharan Empire, and you single-handedly destroyed your own empire. An executioner like you should¡¯ve experienced true death a long time ago, and today, I shall be the one to dole out your sentence. Winged Silver Dragon, fight with me!" "Yes, my young and beautiful master!" The Winged Silver Dragon didn¡¯t forget to flatter Xinran even as it answered her call. ¡­¡­ Bloody Finger let out an angry roar and said, "If you want to fight, then a fight is what you¡¯ll get! I, Ovia the Bloody Finger, have never fought another Sovereign-level expert during the millennium I dominated the purgatory. Show me what you got, former Sovereign!" Bloody Finger abruptly plummeted from the sky and brought his sword down for an overhead slash! Xinran let out a soft snort, and a ring of energy appeared around her feet. The next moment, she vanished into thin air, reappeared in front of Ovia the Bloody Finger and clashed blades with him! Chiang! There was a deafening explosion, and Xinran fell toward the ground. Bloody Finger himself was knocked further up into the sky though. "Winged Silver Dragon!" Xinran ordered. The dragon hurriedly flew up to her and said, "Gentler, my master¡­" Xinran landed heavily on top of the Winged Silver Dragon¡ªI could actually see the footprints from where I was¡ªand pushed herself up into the clouds. We couldn¡¯t see what happened next because the battle was happening in the clouds. The Winged Silver Dragon descended to the ground and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank the heavens I didn¡¯t have to fight one of the Nine Sovereigns with my vulnerable, flesh-and-bloody body! These undead are just way too powerful!" I was a bit bemused, frankly. I thought that the Winged Silver Dragon would play a more active role than just being a springboard, but I supposed that Xinran would know what was best for her. ¡­¡­ Thick, bloody clouds covered the sky, and the sounds of clashing weapons rocked hit our ears like cracks of thunder. In fact, we could have sworn lightning bolts struck the ground from time to time. Fire, ice, hurricanes and meteors erupted across the clouds, and occasionally, we could see Xinran and Ovia the Bloody Finger flying around and clashing blades with one another. However, it was impossible to tell exactly what was going on up there. Anxiety filled my head as I watched the battle happening in the sky. My HP had returned to full a long time ago, but there was nothing I could do to help Xinran. All I could do was pray that she wouldn¡¯t lose, or it would truly be the end for all of us! Beep! It was at this moment I received a message from He Yi: "Hey hey, Lu Chen! The latest news regarding the Northern Alliance is that Sophia the Snow Minstrel is attacking Seven Star City with her undead army! Over half of the Heroic Bannermen are dead, and I heard that even Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is no exception. One side of the wall has already been destroyed by Sophia, and it¡¯s only a matter of time before they have to abandon their city and escape! The Americans are going to cry rivers of tears after this, hehe!" I replied with a smile, "Nice! I¡¯d send my energy to Sophia if I could!" ¡­¡­ Boom! A meteor fell from the¡ªwait, it wasn¡¯t a meteor, it was Ovia. The man was covered in flames when he crashed into a ruined structure and shook the earth itself. Swhoosh! Xinran appeared from the bloody clouds and landed gently on the ground. She stomped the ground once, and a burst of energy knocked Bloody Finger out of the pit he was stuck in. After a fierce battle, the bloodied Purgatory Sovereign only had 4% HP left. He was clearly at death¡¯s door. That being said, Xinran wasn¡¯t faring much better than him. Her shoulder armor was completely destroyed, and fresh wounds marred her usually smooth, white shoulder. It was clearly the work of Bloody Finger. ¡­¡­ "Are you okay, Xinran?" I asked. Xinran shook her head and reassured me, "It¡¯s just a light injury, big brother. Now go take out Ovia now. Revenge is a dish best served with your own hands, right?" I was overjoyed. It was obvious that Xinran was surrendering the last hit, and by extension, the experience and the loot to me. If she had killed Bloody Finger herself, the latter wouldn¡¯t have dropped any loot. I glanced at Lin Yixin, and she caught on immediately. We tentatively walked toward Ovia the Bloody Finger and tested his defenses with Burning Blade Slash and Ice Flame Slash from afar. Unlike before, the bastard screamed in pain when he received our attacks. Chiang! Ovia the Bloody Finger barely pushed himself back onto his feet using his purple sword before swearing, "Just you wait, Wind Singer! Someone will take revenge for me! If I wasn¡¯t weakened from my battle against a purgatory beast a month ago, you would never have been able to beat me as you are now! Pooh!" Xinran moved closer to me and said, "Big brother, take out that bastard already, will you?" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Working together with Lin Yixin and Beiming Xue, I resummoned the Phantom Wolf King and apparition and attacked the boss with everything I got. Ovia the Bloody Finger couldn¡¯t retaliate against us because Xinran¡¯s domain power was keeping him trapped. He looked nothing like the arrogant Purgatory Sovereign he was before. Considering that Ovia the Bloody Finger was a Purgatory Sovereign, 4% HP was actually a lot to chew through. That being said, offensive power was never a problem for our party. Beiming Xue especially was dealing 50k damage at least almost every hit thanks to the Windchaser equipment set she was wearing. Her attacks easily penetrated the boss''s broken defense. We didn¡¯t think we would get to dole out a one-sided beating onto a Purgatory Sovereign, Ovia the Bloody Finger himself. In that moment, we were all enveloped in a sense of bliss. ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, happiness never lasted for too long. Puchi! A wet noise appeared behind us, and Xinran suddenly let out a yelp of pain. I turned around to find her eyes filled with shock and a blade piercing out of chest, dripping with blood. A woman with blood-red eyes and bundled hair had appeared behind Xinran before anyone realized it. She wore silvery white armor and wielded a sword. A cruel smile crossed her features as she spoke, "How careless of you, Wind Singer." Chapter 876: Never Betray "Ahhh¡­" Pain filled Xinran¡¯s beautiful face as she looked down at the blade poking out of her chest. She angrily grabbed the tip of the blade, bent lower and performed a back kick with her right leg, successfully striking the ambusher in the stomach. Thud thud thud... The silver-armored woman withdrew her weapon and backed away a little. Xinran didn¡¯t look happy in the slightest even though the armor protecting her ambusher¡¯s abdomen was a little cracked. ¡­¡­ "Xinran!" I moved to Xinran¡¯s side immediately and looked at the terrifying wound at her chest. "Xinran, your wound¡­ will it¡­" Despite her heavy breathing and fatigued expression, Xinran smiled at me and said, "Don¡¯t worry, big brother. This isn¡¯t enough to kill me." "Mn¡­" I hesitated. What was even the right thing to say in this type of situation? Xinran didn¡¯t wait for me to come to my senses though. She looked at her attacker angrily and said, "Aren¡¯t you supposed to be guarding the Infinite Snow Domain? Why have you come here?" As it turned out, the ferocious woman was none other than the second strongest Sovereign of the Purgatory, Sophie the Snow Minstrel! Sophie smiled at Xinran and replied, "I was attacking Seven Star City until I sensed Bloody Finger¡¯s presence disappearing gradually just now. At that moment, I knew that it had to be you. There is no one in the entire human realm besides you who has the power to kill him!" "Ovia is a tyrannical monster! Death is what he deserves!" Xinran declared. "That he may be, but it is hardly your duty to kill him!" Sophie pointed her sword at Xinran before continuing, "You¡¯re not escaping this time. The highest order we received from Lord Lin Na is the one to kill you. That is how much of a pain you are to the Purgatory, Wind Singer. If I kill you today, I¡¯m sure Lord Lin Na will reward me handsomely!" I silently resummoned my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King and prepared for battle. I couldn¡¯t even read Sophie¡¯s level or rank, but giving up was not an option. Xinran would be in grave danger otherwise. Drip drip... Despite Xinran¡¯s attempt to staunch the bleeding, red blood continued to drip through her fingers and wet the ground beneath her. She was rapidly losing stamina by the second. Suddenly, Sophie noticed the color of Xinran¡¯s blood and exclaimed in shock, "Wait. Red blood? I¡­ I cannot believe this. You actually betrayed the Purgatory. You even gave up your pride as an undead and made a human body." The corners of Xinran¡¯s lips turned up. "Pride as an undead? What¡¯s that? The undead are creatures that know only greed and slaughter. That is why I searched every ruin in the God Domain, created a human body and transformed my Divinity into Humanity. My power may be weaker than it was before, but¡­ but I¡­" Xinran shot me a long glance before she declared with greater determination than ever before, "But I still want to become someone like big brother! He is a man who treats this cruel world with kindness despite possessing the body of an undead, so that is the kind of person I will become as well!" "Hehe¡­" A derisive smile crossed Sophie¡¯s lips. "Cruel world, you say¡­? Never mind. For the sake of the camaraderie we once shared, I will forgive you for saying that. Have you forgotten the time we resisted the invasion of Longte the Evil Messenger and Liuge the Spirit Controller together? For sixteen years, we fought side by side until we finally killed those two devils and took back our rightful territory. Have you truly forgotten everything, Xinran?" Xinran shivered once before murmuring, "Sophie, what are you¡­?" Sophie spread open her arms and smiled. "Return to the Purgatory with me, Xinran. I promise that Lord Lin Na will accept you back to our fold. You are our pride, and you are not a traitor. In fact, your chance to prove that is right here. Kill these human adventurers and that half-dead human prince without a heart so we may bring their heads to Lord Lin Na as tributes. Let us resume our sisterhood just like before¡­" "You want me to¡­ kill my big brother?" Xinran immediately shook her head in panic. She pointed the Dragonbone Spear at Sophie and declared in a harsh voice, "You devil, I would rather fight the entire world than harm a hair on my big brother! He is¡­ the most important person in my life, and I will never betray him!" Sophie sighed quietly. "In that case, I have no choice but to claim your life!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh! Sophie smiled as a swirl of ice appeared around her sword. "Come taste the new ultimate technique I cultivated for a thousand years in the Purgatory, Xinran. And show me how strong you are now that you¡¯ve finally broken through your seal!" "As you wish!" Xinran lifted her spear horizontally and summoned swirls of blood-red energy around her spear. Sophie¡¯s element was ice, while Xinran¡¯s element was freezing fire. It was the result of a perfect, yet paradoxical, fusion of two great elements, ice and fire. The flames she conjured were cold, but that only made them even deadlier than regular flame! Thud! Xinran pushed herself off the ground and thrust her speartip at Sophie¡¯s chest. At the same time, she shook the spear a bit to fire the energy she summoned! "Hmm?" Sophie let out an exclamation of surprise as she rotated her sword to form a vortex of ice. When Xinran¡¯s speartip plunged into the center of the vortex, a huge explosion threw both combatants backward! Bang! Xinran was sent stumbling to the back, but Sophie wasn¡¯t faring too good herself. The Snow Minstrel let out a groan of pain as her armor shattered further, and black blood seeped out the cracks around her right chest. It was the result of Xinran¡¯s counterattack. However, Sophie snorted triumphantly and crushed a dried bone beneath her foot. She abruptly tossed her sword into the sky and summoned the image of an ice dragon that spun around the weapon and roared almost as if it was protecting it. A trace of shock crossed Xinran¡¯s eyes as she stared at it. "Heavens, is that¡­ the ultimate technique of the Dragon Speaker, War Dragon Strike?!" Sophie replied indifferently, "Correct. Now die, my former friend!" War Dragon Strike was absolutely an overpowered skill. The sky itself was changing color, and the entire Dharan City ruins were engulfed in an ominous darkness. If Sophie was allowed to unleash this skill to its full potential, forget Xinran, even the rest of us might die alongside her. The second strongest boss of the Nine Sovereigns was no joke! I lowered my center of gravity slightly and activated Great Earth Transformation. Then, I threw the Cyan Netherworld Sword and hit Sophie¡¯s torso perfectly with Sword Boomerang. However, the weapon bounced off her armor like nothing and... 1717! I stared blankly at the damage number. Heavens, this gap is too big, isn¡¯t it!? Sophie looked unperturbed by the attack, but the slip of killing intent in her eyes said otherwise. She raised her left arm and growled at me, "Human brat. Die!" Boom! I, my pet and the earth abruptly sank two meters deeper into the ground. The sudden pressure Sophie exuded shattered all the stairs around me and dealt a ridiculous 350k damage to me! She wasn¡¯t even attacking yet; her aura alone had almost one-shot me! ¡­¡­ "You will not hurt big brother!" Enraged, Xinran crushed the ground beneath her feet and leaped bravely into the sky. The Dragonbone Spear buzzed in her grasp as a black dragon slithered across the spear¡¯s body. It was the draconic soul that resided in the weapon. Xinran was going all out because she knew exactly how powerful War Dragon Strike was. "Hah! Die, Xinran!" Sophie let out a battle cry and brought down her sword with both hands. The ice dragon rushed toward Xinran faster than her person! Xinran thrust her spear forward and hurled her own energy at Sophie. However, the black dragon was clearly no match for the power of War Dragon Strike and was quickly devoured by it. When the remaining energy of the skill engulfed Xinran¡¯s tiny body, a deafening explosion threatened to burst everyone¡¯s eardrums! Chiang! It was the Dragonbone Spear clashing against Sophie¡¯s sword. The rush of energies was too bright for us to stare directly, and the wind intensity alone threatened to seal our eyes completely. However, it didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that it was the clash between two peak experts at the summit of cultivation. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! A black figure fell in a straight line, crushed countless slabs and skidded at least a hundred meters across the ground before finally coming to a stop. It was Xinran of course. Xinran¡¯s right arm looked so bloody that it almost didn¡¯t look like an arm anymore. Heaven knows how many times she was stabbed by Sophie¡¯s sword, but it didn¡¯t look like she could hold up the weapon for long. She looked like she was about to collapse to the ground herself. Xinran looked up and uttered through gritted teeth, "Sophie, I won¡¯t allow you to do as you please even if it costs me my life! Now come! I swear I¡¯ll fight you until true death takes me!" ¡­¡­ In the sky, the smoke faded away to reveal a bloodied and battered Sophie. Her silver armor was stained by blood, and there was a terrifyingly huge hole in her right leg. It was of course the work of the Dragonbone Spear. It proved that Xinran wasn¡¯t completely outmatched, and that Sophie wouldn¡¯t walk away from this unscathed if this truly devolved into a do-or-die battle. Sophie slowly descended until she landed atop an altar. Then, she lowered her sword and let out a sudden sigh. "I suppose I should stop here. But hear this, Xinran. The Violet Empire is labeled a traitor to the Purgatory, and both Opero and Coldblade can¡¯t wait to drench its soil in blood. They are supported by Lord Lin Na himself, so that should give you an idea how powerful your enemies are. Take care and be careful, Xinran." Xinran nodded in a daze. "I know¡­" ¡­¡­ Sophie smiled at her before walking to another side of the battlefield. It was where Ovia the Bloody Finger was lying helplessly atop the rubble. Her beautiful features suddenly became distorted, and she roared at him with seemingly infinite hatred, "Still remember the last battle of the Ten Heroes, Ovia? You killed my allies and surrendered your pride as a human general. Today, the person who will claim your life isn¡¯t Sophie, but those you killed in battle!" "What?!" Ovia the Bloody Finger exclaimed in shock before growling, "You cannot kill me, Sophie! You of all people cannot kill me!" Chapter 877: Purple Ying Sword "Why can¡¯t I kill you?" Sophie said calmly, "Give me a suitable reason, and I may consider sparing your life. But if you fail, then I can only send you down to true hell! Back then, you and I both belonged to the Ten Heroes, but not only did you, a border general, refuse to perform your responsibility and protect your country, you turned traitor and killed multiple Ten Heroes including my mentor, Herrero. I have borne this grudge for a thousand years, but I wasn¡¯t able to claim vengeance due to the various nuisances hindering me¡­ until now, that is!" Bloody Finger shuddered as he pushed himself up to full length. "You cannot kill me, because¡­ you were half the reason I decided to turn my back on the empire!" "Me?" Sophie exclaimed in puzzlement, "You did it for me? But why? My father was a famous general of the empire, but he passed away a long time ago. As for my mentor, he was killed by your own hand. What role could I possibly play in your betrayal?" Bloody Finger replied while panting heavily, "The emperor, Liulin, gave you a secret order to hunt down the undead at Yellowstone Desert, right? But did you know that Liulin and your mentor, Herrero, were conspiring to force you into a grand wedding the moment you returned to the country?" "Wedding?" Sophie¡¯s puzzlement only grew with the revelation. Bloody Finger nodded. "That¡¯s right. Our emperor, Liulin, desired you for a long time now, but he never dared to bring it up because he was well aware that your martial prowess was unequaled. Therefore, he went to your mentor instead and promised him command over the garrison army. And so, your beloved mentor betrayed you and agreed to the engagement without your consent. Had you returned from Yellowstone Desert, you would¡¯ve been forced to marry that old man!" Sophie¡¯s mouth was agape in shock. She murmured, "How could this be¡­ Why did my mentor never tell me about this?" Ovia the Bloody Finger raised his purple blade and declared in a determined voice, "Sophie, we grew up and participated in many adventures and training together. I¡¯ve loved you since the very beginning, but I never pursued it because you had always been too prideful to accept anyone, and, to be honest, I didn¡¯t think I was worthy of you anyway. The only thing I could do for you at the time was to betray the empire and save you from the clutches of that despicable, dying old man!" Sophie watched her former comrade calmly with her sword pointed toward the ground. Ovia the Bloody Finger dropped to one knee and bowed his head reverently. "Sophie, I love you, I¡¯ve always loved you. I pray that you will appreciate the millennium-long love that remained unbroken even to this day!" ¡­¡­ Sophie pressed her purple red lips together when suddenly, killing intent flared brightly in her eyes. Her sword swept across Ovia¡¯s neck like lightning, and... Crack! A bloody head flew into the air for a time before landing next to its headless corpse. Chiang! Finally, Sophie sheathed her sword and said indifferently, "Love? I don¡¯t need such a thing!" ¡­¡­ The slab beneath Sophie split in half when the Purgatory Sovereign launched herself into the sky and stayed there. Looking at us with indifferent eyes, she said, "Think it through, Xinran. We will meet again, and next time, I may have to kill you. I would rather not do that if at all possible. The power of the Purgatory is calling out to me, so I have to return now. Goodbye!" A burst of light later, Sophie disappeared into the horizon like a meteor. No wonder she was able to fly over from Seven Star City as quickly as she did. It was only then that Ovia the Bloody Finger¡¯s soul dissipated completely. Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to player "Beiming Xue" for killing one of the Nine Sovereigns of the Purgatory, "Ovia the Bloody Finger¡±. Player "Beiming Xue" has gained 5 Luck, Level +5, and all base stats +5%. Ovia the Bloody Finger is officially dead! ¡­¡­ Pop pop pop... At the same time, countless items and equipment burst out of Ovia the Bloody Finger and gave both Lin Yixin and I a pleasant surprise. It didn¡¯t take a genius to know that the equipment dropped by a Purgatory Sovereign could only be godlike! I ran to the boss rapturously while praising Beiming Xue, "Thank the heavens! I thought for sure that Sophie would be identified as the one to kill Ovia! How on earth did you do it, Beiming?" Beiming Xue blinked at me before answering, "Big bro, I never stopped attacking Ovia since you ran off on your own and challenged Sophie to a mano a mano. In fact, I planted three arrows at the back of his head when he was kneeling on the floor and begging Sophie for love. How on earth did you miss that?" I felt like time stopped for me until Lin Yixin came to my rescue. "Shall we see what the loot is now?" "Mn!" Blood boiling with anticipation, I stopped in front of the boss, bent down and picked up all the items he had dropped. There were four pieces of equipment in total. The first item was a glowing silver armor. The second, a silver shield with glowing runes on it. The third was a lightning scepter, and lastly, a sword with a translucent blade exuding purple light. It was none other than the weapon Ovia the Bloody Finger was using to whoop our ass earlier! My heart nearly stopped there and then, but I forced myself to calm down and put the items next to one another on the ground. Then, I shared their stats screen in the party channel one by one¡ª Dharan Battle Armor (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 2950 Magic Resist: 2800 Strength: +820 Stamina: +790 Agility: +720 Tactics: +70 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 60% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 32000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Resist by 60% Outstanding Property: Protection of the Ten Heroes. Damage taken is reduced by 12%. Slots: 12 Introduction: The Dharan Empire was a great empire that stood strong for countless years before its demise. Countless heroes were born during this period, and among them were the outstanding Ten Heroes. These human heroes were obsessed with forging weapons and armor, and the godlike Dharan Battle Armor was forged by a hero and a divine smith called Gelert. Level Requirement: 175 Reputation Requirement: 300000 ¡­¡­ My surprise lasted for an instant before I said, "This Dharan Battle Armor is an excellent Immortal-grade item and at about the same level as my Heaven-burning Armor. Yiyi, you¡¯re still wearing the Dark Prison chest armor, aren¡¯t you? You should take this then. It¡¯s high time you replaced it anyway." Lin Yixin nodded but said, "I can¡¯t wear it though. I¡¯m still lacking around 30k Reputation¡­" "It¡¯s fine. When we return to Sky City and show Princess Karinshan Bloody Finger¡¯s head, the reward should give you the Reputation you need¡­" "Mn mn." And so it was decided that the Dharan Battle Armor would go to Lin Yixin. With the Devil Bell, the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and now the Dharan Battle Armor, our Fruit Knife Goddess had undoubtedly become a lot stronger! Next, I moved onto the shield¡ª Dharan Ruins Barrier (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 6000 Magic Resist: 5100 Stamina: +620 Strength: +600 Agility: +550 Tactics: +50 Parry Chance: +39% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 40% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 20000 Outstanding Property: Protection of the Ten Heroes. Damage taken is reduced by 15%. Introduction: The Dharan Empire was a great empire that stood strong for countless years before its demise. Countless heroes were born during this period, and among them were the outstanding Ten Heroes. These human heroes were obsessed with forging weapons and armor, and the godlike Dharan Battle Armor was forged by a hero and a divine smith called Gelert. Slots: 11 Level Requirement: 175 Reputation Requirement: 150000 ¡­¡­ It was yet another Dharan City ruins exclusive equipment and a shield, but it was a lot lousier than my Dragon God Shield. It was understandable though. There was a 3-star difference between the two, so naturally, the Dragon God Shield was a lot stronger. "Babe!" I said while looking at Lin Yixin. Lin Yixin pressed her lips into a smile. "What is it, Little Cheat?" I raised the Dharan City Ruins Barrier and said, "You can¡¯t equip this Immortal-grade shield anyway, so why don¡¯t you give it to us as per our agreement? We promised Eve that we would give her excellent equipment for giving up her slot to Lian Xin anyway, so this is just perfect!" Lin Yixin nodded. "Sure, no problem. Now let¡¯s check out the next item already!" "Yeah!" The third equipment was the lightning scepter. The way lightning cycled around it looked pretty impressive¡ª Thunder God Scepter (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Magic Attack: 1900~2550 Intelligence: +850 Stamina: +800 Agility: +795 Tactics: +95 Passive: Increase user¡¯s Magic Attack by 70% Passive: Decreases user¡¯s spell cast time by 25% Outstanding Property: Thunder God¡¯s Rage. When waving the scepter, 1% chance to trigger Thunder God¡¯s Rage and strike a specific zone with countless lightning bolts. Slots: 12 Level Requirement: 175 Reputation Requirement: 320000 ¡­¡­ I broke into a grin when I finished reading the Thunder God Scepter¡¯s stats. "God damn! A Level 175 Immortal-grade scepter? Tsk tsk! Looks like Lian Xin¡¯s trip to Bloody Shield Domain isn¡¯t wasted after all! I¡¯ll hold onto this for now and give it to her later!" The other two girls nodded and replied in unison, "Sure, whatever you say!" Finally, we moved onto the center of attention we had purposely ignored until now. The sword with a translucent blade was surrounded by a halo of purple energy, and runes were swimming inside its grooves. Anyone could see that this sword was unlike anything we had ever seen before. Purple Ying Sword (Archean-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 3700~4450 Strength: +1250 Stamina: +1200 Agility: +1150 Tactics: +145 Passive: Increases user''s attack power by 105% Passive: Increases user''s splash damage by 50% Passive: When swinging the Purple Ying Sword, chance to deal 500% damage. The effect stacks with critical hits. Slots: 15 Outstanding Property: Mountain Crush. When attacking a target, has a small chance to destroy the opponent¡¯s equipment durability and render it useless. When attacking a building or a mine, greatly increase the demolition effect. Property 1: Proficiency. Level Requirement is lowered by 30 Property 2: Evolvable Property 3: Lifesteal. 15% of the damage dealt is converted into HP Introduction: According to the legends of the ancient times, during the conception of the world, an ancient god transformed their body into hills, rivers and forests. Their bones however were used to forge the ancient Purple Ying Sword. The character "Ying" symbolizes the monarch, which is why the sword is also known as the Sword of Kings. Back in the day, wielded by divine kings, it was used to slay countless devils. Today, for unknown reason, most of its power has been sealed away. Perhaps it can evolve into something stronger. Level Requirement: 200 Reputation Requirement: 350000 Chapter 878: Dragonheart Knight The Purple Ying Sword, the Sword of Kings. I could see purple ripples of energy circling around its bright and translucent blade. There were tiny oracle bone runes swimming inside the grooves of the sword almost as if they were alive. I had no doubt that the Purple Ying Sword was our greatest reward of this journey. Not only was it a weapon that could evolve, it was a 7-star Outstanding weapon with insane stats. With an upper Attack of 4450 and lower Attack of 3700¡ªor 8150 Attack if you added them together¡ªthere was probably nothing it couldn¡¯t challenge right now, and this was before mentioning its 105% Attack boost and 50% splash effect. It was the weapon to use, be it for PvP or PvE battles! Of course, out of all the attributes the Purple Ying Sword possessed, the one that caught my eyes the most was its Outstanding Property, Mountain Crush! It was an effect that gave its user a chance to destroy their opponent¡¯s equipment durability and render them temporarily useless. Not only that, it dealt extra damage to buildings and mines as well. Imagine that you were in a siege battle, and the walls were the only thing standing between you and glory. What would happen if you attacked the wall with this sword? The Outstanding Property had a small chance to trigger, but if it did, I could easily poke a giant hole in the wall! This was the kind of attribute any country in the world would love to have. For example, the Fortress of the Iron Halberd would be in some danger if this sword had fallen into the hands of Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. Luckily for us, I was the one who obtained it first. ¡­¡­ "Big bro¡­" It was at this moment Beiming Xue gave me a push and broke me out of my daydreaming. "Wake up already! There¡¯s no problem with the Purple Ying Sword, is there? Hmm?" Lin Yixin let out an evil chuckle and said, "Oh, there is? That¡¯s perfect. Here, I¡¯ll trade you the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword for it¡­" I immediately grabbed the Purple Ying Sword and said in a pitiful voice, "Yiyi¡­ you promised you¡¯d give me any top-tier fighter equipment we find when we gave you the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword, right? That means that the Purple Ying Sword is rightfully mine, right?" Lin Yixin giggled and raised the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword in front of her. "Sure. The Purple Ying Sword is powerful, but I prefer the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword¡¯s appearance more. And remember what Sister Mingyue said? Sister Eve and I look good wielding a pair of sister weapons, don¡¯t we?" She tilted her head at me. It was clear that she was making fun of me. I was so embarrassed I would have hidden myself in a hole if I could. I couldn¡¯t believe that Lin Yixin was embarrassing me like this even though she knew that I liked He Yi. So I retaliated by hugging her shoulder and kissed her cheek right in front of Beiming Xue, loudly. "Whatever you say, dear. This Purple Ying Sword is mine no matter what, hehe!" "You bastard!" The light wanderer blushed like an apple as she punched me. "Control yourself! Beiming is right here..." Her worries were unfounded though. Looking completely unperturbed, my little sister caressed her Thunder Beast¡¯s bald head while saying innocently, "Pay those two no mind, Thunder Beast. When we return to Sky City, I¡¯ll buy you some good fodder and help you wash all that sweetness in your mouth!" Lin Yixin: "..." Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Chiang! The Cyan Netherworld Sword had accompanied me through thick and thin, but it was finally time to switch it out for the Purple Ying Sword. I made up my mind to give it to Du Thirteen later. Although slightly outdated considering the current climate, the Cyan Netherworld Sword was still a Heaven-grade item with great Attack and 10% lifesteal. It was far weaker than the Purple Ying Sword, but that didn¡¯t mean that it wasn¡¯t an excellent weapon for PvP and PvE. The moment I equipped the Purple Ying Sword, I felt a tremendous surge of power coursing my body. My muscles strained with excess energy, and I felt like I had to let it out or risk exploding like a balloon. It was such an awesome feeling that I wished that Candlelight Shadow and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow were standing before me right now. With the Purple Ying Sword in my hand, I actually felt confident in my chances of beating them 1v2! I brought up my stats screen and spent a moment to admire the updated stats. Tsk tsk, would you look at these numbers! Although Beiming Xue was the one who scored the last hit on the boss, Lin Yixin and I still got a lot of experience. I was now Level 176, and¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Purgatory Thunder) Class: Undead Swordsman (Great Earth Swordsman) Level: 176 HP: 214290 Attack: 9812~10820 Defense: 15515 Magic Resist: 12950 Reputation: 399400 Tactics: 850(+762) Luck: 54 ¡­¡­ If I wasn¡¯t a monster before, I am now¡­ My base Attack had finally exceeded 10k thanks to the Purple Ying Sword. The higher a character¡¯s base Attack, the higher the flat boost from percentage-based properties of my equipment, skills and mount. My effective Attack should be around 40k, a number I highly doubted anyone in the world had the Defense to withstand. Even Gui Guzi with a shield would have to lose at least 100k HP from a Barrier Break from me! Moreover, the Purple Ying Sword boosted my Tactics all the way up to 850. This meant that, if I used a normal Encourage VII to boost my Attack, I could still enjoy a 190% Attack boost, which was only 10% behind my Martial God. If even a common stratagem like this could perform better than a Famous General Skill, then a godlike stratagem like Purple Dragon was something any man or woman must have. I heard that a Purple Dragon stratagem skill book that dropped in Titan City was ultimately sold for almost 10 million dollars. Those rich American people were truly insane... Besides that, the higher the Tactics, the better the effects of the Divine General Skill. This was what I was truly pleased about. If I could boost my Tactics past the 2000 mark, I was certain that I could one-shot even Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalrymen with an unbuffed Ancient Seal! How awesome would that be? Anyway, back to the present. As I stared at the rubble around me, I felt like testing out the Purple Ying Sword for a bit. So, I launched Thousand Ice Slash at an intact surface of the altar. Boom! To my surprise, not only did the sword auras cut through the altar made from huge stones like a hot knife through butter, it sank all the way into the ground and split them like a shallow earthquake. Both girls were stunned by the effects. "OMG, this Mountain Crush is a bit overpowered, isn¡¯t it?" Lin Yixin exclaimed in shock. Beiming Xue echoed in agreement. "Big bro, if you happen to duel a player in Sky City one day, you must remember to switch out the Purple Ying Sword, okay? If you accidentally destroy the city gate, Princess Karinshan will have your head for sure¡­" I nodded. Frankly, even I was growing a bit wary of the sheer destructive power of my own weapon. Like a weapon of mass destruction that one must consider carefully before deploying, I should avoid using it in my own territory as much as possible. ¡­¡­ While I was fooling around, Lin Yixin dismounted and picked up a couple of Cyanfire Gems next to the boss''s corpse. She passed them to me with a smile and said, "Take these Rank 13 and 14 Cyanfire Gems with you. You still have some Rank 11 and 12 Cyanfire Gems with you, right? If not, you can get them from your warehouse and boost your weapon all the way to Rank 14 after we return to Sky City. It¡¯ll be a waste not to maximize the power of a godlike weapon like this." "Yeah. Thanks!" "You¡¯re welcome!" Finally, Lin Yixin turned around and gazed melancholically at the ruins around us. She sighed. "Our quest is complete, but it¡¯s a shame we couldn¡¯t save this gorgeous city from being destroyed." I consoled her, "It¡¯s fine. Now that Ovia the Bloody Finger is dead, Vanished God City will take over this place. Who knows, maybe China will gain a main city, Dharan City, in the near future?" However, Beiming Xue looked at the motionless Prince Cloudway on the ground and said, "Vanished God City¡¯s best commander is dead though. How can they possibly retake Dharan City ruins after this?" I frowned. She was right. Without Cloudway, who else in that city was capable of retaking the city? ¡­¡­ Instinctively, I walked over to Cloudway and put my finger before his nose to test his breathing. Then, I exclaimed in shock, "Huh!? Prince Cloudway¡­ Prince Cloudway is still breathing! Can we still save him?!" "What?" Xinran¡ªshe had been leaning against a wall and recuperating this whole time¡ªsuddenly opened her eyes and asked me for confirmation, "Are you sure, big brother? Is Cloudway really still breathing?" "Yes, I¡¯m sure!" I nodded strongly. Overjoyed, Xinran appeared next to me in the blink of an eye and pressed her palm to Cloudway¡¯s chest. "Hmm, yes! I can sense a trace of life force inside his body! Maybe, just maybe, I¡¯ll be able to save Cloudway!" "But Cloudway¡¯s heart was devoured by that animal, Bloody Finger! A human can¡¯t possibly live without a heart, can they?" "Not necessarily!" Xinran shot me a smile before asking, "Do you know why a Holy Giant Dragon possesses great life force, big bro?" "No. Why?" "It¡¯s because a dragon¡¯s heart is exceptionally tenacious. Even if they suffer critical wounds elsewhere, their heart is powerful enough to restore all the damage!" Inspiration hit me, and I immediately faced toward the Winged Silver Dragon. "Huh?" Seemingly realizing something, the Winged Silver Dragon immediately backed away with its tail between its legs. "Ah, my dear master¡¯s big brother? What are you planning to do?" I beamed at the Winged Silver Dragon and said, "Oh no, you¡¯re asking the wrong question. You should be asking what Xinran is planning to do¡­" ¡­¡­ Xinran rose to her feet and said, "Cloudway is a man of excellent character and impressive status. It¡¯ll be a shame to let someone with the potential to become one of the most outstanding generals of this continent die here. What I¡¯m saying is that you¡¯ll be able to revive a powerful human general just by surrendering a small portion of your heart, Winged Silver Dragon. Surely you don¡¯t have anything against this, right?" The dragon stared at me. "Do I have any other choice?" Xinran shook her head regretfully. "Nope! If you refuse, I¡¯ll just turn you into big brother¡¯s dinner! Big brother, have you eaten a Dragonheart Hot Pot before? The kind with a lot of chilli pepper and fish oil added to the soup?" I licked my lips hungrily. "Nope! Sounds tasty!" The Winged Silver Dragon groaned in despair. "You¡­ you are both devils¡­" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After that, Xinran appeared in front of her "pet" and knocked it out with a simple punch to the face. Then, she pulled out a dagger from somewhere, cut a 10-cm long wound across the Flying Silver Dagon¡¯s stomach, and carefully cut out a small part of its heart. To be exact, the part she cut out was about the same size as a human heart. She stitched the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s stomach after that, and to be honest, her needlework wasn¡¯t very impressive. I was fairly certain that the stitches shouldn¡¯t look like a five-pointed star. Finally, she returned to Prince Cloudway and stared at his horrific, gaping chest wound for a moment. She frowned a little before saying quietly, "Cloudway, I will restore you to life now. You must keep living for the future of Vanished God City!" Put! After pushing the dragon heart into Cloudway¡¯s chest, she opened her palm and manifested a hexagram. It wasn¡¯t long before the prince¡¯s wounds were gone, and the dragon heart was properly connected to his body. ¡­¡­ "Ahhhhh¡­" Cloudway abruptly awoke and coughed loudly for a moment. Once he recovered himself, he slowly knelt before Xinran and murmured with his head bowed, "Thank¡­ thank you for saving my life, Lady Wind Singer!" Xinran¡¯s face was white, and she was breathing rather heavily. The healing had clearly taken a toll on her. Leaning against a broken slab to rest her body, she said, "Prince Cloudway, from now on, you will be known as Cloudway the Dragonheart Knight! Do not disappoint those who place their expectations on you!" "Yes, lady¡­" Cloudway replied solemnly and looked up. His face was bloody and fatigued. ¡­¡­ I asked Xinran after looking at Cloudway for a moment, "By the way, Xinran, you put a dragon¡¯s heart into Cloudway¡¯s chest, right? Are you sure it won¡¯t result in a transplant rejection?" Xinran simply stared at me in confusion. "What are you talking about, big brother?" I shook my head. "Never mind¡­" Shrugging, the girl pushed herself to her feet using the Dragonbone Spear and said, "I suffered quite the serious injuries battling Sophie today, so I¡¯ll have to return to the ruins of God Domain and recuperate. I¡¯ll come and see you again when I recover!" "Yeah. See you!" After saying her goodbyes, Xinran grabbed the unconscious Winged Silver Dragon with one hand and Ovia¡¯s body with the other. Then, she soared into the sky and disappeared in the blink of an eye. I stared at the direction she disappeared to and asked no one in particular, "Xinran¡­ Why did she take Ovia¡¯s corpse with her?" Chapter 879: Divine Martial War Boots After Xinran left, Cloudway staggered toward me and gave me a knight¡¯s salute. He said solemnly, "Thank you for everything, honorable adventurer. It is because of you that Vanished God City avoided a destructive fate. Now that I have returned to life, I swear I will fight for the fate of all humans. Speaking of which, I must return to my city and rally an army to take out the remainder of Ovia¡¯s troops lurking in the forest!" I nodded. As I picked up Ovia the Bloody Finger¡¯s head from the ground, I said, "We¡¯ll be returning to Sky City as well. I¡¯m taking this with me and trading it for a reward from Princess Karinshan. Is that okay with you?" Cloudway smiled. "Of course. May we meet again someday, friend!" "We will!" "Goodbye!" ¡­¡­ After we bade the proud human prince goodbye, we pulled out our return scrolls and teleported back to Sky City. Lian Xian and Murong Mingyue were already waiting for us at the plaza. Since this quest was a main quest, I was certain that it would reward us with Luck, the most important stat a player could possibly receive in the entire game. Speaking of which, of all the things that were reset during Lin Yixin¡¯s account deletion, her Luck was the only thing that wasn¡¯t. Shusheng and Ling Xue were the ones who helped to fight for this result. Everyone here was a smart man or woman, and we all knew what we could give up and what we must fight to preserve to our last drop of blood, sweat and tears. Swhoosh! It felt like it had been a long time since I last saw Sky City. I immediately saw Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue waiting not far away from the teleportation formation. "You¡¯re finally back¡­" Lian Xin said with a smile. The first thing I did after walking up to her was to drop the Thunder God Scepter in her hands. "Here. Bloody Finger dropped this after he died." Lian Xin froze like a statue when she saw the weapon. A long while later, she finally returned to reality and blinked at me in disbelief. "This is for me? An Immortal-grade scepter?" "Duh?" "Hehe! Thank you!" She equipped the weapon, and a new shiny scepter popped into the hands of our little Phantasm of Stars. With this, Lian Xin¡¯s Magic Attack would become even better than it was before. "Let¡¯s go. It¡¯s time to search for Princess Karinshan and turn in the quest!" "Mn!" With the four girls and the new Purple Ying Sword by my side, I stepped onto the paved roads of Sky City with my equipment l.u.s.ter fully turned on. I was going to log out right after I turned in the quest, so I couldn¡¯t care less about keeping a low profile right now. Plus, there was no one in the city who was a match for me, not to mention that I was accompanied by the Fruit Knife Goddess, the Dark Archer, the Phantasm of Stars and the super wet nurse. Who could possibly pose a threat to us? We reached the palace entrance. The NPC guards were going to stop me, but when I showed them my noble status¡ªit was a reward from Princess Karinshan herself¡ªthey immediately dropped to their knees and said, "Welcome to the capital of Silver Moon Alliance, honorable viscount!" I nodded and led the girls into the palace. The royal court wasn¡¯t too far away, and we arrived at our destination after crossing a couple of bridges and forests. We weren¡¯t stopped even throughout the short walk because of my noble status. It was pretty nice. We saw Princess Karinshan when we arrived at the top of the stairs. She was standing in her martial attire with her hand clasped atop the hilt of her sword. She was looking at a giant sand table with tiny models representing Sky City, Wind City, Vanished God City, Dawn City and more. Karinshan pointed at the edge of Dawn City and said, "The enemy nations are growing quite active as of late. We will need to reinforce the Fortress of the Iron Halberd with another twenty thousand troops! Also, send a message to the regent of Vanished God City and order them to reinforce the borders facing toward Bloody Shield Domain with another one hundred thousand troops. It is only a matter of time before war reaches them. That brutal tyrant, Ovia the Bloody Finger, has been wanting to destroy Vanished God City for a long time now!" However, Commander Ziyan of the Frost Army said with a frown, "Your Majesty, that old fool has been resisting the alliance¡¯s orders again and again. Do you remember the time we ordered them to supply five hundred thousand units of army provisions when we were defending Dawn City? It¡¯s been three years already, and we still haven¡¯t seen a wink of those army provisions! I suspect that selfish bastard is plotting something against the Silver Moon Alliance, hmph!" Karinshan simply smiled and said, "It¡¯s just human nature. Everyone wants to build up their military strength if they can. I understand your sentiment, but we absolutely cannot risk losing a powerful ally over something so trivial. If they still refuse to obey our command, we¡¯ll just have to take action ourselves. Stark, you will take two hundred thousand troops with you, pass through Ice Skull Fortress and secure Bloody Shield Domain. If Ovia the Bloody Finger¡¯s ploy succeeds, we will all be in danger." The fierce Stark answered immediately, "As you command!" ¡­¡­ By now, the girls and I had reached the center of the hall. "Who dares enter the meeting hall without permission?" a civil officer yelled at us. Chiang! I unsheathed half of the Purple Ying Sword, and the noisy guy shut up immediately. I had silenced him without even saying a single word. Princess Karinshan broke into a smile when she saw me. "Oh, it¡¯s you!" I gave her a nod of acknowledgement and said, "Long time no see, Your Majesty." She let out a chuckle behind her palm. "Yes, it truly has been a while. Seeing that you¡¯ve come all the way here, you must have something to report, am I right?" "Yes." I nodded and started my story. "My companions and I were exploring Bloody Shield Domain when we encountered Ovia the Bloody Finger. However, we were able to kill him thanks to Xinran¡¯s help. I have brought his head here in hopes of receiving a reward from you, something more material than last time, if you don¡¯t mind¡­" "Excuse me?" Karinshan¡¯s mouth fell open. "You¡­ you killed Ovia the Bloody Finger? But¡­ but he¡¯s a Purgatory Sovereign! He¡¯s not someone even I can fight with all my power!" This time, a man clad in fiery red armor and the commander of Scarlet Wolf Army, Lintus spoke up. "Yes. A Purgatory Sovereign is practically as strong as a god. How could a couple of adventurers possibly slay such a fearsome foe? Young warriors, your strength is commendable, but it¡¯s just impossible to kill someone like Ovia¡­" A couple of sneering nobles immediately joined in on the insult as well. "Haha, I bet these retarded adventurers must¡¯ve killed a couple of bandits and thought that they were one of the Nine Sovereigns, Ovia the Bloody Finger himself! Have you ever seen his face before? Hahaha, what a joke!" "These people sure love to look down on other people¡­" Lin Yixin muttered at the side. I took out Ovia¡¯s head and sent it rolling across the floor until it reached Karinshan¡¯s feet. The princess¡¯s expression immediately broke into shock and disbelief. "It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s actually true¡­" Ziyan was equally stunned. "How is this possible? How could a handful of adventurers¡­ possibly kill a Purgatory Sovereign?" I replied, "I told you, it was only thanks to Xinran¡¯s help!" Karinshan nodded in acknowledgement. "I see!" All the martial and civil officers present at the meeting hall looked stunned beyond belief. Those who ridiculed us earlier now turned red with embarrassment. Princess Karinshan smiled and walked up to us. She then planted her sword on the floor and declared, "By my right as the supreme commander of the Silver Moon Alliance, I thank you for killing a devil and earning us a huge victory. Please receive the honor and rewards you deserve!" Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the Divine Rank main quest "The Betrayal of Bloody Shield"! You have gained 700 million EXP, 200000 gold, 15000 Reputation, 5 Luck and the quest reward: "Divine Martial War Boots!" ¡­¡­ God damn, a pair of boots? I looked at my Level 135 Earth-grade Stormy War Boots. I definitely should¡¯ve changed them a long time ago. I wonder what grade these Divine Martial War Boots are? I opened my bag and saw the dark gold¨Ccolored boots right at the very first slot. When I brought up its stats screen, I was immediately overwhelmed with joy¡ª Divine Martial War Boots (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 2750 Magic Resist: 2500 Strength: +800 Stamina: +820 Agility: +750 Tactics: +60 Passive: Increases user¡¯s movement speed by 175% Passive: Increases user¡¯s physical attack power by 40% Skits: 12 Outstanding Property: Divine Void Step. Increases user¡¯s movement speed by 75%, and attack speed by 20% Level Requirement: 175 ¡­¡­ It was truly a reward worthy of this quest¡¯s difficulty. The stats were far higher than anything I had ever seen from a pair of boots before. The Divine Martial War Boots boosted my movement speed by a total of 250%, my physical attack power by 40% and my attack speed by 20%! My Stormy War Boots were practically trash compared to it! I immediately equipped them and admired the sight of my stats soaring. Hell yeah! That wasn¡¯t all. After all the experience I received from multiple rewards, my level had skyrocketed to 178. Sky City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking had changed yet again¡ªNameLevelClassBeiming Xue181Dark ArcherLian Xing178Phantasm of StarsBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand178Undead SwordsmanWind Fantasy177Light WandererLegendary Brave177Dragon WarriorPurple Marquis176WarriorMurong Mingyue175PriestGui Guzi175Undead KnightFarewell Song174AssassinShadow Chanel174Dark Tongue MageOctober Rain173ArcherWarsky173WarriorLittle Piglet173Cold Wind SwordsmanFrom Water172Magic KnightClear Perfume172Archer ¡­¡­ This put us, or Beiming Xue to be exact, at a conundrum though. After landing the killing blow on Ovia the Bloody Finger and receiving the quest reward, Beiming Xue became the first player in China to hit Level 180. This meant that she could undergo her seventh class promotion quest now if she wanted to! As for me, I was the second runner-up and behind only Beiming Xue and Lian Xin. The amount of experience we got from our adventure in Bloody Shield Domain was so much that even our priest, Murong Mingyue, had entered the Top 10! ¡­¡­ I checked the time and suggested, "It¡¯s nighttime, and it¡¯s been a while since we ate anything. Why don¡¯t we log out and eat dinner first before you complete your seventh class promotion quest, Beiming? Your health is more important than this¡­" Beiming Xue nodded obediently. "Mn. I¡¯ll listen to you, big bro!" So I looked at Murong Mingyue and said, "Please tell Eve to log out as well, sis. It¡¯s never good to tire oneself too much. Yiyi, you should eat dinner and go to bed soon as well. We all need a good rest after that epic battle!" "Yes!" Lin Yixin nodded in agreement. "At least we managed to clear this map. We even saved all the players in Vanished God City!" "Yeah. Good job everyone. Now, time to log out!" ¡­¡­ While Lin Yixin was running back to the inn to log out, I recalled something and said, "Oh right, speaking of Vanished God City, I need to ask Stranger of Three Lifetimes to help out with something." "What is it?" Beiming Xue asked while blinking. I grinned, but chose not to reveal the answer. "It¡¯s a secret. You¡¯ll know it when it¡¯s time¡­" "Pooh! Only children act all cryptic and mysterious, big bro¡­" "What the f.u.c.k, who taught you that?" "Stranger of Three Lifetimes!" "...¡± Chapter 880: CCPL The girls had logged off, but I didn¡¯t feel like sleeping just yet. Hmm, I think I¡¯ll waste some time playing 1v1s in the champion arena! Beep! An instant match! My opponent and I appeared on the opposite sides of the battle arena. I was a Top 10 ranker in the champion arena, so naturally my opponent couldn¡¯t be a weakling. He was the number one magic knight of Warsky Alliance, Laughing At The Heavens! Swhoosh swhoosh! Laughing At The Heavens looked surprised to see me. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? Aren¡¯t you grinding Bloody Shield Domain?" I smiled. "I was, and I just finished. Anyway, let¡¯s get this over with. I¡¯m going to rest after this battle is over!" "Heh!" Laughing At The Heavens tightened his thighs, raised his spear and charged toward me. However, he was moving at an even pace, and he wasn¡¯t using his fighter skill, Charge. It looked like he had improved after all the battles he went through. Back in Spirit of Grief, Laughing At The Heavens was the guild leader of a big guild. Once, he and a hundred thousand of his brothers acted as cannon fodders tasked to delay an army ten times bigger than his own. In the end, it was only after 10 hours of valiant fight that he perished. This feat was ultimately what made him join the CGL Hall of Fame. Still, that was in the past, and today, Laughing At The Heavens was a trusted general of Warsky. Swhoosh! The magic knight thrust his spear at me from a difficult angle, and I could see a fiery cone around the speartip. It was of course the skill Barrier Break. It was a good attack angle, one that prevented me from using my weapon to defend against it. So, I swung my left arm and manifested the Dragon God Shield through the Mark of Divine Arm at the same time, successfully parrying the attack. My parry success rate was over 70% even without a shield. Now that the Dragon God Shield added flat 54% to that number, there was no chance Laughing At The Heaven could¡¯ve landed a hit on me. After I knocked his attack aside, I used the momentum to spin on my feet and swing the Purple Ying Sword. The blade of the weapon gleamed like the sun in that moment! "Ah?!" Laughing At The Heavens exclaimed in shock and raised his shield instinctively. The Purple Ying Sword¡¯s glamor had clearly caught him by surprise! Bang! His shield rocked heavily, and Laughing At The Heavens staggered backward with a groan. Although he successfully Guarded against the attack, the combined might of the Purple Ying Sword and my Strength was still too much for him to handle! Before he could pull away, I caught up to him and executed Burning Blade Slash! Chiang chiang chiang! The weapon rocked his shield repeatedly until suddenly, the image of a crumbling mountain appeared around the Purple Ying Sword. It was Mountain Crush! Crack! Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ shield lost all its durability and shattered just like that. While he was panicking, I executed Universe Break and stabbed him right through his black armor! Puchi! 428375! An unthinkable damage number rose from the magic knight¡¯s head, and his face turned as white as paper. He slid down his mount, hit the ground and died just like that. My blood boiled with excitement as I stared at the Purple Ying Sword. This 500% damage proc is seriously no joke! Now that my curiosity was fully satisfied, I withdrew from the battle arena and prepared to log out of the game. I could always fight another match after I got enough rest! ¡­¡­ There was one more thing to do before I took my rest though. I opened my friend list and sent Stranger of Three Lifetimes a call request. A few seconds later, she accepted the call and said¡ª "Lu Chen? What¡¯s wrong? It¡¯s super late, and I¡¯m busy fighting a boss here!" "There¡¯s something I need to ask you, Momo." "Sure. Ask away!" "Where do you live right now?" "Why would you want to know that?" I smiled. "I just want you to treat you to a meal. Can we meet some time outside the game?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes replied with a blush, "But I¡¯m not ready¡­" Me: "... You¡¯re overthinking it. It¡¯s Eve and me inviting you to a meal." Stranger of Three Lifetimes giggled. "Aiyo, how can you do this? That¡¯s so disappointing! Well, jokes aside, you know that some of the core players of my guild have signed with Lenovo, right? We¡¯ve been competing in a regular competition at Xixi Valley, Changzhou. Some of your guild members are participating as substitutes as well. Long story short, I¡¯m at Changzhou right now!" That was great news. "Alright! Changzhou is only an hour away from Suzhou. I¡¯ll treat you to lunch tomorrow afternoon, okay? Now, send me your phone number already!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes: "Okay. It¡¯s 134-1967-****. See you tomorrow then. Just call me when you¡¯ve reached Xixi Valley." "Okay. If the time is right, we might stay a bit to watch your match!" "Hehe, it¡¯s a promise. Anyway, I got to focus on a boss!" "Mn. Good night!" "Night!" ¡­¡­ Finally, I logged out of the game and took off my helmet. The first thing I felt was great hunger, so I rushed out of my room and went straight for the living room. He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin were eating cakes by the time I arrived. I sat beside He Yi, and Beiming Xue poured me a glass of water. I looked outside. It was still dark because it was 2 am, the dead of night. While eating, I asked He Yi who was sitting next to me, "You busy tomorrow, Eve?" He Yi smiled. "Are you asking me out on a date?" "Yep!" I smiled back. "I¡­ invited Stranger of Three Lifetimes to lunch at Changzhou tomorrow. If you¡¯re free, then I want you to come with me. There¡¯s something important I want to discuss with you two." Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes widened. "Are you dating Stranger of Three Lifetimes, big bro?" "Of course not!" I stared at her while explaining, "It¡¯s something very important for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. So, are you free or not, Eve?" He Yi nodded. "I am. All that¡¯s left to do right now is capturing the Ghost Chariots at Bloody Shield Domain, and the last time I checked, we¡¯ve swept through almost 25% of the map and captured over 10000 baby Mingshes already. That being said, I feel that the baby Ghost Chariots are slightly stronger than the baby Mingshes. Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon all captured one for themselves, and they¡¯re still working on it. By the time we¡¯re finished with the map, I believe we¡¯ll be able to catch around 20k Mingshes and 5k Ghost Chariots as pets!" I exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "That many? That¡¯s great! Hehe, our enemies will be in for a shock the next time we meet each other in war!" "Mn." He Yi replied while stretching, Her firm b.r.e.a.s.ts looked like they were about to jump out of their clothes. She then smiled at me and asked, "I¡¯ll come with you to Changzhou tomorrow. By the way, what is this issue we want to talk about?" I shot her an enigmatic smile and said, "It¡¯s a military secret. You¡¯ll know once we meet Stranger of Three Lifetimes tomorrow." "Alright¡­" ¡­¡­ It was a peaceful night. The next morning, I woke up at 9 am sharp and washed myself quickly. He Yi was already fully dressed by the time I walked out of the bathroom. She was wearing a warm orange-colored shirt, an elegant and stylish coat, a mini skirt and a pair of lady¡¯s boots that accentuated her beauty even further. When she saw the look on my face, she immediately explained herself as if she realized what I was thinking, "There are a lot of pretty girls in Blazing Hot Lips, right? I er¡­ I can¡¯t possibly let Stranger of Three Lifetimes outdo me in the appearance department, can I?" I laughed. "Bullshit. You¡¯re clearly aiming to one-shot her¡­" "Heehee. Let¡¯s go already. We can eat breakfast on the way¡­" "Okay!" We went downstairs. For appearance¡¯s sake I chose to drive He Yi¡¯s Lamborghini today, and to be honest, I quite liked this type of racing car anyway. It was a lot more powerful than my X12, and the feeling when you stepped down on the gas and heard the engine roar was something the X12 couldn¡¯t quite replicate. The car itself also had a super cool appearance, which by extension meant that we, the driver and the passenger, looked cool as well. We ate a quick breakfast outside before returning to the car. It wasn¡¯t long before we hit the highway in style. I was driving at the high speed of 150 kilometres per hour, but the inside of the car felt perfectly steady. It was one of the benefits of buying a high-quality car. He Yi was humming a tune from the front passenger¡¯s seat and sneaking glances at me from time to time. A while later, she said with a giggle, "Slow down! How fast are you driving to cut past that Camaro anyway? At this rate it¡¯s only a matter of time before you¡¯re hit with a speeding ticket!" "It¡¯s fine, you¡¯re rich anyway¡­" I replied. He Yi pouted. "Fine, as long as you¡¯re happy¡­" ¡­¡­ It was only 10:30 am when we reached Changzhou. We drove straight to Xixi Valley. Even from a distance, we could see that the e-sports stadium was completely filled with people. A ridiculously luxurious advertis.e.m.e.nt board was hung above the building stating: "CCPL Regular Season is Live! Blazing Hot Lips VS Candle Dragon VS Snowy Cathaya VS Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Who will walk away the champion?" He Yi exclaimed in surprise, "Eh? I thought our guild wasn¡¯t participating in the CCPL this time." I nodded. "That¡¯s true. Rose mentioned that the total grand prize pool of this CCPL competition is below a million RMB, which is why she sent Remains and some of the substitutes to participate instead of us. The competition lasts for half a month, and there¡¯s no way we can afford to waste that kind of time." He Yi giggled. "We should¡¯ve brought out gaming helmets with us. I¡¯m sure Remains and the others will let us replace them in the finals and beat the crap out of Momo!" I grinned. "F.u.c.k, what¡¯s with the sudden bloodl.u.s.t? Anyway, Momo would never accept our plan if we did that, okay? We¡¯re here to do business, not to fight!" "Hmph hmph. Drive slower. There are students in front of you!" "Oh¡­" I parked the Lamborghini at the parking lot next to the venue. Then, I led He Yi to the counter and paid 50 RMB per person for the ticket. These greedy bastards! ¡­¡­ It was just as crowded inside the venue as it was outside. A ridiculous number of Heavenblessed players had come to watch the competition as well. Holding He Yi¡¯s hand, I took the lead and tried to push my way to the front, but there were so many people that He Yi whined in discomfort from time to time. These students couldn¡¯t care less if the president himself had arrived. After all, they were here to see Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ guild leader, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, and Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Clear Perfume and Shadow Chanel in the flesh. For He Yi¡¯s protection, I wrapped my arms around her shoulder and continued pushing our way forward. Although my Strength stat was OP inside the game, it was so-so in real life. It took us almost ten minutes to finally squeeze our way to the front row. The beautiful host spotted He Yi and me almost immediately, and she kept glancing back at us again and again as if she was uncertain about something. We didn¡¯t respond to her action, of course. Today¡¯s show belonged to Blazing Hot Lips and Snowy Cathaya, and it would be bad sport to snatch their limelight from them. The words "grand final" were displayed on the big screen. The guilds were Snowy Cathaya versus Blazing Hot Lips, and the format was BO5. In the end, Blazing Hot Lips barely defeated Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Clear Perfume, Shadow Chanel and Zi Chuanyu with a 3-2 score and won the competition. He Yi chuckled into my ears. "The winner of this competition would be different if it was Beauty Lin who was participating." I nodded in agreement. Lin Yixin had the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and the Moonchaser Tiger. There was no way Stranger of Three Lifetimes could beat her if she had entered the arena instead of Zi Chuanyu. ¡­¡­ When Stranger of Three Lifetimes lifted the champions¡¯ trophy during the final award ceremony, she finally noticed me and He Yi and shot us a smile. "You¡¯re here!" I was about to reply when that fat, so-called bureau chief, gave her a hug and stifled her reply. Motherf.u.c.ker, these award givers are so shameless these days. Chapter 881: Lu Chen Borrows After the award ceremony was over, Stranger of Three Lifetimes tossed the trophy into Eyes Like Water¡¯s hands and lithely jumped down the platform. She smiled at me and said, "You¡¯re quite early, Eve, Lu Chen!" We smiled and nodded back to her. It was at this moment a group of students rushed over with their handphones raised and shouted, "Stranger of Three Lifetimes, we are your fans! Please take a photo with us! Resistance is futile!" They swarmed the stunned mage in an instant. Judging from the sheer amount of camera flashes, I highly doubted that she could keep her eyes open. Of course, there were a lot of people who noticed He Yi as well. She was a gorgeous woman with an exquisite countenance and a body to die for, and the elegant outfit she wore today accentuated those traits even further. Forget the guys, even I was sneaking glances at her from time to time. She noticed my gaze, but she simply smiled and said nothing about it. A while later, Stranger of Three Lifetimes finally managed to struggle out of the crowd and pointed at He Yi and me. "The real god and goddess are over there, so please leave me alone already¡­" "Ah?!" Finally noticing He Yi and me, the students¡¯ mouth fell open in shock¡ª "Could¡­ could he be¡­ Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?" "It¡¯s definitely him! I¡¯ve seen that photo of him kissing Lin Yixin before!" "Yeah yeah yeah, there¡¯s also that photo of him window shopping with Beiming Xue!" "Does that mean that that gorgeous woman next to him is From Water? Haha, it actually is her! I can¡¯t believe that the two leaders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are attending the CCPL!" ¡­¡­ This time, we were the ones who got swarmed as countless people asked to take photos with us. After obliging some requests, I grabbed He Yi and Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ hands and hightailed it out of there! The venue staff covered for us as we slipped behind the stage and reunited with the other four team members of Blazing Hot Lips. After that, the seven of us exited the e-sports stadium, entered a roadside restaurant with a fairly good reputation, booked a private room to ourselves and ordered some drinks. If a guy tries to force a girl to drink alcohol, you can be sure that something is wrong with his personality. At any rate, it wasn¡¯t something I could bring myself to do. "Alright, why don¡¯t we start off with a round of introductions?" I rose to my feet and introduced myself, "I am Lu Chen, the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. My gender is male, and¡ª" The girls stopped me with a giggle. "Sit down, you! We know all that already!" He Yi stood up next and said, "I am He Yi, the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. My ID is From Water, although I think you¡¯re all aware of that already." Stranger of Three Lifetimes gave her a nod of acknowledgement. "No need to act so formal, Sister Eve! Now take your seat!" "Mn." The guild leader of Blazing Hot Lips looked at her guild members, and they immediately started introducing themselves one by one¡ª "I am Eyes Like Water. We¡¯ve fought each other in the arena before. Let¡¯s fight again when we¡¯re free, heehee!" Eyes Like Water seemed as eager as ever. "I am Lasting, the tamer with a unique class called Soul of the Wild. As you¡¯re already aware, I can summon a horde of goblins in one spell¡­" "I am the archer Nono. Hello everyone!" Nono seemed a bit shy, so she kept her introduction short and concise. Finally, the youngest girl of the group rose to her feet and said timidly, "I¡­ I am Yu Tong. I am a mage just like Sister Momo!" She wasn¡¯t finished, however. She looked at me and said in a voice as small as a mosquito¡¯s, "Lu¡­ Lu Chen is my biggest idol. Can¡­ can I take a photo with you after lunch is over?" I was surprised, but I replied, "Of course, of course¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes giggled. "Yu Tong is the youngest of all of us, but you¡¯d best not underestimate her. She is the strongest mage in Blazing Hot Lips besides me, and the reason I made her attend this CCPL competition is to help her gain some experience. Of course, she is still incomparable to your Lian Xin¡­" I gave Yu Tong a kind smile and said, "That¡¯s incredible, Yu Tong. I wish our players were as good as you at your age¡­" "Alright, cut the fake crap already, will you?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes rolled her eyes at my attempts at flattery. "It¡¯s obvious that you¡¯re plotting something nefarious. You¡¯ve never even bothered to contact me before, and today you drove all the way over to treat us to lunch. There¡¯s no way you don¡¯t have an agenda. You¡¯d better not tell me that you¡¯ve set your sights on our girls, you sinful man!" I laughed. "Come on, do I look that desperate for girls to you? Anyway, you¡¯re right. I came to meet you today because you¡¯re the only one who can help us right now¡­" "Okay? Continue?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes smiled while playing with her chopsticks. He Yi was also looking at me curiously. I still haven¡¯t told her why I had come to meet Stranger of Three Lifetimes. ¡­¡­ "When it comes to the affairs of the world, that which is long divided must unify, and that which is long unified¡­" I cleared my throat before continuing in a righteous voice, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls do not desire to become the top dog. Since our foundation, our goal has always been to spread our name to every corner of the world. We¡¯ve fought in three Nation Wars up until this point, and we¡¯ve always proven ourselves to be Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ most trustworthy ally, haven¡¯t we? So I¡¯ll cut straight to the point¡­ As you are already aware, our best mage, Moonlight Stone, was stolen by that bastard, Candlelight Shadow, not long ago. We¡¯ve also bled over a thousand of our best mages to Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and even shitty guilds like Mad Dragon and Flower Room¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes nodded. "Yes, and you have my sympathy. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ performance in the Nation Wars is just too good, and neither Candle Dragon nor Warsky Alliance could tolerate you growing any stronger than you already are. It makes perfect sense for them to pull a stunt like this." I nodded and leaned back into my chair. I sucked in a deep breath before continuing, "The next Nation War could be right around the corner, and already our biggest weakness is hampering our progress. We have the strongest cavalry troop in the world right now, but our ranged units are nowhere even close to their league; our mages being the worst of them all. Lian Xin is the only elite mage we have, and how much ground can a single mage really cover? 50 yards? 100 yards? In a Nation War, a battle line could easily stretch over several kilometers. Without sufficient high-level mages to support our frontline, our strength is only half of what it should be." Yu Tong nodded in agreement. "I think so too. I just didn¡¯t think I was qualified to say anything just yet. You are definitely not lacking in the self-awareness department, big brother Lu Chen." Stranger of Three Lifetimes took a sip of tea and said, "Well, you are correct." I continued, "The world is ever-changing, and the three main cities of China are situated at the center of the continent. To the north, we face Hero City, Seven Star City and more. To the south, we face great Russian cities such as Iron Horse City and Frostsword City. To the east, we face Elephant City and Cyan Earth City of India, and Purple Gr.a.p.e City of Japan. And finally, the west is positively crawling with Night Creatures that want to destroy everyone. To be honest, I don¡¯t think we have any allies that we can call upon in case an all-out war breaks out. We could very well lose all three of our main cities if our enemies decide to attack us from every direction!" Yu Tong shuddered at the thought. "You must be exaggerating, big brother Lu Chen." Stranger of Three Lifetimes wasn¡¯t so quick to dismiss the worst case scenario though. "No, Lu Chen is right. There is nothing impossible in this world, and if we don¡¯t work to minimize this possibility then it may very well happen. The Center is a giant cake that everyone wants to get a slice of for themselves. The Nation Wars aren¡¯t going to end anytime soon¡­" He Yi said with a smile, "That is why super guilds such as Ancient Sword, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips, Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance will all be playing a critical role in the future. In fact, with the right guidance, we can use even our influence to conquer a main city or two!" I praised He Yi on the inside. My smart guild leader seemed to have caught on to my true intentions. I gave He Yi¡¯s hand a squeeze beneath the table. She returned the gesture and shot me a sneaky grin. ¡­¡­ I continued, "Exactly. The guilds are extremely important, and it is why we¡¯ve always done our best to develop our power. Anyway, back to the point. Blazing Hot Lips has the biggest and strongest mage party in the entire China, even compared to Purple Lily. It is a well-known fact that nearly 25% of your entire guild is made up of mages." "Why am I sensing something ominous?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes looked at me warily. "What are you planning to do to us, you lecher!?" I smiled. "That hurts, you know? We would never plot against our own ally. We¡¯re just asking you to lend us a helping hand during our most dangerous times!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes smiled. "Oh, I see. But uh¡­ we just developed our own territory, and we don¡¯t have the manpower or the resources to spare you right now. All we can give you right now is moral support¡­" I rolled my eyes. "There are countless people who are giving us moral support every day. If there¡¯s one thing we don¡¯t need from you, it¡¯s precisely that!" Yu Tong blinked once before asking, "So, what exactly do you want, big brother Lu Chen?" I sucked in a deep breath and dropped the bomb. "I want to borrow your troops!" ¡­¡­ Silence filled the room for a moment. A long while later, Stranger of Three Lifetimes said, "Borrow our troops¡­?" The mage licked her lips once. "Can you like, clarify what exactly do you mean by that, Lu Chen? I¡­ don¡¯t think such a concept currently exists in the game, does it?" I nodded. "Yep, but it will in the future. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ mage party is practically non-existent right now, which is why we desperately need an injection of manpower to restart our engines. To that end, I wish to borrow 5000 high-level mages from Blazing Hot Lips for a duration of 2 weeks!" "WHAT?!" So shocked was Stranger of Three Lifetimes that she jumped to her feet with a yell. "FIVE THOUSAND MAGES?! You¡­ you might as well kill me right now¡­" He Yi immediately rose to her feet and grabbed Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ shoulders consolingly, saying, "Calm down, Momo. There is nothing impossible in this world, right?" The mage pouted. "No way! Your man just asked me to lend him five thousand of our best mages! We might as well chop off our own arms if we do that!" I said, "I¡¯m open to negotiate the exact number!" "I repeat: no way!" "You¡¯re so stingy, Momo!" "I don¡¯t care!" "Stingy girls won¡¯t be able to grow in cup size! Stingy girls all downgrade to 31A eventually!" "I¡­" That got to the mage a little. She shot me a pitiful look and said, "100 mages, and no more than that!" I pointed at the dishes on the table. "100 mages? Do you know how much we paid for these ridiculously expensive dishes?" Chapter 882: Resource Trade "We even ordered your favorite mapo tofu and stir-fried gherkins. We think it¡¯s worth the ridiculous money we pay, but do you truly think they¡¯re worth only 100 mages?" I said while staring at her. Stranger of Three Lifetimes pouted. "Two¡­ two hundred then¡­" I continued, "Did you know that Eve and I woke up really early and spent almost 3 hours refining our appearances before we came to see you? Not only that, we didn¡¯t want to let you down by arriving late, but we were slowed down by four semi-trailer trucks and almost bumped into another car countless times along the way. Even then, we cleared the 70-km long highway in 20 minutes because we believed it¡¯d be worth risking our life to meet you on time! Because we cherish your friendship! Where is your sense of responsibility, girl!?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes clutched her chopsticks. "Five¡­ five hundred then! And no more than that!" I balled my hands into fists and placed them on the table where she could see them. "Three months ago, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls traveled thousands of kilometers all the way to Vanished God City just to help your ally, Baidicheng, occupy a city. On the way, not only were we buffeted by countless elements, we had to eat grass to stave our hunger and drink dew water to quench our thirst. Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng had to cook their own belts and fight with one hand grabbing their pants at all times. Chaos Moon was so hungry that she sucked on her thumb every night like a literal baby. And when we finally reached the city, we were forced to fight against powerful foes such as Candle Dragon. But did we say no to you? Do you know how many of our people died for your cause? Take Xu Yang for example. Not only was he killed in action, his corpse was trampled over and over by Candlelight Shadow and Blue Sky Scar! How could you be so heartless!?" The guild leader¡¯s eyes started turning red. "Eight¡­ eight hundred mages then. I really have no more people to spare¡­" I lifted the stir-fried gherkin and pushed one last time, "Look, I truly value our friendship, so I¡¯m going to give you a friend¡¯s offer, okay? 1200 mages, and no less than that! Please stop rejecting me already!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes pulled a face. "1200 is too much. Make it one thousand¡­" "Deal!" I grabbed her hand immediately and shook it strongly. "One thousand it is! I¡¯ll hand you the name list later, and oh, I want Beauty Yu Tong as well!" "What?" Her mouth fell open a little. "No¡­ no way! Yu Tong is ours!" "Come on, I¡¯m just borrowing her for a bit!" "Hmph! Why don¡¯t we ask for her opinion? Yu Tong is her own person!" was what she said, but she wouldn¡¯t stop sending signals to Yu Tong with her eyes. "Would you like to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls temporarily, Yu Tong?" Beauty Yu Tong replied immediately, "Of course! Big brother Lu Chen is my idol after all!" The guild leader facepalmed and groaned out loud, "Ah, I think I¡¯m going to kill myself on my gherkins¡­" ¡­¡­ For all her grievances, Stranger of Three Lifetimes quickly regained her cool and sat back down on her chair. "Look, Blazing Hot Lips doesn¡¯t mind borrowing Ancient Sword some troops, but we can¡¯t do it for free, you understand what I¡¯m saying? What will you offer for our aid?" I nodded. "Tell me what you want, and I¡¯ll fulfill it if it¡¯s within my ability to do so!" She said, "Then I want you to lend me 1000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen!" Of course, I rose to my feet and shouted, "NEVER!" "W-why?" "We only have 2001 Dragonlight Cavalrymen, and you want to borrow half of them? Are you trying to kill us? And even if I did agree to this, do you really think they¡¯d accept it? These sonuvabitches want nothing more but to snuggle with the likes of Chaos Moon, Beiming Xue, Moon Dew and sis. I can lend them to you, but don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you if they skip out on guild activities and return to Sky City to visit their idols at least three times a day! Still think you want them?" "Er¡­" Dumbstruck, the guild leader asked, "Fine. I¡¯ll think of something else." I nodded. "Take your time, and feel free to enjoy your meal while you think. Again, Ancient Sword will fulfill any request as long as it is within our abilities." Stranger of Three Lifetimes nodded and ate a mapo tofu. While she was sucking the tip of her chopsticks, she suddenly said, "How about this: Blazing Hot Lips is working to upgrade our territory to Rank 8 right now, but we¡¯re lacking around 1 million units of every resource. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is already Rank 9, and you have a lot of warehouse space, right? In that case, I demand a payment of 4 million resource unites. Rank 9 territories can build Markets, right? You can deliver to us via supply carts." "1 million units of each resource type?" He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open a little. "But...that¡¯s too much. Also, Dark Moon City is currently acc.u.mulating resources to upgrade to Rank 10 ourselves¡­" However, I quickly motioned for He Yi to stop while smiling at Stranger for Three Lifetimes. "Hmph, 1 million of each resource, is it? Alright, I¡¯ll make the call right now. Don¡¯t come back to me later and say I¡¯m insincere, okay?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes nodded. "Alright. Make the call then!" So I called Gui Guzi¡¯s number, and¡ª "AHHHHHHH what¡¯s this about, Boss Broken Halberd? I¡¯m sleeping!" Gui Guzi yelled. I replied, "I got something important for you to do!" "What is it?" "I want you to contact Lian Xin and tell her to order the Dark Knight Hero Udal to transport 1 million units of each resource type to Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ territory. The supply carts will be entering Vanished God City¡¯s domain, and the journey is about 10 hours long, so I want 1000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 10000 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen to protect them. The delivery must be carried out without any mishaps!¡± "What? Are you sure? That¡¯s a lot of resources, you know?" "It¡¯s fine. Now go get to work!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ I hung up and shot Stranger of Three Lifetimes a smile. "What do you think, Momo? Have I displayed sufficient sincerity?" The guild leader nodded in satisfaction. "That¡¯s more like it. This is what I expect from an ally!" I let out a chuckle. It was time to move onto the next phase of the plan. I took out my notebook from my bag and passed it to Eyes Like Water, saying, "Beauty Eyes, please upload Blazing Hot Lips main guild¡¯s name list into this notebook, will you? I¡¯ll make my pick after I finish eating!" "Okay!" It wasn¡¯t long before all fifty thousand names in Blazing Hot Lips main guild appeared in front of me. While I was making my pick, I also asked for Yu Tong¡¯s phone number and saved it to my phone. There was no way I was going to pass an elite mage like her by! ¡­¡­ Half an hour later, I finished my selection and showed it to Stranger of Three Lifetimes. When she saw the list, she exclaimed in astonishment, "Huh? Is it just me, or is everyone besides Yu Tong a guy?" I nodded. "Of course. Men are more... reliable, let¡¯s put it that way." "Er, okay¡­?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes looked confused, but she shot me a smile and said, "I¡¯ll tell them to join Ancient Sword when I go online then. Who will be receiving them?" "Chaos Moon. Just tell them to contact Chaos Moon directly. Not you though, Yu Tong. I¡¯ll add you as my friend later, so you can just come to me directly!" Beauty Yu Tong smiled like a flower. "Okay!" ¡­¡­ We chatted for almost an hour after we finished lunch. After that, we bade each other goodbye and left. He Yi drove us back to Suzhou. She looked to be in a good mood. "Lu Chen¡­" "Mn. What is it?" "Maybe it¡¯s just me, but I can¡¯t help but feel like you have some ulterior motive. What are you plotting really? And why did you only request for male mages? It¡¯s not like Blazing Hot Lips are lacking in high-level female mages¡­" I grinned widely as I pulled out my earbuds. "Oh, it¡¯s simple. Once these male mages arrive, I¡¯m going to separate them and put them into Moon Dew, Chaos Moon, and Beiming Xue¡¯s party. More accurately, I¡¯m putting them under the care of our most attractive women. Do you understand my tactic now? I promise you that these lechers will forget all about Blazing Hot Lips in just half a month¡¯s time. As for Beauty Yu Tong, you just leave her to me." "What?" He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open as she let go of the gas pedal and stared at me. "Are you thinking what I¡¯m thinking? You¡¯re not going to give her her mages back, are you?" I grinned wickedly. "Of course! Hmph hmph, since when have you seen me on the losing end of a deal? You didn¡¯t really think I sent her 4 million resources for free, did you? I¡¯ve never even sent Yiyi¡¯s Silver Fir City this much resources, so why should I make an exception for Momo? Hehehe! She doesn¡¯t know it yet, but these mages are lost to her the moment they come through our front door! I¡¯ll make sure that they¡¯re put to good use!" He Yi was speechless for a moment. "So devious..." I leaned back against my seat with a smile. "Devious? Nah, this is just a page in the textbook of warfare. Also, Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ strength won¡¯t change if they lose 1000 mages, but Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will become so much stronger after this injection. That being said, I¡¯m not a heartless man. We¡¯ll help out Blazing Hot Lips whenever we can in the future." "Yeah, we should try and make up for this¡­" He Yi broke into a laugh all of a sudden. "Why are you laughing?" I asked. She replied, "No, I¡¯m just recalling that famous quote from Lonely Grave, ¡®Get either Falling Dust or Candlelight Shadow, and you¡¯ll conquer the world¡¯. As it turned out, that old fox is completely right. He must¡¯ve realized your cunning and prowess since a couple years ago¡­" I was dumbfounded by the unkind assessment. "Oh c¡¯mon! This is just standard tactics! I¡¯m nothing like that foxy guy, okay?" He Yi continued to tease me. "Big fox, small fox. What¡¯s the difference? You¡¯re both like that Rukawa Kaede from Slam Dunk!" I closed my eyes. "Wait, really? Okay. If you insist, then I¡¯ll be Rukawa Kaede¡­" He Yi: "..." ¡­¡­ I logged into the game after we returned to the apartment. I checked in with Gui Guzi, and he reported that he was escorting the supply carts himself. Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits were also with him. Chaos Moon was receiving the players from Blazing Hot Lips, and the smart girl knew to put them in a party of beautiful women even before I said anything to her. Damn, it¡¯s rare to find someone who knows my train of thought so well! Beep! After that, I sent Yu Tong a friend request. It was accepted in no time. "Come to the eastern plaza of Sky City, Yu Tong!" "Okay!" A few seconds later, Yu Tong appeared at the teleportation formation, and I walked up to her immediately. After sending her a guild invitation, I checked her equipment and brought out a pair of Heaven-grade boots from my bag. She definitely looked like she could use the upgrade. "Here, this is your newcomer¡¯s gift. I found it yesterday, although I can¡¯t remember which boss I got it from¡­" I handed the boots to her. Yu Tong exclaimed in surprise. "Really? You¡¯re giving this to me for free?" "Of course!" I nodded without hesitation. "Starting now, you are a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. We¡¯re all family here, and it¡¯s only natural to look after our own, right?" Yu Tong nodded with a smile. "Mn mn. It¡¯d be impolite to refuse here, so thank you, big brother Lu Chen." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ After that, I contacted Chaos Moon to properly clarify the situation regarding these Blazing Hot Lips mages. Finally, I teleported to Vanished God City and rushed to meet up with the escort party. The best way to show my sincerity was to protect the supply carts myself! Chapter 883: WEL Swhoosh! After I appeared in Vanished God City, I contacted Gui Guzi again and joined his party. Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits were with him, and they were currently in a forest to the south of Vanished God City. They were only three hours away from Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ territory now, and logically speaking, nothing should happen until then. I exited the city and rode along the edges of the forest with the Phantom Wolf King. I was able to catch up with the escort party in less than ten minutes. It was because I was wearing the Divine Martial War Boots¡ªwhich boosted my movement speed by 250%¡ªand riding the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. In short, I was moving 5 times faster than normal! I saw a long line of supply carts of varying sizes at the distance. They had departed from Dark Moon City. The flag of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was flying above every cart, and the wheels looked like they were bending under the sheer weight of ores they were carrying. Warhorses neighed from time to time as they dragged the carts across the wet ground. The supply carts were surrounded by a ton of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls troops. The one thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen I ordered to protect them were already standing by. Gui Guzi welcomed me warmly as I rode up to them. "Boss Broken Halberd, you should¡¯ve just left this to me and Li. You didn¡¯t need to do this yourself!" "It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m just here to take a look, and better safe than sorry, you know?" Li Chengfeng also came over and asked me with a smile, "Lu Chen, I heard you went to speak with Stranger of Three Lifetimes earlier today? You must¡¯ve made a deal with her, or there¡¯s no way you would send her several million resource units, right? You¡¯ve never even sent Beauty Lin, your girlfriend, this many resources before, hahaha!" I grinned. "You know me too well. Yes, that¡¯s correct. I¡¯ve made a deal with Stranger of Three Lifetimes." "It¡¯s the mages, isn¡¯t it?" Li Chengfeng said with a meaningful smile. High Fighting Spirits raised his warhammer as he chimed in, "Oh, I heard about that! Blazing Hot Lips sent us 1000 high-level mages temporarily to help us build up our mage party, right? It¡¯s already posted in the forums. Even half a month¡¯s time should be enough to help significantly bolster our numbers!" Xu Yang agreed. "Yeah, this should be the last piece we need to set up our mage party. It¡¯s not like Lian Xin can¡¯t do it¡ªshe¡¯s been doing recruitment drives at the plaza of Sky City since this morning¡ªbut it¡¯s too slow, and it stresses her out too much." Gui Guzi complained, "Still, we paid 2 days¡¯ worth of production for just half a month¡¯s worth of employment. I feel like it¡¯s a bit too much¡­" Li Chengfeng¡¯s smile suddenly grew wider. "Little Gui, Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang, it looks like the three of you still don¡¯t understand Lu Chen quite well!" "What do you mean?" Gui Guzi asked in puzzlement. Li Chengfeng looked at me before explaining, "Have you ever seen Lu Chen being on the losing end of a business deal? On purpose no less? No, I¡¯m sure he has something in mind. For example¡­ He has no plans to return the 1000 mages Blazing Hot Lips lent us." Gui Guzi exclaimed in shock, "Holy f.u.c.k! Really? If that¡¯s true, then¡­" I smiled. "I¡¯ll tell you guys all about it later. For now, let¡¯s focus on delivering these resources safely into Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ territory." "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ I opened the world map and stared at it for a moment. Suddenly, I frowned a little and asked, "Little Gui, Chengfeng, who¡¯s the one who picked this route?" "The NPCs picked it themselves. What¡¯s wrong?" Li Chengfeng asked. I pointed at a spot to the southeast and said, "Hall of Immortality¡¯s territory is less than half an hour¡¯s journey away from this spot, and they desperately need resources to upgrade their Rank 6 territory. If I¡¯m not mistaken, Hall of Immortality might attempt to rob us here. You all know how greedy that Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch is." "It¡¯s fine!" Li Chengfeng said in an unconcerned manner, "We have 1000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 10000 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen. I doubt Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch has the guts to act on his greed!" "That¡¯s not necessarily true. An ambitious villain loves to take risk, and Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch definitely fits the bill. Well, we¡¯ll see what happens in a moment. For now, I want a troop of Cyan Tiger Cavalry to patrol the southeast side and stand by." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ As it turned out, my prediction was spot on. Not long after the discussion, Eighteen Steads of You and Yun reported, "F.u.c.k, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch is here! He¡¯s brought tens of thousands of troops with him!" At the same time, the sound of thundering hooves appeared from the open plains in front of us. It was the Ghost Riders of Hall of Immortality, and I counted around twenty thousand of them. They were far inferior to the Dragonlight Cavalry and Cyan Tiger Cavalry, but what they lacked in quality they made up for in numbers. If a fight actually broke out, we might not be able to get away unscathed. I gazed to the horizon and noted that Hall of Immortality players were still running out of the distant forests. They were all mages and archers. If I allowed them to get close, then our supply carts would truly be in danger. Chiang! So I pulled out the Purple Ying Sword and pointed to the southeast direction. I ordered, "Chengfeng, stay here and guard the supply carts. Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang, bring your men and come with me to meet Hall of Immortality! No way in hell we¡¯re surrendering these resources to them!" Li Chengfeng nodded and said, "Be careful!" Not long after I and around 2000 cavalry departed, we came face to face with the Ghost Riders of Hall of Immortality. We glared at each other, but didn¡¯t make any rash moves. ¡­¡­ "Gulp!" Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s eyes burned with greed as he stared at our supply carts. However, he was reminded of the risks when Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and I rode up to meet him. "Long time no see, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" he greeted us first. I smiled at him, lowered my new sword and trod forward until there was only ten yards between me and him. Then, I began, "Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch, your eyes aren¡¯t deceiving you. The 4 million resources Dark Moon City is delivering to Red Lips Nation is right behind me. You can try to take them, but don¡¯t come crying to me in soul form after you die, okay? 10000 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen, 1000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen, two Divine Generals and a dozen or so Famous Generals. Come at us if you dare!" Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch chose to endure despite my aggressive taunt. He smiled and said placatingly, "You worry too much. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is the best or second best guild in Sky City, and we are the same in Vanished God City. Why should we interfere with each other¡¯s business? I¡¯m here only because I¡¯m curious about the supply carts, and because this is our territory you¡¯re passing through. I do have an obligation to protect my territory just in case you suddenly decide to invade us, you know?" I simply smiled and said nothing. Gui Guzi whispered beside my ears, "Boss Broken Halberd, this coward¡¯s clearly delaying us!" "It¡¯s fine. I need some time myself¡­" I smiled and sent a quick message to Stranger of Three Lifetimes. "Third Wheel, your 4 million resources are at coordinates (17327, 0929) right now, but Hall of Immortality is trying to rob us. I didn¡¯t bring too many people, so send your Silver Leopard Cavalry over as soon as possible, will you? The more the better!" She replied immediately, "Got it. Eyes is heading out right now, and I¡¯ll be there shortly with the second army. There¡¯s around 100000 of us, so just hang on. Those goddamned idiots from Hall of Immortality. Just you wait, one of these days I¡¯m going to take their territory!" ¡­¡­ The stand-off continued as I stood at the forefront of the party. Purple energies were spinning around the translucent blade of the Purple Ying Sword, and it didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that it was no ordinary weapon. Hall of Immortality¡¯s players seemed unsure if they should attack now or keep waiting. "What do we do, boss?" a rider asked Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. The guild leader narrowed his eyes and replied, "They only have ten thousand men, but they¡¯re all elites, so we wait¡­ ten more minutes, and our mages and archers should total around ten thousand. That will be the moment we attack!" "But why don¡¯t we just attack now? Our cavalry alone is three times bigger than theirs!" the rider continued asking. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch¡¯s gaze sharpened, and he rebuked the rider, "Are you questioning my judgment? Listen here, you fool. Ancient Sword¡¯s cavalry¡ªespecially the Dragonlight Cavalry¡ªcould go toe-to-toe with even the strongest cavalry of the Northern Alliance. To say that they are terrifying is an understatement. The only way to ensure our victory here is to outnumber the Dragonlight Cavalry at least ten times. Only then can we be sure that the raid will end in success!" The rider was stunned, but he had to admit that Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch was right. ¡­¡­ A short while later, Hall of Immortality¡¯s mages, priests, archers and tacticians finally met up with their cavalry. This meant that Hall of Immortality was about to launch their assault! Swhoosh! I immediately dropped an Ancient Seal at the ground in front of me, causing an explosion of grass and soil. "Ah?!" Several Ghost Riders withdrew from the scene, but Gui Guzi burst out in laughter and taunted them, "Seriously? You guys should¡¯ve stuck to PvE. PvP isn¡¯t for the likes of cowards, understand? Pooh!" The Ghost Riders turned red with shame. Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch raised his weapon furiously and shouted, "Hall of Immortality, are you just going to let your brother be humiliated for free? Weapons out! Take their supply carts and show them who¡¯s boss! Kill them!" ¡­¡­ Hooves thundered across the ground. The battle was about to begin! However, right before our two armies were going to clash, a new force emerged swiftly from a nearby forest. They were the elite Silver Leopard Cavalry, and their leader was none other than the vie guild leader of Blazing Hot Lips, Eyes Like Water! "You¡¯re late!" I chided her. Eyes Like Water giggled. "C¡¯mon, we rode non-stop the moment we heard the news¡­" ¡­¡­ "Halt!" Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch abruptly paused in his tracks and faced toward his players. He declared, "It¡¯s unfortunate that there will be no victory for us today, but a wise man knows when to advance and withdraw. Retreat!" Just like that, Hall of Immortality left almost as quickly as they came. We didn¡¯t give chase of course. We continued to escort the supply carts toward Red Lips Nation. ¡­¡­ Nothing else happened after that. We reached Red Lips Nation safely and completed the transaction. Just as I was about to teleport back to the city though, I suddenly received a message from my team manager, Rose. It had been a while since I heard from her. "Lu Chen, you there? I just want to give you a heads-up and tell you that a great online plus offline tournament is coming in the near future. You know what it is. It used to be called WSL in Spirit of Grief, but now it¡¯s called the WEL. It¡¯s the most elite, global-scale tournament there is in Heavenblessed right now. You, Beiming Xue, From Water and Murong Mingyue will be participating as our main roster, and we¡¯ve also decided to sign Lian Xin at the price of 11 million RMB. The board of directors look forward to your performance, hehe~~" Chapter 884: Let Time Be Slower The announcement of the WEL was without a doubt an explosive news. Ever since the last WSL ended in Spirit of Grief, Eternal Moon Corporation hadn¡¯t announced any global-scale competition for any of their flagship games until now. The WEL was sure to chuck a huge rock into the lake of war that was calming down recently and restart the flames of conflict! "Is there any other news you would like to share, Rose?" I asked. Rose said with a smile, "The devs will be posting an announcement regarding the WEL in an hour or less, so I¡¯m just letting you know the details slightly ahead of time. The WEL will be employing an online plus offline format. The tournaments to decide the Top 4 teams to participate in the international matches will be held first. The match format will be the same as it was in the WSL: BO5 of four 1v1s and one 2v2!" "So that¡¯s why you decided to sign Lian Xin," I teased. Rose replied in an embarrassed tone, "Why are you pointing it out if you already know about it? Anyway, we know Lian Xin is a core player of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and that she was appointed the vice leader and the leader of your ranged troops. She possesses super-tier individual strength and skills, so why would we ever let her slip through our grasp? On that note, please help us to persuade Lian Xin to join Lenovo, Lu Chen. It will be good for you anyway since that means the main roster is completely made up of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players." I gave it some thought before replying, "I can speak with Lian Xin, but I have one condition." "Tell me. I¡¯ll do my best to fulfill it if I can." "For competitions like this, players usually put a prefix in front of their IDs to show their team affiliation, right? This time though, I want to put our guild in the prefix as well. I won¡¯t persuade Lian Xin to join Lenovo if you don¡¯t accept this¡­" Rose sounded surprised. "Correct me if I¡¯m wrong, but if I follow you correctly, you want your registered ID to read something like, ¡®Lenovo.AS.Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯, right?" "Correct. You pick up on my meaning right away!" "Hehe. I don¡¯t think it will be a problem. If all goes well, our main roster will be completely made up of players from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls anyway. I¡¯ll discuss this with the club¡¯s manager and come back to you," Rose replied confidently. "Very well! I¡¯ll speak with Lian Xin about your offer then." "Thanks!" "You¡¯re welcome!" ¡­¡­ I logged off after sending all the girls a message. The clock showed 8 pm when the five of us sat in the living room and enjoyed a nice cup of tea. He Yi was holding her pink notebook and looking at the official Heavenblessed home page when she said, "This is no normal competition. I foresee a ton of hidden experts popping up like whack-a-moles when the WEL begins." Murong Mingyue asked, "What do you mean?" He Yi put down her notebook and turned the screen toward us. "Here, check this out!" ¡­¡­ Hanging on top of the home page was the headline: "Heavenblessed Global Championship WEL is about to begin! Registration will open in three days, and the first online single elimination matches will start on New Year''s Day of the lunar calendar! A small passage of text was written below it: "The largest main city of the nation who wins the championship will obtain the title ¡°King of Cities¡±. They will enjoy the following buffs: City Defense +50%, City NPC Attack +50%, Attack and Defense of players inside the city +15%, and all fees and prices lowered by 50%. The title will last until the next WEL championship next year! ¡­¡­ "Holy shit¡­" I clenched my fists in excitement. "This is great! King of Cities, huh? Tsk tsk, if we take this for Sky City, its status in the Center will be unshakeable." "Not that that will stop the main cities of other countries from coveting it. On the contrary, our enemies will fight harder than ever before¡­" He Yi pointed out the harsh truth hidden beneath the glamorous title immediately. But I smiled confidently and said, "What did you expect? We are in the era of war after all. The idealists and the useless should just f.u.c.k off elsewhere. Now is the time to show our fighting spirit, take the title to strengthen Sky City¡¯s Attack and Defense, and beat every other city in the world into submission!" Beiming Xue stared wide-eyed at me for a moment before giggling. "Oh my god, big bro looks so cool when he talks like this. I can¡¯t help but fall for him. What should I do?" Lian Xin hugged Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulders sympathetically. "I feel the same, but there¡¯s nothing to do but endure it. He doesn¡¯t belong to us after all¡­" Even He Yi and Murong Mingyue facepalmed and let out a sigh. The corner of my mouth twitched at their antics, but I ignored them and changed the subject. "Beiming, have you completed your seventh promotion quest already? Did you get something good out of it?" Beiming Xue nodded. "Yep, I got 5 Luck for being the first to complete it. I also got a big AoE skill called Skypiercer. It doubles my attack range and hits all enemy targets within a 20-yard radius. It¡¯s perfect for large-scale battles!" I asked excitedly, "Ohh! How does it work exactly?" However, Beiming Xue couldn¡¯t think of an answer. "Er¡­" Luckily, Lian Xin came to her rescue. She made a fist, lifted it into the air, and opened it abruptly. "Like this. It explodes into a hail of arrows in midair before falling toward the ground. It¡¯s an absolute menace especially with Beiming Xue¡¯s Attack. I can already see her skewering her enemies with so many arrows that their mothers won¡¯t recognize them¡­" My lips curled into a smile. "Sounds great¡­" At the same time, I recalled my conversation with Rose earlier and asked her, "Lian Xin, Rose of the Lenovo club contacted you already, right? They¡¯re offering you 11 million RMB per year, which is a hell of a salary even when compared to the best paid players in town. You should just accept it." "Mn!" Lian Xin nodded strongly. "I trust you! Heehee, I don¡¯t even know how to spend so much money. I guess I can start by buying some new clothes for my mom¡­" Me: "..." He Yi called Rose, and Rose promised that she would bring over the relevant doc.u.ments tomorrow morning herself. Clearly, Lenovo saw great value in Lian Xin, or they wouldn¡¯t be in such a hurry to sign her. After all, there would always be more teams than super mages who were available. ¡­¡­ I spent the night grinding my level. I was now Level 178, and I wanted to hit Level 180 and complete my seventh promotion quest to strengthen myself even more before the WEL began. I might have godlike equipment like the Purple Ying Sword and the Dragon God Shield, but that was no reason to underestimate the enemy. China was full of talented people, and not every expert liked to challenge the arena. It was entirely possible to be caught by surprise and lose if I was careless. It was a peaceful night all in all. I went to bed early. ¡­¡­ The next morning, I heard Beiming Xue cheering from the living room while I was still asleep. "It¡¯s snowing, it¡¯s snowing! It¡¯s snowing on the 24th!" I checked the calendar for a bit. There were only 6 days left before New Year¡¯s Eve, and according to our cultural tradition, today was the day we offer sacrifices to the Zaoshen and send him to the heavens in return for good luck and smooth journeys in all things. When I was younger, my mother would cook a lot of delicious food on this day... I nearly teared up when I thought about this. It was only after she passed away did I recall the reluctant look in her eyes every time she left a younger me to perform her responsibilities, and truly understand how precious that love was. It was a love that I would never be able to feel again. I rubbed my eyes and ignored the tingly feeling in my nose. I pulled open the curtains and stared at the heavy snow falling down on the city. It felt like each snow of the year was even greater than the last. ¡­¡­ As promised, Rose arrived in the morning with a Lenovo executive in tow. After the signing was complete, we went to a nearby restaurant and celebrated it around noon. After lunch, I logged back into the game and grinded until I was Level 179. Now, I was only one step away from hitting Level 180. Right before I was about to log out for dinner, He Yi sent me a message: "Lu Chen, it¡¯s the 24th today. You should give your father a call." "Yeah. I¡¯ll do that right away!" It was almost dark outside when I called his number. After staring at the snow outside the window for almost ten seconds, the call finally connected. "Lu Chen!" "Dad." When I heard the sound of car horns from the other side of the call, I couldn¡¯t help but ask him, "Are you outside?" He replied in a relaxed tone, "Yes. It¡¯s the 24th today, so your third uncle and I decided to visit Suzhou for a bit. He has never seen the city before, so I thought that I might as well show him around, you see." "What? But you¡¯ve never visited Suzhou yourself, dad! Where are you right now? I¡¯m coming over to fetch you two!" I was worried. It was snowing really hard outside, and both my father and my third uncle were in their fifties. They couldn¡¯t possibly stand this weather for long. He said, "We just got off a bus, and I don¡¯t really know where we are right now. Hmm¡­ I think I see a supermarket called Tai Hua Shang Cheng¡­" "Got it. It¡¯s snowing really hard, so just stay at Tai Hua Shang Cheng while I come to get you, okay? I¡¯ll be there in 20 minutes!" "Mn." ¡­¡­ I hung up. He Yi had come to me in the middle of the call, so she heard everything. She shot me a small smile and said, "I¡¯ll come with you!" "Mn." We rushed down stairs and started the X12¡¯s engine. Then, we rushed out into the snow. Tai Hua wasn¡¯t really far away, so we reached there in less than 20 minutes. The problem was that visibility was poor, and we could barely see anyone who was more than three meters away. He Yi said, "You go look for uncle first. I¡¯ll come look for you after I find a parking spot!" "Mn, okay!" I got out and instinctively pulled the collar of my down jacket closer. It was way too cold right now. I wondered how my father and third uncle were faring. I searched around the entrance for several minutes but couldn¡¯t find them. So, I walked along the display windows and hoped that they were somewhere along the path. Some of the display windows were showcasing brand products such as LV and Gucci, some were new high-end VR equipment. The wind was cold and chilly. It felt like knives cutting into my skin. Finally, I found two old men standing in front of a display window and staring blankly at a certain item for some reason. It was the latest helmet developed by Eternal Moon Corporation, and it was said that it had a feature that could reduce stress and fatigue. It was priced at 170k RMB. Besides that, a couple of projection keyboards and original CDs were on display as well. Father was staring at a promotional poster for Starcraft 4. His eyebrows were white from acc.u.mulating snowflakes, and his shoulders were covered in a thick layer of snow. His leg was bad, so he had to walk with a limp while third uncle supported him. "How much longer are we going to stare at this thing?" third uncle asked. Father rubbed his eyes clean and said, "Lu Chen loved games since he was young, but I always chastised him for it. Now, I realize that I was being too hard on him." He checked his pockets before continuing, "How much money did you carry, third? I have five thousand with me right now, so I just need another three thousand. I want to buy that PC, the best one for my son. I know you earned around four thousand selling cotton during the autumn, and you carried watermelons into the city on your tricycle every day. Lend me some of it, will you?" Third uncle grumbled as he checked his pockets, "As if I would bring that much money while travelling this far out. You dote on your son too much, you know that? How much furniture do you have to build or repair to earn so much money?" He smiled. "He¡¯s my son." ¡­¡­ "Dad¡­" I called out quietly to him. Tears slid down my cheeks as I looked at his cold-bitten face and white hair. Chapter 885: I’m a Blank Tile I grew slowly under my father¡¯s wings, but my father aged quickly because of the responsibilities weighing down on his shoulders. Over time, my father stopped scolding me. I never knew how much he missed me because I was always away for work; never knew that I, to an old man like him, was his pride and everything. ¡­¡­ "Ah, Lu Chen! You¡¯ve come¡­" My father pulled my sleeve before pointing at the first-rate desktop computer on the display before asking me, "Do you like this PC? If you do, then I¡¯ll buy it for you. Work is always hard, and the rent and bills are very expensive these days. Your salary isn¡¯t even higher than us farmers¡¯, right? We at least have some money to save every month." I watched the glowing display and the price tag in blood-red font. Father was looking as well. The snow fell on our heads and shoulders. My father¡¯s palms were shaking because of how cold it was. "It¡¯s fine, dad. I have a notebook now, so I don¡¯t need a desktop computer anymore. Plus, I promised you that I won¡¯t play Starcraft anymore." Father blew his palms to warm himself before replying, "Are you still angry with me about that day? Three years ago, you wanted to go to Beijing to compete, but I didn¡¯t give you a single yuan, and I scolded you harshly. In the end, you weren¡¯t able to attend that competition." I shot my father an apologetic look before saying, "Dad, I¡­ I actually went and snuck off to Beijing that day. Third uncle¡¯s the one who paid the 400 yuan taxi ride for me¡­" My third uncle immediately chided me, "Why are you spilling the beans now!?" But my father smiled through his shivering. "That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good¡­ what happened afterward?" I thought for a moment before replying, "Well¡­ I was disqualified in the first round¡­" That was a lie. The truth was, I spent seven days sleeping at the subway stations and rationed every meal, but I still wasn¡¯t able to save enough money to pay the registration fee. What can you do? Life is like this sometimes. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment He Yi showed up and smiled at the three of us. "Uncle, third uncle, Lu Chen, why are you three standing in the snow? Let¡¯s head home already, it¡¯s really cold outside. Oh right, uncle and third uncle haven¡¯t eaten yet, right? In that case, let¡¯s go look for a restaurant first¡­" Father was surprised to see He Yi. He gave his eyes a rub before asking, "Are you¡­ manager He Yi?" He Yi nodded and shot him a sweet smile. "That¡¯s me. Lu Chen and I are living in the same company apartment, and I suppose that you can call us flatmates? Anyway, let¡¯s go find a warm place to have dinner already." For some reason, father and third uncle looked a bit caught off-guard by He Yi. I supposed that her graceful aura wasn¡¯t something they were used to seeing. Father even shook his head and said, "It¡¯s fine, Third¡­ third and I already ate some food!" I pressed the question, "What did you guys eat, third uncle?" Third uncle pointed at a nearby stall and said, "We ate two roasted sweet potatoes each." "There¡¯s no way you¡¯re full with just that! Come on, let¡¯s find a place to eat," I said while holding my father¡¯s arm. Father and third uncle had no choice but to follow us then. The X12 was very spacious, enough so that my father could be comfortable even with his bad leg. However, I couldn¡¯t help but feel a twinge of sorrow when I saw how much effort it took for him to climb into the back seat. I owed him far too much, and I had failed to perform my responsibilities as a son completely. ¡­¡­ "This car is pretty spacious¡­" third uncle praised immediately after he got into the car. He Yi looked back from the front passenger seat and replied smilingly, "Mn, it¡¯s Lu Chen¡¯s car. His eye for cars is pretty good." "What? This car is Lu Chen¡¯s?" third uncle exclaimed in astonishment. "The first time I saw it, I thought this was your company car, and that Lu Chen¡¯s your driver¡­" It was He Yi¡¯s turn to be astonished. "Of course not! Lu Chen is an elite employee in our company. Of course he can afford a car." Third uncle then looked at the logo on the steering wheel before commenting, "This is a BMW, right? From what I heard inside the village, this car is expensive as all hell. How much did you spend to buy this, Lu Chen?" I hurriedly replied, "Not much, not much at all¡­" He Yi interrupted that line of conversation with a question, "So, uncle, third uncle, why didn¡¯t you inform us before you came over?" My father replied smilingly, "We didn¡¯t want to disturb you while you¡¯re working. Also, it¡¯s a nice experience to tour the city once in a while." Third uncle added, "The only issue is that it¡¯s a bit too cold, and the cars don¡¯t care about passersby when they drive." He Yi chuckled. "I see. Anyway, please give us a notice before you visit Suzhou next time. This way, Lu Chen will be able to receive you." "Mn¡­" ¡­¡­ After a brief discussion with He Yi, I took us to a Hot Pot City restaurant. The weather was really cold today, and my father and my third uncle desperately needed to eat something hot to warm themselves up. We ordered a lot of food after we took a seat. Father and third uncle ate a lot as well. "Lu Chen¡­ are you coming home for New Year this year?" father asked tentatively before adding, "It¡¯s fine if you¡¯re too busy." I shot him a smile and said, "Yes, I¡¯m coming home. I already applied for leave, so no worries." "Mn." He Yi nudged me beneath the table, and I added, "Er, also¡­ He Yi doesn¡¯t have anyone to spend New Year with because her mom is travelling overseas. If possible, she would like to celebrate New Year at our home while she visits Yangzhou. Is that fine, dad?" Father hurriedly nodded. "Of course, of course! That is no problem at all." However, my third uncle seemed to notice something and laughed. "Old Lu, you remember all that ranting you did about Lu Chen not having a girlfriend not long ago? I don¡¯t think you need to worry about that anymore, haha¡­" He Yi blushed and bit a pitiful piece of lotus root repeatedly. Father smiled a happy smile that I had never seen before until now. ¡­¡­ After we returned to the workshop, we arranged so that my father and third uncle would sleep in my room, I in He Yi¡¯s room, and He Yi in Murong Mingyue¡¯s room. He Yi and Murong Mingyue would be sharing a room tonight. The moment we stepped through the door, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin immediately greeted father and third uncle sweetly, inflicting waves of shock and panic upon the two old men. For obvious reasons, they never imagined that our apartment would be accommodating this many young and beautiful women. "What company are you working in again, Lu Chen? Why are there so many young women?" third uncle asked. I thought for a moment before answering, "They¡¯re my colleagues from the customer service department. It¡¯s customer service, and women are obviously more scrupulous than men, so¡­" "Oh, I see!" I was also glad that all three girls knew to put on some proper clothes and avoid giving my father and third uncle a heart attack. Normally, they couldn¡¯t care less about my presence and walked around in flimsy, exposing pyjamas all the time. I didn¡¯t mind the "sceneries" as a matter of course, but tonight was clearly not a suitable occasion. ¡­¡­ After my father and third uncle settled into the apartment, He Yi immediately took me to the supermarket and bought a ton of New Year goods. It was for my father and third uncle. The next day, father and third uncle acted to leave first thing in the morning. They had no intention of disrupting our normal working environment, and He Yi couldn¡¯t change their minds no matter how hard she tried. At first, my father and third uncle wanted to take a train and head home, but He Yi insisted and made a call to Raincube¡¯s subsidiary company in Suzhou instead. A short while later, two young drivers driving a Buick each arrived, and after transporting all the New Year goods we had bought into the cars, they fetched my father and third uncle back home. He Yi even rewarded the drivers by increasing their monthly salary by 1500 RMB, causing them to erupt in joy. Our apartment returned to normal after my father and third uncle left. "Alright, it¡¯s time to get back online. The WEL registration has already started in the main cities, and we cannot fall behind, can we?" Beiming Xue said with a smile. He Yi replied, "Mn. Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ After we went online, we joined He Yi¡¯s party and traveled to the royal capital. We were supposed to report to an NPC called "WEL Orderly" at the location to register. However, we were a bit late, and a sea of people was already blocking our way. It took us literally half an hour of squeezing and pushing to finally make it to the inner area. I had my left arm wrapped around Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulder and my right arm around Lian Xin¡¯s. He Yi was grabbing Murong Mingyue in one hand. In cramped places like this, there was no one who had it better than Strength-focused fighters. Since both He Yi and I had pretty good equipment, we were able to approach the NPC steadily like rocks parting the river stream. When we were less than 5 yards away from the NPC, He Yi finally managed to trigger a dialogue with the NPC. After that, an option appeared before her eyes: "Would you like to register your team using your club identities?" After He Yi clicked "Confirm", I altered our tags before making the final confirmation. The system reported that our registration was successful, but it wasn¡¯t over yet. After Lenovo¡¯s employees came online and worked their side of things, our roster was finally confirmed¡ª Lenovo-AS From Water (Team Leader) Lenovo-AS Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Lenovo-AS Beiming Xue Lenovo-AS Lian Xin Lenovo-AS Murong Mingyue Lenovo-AS Remains Lenovo-AS Heart Like Water Lenovo-AS Dark Fragrance Lenovo-AS Calm Night Lenovo-AS Butterfly Dance ¡­¡­ The maximum number of players a team could register for the WEL was 10, so Rose added the warrior Remains, the dark ritualist Butterfly Dance and three more players as substitutes. For example, if we were delayed during New Year¡¯s Day and couldn¡¯t return home in time to participate in the competition, Remains and the substitutes would compete in our stead until we returned. Of course, the national preliminaries followed a single-elimination format, so we weren¡¯t going to miss any match if we could help it. The most sure-fire way to qualify for the play-offs was to attend the matches ourselves and secure every victory! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Several showers of light later, we appeared in the teleportation formation. He Yi led us to the area behind the Holy Temple¡ªmore specifically, a cool spot beneath a row of silver fir trees¡ªto discuss tactics¡ª He Yi began, "So, there¡¯ll be four 1v1s and one 2v2. Obviously, Mingyue isn¡¯t suitable for the 1v1 format, so Lu Chen, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and I are the only ones who¡¯ll compete in those. As for the 2v2, does anyone have a good combination they would like to suggest?" Beiming Xue answered, "Lian Xin and I can pull off a double-ranged, super burst duo if necessary." Murong Mingyue replied, "Eve and I can form a tank plus healer duo that can outlast any combination." Lian Xin added, "I think I can work with big brother Lu Chen and make an invincible fighter plus mage duo as well¡­" He Yi chuckled. "Now that you mention it, I can do the same with Beiming Xue too¡­" I grinned. "I¡¯m a blank tile who can fit with any one of you, so just use me as you please¡­" Murong Mingyue puffed up her awesome b.r.e.a.s.ts and giggled. "Oh? What a bold claim to make. I see that someone has a big appetite." I replied expressionlessly, "Well, what can I do? You¡¯re all OP as hell." While saying this, I shot Murong Mingyue¡¯s b.r.e.a.s.ts a glance before adding, "Sis, fess up now. You¡¯ve been sneaking papayas, haven¡¯t you? Unless I¡¯m sorely mistaken, your bust size just went up again¡­" Murong Mingyue shot me a challenging look and puffed up her awesome b.r.e.a.s.ts again. "Hmph hmph. So what? What are you going to do about it? Do you even have the balls to do whatever it is you want to do?" I blushed. "Actually, yes¡­" ¡­¡­ The girls fell silent for half a minute before abruptly realizing what I meant. Murong Mingyue immediately started punching me in embarrassment. "You want to die, you little brat!? And don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know that you¡¯re all talk and no action! If you¡¯re a real man you¡¯ll come on me right now!" Me: "..." Well shit, she got me there¡­ (P.S: Happy birthday Stranger of Three Lifetimes~~) Chapter 886: Coiling Dragon Revolution Three days passed by in the blink of an eye. After grinding with everything I got, a golden beam landed on my head and increased my level to 180. At that moment, I felt like I was ascending to the heavens! ¡­¡­ It was time to complete my seventh class promotion quest, so I returned to Sky City and went through the teleportation formation, teleporting directly to my mentor¡¯s home, the lair of the Bone Soul Rinser. It had been quite some days since I visited my bony mentor. I wondered how he was doing right now. Swhoosh! When my vision cleared up, I saw Rinser standing motionlessly in the middle of the snowfield. His head and shoulders were covered in snow, and he seemed to be deep in meditation. I was a good man who respected his teacher, so I waited for him to finish his meditation instead of disturbing him. However, ten long and boring minutes later, I suddenly heard a snore from the skeleton. Blind rage immediately overtook my brain. Goddamn motherf.u.c.k.i.n.g sonuvabitch! He was sleeping, not meditating! What a complete waste of my time! "Mentor!" I immediately shouted at a pitch of 80 decibels, "Coldblade is coming to us with his undead army!" "What? Watch this¡ª" Swhoosh! Bone Soul Rinser immediately used Blink and teleported a hundred meters away from his original location. Even I was impressed by how quick-footed he was. He truly deserved to be my mentor! After I rode up to him, Rinser finally realized what was going on and berated me, "You f.u.c.k.i.n.g brat!" "Mentor, I think I¡¯m strong enough to reach the next realm now!!" I raised my arm and flexed my awesome biceps. "See these strong and well-shaped muscles? Surely I¡¯m the most awesome warrior you¡¯ve ever seen, right?" Rinser glared at me for a moment before saying, "You want to promote your class this badly? Very well! I shall fulfill your wish!" Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have been offered the chance to promote your class. You need to pay 500k gold to promote your class! What the f.u.c.k!? I raged at the scammer, "What the hell is this, old man? I¡¯m not a lamb for you to slaughter!" Rinser replied emotionlessly, "You can choose not to promote your class if you don¡¯t want to." "So, it¡¯s a take-it-or-leave-it deal, huh? Fine. I¡¯m a sucker like that." I teleported back to the city and ran all the way to Air Force One before saying, "White Fox, withdraw 500k gold for me right now!" White Fox blinked her eyes in surprise before asking, "Master, that¡¯s half of our current savings. Are you sure?" "Mn. I need the money urgently!" "Okay!" After I got the gold, I ran back to the teleportation formation and teleported back to Rinser once more. After the greedy skeleton finished counting his gold, he smiled in satisfaction and said, "Alright, you¡¯ve proven your courage and sincerity, my proudest disciple. Now come! True honor belongs to you and you only!" Ding~! System Notice: You have completed your seventh class promotion quest and obtained the title, "Martial God of the Abyss" (Title Stats: Attack +10%, Defense +15%). As the seventh player in the world to complete their seventh class promotion quest, you have been rewarded with Luck +1, Level +1! ¡­¡­ God dammit, fighter classes are so disadvantaged in this department! For all my speed, I was still the seventh player to complete my class promotion quest. Everyone else before me was either a mage or an archer. That being said, this new title I obtained sounded pretty cool, and unlike the previous time, this one actually gave me a stat boost. Also, I finally hit 60 Luck with this promotion, tsk tsk! I brought up Sky City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking and noted that I was the third player in Sky City¡ªor seventh in the world¡ªto complete the seventh promotion quest. The first two spots belonged to Beiming Xue and Lian Xin. Now, time to check out my new class skills! I spoke with Rinser, and two new skills immediately appeared in front of me¡ª Undead Shield: Summon a shield of death and protect oneself from danger. Shield durability scales with user¡¯s Magic Attack. Level Requirement: Level 180. Wind of the Coiling Dragon: Summon an undead dragon and deal a tremendous amount of damage to all targets within a 10x10 yard area. Skill damage scales with user¡¯s Magic Attack. Level Requirement: 180. ¡­¡­ God dammit. Both skills were useless to me because they were mage skills¡ªwhich would be awesome if I was a mage, but I wasn¡¯t¡ªand none of my equipment added Intelligence. Even if they did, I was still a warrior with lousy Magic Attack scaling. So I merged them into my existing skills instead. Undead Shield was a defensive skill, so I chose to merge it with my Ghost Deity Armor! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your skill "Ghost Deity Armor" has successfully merged with the skill "Undead Shield¡±. You have gained a new skill: "Ghost Deity Shield!" Ghost Deity Shield I: Summon the power of domains to manifest the Ghost Deity on your shield. Defensive effects are greatly increased, and Defense of user''s shield will now reduce damage of magic attacks like Magic Knight¡¯s Holy Shield. Skill effect: Defense is increased by 15%. ¡­¡­ "Ghost Deity Shield¡­" I was stunned to say the least. The skill already boosted Defense by 15% at Rank 1, so at Rank 10 I imagine that this number will be 150% at least, right? Also, it could be used like a Holy Shield, meaning that mages would no longer be able to destroy me as easily as they did before. For the longest time, mages were the terror of all mounted players because magic attacks dealt extra damage to metal-armor classes. Even with a shield, it wasn¡¯t guaranteed that a mounted player could survive concentrated bombardment. However, Ghost Deity Shield changed that completely because it functioned the same as Holy Shield and also reduced magic damage taken. Not even Lian Xin and her insane Magic Attack would be able to threaten me too much anymore. Hell yeah! I made up my mind to grind my Ghost Deity Shield to max rank as soon as possible. It would be very useful in the upcoming WEL competition. ¡­¡­ But before that, I still needed to merge one more skill, the Wind of Coiling Dragon. What should I merge with you, I wonder? Burning Blade Slash was already top-tier, and I wasn¡¯t willing to risk losing its current effects for something worse. Universe Break was the same, and Thousand Ice Slash had a Freeze CC that I valued greatly. After some consideration, I ultimately decided to merge it with Sword Boomerang! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your skill "Sword Boomerang" has successfully merged with the skill "Wind of the Coiling Dragon¡±. You have gained a new skill: "Coiling Dragon Revolution!" Coiling Dragon Revolution I: Summon the coiling dragon and deal a tremendous amount of damage in a wide area to all enemies on a curved line. Skill damage scales with user¡¯s attack power, and penetrates 33% of mages¡¯ Magic Shield. Skill effect: Current skill power is 110%. ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t believe that I got another broken skill out of this. Sword Boomerang¡¯s biggest flaw was its area of effect because it only damaged enemy targets in a straight line. As a result, it wasn¡¯t as effective as it could¡¯ve been when used against a mage or archer party. Now though, its area of effect was greatly increased, and it could penetrate 33% of Magic Shield. Theoretically speaking, I could deal at least 100k damage to a shieldless mage with my Purple Ying Sword. If their shields were up, then 67% of that damage would be blocked instead of the usual 100%. At first glance it didn¡¯t look like much, but in reality I was dishing out at least 30k damage to the mage! At the current stage, even the best mages in the game such as Lian Xin and Stranger of Three Lifetimes only had a health pool of 40k or so. This meant that I would be one-shotting most of the mages out there! I could hardly contain my excitement at this point. I immediately started testing out my new skills. "Ghost Deity Shield!" I cried. Buzz! The power of the Ghost Deity churned inside of me. My Ghost Deity Armor then vanished and turned into a blood-red energy shield around my Dragon God Shield. A skill durability bar appeared next to the shield, and the logs notified me that part of my Defense now resisted both physical and magic attacks, making me feel as solid as a rock! This was what an immovable tank should look like! Gui Guzi was tanky, but that was only if in terms of physical damage. If he ran into mages at the level of Lian Xin, Luo River God of the Capital or Stranger of Three Lifetimes, he would run out of HP like a broken dam. I, on the other hand, no longer feared even my natural counter, mages! I wasted no time in testing out my second skill. Aiming at a giant black rock in the distance, I abruptly threw my sword and used Coiling Dragon Revolution! "Roar!" A dragon roared, and the image of a dragon appeared around the Purple Ying Sword. It looked like a giant dragon was soaring toward my target in an uneven line! Boom boom boom! There was a massive explosion, and the rock the size of a small hill exploded into smithereens just like that. Even the mountain peaks of Dragonbone Mountain Range were shaking because the Mountain Crush passive of the Purple Ying Sword had taken effect as well. If I wasn¡¯t sure before, I knew now that the skill could definitely destroy the environment! ¡­¡­ "What the hell do you think you¡¯re doing, brat?" Rinser stared at me. I caught the returning Purple Ying Sword firmly and smiled innocently at him. "If there¡¯s nothing else then I¡¯m leaving, mentor. Bye¡­" "Shoo! Pray that you¡¯ll live to see me another day!" Rinser huffed. It almost sounded like he wanted me, his disciple, to get myself killed. I took out a return scroll and teleported back to Sky City. Then, I contacted Murong Mingyue and asked her, "Sis, are you busy right now?" Murong Mingyue: "Yep, I¡¯m grinding to Level 180 right now. You got something for me?" "Actually, yes. I¡¯m going to help you grind, so come join me¡­" Murong Mingyue sounded surprised. "What? Am I dreaming? Did Lu Chen just offer to carry me? You¡¯re plotting to do something devious to me, aren¡¯t you?" "Er¡­" I paused for a moment before replying, "No really, I just want to grind with you, that¡¯s all¡­" "Hmph hmph!" ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t like I was trying to hide my true intentions, so Murong Mingyue figured it out as soon as we reached Bloody Shield Domain. I wanted to grind the undead mobs Ovia the Bloody Finger left behind after his death because these mobs hit hard enough to rank up my new Ghost Deity Shield in no time. However, for that reason I would need a priest to keep me healthy, which was why I sought her out. Murong Mingyue would gain the experience she needed to hit Level 180 much faster, and I would be able to rank up my Ghost Deity Shield. Two birds with one stone! Chapter 887: Night of New Year’s Eve Time passed quickly, and another three days passed by in the blink of an eye. Everything was going smoothly according to the plan. After Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and me, He Yi and Murong Mingyue finally hit Level 180 and completed their seventh promotion quest as well. Speaking of which, priests gained a healing skill called the Life Heal that instantly restored a target¡¯s HP to full at the cost of half their MP. The skill cooldown wasn¡¯t particularly long or short¡ª120 seconds¡ªbut it was still useful in PvP battles or boss fights. As for magic knights, they gained a super imbalanced skill called "Trapping Net". Trapping Net: Throw a holy net at a target and immobilize them for 7 seconds. The target can still attack and recover during this time. Cooldown: 30 seconds. Range: 20 yards. The skill made seventh-promoted magic knights quite OP as landing a successful Trapping Net could easily mean the difference between victory or defeat. Professional player or not, getting caught by Trapping Net and being immobilized for 7 seconds was practically a death sentence to anyone. I could already imagine the birth of a new PvP tactic where 4 magic knights took turns to cast their Trapping Net on one target while their ranged allies shot them to death. Truly a disgusting tactic, tsk tsk! At the very least, it was now necessary to pay attention to a magic knight¡¯s movements when fighting outside a safe zone. Once a player allowed a magic knight to enter within 20 yards of them, they only had three choices: one, they leg it and put as much distance between themselves and the magic knight. Two, they use an invincibility skill and teleport back to their home city. Or three, trusting in their super resistance and inhuman reaction speed, they pull off the most scientific dodge possible and somehow dodge the skill in half a second. If they could do none of the above, then death was the only outcome. ¡­¡­ The next morning, bright sunshine shone into the living room and put everyone in a cheery mood. "Nngh! The crazy grind is finally over! I¡¯m now a Level 180 magic knight, heehee!" He Yi was sitting on the sofa and stretching her back with both arms raised. Consciously or not, the movement showcased her white skin, her beautiful mounds and her flat tummy perfectly. The magical sight was so stunning that I forgot to sip my tea for a moment. The two younger girls in the household, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin, bowed their heads to hide their tears when they saw this. Like it or not, the gap between a young girl and a fully matured woman was night and day! "Have all the things been carried downstairs?" He Yi asked me. "Mn. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen so much ham and food in my life¡­" I cried manly tears as I complained, "What the f.u.c.k is wrong with sis anyway? Last night she dragged me to the supermarket with her three times¡ªTHREE!¡ªand filled the entire trunk with food! How is it possible for someone to be this gluttonous!?" He Yi giggled and grabbed my hand consolingly, "Calm down. It¡¯s not a bad thing to have more food, this way your father and uncle will have less work to do. Also, I already told Mingyue that she and I will be cooking the dishes for New Year¡¯s Eve dinner tonight." "Mn. I¡¯ll help out as well." "Oh? You know how to cook?" "Sure! You wash the rice and put it in the rice cooker, and I¡¯ll press the on button for you!" "..." It was at this moment my phone rang. It was Lin Yixin. "Beauty Lin?" He Yi asked me. "Mn." She immediately let go of my hand and said, "You¡¯d better focus on the call then¡­" Me: "..." After I accepted the call, Lin Yixin¡¯s sweet voice immediately entered my ears. "Are you awake, Little Cheat?!" I replied, "Yep. I¡¯ve been awake since an hour ago." "Happy new year!" "You too. Happy new year, Yiyi!" "So, I¡¯m going back to Shanghai to celebrate New Year¡¯s with my parents! Let¡¯s meet again next year!" "Yeah, see you next year. I guess I won¡¯t be driving you this time¡­" "Little Cheat¡­" "Yeah?" "My dad bought me a car. Do you think I should take it?" "That depends on the car, I guess. How much is it? Is it over a million?" "You¡¯re so despicable¡­" Lin Yixin giggled. "It¡¯s a Porsche Panamera 4.8, the one with a ridiculously loud engine noise. I heard it¡¯s the latest import model, and that it costs over 3 million RMB¡­" My eyes widened. "Holy f.u.c.k, your dad is seriously rich, isn¡¯t he?" Lin Yixin giggled again. "Say, you wanna race me at Panshan Road when I come back?" I gulped. "You serious? You want me to race your Panamera in my X12?" "What, are you scared?" Lin Yixin let out an evil chuckle. "Like hell!" I declared through gritted teeth. "I accept the challenge, but you¡¯d better pay for my tires when the race is over! I don¡¯t think you know how bad drifting is for tires¡­" "OMG, you¡¯re such a miser!" I laughed. "Miser? No, this is just standard financial planning, okay?" Lin Yixin let out another weird giggle and fell silent for a couple of seconds. Then, she said in a gentle voice, "So, when are you buying me a racing car, Little Cheat? I promise I¡¯ll replace this Panamera immediately if you buy one for me!" My eyes widened. "What did my poor wallet ever do to you? Sure, I might have owned Dark Moon City¡¯s income some time ago, but things have changed a lot since then! These days, the accounts have become completely transparent, and I¡¯m nothing more but a shareholder! Where on earth am I going to find the money to buy the car?" "You have a shop at a prime location in Sky City, haven¡¯t you?" "It¡¯ll still be half a year before I can earn enough money to afford a Panamera¡­" "Hmph hmph!" Another pause later, Lin Yixin asked me, "Have you eaten breakfast? You¡¯ll grow fat if you eat too much though!" I grinned before letting out a sigh. "Yiyi, what do you want to say to me, really?" Lin Yixin suddenly stopped talking. Five whole seconds of silence later, she whispered, "I miss you." "..." I replied after a moment of silence, "I¡¯m coming back to Suzhou tomorrow. What about you? I can visit you tomorrow morning in Shanghai if you want to." "It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m going back the day after tomorrow, and I don¡¯t want to make you travel so far like this." "Okay¡­" "Oh right, how are your WEL preparations going? Is Lenovo ready to meet all the challenges?" she asked cheerfully. I declared confidently, "All five players in our main roster have finished their seventh-promotion quests. What do you think? Hehe, these WEL preliminaries are ours to take!" Lin Yixin immediately taunted, "So what? We have four seventh-promotion players ourselves! Hmph hmph, you¡¯d better pray you don¡¯t run into us too soon! Purple Marquis and Shadow Chanel may not necessarily lose to you!" "Well¡­ see you in the finals then. Whoever loses will treat the other one to dinner and hold the room card, if you get what I mean¡­" "..." Lin Yixin was speechless for a second, but she quickly recovered and chided me, "Bastard! I¡¯m allowed to tease you, but you¡¯re not allowed to tease me back, understand?" "F.u.c.k, this sounds pretty unfair¡­" The call ended with Lin Yixin¡¯s giggles after that. ¡­¡­ Back in the living room, He Yi gave her coffee-colored skin-tight skirt a pull before saying with obvious jealousy, "Is it just me, or are Lu Chen and Beauty Lin looking more and more like the perfect couple?" Beiming Xue looked up and replied with her bread still in her mouth, "Don¡¯t feel down, Sister Eve. I think you and big bro fit each other pretty well too¡­" Lian Xin said, "Yeah! Boss is the best match for Lu Chen! Big brother Lu Chen, do you like boss?" I looked at He Yi before replying, "Well¡­ Of course I do¡­" "You womanizer¡­" Lian Xin rolled her eyes as she commented. It was at this moment Murong Mingyue walked out of her room. Normally a down-filled garment would be enough to "flatten" any curve so to speak, but that wasn¡¯t the case for her. She was just that big. She said, "Stop pressing Lu Chen already. It¡¯s not his fault both Eve and Beauty Lin are peerless beauties, and he was unlucky enough to fall in love with both of them. He¡¯s only going to feel guilty and regret if he gives up on either one of them¡­" I drank my tea and said nothing to that. He Yi rose to her feet and replied with a smile, "It¡¯s just as you say, I suppose. Anyway, it¡¯s time to go. We need to reach Yonglezhen before noon. It¡¯s been a while since we¡¯ve been there." "Yeah. Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ He Yi and I took the Lamborghini while Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin took the X12. The five of us formed a party and left to grind the pure, untainted map that was Yonglezhen. It was a smooth journey all the way, and we didn¡¯t encounter many cars on the highway because it was New Year¡¯s Eve. We reached my hometown before 12 pm, and our presence attracted a lot of neighbors. Every girl who accompanied me was extraordinarily beautiful and bright, and their fashionable attires caused the uncles and aunties to gossip like they never before in their lives. There were over-the-top praises like, "I¡¯ve worked in the paddy fields, the towns, and the cities over half my life, and I¡¯ve never seen this many pretty girls in one place until today", or loaded questions like, "So, which one of you is Lu Chen¡¯s girlfriend?" Long story short, the girls were barely able to keep their cool, but it was only a matter of time before their embarrassment meter was overloaded. I myself was feeling pretty embarrassed as I said, "No, I didn¡¯t bring my girlfriend today. They¡¯re just my colleagues. They¡¯re here because they want to experience our countryside customs and New Year¡¯s Eve celebrations¡­" The experience began almost immediately as we steamed buns and wrote couplets. He Yi and I wrote two couplets each, but hers was so much prettier than mine that I felt like hiding myself in a hole. These days it was easy to find a woman who dressed well, but much harder to find a woman with beautiful handwriting. I already knew that He Yi¡¯s handwriting was amazing, but I didn¡¯t realize that her calligraphy was just as elegant and powerful until now. Even Beiming Xue was misled into thinking that she was born in a family of calligraphers. ¡­¡­ When evening arrived, He Yi and Murong Mingyue took over the preparations for the reunion dinner. To say that they were the perfect examples of successful women was an understatement. These girls could rule an office, work a kitchen, write code, investigate leads, murder trojan horses, climb over fences, drive luxurious cars, afford new houses, kick their mistress¡¯s butts and beat the crap out of gangsters. What more could one possibly ask for? The reunion dinner ended on a joyous note. After everything was cleaned up, He Yi and I sat down with my father and third uncle and played mahjong until very late in the night. Both He Yi and I lost over 2000 RMB, and our third uncle was so delighted he couldn¡¯t stop praising our "thoughtfulness¡±... ¡­¡­ The next morning, New Year¡¯s Day, I drove my dad in my X12 and visited all our relatives. When the New Year call was done, we ate another reunion lunch before finally returning to Suzhou. The group stage of the WEL and the domestic elimination matches began tonight and would last for three days. In the end, four strongest teams would be chosen as China¡¯s representatives and sent to participate in the internationals, also known as the offline matches. In fact, assuming we were chosen as a representative, we might have to travel overseas to participate! Chapter 888: First Match, Perfect Victory We returned to Suzhou around evening time, but sadly, not a single restaurant we usually frequented was open because it was New Year¡¯s Day. In the end, we had to eat some cheap noodles in a noodle restaurant before rushing back to the workshop. The preliminaries would begin at 6 pm and end at 10 pm, and during this time, the Top 64 teams would be decided. After that, the Top 4 teams and the national champion would be decided the following day. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I appeared in Dark Moon City¡¯s territory hall since that was where I last logged out of the game. Our Rank 9 undead castle now looked incredibly impressive, and even the hall looked like an impenetrable fortress with its thorn-covered outer walls and one hundred undead knights. They stood guard like solemn statues. "My lord¡­" The Dark Knight Hero Udal dropped to his knees as he called out to me. Normally, he would be addressing me as "Your Lordship", but since I had split up the administration power six ways between He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon, the autocratic management had turned into a committee... Udal was a brave and fiercely loyal general. Hand placed atop the hilt of his sword, he asked me, "What orders do you have for me, my lord?" I shot him a glance before asking, "When will our city reach Rank 10?" Udal took a moment to think before answering, "My lord, we don¡¯t meet the requirements to upgrade our city to Rank 10 just yet. Our Knight¡¯s Grave, Dragon¡¯s Grave, Forest Cave of Death, and Grave Spring are still at Rank 8. They must be upgraded to Rank 9 before we can upgrade our city to Rank 10!" "Then we shall prioritize upgrading these four buildings. You may stop recruiting additional Dark Insects for now." "Yes, my lord!" It wasn¡¯t long before the Knight¡¯s Grave and Dragon¡¯s Grave entered upgrade mode. They would reach Rank 9 24 hours later. If we hadn¡¯t transported much of our resources to Stranger of Three Lifetimes, we could¡¯ve upgraded all four buildings at the same time. For now, it must wait until the necessary amount of resources were gathered. That being said, Dark Moon City¡¯s production numbered in the tens of thousands per hour for each resource, so it really shouldn¡¯t take long to reacc.u.mulate the sum we needed. In ten days, the final upgrades would finish, and Dark Moon City would become the first undead city to reach Rank 10 in all the servers! ¡­¡­ I checked the time. There were only 10 minutes left before the first match, so I teleported to Sky City and met up with the four girls right away. Besides that, our substitutes¡ªHidden Fragrance, Butterfly Dance and more¡ªappeared as well. They joined the party, and we made up a party of ten in total. Beep! System Notice: There is 10 minutes left before the WEL preliminaries. Do you want to enter the waiting zone right away? (Friendly reminder: Please make sure that you have everything you need. A fierce string of battles may be waiting for you!) I had repaired my equipment a long time ago, and my bag was filled with Magic Consumables, cards and Saint Spirit Potions. I even brought an entire stack of Ghost Chariot Cards¡ªa hundred in total¡ªdue to how important this competition was. The second I met a powerful opponent, bam! Ghost Chariot Card! If not, then an Axe Fighter Card should be enough to deal with everything. In fact, I knew that over 99% of the parties out there weren¡¯t even worth a card, but better be safe than sorry... Swhoosh! I appeared inside the waiting zone, a wooden room about twenty square meters in size, and the battle arena we would be fighting in was right outside of it. There were countless such prison-like battle arenas across the seemingly borderless plaza as well. The cheers erupting inside and outside the virtual space were enough to make anyone¡¯s blood boil with excitement. Beside me, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin appeared one after another, followed by another two guys and three girls. They were Remains and the rest of the substitutes of course. "Ahem¡­" Remains smiled at me and said, "Hello, Lu Chen!" I nodded back in acknowledgement. "Hello!" Heart Like Water walked up to me and asked, "Can we discuss something with you, Lu Chen?" "Sure. Speak!" "Three minutes before the match begins, the enemy¡¯s line-up will be displayed on the screen. If possible, we would like to enter the arena and practice our skills, if the enemies are sufficiently weak of course¡­" Heart Like Water stuck out her tongue cutely before continuing, "Lenovo is paying us a big fat salary. We may be substitutes, but we feel like it¡¯s irresponsible of us to just sit here and do nothing. What do you think?" I gave it some thought before agreeing, "No problem. If the enemy¡¯s average Level is below 170, and they don¡¯t have any hidden classes, then we¡¯ll let you guys fight two of the five upcoming matches. This is the preliminaries, so we cannot afford to lose even a single round, you understand me? We need three points at least to secure a round¡­" Remains raised his giant blade and smiled. "Of course I understand! We just don¡¯t want to warm the benches throughout the whole preliminaries." "Alright, prepare yourselves. A road of thorns may be lying in wait for us. It says here that the game channel will be broadcasting the matches from 6 pm to 10 pm, but the preliminaries itself could easily be longer than that. Every match is only 120 seconds long, and past that, the system will decide the victor by comparing the players¡¯ remaining HP. Long story short, we end our fights as soon as possible!" "Yeah!" In China, over 5 million teams were participating in the preliminaries, which meant that we had to win 15 to 17 rounds at least before we were done. It was why everyone in the Frost Cloud workshop ate two bowls of noodles before we logged into the game. A long and arduous road awaited us. ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, a line-up appeared on the blue screen inside the room. The enemy team was called "A.s.s Buster", and their average Level was 165. I should¡¯ve known that our first opponent would be a weak one. I could destroy ten parties like this without breaking a sweat¡­ "Who are we sending?" I asked He Yi. She was the party leader right now. He Yi replied with a smile, "Lian Xin and Beiming Xue can handle a 1v1 match each, and Mingyue and I can handle the 2v2. Remains, who will you be sending for the last two matches?" Remains answered, "Butterfly Dance and I will go." "Okay!" He Yi turned in the selection list, and soon a drum beat signaled the start of the round! The first match was between Beiming Xue and a mounted player called Silver Scale C.h.e.s.t Armor. He was a member of Warsky Alliance, and his mount was a fearsome Frostscale Horse. Swhoosh swhoosh! A pair of white lights appeared in the 50x50 meter wide battle arena. Silver Scale C.h.e.s.t Armor was a middle-aged man, and he clicked his tongue in admiration when he saw Beiming Xue. "Wow, I wasn¡¯t expecting to run into such a cute opponent in my first match! Lenovo sure knows how to pick them ladies!" Beiming Xue said nothing and waited for the countdown to end. This was hardly the first time she was hit on by an uncle¡ªapparently pure and innocent girls like her were their type these days¡ªso she was well-versed in the art of "How to Deal With Perverted Middle-Aged Men 101", also known as not responding to their provocations at all. In fact, it was the only thing she could do. The moment she got baited into a conversation, the uncle would use all his world experience to drag her into a bottomless abyss. The moment the countdown reached zero, Silver Scale C.h.e.s.t Armor turned serious and galloped around the edges of the battle arena. A short while later, he made a turn, sped up toward Beiming Xue and activated Charge! The hint of a smile flashed across Beiming Xue¡¯s lips as she took two steps backward and let loose a Shock Arrow. The well-placed arrow stunned the uncle mid-charge, and she followed up with Mountain Stagger Arrow. The Windchaser set showed its true colors and one-shot the poor bastard¡¯s mount tenacity. Not only that, the two crowd-control skills already dropped him to half health! Swhoosh! One Devil Piercing Arrow through the c.h.e.s.t later, a huge damage number popped up his head¡ª179044! It was a crit and a one-shot! 1:0! The entire fight ended so quickly you would almost think that it was a fixed match. Did that Frostscale Cavalryman seriously think he could beat Beiming Xue with zero feints? He didn¡¯t even bother to fake his Charge! Even I would¡¯ve tested the waters repeatedly before daring to launch a decisive attack. It was no wonder he lost as quickly as he did. Each match was a BO3, and the next round¡¯s result was the same. The uncle put up a token struggle and gave up a point just like that. It was a clean 2:0 victory and a quick point to our team. It was Lian Xin¡¯s turn now, and no one had any doubt that she would annihilate her opponent faster than they could blink. It was also clear that He Yi¡¯s strategy for this round was to scare the f.u.c.k out of enemy right out of the game! Lian Xin¡¯s opponent turned out to be a female mage too, but the power gap between the two was way too huge. Both mages tried to blast the other to smithereens, but Lian Xin¡¯s Fire Dragon Spell and Ice Spiral Matrix were empowered by her new Thunder God Scepter. It took her only two hits to shred the opponent¡¯s Magic Shield and end their life with Dimensional Storm, twice. It was yet another unquestionable 2:0! Remains headed out for the third match, and the opponent was a Level 172 archer with good skills and good equipment. It definitely wasn¡¯t the easiest fight he could¡¯ve chosen. Thankfully, there was a good reason Lenovo chose to sign Remains, and he didn¡¯t take long to prove his strength. A couple of feints later, he sped up his rhythm, locked down the enemy with a Charge and ended their life with a series of slashes. The opponent never stood a chance. The next player to head out was Butterfly Dance, the Dark Ritualist. She dropped four totems around herself immediately after the match began, and the enemy warrior didn¡¯t not dare to touch them. As a result, Butterfly Dance easily took him out with a couple of Black Dragon Waves. As expected, the Dark Ritualist class was a force to be reckoned with, although of course it was a ways away from Lian Xin¡¯s Phantasm of Stars. It was definitely enough for the first few rounds of the preliminaries at least. The last match was the 2v2 match. He Yi and Murong Mingyue, one magic knight and one priest went out to face their opponents. They were a perfect complement to each other, be it in terms of offense or defense. ¡­¡­ He Yi stood protectively in front of Murong Mingyue after they entered the arena. The opponent¡¯s team was a warrior + mage combo, and the mage with harsh eyes said, "Third, stall From Water for me while I take out Murong Mingyue. We have to get at least one point, you get me?" The warrior nodded. "I know. Don¡¯t worry!" However, He Yi charged first before they could make a move, and a feint later she tossed a grayish brown net straight at the warrior! Thud! It hit the warrior perfectly, meaning that he would be trapped for 7 seconds straight. It was the seventh-promotion magic knight special skill¡ªTrapping Net! The Dragonlight Horse neighed as He Yi charged toward the mage. Two charges later, the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear burst into flames and stabbed toward the mage¡¯s c.h.e.s.t. Barrier Break! 128376! He Yi had Royal Road turned on, so she wasn¡¯t lacking in attack power at all. After she one-shot the mage, she and Murong Mingyue easily took out the warrior. 5:0. The first round was a perfect victory for us! ¡­¡­ Back in the room, I unconsciously tightened my grip around the Purple Ying Sword. When He Yi saw my reaction, she burst into a giggle and said, "Calm down, you. Fine, you can go first in the next round!" Chapter 889: Advertising The competition continued quickly. The second round began less than five minutes after the first round had ended, and this time our opponent was slightly stronger than before with an average level of 172! This time, our line-up was me, Beiming Xue, Heart Like Water and Hidden Fragrance for the 1v1, and Beiming Xue + Lian Xin for our 2v2. Just like the last round, this was a line-up gunning for the flawless victory. ¡­¡­ My opponent was Light Streak Night Rain, a Level 175 female mage. Swhoosh! We appeared on opposite sides of the barrier and observed each other warily. Light Streak Night Rain was clearly prepared since she had gone so far as to turn off her equipment l.u.s.ter, although she couldn¡¯t conceal the fact that there was a huge sapphire glowing with a dark light sitting at the top of her scepter. It was clearly no ordinary weapon. "I was hoping to enter the Top 256 at the very least, but it looks like luck is not on my side this year¡­" Light Streak Night Rain shot me a regretful smile. "Of all the people we could possibly encounter on our second match, Ancient Sword¡¯s main roster had to be some of the worst of them all¡­" I smiled. "Things will get better eventually. You ready?" "Mn." I rushed Light Streak Night Rain in a straight line the moment the barrier disappeared. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse and Divine Martial War Boots boosted my movement speed beyond her wildest imagination, but she actually managed to come up with a good counter. After crying out in surprise and withdrawing in a hurry, she fired Ice Blast at my mount¡¯s feet and froze me for four seconds! I was really surprised because Ice Blast was Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ signature skill, and I wasn¡¯t expecting to run into another mage with the skill. I should¡¯ve known better than to underestimate my opponent. The chance this might cost me a game wasn¡¯t zero! Light Streak Night Rain smiled and raised her scepter high. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, pray that I don¡¯t crit you, or you¡¯re dead!" She cast two Dragon¡¯s Roars at me. Mini explosions appeared around both spells just as they were about to hit my head. It was the visual effect of a spell crit, and it caused Light Streak Night Rain¡¯s smile to widen even further. What she didn¡¯t know was that I was smiling on the inside. I raised my Dragon God Shield and activated Ghost Deity Shield! Bang bang! 4894! 5280! Of all the possible outcomes, this had the last possible result Light Streak Night Rain had wanted to see. Her mouth fell open in shock as she exclaimed, "H-how is this possible? My Dragon¡¯s Roar would¡¯ve hit Laughing At The Heavens for 50k damage at least, and that is without a crit¡­" Clearly, the equalizing property of my Ghost Deity Shield wasn¡¯t known to the world yet! "Eat this!" After I defrosted, I swung the Purple Ying Sword and cried out, "Coiling Dragon Revolution!" "Roar!" A coiling dragon appeared around my blade while glowing like purple crystals. The moment I tossed the weapon, it transformed into a dragon and passed right through Light Streak Night Rain¡¯s body, piercing her Magic Shield and dealing 33% damage to her! 57289! Light Streak Night Rain lost all of her HP in one go and slowly collapsed to the ground. A moment later, she scattered into a ball of light and returned to her room. Just like that, the first point was mine... About 20 seconds later, Light Streak Night Rain teleported back into the arena and asked me with widened eyes, "How did your Coiling Dragon Revolution hit me? My Magic Shield still had 25% durability¡­" I explained to her, "Coiling Dragon Revolution ignores 33% of your Magic Shield, so you¡¯re eating 33% of the skill damage, or 70% of my basic attack damage, if you get hit." "Oh, I get it now. Okay, I surrender¡­" Light Streak Night Rain smiled and disappeared once more. This was surprising. I knew that Coiling Dragon Revolution was strong, but I wasn¡¯t expecting it to conquer a fairly powerful mage so easily. Well done, Coiling Dragon Revolution! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After I flew back to the wooden room, Murong Mingyue immediately teased me, "The Little Heavenly King is so amazing! All he needed was one pump to make a girl surrender!" I stared at her. "Why does everything sound so wrong when it comes out from your mouth? You want to 1v1 me now, sis?" "Sure! My room is just around the corner!" she declared fearlessly. Murong Mingyue used the invincible taunt, it was super effective. I immediately threw in the towel and hid behind He Yi for protection. "I would rather go to Eve¡¯s room than yours¡­" He Yi giggled. "God, I truly hope that the day you guys stop fighting like cats and dogs will come. Beiming Xue, it¡¯s your turn now. Show them who¡¯s boss!" "Mn." Her opponent was a magic knight, and just like we all expected, she utterly annihilated the poor guy. Beiming Xue was practically the bane of all magic knights these days. Her Windchaser set already gave her incredible attack power, but it also had an effect that ignored 45% of the target¡¯s Defense. Add a -50% Defense Bone Eroding Arrow to the mix, and that was 72.5% Defense going poof like it was never there. There was just no way a magic knight could ever be tanky enough to outlast her, much less duel her. Even with my new equipment and skills, Beiming Xue was still the last opponent I wished to fight in a battle. The only way any melee fighter could beat her was to stun her first and kill her in one combo. Otherwise, the match was as good as hers. Thud thud thud... The magic knight buffed himself with a Roland Bloodknight Card, but all it achieved was showing off Beiming Xue¡¯s insane damage¡ª 110282! 97722! 127171! The battle was over in three hits, and there was no one who wasn¡¯t stunned by Beiming Xue¡¯s attack power. Butterfly Dance¡¯s mouth fell open as she muttered, "OMG, can you really still call her an archer? Even the best warrior in the world would deal as much damage as her, right?" A muscle twitched in Remains¡¯ face. "I¡¯m one hundred percent sure her equipment set gives her armor penetration, not to mention that she used Bone Eroding Arrow to lower her opponent¡¯s Defense by another 50%. At any rate, PvP with Beiming Xue is a slaughter, not a fight¡­" Lian Xin pumped her tiny fists and cheered, "Go go Beiming Xue! Kill them all!" I felt the corner of my mouth twitching a little myself. If Beiming Xue was the queen of archers, then Lian Xin was the queen of mages in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Now that I thought about it, I almost couldn¡¯t believe we sent these two to fight the 2v2 battle later. Their barbaric power was sure to inflict severe trauma on all our enemies... It also made me recall some of the 5v5 battles I fought in the past. In an ideal world, if I could make a team with Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Luo River God of the Capital and Stranger of Three Lifetimes, it would surely be the most destructive team the world had ever seen. They would be called Madam Kill-all wherever they went, and the bodies they left behind could only be counted by the mountains! Unfortunately, almost every one of these girls belonged to a guild of their own, and the chances of them ever forming a 5-man party and participating in a 5v5 battle were incredibly low, and thank god for that. I didn¡¯t think there was any man or woman in the world who wouldn¡¯t piss themselves if they had to fight them... ¡­¡­ The rest of the matches went more or less as we expected them to. Heart Like Water KO¡¯d the enemy warrior in the third match. The fourth match was a surprise as Dark Fragrance¡¯s opponent, a powerful mage called Drunken Soul, also knew Ice Blast just like Light Streak Night Rain. He froze Dark Fragrance immediately after the fight began and mowed her down with ice and fire magic. Dark Fragrance only managed to Charge him once throughout the fight, and even that was countered with a Blink from the enemy. In the end, it was a 0:2, and our flawless streak was broken. I consoled her. "Dark, victory and defeat is commonplace in battles, so don¡¯t overthink it, okay? Beiming Xue and Lian Xin will be fighting the 2v2, so this is still our win one hundred percent." Dark Fragrance nodded. "Yeah, I know!" Beiming Xue and Lian Xin appeared in the battle arena, but a beep surprised all of us. System Notice: Good day, players. Please be informed that your match is currently being broadcasted live by CATV gaming channel! Oh man. There are countless matches going on right now, and somehow they managed to pick us? How lucky! On the battle arena, Lian Xin said, "Beiming, this fight is broadcasted live, so we¡¯re going to give it all we got, okay?" Beiming Xue was red with excitement. "Do you think we should drag out the fight a little so the broadcast wouldn¡¯t move away too soon, Sister Lian Xin?" Lian Xin looked confused. "But why would you want to do that?" "We can use this time to advertise our roster and our guild!" "Fine, fine, I¡¯ll do it¡­" ¡­¡­ The enemy team sent Light Streak Night Rain and Drunken Soul, but they seemed to be aware that their chances of winning were low. They targeted Beiming Xue immediately after the battle began probably because they knew that they couldn¡¯t breach Lian Xin¡¯s Telekinetic Shield by force. The Phantasm of Stars¡¯ Magic Attack was way higher than theirs, and Beiming Xue could¡¯ve destroyed them dozens of times with Spiraling Arrow Blades during this time. And so, the battle of man-shaped artilleries began as both sides went all out against one another. Beiming Xue used Leap to get away from a Galaxy Storm and fired back with Spiraling Arrow Blades and Evil Spirit Volleys. Evil Spirit Volley was very difficult to control, but she was always able to aim it on a Magic Shield. Beiming Xue¡¯s hit rate and bow fl.i.c.k.i.n.g technique were improving every day, and she was just one step away from becoming a true master of arrows. One of the biggest advantages she had over most people was that she naturally wanted to improve her craft, and combined with her level of intelligence the results were almost o.b.s.c.e.n.e. Lian Xin also coordinated with Beiming Xue and controlled the battlefield with Dimensional Storms and Ice Spiral Matrixes. It was a completely one-sided battle. When Light Streak Night Rain and Drunken Soul were killed, Lian Xin dropped twelve Origin Force Fields in one go and set the floor on fire with Fire Wall to create the word "ASDS", or the short form of our guild¡¯s name. It was the only thing Lian Xin could think of writing because Lenovo was too long, and the Chinese characters for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls also took too much effort to write. In the end, the duo easily scored two points and ended our second round with a 4:1 score. After Lian Xin came back, she said with a smile, "Boss, I¡¯ve thought of a better way to advertise our brand¡­" "Tell me," He Yi said. Lian Xin started, "I¡¯ll write up a recruitment notice, something like ¡®Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is recruiting mages over Level 175 and 5000 Magic Attack. We offer a monthly territory salary, and we offer to cover food expenses and accommodations for those willing to move to Zhejiang¡¯. Then, I¡¯ll stick it to big brother Lu Chen¡¯s cape so everyone can see it at all times. What do you think?" I replied expressionlessly, "I would rather die than fight with that thing on me¡­" Everyone burst into laughter at my reaction. ¡­¡­ The preliminaries continued smoothly for us, and we slaughtered almost every opponent we encountered during the first ten rounds. There was no one I would call a challenge, or more accurately, anyone who could¡¯ve posed a challenge to us was reduced to weaklings before our five-man seventh-promotion main roster. "Sigh¡­" He Yi tilted her head at me and asked, "Why are you sighing?" I bent my head 45 degrees toward the sky and lamented, "I wanted to encounter Candlelight Shadow before the first 15 rounds so they can enjoy the bitter taste of failing to make it to the Top 64¡­" He Yi giggled. "Now that you mention it, me too¡­" Aghast at our wish, poor Butterfly Dance complained, "Can you guys at least try to consider my feelings? I¡¯m a member of Candle Dragon¡¯s main guild, dammit¡­" Chapter 890: Hitman Swhoosh! The display flashed, and a team with 5 challengers only appeared on the screen. It was a team under Candle Dragon First Subguild, and their average Level was 175. Not only that, they were sponsored by a club called Tan Hua Keyboard¡ª Immortal Slayer Alliance (Club: Tan Hua Keyboard) Boiling Wine By A Zither LV-177 Warrior The Prodigal Son LV-175 Mage A World Without Thieves LV-174 Hitman Scarlet Melody LV-175 Mage Silent Storm LV-176 Gladiator ¡­¡­ "Hmm¡­" I let out a hum as I stared at the line-up. "What do you guys think about this roster? They seem like difficult opponents¡­" Beiming Xue¡¯s beautiful features were arranged into a cautious look as well. "It¡¯s not everyday you encounter a team with two hidden classes in them. I know that Hitman is the evolved version of Assassin, but I¡¯ve never heard of Gladiator before." He Yi said with a smile, "I¡¯ve heard of this team before. They¡¯re the strongest team in Candle Dragon¡¯s first subguild besides Purple Dawn¡¯s team. The Hitman has incredible attack power and armor penetration, and Gladiator has super high agility and a good repertoire of skills. At any rate, this is going to be a tough fight, so watch out everyone." Butterfly Dance stuck out her tongue playfully before saying, "Silent Storm is an incredibly skillful player, and there¡¯s almost no one in Candle Dragon¡¯s first subguild who can beat him. Looks like we¡¯re sitting out of this match." I was surprised. "If Silent Storm has a hidden class and good skills, then why didn¡¯t Candlelight Shadow move him to the main guild? That doesn¡¯t seem like him¡­" Butterfly Dance giggled. "That¡¯s because Silent Storm is the vice leader of the first subguild. He¡¯s also somewhat of a loner who doesn¡¯t fall under Candlelight Shadow¡¯s control completely. The reason he refuses to leave the first subguild is because he and Purple Dawn are the ones who founded it together, and to secure its future he created this WEL roster and even found a good sponsor for it. I¡¯ve only met him one time, but I can tell that he¡¯s a strong and daring fellow." He Yi looked at me and asked, "What do you think?" I licked my lips and s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath. "This Silent Storm has never participated in the battle arena or the Nation Wars, so it¡¯s impossible to gauge how strong it is. He could very well be a threat to all of us. As for that hitman, there¡¯s a chance he could beat Beiming Xue and Lian Xin, so we¡¯ll need to consider our line-up properly this time. Our chances of winning are still bigger, but we might lose if we underestimate our opponent." "Even if you say that, it¡¯s still kind of a gamble, isn¡¯t it?" Lian Xin asked. "That is why I want you all to give me your best guesses. Can anyone guess which match Silent Storm will attend? I¡¯ll deal with him myself¡­" I said while clenching my fists. Beiming Xue was holding her bow and standing next to the window. A cool breeze brushed against her long, white legs and her clothes as she replied, "I think the strongest player would probably choose to attend the third match. It¡¯s usually the match point, right?" Murong Mingyue agreed with Beiming Xue¡¯s logic completely. "She¡¯s right. Let¡¯s drop Lu Chen in the third match then!" Beiming Xue continued, "The first match is the match that decides the mood of the team, so we need someone with a high win rate to secure it as well. Who else besides big bro has the best 1v1 skills?" He Yi hugged the dark archer¡¯s shoulder with a giggle and said, "You have over 100k HP, a ton of Defense, and the Blade of Windchasing effect thanks to the Windchaser set, Beiming. Therefore, you are the strongest 1v1 player we have besides Lu Chen. Not even that hitman might necessarily be able to beat you." "You¡¯re right." I nodded in agreement. "In that case, we¡¯ll send Beiming out on the first match, Lian Xin for the second, me for the third, and Eve for the fourth. What about the 2v2 though?" He Yi gazed out of the window and said, "We send our maxed out Divine General, of course!" So I gripped the Purple Ying Sword and asked again, "Very well. Who will accompany me to the battlefield?" Both Lian Xin and Beiming Xue raised their hands immediately. I was fine with either one of them because I hadn¡¯t truly fought with them as a pair so far. This would be a good opportunity for us to hone our rapport. And so I turned in the finalized name list and waited. A while later, the line-ups appeared on the display 30 seconds before the match began. 1v1: Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark Archer VS The Prodigal Son LV-175 Mage 1v1: Lian Xing LV-182 Phantasm of Stars VS A World Without Thieves LV-174 Hitman 1v1: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 Undead Swordsman VS Silent Storm LV-176 Gladiator 1v1: From Water LV-180 Magic Knight VS Scarlet Melody LV-175 Mage 2v2: Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark Archer & Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 Undead Swordsman VS Silent Storm LV-176 Gladiator & Scarlet Melody LV-175 Mage ¡­¡­ I pumped my fist in excitement when I saw this. The intelligent Beiming Xue had seen right through the enemy¡¯s thoughts and correctly guessed which match Silent Storm was going to attend! "Alright, this is the eleventh round, people! Defeat is not an option, so let¡¯s give it our all!" I declared in an attempt to raise morale, but the girls simply shot me lazy and unconsciously seductive looks and complained, "It¡¯ll be 12 am by the time we finish the 15th round, so what are we going to eat later for supper? It¡¯s Chinese New Year man, it ain¡¯t right to go hungry¡­" I pursed my lips and said, "If we enter the Top 64, I¡¯ll treat you all to zasui noodles later¡­" "OMG, fine¡­" The girls agreed to the plan easily, and Beiming Xue transformed into a ball of white light and flew to the battle arena below our room. Her opponent, the high-level mage The Prodigal Son, also appeared on the opposite end of the battle arena. ¡­¡­ In Heavenblessed, the Mage class had a not insignificant advantage over the Archer class thanks to their Magic Shield. It wasn¡¯t easy for an archer to break a Magic Shield especially if their attack power was low. However, Beiming Xue¡¯s Windchaser set ignored 45% Defense, which was to say that The Prodigal Son¡¯s Magic Shield was only 55% as durable as it should be. It was one advantage Beiming Xue had over her class superior. "Well met, Beiming Xue!" the 27 years old young man greeted the dark archer politely. "It is a fortunate thing to run into you in the WEL." The terrain was a forest, and Beiming Xue replied with her bow at the ready, "You mean unfortunate, since it means there¡¯s a huge chance you¡¯ll be eliminated from the preliminaries, right? Anyway, let¡¯s just save the pleasantries and focus on the battle, shall we?" The countdown began, and The Prodigal Son immediately turned serious. He summoned his Magic Shield and summoned wisps of flames around his scepter. It was the prelude of the Fire Dragon Spell. 3! 2! 1! Beiming Xue leaped into action the second the countdown ended, and she was so fast that she exceeded everyone¡¯s expectations. "Ah?!" The Prodigal Son hurriedly conjured Sea of Flames to protect himself, but he underestimated Beiming Xue¡¯s abilities too much. Not only was she a ranged class, she was a mobile nuke after she activated Bow God. Swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Two arrows pierced through the Sea of Flames and struck The Prodigal Son¡¯s Magic Shield. It was the Penetrating Arrow and Armor Breaking Arrow! Thud thud! The Prodigal Son shook like a leaf and lost around 40% of his shield durability, but considering that his opponent was Beiming Xue it was an unbelievable feat. He must have an insane amount of Magic Attack, or there was no way his Magic Shield could¡¯ve taken two hits without falling apart! "Eat this!" Vision was poor in the Sea of Flames, but The Prodigal Son was able to make an accurate judgment and launch Galaxy Storm + Fire Dragon Spell straight at Beiming Xue¡¯s location! Both spells struck the dark archer and forced her out of the shrubbery she was hiding in. Her HP dropped twice in a row¡ª 28721! 19283! It only deleted 33% of her max HP, however. Beiming Xue was still in the game. Windchaser War Boots crushing the wet soil of the forest floor, Beiming Xue dashed away from her spot just in time to dodge Ice Dragon Howl. As she retreated, she pulled her bow into a perfect crescent and fired a devastating twelve-hit Evil Spirit Volley at The Prodigal Son! Bang bang bang... The explosions happened in rapid succession, and because her bow fl.i.c.k.i.n.g technique was top-notch she was able to land 11 arrows on the enemy¡¯s Magic Shield. A muffled groan and a breaking sound later, The Prodigal Son¡¯s Magic Shield shattered like glass right before another two Evil Spirit arrows came through. They easily penetrated his fragile body. 42727! 52823! It was an instakill. There was no way The Prodigal Son could endure a full round of Evil Spirit Volley. 1:0. Beiming Xue scored the first point and took the lead. The second match began, and Beiming Xue fought just as calmly as she did in the first match. The Prodigal Son¡¯s Magic Attack was as strong as Moonlight Stone¡¯s at least, but there was absolutely nothing he could do against Beiming Xue with her Bow God active, not to mention that she hadn¡¯t even used Well of the Abyss yet. If she wanted to, she could¡¯ve cast Well of the Abyss to delete half of his health pool instantly and one-shot him the second the invulnerable state was over. It was a killer combo few possessed the tools to deal with. Just like the previous match, The Prodigal Son humiliatingly fell to the Evil Spirit Volley again even though he saw it coming this time! Just like that, the first point of the round was ours! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! When Beiming Xue returned to us, she waved her bow and smiled. "That was way too easy¡­" Me: "F.u.c.k, keep building that pressure on our shoulders, will ya? Lian Xin, it¡¯s your turn now." "Mn." Lian Xin replied. She was already done preparing even before I asked her the question. Her opponent was a Level 174 hitman with supposedly good skills, and logically speaking, assassins were the bane of all mages. Unfortunately for A World Without Thieves, Lian Xin was no ordinary mage and could go toe-to-toe even against the likes of Luo River God of the Capital and Stranger of Three Lifetimes. The cute little mage appeared in the forest battlefield and planted her scepter in the ground. She puffed up her slightly full mounds in confidence as she stared wordlessly at her opponent; an assassin donning black leather armor. A World Without Thieves stared back icily before taking a step backward, bending his body and vanishing into thin air. This starting move alone made him look like a master of assassins. "Hmm?" Lian Xin shot a sweeping glance at her surroundings before wrinkling her nose. She said, "Do you think you can escape my eyes? Show yourself, little thief¡­" ¡­¡­ Behind us, Remains let out a chuckle. "What is she doing? She didn¡¯t really think that A World Without Thieves would be foolish enough to show himself, did she?" I said calmly, "Just watch." It was at this moment an autumn breeze brushed against the fallen leaves on the ground. Some of them actually encountered some sort of invisible resistance. ¡­¡­ "There you are!" Lian Xin¡¯s eyes lit up, and she fired 8 Origin Force Fields in a row! Bang bang bang! Once the force fields surrounded a small space, she immediately followed up with Ice Spiral Matrix! A storm of icy blades instantly filled up the center!s Boom! 80284! One hit was all it took to tear the lurking shadow into shreds! Chapter 891: Qigong Bomb Everyone was shocked. Not even I expected the battle to end as quickly as it did. All Lian Xin did was to wait for A World Without Thieves to walk into her trap, and the moment she successfully surrounded him with Origin Force Fields, no amount of skill could¡¯ve saved him from the super AoE skill, Ice Spiral Matrix. Moreover, Lian Xin¡¯s weapon was the Thunder Scepter, an Immortal-grade weapon we dropped from Ovia the Bloody Finger himself. A World Without Thieves¡¯ death was one hundred percent deserved. ¡­¡­ "Phew¡­" A sigh of relief passed through He Yi¡¯s lips as she smiled. "She has this. I thought Lian Xin would face considerable resistance, but¡­ hehe¡­" Remains also said, "I thought A World Without Thieves was a good player, but this is beyond embarrassing..." But I shook my head and defended A World of Thieves. "A World of Thieves isn¡¯t weak. Lian Xin is just too perceptive. She had discovered his location immediately after the breeze started, so not even Candlelight Shadow and Farewell Song could¡¯ve escaped from the Origin Force Fields in time. After that, it¡¯s only natural that a skill like Ice Spiral Matrix would easily tear an assassin to shreds." Butterfly Dance praised, "She really is amazing! I almost can¡¯t believe she spotted the discrepancy immediately and killed a powerful assassin in one hit!" Murong Mingyue smiled proudly. "But of course! Our Lian Xin is an intelligent girl who went overseas to pursue her studies, so it would be stranger if she wasn¡¯t as skilled as she is. Compared to her, A World Without Thieves is a small fry at most¡­" It was just as Murong Mingyue said. Just like the first fight, Lian Xin gave her opponent no chance to retaliate whatsoever. This time, the randomly chosen map was a snowy mountain, and the arena became covered in ice and snow. Lian Xin just stood in the middle of the snow and waited for her opponent to show up while casting Sea of Flames and Dimensional Storms all around her. A World Without Thieves waited patiently for an opportunity to appear, but the spell combo was just too tight for him to slip through. In the end, he was caught by Arctic Rain andIce Spiral Matrix and skewered to death by countless icicles. The score became 2:0, and the second match of the 11th round was in the bag. It wasn¡¯t a surprising result, but that didn¡¯t mean that I wasn¡¯t pleased with the strength our roster was displaying, especially when we weren¡¯t fooling around. My Purple Ying Sword alone spoke enough about my strength. He Yi was an all-rounder magic knight with the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear. Beiming Xue was the Dark Archer with insane sniping ability, and Lian Xin was one of the best mages in the entire country. "It¡¯s our maxed out handsome¡¯s turn now¡­" Murong Mingyue smiled at me. I licked my somewhat dry lips and gripped my weapon tighter. "Well, time to see just how strong the legendary Gladiator truly is!" Butterfly Dance nodded and advised me, "Keep your eyes peeled, Lu Chen. I heard that Silent Storm¡¯s win rate against Blue Sky Scar is over 50%. Combat ability¨Cwise, he is just as strong as a super expert in the main guild." "Got it!" That''s what I said, but I had full confidence that victory would belong to me. Control-wise, Silent Storm might not necessarily be able to beat me, and equipment and skill¨Cwise, I was leagues ahead of him. There was just no comparison! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I entered the battle arena. According to the WEL rules, no classes besides tamers were allowed to summon a pet during battle, although riding a mount wasn¡¯t forbidden. This competition was a true man versus man battle where pets were mostly relegated to the background. The map was a flat, wide plain where there was grass and only more grass. Terrain like this was excellent for riders, so I stayed on top of my Armored Ice Qilin Horse and watched my opponent slowly appearing on the battlefield as well. Silent Storm donned a set of heavy, black armor. He rode no mount, and his weapon was a glowing pair of gauntlets. However, I spotted a dagger around his waist and a sword behind his back. It looked like this Gladiator class had the freedom to wield any weapon or no weapon at all. Silent Storm clasped his fists and shot me a smile. He said, "Well met, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Though I¡¯m not sure if running into your team in the 11th round is lucky or not." I nodded at him and replied, "Well met. Also, luck is just a justification of your mind. It is enough if you give it your all during a match, isn¡¯t it?" Silent Storm smiled. "Well said! Although Candle Dragon and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are sworn enemies, and the fact that we¡¯ll always stand on opposite sides of the battlefield will not change, it is no reason for me not to respect your character. These days, Candlelight Shadow, the Martial God, is no longer the sole hero of China, and my praise is also extended to Wind Fantasy, Luo River God of the Capital, Farewell Song, Warsky, Stranger of Three Lifetimes et cetera. However, I consider you to be the most outstanding of them all because of the incredible courage and wits you displayed during the War of Dawn City. You are also the only person I admire wholeheartedly besides Candlelight Shadow. Don¡¯t disappoint me and show me what you¡¯ve got, Lu Chen!" "Thank you!" I shot him a smile appreciatively and stared at the countdown¡ª 3! 2! 1! Begin! The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a neigh, and I dashed toward Silent Storm along a crooked line. I stuck close to the edge of the map and moved at an insane speed thanks to my Divine Martial War Boots. "Huh?" My movement speed caught Silent Storm by surprise, but he reacted quickly and moved to the back. My Purple Ying Sword landed right where he was a moment ago and caused an explosion of purple ice. I was surprised. I was sure that the attack would hit him. Butterfly Dance hadn¡¯t been exaggerating when she claimed that Silent Storm was a hidden expert. In fact, I would rate him higher than Blue Sky Scar. "Well met!" Silent Storm shouted and dashed to my flank as quick as lightning. A ball of flames burst from his fists, and he attempted to punch me while my Armored Ice Qilin Horse was still turning around to face him! Excitement burned in my heart. Very good! Now this is what I call a challenge! I lowered my center of gravity a bit and brought up my left arm. At the same time, I manifested the Dragon God Shield. It caught Silent Storm by surprise, but he was too late to cancel his skill! Bang! 17283! Flames scattered everywhere, and the combat logs stated: Player "Silent Storm" used "Fire Punch", dealing 17283 damage! Fire Punch inflicts a 10-second burn that deals 400 burn damage per second! ¡­¡­ Before Silent Storm could even withdraw his fist, I thrust the Purple Ying Sword at him and used Universe Break. The skill took form almost instantly! "Ah?!" Surprise flashed across Silent Storm¡¯s eyes, but his reaction was swift. He raised his right arm and attempted to parry my Universe Break with his wrist guard. Chiang! The moment my blade touched his gauntlet, I knew that Universe Break wouldn¡¯t be able to inflict full damage onto the gladiator. It was because Silent Storm had successfully parried the skill, albeit partially. I abruptly dismounted before Universe Break faded completely and swung my shield at Silent Storm. I was going to sneak in a basic attack! Bang bang! The Universe Break + shield bash combo struck Silent Storm and caused two damage numbers to rise above his head¡ª 31202! 19283! Silent Storm had obviously buffed himself with a card, and it was a card I was very familiar with, the Roland Bloodknight Card. Judging from his health bar, his max HP was around 200k. Since the momentum was still on my side, I raised my legs and kneed the Dragon God Shield from behind! Chiang! My body shuddered as a Strength check took place, and it was decided that Silent Storm was the indisputable loser. So, the Gladiator was sent flying by the attack. However, it seemed like that was exactly what he was hoping to happen, and before his feet even landed firmly on the ground, he thrust his right arm at me and shouted, "Qigong Bomb!" Bang! A light blue energy ball about one meter wide burst out of his fist and struck my Dragon God Shield squarely. It rocked my body and dealt a shocking amount of damage¡ª50929! ¡­¡­ I was surprised, but Silent Storm was straight up incredulous. "Impossible! My Qigong Bomb is a mixture of magic and physical attack, and it could hit even Candlelight Shadow for over 100k damage, so how¡­?" I smiled but didn¡¯t reply. As the saying goes, you have Zhang Liang¡¯s strategy, but I have a scaling ladder myself. My Ghost Deity Shield was also a mixed skill that applied my shield¡¯s Defense as both Defense and Magic Resist. It was no wonder that he dealt as little damage as he did. "It¡¯s over!" I let out a laugh and fired Burning Blade Slash at the gladiator. Nowhere to run, Silent Storm had no choice but to raise his arms and Guard! His HP dropped drastically with each hit he took, and as he fell backward he summoned flames around his fist and fired another energy ball at me. It was yet another Qigong Bomb! Swhoosh! I activated Great Earth Transformation and boosted my Rank 10 Ghost Deity Shield even further. Then, I shouted and swung the Dragon God Shield horizontally right before the energy ball could hit me! Bang! Lightning flew everywhere, and Silent Storm¡¯s mouth fell open in shock. Empowered by the power of domain, I actually managed to bat his Qigong Bomb away like a baseball! Before Silent Storm could return to his senses, I rushed him again and swung my weapon. This time, I used Coiling Dragon Revolution! Boom! 90283! Silent Storm g.r.o.a.n.e.d in pain, but there was nothing he could possibly do. He hadn¡¯t even recovered from the tremors caused by my Burning Blade Slash when the follow-up attack hit him and killed him where he stood. ¡­¡­ Just like that, the first match ended in my favor. Although Silent Storm was one of the stronger opponents I had fought so far, he wasn¡¯t at the level of Farewell Song, Candlelight Shadow and Lin Yixin. There was almost nothing he could do to me once I activated Great Earth Transformation. The next match, I used Great Earth Transformation immediately after the countdown hit zero. Two minutes later, I found an opportunity to hit Silent Storm with a double-skill combo and destroyed him again. It was almost a flawless victory! The score turned 3:0, and the round was ours. No matter what happened during the fourth and fifth match, our team was sure to advance to the next round. Chapter 892: The Vase Swhoosh! After I flew away from the arena and returned to the waiting room, the girls congratulated me, "Well done, Lu Chen! You won!" I strode into the room with my head held high. "Easy peasy. Silent Storm is at Blue Sky Scar¡¯s level at most. My chances of winning lag-free is 100%..." "You immodest fellow¡­" He Yi smiled indulgently like a mother would to her spoiled child. A blinking Butterfly Dance gave her analysis, "Seriously though, Lu Chen is so amazing! Do you guys know why Silent Storm is as strong as he is? His two offensive skills, Fire Punch and Qigong Bomb, can destroy almost everyone in Wind City. The only ones who can survive the combo are Candlelight Shadow, Luo River God of the Capital and Indigo Collar. However, his trump card couldn¡¯t threaten Lu Chen, and from that point onward, his fate is as good as sealed. Hehe, Lu Chen truly deserves to be called a maxed out Divine General!" Her praise made me feel even taller. "In terms of praising others you¡¯re pretty good yourself, beauty Butterfly Dance¡­" Murong Mingyue curled her lips and sighed indulgently. "Sigh, I swear, if you weren¡¯t as likeable as you are¡­" Beiming Xue: "..." He Yi: "..." It was at this moment Lian Xin pulled He Yi¡¯s hand and said with a smile, "It¡¯s your turn now, boss. Show that mage who¡¯s boss, okay?" He Yi raised her Seven Star Veluriyam Spear and declared with a smile, "I will. Just watch, I¡¯ll be back in no time!" ¡­¡­ He Yi¡¯s opponent was Scarlet Melody, a mage with very good level and equipment. Unfortunately, of all the players he could¡¯ve gone up against, it had to be He Yi. Sure, if this was half a year ago, Scarlet Melody¡¯s chances of winning against He Yi would be infinitely close to 100%, but now? Ever since Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls rose to power, He Yi had spent an incredible amount of time honing her skills against the likes of top-tier experts like Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon. She might not be super-tier yet, but she was definitely first-rate and not too far behind Gui Guzi. The comparison might be a little unfair though, since Gui Guzi was your classic willpower-over-technique player. He Yi observed every inch of the terrain closely after she entered the battlefield. Not only were the maps randomly selected, the details of the map were procedurally generated as well. That was why a good player would always strive to grasp the terrain first before actually fighting their opponent. Scarlet Melody wore a fiery red robe and wielded a scepter. After appearing on the battlefield, he ogled He Yi for a moment before commenting, "What a bilf¡­" The taunt was successful, and our beautiful guild leader immediately pointed her spear at Scarlet Melody furiously. "Do you want to die?" Scarlet Melody laughed. "There¡¯s this saying called ¡®big b.o.o.b.s, no brain¡¯, and it looks like it isn¡¯t completely baseless. You can¡¯t possibly be a classic example of this saying, right, From Water? Immortal Slayer Alliance may have been defeated, but we aren¡¯t losing this match no matter what. You didn¡¯t hear wrong, I¡¯m saying I can trash a vase like you with my eyes closed!" But contrary to his expectations, He Yi actually calmed down and let her spear hang loosely beside her mount. She said indifferently, "Scarlet Melody, is it? You may delete your account if you lose this battle." "Hmph! You think I wouldn¡¯t dare to accept your bet?" The red mage stared at He Yi dagger eyes as he said, "What about you, From Water? Do you dare to delete your account if you lose?" "And why would I do that?" He Yi retorted calmly, "You¡¯re the one who insulted me first. Plus, I am sure I can destroy someone like you in a minute tops!" "Let¡¯s see how long you can keep up that boast!" Scarlet Melody bl.u.s.tered with bitter resentment. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile in the waiting room, I could barely control my rage as I swore, "Who the f.u.c.k does this retarded Scarlet Melody think he is? Does he think it¡¯s cool to make personal attacks before a fight or something? When the WEL is over, I¡¯m going to f.u.c.k.i.n.g murder this dirty-mouthed scoundrel until he deletes his account!" Murong Mingyue chuckled and said, "Calm down. Not everyone holds themselves to a high standard like you, not to mention that it¡¯s impossible to not wet your feet if you keep walking along the riverside. Unless you want to lower yourself to his level, I suggest you bring me with you when you assist that intellectually inferior subhuman dog in his account removal process¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ While we were talking, He Yi and Scarlet Melody¡¯s battle had already begun. He Yi ate a couple of Fireballs in the process while she was weaving left and right¡ªshe healed the damage with Winds of Recovery¡ªbut for every Fireball she took, she retaliated with two quick taps that ate away at Scarlet Melody¡¯s Magic Shield. Remains clenched his fists tightly as he asked, "Why is Beauty From Water dragging this out when she could¡¯ve just deleted that f.u.c.ker¡¯s Magic Shield with a skill combo?" The corner of my lips turned up as I explained, "Contrary to Scarlet Melody¡¯s claims, Eve¡¯s brain is just as big as her b.o.o.b.s. Very big¡­ ahem. The reason she¡¯s using basic attacks to deplete his Magic Shield is because she¡¯s saving her skills for the moment it breaks so that she can guarantee a one-shot. In terms of tactics and psychological warfare, Eve is leagues ahead of most people." Murong Mingyue glared at me. "And how would you know how big Eve¡¯s b.r.e.a.s.ts are? Speak! Did you feel her up already!?" "I did not!" My face turned red as I defended myself. "At least, not yet¡­" Murong Mingyue¡¯s glare didn¡¯t diminish in the slightest, however. "And why haven¡¯t you, you limp d.i.c.k? Eve could very well be waiting for you to take a move, and you¡¯re taking your time like the slowest tortoise in the entire world! Pooh! Also how dare you talk back against me so loudly!" I turned even redder. A giggling Beiming Xue pulled my hand and chided me, "Big bro, how many times did I tell you not to quarrel with Sister Mingyue? You¡¯ll never be a match for her¡­" "I know¡­" It was at this moment the situation on the battlefield changed suddenly. Scarlet Melody was kiting He Yi with Ice Arrows and depleting her HP steadily with Exploding Flame Spells¡ªin fact, He Yi¡¯s HP had dropped to 35% already¡ªwhen the magic knight suddenly took action the moment they crossed each other¡¯s path. After destroying the mage¡¯s Magic Shield with a basic attack, she unleashed a near instantaneous Barrier Break + Triple Slash combo and skewered Scarlet Melody into a beehive! He Yi won the first battle with almost no suspense at all. The second battle was almost a perfect copy of the first battle since Scarlet Melody couldn¡¯t find a way to defeat He Yi¡¯s calm and methodical battle tactic at all. Right before he was about to die, He Yi finally allowed her anger to leak onto her features and declared, "Delete your account as you promised, Scarlet Melody, or I will find you and kill you until you¡¯re Level 0. I promise you that it¡¯ll only hurt more that way!" Puchi! Her spear penetrated the mage¡¯s c.h.e.s.t and ended his life. Then, she immediately teleported out of the battlefield as if she couldn¡¯t bear to stand his presence even a second longer. Swhoosh! After she returned to the waiting room, He Yi planted her spear¡¯s shaft on the floor and huffed heavily, causing her big, white mounds to jiggle seductively behind her elegant armor. She said angrily while the rest of us were trying to not notice how hot she looked when she was angry, "That idiot! There¡¯s nothing I hate more than being called a vase¡­" I pumped my own fist and said, "Yeah! That guy is soooo disgusting¡­" He Yi shot me a glance and burst into laughter. "You couldn¡¯t be any more fake if you tried¡­" The girls giggled for a moment before Beiming Xue said, "Alright, it¡¯s our turn now, big bro!" "I know. Let¡¯s settle this in one minute tops!" "What¡¯s the plan?" "I can instakill Silent Storm in one second if you stun him with Shock Arrow, so let¡¯s do that. As for Scarlet Melody, that guy is just a small fry, so no tactic is necessary." "Got it!" ¡­¡­ After we teleported onto the battlefield, we saw a still resentful Scarlet Melody saying to Silent Storm on the opposite side of the barrier, "That was mine, Storm. I¡­ I should¡¯ve been able to take out that little bitch!" However, Silent Storm shocked him by yelling at him furiously, "Shut the hell up, you idiot! What the hell did From Water ever do to you to call her a vase? If a ¡®vase¡¯ like her could kick your a.s.s, then what the hell do you think you are? If I were you, I would delete my account as per the bet and save myself some dignity while I still can! God dammit, how the f.u.c.k did I party someone like you for the WEL?" Scarlet Melody¡¯s mouth fell open. "Storm¡­ you!" Silent Storm uttered through gritted teeth, "I, what? I never liked crazy dogs who bite people for no f.u.c.k.i.n.g reason! Sure, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls may be an enemy guild, but whoever said you can¡¯t show them some basic f.u.c.k.i.n.g respect! Is it so hard to abide by some basic rules of fairness and friendliness? If you can discard your principles like nothing because ¡®it¡¯s just a game¡¯, then what does that really say about your character? A game should be an experience that you¡¯ll appreciate for the rest of your life when you look back because of the friends and enemies you will have made along the way, not a trashcan you¡¯ll never want to see again for the rest of your life!" Scarlet Melody murmured, "Did I really¡­ make a mistake?" Silent Storm calmed down and shook his head. "I don¡¯t know. We¡¯ll be disqualified after this last 2v2 battle anyway. You just get ready to delete your account after this is over!" Scarlet Melody: "..." ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t help but feel respect for Silent Storm after listening to their conversation. A man who could put down his losses as easily as he picked up his victories was a true man! "Let¡¯s finish this quick, Beiming. Unnecessary suffering is unnecessary¡­" I said. Beiming nodded. "Got it, big bro¡­" The moment the countdown began, Beiming Xue surprised all of us by trapping Silent Storm and Scarlet Melody with Well of the Abyss! When the skill duration was over, she fired Evil Spirit Volley and Skypiercer before the two could escape from the bloody vortex! Thud thud thud! Scarlet Melody was shredded into pieces after his Magic Shield was destroyed. Silent Storm managed to Guard the damage, but took a Shock Arrow for his efforts and was stunned for 3 seconds straight! I seized the opportunity to close the distance with Thunderous Charge and use Burning Blade Slash! Silent Storm let out a muffled groan and flew to the back. Just like that, the first point was ours. During the second battle, Silent Storm learned from his mistake and arranged himself and Scarlet Melody on the corners of the map. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t enough to escape Beiming Xue¡¯s pursuit, and her arrows chased after their bodies like homing missiles. Then, my Purple Ying Sword descended upon them like a weapon from the heavens and expelled them from the arena one after another. ¡­¡­ That was how we won the 11th round with a perfect 5:0¡ªor 11:0 if you counted the individual battles¡ªscore! Chapter 893: Touch of the Dragonkiss Contrary to expectations, our 12th round opponent was a rather weak one. It was the third seed of Flower Room with an average level of 172 only. "Eh, I guess I will be sitting this one out." I looked to the waiting room on the opposite side of the arena and saw the Flower Room players getting ready for battle. I said, "Just like last time, Beiming and Lian Xin will fight two 1v1s, and sis and Eve will fight the 2v2. I¡¯ll just be the spectator this time." He Yi nodded with a smile. "That¡¯s fine. The point calculation for the national MVP starts from the Top 64 anyway. Once we enter Top 64 though, you must attend every match and fight for the MVP title, Lu Chen. I heard that the rewards for becoming the MVP are very good, and it wouldn¡¯t do to give them up to the likes of Candlelight Shadow, Farewell Song or Purple Marquis." "Got it!" The round began, and Lian Xin and Beiming Xue easily won their matches as a matter of course. Butterfly Dance won her match, and Heart Like Water lost hers. While the round was ongoing, I took a moment to inquire how everyone was doing in the guild channel¡ª Me: "So, how¡¯s everyone doing so far? Is ASUS and Dell doing okay?" Li Chengfeng: "We¡¯re fighting the 12th round right now. We didn¡¯t encounter any noteworthy opponents, or rather they were all wrecked by Little Gui, Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits. I barely got the chance to stretch my limbs¡­" I smiled. "How about Dell and the Bloody Mercenaries? Xu Yang?" Xu Yang replied solemnly, "We¡¯re in the 12th round as well, but things aren¡¯t looking as good for us. Our opponent is the fourth seed of Warsky Alliance, and while I won my match with a 2:1 score, Du Thirteen unfortunately lost to the enemy assassin with a 1:2 score, that feeder. Thankfully, Lu Buyi managed to 2:0 the enemy archer, and Moonlight Stone scored a point for the team as well, so it¡¯s an overall victory¡­" Beiming Xue: "Awesome! By the way, please tell Sister Moonlight we say hello. We all miss her very much¡­" "Mn, I know!" Xu Yang replied with a clear chuckle. Me: "Just give it your all every time and try to deliver as many of our teams into the Top 64 as possible. Once you enter the Top 64 you¡¯ll get a reward no matter what, so don¡¯t miss it!" ¡­¡­ I turned off the communicator. Although Moonlight Stone had gone to Candle Dragon, she was still contracted to Dell. This meant that she was contractually obligated to participate in the WEL competition, and Candlelight Shadow couldn¡¯t interfere with that no matter how much he wanted to sever the bond between us completely. I hoped that both Du Thirteen and Xu Yang¡¯s teams would be able to progress as far as they could because, in a sense, it meant that Moonlight Stone would be closer to us as well. No matter what happened, I still thought of Moonlight Stone as one of our own. Anyway, back to the present. He Yi and Murong Mingyue were wrecking the two-man team of Flower Room completely, and He Yi looked like she was positively unstoppable. Her Barrier Break + Purgatory of Ice and Magma combo was the highlight of the match, and her Level 180 seventh-promotion skill, Trapping Net even more so. It kept the enemy archer tightly bound while Murong Mingyue, a priest, annihilated them with her spells. It was an unsurprising result. He Yi¡¯s Defense and HP was too good, and in a 2v2 match she could even solo the enemy team depending on how strong they were. One of the magic knight¡¯s key advantages was the good ol¡¯ War God Recovery, a skill that healed 100% HP over 60 seconds. We proceeded to the 13th round with an individual score of 9:3 and an overall score of 4:1. Heart Like Water was the only one who lost her match with a 1:2 score. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Another team appeared on the big display, and our new opponents were¡ª Tygem Wild Heroes Chivalry LV-175 Warrior Hero LV-175 Warrior Loyal LV-175 Warrior Righteous LV-175 Warrior Inculpable LV-175 Warrior ¡­¡­ Incredibly, it was your once-in-a-blue-moon pure warrior team. They clearly belonged to one big hot-blooded family, and I was very impressed how they were able to snatch these very popular IDs for themselves. "Yo! It¡¯s a pure warrior team!" Beiming Xue giggled. "Who are we sending this time?" I sheathed my sword, leaned against the window sill and waved a hand lazily, "Just do whatever you¡¯d like. You don¡¯t need me to destroy a pure warrior team, do you? That being said I haven¡¯t fought the last round, so I¡¯ll deal with the 2v2 battle with Eve, and you guys deal with the rest. What do you say?" He Yi¡¯s eyes curved like crescent moons as she smiled. "Okay! I also want to fight a 1v1 match as a warm-up!" "Sure!" The line-up was decided quickly. He Yi would be fighting the first match, followed by Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Butterfly Dance. Finally, He Yi and I would fight the 2v2 match. Swhoosh! My beautiful guild leader turned into a ball of light and descended on the battlefield in all her glory. Her shiny armor accentuated her gorgeous curves, and there was a fleshy gap between her boots and her fauld that I could barely look away from. The wind brought up her cape as she spurred her mount closer toward the barrier. Everything was so picturesque I almost wished it could last forever. "Get ready!" Her opponent was the guy called Chivalry. He wielded a heavy sword and rode the Cyan Battle Tiger. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls didn¡¯t stake claims to maps like many other guilds, so the Cyan Tiger Forest had been open to other players for a long time now. Therefore, it wasn¡¯t unusual to encounter someone who rode a Cyan Battle Tiger. Ironically, it was also why I was certain that Chivalry would lose to He Yi. Stat-wise, He Yi¡¯s Dragonlight Spirit Beast was leagues ahead of the Cyan Battle Tiger. Just as I predicted earlier, both combatants fought each other in the most classic way possible¡ªtrading blows and seeing who died first¡ªand a short while later, He Yi lost 25% HP, but Chivalry lost over 85% HP thanks to the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear. Chivalry gritted his teeth before declaring, "My form isn¡¯t good today, so we¡¯ll decide our battle another day, heroine! So long!" After that, he turned tail and rode away. It was such an incomprehensible sight that He Yi was stunned for an entire second before she came to. She hurriedly pointed her palm at the fleeing rider and said, "Where do you think you¡¯re going?" Swhoosh! The Trapping Net fell from the sky and wrapped Chivalry tightly. She then ended his misery with her five-hit skill, Purgatory of Ice and Magma. The second battle was the same. Not only did He Yi have the better skills and equipment, her technique was also far ahead of Chivalry¡¯s; her positioning and attack timing especially so. A few exchanges later, Chivalry lost again and surrendered the match. ¡­¡­ The next match was Beiming Xue versus Hero. Hero was a 30 years old uncle at the very least, and his resistance toward the cute and innocent dark archer was practically zero. The second he appeared on the battlefield, he said, "OMG, it¡¯s Beiming Xue! It¡¯s actually Beiming Xue! Nice to meet you, girl! Where do you come from? You can¡¯t be a northerner, or your skin wouldn¡¯t be this good. If you¡¯re a southerner, hmm, are you from Yangtze? That will explain your round eyes and white teeth. Oh right, what is your QQ number?" Beiming Xue had no idea how to respond to this. She muttered, "I haven¡¯t used QQ in a very long time." "Oh!" That didn¡¯t deter Hero though. "That¡¯s a shame. By the way, I have a movie company that¡¯s busy adapting The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4 right now. Would you be interested in playing as Han Lingsha? You¡¯re practically the spitting image of her, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll do well in her role! If not, Yun Tianhe is fine too¡­" Beiming Xue: "..." "Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re not a shell company or a sham. As the producer, you have my word that we are perfectly transparent, and we definitely don¡¯t do unwritten rules. You don¡¯t need to worry about your chastity at all¡­" Hero had walked up to Beiming Xue at this point. The moment the countdown was over, his expression suddenly turned savage as he shouted, "Duel me to the death, girl! You will not win!" Swhoosh! Caught off-guard, Beiming Xue barely managed to bring up her bow and parry the overhead blow aimed at her torso. She still lost over 10k HP, however. She allowed herself to be pushed about 20 yards away from the point of impact. Angry at the deception, Beiming Xue declared menacingly, "I¡¯m going to beat your b.u.t.t, you old, despicable bastard¡­" Thud! Shock Arrow stunned Hero, and Well of the Abyss halved his HP. Ten or so seconds after the Divine General Skill ended, Evil Spirit Volley hit Hero right in the c.h.e.s.t. And so, the cunning and perverted uncle came to be vanquished, albeit temporarily, by the little girl. The second round was even worse than the first. The moment the battle began, Beiming Xue covered the entire battlefield with Evil Spirit Volley + Spiraling Arrow Blade + Skypiercer, stunning everyone speechless with the power of the super archer. Hero died again after putting up a token struggle. ¡­¡­ The third match was Lian Xin versus Loyal. Again, it was a 30+ years old uncle. Lian Xin was wearing a glowing robe with an elegant design. There was a split in the skirt that revealed her long, white legs and a low cut at the center of the shirt that revealed her growing bosom. The way they rippled to the wind and her movement caused Loyal to salivate against his will. "Uh¡­" Loyal wiped his saliva and asked with wide eyes, "This team is way too deadly in more ways than one. Can I surrender?" Inside the waiting room, Hero shouted at his companion, "Of course not! This is the match point! Give it everything you¡¯ve got and take this girl down! If you lose, it is the end of our dreams to return to the jianghu!" Loyal turned toward Lian Xin and continued staring at her wholesome c.h.e.s.t. "Well, you heard the man, little girl. Sorry." Lian Xin turned around and asked me with a blush, "What should I do, big brother Lu Chen?" I was leaning against the window sill and preparing to tease He Yi when Lian Xin asked me the question. So, I turned around and answered, "What else? End this in 7 seconds and come back to us¡­" Loyal froze like a statue, but even if he didn¡¯t it still would¡¯ve been pointless. Activating berserk mode, she slapped down three Origin Force Fields and hit Loyal with Ice Spiral Matrix + Dimensional Storm + Touch of the Dragonkiss. Touch of the Dragonkiss was a seventh-promotion single-target mage skill with a power that would make a man weep. In fact, Loyal did weep when the three skills engulfed him¡ª 90772! 82737! 152723! It was a complete one-sided slaughter, especially that Touch of the Dragonkiss. It made perfect sense though. How could a loyal heart like Loyal possibly withstand the kiss of a big a.s.s dragon made of pure magic? Chapter 894: Fighting Hall of Immortality "I will be back¡­" Loyal died right after he cursed at Lian Xin. The dragon head of Touch of the Dragonkiss lingered for a moment, almost as if looking down on Loyal and ridiculing him before fading away completely. It was deserved though. Lian Xin¡¯s Magic Attack was so high that she dealt over 150k damage in one spell. "What should we do? Lian Xin is growing a bit too powerful¡­" was what He Yi said, but the smirk on her face was unmistakable. I let out a snicker myself before touching our shoulders together. "Nah, Loyal must have very poor Magic Resist. Even considering Lian Xin¡¯s strength, it¡¯s rare for a mage to deal over 150k damage in one hit." A blinking Beiming Xue asked me, "What did that uncle mean when he said, ¡®I will be back¡¯?" My smile widened. "He¡¯s saying that he¡¯ll get destroyed again¡­" ¡­¡­ As predicted, uncle Loyal returned for the second fight only to be crippled by Lian Xin¡¯s Gravity Trap right as the countdown hit zero. Then, she started ravaging using Ice Arrows. Freezing Arrow was a slowing spell with low base attack, but thanks to the Thunder God Scepter, Lian Xin was able to do over 50k damage per hit. A couple of hits later, Loyal collapsed on all fours again and left as quickly as he came! The score was now 3:0. We had already won. Butterfly Dance attended the fourth match, and she was able to sweep her opponent with ease. The Dark Ritualist class possessed some pretty powerful skills, it seemed. The fifth match was a 2v2 battle. He Yi and I were teleported onto the battlefield! Swhoosh! We appeared on a grassy plain with fragrant flowers and flying butterflies. It was a beautiful scenery, but it only lasted until Hero and Loyal entered the battlefield and dirtied the atmosphere with their presence. ¡­¡­ "Holy shit¡­" Hero gasped and clutched his heart in shock when he saw He Yi. "My god¡­ is this what Beiming Xue can look like when she grows older? So beautiful, so picturesque¡­" Loyal clenched his fists as he said, "So this is the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, From Water. It¡¯s incredible how a beauty like her is able to create the best or second best super guild in China. If I can win her affection, I can finally tell my mother to stop forcing me to attend those terrible arranged interviews every day. Have you seen that woman I went to meet a couple of days ago? Not only did she look like Sister Feng, she wanted me to buy a beach villa for her! Pooh, if I had that kind of money, I would be changing partners every day and enjoying every type of woman there exists in this world already! Just why is marriage so ingrained in our customs, Hero?" Hero shrugged. "How the f.u.c.k should I know that? I do know you¡¯re completely out of From Water¡¯s league though. I heard that she was the vice president of GGS until she resigned and became the CEO of Raincube, you know, the partner of Blue Star? It¡¯s the company that grabbed over 30% of Eternal Moon Corporation¡¯s shares in China¡¯s VR technology market in less than a month. How crazy is that¡­" Loyal licked his lips and said enviously, "Oh man, if I could find a girl like that, I wouldn¡¯t need to go to work everyday and be yelled at by that stupid Head Wong¡­" "I know right? But there¡¯s no way a woman like From Water would ever fall for a short ugly bastard like you, so stop dreaming and keep going on those arranged interviews of yours. That is what fate has in store for you¡­" Loyal wept manly tears. He Yi looked away expressionlessly and pretended that she didn¡¯t hear anything. I wanted to console the two miserable uncles, but really, what the f.u.c.k should I even say in this situation? ¡­¡­ 3! 2! 1! When the system finished the countdown, He Yi and I immediately split up and dashed to the sides. We didn¡¯t plan any of this ahead of time, but somehow we knew what each other was thinking and paused our footsteps at almost the exact same time. Then, we raised our weapons and launched Purgatory of Ice and Magma + Burning Blade Slash combo at our enemies. I also threw in an extra Coiling Dragon Revolution afterward for good measure. Boom boom boom! A series of devastating explosions later, the world turned silent once more. He Yi looked at me for a moment before breaking into a sweet smile. "I ran out of patience a while ago¡­" I tilted my head 45 degrees toward the sky and said solemnly, "I am the sword who will right all that is wrong in this world¡­" Inside the viewing room, Beiming Xue asked in confusion, "What on earth is big bro talking about?" Murong Mingyue replied indifferently, "Ignore him, he¡¯s just suffering a relapse of the eighth grade syndrome. It¡¯d be weirder if you understood him¡­" ¡­¡­ With this, we took the 13th round by storm with a 5:0 overall score or 10:0 individual score. Not only that, we secured two perfect victories in a row very deep into the preliminaries. It was an impressive result to say the least! The fourteenth round came and went almost just as easily because our opponent was just a Vanished God City team with an average level of 174. Butterfly Dance and Remains threw a battle each, but with an individual score of 10:2, and an overall score of 5:0, our dominance was still unshakeable. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your team has advanced to the Top 128 of the WEL tournament (China)! If your team wins one more round, you will enter the Top 64! All players who enter the Top 64 will be rewarded at least 1 Level and 1 Luck! ¡­¡­ "Damn¡­" He Yi and I exchanged a look. "The rewards of this year¡¯s WEL competition sure are no joke. 1 Luck just for entering the Top 64? Even during the Nation Wars, only the top players are given a Luck reward¡­" Beiming Xue asked, "The reward details should be announced tomorrow morning. Also, I heard that the matches will be held in the central arena when the Top 64 matches begin, so we won¡¯t be stuck in a small and confined viewing room like this anymore. Also, every match starting from the eighth-finals will be broadcasted live in the gaming channels." I clenched my fists and declared confidently, "Let¡¯s give it our all, enter the Top 16, advance to the finals and claim the crown for ourselves. This is another good opportunity to advertise Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls." He Yi smiled. "According to Rose, 25% of our winnings must be given to Lenovo as per our agreement with them. However, not only did Lenovo decide to give us all our winnings this time, they¡¯ll even pay us extra if we become China¡¯s champions!" My face immediately began shining with the color of gold. "Money¡­" Murong Mingyue shot me a disdainful look. "This is the only language he understands..." "Alright alright, the last round is about to begin, so focus¡­" The big display flashed, and the line-up of our final opponent appeared on the screen. To our pleasant surprise, our opponent was a most familiar face¡ª Hall of Immortality (Sponsor: Rongguang Detector) Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch LV-179 Berserk Knight Wing Breaker LV-180 Destruction Warrior Galaxy Breaker Mage LV-180 Mage Dark Guardian Angel LV-178 Magic Knight ¡­¡­ "It¡¯s the first seed of Hall of Immortality¡­" He Yi commented with a frown. "Are we too lucky, or are they too unlucky?" I clenched my fists and said with a laugh, "One way or another, this is good news for us! Hall of Immortality tried to rob us when we were escorting 4 million resource units to Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ city, and we weren¡¯t able to take revenge at the time because our numbers were lacking. Now though, we can stop their first seed right before they enter the eighth-finals and deal a heavy blow to that arrogant Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch!" He Yi nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you¡¯re right." Butterfly Dance cautioned, "Let¡¯s not underestimate the enemy. They have two hidden classes. Wing Breaker is a super offensive warrior with incredible offensive power. Galaxy Breaker Mage is a pretty famous mage with high Magic Attack and good standing in the 1v1 arena. Dark Guardian Angel and Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch aren¡¯t noobs either, so this match won¡¯t be a one-sided slaughter." He Yi said, "Let¡¯s choose our line-up now!" I gave it some thought before replying, "I¡¯ll fight the first match. I¡¯m sure they want to kick off the match with a win, and the best way to do that is to send their strongest expert. In that case, who better than me to fight fire with fire and knock them down a peg? After that, Lian Xin will go next, Eve will secure the third match, Beiming Xue will take the fourth match, and we¡¯ll go with Lian Xin + Beiming for the final 2v2 match!" "Got it!" All the girls nodded in unison. ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take long for the line-ups of the last round to appear on the big display, and thank goodness for that. My stomach had been growling since a long while ago. We¡¯re heading out for supper right after we slaughter Hall of Immortality! 1v1: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 Undead Swordsman VS Galaxy Breaker Mage LV-180 Mage 1v1: Lian Xing LV-182 Phantasm of Stars VS Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch Berserk Knight 1v1: From Water LV-180 Magic Knight VS Wing Breaker LV-180 Destruction Warrior 1v1 Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark aArcher VS Dark Guardian Angel LV-178 Magic Knight 2v2: Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark Archer & Lian Xing LV-182 Phantasm of Stars VS Galaxy Breaker Mage LV-180 Mage & Dark Guardian Angel LV-178 Magic Knight ¡­¡­ Level-wise, we didn¡¯t have a decisive advantage over the enemy. Class-wise, we had three hidden classes and they had two, so it wasn¡¯t a big gap either. The first match was between me and Galaxy Breaker Mage. Swhoosh! When I teleported onto the battlefield, the enemy¡¯s best player, Galaxy Breaker Mage, was waiting for me already. This wasn¡¯t the first time our guild clashed against him, and the fact was that he had always been able to put great pressure on us. He was a super mage with very unique defensive and offensive capabilities, and he had the equipment to support his style. "Hehe, we meet again, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" Galaxy Breaker Mage let out a confident chuckle before starting, "I know that the spectators must think that Hall of Immortality will lose to Ancient Sword for sure, but I don¡¯t think so, especially after I saw this line-up. In fact, I thank the heavens for granting us the opportunity to halt Ancient Sword¡¯s advance right before the eighth-finals. It will be an unimaginable achievement, I¡¯m sure!" I let out a chuckle myself while keeping the Purple Ying Sword lowered. "It will indeed be glorious, if you can beat us, that is!" "Hmph. You will know if we have the strength very soon!" "Please, do show me!" You could practically smell the gunpowder. Forget that Hall of Immortality was now allied with Candle Dragon, even before then they had been hostile toward us. The heavens must be on our side today!! ¡­¡­ Buzz¡­ The Ghost Deity Armor turned into the Ghost Deity Shield and wrapped around my left arm. At the same time, the Mark of the Divine Arm shone and manifested the Dragon God Shield into existence. The skill would take effect the moment I was attacked! Eyes steely, Galaxy Breaker Mage stomped the ground and summoned the Origin Energy Shield, also the signature skill of all powerful high-level mages, since this unique version of Magic Shield was twice as durable as! Finally, the system started the countdown. 3! 2! 1! The moment the countdown hit zero, I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse toward Galaxy Breaker Mage and fired Dragon Slaying Slash at him! Boom! The green energy blade missed completely and hit the ground, but that was fine. I wasn¡¯t expecting a skill with a long channeling time to deal a serious blow to an opponent like Galaxy Breaker Mage anyway. Chapter 895: Wrecking the Knights Pachak! I dismounted when the Armored Ice Qilin Horse suddenly leaped into the air, and before Galaxy Breaker Mage could react, I hit his Origin Energy Shield twice with the Purple Ying Sword. His magic shield distorted and lost at least 75% of its durability. "Ah?!" Galaxy Breaker Mage was shocked. He had no idea how fast I had become until now. After he Blinked about 20 yards away from me, he waved his scepter and growled, "Die, Lu Chen!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Countless icicles rained from the sky. It was Galaxy Breaker Mage¡¯s signature skill, Iceflame Drill! Icicles wreathed in flames rained at random across a wide area. Since I had dismounted, I had slowed down to a point where it wasn¡¯t possible to escape the spell. Therefore, I simply raised the Dragon God Shield in front of me and ran toward Galaxy Breaker Mage in a straight line. Chiang chiang chiang... The flaming icicles pounded against my shield repeatedly as multiple damage numbers rose above my head¡ª 21773! 19293! 21277! Galaxy Breaker Mage couldn¡¯t hide his shock as he shouted, "What the f.u.c.k? Impossible! There¡¯s no way my Iceflame Drill did so little damage¡­" I chuckled. "Or maybe, you misjudged the strength of your Iceflame Drill." ¡­¡­ At the viewing room, Beiming Xue cheered. "Big bro won!" Butterfly Dance¡¯s eyes widened in confusion. "What do you mean? Galaxy Breaker Mage is doing a lot of damage, not to mention that Iceflame Drill slows Lu Chen down too. There¡¯s still a chance he can turn this around, right?" A smiling Beiming Xue explained, "Big bro is a top-tier melee fighter, or, in my opinion, the best fighter in the entire world. That is why any mage who allows him to close the distance two times is basically dead. The first time is to break or weaken the shield, and the second time is to instakill them!" Remains nodded in agreement. "Beiming is correct. Range is the lifeline of any mage. Galaxy Breaker Mage is doing pretty well already considering how long it took Lu Chen to close the distance between them. A weaker mage would¡¯ve died to a basic attack from Lu Chen a long time ago." Butterfly Dance asked, "But why didn¡¯t Lu Chen just use Universe Break immediately? The skill ignores Origin Energy Shield, right? There¡¯s a high chance it can one-shot Galaxy Breaker Mage immediately!" He Yi smiled. "Here, let me roll back the video for you. You see this? When Lu Chen got close to Galaxy Breaker Mage, the latter had subconsciously backed away in an S-shaped pattern even though he was caught off-guard. As a first-rate mage, Galaxy Breaker Mage knows very well how best to dodge a deadly skill like Barrier Break. Even with Lu Chen¡¯s skill, there was a 70% chance he would¡¯ve missed and wasted a skill. That is why Lu Chen decided to take things one step at a time; to give Galaxy Breaker Mage no chance to turn this around." ¡­¡­ At the same time, I finally found an opportunity to close the distance between myself and Galaxy Breaker Mage after losing around 25% HP. A pass later, I fired Thousand Ice Slash where the mage was before following up with Universe Break. The hunk of flaming easily pierced his Origin Energy Shield and killed him despite his attempt to retreat. I wasn¡¯t done yet though. Even as his body began to digitize into white light, I threw the Purple Ying Sword and swept his fading body with Coiling Dragon Revolution! Boom! The skill utterly destroyed Galaxy Breaker Mage¡¯s dead body, and the grassy ground split as if it was torn asunder by a god or a devil. In reality, it was just the Mountain Crush effect of the Purple Ying Sword triggering at this time! It was 1:0. It didn¡¯t take me a lot of effort to score a point at all. Behind me, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and the rest of the team clapped and cheered at the victory. Galaxy Breaker Mage was Hall of Immortality¡¯s ace, and I, of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and I just proved I held the absolute advantage with this victory! Galaxy Breaker Mage quickly returned to the battle arena. He asked me with clear confusion etched on his features, "What the hell was that, Lu Chen? My Iceflame Drill should¡¯ve dealt a lot more damage than that!" Ghost Deity Shield was still a secret, and this was just the preliminaries. I had no intention of revealing my trump card this quickly, so I simply shook my head and replied, "All you need to know is that your defeat is well-deserved." "Hmph!" Less than 30 seconds after the snort, I successfully threw Galaxy Breaker Mage¡¯s rhythm into a complete disarray and sent him out of the battle arena once more. The Purple Ying Sword was just too powerful. He was dead the moment his shield weakened enough that I could break it and kill him within the same combo. ¡­¡­ Just like that, the first match went to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Overall, it wasn¡¯t a difficult fight. The second match was between Lian Xin and Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. The cute and beautiful girl was standing in the middle of a snow map and holding her scepter upright. A magical ring that restored her MP quickly was surrounding her feet. In a PvP battle, MP was the lifeline of all mages, especially against high-level fighters who could delete over 50% MP with just one Rank 10 Frightening Slash. In my case, I could even delete a mage¡¯s MP from 100 to 0 through the shield. Any mage worth their salt would be prepared to deal with this type of situation. Swhoosh! Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch appeared on the battlefield. His guild emblem gleamed a little on his shoulder as he glared at Lian Xin menacingly. "Lian Xing of the Four Great Elders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, huh? I admit that your entrance during the Battle of Poplar Valley was a good one, and I am curious to know exactly how powerful you really are! Though, judging from your curves and relatively huge b.r.e.a.s.ts, I¡¯m sure that Lu Chen would¡¯ve accepted you even if you turned out to be a useless piece of trash. Speaking of which, have you slept with him already?" Lian Xin didn¡¯t fall for his provocations. She simply stared back calmly and said, "Big brother Lu Chen isn¡¯t the kind of person you think he is. I heard that your father is a deputy head or something? He must¡¯ve embezzled a lot of money, or you wouldn¡¯t have had the guts to invest this much money into this game. Look at you. What else do you know besides burning your money for equipment?" Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch gritted his teeth and swore angrily, "What the f.u.c.k did you just say, you little bitch? I dare you to say it again to my face!" Lian Xin obliged. "Trust fund dog. Beat me if you can, or you¡¯ll always just be a trust fund dog!" "Motherf.u.c.ker!" It looked like blood was about to shoot out of his eyes. He raised his blade and charged straight toward Lian Xin like crazy. Bang! Suddenly, a formless wall appeared in his path, and it was none other than Lian Xin¡¯s Origin Force Field. Caught completely off-guard, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch flattened himself against the transparent force field that was as hard as tempered glass and lost over 30k HP. The intelligent Lian Xin continued dropping more Origin Force Fields in the knight¡¯s way to stall him even further. The humiliation enraged Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch, and he had long since forgotten about basic running patterns such as Z-pattern running or S-pattern that could¡¯ve helped him. As a result, he kept running his face into force field after force field, and by the time he finally got close enough to use a skill he had already lost over 140k HP. He was lucky he had a whopping 270k HP, or it would¡¯ve been one of the most humiliating defeats he could suffer in his life. "Die, bitch!" The enraged Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch waved his weapon and launched Furious Slash at Lian Xin. A flaming aura roared toward the mage and engulfed her! Boom! Lian Xin¡¯s Telekinetic Shield bent a little and lost 7% durability, proving that for all his flaws, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch did possess a lot of Attack. However, Lian Xin didn¡¯t move from her spot. She just fired Freezing Arrow after Freezing Arrow into the guild leader¡¯s face until he finally got close to her. At this point, he only had a sliver of HP left. "Die, bitch!" Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch raised his weapon and used Barrier Break. It was clear that the dude had completely lost his mind to rage. Lian Xin withdrew her smile in an instant and took a couple of steps to the side. Just like that, she dodged the skill and forced a MISS. At the same time, she moved behind Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch and jumped into the air. Then, she swung her Thunder God Scepter at the back of the guild leader¡¯s head! Thud! 4892! The strike doubled as a killing blow, and Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch dropped to his knees. Thud! The guild leader was absolutely furious, but there was nothing he could do to defy death. Not only was he toyed by the mage from start to finish, the way he died could only be described as exceptionally humiliating. Who would¡¯ve thought that a magic knight with a hidden class and top-tier equipment would die to a blunt attack from a mage? ¡­¡­ "Lian Xin is growing more and more violent these days¡­" I said with certainty. He Yi nodded. "She wouldn¡¯t have fought Beauty Lin otherwise." Murong Mingyue jumped in. "She did it for you, you ungrateful girl." He Yi immediately turned red in the face and glared at me. "Alright, enough! One more word and I¡¯ll punish you!" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Lian Xin had taken out Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch a second time while we were chatting with each other. She stalled the guild leader with Origin Force Fields just like last time, but instead of toying with him she threw Ice Spiral Matrix beneath his feet. Even with his ridiculous amount of HP, it didn¡¯t take long for the spell to cut him into a million pieces. Lian Xin¡¯s movement was way better than Galaxy Breaker Mage¡¯s, and she knew how to maximize the effectiveness of her skills. She never allowed Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch to get close to her once she turned serious. It was enough skill to place her firmly above most people. It was 2:0. The second match was an easy win as well. Swhoosh! After Lian Xin returned to us, she asked us with a smile, "How was it?" I praised her, "It was very well done. Now take your rest and watch your boss destroy the enemy!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ The third match was He Yi versus Wing Breaker. Wing Breaker was a beastman, and his Attack scaling was even higher than my class¡¯s. 5 Strength was equal to 3 to 5 Attack for me, but I heard that his 5 Strength was equal to 4 to 6 Attack, not to mention that he was a player who put all 5 stat points into Strength at every level up, just like me. He also had a siege attribute that made him invaluable when attacking cities or territories. Of course, I was just as, if not more, devastating as he was with the Purple Ying Sword! Chapter 896: You’re Poking Me Wing Breaker wielded a long axe surrounded by a bloody l.u.s.ter. He stared at He Yi and gave his dry, chapped lips a lick before saying, "This is the first time I got to meet you up close, and I must say, you truly are an exceptional beauty. Even the Fruit Knife Goddess is just your equal, not your better!" He Yi replied calmly, "Unfortunately for you, I already have someone I like, so your praise is useless to me." Wing Breaker grinned. "I wasn¡¯t going to hold back anyway. This is your match point, a crucial round for Hall of Immortality after all. Don¡¯t come complaining to me if you get wrecked, From Water." He Yi smiled. "Did you learn nothing from the guild leader of your ally guild, Rose Thorn? The prettier a rose is, the sharper their thorns are. You know what? I don¡¯t think you can beat me at all." "Hmph!" The countdown began. Both combatants charged the moment the number reached zero! Wing Breaker charged toward He Yi in a straight line. He swung his axe and executed Barrier Break + Triple Slash before he even got close to her, intending to hit her from maximum range. Rustle rustle rustle... He Yi reined in her mount and raised her shield, eating the Barrier Break but Guarding the Triple Slash perfectly. She lost about 100k HP or so, but it was of no consequence because she had activated Royal Road. I was astonished though. He Yi should¡¯ve been able to dodge at least one of those attacks. The next moment, she cleared up my confusion by catching a surprised Wing Breaker in Trapping Net. She decided to facetank the attacks to ensure her Trapping Net landing, sacrificing but a chunk of her HP! The battle ended almost immediately after that. A five-hit Purgatory of Ice and Magma later, He Yi backed a few steps and used Charge + Barrier Break + basic attack to send Wing Breaker out of the battlefield. The second match started quickly, but the results were the same. Wing Breaker might be OP in a siege battle, but his PvP abilities weren¡¯t nearly as sharp, especially against a tough opponent with good Attack, Defense and HP like He Yi. This was without mentioning that He Yi was starting to implement proper tactics in her PvP battles, making her even harder to defeat than before. ¡­¡­ With this, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls secured match point with a 3:0 score and officially entered the Top 64. The ticket to the eighth-finals of the WEL playoffs of China was in the bag. The power gap between our two teams was even more obvious during the fourth match, Beiming Xue versus Dark Guardian Angel. Although Dark Guardian Angel had very good Defense and HP, his Attack could stand to be a bit better. Usually, a heavy-armor knight like him would¡¯ve been able to run down an archer eventually without losing too much HP, even if the archer had enough Attack to break through the magic knight¡¯s Defense. Unfortunately for him, his opponent was the Dark Archer Beiming Xue herself! Thud thud! Beiming Xue calmly shot Dark Guardian Angel in the c.h.e.s.t twice as she kited him. At the beginning, she had hit him with Bone Eroding Arrow to lower his Defense by 50%. Then, she kited him around nearly the entire arena and chipped away at his HP using Icy Arrow, Spiraling Arrow Blade, Evil Spirit Volley, Skypiercer and more skills. Eventually, Dark Guardian Angel collapsed to his knees and submitted wholeheartedly to the victor. Finally it was the 2v2 match, and the duo that was Beiming Xue and Lian Xin gave the enemy exactly zero chance to turn things around. Beiming Xue¡¯s storm of arrows controlled so much of the battlefield that Galaxy Breaker Mage didn¡¯t even dare to show his face. Lian Xin used Origin Force Field to disrupt Dark Guardian Angel¡¯s movements, and Ice Spiral Matrix to annihilate his HP. Less than three minutes later, the duo took both matches by storm. In the end, our battle against Hall of Immortality ended with a 5:0 overall score and a 10:0 individual score. It was a perfect ending to the preliminaries! ¡­¡­ Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your team has advanced to the Top 64 of the WEL competition (China). The playoffs to decide the Top 4 teams to represent China in the WEL competition and the champion will begin tomorrow evening at 1 pm at the central arena, or 10 hours from now. Please be informed that failure to appear on time will result in disqualification. Good luck! ¡­¡­ I waited for a bit, and the full team list appeared on the system UI. In fact, there were flames burning at the bottom of the UI when I summoned the system fairy. The visual effect was meant to show that the flames of war had spread to every corner of China while the WEL matches were ongoing. Countless players had participated in the preliminaries, but a huge majority of them were only participating for the sake of it. Now, after an entire day had passed, only 64 teams remained and advanced to the playoffs. I saw many familiar teams such as Lin Yixin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Luo River God of the Capital, Warsky, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s and more. It was hardly a surprise though. Assuming they didn¡¯t run into one another, there were very few people who could stop them from advancing. At the same time, the WEL officials announced the final reward for the China region WEL playoffs on their official website¡ª 33rd to 64th: Level +1, Luck +1, and 5000 RMB per player! 17th to 32nd: Level +2, Luck +1, and 20000 RMB per player! 9th to 16th: Level +3, Luck +2, 100000 RMB, and one chance to draw at best an Earth-grade item per player! 5th to 8th: Level +3, Luck +3, 250000 RMB, and one chance to draw at best a Heaven-grade item per player! 3rd to 4th: Level +4, Luck +3, 500000 RMB, and one chance to draw at best a Heaven-grade item per player! Runner-up: Level +4, Luck +4, 500000 RMB, and one chance to draw at best an Immortal-grade item per player! Champion: Level +5, Luck +5, 2000000 RMB, and one chance to draw at best a Cambrian-grade item per player! ¡­¡­ I nearly forgot to breathe as I stared at the stunning reward. Beiming Xue was blinking with her mouth wide open as well. "OMG, 2 million RMB per player for the champion? That¡¯s so much money! This Level +5, Luck +5, and a chance to draw at best a Cambrian-grade divine item is just as crazy! Eternal Moon Corporation is splashing a ton of money this time!" I nodded in agreement. "This is how you build your reputation. For the past ten years, Eternal Moon Corporation had been focusing on forging a classic that belonged to them only. The WEL is the successor of the WSL, also the most attractive brand in the entire globe, so it¡¯s obvious what Eternal Moon Corporation is trying to do. They¡¯re luring more famous players into taking part in the competition and solidifying the WEL brand even further. Once this is over, it¡¯ll become a true classic in gaming history." Murong Mingyue said with a smile, "At any rate, 5 Luck is too good to pass on, so Lu Chen, Eve, Beiming and Lian Xin, please give it your all and win the competition for us, okay? Do it for us loafers, hehe!" Suddenly, He Yi let out an exclamation of surprise and pointed at a certain line. "Look, there¡¯s a rule here stating that only the players who participated in the final match will get to draw a prize. Everyone else in the team will only receive the level and Luck reward¡­" Remains replied, "That makes sense. This rule should stop most players from trying to game the system instead of giving it their all, and 5 levels and 5 Luck are incredible rewards anyway. I¡¯m sure Butterfly Dance and Hidden Fragrance will be very happy to treat you to dinner if we do become the champion of the WEL." Butterfly Dance laughed. "But of course! 5 Luck is no joke, you know! Dinner is the minimum courtesy we can afford!" I replied, "Yes, definitely. Anyway, thank you all for your hard work, you all deserve a good rest today. The playoffs will begin at 1 pm tomorrow, and I think the Frost Cloud workshop should be the ones to attend. What do you all think?" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I logged out of the game and heard an immediate growl from my stomach. I definitely need to eat something soon. I walked out of my room and saw the girls making preparations to head out already. "Who was the one who said he¡¯d treat us to supper just now?" He Yi asked jokingly. I immediately slapped my c.h.e.s.t and replied, "It is I! I know Aunt Wang¡¯s food stall at a street corner where a full meal costs less than 50 RMB! Let¡¯s go!" He Yi: "..." It was at this moment I noticed that Mingyue was missing. "Where¡¯s sis? What¡¯s she doing?" "Gimme a minute! I¡¯m almost done!" "Mn." After Murong Mingyue finished whatever she was doing and walked out of her room, I put on a black coat and led the girls outside. We then entered the lift and waited. I sneaked He Yi a glance. The dim lighting of the lift made her gorgeous features even more attractive, and her body was wrapped tightly inside a thick coffee-colored fur coat. "You sure wore a lot of clothes tonight, Eve¡­" I said. He Yi giggled. "It¡¯s not a lot at all, actually. Not at all¡­" "Huh? What do you mean?" "Turn around, will you?" He Yi pulled me to her and moved out of the camera¡¯s line of sight. Then, she unwrapped her scarf and tugged open her collar in front of me. I immediately felt blood rushing into my head and threatening to pour out of my nose. Underneath the coat was a pair of white, wholesome b.r.e.a.s.ts and a deep, seemingly bottomless cleavage that seemed capable of swallowing a person¡¯s head. What the f.u.c.k? She¡¯s only wearing her u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r under her coat?! I stared at her, and He Yi giggled at my reaction. "It was pretty warm inside the apartment, and I was too lazy to pick my clothes right before we were about to head out. That¡¯s why I¡¯m wearing a coat only." "It¡¯s pretty cold outside though," I said. "It¡¯ll be fine¡­" she said with a gentle smile. I reached out to He Yi¡¯s collar and carefully tied her coat to how it was before. She simply watched me as a mysterious and beautiful light danced in her eyes. "Sigh¡­" Unfortunately, the romantic moment was quickly shattered by the sigh of a certain Murong Mingyue. "You two are lucky that I¡¯m the only leftover woman here, but I would prefer if you did not act lovey dovey in front of me." I turned around to roll my eyes at her. "What do you mean, ¡®leftover woman¡¯? You¡¯re still only 25 after New Year¡¯s Day¡­" "I just am¡­" "Fine, I¡¯ll make a marriage post for you when I return to Dark Moon City later. Murong Mingyue, age 25, female, only daughter of her family, and a young and beautiful woman with 34E-sized b.r.e.a.s.ts and perfect three sizes. She is a wealthy woman with three real estates in Suzhou and 30 million RMB she can use at any time. Both her parents are alive and well, and they were managers before they retired¡­" Murong Mingyue blinked once before walking up to me and grabbing me by the collar. Then, she said threateningly, "How do you know me so well, boy? Speak, or¡­ or I ain¡¯t marrying anyone else but you¡­" My eyes widened like saucers. "Sis, please, your chastity!" "My what?!" "I mean your 34Es are poking my c.h.e.s.t¡­" Murong Mingyue: "..." The rest of the girls could barely control their laughter. A warm atmosphere permeated the lift for a time. (Author¡¯s Note: Don¡¯t ask me why the lift took so long to reach the ground floor. Take it as plot necessity, okay?) Chapter 897: Tossing a Coin As expected, it was windy and chilly when we stepped out into the open. "I wonder if Aunt Wang¡¯s food stall is open today? It¡¯d better be, or we¡¯ll have to eat fast food at KFC. I hate KFC¡­" He Yi said worriedly. "It should be." I replied confidently, "Thirteen and I went there for a drink before. Aunt Wang and her husband were laid-off workers, but they have a son studying in high school and another in university. I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t need me to tell you how much education costs. For the sake of their sons¡¯ future, I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll open their stall even if it¡¯s New Year¡¯s Day." Beiming Xue blinked. "But when I was chatting with Li Chengfeng and the others in the guild channel, they told me that it¡¯s pointless to study in a university. They said that even if you graduate you¡¯ll still be working for others, and sometimes not even that." I replied with a bitter smile, "True, but this is the only out us poverty babies have." He Yi chuckled. "Yeah. How can a poverty baby compete against a trust fund baby if they couldn¡¯t even complete the National College Entrance Examination?" I sighed dramatically and said, "Can we talk about something else, please? My heart hurts¡­" Murong Mingyue stared at me. "Your little sister is hurting too¡­" I immediately wrapped an arm around Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulders and said, "She¡¯s insulting you, little sister! Quick, 1v1 her and teach her a lesson! Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll cheer for you and provide you with emotional support!" Murong Mingyue rolled up her sleeves menacingly, "Hoho? You dare challenge me to a fight? I may not be able to beat Lil Beiming in the game, but I¡¯m a martial arts expert in real life!" Lian Xin asked, "Martial arts expert? What style are you?" He Yi snickered. "Oh yeah, didn¡¯t you boast to me about being an expert in bed, Mingyue? Is that your style?" Murong Mingyue: "..." ¡­¡­ The carefree conversation continued a bit longer until we reached the street corner. Just as expected, the small food stall wrapped in tarpaulin was still open. It was very late in the night, and our friendly neighborhood bylaw enforcement officers had all returned home already. This was also the only time hard workers like Aunt Wang could show themselves and conduct some small business to survive in this ruthless world. I parted the curtains and entered the small but warm stall and saw Aunt Wang¡¯s familiar face. She smiled at me and said, "Ah, it¡¯s you four." "Hi, auntie. Can you serve us some side dishes and one Erguotou for me? It¡¯s cold today..." "Sure!" After we took a seat, Beiming Xue asked me, "You¡¯re drinking at this time, big bro?" I replied, "It¡¯s easier to sleep this way. Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s only a sip or two." "In that case, we¡¯d like to have a drink too," He Yi and Murong Mingyue said in unison. He Yi chuckled. "Silly girl, I can drink an entire bottle of Erguotou and not even feel it. Your boss has been doing this for a long time, you know." At the side, Aunt Wang¡¯s husband was wielding his ladle and frying pan above the roaring flames with great proficiency. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that cooking was a deep technical skill. He used vegetable oil to cook his food, and we the customers had a full view of the cooking process from start until the end. Aunt Wang¡¯s business might be small, but it was one with a conscience and a heart. Some time later, a good number of delicious dishes were served on the table. Aunt Wang knew that we were rich, and it was practically impossible to mistake He Yi and Murong Mingyue for a poor person. Their attire alone put them at the level of gold collars who weren¡¯t lacking in money at all. In fact, the only reason they even showed up here was completely because of silly ol¡¯ me. I fed myself a piece of green pepper fried pig heart and took a sip of Erguotou. Ah, nighttime moments like these are always so enjoyable... The girls ate heartily, and He Yi and Murong Mingyue shared some of the liquor I had ordered. A few minutes later, a new group of people pushed away the curtains and walked in. They were dressed like students, and it was clear that they were quite young and innocent. At the very least, they could call me, a young man who already had several years of ups and downs in society like me, old, and it wouldn¡¯t feel out of place in the slightest. ¡­¡­ The five students sat down at a table not far away from us. However, they paid us no attention because the lighting was dim, and the girls were donning thick down-filled garments and facing toward them with their backs. "F.u.c.k, I almost slipped and pierced my butthole on the pointy rails when climbing the gate¡­" said a student with a crew cut. Another student wearing a leather jacket laughed. "Why didn¡¯t you? That would¡¯ve made for a good show! Anyway, I wonder who¡¯s the f.u.c.ker in the WEL committee who thought that holding a full-day preliminaries was a good idea. This would¡¯ve s.u.c.k.e.d if we didn¡¯t manage to squeeze our way into the Top 256. One of you, take a screenshot of our line-up and post it on our school¡¯s forums later, okay? Gotta boast that nice-looking achievement!" Crewcut dude replied, "It is a boast-worthy achievement. We got taken out by none other than Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ team! I can¡¯t wait to return the hot air those idiots from the engineering faculty kept blowing at us already, pooh¡­" However, another student with dyed yellow hair shot down his revenge fantasy mercilessly. "Boast-worthy? Didn¡¯t you see the forums? The moment I logged off, I saw someone from the engineering faculty posting a thread and claiming that one of their third-year teams managed to enter the Top 128 before they were defeated by the Fruit Knife Goddess, Wind Fantasy¡¯s team. Now that¡¯s a boast-worthy achievement. Our result is nothing compared to that." "Wind Fantasy¡¯s team? Really? F.u.c.k¡­" Leather jacket dude said sadly, "I heard that Fruit Knife Goddess is a student at Suzhou University of Science and Technology. I wonder if it¡¯s true? I could die happy if I could catch a glimpse of her even once in real life¡­" "You pathetic man!" Crewcut dude roasted his mate mercilessly before saying, "Well, a friend of mine who studied there did confirm that the Fruit Knife Goddess is a super beauty, but it¡¯s better for all our hearts if we just forget about it. The Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯s dad is no ordinary person, and her bodyguards occasionally show their faces in the university. If it wasn¡¯t for them, she would¡¯ve been swooped away by some thirty-year-old guy a long time ago¡­" ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue bumped my arm when she heard this and teased me, "You hear that, big bro? Someone¡¯s aiming for your quasi-girlfriend! Don¡¯t you have anything to say about this?" I took another sip of liquor and grumbled, "The falling flowers are yearning for love, but the heartless brook ripples on¡­" Murong Mingyue nearly spat out her liquor. "You shameless bastard! How dare you say ¡®the heartless brook ripples on¡¯ when you¡¯ve already kissed Beauty Lin! Not only that, our Eve is your victim as well! You¡¯re the only guy in the entire world who¡¯s lucky enough to get both of them!" Beiming Xue looked up from her food and asked me, "Is that true, big bro? And should I count myself among them? You did kiss me as well, didn¡¯t you?" A blushing He Yi immediately glared at me. "You even kissed Beiming? Just how many girls have you kissed already?" It was like someone had poked a hole in my soul and dragged out all my dirty secrets. How I wished to run out of the stall and jump down a storm drain right now! Lian Xin burst into a giggle and raised her hand playfully. "I hereby declare that big brother Lu Chen hasn¡¯t kissed me yet¡­" "Ohh!" Murong Mingyue raised her glass merrily. "What a coincidence! This bastard hasn¡¯t kissed me either!" Surprised by the outburst, He Yi shot Murong Mingyue a wary look and asked her in an exasperated tone, "Not you too? You want to be kissed by Lu Chen as well?" "No way!" Murong Mingyue puffed up her c.h.e.s.t before replying, "If a kiss is going to happen, it¡¯ll be me who¡¯s the initiator! Sorry not sorry, Eve, it¡¯s your fault your Lu Chen is so cute¡­" He Yi: "..." Murong Mingyue let out a soft chuckle before asking me, "Why don¡¯t we play a game, Lu Chen?" "What game?" "I have this game coin that I picked up from somewhere. It has a shield on one side and a sword on the other. Since you could never decide who you want to pick between Eve and Beauty Lin, why don¡¯t we let the coin decide it for you? The sword is Beauty Lin, and the shield is Eve. All you need to do is to flip the coin and decide whoever came out on top will be your girlfriend. Let this be the end of all your struggles. What do you say?" I blurted in shock, "Uh, I¡­" He Yi giggled at the side. "That is a good idea. Either way, I could be free of this humongous pressure on my shoulders once and for all. You have no idea how irritating it is having to deal with a mother who wouldn¡¯t stop pushing you on arranged dates¡­" Beiming Xue blinked once before asking, "Big bro, can you tell us the truth? Who do you like more, Sister Eve or Sister Lin Yixin?" I s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath before replying, "I don¡¯t know yet¡­" "Toss the coin! Toss the coin! Toss the coin!" Lian Xin chanted as if she couldn¡¯t wait for the shitshow that was going to ensue. "Fine¡­" I took the coin from Murong Mingyue and flipped it into the air. After she caught it, she looked at us and said with a smile, "The answer¡¯s about to be revealed¡­" Everyone was holding their breaths for the moment Murong Mingyue revealed the truth. The palm covering the coin moved away inch by inch. Finally, we saw the result and felt our jaws hitting the floor without a resounding thunk¡ª The face of the coin¡­ turned out to be a blooming chrysanthemum! The f.u.c.k? It¡¯s just a normal coin! "You!" If looks could kill, Murong Mingyue would be dead under He Yi and my death glare already. The embarrassed woman said placatingly, "Aiyo, I¡¯m so sorry, but it looks like I got the wrong coin! Seriously though, do you really want to decide something as important as your lifetime partner with a coin? I¡¯m doing this for your own good, you brat. Anyway, what I¡¯m trying to say is that both Beauty Lin and Eve are romantic beauties who¡¯ll never let go once they¡¯ve found their love, so it makes no sense to miss out on either one of them. So claim them all, Lu Chen! I will get you your 3P if it¡¯s the last thing I do!" I didn¡¯t react. I was practically a statue at this point. Beiming Xue pointed at Murong Mingyue and complained, "You just won¡¯t quit, Sister Mingyue! It¡¯s always teasing big bro or teasing him some more!" Murong Mingyue let out a cheeky laugh like what you would expect from a sadistic queen. However, she was a little too loud and successfully drew the attention of the students behind us. They squinted through the dim lighting until they saw Beiming Xue clearly, and in that moment their eyes widened into saucers, and their bodies froze like statues¡ª "Third, am I seeing right? That beautiful girl¡­ looks so familiar for some reason¡­" "Oh yes, she is. It¡¯s almost like she¡¯s that dark archer from Eternal Moon Corporation promotional poster, Beiming Xue. You see that small dimple at her cheeks when she smiles? It¡¯s practically identical¡­" "Now that you mention it, that guy sitting next to Beiming Xue looks quite familiar as well. Is he¡­" "He¡¯s Lu Chen! He¡¯s got to be Lu Chen! I remember that look as clear as yesterday!" ¡­¡­ The situation was rapidly devolving, so I asked the girls immediately, "You girls done eating?" "Mn!" "Bill please, auntie!" I footed the bill and ran away from the stall with the girls as quickly as humanly possible. Thankfully, when we stopped beneath a street lamp and looked behind us, we saw no one chasing out of the food stall. There was nothing more awkward than being recognized in public. ¡­¡­ We returned to the workshop and went to bed early. Rest was necessary as the WEL play-offs of the China region would begin tomorrow! The next day, I woke up to a bright and sunny day. Beiming Xue in her mini skirt opened the door to my room and said, "Big bro, it¡¯s 11 am already! Come eat!" Chapter 898: Snow Moon Returns At 12:30 pm, I logged into the game with a full belly and high spirits, ready to conquer the WEL play-offs. Today, the champion of the China region would be decided, a prospect countless people dreamed of attaining. Candle Dragon needed this win to prove that they were still the kings. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls needed this win to wipe away the regrets of the past. Warsky Alliance needed this win to distinguish themselves from their competitors. Snowy Cathaya needed this win to get more prize money. Even Blazing Hot Lips needed this win to solidify their recent status as the number one guild in Vanished God City. Long story short, everyone was gunning for the title of champion. It was unclear yet to whom the deer would fall, and all we could do now was to give it our all for the guild we had sunk much effort into building for the past year! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After I went online, I received a system notice: "Hello, you are a Top 64 participant of the WEL competition (China). Would you like to teleport to the center arena immediately? I selected "No." I had logged out of the game immediately after the preliminaries were over, so my equipment needed repairing, and my supplies needed to be restocked. I went to repair my equipment first. Then, I bought some Rank 9 and 10 Magic Consumablesto create some Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potions before sharing a couple stacks with the girls. I couldn¡¯t afford to be stingy considering that this was the WEL competition. I would happily trade a few stacks of high-rank potions for a champion¡¯s trophy any time! My preparations were complete, and there were still 20 minutes before the matches began. There was no reason to dilly dally, however. I should head in and check out the situation inside the arena. Swhoosh! Me and the girls went in as a party. Remains and the rest of the substitutes had already gone in, but they themselves knew that they weren¡¯t going to be participating in a single match today. The play-offs were nigh, and it was time for us first-strings to bring our full power to the play-offs. Like it or not, they had to admit that either one of us¡ªeither combination of us even¡ªexcept Murong Mingyue could beat them. My vision brightened. As it turned out, the venue chosen to hold the WEL play-offs was the biggest hall available in Sky City¡¯s battle arena. The stage where the battle would take place was a brightly lit, 100x100 yard area archers and mages would love a lot. In a sense, more space equaled more HP for these classes. There were four other smaller stages set on all four sides of the large stage. They would be used to hold all the matches from Top 64 phase to the eighth-finals. Only matches after the eighth-finals would be broadcasted in full, everything else would be selectively broadcasted just like the preliminaries. We were currently standing at the tournamentant waiting area¡ªthe seats surrounded the entire stage¡ªa lot of players waiting outside the railings already. Candle Dragon¡¯s group was standing quite far away from us. Candlelight Shadow was sitting on the steps and gazing calmly toward somewhere while Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, God¡¯s Dance and Transient Smoke and Clouds surrounded him like bodyguards. Besides that, they were also accompanied by a scepter-wielding girl who was also the current vice leader of Candle Dragon, Ye Yuse. She was a Divine General Charm Master, and she would be participating in the WEL as a regular. There was no doubt that she was one of the biggest variables of this competition. The reason I said this was because we knew nothing about Ye Yuse, while every last detail of our classes was dismantled and studied by our enemies for a long time now. It was the price of fame and one of the biggest disadvantages we had. According to Sun Tzu, the key to remaining undefeated in battle lay in how well you knew yourself and your enemy, but we knew nothing about Ye Yuse at all. She had concealed her strength too well. ¡­¡­ "Boss Broken Halberd!" I turned around and saw Gui Guzi walking toward me with his spear hanging loosely in his hand. He greeted me with a smile, "You guys sure took your time, haha! Anyway, as you can see we were lucky enough to enter the Top 64!" Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were following behind him. I shot them a glance before rolling my eyes at Gui Guzi, "Bruh, if y¡¯all can¡¯t make it to the Top 64 in a team with Li Chengfeng in it, then you might as well quit the game already¡­" High Fighting Spirits laughed loudly. "I know! There¡¯s no need to be humble, Little Gui, we totally deserve to be in the Top 64! Speaking of which, I wonder if we¡¯ll encounter Candlelight Shadow? I really want to duel against him today!" Li Chengfeng smiled. "I want to beat Candlelight Shadow myself, but to be honest, our chances of winning are low if we do run into them¡­" Chaos Moon nodded. "Yeah. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s champion arena win rate is slightly better than Li¡¯s, Blue Sky Scar¡¯s win rate is slightly better than High Fighting Spirits¡¯, and God¡¯s Dance¡¯s win rate is slightly better than Little Gui¡¯s. Objectively speaking, we don¡¯t match well against them. In my opinion, the best case scenario is Lu Chen¡¯s broken a.s.s team kicking Candle Dragon¡¯s a.s.s, and we lucking out, stealing the runner-up spot from all other competitors." Li Chengfeng couldn¡¯t stop himself from chuckling. "Are you kidding me? Even if we don¡¯t run into Candle Dragon or Lu Chen, there are still Wind Fantasy, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Warsky or Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s teams to worry about. Since when do we have a 100% win rate against either of these teams?" Chaos Moon m.o.a.n.e.d. "Why are there so many broken teams, goddammit! I don¡¯t wanna live anymore¡­" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment another group of players walked toward us, and their leader was none other than the beautiful Fruit Knife Goddess, Lin Yixin herself. She was spinning a deadly-looking dagger between her fingers, like a student would a pencil, adeptly. She probably knew the dagger far better than most assassin players out there. "Yo! I see that Snowy Cathaya made it to the Top 64¡­" Gui Guzi called out to them with a challenging grin. Purple Marquis shot back. "Heh! If the 222nd seed of ASDS can make it to the Top 64, how can we, the first string of Snowy Cathaya, possibly lag behind?" Gui Guzi immediately glared at him. "Hey, who the f.u.c.k are you calling the 222nd team?" "Look at the screen, you doofus!" "Huh¡­" We all looked up at the big display, and to our surprise, their team name was actually "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls 222nd Seed¡±. You couldn¡¯t even claim that it was a copycat team because the team member list was listed right below it. Gui Guzi immediately hopped up and down in rage, "What the f.u.c.k! Who¡¯s the one who came up with this team name? What¡¯s so wrong with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls 2nd Seed, huh!?" Li Chengfeng shuddered before looking at the sky. "Let¡¯s not dwell on those bad memories, okay? The day of the registration, I accidentally added two extra 2s because my hand shook. You won¡¯t blame me for this, will you?" Chaos Moon tilted her head at the screen before declaring, "I don¡¯t know man, it looks pretty stupid to me¡­" Their antics made Lin Yixin giggle like a bell. I walked up to her and said, "The next round won¡¯t be broadcasted, Yiyi. Let¡¯s both defeat our first opponents, shall we?" Lin Yixin nodded and smiled gently at me. "Mn. And let¡¯s pray that we don¡¯t encounter each other too soon." "Of course!" ¡­¡­ Another group of people chose this moment to walk up to us. They were all brawny males wielding all kinds of weapons except the cute little girl standing in the middle of them. For some reason, I felt like I had seen her somewhere. She had a cute face and a delicate body that was just starting to show some signs of growth. Given enough time, it looked like she could be quite the beauty in the future. She donned a set of metal armor and wielded a sword. She walked up to me and asked, "Long time no see, Lu Chen. Have you reconsidered joining us Soul Battle Robes yet?" "Soul Battle Robes?" I immediately recalled a certain memory and shook my head like a fan. "Sorry, but no thanks. Soul Battle Robes is full of fierce generals, right? You don¡¯t need an extra like me anymore, right? So please forget about me, Beauty Song of Cloud and Water. I¡¯ll never leave Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls no matter what!" He Yi shot me a praising smile from the side. Surprisingly, Song of Cloud and Water tilted her head at me before letting out a chuckle. "Alright then, if you insist. The next time we meet, it¡¯ll be on the battlefield. I hope your team will last until then, hehe¡­" ¡­¡­ "Why is that brat acting so c.o.c.ky all of the sudden?" Gui Guzi said with clenched fists. I looked at the guys following Song of Cloud and Water before frowning. "Huh. I don¡¯t remember any of these people from her previous team. Two of them even have hidden classes. And look, Song of Cloud and Water herself is Level 180! She must have found some powerful aid¡­" Lin Yixin blinked once before saying, "Hmm, Soul Battle Robes used to be the king of guilds that could go toe to toe with Snow Moon. Could it be that they are making a resurgence?" "I don¡¯t know¡­" I looked at the big display above us again before noticing something. "Hey look! Snow Moon just appeared on the screen! Their team members are¡­ the f.u.c.k? Their team members are¡­" Everyone¡¯s attention was drawn to the big display. Our jaws hit the floor when some very familiar IDs entered our vision¡ª Summer Last Year LV-180 Mage Nangong Lexi LV-180 Holy Archer Yi of Ice LV-180 Warrior Fleeting Fireworks LV-180 Magic Knight Silent Rain LV-179 Priest ¡­¡­ "It can¡¯t be¡­" He Yi¡¯s eyes widened like saucers. "They¡¯re¡­ they¡¯re all¡­" Lin Yixin murmured in a daze, "They¡¯re all members of the famous Twenty Four Snow Moon Cavalry back then! I can¡¯t believe that Nangong Lexi and the Twin Dragons, Yi of Ice and Fleeting Fireworks, are participating in the WEL as well! When did they level their accounts so high?" I shook my head. "I don¡¯t know. I haven¡¯t paid attention to Snow Moon for a very long time. To think that they would participate in the WEL with Summer Last Year as their leader! Is Snow Moon trying to make a comeback?" Li Chengfeng looked far less shocked than us, however. Leaning against the handrail and closing his eyes, he said, "It¡¯s not as bad as you guys think. In fact, you guys should be thankful that it¡¯s only the Earth Riders who returned to the scene, not Dark Shadow Drifter or Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow." Lin Yixin pumped her fist energetically and said, "Yeah. It¡¯s a shame though. I really wanted to fight against Dark Shadow Drifter and Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow again!" My eyes widened. "Wait. You fought against the Twin Winds of Snow Moon before, Yiyi?" "Yeah, three years ago when I was still in high school¡­" "What was the result?" Lin Yixin blinked cutely at me before revealing the shocking truth, "I beat Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow with a 7-6 score and Dark Shadow Drifter with a 9-5 score. What do you think?" Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and everyone else could only gape at her. I silently mulled over the information in my head. I should¡¯ve expected this, to be honest. Even before Heavenblessed, Lin Yixin was a powerful expert already. Her old ID, Beautiful Little Pepper, wouldn¡¯t have become a legend otherwise. Purple Marquis said proudly, "When Beautiful Little Pepper first made her debut, boss spent her whole summer vacation challenging all kinds of super experts such as Dark Shadow Drifter and Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow. In fact, she was the successor of the Temple of Order, and she annihilated almost all of Snow Moon¡¯s experts except Frivolous Scholar and Windy Snow, and that¡¯s only because she never sparred the last two!" It was at this moment Li Chengfeng facepalmed. "Oh man, this is really bringing up some terrible memories." Gui Guzi asked, "Li, you played Spirit of Grief too, right? Surely you¡¯ve tried to challenge some experts before. What was your win rate against Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow?" Li Chengfeng looked at the sky at a 45 degree angle before sighing. "My score was 0-27. Ah, the Buddha was right. Everything in this world is nothing¡­¡± Chapter 899: Proclamation of Kings Another group of people walked up to us while we were conversing with each other. This time, it was Warsky Alliance. Warsky donned a black armor, deep blue cape and wielded a fiery red sword. He looked every bit a top-tier fighter. Following behind him were October Rain and the usual members of Warsky Alliance. "Warsky?" I walked up to him and asked him with a smile, "What are you guys doing at our waiting area?" Warsky grinned and shrugged a little. "I just want to check in with you. Are we not welcome? Man, you¡¯re so unfriendly." "Just cut to the chase already, will you¡­" "Hahaha, fine, fine, it¡¯s easier this way!" Warsky sheathed his weapon before starting, "It¡¯s like this. When this WEL competition is over, 29 cities in northern China including Shenyang, Beijing, Yinchuan, Lanzhou, Xi''an, Zhengzhou, Taiyuan, and Xuzhou will be forming an alliance called the ¡®Northern Players Alliance¡¯. Their goal is to improve organization when conducting a city battle. Everyone will be registering with their real names so that they can be contacted immediately and mobilized effectively whenever a war breaks out." Lin Yixin replied, "That¡¯s a good thing, but we¡¯re all ¡®southern¡¯ players here so to speak. I don¡¯t think this matters to us, does it?" Warsky smiled awkwardly before continuing, "Well, my real objective is¡­ ahem. You see, over 70 million players chose to join the Northern Players Alliance, but there needs to be a leader¡ªthe president in short¡ªto give them direction. After I discussed this with all the guild leaders of the big guilds, we decided that whoever has the best result in this WEL competition will become the president of the Northern Players Alliance. Naturally, this untalented one decided to volunteer himself¡­" I chuckled. "And?" This time, October Rain stepped up to speak for her guild leader. "Warsky Alliance is the second strongest guild in China¡¯s Guild Ranking, and as a person, Warsky is a forthright and cool-headed man. The Northern Players Alliance could only do well in his hands, which is why we¡¯re hoping that you could show a teeny weeny bit of mercy if we happen to encounter one another in the latter matches. Warsky Alliance isn¡¯t afraid of the challenge, we just want a wise and courageous leader to lead northern cities. I¡¯m sure this is what everyone wishes to see, right?" I nodded before replying, "I have no qualms with Warsky becoming the king of the north, but I must remind you that WEL is a fair competition. In short, we won¡¯t be showing anyone mercy, especially because it¡¯s our dream to become the champion of China. We won¡¯t give up on it no matter what the reason!" Warsky rubbed his nose and said helplessly, "I knew it would turn out like this. Oh well. By the way, if I do become the king of the north, is there a chance you¡¯ll be calling yourself the king of the south, Lu Chen?" I smiled, but shook my head without giving a reply. "Why wouldn¡¯t you?" Warsky asked. It was at this moment Chaos Moon stepped out and said, "I see that your skin is growing thicker and thicker, Warsky. Lu Chen¡¯s not your gay partner, is he? In that case, why would he try to match you in anything? How do you think Luo River God of the Capital, Candlelight Shadow, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and even Lin Yixin would feel if Lu Chen did put on a ¡®Lu Chen in the south, Warsky in the north¡¯ show with you? Seriously!" I smiled. "What she said, basically. We are in an era of war, and I would rather keep a low profile than paint a target on my own back. Listen, I know Warsky Alliance has been undergoing rapid development recently, but it¡¯s not like you have zero competition, you know? As you can see, even old timers like Soul Battle Robes and Snow Moon have begun to make their move, so my advice to you is to keep rallying people like you usually do and wait for a better time to call yourself king¡­" "I never said I want to become the king of the north though?" "It¡¯s written all over your face, dude. Anyway, just focus on beating Snow Moon, Soul Battle Robes and Candle Dragon for now!" I paused for a second before continuing, "Also, I can tell you that the influence of this WEL competition is far-reaching. There won¡¯t be any Nation War while the competition is going on, but that will change immediately when the competition is over. Be ready. The Northern Alliance, Elephant City and Purple Gr.a.p.e City are all coveting our soil. Our true responsibility is to protect every inch of our homeland." "Yes, I know!" Warsky gave me a goodbye wave as he turned away. "Well, see you later. May both our teams make a good run in this WEL. Seriously though, where the hell did these strong teams even come from? It¡¯s like they suddenly sprouted out of nowhere!" "I know right¡­" ¡­¡­ After Warsky and his men left, we went back to leaning against the handrails and staring at the gigantic battle arenas below us. We would be battling on these complicated and ever-changing stages in the very near future. Already, this WEL competition was turning out to be a bag of "pleasant" surprises. Snow Moon and Soul Battle Robes had made a comeback without anyone noticing, and a couple of guilds I had never seen before had appeared on the venue as a Top 64 contender as well. We were definitely going to witness some new, unheard of class and skill in the very near future. Over 80% of the competitors were seventh-promotion players, which was why I had read up on every seventh-promotion skill a little. Warrior class got War God Rampage, a skill that increased Attack and speed, and granted magic and CC immunity for 12 seconds. Against archers and mages, it was practically a 12-second long invincibility skill as they would not be able to stun the warrior while the skill was still active! I already knew about the Magic Knight¡¯s Trapping Net, the mage¡¯s Touch of the Dragonkiss, and the archer¡¯s Skypiercer. Wanderer¡¯s seventh promotion skill was Rage of the Storm, a skill that increased Attack, Defense and Magic Resist, and Priest¡¯s was the Life Heal that instantly restored a target to full health at the cost of half their MP. Assassin¡¯s fourth promotion skill was a 12-second cooldown skill, Dance of Death¡ªalso nicknamed the "time of death" by some players¡ªthat put the assassin in a deadly offensive state. For 12 seconds, the assassin would gain a huge boost to their Attack, movement speed and attack speed, and reduce the target¡¯s Defense by 40%. This meant that, when Dance of Death was used, it was do or die for both the assassin and the victim! I wouldn¡¯t be going into detail for the rest of the classes, but the tamers had Grasp of the Divine Beast, the tacticians had Dragon¡¯s War Song, and bards got Challenging the Heavens. Out of these three, the bard¡¯s Challenging the Heavens increased all of their target¡¯s stats by 50%, meaning that bards had officially entered the era of full stat buffs, just like Purple Dragon tacticians and Lin Yixin. ¡­¡­ I raised my head and looked at the spectator stands for a bit.The ring of seats were beyond the competitors¡¯ waiting areas, and cost a bit of gold to enter. Honestly, you could be watching this competition from a PC or a TV and achieve almost the same experience, but many players ultimately decided that the privilege of witnessing their idols with their own eyes and cheering for them were well worth the gold. To give an idea on how much the virtual ticket cost, it was almost as expensive as a ticket to Jay Chow¡¯s concert. "Do your best, Candlelight Shadow! You are forever China¡¯s number one Martial God!" a female archer shouted on top of her lungs with raised arms. Candlelight Shadow looked up and gave her a smile. He didn¡¯t say anything. Then, another girl¡ªa mage¡ªrose to her feet and yelled, "China needs a kind and righteous Martial God, and you are the only one who fits the bill, Lu Chen! Do your best and take out that pretentious prick! Candlelight Shadow doesn¡¯t deserve the throne!" As it turned out, the mage was none other than Yu Tong herself, our new female recruit. I didn¡¯t know if Yu Tong expected this, but her retaliation almost caused a fight to break out on the spectator stands. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had more or less the same amount of fans as Candle Dragon did, so if a fight did break out, it was sure to get very messy. It was at this moment blue light illuminated the center stage, its rays joining together to form a familiar figure. It was Fei¡¯er, the legendary host who hosted countless tournaments for the games of Eternal Moon Corporation across the years. Naturally, she had zero reason not to show up on a global-scale competition like the WEL. Fei¡¯er grabbed the mic and said in her uniquely sweet and melodious voice, "Can everyone calm down for a moment? You over there, I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re a supporter of Lu Chen or Candlelight Shadow, you can duke it out AFTER I¡¯ve finished my announcement. I couldn¡¯t care less what happens afterward. Just remember to save your equipment for me after you¡¯re dead!" The commotion died immediately after Fei¡¯er¡¯s timely intervention. She definitely was a three times host of the WSL alright; she knew how to handle her audience very well. "First, I would like to thank Eternal Moon Corporation for building such a wonderful game for all of us. Next, I would like to thank the competitors for participating, and all the gamers out there for showing their support. It is thanks to you that this industry is able to survive to the next generation and continuously develop itself! Thank you so much!" She paused for a moment before continuing, "The Top 64 teams of WEL China have appeared, and the Top 4 teams and a champion will be born from them! They will bear our nation¡¯s flag and travel abroad to fight against the world! They are our representatives and the pride of Sky City, Wind City and Vanished God City!" When the thunderous claps ended, Fei¡¯er finally finished her speech, "The first round of the play-offs, or the 1/32 phase, will begin shortly, and all the matches will be held at the same time. The complete list of line-ups will appear in 120 seconds, so participants, please enter your line-ups now! I repeat, all participants, please enter your line-ups now!!" ¡­¡­ A familiar blue screen appeared in front of us, and He Yi walked up to it and typed in the line-up we had decided a while ago. Two minutes later, our first opponent appeared on the screen¡ª 1v1: Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark Archer VS Spring Mud LV-178 Warrior 1v1: Lian Xing LV-182 Phantasm of Stars VS Night Sorrow LV-179 Archer 1v1: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 Undead Swordsman VS Moon Shadow LV-180 Warrior 1v1: From Water LV-180 Magic Knight VS Young Master Le Warrior 2v2: Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark Archer & Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 Undead Swordsman VS Night Sorrow LV-179 Archer & Moon Shadow LV-180 Warrior ¡­¡­ What a coincidence! Not only was our first opponent the first seed of Flower Room, the three traitors were among them as well! "I can¡¯t believe this. This has got to be some of the easiest 32nd-finals in history¡­" He Yi commented in a dumbfounded tone. I smiled back. "Let¡¯s not waste this boon the heavens have granted us. Let¡¯s take them out in five minutes!" "Mn!" Beiming Xue was the first player to go on stage, and she gave the still-sixth-promotion Spring Mud no chance to even land a hit on her. Several rounds of Spiraling Arrow Blades and Skypiercers later, the poor bastard collapsed to his knees after running half the circ.u.mference of the arena. Lian Xin was the next person to go on stage, and just like Beiming Xue, she forewent all defense and simply blasted Night Sorrow¡¯s face with magic until he died. She was protected by her Telekinetic Shield, but Night Sorrow didn¡¯t have any way to defend himself at all. Therefore, his chances of beating Lian Xin were always going to be lower than 10% ¡­¡­ The girls scored two points for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls in no time at all. I was the third player to go on stage, and my opponent was the Level 180 Moon Shadow, a former member of the guild. "Lu Chen!" Moon Shadow called out to me with a glare. "What?" I replied indifferently while gripping the Purple Ying Sword. "I will never forget that you are the reason we were chased out of the guild!" Moon Shadow¡¯s sword hand shook visibly with anger. "You are the reason we had to leave Murong Mingyue and He Yi!" I s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath before retorting, "Oh really? Am I really the one who made them lose faith in you? Or are you the ones who never showed them any sincerity in the first place? I was just a big bargaining chip to you people, wasn¡¯t I? To be honest, I can¡¯t even describe how glad I am that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are rid of you f.u.c.kers. People like you don¡¯t deserve to stay by Eve¡¯s side at all!" "Die, you bastard!" Enraged, Moon Shadow activated his seventh-promotion skill, War God Rampage! For 12 seconds, his Attack was increased by 40%, his target¡¯s Defense was reduced by 25%, and he was immune to magic! ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t matter in the slightest, however. I charged him in a straight line and pierced his c.h.e.s.t with Burning Blade Slash and Universe Break the second I activated Great Earth Transformation. 0.7 seconds later, the fight was over! Chapter 900: Undead Mage That I beat Moon Shadow twice in a row and won the third match meant that Flower Room¡¯s WEL journey had come to an end. I had to commend them for coming this far though. The players themselves were just averagely skilled, which probably meant that they were relying on Spring Mud and Moon Shadow¡¯s excellent equipment to defeat their opponents. Moreover, Moon Shadow was a point securer because he was a Level 180 seventh-promotion warrior. There were few teams in the preliminaries who could stop him once he activated War God Rampage. Li Le glared at us from his waiting area and said, "Ancient Sword may have taken three points in a row, but¡­ we still must finish the remaining two matches." I nodded. "In the spirit of sportsmanship, we agree to play out all five matches." The fourth match was He Yi versus Li Le, both the guild leaders of their respective guilds. The power gap between them was pretty huge though. Li Le might¡¯ve bought himself a full set of top-tier equipment, but not even the power of RMB could buy him high-level Outstanding Immortal-grade equipment. That was why his weapon and his shield were always going to be outmatched by He Yi¡¯s Seven Star Veluriyam Spear and Dharan City Ruins Barrier, not to mention that He Yi herself had spent every day for the past half a year or so studying full-body VR control and proper combat tactics. It was an advantage that Li Le lacked even more. The result of the duel between the two mounted players was pretty clear. After changing her movement speed and altering her direction twice, she stabbed him with the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear and brought the score to 4:0. The last match was attended by me and Beiming Xue, so of course it was going to be a one-sided slaughter. In fact, I did my best to end the battle as quickly as possible because it was one of the factors that affected the MVP score. The shorter the duel, the more points were awarded, and the higher the DPS numbers became. All these variables would be used to decide the MVP of WEL China, a title that every top-tier expert dreamed of getting! ¡­¡­ After we ended Flower Room¡¯s WEL journey with a 5:0 score, Li Le stood at the waiting area with an ugly red complexion on his face. Spring Mud was standing next to him and probably consoling him. However, Li Le¡¯s expression turned uglier when he saw the match result on the display. "Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g kidding me? A human trash like Roaming Dragon entered 1/16 while we were eliminated in the first round? F.u.c.k¡­" Spring Mud consoled, "It¡¯s fine, Roaming Dragon isn¡¯t going to go far. We were just unlucky to encounter Ancient Sword right at the beginning of the play-offs. They were the favorites to win the whole thing, so it makes sense that we weren¡¯t able to compete with them¡­" Li Le bared his teeth for a second before saying, "Well, I guess we¡¯re not going back to the club tonight. Let¡¯s log off and drink until the night. I¡¯ll ask Life of Luxury to bring over a few babes." Spring Mud replied, "Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ After all the matches happening on the smaller stages had ended, Fei¡¯er returned to the center stage wearing the one and only uniform dress that existed in the entire game and held up her mic. "After 20 minutes of exciting battles, the list of the Top 32 teams is now in my hands! Now, we¡¯ll let the main system shuffle the teams at random and place them in the upper and lower brackets of the 1/16 phase!" Everyone held their breaths as they stared at the gigantic display in the sky. A flash later, the list of teams inside the upper bracket appeared¡ª Group A Warsky Alliance VS Peach Garden Purple Lily VS Meteor Flame Group B Soul Battle Robes VS Rose of the Holy Domain Blazing Hot Lips VS Snow Moon Group C Thunder VS Silver Soul Snowy Cathaya VS Hegemon Palace Group D Mad Dragon VS Gods of Destruction Baidicheng VS Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls 222nd ¡­¡­ We didn¡¯t appear in the upper bracket, so there was no way we would run into Warsky Alliance or Snowy Cathaya until the finals. There were countless powerful teams in the upper bracket such as Warsky Alliance, Purple Lily, Soul Battle Robes, Snow Moon, Snowy Cathaya, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls 222nd. It was going to be an exciting bracket for sure. Next was the lower bracket. It didn¡¯t take long for Fei¡¯er to click the right buttons and put the results on the display¡ª Group E Candle Dragon VS The Monarch Descends Weeping Blood VS Righteousness Group F Who Will Fight Me VS Conquer Pop Culture VS Rain Sanctuary Group G Dominating Heaven Tiger VS Wing Chun Sect Mini VS Sword Lord of Jianghu Group H Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls VS Heavenly Feather City Panda VS Dirge of War ¡­¡­ "Looks like our luck is pretty good, hehe¡­" Lian Xin clenched his fists while smiling. "We¡¯re placed in the same bracket as Candle Dragon! Looks like only one of us is walking away from this bracket!" I nodded in agreement. "We are pretty lucky. None of our opponents look exceptionally strong besides Candle Dragon. At the very least, we shouldn¡¯t face any problems until we enter the semi-finals." "Mn. Let¡¯s prepare!" He Yi said. ¡­¡­ While this was going on, Fei¡¯er had declared the start of the 16th-finals. Group A would be fighting first, and both fights¡ªWarsky Alliance VS Peach Garden and Purple Lily VS Meteor Flame¡ªwere happening at the same time. Warsky Alliance¡¯s line-up was the same as before. Warsky, Farewell Song, October Rain and Lin Bing Dou Zhe would be fighting the solo matches, while Warsky and Farewell Song would be fighting the duo match. It looked like a solid line-up, and in fact, the battle went solidly in Warsky Alliance¡¯s favor. Warsky and Farewell Song knocked out their opponents in just a couple of minutes, and October Rain won her match with a 2:1 score. Lin Bing Dou Zhe was the only one who lost his match because his opponent was the guild leader of Peach Garden, Indigo Collar. Indigo Collar was a ballsy man who traveled all the way to Wind City with his guild just to challenge Candle Dragon, and his strength reflected that confidence. He was able to shut down Lin Bing Dou Zhe with a clean 2:0 score and take one point for Peach Garden. However, Warsky Alliance¡¯s overall strength was just too much for Peach Garden. When the 2v2 match began, Farewell Song gave Indigo Collar no chance to try anything and killed him before the stun duration even ended. Warsky also used his Ghost Banner repeatedly and ended the battle with lightning speed. In the end, Warsky Alliance defeated Peach Garden with a dominating 4:1 score and sent a powerful team packing from the WEL. Purple Lily ended their fight at nearly the same time as Warsky Alliance. The point securers of Purple Lily¡ªLuo River God of the Capital, Moonkiss and Moonlight Beneath A Rock¡ªtook their matches by storm and finished the battle with a dominant 4:1 score as well. So far, the matches were progressing exactly as everyone predicted. Warsky Alliance and Purple Lily were two of the ten strongest guilds in China, and there was no reason to believe that their first seeds would suffer a surprise defeat at the 16th-finals. The next fight shortly, and this time it was Group B¡¯s Soul Battles Robes versus Rose of the Holy Domain. Again, it was a battle between two powerhouses. Soul Battle Robes¡¯ line-up appeared on the big display¡ª Song of Cloud and Water LV-180 Magic Knight Song of Ice and Fire LV-181 Frozen Berserker Ringwraith LV-180 Undead Mage God Bone LV-180 Iron Knight ¡­¡­ "What the f.u.c.k?" It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that this line-up was no joke. Frowning, I voiced my puzzlement to the others, "Since when are there so many experts with hidden classes in China? How did we not know about them?" Beiming Xue pulled my hand and said, "Big bro, there are many small guild leaders who are actually first-rate experts, you know. You don¡¯t know them because you were never at a place where you can make contact with them. Some of us have fought these guild leaders before, and they¡¯ve all proven themselves to be quite adept at PvP battles. They just don¡¯t often show their faces at the arena, and you spend most of your time solo grinding to increase your level. Of course you don¡¯t recognize them¡­" Meanwhile, He Yi was staring at the distance and muttering to herself, "Strange. Soul Battle Robes is a veteran guild, true, but¡­ where did she find this many experts? She¡¯s just an underripe, inexperienced girl. There¡¯s no way she would have the prestige to attract these many experts to her side." Lin Yixin was sitting next to her, and when she heard this she smiled at He Yi and explained, "It looks like you weren¡¯t aware, Sister Eve, but Soul Battle Robes have been growing by leaps and bounds as of late. The reason for that is because someone is helping them¡­" "Help?" I was astonished. "Who on earth is this person, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin giggled. "Beauty Song of Cloud and Water has always tried to recruit you, hasn¡¯t she? Had you gone to Soul Battle Robes, you would¡¯ve encountered the Gyuumao of the CGL Hall of Fame already!" "Ah?" Beiming Xue¡¯s mouth fell open a little. "What are you talking about, Sister Lin Yixin? Please stop teasing us and tell us the truth already¡­" Lin Yixin shrugged once before relenting. "Fine, fine. To tell you the truth, Song of Cloud and Water is the younger sister of Seven-Star Lamp himself!" "What?!" He Yi and I exclaimed in shock. Seven-Star Lamp was a legend and the only player who could go toe-to-toe with the Heavenly King of Spirit of Grief, Frivolous Scholar. Soul Battle Robes had forged countless villainous and admirable legends under his leadership. Lin Yixin continued, "If only you had gone with Song of Cloud and Water, Little Cheat! You might¡¯ve gotten the chance to make the acquaintance of Seven-Star Lamp, not to mention that Song of Cloud and Water herself is cute, innocent, and even slightly infatuated with you. Maybe¡­" I would be blind not to notice the hidden blade behind her words, so I immediately clasped my fists and interrupted her before she could finish, "Cut it out, there¡¯s no way I¡¯m ever going to go to Soul Battle Robes. A man¡¯s word is his bond, and I¡¯m never going to leave Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" Both Lin Yixin and He Yi smiled in satisfaction. "Very good, very good¡­" Thick beads of sweat rolled down my forehead. Thank goodness I hadn¡¯t given the wrong answer, or I had no doubt that Lin Yixin and He Yi would¡¯ve knocked me to the floor and kicked the shit out of me. Bad enough if it happened in private, but in public? My reputation would¡¯ve been ruined forever. "The match is about to begin!" At the side, Purple Marquis reminded Lin Yixin with a slightly aggrieved look in his eyes. I could almost imagine what he was thinking: Guild leader, we¡¯re your guild members, not Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Why are you always together with them? ¡­¡­ On the stage, Soul Battle Robes¡¯ players appeared on the opposite side of Rose of the Holy Domain, one of the Top 10 guilds of Vanished God City. For the first match, Song of Cloud and Water sent the Undead Mage called Ringwraith, while Rose Thorn sent her trusted general, Divine Phantasm. Divine Phantasm was a magic knight with great Attack and Defense. He was also a Top 100 expert in the champion arena. Swhoosh! After Ringwraith appeared on stage, he shot Divine Phantasm a small smile and said, "Dang, to think that my first professional match after such a long time would be a Top 100 contender in the champion arena! Just my luck!" Divine Phantasm gripped his blade and said, "Ringwraith the Undead Mage? Sounds amazing, but I wonder who¡¯s stronger, you or the undead swordsman, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?" Ringwraith snorted. "You will know when you fight me." ¡­¡­ Divine Phantasm squeezed his t.h.i.g.hs and growled, "In that case, here I come!" His mount neighed in response and charged toward Ringwraith at high speed. As expected, Divine Phantasm was the straightforward type who would go all out from the get go. There weren¡¯t many people who could handle his "treatment¡±. The 30-year-old Ringwraith narrowed his eyes a little as he waved his scepter. Suddenly, he shouted, "Bone Cage!" ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud! Countless bony arms suddenly burst out of the ground and stretched toward Divine Phantasm¡¯s mount¡¯s hooves like vines! Chapter 901: Stranger of Three Lifetimes Versus Snow Moon Bone Cage halted Divine Phantasm¡¯s charge immediately. It stopped his mount from being able to move a millimeter, and during this time, Ringwraith was already gathering his magic and preparing for the next attack! "Tsk!" Divine Phantasm jumped down his mount immediately and ran toward the undead mage. He raised his sword before he even got close and yelled, "Eat this!" A rainbow-colored ray flew toward the skeleton. It was a sword energy attack! Ringwraith didn¡¯t panic though. He simply raised his scepter and yelled, "Bone Wall!" Bang! A solid wall made of rows and rows of bones burst out of the earth in front of Ringwraith. It was as big as Lian Xin¡¯s Origin Force Field, but unlike hers, his magical obstacle could be used to block attacks. Divine Phantasm¡¯s attack hit the wall and dealt exactly zero damage to Ringwraith. Before Divine Phantasm could launch a second attack, Ringwraith ran backward and waved his scepter. A full second later, black, draconic energy burst out of his scepter! "Roar!" 79022! The moment the skill called ¡°Black Dragon Wave¡± engulfed Divine Phantasm, Ringwraith stomped his foot and shouted again, "Come out, Death Puppets! Kill this man!" The earth split in half, and two undead generals clad in armor climbed out of the crack. It was a skill from the necromancy branch! The two undead generals shared the exact same level as Ringwraith, and they rushed toward Divine Phantasm, swinging their bony blades at him like crazy. Not only that, their presence greatly reduced the magic knight¡¯s mobility! I clenched my fists. The competition had appeared calm on the surface, but the truth was revealed the moment we entered the play-offs. If even an expert mage like Ringwraith had emerged to challenge the WEL, I could only imagine how much stronger China would become after the competition was over, and all these experts emerged to full view! Divine Phantasm never had a chance to beat Ringwraith. Not only did Ringwraith countered his skills and tactics completely, he was able to control his undead puppets and himself perfectly to utterly dominate his opponent. He used one undead general to attack and the other one to block Divine Phantasm¡¯s way, all the while firing one Black Dragon Wave after another annihilated the magic knight¡¯s health pool. Despite having almost 200k HP, the knight saw red in just the matter of seconds! "Roar!" One final Black Dragon Wave later, Ringwraith officially scored one point over Divine Phantasm! The second battle went more or less the same way. In the end, Soul Battle Robes scored one over Rose of the Holy Domain and took the lead! ¡­¡­ The second match was attended by Song of Cloud and Water herself. Her opponent was a skilled archer who knew how to chain-stun her target and kite them like a butterfly. Unfortunately, Song of Cloud and Water had a shield, a high-level mount, and War God Recovery to restore her chipped health. Unable to take down Song of Cloud and Water in a short time, the archer was eventually caught by the little girl and killed two times in a row. The match went to Song of Cloud and Water with a perfect 2:0 score. For the third match, the player Rose of the Holy Domain dispatched to secure a point and deny the enemy¡¯s victory was their ace and guild leader, Rose Thorn herself! Swhoosh! On the other side of the arena, God Bone rode a warhorse covered in glowing armor and wielded a glowing warblade. He shot Rose Thorn a smile as she slowly appeared on the battlefield. Rose Thorn stared coolly at God Bone before saying, "Why is someone like you staying in a second-rate guild like Soul Battle Robes, God Bone? Come to Rose of the Holy Domain. I promise you that you¡¯ll always have a seat of power with us." God Bone smiled again before replying, "Thank you for the offer, but I didn¡¯t join Soul Battle Robes because of their prospects. I joined them because I still couldn¡¯t let go of the good ol¡¯ days, and to fulfill a promise I made to someone. I will stay until Soul Battle Robes¡¯ name is spread across the whole world once more!" "What promise? And which game did you belong to?" Rose Thorn pursued. But God Bone simply shook his head and said, "It¡¯s none of your concern. Some things can only exist in the heart, especially because you¡¯d laugh at me if I told you about it¡­" Rose Thorn looked surprised, but she stopped talking. It was because the countdown had begun! Whoosh! When the battle began, Rose Thorn immediately used her signature skill, Guardian Soul, and drastically increased her Defense for a short period of time. It was to stop her opponent from catching her off-guard. Then, she dashed toward God Bone and used her quadruple-hit skill, Storm Slash! God Bone took two steps backward in a zigzag pattern. He was only hit once because successfully nullified two hits with his shield, and one with his weapon! 27472! "Good damage!" God Bone praised. Rose Thorn wore a murderous expression as she raised her sword in front of her. Then, she thrust forward and used Barrier Break! However, God Bone calmly tilted his body slightly to one side and struck Rose Thorn¡¯s shield with his own with explosive strength. Then, he launched an attack combo that he had clearly practiced for a very long time, raining blow after blow onto Rose Thorn¡¯s exposed shoulders. The name of two skills appeared on the screen¡ª Bloodbreak Slash! Coldblood Flurry! Bloodbreak Slash was a skill that ignored Defense, and Coldblood Flurry was a lightning-fast triple-hit skill. Four damage numbers rose above Rose Thorn¡¯s head at once¡ª 76723! 31029! 31282! 29833! Rose Thorn couldn¡¯t believe it. God Bone¡¯s shield bash had caused her Barrier Break to narrowly miss the target, and the consequent counterattack had left her with just a sliver of HP. Looking at her expression, it might even be an understatement to say that God Bone¡¯s retaliation had crushed her confidence completely. One last Barrier Break later, Rose Thorn was deleted from the battlefield! In the end, Rose Thorn lost to God Bone with a 0:2 score as badly as Divine Phantasm did earlier. Rose Thorn was somewhat of a famous expert in Vanished God City and a guild leader with greater power and prestige than her peers, Throne Seeker and Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch, but God Bone was so much stronger than her that she was not able to put up even a single shred of resistance. God Bone¡¯s skill and technique were simply far more accomplished and polished than hers. Just like that, Soul Battle Robes advanced to the eighth-finals with a 3:0 score! ¡­¡­ Fei¡¯er asked the members of Soul Battle Robes, "Do you want to play out the last two matches?" Standing at the edge of the stage, Song of Cloud and Water shook her head before responding, "No, we refuse to fight out the remaining matches. We¡¯ve already won, and we see no point in participating in pointless matches!" Fei¡¯er nodded. "Alright, understood! I hereby declare that Soul Battle Robes has defeated Rose of the Holy Domain and advanced to the eighth-finals! On the other side, Rose Thorn¡¯s shoulders were shaking, and her expression was filled with regret. She probably never imagined that a team as strong as hers would be eliminated at the 16th-finals. ¡­¡­ "Big brother Lu Chen, why did Song of Cloud and Water refuse to fight out the last 1v1 and 2v2 match? Does she not respect her opponent?" Lian Xin asked me. I shot Soul Battle Robes¡¯ team members a glance before replying, "It¡¯s not that. She just has loftier goals than we initially imagined. Normally, people would go all out during the 16th-finals, but she¡¯s aiming to conceal her team¡¯s strengths because she¡¯s aiming for the championship. Frozen Berserker is spared from revealing his skillset, and this Song and Ice and Fire is probably an expert as well. His eyes look sharp¡­" "Just where is she finding this confidence?" He Yi couldn¡¯t understand. Lin Yixin explained with a smile, "Again, Song of Cloud and Water is Seven-Star Lamp¡¯s younger sister. With his reputation, it was never a question whether or not he could recruit a couple of people to help her. Still, the quality of these helpers is rather surprising. Poor Rose of the Holy Domain never stood a chance." I raised my hand to catch their attention. "Girls, look, Snow Moon¡¯s members just entered the arena! This is going to be another exciting match!" "Mn!" Everyone followed the direction I was pointing and saw eight or so players with the emblem of Snow Moon floating on their shoulders. They looked eager to go to town with their opponents already. ¡­¡­ Snow Moon¡¯s opponent was none other than our close ally, Blazing Hot Lips. We saw Stranger of Three Lifetimes and her girls waiting to step into the battlefield. Coincidentally, both Snow Moon and Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ teams were all female, but that didn¡¯t mean that they were absolute powerhouses in their own right! The first match was between Eyes Like Water and Summer Last Year. Swhoosh! The vice leader of Blazing Hot Lips appeared on the battlefield atop a huge horse. On the other side, a beautiful petite girl appeared in a magical flash. She was none other than the current guild leader of Snow Moon, Summer Last Year, and she was a Level 180 mage. She seemed pretty strong just looking at her level alone. Neither girl attempted to make conversation with each other. The moment the countdown reached zero, they immediately raised their weapons and charged the enemy! As the vice leader of Blazing Hot Lips and a trusted aide of Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Eyes Like Water wasn¡¯t a weak player. After running around and probing for weaknesses for a bit, she closed the distance between herself and Summer Last Year in the blink of an eye and stabbed the mage in the face using Barrier Break. She dealt over 20k damage despite the Magic Shield, and deleted almost all of Summer Last Year¡¯s HP in the blink of an eye! "Touch of the Dragonkiss!" Seeing that Summer Last Year refused to back down even a step, Eyes Like Water endured the full brunt of the spell and retaliated with her own Triple Slash. Just like that, the mage was one-shot and knocked out of the battlefield! The next match didn¡¯t go any better for Summer Last Year. After Eyes Like Water defeated the mage with a clean 2:0 score, she returned to the edge of the arena and muttered depressedly, "Oh man, I know I haven¡¯t PvP¡¯d in a long time, but this is even worse than I expected. Big brother Shusheng is definitely going to laugh at me tonight¡­" Beside her, the Holy Archer Nangong Lexi consoled her with a smile, "It¡¯s fine, Shusheng knows exactly how good you are, so there¡¯s no way he¡¯ll blame you for losing your match. Plus, didn¡¯t you girls join only because you were bored with work? You even forcefully dragged the two of us into this. We just want to enjoy the game and farm some equipment¡­" Yi of Ice nodded in agreement. "Yeah. We wouldn¡¯t care if we were still young, cute hotties, but now we¡¯re all about to pass the dreaded threshold as single women, and you want us to fight against Heavenly Kings like Lu Chen and Lin Yixin? Are you kidding me? You should¡¯ve just asked Shusheng to help you!" Summer Last Year pouted. "You think I don¡¯t want to? Big brother Shusheng¡¯s account is only Level 23. That shameless bastard even begged Ling Xue to join him on his journey to restart from zero, hmph¡­" Yi of Ice said, "Alright, alright, enough. Lele, it¡¯s your turn now. Go get ''em!" "Mn!" Nangong Lexi raised her weapon and teleported into the battlefield. Her opponent was none other than Stranger of Three Lifetimes herself, one of the strongest mages in the entire China! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After Stranger of Three Lifetimes appeared on the grassy field, she smiled lazily and greeted Nangong Lexi, "Nice to meet you. Wasn¡¯t expecting experts from the Twenty Four Snow Moon Cavalry to make a return." Nangong Lexi smiled. "Hello stranger. Goodbye stranger. This match is mine!" Chapter 902: You Have No Right to Call Me Ugly "Aaaaaaaahhh???" Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ anger meter went from zero to one hundred in an instant. She hadn¡¯t expected Nangong Lexi to act so c.o.c.ky after her resurgence. She grabbed her waist with one hand and pointed with the other, "Don¡¯t get so c.o.c.ky, Nangong! If I hadn¡¯t started my career this late, you would¡¯ve known to fear me even when Frivolous Scholar was still around to protect you!" Nangong Lexi continued taunting, "Oh wow, you lost your cool already? Hmph hmph, I guess I should¡¯ve known better than to expect some modic.u.m of magnanimity from you¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes stomped her feet furiously. "Pooh! Now I really regret not starting my career sooner! I would¡¯ve kicked your a.s.s and make the Twenty Four Snow Moon Cavalry scream for your papas and mamas like Beautiful Little Pepper! That got to Nangong Lexi, and her smile pressed into a thin, mirthless line. "Beautiful Little Pepper¡­ hmph, she has nothing to do with our fight, does she? Anyway, if she runs into us we¡¯ll teach her and her guild a lesson this time!" A triumphant grin immediately widened across Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ lips. "Oho, it looks like I hit a nerve. You can forget Wind Fantasy though, because you ain¡¯t going to win this match!" "Save that for after the match!" ¡­¡­ Coincidence or not, the system began its countdown only after the two girls had finished trading barbs with one another. The moment it hit zero, the mage summoned her Origin Energy Shield and launched a fire dragon straight toward Nangong Lexi. "Roar!" Nangong Lexi hurriedly dashed to the right. A continuous speed up and change of direction later, she successfully dodged the spell and retaliated with an arrow shot! However, the arrow merely bounced off Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ Origin Energy Shield and amused her. "Are you trying to die, Nangong?" She brought down her foot, and a wave of ice spread across the ground at high speed. It was none other than the mage skill "Ice Blast¡±. Not only that, she followed up with the deadly Level 180 mage spell, Touch of the Dragonkiss. Nangong Lexi would surely be annihilated if she failed to dodge either spell. The ice hit Nangong Lexi, and a damage number rose above her head¡ª 31928! The fact that the guild leader did so much damage with a single Ice Blast was a testament to her strength. However, a beautiful figure suddenly burst out of the cloud of ice and dust caused by Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ attack. Unperturbed by the damage she took, Nangong Lexi quickly deduced the distance between herself and the mage before taking three steps to the back. Then, she drew her bow and charged a silver light at her arrow tip! Swhoosh! Strange of Three Lifetimes¡¯ reaction was seriously amazing. Right after the arrow was shot, she was already holding her scepter in front of her c.h.e.s.t. She was actually trying to Guard and maybe even nullify the skill completely! Unfortunately, Nangong Lexi¡¯s skill was even stranger than she imagined. When the silver arrow was about 10 yards away from Stranger of Three Lifetimes, it suddenly sped up with a loud boom, punched right through her Origin Energy Shield and exploded in between her 34Ds! 41029! Combat Log: Player "Nangong Lexi" triggered the "Blink" effect of "Blink Arrow", dealing 41029 damage to player "Stranger of Three Lifetimes"! Then, the bowstring started glowing with holy energy as Nangong Lexi pulled it into a half crescent. "This is the end, Stranger of Three Lifetimes! Holy Light Arrow!" Boom! The arrow covered in rings of energy left a trail of silver as it flew toward Stranger of Three Lifetimes. It tore apart her Origin Energy Shield and deleted the mage¡¯s remaining HP. As it turned out, the Holy Light Arrow also ignored Magic Shield¡ªalthough not to the same extent as her Blink Arrow, which had ignored the Origin Energy Shield completely earlier! No wonder Nangong Lexi was as confident as she was! ¡­¡­ The score turned 0:1. Stranger of Three Lifetimes lost the first fight. After she appeared outside the stage, Eyes Like Water said worriedly, "What should we do, Momo? That Nangong Lexi¡¯s archery skills are no joke!" Lasting nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that Blink Arrow is so weird. I can¡¯t believe it can just go through Magic Shield¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes appeared to be unusually calm, however. She said, "Relax, I¡¯ll win the next fight for sure. I¡¯ll quit being a guild leader if I lose!" Eyes Like Water stared at her with wide eyes. "But what will you be if not our guild leader?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes suddenly blushed a little. "Well, that bastard Lu Chen hasn¡¯t returned the 1000 mages he borrowed, has he? Maybe he¡¯ll let me join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and become a vice leader¡­" Shocked, Eyes Like Water pointed at her friend¡¯s nose and bl.u.s.tered, "You¡¯re still thinking about that, Momo? I¡¯ve misjudged you, we¡¯ve all misjudged you! You¡¯re eating spoiled wotou for tonight¡¯s dinner!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes: "..." ¡­¡­ When Stranger of Three Lifetimes reappeared on the battlefield, she didn¡¯t look perturbed by her previous loss in the slightest. Nangong Lexi was also staring at the mage wordlessly as well. The countdown reached zero, and the battle began instantly! Just like the first match, Stranger of Three Lifetimes opened up with Fire Dragon Spell and Ice Blast to sound out her opponent. She still managed to delete almost half of Nangong Lexi¡¯s HP though. Using the ice cloud as her cover, Nangong Lexi rolled out into the open, knelt on one knee and drew her bow. She was going to repeat her previous trick! A near indiscernible smile crossed Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ lips. She abruptly ran five yards to the front, and the Blink Arrow Nangong Lexi shot exploded harmlessly behind her. It didn¡¯t even hurt her Origin Energy Shield. "Ah?!" Nangong Lexi tried to back away, but there was no way the mage was going to allow that. Flames converging at the tip of her scepter. She said, "Blink Arrow has a blink range of 30 yards, right? Tell me, I¡¯m wrong, Nangong." "You!" Nangong Lexi finally understood why Stranger of Three Lifetimes and her guild was able to rise above all the other powerful guilds in Vanished God City. Her greatest trump cards had always been her powerful judgment and her ability to face any situation calmly! "Touch of the Dragonkiss!" The savage head of a magical dragon burst out of the earth and bit Nangong Lexi in her t.h.i.g.hs, deleting her last sliver of HP! The score turned 1:1. Stranger of Three Lifetimes had scored one back for herself in dominant fashion! The third match was just as intense as the first two, but this time Nangong Lexi chose to kite Stranger of Three Lifetimes and potentially snipe her with Blink Arrow. Unfortunately for her, the mage was too smart to fall for the same trick after figuring out how it worked. She kept baiting out Nangong Lexi¡¯s Blink Arrows by changing her speed and direction repeatedly. A grueling 127 seconds of skill trading and potion drinking later, Stranger of Three Lifetimes ultimately killed Nangong Lexi with Ice Blast and proved herself to be the better of the two of them! ¡­¡­ The overall score turned 2:0 for Blazing Hot Lips. Thus far, not even the elite riders of the once all-powerful Snow Moon were able to score a point against their opponent. After Nangong Lexi returned to her teammates, she fell silent for a moment before explaining herself to Summer Last Year, "Summer, I¡­ I underperformed, okay? I normally am better than this¡­" Summer Last Year nodded. "I know¡­" Yi of Ice looked at Fleeting Fireworks and said, "Looks like it¡¯s up to us, girl." Fleeting Fireworks raised her fiery spear with a chuckle. "No problem. They¡¯ve already used up their strongest players. If we still lose after this, we might as well return to Hangzhou and sell flowers¡­" Yi of Ice nodded. "Mn. Now get ready. It¡¯s your turn to fight!" "Yeah!" The next moment, Fleeting Fireworks appeared on the stage donning a silver armor and a red cape, riding a Frostscale Horse and wielding a blazing spear. She looked very cool and heroic. She swung her spear and said to the Lasting the Soul of the Wild, "Aiyo, look at you cute little thing! I just can¡¯t bear to hurt a delicate little flower like you¡­" Lasting curled her lips and retorted, "Yeah right. Why don¡¯t you stop pretending and come after me already, pervert?" Fleeting Fireworks: "..." The countdown reached zero, and Lasting immediately released three pets¡ªa Ghost Chariot, a Crimson-eyed Mantis, and a Lightning Mouse. It was a combination of two melees and one mage; a good pet composition in most cases. At the same time, Lasting swung her whip and said, "Grasp of the Divine Beast!" The Level 180 seventh-promotion skill immediately applied animalistic runes onto the three pets, increasing their attack power by 120%! Maintaining a cool head, Fleeting Fireworks took off and ran toward Lasting¡¯s flank in a straight line. The Crimson-eyed Mantis screeched, but the Ghost Chariot acted even faster than it was. Before the tournament, we had givenStranger of Three Lifetimes five baby Ghost Chariots as a gift, and she had given one of them to Lasting. Extending itself to full length, the umbrella pet hit Fleeting Fireworks with Ghost Chariot Slash and dealt a whopping 110k damage to her! "Eh?" Fleeting Fireworks was surprised by the damage she took, but she immediately regained her cool and trapped the Ghost Chariot with Trapping Net. Then, she set her sights onto Lasting and Charged! Swhoosh! Unfortunately for Lasting, it was a successful stun. One Barrier Break + Triple Slash combo later, she was killed where she stood! The next battle went more or less the same way. Despite Lasting¡¯s best efforts, Fleeting Fireworks was always able to kill her first before the three pets could interfere! In that moment, the magic knight had carried out the philosophy of "cutting off the head of the snake" perfectly! Thanks to Fleeting Fireworks, Snow Moon was finally able to score one against Blazing Hot Lips. The score was now 1:2. ¡­¡­ The fourth match was between Yi of Ice and the archer, Nono. But unlike the previous matches, it was clear that Nono was completely outclassed by Yi of Ice. The warrior easily destroyed the archer and brought the overall score to 2:2. "God damn, this is a close fight¡­" Li Chengfeng commented while gripping his fists. I nodded in agreement. "It all falls on the final 2v2 battle now. Still, I¡¯m surprised that weakened Snow Moon Twenty Four Cavalry is still strong enough to go toe-to-toe against Blazing Hot Lips in their prime." Beiming Xue giggled. "Even Momo should be getting worried now." I looked at Stranger of Three Lifetimes and discovered that she was counting her gold. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at this and said, "Nah, the sky could fall and the earth could be rent asunder, but this girl would still remain as cool as ever¡­" Murong Mingyue sighed. "Yeah. She¡¯s the type of girl you want to marry if you ever run into her in your life¡­" It was at this moment the old-looking Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun asked, "Should I give it a try?" However, High Fighting Spirits destroyed his dreams mercilessly. "Look at yourself in the mirror before you say such things, Eighteen. If I were you, I would¡¯ve taken a piss and washed my face in it!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun immediately pointed at the pockmarks covering High Fighting Spirits¡¯ whole face and yelled, "You of all people have no right to call me ugly!" Before the argument could devolve into a fight, I planted my sword on the ground and said, "Enough. You are all as beautiful and s.e.xy as goddesses, so there¡¯s nothing to argue about, is there?" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: "Yeah, you¡¯re right. The vice leader sure knows what to say in the right situations¡­" High Fighting Spirits: "Yeah¡­" He Yi: "..." Lin Yixin: "..." ¡­¡­ It was at this moment the system announced the start of the final battle between Blazing Hot Lips and Snow Moon, and the combatants were Stranger of Three Lifetimes + Eyes Like Water versus Yi of Ice + Nangong Lexi. The duel of aces begins now! Chapter 903: Advancing to the Eighth-finals The deciding match! The first battle began, and Yi of Ice quickly proved herself to be stronger than Eyes Like Water. Nangong Lexi dragged out the battle, and after Eyes Like Water was killed, she focused down Stranger of Three Lifetimes with Yi of Ice. It was 1-0 to Snow Moon. During the second battle, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Eyes Like Water switched roles. Eyes Like Water ran around to avoid taking damage, while Stranger of Three Lifetimes tanked the enemy¡¯s attacks with her Origin Energy Shield and attacked the enemy with impunity. After successfully parrying Yi of Ice¡¯s Barrier Break, she killed off Nangong Lexi with Ice Blast + Touch of the Dragonkiss combo. Then, she worked together with Eyes Like Water to take out Yi of Ice. Again, Stranger of Three Lifetimes changed her tactics for the last battle. Eyes Like Water pretended to Charge toward her enemy but pulled away immediately. While Yi of Ice and Nangong Lexi were temporarily distracted, Stranger of Three Lifetimes boldly Blinked toward them and hit both players with Ice Blast and Galaxy Storm, killing Nangong Lexi and bringing Yi of Ice to low health. Although Yi of Ice managed to kill Stranger of Three Lifetimes in the end, by that point she was too low on HP to beat a perfectly unharmed Eyes Like Water. In the end, Blazing Hot Lips claimed the last point and officially advanced to the eighth-finals! Snow Moon¡¯s comeback was impressive, but they ultimately weren¡¯t able to make it past the 16th-finals. It was just their luck. Of all the opponents they could¡¯ve faced, they had to run into the first seed of Blazing Hot Lips and one of the best mages in the entire China. ¡­¡­ Group C¡¯s matches continued shortly. Thunder took out Silver Soul with a 4:1 score, and Snowy Cathaya absolutely annihilated Hegemon Palace. Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis and Shadow Chanel all won their fights, and although Little Piglet dominated Clear Perfume with a 2:0 score, one person¡¯s performance couldn¡¯t overturn the overall result. Plus, even he and Shanggong Wan¡¯er together had no chance of beating Lin Yixin and Purple Marquis in the 2v2 match. With Purple Marquis playing the bait and the Fruit Knife Goddess the killer, they easily cut down their opponents to size. The match ultimately ended with a 4:1 score in favor of Snowy Cathaya. ¡°Sigh¡­¡± Little Piglet sighed deeply at the sky as he walked out of the arena. ¡°I was hoping to win some prize money from the WEL, but¡­ 20k is like nothing at all. How disappointing¡­¡± That¡¯s right, the prize money for teams who ended their run at the 16th-finals was only 20k RMB. Of course it was too little for a man with a seemingly endless appetite for money like Little Piglet. Group D¡¯s matches happened next, and again the victors were pretty clear cut. Gods of Destruction destroyed Mad Dragon with a 9:1 individual score, and Coldmoon Rose was the only one who managed to take 1 point off Dominating Knight God. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls 222nd wrecked Baidicheng 5:0 under Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon¡¯s leadership. Although Baidicheng was our ally, and Come See The Snow Tonight was a CGL Hall of Famer herself, their defeat was set in stone from the moment the grouping was announced. She couldn¡¯t even score a point for her team because she unfortunately ran into the Dragon Warrior, Li Chengfeng. Still, Li Chengfeng was a smart man, and he battled Come See The Snow Tonight without activating Great Earth Transformation. He defeated her with a 2:1 score and ended Baidicheng¡¯s journey in the WEL. Only four teams could win the ticket to participate in the internationals, so no one was going to take it easy even if their opponent was their ally. Plus, just because they were the second seed team didn¡¯t mean that they weren¡¯t a powerhouse in their own right. In fact, they were one of the hot picks to win the whole thing. With a bit of good luck on their side, no one doubted that they had the ability to make it to the Top 4. ¡­¡­ With that, the upper bracket matches were officially over, and the lower bracket matches began shortly. The very first match was between Candle Dragon and our ally, The Monarch Descends! When Ling Xueshang and her team appeared on her stage, she stared at Candlelight Shadow without much emotion in her eyes. She probably knew that her team¡¯s chances of winning were low, not to mention everyone in Candlelight Shadow¡¯s team had improved drastically since the last time they met. Their line-up even included their new Divine General, Ye Yuse¡ª Candlelight Shadow LV-182 Warrior Ye Yuse LV-181 Charm Master God¡¯s Dance LV-182 Dark Flame Mage Blue Sky Scar LV-180 Wind Knight ¡­¡­ Even more astonishing was the fact that three of the four players in Candle Dragon¡¯s line-up had hidden classes, and the one person who didn¡¯t was a ¡°normal¡± warrior who could kick hidden classes¡¯ asses like nothing! I had no idea when God¡¯s Dance and Blue Sky Scar had become this ¡°Dark Flame Mage¡± and ¡°Wind Knight¡±, but they must have learned a lot of new skills. This Ye Yuse was definitely going to be a problem as well. It wouldn¡¯t be inaccurate to claim that the number of fans who believed that Candle Dragon would win this competition was at least equal to ours. Back to reality. Ling Xueshang appeared on the stage first, followed by her opponent, Ye Yuse. Frankly, no one really expected her to beat a Divine General who also had a hidden class. We all held our breaths to see just how strong Candle Dragon¡¯s ace really was. The battlefield was a grassy plain, and Ye Yuse¡¯s long hair swayed gently to the wind. Surprisingly, the mage looked a bit nervous as she summoned her Magic Shield and stared at Ling Xueshang. I supposed that she was intimidated by the fact that Ling Xueshang was a long-time CGL Hall of Famer. The moment the battle began, Ling Xueshang immediately exploited her range advantage to land a couple of hits on Ye Yuse first. Shockingly, Ye Yuse appeared to falter after just three shots, and both her and her Magic Shield were destroyed by Ling Xueshang¡¯s Skypiercer and Spiraling Arrow Blade a moment later! It was 1:0. Ling Xueshang won the first battle! ¡­¡­ ¡°The heck? Is it just me, or is that Divine General pretty weak?¡± Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. However, Li Chengfeng narrowed his eyes and said, ¡°It¡¯s too early to say. I think she¡¯s just testing Ling Xueshang since she didn¡¯t even use her Great Earth Transformation. Hmph hmph, let¡¯s see what happens in the second battle!¡± The next match began quickly after both combatants appeared on the battlefield. This time, Ye Yuse summoned her Magic Shield and activated Great Earth Transformation. The cyan lotuses sprouting beneath her feet matched her appearance very well. Ling Xueshang waved her hand and launched Triple Shot. However, Ye Yuse abruptly Blinked right in front of her¡ªthey weren¡¯t even 20 cm apart¡ªand smiled. ¡°Hold!¡± Pa! A big red ¡°Hold¡± appeared above Ling Xueshang¡¯s head and froze her in place. She couldn¡¯t move anything besides her eyes. Ye Yuse gave her no chance to recover. Opening her palm and revealing a blood red pagoda, she said, ¡°God Suppressing Pagoda!¡± Boom! A literal pagoda fell from the sky and landed on Ling Xueshang. A huge damage number immediately rose above her head¡ª78992! It was almost an overkill. Ling Xueshang¡¯s HP dropped to the red in one hit. However, the attack also canceled the hold effect, so the archer was able to withdraw to the back. Ye Yuse gave pursuit and waved a charm into existence. At the same time, she said, ¡°Petrification!¡± MISS! The spell missed though, and Ling Xueshang finally got the chance to do something. She hurriedly leaped into a nearby shrubbery and landed a couple of surprise shots on Ye Yuse¡¯s Magic Shield. Ye Yuse reacted quickly and countered with her Divine General Skill, Nether Curse! Boom! Everything within a 50-yard area was hit, and Ling Xueshang failed the 50% dice roll. Drunken status took hold of her and caused her to spin around like a drunkard. Ye Yuse smiled and waved her hand one last time. Bang! One last God Suppressing Pagoda later, Ye Yuse pulled the score back to even once more! The third battle went more or less the same way. Although Ling Xueshang was a pretty good player, she simply couldn¡¯t deal with a Divine General Charm Master. Her CC magic especially was absolutely broken! In the end, Ye Yuse won the first match with a 2:1 score! ¡­¡­ If the first match was a struggle, then the last four matches were practically a slaughter. None of the players Ling Xueshang brought with her was weak, but their opponents were simply too powerful. Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar and God¡¯s Dance won all their matches, and the last 2v2 match was attended to by Candlelight Shadow and Ye Yuse. Their combo looked practically invincible, and they ended The Monarch Descends with a flawless victory. The first and possibly the most exciting match of the lower bracket ended just like that. The rest of the group matches went by quickly¡ª Righteousness 4:1 Weeping Blood Who Will Fight Me 2:3 Conquer Pop Culture 5:0 Rain Sanctuary Dominating Heaven Tiger 4:1 Wing Chun Sect Mini 1:4 Sword Lord of Jianghu Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls 5:0 Heavenly Feather City Panda 3:2 Hunting Moon Dynasty ¡­¡­ Just like before, our team swept the opponent with a perfect 10:0 total individual score just like before. There was a 30 minutes break after the 1/16 phase over, and the eighth-finals began immediately after that. Group A Warsky Alliance VS Purple Lily Soul Battle Robes VS Blazing Hot Lips Group B Thunder VS Snowy Catahya Gods of Destruction VS Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls 222nd Group C Candle Dragon VS Righteousness Conquer VS Pop Culture Group D Dominating Heaven Tiger VS Sword Lord of Jianghu Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls VS Panda ¡­¡­ The groups were merged. Only one team would emerge from each group as the semi finalist and China¡¯s representative to participate in the global competition. It was something everyone was looking forward to. Group A was a true group of death. There were no weaklings, and anyone could make it out of the group. Snowy Cathaya and our second team had the highest chance of making it out of Group B, and between the two, Snowy Cathaya probably was the favorite. Li Chengfeng¡¯s chance of beating Lin Yixin was lower than 50%. Candle Dragon was most likely going to win Group C. And of course, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had the highest chance of winning Group D. ¡­¡­ Fei¡¯er walked on stage in her mini skirt and smiled warmly at everyone. ¡°First, I would like to thank all our contestants for showing us so many interesting matches. Now then, we will be starting the matches to enter the semi-finals, and the four teams to emerge from their respective groups will become the representatives of China! Of course, all the matches will be broadcasted in full from now on!¡± A thunderous clap shook the entire arena. The most anticipated matches of the WEL were about to begin. The bloodbath between the legends and the CGL Hall of Famers was what everyone was really looking forward to! Fei¡¯er continued, ¡°But before that, our player representative would like to share a few words with you all.¡± What? Player representative? High Fighting Spirits clenched his fists together. ¡°Ah f.u.c.k, it¡¯s got to be that grandon Candlelight Shadow again, isn¡¯t it? Motherf.u.c.ker, how can anyone still see him as our representative after everything that has happened? Who the hell can he even represent?¡± Li Chengfeng simply smiled and said, ¡°Ignore him. If he wants to amuse himself, let him¡­¡± ¡­¡­ As expected, Candlelight Shadow walked on stage with his heavy sword in his hand. He swept a solemn glance across the stands before starting, ¡°This WEL competition is a competitive event where the four representatives of China will be chosen to challenge the greatest experts from the entire world. Our only objective is to spread the fame of the China server, and to tell the wolves of the north, east and south that the three cities of the Center will never fall into their hands!¡± A thunderous applause followed his speech. Well, even I couldn¡¯t find fault with it. Chapter 904: Fury of the Goddess of Death A video was displayed after the speech. It was none other than the next expansion of the game¡ª Inside a foggy valley, the sound of horse hooves broke the silence of the morning. Soon, a troop of axe-wielding beastman soldiers rode their warbeasts into the valley. They were cautious and kept a close eye on all movement around them. Less than ten meters into the valley, they buried something red inside the ground. It looked like sticks of dynamite. As they continued forward, corruption started spreading across the ground, and the hateful howls of Corpse Eaters came from every grave and blood pool that was present inside the valley. The beastmen calmly continued on their journey until they reached the deeper parts of the valley, and a scarlet iron door appeared into view. A beastman nodded to his comrade, and even more dynamite was planted in front of the door. Next, a mage tossed a fireball at the buried explosives, causing a devastating explosion to rumble throughout the valley. Countless undead corpses were torn to shreds, and screams of pain filled the air. Even the iron door was deeply damaged by the explosion. Creak... Suddenly, the iron door shuddered before opening outward, causing blood-red energy to leak out of the gaps. Then, a red-eyed woman donning a fiery red armor and black cape stepped out into the open and stared at the group of beastmen without a shred of emotion in her eyes. The warrioress said slowly, "Looks like the beastmen have finally begun to make a move. Are you here in search of your own deaths?" She opened her palm, and wisps of energy gathered at the center. Her eyes were cold and icy. The beastmen were shocked. One brawny axe wielder roared on top of his lungs, and another wolfman exclaimed, "We¡¯re dead, chief! We actually found the lair of the goddess of death!" The chief shouted, "Warriors, the time to fight is now! For the beastmen and the future of all living beings, we must end the corruption of the dead right here right now! We fight to the death and for the future!" The chief and his warriors then charged the goddess of death. Bang! However, a blood-red wave of death swept across them, and all the beastmen collapsed lifelessly to the ground. Chiang! The chief¡¯s war axe spun around while flying through the air before planting itself into a huge boulder. The undead warrioress opened her eyes slowly and roared angrily, "Awaken, my fellow undead! The time to slaughter the humans, elves, beastmen and succubi is now! Tear apart their hypocrisy and dye their entire content in the power of undeath!" Mounds suddenly appeared on the ground, and soon after, countless undead giants burst into view, their roars shaking the very sky itself. The camera zoomed out quickly and soared into the sky, the landscape of the valley coming into full view and accompanied by beastial roars. A line of text appeared in the sky above the now-bloody canyon: Fury of the Goddess of Death! ¡­¡­ "A new patch is coming out, huh¡­" I said quietly. He Yi stared at the display for a moment before coming to a sudden realization. "Wait a second, this goddess of death is that Sophie the Snow Minstrel we encountered last time, right?" "Yeah, she¡¯s an undead leader not even Xinran could beat. She deserves the title of goddess of death for sure." Beiming Xue giggled. "Not only that, she¡¯s angry. Heaven knows how many main cities are going to suffer when the patch releases!" Murong Mingyue agreed. "Yeah, Eternal Moon has always been quite the asshole in this regard. Sophie may very well lead an assault on the main cities of the Silver Moon Alliance directly, or she might assault our territories first. Say, how much longer will it take for Dark Moon City to reach Rank 10?" I hummed. "Won¡¯t be happening anytime soon, unfortunately. Maybe we can begin upgrading the castle to Rank 10 after the international tournament is over, but even then, there¡¯s no telling how long the process will take." He Yi said, "Let¡¯s focus on finishing the matches in front of us first!" "Mn. Look, the eighth-finals are about to begin!" ¡­¡­ On stage, Fei¡¯er was smiling like the spring as she announced the matchups of the eighth-finals. The first group was Warsky Alliance VS Purple Lily and Soul Battle Robes VS Blazing Hot Lips. All four teams were pretty much a god in their own right, which was why even Fei¡¯er had to stick out her tongue and comment, "Group A truly is a group of death, hehe. I sure hope that the strongest team will emerge from this group, and that they¡¯ll give us an interesting show!" Warsky Alliance and Purple Lily would be fighting first, and both sides were done preparing already. Luo River God of the Capital and her teammates looked eager to get on the battlefield while Warsky and his teammates kept their ambitions checked behind a mask of calmness. Even so, it was clear that they would give everything they got to beat Purple Lily. A few seconds later, the match-ups appeared on the big display¡ª 1v1: Luo River God of the Capital LV-185 Mage VS Warsky LV-180 Molten Warrior 1v1: Moonkiss LV-181 Spirit Killer VS Farewell Song LV-181 Assassin 1v1: Moonlight Beneath A Rock LV-180 Warrior VS Lin Bing Dou Zhe LV-180 Warrior 1v1: Familiar Scent LV-180 Magic Knight VS October Rain LV-180 Archer 2v2: Luo River God of the Capital LV-185 Mage & Moonkiss LV-181 Spirit Killer VS Warsky LV-180 Molten Warrior & Farewell Song LV-181 Assassin ¡­¡­ Practically everyone¡¯s blood boiled with excitement when they saw the match-ups. If we didn¡¯t know any better, we would¡¯ve suspected that both teams had discussed their line-ups beforehand. The first battle was between Warsky and Luo River God of the Capital; a battle between guild leaders. Although Luo River God of the Capital was currently known as China¡¯s strongest mage, there was no telling how strong Warsky had become after unlocking his new hidden class, Molten Warrior, and how much strength he kept hidden to maximize the advantage of surprise. At any rate, Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s chance of winning definitely wasn¡¯t as good as it could¡¯ve been. The second battle was between Moonkiss and Farewell Song. Believe it or not, the duel between the best assassin of Purple Lily and the best assassin in China was even more hype than the first one. The third battle was Moonlight Beneath A Rock¡ªPurple Lily¡¯s best warrior¡ªversus Lin Bing Dou Zhe, the fourth battle was Familiar Scent challenging the courageous and intelligent CGL Hall of Famer October Rain, and the final battle was Luo River God of the Capital and Moonkiss versus Farewell Song and Warsky. This would be an epic match for sure! Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes were wide open as she stared at the center of the battlefield. "Two teams with the potential to become the champion meeting so soon in the eighth-finals. This is an interesting twist of fate for sure. I look forward to this." "Yeah!" Hugging her c.h.e.s.t and leaning lazily against He Yi¡¯s shoulders, Murong Mingyue teased us, "I think the three of you are the real interesting twist of fate¡­" Embarrassment immediately gripped my voice. "What did you say?" Lin Yixin blushed red. "Focus on the match!" Even He Yi was feigning ignorance. "What should we eat later when the matches are over? By the way, Raincube will be entering the market very soon, so I expect you to keep an eye on things, Mingyue. Seriously, you¡¯ve been lazing around all day and night as of late. What should I even do with you¡­" Murong Mingyue: "..." ¡­¡­ All the lights were focused on the center stage right now. The system randomly chose a map, and the stage abruptly turned into a snowy mountain ridge. The map had a short cliff that was less than three meters above the ground, but it was an excellent location to use as cover and perfect for control-type players. Both combatants teleported into the battlefield, and Warsky canceled his mount without hesitation. Mounts gave powerful stats, but they affected their riders¡¯ control far too much. Bad enough that it reduced a player¡¯s turn rate to o.b.s.c.e.n.e levels, it was completely countered by certain maneuvers such as the butterfly maneuver and even conventional Z-shape runs. True experts wouldn¡¯t dare ride a mount in a duel because it was the same as committing suicide. The system began counting down. Both parties immediately tensed up like a coiled spring! 3! 2! 1! The very first thing Warsky did after the battle began was to jump away from his original spot, and not a moment too soon, because Luo River of the Capital¡¯s Touch of the Dragonkiss exploded above the cliff a moment later. In a sense, Warsky had outsmarted the mage who was famous for her control right from the beginning! The snow was about 40 cm thick, and Luo River God of the Capital didn¡¯t act hastily. She created an icicle at the center of her palm even before she ran onto the cliff. "Hah!" Warsky shouted as he attempted to ambush her, but his actions fell within Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s prediction perfectly. The icicle skewered him almost as if he ran into it himself! 58922! The mage was just too fast. She tossed out Explosion with almost no cast time at all! 110283! Two hits was all it took to blast Warsky to below 10% and knock him over the cliff. After he crashed into the snow, he drank a health potion and crawled deeper into the snow. Then, he lay unmoving at his hiding spot and waited for an opportunity. ¡­¡­ "Get out!" Luo River God of the Capital waved her scepter and burned the snow with Sea of Flames. However, she couldn¡¯t see any signs of movement anywhere. "Hmm? Where is he? Is he dead?" Slightly surprised, Luo River God of the Capital moved closer to the area Warsky fell with an icicle in her hand. It was at this moment the molten warrior rushed out from the bottom of the cliff and used Ghost Banner on her! MISS! Unfortunately for him, mages couldn¡¯t be hit by his Divine General Skill unless their Magic Shield was broken! As patient as a wolf on the hunt, Warsky had remained hidden in the snow for nearly two minutes before he launched his surprise attack. He used Cyan Tiger Shatter and Barrier Break in an attempt to one-shot the mage. However, Luo River God of the Capital smiled and allowed his Cyan Tiger Shatter to delete 29% of her Magic Shield¡¯s durability. At the same time, she waved her scepter and against all odds parried his Barrier Break! Finally, she planted her scepter on the ground and fired a blast of flames at the warrior. Warsky collapsed to his knees and lost the first fight. The battle happened so quickly that few people found the opportunity to breathe, and before they could recover themselves the next battle had already begun. This time, the map was set at a grassy valley with a small stream flowing at the center. Although the water wasn¡¯t too deep, it was enough to negatively affect a player¡¯s movement speed. Again, Warsky was the one who took the initiative to probe for a weakness in Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s defense. If he couldn¡¯t get close to her, it was only a matter of time she blasted him into a crisp. No one in their right mind would want to test her magical might with their body. The moment the match began, Luo River God of the Capital immediately backed away from her opponent and launched two blasts of fire. Both sides of the river immediately turned into seas of fire. After that, she tossed one icicle after another at Warsky and continuously chipped away at his HP. It took only a moment for him to drop to low health. Warsky backed away from the mage in an attempt to escape her range and change the battlefield. Luo River God of the Capital chased with a delighted smile on her face. She was clearly having a lot of fun destroying Warsky. Suddenly, something unexpected happened. Warsky locked onto a patch of dark grass behind Luo River God of the Capital and activated Charge! Swhoosh! The guild leader¡¯s execution was almost perfect. The moment he arrived at his destination, he swung his sword and unleashed the Molten Warrior class¡¯s unique skill, Molten Fury Slash! There was a boom, and the mage¡¯s surroundings turned into a sea of lava. She was blinded, and her Origin Energy Shield lost most of its durability. Warsky¡¯s vision wasn¡¯t affected by his own skill though. After tricking Luo River God of the Capital into missing her parry with a Z-shape run, he rammed his blade through her c.h.e.s.t and used Barrier Break! 79092! It was a one-shot. Warsky had actually managed to score one point off Luo River God of the Capital with a very bold maneuver! Chapter 905: Who’s No. 1? "You actually lost¡­" Moonkiss teased Luo River God of the Capital beside the stage. "Boss, didn¡¯t you always say that Warsky is beneath your notice? What do you have to say now?" The mage replied indifferently, "Of course not. No one can win forever, not to mention that he knows all about my skills, and I know nothing about his. One loss for a deeper understanding of the Molten Warrior class is absolutely worth it!" Moonlight Beneath A Rock let out a gasp of admiration and said, "Ohh, boss looks so beautiful when she acts calm like this!" Moonkiss leaned against the handrails and giggled at her reaction. "Oh Moonlight, you fangirl. Hmph hmph!" ¡­¡­ The third match was the deciding match. Luo River God of the Capital and Warsky appeared on the battlefield once more, and this time, it was a forest map. Technically speaking, it was more advantageous for a warrior because they could hide behind an obstacle and force a mage to miss a targeted spell. A hint of delight flashed across Warsky¡¯s eyes. He stood in an open field in the forest and stared at Luo River God of the Capital menacingly. The mage looked unperturbed, however. She looked like she had everything in her grasp as she took in the sight of a distant forest. The flames burning at the tip of her scepter was a constant reminder that the beautiful mage was in no way as delicate as she looked. Besides Lin Yixin, Luo River God of the Capital might be the strongest female player in the entire China. As expected, Warsky ran into a shrubbery even before the battle had begun. Judging from the way he disappeared from view and left behind only some rustling noises, the warrior¡¯s stealthing skills were as good as some assassins¡¯. The moment the countdown reached zero, Luo River God of the Capital took a step forward and slammed her scepter against the ground. A wave of flames instantly washed into the forest, burned down huge swathes of bushes and revealed Warsky crouching behind a bramble like a general taking a quick dump during a forced march. He rushed out of his hiding place while complaining, "That worked? C¡¯mon!" The mage burst into a giggle before mixing a bit of ice magic into her barrage. The warrior¡¯s movement speed plummeted as icicles exploded against his armor. Charge! Warsky seemed to have a unique understanding of player positioning, and Great Earth Transformation drastically increased his Magic Resist. He ignored the magic splashing against his torso and slashed Luo River God of the Capital three times using Cyan Tiger Shatter + Explosion Slash + basic attack combo. He was lucky enough to score a crit with both his Explosion Slash and basic attack as well, so the mage¡¯s Origin Energy Shield instantly dropped below 25% durability. Swhoosh! Luo River God of the Capital Blinked 30 yards away from Warsky before lowering the tip of her scepter a bit. The Touch of the Dragonkiss she hid at her original position instantly came active and engulfed Warsky¡¯s entire body. 102923! Warsky¡¯s eyes widened like saucers. "What kind of attack power is this? I have Great Earth Transformation on, dammit!" That being said, his hands weren¡¯t slow in the slightest. He fired a devastating Molten Slash that enveloped half the battlefield in smoke. While the smoke was hiding him, he gathered the power of Barrier Break on the edge of his blade and launched a decisive attack from the flank. It looked like the exact same ending from the second match was about to repeat itself! Luo River God of the Capital closed her eyes and allowed her instincts to guide her. She swung her scepter at just the right time, struck Warsky¡¯s blade from an angle, and reduced the damage she should¡¯ve taken by at least 50%! While the number "48282" rose above her head, she allowed the force to carry her backward and blasted her original position with Galaxy Storm and Touch of the Dragonkiss! "Ugh¡­" Warsky let out a muffled groan of pain and collapsed to the ground. In the end, he wasn¡¯t able to defeat the mage goddess, and the first match and point went to Luo River God of the Capital with a 2:1 score! ¡­¡­ Back outside the arena, Moonkiss said to her, "That¡¯s a pretty badass parry, boss. A weaker mage would¡¯ve died to that ambush already¡­" Luo River God of the Capital nodded. "Warsky is definitely a lot stronger than he was before. Back in the days, I could¡¯ve beaten ten of him on my own. Even one and a half might be a struggle¡­" On the other side, Warsky planted his sword on the ground, plopped his b.u.t.t on a lower rail and stuck one leg over the other. Then, he said to his teammates, "Well, I leave the rest to you all¡­" Farewell Song curled his lips. "Yeah, yeah, no pressure at all¡­" October Rain shot him a look. "It¡¯s your turn next. Moonkiss has been improving by leaps and bounds, and she has never stopped trying to surpass you. This is your chance to remind her who¡¯s the real no.1 assassin in China. Of course, you can lose and be known as the assf.u.c.k of China too, I don¡¯t care either way¡­" Farewell Song¡¯s face twitched visibly before he replied, "I¡¯ll absolutely win the next match." ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh! The two combatants teleported onto a grassy terrain where a single line kept them apart. After they exchanged a glance with each other, they crouched at the same time and vanished slowly into thin air. Chiang chiang chiang¡­ It was nighttime on the battlefield. For a moment nothing happened, and the next three metallic sparks pierced the eyes and shattered the silence of the field. Before we could even see their outlines completely, the assassins tossed fluorescent powder to the ground and entered stealth again. Almost everyone was holding their breaths. Was this how a duel between two top-tier assassins looked like? Rustle rustle rustle¡­ Footsteps trampled over leaves as the assassins skulked across the terrain. Determining the indent on the ground and the unnatural sound of grass blades being stepped on were quite possibly the only cues for them to determine each other¡¯s location, all the while keeping themselves hidden. No class tested a player¡¯s technique and control more than the Assassin class, and the bar was so high that no ordinary person could just pick it up and be good at it right away. "Uu¡­" It was at this moment Moonkiss let out a soft cry and made the first move. She exited stealth of her own accord and swung her dagger across the air, drawing a shower of bright, red blood. She had successfully cut Farewell Song in the waist. Instead of retreating, Farewell Song casually knocked aside Moonkiss¡¯s follow-up attack with his left dagger and pounced toward her. After he jumped into the air and landed a knee strike right at the center of Moonkiss''s c.h.e.s.t, he cast Blade Vortex with his right dagger and stabbed the weapon into her back. MISS! 38812! MISS! God damn! That should¡¯ve been a perfect counter, but an assassin¡¯s evasion rate was so high that two of the three strikes missed! Moonkiss gritted her teeth as the force of the blow forced her to drop to the ground. But before she lost her balance completely, she halted her fall with one hand and launched a back kick at her assailant! Bang! 6991! Farewell Song¡¯s head tilted toward the sky after taking a direct kick beneath the chin. Before he could recover, Moonkiss flipped around and attempted to stab his c.h.e.s.t with Blade Vortex + Cold Touch combo! Farewell Song instinctively knew that it would be too late if he waited until he tilted his head back down, so he swung his daggers in front of him and managed to parry some of the attacks¡ª MISS! 31092! MISS! 31028! It was way too close. Farewell Song howled and activated his Level 180 seventh-promotion skill, Dance of Death. Immediately, his movement speed was boosted by 120%, his Attack by 40%, and his attacks reduced his target¡¯s Defense by 40% for 12 seconds! ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud... At the same time, Farewell Song backed away from Moonkiss before tossing his right dagger at her. It was the ranged-attack of an assassin, Night¡¯s Meteor! Pu! 41027! Moonkiss''s eyes widened as the dagger sank into her flesh. A moment later, she collapsed to her knees and scattered into bright sparks. Despite the win, Farewell Song couldn¡¯t help but look at his remaining HP and the spot where Moonkiss had died. He muttered to himself, "Holy shit¡­" ¡­¡­ It was 1:0 in favor of Farewell Song. The second match began shortly, and both players reappeared inside the battlefield. Again, they entered stealth mode without a word. Chiang chiang chiang! Once again, three metallic sparks exploded where their daggers clashed before Farewell Song forcefully entered stealth mode with fluorescent powder. This time though, Moonkiss opted for a different tactic and surrounded her body in a sheen of bloody light. She activated Dance of Death first before tearing toward her opponent like lightning! Blade Vortex! The moment the triple-hit skill forced Farewell Song out of his concealed state, Moonkiss took a page from his book and repeated the exact same combo he put her through earlier! After jumping into the air and knocking the wind out of Farewell Song¡¯s lungs with her armored knee, she hit him three times in a row at close range! A bunch of damage numbers rose above Farewell Song¡¯s head. He had lost almost all his health in an instant! Assassins were super powerful damage dealers with poor HP compared to many classes. That was why battles between assassins were usually decided in an instant, especially if they were the aggressive type. Farewell Song¡¯s eyes were cold and icy as he fell toward the ground. This time, it was his turn to copy Moonkiss''s movement by stopping his fall with one hand and launching a sideway kick to the ribs. Unfortunately for the female assassin, she stumbled long enough for Farewell Song to launch a counterattack, and it was all she could do to defend herself against the storm of daggers. Both players lost HP at a drastic rate as they attempted to kill the other player first. Pu! Farewell Song took a slash to the face. He would¡¯ve died if he hadn¡¯t drunk a health potion earlier. Whoosh! At the same time, his dagger flashed across Moonkiss''s neck, and the girl¡¯s movements came to an abrupt halt. In the end, she wasn¡¯t able to take a point off Farewell Song¡¯s hands. It was 2:0 to Farewell Song! It was a very close fight though. The assassin s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath when he looked up and saw that he had less than 1000 HP left. "Holy shit, where the hell did these powerful as f.u.c.k women even come from¡­" ¡­¡­ In the end, Farewell Song was able to defeat Moonkiss and defend his honor as China¡¯s number one assassin. The two guilds were now even in score once more! The next match was between Moonlight Beneath A Rock and Lin Bing Dou Zhe. Everyone was expecting Lin Bing Dou Zhe, the current vice leader of Warsky Alliance, to take this match. In fact, he did destroy the warrioress with ease during the first battle. However, Moonlight Beneath A Rock soon defied expectations by instakilling Lin Bing Dou Zhe with a hurricane of combos during the second match, and toying him to death during the third match! Everyone¡¯s opinion of Purple Lily was refreshed after the match. Before this, everyone thought that Purple Lily only had two noteworthy super-tier players, Luo River God of the Capital and Moonkiss. Now though, Moonlight Beneath A Rock had proven herself to be a first-rate warrior that wasn¡¯t to be underestimated! With her victory, Purple Lily took the lead again with a 2:1 score! The fourth match between Familiar Scent and October Rain turned out to be an epic match as well. At first, October Rain intentionally threw the first match in order to scout out her opponent¡¯s abilities. Starting the second match, she displayed her full abilities and toyed Familiar Scent to death with her kiting technique. The third match was just as one-sided as Familiar Scent never found a way to retake control and turn the tables on October Rain. The score became 2:2. The 2v2 match would be the match that decided which team would advance to the semi-finals! ¡­¡­ It was Luo River God of the Capital & Moonkiss VS Warsky & Farewell Song! Luo River God of the Capital and Moonkiss immediately whispered with each other after they teleported onto the battlefield. The way they leaned into one another caused many spectators on their side to swoon on their feet. Of course, Warsky and Farewell Song were discussing battle plans in hushed voices as well, but all they inflicted were goosebumps to the spectators on their side. Chapter 906: Bone Wall "And¡­ go!" Fei¡¯er declared. Luo River God of the Capital moved to the back, and Moonkiss vanished into thin air. Their coordination was so smooth it looked as if they had practiced this a thousand times before. And they probably have. On the other side, Warsky mounted his Frostscale Warhorse and crossed his blade defensively in front of himself, while Farewell Song vanished into thin air as well. The warrior and the mage were in the open, while the assassins were in the dark. Luo River God of the Capital kicked off the battle with a couple of probing Fireballs. While the spell dealt below ten thousand HP damage per hit, it wasn¡¯t something Warsky could afford to ignore for prolonged periods of time. Therefore, he dashed back and forth at random in an attempt to reduce the amount of damage he was taking as best he could. He kept Great Earth Transformation active at all times because Luo River God of the Capital would squash him like a bug otherwise, but even then he didn¡¯t dare to get too close to the mage. "Warsky!" Farewell Song¡¯s cry suddenly broke the air, and Warsky became alert in an instant. He waved his Ghost Banner and said, "Come out!" Swhoosh! The power of the souls surged, and a beautiful figure emerged into view. Moonkiss had been stunned by Warsky¡¯s Divine General Skill! I actually couldn¡¯t stop myself from cheering that play. Farewell Song and Warsky had combined their insight and Divine General Skill to foil Moonkiss¡¯ sneak attempt perfectly. Their teamwork was almost perfect! Cyan Tiger Shatter + Barrier Break combo from Warsky and a couple of quick attacks from Farewell Song later, Moonkiss g.r.o.a.n.e.d and died just like that. Of course, Luo River God of the Capital wasn¡¯t going to let Moonkiss¡¯s death go to waste. She hurriedly raised her scepter and washed the area with Touch of the Dragonkiss and Galaxy Storm, deleting most of Warsky¡¯s HP. However, Farewell Song managed to leap to the back and enter stealth again. The mage had failed to one-shot at least one of her opponents and even the numbers, so the tide swung in Warsky Alliance¡¯s favor completely. Warsky ran away from Luo River God of the Capital while chugging a health potion. The mage had no choice but to give chase and try to kill Warsky before he recovered completely. Crack! There was a flash of red light, and Farewell Song stunned Luo River God of the Capital with Ambush. At the same time, Warsky turned around, used Charge and hit the mage with a fatal Barrier Break! It was 1:0. Warsky Alliance won the first battle! ¡­¡­ To be honest, Warsky Alliance¡¯s performance exceeded our expectations completely. None of us was expecting Warsky and Farewell Song to work so well with each other. It was a level of rapport that could only be reached through long-term cooperation. The second battle began, and it was almost a complete copy of the first. Not only did Warsky¡¯s Divine General Skill counter Moonkiss¡¯s stealth perfectly, Farewell Song was like a hunter in the dark who could always see through Moonkiss first before she could. When Warsky used Ghost Banner, the assassin was once again stunned before she could do anything at all! With that, Warsky Alliance defeated Purple Lily with a 3:2 overall score and successfully advanced to the quarter-finals! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! When Luo River God of the Capital and Moonkiss were teleported out of the arena, Moonkiss commented with a helpless look on her face, "How is Warsky Alliance so powerful?" Moonlight Beneath A Rock replied, "Farewell Song¡¯s CGL ranking is higher than yours. What do you think?" Moonkiss pouted. "Fine, fine, I¡¯ll work harder¡­" Luo River God of the Capital stared at the battlefield below the waiting area in silence. A long while later, she finally said, "Our time has come to a close, and it¡¯s Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and Candle Dragon¡¯s turn to perform now¡­" Moonkiss: "..." ¡­¡­ The second match of Group A was Blazing Hot Lips versus Soul Battle Robes. Standing in the middle of her all-female team, the guild leader raised her scepter and gave an encouraging speech, "Do your best, girls! Soul Battle Robes may be a veteran guild, but their best experts such as Seven-Star Lamp, Dark Shadow Drifter or Gregory are all gone, so our chances of winning are pretty huge! If we win this, we¡¯ll enter the quarter-finals. If we manage to do it, all meals in the next month are my treat!" Eyes Like Water chuckled. "A month? That¡¯s nowhere near enough, is it?" Lasting said, "That¡¯s it? That¡¯s the only reward you can think of?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes stared at her subordinates expressionlessly. "What else do you want then?" Lasting suddenly blushed before replying, "Well, it¡¯s been two years since I reached a.d.u.l.thood, but I still haven¡¯t found a boyfriend yet. I want a handsome stud with good looks and good skills like Lu Chen¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes shot her down mercilessly. "Hahaha, I want a boyfriend like that myself, you fool! Don¡¯t even think about it!" It was at this moment I walked up to them and gave them a friendly reminder, "Be careful okay, Third Wheel? Soul Battle Robes¡¯ Song of Cloud and Water is weak, but her subordinates are a completely different story. Ringwraith the Undead Mage, God Bone the Iron Knight, and Song of Ice and Fire the Frozen Berserker¡­ just, take care of yourselves, okay?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes stared at me. "F.u.c.k, why do you sound like you¡¯re offering your condolences? Anyway, don¡¯t worry about us, we¡¯re going to win this for sure!" "Sure, sure. Do your best¡­" "Mn¡­" ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before Fei¡¯er announced the start of the second eighth-finals of Group A. The map was a green river valley, and to everyone¡¯s surprise Stranger of Three Lifetimes chose to attend the first battle. Even better, her opponent was none other than the hidden trump card of Soul Battle Robes, Song of Ice and Fire, the Frozen Berserker! Song of Ice and Fire was a 35 years old uncle. He had a stubble around the corners of his mouth, and he wore a helmet made of dragon bones and a black armor. His weapon of choice was a sword. Staring at Stranger of Three Lifetimes with determination, the uncle suddenly wiped his saliva and asked, "So, do you want to have dinner after we finish this match, Stranger of Three Lifetimes?" The mage shivered visibly and lost her calm. "I have a bad feeling about this¡­" Lin Yixin said to me while leaning against the handrail in front of her. I nodded in agreement. "Yeah." Warsky Alliance happened to pass by our waiting area at this moment. When Laughing At The Heavens saw Lin Yixin¡¯s pose, he couldn¡¯t stop himself from whistling and saying, "Man, the Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯s b.u.t.t is so round¡­" Lin Yixin immediately turned around and unsheathed her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword with murder. She growled, "Control your men, Warsky!" Warsky chided his general, "I know. Heavens, watch your mouth, man! You¡¯re being rude!" Laughing At The Heavens nodded wordlessly, and it seemed like the incident would pass when Warsky added, "But not wrong¡­" I hurriedly pulled Lin Yixin into my embrace before she could cut off their heads and said, "Calm down, girl! Momo and the girls are about to fight, and if everything goes as we suspect it will, we¡¯ll need our energy to take revenge for them later! Just leave Warsky Alliance to Purple Marquis and Li Chengfeng! It¡¯s their job to wipe our butts anyway!" Shocked, Li Chengfeng turned to Purple Marquis and asked, "Are¡­ are we the slaves of the guild?" Purple Marquis nodded. "Looks like it¡­" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Stranger of Three Lifetimes had already engaged Song of Ice and Fire in battle. There was some sort of frost armor surrounding Song of Ice and Fire that negated at least 50% of the magic damage he took, annoying Stranger of Three Lifetimes. Not only that, the frozen berserker ran rings around the mage like a ghost on the back and struck at her Origin Energy Shield again and again. No matter how hard she struggled, she just couldn¡¯t escape the uncle¡¯s clingy hands! The mage¡¯s shield durability fell below 15% in an instant, but Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s HP had also dropped to 10%. When Stranger of Three Lifetimes thrust her scepter forward and unleashed Touch of the Dragonkiss, Song of Ice and Fire suddenly took a few steps back and created some sort of ice coffin around himself. At the same time, he shouted, "Ice Recovery!" Chiang! The ice coffin blocked the fatal spell from Stranger of Three Lifetimes completely. Not only that, it restored Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s HP by 50%! +110283! Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ heart turned as cold as ice. After that, the frozen berserker rushed in, hit her with a combo and killed her where she stood. Bad enough that Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s tactics and skills countered Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯, that Frozen Armor was like a cheat skill that kept halving her magic damage. It was almost as good as Gui Guzi¡¯s Undying Shield. ¡­¡­ "F.u.c.k!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes almost went berserk when she returned to her waiting area. She threw her scepter to the ground and raged, "That f.u.c.k.i.n.g Song of Ice and Fire is so disgusting!" Eyes Like Water asked, "What happened, boss? You¡¯re normally better than this." Stranger of Three Lifetimes complained, "That middle-aged uncle kept staring at my¡­ you know¡­ so I couldn¡¯t quite keep a cool head and fight like normally¡­" Eyes Like Water¡¯s gaze immediately shifted downward. "Oh, he¡¯s staring at your 34Ds?" "If you know that, then why are you staring?" "Because they¡¯re pretty? Now that I think about it, this robe is pretty well designed, huh? Over half of your puppies are exposed. No wonder Song of Ice and Fire wouldn¡¯t stop staring at them¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes blushed like an apple. "Pooh! Pooh! I would never wear this shit if it wasn¡¯t a 3-star Outstanding Immortal-grade robe, dammit! F.u.c.k.i.n.g Eternal Moon Corporation and their l.e.w.d designs!" It was at this moment I hooted from the side, "What are you talking about, girl? You¡¯re doing every male player out there a service! What do you say, boys?" Purple Marquis, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits and every guy in the vicinity cheered loudly, "Well said, Lu Chen! We wouldn¡¯t have it any other way! Take my like, Stranger!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes looked like she would dig herself a hole and hide if she could. Not wanting to deal with us any longer, she teleported onto the arena and began the next match! ¡­¡­ "You¡¯re not winning this one!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes declared. Instead of answering, Song of Ice and Fire kept his gaze fully trained on her 34Ds. Pissed off, the mage looked away and said, "I can beat you as long as I don¡¯t look at your slimy eyes!" Because of this, she missed the smile that flashed across Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s lips. The battle began, and Stranger of Three Lifetimes blasted away with an Ice Blast + Galaxy Storm combo. Her powerful magic deleted a huge chunk of HP from Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s health bar, but the uncle calmly stuck to his battle plan and chipped away at the Origin Energy Shield. Suddenly, Song of Ice and Fire abruptly switched his rhythm and shouted, "You¡¯ve lost, babe!" He struck the ground with his sword, and a wall of bones burst out of the ground and surrounded Stranger of Three Lifetimes! "What?" Shocked, Stranger of Three Lifetimes tried to Blink away to safety, but the system informed her that the Bone Wall had prevented it from taking effect! Swhoosh! Before she could do anything else, Song of Ice and Fire hit her Origin Energy Shield with Barrier Break and Frozen Combat. The Bone Wall shattered from the impact, but the mage also lost all her HP and became encased in ice. By the time the ice fell off her body, Stranger of Three Lifetimes had already lost the fight! It was 0:2. So far, Blazing Hot Lips had cut down all their opponents like the storm, so no one was expecting them to lose a point like this. Even worse, the point thrower was none other than their best player, Stranger of Three Lifetimes. Chapter 907: Pink "That bastard!" For the second time, Stranger of Three Lifetimes tossed her scepter to the floor so hard that sparks actually came off it. "Bone Wall? A skill that prevents Blink? I can¡¯t believe such a shameless skill exists! Disgusting, disgusting! Soul Battle Robes¡¯ players are so shameless!" Eyes Like Water consoled her. "Calm down, Momo. We can still win this. If we win the next two solo matches, you¡¯ll be able to take revenge in the final duo match!" Lasting joined in. "Yes, she¡¯s right. I¡¯m fighting next turn, and I promise I¡¯ll destroy whoever my opponent is for you!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes nodded. "Then I¡¯m counting on you girls. Please win me the chance to fight again no matter what¡­" Her teammates nodded back in unison. ¡­¡­ The second match was between Lasting and the undead mage of Soul Battle Robes, Ringwraith! Ringwraith looked like a gloomy and passionless guy, which I supposed fit his class pretty well. He wielded a scepter that was made of dragon bones and murderous energy, and the moment he went on stage wisps of dead energy immediately surrounded his body. It was the Frost Bone Shield, a skill similar to Origin Energy Shield in that it greatly increased Magic Shield¡¯s durability. Lasting let out a soft snort and summoned her three pets. She then positioned the Ghost Chariot at the forefront so she could order it to attack the mage at first notice. Tamer was hardly the best class for PvP, but Lasting still supported her team all the way to the eighth-finals of the WEL. It was a testament to her strength, a strength that no ordinary mage could withstand. Unfortunately, Ringwraith was anything but ordinary. The one and only undead mage in the entire competition planted the shaft of his scepter on the ground before growling, "Spirits of hell, heed my call and come out!" Bang bang bang... Cracks appeared across the floor, and several undead warriors with rotten flesh and exposed bones climbed out of the hole. They were so ugly that Lasting shivered in fright and exclaimed, "What a disgusting pet!" Unlike her reaction, Ringwraith licked his lips thirstily and said, "Well, I think they¡¯re pretty cute. Say, little girl, your ghost umbrella pet seems pretty interesting. Is it the legendary Ghost Chariot Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls captured at Bloody Shield Domain? I would like to test out its might if it is." Lasting said, "Oh, you¡¯ll know it the moment the battle begins!" The countdown hit zero, and Ringwraith immediately took action. He ordered his undead puppets to attack Lasting while firing several Black Dragon Waves from the distance himself. Lasting was just a tamer, so she was incredibly fragile. Two Black Dragon Waves were all it took to bring her to low health. "Ah¡­" She ran backward to put as much distance as possible between herself and the undead mage. At the same time, she ordered the Crimson-eyed Mantis to attack Ringwraith. The pet ran right up to the undead mage and landed a devastating blow to the waist with its gigantic, scythe-like claws, but the Frost Bone Shield was keeping him alive! It wasn¡¯t the only pet Lasting had though. The Ghost Chariot spun like a top and rammed its bladed tips into the undead mage¡¯s flank next, executing Ghost Chariot Slash, which bypassed Magic Shield by 50%! 40928! Ringwraith immediately paled when he realized that he had lost a third of his HP in one hit. He hurriedly waved his scepter and shouted, "Bone Cage!" Countless bony hands burst out of the ground and surrounded the Ghost Chariot, keeping it from attacking Ringwraith any further. At the same time, he Blinked behind Lasting and landed another Black Dragon Wave on her! Lasting hurriedly drank a health potion and swung her fiery leather whip at her attacker. It left a bright red mark across Ringwraith¡¯s face. Unperturbed, the undead mage simply let out a chuckle and raised his palm. "Night of the Undead Dragon!" It happened in an instant. Countless bone dragons suddenly burst out of the earth Lasting was standing on, cutting her into ribbons with their sharp armor. She died immediately. She was just a tamer, so there was no chance she could¡¯ve survived such a powerful magic spell. ¡­¡­ "Night of the Undead Dragon?" Lin Yixin murmured with widened eyes. "Heavens! How is that skill so powerful? And where the hell do these people even come from? Lasting is one of, if not the best, tamer in the entire China right now, and she got instakilled like it was nothing!" I let out a hum before saying, "Soul Battle Robes is just too strong right now. It¡¯s already too late for Momo¡­" Not far away, Stranger of Three Lifetimes shivered a bit in helplessness. "Did we underestimate Soul Battle Robes?" He Yi replied, "No, you didn¡¯t. No one was expecting Soul Battle Robes to have become this powerful¡­" Lasting was killed again even as we spoke to one another. Again, the skill used to kill her was that Night of the Undead Dragon. According to the rules of WEL, any skill with over a 30-minute cooldown exceptionally imbalanced skills such as my Resurrection Art were unusable. However, this Night of the Undead Dragon was just a big AoE spell, so Ringwraith could use it as much as he wanted to. The score turned to 0:2. At this point, Blazing Hot Lips had completely fallen behind. During the third match, Song of Cloud and Water lowered her voice and said to her iron knight, "End this with a 2:0 score, God Bone. It is the only score I will accept from you!" The iron knight gave her a smile and nodded. "Worry not, little lord. I will win this match for Soul Battle Robes!" Soon, God Bone clashed against Eyes Like Water on the battlefield, and after five minutes of intense battle the iron knight was ultimately able to defeat the warrioress with powerful skills such as Iron Bone Armor and Coldblood Flurry, ending the third match with a 2:0 score, exactly as his guild leader had ordered. Blazing Hot Lips, the strongest guild in Vanished God City right now, was eliminated at the eighth-finals just like that. It was a result no one had expected for sure. After the overall score turned 3:0, Song of Cloud and Water said to Fei¡¯er, "Sister, can you please tell everyone that we wish to skip the remaining matches? We¡¯ve already won, so¡­" Fei¡¯er nodded before turning to Stranger of Three Lifetimes, "Friends from Blazing Hot Lips, Soul Battle Robes wishes to skip the remaining matches since they¡¯ve already won. Thank you for the exciting show you¡¯ve given all of us¡­" ¡­¡­ Stranger of Three Lifetimes turned green with anger. Clenching her fists and gritting her teeth, she glared angrily at Song of Cloud and Water before muttering to herself, "Hmph, Soul Battle Robes wants to go that far? Very well! I shall remember this humiliation for eternity!" I shivered a little when I heard this. God damn, I had no idea that she¡¯s such a grudge-bearing person. Will she chase me to the ends of the world when she realizes that I have no intention of returning her 1000 mages? As if she could sense my glance, Stranger of Three Lifetimes turned toward me and asked, "Why are you staring at me like that?" "N-nothing¡­" I hurriedly shook my head. "Oh really? Then why do I sense something unpleasant from your gaze?" The mage refused to let it go. Li Chengfeng immediately said, "He¡¯s just looking at your 34Ds. Right, Lu Chen?" I would¡¯ve bitten him to death if I could. I hurriedly explained myself, "I, er¡­ I was admiring your 34Ds, but it¡¯s the kind of admiration you use when you¡¯re looking at a piece of art, you get me? Right! I don¡¯t mean any vulgarity at all, so you can rest easy Momo¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes replied expressionlessly, "You say that it¡¯s not vulgar, but I can¡¯t help but recall the many, many, many times you called me Third Wheel. Pooh! Just you wait, Lu Chen, I swear I¡¯m going to annihilate your a.s.s one day!" Chiang! Unfortunately for Stranger of Three Lifetimes, that was the trigger word for Lin Yixin. She immediately unsheathed her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword a little and observed the mage closely. "You¡¯re joking, right Beauty Momo? You would never try to hurt Lu Chen, right?" Even Lian Xin had planted her scepter on the ground and summoned her Telekinetic Shield. At the same time, the brilliant magic circle that was Ice Spiral Matrix appeared soundlessly beneath Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ feet. She didn¡¯t say anything, but her intention was as clear as day. For the first time ever, Lin Yixin and Lian Xin actually cooperated on something. ¡­¡­ Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ face turned as white as paper as she stumbled backward. Then, she pouted and complained, "God dammit, just what is so good about Lu Chen anyway? I can¡¯t believe he got so many beautiful girls to protect him, pooh!" Both Lin Yixin and Lian Xin blushed a bit when they heard this. At the side, Gui Guzi shook his head with equal astonishment. "Damn, if one day I have these many beautiful girls to protect me, I can die happy¡­" Sitting on the handrails, Li Chengfeng smiled lazily at him and joked, "What do you mean? Yamete loves you like a lover, doesn''t he? He always hollers at you in the corridor with a boxed lunch with him, ¡®Little Gui, come out and eat already! It¡¯s red braised pork belly today!¡¯ If that isn¡¯t true love, I don¡¯t know what is¡­" "True love your sister¡ª" Gui Guzi roared from the bottom of his heart before kicking Li Chengfeng right off the stand! Swhoosh! The dragon warrior fell like a meteor and crashed at the edge of the stage and right next to Fei¡¯er¡¯s feet. It so happened that a hexagram was imprinted on the ground where his face was, so his face had a hexagram mark on it. Shocked, Fei¡¯er looked at Li Chengfeng and asked, "Ah? Aren¡¯t you Legendary Brave of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? What are you trying to do?" Li Chengfeng raised his head, gritted his teeth and clenched his feet tightly. "Gui Guzi, you bastard! I will destroy you!" After he climbed back to his feet and jumped back to the stand, he exchanged a punch with Gui Guzi before threatening, "Just you wait, you f.u.c.ker! My surname ain¡¯t Li if I don¡¯t drink you to the bottom of the table!" Gui Guzi laughed. "Bullshit! How dare you complain when you landed right next to the host¡¯s feet!" Blue veins started popping across Li Chengfeng¡¯s head. "I¡¯m the one who should say that! I¡¯m a righteous and stand-up person, I¡¯d never do the dirty things you wish you did!" A gullible person would¡¯ve fallen for the farce, but not me. I faced him and asked, "Alright, cut the act and tell us the color already." Abashed, Li Chengfeng rubbed his nose before revealing the answer, "It¡¯s pink¡­" On the stage, Fei¡¯er turned as red as an apple. She glared at Li Chengfeng as she declared, "The next match is between Thunder and Snowy Cathaya! Contestants, please get ready for the match!" ¡­¡­ Thunder was a super guild in Wind City with over two hundred thousand players. Although their quality s.u.c.k.e.d, they made up for it with sheer numbers. At the same time, they were one of the six major allies of Candle Dragon. Today, Candle Dragon had formed an alliance with the three great guilds of Vanished God City, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain and Throne Seeker, and the three great guilds of Wind City, Thunder, Silver Soul and Wings of Awakening. Lin Yixin had never liked Candlelight Shadow, and Snowy Cathaya¡¯s relationship with Candle Dragon could only be described as hostile. There was only one response she could¡¯ve given considering that her current opponent was one of their allies. Chiang! Beauty Lin pulled out the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and declared, "Snowy Cathaya, we will destroy Thunder with a 10:0 score!" Chapter 908: Battle of the Top Eight Thunderbolt and the rest of his team had been shocked when their opponent was displayed on the big display. Of all the teams they could be paired with in the eighth-finals, it just had to be the one that didn¡¯t have a single weak link in their line-up, at least not one they could exploit at their level. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that their chances of advancing to the quarter-finals had plummeted to zero at that moment. Even then, it wasn¡¯t until the match was over that Thunderbolt realized just how outclassed he was. The result on the display was literally the bloodiest it could¡¯ve been¡ª Purple Marquis 2:0 Thunderbolt Shadow Chanel 2:0 Abyssal Remains Wind Fantasy 2:0 Weeping Knife Clear Perfume 2:0 Floor of Cups Purple Marquis & Wind Fantasy 2:0 Thunderbolt & Weeping Knife Snowy Cathaya had chopped up Thunder like vegetables. With the steel in their hands, they told them exactly how strong an invincible team forged in war was like, and how weak a team who made it to the eighth-finals through luck like theirs really was. ¡­¡­ ¡°Yay! We¡¯re in the top eight now!¡± Purple Marquis raised his blade and cheered. Clear Perfume was calculating aloud with yuan signs in her eyes, ¡°What are the rewards of the Top 8 again? Let¡¯s see, Level +2, Luck +3, and RMB +100000! Ohohoho, we¡¯re rich, Yiyi, we¡¯re rich!!¡± Lin Yixin shot a helpless smile at her bestie and said, ¡°You¡¯re such a greedy girl, Qingqing. Didn¡¯t I just send you 100k last week? Did you use it all already?¡± ¡°Yeah, I gave it all to my big bro because he¡¯s planning to buy a house. I¡¯ll have to subsist on cup noodles later this Sunday¡­¡± ¡°OMG. Fine, I¡¯ll send you 100k gold later¡­¡± ¡°No way! I¡¯m an independent girl! I¡¯ll get my money independently!¡± ¡°Yes, yes, as long as you¡¯re happy~¡± ¡­¡­ While Snowy Cathaya was celebrating their victory, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon were ready and waiting. Their opponent was none other than our old friend, Gods of Destruction. It wasn¡¯t long before Dominating Heaven Blade led Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God and more up the stage. The first match was between Li Chengfeng and Dominating Heaven Blade. The battle between the two aces lasted only 12 seconds as the dragon warrior easily gave the warrior the slip and hit him with a fatal double-skill combo. Although the latter had tried his best to parry the attacks, Li Chengfeng had gone at him at odd angles and at an even odder speed. At Li Chengfeng¡¯s level, he moved as soon as his brain processed the information, so it was damn near impossible to predict his actions unless you were at the same level or higher. The only reason Dominating Heaven Blade lasted as long as he did despite being struck at the weak point again and again was because he had good equipment. The second match was between Gui Guzi and Dominating Warrior God. Dominating Warrior God was a 5-Strength player, and Gui Guzi, a 3-Strength 2-Stamina player. However, the latter had a shield that boosted his already crazy defense to greater levels, and his Knight God made up for his weaker offense. This was before mentioning that he had good enough control to strike Dominating Warrior God twice for almost every hit he received. It was pretty clear who the winner would be just after a few trades. When Gui Guzi killed Dominating Warrior God, he still had over 80% HP. The power gap between the two was practically unbridgeable. The third match was between Chaos Moon and Dominating Mage God. Usually, the mage would be having a field day slaughtering a heavy-armor class, but Chaos Moon had both great equipment and great skill. Fully acknowledging her strength, he opted to kite and kill her from a distance. He was even doing very well compared to his lousier self from half a year ago. Not only did he combo his spells properly, his movement and judgment had improved by leaps and bounds. Unfortunately for him, Chaos Moon¡¯s growth was even greater than his. The girl was already a fast learner and a very approachable woman, and one of her favorite ways to pass the time was to spar with the elite players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls such as Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits and Gui Guzi. As a result, both her tactics and ability to land strikes while on the move were almost super-tier. A simple feint was all it took for her to land a Barrier Break + Rock Crush combo and knock out Dominating Mage God twice in a row. It was 3:0. The battle had already been won. However, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi thought that they weren¡¯t being modest enough, so during the next match, High Fighting Spirits went berserk and chased Dominating Knight God all over the battlefield like a madman. During the latter¡¯s final moments, he raised his shield only to watch it be destroyed by the barbarian¡¯s warhammer! The score turned 4:0. It was now a major victory for their team. Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon fought together during the fifth match, and the dragon warrior didn¡¯t even need to use his Divine General Skill. Their rapport, decisiveness and skill completely outstripped their opponents¡¯, and several combination attacks later, the Dominating Heaven Blade + Dominating Mage God duo were defeated. The score turned 5:0, and Li Chengfeng gave his Augustus¡¯ Spear a delighted swing. ¡°Our coordination is growing better and better, partner!¡± Chaos Moon tilted her head at him. ¡°And¡­?¡± Li Chengfeng pretended to blush. ¡°Little Gui said that we look like a good fit for one another, so¡­¡± Chaos Moon immediately unsheathed her weapon and threatened, ¡°Do you want to die, Gui Guzi? There¡¯s only one bastard I fancy in this world, and that¡¯s Lu Chen! Everyone else who even thinks to lay their hand on me will get a blade up their a.s.s, you hear me!?¡± Both Gui Guzi and I shivered at the same time. Lin Yixin and He Yi chatted happily with one another and pretended that they heard nothing. ¡­¡­ And so, the top four teams of the upper bracket were finally decided, and they were Warsky, Soul Battle Robes, Snowy Cathaya, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls 222nd. This new group of death was as terrifying as the last one, if not more. ¡°To think that only two out of these four teams will be entering the internationals¡­¡± I smiled. ¡°Just how many more dreams will the group of death crush before it¡¯s satisfied?¡± Li Chengfeng nodded in agreement. ¡°Yeah. Our next opponent is Snowy Cathaya.¡± Lin Yixin shot the dragon warrior a smile and said, ¡°We won¡¯t go easy on you!¡± Li Chengfeng gripped his fists and responded confidently, ¡°We won¡¯t either. The WEL is a battle for honor, so we¡¯ll do our best to take you out!¡± Lin Yixin leaned a little against the handrail and faced toward my direction, but her beautiful eyes were trained on Li Chengfeng. Giggling like the goddess she was, she responded to the challenge with equal audacity, ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll do your best, but there¡¯s no chance in hell you¡¯re taking us out, so save it.¡± Li Chengfeng chuckled. ¡°Hmph hmph, we¡¯ll see about that!¡± ¡­¡­ The first match of the lower bracket began while we were talking. It was Candle Dragon versus Righteousness! While Hot and Sour Noodles passed by Candle Dragon¡¯s waiting area, he looked at Candlelight Shadow and said, ¡°It¡¯s our turn, Fang Zhuo. I¡¯m curious to know how many points we¡¯ll be able to take away from your team. You?¡± Candlelight Shadow smiled at him before replying, ¡°Zhang Chun, we¡¯re going to give it our all no matter what, so don¡¯t blame us if you are stopped at the eighth-finals, okay?¡± Hot and Sour Noodles nodded and said, ¡°Hehe, got it. Still, friendship first, competition second, right?¡± Blue Sky Scar merely chuckled at that and said nothing. Both teams went into the arena after that. The results were pretty clear¡ª Candlelight Shadow 2:0 Hot and Sour Noodles Ye Yuse 2:0 Exclusive Taste Blue Sky Scar 2:1 Taintless Beacon God¡¯s Dance 2:0 Legendary Slash Candlelight Shadow & Ye Yuse 2:0 Hot and Sour Noodles & Taintless Beacon ¡­¡­ True to Candlelight Shadow¡¯s words, Candle Dragon slapped Righteousness right across the face with a merciless 5:0 score. Taintless Beacon, a magic knight, was the only player in Righteousness skillful enough to take a point from Blue Sky Scar during the second fight of his match, and even then he was ultimately defeated after Blue Sky Scar stopped underestimating his enemy and reconsidered his strategy. Not like the score surprised anyone in the slightest, of course. It would be stranger if Righteousness somehow defeated Candle Dragon. Forget that Candlelight Shadow would never allow this to happen, his team had two Divine Generals in it. It was literally impossible to lose unless it was a fixed match. We didn¡¯t pay too much attention to the next two matches because they were guilds no one had ever heard of before. We checked out their styles for a bit because they might become an opponent in the future, but that was all. It didn¡¯t take long for both matches to finish¡ª Pop Culture 4:1 Conquer Dominating Heaven Tiger 0:5 Sword Lord of Jianghu Pop Culture and Sword Lord of Jianghu advanced to the quarter-finals. Between the two, I determined that Sword Lord of Jianghu was the bigger threat because they had a whopping three hidden classes in their team. No wonder they were able to advance all the way to the quarter-finals. If they become our opponent in the future, we must defeat them before we can qualify for the internationals! ¡­¡­ The last match of the bracket was Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls versus Panda! He Yi and Lin Yixin burst into a giggle when they saw the enemy. It was because Panda was completely made up of 40-year-old uncles with tummies so round that they looked like they had been pregnant for ten months. Moreover, I was certain that they were crazy levelers like Gui Guzi because they were all seventh-promotion players, and their eyes were surrounded by dark circles. No wonder they called themselves Panda, they sure as hell looked like pandas! The first match was between me and a magic knight. The broad man was riding a scrawny wolf that looked like it was about to pass out from the sheer weight it was carrying. Pointing a shield that looked like it weighed about several hundred kilograms at me, the uncle let out a cackle and declared, ¡°Come at me, fifth ranker of the CGL Hall of Fame! Allow me to show you that experience will always be greater than talent! Take this!¡± For some reason, the magic knight was using Wanderer class¡¯s signature weapon, a blade. All I could say was that the uncle had a very¡­ unique personality. Chiang! The uncle¡¯s blade drew metallic sparks as I blocked it with my Dragon God Shield. Before he could recover from his surprise, I moved my shield away and thrust the Purple Ying Sword forward, hitting him with Burning Blade Slash. Since the play-offs began, I must say that this uncle was the only player to withstand the full might of my attack without parrying at all! Boom boom boom! The flaming sword auras cut into the uncle¡¯s shield three times, dealing an incredible amount of damage¡ª 48289! 72673! 91097! Although the uncle did his best to Guard the attack, it just wasn¡¯t possible for his stats. His HP dropped to zero, and he died just like that. To be honest, the match was so easy that I almost thought that he was f.u.c.k.i.n.g with me. However, the fact was the second fight ended even cleaner than the first. The uncle had decided that it was a bad idea to fight me at melee range and attempted to use ranged attacks from a distance, but two Dragon Slaying Slashes and one Coiling Dragon Revolution were all it took to delete him and take the first match! ¡­¡­ He Yi, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin¡¯s matches went just as easy as mine, and before long, we finished the solos with a 4:0 score. For the duo match, the team sent Beiming Xue and me because we were a warrior and an archer, one of the more scientific pairings in 2v2. I could defend against any attack and lock enemies down with powerful offensive abilities, and Beiming Xue could rain hell on her opponent with her Windchaser equipment set, which made all her attacks ignore 40% Defense and Magic Shield. The last match of the eighth-finals ended with a 5:0, and we officially entered the quarter-finals. A while later, Fei¡¯er announced the quarter final matches on the screen¡ª Upper Bracket: Warsky Alliance VS Soul Battle Robes, Snowy Cathaya VS Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls 222nd Lower Bracket: Candle Dragon VS Pop Culture, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls VS Sword Lord of Jianghu Chapter 909: Powerless Warsky The most anticipated stage of the WEL competition had finally arrived. Two and a half groups had turned into the groups of death, and eight godlike teams would be battling for the glory of becoming the champion. To achieve that, Warsky Alliance, Soul Battle Robes, Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls must get out of the upper bracket first. Just the same, only one team between Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Candle Dragon could emerge from the lower bracket and enter the finals! ¡­¡­ Standing in the middle of the stage, Fei¡¯er gave everyone a smile before starting, "Thank you for your concern, everyone. We are now in the quarter-finals, and I¡¯m sure that there isn¡¯t a super team here that our audience isn¡¯t familiar with, is there? There are even dark horses that few expected to make it this far! Regardless, I¡¯m certain that the following matches will be as exciting as all the matches we¡¯ve watched so far, if not more! Now then, the first match of the quarter-finals will be Warsky Alliance versus Soul Battle Robes. Team leaders, please enter your line-ups and submit them to the system immediately!" Warsky and Song of Cloud and Water brought up their UI and entered their line-ups as requested. A short while later, the match-ups were displayed on the screen¡ª 1v1: Song of Ice and Fire LV-181 Frozen Berserker VS Warsky LV-180 Molten Warrior 1v1: Song of Cloud and Water LV-180 Magic Knight VS Farewell Song LV-181 Assassin 1v1: Ringwraith LV-180 Undead Mage VS Lin Bing Dou Zhe LV-180 Warrior 1v1: God Bone LV-180 Iron Knight VS October Rain LV-180 Archer 2v2: Song of Ice and Fire LV-181 Frozen Berserker & Ringwraith LV-180 Undead Mage VS Warsky LV-180 Molten Warrior & Farewell Song LV-181 Assassin ¡­¡­ "F.u.c.k!" I cursed the moment I saw the match-up. "What¡¯s wrong, big bro?" Beiming Xue asked. I gripped my fists before replying, "Don¡¯t you see? This match-up has got to be one of the worst possible outcomes for Warsky Alliance. Warsky is probably crying on the inside right now¡­" He Yi nodded in agreement. "Mn, he does look pretty pale¡­" Everyone followed her gaze, and it was just as she said. The guild leader looked like death as he discussed battle plans with Farewell Song, October Rain and Lin Bing Dou Zhe. Farewell Song and October Rain also looked grim as if they knew that the situation was very disadvantageous toward them. On the other hand, Soul Battle Robes¡¯ Song of Cloud and Water was all smiles. She looked very satisfied with the current line-up. Ideally, Farewell Song would be paired up with one of the enemy¡¯s stronger players such as Song of Ice and Fire, Ringwraith or God Bone. After all, he was the only one out of everyone in Warsky Alliance who had actually had a solid chance of beating them. Unfortunately, it turned out that he was paired with the weakest member of Soul Battle Robes, Song of Cloud and Water. He could beat her, but what did it matter if the rest of his teammates lost their matches? None of them could claim that they could beat the stronger players of Soul Battle Robes for sure. ¡­¡­ The first match was a duel between two hidden classes! Swhoosh swhoosh! Warsky and Song of Ice and Fire teleported into the arena. The frozen berserker looked as cool as ever. Both combatants had canceled their mounts because they knew that it would be tantamount to suicide. At this stage, it was all about control, equipment and skill. Song of Ice and Fire gave his weapon a wave and covered himself with the Frozen Armor skill. A small smile flashed across his lips. Warsky responded with his own defensive skill called "Blaze Protection¡±. It was the signature skill of the Molten Warrior class, and it reduced all damage taken by 50% for 12 seconds. Warsky charged the moment he applied Blaze Protection to himself, not intending to waste even a second of his skill. Song of Ice and Fire met his charge head-on and exchanged three strikes with the molten warrior, the points of impact leaving behind three stunning showers of sparks in the darkness. As it turned out, Warsky had greater Strength than his opponent. He managed to send Song of Ice and Fire stumbling to the back after a shout! "Charge!" The opening was tiny, but Warsky didn¡¯t let it slip through his grasp. After stunning his opponent with Charge, he landed a Cyan Tiger Shatter + Barrier Break + basic attack combo on the Frozen Berserker¡¯s c.h.e.s.t¡ª 68782! 71263! 21209! However, Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s Defense was giga-boosted by Frozen Armor. He dropped to 10% HP, but didn¡¯t die. Swhoosh! Song of Ice and Fire immediately tossed a card into the air the moment he recovered, and it was none other than the Ghost Chariot Card. Where did he even buy it from? After the card took effect and boosted his attack power and armor penetration, he dashed toward Warsky and kicked him right in the arm. Now that the guild leader was wide open, it was his turn to retaliate with a combo of his own! Frozen Flurry! 62783! 52282! 62109! After the multiple-hit skill CC¡¯d Warsky, Song of Ice and Fire raised his sword for the last time of this fight and smiled. "Goodbye, Warsky Alliance guild leader!" Puchi! Barrier Break pierced Warsky¡¯s c.h.e.s.t armor and deleted his last sliver of HP! The score turned 1:0, and it was Song of Ice and Fire who got the first point. ¡­¡­ Warsky¡¯s expression was ugly to say the least. He had underestimated Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s offensive power, and worse, his control was just a bit better than the guild leader¡¯s. Candlelight Shadow, Lin Yixin and I were all familiar with animation canceling, but it wasn¡¯t something the average person could pull off easily. Most of the time, they would only be wasting their skill cooldowns. However, Song of Ice and Fire was clearly a pro at this. He had executed his skill almost instantaneously right after he disrupted Warsky¡¯s skill with a kick to the arm! The second battle went more or less the same way. After Song of Ice and Fire had lost 77% of his HP, he found a golden opportunity to trap Warsky with Bone Wall and emptied Warsky¡¯s HP with Frozen Flurry. It was game over the moment the massive-damage skill encased Warsky in ice. Actually, it was over the moment Bone Wall trapped Warsky and prevented him from dodging Frozen Flurry! The first match ended 2:0 in favor of Soul Battle Robes, and Song of Ice and Fire snatched a valuable point from Warsky in dominant fashion! ¡­¡­ "Well done, Ice and Fire!" Song of Cloud and Water praised her subordinate. The frozen berserker gave her a nod of acknowledgement. "Thank you, leader!" On the other side, Warsky returned to his waiting area in disappointment, but his fighting spirit was still alight. He said, "It¡¯s just one match. Farewell Song, Little Rain, Lin Bing, I leave the rest to you guys!" "Yessir!" They nodded in unison. The second match was between Farewell Song and Song of Cloud and Water. Farewell Song didn¡¯t disappoint Warsky. Not only did he chain-stun the magic knight until she died, his butterfly maneuver was so perfect that she couldn¡¯t even see him if she turned even a second too slow. He won both of his fights with incredible ease. The score turned 1:1. For now, the result was a draw. The third match was between Ringwraith and Lin Bing Dou Zhe. Warsky whispered to his general, "Watch out for his summons and his CC skill, Bone Cage. You¡¯re as good as dead if you¡¯re caught by those skeletal arms. The good news is that the channelling time of the spell isn¡¯t instantaneous, so it¡¯s not impossible to dodge. Just pay attention to your cooldowns, and you¡¯ll win your match! I believe in you!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe nodded. "Don¡¯t worry, boss. No matter how strong this Undead Mage class is, it can¡¯t possibly be stronger than Lu Chen¡¯s Undead Swordsman, right?" Farewell Song let out a chuckle. "You know what they say, better be safe than sorry. I want to go to the internationals, you know¡­" Ling Bing Dou Zhe replied, "Yessir! I want to go to the internationals myself! I¡¯m going!" Both combatants teleported into the arena. The undead mage donned a black cloak that shrouded not only his body, but also his face in darkness. He was also surrounded by wisps of death energy. If I were to judge his caliber as an undead mage by appearance alone, he would¡¯ve scored a perfect 10. Dude looked like he just clawed his way out of a coffin. Lin Bing Dou Zhe gave his weapon a wave and activated his Famous General Skill, Renown. The stratagem boosted his Attack by 120% and his Defense by 40%. The attack boost was one thing, but the defense boost was unfortunately wasted. His opponent was a mage, so no matter how high his Defense was, it wasn¡¯t going to reduce the magic damage taken at all. On the other side, Ringwraith let out a ghastly laugh and slammed the b.u.t.t of his scepter against the ground, empowering himself with Encourage VII. His attack power instantly shot up by 110%. His Tactics stat was very high alright! After casting Frost Bone Shield on himself, Ringwraith pointed a bony arm at Lin Bing Dou Zhe and taunted him, "Come at me, boy!" The warrior raged. "Who the f.u.c.k are you calling a boy? I¡¯m the vice leader of Warsky Alliance! Just watch, I¡¯m going to kill you slowly in three hundred rounds!" Ringwraith chuckled. "Three hundred rounds? Are you sure you can even last three against me?" "Pooh!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe abruptly ran toward his opponent, forcing Ringwraith to retaliate with a couple of Black Dragon Waves. However, Lin Bing Dou Zhe was able to dodge two of the spells with zigzags before activating Charge at the last moment. It was clear that he was a pro in PvP. However, Lin Bing Dou Zhe didn¡¯t expect his actions to fall completely under the enemy¡¯s prediction. Right before Lin Bing Dou Zhe was about to hit Ringwraith, the mage Blinked 30 yards away and summoned Bone Cage right beneath Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s feet. He had exploited the temporary lock at the end of Charge to immobilize Lin Bing Dou Zhe! After that, Ringwraith simply tossed Black Dragon Wave after Black Dragon Wave until the warrior died. His Magic Attack was so high that he didn¡¯t need to use another skill to mow down HP far beyond the warrior¡¯s ability to recover them. Just like that, it was 1:0 in favor of Ringwraith. Now that Lin Bing Dou Zhe knew that Ringwraith¡¯s control was at least as good as his, if not better, he dared not underestimate him any longer. After probing the mage¡¯s Defense for a bit, he mustered the courage to activate Charge once more! This time Ringwraith allowed the warrior to hit him. After his Frost Bone Shield caused the Charge to miss, he laughed loudly and said, "Die! Night of the Undead Dragon!" "Roar roar roar!" Normally, a mage would want to put some distance between himself and a warrior, but not the powerful undead mage. While Night of the Undead Dragon was still chipping away at Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s HP, he cast Death Rot that greatly reduced the warrior¡¯s Defense, cast some DoT spells and followed up with Black Dragon Wave. His burst damage was absolutely insane, and Lin Bing Dou Zhe died again before he could do anything! ¡­¡­ The overall score turned 1:2, and it was match point to Soul Battle Robes. If Warsky Alliance lost another match, they would be knocked out of the competition. Warsky looked at October Rain and said, "It¡¯s really all on you now, Little Rain¡­" October Rain puffed up her c.h.e.s.t and declared, "No worries. Just leave it to me!" Farewell Song added, "That iron knight is as good as Ancient Sword¡¯s Chaos Moon, so you really need to be careful, Little Rain¡­" October Rain nodded. "Oh. In that case, I¡¯ll do my best, but no promises." Warsky looked like he was about to cry. "F.u.c.k, what¡¯s with this declining morale¡­" October Rain chuckled a little before saying, "I¡¯m going!" ¡­¡­ Seven minutes later, Warsky actually burst into tears because October Rain lost to God Bone 0:2. Of all the opponents he imagined Warsky Alliance might lose to, Soul Battles Robes was definitely not one of them. It really wasn¡¯t his fault though. Those three hidden classes were just too strong, and without sufficient preparation there just wasn¡¯t anything they could do to overturn this. The WEL was a once-a-year competition. This meant that Warsky Alliance would have to wait until next year at least for another shot at the competition. Chapter 910: Sword and Blade Chiang! Warsky¡¯s weapon clattered against the floor as Warsky leaned back against the handrail, dejected. October Rain consoled him, "You can¡¯t win or lose forever. We can try this again next year¡­" Farewell Song also gave Warsky a pat on the shoulder. "Also, remember that a PvP tournament like the WEL isn¡¯t where our true strength lies. When the next Nation War begins, I promise you that Warsky Alliance will shine like the stars! Trust in yourself and your brothers and sisters, Warsky!" Warsky nodded heavily and replied, "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ As usual, Soul Battle Robes declined the final 2v2 match after taking out Warsky Alliance with a 3:1 score. They also became the first team to make it into the semi-finals and qualify for the WEL international competition. No one expected Soul Battle Robes to return so strongly that even Warsky Alliance was unable to stop them. The second match of the quarter-finals was Snowy Cathaya versus Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls 222nd. Li Chengfeng said, "We¡¯ll do our best, Beauty Lin." Lin Yixin nodded. "Sure. We¡¯ll wipe you out either way!" Suddenly, Gui Guzi said with a smile, "Why don¡¯t we play a game, Beauty Lin?" Lin Yixin blinked. "What do you mean?" Gui Guzi replied, "It¡¯s simple. One team will declare who they¡¯re sending, and the other team will respond with a candidate. We¡¯ll do this back and forth until the line-up is complete. Sounds fair to you?" Purple Marquis rubbed his palms together in excitement. "Sounds interesting! Let¡¯s do as he says, guild leader. This way, they can¡¯t say we got lucky with our line-up when we kick their a.s.s, right?" Lin Yixin nodded in agreement before replying, "Alright then. You go first since you¡¯re the one who brought up the suggestion." Li Chengfeng immediately replied, "I¡¯ll attend the first match!" Purple Marquis looked surprised. Shadow Chanel also fell silent. Neither of them stepped up because this was the qualifying match to enter the internationals. No one wanted to bear the responsibility of failure if they could. A few seconds later, Lin Yixin answered while fiddling with her dagger, "Okay then, I¡¯ll fight you for the first match!" Gui Guzi nodded. "That¡¯s fair. Divine General versus Divine General. It¡¯s your turn to pick now." Lin Yixin said, "I choose Shadow Chanel!" Chaos Moon replied, "Very well, I¡¯ll fight her!" Gui Guzi smiled. "Next, I choose myself for the third and the deciding match." Purple Marquis responded, "Sounds fun. I¡¯ll be your challenger then!" There was no need to mention the fourth match because only Clear Perfume and High Fighting Spirits were left. After the line-ups were entered, the match-ups quickly appeared on the big display¡ª 1v1: Wind Fantasy LV-182 Light Wanderer VS Legendary Brave LV-181 Dragon Warrior 1v1: Shadow Chanel LV-181 Dark Tongue Mage VS Chaos Moon LV-180 Warrior 1v1: Purple Marquis LV-181 Warrior VS Gui Guzi LV-181 Undead Knight 1v1: Clear Perfume LV-180 Archer VS High Fighting Spirits LV-180 Warrior 2v2" Wind Fantasy LV-182 Light Wanderer & Purple Marquis LV-181 Warrior VS Legendary Brave LV-181 Dragon Warrior & Gui Guzi LV-181 Undead Knight ¡­¡­ This was going to be a true David versus Goliath battle. I could already see it go down as a classic in the history books! The first match was between the Fruit Knife Goddess and Legendary Brave, the two living legends of Heavenblessed. The Dragon Warrior single-handedly held off the enemy¡¯s troops for 5 hours before dragging three of the enemy¡¯s generals to the grave with him. When all hope seemed lost, the Fruit Knife Goddess had used God¡¯s Tear to slay the millions of northern invaders and rescued Dawn City from the jaws of defeat. Both Lin Yixin and Li Chengfeng were worshipped as heroes in all of China after the War of Dawn City. Now that the two living legends were about to duel one another, the audience¡¯s hype levels were literally at the apex. There were at least a hundred thousand spectators on the spectators¡¯ stands right now. Many of them had risen to their feet to wave their arms and cheer for their idols like crazy¡ª "Wind Fantasy, you are the strongest Fruit Knife Goddess!" "Beauty Lin, take our eternal love and destroy the dragon warrior!" "Our love is all yours, Fruit Knife Goddess! You are the woman of our dreams!" Of course, Li Chengfeng wasn¡¯t lacking in his own fanatic supporters. Countless girls were dripping tears and screaming from the handrails¡ª "You must win and defeat the Fruit Knife Goddess, Legendary Brave!" "You are our dream, Li Chengfeng!" "I love you, Li Chengfeng! I want to have your baby!" ¡­¡­ "Pwack!" The battle hadn¡¯t even begun yet, and Li Chengfeng was nearly one-shot by his fans already. These days women were as ferocious as they came, and no ordinary man could withstand their love. Lin Yixin jumped off her Moonchaser Tiger and canceled its summon. However, instead of returning to its pet space, it let out a roar once before transforming into a beautiful silver rune. Somehow, the mount had transformed into a soul and continued protecting its master this way. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, Beauty Lin had learned a new skill after completing her seventh promotion. Li Chengfeng¡¯s heart sank when he saw the tiger rune on Lin Yixin¡¯s arm. The Moonchaser Tiger¡¯s stats still applied to her, but the turn rate penalty was reduced to a manageable degree. This meant that Lin Yixin was now twice as strong, but just as agile as she was before. For a mechanically skilled player like her, it was like a tiger growing a pair of wings. Bang! Li Chengfeng jumped off his own mount and hit the ground loudly. At the same time, a cyan dragon rose from the ground and transformed into a draconic-shape energy shield. It was Li Chengfeng¡¯s seventh-promotion skill, Dragon Protection. It reduced all damage he took by 50%, and it was just as good as Lin Yixin¡¯s Tiger Rune Protection. Lin Yixin smiled as cyan lotus petals began appearing beneath his feet. Li Chengfeng responded with his own Great Earth Transformation and Divine General Skill, Battle Soul Possession to almost double all of his existing stats! The countdown began¡ª 3! 2! 1! The moment the battle began, Lin Yixin shot toward Li Chengfeng like a loose arrow. She attacked his sides without hesitation and aimed three slashes straight at his weak point! "What?" Li Chengfeng was slightly caught off-guard. He always knew that Lin Yixin¡¯s style was ferocious and unhesitant, but he didn¡¯t expect her to be this fast. Duels between experts were usually clashes of speed, where the faster person often achieved victory! Li Chengfeng swung the Augustus¡¯ Spear twice in front of himself before leaning to the back. He stabbed the ground with the spear b.u.t.t to balance himself and parried two quick strikes from Lin Yixin, but it still wasn¡¯t enough to stop the third strike to his c.h.e.s.t. 28891! Lin Yixin shot the dragon warrior a smile when she leaped over his body. Then, she grabbed the pole of Augustus¡¯ Spear to spin herself around and brought her weapon straight to his neck! At the same time, the blade of the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword burst into flames! Li Chengfeng gritted his teeth and allowed his body to drop further. For a second, it looked like he was going to fall to his knees when he thrust his right leg and kicked the b.u.t.t of his spear. The improvised strike successfully changed the angle of Lin Yixin¡¯s strike and even caused the spear to whip her shoulder for 20k + damage, but the Fruit Knife Goddess quickly reacted with a kick to the waist! Bang! 16266! Li Chengfeng allowed the kick to roll him away from Lin Yixin, but no more than two meters. Regaining his footing with inhuman speed, he thrust the Augustus¡¯ Spear at Lin Yixin¡¯s shoulder and summoned the head of a gigantic cyan dragon around the blade, shouting, "Cyan Dragon Horn!" 49090! This time, Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t ignore the pain. After a cute cry escaped her throat, she backed away and pointed her palm at Li Chengfeng. God¡¯s Tear! Clap! The counterattack was incredibly swift, and unfortunately, Li Chengfeng was nowhere fast enough to dodge it, causing him to lose 50k HP. Before he could recover, Lin Yixin closed in again and thrust with a Barrier Break straight at his c.h.e.s.t. Chiang! Li Chengfeng successfully blocked the skill with Augustus¡¯ Spear, but Lin Yixin¡¯s counterattack was far from over. Lin Yixin revealed the left fist she had hidden behind her cloak and punched the surprised Li Chengfeng right in the cheeks. 29988! Lin Yixin knew that it was almost impossible to land Barrier Break on the skillful dragon warrior, so she used it to conceal her punch instead. Lin Yixin clearly knew what she was doing. The dragon warrior¡¯s head swung backward after he was hit, but he rotated on his feet while saying, "What the f.u.c.k, Beauty Lin! You never punched vice leader Lu Chen in the face before, so why me!?" When he faced Lin Yixin once more, he thrust the Augustus'' Spear at her three times in quick succession. It was his signature skill, Dragonbone Flurry! Bang bang bang! Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t dodge this one, so she lost a ton of HP¡ª 38772! 41029! 28716! The humiliated anger etched on Lin Yixin¡¯s features was all I needed to see how she felt about the counterattack. Stabbing the ground with the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword to half her momentum, she bounded behind Li Chengfeng in one step and swung her sword at his shoulder. Li Chengfeng wasn¡¯t afraid. He brought his spear to bear and parried the attack almost perfectly. However, Lin Yixin passed by Li Chengfeng again, and this time there was a tiny but intimidating blade in her hand. The dragon warrior¡¯s heart immediately sank to the bottom. Because Lin Yixin had only tried to beat down on him with her sword so far, he had completely forgotten that her fruit knife technique was the most lethal technique she possessed in her arsenal! Pu! After Moon Gaze and Extreme Break shredded Li Chengfeng¡¯s Defense to shreds, an Ice Flame Slash penetrated Li Chengfeng¡¯s c.h.e.s.t completely! 58992! 108746! The Ice Flame Slash even resulted in a critical hit, completely shutting down any chance Li Chengfeng might¡¯ve had to turn this around. Thud! Clutching the Augustus'' Spear, the dragon warrior glared at Lin Yixin as he slowly dropped to one knee. In the end, he couldn¡¯t defy fate and flew out of the arena as a wisp of light. 0:1. The dragon warrior lost his first fight! Chapter 911: Stopped At The Quarter-Finals "F.u.c.k!" After Li Chengfeng returned to the waiting area, he stared at me with a bloodless complexion and complained, "Dude, is your wife a cyborg in disguise? No human can move this quickly!" Lin Yixin immediately glared at him. "What did you say?!" The dragon warrior had no choice but to shut up. Beside us, Chaos Moon let out a chuckle, "Rest in peace, Li. You¡¯re really good, but Lin Yixin is someone who can go toe-to-toe with Heavenly King¨Clevel players like Candlelight Shadow and Lu Chen. You¡¯ll have to grow a bit better to be able to truly compete against them¡­" Li Chengfeng loathed to admit it, but she was right. Technically speaking he was almost good enough to beat Lin Yixin, but until he bridged that tiny gap of strength, he would never truly be her equal. It was the same reason why he wasn¡¯t able to truly defeat Candlelight Shadow until now. His heart yearned for the day he could take revenge against that bastard, but he knew very well that his chances of beating Candlelight Shadow right now were less than 40%, even if he used Battle Soul Possession. The only thing he could do now was to continue walking the path of revenge until he reached the end one day. In this regard, Li Chengfeng and I shared the same mindset. We both believed that we would be able to slay our nemesis as long as we kept working toward that goal, and it just so happened that we shared the same nemesis. That was why we became brothers. ¡­¡­ Not long after, Lin Yixin and Li Chengfeng were teleported to a forest map. It was a favorable terrain for Lin Yixin because Light Wanderer was a class with a big emphasis on Strength and Agility, its Agility scaling being especially formidable. This meant that her attack speed, movement speed and evasion rate were better than your usual wanderer¡¯s, not to mention that her equipment was a tad better than Li Chengfeng¡¯s as well. Li Chengfeng activated Great Earth Transformation and Battle Soul Possession again. He shot Lin Yixin a cool look and declared, "You won¡¯t win as easily as last time, Beauty Lin." Lin Yixin smiled and countered just as strongly, "Is that so? Do whatever you want, but you¡¯re still going to die in my hands, Li!" "We¡¯ll see about that!" Li Chengfeng let out a battle cry and raised his spear above his head. Then, he said, "Have a taste of my Dragonblade Revolution, Beauty Lin! Not even you can avoid its area of effect!" I should¡¯ve known that Li Chengfeng would start abusing his AoE skills to qualify for the internationals. I was more surprised that the WEL hadn¡¯t banned his broken Dragonblade Revolution, even though its cooldown wasn¡¯t too long. When Lin Yixin recovered from her brief surprise, a huge golden dragon was already coiling around the Augustus¡¯ Spear. Li Chengfeng let out another shout and tossed the spear at her, "Go!" Swhoosh! Li Chengfeng didn¡¯t wait for the Augustus¡¯ Spear to hit Lin Yixin. Pulling out a sword from his bag, he bounded toward Lin Yixin in an attempt to catch her in a pincer attack! It was because he knew that one Dragonblade Revolution wouldn¡¯t be enough to instakill her! Lin Yixin moved backward and fired two God¡¯s Tears at the spear flying toward her. Unfortunately, it still wasn¡¯t enough to cancel the super AoE skill completely. Left with no choice, she crossed the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword in front of her and used Guard! "Roar!" 79923! 82772! Chiang! The Augustus'' Spear hit the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and bounced off. Lin Yixin herself was knocked back several steps. Her HP had dropped to 40% or so, but it wasn¡¯t over yet. The storm effect created by Dragonblade Revolution had forced Lin Yixin to close her eyes, and during this time Li Chengfeng had thrust his sword at her torso and used Crushing Blow. "Nngh¡­" Although Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes were closed, her cute succubi ears were standing and alert. She abruptly canceled her Guard stance¡ªcausing Li Chengfeng¡¯s Crushing Blow to fail to do anything to her¡ªand opened her eyes. Killing intent spilled out of her pupils as she stared at the dragon warrior! "Hmph!" Lin Yixin abruptly rushed forward and blocked a follow-up strike from Li Chengfeng with her wristguard, the Devil Bell. She lost some HP, but the opening she created for herself enabled her to land a devastating elbow strike to Li Chengfeng¡¯s neck. Li Chengfeng¡¯s reaction time was probably only 0.15 seconds or so, but Lin Yixin¡¯s brain delay was even shorter than his. In just 0.12 seconds, she brought her sword up to Li Chengfeng¡¯s c.h.e.s.t and stabbed him! "Knockback Slash!" 28282! Lin Yixin¡¯s signature skill, Knockback Slash, pushed Li Chengfeng 5 yards away from her and stunned him for 0.5 seconds. It was just enough time for her to kill him! Lin Yixin pointed her palm at Li Chengfeng and fired Ice Storm, causing three damage numbers to rise above his armor. Then, she brought her sword to bear, dashed forward and pierced his c.h.e.s.t with Barrier Break, dealing 79873 damage! Li Chengfeng¡¯s HP hit zero immediately, but the dragon warrior managed to execute his combo right before he died. After he broke out of his stun, he had caught his falling spear, turned around and executed a Dragonbone Flurry + Barrier Break combo! Pu pu pu pu¡­ The two skills tore through Lin Yixin¡¯s armor and devoured her HP like an inferno. Her HP had dropped to less than 3000 in the blink of an eye. "Thud... Li Chengfeng fell to his knees again as his sword fell out of his grip, and the Augustus¡¯ Spear planted into the ground. A moment later, both weapons and their master scattered into sparks and flew away from the stage. Lin Yixin turned pale when she saw her remaining HP. She stuck out her tongue and said to herself, "That was close¡­" ¡­¡­ The score turned 0:2. In the end, Li Chengfeng failed to beat Lin Yixin and lost a valuable point to the brutish Light Wanderer. Swhoosh swhoosh! As both combatants reappeared at the waiting area, Li Chengfeng shot us a regretful look and apologized, "I¡¯m so sorry, Little Gui, Chaos Moon, Fighting Spirits¡­" Gui Guzi waved it off. "Relax, you were facing Beauty Lin herself. It would¡¯ve been the same result if either of us was in your position. Beautiful Little Pepper wasn¡¯t a legend for nothing, you know." Lin Yixin clasped her fists and bowed at Li Chengfeng mockingly. "Thank you for letting me win, Hero Li!" The dragon warrior looked like he wanted to swallow Lin Yixin whole like a true dragon. Instead, he looked at me and said, "Vice guild leader, will you please discipline your not-girlfriend when you¡¯re free? The world will be in peril if she shows her true face too often¡­" I nodded, but... "Why are you nodding?" Lin Yixin glared at me like a hawk. I shivered, and my mouth automatically entered self-preservation mode, "Tonight¡¯s moonlight is like water¡­" Chaos Moon shook her head. "Just forget it, we will be lucky if Lu Chen isn¡¯t the one who gets disciplined by her. Anyway, it¡¯s my turn now!" ¡­¡­ The second match was between Chaos Moon and Shadow Chanel. It was a classic warrior versus mage duel. Shadow Chanel was without a doubt one of the Top 10 strongest mages in China. Her only flaw was that her equipment couldn¡¯t quite keep up with her personal skill. In fact, it wasn¡¯t even at the level of Luo River God of the Capital, Stranger of Three Lifetimes or Lian Xin¡¯s. On the other hand, our Chaos Moon had great skills, great equipment, and equal or better control than Shadow Chanel. The battle quickly began, throwing dust all over the battlefield. Chaos Moon had lost most of her HP in just the blink of an eye, but after that she stubbornly clung onto life like a gum sticking to one¡¯s shoes. It was the trade-off she accepted from the moment she knew that her opponent was Shadow Chanel. She was able to delete 90% of Shadow Chanel¡¯s Magic Shield durability in just half a minute, and knowing that Shadow Chanel¡¯s Blink wasn¡¯t up yet, she drank a health potion and charged her directly. One Barrier Break + Rock Crush combo later, she successfully defeated Shadow Chanel and won the fight! Both fights ended fairly quickly, and Chaos Moon proved her strength again by beating Shadow Chanel 2:0. ¡­¡­ The third match was Gui Guzi the Undying Knight versus Purple Marquis the best control warrior of Snowy Cathaya. Again, it was a duel between two aces! "Remember to watch out for Purple Marquis¡¯s Absolute Zero, Little Gui!" I reminded Gui Guzi before the battle began. Not far away, Lin Yixin was doing the same thing. "Don¡¯t let Gui Guzi hit you with Death Combo. It¡¯s a triple-hit skill. If you can parry it then it¡¯s all good, but if you can¡¯t, then Guarding is an acceptable alternative. Whatever happens, you cannot eat its full damage. Also, Gui Guzi¡¯s Undying Shield absorbs 50% of the damage he receives, but if you can bring him low enough to one-shot him, this regeneration won¡¯t do him any good after death, understand?" "F.u.c.k¡­" I complained to her, "There¡¯s no need to go that in-depth, Yiyi¡­" Lin Yixin shrugged and smiled at me. "It¡¯s all for the win, dear¡­" Well, f.u.c.k. Now that Lin Yixin had pointed out Gui Guzi¡¯s weaknesses, his chances of winning against Purple Marquis had decreased greatly. For the first three minutes, Gui Guzi and Purple Marquis were relatively even with each other. They traded blows dozens of times but were able to keep going because of various HP-recovering abilities. However, it was Purple Marquis who managed to display a higher level of skill during the deciding moment. After baiting Gui Guzi into wasting Death Combo with a feint, he froze Gui Guzi with Absolute Zero and deleted the last chunk of his HP with Chaos Universe. During the second fight, Gui Guzi copied Purple Marquis¡¯s tactic and baited out Purple Marquis¡¯s cooldowns with a fake Death Combo. Then, he hit the warrior with Death Combo + Aurora Thrust six-hit combo and destroyed him. The third fight was just as close as the second, but in the end, Purple Marquis barely came out ahead and won. The overall score turned 2:1 in favor of Snowy Cathaya, and Purple Marquis proved himself to be the strongest warrior of his guild by taking a valuable point off Gui Guzi¡¯s hands. Snowy Cathaya was now one step closer to reaching the semi-finals. ¡­¡­ The fourth match was the match point. It was High Fighting Spirits versus Clear Perfume. Li Chengfeng gave High Fighting Spirits a slap on the shoulder and declared, "If you win this, I¡¯ll take you to a bar tonight! You can drink those red wines that cost 1000 a bottle until you¡¯re dead!" High Fighting Spirits¡¯ eyes immediately glowed. "You said it! You¡¯re a grandson if you renege on your promise!" Li Chengfeng nodded. "Of course. I¡¯m not called an honest man for nothing¡­" "Okay!" Invigorated, High Fighting Spirits charged into the battlefield and absolutely annihilated Sun Qingqing. Warriors already held a great advantage over archers because of their armor, but his Dragonlight Armored Horse allowed him to negate the speed disadvantage. Both fights ended with him Charging into Sun Qingqing, stunning her and killing her with a combo. In the end, he was able to fulfill his promise and win a precious point for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls 222nd. The overall score was now 2:2. It truly was a close and exciting battle! ¡­¡­ The 2v2 and final match was Lin Yixin + Purple Marquis versus Gui Guzi + Li Chengfeng. Both teams had sent their best aces into the battlefield, and theoretically speaking, either team had a chance of seizing the day. Unfortunately, I knew better than that. I knew that once the fight dragged to the 2v2s, the chance of our second seed advancing to the semi-finals was next to nothing. The reason I said this was because Purple Marquis and Lin Yixin had a total of 3 CC skills¡ªAbsolute Zero, Ice Storm and God¡¯s Tear¡ªto control the battlefield, but Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng combined only had Dragonblade Revolution. Worse, Lin Yixin¡¯s mechanical skill was better than Li Chengfeng¡¯s, and Purple Marquis¡¯s was better than Gui Guzi¡¯s, so... In the end, my pessimistic prediction came true. Although Li Chengfeng managed a miracle comeback during the second round and killed both Lin Yixin and Purple Marquis after Gui Guzi was dead, the power gap was ultimately too big to overcome. With a 1:2 score, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls 222nd¡¯s advance came to a full stop at the quarter-finals, and they departed the WEL competition with honor. Chapter 912: Pop Culture "Victory and defeat is commonplace in battles, not to mention that your opponent was Snowy Cathaya. You all did very well already," He Yi consoled the team when they returned to the waiting area. Hugging his sword and leaning against a wall at the back, Li Chengfeng smiled lazily and replied, "Yeah, Snowy Cathaya is a worthy opponent, and we¡¯re the ones who weren¡¯t good enough to beat them. Next year, we¡¯ll be good enough to beat everyone we meet and encounter the first seed in the finals. Next time, no Snowy Cathaya or Warsky Alliance will be able to block our way¡­" Warsky wasn¡¯t sitting far away from us, so he heard this and shot Chengfeng the stink eye. "Really? You¡¯re mocking us when we¡¯re already out of the WEL?" Undeterred, Li Chengfeng pointed at Warsky and laughed, "Warsky Alliance? More like Bitter Pill Alliance ahahahaha¡­" Warsky immediately turned purple in the face. ¡­¡­ The next match was between Pop Culture and Candle Dragon. It was a battle between a dark horse and a favorite to win the WEL. Pop Culture had three solid point securers in the team, and they were two warriors and one archer. In fact, almost all of their perfect victories were thanks to the exquisite movement and control of the two warriors. They were almost at the same level as Chaos Moon, and that was very impressive. Standing at the edge of the arena, Candlelight Shadow greeted Pop Culture with a smile and said, "Brothers and sisters of Pop Culture, it looks like fate has brought us together today. Whatever the result may be, I hope that there¡¯ll be no hard feelings between our guilds. As a show of respect to your ability to make it to the quarter-finals, I promise that we¡¯ll give it out all in the upcoming battle!" The guild leader of Pop Culture was a warrior called "Lone Moonshade¡±. He returned the smile and replied, "Thank you for confirming our strength, Martial God. We promise to give it our all as well so that we won¡¯t bring shame to Candle Dragon¡¯s name!" Candlelight Shadow let out a refreshing laugh. "Very well. Then we shall meet on the battlefield again!" "Yes!" While Candlelight Shadow was speaking with Lone Moonshade, God¡¯s Dance was talking to Pop Culture as well. They looked like they were on friendly terms at the very least. ¡­¡­ "It looks like Candlelight Shadow is planning to recruit Pop Culture into his guild. Even if they refuse, I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll turn them into an ally guild somehow," Lin Yixin commented as she stared at the group. He Yi nodded in agreement as a small frown crept onto her expression. "The worst part about this is that Pop Culture is a guild in Sky City. Hmph, I can already imagine his scheme in my mind. He¡¯s planning to expand Candle Dragon¡¯s influence in Sky City through them and eat away at our strength." I replied, "It¡¯s a pretty good plan actually. Pop Culture will be the one investing the resources and manpower to uproot us. Candle Dragon just needs to sit on their asses and provide Pop Culture with moral support. Worse comes to worst, they don¡¯t lose anything." Stranger of Three Lifetimes said, "No problem, we can just copy their tactic and expand Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ influence in Wind City. I refuse to believe that Candle Dragon is the be-all-and-end-all in Wind City, hmph!" A smile crossed Lin Yixin¡¯s lips. "Momo¡¯s right. We even have the perfect candidate already; Indigo Collar¡¯s Peach Garden has been fighting Candle Dragon from the beginning. We¡¯ll form an alliance with them and slowly expand our power in Wind City. At this stage, being satisfied with just one corner of the world is going to end in disaster anyway. This applies to Ancient Sword, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends and Baidicheng. There are countless people who are vying for our territory. If you want to keep your gold, then you¡¯d better give it your all, everyone!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes giggled. "Yeah, and let¡¯s not forget that both guild leaders of Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya are super gorgeous babes. It would suck if some buffoon claimed them as their mistresses of the fort, right? Lu Chen, for the sake of your girls, you¡¯d better form the best alliance you can think of!" At the side, Li Chengfeng added with a wicked grin, "Candlelight Shadow must be feeling really unsettled right now, or he wouldn¡¯t try to recruit allies all over the place. We can¡¯t fall behind either. Multiple wars will break out across the entire Heavenblessed Continent once the WEL is over, so clench your teeth and work hard, everyone!" "Mn. We can think about that after the WEL is over. Chengfeng, I leave the guild and Dark Moon City in Little Gui, Chaos Moon and your hands." "Understood. We won¡¯t disappoint you, vice leader!" ¡­¡­ Pop Culture and Candle Dragon¡¯s match was already over by the time we finished talking. Candle Dragon had beaten Pop Culture with a 4:1 score, and Blue Sky Scar lost his match to Lone Moonshade. It was on purpose. If Candle Dragon had annihilated Pop Culture 10:0, it would¡¯ve been a difficult defeat for the latter to swallow even if they already received a warning beforehand. They would also be less inclined to join Candle Dragon as a matter of course. I also performed an in-depth check on Pop Culture. The guild was formed about four months ago, and their power swelled starting the second month. Currently, their main guild was capped at fifty thousand members, and their seven Rank 6 subguilds had around thirty thousand members each. In total, they numbered around two hundred thousand members. It was quite the sizable power, and the only reason they didn¡¯t stand out was because they didn¡¯t do stupid shit that wealthy guilds like Mad Dragon and Flower Room usually indulged in such as chasing players away from leveling maps, PK, petty drama and more. The way those f.u.c.kers acted, you would think that Sky City was too small for the likes of them. However, Pop Culture¡¯s low profile only made me even more wary of them. Lone Moonshade might not be as strong as Candlelight Shadow, but he was countless times stronger than the likes of Wang Dongliang, Lu Chao, Li Le and even the "Gods" of Gods of Destruction. Otherwise, Candle Dragon would never have paid attention to them. Not long after the competition ended, the emblem on Lone Moonshade¡¯s shoulder changed color. As expected, Pop Culture had joined Candle Dragon¡¯s alliance and became their ally guild. After the match was over, Lone Moonshade returned to the waiting area, set down his heavy sword and leaned against the handrail in a lazy manner. Li Chengfeng walked up to him and asked, "Hey bro! Pop Culture¡¯s a guild in Sky City, right? Why are you allying with a distant guild like Candle Dragon? Long-distance alliances might work in reality, but I¡¯m not so sure about its effectiveness in this game¡­" Lone Moonshade shot Li Chengfeng a glance before straightening his back. "Oh, you¡¯re Legendary Brave! I apologize for my unsightly posture, haha! Anyway, Candle Dragon is a strong and humble master who pays respects to the wise. Surely they are not the worst ally Pop Culture could find, am I right?" "Are you sure you have no other choice?" Li Chengfeng asked tentatively, "Take us, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, for example. We may not know what it means to ¡®pay respect to the wise¡¯, but we definitely know how to bleed for our brothers and sisters. Maybe you would like to consider us as a potential ally?" An inexplicable look flashed across Lone Moonshade¡¯s pupils, but he quickly recovered and let out a chuckle. "Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. How would we look if we swayed to another guild so soon after we became allies with Candle Dragon? Plus, you already have powerful allies like Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips and more. Surely you don¡¯t need us Pop Culture? Also, you and your allies have already hogged all the player territories in Sky City such as Dark Moon City, Silver Fir City, and The Monarch Descends¡¯ new territory. If we, Pop Culture, wish to expand further, our only solution is to seek out an ally who can give us what we need, am I right?" A mocking smile sprung to Lone Moonshade¡¯s lips at that moment. "Relax, Li Chengfeng. You should be thankful that we chose to ally with Candle Dragon instead of Warsky Alliance. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends had taken up too much player resources in Sky City, so the only way for us new guys to establish ourselves is to eh, start an ¡®insurrection¡¯ so to speak. Warsky Alliance was our first choice, and Candle Dragon, our second. Since Candlelight Shadow is willing to show us some humility, we ultimately decided to go with Candle Dragon instead of Warsky Alliance. That is all. Anyway, Pop Culture will establish a foothold in Sky City, you can count on it!" Li Chengfeng s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath. Knowing that there was no way to change Lone Moonshade¡¯s mind, he shot the guild leader a smile and replied, "Very well, we all have our own choices to make. However, I must warn you that Candle Dragon is our sworn enemy, and the only way we¡¯ll respond to them and their allies is with our blades. With that in mind, I hope that we¡¯ll not meet on the battlefield. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will always prefer to have a friend than an enemy." Lone Moonshade smiled. "This is an era of heroes. If we meet on the battlefield, then we will fight to our heart¡¯s content. It¡¯s that simple, isn¡¯t it?" It was at this moment I walked over and clapped Li Chengfeng on the shoulder. Then, I smiled at Lone Moonshade and said, "He¡¯s right, dude. If we don¡¯t fight to our heart¡¯s content when we are young, we¡¯ll regret it when old age hits us. If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Pop Culture are destined to meet in battle, then our only option is to make it as terrific as possible, am I right Chengfeng?" Li Chengfeng responded with a meaningful smile, "But of course! I¡¯m a better warmonger than a peacemaker anyway. But you didn¡¯t hear this from me, okay? It¡¯s all my boss''s fault¡­" "F.u.c.k you!" I pretended to glare at him, but broke into a fearless smile of my own. "Yes. If our enemies want to make it rain, then we¡¯ll make it pour." Lone Moonshade looked surprised as we turned our backs on him and left. The f.u.c.ker thought us cowards who wanted peace with his guild, but all I could say was that he read us wrong completely. Li Chengfeng wasn¡¯t joking when he called himself and me warmongers. If Pop Culture wished to bring the fight to us, then we would happily return it tenfold. If we couldn¡¯t deal with a mere Pop Culture, we wouldn¡¯t be ruling Sky City as we were today. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Fei¡¯er stepped onto the stage on her high heels and spoke into the mic, "We are now at the last match of the quarter-finals. They are Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Sword Lord of Jianghu!" It was yet again a battle between a super guild and a dark horse. Sword Lord of Jianghu looked like a bunch of silent, taciturn players, and three of their four players had hidden classes. None of the opponents they encountered up until this point were particularly strong, which meant the possibility that they kept much of their strategies and skills concealed were very real. This was going to be a difficult battle for sure. "Your enemies are very powerful. Take care¡­" It sounded like Lin Yixin was caring for me, but she couldn¡¯t hide that hint of schadenfreude in her voice. I grinned fearlessly at her before looking at He Yi, "Let¡¯s kick off this match with a bang, shall we? Leave the first match to me. I don¡¯t want to risk Sword Lord of Jianghu riding a high in case they get lucky." He Yi nodded in agreement. "Very well. Lu Chen will fight the first match, Beiming Xue the second, Lian Xin the third, I the fourth, and Lu Chen plus Beiming Xue for the final 2v2. Best-case scenario, we take this by storm and end this 3:0!" "Got it!" The girls all nodded in unison. A while later, the match-ups appeared on the big display¡ª 1v1: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 Undead Swordsman VS Now and Forever LV-181 Onmyouji 1v1: Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark Archer VS Amber Pupil LV-180 Dark Swordsman 1v1: Lian Xing LV-182 Phantasm of Stars VS Romantic Ashes LV-180 Magic Swordsman 1v1: From Water LV-180 Magic Knight VS Superb Ai Jia LV-180 Tamer 2v2: Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark Archer & Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 Undead Swordsman VS Now and Forever LV-181 Onmyouji & Amber Pupil LV-180 Dark Swordsman Chapter 913: Onmyouji "Onmyouji, Dark Swordsman, Magic Swordsman¡­" Looking at the match-ups, I murmured, "This Sword Lord of Jianghu is definitely a powerful team. Give it your all, everyone. I want you girls to fight like you want to utterly crush them, even if the actual results might differ!" He Yi said with a smile, "Good luck on the first match. Judging from the matches this Onmyouji fought in, his skills are bizarre to say the least. Make sure he doesn¡¯t trip you and score a cheap win over you." I nodded and raised the Purple Ying Sword higher. "Don¡¯t worry. For my gold and my MVP title, I¡¯m going to win this match no matter what!" Beside me, one of my strongest contenders for the MVP title, Beauty Lin, stared at me and complained, "Can¡¯t you lose at least one match, Little Cheat? If you advance to the semi-finals with another flawless victory, the MVP title will truly be out of our hands¡­" I grinned. "Don¡¯t worry, my dear, I promise I¡¯ll beat this Onmyouji perfectly for you!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After I teleported to the arena, I saw Now and Forever, the Onmyouji staring at me with a cool gaze from his corner. He looked to be around 30 years old, and he had firm, chiseled features that looked like they were carved out of stone. He wielded a scepter and donned a black-and-white magic robe. Actually, his whole attire looked bizarre in a way that I couldn¡¯t really describe. His Famous General Skill was Mage Soul, a stratagem that boosted Magic Attack by 100% and spell casting speed by 50%. It was very powerful to say the least. I activated Martial God and Great Earth Transformation in quick succession, boosting my attack power and surrounding myself with three cyan blades. Then, I stood on the grassy field and waited for the countdown to begin. Now and Forever suddenly smiled and asked me, "Is there nothing you would like to say to me, Lu Chen? I¡¯m an opponent you¡¯ve never seen before. You must be curious about something, right?" I thought for a moment before answering, "What are you expecting me to say, really? Let¡¯s have a good battle?" "Hmph! Lowly commoner¡­" Now and Forever let out a disdainful chuckle before continuing, "I should¡¯ve known that not even a CGL Heavenly King is immune to the stench of barbarism. The likes of you will never make it far in any court that matters!" I suppressed my anger and smiled dangerously. "What do you mean, barbarism? If I¡¯m a barbarian, then what are you?" Now and Forever continued to sneer disdainfully. "Do you perchance think that you and I are comparable by any metric? Oh no. I am a loyal servant of our country, while you are just a bandit who fights to protect his tiny corner of the world. Don¡¯t even think to compare me to the likes of you, swine. All I ask of you is to wash your eyes and watch, Today, I will show you exactly how inferior you and your guild are! Sword Lord of Jianghu will be the final winner of this WEL!" If this guy was trying to provoke me, he was doing a very good job at it. I gave my sword a wave and swore angrily, "Bullshit! If we are bandits, then what the f.u.c.k do you think you are?" Now and Forever¡¯s sneer turned enigmatic. "Well, I suppose I don¡¯t need to keep it a secret. I don¡¯t serve any corporation. I am a direct hire of the China VR department. Do you understand now? I am the one who truly serves the country!" "The China VR department?" "That¡¯s right!" It was at this moment I heard a beep. It was a message from Zhang Chun. "Lu Chen, there¡¯s no need to argue with him. This China VR Department he¡¯s talking about is a newly created department that¡¯s led by an executive chief of the State Council. I heard that they had recruited a bunch of top-tier players to conduct the Nation War and fight for our national interest, and this Onmyouji must be one of them. Regardless, there¡¯s no need to waste words with this idiot. Just cut him down and show him who¡¯s the real boss of the battlefield!" I nodded and sent him a reply, "Got it." I became calm despite my enemy¡¯s arrogance. I knew full well that a battle couldn¡¯t be won without a cool head. I wasn¡¯t so blinded by anger that I couldn¡¯t see that Now and Forever possessed the aura of a true top-tier expert, not to mention that I had seen the way he fought during the previous battles. Finally, the countdown began¡ª 3! 2! 1! Fight! The grass beneath my feet scattered as I charged toward Now and Forever. I fired a Dragon Slaying Slash at him and pointed my palm to the sky, dropping Ancient Seal right on top of the mage. Bang! Bang! MISS! MISS! Now and Forever calmly took a few steps back to dodge the Dragon Slaying Slash and tanked the Ancient Seal with his Magic Shield. Then, he gave his scepter a wave and launched a wave of ghastly purple flames at me¡ªFatal Will-o¡¯-Wisp! I raised my left arm and summoned the Dragon God Shield to block the magic spell! Boom! 49887! Both the scorching pain across my arm and the damage number rising from my head informed me that this mage possessed an incredible amount of Magic Attack. If I was a normal metal-armor warrior without Ghost Deity Shield, I would¡¯ve received at least 120k damage from that spell! I changed directions and ran toward Now and Forever at a curved angle. Then, I fired Thousand Ice Slash at him from afar! Boom! Now and Forever hurriedly Blinked to safety, the storm of icy blades causing nothing more than a cloud of dust. At the same time, he retaliated by summoning a purple ghost that clung to my body and slowed me down drastically. It was the signature skill of the Onmyouji class, Ghastly Plague. It temporarily reduced the target¡¯s movement speed and attack speed by 25%, and it was a most deadly skill in a PvP battle. Since my movement speed was greatly reduced by Ghastly Plague, I circled around the mage from a suitable distance and searched for an opportunity to land the killing blow. Meanwhile, Now and Forever waved his scepter again and summoned a sea of flames from the sky. He laughed as he chanted, "Hellish Tribulation"! The skill had a radius of 10 yards, and I lost a ton of HP instantly. It was an AoE magic spell that was as strong as Lian Xin¡¯s Dimensional Storm! "Heh!" I smiled. He wasn¡¯t the only one with a broken AoE skill. I retaliated with Coiling Dragon Revolution! "Roar!" The spiraling blade and storm instantly destroyed Now and Forever¡¯s Magic Shield and a large chunk of his HP, dealing 48289 damage! Shocked, Now and Forever hurriedly waved his scepter and shouted, "Soul Forge!" Swhoosh! +48289! A skill that instantly healed him back to full health? Incredible. The Onmyouji class truly was a powerful secret class! However, I had dodged two hellish flames that were blocking my way and closed the distance between us to zero while he was distracted. Then, I pressed my sword against his c.h.e.s.t. "Ah?!" Now and Forever¡¯s mouth fell open. He wasn¡¯t expecting me at all because I had used a shrubbery to cover up my charge. Before he knew it, it was already too late. A cone of cyan flames burst around the blade of my weapon. Universe Break would pierce his torso at any moment now. It was at this moment Now and Forever smiled again and conjured a translucent mirror between the two of us. At the same time he growled out, "Yin Yang Mirror!" It was too late to cancel the skill now, so I thrust my sword forward and attempted to skewer him! Bang! However, the Yin Yang Mirror actually reflected my skill and caused the Universe Break to hit myself instead. Worse, it even resulted in a critical hit! 190768! I was stunned. This is so unlucky! Now and Forever waved his scepter one last time and hit me with a lightning fast Fatal Will-o-Wisp! 51935! One second my body was burning, and the next I was teleported out of the arena. When I looked down, I saw Now and Forever looking at me and laughing arrogantly, "Is this all you got? Little Heavenly King my ass! You are a disappointment to our country!" ¡­¡­ "That motherf.u.c.ker!" Li Chengfeng growled while clenching his teeth. Gui Guzi was also red with fury. "Yo host! Let me at ¡®em! I¡¯m going f.u.c.k.i.n.g stab that motherf.u.c.k.i.n.g sonuvabitch myself!" However, He Yi simply shot me a smile and said, "I would tell you victory or defeat is commonplace blah blah blah, but I guess you don¡¯t need me to tell you that." I chuckled in return. "Yep!" A confused Lian Xin pouted at me and asked, "Big brother Lu Chen, I don¡¯t understand why you¡¯re laughing. You just lost a fight!" Beside her, Lin Yixin giggled behind her palm, "Oh Lian Xin, you don¡¯t understand your big brother at all!" "Huh?" Lian Xin¡¯s confusion grew even bigger. "What do you mean, sister dumb girl?" Lin Yixin frowned a bit at the not-very-kind nickname, but explained, "You know how fast Lu Chen is. You know he could¡¯ve executed that Universe Break in 0.15 seconds and murder Now and Forever before he could even react. Instead, he chose to delay it for almost 1.5 seconds before he finally used it. Why? It¡¯s because he was baiting Now and Forever into revealing his trump card. This way, your chances of securing the 2v2 match will be much higher. Am I right, Lu Chen?" I shrugged once before teasing her, "You¡¯re too smart for your own good, girl. You¡¯re going to scare away all your potential husbands¡­" Lin Yixin shot back a sweet smile. "My marriage is my business! Worse comes to worst, I¡¯ll just stay unmarried forever!" Li Chengfeng laughed. "That would be a shame¡­" Now that Gui Guzi knew what was going on, he scratched his head and said, "Damn, boss Broken Halberd is so much smarter than I am. Baiting an enemy into using his trump card? Damn. Why didn¡¯t I think of that myself?" Chaos Moon giggled. "Forget it, you lack the brain to outwit anyone but a child. Just focus on growing your brawn and you¡¯ll be fine¡­" Gui Guzi: "..." ¡­¡­ The second battle began quickly, and I was once again teleported onto the battlefield. Again, I activated Great Earth Transformation immediately. Now and Forever sneered at me disdainfully. "If this is all you have then you may as well surrender now, Lu Chen. Little Heavenly King? You don¡¯t deserve your title¡­" I smiled at him and said, "Just shut your trap, will ya? I promise I¡¯ll teach you a lesson in humility right after the countdown is over." "Like hell you will!" I wasn¡¯t going to waste any more breath on him, so I simply kept quiet and waited for the countdown to reach zero. Then, I immediately launched my assault! I threw my sword and watched it crush practically everything in its path be it tree or stone. The Mountain Crush effect of the Purple Ying Sword was incredibly profound on a hill forest terrain like this, not to mention that the way Coiling Dragon Revolution carried all that debri unto itself made it looked like a world-ending hurricane. Although Now and Forever was expecting me to use Coiling Dragon Revolution, the reality of the skill still dwarfed his imagination. In his panic, he chose to Blink out of the skill¡¯s way! That made things very simple for me. I locked onto his figure and predicted where he would move to next. Then, I Charged! Swhoosh! I appeared behind Now and Forever like a lightning bolt and summoned a cone of cyan flames around the blade of the Purple Ying Sword once more. Then, I pressed the weapon to his throat and said, "Break!" 67992! Universe Break pierced his Magic Shield, and it was a weak point attack. Naturally, it was a one-shot. Now and Forever gaped at me as he uttered, "What¡­ how¡­ are you so fast¡­" He didn¡¯t get to say anything else before he was sent away from the battlefield. The entire fight only lasted 1.5 seconds, and I bet that Now and Forever¡¯s mind was stuck like rusted gear after the roller coaster of emotions he went through just now. ¡­¡­ The third fight was almost a complete copy of the second. I took his life with a lightning-fast Universe Break just like before, and again, I was too fast for him to cast his Yin Yang Mirror. His brain just wasn¡¯t fast enough to truly make use of his powerful skill! The score turned 2:1, and I successfully claimed the first point for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls as promised! Chapter 914: Dark Swordsman Swhoosh! After I returned to the waiting area, I leaned against the handrail and smiled at the girls, "That¡¯s that. I leave the next three 1v1 matches to you girls!" Beiming Xue replied confidently, "No worries!" The second match was between Beiming Xue and Amber Pupil. Her opponent was a Dark Swordsman; a class that was very similar to mine in some ways. The two combatants teleported into the battlefield. Amber Pupil looked like a 25-year-old man. He wielded a sharp blade and donned a black armor. Although he was facing a cute girl like Beiming Xue, his expression was as gloomy as his class. He let out a cry and imbued his sword with a sheen of red energy. It was of course the Undead Energy buff skill. Unfortunately for him, undead energy only worked against living targets, and Beiming Xue was an Asura¡ªan undead creature¡ªsince the start of the game thanks to her class. Therefore, his undead energy wasn¡¯t going to work on her. Before the battle began, Beiming Xue backed to the far end of the arena so that she could utilize her range advantage to the max. However, Amber Pupil himself walked all the way up to the barrier separating the two of them to minimize the distance between them as much as possible. This man was far more aggressive than Now and Forever was. 3! 2! 1! Fight! The moment the match began, Amber Pupil immediately locked onto a wilted tree next to Beiming Xue and activated Charge, closing the gap between them in an instant. Before he even came to a full stop, he shouted, "Square Slash!" Boom! A sword energy the shape of a square split the air, and Beiming Xue was hit before she could do anything. She immediately lost 62993 HP! Our breaths nearly stopped. If it wasn¡¯t Beiming Xue, if she wasn¡¯t wearing the Windchaser equipment set, she could¡¯ve been one-shot there and then! Beiming Xue wore a frigid expression as she loosed Bone Eroding Arrow at Amber Pupil and backed away. She knew that this would be an uphill battle if she didn¡¯t lower the enemy¡¯s Defense first. This was despite the fact that she had already activated Bow God. She immediately followed up with Evil Spirit Volley. Her bow fl.i.c.k.i.n.g technique was so sublime that she was able to direct all twelve arrows at her enemy. Amber Pupil narrowed his eyes and parried most of the arrows fired his way, unintentionally showing off his top-class reaction and skill and causing countless spectators to exclaim in admiration. The fact that it was the dark archer¡¯s Evil Spirit Volley that he was parrying only made his skill look all the more impressive. After Amber Pupil was done defending himself, he activated War God Rampage¡ªboosting his movement speed beyond imagination¡ªand caught up to Beiming Xue instantly. Then, he raised his weapon and shouted, "Die, dark archer! Dark Slash!" Light burst from his blade, and he brought it down on Beiming Xue in one mighty swing. However, not only did Beiming Xue not dodge out of the way, she pulled out her dagger and met the attack head-on! Chiang! She¡­ she actually managed to parry the skill! No one thought that an archer could pull off such an astounding feat! That being said, some of the power of the skill still went through her parry, dealing around 10k damage and causing her to skid across the grass. Before she came to a stop, Beiming Xue raised her bow and fired Mountain Stagger Arrow + Spiraling Arrow Blade at Amber Pupil! 69920! 81837! Amber Pupil was both shocked and in awe of Beiming Xue. He was impressed by how skillful she was at manipulating external force to her own advantage, and even more impressed by her armor penetration. Amber Pupil clearly had a lot of Defense, but after eating Bone Eroding Arrow, the Windchaser equipment set armor penetration effects came fully online and tore apart his HP like paper. At this point, his chance of surviving a counterattack was exactly zero. "You die!" Beiming Xue narrowed her eyes and aimed her bow at the sky. One arrow flew into the air, but a rain of arrows fell back down with the power of an artillery strike behind them! It was none other than the seventh-promotion skill, Skypiercer! Boom boom boom... Dust flew everywhere as the arrows exploded around Amber Pupil, and in the end, the dark swordsman wasn¡¯t able to survive the attack. He dropped to his knees and slumped against the ground! The individual score turned 1:0. Beiming Xue had scored the first point for the team. The second round started quickly, and both combatants appeared on the battlefield once more. In the arena, Amber Pupil looked thoughtful as he hummed to himself. Just like the previous fight, he didn¡¯t say a word to Beiming Xue. Beiming Xue herself was keeping silent and playing with her bow and her arrows a little. It wasn¡¯t like she had anything to say to Amber Pupil anyway. Ever since she became close with Lin Yixin, she had become a lot more proficient in using a dagger. As a result, her ability to survive melee engagements despite being an archer improved drastically. It was a good thing of course. The countdown hit zero, and the battle began once more! Just like the first round, Amber Pupil let out a mighty roar and Charged Beiming Xue. The difference was that this time, he used Square Slash and Dark Slash in rapid succession. Square Slash was an AoE skill, so one couldn¡¯t really parry it. After taking a hit, she swung her dagger and successfully parried Dark Slash again. This time though, she had fallen into the enemy¡¯s trap. Amber Pupil smiled and grabbed Beiming Xue¡¯s arm with his free left hand. Then, he said, "Goodbye, Beiming Xue¡ªRage of Trapped Souls!" A gigantic, bloody arm suddenly burst out of the ground and grabbed Beiming Xue completely. At the same time, the combat log stated that the dark archer was immobilized for 7 seconds! "Shit!" He Yi and Lin Yixin swore at nearly the same time. What could an archer do if they couldn¡¯t move? Not even the Windchaser equipment set was powerful enough to protect her. Two strikes later, Beiming Xue was sent out of the battlefield. The score turned 1:1. For now, the match was a draw! After Beiming Xue returned to the waiting area, she said indifferently, "I didn¡¯t know he had a skill like this. Next time, he won¡¯t get the chance to come close to me anymore. Don¡¯t worry, big bro, Sister Eve. Beiming Xue promises to win this match no matter what!" I nodded and said, "We believe in you, young woman. Now go and kick his ass¡­" Beiming Xue: "..." ¡­¡­ For the third and the last time, Beiming Xue and Amber Pupil were teleported into the arena for the decider round! It seemed impossible, but Amber Pupil¡¯s eyes somehow grew even steelier than before. He knew that he must win this match because it might be his team¡¯s only shot to mount a comeback later. The reason for this was the Phantasm of Stars, Lian Xin. During the Battle of Poplar Valley, she had wiped the floor with top-tier experts like Warsky and Blue Sky Scar and fought the famous Fruit Knife Goddess to a draw. In fact, she almost pulled off the impossible and killed her. No one in his team was foolish enough to think that they could beat Lian Xin with absolute confidence. Unfortunately, his opponent, Beiming Xue, wasn¡¯t a small fry herself. The dark archer was famous almost since the start of Heavenblessed, and she was growing to become the face of all archers in China. Her skill and equipment were among the best he had ever seen, and if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that metal-armor classes had a slight advantage over archers, he wouldn¡¯t even have a sliver of hope of beating her. The moment the match began, Amber Pupil launched himself from his original position and dashed toward Beiming Xue at high speed. He only had one goal in mind, and that was to immobilize her with Rage of Trapped Souls and one-shot her. It was literally his only shot at defeating her! Beiming Xue ran away from Amber Pupil while firing Spiraling Arrow Blade and Evil Spirit Volley at him, dealing a ton of damage. Because the Windchaser equipment set ignored 40% of the target¡¯s Defense, Amber Pupil lost over half of his HP in just the blink of an eye. She hadn¡¯t even hit him with Bone Eroding Arrow yet! When Amber Pupil¡¯s HP fell to 25%, he finally decided to take a gamble and activate Charge! However, Beiming Xue saw it coming and used her own Leap, launching herself 20 yards away from him. Even better, she let loose Skypiercer while she was still in midair and caused Amber Pupil to grit his teeth in frustration. Bang bang bang! The arrows pummeling against helmet hurt like a bitch. Amber Pupil knew that he was going to lose there and then, but he wasn¡¯t willing to give up just yet. He continued rushing toward Beiming Xue with everything he got. "Hmph¡­" Finally, Beiming Xue couldn¡¯t restrain herself any longer and cast her Divine General Skill. Well of the Abyss appeared right beneath Amber Pupil¡¯s feet and immobilized him for 15 seconds! When the spell was close to reaching its end, Beiming Xue fired her Spiraling Arrow Blades at Amber Pupil. The arrows struck right as the spell ended and killed him where he stood! The score turned 2:1, and Beiming Xue successfully won her match. ¡­¡­ The overall score was now 2:0. If the players of Sword Lord of Jianghu were fairly confident in their chances of winning even after Now and Forever suffered a loss in my hands, they weren¡¯t now. Their faces looked pale. I bet that they were wondering how the hell they were going to beat Lian Xin, and how they were going to justify their failures to their master in the China VR department right now. They were paid a high salary to do their jobs, so of course they had to perform up to the standards that was expected of them. I could already imagine their fates if they failed to even qualify for the internationals. When the third match was announced, Lian Xin raised her Thunder God Scepter and declared confidently, "Don¡¯t worry, everyone! I¡¯ll definitely win this. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is destined to qualify for the internationals and become champions anyway!" I nodded but cautioned her. "Don¡¯t underestimate your enemy, Little Xin!" "I know!" ¡­¡­ Lian Xin¡¯s opponent was a 35-year-old uncle called Romantic Ashes. He was a magic swordsman with a slightly balding head and a blood-red sword. There was no telling how strong he was. The moment the battle began, Romantic Ashes charged straight toward Lian Xin and gathered flames around his blade. It was a clear sign that he cultivated both martial arts and magic. A sword slash empowered by fire magic dealt several times more damage than normal, so it could definitely threaten even a mage like Lian Xin. Unfortunately for Romantic Ashes, Lian Xin had no plans to let him get close to her. She slapped down a trio of Origin Force Fields in front of the magic swordsman, and, caught off-guard,the guy faceplanted into one of them and began bleeding from his nose. He probably wasn¡¯t expecting Lian Xin¡¯s game sense to be this good! Ice Spiral Matrix! A storm of icy blades immediately engulfed Romantic Ashes and deleted a huge chunk of HP. 90289! The amount of damage he took was so ridiculous that his face turned purple with shock. Circling around the Origin Force Fields and conjuring an icicle at his palm, he shouted, "You are courting death!" He activated Charge and tried to close the distance between himself and Lian Xin. A magic swordsman was still a swordsman. He must get close to Lian Xin first before he could have a chance to kill her. Charge was a really fast skill, but... The corners of Lian Xin¡¯s lips turned up as she slapped down another Origin Force Field in front of Romantic Ashes! Bang! Romantic Ashes must feel like he was about to suffer a concussion right now. Before he could do anything, Lian Xin cast Dimensional Storm and killed him where he stood! It was 1:0. Lian Xin never gave her opponent the slightest chance to turn the tables on her, and it wasn¡¯t looking like this was going to change anytime soon. ¡­¡­ When the second round began, Romantic Ashes changed tactics and tried to trade range attacks with Lian Xin while searching for an opportunity to get close to her. Unfortunately, he soon realized the gigantic flaw in his plan: his icicles only deleted 10% shield durability from Lian Xin¡¯s Telekinetic Shield, but her spells deleted over 70k HP from his health pool... By the time Romantic Ashes finally realized he was f.u.c.k.e.d, Lian Xin had already slapped down twelve Origin Force Fields and trapped him at the center. One Ice Spiral Matrix later, the battle was over! The score was 3:0, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls successfully knocked out Sword Lord of Jianghu from the WEL. Some distance from us, Now and Forever looked so angry that his eyes were bloodshot. Chapter 915: Six-tailed Demon Fox "Should we fight out the remaining two matches?" Lian Xin asked. He Yi nodded affirmatively, "Yes. The more we participate, the better our win rate, and the higher our chance of obtaining the MVP title. Lu Chen and Beiming still have a 2v2 to fight, and I need to get some experience myself, don¡¯t I? I¡¯ve never participated in national play-offs like this until now¡­" Lian Xin chuckled at that. "Okay. Do your best, my dear boss!" ¡­¡­ He Yi entered the battlefield. Her opponent was the tamer called Superb Ai Jia, a pretty little girl with pretty little b.r.e.a.s.ts. If I were to describe them in Du Thirteen¡¯s words, it would be something like, "If it ain¡¯t big enough for me hands to grab, it ain¡¯t fit." However, our impression of Superb Ai Jia changed quickly when she gave her leather whip a wave and let out a bell-like giggle. "Come out, my little fox! Help me take out this older sister!" Swhoosh! A gigantic magic hexagram rotated on the ground, and an equally huge creature leaped out from the center. It was a red fox that was at least two meters tall. It had black eyes, red fur and six huge tails that were swaying gently in the wind. "Oh my god! A Six-tailed Demon Fox?" Lin Yixin exclaimed in surprise. "What¡¯s wrong, Yiyi? You know this pet?" I asked her. Lin Yixin nodded. "I¡¯ve read about it. The Six-tailed Demon Fox is the divine guardian beast of Japan¡¯s main city, so why is it here in our WEL? This makes no sense¡­" Beiming Xue said, "Who knows, maybe Superb Ai Jia is so cute that even the Six-tailed Demon Fox fell for her charm? Her hair accessory is so cute! I wonder if it¡¯s available for purchase in real life? Big bro, do you think it¡¯d look cute on me? If you do then I¡¯ll book it on Taobao immediately!" I curled my lips and replied, "Honestly¡­ I¡¯m more concerned about Eve''s match right now. It doesn¡¯t look like it¡¯ll be an easy fight¡­" Murong Mingyue consoled me, "It doesn¡¯t matter even if she loses. We¡¯ve already advanced to the semi-finals, and Eve isn¡¯t gunning for the MVP title anyway." "I know, but still. That Six-tailed Demon Fox looks really powerful." Lin Yixin agreed with me, "Yes, it does. It can use six types of magic, and it has great Defense and HP. It can stand there and let Sister Eve hit it with everything she got, and it¡¯ll still take her three minutes to kill it. A match can only continue for so long, so if Sister Eve doesn¡¯t take out the tamer as soon as possible, she¡¯ll lose." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ He Yi was already attacking Superb Ai Jia while we were conversing with each other. However, not only was the intelligent tamer able to dodge her attacks, she ran around her Six-tailed Demon Fox only. As a result, it almost looked like He Yi was trying to commit suicide as the Six-tailed Demon Fox wagged its many tails and tossed icicles, rocks, fireballs, light balls, lightning and windblades at her. Each tail represented one type of magic, and they all chipped away at her HP. A moment later, our beautiful guild leader dropped to the ground and died. The fight was over in the blink of an eye... The second round began, and Superb Ai Jia summoned her Six-tailed Demon Fox again. She taunted He Yi, "You¡¯re too weak, big sister¡­" That hurt He Yi a little, but she kept quiet. The moment the countdown hit zero, she abruptly went berserk and fired Purgatory of Ice and Magma straight at Superb Ai Jia. The five-hit AoE skill actually pierced through the Six-tailed Demon Fox¡¯s body and hit Superb Ai Jia square on! Caught completely off-guard, the girl dropped dead and lost the round! The score turned 1:1, and He Yi successfully drew the match. When the third round began, Superb Ai Jia was ready for the surprise attack. After she successfully Guarded He Yi¡¯s Purgatory of Ice and Magma, she ran rings around her divine beast again like that Taoist from the Legend of Mir 2 a long time ago. In that game, the Taoist would run like a rabbit while the Qilin kept blowing the warrior away from them. It was a completely one-sided battle. In the end, He Yi wasn¡¯t able to turn things around and donated a point to Sword Lord of Jianghu. Her strength wasn¡¯t the problem, that Six-tailed Demon Fox¡¯s magical attacks were. No one liked having to endure a barrage of slows and confusion skills. ¡­¡­ The 2v2 match arrived, and Beiming Xue and I stepped out to face Now and Forever and Amber Pupil. When the first battle began, Now and Forever had been overflowing with confidence. Now? It was completely shattered by Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and my own hands. All he had left now was a bellyful of anger. Few players could perform up to par when they lost their cool, and neither Now and Forever nor Amber Pupil were an exception. As a result, both rounds were a complete one-sided slaughter. I kept the dark swordsman busy while tossing Coiling Dragon Revolution to help Beiming Xue kill the onmyouji. Then, we worked together to destroy the dark swordsman. Amber Pupil was pissed beyond imagination because over 70% attacks were parried by yours truly. It must have felt like torture to watch his partner being annihilated by Beiming Xue and me twice, and his own efforts be nullified like a clay ox that had entered the sea. The overall score turned 4:1, and we were able to defeat Sword Lord of Jianghu with a great victory. Dark horse or not, they were destined to lose the moment they ran into us. ¡­¡­ After we ended Sword Lord of Jianghu¡¯s advance, Zhang Chun, also known as Hot and Sour Noodles, sent me a message: "Well done, Lu Chen! Hahaha! Did you know that these people boasted in the VR department that they¡¯d become the national champion before the competition even began, and they even looked down on Candlelight Shadow and Wind Fantasy? I can¡¯t begin to tell you how satisfying it was to watch your team slap them in the face with a 4:1 score!" I smiled back. "You praise us too much, Uncle Zhang Chun¡­" Meanwhile, Fei¡¯er returned to the stage to make her next announcement. "Thank you to all our players for showing us such exciting matches. Now, the semi-finalists have been confirmed, and the teams that will represent China and participate in the international finals of the WEL are¡ªSnowy Cathaya, Soul Battle Robes, Candle Dragon and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! That being said, a champion hasn¡¯t been decided yet, so don¡¯t go anywhere, people! The semi-finals will begin right away, and the match-ups are¡ªSnowy Cathaya versus Soul Battle Robes, and Candle Dragon versus Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! I¡¯m sure everyone is looking forward to the birth of a new king!" On the big display, the match-ups appeared in flashy borders¡ª Snowy Cathaya VS Soul Battle Robes Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls VS Candle Dragon These semi-finals were going to be battles between kings for sure. One just needed to listen to the cheers of the audiences to know that. Snowy Cathaya, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Candle Dragon had countless supporters in the China server as a matter of course, and even Soul Battle Robes was an old king from Spirit of Grief who was looking to make a comeback. I was sure that there were a lot of old timers who went crazy over the return of the good ol¡¯ days. Most importantly, each and every one of the semi-finalists was a powerhouse in their own right, and together they formed the deadliest group of death China had never seen until now. It wouldn¡¯t surprise anyone if any one of these teams won the competition and became the champion! ¡­¡­ Still smiling, Fei¡¯er continued, "But first, I would like to thank Eternal Moon Corporation for holding this competition, all our sponsors such as Apple, Exxon Mobile, Walmart and more. Now then, players of the first semi-final, please step onto the stage!" Fei¡¯er raised her hands, and a rainbow bridge appeared above the stage. Then, both Snowy Cathaya and Soul Battle Robes were teleported onto it. Most of the players looked nervous under the limelight, but not Lin Yixin due to various experiences. Beside her, Clear Perfume and Purple Marquis were looking around and commenting on how amazing the setup looked. After Fei¡¯er walked up the rainbow bridge and reached the participants, she brought her mic close to Lin Yixin and asked her with a smile, "Beauty Wind Fantasy, you are the leader of your team and the famous Fruit Knife Goddess of Heavenblessed. Do you think your team will be able to beat Soul Battle Robes, a former king of guilds who seems to have mounted a powerful comeback?" Lin Yixin blinked once before replying smilingly, "Sure. Soul Battle Robes are strong, but Snowy Cathaya isn¡¯t weak either. Just qualifying for the WEL internationals isn¡¯t enough to satisfy us, we¡¯ll win these nationals and become the indisputable champion of China as well!" Fei¡¯er giggled. "Oh my! It looks like Beauty Wind Fantasy is overflowing with confidence. Let¡¯s interview the team leader of Soul Battle Robes now, shall we?" When the mic was brought to Song of Cloud and Water, the young girl declared, "Soul Battle Robes will give it their all to become the champion. We will beat Snowy Cathaya, and¡­" The girl suddenly raised her arm and pumped her fist. "I will snatch Lu Chen away from Wind Fantasy! I believe that it¡¯s only a matter of time before he becomes mine!" Whatever cool Lin Yixin had was gone the instant she heard that. She gritted her teeth and uttered, "Is that so? Let¡¯s fight already!" ¡­¡­ Beneath the stage, I blurted in confusion, "This match is between Snowy Cathaya and Soul Battle Robes, right? So how the f.u.c.k did I even get dragged into that? I¡¯m eating a bullet even though I¡¯m not doing anything at all! Is Song of Cloud and Water suffering from a brain aneurysm or something?" "I wonder." For some reason, He Yi was glaring at me. Murong Mingyue giggled. "You¡¯re just too popular, boy!" Beiming Xue tried to help me, "I don¡¯t think so? Song of Cloud and Water just wants big bro for his power. She¡¯s right in thinking that big bro would be able to carry Soul Battle Robes back to the top once more. Unfortunately, she didn¡¯t realize that big bro and Sister Eve are in a relationship, or she would¡¯ve given up on recruiting big bro already." Murong Mingyue teased her. "Oh really? Pray tell, what kind of relationship do they share exactly?" Beiming Xue turned red, but she said in a small voice, "Do I even need to say it? In my opinion, big bro has two girlfriends, and they¡¯re Sister Lin Yixin and Sister Eve. No other woman is worthy of big bro!" It was impossible not to turn red at the comment. I fixed my gaze on the stage and pretended that I didn¡¯t hear anything. He Yi was looking down and turning red in the ear as well. ¡­¡­ On the stage, Lin Yixin and Song of Cloud and Water were finalizing their line-ups. Soon, they appeared on the big display, and it was a battle between the strongest players again¡ª 1v1: Wind Fantasy LV-182 Light Wanderer VS Song of Ice and Fire LV-181 Frozen Berserker 1v1: Shadow Chanel LV-181 Dark Tongue mage VS Song of Cloud and Water LV-180 Magic Knight 1v1: Purple Marquis LV-181 Warrior VS Ringwraith LV-180 Undead Mage 1v1: Clear Perfume LV-180 Archer VS God Bone LV-180 Iron Knight 2v2: Wind Fantasy LV-182 Light Wanderer & Purple Marquis LV-181 Warrior VS Song of Ice and Fire LV-181 Frozen Berserker & Ringwraith LV-180 Undead Mage ¡­¡­ As expected, both sides sent out their strongest experts right from the get-go. They clearly intended to kick off the match with a resounding win. I wonder how the Fruit Knife Goddess would fare against the new star, Song of Ice and Fire the Frozen Berserker? He Yi clenched her fist a little and stared at the screen. "Snowy Cathaya¡¯s line-up is¡­ mm, Qingqing¡¯s a bit wanting, to be honest. She¡¯s the weak link of the team¡­" I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Snowy Cathaya still lacks at least one super expert who¡¯s at the same level as Purple Marquis!" Lin Yixin overheard our conversation when she reappeared next to us. She shot us a smile and said, "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll find one as soon as possible!" Chapter 916: Astounding Speed Every team who advanced to the semi-finals of the WEL China competition had, figuratively speaking, obtained the ticket and visa necessary to participate in the internationals. Therefore, the matches after this were purely a tournament for honor. Starting now, every team¡ªespecially those belonging to super guilds, namely Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and Candle Dragon¡ªwould do their utmost to prove that they were the true king of the China server. Of course, there was also the fact that the reward for the champion included 5 levels, 5 Luck, and a chance to draw a Cambrian-grade Divine Armament. No one in their right mind would let go of such an opportunity, and that was before mentioning the very real, very huge RMB reward. In this day and age, was there anyone who would complain that they had too much money? ¡­¡­ The first match between Snowy Cathaya and Soul Battle Robes was Lin Yixin versus Song of Ice and Fire the Frozen Berserker. Song of Ice and Fire had proven himself to be a major dark horse in the competition, showing off great skills and super-tier control at the very least. Currently, I suspected that he was one of the very first elders of Soul Battle Robes, and the only reason he came out of retirement was because Seven-Star Lamp had asked him to. Otherwise, it didn¡¯t make sense for him to be as skilled as he was. I might¡¯ve even guessed that he was Seven-Star Lamp himself if he didn¡¯t seem as tenacious or as tactical as Seven-Star Lamp was. Bang! Song of Ice and Fire changed to a different weapon for his fight with Lin Yixin. He now wielded a war axe with a pole as long as a spear¡¯s, and what looked like a fire dragon crawling at the edge of the axeblade. Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes narrowed. "Holy f.u.c.k, is that¡­ the seventh Immortal-grade weapon on the Weapon Ranking, the Fire Dragon Axe?" "Fire Dragon Axe?" I asked with a frown. "Mn." Li Chengfeng nodded. "It¡¯s a Level 180 Immortal-grade weapon with a whopping 3750 max Attack. While its Attack is a tad lower than your Purple Ying Sword¡¯s, it has a ridiculous amount of armor penetration. The Seven Star Veluriyam Sword is only ranked 15th on the Weapon Ranking, so technically speaking, Beauty Lin¡¯s equipment is worse than Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s right now, even if she has the Devil Bell." I gritted my teeth a bit. "Seriously? The Fire Dragon Axe¡­ what the f.u.c.k have Soul Battle Robes been doing recently? How the hell did they come by such a powerful weapon?" Gui Guzi responded, "I heard that Soul Battle Robes had gone to the peak of Dragonbone Mountain Range to slay a dragon while we were grinding at Bloody Shield Domain. At the time, we all thought that it was a joke and that they were just throwing their lives away. It looks like we were wrong though. They must¡¯ve killed a fire dragon to obtain the Fire Dragon Axe." He Yi nodded in agreement. "Yes, I didn¡¯t dwell on this myself when I heard the news. Soul Battle Robes hadn¡¯t looked like a guild that could possibly beat a high-level Immortal Rank boss at the time. I supposed that that changed when she found first-rate experts like Ringwraith, Song of Ice and Fire and God Bone." Beiming Xue blinked as she held my arm and comforted me, "There is nothing to worry about, big bro. If nothing else, don¡¯t you trust in Sister Lin Yixin¡¯s skill? She¡¯s the one who taught me my CQC techniques, you know. I¡¯m certain that you are the only player in the entire China who is better than her in terms of skill." I replied, "I know. Lin Yixin was a star even before she joined Heavenblessed. Frivolous Scholar had made a statement after he retired, and he said that skill wise, Lin Yixin and Murong Shanshan were the two best female players of all the games Eternal Moon Corporation had ever released. Even Ling Xue was only the fifth best female player in his opinion. This was why Lin Yixin was invited to join the CGL Hall of Fame less than three months after she started playing Heavenblessed. The girl had started as a solo player, and not only did she hone her individual skill to peak levels, she even founded a super guild like Snowy Cathaya. That is why I don¡¯t doubt her skills in the slightest. However, Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s class¡¯s skills are way too powerful. Did you see how he freezes his opponents earlier? It¡¯s almost as good as Lin Fan¡¯s Freezing Slash." Li Chengfeng smiled. "Well, that¡¯s true. There is nothing scarier than a fighter with top-class mechanics and a class with a high chance of freezing their opponents. We can only pray that Beauty Lin can overcome the odds and defeat her opponent now. I want to see the Beauty Lin who has the higher win rate against Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow with my own eyes!" I laughed. "Oh man, now that you mentioned it, Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow and Dark Shadow Drifter are retired, aren¡¯t they? You¡¯re stronger than them now, but your chance to settle your score with them is long gone, hahaha¡­" Li Chengfeng raised his sword threateningly. "What the f.u.c.k, what kind of bro pours salt on his brother¡¯s wounds like that? How did I ever become brothers with a bastard like you?" Beiming Xue immediately waved her own fists and threatened, "Li Chengfeng, I¡¯ll kill you if you insult big bro one more time!" Li Chengfeng clasped his fists together and apologized jokingly, "Oh, this little one will not mock my lord any longer, so please forgive me, princess! I will surrender even my health and blessing, so please¡­" We all laughed at his antics. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the countdown to the start of the match had already begun. Standing on a grassy field, both combatants exchanged quiet but challenging gazes with each other. The moment the countdown reached zero, Song of Ice and Fire let out a battle cry and charged toward Lin Yixin, the fiery, draconic energy of his axe drawing a beautiful arc across the air. The attack was basic and yet seemed positively unstoppable. As expected of a first-rate expert, even his basic attack exuded tremendous skill. Lin Yixin crossed her weapon in front of herself and pressed her left palm to the flat side of her blade. The two weapons made contact with each other, and a huge shower of sparks later, Lin Yixin was blown away from the point of impact. "Haha!" Song of Ice and Fire let out a laugh before rushing her again. He raised his axe and shouted, "Ice Breaking Slash!" Swhoosh! An axe of ice around 10 meters long abruptly manifested in midair and fell right down toward Lin Yixin¡¯s head! Eyes filled with determination, Lin Yixin abruptly unsheathed her dagger and swung at the ice axe from a sharp angle. The skill rocked her delicate but gorgeous body like a leaf, but the damage number that appeared above her head was¡ª30982! She had successfully parried the skill, but only partially. If we looked at their Strength stats alone, Song of Ice and Fire was obviously stronger than Lin Yixin. This was very normal because Lin Yixin was a light wanderer, a class that focuses on both Strength and Agility scaling. It wasn¡¯t her style to fight strength with strength anyway. After she let the tremendous force of the skill push her out of its range, she pushed herself off from the ground and bounded toward her opponent with a sudden burst of speed¡ªcrushing a tiny green flower in the process. This time, she lowered her dagger and swung her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword instead¡ªBarrier Break! Song of Ice and Fire didn¡¯t dare to tank the skill, so he hurriedly dodged to the side and swung his arm at her ribs at the same time. However, Lin Yixin abruptly rotated her body with lightning speed and curved past Song of Ice and Fire before he could blink. Her unusual trajectory allowed her to sink her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword into his c.h.e.s.t and land Barrier Break! 60992! Song of Ice and Fire let out a yelp of pain, but he didn¡¯t allow his anger to take control of him. On the contrary, the so-called berserker was eerily calm when he pointed his palm at Lin Yixin and said, "Bone Wall!" Bang bang bang! Three Bone Walls appeared around Lin Yixin instantly. Worse, the only exit was in the direction Song of Ice and Fire was rushing from and conjuring a storm of ice around his axe, shouting "Frozen Flurry!" The triple-hit skill¡¯s chance of freezing a target was over 90% ! "It¡¯s over!" Li Chengfeng blurted. The rest of us were holding our breaths and watching the battle closely as well. ¡­¡­ For a second, it looked like Lin Yixin was stunned by the storm of ice falling toward her head. Then, a nameless fury suddenly burned in her purple pupils, and she charged forward with both her dagger and her sword at the ready. Red cape fluttering like a ball of fire, she came within touching distance of the frozen berserker and swung her weapons three times in a row. She was so fast that her movements were invisible to many people. After that, Beauty Lin jumped and slammed her knee against the opponent¡¯s c.h.e.s.t armor, causing Song of Ice and Fire to fly across the air. Before he even landed back on the ground, she appeared on top of him, withdrew her dagger, grabbed the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword with both hands and plunged it into his c.h.e.s.t! Pu! 67812! That wasn¡¯t all. She gathered her power a second time, and a wave of ice and fire whooshed out of her sword and penetrated the frozen berserker¡¯s body a second time. It was yet another weak point attack! 110298! At this point, Song of Ice and Fire was completely stunned. He hurriedly used Ice Recovery to recover his HP. However, Lin Yixin leaped over his body and used Sword Boomerang. A while later, the weapon returned to her sheath on its own, and for a second she looked like an action hero walking toward the camera with an explosion happening behind her. What actually happened of course, was Song of Ice and Fire collapsing to the ground without even being able to see what the last skill that killed him even was. Eyes filled with shock and disbelief, he scattered into data particles and flew out of the battlefield. ¡­¡­ Beside me, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and every other expert was flabbergasted. No one could say anything for a very long time. I looked at Li Chengfeng and asked him, "Have you seen anyone parrying a flurry in 0.3 seconds before?" Li Chengfeng shook his head even as he clenched his fists. "F.u.c.k, of course not! Just¡­ just how strong is Lin Yixin really? Lu Chen, do you think you can do what she did?" I thought for a second before answering, "The success rate would be less than 30%, but it¡¯s not impossible." Li Chengfeng looked at the sky and let out a long sigh. "I guess my defeat wasn¡¯t undeserved after all¡­" I smiled and gave him a consoling pat on the shoulder. "You¡¯re fine. Not everyone has Lin Yixin¡¯s level of talent. If you want, I can spar with you a lot more in the future. You will surpass Candlelight Shadow one day!" Li Chengfeng smiled back and clenched his fists. "Hmph, you¡¯re right. I cannot rest until the day Candlelight Shadow is destroyed!" ¡­¡­ While we were talking to one another, the second round of the first match was over already. This time, the round ended in just 27 seconds. Just like the previous time, Lin Yixin had used the helix maneuver to defeat Song of Ice and Fire. Both players were top-tier experts, but there was a clear gap between their strengths. Moreover, Lin Yixin¡¯s helix maneuver had her own style added into it, and it made her look like a soaring butterfly. The effects were the same, but visually speaking, it was a lot more appealing than the standard helix maneuver. Chapter 917: Depressed Purple Marquis With a 2:0 score, Lin Yixin destroyed the enemy¡¯s ace, Song of Ice and Fire, with perfect tactics and control. It was both surprising and unsurprising in many ways. Beautiful Little Pepper was already an incredible player during the end stages of Spirit of Grief, but her skill, tactical thinking and reaction speed grew even better after she entered Heavenblessed as Wind Fantasy. The many trials of battle had strengthened her to the point where even a powerful opponent like Song of Ice and Fire couldn¡¯t put a dent in her strong but nimble PvP style at all. The few top-class experts in the entire China region all had their own personal styles. For example, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s style was fast, aggressive, and constantly on the lookout for an opportunity to instakill his opponent. Li Chengfeng¡¯s style was that of a classic overlord who would fight any foe in their best areas without surrendering an inch. Lin Yixin¡¯s style was a nimble fighter who could always land a fatal blow from an unexpected angle at an unexpected timing. It was why she came to be known as the Fruit Knife Goddess. Warsky Alliance¡¯s Farewell Song was similar to Lin Yixin in the sense that he was also a top-tier, tactical-minded technician. Contradictory to his collected mind was his equal unrelenting ferocity. When he hid, he could hide until the end of the world. When he attacked, he usually didn¡¯t stop until his enemy was dead. He was an extremely terrifying opponent to say the least. As for me, I was a flexible fighter who could turn the tap on or off depending on the situation. I could attack when the time was right, or retreat when I was clearly outmatched. I was also fairly tactical and could always pick out the most suitable timing and location to land a fatal blow on the enemy at a minimum cost. My style aimed to end a fight in the least troublesome manner possible. And that was it. Melee-combat wise, no one else besides the people I listed above had truly formed a style that could be considered as master class. For example, High Fighting Spirits¡¯ way of fighting could be described as a full on confrontation where the strongest person emerged as the natural victor. While it was a combat style, it was difficult to call it a style that could make it to the top. ¡­¡­ The second match began very soon after Lin Yixin defeated her opponent. It was Song of Cloud and Water versus Shadow Chanel, and from our perspective, it was clear who was going to become the victor. However, our expectations were overturned almost immediately after the battle began. Song of Cloud and Water didn¡¯t dismount after she appeared on the battlefield. When the countdown hit zero, she charged toward Shadow Chanel in a straight line even though it meant eating a deadly Galaxy Storm in the process. The moment she found an opening, she waved her hand and cried, "Soul Binding Art!" Swhoosh! A huge, cyan arm burst out of the ground, penetrated Shadow Chanel¡¯s Magic Shield and grabbed both her legs. It was like a vengeful spirit from hell who had come to claim the mage¡¯s life. Everyone was stunned by the skill, of course. A skill that goes through Magic Shields and immobilizes their opponents directly? It was practically the bane of all mages! No wonder Song of Cloud and Water had looked as confident as she did! The rest of the match was simple. Song of Cloud and Water closed the distance between herself and Shadow Chanel with Charge, and hit her with Barrier Break + Triple Slash. Just like that, the strongest mage of Snowy Cathaya lost her Magic Shield and died! "Uu¡­" After Shadow Chanel was teleported out of the arena, she stared at Song of Cloud and Water from the waiting area and murmured in shock, "Soul Binding Art? How can a skill this bullshit exist? Not even Lu Chen¡¯s God Binding Art can go through Magic Shield! Pooh, so shameless¡­" Lin Yixin responded while observing the battlefield herself, "Keep your wits with you, Shadow Chanel. The Soul Binding Art must have a cast time of sorts. All you need to do is Blink away when she uses it, and you¡¯ll be able to destroy her with your ice and fire magic easily!" Shadow Chanel nodded and returned to the arena once more. Song of Cloud and Water smiled at Shadow Chanel, but she stayed where she was without saying anything. This time, Shadow Chanel moved the second the battle began and CC¡¯d Song of Cloud and Water with her magic. It didn¡¯t take her long to delete over 75% of the magic knight¡¯s HP at all. However, just when it looked like victory was firmly in her grasp, Song of Cloud and Water launched a sudden attack and cried, "Ice Flame Slash!" Swhoosh! An icy blade wreathed in flames abruptly burst out of her spear tip. It was none other than one of Lin Yixin¡¯s signature skills, the Ice Flame Slash! When did she learn this skill? If there was anyone who wasn¡¯t shocked before, they were now. It was all so unexpected. Soul Battle Robes had been hiding their strength from the beginning, but who would¡¯ve thought that even Song of Cloud and Water had kept two powerful skills hidden until the semi-finals? The Ice Flame Slash slammed into the ground and caused a huge cloud of dust. Visibility within the dust cloud instantly dropped to zero. Shadow Chanel knew that the situation was really bad. If her opponent were to use the Soul Binding Art now, it was almost certain that she wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge it. Having no choice, Shadow Chanel Blinked diagonally to the side and tried to escape while the dust cloud was still covering her tracks. It was a mistake. The moment Song of Cloud and Water used Ice Flame Slash, she had run toward the right side almost as if she knew that Shadow Chanel would try to escape from there. The moment she saw Shadow Chanel, she waved her arm and trapped her with Soul Binding Art again. An absolutely pissed off Shadow Chanel attempted to kill Song of Cloud and Water with Galaxy Storms, but the magic knight had already activated War God Recovery and recovered much of her HP beforehand. What happened next was almost a carbon copy of the previous round. Song of Cloud and Water closed the distance with Charge and once again hit the defenseless dark tongue mage with Barrier Break and Triple Slash. The 1:1 score was broken by another loss from Shadow Chanel. The overall score was now 1:1 as well. ¡­¡­ "Song of Cloud and Water is good enough to beat Shadow Chanel?" exclaimed Gui Guzi as his eyes widened like saucers. "This can¡¯t be right. Shadow Chanel¡¯s stats and control are good enough to have an even win rate against me! And yet, Song of Cloud and Water definitely beat her with a 2:0 score¡­" Li Chengfeng responded seriously, "No, you¡¯re not mistaken. Skill-wise, Song of Cloud and Water is still weaker than Shadow Chanel. In fact, if this match was a round of 5, her chances of winning against Shadow Chanel again would probably be less than 30%. Therefore, the real reason she won is because she chose to hide her trump cards until the last moment. Not only that, she even rationed them so that she could catch Shadow Chanel out twice in a row. It is an incredible display of strategy and tactics." I nodded in agreement. "Chengfeng¡¯s right. The reason Snowy Cathaya lost is because Song of Cloud and Water was prepared too well!" Lin Yixin tightened her fists a little, but said, "It¡¯s fine. We drew, but we still have two chances to turn this around. Plus, Purple Marquis is going next, so the third match is ours for sure!" Purple Marquis raised his blade confidently and declared, "Don¡¯t worry, guild leader. If I fail to claim a point, you may punish me via martial law!" Lin Yixin chuckled. "That is a bit over the top. I don¡¯t really care if we win or lose this WEL, and it¡¯s not like we¡¯ll die if we fail to become the champion. All I ask of you is for you to do your best." "Yes, guild leader!" Purple Marquis was a very strong and loyal general. His individual strength and skill had improved by leaps and bounds ever since he joined Lin Yixin, and today he was without a doubt one the Top 10 best players in the China server. However, his opponent was the mysterious Undead Mage Ringwraith, so it was hard to say who would emerge victorious between the two. Purple Marquis knew me, Li Chengfeng and Lin Yixin quite well, so he knew our ways of fighting to a certain degree. Ringwraith though was an enigma besides everything he had shown us in the previous battles, and no one knew if he still had a trump card or two hidden up his sleeves. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Purple Marquis and Ringwraith appeared in the arena at the same time. As usual, Ringwraith looked like he was about to die or something, but this time he managed to curl his lips into a small but sinister smile and said, "Let¡¯s have a good battle, Purple Marquis!" "Likewise!" After that, Purple Marquis raised his blade and waited patiently for the battle to begin. The moment the countdown hit zero, Purple Marquis rushed Ringwraith and fired Vacuum Slash straight at the undead mage. The skill was his trump card for killing mages because it ignored 40% of the target¡¯s Defense and somewhat pierced Magic Shield as well. As expected, Ringwraith decided to Blink away to safety, and the moment he reappeared, Purple Marquis immediately Charged toward him! Chaos Universe! The super powerful double-hit skill destroyed Ringwraith¡¯s Magic Shield instantly. At the same time, he waved his hand and used Absolute Zero! The earth shuddered a little, and the undead mage was immediately trapped in a block of ice. However, 0.5 seconds before the skill could immobilize him completely, Ringwraith smiled and cast Bone Cage from his scepter! It was terrible. Bone Cage¡¯s shackle time was 7 seconds, but Absolute Zero¡¯s was only 3 seconds! This meant that Ringwraith would have 4 full seconds to hit Purple Marquis with everything he got! "F.u.c.k!" Purple Marquis swore before clenching his teeth in determination. He then threw his weapon at Ringwraith and shouted, "Die!" The sword passed right through Ringwraith¡¯s c.h.e.s.t and sank into the rock behind him. The attack left a huge hole in the undead mage¡¯s c.h.e.s.t, but it failed to do any real damage at all! Purple Marquis quickly realized why. Ringwraith was a normal undead and not an Asura, so his physical body was just bones and more bones. As a result, his fatal attack had passed right between the undead mage¡¯s ribs and made almost no physical contact whatsoever! "Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g kidding me?" Purple Marquis¡¯s eyeballs nearly fell out of their sockets in disbelief. After Ringwraith recovered, he said menacingly, "You dare dirty my robes, Purple Marquis? Die!" He raised his scepter and cast Galaxy Storm, Touch of the Dragonkiss and Night of the Undead Dragon in rapid succession. It was terrifying. The first two skills already tore Purple Marquis¡¯s fragile human body to shreds, but that last Night of the Undead Dragon dealt almost 100k damage! The score turned 1:0. For now, Ringwraith was in the lead. The second round began, and Purple Marquis decided to hit-and-run while searching for an opportunity to one-shot Ringwraith. However, Ringwraith was incredibly perceptive, and he was able to anticipate the warrior¡¯s movements and catch him time and time again with Black Dragon Waves. Worse, Purple Marquis had to fight under the assumption that his enemy could cast Bone Cage and end the battle in the blink of an eye. In the end, the class disadvantage was too big, and Purple Marquis ultimately lost the third match. Purple Marquis¡¯s strength was undeniable, but unfortunately his class was almost completely countered by Ringwraith. There were few things as frustrating as being unable to unleash your full strength twice in a row, and Purple Marquis displayed that frustration by tossing his sword to the ground right after he reappeared in the waiting area and swearing, "F.U.C.K! I feel like deleting my account after this match!" Lin Yixin responded, "Calm down, victory and defeat is commonplace in battles, and it¡¯s not like all hope is lost. We still have Qingqing, don¡¯t we?" Sun Qingqing shuddered in realization. "I¡­ I suddenly feel ten times more pressured than before¡­" Although Qingqing was one of the founders of Snowy Cathaya, she was really a greenhorn in gaming. She didn¡¯t have Lin Yixin¡¯s experience in Spirit of Grief, and this was her first time participating in a competition this big. As a result, she was so nervous that she blurted at God Bone the Iron Knight the moment she teleported into the arena, "Where are you from, uncle?" God Bone was completely caught off-guard by the question. He replied, "Taiyuan, Shanxi. Where are you from?" Sun Qingqing replied, "I¡¯m from Suzhou¡­" "I see¡­" ¡­¡­ Thankfully, the impossibly awkward conversation was disrupted by the system countdown. I wasn¡¯t sure if the audience or us could handle the second-hand embarrassment otherwise. Chapter 918: Fruit Knife Recruits Nangong The power gap was evident the moment the battle began. Clear Perfume had moved to the back and fired Spiraling Arrow Blade and Skypiercer into the sky, and they landed on God Bone¡¯s armor to deal two damage numbers¡ª 29083! 18381! It was pathetic. Clear Perfume had good Attack, but she hadn¡¯t used Ghost Chariot Card, and she didn¡¯t have the armor penetration of Beiming Xue¡¯s Windchaser set. There was no chance she could¡¯ve penetrated God Bone¡¯s Defense even if her Attack was twice as high. Worse, God Bone¡¯s class was a secret class called ¡°Iron Knight¡±. His Defense was as strong as his Attack. The blood-red shield in his hand alone was enough to reduce Clear Perfume¡¯s damage to a squeak. Whoosh! The arrows still vibrating on his armor, God Bone abruptly ran out of the dust cloud and toward Clear Perfume in a straight line. Then, he thrust his spear at her and used Bloodbreak Slash! Clear Perfume let out a cry of surprise and activated Leap. The corners of God Bone¡¯s lips turned up as he activated Charge and appeared right where Clear Perfume was about to land. The move wasn¡¯t even anything special; practically every fighter knew how to do this when battling against an archer. Two swings of his spear later, Clear Perfume lost all her HP and collapsed to the ground. She was no match for her opponent at all. The second round was no better than the first, and Clear Perfume lost her match with a 0:2 score. Worse, this meant that Snowy Cathaya was officially out of the competition! Snowy Cathaya had lost three points in a row after the first match where Lin Yixin had taken out Song of Ice and Fire by storm. Even famous experts like Purple Marquis and Shadow Chanel had lost their matches, so to call this result a big upset was an understatement to say the least. When Soul Battle Robes first joined Heavenblessed, their results were middling at best, and they were nowhere strong enough to be considered a first-rate guild. That was no longer true for this WEL, however. Ringwraith the Undead Mage, Song of Ice and Fire the Frozen Berserker, and God Bone the Iron Knight were all super-tier experts, and they had wiped the floor with the super guild Snowy Cathaya in a 3:1 win. How could anyone not be stunned by this? ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After Clear Perfume was teleported back to the waiting area, she shot Lin Yixin a guilty look and apologized, "I tried my best, Yiyi, but that God Bone is just¡­ so scary. I can¡¯t escape from him no matter what I try¡­" Lin Yixin hugged her sister¡¯s shoulder affectionately and consoled her, "It¡¯s fine. You weren¡¯t even a gamer a year ago, and you¡¯re already at the level where you can give a top-tier expert some challenge, so there¡¯s no need to blame yourself at all. And remember, we¡¯re still qualified for the internationals. When the time comes, we¡¯ll get our revenge on them!" Lin Yixin¡¯s attitude toward Purple Marquis was very different from Qingqing¡¯s, however. "Hmph, Qingqing is still green, so it¡¯s perfectly normal for her to lose. But you don¡¯t have that excuse, do you? I can¡¯t even be bothered to criticize you right now¡­" Purple Marquis grinned apologetically. "Well¡­ I was completely thrown off balance by that Ringwraith, yes. But guild leader, I swear I¡¯ll wipe the floor with Soul Battle Robes if we run into them in the internationals once more!" Lin Yixin nodded in satisfaction. "Very good. That being said, we definitely need to recruit more experts before we can truly challenge the internationals. Right now we don¡¯t even have a substitute in our roster. This is just unacceptable." "Yes ma¡¯am!" "Anyway, it¡¯s Little Cheat¡¯s turn now. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls versus Candle Dragon, huh? This will be a very interesting grudge match to watch, hehe¡­" ¡­¡­ While Lin Yixin was chuckling to herself, we were moving about restlessly and itching to enter the battlefield. We had waited for this moment for too long, and it was finally Candle Dragon¡¯s turn to suffer a terrible defeat in a top-tier competition! We were absolutely going to pay back all the humiliation Candle Dragon had dealt to us tenfold! On the stage, Fei¡¯er¡¯s s.e.xy b.u.t.t swayed left and right as she walked around while announcing, "The first semi-final of the WEL has ended in a 3:1 win to Soul Battle Robes, and we thank both teams for the exciting matches they have shown us! Now then, players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Candle Dragon, please make your final preparations. Your match will begin in five minutes." ¡­¡­ Leaning against a handrail not far away from him, the Divine General Ye Yuse said with a smile, "I¡¯m sure everyone¡¯s looking forward to this battle, right? Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is on the rise right now, but that doesn¡¯t mean we are in any way inferior to them. The time to defeat them is now, don¡¯t you all agree?" Candlelight Shadow abruptly rose to his feet and declared with a daring smile, "Ye Yuse is right. There is only one king in China, and we will prove it by defeating our rising rival!" God¡¯s Dance and Blue Sky Scar raised their weapons spiritedly in response. ¡­¡­ Back to our waiting area, we were discussing what kind of line-up we should go for¡ª Murong Mingyue said, "We must win our match against Candle Dragon, so I won¡¯t be participating this time. A line-up is a critical factor in a match, so I want it to be the best it can possibly be." He Yi pressed her lips together like she wanted to say something. A few seconds later, she finally said, "I''m pretty sure Candlelight Shadow is thinking the same thing as us. Who do you think they¡¯ll send for the first match?" I thought for a moment before replying, "No one likes to start off a match with a loss, so I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll send someone strong to secure the point. However, it feels like an overkill to send someone like Candlelight Shadow, so chances are they¡¯ll send either Ye Yuse or Blue Sky Scar. God¡¯s Dance is less skilled than they are, so she probably won¡¯t be fighting the first match." Murong Mingyue let out a chuckle, and the way her pair of 34Es bounced attracted both Beiming Xue and my eyeballs for a moment. When Beiming Xue looked at me again, it almost felt like she was asking, "When will I become as big as her, big bro?" Lian Xin responded with a smile, "Allow me!" "Okay." Beiming Xue then added, "Big bro must fight the third and the deciding match, so I¡¯ll fight the second match. Is that okay?" He Yi nodded again. "In that case, the fourth match is mine. Try to make it so that I don¡¯t have to try hard for the fourth match, okay?" I smiled. "As much as I want to say yes, it¡¯s hard to tell how this battle will turn out. We¡¯ll see what happens later. Beiming Xue and I will handle the 2v2 as usual. We are Divine Generals, and Great Earth Transformation and Divine General Skills are a huge advantage¡­" "Okay. Now that I think about it, there¡¯s a high chance the 2v2 will be a match between four Divine Generals, huh? I can¡¯t wait¡­" "Yeah. Anyway, let¡¯s enter the final line-up and prepare for battle!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ "Hi, everyone. I¡¯m Beautiful Little Pepper¡­" Lin Yixin greeted Snow Moon¡¯s players with a sweet smile before leaning against a handrail. Her posture was as natural as a pretty little cat, but without the wariness and haughtiness that the pet usually carried itself with. Summer Last Year broke into a smile of her own before responding, "Oh, hi there, Fruit Knife Goddess! We¡¯re playing aeroplane chess right now. Do you want to join us?" Lin Yixin shook her head immediately. "No way. I always lose at this game." Yi of Ice spoke up, "Little Pepper, I¡­ was there when you beat Protection of Sword and Fire and Magic Cube of Fate a couple of years ago¡­" Lin Yixin replied, "Yes, that was so long ago. I hope you don¡¯t mind? I was too young and brash back then to know the proper boundaries back then." Nangong Lexi chuckled. "Mind? Why would we mind that? Even back then, those bastards including Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow and Dark Shadow Drifter loved catcalling us whenever we were around. I would¡¯ve taught them a lesson myself if I was good enough to beat them. You probably have no idea how hard I cheered for you when you beat Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow three times in a row that day, do you?" Lin Yixin turned red. "Is that so? To tell you the truth, I sought him out only after I confirmed that Frivolous Scholar was offline¡­" Summer Last Year giggled. "That just means you¡¯re a smart girl. If you had tried to challenge big brother Shusheng instead, your chances of winning would¡¯ve been almost zero¡­" Lin Yixin smiled brightly. "I know, I¡¯m not that young and brazen that I would challenge the Heavenly King of Spirit of Grief himself. Oh right, is Shusheng and Snow Moon making a comeback or something? I can¡¯t think of another reason why you all came back." Yi of Ice pouted. "I¡¯ve built my account since the start of Heavenblessed, okay? I just didn¡¯t compete or play PvP because I¡¯m using it as a way to pass the time between work, and sell some equipment to make money. Fireworks is the same as I am." Summer Last Year complained, "OMG, Snow Moon is dead if you all keep acting like this! I have to travel to Beijing headquarters and work with big brother Shusheng in a month¡¯s time!" Yi of Ice giggled. "That¡¯s not a problem. We can just leave it to Southern Barbarian!" "He¡¯s even more of a noob than I am¡­" "Nonsense, you¡¯re both about the same level¡­" "..." At the side, Nangong Lexi finally lost her cool and exploded, "You heartless girls! None of you even thought about me, did you? What am I going to do when that idiot Southern Barbarian and I are the only ones left in Snow Moon? Do you have any idea how annoying it is dealing with a guy who wouldn¡¯t stop proposing to me day and night? You know what, f.u.c.k it, I¡¯m leaving Snow Moon and building a guild called ¡®Big Dumb Donkey¡¯! I¡¯m going to open my own clothing design company and earn tons of money¡­" All the girls froze at the declaration. It was at this moment Lin Yixin spoke up, "Say, Lexi, would you like to join Snowy Cathaya? If nothing else, we can keep you company when your friends are all gone." Lin Yixin s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath before declaring, "I can¡¯t give you much on the physical side, but I can train you in the art of PvP until you become a top-tier archer like Beiming Xue one day!" Nangong Lexi¡¯s mouth fell open a little. "Does that mean¡­ I can become as strong as Magic Cube of Fate one day?" Lin Yixin nodded affirmatively. "No, you¡¯ll surpass him. Beiming Xue had long since surpassed Magic Cube of Fate thanks to Lu Chen¡¯s guidance, and right now, she¡¯s the only archer in the entire China whose kiting technique and melee combat skills are both top-class. If you join Snowy Cathaya though, then you can become like her too!" Nangong Lexi immediately jumped to her feet and hugged Lin Yixin. "Yes, guild leader! By the way, can I be a vice leader? I also want a monthly salary of 50k RMB at least¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s smile widened. "If you join us, sure!" Chapter 919: Beiming Versus Candlelight Shadow Back in Spirit of Grief, archers were pure shooters whose one job was to instakill the enemy from range. The top-tier archers at the time were Magic Cube of Fate, October Rain, and Transient Smoke and Clouds, while third-rate archers included the legendary Frivolous Scholar himself and more. However, the times were constantly changing, and games were no exception. Today, archers had enough arm strength to wield a giant blade. With good enough dagger mastery, an archer could turn into half an assassin in close range combat if necessary. Beiming Xue was an expert who grew stronger under this new flexibility. Since the day she tried to ambush me at Floating Ice Forest, the intelligent girl had been searching for a way to turn the Archer class into a godlike class. When she met the Fruit Knife Goddess and witnessed the power of the dagger, she finally found what she was looking for. She sparred constantly with Lin Yixin to hone her dagger-parrying skills, and today she was half a class better than all the other top-tier archers in China. Nangong Lexi one was one of the Twenty Four Snow Moon Cavalry, but her control was weaker than Magic Cube of Fate¡¯s. Today, most of Snow Moon¡¯s experts had retired, and there wasn¡¯t much she could do as a single person. That changed completely when Lin Yixin gave her her word, however. Nangong Lexi was one of the people who had witnessed Lin Yixin¡¯s heroic feat with her own eyes, so she knew full well just how strong she was. However, the real reason she joined Snowy Cathaya was because she had found a true companion in Lin Yixin. Nangong Lexi had experienced boundless glory, so the number of people that were really up to her standards could be counted on one hand. Lin Yixin was one of them... ¡­¡­ "OMG, did Beauty Lin just recruit Nangong Lexi?" Li Chengfeng swore before looking at me. "You should¡¯ve gone to her first, Lu Chen. Nangong Lexi is a great archer!" I pouted. "I don¡¯t have Yiyi¡¯s charm, okay?" Li Chengfeng responded, "Beauty Lin sure is a woman of action. She¡¯s already making up for her team¡¯s loss in the WEL. Clear Perfume is Beauty Lin¡¯s classmate, but she¡¯s just a normal person and one of the reasons Snowy Cathaya was beaten by Soul Battle Robes. If Nangong Lexi had replaced her, improved her control by 10%, and gained the ability to protect herself at close range, this semi-final would¡¯ve been very different." "Mn." I nodded smilingly. "Yiyi has always been a smart girl. She knows how important it is to nurture her guild¡¯s best players. In the future, Snowy Cathaya will grow even stronger, and Yiyi will have three solid point securers in her team. I can already imagine the competitions she¡¯s going to terrorize¡­" Our conversation was cut short when Beiming Xue glared at us and said, "Hello? We¡¯re fighting Candle Dragon in a minute, so where is your tension, people?" I gripped the Purple Ying Sword and hardened my gaze into steel. "You¡¯re right. It¡¯s time to teach Candle Dragon a lesson!" A while later, the match-ups for the second battle of the semi-finals appeared on the big display¡ª 1v1: Lian Xing LV-182 Phantasm of Stars VS God¡¯s Dance LV-182 Dark Flame Mage 1v1: Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark Archer VS Candlelight Shadow LV-182 Warrior 1v1: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 Undead Swordsman VS Blue Sky Scar LV-180 Wind Knight 2v2: Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark Archer & Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 Undead Swordsman VS Candlelight Shadow LV-182 Warrior & Ye Yuse LV-181 Charm Master ¡­¡­ The actual match-ups were completely different from what we had expected. Ideally, I would be fighting Candlelight Shadow because I had the Purple Ying Sword and the Dragon God Shield, which boosted my chances of beating Candlelight Shadow to over 60%. It was a completely different story if it was Beiming Xue, however. Candlelight Shadow hadn¡¯t been called the Martial God for nothing; his swordsmanship was without a doubt one of the best in the entire country. "OMG, these match-ups¡­" Lian Xin was quite surprised by how things had turned out. "The first match is me versus God¡¯s Dance?" He Yi consoled her smilingly, "This isn¡¯t bad, is it? This is your chance to prove yourself. Go take out Candle Dragon¡¯s strongest mage and show them what true mage OP really looks like!" "Mn! I¡¯ll be right back¡­" One teleport later, Lian Xin appeared on a 100x100 yard grassy field. There was some shrubbery at the center of the arena that could be used to break line of sight, but it was a bit too small. High level of control would be needed to use it properly. Swhoosh! After God¡¯s Dance appeared on the battlefield, she watched Lian Xin calmly and said, "We met two years ago, didn¡¯t we? At the time, you were just a little girl I could one-shot with two instant Fireballs. To think that even you have grown up so much¡­" The battle hadn¡¯t even started yet, and tension was sharp enough to cut through steel, and the smell of gunpowder permeated throughout the stage. Mage versus mage battles basically boiled down to positioning and blasting each other¡¯s faces with spells. The player who managed to dish out more damage and receive less via good movement was the victor. The countdown hit zero, and both girls moved just in time to dodge an explosion of Fireball and Wind Blade they had fired at the other party. Touch of the Dragonkiss was too wide to dodge out of the way though, and the spells destroyed the ground they were on and distorted their Magic Shields a little. So far, both combatants had managed to dodge over 50% of their enemy¡¯s spells through movement alone. Bang! A force field appeared right behind God¡¯s Dance. She tried to circle around it, but another force field blocked her way, and the magic circle representing Ice Spiral Matrix appeared beneath her feet. Ice Spiral Matrix did too much damage, so God¡¯s Dance had no choice but to Blink away to safety. Lian Xin¡¯s Blinked at the same time God¡¯s Dance did and struck the ground with the shaft of her scepter, causing Touch of the Dragonkiss to burst out of the ground and engulf God¡¯s Dance Magic Shield immediately. The power gap between the two started to show at this moment. Cracks were appearing all over God¡¯s Dance Magic Shield, but Lian Xin¡¯s Telekinetic Shield still had over 70% durability. God¡¯s Dance remained calm despite her dire situation. She waved her scepter lightly and cried, "Dark Flame Hell Ground!" Boom! The earth beneath Lian Xin split in half and turned into a sea of flames, eating away at her Telekinetic Shield. Worse, God¡¯s Dance gathered black energy around her scepter before yelling, "Black Dragon Roar!" A magic blast shaped like a dragon burst out of her scepter and slammed straight into Lian Xin¡¯s Telekinetic Shield! 41923! What a powerful spell! Not only did it almost one-shot Lian Xin, it had gone right through her Telekinetic Shield! God¡¯s Dance had definitely hidden some of her class¡¯s skills for this moment. Black Dragon Roar had a rather inflexible straight-line trajectory, but if it landed, it would almost certainly instakill a fragile class. Lian Xin backed away from God¡¯s Dance and waved her Thunder God Scepter. The spell she chose to use as retaliation against the Dark Flame Mage was Dimensional Storm! At this point, it was a matter of who kills who first. A terrifying storm descended upon the battlefield. Since God¡¯s Dance¡¯s Magic Shield had shattered already, she didn¡¯t have anything that could protect her from Lian Xin¡¯s powerful spell. When the dimensional blades deleted her last sliver of HP, she let out a soft cry and collapsed to the ground. The score turned 1:0. As promised, Lian Xin had kicked off the battle with a victory! ¡­¡­ The second round was just as fierce as the first. Duels between two high-level mages were always exciting to watch. At the end of the magical light show, God¡¯s Dance dropped to her knees once more before her superior, Lian Xin. Dark Flame Mage was a powerful class that helped to close the gap between God¡¯s Dance and Lian Xin tremendously, but in the end it was just slightly behind the Phantasm of Stars. Also, Lian Xin¡¯s Origin Force Fields were always perfectly placed and timed, something that God¡¯s Dance ultimately wasn¡¯t able to overcome. Judging from the anger on the latter¡¯s face, I was sure that she knew this as well. Lian Xin took the first match, and the overall score turned 1:0. Countless people cried out Lian Xin and the guild¡¯s name from the spectator stands. "I¡¯m going, big bro!" Beiming Xue said to me. I nodded. "Mn. Just do your best!" "Yeah!" Beiming Xue¡¯s opponent was the strongest player in the entire enemy team and the Martial God, Candlelight Shadow. Almost a year had passed since the launch of Heavenblessed, and during this time people such as me, Lin Yixin, Farewell Song, Li Chengfeng, Luo River God of the Capital and more were more than happy to issue him a challenge every now and then. This was an embarrassing state of things for him, of course. Many players had lost their ambition and left the game for various reasons during the last two years of Spirit of Grief. It was why he and his guild¡¯s rule had gone unchallenged during that time. However, Heavenblessed was fresh, and countless old and new heroes had poured into the game seeking to dethrone the strongest person at the top, namely Candlelight Shadow. I dare say that he hadn¡¯t had a good night¡¯s sleep since the game began. Swhoosh swhoosh! Beiming Xue and Candlelight Shadow appeared in the arena at the same time. A soft breeze caused her red cape to flutter, and the dark gold Windchaser armor hugged her curves nicely. Her b.r.e.a.s.ts weren¡¯t very big yet, but that didn¡¯t mean that the audience wasn¡¯t attracted to her. Her determined gaze and unyielding expression caused countless males in the audience to go crazy and scream on top of their lungs¡ª "I love you, Beiming Xue! Please be my girlfriend!" "You are my goddess, Dark Archer!" "Her b.r.e.a.s.ts are a bit small though¡­" ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow watched Beiming Xue coolly as he activated Great Earth Transformation without any fuss. He couldn¡¯t afford to lose this because his team had already lost the first point. However, the dark archer was both a Divine General and an incredibly skilled player in her own right. It wouldn¡¯t be an easy win no matter what. Outside the arena, God¡¯s Dance said to Candlelight Shadow, "You must win this, Candlelight! The third match is Lu Chen versus Blue Sky Scar, and realistically speaking, we have no reason to believe that we¡¯ll win that match! You cannot lose no matter what, understand?" Candlelight Shadow gritted his teeth as he responded, "I know!" Blue Sky Scar¡¯s expression was frigid, but he didn¡¯t say anything. ¡­¡­ The system began counting. The digitized voice seemed to resonate in everyone¡¯s heart¡ª 3! 2! Fight! Candlelight Shadow burst into action and traversed the battlefield with incredible speed. It was almost unthinkable that a normal warrior could be this swift. Beiming Xue quickly raised her bow and fired Evil Spirit Volley and Spiraling Arrow Blade! Thud! Crushing a piece of dead wood beneath his boots, Candlelight Shadow somehow ran even faster until he was just ten yards away from Beiming Xue. Then, he came to a halt and shouted, "Blazing Purgatory Slash!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Beiming Xue withdrew to the back to avoid the three sword auras. At the same time, she waved her arm and cried, "Well of the Abyss!" The Divine General Skill appeared beneath Candlelight Shadow, but the warrior had predicted that she would use it. He Charged right before it could catch him! Swhoosh! He escaped the Divine General Skill like a ray of light escaping the attraction of a black hole. He swung his sword at Beiming Xue the moment he got within melee distance. Beiming Xue watched his movement closely as she unsheathed her dagger. Three times she was able to parry his sword, but there was so much strength behind his attacks that she was sent skidding to the back. Then, Candlelight Shadow abruptly vanished from his position, reappeared at Beiming Xue¡¯s flanks and stabbed his sword right between her ribs! Pu! 72838! She was hit. While she was staring at Candlelight Shadow in astonishment, Outer Flame descended from the sky and dealt almost 100k damage, ending her life. The score turned 0:1, and this time it was Beiming Xue who lost the round first. It wasn¡¯t surprising to me though. If we looked at close-range skills alone, Candlelight Shadow was an ancestor-level monster at the same level as Lin Yixin, if not higher. On the other hand, Beiming Xue¡¯s close combat skills, movement and battle judgment were at most seventy percent of Lin Yixin¡¯s. It made sense that she would lose the moment Candlelight Shadow got close to her. Chapter 920: War God Rampage Swhoosh! After Beiming Xue was teleported out of the arena, she complained with a helpless expression on her face, "This is impossible¡­ Candlelight Shadow¡¯s speed is completely beyond my ability to react¡­" Gui Guzi said, "Candlelight Shadow is fast, but you still should¡¯ve been able to catch him out with Well of the Abyss, Lil Beiming. The timing on the one you used earlier could stand to be better¡­" Beiming Xue blinked helplessly. "But¡­ I¡¯m already giving it my all¡­" Lian Xin looked to me for guidance. "What do you think, big brother Lu Chen?" I bit my finger before answering, "Did you guys notice Candlelight Shadow buffing himself with a speed up skill at the same time he activated Great Earth Transformation? That is how he boosted his speed beyond Beiming¡¯s ability to suppress. Also, there¡¯s a 0.5-second channelling time to Well of the Abyss, and that is more than enough time for Candlelight Shadow to lock onto any empty spot, Charge and dodge it perfectly. The Divine General Skill is practically useless against him now." Li Chengfeng hummed for a moment before asking, "Does this mean there¡¯s no hope for Lil Beiming, Lu Chen?" "No, there is still hope." I explained while staring at Candlelight Shadow in the arena, "Candlelight Shadow will definitely underestimate Beiming a little when the second round begins. If Beiming lets him get close to her and dodge his attacks using the helix maneuver Yiyi taught her, he¡¯ll freeze up for just an instant. Stun him with Shock Arrow, lower his Defense with Bone Eroding Arrow, delete his HP with Evil Spirit Volley, and trap him with Well of the Abyss right before the stun is about to end. Finally, use undodgeable AoE skills like Skypiercer and Spiraling Arrow Blade to end his life at the end of Well of the Abyss¡¯ duration. He will parry and dodge everything else, so don¡¯t even bother. You already know this, but never underestimate his control. Even I can lose to him in this area!" Beiming Xue blinked again. "But I haven¡¯t even mastered half of the helix maneuver, big bro. I¡¯m nowhere proficient enough to use it in a real fight. What if I fail mid-execution?" "So what? If you¡¯re going to lose either way, then you may as well choose the path with least regrets, right?" "Yeah!" Suddenly, He Yi said quietly next to me, "So this is how you console your little sister. Hmm¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue trained her gaze on Candlelight Shadow after she teleported into the arena once more. When the battle began, Beiming Xue moved backward and shot Candlelight Shadow with Freezing Arrows only. For someone who just lived the life of a speedster a moment ago, the ice freezing over his armor and reducing his movement speed was incredibly uncomfortable to say the least. "Tsk!" Candlelight Shadow waved his arm and conjured a cyan formation beneath his feet. Just like last time, his movement speed suddenly increased drastically, and two zigzags later¡ª made to dodge Beiming Xue¡¯s follow-up Freezing Arrows¡ªhe halted in front of her and channeled a killer combo! Beiming Xue gritted her teeth and parried the first hit with her dagger. Then, she slipped away from his vision, turned her heels, and rotated to his right flank in a flash. By the time Candlelight Shadow turned around to swing his sword at her, her momentum had carried her to his left flank already. Despite claiming that she hadn¡¯t mastered the technique yet, Beiming Xue had somehow managed to pull off the upgraded version of the butterfly maneuver, the helix maneuver, with incredible grace. "What?!" Candlelight Shadow was shocked as a matter of course. The helix maneuver had always been a fighter-only technique, not to mention that there were only a handful of players in the entire server that could apply it in a real fight successfully. This almost certainly marked the beginning of a whole new level of skill for the Archer class. The spectators were completely shocked by Beiming Xue¡¯s performance as well. Not only did she, an archer, managed to pull off the legendary helix maneuver successfully, she had used it on none other than the Martial God, Candlelight Shadow himself! "You want to die?" Humiliated and enraged, Candlelight Shadow turned again and sent a horizontal slash at Beiming Xue¡¯s direction. There was no dodging or parrying this one! Even with the Windchaser set¡¯s ridiculous Defense, that one hit still deleted 50% of Beiming Xue¡¯s health bar. However, that was exactly the golden opportunity she was waiting for! There was a half-a-second lull in Candlelight Shadow¡¯s movement after the strike, and it was during that time Beiming Xue unleashed her Shock Arrow, Bone Eroding Arrow and Evil Spirit Volley in rapid succession! Candlelight Shadow realized he was in trouble the moment he saw this. With supernatural speed, he raised his weapon and used Guard! Sparks flew everywhere as Evil Spirit Volley rocked his body and deleted over half of his HP. The moment the skill ended, Beiming Leaped into the air and used Well of the Abyss! ¡­¡­ Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but I exclaimed in sudden realization, "F.U.C.K!" "What¡¯s wrong?" Lin Yixin turned toward me after my outburst. I clenched my fists before responding, "F.u.c.k me, I can¡¯t believe I forgot that Candlelight Shadow was a seventh-promotion warrior. This means that he has the seventh-promotion skill, War God Rampage!" War God Rampage: The seventh-promotion signature skill of the Warrior class. For 12 seconds, increases user¡¯s Attack by 40%, reduces user¡¯s Defense by 25%, but grants magic immunity. The magic immunity protected the warrior not only from magic, but also all status effect skills! Not even Beiming Xue¡¯s Well of the Abyss was an exception! It was why a warrior was considered to be almost invincible during these 12 seconds. Although I was a warrior myself, my mentor was a lousy one, and it didn¡¯t look like he was going to teach me the skill anytime soon. Therefore, my only hope of acquiring the skill was to get it from a boss drop. Swhoosh! The dark archer returned to our side, and the score turned 0:2. She lost. "Uu¡­" Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes turned red as she faced toward me and He Yi. "I¡¯m sorry, big bro, Sister He Yi. I¡­ lost¡­" He Yi gave her a comforting smile and said, "It¡¯s fine, we still have a high chance of winning this. Plus, your opponent was Candlelight Shadow, the so-called number one expert of China. It¡¯s not unthinkable for anyone to lose to him." I also patted Beiming Xue on the shoulder and apologized, "You lost because I gave you a flawed battle plan, not because you didn¡¯t perform well enough. I forgot that he had War God Rampage, so the fault is all mine. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll retake the lead during the third match." Beiming Xue nodded. "Okay. I look forward to your performance, big bro!" ¡­¡­ The third match was me versus Blue Sky Scar. Usually, I would call this a free win, but the fact was Blue Sky Scar had changed hs class from Magic Knight to Wind Knight, so he had to be a lot stronger than he was before. Also, Blue Sky Scar must¡¯ve had Candlelight Shadow¡¯s help when he completed his class upgrade, and I refused to believe that the latter wasn¡¯t qualified to become a wind knight. The only reason he didn¡¯t was because magic knights were more of a defender than an attacker, and Candlelight Shadow was a man who sought to become the ultimate offensive attacker. In this regard at least, we were identical to one another. Both Blue Sky Scar and I appeared on the battlefield. The wind knight had changed his weapon to a light blue sword, but his glare was anything but light or blue. Flames almost spitting out of his nose, he declared, "Don¡¯t think that the victory is already in the bag, Lu Chen. I promise I¡¯ll give you the shock of your life!" I didn¡¯t answer him. Blue Sky Scar exploded in anger, "Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g looking down on me?" I still didn¡¯t answer him. Blue Sky Scar¡¯s anger hit its peak. "Is that it? You lack even the most basic respect for your opponent?" It was at this moment I looked up in a daze while replying to Lin Yixin, "It¡¯s a promise. We¡¯ll have lunch tomorrow after the WEL is finished¡­" After I ended the video call, I looked at Blue Sky Scar and asked, "Oh, sorry, I was speaking with Wind Fantasy just now. What were you saying again, bro?" At that moment, Blue Sky Scar¡¯s complexion turned into a very impressive shade of blue. Anyway, the battle began quickly after that short intermission. Bang! 39193! Blue Sky Scar was an honest man who was used to trading blows with another fighter the boring, standard way, so to say that he was unused to my standard-breaking way of brawling would be an understatement. Feeling like he had no choice, he shouted, "Tempest Purgatory!" Roar! A scorching wind burst out of the ground. It was an AoE skill! 51277! That was some impressive damage. I thought this might be the case, but it was a bit too much to facetank without activating Great Earth Transformation. After I put some distance between myself and Blue Sky Scar, I pointed my palm at him and used God Binding Art! Four divine weapons dropped down from the sky and immobilized Blue Sky Scar instantly. I bet he was so thrilled at the thought of deleting a chunk of HP from my health bar that he completely forgot about the danger of unleashing a skill when he wasn¡¯t on the move. He had been caught like a deer in the headlights. The rest of the fight was very simple. I raised my palm and slapped his head with Ancient Seal and Dragon Slaying Slash. Then, I tossed the Purple Ying Sword at him after it was surrounded by a sheen of gold, draconic runes. It was the Coiling Dragon Revolution, of course. It annihilated his shield and dealt the fatal blow. The second round went more or less the same way. Although Blue Sky Scar had good control, he was way too old-fashioned and inflexible. As a result, beating him was just a matter of taking advantage of his weakness until he lost. It was yet another perfect win for me, and the overall score turned 2:0 in favor of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. The battle progressed to the fourth match, and it was He Yi versus the enemy¡¯s new rising member, the Divine General Ye Yuse! Ye Yuse was a Candle Dragon subguild member until she got lucky and evolved into a Divine General. Now, she was one of their key players and one of the greatest variables of this competition. ¡­¡­ He Yi urged me smilingly as she gripped the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear, "Well, what are you waiting for? Teach me how to beat this charm master already. I have no idea what to do here¡­" I shot Ye Yuse a glance before starting, "Petrification and Hold are both status effect skills with very obvious cast animation and 50% hit rate only. You should be able to dodge it easily if you keep your eyes on her. Her trump card is that God Suppressing Tower that can delete tens of thousands of HP in one go, so that is what you should really watch out for. Also, remember that she has Great Earth Transformation. It¡¯ll boost her Attack tremendously." "Okay, got it¡­" ¡­¡­ The next moment, our beautiful guild leader and Ye Yuse appeared on the battlefield at the same time. Chapter 921: Cyan Rain Sword It was yet another must-watch match and the match point for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. If He Yi defeated Ye Yuse, then Candle Dragon would officially be knocked out from the WEL nationals. Not far away from us, Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow and God¡¯s Dance were all clenching their fists nervously as they waited for the match to begin. The first place of the WEL was just as important to Candle Dragon as it was to us. Candlelight Shadow had lost too much prestige during this era of heroes than they could bear, and he desperately needed a champion¡¯s title to prove himself once more. Speaking of which, there was an RFGL competition not long ago that had a lot of participants, but almost no top-tier players such as Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Purple Marquis and more because the prize money was too small. Mamate and Du Thirteen had participated in that competition in hopes of experiencing some glory of their own, but their dreams were shattered when Candlelight Shadow of all people brought in his main roster and crushed that competition. The news made the forums headlines, but I was sure that Candlelight Shadow wasn¡¯t proud of it in the slightest. We certainly hid a snicker or two when we learned of this. The only reason Candlelight Shadow stooped so low was because he was desperate. Now, the chance to truly prove himself had finally arrived. The WEL was one of the most prestigious international competitions in the world, and everyone had their eyes on it. All he needed to do right now was to defeat Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and enter the final. ¡­¡­ The countdown began, and it was clear that both He Yi and Ye Yuse were pretty nervous. This was the first time He Yi participated in a super-level competition like this, and the first time Ye Yuse participated in any competition at all. Ye Yuse had been¡ªand still was¡ªjust a young and innocent girl until she hit the jackpot, became a Divine General and the vice leader of Candle Dragon. Naturally, it made perfect sense that Ye Yuse¡¯s heart was pounding like a drum right now. On the other hand, He Yi had become increasingly skillful thanks to all the battles she went through for the past year or so. Even better, she had finally learned how to interpret the in-game map and shedded one of her infamous nicknames, "Miss No Direction." I was very proud of her. Swhoosh! He Yi was lowering the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear a little when surprise flashed across Ye Yuse¡¯s expression as the girl exclaimed, "The way this spear glows is exactly the same as Wind Fantasy¡¯s sword." "They belong to the same series," He Yi answered. "Oh, I see¡­" Ye Yuse smiled before saying, "I¡¯ll keep an eye on it then." "You¡¯d better~" He Yi smiled back. The countdown hit zero, and the battle finally began. He Yi acted with great caution. She launched only quick, probing attacks and maintained a fair amount of distance between herself and Ye Yuse. A short while later, she found an opportunity to throw Trapping Net. However, Ye Yuse managed to maintain her cool, dodge out of the way of the skill, and counter with a CC skill of her own. "Hold!" Rustle rustle rustle... Meanwhile, Ye Yuse stomped the ground and summoned a cyclone of cyan lotus petals around herself. After Great Earth Transformation was active, she ran toward He Yi and raised her arm. A gigantic charm appeared on the sky as she shouted, "Nether Curse!" Here comes the Divine General Skill! Unfortunately for He Yi, there was no way to outrun Nether Curse. No matter how skilled she became, she couldn¡¯t possibly clear 25 yards of distance in an instant. It was quite literally all up to luck now. Nether Curse¡¯s base success rate was only 25%, but Ye Yuse had killed some high-level bosses and acc.u.mulated some Luck with Candle Dragon¡¯s help, so the spell¡¯s actual success rate had to be higher than that. This was the unique power of Luck. For example, my Immortality had a 30% chance to revive me on death, but thanks to the Luck I acc.u.mulated, that chance was really 50% or more. Nether Curse took the form of a tai chi symbol before crashing to the ground. By now, He Yi had run all the way to the edges, but it still wasn¡¯t fast enough to escape the skill! Bang! A loud explosion later, He Yi came to a halt and blanked out like she was daydreaming. She had caught one of the status effects Nether Curse could inflict, Drunk! When a player was Drunken, they would lose control of their own avatar. In our beautiful guild leader¡¯s case, she turned bright red and staggered aimlessly on her feet. "F.u.c.k, Nether Curse got Eve¡­" Murong Mingyue exclaimed in shock. High Fighting Spirits¡¯ attention was completely different from hers though. "So this is how the guild leader looks when she¡¯s drunk? OMG, she¡¯s so cute¡­" ¡­¡­ Back in the arena, Ye Yuse didn¡¯t let the golden opportunity slip through her grasp and attacked He Yi. The charms dealt 15k damage each, and the two God Suppressing Towers dealt a whopping 140k damage. After 12 seconds had passed by, He Yi only had a sliver of health left. Right before He Yi could recover from her drunken state, Ye Yuse tossed out another charm and cried, "Petrification!" Swhoosh! The success rate of Petrification was 50%, and Ye Yuse was lucky enough to strike gold a second time. The stone skin covering He Yi¡¯s entire body increased her Defense dramatically, but the trade-off was that she couldn¡¯t move for another 12 seconds. Bang bang! Another two God Suppressing Towers and a few more charm attacks later, the stone peeled off He Yi¡¯s body, and she died after letting out a groan. The score was 0:1. Ye Yuse had taken the first round! ¡­¡­ After He Yi returned to the waiting area, she complained, "What the hell was that? I wasn¡¯t able to do anything at all, dammit¡­" Lin Yixin comforted her, "Calm down, Sister Eve. Ye Yuse just got lucky this time. She can¡¯t always land Nether Curse and Petrification. When the next round begins, look for an opportunity to instakill her with Purgatory of Ice and Magma!" He Yi nodded. "Mn!" After He Yi returned to the arena, and the second round began, Ye Yuse continued fighting with the same level of caution as before. This time though, He Yi didn¡¯t bother with the dance and used Charge immediately. Ye Yuse had no choice but to use Nether Curse to stop her! MISS! Just as Lin Yixin said, Ye Yuse couldn¡¯t be lucky forever. Nether Curse failed to hit He Yi this time. He Yi was no longer the noob she used to be, so she immediately executed the difficult-to-predict butterfly maneuver and dodged both Ye Yuse¡¯s Hold and Petrification. The Seven Star Veluriyam Spear glowed like the sun, and the powerful Purgatory of Ice and Magma flew straight toward the Divine General! Boom boom boom! The score was now 1:1. One more win, and we would advance to the final! The third round was the decider round, but it looked like Lady Luck wasn¡¯t on He Yi¡¯s side today. Despite He Yi¡¯s best efforts, Nether Curse hit her again and inflicted the Confusion status effect. Thud thud thud... The Confusion status effect was considerably more destructive than the Drunken status effect, and not in a good way. He Yi¡¯s eyes were bloodshot as she waved her Seven Star Veluriyam Spear at random and fired Barrier Break and Triple Slash at nothing in particular. Just as the name of the status effect might suggest, the confused guild leader moved, attacked, and unleashed skills completely at random... While He Yi was going to town with the air around her, Ye Yuse suppressed her with God Suppressing Tower and chipped away at her HP with an endless stream of charm attacks. The worst part of this battle was that He Yi never got a chance to do anything from beginning until the end. When the Confusion CC was over, Ye Yuse froze her with Hold and smacked her with yet another God Suppressing Tower. When that effect was over, she followed up with a Petrification and repeated the accursed cycle. Our poor guild leader never managed to break free until she died... The score turned 1:2, and the fourth match was lost. ¡­¡­ After He Yi returned to the waiting area, she pouted. "Looks like my luck is terrible today¡­" In response, I raised the Purple Ying Sword, wrapped an arm around Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulder and thanked her, "Thank you for giving Beiming Xue and I the chance to fight out the 2v2 match, boss!" I nodded. "You have nothing to worry about, boss. Beiming and I never joke around when gold is involved!" Beiming Xue shot me a glance and said smilingly, "It¡¯s too bad big bro didn¡¯t learn War God Rampage, or this fight would be over already. That skill nullifies all of Ye Yuse¡¯s spells for 12 seconds, which is more than enough time for him to take out Ye Yuse before soloing Candlelight Shadow¡­" Murong Mingyue asked, "What about you? What would you be doing during this time?" "I¡¯d be cheering for him from the back, duh!" "What the f.u.c.k¡­" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Fei¡¯er had returned to the stage with a dazzling smile on her face. "We have finally arrived at the final and must-watch match of the semi-finals! In this 2v2 match, the Little Heavenly King, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Beiming Xue the Dark Archer will be fighting against Candlelight Shadow the Martial God and Ye Yuse the Charm Master! Who will defeat their opponent and reign supreme in this match? Let us find out immediately!" Fei¡¯er wisely teleported away from the stage right after she said that. It was the decider match and the first time Candlelight Shadow and I would truly be locking horns with one another since the start of the competition. My only regret was that I didn¡¯t get to fight him mano-a-mano. Swhoosh swhoosh! ¡­¡­ Wielding a cyan blade, Candlelight Shadow shot me a cold smile from the other side of the barrier before saying, "I am impressed by your strength and courage, but you¡¯ve challenged us one too many times and attacked our players without provocation back at the Soul Suppressing Tower. What do you say we settle all our debts today?" I nodded. "That is exactly what I was hoping for!" A hint of anger flashed behind Candlelight Shadow¡¯s pupils, and suddenly he tossed his weapon to the ground. The cyan blade easily pierced a tough rock as he said, "I don¡¯t want you to come crying to me about unfairness later, so I¡¯m going to tell you my weapon¡¯s property. This is the Cyan Rain Sword, a Level 180 6-star Immortal-grade weapon with a 27% armor penetration. Watch out." I copied his gesture and tossed my own weapon to the ground. The Purple Ying Sword shattered a gigantic rock in its path before sinking smoothly to the ground. Then, I said, "The Purple Ying Sword is a Level 200 7-star Archean-grade weapon with a high chance of triggering the Mountain Crush effect. Not only that, it has a chance of dealing 5 times the normal damage. Pray that my luck is poor today, or I might just one-shot you like the pleb you are!" "Pooh!" Candlelight Shadow reclaimed his weapon with a disgruntled expression before turning to his partner, "Get ready, Yuse!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I resummoned my own weapon before saying to Beiming, "Get ready, Beiming!" "Yeah!" Beiming Xue retreated all the way to the edge of the battlefield while saying this. There was no need for both of us to get hit in case Ye Yuse used her Divine General Skill. Chapter 922: Shattering Sword and Shield "Kill!" Candlelight Shadow rushed me with a zigzag pattern when the countdown hit zero, but it was more of a probing attack than a full-on assault. His partner, Ye Yuse, approached me from the flank before crying, "Hold!" I saw it coming, so I dashed to the right and dodged the spell easily. With my speed, dodging a spell like this wasn¡¯t an issue. However, Candlelight Shadow was already in front of me when I looked up. He brought his sword down toward my head while shouting, "Shatter, Lu Chen!" His Cyan Rain Sword burst into flames, brimming with a tremendous power anyone inside or outside the arena could sense. I hurriedly took two steps backward and tried to parry the attack! Chiang! Something utterly shocking happened. Not only did the Cyan Rain Sword knock away the Purple Ying Sword and cancel my parry through sheer force, it struck the Heaven-burning Armor and left behind a huge web of cracks! Pain burst from my shoulder as my HP dropped drastically¡ª 109894! Combat Log: Player "Candlelight Shadow" used "Shattering Sword and Shield" to shatter your parry, increasing their own Attack by 50% and dealing 109894 damage to you! ¡­¡­ My heart sank. As it turned out, Candlelight Shadow had learned a new skill that ignored both Guard and parry, making it a better skill than even Barrier Break. It completely disregarded the target¡¯s action and couldn¡¯t be stopped. In retaliation, I grabbed Candlelight Shadow¡¯s sword arm, pulled him toward me and lifted my left knee in one explosive motion. It hit Candlelight Shadow in the chin and triggered War Crush at the same time¡ª 49028! 42848! 44236! The Martial God didn¡¯t panic despite losing half his HP in one go, however. After glancing to his right for an instant, he jumped onto a rock on the creek and launched himself past me. Before I could react, he bounced back and slammed me into my back, shouting, "Yuse, Petrification!" Ye Yuse had already activated Great Earth Transformation, so I dared not underestimate her spells at all. Rolling under the Petrification charm and wetting my battle robe in the process, I shouted, "Beiming, keep her busy!" It was an unnecessary command, because seven Evil Spirit Volley arrows struck Ye Yuse¡¯s Magic Shield at the exact same time. Not only that, the remaining five arrows were flying straight toward Candlelight Shadow. Beiming Xue was currently standing at the edge of the map and attacking two targets at once, proving that her bow fl.i.c.k.i.n.g technique had surpassed even the likes of October Rain and Transient Smoke and Clouds completely. It couldn¡¯t be helped. Not only was Beiming Xue naturally talented, she enjoyed honing her skills and tactics just like Lin Yixin. A true expert always strives to discover new tactics without warping their style. After Candlelight Shadow parried the arrows that flew his way, he cast two Outer Flames in a row while ordering, "Hold Beiming Xue!" Swhoosh swhoosh! Thud! Beiming Xue¡¯s entire body froze in mid-motion. Even her cape was frozen as if stuck in time. Hold lasted for 12 seconds and couldn¡¯t be canceled by the victim through any means. The only way they could be freed before the spell was over was through outside interference, also known as any form of attack. I immediately jumped away from the creek and Charged to Beiming Xue¡¯s side. Then, I raised my left fist and tapped her lightly on the shoulder. "Ah¡­" Beiming Xue escaped her paralysis just like that. However, another figure had arrived beside us using Charge during this time. It was Candlelight Shadow! God dammit, Candlelight Shadow and Ye Yuse¡¯s teamwork is too good! I grabbed Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulder and pushed her behind me. At the same time, I swung the Dragon God Shield and activated Great Earth Transformation! Bang! My shield arm actually felt numb after clashing against Candlelight Shadow¡¯s weapon. His Strength stat was ridiculously high. Candlelight Shadow crossed his weapon and shot me a menacing smile. The f.u.c.ker wanted to skewer both me and Beiming Xue with Barrier Break! He could definitely do that since he had activated Great Earth Transformation as well! I hurriedly shifted to the right while crying, "Beiming!" I crouched and threw my leg into a sweep, hitting Candlelight Shadow¡¯s foot and causing him to lose his balance. At the same time, Beiming Xue planted a foot on my shoulder armor and swung her dagger at Candlelight Shadow¡¯s weapon, somehow parrying the Barrier Break in the nick of time. There was no way in hell I was going to let the opening slip. I slapped Candlelight Shadow¡¯s shoulder with my God Binding Art at nearly zero distance. "Ah?!" Despite the unexpected retaliation, Candlelight Shadow responded with War God Rampage and just barely nullified my CC skill in time. At the same time, he dropped to a kneeling position and swung his sword three times in a row, executing Blazing Purgatory Slash! The sword auras could pass behind me and hit Beiming Xue if I didn¡¯t block it, so I raised the Dragon God Shield and Guarded! Bang bang bang! Three hits later, my health almost hit rock bottom. I immediately made the snap decision to kick Candlelight Shadow in the c.h.e.s.t and sent him rolling before executing Coiling Dragon Revolution! Candlelight Shadow rolled rather unceremoniously across the creek, but he maintained a cool head and pushed himself back to standing position with one hand. Then, he spun around and slashed at the spinning Purple Ying Sword! Chiang! MISS! He parried that? I couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit stunned. Just how skilled must Candlelight Shadow be to be able to parry the lightning-fast Coiling Dragon Revolution? Meanwhile, Ye Yuse finally joined us and raised her scepter into the air, summoning a gigantic charm above our heads. Here comes the Nether Curse! ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue wasn¡¯t idle either. After shooting Spiraling Arrow Blade and Skypiercer into the air, she raised her arm and used her Divine General Skill, Well of the Abyss! Candlelight Shadow backed away and did the same thing, "Outer Flame!" ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang... Four Divine General Skills clashed against one another. The arenas of the WEL had never looked this gorgeous and intense until now. The Ancient Seals ripped into Candlelight Shadow and Ye Yuse¡¯s body and dealt an incredible amount of damage, but I also got hit by the Nether Curse and turned into stone. It was the Petrification status effect! Behind me, Beiming Xue suddenly cried out softly, "We won!" I wasn¡¯t sure until I saw a hail of arrows falling from the sky. It was the late but absolutely critical Skypiercer. The skill easily pierced Ye Yuse¡¯s Magic Shield and killed her where she stood. Although her secret class was formidable, her Magic Shield was actually weaker than a regular Magic Shield. Naturally, it wasn¡¯t enough to withstand the combined might of the Ancient Seal and Skypiercer. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s HP had hit rock bottom as well, but he still activated War God Rampage and tried to rush us. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t move faster than Beiming Xue could shoot her arrow, and two Spiraling Arrow Blades later, he was taken out of the fight as well. The score turned 1:0. It was a hard fight, but it was a win nonetheless! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh! Lin Yixin also said with a smile, "Candlelight Shadow is as skillful as ever, I see. He actually went even with Little Cheat¡­" I nodded in acknowledgment. It was a fact that I hadn¡¯t been able to gain any real advantage over Candlelight Shadow during that fight. In fact, I was completely caught off-guard by his Shattering Sword and Shield at the beginning. If the fight hadn¡¯t ended as quickly as it did, I could very well have died and lost us the round. Sitting not far away from us, Stranger of Three Lifetimes suggested, "You should watch out for that shattering skill, Lu Chen. it would be bad if he landed a critical hit on you." "Understood¡­" A true competitor wouldn¡¯t neglect even the tiniest factor that might affect the outcome of a battle. A person who relied on luck to bring them their victories could never become the ultimate victor. After we were teleported into the arena once more, Beiming Xue and I moved into the same position as before. Both sides¡¯ strategy was clear for everyone to see. Candlelight Shadow and I were the attacker and defender, while the two girls were the crowd control and kill securer. "What¡¯s our tactic?" Beiming Xue asked in the party channel. I thought for a moment before answering, "I¡¯ll delay Candlelight Shadow and force Ye Yuse to use her Blink with Coiling Dragon Revolution. Once you destroy her shield with Evil Spirit Volley, I¡¯ll one-shot her with Dragon Slaying Slash!" But Beiming Xue said, "Big bro, Dragon Slaying Slash has a long cast time, right? Are you sure you won¡¯t be interrupted before you blow your load?" I gritted my teeth before replying, "Beiming, never ever say that again¡­" Beiming Xue burst into a giggle. "I get it, big bro is the endurance type¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ The second round began, and all four of us activated Great Earth Transformation the second the countdown hit zero. No one dared to use their Divine General Skills, however. It was smarter to save them for when the enemy reveals an opening, or it would just be a waste of cooldowns. Sure, Ancient Seal and Outer Flame technically had no cooldowns, but they couldn¡¯t be used on the same spot repeatedly, at least not until the initial effects faded completely. That in itself was a kind of cooldown. The hint of a sneer crossed Candlelight Shadow¡¯s lips as he charged toward me! This time, I decided to assume a more active role and slashed at Candlelight Shadow¡¯s shoulder before he even got close! Whoosh! Candlelight Shadow sidestepped and parried the attack with just the right amount of strength. Undeterred, I withdrew the blade and slashed three times in rapid succession! Chiang chiang chiang! Sparks flew everywhere as Candlelight Shadow parried the attacks. When my attack came to an end, he immediately retaliated with a triple strike of his own! I parried them repeatedly with the Purple Ying Sword! I threw a punch, and Candlelight Shadow did the same. A shudder coursed through our bodies as our gauntlets smashed against one another. The impact caused us to split away about six steps away from each other, but that also created the exact opportunity I was looking for. I immediately tossed the Purple Ying Sword at Ye Yuse! Coiling Dragon Revolution, go! "Ah¡­" Ye Yuse dared not take the skill head-on, so she immediately Blinked out of harm¡¯s way. Just as fast, Beiming Xue responded with Evil Spirit Volley and Spiraling Arrow Blade just as planned! Swhoosh! But to our surprise, Ye Yuse had Blinked toward us instead of away. What is she doing? Ye Yuse smiled at us and raised her scepter, firing Nether Curse into the air. F.u.c.k! She¡¯s going all-in! Thud! I grabbed my returning weapon, took two steps forward and one-shot Ye Yuse through her Magic Shield with Universe Break! However, the Nether Curse hit me right after the kill, and I immediately fell into a drunken stupor. Worse, Beiming Xue was hit as well, and the first thing she did was to fire an Armor Breaking Arrow into my back, dealing 79299 damage! It was the Confusion effect! Stunned, I cried out in the party channel, "What the f.u.c.k, don¡¯t hit me Beiming¡­" Beiming Xue¡¯s tone was equally urgent, "I know, but I can¡¯t control my body, big bro¡­" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh! A while later, we reappeared outside the waiting area. Although Candlelight Shadow was alone, he didn¡¯t have much of a problem killing me and Beiming Xue as a matter of course, not to mention that he had "help" from Beiming Xue. He Yi and Lin Yixin stood shoulder-to-shoulder and questioned both of us, "Well? Is there anything you two would like to say?" I clenched my fists and shook it. "That was horrible luck. Well, whatever. The third round will decide it all!" Chapter 923: Little Sister "What are your plans for the deciding match?" He Yi looked unperturbed when she asked me this question smilingly, but I knew that she was really as nervous as I was. If we lost this, our WEL journey would be ended by our sworn enemy, Candle Dragon. Right now, the biggest variable of this match was without a doubt Ye Yuse the Charm Master. Had she been anyone else, our chances of winning would¡¯ve been close to 100%. Her Divine General Skill, Nether Curse, was just too OP and put tremendous pressure on us both. With a hit rate between 25% to 50%, all she needed was one lucky moment to make us type GG. In fact, she had already had multiple lucky moments throughout this match. I faced my beautiful guild leader¡¯s hopeful gaze and thought seriously for a moment. "Our greatest problem is Ye Yuse¡¯s Nether Curse. We need to find a way to dodge it." Gui Guzi responded, "Kill Ye Yuse first!" But Chaos Moon shrugged and shot down his idea. "The second round was literally the failing example of that. Killing Ye Yuse wasn¡¯t the problem, guarding against her do-or-die Nether Curse is." An idea crossed my mind at that moment. I smiled. Beiming Xue asked me, "Did you think of something, big bro?" "It could work." "Mn. Tell me already!" Beiming Xue stood on her tiptoes and moved her ear closer to my mouth. After I whispered something to her, the girl couldn¡¯t stop grinning. "Alright, we¡¯ll do just that!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh! We entered the arena once more. This round was a matter of honor for both Candle Dragon and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I saw a flash behind Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes as he assumed a combat stance. Clearly, he was just as nervous as we were. In fact, Ye Yuse was the most nervous of us all¡ªbecause it was the first time she participated in a top-tier competition like this¡ªand Beiming Xue the least. She was born with an optimistic and carefree temperament, so she didn¡¯t feel any stage fright at all. Candlelight Shadow charged me the moment the battle began. His tactic was obvious. He would pin me down so that Ye Yuse could find an opportunity to use her Nether Curse. Beiming Xue activated Leap the second I used Coiling Dragon Revolution. I myself ran forward to escape Candlelight Shadow¡¯s attack temporarily. Swhoosh! Ye Yuse tried to execute the same move she used before¡ªteleporting in between me and Beiming Xue and using Nether Curse¡ªbut she quickly realized that neither of us were within range. It was exactly how we planned for it to happen. Even worse¡ªfor her¡ªafter noticing that Ye Yuse hadn¡¯t used Nether Curse, I immediately turned around, locked onto her and activated Thunderous Charge. Now she didn¡¯t even have a chance to use Nether Curse anymore. Swhoosh! Candlelight Shadow appeared behind her while swearing, "Shit!" The light of Barrier Break appeared on his blade, followed by Shattering Sword and Shield. He was going all out to protect his partner¡¯s life. I went all out myself, parrying Barrier Break but allowing Shattering Sword and Shield to delete 110k HP from my health pool. I was now right next to Ye Yuse, and she had no Blink to escape. She tried to move away from me, but her movement speed was lower than mine. A quick dash and turn later, I blocked her path of retreat and punched her using Magic Piercing Punch! Bang! Swhoosh! The Purple Ying Sword glowed again, and I slashed toward Ye Yuse. As it turned out, the crisis awakened Ye Yuse¡¯s potential, and she swung her scepter in an attempt to parry my attack. I smiled though. There was no way she could stop me with her level of skill. I tilted my sword slightly while bringing up my left arm, punching her scepter aside. Then, the Purple Ying Sword glowed purple as I slashed Ye Yuse on the shoulder¡ªFrightening Slash! 40993! The damage number was blue instead of red, signalling the amount of MP damage she took. I knew that the skill had deleted most, if not all, of her MP because a mage who didn¡¯t invest at least some points into Stamina would be too fragile to participate in any form of PvP. Candlelight Shadow caught up to me from behind and tried to stop me, but I retaliated with Burning Blade Slash! Boom boom boom! Candlelight Shadow had tasted the power of Burning Blade Slash many times by now, so he dared not endure the skill head-on. The moment he crossed his sword in front of himself and used Guard, I immediately rushed forward and executed Crushing Blow! MISS! This meant that my next strike would almost be dealing true damage, not to mention that a crit here would be enough to one-shot him. He had no choice but to back away from me. Behind me, I heard Ye Yuse letting out a groan and hitting the ground with a thud. She didn¡¯t have her MP, and her Blink was still on cooldown. There was no chance she could¡¯ve survived Beiming Xue¡¯s attack. She was dead in just a couple of Spiraling Arrow Blades. ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow¡¯s face turned green in an instant. His heart turned as cold as ice when he saw me using Tenacity of the Dead and healing myself for over 60k HP. Taking advantage of his momentary daze, Beiming Xue cast Well of the Abyss. This time, Candlelight Shadow was caught before he could activate War God Rampage. "We won!" I was overjoyed. "Mn!" Beiming Xue nodded back with a smile just as wide as mine. The score was 3:2. It was hard, but Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was ultimately able to defeat Candle Dragon and qualify for the final of the WEL China nationals! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh! When Beiming Xue and I reappeared in the waiting area, Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue and He Yi immediately came forward to hug us and celebrate this difficult victory. As I thought, I had to employ unusual tactics to defeat the super strong duo that was Candlelight Shadow and Ye Yuse. Skills like Frightening Slash and Magic Piercing Punch were fairly situational in small-scale PvP duels like these, but it was thanks to these skills that I was able to delete Ye Yuse¡¯s MP and give Beiming Xue a much easier time at killing her. Not far away, Candle Dragon¡¯s players looked dumbfounded and drained. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s sword was lowered, and his eyes were grim. Who would¡¯ve thought that the so-called number one guild of China would be defeated in the semi-finals? And this was despite the addition of their ridiculously powerful Divine General, Ye Yuse. It was an outcome neither Candlelight Shadow nor his people could accept. ¡­¡­ "We won!" The Purple Ying Sword accidentally shattered a brick when it hit the floor, but I ignored it and shot everyone a smile. "Only Soul Battle Robes left now. Let¡¯s take this final by storm, everyone!" He Yi shot the players of Soul Battle Robes a glance. Right now, God Bone, Song of Ice and Fire and Ringwraith were standing around Song of Cloud and Water and talking about something. A trace of excitement flashed across the guild leader¡¯s eyes as she said, "We shouldn¡¯t underestimate Soul Battle Robes. They have defeated Rose of the Holy Domain, Blazing Hot Lips, Warsky Alliance, and even Snowy Cathaya to make it all the way to the final. The fact that Blazing Hot Lips, Snowy Cathaya and Warsky Alliance are all among the Top 10 guilds of China means that their success was no fluke." Li Chengfeng added, "The good news is that they¡¯ve revealed almost all their trump cards already, so we hold the advantage here. It would¡¯ve been a real pain fighting these hidden classes without any information whatsoever¡­" Gui Guzi declared confidently, "I¡¯m sure Boss Broken Halberd would be able to destroy Soul Battle Robes without any pressure¡­" Chaos Moon shot He Yi a glance before shrugging. "We all know that Lu Chen can¡¯t lose, but what about everyone else? You girls sure that you can secure your point?" Chiang! He Yi slammed the b.u.t.t of the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear on the floor before shooting Chaos Moon a smile. "You know the consequences of tempting fate right before a match, right Chaos Moon?" Chaos Moon immediately replied, "The guild leader is great. This little one will serve you forever¡­" We all stared at her dumbfoundedly for a moment. It was at this moment Soul Battle Robes walked toward us under Song of Cloud and Water¡¯s lead. We walked up to meet them as well. A champion would be decided between the two of us, so it seemed apt to make one last contact before the match officially began. He Yi nodded in agreement and replied, "Speak." Song of Cloud and Water said, "I¡¯m sure you all know by now that my big brother is Seven-Star Lamp. I¡¯ve been managing the guild for the past two years or so because he¡¯s been busy with work, but he mentioned that it¡¯s too much for one girl to handle the entire guild. This is the last time, but I would like to invite you to join Soul Battle Robes, Lu Chen." He Yi pressed her lips together, looking like she was lost for words. It was clear that Lin Yixin was nervous as well as she was staring at Song of Cloud and Water like a hawk. I replied immediately and directly, "I refuse to join Soul Battle Robes no matter what you offer me. I am, and will always be, a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" Song of Cloud and Water shivered visibly. She shot me a slightly aggrieved look before saying, "Is that so? Will you reject me even if I offer to become your little sister, and give you the guild leader position of Soul Battle Robes?" To say that we were stunned would be an understatement. Countless heads turned toward me in unison. It felt like everyone¡ªeven the members of Soul Battle Robes¡ªwere staring at me and waiting for my answer. Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and Ringwraith in particular looked like they would fight me to the death if I turned her down here. I gritted my teeth and tried changing Song of Cloud and Water¡¯s mind, "You don¡¯t really need me to join Soul Battle Robes, do you? I¡¯m perfectly fine with our guilds becoming allies with one another. What do you think?" Disappointment filled her eyes, however. "Do you still reject me, Lu Chen? Do I really disgust you this much? Never mind, I won¡¯t force you to join Soul Battle Robes. Let us meet on the battlefield once more!" Song of Ice and Fire shot me a glare before uttering, "Ungrateful bastard!" I replied with steely eyes, "Watch your mouth!" God Bone grabbed Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s arm and said, "Enough, Ice and Fire. They¡¯re free to bark all they want until we destroy them in the final. We¡¯ll show them who the world belongs to through action, not words!" ¡­¡­ After Soul Battle Robes walked away, Chaos Moon let out a chuckle before saying, "I can¡¯t believe Lu Chen turned away such an obedient little sister. Had you accepted her, you would¡¯ve had the entire Soul Battle Robes in your palm. The Frozen Berserker, the Undead Mage, the Iron Knight; each and every one of these players is a powerhouse in their own right, you know¡­" I looked at Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi and everyone else before breaking into a sudden grin. "I already have two little sisters, and I have you all as my brothers. Why would I need anyone else?" Everyone exchanged heartfelt looks with each other after that. That¡¯s right. Who else do I need but these brothers and sisters to conquer the world with? No one! Chapter 924: Would You Marry Him Finally, the final match of the WEL China nationals¡ªAncient Sword Dreaming Souls and Soul Battle Robes¡ªwas about to begin. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was one of the hot picks to win the nationals, and our presence in the final certainly caused a ton of supporters to break out in tears. Soul Battle Robes was the representative of the older generation of gamers and the elites of Spirit of Grief. The younger sister of Seven-Star Lamp, Song of Cloud and Water, managed to recruit the aid of top-tier experts such as Ringwraith, Song of Ice and Water and God Bone. Naturally, they had plenty of supporters themselves. It had been almost ten months since Heavenblessed was launched, but Spirit of Grief¡¯s servers were still active to this day. Although the current player count of that game was less than 2% of what it used to be, there were still a bunch of hardcore fans fighting to protect their dreams to this day. This included many of Soul Battle Robes¡¯ famous veterans such as Great Kingdom, Empire of Qin, Gregory of Loyalty and more. According to a certain rumor, Song of Cloud and Water was currently communicating with these players and gradually bringing them over to Heavenblessed. I could already imagine the bloodbath that would occur once the transfer was complete. Soul Battle Robes¡¯ resurgence couldn¡¯t be stopped, and even ace guilds like Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance had lost to them in this competition. It showed just how powerful Soul Battle Robes¡¯ peak experts were. In a virtual game like this, peak experts were basically the face of the guild, and the source that attracted new blood to the guild. For example, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had completed their resurgence only because I, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and Li Chengfeng were there to hold up the banner. Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and more would never have joined the guild if we weren¡¯t there. The battle between Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Soul Battle Robes was inevitable, not to mention that there were personal feelings involved in it. There could only be one king of China, and the generals of Soul Battle Robes¡ªRingwraith, Song of Ice and Fire and God Bone¡ªwere of course not willing to bow their heads to another. They must be looking forward to this battle as much as we were. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Fei¡¯er had swayed back to the rainbow bridge above the arena in that tight, leg-showing mini skirt of hers. Wearing a beautiful smile on her face, she announced, "The time is now 21:00 in Beijing, and I¡¯m sure everyone¡¯s pretty tired after a whole day of competing without rest, am I right? Unfortunately, that will have to wait for half an hour. Why? That¡¯s because the final of this WEL competition is about to begin! On one side, we have the Lenovo-sponsored Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. On the other, we have the Samsung-sponsored Soul Battle Robes. Team leaders, you may enter your line-up now. Don¡¯t keep us waiting on this battle of the century any longer!" Speaking of which, Samsung had signed Soul Battle Robes as their China e-sports club. The famous company had contracted many teams across the world¡ªfor example, they had an e-sports club made of top-tier experts at their Korean headquarters¡ªand at the time, they could¡¯ve signed many other guilds who, on the surface at least, seemed better than Soul Battle Robes. Today, their foresight had been proven to be correct. Not only did Soul Battle Robes manage to fight their way into the final, the ratings for this match were the highest they had ever been for the past half a year or so. One just needed to look to know how much publicity they were getting. Meanwhile, Rose sent me a message with a smiley face emoji: "Well done, Lu Chen! Hoho, the club CEO just told me in person that he¡¯s extremely satisfied with your performance thus far. He also promised to reward you handsomely if your team wins this and becomes the WEL champion of China! Give us a pleasant surprise, and the club will return the favor, understand?" Pleased, I replied, "Rose, I want $$$$, get it?" "Dude, you¡¯re way too direct sometimes¡­" Rose seemed flabbergasted, but that wasn¡¯t enough to hide her good feelings. Just like us, she was looking forward to bringing back the champion trophy. Beiming Xue and I wanted to change things up a bit, so we put Beiming Xue for the first match, me for the second, He Yi for the third, and Lian Xin for the fourth. Not only that, we changed our 2v2 line-up to Lian Xin and me as well. The reason we did this was because God Bone and Song of Ice and Fire were super metal-armor classes that even Beiming Xue might not be able to punch through, at least not without considerable effort. On the other hand, Lian Xin held a class advantage over both players, and she could either control their position with Origin Force Fields or destroy them with powerful spells like Ice Spiral Matrix. We had already seen how ridiculously good the combo was during the previous matches; there was literally no one more suited than her to kill the likes of Song of Ice and Fire and God Bone. A while later, the finalized match-ups appeared on the big display¡ª 1v1: Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark Archer VS Song of Ice and Fire LV-181 Frozen Berserker 1v1: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 VS Ringwraith LV-180 Undead Mage 1v1: From Water LV-180 Magic Knight VS Song of Cloud and Water LV-180 Magic Knight 1v1: Lian Xing LV-182 Phantasm of Stars VS God Bone LV-180 Iron Knight 2v2: Lian Xing LV-182 Phantasm of Stars & Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 Undead Swordsman VS Song of Ice and Fire LV-181 Frozen Berserker & Ringwraith LV-180 Undead Mage ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue would be fighting the frozen berserker, and I would be fighting the undead mage. It was exactly the outcome I wanted to see. Ringwraith¡¯s skills were too bizarre, and I was the only one who had a solid chance of beating him. It wasn¡¯t that I didn¡¯t trust the girls, Soul Battle Robes team was just too strong for us to give up on any advantage we could get. Only an idiot would think that our opponent had reached the final because they got lucky. Song of Ice and Fire and Ringwraith especially had strong classes, powerful equipment, and equal or better skills than Chaos Moon. That was to say, they were super-tier experts we couldn¡¯t afford to underestimate. "Is there any advice you¡¯d like to give me, big bro?" Beiming Xue asked me with a smile. I replied simply, "It¡¯s very simple. Keep your distance, for distance is the HP bar of all archers. Never engage Song of Ice and Fire in melee unless it is the only choice, and ideally you¡¯ll want to kite him to death!" "Got it. Just watch me!" The dark archer bade us goodbye and appeared on the battlefield with a swhoosh. For the past half a year or so, the young woman was growing in all the right places and filling her outfit. The mere sight of her longbow touching against her firm, round b.u.t.t was enough to drive imaginations into overdrive. The red cape fluttering behind her back added a bit of spunk to her appearance as well. Chiang! After Song of Ice and Fire appeared on the battlefield, he leaned against his Fire Dragon Axe and asked with a grin, "Beiming Xue, I heard that you¡¯re Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s younger sister?" Beiming Xue replied, "Yes, I am." "Just in name, right?" "Mn." Beiming Xue immediately blushed. "Whatever our relationship might be, how is that your concern in any way, you pervert? Pooh pooh pooh! Prepare to die!" Song of Ice and Fire immediately added, "I knew it! Your reaction told me everything already!" Beiming Xue was so frustrated that she could only stomp the ground in response. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, I was growing increasingly worried at the waiting area. "What the f.u.c.k? Beiming, you!" He Yi said in resignation, "Oh no, Beiming Xue fell for Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s taunt and lost her cool. What to do, what to do¡­" Lin Yixin shot me a meaningful look before saying, "I gotta say, Song of Ice and Fire is pretty good at this. He had found Lil Beiming¡¯s weak point immediately. There¡¯s no one she cares more than you in the entire world, is there?" I rubbed my nose and complained loudly, "Are you trying to imply something, Yiyi?" "Nope!" "Fine, I am, but so what? What can you possibly do to me?" Lin Yixin puffed up her awesome b.r.e.a.s.ts and smiled fearlessly at me. I made the mistake of looking down and found myself completely dazzled by her deep, white cleavage. A while later, I snapped back to reality and threatened, "Just you wait, I¡¯m going to teach you a lesson when we have lunch tomorrow¡­" A sweet smile spread across Lin Yixin¡¯s lips, and she moved her face closer until we were within touching distance of each other. The way she bent forward and smiled tauntingly at me was arresting in more ways than one. "Oh please, do teach me a lesson, Little Cheat. I want to know exactly what you¡¯re capable of¡­" Not far away, Nangong Lexi pressed a palm to her forehead and g.r.o.a.n.e.d. "OMG, guild leader! Have some shame, please¡­" Clear Perfume giggled beside her. "It¡¯s no use. Yiyi loses all semblance of shame whenever she¡¯s near Lu Chen¡­" Nangong Lexi: "..." ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Beiming Xue was engaging Song of Ice and Fire in battle already. She kept her distance and fired both Icy Arrows and armor break arrows such as Bone Eroding Arrow at him. However, Song of Ice and Fire displayed an impressive ability to control the distance between himself and his opponent. He wasn¡¯t aggressive, but through Guarding, parrying and just running toward Beiming Xue from the right angles, he was able to push her to one corner of the map little by little. Eventually, the distance between them had shortened to 15 yards or so, and Beiming Xue had no choice but to escape to her left or right. "Die, dark archer!" He roared as he pounced toward her like a tiger. He raised a palm and shouted, "Bone Wall!" Bang bang bang! Three bony walls burst from the ground and blocked Beiming Xue¡¯s way. "Hmm?" Beiming Xue skidded to a stop but reacted quickly. Instead of running into Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s embrace, she actually chose to run up the walls before Leaping toward the opposite direction. While she was soaring through the air, she drew her bow and fired Spiraling Arrow Blade at the frozen berserker! Boom! 58299! Song of Ice and Fire shook as his HP dropped below 25%. He didn¡¯t lose his cool, however. Eyes burning with fighting spirit, he abruptly threw his axe and shouted, "Splitting Heaven and Earth!" An explosion suddenly burst from the Fire Dragon Axe. A ranged AoE skill? None of us had seen this coming. Before we knew it, a damage number had appeared above Beiming Xue¡¯s head¡ª178842! A critical hit even? It looked like luck was on Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s side this round! Beiming Xue was one-shot because she had used Ghost Chariot Card to buff her offensive power. Also, Song of Ice and Fire displayed an incredible amount of tenacity by enduring until the last moment, and seizing that tiny chance of victory when it finally presented itself. Another warrior would¡¯ve broken down before Beiming Xue¡¯s kiting technique and thrown in the towel themselves. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After Beiming Xue returned to us, she said in a regretful tone, "I lost, big bro¡­" I said, "Victory and defeat is commonplace in battles, also you fell for Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s taunt and moved a bit poorer than you normally would, or that Splitting Heaven and Earth would¡¯ve missed you. Just keep your silence, and you won¡¯t lose your cool next time." Beiming Xue blinked and nodded. "Got it!" The second round began quickly, and both players were teleported into the arena once more. ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue grabbed her bow and stood proudly in the wind. Her body looked tiny, but it contained a tremendous amount of power. Song of Ice and Fire quickly figured out what Beiming Xue was planning. He would¡¯ve to try harder to provoke a reaction from her. "Ahem, why are you quiet?" Song of Ice and Fire asked. Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes brimmed with hostility, but she didn¡¯t respond to him. "Oh? You¡¯re angry? You¡¯re really going to ignore me until the battle begins?" Song of Ice and Fire continued. Beiming Xue remained the same as before. The frozen berserker let out a sigh before breaking into a smile. "Would you marry Lu Chen if he would be willing to marry you, Beiming Xue?" A tremble coursed through Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulders, causing her bow to shiver a little. The hostility in her eyes also dissolved into complicated feelings. Chapter 925: The Realm of 0.15 Seconds "It¡¯s over¡­" I clenched my fists as I swore, "F.u.c.k! How is that Song of Ice and Fire so despicable! If you¡¯re going to fight, then fight! There¡¯s no need to talk about these things¡­" Lin Yixin: "Hmph!" He Yi: "Hmph!" Lian Xin: "Hmph!" I stared at Lian Xin. "Why are you snorting, Little Xin? What does this have to do with you?" Lian Xin smiled. "It felt right to follow their example, so¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes spat. "Pooh! Bunch of shameless bastards!" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Beiming Xue and Song of Ice and Fire were clashing once more on the battlefield. The frozen berserker had to use almost every trick up his sleeves to weather Beiming Xue¡¯s ferocious assault, and his health regeneration methods, Ice Recovery and Health Potions, were all on cooldown. However, the fatal blow kept eluding Beiming Xue even though his HP hovered dangerously at the 10% mark. Somehow, he was always able to dodge or parry the arrow that would¡¯ve killed him where he stood. "Here I come!" Song of Ice and Fire abruptly closed the distance between himself and Beiming Xue before using Barrier Break! 12883! Not done yet, she brought down her dagger in an attempt to land the fatal blow. It might just be an archer¡¯s melee attack, but it couldn¡¯t be underestimated in this situation. Anxiety growing, Song of Ice and Fire dropped to the ground and crawled like a worm for almost three meters before he finally escaped the danger. Then, he abruptly bounced back to his feet and used Frozen Flurry! Beiming Xue gritted her teeth and rushed forward to meet him, parrying the skill with both her dagger and her bow. Amazingly, she actually managed to parry the lightning-quick skill in its entirety! Forget an archer, her close-combat skill was almost equal to the best melee fighters out there! However, a sheen of ice froze Beiming Xue¡¯s legs the moment she made contact with the enemy. The dark archer¡¯s mouth fell open in shock. Song of Ice and Fire followed up the skill with several basic attacks, and... Swhoosh! Beiming Xue was knocked out of the fight and the first match just like that. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin put a hand to her forehead. "Babe, I activated my seventh-promotion skill, Rage of the Storm, and enhanced my magic and CC immunity for some time. Of course he wouldn¡¯t be able to freeze me¡­" Beiming Xue¡¯s tears grew. "Why didn¡¯t you tell me sooner¡­" Lin Yixin blinked once before replying, "You¡¯re right. I regret not reminding you that you¡¯re an archer, not a warrior¡­" Beiming Xue: "..." I patted her shoulder and shot her a comforting smile. "It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s just one point. I¡¯ll take revenge for you right away. Hmph hmph, I finally caught that damned undead mage!" Beiming Xue nodded. "Do your best, big bro!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I appeared in a valley with a creek running through the center. Not far away, a brownish gray smoke rose from the ground before taking the form of the undead mage, Ringwraith. Motherf.u.c.ker, he had a cooler entrance than I did. I would¡¯ve used Earth Escape and made my own cool entrance had I known this would happen. At any rate, it was too late to use the skill now. Mages were infamous for their plethora of AoE spells, and when I was underground my speed was slower than even a stealthing assasin¡¯s. It would be embarrassing if Ringwraith managed to blast me out of my hidey-hole before I caught up to him first. When Ringwraith¡¯s opponent was a melee fighter, he would usually cast Death Rot to weaken their armor and movement speed first before chipping away at their HP with Black Dragon Wave and Galaxy Storm. If an opportunity were to present itself, he would use Bone Cage to trap his opponent in one place and cast his super AoE skill, Night of the Undead Dragon. It was a m.a.t.u.r.e system of pattern that gave him a near flawless record throughout the competition. Back to the present. Ringwraith was glaring at me when he said, "You sure are an interesting individual, Lu Chen. I hope you won¡¯t regret turning down Song of Cloud and Water¡¯s invitation repeatedly later." I raised my sword and responded, "And what do I have to regret? I have been a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls since the first day I joined it, and I always will be! Joining another guild was never an option for me!" "Pooh. You are a walking example of blind loyalty. A fine bird would¡¯ve chosen a finer tree to nest in!" "Well said! And I¡¯ll prove it by kicking your ass! Now come!" The system began counting, and our heartbeats gradually grew faster¡ª 3! 2! 1! I took off the second the countdown hit zero, just in time to avoid catching Black Dragon Wave. As expected, Ringwraith¡¯s attacks were like a shadow you couldn¡¯t shake off. Not wanting to give Ringwraith more time to blast away with impunity, I sped up drastically and shot straight toward the mage like an arrow! Surprised, Ringwraith tried to dissuade me with Galaxy Storm to the face. In response, I raised my left arm and summoned the Dragon God Shield, never slowing down in the slightest! 29883! My incredible Magic Resist surprised Ringwraith again, but before he could react, my sword was already swinging toward his head¡ªBurning Blade Slash! Ringwraith dared not treat the skill lightly, so he grabbed his scepter with both hands and thrust it toward the Purple Ying Sword¡¯s blade. Of course, there was no chance his scepter could stop the momentum of an Archean-grade weapon, so he was brought to his knees almost instantly. However, instead of continuing to resist, he relaxed and let the skill roll him away from me. It might look humiliating, but it actually allowed him to dodge two of three hits of my Burning Blade Slash! MISS! MISS! 1828! The second I regained my footing, I felt Ringwraith throwing another spell at me. It was Bone Cage! Countless bony arms burst out of the ground in an attempt to grab me. This skill had led to the deaths of many famous experts including Lasting of Blazing Hot Lips, Lin Bing Dou Zhe of Warsky Alliance, and Purple Marquis of Snowy Cathaya, so its power couldn¡¯t be understated. A cyclone of earthen energy surrounded me as I activated Great Earth Transformation. At the same time, I ran in a zigzag pattern three times in a row and avoided at least 7 arms who were trying to catch me. Then, I was out of Bone Cage just like that. I did it? I did it! The entire run had taken less than 0.5 seconds, and it was done out of pure reflex since there was no time to think at all. Even I couldn¡¯t quite believe that I actually managed to escape the crowd control skill! Thud! I brought my foot down on the watery land and activated Thunderous Charge, shooting toward Ringwraith like a lighting bolt. On the other side, Ringwraith was rattled and in disbelief after he watched me weaving my way out of his Bone Cage. He roared in fury, "Impossible! There¡¯s no way someone can dodge a near-instantaneous skill like that! Fuuuuuuuuck! Night of the Undead Dragon!" I smiled as I thrust my sword at him. "Yeah, no thanks!" Pu! Universe Break pierced through the Frost Bone Shield and Ringwraith¡¯s c.h.e.s.t. The undead mage looked down with wide eyes and saw the Purple Ying Sword and a hole the size of a cannonball. This time, he wouldn''t get lucky and survive a fatal blow. The Purple Ying Sword was a powerful weapon, so one strike was all it took to take out Ringwraith. We were both undead players, but skill-wise I was leagues ahead of him. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After I returned to the waiting area, Beiming Xue cheered happily, "That was a beautiful win, big bro!" Lin Yixin said to Purple Marquis, "You see that? Turns out that the undodgeable spell isn¡¯t so undodgeable after all. You need to train harder¡­" Purple Marquis complained, "Lu Chen doesn¡¯t count, boss. Not everyone is as stupidly good as him, you know¡­" Meanwhile, Chaos Moon shot me a long glance after checking the timer. "I checked how long it took you to execute Universe Break just now, Lu Chen, and the timer says it was 0.12 seconds. 0.12 seconds! Are you still human? Who on earth could react in such a short time?" I replied calmly, "That¡¯s why Ringwraith is dead, and I¡¯m not. A true expert must be faster than anyone!" Suddenly, Chaos Moon blushed and said with an odd smile, "Well¡­ that depends on the situation. In some cases, the faster you are, the worse you¡¯ll look, especially if you¡¯re a man, you get me? I know you know what I¡¯m saying, and Beauty Lin will eventually¡­" Lin Yixin looked at Chaos Moon in confusion. "I actually don¡¯t get what you¡¯re saying..." Murong Mingyue interrupted, "I get it." I shot her a disdainful look. "What do you not get? If there was a position called ¡®A.d.u.l.thood Consultant¡¯ in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, it would be yours for sure¡­" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment the system fairy summoned me back into the arena. The second round wasn¡¯t over yet, so my opponent was still Ringwraith the Undead Mage. This time, Ringwraith allowed his paranoia to take full control of him and stayed far, far away from me. I guessed he was that worried that I wouldn¡¯t give him the chance to cast Night of the Undead Dragon. The moment the countdown hit zero, I charged toward Ringwraith until we were about 25 yards away from each other. My sword burst into flames at the same time I raised my left palm and acted to summon the Ancient Seal! "F.u.c.k!" Ringwraith knew that it was bad, so he hurriedly raised his scepter and shouted, "Kill that f.u.c.ker, Night of the Undead Dragon!" "Roar roar roar¡­" The earth split in half, and the images of countless undead dragons burst out of the crack. I immediately withdrew my arm and danced away from the powerful spell. Sometimes the undead dragons were almost close enough to touch the tip of my nose, but in the end I was able to dodge the spell perfectly. "It¡¯s over¡­" Ringwraith knew he lost the moment his Night of the Undead Dragon failed to deal a single point of damage to me. Coiling Dragon Revolution and Burning Blade Slash later, the undead mage who had been performing exceptionally well in the WEL up until this point lost both rounds and died. ¡­¡­ The overall score turned 1:1. So far, it looked like anyone could become the champion! The third match was He Yi versus Song of Cloud and Water. Coincidence or not, it looked like the two guild leaders would be engaging each other in battle. Chapter 926: Lian Xin Wins "Song of Cloud and Water has two key moves, and they are the Soul Binding Art and Ice Flame Slash. Everything else is what you¡¯d see in a magic knight¡¯s repertoire." I was explaining to He Yi the characteristics of Song of Cloud and Water before the battle began. " Soul Binding Art can penetrate Magic Shield and immobilize an opponent directly, but that doesn¡¯t matter to you. From what I¡¯ve seen earlier, Soul Binding Art has an effective range of 3 yards. If she¡¯s allowed to get that close, it¡¯ll be almost impossible to dodge the skill. Just almost." Eve shot the arena a long look before replying, "I¡¯m¡­ worried that I¡¯m not good enough to avoid her skill. You saw what happened earlier. Not even Shadow Chanel was good enough to dodge it." "That¡¯s because Shadow Chanel didn¡¯t know the effective range of the skill." I gave her a reassuring smile before continuing, "When the battle begins, all you need to do is pay attention to her right hand. If a green light spirals around her arm, that means she¡¯s about to cast Soul Binding Art. All you need to do is to speed up and do a full zigzag, and you¡¯ll be able to dodge her skill. Also, Soul Binding Art¡¯s cast time is about 0.4 seconds, so you must perform the maneuver in half a second at most. In fact, you only have half a second to notice the skill cast and dodge the skill. It¡¯s all up to you now." "Mn. I¡¯ll do my best!" A trace of smile crossed He Yi¡¯s lips. "I know we¡¯ll probably win this whole thing if I can win my match. I won¡¯t disappoint everyone." "Yeah. Go!" To be honest, He Yi was quite lucky that her opponent turned out to be Song of Cloud and Water. Had it been God Bone, Song of Ice and Fire or Ringwraith, her chances of winning would¡¯ve dropped to 40% or below. It was because all three of them had bizarre class skills and excellent techniques. A still growing He Yi would¡¯ve been no match for them. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh! Light scattered, and both He Yi and Song of Cloud and Water appeared in the arena. This was a critical match for us because the outcome would directly dictate the final result. If He Yi won, we would almost certainly not have to fight the fifth match. Both girls were seventh-promotion magic knights, so the start of the battle was full of probing attacks and careful dances. A while later, they clashed shields with each other¡ªproving that He Yi had the higher Strength stat¡ªand He Yi pierced Song of Cloud and Water¡¯s shield with Barrier Break. 78828! Song of Cloud and Water let out a groan and tried to retaliate with her own Barrier Break, but He Yi moved her shield aside and crossed her the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear in front of her c.h.e.s.t. Then, she thrust her weapon forward in one sudden motion and successfully parried half of the little girl¡¯s attack, decreasing the damage she received drastically. A hint of surprise passed through Song of Cloud and Water¡¯s eyes. She hurriedly turned around and used Trapping Net! He Yi had the same skill, so of course she knew how deadly it was. After making a sharp turn and dodging the skill all too easily, she raised her Veluriyam Spear again and split the air in front of her five times in a row! It was of course Purgatory of Ice and Magma! Song of Cloud and Water hurriedly raised her shield and Guarded. The powerful skill reduced her HP drastically¡ª 19383! 21029! 18287! 19227! 22109! ¡­¡­ However, He Yi¡¯s eyes sharpened at that exact moment almost as if she had seen through Song of Cloud and Water¡¯s deception. The hint of a smile crossing her lips, she abruptly sped up and completed a zigzag at the same moment Song of Cloud and Water unleashed her skill. An instant later, MISS appeared above He Yi¡¯s head to show that she had successfully dodged the skill! "Ah?!" Song of Cloud and Water exclaimed in surprise and came to a full stop, her mind incapable of processing the scenario where she failed to shackle He Yi. Not letting the golden opportunity slip by, He Yi immediately closed the distance between herself and Song of Cloud and Water and trapped her with Trapping Net. Barrier Break and Triple Slash to the face later, Song of Cloud and Water was knocked out of the arena! The score turned 1:0. I knew that He Yi would beat Song of Cloud and Water once she had a firm grasp of the battle. Of course, we both had Shadow Chanel to thank. Without her great sacrifice, I would never have found out the intricacies behind Song of Cloud and Water¡¯s Soul Binding Art. Since ancient times, if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. The same principle applied to PvP battles. With sufficient knowledge of the enemy¡¯s skills, it was entirely possible to exploit their flaws and defeat them, just like my Burning Blade Slash. For example, there was an unavoidable 0.2 seconds delay between the second and third hit of my Burning Blade Slash, and countless players such as Farewell Song and Candlelight Shadow had researched it and found a way around it. That was why I couldn¡¯t land the full skill¡ªthey were either parried or evaded¡ªon these players anymore unless I employed some sort of countermeasures. They included hiding the initial movement of the Burning Blade Slash, canceling my action to bait the enemy into freezing before finishing them off with Burning Blade Slash, and more. Burning Blade Slash was meant to be used as a finisher and a deterrent, not the first skill of the combo. Battles between experts were similar to battles of wits where both sides tried to outwit each other. ¡­¡­ The second round didn¡¯t differ too much from the first. He Yi kept a cool head and countered everything Song of Cloud and Water threw at her, and Song of Cloud and Water could do nothing because her skills, equipment and control were inferior or equal to He Yi¡¯s. In the end, the guild leader of Soul Battle Robes lost another point and the match altogether. Against many expectations, our beautiful guild leader was able to take down Song of Cloud and Water with a beautiful 2:0 individual score. The overall score had also changed to 2:1 in favor of us. Beiming Xue and Lian Xing hugged He Yi the moment she teleported out of the arena. Both girls were overjoyed because they knew just how close they were to the champion¡¯s trophy. Although this wasn¡¯t an offline match, there was a champion¡¯s trophy made of solid metal waiting to be sent to the champion of the WEL nationals. Of course, according to my prior agreement with Rose, the trophy would be kept at the club for bragging purposes... At any rate, we had finally arrived at the decider match and the match point. The fourth match was Lian Xin versus God Bone the Iron Knight! Right before the match, I gave Lian Xin a pat on the shoulder and said, "God Bone is a classic juggernaut. His notable offensive skills are Bloodbreak Slash, Coldblood Flurry and Barrier Break, and Iron Bone Armor for defensive skills. Be careful and keep your distance, and you¡¯ll be able to win this easily!" Lian Xin nodded and smiled at me. "Don¡¯t worry, big brother. I¡¯ll secure this win and knock out Soul Battle Robes for sure!" "Good!" In fact, I knew that our strongest opponent was already behind us. Soul Battle Robes was at best a poor man¡¯s version of Candle Dragon, and the main reason they were able to beat Snowy Cathaya was because of their line-up advantage and concealed trump cards. Now that they had revealed everything, they no longer had the surprise factor to outwit a top-class team like ours. Lian Xin and God Bone entered the arena at the same time. They watched each other calmly as they waited for the battle to begin. Victory was now only one step away from us, the girls were already red with excitement. Our second seed was plenty excited as well. Assuming that we won, this would be the first time Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls became the champion of a top-tier competition, and no one could claim that we were weaker than Candle Dragon anymore. This was a milestone and the reason we gave it our all. God Bone was a very skilled player, and he was able to weave around Lian Xin¡¯s Origin Force Fields with repeated use of the butterfly maneuver. Unfortunately for him, Lian Xin¡¯s tactics were almost flawless. She slapped down four Origin Force Fields so that there was only one way to go. When God Bone passed through the center, he ate a surprise Touch of the Dragonkiss to the leg and Gravity Trap that slowed him drastically. Left with no choice, he locked onto a spot next to Lian Xin and activated Charge! Anticipating this, Lian Xin Blinked away and left behind a deadly Ice Spiral Matrix. The mage had excellent skills, and her tactics involved a great deal of traps. By the time God Bone made it out of the Ice Spiral Matrix, he had already lost 50% of his HP. In the end, not even God Bone¡¯s impressive armor was enough to save him, and she ended the round with Dimensional Storm. He failed to touch her even once throughout the fight. It was almost a one-sided slaughter. ¡­¡­ The score turned 1:0, and it sounded like the audiences were about to explode with emotions. Already, a large majority of them were standing on their feet and cheering for the strongest mage of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls on top of their lungs. We were just as excited, of course. We were literally one fight away from becoming the WEL champion of China! Beiming Xue was crying tears of joy as she said to He Yi, "Ancient Sword is about to become the champion¡­" He Yi¡¯s eyes were reddened and watery as well. She had waited for this moment for far, far too long... She looked up at the grayish sky of Heavenblessed and murmured, "Are you watching this, sister? We¡¯re about to accomplish what you dreamed of achieving!" ¡­¡­ The next battle began, and Lian Xin put on a near perfect performance. Her class and skills were superior to God Bone¡¯s, and skill-wise she was almost good enough to match Lin Yixin herself. How could the iron knight hope to defeat her? Chapter 927: Li Fire of Xuanming 3:1! The number on the big display changed, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯s ascension to the top was finally complete. This time, no one was able to halt our advance. Thanks to Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, He Yi and my efforts, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had become the champion of the WEL China nationals! We could choose to fight out the fifth and last match, but it was unnecessary as a matter of course. We had defeated every opponent on our way to become the champion. Naturally, there was no team more qualified than ours to bear the MVP title. The arena boiled up. The ensuing applause and cheers were almost loud enough to explode the entire central arena. ¡­¡­ He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin were hugging each other and crying. Women were usually more emotional than men in situations like this, and tears were the only way for them to express their pride and excitement. I could barely contain my own excitement, leaning against the handrail and looking at the sky. Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng walked up to me, and after an exchange of smiles we put an arm around each other¡¯s shoulders. This wasn¡¯t an individual victory, but a collective one. Naturally, everyone in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had the right to partake in the joy. Tap tap! Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned around to see who it was. The next moment, Chaos Moon slipped under my guard and hugged me. "Can I have a hug? It¡¯s a momentous occasion." "Do you always ask permission after you do the deed?" I complained, but returned the hug with a smile of my own. I let go a few seconds later. High Fighting Spirits and Gui Guzi said at nearly the same time, "Why are you hugging Lu Chen only, Chaos Moon? Give us a hug too! As you said, this is a momentous occasion, right?" But Chaos Moon immediately feigned aloofness. "Men and women shouldn¡¯t touch each other if they¡¯re not close¡­" The manly duo immediately roared, "Get lost!" Meanwhile, Fei¡¯er had finally returned to the stage to declare with a smile, "The moment we waited for has finally arrived. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has answered their fans¡¯ expectations to become the champion for the WEL China nationals! Congratulations, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, From Water, Beiming Xue, Lian Xing and Murong Mingyue! You all deserve the honor! Of course, we would also like to congratulate Soul Battle Robes for taking second place, Snowy Cathaya the third place, and Candle Dragon the fourth place. Now then, it is time to distribute the reward, and I¡¯m sure that a lot of you have been expecting this! What rare items will the WEL show us, I wonder? Let us look forward to the birth of the Divine Armaments together!" Hell yeah! The best part of the whole competition is finally here! Why did we fight as hard as we did? To express our youth and energy and all the other bullshit? Of course not! It¡¯s all for riches and bitches, baby! ¡­¡­ The reward-giving phase kicked off with the reward distribution of the 33rd to 64th teams. As mentioned before, only 5 players could qualify for the reward of the play-offs, but even then, a whopping 160 players were summoned to the stage. Almost all of them were no-names, and I barely recognized a couple of faces. Their reward was Level +1, Luck +1, and a consolation prize of consolation prize. All things considered, it was better than nothing... The next group to appear on stage was the 17th to 32nd teams. The rewards were Level +2, Luck +1, and 20000 RMB. Again, it wasn¡¯t a bad reward. The monetary reward alone was equal to a white collar¡¯s half-a-year income. Next, it was the 9th to 16th team¡¯s turn to show up. Their reward was Level +3, Luck +2, 100000 RMB and a chance to draw a prize. Unfortunately for Blazing Hot Lips and Purple Lily, their main players¡ªStranger of Three Lifetimes, Luo River God of the Capital and even Moonkiss¡ªonly managed to draw Earth-grade equipment. Still, the level and Luck reward were more or less handsome enough to make up for all the regrets they had experienced in this competition. Things got a lot more interesting when it was the 5th to 8th teams¡¯ turn to receive their reward, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls 222nd and Warsky Alliance were among this group. Their rewards¡ªLevel +3, Luck +3, and 250000 RMB¡ªwere way better than the previous ones, and it was almost scary how much money the WEL organizers were spending on their competition. The best reward the 5th to 8th teams could receive was Heaven-grade equipment, and Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi were both lucky enough to draw Heaven-grade metal armors. They were about 25% stronger than your average Heaven-grade armors, and almost as strong as some Immortal-grade ones. It was why so many players were inclined to participate in competitions like these. Unfortunately, Chaos Moon, Farewell Song, Warsky and more only got Earth-grade equipment. Their disgruntlement was clear to see. Then, it was the 2nd-place team to receive their reward. Song of Cloud and Water walked up the stage with God Bone, Song of Ice and Fire, Ringwraith and a magic knight following behind her. Of course, the reward for the first runner-up was very excellent. It was Level +4, Luck +4, and a whopping 500000 RMB. It was like hitting the jackpot. The big display showed a short summary of their rewards¡ª System Notice: Player "Song of Cloud and Water" drew "Cyan Flame Blade" (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)! System Notice: Player "Song of Ice and Fire" drew "Atlan Hero War Armor" (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)! System Notice: Player "Ringwraith" drew "Mage Robe of Netherspring" (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)! System Notice: Player "God Bone" drew "Shield of Thunder God¡¯s Protection" (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)! System Notice: Player "Remember The People" drew "Hilly Peak Helmet" (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)! ¡­¡­ All five high-grade items that Soul Battle Robes drew were almost priceless at the current stage of this game. After this WEL, I could see the guild becoming much stronger than before, and the fact that they were a Sky City guild didn¡¯t exactly set me at ease. Song of Cloud and Water cleared her throat before speaking in a slightly childish voice, "Well, I suppose that I only have one thing to tell everyone. Soul Battle Robes is making a comeback, and already we are in the process of transferring our core over from Spirit of Grief¡ªin case anyone is wondering, I have the permission of my big brother, Seven-Star Lamp, to do so. We will make a name for ourselves in Heavenblessed. To all those who have supported and loved Soul Battle Robes to this day, I would like to invite all of you to join our guild! Starting now, Soul Battle Robes will fight to make Sky City the capital city of the Heavenblessed Continent!" It wasn¡¯t the most considerate speech she could¡¯ve given, but I must admit that her last sentence was pretty invigorating. She was practically declaring that she would make Sky City the most impressive city in the entire world. How cool was that? Not far away, Stranger of Three Lifetimes commented with curled lips, "Hmph hmph, looks like Sky City is going to get busy pretty soon. Interesting. Looks like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya still have a long way to go¡­" I smiled fearlessly. "I doubt it. We¡¯ve met stronger opponents than Soul Battle Robes, haven¡¯t we? Not to mention that the peerless Dark Moon City is in our hands, not theirs. Anyway, girls, let¡¯s get up there and receive the champion rewards already!" They burst into a giggle before lining up behind me. Together, we climbed the steps of the rainbow bridge until we arrived next to Fei¡¯er. Speaking of which, Fei¡¯er was a woman who almost looked immune to aging. Her real age was close to 30, but I could¡¯ve mistaken her for a 20-year-old girl. It was one of the reasons she became the spokesperson for three of Eternal Moon games in a row... ¡­¡­ After the system confirmed our identities, it quickly distributed the reward. Level +5 and Luck +5 alone were already very amazing, but the 2 million RMB monetary reward transferred directly to our bank accounts was even better! Swhoosh! After that, a screen appeared in front of each of us, and the champion reward roulette started spinning rapidly before our eyes. There were Immortal-grade items, pet eggs, skill books and more. Even with my eyesight, I could only make out the grades of some items. There was a 7-star Outstanding Archean-grade item and even a Divine Armament of unknown grade. It was spinning too fast for me to see, but it was shinier than all the other items in the wheel. My heart beat wildly as I stretched out my hand and pressed Confirm. A blue light instantly rippled across the roulette and caused it to slow down. Metal armors, legguards, skills¡ªnone of them mattered. My eyes were set on one and one prize alone, the fiery gold wristguards that were shinier than all of them. It has to be a Divine Armament! "Stop! Stooooooooop!" I shouted inside my heart. The wheel¡¯s spin slowed to a crawl, but the needle was pointing at the item right before the fiery gold wristguard. I thought I was going to have a heart attack there and then. Then, the virtual wheel passed into the fiery gold wristguard¡¯s slot! "Oh my heavens¡­" The roller coaster of emotions I was experiencing was definitely going to stop my heart if this continued. "Stop! Stop! The next slot is a f.u.c.k.i.n.g Earth-grade shield¡­" I wailed inside my head. It was as if the heavens heard my plea, and the wheel stopped moving at that exact moment. A beep later, my reward was listed on the display¡ª System Notice: Player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" drew ¡°Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet¡± (Cambrian-grade Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) F.u.c.k yeah! Overjoyed, I opened my bag and pulled out the wristguards that looked like a chain bracelet. Chains were suspended beneath the golden metal, and divine energy was surrounding it. Its stats were positively insane¡ª Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet (Cambrian-grade Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Magic Resist: 3850 Strength: +1350 Stamina: +1450 Agility: +1250 Intelligence: +1200 Tactics: +92 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 65% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 20000 Outstanding Property: Li Fire of Xuanming. There is a 15% chance that the user¡¯s attack is imbued with the Li Fire of Xuanming. Deals extra damage to the target. Slots: 12 Introduction: Beyond the Nine Heavens where the Ceiling of Heaven lies burns the Li Fire that divine experts claimed was unapproachable even by the Gods. The Li Fire of Xuanming burns impossibly hot, and it has killed countless divine experts who tried to do the impossible. Countless years later, a divine bone, combined remains of all the divine experts who had burned to death, fell from the Ceiling of Heaven. After many, many rounds of refinement, the divine bone was finally turned into the Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet. The divine energy it contains astounds even divine experts. Level Requirement: 185 Reputation Requirement: 500000 Chapter 928: Spear of the Knight God "Nine Heavens¡­ Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet¡­" My voice was trembling. My heartbeat was wild. I almost couldn¡¯t breathe due to how excited it was. Not only did I draw a Level 185 Cambrian-grade Divine Armament, it was so powerful that it surpassed even Lin Yixin¡¯s Level 200 Devil Bell! For a pair of metal-armor wristguards, the Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet had a passive that added a whopping 65% Attack, which was higher than most high-grade weapons out there. When attacking, it had a 15% chance of triggering this "Li Fire of Xuanming" and dealing extra damage. Of course, I had no idea how much damage it could do, so I would first need to test it out. None of these even come close to being as good as its property, however. It increased inventory slot count by 1000! Currently, it was possible to use Alliance Honor Points to exchange for a 150-slot Army Pouch in Sky City. However, the number of players who actually did this was less than 5%. It was because Alliance Honor Points were way too difficult to earn, and even my High-grade Army Pouch only added 400 slots. However, the Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet added more than twice that number, meaning that I now had over 1400 slots in total. Starting now, I could carry ten times the amount of potions and consumables the average player could carry! "Congratulations, big bro!" Beiming Xue congratulated me sweetly. Lian Xin also said, "This bracelet is so powerful. Big brother Lu Chen¡¯s Attack, Defense and even Intelligence will be so much better than before¡­" He Yi chuckled. "Alright, let¡¯s not hold up the ceremony any longer and draw the lot already. May the rest of you get lucky as well!" "Mn mn!" While the girls were drawing their respective prizes, I was switching out the Battle Flame Wristguards for the Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet. The Battle Flame Wristguards were just a Level 145 Earth-grade item, so the gap between the two items could only be described as insurmountable. The moment the bracelet appeared around my wrist, I immediately felt a surge of warmth and seemingly infinite power roaring into my body. It was the sensation of a drastic increase in Attack. I checked my new stats, and they were as awesome I expected them to be¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Martial God of the Abyss) Class: Undead Swordsman (Great Earth Swordsman) Level: 187 HP: 254290 Attack: 11455~12620 Defense: 21215 Reputation: 599400 Tactics: 947 Luck: 65 ¡­¡­ My max Attack was 12620, and my total HP was a whopping 250000 even without any buff. I could only imagine how much higher it would become if I had max buffs; 600k shouldn¡¯t be too difficult a threshold to hit. Moreover, my base Defense was over 21000, and my Luck had grown to 65 as well. Not long ago, Heavenblessed revealed the formulae for Luck and confirmed once more that an account¡¯s greatest value lies in Luck, not equipment¡ª Player Monster Drop Rate: 100% + Luck*5% Player Passive Skill Trigger Rate: Base value(1 + Luck*1%) Player Damage Roll: The higher the Luck stat, the closer the damage roll is to the peak value ¡­¡­ Let¡¯s talk about the bracelet itself. There were literal flames l.i.c.k.i.n.g the bladed exterior of the bracelet, and chains surrounding my wrists. I reckoned that I could do a ton of damage even if I attacked an opponent bare-handed. This bracelet truly was a weapon of great destruction! Now that I was done admiring myself, I finally checked the girls to see how they were doing. The first person to draw the equipment was Beiming Xue. After the girl carefully pressed the Confirm button on her screen and spun the wheel, the needle gradually stopped on a dazzling longbow¡ª Ice Soul Feather (Archean-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 3200~4150 Stamina: +1250 Agility: +1200 Strength: +1150 Tactics: +135 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 97% Slots: 15 Outstanding Property: Ice Soul. When attacking a target with Ice Soul Feather, extremely high chance of triggering Ice Soul and dealing a wide area of ice damage Effect: Bow God¡¯s Oath. All bow-type skills¡¯ rank +1 Introduction: The Ice Soul first came to be at the northern frontier during the conception of heaven and earth. Tens of thousands of years ago, a great storm turned the north of the continent into a graveyard of ice and snow, and it was during this time the Bow God and his subordinates chased a devil all the way to the northern frontier. Although they were able to slay it in a harsh battle, his subordinates froze to death before they were able to escape the frontier. In the end, even the Bow God himself couldn¡¯t take a step further, and a small part of his soul merged with the ice next to him and transformed into the Ice Soul Feather. Level Requirement: 185 Reputation Requirement: 320000 ¡­¡­ The fact that the Ice Soul Feather was an Archean-grade item meant that it was on the same level as my Purple Ying Sword. It might not be comparable to Cambrian-grade equipment, but it wasn¡¯t really that far behind. Moreover, its insane Attack value and Attack boost were a godsend for any archer, not to mention that it increased the power of Skypiercer by 100%. In the future, every time Beiming Xue used that skill, it would be like critting 100% of the time. How amazing was that? The icy aura surrounding the bow made our beautiful little archer look even deadlier than before. The shiny lights surrounding the bowstring were incredibly dazzling as well. I smiled. I couldn¡¯t help but imagine Beiming firing her super Skypiercer with the Ice Soul Feather and triggering the Ice Soul effect almost per arrow. How explosive would that be, literally? One thing for certain, Beiming Xue was the Bow God of China after today. Not even Transient Smoke and Clouds, Nangong Lexi and October Rain could beat her anymore, much less surpass her! The good news was that a Nation War would most likely happen not long after the WEL nationals were over. Everyone including me would get the chance to test out our new equipment and wet them with our enemies¡¯ blood! ¡­¡­ Ding! It was at this moment the wheel in front of He Yi came to a stop as well. Her reward was a pet egg with purple clouds surrounding it¡ª Dragonscale Beast (Earth Rank Boss Mount) Strength: +1000 Stamina: +1200 Attack Increase: +55% Defense Increase: +50% Movement Speed: +180% Attack Range: +32 yards Max HP: +30000 Turn Rate: -35% Mount Tenacity: +40% Unique Skill: Dragon Soul Protection. Summons a Dragon Soul Guardian Knight that increases Attack and Defense by 50% Introduction: One of the descendants of the Dragon Race. The Dragonscale Beasts are violent creatures who live among the animals of the wilderness. They look like warhorses, but they are really carnivorous. Level Requirement: 180 Reputation Requirement: 250000 "Eh? Didn¡¯t they say that the champion rewards would be Heaven-grade or above?" Murong Mingyue sounded confused. I answered, "Boss-tier mounts are different. This Dragonscale Beast is Earth-grade, but it¡¯s slightly stronger than my Armored Ice Qilin Horse, and of course much, much stronger than Eve¡¯s Dragonlight Spirit Beast." He Yi nodded. "Yeah. Let¡¯s hold onto it first and see if there¡¯s anyone who urgently needs a new mount." "Mn." Appearance-wise, the Dragonscale Beast looked very similar to the Dragonlight Armored Horses, except that its stats were much stronger. Next, Lian Xin drew an Immortal-grade mage robe that was much better than the one she was wearing. Murong Mingyue drew an Immortal-grade ring that improved her healing effectiveness by 75% and increased her Spell Shield¡¯s durability as well, so that was great. Of course, their rewards were nothing compared to my Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet and Beming Xue¡¯s Ice Soul Feather. After everyone had drawn their prizes, Fei¡¯er returned to the stage once more and declared, "Next, I would like to declare the MVP of the WEL China nationals. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve already guessed it, but yes, the MVP of this competition is our Little Heavenly King, Lu Chen! He made it all the way to the finals without losing a single match, and he was a major factor in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ rise to the top! There is no one who deserves this title more than him!" Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" for becoming the MVP of the WEL China nationals. Rewards: Dark Moon City Rank +1 Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to "Dark Moon City" territory for becoming the first city in the entire world to reach Rank 10. Dark Moon City obtains the Undead Castle unique skill, "Duplicate Mount", and the "Mounted Shooting Training¡± skill. Dark Moon City¡¯s city durability +40%, NPC Attack and Defense +50%, and the city lord, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, is rewarded with "Spear of the Knight God"! ¡­¡­ Holy shit! Spear of the Knight God?! Astounded, I opened my bag and found a shiny spear sitting inside my 1450-slot bag. I took a quick look and was stunned by what I saw¡ª Spear of the Knight God (Archean-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 3120~4200 Stamina: +1250 Strength: +1050 Agility: +1100 Tactics: +115 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 90% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 40% Slots: 15 Outstanding Property: Knight God¡¯s Blessing. If the user possesses the Famous General Skill "Knight God", the upper limit of Tactics-scaled boost is multiplicatively increased by 50% Introduction: The spear once used by the Knight God himself¡­ Level Requirement: 180 Reputation: 250000 ¡­¡­ I trembled in excitement after I read the description. A 50% increase to the Knight God¡¯s effects? This was the perfect equipment for Gui Guzi, wasn¡¯t it? Knight God¡¯s base Attack and Defense increase was 150%, but this spear boosted those numbers all the way up to 225%! Who wouldn¡¯t be excited by this? Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust¡¯s Knight General increased the Attack and Defense of all mounted players by 100%, but Gui Guzi¡¯s boost was more than twice their number. They must be feeling very jealous right now. Swhoosh! I teleported out of the stage and returned to Gui Guzi. Then, I planted the weapon right next to Gui Guzi¡¯s feet and let out a chuckle. "Little Gui, this is yours! Take it!" At first, Gui Guzi looked surprised by my offer. Then he picked up the spear and was stunned by what he saw, "Holy f.u.c.k, Boss Broken Halberd, this is¡­ an incredible weapon¡­" I smiled. "You will be the cornerstone of our guild in the coming Nation Wars, so don¡¯t disappoint me!" Gui Guzi replied firmly, "Heh! No problem, boss. I am the shield of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. No one can hurt our guild without going through me first!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ On the stage, Fei¡¯er spoke through the mic, "Aiyo, why did he go away so suddenly? I was going to¡­ Oh well. Beauty From Water, would you like to share a few words on behalf of your team?" He Yi replied expressionlessly, "You can just tell him to come back, you know." Chapter 929: Mounted Archery Training Rose sent us a congratulatory message: "First, congratulations to everyone for winning the WEL China nationals, hehe! The club will be holding a celebratory feast, and all of you are required to attend on time! Also, the WEL internationals will begin in a week, and I¡¯m in the middle of processing your visas right now. The venue will be set at the virtual e-sports center of the USA, Los Angeles, California. Get that? We¡¯ll all be traveling to Los Angeles in a week!" Excited, I replied, "Hot damn, I can¡¯t believe us country bumpkins would get to travel overseas one day¡­" Rose: "... Screw you!" ¡­¡­ The champion rewards were extremely generous, so generous that I could skip leveling before the next Nation War began at the very least. Of course, it was a different story after the Nation Wars. Losing levels was as common as eating rice for professional players like us, and there was no guarantee that I could avoid using Resurrection Art this time. By the time the girls and I logged off, it was already past 10 pm. However, the girls were too excited to fall asleep, and the thieves¡ªLi Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen specifically¡ªinsisted that we meet up and celebrate this victory with booze. It had been a long time since we gathered, so I agreed and took the girls to the meet-up spot. It was a supper restaurant in a hotel somewhere in the city. By the time we arrived, all twenty or so core members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were waiting for us already. They booked a room and two tables, which was just enough to fit everyone. Elite players such as Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and the Frost Cloud workshop sat at one table, while the less-elite-but-no-less-important players such Pure Love, Wolf Fang and more sat on the other. The beautiful waitress walked up to us with the menu and smiled. "Who¡¯s ordering tonight?" Gui Guzi immediately raised his hand. "Since Boss Broken Halberd¡¯s the one spending today, I¡¯ll order!" I couldn¡¯t help but feel my heart clench at the inevitable hole in my wallet tonight. Gui Guzi was good at many things, but saving his boss''s money was definitely not one of his positive traits. Even back when we didn¡¯t have much money and had to visit open-air restaurants during summer afternoons, he would order at least five bottles of beer and several plates of boiled peanuts in addition to the main meal. What a waste it was... As expected, Gui Guzi ordered wild rabbit meat, steamed turtle, shark fin soup, abalone and many more expensive dishes with a wide grin on his face. I bet he gets a kick every time he slaughters my wallet, the f.u.c.ker. Li Chengfeng said, "Wow, isn¡¯t this going a bit too far? Lu Chen has a family to feed, you know," but when Gui Guzi replied, "It¡¯s fine, he won 2 million RMB today. It won¡¯t even put a dent in his prize money!" Li Chengfeng immediately betrayed me and joined in the slaughter, "Which one¡¯s the most expensive dish? I¡¯m having that!" Shaking my head, I raised my arm and beckoned the waitress to me. "Hey, girl!" ¡°Yes, sir?" "Can you get us a bowl of egg fried rice per table? And be quick. If you take more than ten minutes, these gluttons might just eat your table whole!" The waitress burst into a giggle before answering, "Understood. I¡¯ll inform the kitchen right away!" Everyone here had either fought in the WEL competition or watched it for the entire day, so we hadn¡¯t had a single bead of water or food. The reason I ordered the rice was because drinking without having eaten anything for the whole day was very unhealthy. The egg fried rice was served very quickly, and all things considered, it was surprisingly professional. The rice was overnight rice, and it wasn¡¯t oily despite the fantastic taste. It was gone in just the blink of an eye. Thankfully, the rest of the dishes were served not long after that. We also ordered some red wine and white spirit for everyone. He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and most of the girls preferred red wine because it was low on the percentage. On the other hand, I, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, Mamate and more chugged down the 52% alcohol white spirit and enjoyed the sensation of being burned alive from the inside. It was entirely possible that we wouldn¡¯t recognize our own mothers if we overdid it. A few rounds later, Gui Guzi commented with a smile, "Today¡¯s WEL was quite entertaining, especially the 2v2 match between Boss Broken Halberd plus Beiming Xue versus Candlelight Shadow plus Ye Yuse. Most PvP matches weren¡¯t as technical as that match. Of course, the best part of them all was Candle Dragon losing, hahaha!" Li Chengfeng said, "It¡¯s a shame our team ran into Snowy Cathaya earlier than expected, or there was a chance we could¡¯ve entered the quarter-finals. Also, Little Gui and I were silly that match. Now that I think back, I can¡¯t believe we invited Beauty Lin to a mano-a-mano match. Had we just played out the match like normal, we could¡¯ve gotten a favorable match-up and have a real shot at beating Snowy Cathaya." Chaos Moon joined in. "I don¡¯t know, man. Snowy Cathaya just recruited that Nangong Lexi the Holy Archer to replace Clear Perfume, and while she isn¡¯t as good as Beiming Xue, she¡¯s at the same level as Transient Smoke and Clouds. Beauty Lin will definitely practice with Nangong Lexi to hone her into a true top-tier archer, so I don¡¯t think the result is going to change when we fight Snowy Cathaya again in the future¡­" Gui Guzi bared his teeth at Chaos Moon. "You don¡¯t need to tell us the truth, man!" Chaos Moon stuck out her tongue in response before laughing. "Cold showers are good for your health, okay?" ¡­¡­ I smiled. "Just five?" Li Chengfeng also smiled. "Not enough? What about ten?" "Now you¡¯re talking!" The crowd immediately hooted all kinds of shit while Li Chengfeng and I became locked in a battle of manliness and alcohol. We clinked glasses and drank 10 small cups of white spirit in a row. It was about as invigorating as one might imagine it to be, and in my case, I felt like I was about to transform into a fire god. Of course, there were side effects. In my vision, He Yi had split into two before I knew it. "Wait, stop drinking for a moment and answer my question¡­" Chaos Moon shot me a question, "Dark Moon City is our base, and now it¡¯s finally Rank 10. However, you haven¡¯t told us how its two unique skills work, so spill the beans already!" Li Chengfeng agreed. "Yeah, she¡¯s right! Only the city lord can use the unique skill of a city. How do they work exactly, Lu Chen?" I smiled. "Well, for starters, I can tell you that Warsky Alliance, Soul Battle Robes, and Candle Dragon are no longer a threat to us¡ªat least within the domain of Sky City¡ªand it is all thanks to, you guessed it, our new Rank 10 Dark Moon City!" I grinned before revealing the answer, "The Rank 10 Undead Castle exclusive skill, Duplicate Mount, is exactly what it sounds like. Theoretically speaking, we can duplicate an infinite amount of any mount as long as it is Earth Rank or below. Practically speaking, each duplicate costs a ton of resources, so we¡¯re going to hit a limit eventually." Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes lit up. "So you¡¯re saying that we can duplicate an infinite amount of Dragonlight Armored Horses?" "Sure, but I forgot to mention a detail earlier. Strictly speaking, the skill applies to mount pet eggs only, and we no longer have any Dragonlight Armored Horses mount eggs with us¡­" I said with a smile. Li Chengfeng slapped his t.h.i.g.h loudly. "Oh come on! You¡¯re telling me that we can¡¯t use it after all?" I shot He Yi a glance before correcting him, "Did you forget what our guild leader drew for her reward already? She got the pet mount egg of an Earth Rank Boss mount, Dragonscale Beast! That is what we¡¯re going to duplicate ad infinitum!" Gui Guzi shot to his feet so quickly that he spilled the wine in his glass. "Holy shit! Does that mean we can all ride Dragonscale Beasts?" I nodded. "Correct. That being said, it costs 100k resources of each type to duplicate just one pet egg, and with our current production it¡¯s only possible to duplicate one egg per hour. Therefore, our next focus is on increasing our production rate and city resources as much as possible! Ideally, we want to produce over a million resources of each type per hour!" Chaos Moon said, "OMG, can we even use up that many resources?" I smiled. "You guys are really forgetful today. There¡¯s one more skill I haven¡¯t mentioned, you know?" I let out a laugh and grabbed a slice of fish meat with my chopsticks. "What¡¯s the hurry? I can explain later. Dinner¡¯s getting cold, you know?" However, the gang was anything but accepting of my suggestion. "Eat your sister! Tell us already!" At the side, Beiming Xue pouted. "Why do you want to eat me, big bro¡­" After Li Chengfeng "parried" my chopsticks and sent my fish meat tumbling back into the soup, I shook my head a little before starting, "¡®Mounted Archery Training¡¯ allows Level 180 seventh-promotion archers to learn the mount riding skill. In other words, our archers can now ride mounts and transform into the legendary mounted archers!" "Mounted archers¡­" It was Beiming Xue¡¯s turn to shoot to her feet in excitement. "Are you sure, big bro? Can archers really ride mounts now?" I smiled. "Why would I lie about this? That being said, it costs 200k resources of each type per session, so¡­ starting tomorrow, I want everyone to do their best to obtain as many resources as possible. Resource Bags can drop from bosses, and a small amount is sold in Sky City. We¡¯ll dump them all in our territory warehouse. Let¡¯s build the server¡¯s first elite mounted archer cavalry and the first army-sized elite cavalry, everyone! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will conquer the world!" Excited, everyone rose to their feet and toasted together, "Yeah! To our dreams of conquering the world!" ¡­¡­ The mere imagination of a mounted archer troop in action was exciting. Imagine a troop or archers firing a volley of Skypiercers into the enemy before withdrawing, and the enemy cavalry not being able to catch up to them! How pleasing would that be, I wonder? One way or another, I fully expected Beiming Xue to become the progenitor of Heavenblessed¡¯s hit-and-run tactic! (Author¡¯s Note: As mentioned in previous chapters, hit-and-run involves attacking the enemy once, pulling away, and repeating the actions. It¡¯s similar to kiting, except that the attackers have superior mobility) Mounted Archery Training was without a doubt one of the greatest gifts the WEL competition had gifted Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. After that, we continued eating, drinking and merrymaking until it was past midnight. Most of us, like Li Chengfeng, were snoring beneath the tables already, so I had no choice but to book a couple more rooms and carry them inside. By the time I took care of everything and drove the girls back to the workshop, it was already early in the morning. My heart ached at the thought of spending 190k RMB in a single night, but if it was for my brothers and sisters, then it was money well spent! Chapter 930: Duplicate Mount The next morning, I woke up to the ringing of my phone. After checking the time and seeing that it was 11 am, I got up to my feet and opened the curtains. The sunlight shining through the window felt warm and bright. A quick wash later, I knocked on He Yi¡¯s door. "Eve?" "Yes, Lu Chen?" He Yi opened the door and responded. Murong Mingyue was inside as well. "I promised Lin Yixin to eat lunch with her yesterday, so I¡¯m heading out¡­" I said. "Mn. Come back soon. There are countless people in the guild who are screaming for you to duplicate mounts as soon as possible, and Lil Beiming desperately wants to ride a mount too." I replied smilingly, "No worries, tell Beiming that I¡¯ll duplicate Dragonscale Beast for her immediately after I come back. Oh right, what should we call our new cavalry after we distribute the Dragonscale Beasts to our high-level players?" I nodded before... Can''t wait until tomorrow to see more? Want to show your support? Click here to be a sponsor and get additional chapters ahead of time! Chapter 931: A Big Deal "Yeah. Let¡¯s put you through the Mounted Archery Training first!" The altar for Mounted Archery Training sat on the opposite side of the altar for Duplicate Mount. Cape fluttering lightly behind her back and Ice Soul Feather hanging snugly in her hand, Beiming Xue walked onto the platform before shooting me a smile. "I¡¯m ready, big bro. I¡¯m going to become the first mounted archer in the entire server!" I broke into a smile and responded, "Mn!" After I tapped the Confirm button, the hexagram on the platform started spinning and bathing the girl¡¯s body in light. 800k resources vanished in the blink of an eye, and Beiming learned the ability to shoot from a mount, and got a mount pet slot too. She was now truly the first mounted archer in the entire server, and the first member of our mounted archer legion! Beiming Xue flipped down the altar and moved onto the Duplicate Mount altar next without needing anyone to tell her. I clicked Confirm, the Dark Knight Hero Udal pulled out his sword to start the process, and just like that, Beiming Xue obtained her very first mount and became the guild¡¯s first Dragonlight Archer! Thud! Beiming Xue¡¯s smile looked dazzling as she jumped off the altar and raised her Ice Soul Feather. A hexagram spun beneath her feet, and a Dragonlight Armored Horse appeared by her side in a whoosh. After she tossed her cape out of the way, she climbed onto the mount¡¯s back and officially equipped the mount. The dim lighting of the territory hall, the combination of the elegant Windchaser set, the fiery cape fluttering behind her back, and her long, pale legs resting snugly on both sides of her warhorse made her look especially attractive. "Do I look beautiful, big bro?" Beiming Xue asked me with a giggle. "Yes, you do!" I praised her from the bottom of my heart. Me: "..." He Yi: "..." ¡­¡­ "It¡¯s time to select the archers who fit the criteria to become a mounted archer!" I checked Sky City¡¯s level ranking and noted that Shadow Chanel, Level 184, sat at tenth place. It so happened that the 100th player on the ranking¡ªLevel 181¡ªwas also from Snowy Cathaya. Not that it has any relevance. What I¡¯m trying to say is, everyone down to the 21928th place was a Level 180 seventh-promotion player or above. The game had reached the middle stage, and grinding speed had slowed to a crawl. Considering how close everyone¡¯s level was, it was no longer possible to determine one¡¯s true strength based on the level ranking alone, not to mention that China was a place of crouching tigers and hidden dragons. It was worth noting that at least 10% of these twenty thousand or so players were from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, so we still possessed the superior advantage in terms of quantity of first-rate players. Beiming Xue immediately carried out my orders to choose those who were fit to become a mounted archer. Everyone who was a qualified archer was invited into the territory hall to receive their Mounted Archery Training. The exciting news spread like wildfire, and the number of players eager to become a mounted archer was numerous. However, Beiming Xue patiently received each and every one of them because it was her responsibility as the corps commander of our archer legion. Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi were also the commanders of our mounted players, so they did the same thing. Chaos Moon was the head of human resources and logistics of the guild. She was the one who arranged our players to enter the territory hall and submit the Resource Bags in an orderly manner. Most of the Resource Bags were obtained from bosses, and the amount of resources they contained ranged from a couple thousand to tens of thousands. Each Resource Bag was worth a huge amount of guild contribution points and gold, so they weren¡¯t losing out in the slightest. Sword in hand, I stood next to the city lord¡¯s throne¡ªI wouldn¡¯t dare sit on it while He Yi was around¡ªand watched the total resource count of Dark Moon City jump up and down like a roller coaster. Of course, no matter how many Resource Bags we had, it wouldn¡¯t be enough to cover the cost. We could only do our best. The advent of the WEL internationals also heralded the start of the next Nation War, so we needed to create our unrivaled cavalry and mounted archer troop as soon as possible. From this point onward, quality would be the ultimate deciding factor in a Nation War, not quantity. Take Gui Guzi for example. His Spear of the Knight God let his Famous General Skill to boost Attack and Defense by 225%, and the new Dragonscale Beast¡¯s unique skill, Dragon Soul Protection, further increased that number by 50%. This meant that all the mounted players in Gui Guzi¡¯s party would enjoy a whopping 275% Attack and Defense boost, once they all got the new mount. How terrifying would they be exactly? Let¡¯s just say that the chances of a trash mob being able to do anything to them in the upcoming Nation Wars was next to nil. Standing beside me, Chaos Moon complained with a pout, "What a scam. We¡¯ve barely started and we¡¯re running out of resources already¡­" I asked, "Say, did you see Li Chengfeng?" "I¡¯m here¡­" Li Chengfeng returned from outside on his new mount. Gui Guzi asked, "What were you doing?" Producing many Resource Bags from his bag, Li Chengfeng declared, "What did you think I was doing? While you guys were catching up on sleep this morning¡ªlike seriously, wasn¡¯t a whole night of drunken sleep enough? Lazy f.u.c.kers¡­ I was thinking about guild and making the appropriate preparations! I had traveled to Vanished God City and Wind City, explored all eight markets and bought every Resource Bag there was! I had to spend a whopping 790k gold too! I feel like a labourer, man¡­" I exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "Shit, our Divine General is both brave and wise! I can fight without worry knowing that you¡¯re watching over the guild!" Li Chengfeng laughed. "I¡¯m just doing what I can do. What I can¡¯t do, for example, is leading our guild when the next Nation War begins. I could never come up with the underhanded tactics necessary to best the Behemoths at Sunset Swamp, raid their supply, distract the enemy and more during the War of Dawn City." Chaos Moon giggled. "That¡¯s one of Lu Chen¡¯s good traits, you know? He wouldn¡¯t be so popular if he wasn¡¯t such a bad boy!" Li Chengfeng replied while submitting the Resource Bags, "Guess I need to learn how to be a badder boy then¡­" ¡­¡­ Thanks to Li Chengfeng¡¯s timely support, we just barely pushed out another batch of mounted archers and mounts. All mounted archers needed a Dragonscale Beast of their own, or the Mounted Shooting skill might as well be useless. Moreover, our cavalry was already plenty strong already, but mounted archers would bring a whole new dimension to our ability to wage war. That was why we were focusing all our energy on pumping our mounted archers right now. Just imagine a platoon of mounted archers riding some distance away from the enemy formation and firing deadly skills such as Skypiercer. The hail of arrows was sure to deal an insane amount of damage. If the enemy attempted to catch and destroy them, all they needed to do was show their butts and ride away into the sunset. Who could possibly catch up when the Dragonscale Beast alone boosted their movement speed by a whopping 180%? And even if they could, we could always intercept them with the Dragonlight Cavalry. It was practically an unbeatable combination! "Alright, we can¡¯t rely on Chengfeng to do all the hard work!" I turned toward my generals and ordered, "Those who have already gotten a Dragonscale Beast, I want you to travel to every main city and lower-tier city you can reach and buy as many Resource Bags as you can. We desperately need these resources right now, so feel free to spend big as long as the price tag isn¡¯t too o.b.s.c.e.n.e. Dark Moon City will foot the bill, so don¡¯t worry about it." Now was the time to spend all the gold our city had been collecting for so long. Everyone nodded and left for their respective destinations. I myself traveled to Sky City and explored the eastern and the western plaza. I even toured the auction houses. In total, I was able to buy a total of 37 Resource Bags containing 5000 resources of each type. After that, I traveled to Floating Ice City, Dawn City and Sangharama City to do the same thing. In the end, I brought back a total of 174 Resource Bags, or 1 million resources of each type in total, which sounded like a lot in theory but really equaled to just 10 Dragonscale Beasts. It was nowhere near enough to meet our demand. After dinner, I continued to shop around until Snowy Cathaya arrived with the 24 million resources they promised. As promised, we duplicated ten Dragonscale Beasts and trained 10 of their archers into mounted archers. Among these candidates were Nangong Lexi and Clear Perfume as a matter of course. Now Snowy Cathaya had their own mounted archer troop as well, though it was only 10 men strong... I worked until 9 pm at night before I returned to Dark Moon City. Striding back and forth inside the territory hall, I asked, "Chaos Moon, give me a tally of all the copied Dragonscale Beasts and Dragonlight Archers we created today." Chaos Moon blinked once before reporting, "Got it. We duplicated a total of 495 Dragonscale Beasts and trained a total of 392 Dragonlight Archers. By the way, Mounted Archery Training can only be used 500 times per day, and we¡¯re almost at the limit. Even if we have the resources, we can¡¯t train more Dragonlight Archers until tomorrow¡­" I nodded. "It¡¯s fine. Archers aren¡¯t our true core anyway. Ultimately, our best style is trampling over our enemies with an unstoppable cavalry!" Chaos Moon burst into a laugh. "True. I prefer a more hands-on approach myself!" It was at this moment I suddenly received a message from Zhang Chun, also known as Hot and Sour Noodles: "I heard that you¡¯ve been buying Resource Bags, Lu Chen?" "Yep. You heard about it already, uncle?" "Haha, of course I did. Practically everyone in the three main cities has heard of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ sudden shopping spree. Speaking of which, I know you¡¯re buying these Resource Bags to use that new Mounted Archery Training skill of yours, and I just so happen to have a great¡ªand rare, so you¡¯d better not miss it¡ªsolution for you!" "Oh?!" My eyes lit up. "Tell me, uncle!" "Come to Dawn City and travel to coordinates (28387, 12727) on Dragonbone Mountain Range. I will be waiting for you there with a foreigner friend of mine!" ¡­¡­ I teleported to Dawn City immediately and spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse to full speed. In less than twenty minutes, I had scaled the steep slopes of Dragonbone Mountain Range and arrived at a snowy region. It was there I saw Hot and Sour Noodles standing together with a player with blood-red ID. The emblem floating above the unfamiliar player¡¯s arm marked him as a member of the Chaotic 27. More specifically, he was "Red Ovenbird", a Level 192 Axe Fighter who hailed from Black Earth City. His equipment looked pretty impressive as well. "You¡¯re here, friend from distant lands!" Red Ovenbird greeted me immediately after I appeared. He looked to be about 30 years old, and he seemed like a gentle man. I returned a nod before asking, "Friend from Black Earth City, I heard that you have a lot of Resource Bags?" "Correct!" Red Ovenbird nodded. "Black Earth City has great subterranean resources, and we often dig underground and kill mobs there for loot. Here, check this out!" He spread his arms and revealed a small black box. A hologram describing the item floated above it¡ª Treasure Box of Refined Minerals: Contains 100000 units of Gold, Wood, Stone and Crystal. Use in territory to obtain a total of 400k resources. "Holy shit¡­" My eyes turned into saucers when I read the description. Red Ovenbird smiled as he continued, "I know that your guild is one of, if not the best guild in China right now. I also know that you¡¯re allies with several super guilds. That is why I would like to come to a deal with you." "If one Treasure Box of Refined Minerals is all you have, then I don¡¯t think I¡¯m needed here¡­" I said. Red Ovenbird laughed in amus.e.m.e.nt before replying, "I¡¯ll be frank with you. I have over 1200 Treasure Boxes of Refined Minerals right now!" "Holy f.u.c.k!" My saliva threatened to trickle down my lips. "I¡¯m listening. What kind of deal are we talking about? How much gold do you want?" Red Ovenbird replied, "A lot of territory cities need these treasure boxes right now, so I¡¯m sure you understand how valuable they are. I would like to establish a friendly business relationship with you, so my offer is 1000 gold per box. It¡¯s a fair price, isn¡¯t it?" I nodded in agreement. "It is fair!" "I have an extra condition, however." "Tell me." Red Ovenbird narrowed his eyes before answering, "The Chaotic 27 had formed an alliance recently, and we¡¯re hoping to attack Hero City in the near future. My only request for you is that your guild does not attack our city while we¡¯re away." I gave it some thought before nodding. "Alright. I promise that my guild will not attack the Chaotic 27 while you are at war with the Northern Alliance. That is all I can promise though." "That is good enough. Now let us trade, my friend. Your 1000+ Treasure Boxes of Refined Minerals will be delivered right away!" "Got it. Uncle, can you lend me 400k gold? I didn¡¯t bring enough with me¡­" "Shit!" Hot and Sour Noodles swore before inviting me to trade. "Here. Don¡¯t forget to pay me back, boy¡­" Chapter 932: Busy All Night About seven or eight magic knights walked down the snowy slope behind us, their boots crunching softly against the snow as they made their way toward us. Eyes narrowed, Red Ovenbird asked me, "Are you sure you have enough bagspace to carry all 1200+ Treasure Boxes of Refined Minerals, friend? We can wait if you need to make multiple trips to transport everything." I shook my head while replying, "There¡¯s no need. Just trade it all to me in one go!" Of course I wasn¡¯t going to make the round trip. What would be the point of having the 1000 bag slots from my Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet if I was just going to waste them? I accepted the treasure boxes. I wanted to use these resources to create Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers in scale exclusive to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls only. Red Ovenbird wanted to create an ideal environment to attack the Northern Alliance cities. Hot and Sour Noodles and I were well aware that the three main cities of China were situated at the center of the continent. Surrounded by enemies from all sides, it was hardly an ideal location to start a war. That was why we needed to avoid fighting on all fronts at all costs. If we do that, we might as well surrender Sky City, Wind City and Vanished God City to our enemies already. That was why we were capitalizing on this opportunity right now, sowing dissension and provoking servers and countries into warring against one another. Every time the Chaotic 27 took military action against the Northern Alliance, the pressure on our shoulders would lessen considerably. Recently, the cities to the east of the Center¡ªIndia¡¯s Cyan Earth City and Elephant City, Japan¡¯s Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡ªwere showing signs of restlessness. They could breach through White Rose Fortress, march into the heart of our lands and threaten Sky City directly at any moment. In fact, I heard that the two countries had already formed an alliance with each other, and were plotting to divide Sky City among themselves. The WEL tournament wasn¡¯t over yet, but I dared not let down my guard in the slightest. Dark Moon City, our brothers and sisters, our dreams, and everything we treasured were all in Sky City. I would never allow Sky City to be lost to the wolves. ¡­¡­ After accepting all 1250 Treasure Boxes of Refined Minerals and agreeing verbally with Red Ovenbird again that we wouldn¡¯t attack them while they warred against Hero City, I returned to Dark Moon City and transferred 400k RMB to Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ bank account immediately. Owing someone money was never the best kind of practice. Swhoosh! I strode straight to the territory hall after returning to Dark Moon City. On the way, I saw countless mounted players and archers wearing expectant looks and waiting for their turn to use Duplicate Mount and Mounted Archery Training. I smiled. "No worries. For tonight at least, we have the resources to train another one hundred seventh-promotion Dragonlight Cavalrymen!" "Oh?" Chaos Moon tilted her head at me with a smile. "That¡¯s a bold statement. Even Sister Eve has gone away to gather Resource Bags. Did you score something big?" "Yep!" I checked the resource screen and noted that all four types of resources were almost empty. So, I dumped 1000 Treasure Boxes of Refined Minerals into the guild warehouse until it was completely full. Chaos Moon¡¯s goggled at me as she muttered, "F.u.c.k! What the hell did you do? How on earth did you obtain so many resources? Did you sell your body or something?" I simply grinned at her and said, "It¡¯s nothing. Anyway, let¡¯s resume Mounted Archery Training and try to hit its cap first!" "Right away!" I checked my level. I was currently Level 187, and I had no plans to grind when the WEL internationals were just a few days away. This also meant that I could devote all my energy to creating our invincible army. Standing inside the territory hall, I called Luo River God of the Capital, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties, Indigo Collar and more and begged them to give us some resources. It didn¡¯t take long to unload all 1200+ Treasure Boxes of Refined Minerals into the guild warehouse, and by then He Yi, Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and more had returned from their shopping trip as well. In just one day, we had "plundered" almost every Resource Bag that was available in Sky City. Even Stranger of Three Lifetimes had messaged me a complaint saying, "What the f.u.c.k, what do you need all these Resource Bags for, Lu Chen? We were going to buy some Resource Bags ourselves and get our castle to Rank 8, but you¡¯ve taken literally everything! Everything! What the f.u.c.k are we going to do now!?" My only reply was, "Can you stop bothering us, Third Wheel? We¡¯re having a good time here¡­" ¡­¡­ We worked like a dog until the hand of the clock passed 11 pm. In the end, we decided to call it a day and let our territory grow its resources naturally. We dispatched over a hundred trustworthy players to the plazas of all three main cities to purchase more Resource Bags at a suitable price. I even added an option to sell Resource Bags in my shop. The entire guild, from top to bottom, was working together toward our goal right now. It had never been this united and full of energy until now. Sitting at the city lord¡¯s throne and scratching the bottom of my Divine Martial War Boots against the back of a stone-carved dragon, I asked, "How many units do we have now? What is our result of the day?" Chaos Moon blinked once before answering, "It¡¯s not bad. We created a total of 490 Dragonlight Archers and 1145 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Our speed is definitely going to fall off in the coming days though. We¡¯ve practically taken every Resource Bag there was in all three cities." I nodded. "Not bad indeed. It still isn¡¯t enough though. We need at least 10000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen to form a big enough horse charge that can truly strike fear into the hearts of our enemies. We also need 5000 Dragonlight Archers at least to ensure that our Skypiercers can one-shot absolutely anything with concentrated fire." "I know, but there¡¯s only so much resources you can get¡­" Chaos Moon stuck out her tongue playfully before smiling. "Duplicate Mount and Mounted Archery Training are extremely overpowered skills, but the cost to use them is equally ridiculous. Dark Moon City had over 50 million gold in reserve before this, and now we are 27 million gold short! I can¡¯t believe you and Sister Eve aren¡¯t sore about the expenditure at all!" I smiled. "What do you mean? My heart aches so much that I doubt that I¡¯m going to sleep well tonight. Every single gold we spend will be worth it, however. We need this invincible, indomitable army of cavalry and mounted archers because our war situation is far more perilous than you think. Without this army, I suspect China will suffer major losses in the upcoming wars¡ªwe can even lose our three main cities in the worst-case scenario." Chaos Moon¡¯s eyes widened in shock. "Really? Is that really possible even with our current defenses?" I nodded gravely. "Nothing is impossible in this world." Chaos Moon mulled over it for a moment before replying, "I think it can work. Why don¡¯t you discuss this with Eve? I have a high school classmate who¡¯s studying in Russia right now. He¡¯s also the guild leader of a small guild in the Russia server. I can ask him to purchase Resource Bags and trade them to us in secret later!" I broke into a grin and made the decision there and then. "Eve will agree with me on this, so please contact your friend right away. As usual, Dark Moon City will pay all the expenditures that are incurred during the trade. Also, take down all the usual rewards that can be traded via contribution points temporarily. All gold we have must be spent on resources right now. I¡¯ll even transfer twenty million gold from Air Force One to the guild for this purpose. Let¡¯s try and create as many cavalry as we can. Oh, also, tell our members that they shouldn¡¯t slack off on grinding just because of this. I want to see 10000 Level 180 seventh-promotion players before the WEL internationals begin!" "I got it!" Chaos Moon giggled. ¡®There are still six days before the WEL, and six days are definitely enough for the Level 177+ players to reach Level 180. Just watch, by the time you guys travel to Los Angeles to participate in the WEL internationals, we will have 20000 seventh-promotion riders and 5000 seventh-promotion archers at least. If there¡¯s one thing I¡¯m not worried about in our guild, it¡¯s our grinding speed!" I spoke to the Dark Knight Hero Udal for a bit before sharing the control over the guild warehouse to Chaos Moon. Then I said, "Feel free to use our gold however you want, but don¡¯t spend it all at once of course. You should be fine since Dark Moon City¡¯s businesses are bustling recently. We get almost ten million gold per day from repair fees and teleportation fees alone¡­" "Mn." Chaos Moon nodded strongly before replying, "In that case, I¡¯m going to contact my classmate right now. If everything works out, I won¡¯t be sleeping tonight!" "Mn, thank you very much for your hard work. I¡¯ll treat you to a good meal some time in the future!" "Heehee. That¡¯s a promise! I¡¯ll destroy you if you go back on it!" "F.u.c.k, that¡¯s a bit too harsh. Anyway, I¡¯m going to bed now." "Yeah. See you!" A wave of exhaustion washed over my body after I bade Chaos Moon goodbye. It was no exaggeration to say that I had squeezed every drop of brain juice to figure out a way to train as many Dragonlight Cavalrymen and Dragonlight Archers as possible. Ideally, I also wanted to replace most of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry with the new Dragonscale Beast Cavalry. Although, of course, my first priority would always be the Dragonlight Archers. They would literally change the face of the Nation War the moment they appeared on the battlefield. I bade Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen and more goodbye and logged off after that! ¡­¡­ The night passed quickly. The next morning, the girls and I gobbled our breakfast in a hurry and logged back into the game. Swhoosh! I experienced a small shock when I appeared in the territory hall and checked the records. Just yesterday, Dark Moon City had a total gold reserve of 45 million¡ª25 million plus the 20 million gold I had transferred from Air Force One yesterday¡ªbut today only 400k gold was left. It was growing slowly though. Every time a player used the teleportation formation, purchased a potion at the potion shop, forged an item at the smithy and so on, the gold count would go up a little. What on earth did Chaos Moon do yesterday? I checked my friend list and noted that she was offline. Then I checked Dark Moon City¡¯s skill usage record and got my shock of the day¡ª Duplicate Mount Usage Count: 5029 ¡­¡­ Incredible. Impossible! Did Chaos Moon really purchase this many resources in one night? A rough calculation informed me that we now had 990 mounted archers and 4029 new Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Holy f.u.c.k, this 45 million gold was definitely worth the price! I opened the guild chat channel and typed¡ª "What time did Chaos Moon go to bed last night?" Li Chengfeng replied, "More like this morning. She burned the midnight oil and logged off at 8 am sharp. After passing through Thunder Mountain Range with over a thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen and trading with the Russians, she single-handedly increased our Dragonlight Cavalry count to 4000+ , and our Dragonlight Archer count to 1000. Seriously, someone should just marry this diligent woman already¡­" Gui Guzi: "Yeah, Chaos Moon is an indispensable talent of our guild¡­" Xu Yang: "Who¡¯s going to marry her though?" High Fighting Spirits: "I think we skipped a step, man. She¡¯s never going to marry someone she doesn¡¯t fancy, so this discussion is pointless..." Me: "..." Chapter 933: Tang Long After thanking myself for having recruited Chaos Moon back when she was still a newbie, I began plotting my next move. I was slowly but surely getting closer to my dream of training 10000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen before the WEL Internationals began. Training 5000 Dragonlight Archers was harder, but it wasn¡¯t completely impossible to achieve. For one, Russia¡¯s Cold Sword City apparently possessed three times the amount of resources of the entire China. Two, Russia wasn¡¯t the only server we could buy resources from. Anything was possible as long as we found the right middleman. There was another problem, however. We¡­ already ran out of money... A bit of thinking later, I decided not to force the issue. The only one I would be hurting was myself if I went overboard. ¡­¡­ Beep! I received a message from Rose, our team manager in the Lenovo e-sports club: "Are you in Dark Moon City right now, Lu Chen?" "Mn. What is it, Rose?" "Grant me permission to enter the territory hall, will you? I need to talk to you about something." "Sure." A short while later, a beautiful archer entered the territory hall. It was Rose of course. She was only Level 172 even though she had been carried by Remains and other Lenovo members recently. There was a clear gap between her and the first-rate players. "What is it, Rose?" I welcomed her. "Hell yeah!" I chuckled. "Tremble in fear, world! The country bumpkins are coming to meet you all!" "Not that joke again!" Rose laughed a bit before continuing, "Second, the WEL organizer has decided to plug a friendly match in between the WEL matches. It¡¯s a 5v5 competition between the eliminated experts all over the world. In other words, it¡¯s a pre-international internationals! The five experts to participate in the competition have already been chosen. Although there won¡¯t be a champions reward for this competition, the participation reward alone is 1 million USD." "God damn, Eternal Moon Corporation is rich as well!" I exclaimed in admiration before holding out a palm. "Wait, don¡¯t tell me who the participants are yet. I¡¯m going to venture a guess myself!" "Sure, why not?" Rose waited expectantly. I pondered for a moment before replying, "In my opinion, the strongest player out of all the players who were eliminated from the WEL¡­ Li Chengfeng. Naturally, he must be in the team no matter what. The greatest assassin in China, Farewell Song, should be included as well. After that, it makes sense to have the two super mages, Luo River God of the Capital and Stranger of Three Lifetimes. Two mages, one assassin and one warrior is a pretty good team composition. I¡¯m not sure about the last candidate though¡­" "OMG¡­" Rose¡¯s mouth fell open in surprise. "You actually got everyone right! That¡¯s insane! Well, the last person in the team is Warsky!" "Oh, that makes sense¡­" I nodded in realization. "He¡¯s a Divine General, and thus has Great Earth Transformation. Just imagine Li Chengfeng and him keeping the enemy at bay while Great Earth Transformation is active, Luo River God of the Capital and Stranger of Three Lifetimes blasting away from the back, and Farewell Song slipping behind enemy lines and ambushing them from the back. Heavens, this team actually has an insanely high chance of beating our roster, and we were the champions of the WEL China nationals!" A pause later, she added, "Oh right, the Lenovo e-sports club will be holding a celebratory party at Paragon Hotel at 7 pm sharp tonight. It¡¯s to celebrate your team winning the WEL China nationals of course. Also, if I may be so bold to ask a favor¡­" The way Rose squirmed caused a grin to break across my face. "What is it?" "If possible, I would like you to invite two guests to join us..." "Which two? I¡¯m not that important¡­" "Heehee, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m sure you can do it! I¡¯d like you to invite Beautiful Little Pepper Lin Yixin and Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ guild leader, Stranger of Three Lifetimes to attend our party. Surely they¡¯ll accept your invitation? I know Stranger of Three Lifetimes is playing a money match in Wuxi right now¡­" "Fine, I¡¯ll contact them later." "Thanks. The reason I¡¯m requesting this is because we invited a TV game channel¡¯s host and cameramen to attend the party to do a special issue with us. It¡¯ll look great if we show that we have the clout to invite two CGL Hall of Famers to join us, am I right?" "I get it already. I¡¯ll contact them right now!" "Awesome! Do your best! If the special issue goes well I¡¯ll get a raise, so seriously, I¡¯m counting on you!" ¡­¡­ After Rose left Dark Moon City to grind with Heart Like Water and Dark Fragrance, I brought up my friend list and contacted Lin Yixin¡ª "Babe!" "Little Cheat... What is this about?" "I have a banquet to attend tonight. Do you want to join me?" "Sure! Where is the venue? I want to eat all the good stuff!" The excitement in Lin Yixin¡¯s voice was evident. What a cute and beautiful glutton she was... I replied, "It¡¯s at Paragon Hotel, 7 pm. It¡¯s Lenovo¡¯s celebratory party." "OMG, really? I don¡¯t know if I should involve myself with Lenovo¡­" "C¡¯mon, you¡¯re a special guest! They¡¯ll light me on fire if you don¡¯t attend!" "F.u.c.k¡­" "Fine, fine, I¡¯ll go. I¡¯ll drive myself there, so you don¡¯t need to come fetch me." "Okay!" After I was done pacifying my woman, I made a call to Stranger of Three Lifetimes next¡ª "Hey there, Third Wheel!" "Lu Chen? What is it?" "You¡¯re at Wuxi right now, right? Do you want to come to Suzhou? I¡¯ll treat you to dinner¡­" "Sure! What are we eating exactly?" "The good stuff, of course! The venue is Paragon Hotel, and the time is 7 pm. It¡¯s Lenovo¡¯s celebratory party." "Yes? Is it okay with you?" "Hee hee. Fine, it¡¯s a free meal anyway. I¡¯ll come." "Alright. Remember, you need to be there before 7 pm, or I¡¯ll be in serious trouble." "I get it!" ¡­¡­ After that intermission, I spent most of the day running around and buying Resource Bags. Somewhere in the middle, I helped Du Thirteen kill a Level 185 boss at Breeze Canyon, took revenge for Beauty Yu Tong at Silver Moon Forest, took out a party of Candle Dragon players, took out a Level 190 boss at Sky Forest, and helped Beauty Heaven¡¯s Rain to get a Level 175 Immortal-grade shield. It was a very productive day to say the least. Thanks to all the bosses I helped to kill, I earned around the same amount of experience I would¡¯ve earned if I had spent the day grinding on my own. Even so, my effort only amounted to around 40% experience or so. The amount of experience needed to level up at Level 187 or higher could scare the daylights out of weak-minded men. When the clock ticked past 5 pm, I suddenly received a message from Li Chengfeng: "Lu Chen, did you hear that the ninth territory of Sky City has spawned? It¡¯s in the forest just south of Silver Fir City!" "Oh. Well, the system stopped making territory spawn announcements a while ago, so I couldn¡¯t possibly know about that¡­" Li Chengfeng replied, "Well, a number of guilds are fighting over it right now, but one guild has managed to occupy it for you. Can you guess who they are?" Li Chengfeng laughed. "Nah, you¡¯re overthinking this. It¡¯s Sword Lord of Jianghu. I¡¯m mentioning this because Sword Lord of Jianghu had somehow gathered a million-strong army and taken the territory by storm. It¡¯s not confirmed yet, but I can¡¯t see it going to anyone else. The territory is quite close to Silver Fir City, but Beauty Lin doesn¡¯t seem to want to attack them." I replied, "Well, what can you do? We¡¯re hardly the only guilds in Sky City, and we already have a territory of our own. If we let our greed overtake us and occupy a second territory, people are going to start criticizing us behind our backs. There is nothing more important than Reputation in a game. A good Reputation also ensures that a guild is united." Li Chengfeng voiced his agreement, "Yes, that¡¯s what I think as well. However, Sword Lord of Jianghu seemed very hostile toward us during the competition, and they¡¯re directly attached to the China VR department, so we definitely need to watch out for them. What do you plan to do if they clash against us?" I thought for a moment before declaring without hesitation, "We crush them. All who stand in our way must die!" Li Chengfeng laughed. "Haha, I love that quote! Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll keep a close eye on Sword Lord of Jianghu and make sure that they don¡¯t catch us off-guard." "Mn. Sorry to trouble you, Chengfeng!" "No need to apologize! We¡¯re brothers, aren¡¯t we?" ¡­¡­ When it was past 6 pm, the entire Frost Cloud workshop squeezed into my X12 and drove toward Paragon Hotel. The main reason I brought everyone was because there was most likely going to be drinking during the banquet. Someone had to drive the drunkards home. When we arrived at the hotel, Rose was already waiting at the entrance. Lin Yixin¡¯s new car was already there. An attendant was driving it into the car park, while the woman herself was standing at the entrance and waiting for us. A few minutes after we stopped the car and called out to her, Stranger of Three Lifetimes drove into the carpark as well. Everyone was here now. The banquet was held on the third floor, and after going up we saw that there were at least twenty people present at the scene already. More than half of these people were new pros Lenovo recruited into the e-sports club. The five of us were too important to be deployed in small competitions, but someone had to participate in those matches. Therefore, it made sense for Lenovo to recruit twenty or so players to fulfill that role. This reminded me that Lin Yixin¡¯s e-sports club, Apple, had recruited at least 40 players besides Lin Yixin and Purple Marquis. Truly, they were some of the ric.h.e.s.t companies in the world. The unfortunate tournament staff who had to deal with them must feel like tearing their hair out! After we entered the venue, a guy dressed in a suit walked up to us and extended his hand. "Hello, Lu Chen, everyone! I¡¯m the club¡¯s CEO, Dong Xiang!" I grabbed his hand and shook it. "Good evening, sir!" After the handshake, Dong Xiang turned around and pointed at a middle-aged man who looked to be 40 years old or so smiling. "Allow me to introduce you to one of our important guests today. This here is the vice chief of China VR department and association president of the China server, Mr. Tang Long. He¡¯s responsible for handling the games Eternal Moon Corporation produces." Oil seemingly leaking out of his pores, Tang Long walked up to me with a smile and said, "I know you, Lu Chen. Your future seems limitless, young man!" My only response toward his impenetrable mask was a smile and a greeting. "Hello, Vice Chief Tang!" I looked at He Yi and Lin Yixin only to find them staring at me as well. Well shit, it looks like we all share the same thoughts. What are the chances this big-bellied politician is one of the good guys? Chapter 934: New CGL Boss "Sit. Please take a seat, everyone!" the Lenovo CEO urged with a smile. I glanced at He Yi, and He Yi gave me a smile before pulling me to the seat next to hers. Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue sat down in silence too. To be honest, we all knew that this was going to be more political than celebratory even before we came here. The vice chief¡¯s appearance further proved that this was definitely not going to be a fulfilling banquet. "First, we would like to congratulate Lenovo for winning the WEL China nationals!" CEO Dong Xiang made a gesture at Rose, and our team manager immediately carried a golden trophy to him. Dong Xiang accepted the trophy and shot everyone a smile. "Look at this spot. Your IDs¡ªBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, From Water, Beiming Xue, Lian Xing and Murong Mingyue¡ªare carved into the trophy itself! You all fought hard to leave this mark of honor for Lenovo, which is why our company would like to honor that respect by storing it in the team headquarters temporarily. Of course, we will reward you twice the amount that was promised earlier. How does 2 million RMB per player sound?" He Yi smiled sweetly. "Thank you, CEO Dong! That is exactly what we need right now!" Dong Xiang laughed. "I¡¯ve known of your name for quite some time, Eve. As the CEO of Raincube and the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, you are a woman who can cause quakes in Heavenblessed with the flick of a finger if you so wish. Now that I¡¯ve finally met you in person, I can say for certain that you truly are as beautiful and powerful as they claim!" He Yi replied politely, "Thank you!" ¡­¡­ After everyone assumed their seats, I picked up a piece of cold chicken meat and tried to stuff it into my mouth. Unfortunately, Tang Long chose this moment to raise his wine glass and declare, "Ever since the War of Dawn City, each version of the Northern Alliance¡¯s counterattack had only been weaker than the last. Not only that, this one war caused our server¡¯s name to spread across the northern lands like wildfire. It is all thanks to everyone here. On behalf of the China VR department, I would like to thank everyone for their outstanding service!" Dong Xiang also raised his glass in response and said, "The War of Dawn City was very inspiring. Time and again, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had challenged incredible odds and come back victorious. The destruction of the one million cavalry of Hot Sand City, the slaughter of the one hundred thousand Behemoth Cavalry at Sunset Swamp, the burying of countless Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry with a snow avalanche. I¡¯m sure that everyone here is grateful for everything you¡¯ve done in the Nation War!" Dong Xiang was obviously biased toward us. Of course, the core of Lenovo¡¯s main roster was literally made up Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls members. Of course he would side with us. Tang Long drained his glass in one go, and we couldn¡¯t not return the gesture. Remains, Heart Like Water and the rest of the players also raised their glasses and drained the contents. This was the first time they set foot in the "jianghu" and encountered a VIP like Tang Long, so I understood why they were acting as jittery as they were. They were probably too afraid to even breathe in the wrong direction, much less say anything. I replied, "I¡¯m surprised that a busy man like you would spare the time to train an account. It really is an admirable feat." Dong Xiang added, "Haha! You don¡¯t know this, but vice chief Tang Long has never given up on gaming despite his heavy workload. He even recruited a bunch of top-tier experts and built a guild of his own. If my memory didn¡¯t deceive me, his guild just occupied their first territory today." Surprised, I asked, "Vice chief Tang, could it be that your guild is¡­ Sword Lord of Jianghu?" Tang Long looked a bit surprised himself. "Oh? You¡¯ve heard of them, Lu Chen?" "Yes. In fact, your team was our opponent in the quarter-finals. The team leader is an onmyouji called Now and Forever, am I right?" "That¡¯s right." Tang Long smiled. "I had recruited Now and Forever at Vanished God City before transferring him over to Sky City to be the vice leader of Sword Lord of Jianghu. Also, allow me to correct a minor detail in your statement: Sword Lord of Jianghu belongs to the China VR department, not me. In fact, Sword Lord of Jianghu has no intention of participating in the war for dominance of Sky City. Their only duty is to become a guiding light of China in the upcoming Nation Wars, unite our purposes and protect Sky City!" I raised my glass. "Protect Sky City indeed. Just based on this alone, I promise that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will not become an enemy of Sword Lord of Jianghu." Tang Long laughed. "Thank you! With your blessing, I¡¯m sure that Sword Lord of Jianghu will be able to solidify their footing in Sky City!" However, Lin Yixin chose this moment to speak up. "You know, if there¡¯s one thing I must criticize Sword Lord of Jianghu about, it¡¯ll be their choice of territory. Of all the territories they could choose, they just had to choose the one that¡¯s right next to Snowy Cathaya. Have you heard of the saying, ¡®a man will not tolerate a snorer beside their bed¡¯? To be honest, I was a hair trigger away from launching an assault on Sword Lord of Jianghu prior to attending this banquet¡­" Lin Yixin pressed her lips into a smile before continuing, "Vice chief, I¡¯m just giving you a heads-up, but my subordinates are an unruly bunch, so there¡¯s a chance they may ignore my orders and attack your territory. If it does happen, please remember that I¡¯ve already warned you beforehand, and that it¡¯s out of this foolish girl¡¯s control, okay? Heehee~~" Tang Long looked a bit embarrassed, but he replied, "Yes, I understand. I¡¯ll tell the boys to cool their jets. I promise they¡¯ll keep a low profile inside the game!" "Like hell they will!" I voiced inside my head. I hadn¡¯t forgotten how arrogant Now and Forever and his goons had acted during the quarter-finals. They thought they could do whatever they wanted just because they had the support of the China VR department. I gave Lin Yixin¡¯s sleeve a tug before whispering, "Are you really planning to take Sword Lord of Jianghu¡¯s territory, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin stuck her tongue out playfully at me before whispering back, "To be honest, yeah. You didn¡¯t know, but that asshole Now and Forever had dispatched a troop of cavalry to patrol the area less than five hundred meters away from Silver Fir City. It¡¯s obvious that they¡¯re hostile toward us. If I hadn¡¯t told Purple Marquis and Nangong Lexi to control themselves, they would¡¯ve taken out their territory already." I gave it some thought before replying, "Let¡¯s give Tang Long some face for now. If we wreck him right after we promised we won¡¯t touch his territory, I¡¯m not sure what he¡¯ll do afterward. Heavenblessed may be an international game, but only an idiot would disregard the power he wields in China. I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t need me to tell you about the darkness on this side of the world. It¡¯s as black as ink, really!!!" Lin Yixin chuckled. "Of course I know. Is there anyone more corrupt than a politician?" ¡­¡­ Tang Long took another sip of wine before glancing at Stranger of Three Lifetimes. "Oh, I know you too, pretty. You¡¯re the guild leader of Blazing Hot Lips and Chinese CGL Hall of Famer, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, am I right? I¡¯ve seen a high resolution photo of you on the official website before¡­" "Yes, yes¡­" I could tell from her expression that her real thoughts were something like: "Vice chief my a.s.s, pooh pooh pooh!" As expected, Stranger of Three Lifetimes started in an unnaturally calm tone, "To be honest, I think it is a blessing to all Chinese players that our vice chief loves Heavenblessed from the bottom of his heart. After all, that is how we know that our vice chief will definitely be able to give everyone a fair gaming environment. Now, this is just my thoughts as an ignorant woman, but I don¡¯t think that it is wise for the China VR department to interfere with the Nation War directly, especially if they¡¯re going to do it through a guild like Sword Lord of Jianghu. During the WEL China nationals, Now and Forever had shown himself to be an arrogant man who would impose on others even though they did nothing to provoke his ire. In fact, Lu Chen himself was one of his victims. What will happen if someone like him is allowed to command the Nation War? It doesn¡¯t take a genius to notice that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and Blazing Hot Lips won¡¯t be able to operate normally with him in charge. With that in mind, how do you expect us to win a Nation War if we cannot even utilize our full strength?" Holy shit! Even as we stared in Stranger of Three Lifetimes in shock, we couldn¡¯t help but feel a new sense of respect for the lass. No one expected her to have the courage to voice all the words the rest of us were too scared to speak. I at the very least didn¡¯t have the courage to offend vice chief Tang Long publicly. Tang Long¡¯s expression grew even more unnatural, but he forced a smile on his face and replied, "I understand what you¡¯re saying. If it will satisfy you, I can promise everyone here that Sword Lord of Jianghu will not try to assume command or arrange the tactics of the upcoming Nation Wars. You are free to choose whoever you want to be your leader, and how you want to conduct this war. Again, Sword Lord of Jianghu just wants to be a guiding light that keeps our people from straying off the right path." I let out a cough before replying, "And we all know what that path is, don¡¯t we? It is to protect every inch of our homeland with our lives, and keep our enemies from setting foot in our homes." Tang Long smiled. "That is correct." Noticing that the atmosphere wasn¡¯t quite right, Rose hurriedly raised her glass and said with a smile, "Well said, Lu Chen! It is the natural duty of a CGL Hall of Famer to protect every inch of our homeland with their life!" This time Tang Long only nodded in agreement, but it didn¡¯t take a keen eye to notice that our words had unsettled the vice chief. This was without mentioning the Fruit Knife Goddess herself had warned quitely clearly that Snowy Cathaya could launch an attack on Sword Lord of Jianghu at any moment. To be honest though, face was something you gave yourself. Everything Sword Lord of Jianghu did had to be an order from Tang Long, so the embarrassment he received today could only be described as karma. Also, we were all a.d.u.l.ts here. We all knew that the mask we wore on our faces usually wasn''t a reflection of our true feelings. Seeing that the situation had been temporarily defused, Dong Xiang said, "Actually, I have one more news to share with everyone. Mr. Tang Long has recently been chosen to become the chairman of the CGL. Therefore, if there¡¯s anyone here who would like to apply to join the CGL Hall of Fame, feel free to consult vice chief Tang Long directly, hehe!" Beiming Xue looked at me and asked, "Big bro, do you think I¡¯m qualified to join the CGL Hall of Fame?" I gave it a thought before replying, "You can destroy half of the active CGL Hall of Famers right now, so you definitely already have the strength to qualify. As for the merit side of things, just contribute more during the Nation War, and you should be able to make it." Tang Long added. "He¡¯s right. Work hard, and I¡¯ll consider it!" I fell silent after that. Lin Yixin shot a wink and a smile at me before focusing on the food on top of her plate. The food was great, but the atmosphere was still odd to say the least. ¡­¡­ It was past 8 pm when the banquet was over. We all returned to our homes and continued to acc.u.mulate resources. Chapter 935: Can Never Repay Nothing much happened on the China server during the next few days. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls continued to grab every Resource Bag they could find to duplicate the Dragonscale Beasts and train the Dragonlight Archers. Enemy guilds like Candle Dragon and even friendly guilds like Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips and Purple Lily protested our actions because we had¡ªand still were¡ªscrewed up their plans to upgrade their territory completely, but we didn¡¯t listen as a matter of course. Meanwhile, Warsky Alliance embarked on an intense grinding trip to get their levels as high as possible before the WEL internationals, visiting every leveling ground and boss zone they could realistically tackle and clearing them out. Warsky even scanded "Let¡¯s surpass Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ average level before the WEL internationals!", but we all knew that that was impossible to achieve. Our average Level was 178, while theirs was 175. There was no way they could bridge that gap no matter what. ¡­¡­ Six days passed by in the blink of an eye, and before we knew it, it was the night before the WEL internationals. The flight to Los Angeles was tonight, so today¡¯s lunch was the last lunch we would be having in Suzhou in a while. Our team manager, Rose, was eating lunch with us. In fact, we had been acting together so frequently as of late that I wondered if she should¡¯ve just stayed the night in the apartment. It probably would¡¯ve been more convenient for her. "How¡¯s the guild doing recently?" He Yi looked at me while raising her chopsticks, "I was busy attending a meeting at Shandong for the past two days. Nothing big happened during this time, right?" "Nope!" Murong Mingyue replied while eating from her rice bowl. "We almost battled Warsky Alliance at Cyan Tiger Forest, but that¡¯s it!" "Oh? What happened exactly?" He Yi asked with a smile. Beiming Xue replied, "Yu Tong¡¯s party encountered a boss while they were grinding in Cyan Tiger Forest. However, two Warsky Alliance assassins ambushed and killed them in the middle of the boss battle, stealing all the boss experience and equipment. So, big bro and Chaos Moon surrounded and trapped the one thousand or so Warsky Alliance guild members who were grinding inside the forest. Those idiots could¡¯ve teleported back to the city, but they just had to taunt big bro and say something like, ¡®our boss and Lin Bing Dou Zhe is coming to save us!¡¯. So, big bro killed them all¡­" He Yi¡¯s eyes widened. "OMG. What did Warsky say?" Lian Xin replied, "Warsky nearly burst a blood vessel, but knowing that his people were in the wrong he simply requested us to return them the equipment we looted off the dead bodies. Everyone who was killed by Sister Chaos Moon lost half of their equipped items, or more! It was terrible¡­" He Yi grinned. "And then?" I replied while chewing at a chicken drumstick, "Duh! Not only did Yu Tong and her four mages lose a level, Yu Tong even dropped her main weapon! I could never show my face in Black Coast again if I had chosen to ignore their tears, could I? Also, Warsky City is a million miles away from Cyan Tiger Forest, but they choose to grind right next to Dark Moon City? It¡¯s obvious that Warsky had sent them over to f.u.c.k with us! We wouldn¡¯t be Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls if we didn¡¯t punch back, am I right?" Lian Xin balled her fists and echoed my sentiment. "I agree with big brother Lu Chen. We¡¯ll never concede a single step to our enemies! Warsky loves calling us all his friends, but he had never stopped coveting our Dark Moon City, that pretentious bastard. I¡¯m sure Warsky Alliance will attack us and rob us of Dark Moon City the second he finds the chance!" Sitting next to her, Rose giggled behind her palm. "Well, it is the one and only Rank 10 Undead Castle in the entire world, and it has a skill that duplicates mounts and another that trains mounted archers. Who doesn¡¯t want Dark Moon City right now? We¡¯re lucky that Lin Yixin is Lu Chen¡¯s half-girlfriend, or I bet that Snowy Cathaya would be the first guild to attack Dark Moon City! Do you believe me?" I considered Lin Yixin¡¯s personality for a second before nodding without hesitation. "Absolutely!" He Yi burst into a giggle. "I dare you to repeat that in front of Lin Yixin!" "Hahaha¡­" When the laughter ceased, I said, "At any rate, we have nothing to worry about. The five of us may have to travel to the USA and participate in the WEL internationals, but Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and everyone else are still at Dark Moon City. If anything, I welcome Warsky Alliance to try our 4000+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 1000 Dragonlight Archers!" Rose chuckled in agreement. "I agree. I don¡¯t think Warsky will act carelessly as long as the Dragonlight Cavalry is around to protect Dark Moon City. By the way, I¡¯m finding myself liking your guild more and more, so¡­ is it okay if I join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? We¡¯ll be a real family if you say yes¡­" He Yi chirped happily, "Of course it¡¯s okay! We¡¯re ecstatic to have you, Rose! I¡¯ll pair you up with Beiming so she can get you up to speed as soon as possible. These days, it¡¯s almost like you¡¯re a noob if you aren¡¯t Level 180 and seventh-promotion already¡­" ¡­¡­ When it was late afternoon, we traveled to Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Most of the participants including those who were competing in the friendly match¡ªStranger of Three Lifetimes, Luo River God of the Capital, Li Chengfeng, Warsky and Farewell Song¡ªhad already arrived. We sat together in the waiting hall and spent some time chatting to one another. When Warsky saw me, he walked up to me and pointed me in the nose, "Don¡¯t you think you went a little overboard, Lu Chen? Every single one of the 2347 items you took is very important to my brothers and sisters. They already lost a level, I can¡¯t imagine how I¡¯m going to convince them to accept this if I can¡¯t give them back their equipment. Be reasonable, dude." I shrugged. "I already distributed the loot to the real victims, Yu Tong¡¯s party. For all I know they might¡¯ve traded the equipment to other players, or sold them for gold already, so how am I supposed to retrieve them for you? And even if I could, what kind of vice leader would I be to do that to them? Surely you, a guild leader, knows this better than I do?" Warsky gritted his teeth, but Farewell Song talked him down while keeping a firm grip on his shoulder, "Calm down, Warsky. It¡¯s not like we can force Lu Chen to return the goods if he doesn¡¯t want to¡­" Warsky pointed at me again. "Hmph! You¡¯re a goddamned gangster, Lu Chen¡­" I looked at Beiming Xue and exclaimed in mock surprise, "Aiyo, you chose a real pretty mini skirt today, Beiming¡­" Lin Yixin: "Hmph! Both of you are goddamned gangsters¡­" ¡­¡­ Bored, Beiming Xue, He Yi, Lin Yixin and Murong Mingyue played dou dizhu to pass the time while Li Chengfeng, Luo River God of the Capital and Warsky watched from the sidelines. I myself bought a Ray magazine and feasted my eyes upon the photos of beautiful m.a.t.u.r.e women and cute girls. Stranger of Three Lifetimes sat beside me and leaned over to check out what I was reading. She immediately burst into a giggle when she saw the contents. "Pervert¡­" "..." She spent a moment to stretch her back before crossing her arms in front of her c.h.e.s.t. "Lu Chen, there¡¯s only seven days left until our agreed time. It¡¯s time for you to give back my mages and my Yu Tong!" I replied, "Sure. But as you can see, the waters are rather murky as of late, and that Warsky wouldn¡¯t stop salivating at my Dark Moon City. If you take back your mages now, it¡¯ll be like stabbing us in the back, ya know? I don¡¯t mind if you choose not to help us during our time of need, but stabbing us in the back? Where is your conscience, girl? In fact, why don¡¯t we extend our contract for another month? Surely you can spare the manpower!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes glared at me. "What the f.u.c.k, do you think you¡¯re Liu Bei or something? You think you can just borrow Jinzhou and never return it? No way! They¡¯re all my flesh and blood¡­" I thought for a moment before answering, "Fine, we¡¯ll speak again when we hit the deadline. Right now, I need them for as long as you can lend them to me¡­" "Mn." Stranger of Three Lifetimes nodded lightly. It was at this moment we heard some noise at the inspection area. Curious, I put down the magazine, straightened my clothes a little and walked over to see what the commotion was about. Stranger of Three Lifetimes seemed a bit ill for some reason, but she followed me after letting out a cough. There was a group of people standing around the inspection area. When we got closer, we saw a 50-year-old man in plain clothes sitting on the floor and holding a bag of black substance. The plastic was damaged, so some of its contents had spilled. The dazed old man looked around helplessly as he spoke in a thick dialect, "It¡¯s medicine, it¡¯s not that¡­ that¡­ something you said¡­" However, the foreigner employee couldn¡¯t understand what he was saying. He simply picked up the medicine bag and almost shouted at the old man, "What¡¯s this? Tell me! What¡¯s this thing!?" The old man couldn¡¯t understand him either, but he hurriedly put his hand around the spilled medicine on the ground and said, "Don¡¯t, don¡¯t step on them¡­" The foreigner let out an angry shout, tossed the medicine bag on the ground and crushed it beneath his boots. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Stranger of Three Lifetimes finally squeezed her way in and saw the old man kneeling on the ground. She immediately burst into tears while muttering in shock, "Dad¡­" "What?" I exclaimed in shock. Stranger of Three Lifetimes ran toward the old man like crazy and put her arms around him protectively. She cried loudly at the inspection personnel around her, "Get lost, get lost! This is medicine, Chinese medicine for treating asthma, you bastards!" This time the message got through, and the foreigner paused with a shocked expression on his face. Another female employee walked over, gave the contents of the medicine bag a sniff and nodded. At this point, Stranger of Three Lifetimes was crying like a baby. While she supported her father to her feet, I bent down to pick up the spilled medicine while explaining things to the surrounding employees. The truth was revealed after a short while. As it turned out Stranger of Three Lifetimes had asthma, and her father came all the way to the airport because he thought that she had forgotten to bring her medicine. However, the airport inspection personnel thought that he was carrying illegal drugs, and the misunderstanding kept growing until we finally showed up. Stranger of Three Lifetimes ate dinner with her father before stuffing a lot of cash into his wallet and sending him home in a taxi. When she saw the reluctant, loving look in her father¡¯s eyes before he departed, she broke into tears once more. ¡­¡­ Back in the waiting hall, I sat next to Stranger of Three Lifetimes while she cried for a very long time. I accompanied her in companionable silence. A long time later, she looked up and said in a quivering voice, "He¡¯s an honest man. He spent his whole life caring for the people around him, but never for himself." I nodded. "Mn. Why don¡¯t you tell me about him?" She replied through her sobbing, "When I was still very, very young, dad told me he¡¯s going to teach me an important life skill that¡¯ll make sure that I never go hungry. After that, he taught me how to eat rice¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes burst out in laughter at her own joke, but it wasn¡¯t long before it turned into sobs once more. "During high school, I fell in and out of a relationship and felt really bad at the time. He gave me 3000 RMB and told me to buy whatever I want to make me feel better. It¡¯s only until later that I learn that he gave three months of his income. I¡­" "..." "The first day I attended university, he walked me all the way to my hostel and watched me as I went up the stairs. I know that he misses me dearly and doesn¡¯t really want to live away from me. That spring, he took a train from Wuhan all the way to Hangzhou just to bring me a bag of freshly picked cherries. He said it¡¯s because it¡¯s my favorite fruit. I¡­" "..." She spoke and cried and spoke and cried, "Dad once said that I should probably get married when the cherry tree in our courtyard is as tall as he was. The cherry tree is really tall, but my dad has grown older and shorter. I¡­!" "..." Finally, she put her head-on my shoulder weakly before muttering, "I can never repay my dad¡¯s love for me." Chapter 936: Pre-match Challenge The next day, we arrived at Los Angeles and got on a big bus right away. It was a sleepy ride until the team leader woke us up for a meal, which we finished in no time before going back to sleep again. It was so that we could adjust to the time difference and compete at our best. Starting tomorrow, the WEL internationals would begin, and the 32 best teams from all over the world would battle each other to decide the world champion! ¡­¡­ We ate another meal at a Chinese restaurant beneath our hotel, but it tasted like western food no matter how Chinese they claimed to be. Lin Yixin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Warsky, Li Chengfeng and I loved spicy food, but the food here was anything but spicy, and the dishes were overly sweet for some reason. In a sense, it was almost revolting to eat. After we returned to the hotel, I lay on my bed and forced myself to fall asleep. The competition would begin in 16 hours, so I planned to sleep for 10 hours before spending the remaining time preparing and scouting our opponents. It wasn¡¯t like I didn¡¯t want to head out and explore the city, but my spoken English was third-rate at best. He Yi had no such problems as a matter of course, but it didn¡¯t feel right to make her my personal translator. She was the CEO of Raincube, the partner of Blue Star, and a future billionaire after all. While I was trying to fall asleep, I recalled my brief conversation with Stranger of Three Lifetimes at the airport¡ª "You¡¯re a true friend, Lu Chen. Thank you!" "Am I? Does that mean I don¡¯t need to return that 1000-mage party you borrowed me? Please, Momo¡­" "Fine, but I have a condition. I want Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to train me 1000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen in a month; a cavalry troop that belongs to Blazing Hot Lips and me alone. How does that sound?" "No problem!" "Good!" ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t hoard the Dragonlight Cavalry like a dragon. While it was undoubtedly the most valuable unit at the current stage of the game right now, it was nothing compared to a friend like Stranger of Three Lifetimes. Confidants weren¡¯t limited to bros only. Sometimes, you could find them in a member of the opposite s.e.x as well. The next day, I was woken up very early in the morning. "Wake up, Lu Chen! Two people in the China server became Divine Generals last night!" He Yi called out to me from outside the door. The news had startled me to full wakefulness immediately. After I put on my clothes and opened the door, I found He Yi and Lin Yixin standing side by side. I asked them, "What happened? Who were the two people who became Divine Generals?" "What the f.u.c.k? Didn¡¯t they come with us to participate in the WEL? Where on earth did they find the time to become Divine Generals?" "Well, they spent last night killing bosses to grind levels, and it so happened that they both ascended at the same time¡­" "F.u.c.k.i.n.g hell¡­" ¡­¡­ I checked my phone and opened Heavenblessed¡¯s official website. As expected, two new Divine General Skills were listed on the Divine General Ranking¡ª Protection of the Divine Flames: Summon the power of the divine and transform it into flames that protect oneself. Deal 5% HP damage to all nearby enemy targets per second. Skill effectiveness is reduced by 90% against bosses, and costs 5 Divine Energy Points per minute. Skill exclusive to Song of Ice and Fire. Dark God Transformation: Summon the power of the gods and devils and resurrect the Dark God¡¯s power in the user¡¯s body. Greatly increase all stats and combat abilities for as long as the skill is active. Skill effectiveness depends on Tactics, and costs 10 Divine Energy Points per minute. Skill exclusive to Farewell Song. Both skills were super good. Protection of the Divine Flames turned the frozen berserker into a flaming porcupine who burned anyone who got too close to him for 5% of their HP per second. What this meant was that he could stand next to a full health opponent and do nothing, and his Divine General Skill would burn them to death in 20 seconds or so. It was a most deadly skill in PvP battles! Farewell Song¡¯s Divine General Skill was pretty imbalanced as well. The name of the Divine General Skill, Dark God Transformation, was plenty cool already, but the actual effects of the skill were even better. Dark God Transformation enhanced all of Farewell Song¡¯s stats and combat abilities drastically¡ªwhich, from the sound of it, was very similar to Li Chengfeng¡¯s Battle Soul Possession¡ªand Farewell Song was already a world-class pro in solo combat in the first place. If the terrain was something like a forest, even I had to bring my full attention to bear and fight him seriously. Now that he was armed with Dark God Transformation, I had no doubt that he was now one of the top five duelists in China! He Yi shrugged. "I actually helped Yu Tong¡¯s party to kill a boss last night, but I wasn¡¯t lucky enough to learn a Divine General Skill. What can you do?" Lin Yixin said, "You should go wash your face. We¡¯ll wait for you at the restaurant, okay? The 16th-finals of the internationals will begin in just a couple of hours!" "Mn!" Today was definitely one of those days where I had to put on my serious face. Yes, my team bested all opposition and became the national champion of China, but in a sense it was like stamping out all the stirring rebels in your country before declaring yourself the emperor¡ªit wasn¡¯t really something to be proud of. Beating the strongest teams in the world and becoming the world champion though, now that was an entirely different story. It was our dream to carve our guild¡¯s name in the record books of Eternal Moon Corporation. ¡­¡­ After I took a quick shower, I walked to the restaurant and joined the Chinese players who were already having their breakfast. Unfortunately, the food that was being served was stuff like tomato sauce, spaghetti and many more dishes that definitely were not very Chinese-friendly. Staring at a plate of spaghetti with a decidedly dissatisfied expression on his face, Li Chengfeng asked, "Er¡­ Rose, can I order an egg fried rice or something?" Rose replied, "Nope. Just put up with this for now." Li Chengfeng complained, "I know I¡¯m just an insignificant player here to participate in an insignificant friendly match, but I¡¯m still their guest, dammit. What kind of food service doesn¡¯t take the nationality of their guests into consideration?" I whispered to him, "Chengfeng, I saw a shop selling dried fish on the opposite side of the hotel just now. When today¡¯s match is over, we¡¯ll buy some dried fish, chili sauce, c.u.min or whatever and barbecue them at a fireplace, okay?" He Yi shook her head at our antics as she sat down next to us with a plate of food. "You still need to eat something now, Chengfeng. It¡¯s a bad idea to play on an empty stomach. Also, it¡¯s not like the friendly tournament doesn¡¯t reward you with anything. I heard that the champion reward for the tournament is 1 level and 1 Luck, which is a lot even though there won¡¯t be any prize to draw." Li Chengfeng exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "Really?" "Of course. What¡¯s the point of lying to you about this?" Not far away, Farewell Song and Warsky widened their eyes at the same time. "F.u.c.k, in that case we must win the friendly match no matter what. Don¡¯t you agree, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Luo River God of the Capital?" The two girls looked up at the same time and said, "Be quiet. We¡¯re eating right now!" "Oh right, did they reveal the rewards for the internationals yet?" I asked. Lin Yixin smiled. "We¡¯ll know once we enter the venue!" "Mn." After breakfast was over, we made one last preparation, grabbed our gaming helmets and departed toward our destination. The WEL offline matches were held in Los Angeles greatest e-sports stadium as a matter of course. By the time we showed up, there were already a sea of people waiting for their turn to enter the stadium. We lifted our c.h.e.s.t badges and prepared for a hard fight ahead of us! I looked up at a large display where the WEL internationals reward were listed¡ª 17th to 32th: Level +2, Luck +2, 10000 USD per player, and a chance to draw at best a Heaven-grade item! 9th to 16th: Level +3, Luck +3, 20000 USD per player, and a chance to draw at best a Heaven-grade item! 5th to 8th: Level +4, Luck +4, 100000 USD per player, and a chance to draw at best an Immortal-grade item! 3rd to 4th: Level +5, Luck +5, 200000 USD per player, and a chance to draw at best an Immortal-grade item! 2nd: Level +6, Luck +6, 500000 USD per player, and 1 chance to draw a Divine Armament¨Clevel item! 1st: Level + 8, Luck + 8, 1 million USD per player, and 1 chance to draw an item beyond Divine Armament¨Clevel! ¡­¡­ But Farewell Song took a shot at his boss. "Boss, I dare you to find a champion team who isn¡¯t a millionaire already..." Warsky: "..." It was at this moment Rose pointed to the right and said, "Come on, our seats are over there. As you may have noticed, there is a vending machine not far away from our seats. Very convenient¡­" As we moved toward our waiting area, hundreds of Chinese exchange students sitting behind our seats raised red banners with the words, "China must win!" I grinned. "F.u.c.k¡­" However, Japan¡¯s waiting area happened to be situated not far away from ours. There were two teams in their seats already, and one of them wearing a black sports outfit walked up to the handrails and shot us a thumbs-up from afar. Warsky guessed, "Is he¡­ praising us or something?" Li Chengfeng snorted in disdain. "What are you, a child? Don¡¯t you see what he¡¯s doing?" As expected, the Japanese athlete swiftly rotated his thumb downward into a universal gesture that was just as familiar as the thumbs-up. Enraged, Warsky immediately walked up to our side of the handrail and swore in the standard Zhengzhou dialect, "You want to die, you little bitch?!" At this point, Li Chengfeng and I were riled up as well, so we joined Warsky at the handrails and glared at the Japanese athlete. After I put a hand on Warsky¡¯s shoulder and pulled him back slightly, I said, "Is that so? Then let us see who has the better ¡®spirit¡¯ on the battlefield. Try not to get slaughtered like a dog before you meet us in the finals, okay?" The Japanese player¡¯s face darkened. "Hmph!" ¡­¡­ After we returned to our waiting area, Rose said to us in a soft voice, "Where is your impulse control, people? We¡¯re in public right now!" Warsky said, "I wouldn¡¯t act like that if that bitchass Japanese didn¡¯t act the way he did!" Rose glanced at him and said, "Did you forget you¡¯re here to participate in a friendly competition, Warsky? Where¡¯s the friendliness? He barely even tried, and you fell for his taunt hook, line and sinker!" That got Warsky to look embarrassed. "Who¡¯s that bastard anyway?" Sitting beside me, Lin Yixin let out a chuckle and hugged my arm a little. "You don¡¯t know him, do you? If I remember correctly, he¡¯s said to be the best swordsman in the Japan server, and that he met no match for three years straight. I think he¡¯s called¡­ well, I can¡¯t remember his ID¡­" He Yi added expressionlessly, "It¡¯s Red Maple. He¡¯s the number one player in the JGL, and he¡¯s been a swordsman since Spirit of Grief. It¡¯s said that he hit his peak in Spirit of Grief, and that he¡¯s currently the strongest player in the Japanese server. He¡¯s also in charge of a super guild, but I can¡¯t remember the name¡­" I replied carelessly, "Who cares? We mop the floor with him if we run into him later. It¡¯s that simple!" Warsky: "..." Chapter 937: The First Comeback Match Cheers and applause filled the stadium as more teams entered the venue. This was especially true when the American e-sports athletes showed up. It was because their legend, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, had shown up in person. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow looked 28 years old at most, and he was dressed in a black sportswear that gave him a spirited look. He carried himself with pride and scorn toward his lesser as he and his teammates walked to their waiting area with his gaming helmet. It was the right he had earned through his hard work and persistence. Suddenly, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow stopped in his tracks when his gaze landed on our waiting area. A flame ignited in his eyes as he uttered, "You!" I knew he was talking to me. Even discounting the War of Dawn City, it was hardly the first time the two of us had encountered one another. So I rose to my feet, walked to the edge of the waiting area and shot him a smile. "See you in the arena!" "Hmph!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow let out a cold snort before leaving with his teammates. Beiming Xue asked me, "Why didn¡¯t you speak to him in English, big bro?" The question caught me a little off-guard, but I shook my head and replied, "Why should I? In fact, I¡¯m the one who should ask why he didn¡¯t speak to me in Chinese." Lian Xin giggled. "Well said. Anyway, the battle¡¯s about to begin¡­" Rose expanded on that. "The 8 teams that will compete in the friendly competition will go on stage first. Obviously, the host will be speaking in English. Does any of you know how to speak the language?" Warsky and Farewell Song shook their heads dumbly. Li Chengfeng shrugged before replying, "I only know ¡®yes¡¯ and ¡®no¡¯..." Luo River God of the Capital rose to her feet with a helpless smile. "You people are hopeless. I¡¯ll do it!" "Mn." Luo River God of the Capital was a fairly reputable group director in northern China. It was said that she never needed a translator¡¯s help when conversing with foreign merchants, and that she was well-versed in three languages: Mandarin, English, and Shandong dialect. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng, Luo River God of the Capital, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Warsky and Farewell Song grabbed their gaming helmets and went on stage after they were called. A brief introduction later, they entered the battle rooms to set up their equipment, and an arena appeared on the large displays. The arena was a 200x200 yard square because the match format was 5v5. The first match was between China and Korea. Two of the Korean players were Heroic Bannermen judging from the banners behind their backs, but I already knew that they were going to lose no matter what. Warsky grabbed his sword and activated Great Earth Transformation with a cry. He then called out to the dragon warrior and said, "Li Chengfeng, Charge with me! Let¡¯s take out their archer first!" But Li Chengfeng sneered at him and said, "Get lost. You¡¯re not the team leader, so why should I listen to you? In fact, why don¡¯t we compete and see who can score the most kills?" Farewell Song smiled at that. "Sure, let¡¯s do that!" Farewell Song shouted and activated Great Earth Transformation. A second shout later, all his muscles bulged like crazy, and he suddenly grew a couple of inches taller. The black cyclone surrounding him made it look like the advent of some horrible god or devil. It was of course his Divine General Skill, Dark God Transformation! Thud! The double boost was apparently insane, because Farewell Song shot forward like a literal lightning bolt and cut down an archer at the front before he even knew what was going on. The 150k damage number rising above the poor guy¡¯s head was shocking to say the least. Unwilling to be outdone, Li Chengfeng activated Battle Soul Possession to increase his Attack drastically and swing the Augustus¡¯ Spear at the two enemy warriors. Three strikes later, he bent lower and attempted to trip them by sweeping at their legs. The two warriors fell backward in surprise, but before they could do anything else an Ice Blast hit them in the face. Stranger of Three Lifetimes said from behind, "Excuse me? Sister Wang Luo and I are here, you know?" "What a stomp¡­" Rose commented with a smile on her face. I broke into a smile myself before replying, "Frankly, not even our team has a high chance of beating them. Each of them is a powerhouse in their own right, and Farewell Song, Li Chengfeng and Wang Luo are goddamned monsters. They are one of the best players in the China server right now!" Rose nodded in agreement. "If only we could recruit them all into Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. We would¡¯ve been invincible." He Yi chuckled. "That will never happen. We may all share the same dream, but our paths belong to us and us alone. We may cross paths with one another sometimes, but those points of contact must be filled with endless battles." "And when the end arrives, only one will remain standing above them all¡­" Lin Yixin added. Rose shook her head at their comments. "Man, Heavenblessed is full of battle maniacs¡­" "Duh. This is no farming simulator¡­" ¡­¡­ As expected, the other teams were strong, but nowhere strong enough to stop our team from making it to the final. It wasn¡¯t an easy battle, but the conclusion became clear when Warsky successfully stunned three people with Ghost Banner, and transformed Farewell Song and Li Chengfeng killed a player each during the stun duration. Warsky was ultimately killed by the enemy¡¯s assassin, but Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Luo River God of the Capital from the backline and ended the match in decisive fashion. Just like that, they won a level and 1 Luck for their troubles. The reward aside, it was a worthwhile trip because the flight tickets, accommodation cost and more were all covered by Eternal Moon Corporation. Also, now that they were done, they could spend the rest of their time ogling beautiful western babes and handsome western men. Group A Soul Battle Robes (China) VS Hero Alliance (USA) Mad Panzer (Germany) VS Snowbird (Russia) Corn Taste (Italy) VS Heavenly Disaster (Korea) Vast Ocean (Japan) VS Mad Beast (Iran) Group B Olympus (USA) VS Dark City (England) Snowy Cathaya (China) VS Earth Knights (Turkey) Wheel of Sun and Moon (Korea) VS Burning Sand (Egypt) Group C Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls (China) VS Storm (Ukraine) God¡¯s Domain (Japan) VS Don''t Cry for Me Argentina (Argentina) Above the Black Sea (France) VS Throne of the Wild (Korea) Rumbling Thunder (Brazil) VS The Storm (USA) Group D Future Faith (USA) VS Cyan Beast (India) At Sunset (Israel) VS Stribog (Russia) Candle Dragon (China) VS Forest Tiger (India) ¡­¡­ He Yi chuckled when she saw the match-up. "This is very balanced. All four Chinese teams are in different groups. Looks like we¡¯ll all be fighting for ourselves¡­" Not far away, a smiling Song of Ice and Fire clenched his fists and declared, "Who knows, we may even have an all-Chinese finals, hahahaha¡­" However, Ringwraith shot us a hostile look and said, "I don¡¯t know. Soul Battle Robes is strong enough to make it to the quarter-finals at least, but eh¡­ let¡¯s just say that there¡¯s always going to be people that are all bark and no bite¡­" This pissed off Purple Marquis, Candlelight Shadow and a couple more people instantly. Blue Sky Scar yelled, "Watch your mouth, Ringwraith! Who are you calling all bark and no bite?" Ringwraith retorted fearlessly, "I¡¯m talking about you and your team. What are you gonna do about it?" Song of Ice and Fire shushed him. "Save the argument for another time, Ringwraith. We¡¯ll embarrass ourselves before the foreigners if we continue. Hmph! They¡¯ll know what we mean very soon anyway!" Lin Yixin taunted with a smile, "Oh? Last time I remember, your team got 3:1¡¯d by Ancient Sword. You sure you have the right to make such claims?" Song of Cloud and Water frowned and spoke up, "Alright, cut it out. We¡¯re all representing our country here, so let¡¯s at least look the part as united and¡­ do well in the competition. Soul Battle Robes will be fighting first, and our very first opponent is the strongest guild from Hero City, Hero Alliance, also known as Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s guild. We¡¯ll lose horribly if we underestimate our enemy, understand?" It wasn¡¯t long before the host invited Soul Battle Robes on stage. After briefly introducing their team¡¯s history, it was Hero Alliance¡¯s turn to step on stage. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow appeared with three fairly young guys, and I had no doubt that they were all the elites of elites in Hero City. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was the best player in the USA, so anyone he would pick to join his team couldn¡¯t possibly be a weakling! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow shot Song of Ice and Fire a somewhat challenging smile before speaking in shaky Chinese, "I heard you are¡­ strong? I dare you to fight me in the first match!" Song of Ice and Fire was a hot-blooded male, so of course he wasn¡¯t going to back down from a challenge. He immediately growled, "Sure! Like I¡¯m afraid of you. You¡¯re a coward if you don¡¯t show up for the first match!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow smiled. "Sure!" ¡­¡­ Both Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and Song of Ice and Fire were Divine Generals. It was certainly an interesting way to draw the curtains of the WEL internationals. Song of Cloud and Water said with a frown, "To be honest, I didn¡¯t want to send you first. It doesn¡¯t bode well for our team¡¯s chances." But Song of Ice and Fire replied, "Don¡¯t worry. Brother Seven drank with me before I returned to Soul Battle Robes, and he told me who to watch out for in the server such as Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Wind Fantasy, Candlelight Shadow and more. I won¡¯t let down my old ID, Dawning Wind Waning Moon. Even now I¡¯m still very confident in my strength. Just watch, I¡¯ll return to my peak form in less than a week, and when that happens I will defeat all these so-called top-tier experts. This fight with Vienna¡¯s Sorrow will be the first fight to return to my form!" Knowing that there was no way she could change his mind, Song of Cloud and Water nodded. Chapter 938: Soul Battle Robes’ Sorrow Both sides¡¯ team leaders entered their line-ups, and it wasn¡¯t long before they were displayed on the big screen. As expected, that small but hateful intermission had caused the aces of both teams to square off against one another right from the start¡ª 1v1: Vienna¡¯s Sorrow LV-189 Berserker VS Song of Ice and Fire LV-186 Frozen Berserker 1v1: Beethoven¡¯s Joy LV-186 Knight of Stars VS Ringwraith LV-185 Undead Mage 1v1: Da Vinci Code LV-185 Shadow Archer VS God Bone LV-185 Iron Knight 1v1: Death Wish LV-187 Mage VS Song of Cloud and Water LV-185 Magic Knight 2v2: Vienna¡¯s Sorrow LV-189 Berserker & Beethoven¡¯s Joy LV-186 Knight of Stars VS Song of Ice and Fire LV-186 Frozen Berserker & Ringwraith LV-185 Undead Mage ¡­¡­ We were a bit surprised when we saw the match-up. No one thought that Vienna¡¯s Sorrow could produce such a line-up. Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes burned with the flames of excitement and challenge as she said, "I read up on Hero Alliance before coming to Los Angeles, and it looks like the rumors are true after all. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is a clan leader with two top-tier Heroic Bannermen under his roof. The first one is Knight of Stars, and the second one is Shadow Archer. They are also the two vice leaders of Hero Alliance. That Death Wish is also a super mage with incredibly high Magic Attack. I can¡¯t wait to challenge this team myself¡­" Li Chengfeng said with a frown, "I have a bad feeling about this." Stranger of Three Lifetimes nodded in agreement. "Me too. Soul Battle Robes may be way stronger than they used to be, but this is the worst match-up they could possibly have especially for Song of Ice and Fire. You all heard what he said earlier, didn¡¯t you? Song of Ice and Fire was Dawning Wind Waning Moon in Spirit of Grief. That youngster is now an uncle, but his skill is almost as good as ever. Hmph!" Lin Yixin exclaimed in realization, "Oh, so this is how Dawning Wind Waning Moon looks like? I once challenged him around the end game of Spirit of Grief, and he proved to be an incredibly strong player with a fierce and decisive style. Now that I think about it, Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s fighting style was always quite similar. If his reaction speed hasn¡¯t slowed with age, I would¡¯ve had a harder time beating him last time." He Yi said while staring at the screen, "The match¡¯s about to begin. Let¡¯s see if Dawning Wind Waning Moon or the number one expert of the USA server is stronger¡­" I shrugged. "Isn¡¯t that obvious?" The team manager of Soul Battle Robes, a beautiful woman who was contracted under Samsung Electronics immediately shot me a look. "Don¡¯t jinx it, Lu Chen! You may not believe in Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s strength, but I do!" I nodded. "Sure. Let¡¯s see what happens after this!" ¡­¡­ Thud! The battle began, and bits of rocks flew into the air. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow charged toward Song of Ice and Fire while the latter waited patiently with his axe at the ready. When the berserker was 5 yards away from him, Song of Ice and Fire abruptly moved to the right and swung his axe at the same time. He managed to land a solid hit on the berserker¡¯s shoulder. "Heh!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow turned on Great Earth Transformation at the same time he shifted his body so that the strike would land on his shoulder armor. Then, he rotated on his feet and launched a kick! Bang! His boots collided with the Fire Dragon Axe¡¯s handle and forced an opening. He immediately capitalized on it by slashing at Song of Ice and Fire with Beast Howl Slash. It was Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s signature skill; a skill that greatly increased his Attack and ignored his target¡¯s Defense at the same time. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow acted too swiftly for Song of Ice and Fire to parry or evade. Furious, the frozen berserker decided to trade blow for blow by executing his own Frozen Flurry! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was shocked. He wasn¡¯t expecting his opponent to be this relentless. That being said, his reaction wasn¡¯t slow in the slightest, and he immediately retaliated with Berserk Triple Slash. Berserk Triple Slash¡¯s damage was average, but its crit rate was much higher than usual! Chiang chiang chiang... Vienna¡¯s Sorrow stepped away from Song of Ice and Fire after the exchange at the same time his sword burst into light. It was his Divine General Skill, Ice Stream Blade. He slashed three times and scored three hits on Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s armor. Blood dripped down the corner of the frozen berserker¡¯s lips, but he didn¡¯t relent in the slightest. He abruptly closed the distance between himself and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, grabbed the handle of his weapon, and thrust his axe through Vienna Sorrow¡¯s c.h.e.s.t. Then, he used the skill Splitting Heaven and Earth! 119283! The skill deleted almost all of Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s HP, causing the American player to turn as white as a sheet. He hurriedly zigzagged to Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s flank and slashed at him, shouting, "Die!" Pu! 178988! Unfortunately for Song of Ice and Fire, the Barrier Break was also a critical hit. He dropped to his knees and died just like that. As predicted, Song of Ice and Fire was a tad slower than his opponent. It should¡¯ve been a closer battle considering his class and character skill advantage. Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s Divine General Skill was pretty amazing, and Protection of the Divine Flames had burned away much of Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s HP. If he was able to hang on just a bit longer, he could¡¯ve killed the berserker via burn damage alone at the end there. The second round began in no time. Both combatants entered the battlefield once more, and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow said with a smile, "I read the database earlier. You used to be Dawning Wind Waning Moon, weren¡¯t you? I remember you. You were a legend in Spirit of Grief. Too bad for you, this isn¡¯t your era anymore!" Song of Ice and Fire replied indifferently, "There¡¯s no such thing as ¡®my era¡¯. And even if I have lost my will to reach the top, my will to protect is still right here with me. For Soul Battle Robes, for my promise to my friend, I will do my best even if my body isn¡¯t up to the task!" "That¡¯s a grand promise!" Song of Ice and Fire laughed loudly before pointing his sword at his sword at the frozen berserker. "Since you are a worthy opponent, I¡¯m not going to play around any longer. Let¡¯s decide a victor between us right now!" "As you wish!" The Fire Dragon Axe and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow sword clashed once more as their owners fought with all they got. Since both combatants were extremely prideful, they used their Divine General Skills only after they had exhausted their normal skills. Unfortunately, Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s skill and equipment were ultimately a tad inferior to his opponent¡¯s. Even with imbalanced character skills like Ice Recovery and Bone Wall, it wasn¡¯t enough to turn the tides. Three minutes later, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow sent Song of Ice and Fire out of the arena at the cost of 85% of his HP! The score turned 1:0. The super guild, Hero Alliance, had scored first blood against the runner-up of China! ¡­¡­ After Song of Ice and Fire teleported back to the waiting area, he faced Song of Cloud and Water and spoke without a shred of guilt in his tone, "I lost, but I gave it my all, Cloud and Water! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is as strong as his reputation suggests. He truly is the man who dominated Hero City, Seven Star City and Titan City." Ringwraith nodded and said, "It¡¯s my turn!" "Yeah!" Ringwraith¡¯s opponent was Beethoven¡¯s Joy the Knight of Stars. It was a very jovial-sounding name, but the player himself was as steady as a rock. He rode a black warhorse, and his aura alone was very imposing. Thud! Ringwraith slammed the b.u.t.t of his scepter against the ground and ghastly flames around himself. His opponent was moving too fast for him to use Bone Cage, so he simply cast his super AoE spell instead. "Night of the Undead Dragon!" However, the knight waved his spear and summoned a blazing shield around himself. According to the combat log, the blazing shield was called "Scorching Shield of Stars", and it could nullify any three hits its user received! The undead dragons engulfed Beethoven¡¯s Joy, but all they managed to do was cause a bunch of misses to appear around his body. After that, well, there was no after for Ringwraith. The knight rode through the spell, reached Ringwraith in the blink of an eye and swung his spear four times in a row. It was a quadruple-hit skill, Armor Break Flurry! Put¡­ After Ringwraith¡¯s Magic Shield shattered under the explosive skill, the knight unleashed Star Slash that tore right through Ringwraith¡¯s body! The amazing undead mage was one-shot just like that! Song of Cloud and Water nodded back. "I trust you¡­" As it turned out, Ringwraith¡¯s confidence wasn¡¯t blind arrogance after all. For two rounds in a row, Ringwraith used Night of the Undead Dragon to bait his enemy into using his invincibility skills. While Beethoven¡¯s Joy was in the middle of a transition, he trapped him with Bone Cage and killed him twice in a row. Everyone in the China server already knew how strong Bone Cage was. It was a skill that even a player like Purple Marquis couldn¡¯t do much against, and Beethoven¡¯s Joy wasn¡¯t necessarily a player stronger than Purple Marquis. Just like that, Ringwraith successfully drew the game for Soul Battle Robes! The overall score turned 1:1. New hope had appeared to Soul Battle Robes! Unfortunately, the bigger they are, the harder they fall, and this saying also perfectly applied to hopes. The third match was Da Vinci Code the Shadow Archer versus God Bone the Iron Knight, and it was a complete one-man show for Da Vinci Code. He had powerful skills such as a Shadow Arrow that dealt 200% his base damage and slowed his opponent, and Berserk Arrow that crit 100% of the time. More importantly, he knew how to weave them properly into the standard archer kit of ice-element slowing arrows, damage-dealing fire arrows and multiple-hit Volley, all while kiting the hell out of God Bone. In the end, his kiting technique was too perfect to overcome, and even if that wasn¡¯t the case the shadow archer was far stronger in terms of stats and character skills! Thud! God Bone dropped to his knees. He lost. The overall score turned 1:2. Soul Battle Robes was behind Hero Alliance again, and it was match point for Hero Alliance. If the third match was a despairing match for Soul Battle Robes, then the fourth match was the final nail in the coffin. Hero Alliance¡¯s mage, Death Wish, was an intelligent guy who obviously studied Soul Battle Robes¡¯ battle footage before because he displayed clear knowledge of Song of Cloud and Water¡¯s ultimate skill, Soul Binding Art. After beautifully dodging the magic knight¡¯s CC skill twice in a row, he successfully halted Soul Battle Robes¡¯ dreams in the 16th-finals. Chapter 939: Flawless Victory ¡°Soul Battle Robes has been eliminated?¡± Rose¡¯s mouth was agape as she stared at the score. It looked like she wasn¡¯t expecting this to happen at all. ¡°But they¡¯re the team that took out even Snowy Cathaya¡­ How could they possibly lose to their opponent 1:3¡­?¡± Warsky commented indifferently, ¡°Hmph, it was obvious that half the battle was already lost the moment the match-ups were revealed. Song of Ice and Fire was Soul Battle Robes¡¯ point securer, but he fell for Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and met him in a battle he had no chance of winning. Not only that, Hero Alliance has three famous Heroic Bannermen in their team, while Soul Battle Robes only has one former star, Dawning Wind Waning Moon. Everyone else was a no-name until the WEL competition!¡± However, I objected to his statement and said, ¡°That statement¡¯s a bit too one-sided, Warsky. Just because a player is unknown doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯re a weakling for sure. Ringwraith is the living example of this. He¡¯s the only one in Soul Battle Robes who scored a point in this match, isn¡¯t he? And even if we assumed he got lucky somehow, the fact is he¡¯s strong enough to be a Top 5 mage in China. Given the right opportunities, even an average player can turn into a true expert.¡± Warsky smiled. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s true. If I hadn''t undergone a hidden class promotion and ascended to a Divine General, I would still be struggling to reach the top¡­¡± Li Chengfeng said with a grin, ¡°Yes, you definitely would¡­¡± Farewell Song shot the dragon warrior a look. ¡°Save your personal attacks, Li Chengfeng. Warsky is my guild leader, and he¡¯s not for the likes of you to criticize!¡± Li Chengfeng retorted fearlessly, ¡°Oh? Is that a plea for education I heard? Don¡¯t think you¡¯re something just because you have Dark God Transformation now, boy. Another player may fear you, but I, Li Chengfeng do not! Feel free to 1v1 me anytime you wish!¡± Li Chengfeng broke into a daring grin. ¡°Nice. Everyone here will be a witness to this bet!¡± I nodded in acknowledgment. ¡°Sure, no problem!¡± I had full confidence in Li Chengfeng¡¯s abilities. Although Farewell Song was stronger than ever before, Li Chengfeng had Battle Soul Possession, and he had the Dragon Warrior class. Class-wise, he had a slight advantage over Farewell Song, and armor-wise heavy armor was far better than leather armor or cloth armor at mitigating physical damage. His chances of winning were absolutely over 50%. Next to us, Rose rolled her eyes at our bet. ¡°Can¡¯t you guys show any unity at all?¡± Stranger of Three Lifetimes comforted her, ¡°They¡¯re men. They¡¯re warlike by nature, so just leave them to their scuffle. They¡¯ll be friendly again once someone gets called a grandpa!¡± ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Soul Battle Robes had returned to us with their gaming helmets after losing the final 2v2 match. They were going to surrender the match, but Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was gunning for the MVP title and so insisted on fighting it out. After Song of Cloud and Water gave a short speech about their feelings on the stage, she returned to us with a clear ambience of sorrow. Hugging her gaming helmet and tearing up a little after she took a seat at the corner, she suddenly looked at me and said, ¡°We wouldn¡¯t have lost if Lu Chen was in our team!¡± I felt a chill on my scalp and looked away immediately. Beside me, He Yi snorted with a pout. ¡°Hmph, that foolish girl still hasn¡¯t given up on you!¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll forever be yours,¡± I replied after taking a sip of my drink. Unfortunately, my plea for reason did nothing to diminish Lin Yixin¡¯s disdain. ¡°Hmph hmph. You playboy!¡± ¡­¡­ All things considered, it wasn¡¯t exactly an upset that the grand champion of the WEL USA nationals, Hero Alliance, would defeat our runner-up. In fact, Soul Battle Robes had been a dark horse whose run was ended almost all too easily when they stumbled into us. This outcome was to be expected. A drumbeat signaled the start of the next match, and the next three matches of Group A were played out. It didn¡¯t take long for the scores to be displayed on the big display¡ª Mad Panzer (Germany) 1:4 Snowbird (Russia) Corn Taste (Italy) 2:3 Heavenly Disaster (Korea) Vast Ocean (Japan) 4:1 Mad Beast (Iran) ¡­¡­ We paid little attention to Group A since the one Chinese team in that group was already eliminated. That being said, it was obvious that Hero Alliance was the strongest team of that group. Be it in terms of aura, skill, stats or tactics, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s team was overwhelmingly stronger than its opponents. In real life, Titan God was an American youngster with golden hair and a handsome smile. The mere sight of him caused countless girls to rise to their feet, scream in support of him and chant his ID, ¡°Titan God¡±, again and again. He was accompanied by two men and one woman, and they also drew cheers when they stepped onto the stage. The reason was very simple. All three players were Heroic Bannermen, and their IDs were¡ª Fairytale Killer Class: Hitman Guild: Olympus Position: Vice Leader Grief of the Dark Class: Mage Guild: Olympus Position: Vice Leader Class: Magic Knight Guild: Olympus Position: Corps Commander All three players were enemies we had fought back in Dawn City. Fairytale Killer was an extremely skilful assassin. Grief of the Dark had insane Magic Attack. Wight was your standard tank. These three players belonged to different guilds during the War of Dawn City, but they had been recruited into Olympus since. Clearly, Titan God¡¯s guild wasn¡¯t going to stay static forever. Olympus¡¯ opponent was Dark City, and while Dark City wasn¡¯t weak, they ultimately weren¡¯t strong enough to do the unthinkable. Titan God, Grief of the Dark and Fairytale Killer all won their matches and ultimately eliminated their opponent with a 4:1 score. ¡­¡­ After Titan God left the stage, Lin Yixin looked at me with a nervous but excited gleam in her eyes. She asked me with a smile, ¡°This will be the first time I compete in an international competition. I¡¯m so nervous! What should I do, Little Cheat?¡± I answered smilingly, ¡°It¡¯s easy. Just pretend that you¡¯re fighting Gui Guzi and give it your all. Surely you aren¡¯t afraid of the Turkish team, are you?¡± ¡°That¡¯s true. Well, here we go!¡± My eyes twitched incessantly at her unexpected popularity. Lin Yixin was obviously a star in China, but I wasn¡¯t expecting her to be this popular overseas as well. Forget the Chinese, even some young American players were chanting ¡°Fruit Knife Goddess¡± as well. In hindsight, this was a perfectly natural occurrence. Lin Yixin was young, beautiful, and incredibly hot. Not only was her promotional poster used as the face of China Heavenblessed, she was the goddess of countless weebs in both China and America. Despite our differences, there were some things that all humans shared, and our love for gorgeous women was one of them. Not only that, Lin Yixin was both beautiful and strong, an incredibly rare combination in the world of gaming. I should¡¯ve known that she would be popular even if I thought with my toes. ¡°You sure have a lot of fans, huh¡­¡± I huffed in a jealous tone. Lin Yixin giggled. ¡°Aiyo, are you jealous, Little Cheat?¡± ¡°...¡± Beside her, Clear Perfume giggled as well. ¡°Sigh, Lin Yixin is such a good girl. Lu Chen must have a mountain of pressure on his shoulders!¡± Even Purple Marquis had joined in on the teasing. ¡°Heh, he deserves it!¡± Again, I should¡¯ve known that our thug girl was never lacking in surprises, but I still failed to see it coming when Lin Yixin suddenly bent down and kissed me on my cheeks. ¡°See you in a bit¡­¡± I froze for a second, and the next I felt countless gazes drilling into my soul like lasers. Even He Yi and Murong Mingyue were staring at me with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. That one kiss had turned me into public enemy number one! ¡°Are you trying to kill me, Yiyi!?¡± I raged. ¡­¡­ The line-ups appeared on the big display in no time, and Lin Yixin chose to attend the first match as I expected she would. The second match was Shadow Chanel the Dark Tongue Mage, the third match was Purple Marquis, the fourth match was Clear Perfume, and the final 2v2 match was Lin Yixin and Purple Marquis. The Wanderer + Warrior combo was kind of a jack-of-all-trades comp that worked against any class combination¡ªsome better, some not so much¡ªso it was a very good choice. In terms of uniqueness though, their line-up was nothing compared to Turkey¡¯s team. They were all seventh-promotion magic knights, and they had one, and only one, tactic: infinite Trapping Net chaining! Against most other teams, this could be an unbeatable tactic. Against Snowy Cathaya? Well, let¡¯s just say that they underestimated Snowy Cathaya too much. Lin Yixin quickly appeared in the arena without her Moonchaser Tiger. However, there was a tiger-head rune floating just above her arm. She might be fighting on foot, but her stats were still boosted as if she had the Moonchaser Tiger equipped. It was the biggest reason she had been able to defeat Li Chengfeng and carry her team to the semi-finals. On the other side of the battlefield, an enchanted Turkish magic knight almost didn¡¯t wipe his saliva in time before it dripped onto the ground. When the countdown hit zero, he rushed Lin Yixin and shouted, ¡°Let¡¯s fight!¡± He ran in a straight line, but turned a corner drastically when he passed what he thought was a suitable distance. This probing attack alone marked him as a skilful player. Chiang! Lin Yixin swung the Seven-Star Veluriyam Sword at the magic knight¡¯s spear. Despite fighting on foot, the magic knight was the one who was sent stumbling because her Strength was absolutely higher than his. Thud! The Fruit Knife Goddess planted a foot on a patch of grass and dashed forward like a bolt of lightning. Moving way faster than her opponent could react, she plunged her sword into his stomach and exploded his innards with a devastating Ice Flame Slash. Not done yet, she dodged her opponent¡¯s Barrier Break with a perfectly executed, S-shaped backward run, changed her direction, and dodged her opponent¡¯s Trapping Net as well with a beautiful zigzag! ¡°Heehee!¡± The Devil Bell rang crisply as her eyes turned silver, and her dagger slipped into her hand. She zoomed past her opponent one last time and annihilated his last sliver of HP with a near-perfect Extreme Break + Barrier Break! Not only had she won her match, she even did it without losing a single drop of HP! Chapter 940: Perfect Win "Beauty Lin sure is an ambitious girl¡­" He Yi commented with a smile, "According to the MVP rules, the amount of enemy attacks you avoided, the amount of damage you received, the amount of damage you deal and more all contribute toward the MVP score. Killing an enemy without losing any HP especially adds a lot of points. She¡¯s clearly paving her way to become the MVP¡­" I smiled. "Yeah, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was trying to do the same thing himself. Who doesn¡¯t want to be the MVP and potentially get their city upgraded? Our Dark Moon City is already at Rank 10, but maybe it can get higher and reach Rank 11, literally breaking the conventions of the game? Oooh, I can¡¯t wait¡­" He Yi rolled her eyes at me. "You are way too greedy¡­" I shrugged. "It¡¯s all for the guild. Also, if Dark Moon City gets to the point where it practically grows money on trees, you won¡¯t have to travel all across the world for Raincube anymore. It¡¯s going to be March real soon, and the flowers are all blooming already. I want us to go on a spring trip and pluck strawberries or something, but you¡¯re always so busy, so¡­" He Yi hummed as she looked at me with those deep, beautiful eyes of hers. Then, she smiled and said, "Very well, the day Dark Moon City turns into a money tree is the day I sell my shares in Raincube and roll in the interest. Let¡¯s work toward that goal together, okay?" Unable to stand the sweetness in the air any longer, Murong Mingyue said, "Hmph hmph, I can¡¯t believe that the iron woman everyone looks up to in the IT industry just declared that she¡¯ll give up her career for love. This world is way too biased toward femme fatales and handsome devils¡­" I stared at her. "Who are you calling a handsome devil? I just want Eve to live easier is all. Her work is exhausting." Murong Mingyue giggled. "To be honest, I¡¯m quite exhausted myself, you know? Sure, it comes with the job, but when your boss dumps over half of her workload on you and doesn¡¯t even pay you for overtime, it¡¯s just¡­" Murong Mingyue: "..." ¡­¡­ While we were talking, Lin Yixin had already won the second round and scored the first point. Snowy Cathaya¡¯s chosen for the second match, Shadow Chanel did pretty well as well. Since it was quite obvious what the enemy was planning, all the dark tongue mage did was dodge their Trapping Nets twice in a row and kill them. She didn¡¯t even need to dodge like Lin Yixin did because Trapping Nets didn¡¯t work on mages until their Magic Shields were broken. She too swept her opponent with a 2:0 win. Purple Marquis¡¯ win was even more dominant than Shadow Chanel¡¯s. The second the third match began, he used Insight to seal off the enemy¡¯s Knight General before switching to Encourage VII, boosting his own Attack by over 100%. Then, he used Absolute Zero and Chaos Universe to annihilate his opponent perfectly! Both rounds were practically carbon copies of each other. It was Clear Perfume¡¯s turn to fight, and Lin Yixin whispered something beside her ears before sending her into the arena. The moment the battle began, Clear Perfume withdrew from her opponent and fired Skypiercer and followed up with ice and armor-breaking arrows at her opponent in rapid succession. At this point, the Turkish player barely had any fighting spirit left, so he died without putting up much resistance at all. Obviously, the final 2v2 match ended in Snowy Cathaya¡¯s victory as well. And so, Snowy Cathaya advanced to the eighth-finals with a 5:0 overall score and a 10:0 individual score. They had practically annihilated their opponent like a death ray. Of course, it was because Turkey¡¯s gaming level was pretty poor, and their champion team was at best a second-rate team in China. Snowy Cathaya got a thunderous applause when they walked out of the battle room. It was because Lin Yixin boosted the guild¡¯s popularity to unthinkable levels. In fact, there were foreigners who had heard of Snowy Cathaya before Candle Dragon. In a sense, if you were a gamer, it was hard to miss a gorgeous beauty who was also a super genius in gaming. After Lin Yixin came back, Beiming Xue immediately served her a cup of tea and complimented her, "Sister Yiyi, your dueling skills are gorgeous to look at!" ¡­¡­ The day continued. Wheel of Sun and Moon (Korea) destroyed Burning Sand (Egypt) with a 5:0 overall score, and Yellow Dragon (Russia) destroyed Jannah (Pakistan) with a 4:1 score. On an unrelated note, I always felt like laughing whenever I saw the name Pakistan. Here¡¯s a joke: What¡¯s the similarity between Pakistan and Game of Thrones? They both have a "stanis"! Get it? No? Well, moving on... [1] "Alright, it¡¯s our turn, girls! Let¡¯s go!" I grabbed my bag and rose to my feet. However, I was surprised when I heard a thunderous applause from somewhere. There were even a couple of people lifting a banner with the words, "Lu Chen, Little Heavenly King, Fight!" etched on them! What the heck? I looked closer at the banner lifters and discovered that they were all girls. In fact, they were none other than Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and Yu Tong! When did they come to Los Angeles? And how did they get their visas approved so quickly? It couldn¡¯t have been easy! Lin Yixin giggled beside me. "Yo, looks like you have a lot of die-hard fans yourself, Lu Chen¡­" I replied, "But of course. Anyway, here I go!" I led the way while He Yi, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin followed behind me. Murong Mingyue was a priest, so her only duty was to sit on the bench and wait for the prize award ceremony. Currently, the meta for 2v2 matches was to annihilate one opponent before they annihilate one of yours. When the game first launched, most players didn¡¯t have the burst to tear through a priest¡¯s Spell Shield like paper, so a battle of attrition was technically possible. Now though, their shield durability was less than 50% of a mage¡¯s, and they lacked the ability to change the battlefield or provide ranged DPS. Right now, the only way a priest might become viable in 2v2 was if they became a Divine General and gained Great Earth Transformation. Once their greatest weakness also known as their survivability was fixed, they could outlast their opponent just like at the beginning of the game. But He Yi shot me a knowing look and a sweet smile. "I know exactly what you¡¯re thinking, dear!" "Oh? What was I thinking?" "You want to beat their ace without losing any HP and challenge your own limits, am I right?" I was surprised. "God damn, you actually do know my plan¡­" Lian Xin giggled from the side. "Come on, anyone who¡¯s a human can see that!" "Hmph hmph, so what if it¡¯s obvious? I¡¯m going to do it one way or another. You girls are the ones who should be careful. Ukraine isn¡¯t a weak country, so¡­" "We know!" After He Yi entered our line-up, the match-up appeared on the screen¡ª 1v1: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-187 Undead Swordsman VS Seven Degrees Below Zero LV-187 Warrior 1v1: From Water LV-185 Magic Knight VS Eclipse LV-185 Mage 1v1: Lian Xing LV-187 Phantasm of Stars VS Moonlight LV-185 Warrior 2v2: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-187 Undead Swordsman & Beiming Xue LV-188 Dark Archer VS Seven Degrees Below Zero LV-187 Warrior & Eclipse LV-185 Mage ¡­¡­ As expected, the enemy sent their highest-leveled player, Seven Degrees Below Zero, to fight me. The warrior had to be the Ukraine team¡¯s ace, so this was just perfect! The first match was about to begin! Swhoosh! Seven Degrees Below Zero donned a black armor, a red cloak and wielded a dark blue-colored sword. After stabbing his sword into a nearby rock, he smiled at me and asked, "I know you, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. You are the second strongest player of China, aren¡¯t you?" I kept the Purple Ying Sword lowered, but activated Great Earth Transformation. I replied, "It¡¯s just a meaningless ranking. No one can remain the strongest forever. They can be surpassed while they are having lunch if they get careless!" I simply curled my lips and said, "Whatever you say¡­" What an arrogant bastard. I wasn¡¯t going to go easy on him, but now I was definitely going to make a fool out of him. Keep gloating, because you won¡¯t get a second chance to do so after I make you weep like a baby! ¡­¡­ The countdown began, and the digitized voice struck against my heart like a gong. To be honest, I was just as nervous as Lin Yixin was just now. Just like her, this was the first time I was participating in an international competition. Although I was perfectly confident in my abilities, I couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit nervous. For example, I didn¡¯t dare roam the streets of Los Angeles myself because my English s.u.c.k.e.d, and I wouldn¡¯t know the way back to the hotel in the event I lost my way. It was my first time here after all. 3! 2! 1! Seven Degrees Below Zero charged me the moment the battle began. His technique was practical, and the skill he chose to begin his assault with was the Earth Shattering Slash, a skill with a cone-shaped area of effect that was very difficult to evade. Not for me though. He had used his cloak to hide the wind-up of his skill, but the concealing act itself told me exactly what he was planning to do! Swhoosh! Chiang! It was a beautiful read. I had killed the skill before he could use it. "Dammit!" Enraged, Seven Degrees Below Zero twisted his wrist and slashed horizontally at me in a practiced motion. I swiftly reversed my grip on my sword and parried the attack yet again. At the same time, I jumped into the air and slapped the bladed tip of the Sea Suppressing Poleyn into his chin. Then, I activated Universe Break and slashed downward at his shoulder! Thunk! 87899! Seven Degrees Below Zero turned as white as a sheet. He rotated on his feet and tried to slash me, but again my sword appeared at just the right angle to parry it. I kicked him in the stomach to push him away from me, and before he could react I slashed his head for a big fat MISS. Somehow turning even whiter than before, Seven Degrees Below Zero exhaled instinctively, "What? Pardon¡­" Thud thud thud! I jumped a couple of steps away from Seven Degrees Below Zero and tossed my sword at him. The image of a dragon surrounded the sword, and the improved version of Sword Boomerang, Coiling Dragon Revolution, swept toward him like a hurricane! Boom! A huge explosion later, the Purple Ying Sword punched right through the warrior¡¯s c.h.e.s.t, leaving behind a terrifyingly huge hole. 148282! It was a perfect win; a flawless victory just like Lin Yixin¡¯s! 1:0! 1. (T/N: The original joke is: What¡¯s the similarity between Pakistan and Kaspersky? They both have a "d.i.c.k" in their names. For obvious reasons I ain¡¯t gonna translate that, not to mention that it¡¯s untranslatable. E/N: How the actual fudge did you even think of that Pakistanis joke) Chapter 941: Five Times The Damage Seven Degrees Below Zero looked furious after he teleported back to the waiting area. He stood before his teammates and discussed something I couldn¡¯t hear from where I was. I chose to stay in the arena and wait for the next round to begin. I was going to KO this arrogant fool anyway, so I thought that I might as well make this entertaining for myself! ¡­¡­ Two minutes later, Seven Degrees Below Zero returned to the battlefield with none of the arrogance he bore earlier. It looked like he had finally decided to treat me, the so-called second best player of China, seriously. The battle began, and again Seven Degrees Below Zero charged me. He didn¡¯t cower despite the resounding trashing I gave him earlier! Swhoosh! The terrain was a valley with a creek flowing at the center. Eyes looking as sharp as steel, Seven Degrees Below Zero ran across the creek and toward me in a straight line without bothering to obfuscate his movement at all. Did you know that the strongest attack in martial arts was sometimes the most basic? Something like a straight punch in boxing, or a basic cut in swordfighting? This guy¡¯s charge was one of them. Sometimes, the best way to approach your enemy wasn¡¯t a series of dizzying zigzags, but a straightforward, lightning-fast charge! Thud thud thud! I took as many backward steps as I could while calculating his location. Then, I raised my arm and summoned four divine arms from the heavens, hoping to immobilize my opponent with the God Binding Art. Seven Degrees Below Zero snorted under his breath before activating War God Rampage, turning himself immune before God Binding Art could take effect. Then, he raised his sword and swung at me! I countered with my own swing, and the impact sent both of us staggering backward. Seven Degrees Below Zero proved to be a speedy man, recovering his balance and rushing me again almost immediately. It was because War God Rampage had drastically increased his movement speed. It was no wonder that the period of 12 seconds War God Rampage was active for was known as the fighter¡¯s period of invincibility. It almost seemed like Seven Degrees Below Zero could tear apart all opposition through sheer speed and power alone. "Hah!" I didn¡¯t try to parry the skill this time. Instead, I took three steps to the back before dashing in a different direction to escape the skill¡¯s area of effect. However, Seven Degrees Below Zero suddenly appeared in my path of retreat like a phantom before swinging his sword horizontally at me, shouting, "Die!" I glanced at the warrior¡¯s arm and grabbed his wrist so quickly that he almost couldn¡¯t believe it. At the same time, I bent backward and watched as the sword brushed past my nose with only millimeters to spare. I couldn¡¯t quite believe that I was able to dodge the lightning-fast strike myself. Seven Degrees Below Zero wasn¡¯t done yet, however. He took a few steps toward me, spun around and thrust his sword straight toward my c.h.e.s.t! It was Barrier Break! My scalp tingled with the premonition of danger. This guy was seriously fast! Thud! I pushed myself off a rock¡ªcausing a splatter of water while doing so¡ªchanged my direction and sped up, just barely dodging the skill with a curved jump. After I landed on Seven Degrees Below Zero¡¯s right side, I spun around and elbowed him in the back with my left arm. "Ah¡­" 19232! Seven Degrees Below Zero was caught off-guard. He probably wasn¡¯t expecting me to be so much faster than him even after he activated War God Rampage. Knowing that he couldn¡¯t react in time, I pressed my sword against his back and summoned a burst of cyan flames, growling, "You die!" Universe Break landed as a matter of course, but I also felt a bone-chilling energy seeping into my body from the Purple Ying Sword. What¡¯s this? Could it be? My prediction turned out to be correct later. Not only did the skill tear through Seven Degrees Below Zero¡¯s armor and body, a shocking number rose above his head¡ª 552675! It really was the quintuple damage effect of the Purple Ying Sword! I was stunned because I hadn¡¯t triggered the passive even once since I got this sword. It was to the point where I thought that the trigger chance was less than 1% [ref](TN: someone failed math hard)[ref]! Who would¡¯ve thought that it would trigger now of all times? Thud! Eyes widening in disbelief, Seven Degrees Below Zero dropped to his knees and died. Not only was he defeated twice in the first round of the WEL internationals, he wasn¡¯t able to deal even a single point of damage to me. The number one player in Ukraine was probably the only man in the entire world who understood the true depths of humiliation he was feeling right now, especially because he was such a prideful man. I didn¡¯t take the opportunity to humiliate further even though I could. Returning the Purple Ying Sword to its sheath, I summoned the system fairy and teleported back to the spectator¡¯s platform. Swhoosh! He Yi giggled. "Mn. It¡¯s your turn next, Lil Beiming. Try to beat the enemy archer 2:0 just like your big bro, okay? We all believe in you!" Beiming Xue replied confidently, "No worries! I have Great Earth Transformation, and he doesn¡¯t. I don¡¯t think I can lose even if I tried." "Mn." A few minutes later, Beiming Xue teleported into the arena to battle the Level 186 archer of the Ukrainian team, Python God. Their levels were almost the same, but Beiming Xue¡¯s equipment was way stronger than her opponent¡¯s. She was already plenty strong thanks to the Windchaser equipment set, but now she also had the Archean-grade Ice Soul Feather. It was no exaggeration to say that she was now far stronger than her old self in the WEL nationals. I had full confidence that she would annihilate her opponent with impunity. And that she did. The power gap was evident the second the battle began. After Beiming Xue activated Great Earth Transformation, she ran rings around the arena and fired one careful shot after another at her enemy. Every shot was shot at where she predicted her opponent to appear, and her accuracy was over whopping 95%. Python God had very good moves himself, but he was nowhere as calm or collected as Beiming Xue was. He lost his patience and tried to one-shot Beiming Xue after a couple of losing exchanges, but the girl turned it on him and countered with a painful Spiraling Arrow Blade instead. It was at this moment snowflakes appeared around the longbow, and Beiming Xue unleashed an arrow that encased Python God in a block of ice. It was the Outstanding Property of her Ice Soul Feather. It was a complete one-sided slaughter. Both times, Beiming Xue was able to defeat her opponent with over 70% of her HP intact. Surprisingly, Python God didn¡¯t even look angry, probably because his opponent proved herself to be superior to him in every way, and she was a cute and innocent Chinese girl to boot. He even gave her a wave and bade her goodbye before he returned to his waiting area. ¡­¡­ The overall score turned 2:0. And it was obvious who was leading. One more win, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would make it to the eighth-finals. This was good because the quality of the reward jumped an entire tier every time we advanced closer to the final. The third match was between He Yi and the mage, Eclipse. He Yi nodded. "Got it!" Swhoosh! Our beautiful guild leader teleported into the arena with the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear on her right hand, and a beautiful floating rune on her left. Once she was attacked, the rune would immediately take the shape of a tough shield. Although there were some crushing matches so far, no one who made it into the internationals was a weakling, and Eclipse¡¯s fighting style surely opened all our eyes a bit. As it turned out, the European mage fighting style was very different from ours. Chinese mages seeked to one-shot their opponent whenever the opportunity presented itself. European mages however, sought to control their opponent and bring them to their knees in slow and steady fashion. In a sense, their fighting style was more visually appealing than ours. Thud thud thud! He Yi kept losing health as the enemy¡¯s Ice Arrow Spells and Fireballs splashed against her shield repeatedly. Rustle rustle rustle¡­ He Yi kept running back and forth across the field until she found an opportunity. Biting her lips, she abruptly dashed toward her opponent and activated Barrier Break! "Huh?" 70992! "Ah!" Eclipse g.r.o.a.n.e.d aloud. He hadn¡¯t expected He Yi to chain her attacks so fluidly that he couldn¡¯t even react against it. I don¡¯t think there was even a millisecond wasted throughout that assault. At the waiting area, we were all stunned by He Yi¡¯s performance. I commented, "God damn, Eve was almost as fast as I was just now. Her natural reaction is seriously insane¡­" Lian Xin giggled. "Duh! She¡¯s the woman who single-handedly saved GGS and the genius who could perform countless programming calculations in a single second! Of course she wouldn¡¯t be thwarted by something as simple as distance calculation inside a game! With the proper guidance, boss too can become a top-tier expert!" I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, when these WEL internationals are over, I¡¯m sure Eve will complete her evolution and enter the ranks of first-rate experts. You can always trust an international competition to transform a rough stone into a true diamond! That was the case for the top-tier assassin, Power Cooker, when Eternal Moon was still active." Beiming Xue giggled. "Oh man, that was so long ago. He¡¯s probably a grandpa now¡­" I smiled. "Well, no one can go against time. It is humanity¡¯s eternal sorrow to watch their friends age into uncles, hahahaha!" Beiming Xue: "..." The second round began soon, and this time He Yi ended her opponent¡¯s life in less than two minutes. It wasn¡¯t that Eclipse was weak, but because he didn¡¯t have the power to threaten her at all. Royal Road was a Famous General Skill that increased the user¡¯s stats by 40% and reduced the enemy¡¯s stats by 30%, making it the best 1v1 Famous General Skill bar none. The stratagem absolutely f.u.c.k.e.d Eclipse over because even his strongest spell, Touch of the Dragonkiss, dealt only 40k+ damage to He Yi. Meanwhile, all He Yi needed was one Barrier Break to one-shot him. The score turned 3:0, and we officially advanced to the eighth-finals. However, we chose to finish all the matches because we were aiming for the MVP title! The fourth match was Lian Xin versus Moonlight, and it was a carbon copy of many, many of her opponent¡¯s miserable experiences. In just half a minute¡¯s time, Moonlight was knocked out of the arena by Origin Force Fields and Ice Spiral Matrices. The final 2v2 match also turned into a stage where Beiming Xue and I showed off our skills. With a 10:0, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls swept our opponent with a true flawless victory and advanced to the eighth-finals! Chapter 942: Candlelight Shadow’s Junior Our win over Ukraine made us the second team to 5:0¡ªor 10:0 if you considered the individual score¡ªour opponent besides Snowy Cathaya. Our dominance stunned everyone in the WEL for a while. To be honest though, I thought that even the internationals would have a mix of weak and strong teams. Many servers were weak, so their champions could only be the champion of the weak. They would be lucky to make it to the eighth-finals of the China server, much less the world stage where the best teams in the entire world came together to decide the strongest of them all. The outcome of our battle was the perfect example of this. ¡­¡­ The first thing we received after we exited the battle room was a thunderous applause and a resounding cheer. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had put our mettle to the test and came out shocked at how strong we were compared to the other teams. This was good news of course. After we returned to the waiting area and took our seats, Rose served each of us a cup of tea and praised us, "Well done 5:0ing Ukraine, hehe. And Lu Chen, the way you PvP is seriously imperious. I can¡¯t believe you actually managed to 2:0 that Seven Degrees Below Zero twice in a row! He was quite the famous player in Ukraine, you know!" Lin Yixin was sipping her red tea at her sofa, and when she heard this she let out a chuckle and explained, "Seven Degrees Below Zero is just a noob, plain and simple. His skill is around the same as Gui Guzi¡¯s, and I won¡¯t deny that he¡¯s quite the speedster. However, his tactics cannot keep up with his style, and he lacks any imagination whatsoever. He was always going to lose horribly to someone as cunning as Little Cheat." Her team manager, a beautiful woman working for Apple, said encouragingly, "Yeah, yeah! I think our Beautiful Little Pepper could¡¯ve beaten that Seven Degrees Below Zero perfectly as well!" Lin Yixin blushed at the compliment. "Aiyo, you don¡¯t have to put it like that¡­" I shot Lin Yixin a look. "You sure you still remember how to write the word ¡®humble¡¯, Yiyi?" She put down her cup and glared at me. "What did you say, bastard? You wanna get punched?" I immediately turned my gaze back to the stage. "Oh look, the next fight¡¯s about to start¡­" "Hmph!" ¡­¡­ It was time to observe the matches of Group C. Technically speaking, we could¡¯ve gone back to the hotel and rested already, but we stayed because it was necessary to observe our future opponents, research their skills, figure out the best line-up to pit against them, and counter their tactics. After all, as the saying goes, if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles! The second match of Group C was also between God¡¯s Domain and Don¡¯t Cry For Me Argentina, also the match of that Red Maple who had taunted us earlier. It was said that he was the strongest player in Japan, and this was a good opportunity to check out his skills. If God¡¯s Domain was victorious, they would become our eighth-finals opponents. In other words, they must die in order for us to continue advancing to the quarter-finals. As expected, Red Maple appeared on the battlefield first looking like nothing could put a dent in his confidence. His opponent was an Argentinian archer. We also noticed that Red Maple had a very imperious class¡ª Class: Heaven¡¯s Warrior Guild: God¡¯s Domain Position: Guild Leader ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin blinked at the display once before explaining, "God¡¯s Domain is the number one guild of Purple Gr.a.p.e City. They have nearly 50 subguilds, and their total player count is absolutely insane. In less than four months, God¡¯s Domain had occupied over 40% of the resources that exist in the Japan server. Red Maple is an extremely ruthless person, and he usually murders any guild who defies him until they disband on their own. It¡¯s why practically every guild in Purple Gr.a.p.e City is officially allies of God¡¯s Domain even if they might think otherwise. It would be apt to call Red Maple a tyrant and a despot in Purple Gr.a.p.e City!" I licked my lips. "In that case, I can¡¯t wait for God¡¯s Domain to defeat their opponent. White Rose Fortress is the only thing standing between Purple Gr.a.p.e City and Sky City, so it¡¯s only a matter of time before we fight each other. Let this be the first battle between our guilds!" Lin Yixin commented with a giggle, "You are always so bloodthirsty¡­" "Of course, dear." ¡­¡­ With that rousing win, the other three players of God¡¯s Domain defeated their opponents 2:1 and confirmed their advance to the eighth-finals. During the 2v2 match, Red Maple single-handedly defeated both of his opponents despite losing his teammate fairly early into the match, securing a 4:1 score for his team. Argentina¡¯s champion team wasn¡¯t weak, but they still got swept by God¡¯s Domain all too easily. It showed just how strong God¡¯s Domain was! The second last match of Group C proceeded after that. Throne of the Wild, the team from Korea swept their French opponent with a 5:0 score, drawing everyone¡¯s attention immediately. There were two things noteworthy about this team. One, they were all Heroic Bannermen. Two, their team leader was a harmless-looking woman who was anything but harmless. Rose gave us an explanation on their background. "Throne of the Wild is the number one guild in the Korean¡¯s Guild Ranking, and their guild leader, Tear Stain, is a very beautiful woman. I¡¯ve actually talked to her in the past, and I heard that she was Candlelight Shadow¡¯s university junior when the latter was studying in Korea. She deeply admires Candlelight Shadow, and strongly believes that no one can surpass the Starcraft Emperor. She¡¯s a talented woman and a hard worker, and she has a whopping 99.4% win rate in her main city¡¯s battle arena. She¡¯s so strong that even Frosty Night, Blazing Pulse and Enlightened Heart willingly joined her guild and supported her. It¡¯s one of the reasons Throne of the Wild became one of the strongest super guilds in the entire world." He Yi and I exchanged an astonished look with each other before exclaiming, "Candlelight Shadow¡¯s university junior? The f.u.c.k? Since when did that guy have a junior this amazing?" Rose burst into laughter before shooting a meaningful look at Lin Yixin. "What are you talking about? Your Beautiful Little Pepper is a monstrous player herself, isn¡¯t she?" Lin Yixin turned red and concentrated on her tea. Sun Qingqing seized the opportunity to tease her to her heart¡¯s content. Beiming Xue checked the line-up again and said, "Assuming that their opponents aren¡¯t up to snuff, we¡¯ll have to fight God¡¯s Domain to enter the quarter-finals, and Throne of the Wild to enter the semi-finals. OMG, I miss our group of life in the nationals already. This¡­ this is practically a mini group of death¡­" I shot her an encouraging smile and said, "Relax. True heroes are born from fire and brimstone!" Murong Mingyue said, "You look like you¡¯re made in hell, sure, but we are anything but hellish, okay?" "Get over here so I can punch you¡­" ¡­¡­ Group C¡¯s final match was between USA¡¯s The Storm and Brazil¡¯s Rumbling Thunder. A grueling battle later, The Storm barely beat out their opponent and joined the ranks of the eighth-finalists. The match moved on to Group D, and it was finally Candle Dragon¡¯s¡ªalso the so-called number one guild of China¡ªturn to fight. Candlelight Shadow had been as silent as death since he appeared at the airport. The only time he talked was when he discussed tactics with his teammates. In a sense, they definitely looked more professional than us. I still preferred our noisy, carefree atmosphere over theirs though. There was a saying called "the greatest hermit will retreat into the noisiest fair." A true expert could enter into the mindset necessary to perform no matter the circ.u.mstances. Group D¡¯s first match was between the super guild from India, Cyan Beast and USA¡¯s Future Faith. Cyan Beast was a guild that garnered a lot of attention from the beginning because they were the number one guild of India¡¯s main city, Cyan Earth City, and the guild leader, God of War, was famed as the strongest expert in India besides Barbarous Throne. In fact, he should be even stronger than Barbarous Throne because he and his guild were the direct cause behind the latter¡¯s retirement. First, Cyan Beast had crushed Barbarous Throne¡¯s guild in war. Then, he challenged Barbarous Throne to a 1-on-1 duel and proved himself to be the superior fighter. It was said that Barbarous Throne didn¡¯t have even a 30% chance of beating God of War in a fair fight. That was why Barbarous Throne had deleted his account out of sheer humiliation and ended his story in tears. Be it in the game or in real life, old kings must die before a new king is born, and some kings would never be able to live in harmony with another like them. Xiang Yu and Liu Bang, Chen Youliang and Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhao Kuangyin and Li Yu. These were just one of many examples in history. They were all heroes, but they could never live in the same period. The matches flew by quickly, and at the end of it, we had to admit that Cyan Beast was as strong as they were famous. Hell, how else do you describe a team with four Divine Generals in it? Only a fool would underestimate their power, and God of War especially was world-class be it in terms of skill, equipment, or character skill. It was to the point where even Candlelight Shadow looked like a slightly weaker fighter compared to him. If nothing else, God of War¡¯s Divine General Skill, God of War¡¯s Art, was a self-buff skill that ensured that his attacks critted 100% of the time. It was absolutely insane to say the least! After the 16th-finals were over, the eighth-finals match-ups appeared on the big display almost immediately¡ª Group A Hero Alliance (USA) VS Snowbird (Russia) Heavenly Disaster (Korea) VS Vast Ocean (Japan) Group B Olympus (USA) VS Snowy Cathaya (China) Wheel of Sun and Moon (Korea) VS Yellow Dragon (Russia) Group C Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls (China) VS God¡¯s Domain (Japan) Group D Cyan Beast (India) VS Striborg (Russia) Candle Dragon (China) VS The Gods (Thailand) ¡­¡­ The mere sight of the eighth-finals match-up alone caused waves of pressure to course through our bodies. The real battle had just begun, for us at least. All the weaklings in the group had been weeded out, and the only way to advance was to be stronger than all our opponents. On an unrelated note, the American host had announced the match-ups eight times in eight different languages, wowing practically everyone in the stadium. It was rare to find anyone who mastered this many languages to say the least! The first match of Group A ended exactly as we predicted it would, with Vienna¡¯s Sorrow 4:1ing Snowbird from Russia! The second match was a super close one between Heavenly Disaster and Vast Ocean, one that literally came down to the last round of the 2v2 match. Heavenly Disaster was ultimately able to defeat Vast Ocean, but I didn¡¯t think well of their chances to advance to the quarter-finals at all. Hero Alliance was simply too strong! ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin lifted her bag and said to her teammates, "Our opponent is Olympus, also known as Titan God¡¯s team. They are all Heroic Bannermen, so¡­ give it your all, everyone. We must make it to the quarter-finals, or we¡¯ll bring shame to our ancestors yada yada yada, get it?" Purple Marquis laughed. "Don¡¯t worry, guild leader! We won¡¯t disappoint you!" Chapter 943: Purple Marquis’s Decisiveness The first match of Group B of the eighth-finals was Snowy Cathaya versus Olympus. Snowy Cathaya was one of the strongest guilds in Sky City, and Titan God was the strongest guild in Titan City. Moreover, they shared a grudge with each other. During the War of Dawn City, Titan God had ambushed Sky City with an army of cavalry. Lin Yixin had marched forth and fought him to a draw. It was one of the battles that marked him as a true legend, because anyone who could fight the Fruit Knife Goddess to a draw could only be a top-tier expert. It didn¡¯t take long for the match-up to appear¡ª 1v1: Purple Marquis LV-186 Warrior VS Fairytale Killer LV-186 Hitman 1v1: Shadow Chanel LV-185 Dark Tongue Mage VS Grief of the Dark LV-187 Mage 1v1: Wind Fantasy LV-187 Light Wanderer VS Titan God LV-187 Thunder Warrior 1v1: Clear Perfume LV-185 Archer VS Wight LV-185 Magic Knight 2v2: Wind Fantasy LV-187 Light Wanderer & Purple Marquis LV-186 Warrior VS Titan God LV-187 Thunder Warrior & Grief of the Dark LV-187 Mage ¡­¡­ I snickered the moment I saw the match-up because I knew it was exactly how Beauty Lin wanted it to go. With her improved strength and a weapon that was in no way inferior to Titan God¡¯s, this was her chance to finish what she had failed to do during the War of Dawn City! The first match was Purple Marquis versus Fairytale Killer. Fairytale Killer was a skilled player with great character skills. During the War of Dawn City, he had killed countless Blazing Hot Lips mages and pissed off Stranger of Three Lifetimes majorly. Swhoosh swhoosh! Purple Marquis and Fairytale Killer appeared on the battlefield at the same time. The warrior watched his opponent with a grim expression, while the assassin crouched a little and vanished into thin air during the countdown. In the Assassin versus Warrior class match-up, the assassin cannot miss the first, stunning, strike of their combo if they were to have any hope of beating a warrior. If they failed, then chances are the warrior was going to win the match. Rustle rustle... Purple Marquis stepped on a fallen leaf and observed his surroundings with calm eyes. As the strongest fighter in Snowy Cathaya, Purple Marquis¡¯s skills and tactics were flawless. There was barely a handful of people in the entire China server who could beat him. That was why Lin Yixin valued him a lot. "Come out!" Purple Marquis abruptly dashed forward and slashed the air in front of him. A loud clang later, Fairytale Killer reappeared as he rolled away from Purple Marquis. If the assassin had been anyone else, the strike would¡¯ve landed and cascaded the battle past the point of no return already. "Vacuum Slash!" "Ah?!" Caught off-guard, Fairytale Killer just barely raised his daggers in time to parry Chaos Universe. However, Purple Marquis simply knocked his weapons to the side¡ªopening him wide¡ªand kicked him in the stomach! Bang! 21020! Skill wise, Fairytale Killer was no match for Purple Marquis at all. Before his opponent could recover his breath, Purple Marquis stabbed his sword right through the abdomen and pushed him to the ground! The score turned 1:0. The fight had ended in less than 30 seconds, and Purple Marquis had looked as dominant as he could possibly be, suppressing Fairytale Killer practically the whole round. Obviously, his teammates didn¡¯t look very happy with this. Fairytale Killer was one of the strongest assassins in Titan City, but his opponent had totally schooled him. This would¡¯ve been embarrassing enough in a private match, but the WEL internationals were broadcasted across the whole world right now. There was enough shame here to drown a man alive. The second round began quickly, and this time Fairytale Killer kept his patience and waited for a good opportunity. He also rolled an excellent map this time. They were in a hilly terrain where the walls were stone, and the ground was tough granite. Unless the assassin slipped up really badly, there was practically no way to detect them after they entered stealth. The opposite of this would be a grassy field where even the slightest step was visible. Purple Marquis himself was aware that the map was absolutely disadvantageous for him. After widening his eyes and doing his best to sense the surrounding activity to no avail, he gritted his teeth and decided to take a huge risk: closing his eyes to sense the air and his opponent¡¯s killing intent better. Unfortunately, killing intent wasn¡¯t an easy thing to catch, and Purple Marquis was no mystic. A red flash hit his back, and... Pu! The hitman reappeared with a smile on his face and ravaged Purple Marquis¡¯s armor with a Blood-maddened Assault + Deadly Blade Sweep combo. Despite being a metal-armor class, the combo still deleted a ton of HP from Purple Marquis¡¯ health bar. "Purple Marquis is in danger now¡­" Beiming Xue said. But I shook my head and said, "No, not necessarily. Fairytale Killer was too impatient and made the critical error of executing triple-hit Blood-maddened Assault and Deadly Blade Sweep in one go. He used up too much energy and must wait at least 0.5 seconds after the stun is over before he can use Gouge. That is enough time for a top-tier warrior like Purple Marquis to turn the tables!" Just as I had predicted, Fairytale Killer failed to kill Purple Marquis in 3 seconds, and he had to wait at least 0.5 seconds after the initial stun was over before he could execute Gouge. By the time he thrust his dagger forward, Purple Marquis had already activated War God Rampage and made himself immune to the stun. Not even bothering to turn around to face his opponent, Purple Marquis bent his waist and kicked backward at Fairytale Killer! Bang! Fairytale Killer blocked the kick with his daggers, but was sent stumbling to the back. At the same time, Purple Marquis turned around, ran like lightning and hit the hitman with an Absolute Zero. Frozen, the hitman could only watch as Purple Marquis hit him with Chaos Universe and killed him where he stood. The score turned 2:0, and Purple Marquis successfully scored first blood on behalf of Snowy Cathaya. At this stage of the competition, there was no such thing as an easy victory. After all, even the weakest player in the world championship was still a player who qualified to fight on this international stage. Every one of us was a top player in our main cities, a living legend in our own right, and a god in the eyes of those who looked up to us! ¡­¡­ "Well done, Purple Marquis!" In fact, we all knew that Purple Marquis had joined Snowy Cathaya entirely because of Shadow Chanel. However, Shadow Chanel either didn¡¯t know or pretended that she didn¡¯t know about his love. For now at least, she simply treated him as another companion and didn¡¯t try to turn the sparks of romance between them into a blaze. Lin Yixin said, "Chanel, it¡¯s your turn now. Your opponent is Grief of the Dark, a tough guy who gave even Little Cheat and Li Chengfeng a hard time, so be careful. He won¡¯t go down easily." "Got it, boss. Here I go!" Shadow Chanel teleported into the arena, and once again the map was Creek Valley. Grief of the Dark stood calmly at his corner of the map. It was less of the calm of a naturally calm-minded person, and more of the calm of a person completely assured by his superiority¡ªthat is to say, he didn¡¯t think of Shadow Chanel as a threat at all. When the battle began, Shadow Chanel took the initiative to slow her opponent and chip at his Magic Shield with Arctic Rain and Ice Arrow Spells. Grief of the Dark focused on dodging the spells and firing Touches of the Dragonkiss at where he predicted Shadow Chanel would go. His tactic was a lot smarter than Shadow Chanel¡¯s because one Touch of the Dragonkiss was worth at least five Ice Arrow Spells in terms of damage. As a result, Shadow Chanel quickly fell into disadvantage. The moment her Magic Shield broke, Grief of the Dark showed off his ridiculous ability to predict his opponent¡¯s actions once more by landing an Ice Blast right beneath Shadow Chanel¡¯s feet. It immobilized her and stopped her from recasting her Magic Shield. One last Touch of the Dragonkiss later, the dark tongue mage was killed where she stood! The second round went more or less the same way. Shadow Chanel was completely outclassed both in terms of skill and magic power. Everyone was stunned by how big the power gap was. Grief of the Dark belonged to a league entirely above Shadow Chanel where giants like Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Lian Xin resided. The overall score turned 1:1. It was a draw for now. The third match was a battle between the ace of the teams and a battle between true gods of the game, Fruit Knife Goddess versus Titan God. It felt like the roof would fall off the stadium when Lin Yixin and Titan God appeared in the arena at the same time. It showed just how popular both players were! ¡­¡­ On the battlefield, both players stared at each other with obvious hostility. Blade set casually on his shoulders, Titan God smiled and said, "Say, you¡¯re one of the top five players of the CGL, right Wind Fantasy? How disappointing. What you showed me at Sky City that day wasn¡¯t anything special. The world is much wider than you think, you know. A god of CGL is but a small fry on the world stage." Lin Yixin replied coldly, "Looks like someone needs to teach you a lesson, and it might as well be me!" The countdown began¡ª 3! 2! 1! The moment the countdown ended, Lin Yixin and Titan God activated Great Earth Transformation and surrounded themselves in gusts of power. I knew that Lin Yixin¡¯s God¡¯s Tear was an AoE attack skill, but Titan God¡¯s Earth¡¯s Fury was a mystery to me. Thud! Both players charged toward each other at almost the same time, clashing blades at the speed of lightning. Titan God raised his right foot and attempted to kick Lin Yixin in the stomach, marking himself as a brute who didn¡¯t know how to care for the fairer s.e.x. Thud! 60992! Chapter 944: Offense and Defense Lin Yixin scored first blood and deleted a lot of HP using Extreme Break, but she wasn¡¯t done yet. Backing away from Titan God, she raised her arm and dropped a block of ice on top of the man. God¡¯s Tear! Boom! 123994! Stunned by his failure, Titan God hurriedly Charged away from the unlucky spot and arrived at Lin Yixin¡¯s right flank. Then, he raised his weapon and unleashed Earth¡¯s Fury! Boom boom boom! The earth beneath Lin Yixin¡¯s feet started falling apart like an earthquake, but that wasn¡¯t where everyone¡¯s focus was on. Lin Yixin stepped onto a rock that had burst out of the ground, jumped into the air, Charged back to the ground and fired an Ice Flame Slash at Titan God! The thunder warrior g.r.o.a.n.e.d. As it turned out, Beauty Lin was a lot more decisive and stronger than she was before. Titan God was the guild leader of Olympus and the so-called best defense-oriented expert in the north. His parrying and movement were top notch, and he preferred to defend until he found an opportunity to counter his opponent. He usually wasted his enemy¡¯s cooldowns via parrying and blocking before ending their life in one decisive combo. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle rustle... Titan God¡¯s HP dropped below 20% after receiving the Ice Flame Slash, but he didn¡¯t panic. He swung his sword, and a ray of light descended from the heavens to heal him for 50% of his total HP. It was a skill called ¡°Mercy of the Thunder God¡±, and it was even more OP than my Tenacity of the Dead. Eyes burning with fighting spirit, Titan God clashed sword with Lin Yixin before knocking away a dagger strike with a swing of his left arm. Then, he clashed swords with her again before the impact sent them stumbling away from one another. The power of Great Earth Transformation was no joke. Titan God raised his sword and let out a shout, summoning a rain of lightning on top of the Fruit Knife Goddess. It was the Thunder Warrior class¡¯s signature skill, Mad Thunder Slash! 79002! Both sides took a moment to recover themselves. Lin Yixin didn¡¯t have much health left now, but Titan God had to wipe a trail of blood that had trickled down the corner of his mouth himself. The girl¡¯s attacks were so powerful that even he was beginning to feel the effects. Titan God grinned dangerously at her before saying, ¡°Do you really think you can kill me this easily, Wind Fantasy? Dream on! My defense is the strongest defense in the entire world! Who do you think you are?¡± Lin Yixin didn¡¯t let the taunt get to her. She simply looked him up and down once before snickering, ¡°Strongest defense in the world? Not even Little Cheat has the balls to claim something that outrageous, you shameless bastard. Today¡¯s the day I tear apart that false myth of yours!¡± She was on the move even before she finished speaking. Titan God had issued a challenge to Lin Yixin, and the girl gladly accepted. Both players were extremely prideful people, so even if they didn¡¯t voice it out loud, they knew not to use a character skill that invalidated technique completely. Lin Yixin even turned off Great Earth Transformation before swinging her sword mightily at her opponent! However, Lin Yixin was as nimble as a butterfly, and it only took her three steps to the back to dodge the attack. The moment the blade passed her, she immediately rushed in again and slashed at Titan God at a 45 degree angle. Titan God raised his own sword to block the strike, but Lin Yixin¡¯s dagger was moving toward his c.h.e.s.t at almost the same time. He had no choice but to block it with his remaining hand! Chiang! Both combatants froze as a tremor coursed through their bodies. Titan God was surprised by how even their Strength stats were. Thud! Lin Yixin wasn¡¯t one to freeze in the middle of combat, however. She pushed herself off the ground and kneed Titan God right beneath the chin, cracking his defense completely. Still in the air, her right arm flashed across Titan God¡¯s neck as she landed yet another Extreme Break. Hurt and angry, Titan God grabbed Lin Yixin¡¯s right arm before shouting, ¡°Get lost!¡± Lin Yixin was thrown toward the ground like a ragdoll, and Titan God even managed to land a slash on her back before she was out of reach. However, she put away her dagger and halted her momentum by pressing a hand to the ground. Then, she rotated her legs into a swept Titan God¡¯s legs! Bang! She was successful, and this time it was Titan God¡¯s turn to fall. Eyes catching an opportunity and her hand moving even faster to seize it, Lin Yixin tossed her sword forward. The sharp, translucent blade pierced through Titan God¡¯s body, deleted his last sliver of HP and sank into the earth. Titan God¡¯s eyes widened as he stared at the blade protruding from his c.h.e.s.t. The sword was as clean as it was powerful because not even one drop of Titan God¡¯s blood remained on its blade. Titan God twitched for a bit before dissolving into a shower of white light and returning to his waiting area. After Lin Yixin got up to her feet, she gave her sword a light kick, caught it in mid-air and returned it to its sheath in one smooth motion. It was one of the coolest things I had seen from her. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Meanwhile, Titan God¡¯s complexion had turned a shade of purple after he returned to his waiting area. He slammed his blade into the ground before uttering, ¡°F.U.C.K!¡± Fairytale Killer advised, ¡°Calm down, boss. Wind Fantasy is fast and accurate, so it makes sense that her attacks will slip through your guard sometimes. All things considered, you still have a huge chance of winning against her.¡± Titan God nodded. ¡°Mn. I won¡¯t let her have the last laugh. There¡¯s no way a mere Chinese woman can beat me!¡± Beside him, the female magic knight Wight suddenly shot him a dangerous smile. ¡°What¡¯s that, boss? You¡¯re not looking down on us women, are you?¡± Titan God immediately corrected himself, ¡°Of¡­ of course not! It¡¯s the opposite actually, I respect her too much to not give her a third round, hahahaha!¡± ¡­¡­ The second round began in no time, and things went almost the same as the first round. Lin Yixin attacked Titan God like the storm, and Titan God defended like a steel fortress. It took a whopping 125 seconds for a victor to be decided, and when it was finally over, the big screen displayed a couple of stats¡ª APM: Wind Fantasy 527, Titan God 441 Hit Rate: Wind Fantasy 85%, Titan God 45% Clashes: 447 Winner: Wind Fantasy ¡­¡­ The stadium erupted. Countless Chinese players and even American players were screaming Lin Yixin¡¯s ID until they were hoarse. If nothing else, Lin Yixin had proven her technique to be superior to that of Titan God! It took a ridiculous number of 447 clashes of blades to get there, but Lin Yixin was ultimately able to whittle down her opponent¡¯s defense with controlled speed and score a precious point from Titan God. Just like the first round, neither combatant had used Great Earth Transformation or their character skills to fight, making it a pure duel of swordsmanship! I said, ¡°Don¡¯t disparage yourself, you took out Titan God at Breeze Canyon too.¡± But Li Chengfeng shook his head and said, ¡°It¡¯s not the same. I was a Divine General, and my stats were strengthened by Battle Soul Possession at the time. I had killed Titan God only because I used Dragonblade Revolution, a skill that gave him no chance of defending himself. Before that, I only managed to go even with him in terms of technique. He¡¯s a most formidable foe, and he¡¯s probably the strongest man in the Northern Alliance after Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡­¡± I laughed. ¡°Well that¡¯s no good! We¡¯ll probably have to fight him again in the upcoming Nation War!¡± Li Chengfeng¡¯s grin matched mine. ¡°I know right? F.u.c.k!¡± ¡­¡­ Thanks to Lin Yixin defeating Titan God with a 2:0 score, Snowy Cathaya got ahead of Olympus and threatened match point for now. It could still go either way though. Both Olympus and Snowy Cathaya were hot contenders to enter the semi-finals, and the intensity of the battles so far only served to fan the fans¡¯ excitement. The fourth match was between Clear Perfume and Wight. Wight was a gorgeous woman with blonde hair, blue eyes and an hourglass body. Before the match, she had stared at Murong Mingyue as if she couldn¡¯t believe that an eastern beauty could have a body like hers. Murong Mingyue puffed up her 34Es proudly and stared right back until Wight felt too embarrassed to continue. On stage, Clear Perfume looked a bit nervous and out of sorts. Her reaction was perfectly natural of course. This was the eighth-finals of the WEL, and even Lin Yixin and I couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit nervous, to say nothing of Qingqing. ¡°I wonder if Qingqing can win this¡­¡± He Yi said quietly as she stared at the screen. Beiming Xue pouted. ¡°It¡¯s a shame Nangong Lexi couldn¡¯t participate because she just joined Snowy Cathaya a while ago. She would¡¯ve had a much better chance of taking this match.¡± Li Chengfeng agreed. ¡°Yeah. Nangong Lexi has participated in big tournaments before, and she¡¯s steadier and more skilful than Clear Perfume. She would¡¯ve done better than Clear Perfume¡­¡± ¡­¡­ As expected, Sun Qingqing got 2:0¡¯d by Wight before we were even done talking about her, so the match came down to the final 2v2 match. It was Lin YIxin and Purple Marquis versus Titan God and Grief of the Dark! As I foresaw earlier, Lin Yixin and Purple Marquis worked very well with one another. Their class combination was scientific, and their strategies were logical. Twice, Purple Marquis was able to freeze his opponent with Absolute Zero and destroy them. It still came down to the wire, however. During the second round, Lin Yixin managed to kill Titan God but couldn¡¯t survive Grief of the Dark¡¯s magic attacks. In the end, though, they managed to beat their opponent 2:1 and win the 2v2 match! With an overall score of 3:2, Snowy Cathaya stepped over the corpse that was the number one guild of Titan City, Olympus, and advanced to quarter-finals! Chapter 945: Ice Knight A thunderous applause rocked the stadium. When Lin Yixin walked out of the battle room with her bag hung loosely on one shoulder, it was as if a ray of sunshine was shining down on her. If the match hadn¡¯t literally ended just a couple seconds ago, no one would believe that this gorgeous girl was the one who defeated the so-called best defensive player in the entire world, Titan God! Purple Marquis, Shadow Chanel and Clear Perfume also stepped out of the battle room behind Lin Yixin. They were all wearing happy smiles on their faces because Snowy Cathaya had officially made it into the quarter-finals. For a team who was participating in an international competition for the first time, it was a most impressive achievement for sure. More importantly, a good ranking on the world stage would more than double Snowy Cathaya¡¯s reputation in the server and attract even more experts to join the guild. When the time comes, their dream of conquering the world wouldn¡¯t be a dream anymore. ¡­¡­ Back on the stage, the American host continued to speak in fluent English that I couldn¡¯t understand. Deciding it probably wasn¡¯t of any concern to me, I walked up to Yiyi and took her bag from her. The gaming helmet was pretty heavy. "Well done, Yiyi!" I passed her a cup of tea after we returned to our seats. Lin Yixin declared smilingly, "But of course!" I teased her, "And here I thought you guys will fail to advance to the quarter-finals¡­" "OMG, you jinx! Do you want to die?" Lin Yixin waved her fist threateningly at me. Li Chengfeng grinned at my plight and said, "Hmph hmph, I wonder if it¡¯s a blessing or a curse to have a sassy girlfriend like Lin Yixin? I used to envy you, but now I¡¯m starting to pity you¡­" Li Chengfeng laughed, but Lin Yixin stayed silent. She was already focusing her obsidian-like eyes on the score and analyzing the upcoming match. The second match of Group B was Korea¡¯s Wheel of Sun and Moon versus Russia¡¯s Yellow Dragon. Yellow Dragon was Russia¡¯s first string, but unfortunately for them, they were no match for Korea¡¯s second string at all. Korea might be a small country, but they were a genuine e-sports empire. It had given birth to countless Heavenly King¨Clevel players such as Candlelight Shadow, Full Moon Dance Music, Tear Stain and more. ¡­¡­ "Group C¡¯s matches are about to start!" I slang my bag loosely across one shoulder before rising to my feet. Staring at the stage, I said, "Our next opponent is God¡¯s Domain, also known as Japan¡¯s trump card. Their team leader, Red Maple, is also the guy who taunted us earlier. I have absolutely no intention of letting Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls break apart and sink into the sand here, so I¡¯m going to do everything in my power to defeat them and advance to the quarter-finals. What do you all say?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Li Chengfeng and Luo River God of the Capital all nodded in unison. "Do your best, Ancient Sword. It¡¯s all up to you now!" "Mn." With my head held high, I walked up the stage with three gorgeous women by my side. On the other side of the stage, Red Maple did the same with two guys and one girl. Everyone¡ªeven the female player¡ªwas staring at us with hostility and disdain. After the host introduced both our teams in three different languages¡ªChinese, English and Japanese of course¡ªshe smiled at us and said, "This here is Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, the MVP of the China server. As it happens, Red Maple is also the MVP of the Japan server. I can¡¯t wait to see what these two godlike players will show us in the upcoming match! What about you all?" MVP shot me a look of hatred and disdain. He then said in broken Chinese, "I can¡¯t believe someone like you can become the MVP¡­ I¡¯ll let you know that I have a perfect record in Japan, and that 50% of my matches are no-damage wins¡­ today, I¡¯ll show you ants¡ª" I interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. "Shut your mouth, I¡¯m here to kick your a.s.s in the game, not argue with you!" The American host faltered for a second. Clearly, she wasn¡¯t expecting God¡¯s Domain and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to hate each other this much. Of course, from an outsider¡¯s point of view, it just added to the hype and excitement of the match! ¡­¡­ We discussed our line-up in a low tone that only we could hear¡ª Staring at the name list on the display, He Yi said, "Red Maple is the number one expert of the JGL and the so-called best swordsman in the game. Purple Thunder is an extremely skilled player with a hidden assassin class called Silent Killer. Cyan Frost is an ice knight with outstanding Attack and Defense, and Red Hot Vortex¡¯s class is Brave of Fury, mainly focused on explosive power. Now then, how should we order our line-up?" Beiming Xue started, "I¡¯ve seen Red Maple¡¯s battle footage before, and I can tell you that he¡¯s at least at the same level as Candlelight Shadow. None of us except big bro has a higher-than-average chance of beating him. Personally, I hope my opponent will be Red Hot Vortex. There¡¯s nothing I love more than warriors who abandon defense completely." Lian Xin simply smiled and said, "I don¡¯t mind who I run into. There¡¯s no one in this world that I can¡¯t realistically beat given the right circ.u.mstances!" He Yi smiled. It was true that Lian Xin hadn¡¯t lost a single match since the WEL China nationals. In a sense, she was even more reliable than I was at securing a point. We were truly blessed to have someone like her in our team. ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take long before the finalized line-ups appeared on the screen. Just as predicted, I managed to catch Red Maple in the third match! 1v1: Lian Xing LV-188 Phantasm of Stars VS Cyan Frost LV-185 Ice Knight 1v1: Beiming Xue LV-188 Dark Archer VS Purple Thunder LV-185 Silent Killer 1v1: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-187 Undead Swordsman VS Red Maple LV-187 Heaven¡¯s Warrior 1v1: From Water LV-186 Magic Knight VS Red Hot Vortex LV-186 Brave of Fury 2v2: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-187 Undead Swordsman & Beiming Xue LV-188 Dark Archer VS Red Maple LV-187 Heaven¡¯s Warrior & Purple Thunder LV-185 Silent Killer ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, Beiming Xue didn¡¯t get the match up she wanted. Her opponent was Purple Thunder the Silent Killer, so this was going to be another battle of perception. Overall speaking, I believed that the match-ups were favorable toward Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. While all our enemies were incredibly strong¡ªthe JGL Hall of Fame was very similar to our CGL Hall of Fame in that it was also a leaderboard of top players, with Red Maple was the number one player on the leaderboard, Red Hot Vortex the second, Purple Thunder the third, and Cyan Frost the fourth¡ªwe were confident in our abilities to overcome all obstacles, even if this obstacle was made up of the four strongest players of the entire Japan server. I rolled my eyes and said, "Heavens, these people must really PvP with their mouths¡­" He Yi comforted me with a chuckle, "Just ignore their barks and focus on keeping ourselves steady. Lian Xin, be careful. That Ice Knight class looks plenty strong¡­" Lian Xin gripped her Thunder God Scepter and declared confidently, "Don¡¯t worry, boss, big bro, Beiming. I will win this match for sure!" "Mn. See you in a bit!" Swhoosh! Lian Xin and Cyan Frost teleported into the arena at the same time. Before the battle began, Cyan Frost opened her palm and summoned a mount that looked like some sort of a unicorn. After she got up her mount, she gave her sword a casual wave and smiled dangerously at Lian Xin. "Phantasm of Stars, huh? Heehee, today¡¯s the day I teach you a lesson!" Lian Xin simply watched her opponent calmly and stomped the ground. The Telekinetic Shield responded to the movement and appeared around her. The moment the countdown hit zero, Lian Xin moved to the back and dropped a Gravity Trap to her right side. Cyan Frost urged her mount forward and glanced at the location she had waved at. Amazingly, she actually predicted the Gravity Trap¡¯s location and circled around it before continuing giving chase. "Hmph!" Boom! 89827! Cyan Frost was shocked by the amount of damage she took, but she responded quickly and escaped the spell¡¯s area of effect before it could do any more damage to her. Then, she galloped toward Lian Xin from a diagonal angle and activated Charge! Swhoosh! The distance between them shortened drastically in an instant. Her sword glowed with the light of Barrier Break! However, Lian Xin simply smiled and dropped a line of 7 Origin Force Fields in front of her, forcing Cyan Frost to cancel her skill and turn away. She had to give up 12 yards of distance even though she was almost close enough to hit Lian Xin just a moment ago. Predicting where the ice knight was going to go, Lian Xin caught her with a well-placed Gravity Trap before following up with Touch of the Dragonkiss and Dimensional Storm. The two spells instantly deleted her remaining HP and sent the astonished ice knight out of the arena. It was 1:0, and first blood to Lian Xin. Her character skills were already broken, but her technique was still growing better everyday. Not even the fourth best player of the Japan server was a match for her! The second round began quickly, and Cyan Frost changed her tactic to galloping to and fro Lian Xin, being neither too aggressive nor passive as she searched for an opening. This time, she managed to find a gap in Lian Xin¡¯s defense, Charged through it and unleashed an Earth Shattering Slash in the mage¡¯s face! Lian Xin made a weird noise and crossed her scepter in front of herself. Miraculously, she was able to parry the skill! Pu! The blade pierced Lian Xin right between the b.r.e.a.s.ts and turned her into a block of ice instantly. Then, Cyan Frost withdrew her blade and hit her with a Barrier Break! 49029! 76262! Two hits later, Cyan Frost successfully killed Lian Xin and drew the match. Swhoosh! The frozen status condition didn¡¯t disappear even after Lian Xin was teleported out of the arena. When 3 seconds had passed¡ªthat was how long Freezing Slash freezed the target¡ªthe ice disappeared, and Lian Xin inhaled a deep gulp of air. She said, "I was careless¡­" I smiled. "Yes, you should have never let her get close to you. That Freezing Slash can go through your Telekinetic Shield, meaning that she didn¡¯t even need to break your Magic Shield to kill you. This time, keep your distance and blast her to oblivion!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ The third round began, and Lian Xian faithfully protected her lifeline¡ªthe distance between herself and her enemy¡ªwhile treating her enemy to Gravity Traps and Ice Spiral Matrices. This time Cyan Frost couldn¡¯t find an opening no matter what she tried, and she was killed by a Dimensional Storm before she could even use Charge. The score turned 2:1, and Lian Xin secured the overall first blood for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It was a hard won battle, however. Chapter 946: Number One Swordsman I was inside the game, but I could still hear the cheers of the audience coming from outside the battle room. Countless Chinese exchange students had traveled to the stadium in person just to support their team. Their hearts burst with patriotism and joy when they saw a brethren of their own displaying an excellent mastery of magic to destroy the fourth best expert of the Japan server with incredible skill. On the other hand, Red Maple and the rest of his comrades didn¡¯t look as confident as they were before. Cyan Frost¡¯s defeat was a wake-up call and a realization that the China champion team wasn¡¯t as fragile as they imagined. Red Maple might think that the China server had declined when all its top experts such as Frivolous Scholar, Seven-Star Lamp, Paralyzing Wind of Sorrow and more retired from the game, but he was wrong. China could never run out of top-tier talent. Every time the old retires, a new era of experts would stand up and take their place. They were only humiliating themselves every time they tried to challenge us. ¡­¡­ The second match was Beiming Xue versus Purple Thunder. The enemy¡¯s class was a secret assassin class, and there had to be something special about him. Usually, it was incredibly difficult for an assassin to enter the Top 10 of the Hall of Fame of any server. For example, Farewell Song of China was easily one of the Top 10 duelists in the China server. However, he couldn¡¯t even make it into the Top 10 of the leaderboard of a Nation War because his job was to lie low and assassinate key targets, not cut down every enemy in his path¡ªwhich directly contributed to contribution points¡ªlike a warrior. Swhoosh swhoosh! A pair of lights entered the battlefield. Purple Thunder wore a black leather armor and wielded a pair of dark green daggers. His lips were curled in a slightly disdainful manner as he said to Beiming Xue, "I wasn¡¯t expecting to see an archer in the WEL internationals, much less a 1v1, to be honest.¡± Beiming Xue simply raised her bow and said smilingly, "You poor boy! Don¡¯t worry, your great aunt¡¯s gonna teach you exactly how an archer dominates in a 1v1 match right away!" The countdown began, and Purple Thunder vanished into thin air. The map was Autumn Square, more specifically a town square from the medieval period. Unfortunately, there was no way to identify his location besides watching out for disturbed leaves on the ground, and stealth was so broken that they didn¡¯t even leave shadows on the ground. How does that even work? On the other hand, if assassins did leave shadows on the ground, then no one would play the class as a matter of course. 3! 2! 1! Beiming Xue moved to the back and activated Great Earth Transformation. On the other side of the battlefield, a ripple of energy suddenly disturbed the air as well. Looks like Purple Thunder was also a Divine General! "Well of the Abyss!" Beiming Xue immediately fired her Divine General Skill, but it only resulted in a MISS. Somehow, Purple Thunder had dodged it in the nick of time before melting completely into thin air. Whoosh whoosh... However, Well of the Abyss was a vortex that s.u.c.k.e.d everything into itself for a short period of time, so the leaves near the skill were all flying toward it. Some of them flew into an invisible target that was most certainly the assassin she was looking for. Beiming Xue immediately raised her Ice Soul Feather and loosed a Skypiercer! Countless arrows rained on top of Purple Thunder and forced him to roll out of the way. It looked a bit panicky, but the assassin himself was anything but that. After he got back to his feet, he activated Haste and rushed Beiming Xue despite the massive health loss he had suffered so far. Beiming Xue calmly aimed her bow and used Evil Spirit Volley. Twelve arrows immediately flew toward Purple Thunder in rapid succession! "Hmph!" Eyes brimming with fighting spirit, Purple Thunder activated his seventh-promotion skill, Dance of Death, and increased his speed drastically. Like a shadow, he shortened the distance between himself and Beiming Xue in an instant and used Blade Vortex. It was the strongest offensive skill the Assassin class had, and the reason he used it so quickly was because he knew that the Chinese archer was stronger than he had given her credit for. It was impossible to CC and kill her the standard way, so he shifted his goal to chipping as much health as he could before killing her! A bit of excitement entered Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes. Lifting the Ice Soul Feather with one hand and pulling out her dagger with the other, she parried all three attacks before firing a point-blank Spiraling Arrow Blade! This time, Purple Thunder couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit of panic. His health had dropped dangerously low! However, he suddenly bent his knees and tensed up like a bow. Then, he cried, "Lightning Strike!" Swhoosh! As if he had divined the secrets of space itself, Purple Thunder suddenly appeared next to Beiming Xue and sank his dagger into her flesh, dealing 89288 damage! Bang! To our shock, Purple Thunder exploded and engulfed Beiming Xue in flames. A moment later, a figure escaped the thick smoke and landed safely on the ground. It was none other than Purple Thunder himself. He had detonated his own body, but managed to escape death via a shadow clone. It was his Divine General Skill, Shadow Explosion! Swhoosh! After Beiming Xue reappeared next to us, she gripped her Ice Soul Feather and complained with a pout, "I¡¯m so angry!" I smiled reassuringly at her and said, "Relax, at least you know you need to watch out for his Divine General Skill now. That Lightning Strike also allows him to reach you instantly like Charge, except it has zero cast time and can only be dodged preemptively. You¡¯ll win as long as you maintain your distance. Also, don¡¯t waste your Well of the Abyss like that anymore. The reason he won was because you used it way too frivolously the first time. Check the map, predict his location, and the match should be yours." "Mn, I got it!" Beiming Xue teleported back into the arena, and this time the map was Grassy Field. I smiled. This was about the best map Beiming Xue could get against Purple Thunder! As expected, Beiming Xue easily determined her opponent¡¯s location via his footprints and fired Skypiercer. The super AoE skill gave Purple Thunder nowhere to run, so he did exactly what he did last time¡ªactivating Haste and Dance of Death¡ªand rushed Beiming Xue. He opened up with Lightning Strike, but Beiming Xue jumped and blocked the attack with her bow. After allowing the momentum to carry her to the back, she pointed her palm at Purple Thunder and used Well of the Abyss! The score was now 1:1, a tie! The third round was Snow Plains, and it looks like the system was watching over Lil Beiming today. The second Purple Thunder took his first step, the indentation on the snow revealed his position. He never had a chance. The Archean-grade bow Ice Soul Feather doubled Skypiercer¡¯s damage, and it had a chance of freezing its target. That was exactly what happened during this round. Crack! Icicles grew around Purple Thunder¡¯s feet and immobilized him, preventing him from taking even a single step! Purple Thunder exclaimed in shock, "What the f.u.c.k is this?" Beiming Xue¡¯s Spiraling Arrow Blade and Explosive Arrow pierced his body before he even finished speaking. No level of equipment¡ªat least not on an assassin¡ªcould withstand the might of Beiming Xue¡¯s Windchaser set and Ice Soul Feather. The score turned 2:1, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls now led the battle with a 2:0 score, threatening match point. It was my turn to face the enemy¡¯s ace, MVP of the Japan server, and god in the eyes of countless Japanese players, Red Maple! ¡­¡­ Chiang! I smiled back. "Think? We¡¯ve won already, you just don¡¯t know it yet. Oh well, it¡¯s not like it matters anyway. Our 16th-finals opponent in the China nationals was stronger than you are¡­" "F.u.c.ker!" Red Maple swore furiously, "Duel me if you dare! I¡¯ll show you what true swordsmanship is!" "Sure. Wait for me¡­" I laughed and summoned the system fairy. Then, I teleported into the battle arena! Swhoosh swhoosh! We entered the battle arena at almost the same time, and we both activated Great Earth Transformation. This match was critical to both of us for very different reasons. I wanted to 3:0 God¡¯s Domain in a dominant fashion and deliver Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls into the Top 8. Red Maple wanted to turn the tables and reverse-sweep us, or God¡¯s Domain would have to bid the WEL internationals goodbye prem.a.t.u.r.ely. There were only two Japanese teams in this competition, and one of them had been eliminated already. This meant that they were the only ones left to carry the flag of their country. If Red Maple lost here, he would be disappointing tens of millions of Japanese players. Of course, shaming the f.u.c.ker was exactly what I was hoping to do. This guy was so arrogant that he acted as if the entire China server was beneath him. He thinks his mastery of the sword is peerless? Very well, I¡¯ll give him a taste of Chinese swordsmanship and beat him in his proudest area! If there was one thing I knew for certain, it would be that no one knew the sword better than I did! ¡­¡­ 3! 2! 1! Fight! Red Maple dashed toward me like a loose bolt immediately after the battle began. I ran toward him myself before using Thousand Ice Slash! Boom! 52883! Red Maple shuddered, but didn¡¯t look affected by the skill in the slightest. He fired his own skill at me while shouting, "Fire God Flurry!" Its speed was too fast. It almost looked like one long attack! 70992! 32822! It looks like Fire God Flurry was similar to Burning Blade Slash in that the third and final hit dealt an insane amount of damage. I lost a ton of HP even considering my current Defense! Red Maple was moving way too quickly. He faced toward me and swung his weapon again! Chiang! I parried the attack with the Purple Ying Sword and kicked him with lightning speed! Bang! However, Red Maple wasn¡¯t boasting when he claimed that his swordsmanship was first-class. Somehow, he managed to withdraw his sword in time to block my kick and sent me stumbling to the back instead. Before I could recover my footing, he tossed a ball of lightning at me while shouting, "Die!" I immediately activated Ghost Deity Shield and raised my left arm! An electrifying sensation coursed through my body despite the skill. At the same time, a shocking damage number rose above my head¡ª90092! Chapter 947: Who Shall Take Revenge I had no idea what that skill was, only that it almost deleted 100k HP from me. It was at least as powerful as a spell from a top-tier mage like Luo River God of the Capital herself. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, this Thunder God Ball was a dual-type skill that was effective against all kinds of armor just like my Coiling Dragon Revolution! It was a bad idea to remain passive and wait for death to claim me, so after backing about ten yards I ran toward Red Maple at top speed! Eyes burning with fighting spirit and laughing, Red Maple raised his weapon and said, "Is this all you got, MVP of China? Die!" It was Fire God Flurry again. Red Maple apparently had an incredible sense of distance because he timed his attack so that it would hit me the moment I entered within 5 yards of him, also the maximum attack range of his skill. Theoretically speaking, I wouldn¡¯t have time to react to the attack. In reality though, Red Maple had underestimated my reaction speed. Right before Fire God Flurry could touch my nose, I zigged 45 degrees to the right, spending merely 0.15 seconds to dodge the skill perfectly, then zagged back onto my path as if I never left it. Once I moved close enough to Red Maple, I slammed the hilt of my sword right into his face! Bang! Blood spilled out of his mouth as he staggered backward, the impact nearly costing him a tooth. While he was distracted, I seized the opportunity to fire Burning Blade Slash at him! "Ah?!" Bang bang bang! The three sword auras rocked his body and dealt a ton of damage¡ª 39029! 42828! 52989! Red Maple was shocked that he had lost over 130k HP despite Guarding. Before he could do anything else though, I ran up to him and kicked him right in the stomach! "Get lost!" Bang! Red Maple failed to block the attack in time and was sent rolling across the ground. The clash of Divine Generals was intense to say the least. Red Maple plunged his sword into the ground to stop his momentum. Then, he bounced back to his feet and summoned a gust of wind at the center of his palm. He shouted, "Wind Dragon Revolution!" A hurricane appeared out of nowhere and took the form of a Wind Dragon. It was an AoE magic skill! The skill swept across my body and deleted over 60k HP, but I was undeterred. After I healed myself with Tenacity of the Dead, I rushed Red Maple again, knocked his blade out of the way and cut him right across the shoulder! "Ah!" 49291! The attack was just a basic attack, but it was too fast for the so-called number one swordsman of the Japan server to react to. Enraged and humiliated, he zigzagged around me, brought his sword low and tried to slash me across the waist. There was no time to think. I raised the Dragon God Shield and slapped his sword out of the way. At the same time, I shuffled my feet twice in an S-shaped pattern, avoided any follow-up attacks that might come from him, and arrived behind his back. One of the helix maneuver¡¯s best traits was flexibility. I could attack or not anytime I wanted to while I was running along its orbit! A tai chi image appeared beneath my feet as the Purple Ying Sword burst into indigo flames. Universe Break easily cut through his body like paper! 110293! Red Maple let out a scream of pain. He had used a healing skill beforehand, but the attack still brought him to red health. Summoning a swirl of divine energy to his arm, he turned around in a hurry and fired his Divine General Skill at me¡ªMaple Kill! Whoosh whoosh whoosh¡­ I gritted my teeth and made the snap decision to throw my weapon at Red Maple. The Purple Ying Sword wreathed in dragon-shaped energy piercing his body first. You think you¡¯re faster than me? Idiot! 120399! After that, I took three quick steps to the back and successfully dodged out of harm¡¯s way. Red Maple¡¯s Divine General Skill probably hit like a truck, but unfortunately for him, it had the start-up time of a truck as well. There was little chance it could hit a player at my skill level. Thud¡­ An ashen-faced Red Maple dropped to his knees and died. I, on the other hand, was well over 35% HP. The score turned 1:0. For now, the lead was mine! ¡­¡­ The arena had background music, but it wasn¡¯t nearly enough to suppress the thunderous applause and cheers coming from outside the battle room. If Lin Yixin¡¯s fight against Titan God was a duel of skills, then my fight against Red Maple was a true duel to the death. Red Maple thought of me as his mortal enemy, and vice versa. That was why we had employed every tool in our arsenal to murder the f.u.c.k out of each other. Technique, character skills, stats, combos and so on. The goal was to slay the enemy as effectively and efficiently as possible! Red Maple¡¯s speed and swordsmanship were top-notch, but it was clear that he was still a tad inferior to me. The higher you climbed, the deadlier the power gap between players became. The Japanese player¡¯s tactics were even lousier than Candlelight Shadow¡¯s, and while it wasn¡¯t a big gap. it was just enough to give me a win. Lian Xin also planted the b.u.t.t of her scepter on the ground and cheered, "Lu Chen, do your best! Lu Chen, do your best!" He Yi simply smiled without saying a word. It was clear that she had full confidence in me. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After Red Maple teleported back into the arena, he glared at me frigidly before saying, "Don¡¯t think you¡¯ve proven your strength just because you got lucky. The real battle has just begun!" I didn¡¯t answer him. I preferred to prove my point with the blade in my hand. The countdown began, and Red Maple activated Great Earth Transformation once more. Staring daggers at me, he growled, "I¡¯ll grant you a horrible death this round!" I brandished the Purple Ying Sword beside me and replied, "You know what, I won¡¯t activate Great Earth Transformation this round so you can¡¯t say that us Chinese players are bullies who enjoy bullying the weak. Now come. It is time we determine a victor between the top rung of our servers!" Obviously, my stats would fall behind Red Maple¡¯s without Great Earth Transformation, but when it came to mental state, I dare say that I was in a better place than Red Maple. If I lost this round, I still had another round to make things right. But if Red Maple lost, then his team would be kicked out of the competition. Shameful or not, he didn¡¯t have the choice not to use Great Earth Transformation. When the countdown hit zero, Red Maple took the initiative and rushed me first! Three slashes flew my way at lightning speed. For all my mockery, I wasn¡¯t stupid enough to pretend that he didn¡¯t deserve his title as the number one player in the Japan server. Still, my mind remained as calm as a lake, and I felt like I knew almost every movement he was about to make. The Purple Ying Sword dashed forward to meet its challenger! Chiang chiang! I parried two of his attacks before withdrawing my weapon. Then, I activated Guard to reduce my damage taken! Bang! 29487! It was a lot of damage even though it was a successful Guard. Great Earth Transformation obviously weighed a lot in any battle. Red Maple turned his sword away so he could summon a ball of lightning around his left fist and punch me. I gathered the Magic Piercing Punch myself and met his fist head-on! Bang! The energy dissipated, and we both took a few steps away from each other. My arms felt numb, but I rushed Red Maple again before it could recover some feeling. I would be in danger if I allowed something this minor to disrupt my attack rhythm. Not waiting for the suffocating sensation in my lungs to disappear, I spun around Red Maple, grabbed his waist armor, and pulled him toward the ground. He launched a right foot at me right before the impact, but I responded with an elbow strike of my own and sent his right foot slamming into his own person instead. Stats or not, gravity and force were on my side this time. Sensing an opening, I thrust my leg forward and kneed him right beneath the chin! Thud! 39092! Red Maple couldn¡¯t defend against it. It was simply too swift and unexpected. I ran past his prone body before turning around and launching Burning Blade Slash! Bang bang bang! At this point, it was looking really bad for Red Maple because he was suffering blows without being able to trade back. He hurriedly raised his arm and used Maple Kill again, but I backpedaled as much as I could while firing three Ancient Seals into the air. I also raised the Dragon God Shield to block the Divine General Skill with Ghost Deity Shield! 69929! Maple Kill¡¯s damage was really high, but my Ancient Seal also dealt 100k+ damage to him. His HP entered the red zone again in just the blink of an eye. Thud thud thud... I ran along an unpredictable path before pointing my hand at him. God Binding Art! Swhoosh! The skill landed successfully, but Red Maple activated War God Rampage in the nick of time and nullified the status effect. Face red with anger as he charged toward me, he shouted, "Dammit! I¡¯ll kill you, I¡¯ll kill you!" I retreated to the back and dropped Icy Cyclone Domain on top of the man. The skill didn¡¯t slow him, but it did do a fair amount of damage. A moment before he was about to reach me, the image of a dragon appeared around my sword once more. The weapon cut right through Red Maple¡¯s body in thunderous fashion! 592880! It was an impossible number. The only explanation for it was that the Coiling Dragon Revolution had triggered the Purple Ying Sword¡¯s quintuple damage passive. It was the final nail in Red Maple and God¡¯s Domain¡¯s coffin. Thud! Red Maple collapsed helplessly to the ground despite his struggles. Glaring furiously at me, he said, "Just you wait! I won¡¯t forget your face, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. I, Red Maple, swear to storm your city with a million-strong army of Purple Gr.a.p.e City! Revenge will be mine!" I simply said, "Revenge will be yours? We¡¯re the ones who should be saying that!" Pa! Red Maple disappeared the moment my sword returned to my hand. With this, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had officially advanced to the quarter-finals with a 3:0 score! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After I teleported out of the arena, Beiming Xue hugged my arm excitedly and said, "Big bro, you¡¯re amazing! That Red Maple¡¯s so-called peerless swordsmanship is practically a joke before yours!" Lian Xin also praised smilingly, "Red Maple¡¯s swordsmanship may be peerless, but he¡¯s lacking in every other area. Big bro Lu Chen¡¯s swordsmanship, tactics, positioning, skill timing, combo and more are all among the best of the best!" I blushed. "You may stop praising me now¡­" Chapter 948: Fighting Kimchi We requested to fight out the remaining matches even though we had already advanced to the quarter-finals. It was because we needed the points to become the MVP. One of the requirements to become the MVP was that the player could lose a round, but not a match. Therefore, even a player in the runner-up team could potentially become the MVP as long as they maintained an all-win record. In the case where there were multiple players who maintained an all-win record, then the one with the most matches won would become the MVP! The fourth match was between He Yi and Red Hot Vortex. Red Hot Vortex was one of the top players in the Japan server and famed for his extraordinary Attack and super-tier skill. He wasn¡¯t a foe that could be underestimated. Staring at Red Hot Vortex inside the arena, our beautiful guild leader said uncertainly, "I¡¯m not sure if I can beat that guy. I just checked his battle videos, and he seems real strong¡­" I gave He Yi a pat on the shoulder and a smile. "There¡¯s nothing to worry about. I won¡¯t lie to you and say you¡¯re going to win this, but that doesn¡¯t mean you should just surrender without a fight. So how about this: I want you to delete as much HP from his health pool as you can. Treat this like a training battle, and use your opponent to propel yourself to greater heights. Show us your ability to trade blows, Eve!" "Mn!" He Yi gave me a smiling nod before teleporting into the arena. She then summoned her Dragonlight Armored Horse¡ªwhich was really the Dragonscale Beast¡ªand mounted it. She wasn¡¯t as skilled as her opponent, but her stats should be higher than Red Hot Vortex¡¯s. With a bit of luck, she might even be able to win this. Red Hot Vortex looked like a middle-aged man. Staring at our beautiful guild leader and l.i.c.k.i.n.g his lips, he said, "While God¡¯s Domain failed to advance to the quarter-finals because of you, I gotta admit that you and the rest in your team are world-class beauties. Everyone, including that big-b.r.e.a.s.ted priest who didn¡¯t join the fight, is so cute!" He Yi turned bright red as she glared at him. "Pooh!" Chiang chiang chiang... He Yi put her shield in front of herself and defended against the five-hit skill with Guard. The moment the skill reached its end, she immediately moved her shield to the side and stabbed Red Hot Vortex in the c.h.e.s.t using Barrier Break! 60399! Red Hot Vortex laughed loudly as he circled to He Yi¡¯s flank. Once he was behind her, he raised his sword and hit her with Earth Shattering Slash. The guy was exploiting the mount¡¯s slow turn rate to the maximum degree. He Yi tried to turn around and block the attack, but she was just a tad too slow. It wasn¡¯t a fluke either. As it turned out, Red Hot Vortex had an amazing sense of space. He was always able to maneuver himself to a position where He Yi¡ªand even me¡ªdidn¡¯t expect him to be and land a clean blow. It also made me realize that God¡¯s Domain wasn¡¯t as weak as they seemed to be. Red Hot Vortex¡¯s swordsmanship might be no match for Red Maple¡¯s, but his tactics and positioning completely outstripped the so-called number one player. He Yi¡¯s opponent was a true expert! As expected, He Yi lost both rounds, but it wasn¡¯t a complete loss. Red Hot Vortex had 34% HP left during the first round, but only 7% during the second round. It must¡¯ve been quite the frightening experience for Red Hot Vortex, and exactly what I was hoping to see. The bigger the competition, the faster He Yi could evolve into a true super-tier expert. ¡­¡­ The fifth match was Beiming Xue and I versus Red Maple and Purple Thunder. Teamwork was the key to winning group battles, but in this case, I had Red Maple completely pinned, and Purple Thunder was no match for Beiming Xue. Even better, they had no good answer to Beiming Xue¡¯s Well of the Abyss at all. We could¡¯ve won the match without her Divine General Skill, but the girl loved toying with her opponents and used it both rounds to scare the enemy. As a result, both rounds were landslide victories. In the end, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was able to sweep Japan¡¯s number one guild, God¡¯s Domain, with a 4:1 score! When we walked out of the battle room with our bags, we were welcomed by a thunderous applause and cheers from the fans. I spotted even European and African fans among these people. There was no such thing as national borders in games, and everyone liked exciting matches and incredible displays of skills. It didn¡¯t matter which country you came from, they would love you as long as you were sufficiently skilled. Right now, my duel with Red Maple was without a doubt the most exciting match in the competition besides Lin Yixin¡¯s duel with Titan God. Moreover, we were both the MVPs of our respective countries, and our battle had everything you would want to see in a battle of experts. Of course the fans loved us. I gave it some thought before saying, "I dislike anyone who looks down on Chinese players. If someone like that shows up in front of me, I¡¯ll beat them up until they change their minds!" The host looked surprised by my declaration, but every Chinese fan within the stadium understood what I meant. They immediately roared on top of their lungs. He Yi took over the mic and repeated my words in fluent, polite English. The words were the same, but the declaration felt completely different coming from He Yi. Still, the message got through to the European and American fans, and they too shouted their approval. Of course, the Japanese fans¡¯ response was the complete opposite. Red Maple especially looked like he could swallow me whole. ¡­¡­ After the short interview was done, we returned to our waiting area. Luo River God of the Capital commented while sipping her red tea, "Looks like change is upon us yet again. When the WEL internationals are over, Heavenblessed¡¯s power structure is sure to undergo a massive change once more. If it wasn¡¯t a sure thing if Purple Gr.a.p.e City is going to launch an attack on Sky City before, it is now¡­" I nodded. "Yeah, that Red Maple is such a sore loser. It¡¯s just a WEL competition, and he made it so as if I was the murderer of his family or something." Stranger of Three Lifetimes chuckled. "No, I think it¡¯s because he has too much useless pride. He has never met a match in the Japan server, and then you appeared out of nowhere and kicked his a.s.s twice in the WEL internationals. Of course his fragile ego wouldn¡¯t be able to accept this. That is why he¡¯s going to use every resource available to him to launch a Nation War and take revenge against you!" Lin Yixin leaned into her sofa and added, "Actually, I don¡¯t think Red Maple will go for Sky City. Do you know how hard it is to siege a flying city? It¡¯s far likelier than he¡¯ll attack Dark Moon City directly after he passes through White Rose Fortress. You¡¯re its city lord after all!" He Yi immediately replied, "Pooh! Shut your mouth, Warsky. Maybe Candle Dragon will raid your city first!" Warsky: "..." I wasn¡¯t worried though. "There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of. It¡¯s a 10-hour march between White Rose Fortress and Dark Moon City. Our cavalry can run over them a million times over before they even reach us!" Farewell Song suddenly said, "What if the Northern Alliance launches another naval assault at the same time?" Lin Yixin spoke up this time. "Snowy Cathaya will take care of it!" Farewell Song looked shocked, but Purple Marquis and Clear Perfume merely laughed. This is why you make allies! ¡­¡­ I felt bored, so I made an international call to Gui Guzi to check on things. A couple of beeps later, he accepted the call¡ªhe was in-game right now¡ªand asked me, "What is it, Boss Broken Halberd? I¡¯m fighting a boss with Chaos Moon and the gang right now. We didn¡¯t miss your matches though. Just takes a bit of multitasking¡­" "How are things in Dark Moon City, Little Gui? And how is our production of Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers?" I asked. I chuckled. "Well, this is expected. Of course they¡¯re afraid of our growing strength." Gui Guzi replied, "Don¡¯t worry about us and focus on the competition, Boss Broken Halberd. Dark Moon City is in safe hands." "Yeah. Let¡¯s both do our best!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the next match had already begun. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s university junior, Tear Stain, and the first string of Korea, Throne of the Wild, swept their opponents in a dominant fashion. They advanced to the quarter-finals and would become our next opponent. Cyan Beast¡¯s match in Group D was really a one-man show by the king of the India server, God of War. He single-handedly carried his team to the quarter-finals. So far, Candlelight Shadow also lived up to his fans¡¯ expectations and defeated Thailand¡¯s The Gods with a 4:1 score. It wasn¡¯t long before the finalized quarter-finals match-ups were displayed on the screen¡ª Upper Bracket Hero Alliance (USA) VS Heavenly Disaster (Korea) Lower Bracket Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls (China) VS Throne of the Wild (Korea) Cyan Beast (India) VS Candle Dragon (China) ¡­¡­ The true clash between the strong had finally arrived. Starting now, there truly was no one who could be considered a weakling anymore. Hero Alliance¡¯s Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Lin Yixin, Throne of the Wild¡¯s Tear Stain, Cyan Beast¡¯s God of War, and Candle Dragon¡¯s Candlelight Shadow. These were all people who could shake their respective servers with a stomp of their foot, and the very reason for the WEL internationals was to pit all these gods against one another! It was time to decide the god king! ¡­¡­ The quarter-finals began with the applause of the excited spectators, and the first match was between Hero Alliance and Korea¡¯s Heavenly Disaster. It had to be said that Korea¡¯s gaming skill was excellent. They had three teams at the start of the internationals, and all three of them were still in the quarter-finals. Even we were outdone by them in this regard, one of our four teams having been eliminated. On the other hand, USA wasn¡¯t doing so hot right now. They hadn¡¯t had the best luck in terms of grouping, and Hero Alliance was the only one left to carry their banner. Cyan Beast was a real threat as well. The number one guild of India led by God of War, the number one player of India, were also a hot contender to win the whole thing. The second match of the upper bracket was Snowy Cathaya versus Wheel of Sun and Moon. It was yet another Korean team! Lin Yixin grabbed her bag, rose to her feet and declared with a smile, "C¡¯mon. It¡¯s time to battle the kimchis!" Chapter 949: Tear Stain Wheel of Sun and Moon was the fourth-placed team in the WEL Korea nationals and the weakest of all of the Korean teams. However, even a dead camel is bigger than a fat horse. No matter how weak they were, they were still an international contender. The first match was Lin Yixin versus the enemy¡¯s ace archer. Currently, a top-class archer must know how to parry their enemy¡¯s attack at close range and use that force to push themselves away from the enemy, and this ace archer was no exception. After all, the Archer class only had one escape tool also known as Leap. If a fighter managed to get close while the skill was on cooldown, anyone who couldn¡¯t pull off this technique was probably going to die. Unfortunately for this ace archer, his opponent was the woman who got her nickname through her dagger mastery, the famous Fruit Knife Goddess herself. Some of us literally snorted out loud when he pulled out his dagger in an attempt to defend himself. After just a couple of exchanges, Lin Yixin easily knocked his dagger aside¡ªwithout using so much force that the archer could push himself away from her¡ªand ended the battle with the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword. The match ended 2:0 in favor of Lin Yixin. As usual, the girl was practically untouchable on the battlefield. The second match was between Purple Marquis and a berserker. Both fighters were hot-blooded males, and their clashes were just as exciting. Purple Marquis¡¯s skill was absolutely superior to his opponent¡¯s, however. He was always able to appear at the right position with the right cooldowns he needed. After two Barrier Break + Absolute Zero combos, he defeated his opponent 2:0. The overall score turned 2:0. It was now a match point for Snowy Cathaya. The third match was a bit of a shame. Clear Perfume had a chance to defeat the enemy¡¯s magic knight, but she wasn¡¯t quite able to achieve the same effect as Beiming Xue when defending herself with her dagger. Unable to handle the enemy¡¯s well-executed counterattacks, she lost the match 1:2 and allowed the game to extend to the fourth match. The overall score was now 2:1. Wheel of Sun and Moon had staunched their bleeding for now. The fourth match was Shadow Chanel versus another magic knight, a Heroic Bannerman no less. However, not every Heroic Bannerman was a first-rate expert¡ªjust like how Laughing At The Heavens didn¡¯t really deserve to appear in the CGL Hall of Fame, but did anyway¡ªand this one happened to be one of them. The dark tongue mage was able to beat him fairly easily and carry Snowy Cathaya into the Top 4! The final score of the battle was 4:1, a dominant win for Snowy Cathaya. They were also the first team to advance into the semi-finals of the WEL internationals! ¡­¡­ Lian Xin nodded. "Yeah. Our opponent is Throne of the Wild, and their leader, Tear Stain, is apparently Candlelight Shadow¡¯s university junior. I wonder if they were ever in a relationship, heehee¡­" I shot her a look. "You¡¯re overthinking this. I don¡¯t think they¡¯re like that¡­" However, Murong Mingyue retorted, "A relationship is the only thing that could make a woman this obsessed with a man, okay?" I sighed. "Fine, fine, they¡¯re like that¡­" Not far away, Candlelight Shadow glared at us and said, "Can you not gossip about me around me? Also, my life is none of your business, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" Li Chengfeng smiled from his sofa and said, "Oh my, the king lost his composure. How unsightly. Pooh!" Candlelight Shadow¡¯s complexion turned the shade of purple, but he couldn¡¯t erupt and engage Li Chengfeng in real life PvP because he was in public. Of course, I didn¡¯t think that Candlelight Shadow could beat Li Chengfeng or even me. Li Chengfeng was a policeman who was trained in all sorts of self-defense and takedown techniques. He could probably one-shot Candlelight Shadow if he wanted to. As for me, my body has become unreasonably strong ever since I was infected by the virus. I could punch way above my weight class even though I barely exercised. It was at this moment a girl with black hair walked over with her bag slung on one shoulder. She was followed by three men, and they were of course the other three members of Throne of the Wild. Tear Stain was dressed in an orange sportswear. The collar was unbuttoned, so I could see her low-cut T-shirt and her deep cleavage. It was a sight that drove countless audience members to the brink of insanity. In terms of s.e.xiness and boldness, I had to admit Korean girls were leagues ahead of our women. Of course, the gap was less obvious if it was indoors. For example, Murong Mingyue pranced around the apartment every day in her mini-skirt. It was one of the reasons I was able to face Tear Stain¡¯s cleavage calmly. Warsky and Farewell Song were nowhere as collected though. The way they were staring at Tear Stain¡¯s cleavage, you couldn¡¯t help but suspect if they were going to commit a crime right there and then. "Do you still remember me, Candlelight?" Candlelight Shadow shivered visibly before looking away from her. "Why¡­ why haven¡¯t you moved on yet?" Tear Stain broke into a smile. "Why should I? It is for you that I spent three years learning the Chinese language. It is for you I trained day and night just to become stronger. It is for you that I founded Throne of the Wild and carried it to the top, so I can stand as your equal in Korea. All I ask for my efforts is for you to acknowledge me. You were¡ª are¡ªthe man I¡¯ve fallen in love with, and I¡¯m never going to change my mind. You know this, don¡¯t you?" God¡¯s Dance pursed her lips and commented, "You don¡¯t find a girl like this everyday, boss. Why are you even hesitating? Just accept her already..." But Candlelight Shadow gritted his teeth and said, "It¡¯s all in the past. You should just forget about me!" Deep disappointment welled in her eyes, but Tear Stain suddenly broke into a smile and said, "Is that so? I heard you lost to a guild called Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls during the semi-finals of your nationals, didn¡¯t you? Very well, I¡¯ll defeat them and prove my obsession to you!" She picked up her bag and walked up to us this time. She put a hand on the table and issued us a challenge, "I am Tear Stain, team leader of Throne of the Wild and your next opponent. I know you¡¯re Candle Dragon¡¯s sworn enemy, so I will defeat you for the sake of my man. I will crush you and destroy you in the upcoming match. When this is over, I will even lead Throne of the Wild across Dragonbone Mountain Range and take Dark Moon City from you. Prepare yourself for the bitter taste of defeat, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Your opponent is far stronger than you can possibly imagine!" I set down my cup and rose to my feet. Staring straight at Tear Stain, I replied, "That may be true, but you¡¯d better remember that the same thing could apply to you as well; that we may be far stronger than you can possibly imagine. You think you¡¯re unbeatable just because your team is made up of Heroic Bannermen? We¡¯ll show you in a moment that nothing matters before our blades!" Lin Yixin rose to her feet as well and glared at Tear Stain. "If you¡¯re going to challenge us, do it without the gloating and fanfare! You can gloat after you actually beat us, hmph!" Warsky teased, "What do you mean? Of course she¡¯s a part of Ancient Sword, she¡¯s Lu Chen¡¯s girlfriend!" Blushing like a tomato, Lin Yixin turned around and glared at Warsky. "You! Get out of my sight now!" Warsky clutched his glass of red wine and withdrew to the back as she demanded. It seemed like cowardice, but Lin Yixin was insanely popular both inside and outside the country. All he would achieve by pissing her off for real was painting a bright red target on his guild. In a sense, idols like her¡ªone that was as beautiful as she was powerful no less¡ªwere even deadlier than Heavenly Kings. ¡­¡­ Tear Stain patted away the dust on her bag before smiling. "Very well, let us meet again on the battlefield. Defeat will be yours, Ancient Sword. Let¡¯s go, people¡­" Frosty Night, Blazing Pulse and Enlightened Heart immediately obeyed and followed behind their beautiful guild leader. All four Korean players were Heroic Bannermen in the same club. We had even encountered three of them during the Nation War. Frosty Night and Enlightened Heart were powerful foes that I was confident I could beat, but I wasn¡¯t so sure about the girls. The worst part was that Tear Stain¡¯s strength was mostly an enigma to us. There must be a reason she was so confident that she would win. I was about to ask Lin Yixin for some info, but she preempted me and said, "Tear Stain has joined the scene for three years, but her official rise to the top began over a year ago. Not only did she defeat the former number one player of Korea, Full Moon Dance Music, he went to her, a girl six years younger than he was, for guidance. Eventually, Tear Stain would come to defeat every active expert within Korea. She absolutely deserves her title as Korea¡¯s new number one." Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes widened. "That sounds pretty similar to Beautiful Little Pepper¡¯s story¡­" Lin Yixin shrugged. "I don¡¯t know about that. All I can say is I¡¯ve watched her battle footage, and I can say that she¡¯s someone I don¡¯t have full confidence in beating¡­" "Mn mn!" The girls nodded in unison and followed me up the stage. The WEL internationals was a summit where the strong met, and now was the time to get serious! ¡­¡­ A quick discussion later, it was decided that I would attend the third match as usual. The third match was usually the decider match, and there was a high chance Tear Stain would show up here. And out of everyone in the team, I had the best chance of defeating her. Not even Lian Xin was necessarily a more suitable candidate. Beiming Xue would fight the first match to get us a good start, Lian Xin would go next to keep up that pressure, and He Yi would fight the fourth match and continue acting as the gatekeeper. The duo for the 2v2 match was still Beiming Xue and I. The two of us had been fighting together since the Chinese nationals, so our rapport was higher than any other combination¡¯s. A glance was all it took to transmit our intentions to each other. It didn¡¯t take long for the finalized match-up to appear on the display, but the outcome was slightly different from what we expected¡ª 1v1: Beiming Xue LV-188 Dark Archer VS Enlightened Heart LV-186 Magic Knight 1v1: Lian Xing LV-188 Phantasm of Stars VS Tear Stain LV-187 Ice Knight 1v1: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-187 Undead Swordsman VS Frosty Night LV-185 Dawn Archer 2v2: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-187 Undead Swordsman & Beiming Xue LV-188 Dark Archer VS Tear Stain LV-187 Ice Knight & Enlightened Heart LV-186 Magic Knight Chapter 950: Goodbye, Feeder The match-up seemed rather unfavorable toward us. On the other hand, every member in the enemy¡¯s team was a powerhouse, so it was always going to be a headache no matter how we arranged our line-up. The first match was Beiming Xue versus the magic knight Enlightened Heart. I had fought this guy during the Nation War, and, at the time, his mechanical skill, class skills and equipment were already first-tier at least, and super-tier at best. "Beiming!" I called out to her. Beiming Xue looked at me with a smile and asked, "What is it, big bro?" "Enlightened Heart is a 5-Stamina tank with average attack power and a ridiculous amount of Defense and HP. Even so, I want you to stay out of his range and deplete his HP little by little. Also, don¡¯t forget that seventh-promotion magic knights have Trapping Net. You¡¯re dead if he catches you even once, understand?" "Yes, I know!" Beiming Xue shot me a cute smile before teleporting into the battlefield. The terrain was a grassy field. A few seconds later, Enlightened Heart did the same and summoned his mount, a black warhorse. Holding a spear in one hand and a shield in the other, he watched Beiming Xue indifferently as he waited for the battle to begin. It was magic knight versus archer. One side would try to wear down the enemy from range, while the other would try to catch up and kill them before the inevitable end. ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue was already backing away from the magic knight when the countdown hit zero. Snowflakes appeared around the Ice Soul Feather as she loosed Freezing Arrow! Swhoosh! The arrow flew straight toward Enlightened Heart, but the magic knight had more than enough time to dodge it. Distance was both pain and joy for an archer. If they were too far away from the enemy, then there was little chance they could hit. But if they were too close, then they risked being caught and killed in a flurry of steel. Swhoosh swhoosh... The skill¡¯s area of effect was too big, so Enlightened Heart had no choice but to block it with his shield. He took two hits and lost a total of 50k+ HP, but it didn¡¯t even amount to 15% of his total HP. This meant that Enlightened Heart¡¯s max HP was around 400k, maybe more. He had also used an HP-boosting card before the match. While Enlightened Heart was blocking the Skypiercer, Beiming Xue made the snap decision to adjust her tactic and cast a hexagram right next to her feet. The next moment, a brawny warhorse emerged from the center and allowed its beautiful little master to climb onto its back. After that, she continued moving away from Enlightened Heart while shooting Spiraling Arrow Blades and more Skypiercers at her opponent. A chorus of applause and cheers pierced the veil of virtual reality and entered our ears. This was the first time anyone who wasn¡¯t in the know saw a mounted archer, and the first time our unique unit was exposed to the public. The Dragonlight Horse already had incredible speed, but Beiming Xue waved her hand again and activated Dragon Soul Protection as well, boosting her Attack and Defense by a whopping 50%. She was almost invincible right now. Enlightened Heart grew anxious. It didn¡¯t look like he was catching up to Beiming Xue anytime soon, so he took a gamble and activated Charge. However, he missed and fell into Beiming Xue¡¯s Well of the Abyss instead, losing 140k+ HP instantly. Even better, he ate 11 arrows of the 12-arrow Evil Spirit Volley right after the spell lost its effect. Forget 5-Stamina, even a 10-Stamina magic knight wouldn¡¯t be able to survive something like this. Enlightened Heart let out a groan and fell off his mount. He lost the distance game completely and was destroyed before he ever got close to Beiming Xue! The next round was not much different from the first. Enlightened Heart had no idea how to deal with Beiming Xue¡¯s new ability, not to mention that her kiting was top-notch. Once she dodged the enemy¡¯s Trapping Net and Charge, all Enlightened Heart could do was wait for Beiming Xue to kill him. He could be the strongest man in the world, but there was nothing he could do without being able to touch her. Just like that, first blood was drawn by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! The score turned 1:0. Thanks to Beiming Xue¡¯s excellent performance, we had successfully made our first step toward the semi-finals! Swhoosh swhoosh! The terrain was Creek Valley. The Phantasm of Stars appeared on one side of the creek, and Tear Stain on the other. Unlike Enlightened Heart, she decided against riding a mount to the battlefield, choosing lightning-fast flexibility over increased movement speed. "Little girl, you seem like a strong mage. Would you like to develop yourself in Korea?" Tear Stain smiled in a ridiculing manner at her. "I might make you a vice leader if you say yes!" Lian Xin didn¡¯t answer her immediately. After blanking out for almost 10 seconds, she finally said, "If you let me become the guild leader and surrender Throne of the Wild completely to the China server, then I¡¯ll agree to join you." "How dare you¡­" Tear Stain¡¯s eyes sharpened a little. The countdown began. The duel between two hot-headed girls was about to begin! Thud! Tear Stain ran across the creek the second the countdown hit zero, the smooth, slippery round rocks failing to slow her even the slightest. After she activated Great Earth Transformation, she cried, "Void Barrier!" A ring appeared beneath Tear Stain¡¯s feet, and a purple barrier spread around her when she activated her Divine General Skill. At the same time, the combat log displayed the effects of her Divine General Skill: All attacks within the barrier have a 50% chance to miss its target! Lian Xin understood the danger herself, so she backed away and slapped down three Origin Force Fields in a row. Then, she cast Dimensional Storm at where she predicted Tear Stain to come through. It was one of her most classic kill combos. The three Origin Force Fields would force her opponent to travel the one path where her Dimensional Storm awaited! However, Tear Stain smiled the moment the force fields appeared around her. She suddenly sped up and zoomed past the force fields like a lightning bolt, escaping the lockdown while Lian Xin was still casting her Dimensional Storm! "Heavens!" Both Beiming Xue and I felt our eyes widened. Lian Xin¡¯s Origin Force Field was instant, and yet Tear Stain had slipped past them almost like they didn¡¯t exist. It took an insane amount of movement speed, reaction speed and foresight to pull off a stunt like this! This was the moment we started treating the number one Korean player seriously. Tear Stain was so skilled she might even be stronger than Candlelight Shadow right now! Tear Stain ran toward Lian Xin in a straight line after she slipped past the force fields. Before she got close though, she abruptly altered her speed, dashed in the opposite direction Lian Xin was expecting her to go, and charged toward Lian Xin again like a true lightning bolt. Once she got close, she swung her sword and cried, "Ice Blade Slash!" Swhoosh! A snowflake appeared on the blade. The skill ignored Lian Xin¡¯s Telekinetic Shield and hit her directly, freezing her for 1.5 seconds. Tear Stain wasn¡¯t going to give up the golden opportunity, of course. She thrust her sword once more and used Barrier Break! A huge damage number appeared above Lian Xin¡¯s head, and the girl was sent out of the arena just like that. She muttered in a daze as she stood next to us, "OMG, how is this woman so fast¡­" Beiming Xue nodded, but chided her, "She¡¯s very quick, but you underestimated your enemy too much yourself! It¡¯s because you haven¡¯t had a single loss so far!" I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you¡¯re pretty fast yourself, so you shouldn¡¯t have slipped up like that. Lin Yixin is even faster than Tear Stain, and yet you managed to fight her to a draw, didn¡¯t you? You have nothing to fear from this Tear Stain." "Mn, okay. Don¡¯t worry, I swear I¡¯ll win this round!" "Watch out for that Ice Blade Slash, Little Xin. "Got it!" ¡­¡­ The second round began instantly. This time though, it was Tear Stain who underestimated her opponent. When Ice Blade Slash came down on Lian Xin, the mage Blinked away and hit her with Gravity Trap, slowing her drastically. After that, the round fell into Lian Xin¡¯s rhythm completely. Several highly damaging Ice Spiral Matrixes and path-blocking Origin Force Fields later, the number one Korean player dropped to her knees and died. This time, both women went all out against one another. Lian Xin fired 11 Origin Force Fields immediately after the countdown hit zero. Tear Stain went supernova herself and weaved in and out of the Origin Force Fields like a ballet dancer. However, Tear Stain took Touch of the Dragonkiss to the face the second she escaped the encirclement! "Ah!" Tear Stain exclaimed in shock, but quickly discovered that the spell had missed. It was all thanks to her Void Barrier. Recovering from her shock, Tear Stain rushed toward Lian Xin from the flank and fired a long-range skill. "Ice Flame Slash!" It was yet another classic skill. Both Lin Yixin and Song of Cloud and Water knew the technique. Ice Flame Slash hit Lian Xin¡¯s Telekinetic Shield and forced her to retreat, but she didn¡¯t forget to drop an Ice Spiral Matrix and chipped away at the Divine General¡¯s HP. Unfortunately, that was also the problem. Great Earth Transformation allowed Tear Stain to mostly ignore Lian Xin¡¯s spells and bring the fight to melee range. Worse, she never stayed in one place and ran rings around Lian Xin as she chipped away at the latter¡¯s Telekinetic Shield. There was nothing the mage could do to change this. Tear Stain was a technician and a high-level one at that. There was little Origin Force Fields could do to slow her. One last exchange later, Tear Stain hit Lian Xin with a Barrier Break and killed her, ending the close and intense duel. The overall score turned 1:2. Since the start of the WEL, this was the first time our invincible mage threw a major point. Swhoosh! I summarized the cause of her defeat. "Little Xin, you lost because your grasp of positioning was just a tad poorer than your opponent¡¯s. Also, Tear Stain has Great Earth Transformation, and you don¡¯t. It¡¯s not entirely your fault. Just keep honing your skill until you reach her level of understanding the battlefield, and you¡¯ll be able to give her a run for her money!" "Mn." Lian Xin nodded repeatedly at my advice. It was finally my turn to step up. The third match was between me and Frosty Night the Dawn Archer. This guy had lost to me during the War of Dawn City. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh! After we teleported into the battlefield, Frosty Night said while gripping a red bow, "We finally meet again, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. I¡¯ve waited for this day for too long!" I shot him an indifferent glance before saying, "Hello, feeder. Goodbye, feeder." Whatever calm Frosty Night gathered was shattered into a million pieces by my taunt. He swore angrily, "Ssibal!" Chapter 951: Timing A bright symbol sparkled across Frosty Night¡¯s shoulder. It was the emblem of a vice leader. The fact that the formidable Tear Stain decided to promote him to his current position proved how strong he actually was, at least individually. I had fought him myself during War of Dawn City, and I knew how difficult it was to kill an archer who knew his limits well. The countdown began, and Frosty Night clearly looked nervous. He knew full well that his opponent was the man who single-handedly held back millions of players and defended Dawn City for several hours¡ª 3! 2! 1! The moment the countdown hit zero, I immediately ran forward at top speed. I zigged and zagged at random to avoid getting shot and to make predicting my position as difficult as possible. As a melee fighter, one of the best ways to deal with an archer was to cause them to hesitate. A momentary lapse of concentration and shooting was the perfect moment to rush in and kill them. Frosty Night backpedaled from me while grabbing an iron arrow from his back. He notched the arrow, drew his bow to full length, aimed at me and cried, "Arrow Blade of Light!" The skill flew toward me like a lightning bolt, but I was able to deflect it with a swing of my weapon. The damageless parry generated a bit of astonishment in Frosty Night¡¯s eyes and very obviously shook his confidence. He didn¡¯t give up though. Still moving away from me, he notched another arrow and used Dawn Rapid Shot, a seven-arrow skill way more powerful and concentrated than Volley. It took him just slightly over a second to fire all seven arrows, which meant that it was impossible for me to parry them all. I was fast, but a perfect parry required me to be more than human. For a parry to be successful, one must consider the angle, the strength, and the speed at which the sword was swung. To do this 7 times in a row required the person to exceed 1500 APM and perform over 20 mental actions in a second. It was an inhuman feat. Even the extremely talented Lin Yixin only had a peak APM of around 700. I raised the Dragon God Shield and Guarded right before the arrows were about to hit me. The attack rocked my arm a little, but only dealt 10k+ damage per hit because Frosty Night didn¡¯t possess Beiming Xue¡¯s insane armor-piercing abilities. The game was still on. I checked where Frosty Night was before removing my shield without warning. Then, I fired Thousand Ice Slash! "Ah!" Frosty Night knew he was dead if my Thousand Ice Slash froze him, so he had no choice but to Leap 20 yards away from his original position. That was exactly what I was hoping for. I had already been channeling Charge before he used Leap, so we moved at almost the same time! Swhoosh! A towering flame appeared around the Purple Ying Sword¡¯s blade, and Burning Blade Slash swept across the field like a tsunami. Thanks to Great Earth Transformation, the range of the skill was almost double of what it had originally been. The flaming auras exploded where Frosty Night was and threw up a cloud of dust, grass and soil. Thud¡­ Frosty Night dropped to his knees as expected. Guard or not, he was dead the moment he ate full Burning Blade Slash to the face. Just to be on the safe side, I threw the Purple Ying Sword at him and used Coiling Dragon Revolution. The skill was very effective against Guarding targets, so he was dead even if he somehow survived Burning Blade Slash. The hurricane of energy easily tore his body into pieces. The individual score turned 1:0. It was a fairly easy battle despite Frosty Night¡¯s secret class because warriors generally countered archers. In my case, I was a Divine General, an incredibly offensive warrior, and my Defense was almost as good as a top-tier magic knight¡¯s thanks to the Dragon God Shield. Of course he was going to lose to me unless I f.u.c.k.e.d up real hard. The battle room was soundproof, and I was in VR, but I could still hear the crowd¡¯s applause and cheers vaguely. My fighting style was the dream style of all fighters: overwhelming, merciless, and unstoppable. Every time I employed a maneuver or a technique, it was to kill my enemies faster, not to survive longer. Less than half a minute later, Frosty Night reentered the battlefield with an ugly expression on his face. Not only that, I saw a glimmer of bewilderment in his eyes, as if he didn¡¯t know what he could possibly do to beat me. Maybe he was right. In his shoes, I couldn¡¯t see any hope of defeating myself. Skill, equipment, abilities, domain; I was superior to him in every possible way. As expected, Frosty Night drew his bow and shouted the moment the countdown hit zero, "Skypiercer!" A hail of arrows fell toward me, but I wasn¡¯t afraid in the slightest. Sticking to my own pace, I charged 20 yards in a straight line toward Frosty Night until I was only 10 yards away from him. Then, I weaved around two icy arrows before launching an assault from his right. My choice of skill was the exact same as before: Thousand Ice Slash! Chiang! Ice scattered all over the place, and miraculously Frosty Night managed to propel himself away to safety at the cost of 40k+ HP. Not only did he escape my attack range, he even saved his Leap cooldown. Well, you play the hands you have been dealt. I flicked my sword at the guy¡¯s direction and used Dragon Slaying Slash! Frosty Night managed to dodge the skill by taking two steps to the right, but he quickly realized that an even more dangerous skill, God Binding Art, was falling down on his position. Despite being caught by surprise, he was able to react in time and Leap away right before the divine arms could trap him. It was pointless though. The moment he landed, he saw a blood-red cloak flashing across his vision. The cold light of the Purple Ying Sword turned his heart into ice. Crack! After Universe Break pierced Frosty Night¡¯s torso, I swung the weapon sideways and used Burning Blade Slash. The guy had almost 130k HP, but it was nowhere near enough health to withstand the flaming auras tearing his body from his inside. After his body parts hit the ground, they transformed into white light and flew out of the arena. A few seconds later, I was teleported out of the arena as well. Swhoosh! After I returned to the girls, Beiming Xue¡¯s cheerful voice entered my ears. "Heehee, I knew that big bro¡¯s round would be the most secure. That Frosty Night never stood a chance. The match is ours once you take out that Blazing Pulse, Sister Eve!" He Yi broke into a smile. "I¡¯ll do my best. It¡¯s all up to the heavens though!" "We believe in you!" I encouraged her. ¡­¡­ Blazing Pulse appeared in the arena at almost the same time as He Yi. The Korean assassin had been famous for a while now, and it was said that he was among the Top 3 best assassins in the Korea server. Naturally, his strength was no joke. However, He Yi had a class advantage over Blazing Pulse. Magic knight was the tankiest class of all in the game, and assassins didn¡¯t do well against metal armor. Assuming that the assassin didn¡¯t have sufficient energy and armor-piercing or armor-breaking skills, the magic knight could take a break, activate War God Recovery, and maybe even smoke an entire cigarette and still be alive at the end of the "assassination" process. He Yi wisely summoned her Dragonscale Beast and rode it. He Yi had a snow white cloak flowing down her back, a Seven Star Veluriyam Spear gleaming in her hand, and the mark of the Dharan City Ruins Barrier floating across her left arm. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that her Defense was only a tad weaker than mine. Blazing Pulse instinctively wiped the sweat gathering on his forehead because he knew how much effort it would take to kill her. Rustle rustle¡­ Blazing Pulse slowly walked to the back and melted into thin air. The map was a rainy desert oasis, advantageous for the assassin because there was enough foliage to conceal some of his footprints. When the countdown hit zero, He Yi rushed forward and took a tentative sweep across the space Blazing Pulse had been a mere moment earlier. Unfortunately, she wasn¡¯t able to force the assassin out. After that, she simply stood there, watched her surroundings and kept her ears on alert for any unnatural sound. Pop! A strange sound came from the right, and He Yi rushed toward it and swung her spear. However, all she managed to hit was thin air. Realizing that she had been duped, she exclaimed, "Dammit!" Thud! After Ambush hit He Yi and stunned her, Blazing Pulse followed up with Blade Vortex + armor break skill that deleted over 30% of her HP. Right before she was about to recover, Blazing Pulse moved in front of her and swung his dagger upward, using Gouge! "F.u.c.k!" I clenched my fist and muffled my curse. After everything Blazing Pulse used to hit He Yi, he needed to gather some energy to unleash Gouge. Therefore, there was a 0.2-second gap where He Yi was free to counterattack Blazing Pulse before Gouge stunned her again. Unfortunately, she wasn¡¯t able to grasp that opening. Even with He Yi¡¯s HP, being chain-stunned by an assassin was a death sentence. In the end, she only managed to hit Blazing Pulse one time before losing. It was worth noting that that one hit almost one-shot the assassin though. It certainly caused him to break out in cold sweat at least. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After He Yi returned to us, she complained a little, "0.2 seconds is too small a window¡­" I gave her an encouraging smile. "Predict if you can¡¯t react. Act when you feel that the time is right!" He Yi performed much better during the second round. She took my advice to heart, predicted the timing successfully and landed a five-hit Purgatory of Ice and Magma during the 0.2-second gap between the end of Ambush¡¯s stun duration and the arrival of Gouge, scoring a point. Unfortunately, He Yi failed to maintain her form and ultimately lost the third round, but at least she could trade back and forth with a top-class assassin now. ¡­¡­ The loss brought the score to 2:2. This meant that the final 2v2 match would decide it all! Beiming Xue and I, a warrior and an archer, would be facing off against Tear Stain and Enlightened Heart, two magic knights. This would be an interesting match for sure! Chapter 952: Absolute Strength "Who do we kill first?" Beiming Xue asked me after we appeared in Creek Valley. I thought for a moment before replying inside the party channel, "Tear Stain has great control and great parry skills. If we target her first, there¡¯s a high chance we¡¯ll be the ones who suffer the consequences. On the other hand, Enlightened Heart is weaker than Tear Stain, but his offensive skills are a critical component in their DPS, so let¡¯s kill him first. I¡¯ll hold Tear Stain back while you go to town with him!" Beiming Xue nodded with a smile. "Okay. Whatever you say, big bro!" "Also¡­" "Yes?" "I bet their tactic is similar, if not identical to ours, so you must protect yourself at all costs. Tear Stain will be gunning for you right from the get-go, and if you die, the round may as well be lost. We can¡¯t afford to lose this and be eliminated, can we?" "Got it, big bro. I¡¯ll be careful." "Mn. Now get ready. Let¡¯s activate Great Earth Transformation and go all out from the beginning!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Energy swirled around us as we activated Great Earth Transformation. Tear Stain did the same thing. If there was one disadvantage Throne of the Wild held, it would be that Enlightened Heart wasn¡¯t a Divine General. That being said, his equipment and character skills were first-class, and his ability to take a beating was pretty good as well. That was one thing that could lead Throne of the Wild to victory. Beiming Xue summoned the Dragonlight Horse and rode it to the edge of the map, ready to kite the enemy to hell and back the moment the battle began. Our tactic was as clear as day, although I supposed that Tear Stain didn¡¯t know who we would prioritize killing first. It shouldn¡¯t be hard to guess though. She wouldn¡¯t have become the legend of Korea if she couldn¡¯t figure out something this simple. The countdown began. Almost everyone was holding their breaths¡ª 2! 1! Fight! A crack appeared beneath everyone¡¯s feet. Enlightened Heart rushed toward Beiming Xue from the left, and Tear Stain from the right. As expected, they planned to kill Beiming Xue first and me afterward. The Purple Ying Sword burst with light as I attacked. I shifted a couple of steps to the right and fired Thousand Ice Slash straight toward the space she was about to enter, forcing her to stop in her tracks. She had no choice unless she wanted to be frozen and give me a couple of free seconds to go to town with her. After I put a temporary stop to Tear Stain¡¯s advance, I immediately Charged to the left and arrived in front of Enlightened Heart exactly as predicted. I lowered my waist and swung my sword horizontally in front of me. The plan was to dismount him because there was no way I could catch up to him on foot if I didn¡¯t do so now. "Heh!" Enlightened Heart decided to repay steel with steel and attacked me instead of defending himself. I took a slash to the shoulder, but managed to delete half his mount tenacity in an instant. Chiang! Even with my tankiness, that was almost 80k damage from a basic attack. This guy had some serious attack power! While his horse was reeling in pain, I rose back to my feet and pressed a palm to the mount¡¯s b.u.t.t. Enlightened Heart felt a chill when he realized what I was planning. "Oh no!" Thud thud thud... Four divine arms descended from the heavens and pierced the ground next to Enlightened Heart. Then, they immobilized him with their divine power! "Beiming!" I shouted. The mounted archer giggled as she rode over. "Here I come!" She fired a twelve-arrow Evil Spirit Volley at Enlightened Heart. The skill supposedly had a poor hit rate, but thanks to her amazing bow-fl.i.c.k.i.n.g technique they all landed and deleted 240k+ HP from the magic knight¡¯s health pool in an instant. One extra Universe Break later, Enlightened Heart let out a death groan and teleported out of the arena as a ray of white light. On the other side, Tear Stain finally caught up to Beiming Xue and swung her sword at her. Beiming Xue raised her bow to defend herself, but it was a feint. A devious smile crossed her lips as she zigzagged around the mounted archer and slashed toward her right ribs! At the last moment, Beiming Xue raised her dagger and parried the attack. However, it was an incomplete parry because Tear Stain¡¯s attack was too strong¡ª 49298! Beiming Xue fell off her horse and rolled unceremoniously across the creek, but there was no denying the fact that she had survived the attack, if only for a moment. Beiming Xue was probably the only archer in the world who could survive a close call with an expert like Tear Stain. Tear Stain gritted her teeth and entered the creek, her blade glowing with the light of Ice Flame Slash. Beiming Xue had to die if she wanted a chance of winning this round, and she would if the skill landed. However, I arrived right before Tear Stain¡¯s weapon could make contact with Beiming Xue and knocked her sword away from bottom to top. It was so close that Tear Stain nearly ran into me, not that either of us would be worse for wear if it happened. I threw a punch toward Tear Stain with my right fist. As it turned out, the woman had the exact same idea! Bang! I lost 20k+ HP, but Tear Stain took no damage. It was because her Void Barrier had caused my attack to miss. Still, the little interruption barely slowed my movement. I moved to the back and fired three Ancient Seals, intending to catch Tear Stain no matter where she dodged to. "Ah¡­" Tear Stain let out a cry of surprise as Well of the Abyss dragged her to the center. At this point, Beiming Xue had scattered into white particles and teleported away from the arena already. I raised my sword and waited for the right timing. Right before Well of the Abyss ended, I tossed the Purple Ying Sword and pierced her in the c.h.e.s.t. She glared at me, but couldn¡¯t resist death and teleported away as well. The score turned 1:0. The first round was ours! I chose to teleport out of the arena and take a small break. Lian Xin commented with a pout, "That dang woman is so strong. I can¡¯t believe she managed to kill Beiming even though Lu Chen was pinning her down¡­" Beiming Xue replied, "Yeah. Thankfully, I managed to use my Well of the Abyss in time and make her pay the price." I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that was really well done. It would¡¯ve taken me considerable effort to kill Tear Stain otherwise!" "What do we do in the next round?" Beiming Xue asked, "Should we change our tactics and catch them by surprise?" I thought for a moment before replying, "Yeah. Let¡¯s kill Tear Stain first this time!" I smiled. "Oh, that would be very welcomed. I¡¯ll make sure they lose a limb or two at least before they kill me!" Lian Xin chuckled. "Do your best, Beiming, Lu Chen!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh! We returned to the arena. It was match point, meaning that we would be eliminating the number one guild in Korea and advancing to the semi-finals if we took this round! "What should I do if they focus you, big bro?" Beiming Xue asked with a blink. I laughed. "Why are you asking when you already know the answer?" Beiming Xue giggled in response to that. I don¡¯t think I could ever get used to the countdown. The others looked the same as well. Both sides were nervous because this was the clash to determine who would enter the semi-finals and potentially bring the trophy of the WEL internationals back to their country. Eternal Moon Corporation had 9 years of history at this point, and they had proven again and again that the champion of a top-tier competition was sure to leave a lasting legend in their wake. This alone was enough to motivate every competitor to reach for the top! Enlightened Heart Charged long before he came close to me. In response, I took two steps backward and let him skewer himself on my Universe Break! 129398! The magic knight screamed in pain, but he didn¡¯t forget his responsibility and threw Trapping Net at me! I can¡¯t let that hit me! I hastily dodged to the right, but Tear Stain showed at the perfect time and fired devastating Ice Flame Slash at my direction. I can¡¯t let that hit me either! I successfully zigged out of harm¡¯s way and won an applause from the crowd, but Tear Stain also lived up to her reputation and Charged me right as I hit my limits. She was too close and too fast. There was no dodging this one! It was a stun. For 1.5 seconds, I wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything! Tear Stain¡¯s eyes glowed with excitement. Enlightened Heart rushed over to finish the job as well. Unfortunately for them, they forgot that I wasn¡¯t alone. Whoosh! A blood-red vortex appeared beneath Tear Stain and Enlightened Heart¡¯s feet, immobilizing them and halving their HP at the same time. It was so well executed that I couldn¡¯t help but praise her in my head. She had used me as the bait and successfully trapped both Enlightened Heart and Tear Stain with her Divine General Skill as a result. There was no way they could come back from this! I moved to the back and channeled Coiling Dragon Revolution in one hand and Ancient Seal in the other. Beiming Xue also moved to the back and firedSkypiercer and Spiraling Arrow Blade into the sky. The moment Well of the Abyss disappeared, Tear Stain and Enlightened Heart were immediately greeted by four AoE skills at the same time! No matter how skilled, strong and fast Tear Stain was, there was nothing she could do in this situation. Her eyes brimmed with helplessness and reluctance, but the skills annihilated her and sent both her and her general out of the arena. She probably didn¡¯t think that the second round would end like this; that it would be a battle of intelligence rather than the fire and brimstone she expected! It was a grueling battle, but in the end we were able to take out Throne of the Wild with a 3:2 score! The crowd gave us a thunderous applause when we walked out of the battle room. Countless Chinese exchange students shouted our guild¡¯s name with passion and excitement as well. One of the unique charms of competitive sports was its ability to share the joy of winning to everyone. ¡­¡­ The American host asked me in fluent Chinese, "You scored a valuable win despite facing a formidable opponent. Is there anything you would like to say?" I thought for a moment before holding up a fist. "Luck may be a factor in every aspect in life, but it wasn¡¯t one that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls counted on when we faced Throne of the Wild. The reason we ultimately defeated them was because we were stronger than they were, plain and simple!" The host nodded with a smile as another chorus of applause filled the stadium. ¡­¡­ After we returned to our seats, we rested while the next and final match of the quarter-finals took place. It was Candle Dragon versus Cyan Beast; the number one guild of China versus the number one guild of India! I fully expected this to be as interesting as our match! Chapter 953: Breeze and Rain A short distance away from us, a young man dressed in black casual wear rose to his feet. Carrying his bag in one hand, he looked backward and said something to the four players behind him. They were the four core experts of Cyan Beast, and the 28-year-old young man leading the way was none other than the so-called number one super expert of Cyan Earth City, God of War. God of War¡¯s teammates were a sunny-looking, 25-year-old young man wearing white sportswear and two extremely attractive women. One of them had short hair, and the other, long hair, but even from where I was I could tell that they were at least 34D or bigger... ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow led the way as Candle Dragon climbed up the stage. As they and God of War¡¯s team spread out in a line, they were met with thunderous applause. It was because both guilds were incredibly popular within their respective countries. Cyan Beast was the number one guild of India, and Candle Dragon was practically the king of Wind City. The host had to repeat whatever the players said in three different languages, acting as the translator for both the players and the audience listening in on the pre-match banter. God of War wore a disgusted look on his face and looked like he couldn¡¯t wait to bash Candlelight Shadow¡¯s face in. Candlelight Shadow glared right back with the eternal pride of a champion of all. Stranger of Three Lifetimes glanced at the man in white sportswear behind God of War as she teased me, "That white-shirt guy looks pretty handsome. Do you feel threatened, Lu Chen?" I shrugged. "Why would I? I¡¯m a fighter, not a gigolo. Plus, strength is everything inside the game!" However, Lin Yixin refuted me, "Gigolo? That guy can give you a run for your money if he becomes your opponent, you know?" "Really? Who¡¯s he?" I was surprised. Not anyone could win such high praise from Lin Yixin. Beauty Lin took a sip of red tea before starting, "God of War¡¯s class and personal skills, mechanical skill and equipment are almost second to none even on the world stage, and there isn¡¯t a single top-tier expert in Cyan Earth City who doesn¡¯t concur that God of War is their superior¡ªexcept one, his own vice leader, also known as the white-shirt guy. Officially, God of War has never fought his vice leader probably because he knew there was a chance he might lose to him. His name is Breeze and Rain, and he¡¯s the only player in Cyan Earth City who went with a 5-Agility build, but possesses an incredible amount of Strength. His tactics and skill are almost at the pinnacle, and he is someone who can give God of War a run for his money!" He Yi¡¯s eyes widened. "He¡¯s that strong?" Lin Yixin nodded. "Mn. In fact, I think that the three teams with the highest chance of winning the internationals are Ancient Sword, Hero Alliance and Cyan Beast. Cyan Beast especially has the best chance of all teams to win everything. You may have already noticed this, but India intentionally kept a low profile so they could hone their strength for the day they would need it. They didn¡¯t do anything even after we handed them a devastating defeat during the War of Dawn City, and it definitely wasn¡¯t because they lacked the strength to claim vengeance. The other two members of Cyan Beast, the assassin Shallow Sunlight and a magic archer called Yeye the Witch are both extremely powerful players themselves. You¡¯re in the lower bracket, so there¡¯s a high chance you¡¯ll run into them next, so I would advise you to keep your eyes wide open during this match. Pray that Candlelight Shadow and his goons are strong enough to force out Cyan Beast¡¯s true power and ¡®assist¡¯ you in your battle against them later!" I s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath before replying, "Mn, it definitely sounds like it¡¯s going to be a difficult battle alright!" While we were talking, the match-up was displayed on the big screen¡ª 1v1: Candlelight Shadow LV-187 Warrior VS Breeze and Rain LV-187 Warrior 1v1: Ye Yuse LV-186 Charm Master VS Shallow Sunlight LV-187 Assassin 1v1: Blue Sky Scar LV-186 Wind Knight VS God of War LV-188 Blazing Berserker 1v1: God¡¯s Dance LV-187 Dark Flame Mage VS Yeye the Witch LV-187 Magic Archer 2v2: Candlelight Shadow LV-187 Warrior & Ye Yuse LV-186 Charm Master VS Breeze and Rain LV-187 Warrior & God of War LV-188 Blazing Berserker ¡­¡­ I had to wipe a bead of sweat for Candle Dragon. No matter how I looked at it, this match-up didn¡¯t favor them in the slightest. Even Candlelight Shadow, the best player in Candle Dragon, was matched up against Breeze and Rain the Agility Warrior who was said to be as strong as God of War himself. If Candlelight Shadow couldn¡¯t win the first match, then there was almost no chance for them to advance to the semi-finals! Rose pursed her lips and commented, "Heavens watch over Candle Dragon¡­" The first match kicked off a short while later. It was Candlelight Shadow versus Breeze and Rain! Swhoosh swhoosh! Both players teleported into the battlefield at the same time. Neither side could afford to lose this match especially because the tournament format was single elimination, so even the prideful Candlelight Shadow activated Great Earth Transformation immediately. To his surprise though, a swirl of cyan energy manifested around Breeze and Rain before taking the form of guardian blades. As it turned out, Breeze and Rain was a Divine General as well! The shock on Candlelight Shadow¡¯s face made it clear that he had no idea about this. He knew that God of War was a Divine General, but not Breeze and Rain. He had had the time to research Cyan Beast before their match, but if he missed something this critical, then he definitely didn¡¯t do a good enough job. The countdown began, and both players tensed up like coiled springs. When the timer turned zero, Candlelight Shadow charged first and zigzagged toward Breeze and Rain like a lightning bolt. He appeared on his opponent¡¯s right and started things off with Barrier Break. However, he was ready to alter his move and react to whatever Breeze and Rain might throw at him, showing wisdom that befit his status as a top-tier expert. Breeze and Rain waited for Candlelight Shadow to come to him. He looked like an immovable rock that wouldn¡¯t budge even in the face of a tsunami. Right before the Barrier Break could hit him, he took one step to the back to prompt a MISS, then countered with a swing of his sword. The tip of his sword drew a curve that looked like a crescent moon as he cried, "Moon Breaking Slash!" Moon Breaking Slash was a super offensive skill that ignored 70% of the target¡¯s Defense. It was similar to Barrier Break, but could also be used together with Barrier Break. Moon Breaking Slash was an extremely precious skill book that only dropped from high-rank bosses. Personally, I had heard of this skill book but never seen it before. I wasn¡¯t expecting to see the skill in Breeze and Rain¡¯s arsenal. Put! His sword penetrated Candlelight Shadow¡¯s shoulder and dealt a huge amount of damage¡ª98004! "Huh¡­" Breeze and Rain twisted his sword in a hurry to nullify the skill, but he only managed to parry the first hit. Two huge cracks and two damage numbers appeared on Breeze and Rain¡¯s armor¡ª 69289! 92822! Candlelight Shadow had too much Attack. Not only that, he followed up the skill with a flying knee to the c.h.e.s.t that dealt another 20k+ damage to Breeze and Rain. As the Agility Warrior staggered backward, Candlelight Shadow opened his palm and cried murderously, "Die!" Outer Flame rained from above, but Breeze and Rain wasn¡¯t done yet. He waved his own hand and summoned a cyclone of flaming wind. Blazing Wind Art: Increases user¡¯s speed by 100% and increases Attack drastically. Crack! Breeze and Rain vanished from the spot. The ground he had been standing on actually cracked a little from the sheer amount of force he applied to it. Somehow, the Agility Warrior had dodged the undodgeable strike, and instead of retreating, closed in on Candlelight Shadow to launch a flurry of lightning-fast attacks. Candlelight Shadow had no choice but to parry them. Suddenly, Breeze and Rain took a stab through the lungs on purpose and pressed his palm against Candlelight Shdow¡¯s c.h.e.s.t. Alarm bells immediately started ringing in the warrior¡¯s head: SHIT! A torrent of soul energy spread from Breeze and Rain¡¯s arm and into Candlelight Shadow¡¯s body. It was the Agility Warrior¡¯s Divine General Skill, Soul Capture. It lowered all of his target¡¯s stats by 70% for 3 seconds, and had a cooldown of 120 seconds. At first glance, it seemed like a trash skill because it only lasted 3 seconds and its cooldown was a ridiculous 120 seconds. However, it was game-changing in a PvP battle. 70% of Candlelight Shadow stats went poof just like that. His max HP was reduced to less than 100k, and his Defense was reduced to that of a second-promotion warrior. Breeze and Rain finally allowed his killing intent to seep through his mask of calmness. He proceeded to slay Candlelight Shadow in the fastest and simplest way possible¡ªbasic attacks! 142828! Candlelight Shadow g.r.o.a.n.e.d and collapsed to his knees. Not only did he fail to survive the 3-second window, he couldn¡¯t even parry the fatal blow. His opponent hadn¡¯t given him the slightest chance to do so. ¡­¡­ The score turned 1:0. No one was expecting the so-called number one player of the China server to lose to his opponent in the first round, but even more surprising was the depth of Breeze and Rain¡¯s power and skill. The Indian expert was almost as skilled as Candlelight Shadow was, and his character skills were absolutely insane. His Divine General Skill, Soul Capture, was especially godlike in 1v1 scenarios! "Why do you look so serious, big bro?" Beiming Xue asked me when she noticed my expression. I s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath before replying, "I¡¯m trying to think of a line-up that has the best chance of beating Cyan Beast. Cyan Beast is seriously strong, and I¡¯m almost sure we¡¯re going to fight them in the semi-finals. Anyway, let¡¯s continue watching the match. Candlelight Shadow won¡¯t go down this easily, or he wouldn¡¯t be called Candlelight Shadow!" ¡­¡­ On the screen, we saw Candlelight Shadow teleporting into the battle arena once more. Breeze and Rain had been waiting idly for him to return. Everyone who competes knows that at the highest level, it was less of a competition of skill and technique, and more of a competition of one¡¯s mental state. The person who maintained the coolest head the longest was usually the victor. No matter how strong your skill and technique were, your performance would suffer if you couldn¡¯t keep a straight head. In this regard, both Candlelight Shadow and Breeze and Rain were top-tier experts as well. It didn¡¯t look like the first round had affected them in the slightest. Candlelight Shadow went on the offensive again when the second round began, but this time he paid close attention to Breeze and Rain¡¯s Divine General Skill. The moment his opponent used Soul Capture, he activated War God Rampage and successfully nullified the skill. Finally, he used Rock Thrust + Shattering Sword and Shield to shred his enemy¡¯s defense and knocked him out of the fight. It was a draw now. Candlelight Shadow had taken back a point from Breeze and Rain in a calm and collected fashion. The third round was still incredibly close. The duo exchanged at least a hundred blows before they finally separated to heal themselves. History repeated itself once more as Breeze and Rain grabbed Candlelight Shadow and used Soul Shackle during a charge. Candlelight Shadow reacted even faster than last time and activated War God Rampage, nullifying the skill. Then, he punched Breeze and Rain away from him before retaliating with Rock Thrust! Boom! 72828! When 12 seconds passed by, Breeze and Rain immediately went on the offensive. However, he took another heavy blow on the shoulder and was one hit away from dying! However, the Indian warrior suddenly broke into a smile and pointed his sword at Candlelight Shadow. The next moment, a purple cage surrounded the Chinese warrior! Soul Refining Cage: Immobilizes the target for 7 seconds. ¡­¡­ "What?!" Candlelight Shadow turned as green as a frog. He couldn¡¯t believe that his opponent had been saving a trump card until the very last moment. Chapter 954: Landslide Defeat Three flaming sword beams penetrated Candlelight Shadow¡¯s body and deleted his final HP. Dangerous as it was, Breeze and Rain was ultimately able to defeat the Martial God of China, Candlelight Shadow! The score turned 2 to 1, and Cyan Beast scored first blood against Candle Dragon! It was an outcome no one had seen coming. Everyone knew that Cyan Beast¡¯s guild leader, God of War, was an insanely powerful player, but no one expected the Agility Warrior, Breeze and Rain, to be this strong as well. Skill-wise, he was as good as Candlelight Shadow was. Tactic wise, he actually proved himself to be above the Martial God. The first round, he exploited Candlelight Shadow¡¯s lack of knowledge and defeated him with his Divine General Skill, Soul Capture. The second round, he intentionally hid his trump card and played the weakling just so that he could have a higher chance of beating the Martial God in the next round. Finally, he endured Candlelight Shadow¡¯s assault for almost 3 minutes to sell the facade of having nothing else left, before finally finding the perfect opportunity to use Soul Refining Cage and defeat the pinnacle expert once and for all! If the duo fought again in the future, I would probably place my bets on Candlelight Shadow. Still, there was no changing the fact that Candlelight Shadow had lost this match, and quite possibly Candle Dragon¡¯s chances of beating Cyan Beast. The ancients said, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles", and yet Candlelight Shadow had undoubtedly underestimated the number two of Cyan Beast, Breeze and Rain. That was why he lost a match he could¡¯ve won otherwise! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After Candlelight Shadow reappeared outside the arena, Ye Yuse immediately consoled him and said, "No one can win forever, guild leader, and it¡¯s not like we¡¯ve lost yet! We still have a chance to turn this around!" Candlelight Shadow didn¡¯t reply immediately. He brooded for a long while, but when he looked up again, he wore a bright, sunny smile that almost could¡¯ve fooled me into thinking that he had gotten past the defeat. "I¡¯m fine. Give it your all, everyone! Candle Dragon¡¯s journey in the WEL cannot end in the quarter-finals. Yuse, it¡¯s your turn now. Do your best!" "Yessir!" Ye Yuse teleported into the battlefield. Her opponent was Shallow Sunlight, the strongest assassin in Cyan Beast. Swhoosh swhoosh! Shallow Sunlight wore a glowing leather armor that wrapped tightly around her hourglass body. She looked incredibly seductive to put it lightly. On the other hand, Ye Yuse was just starting to fill in her robes, and she just stood there with her scepter without saying anything. To be honest, Candle Dragon was super-countered even in terms of the match-ups. Ye Yuse was a charm master, and theoretically speaking, she could beat anyone as long as they were a metal-armor class. Unfortunately, her opponent turned out to be the worst possible class she could face, an assassin. Many of her signature skills such as Hold and God Suppressing Pagoda required a target before they could be used. Since Shallow Sunlight would be stealthing even before the match began, those skills were as good as sealed. Pa pa pa... Ye Yuse threw some basic charms around herself, but none of them managed to hit Shallow Sunlight. It wasn¡¯t just because Ye Yuse couldn¡¯t see her enemy, but also because the assassin herself was incredibly skilled. We, the spectators, could see Shallow Sunlight weaving around the charms like a ballet dancer, but not Ye Yuse. There was no way to warn her either because the combatants were cut off from all forms of communications as a matter of course. A swirl of energy stirred the air, and Shallow Sunlight abruptly popped into view. She used a four-hit skill called Dark Pursuit that could only be used when the assassin was stealthed. Naturally, it was absolutely deadly when executed correctly. It easily shredded Ye Yuse¡¯s Magic Shield. "Ah¡­" Ye Yuse hurriedly turned around and cast her Divine General Skill, Nether Curse. Unfortunately, Shallow Sunlight had also cast her next skill successfully. It was Shield Pierce! 72882! Dark Pursuit had already deleted a small chunk of Ye Yuse earlier. There was zero chance she could¡¯ve survived Shield Pierce. There was a flash of white light, and Ye Yuse was teleported out of the arena. At the same time, Nether Curse took effect and Confused Shallow Sunlight, causing her to do all kinds of funny stuff such as swinging her dagger at the air at random, using Haste right after she had gone into stealth and more. Even her own teammates were laughing a little at her, but the important thing here was that she won. The second round was almost a carbon copy of the first. Ye Yuse was powerful, but no power was without its weaknesses. In her case, the Assassin class was the bane of her existence. This time, after Shallow Sunlight had gone into stealth, she ran all the way to the corner of the map and stayed there. It was almost as if she knew what Ye Yuse was going to do next. When 3 minutes passed, Ye Yuse lost her patience and took a gamble, hitting half the map with Nether Curse. She missed, Shallow Sunlight went over to hit her with Dark Pursuit + Shield Pierce, and the rest was history. The score turned 0:2. At this point, it seemed like all hope had vanished for Candle Dragon. Their next opponent was God of War himself, and his challenger was little Blue Sky Scar, a magic knight who couldn¡¯t even beat Gui Guzi in a straight fight. How could he possibly go up against a super-tier expert like God of War? Blue Sky Scar didn¡¯t surprise anyone. There was almost nothing he could do to fend off God of War¡¯s assault, much less retaliate. Moreover, God of War¡¯s style was fast and aggressive. Every time he parried, a counterattack was sure to follow. Since his reaction, speed, tactics and everything else were above Blue Sky Scar¡¯s, he managed to win both rounds in less than 30 seconds! After that, the next couple matches were just Cyan Beast gathering points for the MVP spot. The magic archer, Yeye the Witch, tricked and defeated God¡¯s Dance 2:0 almost effortlessly, although it was partially because the mage knew that it was already over for Candle Dragon. Even if she was in perfect condition, Yeye the Witch was such a skilled player that she couldn¡¯t claim with certainty that she would win. The 4:0 score on the big screen felt like a red hot slap on Candle Dragon¡¯s face. Everyone in the team looked like the world had ended. It wasn¡¯t Candle Dragon who was downed by this landslide defeat either. Some distance away from us, the prideful Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was standing on his feet and glaring daggers at the screen. It was because in Cyan Beast he saw a true threat and a contender that could potentially challenge his claim to the trophy. The fifth match was Candlelight Shadow + Ye Yuse versus God of War + Breeze and Rain, and it was again a 1:2 defeat for Candle Dragon. The only consolation here was that they managed to win one round thanks to Ye Yuse¡¯s Nether Curse Petrifying and Confusing the enemy. As mentioned earlier, she was absolutely devastating in the right match-ups. Still, Cyan Beast mopped the floor with Candle Dragon with a 5:0 in the end. No one expected it to turn out this bad. ¡­¡­ I, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Li Chengfeng, Warsky and Farewell Song felt deeply humiliated and angered by Cyan Beast¡¯s victory. God of War wasn¡¯t an arrogant man, and he did nothing to provoke our ire, but we were all annoyed with him and his guild anyway. Candle Dragon was the number one guild in China, and Cyan Beast had crushed them 5:0 like an ant. We were all representatives of China, and their shame was our shame as well. Pa pa pa¡­ Candlelight Shadow and the rest of Candle Dragon returned to their seats with heavy footsteps. The quarter-finals came to an end, and the match-ups on the screen were refreshed¡ª Hero Alliance VS Snowy Cathaya Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls VS Cyan Beast Every guild in the semi-finals was godlike, and every player among the best or literally the best player of their country. It will be a true battle of champions and a bloodbath between China, India, and America! Warsky waved his beer can at me and said, "Good luck, Lu Chen. It¡¯s up to you to take out Cyan Beast and take revenge for Candle Dragon now. You too, Snowy Cathaya. Take out Hero Alliance and win the highest honor of the WEL internationals for yourselves and us!" He was correct. The highest honor of the WEL internationals naturally belonged to its champion, and it was something everyone here dreamed of obtaining. Even better, Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were only one step away from this highest honor. Once the challengers standing in our way lay dead beneath our feet, at least one of us would bring back the champion trophy and MVP award back to our country! ¡­¡­ After that, the beautiful host went on stage and declared that the semi-finals would take place after lunch. We were all fine with that. In fact, we were so hungry we could eat our own gaming helmets, so the break was a godsend for everyone. The luncheon took place at a side hall inside the stadium. Every player and team leader were seated in the same hall, although of course people of the same nationality shared tables with each other. It wasn¡¯t a hard rule, but what was the point of eating lunch with someone you couldn¡¯t even communicate with? Us 33 Chinese players and team leaders had 3 tables to ourselves, for example. Warsky and Farewell Song shared Soul Battle Robes¡¯ table. They were the ones initiating the conversation and keeping the mood lighter than it would¡¯ve been. It certainly looked like they were having a good time. Unfortunately for us, we were put together with Candlelight Shadow and his goons. We at least pretended to be civil, but Beiming Xue and Lian Xin openly glared at Candlelight Shadow with hostility. We also secretly agreed to avoid any dish that the guy had eaten from. Speaking of which, some countries had customs where the order of one¡¯s dishes mattered. We didn¡¯t practice that of course. Candlelight Shadow didn¡¯t look happy. He was talking to God¡¯s Dance, but he didn¡¯t try really hard to conceal the content. He was almost certainly doing it on purpose. "I just received news from Pop Culture. Lone Moonshade had agreed to our conditions, but they requested that we send them the necessary assistance," God¡¯s Dance said. Candlelight Shadow let out a simple ¡°oh¡± before asking, "What do they want us to provide?" She replied, "If a territory were to spawn to the west of Sky City, they want us to lend them our full strength and occupy the territory for them. They want to establish a proper foothold in Sky City." Candlelight Shadow nodded. "Sure, that¡¯s not a problem." God¡¯s Dance paused and shot me a sideway glance. "He also wants us to transfer three subguilds to their command. They say that it¡¯s the only way they can resist certain hostile forces in Sky City." I snorted. It was to the point where I almost splashed my spoon of soup on the table. "Three subguilds? Are you kidding me? That wouldn¡¯t even be enough to tickle us¡­" I replied while trying not to laugh. Stranger of Three Lifetimes had no such qualms. She burst out laughing. Candlelight Shadow said angrily, "Candle Dragon is now in an alliance with Pop Culture, and we hope that you will stay out of their way even if they eventually surpass you, and vice versa. Just so you know, there¡¯s nothing I hate more than people who bully the weak. If someone dares to lay their grubby hands on Pop Culture, Candle Dragon swears to cross Dragonbone Mountain Range and teach them a lesson!" He Yi replied simply, "I heard from somewhere that dying in a foreign land is an honor for warriors, so feel free to commit suicide..." "You!" God¡¯s Dance was so angry that her face was as white as a sheet, but we simply ignored her and continued eating our lunch unperturbed. Stranger of Three Lifetimes also stopped provoking them and focused on chewing the delicious food in her mouth. ¡­¡­ We took a two-hour break in our rooms after lunch. Then, it was time for the semi-finals! Chapter 955: The Fruit Knife Saves The Day The semi-finals began at 3 pm sharp. The first semi-final was between two super guilds, Snowy Cathaya and Hero Alliance. However, Snowy Cathaya¡¯s chances of winning were dimmer because frankly, Sun Qingqing was kinda dragging her team down at this point. Even Lin Yixin admitted that their chances of winning would be much higher if Nangong Lexi was present. The newly-recruited archer couldn¡¯t guarantee Snowy Cathaya a trophy, but she sure as hell could make it a tight race. ¡­¡­ Backpack in hand, Lin Yixin looked back at me and asked, ¡°What are your thoughts about this match?¡± I replied, ¡°Snowy Cathaya¡¯s only chance of winning this game is to drag it out to the duo match. This means you need to win 2 solo matches at least.¡± Lin Yixin smiled. ¡°What, you think we can¡¯t beat Hero Alliance in 1v1s?¡± I shrugged and said honestly, ¡°Frankly, no. It¡¯ll be miraculous if you do. I only pray that the enemy doesn¡¯t 3:0 you¡­¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± Lin Yixin pouted. ¡°Just you wait. There¡¯s no chance Hero Alliance can 3:0 Snowy Cathaya with me around!¡± ¡°Good. Anyway, you should go prepare your line-up¡­¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± I let Lin Yixin go and watched her as she led Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume and Shadow Chanel up the stage. Snowy Cathaya¡¯s dominating success in this competition had garnered a lot of attention. The guild was only the third ranker in the China nationals, and the competition in the internationals were far greater. Therefore, Snowy Cathaya had more than proven themselves worthy by entering the semi-finals. Even if they lost, their status and influence in the country would increase greatly. ¡°What kind of line-up do you guys think Beauty Lin will go with?¡± Murong Mingyue asked. He Yi replied, ¡°Knowing Yiyi, I bet she would want to settle the score with Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. This means that she would be fighting in the first or the third match. Assuming that the first and third matches are taken by her and Purple Marquis, then Shadow Chanel has to be the one to fight the second match. Their chances of winning should be bigger this way¡­¡± Murong Mingyue looked at me next. ¡°What do you think, Lu Chen?¡± I thought for a moment before replying with a smile, ¡°I wonder. That line-up is a bit too predictable, and Yiyi is an unpredictable girl. In my opinion, there¡¯s a higher chance that Yiyi fights the second match, and Clear Perfume the first match. You¡¯ve all heard of the story of Tian Ji¡¯s Horse Racing, right? If Clear Perfume runs into Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, she¡¯ll lose, but her team may beat Hero Alliance thanks to it.¡± Beiming Xue blinked once. ¡°That makes sense¡­¡± We looked up. As he said, the match-ups were displayed on the screen¡ª 1v1: Da Vinci¡¯s Code LV-185 Shadow Archer VS Clear Perfume LV-185 Archer 1v1: Bethoven¡¯s Joy LV-186 Knight of Stars VS Wind Fantasy LV-187 Light Wanderer 1v1: Vienna¡¯s Sorrow LV-189 Berserker VS Purple Marquis LV-186 Warrior 1v1: Death Wish LV-187 Mage VS Shadow Chanel LV-185 Dark Tongue Mage 2v2: Vienna¡¯s Sorrow LV-189 Berserker & Beethoven¡¯s Joy LV-186 Knight of Stars VS Wind Fantasy LV-187 Light Wanderer & Purple Marquis LV-186 Warrior ¡­¡­ Both line-ups were rather unexpected. Instead of Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, Da Vinci¡¯s Code was the one who would be facing Sun Qingqing. Da Vinci¡¯s Code was a tier above Sun Qingqing in terms of skill, so the first match was a loss for Snowy Cathaya for sure. The second match was the powerful Knight of Stars versus the Fruit Knife Goddess, and it was hard to say who was going to beat who. The third match was Vienna¡¯s Sorrow versus Purple Marquis, and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was probably going to take this, which also meant that everything hinged on the fourth match. If Shadow Chanel won her match, Snowy Cathaya would advance to the finals. Otherwise, it would be Hero Alliance! A short prep later, the game officially began. The first match was Clear Perfume versus Da Vinci¡¯s Code! Da Vinci¡¯s Code was already standing behind a shrubbery when Sun Qingqing appeared on the map ¡°Grassy Field¡±. Judging from the challenging gleam in his eyes, he must¡¯ve investigated Sun Qingqing in-depth and realized that she was no threat. That was why his expression was as disdainful as it was. In an archer versus archer match-up, the one with the higher hit rate and better skill usage usually wins. Pa! Spiraling Arrow Blade erupted next to Da Vinci¡¯s Code and deleted 30k+ HP immediately after the round began. Sun Qingqing had great Attack, but the battle had just begun. Unperturbed by the loss of first blood, the shadow archer withdrew to the back, halted in his tracks and fired a volley of arrows! A ring of arrows cut off almost all of Sun Qingqing¡¯s path of retreat. Then, a dark arrow hit her squarely! Pa! 78281! Distracted by the other arrows, Clear Perfume didn¡¯t notice the killer move until it was too late. It was the Shadow Archer class¡¯s signature skill, Shadow Arrow. It reduced the enemy¡¯s Defense by 70% for 3 seconds! Da Vinci¡¯s Code then followed up with Skypiercer, and that was basically the end of Sun Qingqing. She couldn¡¯t Leap out of the way in time, and her Defense was reduced by 70%. The super AoE skill dealt almost 100k damage and knocked out of the arena instantly. The score turned 2:0, and Da Vinci¡¯s Code scored first blood for Hero Alliance. Hero Alliance expected it, we expected it, even Lin Yixin expected it judging from the complete lack of surprise on her face. The entire point of sending Sun Qingqing first was to waste one of the opponent¡¯s stronger players after all. Of course, had Sun Qingqing somehow defied all odds and won her match, I was sure Lin Yixin wouldn¡¯t mind treating her to an entire semester of lunch at the canteen. ¡­¡­ The second round was the Fruit Knife Goddess versus Beethoven¡¯s Joy the Knight of Stars. The guy was a powerful magic knight, but his opponent was the even greater Fruit Knife Goddess. Unless he was a complete fool, he wouldn¡¯t dare underestimate his opponent too much. Of course, that didn¡¯t stop me from crossing my arms and looking forward to the forthcoming humiliation of the famed Knight of Stars. Swhoosh swhoosh! A pair of lights appeared on the battlefield. Beethoven¡¯s Joy rode a mount, and Lin Yixin didn¡¯t. However, the rune on her arm buffed her like she was riding the Moonchaser Tiger, but without the turn rate penalty. It was one of the key advantages she held over most of her opponents. ¡°Wow, you¡¯re gorgeous!¡± Beethoven¡¯s Joy praised her, but Lin Yixin didn¡¯t let it affect her judgment. She activated Great Earth Transformation and got ready to fight her opponent to the death. On the other side, Beethoven¡¯s Joy did the same thing. This guy is a Divine General too?! So this will be a duel between two Divine Generals. I can¡¯t wait! Pa! The countdown hit zero, and the knight charged first. He wielded a spear that was surrounded by a 10-meter long pillar of flame. It was his Divine General Skill, Blazing Blade. Just like Vienna¡¯s Sorrow Ice Stream Blade, it drastically increased his attack range and area of effect. While the latter property was less relevant in 1v1s than in group battles, the skill was still strong, and a threat one couldn¡¯t overlook. 78891! The first exchange went in favor of Lin Yixin, and that angered Beethoven¡¯s Joy. After bringing his spear around, he immediately followed up with a four-hit Armor Break Flurry! Lin Yixin kept her cool and put more distance between herself and the knight. Wielding the Seven-Star Veluriyam Sword in one hand and her dagger in the other, she parried the first two strikes and endured the last two, losing around 100k+ HP. No matter how good a player was, it was near impossible to nullify a skill like this perfectly, not to mention that her opponent was a Divine General like herself. Pa! After Armor Break Flurry came to an end, Lin Yixin abruptly ran up a giant rock and jumped into the air. As she soared over Beethoven¡¯s Joy, her dagger sliced across his neck in a crescent arc and drew a painful groan. It was a weak point strike, and a huge damage number appeared above his head¡ª99771! That wasn¡¯t even the end of her attack yet. Still in midair, she caught the rein of the mount and pulled herself toward the knight. Then, she acted to thrust the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword right through his c.h.e.s.t. Right before his life¡¯s end, the knight flung a shower of flames in front of himself and shouted, ¡°Scorching Shield of Stars!¡± The flames transformed into an energy shield that surrounded his armor and nullified Lin Yixin¡¯s second weak point strike completely. The Scorching Shield of Stars was a skill that could nullify any three portions of damage! Lin Yixin¡¯s hands didn¡¯t pause even as she read the combat log. After she unsheathed her dagger and hit the knight twice to use up his Scorching Shield of Stars, she landed on the ground and faced toward her opponent. Then, she stretched her fingers fully and launched Ice Storm! Three icicles hit Beethoven¡¯s Joy and deleted his mount tenacity completely, causing him to fall off his mount. It wasn¡¯t long after he got to one knee that he realized something was wrong and tried to bring his spear into a defensive position, but it was too late. Lin Yixin¡¯s attack was already upon him. Swhoosh! Lin Yixin dashed past the knight and stabbed him in the back, unleashing Barrier Break. Then, she leisurely circled around to his right side, grabbed the hilt of her sword and used Ice Flame Slash! BOOM! A colorful explosion later, the system announced that Lin Yixin had defeated Beethoven¡¯s Joy and increased her score to 1:0. The audience screamed and clapped so hard I worried that some of them might faint. Few expected a player¡ªa female player no less¡ªto face down the vice guild leader of Hero Alliance and the so-called second best player of Hero City without fear, much less slaughter him like a lamb! Beethoven¡¯s Joy lost his joy as expected. The ridiculing sneer he wore at the beginning of the match had all but disappeared. There were many opponents who couldn¡¯t be gauged until you had truly faced them on the battlefield yourself. In this case, the hidden-class magic knight didn¡¯t just learn of Lin Yixin¡¯s prowess, he was scared of it. If he had any chance of beating Lin Yixin before, it was now gone, along with his fighting spirit. The Fruit Knife Goddess executed a helix maneuver to confuse her opponent, and the poor guy couldn¡¯t even face in the right direction to hit her. A couple of strikes and skills later, the battle was over. The overall score was 1:1. The Fruit Knife Goddess had saved the day for now. Chiang! After the match ended, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow abruptly unsheathed his weapon with a dangerous smile on his face. He said, ¡°It¡¯s my turn!¡± On the other side, Purple Marquis also pulled his sword out of the ground in front of him and smiled. ¡°A worthy opponent! I¡¯d better put on a shameless performance, hah!¡± Chapter 956: Fighting Cyan Beast "You wanna go raw?" A smiling Purple Marquis suggested to Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. Vienna¡¯s character skill and realm were greater than Purple Marquis¡¯s, but his pride was even greater than both those things. Therefore, it was wise of him to issue this challenge. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s eyes brimmed with fighting spirit as he declared, "Why not? Raw it is! I heard that you are one of the top players in China, so I¡¯ll grant you the right. I won¡¯t even activate Great Earth Transformation so you can¡¯t cry to me later about cheating!" Purple Marquis smiled. "Sure. Show me the strength of the number one player of Hero City!" ¡­¡­ Fighting raw was the manliest way to PvP bar none. No character skills, no buffs, no special states, nothing. You get to wear your equipment, but that was all. The rest was up to you and the blade in your hands. Purple Marquis lowered his sword and waited for the countdown to hit zero. Then, he bounded toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow like a bolt. Chiang! Two swords clashed, and sparks flew everywhere. It was a Strength versus Strength battle where neither side gave an inch to the other party. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow let out a... Can''t wait until tomorrow to see more? Want to show your support? Click here to be a sponsor and get additional chapters ahead of time! Chapter 957: Absolute Strength It was only when I stood inside the arena that I realized that¡­ I actually wasn¡¯t sure if I could beat Breeze and Rain! The Agility Warrior was a monster who could beat Candlelight Shadow himself, so there was no way he would go down easily! Also, this first match was super critical to our advancement! If I lost this, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ journey in the WEL could end right here and now! Swhoosh! Sunshine shone between the tree leaves atop a smiling Breeze and Rain. The Agility Warrior was only 20 yards away from me when he said, "I heard that you are the strongest duelist in the three main cities of the Center, and that you¡¯ve taken out Candlelight Shadow the Martial God before. Is it true?" I smiled back. "Nah, they¡¯re just rumors. I¡¯m not saying there isn¡¯t some truth behind it, but they¡¯re about as solid as the clouds above our heads¡­" Breeze and Rain continued, "I¡¯ve watched all the battle footage of War of Dawn City including yours. I doubt that there are many people in the world who could¡¯ve done what you did; holding back an entire army all by yourself. Do know, you will always have my respect. However, it is also a fact that we walk different paths, and it is only a matter of time before Cyan Earth City and Elephant City go to war against the China server. We haven¡¯t, and will never forget the humiliation of losing our main city to you in Eternal Moon and Spirit of Grief. May Heavenblessed be the end of this feud end once and for all!" Chiang! I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword before asking, "How are you so sure you¡¯ll be able to claim vengeance?" Breeze and Rain smiled confidently as he replied, "That¡¯s simple. It¡¯s because our players have never been stronger than they are now. There is nothing we cannot beat!" I stabbed my sword against the ground before replying calmly, "I can say the same thing right back at you. If you doubt our strength to protect our honor and our homeland, then feel free to attack any time you wish. Sky City sees no reason to turn away the wolves who¡¯ll nourish our soil!" "Hmph! A boastful claim!" Breeze and Rain watched me seriously. "But it won¡¯t matter unless you defeat me first!" "We¡¯ll see about that!" ¡­¡­ The countdown began, winding up our hearts like a clock with every declaration¡ª 3! 2! 1! Fight! Breeze and Rain immediately activated Great Earth Transformation and buffed himself with Blazing Wind Art, drastically boosting his movement and attack speed! "Here I come!" He let out a battle cry and ran straight toward me, sword swinging downward in a straight arc! Chiang! Our bodies vibrated visibly as our weapons clashed. Both of us possessed a lot of Strength, it seemed. Zzzt zzzt zzzt... Sparks flew off the blade of the Purple Ying Sword as Breeze and Rain abruptly withdrew his weapon. He threw a left punch at me, forcing me to bend my body and knock it aside with the Dragon God Shield. Then, I raised my knee in an attempt to kick him in the waist. However, Breeze and Rain¡¯s reaction speed was insane. He moved away almost immediately after my knee touched his skin, meaning that I wasn¡¯t able to land a solid hit. Right after that, he swung his sword at me again and used Blazing Slash! I watched the three flaming sword auras falling down on me closely and turned my wrist, parrying two hits in rapid succession. I knew that I wouldn¡¯t be able to determine the angle or the force behind the final strike in time, so I backed off and raised the Dragon God Shield in front of me! Boom! God damn, the resulting explosion almost engulfed my entire person! 39292! Swhoosh! A speed-boosted Breeze and Rain was like a goddamn ghost. I barely saw him appearing in front of me and pressing his hand against my c.h.e.s.t armor. He was obviously going to use his CC skill, Soul Refining Cage. If it hit, he would be free to attack me with impunity for 7 seconds straight. I would be dead long before the skill came to an end! I immediately rotated my body and knocked his palm aside with my arm, forcing a MISS. Then, I slammed the Dragon God Shield into his back for a whopping 30910 damage! "Dammit!" Breeze and Rain looked angry at his failure to land his CC skill. He thrust his sword toward my c.h.e.s.t and landed the Moon Breaking Slash, the skill that ignored 70% Defense! I felt a tearing pain at the same time I lost 80k+ HP. It was a most deadly skill alright! I wasn¡¯t the type of person to allow a free hit, so I lifted my Divine Martial War Boots and kicked him in the arm. He wanted to force a MISS, but my Strength was far higher than he imagined and gave him no opportunity to pull off some tai chi nonsense. He staggered backward and lost his balance for around half a second. Buzz! The Purple Ying Sword sang, and I unleashed Burning Blade Slash and Ancient Seal all in 0.5 seconds. Breeze and Rain couldn¡¯t dodge this, so he had no choice but to Guard and hope for the best. MISS! 42291! 58828! 71626! One combo was all it took to delete three-fourths of his HP. I watched Breeze and Rain closely before tossing the Purple Ying Sword at him. The Archean-grade weapon flew toward him like a hurricane and threatened to end his life once and for all! "Are you stupid?!" However, Breeze and Rain was the Agility Warrior. He easily dodged out of the way before Coiling Dragon Revolution could hit him. He laughed loudly as ran toward me, stabbed me in the arm and said, "Is this all you¡¯ve got? If it is, then you can die now!" Soul Capture! Breeze and Rain grinned from ear to ear. The triumph behind it was as obvious as the sun because he thought he had overcome a great opponent who possessed the power to kill him. I grinned right back and said, "You¡¯re the one who¡¯s dead, idiot!" "What?!" Right after Breeze and Rain cried out in surprise, I kicked him in the stomach and separated him from me. A look of realization flashed across his features, but it was too late. He looked back just in time to see a hurricane of a sword piercing his body! Splash! 110929! Breeze and Rain dropped to his knees. He had done well to manage me so far, but his last and biggest mistake was one that cost him. I knew that Coiling Dragon Revolution would fly back to me, and I knew that it would be enough to kill Breeze and Rain. That was why I allowed him to get close to me and land his Divine General Skill. It was the only way to guarantee a hit considering how skilled and intelligent he was. Breeze and Rain glared at me with resistance and anger, but there was no changing the fact that he lost. He scattered into white light and flew away from the arena. It was 1:0. As difficult as the round was, it was a win nonetheless. A chorus of applause and cheers rocked the roof of the stadium, and I could even hear Li Chengfeng shouting, "F.u.c.k yeah, that was beautiful, Lu Chen!" I recalled everything that had happened throughout the battle with a mind as calm as a lake. Both Breeze and Rain¡¯s movement speed and attack speed were higher than mine. I would definitely lose if I tried to match him in the speed department. Moreover, he dished out at least 50% more attacks than me, and it took a ridiculous amount of effort to parry all his basic attacks. I couldn¡¯t not parry them either because his Attack was quite high. His sword had to be Immortal-grade at the very least. So, how should I deal with an Agility-based warrior whose tactics and skills were almost at the pinnacle? An idea flashed across my mind, and the corner of my lips turned up unconsciously. Yes, it¡¯s worth a try. Let¡¯s see if I can literally beat his speed with absolute strength! Outside the arena, Beiming Xue cried, "Keep it up and take one more from Breeze and Rain, big bro! We¡¯re going to become the world champion!" I smiled. Yes, it¡¯s my dream to become the champion of the WEL internationals as well! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! When Breeze and Rain teleported back into the arena, he looked less relaxed than he was before. He said, "Coiling Dragon Revolution, huh? I understand the true power of this skill now. Don¡¯t think you can catch me twice with the same skill, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" I smiled. "Sure. I¡¯m hardly a one-trick pony, and even if I was, I would never expect it to work twice against an opponent like you!" Breeze and Rain grinned. "Is that so? How are you going to beat me then?" "You¡¯ll see it right before it kills you!" "Hmph, boastful bastard!" The hostility in Breeze and Rain¡¯s eyes was steadily growing, but there was no helping it. At the top, players either admired or hated each other''s guts. Breeze and Rain and I couldn¡¯t become friends, so we could only become sworn rivals. It wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing though. After all, nemeses often produced the best Nation Wars! The countdown began once more, and both Breeze and Rain immediately entered fighting condition. The second round was an important round for both of us. 3! 2! 1! The countdown hit zero, and this time Breeze and Rain activated both Blazing Wind Art and War God Rampage at once. The f.u.c.ker thinks he can cut me down in 12 seconds? The arrogance! Pa pa... Breeze and Rain moved so fast that he was almost a blur in my vision. His sword came down on me like the wind, giving me almost no time to evade. I had no choice but to backpedal and parry the attack at the same time! Chiang! My arm turned numb from the contact. It was never a good thing to be forced on the defensive. I stomped the ground and used War Crush, but the Agility Warrior smelled the danger in time and evaded the shockwave perfectly. Then, he rushed in again and slashed me across the arm. At this point, I was completely outsped by him! I gritted my teeth and decided to put my earlier idea to action. It¡¯s now or never! I stopped trying to parry Breeze and Rain¡¯s attack and let his Moon Breaking Slash slash into my Heaven-burning Armor. Tearing pain erupted as I took 90012 damage. This f.u.c.ker¡¯s just too powerful! Pa! During this time, I grabbed the blade of his sword, let out a battle cry and pulled him away from whatever direction he was trying to go. Then, I tossed him to the distance as hard as I could! A rock flattened beneath my boots as I raced toward his airborne figure. Then, I opened up with Universe Break! Breeze and Rain saw it coming. Eyes burning with fighting spirit, he thrust his sword upward in an attempt to parry the skill! I grabbed my sword with both hands so that I could swing it faster and with all my strength. Activating Dark Pupils and aiming at the weakest point of his parry, I shouted, "Taste the power of a 5-Strength warrior, Breeze and Rain!" Chiang! Amazingly, my flaming sword shattered his parry and cut right into his body. I could even see the blooming shock in his eyes when it happened! Chapter 958: A New Style Crack! 130984! The squelch of a blade sinking into flesh sounded incredibly melodious in that moment. It was also the moment Breeze and Rain realized that he had lost. Parry was a technique that was worshipped like a god in this game. It was the level of skills countless fighters dreamed of attaining. Some people had even trained this skill to the point where they could parry tens of attacks from an expert. However, there was no such thing as an omnipotent technique, and parrying was no exception. Parry could be defeated by a combination of absolute strength, pinpoint accuracy and incredible speed. It was how my Universe Break defeated Breeze and Rain¡¯s supposedly perfect parry. There were three reasons the interaction happened the way it did. One, I had put absolutely every bit of power I had into the attack. Two, Dark Pupils showed me where the weak point of his parry was. And three, Breeze and Rain was faster than me, but not so fast that the third factor necessary for the destruction of parry¡ªand Breeze and Rain¡¯s very core of confidence¡ªwas invalidated. Long story short, the era where parry was an invincible technique was about to come to an end. Pa! I kicked Breeze and Rain in the c.h.e.s.t and knocked him to the ground. I could see his fighting spirit extinguishing slowly in his eyes. Not giving him a chance to change his mind, I raised the Purple Ying Sword and used Burning Blade Slash. Swhoosh! Just like that, Breeze and Rain, the right hand man of God of War, died and was teleported out of the arena. Since he lost two rounds in a row, the first match was mine! ¡­¡­ The score turned 1:0. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was now in the lead. I s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath as I appeared outside the arena. The 2:0 clean sweep made it look like I was dominating from the start until the end, but I¡ªand probably only I, since I was the one facing off Breeze and Rain myself¡ªknew just how close it had been. A single misstep, a slight deviation in judgment, and our positions could¡¯ve easily been reversed. Breeze and Rain was a careful man who didn¡¯t allow even the slightest opportunity to slip through his grasp. The only reason I won was because I surprised him with Coiling Dragon Revolution during the first round, and created a whole new style in the middle of the second battle. And just because I succeeded using it the very first time, didn¡¯t mean that I was going to succeed again on the second, third, or even the fourth try. Consistency could only come with practice, and this technique was no exception. The comment caught me off-guard. I had just made the connection myself. I could already see Candlelight Shadow¡¯s reputation coming under fire again after we returned to the country. I gave Beiming Xue a pat on the shoulder and said, "Alright, time to focus on the next match. We may have won for now, but our next few opponents are just as dangerous as Breeze and Rain, so don¡¯t let it get to your head, okay? I heard that God of War is even stronger than Breeze and Rain, and unlike him, he has both strength and speed. We look forward to your performance, Beiming!" "Got it!" Beiming Xue said, "I¡¯ll do my best!" "Very good!" Beiming Xue and God of War teleported into the arena at almost the same time. The warrior¡¯s ridiculing smile was slight but unmistakable. Beiming Xue summoned her Dragonscale Beast and rode it. The plan was to use her speed advantage to kite her enemy until they died. It was the tactic that defined an archer and the "royal road" among all the ways to play an archer, and Beiming Xue didn¡¯t need me to remind her about this. Meanwhile, God of War summoned a golden shield¡ªEarth Shield, it stated on the combat log¡ªthat reduced his damage taken just like my Ghost Deity Shield. However, it was less effective against top-tier experts because the enemy would usually have tremendous Attack, powerful skills and amazing equipment. It mattered if you could tank a few more hits than otherwise, but not that much. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Cyan energy surrounded God of War as he activated Great Earth Transformation. Then, he growled and activated his Divine General Skill, God of War¡¯s Art. Starting now, every hit he dealt would be critical 100% of the time. "This is the first time God of War activated his Divine General Skill¡­" He Yi murmured. Lian Xin pursed her lips as she said, "This isn¡¯t looking good for Beiming." To be honest, I knew myself that Beiming¡¯s chances of beating God of War were less than 30%. The moment the battle began, Beiming Xue moved to the back and let the Spiraling Arrow Blades, Skypiercers and Evil Spirit Volleys go wild. The skills were powerful and ate away at the blazing berserker¡¯s HP like crazy, but God of War had almost 400k HP. He used an HP-buff card instead of a damage-boosting one because he already had God of War¡¯s Art on. It wouldn¡¯t have made that much of a difference. God of War didn¡¯t try to rush things. He waited until he had 35% HP left before launching his assault. Activating War God Rampage all of a sudden, he tanked Beiming Xue¡¯s Freezing Arrows head-on and rushed her like a lightning bolt. He knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to Leap away to safety either because it was in cooldown. He used a skill called Inferno Sixtuple Slash that, as its name suggested, hit its target six times, and although Beiming Xue managed to parry two, there was no chance she could survive the remaining four. Our dark archer lost the first round, and the score turned 0:1. When the second round began, Beiming Xue got lucky and triggered the Ice Soul effect of her weapon while firing an Evil Spirit Volley. The ice didn¡¯t just freeze God of War¡¯s feet to the ground, it also prevented him from using War God Rampage. Skypiercer + Spiraling Arrow Blade combo later, Beiming Xue trapped her opponent with Well of the Abyss, waited until right before the skill came to an end, and shot another Skypiercer to God of War¡¯s face. The Windchaser set was just too good at armor penetration, and not even 400k HP was enough to save God of War. The score turned 1:1, and now the match was tied. Again, I must repeat that Beiming Xue was insanely lucky to have triggered Ice Soul at that exact time. God of War was certainly aware of it judging from how red he looked. The third match was the deciding match, and unfortunately, Lady Luck wasn¡¯t on Beiming Xue¡¯s side this time. She kited her heart out, but God of War¡¯s equipment was just too good. In the end, Beiming Xue died to the devastating Inferno Sixtuple Slash. After Beiming Xue teleported out of the arena, she gave us a shrug and said, "Sorry I lost, big bro¡­" I pouted. "Are you kidding me? That guy has a skill that hits six goddamned times in rapid succession. Even I would have a hard time trying to parry them all, much less you. Where the f.u.c.k did that lucky sonuvabitch pick up that skill anyway? If I had a skill like that, I could¡¯ve beaten Breeze and Rain without all the bruises and scars¡­" Beiming Xue giggled. "You have a big heart, don¡¯t you big bro? I wouldn¡¯t be able to joke in this situation!" I glanced at Lian Xin next and asked her, "What do you mean? It¡¯s Lian Xin¡¯s turn now. She¡¯s absolutely going to kick her opponent¡¯s a.s.s, right Lian Xin?" The mage shot me a look. "Yes, I thank you soooooooo much for the unnecessary pressure!" "Well, go get ''em¡­" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Lian Xin versus Yeye the Witch was a mage versus archer match-up, but I was fairly optimistic that Lian Xin would take this. It was because Lian Xin¡¯s secret class was absolutely bonkers. Telekinetic Shield, Origin Force Field, Ice Spiral Matrix; every single one of her skills was a god-tier skill in PvP, not to mention that Lian Xin herself was close to super-tier. DPS-wise, she was 100% going to outdo her opponent. Lian Xin¡¯s tactic was the same as Yeye¡¯s; aiming to wear down her opponent while dodging their attacks. Both players fought at the range of 40 yards, and ideally, they wanted to kill their opponent without taking any damage. Lian Xin quickly learned of her opponent¡¯s skill when she missed three Dimensional Storms in a row. It was incredible how many spells Yeye the Witch managed to dodge despite going up against someone like Lian Xin. "Lian Xin needs to find an opportunity to one-shot her opponent soon, or Yeye the Witch will wear her Telekinetic Shield thin and one-shot her first¡­" He Yi said a bit worriedly. I nodded. "Of course. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m sure she¡¯s looking for it already." "Hehe, yeah¡­" It was at this moment Lian Xin Blinked forward and raised her scepter up high. Touch of the Dragonkiss! Shocked, Yeye the Witch reacted immediately by Leaping to the back. However, instead of taking a gamble and firing her spell, she ran forward and slammed all twelve of her Origin Force Fields around the magic archer. I had to admit that Lian Xin¡¯s grasp of positioning was amazing. It was almost hilarious how Yeye the Witch was repeatedly bumped toward Lian Xin¡¯s direction the second she hit the ground! By the time it was finally over, she was only 25 yards away from the mage! A blue formation appeared beneath Yeye the Witch and deleted over 100k HP in an instant. Panicking, Yeye the Witch tried to escape only to step right into Lian Xin¡¯s Gravity Trap. At that point, she knew it was over. She couldn¡¯t believe how strong the cute, doll-like girl was. Well, I could. In fact, I was always confident in Lian Xin¡¯s ability to 1v1! The second round didn¡¯t differ much from the first. Lian Xin held the absolute advantage here, and she was at her best when going up against a ranged opponent. There was no reason for her to think she would lose. The overall score turned 2:1, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls earned another valuable win. ¡­¡­ The calm of God of War¡¯s face finally faded into worry. He uttered through gritted teeth, "F.u.c.k, I can¡¯t believe Yeye lost without being able to take a single round¡­" Leaning against a nearby tree and hugging his sword, Breeze and Rain said, "Trust in your general. Shallow Sunlight won¡¯t lose no matter what. And even if he did, it will be well-deserved. Even you have to admit that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is strong¡­" God of War let out a cold snort. "I know. He¡¯s the guy who created a new style while fighting against you after all." Breeze and Rain nodded. "Yeah. The essence of parry is speed; to move your weapon or your body fast enough to cancel the enemy¡¯s attack. However, in that moment, he moved faster than me, found my parry¡¯s weak point, and crushed it via brute force. Both his reaction and power are both off the charts." God of War said grimly, "He wouldn¡¯t be worthy to be our opponent otherwise. Anyway, let¡¯s prepare ourselves for the 2v2. No matter what happens with Shallow Sunlight¡¯s match, I¡¯m not going to let the chance to face off against the Little Heavenly King of China slip by!" "Yeah!" Chapter 959: Disarm The fourth match was He Yi versus Shallow Sunlight. Shallow Sunlight was the number one assassin of Cyan Earth City, so both her skills and her equipment were top-tier. Her main dagger looked like an Immortal-grade weapon at the very least. The world wouldn¡¯t stop just because we were grinding bosses and quests, so other pinnacle-level players were doing the same thing as well. We all had our own path of hardship, it just didn¡¯t intersect most of the time. Swhoosh swhoosh! Two beauties entered the arena at the same time. He Yi wore a white cloak that flowed down her back, wielded the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear, and rode the handsome Dragonscale Beast. It was the standard outfit of a gorgeous knightress. The glowing shield rune on her arm was a clear sign for all to see that her Defense wasn¡¯t to be underestimated. He Yi was as beautiful as Lin Yixin, and in the game she looked valiant as well. Countless people had to swallow their saliva or risk it leaking out of their mouths. Her opponent, Shallow Sunlight, was a standard Indian beauty as well. She had an hourglass body that was further accentuated by her leather armor, and she had a pair of navy blue eyes. Shallow Sunlight smiled as she played with her offhand dagger and activated Great Earth Transformation. Her biggest advantage over He Yi was that she was a Divine General. Rustle rustle rustle... Despite the danger, He Yi chose to step forward instead of retreat. She was a magic knight with high Defense and high HP, so she wasn¡¯t going to be one-shot even if Shallow Sunlight was a Divine General. On the other hand, Shallow Sunlight most certainly couldn¡¯t survive a full Purgatory of Ice and Magma! The countdown began¡ª 3! 2! 1! The moment the battle began, Shallow Sunlight activated Haste and melted into thin air. She was clearly going for a quick win! He Yi wisely retreated and activated her mount¡¯s skill, Dragon Soul Protection. It boosted her Attack and Defense by 50%, ensuring that the assassin would have an even harder time to kill her. Moreover, He Yi¡¯s Famous General Skill was Royal Road, while Shallow Sunlight¡¯s was Encourage VII, which at best boosted her Attack by only 120%. He Yi paid close attention to her surroundings, trying to catch any glimpses of unnatural activity. A moment later, she rushed forward and swung her spear in full confidence and struck something. Chiang! Sparks flew everywhere, and Shallow Sunlight reappeared. As expected, our beautiful guild leader was becoming steadily better at catching invisible enemies. She actually discovered Shallow Sunlight¡¯s location and caught her out. Pa pa pa... Shallow Sunlight had to move a few steps backward because He Yi¡¯s Strength was too strong. Three steps later, while Haste was still active, she activated Dance of Death and moved even faster than before. Like a phantom, she slipped around He Yi¡¯s spear like a lightning bolt before grabbing it by the pole. "I got you" smile flashed across her visage as she activated her Divine General Skill, Disarm! For 15 seconds, her target would be without a weapon! He Yi¡¯s spear vanished from her hands at the same time Shallow Sunlight struck her with Blade Vortex, leaving bloody streaks across her c.h.e.s.t and dealing a sizable amount of damage¡ª 52828! 49283! As expected, an assassin at Shallow Sunlight¡¯s level would have stacked armor penetration to ungodly levels. He Yi didn¡¯t panic too much despite having lost her weapon. She punched Shallow Sunlight in the shoulder and dealt 19109 damage, but Shallow Sunlight was too skilled to let it go unanswered. She grabbed He Yi¡¯s arm, jumped over to her back, and attempted to hit her with Gouge. He Yi gritted her teeth and made a snap decision. There was no time to look behind herself, so she threw an elbow and successfully knocked Shallow Sunlight off her horse. Then, she dismounted¡ªit would¡¯ve taken too long to turn around otherwise¡ªran up to the assassin and slapped her with a five-hit Purgatory of Ice and Magma. Bang bang bang bang... The skill was deadly even without a main weapon, and it deleted almost 100k HP from Shallow Sunlight¡¯s health pool. The assassin¡¯s eyes widened in astonishment. She didn¡¯t expect her opponent to be this strong even after she had been disarmed. Shallow Sunlight drank a potion and rushed forward, wanting to end this as soon as possible. He Yi retaliated by clumping her fingers together and thrusting them toward the assassin like a blade, unleashing Barrier Break. The spectators cheered when they saw this. In a sense, the act of using Barrier Break with her b.a.r.e hands was a testament to her courage. Unfortunately, she was ultimately without a weapon. Shallow Sunlight easily parried the skill before slipping into stealth. Then, she executed the four-hit Dark Pursuit and killed her where she stood. In the end, He Yi wasn¡¯t able to beat the number one assassin of Cyan Earth City. The second round began quickly, and this time He Yi was wiser. Now that she knew how Shallow Sunlight¡¯s Divine General Skill worked¡ªthat it could only be activated at close range¡ªshe waited until her opponent was about to use Disarm before thrusting her spear right through Shallow Sunlight¡¯s c.h.e.s.t. The Barrier Break and one more basic attack later, Shallow Sunlight hit the ground with a groan and lost a point to He Yi. The rhythm of the third round fell back into Shallow Sunlight¡¯s hands, unfortunately. Instead of trying to Disarm from the get-go, she repeatedly parried He Yi¡¯s attacks to disrupt her flow before slipping into stealth. This time He Yi wasn¡¯t able to stop Disarm from happening, but she still managed to punch and kick her opponent to 7% HP before she died. As a result, Shallow Sunlight looked pale as a sheet even though she won the match. She had been 7% away from causing Cyan Beast to lose the semi-finals after all. The overall score turned 2:2, an outcome that I had kinda expected to happen. Despite He Yi¡¯s best efforts, her opponent was the number one assassin in India. Her tactics and skills were an entire tier higher than He Yi¡¯s, so it made sense that she would lose the match. If anything, she wowed all of us by putting up an excellent fight. ¡­¡­ Chiang! I pulled out the Purple Ying Sword and looked behind me. "Alright, it¡¯s our turn again, Beiming! Let¡¯s see how strong God of War and Breeze and Rain really are, shall we?" "Mn!" Beiming Xue nodded back with a smile. Lian Xin c.o.c.ked her head and asked Beiming, "Aren¡¯t you worried that you might lose, Beiming? It is God of War and Breeze and Rain." Beiming Xue blinked once before answering with determination, "I fear nothing as long as big bro is with me! No matter how strong they are, I¡¯m sure big bro and I will beat them!" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Four rays of light entered the arena. God of War, Breeze and Rain, Beiming Xue and I were soon facing one another. I shot Beiming a sideways glance and reassured her. "Stay cool, Beiming. This may be the hardest fight the both of us will ever face in our WEL journey, but if we win, there¡¯s little chance Hero Alliance will be able to field a stronger pair." Beiming Xue clenched her small fists and replied with a smile, "I¡¯m not nervous, big bro. It¡¯s just that, if we beat God of War and Breeze and Rain, does that mean we¡¯ll be the champion of the WEL, no matter the actual result?" I smiled. "I would prefer if we actually won the trophy, but yeah, of course. You aren¡¯t the only one who thinks that way, you know. During the nationals, we climbed to the top but didn¡¯t really encounter any powerful team beside Candle Dragon. As a result, there were a lot of people who said that we weren¡¯t worthy of our title. Now though, we¡¯ve eliminated countless super teams including Red Maple¡¯s God¡¯s Domain, and Tear Stain¡¯s Throne of the Wild. If everything goes well, we¡¯ll be wiping the floor with Cyan Beast and Hero Alliance as well! No one can say that we don¡¯t deserve the champion trophy if we destroy everyone, can they?" Beiming Xue giggled. "Got it, big bro. Let¡¯s do our best!" "Anyway, back to the match. The things to watch out for are God of War¡¯s Inferno Sixtuple Slash, and Breeze and Rain¡¯s Soul Refining Cage and Soul Capture because they¡¯re more or less one-shot kills if you¡¯re hit. And you, Beiming, must die after me no matter what. Understand?" "I know, I¡¯ll do my best!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ All four of us activated Great Earth Transformations at almost the same time. Of all the fights that had taken place in the WEL so far, none was more fitting to be called a true battle of the greatest than this one! God of War and Breeze and Rain were famous pinnacle experts for a long time. I myself had made quite a name back in Spirit of Grief and now Heavenblessed. Ironically, the China-famous Beiming Xue the Dark Archer, was actually the weakest of all of us. This also meant that I must carry the majority of the burden if we were to have a shot at beating the Indian duo. The countdown began, and all our hearts trembled with every beat¡ª 3! 2! 1! Pa! God of War and Breeze and Rain charged at the same time straight toward the dark archer behind me. I knew they would try to kill Beiming Xue first! Heart sinking, I immediately pointed my palm at the spot in front of God of War and used God Binding Art. The blazing berserker skidded to a halt and tried to circle around the blades, but I immediately threw my sword at him and used Coiling Dragon Revolution! I had cut off all of God of War¡¯s avenues of retreat, and the blazing berserker was fully aware of that. Eyes turning steely, he raised his sword and brought it right down on my spinning blade. The motherf.u.c.ker¡¯s trying to parry the skill! Is he crazy?! Chiang! However, the man defied my expectations and sent the Purple Ying Sword flying back toward me. Against all odds, the guy actually managed to parry the attack! That being said, there was no avoiding the Ancient Seal, and it hit him for 89929 damage! Pa! I caught my returning sword and withdrew to the back immediately. I bolted straight toward Breeze and Rain after God of War¡¯s advance was temporarily halted. ¡­¡­ Breeze and Rain wasn¡¯t facing toward me, but the moment I got close he stopped in his tracks and turned around. It was almost as if he had eyes behind his back. Eyes burning with fighting spirit, he swung his sword at me and shouted, "Take this!" The Agility Warrior¡¯s attack was too fast to dodge. I had no choice but to parry it. However, a gleam twinkled in Breeze and Rain¡¯s eyes as he altered his trajectory to hit the spot about ten centimeters away from my wrist. It also happened to be the weakest spot of my parry. Bastard! Has he picked up the new Strength-based style I created already? Chapter 960: Red Hot Spirit Maybe I¡¯ll be able to deal greater damage if I hit the weakest spot of parry with absolute strength. That was what the idea Breeze and Rain was exploring right now. He was slightly off, however. Even if his strike was unerring, he wouldn¡¯t be able to replicate my feat. It was because I was a 5-Strength undead swordsman, and even the weakest point of my parry carried more force than his attack! Chiang! Our blades clashed, and with just a casual bent of my wrist I nullified over 70% of the force behind his strike and forced a MISS. Breeze and Rain was shocked, but I rammed my shoulder into his before he had a chance to react. Bang! Breeze and Rain staggered backward and lost his balance for a bit. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I wouldn¡¯t come by again. I immediately raised the Purple Ying Sword and used Universe Break! "What?!" Breeze and Rain parried and raised his left leg to kick me in the stomach at the same time. This f.u.c.ker sure knows how to hit where it hurts! I gritted my teeth and slammed my knee against his boot. At the same time, I grabbed my sword with both hands, brought it down and shouted, " Break!" Breeze and Rain clutched his own sword with both hands as he waited for the inevitable contact. He was certain that he would be able to parry the attack, but I was equally as certain that I would be able to crush it. At the last second, I altered the trajectory of my swing by 5 cm or so and shocked Breeze and Rain again. He could already tell that he wouldn¡¯t be able to stop this! Bang! As expected, the Purple Ying Sword knocked his weapon away and slammed heavily into his shoulder, dealing 119288 damage. I immediately followed up with Pardon that scared him into withdrawing immediately. Even then, he refused to back off without retaliation and channeled his Divine General Skill, Soul Capture, in one hand. I acted quickly and kicked him on the blade, pushing myself away from him before he could touch me. Then, I went all out and fired 7 Ancient Seals in a row all around him. No way he was fast enough to escape this. One of the Ancient Seals hit him for 140k+ damage, and his HP dropped to dangerous levels. "Beiming, Skypiercer!" I turned around to shout only to discover that God of War had already engaged her. Thankfully, the beautiful dark archer was able to parry herself away from her pursuer before firing a hail of arrows into the air. Skypiercer was wide enough to cover half the battle arena, so there was no chance Breeze and Rain could run away from this one. He dropped to his knees and lost the last sliver of HP. ¡­¡­ "Breeze and Rain!" Enraged, God of War rushed toward Beiming Xue and kneed her in the shoulder. While she was off-balance, he unleashed his Inferno Sixtuple Slash and one-shot her. Beiming Xue also teleported out of the arena. God of War¡¯s cape was still in the air when I charged his flanks. I swung the Purple Ying Sword at him with everything I got! Chiang! However, not only was God of War able to react in time, he parried the full-powered attack successfully. Unlike Breeze and Rain, God of War¡¯s total Strength was equal to mine. It would be much more difficult to crush his parry! Crushing my opponent wasn¡¯t my goal, however. Winning the match was. I grabbed God of War¡¯s Collar and stomped the ground with War Crush. The red aura of the skill cut into his HP again and again¡ª 52388! 62992! 71266! I¡¯m going all out! I crossed the Purple Ying Sword and tried to parry it. It was death if I failed because God of War had God of War¡¯s Art turned on. How many people in the world could withstand a double damage Barrier Break? Reflexively, I activated a Roland Bloodknight Card and pulled my max HP to 350k. If I did fail to parry the skill, at least I would be able to survive one strike! Pu... God of War laughed murderously when the flaming cone of Barrier Break made contact with my Purple Ying Sword. "Break!" Bang! I knew it. His Strength was too high, so the skill passed right through my sword and tore my c.h.e.s.t apart. I immediately lost an insane amount of HP¡ª 212994! Goddammit, this f.u.c.ker! "The arrogance!" I growled and punched out with Magic Piercing Punch, hitting him in the c.h.e.s.t armor and canceling his skill before it could do anything! 29891! I activated Tenacity of the Dead and healed myself for 90k+ HP, temporarily putting myself out of danger. Paying no heed to the flames still surrounding his blade, I stepped on the weapon¡ªlosing a ton of HP as a result¡ªbackflipped into the air and kicked him right beneath the chin! Bang! 39019! I had no plans of dragging this out, so I unleashed Burning Blade Slash right after I landed back on the ground! God of War knew how deadly the skill was, so he crossed his sword in front of himself and Guarded! Bang bang bang! Swhoosh! The blazing berserker swooped in like a hawk, and I just barely slid out of the way at the cost of my beautiful cloak. Fighting fire against fire had never been as intense as it was now! I was terrified¡ªyes, terrified¡ªof letting God of War hit me even once because every one of his attacks was critical. Therefore, I gave it absolutely everything I got to defeat him! Pa pa pa... I backed away and bombarded the ground God of War was standing on with Ancient Seals once more. The blazing berserker roared angrily, but there was nothing he could do to dodge it. "Dragon Slaying Slash!" I had finally figured out his strengths and weaknesses. His melee character skills were better than mine, but my ranged character skills were better than his! God of War easily dodged my Dragon Slaying Slash, but the price was a full-powered Coiling Dragon Revolution. The skill practically cut through his entire torso! Pa! Shit! I¡¯m just a bit too slow! His skill will finish channeling before mine! After the thought flashed across my mind, I immediately canceled the skill and simply tossed my weapon at God of War! Pu! The Purple Ying Sword penetrated God of War¡¯s c.h.e.s.t, but the Inferno Sixtuple Slash also engulfed me at the same time! Both of us were killed by each other¡¯s attacks! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Outside the arena, everyone was stunned by the outcome of this battle. No one thought that this would end in mutual defeat. He Yi, Lian Xin and Beiming Xue were all staring at me with wide eyes. Then, the system notice came¡ª System Notice: Both player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" and player "God of War" died in battle, but God of War died 0.07 seconds sooner than Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Therefore, the winner of the round is Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! The girls immediately leaped into the air and cheered in celebration. They obviously weren¡¯t expecting the round to end in such a comedic fashion. "Calm down, you all. This is just 1:0. We can celebrate after we win the next round!" I declared before shooting Beiming Xue a look. "Also, didn¡¯t you die a little too early? That should¡¯ve gone easier..." Beiming Xue w.h.i.n.ed with a sniff, "Come on, God of War was super aggressive, and I had to watch out for his Inferno Sixtuple Slash and shoot Breeze and Rain at the same time. It¡¯s way too difficult, dammit¡­" I grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulders consolingly. "Alright, alright. Anyway, we¡¯re just one step away from the finals now. Let¡¯s do our best and take the next round!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ We teleported back into the arena and saw God of War and Breeze and Rain once more. They were calm¡ªtoo calm in fact¡ªbut they couldn¡¯t hide the killing intent. I was pretty sure they were going to try to cook up some devious scheme and murder the hell out of us again. However, Beiming Xue gave my arm a tug and whispered with a giggle, "Big bro, I think we¡¯re about to win?" "Huh? Why?" "Because¡­" Beiming Xue blinked cheekily. "I can read minds! I think they¡¯re going to try to focus you this round because you almost 1v2¡¯d earlier. They think they can¡¯t beat you as long as you¡¯re alive, so they¡¯re going to end you first¡­" I shrugged. "What if they succeed?" Beiming Xue stared at me for a moment before smiling a sweet smile. "They won¡¯t, because I trust in your ability to defend yourself. Sister Lin Yixin once told me that the hardest player to kill in the entire China is you, not the tanky Gui Guzi. You¡¯re the only player we know who can parry and counter an enemy¡¯s attack infinitely!" I rubbed my nose and said, "I¡¯m going to get arrogant if you keep praising me, so let¡¯s stop here, eh?" "Heehee!" ¡­¡­ The countdown began at the end of our banter. The exciting moment was upon us once more¡ª 3! 2! 1! God of War shouted, "Go!" Just like last time, the two fighters split up to get close to Beiming Xue, while I tried to intercept one of them. However, before I even got close, God of War conjured a net of fire out of nowhere and threw it at Beiming Xue, shouting, "Fire Net!" Swhoosh! The net of fire caught a surprised Beiming Xue and trapped her for a crazy 25 seconds. Forget her, even I wasn¡¯t expecting our opponent to save something like this until the last round! Their strategy became clear at that moment. They would try to kill me in 25 seconds while Beiming Xue was trapped. Once I was dead, the round was as good as won! Here they come! Breeze and Rain activated Blazing Wind Art and charged me like a phantom. I knocked his sword aside with a swing of my own sword, but God of War¡¯s Inferno Sixtuple Slash flew toward me from behind. I immediately locked onto a nearby tree trunk and Charged out of the way. When I turned around to face the duo, Breeze and Rain was once again upon me. While running in a helix pattern, he attacked me three times in a row at lightning speed. The sonuvabitch just had too much attack speed, so much so that he could give Li Chengfeng a run for his money. I only had enough time to parry one attack before I Guarded the rest. There was no time to breathe. Now God of War was upon me as well, and he was also using the helix maneuver! For a second, I felt like I was surrounded by a storm of swords. A double helix maneuver just for a little old me? My blood boiled with excitement at that moment, and I barked out a laugh, "It¡¯s been a long time since I saw a double helix maneuver! Come at me!" I stepped right into their attack zone with unpredictable, instantaneous footsteps. I then rotated like a top and successfully parried multiple strikes in row. At the last moment, I came to a sudden halt and swung my sword at a surprised Breeze and Rain, shouting, "Break!" 87772! My counterattack shattered Breeze and Rain¡¯s parry and sent him staggering. He looked like he couldn¡¯t believe what was happening. God of War launched a furious assault upon seeing Breeze and Rain¡¯s stumbling, but I stubbornly resisted his attacks and somehow kept my above the 40% mark. Frankly, I wasn¡¯t expecting myself to enter this zone-within-a-zone. Driven by the thirst to overcome the seemingly impossible odds presented before me, I was somehow performing way above my usual level! For 25 agonizing seconds, we grinded against one another, and not the good way. At the end of it, I had 14% HP left, God of War 18%, and Breeze and Rain a pitiful 9%. Somehow, I had survived 25 seconds with the two of the absolute best experts in the world, and I even canceled Breeze and Rain¡¯s Soul Capture and Soul Refining Cage during this time. Right now, the Agility Warrior was staring at me like I was a monster. ¡­¡­ Finally, a sweet voice entered my ears, "Heehee, leave the rest to me, big bro!" Boom! A devastating vortex of red appeared beneath our feet and dragged God of War and Breeze of Rain to the center. Beiming Xue had finally escaped the Fire Net and used Well of the Abyss to end the battle! The moment Well of the Abyss disappeared, my Ancient Seal and Burning Blade Slash, and Beming Xue¡¯s Spiraling Arrow Blade and Skypiercer hit God of War and Breeze and Rain. Just like that, they were knocked out of the arena and the competition! ¡­¡­ The final score was 3:2. We¡¯re finally in the final! Chapter 961: Fighting Fire With Fire I was tense even after the match was over. My brain was replaying every second of the earlier battle without conscious thought. Breeze and Rain¡¯s rapid attacks, God of War¡¯s forceful but nimble blows, and my defense against both of them. For 25 seconds, I danced on the knife¡¯s edge and came out feeling like my skill had reached a whole new level. I had never been pressured this hard since the start of my career, and I couldn¡¯t believe that I had somehow survived it. Yes, even I couldn¡¯t believe that I had made out of that alive, much less emerged the victor. Seven-Star Lamp once said that some people, like Shusheng and Lin Fan, were born to war, and I was beginning to think that he was right. No matter how dire a situation, a true Heavenly King wouldn¡¯t panic and fall into a pattern. They would keep fighting until they found the light at the end of the tunnel. Otherwise, they were a false king at best, no matter how strong they were. When the audience¡¯s applause woke me from my daydream, I was already outside the battle room. ¡­¡­ God of War, Breeze and Rain, Shallow Sunlight and Yeye the Witch left the stage with a forlorn expression, leaving behind their defeater, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, to continue to the final. At the same time, our next and final opponent, Hero Alliance, stepped onto the stage. Undeterred by our performance, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow shot me a lazy smile that completely failed to conceal the fighting spirit burning in his eyes. It was obvious as day that he couldn¡¯t wait to assume his rightful throne. For some reason, the American host was even more excited than we were. First, she blushed red after trading a few words with Vienna¡¯s Sorrow that I couldn¡¯t understand. Another short conversation later, she abruptly spread her arms and gave him a passionate hug. Now I understood what was going on. Vienna seemed unperturbed by this probably because this wasn¡¯t the first time a fan had made a request like this. The only female player in his team, Death Wish, was also smiling playfully at her leader. After that small interlude, the host spoke to us in Beijing Chinese. It could be that she received her Chinese language lessons in Beijing. "Good day, From Water. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is now in the final. Can you describe what you are feeling right now?" the host asked He Yi. He Yi shot Vienna¡¯s Sorrow a glance before saying something in fluent English. Since I couldn¡¯t understand the full sentence, Lian Xin translated for me, "Boss is saying that we¡¯ll do our best to defeat our opponent just like Vienna said he¡¯d do earlier. She also said that we would become the champion, and that Hero Alliance wouldn¡¯t be able to stop us!" The American host seemed surprised by the passionate statement. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow himself was clenching his fists as he replied smilingly, "Then we shall meet on the battlefield. May this settle our feud once and for all!" I curled my lips but didn¡¯t take him seriously. The three main cities of China were only one Dragonbone Mountain Range away from the three main cities of the USA, and we had already fought multiple wars and skirmishes before today. If one thing was certain, it would be that the WEL final wasn¡¯t going to settle anything. ¡­¡­ Below the stage, Li Chengfeng smashed a fist on the handrails while shouting, "F.u.c.k ¡®em hard, Lu Chen! 3:0 those bitches and send them back to their grandma¡¯s house!" Even Warsky was shouting next to Li Chengfeng, "Yeah! Hero my a.s.s, they¡¯re just a bunch of dogshits who bully the weak! 3:0 their asses and show them their place!" Behind them, Stranger of Three Lifetimes stopped sipping her cola and quipped, "Pooh, you two are the ones who are acting like retards. Get back to your seats and stop blocking my view already!" Li Chengfeng: "..." Warsky: "..." I laughed. I could completely understand their excitement. Despite our differences, we were all representatives of China, and now, one of us had made it to the final. It was no wonder they and our Chinese supporters were excited. If we won, the honor would be shared with all who had a five-pointed star in front of their IDs! "Okay!" He Yi did as I said, and Hero Alliance didn¡¯t take long to finish their entry. Very soon, the match-ups appeared on the big display, and I was right¡ª 1v1: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-187 Undead Swordsman VS Vienna¡¯s Sorrow LV-189 Berserker 1v1: Lian Xing LV-188 Phantasm of Stars VS Beethoven¡¯s Joy LV-186 Knight of Stars 1v1: Beiming Xue LV-188 Dark Archer VS Da Vinci¡¯s Code LV-185 Shadow Archer 1v1: From Water LV-186 Magic Knight VS Death Wish LV-187 Mage 2v2: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-187 Undead Swordsman & Beiming Xue LV-188 Dark Archer VS Vienna¡¯s Sorrow LV-189 Berserker & Beethoven¡¯s Joy LV-186 Knight of Stars ¡­¡­ It was your classic immovable object versus unstoppable force scenario, so this final was destined not to disappoint. First, I, the ace of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, would be duking it out with the ace of Hero Alliance, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. Then, Lian Xin would be dueling Beethoven¡¯s Joy, and it so happened that their two classes came from the same origin. Then, the dark archer would fight the shadow archer and determine the best archer of them all. He Yi would battle Death Wish, and finally it would be a battle of aces! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... After entering the game, we appeared on a tall platform next to the battle arena. We could be discussing strategy, but there was nothing to speak of. The gap between our strength and our opponent¡¯s was so tiny that the outcome of this battle would probably be decided by luck and form. In fact, I thought we could 5:0 Hero Alliance just as easily as they could 5:0 us. "Lu Chen, go get ¡®em. You are our pride and love, and you cannot lose to the likes of Vienna¡¯s Sorrow!" He Yi said to me before I stepped into the arena. I nodded. "Don¡¯t worry, Eve. I¡¯ll do my best!" "Mn!" I summoned the system fairy and teleported myself into the arena. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was already waiting for me there. The man was smiling, but the emotion behind the smile was a burning need for vengeance. During the War of Dawn City, I had single-handedly stalled their advance for 3 hours and ultimately prevented them from occupying the city. It was a stain in both the Northern Alliance¡¯s reputation and his. He had the absolute numerical advantage in that battle, and yet I still managed to cut his pretty head right off the neck. Considering his prideful personality, the only way he would consider the shame washed away was to annihilate me a dozen times in these WEL internationals. Too bad he wouldn¡¯t get his wish. ¡­¡­ 3! 2! 1! We activated Great Earth Transformation at once. In another battle, we might¡¯ve considered duking it out mano-a-mano. As it stood, only a f.u.c.k.i.n.g idiot would do that when the champion trophy and MVP title were within an inch of our grasp! Swhoosh! A stream of ice erupted from Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s blade until it was ten meters long. His Divine General Skill, Ice Stream Blade, allowed him to attack another melee opponent from superior range! Not going to wait for him to hit me, I rushed in like a lightning bolt but skidded to a stop when I was less than 15 yards away from him. At the same time, I waved my sword and fired Thousand Ice Slash! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow hurriedly backed out of range, but I immediately fired a golden seal at his location. "Hmph!" The moment I reached him, I immediately followed up with Universe Break! Eyes steely, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow knocked my blade aside but couldn¡¯t avoid the kick to the stomach. While he was staggered, I lowered my center of gravity and thrust my sword into his c.h.e.s.t. I was so fast that he had no time to react whatsoever! Burning Blade Slash! The flaming auras tore his c.h.e.s.t armor apart and dealt an insane amount of damage¡ª 49020! 72994! 82677! However, the one-shot skill failed to one-shot its target. As it turned out, the berserker had so much Defense that even Burning Blade Slash couldn¡¯t one-shot him. "Hah!" I acted to parry, but Vienna moved faster than I imagined. First, he brought down his left arm and smashed my Purple Ying Sword out of the way. While I was open, he stabbed me through the Heaven-burning Armor and used Beast Howl Slash! Pu! 128388! The skill had connected with a weak point, and the tearing pain scorching my senses was almost unbearable. Not bothering to adjust my grip, I brought my sword up, slammed its hilt against the bottom of Vienna¡¯s chin, and used War Crush at the same time! Bang bang bang! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow reacted quickly and only ate the last hit of War Crush. Even worse, he exploited the range Ice Stream Blade afforded him and hit me with Triple Slash while retreating. The skill came too fast and concentrated to parry, so I had no choice but to Guard with the Dragon God Shield. Buzz! Once the attack was over, I removed the Dragon God Shield and charged him again. I leaped into the air¡ªnarrowly dodging another swing from Vienna¡ªand activated Dark Pupils. The berserker¡¯s equipment was too good and had almost no weak points. The only one I could spot was a faint red line on his right shoulder, and that was what I was hoping to hit. The Purple Ying Sword sang, and I tossed my weapon straight at the berserker. The blade was imbued with both my undead energy and the energy of Coiling Dragon Revolution. The spinning blade shot toward Vienna like a bullet, too fast to be parried. There was a muffled groan, and the sword cut right through his shoulder! 120838! As if that wasn¡¯t good enough, Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade triggered at that exact moment, stunning him for 7 seconds. Pa! I landed lightly and caught my returning blade deftly. Then, I slashed Vienna across the c.h.e.s.t and deleted the remaining 5% HP. The score turned 1:0. The first round was mine! Chapter 962: Two Consecutive Wins The first round had been over in just 17 seconds. It was something no one was expecting after all the games that were played in the WEL internationals so far. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and I had gone full aggressive on each other and tried to cut down the other party before otherwise. It was to the point where we almost didn¡¯t defend ourselves at all; a true fire versus fire battle where the last man standing would take it all. It was short, but it caused excitement to pump through everyone¡¯s veins. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow teleported into the arena the second time and laid his cold gaze on me. The fact that he wasn¡¯t affected by the result of the first match at all proved to me just how scary an opponent he was. When the countdown hit zero, and the second round began, we dashed toward each like lightning once more! Chiang! Sparks flew everywhere as my Purple Ying Sword and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s Immortal-grade sword clashed. I lowered my center of gravity a bit and kicked out at his calf! Vienna was even more aggressive than I was, choosing to raise his sword, gather his strength and swing at me a second time. My kick successfully tripped him, but his sword also came down on me like a guillotine! Bang! I tried to block it with the Purple Ying Sword, but it had way too much power behind it and it threatened to push me on my b.u.t.t. I hurriedly rolled to my right, kept a hand on the ground to steady myself, and shot God Binding Art at Vienna¡¯s Sorrow! The sound of the divine weapons dropping around him shocked Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. He activated War God Rampage in a hurry and successfully nullified God Binding Art¡¯s effects, but couldn¡¯t react in time to defend against my next kick! Bang! 19882! After the hit connected, I fired an almost point-blank Burning Blade Slash that forced him to raise his arms and Guard. The impact sent him rolling across the ground. We moved to the mountain stream and continued our fight there, and it didn¡¯t take long for our battle robes and armors to become wet completely. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow tried to hit me with Ice Stream Blade, but even though I was standing atop a bunch of round, slippery pebbles I was able to back away in time. A ten-meter-long blade was an insane range advantage against another melee player, but swinging it wasn¡¯t as easy as it seemed. For someone of my skill, that tiny bit of lag was all I needed to dodge the attacks. Pa! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow activated Charge and dashed past me. He stopped just short of a couple of centimeters and used Beast Howl Slash! The effects were not what I had expected, however. An icy energy had enveloped me out of nowhere, froze my legs in ice and even stopped me from swinging my sword! What the hell is this? Vienna¡¯s Sorrow laughed. "You don¡¯t think that you¡¯re the only one with special equipment, do you?" Combat Log: Player ¡°Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡± has triggered ¡°Desolate Strike¡± effect of his main weapon ¡°Desolate¡±. You have been Frozen for 7 seconds! ¡­¡­ F.u.c.k, karma truly is a bitch... Beast Howl Slash, Barrier Break, Quadruple Slash and more ripped into my body. The Frozen status effect increased my Defense, but I wasn¡¯t defending, blocking or parrying any of the attacks coming my way. There was simply no way I could¡¯ve survived the onslaught. Long story short, my HP hit rock bottom in an instant, and I was out of the arena before I knew it. The score was now 1:1. Swhoosh! After I teleported back to the girls, I rubbed my nose in embarrassment and said, "It was an accident¡­" "We know!" Lian Xin giggled as she checked the forums. "Apparently, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s weapon is also an Archean Immortal-grade weapon like yours. It has a 1% chance of triggering an effect called Desolate Strike that freezes its target for 7 seconds. That¡¯s 1 in 100 attacks, Lu Chen! You must¡¯ve acc.u.mulated a lot of negative karma lately¡­" I shook my head. "It¡¯s fine. The worst has passed, so things can only get better from now on!" I teleported back into the arena and prepared to duel Vienna¡¯s Sorrow for the third time. This was just the first match, but could very well decide the final outcome of this game. We both had a reason to crush our opponent with everything we got! Chiang! Every time our swords clashed, the blade shook almost hard enough to fall out of our hands. Our clash was just too intense! Vienna raised his left fist and punched me in the c.h.e.s.t. I retaliated with a swing of my blade. The berserker crossed his weapon to parry, but the blade of Purple Ying Sword suddenly took the form of a purple crystal. Then, a scene that shocked us both happened: the Purple Ying Sword slammed into Vienna¡¯s Archean-grade sword and snapped it in half! It was Mountain Crush, the Outstanding Property of my weapon, and it had deleted all of his weapon¡¯s durability in one go. Archean-grade or not, it would remain useless until it was repaired. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow stared at his broken weapon in shock. Bad enough that his skill was at best my equal, but now his equipment¡ªat least for this match¡ªwas proven to be inferior to mine as well! That wasn¡¯t even the end of the equipment superiority demonstration. When I summoned a flaming cone around my sword and used Universe Break, my Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet suddenly triggered its Li Fire of Xuanming effect and sent a surge of orange flames up my sword. Long story short, it allowed me to deal even greater damage to my target! My final attack proved too fast for Vienna¡¯s Sorrow to block. By the time astonishment entered his eyes, my sword was already piercing his c.h.e.s.t and tearing him from inside out. He instantly scattered into a shower of white light and teleported out of the arena, leaving behind only the damage number "190727"! The insane damage number suggested that the attack was a critical hit, but it really wasn¡¯t. That was just how much damage the Li Fire of Xuanming added to my skill. The Li Fire of Xuanming had shown up quite often while I was farming mobs and bosses with Yu Tong¡¯s party a couple of days ago, but not once had it triggered in the WEL until, well, now. That it one-shot an expert at Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s level was just icing on the cake! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The moment I returned to the girls, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin immediately gave me a hug to celebrate this precious victory. He Yi, ever the elegant lady, simply stood where she was and smiled at me, but she couldn¡¯t hide the emotions in her eyes. I knew that she was just as excited as the two girls. Beiming Xue smiled while holding Ice Soul Feather. "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is strong, but he¡¯s about 0.02 seconds slower than big bro, and that¡¯s all big bro needed to leave him in the dust, especially in this third round, hehe. You were practically on top of him from start until the end." I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is about 2% stronger than Breeze and Rain, but 1% weaker than God of War. He¡¯s still a terribly annoying opponent though¡­" Lian Xin blinked. "And where did you get these numbers?" I shrugged. "Do you even need to ask? I¡¯m talking out of my a.s.s, duh! Anyway, it¡¯s your turn now, Little Xin!" Lian Xin: "..." ¡­¡­ There was a flash of light, and both Phantasm of Stars and Knight of Stars appeared in the battle arena. Beethoven¡¯s Joy stared at Lian Xin grimly as he said, "You were a player of the USA when you obtained the Phantasm of Stars class. Now, you¡¯re turning it against your former comrades. You understand this is a kind of betrayal, don¡¯t you?" "Hmph!" The knight looked angry, but there was nothing he could do about this. He lowered his spear and summoned a pillar of flames from the blade. It looked very similar to Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s Ice Stream Blade except that it was fire. It was his Divine General Skill and his best shot at defeating Lian Xin, Blazing Blade. Riding a mount increased one¡¯s attack range, and Blazing Blade increased it further. In total, his maximum range was around 30 yards or so. He only needed to take a few steps forward to hit Lian Xin¡¯s Telekinetic Shield. The knight charged, but ran into Lian Xin¡¯s Origin Force Field almost immediately. He pulled back, circled around Lian Xin for a bit and tried again, but this time he stepped onto Gravity Trap. Beethoven¡¯s Joy gritted his teeth and uttered, "Hmph, you think this is enough to stop me?" Despite the slow debuff, a sudden zigzag allowed him to slip past three Origin Force Fields in the row. The moment he got within range, he immediately launched a super long-range Armor Break Flurry and deleted 38% durability from Lian Xin¡¯s Telekinetic Shield. Another two hits like this, and the girl was as good as dead. Lian Xin knew from the previous battles that the Knight of Stars class had a skill that could nullify several hits no matter how strong they were. That was why she used Fireballs to waste his Scorching Shield of Stars before unleashing powerful spell combos like Ice Spiral Matrix + Gravity Trap + Origin Force Fields, all the while kiting the knight like a fiddle! Bang bang bang... Beethoven¡¯s Joy did his best to avoid the Origin Force Fields, but he couldn¡¯t do it perfectly. Every time he ran into an Origin Force Field, he was sure to take a small but significant amount of damage. The battle lasted around one minute or so, and in the end he was killed by Ice Spiral Matrix. The score turned 1:0 in favor of Lian Xin. The knight went all out during the second round, and he succeeded. He succeeded in catching Lian Xin off-guard with flank Charge and killed her instantly with a critical Star Slash. Star Slash was a skill that ignored Magic Shield, and with a lucky crit it dealt over 170k damage to Lian Xin, so there was nothing she could¡¯ve done to survive it. The third round began, and this time Lian Xin took the necessary precautions. Her opponent was unique in the sense that he possessed an abnormally long range, and a skill that was extremely lethal against mages. That was why she took no chances and Blinked away every time her opponent Charged. That was enough. Ultimately, Beethoven¡¯s Joy failed to kill Lian Xin before he died because her spells were deadly, and her Origin Force Fields drastically limited his mobility. The overall score was now 2:0, an outcome Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and his goons probably weren¡¯t expecting when the game began. Both Lian Xin and I had performed beyond expectations and disrupted their plans completely. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After Lian Xin teleported out of the arena, she blinked at me for a moment before asking, "Big brother Lu Chen, you don¡¯t seem surprised at all by my victory." I replied indifferently, "Why would I be? You¡¯re stronger than him in the first place, and Origin Force Field is the bane of all land-bound fighters. Out of all the fighters I¡¯ve seen today, Breeze and Rain is the only one who can truly beat you most of the time. By the way, a string of celebration parties will be waiting for us when we return to Suzhou, and one of them will be held at our own club¡¯s bar. Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you, but ain¡¯t no one allowed to leave unless they¡¯re drunk, understand?" Lian Xin stuck her tongue out at me. "Damn, we haven¡¯t even finished the game and we¡¯re planning for the parties already? Awesome¡­" The third match was match point for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and it would be Beiming Xue versus Hero Alliance¡¯s ace archer, Da Vinci¡¯s Code. However, none of us was really feeling the pressure. It felt a bit strange that our semi-final opponent was clearly stronger than our opponent in the final, but sometimes that was how things rolled. Also, credit where credit¡¯s due, Cyan Beast¡ªespecially Breeze and Rain and God of War¡ªtruly were some of the strongest foes we had ever faced since the beginning of the game! Not that it was really surprising. The India server had produced many top-tier experts since Eternal Moon. It was also why no one had dared to attack the two India main cities, Elephant City and Cyan Earth City, until now. Chapter 963: Reaching the Top The third match was the first, and possibly last match point of this entire competition. If Beiming Xue won this, we would accomplish the unthinkable and end Hero Alliance¡¯s run with a dominating score of 3:0. It would also be a slap to the face the entire Northern Alliance would be feeling for a very long time, something that none of us minded doing at all. The Northern Alliance had invaded the China server immediately after wars became possible, and was one step away from destroying Dawn City. Practically 65% of all the Chinese players who were online that day had died at least once in Dawn Valley, creating a literal river of blood that stretched for miles. The only way to make up for all the suffering was to make our enemies bleed twice as hard as we did that day! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh! Beiming Xue and her opponent teleported into the arena at the same time. Her opponent was Da Vinci¡¯s Code the Shadow Archer. According to the earlier matches, the shadow archer had three incredibly powerful one-shot type skills, and they were Shadow Arrow, Berserk Arrow and Dark Meteor Arrow. If he got lucky and scored a critical hit with either one of these skills, there was a chance Beiming Xue could potentially be one-shot. Result rustle rustle... The map was a boundless plain with red maple trees. Red cloak flapping behind her back and bow in hand, Beiming Xue trained her obsidian-like eyes on Da Vinci¡¯s Code like a hawk. She was calculating the distance between them because range was critical in an archer versus archer match-up. A tiny smile crossed Da Vinci Code¡¯s lips. Clearly, he knew what Beiming Xue was plotting as well. He slowly shifted to the right, moved behind a dead tree and waited for the match to begin. 3! 2! 1! The second the countdown hit zero, a cold light streaked across the air and destroyed that tree into pieces. It wasn¡¯t a direct hit, but the splash damage and the fact that Beiming Xue was so aggressive still surprised Da Vinci¡¯s Code. Boosted by Ice Soul Feather, Spiraling Arrow Blade had felt like a hurricane of death! The shadow archer backed a few steps and retaliated with Volley. Twelve arrows soon erupted all around Beiming Xue! Beiming Xue¡¯s positioning skill was excellent, but she still took three hits and lost over 70k HP. The shadow archer¡¯s Attack was nothing to scoff at. After activating Great Earth Transformation, Beiming Xue dashed diagonally to a nearby tree and jumped onto a sturdy tree branch as nimbly as a fox. Her high perception allowed her to sense Da Vinci¡¯s Code¡¯s Shadow Arrow in time to jump away from the branch. The skill penetrated the tree trunk, corroded its inside and snapped it in half in just a second. Whoosh! Still in midair, Beiming notched a couple of arrows and let loose a devastating twelve-hit Evil Spirit Volley! Beiming Xue made the snap decision to use her Divine General Skill. "Well of the Abyss!" Whoosh! Unfortunately, the shadow archer anticipated it again and Leaped out of range before it could catch him. Smiling a little, he opened his left palm and cried out, "Sword Flame Meteor!" Buzz! The clouds above the sky suddenly turned bright red, and the next moment a couple of meteors and flaming swords fell straight toward Beiming Xue¡¯s location. It was Da Vinci¡¯s Code Divine General Skill and a 20-yard wide AoE skill with incredible power! Boom boom boom... Countless dead trees caught on fire, and wood, leaves and stones scattered all over the place. It wasn¡¯t long before the point of impact turned into a disaster zone, and a thick smoke engulfed that part of the arena. "Heh¡­" Da Vinci¡¯s Code smiled thinking that there was no way Beiming Xue could survive his Divine General Skill. Reality defied his expectations, however. There was a soft noise, and a beautiful figure abruptly dashed out of the thick smoke. It was none other than Beiming Xue. Her red cape had caught on fire, but she ignored it and kept charging toward Da Vinci¡¯s Code at high speed. She had changed her weapon to a dagger, and her eyes were brimming with killing intent. Caught off-guard, Da Vinci¡¯s Code could only retreat and parry the dagger strike with his bow. At close range, there was little to no opportunity for an archer to shoot an arrow. Beiming Xue wanted to end this as soon as possible, so she attacked again and successfully slipped through the man¡¯s guard this time. Her dagger sank into the shadow archer¡¯s c.h.e.s.t and dealt 12828 damage. When her enemy tried to swing his bow in retaliation, she kicked him in the stomach as hard as she could, causing him to stumble about 3 yards away from her. It was also the minimum range required to pull off a normal shot. Fully capitalizing on the opportunity she created herself, she fired one last Spiraling Arrow Blade and sent the man out of the arena. The score turned 1:0. I knew Beiming Xue wouldn¡¯t disappoint us! ¡­¡­ The second round began shortly, but this time it looked like Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had given his teammate some advice, evident from Da Vinci¡¯s Code completely changing his strategy. The moment the battle began, he immediately used up a couple of valuable cooldowns¡ªDark Meteor Arrow and Berserk Arrow¡ªand drove Beiming Xue away from him. Then, he started spamming his Sword Fire Meteor like crazy while being far enough that Beiming Xue couldn¡¯t pull off the same mad dash for victory. Unable to dodge the wide AoE skills, Beiming Xue had no choice but to stand her ground and try to out-DPS Da Vinci¡¯s Code somehow. That was also the moment I realized what Da Vinci¡¯s Code¡¯s, or rather Vienna¡¯s, strategy was. One of Well of the Abyss¡¯ biggest flaws was that it couldn¡¯t be spammed like Da Vinci¡¯s Code¡¯s Sword Fire Meteor or my Ancient Seal. Also, his Sword Fire Meteor was omnidirectional just like my Ancient Seal. Naturally, there was little chance Beiming Xue could turn this around. The score turned 1:1. As expected, Beiming Xue wasn¡¯t able to find a way to counter this before she died. Swhoosh! After Beiming Xue teleported out of the arena, she waved her tiny fists and complained, "Uuuu, that¡¯s cheating! He¡¯s spamming his Sword Fire Meteor like crazy because he knows his Divine Energy Points are going to be restored anyway after the match is over! How am I going to fight him like this¡­" Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes lit up. "Heehee, I knew big bro was smart!" Lian Xin shook her head. "Heavens, that is such a shameless strategy. I wonder what Da Vinci¡¯s Code will think if he can hear this." "So what? A winning strategy is a good strategy!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue teleported back into the arena. It was match point, and if Beiming Xue won this, we would have annihilated Hero Alliance 3:0 to win the internationals! Beiming Xue was an extraordinarily intelligent girl. I knew this from the first time I met her. The third round was a cat-and-mouse chase where Da Vinci¡¯s Code tried to kill Beiming Xue with Sword Fire Meteor, and Beiming Xue tried to outlast it. Thankfully, Beiming Xue had plenty of powerful skills¡ªespecially the super-vast Skypiercer, which always wasted at least a couple of Sword Fire Meteors¡ªthat could drive her opponent away from her. There was one time Da Vinci¡¯s Code tried to tank Skypiercer to get close to her, only to be scared shitless by the sheer amount of damage he took from a single arrow of the skill. Ice Soul Feather boosted Skypiercer¡¯s damage by 100% after all. Since then, he cooled his aggression and attacked with a lot more caution than before. That was the wrong move to make, however. He was the aggressor, and he had just given up his own winning strategy. Not even waiting for him to use up his Divine Energy Points, Beiming Xue dashed straight toward Da Vinci¡¯s Code, used Well of the Abyss to buy herself some cover, and devastated his HP with a Skypiercer + Spiraling Arrow Blade combo. Finally, she ended the match with a pinpoint-accurate armor-breaking arrow through the c.h.e.s.t! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Despite my bragging and show of confidence from earlier, my body was shaking, and my palm was really full of sweat throughout the whole match. It was only when Beiming Xue teleported out of the arena that the full weight of the victory settled in my mind. We have actually defeated the best teams of all the servers and climbed to the top! We are the champions! He Yi grabbed her own hand and stared at me in silence. I could see the tears gathering in her eyes. I knew that no one was happier than He Yi that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had become the champion of the WEL internationals. She was the one who carried the heaviest burden of us all. Maybe it was because it was her dream, or maybe it was because of her promise to her late sister, but the important thing here was that we did it. Thanks to all our efforts and hard work, we defeated tyrants like Red Maple, new stars like Tear Stain, impossibly strong rivals like God of War and Breeze and Rain, and finally the king of the USA server, Hero Alliance. We were the new champions, and no one could say that we didn¡¯t deserve it! The system asked us if we wanted to finish the remaining matches, and for the first time ever since we started on this WEL journey, I rejected the request. The MVP of the competition must be a player who maintained an all-win record from start until the end, and I was the only player who fit the criteria. Naturally, there was no need to continue this game any further! ¡­¡­ When we exited the battle rooms, the applause was louder than anything we had experienced up until this point. There were a lot of Chinese players and exchange students who came to cheer for their team, and so earned the honor to bear witness to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ ascension to the champion¡¯s throne with their own eyes. Only we knew exactly how much hardsh.i.p.s we went through to earn this glory. Beiming Xue had spentless countless days and nights training her running and archery. Many a time she came close to death fighting mobs, just mere mobs, only because she wanted to perfect a simple technique. Lian Xin had often burned midnight oil to make her casting of Origin Force Fields a bit smoother, and minimize the imperfections in her strategy. He Yi was the one who worked the hardest of all of us, having to work during daytime and grind at the champion arena the moment she returned home. She put all the skills and strategies I had taught her to practice, honed them, and improved her reaction speed until she could go up against even the best players in the world. Thankfully, all our hard work was worth it, and we had truly become the champions of the WEL internationals! ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue spaced out for a moment before breaking into tears. Sobbing into her mouth, she replied, "I¡¯d like to thank my big bro, Sister Eve, Sister Mingyue and Lian Xin for fighting by my side all this time. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll ever forget everything that has happened today¡­" Chapter 964: Fire Battle Dress In complete contrast to our mood, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and his team walked out of their battle rooms with ugly expressions on their faces. They had entered this competition with every intention of winning it, even going so far as to declare that they would keep both the champion trophy and the MVP title in Los Angeles. Unfortunately for them, we were the ones who had the last laugh. The final result was displayed on the big screens already, followed by the reward each team would get according to their ranking. ¡­¡­ After we walked down the stage, Li Chengfeng ran up to me, hugged me and slapped my shoulder until I felt like a bone would break. "Hahaha, well fought, Lu Chen! Not only did you absolutely wreck Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s a.s.s, you even fended off Breeze and Rain and God of War long enough for Beiming Xue to save you! You¡¯re the only one in the entire world who could pull off such a feat!" But Stranger of Three Lifetimes dumped a cold bucket on top of his head, saying, "Eh, he survived Breeze and Rain and God of War only because he had a slight equipment advantage. Also, didn¡¯t Vienna¡¯s Sorrow beat him during the second round? Even in the third round, he wasn¡¯t so dominant that Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had no chance of turning the tables at all, so to say that he absolutely wrecked Vienna¡¯s a.s.s is just¡­" Li Chengfeng¡¯s face immediately blackened. "Stranger, you know what people do to downers, don¡¯t you?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes spat. "Tsk, Sister He Yi taught you too well¡­" Li Chengfeng laughed loudly. "Whatever you say. Anyway, Lu Chen¡¯s treating us when we head home, right?" I nodded. "No problem. I''ll even hold a three-day banquet¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes said, "Really? Then I¡¯ll come back to Suzhou with y¡¯all¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ After the game and thankyous were done, it was finally time for a far more rewarding business, so to speak. The reward list appeared on the big screen again, and, I gotta say, every time I looked at it, I couldn¡¯t help but be wowed by the generosity of the organizers. It was so, so much better than the nationals¡¯ rewards¡ª 17th to 32th: Level +2, Luck +2, 10000 EUR per player, and a chance to draw at best a Heaven-grade item! 9th to 16th: Level +3, Luck +3, 20000 EUR per player, and a chance to draw at best a Heaven-grade item! 5th to 8th: Level +4, Luck +4, 100000 EUR per player, and a chance to draw at best an Immortal-grade item! 3rd to 4th: Level +5, Luck +5, 200000 EUR per player, and a chance to draw at best an Immortal-grade item! 1st: Level +8, Luck +8, 1000000 EUR per player, and a chance to draw an item beyond Divine Armament¨Clevel! ¡­¡­ As per the nationals, the reward distribution began from the 17th to 32rd teams first. The only team from China that fell under this category was Soul Battle Robes, so Song of Cloud and Water led Ringwraith, Song of Ice and Fire and God Bone up the stage to receive their reward. The process was quick and simple: scan your retina, spin the circle and receive your reward. However, the best prize they could draw was a Heaven-grade item only. Song of Cloud and Water got a 4-star Outstanding Heaven-grade shield that could probably be sold for 50k RMB on the streets, which wasn¡¯t bad at all. The 10k EUR monetary reward was also pretty amazing. Both rewards paled in comparison to 2 levels and 2 Luck, however. One of the major reasons players competed in this competition was to obtain the rare Luck stat. After all, with enough Luck, obtaining great equipment was only a matter of time and number of bosses killed. When the prize draw was over, 60% of the players got Heaven-grade equipment, 35% got Earth-grade equipment, and 5% unlucky children got Purple Gold¨Cgrade equipment. The supermen from Ukraine, for example, wept tears of "joy" when they got their prizes. The next group to receive their prizes, the 9th to 16th teams, got much better rewards. Everyone got 3 levels and 3 Luck, and 90% of the players got Heaven-grade equipment. Of course, at this stage of the game, Heaven-grade equipment wasn¡¯t anything special for experts on the stage. Finally, the highlight of the reward ceremony began. First, the 5th to 8th teams went on stage to draw their prizes. Tear Stain¡¯s Throne of the Wild and Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Candle Dragon were among this group. I doubted that either team expected to falter before they even entered the semi-finals. On the stage, Tear Stain stopped in front of Candlelight Shadow before saying, "Candlelight, we both lost, but¡­" Candlelight Shadow cut her off with a shake of his head. "You don¡¯t need to say or prove anything to me. As I¡¯ve already told you, I was always going to return to my country and serve my people after I graduated. With that in mind, I suggest that we interact less from now on. Don¡¯t forget that the China server and the Korea server is at war right now, and I will never switch sides, understand?" Candlelight Shadow snorted once, but didn¡¯t say anything about that. ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow, Tear Stain, God¡¯s Dance and another two Korean players all got Immortal-grade equipment. Blue Sky Scar even got a Heaven Rank Boss pet, the lucky bastard. Also, every player in this reward tier got 100k EUR for their troubles, and I¡¯m sure they didn¡¯t mind it one bit! It was now time for the semi-finalists to receive their prizes. Lin Yixin rose to her feet and said to me, "Pray for me, will you? I¡¯m gunning for Divine Armament¡­" I smiled cheekily at her. "Sorry to disappoint you, but 3rd and 4th-place participants have no chance of drawing a Divine Armament. You should thank your lucky stars if you even get Archean Immortal-grade equipment¡­" Lin Yixin waved her fist threateningly at me before saying, "Hmph. C¡¯mon, guys and girls!" Snowy Cathaya and Cyan Beast went up to receive their prizes. It was worth nothing that Breeze and Rain and God of War wore grim expressions probably because they had failed to win the internationals. On stage, Breeze and Stage shot Lin Yixin a look and was wowed by her gorgeous looks. He gave her a smile and said in slightly broken Chinese, "You are a strong player, Wind Fantasy. It¡¯s too bad¡­ we didn¡¯t get a chance to spar!" Purple Marquis laughed at him. "Spar? What for? Her boyfriend already kicked your ass! Whatever chance you had is long gone, my dude!" Shadow Chanel happily poured salt on his wound. "Her boyfriend is Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you know, the guy who defeated you during the semi-finals?" "Ah¡­" His complexion instantly turned a shade of gray. God of War patted his shoulders and tried to console him, "Heard of the saying ¡®there¡¯s plenty of weed in the sea¡¯? You¡¯ll find someone¡­" Lin Yixin interrupted their broment frigidly, "Please don¡¯t use an idiom if you can¡¯t get it right. Anyway, a war between our countries is on the horizon, so I¡¯m sure we will have a lot of chances to spar in the near future!" Breeze and Rain cast away his sorrow and clenched his fist in determination. "I don¡¯t know if this is love at first sight, and I don¡¯t care. I just want you to know that I¡¯ll beat Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and change your opinion of me!" Lin Yixin chuckled. "Do whatever you want." ¡­¡­ Beneath the stage, Lian Xin said in a dumbfounded tone, "Aiya, Lin Yixin truly is a sinful woman. She isn¡¯t even trying, and she¡¯s making enemies for you wherever she goes. It looks like Breeze and Rain is going to haunt your every step from now on¡­" I smiled. "That¡¯s fine, you can protect me, right?" "Try harder then!" That pissed off Lian Xin a bit. "And why the hell should I do that? She¡¯s your girlfriend!" Li Chengfeng laughed heartlessly. "Oooh, it¡¯s drama! Drama!" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Anyway, back to Lin Yixin. The girl nervously stood in front of the prize drawing device and pressed a finger on the main display. A blue screen appeared, and a wheel began spinning rapidly. Lin Yixin did her utmost to identify the prizes, but all she got for her efforts was an onset of dizziness. In the end, she steeled her resolve and pressed "Confirm¡±. The wheel slowed down more and more until a shiny female battle suit with fiery patterns on it entered everyone¡¯s view. Unfortunately, the needle skipped over it and stopped at a black shield instead. The system notice said: Player "Wind Fantasy" has obtained "Shield of the Forest Turtle" (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï) "Wah¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open. I shook my head. "I can hear Yiyi¡¯s heart shattering all the way from here¡­" I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, 3rd and 4th place can get a Divine Armament if they¡¯re lucky. Unfortunately, Yiyi didn¡¯t have that luck¡­" "Yeah¡­" On the other side, Breeze and Rain drew his prize from the same wheel Lin Yixin drew from¡ªI knew that because I saw that battle dress on the wheel¡ªand obtained an Archean Immortal-grade sword that seemed even better than the one he was currently wielding. He bubbled with excitement for a moment, but suddenly shot Lin Yixin a regretful look and said, "I would¡¯ve gifted you that battle dress if I drew it!" Lin Yixin sneered, "Please, I couldn¡¯t possibly accept such a valuable gift even if you did!" ¡­¡­ Beside me, Stranger of Three Lifetimes pointed her lips at Breeze and Rain and said, "Lu Chen, that guy¡¯s wooing your girlfriend right in front of you. Do you really have nothing to say?" I clenched my fists and made a great showing of my hatred. "That motherf.u.c.ker! Once we get back to China, I¡¯m going to attack Cyan Earth City and destroy his cave!" Warsky shot me a strange look. "You serious? You¡¯d better be kidding, dude. Cyan Earth City is protected by Elephant City and Purple Gr.a.p.e City, and right now, we haven¡¯t even expanded our influence past White Rose Fortress yet. It¡¯s far more likely that you¡¯re the one who¡¯ll get rekt by them, not to mention that your reason for fighting them is absolutely terrible¡­" I looked at him and said seriously, "If we¡¯re going to war, Warsky Alliance will be our vanguard." It was at this moment Beiming Xue pulled my arm and said, "Big bro, look, it¡¯s Purple Marquis¡¯s turn to draw, and I think he¡¯s¡­" We all looked back to the stage, and it turned out that Beiming Xue¡¯s intuition was spot-on. Of all the people who could¡¯ve drawn the fiery battle dress, Purple Marquis had to be the one to draw it. If the sound of Lin Yixin¡¯s shattering heart was loud, it was nothing compared to Purple Marquis¡¯s. The last equipment he needed was one that didn¡¯t even fit his gender¡ª Fire Goddess Battle Armor (Cambrian Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 8500 Magic Resist: 6750 Strength: +1250 Stamina: +1220 Agility: +1100 Intelligence: +990 Tactics: +105 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 75% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 70000 Passive: Increases resistance toward all types of magic by 140% Outstanding Property: Wind of Fire. Fire surrounds the battle armor and burns all nearby enemies for a certain amount of HP per second. The amount of damage dealt is tied to the user¡¯s Attack. Slots: 15 Gender Requirement: Female Level Requirement: 190 Reputation Requirement: 450000 Chapter 965: Frozen Domain "F.u.c.k!" Purple Marquis glared at the Fire Goddess Battle Armor on the screen while uttering, "You give me a Cambrian piece of equipment, and you tell me it¡¯s for females only? I¡­ I¡­ Do I really have to change my s.e.x to wear this?" Lin Yixin shot him a look. "Why are you acting like it¡¯s the end of the world? I can wear it, can¡¯t I?" Purple Marquis m.o.a.n.e.d, "But guild leader¡­ it¡¯s Cambrian equipment¡­" Lin Yixin pursed her lips. "I¡¯ll give you 200k RMB for it!" But Purple Marquis denied it immediately. "No way! My mom told me that I have to pay a betrothal gift when I marry, and betrothal gifts are worth at least 100k these days! Back in my village, there¡¯s a guy whose childhood friend ran off with a coal boss exactly because he couldn¡¯t afford it! It was such a shame! You gotta empathize with us lowly employees, guild leader¡­" Lin Yixin narrowed her eyes and smiled. "Fine, I¡¯ll give you all 200k EUR of prize money for the Fire Goddess Battle Armor. Is that enough?" Purple Marquis clapped his hands together. "It¡¯s a deal!" Below the stage, everyone was flabbergasted by the scene. A vice leader had just haggled his guild leader into giving up all her prize money for his item reward in public. It was bizarre. In hindsight, we should¡¯ve known that a semi-finalist team¡¯s interactions would be anything but ordinary. That being said, Lin Yixin was definitely the one who profited more from this trade. 200k EUR seemed like a lot, but the Fire Goddess Battle Armor¡¯s Defense was almost 3 times my Heaven-burning Armor¡¯s. Once she equipped this armor, she would transform into a walking steel fortress with incredible armor penetration and unbreakable defenses. Only a handful of people in the entire world would be a match for her. "That was a good trade for Beauty Lin¡­" Li Chengfeng said with a sigh. Stranger of Three Lifetimes agreed. "Yeah, the Fire Goddess Battle Armor gives an insane amount of Magic Resist and Defense. She¡¯s scary enough when she¡¯s a glass cannon, and now she¡¯s not even that any longer. The good news is she¡¯s on our side. Warsky and Candlelight Shadow are the ones who need to watch out for her¡­" Candlelight Shadow humphed once from his corner, and Blue Sky Scar immediately rose to his feet. A cup of red tea in his hand, he said, "You think a single battle dress can affect Candle Dragon? Hmph. In the future, Nation Wars will be decided by proper strategies and good logistics. You don¡¯t think a single person can take an entire city, do you?" Luo River God of the Capital chuckled. "Who knows? Will you admit you¡¯re wrong if she does occupy a city single-handedly?" "Hmph!" Rose hurriedly stepped out and played the mediator before the conflict could break out in earnest, "Beauty Lin sure is a lucky girl, isn¡¯t she? There¡¯s only one Cambrian Divine Armament to be drawn for third and fourth place, and she got it in the end. I wonder what kind of prizes will be available for the champion? Lu Chen, everyone, please do your best. I want us to grab all the ultimate reward we can get from this competition, alright?" I nodded. "No worries, Rose. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has top-tier karma!" Luck, huh. I wouldn¡¯t count on it. If even someone like Beauty Lin could draw a useless shield, the same thing could happen to any of us. Lady Luck is a fickle lady after all. ¡­¡­ After Snowy Cathaya and Cyan Beast got off the stage, it was time for the runner-up, Hero Alliance, to receive their prizes. A short while later, the rewards they got were displayed on the big display for everyone to see¡ª Vienna¡¯s Sorrow: Black Ghost Battle Armor (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Beethoven¡¯s Joy: Hill God¡¯s Spear (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Da Vinci¡¯s Code: Wings of the Martial God (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding, ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Death Wish: Storm Queen¡¯s Cloak (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Moon Well: Fire God¡¯s Spear (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) ¡­¡­ "The Knight of Stars got an Archean Immortal-grade spear!" Li Chengfeng licked his lips greedily. "This Hill God¡¯s Spear has way more Attack than my Augustus¡¯ Spear. I bet his Attack will skyrocket when we meet him in a Nation War. Ah, I can¡¯t wait. If I can, I will kill him and get him to drop his spear right now¡­" I reassured him. "You¡¯ll get your chance. The next Nation War is right around the corner. It¡¯s about time you changed your main weapon anyway. A player like you doesn''t deserve to wield a Heaven-grade spear." Li Chengfeng laughed. "I know right!? Gui Guzi¡¯s Spear of the Knight God is so much stronger than my weapon that he, a magic knight, almost has higher Attack than me! Dammit, Lu Chen, you should¡¯ve given it to me instead! That bullheaded fool is just wasting its potential! Wait, is that it? We¡¯re all brothers, but Gui Guzi is closer to you, huh? Huh?" I rolled my eyes at him. "You kidding me? You don¡¯t have Knight God, and¡­ personally, I think a sword suits you better. A nimble but powerful weapon like the sword fits a flexible, tactical-minded player like you better than the spear. When you get an Immortal-grade sword, I expect you to do twice or even thrice the amount of DPS you¡¯re doing now." Li Chengfeng smiled. "Okay! If you guys happen to draw a sword-type weapon that¡¯s almost as good as the Purple Ying Sword, sell it to me. I¡¯ll buy it with my 200k EUR." I smiled. "Nah, half that amount is fine. I won¡¯t let you become a certain vice leader who screws over his own guild leader¡­" Purple Marquis immediately trembled, but Lin Yixin defended him and said, "What are you talking about? He¡¯s just thinking about his wife, man¡­" Next to us, Shadow Chanel turned as red as an apple, but looked like she really enjoyed the situation. Everyone knew that Purple Marquis was courting her, but she refused to give him a firm answer because she enjoyed their current state of relationship too much, namely being more than friends but less than lovers. We were all anxious for them. "Well, it¡¯s time for us to receive our prize. If you haven¡¯t prayed to Lady Luck yet, do it now!" I said while rising to my feet. As the girls rose to their feet, Murong Mingyue chirped happily, "Ai, I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m qualified for a prize even though I did nothing in this competition. I¡¯m so happy¡­" There was no particular order as to who would draw a prize first. So, Beiming Xue volunteered to be the first to receive her prize. She stood in front of the screen and scanned her retina. After her identity was confirmed, her character and her ID appeared on the display. The archer on the screen looked exactly identical to Beiming Xue. The only difference was their outfit. When the wheel began spinning, Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes immediately widened. "Do you guys see that? There¡¯s a dragon-shaped reward in the pool! I don¡¯t know what it is, but it has to be something good, right?" I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I see it. Do your best! If you can get it on the first try then why not?" "Yeah!" Beiming Xue tapped the confirm button, and the wheel slowed down. Unfortunately, the strip with dragon-shaped prize went past the needle all too quickly. There were almost a hundred prizes to be drawn from the pool, so to say that it took a considerable amount of luck to draw it was an understatement. Ding! Beiming Xue¡¯s reward appeared, and it was a ring that was glowing silver. Its body was shiny and translucent, and its head was shaped like a rose. The girl touched it gently, and its stats appeared on the big screens¡ª Purple Rose Divine Ring (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Stamina: +1150 Strength: +1000 Intelligence: +1020 Passive: Increases user''s ranged attack power by 40% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 30% Outstanding Property: Purple Rose Strike. 3% chance to summon the light of the purple rose and deal a critical hit to the target, also preventing them from using any skills for 5 seconds. Level Requirement: 190 Reputation Requirement: 400000 ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue could barely stop herself from grinning from ear to ear. She pulled Lian Xin¡¯s arm and said, "Come here, Lian Xin, it¡¯s your turn now! Go get a Divine Armament, okay?" Lian Xin giggled. "I¡¯m not that lucky. I¡¯ll be satisfied with equipment I can use or even just some spare change¡­" "Mn mn!" Just like Beiming Xue, Lian Xin confirmed her identity and pressed the confirm button quickly. A short while later, a light purple skill book appeared on the screen, and its stats caused all our jaws to hit the floor¡ª Frozen Domain: At the cost of 50% MP, freeze all enemy targets within a 10x10 yard square around the user with 100% accuracy for 7 seconds. The user is invulnerable during the skill¡¯s duration. Cooldown: 60 seconds. Level Requirement: 180. Class Requirement: Mage. ¡­¡­ Everyone was stunned. It was the ultimate skill every mage dreamed of getting. Not only did it freeze all enemies around the caster in ice, the caster themselves couldn¡¯t be attacked during this time. It was like activating an invincibility skill, except this one could be cast every 60 seconds! It was a godlike skill in any PvP battle! If Lian Xin had this skill earlier, she might¡¯ve been able to maintain a perfect win record like me. She could go up against God of War himself and maintain over 50% win ratio! "Well, it¡¯s my turn now¡­" He Yi went next. She watched the screen for a bit before tapping the confirm button with determination. Again, she wasn¡¯t lucky enough to draw the dragon-shaped reward, but the needle stopped at a crimson black sword with a pitch black blade and a bloody hue! Chapter 966: Ancient Divine Dragon Fossil "Oh, is this the birth of a Divine Armament?" Murong Mingyue said with a smile, "Show us what it is already, Eve! It looks really powerful, and its hue looks similar to Lu Chen¡¯s Purple Ying Sword!" He Yi poked the black sword excitedly and brought up its stats. It was stunning. I should¡¯ve known that the champion reward of the WEL internationals would be exceptional¡ª Dark Blade (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 3200~3950 Strength: +1150 Stamina: +1100 Agility: +1050 Tactics: +120 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 90% Passive: Deals 20% extra damage to light-based units Slots: 14 Outstanding Property: Dark Strike. When attacking, 5% chance to trigger Dark Strike and deal dark-element burn damage to the target and slow them by 40% for 7 seconds. Effect: Dark Devour. 9% damage dealt is converted into HP. Introduction: In ancient legends, Dark Blade is the signature weapon of the devil race. After the steel of its blade was procured from the heart of a giant beast, it was fused together with abyssal frost gems and tempered in the Purgatory for almost a century before it was finally complete. The day it was born into this world, its owner slew tens of thousands of lives with it. That was how the sword came to be known as ¡°Deadly Blooddrinker¡±. Level Requirement: 190 Reputation Requirement: 350000 ¡­¡­ "Its Attack is way higher than the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear¡¯s¡­" I inquired about He Yi¡¯s opinion, "Do you want to equip this and retire your main weapon, or?" I smiled. "Sure! Today¡¯s Li Chengfeng¡¯s lucky day, it seems!" Did I say I wanted to give Chengfeng a discount earlier? Well, I changed my mind. This Dark Blade was absolutely worth more than 200k EUR. With an upper Attack of 3950, splash damage and lifesteal, the only existing weapon in the game that was comparable to it was my Purple Ying Sword. If we were to sell it at the auction house of Sky City, Warsky, Roaming Dragon, Li Le and more would break the bank to buy it. Even 5 million EUR wasn¡¯t too big a number to buy an amazing weapon like this! Splash damage + lifesteal + high Attack was a package that rarely came together in a weapon, much less one of the strongest weapons in the game right now. Provided that the player wasn¡¯t wearing shit-tier equipment or using shit-tier skills, this weapon could single-handedly elevate them to a general¡ªand I meant the kind that could solo a thousand players¡ªstatus. There would be almost no one who could stand in their way, and that was before mentioning the lifesteal and splash damage. These effects were even greater on a Divine General as a matter of course! Warsky, Roaming Dragon and Li Le¡¯s best chance to obtain equipment like this was to qualify for the internationals and get a good placing, and yet the poor bastards couldn¡¯t even meet the first requirement. I talked about the possibility of putting this weapon in the auction house earlier, but in reality, no one except the incredibly desperate or crazy would do that. Some equipment was considered priceless, and the Dark Blade was such an item. Moreover, He Yi was the CEO of Raincube, and Raincube¡¯s technology had been continuously incorporated into Eternal Moon Corporation China branch¡¯s systems as of late. With all that income, there was even less of a chance anyone could tempt us into trading away the equipment with money. ¡­¡­ When Li Chengfeng heard He Yi¡¯s declaration, he grinned from ear to ear while shouting, "Haha, hahaha! That Dark Blade looks so cool, and you¡¯re going to sell it to me, guild leader? That¡¯s awesome, haha! The guild leader is wise! The guild leader is forever young and beautiful!" Not far away from him, Heaven¡¯s Rain shot him a look. "What a sellout." Li Chengfeng didn¡¯t stop laughing like a madman. "Whatever you say, dear! Feel free to join my party once we return to our country, Little Rain, Yu Tong! I¡¯ll show you all what it means to grind with a god, hahahaha!" Diamond Dust teased him. "Yes, yes, that Dark Blade is amazing, but the real question is: Can you beat Lu Chen with it?" Yu Tong laughed. "You can just admit that you can¡¯t beat him, you know. Invoking your bromance is only going to make you look worse¡­" Li Chengfeng said, "Stop bashing me, dammit! What did I do to you girls? Anyway, I¡¯m leaving for tea now, ciao~" The girls wouldn¡¯t stop giggling for a time. ¡­¡­ Back on the stage, Murong Mingyue looked at me and asked, "Lu Chen, do you want to go before me?" I shook my head. "Nah. You first, sis!" "But why?" "Cuz the real experts always show up last, right?" "Pooh. Fine, I¡¯m going¡­" Ding! The wheel came to a stop, and her prize turned out to be a pair of boots surrounded by a halo of golden light. It was clearly a powerful piece of equipment despite its delicate appearance, but we still didn¡¯t anticipate how good it was until Murong Mingyue brought up its stats. It was a Divine Armament! How could a freeloader possibly be so lucky!? Fire Goddess War Boots (Cambrian Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 7500 Magic Resist: 6400 Strength: +1200 Stamina: +1150 Agility: +1100 Intelligence: +950 Tactics: + 85 Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 50000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s physical attack power by 50% Outstanding Property: Sigh of the Fire Goddess. Increases all of user¡¯s stats by 5%. The effect scales with the item¡¯s durability. Slots: 15 Gender Requirement: Female Level Requirement: 190 Reputation Requirement: 450000 ¡­¡­ It was the same series as Lin Yixin¡¯s Fire Goddess Battle Armor! Its stats were slightly inferior, but it was still plenty powerful. At the very least, it was much better than my Divine Martial War Boots even though they were both Cambrian Divine Armaments. Murong Mingyue¡¯s karma must be off the f.u.c.k.i.n.g charts today! "I¡¯m such an idiot¡­" Murong Mingyue w.h.i.n.ed. "I¡¯m taking these Fire Goddess War Boots, okay?" He Yi grinned from ear to ear. Murong Mingyue haggled, "Sure, but you gotta pay me a couple million and treat me to shark fin soup and abalone every day¡­" He Yi immediately glared at her. "Hmph! Don¡¯t even think about it! You hold 10% of the shares of Raincube, money is the last thing you lack! Also, seriously? Who in the world can handle that much seafood everyday?" Murong Mingyue disagreed. "In life, food is the key to happiness¡­" He Yi: "..." ¡­¡­ In the end, He Yi got the Fire Goddess War Boots without having to spend a single yuan. That was just how close they were. They shared practically everything with each other... Finally, the girls looked at me in unison and said, "Expert, it¡¯s your turn now!" I nodded and rubbed my hands together nervously until the pain literally caused tears to form in my eyes. After I walked up to the prize drawing machine and scanned my retina, the wheel began spinning earnestly. I stared at the wheel closely. I knew that there were 96 prizes left to draw. I also knew that three of them were Divine Armaments, and the rest were a random assortment of Immortal-grade and Heaven-grade equipment. If I closed my eyes and tapped Confirm now, there was an extremely high chance I would draw an Immortal-grade item. That wasn¡¯t what I wanted though. I wanted a Divine Armament! I lay my eyes on that mysterious dragon-shaped reward that had caught my attention since the start of the draw. That¡¯s right, that''s what I hope to draw the most! "You¡¯ve been staring at the prize wheel for half a minute, dear. People are waiting, you know?" He Yi let out a chuckle. "I don¡¯t think he¡¯s ever looked at me or Lin Yixin this intently. Hmph!" Beiming Xue seemed to read my mind though. "Oh my god, big bro, you can¡¯t seriously be trying to draw that dragon-head prize, are you? The wheel completes a whole revolution in half a second! There¡¯s no way you can draw it normally¡­" Instead of replying, I calculated the time it took for the wheel to complete a revolution and the time it took to stop completely. Why am I doing this? It was because I was confident that I could make the needle stop within 5 slots of the dragon-head prize. While my in-game physical ability might not translate to my actual physical ability in real life, my reaction speed and good judgment could. A second later, I tapped the confirm button with lightning speed. I had put so much strength into my finger that it passed through the hologram and nearly knocked over the device behind it! Swhoosh! The wheel slowed down. Just as I predicted it might, the needle was only 9 slots away from that dragon-head reward. The prizes passed by the needle only by one at excruciating speed¡ª Pa! Every time the sound effect of a prize passing by the needle rang, I screamed inside my heart, "Keep going, brother!" Pa! It felt like my heart was about to come to a complete stop. I wasn¡¯t even sure if I was breathing anymore. Time seemed to freeze for everyone. The wheel spun slower and slower, but the needle was still two slots away from the dragon-shaped reward. I swore out loud, "F.u.c.k¡­" Pa! The needle entered the next slot, but¡­ it really didn¡¯t look like the wheel was going to spin any longer. "Oh no, it¡¯s a Heaven-grade cloak! Expert, what happened to you¡­" Murong Mingyue was already assuming the worst. The rest of the girls looked depressed and said on my behalf as well. They thought that I deserved Archean Immortal-grade reward even if I missed the Divine Armament! However, it turned out that the wheel still had a bit of power behind it. The needle moved past the Heaven-grade cloak and landed on the dragon-shaped prize, causing my heart to leap to my throat, "Okay stop! STOP!" Ding! System Notice: Player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± has drawn "Ancient Divine Dragon Fossil"! ¡­¡­ "Ancient Divine Dragon wuh?" I exclaimed in astonishment. The girls¡¯ mouths fell open as well. I touched the crimson fossil in front of me, and its stats stated¡ª Ancient Divine Dragon Fossil (Divine Rank Mount) Stage: Unhatched ¡­¡­ "Divine Rank mount¡­ a DIVINE Rank mount¡­" I repeated in a daze. Then, I turned to He Yi, gave her a bear hug and screamed wildly, "You see that, Eve!? It¡¯s a Divine Dragon! A Divine Dragon I can ride as a mount! I have a dragon mount now! HAHAHA!" Eve shot me a beautiful smile, wrapped her arms around my neck and embraced me just as tightly. "Yes! You did it!" ¡­¡­ Pa... At the competitors'' waiting area, Lin Yixin¡¯s cup suddenly slipped through her fingers and hit the floor softly. "Yiyi? You okay?" Sun Qingqing asked. Lin Yixin looked away before answering, "It¡¯s nothing. My hand slipped¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes sighed audibly. "Pooh, the term ¡®ill-fated relationship¡¯ is practically made for you¡­" Lin Yixin blushed bright red as she retorted, "Whatever! It¡¯s what I chose, and I¡¯m sticking with it!" Chapter 967: King of Cities Ancient Divine Dragon Fossil (Divine Rank Mount) Stage: Unhatched ¡­¡­ I was so excited I could almost cry at the sight of the crimson-colored mount fossil. I also double-checked its name to confirm that it stated "Divine Dragon¡±. It was because the double-winged dragons of western mythology were at best "Holy Dragons", and no more than that. Assuming that the designer of this mount was Chinese, then there was a chance it was an actual eastern divine dragon that soared the skies. It would also be the first flying mount ever and the page turner of aerial battle in Heavenblessed... "Alright, enough, you¡¯re keeping the host waiting¡­" said Eve while giving me a playful bump on the shoulder. "Oh. Right." I wiped the saliva trickling down the corner of my mouth before facing toward the host. "Please continue¡­" "Okay!" The host smiled and said through the mic, "Before we move onto the next phase, let¡¯s congratulate Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand for obtaining the super Divine-grade reward, the Divine Rank mount ¡®Ancient Divine Dragon Fossil¡¯, shall we?¡± After a brief pause, she continued. ¡°Now then, it¡¯s time we move on to the final stage of the WEL internationals, the MVP award! I¡¯m sure we all knows who is the MVP of this competition already, and yes, it¡¯s the player who didn¡¯t lose a single match throughout the entire WEL, the expert from China¡ªBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" My ID appeared on the big screens as she said this. At this point, even those who couldn¡¯t read Mandarin would know who I was. I was the man who beat many powerful opponents such as Breeze and Rain, Tear Stain, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and Red Maple in the solo matches, and there was no one who was more deserving of the MVP title than I was! "Next, we would like to invite the MVP to say a few words to the crowd." The host passed the mic to me, catching me off-guard. Naturally, I wasn¡¯t prepared for this because I had no idea that I would be asked to speak during the award ceremony. What the hell should I say? Oh man... I was drawing a blank in my head, but I gave it a shot anyway and said in a stiff tone, "Mn, I¡¯m very happy and excited to obtain the Ancient Divine Dragon Fossil, and er¡­ er¡­ right! The Chinese dishes during lunch were really tasty. If there¡¯s anyone out there who¡¯s interested in trying out Chinese food, I would recommend giving it a try. And er, that¡¯s it. Thank you~~" Lian Xin curled her lips and said to me, "Look 45 degrees to your right, Lu Chen. There are three American university girls screaming ¡®I love you¡¯ at you. It looks like you¡¯ve made some diehard female fans in America¡­" I felt pleased, but He Yi immediately threw a cold bucket of water over my head and said, "Yiyi and I are right here, you know? Hmph!" Before I could reply, the host pointed at the touch screen again and said, "Now then, please step forward and prepare to draw your MVP reward, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. You will be given a selection of choices this time!" "Okay!" I scanned my retina again before the device, and three options appeared in front of me. I could only choose one of them as my MVP reward¡ª Option A: The main city player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± is affiliated with, Sky City, obtains the title "King of Cities." Increases city defenses by 50%, NPC attack power by 50%, Attack and Defense of all players within its borders by 15%, decreases cost of all repairs, purchases and services within the city by 50%! Option B: The city of player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡±, Dark Moon City, obtains sovereignty and can be upgraded to a county. Increases city defenses by 120%, NPC attack power by 50%. Increases Attack and Defense of all players from the defending guild and 10 selected subguilds within its borders by 50%. As a county, costs will be covered by the system, causing it to become exempt from all territory taxes! Option C: Player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" obtains Cambrian Divine Armaments, Bright Holy Dragon Helmet, Bright Holy Dragon Battle Armor, Bright Holy Dragon Cloak, Level +10, the qualifications necessary to ascend to Heavenly River Realm at Level 210, 25% increased power for all skills, 50% increased Intimacy with all NPCs, 15 Luck, and 75% reduced chance to drop equipment upon death! ¡­¡­ The girls were just as bewildered as I was. He Yi¡¯s blinked her long eyelashes as she voiced her agreement. "Yes, it is a difficult choice!" The first option buffed the fighting power of Sky City, the NPCs¡¯ Attack by 50%, and the Attack and Defense of the players defending it by 15%. Depending on how many players were defending Sky City at the time, millions could partake in the buff. It was incredible to say the least. The second option drastically buffed Dark Moon City and its bound guild. The players of the ten subguilds of our choosing could enjoy a 50% increase to their Attack and Defense as well. If I chose this option, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would become the best guild in the entire world instantly. No one would be able to stop our Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers anymore. The third option buffed only me. I would be gifted three Cambrian Divine Armaments, 10 levels, 15 Luck, and the power of all my skills would be increased by 25%. Even just one of these boons would be enough to make me salivate for three days and nights, much less all of them... The first option was the most selfless choice, empowering the entire China server at the sacrifice of self-improvement. The second option was a balance between selflessness and selfishness where the improvements were focused on Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls only. Finally, the third option was the most selfish choice where I became a god at the expense of everyone else. If I chose this, I could enter the game, stand at the top of Sky City¡¯s gate and declare myself the strongest player of Heavenblessed right away. ¡­¡­ A moment later, I came to a decision and looked at He Yi. "Boss, we can¡¯t be that selfish, can we?" He Yi nodded with a gentle smile on her face. "Mn!" "Dark Moon City is already the strongest territory in the server. We can always find another opportunity to upgrade it to a county, right?" "I¡¯m choosing then!" "Mn!" With that done, I tapped the first option without hesitation and filled the big screens with dazzling light¡ª System Notice: The main city player ¡°Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡± is affiliated with, Sky City, obtains the title "King of Cities." Increases city defenses by 50%, NPC attack power by 50%, Attack and Defense of all players within its borders by 15%, decreases cost of all repairs, purchases and services within the city by 50%! ¡­¡­ Every Chinese player and exchange student in the stadium rose to their feet, raised their arms and shouted in unison. It was impossible to identify what one single person was shouting, but I could imagine that they were praising my selfless choice. Well, they¡¯d better f.u.c.k.i.n.g be, because my heart hurt like a motherf.u.c.ker every time I thought of the other two options. My new and improved Dark Moon City! My Cambrian Divine Armaments! Ah¡­ it felt like something had sliced a huge chunk of flesh from my heart. I wasn¡¯t going to forget this pain anytime soon. At least I had the Ancient Divine Dragon Fossil, so it wasn¡¯t like I was walking away from this competition with nothing to show for myself. With that done, the WEL internationals finally came to a beautiful end. Of course, the end of the event didn¡¯t mean the end of our troubles. The host had requested us and the Top 3 teams to stay behind to take a commemorative photo. There was also the photo session with the fans. Honestly, all I felt like doing was to get back to the hotel and check out the hatching instructions for the Ancient Divine Dragon, but it was literally impossible to break away from the layers upon layers of people surrounding all of us. The activities lasted until nighttime. The organizers had prepared a dinner banquet for all the team leaders, players and other officials, but we, the Chinese team¡ªafter acquiring the approval of our team leaders¡ªdeclined to participate. It was because we had decided to eat at a Chinese restaurant. No matter what our individual result was, the glory of winning the WEL internationals belonged to all of us. That alone was worth celebrating together. It was sunset. We cast long shadows as we strolled along the streets of Los Angeles. He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin were conversing with one another at the front while Li Chengfeng and I hung back. Li Chengfeng shot me a grin and asked me, "Was it a difficult choice?" I nodded. "Of course it was! My heart hurts even now!" Li Chengfeng laughed. "Like I always said, a hero must sometimes be willing to make the hard choices to defend their ideals. Ai, I probably would¡¯ve chosen the second or third option if I was in your place. I can¡¯t ever imagine giving up the option to strengthen Dark Moon City and make Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls the best guild in the entire world!" However, I smiled at him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I know you would¡¯ve made the same choice as me. After all, we¡¯re the same type of person, aren¡¯t we?" Li Chengfeng looked surprised, but he smiled back and gave me a nod. True brothers would understand each other without needing to say a word, and I knew that neither me nor Li Chengfeng were selfish people who cared only about ourselves. All we ever wanted was to fulfill our dreams and leave behind a legacy that we could be proud of. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a beautiful figure appeared next to me. It was Lin Yixin. After shooting me a smile, she moved in front of me and stepped on my shadow with every step. I zigged away from her feet, but she followed my movement easily almost as if she was my shadow. I couldn¡¯t help but admire her all over again. At least some of her genius was reflected in real life as well. Lin Yixin suddenly paused her footsteps and asked. The question sounded harmless, but Li Chengfeng bounced away immediately almost like he was repelled by some sort of invisible force. The guy was sharp. I nodded and answered, "Mn!" A bit of jealousy leaking into her voice, Lin Yixin said, "Do you know how much I wished I was a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls in that moment?" I shrugged. "Hey, I invited you before, but you turned me down¡­" "You know I have responsibilities¡­" Lin Yixin looked at me. A sudden shiver suddenly coursed through my heart, and I grabbed her hand and said quietly, "I love you, Yiyi. I will always be by your side. Is that okay?" "Well, I guess that¡¯s acceptable for this stretch of the road¡­" But the road wasn¡¯t long, and we would reach the end in almost no time. A hint of sorrow colored her eyes, and she almost broke into tears. "What¡¯s wrong, Yiyi?" I looked at her intently while holding her shoulders. I smiled and said, "Mn." ¡­¡­ I was an idiot. I knew Lin Yixin was hiding something, but I just couldn¡¯t find the words to ask her about it. Chapter 968: Hatching the Divine Dragon By the time we finished dinner and returned to the hotel, it was already past 9 pm. Rose said, ¡°Rest soon, you all. We¡¯ll be flying back to Shanghai in 11 hours, and all those who have friends or families to receive them when we get there should notify us now, so that Eternal Moon Shanghai branch can arrange the transportations accordingly.¡± I hurried into my room but was caught by Lin Yixin. ¡°What are you doing?¡± He Yi giggled. ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? He wants to check out his Ancient Divine Dragon Fossil!¡± Lin Yixin perked up. ¡°Really? Where? Party me, Lu Chen! I want to see it!¡± He Yi nodded. ¡°Mn, same.¡± Beiming Xue said, ¡°Me too, me too!!¡± But Lian Xin pulled her aside and said, ¡°Don¡¯t you see they want to spend some lovey-dovey time together? Do you want to be the third wheel? Just join me and help me grind up my Frozen Domain skill rank¡­¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± Beiming Xue replied gloomily. ¡­¡­ I logged on and appeared at the eastern inn of Sky City. I immediately sent a party invite to both Lin Yixin and He Yi which both of them accepted in no time. Lin Yixin said in the party channel, ¡°You know, why don¡¯t we find a place with good feng shui before we hatch this mount? It¡¯s special enough to deserve some special treatment, right?¡± I smiled. ¡°Sure! Do you know such a place?¡± Lin Yixin: ¡°Well, to the south of Snowy Cathaya¡¯s territory is Silver Light Forest, and it has great scenery and Level 200 mobs. I don¡¯t think Sister Eve has ever been there, right? Do you want to check it out together?¡± He Yi: ¡°Sounds great! Do we head there now?¡± Lin Yixin: ¡°Yep! See y¡¯all at Silver Fir City!¡± We teleported to the Rank 8 Silver Fir City directly. Silver Fir City had buildings that resembled ancient trees and amazing sceneries; basically what you would expect from an elven city. That I was accompanied by two women of legendary beauty was just the icing on the cake. After we met up with each other, we exited the city and rode across the plains. Lin Yixin asked me, ¡°Wanna compete and see who can get there first?¡± I nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± My Armored Ice Qilin Horse was buffed by the Qilin Stone. There was no way I was going to lose this race no matter what! However, the outcome of the race exceeded both Lin Yixin and my expectations. Somehow, someway, He Yi slowly outstripped us even though her mount shouldn¡¯t have given her the movement speed to pull off the feat. That was when we saw her shiny new orange war boots and understood everything. Lin Yixin immediately complained, ¡°Ahhh! That¡¯s cheating, Sister He Yi! Of course you¡¯ll win with the Fire Goddess War Boots! This race doesn¡¯t count!¡± He Yi looked back with a giggle. ¡°Aren¡¯t you cheating as well, lady of Silver Fir City? You know this place like the back of your palm!¡± Lin Yixin giggled noncommittally before pointing to the front. ¡°There. Silver Light Forest is right ahead!¡± It was nighttime, but Silver Light Forest had a canopy that glowed like raindrops of silver. It was basically impossible to miss it. Darkness descended upon us as we entered the forest, but the shiny glow of our badges kept most of it at bay. Speaking of which, He Yi got a shiny golden badge for winning the WEL, and I got two because I was also the MVP of the competition. Lin Yixin also had a silver badge on her shoulder. Lin Yixin pouted a bit when she saw the badges on our shoulders, ¡°Say, do you think I should join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls for the WEL next year?¡± ¡°Sure! That golden badge looks so beautiful¡­¡± Lin Yixin said enviously. I joined in. ¡°That would be great! If you mean it, we¡¯ll pull Li Chengfeng into our team so we can have three near-guaranteed point securers. This way, not even a super close-range team like Cyan Beast¡¯s will have any chance of beating us anymore!¡± However, He Yi fell silent and bowed her head a little. ¡°Oh. What should I do then? I¡¯m still a noob¡­¡± Lin Yixin giggled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. ¡°Why are you worried, Sister He Yi? You¡¯re smart, and the next WEL is an entire year away! Lu Chen and I will spar with you everyday until you become a super-tier expert who¡¯s at least as good as Li Chengfeng!¡± He Yi¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Really? Can I really become that good?¡± I raised the Purple Ying Sword while replying, ¡°Of course you will! Oh right, have you passed the Dark Blade to Li Chengfeng yet?¡± ¡°No, he didn¡¯t come online. I think he went away to drink at a bar¡­¡± ¡°Well, whatever. I think Farewell Song and Warsky are accompanying him, so I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be just fine. Outside our in-game business, they¡¯re all great people.¡± ¡°Yeah. Anyway, let¡¯s go find our feng shui place already!¡± Lin Yixin said. ¡°Look, there¡¯s a cathaya tree over there!¡± He Yi suddenly pointed. ¡°That, and a bear mob too!¡± I immediately summoned the Phantom Wolf King and whistled. ¡°Go, little wolf! Kill that bear and cleanse our spot from its filthy presence!¡± It had been a long time since the Phantom Wolf King showed up. Once it appeared, it circled around the girls happily and begged for pats for a moment before finally leaving to challenge the Level 205 shadow-rank Wild Bear. It was a 1v1 fight, so I wasn¡¯t worried about its safety in the slightest. ¡­¡­ After the bear was dead, Lin Yixin stood beneath the cathaya tree and said smilingly, ¡°Alright, it¡¯s time! Let us hatch the Ancient Divine Dragon!¡± After I took the fossil out of the bag and held it in my arms, I asked Lin Yixin excitedly, ¡°So, how are we going to do this? Do you think warming it with your bosom will work?¡± He Yi rolled her eyes at that. ¡°Stop teasing Yiyi already, will you? This is a game, so that means you¡¯ll need to drip your blood on the fossil to make a contract. I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll hatch on its own once it¡¯s done.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± ¡°Er, what¡¯s going on?¡± I stared at the fossil. ¡°Did we get swindled? Is this a fake item?¡± Lin Yixin laughed. ¡°Of course not! This is the WEL we¡¯re talking about, not the shameless merchants in our country! They¡¯d be crazy to pull a stunt like this!¡± He Yi blinked. ¡°Just give it a moment!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± It was at this moment the system dinged¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Your Ancient Divine Dragon cannot be hatched because it doesn¡¯t have sufficient spiritual energy. It needs 1000 Spirit Energy Points to hatch successfully. You can gain Spirit Energy Points by leveling up, learning new skills, or killing mobs! ¡­¡­ ¡°Huh. We need to kill mobs to hatch it?¡± Lin Yixin looked around her. ¡°Lucky for us, the spawning ground of Level 205 Ironback Bears is right over there. Are you two up for a bit of grinding? We can save Lu Chen some time, and I wanted to test out the Fire Goddess Battle Armor¡¯s Defense anyway, so might as well!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Lin Yixin led us to a valley of wilted trees just across the forest, and we could hear all kinds of beastial roars coming from inside. There were even tigers in the valley. Still, the strongest mobs in the valley were the Ironback Bears. Their skin was extraordinarily tough, and they moved around in large packs. Not even apex predators like the Forest Tigers would provoke a pack of Ironback Bears if they could help it. Of course, its toughness was completely meaningless to our party. My Martial God boosted our Attack by 200%, and our pets were made up of OP monsters such as the Phantom Wolf King, the Ice Dragon Kris and a Ghost Chariot. At Level 184, He Yi¡¯s Ghost Chariot¡¯s armor penetration was almost as strong as the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s. It was definitely going to play a huge role in our grind. We pushed aside a clump of leaves blocking our vision and saw a group of 13 Ironback Bears just twenty meters away from us. They were growling and feeding on a dead mountain goat. Lin Yixin said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s a dread-rank mob, so watch out! I¡¯ll be the tank this time, and I¡¯m counting on you two to kill them before they kill me, okay?¡± ¡°No problem!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± Lin Yixin spurred the Moonchaser Tiger and cut through the center of the mob group like a hurricane. One Ice Flame Slash was all it took to aggro all the Ironback Bears at once. Bang bang bang... ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± He Yi and I attacked from the flanks and joined our Thousand Ice Slash and Purgatory of Ice and Magma together, inflicting a number of critical hits in one strike. A dragon breath from Ice Dragon Kris later, one of the Ironback Bears dropped low enough to die to Claw of the Storm from the Phantom Wolf King. As I received a huge surge of experience, I received the system notice: You¡¯ve killed the Ironback Bear. The Ancient Divine Dragon Fossil has absorbed 4 Spirit Energy Points! Very good. Assuming that the amount of spirit energy absorbed was fixed, it should take only 250 Ironback Bears to hatch the Ancient Divine Dragon! I can¡¯t wait! We grinded for a while until Rose sent us a message: ¡°WTF, you guys are still playing Heavenblessed? Our flight is tomorrow morning, people! Go to sleep already!¡± I replied, ¡°It¡¯s fine, the WEL is over anyway. If we don¡¯t have enough sleep we¡¯ll just sleep on the plane tomorrow.¡± Rose said disbelievingly, ¡°Are you serious? Did you forget how Li Chengfeng emptied his stomach when we flew here? You¡¯ll need an iron stomach to sleep with him around!¡± ¡°No problem! We¡¯ll just make him sit with Warsky tomorrow!¡± ¡°...¡± ¡­¡­ A bit over an hour later, the fossil finally gathered enough spirit energy to hatch. I dripped my blood on the fossil again, and this time it shone like a mini sun. Very soon, golden cracks appeared around the egg-like fossil until finally, a tiny claw pushed through the gaps. Eventually, a dragonling with a black head and a pair of sapphire blue eyes poked out of the fossil and blinked at me rapidly. Chapter 969: Space 7 Legion The rest of the shells cracked and peeled away on their own, and just like that, the Ancient Divine Dragon was sitting snugly at the center of my palm. It was ten centimeters long, as thin as a lizard, and gray silver in color. It wasn¡¯t even that much thicker than my finger. It blinked its sapphire blue eyes at me. ¡°OMG, is this¡­ is this the Ancient Divine Dragon? It¡¯s so, so cute¡­¡± Lin Yixin said with starry eyes. He Yi carefully poked the dragonling¡¯s tail with her forefinger before breaking into a smile herself. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s so cute¡­¡± There were colorful clouds surrounding the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s tail. Its head was shaped like a qilin¡¯s and surrounded by a ring of soft, crimson fur. It had a pair of whiskers beside its nose, and it was clinging to my palm so tightly that it hurt a little. My new mount seemed to be glaring at the two beauties with hostility, but that was probably because a dragon¡¯s sense of aestheticism was different from a human¡¯s. To it, He Yi and Lin Yixin were probably average to below average¨Clooking ¡°dragons¡± at best. On another note, it was a good thing Murong Mingyue hadn¡¯t come with us. Knowing her, she would point at that dragonling, laugh like a madman and say, ¡°This is your Ancient Divine Dragon? It¡¯s smaller than a d.i.c.k, hahahahaha¡­¡± I didn¡¯t even want to imagine that scene. ¡­¡­ The smile on Lin Yixin¡¯s face grew sweeter as she rubbed the dragonling¡¯s head. ¡°You¡¯re a cute little baby, aren¡¯t you? Aw¡­ say, Lu Chen, is this an eastern dragon of China, or?¡± I nodded. ¡°Yep. According to the notice I just received, the appearance of the dragon changes according to the player¡¯s nationality. For example, if Vienna had drawn it, then this Ancient Divine Dragon would probably look like a western holy dragon, also known as ¡°a giant lizard with big wings¡±, just like your Ice Dragon Kris.¡± Lin Yixin giggled. ¡°That¡¯s so cool! It¡¯s a bit small though!¡± I scratched my head. ¡°I know. Even if it¡¯s more powerful than it looks, how the hell am I supposed to ride something that¡¯s only as long as my finger? The WEL committee can¡¯t possibly have screwed me over and given me a useless dragon, right?¡± He Yi replied, ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know, but it seems unlikely¡­¡± Suddenly, the dragonling shuddered a little and let out a low growl. It almost sounded like it could understand me and was expressing its dissatisfaction. If this was true, then its AI must be pretty amazing. The dragonling then turned around, climbed up my forefinger and bit it with its sharp teeth! Pssh! A piercing pain erupted from my forefinger as blood sprayed from the wound. Most of it went down the dragonling¡¯s throat though. I could almost mistake it for a house gecko if it wasn¡¯t literally drinking my blood like a bloods.u.c.k.i.n.g vampire. Not that I minded, but my blood was the blood of an Asura King. Was it really safe for consumption? What if the little thing poisoned itself and died? Thankfully my worry didn¡¯t last long¡ª System Notice: Congratulations, you have successfully contracted the mount ¡°Ancient Divine Dragon¡±. The Ancient Divine Dragon is currently at the infancy stage and will need to earn experience to grow stronger! As a Divine Rank mount, the amount of experience needed to level it up is 100 times higher than normal. We wish you good luck! ¡­¡­ ¡°Is the contract complete?¡± Lin Yixin asked. I nodded with a smile. ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s now officially in the infancy stage!¡± He Yi urged excitedly, ¡°Well, what are you waiting for? Show us its stats now!¡± ¡°Mn mn!¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± I brought up its stats, but was immediately disappointed by what I saw. Ancient Divine Dragon Rank: Divine Stage: Infant Effect: Cannot be mounted ¡­¡­ ¡°It literally has no stats. I guess it¡¯s way too young¡­¡± I said dumbfoundedly. He Yi giggled. ¡°OMG, it needs 100 times more experience than normal to level up? How long will that take? It doesn¡¯t even say when it¡¯ll grow into an a.d.u.l.t!¡± Lin Yixin consoled me. ¡°It¡¯s fine, this is just business as usual: grind, grind, and grind some more. It¡¯ll turn into an a.d.u.l.t eventually. Speaking of which, did the system give you any tip as to when you can ride it?¡± I shook my head. ¡°No, it barely told me anything at all. There is one thing though. Apparently, I can keep it around while still riding the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. This is all so unusual¡­¡± ¡°It really is¡­¡± Lin Yixin shook her head. ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s grind some mobs. Maybe we¡¯ll learn more about your mount after it gains some levels.¡± We restarted the cycle and grinded mobs for almost an hour or so. However, the dragonling was only Level 27! What the hell is this!? If it took this much effort to grind its level while it was still low-level, how much experience would it need when it got to Level 150? Is it trying to kill me? In the end, we had to stop not only because we were tired out of our minds, but also because Rose had given us the final warning. After I took off my gaming helmet, I glanced at the window sill of my hotel room. A golden trophy with the words "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls" and our five player IDs imprinted onto its surface was sitting there. It was of course the WEL champion trophy. If our status as the number one guild of China wasn¡¯t quite solid before, it was now. And even if it wasn¡¯t, the next Nation War was right around the corner. We would prove that we definitely were the best shield of China! ¡­¡­ The next day, I woke up super early in the morning, refreshed myself, packed my belongings and the trophy, and went downstairs to eat breakfast. When everyone was ready, we entered the bus and departed for the airport. The WEL had prepared four trophies in total: a golden trophy for the champion, a silver trophy for the runner-up, and two copper trophies for the third and fourth places. That was why there were two trophies in the bus right now, and why there was a stark contrast in mood between Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls + Snowy Cathaya and Soul Battle Robes + Candle Dragon. A frowning Candlelight Shadow had taken the backmost seat and stared at the sceneries outside the window. The twilight of a Heavenly King¡¯s career was never pretty. As expected, most of us fell asleep on the plane. Beiming Xue¡¯s seat was next to mine, and she was currently sleeping with her head-on my shoulder. When Lin Yixin looked back from her seat, she let out an involuntary giggle and said, "Beiming Xue¡¯s saliva is dripping on your shoulder¡­" I shook my head and chided her, "You should be catching some ZZzzZZZzzz too. Now shoo!" "Fine, fine¡­" Beiming Xue had woken up as well. She asked me, "How long have we been flying, big bro?" "Six hours, give or take¡­" "We should be arriving soon then¡­" "Hell no, there¡¯s another six hours to go¡­" "What? Didn¡¯t it take only 10 hours to fly to Los Angeles?" "That¡¯s because we were traveling against the Earth¡¯s rotation at that time. Now it¡¯s the opposite¡­" "Is that so? Oh well, I guess I¡¯ll sleep some more¡­" Beiming Xue giggled and lay down on my l.a.p this time. Then, she fell asleep like a lazy little kitty. I looked to the back and noted that He Yi and Murong Mingyue had fallen asleep as well. The whole competition had been one giant stack of activities forcefully cramped into a tiny window of time, so we were all tired out of our minds to say the least. It wasn¡¯t like things would slow down too much after we returned to our homes. We still had to manage the guild, grind, go to war and some more. That being said, we would never have been able to grow Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls into a king of guilds without our persistent efforts. Now that we had taken the WEL by storm, we had officially taken the first step into cementing our status as the new king of China. Winning the WEL and the MVP title were especially critical to our climb to the top. The next time CGL¡¯s Guild Ranking was refreshed, I was almost certain that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would surpass Candle Dragon completely. I said almost, because Candle Dragon¡¯s war contributions during the latter half of Spirit of Grief carried a ton weight. As the saying goes, a camel that starved to death is still heavier than a horse. That was fine though. Our Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers were growing more and more complete everyday. When the next Nation War arrived, it would finally be our turn to become the true god of Heavenblessed. I couldn¡¯t wait. Due to time zone differences, it was f.u.c.k.i.n.g daytime again when the plane landed in Shanghai. Because we already had our fill of sleep and food on the plane, we took the bus to Suzhou almost immediately after. Stranger of Three Lifetimes joined us, but took the time to travel around and even grind for a bit in the game because she was "bored", or so she claimed. I bet her reliability would come under fire if a member of her guild could see her right now. After we returned to Suzhou, the first thing we did was to deposit the champion trophy at the Lenovo e-sports club. It was a collective honor shared by everyone in the club after all. That being said, we were taking it with us the day we left the team. For one, I heard that the trophy was made of pure gold. Two, it was one of the conditions I made them agree to when they asked to store it in the club. The trophy was the symbol of our hard work and glory. There was no reason for us to give it away to another party. I didn¡¯t log into the game because winning the WEL had boosted me to Level 195 for free, meaning that I had the leeway to do some meaningful activities such as accompanying the girls to lunch, shopping and so on. We spent the afternoon walking around the streets and shopping for a bit. I bought a set of spring clothes for both He Yi and Lin Yixin because it was spring. Sensing blood, Lian Xin and Beiming Xue pounced onto the opportunity and forced me to buy clothes for them as well, ones that cost over ten thousand RMB no less. Still, there was a reason why fashion was so important in human society. If the girls weren¡¯t beautiful before¡ªand they absolutely were¡ªthe new clothes made sure that they were positively irresistible. In my opinion, true beauty was the kind of beauty that evoked a sense of deep protectiveness; the kind you couldn¡¯t bear to sully with your presence. It wasn¡¯t like s.e.x.u.a.lly exciting attires weren¡¯t beautiful, but that was a different kind of beauty altogether. ¡­¡­ We held a celebratory feast at the guild base as we said we would. Lenovo¡¯s Rose and a couple other people had joined us as well. Most of us also drank the living daylights out of ourselves, exactly like I had threatened them to during the final match, although Chaos Moon, Yu Tong and He Yi respectfully declined. And thank god they did, because the rest of us were in no condition to defend Dark Moon City if someone had tried to ambush us. It was midnight when I awoke from my drunken slumber. My head felt like a hot mess to say the least. I was in my room, so the girls must¡¯ve carried me into the car and driven us home. If I didn¡¯t know better, I would¡¯ve sworn that Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Yamete and the rest of the f.u.c.kers were trying to drown me in alcohol. Not that I minded. It was a very special occasion... I took a pee, drank some water, and went back to bed. Chapter 970: Fellow Soldiers That woke me up real quick. I jumped off my bed, opened the door in one swift motion and stared straight into Lian Xin¡¯s eyes. "Really? Sophie¡¯s attacking the Alliance¡¯s cities?" "Mn!" Lian Xin explained, "The patch just launched an hour ago. It¡¯s said that the Night Creature legions hiding all across the continent, have revealed themselves under Sophie¡¯s orders and are getting ready to attack all the main cities of the Silver Moon Alliance. Countless bosses and even several Purgatory Sovereigns have shown their faces. It looks like they¡¯re planning to annihilate us for real this time!" "F.u.c.k, seriously¡­" I put on my clothes while I expressed my dumbfoundedness at the series of events that had occurred while I was sleeping. "Did boss, sis and Beiming wake up already? We¡¯re going to have to log in as soon as we finish breakfast. We can¡¯t lose our main city no matter what!" "Mn!" I logged into the game immediately after I filled my belly. The first thing I saw was a promotional image of the new update, Fury of the Goddess of Death. Dressed in red armor and wielding a thin sword, the Purgatory Sovereign floated in midair with her hair flying outward like a banshee¡¯s and her crimson eyes brimming with killing intent. She was, in all honesty, quite scary to look at. ¡­¡­ I received a system notice the moment I logged into the game. It stated: "The patch ¡®Fury of the Goddess of Death¡¯ has officially launched. The storm of death will be arriving in 27 minutes and 12 seconds!¡¯" OMFG, I don¡¯t even have half an hour to prepare! I hurriedly checked the forums for the patch information. What the hell was that ¡®storm of death¡¯ exactly? Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t find it. The devs hadn¡¯t given any in-depth information. After that, I decided not to waste anymore time and created a party. I added He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and more. Li Chengfeng: "Is everyone here?" Gui Guzi: "Mamate was drunk as hell, but I managed to wake him with some cold water and a slap to the face. He¡¯ll be logging in in a moment. Everyone else should be up and present. So, does anyone know what the hell this ¡®storm of death¡¯ is?" Chaos Moon: "I sure don¡¯t. The devs didn¡¯t mention that they¡¯re dropping this patch today at all. How about you, Lu Chen?" Me: "I don¡¯t know shit myself. I just woke up, dammit. According to the miniscule info the devs had deigned to grave us with, Sophie¡ªalso known as the Goddess of Death¡ªflew into a rage and decided to launch an all-out assault on all main cities after learning some sort of terrible truth. In short, monsters will be assaulting every main city in the world for an unknown period of time. The good news is that they¡¯re targeting super-tier main cities only, and Dark Moon City is firmly out of this category. With that in mind, I want everyone to move to Sky City and defend it with everything they have!" Li Chengfeng: "Yeah, Sky City literally just became the King of Cities yesterday. It¡¯ll be a complete waste of Lu Chen¡¯s efforts if it falls to a monster attack!" Me: "Don¡¯t look at me, I can¡¯t beat her¡­" Gui Guzi: "That¡¯s fine. Chaos Moon can do it!" Chaos Moon: "The f.u.c.k? How?!" Gui Guzi: "With your 34C, duh!" Chaos Moon raged. "Get lost! Now that I think about it, you were staring at my b.r.e.a.s.ts during breakfast, weren¡¯t you? Do you want to die!?" I hurriedly interrupted them. "We don¡¯t have time for this. I want everyone to enter Sky City and get into position in 10 minutes tops. We still don¡¯t know what this storm of death is, so¡­ buy your potions, repair your equipment, and be ready to defend Sky City unto your death!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take long for most of our players¡ªincluding the Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers¡ªto enter Sky City. Unfortunately, since Sky City was a floating city with little space for maneuver, the Dragonlight Cavalry had no choice but to fight like your standard meatshields. On the other hand, the Dragonlight Archers were much more useful. Their mounts gave them a lot of Defense and Attack, so they should be able to play a pivotal role in this battle. Not far away from us, Roaming Dragon was riding in front of his players while shouting, "Mad Dragons, monsters will be attacking this city, but we¡¯ll be fine because Sky City is famous for its impenetrable defense! Defend your homes with all your might and don¡¯t allow even a fly to slip past your guard! As a top guild in Sky City, we cannot not contribute to our city, understand!?" The Mad Dragon players unsheathed their weapons and cheered, "You go boss!" Another group of players appeared after them. They were the Warsky Alliance led by Warsky, October Rain, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Farewell Song and the rest of Warsky Alliance¡¯s generals. Song of Cloud and Water had also shown up with Song of Ice and Fire, Ringwraith, God Bone and more. Finally, beneath the floating rocks was a beautiful girl wearing fiery battle armor and wielding a translucent sword. It was Lin Yixin of course. All the powerful guilds of Sky City had arrived. We all gathered outside the eastern gate even though we hadn¡¯t communicated beforehand. "The monsters will be arriving in ten minutes¡­" Warsky rode up to me and asked, "Will Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls be guarding the eastern gate, Lu Chen?" I nodded. "Yeah, this is where our players usually conduct their businesses, so we might as well fight here. What about you, Warsky?" Warsky replied, "I think we¡¯ll defend the western gate." Lin Yixin joined in the conversation. "Snowy Cathaya will defend the southern gate." Clad in black armor, Little Piglet stepped out from the crowd and declared, "Hegemon Palace will accompany you, Dominating Heaven Blade. Let us each defend one side of the city gate and see who can hold out longer, shall we?" Dominating Heaven Blade laughed. "As you wish!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a group of players rode up to us. It was Sword Lord of Jianghu led by Now and Forever. He said, "Don¡¯t forget about us! Anyway, we¡¯ll be defending the eastern gate with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. The eastern gate is the only gate facing toward open ground and will probably receive the greatest pressure. It can always use more troops." Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes glimmered a little as she pulled me to the side. She whispered, "Watch out for Sword Lord of Jianghu!" I nodded. "I know, but don¡¯t worry. They might have their own agenda, I¡¯m sure they aren¡¯t stupid enough to stab us in the back when things get dire." "That¡¯s true. Still, better safe than sorry, right?" Lin Yixin chuckled a little before adding, "Oh right, don¡¯t forget to release your Ancient Divine Dragon, okay? You need to seize every chance to feed it experience, or heaven knows when it¡¯ll grow to a.d.u.l.thood!" I laughed. "I know. Now go to your southern gate and set up your defenses already!" "Okay. See you later!" Everyone was displaying a surprising amount of unity right from the start. Even sworn enemies were willing to lay down their differences temporarily and fight shoulder-to-shoulder. In the end, we were all fellow soldiers in the face of a common adversary! ¡­¡­ Back to the present. After I galloped to the frontline, I raised the Purple Ying Sword and shouted, "Ancient Sword main guild and Bloody Mercenaries, move to the front and get ready for battle! Subguilds, rest inside the city and standby for others! This war won¡¯t be ending anytime soon, so we need you to be in tiptop shape when the rest of us are dead! Keep your eyes sharp, people!" Everyone in the guild responded to my command positively and seriously. It was obvious that my successes in the WEL had elevated my reputation in the guild, and even the China server itself, tremendously. Although I was known as the Little Heavenly King for a long time now, I didn¡¯t truly have a boastful achievement of my own until recently. Now that my team was the champion of the WEL, and I myself was the MVP of the entire competition, I was finally deserving of my title. In the minds of my own players at least, I was probably the number one player in the China server. Several thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen moved to the frontline under Gui Guzi¡¯s leadership. The magic knights formed a shield wall, while the warriors glared at the horizon with their weapons at the ready. At the back, Beiming Xue had spread out the Dragonlight Archers into orderly formations as well. ¡­¡­ Rumble rumble rumble¡­ At the distance, angry thunder tore the ground asunder, and red pillars of light shot into the sky. The way bloody clouds were choking the sky of its blue, the earth was shaking, and the unnatural hurricanes were pulling trees and soil into the sky, you wouldn¡¯t be wrong to worry if Sky Forest was about to be wiped off the map. I activated Dark Pupils to extend my vision range. I could spot Corpse Eaters, Cave Devils and the usual mobs you expected to see in a legion of death. What I wasn¡¯t expecting to see, however, was the mobs running into the hurricanes like suicidal moths. "Oh shit¡­" I grunted. I think I know what is coming. "What¡¯s wrong, Lu Chen?" He Yi asked me in confusion. I gritted my teeth before answering, "We thought they would fight their way up the floating rocks, but I think we¡¯re wrong. They¡­" "They, what?" Li Chengfeng asked in alarm. I replied, "I think they¡¯re going to rain down from the sky. Tell our fighters to join up with our ranged players. Every three ranged players must be guarded by one heavy-armor player at the very least. Also, we¡¯re shrinking our formation and grouping our damage dealers, main tanks and healers!" "Got it!" While Li Chengfeng went away to carry out my orders, I shouted, "Listen up, Ancient Sword main guild, Bloody Mercenaries and subguilds! All heavy-armor players and ranged players are to pair up with one another and defend your ground in groups! Don¡¯t lose your head!" Chapter 971: Air Drop Via Hurricane The bloody clouds swiftly covered the sky above Sky City, and the crimson hurricanes began moving toward us slowly but steadily. It would be great if it was just for show, but there was no mistaking the screeching horde of monsters being spun round and round in the hurricanes. From a distance, they almost looked like red cotton candies. If only that was the case... "Holy shit, are they seriously going to paratroop our asses?" Li Chengfeng growled while clutching his Dark Blade. Chiang! I unsheathed my own weapon and shouted, "Guess we know what the ¡®storm of death¡¯ is now. Everyone, stay in position and prepare to meet the first wave!" Whoever came up with the name "storm of death" knew what they were thinking. It made both literal and figurative sense. No matter how many defenders Sky City had, it was only a matter of time before the paratroopers¡ªor was it paramonsters?¡ªstarted punching holes in our defense. After all, the enemy would be attacking everywhere at once, and in such great numbers too. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before the first hurricane to the east grew close enough that we could feel it. Almost everyone was holding their breaths in anticipation. Du Thirteen licked his lips before calling out to his people, "It¡¯s been a while since we¡¯ve been treated to a free experience lunch. Bloody Mercenaries, prepare for battle!" I warned him. "Don¡¯t underestimate these mobs, man. You¡¯ll lose face if they one-shot you¡­" Du Thirteen nodded. "I know, I know, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m plenty strong now, so ain¡¯t no mob is gonna get to me!" Me: "..." It was at this moment the hurricane finally reached the floating rocks that led up to Sky City. At first, it seemed like the enemy had made a mistake when the seemingly endless swarm of Corpse Eaters and Wraiths turned themselves into pancakes against the rocks. However, the impact was enough to knock the rocks way from their original position, effectively cutting off our way to the ground. Sophie seriously intended to destroy us all. "Big bro, look!" Beiming suddenly pointed to the sky, and I looked. Floating in the air was a black-armored woman with fire beneath her feet, a sword in hand and a cruel smile etched across her face. She was none other than Sophie, the Snow Minstrel! "For f.u.c.k¡¯s sake!" I swore through gritted teeth while shooting a glance at the Ancient Divine Dragon clinging to my arm and dozing off. If it was an a.d.u.l.t, I would be able to take to the air and challenge Sophie to a fight right now. A hopeless battle it might be, it was a better choice than being attacked one-sidedly. As the saying goes, you need to defeat the general to disband an army, and the best way to stop Sophie from killing us was to kill her first! By now, the storm of death was so close that we could literally see the ugly teeths of Corpse Eaters. A weird thought entered my mind as I stared at the mobs. We were scared, but the mobs were probably even more scared than us. After all, they were the ones who were being spun round and round like a ragdoll... Boom! The hurricane hit the ground we were standing on at a 45-degree angle and weakened a little. At the same time, a horde of blood-red Corpse Eaters, Wraiths, and Skeletal Braves descended on us like the rain. What shocked me was that they were all Level 200 dread-rank mobs. If this was the kind of mobs we had to fight on the first wave, I couldn¡¯t imagine what would show up near the end of it. Who the f.u.c.k was the idiot who came up with this patch? Even Sky City with its new buff would be hard-pressed to survive this, much less the other main cities. Heavens, if a main city had to fall, please let it be Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡­ Chiang chiang chiang... A Corpse Eater landed right on top of my Dragon God Shield and attacked immediately. The filthy, growling creature managed to land three swipes on my shield, but each hit only dealt around 2000 damage or so. My Defense and level were so high that not even a dread-rank mob could do much against me, not to mention that my HP was buffed to a crazy 300k. I raised the Purple Ying Sword and rocked all the mobs in front of me with Burning Blade Slash. Since the skill was powered by my Famous General Skill, Martial God, it did an ungodly amount of damage¡ª 79002! 102993! 142828! We had organized our parties beforehand as a matter of course. Du Thirteen, Yamete and Yu Tong were in my party. He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon had their own parties to take advantage of their Famous General Skills. Each of them was leading a couple hundred players to battle. Speaking of which, Lian Xin had copied Chaos Moon¡¯s Plunder when she made her own party, unknowingly showing off her excellent sense of value. Of all the Famous General Skills, Chaos Moon¡¯s Plunder was without a doubt the most valuable of them all. The mobs¡¯ assault was fierce and unrelenting. They kept crashing on top of us and attacked anyone they saw. Their teeth and claws were sharp enough to pierce steel, much less the fragile bodies of the priests, mages and archers. The first wave had only just begun, and already we were losing people. Those who were killed wouldn¡¯t be able to return to this event, so they could only leave for a tier 2 city or grind at a leveling map. "Hold your ground! Make sure you kill the mobs that landed inside our formation first!" I shouted. The Dragonlight Cavalry led by Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon galloped back and forth within the formation and ran down all the mobs in their way, greatly reducing our troops¡¯ losses. Besides that, Beiming Xue and her cavalry archers used large AoE skills like Skypiercer to kill the mobs, spilling the guts, brains and blood of undead mobs all over the place. Beiming Xue did the most damage of all of them because Ice Soul Feather straight up increased Skypiercer¡¯s damage by 100%, not to mention that Beiming Xue¡¯s Attack was pretty crazy to begin with. Bang! Another round of Skypiercer from the dark archer hit a group of hundreds and deleted a huge chunk of HP. Even better, many of them suffered from Ice Soul Feather and were unable to take a single step from their location. They easily fell to the rest of our ranged players without being able to do anything. Lian Xin¡¯s Dimensional Storm and Ice Spiral Matrix almost never stopped throughout the fight, crushing mobs left and right like ants. Her damage was as good as Beiming Xue¡¯s, if not better. Yu Tong and the one thousand high-level mages we had "borrowed" from Blazing Hot Lips did good work as well, almost making our defense look easy. I reckoned that their very presence had increased our DPS by 25% or more! ¡­¡­ Rumble rumble rumble... Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes sharpened as he declared, "Devil Giants, Level 205 Heaven Rank minibosses. We¡¯ll have to defeat them one by one. I¡¯ll take that one!" Li Chengfeng charged. "Leave the one to the left to me!" Chaos Moon didn¡¯t even bother responding as she charged toward the third Devil Giant. High Fighting Spirits laughed and swung his axe at the foot of the fourth Devil Giant. Our guild boasted the strongest fighters in the world, so of course our generals were also the strongest in the world. What should¡¯ve been a destructive blow was easily nullified by our combined strength and cooperation. I pulled my arm back before tossing a dragon soul¨Cinfused Purple Ying Sword straight at the c.h.e.s.t of a Devil Giant, dealing tons of damage. Not even waiting for my sword to return to me, I Charged¡ªcaught the handle of my weapon midway¡ªand pierced its leg in one smooth motion with Burning Blade Slash. It elicited a scream of pain from the Devil Giant and killed all the Corpse Eaters in the way. A couple of high-powered spells and Touch of the Dragonkiss from Yu Tong later, the Devil Giant quickly dropped to red health. "Roar roar!" The miniboss roared angrily and tried to crush me with its giant rock. I wasn¡¯t going to eat the blow directly because the damn thing was at least twice as tall as me! I raised the Dragon God Shield and Guarded! Bang! The power inside the Dragon God Shield was so powerful that it knocked the miniboss''s attack aside. While it was staggered, I clashed weapons with the Devil Giant and shouted, "Lie down!" Pop pop pop... Surprisingly, the miniboss dropped a ton of equipment probably because I was the one who dealt the final blow. Du Thirteen picked them up and said happily, "Oh man, it dropped three Heaven-grade and two Earth-grade pieces of equipment! They¡¯re all Outstanding too!" I nodded. "Very well, we¡¯ll put them in the guild warehouse later!" "Of course. Hmm, these Heaven-grade wristguards aren¡¯t half bad. Thank you very much¡­" "You¡¯re not welcome, man¡­" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, we heard a chorus of screams from behind us. It was Mad Dragon¡¯s defense formation straining against the dozen of Devil Giants that had broken through their line. The minibosses knew War Crush and Rock Sweep, and that was all they needed to send Mad Dragon players flying. Some of the Devil Giants even lifted players into the air and crushed them with their b.a.r.e hands, yuck. Mad Dragon had neither Dragonlight Armored Horses nor excellent equipment, so this outcome was perfectly expected. Roaming Dragon might be rich, but he wasn¡¯t so rich that he could afford buying everyone in the guild a full set of Heaven-grade equipment or better. The Devil Giants weren¡¯t their only problems either. The Corpse Eaters, Wraiths and Skeletal Braves were able to tear into their ranks easily and wreak havoc. The way Mad Dragon had to throw bodies just to reduce normal mobs¡¯ HP was almost gruesome. Chapter 972: Struggle of Ants "F.u.c.k, it looks like Mad Dragon¡¯s going to fall before the first wave is even over¡­" Du Thirteen said a bit regretfully as he watched the chaos that was unfolding in Mad Dragon¡¯s formation. Chaos Moon cut down a couple of Corpse Eaters with Rock Crush before replying, "I¡¯d be surprised if they managed to hold out successfully. Mad Dragon¡¯s normal players have always been lacking in terms of equipment grade, and most of the leveling maps in Sky City are under other guilds¡¯ control. For example, the majority of Dragonbone Mountain Range is under Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends and our control, the west side of Sky Forest is occupied by Warsky Alliance, and the other side of the mountain is taken by Gods of Destruction. Also, Hegemon Palace¡¯s Wang Dongliang hates Roaming Dragon. How can they possibly grow stronger when all they can find are leftovers from other guilds?" I sighed. "Back in the day, Mad Dragon was strong enough to chase me when I was killing Green Mantises at Floating Ice Forest, and that one time I was grinding Wasps. Even Lin Yixin had suffered in their hands once or twice. Who would¡¯ve thought that they would fall to this extent¡­" He Yi said, "I would pity them if I didn¡¯t know how ruthless they are when PKing weaker players. That being said, these mobs are unusually powerful. I just received news that Hegemon Palace and Gods of Destruction are showing signs of crumbling as well. They¡¯re losing players too quickly, and this storm of death isn¡¯t showing any signs of pausing anytime soon." After hacking a group of half-health Vampires and Wraiths into dust with Burning Blade Slash, I said, "We can care for the others after we finish defending our side of the wall. Don¡¯t forget that Sophie is here. They only have to handle one hurricane, but we may have to handle two if she feels like it!" Chaos Moon rode past me and picked up a golden ring from the ground. "Heehee, the good news is the mob drop rate is pretty high. Even if we die in the end, the loot alone is worth the level loss, not to mention that the mob experience is also pretty high." "Yeah." We nodded and went back to fighting the mobs quietly. In front of us, Mad Dragon players kept being beaten back again and again until finally, Iron Pardon raised his sword and shouted, "Retreat! We will fight again once we reach the city¡¯s fortifications! Corrosive Armor Earth Dragon Riders, follow me!" The riders of low-rank Earth Dragons immediately pulled back, but still countless people were caught up by the Corpse Eaters and killed. Earth Dragons¡¯ stats were almost the same as the Cyan Battle Tigers¡ªthat was to say, they were far too weak at the current stage of the game. The terrifying dread-rank mobs had torn through them like paper. "Roar roar¡­" Not only that, a dozen or so Devil Giants swung their rock pillars and knocked an entire group of Earth Dragon Riders into the air. Both the player and their mounts were crushed into meat pies. The only solace to be taken in the sight was that it only lasted an instant before they dissolved into white light and drifted off to tier 2 cities such as Floating Ice City. Until the "Fury of the Goddess of Death" event was over, they wouldn¡¯t be able to set foot in Sky City¡¯s domain. "Well, Mad Dragon¡¯s gone. It¡¯s our turn to bear the brunt of the wave!" My blood bubbled in excitement as the black wave swarmed toward us. I abruptly raised my sword and shouted, "Right wing, open up a path so that Mad Dragon can retreat safely! Dragonlight Cavalry, mount up, shield up and prepare for impact! Damage dealers, be ready to shoot the second the enemy gets into range! Archers, use your Skypiercers and Spiraling Arrow Blades now! Damage the monster wave as much as you can before they hit our frontliners!" Leading almost a thousand Dragonlight Cavalry, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi charged the Corpse Eaters pursuing Mad Dragon¡¯s three thousand Corrosive Armor Earth Dragon Riders and stopped them in their tracks. After launching a Reverse Scale Slash into a group of mobs, Li Chengfeng looked at Iron Pardon and shouted, "What are you waiting for? Go!" Chiang chiang chiang... Iron Pardon gritted his teeth but obeyed the advice, leading the rest of Mad Dragon¡¯s frontliners way back to the eastern gate. Roaming Dragon and Coldmoon Rose were already waiting for him there, and Roaming Dragon said angrily, "What the f.u.c.k is wrong with these mobs? How are they so powerful? And how is Ancient Sword¡¯s cavalry doing so well when our Corrosive Armor Earth Dragon Riders could barely withstand a hit?" A stunned Coldmoon Rose replied while watching the terrible battle happening in front of them, "I heard Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had changed all their mounts to an Earth Rank boss mount called ¡®Dragonscale Beast¡¯. That¡¯s why they can tank those mobs head-on, and we can¡¯t¡­" Roaming Dragon s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath before asking, "And how can we obtain those mounts, Rose? We¡¯ll never stand on any battlefield worth fighting for without high-level cavalry." Coldmoon Rose sighed. "It¡¯s difficult. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls built their cavalry using Lu Chen¡¯s MVP reward, so¡­" Iron Pardon reached them at this moment and asked, "What should we do now?" Roaming Dragon raised his sword and ordered, "We will stay right here outside the gates! If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls falters, then we¡¯ll replace them and fight until the end! What is a level compared to our pride? We may die, but we¡¯ll never cower!" The Mad Dragon players raised their weapons and screamed their battle cry. It would be a very touching sight if they were utterly crushed by the mobs a moment ago... ¡­¡­ Back at the frontline, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and the Dragonlight Cavalry returned to us and reformed the defense line after saving Mad Dragon. He Yi and I had been fighting at the forefront while they were gone. As the guild leader and the vice leader of the guild, it was our responsibility to act as examples. Our presence would inspire the players to keep fighting. Chaos Moon¡¯s eyes kept widening as she counted. "Holy shit! That¡¯s 29 Heaven Rank Devil Giants charging us at the same time! Can we hold this?" He Yi shot her a reassuring smile. "It¡¯ll be fine. We have the strongest mounted archer legion in the entire world!" A volley of arrows took to the sky before she finished her sentence. Under Beiming Xue¡¯s leadership, over 2000 Dragonlight Archers had fired their Skypiercers and Spiraling Arrow Blades over our heads and into the black sea of mobs running toward us. Thud thud thud thud... The arrows drilled holes into the Corpse Eaters¡¯ eyeballs and heads, drawing black blood and unholy screams of pain everywhere. Even the Skeletal Braves¡¯ metal armor couldn¡¯t withstand the might of our mounted archers at all. Hordes of mobs dropped dead before they reached us and delivered streams of experience into their killers. Unfortunately, the arrow rain was far less effective against the Devil Giants. The skin of the Heaven Rank minibosses was literally made of stone, so no one besides an exceptional archer like Beiming Xue really had the firepower necessary to break its Defense. Mostly unhindered by the arrow rain, the Devil Giants shoved their rocky sticks beneath their armpits, dropped to all fours and ran toward us like animals. They didn¡¯t care for the corpses of Corpse Eaters and Skeletal Braves they trampled at all. Suddenly, they leaped into the air long before they reached our frontline! "Shit!" I hastily barked an order, "These f.u.c.kers are trying to leap over our defense line! Stop them now!" At the same time, I stood on top of my mount¡¯s back, jumped into the air and activated Great Earth Transformation. Then, I launched Burning Blade Slash at the Devil Giant directly in front of me, greatly slowing its momentum. Once I got close enough to hit it with my sword, I smashed its head and sent it flying to the ground! I returned to my mount after the interception. Everyone else¡ªLi Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and more¡ªfollowed my example and shot down the minibosses before they could reach our backline. Unfortunately, not all of the interceptions were successful, and at least a dozen Devil Giants managed to jump over the first defense line. They were huge too, so a simple sweep was all they needed to crush countless archers and tamers into pieces. Pa! There was a flash of red light, and Cute Little Naughty appeared out of nowhere to stun a Devil Giant. Together with the others, she just barely managed to keep the miniboss under control. Lu Buyi waved his silver fan and fired a couple Dragon Vein Art spells, also aggroing a Devil Giant to himself. He backpedaled in a zigzag pattern before the miniboss could reach him, and buffed all the guild members around him with Purple Dragon so that they would have the stats necessary to fight it. His one party actually managed to control three Devil Giants in total. Further back, Beiming Xue kept two Devil Giants busy, and Lian Xin, another two. Despite the suddenness of the situation and the loss of many guildmates, everyone was able to keep their cool and find a way to deal with the minibosses before them instead of escaping. It was both awesome and terrifying. Everyone was doing their best to keep the dozen of minibosses who had slipped behind our lines under control. Still dishing out damage at the frontlines, I ordered, "Chaos Moon, take 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen with you! Your job will be to clean up all the mobs that are airdropped behind us!" Chaos Moon was a smart girl, so she understood my intentions immediately. Unlike a normal monster attack, this one airdropped all their mobs from the sky, adding an entire dimension of difficulty into the defense. That was why we needed the powerful and tanky Dragonlight Cavalry to play clean-up at the back, or our backline would collapse long before the front. The Devil Giants had incredible Attack, and a single Rock Sweep could turn many magic knights into pancakes. However, as it was the case in any game, great danger came with great opportunity. These Devil Giants yielded so much loot and experience that it was enough to drive a calm person to insanity. If we lost, then it would be a nightmare as a matter of course. But if we won, then these Devil Giants were a free buffet. Thankfully, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had plenty of pinnacle-level players and Famous Generals. We were more or less able to withstand the first wave without trouble. Of all of us, Gui Guzi and his party were the tankiest of them all because his Spear of the Knight God improved his Famous General Skill¡¯s effects by a whopping 100%. Not even the Devil Giants were able to threaten them as the Dragonlight Cavalry destroyed them one by one. ¡­¡­ Both I and my Ancient Divine Dragon were able to gain a huge amount of experience. It took the dragon less than an hour to level up ten times. I shot the little guy a look and noted that it was still sleeping on my arm despite all the commotion. Unbelievable. A while later, the storm of death finally lessened in intensity, leaving behind countless dead bodies, equipment, magic stones and more. Unfortunately, we suffered a not-insignificant amount of losses to take out all these powerful dread-rank mobs. At the front, the line of Dragonlight Cavalry smiled in relief when they noticed that the amount of mobs was lessening. Speaking of which, they all had pitch black umbrellas standing on their shoulders, and it was of course the pet, Ghost Chariot. The Ghost Chariots were absolutely critical in the battle, slaughtering countless Corpse Eaters even without any help from their masters. During a lull I took a moment to glare at the Goddess of Death, Sophie. A glimmer of fire peeked through my eyes. Seemingly watching me as well, Sophie smiled a little and murmured, "Hmph, the struggle of ants¡­" Chapter 973: Undead Siege "Look, another hurricane is moving toward us! I wonder what kind of mob we¡¯ll fight this time¡­" said Li Chengfeng with a nervous yet excited lick of his lips. I declared with a smile, "Doesn¡¯t matter, they¡¯re all free experience!" Chaos Moon shot me an odd look before saying, "Maybe, maybe not. I just received news that Eternal Love City is currently under attack by a flying undead legion led by an undead dragon. Long story short, their skies are overtaken by bone dragons, and they are on the verge of collapsing already. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had to dispatch 100000 Mystic Alliance mages to save them after hearing their pleas for reinforcement. I expect us to face the same level of pressure very soon." "Seriously? France is about to lose their main city?" "Yeah." "Damn!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment two hurricanes¡ªa big one and a small one¡ªstruck a corner of Sky City¡¯s walls and crushed countless bricks into smithereens. Once the blood hurricanes spread out, a new kind of mob started raining down on the empty ground outside the walls. It looked like a black panther, but it was way bigger than normal, completely rotted, and tattered to the point where some of its bones were visible. They bared their teeth and snarled at our players menacingly. Rot Eater (Dread) Level: 210 Attack: 10500~12500 Defense: 12000 HP: 1,000,000 Passive: Undead Control. Ignores 15% of the target¡¯s Defense. Passive: Bloodthirsty Assault. Attacks the enemies three times in a row. Skills: Devour, Bite, Death Swipe ¡­¡­ "Level 210 dread-rank monsters with equal Attack to the Ghost Chariots, I see. This is going to be ¡®fun¡¯. The Rot Eaters have armor-piercing and triple-hit attacks, so watch out! Priests, be ready to heal the frontliners at a moment¡¯s notice!" I shouted. The horde of Rot Eaters rushed us like lightning. They were even faster than the Dragonlight Cavalry at full gallop. Their roars sounded like they came from the depths of hell itself. Chiang chiang chiang... As the Dragonlight Cavalry put their shields in front of themselves, Gui Guzi raised his Spear of the Knight God and shouted, "We will halt their charge here, people! It¡¯s a knight¡¯s duty to protect our brothers and sisters!" I too crossed my sword and waited for the mobs to make contact with the defense line. "Roar roar roar¡­" The first group of Rot Eaters reached us in just the blink of an eye. When they slammed into our cavalry, a lot of them were actually knocked back a couple of steps. He Yi, Gui Guzi, and a couple more exceptional magic knights were the only ones who remained as immovable as a rock thanks to their equipment. The Rot Eaters triggered their passive, Bloodthirsty Assault, and struck our players three times in a row. Immediately, three Dragonlight Cavalrymen let out a groan and dropped dead. The damage numbers rising above their heads were positively shocking¡ª 72626! 80109! Holy shit! What the hell is this attack!? I can¡¯t remember the last mob that had the Attack to one-shot a Dragonlight Cavalryman! It was at this moment a dozen or so Rot Eaters charged straight toward me. Not waiting for them to arrive, I executed Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash combo and fired Ancient Seal into the sky. The mobs g.r.o.a.n.e.d as over half of their health was deleted in an instant. Still, they ignored their wounds and continued to charge me. After the Rot Eaters entered melee range, I swung my sword again and again while they swiped at me with their claws. The good news was that the Rot Eaters could only deal 10k+ damage to me per hit, not to mention that Moon Dew was healing me from behind, and Pure Love made sure that my bard buffs were always up. I could tank three Rot Eaters at once and be nowhere close enough to losing my life. "Give em hell!" I shouted. Arrows immediately rained from the sky as Beiming Xue and the Dragonlight Archers took action. The Spiraling Arrow Blades did an insane amount of damage to the Rot Eaters, but our defense line was no longer the impenetrable line it used to be. Our Dragonlight Cavalry kept being one-shot by two or three attacking Rot Eaters because the Level 210 dread-rank mobs were just too damn powerful! Next to me, High Fighting Spirits let out a cry of surprise before retreating to the back. As it turned out, a Rot Eater had successfully brought his HP down to one-third or so. Judging from the purple complexion of his face, he wasn¡¯t expecting the Rot Eaters to deal as much damage as they did. I hurriedly ran over to the hole he unwittingly created, took out two Rot Eaters with War Crush and let the Phantom Wolf King deal with the third. After the situation stabilized somewhat, I shouted, "Fighting Spirits, get yourself healed now!" "Got it!" High Fighting Spirits withdrew to safety and accepted the healing of several priests. "Got it!" I agreed immediately and told High Fighting Spirits to make Lu Buyi his party leader. Stamp was a great Famous General Skill, but right now, the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s job was to hold the line, not crush the enemy. Our mages and archers would do all the DPS for us. In this case, Purple Dragon¡¯s 100% boost to all stats was far more useful. The ring of the Purple Dragon stratagem shining beneath his feet, Lu Buyi took some pressure off our frontliners with his Dragon Vein Art, but made sure not to go overboard and incur an unnecessary risk. It was truly our honor to have the best tactician of the entire China server on our side! It took a while, but we eventually found our footing. Our pressure lessened as the number of Rot Eaters decreased. After hitting a group of Rot Eaters with an AoE skill, Xu Yang commented, "Heavens, this one charge cost us almost a thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen! This is insane!" I nodded while firing another Burning Blade Slash into a group of mobs and one-shotting nearly 20 Rot Eaters. They filled me with experience, the little guy even leveled up, still sleeping peacefully as if it was not summoned and in its pet space, not in the middle of a tumultuous battlefield¡ªthe little guy. Its nerve was worthy of its title as an ancient divine beast alright. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment He Yi reported with a white complexion, "Oh no, Gods of Destruction, Heavenly Plan Palace and the rest of the guilds guarding the northern gate have been defeated. They¡¯ve withdrawn into the city and are relying on the NPC legions to protect them instead¡­" I nodded in acknowledgement. "I thought that might happen. It¡¯d be a miracle if those guilds could hold out when even we lost nearly a thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen. At this point, it¡¯s obvious that this isn¡¯t our war. It¡¯s all up to Princess Karinshan now." Li Chengfeng gripped his Dark Blade and said, "Yep, our job is just to reduce as much of the undead legion¡¯s forces as possible, and grab as much experience and loot as we can. Take these Rot Eaters for example, they drop equipment often, and the best equipment I¡¯ve seen so far is Outstanding Earth-grade! Tsk tsk!" I picked up wristguards and inspected them. They were 4-star Outstanding Earth-grade metal armor that boosted Attack by 22%. Not bad. These days, any defensive equipment that boosted Attack by 15% or more was heralded as ¡°godlike¡± as there were plenty of berserker-type players who preferred high Attack over high Defense. Assuming that every item on a player granted at least 10% Attack, they could easily acc.u.mulate a total Attack boost of over 200%. Players like these were exceptionally well received by random parties. A show of stats was all it took to be received by the party leader like family. I picked up all the equipment I thought was worth something until there were almost a hundred pieces of metal and leather armor that boosted Attack by over 15% in my bag. I planned to unload them in Air Force One and bolster my stock a little. Technically, I could put these items in the guild warehouse, but, eh, I couldn¡¯t be selfless all the time. Air Force One was a part of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ economy lifeline too. Last time, the injection of capital from Air Force One created almost a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen on its own. It could definitely play a pivotal role when the time called for it. I checked my bag and noted that I still had a ton of inventory slots to fill up thanks to the Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet, which I didn¡¯t mind at all. Keep raging, Sophie! The more you rage, the more my bag and wallet are going to swell in size! ¡­¡­ "Watch out, I think they¡¯re dropping something new¡­" said Chaos Moon suddenly while pointing at the sky. Rot Eaters were still falling from the hurricanes, but this time, there was a bunch of black chariots that were shaped like tractors among them. "What are those things?" Li Chengfeng asked in puzzlement. I replied with a frown, "Ah shit, it¡¯s a long-rage siege weapon! Sophie sure is one interesting bitch! This is the first time I¡¯ve ever seen a siege weapon that was airdropped via a hurricane before!" "Siege weapons?" Li Chengfeng laughed. "What kind of siege weapons do the undead use, I wonder? Do they use skeletons as ammo?" I nodded. "They could, and don¡¯t laugh, it might have enough power to one-shot you¡­" I raised the Purple Ying Sword and shouted, "Maintain formation and prepare to be bombarded by the undead¡¯s siege weapons! We ain¡¯t retreating no matter what happens, understand?!" Everyone unsheathed their weapons once more and readied themselves for the worst. ¡­¡­ The mechanical noise of a siege weapon being fired entered our ears, and a hail of black, ball-like objects fell from the sky. Surprisingly, they bounced off our players¡¯ shields almost all too easily. When we took a closer look, we were shocked to find that the projectiles were rotten human heads! "Urp¡­" He Yi covered her mouth and looked like she might vomit. Chaos Moon did the same while commenting, "Disgusting¡­" Bang bang¡­ Another two objects bounced off my Dragon God Shield, and this time they were different, but not in a good way. It was a rotten human leg and an upper torso with its leg cut off. I could even see the maggots crawling all over the body parts! Everyone turned green in an instant! It was all we could do not to empty our stomachs on the spot! Chapter 974: Paying Homage to the Dead "What the hell is wrong with you undead? They don¡¯t even do too much damage! This is so disgusting!" Chaos Moon swore on top of her lungs. I was about to say something when I noticed that the body parts tossed into our formation started glowing red. In fact, it was shining brighter and brighter. Finally realizing that something was amiss, I shouted, "Watch out! Something¡¯s wrong with these body parts!" Everyone looked to the ground in shock. By now, all the rotten body parts had swollen up like balloons! Once they reached a critical point, they exploded like a bomb and dealt incredible AoE damage to everyone around them! BOOM BOOM BOOM! I took three hits in a row and nearly blacked out from the pain. The explosion had a radius of 5 yards, and the damage was absolutely crazy¡ª 89932! 78822! 81278! Those motherf.u.c.k.i.n.g things nearly one-shot me! I looked around and noticed that High Fighting Spirits was the only one still standing next to me. The dozen of Dragonlight Cavalrymen standing next to me had all been killed by the explosion! Not far away, He Yi, Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and more looked just as flabbergasted as I was. They too had less than 10% HP left in their health bar. "What¡­ what in the flying f.u.c.k is this¡­!" After downing a Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion, I shouted, "Dragonlight Cavalry at the back, move up and form a line now! Motherf.u.c.ker, I¡¯m going to slaughter these despicable undead!" Thankfully, my shout broke the crowd out of their shock and made them take action. The Dragonlight Cavalry at the back also rushed forward and formed a new line of defense. The damage we took from the explosions was devastating, however. What should¡¯ve been a controlled situation quickly turned precarious once more! ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang... The Rot Eaters continued to slam into our shields, and the siege weapons continued to throw more exploding body parts at us. The amount of damage we suffered was severe to say the least. The one silver lining we had was that the body parts took at least 2 to 3 seconds to detonate, so we at least had a small window to escape to safety. As for me, I straight up batted the body parts flying my way into the horde of Rot Eaters, killing two birds with one stone. ¡­¡­ I activated Great Earth Transformation and surrounded myself with three guardian swords. At the same time, I fired off a Silver Dragon Storm that engulfed a horde of Rot Eaters. At this point, everyone was pissed off at the death of their comrades. In fact, Gui Guzi was so angry that he pointed his Spear of the Knight God at the sky and shouted, "Sophie you cruel, cowardly bitch! What kind of Purgatory Sovereign hides behind her siege weapons!? Get down here and fight us if you dare!" I looked at him with an aghast expression, "Dude, she can hear you!" "Wait, what?" Gui Guzi exclaimed in shock, "I was just venting¡­" In the sky, Sophie looked down on us coldly before falling suddenly toward the ground. When she was about 20 meters above the ground, she skidded to a halt, pointed her sword at us and declared, "Foolish ants, do you really think you can stop me?" She swung her sword, and a crimson sword aura flew straight toward us! BOOM! A shocking amount of damage numbers popped above many people¡¯s heads¡ª 297277! 312982! ¡­¡­ Players dissolved into white light all around us. That one strike had one-shot almost a hundred Dragonlight Archers and wiped out 20 meters of our battle line in the blink of an eye! The fury of the Goddess of Death had completely exceeded our expectations. Only those with over 300k HP and 10k Defense stood a chance of surviving this attack! Pa! After the attack, Sophie rose back into the air, stared at the city with no mercy in her eyes and shouted, "Be crushed, you corrupt and hypocritical royals! And you, Karinshan, get out of your city now! You will surrender Duke Carrance to me so I may take revenge for Frosty Night Town, or I swear I¡¯ll crush Sky City into bits!" The city remained silent despite the Purgatory Sovereign¡¯s demands. The NPC archers drew their bows in full and waited for Sophie to move close enough for them to land their shots. ¡­¡­ Still flying higher into the sky, Sophie waved her sword again and shouted, "Filthy insects, the time for you to act has arrived!" Movement occurred inside the city at around the same time. A beautiful commander wearing dark blue armor appeared in the city, and it was the commander of the Frost Army, Ziyan. Putting her right hand on her sword and raising her left, she ordered, "Griffin Legion, move out! Tear down those sinful siege weapons and crush those inhuman devils!" Bird screeches filled the air as the dark gray-colored Griffin Legion took to the skies. Almost a thousand of them had taken off at once, and they looked like dark clouds that blotted out the sky. The hammer-wielding riders swung their weapons and fired bolts of lightning onto the siege weapons, crushing them into tiny pieces. While the NPCs waged war against one another, I shouted, "He Yi, Little Gui, take a thousand Dragon Cavalrymen and follow me! We¡¯re going to destroy the catapults! We¡¯re all going to die if they keep this up!" "Got it!" I and the elite riders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls ignored the Rot Eaters and made a beeline for the catapults. The moment we got into range, we instantly shattered our first catapult with Burning Blade Slash, Reverse Scale Slash, Purgatory of Ice and Magma and so on. Utilizing our high mobility to the max, we rounded a corner and headed straight for the next catapult. Everyone was buffed by Royal Road or Knight God, so we weren¡¯t lacking in Defense or Attack. We cut down all the mobs standing in our way, used Barrier Break in unison and destroyed yet another catapult. As the catapults broke one after another, it seemed like the undead¡¯s assault was finally halted for now. Unfortunately, the moment we saw a ray of hope, a chorus of draconic roars immediately crushed it into pieces. Gigantic black shadows descended from the clouds, and they were none other than Bone Dragons. There were at least a hundred of them or more. Are you kidding me? You call them filthy "insects"? "Oh no, the dragons have arrived!" Unrest spread among the people like wildfire. Even Gui Guzi looked paralyzed with indecision. "Shit, what do we do now?" I hurriedly turned my mount around while ordering, "All troops, return to our formation! We will work with the Dragonlight Archers and stall the Bone Dragons as much as we can! They cannot be allowed to attack the city as they pleased!" As we rushed back to the city, Ziyan barked another angry order to her Griffin Legion, "Griffin Legion, wipe out those Bone Dragons! Don¡¯t let them harm the city!" The Griffin Legion made a sharp U-turn and flocked toward the wave of Bone Dragons. They exploited their superior numbers and surrounded Bone Dragons with 10 to 15 Griffins for each. Although the Bone Dragons were strong, there was only so much pummeling they could take. Screaming in pain, one of the Bone Dragons retaliated, caught a Griffin in its jaws and tore it to pieces, causing bright red blood and innards to rain from the sky. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a red light flashed across the neck, no, multiple necks, of Griffin Riders, beheading the brave warriors instantly. It was Sophie taking the fight to the Griffin Legionherself. They didn¡¯t even get the chance to let out a scream before they were dead. That wasn¡¯t all Sophie did either. Pointing her palm at the riders of the Griffin Legion, she fired a series of Wind Blades and Ice Blades that tore into dozens of brave warriors at once. Sophie was a Purgatory Sovereign, and there was absolutely nothing they could do to withstand her attack. More than half of the Griffin Legion was killed in an instant. Ziyan¡¯s eyes burned with rage, but there was nothing she could do to help her soldiers¡ªor was there? She abruptly snatched a longbow from the archer next to her, injected a kind of flaming energy into the bow, and fired a flame arrow straight at Sophie! "Hmm?" Sophie let out a grunt of astonishment before turning around and slapping the arrow out of the way. She glared at Ziyan murderously and asked, "Do you seek death, little girl?" The air stirred, and a seemingly infinite pressure pressed against all our bodies. Then, Sophie shot toward Ziyan like lightning and swung her sword! "Foolish girl!" Sophie stomped down on Ziyan¡¯s stomach and sent a tremor across the entire wall. Then, she pressed the tip of her sword against the commander¡¯s c.h.e.s.t and said, "Allow me to send you to hell with this one strike!" Tears of humiliation trickled down Ziyan¡¯s cheeks. She was a famed commander of the continent, and yet she couldn¡¯t even endure one hit from Sophie. Right before Sophie was about to kill her, a gust of wind wrapped around her sword and stopped it from moving. At the same time, a beautiful figure appeared on the wall. It was none other than the queen of Sky City, Karinshan! Chiang! Blade clashed against blade, and Sophie¡¯s sword was knocked away from Ziyan. Karinshan glared at Sophie while saying, "Why have you crawled out of your hole, Sophie? And what¡¯s with this sudden assault? You used to be a human yourself! A woman who was known as one of the Ten Heroes!" Sophie smiled. "How does it feel to be the regent of a country, Karinshan? With so much power in your hands, I bet you can¡¯t even feel the helplessness of the weak, can you?" Karinshan uttered with bloodshot eyes. "I fought for the weak my whole life!" "Is that so?" Karinshan shuddered from head to toe. "What did you learn, Sophie?" Sophie said coldly, "Coldblade told me everything, Karinshan. Surrender Duke Carrance now. This is your only choice!" Beside Princess Karinshan, Ziyan struggled to her feet and said, "Carrance is the symbol of honor of the empire! He¡¯s also our only Sword Saint of Stars left! We cannot give him up to this devil!" Sophie broke into a manic smile. "Then you leave me no choice but to burn everything in Sky City into ashes!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, a Bone Dragon had moved close enough to the ground to give Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi a dragon breath bath. I hurriedly threw my sword at the miniboss''s neck and dragged its aggro to me while they were recovering. At the same time, I ran to a position where the archers could shoot it. Beiming Xue smiled. "It¡¯s an Immortal Rank miniboss, people! Shoot it down! With some luck, we might get Immortal-grade equipment out of this!" Chapter 975: Sword Saint of Stars Everyone¡¯s eyes lit up when they heard that the miniboss could drop Immortal-grade equipment. There were almost a hundred Bone Dragons in the sky. Assuming that they could kill all of them, and that every dragon dropped between 3 to 5 items, it wasn¡¯t unthinkable that the Dragonlight Cavalry could equip 1 or even 2 Immortal-grade equipment at the end of the day. Currently, most of our cavalry troops were wearing Earth-grade or Heaven-grade equipment. There were very few players who got Immortal-grade equipment of their own because it was both incredibly expensive¡ªat least 100k RMB on the market¡ªand rare. Without sufficient skill or luck, it was practically impossible to obtain such items! "Hold! Keep the tanks healed and don¡¯t die!" He Yi barked orders while playing the tank herself with Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, and me. Spreading the miniboss''s DPS evenly among ourselves, we were able to keep the Bone Dragon from threatening anyone of us. Its dragon breath dealt at most 100k HP to us, which was nowhere enough to one-shot our tanks at all. Also, the skill had a cooldown between 2 to 3 seconds, and that was enough time for our priests to heal everyone back to full health. Pu pu pu... The Bone Dragons we aggroed descended to the ground and swiped at our shields. We hit right back with Barrier Breaks and more powerful skills. With Beiming Xue reducing their Defense with Bone Eroding Arrow as well, the possibility that they might outlast us simply didn¡¯t exist. Less than three minutes later, the first Bone Dragon died and exploded into a shower of equipment. To our pleasant surprise, it dropped not 5, but 11 pieces of equipment! Chaos Moon happily swiped them all and distributed them to the other players. The Frost Cloud workshop declined any reward because we had already received handsome rewards for winning the WEL nationals and internationals. Rather than hoarding the Bone Dragons¡¯ loot to ourselves, it would be wiser to distribute it to our core players such as Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen and more. They are the pillars of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. The guild couldn¡¯t be strong without them. "Here come another three!" Beiming Xue said while aggroing three Bone Dragons with her arrows. This time, Xu Yang and I worked together to tank a Bone Dragon each. My mount jumped into the air, and I hacked the miniboss right across the neck. To my surprise, Mountain Crush triggered and allowed me to slice through three of the Bone Dragon¡¯s backbones. It screeched in pain as a damage number no one expected popped into our vision¡ª1477272! "What the f.u.c.k, Lu Chen! A MILLION damage? Can you be any more OP than you already are??" Xu Yang exclaimed in shock. I was pretty shocked myself. I had no idea that Mountain Crush worked on mobs like this as well. Awesome! The Bone Dragon let go of my arm immediately like a frightened kitten, stunning everyone once again. Who would¡¯ve thought that a simple dragonling¡¯s roar would scare the shit out of its unholy brethren? Seriously, the Bone Dragon was literally shaking like a quail. If my Asura King¡¯s Deterrence lowered the miniboss''s stats, then the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s roar straight up rendered it powerless! Not about to let the golden opportunity pass by, my guildmates swarmed the Bone Dragon from all sides and killed it in no time. On the other hand, I took a moment to catch my breath and watch my dragonling fall into a deep sleep again. God damn, just how much does a dragonling need to sleep anyway? Suddenly, the Bone Dragons in the sky roared in unison. After they had torn most of the Griffin Legion into pieces, they began dive-bombing the ground and spitting their draconic breaths at us, dealing around 100k+ damage per hit. If it was just one hit, the Dragonlight Cavalry could tank it without problem. However, some of the Bone Dragons were attacking the same location at the same time. Those players who were unfortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire all burned to their deaths. Still, everyone was giving it their all. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and our subguilds were the only guilds still alive to defend the eastern gates. Bloody Mercenaries and our subguilds filled in the blanks as the players of our main guild died to the assault. Dozens of Bone Dragons circled in the air and spat fire on the ground the moment their cooldowns were up. The entire Sky City was literally on fire right now. ¡­¡­ Boom! Suddenly, a figure wreathed in flames crashed down from the walls and smashed into our formation. She skidded across the ground before hitting a Bone Dragon¡¯s leg in the end. There was only one NPC warrioress who dressed herself in fiery battle armor in this city, and she was none other than Princess Karinshan herself. Her lips were stained with blood, and a deep gash marred her normally flawless arm. Behind her, the enraged Bone Dragon she had slammed into tried to swallow her whole, but the furious woman easily cut its head off its neck with a single swing of her blade. NPCs had it so much easier than players when battling against another mob. That was 25% HP in a single hit! "Here I come!" A woman¡¯s voice came from the walls, and Karinshan hurriedly turned around and crossed her sword in front of herself. A loud clang later, the woman was sent stumbling to the back. The attacker was none other than Sophie herself. There was no chance Karinshan could ever hope to defeat her. Sophie swung her sword again and left another wound across Karinshan¡¯s c.h.e.s.t. Smiling sinisterly, the Snow Minstrel said, "This is all you got after cultivating your strength for a millennium? Why don¡¯t you give me your life so I may summon that powerful yet cowardly Sword Saint of Stars of yours?" Karinshan¡¯s sword hung limply beside her legs, and blood trailed down the blade and dripped onto the pure white marble beneath her feet. At a glance, they looked like red peach flowers. "Dream on! Master Carrance has secluded himself in the sacred hall since centuries ago! He¡¯ll never accept your summons! Sophie, you will regret everything you did today. The only one who wronged you is yourself!" "Take your hypocritical words elsewhere, woman!" Sophie fired a burst of undead energy at Karinshan¡¯s c.h.e.s.t. It was a grievous blow that threw the princess of Sky City to the back and slammed her into the statue of a sword carved by a famous craftsman. The symbol of the Silver Moon Alliance cracked at the impact before crumbling into a million pieces. ¡­¡­ "What do we do?" Gui Guzi said with widened eyes, "The Goddess of Death is so fierce! We¡¯re all going to die if this continues!" I raised my sword and declared without hesitation, "What else? Work with me and attack Sophie! A Divine Rank boss is still a boss you can kill!" I raised my left palm and fired a golden seal into the air. It fell down between Sophie and Karinshan and stopped Sophie from landing what could¡¯ve been a fatal blow. Bang! Unfortunately, the blade hit Sophie¡¯s powerful protective aura and bounced away, spinning back into my hands. That being said, I had finally caught the goddess¡¯s attention!" Sophie looked at me and raged, "You are¡­ an undead? Hahaha! What a joke! Well, that doesn¡¯t matter. Xinran isn¡¯t around to save you this time, ¡®older brother¡¯. I will kill you, sever her only tie to the living and take her back to the Purgatory with me!" She abruptly appeared in front of me as if she had teleported and swung her blade, shouting, "Die, boy!" The Purple Ying Sword shivered almost as if it could sense the opponent¡¯s power. I tried to Guard Sophie¡¯s attack, but her strength was so much greater than my own that my own sword was pressed into my own shoulders, dealing 178973 damage! I was also blown away to the back like a leaf! I skidded across the ground for a long time before I came to a stop. More than half of my HP had gone missing from that one strike. Thankfully, both Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew weren¡¯t far away from me, so a couple of Instant Heals later I was back to full health. Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and Xu Yang reached Sophie! Thud thud thud... Li Chengfeng¡¯s Dragonbone Flurry wasn¡¯t able to do too much damage to Sophie. The brave Xu Yang closed his distance with the Goddess of Death in an instant and hit her back with a Mountain Staggering Slash, but... 1929! His Attack was so low that he wasn¡¯t able to deal too much damage to her at all. Gui Guzi attacked Sophie from the front and pierced her protective aura with Barrier Break. He successfully left a wound on her stomach and dealt 7882 damage! Angered by the attack, Sophie planted a foot on Gui Guizi¡¯s shoulder and swung her sword right across his neck! 378284! +189142! The shock had almost suffocated us. That woman had almost one-shot a super tank like Gui Guzi in one hit! Just how strong was Sophie? Chiang! Sophie knocked He Yi out of the way before raising her sword above her head. Ignoring the attacks hitting her body, she growled, "Death Storm!" "Back off!" I hurriedly shouted. I rose to my feet and attacked again. This time, I fired Dragon Slaying Slash and Ancient Seal! Boom boom! The attacks enraged Sophie and caused her to run toward me. She easily cut through the Heaven-burning Armor and planted her sword through my c.h.e.s.t, dropping my HP to zero. Luckily, I had activated Resurrection Art beforehand and revived back to life! "Hmph! Petty undead tricks!" Sophie swung her sword, and again, I lost another level. This time, I was nailed to the wall and unable to move. ¡­¡­ It¡¯s over! I couldn¡¯t think of anything that would help me or my guild defeat Sophie. Hell, at our current level, even surviving her assault was an impossibility. It was at this moment that I heard a soft voice that I almost missed, "I¡¯m almost there, big bro! Just hold on a bit longer!" It was at this moment I heard a heavy and ancient voice from the back. "Let go of that young warrior, Sophie. I am the one you¡¯re looking for." ¡­¡­ Carrance, the Sword Saint of Stars, had finally shown up! Chapter 976: Battling the Sword Saint "Carrance, you decrepit human!" Sophie¡¯s eyes suddenly erupted with malevolence. "Still remember the massacre of Frosty Night Town? I will never forget the innocent souls you murdered with your blade, Duke! I will never forget the sight of my mother¡¯s bones turning into ashes when I returned home! I will kill you!" Carrance pulled out a silver-colored light sword from his back before replying, "Sinful Sophie, the very fact that you, an undead, are asking me to answer for my supposed crimes, when you yourself have claimed countless innocent lives with your two hands is hypocrisy of the highest degree. You and I will always be sworn enemies. However, I, Duke Carrance, will let you know that I have never murdered an innocent. Therefore, your mother¡¯s death cannot have anything to do with me!" Sophie howled and surrounded her blade with swirls of red energy. She smiled sinisterly at Duke Carrance and said, "Executioners can always find excuses for their crimes. Carrance, you are a duke of the empire with great power in your hands. You will never understand the anger of the commoners. I may have died and become an undead, but I will have justice for those who are still alive!" ¡­¡­ Carrance uttered through gritted teeth, "Come, devil! I will not let you stain Sky City with your sinful hands any longer! This is our final bastion!" Whoosh! Sophie¡¯s sword cut through air and struck the Sword Saint of Stars¡¯ weapon, causing a mini cyclone and the latter to stagger backward. However, the Sword Saint of Stars proved to be a formidable fighter. His level was invisible to us, and he was the first person today to block Sophie¡¯s attack without being crushed. We have a chance! Crack crack... Debris fell off my body as I pulled myself out of the wall I had been pushed into. Then, I called out to Beiming Xue, "Beiming, shoot Sophie with Devil Piercing Arrows and whatever CC skills you have! Everyone else, spread out and get ready to take down Sophie! She is the true evil behind this patch; take her out, and everything will be resolved!" "Mn!" Chiang! Sparks exploded between Carrance and Sophie as the latter destroyed his parry again. Although they were both thousand-year-old experts, it was obvious that the Sword Saint of Stars was far weaker than Sophie. I stood in front of Lian Xin, raised the Dragon God Shield and said, "Little Xin, I¡¯ll cover you, so use your Origin Force Fields and cut off Sophie¡¯s movements!" "Got it!" Lian Xin raised her Thunder God Scepter and slapped a dozen of Origin Force Fields around Sophie. She was so fast that not even the Goddess of Death herself was able to move around them. But she didn¡¯t need to. Sophie simply charged right through an Origin Force Field and shattered it like it didn¡¯t exist! "Ah¡­" Lian Xin shot me a helpless look. "I can¡¯t, Lu Chen. Sophie¡¯s domain power is simply too strong, I¡¯m not even a Divine General¡­" I gritted my teeth, but there was nothing else I could try. I could only watch the Sword Saint of Stars resisting Sophie¡¯s attacks as best he could. "Xinran, faster!" I urged in my mind. She was wrong. It was the Sword Saint of Stars, Carrance, who had to hang on until she arrived, not me. ¡­¡­ "Sword formation!" Carrance abruptly backed to the edge of the city and raised an arm. The next moment, a storm of swords fell right on top of Sophie. However, the Goddess of Death simply smiled and said, "You think you can hurt me with a petty trick?" She then opened her left palm, summoned a ball of red light between her fingers and growled, "Soul Umbrella. Block it all!" Whoosh! A blood-red umbrella about ten meters in diameter abruptly appeared above Sophie. It rotated slowly and absorbed all the attacks. In the end, Carrance¡¯s sword formation wasn¡¯t able to pierce it completely and deal any damage to Sophie. "God dammit!" Carrance jumped up to the wall, pushed himself off and shot toward Sophie like lightning. His sword glowed with power as he struck the Soul Umbrella three times in a row. He was ultimately able to tear tenacious defense into pieces. Roar! The draconic blast hit the Sword Saint of Stars squarely in the c.h.e.s.t and tore a huge hole at the center. At this point, he almost didn¡¯t have enough strength to grasp his sword anymore. Pa! Sophie stomped the ground angrily and jumped into the air. At the same time, she cut off the Sword Saint¡¯s arm and sent it flying into the air! The man screamed in pain and horror. Even if he somehow survived this, he would never return to his peak form, and the one who ended his era was none other than the second strongest Purgatory Sovereign, Sophie! Thud... In the sky, Sophie caught the detached arm before it fell to the ground and gave it a sniff. Then, she smiled cruelly before biting a chunk of flesh from the limb! A moment later, she spat out the meat and blood with a frown and said, "Disgusting. It is just as disgusting as your rotten heart. Be ready, Carrance. My next strike will take off your head!" Pushing down the pain, Carrance picked up his sword from the ground with his left arm and uttered through gritted teeth, "You won¡¯t be able to wipe out humanity even if you kill me, Sophie. There will always be more human cultivators who will rise up to challenge you¡­" Not far away, Karinshan staggered toward the duo while saying, "Master Carrance, you cannot give up yet. You are the martial god of Sky City, and you cannot submit to the power of darkness! We cannot surrender to Sophie even if she kills us!" Carrance looked up at Sophie before letting out a sudden, shuddering laugh. "I can sense your fury, Sophie. But you must know that we have never slaughtered the townspeople of Frosty Night Town, only isolated them! Yes, we burned some people on the stakes, but they were bandits who had attempted to pillage the city, not the townspeople!" Sophie slowly landed on top of the city wall before looking in the direction of Frosty Night Town. Deep sorrow colored her red eyes as she faced Karinshan all of a sudden before saying, "Princess, I was born and raised in Frosty Night Town, and my biggest dream was to become a proud knight of the empire. I learned my skills in Vanished God City and eventually became a member of the Ten Heroes. But what did I see when I awoke from my slumber? I saw human nobles scheming and stabbing each other in the back for power. I saw armies slaughtering their own people. I saw Frosty Night Town turned into rubble in a single night! Is this how the empire repays my loyalty, princess?" Karinshan stared at Sophie in determination. "I don¡¯t know what truly happened in Frosty Night Town, but I¡¯m certain that Master Carrance would have never slaughtered a defenseless person! At least half of the continent was struck by the undead plague that year, and many of Frosty Night Town¡¯s townspeople were infected and turned into soulless puppets. Even so, I¡¯m certain that Master Carrance wouldn¡¯t have raised his blade against these former humans!" Sophie smiled, but it looked unnaturally white and gaunt beneath the moonlight. A pair of tears slid down her cheeks as she murmured to herself, "It¡¯s been so many years, but I still couldn¡¯t forget my mother¡¯s voice. I could still remember her singing me to bed, the scent of her fried onion pancakes and oat bread, her back when she sent me off to the War God Academy. Even to this day, the memory of her singing can drive me to tears, and her smile can wake me from my dreams!" Anger flooded Sophie¡¯s eyes at this moment. "It is you, Carrance, who killed my mother! It is your guards who tied my mother to the stake and burned her to ashes! Even as she burned, she wouldn¡¯t stop calling out my name, her Little Sophie. Even after she died, her soul couldn¡¯t find release! Today, I will crush this hypocritical rule to nothing and return everything to the void!" Carrance gritted his teeth again and said, "I have¡­ never ordered the massacre of any civilian!" "Die!" Sophie abruptly shouted and fired a sword beam at him. It pierced his body and slammed him against the marble with the insignia of the city etched onto it. He spasmed like crazy as blood poured out of his wounds. Judging from his eyes that were rapidly losing focus, it wouldn¡¯t be long before he died. ¡­¡­ Sophie abruptly closed the distance between herself and the Sword Saint before punching him in the c.h.e.s.t. His ribs instantly broke like sticks, but surprisingly, the man was able to transform his groan of pain into a frown. He stared at Sophie and said, "A man¡¯s lifespan is destined from the start. If it is my fate to die here, then I will pass away without regrets, for I am secure in the knowledge that I¡¯ve protected the people of this continent my whole life!" Boom! She punched again, and this time her fist went right through his heart. The Sword Saint was still living because he had great power. Another man would¡¯ve died a long time ago. ¡­¡­ The Bone Dragons were still controlling the sky. More hurricanes were approaching the city as well. Karinshan dropped to her knees and cried out, "Master Carrance¡­" It was at this moment a red light tore through the clouds, and a dark silver head of a dragon poked out. It looked at me for a second before crying, "Oh! I see your big brother, my beautiful and innocent master! Sophie has totally kicked his ass!" Chapter 977: Purgatory Ghost Lamp I had to admit that I was overjoyed to hear that sonuvabitch¡¯s voice. Xinran had finally arrived! I looked up just in time to see a ray of bloody light piercing through the clouds, and Xinran descending from the sky. Blood-red cape fluttering behind her back and her signature Dragonbone Spear in hand, the beautiful girl landed right in front of me and shot me a small smile. "You look terrible, big bro¡­" A bit embarrassed, I pointed at the Sword Saint to distract her. "Sophie¡¯s about to kill Sword Saint Carrance, Xinran! Please stop her!" But Xinran curled her lips and complained, "I don¡¯t want to. The guy¡¯s someone who carries himself arrogantly just because he has the merits to show for it!" Karinshan limped toward us and begged her, "Lady Wind Singer, I know that the nobles of Sky City haven¡¯t given you the best impression, but please, I beg you to save Master Carrance! He¡¯s the last martial symbol of the empire, he cannot be allowed to die like this¡­" Xinran looked at me. "Do you really want me to save Carrance, big bro?" I nodded. "More importantly, we need to defeat Sophie. Sky City will fall very soon if she¡¯s allowed to keep summoning her hurricanes. This is our home, Xinran. I can¡¯t possibly allow it to fall to the undead¡­" "Understood¡­" Xinran abruptly turned around to face Sophie. "Are you done, my dear sister? Do you truly intend to wipe out every living being there is on this continent?" Still smiling a malevolent smile, Sophie punched Carrance in the arm¡ªspecifically the wound where it was cut off¡ªand elicited a painful scream from him before looking at Xinran. "Nothing can extinguish my flames of anger and vengeance, Xinran. Do you really think you can stop me?" Xinran raised her Dragonbone Spear and declared, "You¡¯ve brought over 25% of the undead in the Purgatory to the human world, haven¡¯t you? Do you think Lin Na¡¯s opinion of you will drop if I slay all of them?" "Pooh!" Chiang! Sophie swung her sword at Xinran, and Xinran blocked it with her Dragonbone Spear. Since Sophie¡¯s strike had too much force behind it, Xinran was pushed all the way to the back, feet drawing a pair of deep lines across the brick floor until they slammed into the wall behind her. The girl kicked out at the wall to steady herself, pushed Sophie¡¯s sword away from her and retaliated with a quick thrust! Bang bang bang... Xinran landed three solid hits, but they all failed to penetrate Sophie¡¯s protective aura. Sophie kicked the spear out of the way and brought her sword down onto Xinran¡¯s shoulder. Thankfully, Xinran had been restoring her former strength through continuous training all this time. The strike hurt, but didn¡¯t affect her combat capabilities in the slightest. "Hmph!" Sophie suddenly slid backward and waved her arm. Bloody runes appeared beneath her feet, and a great number of vortexes appeared around her person as she growled, "I, Sophie, offer a contract to the evil spirits slumbering beneath the depths of hell. Awaken and devour everything¡ªRoar of the Hellhound!" Whoosh whoosh whoosh¡­ A hole that connects to the Purgatory appeared, and a dozen or so crimson Hellhounds rushed out of it, charging toward Xinran. They were souls, so the skill counted as an energy attack. The gigantic creatures¡¯ also had burning feet that left deep, burning holes on the ground. Despite their size, they moved extraordinarily quickly. It looked like they would run over the Wind Singer like a train. Xinran took two steps backward, planted her feet firmly on the ground and raised her Dragonbone Spear. She chanted, "I, Wind Singer Xinran, offer a contract to the infinite souls slumbering beneath the depths of hell. Grab your weapons, recall your loyalty, and withstand everything¡ªProtection of the Loyal Knights!" Wind surged around Xinran, and a bunch of crimson souls took on the form of mounted knights before charging toward the Hellhounds! Boom boom boom! The resulting explosion nearly turned the entire eastern entrance of Sky City into rubble. The gate straight up exploded into smithereens, and the walls crumbled like a landslide. At the current stage of the game, no player was strong enough to fight an enemy who could cast a forbidden spell at this level, let alone use a forbidden skill themselves. A ton of players were killed by the collapse of the walls. Standing next to the ruins, Roaming Dragon murmured in shock, "Heavens, what the hell is this? Thousands of people died just like that¡­ Who are those women?" Coldmoon Rose stared at her guild leader in exasperation. "Haven¡¯t you been listening? She¡¯s Sophie, the Goddess of Death! Anyway, let¡¯s withdraw to the Holy Temple already. The eastern gate is already lost¡­" In the end, Mad Dragon couldn¡¯t hold the line any longer and retreated. It was never Roaming Dragon¡¯s style to fight fearlessly to the end anyway. ¡­¡­ Since Xinran herself was fighting, her pet, the Winged Silver Dragon, wasn¡¯t idle as a matter of course. It took it a swipe or two to the neck at most to incapacitate a Bone Dragon and send them tumbling to the ground. We would then surround the fallen Bone Dragon with a hundred players or so and kill it. Everyone¡¯s event points were rising like crazy, and I had no doubt that most of our players would rank at the top of the point leaderboard when the event was over. After all, every guild in Sky City except ours had withdrawn into the city to defend. Xinran leaped into the air with a sonic boom. Sophie followed suit while shouting, "Today will be the day we settle our grudge once and for all, Xinran!" The two beautiful figures disappeared into the clouds and clashed repeatedly, their powers causing lightning bolts to fall to the ground. Sophie had the initiative, and it was a fact that she was slightly stronger than Xinran. That being said, Xinran had the Winged Silver Dragon to help her, so they were probably even. Boom! Another Bone Dragon dropped to the ground, and there were barely any left in the sky. All in all, Sophie¡¯s "filthy insect" attack had failed to deal a fatal blow to our city. It had cost us many players¡ªtoo many even¡ªbut no amount of sacrifice was too much to defend our King of Cities. Sky City was the Great Wall that protected the east side of the Center. As long as Sky City remained standing, Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and Purple Gr.a.p.e City wouldn¡¯t be able to invade! "Winged Silver Dragon, it¡¯s fine now! Go help Xinran!" I shouted at the dragon. It raised its head and replied affirmatively, "Yes, my dear master¡¯s big brother¡­" He Yi broke into a smile. "This dragon is pretty human-like, huh?" I smiled back. "Of course! It¡¯s Xinran¡¯s pet after all!" Suddenly, Beiming Xue pointed to the front and said, "Look, a new mob called Purgatory Ghost Lamp is floating up from the rocks¡­" I rode to the frontline and looked over the edge. It was as she said. Countless hordes of mobs that looked like green lanterns were floating toward us from the floating rocks that bridged Sky City and the ground. I activated Dark Pupils immediately and captured its stats. It was a high-level magic-type mob with great Magic Attack¡ª Purgatory Ghost Lamp (Dread) Level: 215 Magic Attack: 9500~11500 Defense: 8000 HP: 800,000 Property: Magic Affinity. Magic damage is increased by 50% Skills: Fireball, Purgatory Firewall, Dance of Death Introduction: The Purgatory Ghost Lamp is a resentful spirit that roams the lands of the dead. Originally, they were just a concentration of mental energy filled with a violent aura of death. The undead cursed them and turned them into their pawns. The Purgatory Ghost Lamp dances, unleashing flurry of formless attacks with its deadly magical energy. It makes them one of the scarier units of the Hell Legion. "Watch out, people! The Purgatory Ghost Lamp is a magic-type mob!" I moved back to the city while shouting, "Dragonlight Cavalry, assume battle formations immediately! The Ghost Purgatory Lamps can¡¯t fly, so we¡¯re going to stop them outside the walls! Dragonlight Archers, mages, you¡¯re the DPS! Priests, move a bit closer to the tanks and prepare to heal them at a moment¡¯s notice! Purgatory Ghost Lamp has a property called Magic Affinity that increases their damage by a certain percent, so it¡¯s going to hit like a truck!" Everyone rushed into action right away. While the two Divine Rank NPCs, Xinran and Sophie, were doing battle above the city, we were fighting our own war. Our efforts would directly decide the fate of our cities! Chiang chiang chiang¡­ The tanks pulled out their weapons and waited for the Purgatory Ghost Lamps to show up. It wasn¡¯t long before the mobs floated up to the ground and rushed us at high speed. When they were 25 yards away from the Dragonlight Cavalry, they let out shrill howls and spun like fiery tops. Fireballs appeared from their octagonal bodies and hit our players! Bang bang bang¡­ The Fireballs we were used to being used by players weren¡¯t powerful, but these? These were positively o.b.s.c.e.n.e. They dealt around 50k damage to our players and 20k damage to me. "F.u.c.k, what a disgusting range! They can hit us, but we can¡¯t hit them! What should we do?" Gui Guzi asked. I immediately ordered, "Archers, use Far Shot and pull them under our frontliners!" The archers immediately let loose a rain of arrows into the mobs. Aggroed by the attack, the Ghost Lamps floated closer in an attempt to attack our archers, but they were stopped by our line of fighters. Li Chengfeng raised his Dark Blade and declared with a smile, "Fire at will, people!" A ton of AoE skills splashed across the battlefield instantly¡ªBurning Blade Slash, Reverse Scale Slash, Rock Crush, Aurora Thrust, Mountain Stagger Slash, Xiezhi Howl and more. The Purgatory Ghost Lamps lost their HP in no time. In the end, our cavalry was still our greatest force! Chapter 978: Headless Knight "Jiejie¡­" The Purgatory Ghost Lamps screeched and swelled, and a wall of fire suddenly erupted amid our Dragonlight Cavalry. It was a hot bath that no one wanted, dealing at least 10k damage per second to anyone who was caught within the flames. Worse, the Purgatory Ghost Lamps screeched louder and used their Dance of Death skill when their HP had fallen below 25%. More specifically, they summoned images of red traditional court ladies in the sky and dealt powerful AoE damage to all players within a 10x10 yard circle! Boom boom boom! The damage was so high that even High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon were hard-pressed to endure. 72898! 81282! 90001! ¡­¡­ "Holy f.u.c.k!" Xu Yang cried in surprise, "These big-c.h.e.s.ted ladies are way too hot for the likes of us! Someone, help!" I immediately ordered, "All priests, use your AoE heals as soon as your cooldowns are up! If our frontliners die, it¡¯s all over!" They immediately changed their mode of healing, but it was a bit too late. Almost a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen dropped dead before our priests could heal them. Panicking, I shouted again, "Stop attacking the mob when it¡¯s at 30% HP! Wait until your Barrier Break is up and work with the others to one-shot it! The Purgatory Ghost Lamps can only use their Dance of Death when they¡¯re below 25% HP, so you¡¯ll be safe if you one-shot them while they¡¯re still above 25%!" Unfortunately, controlling a mob¡¯s HP¡ªespecially in a group battle¡ªwas a difficult technique not everyone could master, so some of our Dragonlight Cavalrymen still fell to the mobs¡¯ Dance of Death. That was the price of growth though. Every expert must die a great number of times before they could become an expert, paying the price of a level to learn a new skill or technique. In other words, if you never get stomped, you¡¯ll never git gud. Pop! A Purgatory Ghost Lamp dropped a card, and I picked it up and gave it a look. It was your classic mage-exclusive card¡ª Purgatory Ghost Lamp Card: Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 45% and casting speed by 50%. Restores 10 MP per second. Level Requirement: 180. Duration: 120 minutes. ¡­¡­ I tossed it into Lian Xin¡¯s hands, and she used it immediately after checking out its effects. She could save it, but we desperately needed her firepower right now, not to mention that there were a ton of Purgatory Ghost Lamps still to kill. Of all the times to be conservative, this wasn¡¯t it. Swhoosh swhoosh¡­ It was around this time Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng leveled up at the same time, causing them to stare at each other in shock. "Holy shit, the Purgatory Ghost Lamps¡¯ experience is crazy! Let¡¯s kill some more, kakakaka¡­" The battle was like a tidal wave that washed the dredges away, but left gold behind. Almost 65% of our Dragonlight Cavalry was now dead, but everyone who was still alive at this point was some of the best elites we have. As our players started to grow more accustomed to the Purgatory Ghost Lamps, the tables turned into a one-sided slaughter. Of course, there were a couple of accidents and mistakes that led to someone dying to a Dance of Death still, but for the most part, the battle went smoothly. "Eh? What¡¯s wrong? Why are you all here?" I asked. Lin Yixin waved her weapon a little while explaining, "There are only less than 1000 Ghost Lamps at the southern gates, and the remaining Corpse Eaters are barely a challenge. Ling Xueshang and The Monarch Descends alone can hold them all off. I also heard that Sophie is here, so I came to see if you need some help." He Yi replied, "Well, you¡¯re in luck. There are at least a hundred thousand lamps here, so¡­" Lin Yixin smiled. "Very well, Snowy Cathaya will handle this section of the defense line then! Let¡¯s fight together, Sister Eve!" "Mn!" He Yi pointed to the south and ordered, "High Fighting Spirits, Wind Fantasy has offered to relieve some pressure for us, so go help the others!" "Got it, guild leader!" A Xiezhi Howl later, High Fighting Spirits and his party retreated and moved to Chaos Moon¡¯s position. We wholeheartedly welcomed Snowy Cathaya¡¯s assistance because there was no telling if the Purgatory Ghost Lamps were the final wave of mobs we had to fight. Moreover, we had lost over 70% of our forces already. The one hundred thousand players of Snowy Cathaya were a godsend to say the least. ¡­¡­ "I wonder if this is the last wave¡­" Lin Yixin said while shooting me a smile. I looked over the edge and turned purple immediately. "F.u.c.k! Yiyi, you jinx! The forest¡¯s practically crawling with new mobs! What do we do¡­" I wasn¡¯t exaggerating. The new mobs¡¯ footsteps caused the ground to quake, and the entire Sky Forest looked like they had been trampled over by a sea of bulldozers. The new mob was a three-meter-tall giant with black skin. It had three heads, six arms, and a multi-limbed lower body that resembled a spider. Even better, each pair of arms wielded two swords, two shields, and two axes! It looked terrifying to say the least! "F.u.c.k me!" I s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath before joking, "It¡¯s a sea of Nezhas[1]! We¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g dead!" Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me. "This isn¡¯t the time to joke around. We need to reform our defense line now!" "All magic knights, raise your shields and defend your positions!" I shouted, "This is the battle to end all battles! If we win, we¡¯re all heroes! If we lose, we¡¯re still heroes! Feel free to punch anyone who objects!" "What is he talking about¡­" Snowy Cathaya players watched me with a dumbfounded expression. However, my brothers¡ªGui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits, Du Thirteen and some more¡ªknew better and echoed my sentiment with feverish excitement, "Yeah! Win or loss, we¡¯re f.u.c.k.i.n.g heroes! Let¡¯s goooo!!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the "Nezhas" had climbed up to the ground and charged our defense line. They swung their swords, axes and even their shields wildly at us and successfully knocked back a bunch of Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Their offensive power was nothing to scoff at. "Hold! Priests, don¡¯t stop healing! Mages and archers, slow them down! They¡¯re too fast!" I shouted. Both we and Snowy Cathaya did our best to hold the line, but the three-headed giants¡¯ charge was simply too powerful. They were able to run over most of our frontliners and go to town on our backline. The death toll immediately skyrocketed! After I knocked aside a three-headed giant, I ordered, "Eighth subguild, where are you? Little Naughty, stun them and take them down one by one! Maintain formation! We can die, but we mustn¡¯t lose our backline no matter what!" Unfortunately, holes kept appearing in our formation despite our best efforts. The three-headed giants simply had too much Strength and Attack, so much so that even Gui Guzi was having trouble defending against them, much less everyone else. The battle of the eastern gate was slowly but surely devolving into a one-sided slaughter, and this time around, it was us being slaughtered. Bang bang bang¡­ A three-headed giant rampaged across our players, crushing battle armors with its flaming battle axes. Dragonlight Cavalry were dropping like flies everywhere. The mobs¡¯ levels were way higher than our players¡¯, and there was no realistic way to shorten that gap at all. The true horror of the event was upon us; a one-sided beating we could do nothing about, just endure as long as possible. The battlefield was littered with equipment and consumables in no time. All across the city, three-headed giants were crawling over the walls and engaging both players and NPCs in battle. While Commander Stark and his cavalry were engaging the enemy, Mad Dragon and Flower Room could only watch in horror. Nearly a hundred three-headed giants had climbed into the city, and there was nothing these weaklings could do to stop them. Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God and a bunch of other fighters worked with Dominating Heaven Blade and Charged a three-headed giant, but they all resulted in a MISS! It was true that the giants were dread-rank mobs, but they were summoned by Sophie herself. Their individual fighting capabilities outstripped even the Bone Dragons! Chaos was ever-present. The mobs weren¡¯t invincible, and one by one they were dropping as well. It came at the cost of many player lives, however. It was a terrible battle. ¡­¡­ Whoosh! It was at this moment a giant ball of flames fell from the sky and landed on an unfortunate hundred-man group of Snowy Cathaya players, annihilating them all in an instant and leaving a giant pit behind. Some of the scattering flames even struck the nearby walls. When the flames faded, a struggling Xinran and Sophie came into view. Xinran was holding back Sophie¡¯s blade with her b.a.r.e hand, and her Dragonbone Spear was lodged in Sophie¡¯s shoulder. Pu! Xinran pushed her weapon deeper into Sophie¡¯s flesh and caused a flash of pain across the latter¡¯s face. However, the Goddess of Death retaliated by twisting her blade and slicing off four of Xinran¡¯s fingers! Bang! Sophie abruptly kicked Xinran away before saying, "You are no match for me, Xinran! You need not fight for these hypocritical humans!" Xinran gritted her teeth and declared, "Don¡¯t even think about hurting my big brother, Sophie! What are you waiting for, headless knight? Get out here and help me!" The newcomer was a warrior in red battle armor, but a closer look revealed that his helmet was empty; that he didn¡¯t have a head at all. Wailing souls fueled flames that burned beneath his feet. Headless Knight Bloody Finger (Divine Rank Boss) Level: 240 ¡­¡­ "What?" Sophie¡¯s eyes widened. "You¡­ you revived Bloody Finger!?" 1. Nezha (ÄÄ߸) is a protection deity in Chinese folk religion. His official Taoist name is "Marshal of the Central Altar". Sometimes, he is shown in his "three heads and six arms" form (Èýî^Áù±Û). He has the ability to spit rainbows in some legends. Chapter 979: Mother Misses You So Much "Correct. Bloody Finger was a sinner, but I¡¯ve managed to purify his soul." Xinran stared at Sophie in determination. "Bloody Finger died that day, but sometimes, death can be a new beginning. I rescued his soul, revived his body using a potion that was created from the Blood of the War God, and transformed him into a Headless Knight. From now on, he will fight for the better of all living, and to wash his hands of all the sins he had acc.u.mulated throughout his life. Sophie, my dear sister, you understand how much I want you to be saved, don¡¯t you? Please don¡¯t sink further into the mire of hatred anymore." Sophie stared at Xinran for a moment before bursting into a mad, shivering laugh. She slowly gripped the blade of the Dragonbone Spear while saying, "You are as naive as ever, Xinran. Did you forget that Lin Na had implanted the mark of the undead in me? For as long as I live as Sophie, I will never be anything more but an undead whose soul is stained with sin. I can¡¯t go back anymore, Xinran! All the lives I¡¯ve taken have sewn an unbreakable shackle between my soul and the Purgatory! I will never be free!" "Is that so?" Xinran smiled confidently. "You say that, and yet I still found a way to save you. Sophie, everyone has a person in their heart that they cannot forget. For me, that person is my big brother. For you, that person is your mother. Is a soul with an attachment like this truly irredeemable? I think not." Xinran paused for a second before looking at the seemingly endless tidal wave of three-headed giants. "These devils are animals who have led ten thousand years of murderous lives in the Purgatory. Since you¡¯ve so kindly brought them to the human plane, I will make sure to kill all of them. On that note, you shall remain in the human plane as well, Sophie!" Sophie¡¯s c.h.e.s.t jiggled as she giggled. "Oh, naive Xinran, why would you ever want me on the human plane? To kill more humans? Have you recalled your duty as a former Purgatory Sovereign, and your undying loyalty toward Lord Lin Na after all?" Xinran¡¯s eyes turned colder. "I was never loyal to the devils. If there is one person I¡¯m loyal to, it¡¯ll be the love of my life, my big brother!" Xinran abruptly opened her palm and ordered, "Go, Bloody Finger! Take the braves of God Domain Ruins with you and begin the counterattack! Violet Empire¡¯s undead have come to our assistance as well. Together, we will slaughter all the devils that came to the human plane!" "Yes, my lady!" Ovia the Bloody Finger dropped to one knee as a show of respect to Xinran. Then, he let out a guttural growl that sounded like it came from the inner depths of his body, climbed up his mount and let out a mighty shout. His horse raised its front hooves and let out an ear-splitting neigh, causing countless rays of golden light to flash from a distant valley. It was a troop of warriors in golden armor! They numbered around tens of thousands, and they all hailed from God Domain Ruins! Boom boom boom... The brave warriors of God Domain Ruins charged the three-headed giants. Bloody Finger himself transformed into a cyclone of death that cut down every giant that dared to stand in his path. Divine Rank bosses are just way too powerful! ¡­¡­ "Holy shit!" Gui Guzi¡¯s mouth was open as wide as a fish outside water gasping for oxygen. "Those divine soldiers are f.u.c.k.i.n.g crazy! I can¡¯t believe they just trampled over the three-headed giants like that! Our Dragonlight Cavalry is practically shit compared to them¡­" I read the NPCs with Dark Pupils before shaking my head. "No, they¡¯re just the dead brought back to life. Still, this means that Xinran was successful. She actually resurrected the remains of the ancient gods and transformed them into an invincible army!" Lin Yixin raised her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and said with a smile, "Well, what are we waiting for then? Let¡¯s work together with Xinran¡¯s army and gain some experience already! Also, look at this! The Three-Headed Giant Card is even stronger than the Ghost Chariot Card!" Lin Yixin wasn¡¯t riding her mount right now. She was holding up the Three-Headed Giant Card, her arm flashing with the mark of Moonchaser Tiger. The card added a whopping 45% Strength boosted the impact force of one¡¯s charge by 35%; exactly the kind of effect a cavalry unit would want. Once we used it, only the most powerful enemies would be able to stop our charge. Chiang! I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and declared, "Dragonlight Cavalry, the storm of death has stopped, and the Three-Headed Giants are mounting a retreat! Now is the time to launch a counterattack and feast on their experience and loot! Let¡¯s go! The early bird gets the worm, so don¡¯t you dare fall behind!" The Armored Ice Qilin Horse neighed loudly, and we charged right down the floating rocks while crushing every enemy in the way. After Xinran had subdued Sophie, the undead army was a lot weaker than before. In fact, some of them were showing signs of fear and retreat. It won¡¯t get any better than this! Inside Sky City, the surviving guilds also rushed out to capitalize on the opportunity. The city defense had lasted several hours, and the number of casualties was positively o.b.s.c.e.n.e. Countless players had died inside and outside the city wall, and even we had lost over half of our cavalry and mounted archers. The battle had been desperate to say the least. ¡­¡­ Crack! Crack! High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Li Chengfeng and the others laughed gleefully at the one-sided slaughter. Everyone was trying to collect as many Three-headed Giant Cards as they could. The card was just that precious. Gui Guzi¡ªbless his honest soul¡ªwas charging in and out of the mob horde with a couple hundred Knight God¨Cboosted Dragonlight Cavalry. Our two Knight Generals, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust, were leading their own cavalry troops and assaulting the enemy themselves. This was the kind of moment our cavalry was made for! The killing lasted almost three hours. Almost all of the mobs on the map were killed, and even Bloody Finger had deemed that his job was done and returned to Xinran¡¯s side. The golden-armored divine soldiers vanished into depths of the forest as well. After ordering Li Chengfeng and the others to finish the pursuit, Lin Yixin, the girls, and I returned to the gate where Sophie and Xinran were. Covered in wounds from head to toe, Sophie sat at a corner in the walls and shot Xinran an exhausted look. "You done yet? You¡¯ve taken out almost all the troops I summoned from the Purgatory, but it won¡¯t be enough. When Lord Lin Na learns of this, he will simply attack with a bigger, stronger army. Do you really think the undead you resurrected at God Domain will be enough to stop him?" Xinran pulled out her spear from Sophie¡¯s c.h.e.s.t and rested its b.u.t.t on the ground. Then, she said, "Sophie, I know you¡¯re angry about the death of your mother. I know that you still believe that Carrance has killed her. What if I tell you that she¡¯s still present, and that I know where she is right now? I had to scour the entire Sky City domain to find her, but now I can take you to her." "What?" Tears immediately clouded Sophie¡¯s eyes. She rose to her feet and grabbed Xinran¡¯s shoulders with both hands. "You¡­ have you really found her? Xinran, you really know where she is?" Xinran nodded. "Come with me¡­ I hope you won¡¯t regret killing Sword Saint Carrance when this is all over¡­" "Mn." Xinran didn¡¯t fly like she normally did. Instead, she faced toward me and said, "Big brother, you and your friends should come with us. You all deserve to know the truth after all the damage Sophie has done to your city." "Mn." I nodded. We followed Xinran and Bloody Finger on the ground, while Sophie quietly floated in the sky. Even the sovereign of Sky City, Princess Karinshan, was in our little group. Trailing much further behind us were the commanders¡ªStark, Ziyan and more¡ªand tens of thousands of cavalry NPCs. We passed through the forest and Sophie¡¯s home, Frosty Night Town. The Purgatory Sovereign¡¯s eyes were filled with sorrow when she looked at the ruins. On the way, Xinran explained to her, "The undead plague was running rampant that year, and many Frosty Night Town¡¯s townspeople didn¡¯t succeed in escaping a gruesome fate. The disease had wilted their bodies, doused their soul flames and transformed them into undead over time. However, Carrance didn¡¯t have them burned to death as you have been led to believe. In fact, he built a monastery to the south of Frosty Night Town and housed them there. He had hoped that one day, someone will be able to save their souls¡­" Sophie shivered all over as she stared at the familiar-yet-unfamiliar sceneries around her. "Mother¡­" "Let¡¯s go. We¡¯re almost there." It wasn¡¯t long before we entered a rundown monastery. There, we saw countless undead who looked more dead than alive. Despite having transformed into undead, they didn¡¯t descend into evil and attack another living being. Instead, they lived there and waited for their long, long life to finally reach its end. After we circled around a couple of low walls and gravestones, we arrived at a small, dim house. Xinran pointed at the building and said, "Sophie, this is where your mother is staying¡­" Princess Karinshan shivered and blurted, "That scroll¡­ that¡¯s a priest¡¯s prayer scroll¡­" Xinran nodded. "She couldn¡¯t forget Sophie even when she was close to death. She said she couldn¡¯t rest easy until she saw and heard Sophie once more. So, a kind priest gave her a Seeking Scroll. All she needs to do is brush her finger against the parchment, and she''ll be able to see and hear Sophie again¡­" Rustle rustle rustle... Hand placed atop her sword, Sophie slowly made her way into the house. Her eyes were full of sorrow. The scroll lit up in response to her mother''s touch and replayed a certain scene. It showed a crack of hell filled with the cries of Corpse Eaters. It was the scene of Sophie entering the Purgatory and vanishing. The old woman had replayed this scene day after day, year after year. Still touching the scroll, the old woman let out a sigh and murmured to herself, "Sophie, my little Sophie, how did your voice become like this¡­? I can¡¯t see your face anymore, but I still miss you so much¡­" ¡­¡­ "Uu¡­" Sophie shivered all over and dropped to her knees. The tears she was holding back finally spilled down her cheeks. Chapter 980: S7 It had been over a thousand years since they met, and yet her mother had never forgotten her love for her. Sophie¡¯s tears dripped on the floor as she crawled her way toward her mother. She grabbed her hand and sobbed audibly, "Mother, mother, Sophie is back, Sophie is back¡­" The old lady shivered even harder and asked hoarsely, "Is it really you, Sophie? My little Sophie?" "It¡¯s me, mother¡­ it¡¯s me¡­" Sophie cried. "I¡¯m home¡­ little Sophie is finally home¡­" The old lady shuddering raised a bony finger to touch Sophie¡¯s soft, white cheeks, but she pulled away the second she made contact. "You¡¯re back, but¡­ I¡¯ve turned into this¡­ thing. You¡­ need to stay away, Sophie. I¡¯ll only dirty you¡­" Sophie sobbed even harder as she grabbed her mother¡¯s hand and pressed it to her cheek. "Sophie would never avoid you, mother. You are, and will always be, my greatest treasure¡­" The warmth of Sophie¡¯s cheeks transmitted to her palm, and the old lady smiled a little. Shockingly, a pair of tears actually flowed out of her sunken eye sockets as she murmured, "I don¡¯t remember how long I¡¯ve waited, but we¡¯re reunited in the end, and that is enough. Old Man Dei was telling the truth after all¡­" Suddenly, a wave of exhaustion washed over the old lady¡¯s face. She let out a sigh and said, "I¡¯m tired, Sophie. I¡¯m tired¡­" Sophie abruptly looked up in shock and fear. "Mother, what¡¯s wrong?" It was at this moment Xinran whispered to her from behind. "Her soul energy has long since depleted, Sophie¡­" "What?!" Sophie hurriedly cut open her palm and dripped her blood¡ªthe blood of a high-level undead¡ªonto her mother¡¯s skeleton. She kept crying while her blood flowed freely, "Mother, mother¡­" Xinran bit her lips and allowed her own tears to slide down her cheeks. ¡­¡­ Sha sha... The old lady¡¯s leg bones, ribs and more faded away and turned into dust. In the end, Sophie¡¯s attempt to save her mother was too little, too late. Her soul flame had long been extinguished. When an undead¡¯s flame no longer flickered, their death was true, in every sense of the word. "Mother, mother¡­" Sophie wailed. However, the old lady smiled again and touched her daughter¡¯s cheeks one last time. "I have to go, Sophie, but I¡¯m happy¡­ Do you know why you are the pride of my life, my little Sophie? It¡¯s because you are an excellent warrior of the empire and a member of the Ten Heroes. It¡¯s because you use your sword to protect everyone¡¯s homes. I have to go, little Sophie, but know that you will always be my pride¡­" At this point, even the old lady¡¯s fingers had faded into ashes. Sophie wailed on top of her lungs and tried to grasp at her mother¡¯s body. There was nothing left to grasp, however. "Mother, mother¡­!" The sound of Sophie¡¯s desperate wails beside her mother¡¯s bed filled the room... ¡­¡­ He Yi and Lin Yixin cried silently in the background. Beiming Xue and Lian Xin were sobbing audibly beside them. Even Purple Marquis had to look away and wipe a tear from the corner of his eyes. Men are no unfeeling plants. Anyone would be moved by this selfless love. Swhoosh swhoosh... Sophie''s mother''s remains scattered into rays of golden light and ascended to the sky. It was the scene of a redeemed soul ascending to the heavens. "Mother¡­" Sophie watched the sky until her mother¡¯s remains were completely gone. A while later, she wiped away her tears before murmuring in determination, "Am I your pride, mother? Then I won¡¯t disappoint you any more. From now on, my sword will only be swung to protect our home and those who are just as kind as you, mother. I won¡¯t waver anymore, even in death. Please watch over me from heavens, mother. I will reunite with you one day!" Finally, she rose back to her feet and looked at Xinran. She thanked her from the bottom of her heart, "Thank you, Wind Singer Xinran, my dearest sister!" Xinran murmured, "Can you promise me that you won¡¯t take another life, Sophie? There are too many kind souls who have lost those precious to them. Killing shouldn¡¯t be the only thing for this world¡­" Sophie nodded. "I know, Xinran. I won¡¯t ever return to hell anymore. But what should I do to atone for my sins? I know my death is the only way to make up for it all, but I wish to do something for the empire before the inevitable happens¡­" "I understand," Xinran said. Behind her, Princess Karinshan stepped out and said, "I¡¯m sure Duke Carrance will be able to rest easy after seeing the tears of the Goddess of Death. Sophie, the Purgatory Ruler, Lin Na, is an ambitious monster and a destroyer of worlds. He cannot be allowed to succeed in whatever scheme he is plotting, or the entire continent will turn into a blood-filled hell. We need your strength, and you¡­ are a kind daughter of Sky City. I¡¯m sure you can help us somehow¡­" Karinshan nodded. "I understand." Xinran said, "If you won¡¯t participate in wars between the human empires, how about you set up a base somewhere and defend that area? You can act as a deterrent¡­" Karinshan agreed. "That¡¯s a good idea. The Night Creatures are everywhere on the continent. Sky City is constantly under the threat of the Corpse Eaters. Currently, we have two cities that could use Sophie¡¯s presence. The first one is Fortress of the Iron Halberd of Dawn Valley. Both the wolves of the north and the Night Creatures lurking in Dragonbone Mountain Range are vying after the newly-built fortress. The second one is White Rose Fortress. This fortress has stood for over a millennium and gone through countless repairs and reconstructions. Of all the cities, it is also the one that has repelled the most undead attacks. Moreover, there are plenty of human cities and undead necropolises to the east of the fortress that we need to watch out for¡­" However, Xinran looked at me and asked, "Big bro, where do you think Sophie should be stationed?" I thought for a moment before replying, "Personally, I would choose White Rose Fortress. The Night Creatures often ambush civilians, and the major cities such as Cyan Earth City, Elephant City, Purple Gr.a.p.e City, Frostsword City and more are just waiting for an opportunity to claim Sky City for themselves. Someone needs to watch them¡­" Xinran smiled. "Very well. Would you like to protect White Rose Fortress, Sophie?" Sophie shot me a wary look before replying, "This boy is somewhat capable, but I can still squash him like a bug with one finger. I shouldn¡¯t listen to him, but I will go there if that is your wish, Xinran. I won¡¯t stay in White Rose Fortress, however. As I mentioned earlier, I will not participate in the war between humans." I nodded. "That¡¯s fine, you can just set up your base close to White Rose Fortress or something. You can help them if an army of Night Creatures attacks the fortress." "That¡¯s acceptable¡­" Finally, Sophie looked at Karinshan and asked her, "What do you plan to do with this monastery, princess?" Karinshan blinked once before replying, "Nothing. There is nothing I or anyone can do except pray that these pitiful undead will be redeemed one day. It is their fate, and we are powerless to change it." "Understood." Sophie asked another question, "Can you preserve this building for me? When I grow¡­ tired of life one day, I will return here and end myself." Karinshan s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath. "I will do that, but you can¡¯t die yet, Sophie. There is much for you to do¡­" "I know¡­" ¡­¡­ Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to all players, the opening chapter of the Fury of the Goddess of Death has been completed perfectly, and Sophie, the Goddess of Death, has joined the Silver Moon Alliance. All players gain 1 Luck, and new instanced maps offering D to S Rank tasks have been added to all tier 1 main cities. Players may enter these instances to obtain experience and equipment. All items obtained in the instances are bound to character on pick-up, and thus cannot be traded! Lin Yixin commented beside me, "Yeah. Also, the game finally released its dungeon system. I probably don¡¯t need to tell you this, but you should sell your loot as soon as possible. Once people start farming higher-rank instances, the value of our current items will depreciate to literal trash¡­" I nodded. "Of course. The sooner we sell everything, the better! I wonder what kind of equipment rewards the instances will give. Do you think there¡¯ll be Immortal-grade equipment sets?" "Hard to say¡­" He Yi replied, "I heard on the gr.a.p.evine that each instance rank has 7 completely unique sets of equipment¡­" "Er, sorry, can you explain it a bit clearer?" Purple Marquis asked. Lin Yixin giggled. "Sister Eve is saying that each instance of the same rank¡ªlet¡¯s say D Rank for example¡ªhas 7 sets of equipment to obtain¡­" I added, "We can check the database. Now that the quest system is released, I¡¯m sure that new information has been updated¡­" I followed my own advice and checked the game database. As expected, almost everything was updated¡ª D Rank Instances: Poplar Forest (D1 set), Wilted Pine Forest (D2 set). Dropped sets are Level 70 Dark Steel¨Cgrade C Rank Instances: Warbeast Valley (C1 set), Fortress of Death (C2 set). Dropped sets are Level 120 Silver-grade A Rank Instances: Canyon of Fate (A1 set), Stele Forest of the God of Death (A2 set). Dropped sets are Level 150~180 Earth-grade S Rank Instances: Dropped sets are Level 180~210 Heaven or Immortal¨Cgrade. ¡­¡­ God dammit, only half of the information was provided, and the exact details of the S Rank instances were concealed! That being said, there was enough information that I could make an educated guess. The S1 set was a Heaven-grade set at the minimum, and the S7 set was most likely the legendary Immortal-grade set. Barring any exceptional circ.u.mstances, I¡¯m sure that everyone would be working toward obtaining the S1 to S7 equipment sets. In the future, there might be a saying like this: The player who obtains the S7 set shall conquer the world! Chapter 981: Trade With the Goddess Rustle rustle rustle... The three heavyweight NPCs of our group¡ªSophie, Xinran and Karinshan¡ªshuffled out of the house behind us. They were followed by commanders of Sky City and Xinran¡¯s new subordinate, the Headless Knight, Bloody Finger. Since I had taken Bloody Finger¡¯s Purple Ying Sword for myself, the man was now wielding a different, similarly awesome-looking sword. He also seemed to retain some of his former abilities. His left arm was covered in bloody runes that gave him immense strength. In a sense, he was exactly the man he used to be except that his undying loyalty had now been transferred to Xinran. I was proud of Xinran, to be honest. I never imagined that my NPC sister would one day be powerful enough to recruit even one of the nine Purgatory Sovereigns as her subordinate. Who knows, maybe one day she would be able to defeat the Purgatory Ruler himself and recruit him to her cause as well. I couldn¡¯t wait to wreck bosses, find loot and snatch territories all over the place with Lin Na and Bloody Finger in my party... "What are you thinking?" He Yi patted me on the shoulder and woke me from my dreams. "Er, it¡¯s nothing¡­" I hurriedly wiped the saliva from my mouth and said, "It looks like the instanced maps won¡¯t update until the next maintenance, so for now I think we¡¯re pretty much done." "Mn." He Yi nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it says here that all the instances in Sky City will open at 7 am tomorrow. A lot of players have logged out of the game to stock up on supplies already. I even heard someone saying that they¡¯d be spamming instances for three days straight and finish all 7 S Rank instances during this time¡­" I shuddered. "Holy shit, who¡¯s the overlord who thinks they¡¯re good enough to finish all 7 S Rank instances in three days?" He Yi answered, "Gui Guzi, actually¡­" "That idiot¡­" I shook my head before continuing, "Anyway, he¡¯s right about one thing at least. We should definitely sleep earlier tonight. Let¡¯s spend the rest of the day gathering resources for Duplicate Mount." "Mn." ¡­¡­ "Big bro¡­" Xinran walked up to my side and called out to me smilingly. ¡°You did well to stall Sophie. If she had killed Princess Karinshan, there¡¯s a high chance the royal family of Sky City would be lost once and for all. She is the only legal heir to the throne right now." I shot Karinshan a glance before saying, "Legal? Didn¡¯t she kill the previous king and claim his throne by force?" Xinran: "..." Karinshan shot me a look. "We¡¯re close, but I¡¯m still going to kick your a.s.s if you piss me off too much¡­ Jokes aside, thank you for everything you¡¯ve done, young warrior." I nodded. "You¡¯re welcome. It is every adventurer¡¯s responsibility to protect their city." Bloody Finger shivered from head to toe. "You!" I ignored him and asked Xinran a question, "Xinran, it¡¯s great you revived Bloody Finger to help you, but where is his head?" Xinran shot me a dumbfounded look. "Why are you asking me? You¡¯re the one who took it for your quest!" I made an expression of realization and looked at Karinshan again. The princess shrugged a little before replying, "We burned it to appease the lost souls." Bloody Finger shivered again. It was at this moment Sophie let out a mighty shout before saying loudly, "Undead of the snowy region, heed my order! You will march to the forest valley outside White Rose Fortress where our new territory will be founded! On the way, you will not attack any living or retaliate if you¡¯re hit! If engaged by a human army, run away! From now on, the undead will fight for honor and glory! Defend the order of the continent, and I, Sophie, will grant you the honor you deserve!" It was awesome to have the second-strongest Purgatory Sovereign and super boss of Heavenblessed on our side. Suddenly, an idea crossed my mind as I looked at Sophie. "Yo sis, you¡¯re one of the most influential people in the Purgatory, right? Can I discuss something with ya?" Sophie¡¯s mouth twitched. "Who the hell¡¯s your sis? Hmph! You may be Xinran¡¯s older brother, but I¡­ Ah, forget it. Just say what you want already!" "What?!" Sophie¡¯s eyes bulged as she pointed a finger at my nose. "You want my brave, undying soldiers to work for a shameless adventurer like you? No way, absolutely not! I will never allow my loyal soldiers to be enslaved by you!" I hurriedly pulled Xinran¡¯s hand and motioned for her to speak. My amity with Xinran was sky-high, so she immediately obliged and shot Sophie a smile. "Sophie, we¡¯re all in an alliance here, so there¡¯s no need to be selfish, is there? Your troops will be fighting the legion of the dead either way, so it doesn¡¯t matter where they¡¯re doing their job, right?" "I¡ªyou¡ªXinran¡ª" Sophie glared at me. "Hmph! If it wasn¡¯t for Xinran, I would send you to the Purgatory right now! You dote on him too much, Xinran. I swear, he¡¯ll use you to exploit Princess Karinshan next¡­" Xinran simply giggled and held my arm tighter. "I dote on him because he dotes on me just as much¡­" Can¡¯t say I can disagree with that. I happily accepted the praise. Not far away, Purple Marquis asked with a sigh, "OMG, Lu Chen, how are you favored by women both inside and outside the game? Teach me when you¡¯re free?" Sophie replied reluctantly, "Ten filthy Corpse Eaters, and no more than that!" I jumped in anger. "What is this, pocket change for a beggar? Even I can take down a Corpse Eater in a single hit, and you want me to pit them against Lin Na¡¯s army? Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g kidding me?" "What do you want then, you greedy bastard¡­" "Anything but a Corpse Eater. Their rank is too low. Give me something strong and intimidating¡­" "You can have the Three-headed Giants then¡­" "The fake Nezha?" I pondered for a moment but shook my head in the end. "The fake Nezha have powerful armor break abilities, but it¡¯s ultimately a ground unit, which means that it can be countered by a cavalry charge. Plus, I already have a 10000-strong Dragonlight Cavalry under my command, so I don¡¯t need more ground units. Why don¡¯t you give me some flying units? You know, like those filthy insects you mentioned earlier¡­" He Yi and Lin Yixin suppressed a smile. As expected of the intelligent girls, they figured out what I was aiming for the moment I said that. That¡¯s right, I wanted the undead Bone Dragons. These powerful flame-spitting beasts were practically gods against cavalry and foot soldiers. A single dragon breath could devastate dozens in an instant. If I could add some undead Bone Dragons to Dark Moon City, then its defenses would truly be impregnable. "Filthy insects, you say? Sure¡­" Sophie smiled. I smiled back. "Really? Thank you! You¡¯re practically my family, sis!" However, a tinge of malevolence entered her smile all of a sudden. "Come out, my filthy insects!" Swhoosh! A blood-red magical formation appeared on the ground, and three gigantic maggots with wings abruptly emerged from the center. Not only could these ugly bastards fly, the way they jiggled in the air could only be described as disgusting! "F.u.c.k.i.n.g hell!" I backpedaled until I accidentally ran into Sophie¡¯s round, bouncy b.r.e.a.s.ts, but it didn¡¯t feel good at all. One, she had intentionally misinterpreted my request. Two, I was half a head shorter than her. The b.r.e.a.s.ts pressing against my head only made me feel humiliated, dammit! "What the f.u.c.k are these things!?" I pointed at the maggots and said, "I won¡¯t accept them even if you give them away for free!" Sophie smiled. "That¡¯s odd. You ordered filthy insects, didn¡¯t you?" "No, I didn¡¯t!" Sophie replied, "Don¡¯t even think about it. Do you know how big of a graveyard, and how many Corpse Eaters it takes to nurture a single Bone Dragon?" "I know, actually. That¡¯s why I¡¯m going to buy it from you. Everything has a price, right? Tell me what your price is, and I¡¯ll do my best to pay it!" I was determined to procure some Bone Dragons from Sophie no matter what. It would leave a bad taste in my mouth if I failed, and pragmatically speaking, our enemies were growing stronger every day. Pop Culture was expanding at an incredible rate due to Candle Dragon¡¯s long-range support, Warsky Alliance had never given up on their d.e.s.i.r.e to conquer Dark Moon City, and Sword Lord of Jianghu was no easy pickings either. Everyone wanted Dark Moon City for themselves, and without enough firepower it was impossible to keep these wolves at bay. "A price, you say?" Sophie smiled again and fell into thought for a moment. Finally, she said, "Alright, I¡¯ll order my undead army to build a dark castle in the canyon next to White Rose Fortress as my undead lair. If you truly mean it, then you will give me the gold necessary to buy the stones I need to construct my city, the steel I need to arm my Corpse Eaters, and the cost to clean the Three-headed Giants. I can¡¯t just plunder the riches I need to build my army anymore." I nodded. "That¡¯s fine. How much do you want?" "I want a hundred thousand gold for each Bone Dragon¡­" Sophie replied. My jaw hit the floor. "You want one hundred THOUSAND for a single Bone Dragon? That¡¯s the price of a fully loaded Yuyan! This is daylight robbery! Don¡¯t you love me at all, sis?" Sophie shot me a look. "I don¡¯t. Xinran is the one who loves you, not me. Either you pay me a hundred thousand gold per Bone Dragon, or you can forget about them. If you think it¡¯s expensive, get it through your thick skull that it¡¯s not even an option for anyone else." I clenched my fists in anger. If only I was strong enough to punch her beautiful face into a pig¡¯s snout! This damned, greedy, evil tyrant! It was He Yi who spoke up. What courage! Is this the difference between a commoner and the CEO of Raincube? Chapter 982: Possessive Little Dragon I looked back at He Yi and asked her seriously, "Eve, are you sure about this? This is 100 million RMB we¡¯re talking about. Are you sure this is worth it?" He Yi shot me a gentle smile and nodded. "It is. Dark Moon City is the only city with Duplicate Mount and Mounted Archery Training, and our only method of creating the Dragonlight Archers. Who else in the game possesses this level of military strength right now? Therefore, 100 million is a lot, but losing Dark Moon City would cost us even more. It is a just price to secure our dreams. And don¡¯t worry, now that Raincube is officially on the right track, we can afford this level of investment easily. Our partnership with Eternal Moon Corporation alone has netted us over forty billion RMB, and I fully expect this to pay back many times over, heehee¡­" What could I possibly say against that? Meanwhile, Lifetaking Sword and other Snowy Cathaya members were staring at He Yi in shock and m.o.a.ning, "OMG, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ guild leader is such a beautiful, gentle, and caring woman! Our guild leader is practically a slave driver compared to her¡­" Chiang! Lin Yixin immediately stabbed the ground with the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and asked, "I¡¯m sorry? Care to repeat yourself?" Lifetaking Sword immediately turned purple. "We didn¡¯t say anything! The guild leader is wise!" Zi Chuanyu jeered at him. "Where is your spine, man! Pooh! Er, guild leader? You know we¡¯ll always be Snowy Cathaya members, right? We are your eternal servants, and you have our unconditional support, right Lexi?" Nangong Lexi rolled her eyes at him. "If he has no spine, then you have no shame! Pooh!" And so, He Yi bought all the gold there was on the trading platform until she had 100 million and gave it all to Sophie. The Purgatory Sovereign broke into a rare smile as she hugged her literal hill of gold, "Oh, I feel so happy¡­" Well I wasn¡¯t. Not in the slightest. The sight of her hugging our gold made my heart ache. "Alright, we paid you the gold, sis. When can you give us our 1000 Bone Dragons?" Sophie frowned a bit before replying, "I sense that you haven¡¯t built Dragon¡¯s Lair. You can¡¯t house Bone Dragons without it." I asked, "Dragon¡¯s Lair? But Dark Moon City already has Dragon¡¯s Grave. Must we build Dragon¡¯s Lair?" "Yes. You can¡¯t house a dragon without it." "Fine, I¡¯ll ask my men to build it right now!" I brought up my friend list and contacted Xu Yang, "Hey bro, you there?" "Yep, I¡¯m in Dark Moon City right now. What¡¯s wrong?" "Can you build Dragon¡¯s Lair? You¡¯ll find it on the last page of the building list. We didn¡¯t need this building before, but now we do. It should take only ten minutes or so to finish, and it doesn¡¯t need to be any higher than Rank 1." A few minutes later, I received a message from Xu Yang saying that the construction of the Dragon¡¯s Lair had begun. Unfortunately, I was wrong about the construction time. It would take 30 minutes to finish. Worried that Sophie would hightail it without paying her due, He Yi and I kept a close eye on her. Xinran wanted to recruit more God Domain soldiers to build her army, but I made her stay by grabbing her hand and talking about random stuff. Thankfully, she didn¡¯t seem to mind it at all. "Big bro, there is a breed of golden dragons in God Domain. They are very small and very cute. I can catch one for you if you want." "Well, are they powerful?" "They¡¯re only Purple Gold Rank. They¡¯re super cute though¡­" "Never mind then." "Big bro, do you know that there are convective currents above God Domain? It¡¯s too bad you can¡¯t fly, or we could play together!" "..." Beside Xinran, Sophie shot her an incredulous look before commenting, "Is it just me, or are you acting more and more childish, Xinran? Does your seal affect your intelligence as well?" Xinran¡¯s eyes turned steely. "Keep quiet if you don¡¯t want to get pummeled." I curled my lips. What¡¯s more dangerous than two goddesses? Two goddesses who are also battle maniacs! ¡­¡­ Finally, the Dragon¡¯s Lair was complete, and Sophie knew it even before I told her about it. She rose to her feet and stabbed her sword on the ground. Then, she bit open her forefinger, pressed it against the ground and conjured a gigantic magical formation. She chanted, "I, Sophie the Snow Minstrel, summon the sacred dragons who slumber in the depths of hell. Awaken!" "Roar!" A powerful gust of wind blew against our faces, and a huge, pale white dragon poked its head out of the magic formation. It took to the sky in one smooth motion and let out an impressive roar before flying straight toward the north where Dark Moon City was located. More Bone Dragons soon emerged from the magic formation, and it wasn¡¯t long before the place turned dark from the sheer amount of dragons that were blotting the sky. Unlike the first dragon, they waited a bit to form a group before flying toward Dark Moon City together. At the same time, a new unit icon appeared on my city control UI. It meant that the Bone Dragons were now under my command. Man, it feels so nice to have all that POWAH in my hands! "Hey you, get your a.s.s over here!" I pointed my sword at the last Bone Dragon and barked at it like a holy warrior. It immediately turned around and landed in front of me. It then lowered its gigantic head on the ground and blinked at me like an obedient pet. "F.u.c.k man, that¡¯s so cool!" Purple Marquis praised. Not far away, He Yi pouted and looked at Lin Yixin inquiringly. "Has he ever said something so corny to you, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin clenched her fists and declared, "He didn¡¯t, Sister He Yi!" He Yi: "Hmph!" Lin Yixin: "Bastard!" ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle rustle... Suddenly, my Ancient Divine Dragon¡ªit was now about a meter long after all the experience it had absorbed¡ªopened its eyes and glared at the Bone Dragon. Then, it let out a guttural noise that sounded like some sort of warning before jumping onto the dragon! Pa! The Ancient Divine Dragon snapped its jaws around the Bone Dragon¡¯s skull, but all it managed to do was strain its baby teeth. However, the Bone Dragon curled into a ball and w.h.i.n.ed like a bullied wife because it was intimidated by the baby dragon¡¯s aura. It dared not retaliate against it at all. "Roar!" I hurriedly ordered the Bone Dragon to leave, and it flew away like hell was chasing it. It vanished into the horizon in just the blink of an eye. Beiming Xue clicked her tongue. "Tsk tsk, this little dragon is surprisingly possessive! It doesn¡¯t want big bro to have any other pet at all. So brutal¡­" Murong Mingyue nodded in agreement. "Yes. It¡¯s too bad Eve and Beauty Lin aren¡¯t as possessive as it is, or Lu Chen would never have flirted with Chaos Moon, Moonkiss or Stranger of Three Lifetimes." My facial muscles twitched uncontrollably. "When have I ever flirted with them¡­" Turning beet-red, He Yi and Lin Yixin looked away and said nothing. ¡­¡­ "Anyway, I¡¯m going, big brother! The bones in God Domain need me¡­" Xinran winked at me and said. I couldn¡¯t help but ask her, "Do you really spend all day playing around with those bones¡­" "Fine, fine. See you, Xinran¡­" "See you! Try not to flirt with too many women, big bro!" "..." After that, Xinran called over the Winged Silver Dragon, jumped onto its back and vanished into the clouds. Bloody Finger also got up his mount, galloped a few steps and somehow floated into the sky as well. Bosses are such bullshit existences... Sophie could fly too, and she wasted no time in flying into the horizon now that her business was over. Princess Karinshan stared at the sky she vanished to for a moment before turning around and congratulating everyone, "Warriors of Sky City, you¡¯ve all won a supreme honor today! Now, it is time to return to our city!" I also told everyone, "Alright, back to business, people¡­" He Yi said, "Yes, dinner is very important business¡­" Me: "..." It was at this moment I received a message from Gui Guzi: "Boss Broken Halberd, are you free right now?" "Yeah, what is it?" "It¡¯s Yamete¡¯s birthday today, so we¡¯re planning to head out and hold a small birthday party for him. Li can¡¯t attend because he has to fly to Beijing to deal with work. What about you? Come on, let¡¯s go to a bar after dinner and party until 5 in the morning!" I smiled. "Sure, why not? Wait for me!" "Awesome! By the way, this is an all-guys party, so don¡¯t bring a girl with you, understand? Brother B says there are already plenty of girls in the bar, so¡­" I nodded. "I got it!" ¡­¡­ After I hung up, Lin Yixin and He Yi asked me warily, "Where are you going?" I shrugged and replied, "It¡¯s Mamate¡¯s birthday today, so us dudes are gonna go clubbing. You can take care of dinner yourselves, right?" "Hmph!" Now that I thought about it, it had been a long time since I went clubbing. I can¡¯t wait! I checked the time and noted that it was almost evening. When the girls prepared to head out for dinner, they took my car because it was bigger and could fit more people. Feeling rather handsome today, I stretched a hand to He Yi and asked, "Lend me your Lamborghini, Eve. It¡¯s been a while since I felt the engine roar beneath my feet¡­" He Yi snorted and tossed her keys into my hands. "Sure, but don¡¯t crash it¡­" Murong Mingyue added, "Just don¡¯t run into someone. Actually, Eve, I think Lu Chen deserves a Lamborghini of his own. He is the MVP of our WEL victory after all¡­" He Yi rolled her eyes at her. "What for? For him to pick up girls?" Murong Mingyue hummed. "That¡¯s true. How about a Suzuki Alto then?" "Me: "..." At least it wasn¡¯t a walking tractor. That I seriously didn¡¯t have the skills to drive. ¡­¡­ I drove all the way to the base. Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, Yamete and the others were already waiting. After I brought the Lamborghini to a stop, I poked my head out of the car window and asked them, "So, where are we clubbing today?" "Taihu Lakeview Park Resort. There¡¯s a teeny-weeny change to the plan though. Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust are coming with us¡­" "That¡¯s fine, they¡¯re just little girls. Nothing will happen to them!" I laughed. Heaven¡¯s Rain immediately complained, "What do you mean ¡®little girls¡¯? How are we little, huh?" "I¡¯m so sorry, but there¡¯s not one part of you that isn¡¯t ¡®little¡¯¡­" "..." Suddenly, someone opened the door and slipped into the car. It was Chaos Moon smelling like fresh perfume. "Who cares about that? Anyway, I¡¯m coming with you guys, okay? I wanna know what it¡¯s like to ride in a Lamborghini!" I knew I had exactly no chance of chasing her off, so I acquiesced and said, "Little girl. Alright, enough chit-chat! Let¡¯s head out already!" Chapter 983: The Evening Before The Grind Our destination today was a fishing spot at Taihu Lakeview Park Resort. Guests could choose to hunt in its forest or fish at its lake. In our case, we were there to enjoy some recreational fishing. There were thirteen of us in total. After we paid the fee and put on the raincoats, we marched to the lake like traffic police. We rented four boats in total as each boat could only accommodate between 3 to 4 people. I, Du Thirteen and Chaos Moon shared a boat together. There were cooking tools and a few pieces of charcoal at the shore for visitors to cook the fishes they captured. Once I was inside the boat, I immediately started weaving the fishing net. Standing on the boat, Du Thirteen asked a confounding question, "So, does anyone here know how to row the boat?" Chaos Moon blinked once before answering, "Sorry, I only know how to rock the bed¡­" Du Thirteen immediately feigned embarrassment. "What a coincidence, me too¡­" I raged at them. "Have some shame, you two! And seriously, who¡¯s going to row the boat!? Thank heavens I learned how to weave and cast a fishing net from my third uncle when I was younger, or we would be starving tonight¡­" Du Thirteen replied, "Fine, I¡¯ll rock the bed¡­ excuse me, I mean row the boat. Chaos Moon can help Lu Chen with his net. We¡¯ve to catch more fish than Mamate at the very least!" I smiled. "Yeah, it¡¯ll be nice if we can catch a mandarin fish or two. I love mandarin fish soup. All it takes is a bit of starch, chili peppers and fresh ginger to make a delicious meal¡­" Chaos Moon shot me a look. "Stop. You¡¯re going to make me salivate¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Our hearts rippled like the waves undulating across the water surface. Heaven¡¯s Rain had rolled up her pants to her knees to avoid getting wet as she punted her boat. Unfortunately, all she managed to do so far was to make it spin in circles. Mamate grew so anxious that he said, "Little Rain, don¡¯t just punt the boat on one side! You need to do it on both sides!" Heaven¡¯s Rain let out a giggle and said, "You can get someone else to punt the boat if you¡¯re not satisfied with my skill, Mamate. In fact, I think I¡¯ll hitch a ride with big brother Lu Chen¡­" Mamate laughed sinisterly, "Don¡¯t even think about it, little girl! Chaos Moon and Thirteen already have him wrapped around their fingers, so young handsome me is your only choice left, muahahahaha!" Unperturbed, Heaven¡¯s Rain pointed a finger at Mamate¡¯s nose and chided him, "Today¡¯s your 31st birthday, and you call yourself young and handsome? Boo! Boo! Where¡¯s your shame, you suspicious uncle!" Pa! Amazingly, his net landed on our boat and caught Du Thirteen. The guy immediately started struggling like a big fat loach. I clapped my hands in astonishment. "Well cast!" Chaos Moon laughed so hard that she was nearly in tears. After she recollected herself, she helped free the poor lad. Thank goodness Mamate hadn¡¯t reeled him in, or this would turn into a horror story about a captured merman. Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and Chaos Moon were the only girls on this trip, so one boat was destined to be without female companionship. That boat was High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and Gui Guzi¡¯s. However, their teamwork was surprisingly impeccable. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and Gui Guzi rowed the boat while High Fighting Spirits cast the net across the lake surface perfectly. He pulled in the net to reveal three fish and two lobsters. Not only that, one of the fishes was as long as a chopstick. Gui Guzi was so happy that he almost forgot to wipe his saliva. "Holy shit, I didn¡¯t know you¡¯re this skilled, Fighting Spirits!" High Fighting Spirits laughed proudly, "I spent my whole childhood fishing until I went to high school at 17, so this is nothing at all. That being said, this lake has way more fish than I thought. I wasn¡¯t expecting to catch so many so easily, not to mention the lobsters. Let¡¯s barbecue them for Chaos Moon later, shall we?" I poked Chaos Moon once and said, "You hear that, Chaos Moon? Your dear cares about you so much¡­" The corner of Chaos Moon¡¯s lips twitched as she glared at me. "Hmph. Tease me again, and I¡¯ll show you a world of hurt¡­" After that, I cast the net across the water surface. The rocks tied to the edges of the fishing net sank into the lake and formed a pocket. When I pulled it back in, I felt a new weight in my net and cheered happily, "Haha! Score at the first try! My 70+ Luck applies to real life as well, I see!" However, it turned out that our celebration was prem.a.t.u.r.e. Sitting at the end of the net was a stinking, rotting liberation shoe that had clearly been submerged in the water for many years. Chaos Moon¡¯s complexion immediately turned purple. "This is your 70+ Luck?" said Chaos Moon while staring at me. My facial muscles twitched uncontrollably as I placed the net on the boat. There were two thumb-sized prawns in the net as well, but all I felt from the sight was shame. Du Thirteen carefully put the prawns in the bucket and said, "You know what they say, a mosquito¡¯s leg is small, but it¡¯s still a leg. Anything¡¯s better than plain water soup¡­" Deeply humiliated, I gave Du Thirteen a firm pat on the shoulder and declared, "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make sure to catch us something no matter what. At the very least, no one on this boat is starving tonight!" Du Thirteen chuckled. "And if all else fails, I bought a pack of instant noodles, so¡­" "F.u.c.k you. We don¡¯t need it!" After that, I told du Thirteen to row deeper into the lake and cast the net again and again. It was every boat for themselves, so I had to catch something no matter what. No way I was going to let my passengers go hungry. ¡­¡­ Chaos Moon was overjoyed even though it wasn¡¯t the crab-eating season. I bet she would fondle it all over if she wasn¡¯t afraid of getting pinched. She stared fervently at the crab and said, "I¡¯m going to kiss you later, baby¡­" Du Thirteen teased her. "You¡¯re going to wolf kiss a crab? Damn¡­" "Pooh!" We kept this up until the sun was almost completely set. When everyone had returned to the shore, we compared our catches and found out that High Fighting Spirits was the greatest catcher of us all. His catch literally weighed 2.5 kgs! The spot we were fishing at had to be a breeding area because this haul was anything but normal. Even I had managed to catch a big mandarin fish, two baishui fish, one crucian carp, two crabs and a bunch of tiny prawns. It was definitely enough for a meal. As expected, a resort employee came up to us a moment later to weigh our catches. In the end, Mamate had to pay almost a thousand RMB in total. What a rip-off! Even the charcoal on the shore cost money, but let¡¯s not talk about the sad stuff. After we started the fire, our group decided to cook ourselves a pot of boiled fish. It so happened that mandarin fish, baishui fish and crucian carp were all suitable ingredients to make a soup. Of course, we threw the tiny prawns and the crabs into the pot as well. It so happened that I had seen a recipe like this before, so I put in the rest of the ingredients based on that memory. Du Thirteen tried to blow the charcoal like how the farmer children did. He nearly burned his own eyebrows. Gui Guzi¡¯s group chose to barbecue and boil their catch. They certainly caught enough to do so. Mamate¡¯s group was the saddest of us all. They managed to catch six fish in total, but the longest fish they caught was less than 10 cm. There were literally more onions and ginger than there were fish in their pot of soup. As Heaven¡¯s Rain stared expectantly at the boiling water, she asked, "Mamate, is it just me, or is the food in the pot a bit¡­ lacking?" I grinned. "If you¡¯re a man you¡¯ll give Little Rain the fish, understand?" Mamate shook his head. "Fine. You know what, why don¡¯t we add some noodles to the soup? I bought some and put them in the back of the car. Fish and noodles sound pretty great, right?" Heaven¡¯s Rain looked stunned. "Er, you sure this¡¯ll work¡­?" "Of course it will! Be brave!" "Well, okay, I¡¯ll go get it¡­" "Oh, there¡¯s also half a bag of rice in the back of the car, grab that too. Fish plus noodles and porridge sound pretty great, right?" This time, Heaven¡¯s Rain couldn¡¯t hold it any longer. "Right your sister! I¡¯m joining big brother Lu Chen, dammit!" Mamate: "..." At this point it was just sad, so I grabbed a black carp from High Fighting Spirits¡¯ group and dropped it in Yamete¡¯s pot. I said, "You¡¯re the birthday boy, you deserve to eat more. Also, you need more chili in the soup, it¡¯ll be tastier that way. Lastly, you really don¡¯t need to make your own porridge. See that uncle? He¡¯s selling cooked rice, so just buy it off him¡­" ¡­¡­ We dove in when the meal was ready. Surprisingly, the soup was pretty tasty. In fact, we almost died from overeating. It was overall a very satisfying dinner. Afterward, Heaven¡¯s Rain took out the cake, and we ate it around the bonfire. The birthday song sounded absolutely terrible. "Seeing as today¡¯s Mamate¡¯s birthday..." I suggested smilingly, "Chaos Moon, would you like to grant him the honor of a kiss?" Chaos Moon replied murderously, "I¡¯m not a loose woman, okay!?" "Come on, Mamate is waiting for you already. His face is literally red with anticipation¡­" I teased. Everyone else egged her on as well. In the end, Chaos Moon relented and gave Mamate a quick peck on the right cheek. Then, she walked up to me and said murderously, "You satisfied now?" I laughed. "Thanks for being a good¡ª" Chaos Moon abruptly bent down and kissed me on the lips before I could finish. What the hell?? I wasn¡¯t expecting her to be this bold. Nooo, my chastity! The kiss lasted five whole seconds. That was also how long the stunned silence lasted until Chaos Moon moved away and said angrily, "This is the price of teasing me! Do it again, I will even encourage you!" Du Thirteen asked me while drinking from his bowl of fish soup, "How does it feel?" I wiped my mouth before replying, "It feels a bit like I was r.a.p.ed. What do you think?" Everyone laughed, and Chaos Moon responded with a girly giggle. ¡­¡­ We fooled around until it was past 8 pm before driving off to a bar in the city. However, I refrained from drinking because I had to drive the gang back to the base later. It had been a hectic few weeks until now; the WEL first, and the sudden Fury of the Goddess of Death event later. It felt nice to come out and relax after all that stress. As promised, there were beautiful girls in the bar. The hot ones, the cute ones, everything. Everyone had a great time playing games and flirting around with each other. On the other hand, I sat in a corner and read about Heavenblessed through my phone. Diamond Dust wasn¡¯t as wild as the others, so she simply sat beside me without saying a word. When it was almost morning, and we were finally going to head home, Du Thirteen patted me on the shoulder and said, "Man, Diamond Dust must love you sooo much. She¡¯s satisfied with just watching you the whole night¡­" I shook my head. "The little girl can do better¡­" Du Thirteen laughed knowingly. "Haha!" Chapter 984: Tackling A2 "The vast end of the world is my love, At the foot of the mountain, flowers blossom, What kind of rhythm is the most swaying, What kind of singing is the most pleasant?" ¡­¡­ I woke up groggily to a clear and fast-paced alarm tone. When I grabbed my phone and took a look, all the sleep in me fled away instantly. It was because it was already 3:30 pm. If my memory hadn¡¯t deceived me, the S1 to S7 quests at Sky City should be open to players at around 7 or 8 am. Does this mean that I¡¯ve missed the first wave? F.u.c.k! I hurriedly got out of my bed. When I arrived at the living room, I was surprised to find He Yi and Murong Mingyue talking about HR transfers at leisure. "Shouldn¡¯t you girls be playing the game right now?" I asked. "You finally woke up." Murong Mingyue shot me a teasing smile. "Did you have fun last night? And which hotel did you take the boys and girls to? Hanting 168?" I rolled my eyes at her. "Cut it out. Do I look like that type of person? I, Thirteen, Mamate, Xu Yang, Little Gui and the rest of the gang were together all the time¡­" He Yi burst into a giggle. "We got it, we got it. I trust you, so you don¡¯t need to defend yourself." After that, she rose to her feet and added, "The rice in the cooker is still warm, so you can grab that yourself. I¡¯ll warm up the rest of the dishes for you. I bet you didn¡¯t eat anything at all at the bar, didn¡¯t you? You must be hungry." I was going to say that I wasn¡¯t hungry, but my stomach betrayed me and let out a pathetic groan. I had no choice but to stuff my own protests. I helped He Yi carry the dishes out of the fridge while asking, "Say, the seven S Rank quests of Sky City came online this morning, right?" He Yi nodded. "Yep, they¡¯ve been open to all players since 7 am sharp. What¡¯s wrong?" "Did you guys try it out yet? How difficult was it? Did you beat it?" "You mean the S Rank quests?" "No, we didn¡¯t¡­" He Yi answered with a smile, "Each quest could only be activated once per week, so we decided to play it safe and tackle the A Rank quest, Canyon of Fate for the A1 set¡­" "What? Isn¡¯t that the Level 150 Earth-grade equipment set?" "Correct." "But why? You should aim for a Heaven-grade set at least!" I laughed. But He Yi shook her head and said, "That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. The quest is far more difficult than anyone of us could¡¯ve imagined. We had Mingyue, Chaos Moon, Lian Xin, Beiming and me, but the final boss got us all in the end. After we party-wiped once and dropped a level, we decided that it wasn¡¯t worth trying a second time¡­" "What?" I exclaimed in astonishment, "You had sis, Beiming, Lian Xin and Chaos Moon, and you still couldn¡¯t beat the final boss? Just how strong is it?" "I know¡­" He Yi pouted cutely. "I¡¯m tanky, but I didn¡¯t have the DPS to hold the boss''s aggro. Chaos Moon had the DPS, but she wasn¡¯t tanky enough to tank the boss. Worse, the mobs in that map are at least 50 levels higher than the equipment set they drop. Even the most common mob starts at Level 200, and the boss is a Level 210 Immortal Rank boss. Our loss was totally deserved¡­" "What the f.u.c.k? 50 levels higher?" I stared at her. "Doesn¡¯t that mean that the S1 final boss is a Level 230 Immortal Rank boss or higher?" "Er, I guess we¡¯ll have to delay our plans then. We¡¯ll need to get everyone to Level 200 at least before we can consider tackling the quest. As for S7, I reckon that we¡¯ll need to wait until our eighth class-promotion quest and Heavenly River Realm before we can even attempt it¡­" "I think so too." He Yi let out a giggle as she recalled a memory. "Something funny happened this morning. Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction and Hegemon Palace had fought each other outside Killing Forest¡ªit¡¯s the map for the S1 quest¡ªand lost a couple thousand players each. After Hegemon Palace emerged victorious, Little Piglet, Wang Dongliang and Shangguan Wan¡¯er went into Killing Forest with their heads held high¡­ only to be party-wiped in less than ten minutes. They tried another three times in total, but they all ended in a party wipe. They just don¡¯t have the strength to clear it¡­" "Oh right, what level is your Ancient Divine Dragon now? You should¡¯ve gotten a lot of experience from yesterday¡¯s battle," He Yi asked suddenly. "If I remember correctly, it¡¯s over Level 70 right now. It¡¯s still a hatchling though. It can¡¯t be ridden, and its stats are still hidden..." "OMG, how much longer will it take before you can ride this Ancient Divine Dragon? How about¡­ how about we pick a quest that¡¯s experience-rich later? We can kill two birds with one stone, getting the equipment and your Ancient Divine Dragon to the level necessary to ride it." "Sure. Which quest are we going for?" "There¡¯s no way we¡¯re beating Killing Forest as we are, and we¡¯ve already activated A1 earlier, so let¡¯s tackle A2. I think it¡¯s a map called Stele Forest of the God of Death¡­" "Very well, that¡¯s what we¡¯ll do. Tell Beiming and Lian Xin to come out to fill their stomachs. Once everyone¡¯s refreshed, we¡¯ll conquer the Stele Forest of the God of Death in one go!" ¡­¡­ I logged into the game after lunch. Swhoosh! The moment I appeared in Sky City, I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and the Phantom Wolf King. I also summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon so it could leech experience. The dragonling automatically coiled around my arm before dozing off again. Its scales were bright silver, and it almost looked like a rune if I wasn¡¯t paying attention. I doubted that I could wake it up for anything unless it was a direct threat to my being. All babies are like that though. They slept a lot now so they could become strong and healthy in the future. The damage done to Sky City during Sophie¡¯s event had been fully repaired. Its former glory as the King of Cities had been restored, and cavalry troops were posted in front of its gates. Besides that, every combat NPC had the golden emblem of the King of Cities floating above their heads. The emblem didn¡¯t just look cool, it also enhanced the NPCs¡¯ Attack by 50%. It was one of the major reasons Sky City was ultimately able to hold off Sophie and her army. However, the other major cities such as Eternal Love City, Titan City and Cyan Earth City didn¡¯t fare nearly as well as us. From what I heard, humanity would¡¯ve lost a couple of main cities if we hadn¡¯t persuaded Sophie against her folly as quickly as we did. ¡­¡­ The four girls of the Frost Cloud workshop joined my party, reforming the champion team that had conquered the WEL once more. Assuming that the WEL added 5v5s to their format in the future, we would still be the indisputable champion. It was because we had two offensive tanks, two super ranged damage dealers, and one of the best priests in the entire game. There were very few line-ups that could go up against us! I teleported to Dark Moon City and went to the eastern gate because that was where we had agreed to meet. It wasn¡¯t long before He Yi showed up on her Dragonlight Horse, and Lian Xin with Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue in tow. After everyone had arrived, I declared with a smile, "Alright, let¡¯s go! Let¡¯s try and take down the Stele Forest of the God of Death in one try!" Beiming blinked once before saying, "I wonder if people will look down on us if they learn that we chose the A2 instance for our first attempt, big bro. We are the champion team of the WEL after all¡­" I shrugged. "Who cares about what others think? It¡¯s better to act within our capabilities. I believe we can beat the S1 instance even if the final boss is a Level 230 Immortal Rank boss at least, but the problem is, we¡¯ll lose someone for sure. It¡¯s not worth it paying a level or more just to grind an instance like this, and we¡¯re not in a hurry, are we? I would rather that we wait until Eve, Little Xin and Mingyue all become Divine Generals. It¡¯ll be a much easier battle that way." "Yeah. Let¡¯s do our best. And who knows, maybe we¡¯ll become Divine Generals when we tackle the A2 instance?" "Haha, you¡¯re right. Let¡¯s go!" We left Dark Moon City and traveled straight toward the Stele Forest of the God of Death. To be honest, we didn¡¯t need the Earth-grade set it rewarded at all, but the experience would serve as a good gauge of our strength. After all, assuming that we couldn¡¯t even beat the A2 instance, how could we possibly challenge the stronger ones? It was at this moment we received a system announcement¡ª System Announcement (Sky City): Congratulations to player "Song of Cloud and Water", "God Bone", "Song of Ice and Fire", "Ringwraith" and "Shadow God" for killing the final boss of "Tomb of the Ancient Gods" and becoming the first party to conquer the B1 instance. All players of the party are awarded 1 Luck! ¡­¡­ The four girls stared at me expressionlessly for a moment. Then, He Yi said, "You have 70+ Luck already, you greedy bastard. And what would people think if they found the champion team of the WEL in a D1 instance? Aren¡¯t you embarrassed?" I rubbed my nose. "Ahem, fine, we¡¯ll stay on A2. It was just a suggestion. Please don¡¯t look down on me, please don¡¯t let my suggestion affect your image of me¡­" Beiming Xue lowered her palm to knee length before saying, "Don¡¯t worry, big bro. You¡¯re only as tall as this in our hearts, so¡­" "F.u.c.k! Just you wait, Stele Forest of the God of Death! I¡¯m going to f.u.c.k.i.n.g murder you!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the guild chat channel was full of activity¡ª Li Chengfeng: "Holy shit, even a shit instance like C1 gives 1 Luck! What are we waiting for, people? Chaos Moon, Little Gui, Fighting Spirits, grab Moon Dew and join my party now! Let¡¯s clear D1 to D7 now and grab that 7 Luck!" Chaos Moon: "Did you just wake up or something? Someone already cleared D1 this morning. We will have a better shot going for D7. There¡¯s no time to grind the mobs, so Gui Guzi, you tank everything until we reach the boss, and High Fighting Spirits, you clear everything with Xiezhi Howl. Let¡¯s hope we make it in time¡­" Gui Guzi: "Well, what else are we waiting for then? Let¡¯s meet up at the eastern gate now!" Me: "Damn, you people have no shame. CGL Hall of Famer in a D7 instance? Tsk tsk¡­" Li Chengfeng: "..." Lian Xin: "Says the guy who wanted to clear D1 earlier¡­" Li Chengfeng immediately laughed heartlessly. Chaos Moon: "Stop wasting time, people. I want to grind as many instances as I can before heading back to Xinjiang tomorrow. It¡¯s my grandmother¡¯s one-year death anniversary, and I need to sweep the grave since there¡¯s no one at home¡­" Chapter 985: Sweeping The Grave "You¡¯re going home to sweep the grave?" Li Chengfeng asked, "But why you? I thought you had an older cousin?" "Ai, don¡¯t even talk to me about him. He spends all day and night hanging out with his horrible friends and gambling with them. Not long ago, he even came over and hounded me until I gave him twenty thousand RMB. My aunt¡¯s just about to die from anger¡­" Chaos Moon said in a helpless tone. Gui Guzi suggested, "Sounds like a bad egg, that cousin of yours. Do you want us to send a person or two to keep you company? We¡¯ll get you there and back home as soon as possible. You know Ancient Sword can¡¯t do without you¡­" I agreed. "Yes, we need to protect our Chaos Moon¡­" Chaos Moon laughed. "Am I that important to you guys? Alright, Lu Chen, I want you to come back with me to Xinjiang. We can hang out in the city for a bit before or after I sweep the grave¡­" I felt my eyes roll involuntarily. "How many days would that take? Everyone¡¯s busy grinding the quests right now, and the next Nation War can begin at any moment. What if something happens to the guild right after I go to Xinjiang?" Chaos Moon replied, "It¡¯ll be fine! It¡¯s not like we¡¯re traveling there by car. It¡¯ll take three days at most if we take the plane¡­" Even He Yi said, "It¡¯s fine, Lu Chen. Just treat it like a holiday or something. You¡¯re not in a hurry to grind levels anyway, so you might as well focus on bringing Chaos Moon back to us safe and sound." Well, my guild leader¡¯s wish is my command, so... "Fine, three days is okay, I think¡­" I thought for a moment before asking for clarification, "Chaos Moon, your cousin won¡¯t force you to do something you don¡¯t like, will he?" I gripped my hands into fists and smiled. "Good to hear!" Ever since Lin Yixin gave me her blood and solved my health problem, my body had been growing stronger day by day. Even I was surprised by how much harder I could punch these days. There was nothing more I liked than helping the weak, especially when it involved beating up jobless leeches. ¡­¡­ Beep! Chaos Moon sent me a message: "So, I¡¯m going to book your flight ticket now. Is that okay?" "Sure, do it!" "Heehee, wonderful. With you around, I can just bully you if I get bored!" "Hmph, I am responsible for your safety only. If you want someone you can bully too, then you¡¯re better off taking High Fighting Spirits. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll happily oblige." "Please don¡¯t, I don¡¯t want to take a gorilla home with me. That¡¯d be so embarrassing!" "Swear to the heavens that you¡¯re telling the truth and repeat that again." "Ahem, anyway, I¡¯m entering the instance now. See you later!" "Mn. Come fetch me at the base tomorrow. We¡¯ll go to the airport together." "Got it!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, we had arrived at our destination, Stele Forest of the God of Death. There was a tall, faintly glowing stele ahead of us. It was covered in small engravings of words that resembled oracle bone scripts. I tried reading it aloud, "Fish bone light period, a pig monkey has been here for ten thousand years. Souls scatter across the forest umbrella and break through the¡ª" "OMG, what on earth are you talking about?" He Yi shot me a look of exasperation and amus.e.m.e.nt before stepping next to me. After she wiped away the cobwebs covering the stele, she read, "A long time ago, a feudal vassal had perished in this land. Ten thousand years later, his soul left its shell and was reborn¡­" Murong Mingyue pressed a hand to her forehead. "Eve was earning a salary of millions even before she graduated university, so why on earth would she study archeology¡­" He Yi also giggled a bit. "This isn''t an oracle bone script, it¡¯s just traditional Chinese in an unusual font. Who was your language teacher, Lu Chen? Your sports teacher?" "F.u.c.k¡­" I turned as red as an apple. God, that was so embarrassing. Even He Yi was teasing me this time. Anyway, after we selected the stele and registered our IDs¡ªthey appeared on the stele¡ªthe instance became open to us. All we needed to do now was wait for two minutes, and we would be able to enter. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The scenery before our eyes changed, and we soon discovered that we were standing in the middle of a forest. It was nighttime, and it looked like we were inside a canyon. There were also a couple of wisps of flames that looked like ghostfire in the distance. It was pretty scary. Erected directly in front of us were rows and rows of steles. I supposed that this was how the forest got its name. "Where are the mobs?" Lian Xin asked puzzledly while activating her Telekinetic Shield. After I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse to one of the steles, I stared at its inscriptions and read aloud, "Eternal glory to the empire¡¯s soldiers¡­" Mn, I definitely got it right this time. Seriously though, where are the mobs? This can¡¯t possibly be a one-boss-and-nothing-else instance, can it? It was at this moment something shocking happened. A white, bony arm suddenly burst out of the ground beneath me and grabbed the blade of the Purple Ying Sword. F.u.c.k, I should¡¯ve suspected that the corpses of this graveyard would come to life or something! What a trap! "Growl growl¡­" A warrior with rotten skin and flesh covering their face crawled out of the ground. Even now, the sonuvabitch was still holding on to my weapon. Furious, I swung the weapon mightily while shouting, "Piss off!" Pu! 142982! Universe Break was as powerful as always. This Rotting Warrior was just a Level 200 dread-rank mob, so it wasn¡¯t too difficult to deal with. Beiming Xue landed a Shock Arrow that stunned it before it could even launch an attack, and one hit each from He Yi and Lian Xin later, it was dead! "It¡¯s not very strong for a Level 200 dread-rank mob¡­" I commented while throwing a Phantasmal Magic Stone into my bag. "Every yuan counts¡­" "Got it. Let¡¯s finish A2 in one try and go for A3 later!" "Mn mn!" The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a long neigh, and I charged right through the rows of steles. The Level 200 dread-rank mobs were no threat to me, and they were so slow that they could never hope to encircle me unless I let them. By the time I galloped a circle around the graveyard, almost a thousand rotting corpses had crawled out of their holes and chased after me. However, when I returned to the spot where the girls were a moment ago, I discovered that they were nowhere to be seen. It was at this moment I heard Beiming Xue shouting to my right, "Over here, big bro!" I looked and found her squeezed inside a hole beneath a huge banyan tree. It was about as natural as a choke point could get. I met up with them and assumed my position. The Phantom Wolf King was growling and ready to go the moment the mobs hit us. Murong Mingyue had also landed her Ironwing Dragon on the frontline to use as a meatshield. "Ugh¡­" He Yi g.r.o.a.n.e.d a little as she raised her shield and blocked her own vision. It was because the rotting corpses were super disgusting. She was trying her best to suppress her nausea, but it would be a while before she conquered her reactions completely. She must overcome it eventually though. Heavenblessed was a game that challenged the mind and soul. If your heart wasn¡¯t strong enough to endure the challenges, you could never truly be a true expert. A long time ago, Lin Yixin had trained in Zombie Valley for an entire week to conquer her revulsion toward corpses. She succeeded. Today, movie zombies were as cute as hello kitties to her. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! He Yi moved her shield to the side before using her Purgatory of Ice and Magma, clearing out an entire group of mobs. Behind us, Beiming Xue unleashed Spiraling Arrow Blade and Skypiercer, and Lian Xin her Dimensional Storm. If this instance had a mind of its own, it would be sad that it ran into us. Most of the parties who challenged the A2 instance could only aggro the mobs one by one so that they wouldn¡¯t be overwhelmed. However, that method was so slow that they could fight for an entire morning and still not kill a thousand mobs. On the other hand, we could hit that quota in way less than half an hour. Pop¡­ The mobs dropped cards that gave our attacks a 10% chance to inflict Poison. Poison was a status effect that dealt continuous damage to a target. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t really a good card and was way weaker than a card that increased physical DPS like, say, the Ghost Chariot Card. The good news was that both He Yi and I still had a lot of those. Half an hour later, we cleared out half a canyon¡¯s mobs before continuing forward. There was a large tomb with a Level 210 Immortal Rank boss called "Flying Knight General", but he was no match for us at all. With He Yi¡¯s Royal Road and the Phantom Wolf King and I as the tanks, we managed to juggle boss''s aggro almost perfectly and killed it in less than five minutes. Pop! The boss dropped a round leather armor helmet¡ª Stele of the God of Death Leather Helmet (Earth-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 1100 Magic Resist: 980 Agility: +195 Stamina: +180 Passive: user¡¯s Agility is increased by 7% Outstanding Property: Kiss of Death, 0.9% of damage dealt is absorbed as HP Property: Stele Forest of the God of Death Leather Armor Set (A2), Helmet Level Requirement: 150 ¡­¡­ I picked up the helmet and said, "Wow, can¡¯t believe we got an A2 piece of equipment right from the get go. Too bad it¡¯s useless to us. I¡¯m gonna take this and sell it at a shop later, okay?" "Sure. Let¡¯s continue!" "Okay!" In the end, even the final boss proved to be no great threat to us. The Dragon God Shield gave me higher Defense than most magic knights out there, and my Attack was powerful enough to keep the boss''s attention on me almost all the time. The final boss dropped an Earth-grade sword, but as I had mentioned earlier, it couldn¡¯t be traded because it was an instance item that automatically bound itself to the one who picked it up. Oh well, some cards and experience were better than nothing at all. The Ancient Divine Dragon was now Level 83, but it was still a hatchling and couldn¡¯t be mounted. Heaven knows when it would finally grow up into a true dragon. ¡­¡­ After dinner, we cleared out A3 and obtained its first-time clear Luck reward as well. The girls were all overjoyed. Unfortunately, A4 was a bit harder than A3, and I needed to sleep early because I would be traveling to Xinjiang tomorrow. So, I ended the day there. Chapter 986: Leaving The next day. "Yiyi, I¡¯m heading out for a short trip." I called Lin Yixin at the front entrance after I was done cleaning myself. "Hmm? A short trip? Where are you¡­ going..." Lin Yixin sounded like she just got out of bed. Well, it was the weekend. There was no way she was going to let an opportunity to sleep in pass by. "I, er, I¡¯m going to Chaos Moon¡¯s place in Xinjiang. She¡¯s going home to sweep her grandmother¡¯s grave, but the guild doesn¡¯t think it¡¯s safe for her to go alone, so they dispatched me to keep her safe. I¡¯ll probably return to Suzhou in three days¡¯ time." Lin Yixin laughed. "Hmph! You¡¯ve fallen for another girl again, haven¡¯t you!?" I blushed. "Of course not. You¡¯re overthinking things." "Bullshit. Anyway, remember to bring back some local specialties for me, something like barbecued lamb skewers or hand grabbing mutton¡­" "Er¡­" An image of me carrying a leg of lamb on the airplane immediately appeared in my mind. In my imagination, the stewardesses and ticket inspectors were "praising" me as I cut off slices of lamb meat from the leg and shared it with everyone. In the end, the entire crew shed many tears of sadness as I ultimately left the plane and bade them goodbye. After I shivered back to reality, I answered, "I¡¯ll do my best!" "I know. Well, I¡¯m hanging up now. Don¡¯t want to miss the flight." "Mn." He Yi took the driver¡¯s seat. Beiming Xue and Lian Xin also insisted on joining me and sending me off for some reason. It was almost as if they were afraid that I would never return... Chaos Moon was waiting at the entrance when we arrived at the base. She was dressed in a coffee-colored uniform that made her look like a working daughter. It was a good and vigorous look on her. Of course, one month of Chaos Moon¡¯s monthly income was probably equal to that of a gold collar¡¯s yearly income right now. Our flight time was 9 am. We would be taking off from Wuxi Shuofang International Airport and landing at ¨¹r¨¹mqi Diwopu International Airport. It was a short flight, it wouldn¡¯t even take four hours to get there. I only brought a bag with some clothes and¡ªthe most important item of them all¡ªmy gaming helmet. A true pro would grind no matter where they went. Right before I was about to leave, Beiming Xue suddenly grabbed my arm and called out, "Big bro!" "What¡¯s wrong?" "We¡¯ll be waiting for you to come home, so come back sooner¡­" Beiming Xue said with reddened eyes. I smiled. Now that I thought about it, Beiming Xue had never been away from me for this long since she joined the Frost Cloud workshop. The reason she was acting like this was because she had become dependent on me. I turned around and gave Beiming Xue a hug. Then, I said, "It¡¯s just grave sweeping, we¡¯ll be back in no time. Be a good girl, grind hard and listen to Sister Eve, okay?" "Mn, okay¡­" The moment I let go of Beiming Xue, Lian Xin jumped into my l.a.p and said with a laugh, "Not fair! Beiming¡¯s not the only one who likes you, you know!" I put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Give it your all, Little Xin. While I¡¯m gone, Ancient Sword¡¯s mage party is yours to command. Try and raise as many elite mages as you can, okay? That¡¯s our one fatal weakness in the Nation Wars." "Mn, I know." After I let go of Lian Xin and walked up to He Yi. She stared at me with a smile and asked, "What do you want?" "Nothing¡­" I pulled her into my c.h.e.s.t and gave her a tight hug. Then, I whispered into her ears, "Of all the girls in the workshop, you know I¡¯ll miss you the most if I have to leave for a long time, right?" I looked at her. The gorgeous woman was blushing a little and avoiding my eyes. Gathering my courage, I bent down and kissed her right on her red, full lips. It tasted warm and soft. She hugged me tighter as if she wanted to press the two of us into one and met my tongue midway, shaky as it was. For a second, it felt like we were the only two people in the entire world. ¡­¡­ "Man, today¡¯s weather is so nice¡­" Chaos Moon commented while looking outside the window. "Yeah, it¡¯s only a drizzle with no lightning¡­" Beiming Xue added. We kissed for almost two minutes before I finally separated from He Yi. Face completely red at this point, she pulled me closer, pecked me one last time on my cheeks and smiled at me. "Come back soon, or I¡¯m going to miss you very, very much, understand?" I nodded. "Mn, I¡¯ll come back as soon as I can, or I¡¯ll miss you just as much." It was at this moment Murong Mingyue let out an audible sigh and said, "If you miss each other that much, you should just have s.e.x already ¡­" "What the f.u.c.k!" A careless Murong Mingyue puffed up her c.h.e.s.t and strained the fabric around it to almost the breaking point as she said, "Oh, now you feel embarrassed? Look around yourself, you two. How many people in the airport did you think saw your kiss, huh?" Me: "..." Finally, Murong Mingyue walked up to me and said, "Anyway, give me a hug already, will you? It ain¡¯t fair if I¡¯m the only one who¡¯s left out!" But I stayed where I was like a log and refused, "No way!" "You think this is a negotiation, you little brat¡­" Murong Mingyue chuckled and hugged me gently. Despite my earlier refusal, I returned the gesture just as lightly. Out of everyone in the workshop, she was the one person I could freely speak my mind with. Although He Yi was an older sister figure herself, she had always felt more like a lover than a sister to me. Murong Mingyue though, she was a true older sister who could tolerate anything I threw at her. After the hug was over, Murong Mingyue separated herself from me and asked teasingly, "So? How does it feel?" I put a hand to my c.h.e.s.t and said, "Well, I almost couldn¡¯t breathe due to a certain pair of puppies¡­" "Hmph!" Surprisingly, Murong Mingyue blushed a bit before glaring daggers at me. "You¡¯d better come back soon, you unfaithful man, or I¡¯ll take Eve to a blind date and marry us off to some random guy! Let¡¯s see how you deal with that!" He Yi chuckled. "Yes, we know. Now go already!" "Mn!" After Chaos Moon and I passed through the ticket gate, I looked back one last time and bade everyone goodbye. "Bye! Make sure to eat and sleep well while I¡¯m gone!" The girls all smiled and waved. "Mn! Bye!" ¡­¡­ At the safety check, the safety inspector looked back and forth between me and the girls before asking me, "Are they all your girlfriends? That¡¯s impressive, dude¡­" I stared back at him expressionlessly. "Do you think that¡¯s realistic?" "Not at all!" "You¡¯re right then." I shot her a glance and chided her. "Have some shame, please. Now get through the safety check already!" "Okay¡­" We waited at the gate waiting area after passing through the safety check. A while later, we boarded the plane. ¡­¡­ The force pushing down on my body felt incredible when the plane finally took to the sky. I shot Chaos Moon a smile and said, "Tsk tsk, this Boeing 747¡¯s g-force feels like when I¡¯m stepping on the pedal when I¡¯m driving the Lamborghini. So exciting¡­" Chaos Moon said, "Don¡¯t talk to me about brand cars, I can¡¯t afford a Lamborghini¡­" "Huh? Don¡¯t you earn a couple hundred thousand RMB every month from selling equipment?" "Most of it goes to the family. Also, cosmetics and clothes are an everyday expenditure, you know¡­" Chaos Moon shot me a displeased look. "Do you think that our lives are easy? Do you know that Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and I have to wear make-up and put on expensive brand clothes just to attract experts into the guild everyday? Not only that, we have to teach the other girls in the guild how to look pretty, and you don¡¯t even pay us for the cosmetics and clothes we buy!" I turned beet red. "Really? Maybe... Wait a second, why does this have anything to do with me or the guild? You should pay for your own beautification. You¡¯re the ones who are benefiting from all the products, not me¡­" "Oh, you want benefits?" Chaos Moon smiled evilly. "Very well, we¡¯ll book a couple¡¯s suite when we get off the plane. I¡¯ll give you three full days of benefits¡­" I shivered from head to toe. "Er, I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s beyond my abilities, so, no thanks. Don¡¯t you have a grave to sweep? Let¡¯s focus on that¡­" "Really? Really? You suuuuuuuuure?" Undeterred, Chaos Moon grabbed my hand and started shaking it back and forth like a toy. It looked like she wouldn¡¯t relent until she literally stopped my heart with her cuteness. Too bad for her, I was surrounded by super beauties like Lin Yixin and He Yi. Even Beiming Xue and Lian Xin had slightly better looks. That didn¡¯t mean that Chaos Moon wasn¡¯t a cute little s.u.c.c.u.b.u.s who made men salivate on sight, just that my resistance was high enough that I could watch her fool around like I was watching a news report. However, the bald-headed, perverted uncle sitting next to me didn¡¯t have the same resistance. One look at Chaos Moon¡¯s cute face and the smooth, pale skin peeking out from beneath her collar, the guy started coughing and clutching his heart like he was about to suffer a heart attack. "F.u.c.k¡­" I g.r.o.a.n.e.d in my head and glared Chaos Moon into submission. Just to be safe, I tossed her a magazine to distract her as well. The last thing anyone needed was a death on their watch. ¡­¡­ Time passed quickly on the plane. After I woke up from my nap, I noticed that the plane had entered the airspace of Xinjiang already. The view from above looked pretty amazing. The ground was mostly made up of square-shaped rice farms, sand or residential buildings. They looked peaceful and quiet. I felt my saliva pooling in my mouth as I thought about food. "Chaos Moon, we have time to try out the most authentic hand grabbing mutton of Xinjiang, right?" Chaos Moon nodded. "Sure. You can get that at the grassland region. I¡¯ll bring you there if you want." "Wonderful. By the way, isn¡¯t hand grabbing mutton barbecued mutton? I¡¯m sure it feels fantastic to tear a slice of meat off a lamb leg by hand and eat it that way, but wouldn¡¯t it burn your hand? Are the people here trained in Iron Palm since birth or something?" But Chaos Moon stared at me in shock and pity. "My dude, who the hell told you that the meat of hand grabbing mutton is torn by hand? Of course we cut them with knives like normal people¡­ Little Heavenly King my b.u.t.t, more like country bumpkin¡­" I whisper-yelled, "Not so loud! Are you trying to spread my¡­ shame¡­" I looked around and realized that it was already too late. Countless people were staring at me with ridicule in their eyes already. "F.u.c.k¡­" I raised my magazine defensively and immersed myself in the world of text and pictures. ¡­¡­ A while later, after we landed at ¨¹r¨¹mqi Diwopu International Airport, we went straight to the taxi area. Chaos Moon said to the driver, "Take us to the train station, please. And get us there within an hour, okay? Thanks!" The driver smiled confidently. "Don¡¯t you worry, little girl! The chance of you missing your train is exactly zero!" He was right. The way he slammed his foot down on the pedal and drove like it was an F1 race, I couldn¡¯t see how we could possibly miss anything¡ªincluding a car accident. Someone, help! Chapter 987: The Divine Dragon’s Growth Suddenly, a strange feeling struck me. I stared at Chaos Moon and asked, "Wait a f.u.c.k.i.n.g second, didn¡¯t you tell me that it¡¯ll only take four hours to reach your place? So why are we heading to a train station now?" Chaos Moon smiled deviously and pulled out a pair of red-colored train tickets from her pocket. "To tell you the truth, my grandmother lives here. Sorry, but we¡¯re going to have to ride the train for another 5 hours before we actually reach our destination¡­" It was clearly stated on the train ticket: "¨¹r¨¹mqi to Tekes County." Feeling as if lightning had struck me in the head, I grabbed Chaos Moon¡¯s shoulders and shook her back and forth, "Chaos Moon, you liar! You told me it¡¯s a four-hour trip, and now we¡¯re not even halfway there!?" Chaos Moon blinked cutely. "You can¡¯t blame me, it was the only way to trick you to come with me. Heehee! Now settle down and be a good boy! Just treat this like a holiday trip or something¡­" I gave up and leaned against the seat. "So, we¡¯re sweeping the grave tomorrow and returning the day after. Have you booked the return flight yet?" "No¡­" "Right. I¡¯ll call the Raincube Suzhou branch manager and tell them to take care of it." "Raincube¡¯s manager has to listen to you?" "Hmph hmph, who do you think I am? I¡¯m the man who holds 10% of Raincube¡¯s shares!" "OMG, I didn¡¯t know that I¡¯m in the presence of a bigshot¡­" "Yes, I expect you to pay for my lamb paomo later¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ After we arrived at the train station, we ate some food and entered the train in a hurry. The wheels turned, and we traveled toward Tekes County amid a chorus of squeals, clacks and whistles. I was completely befuddled, to be honest. I had never even heard of a place called Tekes County. Still, Chaos Moon probably wouldn¡¯t sell me to the slavers, so just like she said, I should treat this like holiday and relax. It was nighttime when we finally arrived at Tekes. Standing in the open and staring at the vast county in front of me, I asked a bit dazedly, "Ah shit, what do we do now? Where is your grandma¡¯s house?" Chaos Moon chuckled and grabbed my hand. "Grandma¡¯s house isn¡¯t in the county, and I doubt we can catch a taxi that will travel to that location at this time. For now, let¡¯s find a hotel with internet and pass the night there. Tomorrow, we¡¯ll take a taxi straight to the graveyard¡ªit¡¯ll take around two hours or so to get there¡ªsweep the grave and¡­ head back the day after tomorrow. We won¡¯t be staying in auntie¡¯s house." I nodded. "Mn. Let¡¯s find something to eat first. What kind of food do you recommend here?" "Okay. Let¡¯s find a hotel first and eat dinner later!" "Mn." ¡­¡­ We explored the entire county, but there was only one hotel with a dedicated line to Eternal Moon Corporation¡¯s servers. It was a rather expensive 4-star hotel, but we didn¡¯t really have another choice. It was either that or borrowing a dedicated line from a nearby residence, which would¡¯ve been awkward to say the least. Also, I¡¯m a southerner who knew absolutely nothing about the lay of the land, so it was better if I kept a low profile. After we entered the hotel, we booked two rooms¡ªeach room cost 1000 RMB¡ªdropped our luggages, and went out for dinner. Chaos Moon knew this place to an extent, so we went to a restaurant of her choosing and ordered a serving of dapanji, lamp pot and beer. It was amazing. I wasn¡¯t expecting to enjoy such amazing delicacies at an unfamiliar place at all, and I was seriously regretting not bringing He Yi and Lin Yixin with me on this trip. It would¡¯ve been the perfect complement to this meal. After we satisfied our tummies, we returned to the hotel, connected to the network and logged into the game. There is nothing to do anyway, so I might as well grind some low-rank instances and level up the Ancient Divine Dragon. Swhoosh! The moment I appeared in Sky City, I immediately received five messages¡ª Lin Yixin: "Ohh, you¡¯re online! I thought you¡¯d be lost for way longer, like a stray child." Beiming Xue: "Big bro, I miss you¡­" Lian Xin: "Lu Chen, Beiming missed you so much she PKed some randoms just a while ago¡­" Murong Mingyue: "You ate yet, brat?" I smiled when I saw the messages. It felt very nice to be missed by someone. I replied to everyone one by one¡ª To Lin Yixin, I replied: "My back nearly broke from a whole day of sitting. You miss me, Yiyi? If you do then give me a kiss please, haha¡­" To He Yi, I replied: "Mn, we settled down in a 4-star hotel. There¡¯s internet here, and the food is pretty good." To Beiming Xue, I replied: "I¡¯ll be back the day after tomorrow. Grind hard, Beiming!" To Lian Xin, I replied: "You need to help her if someone bullies her, Little Xin!" And finally, I replied to Murong Mingyue: "Yep, I did. Rest soon, sis¡­" We formed a party later, and our wise leader, He Yi, took us to the A4 instance. This was a huge challenge as the mobs were Level 210 dread-rank mobs, and the bosses were at least Level 220. The good news was that everyone in our party was at least 10 levels above the average player level thanks to the WEL nationals and internationals, so it wasn¡¯t impossible for us to beat A4. This time, we teleported to Silver Fir City because it was closer to the A4 instance. We agreed to meet up outside Silver Fir City. The girls were already waiting for me when I finally arrived. "Big bro!" A smiling Beiming Xue rode up to me and asked, "So? How is it like to screw around with sister Chaos Moon the whole day?" I shrugged. "Eh, so so? She tricked me saying that it¡¯s just a four-hour flight to her place. In reality, we had to take a five to six¨Chour train ride to reach this place called Tekes County. I almost died from sheer exhaustion. Heck, we¡¯re not even at her place yet, so the grave sweeping will have to wait until tomorrow. That¡¯s why I¡¯m logging into the game and grinding instances with you guys now. So? Did anything happen while I¡¯m gone? Did anyone try to challenge any of the S Rank instances?" "There is!" He Yi nodded affirmatively before adding, "Beauty Lin took Purple Marquis, Nangong Lexi, Shadow Chanel and a priest into S1 and successfully beat the first boss, but the second boss managed to party wipe them twice in a row. Deciding that the level loss was too much, Yiyi ultimately gave up and left the map." Beiming Xue added, "Song of Cloud and Water, God Bone, Song of Ice and Fire, Ringwraith and their priest were also stuck at the same boss. The boss was just too strong for a five-man party to defeat right now." He Yi smiled. "That¡¯s why our choice to grind A4 is wise. Oh right, how is your Ancient Divine Dragon right now? Can you ride it yet?" "Give me a sec¡­" I brought up my character window and tapped the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s icon. An imm.a.t.u.r.e roar immediately reverberated the air as a blue hexagram appeared in front of me. Slowly, the Ancient Divine Dragon slowly crawled out of the center of the magic formation and lay lazily on the ground. Its appearance was mostly the same¡ªdark silver scales and red hair around its head¡ªexcept that it was now a lot bigger than before. "This is so funny. Most dragons know how to fly, so why not this one?" Lian Xin laughed. I was shaking my head myself. My WEL champion reward was looking more and more like a trap. An Archean Immortal-grade item would¡¯ve been more useful than this dragon! Beiming Xue said, "Big bro, why don¡¯t you show us its stats screen again? Maybe we can find a way to grind it faster?" "Mn!" I waved my hand once and brought up the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s stats. To my surprise, the little dragon had evolved somewhat while it was asleep¡ª Ancient Divine Dragon Rank: Divine Rank Mount Stage: Formative Effect: Cannot be Mounted Growth Stages¡ª Infancy (Level 0~50): No Effect Formative (Level 50~100): No Effect A.d.u.l.t (Level 100~150): Mountable Awakening (Level 150~200): Fusion Armor Divine Awakening (Level 200~250): Unknown ¡­¡­ I laughed and rubbed my palms together when I saw this new information. "F.u.c.k yeah! It¡¯s mountable at Level 100? I had no idea it was so close. Let¡¯s try and get it to Level 100 in the next few days!" He Yi said with a smile, "Yes. It¡¯s too bad there won¡¯t be another Fury of the Goddess of Death event anytime soon, or I¡¯m sure it¡¯d reach Level 100 in a day!" "Come on, let¡¯s enter A4 already. Surely it¡¯ll get to Level 100 once we grind the A Rank instances a dozen times!" "Mn!" The Ancient Divine Dragon was extremely powerful, but its experience requirements were also 100 times that of a normal pet¡¯s. Thankfully, grinding experience was my favorite pastime, and with the girls to keep me company there would never be a dull moment. ¡­¡­ After we exited Silver Fir City, He Yi pulled Murong Mingyue up her mount and said, "Come on, take Lian Xin with you, and we¡¯ll technically have a full cavalry party!" I said, "Little Xin can ride with Beiming, right?" Beiming Xue shrugged. "But she wants to ride with you, not me¡­" "Fine, fine. Get on now¡­" I pulled Lian Xin up my horse and sat her in my l.a.p. She waved her scepter with a laugh, "Go, Armored Ice Qilin Horse! Full speed ahead!" Thwack! Her scepter hit me in the head. "F.u.c.k¡­" And so, the five of us and three mounts rode through the forest at high speed. It wouldn¡¯t take more than ten minutes for us to reach the entrance of the A4 instance. Not long after we departed though, a ton of blue dots suddenly appeared on the map. ¡­¡­ "Hmm? What¡¯s the situation? Why are there so many people?" Murong Mingyue asked puzzledly. I spurred my mount forward and found a large group of players occupying an empty space between the forest. They all wore the same guild emblem¡ªan iron sword¡ªand they were of course Sword Lord of Jianghu. What are they doing? Are they seriously trying to occupy the entire A4 instance for themselves? I slipped into the crowd of spectators and slowly pushed my way forward. It was then I saw a bunch of tanks lining up like a wall and a smiling mage corps commander. He said with a smile, "Welcome, welcome! The A4 instance is right behind us. Sword Lord of Jianghu has been clearing out the mobs around the instance map day and night for everyone¡¯s convenience, but a lot of us suffered injuries and even levels as a result. To compensate them, we would like everyone who wishes to enter the instance to pay us a fee of 10 gold. Please understand our pains, and thank you." ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t help but blurt aloud, "Heavens, have they gone mad for money?" Chapter 988: Challenging Sword Lord of Jianghu A Level 181 Hegemon Palace warrior stepped out of the crowd and waved his sword. He said, "What kind of stupid logic is that? You think you¡¯re the boss of Sky City? You think you can have the A4 instance all to yourself just because it¡¯s closer to your territory? Dream on! The A Rank instances are the shared property of every player in Sky City, and Hegemon Palace will be the first to dispute your claim!" "Yeah! Who are you to make us pay 10 gold to get inside? Pooh!" The warrior¡¯s party members immediately voiced their agreement. Hegemon Palace had sent 25 players or 5 parties to challenge the instance, and each of them was over Level 180 and a fairly strong player in their own right. Unfortunately, I highly doubted that they were strong enough to give Sword Lord of Jianghu a challenge without their experts, Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er. Murmurs of dissatisfaction rippled across the crowd. Hegemon Palace¡¯s plan to rile up the crowd seemed to be working because they started approaching Sword Lord of Jianghu players. Some of them even had their weapons drawn already. There were a ton of guilds who staked their claims to leveling maps, but Sword Lord of Jianghu had to be the first to stake their claim to a high-level instance. ¡­¡­ "What¡¯s going on?! Quiet down, men!" Someone suddenly shouted and stepped out into the open. He was a black-robed mage with the vice leader emblem floating on his shoulder, and he was none other than Now and Forever, the Onmyouji. The man swept his gaze across the one thousand plus players in front of him before saying, "My men are just clearing out the last group of mobs, people. In fact, many of them are running back to their bodies and resurrecting right now, so please give us an hour¡¯s time. Once an hour is up, I, Now and Forever, promise you that you are free to enter the A4 instance anytime you want." "Pooh!" However, the Hegemon Palace warrior simply spat on the ground and sneered, "Like I give a shit about your circ.u.mstances! Let¡¯s go get our quest and enter the instance, brothers and sisters! Don¡¯t worry, if Sword Lord of Jianghu dares to touch a hair on us, Hegemon Palace will destroy them and flatten their territory like the ants they are!" I gave the guy three claps inside my head. It was obvious that neither side was a pushover. Sword Lord of Jianghu wanted to establish their reputation and power through monopolizing the A4 instance, and Hegemon Palace was there to challenge them. The high-level warrior had risked his own life to give Hegemon Palace a reason to openly declare war on Sword Lord of Jianghu. It was because the latter hadn¡¯t grown so strong that Hegemon Palace couldn¡¯t beat them yet. The location of their new territory was also excellent. I bet Hegemon Palace had been coveting it for a very long time. ¡­¡­ Angered by the challenge, Now and Forever raised his scepter and shouted, "Cavalry units, prepare to charge! Try forcing your way through, and I¡¯ll give you a taste of camping, you motherf.u.c.kers!" He rushed forward, and several hundred players let out battle cries and followed behind him. The fragile peace had shattered, and now, almost 400 casual players were attacking Sword Lord of Jianghu. Now and Forever raised his scepter again and ordered, "Take them out! Mages and archers, max-range bombardment! Priests, keep our players healed! Today, we will defend this map like we defend our own territory!" The ground shook for a moment, and a troop of cavalry burst out from the side and charged toward the attacking players. The leader of the cavalry was none other than Amber Pupil, the rookie who put on quite the performance during the WEL nationals. When he got close to the high-level warrior, he summoned flames to his weapon and hit the latter with Fire Triple Slash, killing him instantly. "Kill them all!" All of Sword Lord of Jianghu¡¯s players were buffed by their bards and had their Attack boosted by 100% thanks to Encourage VII. If the first charge scattered the group of casual players, then the second charge was just a massacre. That was discounting the fact that a thousand mages and archers were raining arrows and spells at them from their hiding spots. They definitely had a grasp of the land near their territory. This level of attack wasn¡¯t something any group of casual players could hope to defeat. Ten minutes later, the battle ended in the clear favor of Sword Lord of Jianghu. Pa pa pa... A low-health archer was stumbling through the forest and running for his life. He was a Level 182 Mad Dragon archer with decent level and equipment. It was why he alone survived the enemy¡¯s Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms when so many others did not. Unfortunately, he was chased by several hundred cavalrymen, and there was no chance in hell he could outrun them. Riding at the forefront was none other than Amber Pupil himself. The knight shouted, "We could¡¯ve settled this peacefully, but nooooo, you just had to attack us, huh!? Very well, we will massacre every last one of you! This is Sword Lord of Jianghu¡¯s territory, and no one is allowed to disrupt our peace!" Amber Pupil simply smiled and raced after him. The distance between them was shortening steadily. Bang! As mentioned earlier, the archer wasn¡¯t looking where he was going. As a result, he ran right into my Armored Ice Qilin Horse and fell flat on the ground. When he looked up, he exclaimed in shock, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡­ Lian Xing¡­ Why are you guys here¡­" I shot him a glance but didn¡¯t say anything. It was at this moment the group of riders burst out of the foliage. However, the moment Amber Pupil saw us, he raised his arm in a hurry and stopped his troops from advancing further. "Lu Chen?" Again, I smiled and said nothing at all. The Mad Dragon archer looked like he had found a plank amid the sea. After he ran behind my back and grabbed the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s tail, he yelled, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Sword Lord of Jianghu is trying to monopolize the A4 instance! You guys are the sovereign of Sky City, right? You have to stop this, or Sky City will fall into their hands!" However, I snorted and sneered at the guy, "Let¡¯s make one thing clear here, okay? Sword Lord of Jianghu can kill you for all I care. Mad Dragon is no friend of Ancient Sword, not to mention that Roaming Dragon has attacked Dark Moon City before. Just because I haven¡¯t pursued the matter doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯ve forgotten about it, understand?" Amber Pupil and pointed his sword at the archer. "You hear that, coward? Now come out and accept your death already! Lu Chen will not protect you!" I wasn¡¯t done though. As I slowly unsheathed my sword¡ªsparks flew off the point of contact between the blade and the sheath¡ªI continued with a smile, "Correct, I will not protect a Mad Dragon player. However, I am planning to enter A4 to grind some experience, and someone is blocking my way. I, Lu Chen, fear no one in Sky City. If Sword Lord of Jianghu must block my way, then I must kill Sword Lord of Jianghu, understand?" "You!" Amber Pupil¡¯s eyes instantly turned unfriendly. He only had about 500 mounted players, and only 10% of them had reached Level 180. Only seventh-promotion magic knights could use Trapping Net, and my level was more than 10 levels above theirs. Therefore, the chances of their Trapping Net immobilizing me was less than 5%! More importantly, I wasn¡¯t alone. On her hand, He Yi was holding the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear in one hand and Mingyue in the other. My dark archer, Beiming Xue, also appeared in the distance without a sound. Her bow was already drawn and covered in red undead energy. One wrong move, and she would unleash hell upon them. Amber Pupil examined us for a moment before deciding to stay his hand for now. He turned around and shouted, "Withdraw to the plains! We will continue defending the A4 instance there!" ¡­¡­ I swore inside my head. I couldn¡¯t believe these motherf.u.c.kers were actually trying to stop us. Us, the pillars of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Who gave them the courage to do so? What good could they possibly reap from this? Did they really think that this would boost their reputation? "Chase them!" I spurred my mount and summoned the Phantom Wolf King. I also imbued the Purple Ying Sword with undead energy as I chased Amber Pupil and his men all the way to a large opening within the forest. Already, their players were in formation and ready to receive us. Almost a thousand cavalrymen were lining up at the front, and a couple hundred archers, mages and priests were standing behind them. Keeping my sword lowered, I answered, "I¡¯m not taking revenge for anyone. I¡¯m just here for the A4 instance. I suggest that you get out of our way now, or else¡­" "Or else what?" Amber Pupil shouted angrily, "You think you¡¯re something just because you won the WEL? You are standing on Sword Lord of Jianghu¡¯s territory right now! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls or not, you will not act as you please!" Now and Forever frowned at his corps commander. He was going to negotiate and buy a bit more time for his people to rally, but Amber Pupil had practically flushed that plan down the drain with his retort. "Ready your arms and prepare to defend, people! Archers will use Shock Arrows and Mountain Stagger Arrows, and mages will use Arctic Rain. Our opponent is fast and strong. They are only five, but do not underestimate them, understand!?" Now and Forever ordered. A battle was unavoidable at this point. After I put Lian Xin on the ground, ahd He Yi Murong Mingyue, I whispered in the party channel, "I¡¯ll use my apparition to punch through their frontline with Purple Dragon Howl. Once an opening appears, I want Eve to ride in from the flanks and kill their archers and mages. Sis, use your Ironwing Dragon to draw away the enemy¡¯s firepower and provide us some cover. Beiming, use Skypiercer and teach their ranged classes what hell is. Little Xin, you attack with Eve!" "Will do!" The girls nodded in unison. Five versus a couple thousand? This is going to be fun! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I summoned my apparition and made it use Earth Escape. The enemy didn¡¯t notice it because I was also activating Great Earth Transformation at the same time. To ensure my apparition¡¯s safety, I even moved it to the other side of their formation before planning my attack. Purple Dragon Howl could only be used if the user had max HP and MP, so the apparition couldn¡¯t take any damage no matter what. Chapter 989: Perfect Teamwork "Shock Arrow, go! Stun that motherf.u.c.ker called Lu Chen!" Now and Forever shouted while shooting Ghastly Plague at me himself. This skill was extremely imbalanced, and its slowing effects were better than your standard Freezing Arrow. Its weakness was that it took slightly longer than Freezing Arrow to channel, and it traveled in an arc, not a straight line. Therefore, it was possible to dodge. Pa! The Armored Ice Qilin Horse abruptly zigzagged according to my control and successfully dodged Now and Forever¡¯s Ghastly Plague. Now that the timing was right, I locked onto the closest warrior to me and Charged! Swhoosh! Lightning rippled behind me as I slammed into the enemy frontline. At the same time, six or seven knights swung their shields at me! Bang! The impact caused a gust of wind, but I managed to block them all without a hitch. My Strength giga-boosted by several Divine Armaments and Archean Immortal-grade equipment, so there was no way a couple of normal players would be able to threaten me. War Crush! Three bloody shockwaves erupted in a 5x5 yard area and one-shot all the Sword Lord of Jianghu players around me. That was how high my Attack was with Martial God! Buzz! A Level 184 high-level magic knight raised his shield and shouted, "I¡¯ll stop him! Archers, get serious already and stun him!" I immediately felt increased pressure on my left arm and the Dragon God Shield. Despite my best attempts to weave around the arrow rain, at least several hundred archers were shooting at me from close range. Of course I wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge all of them. The good news was that I wasn¡¯t stunned despite having tanked a dozen or so Shock Arrows. Whoosh! A column of fire swirled around the Purple Ying Sword, and I fired Burning Blade Slash at the Level 184 magic knight as I laughed. "You think you can stop me? Who the f.u.c.k do you think you are?" The first strike alone knocked his shield sideways. The next two strikes straight up penetrated his torso and exploded him and the players standing behind him. My damage was so high that an entire group of players saw damage numbers at least 80k or higher rising above their heads. Now and Forever gritted his teeth and fired Hellish Tribulation at me. It was a 10-yard-wide AoE skill, and this time, I wasn¡¯t able to dodge out of the way! 79932! I had to admit that his Magic Attack was strong and painful. Not only that, a group of fighters immediately surrounded me and hit me with their Barrier Breaks. 38188! 21992! 54727! ¡­¡­ My Defense was high, but no one could tank this many attacks without losing a significant amount of HP. My health dropped below half in an instant. 290283! +43542! 302824! +45423! The 15% lifesteal of the Purple Ying Sword was just fantastic. It was always nice to heal via dishing out even more damage! I bet Sword Lord of Jianghu is in a world of hurt right now! Pa! Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t stay lucky forever. My body suddenly froze up, and I got the notification that I was stunned for 1.75 seconds¡ªand this was after my stats had reduced the stun duration¡ªby a Shock Arrow. It didn¡¯t look like much, but I was an unmoving target being targeted by hundreds, if not thousands of archers and mages! This could easily be the end of me! Now and Forever laughed as he ordered, "Kill him now!" Another arrow rain hit my Dragon God Shield, and the system notified me that I had been stunned 7 times in a row. F.u.c.k! If this continues, I might just be chain-stunned until death! "Roar!" Purple Dragon Howl killed or wounded countless enemy players and dealt a ton of damage. Not done yet, I controlled the apparition to fall back until its 3-second weakness period was over before following up with Coiling Dragon Revolution and Burning Blade Slash. It instantly tore a hole in Sword Lord of Jianghu¡¯s defense line. "Ignore his doppelganger and kill Lu Chen first!" Now and Forever hated me. He hated me because Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had destroyed Sword Lord of Jianghu¡¯s dreams in the WEL, and I was the one who had played him like a fiddle in our 1v1 battle and humiliated him before his lord and master. For him, the only way to resolve this grudge was to kill me, and I was only too happy to oblige. There was nothing more I hated than people who willingly chose to become the minions of the government... Galaxy Storms, Spiraling Arrow Blades and Barrier Breaks kept hitting my Dragon God Shield. There was nothing I could do because I was still stunned. Despite Murong Mingyue¡¯s best efforts to keep me alive, my HP couldn¡¯t rise higher than the 25% mark. It was seriously dangerous. All it took was a couple of lucky crits from the melee players to cost me a level. It was at this moment the person I was waiting for finally showed up. Lian Xin had moved to a different corner of the battlefield before using Blink to teleport amid the enemies and raising her scepter. A ton of deadly spells such as Ice Spiral Matrix, Dimensional Storm and Gravity Trap instantly exploded around me and disrupted the attackers. Swhoosh! At the same time, a shiny arrow soared into the air. It split into a storm of arrows before raining down on the attackers like the rain. It was of course Beiming Xue¡¯s seventh-promotion skill, Skypiercer! The Skypiercer¡¯s range was insane. It enveloped a small half of the forest clearing and dealt an insane amount of damage¡ª 282768! 172644! ¡­¡­ Now and Forever was shocked. "What the f.u.c.k! Is this really Skypiercer? Since when is Skypiercer so powerful? Most people only deal around 10 to 20k damage!" I snickered on the inside. Beiming Xue had the ridiculously powerful Windchaser set and the Archean Immortal-grade Ice Soul Feather that boosted her Skypiercer¡¯s damage by 100%. This meant that her "normal" Skypiercer was equal to another archer¡¯s critting Skypiercer, and when she did crit¡ªin her particular case, it was about 30% of her shots¡ªthat was 4 times more damage than normal! Finally, Beiming Xue was riding the Dragonscale Beast, which boosted her already insane Attack to even greater heights. She was the living nightmare of all foot soldier! Now and Forever trembled all over. "Kill them! Stop them at all costs!" Swhoosh! Suddenly, a fiery red cone struck Now and Forever and left a deep gash on his body. It was none other than He Yi hitting him with Barrier Break. She wasn¡¯t able to land the full hit and so didn¡¯t one-shot him, but he was brought low enough that he had to withdraw in panic. The magic swordsman, Amber Pupil, rushed toward her with ice surrounding his sword, but He Yi easily parried his attack and retaliated with Purgatory of Ice and Magma! Amber Pupil had completely underestimated He Yi. He didn¡¯t expect her to counter his attack so quickly and so easily. Left with no choice, he crossed his sword in front of himself and Guarded! The five waves of mayhem cut through a crowd of players. No one survived except Amber Pupil himself. Swhoosh! When Beiming Xue fired her second Skypiercer, I could see that Sword Lord of Jianghu was about to break into tears. Meanwhile, I had finally woken up from the chain-stun. I should¡¯ve known better to charge myself, I supposed. The moment I recovered, I ignored the enemy¡¯s attacks and galloped toward the enemy¡¯s main group. Since I had hidden my left palm behind my cape, they didn¡¯t see the golden seals falling down from the sky until it was too late. Screams filled the air yet again. I fired off 17 seals in a row. My ID was blood-red because this was a massacre and not a fair battle by any means. It didn¡¯t matter though. I could easily clear my name by entering the A4 instance and killing the mobs. Not willing to fall behind, Beiming Xue unleashed Well of the Abyss that caught a group of charging knights perfectly. The funny part was the knights at the back were unable to stop themselves in time and stumbled into the skill. It really was an abyss; a bottomless hole. "Lian Xin, get ready!" Beiming Xue shouted. Lian Xin chuckled. "Don¡¯t worry. My greater spells are at the ready!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Speaking of which, I dropped three Icy Cyclone Domains around the girls to mark our territory and warn the enemy not to approach our three ranged attackers, or else. These days, even Icy Cyclone Domain did at least 50k+ per hit because its damage was based on my Attack. It definitely wasn¡¯t something most players could charge through. ¡­¡­ Finally, after losing a couple hundred players, Sword Lord of Jianghu finally realized that they didn¡¯t have the power to defeat us. Now and Forever gritted his teeth for a moment before growling, "Prepare to retreat! It¡¯s pointless to fight any longer. Next time, we¡¯ll bring our mage party with us to kill them!" Before he left, he threatened us, "Don¡¯t think you¡¯ve won, Lu Chen. Just you wait, we¡¯ll wipe you the moment you come out of A4!" It was the usual. Their lines might differ a bit, but it was more or less the same meaningless threats every time. I watched the receding players and let out a sigh. Then, I said to He Yi, "They talk like we¡¯ll stay around to greet them after we finish A4. How stupid do they think we are? Of course we will teleport back to Dark Moon City once we¡¯ve finished the instance." He Yi giggled. "We should go. Honestly, we should avoid provoking people like him if possible. You know the saying, better to offend an honorable man than a dishonorable one." I nodded. "Yeah, the worst kind of people are those who¡¯ll stab you in the back when you aren¡¯t looking. Anyway, let¡¯s go, people! Oh right, tell Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi to come over with the Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers. If Sword Lord of Jianghu really does return, we¡¯ll just take their territory from them¡­" Murong Mingyue rolled her eyes. "The Dragonlight Cavalry and the Dragonlight Archers? A thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen is enough to turn them into grandsons, you know that right?" "Hahaha¡­" ¡­¡­ We laughed and entered the map. As it turned out, the A4 instance was nothing, especially when I was the tank. We grinded until past midnight, and the Ancient Divine Dragon gained a couple of levels. It was around this time that Chaos Moon sent me a message and told me to go to sleep sooner. I hadn¡¯t forgotten that we had come all the way here to sweep the graves, not to travel or play games. Otherwise, I would¡¯ve brought Lin Yixin or He Yi with me, not Chaos Moon. Chapter 990: Roaring Tractor The next day, Chaos Moon woke me up really early in the morning. After we ate breakfast, we left the hotel and took off. I only brought my phone and wallet with me. Chaos Moon brought a small bag and the ritual offerings she had bought the day before. Of course, they were mostly easily portable stuff like paper money. Offerings such as goat skulls and chicken blood would have to wait another day... We stopped beside the road and waited. Cold wind blasted against my body and caused me to pull my clothes in. I looked left and right and felt like I was tricked, again. "Chaos Moon." "Hmm?" "Is there really no place where we can buy a bus ticket or something? Must we wait here and flag down a car?" "There is, actually, but I¡¯m more accustomed to this, and it¡¯s more convenient." "F.u.c.k¡­" ¡­¡­ A while later, I saw a bus in the distance and hurriedly waved my arm almost like I was calling for help. However, the sonuvabitch blitzed past us and left behind only a cloud of engine smoke. Almost an hour later, a kindhearted uncle finally stopped their vehicle and let us in. The problem? He was driving a tractor. A tractor! What the hell is wrong with our luck today? It was the middle of the spring season already, but the air was still a bit cold. The kindhearted uncle said with a grin, "Adaxis (T/N: meaning ¡®friends¡¯), you are really lucky to catch me, you know that? My tractor passes through here only once a day. Also, even the students studying here can¡¯t even catch a ride at the bus station these days. All the tickets are sold out in the blink of an eye!" Shaking like a rag doll in the small open trailer, I asked expressionlessly, "Thank you so much for giving us a ride, uncle. So, how long will it take to reach our destination?" "Three hours¡­" The one good thing about this trip was that the scenery of Xinjiang was very different from the ones in the south. For starters, the visibility was absolutely insane. Most of the time, I had an unobstructed view of the expanse all the way to the horizon. In Suzhou, the only view I got was buildings, some buildings and then some more buildings unless I visited an artificial park, and its scale was terrible to say the least. Sometimes, it felt like I was a plant trapped inside a steel cage. That suffocating feeling of ever-present beauty was completely absent in this place. Oh well. As the saying goes, if you cannot resist, then you may as well enjoy it! There was a sack on the trailer that was filled with food. I leaned against the seat and stared at the beautiful scenery outside. I also shot Chaos Moon a look. "What are you looking at?" Chaos Moon stared at me. "Hmph!" "What do you mean, hmph!?" Chaos Moon started punching me. "Say it to my face if you have something to say, bastard! I forbid you from criticizing me inside your head!" I happily obliged. "I was supposed to be grinding the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s level right now, but no, not only did you drag me all the way here, I may catch a flu by the time we get back home! What kind of scam is this?" Chaos giggled. "That¡¯s it? And here I thought it was something serious. People who stay in all day and night gaming are going to turn into idiots, you know. In fact, you should be thanking me for dragging you out on a vacation!" "Pooh pooh pooh¡­ Ah shit, it¡¯s so cold!" "What do you think?" I looked at my G2000 jacket. This thing was a bit warm to wear in Suzhou, but the north? I would be lucky not to catch hypothermia. Chaos Moon stuck out her tongue before sitting on top of the sack next to me. Then, she wrapped her arms around me and blinked at me cutely. "You warm now?" I felt a twinge in my heart as I looked at her. "Chaos Moon, you¡¯re a good girl, you know. It shouldn¡¯t be hard for you to find a boyfriend. Instead, you chose loneliness¡­" "Me? A boyfriend?" Chaos Moon looked away with a chuckle. "You think I don¡¯t want to? It¡¯s just that I would rather be single than get a chucklehead to be my boyfriend. It¡¯s ironic. A woman¡¯s life becomes a tragedy when they set their bar high¡­" Feeling a sudden tinge of pity for her, I returned the hug and said, "Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll find the one for you one day." Chaos Moon looked back at me and asked, "Say, would you have chosen me if you met me first before the guild leader or Beauty Lin?" I gave it some thought before answering, "No, I wouldn¡¯t." "Why?¡¯ "To begin with, there is no ¡®if¡¯. Eve and I had gone through so much that no one can ever hope to come between our relationship. Lin Yixin¡¯s love for me is unique and unchanging, which is why I will cherish her back more than I cherish my own life. Also, I don¡¯t need a reason to love her¡­" Chaos Moon softly snorted once before teasing me, "If only you had the courage to confess your feelings to the guild leader and Beauty Lin instead of me. I don¡¯t understand you sometimes. You have the courage to face down millions and millions of players from the Northern Alliance by yourself, and yet you can¡¯t muster even a sliver of that courage before the women you love? Why?" "It¡¯s different." "Pooh! It is the same. You just don¡¯t want to hurt either of them, but that hesitation is going to do exactly that." I looked down and asked, "What do you think I should do then, Chaos Moon? I¡¯ll treat you for an entire year if you can come up with a perfect plan for me¡­" Chaos Moon replied, "Just accept them both, duh." "Okay." "Okay?" Chaos Moon¡¯s arms grew tighter. "What do you mean, ¡®okay¡¯? Are you actually serious about this?" "You¡¯re the one who suggested it to me." "You make it sound like you want to watch it happen with your own eyes." "Can I?" "Of course not!" I looked to the distance before saying, "By the way, is your aunt¡¯s house on the way to the grave?" "It wasn¡¯t, but uncle¡¯s tractor is going through my aunt¡¯s town, so I¡¯m probably going to visit it anyway. I may buy some fruits and gifts or something and deliver it to my aunt before sweeping the grave. We¡¯ll head back to the hotel in the evening and go home first thing tomorrow." "Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ We finally stopped at an unfamiliar town when it was almost noon. Chaos Moon tugged at my sleeves and said, "Come on, let¡¯s go visit my aunt!" "Okay." We bought the fruits and arrived at a certain household. The auntie Chaos Moon spoke of looked to be around 50 years old. She exclaimed in pleasant surprise when she saw Chaos Moon, "Aiya, it¡¯s Little Yue! You should¡¯ve called and told me that you¡¯re coming!" "Oh, I see. Actually, your older cousin just went away to buy fruits and paper money as well. You should wait for him!" Then, the auntie looked at me and said, "Who¡¯s this boy, Little Moon? He looks very quite healthy and¡­ have I seen you before? Hmm..." I wouldn¡¯t be surprised. Heavenblessed¡¯s promotional posters were everywhere. Half of them were about players, and half of that half was about me and Lin Yixin. Since I hadn¡¯t altered my in-game face in any way, it made perfect sense that she would recognize me. Chaos Moon replied smilingly, "He¡¯s a friend¡ªa superior I guess?¡ªof mine from Suzhou. He came with me because he¡¯s worried for my safety." "Oh, I see¡­" The auntie walked over and grabbed my hand affectionately. She then said, "My, you are one handsome boy, aren¡¯t you? Little Yue, don¡¯t let him slip out of your grasp, understand?" Chaos Moon turned bright red, but I felt like digging myself a grave. Oh come on! ¡­¡­ A while later, a young man with a jarhead haircut entered the house with some fruits and a chicken. He had a bandit¡¯s face, and there was a faded scar beneath his chin. The moment he saw Chaos Moon, he smiled and greeted her, "Yo, what¡¯s the occasion, cousin?" "Who¡¯s he?" her older cousin asked while pointing at me. "I¡¯m Chaos Moon¡¯s friend," I replied indifferently. "I¡¯m here to protect her while she sweeps the grave. She¡¯s an important asset of my company after all. We¡¯ll return to the south once she¡¯s done with her business." "Oh, I see. Well, let¡¯s go together then." "Mn." ¡­¡­ Chaos Moon¡¯s jarhead cousin kept shooting us weird looks as we walked out of the backyard and headed to the hill at the back. He also shot Chaos Moon disgusting looks while saying, "Very impressive, cousin. This boss of yours is real smart-lookin¡¯. He must be pretty rich, ain¡¯t he? I heard that the rich people in the south all have a couple houses and cars at least. You must¡¯ve ¡®earned¡¯ a car for yourself, haven''t cha?" Chaos Moon¡¯s expression turned ugly. "It¡¯s not what you think. He didn¡¯t give me anything." "That¡¯s not fair!" Jarhead grinned an ugly grin before continuing, "It¡¯s all about fair trade these days, ain¡¯t it? You keep him company for a couple of years, he pays you your rightful compensation. Perfectly fair, am I right, brother? Unless she let you screw around with her for free? Wow!" I abruptly stopped in my tracks and shot him a cold glare. "One more word and I¡¯ll end you." Jarhead looked completely caught off-guard by my threat. He gritted his teeth but kept his silence. Chaos Moon pulled my arm and said, "Come on, we¡¯ll go back after we sweep the grave." "Mn." ¡­¡­ We arrived at a low tombstone around halfway up the mountain and put down our stuff there. Her eyes reddened as she said, "Grandma¡¯s the one who raised me when I was younger. However, I seldom visited her after I started attending university. Auntie told me that she often sat in the backyard, looked to the south and asked her when I¡¯m coming home¡­" I gave her a consoling pat on the shoulder and said, "Come, it¡¯s time to burn the paper money. And don¡¯t cry. Your grandma will be sad if she sees you like this." "Mn." Chaos Moon broke into a smile before kneeling in front of the grave. First, she dug a small hole with a spade. Then, she lit up the ritual offering. I helped her out here and there while jarhead set down the fruits, chicken and other stuff. It was obvious that he was hostile toward me, but I paid him no heed. A short time later, the grave sweeping was done. I rose to my feet and grabbed Chaos Moon¡¯s hand. "Come on, let¡¯s catch a real car when we reach the town later. I¡¯ve just about had enough of tractors¡­" Chaos Moon giggled. "Fine. Was the experience too much for you?" I pointed at my shirt and said, "Duh. Look what happened to my clothes. The rucksack we sat on this morning was covered in soil, and we just knelt on muddy soil. Eve bought this for me, which means that it¡¯s literally more expensive than me¡­" Chaos Moon burst into another giggle. "Fine, fine¡­" After we returned to the foot of the hill, Chaos Moon said, "We¡¯re leaving, cousin. Tell aunt that we¡¯ll visit her next time." But the jarhead smiled and said, "What¡¯s the hurry? At least stay around for lunch." "No, it¡¯s fine." "Fine, but you gotta leave something behind, you understand?" Greed suddenly erupted from the jarhead¡¯s eyes. "Grandma used up a ton of money while she was living at our house, you know. You¡¯re her precious little granddaughter, right? Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s only right that you compensate my family? I think some cash will do just fine¡­" At this point, Chaos Moon¡¯s complexion had turned scarily white. "What do you mean by that?" Chapter 991: Floating Ice City Falls "What do I mean? My mom had to keep that crone alive for ten years for nothing. And what did she get after she passed away?" The jarhead¡¯s eyes glowed with greed. "She loves you the most, Little Moon. It only makes sense that we recoup some of those costs from you, right, Little Yue? My mother is an honest woman who can¡¯t bring herself to ask something like this, so it falls on me, your older cousin, to say it. Ten years of food expenses, treatment cost and cremation fee have got to amount to at least a hundred thousand, right? You¡¯ve your boss now, surely you can afford to pay this much, right?" A shaking Chaos Moon pointed a furious finger at him. "Grandma wasn¡¯t a crone, you f.u.c.k.i.n.g animal!" Annoyed, the jarhead roared back, "Pay me now, bitch! I don¡¯t care if it¡¯s a couple thousand or tens of thousands, I don¡¯t have time to waste on you! You may have a good time f.u.c.k.i.n.g around like the whore you are, but the rest of the family are still eating dirt!" "You! You!" Chaos Moon¡¯s shoulders shook with fury, but she still took out her small white handbag and tried to grab for her money. I hurriedly stopped her and said, "Don¡¯t give him money." "What did you say?" The cousin turned his ire on me. "Who the f.u.c.k do you think you are? Lover or not, my family¡¯s business is none of your business, is it? You think you¡¯re her family just because you slept with her? Pooh! She had left the family for years, f.u.c.k knows how many men had slept with this bitch during this time! You really think you¡¯re something spe¡ª" I abruptly strode forward and threw an uppercut right at the bottom of his jaw. A bloody incisor actually flew out of his mouth as he fell down to the ground. Chaos Moon was so angry that she was in tears. I could only imagine how aggrieved she was feeling right now. The jarhead tried to get back up to his feet, but I kicked him on the shoulder and knocked him flat on his back. He struggled. Thud! This time, I stomped on his stomach and elicited a painful howl from him. I then slapped him right across his right cheek. "You¡­ you bastard, just you wait, I¡¯m going to call my friends to get you right now¡ª" He tried to struggle back to his feet again, so I bent down and slapped him twice across the cheeks as hard as I could. Blood was starting to trickle down from the corner of his lips. I glared at the jarhead angrily before saying, "A man can be poor, but they must never lose their integrity and ambition, much less curse their dead grandmother, you f.u.c.k.i.n.g animal! No, you¡¯re worse than an animal! If you¡¯re going to keep leeching off your parents like this, you might as well dig yourself a grave and bury yourself in it!" "Enough, Lu Chen, let¡¯s go already¡­" Chaos Moon grabbed my hand and pleaded again. I kicked the f.u.c.ker one last time, and this time he stayed down for good. It didn¡¯t look like he was climbing back to feet anytime soon. Before we left, I threatened him, "Little Yue is a good girl, and I¡¯ve never touched her. A bastard like you probably can¡¯t understand that a man and a woman can have a platonic relationship with each other, can you? It doesn¡¯t matter. You want to take revenge, come find me at Suzhou. I promise I¡¯ll crush you like the f.u.c.k.i.n.g ant you are!" I was speaking the truth. I was a major shareholder in Raincube Suzhou, and I had the power to mobilize the entire security department with a single call. A hooligan like him was literally nothing to me. Moreover, I had loyal brothers like Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi. Battle maniacs in both virtual reality and real life, they were only all too happy to get into a fight. The f.u.c.ker could bring his whole gang over, and we¡¯d beat them to the ground all the same. And if that doesn¡¯t work, there¡¯s always our Li Chengfeng, a high-level police officer to settle the whole thing... ¡­¡­ We broke into a brisk run. Still holding onto my arm, Chaos Moon asked, "We could¡¯ve sent him away just by giving him some money. You didn¡¯t need to beat him black and blue." I shook my head. "You think that because you don¡¯t understand uncontrolled greed and the nature of gamblers. You give him money once, he¡¯s only going to ask for more next time. People like him are like parasites who¡¯ll never find a way to create wealth for themselves. Do you really think your aunt will lead a good life if he stays like this? I may not have a way to cure him, but I know that giving him money is among the worst things you can do. You¡¯ll just be furthering his disease." Chaos Moon fell into thought for a moment before saying, "Let¡¯s stop by my aunt¡¯s house for a bit. I want to give her some money." "Mn!" Unfortunately, our luck wasn¡¯t doing so well today. We waited a while, but there was no taxi in sight. My anxiety grew. "Come on, how can there be no taxis at the town center? I¡¯m hungry as hell, and what are we going to do if your older cousin chases us with a bunch of hooligans?" Chaos Moon smiled. "I thought you¡¯re a good fighter?" My mouth twitched. "So what? I¡¯m not Ip Man. Your older cousin spends his days doing drugs, gambling and maybe even visiting brothels. Whatever strength he might¡¯ve had was emptied a long time ago, so I knew from the start I could 1v10 a person like him. But it¡¯s a completely different story if he summons the local ¡®hero¡¯ to his aid¡­" Chaos Moon giggled at my metaphor. "Don¡¯t worry, there are no heroes in this town, only pretty Uyghur ladies. Look over there¡­" I followed her finger and saw a beautiful young lady wearing a mask passing through. Damn, she was as s.e.xy as some foreign ladies for sure. "Wanna take one home with you?" Chaos Moon suggested. I rubbed my palms together and replied, "I want to, but I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m up to her standards¡­" "Just tell her that you¡¯re the Little Heavenly King Lu Chen. Uyghur ladies play games too, they¡¯ll flock to you like any gaming fan if they learned who you are." "Heehee, glad to know you haven¡¯t lost your mind!" "Stop fooling around and flag a taxi already!" "Er, there are no taxis here, only private vehicles!" I stared at her for a bit before pulling up her skirt slightly. Then, I pushed her to the roadside and said, "Now stretch your leg a bit, yes, like that. I promise you we¡¯ll catch a car in five minutes tops!" A blushing Chaos Moon glared at me with killing intent. "You¡¯re dead if nothing happens after five minutes!" "Hmph, just watch!" To Chaos Moon¡¯s surprise, not only did the plan succeed, it only took less than three minutes. An instant after a speeding Toyota Camry passed by us, the driver abruptly stepped down on the brakes and skidded to a stop. After he reversed the car up to us, he opened the door and said to Chaos Moon, "You wanna hop in, young lady? It¡¯s hard to catch a ride around here!" Chaos Moon nodded and asked, "We would like to go to Tekes, uncle. Is that convenient?" "Oh? I am heading to Bagua City to conduct some business, so sure, come on in!" An overjoyed Chaos Moon dragged me into the car immediately, even though she didn¡¯t need to because I was pretty overjoyed myself. I never expected to be able to catch a ride in a Camry in this rural town, although anything was better than another goddamn tractor. The experience was so bad that I was imagining something completely insane until the Camry showed. I imagined that Chaos Moon and I were stranded at the Gobi Desert and hugging each other for warmth. Thankfully, a kind-hearted uncle leading a pair of ostriches showed up and offered us a ride. Up and down we bounced atop the ostriches¡¯ back until finally, we reached Tekes County when it was dead of night. Besides Chaos Moon¡¯s messy hair and bouncing b.r.e.a.s.ts, everything else about the journey was pure misery. ¡­¡­ Back to the present. The uncle kept trying to engage Chaos Moon in a conversation, but unfortunately for him, she wasn¡¯t very interested. She leaned closely to me and stared at me with those big eyes of hers as if she was trying to say something. "Growl¡­" My stomach chose this moment to growl. Now that I think about it, we haven¡¯t eaten anything since the morning. It¡¯s almost noon now. "Uncle!" Chaos Moon said suddenly. "What¡¯s wrong, young lady?" asked the uncle while looking to the back. "Oh, sure!" I added, "Again, thank you so much for taking us with you, uncle. We¡¯ll definitely pay you the petrol fee once we reach Tekes!" He smiled. "It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine!" Chaos Moon got out of the car and ran into the lamb restaurant. A short while later, she reappeared with a few boxes of packed lunch. She opened one of them and showed the contents to me with a smile, "You wanted to try out the most authentic barbecued lamb meat of Xinjiang, right? This one¡¯s the barbecued lamb leg, and this one¡¯s the hand grab mutton of your dreams. It¡¯s been cut already, so you can eat it off your hands¡­" I almost forgot to wipe the saliva trickling down my mouth as I inhaled the amazing scent of food. After I wiped my dirty hands on Chaos Moon¡¯s skirt, I picked up a piece of lamb meat and placed it in my mouth. Mm, delicious food was delicious, but hunger made it even better! Still holding the box with both hands, Chaos Moon complained, "What about me? Feed me please¡­" I rolled my eyes at her choice of words but pushed a piece of meat into her mouth as requested. Looking at us through the rear view mirror, the uncle asked, "Are you two in a relationship?" I was going to deny it, but Chaos Moon beamed at him and said, "Yes we are! We look very good together, right?" My face turned green as Chaos Moon reveled in my misery. ¡­¡­ The view on both sides of the road was extremely broad, featuring large plains or desert. It was the kind of view you wanted to see on a trip for sure. This was even truer when you were the passenger and not the one burning the fuel of a Camry like crazy. We were going to pay the uncle his due of course, but point. Du¡­ du¡­ du... My phone suddenly came to life, and Chaos Moon shot me a glance. "Who is it?" I took a look before answering, "It¡¯s Eve." "Oh? This sounds serious." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ I connected the call and greeted Eve with a smile, "Good afternoon, Eve. Do you miss me?" For some reason, He Yi sounded a little out of breath. "Yes, I really do. When can you come online?" "What¡¯s wrong?" "Almost everything. Just ten minutes ago, Floating Ice City was taken over by Purple Gr.a.p.e City!" "WHAT?!" I felt my eyes widening into saucers as I clenched my fist. "That¡¯s impossible! What the f.u.c.k are the players and the NPCs of Sky City doing!? Floating Ice City is Princess Karinshan¡¯s first home! Did White Rose Fortress surrender without a fight or something!?" Chapter 992: Twelve Musicians He Yi let out a sigh before explaining, "It¡¯s a long story. Last night, Hero City suddenly launched a fierce assault on Fortress of the Iron Halberd in an attempt to occupy Dawn City again. So, the guilds of Wind City and Vanished God City left to deal with them. It turned out to be a miscalculation, however. Several super guilds of Titan City had secretly snuck into Vanished God City through Eternal Ice Snow Region and caused havoc there, forcing Candle Dragon, Purple Lily and more to withdraw and defend Vanished God City instead. But that was just the beginning¡­" She paused for a second before continuing, "This early morning, India¡¯s Elephant City dispatched a dozen or so big guilds across Black Coast and successfully landed at Sky City, forcing us and Snowy Cathaya to fight them. We had thought that that was the true attack, but we were wrong. Purple Gr.a.p.e City attacked White Rose Fortress at around the same time, and combined together with Elephant City¡¯s troops they attacked the fortress from inside and outside, successfully wiped out all of its NPC troops, and invaded all the way to Floating Ice City. By the time we finally realized what was going on, the teleportation formations to Floating Ice City were destroyed, and the city itself was taken by them¡­" I gritted my teeth in anger. "After that, Eve? What happened to Floating Ice City after that?" She replied, "That damn Red Maple surrounded Floating Ice City and slaughtered all its players and its NPCs. Then, he occupied and abandoned it to turn it into a ruin. You know how that works. All those who set their resurrection points to Floating Ice City can only resurrect from the nearby graveyards, so¡­" He Yi sighed again in humiliation and sorrow. "The elite forces led by Red Maple stayed behind at Floating Ice City¡¯s Sunset Forest and are camping the players who resurrect there, killing them again and again. Even now, they are still camping them. Over half of Floating Ice City¡¯s players have lost a hundred levels as a result, and because those bastards keep throwing Firewalls, they are in combat state as soon as they spawn and can¡¯t log out of the game or teleport to a city. Already, many players have dropped to Level 0 and have been teleported back to the newbie¡¯s village¡­" "F.U.C.K!" I clenched my fists and uttered in fury, "What the F.U.C.K are our people doing!? How can they allow these animals to continue doing what they want? Where¡¯s Li Chengfeng? Where¡¯s Gui Guzi? Don¡¯t tell me they¡¯re not online, and if they are what the f.u.c.k are they doing?? Our compatriots have suffered long enough as it is!" "Calm down, Lu Chen¡­" He Yi explained, "We were attacked at Black Coast by Olympus¡¯ main army led by Titan God himself, and we were barely holding them off as it was. This Nation War, no, Nation Wars, happened so suddenly and so closely to one another that the Northern Alliance, the Indians and the Japanese had to have plotted this from the start. They must be planning to occupy all three of our three main cities in one go¡­" I forced myself to calm down and said, "Eve, I want you to split up our forces and send Gui Guzi, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and anyone else you see fit to rescue Floating Ice City. Even if¡­ even if we lose Dark Moon City as a result, we cannot let this atrocity continue any longer. I just can¡¯t stand by and do nothing while our compatriots are slaughtered like that¡­" "Got it, I¡¯ll do that right away. I¡¯ve been trying to contact you all this time, but wherever you were, it must have had an extremely bad signal. When can you come back online, by the way? We need your strength as soon as possible." "I¡­ I¡¯ll be up in two hours!" Got it¡­" He Yi hung up and went back to business. This Nation War had erupted so suddenly that even though we knew that it would arrive sooner than later, we were still a bit caught off-guard. We should¡¯ve known that a big war was coming. Ever since the China server shocked the world with their victory over the Northern Alliance during the War of Dawn City, the other main cities had felt threatened by us. This was without mentioning that India and Japan¡¯s servers were hostile toward us from the start due to past wars. We should¡¯ve known that the unnatural quiet that pervaded recent days was just the calm before the storm, and now the storm had finally descended in earnest! Beside me, Chaos Moon said with an outraged expression, "I heard you correctly, right? Floating Ice City was massacred by the enemy?" I nodded. "Yeah. Not only is the city abandoned, millions of players are still being killed right now. Many of them have dropped to Level 0 already¡­" "F.u.c.k!" I smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "Don¡¯t say that. No player can affect a war between millions of players single-handedly. Even if I was at Floating Ice City right now, there¡¯s no way I could stop Red Maple¡¯s millions by myself." "At least you would¡¯ve been able to keep Red Maple under control." "We¡¯ll see!" A chill peeked through my eyes. "Red Maple, that sonuvabitch. I swear I¡¯ll make him pay twice for everything he has done today!" ¡­¡­ After we returned to Tekes County, I paid the uncle 200 RMB, bade him goodbye, and returned to the hotel right away. The sooner I caught up with the Nation War, the better! Swhoosh! The moment I appeared in Sky City, I could sense that the atmosphere was all wrong. Players were rushing in and out in a hurry. Not a single player stall could be seen in the square. I myself hurried to prepare for a long war. I ran to the potion shop, stocked up on normal potions, grabbed a bunch of Saint Spirit Potions from my warehouse, repaired my equipment and brought high-rank bread. With that done, I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and got on top of it. Once I summoned the Phantom Wolf King as well, I activated Martial God, sent Eve a message¡ª"Eve, I¡¯m heading to Floating Ice City now"¡ªand galloped down the floating rocks of Sky City. I know, and you should be careful too. I¡¯ll meet up with you once I¡¯ve chased Red Maple out of China!" "Mn. I miss you!" "Hehe, I miss you too. Let¡¯s both do our best¡­" Once the Armored Ice Qilin Horse reached the ground, I opened the world map and rode straight for Floating Ice City. On the way, I saw countless Sky City players heading in the same location. Not far in front of me, I saw a 50-man party that belonged to a Warsky Alliance subguild rushing in the same direction. A high-level axe wielder shouted on top of his lungs, "Our brethren at Floating Ice City are being slaughtered right now, but they haven¡¯t given up yet, so how could we give up on them!? Full speed ahead, people! We may die in Floating Ice City, but we will not retreat until we draw our last breath!" Warsky Alliance¡¯s players were mostly like due to Warsky¡¯s influence. The guild leader was the passionate type, and truth be told, there were few allies who were more reliable than Warsky Alliance at times of Nation Wars. I rode past them because my movement speed was faster. When the axe wielder¡ªa vice leader¡ªsaw me, he called out, "Is that you, Lu Chen?" I looked back and nodded affirmatively, "Mn!" He smiled. "You head over first. We¡¯ll be there as soon as we can!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ I passed through Floating Ice City¡¯s borders in less than ten minutes. The forest in front of me was lush and green, but their vibrance was marred by the light of skills everywhere. It showed how fierce the battle had become. Chiang! I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and activated undead energy. I then let out an angry shout¡ªWild Roar, a skill that boosted my Attack by 15%¡ªand activated a Ghost Chariot Card as well. This was a critical battle, and I couldn¡¯t afford to hold back at all. I spotted four red names chasing a Chinese assassin in my vicinity. All four pursuers had the Japan flag in front of their IDs. I burned up with rage. Did they really think they could do whatever they want on our soil? Chiang chiang! The assassin parried two attacks but failed to stop a magic knight from stabbing his arm and critting for 30k+ damage. That hit had almost one-shot him! "Ah¡­" he exclaimed in surprise and tried to retreat, but an assassin whose stealth was broken was no better than a walking target. 172662! 192823! I was in perfect condition, Martial God was active. It was only natural that I did as much damage as I did. "Who are you?" the magic knight directly in front of me yelled. "Your killer!" I slashed his neck and dealt the final blow. Blood sputtered everywhere as he fell off his horse and died. Two of the three surviving pursuers tried to escape, but I tossed the Purple Ying Sword at them and used Coiling Dragon Revolution. They died as a matter of course. The last player tried to run away, but the Phantom Wolf King caught up to him from behind and bit his neck. A flurry of swipes later, he was dead as well. ¡­¡­ The assassin was too busy staring at the golden WEL emblem on my shoulder in shock. He murmured, "Lu Chen¡­ are you Lu Chen?" I nodded. "I am. Do you know what¡¯s ahead of us?" The assassin broke out of his reverie and replied with deep shame, "You need to go help my guild, the Twelve Musicians now. They should be 25 degrees to the southeast and around 3000 yards from here. They¡¯re being¡­ being..." "Being, what?" "Just get over there already!" "Okay. Take care!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I spurred my mount again and rushed toward the location he pointed me to. It wasn¡¯t long before I saw a Purple Gr.a.p.e City archer darting across the forest and shooting two arrows at me. After I sped up and dodged out of the way, I one-shot the guy with a single Dragon Slaying Slash. The text floating above her head said¡ª Hugging Bears in Silence LV-71 Great Earth Assassin Guild: Twelve Musicians Position: Leader ¡­¡­ "Hugging Bears in Silence¡­" I stared at her in shock. "I thought you were a Level 183 assassin?" She shivered from head to toe and faced toward me. Then, tears streamed down her cheeks like a broken dam. "Lu Chen, we¡­" Chapter 993: Tail Feather Palace Twelve Musicians was a very famous guild in Floating Ice City not because they were strong, but because they only accepted single women into their ranks. Their guild leader, Hugging Bears in Silence, was especially popular among men. It was said that the man who managed to woo Hugging Bears in Silence basically owned all twenty thousand Twelve Musicians players as well, and assuming that the lucky man had s.e.x with one woman per night, it would be 54 years before he had to repeat the cycle. Moreover, I could personally attest that Hugging Bears in Silence was a great assassin with excellent equipment because I had encountered her once in the competitive arena, but still annihilated her. From my experience, I could tell that she was a Top 100 assassin in Sky City at least. Right now though, Hugging Bears in Silence was only Level 71. Somehow, she had lost 110 levels in a single day! "What on earth happened?" I asked after I got off my horse and supported her. Eyes still welling with humiliation, she said, "It¡¯s over for the Twelve Musicians, it¡¯s all over¡­" I raised my voice and half-yelled, "Tell me what happened!" Our guild was surrounded in Sunset Forest and murdered repeatedly. Many people have dropped to Level 0 and lost all their equipment. I couldn¡¯t save them because I¡¯m useless¡­" "How did this happen? Can¡¯t they just force a logout?" I growled. "They¡¯re just too stubborn¡­" I got up my mount again and asked, "I¡¯ll head there right now. You can come with me if you want, and by that I mean stealth and watch from the sides. Who is the guild who¡¯s slaughtering your players, by the way?" Hugging Bears in Silence uttered through gritted teeth, "Tail Feather Palace¡­" "F.u.c.k!" I swore. "The fourth strongest guild of Purple Gr.a.p.e City, is it? I¡¯ll teach them a lesson!" ¡­¡­ "Let¡¯s go!" I charged through the forest at top speed. Sharp brambles cut my arms as I navigated the narrow terrain, but it wasn¡¯t nearly enough to distract me from my fury. How could I, when these animals wouldn¡¯t even give our players the chance to log out of the game? Boom! The Armored Ice Qilin Horse burst through a couple more thorny brambles and arrived at a forest clearing. Actually, it was more like a low-lying land in a valley. The valley ground was filled with red-named Purple Gr.a.p.e City players, and countless mages were chanting spells and firing Galaxy Storms, Arctic Rains, Fire Walls and more into the center. The archers were drawing their bows and firing Multi Arrows repeatedly as well. The female players were all Twelve Musicians guild members, and over half of them were n.a.k.e.d and below Level 100. There were a couple of female fighters who covered their privates with their cloaks and tried to charge the enemy¡¯s shield wall, but their damage was negligible without the necessary level or equipment. It was a hopeless situation to say the least. Pu! A Japanese magic knight with a vulgar face removed his shield and stabbed a female fighter right through the c.h.e.s.t, one-shotting her instantly. A player without equipment was more fragile than a mob. The Japanese players near the magic knight laughed at the sight. ¡­¡­ Chinese players kept dying as the bombardment continued. After Floating Ice City had been abandoned, all the maps within its borders no longer counted as China soil. Therefore, players who died here could still rejoin the Nation War because they were technically fighting on a free, neutral territory. And when you died on a neutral territory like this, you would be resurrected at the nearest graveyard. That was how this tragedy came to be. Chiang! I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and hit them from behind wordlessly. Firing three flaming auras into the shield formation, I shouted, "Die, you animals!" Boom boom boom! Charging without pause, I cut down everyone I passed by while activating Great Earth Transformation at the same time. Then, I raised my left hand and fired a dozen or so golden seals into the sky, hitting countless enemy players in a second. Tail Feather players stood too close to one another, so they became the perfect sacrifice for my skill. Hundreds of players died, and my HP returned to full in an instant. Again, this Divine General Skill was just too awesome! I was alone, but I and my Phantom Wolf King managed to wreak havoc among the Tail Feather Palace players anyway. The red wolf dished out Claws of the Storm again and again and made life hell for the Purple Gr.a.p.e City players as well. I cut a path to the center until I finally reached the n.a.k.e.d girls. Deeply pained by their plight, I cut down a magic knight in front of me while shouting at the girls, "Are you stupid? Log out now! Leave this place to me!" The girls stared at me blankly for a moment. Then, a couple of them broke into tears and cried out, "Is it you, Lu Chen? Is it really you?" I nodded. "I apologize for arriving late and letting Floating Ice City down, but you really should log out now and come back only after the Nation War is over. If you remain, you¡¯ll only be a burden to me. Levels can always be regained, so please log out already!" While saying this, I lowered my center of gravity and launched Coiling Dragon Revolution in front of me. The cyclone moved in an arc across the valley grounds, engulfed many players and killed them all. The Japanese players who were killed were teleported back to the main city they set as their resurrection point, Purple Gr.a.p.e City. It was because their city was still standing, and because they were in a Nation War. On the other hand, the Twelve Musicians players were currently designated as vagrants and would have to submit an application to enter Sky City. Pa! After I caught the Purple Ying Sword, I immediately galloped up the hill to one side. I maintained a random, zigzagging path to avoid getting hit by the Shock Arrows as much as possible. I didn¡¯t have Beiming Xue, He Yi, Lian Xin or Murong Mingyue to provide me with support this time, so I could easily die here if I was stunned even once. Swhoosh! Boom boom boom! Countless players were one-shot by Divine General Skill, but a large majority of the enemy mages remained standing. Their Magic Shields prevented them from getting one-shot by even the Ancient Seal. That was fine though. Once the 6-second cooldown Coiling Dragon Revolution was up, I fired it again and killed most of the mages. The reason I was so successful was because Coiling Dragon Revolution ignored Magic Shields, and the Ghost Chariot Card granted me armor penetration. There was absolutely no reason for me not to be able to slaughter them. I took a moment to glance at the valley. Thankfully, the girls were finally teleporting away to safety. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Suddenly, a red light flashed next to my Armored Ice Qilin Horse. It was a Level 184 assassin attempting to ambush me. Thankfully, I had activated Dark Pupils a long time ago and noticed him before he acted! I lowered my sword a bit and parried his dagger easily. Then, I used War Crush and one-shot him. Breaking into another gallop to avoid the enemy¡¯s attacks, I dropped a couple of Icy Cyclone Domains behind me, dealing damage and disrupting their formation a little. The Phantom Wolf King was also wrecking havoc behind enemy lines and assassinating high-level priests and mages specifically. Most of the time, it was powerful enough to destroy a shield in two hits and kill the player in one hit. Immortal Rank boss pets were still some of, if not the most powerful pets in the entire game. Swhoosh! Bang! Sparks erupted across my shield and actually caused me to stumble three steps to the back. Motherf.u.c.ker, whoever shot this almost had the same attacking power as Beiming Xue! I moved my shield away to reveal a murderous expression to my enemies. At the distance, an archer in red leather armor shot me a smile and said, "As expected of the man who beat Red Maple and became the MVP of the WEL, you are as courageous as you are intelligent. Still, you run a fine line between bravery and recklessness by choosing to charge my guild alone, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand." I crossed my sword in front of myself and smiled back. "Sun-shooting Bow? I know you. You are the guild leader of Tail Feather Palace and the first or second best archer in Purple Gr.a.p.e City!" "Thank you for the praise!" I laughed. "Oh no, I¡¯m not praising you at all. I just thought that I should remember your name and your face when I hang your head around my mount. Despicable bastards who kill defenseless women like you don¡¯t deserve anything positive from me!" "The arrogance!" Sun-shooting Bow erupted in anger. I raised my sword and growled, "Arrogance? I¡¯ll show you arrogance, you animal!" Lightning surrounded me as I Thunderous Charged toward him. I fired Burning Blade Slash before I even got close to the enemy! Chiang chiang chiang! Burning Blade Slash counted as a dual-property skill, magic and physical, so the shield classes were incapable of withstanding it. The splash damage also dealt a ton of damage to the magic knights and killed them. However, Sun-shooting Bow reacted super quick and easily Leaped away to safety. He was even able to dodge my follow-up Dragon Slaying Slash. The guy shouted while staring at me, "Immobilize him with Trapping Net, magic knights!" Swhoosh! I hurriedly ran in a zigzag pattern while splitting into two. When I looked up and saw a ton of Trapping Nets falling toward me, I hurriedly dodged out of the way and controlled my apparition to do the same thing. The fact that the nets missed me with inches to spare chilled my heart greatly. If even one of them took effect and immobilized me for 7 seconds, the enemy would be able to kill me in two full bombardments! ¡­¡­ "Kill!" I suddenly felt the power of Silver Dragon Storm coursing through my sword and sent it washing across the enemies without hesitation. I also commanded my apparition to use Purple Dragon Howl! Two dragons rocked heaven and earth, turning many players into strewn corpses and the battlefield into a terrible sight to behold. Bang! Unfortunately, it was ultimately unrealistic to fight a thousand men alone, and the truth of the saying ¡°two fists cannot beat four hands¡± was evident not long ago. Shock Arrow hit me and stunned me for 1.75 seconds, and the situation turned critical all of a sudden! "Kill him now!" Three magic knights rushed forward and hit my shield with Barrier Break + Triple Slash combo! Bang! Another warrior swung his flaming axe at my shield and almost knocked me off my mount. Not done yet, he kicked me in the c.h.e.s.t while shouting, "Roll!" Pa! Both me and my horse rolled all the way to the valley ground before we managed to climb back to our feet. Once I used Tenacity of the Dead to recover a huge chunk of HP, I urged my mount to jump to the side just in time to dodge a swarm of Galaxy Storms and Spiraling Arrow Blades. At this point, it was looking impossible to keep fighting without sacrificing some levels. Chapter 994: Chase Not The Cornered Enemy Beep! Suddenly, I received a message from Gui Guzi: "Boss Broken Halberd, your coordinates!" As I was launching Burning Blade Slash, the Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet triggered and injected blood-red Li flames into the sword auras. As a result, the skill easily shredded the strongest section of Sun-shooting Bow¡¯s shield formation like paper. Players screamed in pain and death as equipment, potions and blood spilled all over the place. During a brief moment of respite due to ensuing chaos, I hurriedly replied to Gui Guzi, "Floating Ice City (11199, 8772) come ASAP!" "Got it, just hold on a bit longer!" ¡­¡­ At the front, Sun-shooting Bow watched me murderously while commanding almost ten thousand Tail Feather Palace guild members to surround me from both sides. He shouted angrily, "First corps, move to the back so he can¡¯t slip out of our encirclement! Pooh! WEL MVP or not, I¡¯m killing you today!" The ground shook with the rumbling of horse hooves, and at least a thousand mounted players moved to my back before I could do anything. It put a lot of pressure on me alright. The chances that I could avoid this many Trapping Nets was almost zero, not to mention that the surviving archers and mages were still firing Galaxy Storms and Shock Arrows at me. It was a most deadly combo. Bang bang bang... I fired another 3 golden seals while retreating. I had spent over 50 Divine Energy Points to unleash the Ancient Seals and maintain Great Earth Transformation alone. It was wasteful, but it was also the only way. I wouldn¡¯t have survived if my resistances weren¡¯t buffed by Great Earth Transformation. I charged left and right, killing many with each swipe of my sword. The Phantom Wolf King followed me like a shadow and left many Purgatory Storms in its wake. "Stop him! Stop him!" Sun-shooting Bow roared angrily, "First corps cavalry, catch him with organized Charges and Trapping Nets! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand mustn¡¯t be allowed to leave alive no matter what!" I glanced at the valley again, and finally I noted that all the girls of Twelve Musicians had logged out. It was time to finally break out of this encirclement. Tail Feather Palace was a famous guild in the Japan server, and the core of their forces were all here. There was no need for me to fight them all by myself. Chiang chiang chiang... The enemy shield formation was reformed, and this time, it was four layers thick. Tsk tsk, they think too highly of me. I smiled a bit and said, "Here I come!" I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse toward the shield formation at high speed. The sky was raining with Trapping Nets. I couldn¡¯t afford to be trapped even once, so I kept changing my speed and direction so that the enemy could never really predict my path. It was the only way to dodge all these Trapping Nets. The gray nets kept missing me and landing harmlessly on the ground. Like a needle weaving through a fabric, I slipped through the tiny gaps between the Trapping Nets again and again until finally, I saw that a small section to the right side of the shield formation was only three layers thick. That¡¯s my way out! I checked the distance and, yeah, it was enough! Thunderous Charge, go! Swhoosh! I slammed into the enemy¡¯s shields with a bang and swung my sword with lightning speed. Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash! Boom boom boom! Unfortunately, all of the magic knights were Guarding, so they actually survived my double-skill combo with 5 to 25% HP left. Moreover, the priests at the back were healing them with AoE heals. They could be out of one-shot range any moment now. So I raised my left palm and blasted the ground in front of me with two golden seals. To my pleasant surprise, the Purple Ying Sword property triggered and caused the Ancient Seal to deal 5 times more damage than normal. The result was positively o.b.s.c.e.n.e¡ª 147288! 762360! 718295! ¡­¡­ At least 30% of the players took 5 times more damage than normal and were one-shot without question. This wouldn¡¯t have been enough to shred their defense line completely, but the Purple Ying Sword also had a 50% splash effect. Even at 2.5 times more damage than normal, it was still more than enough to wipe out an entire field of Purple Gr.a.p.e City players. "My god¡­" A couple of lucky magic knights stood amid the field of corpses in shock. "What the hell is this damage? Is he even human?" They didn¡¯t get to contemplate any further than that. The Phantom Wolf King rushed them and sent them all to Purple Gr.a.p.e City with a single swipe. Bang bang bang... I moved the Dragon God Shield to my back and raced through the gap between the defense line like mad. Arrows peppered against my back even now. Behind me, Sun-shooting Bow was almost mad with rage. Snarling like a beast, he shouted, "Stun him with Shock Arrows! Don¡¯t tell me you can¡¯t put down a single person!" The Purple Gr.a.p.e City magic knights caught up to me again. They were faster than me after the slows. "Hahaha! Can¡¯t run anymore, can you?" Sun-shooting Bow laughed sinisterly as he raised his bow. "Get him, brothers and sisters! End his life! And don¡¯t forget to turn on live recording! We¡¯ll show the China players exactly how we destroy their best player!" I abruptly turned around and fired Thousand Ice Slash, and again, I triggered the quintuple damage effect and the Broken Blade effect of my necklace. I dared say that I was pretty lucky today. A dozen or so magic knights dropped dead in unison while screaming like banshees, but their death screams only sounded melodious to me. For a time, the Purple Gr.a.p.e City magic knights, warriors and archers just stood there and did nothing. Over a thousand players had died under my blade since the start of the battle. Even now, my enormous power was imprinting a black shadow called trauma in all of their hearts. I smiled from atop my horse and said, "Come and get me if you dare. I wasn¡¯t planning to escape and let you invaders claim our soil anyway. If I must die here, then I will take with me as many of you as I can!" A furious Sun-shooting Bow raised his fist and declared, "Don¡¯t be afraid, braves of Tail Feather Palace! Gather your courage, turn your fear into anger, and kill him for the glory of Purple Gr.a.p.e City, and the oath we all swore!" Encouraged by Sun-shooting Bow¡¯s speech, the Tail Feather Palace players summoned their rage and charged me in unison. At least hundreds of magic knights raised their weapons while shouting, "Kill!" Suddenly, a chorus of horse hooves entered my ears. It was too organized to be the enemy¡¯s. Rumble rumble rumble... A troop of mighty-looking riders burst through the flora, and they all wore the emblem of the King of Cities and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls on their arms. Eyes gleaming with burning intent, Gui Guzi raised the Spear of the Knight God and roared, "Follow Boss Broken Halberd and kill them all!" The Dragonlight Cavalry had finally arrived. There were at least a thousand of them. I shouted, "Well met, brothers and sisters! Now turn on Nation War attack mode and kill them all! Carve up these bullies like the animals they are!" I rode as the spearhead, charging into the enemy and cutting all the enemies who were directly in front of me. Thanks to the absolute Strength advantage I held over them, there was no magic knight who could endure a single ram from me. I also made sure to cut the riders in the neck, and most of the time the weak point strike was enough to kill them. Behind me, Gui Guzi activated Knight God, while Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust activated Knight General. The elite cavalry easily trampled over Tail Feather Palace¡¯s formation and shattered their dreams completely. They knew that they had lost the moment the Dragonlight Cavalry had shown up, but the way the latter was shrugging off Galaxy Storms and Spiraling Arrow Blades was just demoralizing. The stats difference was just too huge. Crack crack crack... Heaven¡¯s Rain swung her sword left and right and left many bodies in her wake. Every Dragonlight Cavalryman was protected by a draconic shadow, the buff called Dragon Soul Protection. It was why they were both so tanky and powerful. The guild leader of Tail Feather Palace, Sun-shooting Bow, stared at this scene with a pale, deflated expression. His arms were even shivering a little as he said, "What¡­ what the hell is this cavalry?" Sun-shooting Bow nodded affirmatively and declared, "Retreat!" Tail Feather Palace¡¯s players had lost their fighting will a short while ago, so their guild leader¡¯s cry for retreat was like honey to their ears. Gui Guzi literally chased them for an entire kilometer before I finally called out to him, "Stop, Little Gui! All Dragonlight Cavalry, halt!" Over half of the enemies had been slain at this point. Gui Guzi abruptly reined in his mount and looked at me. "What¡¯s wrong, boss Broken Halberd? Those f.u.c.kers killed so many of our brethren! We can¡¯t let them go like this!" I nodded. "You are correct, but it is never a good idea to chase after a cornered enemy. We¡¯re going to kill them, but we¡¯re going to be smart about it, lest they spring a trap on us and turn this around!" Gui Guzi smiled. "Whatever you say, boss. You are the master strategist here!" Heaven¡¯s Rain teased him. "Yes, big brother Lu Chen is way smarter than you in terms of military strategy¡­" Gui Guzi w.h.i.n.ed, "F.u.c.k¡­" Chapter 995: Pre-battle Meeting "What do we do now?" Gui Guzi asked. I thought for a moment before replying, "Let¡¯s withdraw out of this forest first. We need a battlefield with a greater field of vision. The number of Purple Gr.a.p.e City players holed up at this place is at least ten times our numbers. If they surround us, we will be in trouble." "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi had brought 4000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 1000 Dragonlight Archers with him. The major Famous Generals we had were Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust. I could party up to a max of 2000 players because I was a seventh-promotion player, a Famous General and a Divine General. A basic seventh-promotion player could have a maximum party of 500. A seventh-promotion player who was a Famous General and a Divine General could party up to 4 times that amount, that is 2000 players. Martial God wasn¡¯t as good as Knight God, but in some scenarios, higher attack power was also a good option. When we arrived at the edge of the forest, we encountered a thousand-man Purple Gr.a.p.e City party. They were chasing after a hundred-man Warsky Alliance party! "Attack!" I unsheathed my sword. It took us less than ten minutes to kill them all because the Dragonlight Cavalry was that powerful. In fact, not a single one of us were killed at the end of the battle! More Chinese players arrived from the direction of Sky City. It wasn¡¯t long before a large group made up of all kinds of guilds were gathered together. I even saw Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ army led by the vice leader herself, Eyes Like Water. She shot me a smile and said, "Momo told me to send 30000 players over to fend off Purple Gr.a.p.e City. Our main force is still being tied up at Vanished God City by the Northern Alliance, but Sky City was just doing so poorly that¡­" The vice leader of The Monarch Descends, Purple Wind Chime, walked up to me and said, "We are almost 70000 strong, and we are all cavalry. Feel free to command us, Lu Chen. Xueshang told me before I came that you are one of the best strategists in the entire China. We all trust you." "Thank you." I smiled and looked in another direction. October Rain, the vice leader of Warsky Alliance, came over. "How goes the battle, Lu Chen? Warsky Alliance is only 100000+ strong, but everyone¡¯s an elite!" "You are right on time!" I shot her a smile. Another army appeared from Sky City, and they were Mad Dragon and Gods of Destruction. Even Roaming Dragon and Dominating Heaven Blade were present. Hegemon Palace also appeared from another direction. I spotted Wang Dongliang and Little Piglet among them. "Wonderful. Everyone¡¯s here!" I was very glad to see them. ¡­¡­ The moment Wang Dongliang arrived, he shot me a displeased look and said, "What are you waiting for? Is Purple Gr.a.p.e City too strong, or are you too scared to enter the forest?" Wang Dongliang replied with an ashen face, "I¡¯m beneath your provocations!" Heaven¡¯s Rain snorted. "Hmph!" I said placatingly, "Can everyone please set down their differences for now? We are all here to retake Floating Ice City. Rather than pointlessly argue with each other, we should think up a plan to win this war." Dominating Heaven Blade asked, "Purple Gr.a.p.e City has amassed millions and millions of troops after taking over Floating Ice City, so let¡¯s skip the ¡®pleasantries¡¯ and get to the point already, shall we? We really don¡¯t have much time to fool around here. Even now, our brethren are being slaughtered in Frost Forest." I nodded in agreement. "I know." Dominating Warrior God interrupted rudely, "If you know, then why the f.u.c.k are you still waiting here for? Go rescue our people with your precious Dragonlight Cavalry already!" My eyes turned steely in an instant. "Shut your mouth. You don¡¯t get to order me!" Dominating Warrior God had always disliked me because of his love for the Fruit Knife Goddess, and maybe it was because of the tension or something, but he almost lost his cool here. However, Dominating Heaven Blade surprised us by shooting him a glare and saying, "Warrior God, seriously, shut your mouth for now, okay? Lu Chen is right. We need to stay united and come up with a proper strategy before tackling Purple Gr.a.p.e City. We may have quite the numbers ourselves, but all our main forces are elsewhere. It is entirely possible for Purple Gr.a.p.e City to gobble up our one-million-strong reinforcements like nothing." October Rain smiled lazily as she leaned against a maple tree. "Hmph hmph, no wonder Dominating Heaven Blade is the guild leader. He actually has some foresight, and he isn¡¯t as stupid as a certain hot-blooded idiot!" October Rain shot everyone a mysterious smile before starting, "First, it was the Northern Alliance. Then, the two Indian main cities attacked us. Finally, Purple Gr.a.p.e City marched a long way and conquered White Rose Fortress and Floating Ice City. Don¡¯t you guys see it yet?" "See what?" Wang Dongliang responded with a confused expression. Eyes Like Water smiled. "She means to say that the Northern Alliance¡¯s assault is a feint, Cyan Earth City and Elephant City¡¯s cross-sea invasion is the hammer, and Purple Gr.a.p.e City is the true knife in the back that will end it all." I nodded. "Purple Gr.a.p.e City is playing a smart and bold game here, but Elephant City and Cyan Earth City are not to be underestimated as well. But before that, I¡¯d like to correct a misconception. Some of you seem to think that the Japanese came all the way here just to conquer Floating Ice City. If that is true, I must say that you are sorely mistaken. Misjudging their true objective will put us at a severe disadvantage." October Rain shivered before facing toward me in shock. "You¡¯re saying that they¡¯re targeting Sky City?" "Correct." I gazed toward the direction of Sky City while explaining quietly, "Sky City is the King of Cities, and you all know the saying ¡®it is unacceptable to have a snorer beside your bed¡¯. Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and Purple Gr.a.p.e City are right next to Sky City. Even if there was no enmity between us, they would never allow us to continue growing as we are. That is why their goal is to conquer and abandon Sky City. That is why the Japan and India servers have come to a temporary alliance." "I see¡­" Shock flashed across Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s eyes for a second. Clearly, he hadn¡¯t realized the true goal of Purple Gr.a.p.e City until now. After he collected himself, he asked, "What should we do now?" October Rain looked at me as well. I bit my lips and said, "To kill a snake, you hit them in the heart. I will attack White Rose Fortress with my forces and retake it from Purple Gr.a.p.e City first. This will cut off their only means of getting supplies. After that, I leave it to you all to retake Frost Forest. Be careful not to get too close to Floating Ice City, however. The true elites of Purple Gr.a.p.e City are all holed up in there, so trying to engage them will only end in disaster for you all." Roaming Dragon also removed his hands from Coldmoon Rose¡¯s legs and clenched it into fists. "Yeah, all that talking is making my head spin. Just tell us how we should fight this war already. Should we stay away from Frost Forest?" I shook my head. "That¡¯s not what I meant. We will take over Frost Forest eventually, but if they are fleeing, you should never give chase. Instead, you¡¯ll bait them to come at you and fight them where you have the advantage. Make them lose their patience and engage us in Sky City¡¯s domain. This way, you can keep your losses to a minimum." Dominating Heaven Blade abruptly stabbed his broadsword to the ground and laughed. "I¡¯m starting to like you more and more, boy! I didn¡¯t expect anyone to keep such a cool head in this situation. I almost feel like an idiot fighting you all those times, hahaha. China is blessed to have you, Lu Chen!" Shaking my head a bit, I said, "Alright, are there any more questions? If not, I¡¯ll go first. I only have 5000 elite cavalry with me, and even if I were to count them as ten normal players, that is still only fifty thousand cavalry. Long story short, I can use any help I can get to occupy White Rose Fortress. Is there anyone who¡¯s willing to spare us some troops? Or better, is there anyone who¡¯s willing to attack White Rose Fortress with me?" Wang Dongliang curled his lips. "You have Dark Moon City, and you just expanded your subguilds some time ago, didn¡¯t you? How is Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls sending only 5000 players to save Floating Ice City? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re making us your cannon fodder to preserve your strength?" The moronic statement made me laugh before I lashed out, "Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g serious!? Cyan Earth City and Elephant City are invading the northern maps! They¡¯ve deployed almost 50 million players against us and are attacking our players even now! Every single player in my guild is fighting on the frontlines right now, and you¡¯re accusing us of ¡®preserving our strength¡¯? Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g blind!?" Wang Dongliang was so shocked by my outburst that he couldn¡¯t say anything at all. October Rain broke the tension with a snort. "Humph, the discussion is over, right? Let¡¯s get to work already!" Eyes Like Water offered, "Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ 30000 troops will tackle White Rose Fortress with you!" I nodded smilingly. "Very good. 100000 players and 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen should be enough to tackle White Rose Fortress. Alright, let¡¯s go! We shouldn¡¯t keep our suffering brethren waiting any longer!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ After the brief meeting was over, I led Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and our allies around the edges of Frost Forest and toward White Rose Fortress. The Dragonlight Cavalry, Dragonlight Archers and I were slightly faster than our allies, but that was fine. We were best-deployed as a mobile strike force that struck our enemies hard when they weren¡¯t expecting anyway. If we were lucky, we might even be able to occupy White Rose Fortress in one row. It would take us only 20 minutes to get there. Speaking of which, White Rose Fortress was only guarded by players because all the NPCs had been slaughtered. That should make things a bit easier for us. ¡­¡­ Twenty minutes later, the long, spine-like mountains that were the Dragonbone Mountain Range appeared on the horizon. There was a gap at the center that looked like it was done in by a giant axe, and it was where the legendary White Rose Fortress lies. Unfortunately, the NPCs proved to be a disappointment in this war. I hadn¡¯t expected Red Maple and God¡¯s Domain to occupy it as easily as they did. A bunch of Purple Gr.a.p.e City players were resting on the walls. Suddenly, an archer rose to their feet and pointed at the dust clouds at the horizon, shouting, "Look! It¡¯s from Sky City! The Chinese are coming to retake White Rose Fortress!" Chapter 996: Retaking the Fortress "Should we wait for The Monarch Descends and Blazing Hot Lips?" Gui Guzi looked behind them and said, "There are at least several hundred thousand Purple Gr.a.p.e City players in White Fortress. I¡¯m not sure we can take it with our numbers." However, I looked toward the front and said, "It¡¯s fine. We¡¯ll ride up the walls from the inner section, occupy the high ground and wait for reinforcements!" "Okay!" I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and shouted, "It¡¯s time to take back the fortress. Kill!" Behind me, the Dragonlight Cavalry pulled out their weapons and shook the clouds with their battle cries. Although we were only several thousand strong, our morale was about as high as it could be. White Rose Fortress was ours to take. ¡­¡­ On the fortress, a commander from Purple Gr.a.p.e City called out to his troops, "Archers, mages, switch to the Far Shot mode and prepare to stop them! All mounted players are to get to the ground and block the enemy now! Notify all players inside the fortress that war is upon us!" I had checked out White Rose Fortress¡¯ blueprints before. From a bird¡¯s eye view, It looked just like a square-shaped city. As long as we occupied the walls, we would hold all the cards, and all the advantage. "Full speed ahead! Don¡¯t let them shut the gate on us!" Gui Guzi shouted while charging. Countless arrows and magical spells rained our way, but we simply blocked them all with our shields without losing any speed whatsoever. Dragon Soul Protection already increased our defense, but the Far Shot mode itself also reduced damage. As a result, the ranged attacks barely tickled us. Unfortunately, it was already too late. Several thousand Purple Gr.a.p.e City mounted players had already galloped out of the gate and were charging toward us. Close-ranged combat had always been our forte, and we carved through the Purple Gr.a.p.e City riders like a hot knife through butter. In fact, now that I thought about it, this might be the first true battle our cavalry experienced since we swapped out our original mounts for the Dragonscale Beasts. Not only that, the 1000 Dragonlight Archers behind us fired their Skypiercers into the sky and killed many enemy riders as a result. I became the first person to slip past the gate before it was shut completely. I looked around and saw a dozen or so players pulling at the winch and attempting to shut it. After I killed them all with Burning Blade Slash, Gui Guzi appeared behind me with a mad laugh. I pointed to the right and ordered, "Little Gui, you and your men scale the walls from the right while I go from the left! Let¡¯s occupy the high ground first before we do anything else!" "Got it!" Most of the mounted players on the walls were dismounted because their mounts didn¡¯t do well on stairs. That was not the case for the Armored Ice Qilin Horse or the Dragonscale Beast. Ignoring the enemy¡¯s attack, I rode all the way up to the walls and fired Thousand Ice Slash at the enemy. At the same time, I summoned my apparition and made it use Purple Dragon Howl! "Roar!" All the players on that particular section of the wall were annihilated in an instant. Behind me, Heaven¡¯s Rain showed up with the Dragonlight Cavalry and occupied it in no time. It wasn¡¯t long before we had taken all the walls of the fortress. "All mounted archers, shoot the players inside the fortress!" I pointed. While this was going on, Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain and I continued to expand our control while reducing Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s. The Dragonlight Archers also used Skypiercers and Spiraling Arrow Blades to bombard the Purple Gr.a.p.e City players who were now trapped at the center with nowhere to run. ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi couldn¡¯t stop grinning seeing that the situation had fallen completely under our control. While cutting down enemies left and right with his spear, he said with a laugh, "Boss Broken Halberd, we have retaken White Rose Fortress!" "Not yet¡­" I replied with a worried tone before sending He Yi a message: "How goes the battle at Black Coast, Eve?" She replied, "It¡¯s fierce. Cyan Earth City sent a lot of powerful guilds to attack us, and it¡¯s still a statemate even though we¡¯ve been fighting them at Cyan Tiger Forest for 7 hours straight. What¡¯s wrong?" "I¡¯m attempting to take control of White Rose Fortress in order to crush Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s next move, but the amount of troops I currently have is not enough even with The Monarch Descends and Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ 100000 players. If Red Maple and God¡¯s Domain attack us now, we may lose White Rose Fortress a second time." He Yi fell silent for about a minute before she replied, "Alright, I just told Xu Yang to amass an army of one hundred thousand and meet up with you. You should speak to him directly for more direct orders. Unfortunately, I won¡¯t be able to send you Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Beiming or Lian Xin any time soon because we need them, and Snowy Cathaya is on the brink of falling apart. The good news is that the Indians will be forced to retreat if we manage to withstand this assault. Their losses are just as bad as ours." "Got it. Thanks!" After that, I contacted Xu Yang directly and asked him, "How¡¯s the rallying going, brother?" That was joyful news. "Hahaha, well done! I¡¯ll be waiting at White Rose Fortress!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ This was just the beginning, but the war had already proven itself to be most exciting! It didn¡¯t take long for The Monarch Descends 7000-strong cavalry to arrive. Beauty Purple Wind Chime was so brutal that she commanded her army to charge toward the enemy in a straight line. Together, we worked together to slaughter the remnants of Purple Gr.a.p.e City. When Eyes Like Water arrived with her thirty thousand troops, the battle became even more one-sided as a matter of course. "Time to go down and clean up the enemy, people. Kill!" The Dragonlight Cavalry and I joined our allies and attacked the enemy. Half an hour later, all 300000 Purple Gr.a.p.e City players inside the city were slaughtered at the price of just 20000+ troops. Most of these players were The Monarch Descends cavalrymen too. After I returned to the walls, I walked to the section facing toward the outside and stared at the Purple Gr.a.p.e City parties marching toward us and ordered with a smile on my face, "Dragonlight Archers, shoot them the second they enter your attack range! Tell them with your arrows that they are not allowed to do as they please on China¡¯s soil!" Everyone pulled their bowstrings and waited. When the Purple Gr.a.p.e City magic knight at the forefront of the party arrived beneath the gate, he called out with a smile, "Guys, open the gate, please! We¡¯re here to help!" ¡­¡­ After he died, the players at the back reacted with a furious cry, "Shit! White Rose Fortress has already been retaken by the Chinese! What else are you waiting for, people! Attack! This fortress belongs to the Yamato!" On the walls, Eyes Like Water said with a smile, "All mages and archers, do not conserve your MP and arrows and shoot them with everything you have. We can always resupply later. Show these people that their dream of occupying our home is just that, a dream!" A ton of firepower rained down the sky, and as expected the Purple Gr.a.p.e City players were unable to withstand it. The Skypiercers of the 1000 Dragonlight Archers were especially deadly. Gui Guzi¡¯s Knight God buffed the Attack of everyone in his party by 225%, and Skypiercer was a super AoE skill. It wasn¡¯t long before several thousand players were turned into several thousand corpses. Wounded and wary, the remaining Purple Gr.a.p.e City players withdrew out of range and set up temporary camps. There were at least a couple hundred thousand of them. "Holy shit, there¡¯s so many of them¡­" Gui Guzi commented. I frowned a bit before replying, "F.u.c.k, this isn¡¯t good. Our numbers are too few. Once they bring their siege weapons, it¡¯s only a matter of time before White Rose Fortress falls, no matter how strong its walls are." Gui Guzi asked, "You must have an order for me, right?" I nodded. "When the enemy¡¯s siege weapons show up, I want you to head down there with our cavalry and charge the enemy. We cannot allow them to approach the city no matter what. We need time, and we will have it even if we must sacrifice ourselves." "I understand. We all do!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment I received a message from the opposite wall. "A huge number of Purple Gr.a.p.e City players are approaching this side of the wall! They¡¯re going to launch their attack any time now!" After I bade Gui Guzi a hurried goodbye, I took Heaven¡¯s Rain with me and ran all the way to the opposite wall. I arrived just in time to see a long stretch of dust clouds and a great number of red-named riders charging toward us. After I activated Dark Pupils to extend my vision range, I swore, "F.u.c.k! Speak of the devil!" "What¡¯s wrong, big brother Lu Chen?" Heaven¡¯s Rain asked. I pointed at the riders and said, "That¡¯s God¡¯s Domain!" "Ah¡­" Everyone knew that God¡¯s Domain was the number one guild of Japan. A true king of guilds, it had over 50% of Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s experts under its thumb. Frankly, I didn¡¯t think that we would be able to hold them off with our current numbers. A simple glance told me that there were at least a hundred thousand of them. At the forefront of the formation, Red Maple laughed with killing intent in his eyes, "Cyan Frost, you sure that the leader of this army is Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?" "Absolutely!" Red Maple smiled lightly. "Hmph, you think too lightly of my appetite, Cyan Frost. I want more than just one hundred thousand players!" ¡­¡­ I grinded my teeth but unsheathed my weapon anyway. I shouted, "Prepare for battle!" It was at this moment I heard a new rumble from the right side of the forest. The next moment, Xu Yang and his cavalry burst into the open. "Haha¡­ that¡¯s big brother Xu Yang!" Heaven¡¯s Rain cheered. I pointed my sword forward and ordered, "All Dragonlight Cavalrymen, ride with me! We will meet up with Xu Yang and attack God¡¯s Domain together! Hmph, to think that this would be the place of our first clash!" Chapter 997: Battle of Wits Nearly 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen rushed out of White Rose Fortress in a cacophony of horse hooves. The sun was setting, and the dying rays reflected off our weapons and our armor made us look like snowlight from an elevated point of view. Everyone¡¯s mount was surrounded by Dragon Soul Protection. I rode at the forefront of the party, surpassed only by the Phantom Wolf King. The earth in front of White Rose Fortress shook. A sea of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls cavalry was pouring out of the right side of the fortress. Together, we formed a pincer that could potentially crush God¡¯s Domain in one go if the latter chose to remain and fight. If we managed to take out this army, the battle would be more or less half-won. I kept praying in my mind, "Fight us if you¡¯re a man, Red Maple! Don¡¯t disappoint me!" Just like how Red Maple¡¯s massacring Floating Ice City and tormenting the low-level players was a mark of shame to the entire China server, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ dominating victory over God¡¯s Domain in the WEL was a mark of eternal shame to Red Maple as well. We both had a compelling reason to hate one another and duke it out right here, and if Red Maple was Gui Guzi or Xu Yang, this battle would¡¯ve happened for sure. He wasn¡¯t though. In fact, if Red Maple chose to avoid this fight, then I would have to change my evaluation of him completely and treat him as a vicious, intelligent man who could endure a temporary setback for a greater, permanent victory! ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Red Maple raised his sword and shouted, "Halt! Vanguard, you¡¯re the rearguard! Rearguard, you¡¯re now the vanguard! We will withdraw full speed into Frost Forest and stand by until further orders!" The dust clouds slowly subsided. God¡¯s Domain numbered three hundred thousand at least, but they had escaped before Xu Yang¡¯s army and my army could pincer them. We could only stare at their backs with slack jaws as they vanished into Frost Forest as if they never existed. After God¡¯s Domain retreated, Xu Yang rode up to me and stared at the forest Red Maple had retreated into. He couldn¡¯t stop himself from spitting on the ground and saying, "Pooh, Purple Gr.a.p.e City''s number one guild my a.s.s, the only thing they know how to do is to run like rats! Do they really deserve to be our opponent?" I looked at the dissipating dust clouds and said solemnly, "Don¡¯t underestimate them. An enemy who knows how to weigh the scales and not be blinded by a moment¡¯s glory is the most terrifying opponent. Red Maple might even be scarier than Vienna¡¯s Sorrow!" Heaven¡¯s Rain blinked once before asking, "Is Red Maple really that scary, big brother Lu Chen?" I nodded affirmatively. "He is. First, he used the Northern Alliance and the two main cities of India to pull our eyes away from him. Then, he wiped out Floating Ice City with lightning speed. Now, he avoided a direct engagement most likely because he has another use for his forces. No matter how you look at it, Red Maple is not an opponent to be underestimated. Those who do will suffer greatly in his hands." Xu Yang nodded. "I see. Well, boss did tell me to leave all the strategizing to you and just focus on managing the people and charging, so I¡¯m going to do just that. What should we do now, Lu Chen?" "Got it!" And so Xu Yang led the two hundred thousand strong army into White Rose Fortress and filled it to the brim. The good news was that this was virtual reality, and players didn¡¯t need to build tents, prepare food, cut wood, feed their horses and so on like in real life, so we didn¡¯t need even 10% the space real armies did. White Rose Fortress wasn¡¯t big, but it could fit at least a million people without trouble. After our army entered the fortress, I finally found some time to check out the NPCs. I was gladdened to find out that White Rose Fortress was a fairly neutral territory with equally neutral-aligned NPCs, meaning that the potion shop, repair shop, bread shop and more would happily trade with us. This meant that we wouldn¡¯t have to worry about running out of supplies anytime soon. Xu Yang met up with Gui Guzi on the eastern wall and looked toward the ground. Already, a sea of Purple Gr.a.p.e City players was gathered outside. Japan had a great economy and a massive amount of people who played Heavenblessed. According to the official forums, about 20% to 25% of the population of Japan played the game, meaning that Purple Gr.a.p.e City easily had over 30 million players! Of course, that number was still much lower compared to a big country like India. India had a total population of 1.4 billion, and while their economy wasn¡¯t as developed as Japan¡¯s¡ªresulting in only 5% of their population being able to get their hands on the game¡ªthat was still a whopping 70 million players. It was why they claimed on the forums that they had sent a total of 50 million players to attack Sky City. Personally, I thought that that number was suspect. If I were to factor quality into the equation, their forces were probably equal to a 20-million-strong army at best. Our forces at Black Coast wouldn¡¯t have been able to hold out this long otherwise. I stood on the eastern wall and stared at the Purple Gr.a.p.e City players below me. I didn¡¯t say anything for a while. "What are they waiting for, Boss Broken Halberd?" Gui Guzi asked. "For their siege weapons, duh¡­" I replied with a frown. Xu Yang clenched his fists tightly. "Are we just going to wait for them to attack us? Once their siege weapons arrive, White Rose Fortress will be turned into rubble. Without the walls, there¡¯s no way we can hold out against an army ten times bigger than ours." "Well, what are we waiting for? Let¡¯s go!" Gui Guzi said and tried to jump down the walls. "Stop right there!" I rolled my eyes as I said this. "Don¡¯t be so impatient. Now is not the time. Our numbers are inferior, and to succeed we need an army of a hundred thousand at least. Did you forget that Red Maple is lying in wait to our west, or that communication is instantaneous inside the game? The second we march out to intercept their siege weapons, Red Maple may attack the fortress and retake it. If that happens, it¡¯ll truly be GG for all of us." "What should we do then?" Smoke started pouring out of Gui Guzi¡¯s ears. I thought for a moment before saying, "We need a player who¡¯s well versed in defensive warfare to guard White Rose Fortress for me. Only then can we enter Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s domain and intercept the enemy." "Who¡¯s good at playing defense?" Xu Yang thought for a moment. "Candlelight Shadow, Hot and Sour Noodles and Warsky?" I laughed. "Good choices. Obviously, Candlelight Shadow won¡¯t come to White Rose Fortress. He¡¯s busy dealing with the Northern Alliance after all. As for Hot and Sour Noodles, I¡¯ll need to check with him and see if he¡¯s available. If possible, I¡¯ll get him to bring Righteousness over as well. We desperately need any reinforcement we can get." "Got it!" I brought up my friend list and found that Hot and Sour Noodles was online. After I sent him a call request, Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ voice came through. He sounded a bit out of breath as he greeted me, "Haha, long time no see, Lu Chen!" "Yeah. You¡¯re fighting, uncle?" I pursed my lips and said, "Are you just going to let it happen, uncle?" "What?" "I¡¯m talking about the Chaotic 27. Why didn¡¯t you tell them to rein in the Northern Alliance?" "Rein in, how? To begin with, why would they agree to do this?" "Uncle, haven¡¯t you heard of the term ruse de guerre? Contact your friend, Red Ovenbird, and tell him that we¡¯re going to launch a retaliatory attack on Titan City and Hero City. Tell him to focus all their forces on Titan City while we¡¯re keeping the rest of the Northern Alliance busy. The idea is that we are the anvil, and they are the hammer. Once the Northern Alliance¡¯s hands are tied up, we¡¯ll march our greatest forces out of White Rose Fortress and take out Purple Gr.a.p.e City in one go!" I paused for a second before adding, "If the Indians are still attacking during this time, we¡¯ll take out Cyan Earth City as well! These idiots will never stop unless we show them who¡¯s boss!" Hot and Sour Noodles smiled. "A bold strategy! I was worried that our men would lose hope in the face of so many enemies, but your return fills me with hope again! You¡¯re right. If we must fight, then we may as well fight in a way that shows off our courage! I never liked being a coward anyway!" I said, "Speaking of which, we need your help right now, uncle. Can you teleport to Sky City with Righteousness?" "Why?" "Sure, I¡¯ll send out the order right away!" Hot and Sour Noodles agreed without hesitation before asking, "So, how do you plan to fight out this war, Lu Chen? I can feel that Red Maple is an incredibly intelligent opponent. Pure martial strength may not be enough to defeat a brainy guy like him." "I know, I can tell you right now that Red Maple is playing a big game here. Don¡¯t worry though, we¡¯ll be his opponent and face him in a battle of wits!" I hummed for a bit before continuing, "First, the teleportation formations of all three main cities must be defended at all costs. They are the lifelines of our supplies and reinforcements. Second, Daybreak City and Thunder City are two tier 2 cities under Sky City that need to be protected as well. You are the supreme commander of this Nation War, so I leave it in your hands to mobilize the guilds. As you¡¯re aware, I can¡¯t command the likes of Warsky Alliance, Gods of Destruction, Pop Culture and Sword Lord of Jianghu." "Mn, I believe I understand your strategy now. You intend to trap Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s forces in Frost Forest, divide them, and conquer them one regiment at a time, am I right?" "Yep." "Very well, I¡¯ll get it done right away!" ¡­¡­ I hung up. Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ full cooperation assured me. At the very least, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls wouldn¡¯t be fighting alone. Chapter 998: Black Marsh Catapult Creak¡­ creak¡­ The turning of the wheels made shrill noises as tall, pitch black catapults about 4 meters tall appeared at the distance. I counted about a hundred of them. Each catapult had four rows or 16 wheels in total, and they required at least 20 foot soldiers to move. It had taken them almost an hour to prepare, but they were here in the end. The catapults were made of refined steel; black steel that gleamed coldly under the light. The ammo they used was a kind of black rock that would probably explode on contact. How did I know that? That¡¯s because I could smell the gunpowder even from where we were. The front of the catapult was a huge, ugly shield that was shaped like a serpent¡¯s head. The purpose of the ornament was to protect the catapult from arrow fire. Without good enough aim, most archers wouldn¡¯t be able to harm it. Everyone s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath when they saw the catapults. "F.u.c.k!" Eyes Like Water tightened her fists and shivered a little. She bit her lips and said, "I¡­ I think that¡¯s the rumored unique siege weapon of Purple Gr.a.p.e City, Black Marsh Catapult." "Black Marsh Catapult?" Xu Yang voiced his puzzlement. "What¡¯s that?" I answered for her, "I read in the database that Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s unique siege weapon is the Black Marsh Catapult. According to the in-game background, ¡®Black Marsh¡¯ or ¡®Hei Ze¡¯ is a sacred beast of Japan with the ability to spit flames. It is the opposite entity of our sacred beast, ¡®White Marsh¡¯ or ¡®Bai Ze¡¯. The ¡®Bai Ze¡¯ brings blessings, whereas the ¡®Hei Ze¡¯ brings slaughter." Eyes Like Water nodded. "Lu Chen is correct. The Hei Ze¡¯s vile soul is said to possess the Black Marsh Catapult and give it a kind of AoE attack. If the rumors aren¡¯t exaggerated, it deals extra damage to buildings, and it is even deadlier than the Northern Alliance¡¯s Fire Catapults." Purple Wind Chime clenched her fists again. "Purple Gr.a.p.e City sure is rich. I heard that it takes over five thousand gold to make 1 Black Marsh Catapult, and they just brought a hundred over like it was nothing!" Gui Guzi smiled at that. "The more expensive, the better!" Heaven¡¯s Rain looked at me for orders. "Big brother Lu Chen, they¡¯re going to attack the city soon. What do we do?" Chiang! "Yes, vice leader!" All Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players unsheathed their weapons with fear and excitement. After all the waiting, everyone was eager to get a piece of the action! ¡­¡­ "Xu Yang?" I asked. "Hmm? What is it?" Xu Yang looked at me. "You and Chaos Moon are the ones who manage our logistics, right? How many high-level siege weapons do we have right now? You know, White Marsh Catapults or Black Tortoise Catapults?" He smiled. "Those cost a lot of money, you know. That being said, boss is not a stingy person, so yes, we have a lot of catapults in stock. We have at least 50 White Marsh Catapults and 100 Black Tortoise Catapults in Dark Moon City. Do you want to deploy them now? We need to ask boss first though. Not even I can use those precious machines without her permission." I nodded affirmatively. "There¡¯s no time to hesitate. I want Li Chengfeng or Chaos Moon to escort 20 White Marsh Catapults and 50 Black Tortoise Catapults over personally. Without them, we won¡¯t have a range advantage over the enemy!" "Got it. I¡¯ll contact boss right away!" A few minutes later, Xu Yang said with a smile, "Alright, it¡¯s all done. Chaos Moon and 10000 riders from the subguilds will be escorting the engineers over. The idea is to have the engineers dismantle the siege weapons and rebuild them after they¡¯ve arrived at the fortress. Also, you got more than what you bargained for. Besides the 20 White Marsh Catapults and 50 Black Tortoise Catapults, boss is also sending you 500 Catapults and 1000 Ballistae!" Feeling a lot more confident than before, I turned around and ordered, "Little Gui, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, take command of our 4000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and ride with me! We will take out as many Black Marsh Catapults as possible before reinforcements arrive! Xu Yang, I leave the defense of the fortress to you. All the Dragonlight Archers are yours to command!" "Gotcha. Don¡¯t worry about us, and be careful!" "Mn!" However, just as I set foot on the ground, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun suddenly appeared from the western street and rode toward me. "I have a new report, vice leader!" I gritted my teeth. "Let me guess, Red Maple and God¡¯s Domain have reappeared from the forest, am I right?" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun looked surprised. "Er, that¡¯s correct. How did you know?" "Ah, f.u.c.k. I knew Red Maple would be an annoying opponent. He¡¯s trying to trap us in the fortress and slowly kill us all!" "What should we do then?" "Got it." ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before the Dragonlight Cavalry gathered on the ground, led by none other than Gui Guzi and I. Eyes Like Water, Purple Wind Chime and several ten thousand cavalrymen also stood by in case the Dragonlight Cavalry got surrounded and needed immediate rescue. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t move an inch from their location. Right now, we needed to preserve as much fighting force as we could. The grim fact was that we were surrounded from both sides, and the situation was looking pretty bad... I raised the Purple Ying Sword and rode out of the gate first, shouting, "Let¡¯s go! Our target is the Black Marsh Catapults! Maintain formation and don¡¯t stray away! The enemy will kill you otherwise!" Behind me, the Dragonlight Cavalry unsheathed their weapons and followed closely behind me. Right now, we were literally the strongest cavalry in the world, bar none. Thanks to Dark Moon City¡¯s unique skill, Duplicate Mount, nearly every high-level mounted player in our ranks had been granted the super-powerful Earth Rank mount, the Dragonscale Beast. Moreover, Dragon Soul Protection also greatly increased their Attack and Defense. It would not be an exaggeration to say that our cavalry was one and only in the entire world! It took an ungodly amount of resources and days, but Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls now had over 15000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 5000 Dragonlight Archers. The forces I was commanding right now weren''t the main bulk of the Dragonlight Corps. These were currently fighting at Dark Moon City under He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Li Chengfeng and more, pushing back the forces of Cyan Earth City and Elephant City. Our cavalry was without a doubt the unit to look out for in this Nation War right now. The moment we exited the city, we took a moment to admire the sheer number of red-named players crowding the canyon before us. Seriously, it took great courage to charge an army this big! Keeping the Purple Ying Sword hanging beside my mount, I raised the Dragon God Shield and blocked the arrows and fireballs that were flying my way. Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s players hadn¡¯t moved their formation yet. In fact, their frontliners had already formed a shield wall to block our charge. "Kill!" The Dragonlight Cavalry roared as they slammed into the enemy¡¯s shield wall. Thanks to Dragon Soul Protection, they were able to punch through the defense line with great strength and kill countless enemies with Triple Slash + Barrier Break. It was a bloody battle right from the get-go. I didn¡¯t pause to admire our handiwork. I kept bulldozing through the bodies without a care for the arrows and spells flying my way. Judging from the amount of damage I was receiving, these people were at best a second-rate guild in Purple Gr.a.p.e City and worse than even Tail Feather Palace. They were incapable of dealing a fatal blow to me at all! Swhoosh! I raised the Purple Ying Sword as a cyclone erupted around it. The next moment, an entire group of archers and mages were flung into the air by Coiling Dragon Revolution. Not too far away from me, Heaven¡¯s Rain trapped a seventh-promotion mage with Trapping Net and stabbed him right through the c.h.e.s.t. After the kill, she shot me a smile and said, "Well done, big brother Lu Chen!" I smiled. DPS-wise, I was the indisputable number one in this entire group! The Phantom Wolf King wasn¡¯t idle while all this was going on, of course. It kept landing Claws of the Storm on the closest players and engulfing ranged parties in Purgatory Storms. In a sense, the blood-red wolf looked more like a murderous god than I did. ¡­¡­ After we tore a hole in the enemy¡¯s defense line by force, I caught sight of a Black Marsh Catapult being loaded. The black, crystalline stone was as wide as two meters. I didn¡¯t even want to imagine how it would feel to get hit by it. I stared at the siege weapon with Dark Pupils active and gleaned its stats. Its armor was categorized as Fortified, and it greatly resisted basic attacks. Moreover, it had over 20000 Defense, a number that was beyond most ordinary players¡¯ capabilities to penetrate, so I shouted, "Just Barrier Break it once and move onto the next target! Don¡¯t worry, the Black Marsh Catapult only has a million HP!" "Okay!" Gui Guzi rushed over and rocked the siege weapon with a Barrier Break. At the same time, a huge damage number rose above the siege weapon¡ª39873! Not bad! Gui Guzi definitely had the Attack to pierce its Defense. I did the same thing but felt a surge of energy coursing through the blade of the Purple Ying Sword. Oh damn, it¡¯s Mountain Crush! This is going to be fun! Boom! I hit the catapult with Universe Break, and its light nearly penetrated the entire structure. A huge damage number rose above it¡ª 193887! "Heavens, that¡¯s just crazy¡­" Gui Guzi exclaimed in astonishment. Chapter 999: Surround But Not Kill Rows and rows of archers spread out and formed block-shaped formations on the open plains. They drew their bows and released the strings, an astounding hail of arrows falling toward us from the sky. So far, Purple Gr.a.p.e City players¡¯ offensive power had far exceeded our imagination. Pu pu pu¡­ The arrows sank into the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s shields, armor and flesh like poisonous stings. Each hit dealt between 1000 to 4000 damage or so¡ªwhich wasn¡¯t very high, all things considered¡ªbut there were so many arrows that an entire group of Dragonlight Cavalry was murdered in the blink of an eye. Not even we could fight an entire army directly without backup. "F.u.c.k!" Gui Guzi swore angrily while killing a row of archers with a sweep of his Spear of the Night God. He said, "This can¡¯t go on! All 4000 of us are going to die here if we don¡¯t do something!" After creating a ton of bodies with a fearsome Burning Blade Slash, I looked behind me and barked out an order, "Maintain charge formation, target the Black Marsh Catapults only and ignore everything else! Channel Barrier Break so you can unleash it the second you get in range of the siege weapons, and Charge away immediately after! Don¡¯t linger, and don¡¯t allow too many players to hit you!" Everyone nodded in unison. At this point, the entire east plains of White Rose Fortress were shaking with horse hooves. Millions of Purple Gr.a.p.e City players were clogging up the canyon entrance and exchanging their Black Marsh Catapults for our Dragonlight Cavalry. All the Dragonlight Cavalrymen they killed wouldn¡¯t be able to set foot on Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s soil until a couple of days had passed, and the war was over. ¡­¡­ The charge lasted almost an hour. We lost a lot of Dragonlight Cavalry, but managed to destroy at least 50 Black Marsh Catapults. Since we were constantly on the move, and the enemy couldn¡¯t stop us in our tracks, they switched their tactics and tried to kill as many of us with Trapping Nets, Galaxy Storms and Shock Arrows instead. The strategy we had chosen was just as clear. Every time we approached a shield wall, the magic knights would throw their Trapping Nets to immobilize the enemy. It was one of the main reasons we were able to ride in and out of the enemy¡¯s formation mostly unhindered. "This should be enough¡­" "Got it!" Gui Guzi raised his Spear of the Knight God and shouted, "Withdraw!" The Dragonlight Cavalry started turning sharply toward the fortress, and the Purple Gr.a.p.e City players absolutely hated to see it. A Level 184 warrior in red metal armor swung his blade angrily while shouting, "These Chinese think they can retreat back to their fortress! Will you stand by and suffer this humiliation, brothers and sisters? Kill them all and take over White Rose Fortress!" A new chorus of horse hooves thundered behind our backs. It was Purple Gr.a.p.e City seizing the moment and chasing after us. Outside the fortress, when Purple Wind Chime and Eyes Like Water saw what we were doing, they immediately rode up to me and shouted, "Good job, Lu Chen! Leave the rest to us!" "Mn!" The Dragonlight Cavalry had suffered tremendous losses during this skirmish, so I wasn¡¯t going to push them any further. I led everyone through the gates while The Monarch Descends and Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ cavalry engaged our pursuers in a fierce melee. Thud thud thud... The Dragonlight Cavalry could rest, but I couldn''t. I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse up the stairs, stopped at the edge, and threw the Phantom Wolf King off the walls. Being the loyal pet it was, the Phantom Wolf King attacked the enemies without hesitation after it landed on top of a group of enemy players. Why am I doing this? To earn some contribution points, of course! "All archers, assist our allies with Skypiercers and Spiraling Arrow Blades!" I ordered from the walls. Responding to my command, the archers did just that and dealt an insane amount of AoE damage to the enemies; the best of them all being the 1000 Dragonlight Archers of course. Their stats were superior to most archers, and the altitude advantage also gave them increased damage. As a result, wherever they fired their arrows, the enemies fell like sown wheat. Gui Guzi walked up to me and enjoyed the scene for a moment. He said with a smile, "Can I head down there and fight the enemy again, Boss Broken Halberd? My hands are still itchy¡­" I chided him. "Little Gui, I know you¡¯re good at fighting, but that isn¡¯t the only skill a corps commander should possess. Let me ask you this: have you tallied our Dragonlight Cavalry losses yet?" "Nope!" he replied without hesitation or shame. Heaven¡¯s Rain was the one who answered, "I did, big brother Lu Chen. We¡¯ve lost a total of 987 Dragonlight Cavalrymen¡­" I nodded as I felt a sinking in my heart. "F.u.c.k, that is far more casualties than I initially predicted. This can¡¯t continue. We desperately need bards and tactician buffs as well as priest heals right now. If we keep charging ¡®n.a.k.e.d¡¯ like this, we¡¯ll lose all 15000 of our Dragonlight Cavalrymen before the war is over." Gui Guzi said, "Aw man, we only have 14000 Dragonlight Cavalry left? That sucks¡­ I still want to go down there and fight though¡­" I gave it some thought before replying, "Fine, pick those with over 30k effective Defense and 250k HP and get a bard to buff them. Those who don¡¯t meet the requirements must stay inside the fortress!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Xu Yang sent me a message: "How is the battle on your side, Lu Chen?" "Average, I suppose. What about you?" "Red Maple is fighting himself, and the assault is pretty fierce¡­" "Understood. I¡¯m coming over right now!" After I delegated the command of the east side of the fortress to Gui Guzi, I rode along the walls and arrived at the west wall in no time. I immediately saw that the ground was covered in Purple Gr.a.p.e City players. The good news was that they didn¡¯t have any heavy siege weaponry despite their great numbers. For now at least, I only saw cloud ladders. Countless grappling hooks, cloud ladders, ropes and more climbing tools were lodged into our walls. Some Purple Gr.a.p.e City players had even managed to set foot on our walls already. Chiang! Some distance away, Xu Yang was commanding the defense. The archers¡¯ attacks slowed the enemies¡¯ advance somewhat, but the number difference was just too great. For every Purple Gr.a.p.e City player that was killed, two more took its place. In fact, some enemy players had begun to hack, slash and drill a hole in the walls. Every twack and thunk felt like a blow against my own heart. It would probably take them a long time to actually hack a hole through, but I could hardly rest easy until they were truly gone. Anxiety peaking, I yelled at the players inside the fortress, "High-level archers and mages, get your asses up the walls now! If it¡¯s too cramped then throw your attacks over the walls! You don¡¯t need me to tell you how to aim, do you!? I want Galaxy Storms and Skypiercers! And don¡¯t worry about missing, our enemies are literally swarming every inch of the wall right now!" The players did as I said and fired their skills over our heads. The next moment, the rain of skills hit the completely unprepared Purple Gr.a.p.e City players and generated many death screams. Tsk tsk, I knew this would work. ¡­¡­ "Do you have any more cavalry to spare, Xu Yang? I mean the ones you brought over with you¡­" I asked. After cutting down three players with Mountain Stagger Slash, Xu Yang answered, "If you¡¯re looking for more Dragonlight Cavalry, I¡¯m sorry to say that most of them are fighting for boss right now. The other riders I have brought with me are the normal ones, Frostscale Cavalry, Cyan Tiger Cavalry, Earth Dragon Riders and so on. They¡¯re not bad though. They¡¯re all elites of the main guild or the subguilds¡­" "Very well, tell them to assemble at the gate. I¡¯m going to lead them on a charge or two. The enemy cannot be allowed to hack away at our wall like this." "Okay!" With an army of tens of thousands, I charged in and out of the enemy formation and left behind countless bodies in my wake. Thanks to the covering fire from the walls, we were able to kill many enemies with the minimum loss of life. By now, enough blood had been spilled to form a river, and my Nation War contribution points had shot all the way to first place. Actually, I had already soared to the first place after my battle against Tail Feather Palace. I did kill all those players by myself, so it would be strange if I didn¡¯t make it. Just to clarify, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and He Yi¡¯s battle at the Black Coast counted as a separate Nation War from Sky City¡¯s battle against Purple Gr.a.p.e City. Otherwise, yeah, I couldn¡¯t hope to catch up to them. ¡­¡­ A while later, Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s players suddenly withdrew like tidewater and surprised everyone. Even more worrying was the fact that I hadn¡¯t encountered Red Maple or any God¡¯s Domain player so far. "Pooh!" Xu Yang spat out. "That¡¯s it? That Red Maple is such a coward!" I gazed to the distance before commenting, "It doesn¡¯t look like a full retreat. They¡¯re just dragging the battle line backward and setting up a blockade. What on earth is that bastard thinking? Is he trying to lure us out of the fortress to fight him?" Xu Yang said, "Seriously? They outnumber us almost a hundred to one. Who would be crazy enough to do that?" I s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath and stayed silent. Chapter 1000: I’m So Touched Atop the gate, I lay down inside an arrow loop and planted the Purple Ying Sword into a gap between the bricks. I stared at the distant, peaceful-looking forest that was hiding countless Purple Gr.a.p.e City players right now. It was impossible to guess what they were planning. "Want a smoke, sir Lu Chen?" Xu Yang shot me a glance and asked me. I smiled. "Save it for the army. It¡¯s the least we can do seeing as we¡¯re surrounded, and running out of supplies¡­" "Pooh!" Xu Yang chortled a little. "It¡¯s been four hours since we''ve been surrounded. I almost can¡¯t believe you still have the energy to crack jokes." I crossed my arms in front of my c.h.e.s.t and asked, "How is Little Gui doing?" "They managed to beat back the enemy¡¯s assault for the fifth time, but our losses are severe. Over half of the 70000-strong cavalry Purple Wind Chime brought are dead, and the girl¡¯s panicking over how to justify these losses to Ling Xueshang right now." "She worries too much. Ling Xueshang has a big c.h.e.s.t, so she must have a big heart too! She¡¯ll definitely forgive her general." "..." ¡­¡­ Suddenly, He Yi sent me a message: "Lu Chen!" "Yes, boss?" "Cyan Earth City and Elephant City just withdrew their forces¡­" I jolted to an upright position so suddenly that I nearly fell off the arrow loop. "If you¡¯re sure, then leave behind a small force to defend Black Coast and send everyone over to White Rose Fortress. Long story short, it¡¯s been a hard battle and we¡¯re running out of bodies." He Yi responded with a smiley face and a message, "Yes, I¡¯m aware you¡¯re struggling right now. I already sent Li Chengfeng to meet up with you. The rest of us will follow once we¡¯ve rooted out all the stragglers at Black Coast." "You don¡¯t need to worry too much about Dark Moon City, to be honest. There¡¯s no way Cyan Earth City and Elephant City can overcome our 1000 boss-tier Bone Dragons without a significant amount of troops." "I know." ¡­¡­ A melting warmth filled my heart for a moment. No matter what Red Maple might be planning, he and Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s players were dead the moment our main forces arrived. "Look! Something¡¯s happening over there!" It so happened that Gui Guzi, Diamond Dust and the others were walking over when Xu Yang suddenly pointed at the distance. We followed his finger and saw flashes of skills amid the dense foliage. Pa pa pa¡­ "Quickly! White Rose Fortress is right in front of us! We¡¯ll be safe once we¡¯ve overcome this defense line!" Dominating Heaven Blade shouted with a grim expression on his face. "Don¡¯t let the losers of Purple Gr.a.p.e City think that none of us dare to tackle their defense line!" Dominating Warrior God cut down a low health Japan archer before laughing in response, "Yeah! Warsky Alliance and Righteousness are such cowards. To think that none of them dared to rush to White Rose Fortress¡¯ aid!" The Gods of Destruction¡¯s players made it to the plains, but my heart abruptly sank in my c.h.e.s.t. "Shit!" "What¡¯s wrong, Lu Chen?" Xu Yang asked me. I rose to my feet and pulled my sword out of the stone. "I finally figured out what that sonuvabitch Red Maple is planning!" "What?!" "He¡¯s using us to lure in our reinforcements and wipe them out one by one!" Xu Yang¡¯s pupils shrank. "Shit, you¡¯re right! We can¡¯t ride out of White Rose Fortress because they have superior numbers. And anytime someone tries to come to our aid, they¡¯ll intercept them and kill them all! Those cowardly, devious bastards!" ¡­¡­ Not only that, a sneering Red Maple finally showed himself atop a gigantic creature. Wielding a longsword, he ordered loudly, "Wildfire Riders, charge! Leave not a single China player alive!" Bang bang bang... The fleshy thud, sound of mounts slamming into one another, was as terrible as ever. Dominating Heaven Blade roared and one-shot the Wildfire Rider in front of him with Barrier Break and Triple Slash, but the enemy simply outnumbered them too much. The single exchange had cost them nearly a thousand riders, not to mention that Red Maple¡¯s offensive power was off the charts. "Maple Kill!" A swirl of red maple leaves rained down on Gods of Destruction and wiped out a large group of riders. A moment later, Red Maple rushed toward Dominating Warrior God and punched with a shout, "Thunder God Ball!" Bang! Dominating Warrior God fell back and took 152878 damage to the c.h.e.s.t, his face quickly turning . One last slash to the throat later, he fell off his mount and died, just like that. The gap between the duo was just too huge. Dominating Warrior God didn¡¯t even have the chance to block, parry or dodge the attacks. Enraged, Dominating Knight God charged Red Maple from behind and tried to skewer him with Barrier Break. Unfortunately, the swordsman turned around and parried the skill easily, almost as if he had eyes behind his back. He retaliated with Fire God Flurry that sent the magic knight flying into his own men. A sneer crossed Red Maple¡¯s lips as he growled, "Die¡ªWind Blade Cyclone!" "Roar!" Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s eyes were red with fury. He kept cutting down player after player, but he couldn¡¯t save his people alone. ¡­¡­ "F.U.C.K!" Both Gui Guzi and I growled and took action at nearly the same time. Gui Guzi rode down the stairs to exit from the gate. I straight up jumped off the walls, activated Great Earth Transformation and summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse while still in midair. Once I landed on top of my mount, I immediately charged straight toward Gods of Destruction. I would never be able to forgive myself if I allowed an ally who was trying to help me be slaughtered like a pig. On the walls, Xu Yang shouted on top of his lungs, "Lu Chen you motherf.u.c.ker! You¡¯re the goddamned supreme commander of this fortress! You don¡¯t have the right to get emotional and attack the enemy alone! Get your a.s.s back here right now! Lu Chen! F.u.c.k f.u.c.k f.u.c.k! Just you wait, I¡¯m going to make boss punish you for this! All riders, follow behind me! We¡¯re going to murder that little shit Red Maple!" In just the blink of an eye, several Famous Generals and 30000 mounted players of varying quality charged out of the fortress. Naturally, I was the first player to reach Gods of Destruction. Even before I got into melee range, I had fired a max-range Burning Blade Slash into a group of Wildfire Riders. The Wildfire Riders was the main cavalry force of God¡¯s Domain, and they were made up of Level 170 Spirit Rank mounts. They were one of the stronger cavalry troops out there despite still being outmatched by the Dragonlight Cavalry. Boom boom boom! While the three flaming sword auras were tearing through the players like paper, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and made it unleash Claw of the Storm and Purgatory Storm, immediately dropping a group of Wildfire Riders to low health. Before they got the chance to heal themselves, Gui Guzi one-shot them all with a perfectly-placed Aurora Thrust! I swung the Purple Ying Sword again and again, and wherever it went, some of the giant shields blocking its way were sliced cleanly in half. Mountain Crush was just too powerful an effect for any player to block. Barely needing to dodge at all, I dashed toward the guild leader of God¡¯s Domain and the so-called god of Purple Gr.a.p.e City, Red Maple, in a straight line! ¡­¡­ Pu! While I was charging, the man was stabbing Dominating Heaven Blade in the c.h.e.s.t and dealing a massive 92823 damage, dropping him to 25% health. However, the guild leader retaliated by grabbing Red Maple¡¯s shoulder and attempting to slap him across the face with the flat side of his blade. Red Maple was a handsome man, and he probably considered a hit to the face more offensive than a gut punch. So, he bent his neck, dodged the attack, launched himself off his mount and kicked Dominating Heaven Blade right in the c.h.e.s.t! Pa! 22385! Dominating Heaven Blade reeled backward as Red Maple laughed and channeled Fire God Flurry. At this point, the Gods of Destruction guild leader looked like he had given up all hope. However, a gigantic golden seal suddenly dropped from the sky and rocked Red Maple¡¯s body, dealing 90239 damage! "It¡¯s you!?" I swung the Purple Ying Sword three times in a row, each time using a different level of force and angle. Thanks to my control and Great Earth Transformation, I was able to parry the skill perfectly and counterattack with a super close¨Crange Coiling Dragon Revolution of my own! Here¡¯s a gift for you, Red Maple! "Dammit!" It was too close to dodge, so Red Maple had no choice but to Guard! Bang! The powerful skill knocked Red Maple back a couple of steps, but I, or rather my guildmates, weren¡¯t done yet. Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust showed up at the perfect timing and attempted to hit him with Barrier Break! However, Red Maple reacted by rolling down his mount, and while it was an ugly sight, it allowed him to dodge both skills. Pissed off, Heaven¡¯s Rain followed up with a lightning-fast Triple Slash! Chiang chiang! Red Maple swung his sword and parried two hits, but that was all he could do. The third hit landed squarely on his shoulder. 58728! After that, he got on his mount again and withdrew to the back. To protect himself, he channeled his energy and fired his Divine General Skill, Maple Kill, at Heaven¡¯s Rain! 138288! The girl was knocked back, but she still tried to give chase until I stopped her. "Come back, Little Rain! Everyone, protect Gods of Destruction players and withdraw into the fortress! It¡¯s time to calm down!" ¡­¡­ Dominating Heaven Blade stood in the middle of the battlefield and stared at Xu Yang and I dazedly. A moment later, he murmured, "Would you believe me if I told you I¡¯m very touched right now?" I curled my lips and said nothing. I wouldn¡¯t even know where to start. Xu Yang spat on the ground before saying, "F.u.c.k, we saved your life, and you repay us by creeping us out? Anyway, let¡¯s get the hell away from this place already!" Dominating Heaven Blade let out a laugh and returned to his mount. He ordered, "Gods of Destruction, withdraw to the fortress!" Chapter 1001: Range Standoff Some time had passed since the rescuing of Gods of Destruction. The enemy¡¯s remaining Black Marsh Catapults had come close enough to fire at White Rose Fortress, and more than once had the deadly rocks crashed against our walls and caused a massive explosion. The good news was that Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust had charged them several times and stopped them from being able to fire at one point of the wall with impunity. The bad news was that the walls would fall in just a couple more rotations. Some of the cracks on the walls had grown to a finger wide. It looked scary to say the least. Standing on the eastern wall, Dominating Heaven Blade stared at the sea of Purple Gr.a.p.e City players in poorly concealed shock while exclaiming, "Holy shit! Ancient Sword, The Monarch Descends and Blazing Hot Lips are not even at full strength, and you managed to hold out against this army?" "We had to. It¡¯s not like we can conjure an army out of thin air," I said with a grim smile. Dominating Heaven Blade clenched his fists. "During territory wars, the amount of players packed into the defending city is like ducks in a duck farm, all on top of each other, with barely any space to move. But in Nation Wars, the same numbers go poof in a single battle. F.u.c.k.i.n.g hell, how do they expect a single guild, even one as strong as Ancient Sword, to hold out against this many enemies?" Xu Yang pointed to the west. "That¡¯s not all. Red Maple and the God¡¯s Domain are lodged in our sides like a poisonous thorn. There will be no restful sleep until we finally eliminate them." "Yeah¡­" Dominating Heaven Blade echoed the sentiment. "We¡¯re lucky Floating Ice City doesn¡¯t count as China¡¯s domain anymore, or many of our players wouldn¡¯t be able to rejoin this battle. Do you have a plan, Lu Chen?" I leaned against a wall with the Purple Ying Sword hanging loosely in my grip, "A plan? Of course I do. In fact, I¡¯ve thought up at least a hundred plans in the past couple hours or so. Unfortunately, they all require one key element to execute, and that is an army big enough to keep the fortress defended during them. Again, I don¡¯t have the ability to conjure an army out of thin air, so all I can do is to wait here until something happens." "What about Wind City? Where is Candle Dragon, Purple Lily and Peach Garden? We¡¯re fighting a full-blown war here; they should¡¯ve shown up already." "Wind City has their own battles to fight, so it makes sense that they¡¯re delayed somewhat," I said with a frown. "Also, Sky City has more or less the same amount of players as Purple Gr.a.p.e City. There is no reason to believe that we cannot defeat them by ourselves." Suddenly, Hot and Sour Noodles messaged me: "Lu Chen!" "What is it, uncle? When is Righteousness going to arrive?" I said hopefully. However, the news he brought wasn¡¯t a good one. "Unfortunately, we were intercepted midway. That bastard Red Maple deployed almost a hundred thousand cavalrymen against our forces and dealt massive damage. We¡¯ve lost a large majority of our key units as well. The silver lining is that we¡¯ve managed to retreat out of Frost Forest and escape their pursuit. The bad news is that we cannot break through God¡¯s Domain¡¯s defense line and reach you!" Hot and Sour Noodles adopted a calmer tone and replied, "Calm down, Lu Chen. You know that not everyone has Dragonlight Cavalry. I saw with my own eyes a 5000-man guild charging God¡¯s Domain¡¯s formation only to be annihilated in five minutes. Five! No matter how I hate to admit it, most of us simply don¡¯t possess the power to fight them." "Well shit, what do we do now?" "We wait." "For what?¡¯ "We wait for Candlelight Shadow and his Viper Dragoons to save us. They¡¯re scheduled to arrive in half an hour. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be able to tear apart God¡¯s Domain¡¯s defense with everyone¡¯s cooperation and Candlelight Shadow¡¯s leadership." I s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath before saying, "I leave it to you then, uncle." "Mn." After the call was over, I sat on the wall and stared at the sea of scheming Purple Gr.a.p.e City players. I felt like a rock was sitting at the bottom of my heart. Never did I imagine that I would one day have to rely on Candlelight Shadow of all people to break open a conundrum. ¡­¡­ I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. "Brothers and sisters, prepare for battle!" Xu Yang said with deep helplessness, "They have a ton of siege weapons, while we have none. This battle is simply impossible¡­" I punched the arrow loop beside me and sent smithereens flying. "Doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s impossible or not! We cannot retreat even if we lose every last one of our Dragonlight Cavalry! Behind us is our homeland, and it is every warrior¡¯s duty to protect their homes be it in reality or virtual world!" Chiang chiang chiang... Everyone began unsheathing their weapons. The battle could begin at any moment. Suddenly, we heard a clamor from the south side of the fortress. Then, a group of players emerged from the fortress passages. For a second I thought our enemy had somehow slipped into our ranks, but they looked a bit too familiar. "What¡¯s going on?" I shouted. A Bloody Mercenaries warrior answered me with a laugh, "Vice leader, it¡¯s Chaos Moon riding in with our trump card!" "What?!" I was happy to see her, but I was also very confused. Xu Yang voiced my doubts for me and asked, "Didn¡¯t Red Maple have White Rose Fortress completely surrounded? How on earth did you get in, Chaos Moon?" She curled her lips and humphed. "Hmph, didn¡¯t you know that White Rose Fortress is connected to Dragon Bone Mountain Range? We used a secret passage through the forest to get here. You have no clue how tiring it is to push the White Marsh Catapults up a mountain!" "You brought the White Marsh Catapults!?" My smile grew wider. "Yep!" "Wonderful! Have them assembled right away and prepare for bombardment!" "Yessir!" The engineers began assembling the White Marsh Catapults, Black Tortoise Catapults and basic Catapults under Chaos Moon¡¯s leadership. Before long, we had 20 White Marsh Catapults and 50 Black Tortoise Catapults on top of the walls. The reason we deployed them on the walls was to increase the siege weapons¡¯ range and damage. ¡­¡­ "Here they come!" Gui Guzi gripped his Spear of the Knight God tighter. "Boss Broken Halberd, I¡¯m heading down now! Feel free to order a charge anytime you like!" "Hehe, I know. Anyway, see you later!" "Yeah." Beneath the city, Purple Gr.a.p.e City players began to move. The flag above their heads looked so annoying that some of our archers shot an arrow or two just because. ¡­¡­ "Are we really going to stay inside the fort?" Xu Yang asked. "Mn. If we try to mount another charge, we may as well surrender the fortress to the enemy now. Our mages and archers will be able to do more from the walls¡¯ altitude anyway," I said. Chaos Moon giggled. "Mn, Lu Chen is clever as usual. He understands that trading the walls of White Rose Fortress for more time and life is a worthwhile trade. After all, why would you want a wall if you¡¯re not going to utilize it?" "It¡¯s too bad Beiming and Lian Xin aren¡¯t here." "Hmph hmph!" "Yessir!" Everyone nodded and carried out my orders. The next moment, bursts of magic spells and arrows flew over the walls and crashed right on top of the enemy troops. I wasn¡¯t worried that my players would f.u.c.k up because all they needed to do was to have the leader designate a coordinate in front of them, and the party members to hit that one spot. As expected, the Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms killed plenty of enemy players even despite their shields. There was nothing the enemy could do except endure. All the players on the walls were the elites of Sky City, meaning that their average power level was way higher than the second-rate Purple Gr.a.p.e City players who were attacking us. Not only that, everyone had the King of Cities buff and had their Attack increased by 15%! However, what Purple Gr.a.p.e City lacked in quality, they more than made up for with sheer numbers. Uncaring that we were killing droves with every blast, they kept rushing us so that their main formation could inch ever closer. Already, the goddamned Black Marsh Catapults were almost close enough to fire at us again. That damn thing had such a long range that it outranged even the archers on the wall. ¡­¡­ "F.u.c.k!" The Black Marsh Catapults were about to enter within 200 yards of the city. Any more than that, and they would definitely be able to take a shot at us! I abruptly turned around and looked at the support players manning the White Marsh Catapults and Black Tortoise Catapults. "How accurate are the catapults?" An uncle who looked to be around 35 years old answered, "Not very, but with enough micromanaging we can narrow the landing point to a circle with a 20-yard radius. It¡¯s pure luck where it¡¯ll land within that area though!" The uncle slapped his c.h.e.s.t once. "Of course! We are worth every bit of gold the guild leader pays us!" That was all the assurances I needed to hear. "Very good! All White Marsh Catapults, lock onto the enemy Black Marsh Catapults and shoot them! Crush them all!" "F.u.c.k, will that really work?" It was the uncle¡¯s turn to widen his eyes. "Just do it!" "Fine, dammit! Let¡¯s give it our all, boys!" ¡­¡­ Three engineers began making their calibrations as the arm of a White Marsh Catapult was drawn backward. The restraining rope of the machine looked as thick as a dragon¡¯s tendon. After a silvery rock was deposited in the bucket and the calibrations were complete, the uncle nodded and yelled, "Fire!" Swhoosh! The first payload was launched into the air, drawing a beatiful arc in the air and causing everyone¡¯s hearts to race as it got closer and closer! Bang! The payload hit the Black Marsh Catapult square-on, and just as I thought, one hit was enough to destroy it completely. Hell yeah! "Well done! Keep shooting!" All the White Marsh Catapults and Black Tortoise Catapults started launching their projectiles at the enemy¡¯s siege weapons. Of course, the Purple Gr.a.p.e City players didn¡¯t just suffer the attack without retaliation and started firing their lucky Black Marsh Catapults. Both sides quickly turned into a living hell in no time. ¡­¡­ A while later, Chaos Moon reported indifferently, "Report. Candlelight Shadow has clashed against Red Maple on the open plain to the east of Floating Ice City. Both sides number around a hundred thousand elites each¡­" Chapter 1002: Zhuge Repeating Ballista I gazed to the west as the sound of drum beats trembled across the ground. Less than ten kilometers away, Candle Dragon and a dozen or so China guilds were engaging Red Maple¡¯s troops in an all-out war. The effects of that battle could be heard and felt even from here. The battle could very well decide the outcome of this war, so it was a shame that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was stuck here having to defend the fortress. It would¡¯ve been the perfect "training" for our Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers as well. I wasn¡¯t complaining of course. Now that God¡¯s Domain was no longer attacking our west wall, we could focus all our energy on the east. This made things a lot easier. Pa pa¡­ While running across the edges of the wall, I stared at a black projectile flying my way and made a snap decision. I was going to block it with my body. The damn thing was just too deadly against fortifications, and if I succeeded, that would be one way to reduce the damage the fortress would take. Buzz! I activated Great Earth Transformation and surrounded myself with three cyan draconic blades. Then, I activated Ghost Deity Shield and pointed the Dragon God Shield toward the flying rock. Finally, I planted my sword between the bricks, hung myself beyond the wall¡ªeffectively suspending myself in midair¡ªand used Guard. BANG! I felt like someone had shot me in the heart the second the rock hit my Dragon God Shield. It felt like my left arm should be detached from my body and lying somewhere on the ground. Despite having reduced the knockback effect of the impact by 90% or more, I still rolled across the rampart like a tumbleweed. Pa pa pa... The rock was still pushing against my shield, by the way. I rolled for a very long time¡ªknocking over a couple Dragonlight Archers in the process¡ªbefore I finally came to a full stop. In the end, a terrifying damage number rose above my head, and it stated¡ª219288! "Holy f.u.c.k!" Xu Yang stared at me with eyes as wide as saucers. "Have you gone insane, Lu Chen!? What kind of madman could be crazy enough to block a catapult payload with their own body??? You¡¯re lucky it didn¡¯t crit, you crazy f.u.c.k!" I shot him a grin while wiping the blood stains around my lips and drinking Saint Spirit Potion. "It¡¯s fine, siege weapons can¡¯t crit." Eyes Like Water was just as stunned. "Priests, heal Lu Chen now! You beautiful sonuvabitch, I can¡¯t believe you actually blocked that with your flesh and blood. You¡¯re probably the only one in the entire world who can pull off this madness¡­" Purple Wind Chime nodded. "Yes, not only does he have Great Earth Transformation, his equipment is¡­ overpowered, to say the least¡­" ¡­¡­ "Look, their siege towers are coming toward us! There¡¯s so many¡­" Chaos Moon pointed with her sword. Just as she said, the enemy was pushing black siege towers toward us. They were at least three to five times bigger than Black Marsh Catapults, and as tall as the walls themselves. If we allowed these humongous structures to approach the fortress near enough to plant their steel planks against the walls, the riders and foot soldiers would be able to engage us en masse. It would be a far more equal fight than if they used cloud ladders. "What should we do?" Eyes Like Water asked worriedly. "If only Momo was here. Ice Blast is perfect against siege towers!" I ordered grimly, "All Black Tortoise Catapults, continue targeting the Black Marsh Catapults! The rest of you, move all the White Marsh Catapults to the walls and fire at the siege towers! We will crush their assault via brute force!" The Dragonlight Cavalry and many other players nodded and rushed down to the ground to push the White Marsh Catapults up the walls. At this point, the battle had turned into a battle of siege weapons¡ªor to expound on the idea a bit more, it was a battle of wealth.. Lucky for White Rose Fortress, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was probably one of the very few guilds who could afford a war like this. Dark Moon City, our money tree in virtual reality, and Raincube Corporation, an important partner of Eternal Moon Corporation, was our money tree in real life. Therefore, money wasn¡¯t a problem! A dozen or so White Marsh Catapults payloads were launched at the enemy. The siege weapon¡¯s hit rate was less than 30%, but it was still enough to make a difference because the payload caused a 40x40 yard wide explosion that one-shot everything upon impact. Moreover, the best experts of Japan were currently fighting at Floating Ice City, not here. Boom boom boom! As expected, the White Marsh Catapults were able to crush the siege towers in one hit. In fact, judging from the way the fortified towers¡¯ bodies shattered, and wood splintered into countless pieces, it could probably one-shot two siege towers at once if they close enough to each other. All the magic knights packed inside the siege towers were killed by the resulting explosion before they even fell to the ground. Practically all of them suffered over 200k damage, an amount no ordinary player could withstand. However, the enemy¡¯s Black Marsh Catapults and basic Catapults landed hit after hit despite our best efforts. Soon, the entire eastern wall of White Rose Fortress was shaking unsteadily. There was no way we were going to hold out for much longer. Bang! My heart squeezed when one of our White Marsh Catapults was blown into smithereens by a Black Marsh Catapult projectile. Sure, it felt satisfying to blow the other guy¡¯s gold into dust, but the opposite hurt just as much! Giant rocks continued to slam into the walls. The pressure on our shoulders kept mounting without end. Panic growing, Chaos Moon abruptly pointed at the players inside the fortress and shouted, "What are you all waiting for? I want two thousand ballistae on the wall now! If we don¡¯t have enough Dragonlight Cavalry, then we¡¯ll make it up with ballistae!" The players nodded and began assembling the ballistae. The missile weapons were pulled up to the arrow loops so they could fire at the enemy safely. It was also a super weapon of sorts that only a master-Level engineer player could assemble. Once the bolts were loaded, it could fire a dozen or so bolts in a row. Its strength lay in its concentrated fire, killing the enemy before they could heal the damage. "Loose!" Chaos Moon gave the order, and tens of thousands of arm-sized bolts rained on top of the enemy from an elevated position. It didn¡¯t take much imagination to know how deadly it was! For a second, the Purple Gr.a.p.e City players on the ground stared at the swarm of black things flying toward them in a daze. Finally, a magic knight recognized it for what it was and shouted, "Ballistae! All units, Guard!" The thick steel bolts hit the magic knight¡¯s shields, mounts, and bodies indiscriminately. The amount of damage they dealt could only be described as insane. No wonder it was considered to be one of the best city defense weapons in the game! Ballista was a weapon that was unique to Sky City, Wind City and Vanished God City only. According to the lore, it was an improved version of the ancient Zhuge Repeating Ballista with greater capacity, greater power and of course, greater weight. It was unwieldy for long marches and offensives, but perfect for stationary defense. The two thousand ballistae worked like magic. Their explosive power tore the enemy like paper and killed everyone within a hundred yards of the walls in just a moment. When the screams ended, all that was left were thick stacks of corpses, potions and equipment. If the river of blood wasn¡¯t running before, it was now. ¡­¡­ Chiang! Suddenly, I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and declared with a smile, "It¡¯s time!" "Time for what?" Both Chaos Moon and Xu Yang looked at me in confusion. I explained, "Purple Gr.a.p.e City dispatched nearly 200 Black Marsh Catapults and countless basic siege weapons to attack us, but they still weren¡¯t able to bring down our walls. I believe that enough time has passed for their morale to be low, so now is the time to wipe them out! We will ride out with every mounted player we can muster and kill every last Purple Gr.a.p.e City player within five kilometers of White Rose Fortress! I promise you that they¡¯ll be too scared to act for 10 hours at least once we¡¯ve shattered their courage!" Eyes Like Water smiled. "I see!" "Yessir!" ¡­¡­ I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse to a gate and summoned the Phantom Wolf King again. Outnumbered and outgunned, the poor thing had died twice and lost two levels despite its best efforts. I still needed its service though. Right now, the interior of the fortress was full of riders. Even the blacksmith, the food shop, and even the stables were full of riders waiting for the order to set out. Right now, Xu Yang and Chaos Moon¡¯s army combined formed a cavalry troop of almost a hundred thousand, not to mention that Blazing Hot Lips and The Monarch Descends together had around fifty thousand cavalry. In total, we numbered just a bit over 150k cavalry troops. With the support of the archers and mages above our heads, we should be able to deal a fatal blow to the enemy. I raised my sword and shouted at the walls, "Open the gates, Xu Yang!" "Mn!" Xu Yang talked to the NPC, and all three gates began to open slowly. We could see a sea of corpses and a couple of new siege towers approaching us from behind the cover of their cavalry troops. "Kill them all! Leave no one within five kilometers of the fortress alive!" I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and became the first player to rush out of the gates. Behind me, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, Eyes Like Water, Purple Wind Chime and more did the same. For a second, I wondered if the quake we caused might be the final straw to break the camel¡¯s back, or in this case, break the demolished walls down crashing on top of us. Thankfully, it didn¡¯t happen. I was the first to come close to a siege tower using Thunderous Charge. Surprised by my appearance, the Purple Gr.a.p.e City magic knights shouted, "Stop him! Kill him now! Don¡¯t let him approach the siege tower!" Too bad they were only Level 175 to 180. There was no way in hell they could threaten me when they weren¡¯t even high-level enough to have Trapping Nets! Boom boom boom! After Burning Blade Slash tore their bodies into pieces, I ran along an S-shaped path and approached the siege tower from another direction. Then, I hit it with Ancient Seal! Xu Yang had jumped off the wall¡ªlosing half his health before chugging down a health potion¡ªand rode toward us at top speed. A Charge later, the image of a mountain appeared above his sword as he shouted, "Mountain Stagger Slash!" Boom! It was a ruthless strike that crushed two of the axles beneath the siege tower. The structure immediately crumbled under its own weight! "Ahhhhh¡­" Countless mounted players fell from the sky. I reckoned that there were at least 500 elites inside the siege tower. All five hundred or so players were wiped out just like that! They never even got the chance to resist! Chapter 1003: First Big Victory "Hell yeah!" Xu Yang laughed as he stared at the floor of bodies. He picked up a stack of Health Potions before saying, "Next!" Behind us, 150000 cavalrymen spilled out of the gates like tidewater and rode toward the enemies. As they gained more and more speed, they raised their weapons high above their heads and let out a battle cry. The reflected light from our weapons illuminated the Purple Gr.a.p.e City players¡¯ faces and put their fear and shock on full display. Just as I predicted, the enemy¡¯s inability to breach the walls despite attacking with so many siege weapons for so long had left a shadow in their hearts. Moreover, Red Maple had taken all the elites of Purple Gr.a.p.e City to Floating Ice City. As a result, none of the players here were capable of resisting us, who were some of the strongest elites of Sky City. With the 3000+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen as the unstoppable spearhead, and the support of Famous Generals such as Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Diamond Dust and Heaven¡¯s Rain, we tore through the enemy¡¯s defense line as if tearing paper. The 5-starred red flag above our heads started overwhelming the enemy¡¯s red-and-white flag and destroying every siege tower and Black Marsh Catapults in our way. Our troop count was still behind the enemy¡¯s, but it was no longer an insurmountable gap. Moreover, our people were well-trained, well-organized, and riding on high morale. Together, they formed a wall the demoralized, second-rate troops of Purple Gr.a.p.e City could possibly defeat. Rumble rumble rumble¡­ The players who fell off the destroyed siege towers were either crushed to death by the very structure they were in, or trampled to death by our hooves. Their deaths were about as tragic as it could get. As a result, those that weren¡¯t hit by our charge yet hurriedly ran out of their siege towers to avoid the same fate. They would still die, but at least it wouldn¡¯t be too ugly a death. Suddenly, a Level 184 spear-wielding warrior in red battle armor shouted, "Steady! The hundreds of Black Marsh Catapults we brought over cannot be for nothing! Summon your courage and remember that we still have the absolute advantage in terms of numbers! Don¡¯t let these Shinajin trample over our land!" Swhoosh! I immediately immobilized the guy with God Binding Art. Then, I dashed past him and stabbed his throat with Universe Break, one-shotting him! 278834! That the skill critted was almost like a judgment from heaven. This f.u.c.ker dared to use that slur in front of us? He was practically asking to be killed, and I was only more than happy to oblige! Boom! After I tossed Burning Blade Slash into a group of withdrawing players and killed them all, I ordered with steely eyes, "Ten kilometers, people! Leave no one within ten kilometers of White Rose Fortress alive!" Chaos Moon giggled. "Why the sudden change of mind?" "Because I¡¯m pissed off, that¡¯s why!" ¡­¡­ In the end, we did chase the enemy for at least 7 to 9 kilometers or so. Bodies were everywhere on the plains. We were one hundred and fifty thousand strong, and the enemy had several million soldiers. Despite this, we were still able to achieve a total victory. The gap between our players was just too big. More importantly, the soul of Purple Gr.a.p.e City, Red Maple, wasn''t here, so these second-rate guilds barely put up a fight before running away. This was the effect of a broken morale. So what if they outnumbered us many times over? How could they win if they wouldn¡¯t even try to fight? Many famous victories where the weak had beaten the strong had happened this way. For example, during the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao¡¯s 100k army outnumbered Cao Cao¡¯s almost 10 to 1. However, after their food supplies at Wuchao were set on fire, Yuan Shao¡¯s army quickly broke and lost all will to fight. As a result, Cao Cao was able to win a decisive victory against a much larger army. You could wield the most powerful weapon in the world, but you still wouldn¡¯t win if your heart wasn¡¯t in it. ¡­¡­ The battle lasted almost 4 hours, and it was one so bloody that some of us would probably remember it for a lifetime. Nearly the entire plains was covered in Purple Gr.a.p.e City players¡¯ bodies, and the kill count on the HUD stated that we had killed almost nine hundred thousand enemy players in total. "Alright, enough! It¡¯s time to sweep the battlefield for loot, return to the fortress and resupply ourselves!" I ordered. This was the moment everyone was waiting for, especially no one was around to disturb it. The surviving Purple Gr.a.p.e City players had retreated not 10 kilometers, but 15 kilometers by the time we were done with them. It was no exaggeration to say that we had ground their courage to dust with this one battle. Unless another Red Maple were to arise and inspire them, I couldn¡¯t see them regaining their fighting spirits for a long time to come. Meanwhile, the middle-aged-looking Xu Yang picked up a gold ring with a bright smile on his face. "Holy shit, it¡¯s an Earth-grade ring that adds 20% Attack? I wonder who was the poor fool who dropped this? Well, too late for them, it¡¯s finders keepers¡­" Gui Guzi said, "Oh, don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s definitely not dropped by our people." "How are you so sure?" "Because we barely lost anyone during this final charge, duh! This is one of the easiest victories of my life!" Gui Guzi laughed loudly before asking, "Little Rain, have you finished the battle report?" "Yep!" Heaven¡¯s Rain nodded before reporting, "We lost 157 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and a bit over 24000 of other cavalries. Purple Gr.a.p.e City lost almost 1 million players of all kinds. Heehee, this is about as great a victory one can get!" Gui Guzi boasted, "We¡¯re just too good¡­" "Bullshit!" Chaos Moon immediately knocked him down a peg before explaining, "The reason we scored such a huge win was because Lu Chen had captured the timing perfectly. If we were too early, the enemy would still be motivated enough to mount an effective counterattack. If we were too late, they would¡¯ve beaten an organized retreat and greatly diminished the effects of our pursuit. In the end, Lu Chen¡¯s timing was the key to everything." I replied with a smile, "Maybe, but if you guys weren¡¯t such good fighters, the countercharge wouldn¡¯t have gone as well as it did either. Alright, let¡¯s withdraw to White Rose Fortress and rest for a bit. If you want to log out, eat some food, sleep or whatever, do it now. The real challenge will be upon us once a victor has been decided between Candle Dragon and God¡¯s Domain." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ After I returned to White Rose Fortress, I repaired my equipment, restocked my potions, and walked up the walls again. We might¡¯ve scored a huge victory, but that was no reason to be lax. Someone had to be up and watch out for both sides at all times. I was leaning against the wall, hugging my Purple Ying Sword and dozing off a bit when the terrible news struck¡ª "It¡¯s terrible! Candle Dragon¡¯s 50000 Viper Dragoons clashed against God¡¯s Domain¡¯s 100000 Wildfire Riders and lost horribly! Red Maple successfully flanked them from Moonlight Forest! They¡¯re currently being pursued by almost a million Japanese players right now!" I abruptly woke up and stared at the messenger. "Are you sure?" "Of course! It just happened ten minutes ago!" he said with a nod. "F.u.c.k!" "Uncle! Uncle!?" "I¡¯m here. And, sorry, Lu Chen¡­" If I wasn¡¯t certain before, Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ tone confirmed everything. "What the hell happened? We had equal numbers to the enemy at Floating Ice City, right? How on earth did we lose the battle? It¡¯s only been a couple of hours!" I rushed out in frustration. He replied, "Candlelight Shadow had underestimated Red Maple¡¯s aptitude for strategy. A single moment of negligence was all Red Maple needed to flank him. Hate the guy if you like, but I can¡¯t deny that Red Maple is a bold man. I cannot believe he was able to find a hole in the encirclement and defeat Candle Dragon¡¯s main cavalry so quickly. Also, Candle Dragon is withdrawing from the battle." "F.u.c.k!" I swore. "What do we do now?" Hot and Sour Noodles pondered for a moment before replying, "Although Candle Dragon lost, we did manage to kill at least 4 million Japanese players in total. In fact, there are less than 2 million enemy players left in Floating Ice City¡¯s domain now. Even better, a large majority of them were God¡¯s Domain elites. Despite losing 90% of their troops, Candle Dragon was able to take down almost 70% of the enemy with them. God¡¯s Domain might have won, but it is a pyrrhic victory at best, and the threat to White Rose Fortress is gone now." I nodded. Put that way, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s sacrifice was ultimately worth it in the bigger scheme of things. "Alright, I¡¯m going to take my leave and clean up the remnants of Red Maple¡¯s forces next, so I¡¯m leaving the command of White Rose Fortress to you, uncle!" "Got it!" Hot and Sour Noodles said with a smile. "I¡¯ll come over right away. The battle at Black Coast is almost finished anyway. Very soon, Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace and more will be able to join this battle." "I know, I¡¯ve had the same thought. It¡¯s possible they may have a new target in mind¡­" "I agree. In any case, we should keep a close eye on Sky City. Whatever action the enemy takes next, I have a feeling that it¡¯s all going to end with Sky City." "Hehe, you¡¯re not wrong. Speaking of which, what are you going to do next?" "I¡¯m going to assemble the strongest cavalry troop in Sky City, enter Floating Ice City and fight Red Maple a second time. This time, we¡¯ll wipe them all out for sure!" "Well said. We¡¯re counting on you!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ After I hung up, I sent He Yi a call request next. "Eve, can you lead all the Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers to the east side of Sky City now? I¡¯ve a new mission for everyone!" "Okay, we¡¯ll be there!" He Yi shot me a gentle smile. "I¡¯ve watched your battle. You did well, Lu Chen!" "Hehe, your praise is well received, chief!" "It¡¯s too bad you¡¯re in Xinjiang right now, or I¡¯d be rewarding you already¡­" He Yi said softly. The way she said it put a flutter in my heart. "Oh really? You can reward me all you want once I get back." "Mn. I¡¯ve sent out the order. See you again in Sky City!" "Okay!" Chapter 1004: Step by Step Swhoosh! I teleported to Sky City, and I wasn¡¯t the only one. Countless Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players flashed in droves, and they all looked excited at the prospect of a new war. While I still had some time, I ran to my shop and unloaded all the equipment I had picked up from the battlefield. White Fox smiled at me and asked, "Wow, that¡¯s a handsome pile of loot, master. Who did you rob this time?" I stared at her. "Oh my god, is that what you¡¯ve been thinking of me all this time? A bandit?" White Fox covered her mouth and giggled. "Well, the older sister in the clothes shop next door said that you¡¯re a hero of Sky City and one of the bravest adventurers in the world. I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s true, but I suppose there¡¯s no harm in believing it since everyone¡¯s saying the same thing¡­" "Right. Watch over the shop and wait until I come back, okay?" "Yes, master. Goodbye, master¡­" White Fox bent down a little and revealed the impressive cleavage between her collars. Me: "..." I felt like I should say something, but gave up in the end. It wasn¡¯t like having an indecent-looking female shop clerk was a bad thing. White Fox was certainly one of the reasons why my shop outperformed all the other player shops in the city. I moved to the eastern square after I was done resting and reorganizing. The open ground was positively flooded by high-level Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players. I saw Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen and even Beiming Xue and Lian Xin. Beiming had a mount, and she could bring Lian Xin with her without losing any speed. That was how they kept up with our cavalry and returned at the same time. While she could technically ferry another person home that wasn¡¯t Lian Xin, why would she? Lian Xin was a magus-level mage whose magical prowess was among the best in the entire world. It made perfect sense to have a rider carry her at all times. On a random note, Lian Xin and Beiming Xue became as close as real sisters ever since the former had returned from overseas. To our guild members, they were a pair of eye-soothing flowers who improved the mood just by being around. "Big bro, you¡¯re here!" Beiming spotted me immediately when she turned around. I shot everyone a smile before apologizing, "Sorry for not being around for the war at Black Coast!" Li Chengfeng smiled back. "The battle at White Rose Fortress was even harder. We apologize for not being there for you as well. Cyan Earth City and Elephant City just have way too many troops!" I nodded before asking, "Chengfeng, did God of War and Breeze and Rain join the Battle of Black Coast?" The dragon warrior shook his head. "That¡¯s one of the strange points of this war. They or Cyan Beast never showed up from the start until the end." "I knew it¡­" I said with a frown, "The fact that both God of War and Breeze and Rain are lying low could only mean that Cyan Earth City is saving them for some other objective. Tsk tsk, what on earth are they planning?" In the end, I gritted my teeth and decided, "Let¡¯s forget about them for now and focus on wiping out God¡¯s Domain from Floating Ice City first. Red Maple and his goons desperately need to f.u.c.k off from China¡¯s domain!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ After everyone had arrived, we counted over 14000 Dragonlight Cavalry, 5000 Dragonlight Archers, and 50k cavalrymen with lesser mounts who were still plenty powerful. They were all waiting at the east side of Sky City. One of our guild mottos was to recruit elites only, and the law was obeyed by both the main guild and the subguilds. As a result, our players still couldn¡¯t 1v10 the enemy, but 1v3? That was well within their capabilities. I felt my heart pumping with passion and excitement as I stood before the seventy thousand strong elite cavalrymen. Raising my sword high up into the air, I declared, "The wolves of Purple Gr.a.p.e City had invaded Floating Ice City and turned it into a ruin. They had murdered countless innocents and drenched the trees of Frost Forest with blood. They even humiliated Twelve Musicians, a female guild of several tens of thousands, killed them again and again and brought many of them to Level 0. We can lose a main city, but can swallow the humiliation against our brethren and defenseless women? No! Do you have courage in your veins? If you do, then ride with me, brothers and sisters! Let us wipe out God¡¯s Domain together!" Everyone raised their weapons and chanted, "Wipe out God¡¯s Domain!" "Let¡¯s go!" I shouted before spurring my mount and leading the way. Not long after we set off though, we encountered a group of elite cavalry in the woods. They were Snowy Cathaya. I hurriedly met up with them and asked, "Hello! Where¡¯s Lin Yixin?" "Oh¡­" It was impossible to spot Lin Yixin with so many people around, so I sent her a message directly: "Beauty Lin!" Lin Yixin replied with a smiley face, "Little Cheat!" "Come on, don¡¯t you have a better nickname for me¡­" I complained a bit before asking, "Anyway, is Snowy Cathaya about to tackle God¡¯s Domain?" "Yep." "Let¡¯s advance together then. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will approach the enemy from the north side of Frost Forest, and Snowy Cathaya from Moonlight Forest. No matter how strong God¡¯s Domain is, they¡¯ll be hard-pressed to fight off a pincer attack." "Sure! Be careful, okay?" "I will." After that, I contacted The Monarch Descends¡¯ guild leader, Ling Xueshang¡ª "Yeah? What is it?" "Have you guys arrived yet?" "Yeah, we¡¯re waiting outside Moonlight Forest right now. In fact, we saw the enemy chasing down Candle Dragon just a moment ago. You came sooner than we expected, and that¡¯s good. Everyone needs that boost of confidence right now, especially after that shitshow Candlelight Shadow pulled. The man is just too prideful, you know? If he hadn¡¯t underestimated Red Maple, there¡¯s no way we would¡¯ve suffered the ambush. Our forces were 2.5 times bigger than the enemy at the time, hmph!" I sighed. "It¡¯s not entirely Candlelight Shadow¡¯s fault, honestly. When I fought Red Maple for the first time, I nearly fell for his tricks myself. Anyway, just be careful. You should contact Lin Yixin and meet up with Snowy Cathaya. Don¡¯t give God¡¯s Domain the chance to divide and conquer us." "Mn, understood." Thankfully, our allies were all pretty reliable. There should be no way for Red Maple to defeat Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends combined. ¡­¡­ Twenty minutes after we began our journey, we passed through the border between Sky City and Floating Ice City. We saw a large group of Chinese players on the plains, and among them were Warsky Alliance, Gods of Destruction, Mad Dragon, Flower Room, Pop Culture, Sword Lord of Jianghu and more. Warsky was standing outside the forest and swearing at the direction where God¡¯s Domain at, "That f.u.c.k.i.n.g good-for-nothing Candlelight Shadow! How did he lose when he outnumbered God¡¯s Domain? F.u.c.k.i.n.g trash noobs, every last one of them! Our brothers and sisters were being slaughtered in Frost Forest for so long, and this is how you repay them? F.u.c.k.i.n.g trash!" A furious-looking Warsky turned to face me. "Ah, Lu Chen. You¡¯re finally here!" I replied, "Yeah. But you need to calm down, or Red Maple might be able to exploit your anger. Hate him if you want, but that man is not an easy foe to defeat!" "Hmph!" Warsky snorted angrily, but fell quiet after that. A petite girl chose this moment to step out of the crowd. She was none other than the guild leader of Soul Battle Robes, Song of Cloud and Water. Speaking of which, it looked like Soul Battle Robes and Warsky Alliance had formed a close alliance. Their guild members seemed really friendly with one another. Song of Cloud and Water even addressed Warsky affectionately, "Big brother Warsky, can we begin the strategy meeting now that Ancient Sword is here? We¡¯ve been waiting for too long. It¡¯s time to give the Purple Gr.a.p.es a taste of their own medicine." Warsky nodded. "Mn, I know." Standing behind Song of Cloud and Water was Song of Ice and Fire. The blade wielder said grumpily, "¡®I know¡¯? We need better assurances than that. You¡¯d better not lead us to a defeat after taking our guild leader as your step-sister!" Warsky lifted his head proudly. "Don¡¯t worry. We won¡¯t suffer the same defeat as Candle Dragon! Not when October Rain is still our strategist!" "That better be the case!" Song of Ice and Fire was obviously hostile toward Warsky. In fact, God Bone, Ringwraith and the rest of Soul Battle Robes¡¯ top players looked equally disgruntled. After all, Soul Battle Robes was currently acting like a subguild of Warsky Alliance instead of their own person. This was not what Song of Ice and Fire had signed up for when he rejoined Soul Battle Robes. Warsky replied with a smile, "Slow and steady wins the race. We¡¯ll slowly push our way into Frost Forest while maintaining formation. We¡¯ll have our frontliners proceed with their shields up, the mages, archers and priests behind them, and the ballistae at the last. Frost Forest is a small place, so there¡¯s no chance they can slip behind us. According to the Nation War interface, there are only 2.98 million Japanese players left in Floating Ice City¡¯s domain, while we have over 10 million players. There¡¯s no reason we shouldn¡¯t be able to wipe them out." Laughing At The Heavens and Farewell Song immediately echoed in agreement, "The guild leader is wise." However, I asked him, "What if Red Maple burns the forest? The northern wind is blowing pretty hard today. If a fire spreads, your siege weapons are only going to slow your retreat. Even if your people manage to avoid burning to death, the stampede alone would¡¯ve killed plenty by then." "F.u.c.k!" It appeared that Warsky hadn¡¯t anticipated this at all. A long stunned silence later, he asked, "In that case, what do you think we should do, Lu Chen?" I replied, "Leave your ranged players outside the forest and have them be ready to kill any enemy who charges into the open. At the same time, send only your best cavalry troops into the forest. This way, your people can outrun the fire even if Red Maple chooses to burn the forest. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will advance toward God¡¯s Domain from the left, and Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes from the right. If you discover the enemy¡¯s main force, kill them without mercy." Farewell Song said, "Did you forget that Red Maple managed to defeat Candle Dragon¡¯s Viper Dragoons despite being at a 1:2.5 ratio disadvantage? Going at them with just cavalry doesn¡¯t sound like the best idea." I smiled. "In that case, I would like you to enter the forest with your assassins. Your job will be to scout out the location of the enemy¡¯s main force. I give you my word that my 10000-strong Dragonlight Cavalry won¡¯t stop pursuing Red Maple¡¯s Wildfire Riders until they¡¯re all dead!" The corner of Warsky¡¯s mouth twitched, but he said, "Do as he says, Farewell Song!" "Yes, guild leader!" This was what differentiated Warsky from most leaders. He wouldn¡¯t stubbornly stick to a strategy if someone suggested something better. He wouldn¡¯t mind suffering a blow to his pride if it could maximize his advantage. After the discussion was over, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ cavalry moved toward the left side of the forest, while Warsky, Laughing At The Heavens, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Song of Ice and Fire, Song of Cloud and Water and more moved into the right side of the forest. Frost Forest had lost its tranquility a long time ago. The game world hadn¡¯t been refreshed yet, so there were clear traces of battle all over the place. Countless bodies belonging to Chinese or Purple Gr.a.p.e City littered the floor, but it was obvious that there were more dead Viper Dragoons than there were dead enemies. There were thousands of bodies at the edge of the forest alone, and the tang of blood was thick and discomforting. I clenched my fists and uttered through gritted teeth, "Candlelight Shadow, when will you grow up? How many more must die before you let go of your pride?" Chapter 1005: As Cunning As a Wolf I activated Dark Pupils and paid close attention to the minimap. It was mostly covered in the green dots that represented our guild members, but there was a single red dot about 25 yards to the front. He was a Level 184 assassin who had come to scout us. The guy must be feeling very bold to try something like this right under our noses. Chiang! As I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword, He Yi asked me, "What are you doing?" I shot her a smile and abruptly rushed toward the assassin. A sword throw and a draconic roar later, the assassin hiding in the darkened bushes ate Coiling Dragon Revolution to the c.h.e.s.t and died screaming. "F.u.c.k, there was an assassin hiding in this place?" Li Chengfeng pursed his lips and said, "I suppose we were growing careless. Thank goodness Lu Chen has strong senses." I looked at our surroundings before saying, "Let¡¯s dispatch one Dragonlight Archer in every direction to scout the enemy. If they are discovered, they can simply stun the pursuer with Shock Arrow and escape. With the Dragonscale Beast¡¯s movement speed, there¡¯s no way the enemy can catch up to them. Also, all thousand-man parties are to dispatch between one to three players to do the same thing. We need to establish our own eyes and ears at this place so we won¡¯t be passive all the time." Everyone nodded. A while later, almost a hundred Dragonlight Archers scattered in every direction and vanished into the forest. Archers had great perception and could see through an assassin¡¯s stealth from a super long range. Mounted archers were even better because they had both the offensive power to threaten the enemy and the movement speed to escape. Therefore, in the current state of the game, the Dragonlight Archer was the best unit for scouting bar none. It was one of the areas we were better at than God¡¯s Domain. ¡­¡­ We slowly pushed forward. Less than ten minutes later, Beiming Xuet sent me a message: "Big bro, there¡¯s a Purple Gr.a.p.e City party about at a 14-degree angle toward east, 3 km away. It probably belongs to the 27th guild of Purple Gr.a.p.e City. They¡¯re about thirty thousand players strong with a diverse number of classes such as knights, warriors, mages, archers and more, but the majority of them are mages. I counted around 6000 in total. Feel free to do with the information as you please! Also, I¡¯ve spoken with the nearest mounted archers to me, and they don¡¯t detect any other Purple Gr.a.p.e City player within 5 kilometers." I couldn¡¯t help but admire Beiming all over again as I read the message she sent me. It was such a comprehensive report that you wouldn¡¯t believe that it was something a scout could come up with. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is lucky to have a genius like her! ¡°Mn. I¡¯ll be waiting!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ After the exchange was over, I stopped in my tracks, raised the Purple Ying Sword and declared, "Halt!" Li Chengfeng asked, "What¡¯s wrong?" I pointed to the front and said, "Beiming scouted a 30k party around 15 degrees to the east. There is no reason to let them escape, so we¡¯re going to wipe them all out!" Gui Guzi smiled. "Give the order then, Boss Broken Halberd. Everyone¡¯s waiting!" "Mn!" I nodded and said, "Chaos Moon, Xu Yang and I will charge them from the front with twenty thousand cavalry; the guild leader and Li Chengfeng will hit their left with another twenty thousand; Little Gui, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust will hit their right; and finally, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, you¡¯re the fastest rider of all of us, so take a thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen with you and around them to attack from the back. Once I give the signal, we all attack together. Let¡¯s try and win this with zero losses, okay?" Everyone wore an excited look on their face, eager to kickstart the counterattack against Purple Gr.a.p.e City. We had suffered enough humiliation losing Floating Ice City already. It was time to begin our vengeance! "Go!" I spurred my mount forward with Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen following behind me. After adding a thousand Dragonlight Cavalry to his party, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun activated Flying General and increased everyone¡¯s movement speed to a whopping 500%. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that they had taken off like the wind. So fast! I had already marked the enemy¡¯s camp on the minimap. I was fairly sure that many of them had logged out of the game for rest as well. After all, they had been throwing their weight about Floating Ice City for a while now. When we were about 1 km away from the enemy, I raised my arm and lowered my voice, "Slow down to 50% movement speed, you all. We don¡¯t want the enemy to catch the sound of our hooves if possible. Also, attack only after I¡¯ve given you the signal!" Everyone nodded and did as I said, patiently waiting for the slaughter to begin. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle... Morning dew drenched my arms as I parted a bush. It was dawn inside the game, and the sky was still partially dark. It was the best time to launch a sneak attack. In the distance, we spotted around a hundred players sitting around a bonfire and laughing vulgarly at something. Even further back was a much greater number of players camping and resting on the open plain. I reckoned that there were at least ten thousand players within my view. I nodded, pulled out my sword and shouted, "All units, kill!" The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a mighty neigh and galloped toward the enemy at top speed. I used Thunderous Charge and tore apart the bodies of the dozen or so men closest to me before they even realized what was going on. Behind me, Chaos Moon, Du Thirteen and Xu Yang were doing the same thing as well. Rumble rumble! Rock Crush and other AoE skills crashed into the group of enemies like the rain. When the tremor caused by our hooves turned into an earthquake, the sleeping Purple Gr.a.p.e City players finally woke up and tried to react. An enemy magic knight mounted his horse and shouted, ¡°All cavalry, get onto your mounts and prepare for the counterattack now! Mages and archers, move to the back and give us covering fire! Priests, get ready to heal us! Bards, give us your buffs! Don¡¯t panic, and we can¡ª" Unfortunately, Xu Yang hit him before he could give out his final orders. The brawny man slashed him right across the throat with Mountain Stagger Slash while shouting, "Get down, animal!" The skill immediately deleted the guy¡¯s mount tenacity, causing him to fall to the ground. One Barrier Break to the c.h.e.s.t later, he was killed and knocked out of the battle! As one of the very first elders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Xu Yang was famous for his bravery and straightforward fighting style. He might not be among the strongest players we had, but his presence inspired the others to do better. He was an essential component of the guild especially in large-scale warfare! Behind us, our cavalry activated Charge together and trampled over the completely unprepared enemies like a hot knife through butter. At the same time, the sounds of battle started from the south and the north side of the battlefield as well. It was He Yi and Gui Guzi¡¯s party of course. In less than five minutes, the Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s guild was losing players at an insane rate without being able to resist at all. ¡­¡­ A high-rank enemy mage with the guild leader emblem on his shoulder ordered loudly, "All fighters, form a shield wall and protect the backliners! The rest of you, retreat with me! God¡¯s Domain is just at the edge of the abandoned city. Once we meet up with them, we¡¯ll be able to turn this around!" Unfortunately for them, they didn¡¯t run far enough before Du Thirteen killed an archer and summoned a stream of rapid water from the ground, blocking their retreat path completely. It was Du Thirteen¡¯s Famous General Skill, Poseidon, and it was incredibly useful in a big war like this. Not only that, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun changed his stratagem to Encourage VII and ordered with a hearty laugh, "Don¡¯t let them escape, brothers and sisters! Leave no one alive!" Surrounded on all sides, the guild was unable to mount any form of meaning resistance. Li Chengfeng activated his Famous General Skill, Blitz, and weaved in and out of the enemy¡¯s formation like a lightning bolt. Wherever he went, corps commanders found their throats pierced by his Dark Blade. It wasn¡¯t long before Li Chengfeng single-handedly murder every corps commander in the party. Even that high-level mage was instakilled by Reverse Scale Slash + Dragonbone Flurry combo. It was over. The massacre lasted 20 minutes or so. We were able to annihilate a 30k party with just 70k players. ¡­¡­ After we cleaned up the battlefield, Xu Yang walked up to me with his face flushed with excitement. "That was such an exhilarating battle! We annihilated thirty thousand players at the cost of less than three hundred! Can you imagine that!" I shot him an understanding smile before ordering, "Let¡¯s proceed. Our goal is still God¡¯s Domain¡¯s main force, so pay close attention to the scout¡¯s reports. Also, remind everyone not to let a victory over a third-rate guild get into their heads. The enemy will punish us if we grow complacent because of this!" "Yessir!" We moved on. We encountered a couple more resting guilds along the way and killed them all. It felt like the screams of death were never-ending. "Hey boss, take a look at that guild¡­" Suddenly, Gui Guzi pointed at the enemy and said, "I recognize their emblem. They¡¯re the third-strongest guild of Purple Gr.a.p.e City and an ally of God¡¯s Domain. Do you think that¡¯s their main force?" I followed his finger. There were around 9000 Japanese riders watching us warily from the plains. Not one to let an opportunity slip by, I unsheathed my weapon and shouted, "C¡¯mon! Let¡¯s take them out!" "Got it!" We charged them. The enemy chose to leave behind 1000 riders to cover their retreat. It wasn¡¯t long before we cut down all of them and continued pursuing the remnants. After we caught up with them, the enemy left behind another 1000 riders and escaped again. Again, we were able to annihilate them all. After Xu Yang picked up a stack of potions from the ground, he said with a laugh, "Is this really the third-strongest guild of Purple Gr.a.p.e City? Hah! Still, this chase is getting tiring. Let¡¯s split up and surround them this time!" "Stop!" However, I abruptly raised my voice and stopped everyone dead in their tracks. "What¡¯s wrong, Lu Chen?" Xu Yang asked. I replied calmly, "Haven¡¯t you noticed yet? What kind of idiot would wait for us to catch up to them after 1000 players had sacrificed themselves to cover their retreat? This is a setup. They¡¯re trying to lure us into a trap." Li Chengfeng clenched his fist and swore, "F.u.c.k, the rumors say that Red Maple is as cunning as a wolf, and it looks like they¡¯re spot-on!" I nodded. "Mn. If I¡¯m not mistaken, even the 30000-strong third-rate guild we slaughtered earlier was just a bait to lure us in. Red Maple knows that we¡¯re here, so he¡¯s trying to lure us into a deadly trap and possibly kill us all in one go¡­" "Seriously? 30000 people as bait? What a ruthless bastard!" Xu Yang exclaimed in astonishment. He Yi said, "Candlelight Shadow himself is famous for his ruthlessness and iron fists, but it looks like Red Maple is even more ruthless than Candlelight Shadow ever was. No wonder Candle Dragon lost." Gui Guzi asked me, "What should we do now? Should we continue or withdraw?" Chapter 1006: To Cross the Sea by a Trick "We continue, of course! We can¡¯t let the enemy intimidate us," I replied with a smile. Gui Guzi said, "But we¡¯re definitely going to get taken out if we go at them directly. There¡¯s only 70000 of us and 2 million of them!" I shook my head. "Think, Little Gui. The enemy is 2 million strong, but are they really? God¡¯s Domain and its few allied guilds are powerful, but the rest are small fries at best. That¡¯s why we¡¯re going to strike at the heart of their army. Once we¡¯ve taken out their main forces, the rest are just walking bags of loot." Xu Yang licked his lips a little before asking, "Does that mean you have a plan already?" "Nah, I haven¡¯t thought of one yet¡­" "Motherf.u.c.ker!" I dismounted, leaned against a maple tree and closed my eyes. For a while, everyone just stared at me blankly as if they had no idea what I was doing. Then, a chuckling He Yi walked up to me and said, "Let¡¯s check out the map, shall we?" "Heh, I¡¯m doing that right now!" I knew my beautiful guild leader would understand me. The minute details of Floating Ice City flashed across my eyes. I had explored nearly every map in Floating Ice City and ran through every setting at least even before I entered Sky City. This was how I planned to gain an advantage over God¡¯s Domain. Red Maple thinks he can do whatever he wants in our domain? In his dreams! ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Beiming Xue sent me a message: "I got it, big bro. God¡¯s Domain main forces are close to coordinates (18277, 4737). I count around 150k cavalry troops and 250k of everything else including mages, archers, priests, tacticians, tamers and more. This is everything God¡¯s Domain¡¯s main guild and subguilds have combined after the battle against Candle Dragon. Oh right, about 80k of that 150k cavalry troops are Wildfire Riders, and they are all stationed at the valley of Wild Pheasant Ridge right now." I quickly marked the coordinate in my map and examined it for a bit. Then, an idea formed inside my mind. I quickly picked up the Purple Ying Sword and got up my mount once more. "So? Do you have a plan now?" Li Chengfeng asked. "Well, don¡¯t keep us waiting!" He Yi said with a smile. I thought for a bit before asking, "Quick question: Are you guys afraid to die?" Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits and more immediately glared menacingly at me. "Is that an insult?" "I wouldn¡¯t dare¡­" I said with a grin. "Alright, first things first, I need a Famous General to launch a fake frontal assault and attract God¡¯s Domain attention." Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun stepped out with a smile, "Leave it to me! I haven¡¯t been doing much anyway!" "It will be very dangerous." Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun nodded affirmatively. "I know." He Yi blinked once before asking, "Lu Chen, are you going to use these 20000 players as cannon fodders?" "Yes. I¡¯m sorry." I nodded solemnly before explaining, "Someone needs to launch a frontal assault and keep the enemy distracted. It¡¯s the only way to ensure that the next step of our strategy will succeed." I s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath and said, "According to Beiming, God¡¯s Domain main force is currently stationed at Wild Pheasant Ridge. All 80000 of their Wildfire Riders are currently inside the valley. However, they couldn¡¯t know that there is a hidden trail 1.5 km away from the east of Frost Forest that leads straight into the valley. I know because I¡¯ve hunted there when I was Level 50. So this is the plan: I want you to keep their eyes on you while I and our 14k Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 5k Dragonlight Archers sneak up on them from the trail. We will wipe out their ace with our ace and send Red Maple packing from Floating Ice City! Once the Wildfire Riders are destroyed, Snowy Cathaya and Warsky Alliance can finish the rest!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun burst into an understanding grin and patted me once on the shoulder. "That¡¯s a cool plan. Which stratagem do you think it¡¯ll fall under the Thirty-Six Stratagems?" I thought for a moment before replying, "Eh, I guess it barely counts as ¡®crossing the sea by a trick¡¯..." "Alright, when are we launching the assault?" "Not yet. You should select 20000 elites from our mixed cavalry first!" "Got it!" While Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was carrying out his business, I looked at a group of Dragonlight Archers and ordered, "All Dragonlight Archers, you have thirty minutes to spread out and eliminate all Purple Gr.a.p.e City assassins and archers within this forest! Leave no scouts in the area to spy on our movements! Once you¡¯re done, come back and report to me!" "Yessir!" The Dragonlight Archers swiftly faded into the forest to carry out the operation. The Archer class was famous for their perception, and these ones were mounted and protected by Dragon Soul Protection. I had full confidence that they would be able to deal with any ordinary assassin. At the same time, I contacted Lin Yixin¡ª "Dear, I miss you¡­" I started. Lin Yixin rolled her eyes in the dialog box. "Why haven¡¯t you come home then?" "I¡¯m just too busy¡­" "Hmph hmph. Anyway, what¡¯s your business?" "Mn." I paused for a second before saying, "I need your help with something." "Yes?" "I want you to send Purple Marquis and about 30k Purple Dragon Cavalry to coordinate (18277, 4737) in an hour. It¡¯s to support our assault, and¡­ to rescue Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and his men¡­" I said tactfully. "But I miss you so much, Little Cheat¡­" Lin Yixin replied. Lin Yixin burst into a giggle upon seeing the look on my face. "Fine, fine, we¡¯re fighting the second best guild of Purple Gr.a.p.e City right now, but seeing as you¡¯re the one who¡¯s making the request, I¡¯ll send you the men you need. In fact, forget Purple Marquis, I¡¯m coming over myself!" "Mn, thank you!" "Seriously though, when are you coming home? I¡¯m really starting to miss you¡­" "I¡¯ll come back right after this Nation War is over!" I said without hesitation, "I promise you¡¯ll be the first person I meet after returning to Suzhou. You like that?" "Very much. Well, talk to you later. I¡¯m in a fight right now¡­" "Be careful!" "Relax, I¡¯ll be fine¡­" ¡­¡­ After I hung up, I looked at everyone and said, "Attention, Dragonlight Cavalry, Dragonlight Archers! There is this saying called ¡®train an army for a thousand days to use it for an hour¡¯, and now¡¯s the time we fight for our country! Win or lose, the important thing is that we¡¯ve done our best, and that we have no regrets! So let¡¯s do it!" "Let¡¯s go!" After I got up my mount, I led the Dragonlight Cavalry, the Dragonlight Archers and 30000 riders from the mixed cavalry to the eastern trail. As planned, Eighteen Steeds and You and Yun and his 20000 elite riders stayed behind waiting for my order to attack. The first ray of dawn pierced through the clouds and illuminated the dense mist above the forest. It looked like the thin fabric covering the forest goddess¡¯s privates, and it was being ripped away bit by bit by the sunlight and the promise of war. When it vanished completely, all that would be left was spilled blood and cruel murder. We circled around the forest and arrived at a short hill. Chaos Moon asked, "Is this where you did your hunting and cooking?" "Yep. In fact, this was where Shadow Chanel and her people fought me!" I laughed. Beiming Xue asked with a smile, "Did you win?" "Of course! Have you ever seen me lose in open world PvP?" "Bro¡­" Li Chengfeng shook his head. "Ever heard of the word ¡®humility¡¯?" I rode up the mountain trail and looked back. "Alright, enough chit-chat. If we travel at full speed, we should reach the valley in less than half an hour!" "Full speed ahead!" He Yi ordered. At the same time, I sent Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun a message: "Alright, you can launch the assault now, You and Yun! Remember, don¡¯t get close within 3 km of Wild Pheasant Ridge. Just focus on killing the casuals on the perimeter and avoid a head-on clash. It¡¯s unlikely you¡¯ll win without the Dragonlight Cavalry." "Got it. You should be careful as well. Let¡¯s pray that this will end in a massive victory!" "Mn." ¡­¡­ The end of the mountain trail was a one kilometer-wide canyon that connects to Wild Pheasant Ridge Valley. After taking a moment to get all 14k of our Dragonlight Cavalry, and the 5k Dragonlight Archers led by Beiming Xue at the back ready, I moved to the front of the group and started explaining our strategy. "When I give the order, charge at the enemy with everything you got. There¡¯s no need to hide the noise, we have the element of surprise on our side. All Dragonlight Archers are to listen to Beiming Xue¡¯s command. Generally speaking, you will keep the wings and support our cavalry with Skypiercers, Spiraling Arrow Blades and Shock Arrows. Understand?" Beiming Xue nodded. "We understand, big bro!" "Very good!" I raised my weapon and shouted, "Regret not the present, and fear not the future! For the sake of our dreams, kill them all!!" ¡­¡­ The thunderous sound of hooves abruptly erupted in the canyon as the Dragonlight Cavalry took off at full speed. Wild Pheasant Ridge Valley was less than five minutes away, so I was sure that the enemy could hear us coming. However, even if they knew that something was off, there was a forest standing between us and them. They might not understand the true extent of the danger because they couldn¡¯t see us! ¡­... Rumble rumble rumble! The Dragonscale Beasts tore through the vines and brambles like nothing. A while later, we emerged from the other side of the forest and saw a group, no, an entire army of resting Wildfire Riders. I counted at least tens of thousands of them. Beiming Xue¡¯s scouting was spot-on; this had to be Red Maple¡¯s lifeblood for sure! "Kill!" More and more Dragonlight Cavalry burst out of the forest. Soon, we descended upon the enemy like a tidal wave. This was a perfect sneak attack led by me, Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, and High Fighting Spirits, and God¡¯s Domain wasn¡¯t prepared in the slightest! Chiang chiang chiang!" The sound of blades tearing through armor resounded again and again. Countless Wildfire Riders were killed before they were even able to get on their mounts. Acting as the spearhead of the charge, I raised my arm and fired 7 Ancient Seals into the enemy in quick succession, giving my troops an easier time tearing through the disheveled remnants of a formation. The valley was soon flooded with the red sea of 5-starred flags! "Mount and fight!" However, the Wildfire Riders were no small fries. About 20000 of them launched a countercharge to buy time for the rest of their allies to rally, and by the time they hit us, they had already formed a near-perfect anti-charge square formation! Holy shit, what a powerful opponent! Chapter 1007: Ace Versus Ace "Kill!" The Armored Ice Qillin Horse raced forward as I shouted the battle cry. I fired Thousand Ice Slash + Burning Blade Slash combo at a 20-man group in front of me. The rest of my comrades were doing the same thing. He Yi fired the Purgatory of Ice and Magma, while Li Chengfeng activated Great Earth Transformation and Battle Soul Possession before attacking. His Dark Blade passed through shields and armor as if they didn¡¯t exist, and Reverse Scale Slash dealt even greater damage. Boom! Chaos Moon¡¯s Rock Crush threw rocks all over the place. High Fighting Spirits even charged right into a group of enemies, crouched, gathered the energy of the Xiezhi Beast before letting out a mighty roar. The Xiezhi Howl transformed into a cyclone that murdered countless Wildfire Riders. Everyone was unleashing their greatest skills, and the Wildfire Riders were no exception. Despite our powerful assault, they retaliated fearlessly by ganging up on single Dragonlight Cavalrymen and hitting them with 3 to 5 Barrier Breaks. As a result, almost a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen dropped dead at first contact. But of course, the enemy¡¯s casualties were several times greater than ours. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Beiming Xue galloped over from the right wing, raised her Ice Feather Soul and fired Skypiercer. The Archean Immortal-grade bow had a property capable of freezing enemies with any attack, and that was exactly what happened. Many Wildfire Riders were frozen in place, causing the allies behind them to crash into their backs. Meanwhile, Lian Xin leaped down from Beiming¡¯s mount and swung her scepter. An entire row of Origin Force Fields appeared in front of the enemy and stopped their charge dead. Not done yet, Beiming Xue threw Well of the Abyss into the center of a group and caught at least thousands of Wildfire Riders. Nothing could escape its attraction force. When Well of the Abyss was almost done, the two girls unleashed a super Dimensional Storm + Ice Spiral Matrix + Skypiercer + Spiraling Arrow Blade combo. Even He Yi joined in on the fun and fired a Purgatory of Ice and Magma after she got closer to the group. Boom boom boom¡­ The moment nearly a thousand Wildfire Riders were released from their tiny prison, they ate five deadly skills to the face. The explosion was massive, and the damage numbers were terrifying. No one survived the combined attack as a matter of course. The three girls were absolutely lethal on the battlefield! ¡­¡­ It was a direct clash between several ten thousand Wildfire Riders and 14000-strong Dragonlight Cavalry. However, our Attack and Defense far exceeded the enemy¡¯s expectations. Dragon Soul Protection increased the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s Attack and Defense by 50%. The King of Cities¡¯ buff also increased their Attack by 15%. "It¡¯s hunting time, brothers and sisters!" His comrades roared their approval as they charged toward the enemy. These were the players who didn¡¯t get a Dragonscale Beast yet and the second echelon of the charge. They were responsible for killing whoever the Dragonlight Cavalry softened or missed during their charge. Pu pu pu¡­ The first thing they did upon making contact with the enemy was to use Barrier Break. I bet the sight of tens of thousands of Barrier Break happening at the same time looked great. For a time, the sound of bodies falling to the ground and the screams of death filled the air. The second echelon were doing their utmost because they didn¡¯t make the cut to become Dragonlight Cavalrymen either because they lacked levels, skills, or both. Sometimes, there were other reasons. It was in such fights that they had a chance to prove themselves worthy of getting their own Dragonscale Beast. One of the important factors we considered before granting a player a Dragonscale Beast was guild contribution points, and we had turned it on for the Nation War. Long story short, the more enemies they killed, the more contribution points they got, the bigger the chance they would be chosen as the next Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Speaking of which, my guild contribution points were sky-high as a matter of course. Boom boom¡­ As I ravaged a group of enemies with Burning Blade Slash, I spotted a row of magic knight Wildfire Riders forming a shield wall. The guy standing in the middle of the line was a corps commander of God¡¯s Domain and the hidden class player we encountered during the WEL internationals, Red Hot Vortex. The man shouted, "Hold, braves of God¡¯s Domain! This is our chance to earn honor and glory! Resist the despicable sneak attack of the Chinese and teach them that the Wildfire Riders are not to be trifled with! Shielders, hold the line! Archers, drag the enemy down their mounts with Shock Arrows and Mountain Stagger Arrows! Mages, kill them all with long-range Galaxy Storms!" I was surprised to find the JGL Hall of Famer at this place. This was the decisive battle between Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and God¡¯s Domain for sure! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Storms of magic descended from the sky. I spotted Galaxy Storms and high-level spells like Touch of the Dragonkiss as well. Considering that these mages were the elites of God¡¯s Domain, their Magic Attack had to be very high. I raised the Dragon God Shield and ordered, "All magic knights, use Holy Shield Protection to endure the attack! They only have a small number of ranged players here, so don¡¯t retreat and push your way through their shield formation! Crush them all!" The Galaxy Storms exploded among the Dragonlight Cavalry and dealt at least 30k damage per hit. I was expecting a big damage number, but that was still more damage than I initially predicted. There were also very few mages in China who possessed this level of Magic Attack. Inevitably, Dragonlight Cavalry started toppling one after another. We were pure cavalry without a single priest to heal us or a bard to buff us. This outcome was perfectly natural. However, the death of our comrades only made us angrier! "Kill!" Gui Guzi abruptly spurred his mount into a massive leap and slammed mightily against the enemy¡¯s shield wall. Amazingly, the shield wall bore the brunt of the impact perfectly! "F.u.c.k!" Enraged, Gui Guzi hit the shields with an Aurora Thrust while shouting, "Li, assist me now!" Li Chengfeng cut in from the side and unleashed his Dragonblade Revolution, killing three magic knights on the spot. Sensing an opening, High Fighting Spirits jumped in and used his Xiezhi Howl again, throwing almost a hundred players into the air and killing the majority of those. Less than a hundred meters away from them, I pierced a high-level magic knight¡¯s shield with the Purple Ying Sword and fired Burning Blade Slash. The flame auras absolutely ravaged the poor guy and the players behind him. Beside me, the Phantom Wolf King let out a howl and dropped Purgatory Storm from the sky as well. Riding the momentum, Chaos Moon danced like a butterfly and cut down many a low-health magic knight. With Xu Yang and Du Thirteen¡¯s aid, He Yi attacked a section of the enemy¡¯s shield formation and successfully tore two giant holes in no time. The Dragonlight Cavalry immediately slipped in between the gaps and ravaged the enemy even further. A hail of arrows suddenly fell from the sky and stunned Chaos Moon. Xu Yang was just chopping down three archers with Mountain Stagger Slash when the same thing happened to him. Worse, they were both losing HP at an incredible rate. The enemy archers were more powerful than expected! I swiftly identified the archer group chipping away at my Famous Generals. They were firing about 40 yards away from my location. I shouted, "Beiming Xue, get your Dragonlight Archers over and destroy that archer group with Skypiercer!" Beiming Xue was a smart girl, and she didn¡¯t need me to hold her hands whatsoever. She raised her hand and commanded about a hundred Dragonlight Archers to her side. Once they rode close enough to line a shot, they fired their Skypiercers in unison and deleted the HP of the stunned and pale-faced enemy archers in one go, killing them all! "That¡¯s right, kill them all with ranged attack!" I showered Beiming Xue with praises, and the girl beamed like the sun. She continued leading the Dragonlight Archers here and there, killing many archers and mages in the process. The worst part was that they never even had the chance to retaliate. The Dragonscale Beast increased a player¡¯s attack range by 32 yards, meaning that Beiming and the Dragonlight Archers were shooting from 72 yards away. It was a one-sided slaughter. ¡­¡­ "God dammit!" It took a while, but Red Maple finally showed up. The man wore a handsome outfit and wielded a sword as usual. Body swirling with the energy of Great Earth Transformation, he shouted, "Maple Kill!" Swhoosh! "Red Maple!" Beside Red Maple, a female knight wielding a sword said, "This is bad. These special units¡­ mounted archers of theirs have incredibly long range, and we are losing both the battle on the front and the battle in the back. If this continues, we¡¯re going to lose all our cavalry, and the operation will fail!" An ashen-faced Red Maple said in a calm tone, "Cyan Frost, take 20000 Wildfire Riders with you and hit the enemy from the flanks. The only thing I ask of you is to take out those mounted archers. Can you do it?" The vice leader of God¡¯s Domain and the fourth JGL Hall of Famer, Cyan Frost, nodded smilingly. "Mn. 20000 Wildfire Riders should be enough to take out these mounted archers!" "Very good. I¡¯ll open up a path for you. Go get them!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Red Maple rallied a group of elite fighters to his side before charging toward the right wing. After killing two half-health Dragonlight Cavalrymen with the triple-hit Fire God Flurry, he tossed out his Thunder God Ball to kill a third. After dropping a different group of Dragonlight Cavalry to red health with Wind Blade Cyclone, he rode up to them and killed a rider each with a swing of his blade. He was unstoppable. "F.u.c.k!" "Be careful!" High Fighting Spirits abruptly threw his battle axe and dealt great damage to a group of Wildfire Riders. While they were surprised, Gui Guzi slipped behind the line, let out a shout and charged toward Red Maple from the side. His spearhead erupted into flames as he unleashed Flame Thrust! Chiang! Red Maple turned around immediately and knocked the skill aside. However, Gui Guzi kept charging until he got close enough to punch him in the armor! Chapter 1008: Ambushed Bang! 19377! Red Maple¡¯s c.h.e.s.t rocked a bit after he took a punch from Gui Guzi. He immediately brought his sword upward, broke Gui Guzi¡¯s stance, then brought it back down to land a basic hit across the c.h.e.s.t. A huge damage number rose above the Undying Knight¡¯s head¡ª 68833! Gui Guzi didn¡¯t retreat despite taking a hit. The Spear of the Knight God glowed the color of undead energy as he unleashed aAurora Thrust + Barrier Break. Pa pa... However, instead of dodging backward or sideways, Red Maple took a step forward and closed the distance between them. Gripping his sword with both hands, he yelled, "Who the hell do you think you are to stop me?" Red Maple swung his sword three times and parried the attacks perfectly. Both his control and choice of angle were sublime. Then, he hit Gui Guzi with his Fire God Flurry and dropped him to half health even with Gui Guzi¡¯s ridiculous damage-absorbing Undying Shield. Skill-wise, Red Maple¡¯s reaction and judgment were clearly a cut above Gui Guzi¡¯s. "Dammit!" Gui Guzi swore as he gritted his teeth. While he was enduring the attack, he abruptly grabbed the armor chains around Red Maple¡¯s neck, pulled him in and hit him with a point-blank, triple-hit Death Combo, deleting 30% HP. Let no one say that a Gui Guzi who decided to go all out couldn¡¯t give Red Maple a run for his money. In response, Red Maple jumped up from his mount and landed a violent kick on his c.h.e.s.t, "F.u.c.k off!" Bang! It was only then he finally managed to free himself from Gui Guzi. A Thunder God Ball later, the Undying Knight dropped to 25% HP or so. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Suddenly, a red flash appeared behind Gui Guzi. He was none other than the other vice leader of God¡¯s Domain and the assassin Purple Thunder. He dropped Gui Guzi to around 5% HP with a combo before suddenly splitting into two. I recognized the skill. It was his Divine General Skill Shadow Explosion, a self-detonating skill that dealt an insane amount of damage! I hurriedly shouted. As one of the people who personally experienced the skill before, I knew just how powerful it was. Thankfully, Gui Guzi reacted quickly. Even before I finished my sentence, a golden light enveloped him and made him invulnerable to all damage. Bang! The body double caused a small explosion that didn¡¯t harm Gui Guzi, but one-shot the dozens of Dragonlight Cavalrymen around him. Every last one of them took around 200k damage or so. That goddamned Divine General Skill was way too powerful. Crack! I continued charging forward after cutting off the head of a Wildfire Rider. In the end, Gui Guzi wasn¡¯t able to stop Red Maple and his cavalry from breaking through our formation. The Dragonlight Cavalry was strong, but the Wildfire Riders were no slouches themselves. "Cyan Frost, it¡¯s up to you now!" Red Maple fired another Maple Kill and once again killed a dozen of our elite riders. At the same time, Cyan Frost the Ice Knight broke through with 20000 Wildfire Riders and chased after Beiming Xue¡¯s 5000+ Dragonlight Archers. God¡¯s Domain main forces had suffered huge losses under their arrows, so it was no wonder the Japanese were determined to end them as soon as possible. ¡­¡­ I got it, big bro!" One Skypiercer later, Beiming Xue moved to the back while shouting, "All mounted archers, follow me! Now is our chance to become the star of this battle!" In response, Cyan Frost cried coldly, "Mounted archers? Pooh! Show them the power of our unstoppable cavalry, men! All Wildfire Riders, lock onto any spot in front of you and close the distance with Charge! Kill these mounted archers who only know how to kite from a distance!" The ground rumbled like an earthquake as God¡¯s Domain 20000-strong Wildfire Rider regimen chased after our mounted archers like crazy. Ultimately, Charge let them close the distance between the two groups. Beiming Xue ordered while riding away from the enemy, "Let¡¯s split up into two groups! The first group will be commanded by me. The second group will be commanded by Hymn of the Apocalypse!" "Yes ma¡¯am!" Hymn of the Apocalypse nodded while carrying his fiery red bow in one hand. Hymn of the Apocalypse had the Bow General as his Famous General Skill. At best, he could buff every archer in his party with 100% physical ranged attack power and 50% attack speed. That was why he was a key player among the Dragonlight Archers, and the supporting figure Beiming Xue chose to rely on. Observing the enemy as she mounted an organized retreat, Beiming Xue suddenly shouted, "First group, when I stop, do the same and fire your Mountain Stagger Arrows, Shock Arrows, Skypiercers and Spiraling Arrow Blades! Second group, stay on your course!" Twang twang twang twang... The Dragonlight Archers obeyed and fired their skills into the enemy Wildfire Riders exactly as Beiming Xue ordered them to, killing most of the Wildfire Riders at the front row immediately. Those who survived lost their mounts and had to run on foot, meaning that they couldn¡¯t catch up to the Dragonlight Archers and were out of the chase anyway. After Beiming Xue and her 2500 mounted archers resumed running, she shouted, "Hymn of the Apocalypse, it¡¯s your turn now!" "Aye ma¡¯am!" Hymn of the Apocalypse stopped in his tracks and shouted, "Brothers and sisters, repeat what Beiming¡¯s group did earlier! Hit them with Mountain Stagger Arrows, Shock Arrows, Skypiercers and Spiraling Arrow Blades!" The twang of bows began once more, and another chorus of death screams filled the air. This was the first time the mounted archers were deployed in a real battle, and they had proven to be shockingly effective. Even an elite cavalry like the Wildfire Riders was unable to lay a hand on them, much less kill them. ¡­¡­ The extremely favorable exchange continued for some time, and despite the Wildfire Riders¡¯ best attempts they weren¡¯t able to catch up to the Dragonlight Archers. Face white with fury, Cyan Frost swore, "This is bullshit! You call this kiting? Those despicable shameful mounted archers!" By now, the 20000+ Wildfire Riders had dwindled to less than 8000. It was at this moment Cyan Frost turned around and ordered, "Enough! We¡¯ll cut a diagonal to the southeast and cut off their retreat instead. Let¡¯s catch their cavalry in a pincer attack!" The Wildfire Riders immediately turned around. Unfortunately, Beiming Xue wasn¡¯t one to miss such a golden opportunity. She immediately ordered, "Chase them down! Don¡¯t stop moving, and use CC and freezing arrows to stop them!" The Dragonlight Archers let out a hearty laughter as they carried out the command. They were archers, and they had never experienced this level of super mobility and range over their enemies until now. The Dragonscale Beasts were pretty fast to begin with, but the Archer class also had a natural movement speed boost. Overall, their movement speed was at least 50% higher than the Wildfire Riders¡¯. The Dragonlight Archers kept shooting their arrows into the enemies and nailing them to the ground. By the time the elite magic knights finally reached the archers, there were less than a thousand of them left; too few to threaten our archers in any way. Cyan Frost looked helpless. There was nothing she or the Wildfire Riders could do even though they were losing people by the second. At this stage of the game, the Dragonlight Archers hit-and-run tactic was practically unbeatable. ¡­¡­ "There are enemies behind us, Lu Chen!" Chaos Moon reported. I curled my lips. "Is that so? Take some men with you and take Cyan Frost out!" "Okay!" As expected of the warlike woman, Chaos Moon looked very eager to face off against Cyan Frost. She had always enjoyed dueling against the best players in our guild, so a famous player who entered the WEL internationals like Cyan Frost only stoked her battle l.u.s.t higher. Chaos Moon only brought a dozen or so Dragonlight Cavalry with her when she attacked Cyan Frost. Less than five minutes later, the ice knight dropped dead, and the threat was nullified. Chaos Moon was unhappy though. It was because Beiming Xue had stolen her kill while trying to reduce the ice knight¡¯s Defense with an arrow-breaking armor. Despite the losing battle, God¡¯s Domain didn¡¯t give up the fight. In fact, their retaliation grew fiercer and fiercer until everyone was starting to feel the heat. So far, we had only taken out 50000 of the 150000-strong cavalry God¡¯s Domain possessed, so this battle wasn¡¯t over by any means. The JGL Hall of Famer, Red Hot Vortex, kept swinging his blade and killing Dragonlight Cavalrymen left and right. His five-hit Furious Flurry especially was a great threat to our players. Few of our Dragonlight Cavalry were a match for him, not to mention that he had countless priests healing him non-stop and keeping him alive. "F.u.c.k!" Li Chengfeng swung his sword and declared, "Lu Chen, let¡¯s kill him together! If we cannot break down this defense line, we might lose a battle of attrition!" "Yeah!" I locked onto Red Hot Vortex and Charged, hitting him so hard that he saw stars in his eyes. Then, I pressed a palm to his c.h.e.s.t and used God Binding Art to immobilize him. The number one berserker of Purple Gr.a.p.e City glared at me with fury and struggle, but he was a goner the second I landed my CC skill. I waited for about 3 seconds before thrusting the Purple Ying Sword forward and executing Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash combo. At the same time, Li Chengfeng arrived within 5 yards of Red Hot Vortex, hit him with a well-placed Dragonbone Flurry, and launched a Dragonblade Revolution that caught everyone in the vicinity! Boom boom boom¡­ ¡­¡­ "Break!" High Fighting Spirits shouted and swept countless magic knight shields into the air again with Xiezhi Howl. Right after that, Chaos Moon¡¯s Rock Crush and He Yi¡¯s Purgatory of Ice and Magma struck and tore apart the enemy¡¯s final shield wall. With that, our 10000+ Dragonlight Cavalry were finally able to swoop in unhindered. Chiang chiang chiang... The sounds of blades tearing into armor and flesh rang endlessly. The ground of the valley was positively drowning in blood. These invaders probably never imagined that they would one day become the prey they so enjoyed slaughtering when they attacked Floating Ice City. ¡­¡­ "Retreat! We are retreating to Wild Pheasant Ridge now!" Red Maple suddenly reined in his mount and shouted. We gave pursuit as the Wildfire Riders withdrew like the tidewater. Many a time I felt a vague tingle, a bad premonition, from the enemy¡¯s frantic yet slow retreat, but we were too engrossed in the fight to see past our l.u.s.t for battle right now. The thought of retreat never crossed our minds, not until the enemy was thoroughly routed. Right ahead of us was the tall, foliage-covered ridge that was Wild Pheasant Ridge. The Wildfire Riders were running right toward it. When we finally exited the canyon, I looked up and saw something that caused my heart to freeze. The enemy had removed the foliage to reveal a ton of black-colored ballistae! I swore loudly, "F.u.c.k!" Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes widened like saucers. "These motherf.u.c.kers had siege weapons set up in this place? F.u.c.k! We got tricked!" Chapter 1009: Waiting at Ease for the Exhausted Enemy The ballistae had the high ground advantage over us, and there was no point running back into the canyon because it was a straight line with no cover. We would have to do this the hard way. "What do we do? Do we back off?" Xu Yang asked with bloodshot eyes. "Like hell we are!" I raised the Purple Ying Sword and shouted, "Think not of retreat and charge, my brothers and sisters! Retreat wasn¡¯t an option from the moment these animals chose to massacre Floating Ice City! Break through their trap, destroy the ballistae, and wipe out all traces of Purple Gr.a.p.e City from this map!" The Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s equipment was starting to look broken and tattered, but their fighting spirit was still sky-high. Raising their blades and urging their mounts to go faster, they charged through the forest terrain at incredible speed. Luckily for us, the Dragonscale Beast was one of the few mounts that could ignore the terrain restrictions and maintain most of its speed! ¡­¡­ The Purple Gr.a.p.e City players responsible for firing the ballistae turned pale when they saw our movement. A player with a monkey¡¯s face swore angrily, "F.u.c.k, these Chinese cavalrymen are insane! I can¡¯t believe they¡¯re attacking our base head-on!" Another person raised his weapon and said, "What are we waiting for? Fire at will and take them out!" ¡­¡­ Twang twang twang! The sounds of the ballistae being shot was terrifying, and the black steel bolts flying toward us were even more so. I raised the Dragon God Shield in front of myself to block a bolt, and a loud clang later, my entire left arm turned numb as I lost over 50k HP. Its damage is just insane! Next to me, three Dragonlight Cavalrymen were shot at the same time. They only had half health to begin with, and there was no priest to heal us. Naturally, there was no way they could survive the ballistae attack. The only good news was that the ballista the enemy was using was just a basic ballista that fired three steel bolts at once, not a unique ballista like the Zhuge Repeating Ballista. "Full speed ahead!" I ordered while raising the Purple Ying Sword. The only way out of this was to destroy the ballistae set up on the ridge before they destroyed us. Otherwise, we were all going to die here. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Steel bolts fell on us like lethal raindrops. Entire groups of Dragonlight Cavalry dropped dead as they screamed in pain. The weapon was just way too powerful, and normally I would never order a direct charge like this without priest support. Practically anyone who ate a full volley or three bolts at the same time was one-shot where they stood. My heart ached because that one discharge had killed almost a thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Even if we won this battle, it could only be counted as a pyrrhic victory. "Get them!" I shouted and summoned the Level 192 Phantom Wolf King. It darted in between the enemy players and hit a ballista with Purgatory Storm and Claw of the Storm, instantly shredding it into pieces. Thankfully, a ballista only had around 100k HP or so. It was a goner the moment we got close enough to hit it. Pa pa pa¡­ Their performance greatly lifted everyone¡¯s spirits. At a critical moment, the two beauties of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had stepped up and increased the assault¡¯s chances of success. Beiming Xue especially was able to dish out a lot of damage and pull a lot of firepower away from our units at the same time. She was technically an easy target that would die to a single ballista shot, but she was too fast for the enemy to lock onto her. Like a fairy of the forest, she kept darting left and right and never stayed in one place long enough for the enemy to get her. Meanwhile, I was leading Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Du Thirteen and Xu Yang toward the attacking ballistae. Almost everyone on the forefront was a Famous General. Just like how we tackled the Black Marsh Catapults earlier, we maintained full speed and only hit the ballista once before moving onto the next target. On a related note, ballistae couldn¡¯t be fired if an enemy got too close to it, so they were just sitting ducks waiting to be destroyed once we approached them. "Protect the ballistae! Go go go!" About a hundred Wildfire Riders charged toward us from an elevated position. I activated Great Earth Transformation and went all out! Bang bang bang! Thanks to my increased resistances and Strength, all I needed to do was hit the Wildfire Riders with a basic attack to knock them backward or sideways. It almost felt like batting a fly since my Strength stat was at least 50% higher than theirs. There was just no comparison. ¡­¡­ Finally, after losing a great number of Dragonlight Cavalry, we were able to sweep through the forest and destroy all the ballistae. Red Maple had chosen to bring this particular siege weapon with him instead of the more powerful Black Marsh Catapults because they were a lot more mobile. He was also probably planning to deploy it as a secret weapon of sorts. Well, not anymore. We had to pay a terrible price, but it was worth it. Beside me, Li Chengfeng licked his lips once before commenting, "That bastard, he¡¯s waiting for us to come to him while we¡¯re weakened and kill all of us, isn¡¯t he?" I nodded. "Obviously." He Yi also trotted next to me with a blood-stained Seven Star Veluriyam Spear. The magic knight had killed a lot of enemies throughout this assault. Although her Defense was no match for Gui Guzi¡¯s, her Attack was way higher. Examining the enemy¡¯s cavalry and ranged formation with a critical eye, she said, "That¡¯s almost 100k cavalry and 20k ranged troops. He¡¯s planning to kill us all here, isn¡¯t he?" Li Chengfeng smiled. "He can try." Xu Yang was the next person to walk up to us. He said, "Hehe, have you guys checked our casualty report yet?" He Yi and I shook our heads at the same time. "No, not yet. Tell us." Xu Yang reported, "The Dragonlight Cavalry was 14k strong at the beginning, but now only 9k is left, meaning that we¡¯ve lost almost 40%. On the other hand, we barely lost any Dragonlight Archers at all. Finally, we lost more than half of our mixed cavalry, and of the 30k we brought with us only 14k or so are left. In total, we have less than 30k troops remaining." Chaos Moon stared at God¡¯s Domain¡¯s formation and commented with a smile. "30k cavalry versus 100k cavalry is a bit harsh, but the challenge only makes me more excited!" I said, "Well, tell everyone to heal themselves to full health. This will be the decisive battle!" ¡­¡­ He Yi looked at me and said, "Are we seriously going to just charge down there?" I nodded. "Yep. Don¡¯t look at me like that, there really is no other way. For starters, there is only this one way that leads to the enemy. Two, they¡¯re clearly waiting for us to make the first move. If we retreat, they¡¯ll definitely chase after us. If we attack, at least we¡¯ll have the high ground advantage. A maximum speed charge from this position is no joke, you know. Finally, our people can resurrect from the nearby graveyard or from their corpse directly, but his troops are teleported straight back to the city if they die. We hold the attrition advantage here! Speaking of which, Xu Yang, tell our dead Dragonlight Cavalrymen to resurrect at their corpses as soon as possible. 40% casualty? Bullshit! We still have 14k Dragonlight Cavalry and 30k elite mixed cavalry!" Xu Yang laughed heartily. "Oh, you finally figured it out?" I felt the corner of my mouth twitching. "You always seem relaxed during the most critical moment. Anyway, tell our men to move their asses! We¡¯re charging once everyone¡¯s in position!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ Behind us, all the Dragonlight Cavalry who died earlier got back onto their feet and ran toward us. They had only lost a single level and were still perfectly capable of fighting another battle. During this lull, I contacted Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun to check on him, "How goes the battle, You and Yun?" "Okay¡­" After Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun shared his POV with me, I saw our elite cavalry engaging God¡¯s Domain¡¯s normal cavalry in a fierce battle. Everyone looked tired and injured. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s blade was starting to become chipped in certain places. If the battle of Wild Pheasant Ridge was fierce, then the battle over there was bloody and desperate. Purple Gr.a.p.e City had rallied between 5 to 10 guilds to attack them, pushing him and his men to his limits. Thankfully, Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Purple Thunder Cavalry appeared from the distant forest just in time to assist them, and leading at the forefront was none other than the Fruit Knife Goddess herself, Lin Yixin. "Snowy Cathaya, attack!" The way Lin Yixin ordered the attack, you would be fooled to think that she was the one who had several times the troops over the enemy, not the other way around. This war was certainly growing more and more interesting. ¡­¡­ Chiang! Finally, our men were in position and ready to go. So, I pulled out my sword and ordered, "Ancient Sword, charge! Show these invaders the might of China¡¯s strongest guild!" Everyone laughed and unsheathed their weapons as well. Chapter 1010: The Final Gift Bang bang bang¡­ The sound of shields ramming against shields, mounts screeching and blades piercing through throats resounded across the air as 14000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen clashed against the enemy¡¯s 100000. It was clear who was stronger from the beginning. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had an incredible amount of Famous Generals such as Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and more, so both our Attack and Defense stats were at least a tier above the enemy¡¯s. However, it wasn¡¯t like Purple Gr.a.p.e City didn¡¯t have their own advantages. For one, they outnumbered us drastically. Two, they had the support of their ranged players. Swhoosh! Lighting the Purple Ying Sword with fire, I unleashed three flaming auras at a group of magic knights and tore their bodies to pieces. Burning Blade Slash was considered both a physical and a magic attack, so the enemy¡¯s shields were mostly useless against it. Ignoring the countless arrows that were raining down in my direction, I spurred my mount toward the enemy and controlled the Phantom Wolf King manually at the same time. I made sure to maneuver my pet between the enemies and hit their weakest point with Claw of the Storm every time. Purgatory Storm was a pain in the Wildfire Riders¡¯ butts as well. On the frontline, Red Maple was going to town with our Dragonlight Cavalry himself. After killing a Dragonlight Cavalryman in two hits, he fired Maple Kill and slaughtered seven more in one go. His Attack was just insane. High Fighting Spirits was the closest Famous General to Red Maple, and when he saw this he immediately shot me a look and said, "Come with me, Lu Chen! Let¡¯s kill Red Maple together!" "Okay!" After slicing a Wildfire Rider¡¯s throat in half, I spurred my mount toward Red Maple and used Thunderous Charge before I entered his attack range. During the dash, I threw my sword forward to kill as many enemies as possible with Coiling Dragon Revolution. However, I made sure that the final enemy the skill would hit was Red Maple himself! "Dammit!" Red Maple immediately pulled his sword from a Dragonlight Cavalryman¡¯s c.h.e.s.t before leaping into the air, dismounting. The amazing maneuver had enabled him to dodge the Coiling Dragon Revolution at the last moment. The second he landed on his feet, he zigzagged away from two Dragonlight Cavalrymen¡¯s attacks and fired Fire God Flurry straight at the mounted High Fighting Spirits! Enraged, High Fighting Spirit responded by swinging his axe and parrying the first hit. However, Red Maple had altered the angle of the remaining hits just enough to slip past High Fighting Spirits¡¯ guard and strike him below the armpit and the stomach. The guy was just too skilled. 93009! Hurt but undeterred, High Fighting Spirits pressed closer to Red Maple and unleashed his signature Xiezhi Howl. The heaven¡¯s warrior didn¡¯t expect the berserker to be this ballsy, and despite beating a swift retreat he still lost about 90k+ HP or so. Before he regained his footing though, Red Maple pointed his palm at High Fighting Spirits and shouted, "Maple Kill!" I hurriedly yelled, "Sis!" Murong Mingyue was the only priest we brought with us, and He Yi was the one responsible for ferrying her around. After she jumped off He Yi¡¯s mount, she unleashed an Instant Heal on High Fighting Spirits before Maple Kill could kill him and scored a lucky crit! +148287! High Fighting Spirits immediately felt much better despite taking 120k+ damage from Maple Kill. Despite Red Maple¡¯s best shot, his plan to kill High Fighting Spirits had ended in failure. Boom! Meanwhile, I fired Thousand Ice Slash that cleared out all the Wildfire Riders around Red Maple before dropping two Icy Cyclone Domains in front of me. All the enemies within the skill would be massively slowed, but not my allies. Red Maple backed out of the Icy Cyclone Domains as quickly as he was able while glaring at me hatefully. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you ruthless bastard!" Red Maple looked around himself and discovered that his players were losing morale, and ours were as high-spirited as ever. Wildfire Riders were being devastated by the second, and the Dragonlight Archers were absolutely tearing them apart with Skypiercers and Spiraling Arrow Blades. They had lost at least ten thousand men in just ten minutes. "I¡­ am different from you glory-besotted fools!" Red Maple replied harshly before backing away. A moment later, he reappeared about 100 yards away from me and killed another dozen Dragonlight Cavalrymen with Maple Kill and Fire God Flurry. I frowned. It was nearly impossible to kill a top-tier expert like Red Maple in a disorganized melee like this. It was especially impossible for me because the WEL champion emblem on my shoulder was as obvious as the sun itself, allowing him to detect me long before I even reached him. Red Maple wanted to overwhelm us with numbers, which was why he avoided a direct confrontation with me and my Famous Generals while killing as many Dragonlight Cavalrymen as he was able. That was the best way to maximize his impact and his strategy¡¯s effectiveness. It was rare running into anyone who was as scary as he was! ¡­¡­ "This can¡¯t go on. We need to end this as soon as possible!" He Yi said while staring at the healing Wildfire Riders. "They have us at a choke point, and a breakthrough doesn¡¯t seem to be likely any time soon. Even if the death ratio of our Dragonlight Cavalry and their Wildfire Riders is 1:5, it¡¯s only a matter of time they grind us down!" I had noticed this problem as well, so after cutting down a Wildfire Rider I looked to my sides to see if I could figure out a way out of this. Both sides of the plains were hills, but they weren¡¯t particularly tall. An idea lit up in my head as I ordered, "Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi!" "Here!" both guys answered after killing their respective opponents. "Got it! We¡¯ve been wanting to do this since a while ago!" The duo immediately mustered their forces and snuck away to the hills. At the front, He Yi, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and I kept up the frontal assault so that the enemy wouldn¡¯t notice their movements. For a while, both sides continued losing bodies as if nothing had changed. Suddenly, a battle cry broke out from the flanks of God¡¯s Domain¡¯s formation. A pair of elite cavalry led by Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng themselves rushed down the hills and cut through the enemy¡¯s formation like a hot knife through butter, completely destroying the precarious balance God¡¯s Domain had maintained so far. The enemy never imagined that our players would be this crazy, and their already dwindling morale instantly dropped to zero. At the same time, the mages, priests and archers were completely separated from the frontliners. The Wildfire Riders at the front were stunned. Without the blessed light of the gods, how could they possibly fend off the overpowered Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers? "Kill!" I shouted and went all out. I raised my palm and dropped 11 Ancient Seals onto the enemy, tearing limbs from bodies and dyeing the ground red. High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Du Thirteen, Xu Yang and more also charged forward at the same time and hit the enemy with everything they got. Thanks to Dragon Soul Protection¡¯s 50% boost to Attack and Defense and the 15% boost from the King of Cities buff, our strength was overwhelmingly stronger than the enemy¡¯s. It turned what should¡¯ve been an equal fight into a slaughter. The defense line of Wildfire Riders grew shakier and shakier. Beiming Xue¡¯s Dragonlight Archers kept raining hell upon the Wildfire Riders and killing hordes with every twang of the bow. In the UI, our guild¡¯s total kill count rose by as much as 70k in just 20 minutes! Half an hour later, God¡¯s Domain¡¯s frontline had finally been completely routed. Despite Red Maple and Purple Thunder¡¯s best efforts to turn this around, they were trapped at the center by the several-thousand-strong cavalry led by Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... At the same time, I wiped sweat from my forehead and thanked myself for my in-depth knowledge of Floating Ice City¡¯s geography. If I hadn¡¯t known to circle to God¡¯s Domain back and ambush them, this would¡¯ve been a most painful war. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, High Fighting Spirits roared on top of his lungs in the middle of a kill, "God¡¯s Domain is down! Kill them all and take revenge for our fallen brothers, sisters and Floating Ice City!" Every Dragonlight Cavalry attacked like crazy. At this point, the tides of battle had tipped completely in our favor. Red Maple was absolutely furious, but when he looked behind himself, he discovered that China players were beginning to appear from other parts of the plains as well. It was the army led by Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and more. They pounced onto God¡¯s Domain¡¯s ranged players like tigers the second they spotted their ranged players. "F.U.C.K!" Red Maple punched the rock beside him with fury and struggle. "Is this where our plan ends? Can we go no further?" Purple Thunder asked with chilly eyes, "What do we do now, Red Maple? It doesn¡¯t look like we can turn this around anymore." Red Maple uttered, "If I can¡¯t get what I want, then no one will! Tell the mages we have hidden in the forest to burn Frost Forest into dust! Let¡¯s leave the Chinese one last gift before we withdraw!" ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take long before smoke and fire started burning everywhere. Purple Gr.a.p.e City mages were setting fire to the forest and turning them into an unstoppable inferno in no time. The bad news? Countless Chinese players were still inside the forest! Shivering, I spent 5000 gold on a system Shout without hesitation. The system announcement quickly spread across the entire Sky City domain¡ª Ding~! System Announcement (Player Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand Shout): The bitches from Purple Gr.a.p.e City just set fire to Frost Forest! The entire Floating Ice City domain may be engulfed in the inferno! All Chinese players in the forest should teleport back to Sky City as soon as possible! Don¡¯t lose a level for nothing! ¡­¡­ Not far away, Red Maple raised his sword one last time and shouted, "Braves of Purple Gr.a.p.e City, our mission here is complete! All units, leave combat stances and return to our city!" They immediately started pulling out their return scrolls. Gui Guzi tried stopping them, but he ultimately couldn¡¯t prevent some of the enemies from teleporting. Still, over 50% of the remaining Purple Gr.a.p.e City players were stuck in combat. The only way for them was death. Chapter 1011: Food! Food! Food! Even JGL Hall of Famers like Red Maple and Purple Thunder had chosen to escape, so of course the remaining Purple Gr.a.p.e City players had lost their will to fight. Those who were still in combat ran like hell in hopes of leaving the combat state and teleporting back to their city. Unfortunately for them, every Sky City player within the vicinity was pissed off and looking to vent, and they were the perfect targets for that purpose. The Dragonlight Cavalry, Purple Thunder Cavalry, Frostscale Cavalry and more spread out and chased after them like crazy, turning the battle on the plains turned into a slaughterfest. ¡­¡­ On the Nation War UI, the number of Purple Gr.a.p.e City players in Floating Ice City dropped lower and lower. It first dropped drastically from 1.2 million to 70k, then 70k to below 10k, and finally from 10k to just a couple hundred. This was the last golden opportunity to earn some contribution points, and no one was stupid enough to let it slip through their hands. The tally wouldn¡¯t stop until 72 hours later, or until a decisive victor between the Japanese server and the Chinese server had emerged. We would launch an attack on Purple Gr.a.p.e City itself and take revenge after this battle was over, but until then now was the best time to earn some easy contribution points. Suddenly, another group of players emerged from the edge of the forest. They looked very familiar, and they were all women. They were none other than the players of Twelve Musicians. Many of them had dropped below Level 100, and their guild leader, Hugging Bears in Silence, herself was only Level 70+. They slowly walked up to me, He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin. "Thank you for everything you¡¯ve done today. Especially Lu Chen." Hugging Bears in Silence said with a nod, "Thank you for putting yourself in danger and saving us at the beginning of the battle. Right now there¡¯s nothing we can offer you besides our thanks. If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls ever needs us for anything in the future, the Twelve Musicians guild promises to fulfill your request, even if it means losing all our levels again!" He Yi smiled gently at her. "You¡¯re welcome. We are all Sky City players. It¡¯s only natural that we help each other out." Hugging Bears in Silence looked at me and asked, "Is that acceptable, Lu Chen?" I thought for a moment before replying, "To be honest, sister, I think you should focus on leveling your girls back to Level 150 and seventh promotion before even thinking about thanking anyone. Otherwise, there¡¯s nothing you can do for us even if we have any need of you some day. Also, you should probably change your rules and start accepting some guys to your guild as well. You should be aware that this game¡¯s male-to-female player ratio is 2.1:1, meaning that the large majority of the experts are male. By accepting only female players, you¡¯re rejecting at least 60% of male experts that could¡¯ve saved you today." "Mn, I understand." Hugging Bears in Silence nodded before smiling like the breaking dawn. "When this Nation War is over, I¡¯ll set up a couple of subguilds and change our rules to accept the male gender. We will then absorb those who are strong enough into our main guild. After this bloodbath, I finally understand the one true way to protect ourselves is to become stronger." Suddenly, Chaos Moon interrupted our conversation and said, "You know, you can just join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. We don¡¯t have enough girls in the guild anyway." As expected, Hugging Bears in Silence shook her head with an apologetic smile. "To be honest, I wouldn¡¯t mind joining Ancient Sword and becoming friends with famous experts like Lu Chen, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and more. However, most of my sisters don¡¯t want to become the subguild of another guild, and their wishes take priority over mine. I hope you understand." I nodded immediately. "I completely understand your reasoning. Please don¡¯t take Chaos Moon¡¯s words to heart, she¡¯s just having a sudden case of aneurysm. Actually, I have an idea. Do you want to become allies? We can add each other right now. Also, I suggest that you move your guild to Sky City or Dark Moon City. Those are the best places to recruit first-rate players." "Mn, sure!" Hugging Bears in Silence replied happily. A moment later, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Twelve Musicians officially became allies, and I purposely emphasized the greatness of Dark Moon City. "Remember, allies of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls get to enjoy a 30% discount on everything in our city. Don¡¯t miss it! If it isn¡¯t obvious enough, I¡¯m strongly suggesting your guild to develop itself at Dark Moon City. The mobs there are pretty high-level and great for the development of any guild." The guild leader chuckled. "Understood, but not right away. Right now, my sisters are too weak to grind in such high-level maps, so the plan is to stay at Dawn City for around half a month and grind until we¡¯re Level 150 again. Only then will we travel to Dark Moon City. I hope you won¡¯t change your mind then!" "No worries!" He Yi said, "You are now our ally, and Ancient Sword never treats their allies poorly. Grow fast and strong, Twelve Musicians! We can always use a powerful ally!" "Mn!" Hugging Bears in Silence shot us one last look before saying, "This is where we bid goodbye then. We¡¯re too weak to participate in this Nation War anyway." I smiled. "What do you mean? You fought at the start of the Nation War, didn¡¯t you?" "Haha, right¡­" ¡­¡­ I looked up. The sky was red due to the inferno God¡¯s Domain had started. Forests and towns were alight with flames, and let¡¯s not forget that the city itself was still in an abandoned state. Although we managed to repel Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s invasion in the end, this was still quite the painful situation we had to contend with. Not all was lost, however. When the Nation War was over, we could seek out Princess Karinshan and apply to reclaim Floating Ice City. We wouldn¡¯t even need to do it ourselves, the NPCs would take care of it. A lot of high-level mobs had appeared around the city after it was abandoned, but it hadn¡¯t been occupied by the Night Creatures. Therefore, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem to reclaim it. "Hmph!" Li Chengfeng snorted coldly as he stared at the inferno. "I can¡¯t believe that Red Maple actually got away after he invaded our borders with over ten million troops, flattened Floating Ice City and burned so much of our forests. These treacherous Japanese!" I shrugged. "The monk can run away, but the temple won''t run with him. We¡¯ll get him sooner or later!" Li Chengfeng laughed in understanding. "Well, what are we going to do now?" I checked the time and said, "Let¡¯s rest and reorganize a bit. All players who participated in the war should log out and rest for 9 hours. Warsky Alliance, Snowy Cathaya and Mad Dragon can guard White Rose Fortress while we¡¯re gone. In 9 hours, we¡¯ll log back into the game and launch an all-out assault on Purple Gr.a.p.e City. We¡¯ll give them a taste of their own medicine and teach them a lesson they¡¯ll never forget!" "Yeah, we can definitely use the rest. It¡¯s been 12 hours at least since we came online." "Yeah¡­" Warsky was the first person to greet me with a smile, "Who would¡¯ve thought that this battle would end so soon? I¡¯m amazed you noticed that backdoor that led to their flanks, and even more amazed that you managed to defeat the enemy in one go. Is there anything you don¡¯t know, Lu Chen?" I shot him a glance and said, "Save the sarcasm to yourself and 1v1 me if you dare. You came so late I don¡¯t even wanna talk to you right now." "Ahem, well, Purple Gr.a.p.e City just had way too many casual guilds l.i.c.k.i.n.g their boots. If we didn¡¯t kill them all, there¡¯s a chance they could¡¯ve affected the battle. Why do you think Ancient Sword was able to fight God¡¯s Domain without distractions? In fact, shouldn¡¯t you thank me for giving you such a big pie all to yourself?" I rolled my eyes at him. "Thank you? We were 70k cavalry strong when we ambushed the enemy, and now there are less than 20k of us left! Pie? This is a f.u.c.k.i.n.g steel plate you left me! We would¡¯ve lost an incisor or two if we made too many wrong moves!" Dominating Heaven Blade interrupted with a laugh, "Enough with the flirting, you two. Let¡¯s talk about strategy. What should we do next? We¡¯re not going to let Purple Gr.a.p.e City go scot free, are we?" Li Chengfeng nodded. "Dominating Heaven Blade is right. Purple Gr.a.p.e City must be destroyed." Stranger of Three Lifetimes said, "Blazing Hot Lips is currently resting in Sky City, but we are ready to go at any moment. Just give us the word." The assassin Moonkiss appeared next and said with a smile, "Sister Wang Luo sent me over to inform you that the battle in Wind City is almost over. Long story short, Purple Lily will do their best when the counterattack against Purple Gr.a.p.e City begins. The humiliation they dealt to us must not go unanswered." Ling Xueshang added, "Yep. The only question left is how we should fight this!" It was at this moment the vice leader of Sword Lord of Jianghu, Now and Forever walked up to us and said, "Rest? If we¡¯re really going to launch a counter invasion, the last thing we need to do is rest and give Purple Gr.a.p.e City the chance to take a breather! We should launch an all-out assault with everyone now and take down Purple Gr.a.p.e City as soon as possible!" I merely shot him a glance and said nothing. Warsky couldn¡¯t keep his mouth zipped, however. "Yo, this is a meeting between the Top 10 guilds of China, right? Who the f.u.c.k are you to be ordering around? Seriously, who the f.u.c.k do you think you are, bro?!" Now and Forever gritted his teeth. "You have balls, Warsky. Sword Lord of Jianghu is the representative of China VR Department, and this is a matter of the bigger picture. You wouldn¡¯t understand." Farewell Song interrupted while toying with his dagger, "Save the boasting for yourself, man. What the f.u.c.k is the VR Department anyway? What did you guys do when the Northern Alliance invaded? Who led us to victory during the War of Dawn City?" Furious-looking, Now and Forever tried, "What are you talking about? We did play a part in the victory of War of Dawn City¡­" "Holy shit! Is that it? You don¡¯t want your face anymore?" Moonkiss actually started toward Now and Forever in order to slap the guy in the face. Chiang! I abruptly plunged my sword into the ground and said, "Enough. Half of the battles of War of Dawn City were won by me, and if you want to dispute that you can check the forums yourself. Right now, I¡¯m saying that my brothers and sisters have been fighting for too long, and not even god himself is going to stop us from feeding and sleeping unless Sky City is under attack right now!" High Fighting Spirits and Gui Guzi immediately raised their weapons and chanted, "FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, I received a message from Hot and Sour Noodles: "Bad news, Lu Chen!" Chapter 1012: Attrition Warfare Hot and Sour Noodles said urgently and furiously, "White Rose Fortress is about to fall!" "What? I¡­ I thought that several guilds are guarding it right now? How is that possible?" I exclaimed in shock. Hot and Sour Noodles responded, "We didn¡¯t see this coming until it was too late. While you were wiping out God¡¯s Domain at Floating Ice City, almost 30000 Cyan Beast members infiltrated Sky City from the west side of Dragonbone Mountain Range and hit White Rose Fortress from behind. Led by Breeze and Rain, the strongest cavalry of Cyan Beast punched through the gate by force at the same time the Purple Gr.a.p.e City players on the east attacked. White Rose Fortress could fall anytime now¡­" "F.u.c.k!" I swore out loud before s.u.c.k.i.n.g in a deep breath. Like it or not, it looked like our plans to catch some rest had just turned into smoke. ¡­¡­ "What¡¯s wrong?" He Yi asked me. After I explained everything, Warsky, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Moonkiss and more people immediately expressed their shock and confusion. They couldn¡¯t figure out how Breeze and Rain was able to slip 30000 Cyan Beast¡¯s cavalrymen into Sky City¡¯s domain undetected. However, Gui Guzi said, "Actually, I think I know how he did it." "Tell us," Li Chengfeng said. Gui Guzi pointed to the northeast before explaining, "I once scaled the peaks when I was grinding at Dragonbone Mountain Range. The slope itself was vertical and impossible to climb under normal circ.u.mstances, but I noticed that there was a long section that was covered in vines. Unless there is another secret path I¡¯m not aware of, Cyan Beast¡¯s players most likely climbed their way into our domain using those vines. That¡¯s why they were able to avoid detection." "Damn that Breeze and Rain!" Warsky uttered while clenching his fist. "Of all the people, it just had to be the left and right hand of God of War, the legendary Agility Warrior! No, this is unacceptable. Let¡¯s head to White Rose Fortress, retake it and take out Breeze and Rain right now!" Moonkiss said quietly, "Hmph. First it was Purple Gr.a.p.e City, and now Cyan Earth City and Elephant City have joined the battle as well. Worse, none of them are small fries by any means." "Small fry or not, we need to take them out." I pointed to the east and said, "Anyway, let¡¯s head to White Rose Fortress right now. Assuming that there is no way to save the fortress, we need to secure the pass before it falls completely. It will be bad if Japan¡¯s main force is able to push past the pass." And so we all got to our mounts, teleported back to Sky City to resupply ourselves, and set out toward White Rose Fortress once more. This time though, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ army didn¡¯t just consist of cavalry anymore. The main guild, Bloody Mercenaries and all 15 of our subguilds joined together to form an army of nearly 700k, meaning that for once we weren¡¯t massively outnumbered by the enemy anymore. Also, our players were among the best of the best in the world thanks to the WEL drawing many amazing talents into our guild. Overall, we were now much stronger than we were before, and there was no better time than the Nation War to test out our mettle! While we raced across the forest, I looked down at the Ancient Divine Dragon and noted that it was still coiled around my arm and asleep. Only heaven knows how much longer it was going to stay like this. It was an absolute glutton for EXP, and despite my best efforts I still wasn¡¯t able to push it to Level 100 and transform it into an a.d.u.l.t. Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t look like I would be able to ride it for this Nation War. ¡­¡­ Nothing happened during the march, so I took my time clarifying a few things in my mind. Purple Gr.a.p.e City hadn¡¯t tried to invade further into Sky City after destroying Floating Ice City. Red Maple knew that he didn¡¯t have the numbers to occupy Sky City and was just using Floating Ice City as a frontier base or an aircraft carrier that kept our forces intimidated and controlled. Too bad for him, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was ultimately able to foil his strategy. He hid his 100k-strong Wildfire Riders at a valley near Wild Pheasant Ridge, but he didn¡¯t anticipate that we would circle to the back, sneak across a hidden path and hit them from the back, annihilating them. As a result, he had no choice but to move to Plan B. Plan B was initiated by Cyan Earth City. Many people thought that Cyan Beast was done when their assault on Black Coast was foiled, but it had now been proven that that was not the case. Purple Gr.a.p.e City and Cyan Earth City were obviously allied with each other as they both shared the same goal of occupying or abandoning Sky City. Either choice would be a victory for them. Now, after infiltrating our domain and lying low for so long, the number one guild of Cyan Earth City led by Breeze and Rain himself finally made their first real move and was close to occupying White Rose Fortress. A horrible realization entered my mind at that moment. The enemy was trying to wear us down through attrition warfare, and they were succeeding. We had beaten back Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s players, but Cyan Earth City¡¯s players took their place instead and continued the assault, giving us no time to rest at all. The lack of any rest between the assaults was a weakness we simply couldn¡¯t make up for. We saw smoke in the distance when we arrived at the plains that bordered White Rose Fortress. A big battle was ongoing, and the plains to our side was covered in Sky City, Wind City, and even Vanished God City players. Rumble rumble rumble... White Rose Fortress was shaking and crumbling. Then, an entire section of the wall¡ªabout a hundred meters or so¡ªsuddenly collapsed and crushed countless players to death. The collapse set off a chain reaction, and soon, the entire wall on that side of White Rose Fortress collapsed as well. Not even the huge war god statue inside the city, the symbol of Sky City, was safe from destruction, collapsing slowly after being pummeled by the debris from the wall. In the end, the fortress wasn¡¯t able to withstand the vortex of war surrounding it. On one side, the blood-red IDs of the Japan players formed a red sea on one side of the canyon. Of course, our players were just as numerous, if not more, on the other side of the canyon. However, Japan also had the help of India, namely Cyan Earth City and Elephant City. This battle was the opposite of the battle against God¡¯s Domain. This time, we were the ones who had the quantity, while they had the quality. Standing atop the ruins that was White Rose Fortress, Hegemon Palace¡¯s Little Piglet was fighting and riding back and forth on his black warhorse. He shouted, "Ancient Sword, Snowy Cathaya and Candle Dragon have already fought and saved Floating Ice City! As one of the Top 10 guilds of China, Hegemon Palace cannot lose to them, you hear me!? Now, follow me and hit Purple Gr.a.p.e City! Wipe them out from the surface of this earth!" A cacophony of thunderous rumbling filled the air. It was impossible to tell who was going to win. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, I spurred my mount up a hill about 50 meters tall and to get a better look of the battlefield. If I was certain about one thing, it would be that this battle wouldn¡¯t be ending anytime soon. White Rose Fortress was about 5 kilometers wide, allowing around ten thousand players to engage each other at the same time. Behind these frontliners were several million players who were all waiting for their turn to fight the enemy. What did this mean? It meant that, at least for now, we couldn¡¯t help White Rose Fortress even if we wanted to. There was literally no space for us to squeeze through. Lin Yixin, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Moonkiss, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and more rode up the slope I was on as well. It was a good location that gave an unobstructed view over more than half of the battlefield. I nodded. "Yeah. Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction, Rose of the Holy Domain and Hall of Immortality got ahead of us." Li Chengfeng stared at the battle a bit longer before asking with a smile, "You know what? Why don¡¯t we log out of the game and take our rest? It doesn¡¯t look like the battle¡¯s going to end anytime soon. Just make sure to exchange contact details so we can wake each other up in case something happens. Honestly, it¡¯s been over ten hours since I ate anything. I¡¯m so hungry I can die¡­" "Yeah, me too¡­" Lin Yixin blinked her big, gorgeous eyes before looking at me. I pursed my lips. "Same. In fact, I would be sleeping already if it wasn¡¯t for that god-forsaken White Rose Fortress." It was at this moment Hot and Sour Noodles rode up to us and greeted us with a smile, "You¡¯re all here!" "Hello, uncle!" We all greeted him in unison. Hot and Sour Noodles chuckled before surveying the battlefield. "Good ol¡¯ positional warfare, huh? Hmph hmph¡­" I sheathed my sword and said, "Uncle, Ancient Sword would like to log off and rest now." "Oh, why¡¯s that?" He looked at us in surprise. Hot and Sour Noodles teased me. "Tsk tsk, am I hearing right? Did you just claim that you¡¯re not good at some kind of battle?" "Sure¡­" I didn¡¯t bother hiding it. "Positional warfare is boring as hell. It¡¯s mostly pitting two armies against one another, adjusting things here and there and praying for the best. I prefer being the ambusher. I like being on the move and seeking out opportunities to land the killing blow." Hot and Sour Noodles licked his lips and said, "It is true you¡¯ve all worked hard to defend our country. Very well, you may log off and leave this place to me. You need not worry about anything for the next 15 hours." "Thanks!" If there was one person I could entrust a defense to, it would be Hot and Sour Noodles. Zhang Chun was a calm, collected person with all the good qualities you would expect from a middle-aged man. His meticulousness also made him a good commander to direct a positional battle like this. He couldn¡¯t be relied on to make a breakthrough, but he could be trusted to make as few mistakes as possible. Slow and steady wins the race, and there was nothing more important than this trait in a battle like this. ¡­¡­ "You heard the man! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, you may log out and get your rest now!" I ordered loudly. Everyone let out an audible sigh of relief. After planting his Spear of the Knight God in the ground, Gui Guzi immediately crawled into a hole on the ground before poking his head out. "Anyone feels like sleeping here with me? My bladder¡¯s about to burst, so be quick¡­" Lin Yixin said to Hot and Sour Noodles, "In that case, Snowy Cathaya would like to take their rest as well, uncle. We promise to return online at 9 am tomorrow and continue the 15-hour work schedule¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. "No problem. Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword are both the key forces of this Nation War, so you should conserve your strength for when the time is right, and that time is tomorrow." "Mn." I was about to log off when Stranger of Three Lifetimes suddenly called out to me, "Lu Chen, wait¡­" "Yeah?" "I want to share a detailed map of Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s domain with you. There¡­" "Oh, thanks¡­" The map appeared in my database later. Wonderful. I can study it later after I¡¯ve downloaded it onto my PC. ¡­¡­ Knock knock... While I was relieving myself, Chaos Moon knocked on the door and said, "Lu Chen, when you¡¯re ready, let¡¯s head out and catch supper. I¡¯m hungry!" Chapter 1013: Sky Ridge (1) It was night. Chaos Moon and I were roaming the streets in search of food when suddenly, I recalled something important. "Ah, shit!" "What¡¯s wrong?" Chaos Moon tilted her head. "I just recalled something really important." "Yes?" I chose my words carefully before saying, "We know that Cyan Beast probably crossed over from Dragonbone Mountain Range using that vine route Gui Guzi spoke of, but we haven¡¯t actually confirmed if that is the case or do anything about it. I can¡¯t believe I only remembered about it now. No, I need to contact Hot and Sour Noodles now, confirm the route and block it so that Cyan Earth City can¡¯t send any more men into our domain. Otherwise, man, I don¡¯t even want to think what will happen if God of War appears in Sky City with several million men and cuts off our retreat completely!" "Yeah, you¡¯re right. Do it now!" "Yeah!" So I took out my phone and called Zhang Chun¡¯s phone directly. A while later, the call connected. "Yes, Lu Chen?" "Uncle, I forgot to tell you about this, but you need to send a sufficient amount of archers and assassins to scour Dragonbone Mountain Range and find exactly how they made their way into Sky City. Then, you need to station a good number of troops and block it off completely. This takes priority above everything else. It will be all for nothing if we lose our King of Cities!" "Ah¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles clearly hadn¡¯t thought about this either. He immediately gave me a serious nod and said, "Understood. Thank goodness you remembered this. I was so distracted by the pain of losing White Rose Fortress to Breeze and Rain and his 30000-strong cavalry that I completely forgot all about it. Rest easy, Lu Chen, I¡¯ll get it done right away. I¡¯ll inform my ninth subguild to dispatch several ten thousand assassins and archers to seek out this hidden route and seal it. " "That¡¯s great. Do your best, uncle! I¡¯m leaving for supper now!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ "Okay!" We entered the shop. Chaos Moon was a local, so she was by far the best person between the two of us to order the dishes. She said a bit in an accent I somewhat didn¡¯t understand before we took a seat by the walls. A short while later, a hot and spicy pot of lamb meat was served. To be honest, I had no idea what the dish was called. It wasn¡¯t hot pot, but it wasn¡¯t simmering soup either. It had bok choy, cellophane noodles, lamb meat and many more other ingredients. Long story short, it tasted fresh and savory, and it was a great meal to have on a cold night like this. It was already past midnight when we finished our meal. After we returned to the chilly streets once more, Chaos Moon tightened her collar a bit before grabbing my arm again, saying, "So full, so satisfying¡­" Suddenly, she tilted her head at me and asked teasingly, "Aren¡¯t you sad that I¡¯m the one who¡¯s by your side instead of Eve or Beauty Lin?" I nodded in agreement. "I know right? It¡¯s such a shame. If you were them, I might not need to pass the night on my lonesome¡­" "Pooh!" Chaos Moon half-laughed and half-chided me, "Bullshit! You wouldn¡¯t dare lift a finger against them if they were actually with you right now!" "Why wouldn¡¯t I?" "Heavens, no¡­" I hurriedly turned down her offer. "Didn¡¯t you learn from Mencius that men and women should not touch hands when they give or receive things? By the way, did you ever have a boyfriend?" "Yeah, I used to have one when I was still in school. I ditched him when I realized that he was screwing around with the prettiest girl from another class¡­" "Holy shit!" As if sensing something in my tone, Chaos Moon hurriedly took two steps forward and blocked in front of me. "We only went as far as holding hands though! I¡¯ve never done that with anyone, okay?" I laughed. "Er, okay? This is the modern age, I wouldn¡¯t laugh at you even if you did." "Bullshit! You¡¯re literally laughing right now!" "Nah, it¡¯s just your imagination. Anyway, we really should get back to our hotel and sleep. Any time and place that isn¡¯t the streets in the middle of the night is a better time to talk nonsense like this¡­" "Fine¡­" ¡­¡­ "Hi~" Lin Yixin¡¯s sweet voice entered my ears when I accepted the call. I smiled. "Miss me?" "Mn. You?" "I just finished supper, so I had no time to miss you¡­" Lin Yixin humphed. "Someone¡¯s feeling itchy, I see. By the way, where are you in Xinjiang exactly? For some reason it feels wrong not knowing where you really are¡­" "I¡¯m currently staying in the only hotel that connects to Eternal Moon¡¯s games in Tekes County. I¡¯ll be back immediately after the Nation War is over¡­" "Alright¡­" Lin Yixin paused for a moment before moving onto another topic. "I dreamed about you last night, Little Cheat..." "Oh? What was I doing in your dreams?" "What the f.u.c.k!" "Heehee. Really though, I feel like years have passed even though it¡¯s only been a few days since you left. What should I do¡­" I hurriedly consoled her by saying, "I promise I¡¯ll go back immediately after the Nation War is over. In fact, if it looks like we¡¯ll win one way or another, I¡¯ll go back even before it¡¯s over." "Mn. Then¡­ good night?" "Mn, good night. But before you do that, give me a kiss first¡­" "Er, bye¡­" Lin Yixin hung up the call there. I supposed she was embarrassed... ¡­¡­ After I set down the phone, I pulled the blanket over my head and felt a wave of exhaustion creeping up my body. Less than ten minutes later, I was deep in dreamland. A close examination revealed that the main city of Japan was much harder to destroy than we had initially imagined. For starters, Purple Gr.a.p.e City was located to the northeast of White Rose Fortress, and there were a ton smaller maps between the two. Moreover, Purple Gr.a.p.e City had two tier 2 cities that acted as its guardians to its west and south, namely Ice River Canton and Swallow Ear Canton. There was no way to circ.u.mvent them, so we would have to defeat them first before we even got to Purple Gr.a.p.e City. There was also a giant basin between Purple Gr.a.p.e City and White Rose Fortress called Sunset Basin. It was a huge area that took up at least 30% of the entire Purple Gr.a.p.e City domain. The basin seemed a little too steep for cavalry to traverse, but it was only when I checked the forums that I realized just how impossible it was to trek through. The damn thing was literally a natural moat that was at least several thousand meters deep. It was the paradise of high-level monsters, and no one was able to explore its deepest depths up until this point. This one basin cut down our options to reach Purple Gr.a.p.e City to just two. One, we could pass through a map called Lost Forest to the north, take out Ice River Canton, turn to the east, and climb over Fallen Moon Ridge before reaching Purple Gr.a.p.e City. Two, we could march east directly after leaving White Rose Fortress, punch through an NPC garrison called Impassable Great Wall, take out Swallow Ear Canton, and march across Wildfire Plains before arriving at our destination. No matter which path we chose though, a harsh war was waiting for us for sure! ¡­¡­ A long investigation later, I checked the forums again and noted that the ongoing war was filling up the entire news section. The excitement was perfectly understandable, of course. Some of the stickied and gilded threads in red font were¡ª Gilded: Hegemon Palace¡¯s 500k-strong army has successfully taken out 110k enemy troops at White Rose Fortress. Their vice leader, Little Piglet has acc.u.mulated enough Kill Points to become a Divine General! His Divine General Skill is "Great Conqueror"! Gilded: Another 50k+ Indian cavalry has been spotted near Dragonbone Mountain Range. They successfully ambushed Mad Dragon and killed a total of 170k+ troops! Mad Dragon suffered huge damage in this battle, and Breeze and Rain was praised by his people as "The Phantom"! Gilded: Despite losing a whopping 210k+ troops, the Gods of Destruction guild was ultimately able to slay 25k of Breeze and Rain¡¯s cavalry and force him and his remaining troops to escape to Black Coast. There, he encountered Candle Dragon and was forced to teleport back to his city. Thus ends Cyan Beast¡¯s sneak attack in failure... I spent a long time reading the threads, but there was really only one useful piece of information, and that was the news that Little Piglet had become a Divine General. Great Conqueror: Summon the power of the divine and apply a 50% splash effect to the user¡¯s weapon. The effect can be stacked, but cannot exceed 75%. Moreover, increases user¡¯s melee attack range by 5 yards. Costs 1 Divine Energy Point per minute. Skill exclusive to Little Piglet. Great Conqueror seemed to be a fantastic Divine General Skill. For starters, it gave his weapon a 50% splash effect, an incredible attribute in any group battle. Next, it increased his attack range by 5 yards, meaning that he could deal AoE damage to players as far as 5 yards away even with just a basic attack. Originally, Little Piglet was a defensive-type player, but now that he had this Divine General Skill, I predict that he would change his style and transform into an offensive-type player. Hegemon Palace¡¯s inability to keep up with the other guilds should be much less obvious with this ascension as well. ¡­¡­ I s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath and returned my attention to the map of Purple Gr.a.p.e City. It was at this moment I noticed something that made my eyes widen. I kept zooming in on a certain spot on Dragonbone Mountain Range where the mountains weren¡¯t infinitely tall. Not only was this particular section of the mountain range only 4000 meters above sea level, it was a map called Sky Ridge! This meant that it could be traversed! The icy walls of Sky Ridge were about 250 meters tall, and it was overgrown with vines. Finally, I found out exactly how Cyan Beast¡¯s high-level players kept slipping into our domain! They were using this map called Sky Ridge! An idea flashed across my mind, and an entire strategy sprouted from it. I immediately called Chaos Moon¡¯s hotel phone. "Hello? What¡¯s wrong?" Chaos Moon asked in a daze. "Time to get up, eat some food, and get ready for battle!" "Oh¡­" Chapter 1014: Sky Ridge (2) We ate breakfast at the hotel¡¯s restaurant. The buffet cost 25 yuan per person. While eating, I called Cute Little Naughty and got through a couple of beeps later. "Yes, vice leader?" Cute Little Naughty answered with a yawn. She clearly wasn¡¯t fully awake yet. "Well, for starters, you can wake up first." "Right, right. What is this about? I can¡¯t remember the last time you called me in person!" Cute Little Naughty asked with a laugh. I replied, "No time to explain. Get up, call your corps commanders and tell them to log into the game as soon as possible. I¡¯m mobilizing the entire eighth subguild today, so make it snappy!" "Mn, okay!" ¡­¡­ After I hung up, Chaos Moon asked while tapping her full boiled egg with a spoon, "We¡¯ve never actively mobilized the eighth subguild before. Have you finally found a use for our assassin squad?" I smiled. "As the saying goes, you train an army for a thousand days to use it for an hour. And it¡¯s time to put them to use." "And what are you going to do with several ten thousand assassins exactly?" "It¡¯s a secret. You¡¯ll know when the time comes!" "Hmph¡­" Chaos Moon snorted before passing me egg fried rice. "Eat this too. Heaven knows when we¡¯ll get to eat our next meal. Also, remember to limit your water intake¡­" "Yeah." Every professional player knew how to manage their water intake one way or another. Too much water meant a bladder full of piss too early into the game, and the enemy wouldn¡¯t give you the chance to log out of the game to use the toilet. Swhoosh! I looked to the plains after I reappeared on the hill outside White Rose Fortress. Blades were swinging, arrows were whistling, and even rocks were flying as the players of China and Japan waged war against one another. The battle had continued for almost 10 hours since I logged out, but it still wasn¡¯t over yet. It was obvious that both sides were just trying to wear each other thin, and that neither side had dispatched their true elites yet. It was so that they could be used when it was truly necessary. Just outside Frost Forest, Candle Dragon¡¯s cavalry had arrived and positioned themselves into a square formation. Next to them was Warsky Alliance¡¯s almost 100000-strong Frostscale Cavalry, as well as Purple Lily and Snowy Cathaya¡¯s elite cavalries. Everyone was making preparations for the eventual battle, but no one had actually engaged the enemy yet. In this case, we were all of the same mind. We were waiting for the moment where the scales of war tipped in one¡¯s favor or another. A while later, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and more logged into the game as well. "So?" Li Chengfeng asked, "Did you ask us all to come online because you have a new strategy?" "Mn." I nodded with a smile. "Yes, but it¡¯s on a smaller scale than you might expect. I¡¯m taking only 5000 Dragonlight Cavalry and 5000 Dragonlight Archers with me this time. Everyone else is to remain at White Rose Fortress and standby for battle." "Yep." I glanced at the pass between Dragonbone Mountain Range and White Rose Fortress before continuing, "The enemy¡¯s natural defense is impassable, and a frontal assault won¡¯t surprise the enemy. Therefore, a sneak attack is the only way to truly turn this Nation War around. Someone mentioned on the forums that Elephant City¡¯s players are marching across Soaring Flame Desert to reinforce Purple Gr.a.p.e City. If Japan and India manage to unite their forces, it will be incredibly difficult to defeat them." Gui Guzi declared simply, "No need to explain anything, Boss Broken Halberd. I will go wherever you go!" I nodded. "Heh, of course. That being said, we need a leader figure to stay behind at White Rose Fortress to command our players. For obvious reasons, they will never obey another guild." "Who¡¯s going to do that?" He Yi¡¯s eyes widened. I gave it some thought before saying, "Eve, you should stay behind and coordinate things with Lin Yixin. You¡¯re the only one who can really command our brutes besides me anyway. I¡¯ll take Li Chengfeng, Little Gui, Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits with me. You can have Lian Xin, Moon Dew and sis." "Really? But I¡¯m one of the Dragonlight Cavalry too, aren¡¯t I?" He Yi looked at me almost beggingly. I immediately walked up to her and put an arm around her shoulder. "We¡¯ll be back before you know it." "Okay¡­" He Yi wasn¡¯t a dramatic woman, so she nodded immediately and said, "I¡¯ll be waiting right here at White Rose Fortress for you all to return!" "Mn!" After that, I began mustering my troops. "Top 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen of our power ranking, step forward! Dragonlight Archers, all of you will be coming with me!" It wasn¡¯t long before an orderly formation of ten thousand appeared in front of me. I looked at my generals and said, "All Famous Generals, bring items with invincibility frames if you have them" Gui Guzi exclaimed in surprise, "Really? But the only invincibility frame property I have is on Purple Gold¨Cgrade wristguards. Are you sure about this?" "Mn. Place it in your bag for now." Li Chengfeng asked, "What on earth are we doing, Lu Chen?" I smiled. "Long story short, this operation will be a brutal one, one we may not return from. That¡¯s why I want all of you to bring items with invincibility properties. When the time comes, I want you to equip them, activate the invincibility skill and teleport back to the city. This way, you won¡¯t die in the enemy¡¯s main city and be out of the war completely." "Ah, got it!" "Is everyone ready? Very good, let¡¯s go. Our destination is Sky City (28994, 28378)!" "What the f.u.c.k? This coordinate is so far from here!" At the same time, I sent the same message to Cute Little Naughty, "Little Naughty, please take the eighth subguild to (28994, 28378). Don¡¯t tell them what their mission is, just take them there, and I¡¯ll deal with the rest later." "Okay, vice leader big bro!" Cute Little Naughty answered obediently. ¡­¡­ As we rode past the other guilds, Warsky immediately raised his sword and asked, "Hey, Lu Chen! Where are you guys going?" I answered with a bright smile, "Oh, just a bit of hunting. It¡¯s boring here, don¡¯t you agree?" Warsky: "..." Hot and Sour Noodles chuckled. "Hmph, the boy must have cooked up some devious scheme again¡­" Candlelight Shadow: "..." October Rain¡¯s eyes shone with envy. "True, Lu Chen is always able to¡­ sigh, if only our guild leader was as brave and as smart as he is, we would¡¯ve been able to do something against God¡¯s Domain during the battle of Floating Ice City¡­" October Rain shrugged once before teasing him, "Warsky, you¡¯re definitely a smart guy in your own right, but only in civil wars. Frankly, you lack decisiveness and the ability to come up with weird strategies when your opponent is a foreign force¡­" Warsky: "..." Blue Sky Scar let out a sneer before saying, "Hmph, no matter how ¡®amazing¡¯ Ancient Sword is, they¡¯re only ten thousand strong. They can¡¯t possibly do much with so few troops¡­" God¡¯s Dance: "Maybe. Maybe not¡­" Candlelight Shadow: "..." Song of Cloud and Water was also staring at our backs and sighing. "Uu, if only Lu Chen listened to me and joined Soul Battle Robes back then¡­" "Hmph, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡­" Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s eyes turned steely for a moment, but a moment later he smiled and said, "They are an interesting bunch for sure." God Bone shot him a look. "You¡¯re not looking to join Ancient Sword, are you?" Song of Ice and Fire raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think I¡¯m that type of person?" "Don¡¯t worry, once I¡¯ve made up my mind I¡¯m not changing it. Also, the first miss is here. There¡¯s no chance I¡¯m leaving Soul Battle Robes." "Mn¡­" ¡­¡­ We didn¡¯t travel at full speed. In fact, I purposely ordered everyone to maintain about 25% of our usual marching speed. Almost an hour later, we finally reached the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range. Another trek through the forest later, we arrived at our destination coordinates. "Halt!" I raised my sword to stop the march before looking up. The peaks of Dragonbone Mountain Range were covered in snow, and the map in front of us was none other than Sky Ridge itself. Normally, the peaks of Dragonbone Mountain Range were absolutely impassable. Sky Ridge was an exception, however. Unfortunately, Hot and Sour Noodles hadn¡¯t been able to find this place despite my advice last night. Less than ten minutes later, a huge group of assassins appeared in front of us. I smiled. They were none other than our eighth subguild. Cute Little Naughty was wielding a green dagger and wearing an exquisite leather armor that wrapped nicely around her body. She shot me a smile and said, "We¡¯re here, vice leader big bro." "Alright. Time to scale the mountains, people!" "Okay?" Cute Little Naughty blinked once before asking. "Didn¡¯t the system seal off the peaks of Dragonbone Mountain Range already? Why are we climbing up there?" "I¡¯ll tell you once we get up there." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ It took us only about 15 minutes to ride up to the peaks. The top of Dragonbone Mountain Range was a frigid, snowy region. Directly ahead us was a 90-degrees vertical ice cliff that stretched all the way up to infinity and beyond¡­ except one. More accurately, it was covered in green vines that stretched all the way to the top. "F.u.c.k¡­" Li Chengfeng muttered, "Let me guess: you want us to climb over Dragonbone Mountain Range using these vines and travel all the way to the heart of Purple Gr.a.p.e City?" "Correct." "Heavens, it takes balls of steel to come up with a plan like this and actually execute it!" "Let¡¯s go!" I looked at the assassins of the eighth subguild and ordered, "Assassins, you go first, and make sure you¡¯re stealthed. If you discover any Cyan Earth City, Elephant City or Purple Gr.a.p.e City players in the vicinity, kill them all, but try not to alarm the others nearby. They mustn¡¯t realize what we¡¯re really here for!" "Okay!" Cute Little Naughty nodded, returned her dagger to the sheath around her waist, and grabbed a single vine. After giving it a test and confirming that it was going to hold, she started climbing. As she climbed, her cloak flapped around and occasionally graced us with flashes of her long, pale legs. It was a rare sight to say the least. Pa! Chaos Moon slapped Du Thirteen on the shoulder once before saying, "Dude, can you not stare like a laser gun, please?" Du Thirteen wiped away his saliva before asking, "Do I look like that type of person?" "Pooh! Yes you do!" "..." Chapter 1015: Ice River Canton It wasn¡¯t long before Cute Little Naughty entered stealth mode, the vines shivering unnaturally to every bit of movement. Soon, hundreds of stealthed assassins were climbing the vines as well. "When are we going?" Gui Guzi looked like he couldn¡¯t wait to get some action himself. I smiled placatingly at him and said, "There¡¯s no hurry. We can climb after the assassins have taken out the enemies!" "Mn." ¡­¡­ About half an hour later, Cute Little Naughty sent me a message: "It¡¯s done, big brother. There were about a hundred Cyan Earth City players on top of the mountain, but we Blinded and killed them all. I don¡¯t think they even saw who killed them." I smiled praisingly. "Well done, Little Naughty! Leave two thousand players at the top of the mountain and send everyone else down to scout the area. Make sure you check the world map as you move. Sky Ridge is on the way to Ice River Canton, and it¡¯s about 5 kilometers in length and breadth. Take out any lone Purple Gr.a.p.e City or Cyan Earth City group you find, and avoid any thousand-man parties. If you discover a big army, notify me immediately and send me its coordinates." "Got it. See you later!" "Mn. Do your best!" ¡­¡­ Chiang! I returned my sword to its sheath and grabbed a vine. "It¡¯s our turn to dismount and climb, people. The cliff is only between 200 to 400 meters tall, so don¡¯t worry about it too much. If you¡¯re afraid of heights, just don¡¯t look down and you should be fine. Once we reach the top, stand by, await orders and don¡¯t move about carelessly." "Let¡¯s go!" After giving the signal, I pulled myself up, climbing the vine with great speed. My super-high Strength made the entire thing a field trip. Beiming Xue was even faster than me, however. Like a beautiful fairy, she climbed up the cliff with incredible deftness before looking down on me with a playful smile on her face. She said, "I¡¯m faster than you, big bro¡­" In response, I stared at her flapping cloak and grinned. "So, you¡¯re wearing pink today¡­" "Big bro!" Beiming Xue blushed like an apple before returning to her climb. Unfortunately, both her and the godly sight disappeared in the blink of an eye. The snow fell endlessly above our heads, and the cold wind felt like knives cutting against my skin. However, the pain gave way to excitement the moment I thought of the big raid we were about to pull. Pa! It wasn¡¯t long before I had climbed to the top and stood at the edge of the cliff. The snowstorm here was even stronger, and visibility was reduced to just five meters or so. I had to rely on the coordinates on the minimap to confirm everyone¡¯s positions. I walked to the opposite side of the cliff and looked down. Again, it was at least a hundred meters above ground level and 90 degrees steep, meaning that we had to climb down using the vines again. A while later, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen and more joined me and stared at the vast, foreign forest beneath us. Li Chengfeng smiled a little and said, "This has to be the legendary Lost Forest, right?" I nodded. "Yeah, this is the Lost Forest that surrounds Ice River Canton, and Ice River Canton is the northern gate that stands in our way to Purple Gr.a.p.e City. The only way to get there is to take down this gate first." Chaos Moon blinked once before asking, "Breeze and Rain and his thirty thousand cavalrymen infiltrated Sky City through this map, didn¡¯t they?" "Yes. There is no other way," I said smilingly. Li Chengfeng also wore a grin on his face as he said, "Now I understand what you¡¯re planning. The reason you sent the eighth subguild to ambush all lone players around Sky Ridge is to give the enemy a taste of their own medicine!" I laughed. "Correct. If Cyan Earth City can exploit this map for their own purposes, we can too. However, I don¡¯t plan to just knock on doors and run away like a little kid. No, I¡¯m going to teach the enemy a lesson they will not forget!" Chaos Moon stared at me. "What are you planning?" Gui Guzi interrupted, "What else? I bet we¡¯re here to destroy Ice River Canton¡¯s teleportation formation and kill off all reinforcements who try to come to its rescue just like Red Maple did to us earlier¡­" Gui Guzi s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath. "Holy shit, that¡¯s ruthless, Boss Broken Halberd! Just the way I like it, hehe. You¡¯re right, this is the way it has to be to make up for the abandonment of Floating Ice City!" Xu Yang stabbed his broadsword on the ice beneath our feet before saying, "That is an amazing strategy, but if we¡¯re going to pull something like this, why don¡¯t we just occupy Ice River Canton outright? This way, we¡¯ll be able to teleport Sky City¡¯s players directly into Ice River Canton. After that, all we need to do is overcome Fallen Moon Ridge to reach Purple Gr.a.p.e City." I shook my head. "I¡¯ve considered that, but it¡¯s just too risky and uncertain. To occupy a city, you need to fulfill two conditions: one, you need a sufficient number of players. Two, you need to kill off all enemy players inside. These two conditions alone are something we cannot realistically pull off. Even if we succeeded somehow, it would take 24 hours for the map to refresh. We cannot afford to waste a whole day twiddling our thumbs when Nation War lasts 72 hours only. In fact, a whole day has passed since the start of the China-Japan Nation War, so we only have 48 hours or so left." Xu Yang nodded. "You¡¯re right. I hadn¡¯t thought things through¡­" ¡­¡­ "Well, I think it¡¯s almost time. Let us descend, people!" "Mn!" I grabbed a vine with both hands and slid down at a controlled speed. Unfortunately, the vines had needles that pierced my hands as I fell, and boy did it hurt a lot. I supposed that it was one of the necessary prices of the surprise assault! My foot hit solid ground after sliding around 150 meters or so. The wind was weaker here, and a sea of green greeted me when I turned around to face the lush Lost Forest. Everyone did as I say and unsheathed their weapons, ready to do combat at a moment¡¯s notice. At the same time, Cute Little Naughty sent me a message: "Vice guild leader big bro, we¡¯ve more or less cleared out the way as you ordered, but there is a 20k-strong army of Elephant City cavalry heading toward Sky Ridge right now. They¡¯re moving from (10239, 30112) to (9, 30112), and they¡¯re somewhere in the middle right now." "Got it!" I brought up the world map and investigated the cavalry troops¡¯ course for a bit. Then, I plotted our attack course to avoid the enemy cavalry and, hopefully, reach Ice River Canton without encountering anyone else. The course looked like a giant S on the map. I didn¡¯t bother to share the course with the others. I simply rode down the mountain and ordered, "Stay close to me, and don¡¯t fall behind!" "Yessir!" The ground rumbled as ten thousand cavalrymen followed closely behind me. I sent Cute Little Naughty one final order, "Little Naughty, stealth into Ice River Canton and destroy all the magic formations! You may stealth back to the city after that!" Cute Little Naughty gladly accepted the order. "Got it. Be careful out there!" "Yeah." It took us almost half an hour to get out of Lost Forest. We ignored all the mobs we encountered along the way because our objective here was to invade Ice River Canton, not grinding. The moment we emerged from the forest, a tier 2 city about 5 km away from us immediately entered our view. A lot of Japanese players were grinding mobs on the plains, but they were no threat to us since the highest-leveled player I spotted was just Level 170+ or so. Chiang! I abruptly unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and pointed toward the city. I growled, "Full speed ahead, and don¡¯t bother with the noobs! Our goal is the palace!" Everyone nodded and rode at full speed. We rode in a triangular formation, and I was the spearhead of the triangle. Just as I ordered, no one tried to attack the grinding players. It was beneath us to kill noobs anyway. The Dragonscale Beasts were so fast that the players on the walls discovered us only after we were tens of meters away from their gates. They panicked, "What the hell? Where did these Chinese riders come from!?" "Kill!" I abruptly dug my feet into the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s sides and caused it to let out a loud neigh. After I blasted a group of low-level players who attempted to block the gate to hell, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and sent it running toward the city. It immediately greeted the enemies with Purgatory Storm and Claw of the Storm. "Close the gate now!" a group of Japanese players shouted. Unfortunately for them, the Purple Ying Sword chose this moment to glow brightly, delighting me greatly. Here I go! Boom! I fired a Universe Break straight at the falling portcullis. The huge damage number besides, the Purple Ying Sword¡¯s Mountain Crush effect caused a giant hole about two meters in radius to appear on it, effectively rendering it useless. The players on the walls could only stare at us dumbly like someone who was watching Tokyo-Hot. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! I fired a dozen or so Ancient Seals into the enemy and made Ice River Canton¡¯s players feel like they were ascending to heaven. Even better, Li Chengfeng activated Great Earth Transformation and Battle Soul Possession before yelling, "Whirlwind Slash!" Boom boom boom! The dragon warrior turned into a living hurricane and dove into a crowd. Everyone standing in our path was killed just like that. "F.u.c.k, the Lu Chen + Li Chengfeng duo is just insane¡­" Xu Yang said with a grin. Chaos Moon laughed. "Time to earn some contribution points, people!" The Dragonlight Cavalrymen weren¡¯t the only ones who were cutting down all the players who tried to stop us. Beiming Xue and the Dragonlight Archers were also shooting Spiraling Arrow Blades and Skypiercers to our flanks to minimize the number of players who could reach us. Honestly, this was looking more like a bloodbath than a sneak attack! Chapter 1016: Triple Reinforcement Smoke began rising from the fire beacons around Ice River Canton. At first, the players inside the city had no idea what to do at all. Unfortunately, the confusion didn¡¯t even last ten minutes. The powerful guilds of Ice River Canton quickly gathered at the temple, armories, stables and other buildings before forming a square formation that was almost ten thousand players strong. "Their cavalry charge is extremely powerful!" A guild leader wielding a longbow commanded loudly, "Don¡¯t even think of trying to play the hero! All mounted players, raise your shields and block the entrance! Mages and archers, attack from range and slow them as much as you can! These Chinese riders are trying to destroy Ice River Canton! Don¡¯t let them succeed no matter what! Arrows and magic peppered our Dragonlight Cavalry from both sides of the street. The good news was that their Attack wasn¡¯t high enough to really threaten us. Gui Guzi shouted, "If your HP falls below 50%, move to the center, swap positions with those with full health, and use War God Recovery to restore your HP! Try not to die as much as you can!" As we continued to travel toward the palace, a group of foot soldiers carrying shields suddenly blocked in front of us. They had enough levels to ride a mount, but they remained on foot to take advantage of their commander¡¯s Soul of the Foot. The Famous General wielding a green broadsword and a shield growled, "Frontliners, hold the line with everything you¡¯ve got! Backliners, concentrate your shots and wear the enemy down! Will you disappoint God¡¯s Domain and the other guilds who are fighting at White Rose Fortress right now and lose Ice River Canton? No! They may be strong, but they are few in numbers! We absolutely possess the power to kill them all here!" Chiang chiang chiang¡­ Over 900 foot soldiers slammed their shields into the ground and poked out their swords and spears in between the gaps, hoping that it would be enough to stop our charge. "Hah, what an interesting group!" Li Chengfeng shot me a look while laughing, "I didn¡¯t know we were this weak in the eyes of Ice River Canton, Lu Chen. Not only do they think that they can stop our charge, they think they can kill us with less than 3000 players!" I spurred my mount to go faster before shouting, "All players with AoE skills, ride to the front and hit the enemy¡¯s shield formation with all your might! Don¡¯t let them slow us for even a second!" Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng and other players who fit the bill immediately pulled out their weapons and rode to the front as I commanded. Obviously, we were our cavalry¡¯s best chance to tear through the enemy¡¯s defense in the shortest period of time. Gui Guzi laughed loudly. "I¡¯m right behind you, brother!" High Fighting Spirits spurred his mount to max speed before ramming into the enemy¡¯s shields head-on. He was a warrior who dumped all his points into Strength, and his equipment could only be described as outstanding. As a result, he was able to knock back three enemy players in one hit and penetrate as deep as five layers before he finally came to a stop. For a moment, the Ice River Canton players could only stare at him in shock. "The f.u.c.k are you guys waiting for? Barrier Break him already!" a commander-level player of Ice River Canton shouted. That broke them out of their daydream and caused them to summon fiery cones around their weapons. Not even High Fighting Spirits could survive dozens of Barrier Breaks that dealt 30k damage at least if they landed. Luckily, the berserker was way faster than these people. Before they could even thrust their weapons forward, the ground was already shaking with the power of Xiezhi Howl. A red cyclone shaped like a giant beast roared, and all the players surrounding him were either sent flying to the distance or killed outright. No one was able to land a hit on him. After dashing forward a couple more steps and killing another Ice River Canton player with a Quadruple Slash, High Fighting Spirits let out a laugh and moved to the side, roaring, "Little Gui, I leave the rest to you!" Screaming like a maniac, Gui Guzi took over High Fighting Spirits¡¯ previous position and swept his Spear of the Knight God horizontally. He roared, "Have a taste of my new skill, grandchildren!" Swhoosh! As promised, a red flame erupted from the spearhead before engulfing almost everyone within 4 yards of Gui Guzi. The new skill was called Crescent Moon Blaze. It increased the user¡¯s damage by 100%, and was therefore an equivalent of a critical basic attack. The skill dealt damage to all players within 4 yards of the user, and realistically speaking, it could hit up to a maximum of 25 players per use. It was a great skill in a group battle like this. 218384! 231828! 240990! ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi¡¯s Attack wasn¡¯t really that high, but his stratagem boosted it by a whopping 225%. Moreover, Ice River Canton¡¯s players were at best second-rate in the Japan server, not to mention that their HP was only 180k or so because they weren¡¯t riding mounts. As a result, Gui Guzi was able to one-shot all of them! That wasn¡¯t the end of Gui Guzi¡¯s assault, of course. He followed up with Aurora Thrust and killed all the players in front of him. Beside him, Li Chengfeng swooped in like a hawk and cut down every player he struck like he was playing Dynasty Warriors. Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and Du Thirteen were tearing apart the enemy¡¯s shield formation with incredible speed as well. Out of everyone, I was the player deepest into the enemy formation and with the most kills. It was because these players were second-rate or even third-rate at best, meaning that my Burning Blade Slash and even my Thousand Ice Slash were one-shots most of the time. My Ancient Seals notwithstanding, the Phantom Wolf King itself was killing people like crazy as well. All in all, I was almost regaining Divine Energy Points almost as quickly as I was using them. I made sure that it didn¡¯t fall below the 100 mark though. This Nation War was far from over, and no one could say what else was waiting for us. ¡­¡­ The enemy crumbled the second Beiming Xue and the Dragonlight Archers arrived. One round of Skypiercer was all it took to kill almost everything within a hundred meters; the arrows piercing armor and flesh with equal ease. Beiming Xue¡¯s Bow God already increased her Attack by 150%, but Ice Soul Feather boosted that even further. Suffice it to say, Skypiercer was absolutely lethal in Beiming¡¯s hands! Rumble rumble rumble... The enemies dropped a ton of equipment, potions and food, but nobody tried to pick them up because the mission was to destroy Ice River Canton in the shortest amount of time possible. I have to admit that I was very proud of the level of unity and bravery that drove my people forward! Right now, the only thing that could make our blood bubble with passion was the head of the king of Ice River Canton! "The palace is just five minutes away from us now. Full speed ahead!" Li Chengfeng shouted. Chaos Moon added, "There¡¯s no need to put on a brave front and push yourself! If you die here, you won¡¯t be able to enter Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s domain later and participate in the rest of the war, so protecting your own life is your topmost priority! If you¡¯re really about to die, activate invincibility skill and teleport back to the city! It¡¯s all part of the plan, so don¡¯t feel ashamed about it!" I nodded in agreement. "She¡¯s right, no need to feel ashamed¡ª" Suddenly, a message interrupted me. It was sent by Cute Little Naughty. "I¡¯ve got important news to share, vice leader big bro¡­" "Yes, Little Naughty?" "My assassins just detected a 50k cavalry belonging to God¡¯s Domain riding to Ice River Canton¡¯s aid. They¡¯ve already crossed the border, and they are expected to arrive in 20 minutes tops." "Got it, thanks!" ¡­¡­ After I hung up the call, I marked the three forces on the map and sent the coordinates to Beiming Xue. "What¡¯s this, big bro?" "These two belong to Cyan Earth City. The other one is God¡¯s Domain¡¯s 50000 cavalry. All of them are elites, so they cannot be allowed to reach the city before we complete our objective." "What do you want me to do, big bro?" Beiming Xue asked directly. I shot her a smile and said, "Take all 5000 Dragonlight Archers with you and ambush all three forces. Try to delay them as much as possible with as little losses as possible." "Got it. I¡¯m leaving right away!" ¡­¡­ A while later, the entrance of Ice River Canton finally appeared in front of us. Its entrance was a hundred meters wide, and it was chock-full of NPCs and players right now. They were clearly ready to battle us to the death! "Hit them directly! There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of!" I kept the verbal encouragement short. It wasn¡¯t like it would change anything now that we had come this far. I shouted, "Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, cover me! I¡¯m going to tear through the enemy with Purple Dragon Howl!" "Okay!" Li Chengfeng tried hitting the enemy with his Dragonblade Revolution. Unfortunately, the entire entrance was jam-packed with the Golden Guards of Ice River Canton, Level 200 NPC minibosses with around 3 million HP. The players were a different story, but these NPCs were practically impossible to one-shot! I fired Burning Blade Slash and Thousand Ice Slash at a dozen or so Golden Guards first before backing away. While the Dragonlight Cavalry were covering for me, I drank Saint Spirit Potion to heal my HP and MP to full before firing Purple Dragon Howl myself. A gigantic, purple draconic blast surged toward the enemy! Roar roar roar... It was devastating. Unlike the inferior Purple Dragon Howl that was unleashed by my apparition, this one dealt far, far more damage because it had the full weight of my stats behind it. A lot of enemies also ate 5 times more damage than normal thanks to the Purple Ying Sword¡¯s property, and adding splash effect to the mix, it was enough to one-shot more than half of the Golden Guards in one go. Forget Ice River Canton¡¯s players, even my own people were staring at me slack-jawed. Chapter 1017: Duke Auneau While we were fighting, Beiming Xue shared the live feed of her own battle with us. 5000 Dragonlight Archers were utilizing the hit-and-run tactic to kite the f.u.c.k out of God¡¯s Domain¡¯s 50000-strong cavalry. The dark archer was already an intelligent woman in her own right, but she also had a wide vision that enabled her to always pick the best direction to kite the enemy. As a result, she was always able to hit the enemy where it hurt the most without being caught. There was also the fact that the 50000 cavalrymen God¡¯s Domain dispatched was just a troop of mixed cavalry instead of their best Wildfire Riders. Red Maple knew full well that China had begun their counterattack, and that any Wildfire Rider killed within their own borders couldn¡¯t participate in the defense of their city anymore. Moreover, the Wildfire Riders were literally the strongest units God¡¯s Domain, no, the entire Japan server, possessed. That was why he hadn¡¯t deployed them. ¡­¡­ Chiang chiang chiang... The sounds of blades smacking against shields filled the air as we fought. Despite my success with Purple Dragon Howl earlier, countless high-level NPCs were still blocking our way to the palace. They seemed to be aware that our final objective was to kill their king. After all, once their king was dead, we would gain the right to do whatever we want to this city! "We just need to kill a couple hundred more enemies to get through!" Li Chengfeng¡¯s Dark Blade smashed into an NPC¡¯s armor again and again as he growled, "I refuse to believe that five thousand of our best elites isn¡¯t enough to breach one tiny Ice River Canton!" Instead of answering, I fought harder and dropped a couple of Icy Cyclone Domains on top of the enemies, slowing them and dealing ice damage to everyone within its range. Besides that, I unleashed Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo that devastated even the Level 200 NPCs. Many more Burning Blade Slashes later, I finally broke through the NPCs and became the first player to enter the palace. Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and Gui Guzi stepped over the dead Golden Guards and ran toward me. Outside the palace, countless Ice River Canton players were trying to kill us, and commander-level players were shouting on top of their lungs, "Charge them! Kill them!" Unfortunately, High Fighting Spirits, Du Thirteen, Xu Yang and more had stayed behind to keep them at bay. They mounted a couple of charges on their own and killed enough enemy players to intimidate them. After all, the so-called Dragonlight Cavalry was actually riding the Dragonscale Beasts,Earth Rank Boss mount whose stats were as good as my Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s. Anyone who tried to force their way through usually died without being able to do much damage at all! ¡­¡­ After we entered the palace halls, another group of NPC guards rushed toward us. They were led by a Level 220 Immortal Rank Boss called Shadow the Legend of Ice River. A general. He had to be the strongest or the second strongest NPC in Ice River Canton, and we couldn¡¯t treat him as if he didn¡¯t exist. "Do we kill him or not?" Chaos Moon asked hesitatingly as she looked back at the hundreds of Dragonlight Cavalrymen that just entered the palace. We had to split our forces to deal with the dread-rank NPC guards, the endless stream of Ice River Canton players and now an Immortal Rank boss. Even for us, things were really starting to get dicey. I fired God Binding Art at Shadow and successfully immobilized him. After I resummoned the Phantom Wolf King and sent it after the boss, I shouted, "Ignore the boss and take out the mobs first! Just make sure that the right person has the boss''s aggro! Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, you two come with me to kill the king!" We raced up the stairs until we reached the throne room. We saw a dozen or so civil and military officers standing on the two sides of the throne, and sitting on the throne was a middle-aged man who looked to be around 40 years old. He was the king. He abruptly rose to his feet, glared at us and shouted, "Who are you? How dare you attack Ice River Canton! Men, kill them all!" "Kill yourself!" I fired two Ancient Seals on the spot. Together with Li Chengfeng¡¯s Dragonblade Revolution and Chaos Moon¡¯s Rock Crush, we were able to one-shot the civil officers instantly. They weren¡¯t combat NPCs, so of course they didn¡¯t have the Defense or the HP to survive our attacks. However, the 4 miniboss generals proved to be far more capable than their counterparts. Dozens of Dragonlight Cavalrymen surrounded them and hit them with everything they got, but they weren¡¯t strong enough to penetrate the minibosses¡¯ Defense, and vice versa. It would be a long while before a victor was decided among them. That was fine though. All we needed them to do was to keep the generals busy until we killed the king. The king grabbed his sword and glared at us menacingly. A couple lines of shiny text floated above his head¡ª King of Ice River, Duke Auneau (Immortal Rank Boss NPC) Level: 225 Introduction: Duke Auneau, the protector of Ice River Canton was one of the few true experts who ruled the eastern continent. During the decades he ruled Ice River Canton, its people prospered, and its army grew strong enough to keep even the Night Creature Legion from invading the land. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng and I activated Great Earth Transformation without hesitation and charged the king from both sides. The very first skill I used was Universe Break, locking the boss''s aggro on me instantly. Universe Break had great damage and generated a ton of threat, so it was the skill to use when fighting against a boss. Also, I was more suited as a tank than Li Chengfeng because I had superior survivability and the Dragon God Shield. "Chengfeng, you and Chaos Moon are the DPS, okay? I¡¯ll be the tank!" I shouted. "Got it. Be careful!" Li Chengfeng dashed past Duke Auneau and stabbed his sides with a Dragonbone Flurry + Reverse Scale Slash combo, instantly dealing 300k damage. The boss let out a furious roar and tried to attack Li Chengfeng, but I easily drew his aggro back to me with a triple-hit War Crush. Then, I activated Dark Pupils and noticed a 3 cm long red line across the boss''s right shoulder. It was his weak point. While blocking an attack with the Dragon God Shield, I shouted, "Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, watch where I land my attack! It¡¯s the boss''s weak point!" The weak point was only 10 cm away from his neck. I leaped into the air and brought down my weapon, using Pardon + basic attack combo to maximize my damage output. Duke Auneau was unable to dodge it because he was no Red Maple, Candlelight Shadow or Breeze and Rain. Amazingly, I triggered the Purple Ying Sword¡¯s quintuple-damage passive at that exact moment, and the damage number that rose above its head stunned everyone¡ª 1028950! Chaos Moon¡¯s mouth fell open as she knocked the boss''s arm backward with Rock Crush, "Holy shit, this is the first time I saw a million damage¡­" Li Chengfeng nodded in agreement. "Me too¡­" Gui Guzi spurred his mount to leap into the air. As a result, more than half of his Spear of the Knight God became lodged inside the boss''s body. His damage number was also pretty high¡ª201984! It was a double critical hit. Xu Yang arrived just in time to praise Gui Guzi, "Ooh, this is the first time I see Little Gui dealing over 200k damage. Not bad, not bad¡­" Gui Guzi: "F.u.c.k you¡­" ¡­¡­ Despite our success, Duke Auneau¡¯s retaliation wasn¡¯t to be underestimated. Each one of his attacks dealt at least 50k damage to me, not to mention the others. Swhoosh! A red light surrounded me as I recovered myself with Tenacity of the Dead. After tanking another two hits from the boss, I dodged to the back and let Gui Guzi replace me for the moment. Out of everyone in the throne room, he was the only other player whose survivability was equal to mine. It was very impressive. "You damned invaders!" Duke Auneau abruptly raised his arm and chanted, "I, Auneau, beseech the power of thunder! Awaken from your slumber and punish the evil before me¡ªGreen Thunder Roar!" Countless green lightning bolts fell from the sky and damaged everyone indiscriminately. At least 30% of the throne room, or every player within a hundred yards of the boss, was struck by the skill. I activated Ghost Deity Shield. It was the only way to block a magic attack like this. "Watch out, everyone!" Li Chengfeng withstood the attack and successfully ran out of the skill¡¯s range before it killed him. Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi and more were able to escape safely thanks to their high HP as well. Unfortunately, not all of our Dragonlight Cavalrymen could claim the same thing, and dozens of them dropped dead in succession. The skill was just way too powerful. I tried to weather the skill with Tenacity of the Dead and Saint Spirit Potion, but it was a bit too much even for me. In the end, I activated my cloak¡¯s invincibility active, Shield of Evening and made myself invulnerable to all damage for 12 seconds. I didn¡¯t mind wasting it because I had a second, 25-second invincibility active skill called Divine Dragon Protection courtesy of my Dragon God Shield. There was an internal cooldown system for such active skills. It didn¡¯t rely on time, but on player activity. Using active skills required charging up activity points. Since I haven¡¯t been using these skills for a very long time, I barely had enough to use two active skills in a row; the meter had steeply diminishing returns. ¡­¡­ The boss''s spell disappeared after 30 seconds, and everyone rushed him again and hit him with Barrier Breaks. Slowly but surely, the king¡¯s health bar was sliding toward the end. Less than ten minutes later, his HP had dropped to 10% or so. It was at this moment Du Thirteen and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun rushed in with an urgent report, "You guys need to be faster! Red Maple is rushing over with the Wildfire Riders right now!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun answered, "Apparently, there¡¯s another Famous General in Purple Gr.a.p.e City with Flying General! As a result, he and 1000 Wildfire Riders were able to reach Ice River Canton in less than twenty minutes!" Gui Guzi chuckled. "This isn¡¯t necessarily bad news, right? We can kill Red Maple and his 1000 Wildfire Riders right here and make sure that they won¡¯t be able to participate in Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s defense!" Li Chengfeng looked to me for directions. "Lu Chen, what do you think?" I gritted my teeth but shook my head in the end. "No, it¡¯s not worth trading 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen for Red Maple¡¯s life, and we cannot afford to stay here much longer! Even now, the NPCs are coming, and the arrow towers are shooting at us! Thirteen, take 500 players with you to buy time and send the rest of the Dragonlight Cavalry who aren¡¯t in combat back to the city! Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and I will stay behind to finish off the king!" "Mn!" Du Thirteen nodded. Chapter 1018: An Eye For An Eye Du Thirteen ordered loudly, "High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, take 500 people with you and come with me! We¡¯re going to stop Red Maple¡¯s Wildfire Riders from making their way in! The rest of you, withdraw into the palace. Once you¡¯re out of combat, teleport back to Sky City and stand by for further orders!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun guffawed while holding an orange-colored blade. "Mn, we¡¯ll come with you. By the way, we¡¯re going to die, aren¡¯t we?" "Die my ass! No one is allowed to die!" Du Thirteen laughed as well. ¡­¡­ Chiang chiang chiang... Sparks scattered everywhere as Duke Auneau, the king of Ice River Canton, kept hacking away at Gui Guzi and my shield. Even with our Defense, we didn¡¯t have the best time tanking his hits. Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang and more had deployed their pets to hasten the battle, but almost all of them were one-shot by the boss. As expected of an Immortal Rank boss. Pu! Duke Auneau¡¯s sword plunged into the stomach of the Green Praying Mantis King and pulled out greenish juice and guts. It was one of Xu Yang¡¯s pets, and its owner angrily retaliated by hitting the boss''s back with Mountain Stagger Slash. Dozens of us were surrounding Duke Auneau and unleashing our attacks. 142837! "Damned invaders!" Hurt, the powerful king shouted, "I swear I will slay you all with the sword in my hand!" Chaos Moon abruptly descended from above and hit the boss''s weak point with Rock Crush, dealing over 200k damage. She asked coldly, "Who did you say you want to kill again?" Duke Auneau immediately turned around to attack Chaos Moon with a skill, but Chaos Moon was able to cross her sword in front of her and perform a half-parry. It was a move that saved her life even though she still lost around 50% HP and was knocked backward. Considering the judgment, speed, angle and force behind her parry, she probably deserved to be ranked among the best experts of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls now. The boss wasn¡¯t the only thing that was hit when the Phantom Wolf King attacked with his Claw of the Storm and Purgatory Storm. The beautiful decorations inside the palace and even giant totem pillars were turned into shreds as well. The palace of Ice River Canton was all but destroyed by our attacks. At the inner hall of the palace, Dragonlight Cavalry were pulling out their return scrolls and teleporting back to Sky City. Their survival left me with a sense of deep relief because they were all the core players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and we still needed them to attack Purple Gr.a.p.e City. If we lost too many Dragonlight Cavalrymen that it became impossible to deploy them in the upcoming battles, it could mean the difference between victory and defeat. ¡­¡­ I could hear High Fighting Spirits¡¯ roars all the way here. The berserker was currently battling the Wildfire Riders at the palace entrance. After he tore 5 Wildfire Riders to pieces with Xiezhi Howl, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun seized the moment to mount a short charge and rocked the ground with Rock Smash, showing off his might as a general of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Even my brother, Du Thirteen, was starting to show a glimmer of expertise, charging back and forth to weaken as many enemies as possible without killing them. He did this so that the comrades close to those weakened enemies would have an easier time of killing them. Suddenly, a person shouted from among the enemy troops, "Out of my way! I¡¯ll kill them myself!" After Red Maple made his way to the frontline, he struck two Dragonlight Cavalrymen with less than 25% HP and killed them both. Not done yet, he summoned Wind Blade Cyclone and dropped an entire group of full-health Dragonlight Cavalry to half HP. Gaining momentum, he somehow pushed back against the shield pressing down on him and unleashed Fire God Flurry at the same time. The skill hit another three Dragonlight Cavalrymen and one-shot them all. "God dammit, why is this bastard so tough?!" A hundred-man Dragonlight Cavalry corps commander swore while charging toward Red Maple. He was an expert Chaos Moon had personally brought into the guild and an old friend of hers. He was nowhere near her level, but he was one of the better players we had. Chiang! Unfortunately, Red Maple was able to parry the corps commander¡¯s attack with ease before shouting, "Do you want to die?" Swhoosh! A fiery cone surrounded Red Maple¡¯s sword, causing the commander to grit his teeth grimly. "F.u.c.k!" He crossed his sword in front of himself and prepared to parry the Barrier Break. Judging from his chosen angle and force, there was at least a 60% chance he would parry the skill successfully. After the hundred-man corps commander was one-shot, High Fighting Spirits swore angrily, "Little Four! That mothref.u.c.ker killed Little Four!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun responded with equal fury, "Gang up on him and kill him!" Red Maple cackled as he executed Maple Kill + Wind Blade Cyclone combo at the space between High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, hitting them both. His mastery of distance had definitely reached the point of perfection! Whoosh whoosh! The swirls of energy nearly killed both our fierce generals. Forget Red Maple, they couldn¡¯t even fight a normal Wildfire Rider in their current state. "F.u.c.k¡­" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun wasn¡¯t someone who would go down without a fight, so he counterattacked with a vengeful Rock Smash. Red Maple moved to the back and Guarded, but he still took 40k+ damage because Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s Attack was boosted by 50% thanks to Dragon Soul Protection. It was just enough to deal a sizable amount of damage. "Let¡¯s go, Fighting Spirits!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun immediately retreated after scoring a hit. Red Maple grinned maliciously. "Not so fast!" Bang! Right before he could kill the two Famous Generals though, Red Maple suddenly found his feet floating above the ground. Maybe it was because he tunnel-visioned onto High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, but he had completely missed the person who rammed his sides. Not only that, the attacker had followed up with an undodgeable Barrier Break. 78028! Red Maple gritted his teeth in fury when he saw the damage number. After he regained his bearings, he turned around and struck his mysterious attacker with a triple-hit Fire God Flurry, dropping their health to almost nothing and causing them to stumble away. As it turned out, the rescuer was none other than Du Thirteen himself. As the guild leader of Bloody Mercenaries, Du Thirteen just barely survived Fire God Flurry from Red Maple. A group of Dragonlight Cavalrymen immediately surrounded Red Maple in an attempt to end his life there and then, but he was able to kill 5 and grievously wound 7 of them with a horizontal slash and Maple Kill. The bastard was just too strong for them! "Oh, screw it!" Du Thirteen swore angrily. "If we die, we die! Go get ¡®em, brothers and sisters! Worse comes to worst we¡¯ll grind the A4 instance at Sky City!" The Dragonlight Cavalry responded positively to the command and charged Red Maple and the Wildfire Riders relentlessly. However, they suffered huge casualties because they lacked a peak-level player who could suppress Red Maple. Hundreds of Dragonlight Cavalrymen were killed in just the blink of an eye. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t all for naught though. Duke Auneau, the king of Ice River Canton, was close to death, and Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and I were hitting the boss with everything we had. We took hits for each other, and our health bars hovered dangerously between 25% to 50%. However, the boss wasn¡¯t able to kill any of us no matter what he did. This was the power of a well-coordinated party. The Purple Ying Sword passed through Duke Auneau¡¯s neck and deleted the final sliver of his HP. "Ahh¡­" An insane amount of blood poured from the wound on his neck. Dropping to his knees and staring blankly at the distance, he murmured, "I¡¯m sorry, Purple Gr.a.p.e Empire. I can no longer defend your glory!" "You can guard it in hell!" I seized Duke Auneau¡¯s hair and swung my sword one last time. The next moment, I was gripping his severed head and reading a system notice¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You have killed the regent of Ice River Canton, "Duke Auneau the King of Ice River¡±. You may use his head to obtain the city¡¯s inheritance and turn Ice River Canton into a vassal city of Sky City, or destroy Duke Auneau¡¯s throne and turn it into a masterless city! ¡­¡­ My hesitation only lasted for an instant. I raced up the steps and pierced the huge gem embedded above the throne. The next moment, all the buildings in Ice Rive Canton started crumbling, and the city turned into abandoned ruins! ¡­¡­ After that, I got up my mount and ordered, "Alright, you guys teleport back to Sky City now! I¡¯ll follow you after I rescue Du Thirteen and the others!" Got it!" Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon were wise and unhesitating people. They immediately crushed their return scrolls and teleported back to Sky City. Gui Guzi was the only one who remained and said, "I¡¯ll come with you, Boss Broken Halberd!" ¡°No, you should return to the city immediately. Don¡¯t worry, I still have an invincibility skill left!" "Fine¡­" ¡­¡­ I raced out of the palace hall just in time to see Du Thirteen, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and dozens of surviving Dragonlight Cavalrymen riding my way. They were all close to death, and they were being pursued by Red Maple and several thousand Wildfire Riders. Chapter 1019: Godslaying Blade "Motherf.u.c.ker!" I threw the Purple Ying Sword at the pursuers. The cyclone of energy circled behind Du Thirteen, High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun perfectly, protecting their backs and knocking back the dozen or so Wildfire Riders who were trying to give chase. Some also died to critical hits or triggered quintuple-damage passive. My Agility wasn¡¯t too bad, and overall I had about a 20+% critical hit rate, or a one in five chance to trigger a critical hit. It certainly wasn¡¯t an insignificant amount of critical chance. "Ahhhh¡­" All the Wildfire Riders who died to my attack wouldn¡¯t be able to set foot in Purple Gr.a.p.e City domain until the Nation War was over. Speaking of which, so many players were gathered at White Rose Fortress¡ªthere were at least tens of millions of them¡ªthat the system had named this Nation War the "War of Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡±.The reason it wasn¡¯t called the "War of Sky City" was because White Rose Fortress was the only Sky City location that was destroyed, and Floating Ice City was categorized as a neutral territory after it was abandoned. Red Maple was within range of my Coiling Dragon Revolution as well, but he responded by jumping off his mount and bending his body until he resembled a drawn bow. The moment the sword drew close, he lashed out like lightning and actually managed to parry the skill successfully. In that moment, his APM had jumped over 600, and he was able to hit the Purple Ying Sword on the hilt. It was an astounding feat. Chiang! As a result, my Purple Ying Sword only traveled half the distance before it was canceled and sent flying back into my hands. However, Red Maple himself was sent rolling across the ground. I was mounted when I unleashed Coiling Dragon Revolution and Red Maple wasn¡¯t, so it made sense that my Strength would far surpass his. My mount let out a long neigh as I raced down the stairs of the abandoned palace and caught the returning Purple Ying Sword. Then, I executed War Crush and killed 5 Wildfire Riders who had tried to run past me. There was no way they could survive the skill without Guarding. "Thirteen, Fighting Spirits, You and Yun, return to the city now while I keep them busy!" I ordered. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun responded by activating Flying General and hastening everyone¡¯s movement speed to ungodly levels. After they entered the palace hall, they took out their return scrolls and crushed it in their hands. It would only take a few seconds for the teleport spell to complete and return them all to Sky City safe and sound. ¡­¡­ Furious, Red Maple raised his sword and ordered, "Archers, interrupt their channeling with Far Shot! Don¡¯t let the destroyers of Ice River Canton slip out of our grasp! We¡¯ve already lost enough face as it is!" The archers behind the formation immediately raised their bows. Fifty or so Wildfire Riders immediately acted to flank me, channeling Barrier Breaks even before they got within range. It was obvious that they planned to end my life with the skill. Not only that, the closest magic knights to me threw Trapping Nets at me as well. Pa pa pa¡­ I remained perfectly calm despite the dire situation. In my head, I was no longer seeing the scene the game was showing me, but some sort of bird-eye¡¯s view that showed the enemy¡¯s location and the Trapping Nets¡¯ casting time, trajectory and final landing spot. I reacted accordingly and dodged all the Trapping Nets with a series of dashes and zigzagging movements. I even had the leisure to channel Burning Blade Slash, make a sudden turn toward the enemy that cut right beneath their skills before unleashing its devastating, fiery energy at them. I could see the shock in the eyes of the Wildfire Riders in front of me. They couldn¡¯t believe that I would be so bold as to execute a maneuver right beneath their noses, especially when a single misstep could mean certain death. That was why Burning Blade Slash landed perfectly and elicited a chorus of death screams instantly. My equipment was powerful, I had Martial God turned on, and my stats were further enhanced by my cards. Moreover, the Wildfire Riders hadn¡¯t expected me to countercharge them so quickly and so weren¡¯t Guarding at all. As a result, everyone who was even touched by my skill was dead. Considering my current Attack, it would be strange if they survived. Another group of souls floated into the air and flew away. They wouldn¡¯t be able to enter Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s domain until the Nation War was over. In fact, because Japan only had one main city, they were ejected from the game by force and couldn¡¯t even log back into the game. Whoosh! A blast of fire hit me from the sides, and I wasn¡¯t in a position to dodge or defend myself against the attack. As a result, I lost 59023 HP. Realizing the danger I was in, I swung my weapon in a spiral pattern before I even turned around to face my attacker. Chiang chiang! Two colliding sparks appeared in midair. Somehow, I was able to parry the two follow-up slashes and protect myself from further damage. Astonishment flashed across Red Maple¡¯s features. He couldn¡¯t believe that I was able to parry two out of three hits of his Fire God Flurry without looking. Astonished he might be, he didn¡¯t let it stop him from following up with Barrier Break. The attack was simple, but his chosen angle was sound, and the skill gave its target less than 0.15 seconds to react. Most of the time, it was the straightforward, reliable skills that won the day, not the fancy ones. No wonder he was always able to catch High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun off-guard again and again. I bent down a little before bringing my sword upward, knocking Red Maple¡¯s Barrier Break into the air before it could hit me. It was a speed versus speed battle, and I was all for it. I brought my sword back down in a mighty swing that caused him to stumble to the back. Before he could react, I opened my palm and channeled God Binding Art! "Protect me!" Red Maple shouted as he aimed his palm at me as well and fired his Divine General Skill, Maple Kill and Wind Blade Cyclone. Red Maple was too fast, and I still had to weave in and out a rain of Trapping Nets. I had no choice but to let the skills tear through my body. 98773! 72622! My HP dipped below 30%, but God Binding Art also landed and trapped Red Maple in place. He wouldn¡¯t be able to move for a while now. "Protect the guild leader now!" A group of God¡¯s Domain players immediately surrounded Red Maple from all sides. My Coiling Dragon Revolution, Dragon Slaying Slash and Ancient Seal most likely wouldn¡¯t be enough to kill the heaven¡¯s warrior, not to mention he was buffed by high-level bards and being healed by many priests. It would be ridiculously difficult to kill him even if he was immobile. "Red Maple!" That didn¡¯t mean I couldn¡¯t try to score one last optional objective before I left though. If I could slay the number one player of the Japan server right here, it would be a huge morale blow to Purple Gr.a.p.e City. Without their spiritual leader, there was little chance the city would be able to withstand our iron hooves. I charged straight toward Red Maple. I raised my arm, and light flashed from my ring for an instant. An apparition immediately appeared next to me. The Phantom Wolf King, the apparition and myself charged toward Red Maple from three different directions. I was controlling all three units including myself because the next couple of moves would require some measure of control. My apparition and I used Coiling Dragon Revolution + Dragon Slaying Slash, except I also used Ancient Seal in the end. The Phantom Wolf King also fired Purgatory Storm at Red Maple! BOOM BOOM BOOM! A series of explosions took place as six skills hit the area Red Maple was standing in. When the dust cleared, all the Wildfire Riders trying to protect him were dead! Unfortunately, Red Maple was still alive with less than 10% HP left. He was obviously Guarding, and he was being healed constantly by the priests at the back. A new group of God¡¯s Domain players including the JGL Hall of Famers Red Hot Vortex and Cyan Frost were rushing to their leader¡¯s aid as well. Thanks to Dark Pupils, I also spotted the super assassin Purple Thunder stealthing his way to me from 25 yards away as well. It wouldn¡¯t be fun to fight all of them at the same time! Pa! A Trapping Net abruptly hit me and immobilized me for a short time. Red Maple immediately shouted, "Kill him now!" Too bad for him, I still had an invincibility skill called Divine Dragon Protection I could use. A golden shield manifested from the Dragon God Shield and surrounded me, making me invulnerable for 25 seconds. "You!" Red Maple¡¯s eyes were bloodshot, and his teeth looked like they would break under pressure. But instead of giving in to his anger, he chose to withdraw further into the back and put as many bodies between myself and him, just in case I felt tempted to kill him while I was still invincible. It didn¡¯t look like I had much of a chance to succeed, so I crushed a return scroll and shot them one last smile at the stunned Purple Gr.a.p.e City players. "Some of you probably think that China is in decline right now. Let this be the proof that we can take Purple Gr.a.p.e City anytime we want to. You think you can lay a hand on us? Just wait, retribution will fall upon all of you!" Swhoosh! I dissolved into white light and vanished from Ice River Canton right after I said that. The next moment, I was back at the square of Sky City. ¡­¡­ Beep! Hot and Sour Noodles sent me a message: "Congratulations Lu Chen, hahaha! I saw the system announcement. To think that you would be able to raid Ice River Canton! I have to say that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has pleasantly surprised me yet again! When this war is over, I¡¯ll definitely ask the CGL committee to reward you. Once again, well f.u.c.k.i.n.g done, hahaha!" Warsky also sent me a message: "Haha, well done!" After I had replied to all the congratulatory messages, I looked around and saw my Famous Generals and Dragonlight Cavalry standing in position at the square of Sky City and waiting to set off to their next destination already. It was at this moment we received yet another system announcement¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "From Water" (Sky City) has acc.u.mulated enough Kill Points to learn the Great Earth Transformation and become the eleventh Divine General of China! They have gained 200/200 Divine Energy Points, Luck +1, Tactics +1, and an exclusive Divine General Skill, "Godslaying Blade"! Godslaying Blade: Summons a Godslaying Blade into one¡¯s weapon. Splash effect is increased by 50%, Attack is increased by 150%, and attack range is increased by 20 yards. Skill exclusive to From Water. Chapter 1020: Qiu Beast Cavalry Everyone looked up at the exact same time. Holy shit, He Yi became a Divine General? Who would¡¯ve thought that she would fulfill the requirement to become a Divine General during the Nation War? Everyone in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls rejoiced at the news. It was important for a guild to have a powerful guild leader, and to have one who was a Divine General was a morale boost few feats could compare. Godslaying Blade was a Divine General Skill that increased weapon damage and attack range, making it the same type as Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s Ice Stream Blade. As long as the Divine General Skill was active, every basic attack and skill He Yi unleashed would be 20 yards farther and deal 50% splash damage. I could already imagine how useful it would be in a charge! ¡­¡­ "Haha, the guild leader ascended! She¡¯s amazing!" Li Chengfeng guffawed. Gui Guzi licked her lips. "That she is. By the way, does anyone know how many Kill Points it takes to become a Divine General? I want it too¡­" Chaos Moon answered, "I think it¡¯s¡­ 5000 players. If you kill 5000 players, you¡¯ll be qualified to learn a Divine General Skill. However, the trigger chance is super low, or more players would¡¯ve become Divine Generals already¡­" I smiled. "You hear that, everyone? Kill more enemies, and you¡¯ll not only earn Nation War contribution points but can also become a Divine General! Isn¡¯t that amazing?" A round of hearty laughter later, Li Chengfeng asked me, "What should we do now, Lu Chen?" "We¡¯ll be returning to White Rose Fortress, but please tally our casualties before that. We should also post some guards at Sky Ridge. We cannot let it fall back into the enemy¡¯s hands. Who knows, maybe we''ll get another chance to perform a mission like this." "Understood!" A while later, Chaos Moon walked up to me and reported with a smile, "Our casualties are negligible. We didn¡¯t lose more than 200 Dragonlight Archers, so we still have 5000+ in total. We did lose around 400+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen at Ice River Canton, but Dark Moon City has duplicated another 500 Dragonscale Beasts in recent days, so we really still have 14k+ Dragonlight Cavalry that can be deployed in Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s domain." I nodded before saying, "I think we lost about 1000 Dragonlight Cavalry in total in Ice River Canton and White Rose Fortress combined. Please organize these people, make one of them the leader, and have them patrol around Sky Ridge. They might not be able to join the assault on Purple Gr.a.p.e City, but they can still protect Sky City from danger." "Mn, got it. That¡¯s very careful of you!" I s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath and gazed toward the distance. F.u.c.k, it doesn¡¯t look like this Nation War is ending anytime soon! ¡­¡­ "Yeah, what¡¯s wrong?" She blinked once before reporting, "Lian Xin just informed me that our forces¡­ have achieved a total victory at the ruined White Rose Fortress!" "Oh, really?" I was a bit surprised to be honest. "White Rose Fortress is overseen by Snowy Cathaya, Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Righteousness and Blazing Hot Lips, right? I thought it would take them at least another 10 hours to finish. How did they achieve total victory in such a short time?" "I don¡¯t know either. Let¡¯s check the forums together, shall we?" "Mn!" Before that though, I unsheathed my weapon and pointed in the direction of White Rose Fortress. "Ancient Sword, advance! Our destination, White Rose Fortress! It¡¯s time we met up with our brothers and sisters!" As my troops set off toward White Rose Fortress, I set my character to follow behind Beiming Xue. I had a great time admiring the view of her mini skirt fluttering up and down until she turned around with a bright smile on her face. "Where are you looking, big bro?!" I withdrew my gaze and straightened my back. "Nowhere? I¡¯m checking out the forums as you say¡­" This time, I didn¡¯t allow myself to be distracted and brought up the forums. Threads about the war with Purple Gr.a.p.e City were everywhere, and stickied at the top were two threads that were updated in real time by the on-site journalists¡ª "Invincible Divine General Lu Chen Magically Passes Through Dragon Bone Mountain Range and Flattens Ice River Canton With Ten Thousand Cavalry" ¡°An hour ago, the frontline reported that the Little Heavenly King, Lu Chen, 5000 Dragonlight Cavalry and 5000 Dragonlight Archers had somehow passed through the impassable Dragonbone Mountain Range and attacked the tier 2 city of Purple Gr.a.p.e City, Ice River Canton. Even better, they were able to destroy it despite facing pressure from Ice River Canton¡¯s players and nearly 100000-strong reinforcements from God¡¯s Domain and Cyan Beast. Once again, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had done the unimaginable after defeating God¡¯s Domain 100000 elites at Wild Pheasant Ridge. There is even a trending saying among the players that goes something like this: The China server is lucky to be blessed with Lu Chen and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!¡± "White Rose Fortress Decisive Battle, Candlelight Shadow Reveals New Qiu Beast Cavalry and Destroys Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s United Army" During the battle at Frost Forest of Floating Ice City, Candle Dragon¡¯s Viper Dragoons had fought against God¡¯s Domain Wildfire Riders and suffered a devastating defeat. Even before this, many people thought that Candle Dragon¡¯s dynasty was coming to an end, and that a comeback was no longer possible. That lasted until Candlelight Shadow revealed a whole new cavalry troop consisting of Level 180 Spirit Rank Boss mounts, the Qiu Beast Cavalry. According to the info sprinkled here and there on the forums, Qiu Beast Cavalry¡¯s stats were only 25% lower than our Dragonscale Beasts¡¯, and they had a skill called Qiu Beast¡¯s Rage that increased its user¡¯s stats by 9% all across the board. The thread reported: ¡°During the decisive battle of White Rose Fortress, Candle Dragon dispatched all 25k+ Qiu Beast Cavalry it possessed and punched through the defensive formation made up of the sixth, seventh and ninth guilds on Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s Guild Ranking, slaying hundreds of thousands of enemies and cementing their reputation from the get-go. Not only that, China¡¯s troops were able to gain about 5 km worth of ground into Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s domain. Even now, the focus of the war is slowly shifting from defending our homeland to invading the hinterlands of Purple Gr.a.p.e City. The Qiu Beast Cavalry¡¯s role in this battle cannot be understated, but Candlelight Shadow¡¯s strategy was one the main reasons the decisive battle had been as one-sided as it was as well. The Martial God had seesawed the enemy¡¯s army to bits and showed us the power of the old king of China. After the battle was won, many people believed that the prophecy of Lonely Grave¡ª"If anyone is able to command Candlelight Shadow or Falling Dust, the virtual world is theirs to take"¡ªhas finally come true. Now that the Little Heavenly King and the Martial God have joined hands, there is surely a chance we may conquer Purple Gr.a.p.e City!¡± ¡­¡­ I s.u.c.k.e.d my teeth a little after reading everything. Who the f.u.c.k was the idiot who wrote these articles? Candlelight Shadow and I, joining hands? Hmph! Unless there came a day where both Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Candle Dragon were tethering on the brink of collapse, we would never work together with each other. At the very least, the Candlelight Shadow I knew would never truly consider joining hands with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. He was the kind of ruthless bastard who wouldn¡¯t hesitate to destroy us and Purple Gr.a.p.e City together if such an opportunity were to present itself, just like the time he had attempted to wipe out Warsky Alliance during the War of Dawn City. The 25k+ Qiu Beast Cavalry had slain hundreds of thousands of enemies with minimum losses, winning back much of the popularity Candle Dragon had lost since the start of Heavenblessed. Instead of giving up after a string of failures, Candlelight Shadow had chosen to suffer patiently while using every trick in his book to increase his own power. Like it or not, it was the mark of a true champion. I brought up the search engine and searched for the exact details of the Qiu Beast Cavalry. It didn¡¯t take long. The Qiu Beast was an earth dragon mount that looked like a horse. It lived underground, but it possessed an unnaturally high movement speed. A leveling party of Candle Dragon had discovered a cave leading to its underground lair at the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range, and upon learning the news Candlelight Shadow had immediately dispatched his Viper Dragoons to monopolize the map and farm the Qiu Beasts. In just a week, they were able to capture almost all the Kui Beasts there were in the map and produced over 25000 Qiu Beast Cavalrymen. And how did it perform? Well, their success in this Nation War was the answer. Riding not far away from me, Li Chengfeng licked his lips and said, "Have you read the thread on Candle Dragon and the Qiu Beast Cavalry, Lu Chen?" "Yep." I nodded. "Just finished, actually. What is your opinion on this, Chengfeng?" Li Chengfeng smiled. "The Viper Dragoons were a first generation of cavalry, so it was only a matter of time before they replaced it like how we replaced our Dragonlight Armored Horses and Cyan Battle Tigers. We aren¡¯t the only ones who will be replacing our cavalry either. I¡¯m sure Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance, Purple Lily, Blazing Hot Lips and more are secretly developing their second-generation cavalries as well. But of course, luck plays a lot of factor here. By the way, did you know that your Beauty Lin just developed a new cavalry?" I exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, I didn¡¯t know that. What is it called?" "Kui Dragon Cavalry!" "Kui Dragon? Is it some type of an actual dragon?" "No, no, it¡¯s just a beast with similar traits." Kui Dragon (High-rank Mount) Level: 180 Rank: Spirit Rank Boss Introduction: The Kui Dragon looks like a war bull that is covered in tough scales. On land, it grows four hooves that allow it to travel at high speed. In water, the hooves will be replaced by fins. Its form also changes to resemble a horned dragon. ¡­¡­ "Holy shit, an amphibian mount?" I stared. Li Chengfeng laughed. "Seriously, your girl is amazing. I cannot even begin to imagine where she found these mounts, and she¡¯s got 12000 of them! Already, the elite cavalrymen of Snowy Cathaya are replacing their Purple Dragons with it." Chapter 1021: Campaign Against Dong Zhuo I had to hide to my surprise. The world was ruled by the law of natural selection, and Lin Yixin, the Fruit Knife Goddess, knew this better than most people. That was why she did everything she could to develop a new unit for her guild. She knew that continuous innovation was the only real way to solidify and maintain Snowy Cathaya¡¯s position in the Center. A short while later, we arrived at the ruins of White Rose Fortress. It was currently jam-packed with players. The place was a pile of broken rubble right now, but at least we had retaken it from the enemy. I spurred my mount forward and declared loudly with a smile, "Friends of Sky City, can you please move out of the way for a bit? Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ cavalry would like to go to the front and meet up with their main guild. Thank you!" The nearest crowd turned around and saw me, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and many more famous players trotting toward them. Following right behind us were elite Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers. Not all of the players crowding the canyon were first-rate players. In fact, this was the first time the majority of them met us inside the game. A loud commotion broke out as a result¡ª An uncle tamer commented with a smile, "Look, it¡¯s Lu Chen! It¡¯s really him!" Standing next to him was a star-struck 17-year-old girl. "Yeah, and he looks pretty handsome too, heehee! Ooh, Legendary Brave is pretty handsome too, Gui Guzi is so cute, High Fighting Spirits¡­ is too muscular for me. No, no, he won¡¯t do... Amazing Expert is worse though. His gaze is so lecherous. Disgusting¡­" While the girl was salivating at the boys, the boy next to him was salivating at Beiming Xue. "Wa, it¡¯s Beiming Xue, the number one archer, no, mounted archer, of the entire China server! Tsk tsk, the leather mini skirt beneath her cloak is so beautiful, and her legs are so long and white¡­" "Pooh, shameless boy!" A brawny warrior slapped him in the face. "Beiming Xue looks way too young for my liking. Chaos Moon though, her waist is thin, her h.i.p.s are wide, and her b.r.e.a.s.ts are huge! She¡¯s the perfect model of the big sister type! That smile especially, ah, I think I¡¯m going to fall in love..." "You say that and you call me shameless!?" ¡­¡­ We passed through the players without pause and galloped at full speed for almost 5 minutes. As we entered the domain of Purple Gr.a.p.e City, I noted that wherever one looked at the plains, there were signs of trampling. More than half of the grass was dead. Heaven only knew how many cavalry battles it had taken for the once-green plains to become like this. Moreover, the field was covered in bodies and small potions that no one picked up because they obviously belonged to players between Level 120 to Level 150. The system hadn¡¯t despawned them yet. I also noticed that there wasn¡¯t a single Wildfire Rider to be found among the corpses, meaning that the 200000 enemies Candle Dragon defeated were really just cannon fodder, second-rate players, and their victory wasn¡¯t really as epic as was described in the forums. That being said, the strength of the Qiu Beast Cavalry was unquestionable. They were one of this Nation War¡¯s key armies for sure. Another short while later, we saw a group of players riding toward us. Their leader was none other than the sweet and beautiful He Yi. Clad in cyan armor and riding the Dragonscale Beast, she shot me a smile and said, "Welcome home, Lu Chen, everyone. Good job on taking out Ice River Canton! Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, you guys did amazing as well, hehe¡­" The grunts immediately replied embarrassedly, "Nah, we didn¡¯t really do that much, it¡¯s all thanks to our brothers and sisters giving it their all!" I praised Eve, "You did well too, Eve, and that Godslaying Blade you just picked up is the proof of that! Now that you can use Great Earth Transformation, you are without a doubt one of the super core players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! You¡¯ll be able to lead a cavalry of your own just like me and Li Chengfeng from now on!" He Yi beamed like sweet honey, and her eyes curled like crescent moons at my praise. She said cheerfully, "Mn mn, I look forward to it. With Great Earth Transformation and Godslaying Blade, I¡¯m sure I won¡¯t be a burden to anyone anymore!" "Very cool¡­" I asked, "So, what is the current battle situation, Eve?" "Oh, I don¡¯t think I can answer that properly. Follow me, I¡¯ll lead the way to command." "Mn." The command camp was set on a 200-meter-tall hill surrounded by low-lying flat grounds on Dragonbone Mountain Range. Sky City¡¯s elite players including Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ 100000 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen were standing by at this location. Although the Cyan Tiger Cavalry was far weaker than the Dragonlight Cavalry, their numbers were great enough to pose a sizable threat to the enemy. After I, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Chaos Moon and more climbed to the peak of the hill, we saw a couple hundred players gathered together and speaking to one another. All the leaders and vice leaders of the noteworthy guilds in Sky City, Wind City and Vanished God City were here. "Ah, you¡¯re back, Lu Chen!" Hot and Sour Noodles walked up to us with a smile. "Thank you for your hard work!" I nodded. "It¡¯s fine. How is the battle situation, uncle?" Zhang Chun pointed a finger at the giant plains in front of us before saying, "Around 9 million of our players have entered this section of the plains and formed a cone-shaped attack surface. They are currently fighting against Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s players right now. Candle Dragon¡¯s Qiu Beast Cavalry have mounted a couple of charges before you arrived, and they¡¯re currently in the middle of resting. Finally, we¡¯re planning to harass the enemy and disrupt their rhythm by focusing our strength on one point of the enemy¡¯s defense line at a time. "Hinterlands? I wonder¡­" I said. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by that?" I slowly walked to the cliff facing toward the plains before unraveling the giant map that was Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s domain in the air. After putting the map of the plains and the map of Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s domain together, I tapped on a couple of marked points of interest and explained, "These plains are a huge map enveloping several different maps. One such example is the Lost Forest that lies in the north. That map is incredibly complex, impossible to overcome in a short time, and an easy location to set up ambushes, so I would advise that we avoid it completely. Sunset Basin, the map bordering Lost Forest is not a good choice either. The land there is lower than normal and can turn into a lake whenever there¡¯s a downpour. If we try to march through there, it is entirely possible that the enemy will try to flood us. In fact, I¡¯m fairly certain that the reason we were able to enter the plains with barely any resistance was because our enemies wanted us to! They¡¯re trying to lead us into a death trap!" The declaration caused a shiver among the group. While Warsky, Luo River God of the Capital and Stranger of Three Lifetimes looked thoughtful, Candlelight Shadow questioned me, "Are you trying to scare us, Lu Chen? We¡¯ll soon invade Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s domain with tens of millions of players, or even a hundred million players. How can they possibly entrap us?" I smiled placatingly. "Allow me to finish. Yes, we have superior numbers, but the terrain we¡¯re at isn¡¯t exactly conducive to that advantage. Have you guys scouted the mountains next to White Rose Fortress for hidden armies? White Rose Fortress is a tiny entrance, so it won¡¯t take much effort to seal it and cut off our forward army¡¯s path of retreat. Our numbers advantage will be useless because we¡¯ll be limited by the bottleneck." Candlelight Shadow looked astonished. Hot and Sour Noodles immediately ordered, "Four, send all our assassins into the forests next to White Rose Fortress right now! And find out what the Top 50 guilds of Purple Gr.a.p.e City are doing!" I barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I knew that there was a chance they would grow lax after the huge victory Candle Dragon won with the Qiu Beast Cavalry, and I was right. Even the usually cautious Zhang Chun was underestimating the enemy. Thankfully, I had scouted both mountains with Dark Pupils when I was making my way over. As far as I was aware, only a small number of Japanese players were hiding in those mountains. Next, I pointed at the red mass of enemies on the plains and said, "See this? Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s players look like they¡¯re losing, but their formation is solid, and they¡¯re locking down our entire frontline. We need to solve this as soon as possible, or I guarantee you that they¡¯ll move their long-range war machines over¡ªeven something as basic as a ballistae will be enough¡ªand give us hell. Remember, they don¡¯t need to beat our whole army. All they need to do is to hold out for 72 hours, and they¡¯ll win this Nation War." Hot and Sour Noodles nodded deeply. "Mn. You are as sharp as always, Lu Chen." Hegemon Palace¡¯s Wang Dongliang nodded in agreement. "I agree. So what if their defense is solid? In a few hours, we will have enough men to blow it aside like wet tissue. Breaking through was never an issue." I curled my lips. "I¡¯m just trying to minimize our casualties. Did you conveniently forget that we still have Cyan Earth City and Elephant City to worry about? It so happens that these two main cities are exactly to the left and right side of this plains too. Can you say we can absolutely win even if we¡¯re attacked from three sides?" This time, it was Blue Sky Scar who sneered, "Why are you even in this business if you¡¯re scared of everything?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes erupted, "Are you listening to yourself? Can you even imagine what would happen if we lost all our main forces to a reckless charge? At the very least, I know you can¡¯t bear the responsibility! Pooh!" Roaming Dragon interrupted, "If we can¡¯t arrive at an agreement, we might as well split up and do whatever the hell we want!" ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng suddenly laughed out loud before swearing, "This is a f.u.c.k.i.n.g joke. I don¡¯t know about the others, but I know you people will never be able to conquer Purple Gr.a.p.e City at least!" Wang Dongliang glared at him. "What the hell did you say, Legendary Brave?" Li Chengfeng glared right back as he replied, "Your ugliness reminds me of the campaign against Dong Zhuo. The eighteen warlords had joined hands not because they wanted to rid the scourge that was Dong Zhuo, but because they wanted to serve their own interests in some way. That coalition had ended in unhappy dissolution, and I¡¯m not seeing a future for this coalition either. All I have to say is this: Can you hopeless idiots come up with one proper justification to refute Lu Chen¡¯s sound logic? Just one! If yes, feel free to share it with us right now. If not then shut the hell up, you f.u.c.k.i.n.g idiots!" Chapter 1022: The Impassable Great Wall "Can everyone be quiet for a moment and listen to me?" Hot and Sour Noodles waited until the commotion quieted before continuing, "Right now, we have over 100 powerful guilds in Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s domain. This Nation War may be far more difficult than any of us can imagine. We must remain united if we are to win this, okay?" Candlelight Shadow asked, "What are your thoughts, Zhang Chun?" Hot and Sour Noodles thought for a moment before answering, "As mentioned earlier, many of us don¡¯t share the same opinion. In that case, splitting up our army may be for the best. The first route to Purple Gr.a.p.e City is through Lost Forest, the ruined Ice River Canton, and Fallen Moon Ridge. The second route is through the Impassable Great Wall, Swallow Ear Canton, and Wildfire Plains. The third route is¡ªactually, I shouldn¡¯t suggest this because even I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good idea." Li Le, the guild leader of Flower Room stepped out and said, "Tell us anyway. Which route are you talking about?" "It¡¯s the one through Sunset Basin. The map is only a couple hundred kilometers wide, and with luck, the army can arrive at Purple Gr.a.p.e City in ten hours or earlier. It¡¯s the fastest route for sure, but it¡¯s also the most dangerous. Personally¡­ I don¡¯t suggest anyone use this route." "Is that so?" Li Le raised his eyebrows. "I think it¡¯s a good route though. Sunset Basin is just a leveling map, and it leads straight to Purple Gr.a.p.e City! It would save so much scheming and plotting!" However, Lin Yixin grabbed my hand and said with a smile, "It¡¯s fine, let them leave! It¡¯s not like it will matter if they all die!" "Lin Yixin, you!" Li Le had always coveted Lin Yixin, and now, the woman of his dreams just shamed him in front of everyone. Unable to withstand the shame, he raised his sword and yelled, "I, Li Le, am a man who¡¯s willing to do the extreme if it means being able to claim vengeance for our brethren! Remember the humiliation our brethren suffered at Floating Ice City? Remember the beautiful girls of Twelve Musicians who were ravaged again and again by those bastards!? This debt can only be repaid with blood, and if I must die in Sunset Basin to do so then so be it! Who else is willing to enter Sunset Basin with Flower Room?" A commotion broke out for a couple of seconds. Then, four guild leaders stepped into the open. Their guilds were ranked somewhere between 50th and 200th rank. They weren¡¯t particularly big or small. More importantly, they were all Flower Room¡¯s allies. "Young Master Le, we will march forth to Sunset Basin with you! Death is preferable to staying here and doing nothing!" One of the guild leaders, an axe-wielding guy, shot me a challenging look and said, "Hmph, to think that a super guild of Sky City would act this cowardly. How shameful!" I gritted my teeth but didn¡¯t want to stoop to his level. Lin Yixin though had no qualms pulling out her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and pointing it at the guy¡¯s nose threateningly. "What did you just say? Care to repeat it? Purple Marquis, Nangong Lexi, ready the Kui Dragon Cavalry for an assault on the Nether Ring guild now!" The guy immediately turned purple. "What¡­ what is the meaning of this, Fruit Knife?" "Hmph!" The man let out a cold snort before turning around and riding down the hill. Then, he raised his arm and called out, "Nether Ring and Flower Room have decided to enter Sunset Basin and launch a frontal assault on the Japanese! Anyone who wishes to take the fight to the enemy is free to join us!" A lot of guilds were moved by the passionate cry and moved to join Flower Room. Not only that, a laughing Li Le paid 5000 RMB to send out system announcement¡ª Ding~! System Notice (Player Young Master Le Shout): The Japanese have humiliated us at Floating Ice City. Today, Flower Room will cross through Sunset Basin and strike at the hinterlands of Purple Gr.a.p.e City directly! If you are a man or woman of blood, join us! The mobs may be as powerful as the enemy is cunning, but together, we will show them the might of the Chinese! ¡­¡­ Many hot-blooded guilds immediately took the bait and joined the army to attack Sunset Basin. Almost half of the army garrisoned beneath the hill and many of the Chinese players still emerging from White Rose Fortress right now joined up with them as well. I stood on the hill and looked as far as I could. In just a moment, countless people had surged into Sunset Basin and vanished into the horizon. "F.u.c.k¡­" Candlelight Shadow uttered through gritted teeth as well. "That motherf.u.c.ker took at least ten million players with him, and now there¡¯s barely enough troops left for the rest of us! Shit!" Hot and Sour Noodles looked at the remaining guild leaders and vice leaders. "Well? Which route do you guys wish to follow?" Warsky replied first. "I choose the Lost Forest route. We should be able to reach Purple Gr.a.p.e City sooner since Ice River Canton has already fallen. We can even post troops along the road and ambush the Indian players from Elephant City." Candlelight Shadow also nodded. "Candle Dragon will follow this route as well!" It didn¡¯t take long for everyone to come to a decision. Soul Battle Robes, Pop Culture, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, Throne Seeker, Fate, Dirge of War, Thunder, Wings of Awakening, and Silver Soul all chose to advance to Purple Gr.a.p.e City through Lost Forest. Their reasoning was simple. Ice River Canton had already been destroyed by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ cavalry, so it was the path of least resistance. ¡­¡­ While this was going on, I stared at the long defense fortification that sat in between the valleys at the horizon. The Impassable Great Wall was at least a hundred meters tall and too high for a basic siege tower to reach. The terrain was greatly advantageous toward the defenders, and a huge number of enemy super guilds were garrisoned there. It was obvious that they were planning to defend the fortification until the end. "Sometimes some things have to be done." I smiled a bit before declaring, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will be attacking the Impassable Great Wall!" Lin Yixin smiled wryly and said, "I knew it. Oh well, Snowy Cathaya chooses to attack the Impassable Great Wall as well. Let us crush their defense head-on!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Luo River God of the Capital, Ling Xueshang and Indigo Collar all volunteered to attack the Impassable Great Wall. Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon, Sword Lord of Jianghu, Gods of Destruction and even Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ Righteousness would be attacking it as well. The fortification must go because it was the umbrella of Purple Gr.a.p.e City, and there was nothing more demoralizing than to lose something you thought could never lose. We were all happy to hit Purple Gr.a.p.e City in the most painful way imaginable. ¡­¡­ "Alright, let¡¯s go! Make sure to stay in contact with one another, and don¡¯t split up the army any further!" Hot and Sour Noodles said. "Mn." He Yi, Lin Yixin and I rode down the hill together. Our guilds were already waiting for us. I looked to the horizon again. I could almost smell the scent of gunpowder in the air. Many Japanese players had given up on fighting us on the plains and withdrawn into the Impassable Great Wall already. Many more crushed their return scrolls outright and returned to Purple Gr.a.p.e City before teleporting to the Impassable Great Wall. Lin Yixin raised her sword and ordered, "Kui Dragon Cavalry, we ride to the Impassable Great Wall at full speed! With luck, we may be able to seize the fortification in one go!" Snowy Cathaya¡¯s army abruptly split up to admit a troop of well-armored cavalry. Their mounts looked like iron bulls with earth dragon scales. They were of course the new cavalry Snowy Cathaya had spent many days creating, the Kui Dragon Cavalry. Led by Purple Marquis himself, all 12000+ Kui Dragon Cavalrymen charged toward the Impassable Great Wall as their beautiful guild leader commanded. He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and the rest of the Dragonlight Cavalry stopped resting and mounted up. Together with Snowy Cathaya, Purple Lily, Blazing Hot Lips and everyone else¡¯s cavalries, we rode toward the Impassable Great Wall like a storm. ¡­¡­ The closer we got to the fortification, the colder the weather became. In fact, I could see that the upper part of the fortification was frozen in ice. Even if we managed to climb to the top somehow, the walls could be too slippery to hold onto. Anyway, we all received a system notice after we passed through the border¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You have entered the Impassable Great Wall¡¯s domain! Map Description: The Impassable Great Wall is a super fortification built by the kind and hardworking eastern hill dwarves during the Ice Age to repel the devils. Over tens of kilometers in length, the structure connects Sunset Basin and Frost Flame Mountain Range together. The area around the Impassable Great Wall is unnaturally cold because it was built atop a Source of Ice. Just by pouring clear water onto the stones, the dwarves were able to create an ice fortress of unimaginable toughness in a single night. The Impassable Great Wall has never fallen to any invader since its creation. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before we caught up to the Purple Gr.a.p.e City players who failed to escape to the Great Wall in time. A contribution point saved is a contribution point earned, so of course I acted to kill them. Crack! Riding parallel to me were my comrades¡ªHe Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and more¡ªand Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis, Lifetaking Sword. Everyone was charging and killing with impunity until we finally reached the foot of the fortification. A hint of astonishment flashed across Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes as he looked up. "F.u.c.k, this wall has got to be 100 meters tall at least. Not even our archers can Far Shot all the way up there. What should we do?" I pointed at the gate not far away from our position. "It¡¯s simple! We just need to breach that hundred-meter-wide gate!" Xu Yang s.u.c.k.e.d at his teeth. "Easy for you to say! That damn gate is at least 5 meters thick! Can you breach it?" I replied with a serious nod, "Of course not¡­" Lin Yixin rolled her eyes. "Not the time for jokes, people. The gate¡¯s closing¡­" "F.u.c.k¡­" Chapter 1023: Cloudpiercing Claw "Shut the gate now! The enemy must not be allowed to come inside!" On the wall, Red Maple was growling at the guild leader of another guild. "No time for hesitation! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ cavalry is too strong. If they¡¯re allowed to enter the gate area, there¡¯s a chance they may take control of it and doom us all! And that is before even mentioning Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Wind Fantasy and Legendary Brave are among them! Don¡¯t tell me we can deal with it, they¡¯ve more than proven themselves during the WEL!" However, the guild leader pointed at the Japanese players who were still outside the gate and pleaded, "I can¡¯t, Red Maple! At least thirty thousand people of my guild are still outside the Wall! If we shut it now, none of them will survive! I can¡¯t let them down like this!" Red Maple pulled out his sword and threatened, "Just tell them to find an opportunity to use a return scroll, and if they fail then so be it! Are you a man or not? Do you know how much resources we put into the Impassable Great Wall during the design stage of Heavenblessed? You cannot possibly expect us to throw all that away for a couple ten thousand people! Shut the gate now!" "F¡­ fine¡­" The guild leader replied grimly before yelling, "Shut the gate of the Impassable Great Wall! My brothers and sisters, find an opportunity to use a return scroll! If it is too late, then at least turn around and fight the Chinese to the death!" The iron cables started rolling, and the ridiculously thick gate of the Impassable Great Wall began closing slowly. The gate was made using some sort of unknown steel, and its surface was covered in spikes that were at least half a meter long. It was very effective against charging riders and siege weapons. Moreover, the arrow loops were crawling with countless archers. They were just waiting for us to get into range to shoot us. ¡­¡­ The Armored Ice Qilin Horse was fast, but it ultimately wasn¡¯t fast enough to get me through the gate before the gap narrowed to fist size. I could have Sun Wukong¡¯s 72 Earthly Transformations, and I still wouldn¡¯t be able to get inside. Annoyed, I let out an angry cry and launched Burning Blade Slash at the gate! Bang bang bang¡­ 5990! 7266! 10293! Even if I did good damage, the gate had over ten million HP, and there were many engineers repairing it from behind. I saw a couple of green numbers around 10k each rising above the gate, and the structure was back to full health in the blink of an eye. Boom boom boom... Lin Yixin, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon and more caught up a second later and hit the gate with their own signature moves, but none of them were able to do too much damage to the structure as well. In fact, they lost a sizable amount of HP running head-first into the spikes on the gate. "Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g kidding me? Just how high is this fortification¡¯s Defense? How on earth are we going to breach a gate like this?" Li Chengfeng exclaimed in shock. Lin Yixin tried again and hit the gate with Barrier Break, but the skill only did 6762 damage. She stuck out her tongue and chuckled. "Well, looks like a frontal assault won¡¯t work!" Meanwhile, the enemy archers on the wall were aiming their bows at us through the machicolations. A Level 190 archer shouted violently, "These players are all famous in the China server, so kill them all! I will pay anyone ten thousand gold on the spot if they can shoot these people to death!" I hurriedly blocked in front of Lin Yixin and raised my shield when the enemy started shooting. The armor-piercing arrows actually hurt, and I lost almost 50k HP in an instant despite my Dragon God Shield. Clearly, all the archers posted here were top-tier, and I reckoned that there were at least 200 archers guarding this gate alone. Worse, they could shoot us with impunity, but we couldn¡¯t do anything to them. "Retreat!" I ordered, "The frontal assault has failed! We¡¯ll find another way!" "Mn!" Eyes Like Water nodded. Lin Yixin, He Yi, Gui Guzi and the others withdrew as well, but I remained where I was. He Yi looked back at me in puzzlement. "Lu Chen? What are you waiting for?" I replied vengefully, "No, I was just thinking that it¡¯s not my style to take a slap without retaliation!" I abruptly aimed the Purple Ying Sword at the machicolation to my right and let out a cry. The Purple Ying Sword immediately shot into the hole like a cyclone and elicited many screams of pain and death. Almost two seconds later, I shouted again, "Return!" Swhoosh! The Purple Ying Sword returned to me from the machicolation to my left side. After I grabbed the weapon firmly, I fired one last Thousand Ice Slash at the gate that scared the archers standing above it shitless. I could even see some of them backing away instinctively. Satisfied, I turned around and rode away. There was no point staying here, and not even I could survive hundreds of archers shooting at me without the support of a priest. After I returned to the open field, I discovered that the war had begun in earnest. Our troops swarmed the walls like ants, but arrows, magics, stones, logs, burning oil and more kept pouring down onto our players. People were screaming and dying everywhere. "F.u.c.k!" Purple Marquis knocked a rock falling his way to the side before asking Nangong Lexi, "Lexi, can you shoot over the wall?" Nangong Lexi moved her Dragonscale Beast a couple of steps back before performing a full draw. Then, she let loose a Spiraling Arrow Blade into the sky. Unfortunately, even with the extra attack range from her mount, the Spiraling Arrow Blade began losing power before it even passed the 60-yard mark. By the time it finally went over the 100-yard-tall wall, it barely touched the shields of the fighters standing at the edge of the wall and dealt less than 1000 damage! "OMG, this isn¡¯t going to work!" Disgruntled, Nangong Lexi looked to Lin Yixin and said, "Guild leader, there¡¯s no way we can hit them from this position!" A trace of helplessness flashed across Lin Yixin¡¯s expression as she knocked aside a rolling log with her arm. She said to me, "Lu Chen, we need to fall back now!" I nodded in agreement. "Retreat! Retreat a thousand yards away from the walls!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ At our base, Xu Yang shot Sun-shooting Bow an annoyed look and clenched his fist. "That piece of shit is so annoying!" Hot and Sour Noodles nodded in agreement before consoling him, "It¡¯s fine, a dog who bites doesn¡¯t bark, and clearly Sun-shooting Bow is no biting dog. Anyway, we need to think of a way to overcome this wall soon. According to the system, there are 9 million enemies on the Wall and 18 million of us. We outnumber them two to one, so this isn¡¯t an impossible siege." Lin Yixin blinked once and said, "Well, we already know that our archers can¡¯t hit them with their skills. It¡¯s probably easier to lure our partners to bed than it is to siege this wall by force." Me: "..." He Yi: "..." Luo River God of the Capital also said, "Sorry, but there¡¯s nothing I can do to help either. None of my spells can reach that high." Lian Xin echoed her sentiment. "Yeah, mages are useless in this type of warfare¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles said, "Well, even if you can do nothing, you should still be on your guard at all times. Red Maple is directing the defense of the Impassable Great Wall, and he¡¯s already proven himself to be a formidable and intelligent commander." Stranger of Three Lifetimes joined in the conversation. "Anyway, any ideas on how to siege this fortress? Anyone?" Lin Yixin chuckled. "That goes without saying. We knew from the beginning that it would cost us a great many things to destroy Purple Gr.a.p.e City." I nodded and began, "Back at Sky City, our engineers researched many useful things such as the cloud ladders, siege weapons and more. One of them is something called the uh¡­ Where¡¯s third uncle? Ah, there you are. Can you give a Cloudpiercing Claw to me? Thanks¡­" "Mn!" An engineer answered my call and walked out of the crowd. He was the number one engineer of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and a fifty-years-old uncle who had been laid off from his job. He played Heavenblessed not for the combat, but for the crafting of siege tools and machines. He had been with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls for a long time. Third uncle passed a black glove to me. ¡°Here you go!" "Is this it?" Lin Yixin asked while tilting her head cutely. I nodded. "Yep. The Cloudpiercing Claw has a max range of 120 yards, so it¡¯s definitely long enough to reach the top of the Impassable Great Wall. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to pull out the hook once it sinks into the rock, and the rope is made of Wild Silkworm Thread that cannot be cut by blades. So yeah, my plan is for us to scale the wall with this¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes was also tilting her head cutely next to Lin Yixin. "I don¡¯t know¡­ Are you sure this will work?" "Of course it will. Why wouldn¡¯t it?" I pressed a button, and the hook in front of the glove flew toward the tree. After it had caught the tree, I pulled and, thanks to my great Strength, snapped the tree trunk in half like a twig. I pressed the button again, and the hook returned back to my hand. "Hehe, how is it?" I looked at everyone. A stunned silence later, Dominating Heaven Blade gave me the thumbs-up and said, "You¡¯re crazy!" Chapter 1024: Cyan Frost’s Obstruction "How many Cloudpiercing Claws does Ancient Sword have, Lu Chen?" Hot and Sour Noodles asked excitedly. "With this item, sieging the Impassable Great Wall is no longer a pipedream¡­" I replied smilingly, "The materials used to make it, 10 Steel and 5 Wild Silkworm Thread, aren¡¯t very rare. They¡¯re both Rank 8 materials only, which is why Ancient Sword has over one hundred thousand of them in the warehouse. How many did you bring, third uncle?" Third uncle smiled. "All one hundred and seventy thousand of them just like you requested, guild leader!" "Okay!" I nodded. "We¡¯ll keep 10k to ourselves and distribute the remaining 160k to our allies!" "Mn¡­" ¡­¡­ Beside me, Lin Yixin moved closer before whispering beside my ears, "It isn¡¯t like you at all to donate 160k items for free, Little Cheat. The Cloudpiercing Claw is quite valuable, you know¡­" I put an arm around her shoulder and whispered back smilingly, "Don¡¯t you see, Yiyi? There¡¯s at least ten million troops on the Impassable Great Wall, and they all deal extra damage thanks to their height advantage. How many players do you think can scale the fortification and survive to see the end? By giving away the Cloudpiercing Claws, I¡¯m saving my own people¡¯s lives¡­" "Ah¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open in realization. "OMG, you¡¯re such a shameless bastard!" "No way, I¡¯ll take 5000 only, and no more than that!" "..." ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take long for the items to be distributed, and of all the guilds, Hegemon Palace was the one who grabbed the most Cloudpiercing Claws. Little Piglet put on his Cloudpiercing Claw and chuckled. "Its design looks pretty cool. Ancient Sword is overflowing with talent, I see¡­" He Yi offered, "Do you want to join us, Little Piglet? I can make you a corps commander¡­" Little Piglet beamed. "If you can offer me a basic salary, then I¡¯m in!" "Well, how much do you want?" "A million RMB per month¡­" I stepped out. "Maybe next time. Also, a million RMB can feed ten High Fighting Spirits, you know. Are you worth ten High Fighting Spirits?" "Case in point. Now focus! We¡¯re going to start the next assault in a moment!" "Yeah." At the side, Wang Dongliang stared at us in dumb silence. It was as if Little Piglet, He Yi and I had forgotten that he, Little Piglet¡¯s current employer, still existed. ¡­¡­ At the main camp, I spoke to Hot and Sour Noodles, "I probably don¡¯t need to say this, but the Cloudpiercing Claw alone isn¡¯t enough to deal a fatal blow to the enemy. It¡¯s more of a complement to the main assault. So bring out the siege weapons, uncle, especially the battering rams. If climbing over this fortress is impossible, then we¡¯ll destroy it at its roots and wipe it from the surface of the map! We¡¯ll have our cavalry escort them to the walls!" Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. "Mn!" "Bring the cloud ladders as well. If we stack two of them on top of one another, it should be just enough to reach the top. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will bring out our Black Tortoise Catapults and White Marsh Catapults to bombard the wall from the distance as well. We¡¯ll crush the Japanese¡¯s confidence through sheer firepower!" "Haha, that is exactly what I was hoping to do!" Half an hour later, the preparations were complete. Countless Catapults, Black Tortoise Catapults and White Marsh Catapults were lined outside the wall, and at least a thousand black battering rams were pushed to the front. The battering ram dealt an incredible amount of damage to a fortification, like a driller would do to a wall. It would definitely be able to punch a hole through the bottom of the Impassable Great Wall. "Vice leader big brother!" It was at this moment a disgruntled Heaven¡¯s Rain shot me a question, "Why did you order the Dragonlight Cavalry to stand by for orders, and the Cyan Tiger Cavalry to risk their lives scaling the walls with the Cloudpiercing Claws?" Diamond Dust was of the same mind. "Yeah, this isn¡¯t fair, we don¡¯t want to just stand around and do nothing¡­" I hurriedly raised my arms placatingly and explained myself, "Calm down, taking down this fortification is just the first step of a long war. Once we¡¯re past this location and into the plains, I promise you the Dragonlight Cavalry will get their spot in the limelight. That being said, I suppose that the Famous Generals can grab a set of Cloudpiercing Claws each and come with me. However, you must promise me that you won¡¯t die in battle. If you find yourself cornered, then jump off the wall and let your brothers and sisters catch you! I repeat, don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g die on me!" That drew a laugh out of everyone. "Okay, got it!" ¡­¡­ The assault formations were ready in no time. I and the 10000 Ancient Sword cavalrymen behind me all had Cloudpiercing Claws. I left most of the Dragonlight Cavalry out of this fight because the best resources should be used in the most important areas, and having them die while scaling the walls was neither the best use of the Dragonlight Cavalry nor the best for my heart. Also, I need them to keep Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s main cavalry in check just in case they were dispatched. Chiang! I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and growled, "Attack! Don¡¯t let this tiny wall stop our advance!" ¡­¡­ On the walls, Red Maple watched the incoming army closely for a moment before raising his arm. "Archers and mages, don¡¯t stop attacking the enemy! All siege weapons, lock onto the enemy¡¯s siege weapons and stop them from getting close enough to attack us! Hmph, the time to destroy our enemy has arrived!" An infinite amount of colorful lights filled the sky for a moment. The next moment, countless arrows and magic fell toward the ground like a torrent. The fortification was at least 500 meters wide, and the amount of players it could accommodate was too much to count. I didn¡¯t even want to know how much surface area they could cover! "Raise shield!" I shouted. The players at the front immediately raised their shields above their heads and blocked the innumerable amount of arrows and magic spells. The height advantage greatly increased the power of the arrows, and magic was always threatening against a metal-armor class. Our players were doing okay, but Hegemon Palace¡¯s players couldn¡¯t claim the same thing. In just a moment, entire groups of players had perished in the blink of an eye. The good news was that mounts gave us high movement speed. We reached the walls in just the blink of an eye, and down here the amount of attacks we could receive was limited. "Alright, dismount and aim your Cloudpiercing Claws above you!" I ordered. Everyone who had a Cloudpiercing Claw did as I said and locked onto a certain point of the wall. Then, they pressed the trigger button and fired its hook into the air. A few seconds later, the hooks embedded themselves into the bricks, and ten thousand players began climbing upward. Unfortunately, the Cloudpiercing Claw didn¡¯t possess the pulling strength to haul a fighter¡¯s heavy body all the way to the top. Chiang! ¡­¡­ "What¡­ what is that?" the Japanese players on the walls exclaimed in surprise. Red Maple said grimly, "Not good, they have some wall-scaling equipment. All high-level archers, move to the edge of the wall and shoot armor-piercing or stunning arrows. The rest of you, make sure you aim first before dropping the rocks and rolling logs! Also, anyone with a weapon that¡¯s Heaven-grade or higher should try cutting the ropes!" A group of melee fighters immediately pulled out their weapons and hit the Wild Silkworm Thread repeatedly. Unfortunately, their efforts proved to be futile. It would take a weapon on the same level as my Purple Ying Sword or higher to sever a Wild Silkworm Thread with near invulnerability. Countless arrows peppered against our heads. Our response was to hold health potions in our mouths and continue climbing. Swhoosh! Suddenly, a giant rock dropped down from above and hit High Fighting Spirits square in the face. But despite losing over 30k HP, the prideful berserker stubbornly held on and glared daggers at his attackers. With a crumpled face, he barked, "Just you wait, you grandsons! Your daddy will be there to beat your a.s.s real soon!" Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and more could only stare at him in amazement. "Holy shit, this guy!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, He Yi called out in warning, "Watch out, Lu Chen!" I looked up and saw four or five archers aiming their arrows at me. One of them cackled evilly, "Yo, isn¡¯t that the new champion of the WEL? Perfect! Stun him with Shock Arrows and kill him with armor-piercing arrows!" Thud thud thud! They shot faster than I could defend myself, so my face was covered in arrows a second later. I pulled them all out, pointed my left palm at them and growled, "You are courting death, you bastards!" Swhoosh! Golden energy swirled at the center of my palm. An instant later, a golden seal flew toward the top and hit the group of archers directly, killing all of them. F.u.c.k.i.n.g archers. My Ancient Seal might not be powerful enough to one-shot a shielded mage or a tanky magic knight, but assassins and archers? I am the bane of your existence, fools! ¡­¡­ "Move faster, Little Cheat! Be the first to occupy a section of the walls!" Lin Yixin said smilingly to me. "Okay!" I quickened my arm movements before pushing myself upward in one smooth motion. Right before I was about to land on the wall though, a beautiful figure suddenly rushed toward me with her weapon at the ready. It was the Ice Knight of God¡¯s Domain, Cyan Frost! Pa! Cyan Frost swept my legs with a kick and threw me off-balance immediately. She then withdrew her leg and kicked out again while yelling, "Fall!" Chiang! I wasn¡¯t about to let that happen, so I thrust my sword into the wall, pulled myself forward, and met Cyan Frost¡¯s kick with a kick of my own. Bang! Cyan Frost staggered backward after the explosive exchange. I seized the opening to land my feet firmly on the wall walk before firing a dozen or so Ancient Seals in a go. Screams filled the air immediately! Chapter 1025: A Man Like The Wind Attacks were coming from every direction. I could die if I chose to endure them all, and if I died, I wouldn¡¯t be able to participate in the Nation War anymore. So, I backflipped over the edge and plunged the Purple Ying Sword into the stone again, hanging. It was the right move because all the attacks that were about to hit me resulted in misses instead. Not far away from me, dumbfounded Lin Yixin and He Yi exclaimed, "What are you doing, Lu Chen?" Instead of answering, I pushed myself up the wall again and summoned both the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition at the same time. The enemy¡¯s average skill cooldown was around 6 seconds or so, and I was going to exploit it to the max! ¡­¡­ I rushed toward the defenders after I mounted the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. My apparition was already unleashing Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash, and the Phantom Wolf King, Purgatory Storm + Claw of the Storm during this time. The entire wallwalk was falling into chaos because of me. Cyan Frost kept backing away with her sword at the ready. She was clearly looking for a suitable opportunity to attack. Unfortunately for, the situation on the wallwalk was already starting to spiral out of her control. After the Fruit Knife Goddess Lin Yixin climbed up the edge, she immediately struck out with an Ice Flame Slash that one-shot countless players before they could do anything. She then followed up the skill with a bunch of painful God¡¯s Tears. The next person to appear was He Yi, and she unleashed Purgatory of Ice and Magma with Great Earth Transformation and her new Godslaying Blade turned on, killing countless people. The two Divine Generals had almost single-handedly turned the battle situation to our favor. It wasn¡¯t long before High Fighting Spirits, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and the rest of our Famous Generals climbed over the edge. Commanders from allied guilds such as Eyes Like Water and Indigo Water were on the wall as well. Every one of us was a Famous General, so our Attack and Defense stats were o.b.s.c.e.n.ely high to say the least! "Little Gui!" I shouted. "Yes, Boss Broken Halberd?" Gui Guzi turned around with a confused expression while piercing an archer¡¯s throat. "Haha, what a coincidence! I was thinking about the same thing!" Indigo Collar said with a laugh. "This will be the first time I get to enjoy a 200% double stat buff. Ah, I can¡¯t wait!" Eyes Like Water rolled her eyes. "Have some dignity, man! Gui Guzi, what are you waiting for? Add me already!" ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before 120 or so players were added into Gui Guzi¡¯s party. Once Knight God was turned on, the enemy archers could barely do anything against us. For example, Spiraling Arrow Blade was a deadly AoE skill in most situations. Now though, it could only hurt us for 1000 to 2000 damage at most. Knight God is such a terrifying Famous General Skill! "F.u.c.k, this people are just too powerful¡­" a Purple Gr.a.p.e City archer commented while backing away. There were many Black Marsh Catapults that were launching Black Marsh Rocks at our players on the ground, so I pointed my sword at the siege weapons, "Let¡¯s take out these siege weapons first!" "Yeah!" We swarmed them and destroyed three Black Marsh Catapults in the blink of an eye. However, a nasty surprise was waiting for us. The moment the Black Marsh Catapults crumbled, I was greeted by the sight of way too many ballistae to count immediately! My scalp turned numb and cold. Just how calculating could Red Maple be? These ballistae were obviously prepared beforehand, meaning that he knew that we would make it up the wall eventually! All the players who had witnessed the power of Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s ballistae before felt their hearts break inside their c.h.e.s.t. Gui Guzi raised his shield and shouted, "F.u.c.k! Shield formation!" I, He Yi, Diamond Dust, Heaven¡¯s Rain and everyone else who could wield a shield immediately thrust our shields into the ground and formed a simple shield formation to protect the allies behind us. However, only twenty or so of us had made it onto the wall so far, so there was a limit to how many players we could defend. At the same time, the ballistae opened fire at us! Bang bang bang... It sounded like giant bullets were slamming into our shields. Even with Guard, a player like Heaven¡¯s Rain had lost half her health in just the blink of an eye. Not only that, the Japanese defenders were rallying and launching their arrows and magic spells at us like crazy. They were clearly trying to kill us all. Li Chengfeng waved his sword once and growled, "This can¡¯t continue! Fighting Spirits, You and Yun, Chaos Moon, come with me! We¡¯ll attack the ballistae from the sides and destroy them!" "Okay!" Nearly a hundred mounted players launched an organized assault from the sides and made good progress toward the ballistae. Lin Yixin and Li Chengfeng led the way because they were Divine Generals. Li Chengfeng used Battle Soul Possession to increase his stats further and killed anyone who stood in his way. Lin Yixin threw a bunch of God¡¯s Tears into the crowd and slain many in just the blink of an eye. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, about 200 yards away from the section of the wall we were occupying, Little Piglet appeared on the edge and summoned his mount in one smooth motion. Then, he rode straight toward a group of enemies while buffing himself with Strength of Divine Arms and Freezing Heat. He moved too fast for the enemy to react, and before they knew it, he had already activated his Divine General Skill, Great Conqueror to give himself 50% splash effect and a significant amount of attack range. Wherever his sword traveled, people dropped to the ground and died. Still moving at high speed, Little Piglet roared on top of his lungs, "Kill me if you can, Purple Gr.a.p.e City! Let¡¯s see if your puny ballistae are strong enough to pierce my Defense!" Nearly a hundred ballistae had turned toward Little Piglet and fired at him. The next moment, countless giant bolts were flying toward Little Piglet. "Hmph!" Little Piglet dropped his shield on the ground, crouched a little, and Guarded immediately. He also activated Vajra to increase his Defense by 200%. Due to his Famous General Skill, Little Piglet strived to equip himself with equipment that boasted a lot of Defense. Therefore, each one of his items boosted his Defense by 20% at least. In terms of survivability, the guy was way tougher than even me. Chiang chiang chiang... The bolts struck Little Piglet¡¯s shield but bounced off in an unnatural manner. It was because Little Piglet had activated a defensive skill called Shield Armor that reflected over 75% of armor-piercing damage back to the attacker, and it so happened that the ballistae¡¯s attacks were considered armor-piercing. Not only were the bolts launched back at their own ballistae, the damage calculation behind the damage they received was different from Little Piglet¡¯s! Thud thud thud! Countless ballistae self-destructed because of their own attacks. Little Piglet had pulled off a tiny miracle with his unusual build and skill! Little Piglet dropped to 25% after tanking almost a hundred ballista bolts at the same time. After that, he turned around, activated Wind of Recovery to return himself to around 50% HP, and with his back covered in arrows and magic spells, jumped off the wall while shouting, "Alright, mission complete! I leave the rest to you, Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya! Send me a message when it¡¯s time to plunder the battlefield¡­" For a time, we could only stare dumbfoundedly at the spot Little Piglet had jumped off from. Little Piglet truly was a man like the wind, coming and going as he pleased! Little Piglet¡¯s interference was greatly appreciated, however. Thanks to him, the pressure on us lessened to the point where the troops led by Lin Yixin and Li Chengfeng were able to sweep the ballistae from the side before returning behind the shield formation. After He Yi, Gui Guzi and I recovered our HP to above 50%, we rode out again and attacked the enemy with everything we got. After all, lifesteal was the fastest way to recover HP. "What the f.u.c.k are you idiots doing? You call yourselves archers with this level of performance!?" Suddenly, Red Maple appeared on the wallwalk and ordered, "Shoot them with Shock Arrows and Mountain Stagger Arrows! These people have their Attack and Defense stats buffed by 225% due to Knight God, so there¡¯s no point hitting them with your offensive skills! Mages, one-shot a single target with Touch of the Dragonkiss after they¡¯re stunned!" Pa! Even before Red Maple was finished speaking, a Snowy Cathaya Kui Dragon Cavalryman was stunned by a Shock Arrow. He then ate a dozen or so Touches of the Dragonkiss and died before he ever recovered. Red Maple¡¯s tactic was simple but effective alright. "How dare you!" Red Maple shouted while knocking Xu Yang backward with a slash. It was because the latter had charged too deep into the fray and moved too close to Red Maple. Li Chengfeng growled and moved closer to Red Maple while the image of a dragon surrounded his person. He successfully landed three out of five hits of a five-hit combo and deleted 40% HP from Red Maple¡¯s health bar thanks to Battle Soul Possession. However, Red Maple was able to retaliate with Thunder God Ball to the c.h.e.s.t and Maple Kill that engulfed the dragon warrior! Whoosh whoosh¡­ 110929! Red Maple¡¯s skills were more magical than physical, so the buffs Li Chengfeng got from Knight God were useless against them. As a result, Li Chengfeng was unable to gain an advantage over the heaven¡¯s warrior in a one-on-one battle. Not only that, I glanced to the distance and saw countless Purple Gr.a.p.e City mages and archers rushing toward us. The empty space I had cleared out earlier was already swiftly refilled by even more players. "Mn." Li Chengfeng nodded strongly before grabbing High Fighting Spirits by the collar and dragging the berserker back to us. Gui Guzi pointed at the ground behind the wall and swore, "Holy shit, there are Japanese all over this place. We literally can¡¯t kill all of them¡­ Also, why are there so many magic knights running up the stairs?" "Magic knights¡­" My heart sank. "F.u.c.k, Red Maple¡¯s probably trying to chain Trapping Nets on us until we die!" He Yi asked, "What do we do?" I replied without hesitation, "We don¡¯t have reinforcements, and we don¡¯t have mages, priests or archers to support us. We¡¯ll die if we stay here, so the only way left for us is to jump off the wall! Let¡¯s hope that our cloud ladder troops will be able to put enough pressure on the enemies! Oh, and drink a health potion and be at 50% HP or higher before you jump! It would suck to die like this!" Pa! I stepped on the edge of the wall before grabbing Lin Yixin¡¯s small hand. Together, we launched ourselves off the wall and fell toward the ground. Behind me, Gui Guzi, He Yi, Li Chengfeng and the others were doing the same thing. There were still a couple hundred Blazing Hot Lips fighters on the wall, but unfortunately they were most likely going to die. Chapter 1026: King of Positional Warfare The wind roared beside my ears, and my cloak flapped wildly behind me as Lin Yixin and I fell toward the ground. Before we landed, I unleashed Burning Blade Slash to largely cancel our momentum. It wasn¡¯t the coolest landing I could¡¯ve done since the skill kicked up a huge amount of dust, but all things considered it wasn¡¯t too bad. I wasn¡¯t done yet though. With Lin Yixin still in my arms, I turned around in one swift motion, ran and jumped into the air, catching He Yi. Her falling force was almost too much for me to bear, but I just barely stayed on my feet after staggering for a bit. Suddenly, I realized I was holding Lin Yixin with one hand and He Yi with the other while surrounded by corpses, snow and an ancient fortress¡¯s wall in the background. The image was surprisingly picturesque. ¡­¡­ "You look like you¡¯re having fun. How much longer are you going to carry them both?" Murong Mingyue¡¯s voice suddenly came from behind me. As it turned out, a magic knight had escorted her close to the walls. She waved her scepter a couple of times and healed Lin Yixin, He Yi and me to full health very quickly. Tsk tsk, this was one sensation I could never get tired of. We might¡¯ve been able to hang on if we had dozens of super priests like Murong Mingyue on the wall earlier. Ultimately, no one could fight a prolonged fight without healing. "Let¡¯s move away from here¡­" He Yi looked up to the walls. "Those rocks and rolling logs just won¡¯t stop coming. I don¡¯t want to get hit by them any more than necessary!" "Yeah!" While Lin Yixin and He Yi escorted Murong Mingyue away from the frontline, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and I stayed behind to cover their retreat. Thanks to the efforts of our 100000+ Cloudpiercing Claw players, a large number of allied engineers had made it to the foot of the wall and assembled all sorts of siege equipment such as the cloud ladders. Of course, the players of other classes¡ªthe large majority of them were Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips, Purple Lily and Peach Garden¡ªwere present as well. The Impassable Great Wall had only one entrance, so of course we had to attack it with the strongest force we could muster. I looked back and saw many flaming rocks flying over my heads and falling toward our battle line. Many of them were launched by Black Marsh Catapults as well. Every time a flaming rock made contact with the ground, an explosion about 10 yards in diameter would kill a ton of players. Even so, our forces continued to charge toward the wall. Once the cloud ladders were assembled, we would finally be able to attack the fortification directly. The bloody truth of war had always been murder and bloodshed. Above our heads, Red Maple kept unleashing Maple Kill, Thunder God Ball, Fire God Flurry and more skills to kill the remaining Chinese players on the wall while shouting, "Ballistae, fire in a line and focus down the shielders! Catapults, don¡¯t take too long to launch your next attack! The suppressive fire cannot fall below a certain threshold! You, order the second, third, fourth, and fifth subguilds to send their elite cavalry up the walls to protect the siege weapons and provide support! Don¡¯t try to charge the stronger enemies! Just Net those above Level 185 and let our ranged players kill them!" Red Maple¡¯s orders were as clear and cool-headed as his judgment. His ability to command the defense of a fortification alone proved that he deserved to be called the number one player of Purple Gr.a.p.e City. If he didn¡¯t exist, it would¡¯ve taken us less than half of our current efforts to take over the Wall. It was Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s fortune to have a powerful leader like him. ¡­¡­ About 100 yards away from the Impassable Great Wall, the White Marsh Catapults, basic Catapults and more were already in position. A ton of shielded magic knights were guarding them while the production players loaded the payload into the catapults. Once the loading was complete, Hot and Sour Noodles abruptly pointed his weapon at the Impassable Great Wall and shouted, "Aim at the section three-fourths above the ground and launch the payload at full power! Don¡¯t stop attacking, and don¡¯t try to conserve the basic and white marsh payloads! I will declare the cost to the VR department and do my best to compensate you all!" Clang clang clang¡­. The clanging of metals resounded across the air, and the next moment the sky was blotted out by an unimaginable amount of rocks. A few seconds later, they exploded against the Impassable Great Wall like gigantic fireballs. On a related note, the white marsh payloads were able to leave a meter-deep pit in the wall. Although the first salvo wasn¡¯t able to penetrate the Impassable Great Wall¡¯s fortified armor, it was only a matter of time. One of the white marsh payloads soared up the walls and killed every player that happened along its way. After it skidded dozens of meters across the wallwalk (T/N: it¡¯s mentioned a couple of chapters ago it¡¯s a hundred meters wide I think), it exploded amid a group of archers and mages, claiming countless lives. The sea of flames and charred bodies would be a horrific sight if it wasn¡¯t a game. "Hold! Hold! Keep your shields up and protect our ranged weapons with your life!" an axe fighter shouted. However, just a few seconds later, a second white marsh payload hit the wallwalk again, crushing countless players along its destructive path before coming to a stop against that particular shield formation. The magic knights at the forefront exchanged horrified glances with one another before swearing, "F.U.C.K!" BOOM! Both them and the Black Marsh Catapults they were protecting exploded into pieces. The White Marsh Catapult¡¯s unique ammo was just too powerful. ¡­¡­ At the edge of the wall, Red Maple ignored the explosions happening next to him, flicked away a piece of burning debris on his shoulder and ordered coldly, "We need to take back the initiative. Tell the Black Marsh Catapults to aim 75 degrees above ground at 45% strength! We¡¯ll destroy their siege weapons first and deal with the ants beneath our feet later!" A few minutes later, Purple Gr.a.p.e City launched their counterattack. Hate him all you want, but Red Maple¡¯s calculation ability could only be described as terrifying. The payload flew straight toward our siege weapons almost like homing missiles. A series of devastating explosions occurred, and at least a hundred Chinese siege weapons were blown into splinters just like that. Many of the cavalrymen responsible for protecting were killed and dissolved into sparks of white light as well. It wasn¡¯t the kind of casualties we could take for long. Hot and Sour Noodles frowned, but his head was as cool as ice. He raised his arm without hesitation and ordered again, "All catapults, back 30 yards away and aim 85 degrees above ground at 92% strength!" As we stared at the exchange of flying rocks above our heads, all of us gradually came to the realization that the battle had reached a point where it wasn¡¯t just about player versus player anymore. The ability to wage positional warfare was equally important as the ability to put one¡¯s blade through an enemy¡¯s flesh. Xu Yang swallowed once before saying, "We¡¯re really lucky we have Hot and Sour Noodles, aren¡¯t we? Who else would know their catapult angles and range this well?" I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I¡¯ve read about Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ study on catapults on the forums before. Not only did he research catapults¡¯ range, angle and force of impact intensively, he had run the relevant tests and simulations at least ten thousand times. Today, he can come up with an effective solution against any situation with just a single glance. Tsk tsk, it¡¯s a most impressive ability." "What do we do now? Should we try scaling the walls again?" Gui Guzi said excitedly. I nodded. "Yes. Once the cloud ladders are built, we¡¯ll act as the vanguard and hopefully deliver more people up the walls. It would be fun delivering a million troops up the walls and beating down on the Japanese from their own fortification, hehe!" ¡­¡­ While we were idling, the engineers were busy raising the cloud ladders to the walls. Unlike the olden days in real life, it wasn¡¯t as simple as just propping the ladders up against the wall. In Heavenblessed, the engineers had to stack 2 to 4 ladders together to increase the overall length of the ladder. In the case of the Impassable Great Wall, it took 6 ladders at least to reach the top, which meant that the lengthening process took between 2 to 3 engineers to complete. It was a long and arduous process to say the least. On the wall, the JGL Hall of Famer, Cyan Frost the Ice Knight, looked down to the ground and snorted. "Hmph, the Chinese are starting to assemble their cloud ladders. I want a group of archers and mages dedicated to sniping all those engineers who dare to expose their heads from beneath their shields. Once the engineers are dead, the cloud ladders are as good as useless!" A group of ranged players immediately moved to the edge of the wall and attacked as she commanded. Hundreds of engineers were killed immediately. Production players dropped all their stats into Intelligence, so their HP and Defense were ridiculously low. They didn¡¯t have a Magic Shield to protect them, so it was a one-shot-one-kill most of the time. Our magic knights were doing their best to protect them, but some attacks had to slip through once in a while. Still, several hundred cloud ladders were successfully assembled and hooked tightly to the walls. It would take considerable effort for the enemy to destroy them. Standing at the foot of the wall, Dominating Heaven Blade pointed his sword upward and declared, "Let¡¯s climb! Every body counts, so don¡¯t worry about dying and just get up there! We¡¯ll bury them with sheer numbers!" Dominating Warrior God, Dominating Knight God and more quickly sheathed their weapons and climbed up the cloud ladders. It was way faster to scale the walls using the ladders than it was using the Cloudpiercing Claw. It would take even the slowest players 30 seconds at most to reach the top. Red Maple yelled from the edge of the wallwalk, "Ready your Barrier Breaks and one-shot anyone who climbs to the top! Mages, burn the cloud ladders with Fire Dragon Spell! It only has a durability of 120; it¡¯ll become unusable once it¡¯s destroyed!" The mages acted as he ordered and started setting the cloud ladders on fire. The structures our engineers spent so much effort to assemble were burning down at an incredible rate. Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng looked at me at nearly the same time and asked, "Let¡¯s go?" I nodded strongly and declared, "Let¡¯s go!" We immediately ran toward the closest cloud ladders to us and climbed upward. Even Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue were following us. They couldn¡¯t use the Cloudpiercing Claw because they lacked the Strength stat, but the cloud ladder was a different story. Pa pa pa... I ran up a burning cloud ladder at high speed and reached the top of the wall in no time. A group of ashen-faced magic knights who were knocked back by my Burning Blade Slash + Ancient Seal combo swore, "F.u.c.k, the MVP of the WEL is back! Focus him down now!" Chapter 1027: Hax God¡¯s Tear fell from the sky and blew up a group of players. The beautiful girl leaping up the blackened section of the wall was of course the Fruit Knife Goddess. Lin Yixin didn¡¯t summon her mount immediately after making her entry. Instead, she knocked back the enemy players around her with a sweep of her blade before firing a blast of Ice Storm, killing a dozen or so archers in one go. For a time, not a single Purple Gr.a.p.e City player dared to approach her. On the other side, my beautiful guild leader, He Yi, activated Great Earth Transformation and Godslaying Blade after she climbed up the wall, increasing her spear range by 20 yards. After swinging her spear horizontally and dealing around 70k damage to a group of enemies, she smiled and stared at a group of shielders next. Her Seven Star Veluriyam Spear erupted into a flaming cone as she thrust the weapon at them. Barrier Break was supposed to be a single target skill, but her Godslaying Blade turned it into an AoE one. As a result, the skill penetrated most of the shielders and dealt an incredible amount of damage¡ª 112398! 142722! 132094! ¡­¡­ "Don¡¯t stop killing! Keep their firepower under control!" Li Chengfeng appeared next and summoned the Dragonscale Beast as soon as he landed on the wallwalk. After he empowered himself with Battle Soul Possession, he charged toward the enemy and graced them with his Dragonblade Revolution, Reverse Scale Slash, Dragonbone Flurry and more. An uncle with a vulgar-looking face shouted, "Tell our JGL Hall of Famers to come here right away! Only our JGL Hall of Famers can go toe to toe with the CGL Hall of Famers! The rest of you, retreat and buff yourselves to limit the amount of damage you take!" An axe-wielding uncle who commanded a huge beast rushed toward Li Chengfeng before the vulgar-looking uncle finished talking; the emblem floating above his head marking him as a JGL Hall of Famer. Just like China, the numbers of JGL Hall of Famers in Japan stayed in double digits. There were still more JGL Hall of Famers than there were CGL Hall of Famers though. "Heh!" Li Chengfeng turned his body sideways to parry an axe strike from the JGL Hall of Famer. Then, he spun around and stabbed his opponent in the c.h.e.s.t using Barrier Break! 129399! Astonished, the uncle grabbed the hilt of Li Chengfeng¡¯s Dark Blade and shouted angrily, "You think the Impassable Great Wall is a place you can come and go as you please, boy?" While Li Chengfeng¡¯s weapon was caught, the axe fighter channeled some sort of red energy into his axe and swung it straight at Li Chengfeng¡¯s neck. As expected of a JGL Hall of Famer, his counterattack was as swift as it was ruthless. Just when everyone was wiping some sweat on behalf of Li Chengfeng, the dragon warrior abruptly canceled his mount and twisted his Dark Blade around, knocking the uncle¡¯s skill aside. Not done yet, he circled around his opponent and pushed the Dark Blade against his opponent¡¯s neck, using Dragonbone Flurry! Pu pu pu... Ding~! System Notice: Attention all players, "Legendary Brave" (China) has killed the JGL Hall of Famer "Will of Heaven" (Japan). They have obtained 10% of their slain foe¡¯s contribution points, or 4278 points in total! ¡­¡­ "Whirlwind Slash!" Li Chengfeng spun like a top and charged into a group of archers, mages and priests, instantly clearing out an empty section on the wall for High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon and their parties to hold. The dragon warrior was as strong as he was deadly. Thanks to Battle Soul Possession increasing his Defense stat to incredible levels, he was almost immune to the enemy archers¡¯ attacks. His Dark Blade was like a devil¡¯s blade that reaped lives wherever it traveled. According to the updated version of the Nation War rules, contribution point was still tallied by the number of enemies slain, but now the killer also obtained 10% of their victim¡¯s contribution points. This meant that the player who survived until the end of the Nation War would become the true MVP and king of this Nation War! "Keep coming up, everyone! Don¡¯t hesitate! Cyan Tiger Cavalry, once you get onto the wallwalk, mount up and prepare to charge!" Gui Guzi didn¡¯t launch a hasty assault. He focused on mustering our cavalry on the wallwalk while High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and more were spreading out and wrecking havoc wherever they went. Even worse for the Purple Gr.a.p.e City players, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin had successfully climbed onto the wallwalk as well. When the Dimensional Storms and Skypiercers began, the only thing they could do was cry and die. Boom! "What the shit!" A Level 187 enemy mage shouted angrily, "How the f.u.c.k does that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand have so much Magic Resist? Even if he¡¯s the WEL MVP, this is just too much? Is¡­ is it hax? I¡¯m going to report this to Eternal Moon Corporation, you cheater!" Du Thirteen guffawed while unleashing his boomerang skill all of a sudden, "Sure, you do that, idiot!" Behind me, mounted Beiming Xue said to me with a bell-like voice, "I¡¯m here to help you, big bro!" I nodded. "Thanks, Beiming. Pump them with everything ya got, you hear me?" Beiming Xue: "..." Beiming Xue drew her bow and unleashed her signature Beiming-style Skypiercer into the air. The next moment, a volley of arrows rained on top of the group of half-health players I had wounded earlier and killed them all. Her Skypiercer dealt additional 100% damage, and her Bow God boosted her Attack to insane levels. DPS-wise, she was practically a goddess in human form. ¡­¡­ I continued to charge deeper into the fray until I arrived at the inner area of the Impassable Great Wall. A horizontal sweep was all it took to send the Purple Gr.a.p.e City players in front of me falling to the ground. Most of them probably weren¡¯t going to survive unless they had unusually high health, or knew how to cancel their momentum like me or Lin Yixin. Even then, they needed to have our reaction speed to execute the technique in time. Li Chengfeng noticed this too, so he shouted, "Lu Chen, let¡¯s guard this staircase together and buy time for Little Gui to muster our forces!" "Yeah, that¡¯s exactly what I was thinking!" I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse toward the incoming fighters and carved open a path with Burning Blade Slash. The stone stairs were about twenty yards wide and could fit about 20 players at once. My skills have just enough range to reach both sides of the stairs, so even if I was alone, I could probably keep the enemy at bay, and unfortunately for the Japanese, I wasn¡¯t. ¡­¡­ The battle was fierce and bloody. Both Chinese and Japanese players were knocked off the walls and sent falling to their deaths non-stop. A great number of enemy catapults were firing beyond the Impassable Great Wall from the bailey as well. Whoosh whoosh whoosh¡­ Giant rocks kept flying back and forth over my head. I had to watch my surroundings constantly or risk being flattened by one of them. One time, I abruptly backed at least ten steps away from the stair entrance and dragged Li Chengfeng with me in the process. "F.u.c.k.i.n.g hell? What¡¯s wrong?" Li Chengfeng exclaimed in an alarmed tone. About two seconds later, a black marsh payload exploded where we were a moment ago and engulfed the one hundred fighters who were giving chase in an explosion of fire and debris. I replied in a casual tone, "That¡¯s what¡¯s wrong¡­" We continued guarding the stair entrance for almost ten minutes until finally, Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust rallied over 10000 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen. They were no Dragonlight Cavalry, but they were buffed by one Knight God and two Knight Generals. That was enough to make a difference. ¡­¡­ The wallwalk of the Impassable Great Wall was several hundred meters wide, and our 10000-strong Cyan Tiger Cavalry occupied a long section of the wallwalk. With a foothold like that, we could mount a proper charge and sweep away the resisting Purple Gr.a.p.e City players on the wall. On the other side, Snowy Cathaya had mustered nearly 1000 Kui Dragon Cavalrymen as well. They were led by Lin Yixin herself, and they were already attacking the enemy. Gui Guzi looked to me for permission. "Boss Broken Halberd?" I nodded strongly and said, "Begin!" "Play!" Gui Guzi raised the Spear of the Knight God into the air and shouted, "Our vengeance begins now! Charge, and take out any player who doesn¡¯t have a 5-star red flag above their heads!" The Cyan Tiger Cavalry took off. It didn¡¯t take much imagination to know how deadly a cavalry charge of ten thousand was. An enemy commander about a hundred meters away from the scene shouted in panic, "Turn the ballistae around and shoot these f.u.c.kers now! Quickly!" It was too late though. The Cyan Tiger Cavalry might be outdated in the current meta, but they weren¡¯t slow. By the time the ballistae had turned around, we had already moved close enough to shred them like paper! ¡­¡­ The charge lasted a whole five minutes. Even an Archean Immortal-grade sword like the Purple Ying Sword was covered in blood. Suddenly, Little Piglet and several hundred Hegemon Palace cavalry rode up while shouting, "Lu Chen, we have a problem!" "What problem?" "You can check it out yourself!" His party parted away to reveal an orderly formation of Wildfire Riders chasing them. Standing in front of the cavalry columns with a confident smile on his face, Red Maple declared, "Come, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Let¡¯s fight to the death here and now!" Chapter 1028: Bloody Battle Atop The Great Wall "F.u.c.k¡­" Li Chengfeng s.u.c.k.e.d in a deep breath as he counted the enemy troops. "I see at least 30k Wildfire Riders led by Red Maple, Cyan Frost and Purple Thunder themselves. Meanwhile, we only have 10k Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen. This is bad¡­" Heaven¡¯s Rain blinked once and asked me, "Vice leader big bro, can¡¯t we win against them?" I nodded. "No, the Cyan Tiger Cavalry is just too weak compared to their Wildfire Riders. We cannot avoid this fight, however. Whatever the outcome may be, we must fight this out until the end!" I abruptly unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and pointed at the enemy. I yelled, "Brothers and sisters, we need to buy enough time for our allies¡¯ siege parties to break through the Great Wall. We may die here today, but it is for a good cause, so don¡¯t be ashamed of it! And above all else, we will have given it our all and left behind no regrets!" Everyone unsheathed their weapons at the same time. Although the Cyan Tiger Cavalry was the second-rate cavalry of our guild, everyone here was an elite in their own right. Some of them were even better individually than some Dragonlight Cavalrymen, because they refused to fall behind and constantly honed themselves. And what better time than now was their time to prove their true worth? I moved my POV a bit and noticed that at least ten battering rams were pounding away at the one and only gate of the Impassable Great Wall. Its durability was decreasing steadily despite its support players¡¯ best efforts to repair it. If we could hold off God¡¯s Domain long enough for them to break through, the gate would fall, and the battle would instantly turn in our favor. "Kill!" I shouted as I charged straight toward Red Maple. The heaven¡¯s warrior also declared with murderous intent, "Do not leave a single one of them alive!" Both sides accelerated to full speed and slammed into one another, causing a series of crunching noises that was better left undescribed. While the mounts were knocking each other silly, their riders launched Barrier Breaks and their foes and tried their damnedest to kill the other party as quickly as possible. It wasn¡¯t long before the battle line dissolved into chaos. Boom boom boom! I slayed the group of players in front of me with Burning Blade Slash before firing 7 Ancient Seals in a line to even the odds for my fellow Cyan Tiger Cavalry. They would need it because their Cyan Battle Tigers were way inferior to the Wildfire Horses, boss-tier mounts. "Roar roar¡­" A beastial roar erupted from one side of the battlefield as High Fighting Spirits swung his axe around and unleashed Xiezhi Howl. Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi were tearing through their foes as well. The good news for us was that our Famous Generals were superior to the enemy¡¯s in both quantity and quality. The Divine Generals especially tore through the Wildfire Riders like nothing. ¡­¡­ However, Red Maple also boasted an insanely high kill rate. After cutting down a dozen or so Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen in the blink of an eye, he unleashed 5 Maple Kills that killed almost a hundred at the same time! Gui Guzi raged, "Li, Boss Broken Halberd is too far away from Red Maple. I say you and I go kill him ourselves!" "I¡¯m with you!" Li Chengfeng activated Battle Soul Possession and rode side by side with Gui Guzi toward Red Maple. Not only that, He Yi¡¯s basic attack range thanks to Godslaying Blade caught Red Maple off-guard and cost him 52773 HP. That was something for Red Maple to consider as well. Red Maple dared not face Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and He Yi all by himself, so he backed a dozen or so steps away from the battle line and let his Wildfire Riders protect him. Meanwhile, he fired Thunder God Ball from range and one-shot almost every Cyan Tiger Cavalryman who had the misfortune of being targeted by him. A cavalry battle was a battle of steel and blood. We had charged each other at least 3 times during the 20 minutes of bloodbath. Finally, the scales of battle tipped to one side completely. "Hah! Hah!..." I panted heavily as I clutched the reins of my Armored Ice Qilin Horse with my left hand and the Purple Ying Sword with my right. A shockingly thick glob of blood was sliding down the blade. I honestly couldn¡¯t remember how many Wildfire Riders I had buried with this sword of mine, but I do know that our losses were probably just as severe. I side-eyed High Fighting Spirits and noted that his right shoulder armor was almost completely wrecked. The wounds on his arms were the game¡¯s way of telling us that they had suffered too much impact in a short amount of time. Li Chengfeng¡¯s white cape was stained with so much blood that it was almost fully red, and the blade of his Dark Blade was chipped all over. Considering that he killed almost as many people as I did, his Dark Blade¡¯s durability had to have fallen below 50%. Chaos Moon, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust were covered in blood too, but contrary to their appearance their eyes were burning with excitement. The battle was bloody, but it was an exhilarating one especially because the enemy was stronger than us. It was the kind of achievement you would want to boast about with your friends later. On the other hand, Gui Guzi, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and Du Thirteen were as grim-faced as they came. More than half of the Cyan Tiger Cavalry at the frontline were sitting between 30% to 50% HP, and our priest party wasn¡¯t here to heal us. We were all running on fumes here. Worse, the Cyan Tiger Cavalry kept dying, and a rough calculation told me that our 10000-strong cavalry had decreased to just 1000, and that was an optimistic estimation. We weren¡¯t going to hold out much longer. Still, we stalled the enemy for half an hour and killed over 20000 of them, and that was a victory of its own. Red Maple, Cyan Frost and the other commanders¡¯ expressions certainly didn¡¯t look like a winner¡¯s. They thought that the Cyan Tiger Cavalry were just cannon fodder, but the bite they packed were fiercer than they imagined. High Fighting Spirits abruptly raised his axe and shouted, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would rather die than retreat!" Inspired by his bravery, everyone else also raised their weapons and shouted, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would rather die than retreat!" I looked around me and smiled a little. "That¡¯s the spirit. However, this only applies to the Cyan Tiger Cavalry, you hear me? No Famous General or Divine General is allowed to die here. If your health falls below 15% and you don¡¯t have a way to heal yourself, use invincibility skill and teleport back to the city or roll off the wall and get yourself healed. We¡¯re only at the first of the three milestones of our conquest, and Purple Gr.a.p.e City players aren¡¯t the only enemies we¡¯re going to face. Your life is no longer just your own, so for everyone¡¯s sake you¡¯re not allowed to die here. You must stay alive until the end of this war!" Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, He Yi and the smarter members of our Famous Generals nodded immediately. "We get you. We¡¯ll run away if we¡¯re about to die, don¡¯t worry!" My rule especially applied to Famous Generals like He Yi, Chaos Moon and Heaven¡¯s Rain. Their Famous General Skills were all going to play a role in the upcoming plains battle. It would be intolerable to lose them before we even conquered the Impassable Great Wall. "Kill!" Whoosh! I changed direction a bit in mid-charge so that the Armored Ice Qilin Horse "glided" toward Red Maple almost like it was drifting. After I reached him, I slashed at the heaven¡¯s warrior three times from three different angles. Red Maple¡¯s eyes were cool and unfeeling as he moved his sword to parry my attack. He managed to block the first two slashes, but my third strike still landed on his neck and dealt 142667 damage! "Ah!" Red Maple exclaimed in shock, but it didn¡¯t stop him from slapping Thunder God Ball to my back and dropping Maple Kill in my path. The f.u.c.k.i.n.g combo was just way too oppressive! 73887! 110299! I hurriedly drank a Saint Spirit Potion and used Tenacity of the Dead to pull myself to around 50% HP. At the same time, I launched Thousand Ice Slash behind me without looking in hopes that I would get lucky and freeze Red Maple. If it happened, He Yi and Gui Guzi would surely be able to swarm and kill him. Unfortunately, luck wasn¡¯t on my side this time. Red Maple only shivered a little before moving out of He Yi and Gui Guzi¡¯s attack range. Not only that, he wisely charged toward Du Thirteen, knocked the Famous General back and killed another three Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen with Fire God Flurry, absorbing a lot of HP in the process. Bang! Speaking of which, the sky above our heads was positively jam-packed with skills such as Trapping Nets. Whoever had the misfortune of being trapped died most of the time. The magic knights weren¡¯t particularly trying to catch a certain player, of course. There were too many people to aim properly. Also, pets such as Crimson-eyed Mantises, Venomous Wasps, Ghost Chariots and more were tearing each other apart, but a pet¡¯s firepower was limited as a matter of course. It didn¡¯t take long for them to be trampled by the cavalry and killed. Gui Guzi raised his Spear of the Knight God and shouted, "Kill pets first! Don¡¯t hesitate!" Gui Guzi¡¯s order was absolutely on point. Generally, equipment-less pets only had about half the Defense of their master and relatively low HP, so most of the time players would dump all of the stat points they gained from leveling up to Strength for both HP and Attack. What this meant was that pets were still fragile, but dealt a not-insignificant amount of damage if left untouched. Therefore, the best thing to do was to kill the pets first and fight the players later. Pu pu pu¡­ Cyan Tiger Cavalry continued to die behind me, but we made sure that the Wildfire Riders suffered just as much casualties, if not more. At this point, we were literally numb from all the killing we did! Chapter 1029: Prelude Before The Storm As time passed, the numbers of Cyan Tiger Cavalry kept decreasing. Almost an hour later, less than a hundred of us were still alive including me and the Famous Generals. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had the greatest number of Famous Generals in the entire world bar none, and most of us were fighting here. We were all injured and tired, but thankfully, no one had died just yet. "This is bad. We¡¯re about to run out of troops!" A grim-faced Gui Guzi swore, "F.u.c.k Red Maple and his sister! God knows how many of our Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen died by his hand!" Chaos Moon replied while slowly pulling out her sword from a dead Wildfire Rider¡¯s stomach, "Pooh, stop complaining. Did you see how many Wildfire Riders Boss Broken Halberd, Li and Boss Eve killed in return? If anything, we should be praising ourselves for holding out this long with just 10000 Cyan Tiger Cavalry¡­" Li Chengfeng pointed to the other side of the Impassable Great Wall. "Lu Chen look, Red Maple is mustering his forces again. I count another tens of thousands of Wildfire Riders, archers and mages as well¡­" I nodded. "Yes, this is the end of the line for us. It¡¯s time for us to withdraw. What the f.u.c.k are our people doing anyway? Why haven¡¯t we breached the gate yet?" He Yi replied in an equally exasperated tone, "Uncle Zhang Chun¡¯s plan to breach the gate didn¡¯t go as smoothly as we hoped. Purple Gr.a.p.e City¡¯s elite players had climbed down our own cloud ladders and destroyed the siege engines, not to mention that the enemy engineers are repairing the gate and undoing the damage we did the whole time¡­" Gui Guzi asked, "How are we going to occupy this fortification like this? Almost all the fighters of Righteousness, Hegemon Palace, Gods of Destruction, Blazing Hot Lips and The Monarch Descends that came up were killed already. Our reinforcements can only reach us via climbing up the destructible, narrow cloud ladders, but the enemy can just run straight up several twenty-meter-wide stone stairs. There¡¯s just no way we can outdo them¡­" ¡­¡­ I pointed to the front and said, "Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, sis, Moon Dew and the others are 1000 meters down this direction. We¡¯ll make our way over and protect them as we make our retreat. It¡¯s too bad we won¡¯t be taking the Impassable Great Wall this time, but hey, there¡¯s always a next time¡­" He Yi giggled. "You sound surprisingly light-hearted." "Sure I am. After all, we made the enemy piss their pants with just 10000 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen. Assuming that the enemy doesn¡¯t come up with some new tactic, it¡¯s only a matter of time before we kill off all 100000+ Wildfire Riders. After that, what else do they have that can resist our 14000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 5000 Dragonlight Archers? In fact, killing their troops takes priority over taking the fortification. If all their players are dead, how are they going to defend anything?" Li Chengfeng rubbed his palms in excitement. "Kill, kill, kill some more! That is the kind of strategy I like to hear! It¡¯ll be worth it even if we fail to conquer Purple Gr.a.p.e City at the end of this Nation War!" "Yep. Now let¡¯s kill our way over to the girls!" "Kill!" We ignored Red Maple¡¯s attempts to distract us and charged straight toward the girls. There was practically nothing the enemy could do to stop us with I, Li Chengfeng and He Yi at the lead. Red Maple chased after us while shouting harshly, "F.u.c.k, they¡¯re trying to escape! Chase them down with all you got! Don¡¯t let a single one of these Chinese Famous Generals leave the Impassable Great Wall alive! Cavalry to my right, use Trapping Net to immobilize them! Mages, hit the mounts with Ice Dragon Howls! Archers, use only Mountain Stagger Arrows and Shock Arrows!" Cyan Tiger Cavalry kept dying as the enemy shot arrows at them. Even with Gui Guzi¡¯s Knight God buffing their Defense by 225%, their defenses were still too low. All it took was one stun to seal their fate, and we couldn¡¯t afford to stop to save everyone, not unless they were He Yi, Gui Guzi or another Famous General. Shock Arrows kept hitting futilely against my Dragon God Shield. As the vice leader, I stayed on the periphery of our formation because it was my natural duty to protect my guild members. Gui Guzi and He Yi were acting as meat shields as well. However, I suddenly froze up and skidded to a sudden stop. I was stunned! With my current level of resistance, the low-level players¡¯ chances of stunning me was less than 5%; maybe even as low as 1% to 3%. Unfortunately, a chance was a chance, and it was only a matter of time before this happened! Behind me, Red Maple laughed loudly. "Chain- CC Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand with Trapping Net now! He¡¯s the WEL MVP and a top CGL Hall of Famer. If he dies, China is sure to suffer a huge blow to escape us! Don¡¯t let this chance escape us!" Someone immediately landed Trapping Net and immobilized me for another 4.2 seconds. Shit! This is really bad! Countless enemy magic knights locked onto me and Charged! He Yi hurriedly turned around and shouted, "Save Lu Chen now!" I shouted back, "No, keep going! I can¡¯t die, I have Resurrection Art!" It was at this moment a beautiful girl appeared in front of me. She was Lian Xin! The smiling mage raised her scepter slowly and said, "Who dares to harm our Lu Chen!?" Pa pa pa... All the magic knights who Charged me faceplanted into 12 Origin Force Fields she had dropped around me instead. Her mastery of her skills had reached the summit already. After planting Ice Spiral Matrix and Dimensional Storm in front of Red Maple and Cyan Frost¡¯s path, she fired an additional Touch of the Dragonkiss at Red Maple. Beiming Xue appeared next and fired Skypiercer + Spiraling Arrow Blade + Well of the Abyss at the enemy. I knew at that moment that my death was averted. The moment the Trapping Net¡¯s effects passed, I immediately healed myself by 25% HP using Tenacity of the Dead and broke into a run. Once I was close enough to Murong Mingyue, she immediately warmed me with her knock¡ªI mean healed me to full health in less than 3 seconds. When I reached the edge of the wall, I counted around 300 Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players in total. "What do we do now? Do we keep fighting, or?" Heaven¡¯s Rain asked. I looked at the sea of Purple Gr.a.p.e City players in the distance and shook my head. "Nah, everyone¡¯s low on HP and potions. Let¡¯s retreat for now and grab our supplies." "Okay!" We began climbing down the cloud ladders. Red Maple and his goons tried to give chase again, but Li Chengfeng, He Yi and I worked together to keep them at bay. Not too far away, Lin Yixin dropped Ice Flame Slash at a group of enemies before shooting us a smile, "You¡¯re withdrawing, Little Cheat?" I grabbed onto the rope of the cloud ladder and replied, "Yep, we¡¯re done. Snowy Cathaya should retreat too!" "Okay!" Lin Yixin barely brought anyone with her to the wall to begin with, so her retreat was much simpler than ours. She simply jumped right off the wall. She spread out her arms with the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword in one hand and the Moonchaser Tiger¡¯s rune on the other arm. The way her cloaked spread out behind her made her look like a beautiful, lithe butterfly. It was a landing method heavy bastards like Li Chengfeng and I could never pull off. Her beautiful succubi ears raised up, Lin Yixin landed lightly on the ground and ran a dozen or so meters to the front to cushion the impact. "Holy shit!" Xu Yang s.u.c.k.e.d at his teeth. "Lin Yixin¡¯s technique is truly unrivaled in this world¡­" I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Now let¡¯s go!" And so, our forces withdrew from the fortification and paused our assault temporarily. Although we hadn¡¯t been able to take down the Impassable Great Wall, the structure took a lot of damage, and the large majority of the siege weapons Purple Gr.a.p.e City had on the walls had been destroyed. Even if they had more to spare, it would take them a lot of time and energy to push them onto the walls again. It was a volatile period of time we would definitely want to capitalize on later. ¡­¡­ Hot and Sour Noodles, Luo River God of the Capital, Indigo Collar, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Dominating Heaven Blade and I came together. We were currently gathering at a spot a thousand meters away from the Impassable Great Wall. "It¡¯s such a shame we didn¡¯t manage to breach the gate. It only has 15% durability left¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles sighed. "If only our people could hold out just a bit longer¡­" Dominating Heaven Blade complained, "C¡¯mon, at least a million of us went up there to buy time for y¡¯all, and only a small amount of us managed to come back alive. Even the monsters of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls like Li Chengfeng and Lu Chen fought until their weapons got chipped all over the place. It¡¯s completely unreasonable to expect us to hold out much longer¡­" I said, "Uncle, we need to finish our preparations for the second assault in 30 minutes at most. Otherwise, the walls will be filled with catapults and ballistae again." "I know. I¡¯m already on it." "Good!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, I felt something cool splatter against my nose. When I looked up, I saw that the sky was covered in dark clouds, and more raindrops were starting to fall from the sky. I swore out loud, "F.u.c.k, this is bad¡­" "What¡¯s wrong?" Lin Yixin asked me. I pointed to the north and said, "Around 20 million Chinese players are currently passing through Sunset Basin to make it to Purple Gr.a.p.e City. However, this rain could very well turn Sunset Basin into a goddamned sea. How many people do you think will escape alive if that happens?" He Yi sighed. "It¡¯s all that idiot Li Le¡¯s fault¡­" ¡­¡­ "Bad news!" Suddenly, a group of tattered magic knights shouted while running toward us. They were all Righteousness players. "What¡¯s wrong?" Hot and Sour Noodles asked with a frown. "Take a deep breath before you speak. What happened?" One of the magic knights reported, "We were ambushed by a small force at White Rose Fortress. They managed to kill almost all 5000 of our heavy riders!" Chapter 1030: Leading the Mouse Into the Trap I stared at the Righteousness magic knight with a dumbfounded expression. "Excuse me? Did you just say 5000 heavy riders were almost routed by a small force? Was your language class taught by your sports teacher?" ¡°I¡­" The magic knight looked ashamed. "All I can tell you is that a bunch of riders ambushed us and 1v5¡¯d the crap out of us... I know it¡¯s embarrassing¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles said sternly, "I¡¯m aware that our heavy riders are incomparable to the Dragonlight Cavalry¡­ but surely they¡¯re not that weak?" I asked, "Do you know who the enemy is, my dude?" The magic knight nodded heavily before replying, "Yes. They bear the orange-green flag of India, and their mounts are Level 180 Earth Rank mounts. I checked up on them after we escaped them, and I learned that they belong to the second strongest guild of Elephant City, Natural Flow. The cavalry is the ace unit of the guild, the White Horse Cavalry!" I sighed. "We knew this would happen, but still. Elephant City, huh? This is not going to be easy¡­" "Doesn¡¯t matter. We must keep fighting no matter the odds!" Dominating Heaven Blade declared, "I bet they had teleported directly to Cyan Earth City and come over through Lost Forest. Their numbers can¡¯t be few either. If it wasn¡¯t clear enough before, we now know with absolute certainty that India and Japan are allied with one another!" Hot and Sour Noodles said, "What can you do? Sky City is the King of Cities where the greatest elites in the world are housed. We are a great threat to both of them. We all knew that it was only a matter of time before they joined hands to fight Sky City." Lin Yixin blinked once before chipping in her opinion, "White Rose Fortress is our direct source of reinforcements, food supply, and potions. You can say that it¡¯s the supply line for our entire invasion. It musn¡¯t fall under Elephant City¡¯s control no matter what." Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. "Mn. We¡¯ll send a couple of strong guilds to protect the supply line and destroy Natural Flow. No matter how strong they are, they cannot be allowed to live and continue posing a threat to our supply line!" "Mn!" "But who should we send to fight them? As if the fact that their mounts are Level 180 and Earth Rank isn¡¯t bad enough, we know nothing about their army size or their leader either¡­" I said. ¡­¡­ Hot and Sour Noodles pondered for a moment before replying, "We cannot afford to lessen the pressure on the Impassable Great Wall, so Snowy Cathaya, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, The Monarch Descends and Purple Lily must remain for the assault. The rest of you, who dares to meet Elephant City¡¯s reinforcements in battle?" Three players walked out and declared at the same time, "I¡¯ll go!" They were none other than Dominating Heaven Blade of Gods of Destruction, Roaming Dragon of Mad Dragon, and Pillar of the Nation of Hegemon Palace. Dominating Heaven Blade smiled at this and said, "Nice! Our 70k-strong Azure Wolf Cavalry, Mad Dragon and Hegemon Palace¡¯s cavalry combined should total around 200000! It should be enough to sweep the White Horse Cavalry!" Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. "Yes. Don¡¯t underestimate the enemy though, brother!" "I know!" Dominating Heaven Blade let out a hearty laugh before turning around to face his generals. "Knight God, Warrior God, tell the Azure Wolf Cavalry that we¡¯re heading out for a sweep. Mad Dragon, Hegemon Palace, once you¡¯ve made your preparations, send the word so we may march out together. The White Horse Cavalry of Elephant City is incredibly famous, so we cannot afford to underestimate them no matter what. Speaking of which, I heard that Natural Flow¡¯s guild leader is a beautiful Indian girl called Flowing Cloud. Apparently, she¡¯s an incredibly intelligent and reputable woman. Once we take out Natural Flow, we should claim her as our mistress of the fort, don¡¯t you agree?" Smiling, Little Piglet licked his lips. "That¡¯s true. Even though I¡¯ve heard that Natural Flow is not in the same class as Fruit Knife Goddess or From Water, she¡¯s still quite the gorgeous woman. Hehe¡­" Pillar of the Nation laughed. "I thought you¡¯re only interested in money, Little Piglet? Have your tastes finally evolved to include women?" Little Piglet gave his wallet a slap. "Well, I¡¯m rich enough that I can afford to enjoy a Suan Cai Yu every meal now! Why wouldn¡¯t I want a woman to warm my bed if I can afford it?" When Roaming Dragon heard that, he curled his lips and helped Coldmoon Rose up his mount. Coldmoon Rose was a high-level archer who shared a terrible relationship with our guild, so she didn¡¯t get a gift of Dragonscale Beast or Mounted Archery Training from us. The only path to power left for her was to cross her legs between Roaming Dragon¡¯s and play the good, obedient girlfriend. Little Piglet shot him a glance, gulped and swore under his breath, "Goddamned trust fund babies¡­" I took a step toward Dominating Heaven Blade, wiped the rainwater on my face and advised, "Seriously though, don¡¯t underestimate Natural Flow, okay? Always send out archers and assassins to scout ahead and act only after you¡¯ve figured out the situation. This Flowing Cloud is famous for her wits, so carelessness will lead to disaster. Long story short, think thrice before you act." Dominating Heaven Blade guffawed. "I didn¡¯t know you¡¯re such a worrywart, Lu Chen! Relax, we may not have a super strategist like you, but we¡¯re not idiots either. That woman will have to try super hard to trick the likes of us. Anyway, see you later!" "Mn. May fortune be with you!" I was speaking from the heart when I said this. Right now, our forces were trapped between a rock and a hard place. The Impassable Great Wall was already a great obstacle we couldn¡¯t overcome easily, but now Elephant City was harassing our backline as well. This also meant that Cyan Earth City couldn¡¯t be far behind. Once Cyan Beast¡¯s God of War and Breeze and Rain emerged, the war would truly enter its climax! ¡­¡­ I looked up. The rain was pouring harder and harder, and it was even accompanied by bolts of lightning. After the 200000 cavalrymen led by Gods of Destruction, Mad Dragon and Hegemon were assembled¡ªthe red flags above their heads made them look like a red sea¡ªthey thundered toward the dark distance with our blessing. Defeat was not an option, or our situation would be really bad. Turning my gaze back toward the majestic fortification that was the Impassable Great Wall, I sucked in a deep breath and said, "This makes the third time we¡¯re assaulting the wall, right?" Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. "Mn. The siege machines are already in place. They are ready to go once the magic knights take their positions. We¡¯ve also assembled a powerful axe party that¡¯s going to work in tandem with our siege machines and hack away at the walls. I¡¯m sure Red Maple has noticed this already. With less than 60% durability left, the walls will fall in two attacks at most even if we fail to conquer the fortification before that." Hot and Sour Noodles then shot me a meaningful smile. "Do you know what that means?" I smiled back. "It means that Red Maple has no choice but to send his elites to this plain and try to delay us! It¡¯s either that or lose the Impassable Great Wall! "Correct!" Hot and Sour Noodles unsheathed his sword and declared, "That is why all Sky City ace cavalry troops are to stay out of the third wave and remain where they are. Purple Grape City will open the gate themselves and charge our main formation in less than an hour, so all we need to do is wait for them to stick their heads into our swords!" Everyone laughed and nodded in unison. The third assault began, and a new group of second-rate cavalry rushed toward the Impassable Great Wall. Although we lost at least 3 million players during the previous two assaults, our number advantage remained superior and indomitable. Over 70% of the players of the three main cities had joined the battle, so we still had over 20 million players ready to throw themselves into the fray! ¡­¡­ This time, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis, Gui Guzi and the rest of the Famous Generals stayed out of the fight. We patiently waited for our turn as cloud ladders were propped against the wall, catapults traded payloads with each other, and Purple Grape City mages stood at the edge of the walls, firing spells at the attackers. The primal battlefield was a place that could make anyone¡¯s blood boil in excitement. I remained calm despite the excitement though. I looked at Xu Yang and said, "Xu Yang, tell the Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers to assemble behind us and standby for orders!" Xu Yang looked puzzled. "The assault has just begun though? Isn¡¯t it too soon?" I shook my head. "No, it¡¯s not. I¡¯m almost certain that Natural Flow isn¡¯t the only Indian guild to have arrived in Purple Grape City¡¯s domain. There has to be another Cyan Earth City or Elephant City guild lurking somewhere. Also, we may have the numbers, but only a tiny percentage of us can actually put up a good fight. Anyway, just rally them and tell them to get ready for anything!" "Very well, I¡¯ll get it done right away!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Hot and Sour Noodles turned pale and clenched his fists. "Fuck!" A bad feeling washed over me as I asked in a hurry, "What is it, uncle?" He looked up and said, "The party that traveled the Sunset Basin route were caught in a pincer attack while they were passing through a pass at the middle point. They¡¯ve been divided into three groups, and they¡¯re being attacked by the 120k-strong Beast King Cavalry led by Cyan Beast¡¯s God of War and Breeze and Rain themselves. Their retreat is completely cut off, and they¡¯ve lost over a million players in just half an hour!" "Fuck!" I exclaimed in shock before uttering through gritted teeth, "I knew Red Maple wouldn¡¯t neglect a perfect ambush map like Sunset Basin! That idiot Li Le led tens of millions of people straight to hell!" I looked at Hot and Sour Noodles and said urgently, "Uncle, I¡¯m sure you know many of the guild leaders in that group. Can you tell them to turn their forces around and attack the blockade Cyan Beast set up at their rear with everything they got? They need to do it now, or soon it¡¯ll be too late!" "What do you mean?" Hot and Sour Noodles asked. I answered gravely, "Don¡¯t you see yet? The reason Purple Grape City didn¡¯t post anyone at the entrance of Sunset Basin was because the whole place was a death trap, and they wanted to lure our troops inside! Moreover, the reason Cyan Beast only intercepted the rear troops was because they¡¯re herding our players to their death traps! Once all our players are herded into the low-lying zones, I guarantee you that they will unclog the rivers or whatever and flood the entire Sunset Basin! It¡¯ll be a goddamn reenactment of the Battle of Fancheng! If I was those idiots, I would rather die fighting the enemy than be drowned for nothing!" Everyone shivered at the same time. "Fuck, what a devious strategy!" Chapter 1031: All Brawn and No Brain We stood in the rain and spent the next half an hour waiting to hear from Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ friends. Finally, Hot and Sour Noodles let out a long sigh and said, "It¡¯s too late. Li Le and the guild leader of Nether Ring both agreed to continue along their course and march toward Purple Grape City. It¡¯s ¡®do or die¡¯, they say. Well, they¡¯re certainly going to get one of their wishes¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles added, "Also, I learned that Flower Room alone has lost almost a 100k people to Breeze and Rain¡¯s 50k Beast King Cavalry. The other guilds probably suffered even worse casualties. They probably don¡¯t even have the strength to break through the blockade even if they want to¡­" I glared toward the northeast direction while shaking all over. "Almost 30 million troops, gone just like that!" Lin Yixin pursed her lips. "Is there truly no way to turn this around, Lu Chen?" I shook my head. "It¡¯s all up to fate now. The idiots had entered Sunset Basin on a whim to begin with, while Purple Grape City and Cyan Earth City were much more prepared. Also, I¡¯m sure now that Cyan Earth City and Purple Grape City have given each other teleportation access. That was why Cyan Earth City was able to set up such a huge ambush." Li Chengfeng shrugged. "Well, no point crying over spilled milk." I looked back at the Impassable Great Wall and smiled a little. "Still, it¡¯s not all bad news. The Impassable Great Wall will fall in 10 hours at most. Once we¡¯re through, it¡¯s flatlands and smooth grounds all the way to Swallow Ear Canton where our Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers can truly shine. Once the satellite city is gone as well, we¡¯ll be able to march across Wildfire Plains and finally make it to Purple Grape City!" High Fighting Spirits laughed heartily. "Yep. Why worry about a failed alternative when our main course is still set to victory? We never expected Li Le and his bunch of idiots to do anything anyway. In fact, we fully expected them to die one way or another, didn¡¯t we? Also, the driving force of this Nation War has always been the Top 10 guilds on the Guild Ranking, not him." That was the final straw necessary to smoothen the creases on Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ forehead and make him smile. "Yes, you¡¯re right. Ancient Sword, Snowy Cathaya, Purple Lily, Blazing Hot Lips and the other Top 10 guilds are the true force of this Nation War, and most of them are here on the main battlefield. This Nation War isn¡¯t lost as long as we remain standing!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a lone rider appeared from the distance and dismounted in front of us. He was none other than the vice leader of Gods of Destruction, Dominating Knight God. The man had less than 20% HP left, and his face was pale and shaken. His chest armor was heavily marred by blade wounds, and his shield was covered in some sort of short, narrow steel arrows that didn¡¯t look like your usual player arrow. "What happened, Knight God?" Hot and Sour Noodles asked while rushing over to his side to support him. Disheartened and angry, Dominating Knight God lamented, "We were tricked, tricked! That Flowing Cloud woman ambushed us at Lost Forest and killed¡­ many, many of us. Boss wanted to send you a message himself, but in the end he sent me over because he was too ashamed¡­" My eyes widened. "What? You were ambushed? I thought you were engaging Natural Flow¡¯s White Horse Cavalry in a direct battle! How did it turn into an ambush?" Dominating Knight God said, "We engaged them on the plains for about ten minutes, yes, but they withdrew and vanished into the west side of Lost Forest afterward. The terrain there is strange and crooked, and when we reached there we were ambushed by their archers. The attacks were incredibly rapid and unrelenting, and we crumbled and lost more than half our numbers in less than twenty minutes. Our surviving troops are still fighting right now¡­" Lin Yixin walked over with clear excitement on her face. "Did you see that Flowing Cloud? Did you?" Clearly, China¡¯s number one war goddess was interested in challenging Elephant City¡¯s number one war goddess to a fight! Unfortunately, Dominating Knight God shook his head and said, "No, she didn¡¯t show herself¡­" I raised my weapon and said, "Xu Yang, muster 50k Cyan Tiger Cavalry and 10k Dragonlight Cavalry for me. I want to meet this Flowing Cloud myself and check out exactly how her archers are able to wreck our cavalry in open terrain!" Lin Yixin also gave the same order to her troops, "Purple Marquis, muster 10k Kui Dragon Cavalry and 50k Purple Dragon Cavalry with me. We¡¯ll follow Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to meet Flowing Cloud!" "Yes ma¡¯am!" While our forces were gathering, Hot and Sour Noodles walked up to me and gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "Don¡¯t worry about the situation here. I¡¯ll handle everything the enemy might throw at us while you¡¯re gone!" "Thanks!" After that, I faced toward my people and declared, "Mount up, people! It¡¯s our time to shine!" Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Gui Guzi and everyone who had been chosen to go on this mission got up their mounts. Soon, Snowy Cathaya was ready as well. Lin Yixin shot me a smile and said, "The Dragonlight Cavalry is the sturdier cavalry between our cavalry, so you lead the way and we cover the rear. Okay?" "Okay!" The request was perfectly natural. The Dragonlight Cavalry enjoyed a 50% boost to Attack and Defense thanks to Dragon Soul Protection. Adding Knight God into the mix, that was a whopping 275% boost in total. With their high mobility, they could easily handle an ambush or two and return mostly unscathed. Besides that, I had two thousand Dragonlight Cavalry in my party to share my Martial God, He Yi had two thousand Dragonlight Cavalry in her party to share her Royal Road, and our five Famous Generals¡ªLi Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Diamond Dust and Heaven¡¯s Rain¡ªhad a thousand Dragonlight Cavalry each to share their Famous General Skills. The path to eternal victory is paved by a troop of boosted Dragonlight Cavalry! I raised my hand and declared, "March!" Gui Guzi took off first, and our and Snowy Cathaya¡¯s 120k thousand strong cavalry followed behind him. Our quantity might be lower than the 200k strong cavalry of Gods of Destruction, Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon, but our quality was obviously higher than theirs. I had confidence that our casualties would be lower than 20% no matter how powerful the White Horse Cavalry was! ¡­¡­ About ten minutes of galloping later, we arrived at a barren forest. The downpour narrowed our vision so much that we couldn¡¯t really see too far ahead of it. Still, there was no mistaking the corpses on the ground. There were clearly more dead Sky City players than there were Elephant City players. Most of the bodies were covered in arrows. They had also been cold for quite some time. Their mounts were circling around the area searching for a master who had already been killed. "Fucking hell!" Gui Guzi commented while staring at the bodies, "This isn¡¯t a fight, this is a goddamn massacre! The death ratio between our players and the enemy¡¯s is almost 4 to 1! How are they so goddamn weak¡­" Li Chengfeng said, "That¡¯s not really fair to them. We all know that these Gods of Destruction, Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon are second-rate at best, while Natural Flow is the second strongest guild in Elephant City. There was just no comparison between the two. Also, Floating Cloud was famous for being one of the smartest strategists in Elephant City, while those three guilds are lucky if they can make up a brain between all of them. Dominating Heaven Blade is all brawn and no brain, Wang Dongliang is a selfish prick, Roaming Dragon¡¯s brain cells are fully devoted to Coldmoon Rose¡¯s thighs, and even Little Piglet, the one strong dude in all three guilds is a greedy mofo. The sun will rise from the west before they can beat Natural Flow." Suddenly, He Yi pointed to the front and said, "We have company!" A group of players riding white horses suddenly appeared at the edge of the forest. They were all above Level 180, and they carried the emblem of Elephant City and Natural Flow on their shoulders. They were of course the White Rose Cavalry that had been tormenting our allies. A vice leader wielding an axe chuckled at the sight of us and said, "Finally, China is sending some elites to deal with us. Let¡¯s see, I count Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, and¡­ isn¡¯t that the champion of the WEL, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and the guild leader of Ancient Sword, From Water? It looks like we caught some big fishes this time, people! Hahaha!" Before any of us could respond, he growled, "Kill them! Show these people the power of Elephant City!" The White Horse Cavalry kicked off the battle first. Chiang! I pulled out my own weapon and shouted, "When two people meet, only one will emerge the victor! Show these fools the might of the greatest cavalry in the world!" The Dragonlight Cavalry unsheathed their weapons, shouted their battle cries and charged with me. Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon quickly moved to the forefront and acted as the spearhead of their respective parties. This was the best way to minimize our losses while crushing the enemy; to have our greatest players carving open a path for everyone else. "Here I come!" The blade of my Purple Ying Sword burst into flames, and I unleashed three flaming auras directly to the center of the incoming troops. It dealt a shocking amount of damage¡ª 72883! 82399! 102939! ¡ªbut I was more shocked by the fact that the skill only one-shot 4 or 5 players. At least 80% of them were clinging onto life with red health. Just how much HP and Defense did they have? Chaos Moon followed up my attack and fired a Rock Crush, but again her skill only dealt around 50k damage or so. Her mouth fell open in shock, "Heavens, what is this Defense?" Thankfully, we weren¡¯t the only powerful Famous Generals in our party. After Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and Li Chengfeng unleashed their own skills, the White Horse Cavalry started dying in droves. On the other hand, our Dragonlight Cavalry only lost around 50% to 70% HP despite having received a full charge, which they healed away using War God Recovery. It was because they were protected by Dragon Soul Protection. The White Horse Cavalry lost over a hundred players in an instant, while we lost no one at all. "Shit, these people are the real thing! Retreat!" The vice leader and the 5000 White Horse Cavalry he brought with him immediately turned around and escaped into the dark forest beside them. Gui Guzi growled, "No one is leaving without leaving their lives behind!" The Dragonlight Cavalry quickly followed Gui Guzi into the forest, but I sensed that something was amiss. I opened the world map and confirmed that the terrain was shaped like many S, which made it incredibly easy for ambushers to take out an isolated force. I immediately ordered, "I want 5000 riders to follow me to the right, and 10000 riders to follow Eve to the left! Spread out so that the enemy can¡¯t crush you all in one fell swoop! Watch out for any unusual activity, and don¡¯t attack carelessly!" "Yessir!" After we split up, I and the five thousand riders behind me barely took a few steps into the forest when a volley of arrows appeared seemingly out of nowhere. To my surprise, the Dragonlight Cavalry who were hit dropped to red health in less than three seconds and were forced to escape back to us. Chaos Moon swore as she examined the forest around us, "Fuck! There are archers in the forest!" However, I shook my head while staring at the red dots on the map. "No, there¡¯s no way these enemies are archers¡­" Chaos Moon looked at me in surprise. "What? What are they then?" Chapter 1032: Flowing Cloud "Doesn¡¯t matter what it is. All we need to do is to break through by force and kill them all!" High Fighting Spirits said. I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Everyone, follow Fighting Spirits into the forest. But before you do that, take note that this unknown enemy isn¡¯t a player. The red dot on the minimap is 3 times larger than a player¡¯s, when even a mounted player is just 2 times larger, so watch out. Now then, spread out and surround the enemy from all sides. Once I give the order, we¡¯ll move in together and crush them in an instant!" After the party was ready, High Fighting Spirits and I rushed into the forest side by side. I even activated Great Earth Transformation just in case. Whoosh! High Fighting Spirits lifted the leaves blocking our way and rushed forward with uncanny agility. I fired Ancient Seal into the air! Boom! The golden seal illuminated the overcast, wet forest and revealed about 20 or so arrow towers. They were only 3 meters tall, very small and possessed a fairly weak Attack, but their attack speed was very high. They were especially deadly to any single target if more than 10 of them were put together in one place. "OMG, it¡¯s the Ivory Tower!" Chaos Moon¡¯s eyes widened. "I read about this when I was looking for information on the main cities yesterday! The Ivory Tower is one of Elephant City¡¯s unique items. Each player can carry up to 6 of them and place them on any 3-yard patch of flat ground. It¡¯s meant to be used as a temporary defensive structure, but Flowing Cloud turned it into an offensive structure [1] instead. She really is quite intelligent¡­" I said, "It¡¯s fine, Ivory Tower only has 50k HP. Destroy them all!" I unleashed Burning Blade Slash and tore apart an entire clump of Ivory Towers myself after giving the order. A few seconds later, the Dragonlight Cavalry destroyed the rest. ¡­¡­ After we emerged back into the open, Chaos Moon looked at the distant forest and said, "I bet there are Ivory Towers everywhere inside the forest. It will be suicide to charge in recklessly!" I nodded and said, "Tell Beiming and the 5000 Dragonlight Archers to come over. I just did a quick check, and I can confirm that the Ivory Tower has an attack range of 50 yards only, which is shorter than our Dragonlight Archers¡¯. We¡¯ll have them clear out all the Ivory Towers the enemy have set up and force White Horse Cavalry to engage us in a decisive battle!" "Okay!" At the same time, I received battle reports from the two parties led by He Yi and Gui Guzi respectively. Both of them had lost a dozen or so Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen, but they were cautious enough not to force their way through. By now, everyone had figured out why Gods of Destruction, Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon had lost as many troops as they did. It would be stranger if they survived the Ivory Towers set up at strategic locations by the White Horse Cavalry. Ten minutes later, we arrived at a clearing. He Yi, Gui Guzi, our cavalry and even Lin Yixin¡¯s Snowy Cathaya had come together. We stood at the edge of the forest and stared into the seemingly impenetrable darkness ahead of us. A flock of alarmed birds took to the sky and informed us that there were god knows how many Elephant City players hiding in there. Not only that, each one of them could carry up to 6 Ivory Towers, and they could battle as normal after they placed the structures on the ground. It was a devious tactic for sure. Our counter was on the way though. On the world map, I saw our 5000+ Dragonlight Archers riding through the forest behind us. It wasn¡¯t long before a beautiful mounted archer clad in leather armor and carrying a bow that glowed like a frozen moon burst through a bush and arrived at the clearing. It was of course Beiming Xue. Not only that, she had brought Lian Xin with us. The duo had been inseparable as of late, not that I minded our number one mage¡¯s presence at all. I¡¯m sure we could use her skills in the upcoming battle. "What¡¯s the plan, big bro?" Beiming Xue asked me with a big smile as the Dragonlight Archers followed behind her. I pointed to the forest at the front and said, "A ton of Ivory Towers have been set up in the forest, but they only have 50k HP, and their attack range is only 50 yards. So, I want you and the Dragonlight Archers to increase Skypiercer¡¯s range to 100 yards or so using the Far Shot mode and destroy them all! We will force Flowing Cloud¡¯s White Horse Cavalry to meet us in a decisive battle!" He Yi nodded as Lin Yixin said to Beiming smilingly, "We¡¯re close enough to protect you in case anything happens, so just shoot to your heart¡¯s content, Lil Beiming!" "Mn, got it!" First, Beiming Xue changed her stratagem to Range and more than doubled everyone¡¯s attack range. After ordering the other party leaders to do the same, she continued, "Aim at the west forest and use Skypiercer only. We¡¯ll move 30 yards forward after every 5 Skypiercers!" The mounted archers nodded in unison before performing a full draw. For a time, the sound of tightening bowstrings filled the air. Then, without even waiting for an order from Beiming Xue, they released it at the same time and loosed a volley of arrows into the thunderclouds above. When the arrows had reached peak height, they split up into even more arrows before falling toward the ground! Thud thud thud thud!! The arrows fell like meteors and caused a series of noises immediately. We even saw flashes of fire¡ªit was the light of the animation of the Ivory Towers being destroyed¡ªand the enemy players¡¯ screams. Clearly, the first round of Skypiercer alone had killed a lot of players. The downpour above our heads was both good and bad news. The good news was that the enemy couldn¡¯t hear the Skypiercers until it was too late. The bad news was that we couldn¡¯t hear them sneaking up on us either. Watching our surroundings warily, I ordered, "Cyan Tiger Cavalry, spread out and form a shield wall now. Flowing Cloud will mount a charge once we¡¯ve driven her into a corner!" The Cyan Tiger Cavalry nodded and formed an impenetrable shield wall under Xu Yang¡¯s command in no time. Snowy Cathaya¡¯s players worked in tandem with us as well. No one could tear through our formation without considerable effort. "Argh, these goddamned Chinese mounted archers!" As expected, a dozen or so Elephant City riders emerged from the forest, but they were just Greedy Wolf Cavalrymen with fairly low levels instead of the White Horse Cavalry we were expecting. They were the ones who were responsible for setting up the Ivory Towers, so naturally they were the first to lose their cool when the Dragonlight Archers took out the structures. "Aim directly in front of you and continue the attack!" Beiming Xue ordered smilingly. The bowstrings twanged again, and all the Elephant City players who charged out of the forest were killed in an instant. There were at least a thousand of them, but they were nothing before the Dragonlight Archers¡¯ firepower. ¡­¡­ "Alright, it¡¯s time to move 30 yards forward before continuing the assault!" 5 Skypiercers later, Beiming Xue ordered the Dragonlight Archers to push forward. At the same time, I gripped my sword hilt and searched around for a source of killing intent. Yes, I had a feeling that it was about time for Flowing Cloud to make her move. As the war goddess of Elephant City, she would never let us the tower formation she spent so much effort setting up without retaliation. Chiang! A thick bolt of lightning suddenly sundered the darkness to the south and revealed a female warrior in white garment. She rode as quick as lightning, and not even the downpour could conceal the thunderous hooves of the riders following behind her. We all turned serious when the ID floating above her head came into view¡ª Flowing Cloud LV-194 Great Earth Magic Swordsman (India) Main City: Elephant City Guild: Natural Flow Position: Leader ¡­¡­ Finally, the number one war goddess of Elephant City had deigned to reveal herself. She had gorgeous features and armor that made her look like a heroine straight from the fairytales. After letting out a battle cry, she charged into Snowy Cathaya¡¯s square-shaped, 10x10 yard shield formation and used an AoE skill. Amazingly, she was able to annihilate most of them. Flowing Cloud was trailed by 50k White Horse Cavalry at least. I had no doubt that they were the elites of the cavalry troop. I raised my sword, turned my mount around and shouted, "Dragonlight Cavalry, ride with me! The decisive battle is now!" Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and the others heeded the order and faced toward the enemy. Xu Yang pulled out his sword and shouted, "Kill!" The ground shook, and 14k+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen charged straight toward the enemy¡¯s wing as a perfect square. This was the moment we had been preparing for so long! Bang bang bang... The Dragonlight Cavalry slammed into the White Horse Cavalry with a fleshy thud. The latter was famous for their Defense, but it was clear that the Dragonlight Cavalry was ultimately superior. Acting as the spearhead of the charge, I unleashed Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash + Ancient Seal combo that instantly crushed one part of the enemy¡¯s formation. The three Divine Generals, Li Chengfeng, He Yi and Lin Yixin even activated Great Earth Transformation before charging into the fray. Lin Yixin and He Yi used their God¡¯s Tear and Godslaying Blade to tear into the enemy. Li Chengfeng carved through the enemies in unstoppable fashion after activating Battle Soul Possession. ¡­¡­ Crack! After slicing three Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen¡¯s armor in half with her sword, Flowing Cloud pointed to the right and cried out an ambitious order, "Tear down their right wing and create some space for us!" The White Horse Cavalry did as commanded and broke through part of the defense line made up of Cyan Tiger Cavalry and Purple Dragon Cavalry instantly. Flowing Cloud herself was fighting at the frontlines and killing as many Chinese riders as she could. Very soon, after losing several thousand White Horse Cavalrymen to push all the way to the center of our formation, Flowing Cloud gave her next order, "Do it now!" Pa pa pa¡­ Suddenly, the White Horse Cavalry dropped a ton of Ivory Towers on the empty ground they created. 10000-strong Ivory Tower formation was created just like that! "Fuck!" I swore. As expected, the Ivory Towers started shooting, and droves of Cyan Tiger Cavalry and Purple Dragon Cavalry dropped dead in no time. Flowing Cloud¡¯s aggressive use of the arrow towers was super effective [2]! 1. T/N: ??? it¡¯s still a goddamn defensive structure, she¡¯s luring you into range and letting it shoot you what are you talking about) 2. T/N: now THIS is an actual offensive use of the structure) Chapter 1033: Flowing Cloud Loses "What the fuck is this tactic?" Gui Guzi raged from behind his shield as the swarm of Ivory Towers shot at him. The good news was that Gui Guzi had insanely high Defense and the Undying Shield to absorb part of the damage he received. Of all of us, he was probably the one person who was in no real danger of being one-shot. After Li Chengfeng cut down three White Horse Cavalrymen with his Dark Blade, he answered, "It¡¯s called point defense! I guarantee you that their cavalry is going to form a shield wall around their Ivory Towers and protect them with all they got while the latter shoot! This will end horribly for us if we can¡¯t find a way to break through!" Lin Yixin looked to me for directions. "Lu Chen, what do we do?" I replied unhesitatingly, "Have our riders fall into a knife formation and cut through the enemy¡¯s defense at all costs! We cannot allow the White Horse Cavalry to form an impenetrable wall around their arrow towers!" "Got it!" Xu Yang nodded and called out three people immediately, "Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Heaven¡¯s Rain, you three will attack their northside from three different angles. You must penetrate their defense line no matter what!" All three Famous Generals immediately did as ordered and charged the enemy formation with the Dragonlight and Cyan Tiger Cavalries. The clearing was soon covered in blood and corpses. ¡­¡­ I thrust the Purple Ying Sword through four people''s chests while blocking the Ivory Tower¡¯s short arrows with the Dragon God Shield. I also unleashed my AoE skills such as Thousand Ice Slash, Burning Blade Slash, War Crush and more repeatedly to cut down as many enemies as possible. I didn¡¯t use Universe Break because it was a group battle, and AoE skills were more efficient than single-target skills in this situation. BOOM BOOM BOOM! The White Horse Cavalry was famous for their impressive defense, but Burning Blade Slash tore them apart all the same. If Gui Guzi was the king of Defense, then I was the king of Attack. On the other side, Lin Yixin was doing well with her Ice Flame Slash, and He Yi, her Purgatory of Ice and Magma as well. Both women possessed significant firepower. Lin Yixin had already been famous for her unrelenting offense even when she was still Beautiful Little Pepper, while He Yi¡¯s Godslaying Blade turned even her basic attacks into AoEs. The Seven Star Veluriyam Spear left countless dead in its wake! ¡­¡­ "Beiming!" I turned around and shouted, "Tell our mounted archers to use Skypiercers with the Far Shot mode and support our cavalry¡¯s offense! We must defeat Flowing Cloud¡¯s point-defense tactic as soon as possible!" "Mn, got it, big bro!" Very soon, our 5000+ Dragonlight Archers came to a stop at the periphery of the battlefield and started firing their Skypiercers straight into the enemy. The arrow rain dropped like unstoppable sharp fangs and tore through the White Horse Cavalry¡¯s armor and flesh. Many Ivory Towers were shattered by the counterattack as well! "Ahhh!" Droves of White Horse Cavalrymen fell off their mounts and died, causing their beautiful guild leader to turn pale. Still, she ordered, "Do not retreat! We¡¯ve all brought 6 Ivory Towers with us! If you find an opportunity, drop them immediately and let them wear down at the opponent! Don¡¯t try to engage them by force! We¡¯ll outlast these Chinese players!" Flowing Cloud¡¯s strategy was as obvious as it was effective, and as a whole, we suffered heavier-than-expected losses. The Dragonlight Cavalry were strong enough to hang on, but the Cyan Tiger Cavalry and Purple Dragon Cavalry wouldn¡¯t stop dying in droves. The horrific sight caused a lot of female riders to turn green atop their mounts. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Suddenly, a beautiful girl darted toward the arrow towers and waved her scepter, crushing dozens of Ivory Towers with her Dimensional Storm. There was only one person in the guild who possessed this level of skill and magical prowess, and she was of course Lian Xin. "Kill that mage! She¡¯s¡­ she¡¯s the Phantasm of Stars, Lian Xing! Kill her now!" Lian Xin was recognized almost immediately. A platoon of White Horse Cavalry immediately rushed toward her. Rustle rustle rustle¡­ Lian Xin backpedaled across the grass while summoning seven or eight Origin Force Fields in front of her. The surprised White Horse Cavalry immediately faceplanted into the force fields and hurt themselves instead. However, Lian Xin had moved too deep into the enemy lines, and White Horse Cavalry were surrounding her from all sides. It wasn¡¯t long before a group came close enough to thrust their Barrier Breaks at her! "Ugh¡­" Lian Xin exhaled and crouched down a little, causing her long, pale legs to emerge from beneath her robes. Then, she parried Barrier Break and allowed the force to carry her to safety! Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh¡­ Half a second after she escaped, countless Barrier Breaks thrust into the spot she had been at and resulted in a MISS. She would¡¯ve been skewered if she had reacted even a bit slower. Having earned some free time for herself, Lian Xin fired off Dimensional Storm and a bunch of Wind Blades at the White Horse Cavalry who tried to kill her and destroyed them. Heavy-armor classes were weak to magic attacks, which meant mages were the bane of all melee fighters. For a fighter, the consequence of failing to one-shot a mage was usually death. "Take her out! She cannot be allowed to live!" A new group of White Horse Cavalry shouted as they charged her. Worse, three of them used AoE skills that Lian Xin couldn¡¯t dodge with her technique. As a result, her Telekinetic Shield distorted significantly and lost a lot of durability! Chiang! A war axe slammed into her scepter and sent her rolling unceremoniously across the ground, a mount¡¯s hooves missing her small form by mere inches. She didn¡¯t let the attack go unanswered though. Three complicated-looking matrix arrays appeared on the ground, and the next moment laser-like pillars of magic burst out from beneath and tore the White Horse Cavalry into pieces. Literally. Those spinning ice blades were seriously no joke! After Lian Xin had regained her footing, she backpedaled some more and unleashing the rest of her arsenal like Touch of the Dragonkiss and Arctic Rain. She even managed to carve open a safe space after slowing a group of riders with Gravity Shield and isolating herself within a dozen of Origin Force Fields. ¡­¡­ "Hmph!" Not far away, the magic swordsman Flowing Cloud snorted coldly and decided to meet Lian Xin in battle herself. Both her and her mount were incredibly high-level. The moment she got close to Lian Xin, she immediately used Barrier Break! Chiang! Lian Xin tried to parry, but Flowing Cloud knew she would do that and angled her sword upward, successfully dealing 40k+ damage to Lian Xin. Another Triple Slash later, the girl¡¯s Telekinetic Shield instantly dropped to less than 10%. "Ugh¡­" Unable to hold on any longer, Lian Xin Blinked away from Flowing Cloud in an attempt to escape. However, cyan lotus petals suddenly appeared beneath Flowing Cloud¡¯s feet, and a purple energy halo manifested around her weapon¡¯s blade. It was a Divine General Skill! "Meteor Strike!" A sweet cry later, a meteor erupted from Flowing Cloud¡¯s blade and flew toward Lian Xin in unstoppable fashion. There was no way Lian Xin was going to survive this if it hit. Worse, she just used Blink and had no other escape tools that could save her! Right before the skill was about to hit, a beautiful woman suddenly dashed in front of Lian Xin and raised her shield in front of herself. She was none other than He Yi, our beautiful guild leader! Bang! Meteor Strike wasn¡¯t a penetrating Divine General Skill, but it sure as hell packed a lot of punch. Even after He Yi used Holy Shield, she was still sent stumbling to the back and took 259828 damage! My mouth fell open. Any other person would¡¯ve been one-shot by this! Not only that, the Meteor Strike shattered into many pieces and dealt massive damage to all the players around it, killing the Cyan Tiger Cavalry and Purple Dragon Cavalry close to the point of impact instantly. Some of the pieces hit Lian Xin¡¯s Telekinetic Shield and shredded it completely. The girl stared lovingly at He Yi while saying, "I love you boss! Please protect me for 3 seconds while I remake the Telekinetic Shield!" "Mn!" He Yi nodded strongly before activating the Godslaying Blade once more, causing a 20-yard long beam of light to erupt from the spearhead. Eyes shining with determination, she stared at the ring of White Horse Cavalry surrounding them with an expression that said: Come at me! Astoundingly, she actually managed to cow the enemies and stop them from entering the Godslaying Blade¡¯s attack range. Flowing Cloud could hardly conceal her frustration as she growled at her men, "Don¡¯t be afraid of her! Go!" To prove her point, she tossed out a huge fireball and deleted a large chunk of HP from He Yi¡¯s health bar before continuing, "She only has less than 25% HP left! Come on!" Unfortunately, He Yi had activated War God Recovery and had already regenerated a lot of HP before the White Horse Cavalry finally took action. She swung her spear left and right, an entire group of enemy riders lost a ton of HP. It was amazing! Chiang! Flowing Cloud herself charged toward He Yi and used Barrier Break, knocking back He Yi despite a successful parry. Our boss didn¡¯t expect the magic swordsman to possess so much Strength. Rustle... Flowing Cloud danced around He Yi like a butterfly after fooling her with a feint. She then brought her sword straight down on Lian Xin! "Who do you think you are!" However, Xu Yang arrived just in time to knock Flowing Cloud¡¯s hand out of the way and even score Mountain Stagger Slash on her mount. Even better, Chaos Moon¡¯s Rock Crush appeared a moment later and dropped her HP further to below 30%. Finally, He Yi turned around and thrust her spear right through Flowing Cloud¡¯s right breast! With less than 25% HP left, Flowing Cloud was forced to activate some sort of a Magic Shield and withdraw back into the stack of towers. It was clear from the astonishment in her eyes that she didn¡¯t expect China¡¯s players to be this strong. She was lucky her opponents were just He Yi, Xu Yang and Chaos Moon. If it was Lin Yixin and me, she would¡¯ve gotten a free teleport back to her city in three exchanges at most. ¡­¡­ Boom boom boom... Flowing Cloud¡¯s expression grew uglier as more and more Ivory Towers crumbled under our Skypiercers. The Dragonlight Archers were simply too powerful. "Boss, why don¡¯t we chase after those mounted archers?" a Natural Flow corps commander suggested. Flowing Cloud shook her head frustratedly, "It won¡¯t work. God¡¯s Domain tried giving chase at Wild Pheasant Ridge too, but they were massacred by the enemy¡¯s hit-and-run tactic. We would only be repeating history. Sound the retreat and tell everyone to enter Final Duel Valley west from here. We¡¯ll wait for another chance to fight them!" "Yes ma¡¯am!" ¡­¡­ The remaining tens of thousands of White Horse Cavalry tried to withdraw. However... Pu pu pu! A bunch of Barrier Breaks suddenly erupted from the edges of the forest, catching a group of low-health White Horse Cavalry off-guard and killing them all. At the same time, a large group of Chinese players emerged into the open! Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God, Little Piglet, Pillar of the Nation and more were all here. Gripping a blood-stained blade in his hand, Dominating Heaven Blade said with a bloody grin, "You kept us waiting for a while. You think you can run after you killed our men? Like hell you can!" Chapter 1034: Cornered Animal "Hmph! These rotten tomatoes and potatoes think they can stop us? Kill them all!" Flowing Cloud declared imperiously as she charged toward Gods of Destruction, Mad Dragon and Hegemon Palace¡¯s troops. To be fair, her deduction was completely right. The Ivory Tower point-defense tactic was powerful enough to threaten even us, and the three guilds didn¡¯t have a super-mobile ranged party like our mounted archers. Naturally, they were at a disadvantage even though the White Horse Cavalrymen were wounded and tired. All kinds of skills exploded in between the two sides. It illuminated even the rainy night. Blood and rainwater mingled together and flowed across the grass. All the players who died here wouldn¡¯t be able to enter Purple Grape City domain again, meaning that they were basically out of this war. A screaming Little Piglet activated his Divine General Skill, Great Conqueror and did conqueror things, murdering White Horse Cavalry left and right wherever he went. It was to the point where the enemy was starting to avoid him. Unfortunately, Little Piglet was the only one among the three guilds who was crushing the opposition. Everyone else was going even at best or losing to the White Horse Cavalry. After all, the enemy was riding a Level 180 Earth Rank mount. ¡­¡­ "What do we do now, Boss Broken Halberd?" Gui Guzi asked. Xu Yang laughed. "Do you even need to ask? Their butts are literally pointing toward us! Let¡¯s plow them already!" He Yi looked at me for confirmation. "Lu Chen? Should we continue, or¡­?" I replied immediately, "Of course we do! There¡¯s no way Hegemon Palace, Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon will be able to hold out for long, and Natural Flow only has 50k+ White Horse Cavalrymen left! We know that this is all the troops they have, so we might as well wipe them all out! Little Gui, Xu Yang, Fighting Spirits, Chengfeng, take a couple ten thousand Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen with you and hit them from the back! Dragonlight Cavalry, we will circle to the front, block their retreat, and wipe out all 50k White Horse Cavalrymen! If necessary, we will take out Flowing Cloud as well!" "Yessir!" Everyone got their orders a few seconds later. He Yi, Chaos Moon, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, Du Thirteen led the Dragonlight Cavalry into the forest to the side so we could circle around to where the battle was taking place. Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits and Chengfeng and the Cyan Tiger Cavalry hit the White Horse Cavalry directly from behind. Speaking of which, Lin Yixin and Purple Marquis were already chasing after the escaping White Horse Cavalry even before we decided what to do. They were currently neck-deep in the action. ¡­¡­ The downpour grew stronger. The already poor weather had turned into a full-blown lightning storm! Crack! A lightning bolt struck an ancient tree right in front of us and caused it to erupt into flames. It didn¡¯t faze me though, and I passed by it without pause while giving out the next set of orders, "We¡¯re going on the offense later, so no need to defend yourself. Also, save your pets until we engage the enemy. We¡¯re going to release our Ghost Chariots at once and destroy the White Horse Cavalry¡¯s high Defense with Ghost Chariot Slash! They will learn to fear the might of our Ghost Chariot Legion!" Everyone guffawed and nodded at the plan. "Yes, vice leader!" It didn¡¯t take long for us to emerge from the forest and return into the clearing. After spreading out into an attack formation that was almost 500 meters wide, I ordered, "Charge! Kill them all!" The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a long neigh, and we charged at full speed toward the enemy. We could already see the flashes of skills and the Gods of Destruction, Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon players escaping from the forest ahead of us. Earlier, their 150k-strong cavalry had been utterly torn apart by the White Horse Cavalry, so now they only had 20 to 30k players left at most. There was no chance they could have withstood the enemy¡¯s assault. Pillar of the Nation asked with a frigid expression, "Have we lost again, Little Piglet?" Little Piglet wiped the rainwater on his face and answered, "Meh, I don¡¯t care. All I know is that I¡¯ve profited since I¡¯ve killed enough enemies to enter the Top 10 of the Nation War leaderboard!" Pillar of the Nation: "..." Dominating Heaven Blade was looking back as he rode, "Did you see Arrow God, Knight God? I thought he was with you?" Dominating Knight God replied darkly, "He was one-shot by that bitch Flowing Cloud!" "Fuck!" Dominating Heaven Blade uttered through gritted teeth, "The power gap is just too huge. We really have to update our main cavalry after this, or we¡¯re nothing more than prey in a battle of this scale!" "I know. We lost so many brothers and sisters at the beginning that we could barely put up a fight afterward. What do Elephant City get coming all the way to Purple Grape City and sticking their hands into our business anyway? Fucking busybodies!" Dominating Knight God said sadly, "This is just too miserable!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment they spotted our Dragonlight Cavalry. Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s eyes lit up. "It¡¯s Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! They¡¯re even led by Lu Chen himself! Hell yeah!" Dominating Heaven Blade raised his blade and called out to me, "Lu Chen!" Still traveling at full speed, I roared in reply, "All Chinese players, turn around and fight! Today, we¡¯ll wipe out every last one of these White Horse Cavalrymen!" "Alright!" Dominating Heaven Blade looked like a drowning man who just found his life-saving straw. Little Piglet practically bristled with excitement as he shouted, "All Hegemon Palace players, change your attack mode to Nation War attack mode now! We¡¯re going to kick the enemy¡¯s ass with Ancient Sword!" The appearance of the Dragonlight Cavalry had shone a ray of hope on the three defeated guilds where there was none. There was even the faint sensation of brotherhood, even though we all knew that it would evaporate when this Nation War was over! ¡­¡­ Thanks to the downpour providing us with excellent cover, Natural Flow¡¯s players realized that they were surrounded only after we pulled out our weapons and cut down the White Horse Cavalry who exited the forest. Their weak opponent had been replaced by a far stronger one, one they had no chance of beating at all. I fired three flaming auras into the enemy and killed many. With the two girls, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust by my side, I split apart the enemy¡¯s formation and separated them from their comrades. To a cavalry troop, being split away from their group was the equivalent of a death sentence. Not to be outdone, the Dragonlight Archers loosed their Skypiercers into the sky and watched them hit the White Horse Cavalry like meteors. Although the Dragonlight Archers only numbered a bit over 5000, they were without a doubt one of the biggest variables in this Nation War. The enemy dared not even chase after our mounted archers because they knew they would only be kited until they died, not to mention that they were led by the strongest archer of China, Beiming Xue the Dark Archer. Her grasp of distance and strategic thinking were among the best in the country! Slowly but surely, the battle turned from being evenly-matched into a one-sided slaughter. Even Gui Guzi¡¯s Cyan Tiger Cavalry was fighting the enemy bravely despite having inferior stats. So what if the White Horse Cavalry had high Defense? It simply meant it would take a dozen more slashes to kill them all the same! ¡­¡­ When the White Horse Cavalry was close to being completely annihilated, Flowing Cloud finally lost her cool and cried, "First squad, ride with me to the southwest to break through the encirclement! Kill as many enemies as we can before we escape!" Gui Guzi raised his shield and gave more or less the same order, "Kill every White Horse Cavalryman you see! Don¡¯t leave a single one alive! That¡¯ll teach them not to mess with our supply line!" Chaos Moon looked at me. "Lu Chen, are we going to let them break through just like that?" "Yep!" I nodded. He Yi exclaimed in surprise, "But why?" I replied with a smile, "Because a cornered animal is the most dangerous. We may lose more troops than we would like if we keep them surrounded. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve identified two locations the enemies must pass through before they can make it to Elephant City, and dispatched Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust with around 3000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen each to lie in wait at those locations twenty minutes ago. Right now, our goal is just to protect ourselves and cut down the stragglers, so let them escape. The White Horse Cavalry will be annihilated soon anyway." A sweet smile spread across Lin Yixin¡¯s lips. "Yo, you¡¯re growing more and more cunning, Little Cheat¡­" I shrugged. "It¡¯s the job, you see. I¡¯ve never lied to you though!" Nangong Lexi interrupted expressionlessly, "There will be no teasing our guild leader in front of us, thank you¡­" Li Chengfeng chortled. "You sure? Your guild leader sure doesn¡¯t look like she minds it at all¡­" Nangong Lexi facepalmed and sighed. "So shameless¡­" ¡­¡­ Our blades waved up and down and turned the White Horse Cavalry into dead bodies one after another. For tonight at least, Lost Forest was going to be their cold, watery grave. About an hour later, nearly all 50k+ White Horse Cavalrymen had been killed. Then, Heaven¡¯s Rain sent me a message: "I¡¯m sorry, vice leader big bro!" "Yes, Little Rain?" "We managed to kill almost all the White Horse Cavalrymen who passed through Lion¡¯s Ridge, but that Flowing Cloud is too powerful. She was able to escape with 7% HP left¡­" I smiled. "It¡¯s fine. As long as the White Horse Cavalry are dead, it doesn¡¯t matter if Flowing Cloud escapes. We¡¯ll leave the clean-up to the other Sky City players. Anyway, we¡¯re setting off to our true battlefield, the Impassable Great Wall, soon, so come back as quickly as you can, okay?" ¡°Mn mn, Diamond Dust and I will be coming back in seven or eight minutes tops! Please wait for us!" "Of course I will. I won¡¯t leave anyone behind!" "Okay, big brother!" ¡­¡­ A while later, both Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls regathered our forces on a large clearing. The downpour had finally turned to a drizzle, and the sun was peeking from the mountain ranges to the east. We had fought for so long that it was dawn inside the game again. It was well worth it though. The annihilation of Natural Flow¡¯s 50k-strong ace cavalry had to be a terrible blow to Elephant City. Li Chengfeng clapped me on my shoulder and said, "I just received news that new enemy reinforcements, a united army of 400+ Elephant City guilds, is coming this way. Their number could range from a couple hundred to a million. Do we want to stay here and enjoy the free contribution points, or head back to the frontline and duke it out with God¡¯s Domain?" I replied immediately, "There¡¯s no choice to be made here. It¡¯s the Impassable Great Wall or nuthin¡¯!" Li Chengfeng laughed. "That¡¯s exactly what I was hoping to hear!" Xu Yang walked over with a chipped blade and reported, "We lost over 300 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and over 17000 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen in this battle. Snowy Cathaya¡¯s casualties are about the same as ours. We lost a ton of people despite taking out the White Horse Cavalry completely. This is a pyrrhic victory at best." I nodded. "I understand. Still, it¡¯s absolutely worth trading the Cyan Tiger Cavalry for the White Horse Cavalry!" "Heh, I know!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, I received a message from Hot and Sour Noodles: "Lu Chen, the worst case scenario you envisioned happened. Sunset Basin¡­" I shivered when I saw this. "They really drowned our forces, uncle?" Chapter 1035: Stamping The Wall "Yes, a Nether Ring guild member sent us a live POV a while ago. You can check it out yourself¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles looked dejected and helpless as he sent me the video feed. I tapped it open and saw the rising dawn at Sunset Basin. Last night¡¯s downpour had triggered a mountain flash flood, so boundless river water was flushed down from two canyons and directly into the sea of Chinese players at the center. Countless people were screaming and struggling in the water, but there was nothing they could do to escape. Players couldn¡¯t teleport back to the city when swimming, so they would need to swim to the shore. However, swimming also consumed a huge amount of Stamina, and these players lacked the food to survive until that point at all. The land that was Sunset Basin had turned into a sea almost immediately. Nearly 20 million players including some of Cyan Earth City¡¯s own players were struggling in the flood. Breeze and Rain wasn¡¯t called the number one general beneath God of War for nothing. In order to ensure the China army¡¯s demise, he actually ordered a couple million players to herd the China army all the way into the death trap and keep them there, effectively telling them to die for the greater good. White lights kept flashing as people drowned in the deep water. Countless pieces of equipment and potions popped out from the dead bodies and sank into the bottom of the newly-formed sea where they would never see the light of the day again. ¡­¡­ It was too much. Unable to bear watching the POV any longer, I closed it and consoled Hot and Sour Noodles, "Don¡¯t be sad, uncle¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles shook his head bitterly. "I¡¯m fine, Lu Chen. In fact, I¡¯m the one who should be saying that to you. I completely understand your pains, you know. There are too many players in China, and most of them don¡¯t listen to orders at all. Right now there are only a handful of people I can trust, and that includes you, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky and Beautiful Little Pepper. The future of China¡¯s three main cities lies in all your hands." I smiled. "I know. I¡¯ll be back with Ancient Sword¡¯s cavalry in no time!" "Mn. The Impassable Great Wall has fallen to 5% or so durability in the last couple hours or so. One more assault should be enough to take it!" "Hehe, very good. We¡¯ll be there immediately!" "Mn!" Hot and Sour Noodles smiled again and said, "I¡¯ve heard of your battle against Natural Flow, by the way. I should¡¯ve known that you would be able to wipe out all the White Horse Cavalry in just a couple of hours! That¡¯s not the only good news. At Ice River Canton, Candlelight Shadow was able to capitalize on the enemy¡¯s fatigue and wipe out almost 1.4 million Purple Grape City players and 2 million Cyan Earth City players. Let¡¯s all keep this up, okay?" "Okay!" I was surprised by the other news, to be honest. I wasn¡¯t expecting Candlelight Shadow to kill this many players at Ice River Canton. Are they going to keep earning those free Nation War contribution points while we have to fight for them every step of the way? Since the very beginning of this invasion, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had been battling top guilds like God¡¯s Domain and Natural Flow, while Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Soul Battle Robes, Pop Culture, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain had been battling second and third-rate guilds only. If we looked at it in terms of contribution points alone, we were clearly on the losing end of this war! That being said, I knew that this was the right thing to do, so I had no regrets. Just like Li Chengfeng said earlier, sometimes some things had to be done! ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, everyone was gathered at one place. Again, we lost a lot of Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen, but the Dragonlight Cavalry was still mostly unhurt. That made me relax a little. From the start, I knew we couldn¡¯t lose too many Dragonlight Cavalrymen to Natural Flow, or we wouldn¡¯t have the manpower to do battle against super guilds like Cyan Beast, God¡¯s Domain, Nation Guardian and Dark Clouds! I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and pointed to the northeast. "We return the Impassable Great Wall! We¡¯re gonna destroy it in one go so that it cannot be a nuisance to us any longer!" Led by me and Lin Yixin, everyone pulled out their weapons and rode toward the Impassable Great Wall again. We encountered a surprising number of Purple Grape City players and Elephant City players along the way, but we still trampled all of them. It was impossible for small patrolling forces to hamper our guilds too much. Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the Impassable Great Wall once more. The rain had stopped, and the sun had risen from the east. The golden rays of morning illuminated the wall in full and revealed the innumerable cracks and holes that marred its once pristine surface. Our catapults had dug so many deep holes into the Impassable Great Wall that it looked like a bullet-riddled wall from the distance. It could collapse at any moment. Rumble rumble rumble... On the ground, the White Marsh Catapults, ballistae and more siege weapons continued to fire at will, and beneath the wall, countless cloud ladders were propped against the wall. Over 25% of the wallwalk had been occupied by our players, and they were more or less going even against the Purple Grape City players right now. Red Maple and God¡¯s Domain were undoubtedly powerful, but they couldn¡¯t win a war of attrition because we drastically outnumbered them. If anything, it was impressive that they were able to hold back our tens of millions of troops with around ten million troops for over 10 hours. Creak¡­ creak... Many battering rams were smashing into the wall as well. Hanging at the front of the siege weapons was a giant pillar of rock, and every time it moved, it dealt incredible damage to the fortified armor of the wall. The battering rams were protected from arrows and ballista bolts by a thick circle of magic knights. Hot and Sour Noodles himself was climbing up a cloud ladder and ordering loudly, "Anyone who has nothing to do should climb up the wall, seize the high ground from the enemy, or cover for our siege weapons! Motherfucker, we¡¯ve been delayed by this wall for too goddamn long already! I swear I¡¯m going to take out this fortification in one hour at most!" I unsheathed my sword and canceled my mount. I climbed after I launched myself off the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s back and landed right on top of a cloud ladder. It was around this time Hot and Sour Noodles saw me and guffawed. "Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya are back! This is perfect!" I nodded in acknowledgement before ordering my players, "Dragonlight Cavalry, dismount for now and get up there with our comrades! Don¡¯t attract the enemy¡¯s attention until you¡¯ve mounted up again! Also, once you¡¯ve reached the top, release your Ghost Chariots and take out the enemy with Ghost Chariot Slash! We¡¯re going to seize all the high ground there is to seize in twenty minutes! Siege engine team, take out that fucking gate already!" Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Chaos Moon and the rest of the Dragonlight Cavalry immediately started climbing. In just a couple of minutes, a couple thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen were on the wallwalk and engaging the enemy. A few minutes later, once their mount cooldowns were up, the Dragonlight Cavalry resummoned their mounts and resumed fighting as mounted riders. Red Maple¡¯s face almost turned purple when he saw our Dragonscale Beasts being summoned from about a hundred meters away. He roared angrily, "Shit! We let Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s Dragonlight Cavalry up our walls? What the fuck should we do? Cyan Frost, how many Wildfire Riders do we have left?" Cyan Frost plunged her sword into a Righteousness knight¡¯s neck before pulling it out and drenching her own clothes in blood. Without blinking, she answered, "We had almost 210k Wildfire Riders at the beginning, but at least half of them had died defending the walls, so¡­" Red Maple gritted his teeth and ordered, "Tell them to get up the wallwalk and fight the Dragonlight Cavalry to the death!" "No, you cannot!" Cyan Frost pleaded earnestly, "Calm down, Red Maple! The Impassable Great Wall is just a pass; a pass that we retake afterward. Right now, we are at a disadvantage, and we are under attack by many Divine Generals. The chances that the Wildfire Riders would be able to defeat the enemy is minimal at best, and we still need them to protect Purple Grape City! If we gamble it all here and fail, it will truly be over for us!" Red Maple¡¯s face was grim, but he nodded slowly. "Okay, you¡¯re right!" He abruptly raised his sword and shouted, "All Wildfire Riders, pull back from the wallwalk and withdraw to Undead Hills of Swallow Ear Canton! Do not be disheartened, for the loss of a territory or a land is commonplace in a war! A better opportunity than this will reveal itself to us eventually, and don¡¯t forget that our ultimate objective is to chase out the Chinese from the Center and occupy its fertile lands completely! Its rich resources belong to us Japanese!" ¡­¡­ A great number of God¡¯s Domain¡¯s players withdrew from the wallwalk immediately after Red Maple gave the order, meaning that the only ones left to face us were the second and third-rate players of Purple Grape City. The battle was already tilting slightly in our favor, but now it became a one-sided slaughter.They could barely even wound us with their weak resistance. The Purple Ying Sword was covered in blood. I didn¡¯t know how many people I killed, only that I was still the number one player on the contribution point leaderboard and that even a mage like Lian Xin couldn¡¯t catch up to me. Well, it was the natural result since I always fought at the forefront, and always killed specifically those players who were giving our troops trouble. Now that the rules had been updated to give the killer 10% of their victim¡¯s contribution points, it was only natural that I was accumulating contribution points at an insane rate! The battle on the wallwalk had devolved into a complete massacre, and the number of Purple Grape City on the Impassable Great Wall had dropped drastically from 12 to 4.8 million. Of course, part of the reason was due to top guilds such as God¡¯s Domain and Tail Feather Palace teleporting back to their city and giving up the fight. On the ground, the battering rams continued to ram against the crumbling structure until finally, a hundred-meter-long section of a wall directly in front of us abruptly collapsed. The Dragonlight Cavalrymen who happened to be standing on top of it as it came crashing down tried their best to stay on their feet, and, thankfully, no one died to fall damage. Rumble rumble rumble¡­ More and more parts of the Impassable Great Wall crumbled until finally, the entire place fell into ruins. ¡­¡­ The millions of Purple Grape City players still standing atop the ruins stared at us in shock. It was as if they couldn¡¯t believe that the so-called greatest wall on the entire Heavenblessed Continent would collapse one day. We didn¡¯t wait for them to recover and charge them. Chiang! I unsheathed my sword and shouted, "Kill to your heart¡¯s content, brothers and sisters! The time to earn contribution points is now! Once we overcome Undead Hills and Swallow Ear Canton, we¡¯ll flatten Purple Grape City beneath our boots!" Chapter 1036: Mountain Flash Flood Our players moved past the Impassable Great Wall, stepped on the corpses of our enemies and slaughtered the remaining survivors. It wasn¡¯t really a fight since many of them had given up and just stood there waiting for us to kill them. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Li Chengfeng yelled over the thundering hooves all around us, "Lu Chen, something feels off. There were a couple hundred Black Marsh Catapults inside the Impassable Great Wall just a moment ago, right? Did you see them now? Siege weapons can¡¯t use a return scroll, so where are they?" I looked left and right for the Black Marsh Catapults myself, but the situation inside the canyon was absolute chaos. It was already confusing enough when it was just us cavalry, and now that the mages, archers, assassins and more had joined the battle as well, I could barely make sense of what was going on around us. Suddenly, Chaos Moon pointed to the far side of the canyon and said, "Lu Chen look! The Black Marsh Catapults are there! Why is the enemy pushing them toward the cliffside?" I shook my head. "I don¡¯t know¡­" Xu Yang said, "It doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯ll take some men with me and destroy them all. Is that okay?" I nodded. "Yeah. Take a couple thousand Dragonlight Cavalry with you. The sooner you take them out, the better!" "Heh, got it!" ¡­¡­ After the Dragonlight Cavalry left, I went back to killing the enemies to earn contribution points and reading the maps. The detailed map Chaos Moon had given me earlier had proven to be amazingly useful so far. Suddenly, I felt a shiver in my heart. Wait a second, the map¡¯s different now after a downpour, right...? What did I miss? Could it be? I refreshed the map and felt my eyes goggle in shock. On the world map, the green valley in between the mountain ranges next to the Impassable Great Wall had turned blue in color! It was a lake! A rainwater lake between Frost Flame Mountain Range and Sunset Mountain Range! The mountaintop lake was dry at the beginning, but the super downpour last night had filled it up with water once more! Looking at its size and depth, one might even call it a sea set atop the mountains! I looked at the map again and noted that Frost Flame Mountain Range and Sunset Mountain Range almost surrounded the Impassable Great Wall completely. At that moment, I understood everything! My heart rate suddenly spiked to max, and I felt like my throat was on fire. I suddenly grabbed He Yi¡¯s arm. "Lu Chen? What¡¯s wrong? You look really pale." I said in a shivering voice, "Eve, tell everyone to teleport back to Sky City now!" "But why?" He Yi asked in confusion. "Don¡¯t ask, do it now!!" I nearly shouted out those words. He Yi jumped. She had never seen me this agitated before. She immediately said in the guild channel, "All main guilds and subguilds are to exit combat state, use a return scroll and teleport back to Sky City as soon as possible! No time to explain, just teleport away now!" My guild wasn¡¯t the only guild that would be affected by this, so I spent 5000 RMB to make a system announcement¡ª Ding~! System Announcement (Player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" Shout): All Chinese players battling in the Impassable Great Wall map, escape combat state and teleport back to Sky City now! There¡¯s no time, just trust me and do it now! ¡­¡­ All around me, players began executing the order unquestioningly. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ players were absolutely loyal to He Yi, so they would carry out any order she gave. Even Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and the more hotheaded players in our guild rode away from the battlefield to exit combat state before crushing their return scrolls. Xu Yang also stopped charging the Black Marsh Catapults and led the Dragonlight Cavalry to a safe place to teleport. "What¡¯s wrong, Lu Chen?" Lin Yixin asked while riding up to me. Her face was full of confusion. I pointed at the mountain ranges to our flanks and said, "Red Maple is going to punch through the cliffside and flood the Impassable Great Wall! We need to teleport now, or it¡¯ll be too late!" "Mn!" Lin Yixin was an intelligent woman. She understood everything despite the rough explanation. ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, the remaining millions or so Japanese players noticed what we were doing and immediately launched a fierce counterattack. They were able to slow our retreat greatly and keep almost a million players on the battlefield. Clang clang... A very short time later, I heard the mechanical noise of the Black Marsh Catapults firing their payloads. I knew I was right the moment I saw the rocks flying toward the mountain ranges. Boom boom boom... The natural walls of the mountain ranges were thick as a matter of course, but the Black Marsh Catapults were exceptionally good at what they did. The entire cliffside crumbled in no time, and water flooded toward us at incredible speed! "We need to retreat now, Yiyi!" I shouted. Lin Yixin nodded and ordered, "Purple Marquis, take the Kui Dragon Cavalry with you to the frontline and buy time for our comrades to retreat!" "Mn!" Purple Marquis and the Kui Dragon Cavalry took off immediately. I couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Yiyi, why didn¡¯t you tell your cavalry to escape? You can¡¯t possibly mean for them to die here, can you?" She giggled. "Don¡¯t worry, the Kui Dragon is an amphibious mount. They are the perfect unit for this job!" "Haha, now that you mention it, I completely forgot about that! Alright, let¡¯s go!" "Mn!" Lin Yixin and I crushed our return scrolls at the same time and teleported away. Our weapon and armor needed repairing anyway, so this was just as well. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! When we returned to Sky City, we saw that the repair merchant was about to suffocate to death from the sheer amount of players surrounding him. Obviously, the city didn¡¯t normally see this much volume within its walls. After pushing my way through the crowd and repairing my equipment, I went to Air Force One next and realized that all the consumables I had put on sale had been bought out. God damn, business was great in the past couple of days! I was as good as new after I restocked on consumables and repaired my equipment. I was feeling a bit dizzy because I had been online for too long, but looking at the war situation I doubt that anyone would have much time to rest. Not far away, Li Chengfeng walked up to me and asked, "Resupply is done. What do we do now?" I thought for a moment before answering, "We¡¯ll march toward Impassable Great Wall again. The wall is destroyed, and there isn¡¯t enough water to flood the entire plains, so it should have subsided by the time we arrive. After that, we¡¯ll battle against God¡¯s Domain at the Undead Hills, flatten Swallow Ear Canton, and attack Purple Grape City." "Mn!" New orders were given within the guild very soon. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls only had 70k+ players left, and together with Bloody Mercenaries and our subguilds we were almost 650k strong. The good news was that our main force was still alive and kicking despite all the fierce battles we had fought so far, so this war was far from over! We exited the city and rallied our forces together with Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips, Purple Lily, Righteousness and the other guilds. Once we were ready, we departed immediately with our cavalry acting as the vanguard at the front. Time was of the essence. If we were to win this war, the faster we could pressure the enemy, the better. ¡­¡­ On the way, I asked around for a POV close to the Impassable Great Wall. As expected, despite my best efforts to avert the disaster, the floodwater still caught a huge number of our players. At least 3 million players were struggling in the water where only two outcomes awaited them: drowning or being killed by the enemy before that. Snowy Cathaya¡¯s 12k+ Kui Dragon Cavalrymen played a huge role in this battle, however. When the terrain turned into water, the Kui Dragons immediately withdrew their hooves and grew fish tails and fish gills that kept their riders afloat. I saw Purple Marquis and his players slaughtering the enemy like they were playing Dynasty Warriors. When we finally returned to White Rose Fortress, the flood had more or less subsided. Unfortunately, 3 million Chinese and countless Purple Grape City players had all drowned, increasing the casualty counters on both sides like crazy. The system marked it as killer-less deaths. ¡­¡­ "That Red Maple is one helluva a ruthless bastard!" Gui Guzi said angrily. I nodded in agreement. "He¡¯s smart too. He knows how to utilize the terrain to his advantage, meaning that we can potentially take losses at every turn. It¡¯s hard dealing with an opponent like this¡­" Li Chengfeng said, "Thank goodness Lu Chen found out his plan early, or our retreat would¡¯ve been far more panicked. I don¡¯t want to know what would¡¯ve happened if the flood had caught up to us while we were still fighting¡­" Riding next to us, Hot and Sour Noodles voiced his agreement. "Yeah, I literally broke out in cold sweat earlier. If Lu Chen hadn¡¯t warned us in time, we could¡¯ve lost tens of millions of players, no, elites, in one go! It would¡¯ve been over!" I said, "Uncle, our next battle will be at Undead Hills, but the terrain is flat enough that it may as well be called Undead Plains. Have you thought of a strategy to deploy our cavalry troops?" "Nope! All I know is that we¡¯ll win as long as the Dragonlight Cavalry rides at the forefront!" "Fuck¡­" ¡­¡­ I would¡¯ve given him the finger if he wasn¡¯t wrong. Everyone knew that cavalry troops are best deployed on wide, open, and flat terrain, but this especially applied to the Dragonlight Cavalry because they had the Dragon Soul Protection buff, a broken 50% boost to Attack and Defense that no other cavalry troop in the world possessed. Once they obtained a full buff from the bards, their stats could make any opponent cry like the bitches they were! We returned to the Impassable Great Wall in no time. However, when we were passing through the area, we discovered that every pothole on the ground contained at least some equipment or item. It was the loot of all the players who had drowned or died fighting earlier! "The Dragonlight Cavalry will continue to march, but the Cyan Tiger Cavalry should sweep the battlefield. It would be a shame to let these spoils of war despawn on their own¡­" He Yi said with a smile. Li Chengfeng hid a chuckle. "Our guild leader is kind¡­" I dismounted and dipped my hands into a pothole. The very first item I fished out of the water was an Earth-grade metal armor, which caused countless people to shoot envious looks at me. A short time later, my bag was several hundred pieces of loot heavier. I couldn¡¯t wait to unload them all at Air Force One and count the money I earned from them! ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take long for us to reach Undead Hills, and right next to it was a wide, open plain where Swallow Ear Canton sat at the horizon. Now that the Impassable Great Wall had fallen, Swallow Ear Canton was completely exposed to the full might of our army. It didn¡¯t take a genius to know that it was destined to fall into ruins just like its sister city, Ice River Canton. Chapter 1037: Blood Fiend War Drum A cool breeze blew across the plains and caused the grass to sway a little. Swallow Ear Canton was situated next to Undead Hills, and at least a million God¡¯s Domain¡¯s players were entrenched at the latter right now. We had no plans of fighting them to the death on Undead Hills, however. They were the locals here, so they had to know the terrain far better than any of us. The obviously superior strategy here was to attack Swallow Ear Canton directly and force God¡¯s Domain to engage us on the plains. ¡­¡­ The ground trembled beneath our cavalry¡¯s hooves. Our 14k-strong Dragonlight Cavalry and 5k+ Dragonlight Archers had fought several fierce battles and slain countless, but our losses were minimal up until this point. We had lost single players, but none of our military units had been lost so far, so we were fully capable of assuming the forward position of this war. The moment we began the assault on Swallow Ear Canton, Purple Grape City was sure to dispatch their strongest force as well. As the saying goes, good steel should be used to make the blade of a weapon. We stopped about two kilometers away from Swallow Ear Canton. Waiting in front of our formation, He Yi waved her spear once and said quietly, "Third uncle, please set up our war drums!" "Yes, guild leader!" The representative of our production players, third uncle, responded with a beaming smile before giving the order. A group of cloth-armored production players immediately rushed forward and took out all sorts of strangely shaped materials from their bag. They worked as 10-man parties, and a bit of tinkering later, they created a red drum that let out a red ripple when it was complete. It affected every allied player within a 1000-yard radius. Ding~! System Notice: You are buffed by Bloodfiend War Drum. Increases Attack by 10%, attack speed by 5%, movement speed by 3%, and Defense by 5%! This buff automatically disappears if you leave its 1000-yard range! ¡­¡­ "Holy shit¡­" Purple Marquis goggled at He Yi in disbelief. "Guild leader From Water, does¡­ does this buff apply to all Chinese players? These buffs are absolutely amazing!" He Yi nodded. "Mn." Luo River God of the Capital asked smilingly, "Why didn¡¯t you use it earlier, sister? We might¡¯ve taken down the Impassable Great Wall much sooner and lost much less men¡­" He Yi shrugged helplessly. "I would, Sister Wang Luo, but the requirements for the Bloodfiend War Drum to take effect are extremely stringent. For starters, it can only be produced by a Rank 10 territory. Two, it can only be erected on a completely flat terrain with no elevation or depression on the ground within 1000 yards. This means that it¡¯s usable only on very specific maps like this one." Stranger of Three Lifetimes said smilingly, "Well, better late than never. The idiots from Purple Grape City are in for a treat when they meet us on the battlefield again." "Yeah!" He Yi smiled back. ¡­¡­ Very soon, under He Yi and Xu Yang¡¯s leadership, our guild had set up around 20 or so Bloodfiend War Drums on the battlefield and spread the buff to a large part of the plains. I had no doubt that our side would possess the superior stats when the battle began. Also, Purple Grape City had no idea about the effects of the Bloodfiend War Drum. I couldn¡¯t wait to see their faces when they engaged us. Speaking of Purple Grape City, I shot a glance at Undead Hills and saw no movement from the enemy at all. I sucked in a deep breath and asked everyone, "Does anyone have an idea how the enemy will want to face us?" "I don¡¯t know¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles shook his head. Moonkiss blinked once before replying, "It doesn¡¯t look like God¡¯s Domain is making a move. Red Maple may be staying out of this plains battle." Luo River God of the Capital agreed, "It wouldn¡¯t be a surprise. Red Maple is an extremely calculative man. He won¡¯t allow his remaining 100k Wildfire Riders to die here." Beiming Xue pointed to the distance. "Time¡¯s up, everyone. Here they come!" "Mn!" Swallow Ear Canton had a total of four gates, and all four of them opened to admit a ton of red-named cavalry and ranged players. We actually didn¡¯t recognize a large majority of their cavalry troops, and even their archers looked very different from usual. The ground trembled beneath their movement. A while later, cavalry troops riding war horses with skin as red as a burning sky entered our vision. The riders were clad in scaly armor that looked fairly tough, and almost all of them were close to Level 180! "Damn!" Li Chengfeng swore as he clenched his fists. "I recognize them! They¡¯re called the Fiery Scale Cavalry, and they¡¯re the ace cavalry of the second best guild of Purple Grape City, Era of Strife! They number around 170k , and the guy standing at the front is a Level 192 warrior called Copper Spear, also their guild leader. Tsk tsk, they sure think highly of us. To think that they would send the second best guild in the Japan server to fight us as well!" "That¡¯s not all¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes pointed her scepter to the east. "See that? That¡¯s the true threat we have to watch out for¡­" Dust clouds appeared from the horizon. It was another group of cavalry riding toward us. They rode what looked like black bucks, but with exceptionally sharp horns and a savage-looking face. Their riders were covered in metal armor from head to toe, and they either wielded longswords or blades. Their guild symbol was a bird. "Fuck! The Giant Buck Cavalry¡­" I grinded my teeth before explaining, "I know this one because they are quite notorious on the forums. They¡¯re the main cavalry of the third strongest guild of Purple Grape City, Asuka Period. The Giant Buck is just a Level 165 Spirit Rank mount, but what they lack in quality, they make up in quantity. As far as I¡¯m aware, there are over 400k of them in total. It was why even Red Maple was wary of them. This is going to be a hard fight, people. Nearly all of Purple Grape City¡¯s elites are here!" Gui Guzi raised his spear and chuckled. "Hehe, this is good. I don¡¯t know about you guys, but I hate strategic warfare. I prefer riding on the plains and engaging my enemies head-on!" I nodded and began issuing orders, "All riders, prepare to receive the enemy! Bards, prioritize your full buffs on the Dragonlight Cavalry, Dragonlight Archers and Kui Dragon Cavalry. Remember, as the buffer you get to share 25% of the contribution points of whatever they kill, so don¡¯t skimp on it!" The second I finished saying this, Pure Love waved her scepter and dropped a ton of seventh-promotion buffs on me, increasing my Attack, Defense and HP by almost 50%. As the girl accrued more and more Tactics, her buffs also became more and more powerful. She absolutely deserved her title as the number one bard of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Xu Yang also ordered, "Dragonlight Cavalry, Cyan Tiger Cavalry, prepare to head out! The rest of you, form shield formations, defend our army, and be prepared to support your allies at any moment! Mages, archers, get ready as well! We will not stop until this battle is over!" At the back, a tactician clad in cyan robes and wielding a dark red fan was buffing the stats of everyone in his party by 100%, an effect no one else in the guild could emulate. The smiling tactician was of course Lu Buyi. "Buyi!" I yelled. "I¡¯m here, Lu Chen!" "I leave the command of the shielders to you! I trust you¡¯ll be able to protect our main camp?" "Yeah, no problem!" ¡­¡­ Almost a hundred Chinese guilds gathered on the plains, and everyone was actively commanding their troops and making their final preparations before the battle. Righteousness, Purple Lily, Peach Garden, Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends, Baidicheng and more had mobilized their cavalry, and it only took a moment before an army of 5 million cavalrymen was gathered on the plains. This war was destined to enter the epics. The enemy¡¯s troop count rivaled ours, however. The fact that Era of Strife and Asuka Period hadn¡¯t participated in the defense of the Impassable Great Wall meant that they had come to an agreement beforehand. God¡¯s Domain would defend the first defense line, while Era of Strife and Asuka Period would defend the second defense line. To this end, Era of Strife and Asuka Period put practically everything they had on the battlefield! There were also a great number of big or small guilds that totaled up to 7 million+ cavalry at least. Japan was a technologically advanced country with a huge population base and a crazy amount of gamers. They wouldn¡¯t have dared to dream of conquering the three major cities of the Center otherwise. ¡­¡­ I cocked my head and briefly checked out our troops. The entire frontline was crawling with Dragonlight Cavalry, Kui Dragon Cavalry and other cavalry troops. Elite players such as Lin Yixin, Eyes Like Water, Come See The Snow Tonight, Purple Wind Chime, Indigo Collar and more were present as well. The elites of China¡¯s three main cities were gathered here. All they lacked now was an order. Eyes Like Water looked at me and asked, "When are we attacking, Lu Chen?" I pointed at the Bloodfiend War Drum with a smile, "We attack when they get within 2000 yards of us[1], of course! There¡¯s no reason to fight outside of it, is there?" "Heehee, okay!" ¡­¡­ At the distance, one man emerged from the line of cavalry troops. He was the guild leader of Era of Strife, Copper Spear. He had a pair of scars on his face that gave him a savage expression, and his muscles seemed to be bulging with violence. He raised his sword savagely and shouted, "These fuckers have penetrated our proud Impassable Great Wall, and now they¡¯re thinking of invading our homes! Do I even need to say anything more, brothers and sisters? Kill them all!" Following right behind Era of Strife was Asuka Period¡¯s hundreds of thousands of Giant Buck Cavalrymen. Japan¡¯s millions-strong cavalry had officially begun their assault! ¡­¡­ When it was time, I raised the Purple Ying Sword and shouted, "Did we start this war? No! Did we lose Floating Ice City to the guizi¡¯s ambition? Yes! These guizi want to devour us all, and so we fight not for justice, but for vengeance! Show them our fury, brothers and sisters! Kill!!" With that, China¡¯s cavalry troops took off and charged toward the enemy, the 5-star red flags merging together into a red sea. It painted a stark contrast to Purple Grape City¡¯s red-and-white flag. A moment later, we slammed into the enemy while the power of our bards and Bloodfiend War Drum coursed through our veins. Pu pu pu¡­ Spears thrust into flesh and exited in a shower of blood. Swords slashed across necks and caused an even greater shower of blood. Riders clashed and fell everywhere one looked. Everything including life and death was running in accordance with the laws of power. 1. So what you¡¯re saying Lu Chen is that the drums are set up 1000 yards in front of y¡¯all, not protected. Chapter 1038: Temple Guard Swhoosh! A sword flash tore through three low-health Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen and dropped them to the ground. It was Giant Buck Cavalry using an AoE skill. Neither Gui Guzi nor Li Chengfeng would stand for it. "Fucker!" Lowering his Spear of the Knight God to his sides, Gui Guzi charged the killer directly and sent him staggering to the back. Then, he brought his spear upward, slashed him across the chest and drew a shower of blood. At the sametime, Li Chengfeng rode past the Giant Buck Cavalry and swung his Dark Blade across the rider¡¯s neck, dealing over 100k damage and one-shotting him immediately. On the other side, High Fighting Spirits was shouting like a berserker and executing Xiezhi Howl, blowing 20 or so Giant Buck Cavalrymen into the air before tearing them to pieces. Ever since High Fighting Spirits had improved, his Xiezhi Howl had been doing more and more damage. "Die!" A Giant Buck Cavalryman yelled as he trapped High Fighting Spirits with Trapping Net, but before he could make another move, a Chinese girl suddenly rammed into him and sent him staggering. She was none other than Chaos Moon. Triple Slash and a Rock Crush later, the Giant Buck Cavalryman died just like that. They didn¡¯t even belong in the same weight class. Xu Yang was charging and cutting down enemies left and right in an unstoppable fashion. Some time later, he waved his arm and used his Famous General Skill, Fire God! Whoosh! A large section of the ground immediately burst into flames, causing the Giant Buck Cavalrymen standing on top of it to scream in pain and back off. Before they could escape out of range, Du Thirteen immediately unleashed his Famous General Skill, Poseidon, behind the riders and trapped them between a rock and a hard place. ¡­¡­ He Yi used to be just the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, but now she was a core general of our fighting force as well. She dealt an insane amount of AoE and splash damage every time her Seven Star Veluriyam Spear swept across the enemies. A shocked and angry Giant Buck Cavalryman cried out to his allies, "That Chinese knightress is incredibly powerful! Focus her down now! Barrier Break her to death!" Like an immovable rock, He Yi stood where she was and swung her spear back and forth like a fan. Amazingly, no one was able to survive her firepower long enough to reach her. She was showing everyone just how deadly Godslaying Blade was in her hands. Our Dragonlight Cavalry was fighting super well under the leadership of our Famous Generals and Divine Generals as well. Also, we hadn¡¯t fought outside of the range of the Bloodfiend War Drums, so we lost far less people than the enemies did. In just half an hour, the guild leader of Asuka Period, Shogunate, was stunned by the sea of dead Giant Buck Cavalrymen before him. He said in a trembling voice, "How¡­ how is this possible? The casualty ratio isn¡¯t even 8:1! How!? Are these Chinese cavalrymen even human?" It wasn¡¯t that the Giant Buck Cavalry were weak. Their biggest mistake was choosing Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls as their first target! Behind him, Copper Spear shouted, "Shogunate, you idiot, there¡¯s no way your fragile Giant Buck Cavalry can go up against China¡¯s number one cavalry head-on! Just withdraw and let my Fiery Scale Cavalry fight the enemy instead!" "Mn, okay!" The Giant Buck Cavalry disengaged and ran away so that the tens of thousands of Fiery Scale Cavalrymen behind them could charge us unimpeded. The Fiery Scale Cavalry enjoyed a buff called Fiery Scale that increased their Defense by 40% and their Attack by 10%. No wonder Copper Spear had acted as arrogant as he did and commanded his Fiery Scale Cavalry to charge us. "Halt!" Worried about the damage the Fiery Scale Cavalry might be able to do to the Dragonlight Cavalry, I stopped my men from rushing ahead any further before ordering, "Stay where you are and use Guard!" Everyone nodded and did as I said. By now, the Fiery Scale Cavalry was just 50 yards away from us. I barked out my next order after everyone was ready, "Now, release your Ghost Chariots and attack the enemy with Ghost Chariot Slash! Magic knights, disrupt their formation with Trapping Nets!" The order was completed in just a moment. This wasn¡¯t the first time we did this both in practice and in real combat. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... After the Ghost Chariots had emerged from their respective hexagrams, they flew straight toward the Fiery Scale Cavalry, spun like a top and cut into the enemy¡¯s armor with their sharp, bladed tips. Ghost Chariot Slash was an AoE skill that largely ignored the enemy¡¯s Defense, and several thousand of them activating at once was something not even our Dragonlight Cavalry would ever want to face! Nearly a thousand Fiery Scale Cavalrymen screamed and dropped dead immediately. Those who survived long enough to make it to our Dragonlight Cavalry were immediately treated to a Trapping Net to the face. Unable to move, all they managed to do was trip over their allies and make them trample over each other. Seeing that the time was right, I raised the Purple Ying Sword and shouted, "Kill!" We countercharged the enemy. I bet that the latter felt a chill of fear coming from the bottom of their hearts. Bang bang bang! To be honest, the sounds of horses slamming into one another with blades and spear burrowing into the flesh were rather unbearable to hear. However, this was war, and some revulsion was to be expected! Beiming Xue¡¯s Dragonlight Archers also appeared at our flanks and loosed a continuous volley of Skypiercers at the Giant Buck Cavalry. The enemy died like flies to their firepower. Several Giant Buck Cavalry corps commanders dispatched a couple ten thousand Giant Buck Cavalry after them, but they didn¡¯t know that Beiming Xue¡¯s hit-and-run tactic had practically been perfected at this point. It took the Dragonlight Archers just a couple of skills with the Far Shot mode on and good positioning to kite the enemy cavalry while dealing heavy damage to them. The power gap between the two cavalry troops was already gigantic to begin with, but the Bloodfiend War Drum widened it even further. ¡­¡­ The entire plain was embroiled in battle, and Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Kui Dragon Cavalry and Purple Dragon Cavalry weren¡¯t idle as a matter of course. They hacked and slashed at the enemy with impunity because no one seemed to possess the power to stop them. Vanished God City¡¯s Baidicheng and Blazing Hot Lips, and Wind City¡¯s Purple Lily were doing just as well. While the main cavalry was keeping the enemy at bay, the ranged parties commanded by Luo River God of the Capital herself were putting out an insane amount of firepower with Touches of the Dragonkiss, Galaxy Storms and more. They made life hell for the riders of Purple Grape City. Hot and Sour Noodles was the supreme commander of our army, and he was barking orders left and right, "Ancient Sword, attack the left wing! Snowy Cathaya, attack the right wing! Peach Garden, stab into the enemy¡¯s flank from the right side! Blazing Hot Lips, surround the enemy from behind and split up their forces! We¡¯re going to bury their millions of elite cavalrymen before the day is over!" ¡­¡­ I was deep behind the enemy lines more than anyone else with only the Phantom Wolf King by my side. The Purple Ying Sword¡¯s 50% splash effect was just that amazing, and both my Kill Points and my Divine Energy Points kept rising. To avoid wasting my Divine Energy Points, I kept Great Earth Transformation active and spammed Ancient Seals before it could top out. And of course, on a tactical scale, there was nothing more important than earning contribution points! I took a moment to check out China¡¯s Nation War Leaderboard. Everyone at the top was a familiar face¡ª ¡­¡­ It was all mages and archers besides mounted Divine Generals. For obvious reasons, bards, tacticians, assassins, tamers and other classes couldn¡¯t really get a good result in a leaderboard like this. Even the assassin and Divine General, Farewell Song, could only hold his spot at the 11th place. The war of Purple Grape City was clearly a lot bigger than the one at Dawn City. After all, it was a virtual war that involved China, Japan and India, and everyone was a lot stronger than they were before. If I could maintain my spot on the contribution point leaderboard, I was certain that the reward would be a Divine Armament at least! Excitement growing, I let out a silly laugh and fought even harder. Some distance away, He Yi and Chaos Moon glanced at me at the same time before the latter said, "I think he¡¯s going crazy from all the killing he¡¯s done." He Yi giggled. "Maybe." Chaos Moon asked, "Say, it¡¯s been a couple of days since you saw Lu Chen, right? Do you miss him?" Eve turned red in the face and slowed down just enough for a couple of Giant Buck Cavalrymen to Barrier Break her. Gui Guzi hurriedly came to her rescue and killed them all before glaring at Chaos Moon. "What the fuck, Chaos Moon! Don¡¯t distract our guild leader in the middle of a fight!" Chaos Moon puffed up her wholesome chest and said smilingly, "Aiyo, sounds like someone¡¯s jealous!" Gui Guzi¡¯s glare turned into confusion. "Jealous? What exactly should I be jealous about?" "How should I know? I¡¯m not you!" Gui Guzi: "..." ¡­¡­ While fighting, I side-eyed the Ancient Divine Dragon coiled around my arm. It had been many days since the little thing awakened, and because Nation War didn¡¯t yield experience it wasn¡¯t able to grow up at all. It annoyed me every time I thought about it. Purple Grape City had declared war so soon that I had no time to level it up to the adult stage at all. If I had just a day or two, I would¡¯ve been able to grind an S Rank instance and fulfill its requirements already. I could only imagine how amazing it was to ride an Ancient Divine Dragon. At the very least, my ability to kill enemies and date girls would skyrocket like never before. A dragon knight riding a normal dragon was nothing special, but a dragon knight riding an eastern divine dragon? Now that was a completely different story! Suddenly, the system rang four times in a row¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Candlelight Shadow" (China) killed the Temple Guard, player "Smoking Pipe" (India), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 31282 points! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Farewell Song" (China) killed the Temple Guard, player "Hourglass" (India), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 21922 points! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Candlelight Shadow" (China) killed the Temple Guard, player "Shadow Leaf" (India), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 29182 points! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Farewell Song" (China) killed the Temple Guard, player "Unmarked Sword" (India), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 52887 points! Chapter 1039: So Bad Cyan Earth City and Elephant City worshipped a certain god, and there were people chosen to protect the temple of this god. In other words, the Temple Guard was the India counterpart of the CGL Hall of Fame. They clearly weren¡¯t very good though, or they wouldn¡¯t lose four of their members to Candlelight Shadow and Farewell Song at the same time! ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi glanced to the north. "What the fuck is going on at Ice River Canton? Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance sure aren¡¯t giving the Indians an easy time!" Li Chengfeng said, "According to the forums, Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance have arrived at a temporary alliance to carry out an assassination operation. The plan is to kill Cyan Earth City¡¯s Temple Guards and deal a blow to the enemy¡¯s morale. From the looks of it, I think they¡¯ve succeeded¡­" "Mn." I nodded in agreement. "Farewell Song and Candlelight Shadow are both peak experts, so it¡¯s no surprise that they¡¯d be able to take out a Temple Guard or two. This isn¡¯t exactly good news for Candle Dragon or Warsky Alliance, however. It means that they¡¯ve finally run into some actual opposition. I¡¯m sure Candlelight Shadow will experience a headache any time now, hehe." Next to me, after cutting down a Giant Buck Cavalryman with his sword, Hot and Sour Noodles halted his momentum and said, "The most important thing to note here is that India¡¯s strongest guilds haven¡¯t shown themselves yet. Cyan Beast¡¯s God of War and Breeze and Rain went missing after the flooding of Sunset Basin, and the other super guilds such as Nation Guardian, Flames of War and Dark Clouds haven¡¯t shown their faces as well. If I had to guess, they¡¯ll show up during the ultimate battle." Suddenly, Hot and Sour Noodles broke into a grin and asked me, "Say, do you want Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian to attack Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance, or do you want them march across Purple Grape City to attack us?" I answered without hesitation, "I would rather they attacked us!" "Why?" "Because Candlelight Shadow and Warsky can¡¯t stop God of War and Breeze and Rain¡­" "..." Hot and Sour Noodles looked surprised by my answer, but he nodded and said, "You don¡¯t pretend to be humble, do you? Well, it¡¯s a bit painful to hear this, but I can¡¯t deny that Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance¡¯s united army is a tad weaker than Ancient Sword, Snowy Cathaya and Blazing Hot Lips¡¯. You are right. If those super guilds choose to attack the northern army, there¡¯s a high chance they will suffer a loss. With that in mind, it is preferable if they attack us instead!" Gui Guzi said, "Eh, I don¡¯t care if they lose. In fact, it would be perfect if India¡¯s super guilds spent all their energy taking out Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance for us, and we take them out afterward to bring this war to a perfect ending!" I hurriedly interrupted him, "You can¡¯t say that, Little Gui!" The Undying Knight looked confused. "What? Why?" I broke into a sudden grin. "It¡¯s just one of those things you can think in your head all you want, but not say it out loud, you get me?" Gui Guzi laughed in realization. "Fuck!" Hot and Sour Noodles shook his head in exasperation. "You little brats. Sigh, I so regret not having experiences like yours at your age¡­" He Yi suggested as she moved past him, "You can always choose to relive your youth if you want to, uncle¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ complexion turned purple. "Are you calling me old, President He?" Beiming Xue interrupted, "We¡¯re old, you¡¯re not¡­" Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ face turned even whiter as he writhed in humiliation. "Ancient Sword¡¯s people are so bad¡­" ¡­¡­ The fierce battle on the plains lasted almost 4 hours. It felt like a hunt where we were the hunters and the two top guilds, Asuka Period and Era of Strife, were the prey. In the end, we were able to wipe out the main forces of both guilds, and the total amount of casualties on both sides amounted to almost ten million. At the end of it, there was almost no player left in the entire Swallow Ear Canton! Undead Hills had also become completely silent as well. There were bodies, equipment, potions, cards and more everywhere. Gui Guzi and He Yi were currently organizing the men to sweep the battlefield for loot. Looking cheerful as ever, Hot and Sour Noodles walked up to me and said, "I just got confirmation that Red Maple and God¡¯s Domain had returned to Purple Grape City via Wildfire Plains. Swallow Ear Canton is now more or less a dead city with less than 100k players in it. Are you interested in flattening it yourself?" I shook my head. "Nope!" "Oh?" I faced toward Thirteen and smiled. "Thirteen, please order Bloody Mercenaries and another 5 subguilds to take out Swallow Ear Canton. No need to occupy it, just abandon it immediately. We¡¯re not going to lay claim to the Japan server this time, but we are going to make sure those ambitious wolves have no home to return to. If they like to gamble so much, then we¡¯ll play with them until they have nothing left!" Du Thirteen laughed heartily before replying, "Very well, I¡¯ll arrange it right away. Oh, can I take Little Gui with me? He commands more respect than me!" "Sure!" ¡­¡­ And so, Gui Guzi and a bunch of Bloody Mercenaries cavalry charged toward Swallow Ear Canton. The tier 2 city was more or less done for. There were still nearly 20 million troops on the plains, and super guilds like Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya were present. Even Purple Grape City would be hard-pressed to stop us, much less them. Speaking of which, according to the Nation War interface, there were less than 20 million Purple Grape City players left in the Nation War. God¡¯s Domain made the right choice to withdraw from Swallow Ear Canton, because there wouldn¡¯t be enough players left to defend Purple Grape City otherwise. There were 29 hours left on the clock before the end of the Nation War, so I ordered a 5-hour rest considering how long everyone had fought so far. After that, we must occupy Purple Grape City within the next 24 hours, or this would be our loss! Everyone except Gui Guzi and the players who were attacking Swallow Ear Canton logged out of the game to rest, and the first thing many men did was to rush to the toilet to relieve themselves. It was that or risk bursting a bladder... ¡­¡­ After I set up the tent and bade Lin Yixin and He Yi goodbye, I logged out of the game and exited my room. I then dragged Chaos Moon to dinner and finished my food¡ªit was lamb paomo tonight¡ªin just ten minutes. "Aiyo, aiyo! Not so fast, please!" Chaos Moon grabbed my hand as she tried to keep up with me on her leather high heels. Her hair looked a bit messy tonight, but her long, fair legs attracted the gaze of countless men nonetheless. "We only have 4 hours left to catch some sleep before the non-stop 24-hour marathon¡­" I said. "But I still need to take a bath, put on my make-up, and¡­" I stared at her. "You¡¯re practically the spitting image of a panda! How much make-up do you have to put on to cover up dark circles? Also, we¡¯re fighting a war, not attending a marriage interview! Can you kill Red Maple with your eye shadows? Can you kill with eye lines? Can you kill Breeze and Rain with your lip gloss?" "No¡­" Chaos Moon shook her head, but broke into a wide grin and said, "But I can dazzle you with my beauty, double your combat power, and make you kill all the above for me! I felt like vomiting blood. "Yeah, not really. Come on!" "I don¡¯t wanna~" Chaos Moon pretended to struggle and raise her voice a bit, "I don¡¯t wanna go to the hotel with you! You¡¯re a bad person!" "What the fuck!" I turned as green as grass the second I heard this. I could see countless youngsters rising to their feet and rolling up their sleeves to save the damsel. Thankfully, Chaos Moon didn¡¯t go overboard with the joke and pressed her cheeks affectionately against my chest before saying, "Just kidding. I was just worried that you would be embarrassed, handsome. Let¡¯s go¡­" "And what the fuck should I be embarrassed about exactly? Seriously, you scared the crap out of me¡­" I sighed. ¡­¡­ I went to bed immediately after I returned to the hotel. Sleep came to me easily because of how tired I was. After sleeping for god knows how long, my phone alarm rang and woke me from my slumber. I turned it off, crawled out of bed like a zombie and checked the time. It was very late in Xinjiang right now. After I took a bath and brushed my teeth, I woke up fully and invited Chaos Moon out for some bread and dinner. After we had replenished ourselves suitably, we logged back into the game! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! A column of riders passed by me as I poked my head out of the flap. They were Chinese players as a matter of course. At the same time, Hot and Sour Noodles sent me a call request¡ª "You¡¯re finally up, Lu Chen!" "Mn. How is it, uncle?" "Well, Gui Guzi has conquered Swallow Ear Canton and abandoned it already. This means that Purple Grape City is the only main city left in the entire Japan server." "What about the other battlefields?" "At Ice River Canton, the northern army fought Cyan Earth City for 9 hours straight, and the total casualty count on both sides is over 30 million. Right now we are slightly ahead of the enemy, and Candlelight Shadow and Warsky are moving to attack Fallen Moon Ridge. If they successfully overcome the map, they¡¯ll be able to march to Purple Grape City and meet up with us. We¡¯ll be practically unstoppable then. At any rate, we¡¯re in no hurry right now. We still have 24 hours, and the Japan server doesn¡¯t have many effective forces left. We¡¯ve also taken out almost all of their elite cavalry!" "Very good! That¡¯s good to hear!" "²»¹ý¡­¡­" "However¡­" "Yes?" "While we were offline and taking our rest just now, some of the guilds grew impatient and decided to travel across Wildfire Plains to Purple Grape City themselves. However, they were ambushed by Elephant City¡¯s top guild, Dark Clouds, and Flowing Cloud and her assassins. As a result, the enemy killed almost 7 million at the cost of 1 million¡­" I clenched my fists and raged, "What the fuck were those bastards thinking!?" Hot and Sour Noodles shrugged. "Youngsters are often overly confident and impulsive. Nothing we can do about it. Moreover, this is a game, and no one plays a game to be ordered around all the time. If they want to commit suicide, let them. Who can stop them even if they really set their minds to it?" I nodded. "You make a good point. Well, it¡¯s not like we¡¯re relying on them to launch the main attack anyway. As long as the super guilds are safe, the invasion of Purple Grape City is still on." "Yes, I agree." ¡­¡­ I stepped out of the tent and summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. After my players had all come online, the bards set to buffing our players, and the Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers stood by for orders. It was time! The first thing Li Chengfeng asked after rushing out of his tent was, "Dude, I heard that Dark Clouds, the number one guild of Elephant City finally made a move?" "Yep, they were at Wildfire Plains. I¡¯m expecting to run into them in a moment¡­" "Hell yeah! I can¡¯t wait!" "Me too!" ¡­¡­ While we were getting ready, we gazed toward fiery red plains covered in maple trees and other similar plants. This was the map that had given birth to Red Maple¡¯s prided Wildfire Riders. Chapter 1040: Head-to-Head Wildfire Plains. The groves of fiery red maple trees on the plains looked like spots of wildfire. Wild, untamed horses could be seen running away from the humans who had disturbed them. Gales of wind occasionally blew across the canyon like a wolf¡¯s shrill howl, and the blue sky and the meadow field painted an incredibly lively picture after the rain. War flags could be seen flapping idly on the horizon. The number one guild of Elephant City, Dark Clouds, had stationed their forces here long before we arrived. The black-colored Cheetah Cavalry was running back and forth across the plains and clearing out the mobs, while a great number of defense structures and siege weapons such as catapults and ballistae was being set up. The Indian army sure went through a lot of trouble to face the Chinese. ¡­¡­ A cool gleam flashed across Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ eyes as he gazed to the distance. "It looks like the enemy isn¡¯t to be underestimated this time. From what I heard, Dark Clouds¡¯ guild leader, Dark Clouds Sorrow, is one of the main reasons the guild was able to become the strongest in Elephant City. He¡¯s only slightly weaker than Breeze and Rain, and for the past one month or so he has been investing his time and energy into creating his ace cavalry, the Cheetah Cavalry. Cheetah is a Level 165 Earth Rank Boss mount, and it¡¯s only 15 levels behind the Dragonscale Beasts and about 35% weaker in terms of stats. And what they lack in strength, they make up with their massive count of 200k. This is going to be a hard fight." I followed his gaze and said, "Well, thank goodness we don¡¯t just have the Dragonlight Cavalry then. We also have the Dragonlight Archers, the Kui Dragon Cavalry, and many, many more cavalry troops from our allied guilds!" Indigo Collar walked up to me with a broadblade in his hand before asking, "How do you think we should fight this out, Lu Chen?" I gritted my teeth and said, "The Wildfire Plains are a flat land with great visibility, so a sneak attack is pretty much impossible. We¡¯ll have to rely on formations to gain an advantage over the enemy. Unfortunately, I don¡¯t have my ancestors¡¯ ability or knowledge to execute a tactical formation that¡¯ll win it all. The only thing I know how to do is to execute a cavalry charge, so I dare not say that I have the ability to command this battle. What about you, uncle?" Hot and Sour Noodles nodded with a challenging look on his face. "Yes, there will be no risky sneak attacks to catch the enemy off-guard with such a broad field of vision, not to mention that we are too numerous to pull off a maneuver like that. And even if we could, our enemies are some of the strongest guilds in Elephant City. I don¡¯t think that it¡¯s realistic to expect a victory in that form. This will be a head-to-head battle." Xu Yang abruptly unsheathed his blade and declared, "So be it! When two people meet, only one will emerge as the victor!" I nodded and said, "This is going to be a hard fight, so get ready people. The cavalry will push forward slowly in a square formation first. The shield formation will go next, followed by the mages, priests, archers, and bards. The siege weapons should be prepared so that they can be used at any moment as well. Eve, please check out the surrounding territory and set up as many Bloodfiend War Drums as we can. That¡¯s one advantage we have that the enemy doesn¡¯t." He Yi smiled. "Yessir~~" ¡­¡­ Players were everywhere on the plains. The battle line on both sides stretched at least a dozen or so kilometers long. Elephant City must¡¯ve assembled at least ten million players on this map, although we had tens of millions of players ourselves. Only one of us would be walking away from this place the victor. I checked the Nation War UI and noted that there were exactly 24 hours left before the end of the War of Purple Grape City. If we failed to occupy the city during this time, it would enter a half-a-month period of forced peace, and we would have to wait until it was over before we could declare war again. After all the siege weapons and player levels we had invested into this war, to end things with just two abandoned two tier 2 cities was an outcome we absolutely couldn¡¯t accept! At the distance, I saw the guild leader of Dark Clouds, Dark Clouds Sorrow sitting atop a fiery red horse and wielding a lightning sword. The Temple Guard emblem on his head had the number "4" on it, meaning that he was at least the fourth strongest player in India and inferior only to God of War and Breeze and Rain. "Prepare for battle!" Dark Clouds Sorrow said loudly to his men, "We are in a crisis, people! It is not enough that the Chinese occupy the King of Cities at the Center, they wish to invade Purple Grape City as well! Elephant City and Purple Grape City are neighbors, and some of you have heard of the saying ¡®without the lips, the teeth feel the cold¡¯. If Purple Grape City falls, we will be in danger of falling too. Therefore, it is our responsibility to protect Purple Grape City like we protect our own homes! Let us stop the tyrant from expanding any further and chase away the invaders from this sacred land together!" The Cheetah Cavalry raised their weapons and cried loudly in response, "Kill all Center players!" ¡­¡­ Both sides had completed their battle preparations. All that was left to do was to fight it out. Something happened during this time, however. Our support players tried to move closer to the frontline to build the Bloodfiend War Drums, but Dark Clouds Sorrow had ordered his ballistae to perform a max range attack and killed them all. As a result, we were unable to expand the range of the Bloodfiend War Drums deeper into the plains. "Those motherfuckers! Attack!" I declared loudly, "There will be no cheap tricks or surprise maneuvers this time. Attack them from the front, hack their shields into bits, and punish these bastards who attempt to twist the truth with their lies!" The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a long neigh before charging toward the enemy. The Dragonlight Cavalry followed closely behind me, hooves thundering and sunshine reflecting off their unsheathed blades. Whether Dark Clouds had planned for this or not, their action had undoubtedly triggered the powder keg that was already primed to explode on this battlefield. Right after the Dragonlight Cavalry had charged toward the enemy, our allied guilds did the same thing as well. The cavalry line that stretched over at least a dozen kilometers long looked mighty impressive be it from above or on the ground. I changed my POV a bit and checked out the battlefield from a bird¡¯s eye view. Our cavalry was swiftly approaching the enemy¡¯s defense line like a tidal wave, but Elephant City¡¯s players responded fearlessly by sending their 200k-strong Cheetah Cavalry and millions more elite cavalrymen toward us. In fact, I even saw the war goddess of Elephant City charging toward us with the handful of White Horse Cavalrymen she still possessed. ¡­¡­ After we charged about 300 yards toward the enemy, I shouted, "All ranged classes, push forward without fear! Elephant City¡¯s Ivory Tower is too powerful, the only way to deal with it is through overwhelming firepower! All ballistae, shoot at a 45-degree angle and give them a taste of the Zhuge Repeating Ballistae!" Whoosh! After I finished giving the orders, I abruptly raised the Purple Ying Sword and dropped Thousand Ice Slash onto the enemies directly in front of me. Once they were frozen, I followed up with Burning Blade Slash that killed at least 20 Cheetah Cavalrymen in one go. The Cheetah Cavalry possessed incredible Attack and Defense, but they were no different from a normal cavalry before my attack power. Not only that, I summoned my apparition to charge with me, and the Phantom Wolf King to throw Purgatory Storms into the enemy. I even stacked 7 Ancient Seals on top of the Purgatory Storms and wiped out absolutely every enemy in the vicinity! The other Cheetah Cavalrymen stared at me in shock. They couldn¡¯t believe the level of power I was displaying. One of the party leaders said in a trembling voice and a white face, "Fuck! Is that the new MVP of the WEL? No wonder he¡¯s so strong¡­" Obviously, not everyone was cowed by my combo. He shouted, "Trap him with Trapping Net and kill him together! There¡¯s only so much one person can endure!" He was correct. Too bad I was surrounded by He Yi, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and many more powerful comrades I could trust with my life! Bang bang bang... Both cavalries slammed earnestly into each other. Wielding the Dark Blade like a lance, Li Chengfeng was able to knock five Cheetah Cavalrymen out of his way before empowering himself with Battle Soul Possession and attacking with Reverse Scale Slash and Dragonbone Flurry. The combo killed countless in just the blink of an eye. He Yi also activated Godslaying Blade and swung her Seven Star Veluriyam Spear in front of herself repeatedly. Forget her basic attack, even her Purgatory of Ice and Magma had become a super long-range AoE skill. In a sense it was even more powerful than my Burning Blade Slash, one-shotting entire swathes of enemies due to the splash effect! ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t a one-sided massacre, however. For starters, Dark Clouds Sorrow just knocked Hot and Sour Noodles away with a single strike and killed an entire group of Righteousness cavalry on his own. I counted at least another 5 Temple Guards dealing massive damage to our army as well. I shouted, "All cavalry with the Martial God, Knight God, Knight General, Royal Road and Blitz buffs, spread out and split the enemy into smaller groups! We need to knock the daylights out of them with one massive hit, or they¡¯re going to bleed us dry!" "Mn!" Everyone I addressed immediately scattered in different directions and charged toward the enemy. On a related note, the ranged parties on both sides weren¡¯t idle as we fought. Countless catapult payloads and ballistae bolts were flying above our heads and dealing massive damage to everyone who was unfortunate enough to be at the wrong place at the wrong time! ¡­¡­ Two whole hours later, Li Chengfeng sent me a message: "Wanna go for a headhunting operation?" "Okay!" I nodded strongly. Hell, I had been wanting to do this for a while. Dark Clouds Sorrow had brought 7 Temple Guards with him, and my plan was to take them all out! "Lin Yixin, He Yi, come with me!" I shouted. A lot of people were confused by my shout. Funnily enough, many didn¡¯t even know who I was addressing. A short while later, the two beautiful ladies fought their way to my side and asked, "What is it?" "I have a headhunting operation for you two!" I looked in a certain direction and said, "There are three Temple Guards over there. I want the two of you, Little Gui, and Fighting Spirits to cooperate with me and take them all out!" "Got it!" We wasted no time in making our move. Before I even got close to the Temple Guards, I fired a God Binding Art that hit one of them squarely! "Ah?!" An axe-wielding Temple Guard exclaimed in surprise when he suddenly found himself unable to move. Before he could even react, my Burning Blade Slash and Lin Yixin¡¯s Ice Flame Slash cut through his body and killed him on the spot! On the other side, High Fighting Spirits swung his axe against a swordsman¡¯s sword and caused a shower of metallic sparks. However, the swordsman was no small fry. While retreating, he scored a hit that deleted at least 40% HP from High Fighting Spirits¡¯ health bar before activating Charge. He¡¯s trying to kill High Fighting Spirits! Bang! Thankfully, He Yi came to High Fighting Spirits¡¯ aid in time and knocked the swordsman out of the way. I immediately rushed toward the swordsman and brought my sword down for the killing blow. The swordsman tried to parry my attack, but he recognized the way I was twisting my wrist and turned purple immediately. "Parry shatter?!" "Correct!" I smiled. Blood spilled across the ground, and another Temple Guard fell to my blade just like that. Tsk tsk, these so-called Indian elites were nothing before our combined strength! ¡­¡­ The war didn¡¯t stop just because the system announced the deaths of several Temple Guards in a row. Cyan Tiger Cavalry, Purple Dragon Cavalry, Kui Dragon Cavalry and even Dragonlight Cavalry were dying with every passing second. The battle on the plains had turned out to be far bloodier than anyone could have possibly imagined. Chapter 1041: Intelligent People "Do we kill Dark Clouds Sorrow?" Li Chengfeng asked me from far away. I nodded strongly. "Of course!" "How should we do it?" Lin Yixin asked from a different corner of the battlefield. I said with a smile, "I¡¯ll sneak up on him from behind while you guys corner him from the front!" "Didn¡¯t know you knew how to sneak up on someone¡­" ¡­¡­ She wasn¡¯t entirely wrong. Ever since I completed my sixth-promotion quest, the number of times I ambushed someone could be counted on one hand. For one, I was a bright and honorable warrior who fought gloriously at the frontlines, so such skulduggery was beneath me. Two, I hadn¡¯t needed it in a long time since I was confident that I could beat even a top-tier expert like Candlelight Shadow in a head-to-head battle. However, Dark Clouds Sorrow wasn¡¯t as skilled a fighter as Candlelight Shadow, but he was many times more strategic-minded than the latter. Since the beginning of this war, the guild leader had avoided direct contact with China¡¯s best experts and focused on killing our second-rate experts only. Many people had fallen prey to him already, and even Heaven¡¯s Rain had almost died by his hand. The fact that Dark Clouds Sorrow currently sat at the second place of Japan¡¯s Nation War contribution point leaderboard was a testament to his murderous scheme. "Here I go!" Li Chengfeng charged straight toward Dark Clouds Sorrow after letting us know that he was going. When he got close, he zigzagged around Copper Spear and a couple more players who were guarding the guild leader before slamming three magic knights out of his way with a mighty swing. Finally, he thrust his Dark Blade toward Dark Clouds Sorrow¡¯s chest and used Dragonbone Flurry! "What?!" Dark Clouds Sorrow was caught off-guard, but he was able to react in time. He made himself into a smaller target, Guarded the first and second hit of Dragonbone Flurry, and parried the last hit with a swing of his broadsword. After that, he thrust his palm toward Li Chengfeng and fired a close-range Trapping Net! Li Chengfeng looked surprised, but his reaction was even swifter than Dark Clouds Sorrow¡¯s. He grabbed his opponent¡¯s arm, pulled, and jumped off his mount¡¯s back like some sort of spirit ape, his legs drawing an arc across the air. He landed on the right side of the guild leader and successfully dodged the Trapping Net! Whoosh! Light erupted from Dark Clouds Sorrow¡¯s sword as he plunged the weapon into the ground. A gigantic magic formation appeared out of nowhere, and Li Chengfeng and all the Chinese players near Dark Clouds Sorrow immediately took massive damage. It was Dark Clouds Sorrow¡¯s Divine General Skill, Sky-reaching Formation. It had a long cooldown but great damage. The skill killed almost all the China players around him, and even Li Chengfeng¡¯s HP had dropped below the 35% mark. The dragon warrior hurriedly parried a blow from Dark Clouds Sorrow, let out a shout and used Dragonblade Revolution! Dark Clouds Sorrow proved himself to be a great fighter by activating Holy Shield quickly and greatly reducing the damage taken from the signature skill of our dragon warrior. The swarm of Ivory Towers close to him also helped to dish out all the DPS he couldn¡¯t do he was guarding. It was absolutely torturous to fight any Elephant City player with their point defense set up. The killing part was already difficult enough, but now we had to destroy towers too! Ding ding ding... Li Chengfeng backed away as a number of arrows plinked off his shoulder armor. He shouted, "I"m done! I leave the rest to y¡¯all!" Ice Flame Slash had slammed onto Dark Clouds Sorrow¡¯s shield and knocked him backward even before Li Chengfeng was finished shouting. The guild leader stared at Lin Yixin and exclaimed in shock, "Beautiful Little Pepper?!" The girl merely smiled and deleted another huge chunk of HP with God¡¯s Tear. "Protect the guild leader, protect the guild leader!" A group of panicking Dark Clouds players ran toward Lin Yixin and blocked her way before she could continue to pursue Dark Clouds Sorrow. The guild leader himself was backing away and shouting to his priests, "Feed me now, quickly!" Rustle rustle¡­ I was sneaking toward Dark Clouds Sorrow from underground while all this was going on. The guild leader never noticed me until it was too late. Right before he was about to catch some healing, I dashed out of the ground and pierced his back with the Purple Ying Sword. The indigo cone surrounding the weapon was the visual effect of Universe Break of course! 142992! He was a magic knight, but the attack still nearly emptied his health bar. "You!?" Dark Clouds Sorrow turned around in shock, but he knew better than to fight me under these circumstances. He brought his shield to bear, but too bad for him, I already knew what he was going to do and had planned for it accordingly. Pa! My Divine Martial War Boots left a deep footprint on the ground as I jumped, kneed his shield into the air¡ªhe was mounted, by the way¡ªand opened up his guard completely. Then, grabbing the hilt of my sword with both hands, I growled, "Die!" Pu! The blade sank into his chest, and three flaming auras burst out of his back and into the ground immediately. Three giant damage numbers rose above his head, and this time no amount of priest healing was enough to saving Dark Clouds Sorrow from being one-shot¡ª 80838! 123987! 152672! ¡­¡­ Dark Clouds Sorrow let out a bloodcurdling scream and slowly fell from his horse. At the same time, a melodious ring entered everyone¡¯s ears¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) killed the Temple Guard, player "Dark Clouds Sorrow" (India), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 103890 points! ¡­¡­ I was super happy to see my Nation War contribution points skyrocket like, well, a rocket. Dark Clouds Sorrow had killed so many people that 10% of contribution points easily made my throne even more unassailable than it already was. In a sense, I should literally thank him for his contribution. I swung the Dragon God Shield in an arc and stopped countless arrows from hitting me directly as I withdrew. I summoned the Phantom Wolf King to cover for me, but unfortunately the enemy¡¯s firepower was too concentrated, and my pet didn¡¯t have any lifesteal. In less than two or three minutes, it was completely torn apart by the enemy¡¯s Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms. This outcome was to be expected though. It wasn¡¯t a divine beast, so it didn¡¯t have the stats to survive a prolonged fight. And even if it was a divine beast, this was such a massive battle that I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if it was overwhelmed faster than expected. As the saying went, two fists cannot beat four hands. Behind me, China players continued to march forward and fight with everything they got. Even paper classes like mages and archers were marching forward to keep up with their frontliners and dish out more damage. And of course, our White Marsh Catapults and ballistae continued to rain hell atop the enemy. So much blood was shed from the dozen-kilometer-ong battle line that even the sky was turning red in color. ¡­¡­ Crack! Crack! A spurt of blood dirtied my shoulder as my blade cut through armor, flesh and bone. I looked to the side and found He Yi¡¯s white robes completely dyed in red as well. However, the beautiful guild leader continued swinging her spear relentlessly and wiped out many enemy¡¯s troops and Ivory Towers. It was thanks to her we were able to push forward continuously. TheIvory Towers killed many Dragonlight Cavalrymen and left a constant ache in my heart. Some distance away, even uncle Hot and Sour Noodles was fighting with blood-shot eyes. The battle was so fierce that practically everyone was lost in bloodlust. The battle lasted almost 4 hours, but thanks to our army¡¯s powerful and unrelenting pushes, we were able to deplete the enemy¡¯s Ivory Towers before Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls dispatched a total of a hundred thousand cavalrymen to cut off their retreat. In the end, we were able to rout Dark Clouds and almost a hundred enemy guilds completely. Elephant City¡¯s war goddess Flowing Cloud was killed by Nangong Lexi with the assistance of Lin Yixin. And so, Elephant City and Purple Grape City¡¯s resistance on Wildfire Plains ended in complete failure. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before there were barely any red names left on Wildfire Plains. Even still, practically everyone was hovering between middle to low health, and in dire need of both equipment repairs and potions. In fact, the first thing many players looted from the battlefield wasn¡¯t equipment, but potions. The war wasn¡¯t over yet after all. After Hot and Sour Noodles rode up to me, he wiped the bloodstain on his face and said in a tired voice, "It¡¯s finally over¡­" I nodded in agreement. "Yeah¡­" He Yi gazed into the distance before ordering, "Chaos Moon, get me a casualty report now!" Chaos Moon blinked and did as ordered. A few minutes later, she said, "I have the report, guild leader. We¡¯ve suffered massive losses this time¡­" "How massive are we talking about?" "First, we¡¯ve lost over 4000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Less than 10000 of them are left." I felt like someone just cut a piece of flesh from my body. "What else?" Chaos Moon continued, "We lost almost 1000 Dragonlight Archers, over 90k Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen¡ªmeaning that less than half of them are left¡ªand as much as 80% of all other types of cavalry. Our mages, archers, tamers and other classes are doing fairly well though. Most of our cavalry had died to the Ivory Towers¡­" Li Chengfeng asked with a frown, "Fuck, that¡¯s bad. Do we even have enough to siege the city later?" Hot and Sour Noodles said, "That¡¯s nothing compared to our losses. Righteousness had almost 270k cavalry at the start of the battle, and now there are less than 50k of them left¡­" "How is Snowy Cathaya doing?" I looked at Lin Yixin next. She replied with a smile, "It¡¯s not bad. We lost exactly 50% of the Kui Dragon Cavalry, so only 6k of them are left. We lost over 50k Purple Dragon Cavalrymen, meaning that less than 20k are left. As for the rest¡­ long story short, our total casualty rate is 78%, so we won¡¯t be able to act as the main force anymore¡­" Purple Lily¡¯s Moonkiss reported while gripping her blood-stained dagger, "Purple Lily¡¯s casualty rate is 81%. We lost far too many people this battle¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes said, "We advanced slowly, so we only lost around 63% people." Indigo Collar reported, "Peach Garden is on the brink of annihilation. It felt like we were committing suicide when we were charging the Ivory Towers¡­" I swore, "Fuck their goddamn Ivory Tower tactic, seriously. At least Flowing Cloud and Dark Clouds Sorrow are both dead now. We can finally breathe easier now." Suddenly, Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ eyes turned sharper. "I wonder. I just received news that our old friend, Russia, finally acted and took out one of Elephant City¡¯s sister cities. They even managed to infiltrate Elephant City and destroy all their teleportation formations¡­" "Oh?" My eyes lit up in joy. "That¡¯s wonderful news! Candle Dragon tried 4 times to destroy Purple Grape City¡¯s teleportation formations to no avail because Red Maple¡¯s defenses were too perfect. I was worrying how we should go about destroying it, and now you¡¯re telling me the Frostsword City had taken out Elephant City¡¯s teleportation formations? Whose strategy was this?" Hot and Sour Noodles smiled but said nothing. Obviously, he was the one who secretly planned this. Not long after that, we received another good news: Capitalizing on Cyan Earth City¡¯s carelessness, Warsky Alliance had sneaked 70k elite cavalry across the sea and successfully destroyed all of their teleportation formations. If the India server still wished to reinforce Purple Grape City, they would have to make the trip on foot now! I was happy. It was always entertaining to fight side-by-side with intelligent people, and both Hot and Sour Noodles and Warsky fell under that category. Finally, this war was starting to look hopeful! Chapter 1042: Final Duel Enemy troops appeared from the far end of a canyon with blood-red soil. There were knights clad in metal armor, mages wielding staves or scepters, and long-eared archers watching their surroundings with cool and observant eyes. At the back of the stretch of troops were countless black siege weapons that were being pushed by countless fighters. Everyone¡¯s head had the flag of India above it, and their shoulders had an elephant, the symbol of Elephant¡¯s City king. ¡­¡­ Everyone fell silent as we watched the live feed that was shared with us. Swhoosh! A while later, Hot and Sour Noodles canceled the video share and said, "This is the live feed I got from the assassins I planted at the location. Although we managed to defeat the united army of Dark Clouds and Natural Flow, Elephant City still has a reserve army of at least 40 million players. The good news is that our ally, Frostsword City, has taken out all of Elephant City¡¯s teleportation formations, so this reserve army must pass through Lost Forest and a valley before they can reach us. The bad news is that it¡¯s still going to take them less than 5 hours to reach us. Once they arrive, we¡¯ll be caught between a rock and a hard place." I stabbed the Purple Ying Sword into the black ground before asking in a helpless tone, "What are you planning to do then?" Hot and Sour Noodles gritted his teeth before declaring, "We need someone to head to Final Duel Valley and stop them there. The valley entrance is less than 200 yards wide, so if we send a small army of one-man armies there to guard it, it¡¯s theoretically possible to hold it for 15 hours, or until our main army conquers Purple Grape City." "You want to hold it with a small army of peak elites?" I looked at him in astonishment. "The cliffs surrounding Final Duel Valley can¡¯t be too high. If the enemy archers and mages successfully scale the cliffs and control the flanks, the army defending the valley would be in for a hell of a time." Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. "All victories come with a price." I bent down, pulled out the Purple Ying Sword and said, "It¡¯s not a mission anyone can perform. Very well. Eve, give me 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen, 25k Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen, 20k archers, mages and bards. I¡¯ll stop Elephant City¡¯s 40 million cavalry myself." However, He Yi surprised me by shaking her head resolutely and saying, "Absolutely not!" Li Chengfeng also walked up to me and implored, "Lu Chen, you¡¯re the commander-in-chief of our invasion army, and you¡¯re better than even Zhang Chun at dealing with the dynamics of war. The frontline cannot do without you. I will stop Elephant City at Final Duel Valley!" I rejected him. "No can do, brother. It has to be me!" Li Chengfeng raised his eyebrows threateningly. "Are you doubting my abilities, brother? Do you really think I can¡¯t do what you can? Sure, the battle at Final Duel Valley will be a dangerous one, but it¡¯s the same for the battle at Purple Grape City! If you really think of me as your brother, you wouldn¡¯t fuss over a minor issue like this, okay?" There was no changing the man¡¯s mind. In the end, I had no choice but to relent and say, "Fine¡­" Li Chengfeng broke into a grin before making his demands, "Very good. Now then, I would like to have 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and, oh, I want our two Knight General babes, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust as well. With them buffing 2000 Dragonlight Cavalry with Knight General, it will be easy peasy guarding Final Duel Valley for just a couple hours..." Xu Yang immediately said, "Come with me, Li! I¡¯ll give you our best cavalry!" "Haha! Thanks, Brother Xu Yang!" ¡­¡­ A while later, Li Chengfeng left with 50k Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls elites including the 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Their mission was to hold Final Duel Valley and delay Elephant City for as long as humanly possible. It was because it was realistically impossible to siege Purple Grape City if Elephant City¡¯s reinforcements were threatening our rear. We couldn¡¯t rely on our international ally and Russia¡¯s strongest main city, Frostsword City, either. While they shared a strong relationship with Sky City, only a foolish person would expect them to lend us a hand at this conjuncture. The only way they would help us was if we somehow wiped out all of Elephant City¡¯s elites for them so that they would have a free pass to occupy Elephant City. After all, ours was a bond of allies and profit, not the bond of brotherhood where one brother could willingly sacrifice themselves for another, no matter the cost. Li Chengfeng¡¯s 50k Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players weren¡¯t the only ones who would be holding the valley, of course. Snowy Cathaya donated a 10k-strong cavalry, and Blazing Hot Lips lent 100k troops even. Unlike the 50k troops we dispatched however, none of them could really be considered an elite. The elites were needed to conquer Purple Grape City, the true reason we had come all the way here. "Dragonlight Cavalry, full speed ahead! We¡¯re going to hit the enemy¡¯s vanguard first before they make it to Final Duel Valley!" The Dragonlight Cavalry responded affirmatively to the order before riding after Chengfeng. ¡­¡­ We tallied our troop count after the intercept troops had left. Roughly speaking, we still had over 12 million troops or 400 guilds in total. Of course, the pivot of this army was still Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Purple Lily, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends, Baidicheng, Peach Garden, Righteousness and more. "Alright¡­" I said while staring at the horizon, "The good news is that we still have enough people to conquer Purple Grape City. It¡¯s because we haven¡¯t suffered any major losses despite all the fierce battles we¡¯ve fought up until this point. Let¡¯s keep this up, shall we? Protect the siege weapons and maintain this marching speed. We should finally reach Purple Grape City in an hour at most!" Everyone nodded in agreement. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls still had 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and over 4000 Dragonlight Archers, but they were also our final trump cards. Starting now, I would only deploy them if the situation was absolutely critical or necessary. We didn¡¯t bother marching at full speed because Red Maple had had more than enough time to organize the defense of the city. It could be disastrous if we tried to rush things and got ambushed by Cyan Earth City as a result.[1] ¡­¡­ After we left Wildfire Plains, a purple city gradually emerged from the horizon. It was none other than our ultimate objective of this Nation War, Purple Grape City! Purple Grape City was located at the easternmost area of the continent. It possessed a wealthy amount of resources, and its main city was surrounded by all kinds of maps. Moreover, they had their own unique material production such as minerals and herbs that were completely different from ours. That was why they could produce the Black Marsh Catapults, and we couldn¡¯t. The bricks of the city were made up of some sort of unknown composite. Its walls were about 70 yards tall. While it was no Impassable Great Wall, it certainly was a lot stronger than your normal tier 2 city, not to mention that it was overflowing with Japanese players right now. I even spotted Black Marsh Catapults and arrow towers set up on top of the roofs of the taller buildings inside the city. As expected, Red Maple had finished setting up the city¡¯s defense a while ago, and he was just waiting for us to attack the city! Chiang! Xu Yang unsheathed his sword and ordered, "This is it, people. We¡¯ll push forward slowly and stop exactly 500 yards away!" "Wait!" However, I raised an arm and said, "Purple Grape City is a big castle, and its defenses are very well done. I would bet they have an attack range of 1000 yards. My suggestion would be that we stop at least a kilometer away from the city so that they can¡¯t score any free hits on us. Why do you think the USA is able to look down on our naval army with impunity? It¡¯s because they have the Aegis Combat System. They can lock onto our ships from at least a hundred kilometers away and shoot them however they like. At that point, it''s just a slaughter, not a battle¡­" Xu Yang nodded. "Mn. As you command!" ¡­¡­ And so, we marched slowly toward Purple Grape City until we were about a kilometer away from them. He Yi ordered the engineers to build at least a hundred Blood Fiend War Drums across the battlefield so that our siege parties would be able to enjoy its buffs. Suddenly, Red Maple appeared on the city walls and planted one foot on the edge. He let out a loud laugh and said, "Welcome to Purple Grape City, Chinamen! Too bad this is where your invasion will end, in failure! By the way, I heard that a lion represents authority and royal power? In that case, watch! This is what I do to anyone who offends me!" He abruptly swung his blade, and... Chiang! The head of the stone lion statue next to him was cut off completely. The head rolled off the wall before shattering into a million pieces on the ground! "Holy fuck, how arrogant can a person get!?" Gui Guzi flew into a rage immediately. "Let¡¯s attack the city and fuck up the little shits already, Boss Broken Halberd! C¡¯mon!" I held back my own anger and shook my head. "Not yet. We need to wait until our siege weapons have caught up, and we need to spread our troops to all four directions to find out the best way to breach the enemy¡¯s walls. We have to fight smart, or there¡¯s no chance we¡¯ll be able to conquer Purple Grape City in 20 hours." "Mn." It was at this moment Lin Yixin rode up to me on the Moonchaser Tiger and offered with a smile, "Do you want us to attack the southern gate with you, Little Cheat?" I nodded. "I was just about to ask you that. I want to focus our greatest forces at the southern gate and shatter it first, but be ready to change positions at a moment¡¯s notice. They don¡¯t have enough troops to defend everywhere at full strength. If a wall weakens, we¡¯ll attack it and catch them off-guard!" "Oh oh, okay¡­" After that, Lin Yixin summoned Snowy Cathaya and merged them with our players. No one had too big a reserve force left after that costly battle at Wildfire Plains. We must combine our armies if we were to do anything. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment He Yi suddenly shivered and exclaimed in shock, "Ah?!" "What¡¯s wrong, Eve?" I asked concernedly. He Yi looked at me with eyes filled with shock and mixed emotions. "Lu Chen, that map, Final Duel Valley¡­" "Yes¡­?" "It has a ¡®Final Duel¡¯ mode that¡­ that¡­" "What?!" Her reaction gave me a very bad feeling, so I immediately brought up the database to check on Final Duel Valley. What I saw sickened me to my stomach. When a player entered the Final Duel Valley, they would immediately trigger a PK mode called "Final Duel¡±. Whoever fought in the valley and lost would lose all their levels and drop all their equipment. 10% of all the victim¡¯s experience would go to their killer! ¡­¡­ My head turned pure as a rush of sorrow and anger overwhelmed me. I immediately rode to Righteousness¡¯ camp and pushed my way through the crowd until I reached Hot and Sour Noodles. I then grabbed him by the collar, pulled him off his mount and pressed the Purple Ying Sword¡¯s again his neck, shouting, "Zhang Chun, you knew about that Final Duel mode, and you still sent my brothers and sisters to their deaths, didn¡¯t you?!!" 1. (Author¡¯s Note: I posted a map of the War of Purple Grape City at Weibo earlier, and I may have mixed up the position of Cyan Earth City and Elephant City. Therefore, I¡¯ve changed Cyan Earth City¡¯s location to the north of Purple Grape City and Soaring Flame Desert, and Elephant City to the south of Purple Grape City and Final Duel Valley. I won¡¯t be changing the stuff I¡¯ve already written in the novel because frankly, I won¡¯t even know where to start. Sorry for the inconvenience, yeah? Also, this novel is posted first at 17k. Please support me and don¡¯t encourage piracy! Editor¡¯s Note: It¡¯s also worth to note that in chapter 1164 author admits he CAN¡¯T change previous chapters, backend doesn¡¯t let him. Chapter 1043: Forever Brothers "What the hell is the meaning of this, Lu Chen?" Two fully-armored swordsmen grabbed my arm in an attempt to pull me away. Both were strong players since they were corps commanders. "Get lost! It¡¯s none of your business!" Too angry for common courtesies, I swung the flat side of my blade at them and activated Great Earth Transformation at the same time, blowing them away instantly. There was nothing they could do to stop me if I felt like it. ¡­¡­ Zhang Chun watched me calmly as he replied, "Calm down, Lu Chen. Does it look like I wanted to make this choice? You saw me sending over 50% of my remaining troops to Final Duel Valley yourself. Do you think I enjoy sending off my people to their deaths? You know why I did what I did. Who else on this entire Wildfire Plains is capable of stalling Elephant City¡¯s advance besides the Dragonlight Cavalry? Who else besides you or Li Chengfeng possesses the ability to command an uneven battle like this?" I struck a giant rock next to me hard before yelling furiously, "That is not a reason to send my men to their deaths!" Zhang Chun merely smiled and patted me on the shoulder. "I know what you¡¯re feeling, really. No one likes lying to their own brothers and sisters¡­" I looked away with reddened eyes. "So what? Is it enough to atone for our sins? Can it reverse our mistake?" I got on my mount after saying that. "Where are you going, Lu Chen?" Zhang Chun exclaimed in shock. He Yi and Lin Yixin asked the same question, "Where are you going?" I replied slowly, "I¡¯m heading to Final Duel Valley. If my brothers and sisters must pay for this war, the least I can do is to let them know what that price will be, and that their sacrifice will not be in vain!" Lin Yixin stared at me. "You¡¯re not going to commit suicide, are you? Purple Grape City is your battlefield. You¡¯re not allowed to abandon your responsibility for a moment¡¯s emotion, stupid!" I replied softly, "Don¡¯t worry. I will return! I leave the battle in your hands until then!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes replied, "Don¡¯t worry. Come back soon!" "Mn." ¡­¡­ I rode toward Final Duel Valley at full speed. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse was fast, and I used a Greedy Wolf Card to buff my movement speed by 40%. As a result, I was able to reach the periphery of the map in less than an hour. A bloody battle would soon take place in this valley, and my brothers and sisters¡¯ blood would soon stain its ground even redder than it already was. The moment I entered the valley, I received a system notice that stated¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Player, please be informed that you have entered "Final Duel Valley" and entered the combat state "Final Duel¡± While Final Duel is active, if you kill a player, you will gain 10% of their total experience. If you die, you will lose all your experience, your level will return to 0, you will drop all the equipment in your bag, and there¡¯s a 70% chance you will drop the equipment you¡¯re wearing! ¡­¡­ I was aghast by what I read. This was even worse than what was described in the database. Whoever was killed while Final Duel was in effect would lose all their levels, inventory, and there was even a chance to drop equipment! It was basically restarting from zero! It was at this moment I saw a group of Chinese players approaching one side of the canyon. They were led by none other than Li Chengfeng, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust. They were looting the battlefield, which meant that they had just fought a battle. ¡­¡­ "Vice guild leader big bro?" Heaven¡¯s Rain noticed me immediately. "Lu Chen?" Li Chengfeng looked surprised by my appearance. I rode up to them and dismounted. Then, I apologized solemnly, "I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t know about the Final Duel until after I had sent you over!" Li Chengfeng smiled a little. "It¡¯s fine. We know." "Did you all know about the price?" "Sure. So what?" Li Chengfeng spoke so casually it was almost as if it wouldn¡¯t cost him everything. Even Heaven¡¯s Rain said, "We¡¯re fine, vice leader big bro, really ¡­" Li Chengfeng said, "Really, it¡¯s nothing. It¡¯s just restarting from zero, and that¡¯s only if we die here." My eyes reddened even more. I abruptly plunged my sword into the ground and yelled, "I, Lu Chen, am the one who sent you all here. It may result in you losing everything. It may also result in you experiencing failure in humiliation. However!" I paused for a second before dropping to one knee, and my voice grew into a full blown shout. "I swear that I will not fail you all no matter what!" Li Chengfeng shivered and slowly dismounted. He too dropped to one knee and said to me, "I am the same. There are many things I regret in life, but becoming brothers with you is one I will never regret!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Countless Dragonlight and Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen dismounted and dropped to one knee. Soon, all 50000 Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players had one knee on the ground. The players of the other guilds were staring at us with varying degrees of shock and confusion. Some of them might never understand what we were feeling right now. I looked back at everyone with glistening eyes and said strongly, "My brothers and sisters, I may not be able to address you all by name, and I may have never even spoken a word with you until today. But today, we share a promise with each other that will not be broken no matter the cost! I, Lu Chen, will not let you down! The enemy will pay for your sacrifice today! For this lifetime at least, we are forever brothers and sisters!" Everyone nodded in unison. I pulled my sword out of the ground and returned to my mount. I shot them a confident smile and said, "Give it your all, my eternal brothers and sisters!" The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a long neigh, and I departed Final Duel Valley as quickly as I could. I didn¡¯t dare to look behind me even once because I was afraid my emotions would overcome me, and I would fight side-by-side with them until death. I couldn¡¯t do so, however. Just like Lin Yixin had said earlier, my battlefield was Purple Grape City. If I must lose 50000 brothers and sisters at Final Duel Valley, the least I could do was to make their sacrifice worth it! Let this meeting be our farewell to each other! ¡­¡­ An hour later, I arrived at Purple Grape City. A war had already broken out around the entire city. It was a classic siege battle where countless catapult payloads, magic spells and arrows soared across the air while the ground troops tried to seize control of the walls. Like in any siege battle, the defenders held the absolute advantage in terms of terrain. The Purple Grape City players were able to inflict massive damage to our troops by exploiting their height advantage, but everyone gave it their all despite the terrible odds. Countless cloud ladders had already been propped against the walls, but the wallwalk was overflowing with high-level Japanese players. Almost no one we sent up could occupy any part of the walls at all. "Lu Chen!" Hot and Sour Noodles was pushing a siege tower toward the walls when he caught sight of me. He immediately shouted, "Go help the ones climbing up the wall! We need someone to gain a foothold for us! It¡¯s all up to you now!" "Got it!" I nodded and spurred my mount forward. Before I even reached the walls, I saw a brawny figure falling from the sky and crashing painfully against the ground. He was none other than High Fighting Spirits. If even he couldn¡¯t withstand the enemy¡¯s attacks, how much better could the others possibly perform? "Watch out, Sister Eve!" Lin Yixin and He Yi were holding the ropes of the cloud ladder and hanging at the edge of the wall. However, they didn¡¯t dare to climb any higher because blades, arrows and spells were flying over their heads every second. They could potentially be one-shot the moment they tried. I ran up the cloud ladder without hesitation and at top speed. Exploiting the fact that I was still at full health, I activated Ghost Deity Shield, ran right past Lin Yixin and attempted to climb up to the wallwalk. However, an enemy berserker let out a mighty shout and swung his war axe at me, "Get down!" Chiang! Ghost Deity Shield shuddered from the impact, but I saw his movement clearly and was able to thrust my sword beneath the axe blade and stop myself from being flung away. Then, I abruptly spun around, pulled the berserker over the wall and switched position with him instead. Pa! The moment I was over the edge of the wall, I immediately dropped my whole body to the floor and dodged a million attacks. Then, I rolled across the ground and summoned the Phantom Wolf King and the apparition to buy me more time. After rolling and hacking at the enemy¡¯s ankles for about five yards, I abruptly jumped to my feet and fired Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash + Coiling Dragon Revolution combo immediately. Then, I fired 12 Ancient Seals in a row! Bang bang bang bang! The Ancient Seals dealt critical damage to countless players and one-shot all of them, creating a fair-sized space on the wallwalk. He Yi and Lin Yixin immediately seized the opportunity to climb up the wall, summon their mounts and battle in earnest! It wasn¡¯t long before more players climbed onto the walls. After Purple Marquis, Eyes Like Water, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue and more appeared on the wallwalk, they swiftly formed a thousand-man party and took over a 100-meter section on the wall. It was a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood, however. The enemy was too numerous. It wasn¡¯t realistic to expand our domain any further than this. ¡­¡­ The Purple Ying Sword¡¯s blade was chipped all over the place. I had no idea how many enemies I had killed up until this point. All I knew was that I executed Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash + Coiling Dragon Revolution combo every 6 seconds. Coiling Dragon Revolution was a ranged skill, so it didn¡¯t fall under the two-skills-per-6-seconds hard limit of the Warrior class. Otherwise, I would be doing far more damage than just this. The bitter fighting had spread to every corner of Purple Grape City at this point. Not only was it surrounded by Chinese players from every direction, Hot and Sour Noodles was rallying more reinforcements from the Center. Barring any unexpected circumstance, another twenty to thirty million players should reach us in about 7 hours. That would certainly help with the siege! Red Maple did his best to aid his troops, but he was only one man. We had killed almost all the players of the second and third strongest guilds of Purple Grape City at Wildfire Plains earlier, meaning that God¡¯s Domain was all alone now. This was just karma they deserved though. They should¡¯ve thought that this might happen when they attacked Floating Ice City. ¡­¡­ Pa! Some time later, Hot and Sour Noodles climbed onto the wall and looked at me, saying, "I just received the latest battle report from Fallen Moon Ridge!" I exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance won?" "Nope! They suffered a horrible loss..." "What the fuck!" Chapter 1044: Divine Elephant Cavalry "How did they lose?" I asked while cutting down a magic knight. Hot and Sour Noodles performed a sweeping slash while panting, "At first, Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance suffered a three-sided ambush that Candlelight Shadow was able to nullify via smart pulling of the battle line. Then, God of War dispatched an incredibly powerful archer corps that was able to wipe out an entire thousand-man magic knight party belonging to Rose of the Holy Domain in one volley. I even heard that they were all using the same bow. Candlelight Shadow decided to make a risky gamble and launch a flank attack with 100000 elite cavalry, but that was exactly what God of War wanted him to do. They were ambushed again on the other side of Fallen Moon Ridge, and this time, they lost almost 70000 cavalry out of 100000 they had, including 8000 Qiu Beast Cavalrymen. In fact, they would¡¯ve lost everything if Warsky hadn¡¯t covered for them from the flanks." A pause later, Hot and Sour Noodles continued, "Later on, in her capacity as the strategist of the northern route army, October Rain devised a series of strategies that took down Fallen Moon Ridge and drove Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian almost all the way to Soaring Flame Desert. Unfortunately, Cyan Earth City¡¯s main corps appeared just in time to aid their allies and dealt huge damage to the army." "Okay, how are they doing now?" I asked urgently, "We¡¯ve already begun sieging Purple Grape City. Can they afford to send anyone to help us at all? Frankly, it¡¯s unlikely we¡¯ll be able to conquer Purple Grape City with just us." Hot and Sour Noodles replied, "The main forces of Cyan Beast, Nation Guardian and Flames of War are still alive and present, and Candle Dragon and his allied guilds are holding them back right now. Warsky Alliance chased Cyan Earth City¡¯s main corps deep into Soaring Flame Desert, so it¡¯s unlikely they¡¯ll show up anytime soon either¡­" I spat on the ground, "In short, we can only rely on ourselves. Shit! Candlelight Shadow better succeed in holding back Cyan Earth City¡¯s three great guilds somehow. If God of War and Breeze and Rain manage to make it here, we¡¯ll be in for one hell of a time!" "We must trust in Candlelight Shadow this once." "Mn! It¡¯s not like we got another choice!" ¡­¡­ Boom! God¡¯s Tear erupted among the enemy players as Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis, and a 200-man-strong Kui Dragon Cavalry party they had gathered on the wallwalk mounted a charge. As usual, cavalry charges were absolutely amazing in direct clashes like this. No Purple Grape City player was able to stop them. I turned around and said, "Gui Guzi, muster our remaining Dragonlight Cavalrymen on the wallwalk! We¡¯re going to charge the enemy as well! This is the final battle, so there¡¯s no need to fight conservatively any longer!" "Got it, Boss Broken Halberd!" At the same time, Beiming Xue asked, "Big bro, do you want me to bring the Dragonlight Archers over too and provide covering fire for your charge?" "Sure. Go!" I charged horizontally and cut down a group of enemy players who were dropping rocks and rolling logs at our army. Given enough suppressive fire, escorting our Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers up the walls was hardly an impossible task. Once the men were assembled, we would finally be able to seize the initiative of this battle. Swhoosh! Lian Xin Blinked toward the enemy and hit the enemy with Dimensional Storms, killing and wounding many. Her Ice Spiral Matrix was especially deadly. Just to make things easier for Lian Xin, I threw a couple of Icy Cyclone Domains that slowed the enemies down and dealt a sizable amount of damage. Some distance away, Indigo Collar was charging the enemy and killing enemies left and right in unstoppable fashion. However, his dominance only lasted a moment before he was forced to escape from an arrow volley that killed hundreds of cavalrymen around him. Thankfully, he wasn¡¯t alone. Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Luo River God of the Capital appeared from behind and drowned the walls in a sea of ice and fire magic. Eventually, Blazing Hot Lips, Purple Lily and Peach Garden gained a foothold of their own. ¡­¡­ Red Maple was screaming in rage, but there was nothing he could do about this. He could hardly control the super guilds attacking his city all by himself, and the Japan server only had one main city. They were also far inferior compared to China be it in terms of player quantity or quality. If India hadn¡¯t interfered with this war, Purple Grape City would¡¯ve gone down a long time ago. Currently, China and Japan were at war with each other, India was reinforcing Japan, and Russia was sitting on the fence and enjoying the show. So far, the only thing they did in this war was harassing India¡¯s Elephant City. The Northern Alliance¡¯s inclination toward China was pretty unclear as well, which led to the Chaotic 27 throwing off their restraints and attacking Seven Star City and Titan City like crazy. As a result, they were unable to provide any meaningful assistance to Japan as well. This was literally our best opportunity to take out the Japan server. ¡­¡­ Very soon, Gui Guzi commanded almost 1000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen with Knight God, He Yi commanded 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen with Royal Road, and I commanded the remaining 2000 with Martial God. Beiming Xue had also appeared on the wallwalk with several thousand Dragonlight Archers. Almost all of our guild¡¯s elites were gathered here. "Kill them! Sweep them!" Gui Guzi shouted, and everyone charged toward the enemy in unison. Many Purple Grape City players had never fought a war like this and ran away in cowardice almost immediately. Even those who remained turned into a broken pile of flesh and blood beneath the powerful hooves of our Dragonscale Beasts. Crack! Crack! The sound of my blade sinking into the enemy¡¯s armor and flesh felt incredibly melodious. While I was dragging my blade through a player¡¯s torso, I abruptly activated Thousand Ice Slash and froze an entire group of mounted knights to the side. Thanks to the splash effect, many of them dissolved into white light and left behind cold, dead bodies. At first, Beiming Xue and the Dragonlight Archers focused on providing us with covering fire. Once she realized that we had seized the initiative though, she decided to go on the offensive and ordered a volley of Skypiercers to be loosed into the city. Thanks to the height advantage, their attack power was increased by 25% at least, so it was no surprise that countless enemies screamed when the arrows pierced their bodies mercilessly. I loved it. There were only so many Purple Grape City players anyway. The more we killed, the smaller the burden on all of us. Suddenly, a chorus of bird cries cut through the night sky. When we looked up, we saw a flock of huge, white birds flying toward us! "What is that?" Chaos Moon exclaimed in astonishment. Gui Guzi said in an annoyed tone, "Fuck, I knew that it was only a matter of time before the NPC armies join the battle. That is the White Bird Legion of Purple Grape City, the so-called number one NPC legion of this city. They number at least a hundred thousand, and they are all Level 210 dread-rank NPCs. This won¡¯t be an easy fight. What do we do, Boss Broken Halberd?" "Do you even need to ask?" I ordered immediately, "All magic knights, move to the inner areas of the walls and cover our backliners with your shields! Archers, use Shock Arrows. Mages, use Ice Dragon Howls. They¡¯ll fall from the sky and become easy prey once we¡¯ve deleted their mount tenacity! Also, magic knights should use Trapping Nets to drop the NPCs from the sky!" "Yessir!" Everyone nodded and did as I said. Since we were able to occupy almost an entire kilometer of the wall, setting up an adequate defense wasn¡¯t a problem. ¡­¡­ "Jie jie¡­" The so-called White Birds were really closer to Griffins in terms of appearance, and it was a creature unique to the Japan server. They had sharp talons and a dagger-like beak capable of piercing even a shield. Their riders attacked by throwing their spears at their enemies, which normally would be a great thing for us, except¡­ they couldn¡¯t run out of spears! How imbalanced was it, really?! "Here they come!" Hot and Sour Noodles roared. "Eyes up, people! We¡¯ll focus on the NPC legions first!" In an instant, countless White Bird Riders swooped down from above and hit the magic knights¡¯ shields with their beaks. Even more magic knights were seized by their talons and hauled into the air. NPC attacks could be so bullshit sometimes. The White Bird Legion¡¯s first run alone dropped many of our Dragonlight Cavalry to half health. The good news was that Murong Mingyue and many of our priests had gotten up the wallwalk. For now, the AoE heals were keeping everyone relatively healthy. Hitting shields with their beaks and hauling players into the air weren¡¯t the only attacks the White Bird Legion possessed. Their riders also tossed their spears at us and dealt over 100k damage to the archers, mages, assassins and more fragile classes who were unlucky enough to get hit. This was some of the deadliest spear throws I had ever seen for sure! "Net them!" When the time was right, He Yi raised her arm and ordered the magic knights to use Trapping Nets. The magic knights nodded and did as she said, causing hundreds of White Bird Riders to fall from the sky immediately. Once the NPCs hit the ground, our warriors immediately ganged up on them and killed them in just a moment. As expected, flying knights were trash once they lost their air superiority! ¡­¡­ The White Bird Legion kept performing fly-bys above our heads and reducing our numbers. We, including Beiming Xue and the Dragonlight Archers, retaliated with whatever weapons we possessed as well. For a while, we waged a terrible war of attrition against the NPCs, but we had healers and reinforcements, and the White Bird Legion didn¡¯t. An hour later, almost all the NPCs had been killed. All this time, it¡¯s worth mentioning that Red Maple¡¯s main forces had been held down by The Monarch Descends, Baidicheng and Hegemon Palace. Thanks to their efforts, Ancient Sword, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips and more were able to reap a ton of contribution points easy-peasy. At this point, the wallwalk was completely covered in equipment and potions, but everyone was too busy to pick them up right now. At the same time, we received news from Final Duel Valley that Li Chengfeng had beaten back Elephant City¡¯s assault 7 times in a row. The victories came at a great cost, but the enemy¡¯s losses were at least ten times theirs. Li Chengfeng had always been an expert in narrow terrain combat, not to mention that he had two Knight Generals, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust, to support him. ¡­¡­ While we were fighting, Hot and Sour Noodles suddenly skidded to a halt and pointed to the northeast, "What the fuck is that?" He was pointing at an unnatural formation of dust clouds in the distance. It was obviously some sort of cavalry, and they were moving very, very quickly. "Are they allies?" Gui Guzi asked. "Of course not!" I felt my facial muscles twitching at the inane question as I activated Dark Pupils to widen my vision. A second later, I shivered from head to toe. "They¡¯re all red names. Shit, it¡¯s Nation Guardian¡¯s Divine Elephant Cavalry! I count at least a hundred thousand of them, and they¡¯re approaching us at high speed!" Chapter 1045: Wild King The Divine Elephant Cavalry certainly fell under ¡°heavy cavalry¡± category. Their mount was a red-colored war elephant at least several tons heavy, but was able to move like lightning even in forest terrain. One of them could already shake the ground with their feet, one hundred thousand of them was a goddamned earthquake one could feel from a far distance. Their ivory was obviously deadly, evident from the steel spikes it was covered in, and when they ran, it was like an SUV moving at 100 miles per hour. I could only imagine how it felt to be run over by one. ¡­¡­ On the ground, facing toward the northeast side was a China guild called Barbarian Tribe. They were ranked 23rd in Sky City, and they were fairly famous considering their guild size. Right now, they were directly in the path of the Divine Elephant Cavalry. The guild leader of Barbarian Tribe, a Level 189 heavy knight called War Axe raised his broadsword and shouted, "Barbarian Tribe, we have company! Shielders, form a shield formation facing toward the enemy! Archers, deliver Shock Arrows and Mountain Stagger Arrows into the enemy with Far Shot! Mages, use Arctic Rain to slow the enemy before killing them with Touch of the Dragonkiss and Galaxy Storms! There are at least 300k of us here, so there¡¯s no need to panic or be afraid!" Chiang chiang chiang! The magic knights dropped their shields on the ground and hid behind them, leaving only their spears, swords and other weapons poking through the gaps. They held their breaths, widened their eyes, and waited for the inevitable. Their archers released their bowstrings, and a swarm of arrows immediately flew toward the Divine Elephant Cavalry. However, the enemy riders were prepared for this and blocked the arrows easily just by raising their shields. The effects were minimal at best. Once the enemy got closer, Galaxy Storms, Spiraling Arrow Blades and more powerful skills merged together to form a line of fire that killed many a Divine Elephant Cavalryman. However, even more enemies rode through the attacks like the wind and slammed into the shield formation like living meteors, tearing giant holes in the defense line instantly. Once the Barrier Breaks and other skills began, Barbarian Tribe players began falling en masse. They were losing almost immediately after the two armies engaged in battle. The Divine Elephants were huge and impactful boss-tier mounts. Barbarian Tribe¡¯s mounts were a mix of wolves and warhorses that weren¡¯t even 50% as big as the Divine Elephants, and most importantly, weren¡¯t boss-tier mounts. More importantly, the Divine Elephant Cavalry was the ace cavalry of the second strongest guild of Cyan Earth City, meaning that their players were all outstanding players on the same level as Ancient Sword or Snowy Cathaya. Unfortunately for Barbarian Tribe, the outcome of this skirmish was never in question. War Axe was a man, however. Despite the giant discrepancy of strength between his guild and the enemy¡¯s, he remained where he was while roaring, "Don¡¯t be afraid! Neither you nor I have the right to withdraw here, so fight! Even if we die, we must delay these people and buy as much time as possible for our brethren to conquer the city!" And so, Barbarian Tribe fought like crazy and literally held off the enemy with their lives. War Axe fought at the front and killed as many Divine Elephant Cavalrymen as he could. The frontliners kept charging with zero regard for their lives. Even the archers and mages had abandoned all pretenses of self-preservation and just focused on dishing out as much damage as they could. Whoosh! Suddenly, a brawny man riding a black warhorse and wielding a battle axe emerged from the Divine Elephant Cavalry. Wearing a savage smile on his face, he galloped past War Axe and hit him three times in quick succession. Each strike had come from an unusual angle and ended up on the guild leader¡¯s weak point. As a result, three super-high damage numbers popped above his head¡ª 80990! 142773! 123389! War Axe, the guild leader of Barbarian Tribe, let out a muffled groan and collapsed to the ground just like that. His eyes were full of anger and resistance. It looked like he didn¡¯t expect his opponent to be so strong that he was defeated with barely any resistance at all. The killer of War Axe was none other than the guild leader of Nation Guardian, Wild King. He was a Level 190 berserker. Although he hadn¡¯t participated in the WEL, the fact that he had founded a king of guilds like Nation Guardian was a clear testament to his strength. Compared to Nation Guardian, Barbarian Tribe was nothing at all. "Kill! Take out this Barbarian Tribe first! Don¡¯t leave even a single one of them alive!" Wild King shouted while swinging his axe. "The Chinese think they can look down on us, so show them how wrong they are with the weapons in your hands! No need to worry about dying, our main force will arrive and reinforce us in half an hour at most!" The Divine Elephant Cavalrymen laughed and proceeded to kill as many Chinese players as they could to beef up their Nation War contribution points. Without their guild leader, Barbarian Tribe was nothing more but a disorganized rabble. They could do nothing except be slaughtered by the enemy. ¡­¡­ "That cruel bastard!" A fire burned within Gui Guzi¡¯s black pupils as he stared at the carnage. He turned toward me and implored, "Boss Broken Halberd, you gotta obey me this once! We cannot let the Divine Elephant Cavalry kill our people like this! Let¡¯s head down there together and teach them a lesson, or they¡¯ll think that China has no one who can make them answer for their crimes!" I was in full agreement with Gui Guzi, so I said to Hot and Sour Noodles, "Uncle, can you take care of the siege while Gui Guzi and I are gone? We¡¯re going to face down Divine Elephant Cavalry with our main cavalry and teach them a lesson in humility. Also, can you contact Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance and ask them what the hell they are doing? I thought they were holding the enemy at bay, so how was Nation Guardian able to come all the way to Purple Grape City? Anyway, just tell them to send some men over already. This is no pressure any army should ever have to face!" Hot and Sour Noodles nodded. "Understood. Righteousness, Snowy Cathaya and Blazing Hot Lips will handle things while you deal with Nation Guardian. But¡­ Are you sure Ancient Sword can deal with the Divine Elephant Cavalry on your own? I¡¯m well aware that your guild is not at its full strength right now." I replied through gritted teeth, "It¡¯s not like I got a choice, do I? I¡¯ve already sent Li Chengfeng, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust to that inhuman shithole called Final Duel Valley. What else can I not sacrifice to win this war?!" Hot and Sour Noodles nodded seriously. "Don¡¯t worry. Your guild¡¯s efforts and sacrifice will not be in vain. Everyone will know that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is the pride and the true king of the China server!" "Heh!" I let out a chuckle before unsheathing my sword, yelling, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, follow me to the ground and fight Nation Guardian right now! They call themselves the second strongest guild in Cyan Earth City and third strongest guild in the India server, right? Very well, we will crush their legend today and add another one to our own!" Everyone laughed and followed me down the walls. Once we reached the ground, we immediately summoned our mounts, moved about a couple hundred meters to the front and assembled our forces there. It wasn¡¯t long before our 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 4000 Dragonlight Archers were ready. We also had 50k Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen from the subguilds¡ªat least 30k came from Bloody Mercenaries alone¡ªso that was a relief. Finally, our mage and archer parties had survived the war relatively intact so far and numbered at least 100k. 190k troops should be enough to deal with Nation Guardian! An intimidating light reflected off the blade of the Purple Ying Sword as I stared at the Divine Elephant Cavalry at the distance. I gritted my teeth and ordered, "Prepare to charge! Don¡¯t leave a single one of these Divine Elephants alive!" Everyone unsheathed their weapons and responded in unison, "Leave no one alive!" "Kill!" As usual, I was the first to charge toward the enemy while my cavalry followed closely behind. Beiming Xue and the 4000 Dragonlight Archers were even faster than our heavy cavalry, so they roamed around the edges of the battlefield so they could assist our main army at a moment¡¯s notice. One might say that our strongest trump card was the cohesion between our Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers; a strong and soft force that could crush any opposition! ¡­¡­ Finally, the guild leader of Nation Guardian, Wild King, felt the tremors on the ground and looked in our direction. The moment he noticed us, he shivered and shouted on top of his lungs, "Divine Elephant Cavalry, form up! China¡¯s ace cavalry is here, form up and mount a countercharge now! Only one of us will be walking away today!" The Divine Elephant Cavalry had only lost less than 10k men since the start of the carnage. The over 90k-strong cavalry even changed directions and charged toward us as one massive unit! It was brute force versus brute force! He Yi, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and I formed the first line of the charge as we rode toward the enemy. The Dragonscale Beasts moved as fast as they could because speed directly impacted the force behind a charge. A while later, He Yi cried out, "Ready!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Everyone responded by pointing their weapons toward the enemy at the same time. Skills were unnecessary during the first impact because most people wouldn¡¯t be able to react properly anyway. They could use it after the enemy was knocked back via brute force! A series of crunching noises broke out as the Divine Elephant Cavalry and the Dragonlight Cavalry slammed into one another. The Divine Elephant Cavalrymen were absolutely heavier than the Dragonlight Cavalry, but our knights were fully buffed by our bards! It was time to see whose advantage was better than the other! ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang! I felt a gigantic force hitting me as I slammed into the rider of me. Let¡¯s just say that it was something that even I wouldn¡¯t care to relive a second time. Thankfully, the Dragonlight Cavalry ultimately proved to be stronger, and the enemy¡¯s riders and mounts were sent staggering to the back. He Yi barked out another order, and our generals immediately fired our Barrier Breaks, Mountain Stagger Slash, Xiezhi Howl, Rock Crush and more toward the enemy! I fired Thousand Ice Slash + Burning Blade Slash combo with great strength and one-shot an entire group of people. Then, I dropped seven Ancient Seals to deal a ton more damage. He Yi ordered, "Ghost Chariot Legion, break the enemy with Ghost Chariot Slash!" The Dragonlight Cavalry raised their arms, and countless Ghost Chariots flew out of hexagrams and toward the enemy. The little umbrellas spun like a top and cut into the enemy¡¯s armor and flesh like meat grinders, killing another group of Divine Elephant Cavalry before they could react. They clearly weren¡¯t expecting this. It was only now that they realized that we were no lambs for slaughter like Barbarian Tribe! Chapter 1046: Grasp of the Mage God Wild King¡¯s face turned green immediately. In retaliation, he fired an icy axe beam that one-shot three low-health Dragonlight Cavalrymen before letting out a savage roar, "Don¡¯t be afraid! Focus them down with Barrier Break! The Dragonlight Cavalry is China¡¯s final trump card! Once they¡¯re gone, China will become as threatening as a toothless tiger!" As expected, the Divine Elephant Cavalry started exploiting their natural height advantage and killing our Dragonlight Cavalrymen with 3 to 5 Barrier Breaks. In just two minutes, 300 Dragonlight Cavalrymen had fallen to the enemy¡¯s tactic. It was bad. While the enemy was losing far more troops than we were, the Divine Elephant Cavalry greatly outnumbered the Dragonlight Cavalry! "Roar roar¡­" The Phantom Wolf King roared angrily as it attacked the Divine Elephant Cavalry with Claws of the Storm. He Yi activated Great Earth Transformation and Godslaying Blade to torment all the Divine Elephant Cavalry within 20 yards of her. Who wouldn¡¯t when they were losing 70k+ HP per hit and suffering from 50% splash effect no less? Even better, the gorgeous knightress had insanely high Defense and HP regeneration, and the skill to parry their attacks from time to time! Their classic Barrier Break tactic was completely useless against her! "Chirp chirp¡­" That wasn¡¯t all. The Firelight Mouse was wagging its tail on He Yi¡¯s shoulder and throwing waves and waves of magical fire into the enemy crowd. A draconic roar in the air also signaled the arrival of Murong Mingyue. The Ironwing Dragon swooped down from above, scratched at the Divine Elephant Cavalry¡¯s heads, and puffed out a jet of draconic flames from time to time. It was very effective to say the least. I sneaked a peek at Purple Grape City just in time to see an ice dragon ravaging the enemy while withstanding countless arrows and magic spells at the same time. Some of my allies might be untrustworthy for various reasons, but Lin Yixin and the Ice Dragon Kris? It was never a question. ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue and the 4000+ Dragonlight Archers were riding along the edges of the battlefield when suddenly, the dark archer cried, "Halt! Skypiercer and Spiraling Arrow Blade 35 degrees to the northeast, then shoot in Far Shot mode at 45 degrees!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! A hail of arrows rained down on the Divine Elephant Cavalry. Their Attack was already gigaoverpowered, but it so happened that there was a Bloodfiend War Drum nearby as well. The attack immediately one-shot over a thousand half or low¨Chealth Divine Elephant Cavalry! Beiming Xue ordered right after her troops let go of their bowstrings, "Onto the next location!" They rode another one hundred yards before repeating the same tactic all over again. This time, the Divine Elephant Cavalry could stand it no longer. Wild King roared in anger, "First squad, cut off those fucking mounted archers from the flanks! Second squad, surround them and kill them all!" However, He Yi immediately responded with a confident smile, "Gui Guzi, attack their flank with 10000 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen and cover for the Dragonlight Archers. Du Thirteen, take 10000 men with you and intercept Nation Guardian¡¯s second corps. Xu Yang, take 10000 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen with you, work together with Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon, and surround the Divine Elephant Cavalry from all sides. Don¡¯t let a single one of them escape!" I was glad to see that He Yi maintained a clear head despite the chaotic battle surrounding us. He Yi and I stayed behind to hold off the main bulk of the Divine Elephant Cavalry while the others left to carry out their orders. Our casualties were severe, but the Divine Elephant Cavalry¡¯s were even worse than ours. In the end, Nation Guardian¡¯s cavalry was no match for our Dragonlight Cavalry because the Dragonscale Beast was He Yi¡¯s WEL champion reward, which we then duplicated using our Rank 10 Undead Castle unique skill. At the current stage of the game, there was literally no mount in the world that could surpass ours. It would be a long time before our legend was finally surpassed, and by then, we would¡¯ve accumulated enough resources to equip all our players with Dragonscale Beasts! ¡­¡­ Not far away, Little Piglet and Roaming Dragon were plaguing the Divine Elephant Cavalry like excited vultures as well. Little Piglet laughed loudly as he said, "They want to annihilate the Divine Elephant Cavalry! Holy fuck, Ancient Sword is such a nice ally to have! Let¡¯s go, brothers! Surround these Nation Guardian players and fuck ¡®em up!" There were countless Chinese players on the ground, and it wasn¡¯t long before they overwhelmed the entire 100k-strong Divine Elephant Cavalry. The Indians were strong, but they were majorly held down by the combined might of the Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers. As a result, Wild King was destined to pay for his arrogance and slaughter! Boom! Wild King used his Divine General Skill and blew back all the enemies within 40 yards of him with some sort of cyclone. He then ordered with bloodshot eyes, "We can¡¯t suppress them any longer. All units, we will break out of the encirclement through the north! Our main force is just around the corner!" ¡­¡­ "You think you can escape?!" Gui Guzi chuckled and rushed toward Wild King. He raised the Spear of the Knight Guard over his head before bringing it down with a mighty shout like a sword. Wild King sneered when he saw Gui Guzi¡¯s overhead strike. He easily parried the attack by angling his axe sideways before making a grab for the Knight God¡¯s waist chain [1] Maybe he was trying to lift him into the air and tear him in half like the ancient warrior Li Xuanba or something? Too bad for him, Gui Guzi was no small fry for him to toy with. The undead knight caught Wild King¡¯s shoulders at the same time the latter caught his waist chain and gave his Dragonscale Beast a mighty kick. He shouted as his mount charged toward Wild King powerfully, "Get down!" Wild King wasn¡¯t expecting this move and so was literally dragged off his elephant. He hurriedly kicked Gui Guzi¡¯s arm off him before shouting, "Divine Elephant Cavalry, kill him!" Seven or eight enemy riders immediately rushed to their guild leader¡¯s aid and used Barrier Break. However, Gui Guzi zigzagged around them and parried all the skills that would hit with his shield and spear perfectly. Gui Guzi might not be good enough to parry a combo from a super-tier expert, but these people were nowhere near that. "Help Little Gui!" The moment I gave the order, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and Xu Yang immediately charged toward Wild King. Chaos Moon knocked aside a group of enemy magic knights who attempted to rescue their guild leader with Rock Crush. Xu Yang blasted Wild King¡¯s back with Mountain Stagger Slash. Then, to the surprise of everyone, the guild leader took a Shock Arrow in the knee and was stunned! As it turned out, not even a super expert like him could dodge the random arrows that were flying all over the battlefield! Gui Guzi guffawed at the unexpected good luck and threw Trapping Net on Wild King immediately. It was over! "The contribution points are mine!" Chaos Moon tried to swoop in for the kill, but her attack was knocked aside by Wild King. It didn¡¯t matter though. A couple Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen rushed over to beat the crap out of Wild King, and a moment later, the guy was dead like he never was. He never even got the chance to climb back onto his elephant! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Savior of Widows" (China) killed the Temple Guard, player "Wild King" (India), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 128920 points! ¡­¡­ I almost burst out in laughter. If Wild King didn¡¯t die from anger after he was respawned at Cyan Earth City, he would die from the humongous dose of humiliation he just received. How could he not after dying not in the hands of a CGL Hall of Famer, but a Level 172 Cyan Tiger Cavalryman? Especially one with such an amazing ID... Surprisingly, the Divine Elephant Cavalry didn¡¯t give up despite losing their guild leader. Instead, their vice leader took over the command and continued fighting with everything they got. They had obviously received some sort of order from Wild King, and this wasn¡¯t good news for us. The Divine Elephant Cavalrymen had an average HP of 400k or so, so it was incredibly tedious to kill them. Even if they just stood there and let us hit them, it would still take a significant amount of time for us to kill them all, not to mention that there were still tens of thousands of them! Suddenly, another system announcement resounded across the sky and amused everyone. It was our number one mage finally ascending to become a Divine General! System Announcement: Player "Lian Xing" (Sky City) has accumulated enough Kill Points to learn the Great Earth Transformation and become the twelfth Divine General of China! They have gained 200/200 Divine Energy Points, Luck +1, Tactics +1, and an exclusive Divine General Skill, "Grasp of the Mage God"! Grasp of the Mage God: The user summons the Mage God to possess their body. Increases magic damage by 50% and Magic Shield durability by 100%. The user has a 3% chance to devour the target¡¯s soul, putting them in ¡°Soulless¡± status effect, lowering their Defense and Magic Resist by 50% for 3 seconds. Costs 1 Divine Energy Point per minute. Skill exclusive to Lian Xing. ¡­¡­ Not far away from us, Lian Xin was attacking the Divine Elephant Cavalry with her group of mages. The moment she obtained the Divine General Skill, she immediately activated Great Earth Transformation and Grasp of the Mage God, causing the golden image of a god to enter her body. Her magic damage suddenly became a lot more deadlier than before, and she nearly one-shot an entire group of Divine Elephant Cavalry with a single Ice Spiral Matrix! It was at this moment Hot and Sour Noodles suddenly sent me a message: "Watch out! Cyan Beast¡¯s main force led by Breeze and Rain himself is heading your way! They¡¯ll enter your vision in 5 minutes!" "What the fuck!" I groaned. Breeze and Rain, now of all times? Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance must¡¯ve failed completely in their attempt to stop the enemy, and God of War knew that the fall of Purple Grape City would be a huge blow to their India-Japan alliance. Moreover, the entire Japan server would turn into a neutral territory once Purple Grape City was gone, meaning that Japan¡¯s players would have no choice but to live under another city¡¯s roof. How humiliating would that be? As it turned out, Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ prediction was overly optimistic. Just three minutes later, a long line of dust clouds and cavalry troops appeared on the horizon. Their leader was none other than Breeze and Rain, the man who beat Candlelight Shadow! 1. Author¡¯s Note: now that I think about it, I¡¯ve only seen women wear waist chains. Do warriors wear them? Whatever, I¡¯m the author, I think it can exist. 0-0). Chapter 1047: A Man’s Pride "Oh no, there¡¯s too many of them¡­" He Yi looked to the north while gritting her teeth. "Is Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and Pop Culture playing mahjong together at Soaring Flame Desert or something? First they let Nation Guardian through, now it¡¯s Cyan Beast? Are they trying to kill us?!" Gui Guzi said, "The Divine Elephant Cavalry is too tough to rout immediately. Is there anyone who can hold off Breeze and Rain¡¯s Beast King Cavalry until we¡¯re ready? If only they weren¡¯t Level 175 Spirit Rank boss mounts¡­" Chaos Moon bit her lips. "That¡¯s not the worst of it. Look at how many players there are on the plains. The Beast King Cavalry alone is over 200k strong, their total cavalry is at least one million strong, and their total troops are close to ten million strong. This means that they are at least as numerous as us. Fuck¡­" I pondered for a moment before saying, "We can¡¯t rely on Hegemon Palace, Gods of Destruction and Mad Dragon to halt Cyan Beast¡¯s advance. It¡¯ll just be the death of them. Maybe¡­ maybe we can¡­" Xu Yang¡¯s eyes widened. "No! Absolutely not! We already lost a ton of men fighting the Divine Elephant Cavalry. If we fight Cyan Beast next, our entire guild will be annihilated! Absolutely not!" I broke into a grin. "I never said we should fight them. I was going to say that it¡¯s time we request for reinforcements¡­" "Fuck you¡­" I sent a message to Hot and Sour Noodles. "Uncle, we¡¯re spent. Tell Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends, Baidicheng, Purple Lily and Peach Garden to come down and fight Cyan Beast. If you refuse, we¡¯ll teleport back to Sky City and quit the siege!" Hot and Sour Noodles replied with a sweating emoji. "Got it, we¡¯re coming. Purple Grape City is on the brink of collapse anyway, the second-rate guilds should be able to deal with them while we¡¯re gone!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the western gate of Purple Grape City collapsed under the firepower of the White Marsh Catapults and battering rams. An instant later, countless Chinese cavalrymen charged into the city. While God¡¯s Domain was resisting fiercely, they didn¡¯t have the numbers necessary to turn the tides of war, not to mention that there were still 14 hours left before the Nation War was officially over. It was looking more and more like Purple Grape City was going to lose for sure! A short while later, the elite players of the Center jumped to the ground from the walls, took a moment to replenish themselves, and rushed to our aid. Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends, Purple Lily and Peach Garden were among them as well. However, Breeze and Rain¡¯s Beast King Cavalry was only a few minutes away from the city now. I gripped the Purple Ying Sword tighter and looked at Breeze and Rain riding toward us from the north. The strength of India¡¯s No. 2 had already been proven during the WEL. Whether or not his ability to command was as strong as his ability to duel remained to be seen, but I wouldn¡¯t count on us being lucky today. It so happened that there were a hundred thousand Chinese players just up ahead of us. They were Sword Lord of Jianghu, and Now and Forever was standing in the middle of them. I shouted, "Sword Lord of Jianghu, stall the enemy and buy some time for us to organize our forces! We only need ten minutes!" Now and Forever snorted coldly and said nothing. The other corps commander,Amber Pupils the Dark Swordsman sneered, "Are you trying to use us as cannon fodder? Don¡¯t even think about it! We¡¯re not idiots, we won¡¯t do something that foolish!" I was furious, but I forced myself to hold my silence. To my surprise, Dominating Heaven Blade, the guild leader of Gods of Destruction suddenly moved past me. He looked mighty scary the way his battle scar twisted with fury, "You shameless fucks! How many times have Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls played the cannon fodder since the battle of White Rose Fortress? Your life is too precious to risk, but Ancient Sword¡¯s isn¡¯t? Guild of the China VR department my ass! You¡¯re just a bunch of cowards with nothing inside your pants! If you¡¯re too cowardly to fight Cyan Beast, then Gods of Destruction will! We may die, but we will never be as cowardly as you are!¡± Dominating Heaven Blade then raised his blade and shouted, "Brothers of Gods of Destruction, the final battle is upon us! We may be annihilated, but we will be scorned by no one! Let¡¯s show the ball-less fucks of Sword Lord of Jianghu what is a man¡¯s bravery and what it means to die without regrets!" Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s passionate cry inspired his men to mount up and ride to his side immediately. Gods of Destruction had fought without pause since the first day of the Nation War, and their casualties were absolutely disgusting. They had begun the war with almost a million players, and now there were less than a hundred thousand of them left. It wasn¡¯t long before 30k mounted players and their last remaining archers, mages, priests and other classes rallied behind Dominating Heaven Blade. He then activated his Knight General and shouted, "For a man¡¯s pride! Kill the enemy!" I hadn¡¯t said anything from the beginning until the end, but this was the first time I felt true respect toward Gods of Destruction. Although we had fought many times in the past, they still stood out in the most critical moment and played cannon fodder for us. If they didn¡¯t, Cyan Beast would¡¯ve had a direct path to our weakest point, our flank and catch us between a rock and a hard place. On the other hand, Sword Lord of Jianghu was slowly marching away from the frontline and heading toward the west side of Purple Grape City. ¡­¡­ "Kill!" Dominating Heaven Blade raised his sword and charged head first into the thick that was the Beast King Cavalry. Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God and more were following right behind him. It took more than just courage to face down Breeze and Rain¡¯s one-million-strong elite cavalry with just 30000 battered and exhausted troops. It took a kind of spirit that any man should strive to possess! Bang bang bang! Hundreds of Gods of Destruction riders fell the moment contact was made. The power gap between the two forces was just too much. Breeze and Rain especially was cutting players down left and right like the enemies standing in his way were nothing but air. But despite the battle, he never stopped looking in my direction. It was clear that he was wary of me just like I was wary of him. We both viewed each other as the major obstacle of our battle. Bloodcurdling screams filled the air. I could do nothing but watch the last remnant of Gods of Destruction be swept away like a boat beneath a tidal wave. Guilt, helplessness and anger washed over me as I muttered, "Go bravely, Gods of Destruction. Don¡¯t worry, we will take revenge for you!" ¡­¡­ Ten minutes later, the Divine Elephant Cavalry¡¯s struggles had finally ceased. We managed to kill all 100000 Divine Elephant Cavalry, but it came at a great cost to us! Gui Guzi walked over with the Spear of the Knight God and sucked in a deep breath, "Motherfucker, those goddamned Divine Elephant Cavalrymen were such a pain in the ass to kill. Nearly 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen were killed in action, so we only have 3000 left now¡­" I nodded. "I¡¯m aware. Unfortunately, we¡¯re going to have to fight Cyan Beast next. I don¡¯t think many of them will be left at the end of this battle¡­" Xu Yang smiled. "Hehe, yeah, but we¡¯ve all mentally prepared ourselves, haven¡¯t we?" I stared at the brothers and sister I had gone through fire and water with and smiled. "Yes. We may die on the battlefield, but what does it matter if we have no regrets?" They nodded and smiled back. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment the system rang again¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Legendary Brave" (China) killed the Temple Guard, player "Eternal Youth" (India), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 71282 points! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Legendary Brave" (China) killed the Temple Guard, player "Dragonfly Hero" (India), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 91238 points! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Heaven¡¯s Rain" (China) killed the Temple Guard, player "Tears of the Nile" (India), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 102883 points! ¡­¡­ Everyone looked in the direction of Final Duel Valley at the same time. Xu Yang said smilingly, "Looks like Li, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust are fighting hard right now. That¡¯s three Temple Guards who were returned to Level 0!" A bit of sorrow peeked out of He Yi¡¯s pupils, and she looked away as if she couldn¡¯t bear it any longer. I sighed. "Fuck!" Lin Yixin asked softly, "What¡¯s wrong, Little Cheat?" I tightened my grip around the Purple Ying Sword and bowed my head. "If I had a choice, I would rather replace Li Chengfeng, Little Rain and Little Dust¡­" She covered my hand with her own and shot me a warm, soothing smile. "I understand your feelings." I looked at her. "No, you don¡¯t¡­" "Of course I do. Gay love is forever, right?" "Screw you¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Stranger of Three Lifetimes interrupted us, "Are you guys serious? This is not the time to be flirting! We need to go once the formation is ready, or Gods of Destruction really will be wiped out to the last man! Tsk tsk, that Breeze and Rain is as handsome as he is brutal!" "I know. Prepare to attack!" I mounted up and pointed to the front. "This is probably the true final battle. For China¡¯s glory and our pride, defeat is not an option!" The Armored Ice Qilin Horse started running, and we began charging toward the enemy. Our cavalry count had dwindled to just a million or so, but it couldn¡¯t be helped. Everyone had suffered tremendous losses up until this point. It was simply impossible to muster a charge formation of several million like during the first day of the Nation War. There was one thing that was puzzling me though. How was Cyan Beast able to come all the way to Purple Grape City looking like they were barely touched by the war? Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance couldn¡¯t actually be playing fucking mahjong at Soaring Flame Desert, right? Chapter 1048: Endgame Our mounts¡¯ hooves kicked up clouds of dust as we raced across the plains. Lin Yixin, He Yi, Gui Guzi, Eyes Like Water, Indigo Collar and I formed the first line of the charge. From the point of view of the players fighting on Purple Grape City¡¯s walls, we probably looked like an arrow heading toward the body that was the bulk of Cyan Beast. The battle of sword and fire was sure to be epic. It felt like the making of a record of all the blood and emotions that were spilled in this war. ¡­¡­ The enemy and our cavalry slammed into each other in no time. Blade tore into flesh and blood and caused innards to spill out of one¡¯s stomach. Mounts screeched in pain as the Beast King Cavalry, Dagonlight Cavalry, Kui Dragon Cavalry and more slammed into one another while their riders traded Barrier Breaks, Triple Slashes and many, many more other skills. People were screaming in anger or falling off their mounts in death. The once yellow sand was dyed red in an instant. Countless souls had been killed in a foreign land in mere seconds. Breeze and Rain¡¯s fighting style was ruthlessly efficient. Almost no one survived a hit or skill for him, and countless corpses trailed behind him wherever he went. Even High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon were forced to recognize his prowess and move out of his way. Growling, Gui Guzi asked me, "Should we kill Breeze and Rain, Boss Broken Halberd?" I shook my head. "No, we need to focus on killing the Beast King Cavalry first. Breeze and Rain is just one person, and he doesn¡¯t have many AoE skills, so just ignore him for now. One person cannot change the tide of war, and it¡¯s the war we are aiming to win, not just this battle. Once the Beast King Cavalrymen are all dead, Cyan Beast won¡¯t have anything left that can stop us!" "Mn, got it!" The Dragonlight Cavalry carved their way into the heart of the Beast King Cavalry very quickly with me, He Yi, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and the Famous Generals acting as the spearhead. However, even we had to heal ourselves constantly with health potions and HP recovery skills because the Beast King Cavalry possessed amazing Attack and good Defense. In fact, they were equal, no, stronger than even the Divine Elephant Cavalry we had fought just moments earlier. This wasn¡¯t an easy battle by any means. Boom boom boom! After engulfing a group of Beast King Cavalry with War Crush, I adjusted my POV to look down on the battlefield from above. I quickly discovered that Cyan Beast¡¯s cavalry were moving closer or splitting up in an orderly fashion until a dozen or so mini "swords" were formed. After cutting down an expert Kui Dragon Cavalryman, Breeze and Rain ordered with a growl, "Sword formation, go! Split the enemy and cut them down to size!¡¯ I shivered. It was your classic battle formation. I knew that Breeze and Rain would be different from most of the commanders we had fought up until this point. Lin Yixin and I looked at each other and nodded almost as if our minds shared a link with each other. We quickly ordered the Dragonlight Cavalry and Kui Dragon Cavalry to form four blade-shaped formations with Lin Yixin, He Yi, Purple Marquis and I acting as the points and charged toward the enemy¡¯s sword formations head-on. How deep we would be able to penetrate the enemy¡¯s formations would depend on the "sharpness" of the points. The first opponent I faced was a Level 192 berserker wielding an axe. The guy screamed like an actual berserker while saying, "Kaka, eat my Ice Flame Slash, boy!" Whoosh! His battle axe abruptly glowed with the light of Ice Flame Slash. This fucker knows Beauty Lin¡¯s signature move too? In that case, he must die! I let out a chuckle and fired God Binding Art at the space he would run into. Caught off-guard, the dark-skinned warrior was immobilized immediately. However, since he was charging at full speed, instead of being immobilized in place, he dragged the four divine arms together with him instead. He was a lot slower than before though. I let out a cry and abruptly activated Great Earth Transformation, surrounding myself with three cyan blades. After that, I fired Dragon Slaying Slash at the guy¡¯s head, followed by Coiling Dragon Revolution that pierced through his chest! Boom! The Purple Ying Sword easily pierced through the man like a hot knife would through butter before sweeping the riders behind him, dealing a ton of damage. Coiling Dragon Revolution had a hidden effect that ignored Defense due to its magical properties, so it was one of the best murder tools in my arsenal. Add splash effect and critical hit to the mix, and that was one sword formation crumbling into nothing before they could even do anything! "Kill!" Next to me, Gui Guzi and Chaos Moon immediately engaged the remaining enemies in melee. Once more, mounts slammed into mounts as their riders went to town with one another. It didn¡¯t take long for bloodlust to overtake everyone¡¯s mind. Speaking of which, everyone¡¯s Ghost Chariots had died countless times throughout this war, but thankfully their attack power wasn¡¯t weakened too much despite the loss of levels. This was especially true in the case of Lin Yixin¡¯s ice dragon. Kris kept spitting flames at the Beast King Cavalry from above Lin Yixin¡¯s head and annoying the fuck out of them. Since everyone at the frontline was cavalry, this meant that they had no real way of killing the ice dragon. At the periphery of the battlefield, Beiming Xue was running interference for us by having the Dragonlight Archers shoot Skypiercers at the enemy from time to time. It was the main reason she was still a Top 10 ranker on the Nation War leaderboard, and why we were still holding out against the enemy. Frankly, our disorganized cavalry would¡¯ve lost against the enemy¡¯s 250k-strong Beast King Cavalry already without her! So lost in the battle we were that all we knew was swinging our weapons mechanically and killing the red names before our eyes. Even the Phantom Wolf King had died almost 20 times and lost 20 levels throughout this whole war, although its sacrifice allowed me to stay at the top of the leaderboard! I shot a glance at the Ancient Divine Dragon coiled around my arm and noted that it was still sleeping. It would¡¯ve been nice if it was at a level where I could mount it. A single divine dragon rider might not be enough to turn the tides of war, but it would certainly strike fear into the enemy¡¯s hearts! ¡­¡­ Before we knew it, three hours had passed by in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, we were still going about even with the enemy and were nowhere close to reaching the finishing line despite sustaining heavy losses. "Hah, hah, hah¡­" Gui Guzi was so tired that he was panting with his mouth open like a dog. He kept fighting even though his Spear of the Knight God was drenched in blood, and his battle robes were torn in many different places. Exhausted, he called out to me,"Boss Broken Halberd, we¡¯re going to lose everyone out if this continues!" The Purple Ying Sword shivered a bit in my grip as I stared at the distance. It almost felt like it was soaking in all the blood and death around it. "It¡¯s fine. Breeze and Rain and all of Cyan Beast¡¯s main forces will die with us!" I looked around me and saw He Yi and Lin Yixin leaning against one another and resting for a moment. Their bloodstained faces¡ªit would be unrealistic to expect anyone to maintain a perfect appearance in a terrible war where blood and murder ruled supreme¡ªwere tired, and both their sister weapons were cracked in many places. There was no avoiding weapon damage in a battle like this. Not far away, battered and exhausted, Stranger of Three Lifetimes asked dazedly, "Where¡¯s Eyes?" A Blazing Hot Lips player answered, "The vice leader was killed by Breeze and Rain just a moment ago. Didn¡¯t you say you were going to take revenge for her? Did you forget already?" "Oh yeah!" Her face turned cold. "I¡¯m so going to fuck up that motherfucker for Eyes!" "Yeah!" Indigo Collar wasn¡¯t even with us anymore. After 3 whole hours of fierce fighting, Peach Garden had been reduced to less than a hundred players. They would have surely been annihilated had they not chosen to withdraw! It was the same thing for Gods of Destruction, Mad Dragon and Hegemon Palace. Dominating Heaven Blade, Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God, Roaming Dragon, Coldmoon Rose, and Pillar of the Nation were all dead. Of the three guilds, Little Piglet and a tiny group of players were the only ones left who were still kicking and fighting. The other guilds weren¡¯t doing much better as well. I looked behind me and asked, "How¡­ how many players do we have left?" Xu Yang answered in a solemn tone, "Too few to count. There are only 300+ Dragonlight Cavalry left, and they are literally the last cavalry troops we have. The Cyan Tiger Cavalry are all dead. The archers and mages are mostly dead. All in all, there are less than ten thousand of us still standing on the battlefield!" I nodded. "Yeah, even I can see that¡­" "Hehe!" High Fighting Spirits said cheerfully, "Man, that was such an exhilarating battle! Don¡¯t worry, Cyan Beast is more or less GG as well! Just look at Breeze and Rain¡¯s face!" ¡­¡­ Corpses stacked on top of one another on the battlefield, and equipment and potions were everywhere. No one bothered to pick them up though. Directly ahead of us, Breeze and Rain and less than 20k Cyan Earth City players were looking just as sorry as we were. Their war flag was covered in holes, and Breeze and Rain¡¯s armor looked like it was about to fall off. He kept shooting us wary looks so as not to be caught unawares. No one imagined that this war would become this terrible. So many people were killed that even the battle cries from Purple Grape City had become much quieter than before. Small forces of Chinese players were currently engaging the NPCs and fighting their way to the palace hall. Once we killed the king, victory would be ours. And even if they failed, we still had 10 whole hours to muster new forces and finish the job. Right now, our foremost priority was to take out Breeze and Rain. As long as someone as scary as him remained alive, there was still a chance this war could go awry. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the unbroken eastern gate of Purple Grape City creaked open. When we turned around, we saw Red Maple emerging from the city with less than ten thousand cavalry. He wasn¡¯t heading toward us though. He was leaving for Lost Forest for some reason. "What the fuck is Red Maple doing?" Hot and Sour Noodles couldn¡¯t understand what was going on. I curled my lips. "Whatever. Let¡¯s just kill Breeze and Rain, kill the king and take the city over already!" "Mn!" Chapter 1049: Final Gamble As if sensing our killing intent, Breeze and Rain abruptly raised his arm. The remaining tens of thousands Cyan Beast players immediately backed away as if they were planning to leave Purple Grape City. The backliners such as the mages, priests and archers left first while the cavalry covered for them. Even at their current state, Cyan Beast¡¯s players were able to carry out an orderly retreat. Any guild who managed to become the number one guild of their server must never be underestimated. "They think they can escape?" Gui Guzi pulled out his Spear of the Knight God from the ground and said, "Let¡¯s give chase, Boss Broken Halberd! It¡¯s a risk to return to Purple Grape City while Breeze and Rain is still lurking around!" I nodded in agreement. "Everyone, charge the enemy with everything you¡¯ve got! Everyone nodded in unison. The next moment, our remaining 100000+ players ran toward Cyan Beast at top speed and engaged their cavalry in no time. They were never going to outrun us because their backliners weren¡¯t mounted. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh! I dropped two Icy Cyclone Domains to slow a group of Cyan Beast players. Chaos Moon and Xu Yang immediately charged and killed many of them with their skills. Cyan Beast¡¯s players were individually strong, but there was only so much they could do now. "Tsk!" Helplessness and resistance flashed across Breeze and Rain¡¯s pupils. Then, he abruptly halted in his tracks and rushed toward a certain person, shouting, "Die!" I cried out in warning, "Xu Yang, watch out!" Unfortunately, it was still too late. Soul Refining Cage trapped Xu Yang, and three slashes later the guy was gone even with Murong Mingyue¡¯s amazing healing. We could only watch as Breeze and Rain deleted Xu Yang from existence. Shocked, Chaos Moon thrust Barrier Break at Breeze and Rain, but the Agility Warrior dodged it with millimeters to spare and caught her sword handle in the blink of an eye. He was so fast that even Chaos Moon couldn¡¯t react in time. "Ugh¡­" She didn¡¯t panic though. She twisted her wrist around and forcefully used Rock Crush and Triple Slash. When this girl got feisty, few people could withstand her wrath. Unfortunately, Breeze and Rain was among these few. A small smile flashed across the Agility Warrior¡¯s face as he endured her attacks with a raised arm while circling to the opposite side. Then, he hit her with his Divine General Skill, Soul Capture, lowering all her stats by 70% for 3 seconds! The light of a crescent moon manifested from Breeze and Rain¡¯s blade. It was the Moon Breaking Slash, a powerful skill that ignored 70% of its target¡¯s Defense! Chaos Moon would be one-shot if the skill landed! Swhoosh! I just barely knocked the stunned Chaos Moon out of the way in time and tanked the skill with the Dragon God Shield. A terrible pain wracked across my body as I lost 102884 HP in one go. Not going to give Breeze and Rain any time to react, I turned the Purple Ying Sword in my grip and brought it down on his shoulder! Chiang! My first strike was parried, but I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse in the right direction and dished out another two slashes. A shudder later, Universe Break shattered his parry attempt and dealt an incredible amount of damage. His eyes were colored in shock. He clearly wasn¡¯t expecting me to maintain a cool enough head and judgement to see through his parries despite all the battles I had gone through so far. 159239! After his HP dropped below 25%, Breeze and Rain executed a triple-hit Blazing Slash at my Purple Ying Sword and exploited the knockback impact to move away from me. After he caught himself, he turned around and ran away at high speed. He was so fast that he was out of my range before I could do anything else. Swhoosh! Both Gui Guzi and He Yi tried to catch him with their Trapping Nets, but Breeze and Rain easily zigzagged out of the way almost as if he had eyes behind his head. "We cannot let him escape! Kill him for Xu Yang!" Chaos Moon yelled. We gave chase as a matter of course. ¡­¡­ We approached the edge of the map in the blink of an eye, and I saw a low-lying valley up ahead of us. Sensing that something was amiss, I abruptly stopped my group with a raise of my arm, opened the minimap and saw something that chilled me to the bone. The valley was filled with red dots! I hurriedly shouted, "Fuck! It¡¯s an ambush! Rearguard, you¡¯re the vanguard now! Retreat slowly and don¡¯t panic!" "What¡¯s going on?" Lin Yixin asked with widened eyes. Hot and Sour Noodles also asked, "I see the red dots, but where are the people?" "I don¡¯t know! We need to leave!" "Okay!" Unfortunately, the foliages surrounding the valley suddenly moved unnaturally, and the ambushers hiding there emerged into view. They were archers wielding some sort of thunder bow with electrical energy coursing along their bowstrings. The worst part was that there were far, far too many of them. A player riding a fiery red warhorse and wielding a green broadsword appeared from the center. He laughed loudly as he greeted me, "We meet again, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Hahahaha¡­" He was none other than the number one player of India and the guild leader of Cyan Beast, God of War! The archers behind him didn¡¯t belong to Cyan Beast, however. It belonged to the third strongest guild of Cyan Earth City, Flames of War. They were a full guild of archers! Suddenly, a new group of cavalry appeared from the canyon somewhere to our flanks. Heaven knows how they managed to stay hidden until now, but the important point here was that we were now surrounded from all sides. "Ready!" God of War raised his arm and yelled, "Set! Fire! Kill them all, and victory is ours! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Dragon-shaped lightning ran up the archers¡¯ arms before focusing at the tip of their arrowhead. The next moment, the arrows rained down on us like a purple storm! It almost felt like we were judged by the heavens themselves! It was scary! Hot and Sour Noodles abruptly yelled in recognition, "Oh fuck, it¡¯s the Lightning Archers! They¡¯re Flames of War¡¯s trump card and the ones who wrecked Candlelight Shadow earlier!" "You could¡¯ve said that sooner!" I complained before eyeing the arrows falling toward us. A moment later, I shouted, "Don¡¯t panic! Look! The lightning arrows are way slower and steadier than your normal arrows! You can dodge it if you try!" While saying this, I charged toward the nearest Lightning Archer to me while growling like an animal. A stunned Stranger of Three Lifetimes called out to me, "What are you doing, Lu Chen? You can¡¯t seriously be plotting an assault in this situation? Ah, you crazy bastard¡­" I replied through gritted teeth, "We still have 100000 players or so, and the enemy is 300000-strong at most! We¡¯ll take them all out along with God of War and Breeze and Rain! No more holding back!" Lightning arrows fell all around me, but I was able to predict their trajectory and avoid all of them. It didn¡¯t matter how much damage they dealt if they couldn¡¯t hit me! I flung the Purple Ying Sword at the archers and killed a dozen or so in an instant. At the same time, my Nation War contribution points shot up like a rocket. Just how many people did these archers kill to accrue so many contribution points? How terrifying! I summoned my apparition next and made it fire Purple Dragon Howl straight away! "Roar!" The purple dragon tore through the enemy archers like paper. The Lightning Archers had ridiculous attack power but low defenses. Since there were few obstacles or bodies here to hide behind, there wasn¡¯t much they could do except to die. ¡­¡­ While I was skilled enough to dodge the rain of lightning arrows, many of the players behind me couldn¡¯t claim the same thing. As a result, countless Chinese players were hit by the lightning arrows and stunned for 7 seconds. This was why the Lightning Archers were terrifying. Their attacks had a 70% chance to stun their target! "Holy shit, 7 seconds!?" Charging forward with bloodshot eyes, Gui Guzi shouted, "Rush them! There¡¯s only 50k Lightning Archers or so! Victory is still ours if they¡¯re all dead!" If they couldn¡¯t avoid the lightning arrows, they might as well kill a couple of enemies before they died. Hot and Sour Noodles, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and everyone resolved themselves to death and charged! ¡­¡­ Pa pa pa! Purple Wind Chime, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were all stunned by the lightning arrows. God of War immediately pointed at them and shouted, "Kill them while the Lightning Archers are covering for you, cavalry! Teach these Chinese players the price of their impudence!" Although their numbers had dwindled to just tens of thousands, Cyan Earth City was still a formidable force. God of War and Breeze and Rain fought side-by-side to each other. The first Famous General they ganged up on was Purple Wind Chime. They killed her in just 5 hits. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun courageously traded blows with them, but Breeze and Rain quickly found an opening between his defense and killed him with Soul Capture and a quick combo. "You and Yun!" Furious at the death of his good friend, High Fighting Spirits charged forward and unleashed a Xiezhi Howl that threw a dozen or so Cyan Beast players into the air. However, Breeze and Rain dashed toward him faster than he could react before repeating his trick. "Soul Capture!" High Fighting Spirits¡¯ pupils shrank as he retaliated with a horizontal swing. However, he only managed to deal three-digit damage to the Agility Warrior. A 70% decrease in all stats was just too much! "Hah!" God of War brought his broadsword to bear as he rode past High Fighting Spirits, and... Pssh! A shower of blood burst out of the berserker warrior¡¯s neck, and he dropped to the ground with a heavy thud. His eyes were wide open when he died. He never even saw who killed him until it was over. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle... Suddenly, Snowy Cathaya¡¯s great general, Purple Marquis appeared while skidding across the ground. He pulled his sword out of the soil and shouted with murderous intent, "Absolute Zero!" Crack crack! Before God of War and Breeze and Rain could react, both of them became encased in ice. It was perfect! Absolute Zero had a tiny area of effect, but he still managed to land the skill on the two most critical enemies on this battlefield! Chapter 1050: My Pride "Well done! Kill Breeze and Rain first!" I charged toward the frozen duo but was immediately blocked by a couple of Beast King Cavalrymen. They moved in crooked lines, and they came at me in a flawless triangular formation and Barrier Breaks burning around their blades. They were clearly experts, and they were trained to deal with a top-tier expert like me. I raised my sword up high. If I couldn¡¯t breach their formation with skill, then I would do it with stats! Pa pa pa! I spurred my mount to move in an arc until I found a good angle to cut into the triangular formation. Then, I charged forward and hit all of them with Burning Blade Slash. Not only that, I even made sure that the final two hits of my skill would hit Breeze and Rain right before it hit its max range and dissipated! "Grr¡­" Breeze and Rain might be frozen, but he had a full view of what was coming for him. He gritted his teeth in anger, but there was nothing he could do except watch the Burning Blade Slash tear apart his armor and wound him twice¡ª 79202! 91023! I realized I had fucked up, however. The skill failed to one-shot Breeze and Rain because the Frozen status effect increased Defense, and I had forgotten about it! Whoosh! I immediately followed up with Coiling Dragon Revolution! Swhoosh! While the spinning blade flew toward Breeze and Rain, I dashed toward a certain position so that it would hit God of War when it returned to me. Never say never to killing two birds with one stone! Our archers were also shooting arrows at the two Indian experts, but unfortunately, their damage was fairly negligible. Worse, about 20 priests had crawled out of the nearby bushes and dropped their heals on the duo, making them even harder to kill. This was without mentioning we were dodging the Lightning Arrows while trying to kill them. Chaos Moon, He Yi, Gui Guzi and even Purple Marquis himself had been stunned by the Lightning Arrows and couldn¡¯t help me kill God of War and Breeze and Rain. Thankfully, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Luo River God of the Capital were available to fire their magic spells, and Moonkiss entered stealth so she could land a devastating combo. Swhoosh! By now, Coiling Dragon Revolution was right in front of Breeze and Rain. It should be enough to one-shot the Agility Warrior if it hit. Just in case, I dropped 5 Ancient Seals around the duo so that there was no way for them to escape! Crack... However, my expectations were once again shattered by the sound of breaking ice. What the fuck? Absolute Zero¡¯s freezing effect is gone already!? Pa! Breeze and Rain and God of War crouched and rolled on the ground immediately after they regained their movement, successfully dodging my Coiling Dragon Revolution with inches to spare. At the same time, Breeze and Rain activated his invincibility skill, killed three Purple Lily magic knights who were blocking his way as he shot up to his feet, and dashed straight toward their guild leader, Luo River God of the Capital! However, Luo River God of the Capital was known as the number one mage of China. Killing her was no easy feat! She brought her scepter to bear and cast Magic Repel, causing Breeze and Rain to faceplant into a mini magic barrier. Stifling a painful groan, the Agility Warrior took half a step backward, zigzagged around the barrier and charged again. His reaction was just too fast. It took him only the blink of an eye to reorganize his attack. "Hah!" He used Soul Capture again, and even Luo River God of the Capital had no choice but to Blink away from it. Breeze and Rain was invincible right now, so there was no way to threaten him. If he landed his Soul Capture, Barrier Break would one-shot her for sure. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh... After the super mage Blinked away, Breeze and Rain abruptly changed directions and dashed toward another mage, piercing her chest with Barrier Break. She was none other than our very own Yu Tong. The girl had been caught completely off-guard, and she died after suffering over 100k damage. Breeze and Rain didn¡¯t pause to admire his kill. Although he only had 25% HP left, he healed himself with his recovery skills while running toward his next chosen target, killing them as well. Then, after empowering himself with Blazing Wind Art, he jumped into a group of Dragonlight Cavalry and slashed horizontally in a half-arc, killing 14 of them at the same time! For a time, he seemed completely unstoppable! Beiming Xue backed away from Breeze and Rain while ordering her Dragonlight Archers, "Stop him with Shock Arrows!" "Heh. The dark archer, is it?" Catching her words, Breeze and Rain turned toward her with a smile and broke into a brisk run. He ran like a snake and dodged practically all the arrows that were shot his way. There was no rhyme or reason behind his movement at all, the guy was just moving however he felt like. It made it incredibly difficult to predict where he would go next and land a successful stun. Swhoosh! Breeze and Rain executed a triple-hit Blazing Slash once he got close enough to Beiming Xue. The stubborn girl immediately pulled out her dagger, dismounted and parried two of the three slashes flying toward her direction. Unfortunately, there was no dodging the third slash, so she bent her head backward and withstood the attack with her shoulder. It was the best way to minimize the damage she took. 72983! However, one hit was all Breeze and Rain needed to ensure that his next score was fatal. A cone of fire abruptly burst forth from his sword, and he said with a chuckle, "Goodbye!" Bang! Thankfully, Gui Guzi arrived just in time to knock Breeze and Rain aside right before he was about to strike down Beiming Xue. He yelled at the Agility Warrior, "How dare you attack a member of Bloody Mercenaries!" Swhoosh swhoosh! Yamete also dropped a chain of heals and healed Beiming Xue back to full. The world suddenly became a lot brighter, and an ice sword wreathed in flames abruptly fell down on Breeze and Rain. It was none other than Lin Yixin¡¯s Ice Flame Slash. After the first successful hit, the light wanderer dashed past Breeze and Rain and landed Extreme Break across his chest. She then rotated into a reverse slash in an attempt to one-shot the warrior! Breeze and Rain turned as pale as a ghost. He wasn¡¯t expecting the gorgeous woman to be capable of such ferocious attacks at all. He had no choice but to roll on the ground and parry Lin Yixin¡¯s second strike with his sword. Bang! Suddenly, the AgilityWarrior felt his back slamming into something hard. It was none other than my golden Dragon God Shield. "Hehe. Time to say goodbye to the world, friend!" I looked at him, and he looked at me. His eyes were reluctant, but he knew there was no chance he could survive an attack from me when he had less than 10% HP left. However, a strange smile suddenly crossed his lips when he looked up. I instantly realized what he was looking at. "Fuck!" I swore. As I thought, a hail of Lightning Arrows was about to hit me. This despicable¡ª! Pa pa pa! I blocked the Lightning Arrows with the Dragon God Shield, but I knew that there was no avoiding getting stunned even with my level of resistance. As expected, my vision suddenly turned black, and my body felt like it was screeching to a halt. Right before the stun took effect, I jumped to the back and flung out the Purple Ying Sword. I also slapped down a ton of Ancient Seals at random even though I was about to run out of Divine Energy Points. It would be worth it if I could kill Breeze and Rain here! Pa! As I fell off my horse and crashed to the ground, I heard a melodious ring¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) killed the Temple Guard, player "Breeze and Rain" (India), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 222029 points! ¡­¡­ Holy shit! 220k points? This meant that Breeze and Rain¡¯s contribution points were at 2.2 million before I killed him, a sum not so far behind my own at all! Just how many players did he kill at Fallen Moon Ridge? And what the hell were Candlelight Shadow and Warsky doing during this time? "Protect Lu Chen! Protect Lu Chen! Keep charging and kill those Lightning Archers as soon as possible!" Hot and Sour Noodles¡¯ voice warmed my heart despite the dire situation I was in. The sounds of arrows thudding against armor and flesh kept resounding beside my ears. The Lightning Arrows possessed both an incredible stun rate and high damage, so every inch of ground gained by our players was literally paved with blood, especially since there were only a hundred thousand or so of us left. It was the price we must pay if we were to win this war. Swhoosh! The moment my vision returned, I immediately shifted horizontally to the side just in time to dodge a thick rain of Lightning Arrows. Then, I resumed my charge toward the enemy. God of War was retreating because our losses were severe, but India¡¯s was even worse off. Everyone here was an elite in their own right, and we had annihilated almost all of Cyan Beast¡¯s elite players during the previous battle. Beiming Xue alone had sniped countless super-tier experts with her bow. Unfortunately for the enemy, the dark archer was also mounted. There was just nothing they could do against her super mobility at all. Players kept dying around me. It didn¡¯t take me long to slaughter my way back to the forefront. The system kept dinging in my ears and informing me that Temple Guards and CGL Hall of Famers were killed every once in a while. At this point, it was ace player versus ace player . Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties, Come See The Snow Tonight, Predestined, Laughing At The Heavens, Ling Xueshang and more had already died in combat. Death was claiming everyone fairly and without prejudice! Of course, there were barely any Temple Guards left on the battlefield. ¡­¡­ "Kill!" On the frontlines, I, Lin Yixin, He Yi, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Purple Marquis and anyone else who was still alive charged the enemy with all we got. The deeper we penetrated, the smaller resistance we met because the Lightning Archers lacked the mobility of the Dragonlight Archers. They were dead the second we got close to them! It didn¡¯t take long before more than half of the 50k Lightning Archers were killed. We chased the enemy all the way to the edge of Soaring Flame Desert. Low on health, God of War shouted, "Withdraw into the desert and enter our borders! There¡¯s only 4 hours left until the Nation War is over, so all we need to do is delay them! It wasn¡¯t meant to be, however. A group of sorry-looking players suddenly emerged from behind a cloud of sand, and an assassin suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stunned God of War. The group of dozens immediately ganged up on the Indian warrior and killed him before he was able to do anything! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Candlelight Shadow" (China) killed the Temple Guard player "God of War" (India) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 242823 points! (1038) ¡­¡­ "Pooh! We were lost for god knows how long because of you¡­" muttered Candlelight Shadow as he spat on God of War¡¯s corpse. Warsky walked up to us and said, "Well, what are you guys waiting for? Let¡¯s head back and hit Purple Grape City! Wait a second, is that you, Lu Chen? Holy shit, what the hell happened to you guys? You all looked like someone ravaged you for several years straight!" I stared at him. "You¡¯re one to talk! Who¡¯s the one who allowed the three strongest guilds of Cyan Earth City to slip through to Purple Grape City? That¡¯s so shameless, Warsky, Candlelight Shadow!" "It¡¯s not like we did it on purpose, man. There¡¯s just too many of them¡­" Warsky shrugged. "Just look at us! We killed almost twenty million players on this goddamn Soaring Flame Desert. We barely have anyone left¡­" I gritted my teeth and said, "I guess. Anyway, let¡¯s return to Purple Grape City. It¡¯s finally time to settle this!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ We turned around, but a chain of system announcements suddenly stunned us¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Legendary Brave" (China) killed the JGL Hall of Famer, player "Cyan Frost" (Japan), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 132029 points! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Legendary Brave" (China) killed the JGL Hall of Famer, player "Purple Thunder" (Japan), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 112993 points! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Red Maple" (Japan) killed the CGL Hall of Famer, player "Legendary Brave" (China), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 253939 points! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Heaven¡¯s Rain" (China) killed the JGL Hall of Famer, player "Red Maple" (Japan), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 233892 points! ¡­¡­ For a time, no one could say a single word except shiver. Beiming Xue murmured with reddened eyes, "I just received confirmation that Li Chengfeng, Heaven¡¯s Rain¡­ all 50k of our players were wiped out by the enemy. Red Maple has ambushed them from behind and killed all of them¡­" I shivered from head to toe before dropping to my knees. The Purple Ying Sword clanged against the floor as I fought back the tears. "You are my pride, my brothers and sisters¡­" Chapter 1051: Shocking Change At Final Duel Valley, it was all blood and death. The bodies had piled up like hills, and at the center of them was Li Chengfeng swinging his Dark Blade and killing the first-rate experts from Elephant City and Purple Grape City. His HP kept falling despite his skills and health potions, and his once pristine white battle garment was completely drenched in blood and riddled in blade tears or arrow holes. Heaven knows how many people he had killed judging from the sheer amount of bodies beside his feet. Red Maple, Purple Thunder and Cyan Frost worked together to cut down the remaining Dragonlight Cavalrymen one by one. Despite that, Li Chengfeng let out an unyielding roar and kept fighting until finally, Red Maple deleted his remaining HP. Unwilling to fall just like that, he flung his Dark Blade one last time and greatly damaged the heaven¡¯s warrior. Thud... Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes turned murkier as he slowly collapsed to his knees. He said through his dry, cracked lips, "This is as far as I go, Lu Chen, my brother¡­" Swhoosh. His soul flew toward Sky City, and his body erupted into a floor of equipment and potions. A cool breeze brushed against his blood-drenched battle garment. He didn¡¯t fall despite kneeling on the ground and clutching the Dark Blade. Suddenly, Heaven¡¯s Rain rushed Red Maple from behind, stabbed him once and killed him with Triple Slash, adding him to the hill of corpses beneath her feet. The heaven¡¯s warrior hadn¡¯t noticed her until it was too late because he was flabbergasted at Li Chengfeng¡¯s final display of determination. Sword buried into Red Maple¡¯s back, the Knight General suddenly collapsed to her knees as she stared at the approaching enemies all around her with blurry eyes. She was the only Chinese player left in the valley now. Eyes brimming with tears, she looked to the east and sobbed, "Have you abandoned us, big brother Lu Chen?" The cold wind only added to the hopelessness of the situation. ¡­¡­ Unable to bear watching the video any longer, I closed the window and dropped to my knees. My entire body was shaking with guilt and self-blame. I might never be able to repay this favor for a lifetime. Hot and Sour Noodles slapped my shoulder gently and said, "Don¡¯t be sad, Lu Chen. We are all doing what we¡¯re supposed to do. The reason we call each other brothers is because we are willing to sacrifice for each other without any regret, aren¡¯t we?" I clenched my right fist and punched the ground so hard that it caused a small cloud of dust. Eye burning with anger, I said, "Purple Grape City must go down, or I¡¯ll never be able to face Li, Little Rain and everyone again!" Beside me, He Yi nodded. "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I grabbed the Purple Ying Sword and climbed back onto my mount. I asked, "How many people do we have left?" Hot and Sour Noodles looked around us before answering, "Including Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance, there are only seven to eight thousand of us in total. Everyone else is dead!" I said, "It¡¯s fine, Purple Grape City doesn¡¯t have many players left either. Now come on, it¡¯s time we cut off the king¡¯s head and take revenge for our comrades!" "Mn!" We got up our mounts and raced straight toward Purple Grape City. A while later, we arrived at the foot of the city that had long lost its former glory, its walls riddled in holes and its streets almost devoid of people. Only a scarce amount of Chinese and Japanese players were still fighting each other. We ran straight toward the palace and discovered that there were still tens of thousands of Chinese players fighting the NPC legions. Red Maple and God¡¯s Domain¡¯s departure meant that there was no one left in the city who were capable of leading the defenders. The news of Red Maple¡¯s death only served to demoralize them even more. ¡­¡­ "It¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Candlelight Shadow and the Fruit Knife Goddess are here too!" Our comrades noticed us immediately and automatically opened up a way to the palace hall for us. We raced there just in time to find a group of Blazing Hot Lips players fighting the king and last boss of this palace. He was a very old man, and he only had a small amount of HP left. He was lying on the ground and breathing heavily. Stranger of Three Lifetimes raised her scepter and ordered, "Out of the way! This boss belongs to Lu Chen!" The Blazing Hot Lips players immediately obeyed. I walked forward unhesitatingly and planted one foot on the old king¡¯s back. Then, I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and sent his head flying across the floor. Now, the fate of Purple Grape City truly lay in my hands. I had two choices. One, I could occupy the city and claim it as China¡¯s. Two, I could abandon the city and destroy it. I looked up from the ground and stared at the glowing, jade-like totem pole right in front of me. It was the royal symbol of Purple Grape City. If I destroyed it, Purple Grape City would be wiped off the map. ¡­¡­ Pa! My mind was set. I planted a foot on the royal symbol and raised my sword. It was at this moment someone called out to me from the crowd. "Stop!" "Hmm?" I turned around and saw a person stepping out of the crowd. He was none other than the guild leader of Sword Lord of Jianghu, a magic knight called "Qiu Dragon¡±. He smiled at me and asked, "Do you remember me, Lu Chen?" My eyes turned steely. "You are?" "I¡¯m Tang Long. Do you remember me now?" His smile turned meaningful. I shivered. Tang Long. Tang Long! I had met him before. He was the vice chief of the China VR department and a very important person in China¡¯s VR gaming industry. No wonder Now and Forever was just the vice leader. At last, the guild leader had finally shown himself. "Oh, I see. What is your business, vice chief Tang Long?" I asked indifferently. He shrugged once and said with a smile, "Can you please put down your sword for a moment? I need you to not destroy the jadestone and subsequently Purple Grape City, or our game business relationship with Japan will be severed completely. That is not a good thing for either of our servers." I was starting to figure out some things. "What do you want then, vice chief Tang Long?" Tang Long¡¯s face turned serious. "I¡¯ve contacted the Japan server¡¯s person-in-charge and come to an understanding with him. The China server will withdraw from Purple Grape City and return it to the Japanese. In exchange, the Japan server will pledge their loyalty to us and yield to us 25% of their monthly income. As you can see, this is a very serious matter. I implore you to act prudently." I sucked in a deep breath before asking, "Is it just me, or are you suggesting that we arrive at a compromise with the Japan server?" "Sometimes a compromise can be a form of attack." "Like hell it is!" I growled, "Where were you when Floating Ice City¡¯s players were slaughtered? Where were you when Twelve Musicians¡¯ players were killed again and again? Where were you when White Rose Fortress was destroyed, and our players were savaged by the enemy? The heavens as my witness, I, Lu Chen, have never been afraid of any authority! The blood price must be paid, or I will never be able to face the brothers and sisters I¡¯ve lost!" "Lu Chen!" Tang Long¡¯s face turned ugly, and his voice shivered with anger. "Don¡¯t forget that you are a Chinese player! It is your responsibility to obey the VR department! In fact, I¡¯m not negotiating with you, I¡¯m ordering you to abandon any notion of destroying Purple Grape City right now! You should understand the consequences if you continue to commit to this path!" Everyone shivered in fright when they heard this. Lin Yixin walked up to Tang Long threateningly. "What did you say? Care to repeat yourself?" But Tang Long wasn¡¯t afraid of her. "There¡¯s no use trying to persuade me, Lin Yixin. If Lu Chen dares to do what I think he¡¯s planning to do, I can and will remove his very name from the China server. He will lose everything!" Lin Yixin gritted her teeth. "Who do you think you are, Tang Long?" The vice chief simply ignored her and looked back at me. "Withdraw your sword now, and we can still fix this, Lu Chen! The VR department will compensate your brothers and sisters for their losses!" I smiled. "Really? Then pray tell, how are you going to compensate me for breaking my promise to them?" Tang Long actually lost his words for a moment. A couple of seconds later, he said, "I repeat, if you dare destroy Purple Grape City, I¡¯ll make you regret your decision for the rest of your life!" ¡­¡­ "Hah¡­ hahaha¡­" I laughed for a moment before summoning a purple dragon to my blade. Then, I stabbed the Purple Ying Sword into the jadestone and crushed it into bits! A system announcement cut through the air¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" has killed the regent and chosen to abandon Purple Grape City. Purple Grape City is now abandoned and can be contested by any force. For 15 days, Purple Grape City cannot be attacked by any player. The victor of the War of Purple Grape City is China!" ¡­¡­ A bunch more reward announcements followed after that, but no one here was paying attention to it right now. Tang Long turned his back on me and said, "Very well, you are no longer a player of China, Lu Chen. You will see in ten minutes tops!" ¡­¡­ He Yi blocked his path immediately and questioned him, "What is the meaning of that, Tang Long?" The vice chief grinded his teeth together. "Don¡¯t blame me for this, President He. Your subordinate is just too foolish, hmph!" He circled around He Yi and stepped out of the palace hall. Right before he was about to leave though, a blood-red spear suddenly penetrated his chest and unleashed a flurry skill. A second later, the guild leader dropped dead on the ground. Gui Guzi wiped the blood from his Spear of the Knight God and spat on his body. "Pooh, fuck you and your bureaucracy!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a new chain of system announcements entered our ears¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Due to official reasons, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" has been removed from the CGL Hall of Fame! Ding~! System Announcement: Due to official reasons, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" has been stripped of their in-game nationality! Ding~! System Announcement: Due to official reasons, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" has been listed as a wanted person! They will be hunted if they enter any map belonging to the China server! ¡­¡­ My name turned red right before my eyes. Even the symbol of Sky City on my shoulder was disappearing. The fucker¡­ actually exiled me from the China server? The next moment, the system dinged again, and Tang Long¡¯s voice cut across the air¡ª Ding~! System Announcement (Player "Qiu Dragon" Shout): Don¡¯t blame anyone for this outcome, Lu Chen! You chose this yourself! I admit that you¡¯re a compassionate and brave man, but you¡¯re absolutely terrible at obeying authority! Starting now, you won¡¯t be able to enter the China server, and Purple Grape City¡¯s players will hunt you down on sight. Let¡¯s see how much longer you can play at being a hero when the dust settles! Speaking of which, any Chinese guild that dares to protect Lu Chen will be treated as accessories to the crime and exiled from the three main cities as well! I am a fair man, and I will punish everyone equally no matter who you are! Chapter 1052: Never Surrender "Ah¡­" Both He Yi and Lin Yixin were completely speechless. They clearly had never encountered a shock like this before. ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi raised his spear and said, "Boss Broken Halberd, we¡¯ll always support you no matter what anyone says! That Tang Long is nothing, hmph!" Chaos Moon also nodded. "Mn." Dazed, He Yi turned toward Hot and Sour Noodles and asked, "Zhang Chun, why didn¡¯t you say anything? Weren¡¯t you the vice-chairperson of the CGL? Why didn¡¯t you say anything during the moment we needed you the most?" Zhang Chun punched the pillar next to him and uttered, "What am I supposed to do!? Tang Long is practically the king of the VR department, and his men are everywhere in the CGL organization! You saw yourself how he exiled a goddamn Heavenly King from the server with a single order, not to mention that the waters of China¡¯s politics run deeper than you and I could imagine! Anyway, we need to rein in our impulse and plot carefully. There must be a way to turn this around!" Zhang Chun looked at me and said, "Lu Chen, you are our hero. I, Zhang Chun, promise you that I won¡¯t let you suffer this indignity for too long!" I jumped off the throne and climbed up my mount. Then, I shot everyone a smile and said, "I¡¯m fine. The map¡¯s gonna close in 30 minutes for maintenance, so you should all return to the city¡­ whatever happened, we are the victor of this Nation War, so¡­ even if I''m no longer a player of China¡­" I nearly broke out in tears when I said this. To think that this would be my payment after everything I did for my server. I... Warsky stood up and said, "Maybe¡­ you should¡¯ve listened to Tang Long earlier, Lu Chen¡­" I shook my head smilingly. "No, Warsky. I quote from the Confucian Analects: the virtuous is free from anxieties, the wise is free from doubts, the bold is free from fear. I don¡¯t regret the path I chose. The Japanese are wolves, and only a fool would think that they can tame them. No, wiping them out has always been our only path to survival. I had made this choice out of consideration for the long-term stability of the China server, not because of a moment of passion. Plus, after everything my brothers and sisters had sacrificed for this result, how could I not make this choice?" Warsky Nodded and said solemnly, "The wise is free from doubts, the bold is free from fear. Well said! I¡¯ve never truly admired anyone in my life, but you would be the first, Lu Chen!" I shot him one last smile before turning away. "Where are you going, Little Cheat?" Lin Yixin caught up to me and grabbed my hand. "I¡¯m going to Final Duel Valley to pray for my brothers and sisters¡¯ souls!" "And after that?" "I will stay there!" I said without hesitation, "Tang Long thinks I can¡¯t survive alone in the Japan server? Very well, then I¡¯ll stay at Final Duel Valley and show him the backbone a true Chinese would have, not of his so-called ¡®compromise¡¯ and cowardice!" He Yi nodded. "Got it. Be careful!" "I know¡­ I love you both!" I replied smilingly. Both girls broke into beautiful smiles at the same time. ¡­¡­ The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a long neigh, and soon I was outside the city and riding toward Final Duel Valley. I encountered almost no one because the map was about to enter maintenance. The only ones who remained were scavengers who were picking up trash equipment that no one wanted. Final Duel Valley was a cold and desolate place. When I arrived, the piles of bodies hadn¡¯t been despawned yet. When I reached the end of the valley, I found Li Chengfeng still leaning against his sword, and Heaven¡¯s Rain lying against a nearby wall with tears in her eyes, and a dozen or so arrows on her chest. I slowly sat down next to Li Chengfeng¡¯s body and let out a bitter chuckle. "I¡¯ve come to keep you company, brother¡­" [1] I looked at my friend list and noted that everything had been deleted by the system. Moreover, I couldn¡¯t add anyone as a friend because I was now an unaffiliated player. Tang Long sure knows how to hit where it hurts. ¡­¡­ Time passed slowly as I continued sitting next to Li Chengfeng¡¯s body. There were a couple of Elephant City players staring at me from a distance, but no one dared to walk close to me because one, the Nation War was over, so even if they killed me they wouldn¡¯t obtain any reward, and two, dying in Final Duel Valley meant losing everything. That wasn¡¯t a price anyone would ever want to pay. I logged out of the game right before the game entered maintenance. When I took off my gaming helmet, I felt so weak that I nearly blacked out there and then. Part of the reason was because I had been gaming for 24 hours straight, but more importantly I was just mentally drained after, well, everything. Knock knock... I heard Chaos Moon saying, "You there, Lu Chen?" "Mn." I opened the door for her, walked outside and just slumped heavily on the floor. I was beyond caring how dirty the floor might be at this point. I was exhausted to the bone be it physically or mentally. ¡­¡­ Chaos Moon was wearing a black lace stocking. She gave her skirt a pull before kneeling in front of me, watching. "Well, talk to me. I know you must be feeling really bad right now. Just say whatever you want. I¡¯m right here with you." I shook my head with a bitter smile. "It¡¯s fine, this is hardly the first time I¡¯ve been forced to swallow a humiliation of some sort¡­" Still watching me, Chaos Moon put a hand on my shoulder and asked me, "Really? Can you really endure this? You don¡¯t have to carry all the burden by yourself, you know. In 10 hours, you¡¯ll be the only Chinese player left in Purple Grape City¡­" "It¡¯s fine, I can deal with it¡­" "Red Maple will send his army after you. You can¡¯t possibly fight them all by yourself." "It¡¯s fine, I have high movement speed, I can always run if I find myself outmatched. Also, didn¡¯t they say that the killer can steal 10% of their victim¡¯s total experience? I just need to kill 10 Level 195 players to level up to 196. I bet my leveling speed will shock the world¡­" Chaos Moon smiled. "Is that so? You¡¯re surprisingly optimistic, aren¡¯t you?" I shrugged. "This is nothing. I¡¯ve gone through worse than this!" "Aiyo, I give you an inch, and you take a mile?" Chaos Moon continued smiling. "So, you¡¯re telling me you¡¯re not sad at all? That you think that everything¡¯s perfectly fine the way it is?" It was as if her eyes were filled with magic. Her gaze tore through the mask I weaved for myself and exposed all of my emotions. Chaos Moon pecked me once on the cheek before saying gently, "You idiot¡­" My nose tightened, and before I knew it my tears were sliding down my cheeks. I looked at the ceiling and sobbed, "Who the fuck does he think he is¡­ It¡¯s one thing if he just removed me from the CGL Hall of Fame, but to strip me of my nationality as well? How could he do this! How could he¡­" Chaos Moon lost control of her own tears and hugged me tightly. "It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s okay. We all believe in you, Lu Chen. Everyone in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and China is proud of you. You are our pride, our only pride¡­" My body wouldn¡¯t stop shaking. I was just so tired after everything I was forced to endure today. I didn¡¯t know what would¡¯ve happened if Chaos Moon wasn¡¯t by my side. ¡­¡­ A while later, my phone rang. It was He Yi. "Hey, Eve¡­" I greeted her in a trembling voice. He Yi replied, "I¡¯m so sorry, Lu Chen¡­" "I¡¯m fine. Is there something you want to tell me?" I asked her. He Yi sighed quietly before saying, "Uncle Zhang Chun wasn¡¯t kidding when he said that Tang Long was the king of the VR department. That vile man has forcefully squashed all opposing voices in the department. However, I, Beauty Lin, Warsky, Zhang Chun, Wang Luo and Stranger are all doing their best to fix this, so please be patient." "Mn, also¡­" As if guessing what I was going to ask next, He Yi said in a smiling voice, "Don¡¯t worry, I just spoke with Li Chengfeng and Heaven¡¯s Rain. Li Chengfeng told me to tell you that becoming your brother was the best decision he has ever made in his life¡­" I felt a twinge in my nose. "Thank goodness they didn¡¯t blame me for what happened. Thank goodness¡­" "Of course they wouldn¡¯t. You did the best you could¡­" He Yi said before adding, "And don¡¯t worry. I will fix this no matter what, Lu Chen." "Mn. Thank you, Sister Yi¡­" "One more thing." "Yeah?" "You and Chaos Moon are still at Tekes County, right? I would strongly suggest that you move to a different city soon. Your location was leaked, and I¡¯m worried that Tang Long will try to hurt you in real life. He¡¯s the kind of bastard who¡¯ll do anything in his power to get his way, so either you skip to another city soon or return to Suzhou as soon as possible. Also, you should use a hidden ID before logging back into the game. I¡¯ve written the code already, and I¡¯ll send it to your phone later. All you need to do is to register it." "Mn, got it." "Have you decided which city you¡¯re leaving for? Or are you coming back?" "No," I declared firmly, "I¡¯m not coming back to Suzhou until this is over. Chaos Moon and I are near Bagua City, a tourist city. That¡¯s where we¡¯ll head next." "I see. Well, have fun. Don¡¯t think about this too much, okay?" "Got it." "Okay then, I¡¯m hanging up. I still need to call a couple people and grease the wheels so to speak¡­" "Mn." He Yi never stopped smiling throughout the video call. She was probably feeling even worse than I was, but she didn¡¯t let it show because she knew it would only depress me further. ¡­¡­ When I looked back at Chaos Moon, she had moved next to me with her head tilted. I asked her, "You heard that? Let¡¯s check the internet now and book the hotel rooms." "Actually, I already booked them¡­" "God damn, you¡¯re fast¡­" We packed our belongings and took a cab to Bagua City right away. Bagua City had a city layout that was exactly like its namesake; a bagua formation that was packed with tourists. Thankfully, Chaos Moon managed to book two hotel rooms in the one and only 4-star hotel in the city. The room was huge and a tad expensive, but thankfully we had more than enough money to cover for it. ¡­¡­ The next day at noon, almost 12 hours of sleep later, I got out of bed, ate a quick lunch and used He Yi¡¯s code to conceal my IP address. When I logged into the forums, I discovered that the forums were in a riot with me at the center of nearly every topic. The very first thing I saw on the home page was the title¡ª "Little Heavenly King Lu Chen Destroys Purple Grape City in a Fit of Anger. the VR Department Strips Him of His In-Game Nationality for the Crime of Treason" ¡­¡­ Right beneath it was a stickied and gilded thread from none other than Hot and Sour Noodles himself¡ª "Lu Chen waits alone at Final Duel Valley for the wolves while millions of China players do nothing. Did our hero betray us, or did we betray our hero?!"¡ªPosted by Hot and Sour Noodles 1. T/N: meanwhile, Li Chengfeng is wearing the oddest looks on his face at Sky City. "I¡¯m still alive, bro. This is a fucking game, seriously, dude." Chapter 1053: Fury of the Gods My gaze darted to a corner of the display. As I thought, my account had been restricted. I couldn¡¯t make a post or reply to a comment. Hot and Sour Noodles was right, I could never understand the mechanisms of politics. All I knew was that Tang Long had absolute say in this matter, and anyone who tried to go against him would be beheaded for their efforts. I could even imagine how things more or less went behind the scene: A mysterious caller contacted the president of Eternal Moon Corporation¡¯s Shanghai branch, Ling Xue and said to her, "You¡¯ve heard about Lu Chen? Good. Think twice before you act, okay? Businessmen don¡¯t go against politicians, so don¡¯t displease vice chief Tang more than he already is. You¡¯re a smart girl, I¡¯m sure you understand what I mean." After that, Ling Xue put down her phone and said to her secretary, "Do as the VR department¡¯s red header documents we received dictate. I¡¯m sorry for Lu Chen, but it¡¯ll pass eventually¡­" Scratch imagination, it could very well be exactly what had happened in reality. Thankfully, I could still visit the forums and search for information as usual, and these were the functions that I really needed. I would be stuck in Final Duel Valley for the foreseeable future, so it was inevitable that my enemies would catch up to me eventually. My choice to destroy Purple Grape City had caused millions and millions of Japanese players to lose their home. It would surely generate the kind of hatred that even killing me to Level 0 couldn¡¯t sate. If nothing else, Red Maple would definitely send his goons my way. For as long as I remained in Final Duel Valley, I would have to dance atop the knife¡¯s edge. I sucked in a deep breath and mentally prepared myself for the challenges to come. Li Chengfeng, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, and 50000 Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls elites had lost everything and dropped to Level 0 at Final Duel Valley. What was my sacrifice compared to theirs? Suddenly, a new headline appeared on the forums, and it was one that shocked even me¡ª "Little Heavenly King Falling Dust¡¯s expulsion from the CGL Hall of Fame caused great anger. Lin Fan, Shusheng, Lin Yixin, Murong Shanshan and more announced their withdrawal from the CGL Hall of Fame as a way of protest against tyranny!" I shuddered when I saw this. To think that my incident would cause such craziness in the China server! I clicked into the thread, and the post stated: ¡°Well known as the Little Heavenly King, Lu Chen is the vice leader and soul of the guild Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. During the War of Purple Grape City, Lu Chen and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls pitted wits and brawns against the three enemy main cities¡ªCyan Earth City, Elephant City and Purple Grape City¡ªand was able to destroy Purple Grape City in the end at a great cost to themselves. In a sense, one could even say that Lu Chen was the biggest proponent behind the destruction of Purple Grape City. However, his action angered the vice chief of the China VR Department, Tang Long, resulting in Lu Chen being expelled from the Hall of Fame and stripped of his in-game nationality. Our hero won the day for us, but all he got in return was injustice and punishment! The announcement had come as a massive shock to the entire Chinese gaming world. After the truth was revealed, over 20 CGL Hall of Famers including the retired ones such as Shusheng, Lin Fan, Murong Shanshan, the Fruit Knife Goddess Lin Yixin, Seven-Star Lamp, Windy Snow, Zhi Yun¡¯er, Luo River God of the Capital, Farewell Song, Wind That Touches The Moon, Ling Xueshang, Moonkiss, Legendary Brave Li Chengfeng, October Rain, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Come See The Snow Tonight and more announced their withdrawal from the CGL Hall of Fame. Now, there are less than 10 people left in the once well-regarded CGL Hall of Fame. Is this a natural part of the sorrows of modern society, or one that was perpetuated by an official¡¯s loss of morals? The people had come together to protest against the CGL organization, but the outcome remains to be seen.¡± ¡­¡­ My heart overflowed with gratitude when I saw this. It made me realize that I wasn¡¯t fighting alone. Tang Long would pay for his attempt to manipulate the entire China server to serve his own interests. Every one of these CGL Hall of Famers was a powerhouse in their own right. Not even a vice chief like him could handle all of them by himself! I checked out the Japanese forums next, and the first thing I saw was an image of the ruined Purple Grape City. What was once a magnificent city was now an abandoned ruin. It was what I wanted though. Peace of mind was impossible unless the wolves were dead. Now that Japan¡¯s players had lost their main city, could they still keep pace with the three main cities at the Center? Of course not! The first stickied thread in the forums was posted by Red Maple himself. In fact, it was an issue of challenge to me: "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, didn¡¯t you say you would fight us to the death at Final Duel Valley? If so, where are you? It¡¯s been 12 hours since you came online, or are you all bark and no bite, so-called Little Heavenly King of the China server? Show yourself if you¡¯re a man. We¡¯ll teach you a whole new lesson in shame!" I laughed. I couldn¡¯t believe he had the gall to issue anything after he was killed and dropped to Level 0 thanks to Heaven¡¯s Rain. Even if he shot up the levels at godlike speed, it would be ten days [1]at least before he returned to his former level. Until that happened, he wasn¡¯t even worthy of my attention! That being said, I supposed that it was almost time I went back online. I couldn¡¯t let the Japanese think that I was actually scared! Before I went online, I drank a glass of water and gave He Yi a call¡ª "Lu Chen?" "Yep. Hi Eve!" He Yi giggled a little before saying, "Hi to you too. What is it?" I smiled a little before replying, "I want to talk to you about Li Chengfeng, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust¡­" "Hehe, I knew you would bring it up eventually!" "Now that the map has been reopened, I want you to help them to return to their former strength as much as you can, preferably within half a month¡¯s time. Also, they should have priority to the equipment in the guild warehouse. I¡¯d like to let them pick any equipment they like at the cost of just10% of their current guild contribution points. The sooner we can restore our 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen¡¯s strength, the better. No matter what happens, they will always be the main force of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls." A smiling He Yi replied, "I¡¯ve done it all already. Lian Xin and Mingyue took Li Chengfeng, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust to the D Rank instances this morning, and they are expected to grind C Rank instances tomorrow. Barring any accidents, they should all to return to Level 150 in three days tops. Li Chengfeng didn¡¯t drop everything when he died and still has his Dark Blade and boots, so he was a great help during the grind. Our 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen are doing fine as well. Mounts are bound to the riders and can be summoned no matter the level, so things are going smoother than expected. They¡¯re not Level 50 yet, but they¡¯re expected to get there very soon. Xu Yang even spent the morning organizing and mobilizing the entire guild to carry the Dragonlight Cavalry with 3-leechers-2-grinders method." I nodded smilingly. "Mn mn, that¡¯s one huge worry off my shoulders. Speaking of which, are you doing okay while I¡¯m away from Suzhou? Do you miss me?" He Yi fell silent. "Eve?" "Mn." "Why aren¡¯t you saying anything?" He Yi murmured, "Of course I miss you, stupid. If it wasn¡¯t for the guild, I would put down everything and travel to Xinjiang to see you right now¡­" "Hehe, I know¡­" I said smilingly, "I really do. Anyway, I won¡¯t bother you any longer. I myself have a date with little Japan. I like that Final Duel Valley is a place where I can kill players and rob their experience. I can even upgrade my Ancient Divine Dragon. Once it reaches Level 100, I¡¯ll show them what pain really means!" He Yi chuckled. "Mn mn. But be careful, okay? By the way, about your dad and third uncle¡­" I shuddered. "I know, I was worried about that too. The entire China server is in chaos after all the gods in the CGL Hall of Fame have pulled out. Now that the pressure is truly on the VR department, I don''t even want to know what Tang Long will do to get his way. Nothing can happen to them, or I¡ª" He Yi comforted me with a giggle. "Calm down, I already took care of it. Last night, I sent my men to pick up both your dad and your third uncle. Right now, they are both staying in the Suzhou headquarters of Raincube Corporation and are as safe as they can be. I even hired a bunch of retired special unit policemen to beef up my security department, so nothing can touch us unless Tang Long literally mobilizes the army, which is just impossible. The most that bastard can mobilize is a couple of greenhorns¡­" I smiled. "Take care, Eve. Don¡¯t tire yourself out too much." "Mn, I won¡¯t. Well, go beat up your little Japan. I have some stuff I need to take care of as well." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ A sense of happiness permeated inside me as I hung up. He Yi was such a gentle, thoughtful and caring woman. It was no wonder that third aunt loved her so much and kept urging me to marry her. She said that she would feel ten thousand years happier that way, whatever she meant... Of course, I was well aware that the status gap between He Yi and I was like night and day. No matter how accomplished I was¡ªwhich I wasn¡¯t¡ªit was inevitable that someone would accuse me of social climbing. I didn¡¯t care though. I had always been thick-skinned as fuck, so this bit of criticism was like nourishment to me. If someone wanted to accuse me of living off He Yi, then so be it. I love her, and that was that. Speaking of love, the other woman I love, Lin Yixin, seemed to be plotting something. We traded messages for a bit, but she didn¡¯t call me in person. Knowing her, it meant that she was plotting something I absolutely didn¡¯t want to be on the receiving end of. The memory of her piercing gaze alone sent shivers up my spine. Anyway, it was finally time to go online and fight! ¡­¡­ I entered the game using the code He Yi gave me. Once again, I must say that she was a bona fide genius. Her code had easily cut into Heavenblessed¡¯s client program and concealed my IP address, something that most people had deemed as impossible. In fact, no one had ever managed to cheat in an Eternal Moon Corporation game. Technically speaking, He Yi¡¯s program was neither a hack nor a cheat, but what she did was still a feat that would put countless self-appointed hackers to shame. That she had written it within an impossibly short amount of time was just the icing on the cake. Swhoosh! My vision brightened, and my avatar appeared inside the tent. I didn¡¯t rush out immediately because I wanted to scout out my surroundings first. It would be foolish to run out screaming only to be shot like a porcupine by the enemy¡¯s archers. I looked outside. It was early morning inside the game, and a blue mist was pervading the valley. My vision range was only 100 yards or so, but I still saw a dozen or so Purple Grape City players roaming the area. Further away where I couldn¡¯t see, I heard the noises of players battling against the mobs. The mobs in Final Duel Valley were at least Level 170 and could definitely be a threat to me. There was a ten-man party sitting not far away from me. The party leader was a brawny guy wielding an axe. Sitting idly on top of a rock, he said, "Pooh. I bet that kid is going to stay offline until reinforcements arrive. Hmph, Red Maple and his stubbornness. There was no need for us to camp this place at all!" A lean assassin beside him chuckled. "Yeah, I think he¡¯s too scared to show his face as well. Let¡¯s just pack our stuff and leave, boss. By the way, a new maid CD shop just opened next to my home. You wanna head over and have some fun? I heard that the girls there are wild and open to one-night stands!" The axe wielder replied, "Pooh! Have some standards, will you? The girls in that CD shop are as ugly as goddamned dinosaurs! My kind of woman is something like¡­ the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Man, both her looks and her temperament are top-tier, not to mention that she¡¯s the guild leader of that kid, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. If we can take her from him, hehe¡­" The assassin exclaimed in surprise, "You¡¯re a really picky eater, aren¡¯t you, boss?" "Haha, but of course!" ¡­¡­ I took a look inside my bag. I still had dozens of sets of Saint Spirit Potions, and my equipment durability had also returned to 40% or so after a full day¡¯s rest, which was just enough to fight a prolonged battle. Alright, it¡¯s time to teach those fuckers a lesson for setting their filthy gazes on Eve! Swhoosh! I emerged from the tent and dashed across the maple leaf¨Ccovered ground like lightning. My target was the ten-man party. 1. So Li Chengfeng is dead and we talk to his corpse, but Red Maple? Meh, just out of commission for 10 days! Chapter 1054: Goodbye Young Master Rustle rustle rustle... The leaves were wet with autumn dew, but they barely made a sound as I stepped on them with the Divine Martial War Boots, not to mention that it was softer than the sound of rustling trees in the area. It was a cool and comfortable morning, and the thought that I could earn experience from killing people only made me happier. I didn¡¯t summon the Phantom Wolf King because it had the habit of letting out an ear-piercing howl upon making an appearance, and the last thing I needed was for everyone to know that I was here. I could handle dozens of ten-man parties without problems, but hundreds or even thousands of players? I wasn¡¯t that vain. This was especially true if the parties had a high number of magic knights and archers. Shock Arrows and Trapping Nets were the bane of peak-level experts like me. There was absolutely nothing we could do if we were stunned or immobilized. ¡­¡­ "That magic knight called From Water is so cute. Her face is cute, her breasts are wholesome, her waist is thin and her butt is just the right shape. Tsk tsk, I was going to steal a kiss from her at that time, but that goddamned brute called Hot Sun killed me before I could do so¡­" The axe wielder sounded incredibly sad for having missed the opportunity. "I should¡¯ve activated Charge, dammit. I wouldn¡¯t mind dying right after if god gave me another chance to fix my mistake¡­" The assassin laughed. "Hahaha, no wonder you¡¯re the boss. Your wisdom knows no bounds¡­" Before he could finish, I abruptly appeared behind their boss and stabbed him through the chest. Then, I activated Burning Blade Slash and killed the assassin, a magic knight and a couple mages to shreds. Just like that, seven players of the ten-man party had died! The remaining three players panicked. The archer Leaped away while the warrior tried to rush me. I simply hit him with Pardon + basic attack, dealt 190k damage, and killed him where he stood. I moved on to killing the priest with two well-placed Dragon Slaying Slashes. It was around this time the archer shouted, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand online! The mad killer is finally online!" Whoosh! I flung the Purple Ying Sword at the archer and blew a huge hole at the center of his chest with Coiling Dragon Revolution, one-shotting him. Unfortunately, he managed to holler out in warning before I killed him, so the enemy pretty much knew where I was now! I took a moment to look at my experience bar. It was just one ten-man party, but my experience still jumped to Level 195 and 22%. Killing someone in Final Duel Valley was an inhuman thing, but if it was a Japanese player then it could only be a joyful and happy experience.[1] ¡­¡­ I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, mounted up, and slipped into the mist next to me. I couldn¡¯t stay in one place for long, or it would be all too easy for my enemy to surround and kill me. I also took the opportunity to summon the Phantom Wolf King and use a Ghost Chariot Card to strengthen myself. I had a total of 100 Ghost Chariot Cards in my bag, and I had 64 left after the Nation War. It should be enough to last me for a while. Its buffs to Attack and armor penetration were perfect for this type of battle. I looked down at my arm and noted that the Ancient Divine Dragon had grown a bit bigger after partaking in around 30% of the experience I had gotten. It was still a long way from reaching adulthood though. I would have to kill thousands, if not ten thousand players at least before I could finally pump it to Level 100. It was an acceptable price, however. Immortal Rank mounts didn¡¯t even exist at the current stage of the game, so it made sense that my Divine Rank mount would have such a hard limitation to it. Pa pa pa... The sound of hooves crunching against the wet maple leaves rang constantly in my ears. While riding, I brought up the world map and activated Dark Pupils to increase my vision range so drastically that I could see every target within 1000 yards of me on it. This meant that I could identify the weaker points of the enemy¡¯s formation, but the enemy wouldn¡¯t be able to see my dot on the world map. Dark Pupils was amazing like this. The Asura-exclusive skill might appear basic at first glance, but it was critical in open world PvP battles like this. I saw a 40-man party to the southeast. It was also the weakest party of all the forces who were coming after me. Very well, you are first! I paid close attention to the terrain so that I didn¡¯t accidentally ride into a dead end. The moment I was within range of the enemy, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a long neigh, and both the Phantom Wolf King and I charged them before they could react. Swhoosh! I raised the Purple Ying Sword, found a good angle and fired Thousand Ice Slash, tearing apart countless archers, assassins and warriors with high Attack and splash effect. All the players who were standing close to me were either dead or lamenting their misfortune. At least 20 enemies had been hit by the skill. The Phantom Wolf King roared and slipped in between the crowd, killing a couple low-health players with casual swipes here and there. I myself had circled to another side and caught the enemy in a pincer attack, killing everyone left standing in my way. The party had been caught completely off-guard, so they were barely able to put up any sort of resistance at all. One of the archers had just notched an arrow when I put my sword through his chest. It was futile. The battle was over less than half a minute later. As I stared at the floor of bodies, equipment and potions, the super-tier ability I had been honing when grinding with the girls came active. One glance was all it took for me to identify what equipment was worth looting, and what wasn¡¯t. I picked up a golden ring, and just as I thought it was an Earth-grade item that increased Attack by 19%. These days, any equipment with +10% Attack or higher was incredibly popular, and this one might as well be a Divine Armament in the eyes of the plebs. I tossed it into my bag and plotted to sell it when I could return to Sky City once more. There was always time to make bank! I picked up a couple more shields and war boots, but that was all. I had very little time to cherry pick while my enemies were still hot on my tail! I looked at the world map again and noted that a ring of red dots was closing on my location at high speed. I was sure the Purple Grape City players were communicating with each other, or they couldn¡¯t have found me out this quickly. Unfortunately for them, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse was too fast. I was able to break out of the encirclement from a corner and even kill an assassin who attempted to ambush me. As I picked up his dagger and leather boots, I noted that Final Duel Valley was practically heaven to a top-tier expert. Anyone who died here had a 70% chance of dropping their equipment, and in the case they were killed by me, it was even worse thanks to my super high Luck stat. Moreover, they were no Li Chengfeng or Heaven¡¯s Rain. It would take them at least two to three months before they could even grind back to their current level. I couldn¡¯t deny a sense of satisfaction. In fact, now that I thought about it, in a way I was repaying my country by killing the Japanese players and zeroing their level. The China server might not recognize me right now, but my blood was as Chinese as anyone else in the country¡¯s. They could reject me, but I still would willingly sacrifice blood and sweat for the word "China"! Suddenly, my eyes narrowed when I looked to my right flank. It was because I saw a vulgar-looking magic knight approaching my position with an orange shield in his hand. Motherfucker, it had to be Heaven-grade at the very least. No way I was letting go of this loot! Swhoosh! I activated Earth Escape and slipped underground. The Phantom Wolf King also let out a low growl and entered stealth as well. Tsk tsk, who said that a warrior couldn¡¯t be stealthy? Sure, this was pretty despicable all things considered, but it was worth it for a Heaven-grade shield! A group of players emerged from the morning mist led by none other than the vulgar-looking magic knight I spotted earlier. He looked around 25 years old or so with thin eyebrows. He asked his subordinates in a low voice, "Fuck, where did that kid go? How did he disappear like a ghost? He can¡¯t have teleported back to his city, can he? What a coward!" The mage beside him said, "That¡¯s definitely not the case, young master. Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand lost his nationality and is now an unaffiliated player, so his return scrolls are practically a waste of space. There¡¯s nowhere he can teleport to even if he wanted to. He could¡¯ve logged out of the game, but I heard that he¡¯s as proud as they came. There¡¯s no way he would log out and admit defeat." "Hmph. Send out the assassins and archers and drag him out of his hole. He must die in our hands. I will tell Red Maple that Devil¡¯s Domain can do what his God¡¯s Domain cannot!" "Yes, young master!" It took all of my energy not to burst out laughing. I could hardly believe that I had encountered a modern day young master. Don¡¯t they feel embarrassed addressing each other as such? Whatever, I was going to enjoy this kill. Hell, it was the destiny of any short ugly poverty-stricken person like me to kill a young master like him... I slowly approached him while controlling the Phantom Wolf King to encircle the group from the other direction. Currently, the young master was surrounded by less than a hundred players, and a large majority of them were mages and priests. I supposed that he wasn¡¯t stupid. He knew that the greatest counter to a metal-armor class like me was a super powerful single-target spell like Touch of the Dragonkiss. Assuming that one Touch of the Dragonkiss could deal ten thousand damage to me, then a dozen should be almost enough to kill me. However, he seemed unaware of the fact that Touch of the Dragonkiss had a slightly longer casting time compared to other spells. Anyone whose reaction speed was lower than 0.5 seconds could dodge the spell with ease. He Yi, Gui Guzi and Chaos Moon all could perform this feat, so of course I could dodge the attacks as well. When the time was right, I leaped out of my hiding spot! I activated Great Earth Transformation right after my body took form next to the young master. I then pressed my sword to the young master¡¯s chest and unleashed Burning Blade Slash. Surprisingly, he was able to raise his shield and nullified at least 30% of the skill¡¯s damage despite being caught completely off-guard. His shield flashed blue every time the flaming auras hit it. Pa pa pa¡­ The young master had less than 40% HP left, and the mages and priests behind him had all been killed. I had activated both Great Earth Transformation and Martial God, so the first hit of my Burning Blade Slash alone was enough to break through their shield. That the second and third hit would one-shot a cloth-armor player was just the natural outcome. "The bastard can go into stealth! Heal me now!" The young master shouted as he retreated, but the priests behind him were busy burning to death. I had made the Phantom Wolf King use Purgatory Storm while they were distracted. "Hehe!" I charged toward the young master one last time as a cyan-colored bagua diagram appeared beneath my feet. A moment later, Universe Break pierced his shield and killed him where he stood! Pop¡­ The young master dropped to Level 0, and I caught his dropped shield even before it hit the ground. As I thought, it had a passive skill that had a 75% chance of nullifying 40% of the damage he took! What an incredible loot! The battle wasn¡¯t over yet though, so I fired one more Thousand Ice Slash before resummoning the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. A minute later, I turned my back on the floor of corpses and left the battlefield, looking cool as hell... 1. (Author¡¯s Note: I think joyful and happy means the same thing? Whatever, my language class was taught by my sports teacher anyway¡­) Chapter 1055: The Journey of Slaughter A couple more such ambush attempts later, I officially hit Level 197. I could almost understand why some robbers loved to commit robbery. This was way faster than any grinding I had ever done up until this point. Of course, the reward wasn''t without its risks. Dying here meant dropping to Level 0 and losing most, if not all of one¡¯s equipped items. For now though, I was in a relatively safe spot. Thanks to Li Chengfeng, Heaven¡¯s Rain and my brothers and sisters taking out Red Maple, Cyan Frost, Purple Thunder, Red Hot Vortex and more, there weren¡¯t many players left in Purple Grape City who could truly threaten me. Until they returned, one might say that this was my time to grind as many levels and farm as much loot as possible! ¡­¡­ Ding! A system announcement suddenly cut across the air. As it turned out, my arrogant counterattack had finally pissed off my international friends from Purple Grape City completely¡ª System Announcement: (Player "Apennine" Shout): My brothers and sisters, please listen to me. The Chinese player, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, destroyed our home, Purple Grape City and caused 40 million of us to become homeless. Don¡¯t you think you should take up arms and teach him a lesson? Right now, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is an unaffiliated player, and he could only hole up inside Final Duel Valley. If you wish to take revenge, then join us in Final Duel Valley right now! He must die no matter the cost! Also, please note that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand has a powerful wolf pet, and both he and the pet can enter stealth. If you do decide to enter Final Duel Valley, please make sure you sweep the area with AoE skills! Don¡¯t let that despicable bastard sneak up on you! ¡­¡­ My lips curled as I looked up at the sky. Finally, the real fight was about to start. I climbed up a nearby ridge and looked down from my position. I saw many Purple Grape City players searching for me in the valleys while wearing expressions that suggested that they wanted to swallow me alive. Too bad for them, I was extremely hungry, and one hell of a picky eater. My brain automatically filtered any party that was below Level 170 because they wouldn¡¯t have the experience or the loot I needed. Ideally, my prey would be a hundred-man party or smaller that were all made up of Level 180+ seventh-promotion players. They were the type of prey I could kill with the Phantom Wolf King and the Purple Ying Sword, and rob a sizable chunk of experience both for myself and the Ancient Divine Dragon. I found my target very soon. 500 meters directly to the south, there was a 150-man party where almost half of their players were above Level 180 and seventh-promotion. The party was mostly made up of mages, warriors and wanderers, and they barely had any magic knights and archers at all. There was no way this type of party could put me down. "Let¡¯s go, little wolf!" I said to my pet with a smile, but all it had for me was a lolling tongue and silence. Obviously, my pet couldn¡¯t spit human words, but I was all alone in Final Duel Valley, and it was the only one I could talk to right now. What else was I supposed to do, kidnap a Purple Grape City player to chat with? They would sue me for inhumanity. Swhoosh! Me, my horse and my wolf raced down the mountain range, circled around a couple of parties along the way and attacked the party I had chosen earlier. I was going to end this in a minute. Even if I couldn¡¯t, I still would forcefully disengage from the enemy because I didn¡¯t want to be surrounded by the enemy. Traces of red energy coursed along the blade of the Purple Ying Sword as I burst out of the bush. A perceptive archer noticed this and cried out in warning, "Incoming from the forest on the right!" Unfortunately, it was too late. The moment I reached the party, I immediately unleashed Thousand Ice Slash + War Crush + Burning Blade Slash combo at the thickest part of the group, one-shotting almost 50 players in an instant. Without pausing for even a second, I shifted horizontally and ran in an arc along the edge of the party. It turned out that the enemy players were battle-hardened veterans because the survivors reacted quickly and in coordinated fashion. The assassins entered stealth, the archers spread out into the trees, and the mages formed a defensive arc before firing their Galaxy Storms at me! Boom boom boom! I could dodge Touches of the Dragonkiss and Shock Arrows by manipulating my speed and direction, but not AoE skills with huge areas of effect such as Galaxy Storms, Spiraling Arrow Blades and Skypiercers, not perfectly at least. Despite the Dragon God Shield nullifying much of the damage I was receiving, I still lost 100k HP in just 6 seconds. As expected of Level 180+, seventh-promotion battle-hardened veterans! Once 6 seconds had passed, I moved to the angle I spotted earlier and fired Thousand Ice Slash to my left, and Burning Blade Slash to my right, killing two small groups of players. At the same time, I charged toward the group directly in front of me and used War Crush, catching the dozen of magic knights who were throwing Trapping Nets at me by surprise and dropping them to just 25% HP. Finally, I made the Phantom Wolf King drop a series of Claws of the Storm, and the group of low-health magic knights dropped dead just like that. I had pulled off the maneuver in just one second, so there was no chance they could survive this even if they activated War God Recovery. I was still eating Galaxy Storms from time to time, and my HP kept hovering around the 75% line. I wasn¡¯t in danger though. While dodging the enemy¡¯s attacks, I killed the archers one by one with accurately-placed Dragon Slaying Slashes, and mages and priests with Coiling Dragon Revolution. The exchange went on for a minute or so. I was still alive, and a large majority of the party were killed. To say that the floor of potions and equipment pleased me would be an understatement. At this point, neither the assassins nor the archers dared to get close to me because they knew that being killed here would mean having to restart from zero. It was a penalty most people couldn¡¯t accept at all. I circled around the area and grabbed any equipment that was higher than Spirit-grade. It would be a waste to leave them be after all. Finally, I bade the hiding players goodbye with a laugh and a wave of the Purple Ying Sword. "Alright, that¡¯s it for now. Bye bye!" I spurred my mount forward and swiftly vanished behind the morning mist once more. This weather was a godsend for me because it was practically a free smokescreen. It would¡¯ve taken me considerably more effort to avoid the Purple Grape City players otherwise. There were a lot of them roaming the map after all. ¡­¡­ While escaping, I opened the detailed map of Final Duel Valley and researched it carefully. I was actually able to learn a little something from it. As it turned out, the entire map was laid out in a bagua diagram, and I was able to identify the Life Door, the Death Door and other stuff. Whoever designed this map had definitely put a lot of effort into their research. The Death Door led to countless dead ends, and anyone who escaped here would quickly find themselves surrounded by unscalable cliffs with nowhere to run. Obviously, I was going to avoid that "door" at all costs. As for the rest of the doors, well, it honestly didn¡¯t matter to me. I was strong, and I had the ability to enter stealth. The chances of me being discovered were low unless the enemy literally took up every space there was on the map, which they couldn¡¯t because Final Duel Valley was actually a fairly large map. And even if they could, it made zero sense for the Purple Grape City to send their entire server of players after me. Even a million players already felt like an overkill. While China¡¯s players suffered greatly during the War of Purple Grape City, the loser of the war, Japan, only suffered even more. This was especially true for the Japanese and Indian players who had fought Li Chengfeng¡¯s suicide squad in Final Duel Valley. Their losses were at least 5 times bigger than our server¡¯s. Naturally, they needed to use this downtime to nurture their strength back to fighting shape once more. Otherwise, they would be prey when the next Nation War arrived. ¡­¡­ I fought until it was almost evening in real life. I was now Level 199 and the indisputable highest-leveled player in the entire China, no, the entire world. Speaking of which, Li Chengfeng was the previous holder of the title, sitting at Level 207 before he was ultimately killed by the enemy. My boots rustled against the grass as I was approaching a corner of the forest. Suddenly, I spotted a couple of Purple Grape City players speaking softly to one another¡ª A dagger-wielding girl in red shirt said, "The entire God¡¯s Domain has been in shambles ever since Red Maple dropped to Level 0. Not even Cyan Frost and Purple Thunder were able to steady their guild members¡¯ hearts. Hmph, the blow we received from the Chinese is just too much. Right now, we don¡¯t even have a city or a supply spot to resupply ourselves. We have to trek all the way to Elephant City and Cyan Earth City to get what we want. It¡¯s just depressing¡­" A brawny youngster wielding an axe said, "What can you do? Look at God¡¯s Domain. Even they look as miserable as sin, while we¡¯re just the 17th strongest guild on the Guild Ranking. There¡¯s nothing we can do about this situation. I gotta admit feeling a bit of twisted pleasure when I learned that Red Maple was dropped to Level 0 though. That arrogant ass was usually so proud of himself that he couldn¡¯t hear a single word from the likes of us. Let¡¯s hope that this setback has dampened that arrogance a bit." A middle-aged magic knight carrying a shield smiled. "That¡¯s true. I heard that Legendary Brave killed Cyan Frost, Purple Thunder and seriously wounded Red Maple before he finally succumbed to his injuries. You just can¡¯t help but be impressed¡­" The red shirt girl said, "The strongest player in the China server is still Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand though. He was the champion of the WEL, and Red Maple¡¯s chances of beating him 1 on 1 are lower than 40%. He¡¯s also the one who killed Breeze and Rain at Soaring Flame Desert, and right now he¡¯s challenging millions of players solo here at Final Duel Valley. He already has the looks, but now he¡¯s proven that he has the balls too¡­" The youngster grinned bitterly. "For fuck¡¯s sake, third sis, we are at the pivotal point of our nation¡¯s future right now, so can you please rein in your inner fangirl? Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is our enemy no matter how handsome he is." She laughed. "Of course I know about that. I¡¯m just expressing my admiration. If we really do run into him, I will still do my best to kill him. I won¡¯t let my personal feelings interfere with business, don¡¯t worry." "Good to know¡­" The middle-aged magic knight set down his shield beside him and sat down on a giant rock before continuing, "Let¡¯s take a break. The mobs here are pretty high-level, and I¡¯m tired after all that grinding. By the way, did you guys hear that God¡¯s Domain is plotting something big again? Red Maple is currently grinding his level in the instances, and I heard that they¡¯re planning to reconquer Swallow Ear Canton first to use it as a temporary supply spot. In 14 days, we¡¯ll tackle the mobs in Purple Grape City and retake our home!" The woman smiled. "Yeah. The Chinese spent so much energy to take out Purple Grape City, but they didn¡¯t think that we could retake it easily just by killing some low-level mobs. Well, what can they do? They don¡¯t have the strength to fight another Nation War even if they wanted to. In the end, we are the ones who get to say what goes within our borders." "Hehe, yeah!" ¡­¡­ I frowned. They were correct, of course. I might have abandoned Purple Grape City, but it was only a matter of time before they retook it. I thought for a moment until I suddenly recalled a very important person. I got it! After I returned from lunch with Chaos Moon, I would solve the matter of Purple Grape City once and for all! Chapter 1056: I Miss You So Much, Big Brother Bagua City. Chaos Moon and I were sitting on opposite sides of the table in a corner of a restaurant while staring at each other. "Hey, you¡¯ve been staring at me for a very long time. Are there flowers on my face or something?" I asked. Chaos Moon burst into a giggle. "Nah, I just felt curious is all. You¡¯re becoming more and more of an enigma to me, Lu Chen. What do you think I should do?" ".... Nothing? And what does this have to do with me?" "Well, a girl is always full of curiosity, and we especially like to figure out things or people we don¡¯t understand. So tell me, what do you think I should do?" "Just do whatever you want¡­" I looked down and focused on eating my lamb meat paomo and lamb spine hot pot. The dishes tasted novel at the beginning, but now I just wished that there was something else to eat. These couldn¡¯t be the only dishes in the entire city, right? ¡­¡­ "Oh right!" Chaos Moon suddenly said in realization, "You didn¡¯t see your Nation War reward after you went online, did you?" "Er, yeah!" My eyes widened. "How did you know about that?" "You poor boy¡­" Chaos Moon curled her lips and said, "It¡¯s because Tang Long stripped you of your in-game nationality. Although your Nation War contribution points were 56% higher than the runner-up¡¯s, losing your nationality means that you don¡¯t qualify for the reward in the first place. Long story short, Luo River God of the Capital is the biggest winner of this Nation War, walking away with a Cambrian scepter. Even Lian Xin obtained a Cambrian cloak. It¡¯s such a shame. I bet you could get at least an Archean Divine Armament with your karma¡­" Now the lamb meat was salty with the taste of my tears. "I didn¡¯t need to hear this, you bitch¡­" Chaos Moon giggled. "Are you doing okay in Final Duel Valley?" "Yeah, not bad. In fact I¡¯ve been reaping so much experience that my weapon hand is shaking." "Is there anything I can do to help you?" "Of course. When my bag is full, I would like you to transport what I received to Dark Moon City. Li Chengfeng, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and all the brothers and sisters who died in Final Duel Valley need them." "Got it. Give me a call when you need me, and I¡¯ll be at Final Duel Valley in an hour at most." "Mn." "Also¡­ er¡­ what I want to say is¡­" Chaos Moon suddenly squirmed in her seat. I tilted my head and asked, "What is it now?" A while later, she answered, "We were going to save you from Final Duel Valley, but¡­ Tang Long of Sword Lord of Jianghu made it clear that they will kick any guild who dares to travel to Final Duel Valley from China. The threat was especially directed at Snowy Cathaya, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Blazing Hot Lips and the rest of our allies. Sister Eve and Sister Momo almost went crazy because of it¡­" I shook my head smilingly. "It¡¯s fine. Seriously, I¡¯m actually doing pretty well in Final Duel Valley. If anything, having too many people around will be a shackle that will prevent me from resorting to more¡­ drastic options when given a chance." "Well, that¡¯s true. Be careful though. You may just be fighting the Japanese right now, but the Indian experts such as Breeze and Rain, God of War, Flowing Cloud, Copper Spear and more may be joining in a couple of days. You must be careful. Sister Eve and I are really worried about you¡­" "Relax, I can do it! And even if I can¡¯t, there¡¯s such a thing called running away, you know?" "Hehe. Mn!" ¡­¡­ It was past 7 pm when we finished dinner and returned to the hotel. The 4-star hotel of Bagua Cheng was definitely lousier than a Shanghai or Beijing hotel of the same star rating, but their night scenery more than made up for that minor flaw. I pulled aside the curtains and stared at the dazzling stars shining on the night sky for a moment. This might be the first time I had ever seen such a clean and translucent sky in my life. I stood alone on the balcony for a very long time until finally, I muttered to myself, "It¡¯s time to work¡­" I entered the game. Swhoosh! I appeared at the edge of Final Duel Valley and checked my level. I was now Level 199 and only 1 level away from hitting Level 200. By now, the level gap had widened so much that even Level 180+ seventh-promotion players could no longer satisfy my leveling needs. More accurately, I would need to kill at least a hundred of them before I could level up once, which was incredibly risky. I might have the courage to stay in Final Duel Valley and battle my enemies, but I wasn¡¯t dumb enough to charge their elite forces head-on. That would be suicide, not bravery. I looked around me and saw no players. Just in case there were stealthing assassins nearby, I activated Dark Pupils and checked the minimap. There were no red dots, so I should be safe for now. I walked out of my tent and summoned my mount and my pet. Then, I buffed myself with a Ghost Chariot Card. There was no need to be stingy when I still had a ton of Ghost Chariot Cards, Mingshe Cards and more in my warehouse. Of course, I was equally aware that I currently didn¡¯t have the right to speak with any NPC of Sky City, much less the ability to withdraw the items in my warehouse. At least Dark Moon City was still firmly under my command. This meant that I could access most of the functions that were currently blocked off to me in other cities such as querying the warehouse and so on. The entire world could abandon me, but I could take comfort in the fact that Dark Moon City would always be my private territory. That being said, until I regained my in-game nationality, I wouldn¡¯t be able to teleport to Dark Moon City. That functionality was disabled for an unaffiliated player like me. I set my sights to the south for a moment. If I exited Final Duel Valley from here, I would enter Lost Forest, and right behind Lost Forest was an undead territory called Frostbone Snow Region. That¡¯s right, it was none other than the undead fortress Sophie had founded a while ago. Ever since Sophie joined the human faction, she and her brethren had been residing in that fortress. In fact, I was the one who selected her choice of residence for her. At the time, I had made the choice thinking that Sophie might be able to help me with dealing with Purple Grape City somehow, and now that time had finally arrived. My plan was simple. I was going to ask Sophie to occupy Purple Grape City. Knowing how strong the second strongest boss in the entire Heavenblessed was, I couldn¡¯t wait to see Red Maple and his goons try to retake Purple Grape City from her! But before that, I must first succeed in persuading Sophie. This was the part that worried me the most. Sophie and Xinran might be as close as sisters, but our relationship was best described as distant strangers at best. Assuming that things took a turn for the worst, she might even one-shot me before I could say anything. I must be careful. I spurred my mount forward and galloped toward Frostbone Snow Region. A short while later, I encountered a hundred-man party with players between Level 175 and 185. They were obviously looking for me. I sneaked up on them and ambushed them without a second thought. This time, I used my apparition to attract the enemy¡¯s firepower while the Phantom Wolf King attacked them from another side. Once they were sufficiently distracted, I went in and wiped out the entire 100-man party. I was never even close to dying. After I picked up the good equipment from the ground and threw it into my bag, I noted that I only had 300+ inventory slots left. That was just how many pieces of equipment I had accumulated up until this point. I could only imagine how much money I would get if I sold them all! The floor of bodies filled me with a deep sense of accomplishment, but I dared not linger and quickly left the battlefield behind. I could always come back and take out my pursuers when the time was right. Swhoosh! After one-shotting a lone assassin who had the misfortune of running into me, I leveled up to 200 and felt better than ever before. Right now, China¡¯s highest-leveled player was Luo River God of the Capital at Level 202. At this rate, it should only take me a couple of days at most to surpass her and become the highest-leveled player in the entire China. That it was built atop countless Purple Grape City players¡¯ Level 0s was the icing on the cake! ¡­¡­ After I entered Lost Forest, I made sure to keep a low profile and avoided every player that happened along my path as best I could. It was because Elephant City¡¯s players were also grinding in this map. While the feud between our players and Japan¡¯s had grown much worse since the War of Purple Grape City, our relationship with India actually stayed relatively the same: wary, but no outright hostility. Both sides understood that they were doing this for the sake of profit, not hatred. The weather began to turn cold when I neared the edge of the forest. The lush leaf forest had turned into a sea of snowy pines. A while later, snowflakes even started falling from the sky. The deeper I traveled into Frostbone Snow Region, the greater the snow became until finally, it felt like I was trekking across the north pole. Obviously, the unnatural weather around me had been created by Sophie. Her mastery over the power of ice was as good or even better than Xinran¡¯s, and it showed from the environment she had created with her own hands. Rustle rustle... Not far away, I spotted a group of Corpse Eaters making terrible screeching noises at each other in a frozen graveyard almost as if they were having a meeting with one another. Although I didn¡¯t understand what they were saying, their names were orange instead of the usual hostile red. This meant that they wouldn¡¯t attack me unless I provoked them first. I saw no need to waste any time on these Corpse Eaters. I changed the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s action mode to follow and traveled deeper into Frostbone Snow Region. Almost an hour later, I finally arrived at a dark blue-colored frost castle. It looked absolutely magnificent and was only a bit smaller and less grandiose than purple Grape City itself. A ton of high-level undead and even Asura experts with red eyes had appeared at the edge of the castle. A troop of undead knights rode past me and kicked up a gust of cold wind that pierced the skin. I gave the collar around my battle armor a pull before continuing forward. Then, two undead guards stepped out and stared at me with blood-red eyes, saying, "No need to hide yourself, boy! We can see that you¡¯re an undead expert. Now, tell us your business with this undead city!" I looked up and revealed my Asura King pupils as they requested. "I wish to meet Sophie!" "Haha, you wish to meet our queen? Do you realize what kind of nonsense you¡¯re spouting? Do you think anyone can meet Lady Sophie whenever they feel like it?" I smiled. "Tell her that I¡¯m Xinran¡¯s older brother." "What? Wind Singer Xinran?" One of the guards took two steps backward and turned whiter than paper. He said in a shivering voice, "You, you¡¯re that beautiful devil¡¯s older brother? Unbelievable! Please, come with us¡­" ¡­¡­ I smiled. Xinran truly was my invincible trump card! As I followed the two undead guards into the castle, I checked out the back of their heads before asking, "Hey dude, why is your ear missing? It almost looks like¡­ someone had pulled it out of your head¡­" The guard shuddered from head to toe before replying, "You should ask your sister about this¡­" "Oh shit!" If it wasn¡¯t obvious before, I now knew that Xinran had visited Frostbone Snow Region at least once in the past. They wouldn¡¯t have treated me with this much respect otherwise. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a cold light descended from the sky, causing the guard with a missing ear to stumble backward. At the same time, a sweet voice resounded beside our ears, "Hello again, Commander Tall Sky! I remember you telling me that you¡¯re Sophie¡¯s strongest general, didn¡¯t you? Do you want to test out my new Ice Fire Palm Strike?" As I thought, this guard was no ordinary undead. Right now though, he looked as white as a sheet. "You¡­ you¡¯ve invited yourself over again, Wind Singer?" I looked up. A smiling Xinran was hovering in midair with her iconic Dragonbone Spear in hand and her white robes flapping behind her back. She was about to say something when she suddenly looked at me and shivered unnaturally. A moment later, she said in a daze, "Big brother¡­ big brother! You were here? Did you know how long I searched for you at Sky City?" "Xinran¡­" Before I could say anything else, I let out an "oomph" as Xinran dove into my chest and hugged me tightly. We must¡¯ve rolled across the snow at least a hundred meters before we finally came to a stop. She looked up at me with reddened cheeks and said with a bright smile, "I missed you so much, big brother!" "..." Chapter 1057: Dispatching Three Armies I put my arms around her back and felt her warm and soft body pressing against my own. I gave her a smile and asked her, "Yes, I missed you very much too. Why are you here, Xinran?" She let out a giggle before answering, "Ever since Sophie came to Frostbone Snow Region, she¡¯s been summoning dead souls from the Purgatory via nearby necropoleis and expanding her undead troops, which completely violates the Violet Empire¡¯s founding principles of not expanding the size of the undead. Queen Sophia believes that the dead shouldn¡¯t be disturbed once they have entered their eternal rest. However, Shadow Dancer Xue Wei dared not face Sophie in person for fear of what she might do to her, so she came to me for help instead. Sophie¡¯s temper is just unbearable. It¡¯s been a whole month since I came over to persuade her, but she isn¡¯t even budging in the slightest!" After she was finished speaking, she pressed her cheek against my neck before whispering, "Where have you been, big brother? It¡¯s been so long since I last saw you." Still holding Xinran, I got up on my feet and said, "I¡¯ve been fighting on the battlefield until just recently. Have you heard of the war between Sky City and Purple Grape City? That is why you weren¡¯t able to find me at Sky City. Is there any particular reason you wanted to see me?" Xinran abruptly turned red and hid her face from me. "No. I just¡­ wanted to see you, that¡¯s all¡­" A while later, she looked up again and blinked at me. "Wait, so you¡¯re the reason Purple Grape City was destroyed?" "Yep! By the way, I came here to see Sophie. Can you lead the way?" "Sure!" Xinran grabbed my hand with her free hand and smiled at me. "Come on! It¡¯s been a long time since Sophie met you as well. Maybe she misses you a lot too!" I felt my mouth twitch a little. "No way. I¡¯ll be grateful already if she doesn¡¯t try to beat me up!" "Heehee¡­" ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t encounter any further resistance after Xinran had become my guide. No one was stupid enough to stand in the Wind Singer¡¯s way after all. We moved up the castle until we reached the palace hall. Even from a distance, I could see Sophie standing next to her throne and holding her sword next to her feet. At the lower steps, two rows of high-level undead were facing toward her respectfully and discussing with her about something. They were all Asuras, and two or three of them were Asura Kings. Sophie herself was probably an Asura God or something beyond. "What news do we have on Coldblade?" Sophie asked. An undead general dropped to one knee and reported, "Lady Sophie, my news came from Bloody Shield Domain. After the Wind Singer had defeated the Bloody Finger, Coldblade took up residence to the southwest of Bloody Shield Domain and summoned a huge legion from the Purgatory. His Bone Dragons alone number over ten thousand, so his forces are not to be underestimated. Vanished God City dispatched an army to wipe them out, but they were surrounded and slaughtered to the last man by Coldblade himself. It was a tragic battle. Since then, Vanished God City lost their courage and didn¡¯t dare to enter Bloody Shield Domain any longer. The local officials simply labeled it as a forbidden land and forbad all normal humans, elves, succubi and more from entering." Sophie pressed her lips into a frown. "Hmph! That despicable Coldblade lied to me and put the Sword Saint¡¯s innocent blood on my hands. He must pay, or I¡¯ll never be able to face Princess Karinshan again. That little girl might keep her silence, but I know she blames me for the death of the Sword Saint. I¡¯ve already betrayed the Purgatory, I cannot afford to lose the Silver Moon Alliance as well. Killing Coldblade is the only way to atone for my sins and maintain our position on the Heavenblessed Continent." A cold light flashed across the general¡¯s face at this moment. "Lady Sophie, can I say something?" Sophie nodded. "Speak!" He visibly resolved himself before speaking with killing intent, "We used to be one of the key armies of the Purgatory, and the very reason behind our existence is to wipe out all that is living. We don¡¯t mind going against our nature for you, our lady, but we must remind you that the humans may turn on us once the Night Creatures are eliminated from this world. There is a reason the saying ¡®to boil the hound once it caught the rabbit¡¯ exists. Surely you¡¯ve considered a future beyond the end of the Night Creatures?" Sophie smiled approvingly at her general before replying, "Commander Slack, you are undead, and so am I. We both understand better than any living being that our final resting place belongs to the soil beneath our feet. But until that happens, we will continue to struggle until we have breathed our last, even if our very existence violates the laws of nature. Once the Night Creatures are beaten, I will take everyone away from this continent and seek out a domain of our own in the barbaric lands. There, we will seclude ourselves from the living permanently and cultivate until we become gods¡­ or dust." Slack nodded and praised, "Lady Sophie is wise!" With that done, another general spoke up, "My lady, our necropoleis are starting to fall behind our needs. Many of our Corpse Eaters were unable to evolve into undead warriors due to a lack of space. In your opinion, is it time we invade Frost Flame Mountain Range or Ice Horse Lake and claim them as our new territory? If we remain as we are, we will not be able to fight against the combined forces of Linda the Whisperer, Coldblade the Infinite Storm and Opero the Nightwalker. Once their Purgatory Legion is formed, the first thing they¡¯ll do is to wipe out the traitor, namely us. Can you guarantee that the humans, succubi and beastmen will obey the treaty and come to our aid immediately?" Sophie thought for a moment before nodding. "It¡¯s true that we cannot sustain a powerful army without a rich land, but¡­ I¡¯ve also promised Xinran that we would never invade the lands that were occupied by the humans. And I don¡¯t intend to break my promise." "But, my lady¡­" "Enough. My mind is made up!" "Yes, my lady¡­" ¡­¡­ Pa pa pa¡­ Xinran and I walked up the icy stairs until Sophie finally entered our view. It was only then Xinran let go of my hand reluctantly and walked up to her sister with a smile, "How are you doing, Sophie?" Sophie smiled back. "Xinran, I can feel your power growing day by day. You may have even surpassed me already. How on earth do you cultivate normally? And¡­" Sophie stared at Xinran¡¯s gorgeous features and said, "How do you make your skin smoother and whiter? How do you make yourself look so pretty? Teach me everything¡­" I nearly vomited blood at the sudden change in topic. I should¡¯ve known that even a goddess couldn''t escape some norms, such as the neverending desire to preserve one¡¯s beauty. Xinran grabbed Sophie¡¯s hand and replied smilingly, "All you need to do is to give up the cultivation of the dead and calm down your heart. I chose to cultivate the laws of the holy, so I¡¯m only going to grow prettier by the day. Just like the Dragon Speaker Binglan, it¡¯s only a matter of time before I become the most beautiful goddess on the entire continent¡­" Sophie stared at her grumpily. "Your body is of the holy type to begin with, so of course you have no trouble cultivating the laws of the holy. I¡¯m a true undead, even the laws of ice and fire I cultivate are based on the powers of the dead. Unfortunately, there¡¯s no way I can follow your advice¡­" Xinran smiled. "That¡¯s fine too. Who knows, maybe cultivating the laws of the dead will grant you some sort of supernatural quality¡­" "Really?" "Really. By the way, big brother is here to talk business with you¡­" "Oh?" Sophie abruptly looked at me with a flash of anger. "You¡¯re looking for me, boy?" I nodded. "Mn." "Speak!" Sophie replied indifferently, "You are Xinran¡¯s older brother, so I will grant you an audience with me. However, understand that your time in Frostbone Snow Region is limited. This is not a place normal cultivators may come and go as they please." "I understand¡­" I shrugged. "By the way, can you not speak to me like that? I came with a big gift, you know. One that will help you greatly in your hour of need." "Really?" Sophie smiled dangerously. "Tell me then. If it doesn¡¯t satisfy me, I will throw you into a pit of oil and fry you into a donut!" While I was shuddering at the image, Xinran shot Sophie a glare. "Hello? Care to correct that?" "Hahaha¡­" Sophie giggled like a girl and caused her breasts to bounce up and down despite her armor. Swaying her hips a bit and grabbing Xinran¡¯s arm, she said with a smile, "Relax, I wouldn¡¯t bear to eat the older brother of my dear sister. By the way, Xinran, I¡¯ve never seen you falling for any man for as long as we¡¯ve known each other, not even when you met Ares the War God himself. Just what is so special about this average rascal to you?" Xinran turned bright red as she stuttered, "N-no? He¡¯s just my¡­ older brother. There¡¯s¡­ all there is to it¡­" "Fine, fine, whatever¡­" Sophie looked back to me and said, "Well, what is this gift, boy? Speak frankly." I nodded. "I want to gift you a human main city!" "What? A human main city?" Sophie¡¯s mouth dropped open in shock. Her saliva almost slid down the corner of her lips and destroyed her image when she turned away and said in a determined voice, "I promised Xinran that I will never attack the humans again, so while your gesture is appreciated, I¡ª" I shook my head and interrupted her. "You don¡¯t have to break your oath. Did you hear that Purple Grape City was destroyed recently? It¡¯s true. I slayed its regent and chose to abandon the city, so right now it''s a neutral, ownerless territory. There won¡¯t be a better time to invade it than now. If you hesitate for too long, the humans will reclaim the city, and you¡¯ll regret this loss of opportunity for life!" "Ah?" Sophie¡¯s red lips parted and closed again and again. A long time later, she looked at Xinran imploringly and asked, "What¡­ what should I do?" Xinran giggled a little before answering, "Big brother¡¯s enemy is my enemy. Whatever you do at Purple Grape City, it has nothing to do with me¡­" ¡­¡­ "Very well!" A few seconds later, Sophie abruptly jumped back to her throne, pulled out her sword and stabbed it on the floor. She ordered, "Commander Tall Sky, Commander Slack, Commander Wanjun, mobilize our forces now! You will circle around Lost Forest and march straight for the abandoned Purple Grape City, our soon-to-be capital! Besides that, you will mobilize all our undead dragon knights and awaken those lazy giant dragons from their slumber! And don¡¯t forget about the 200000 Devil Giants hibernating beneath Dragonbone Mountain Range! We will use three armies to conquer Purple Grape City!" I was stunned by what I heard, to be honest. Just how many troops did Sophie possess? Forget the abandoned Purple Grape City, even Sky City would be hard-pressed to defend against a monster wave this size! There¡¯s no way little Japan is going to make a comeback from this! Chapter 1058: Never Get Back Large groups of undead cavalry galloped out of the undead castle and into the snowy plains. In the sky, dazzling Bone Dragons covered in purple lines screeched violently before flying toward Purple Grape City. Corpse Eaters, Cave Devils, Liches, Necromancers and more let out horrific shrieks before marching toward the distance like the spread of a plague. The undead obeying their one and only master¡¯s order and marching in an organized formation was a sight to behold. "Oh, my brave warrior¡­" Sophie¡¯s attitude had turned 180 degrees from what it was before as she walked up to me and gave me a bow. She even grabbed my hand and said smilingly, "If Purple Grape City truly falls into my grasp, the greatest credit will undoubtedly be yours, and I will always remember this favor. I think I¡¯m finally starting to understand why my naive Xinran loves you so much¡­" Beside me, Xinran also grabbed my arm and shot her sister a look. "What do you know? Hmph hmph! I will never tell you about my story with big brother!" Sophie giggled. "Whatever you say, dear. Seriously though, I wasn¡¯t kidding when I said that he impressed me. He may be dumb, stupid, and so weak that he¡¯s only as good as an enhanced Corpse Eater, but none of those are fatal flaws¡­" Suddenly, the undead queen abruptly moved her beautiful face closer and asked me, "Say, do you want to be my big brother too, boy?" I shuddered from head to toe before shaking my head like a fan. "Oh no, I cannot possibly be worthy of the honor¡­" "Hmph hmph, at least you¡¯re not completely foolish!" I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. Sophie was much more calculative than Xinran was, and the reason her attitude toward me improved wasn¡¯t because she thought better of me, but because I brought her the promise of a super-tier main city, also the one thing she needed more than anything else right now. With Purple Grape City, she could develop an undead force that could make even the Silver Moon Alliance think twice before attacking. She would gain the power to say her piece and stand shoulder to shoulder with Princess Karinshan as equals. And even then, I was sure that the politics that was really in play would be far deeper than what an outsider like me could truly fathom. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Sophie pointed to the distance and asked me, "The war is about to begin, and I¡¯m sure the former citizens of Purple Grape City won¡¯t stand by and do nothing as I take their city. In fact, their resistance will be incredibly fierce. Xinran, and boy, would the two of you like to watch the show with me?" Xinran sniffed once before replying, "Whatever. As long as big brother is with me¡­" I nodded and said, "Sure, why not?" "Very well!" Sophie waved her hand and summoned a group of undead bone horses that was wreathed in flames. After she mounted one of them, she said, "Come on, I¡¯ll show you both the strength of my undead legion. It¡¯ll make me worry less too¡­" I obeyed and summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. Then, I pulled Xinran up and put her in front of me. She was so obedient that I could almost forget that she was a goddess-like entity, and not the girl next door, so to speak. It was at this moment a dark cloud flew across the sky at supernatural speed. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that it was really the Winged Silver Dragon. After turning its ugly head toward me and shooting me a glance, it laughed. "Kaka, my beautiful and wise master is together with her beloved big brother. Let¡¯s just watch over them from above and stay out of their way, shall we?" Next to the Winged Silver Dragon, the headless knight that was Bloody Finger spoke through his soul flame, "¡®Us¡¯? What ¡®us¡¯? You¡¯re just one of the scum dragons who were exiled by the Dragon Speaker Binglan. You should be grateful that I¡¯m even talking to you." The Winged Silver Dragon flew into a rage and roared. "Bloody Finger, you shameless noble! If my beautiful master hadn¡¯t deigned to accept you, you would be a random corpse lying in the earth already! How dare you call me a scum! Also, I¡¯ve served under master for much longer than you did, so by right, I¡¯m your senior! You¡¯re the one who should be calling me brother dragon!" Bloody Finger sneered. "Oh brother dragon, your shamelessness truly knows no bounds!" The Winged Silver Dragon abruptly opened its mouth and bit off Bloody Finger¡¯s head, or more accurately his helmet. After chewing at the metal for a bit, it said, "You dare act so impudently before the dragon king, you headless trash? You are courting death!" Blood Finger simply pulled out a new helmet from out of nowhere and placed it on top of his shoulders once more. As long as his soul flame burned bright, the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s attacks hurt no worse than a tickle. Chiang! Next, the former Purgatory Sovereign abruptly unsheathed his broadsword and slashed the Winged Silver Dragon right across its head, drawing blood immediately. However, the Winged Silver Dragon was a high-level dragon, so its wound recovered at a speed that was visible to the naked eye. It immediately retaliated by biting Bloody Finger¡¯s arm. The scuffle quickly devolved into a full on battle between an undead knight and a dragon in the sky. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, back on the ground, we were trekking across the snow when suddenly, Xinran grabbed my hand and looked back at me with a smile. "Can you give me a minute, big brother?" "Sure," I responded with a nod. Xinran immediately took to the air and growled frigidly at the fighting duo, "Keep it down if you don¡¯t want to die, or my big brother will be feasting on dragon meat steel bone soup tonight!" I felt my teeth chattering a little. "Er, Xinran, I think that¡¯s a little too hardcore for me¡­" The girl descended back onto my horse and grabbed my hand gently. "Relax, big brother. I¡¯m just teaching those two useless things a lesson. I won¡¯t actually make you eat them¡­" "Alright¡­" "Let us continue our conversation, shall we?" Xinran blinked once before leaning into my chest. "Does a steel lump that can run as fast as a horse really exist in your world?" I nodded. "Yeah, we call them cars¡­" "Cars¡­" Xinran blinked. "Such a weird name. But why do I feel like I¡¯ve heard it before¡­? Did the nobles of Sky City use to develop these things?" I sweatdropped. "Er, that I don¡¯t know¡­" "Big brother¡­" "Yeah?" "I really want to visit your world one day. Is it far away?" Xinran looked at me hopefully. I sighed. "Yes, it is. It¡¯s so far away that you may never get there in a lifetime¡­" "Ah? That far¡­" Xinran blinked again before smiling. "That¡¯s fine. For you, I will never grow tired no matter how long I have to fly. Will you still be my big brother in that world, big brother?" "Yeah. I will always be your big brother." "That¡¯s nice¡­" ¡­¡­ We exited Lost Forest while we were still in the middle of a conversation. Just ahead of us, I could see undead knights galloping across the canyons and making their way toward Purple Grape City. At the same time, the system announced that the second greatest boss of the game, Sophie, was leading a large army against the abandoned city, and any player who could slay an undead could obtain contribution points for their efforts. From the looks of it though, the Japanese players did not possess the power to stop the undead¡¯s march at all. A large group of Purple Grape City raced out of the edge of Final Duel Valley. An axe wielder shouted, "Motherfucker, the undead from Frostbone Snow Region are trying to occupy our Purple Grape City! How did this happen? How did they know that Purple Grape City is abandoned right now?" "Who cares? Just kill them all! They give experience and contribution points!" "Kill!" Tens of thousands of players charged the undead from the flanks. Although the dread-rank Corpse Eaters worked together with the undead knights to fight the players, the latter were no slouches. They fought in well-organized parties, and their party composition was very scientific: magic knights to hold the line, archers and mages to damage the enemy, and priests to keep the magic knights healed. I caught up to Sophie and suggested, "Sophie, I don¡¯t think you should allow them to continue ravaging your troops like this. How about you summon a thousand Undead Bone Dragons over and assist the ground troops with dragon¡¯s breath? I promise you that a three-dimensional assault like this will destroy their defense line instantly." Sophie¡¯s mouth fell open for a moment. She clearly wasn¡¯t expecting a player to make a suggestion to an NPC. However, our relationship had changed from cold strangers to something more, and it was a fact that her amity toward me was much higher than before, so she nodded. "Very well, we¡¯ll approach this battle as you suggest¡­" A few minutes later, a horde of Undead Bone Dragons swooped down like fighter jets and spat their draconic breaths at the players, killing the magic knights immediately. As I thought, the draconic minibosses were able to put a stop to the seemingly endless swarm of Japanese players outside Final Duel Valley immediately. I hid a snicker. The fuckers had a great time hunting me in Final Duel Valley, but now it was their turn to be hunted by Sophie¡¯s great army! Chiang! I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and rode toward the enemy. Before I could leave though, Sophie called out to me and asked, "Hey, where are you going?" I replied smilingly, "I¡¯m a wanted person by the Purple Grape Empire, and now they¡¯re turning their swords against you. Obviously, it is only right if I make trouble for them and relieve some of the pressure your army is facing, right? No worries, I¡¯m just going to circle back to Final Duel Valley and hit their backline." Sophie pressed her lips together. "Fine. Don¡¯t die, okay?" "Come on, there¡¯s got to be a better goodbye phrase than that!" As I rode toward Final Duel Valley, Xinran said in my lap, "Big brother, I¡­ I promised Queen Sophia I wouldn¡¯t take part in human wars." I nodded understandingly. "Of course. How about you watch over me from the sky and save me right before I¡¯m about to die?" Xinran smiled. "Mn mn. That I can do." ¡­¡­ The red soil of Final Duel Valley looked like lumps of bloody flesh after they were nourished by the morning mist. The hoofprints left behind the Armored Ice Qilin Horse almost looked like fresh scars on the body of a giant. I looked up and saw Xinran hanging high up in the sky with the Dragonbone Spear in hand. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to see her if I hadn¡¯t activated Dark Pupils. I could hear the enemy racing through the forest directly in front of me. Countless moving red dots appeared on the minimap, and I heard someone shouting¡ª "The undead faction is attacking Purple Grape City! Head back and defend now! They cannot be allowed to succeed, or we¡¯ll never get back our city!" Chapter 1059: Armored Yak Swhoosh! A draconic image surrounded the Purple Ying Sword as I sent it spiraling toward the enemy. It penetrated a group of archers and warriors and spilled their fresh blood across the grass, dying the morning dew red. Most of them didn¡¯t even seem to know where the attack had come from. After I caught the returning Purple Ying Sword, I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse to cut across the forest horizontally at full speed. Almost 200 yards later, I burst out of a shrub and fired Burning Blade Slash at the enemy¡¯s mages and priests. Caught completely off-guard, they were unable to survive my skill. Normally, a mage was 2 or 3 levels higher than a fighter, meaning that killing them would net me more experience. Every bit counted especially since I was now a Level 200 player. "Roar roar roar¡­" At the same time, the Phantom Wolf King jumped out of its hexagram again and let out an angry roar. An instant later, it dropped a Purgatory Storm right on top of a group of archers. I dove deeper into the enemy party while the Phantom Wolf King was covering for me. I was absolutely confident that this party of players was of no threat to me. ¡­¡­ "Watch out! It¡¯s that demon Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand attacking us again! His sword has a splash effect, so spread out into the woods so his attacks cannot hit all of you at the time! Use Mountain Stagger Arrow, Shock Arrow and Ice Dragon Howl to dismount and kill him!" The spear-wielding magic knight who made the call was clearly an excellent commander. He rode back and forth a suitable distance away from me before abruptly throwing Trapping Net at me! Rustle rustle... I abruptly changed direction and caused my Armored Ice Qilin Horse to drift across the blood-red soil like a race car, dodging the CC perfectly. I retaliated with my own God Binding Art¡ªwhich landed successfully¡ªbefore ordering the Phantom Wolf King to swipe at him three times in a row. One final Dragon Slaying Slash later, he was a goner. The magic knight swore with bulging eyes, "Ugh, you bastard!" Pop! The magic knight dropped almost everything when he died. His spear, his round shield, his chest armor, his ring, his necklace. Grinding equipment in Final Duel Valley was just too good, especially in the case of super-rare boss drops such as necklaces and rings. These people could¡¯ve taken months or even half a year to obtain what they had today, and I had just stolen them all via literal daylight robbery! Thud thud thud¡­ The enemy¡¯s retaliation was fierce, however. Countless arrows and magic spells flew out of the forest stretch in front of me at random, dropping the Phantom Wolf King to half health in just the blink of an eye. I myself kept zigzagging around to dodge the enemy¡¯s attacks while picking up the loot on the ground. Most of my choices were weapons, chest armors, rings and other equipment that was generally harder to come by. All I could say was that all that time I had spent researching market prices of equipment was well worth it. ¡­¡­ "Surround that bastard and kill him! He¡¯s at (12838, 6277)! Assassins, stealth over and chain-stun him! He cannot be allowed to live within our borders any longer!" A cacophony of battle cries cut through the air, and unnatural shadows darted between the trees everywhere. It would be foolish to fight them head-on, and that wasn¡¯t the plan anyway. Speaking of which, one of my strongest skills, Resurrection Art, had been restricted since the moment I entered Final Duel Valley. Its icon was dim and lightless compared to Purple Dragon Howl, Burning Blade Slash and more, meaning that I couldn¡¯t revive endlessly like I normally could in a different map. Here in Final Duel Valley, I only had one life. If I died, then I would lose most, if not all my equipment and my levels just like the rest of them! I rode into the forest next to me to avoid being hunted. Not far away, a dozen or so enemy archers were attacking me. They were all seventh-promotion, above Level 185, and belonging to the succubus or incubus race. Therefore, they had insane movement speed and perception. While leaping from branch to branch, they drew their bows in midair and fired cold, icy shots at me. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s movement speed was diminished because the terrain was a thorny forest. Despite riding a mount, I was actually slower than the archers pursuing me. After raising the Dragon God Shield in a hurry and blocking the arrows, I removed it and fired two Dragon Slaying Slashes and Coiling Dragon Revolution in quick succession. I didn¡¯t need to see them to know where they were shooting from. "Ahhhh¡­" Bloodcurdling screams filled the air immediately. Both Dragon Slaying Slashes hit their target perfectly and one-shot them, and Coiling Dragon Revolution killed three archers in one go. The remaining archers couldn¡¯t help but stare at their comrades¡¯ bodies in shock. Rustle rustle¡­ Suddenly, an unnatural rustling sound entered my ears. It was the sound of an assassin trying to stealth their way to me and stun me. Unfortunately for them, Dark Pupils rendered all stealth useless, so all I needed to do was look, parry the enemy¡¯s dagger and bisect them from head to shoulders. The Purple Ying Sword was so powerful that even a basic attack was enough to one-shot them. I picked up the dagger the assassin dropped. It was an excellent 5-star outstanding Earth-grade item and almost at the same level as the spear wielded by the magic knight I had killed earlier. Both weapons were highly popular among mid-to-high-level players right now, so it was a shame I couldn¡¯t return to Sky City and sell them myself. I would¡¯ve made a killing. ¡­¡­ Most Purple Grape City players weren¡¯t hunting after me though. They were busy reinforcing their main city. Even from where I was, I could see the smoke of battle rising to the sky. Sophie¡¯s undead army was ridiculously powerful. In the air, Undead Bone Dragons were flying back and forth while spitting flames at their enemies. On the ground, the undead cavalry were running down players left and right. And even if the player¡¯s resistance proved to be stronger than expected, Sophie herself was there to save the day. A single slash was all it took for her to annihilate the defense line the Japanese players had hastily erected. It looked hopeless. Roughly speaking, I estimated that their chances of defending Purple Grape City successfully were less than 10%. This was all very good for me, of course. The more they panicked, the better my chances to exploit said panic. At first, I ambushed their troops carefully and methodically. Over time, I gave up hiding and just hit them whenever I felt like it. At this point, there were only tens of thousands players left in the valley. What was there to be afraid about? Stop running and become my experience now! The fight continued until over 10 pm. I was tired, my horse was tired, and more importantly I was low on potions and equipment durability. My Heaven-burning Armor only had 5% durability left, and my legguards and helmet were hovering dangerously at 1%. A couple more fights like that, and I would probably have to fight naked. I knew full well the reason the enemy could do nothing to stop me was because of my OP skills and equipment. If even one of these critical elements was missing, a couple of players would be enough to kill me. I had to retreat for now. I checked my bag again. I was almost out of potions, and 945 of my inventory slots were high-level equipment. Even the lousiest one was Outstanding Spirit-grade. That being said, I should deal with these items as soon as possible before I began my next round of killing, or there was a high chance I would hit max capacity and miss out on a ton of money. So I left Final Duel Valley and set up a tent at the edge of Dragonbone Mountain Range. I activated Dark Pupils and scanned my surroundings until I confirmed that I and a couple of idle monsters were the only living beings in the entire area. Very well, it¡¯s time to log out! ¡­¡­ I gave Chaos Moon a call after I took off my gaming helmet. "Hello, what is it? I¡¯m grinding an instance with Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust¡­" Chaos Moon said. I asked, "How long until you¡¯re finished?" "We¡¯re at the final boss now. We should be done in ten minutes tops. So? What is it?" "How big is your bag?" "500 slots. I spent 40k RMB buying this High-grade Army Pouch. I¡¯ll hit you if you tell me you want it¡­" I chortled a bit before replying, "I grinded a lot of equipment in Final Duel Valley, and most of them are cavalrymen equipment that Li Chengfeng, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and the others could use. Can you clear out your bag temporarily and come to (19348, 9288) at the edge of Dragonbone Mountain Range from Purple Grape City¡¯s side? I¡¯ll wait for you here while stealthed. Also, I need you to take my equipment, repair it and deliver it back to me. Unfortunately I, umm, don¡¯t have a place to repair. It¡¯s embarrassing, isn¡¯t it?" Chaos Moon giggled. "Fine, fine. Anything for you, dear. I¡¯ll be right over, dear¡­" "Screw you!" Chaos Moon said, "Very well, I¡¯ll depart in ten minutes and arrive at your location in about forty. Wait for me! See you later!" "Mn, got it." ¡­¡­ I hung up and drank a bit of water. A pee later, I was back into the game. Swhoosh! There was still half an hour before Chaos Moon would show up, so I decided to spend it observing my surroundings for activities. I roamed around the terrain until I pushed apart a thick bundle of leaves and saw something that didn¡¯t disappoint me¡ª I saw a bunch of NPCs sitting at a corner of the canyon. They weren¡¯t your standard adventurers, but a company of troops about a hundred strong or so. Even better, they were skeletal soldiers. One of the high-level undead with red eyes let out a sigh before saying, "I don¡¯t understand why Lady Sophie would post us at this god-forsaken place. What on earth are we trying to protect here?" Beside him, a blacksmith who was smelting molten iron chuckled. "Isn¡¯t it obvious? Lady Sophie wants us to stop the humans from probing the Frostbone Snow Region. The fact that we¡¯ve killed over 10 human assassins in the past two days proves her right." "True, our Lady Sophie is wise. We need food though. We¡¯ve already lost over a thousand of Corpse Eaters to starvation. If we can¡¯t find food soon we¡¯re all going to starve to death!" "Er¡­" ¡­¡­ I immediately rode up to the NPCs and dismounted. I greeted them, "Good day, brothers!" The NPC captain looked at me confusedly. "Who are you?" He doesn''t know me? Fuck! I was hoping that I could use my relationship with Sophie to my advantage, but maybe not this time. "I was just wondering if it¡¯s possible for me to repair my equipment here? I¡¯ll pay you ten times the usual repair fee." The blacksmith licked his lips with a cackle. "Why would we undead need gold? If you truly mean to pay me, then bring me a woman to sate my lust!" The NPC captain immediately barked at him and shut him down, however. He then looked at me and said, "Young undead, I will allow you to repair your equipment here if you can do something for me." "Sure, tell me!" "We¡¯re starving, and we¡¯re desperately in need of some food. There¡¯s a type of monster called the Armored Yak on the other side of this valley, and we would like you to gather 100 Yak Meat for us. Only then will we provide you with our service." "Fine¡­" I shrugged. It was a pain, but I had to complete this quest no matter what. I didn¡¯t want to trouble Chaos Moon every time I needed to repair my equipment. ¡­¡­ I checked the time before riding to the coordinates stated in the quest. As expected, I saw a bunch of Level 220 dread-rank mobs, the Armored Yaks, feeding on the Nether Grass growing in this unique environment. I unsheathed my sword and charged them head-on! Chapter 1060: Only One Man The Armored Yak was known for its tough Defense, but it still wasn¡¯t enough to tank my Attack. My basic attack dealt 50k+ damage to it at least, and with the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s aid, the mobs went down very quickly. At first, I played it cautious and aggroed one Armored Yak only. Then, I aggroed two at the same time. In the end, I aggroed an entire group of Armored Yaks, CC¡¯d them with Ice Cyclone Domain, and ended their lives with Burning Blade Slash + War Crush + Coiling Dragon Revolution combo. I could add an Ancient Seal into my combo, but I decided to save it for when it was really dangerous. I could always spend it if my Divine Energy Points exceeded 180. A while later, I checked the time and noted that it was almost time to meet up with Chaos Moon. So far, I had gathered 54 Yak Meat, or half of what was needed to complete the quest Requirement. A red dot appeared in the distance just as I returned to the foot of the mountain range. Rustle rustle¡­ A low-hanging red maple tree shuddered unnaturally until a sword cut through it, and Chaos Moon emerged. Her ID was blood-red, her short hair was covered in maple leaves, and her shirt was drenched in dew that made her cleavage almost visible. It was a very attractive look for her. "You¡¯re right on time¡­" I greeted her with a smile. After Chaos Moon got close to me and dismounted, she said with a disbelieving expression, "Did you know that I cleared out my bag so well that I dropped my potion stack in the warehouse as well? Worse, I ran into three assassins along the way and was almost killed by them. That would¡¯ve been the most embarrassing moment of my life¡­" I shot her an equally disbelieving look. "Seriously? You¡¯re normally smarter than this. Sure, I¡¯ve only told you to clear out your bag, but that doesn¡¯t mean you couldn¡¯t bring me some potions and bread¡­" "Ah?" Chaos Moon¡¯s mouth remained agape for a moment before she slapped her thigh suddenly. "OMG, what is wrong with me today? I must¡¯ve been too concerned about your safety that I even forgot about common sense. Here, I have three loaves of bread and a couple of potions¡­" I shook my head amusedly. "It¡¯s fine, my kills drop a ton of free bread and potions when they die, so it¡¯s not like I¡¯m completely out of supplies. Just take my equipment back with you as we discussed." "Okay." However, Chaos Moon¡¯s mouth fell open again as I traded my equipment to her. "OMG, you blackhearted bastard! This is insane! Just how many Japanese players did you kill in Final Duel Valley? There¡¯s¡­ there¡¯s even Outstanding Heaven-grade equipment? Can¡­ can I have this bracelet? Please?" I was so not used to Chaos Moon acting coy that I almost spat blood. "Just take whatever you want, it¡¯s not like I can have any use for them. Anyway, this Level 120 Heaven-grade ring is for Chengfeng. It adds 30% Attack and 15% movement speed, and it has low requirements. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll like it. This Level 180 Heaven-grade shield is for Heaven¡¯s Rain. Its defensive capabilities are super amazing, and I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll motivate her to hit Level 180 as soon as possible. This metal armor is for Diamond Dust¡­ this helmet¡¯s for Diamond Dust too¡­ oh right, just trade these to them in private so they don¡¯t need to spend guild contribution points to get them. Tell them to save it for when the guild grinds Immortal-grade equipment or something!" "No problem! I¡¯ve jotted it all down!" Chaos Moon said smilingly. Ten long minutes later, I finally filled up Chaos Moon completely. Her bag was jampacked with equipment [1] of high or even super tier, because the enemy knew that anyone weaker would just be fodder to me. Unfortunately for them, they still underestimated the prowess of my Purple Ying Sword, but it was too late for regrets now. "Where¡¯s your equipment? I¡¯ll take them back and repair them for you!" Chaos Moon said. "It¡¯s fine." I raised my weapon in a gesture while replying, "I just received a quest from an undead NPC that¡¯ll give me access to equipment repair once I complete it, so don¡¯t worry. Also, you should avoid coming to Final Duel Valley as much as possible. This place is way too dangerous. Also, greet Eve and Lin Yixin for me, will you?" "Got it. Take care not to die." "No problem." I smiled reassuringly. "I¡¯m going to bed after I¡¯m done with this quest. Purple Grape City can search the valley all they want, they won¡¯t find me there. Once I¡¯m refreshed, I¡¯ll head over and teach them a lesson again!" "Got it. I¡¯m sleeping after I deliver these items as well. You want me to wake you up for porridge tomorrow morning?" "Sure!" ¡­¡­ After I sent off Chaos Moon, I continued killing the Armored Yaks and regained some levels for my Phantom Wolf King. My poor little buddy had lost nearly 70 levels by the end of the Nation War. It would¡¯ve become unusable if it wasn¡¯t able to kill some players and obtain their experience at Final Duel Valley. I finished gathering 100 Yak Meat before midnight. I then returned to the NPC and turned in the quest! "Oh, you actually completed the quest successfully, young warrior!" The NPC captain exclaimed in astonishment while staring at me. To be honest, I wanted to tell him that he had quite the pair of balls to condescend me when I was an Asura King and he was just an Asura, but in the end I decided that it wasn¡¯t worth the effort. Beside him, the NPC blacksmith laughed loudly. "Oh, you are almost as good as I was back when I was younger, young undead. Very well, you may now repair or even purchase some equipment at my humble shop, but just so you know, the price is ten times the normal price¡­" I bared my teeth at him and swore inside my head. "Motherfucker!. I walked up to the blacksmith and repaired all my equipment. When everything was said and done, I was 270k gold poorer than before. What a scam! Some time ago, the players complained that high-level equipment cost too much to repair, so Eternal Moon Corporation decided to reduce the repair fee by a whopping 75%. It did nothing to help my current situation though! Still, I shouldn¡¯t complain too much. The fact that I found a place to repair my equipment in a hostile country and a hostile map was a blessing from Lady Luck already, not to mention that I was an unaffiliated player who had been abandoned by my own country. Compared to that Tang Long who called himself a bureaucrat, these blackhearted NPCs were practically endearing to look at. ¡­¡­ I was just about to leave when the NPC captain suddenly called out to me. "Young undead¡­" "Yes, officer?" I turned around and asked. He let out a cough before starting, "I was just wondering if you found any useful items while fighting the monsters. If you did, please trade with me. Lady Sophie is currently attacking Purple Grape City, but she doesn¡¯t have nearly enough equipment to field her troops. If you trade me your equipment, I will reward you with either gold, experience, Reputation, or refinement points. Your choice." "Oh?!" A grin appeared on my face. I spoke to the captain again, and this time an equipment recycling screen showed up. I selected a Spirit-grade sword¡ªit was one of the lousier items in my bag¡ªand passed it to the undead captain. I immediately received a system notice¡ª System Notice: "Blade of the Shadowfang" can be exchanged for the following rewards¡ª A: 1740 gold B: 1740000 experience C: 1740 Reputation D: 1740 refinement points ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t stop myself from blurting, "Holy shit, is the system trying to help me cheat? This¡­ this is too awesome¡­" The NPC grinned when he saw my silly grin. "Young undead, this is the chance of a lifetime, and you¡¯re the only one whom I¡¯m offering this service to! Don¡¯t miss it!" I rubbed my eyes just in case I was seeing things before thinking seriously. There was no way I was picking the gold option because it was basically the same price of what I would¡¯ve gotten from selling it at the marketplace, not to mention that I wasn¡¯t lacking in money right now. The experience reward was a lot more enticing, but I could just get it by killing Purple Grape City¡¯s players at Final Duel Valley. Just the same, I wasn¡¯t lacking in Reputation points right now. As for the fourth option¡­ What the hell are refinement points again? I shot the NPC captain a puzzled look. "Er captain, what are these refinement points?" He smiled at me before answering, "It is something you use when my blacksmith refines your equipment for you. When your equipment is fully refined, its grade will increase. However, it only applies to evolvable equipment, which is something I haven¡¯t seen since as far back as a couple centuries ago, so feel free to ignore the option¡­" I broke into a grin and nodded. "Very well, I would like to exchange for refinement points, please!" "What?" The NPC captain stared at me in shock before breaking into a small grin. "Incredible, young undead. You have surprised me yet again. I¡¯m starting to think that the future of the undead lies with you¡­" I simply accepted the compliment without a word. I had had the Purple Ying Sword for quite some time now, but it hadn¡¯t shown any sign of evolving at all. This was the perfect opportunity to hasten its evolution. The Purple Ying Sword was an Archean Immortal-grade weapon right now, so the next stage should be Divine Armament, right? It would be so nice if that was true. I couldn¡¯t wait to wield one already! I exchanged almost all the equipment in my bag for refinement points until only 17 were left. These remaining equipment was fairly valuable and could be better used elsewhere. When all was said and done, I had over 2.5 million refinement points in total. Next, I walked up to the blacksmith and brought up the refinement system. After depositing the Purple Ying Sword at the equipment slot, I tapped the Refine button and¡­ What the fuck?! As it turned out, 2.5 million refinement points was only enough to refine the Purple Ying Sword to 17%! This is crazy! I will have to kill a lot more people if I wish to upgrade the Purple Ying Sword further! I was still very excited though. The work might be tedious, but the important thing was that it worked. When one door closes, another opens. Tang Long might¡¯ve taken away my Nation War contribution point reward and MVP reward, but because of that, I found a place to upgrade the Purple Ying Sword. Maybe this was the heavens¡¯ way of compensating me for everything I had lost? ¡­¡­ Bubbling with joy, I was searching for a place with a good feng shui to log out of the game when suddenly, the system dinged beside my ears¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You have been kicked from the ¡°Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡± guild by player ¡°From Water¡±! ¡­¡­ "What?" My mind turned blank. I looked to my shoulder and saw the emblem of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls slowly fading away into nothing. It was the last proof of my status as a player of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and a Chinese player, and it was gone just like that... I didn¡¯t know how long I stood in a daze. Why? Did¡­ did He Yi really exile me from the guild I protected for years just because of some pressure from Tang Long? My heart hurt. I slowly dropped to my knees. Reluctance and shame gripped my heart and refused to let go. Thud thud thud... Suddenly, two Purple Grape City cavalrymen appeared at the distance and saw me. They immediately shouted, "He¡¯s over there! Kill him!" I didn¡¯t look up. I couldn¡¯t. I even thought that dying in their hands wouldn¡¯t be the worst thing in the world. It was at this moment the image of a hill flashed, and the two Purple Grape City players dropped dead. A beautiful woman entered my sight. It was Chaos Moon. ¡­¡­ The girl dismounted and hugged me. "What¡¯s wrong, Lu Chen?" I looked up and stared at her with bloodshot eyes. "Why¡­ why was I kicked out of the guild?" Chaos Moon shivered from head to toe before replying, "That¡¯s why I came back. Eve told me to find you¡­" "Just why!?" "It¡¯s Tang Long. He threatened to exile everyone in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls if we didn¡¯t remove you from the guild. He¡¯s gone mad, Lu Chen. The endless criticisms he received due to his actions got to him, and he¡¯s willing to do anything to get some measure of vengeance¡­" Chaos Moon sighed before adding, "Eve has her own difficulties. She definitely hadn¡¯t made this decision willy-nilly. Here, let me show you something¡­" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! It was a video; a scene at Dark Moon City. He Yi was standing at the front of the territory hall with her sword in front of her, and standing right in front of her was Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, Yamete and more. He Yi said softly, "We must remove Lu Chen from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls temporarily. Li Chengfeng, Lian Xin, Beiming and Xu Yang have all agreed to this decision. Is there anyone who would like to say anything?" "How could you kick Boss Broken Halberd out of the guild?! Can¡¯t you see that he did everything for us all? Without Boss Broken Halberd, there wouldn¡¯t be the WEL champion title or today¡¯s Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! The reason humans are different from animals is because we have a heart, dammit!" With blood-shot eyes, Gui Guzi walked up to He Yi before stabbing the Spear of the Knight God on the ground. As he pointed a finger at her, he burst out in tears before growling, "Boss Broken Halberd is the one man that I acknowledge in the entire Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! The rest of you are nothing to me, understand!? If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls cannot stomach Boss Broken Halberd, then Bloody Mercenaries and I will leave the guild!" Gui Guzi then turned around and shouted, "Let¡¯s go! We return to Bloody Mercenaries! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls only because Lu Chen is here! Now that he¡¯s gone, there¡¯s nothing left for us here anymore!" He abruptly ripped the emblem on his arm and flung it against the ground. His eyes were filled with tears and determination. Du Thirteen, Yamete and many more people also removed their guild emblems, leaving behind only the mark of Bloody Mercenaries. Then, Gui Guzi got on his mount and declared, "It is death or vengeance, and I fear neither! Follow me to Sword Lord of Jianghu¡¯s territory! We¡¯re going to flatten those motherfuckers!" 1. T/N: I¡¯m not tling as it is and saying that her bag has 500 max equipment like the author did because that¡¯s dumb as shit when he just mentioned she still had bread and pots with he Chapter 1061: Descent of the One Hundred Gods He Yi stared dazedly at nothing in particular as her shoulders shook. Sorrow and determination shivered in her beautiful eyes for a long time until finally, her tears slid down her cheeks. Murong Mingyue hugged her quietly and whispered something I couldn¡¯t hear into her ear. Xu Yang also stood protectively next to He Yi. It was at this moment Beiming Xue rose to her feet and walked up to He Yi. She then said, "Sister Eve, I¡¯m from Bloody Mercenaries too, so¡­ see you later¡­" "Beiming, you¡­" Beiming Xue gave her a small smile, and the emblem of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls vanished from her shoulder. She then left with a troop of Dragonlight Archers as well. For a long time, He Yi blanked out and didn¡¯t say anything. ¡­¡­ A while later, Li Chengfeng walked into the territory hall with a set of Level 100 equipment and a blood-red spear. He looked back at the commotion outside the entrance for a bit before smiling. "Heh, this sure is an interesting development. Little Gui is such an impulsive bastard, isn¡¯t he? Pay him no heed, guild leader! When Lu Chen returns, we¡¯ll make him apologize to you on his knees!" Xu Yang shot Li Chengfeng a look. "Read the room, man! This isn¡¯t the time to be smiling like this!" Li Chengfeng immediately turned serious. "I¡¯m going to burn the midnight oil today. Is there anyone who would like to grind the B1 instance, Canyon of Fate, with me?" High Fighting Spirits glared at him. "Not interested! I¡¯m not feeling it right now!" Li Chengfeng shrugged. "Okay, sure. Lian Xin, Sister Mingyue, wanna come?" Murong Mingyue nodded. "Mn. I¡¯m going to bed after one run though." "No problem!" ¡­¡­ The image turned dim. That was all Chaos Moon had recorded. Still kneeling on the grass, I licked my dry lips and looked at Chaos Moon. "How long ago was this? Little Gui, you really¡­" Chaos Moon replied, "About half an hour ago. I came over right after this happened because I was worried that you would overthink things. Gui Guzi left with Bloody Mercenaries and 5 of its subordinate guilds, which means Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has now split into two forces. In total, the main guild lost almost 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen to Gui Guzi, and 2000+ Dragonlight Archers to Beiming. It¡¯s a huge loss to say the least¡­" Chaos Moon paused for a second before continuing, "I have a feeling that Eve had a good reason behind her action though. She just couldn¡¯t say it at this time. She¡¯s such a smart woman, there¡¯s no way she would crumble to the pressure and do something like this." I tightened my fists. "That idiot, I¡¯m going to whip his ass when I return to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. He made Eve cry for the first time in half a year! Unforgivable!" Chaos Moon smiled. "Good, looks like you¡¯ve recovered some of your spirit. That makes my return worth it. What are your thoughts regarding Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ departure from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Your brothers, Du Thirteen, Yamete and even your dear sister, Beiming Xue, went away with Gui Guzi¡­" "Nothing¡­" "What do you mean nothing? What kind of explanation is that?" Chaos Moon glared at me. I asked her, "What is Little Gui doing right now?" "He¡­" The corners of Chaos Moon¡¯s lips turned up as she replied, "That idiot mustered a force of 250k and is marching toward Sword Lord of Jianghu¡¯s territory right now. As far as I can tell, Sword Lord of Jianghu won¡¯t be able to hold it. They claim to be the China VR department spokespeople of Heavenblessed, and assuming that Gui Guzi is successful, Tang Long is going to get a hard, painful slap to the face very soon. I can¡¯t wait." I smiled. "Seriously? You¡¯re smiling in this situation?!" "The hell do you want me to do then? Cry?" "There¡¯s nothing funny about this though!" I looked at Chaos Moon and said seriously, "It¡¯s true that Gui Guzi leaving the guild is a huge thing, but let me ask you a question: Who¡¯s the one guy who was smiling during that meeting?" "Who? You mean¡­ Li Chengfeng?" "Yep. Chengfeng is one of the smartest people I know. I bet he must¡¯ve figured something out¡­" "Hmph, like hell he did. I think he¡¯s smiling because he had fun grinding with Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust. I even heard that he went to eat dapanji with them during dinner, and that they looked like they were having one hell of a great time¡­" "You¡¯re overthinking this, Chaos Moon¡­" "Bullshit, I¡¯m as wise as they come¡­" "Like hell you are. Anyway, log out of the game after you return to the city. I¡¯ll be waiting for you inside my room. I¡¯m going to bed after we have supper so I can wake up early in the morning and rob some assholes!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ After supper, I went to bed feeling like a jumbled mess of emotions. Li Chengfeng and the others dying in Final Duel Valley, Sophie attacking Purple Grape City, I myself being hunted in Final Duel Valley, and now Gui Guzi leaving Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls with many of our men. So many things had happened in the past few days, but the only thing I could do to fix them was save myself, and even that might be beyond my ability. The old saying "a clay bodhisattva fording a river can''t guarantee his own safety" was true after all! Early next morning, I cleaned myself, had breakfast and checked the official forums before logging into the game. As expected, there was chaos in the forums even though it had been a few days since the Nation War was over. Too many things had happened in the past couple of days. At the home page, the topmost title read: "CGL states that they will provide a final, reasonable explanation behind the deletion of Little Heavenly King, Lu Chen from the Hall of Fame and implores the other CGL Hall of Famers to calm down." However, the players couldn¡¯t settle down at all. I clicked into the thread, and it was all vitriol¡ª 1st comment (Player "Freshwater Fish"): Explanation my ass, Lu Chen is the greatest contributor of the War of Purple Grape City bar none. He¡¯s the one who wiped out Purple Grape City completely and eliminated the eastern wolves for us. It¡¯s bad enough that his reward was taken away, and now you¡¯re deleting him from the CGL Hall of Fame as well? Pooh! You¡¯re all just a bunch of cowards! Tang Long can go eat shit! 2nd comment (Player "Warsky"): 1st comment, +1! Tang Long can go eat shit! 3rd comment (Player "Green Lotus Leaf"): T_T Where did you go, my dearest Lu Chen? I want to see you so much, but Purple Grape City players are blocking the way in front of White Rose Fortress. I¡¯m not good enough to overcome them, I¡¯m sorry! I love you though! Also, Tang Long can go eat shit! 4th comment (Player "Stranger of Three Lifetimes"): Agreed, gal above me. Hang in there in Final Duel Valley, Lu Chen. Imma be there to see you. Tang Long can go eat shit! 5th comment (Player "Ninja God Turtle¡±): Now that even Shusheng and Lin Fan are out of the Hall of Fame, the CGL truly can go eat shit! And so can Tang Long, of course! 6th comment (Player "Little Piglet"): Ah, the good ol¡¯ ruling via iron fist! When can we be rid of these worms, my dear country? Tang Long can go eat shit! 7th comment (Player "Training My Iron Palm With Breasts"): I only have one thing to say, and that is Lu Chen go go go, and Tang Long go eat shit! ¡­¡­ After counting at least thirty thousand posts of "Tang Long go eat shit", I finally understood why Tang Long had acted like he had gone completely bonkers. This was why! The CGL officials were obviously way smarter than Tang Long though, doing their best to save the situation and placate the masses. Sure, it didn¡¯t look like it was working, but at least they showed that they were working on it. On a related note, Zhang Chun had announced his retirement from the CGL organization and surrendered all his responsibilities. He refused to be associated with people like them. I had nothing but respect for the man who would go this far to defend his integrity. The other hottest thread on the forums besides the CGL Hall of Fame thread was of course¡ª "Gui Guzi quits Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls in anger, Bloody Mercenaries sweeps Sword Lord of Jianghu. What is eternal brothers if not undying loyalty?" The posts below were equally passionate¡ª 1st comment (Player "Life is Impermanent")": Gui Guzi is a true man, hahaha! Claiming vengeance no matter the cost is what a real man would do! 2nd comment (Player "Little Raindrop"): I love Gui Guzi so much, and I love Lu Chen and Li Chengfeng as well. You¡¯re all a bunch of cute bros! 3rd comment (Player "Warsky"): Actually, Warsky Alliance covered for Gui Guzi during the assault, so... ¡­¡­ Almost every comment in the thread was a vote of support. I looked around for details of the siege. Apparently, Gui Guzi had mustered a force of two hundred thousand and swept Sword Lord of Jianghu¡¯s players in near unstoppable fashion. Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips and Warsky Alliance surrounded the territory with nearly 2 million players and forbad anyone from interrupting the siege. They did nothing but watch as Gui Guzi flattened Sword Lord of Jianghu and claimed the territory as Bloody Mercenaries¡¯. As a result, the balance of power in Sky City became even more complicated than before. An outsider wouldn¡¯t even be able to make sense of it. All they knew was that Gui Guzi had left Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, claimed a territory of his own and made himself the king of a hill. In comparison, Candle Dragon hadn¡¯t made too much of a splash at all. Their losses were just as bad as ours or worse, having to block tens of millions of Cyan Earth City players from reinforcing Purple Grape City. Almost all one million Candle Dragon players had been killed in that war. Our opponents this time were just too powerful. The three main cities combined had over hundreds of millions of players, not to mention that we had to fight the main city¡¯s NPCs as well. It was a hard-won war for sure. Another thread stickied at the top of the forums was the news of Sophie, second greatest boss of Heavenblessed, conquering Purple Grape City for herself last night. In fact, the map had refreshed while I was asleep, and Sophie had built eleven fortresses and beacon towers that connected all the way to Sky City during this time. If any hostile force were to attack Purple Grape City, now an undead castle, the beacon towers would be lit, and Sky City would reinforce them right away. This meant that the Japanese players¡¯ hopes of retaking their main city had become smaller than ever before. ¡­¡­ I was just about to log into the game when my phone suddenly rang. It was Li Chengfeng¡¯s number. "Yo, Chengfeng!" "Ha, Lu Chen. How are you and Chaos Moon doing?" "Not bad, not bad. What about you?" "It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s a pain in the ass grinding again from zero though, hahaha¡­" "Sorry¡­" "Dude, I didn¡¯t call you to listen to your apology. What I want to say is¡­ be careful when you return to Final Duel Valley." "What¡¯s wrong?" Li Chengfeng said seriously, "I checked the Japanese forums and read that they found out that you were the one who persuaded Sophie to occupy Purple Grape City. As a result, literally every Japanese player feels deep-bone hatred toward you. Although Red Maple and many of their greatest experts were busy restarting from zero, 100 of the Top 500 champion arena players of Japan have come together to form a new guild called ¡®Descent of the One Hundred Gods¡¯. The guild is only 100 men strong, but they are all top-class experts. Their goal is to camp Final Duel Valley until they take you out, so, yeah, be careful." "Got it, brother!" "Take care, brother!" "I will!" ¡­¡­ I smiled. Descent of the One Hundred Gods, is it? My time in Final Duel Valley should be less lonely with them around. Chapter 1062: Killer God Formation I logged into the game. It was time to meet the Descent of the One Hundred Gods! However, the second I came online, I heard a faint ding and a system announcement from Sky City. That¡¯s odd. I guess the system didn¡¯t completely remove me from the China server after all. It was the only explanation as to why I could receive a system announcement from Sky City¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Gui Guzi" (Sky City) has accumulated enough Kill Points to learn the Great Earth Transformation and become the thirteenth Divine General of China! They have gained 200/200 Divine Energy Points, Luck +1, Tactics +1, and an exclusive Divine General Skill, "Killer God Formation"! Killer God Formation: Summons the Killer God to possess its oracle, the user, and activate the Killer God Formation. Increases all user¡¯s stats by 50%, and their party members¡¯ by 25%. Costs 2 Divine Energy Points per minute. Skill exclusive to Gui Guzi. ¡­¡­ Heavens, was he still fighting? Didn¡¯t he sleep at all last night? Not only did Gui Guzi ascend to become a Divine General, his Divine General Skill was obscenely powerful. Killer God Formation increased all of his stats by 50% and his party members¡¯ by 25%. Moreover, the effects of the Divine General Skill could be stacked together with the Famous General Skill, so that was 275% to himself and 250% to his party members. Gui Guzi was without a doubt one of, if not the best army commander in the entire China right now. He would even be on the same level as Li Chengfeng if he could temper his hotheadedness and gain a bit more wisdom. But of course, some people were just the way they were. Gui Guzi was a candid and passionate man who could never become another Li Chengfeng, and that was fine. Everyone had their own good traits, and there was no need to force themselves to become someone else. I walked out of the tent with a smile on my face, happy for Gui Guzi and his new ascension. He might¡¯ve left Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls with Bloody Mercenaries, but I was absolutely confident that he would return to the guild the second I returned to the China server and said the word. As Li Chengfeng told me a long time ago: ¡°Little Gui is a stubborn mule, dammit. He only listens to you and no one else, Lu Chen!¡± ¡­¡­ I pulled up the Purple Ying Sword and buffed myself with a Ghost Chariot Card and my Famous General Skill, Martial God. My destination was Final Duel Valley, and my goal was to kill as many enemy players as possible, take revenge, and use their equipment to exchange for refinement points. The sooner my Purple Ying Sword could finish its evolution the better. In fact, Depending on how good my performance was, I could fully upgrade the Purple Ying Sword in as soon as three days. Three days should also be enough time for my Ancient Divine Dragon to hit Level 100 and become a proper mount! I looked at my left arm where the Ancient Divine Dragon was dozing off to dreamland behind my shield. It was now Level 91 and only 9 levels away from reaching Level 100. However, the damn thing required so much experience to level up that its final 9 levels actually took more effort to grind than my 9 levels. Moreover, even with Final Duel Valley¡¯s special conditions, my grinding speed was much slower than the time Li Chengfeng did battle in Final Duel Valley. He had an army several hundred thousand strong and so could afford to do battle to his heart¡¯s content. I had to run away barely a minute into a fight or risk being surrounded and killed by the enemy¡¯s best. I also brushed up knowledge on Final Duel Valley in the forums and learned that the map was considered a forbidden zone by the entire Japan server, which made a lot of sense. There could be a gold mine hidden inside the bellies of the mobs of this map, and it would still be empty as the sky. The risk of losing all of one¡¯s levels and equipment was just too high. If it wasn¡¯t for the Nation War, this place would have been as empty as ever. What this meant was that I should kill as many players as possible while they still came to this god-forsaken place! ¡­¡­ I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse into a valley terrain where the soil turned increasingly red. A drizzle poured down from the sky again almost as if they were praying for the souls who were about to be extinguished in this land. After all, every time I appeared, Final Duel Valley would be embroiled in a storm of blood and death. Now that my equipment was fully repaired, I could afford to "play" with my enemies a lot longer than before. First things first, I activated Dark Pupils. It was the Aegis Combat System that allowed me to see everything around me. Only by knowing oneself and one¡¯s enemy could one be ever-victorious. Rustle rustle rustle¡­ I heard a series of slow trots ahead of me and carefully parted the red maple leaves blocking my sight. I saw about 300 cavalrymen trotting down a certain path under the misty drizzle. They weren¡¯t moving in a formation, but they were fully alert. Judging from the emblems on their shoulder, they belonged to Tail Feather Palace. At the center of the group, a Level 191 magic knight wielding a sharp blade said with blood-shot eyes, "Red Maple said that no one is to enter Final Duel Valley without a party. That Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is a god of slaughter, and one or two players are of no threat to him at all. Unless we have a JGL Hall of Famer with us, the only way we can even think to fight him head-on is with a party that is at least 300 men strong." Beside him, a wanderer wielding a warblade asked, "Boss, Old Four spent the last night searching for Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand to no avail. Is it possible that his fear finally got to him, and he¡¯s escaped from this map?" A cold glint appeared behind the magic knight¡¯s pupils as he gazed to the distance. "Impossible. Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand may be our enemy, but he¡¯s absolutely an expert who is deserving of respect. He came to our forums and declared that he wouldn¡¯t leave Final Duel Valley for 7 days straight. A man like this will never go back on his word." "That¡¯s true¡­ but there¡¯s nothing we can do if he keeps hiding¡­" "Don¡¯t worry, he will show up." ¡­¡­ I observed their levels from my hiding spot. A large majority of them were above Level 180, so they definitely counted among the elites. Also, the highest-leveled player among them was over 190. Purple Grape City might¡¯ve lost the Nation War, but their consolation reward was still worth a lot. Yeah, it would be unwise to fight them head-on. I should ambush the greatest threats first before doing anything else. Specifically, the higher-level magic knights needed to go first because their Trapping Net skill was too big a threat. Rustle rustle... I and my apparition dissolved into several rays of bloody lights and seeped into the ground. The Phantom Wolf King also entered stealth. Slowly, the three of us sneaked across the clearing between the forest. About ten minutes later, I saw the same cavalry party passing by the area again. I knew they were patrolling the area. I bet that each area in Final Duel Valley was guarded by a certain number of players as well. It looked like Purple Grape City had finally decided to treat me seriously and come up with a good system to deal with me. I didn¡¯t "unearth" myself in haste even after they entered my attack range. I wanted until they were 5 yards away from me before bursting into the surface and launching Thousand Ice Slash + Burning Blade Slash + Coiling Dragon Revolution combo, killing absolutely everyone within the area of effect. At the current stage of the game, none of these players were strong enough to withstand my super combo, not even the two Level 190+ magic knights! As horses neighed in alarm, and the forest floor became covered in equipment and potions, the enemy shouted, "The devil¡¯s here! Get him with Trapping Net and kill him!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Countless Trapping Nets descended toward me, but I shifted my mount to the side, altered my speed and direction repeatedly, and dodged them again and again. At the same time, I controlled the Phantom Wold King to execute Purgatory Storm + Claw of the Storm combo to the enemy¡¯s flank, and the apparition to execute Burning Blade Slash + War Crush + Thousand Ice Slash combo. Finally, I made the apparition drink an MP potion before executing Purple Dragon Howl! The chain of attacks greatly unsettled the enemy. Almost a hundred of the three hundred magic knights were killed just like that. Pa! Suddenly, three magic knights appeared in front of me. I tried to slow down and change my direction, but one of them was able to get into melee range and growl, "You¡¯re dead, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" Swhoosh! The Trapping Net hit me and immobilized me. For 4.5 seconds, I wouldn¡¯t be able to move an inch from this spot! Shit! The moment I was caught, 7 mounted players surrounded me and used Barrier Break! Eyes turning steely, I brought my sword to bear. I might not be able to escape, but I could still defend myself and attack the enemy. Unlike the God Binding Art, Trapping Net didn¡¯t fully immobilize the enemy. Chiang chiang chiang... I parried many of the Barrier Breaks before lashing out in a horizontal sweep, successfully killing three magic knights at the same time. However, I took a hit from behind and lost 70k+ HP in one go. Not only that, a dozen or so archers appeared out of nowhere and rocked my shield with their Mountain Stagger Arrows. There were even mages firing their Touches of the Dragonkiss at me. My HP decreased far faster than I would¡¯ve liked. I had 250k HP at the beginning, but now it was below the 90k mark! Not all hope was lost, however. The enemy¡¯s subsequent Shock Arrows and Trapping Nets kept missing me because of my powerful levels and stats. When 4.5 seconds had finally passed, I immediately shifted the Armored Ice Qilin Horse to the side and took out a dozen or so mages and archers with Thousand Ice Slash. After I was free, I backed away from the enemy and used Tenacity of the Dead to recover my HP. Then, I put some distance between myself and the enemy¡ªmy movement speed was higher than theirs¡ªbefore hitting them with a well-timed Coiling Dragon Revolution, putting my hit-and-run tactic to the test. ¡­¡­ "Don¡¯t let him escape! Charge him! Kill him!" A group of magic knights rushed me at the same time. I returned their Charges with a Charge of my own and sent a couple of magic knights staggering to the back. After parrying a number of Barrier Breaks with a horizontal sweep, I twisted my wrist and unleashed Burning Blade Slash, killing many and restoring my HP to over 50% once more. The Tail Feather Palace players couldn¡¯t help but look at me with silly eyes. Thanks to my kiting tactic, I was able to exploit the 10% lifesteal of the Purple Ying Sword to the max. I never engaged too many enemies at once; targeting groups of ten to thirty only. A couple of charges later, there was barely anyone still alive in the 300-man party. Some distance away, the Phantom Wolf King ran back to me with 15% HP. The poor thing was almost dead after that skirmish. I took the opportunity to put as much loot as I was able into my bag. The equipment wasn''t particularly good, but they could be traded for refinement points with the NPC, and that was all I wanted. ¡­¡­ "C¡¯mon, little wolf!" I beckoned my little wolf to escape with me. A couple of archers were escaping into the forest, but I didn¡¯t bother to pursue them. Something unexpected happened, however. The Phantom Wolf King suddenly let out a whine and froze in place. It was stunned! Two assassins appeared beside it, attacked it with their daggers and one-shot it before it could recover! "What?!" I hurriedly scanned my surroundings with Dark Pupils. I immediately spotted a dozen or so red dots in the forest directly in front of me. Swhoosh! I instinctively raised the Dragon God Shield and blocked a cold shot that actually numbed my arm a little. A second later, an archer, three warriors and two mages stepped out into the open, and the Level 192 mage said with a malicious smile on his face, "Your reputation is well-deserved, Little Heavenly King of the China server! We¡¯ve finally found you!" ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised. They were clearly a cut above the players I had fought just now, and they all wore the same guild emblem. It was the new king of guilds the Japanese formed specifically to hunt me down, the Descent of the One Hundred Gods! Chapter 1063: Hunting a God Rustle rustle rustle¡­ The maple leaves on the forest floor shivered unnaturally. I saw with Dark Pupils three assassins clad in black leather armor running toward me with a pair of daggers. Their eyes were chilling, and their footsteps left bloody ripples on the ground. It was the visual effect of the assassin skill, Dance of Death. I clenched my teeth. One look was all I needed to know that this was going to be one of the harder fights I had fought up until this point. Unlike all the assassins I had encountered earlier, these three didn¡¯t hesitate in the slightest. Li Chengfeng was right. Descent of the One Hundred Gods guild was made up of the top experts of the Japanese champion arena, and their skills were far greater than many famous players¡¯. Swhoosh! At the same time, Shock Arrow and Mountain Stagger Arrow flew in my direction. Specifically, the Mountain Stagger Arrow was aimed at my Armored Ice Qilin Horse, and the Shock Arrow was aimed at the space two yards behind me. They were trying to cut off my retreat, and it did look like there was nowhere left for me to escape. ¡­¡­ I reacted with lightning-fast speed. I moved the Armored Ice Qilin Horse backward and into the space where the Shock Arrow was aimed. Right before it was about to hit though, I dismounted from my mount and dropped toward the ground. I even kicked my mount in the stomach to hasten my fall and roll across the grass, missing the Shock Arrow by inches. After that, I bounced back to my feet and parried the first assassin¡¯s attack. Swhoosh! A chill pricked my waist as the second assassin thrust their Bloodbreak skill at me. I already had very little time to react to the attack, but the third assassin was swinging at my neck using Gouge as well. I could die here if they managed to stun me. My mind suddenly cleared up during the moment of crisis, and I felt as if I was watching myself from a distance. First, I determined the enemy¡¯s attack angle and speed and lowered my head, dodging the Gouge. The fact that the dagger swished across the red tassel on my helmet and cut off tiny red strands showed how close it was to hitting me. At the same time, I spun around, knocked the second assassin¡¯s dagger to the side, and swung at his neck while he was frozen in place. "Hmph!" The assassin snorted coldly and shifted both his daggers into parrying position. At the same time, he tilted his body a little and dropped into a roll. It was a high-level technique used to mitigate incoming force and was something usually mastered by first-class assassins only. Killing intent flashed across my eyes. I spun my wrist and aimed at the weak point of the parry, shattering it the moment contact was made. There was nothing he could do about it as my parry shattering technique was way better than his parry technique. The Purple Ying Sword continued along its trajectory and ended in his neck, dealing an insane 139298 damage! It was a basic attack, but it was a one-shot nonetheless! That was one down and two more to go. While jumping to the back, I knocked aside the third assassin¡¯s attack with the Dragon God Shield before throwing the Purple Ying Sword to the ground, triggering War Crush. Both assassins immediately backed away and successfully dodged the AoE skill. Unfortunately for them, it also opened them up to Dragon Slaying Slash and Coiling Dragon Revolution respectively, and I did just that... Pu pu... The skills penetrated their chests and killed both of them. One of the major reasons I was able to nullify the ambush and even turn it against them was because my level was much higher than theirs. At Level 200, and as long as I didn¡¯t fumble my skill, the chance of these people dodging my attack was almost zero. Finally, the Purple Ying Sword ensured that even the Top 500 experts of Purple Grape City¡¯s champion arena wouldn¡¯t escape death! Bang! Suddenly, an impact rocked my back. It was the enemy archer scoring an armor-breaking arrow and dealing 52773 damage to me. At the same time, the ground beneath my feet abruptly glowed with the light of three Touches of the Dragonkiss. I hurriedly moved to evade the attacks, but one of them still managed to "kiss" my thighs, inflict massive pain and delete another 70k+ HP. Their attack power was just too high. I ran straight into the forest in front of me while adjusting my POV. I saw 4 mounted players chasing after me from behind, and three archers darting along the edges of the forest and shooting Freezing Arrows at me. Pa... I abruptly halted my footsteps and skidded to a stop, although the slippery grass still caused me to skid about seven or eight meters. Once I came to a full stop, I abruptly turned around, activated Great Earth Transformation and dropped three Ancient Seals at a certain spot far away from me. Right after that, I turned toward the location I predicted the three mages were going to Blink to and threw the Purple Ying Sword! Swhoosh! The spinning blade easily penetrated two mages¡¯ chests and one-shot them instantly, but I didn¡¯t have time to catch the returning blade. Gripping my shield tightly and crouching a little, I pushed forward and smashed a magic knight¡¯s horse right in the throat. At the same time, I took Blaze to my back! 42882! It hurts! I kicked forward and sent the magic knight in front of me stumbling. Running in a helix pattern, I smashed another fighter¡¯s neck with the sharp edges of the Dragon God Shield, dealing another 90k+ damage. Even without my main weapon, I could absolutely deal massive damage to these jokers! "Die, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" Behind me, a wanderer rushed toward me at high speed with his blade shining with the light of Ice Flame Slash and Triple Slash. He clearly was trying to one-shot me! I took one step forward before spinning around with my right fist shrouded in a thick, bloody light. Growling the words "Magic Piercing Punch", I obliterated his Ice Flame Slash before blocking his Triple Slash with the Dragon God Shield, feeling my arm turning numb again. But there was no time to breathe. This time, the ground glowed with the light of Galaxy Storm! I rolled into the nearby bush just in time to escape the magical bombardment and grab the Purple Ying Sword that was stuck on the nearby ground. After I jumped back to my feet, I fired Burning Blade Slash at my attackers! Boom boom boom! Two mounted players died and dropped a floor of equipment and potions immediately. Unfortunately, there was no time to pick them up. I raised my arm and swung a Dragon Slaying Slash at the only mage in the group. He managed to back away in time to dodge it, but I dropped Ancient Seal right on top of his head and killed him anyway! ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud... Some distance away, three archers appeared at the edge of the forest and fired their Volleys at me at the same time. At least thirty arrows were flying my way. So brutal! I hurriedly blocked the shots with my shields while withdrawing to the back. While doing this, I spotted another 7 high-level mounted players appearing ahead of me. If I didn¡¯t find an opportunity to slip away soon, I was going to die for sure. My HP had already dropped below the 20% mark, and not even potions and Tenacity of the Dead were enough to make me healthy. "Chase him! Use the Tear Wound skill so that he can¡¯t stealth away!" a high-level axe wielder shouted amid the crowd. I activated Dark Pupils and observed my surroundings while backing away from the main bulk of the enemy. However, four assassins had somehow managed to creep up from behind and attack me. I was able to kill two of them using Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash, but the other two activated Dance of Death and dodged the combo in time. Chiang! I parried one of the attacks with the Purple Ying Sword, but the assassin¡¯s Agility was way higher than mine. Spinning around at high speed, one of the super assassins was able to leave a gash beneath my armpit and activate the Tear Wound skill. For the next 15 seconds, I wouldn¡¯t be able to use my stealth skill. "Fuck!" I killed off the other assassin and tried to kill the super high-level assassin who scored a hit on me, but unfortunately the fucker was able to dodge beneath my slash. Channeling Gouge through his dagger, he ran along a double-S helix pattern and searched for an opportunity to stun me. He was absolutely an expert alright. He might not be as good as Moonkiss or Farewell Song, but he was close enough. "Hah!" I let out a roar and buffed my Attack using Wild Roar. After parrying the assassin¡¯s first strike with a reverse grip, I too ran along a helix pattern, turned around and executed a super-fast Universe Break! "Heavens!" Shock peeked through the assassin¡¯s pupils. However, he slid horizontally and just barely dodged the full brunt of the Universe Break, taking a scratch across his shoulder. He ran around again and searched for an opportunity to assassinate me, but he dared not disengage outright for fear that I would catch him with an undodgeable Burning Blade Slash or Ancient Seal. It was the right thing to do. As dangerous as it was to stay close to me, it was his best chance to survive this duel. I abruptly changed direction and Charged in a straight line. At the same time, I swung my sword in an arc. "What the..." The assassin hurriedly dodged out of the way, but he didn¡¯t anticipate the red maple tree right behind him and slammed into it. That was exactly what I was hoping to see. I pointed my palm at his chest and shouted, "God Binding Art!" Whoosh! There was no dodging this skill from such a super close range. The assassin was bound, but I also took a couple more arrows to the back. My HP was now sitting at a horrific 1%, not to mention that I was still losing HP continuously due to the Tear Wound skill from earlier. ¡­¡­ There was no time to kill the assassin, so I simply dropped Icy Cyclone Domain beneath his feet and ran toward the southeast. I must slip away from their archers¡¯ vision now, or it will be too late. I looked at my HP bar. I only had around 2000 HP left, and worse, I could hear another flurry of arrows sailing toward me! I brought up three POVs at once and predicted the shots¡¯ angle and speed as best I could. Then, I zigzagged around them and dodged all of them; the misses rising above my head showing just how close they were from hitting me. This was a true dance above the knife¡¯s edge! One mistake, and I would be reporting in at a beginner¡¯s village! The instant the Tear Wound effect disappeared, I locked onto a thick foliage and activated Charge. Then, I used Earth Escape to slip underground, drank a health potion, and slowly moved to a different location. That was too close. This Descent of the One Hundred Gods guild was far more dangerous than I gave them credit for at the beginning. ¡­¡­ Behind me, a dozen or so Descent of the One Hundred Gods players ran into the foliage I had Charged into but couldn¡¯t find me no matter where they looked. A high-level warrior wielding an axe yelled with bulging veins, "Dammit! He escaped! Tell everyone to lock this area down and the archers to sweep the map with Skypiercer! Shoot that rat out of his hidey-hole!" Twang twang twang... A series of bow twangs immediately rang across the forest. One of the Skypiercers literally landed less than one step away from me. I would¡¯ve been dead if that had hit me! I continued moving until I was finally out of the area the enemy was attacking. Right after I slipped into a nearby bush, a troop of cavalry rode past the spot I had been at a moment earlier. Thankfully, none of them was able to discover my location. My level was a lot higher than theirs, so it would take a considerably powerful assassin or archer to find me. A drizzle continued to pour from the sky. I looked up, licked my dried lips, but gripped my Purple Ying Sword even tighter than before. Chapter 1064: Flowing Cloud’s Invitation Not far away, the vice leader of Descent of the One Hundred Gods, an axe-wielding berserker swore in humiliation and fury, "God dammit! How did this happen? We made this guild solely for the purpose of killing him, but he still managed to escape our clutches! I don¡¯t want to think what people will say if they hear about this¡­" Beside him, an archer spat on the ground before replying, "None of us needs the reminder, boss. That fucking boy is very powerful. He managed to kill a dozen or so players even after we surrounded him. Now we¡¯re more like ¡®Descent of the Eighty Plus Gods¡¯..." The corner of the berserker¡¯s mouth twitched once. "No one will think you¡¯re mute if you don¡¯t speak! Anyway, contact God¡¯s Domain, Era of Strife and Asuka Period and tell them our coordinates. We must annihilate him as soon as possible, or Purple Grape City truly won¡¯t have a future anymore." "I know!" ¡­¡­ The ground next to me shuddered with horse hooves again, and again, I chose to let them go. I simply moved to the north and away from their search area and waited for my HP to regenerate to full. That sure was a dangerous fight. I was this close from activating my Invincibility skill. It was a short fight, but one that exhausted much of my Stamina. After looking around and confirming that there was no one around me, I deactivated Earth Escape. This place was about 0.5 or 1 kilometer away from the battlefield, and it was full of trees and leaves. I should be safe enough from discovery. Swhoosh! I crawled out of the earth and stared at the dark sky above my head. I recalled the message Xinran left me a while ago: "I¡¯m heading back to God¡¯s Domain, big brother. Take care¡­" It looks like even little sisters are unreliable these days. If Xinran was present during the fight, I would have had a much easier time dealing with the enemy. Hugging the Purple Ying Sword, I slowly sat down beneath a giant red maple tree and leaned against it. I tilted my head upward and allowed the light drizzle to slide down my cheeks. It was surprisingly cold despite the mild rain, and after observing myself I had to say that a drenched man who just got into a fight moments earlier didn¡¯t look good. A sudden sneeze escaped my mouth as I hugged my Purple Ying Sword tighter and shivered. I thought to myself: There can¡¯t be a worse-looking Heavenly King than me right now, can there? It was at this moment a white horse appeared at the grassy plains some distance away from me. The master of the white horse was a high-level woman clad in battle armor and wielding a sword with light spinning around it. She stopped when she was about a hundred yards away and watched me with a pair of cool eyes. The ID above her head was "Flowing Cloud¡±. She was the leader of an Elephant City guild, Natural Flow. "Heh, you poor fellow. You didn¡¯t have to suffer like this." Flowing Cloud dismounted and looked at me, saying, "To think you would let yourself fall to this state for your so-called national dignity. I¡¯ve only heard of you in the past, but now I finally know you for who you are, Lu Chen. You¡­ are a most pitiful man!" I gripped the Purple Ying Sword warily and slowly rose back to my feet. I then buffed myself with a Ghost Chariot Card and activated Great Earth Transformation. The only way to kill an expert at Flowing Cloud¡¯s level was to go all out. "Calm down!" Flowing Cloud shrugged. "The war of Purple Grape City is over. The reason Elephant City participated in the first place was to put a dent in China¡¯s growth, which we obviously failed to do. But that¡¯s not a dealbreaker, is it? Surely you don¡¯t consider us mortal enemies just because we fought a war before?" I smiled. "Is that so? Does that mean you¡¯re not here to hunt me?" Flowing Cloud¡¯s shoulders shook as she giggled. "Hah! So wary. The reason Natural Flow participated in the war was because we were fulfilling our obligations to Elephant City, not because we wanted to kill you personally. Now that the war is over, I have even less of a reason to kill you. And even if I did, do you really think I would come alone? Do I look dumb enough to face China¡¯s god of slaughter, the Little Heavenly King, all by myself?" I glanced at my surroundings warily with Dark Pupils but saw no one. It seemed like she was telling the truth. As far as I could tell, there wasn''t anyone within 1000 yards of me except me, Flowing Cloud, and a couple of random players. Most of the higher-level players had gone to the battle site to search the area like headless flies. After determining that Flowing Cloud¡¯s intentions weren¡¯t hostile, I gradually sat back down beneath the red maple tree and planted the Purple Ying Sword next to me. Then, I took out a loaf of bread from my bag, ate about half of it before looking at Flowing Cloud and asking, "You want some?" Flowing Cloud burst into another giggle. "It¡¯s fine, I don¡¯t need it. I came here with some other business." I nodded. "I know." Flowing Cloud started, "Lu Chen, I understand the loneliness and grief you¡¯re feeling right now. You¡¯ve given up almost everything for the China server, but not only were your efforts not acknowledged by them, you were even kicked out of your server. That¡¯s not the kind of humiliation any hero worth their salt can endure. I think¡ª" I looked up again and interrupted her, "Flowing Cloud, thank you, but I don¡¯t need your pity." "I know." Flowing Cloud nodded before continuing, "This is just a suggestion. We¡¯ve done a bit of research on the vice chief of the China VR department Tang Long, and we learned that he is greedy, ruthless, corrupted, and open to any sort of bribery. He attacked you not because he had a beef with you, but because you damaged his interests. According to the rumors, Tang Long had a deal with the Japan VR department. He was promised a great reward if he could protect Purple Grape City from being destroyed, and he would have succeeded if you hadn¡¯t wrecked his plans completely. That is why he hates you so much." I licked my lips while smiling. "I knew it. I thought that something was fishy when he made me that offer. I¡¯m a hothead sometimes, but I haven¡¯t made that choice because of my brothers and sisters¡¯ sacrifices only. I had a feeling that we would be dragged into a whirlpool of greed if we gave in to him." Flowing Cloud said, "Lu Chen, I¡¯ve discussed with God of War and Breeze and Rain before coming to you. If you agree to our conditions, we will mobilize our intelligence agency, dig out the evidence of Tang Long¡¯s corruption, root him out once and for all, and clear your name." I looked up. "Oh? What kind of conditions are we talking about?" Flowing Cloud opened her palms. "Long story short, the India server would like to employ your services for half a year. We will pay you 5 million USD for your troubles. If you agree, Elephant City will dispatch their troops and rescue you from Final Duel Valley right now!" I let out a chuckle before leaning back against the tree. I replied lazily, "Thank you for the offer, but I don¡¯t think that the dignity in my bones or the Yanhuang blood flowing in my veins will allow me to accept the offer. I¡¯m sorry for being so old-fashioned, but I will never, ever betray my country, not for half a year, an hour, or even fifteen minutes. It¡¯s my bottom line, and it is one I will never cross in my lifetime." Flowing Cloud let out a snort of exasperation and helplessness, "Poor, poor Lu Chen. For what reason do you think you are trapped here? The only reward for your persistence is endless betrayal." Pa! I abruptly gripped the handle of my weapon and declared, "The ones who betrayed me are my enemies, not my brothers and sisters. Everyone is working hard in their own way so I can return to them one day. That is why I persist even now. You are right. There are a lot of people in China, and their hearts are never truly united. In any time or place, you will always find a great number of greedy bureaucrats and traitorous villains. But equally, there will always be a group of people who truly love their country and will not hesitate to defend the dignity of their people even to the death. I am no Yue Fei, I¡¯m not the type of person who endures when a vile person attempts to persecute me. Just watch. One day, I and my millions and millions of brothers and sisters will sweep through the Center and cleanse it of all its impurities. I am loyal to this country, but I am not loyal to any one ruler!" Flowing Cloud stared blankly at me for a moment, seemingly not noticing the rainwater sliding down her hair. Eventually, she broke into a sudden smile and returned her sword back to her sheathe. "I understand now why you¡¯re loved and supported by so many people in the China server. I didn¡¯t even think that charisma is a real thing until now¡­ hehe. Very well. Then we shall pretend that I have never made you this offer. I will be taking my leave, Lu Chen!" I said to her, "Don¡¯t come back, or I will treat you like any other enemy." Flowing Cloud chuckled. "Of course. Elephant City and Cyan Earth City may accept Japan¡¯s invitation and hunt you, but I guarantee that you will never find me or Natural Flow¡¯s players in this map. If I didn¡¯t want to make you the offer, I would have never entered this accursed map in the first place¡­" I smiled. "Very well. I won¡¯t be seeing you off." "No problem. See you again somewhere in this world!" The white horse departed, and Flowing Cloud vanished from my vision just like that. ¡­¡­ I checked the items and equipment in my bag. Alright, I¡¯ve decided. I¡¯m going to exchange my bag of equipment for refinement points first before coming back to Final Duel Valley! Half an hour later, the deed was done, and I was back in the dangerous map once more. Rustle rustle¡­ The weather grew worse as the Armored Ice Qilin Horse cantered across the rain-drenched leaves, greatly reducing every player¡¯s vision range. The good news was that Dark Pupils allowed me to see through obstacles almost as if I had infrared vision, so the downpour didn¡¯t affect me too much. I looked in a certain direction where a large group of red dots was gathered on the map. I calculated my next move carefully. The normal players couldn¡¯t really threaten me, but Descent of the One Hundred Gods definitely could. Since they were the biggest threat, it made sense for me to eliminate them first. I bet that no one will dare to make such a bombastic name anymore after I¡¯ve wiped out the entire guild! I chuckled to myself. Too bad for the enemy, I was very good at guerilla warfare. It didn¡¯t matter how strong my opponent was because a chance was all I needed, and it would always present itself, eventually...¡­¡­ I summoned my pet, and we both entered stealth once more. After we entered the forest, we circled around an area with a large group of cavalry and ran into a canyon full of archers and mages. Hot damn, the Japanese players had gone completely bonkers after all the damage they had suffered in my hands. I counted at least a hundred thousand players in this section alone. However, the players of Descent of the One Hundred Gods were nowhere to be seen, so I moved on without bothering them. About an hour later, I finally found a small Descent of the One Hundred Gods party on a small hill at the back of the mountain range. There were a total of 24 players, and a large majority of them were mounted players. They were resting, so at least seven of them were dismounted and chatting about nothing in particular. They weren¡¯t defenseless, of course. The archers were keeping an eye on their surroundings, and my Dark Pupils revealed three stealthed assassins guarding each corner of the hill. The seemingly relaxing mages also had their Magic Shields turned on, not letting down their guard for even a moment. It didn¡¯t matter though. A dangerous smile crossed my lips as I quietly unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword. Stay alert all you want, you can¡¯t do anything to stop me from killing you! Chapter 1065: Watching From The Walls "Boss, are we really going to just sit here like dumbasses and wait for Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand to show up?" asked a magic knight looking to his party leader. The Level 191 berserker wielding a fiery red warblade and sitting at the center of the group grinned. "I don¡¯t get what you¡¯re saying? We¡¯re just taking a break at this nice little spot, aren¡¯t we?" The magic knight lowered his voice. "Can you tell me what the hell is happening to us? Why were we transferred from Era of Strife and into this temporary ¡®Descent of the One Hundred Gods¡¯ guild?" "To kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" "Then why aren¡¯t we searching for him right now?" "Hmph, we¡¯ll only die faster that way. Didn¡¯t you see what happened to Tail Feather Palace¡¯s group?" The berserker¡¯s eyes flashed with intelligence. "There is a Chinese saying called ¡®watching from the walls¡¯, and that¡¯s exactly what we¡¯re doing right now. If God¡¯s Domain and Asuka Period want so damn much to play the national heroes and kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, we¡¯ll let them. Our only priority here is to not die and preserve our strength. Don¡¯t forget that you¡¯ll have to restart from zero if we die in this goddamned Final Duel Valley. Us Era of Strife at least cannot afford to lose our players willy-nilly like that." "I see. You¡¯re a wise man, boss. Our guild leader is too!" "Heh!" ¡­¡­ I considered my options after listening to the entire conversation. I knew that this Descent of the One Hundred Gods guild couldn¡¯t be fully united. The Top 10 guilds of Japan might¡¯ve put some of their best forces together to form this guild, but just like the guilds in my own country, they all had their own devious little plots and schemes. For example, these 20+ Era of Strife elites were planning to "watch from the walls" while the main bulk of their army did their job for them. I saw no reason to leave them alive, so I decided that they might as well be my first kills after I had slipped behind enemy lines. That being said, it was never wise to attack without a plan, so I did exactly that. First, I would release the apparition and made it use Earth Escape just like me. Then, I would make it ambush the assassins and attract the mounted players¡¯ attention. Once they were sufficiently distracted, I would launch the real attack and kill them as quickly as I could, giving them no chance to activate their invincibility skills assuming that they had any! Now that I had thought up the plan, I took control of three characters¡ªmyself, my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King¡ªat once and carefully snuck my way to their side. I waited until the enemy¡¯s archers¡¯ Skypiercer was on cooldown before moving myself and the Phantom Wolf King closer to the main bulk of the party. After everyone was in position, I unearthed the apparition and made it use Purple Dragon Howl immediately! If there was one skill that one-shot everything it hit, this would be it! Roar! The purple dragon easily annihilated the two assassins. "Fuck! It¡¯s a sneak attack! That boy is over there! Kill him!" The mounted players on the hills immediately rose to their feet and summoned their mounts. This is my chance! I jumped out from underground and kicked off the real assault with Burning Blade Slash. Before they could react, I followed up with Thousand Ice Slash + Ancient Seal combo that nearly flattened the entire hill! After all 7 mounted players dropped dead and dissolved into specks of white light, I mounted up myself and sent the eighth and last low-health magic knight to Level 0. At the same time, the Phantom Wolf King launched its own attack and tore through the archers it was targeting like paper. The triple multitasking and sneak attack scared the shit out of the top players of Era of Strife. Speak of the devil, and he shall appear! "Stun him now or it¡¯ll be too late!" The mages barked out some orders, but the Phantom Wolf King was constantly harassing their Magic Shields, and I was dodging the archers¡¯ shots left and right. While doing this, I fired a couple of Dragon Slaying Slashes that forced the archers to use Leap to dodge out of the way. Before three archers could land though, I tossed my weapon at them and used Coiling Dragon Revolution! Pu pu pu... The spinning blade easily cleaved through their chests and one-shot them all. Caught completely off-guard, the first-rate players of Purple Grape City were unable to unleash their true strength at all. However, my killing of the archers finally gave the mages enough time to scorch my Heaven-burning Armor with their Touch of the Dragonkiss, dropping me to 27% HP in an instant. If nothing else, their attack power was nothing to scoff at. After that, I kept using Tenacity of the Dead the second it went off cooldown and ran rings around the hill. My HP never went above yellow, but I was able to keep myself alive again and again by playing with the mages¡¯ line of sight using obstacles and killing them whenever the opportunity presented itself. Both the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition had died at this point, but the enemy party only had two mages and one archer left by then. The archer first! I took a few quick steps forward and threw my sword with lightning speed. It easily pierced through the archer¡¯s chest and killed him where he stood. Tsk tsk, the likes of him couldn¡¯t dodge my attack when I put my mind into it! The two remaining mages continued unleashing their magical storms as I weaved in and out of the forest. A sharp turn later, I caught the returning Purple Ying Sword and charged toward the mages in a zigzagging pattern. At the same time, I unleashed three Ancient Seals that crushed their Magic Shields before they could do anything about it and swung my sword twice! In the end, my speed advantage was too big for them to overcome, and they both died! Twenty-four super experts from Era of Strige died on this nameless hill just like that, leaving behind most of their equipment on the grass. However, it came at the price of the Phantom Wolf King and the apparition¡¯s life, and my own HP had dropped to 9%. There were many times I could¡¯ve died had I made a mistake. It didn¡¯t feel good to dance on the knife¡¯s edge, that¡¯s for sure. I claimed all the loot as my own. The equipment pieces alone numbered around 110 or so. Considering that there were only 24 of them, I would be surprised if any of them managed to keep their pants. After everything was ready, I checked the minimap just in time to see a swarm of red dots heading my way. I needed to leave now, or I could very well die here. I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse forward and raced along the edge of the mountain range. Along the way, I encountered a couple hundred-man parties and defeated all of them in unstoppable fashion. Obviously, I only cut down those players who were directly in my way. I was running away after all. Moreover, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯s speed advantage proved to be incredibly powerful in guerilla warfare. It ensured that the only ones who could really keep up with me was cavalry, and there was no cavalry in the world that I couldn¡¯t beat. I killed countless from range using Dragon Slaying Slash and Coiling Dragon Revolution. Almost 4 hours later, my bag was close to reaching max capacity, and my level had risen to 202. I was slowly but steadily making progress toward Level 210 where my eighth promotion awaited. I was very happy. ¡­¡­ The commotion I caused was like a stick that cleaved a hornet¡¯s nest in half. There were only too many Japanese players who were searching for me. Unfortunately for them, they didn¡¯t know that Sophie had an undead supply spot at the edge of Dragonbone Mountain Range. The fact that Sophie had kicked their ass and claimed Purple Grape City for herself meant that they wouldn¡¯t provoke her troops or venture deep into her territory unless they had a good reason to. Barring exceptional circumstances, I was as safe as I could be at that supply spot. "Aha, you¡¯ve come to us again, young undead! What have you brought us this time?" the NPC captain greeted me affectionately and slapped my shoulder like we were long lost brothers or something. Of course, I knew that he was just coveting after the equipment in my bag, the shameless bastard. I gave him a nod and walked up to the blacksmith, exchanging most of my equipment except the 30 or so exceptional items that I decided had better uses elsewhere, like refinement points. After that, I checked my Purple Ying Sword¡¯s evolution progress again and noted that it was now sitting at 59%. It was wonderful. I resolved myself to kill even more people and evolve it to a Divine Armament by tomorrow at the latest. My heart shivered with happiness as I repaired my equipment and set up my test. It was time to rest. It was already evening in real life, and I hadn¡¯t even eaten lunch today. It was time to invite Chaos Moon out for dinner again. ¡­¡­ I logged out of the game, but didn¡¯t hurry to knock on Chaos Moon¡¯s door immediately. I logged into the China forums to look at things, and, as expected, I was still the headline¡ª "Purple Grape¡¯s Descent of the One Hundred Gods attempts to hunt down the Little Heavenly King, but Lu Chen kills 37 and just barely escapes with his life!" My duel against the players of Purple Grape City in Final Duel Valley had undoubtedly captured the eyeballs of everyone in China, no, the entire world. Almost everyone was looking forward to the outcome of this duel. Some people were worried thinking that I would hit my limits sooner than later under this level of pressure. Some people also ridiculed me for believing that I could challenge the entire Japan server alone. The comments below the news post were never-ending¡ª 1st comment (Player "Mei Ran¡¯er"): Do your best, Lu Chen! You must live! I love you! 2nd comment (Player "Killer Gaze"): 1st poster is a love-struck fool confirmed. I¡¯m the same though! I may be a man, but I love Lu Chen all the same! So cool! 3rd comment (Player "Warsky"): Live, Lu Chen! 4th comment (Player "Loved By All"): OMG, isn¡¯t the 3rd poster the guild leader of Warsky Alliance? Is this what you do all day, staring at the forums instead of grinding? I knew Warsky Alliance was a trash guild! 5th comment (Player "October Rain"): ... 6th comment (Player "From Water"): Lu Chen... 7th comment (Player "Wind Fantasy"): Do your best, Little Cheat! 8th comment (Player "Water Moon Gazing"): Holy shit, the 6th and 7th posters are¡­ Wife, get the camera! A pair of goddesses are in the sky! 9th comment (Player "Gui Guzi"): Boss Broken Halberd, hold out just a bit longer! We¡¯re coming! ¡­¡­ My heart warmed at the sight of the familiar IDs. I might be alone in Final Duel Valley, but I wasn¡¯t fighting alone. All the brothers and sisters at the Center were doing their best to clear my name and take me home. And I would return to my Sky City one day. Speaking of which, Gui Guzi and the Bloody Mercenaries hadn¡¯t received any retaliatory punishment despite having conquered Sword Lord of Jianghu¡¯s territory. This probably meant that some of the people within the VR department had clamped down on Tang Long¡¯s activities. After all, it was perfectly normal to occupy another territory in the game. If he dared to abuse his power again and punished them the way he punished me, he would just be putting himself in even greater trouble. This also meant that Tang Long wouldn¡¯t dare to punch back as long as the action that was taken against him was technically within the rules of the game. Gui Guzi must know this too, and I could already see him plotting to wipe out Sword Lord of Jianghu completely from the surface of Sky City. It was what I was hoping to do myself if I could. This guild should have never been established in the first place! ¡­¡­ It was at this moment my phone rang. It was a call from Li Chengfeng. "Chengfeng?" "It¡¯s me," Li Chengfeng said in a steady voice. "You¡¯ve probably already guessed this, but there¡¯s a reason Tang Long did what he did to you for destroying Purple Grape City. Right now, I¡¯m doing our best to uncover evidence of Tang Long¡¯s corruption through my connections in the MPS and the MOS, and Eve is making a breakthrough with one of her older contacts, a vice president of the GGS. All I want to say is¡­" "Yeah?" I smiled. Li Chengfeng smiled too before continuing, "All I want to say is don¡¯t die in Final Duel Valley. Only by staying alive will our sacrifices not be in vain. We all understand the sacrifices you made and the humiliation you endured for us. We promise that your efforts will not go unanswered." I laughed. "You don¡¯t need to say it. We¡¯re lifelong brothers, aren¡¯t we?" "Haha. Have you eaten dinner?" "Nah¡­" "Then what are you waiting for? Don¡¯t forget to down some alcohol too. It makes the killing much more enjoyable¡­" "Damn, you¡¯re a monster¡­" "Haha!" Chapter 1066: The Seven Ins and Outs of Beautiful Little Pepper At the hotel¡¯s cafe. I was enjoying a leisurely afternoon tea and browsing the internet using the notebook provided by the hotel itself. Chaos Moon was also sitting on the opposite side of the table and looking up the latest information of the game. Right now, surviving the next few days was my topmost priority. I might have killed 30+ Descent of the One Hundred Gods players, but there were still countless others who were waiting for me to show up. Moreover, they had finally grown smart enough to stick together in large groups. Any encounter where I couldn¡¯t break away whenever I felt like it was a dangerous one, and in Final Duel Valley Resurrection Art didn¡¯t work, so I only had one chance to live. ¡­¡­ "Hmm?" Chaos Moon suddenly let out a cry of surprise and said, "Lu Chen, check the China server forums right now! There¡¯s new news!!" I did as she said while asking, "What is it?" She answered, "Gui Guzi chased Sword Lord of Jianghu¡¯s players all the way to the edge of Floating Ice City¡¯s map. It¡¯s been 24 hours since the slaughter began, and the beautiful bastard still isn¡¯t done with them, going so far as to camp bodies and graveyards. Not only had Sword Lord of Jianghu lost their territory, many of them dropped over 10 levels at least. Three hours ago, Now and Forever escaped to Thunder Mountain Range and entered Elephant City¡¯s domain, and¡­" "And you don¡¯t need to tell me any more since I¡¯m reading it right now¡­" A big, red title glowed through my screen: "Gui Guzi¡¯s 50000 elite Bloody Mercenaries were ambushed by the number one guild of Elephant City, Dark Clouds, at Thunder Mountain Range. After two hours of fighting, Gui Guzi and all his men succumbed to Dark Clouds¡¯ elite cavalry and drew a new page in the blood feud between the China server and the India server. ¡­¡­ I looked up at Chaos Moon with a deep frown. "How did Dark Clouds Sorrow know exactly where and when to catch Little Gui and Sword Lord of Jianghu? And where did he find the courage to attack Little Gui without hesitation? The Dragonlight Cavalry and Cyan Tiger Cavalry have incredible mobility, so there¡¯s no way they could figure out their exact location just via in-game scouting, unless¡­" Chaos Moon¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up. "Are you suggesting that Now and Forever is in cahoots with the players of Elephant City?" "Mn, it has to be it." I fell into thought for a moment before continuing, "Now and Forever is Tang Long¡¯s in-game aide. If the bastard could cut a deal with freaking Japan, he definitely could cut a deal with the high-level executives of India¡¯s gaming industry as well. What worries me now is the possibility of Elephant City attacking our main cities from the southeast. It¡¯ll be incredibly troublesome if they do." "Isn¡¯t the way blocked by Thunder Mountain Range?" "Girl, Thunder Mountain Range is an inanimate object. It was always a matter of time before human ingenuity bested it¡­" I shook my head at her naivete. While saying this, I took out my phone and called Gui Guzi¡¯s number. Two tones later, Gui Guzi accepted my call and said in a very agitated tone, "Bo¡­ boss Broken Halberd, haha, I er¡­ sorry I didn¡¯t call you sooner. I was afraid that you would yell at me. Wuh¡­ Why are you calling me at this time?" I replied in a quiet tone, "You sure did a lot of things while I was gone, Little Gui. Not only did you split the guild in half, you even made Eve cry. There¡¯ll be hell to pay when I return to the guild, you hear me?" Gui Guzi laughed nervously. "Haha, ha, it¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s not all my fault? B-boss Broken Halberd, how are you doing in Xinjiang? And are you still doing okay in Final Duel Valley?" I snorted once before replying, "I¡¯m doing okay. You, though, are in a big load of trouble. Why did you let yourself be goaded into entering Elephant City domain? Were you trying to commit suicide?" Gui Guzi¡¯s tone immediately turned severe when he heard this. "Hmph! I guarantee you that shameless Now and Forever is in cahoots with Elephant City! At least a hundred thousand Sword Lord of Jianghu¡¯s players are still hiding in foreign territory, and there¡¯s no way to find out what those fuckers are planning." I said, "For now, you should catch some rest and lead the Bloody Mercenaries to Daybreak City, the border city of Floating Ice City, later. You can grind there until something happens. I have a suspicion that Elephant City is going to make a move soon. There¡¯s no way they would let go after their failure during the War of Purple Grape City." "Mn, got it. But Boss Broken Halberd, you¡­" Gui Guzi swallowed before continuing, "Red Maple had God Domain¡¯s elites block the way at White Rose Fortress to prevent any China player from reentering their domain, so I was planning to lead Bloody Mercenaries across Sky Ridge and save you tomorrow. If I go to Daybreak City now, what will happen to you?" I smiled. "Don¡¯t worry about me, I¡¯m doing fairly okay in Final Duel Valley. In fact, I prefer that I¡¯m the only one fighting in Final Duel Valley. I¡¯m already heartbroken from Chengfeng, Little Rain and Diamond Dust dropping to Level 0, I cannot possibly allow my brothers and sisters in Bloody Mercenaries to suffer the same fate as well." Gui Guzi replied, "Alright. I¡¯ll log into the game and inform them of your decision." "Good¡­" ¡­¡­ I hung up. After another moment of rest, Chaos Moon and I returned to our respective rooms. At 7 pm sharp, I logged into the game and fought Purple Grape City¡¯s players until 11 pm. During this time, I kept changing locations so that the enemy could never pinpoint me exactly. Thanks to all the players I killed, my level skyrocketed to 204, and the Ancient Divine Dragon gained a huge amount of experience as well. I also made huge progress in evolving the Purple Ying Sword. I went to bed at 12 am sharp, but before that I made a call to He Yi and Lin Yixin each. They both cried. Lin Yixin said in a sobbing tone that she missed me a lot, and that she wanted to fly to Xinjiang and meet me. I had to console her for a moment before she finally calmed down. He Yi sounded a lot calmer than Lin Yixin. In fact, she kept consoling me and informing me that she had made some headway regarding the investigation of Tang Long. She still cried at the end of the call though. It had been many days since we last saw each other, and now I was nowhere closer to getting back home. If that wasn¡¯t enough, the guild was even split in half. She had suffered too much already. ¡­¡­ The next day, very early in the morning, I got up, ate breakfast, and logged back into the game. It was time for another life-and-death showdown in Final Duel Valley! Swhoosh! After I appeared in the NPC camp, I crawled out of my tent, repaired my equipment and summoned the Phantom Wolf King and Armored Ice Qilin Horse. Then, I returned to Final Duel Valley. Thud thud thud¡­ Dew scattered as the Armored Ice Qilin Horse¡¯ hooves trampled over the grass it settled on. The moment I entered Final Duel Valley, I felt like I caught a whiff of blood stench. The soil of this ground was drenched in way too much blood, and I myself had lost count of the number of experts I killed. All I could say was that the Purple Ying Sword was most certainly bloodied to the bone. First things first, I used Earth Escape and slowly snuck my way forward. Just like last time, the plan was to find players belonging to Descent of the One Hundred Gods and fuck them up real good. Why? Because they are the biggest threat, duh! However, the valley turned out to be unusually restless today. I saw a troop of cavalry galloping across a clearing, and a ton of foot soldiers running at full speed as well. One of them wielded a bow, and he shouted, "Move faster, Hirata-kun! A power troop of Chinese cavalry is assaulting our forces! We need to reinforce them now!" ¡­¡­ I shuddered from head to toe. Chinese cavalry? Who could they be? Where did they find the balls to enter Final Duel Valley at this time? This goddamned map is crawling with Purple Grape City players right now! Whoosh! I abruptly burst out of the ground and ran at max speed just like the Purple Grape City players. I then flung the Purple Ying Sword through the brambles between us and killed both plants and the dozen of archers and mages. They never even knew how they died, much less discovered me. Coiling Dragon Revolution had an incredible attack range after all. I continued running after I caught the returning Purple Ying Sword. No matter who this cavalry troop belonged to, they had to be related to me in some way. Thanks to Dark Pupils, I spotted two assassins who were running in stealth. They hurriedly turned around when they noticed me, but they were incapable of withstanding my attack and died in just two swings. I went on to kill another four archers before they even got the chance to ambush me. It seemed that Purple Grape City¡¯s players still didn¡¯t realize that their camouflage or stealth were completely useless against my Dark Pupils. Boom! The moment I burst out of the forest, I saw a troop of cavalry exiting the canyon at high speed. They¡¯re¡­ Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Kui Dragon Cavalry? "Die!" A delicate-looking but fit figure rushed toward a group of enemies and cut them all down with Ice Flame Slash. She didn¡¯t linger and led her troops straight toward the exit of the canyon. Beneath her, the Moonchaser Tiger roared. "Yiyi!" I yelled at her, but my voice was drowned out by the noises. She never heard me, and she eventually escaped with the Kui Dragon Cavalry. "It¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! He¡¯s here too! Kill him!" The Japanese players quickly discovered and encircled me. I had no choice but to give up chasing after Lin Yixin and cut down the enemy as I withdrew. After I found a suitable opening, I outran my pursuers with the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, slipped underground using Earth Escape, and avoided the heat for the moment. ¡­¡­ I sat down quietly at the edge of a mountain rock. The Phantom Wolf King let out a soft whine before putting its head-on top of my thigh. Right now, it was the only company I had. It was at this moment a couple of Japanese players stopped for a rest at a nearby pine tree. It was an axe-wielding berserker, an archer and a priest. They seemed to be very close to each other, and they were chatting among themselves¡ª "It¡¯s the seventh time already¡­" the archer said quietly. The berserker said, "They seem to be looking for something. They wouldn¡¯t have charged in and out of the canyon 7 times in a row otherwise. What on earth is it?" The priest shivered in realization. "Could it be¡­ they¡¯re looking for that god of slaughter, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?" The archer nodded. "Mn, I heard that their guild leader is China¡¯s famous Fruit Knife Goddess and Beautiful Little Pepper. She¡­ seems to be Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s lover. That is why she sacrificed many troops to break through our defense line at White Rose Fortress and came all the way here to look for him¡­" The berserker sighed. "Seven times, man. Sure, she killed a lot of us in the process, but it¡¯s not like we didn¡¯t hit back. She must have lost at least a thousand high-level cavalrymen already. Is it really worth it? Sigh¡­ I can die happy if I ever find a woman who¡¯ll fight for me like this¡­" ¡­¡­ My eyes turned blurry as I leaned against the rock. You dumb girl, why did you go this far? Is it just to distract part of the enemy forces for me? Chapter 1067: The Dance Above the Knife’s Edge As if sensing the levity of the conversation, the berserker abruptly cracked a joke, "On second thought, maybe it¡¯s for the best if I never found a girlfriend like Beautiful Little Pepper. She almost one-shot me just twenty minutes ago, I don¡¯t think I could hold someone like her down¡­" The archer smiled and slapped his shoulder. "Give up. Have you seen Beautiful Little Pepper¡¯s face before? She¡¯s truly one of a kind. Akiho Yoshizawa, Tina Yuzuki, Kokomi Naruse; they all got nothing on her. You¡¯d never be able to keep such a fiery, dignified, young and beautiful woman even if you tried." The priest let out a laugh as he sat down on a sandy rock. He said, "I actually have her poster hung on my bed head. She¡¯s as rare as she¡¯s difficult to be worthy of, although Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand did manage to meet her standards. Not that it¡¯s surprising. How many people can do what he did, fighting millions and millions of players alone in Final Duel Valley while still maintaining a cool head? A weaker person would¡¯ve pissed their pants a long time ago¡­" The archer nodded in agreement. "That Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is so calm and collected he¡¯s practically inhuman. It¡¯s no wonder that even Red Maple calls him a god of slaughter. His ability to stay calm far surpasses other Chinese experts such as Li Chengfeng, Candlelight Shadow and Little Piglet¡­" The berserker lifted his war axe and asked with a chuckle, "Say, assuming we ran into Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, what do you think our chances of beating him are?" The priest laughed. "Ask me again when you¡¯re after your seventh promotion. Anyway, we¡¯ve rested enough and we¡¯ve signed our attendance. It¡¯s time to leave and grind at Soaring Flame Desert until Swallow Ear Canton revives¡­" "Yeah." ¡­¡­ The Japanese players left. I didn¡¯t attack them even though I could have. I had my own standards, and one of them was attacking an opponent who was drastically weaker than me when they couldn¡¯t pose a threat to me at all. The wind carried the archer¡¯s final words to me. "I wonder where Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is right now? It would be nice if he was at the southwest canyon. There are 50+ Descent of the One Hundred Gods players searching for him there, and Asuka Period has 50k Giant Buck Cavalry patrolling the area. Not even he could survive an encounter with an army of that scale!" I smiled as they vanished from my sight. Thank goodness I hadn¡¯t acted to kill them, or I would have missed the precious information. If I could take out the 50+ Descent of the One Hundred Gods players, the Japanese¡¯s morale would definitely suffer a grievous, if not fatal, blow. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out a long neigh and raced straight toward the southwest. The canyon was a super dense forest with a terrain that was shaped like a horse¡¯s hoof. The ring-shaped clearing outside the forest was the only place wide enough for a cavalry troop to mount a cavalry charge. There was no way I could survive a battle there, so I was going to slip into the forest as quickly and stealthily as possible. ¡­¡­ Ten minutes later, I arrived at the southwest edge of Final Duel Valley. After I arrived at the peak of a tall hill, I looked down and saw tens of thousands of Giant Buck Cavalrymen patrolling the outside of the forest just like the archer had mentioned earlier. The players searching inside the forest were much smaller in numbers and sparser, but I wouldn¡¯t make the mistake of underestimating them. Each and every one of them was a Top 1000 expert in the champion arena and a famous player in their own right. Of course, it was only going to make the Japan server¡¯s humiliation even worse than it already was, but I was hardly going to correct them... I dissolved into several rays of red light and entered the ground. The Phantom Wolf King also let out a soft whine and entered stealth mode. Slowly, we sneaked across the clearing during the patrol¡¯s absence and successfully made it into the forest without any trouble. I then activated Dark Pupils and caused the surrounding players¡¯ markers to appear in my minimap. I counted a total of 62 Descent of the One Hundred Gods players in the forest. Practically everyone who should be here, was. Among them, there were 11 stealthed assassins who were observing their surroundings with green eyes. It was the Perceive Weakness skill. Anyone who came within 3 yards of them would be revealed, so I couldn¡¯t afford to act carelessly. Moreover, over half of the players had an invincibility skill that would protect them from danger unless I killed them before they were able to use it. Otherwise, 6 to 15 seconds of invincibility was all they needed to regain their footing and kill me. The little wolf whined softly, but I immediately silenced it with a look while slowly pulling out the Purple Ying Sword. The terrain here was extremely complex, so I couldn¡¯t ride the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. However, I must keep this fight inside the forest because the Giant Buck Cavalry couldn¡¯t make it inside either. In fact, it was my only chance to win this. I looked left and right and pinpointed the enemies¡¯ positions as fast as I could. I was looking for the best attack angle. The more enemies I could kill while I still had the element of surprise, the easier the subsequent fight would become. Just like before, I planned to use my apparition to draw the enemy¡¯s attention while the Phantom Wolf King and I launched the real assault... ¡­ or should I? No, I shouldn¡¯t. I already used this tactic more than once, so I¡¯m sure they will be ready for it. In that case, I should switch things up and use myself as the bait, and the apparition as the "real" attack. Assuming that the enemy weren¡¯t complete idiots, they would definitely prioritize attacking my apparition first. By the time they realized that something was wrong, it would already be too late for them! The corners of my lips turned up as I began the operation. I controlled all three characters at once and moved my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King to the right wing, and myself to the left wing. As I mentioned earlier, the first blow must damage the enemy as hard as possible, or this whole ambush would turn south as quickly as it began. Currently, my plan was to wipe out most of the enemy¡¯s HP with Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo, and finish the job with Ancient Seal + Coiling Dragon Revolution combo. Moreover, I needed to complete everything in 0.75 seconds tops. None of them should survive unless they were at Lin Yixin, Candlelight Shadow or Li Chengfeng¡¯s level. While I was searching for an attack angle, Lady Luck suddenly decided to grant me her blessing and put a whopping 24 players within range and angle of my attack. Haha! There won¡¯t be a better opportunity than this! Whoosh! I abruptly burst out of my hiding spot and executed Burning Blade Slash + War crush combo immediately, catching a plethora of warriors, magic knights, mages and archers. The powerful skills shredded both metal and cloth armor equally and killed some, but because I wasn¡¯t riding the Armored Ice Qilin Horse a large majority of them¡ªespecially the fighters¡ªwere able to survive the combo. That was fine though, because I was just beginning. Without pause, I fired 17 Ancient Seals in a row and covered nearly the entire forest map with my Divine General Skill. At the same time, I flung my sword forward using Coiling Dragon Revolution and caused bloodcurdling screams to fill the air. Less than two seconds later, the apparition appeared on the other side of the enemy party and used its own Burning Blade Slash + Coiling Dragon Revolution. After it drank an MP potion, it followed up with Purple Dragon Howl! "Ahhhhh!" An axe-wielding berserker with bloodshot eyes raged, "Ambush! The people of Era of Strife said that the first Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is fake, and the second is the real one, but what the fuck is with this damage? Who¡¯s the real one?!" A magic knight brought his spear to bear and shouted back, "Doesn¡¯t matter, kill them both!" "Got it!" I had used the maximum amount of skills I could use at a time, and had to wait 6 full seconds before they would be available again. However, it was absolutely worth it since the ambush killed 27 players right from the get-go. My mind felt as calm as a lake as I swiftly determined my targets¡¯ movement and attack angles. After stopping in my tracks and changing directions abruptly, I was able to avoid multiple AoE skills using the helix maneuver. Swhoosh! Two assassins activated Dance of Death and attacked me from the left and the right at the same time. They both started off with Blade Vortex and followed up with a devious Gouge! I sucked in a deep breath before counterattacking just as quickly. First, I parried their Blade Vortexes before zigzagging behind them. Next, I punched one assassin in the back using Magic Piercing Punch and slapped the other guy¡¯s neck with Pardon. Finally, I fired Ancient Seal atop both of them! "Ah?!" The assassin who got slapped with Pardon could only stare at the Ancient Seal above his head while his feet tried to shuffle away to no avail. He took 182393 damage and died on the spot. Pardon was that good of a damage amplifier. The other assassin was much smarter than his peer and was able to survive after activating his invincibility skill. Pa! While skidding across the grass, I abruptly lay down on the ground and rolled like a log just in time to dodge a hail of Shock Arrows. If I hadn¡¯t done so, I might¡¯ve been stunned and killed by the enemy already. These attacks were super brutal. While I was running for my life, a death squeal came from a different corner of the battlefield. Although I managed to kill two enemy players using the Phantom Wolf King, three assassins managed to chain-stun it with Gouge and kill it before it could recover. It was no Divine Beast with inflated stats, and its opponents were all super-tier players. It just wasn¡¯t possible for it to wipe out the enemies in unstoppable fashion. A few archers chased me into the forest while raining arrows on me. While I could still dodge the Bone Eroding Arrows and Shock Arrows via normal evasion, the same couldn¡¯t be said for AoE skills such as Skypiercer and Spiraling Arrow Blade. The arrowheads kept drilling into my Heaven-burning Armor and eating away at my HP. Pa! I abruptly halted in my tracks again and flung my sword at the three archers, killing them with Coiling Dragon Revolution. While skidding across the grass, I unleashed Ancient Seal + Dragon Slaying Slash combo onto a mage and killed him as well. Swhoosh! Suddenly, a Level 191 high-level mage Blinked behind me and waved their scepter. He was using Ice Blast + Ice Arrow Spell, both skills that could freeze a target! Fuck! I swore inside my head as I locked onto a nearby assassin and activated Charge, barely evading the combo with inches to spare. The assassin reacted quickly by jumping to the back before running toward me again along an S-shaped pattern, dagger searching for an angle to kill. Tsk tsk, every single one of these players was a difficult foe to put down! Too bad for him, I wasn¡¯t afraid to engage anyone in a skill-versus-skill battle. In half a second, I executed a double helix maneuver and danced around his dagger. After I reappeared behind him, I thrust my sword behind me and killed him without looking. Swhoosh! Another two mages charged me and executed Ice Blast + Ice Arrow Spell, causing the ground itself to become frozen in ice. My scalp turned numb from the sheer amount of danger I was facing. There was no dodging this combo, so I activated Shield of Evening to stall for as long I was able. The two mages weren¡¯t dumb. They Blinked away immediately after they saw me activating my invincibility skill. However, I had had a good idea where both of them were going to Blink to and acted accordingly. I slayed one of them with a well-timed and well-placed Coiling Dragon Revolution before killing the other one with Ancient Seal and Dragon Slaying Slash. They probably didn¡¯t know this, but few mages got to Blink in my face and live to tell the tale. It was just like an archer who tried to Leap away within my attack range. I could kick their ass to kingdom come before their feet even reach the ground! I didn¡¯t let these 12 precious seconds of invulnerability go to waste and killed another 4 knights. During this time, I almost reached the pinnacle of my skills, and I felt like my body was full of energy. Swhoosh! However, I wasn¡¯t perfect, and it only took one opening in one¡¯s defense to kill someone. An assassin landed a Gouge the second my invincibility was over, and the 2-second stun could very well be the end of me! Chapter 1068: End of a Hero Pu pu pu! Incredible pain ripped through my chest as three fiery cones pierced it. They were Barrier Breaks, and they dealt a sizable amount of damage¡ª 69209! 72672! 62922! My HP hit rock bottom in an instant, but thankfully I didn¡¯t receive any more attacks during these two seconds. The assassin who had stunned me in the first place couldn¡¯t really hurt me unless he used his Bloodbreak skills. I did have an insane amount of Defense after all. The second I recovered, I immediately hit my surroundings with War Crush + Ancient Seal combo. At the same time, I used Tenacity of the Dead to recover 25% of my HP and downed a Saint Spirit Potion. After killing the three cavalrymen, I zigzagged in and out of the forest and purposely chose spots with thick brambles. They bought me the time necessary to recover my HP. At this point, both my wolf and my apparition were dead. This meant that I could only rely on myself. The worst part was that my goddamned HP just wouldn¡¯t go up a certain threshold no matter what I did. At least ten archers were bombarding my location constantly with Skypiercers; their tactic to make sure that my HP loss would always be higher than my HP recovery. What could I possibly do with little to no HP? If the Purple Ying Sword didn¡¯t have 10% lifesteal, I might¡¯ve lost a long time ago. Pa! I sped up and arrived in front of an assassin. He spun around with steely eyes and used Blade Vortex. I easily smacked aside his attack with the Dragon God Shield before pressing a point-blank Pardon to his chest. Then, the Purple Ying Sword burst into indigo flames, and I thrust the weapon forward using Universe Break. The series of action had been completed in a second, so there was no chance he could escape this! Pu! 389002! +38900! It was a critical hit! Not only did the skill kill the poor assassin outright, it gave me almost 40k HP. I left the spot quickly without bothering to pick up the equipment. Outside the forest, I heard Copper Spear, the guild leader of Era of Strife, shouting, "Asura Period, you know Shogunate gave me temporary command over you all, right!? Hmph! All Giant Buck Cavalrymen, get off your mounts, unsheathe your weapons and surround the forest right now! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is inside the forest! Either you kill him, or you all commit seppuku for failing to do so!" Murphy¡¯s Law. If something can go to shit, it will. I glanced around quickly and saw a gigantic horde of Giant Buck Cavalrymen swarming me from all sides. Copper Spear himself was among the group. The cavalrymen had gone so far as to give up their mount advantage just so that they could enter the forest and join in on the hunt. Tsk tsk, they thought too highly of me! Did they seriously think I could fight hundreds of thousands of players alone!? The vice leader of Descent of the One Hundred Gods, an axe-wielding berserker, shouted, "Don¡¯t use your skills willy-nilly! We need to stop the bleeding before it gets worse! Fuck, where the fuck¡¯s our guild leader?!" A stealthed assassin said in a low tone, "The guild leader was killed by his Divine General Skill at the very beginning. How did you only notice it now?" "Fuck!" I searched around some more and noted that there were less than 20 Descent of the One Hundred Gods players left. Very well, time to kill a couple more people and scare the shit out of them! Swhoosh! I managed to find an opportunity to slip underground and regenerate my HP. It wasn¡¯t enough for me to slip away, but I could ambush a couple more first-rate players with it. Everyone seemed to have gone crazy with bloodlust. The archers kept shooting Skypiercers all over the place under the berserker¡¯s command, and a couple of cavalrymen even summoned their mounts, and Charged left and right even though the brambles wounded them. ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, I returned to full health thanks to Regeneration of the Undead and found another good point of entry. Seven archers were approaching me without knowing. It was my chance! Just do it! I burst out of the ground and threw my sword. I didn¡¯t even need to aim because I had made all the calculations in my head beforehand. Then, I slapped 11 Ancient Seals around me. When else am I going to use the Divine Energy Points I have accumulated in the past couple days if not now? Boom boom boom! The falling golden seals were evident to all players close or away from the area. The forest itself was shaking from the impact of the blast. All seven archers including four unfortunate assassins died to my sneak attack and indiscriminate bombardment. Now, there were less than 10 players left in the entire Descent of the One Hundred Gods! Pa! I caught my sword and ran right past the berserker vice leader. I turned around quickly and tore his back open with Burning Blade Slash. However, he was able to assume a Guard stance just in time to survive the skill with a sliver of HP left. He glared at me, but I simply responded with a stern-faced Crushing Blow! He hurriedly canceled his Guard stance, but what he saw next caused his face to turn white. "Fuck, you tricked me¡­" Indigo flames surrounded my sword, and Universe Break ended his life once and for all! ¡­¡­ Just like that, Descent of the One Hundred Gods lost the leader, the vice leader and all their corps commanders. Even the 6 players who had survived up until this point were too scared to fight me. After all, dying here meant losing everything, and it wasn¡¯t a price most people could accept. "Fuck, you bunch of trash!" Copper Spear¡¯s shout came from the edge of the clearing. A short while later, a long, long line of magic knights appeared from the edges, summoned their Giant Bucks, raised their shields and slowly entered the forest. If it wasn¡¯t obvious enough, they were planning to overwhelm me with sheer numbers. I gritted my teeth as I stared at the Ancient Divine Dragon still slumbering around my arm. The son of a gun was at an infuriating Level 99 and 54% mark; just 46% away from reaching Level 100. If I could mount the Ancient Divine Dragon right now, I could take to the air and escape from these bastards with ease. But I couldn¡¯t! It was so close yet so far! It would take at least another thousand kills before I could level up the Ancient Divine Dragon to Level 100. Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t look like I was going to get that opportunity. Swhoosh! I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and mounted it. For the first time, I truly felt like I was going to die and drop to Level 0. There was still another 60 minutes until Shield of Evening came back online. I didn¡¯t think I would last until then. ¡­¡­ Copper Spear emerged from the group and watched me closely. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you have my respect for your peerless bravery and talent. Unfortunately, you are the enemy of I, Copper Spear, and the Japan server. You destroyed my home and shamed my people. This debt must be paid no matter what." The Purple Ying Sword glowed with undead energy as I stared at him. "Do it, Copper Spear. I¡¯ve killed enough people to be worth the return ticket anyway." Copper Spear smiled. "You are outstanding, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. It¡¯s too bad that your own country has abandoned you, or you would¡¯ve had the chance to use invincibility into return scroll back to your city, wouldn¡¯t you?" I shook my head. "Nope! Return scrolls are not allowed to be used in Final Duel Valley. You should always read the fine print, boy!" The corner of Copper Spear¡¯s mouth twitched once before he continued, "Hmph. So what if I didn¡¯t read it? You¡¯re still going to die here." I checked my surroundings and saw even more players converging on this forest. I smiled. "Are you waiting for reinforcements, Copper Spear? Are you waiting for the archers, mages and assassins to come over? You are! You know these cavalrymen aren¡¯t enough to kill me, don¡¯t you?" Copper Spear blushed in embarrassment after I pointed out his ploy. "I¡¯m sorry. I shouldn¡¯t be doing this as a player, but I am first and foremost a Japanese player. No matter how despicable a tactic may be, the pride of my server comes before everything. Moreover, I value results more than I value fairness, and right now the result I want is the death of you, Little Heavenly King Lu Chen, in Final Duel Valley so that all the souls who died here can rest in peace!" I smiled. "Very well. I guess I¡¯ll farm your experience before the inevitable then!" ¡­¡­ I raised the Purple Ying Sword and charged toward the weaker point in the defense line. I zigzagged around the rain of Trapping Nets falling my way and unleashed Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash combo, regaining a ton of HP. I immediately switched targets though. I wasn¡¯t kidding when I said a rain of Trapping Nets were falling toward me. It was to the point where it was literally impossible to avoid them all. The good news was that I was currently Level 205, my equipment was far superior to theirs, and I had Great Earth Transformation turned on, so their chances of immobilizing me when successfully landing Trapping Net were less than 1%. I kept charging left and right, killing many Giant Buck Cavalrymen in the process. The Purple Ying Sword¡¯s 10% lifesteal gave me the ability to fight a protracted battle, but I knew that it was only a matter of time before I died. Even if the mental exhaustion didn¡¯t get to me, I was losing equipment durability by the second, not to mention that more and more Japanese players¡ªmany among them being super powerful archers and mages¡ªwere gathering outside the forest. The moment all my equipment turned into trash was the moment I¡¯d die. In the end, it just wasn¡¯t possible for one man to fight an entire server. ¡­¡­ Boom boom boom! Every time I executed a combo, countless Giant Buck Cavalrymen would drop dead and die. My experience was soaring, and even the Ancient Divine Dragon with its insane experience requirements was progressing slowly toward Level 100. Unfortunately, it was still too slow. There was no way I could survive until it evolved. Crack! After I lopped off a Giant Buck Cavalryman¡¯s head and looked behind me, I abruptly discovered that I was alone within a 50-yard radius. Every Japanese player including Copper Spear himself had backed away in fear. My current HP was less than 40%, but the blood was literally dripping down the blade of the Purple Ying Sword like water. The amount of people I had killed during these ten minutes was frankly innumerable. "They¡¯re here, they¡¯re here!" The fighters abruptly parted to reveal a huge group of archers and mages. Worse, I spotted ten fucking ballistae with their deadly bolts all pointed at me. I looked at the enemy and myself. The Heaven-burning Armor was drenched in blood, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse was drenched in blood, and even the robes beneath the armor were wet with blood and sweat as well. The sound of tightening rope resounded in my ears as the ballistae were wounded up. I could fight any player no problem, but how the hell was I going to survive a ballistae volley? A trace of reluctance flashed across Copper Spear¡¯s eyes, but he steeled his resolve and declared, "Goodbye, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Ballistae, fire!" Thud thud thud! The Dragon God Shield shuddered again and again from the impact. The Armored Ice Qilin Horse let out one last neigh before disappearing, its mount tenacity spent. Thud! I dropped to my knees with one hand still gripping my sword, and the other my shield. I glared at the enemy formation with defiant eyes, but there truly was nothing left that I could do. That one volley had taken me down to less than 5%. There was no chance I was going to survive another one. ¡­¡­ Copper Spear gritted his teeth and growled out, "Don¡¯t hesitate! Keep shooting!" Twang twang twang! The thick, black steel bolts flew my way, and I closed my eyes. I¡¯m coming to join you, Chengfeng, Little Rain, Diamond Dust! [1] Bang bang bang... However, a series of odd noises resounded in my ears, and the whiff of a familiar scent passed through my nose. It was the scent of a certain girl. I opened my eyes and was greeted by the stunning back of a spear-wielding beauty and her long, white legs peeking in and out of her flapping white cape. She had somehow caused all the ballista bolts to bounce away using some sort of her glowing, domain-powered shield. 1. (T/N: dude wtf they¡¯re not dead stop talking like they are jesus) Chapter 1069: Peerless King "Big brother¡­" Xinran asked without looking back, "I¡¯m sorry. How are you feeling?" I rose to my feet and wiped away the bloodstain on my face. "Absolutely terrible, to be honest¡­" Xinran: "..." ¡­¡­ The Purple Grape City players were absolutely flabbergasted. No one knows who this beautiful female NPC was, where she came from, or what she was planning to do. I still had a sliver of HP left. Galaxy Storms were falling down from the sky. If any one of these spells hit me, I was still going to die. Pa! Xinran abruptly grabbed my arm and said, "I¡¯m taking you away from this place, big brother!" Before I could answer, Xinran pushed herself off the ground and soared straight into the clouds. The Giant Buck Cavalry turned smaller and smaller in my eyes until all they were nothing but black dots in my vision. They were all staring at the sky with frustration, but there was nothing they could do. The wind howled beside my ears. A couple of minutes later, after we arrived at the edge of Dragonbone Mountain Range, Xinran descended back to the ground, and my HP returned to full thanks to Regeneration of the Undead. I let out a sigh of relief. Pa! I landed firmly at the edge of a cliff and stared at the distant forest. Another sigh later, my knees weakened, and I fell on my butt beneath a pine tree. "Big brother¡­" Xinran crouched down next to me and supported me. "Why on earth are you fighting alone in Final Duel Valley? Xinran was really worried about you, you know?" I shot her a smile. "There are some things you don¡¯t understand, Xinran, but I must stay in Final Duel Valley if only for my pride as a Chinese player. I never want them to see me bending the knee and showing weakness¡­" I know¡­" Xinran planted the Dragonbone Spear on the ground beside her before continuing, "I know, big brother¡­" "Mn¡­" I checked the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s experience again and was gifted the most pleasant surprise of my life. I didn¡¯t realize it earlier, but it was only 0.07% away from hitting Level 100 now! The Purple Ying Sword was close to evolving as well. All I needed was another bag full of equipment. So, I led Xinran to the NPC and exchanged most of my loot for refinement points. Then, I went back to Final Duel Valley, but with Xinran by my side this time! "Big brother, I can¡¯t participate in the war between the humans, so I can save you, but I can¡¯t kill any humans for you¡­" Xinran said to me hesitantly. I put my arm across her smooth, delicate shoulders and shot her a bright smile. "I know. Don¡¯t worry! I can settle this myself!" "Mn. I believe in you!" ¡­¡­ I mounted the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and rode straight into the canyon. It wasn¡¯t long before I spotted a dozen or so players searching for me some distance away. I immediately rushed them and used Burning Blade Slash! The three flaming auras killed 9 players immediately, turning them into streams of experience. At the same time, a warm sensation suddenly flooded my arms, and the Ancient Divine Dragon abruptly opened its black eyes with a tiny roar. Its tail swayed gently as it rubbed its head affectionately against my arm. The survivors stared at me in shock until someone shouted, "G-go call for reinforcements right now! There¡¯s a group of Giant Buck Cavalrymen just around the area! Send them the coordinates and tell them that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is here!" "Okay!" A few minutes later, the forest huddered unnaturally to the horse hooves thundering against its floor, and soon a thick swarm of Giant Buck Cavalry appeared in front of me. The leader of the cavalry was none other than Copper Spear himself, and he let out a cackle while swinging his blade, "Surround him! Oh, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Did you really escape just so you can come back here to die? No matter! This time, you won¡¯t be going anywhere!" I smiled but didn¡¯t say anything. "Roar roar¡­" The Ancient Divine Dragon raised its head, flew away from my arm and settled on the ground in front of me. Then, it glowed like the sun before growing bigger at a visible rate. Bones, muscles, scales, everything. Finally, it was going to enter the adult stage! About half a minute later, the Ancient Divine Dragon transformed fully into a 4-meter-long divine dragon. It had four limbs, and its body seemed to be suspended in midair by some sort of cloud. A pair of red whiskers floated above its savage-looking head, and it blinked a couple of times as if adjusting to its new form before rubbing its head affectionately against my shoulder. Something that looked like a dead vine and an azure-colored magic lamp dancing above it rose from its back. Beneath the magic lamp was something that was shaped like a saddle. Just like any other mount, a player could sit on this saddle and still attack like normal. Tsk tsk, this Ancient Divine Dragon was truly something to behold! I pressed down my excitement for a moment and inspected the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s stats quickly, and to say that I was stunned by what I saw would be a massive understatement. I had no idea that my WEL champion reward was this OP¡ª Ancient Divine Dragon (Divine Rank Mount) Level: 100 Strength: +2500 Stamina: +2450 Agility: +2200 Attack Increase: +175% Defense Increase: +150% Magic Resist Increase: +250% Attack Speed: +150% Movement Speed: +500% Aerial Attack Range: +75 yards Ground Attack Range: +40 yards max HP: +150000 Turn Rate: -15% Mount Tenacity: +150% Unique Skill: Summon the Storm. Summons wind blades and ice rains to attack all enemy units within an incredibly wide area. Damage dealt is based on the owner¡¯s Attack. Introduction: The Ancient Divine Dragon is a holy existence that soars beyond the Nine Heavens. Even the Dragon Gods bow to the Ancient Divine Dragon in respect. It is said that the Ancient Divine Dragon is the spirit double of the Ancient Primordial God. It can summon the storm to strike its enemies. Level Requirement: 200 Reputation Requirement: 500000 ¡­¡­ "Gulp!" I gulped loudly. These stats are a bit too OP, aren¡¯t they? Not only did it add 2000+ each to my Strength, Stamina and Agility, it even increased my Attack by 175%, Defense by 150%, and Magic Resist by 250%! Who else on this continent could threaten me with magic after this? Not only that, my movement speed was increased by a whopping 500% as well! It would most likely be my flying speed! This mount was just¡­ Way. Too. Awesome! I pushed down my excitement and uneasiness as I canceled the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and grabbed onto the vine behind the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back. The moment I climbed onto its back and sat down, a tremendous surge of power immediately flooded my veins. Muahahaha, fight me now, Giant Buck Cavalry of Purple Grape City! ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Martial God of the Abyss) Class: Undead Swordsman (Great Earth Swordsman) Level: 206 HP: 412350 Attack: 13155~14420 Defense: 21215 Magic Resist: 18420 Reputation: 749400 Tactics: 957 ( + 854) Luck: 74 ¡­¡­ Even without buffs, my max HP was an insane 410+ k! I would like to see anyone cutting this number down to size! Besides that, my actual Attack had become 4.45 times bigger than its old value, or almost 80k Attack. As of now, most players only had 30k effective Defense or so. Was there anyone in the world who could withstand my power? Speaking of test subjects, a plethora of them were gaping at me right now. The Giant Buck Cavalry almost killed me in Final Duel Valley, so who better than them to test out my new mount and make my impossible comeback!? I gripped my sword tighter and smiled. "Fight with me, little dragon!" The Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s whiskers swayed, and it let out a stunning roar before rushing toward the Giant Buck Cavalry. Because it was floating about one yard above the ground, it almost looked like it was crawling on the ground. Obviously, that wasn¡¯t the case. The second I reached Copper Spear and his goons, I immediately used Thousand Ice Slash! Boom! Countless damage numbers rose into the air¡ª 154277! 137739! 183734! ¡­¡­ Motherfucker! If even Thousand Ice Slash could do this much damage, Burning Blade Slash was sure to one-shot all of them! Next, I locked onto the center of the Giant Buck Cavalry troop and ordered, "Little dragon, Summon the Storm!" The Ancient Divine Dragon roared again and surrounded itself with ice. A pitch black cloud gathered in the sky at an impossible speed before raining lightning and ice onto the ground. Countless 100k+ damage numbers rose to the air as all Giant Buck Cavalry within a 100x100 yard square began falling like flies. Less than 10 seconds later, all Giant Buck Cavalrymen had turned into experience, equipment, potions and, of course, corpses. Swhoosh! In fact, I killed so many people in one go that I had risen to Level 207. This grinding speed is just... ¡­¡­ "What the fuck is that?" Copper Spear stared the Ancient Divine Dragon in disbelief. He simply couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing no matter what; couldn¡¯t believe that over a thousand Giant Buck Cavalry had turned into dead bodies in an instant. I didn¡¯t kill Copper Spear. Instead, I focused on the Giant Buck Cavalry around him and killed everyone. I made the Ancient Divine Dragon rise about 20 yards above the ground before firing a sword aura into the crowd. It tore a 20-yard-long crack on the ground and one-shot all the mages and archers who were unfortunate enough to stand in its path. This beauty was a divine beast alright. Who would¡¯ve thought that my basic attack would become this powerful? Copper Spear shouted, "Archers, use Shock Arrows and Mountain Stagger Arrows to knock him off the dragon! We¡­ we cannot let Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand defeat our server like this, we cannot¡­" Copper Spear was so shaken that even his voice had begun to shake. The archers raised their longbows and shot at me, but the shots bounced off the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s scales like nothing. Even the mages¡¯ Touches of the Dragonkiss and Icicle Thrusts could only do triple or even double digit damage to me. It wasn¡¯t even enough damage to outpace my Regeneration of the Undead. How embarrassing. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! I attacked mercilessly and carved up the ground of Final Duel Valley like sushi, leaving behind heaps of dead Purple Grape City players. Finally, Copper Spear couldn¡¯t withstand the slaughter-style PK any longer. After all, it wasn¡¯t just a matter of one level. Dying here meant losing everything. "With¡­ withdraw!! Withdraw now! We wait until the Descent of the One Hundred Gods guild replenishes their experts! Anyone below Level 190 can¡¯t even damage him¡­" Copper Spear escaped, and the remaining Giant Buck Cavalrymen scattered like rabbits. ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t chase after them because I had something more important to do. I took every piece of equipment on the ground and did some mental calculation. Yeah, this should be enough to evolve my Purple Ying Sword! Chapter 1070: Gifting Cities After I returned to the NPC camp, I slapped Xinran¡¯s shoulder once and said, "You can get down now. Why do you insist on riding my dragon when you have your own anyway? It¡¯s bad manners, you know¡­" Xinran was sitting in my lap when I asked her this question. Obviously reluctant to leave, she caressed the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s head while answering, "Big brother, please promise me you¡¯ll take Xinran on another dragon-riding journey one day. Your Ancient Divine Dragon smells so much nicer than the Winged Silver Dragon. That brute smells like it just got out of a cesspool¡­" Said Winged Silver Dragon suddenly let out a painful screech before falling right on top of a hill of Dragonbone Mountain Range. At the same time, Bloody Finger patted his battle garment with a laugh. "You are as observant as you are intelligent, master. The bastard has just climbed out of a cesspool!" What should I even say in this situation? Both the undead and the dragon Xinran "recruited" to her side were truly one of a kind! ¡­¡­ I leaped down the Ancient Divine Dragon without even bothering to check out my surroundings. I wasn¡¯t afraid that someone might be lying in ambush because mounting the Ancient Divine Dragon was way faster than mounting my Armored Ice Qilin Horse. The former took only 0.5 seconds to complete, while the latter took at least 1.5 seconds and thus was very risky to perform when in combat. Even better, summoning the Ancient Divine Dragon itself took less than a second to perform, and in the case my mount tenacity was emptied, it could be resummoned after just 5 minutes. High-rank mounts were OP like that. I returned to the blacksmith, pushed the equipment in my bag into his hands and said, "Here you go. I want to exchange them all for refinement points, thank you!" "Aha, you are back, my beloved undead warrior!" The blacksmith smiled like a flower. Very soon, the Purple Ying Sword attained enough refinement points to undergo the evolution. The action wasn¡¯t performed at the blacksmith¡¯s action screen, however. I needed to tap on the weapon itself to evolve it! I took the Purple Ying Sword backand watched as an "Evolve" button appeared in front of me. Once I tapped it, the weapon would begin its evolution. My finger shivered a bit as I pressed the button. Immediately, a ray of light burst out of the Purple Ying Sword¡¯s blade and shot into the sky. Not only that, the ground began to shake to its motion as well. God damn, I should¡¯ve known that the evolution of a mortal weapon to a Divine Armament would be extraordinary! Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your item "Purple Ying Sword" has evolved into an Ancient Divine Armament! ¡­¡­ I was overjoyed. I initially thought that it would evolve into a Cambrian divine weapon, but it skipped that tier outright and became an Ancient Divine Armament right away! Already, I could spot some minor differences in its appearance. A seemingly infinite amount of golden divine energy had seeped into the blade and made it look even more translucent than before. It was also surrounded by haloes of divine energy. When I checked the Purple Ying Sword¡¯s new stats, I was so happy I almost fainted on the spot¡ª Purple Ying Sword (Ancient Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 8500~10500 Strength: +1950 Stamina: +1900 Agility: +1850 Tactics: +225 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 175% Passive: Increases user¡¯s splash effect by 65% Passive: When swinging the Purple Ying Sword, there is a 5% chance to deal 7 times more damage than normal. This effect can be stacked with critical hits. Slots: 15 (15) Outstanding Property: Mountain Crush. When attacking a target, has a small chance to destroy the opponent¡¯s equipment durability and render it useless. When attacking a building or a mine, greatly increase the shatter effect. Effect 1: Proficiency. Level Requirement is lowered by 35 Effect 2: Evolvable Effect 3: Lifesteal. 20% of the damage dealt is converted into HP Introduction: According to the legends of the ancient times, during the conception of the world, an ancient god transformed their body into hills, rivers and forests. Their bones however were used to forge the ancient Purple Ying Sword. The character "Ying" symbolizes the monarch, which is why the sword is also known as the Sword of Kings. Back in the day, wielded by divine kings, it was used to slay countless devils. Today, for an unknown reason, most of its power has been sealed away. Perhaps it can evolve into something stronger. Level Requirement: 240 Reputation Requirement: 500000 ¡­¡­ My saliva nearly dripped down my lips. This was without a doubt the first weapon in the history of Heavenblessed ever to exceed 10k Attack. Not only that, it was a Level 240 Ancient Divine Armament. Its Proficiency effect lowered the Level Requirement by 35 and allowed me to use it despite being at Level 207, and its lifesteal had grown from 15% to 20%. If the Purple Ying Sword already had 20% lifesteal when I was fighting at Final Duel Valley, I might have been able to perform better during the fight at the forest. Another great thing about the evolution was that its Mountain Crush effect had been drastically improved. Previously, the weapon had a super-low¡ªpossibly less than a thousandth¡ªchance to trigger its Mountain Crush effect. In fact, I didn¡¯t think it had triggered more than a handful of times since I came into possession of the weapon. Now though, its trigger chance had been upgraded to a whopping 5%, meaning that I could trigger it once every 20 swings or so. Even better, assuming that it triggered at the same time I landed a critical hit, I could deal as much as 14 times more damage than normal! How crazy was that? I happily equipped the Purple Ying Sword and felt its incredible power surge into my veins. A shiver later, I checked my stats again and noted that my Attack was much higher than before! ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Martial God of the Abyss) Class: Undead Swordsman (Great Earth Swordsman) Level: 207 HP: 419350 Attack: 18340~21170 Defense: 21215 Magic Resist: 18420 Reputation: 749400 Tactics: 1037 Luck: 74 ¡­¡­ A player¡¯s total attack power grew proportionally to base Attack, so to say that my offensive power had grown by leaps and bounds would be an understatement. My Tactics had also broken the 1000 mark, meaning that my Ancient Seal would be so much more deadly than it used to be. I fully expected it to one-shot everything when it reached the limits of its growth! I was so happy I could hop like mad. After dancing on the knife¡¯s edge that was Final Duel Valley for several days and getting within a hair¡¯s breadth of dropping to Level 0, I was finally compensated for all the blood, tears and sweat I had shed. Now that I was armed with a new Divine Rank mount and weapon, I was actually looking forward to returning to Final Duel Valley. I would make the Japanese regret ever targeting Floating Ice City for eternity! "Are you going to kill some more, big brother?" Xinran asked me. I sheathed my weapon and smiled at her. "Not now. I¡¯ve killed way too many people already in the past couple of days¡­" "Mn mn." She grabbed my hand and said, "Will you keep me company then, big brother? Once I return to God¡¯s Domain, it¡¯ll be a long time before I get to see you again¡­" "Sire!" I held her small hands tighter, and we strolled through the forest just like the day she wanted to become a priest and set off on her first ever journey. The Ancient Divine Dragon followed behind me, the Phantom Wolf King went into stealth and stood guard, and the Winged Silver Dragon and Bloody Finger followed us from the sky to protect their master from danger. Winged Silver Dragon blinked its ugly big eyes as it watched us. "Yo skull head, do you see that? Our master¡¯s older brother is holding our master¡¯s hand! Do you think it¡¯s¡­ love? I¡¯ve never seen her smiling this happy before. What is love anyway? The only connection I can think of is that young dragoness with pink horns I used to fancy when I was younger. Her cries were so sweet, and every time she took a bath by the waterfall I couldn¡¯t help but¡ª" Pa! Bloody Finger slapped the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s head immediately and said, "Shut the hell up, you perverted dragon! I can¡¯t believe you did something like that! Love is not for the likes of you to sully! Hmph, there is only one woman I love in my life, and no one can ever replace her¡­" The Winged Silver Dragon snorted. "Let me guess, Her name¡¯s Sophie, and she¡¯s the one who lopped off your damned head?" Bloody Finger shuddered from head to toe. A while later, he answered, "Love may betray me, but I will never betray love¡­" On the ground, Xinran suddenly looked up at the duo and said, "Quiet, you two!" "Yes, my beautiful and innocent master¡­" the Winged Silver Dragon answered immediately. ¡­¡­ I continued to walk along the small path, unafraid of the handful of Purple Grape City players watching me from the distance at all. This wasn¡¯t Final Duel Valley, so killing me here wouldn¡¯t be worth anything. Even if they tried, the chance of them killing me was a big fat zero. I bet Purple Grape City was erupting like a volcano right now. The emergence of a divine dragon rider must¡¯ve shaken the Japan¡¯s server confidence like nothing before. It was bad enough that I had become unstoppable and near invulnerable, I had proven that even the likes of Copper Spear and the Giant Buck Cavalry were incapable of hurting me anymore. Who else could threaten me after today? Red Maple, Cyan Frost, Purple Thunder and more were Level 0¡¯d during the Nation War, Asura Period had lost almost 10000 Giant Buck Cavalrymen at Final Duel Valley, and the Descent of the One Hundred Gods made up of the top arena experts of the Japan server were sitting on single digits. This wasn¡¯t just humiliation anymore, this was like a demon king daring the puny humans to test his mettle. Too bad for the Japanese, they no longer had the strength to challenge me anymore. Had Red Maple and God¡¯s Domain core experts still had their equipment and levels, then they might¡¯ve been able to organize an attack that could potentially deal a fatal blow to me. That wasn¡¯t the case, however. The War of Purple Grape City had greatly damaged the Japan server¡¯s strength, making them at least 30% weaker than they had been a week earlier. Now, they were so weak that they had to watch all their borders at all times. There was a saying called "there are no eternal allies, only eternal profit¡±. The reason Elephant City and Cyan Earth City of the India server cooperated with Purple Grape City at the beginning was because the latter had wielded enough power to be treated as equals. Assuming that I hadn¡¯t abandoned Purple Grape City, the Indians might¡¯ve betrayed the Japanese within the same period, riden across Soaring Flame Desert and Thunder Mountain Range, and taken Purple Grape City for themselves. This was how any true power should act. ¡­¡­ "Are you tired, big brother?" Xinran asked me with a smile. "No? What¡¯s wrong?" "I would like to rest for a bit. Is that okay?" "Sure!" I sat down on a fallen tree trunk while Xinran planted her Dragonbone Spear on the ground next to me. Shen then vanished into the leaves for a bit before returning with a handful of big mushrooms. She shot me a beautiful smile and said, "Big brother, if you can get me a wild pheasant, I can cook you a pot of chicken and mushroom soup¡­" I licked my lips hungrily. "I really want to, but Wild Pheasant Ridge is just too far away from here. Maybe next time, Xinran." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a red name player rode up to us and dismounted. She stared at me in disbelief and said, "Unbelievable. Is there any time you aren¡¯t fooling around with girls?" The newcomer was none other than Chaos Moon. "What¡¯s wrong?" I asked her. Chaos Moon replied through gritted teeth, "Something terrible happened at Sky City!" "What is it?" "It¡¯s Daybreak City. The tier 2 main city is about to become another country¡¯s city very soon! Ah, it pisses me off so much just thinking about it!" "What!? Who¡¯s the attacker?!" "It¡¯s not that. Someone is trying to gift our city away!" "What?!" My eyes bulged in disbelief. "Gift our city away? You¡­ you¡¯re saying that a traitor has appeared in our server?!" Chapter 1071: A Hero’s Betrayal "What¡¯s the situation?" I asked. Chaos Moon sat down next to me, plucked a wood ear from the dead tree trunk and examined it for a moment. She then threw it away before answering, "Did you know that Soul Battle Robes lay low during the few days after the Nation War? It was only now that we learned that Song of Cloud and Water, that ambitious little girl, was carrying out an SSS Rank quest. With Ringwraith, Song of Ice and Fire and God Bone by her side, she successfully completed a quest to kill a faction leader and killed the duke of Daybreak City. Her reward was a map¡­" "Oh? A map?" "Mn. It¡¯s a quest item, and its full name is the ¡®City Map of Daybreak City¡¯. The player with this map can, after paying a certain price, appoint any NPC to become the new lord of Daybreak City. Assuming that this map falls in the hands of a player of another server¡­ You understand what I¡¯m saying, don¡¯t you?" I instinctively punched the trunk beneath me while swearing, "What the fuck! This is just bullshit!" "I know right?" Chaos Moon gritted her teeth. "Even worse, our worst fear became a very real possibility. God Bone was ambushed at a canyon entrance and killed¡­" "Who ambushed him?" "It was Now and Forever, the vice leader of Sword Lord of Jianghu!" "Fuck!" I clenched my fists. "Let me guess, he¡¯s also the traitor, isn¡¯t he?" "Correct." Chaos Moon nodded. "Tang Long is facing massive pressure from the public right now, and Sword Lord of Jianghu was absolutely wrecked by Bloody Mercenaries. If I¡¯m not mistaken, Now and Forever broke up with Tang Long completely and left the China server for Elephant City. From the looks of it, he¡¯s even planning to change his in-game nationality. It doesn¡¯t get more traitorous than this." I sucked in a deep breath. "That goddamned map¡­ it¡¯s a tier 2 main city, dammit. After the destruction of Floating Ice City, we only have eight tier 2 cities left. We can¡¯t afford to lose another one¡­" Chaos Moon said, "Mn. The map is in Now and Forever¡¯s hands right now, but it can only be used after 24 hours have passed. That is why Warsky, Candlelight Shadow, Beauty Lin and Strange of Three Lifetimes are all hunting after Now and Forever at the borders of Elephant City. There¡¯s a high chance they¡¯re not going to succeed though. Elephant City¡¯s players had set up a ton of Ivory Towers at Thunder Mountain Range, and we are unable to launch another Nation War so soon after the War of Purple Grape City. Our hands are tied, so to speak." I leaned dejectedly against the giant rock behind me. Chaos Moon blinked at me before asking, "So, what I¡¯m asking is this: Do you have any idea you would like to share with us? Eve, Li Chengfeng and the others have gone to Thunder Mountain Range with a ton of siege weapons, but again, there¡¯s a high chance it¡¯ll be all for nothing." I licked my lips. "Give me some time. You dropped a bomb in my lap, at least give me some time to sort out the mess. If I try to invade Elephant City myself, the only outcome will be certain death, not even if I¡¯m a divine dragon rider right now. In fact, it might be worse since the Ivory Towers will be able to shoot me unimpeded in the sky. There¡¯s nothing worse than getting camped to Level 0¡­" Chaos Moon giggled and stared at the Ancient Divine Dragon coiled up next to us. She caressed its head and said, "This Ancient Divine Dragon is so handsome, hehe. I read up on grand feat in the Japanese forums while I was making my way over, you know. First, you ascended and became a dragon rider. Then, you wrecked the Giant Buck Cavalry so hard that they ran away. Tsk tsk, videos of your battle are going crazy on the China forums right now. It¡¯s astounding how amazing you are even when the situation is hopeless, Lu Chen... I curled my lips. "So what? Daybreak City is about to be gifted to the enemy for free. I¡¯m so upset I can hardly feel anything right now¡­" She rose to her feet, brushed her butt to get rid of the dust before gazing to the distance. "By the way, it¡¯s said that Red Maple is already at Level 130, so watch out. It won¡¯t be long before he grows strong enough to threaten you again. Also, don¡¯t enter Final Duel Valley willy-nilly again, okay? You may have been stripped of your in-game nationality, but you are literally the most popular player in the entire China right now. Your actions are literally watched by hundreds of millions of people, so you don¡¯t get to risk yourself like your life doesn¡¯t matter anymore. Also¡­ we are all waiting for our king to return to us!" I smiled. "I know. Don¡¯t worry about me. Are you leaving? Be careful not to die on your return trip." "Die?" Chaos Moon chuckled before pulling out a return scroll. "Who can possibly stop me from leaving?" "Pooh!" "Heehee!¡¯ A flash later, Chaos Moon vanished and returned to Sky City. She had come all the way here just to bring me the message, but I couldn¡¯t say that I enjoyed it all that much. It was almost impressive how Now and Forever could betray his country like nothing. Perhaps the only thing that mattered to him was profit, and shame didn¡¯t even exist in his dictionary. After Chaos Moon left, I resumed chatting with Xinran for almost an hour. Finally, an idea flashed through my mind. There might be other ways, but for now it seemed to be the only viable way left to take back the City Map of Daybreak City. I patted Xinran on the shoulder and said, "It¡¯s time, Xinran. Big brother has something big to do, so you should head back to God Domain and work hard as well!" Xinran blinked once before asking, "Do you want me to come with you and¡­ protect you, big brother?" I immediately raised my sword and declared confidently, "No need! An exceptional expert like me doesn''t need the protection of¡­ a little girl!" "Is that so?" Xinran opened her palm and conjured a lightning ball. The sky literally changed due to the sheer power contained within the spell. She giggled at me and said, "Care to amend your statement, big brother? I am no fragile little girl!!" I surrendered immediately. "Fine, fine, I get it. Anyway, I really have to go, so see you later!" "Mn! See you later, big brother!" "Bye!" ¡­¡­ Xinran jumped into the air and took off with Bloody Finger and Winged Silver Dragon. I myself went back to the NPC camp to repair my equipment and stock up on supplies. This time though, my destination wasn¡¯t Final Duel Valley anymore. After mounting the Ancient Divine Dragon, I flew south where Thunder Mountain Range, the territory of Elephant City lay. "Roar roar¡­" The Ancient Divine Dragon zipped across the sky like lightning. After we reached cruising altitudes, I nearly lost my grip of my own mount and had to make a frantic grab for the vines. The vines were meant to hold up the magic lamp, but I supposed the game wouldn¡¯t mind me using it as a makeshift rein. Also, I finally understood why a mighty divine beast like the Ancient Divine Dragon would have a cutesy magic lamp on its head. It allowed me to ignore the vision range penalty that was usually imposed on a player when nighttime arrived. The wind was so strong that I almost couldn¡¯t open my eyes. When I opened my mouth, I felt like the wind could punch through my throat. I hurriedly shut my mouth and buried my head beneath the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s head. At full speed, the Divine Rank mount was just too fast. It was even faster than Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun with Flying General active! The ground moved behind me as we soared. Less than ten minutes later, I ordered the Ancient Divine Dragon to descend. Beneath me was none other than the Thunder Mountain Range, and just a few days ago Elephant City had climbed across the same mountain range to come to Purple Grape City¡¯s rescue. We flew over the mountain range and descended on the other side! Pa! After I landed on solid ground, I withdrew the Ancient Divine Dragon immediately. In its adult form, my little dragon was just way too eye-catching. Anyone who saw it would be able to identify me immediately. For now, it would be best if I remained unmounted. I could enter stealth if things got dangerous, and to a stranger I was just another red name. ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t need to venture far before I spotted my first player. He was a young 19-year-old tamer who was commanding two Praying Mantises and one Wasp to attack a dread-rank Ironback Bear. The way he fought was so bad that even I couldn¡¯t bear to see it much longer. So I Charged the Ironback Bear and cut it down with the Purple Ying Sword. To my surprise, my weapon arm turned ice cold all of a sudden. Seriously? I triggered the new Mountain Crush effect already? Shred! 927780! The Ironback Bear died as a matter of course. The young tamer looked like he wanted to thank me until he saw the color of my ID. He immediately blabbered in fear, "Ah, a-a red name¡­" I almost couldn¡¯t believe it. Was this the first time he encountered a red name? Just how new was he? I charged him and punched him in the chest. I wasn¡¯t trying to kill him though. I put just enough strength into my fist to knock him to the rock behind him before planting my sword to his neck. From this position, all I needed to do was exert a little bit of strength, and his head would fall off just like that. The tamer stared at me with panicked eyes. "W-what do you want, hero? I only have 18 gold with me! You can take all of it if you want!" I smiled. "Calm down, brother. I don¡¯t want your gold, I just want a favor from you!" "What favor?" "I want you to bring someone to me!" "Okay, who?" "Flowing Cloud!" "What?!" The tamer¡¯s eyes widened. "You want me to bring the war goddess over? That¡¯s impossible! She¡¯s the goddess of countless nerds! More importantly, she¡¯ll never give a guy like me a second glance!" I smiled again. "And she doesn¡¯t need to. All you need to do is send her a friend request with the message ¡®Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is looking for you¡¯!" "Really? You sure?" "Yep." The tamer looked at me with skepticism, but he did it anyway because his life was in my hands. A few minutes later, he shot me a disbelieving look. "What¡¯s wrong? Is she ignoring you?" I asked. "No¡­" the tamer said in a shaky voice, "s-s-s-s-he added me as a friend¡­ me¡­" I rolled my eyes. "Grow some balls, man!" The tamer grew embarrassed. "Oh right, Flowing Cloud is asking me to ask you where you want to meet her. She says she¡¯s coming to meet you herself¡­" I nodded. "Just give her our current coordinates. And no, you can¡¯t leave yet. I will lop off your head if Flowing Cloud shows up with an army, understand? Don¡¯t doubt my sincerity." "Of course, I wouldn¡¯t dare¡­" ¡­¡­ About 20 minutes later, the war goddess of Elephant City, the female warrior Flowing Cloud appeared on her signature white horse. "What is it, Lu Chen?" Flowing Cloud asked immediately after she dismounted. I smiled at her. "I want to talk to you about something¡­" "Okay!" She nodded encouragingly. Next to me, the nerd tamer stared at Flowing Cloud¡¯s pale, firm legs and swallowed visibly. He looked happy enough to faint on the spot. I shot him a glance before removing the Purple Ying Sword from his neck. Then, I faced Flowing Cloud directly and said, "You already know what I¡¯m here for, don¡¯t you?" Flowing Cloud smiled. "I don¡¯t? You¡¯ll have to clarify." I said seriously, "I¡¯ve thought carefully about your offer earlier. My own people betrayed me, and the Japanese threaten me everyday. I fought day in and day out at Final Duel Valley, but all I got was the cold shoulder. I can no longer stand this treatment. That is why I¡¯ve decided to enter the India server and join Elephant City. But don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you beforehand: I expect to get paid ultra-generous for my services!" Flowing Cloud¡¯s eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "You¡­ you¡¯re serious? This¡­ this is wonderful! Hahaha! I¡¯m so happy! Have you truly made up your mind? Very well, I will do my best to get you the treatment you deserve. I will contact God of War, Breeze and Rain, and Dark Clouds Sorrow right now! You will be pleasantly surprised, I promise!" Chapter 1072: Foreign Guild Leader (1) "Contact God of War and Breeze and Rain?" I hesitated for a moment before confirming, "You sure? During the War of Purple Grape City, I killed Breeze and Rain with my own hands. Can you promise me that they¡¯ll not attack me immediately?" Flowing Cloud giggled. "Relax, neither God of War nor Breeze and Rain are narrow-minded people, and you should have more confidence in your abilities. You¡¯re the man who stands at the top of the continent right now. If you truly wish to join Elephant City, God of War will only welcome you with open arms. Seriously." "Well, okay¡­" I nodded. "Stay here while you contact them. I¡¯m worried that I might be surrounded and attacked the moment you¡¯re gone." "Hehe, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not leaving!" Flowing Cloud sat down on a giant rock beside me, the pearl necklace hanging beneath her battle garment swaying to the movement of her legs. After she planted her sword on the ground, she began contacting all the major figures of India. Around 15 minutes later, Flowing Cloud turned around and shot me a smile. "Alright, done. In half an hour, God of War, Breeze and Rain, Wild King, Dark Clouds Sorrow, Ironscale and more will arrive at this location and discuss your joining. How do you like that? By the way, there¡¯s another Chinese force joining Elephant City besides you." I carefully hid the gleam in my eyes and asked her smilingly, "Who¡¯s that?" "The guild leader of Sword Lord of Jianghu, Now and Forever. From what I heard, he¡¯s bringing over the map of a tier 2 city. That¡¯s why he was treated as an honored guest by the guild leader of Dark Clouds!" A bit of disdain crept onto Flowing Cloud¡¯s features. "You left because you were betrayed by your whole country. Now and Forever though, he¡¯s just a little man who¡¯s acting on his greed!" I turned around, sat on a black rock on the opposite side of Flowing Cloud and asked, "What kind of treatment Now and Forever got for joining the India server?" Flowing Cloud hummed a bit before answering, "I¡¯m not too sure, but from what I heard, Dark Clouds Sorrow had promised personally to treat him as an honored guest, and he even sent 10 million RMB to his bank account as proof of his sincerity. He has also sent his men to the China server to receive the deserter." I licked my lips. "Has Dark Clouds Sorrow gotten the map yet? No, that makes no sense. If that was the case, he wouldn¡¯t be in such a rush to receive Now and Forever." Flowing Cloud burst into a giggle. "Smart boy. You¡¯re correct. Now and Forever is a very pragmatic person, and he¡¯s demanding a total payment of 50 million RMB and long-term stay in India for the map. Until that happens, he won¡¯t be giving up the map easily. That being said, he¡¯s probably plotting a flight to India very soon. At the latest tomorrow, the map will surely fall in Dark Clouds Sorrow¡¯s hands. Honestly, it¡¯s a bit annoying that the credit is going to him again¡­ Hmph!" I snorted in agreement as well. Flowing Cloud shot me another smile and said, "Well, this doesn¡¯t matter to you anyway. I understand that you¡¯ve been living in fear and despair ever since you were left behind in Final Duel Valley. I promise you that you¡¯ll never go through an experience like this again. Just give me the word, and both I and my guild will do my best to support you. We are comrades now." I smiled but didn¡¯t answer her. ¡­¡­ Half an hour later, an incredible amount of players started flooding into this part of the mountain range. Among them were elites such as the Divine Elephant Cavalry, the Beast King Cavalry, the Lightning Archers, the White Horse Cavalry and more. There were only ten thousand of them or so, but they were all elites that weren¡¯t to be underestimated, not to mention that God of War, Breeze and Rain, Wild King and more were among them. God of War was wielding a fiery warblade when he rode up to us and dismounted. Judging from the energy circling around his blade, he was probably in a battle-ready state. I immediately rose to my feet and summoned the spinning image of a dragon around my arm as well. It was the visual effect when summoning the Ancient Divine Dragon. If necessary, I could summon it in less than a second and transform into a dragon knight. God of War might not know the details, but I was sure he knew better than to treat me lightly. The same went for me, of course. I must remain on guard at all times, or they could stab me in the back and kill me. Without a main city to return to, I could only revive at a nearby graveyard. There were few fates worse than having your corpse camped ad infinitum. "Hahaha¡­" God of War let out a refreshing laugh and sheathed his weapon abruptly. He said smilingly, "There is no need for such hostility, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. If you¡¯ve truly resolved yourself to join the India server, then we will only welcome you with open arms. From now on, a new Divine General joins Elephant City!" Breeze and Rain smiled as well. "God of War is right." The Level 192 Wild King didn¡¯t look as happy as they were though. He plastered an obviously fake smile on his face and said, "Did the pain and despair finally get to you after 3 days of desperate fighting in Final Duel Valley? Haha! You will come to realize that you¡¯ve made a wise decision. With Elephant City and Cyan Earth City as your shield, no one will be able to bully you anymore." My eyes turned cold, and I leaped down from the rock I was standing on. After I landed on my feet, I shattered the rock in one swing before growling, "Listen here, Wild King. I¡¯m joining the India server, not surrendering to it, so you¡¯d best stop talking to me like you¡¯re my lord or something. If the India server cannot give me the respect I deserve, then I will happily go somewhere else!" "Wow, calm down! Let¡¯s talk this out peacefully, shall we?" God of War interrupted with an awkward chuckle before continuing, "It is only right to repay sincerity with sincerity, so we will grant you the respect and the freedom you deserve. We promise not to restrict you in any way. Now then, let¡¯s talk about your treatment. What do you want for joining the India server?" I smiled. "I¡¯m definitely going to be charged with treason after this, so I won¡¯t be able to stay in China. Book me a flight ticket to India in 3 days and prepare an accommodation for me. I also want 20 million as compensation. Is this reasonable?" God of War laughed. "20 million RMB? That¡¯s not a problem at all!" I smiled wider. "No, not RMB. I¡¯m talking USD!" "Ugh..." Breeze and Rain actually froze for a bit. "This is daylight robbery!" God of War hurriedly silenced him before continuing, "Enough, Breeze and Rain. Anyway, I¡¯ve spoken to a member of our VR department, and 20 million USD isn¡¯t an unacceptable price. Also, to prove to you our sincerity, I, Ironscale, and Dark Clouds Sorrow have agreed to transfer a portion of our guild¡¯s elites to a new guild where you¡¯ll be the guild leader. I swear on my character that this new guild of yours will be among the strongest guilds in the entire world!" I thought for a moment. "You want me to be a guild leader?" "Yeah? Why, you don¡¯t want to?" This is a decision our VR department chief made, by the way. When he heard that you were going to join Elephant City a couple of minutes ago, he was so happy that he said that he¡¯ll grant you a title on the spot, with a guild to lead attached to it. Its name is ¡®War Temple¡¯. If you join Elephant City, then you will become India¡¯s one and only King of War!" The corner of my lips turned up. If there was one thing I was certain about this whole thing, it would be that the India server was thirsting for talent like a man searching for water in the desert. After my outstanding performance during the Wars of Dawn City and Purple Grape City, even a department chief from a foreign country was lusting after my abilities. "Very well. King of War isn¡¯t a bad name¡­" I replied. God of War laughed. "Then it¡¯s settled. Welcome to the India server, Lu Chen. We can transfer you the 20 million USD [1] you demand right now. When you transfer over, we¡¯ll help you change your player nationality as well." "Mn, got it." ¡­¡­ A brief and somewhat awkward silence later, Dark Clouds Sorrow said, "Sword Lord of Jianghu¡¯s guild leader will be arriving at Mumbai tomorrow afternoon, and I¡¯m going to receive him myself. We should be able to complete our transaction around late afternoon, so¡­ let¡¯s hold the ceremony at Elephant Canyon, God of War. Maybe we can hold Lu Chen¡¯s coronation ceremony at the same time as well¡­" God of War nodded. I chuckled. "King¡¯s coronation? Forget it. All I want is safe refuge. Purple Grape City¡¯s players¡¯ ¡®love¡¯ was growing too much for me to handle." Breeze and Rain smiled. "I thought you¡¯ve become a dragon knight already?" I curled my lips. "Ever heard of the saying ¡®two fists cannot beat four hands¡¯? Even if I have a dragon-type mount, I can still be stunned by Shock Arrows and damaged by Touch of the Dragonkiss. How much does it take to overwhelm a person?" Breeze and Rain laughed in agreement. "That¡¯s true. No matter how strong you are, there¡¯s no beating the human sea attack, not to mention that all of Japan¡¯s experts were gathered in Final Duel Valley. It¡¯s seriously impressive that you were able to last three days¡­" I didn¡¯t say anything more than that. No one here knew the true extent of the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s power just yet. They probably guessed that it was powerful, but not how utterly broken it was. I fully intended to keep it that way until the cat was inevitably out of the bag. I was no longer under the umbrella that was my country, so the more aces I had up my sleeves, the better. God of War checked the time and said, "Alright. Can you wait for a moment, Lu Chen? I¡¯m going to mobilize the men and assemble your new guild right away. The Top 10 guilds of Cyan Earth City and Elephant City will all be contributing their experts into your new War Temple guild. I promise you that you won¡¯t be disappointed with its strength." I nodded. A while later, a large group of players appeared at the edge of the forest. Their guild emblem was an axe; the symbol of War Temple. They had used a Rank 7 guild¡¯s shell to form the guild, which meant that I would be commanding a force of 50k players immediately, with an average level of 182. God of War was definitely being sincere about this. This guild contained some of India¡¯s highest-leveled players and was ridiculously powerful. "Guild leader!" A dozen or so White Horse Cavalrymen dismounted and greeted me politely. I smiled and greeted back, "Nice to see you all¡­" ¡­¡­ Motherfucker, I don¡¯t seriously have to be a foreign guild leader, do I?! 1. Context from raw: ¡°¾ö¶¨ÁË£¬2000WRMB£¬¼´¿Ì¡± (Truth¡¯s Note: U-fucking-SD, author, you literally typed this like 5 paragraphs ago how the hell did you screw this up) Chapter 1073: The Definition of Trust I sat at the edge of Thunder Mountain Range and gazed into the distance. Below me was an army of Elephant City players galloping around the valley almost as if they were trying to intimidate me. Of course, it was just God of War and the other Indian experts¡¯ way of showing off my new, 50k-strong guild¡¯s prowess to me, even though their loyalty was obviously questionable. "Guild leader!" It was at this moment a Level 194 spear-wielding magic knight walked up to me and said with a smile, "We¡¯ve heard about your situation in China, guild leader. There¡¯s no need to compromise with someone like Tang Long. Once we¡¯ve gathered our strength, we shall sweep Sky City and take revenge for you, guild leader! I¡¯m sure we¡¯re strong enough to do it!" My eyes turned steely. "What did you say?" Flowing Cloud immediately coughed once for the vice leader to shut up before saying, "Lu Chen may have made the decision to join us, but he is a Chinese in his heart. I¡¯ve promised him that War Temple will not be attacking China without his express permission, so we shall not talk about this again, understand?" I smiled. Flowing Cloud had incredible PvP skills, but another reason she was able to rise above many others was because she possessed keen eyes and good judgment. Without these qualities, she could be a great commander, but never a true ruler. It was at this moment I heard a knocking sound. Flowing Cloud noticed my weird expression and asked me, "What¡¯s wrong?" I hesitated for a moment before replying, "Someone¡¯s knocking on my helmet¡­" "Heehee. Is it your lover?" "No, I don¡¯t think so¡­" "Well, go do your thing. We¡¯ll meet up tomorrow at this spot, okay?" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ I took out my tent, went inside, and logged out of the game. After I took off my helmet, I was greeted by Chaos Moon¡¯s angry glare. The red-faced girl questioned angrily, "What the hell is going on, Lu Chen? Everyone in the forums is saying that you¡¯ve turned traitor and joined Elephant City! Is this true?" I nodded. "Yep, it is." "But why?" Chaos Moon clenched her fists tightly. "Are you really going to change your beliefs just because of one Tang Long? You¡¯re Chinese! How can you allow yourself to be lumped up in the same category as that disgusting Now and Forever?" I grabbed her shaking shoulders and asked her, "Do you trust me, Chaos Moon?" "Ah?" Her mouth remained agape for a while before she nodded. "Of course. I wouldn¡¯t have come with you alone to an unfamiliar place otherwise." "In that case, I ask that you continue to trust in me. Don¡¯t ask me why no matter what I do during this time. In time, the truth will reveal itself. Okay?" "Fine. But you¡¯d better avoid the forums for now. Trust me, it¡¯s really bad¡­" "Oh? Is that so?" I made a grab for my notebook anyway, causing Chaos Moon to grit her teeth in frustration. "Are you a masochist? Do you enjoy punishment that much? Hmph!" ¡­¡­ I brought up the China server forums, and as expected the big red title hanging at the home page stated: "Little Heavenly King Falling Dust joins the India server? Is it a conscious choice, or a lack thereof?" The post below the title wrote: "A few hours ago, trusted sources reported that Lu Chen had come to an agreement with the senior executives of the India server, and that he¡¯ll be joining Elephant City as the leader of a new guild called ¡®War Temple¡¯. Moreover, Lu Chen was given the nickname ¡®King of War¡¯ even before he joined Elephant City. Why did the Little Heavenly King join Elephant City? Was it because the VR department pushed him too far, or was it because his loneliness and despair finally grew too much to bear?¡± ¡­¡­ Below the post was a lot of replies¡ª 1st comment: This can¡¯t be fake. Even India¡¯s official forums are reporting about Lu Chen¡¯s joining. Pooh! Little Heavenly King my ass, in the end he¡¯s just an honorless bastard! 2nd comment: Tang Long literally stripped Lu Chen of his in-game nationality, man. I would¡¯ve turned traitor in his place. Wanna guess who has the last laugh when Lu Chen conquers Sky City with Elephant City and reigns as the emperor? 3rd comment: Are you serious, 2nd poster? Even if Sky City falls to Elephant City, what makes you think that Lu Chen will get to be emperor before all the other Indian experts? Do you seriously think that Lu Chen is as dumb as you? 4th comment: I understand Lu Chen¡¯s pain and despair, but¡­ that still isn¡¯t a good enough reason to join another country¡¯s server dammit! It never is! How could you do this?! You¡¯re Chinese! 5th comment: No comment. But I have some popcorn for what happens next. ¡­¡­ There were practically no positive comments from the beginning until the end. It wasn¡¯t long before my hands and feet turned as cold as ice, and my body twitched all over. I knew that this decision would earn me these accusations, but forewarned wasn¡¯t fore-armed in this case. Du du¡­" Suddenly, I received a phone call. It was Warsky. "Lu Chen!" Warsky yelled the second I accepted the call. I curled my lips as I replied, "Yeah, Warsky?" "Yeah!? Where the fuck have your morals fled to, huh!? You were the Little Heavenly King of China, and now you¡¯re joining the India server!? Do you even deserve your title anymore? I¡­ I will never accept this, Lu Chen! I cannot believe that a man who¡¯d destroy Purple Grape City for his brothers and sisters would do such an amoral thing!" "Calm down, Warsky!" "You owe me an explanation, bastard!" He raged. I raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? Who the hell do you think you are? I owe you nothing." "Don¡¯t forget this, Lu Chen!" Warsky¡¯s voice almost reached a shouting point. "You¡¯re joining the India server, is that it? Fine! But don¡¯t forget, for as long as I, Warsky, am alive, I will invade Elephant City one day and destroy you! I swear I won¡¯t stop until you¡¯re Level 0!" I chuckled. "Sure, whatever you say¡­" I hung up, sucked in a deep breath, and sank back into my chair. It felt like my willpower and strength were drained away in one go. ¡­¡­ "What on earth are you doing that you need to keep a secret even from me?" Chaos Moon asked while staring at me. "You¡¯ll know by tomorrow¡­" "Fine!" I shot her a smile before explaining, "It¡¯s safer if it remains a secret. Also, Warsky called and yelled at me, but not Eve, Yiyi, Little Gui or Chengfeng. Why? It¡¯s because they all trust me. They know I wouldn¡¯t have sold out my own country." "Fine, fine, I get it already. Come on, we can get back to the grind after we eat something nice¡­" "Mn." ¡­¡­ Bagua City was a tourist city, so it had quite the number of restaurants. After roaming the streets with Chaos Moon for a bit, we enjoyed a great meal at a Hunan restaurant before returning to the hotel. Chaos Moon went to grind with Li Chengfeng and Beiming Xue. I hung out a bit at Elephant Canyon before flying the Ancient Divine Dragon to Final Duel Valley again. Speaking of which, the number of players in Final Duel Valley was steadily decreasing. On the occasion a party did show up, it would be a huge blob of 1000 arches or mages. They all knew that it was impossible to beat me on my mount without a sufficient amount of ranged players. "Roar roar¡­" My little dragon waved its limbs as it rode above its colorful cloud and soared across the forest. Some time later, it looked back at me with its large, round eyes as if requesting my praise: Am I fast, master? "Over there, little dragon! Descend over there!" I unsheathed my sword as I led the Ancient Divine Dragon toward the ground. Then, I swung the Purple Ying Sword and unleashed Burning Blade Slash into a group of Fiery Scale Cavalrymen. It was a 3000-man party and the ace cavalry of Era of Strife. It was also supported by several hundred archers and mages or so. They were very, very careless though. Their mage and archer parties were at least three hundred meters away from their cavalry party. It gave me the chance to hit them without fear of retaliation. My new Ancient Divine Armament did an insane amount of damage as a matter of course. The Thousand Ice Slash I unleashed even triggered the septuple damage effect many times and dealt a ton of damage¡ª 153273! 904714! 172330! 1299417! ¡­¡­ Was that a million damage number I spotted? It was! God damn, it was fun slaughtering enemies like this. Moreover, the Fiery Scale Cavalrymen had such high levels that it made killing them extremely worth it. In a sense, Final Duel Valley¡¯s special setting was tailor-made for someone like me. In just a couple of seconds, my experience had jumped to Level 207, 19%! "Faster, archers! Stop him now! We must kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and stop him from fucking with us any longer!" a magic knight shouted. Another warrior uttered through gritted teeth, "Didn¡¯t Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand join India¡¯s Elephant City? So why is he still fighting against us?" The magic knight replied angrily, "Who the fuck knows? Maybe Elephant City wants this? Pooh! An alliance is just a paper contract. It can be shredded anytime you feel like it!" Meanwhile, the archers and mages finally caught up with their front party. They were the ones who could truly threaten me! ¡­¡­ I quickly turned the Ancient Divine Dragon around and took control of its targeting. A gigantic target surrounded a group of archers as I activated its signature skill, "Summon the Storm!" The dragon roared and worked its divine powers to my command. Very soon, the darkened sky began raining lightning, wind blades, icicles and more against the enemy. The archers and mages looked completely stunned. Everyone and everything within 100 yards [1] dropped to their knees and died. They just couldn¡¯t withstand its attack at all. I turned my mount around again and went back to slaughtering the Fiery Scale Cavalry. Their retaliation was to hit me with Trapping Nets. Most of the Trapping Nets did nothing to me, but a 0.5% chance to take effect was still a chance. Suddenly, both I and the Ancient Divine Dragon dropped to the ground! "Get him now! Kill him with Barrier Break!" the magic knight roared immediately. Countless Fiery Scale Cavalrymen rushed forward and pierced the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s scales with Barrier Breaks. I felt a bit of pain, but the actual damage numbers didn¡¯t satisfy my opponents at all¡ª 1928! 3298! 3223! ¡­¡­ They were all stunned. "What¡­ what is this Defense?" 1. Nabuch¡¯s Note: Unfortunately, it seems like the author uses ¡°within 100 yards¡± and ¡°in a 100x100 yard square¡± interchangeably. These are obviously much different. Area of a circle is approximately 3.1415926535897932384626433 times bigger. Yes. And no, I don¡¯t remember any more Chapter 1074: Always Loved You For a whole night, I wielded my Ancient Divine Armament, the Purple Ying Sword and the Ancient Divine Dragon and swept nearly the entire Final Duel Valley. At this point, most Purple Grape City¡¯s players didn¡¯t even dare to enter the map anymore. I could tell because I literally flew around the map in search of hundred-man parties or bigger, to no avail. While there were smaller groups of players still roaming the place in hopes of roleplaying a dragon slayer, I was sorry to say that their chance had passed. I checked my level. After a whole night of hard work, I was Level 209, but 97% away from hitting Level 210. I supposed that my dreams of hitting Level 210 before the appointed time were too much to ask for. After I logged out of the game, I received a message from Chaos Moon. "OMG, I cannot believe you spent the whole night fighting in Final Duel Valley. Has bloodlust gotten to you or something? Anyway, you should log out of the game and go to bed soon." I smiled at that. I ate the bread on the table and downed a glass of water. Then I slipped into my bed. It was time to sleep the entire morning away! ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t know how I appeared beside a hot street where green leaves swayed in the distance. All I knew was that I and a dozen or so people were waiting for a public transport to pass by. Suddenly, a Lamborghini slowed to a stop at the bus stop. The driver rolled down the car window slowly to reveal her flawless countenance. She stepped out of her car, walked up to me on her high heels and smiled at me. "So this is how you look, Lu Chen! Come on, I¡¯ll treat you to lunch today~~" He Yi grabbed my hand as I instinctively followed her. The moment we entered the car though, the world suddenly turned dark, and thunder roared against my ears. Through the occasional lightning flashes, I saw He Yi leaning limply in her seat, and her forehead covered in blood. She cried. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she groped blindly for my hands with her eyes closed. "Lu Chen¡­ Lu Chen¡­" she cried out softly as her long eyelashes shivered. I immediately caught her hand and said, "Boss, you¡­" He Yi said sobbingly, "I¡¯m the one who put a curse in your heart, so why am I still the one who¡¯s hurt every time it rains? Lu Chen, I¡¯m so, so tired of doing it all alone. Why can¡¯t you share some of my burden?" I hugged her tightly as a million emotions coursed through my heart. He Yi abruptly pushed me away and turned into Sun Qingqing. The girl pointed at me and cursed me as she cried, "Bastard! You¡¯re never around when Yiyi cries!" "Qingqing¡­" Sun Qingqing kept crying. Suddenly, a pair of arms hugged me from behind, and the scent of Lin Yixin¡¯s hair brushed against my nostrils. I turned around and saw her slowly dropping to her knees and curling into a ball in a corner of darkness. She looked like a helpless kitten. After she looked up at me with tear-stained cheeks but determined eyes, she murmured, "I will always love you no matter what happens, and I will make you happy with my own two hands! I don¡¯t trust anyone else to give you happiness! I will never give up on you until the day I die, Little Cheat!" I ran toward her with all my might, but like a mirage I couldn¡¯t get close to her no matter how I tried. Still watching me with blurry, tearful eyes, she sobbed, "I love you, you bastard. I can give up everything if I can be together with you¡­" Suddenly, I came to a sudden stop. Bloody arms had burst out of the earth all of a sudden and grabbed my legs tightly. "Fuck off!" I couldn¡¯t break free despite kicking away with all my might. The lower half of my body was quickly dragged into the earth, but I was too heartbroken by Lin Yixin¡¯s sorrowful expression to care for my own predicament. "No! Lu Chen! Give me back my Lu Chen¡­" Lin Yixin cried loudly as she faced toward the sky. Lightning kept flashing as huge drops of rainwater splashed against her cheeks. Tears sliding down my own cheeks, I climbed upward with all might to no avail. All I could do was shout in the general direction of Lin Yixin, "I love you, Lin Yixin! I love you! I¡¯ve always loved you!" Lin Yixin cried back, "I know, I¡¯ve always known, Little Cheat. I love you too, I love you too¡­" ¡­¡­ "AH!!" I abruptly sat up and wiped the cold sweat on my face. It was just a dream. But why did I have such a weird dream? Was it just a pressure-induced nightmare, or was it something else? What did the bloody arms mean? Did it represent Tang Long or a third, unknown force hidden within the foreign lands? How many more enemies would I have to face in the foreign lands now that I had lost the protection of the three main cities? I checked my phone and noted that it was past 11 am. Five hours of sleep was better than nothing, I supposed. I had important business later anyway! I called Chaos Moon, and we both went downstairs to enjoy the hotel¡¯s buffet. It was both fast and convenient. "Why are your eyes bloodshot, Lu Chen? You didn¡¯t sleep well?" Chaos Moon asked me while holding her fork and knife. I nodded. "Yeah." She giggled. "I know! You were missing guild leader Eve and Lin Yixin, so you spent the whole morning masturbating instead of sleeping! Am I right?" I stared at her. "How on earth did you get from this to that? And will it kill you to be a bit more conservative with this subject? Anyway, you¡¯re overthinking things. Eve, Yiyi, and I don¡¯t share that kind of relationship¡­" Chaos Moon snorted through her drink. "OMG, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re still a virgin." I blushed. "Seriously, can you not?" Chaos Moon rolled her eyes before pointing an accusing finger at me. "You seem to think I¡¯m praising you for being a virgin, but I can assure you that I¡¯m not. You¡¯d better pray that you last at least 30 seconds during your first time. I don¡¯t want to have to console Eve or Beauty Lin later!" A pair of uncles eating at the table next to ours immediately turned to stare at us. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out what they were astounded about. I shook my head and tossed half a lamb¡¯s leg into Chaos Moon¡¯s plate. "For heavens¡¯ sake, is this enough of a bribe to keep your mouth shut? Anyway, let¡¯s finish this up quickly. I have stuff to do at 12 pm later!" Chaos Moon giggled. "I know. You¡¯re attending the title conferment ceremony at Elephant City, right?" "Title conferment ceremony?" I asked in confusion, "I was told that there would be a meeting of sorts, but a title conferment ceremony? What¡¯s that?" Chaos Moon replied, "How do you not know about this? The servers are practically exploding with the news! Apparently, God of War, Flowing Cloud, Breeze and Rain and Wild King will be holding a title conferment ceremony for you at Elephant Canyon at noon. From what I heard, your ¡®coronation¡¯ is among them as well. Obviously, I don¡¯t know the exact details, but I do know that it won¡¯t be long before the India server and the China server will go to war. I even heard that Red Maple, Cyan Frost, Purple Thunder and more Japan experts will be attending the ceremony as allied representatives. It¡¯s very interesting. Only the India server knows how big the title conferment ceremony is going to be." I gripped my fork tighter and said, "God of War is a shrewd man who keeps his cards close to his chest, so it¡¯s better to be on guard for everything. It¡¯s thanks to him that everyone knows I¡¯m a ¡®traitor¡¯ pf my country in just a day¡¯s time. It is not a good feeling." Chaos Moon nodded. "Mn. Practically everyone besides Ancient Sword, Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips, Purple Lily and other allied guilds believes that you¡¯ve truly betrayed the China server. You should know that these people won¡¯t thank you for winning them the day again and again, but they¡¯ll definitely insult you once you¡¯re labeled a traitor. There are simply too many ingrates and mediocre people in this world." I didn¡¯t say anything as I sipped my soup. Chaos Moon continued, "Currently, Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, Peach Garden, Snowy Cathaya, Gods of Destruction, Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon, Rose of the Holy Domain, Hall of Immortality and more have assembled their troops to the north side of Thunder Mountain Range. Warsky claims that he¡¯ll declare war on Elephant City, cross over Thunder Mountain Range and ¡®stamp out the rebel¡¯ personally the second you accept your title." I raised my eyebrows. "Warsky? Hmph!" Chaos Moon asked me again, "Seriously, what are you planning?" I clenched my fists. "It¡¯s nothing complicated. I¡¯m just going to take back the City Map of Daybreak City Now and Forever wants to join the India server with. He cannot be allowed to succeed, or the China server will suffer a huge blow!" For a while, Chaos Moon could only stare at me with her mouth open. Then, she abruptly rose to her feet and moved so close that her face was only a few inches away from mine. She said angrily, "Are you insane? You think you can retake the city map alone? God of War isn¡¯t an idiot, he¡¯s definitely going to keep an eye on you! Even if you succeed, how do you plan to return to the China server alive? You may have the Ancient Divine Dragon, but that doesn¡¯t make you immune to death or infinite body camping! Don¡¯t underestimate Elephant City¡¯s power!" I stood up and pressed down on her shoulder comfortingly. "Calm down, I know what I¡¯m doing. I promise you I¡¯ll return safely¡­" "Hmph! Like I¡¯d believe that!" Chaos Moon dropped her utensils and her plate of crabs before walking away. I hurriedly caught up to her and grabbed her hand. "Hey! Where are you going?" Chaos Moon shook me off before saying, "Pooh! Where else? I¡¯m going online and contacting Eve right away! She¡¯ll take us to Elephant City and rescue your ass!" I pursed my lips. "Seriously, there¡¯s no need¡­" "You may not care about your own life, but we do!" Chaos Moon glared at me with red eyes. I could see that she was one push away from breaking into tears. Moved by her care for me, I grabbed her hands again and said, "Really, it¡¯ll be fine. If you¡¯re that worried about me, you can wait on the other side of Thunder Mountain Range. Don¡¯t come over though, the last thing anyone needs is a war right now. We just took down Purple Grape City, and we need this time to recover all our losses¡­" "I know. Hah, give me a moment to calm myself¡­" Chaos Moon sighed and fell quiet for a moment. Then, she looked up and said quietly, "You¡¯re such a weird man, Lu Chen. I don¡¯t know why, but us womenfolk just can¡¯t help but fall in love with you. It¡¯s not because you are rich, tall or handsome, but because you¡¯re so¡­ stupid. So, so stupid that we can¡¯t help but want to protect you, and be protected by you¡­" Surprised by her outburst, I said, "I would rather be the rich, tall, and handsome guy then¡­" Chaos Moon burst into a giggle before punching me playfully. "In your next life, maybe!" "..." Chapter 1075: Coronation I logged into the game at 11:45 am sharp, Beijing Time. I would be meeting God of War, Flowing Cloud and other India experts 15 minutes later, and I knew better than to be late for the huge gathering that was going to happen in Elephant Canyon. Swhoosh! After I appeared inside the tent, I opened the flap and was immediately greeted by glaring sunlight. It took me a few seconds to adjust to the lighting before I crawled out of the tent. A sea of people had already gathered at the large clearing at the center of Elephant Canyon. There had to be millions and millions of them at the very least. I couldn¡¯t imagine what kind of force had compelled all these people to come over when it wasn¡¯t even the Nation War. "Hi!" Flowing Cloud abruptly appeared next to me and slapped me on the shoulder. "You sure took your time, Lu Chen. I have been waiting for you." I smiled. "What would you do if I didn¡¯t come online?" Killing intent flashed across her features as Flowing Cloud balled her hands into fists. "I would immediately fly to China, find you and beat the crap out of you. That serious enough for you?" I nodded. "I¡¯m doubtful that you¡¯d be able to beat me, but yeah, it does sound pretty serious." "Hmph hmph, you¡¯d better don¡¯t give me the chance to prove myself!" Flowing Cloud gazed into the distance and said, "Come on, we can head over now. By the way, did you know that this is the first time Elephant City has been this lively since the game came out? Seriously!" I nodded. "Mn." ¡­¡­ As I followed Flowing Cloud, I set the Ancient Divine Dragon to be summonable at any moment. It was so that I could summon it the second something went wrong and ensure that I wouldn¡¯t be one-shot before I could do anything. I also summoned the little wolf. The second it spotted Flowing Cloud, the hair on its neck immediately stood on end, as it watched her with wary eyes. "Yo! Your wolf pet¡¯s pretty cute!" Flowing Cloud tried to rub the little wolf¡¯s head, but it backed away from her and let out a threatening growl. It was obvious that it still remembered that Flowing Cloud was an enemy. If she was He Yi or Lin Yixin, it would¡¯ve run rings around her miniskirt like a pug. "Hmph! You dare to bite me?" Flowing Cloud waved her fist playfully at the Phantom Wolf King. Don¡¯t let me catch you alone, or I¡¯ll turn you into hot pot soup tonight, heehee¡­" The little wolf returned to my side and stayed close to me. For now, there was no need to bother with Flowing Cloud. I could feel that she had full trust in me though. Out of everyone in the India server, she was the only one who wasn¡¯t on guard around me. I knew it because she wasn¡¯t the type who could hide her true feelings like God of War or Breeze and Rain. ¡­¡­ Flowing Cloud grabbed my hand and led the way. She said cheerfully to the players in front of us, "Please clear the way, thank you. Don¡¯t push!" Exclamations of admiration and surprise immediately erupted from the players¡ª "Ohh, isn¡¯t she our war goddess!? She¡¯s just as beautiful as she looks in the promotional posters¡­" "Eh? Who¡¯s that guy she¡¯s holding hands with?" "He looks like¡­ Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! He¡¯s that guy who beat the crap out of the Japanese players at Final Duel Valley! He actually came? What the fuck!" "At the end of the day, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is still Chinese. To accept him as our king is just¡­ unacceptable. We are the India server! How can we accept a Chinese player as our king? This is unacceptable!" "Yeah, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand cannot be allowed to become part of our Four Kings. He simply cannot!" ¡­¡­ "Heehee¡­" Flowing Cloud looked back at me with a consoling smile on her head. "Feel free to ignore their uninformed comments. Plus, a true leader won¡¯t allow his subjects to sway their opinion easily." I nodded. "I understand. By the way¡­ Now and Forever will be participating in this coronation ceremony too, right?" "Mn." Flowing Cloud replied, "What¡¯s wrong? You hate him?" I smiled. "His former boss is the entire reason I was kicked out of the China server. Do you really think I won¡¯t begrudge him for that?" "I see. Still, whatever you do, don¡¯t attack him until the coronation ceremony is over, okay?" Flowing Cloud shot me a meaningful look before promising. "You shouldn¡¯t dirty your hands with the blood of scum like him anyway. If you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯ll wipe the floor with myself once the coronation ceremony is over!" I simply smiled at her and fell silent once more. ¡­¡­ A while later, we reached the center of the clearing. God of War, Breeze and Rain, Wild King, Dark Clouds Sorrow, Ironscale and more top experts of India were standing on a gigantic altar and looking down on the crowd like they were the Hindu pantheon or something. On the other hand, they were without a doubt the pillars of the India server. It was their presence that made Cyan Earth City and Elephant City as strong as they were; two cities towering above all the others around them. "Come, the ceremony is about to begin!" Flowing Cloud suddenly grabbed my hand and shortened our distance to almost non-existent. She paused for a moment, but she turned away and pulled me up the stairs before I could see her expression. I sucked in a deep breath and followed Flowing Cloud. The Purple Ying Sword hidden in my battle robe was already glowing slightly in anticipation of battle. God of War smiled when he spotted me from above the altar. He declared loudly, "Everyone, please pipe down for a moment. Our main character of the day has finally shown himself! Please raise your weapons above your heads and welcome the king of the Center and the soon-to-be King of War of India, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! The canyon instantly erupted with thunderous shouts. Some were cheers, and some were furious swearings. Clearly, the Indian people weren¡¯t exactly the most united people in the world, and they had a lot of negative things to say about me, their foreign "king¡±. Of course, none of their protests mattered in the face of the dominant authority that was God of War. Pa! When my boots reached the top of the limestone-made altar, God of War and I exchanged a look with one another. He walked up to me and extended his hand, saying, "Welcome, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" I gave his hand a firm shake but took two steps backward where Flowing Cloud was immediately after. ¡­¡­ With that done, God of War abruptly pulled out the sword behind his back and planted it to the bricks between his feet. He roared, "Since ancient times, there is a saying called ¡®one good general is harder to find than a thousand soldiers¡¯! I am sure everyone here is aware of Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s war achievements as a Center commander. He is without a doubt the hero of the China server, and yet an official who wase supposed to protect him decided to exile him to Final Duel Valley for an entire week! What true hot-blooded male can endure such humiliation!? This was why he decided to leave for greener pastures and join our Elephant City! I, God of War, hereby declare that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is my eternal brother after he joins us! May nothing come between us for a lifetime!" Seemingly affected by his passionate speech, countless players began waving their hands and crying out my and God of War¡¯s names. No wonder he was the king of his country. He definitely knew how to talk a good game. Next, God of War continued, "When today¡¯s ceremony is done, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand will officially become one of us; a brother! And what do we do to those who hurt our brothers?! That¡¯s right! For him, we can sweep the Center and take revenge for him! For him, we can wipe out Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and all those who stand in our way! For him, we can even make him the rightful king of the Center! All he needs to do is to give the word, and it shall be done!" I said nothing, of course. God of War was doing his best to reel me into his trap, and if I broke composure for even an instant it would truly be over for me. King of the Center? Forget that I wasn¡¯t tempted by such things, even if they followed through on their promise and made me the King of the Center, I would only be a puppet who danced to his tunes, and I was hardly that type of person! Not that I was going to betray anything. I couldn¡¯t convince myself to do it, much less anyone else! ¡­¡­ God of War opened his arms and laughed. "Of course, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand isn¡¯t the only who we¡¯re welcoming today. Our son has wandered long and far, but in the end he chose to return to us, and with a great gift no less! Come, let us clap for Now and Forever!" Now and Forever stepped out of the crowd amid thunderous applause, His robes glowed golden, and he had his Magic Shield turned on. As he walked up the stairs, I could see a striking, inverted red triangle symbol floating above his head. It was a mark of someone who possessed a city map. Motherfucker, I was hoping that I might be wrong, but he was still in possession of the City Map of Daybreak City, and, indirectly, its fate. Daybreak City was the southernmost city of the Center. In fact, it was just one step away from Thunder Mountain Range. Its value in the Indians¡¯ hands was practically priceless. They could use it like a super carrier and airdrop countless Indian players into the Center. They could also attack any China main city that wasn¡¯t protected by a natural barrier like Dragonbone Mountain Range or Thunder Mountain Range. Therefore, Daybreak City couldn¡¯t be allowed to fall into India¡¯s hands no matter what. Pa! A short while later, Now and Forever stopped in front of me and curled his lips. "We meet again, Lu Chen." I nodded while restraining the impulse to kill him on the spot. It was because Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud were standing next to me, ready to act the moment I raised my hand on Now and Forever. The short version was that my chances of killing right here and now were too low. I only had one shot at this, so I would rather wait until my success chance was 100%. God of War looked behind himself and said, "Chief, you may make the announcement now!" "Alright!" The crowd parted, and a Level 172 middle-aged archer stepped out. Three golden stars floated above his head. He was none other than the chief of the India VR department. The chief stepped forward and said loudly, "The coronation ceremony begins now. First, we would like to invite the pride of the India server and our number one player, God of War! In the name of the VR department, I bestow upon him the title of the "North King"! May he always keep the northern gates to our lands, Cyan Earth City, secure!" A thunderous applause broke out. As expected, God of War was insanely popular in the India server. The chief moved on to the next announcement. "Our second king hails from Elephant City, the leader of the king of guilds, Dark Clouds Sorrow! In the name of the VR department, I bestow upon him the title of the "East King"! May he and Dark Clouds always keep the northeast gates to our lands secure! If it wasn¡¯t obvious enough, Dark Clouds was meant to be the defense line against Japan. It was entirely possible for those wolves to set their sights on Elephant City after losing their own main city, so India would have to be crazy not to keep an eye on them. Flowing Cloud looked at me and shot me a smile. "Be patient, okay?" I shot Now and Forever a glance before replying, "I know." However, Now and Forever taunted me, "Shameful traitor!" I gritted my teeth but remained where I was. I then plastered a fake smile on my face and taunted back, "That you are!" Flowing Cloud said quietly, "Calm down. Don¡¯t let him affect you." I smiled at her again. "Flowing Cloud, you underestimate me too much." "..." She looked at me in surprise. Chapter 1076: Loyalty of a King The VR chief continued reading his script, "Next, I would like to crown Flowing Cloud, our war goddess from Natural Flow, as the third king of Cyan Earth City and Elephant City, the ¡®South King¡¯. May she always keep the southern gates to our lands secure. May Elephant City stand forever to the south of the continent and be immune to all attacks, and may it always protect our homes as the toughest fortress in the world!" Applause broke out as a smiling Flowing Cloud took two steps into the limelight, unsheathed her sword and bowed deeply to all the players standing below. Her smile truly was one of a kind. I was starting to understand why she was beloved by millions and millions of Indian players. Her appearance already gave her rallying power and leadership power few leaders could match. That she was intelligent and insightful as well was just the icing on the cake. "Ahem¡­" The VR chief let out a cough before smiling. "Now, to the real VIP of this title conferment ceremony. We welcome the king who fought countless battles and the Little Heavenly King of the Center, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! He shall be bestowed the title of ¡®West King¡¯! With his new guild ¡®War Temple¡¯, he will be defending our west gate and opening up new territories for us! We believe in your intelligence and your prowess, West King!" ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t suppress a shiver. What a devious scheme! What a shameful plot! To say that they had made me the West King with a most heinous plan in their mind would be understating it. There were a lot of cities who stood to the west of Elephant City, but their strongest enemies were without a doubt Russia¡¯s two main cities, Frostsword City and Iron Horse City. God of War knew that there was a high chance I would be unwilling to fight the Chinese, so he sent me after their ally, the Russian server instead. Although I was kicked out by my own server, I was still Chinese. If I were to attack Frostsword City, they could very well take out their anger on the China server and cause a war between two allies. Objectively speaking, their plan to kill two birds with one stone without even lifting a finger was absolutely brilliant! Unfortunately, both God of War and Breeze and Rain had underestimated my determination. The smiling chief walked up and waved his hands in front of me. When the gesture was done, two golden stars representing the dignity of the West King appeared on my arm. It looked beautiful, but for some reason I felt like it didn¡¯t fit right with my image. Flowing Cloud congratulated me. "Congratulations, Lu Chen! You¡¯re now our West King!" I nodded smilingly. "Congratulations to you too¡­" The VR chief patted me on the shoulder and smiled. "Youngster, I can see the boiling anger, righteous resentment, but determined soul in your eyes. I hope that you¡¯ll be able to prove yourself in Elephant City and truly become the pride of the India server. Make us proud." I nodded. "Thank you." God of War also congratulated me, "Congratulations on your coronation, Lu Chen. From now on, you can recruit your army in Elephant City and develop your strength with War Temple as your base. We expect you to guard the west and act as a deterrent to the western wolves. Frostsword City and Iron Horse City possess twenty million plus troops in total, and their players are skilled enough that you should consider this number double. We¡¯re counting on you in the upcoming Nation War, Lu Chen." I smiled again, but said nothing this time. It was at this moment Breeze and Rain said, "I will issue you a challenge when the opportunity presents itself, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. With luck, I may even be the one to end your legacy." The gunpowder behind his words was as obvious as it was threatening. He wasn¡¯t the only one who opposed my joining either. Beneath the altar, countless players went so far as to step on the stairs and shout at me¡ª "You¡¯re just a traitor of your server, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! You don¡¯t have the right to be our West King! Fuck off back to your China server! You don¡¯t deserve to stay in Elephant City!" "Yeah, get out of Elephant City! Our West King should be someone loyal, not you!" "The India server doesn¡¯t tolerate betrayers. Get lost, you shameful king!" ¡­¡­ Their curses only made me smile brighter though. Yes, I don¡¯t deserve to rule as the West King of Elephant City. I also don¡¯t want to be your shitty West King from the very beginning! It was at this moment Now and Forever walked up to me with a ridiculing sneer on his face. "Little Heavenly King, the pride of China! It was a good time, wasn¡¯t it Lu Chen? It¡¯s such a shame you gave in and became a full-on traitor. Now, you¡¯re just the lackey of another country." I retorted coldly, "Says the traitor himself. Aren¡¯t you Chinese? You betrayed your people and even gave up a precious Daybreak City to your own enemy. You think you have any right to look down on me, you cur?" "Hahaha¡­" Now and Forever lowered his voice. "It looks like you¡¯re confused about some things, so allow me to enlighten you. My paternal grandmother, maternal grandfather and grandmother are all Indian, so I¡¯m 75% Indian. Do you understand? I¡¯m an Indian, I just lived in China for a very long time. Now, I¡¯ve returned to my roots with an entire Chinese city as a gift, while you are just a traitor, a traitor who gave up his country for a title. Hahaha, you traitor, hahaha¡­" I gritted my teeth. Now and Forever continued sneering at me before he suddenly lowered his voice, "You call yourself a Chinese player, but where is the proof of your loyalty, hmm?" Pa! I grabbed the Purple Ying Sword firmly and unveiled all of my killing intent at once. "You want to know? Here, I¡¯ll show you myself!" Chiang! I had counted his Magic Shield duration and known when it would expire. The second it vanished, I grabbed him by the neck and thrust my blade through his chest! Pu! A copious amount of blood spilled out of his back. I repeated the stabbing motion twice to ensure that he was well and truly dead! ¡­¡­ "Ah!" A bloodcurdling scream cut through the air and the Indian players stared at me in shock. Almost no one thought that I would kill Now and Forever at this time and place. "What are you doing, West King?!" The VR chief and God of War shouted at nearly the same time. Not bothering to answer, I picked up the City Map of Daybreak City on the ground and tossed it into my bag, causing a blood-red inverted triangle to appear above my head. At the same time, I raised my hand and shouted, "Come out, Ancient Divine Dragon!" Roar! The Ancient Divine Dragon appeared immediately, and I climbed onto its back in no time. The Indian players were already on the move to stop me. The Japanese players who had come to witness the ceremony¡ªRed Maple, Cyan Frost and more¡ªlooked raring to engage me as well, but unfortunately for them their levels were too low. They wouldn¡¯t be able to threaten me no matter what they tried. ¡­¡­ Pa! God of War charged me and slashed out using his infamous Inferno Sixtuple Slash! Bang bang bang... His blade struck my Dragon God Shield and only dealt around 15k damage per hit, but the sheer force behind his attack actually stopped my Ancient Divine Dragon from taking off and forced it to enter land travelling mode. Not about to go down without a fight, I raised my hand and executed Ancient Seal + Dragon Slaying Slash combo! "Ahhhhh!" The Indian VR chief let out a bloodcurdling scream and died just like that. Even I wasn¡¯t expecting the guy to fall to my combo this easily! "Motherfucker! He killed the chief!" Wild King roared out in fury. Swhoosh! Breeze and Rain dashed past me as fast as ever and slashed me in the neck, dealing 890 damage. His damage was obscenely low, but the effect he caused was absolutely fatal. It prevented me from using any equipment active for 120 seconds, meaning that I wouldn¡¯t be able to activate an invincibility skill and fly to safety. I turned around and fired Burning Blade Slash, killing a ton of high-level Indian players instantly. My Attack was super high right now! The Phantom Wolf King was also attacking the archers and mages at the back non-stop. God of War growled, "Do you think we¡¯re stupid, Lu Chen? [1] You have the City Map for now, but I have this place completely surrounded by our army! You can die a million times, and you still won¡¯t be able to deliver it back to the China server, kakaka! I respect your loyalty, but you¡¯re as stupid as they come, Lu Chen!" I ignored him and focused on finding the weakest spot of the encirclement. Then, I rushed down the altar toward the northeast and launched two basic attacks at a group of chanting mages, killing them and tearing the ground beneath their feet apart. A ton of Shock Arrows hit my Dragon God Shield, but not a single one of them managed to take effect. The reason I spent the whole night fighting at Final Duel Valley last night was to level myself up as much as I could. The level gap should reduce the archers¡¯ ability to stun me to a minimum. Pa! Suddenly, I felt an unnatural tremor from the tail of the Ancient Divine Dragon. It was God of War stabbing his sword into the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s tail and climbing toward me at high speed! What an annoying opponent he was! I immediately used War Crush! Bang bang bang! God of War continued approaching anyway until he came close enough to use a skill. "Fire Net!" I immediately made my mount perform a zigzag and successfully dodged the skill. At the same time, I turned around and used Universe Break. No one could stop me from leaving this place if he died! Chiang! However, God of War parried the skill instantly before allowing himself to fall to the ground. Then, he grabbed onto the end of the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s tail, shouted and stabbed it to the ground! Bang! The Ancient Divine Dragon let out a scream of pain. God of War actually managed to nail it to the ground! Despite its rank, the little dragon was only Level 104 and not a full adult. It was why it couldn¡¯t gain a level advantage over a Level 200 player like God of War. He wasn¡¯t my only problem either. Dark Clouds Sorrow rushed toward me and threw Trapping Net almost point blank at my back! It was impossible to dodge by conventional means! I made the snap decision to jump off my mount¡¯s back and dismount. It was that or be killed where I stood. I rolled at least a dozen meters across the floor as the Ancient Divine Dragon dissolved into my mount space. After I bounced back to my feet, I fired Thousand Ice Slash behind me before running toward the north, the direction of my home. Or at least I hope so... 1. (T/N: yes you are, if you have any brain at all you would¡¯ve completed the transfer ahead of time and just made this whole thing a show) Chapter 1077: Deception "You think you can escape? Die!" God of War roared and fired his Inferno Sixtuple Slash again. I only had enough time to parry the first strike, but I exploited the powerful knockback force of the five remaining slashes to put some distance between myself and God of War. After I caught myself, I turned around and killed a group of people with Burning Blade Slash, restoring almost 80% of my HP in one go. As of now, there was no avoiding some amount of fighting. Swhoosh! A flash of light suddenly pricked my eyes amid the darkness. It was the assassin and Divine General, Shallow Sunlight, waving her daggers and executing her Divine General Skill, Disarm! I immediately moved away from her and flung the Purple Ying Sword at her. I was dead if she managed to Disarm me! Bang! Coiling Dragon Revolution easily pierced through Shallow Sunlight¡¯s chest and killed her. Judging from the shock in her eyes, she must¡¯ve found it difficult to believe that she didn¡¯t even have the HP to survive one hit from me. However, I had to neglect my back defense to kill Shallow Sunlight, and it turned out to be a fatal mistake. My heart turned cold when I saw Breeze and Rain dashing past me. Shit! Swhoosh! I wasn¡¯t able to block or dodge his Soul Capture. After he successfully immobilized me, he immediately followed up with Blazing Slash + Moon Breaking Slash combo, shredding my chest and killing me where I stood. I didn¡¯t trigger Immortality, so I had no choice but to activate Resurrection Art and revive myself at the price of 1 level. Pa pa pa! The second I came back to life, I dropped a dozen or so Ancient Seals around me, one-shot a ton of people and pushed Breeze and Rain back temporarily. Then, I continued running toward the north where Thunder Mountain Range lay. There was hope as long as I could reach it. ¡­¡­ It wouldn¡¯t be easy though. Horse hooves thundered behind me as God of War said, "Keep using Mountain Stagger Slashes and Mountain Stagger Arrows so he can¡¯t get on his Ancient Divine Dragon. We will destroy the WEL MVP here and end his legend once and for all!" A rain of arrows fell toward me, and a lot of them were Far Shot Skypiercers. Even with my movement speed, it was impossible to dodge all of them. The good news was dodging the attacks wasn¡¯t my first priority. The Purple Ying Sword¡¯s new 20% lifesteal had given me the power to tank a lot more hits than before! Boom! I killed a group of players with Thousand Ice Slash and pulled my HP past the 75% mark again. Then, I flung the Purple Ying Sword at God of War himself! Chiang! God of War managed to parry the skill, but both him and his mount were sent flying to the back. That was all I wanted. As long as a top-tier expert like God of War couldn¡¯t approach me, I should be able to extend my life just a bit longer. After I caught the returning Purple Ying Sword, I continued charging toward my destination while cutting down all the enemies standing in my way. While doing so, I checked my cooldowns and noted that Ancient Divine Dragon was just 3 minutes away from being mountable again. Horse hooves thundered all around me, and Barrier Breaks kept thrusting toward me from every direction! I ran and dodged and counterattacked with Burning Blade Slash, Thousand Ice Slash, War Crush, Coiling Dragon Revolution and more, leaving behind literal heaps of bodies along my path. One might even say that my path to freedom was literally paved by blood and corpses. Speaking of which, I had died twice to the enemy¡¯s Barrier Breaks, but I was lucky enough to trigger Immortality both times and revive for free! Soon, it was almost time for me to summon the Ancient Divine Dragon. Excitement began creeping into my limbs as I killed another group of enemies with Coiling Dragon Revolution. Swhoosh! Suddenly, a beautiful figure dashed toward me. She was none other than Flowing Cloud herself, and she looked furious. "You dare to deceive me?" Her appearance distracted me for an instant, and that was all the time she needed to cut my neck, deal 132888 damage and cost me a level. Not only was I back to Level 207, the skill she used to kill me was called "Spirit Breaking Slash¡±. It was a skill that broke the target¡¯s taming spirituality and prevented them from summoning any mount or pet for 3 minutes. What a terrible skill! "Flowing Cloud!" I roared as I smashed my sword into her own, knocking both her and her mount to the back. I glared at her with steely eyes and shouted, "I am a Chinese player, and that will never change! From the beginning, my goal was to take back the city map! If you think I lied to you, then I¡¯ve repaid my debt to you with my earlier death! I will kill you if you come at me again!" Flowing Cloud looked at me with sorrowful eyes. "Say whatever you want, Lu Chen. It will never change the fact that you¡¯ve deceived someone who trusted you!" I ignored her¡ªI didn¡¯t have the time to respond anyway since I was busy being knocked back by three magic knights¡ªand fired Ancient Seal, stopping Flowing Cloud from approaching me. Now that I could focus on the magic knights in front of me, I proceeded to cut off their mounts¡¯ legs and dropped them to their feet. I then killed them all with a follow-up strike. Boom boom boom! Galaxy Storms tore my surroundings. I continued to flee as the enemy pursued me. All around me, the ridiculously powerful Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry hit me with powerful skills again and again and dropped me to below 40%. Although I was able to drag myself away from death¡¯s door again and again with the 20% lifesteal, there were just too many enemies and only one me. My HP kept hovering between 40% and 50%, and there was never a moment where I couldn¡¯t die. A bit of relief creeped into my heart when I looked up and finally saw the forest I was aiming for. As I rushed into the cover, God of War shouted from behind me, "All cavalry, dismount and give chase! Archers and mages, keep up with us!" Boom boom boom... The neverending Spiraling Arrow Blades crushed the vines and grass in the forest to bits and dealt much damage to me. I drank Saint Spirit Potion and kept running, but I was never able to escape combat state. Moreover, Flowing Cloud¡¯s Spirit Breaking Slash was absolutely lethal in the sense that it delayed my mount summoning for at least another 180 seconds. That was 180 seconds too long considering the sheer quantity and quality of enemies who were chasing after me. Rustle rustle... Suddenly, an innumerable amount of red dots appeared in front of me and turned my heart as cold as ice. Fuck, it¡¯s an ambush! These Lightning Archers must¡¯ve been lying in wait here since the very beginning. The trap was set from the moment I was led here and crowned the West King. If I truly joined the India server, then all was well. If I didn¡¯t, then they were ready to shoot me to oblivion. In fact, I bet God of War wanted this to happen so he could kill me to Level 0 before kicking me out of the India server. Twang twang twang! I desperately weaved and dodged between the lightning shots while cutting their numbers to size with Burning Blade Slash. However, the enemy was just too numerous, and it was only a matter of time before a tingling sensation erupted from my right arm and spread to my whole body. Shit! The lightning shots had paralyzed my body and drastically lowered my movement speed! God of War arrived right on time to launch his Inferno Sixtuple Slash at me! I gritted my teeth and allowed the skill to kill me. As I dropped another level, I grabbed the tip of his blade¡ªenduring a searing pain while doing so¡ªpulled him closer and retaliated with a devastating Burning Blade Slash + Barrier Break combo! Pu pu pu... It didn¡¯t matter how good God of War¡¯s equipment was, there was no surviving the full power of the four-hit combo. Just like that, the symbol of India let out a small groan and fell to the ground. There wasn¡¯t a system announcement since this wasn¡¯t a war, but it was still a psychological blow to anyone who saw their North King fall. Normally, God of War would¡¯ve put up a much better fight. His desire to kill me must¡¯ve overridden his usual calm. God of War wasn¡¯t my only problem though. Breeze and Rain appeared behind his dead body and dashed past me. After hitting me with Soul Capture, he dropped me from full health to less than 10k HP with a Blazing Slash + Moon Breaking Slash combo. Flowing Cloud appeared next and hit me with yet another Spirit Breaking Slash! Swhoosh! Thankfully, I triggered Immortality and revived again. I would¡¯ve lost so many levels already if not for this skill. ¡­¡­ The ice-cold Breeze and Rain moved away from me and vanished into a corner of the forest. He was a cruel and ruthless killer, and I had already died more than once by his hand. Just the same, Flowing Cloud had backed off and given me no chance to kill her after disabling my ability to mount. They were far stronger than any opponent that I had ever encountered up until this point. Pa pa pa¡­ I dodged and waved in between the Lightning Archers even as I took their lives. At the same time, I had to watch out for Breeze and Rain¡¯s assassination and Flowing Cloud¡¯s Spirit Breaking Slash. Even Red Maple and Cyan Frost were following from a distance and waiting for an opportunity to hit me when I was down. For a moment, I felt like I was one person fighting against the whole world. My head was starting to feel a little dizzy. Pursuit battles like these where I was hunted were ridiculously exhausting. It hadn¡¯t even been half an hour since the fight began, and I was already so tired that I could fall asleep on my feet. ¡­¡­ Whoosh! Eventually, I ran out of the forest and into a clearing. During this time, I had dropped to Level 205. If this continued, I would fall below level 200 for sure. A troop of Divine Elephant Cavalry was already waiting for me at the front. Wild King unsheathed his great blade and shouted, "Divine Elephant Cavalry, charge! Destroy Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" They charged toward me, but I met them without fear. Activating Great Earth Transformation, I slashed left and right and either killed or sent the Divine Elephant Cavalry flying. The next stretch of forest was just 200 meters away from me, and these weak cavalrymen didn¡¯t possess the power to stop me. Pa pa pa... The battle was so fierce that my shoulder wound was still bleeding. Even after I revived with full health, blood continued to trickle down my shoulder and dripped on the grass beneath my feet. I welcomed it though. It was the only thing that made me feel like I was still alive, and that the tribulation I was going through now was worth it. During the time I charged into the forest, Breeze and Rain killed me again, and Flowing Cloud landed yet another infuriating Spirit Breaking Slash. This girl wouldn¡¯t stop until I was well and truly dead. ¡­¡­ As I entered the forest, Dark Pupils informed me that the clearing beyond the forest was covered in red dots. There were so many of them that my heart felt as cold as ice. Just how many people had been sent after me? Have I truly become the enemy of the world? Crack! As I raced out of the forest though, what I saw confused me greatly. Everyone in front of me was a red name, but their banner was carrying a 5-star red flag. Wait a second, these are Chinese players! The enemies behind me didn¡¯t care that I was in a daze though. Breeze and Rain swung his sword at me while shouting, "Die!" Chiang! I was able to parry his attack, but I slid uncontrollably to the back until Yeye the Witch scored a hit on me and deleted my remaining HP. Just like that, I died yet again. Wild King and Flowing Cloud dashed after me next. The storm of blades they weaved were both deadly and powerful! Bang! I blocked their attacks with the Dragon God Shield, but their combined strength was so much that I almost couldn¡¯t stand on my feet. I abruptly dropped to one knee, rolled past their feet and deleted a huge chunk of mount tenacity in one go. ¡­¡­ At the distance, Warsky abruptly unsheathed his blade and shouted, "Lu Chen, the traitor has become the West King of India. Kill him now and end his rebellion!" On the other side, Gui Guzi abruptly raised his Spear of the Knight God and shouted just as loudly, "We Bloody Mercenaries are Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s army! Touch a hair on his body, and I swear I¡¯ll chase you to the ends of the world. I¡¯ll kill you again and again until you¡¯re Level 0. Just try me"! Heaven and earth rumbled to a cacophony of horse hooves. The situation had spiraled completely out of control. Chapter 1078: A Reason Chiang chiang! I backpedalled as metallic sparks flew off from my blade twice. A group of Beast King Cavalry was bearing down on me, and Breeze and Rain himself was galloping toward me with Blazing Slash at the ready. Eyes burning with anger, he shouted, "If you can not be used by us, then we will destroy you with our own hands, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" I received his attack and allowed myself to be sent skidding across the ground. Then, after turning around to smack a Divine Elephant Cavalryman out of the way with my Dragon God Shield, I flung my sword at Breeze and Rain and cast Ancient Seal at the same time! Bang bang! The two skills deleted over half of Breeze and Rain¡¯s HP and forced him to order a heal. At the same time, he shouted, "All units, attack! The Chinese have trespassed into Thunder Mountain Range! We must defend our honor no matter what!" Hundreds of thousands of Indian riders immediately answered his call and charged the Chinese players. The bad news was that the Chinese riders were clearly outnumbered by the Indians, numbering in tens of thousands only. The good news was that most of them were high-level players who wielded incredible prowess such as Gui Guzi, Warsky and Candlelight Shadow. ¡­¡­ At the forefront of the Chinese charge, Gui Guzi killed three Beast King Cavalrymen in a row before shouting with a blood-drenched face, "Follow me to Boss Broken Halberd¡¯s side! Saving Boss Broken Halberd takes priority over everything!" On the other side, Candlelight Shadow swung a burning sword and unleashed a cone-shaped AoE skill that killed a group of Beast King Cavalry in one hit. Eyes brimming with killing intent, he growled out, "Whether or not Lu Chen has betrayed us, it will never be up to the Indians to decide his fate! Qiu Beast Cavalry, follow me! We will kill Breeze and Rain first!" Breeze and Rain once beat Candlelight Shadow at the WEL, and Candlelight Shadow was the kind of guy to hold a grudge forever. Naturally, he would want to slay his killer and satisfy his bloodthirst. Warsky himself had turned on his Famous General Skill, Hegemon, and led his elite cavalry against the Indian riders. Although this battle wouldn¡¯t trigger a Nation War, it was just as bloody as one. In a game like this, it was an unwritten rule that you make friends with distant countries and fight your neighbors to the death. Since the India server and China server bordered each other, a war was always going to break out between us. ¡­¡­ Breeze and Rain had intentionally ordered the Beast King Cavalry to put most of their focus on me, giving me no time to recover whatsoever. Not only that, the archers and mages at the back had caught up to their cavalry and lay down suppressive fire on me as well. It was to the point where I was really starting to feel a sense of helplessness, not to mention the endless hail of Mountain Stagger Arrows that didn¡¯t even give me a second to summon the Ancient Divine Dragon. I was impressed, to be honest. The enemy archers were using the lackluster Far Shot Mode to fire their Mountain Stagger Arrows, but their shots were still uncannily accurate. I kept my Dragon God Shield raised up and blocked the incoming arrows as best I could. Carnage ensued wherever I traveled. Now that a bunch of Chinese players were playing distraction for me, I was facing considerably less pressure than before. Other than the fact that I still wasn¡¯t able to find an opportunity to mount my Ancient Divine Dragon, I was no longer in serious danger. Unfortunately, Gui Guzi¡¯s charge went a little awry, and he was actually straying further away from me instead of toward me. The enemy couldn¡¯t pin me down forever though, and finally I found a chance to awaken my slumbering dragon. As it left my arm and assumed a much larger form, I climbed onto its back and instantly experienced a massive boost to all my stats. Now that my Attack, Defense and movement speed were much greater than it was before, it was time to truly fight back. I turned around and fired a sword aura! Crack! The basic attack struck a line of players and dealt over 150k damage to each player, killing them all. It was crazy. "Shit! He¡¯s mounted his Ancient Divine Dragon!" Breeze and Rain roared. "All cavalry, avoid Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and let our ranged players hit him with Mountain Stagger Arrows and Ice Dragon Howls! Doesn¡¯t matter what rank his mount is, nothing can stand against the human sea attack! Drag him off his high dragon now!" Of course, I wasn¡¯t going to just stand around and let them hit me. I made the little dragon soar into the sky until it was around seven to eight meters above ground level. Then, I executed Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash combo and killed a group of Beast King Cavalry instantly. This was a one-sided slaughter at this point. Or was it? Freezing Arrows pitter-pattered against my Dragon God Shield and the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s scales and bounced away, dealing a pitiful amount of damage. However, each Touch of the Dragonkiss still dealt around three-digit damage, a not insignificant number when you considered that I was the focus of almost all of the enemy¡¯s firepower. In just 10 seconds, I had lost over 3% mount tenacity. I knew that I wouldn¡¯t be able to fight so many people alone even with the Ancient Divine Dragon. Buzz buzz! An ear-piercing noise suddenly entered my ears, and I saw the image of a Xiezhi Beast killing a group of Beast King Cavalry just a short distance away from me. It was High Fighting Spirits of course. He had come to my rescue with the main guild¡¯s Dragonlight Cavalry, and even Chaos Moon and Li Chengfeng were here. Speaking of which, Li Chengfeng was already Level 140. The guy seriously knew how to shoot up the levels. "Lu Chen!" Li Chengfeng greeted me laughingly as he galloped toward me. Despite the obvious level gap, the man fearlessly charged into the fray and somehow cut a path to me with Great Earth Transformation, Reverse Scale Slash, Dragonblade Revolution and more. In fact, some of the Beast King Cavalry were so astounded by his fearlessness and prowess that they avoided him even though they were tens of levels stronger than him. Li Chengfeng had made himself world-famous ever since that battle at Final Duel Valley. That video of him fighting until the death was plastered on every major gaming website as well. As a result, the guy¡¯s reputation was literally second to mine only. It was no wonder that the Beast King Cavalry would be too intimidated to attack him. "Vice guild leader big bro!" A Level 132 Heaven¡¯s Rain was fighting behind Li Chengfeng when she shot me a worried look. She asked me, "They¡­ they were chasing after you, weren¡¯t they?" Not far away, Chaos Moon fought the enemies without saying a word. ¡­¡­ After Li Chengfeng had killed all the Indian players around him, he lowered his sword and smiled brightly at me. "Yo, brother! How is life outside the China server?" I moved the Ancient Divine Dragon to the ground. My equipment was a tattered mess, my shoulders and thighs were covered in blood, and there was so much blood on my Purple Ying Sword that thick globs were dripping off it even as he spoke. Frankly, I didn¡¯t think that I could look any worse than I was now. Still, the India server was doing even worse than I was, so I replied with a smile on my face, "Eh, it¡¯s okay. Things got a tad dangerous there though." Li Chengfeng smiled before moving away all of a sudden. "I know I¡¯m not the person you wish to meet the most¡­" He Yi, dressed in white and looking as gorgeous as ever, slowly walked up to me. Staring at me with red eyes that looked like they would burst into tears at any moment, she murmured, "How are you doing, Lu Chen?" I pursed my lips and said, "I¡¯m fine. I just¡­ miss all of you¡­" He Yi nodded slowly. "Mn. We all do¡­ I miss you so much¡­" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a blind fuck with no eyes for atmosphere whatsoever barged in and shouted, "Lu Chen, you dare join the India server and become their lackey? Come, I will duel you to the death!" He was none other than Warsky. Boom! I scored a loud blow against the side of the Ancient Divine Dragon. In response, I dismounted and scored a bloody hit across his shoulder. While he was distracted, I kicked him in the chest hard and sent him rolling across the ground. "Warsky, you¡¯re a real idiot, you know that?" While Warsky was busy climbing back to his feet, Farewell Song, Song of Cloud and Water, Song of Ice and Fire, Ringwraith, God Bone and more experts showed up. Song of Ice and Fire rushed me while swinging his axe, "Eat this, traitor!" I had to hide a flash of surprise as I glanced at the warrior. Not only was his Attack much higher than Warsky¡¯s, his movement was a lot better than before. Every step he took was a step he could¡¯ve converted into a relentless assault. I¡¯d better keep my eyes open! I clashed blades with Song of Ice and Fire for a second before rotating on my feet. I managed to score a hit on his body while Song of Ice and Fire punched me in the chest! Bang! 28182! As I thought, his Attack was seriously impressive. Not everyone could hit me for almost 30k with their bare hands. On the other hand, my counterattack dealt 130k damage to Song of Ice and Fire, effectively killing his courage to play the hero for Warsky. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment He Yi stopped in between us and intercepted God Bone¡¯s attack for me. She said with a fierce glare, "Stop making this more confusing than it already is and listen to Lu Chen, Warsky Alliance, Soul Battle Robes! Why do you think we, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, believe Lu Chen unconditionally? It¡¯s because we know that he¡¯d never betray his country! In fact, he wouldn¡¯t be hunted by Breeze and Rain and the Indian players if he did betray us, would he?" Realization dawning, Warsky looked at me. "What on earth is going on, Lu Chen?!" I grinned at him before pulling out the City Map of Daybreak City and flinging it against the ground. "See this? This is why! You¡¯re the ones who failed to protect your goddamned map, and you have the gall to attack me?" I glanced at Li Chengfeng. "Chengfeng, you take this and return it to our server. I don¡¯t trust anyone else to keep it safe!" "Got it!" Li Chengfeng obeyed the order before putting the map in his bag. ¡­¡­ "I¡­" For a while, an astonished Warsky couldn¡¯t say anything. Then, he abruptly wrapped his arms around me before slapping my back again and again, "Oh, brother! This is why you went to the India server? Haha! Sorry man!" I punched him off me. "Dude, piss off!" Everyone laughed heartily for a moment. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Candlelight Shadow joined us and asked, "Now that your name is cleared, you will come back to the China server, right Lu Chen?" But I shook my head and said, "No. I¡¯m not going back without a good reason." Zhang Chun abruptly stepped out of the crowd and said, "Then allow me to give you the reason to come home! This person here is the chief of the China VR department!" Around 50 years old or so, a Level 65 magic knight riding a low-rank mount appeared behind Zhang Chun. The name above his head stated¡ª ID: Tang Feng Chapter 1079: Come Home Soon Me: "..." Tang Feng looked at me and said, "Hello, Lu Chen. I¡¯m the true person-in-charge of the VR department, Tang Feng. I sincerely apologize for what happened to you previously. You are the pride of the China server, and you don¡¯t deserve what you¡¯ve been forced to endure at all. It is the department and the entire server¡¯s shame that you were exiled to a foreign land and hunted by the wolves. So tell me, what will it take to bring you back to our country? I can promise you anything." I asked him, "Is Tang Long your brother?" A bit of embarrassment flashed across Tang Feng¡¯s face. "Tang Long is my younger paternal cousin." I smiled. "What a wonderful family and nepotic department you have there. Thank you, but I think I¡¯m okay where I am right now." He Yi pulled my arm to stop me from talking. She was worried that I would anger Tang Feng as well and turn him into an enemy as well. If that happened, it would truly be over for us. Spear in hand, Tang Feng shuffled about awkwardly for a second before continuing, "Lu Chen, I promise you I will investigate the story behind Purple Grape City thoroughly. In fact, the Control Yuan is participating in the investigation, and Tang Long has been suspended from his duties and is under investigation right now. Is that acceptable enough?" I shook my head. "No, I¡¯ve decided that I will never believe another official in my life. Unless Tang Long receives the punishment he deserves, I will never return to the Center for as long as Heavenblessed is running. I don¡¯t want to suffer this humiliation a second time in my life, and I will not have my fate be manipulated by anyone any longer!" Tang Feng dismounted and stared at me with determined eyes. Then, he suddenly dropped to one knee and said, "Since ancient times, it is said that an official doesn¡¯t kneel to a civilian. But I, Tang Feng, would like to prove that saying wrong, that a wronged hero is deserving of the knee of a VR chief at the very least! I am not the one who wronged you, so I cannot offer you the humble apology you deserve. However, it is my responsibility for allowing things to deteriorate to this state in the first place, and I will not shirk from it any longer. When this matter is settled, I will turn in my resignation letter immediately! So please believe that not all crows in the world are black in color, Lu Chen. There are good-hearted officials who truly care for the people and work hard for their benefit as well!" I sucked in a deep breath and walked up to Tang Feng. I then pulled him up to his feet and said, "Stand up. I won¡¯t receive your knee not because I don¡¯t deserve it after what I¡¯ve gone through, but because you are my elder¡ªI won¡¯t allow any father to go through such humiliation. I trust you, Tang Feng, but it¡¯s still not time for me to return to the Center right now, you understand? I won¡¯t return until Tang Long is well and truly punished." Tang Feng nodded. "I understand. I assure you that that day won¡¯t be too far away!" ¡­¡­ I nodded. Beside me, He Yi pulled my arm and said in a smiling voice, "Heehee, I thought this might happen. Tang Feng is facing so much pressure from so many angles that he had no choice but to do this." I simply smiled at her and caught her in a sudden hug. I didn¡¯t let go until I felt her shivering in my embrace. Judging from the astonishment on her face, she clearly wasn¡¯t expecting me to hug her in public. Li Chengfeng, Murong Mingyue, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and everyone else didn¡¯t disturb us. They all knew that my choice to stay away from the China server until Tang Long was punished meant that He Yi and I would be separated for even longer. Depending on how well the investigation went, this period could be a very, very long time. ¡­¡­ "Cease fire!" Meanwhile Tang Feng had walked to the frontlines to speak with the Indian players. "This fight is meaningless now. Cease fire!" Flowing Cloud turned her angry glare on him. "Meaningless? That Lu Chen killed our VR chief right in front of us! You think we can just let it go like nothing happened!?" A surprised Tang Feng shot me a dumbfounded look, to which I responded with a shrug. It was a moment of chaos, and I just went along with the flow. I could hardly be blamed for doing what I did. "Very well¡­" Tang Feng took another step forward and declared, "War goddess, I am the chief of Chinese VR department, and I offer you my life. Surely this will be enough to make up for Lu Chen¡¯s action, right?" Flowing Cloud looked surprised by this. Before she could come to a decision though, I blocked in front of Tang Feng and plunged my sword to the ground. "My sins are my own to bear. I¡¯m the one who killed your chief and God of War, so I¡¯m the one you should be killing, not him. Surely you won¡¯t use their deaths as an excuse to attack the China server, right?" Flowing Cloud gritted her teeth. "You¡¯re a bastard, Lu Chen! I hate you!" Breeze and Rain had also lowered his sword, although his eyes and his words were as murderous as ever. "As long as Lu Chen has a level above his head, we will fight the China server until the bitter end!" Li Chengfeng immediately rushed forward and pointed his Dark Blade and Breeze and Rain. "Pooh! Come on then! You think we¡¯re afraid of you? We¡¯ve never submitted to threats, and we never will! If you really wanna fight, then fight us now!" I hurriedly stopped Li Chengfeng from saying anything else he couldn¡¯t take back before continuing, "Breeze and Rain, Flowing Cloud, I¡¯ve already returned the 20 million USD God of War transferred to my bank account an hour ago, so I no longer owe you two anything¡­ Well, maybe I still owe Flowing Cloud a couple of things, but I certainly don¡¯t owe you shit, Breeze and Rain. Only a fool like you could come up with the shoddy plan of using me to deal with Russia¡¯s Frostsword City and Iron Horse City." Judging from Breeze and Rain¡¯s angry and embarrassed expression, my guess had been spot on. Red-faced, Flowing Cloud yelled, "So you know you owe me, Lu Chen? I¡¯ve¡­ I¡¯ve never trusted anyone so unconditionally in my life, and you murdered Now and Forever and stole the City Map of Daybreak City right in front of millions! How am I supposed to remain in the India server after this?" He Yi said with a smile, "You can join us in the China server if you want to!" Flowing Cloud shook with anger. "No way!" Breeze and Rain pointed his sword at us. "Whatever. All I¡¯m going to say is this: the day Lu Chen returns to the China server is the day we declare war on Sky City. Moreover, we won¡¯t stop pursuing Lu Chen no matter what! No matter where you run to, our braves will follow you like your shadow until you¡¯re finally Level 0, Lu Chen!" Tang Feng gritted his teeth angrily. "What do we do now, Lu Chen?" I could see that Tang Feng was a man who cares about the bigger picture. China was still in its resting period, and it couldn¡¯t afford another Nation War so soon. Moreover, the Japanese players outside White Rose Fortress were just waiting to declare war the second their grace period was over. Losing your main city would do that to you. If we were to fight the India server now, we would be the final loser no matter how well the war went, not to mention that mad dogs weren¡¯t easy to deal with. "I understand¡­" I pulled out my sword from the ground while saying, "I won¡¯t make the VR department¡¯s position more difficult than it already is. I¡¯ll leave. No need to worry about me though. I¡¯ll be fine." "Big bro¡­" Beiming Xue suddenly walked over with shaky shoulders. Sobbing, she abruptly hugged me and said, "Big bro, I miss you so much. Please allow me to come with you¡­" I patted her shoulder consolingly. "Don¡¯t cry, Beiming. And no, you don¡¯t have my Resurrection Art, so you¡¯d just drop a level and respawn at Sky City if you died. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be returning to Suzhou very soon. I¡¯ll stay with you for as long as you want when the day comes." Beiming Xue nodded and looked at me with renewed determination. "Mn. Come back soon!" "I will." I turned around and hugged He Yi again. I kissed her beside her lips before smiling at her. "Eve, I know you¡¯re feeling very aggrieved right now. Thank you for holding up Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls for so long, but can you hang on for just a bit longer? I¡¯m going to have to irresponsibly fool around outside for a bit before I return. Sorry." He Yi stared at me as her tears flowed down her cheeks. It looked like I was the only one who realized just how strained she was, and right now her emotions were threatening to explode all over. Murong Mingyue walked up to He Yi and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. I then looked at my guildmates and allies and nodded at them. "Brothers and sisters of Ancient Sword, may we meet again somewhere in the jianghu! Don¡¯t worry, I will return eventually. Until then, please protect Dark Moon City and Sky City on my behalf!" Everyone nodded in unison. ¡­¡­ With that done, I made the Ancient Divine Dragon soar to the sky and pointed my sword at the Indian players. I declared with a daring laugh, "Come at me if you wish to take revenge! If you wish to vent your anger on the China server, that¡¯s fine too! My millions and millions of brothers and sisters will fight you all in my stead!" Breeze and Rain fumed in anger. Finally, I looked at He Yi, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, Song of Cloud and Water and more. "You may withdraw now!" "Yeah!" They nodded. While the Chinese players pulled back like the tidewater, I lingered in the air for a very long time. I spotted Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume and Nangong Lexi, but I couldn¡¯t find Lin Yixin no matter where I looked. Her absence made me feel like there was a hole in my heart. Where did she go? This was the type of situation she thrived in, so it made no sense for her to be MIA. A few minutes later, I gave up and made the Ancient Divine Dragon fly along the Thunder Mountain Range. The north was off limits because that was where the Center was, so I turned to the south instead. The Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry tried to give chase, but they quickly discovered that they were nowhere fast enough to keep up with the Ancient Divine Dragon. Also, I was at least a thousand yards above ground Level. Not even the ballistae could hit me from the ground, much less the archers and mages. ¡­¡­ I checked my level. After losing 4, I was still at Level 205. I had died 14 times during the two hours I spent running away from the Indian troops and triggered Immortality 10 times in total. The skill truly was my lucky charm! After I had lost my pursuers, I took a turn to Final Duel Valley and spent another afternoon slaughtering Japanese players. However, I quickly discovered that there was barely anyone left in the map. When I checked the Japan forums, I learned that Red Maple had given the order for all players to stay away from Final Duel Valley. It seemed that Red Maple had figured out that they didn¡¯t possess the player strength to defeat me in my mounted state right now. Order or not, there were still some players left, and they turned out to be enough for me to level back to 206 and fill my bag with various pieces of equipment. It was better than nothing. I continued flying south for almost an hour, crossing through Indian or Russian maps in the process. Finally, I found a neutral map¡ªa barren desert to be exact¡ªand decided to settle there. For now, my goal was to find a leveling map and grind my way up to Level 210. Hopefully, I could get some useful equipment as well. The fact that some of my existing equipment was Spirit-grade was shameful to say the least. Chapter 1080: Marry You Pa! I landed on a piece of land that was surrounded by wilderness. The moment my feet landed on solid ground, a melodious ring entered my ears¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Warning! You have entered a contested territory, the Iron Skull Wilderness! ¡­¡­ Iron Skull Wilderness? I let out a hum and brought up the official database. When the search revealed nothing, I checked the Chinese forums next. This time, I found three pieces of information regarding Iron Skull Wilderness¡ª A: Iron Skull Wilderness. My uni mate and I traveled for 24 hours straight through White Bone Desert, Thunder Mountain Range and Elephant City to arrive at Iron Skull Wilderness in hopes of fighting some never-before-seen boss. Unfortunately, we were assassinated by a foreign assassin right as we entered it. B: Iron Skull Wilderness is a death zone. Never go there unless you¡¯re looking to suffer. I heard stories of people getting ambushed there and having their bodies camped for half a month¡­ C: I¡¯ve read about Iron Skull Wilderness in the European official database before. It is a super huge, super chaotic map that¡¯s almost as big as the entire Sky City domain. The natives of Iron Skull Wilderness are as brutal as they are strong. They are a community of many tribes with no nationality or sense of honor whatsoever. The only trades they conduct are business and murder. ¡­¡­ "Business and murder?" I shivered. My subconsciousness sure knows how to choose a great vacation destination! Iron Skull Wilderness was practically the borderland of Heavenblessed Continent, so there was a good chance that even Elephant City would find it too great a hassle to hunt me here, which was just as well. Right now, the goal was to hit Level 210 and become qualified to take my eighth-promotion quest. Who knows, maybe my trainer would have some OP skills for me to learn when I got back! I kept the Ancient Divine Dragon on low altitude¡ªten meters above the ground to be exact¡ªbecause it gave me the best vision. Technically speaking, there should be nothing that could hide from me. Of course, just in case one of Iron Skull Wilderness¡¯ infamous assassins decided to target me, I made sure to activate Dark Pupils. I spotted a lot of Level 220 dread-rank bear-type mobs on the ground. It was no wonder this place was called a death zone. Generally speaking, it would take at least a party of Level 190+ seventh-promotion experts to be able to survive this place. A normal party would be just wasting their levels and time. However, I was Level 206 now. Level 220 dread-rank mobs were completely useless to me. I had to find something that was at least 30 levels above my current level, or the Ancient Divine Dragon and my own Divine Armaments would weep at the indignity. I roamed around the wilderness for almost an hour not because I couldn¡¯t find suitable prey, but because I was looking for an orange dot; an NPC dot. What could any player do without a place to repair their equipment and restock their supplies? Absolutely nothing. Finally, after almost an hour and a half of mindless flying later, a couple of orange dots finally entered my view. Thank the heavens! I immediately descended to the ground and canceled my mount. There was a simple tent at the edge of the forest, and right next to the tent was a huge skeleton. It didn¡¯t look like a dragon¡¯s, but it was still ungodly huge and eerily white. Five NPCs could be seen sitting around a bonfire that was set up close to the tent as well. The combatants of the group¡ªone warrior and two archers¡ªwere in a sorry state. Their equipment was terrible and in tatters. The gnome blacksmith and succubi trader next to them were exactly what I was looking for though. Even better, the NPCs obviously belonged to the Silver Moon Alliance, so there was no need to worry if they would attack me on sight. I might have lost my in-game nationality, but the mark of the Silver Moon Alliance predated even that. No one could strip this from me. The Purple Ying Sword in my hand, I planted my foot on some dead leaves and allowed myself to be heard. "Who is it?!" One of the succubi archers immediately turned toward my direction and drew her bow tautly. She growled, "Show yourself!" I emerged into the open with an innocent expression on my face. I made a show of sheathing my weapon before greeting them with a smile, "Hello, I¡¯m an adventurer from Sky City." "Oh, it¡¯s just another lost adventurer¡­" The Level 245 dread-rank NPC warrior let out a sigh of relief. I rolled my eyes at the comment. "I¡¯m an adventurer, but I¡¯m not lost." "You¡¯re not? Then why on earth are you in this barren wasteland?" The middle-aged warrior smiled. "There¡¯s no need to be embarrassed, youngster. If even we could lose our sense of direction in this god-forsaken place, you could too." I smiled. "Is that so? Fine, I guess I am lost. Anyway, can I rest here for a bit? I would also like to restock my supplies and repair my equipment." "Of course!" The blacksmith laughed. I praised him on the inside. He didn¡¯t even make me kill or mob or pay for his service! I knew that Silver Moon Alliance¡¯s NPCs are kinder, unlike those bastards who call themselves Sophie¡¯s underlings. A bunch of clinks and clanks later, my equipment was fully repaired. I also bought some fresh, nice-smelling bread from the trader. Man, this was such a good spot! I sat down on a rock covered in dew and chewed my bread, resting. I could use one after all the battles I had gone through today, especially the one against the Indian players. ¡­¡­ Beside me, the NPC warrior sighed. "We are the ¡®Black Wind Scout Battalion¡¯, and we serve Princess Karinshan. We were carrying out orders from Her Majesty to hunt down the Fierce Capricorn. We succeeded, but our 500-man-strong battalion has also dwindled to just 5. I have no idea if we can even leave this place alive." The female archer consoled him. "Don¡¯t be dejected, captain. The Fierce Capricorn was a monster who killed tens of thousands of Vanished God City citizens. Even if we may never return to Sky City, that we were able to slay an evil beast like that before our time¡¯s up is an honor we can take to our graves. Also, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s only a matter of time before Princess Karinshan catches wind of our success!" The warrior nodded. "It¡¯s too bad we didn¡¯t figure out that the Fierce Capricorn is supported by an army of monsters, or we would¡¯ve fared much better." That immediately caught my interest, so I set down my bread and asked, "What monsters are we talking about, uncle? If the Fierce Capricorn is that strong, its companions can¡¯t be too weak, right? I¡¯m interested in giving it a try!" The warrior looked at me for a second before shaking his head. "I would advise you to return to Sky City, young adventurer. This place is not a good place for you to hone yourself. Look at my right arm. My wounds aren¡¯t healing because they were stung by the venomous scorpions. If I¡¯m unable to acquire its venom soon, the only thing I can do is to wait for death to take me!" "Venom?" "Yes. These venomous scorpions are extremely huge and powerful. Unfortunately, the only way to make the antidote is to procure the same venom that was used to poison my arm. Otherwise, I will have to spend the rest of my life in this god-forsaken place." I immediately rose to my feet and picked up my sword. "If you trust me, allow me to find you some scorpion venom and get you treated, uncle!" "Really?" The warrior¡¯s eyes lit up. "Very well, you may as well give it a try. Youngster, the Venomous Scorpions reside in a cave to the west. Once you¡¯re inside, kill them and gather 100 Scorpion Venom Vials for me. I will reward you handsomely if you succeed!" Ding~! System Notice: You¡¯ve accepted the quest "Venomous Scorpion"! (Current Quest Rank: S-) Description: Enter the Scorpion King¡¯s Cave, kill the Venomous Scorpions and gather 100 Scorpion Venom Vials for the captain of Black Wind Scout Battalion to receive a handsome reward. But be careful, the Venomous Scorpions are incredibly powerful. You may want to gather some companions first. ¡­¡­ It was a shareable quest, but obviously I was alone. Worst case scenario I die, so whatever... The fact that the quest was ranked S- meant that the Venomous Scorpions had to be pretty high-level. I fully expected them to drop a lot of equipment as well, which was why I took a moment to clear out some space in my bag and sold around 200 mediocre pieces of equipment to the blacksmith. "Wait¡­" The female archer called out to me right before I was about to leave. "Young warrior, there is one thing I must warn you about before you leave. No matter what you do, don¡¯t enter the innermost area of the Scorpion King¡¯s Cave. A terrifying devil as strong as the Fierce Capricorn itself lives there. You will die if you run into it¡­" I smiled. "Oh, don¡¯t be so hasty to judge someone. Who knows, maybe I¡¯ll surprise you and return with its head¡­" The female archer blinked once before moving closer to caress my cheek. "It would be a shame to lose such a handsome youngster like you. If you can kill the Scorpion King and return with its venomous stinger, I will reward you handsomely. Also¡­" The beautiful NPC suddenly turned red. "I can marry you if you want to!" Beside her, the warrior laughed heartily. "Mona is the prettiest woman in our Black Wind Scout Battalion, so do your best, youngster! For your love and Sky City¡¯s honor!" I grinned but said nothing. How was this a good thing, exactly? If I actually married this NPC lady, He Yi and Lin Yixin would literally cut me down to size. No, Mona could find a better husband elsewhere. That being said, I still accepted the quest to kill the Scorpion King because the reward was definitely going to be generous. ¡­¡­ I turned around, climbed onto the Ancient Divine Dragon and took off toward my destination. This place had deadly players, deadly mobs and deadly bosses, so I was going to stay mounted for as long as I was able. I didn¡¯t want to suffer a death I could¡¯ve avoided. On a related note, my Phantom Wolf King was following me on foot while howling incessantly. In a sense, the Ancient Divine Dragon was travelling on foot as well, if you ignored that its feet were hovering about a meter above the ground and moving incredibly quickly. I spotted a pack of fierce, wild wolves in the forest along the way that were making threatening growls at me, but I ignored them. There was no point killing random mobs when there was a quest to be done. I followed the directions displayed on the minimap and arrived at my destination; a pitch black cave beneath a mountain in less than ten minutes. The good news was that the cave was more than big enough to fit even the Ancient Divine Dragon. "Head inside, little wolf!" I ordered. However, the Phantom Wolf King let out a rejecting howl before hiding behind my back with its tail between its legs. I could practically translate its howl, "You first!" Cowardly bastard! I swore in my head but spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon forward. The cave was unusually dark, so I raised the Purple Ying Sword and let it illuminate my way. A terrible stench entered my nostrils the second I was inside. Tsk tsk, it¡¯s more or less what I expected from a place called ¡®Scorpion King¡¯s Cave¡¯, I suppose. Chapter 1081: Purple Cloud Ring Nothing could remain concealed while my Dark Pupils skill was active, so I was able to spot the red dot hiding somewhere inside the dark, wet soil in front of me. I slowly got closer before kicking off the battle with Dragon Slaying Slash! Bang! The Dragon Slaying Slash pierced the ground and caused a soft, rubbing noise. Right after that, a venomous stinger burst out of the ground. The way it glowed green in the dark caused shivers in my heart. I didn¡¯t want to know how painful it would be to be stung by this thing... Ss ss... The mob¡¯s stinger swam across solid ground like a shark¡¯s dorsal fin on the sea. When it came within 5 yards of me, the entire creature abruptly burst out of the ground. I was surprised by how big it was. It was at least a person tall, and it possessed savage features, multiple limbs and a tail stinger that swayed erratically in midair. It was terrifying! The Venomous Scorpion¡¯s exact stats appeared to me thanks to Dark Pupils. It was as strong as I expected it to be¡ª Venomous Scorpion (Fiend) Level: 245 Attack: 15500~21000 Defense: 18000 HP: 2,200,000 Skills: Venomous Sting, Demonic Armor, Frost Poison Flurry Introduction: The Venomous Scorpion is a terrifying evil spirit that lives in Iron Skull Wilderness. It possesses incredible offensive potential and a deadly poison that can kill an adult earth dragon with a single drop. For tens of thousands of years, nothing, and no one, had been able to chase away the Venomous Scorpions from their habitat. ¡­¡­ Holy shit, 21000 Attack? This mob was stronger than many of the bosses I had encountered in the past, and it was a fiend-rank mob¡ªthe rank above dread¡ªtoo. I couldn¡¯t wait to profit from it! "Come at me, coward!" I spurred my little dragon forward and hit the Venomous Scorpion with a devastating Thousand Ice Slash + Burning Blade Slash four-hit combo immediately. Although it was a fiend-rank mob with a total of 18k Defense, it still wasn¡¯t good enough to mitigate my attack. Huge damage numbers kept flying above its head¡ª 128883! 86623! 132029! 173982! ¡­¡­ I had dealt 500k damage in an instant! I could take out this Venomous Scorpion in half an hour at most, not to mention that I was assisted by the Phantom Wolf King too. "Hiss¡­" While the Venomous Scorpion was screeching in pain, icy energy suddenly surrounded its pincers before it struck me twice across my shield. A kind of freezing energy immediately slowed me and dealt a sizable amount of damage. 32187! 29181! Its Attack was pretty high, and it wasn¡¯t done yet. Before I could react, its stinger stabbed into my shoulder with lightning speed almost as if my Heaven-burning Armor didn¡¯t exist. My HP immediately began dropping at an incredible rate. Beep! Combat Log: The Venomous Scorpion used "Venomous Sting", dealing 45282 poison damage. You have been poisoned, and will take 5000 poison damage every second for 10 seconds! ¡­¡­ I was stunned. This mob is a bit overpowered, isn¡¯t it? In just one combo, it had deleted over 100k HP from me and left me with a status condition that was going to delete another 50k in total! This is crazy! I kept dishing out basic attacks with the Purple Ying Sword until the 6-second restriction on my skills had passed. I was going to execute Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash combo, but Universe Break triggered the Purple Ying Sword¡¯s septuple damage passive and scored a critical hit, effectively dealing 14 times more damage than normal to the Venomous Scorpion and one-shotting it! As a result, my Burning Blade Slash missed its target completely! 2598848! +519769! ¡­¡­ The ridiculous 2.6 million damage hit allowed me to lifesteal a whopping 510k from the now-dead mob. It was so crazy that I felt sorry for complaining about the Venomous Scorpion¡¯s "OP" offensive power. It was nothing compared to what I just did! Tsk tsk, the Ancient Divine Armament version of my Purple Ying Sword was so much stronger than the original! "Roar roar roar¡­" Green poison sloshed out of the giant hole that Universe Break drilled into the Venomous Scorpion¡¯s body as it collapsed. It dropped two pieces of equipment, one card and one Purple Crystal in total. What a generous mob it was! I picked up the equipment drops and gave them a look. One of them was Silver-grade, and the other, Dark Steel. Normally, I wouldn¡¯t even bother storing them in my bag, but these particular items had one special quality going for them: they were both Level 200. At the current stage of the game, most players were fighting low-level mobs and finding equally low-level equipment¡ªa large majority of them were Level 180 or below¡ªonly. Even those who were at a sufficient level and skill didn¡¯t know where they could grind equipment like this. As a result, there were practically no items at Level 200 or above on the market. When the number of Level 200 players began to grow by leaps and bounds¡ªit should take half a month or a month at most¡ªI fully expected these items to sell like hot cakes. And why wouldn¡¯t they? Level 200 Silver-grade equipment was as good as Level 150 Immortal-grade equipment. An irrational player who picked their equipment based on item grade instead of cold, hard stats was only going to starve to death eventually. Next, I checked out the card dropped by the Venomous Scorpion. A big grin immediately crept onto my face when I saw its effects¡ª Venomous Scorpion Card: Increases Attack by 50%, grants 20% armor penetration, and increases poison resistance by 50%. Grants immunity to Petrification status effect. Level Requirement: 200. Duration: 120 minutes. ¡­¡­ I used it immediately. I¡¯m going to have to fight a lot more Venomous Scorpion after this, and this card gives me exactly what I need to tank its poison damage effectively! More red dots appeared as I ventured deeper into the cave. Most of them were buried under the ground or inside the walls. However, the deeper I went into the cave, the more numerous the enemies became. It was why I didn¡¯t dare to fight more than 3 Venomous Scorpions at the same time. Losing levels because I was hasty would invalidate all the time and effort I had put into grinding all that experience in the first place. Yes, the royal road here was definitely luring the Venomous Scorpions over with Dragon Slaying Slash and killing them one by one. The Venomous Scorpion also yielded an incredible amount of experience, so there was no reason to take a risk at all. Sometimes, the mobs would drop something that looked like a black crystal. It was the Scorpion Venom, vials of which were the quest item I was tasked to collect. They felt ice cold to touch. Time passed bit by bit. I fought my way toward the innermost area of the map. Pop! A pleasant surprise occurred while I was killing a Venomous Scorpion. It had dropped a shiny, orange ring that looked anything but basic, and it wasn¡¯t. The beautiful thing didn¡¯t look like something a non-boss could drop at all¡ª Purple Cloud Ring (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Strength: +1200 Stamina: +1150 Agility: +1090 Tactics: +75 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack and Defense by 35% Passive: Increases user¡¯s poison resistance by 50% Outstanding Property: Purple Cloud Strike. When attacking, the user has a chance to poison the target. Potency of the poison scales with user¡¯s Attack. Level Requirement: 200 Reputation Requirement: 400000 ¡­¡­ This Immortal-grade item was as good as some low-level Cambrian Divine Armaments, and it didn¡¯t even come from a boss or even a miniboss! What is wrong with my karma today?? I hurriedly brought up the database, typed in "Immortal" in the equipment space and "Fiend" in the monster space before checking for the corresponding drop rate. The result was a staggering 0.001%! In short, a 0.001% drop rate meant that, on average, I would have to kill 100k Venomous Scorpion to get an Immortal-grade item. Not only that, it was one of the rarest equipment drop one could get from a mob, a ring! I should absolutely buy two lotteries today when I logged out of the game. With luck¡ªand I absolutely had that today¡ªI might even win the 50 million jackpot! I checked out my existing rings to decide which one I should replace. In the end, I decided to remove the Level 120 Spirit-grade Silver Dragon Ring. Although the Silver Dragon Storm was pretty strong, its trigger rate was too low for it to be worth it at this stage of the game. On the other hand, the Apparition Ring would remain a very useful item for a very long time to come. My mind decided, I replaced the Silver Dragon Ring with the Purple Cloud Ring immediately. Tsk tsk, this is awesome! My stats jumped up visibly, and my max HP now sat at a whopping 430k without any buffs. It should be enough to challenge the final boss of this map. Even if it wasn¡¯t, HP wasn¡¯t the main stat I relied on when challenging a boss anyway. My Purple Ying Sword¡¯s 20% lifesteal was the attribute that would allow me to facetank the boss like a real man... ¡­¡­ Anyway, after that brief but pleasant interlude, I continued fighting my way toward my destination. The entire journey had lasted almost 5 hours, but I had finally managed to reach the innermost area of the Scorpion King¡¯s Cave. I managed to obtain a lot of equipment, and my experience had skyrocketed by 45%. I was now less than 20% away from hitting Level 207. So far, it looked like Iron Skull Wilderness was good enough to level me up to 210. Also, the player density was scarce enough that I should be able to hog the entire map to myself. Besides the Immortal-grade Purple Cloud Ring I got entirely out of the blue, I found 3 Heaven-grade and 7 Earth-grade pieces of equipment. They were all Outstanding Level 200 equipment, the first choice of any player at the current stage of the game. Currently, my plan was to give them away to my guild¡¯s core players when I finally returned to my country because they were as good as the reward equipment of the S1 instance, if not better. Moreover, they were actually easier to obtain than the S1 instance equipment. Until now, no one had managed to beat the S1 instance, let alone farm its unique set. It was just that difficult. It was reported in the forums that Song of Cloud and Water had ordered Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and Ringwraith to form a party with Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Moon Dew to grind the S1 instance. However, their cooperation still ended in failure. The biggest reason behind their failure was their inability to defeat the bosses. More accurately, neither Song of Ice and Fire nor God Bone were tanky enough to hold the boss long enough for the damage dealers to kill it. As a result, they kept getting wiped. I glanced at the Purple Ying Sword and the Ancient Divine Dragon and thought that I should give the S1 instance a try after I returned to Sky City. Right now, my Defense was far stronger than Gui Guzi or He Yi¡¯s, not to mention that my weapon had a 20% lifesteal effect. There should be no one whose survivability surpassed mine in the entire world. So far, my journey in Scorpion King¡¯s Cave was a fruitful and joyous one. It was too bad I couldn¡¯t return to Sky City yet, or I could¡¯ve launched a wave of buying sprees with these items myself. My in-game nationality still hadn¡¯t been restored, and even my Air Force One had closed its doors. I knew because the system notified me about its closing, and it would remain so until I returned to the China server. Truly a shame. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a cold wind blew from the front. It was so cold that even the Ancient Divine Dragon shivered a bit. Then, a pair of red eyes appeared from the darkness, and the gigantic Scorpion King charged us while emitting a series of spine-crawling hisses. Heavens, this boss looks incredibly disgusting! Chapter 1082: A Poisonous Dance "Hiss hiss¡­" The Scorpion King¡¯s face was ugly enough, but it also had 6 eyes that could spin all the way around. Its mouth was also filled with tiny needles and seven rows of sharp teeth. It was incredibly scary. The white foam dripping down its mouth was obviously its trademark venom. The tiniest contact with this thing could probably kill most things with ease. Talons pressing against wet soil, the Ancient Divine Dragon backed away under my command while I scanned the boss with Dark Pupils. As I thought, the monsters at the borderland of the continent were of much higher level than any mob within Sky City domain, and that included the bosses¡ª Scorpion King (Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 245 Attack: 24500~33000 Defense: 30000 HP: 35,000,000 Skills: Sting Attack, Venom Dance, Venom Mist Introduction: The Scorpion King is one of the terrors of Iron Skull Wilderness and the king of the Venomous Scorpions. A single drop of its venom is enough to kill an adult Giant Dragon. Once, one of human leaders, Fia, sent 10000 elite soldiers to Iron Skull Wilderness to slay the Scorpion King, only to lose them all to its deadly mist. For tens of thousands of years, the Scorpion King ruled the Venomous Scorpions and a corner of Iron Skull Wilderness unchallenged. ¡­¡­ I pursed my lips as I read its description. Heavens, this Scorpion King was at least an entire league ahead of most of the bosses I had encountered up until this point. With a base Attack of 33000 and god knows how much more hidden stat boosts granted by the system because of its boss status, I fully expected this monstrosity to give me a lot of trouble. Swhoosh swhoosh! I activated Great Earth Transformation. This was the type of fight one could not afford to spare Divine Energy Points. I also activated undead energy, coating the translucent blade of the Purple Ying Sword in a sheen of red light. The Scorpion King was a living creature, so it should take extra damage from undead energy. Also, I refreshed my Venomous Scorpion Card to increase my poison resistance. Obviously, I would die way faster without it. Finally, I summoned my apparition to join the battle. The three of us should be able to pose quite the threat to the boss. "Let¡¯s go!" I let out a battle cry and charged toward the boss, tentatively firing Thousand Ice Slash when it was still 20 yards away. Thousands and thousands of icy blades immediately crashed onto the boss''s body! Boom! Unfortunately, not only did the skill fail to freeze the Scorpion King, it only dealt 48992 damage. Its tough, black carapace gave it ridiculously high Defense, so much so that my damage was greatly diminished even with the improved Purple Ying Sword and Ancient Divine Dragon. This meant that I must locate and strike at its weak point as soon as possible, or I would most likely lose a battle of attrition. The Scorpion King let out a screech of pain before skittering toward me with its six limbs at high speed. When it opened its mouth, a pitch black and obviously poisonous needle flew straight toward me. It was its first skill, Sting Attack! Chiang! I swung my sword and parried the skill successfully, but I still suffered over 70k damage, and my sword arm numbed temporarily. As expected, parries were almost useless against a Level 245 Immortal Rank boss. That being said, I would¡¯ve suffered at least 100k damage from the skill if I hadn¡¯t done it. I raised the Dragon God Shield and charged again. At the same time, I raised my arm and executed God Binding Art. Unfortunately, it failed to do anything except create a big string of characters above the boss¡¯s head, and they read ¡°MISS¡±. Worse, I wasn¡¯t able to locate a single weak point on its body with Dark Pupils. Even the eyes and the mouth didn¡¯t count as weak points. Chiang! I tried Burning Blade Slash next and fired three flaming auras at the Scorpion King. They engulfed the boss, but dealt a less-than-encouraging amount of damage¡ª 45920! 59282! 73767! This couldn¡¯t continue. The Scorpion King¡¯s Defense was just too high. At this rate, it would take forever to kill it! The Scorpion King attacked! Swhoosh! As the Scorpion King raised its hook-like telson, its stinger suddenly spun rapidly like a top. Then, it pierced my shoulder so fast that I wasn¡¯t even able to react to it, inflicting a mind-numbing sensation and a disgusting amount of damage¡ª 172388! I nearly shat my pants when I saw the damage number. It was the Venom Dance skill. Thank goodness the boss couldn¡¯t use it repeatedly, or no amount of HP was enough to tank this kind of punishment. Venom Dance also inflicted continuous poison damage, but thankfully the Venomous Scorpion Card and Purple Cloud Ring increased my poison resistance enough that it wasn¡¯t a problem yet. Otherwise, this would¡¯ve been a very, very short boss fight. "Roar roar¡­" The Phantom Wolf King slapped the boss''s tail with Claw of the Storm while its attention was on me. The apparition also fired a long-range Dragon Slaying Slash + Coiling Dragon Revolution combo and a short-range Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash combo. Unfortunately, the DPS still wasn¡¯t enough. I executed War Crush to delete 150k HP from the boss and absorb 30k+ for my own. At the same time, I used Tenacity of the Dead to restore 25% of my HP. One should never underestimate a boss no matter how weak or strong they appeared to be, so the royal road here was to stay at full health if at all possible, especially since I was alone and without a priest. Next, the Scorpion King planted two of its forelimbs into the ground, attacking me with its two pincers. It was its basic attack. As I raised my shield to block, I suddenly noticed that there was a green sac beneath its body. This time, Dark Pupils revealed to me that it was its weak point! I immediately abandoned my guard and executed a lightning fast Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo! Pu pu pu... The Scorpion King let out a scream of pain. This time, the damage I dealt looked a lot more pleasing to the eye¡ª 192383! 90484! 132727! 182733! I returned to full health for an instant thanks to my weapon¡¯s lifesteal, but took 100k+ damage immediately afterward due to the Scorpion King¡¯s basic attack. It was the price I had to pay for opting not to defend myself. I moved the Ancient Divine Dragon back while plopping a couple Icy Cyclone Domains on the ground, freezing the Scorpion King¡¯s limbs and buying my skills time to refresh. Not only that, I used the Phantom Wolf King and the apparition to draw the aggro away from me and reduce its DPS. Every second counted here. I scanned my surroundings while waiting and noticed that the cave was filled with stalactites. I also noticed that, while the Venomous King was a lot bigger than the Ancient Divine Dragon, it was also a lot less flexible due to its hardened carapace. I might be able to use the terrain to my advantage. It was at this moment the Scorpion King let out a screech and executed Venom Dance and Sting Attack in rapid succession, deleting 300k+ HP in an instant. Face turning purple at the sight of my near-empty health bar, I hurriedly drank a Saint Spirit Potion and dished out a Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash triple combo, dealing around 800k damage and lifestealing around 160k HP. Thanks to Regeneration of the Undead, I just barely survived the attack. "Come on, little dragon!" Another painful impact rocked my shoulder as I ordered the Ancient Divine Dragon to turn around. Even with the stat boosts provided by the Ancient Divine Dragon, the Scorpion King was capable of dishing out as much damage as I healed. There was just no way I would be able to kill an Immortal Rank boss that was 30+ levels above me in a fair fight! As we raced toward the exit, I saw two gigantic stalactites hanging from the ceiling with about a meter of space at the center. I immediately spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon toward the gap. The Ancient Divine Dragon easily fit through it thanks to its flexible body, but the screeching Scorpion King had no choice but to slam right into the stalactites to get to me. The moment I heard a loud bang, I turned around and fired a chain of skills at its weak point, greatly reducing its HP. The Phantom Wolf King and the apparition also scored quick attacks on the weak point before escaping to safety. Their DPS was way lower than mine, so there was no chance I could use them as primary tanks. They wouldn¡¯t be able to hold the aggro, and OT was bound to happen really fast. Crack! Crack! The Scorpion King roared and struck the two stalactites blocking its way with a mighty swing, shredding the ten-thousand-year-old rock formation like nothing. Tsk tsk, this boss was just way too powerful! I continued to stay in front of the boss while searching for an opportunity to land a hit. When it did present itself, I immediately launched a Coiling Dragon Revolution at its poison sac. The sudden chill in my arm informed me that the skill would deal 7 times more damage than normal, and just as expected a huge damage number rose above its head¡ª 1369774! How wonderful! If only all my attacks dealt 7 times the damage. I would¡¯ve been able to take it out in five minutes tops! The Scorpion King gave me no time to fantasize though. Mouth frothing with white foam as if it had entered a berserk state, it suddenly let out an angry roar and spat a green fog out of its mouth. Soon, the entire area was filled with poisonous fog! Beep! Combat Log: The Scorpion King used "Venom Mist", dealing continuous damage. Your active card reduced its effects by 50%, and your equipment "Purple Cloud Ring" further reduced its effects by 50%. 25% of the effect will be applied to you. You will take 2500 poison damage every second over 300 seconds! ¡­¡­ I swore inside my head. How shameless! How despicable! FIVE minutes of Poisoned status condition? This is bullshit! I backed away from the boss. Thanks to Dark Pupils, the green fog didn¡¯t impede my vision too much. Also, the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s body was flexible enough that gaps that we could squeeze through with ease kept the Scorpion King at bay until it had torn a wide enough hole. While the Scorpion King was dismantling the rocks, I hit it with Burning Blade Slash and Universe Break. On a related note, I didn¡¯t stop using God Binding Art just because it had failed the first time, and so far I had a one in three chance of immobilizing it. As a result, I was able to maintain my HP around 50% at all times. I used absolutely every tool and trick at my disposal to control the ferocious boss! ¡­¡­ The boss fight lasted almost an hour. My Attack was insane, but the Scorpion King¡¯s HP regeneration speed was just as insane. In the end though, I was able to reduce its HP to a paltry 5% despite using up as much as 50% of my potion stock. Victory was in sight, and my heart overflowed with expectation. What kind of reward would a Level 245 Immortal Rank boss drop, I wonder? A Divine Armament might be too much to ask, but I certainly wouldn¡¯t mind a high-level Immortal-grade piece of equipment! Chapter 1083: Purple Frost Concentration ¡°Come on, baby! Gimme an Ancient Immortal-grade equipment!¡± I stabbed the boss¡¯s poison sac with the Purple Ying Sword and gave it a twist, causing a jet of green poison to squirt against my face. I quickly wiped it away before firing another Burning Blade Slash into the poison sac, inflicting massive weak-point damage to the screeching Scorpion King. The boss¡¯s HP had dropped below 2% at this point, so I immediately moved to the back while ordering apparition to use Thunderous Charge on the boss. Amazingly, the skill actually managed to stun the creature. I immediately drank a Saint Spirit Potion to regain full HP and MP before plunging my sword into the ground. When the earth shook and wisps of powerful draconic energy had surrounded my blade, I pulled it out and launched a purple cyclone straight at the boss, Purple Dragon Howl engulfing it instantly! ¡°Roar roar roar!¡± The draconic roar rocked the innermost area of the Scorpion King¡¯s Cave, and the boss screamed one last time as Purple Dragon Howl stripped away its carapace. Finally, its head slowly turned limp, and its last sliver of HP vanished from view. Its death marked the end of my one-man sweep of the Scorpion King¡¯s Cave. ¡°Ah¡­¡± I sucked in a deep breath before falling tiredly against the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back. Purple Dragon Howl left its user Exhausted for 3 seconds, and during these 3 seconds it felt like I had run a marathon. I wasn''t able to summon even an ounce of strength at all. ¡­¡­ The Scorpion King erupted into a floor of equipment, magic stones and more upon dying. I planned to take everything with me because some of the loot¡ªthe magic stones for example¡ªcould be traded for gold at the supply camp. Ever since I was barred from the China server, my gold supply had been steadily decreasing. This meant that I really had to start broadening my sources of income and economizing on my expenditure. The moment the Exhausted status had passed, I leaped down the dragon¡¯s back and arrived at the Scorpion King¡¯s body. The first thing I did was to put its Venomous Sting in my bag. It was the quest item I needed to trade with the hot NPC archer for a rich amount of experience and maybe even some equipment. Next, I sat on the Scorpion King¡¯s body and examined its equipment drops closely. There were three in total. The first item was a battle axe that was surrounded by a bloody glow. The second was an exquisite-looking metal armor cloak, and the third was a green dagger. Besides that, the boss also dropped an azure-colored skillbook and a fiery red pet egg. I couldn¡¯t wait to check them out! First things first, I examined the equipment. I picked up the battle axe and found it to be surprisingly heavy. A player with low Strength might not even be able to pick it up from the ground, much less equip it. I smiled in satisfaction after I checked its stats. It was good. Soul Pardon Battle Axe (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 3500~5500 Strength: +1250 Stamina: +1100 Agility: +1050 Tactics: +102 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 125% Passive: Increases user¡¯s splash effect by 30% Passive: When swinging Soul Pardon, a 2% chance to trigger Soul Pardon Strike and stun the target Slots: 13 Outstanding Property: Burning Spirit. Upon activation, all of user¡¯s attacks are critical hits for 120 seconds. Cooldown: 120 minutes. Level Requirement: 200 Reputation Requirement: 300000 Class Requirement: Warrior ¡­¡­ The battle axe possessed incredible offensive power for an Immortal-grade item, so I planned to sell it to High Fighting Spirits at a low price when the opportunity presented itself. Some people might wonder why I wouldn¡¯t just give it to him for free. For starters, he wasn¡¯t so close to me that we could straight up ignore conventional norms like Lin Yixin, He Yi or Beiming Xue. Also, most experts were prideful people, and he could very well see my gift as charity; a blow to his pride. Both of us would be happy, however, if I sold it to him for 20% of its normal price. Next, I moved on to the bloody cloak, also my most anticipated piece of equipment of the three. The cloak was clearly old and tattered, but the hem of the cape was glossy with divine energy. It didn¡¯t take a discerning eye to know that this cloak was anything but ordinary. Still, I almost forgot to wipe my saliva when I saw its exact stats¡ª Sunchaser Cloak (Hadean Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 7000 Magic Resist: 6500 Strength: +1240 Stamina: +1200 Intelligence: +1150 Tactics: +175 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist by 45% Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 70000 Outstanding Property: Sunchaser¡¯s Prayer. Increases user¡¯s movement speed by 75%, attack speed by 40%, and HP regeneration speed by 25% Introduction: In ancient times, a great ancient god sought the stars and planets in an attempt to master the greatest powers of the laws. However, he perished right when he was about to succeed. After the later generation discovered crystallization of his power, the divine smiths worked together to forge it into the Sunchaser Cloak. The vast power contained inside the item is not something any ordinary person can pilot. Level: 205 Reputation Requirement: 500000 Class Requirement: Warrior ¡­¡­ I was overjoyed because I had been stuck with my Earth-grade Soul Suppressing Cloak for too long already. While its Shield of Evening was very useful, the Dragon God Shield¡¯s Divine Dragon Protection already gave me a better, 25 seconds long, invincibility. There was also no point having two invincibility actives because I didn¡¯t have enough Active Points to activate 2 of them within the same battle anyway. In a sense, this Sunchaser Cloak couldn¡¯t have come at a better time! Swhoosh! I immediately equipped the Sunchaser Cloak, and it immediately appeared behind my Heaven-burning Armor. Most of the cloak was bloody red in color, but its hem glowed like it was painted with a sheen of silver moonlight. The sharp but beautiful contrast did wonders to to accentuate its age and desolation. Anyone with a handsome enough face could equip this cloak, go for a spin in Sky City, and bedazzle countless girls without even trying. After all, what kind of girl wouldn¡¯t like a handsome youngster who looked like they had seen everything there was to be seen in life? On a side note, even thoughI thought I was good-looking enough to wear this cloak, albeit just barely, Chaos Moon did say that I had no chance of joining the ranks of the tall, rich and handsome. Unfortunately, I myself was inclined to agree with her assessment... A vast power flowed into my body slowly after I had equipped the Sunchaser Cloak, and my stats jumped noticeably¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Martial God of the Abyss) Class: Undead Swordsman (Great Earth Swordsman) Level: 207 HP: 505820 Attack: 19920-23170 Defense: 27715 Magic Resist: 24420 Reputation: 749400 Tactics: 1225 (+1122) Luck: 74 ¡­¡­ I knew that equipment was the royal road in this game, and one that buffed Strength, Stamina and max HP was even more amazing. The Sunchaser Cloak alone had increased my base Defense by a ridiculous 6000+ and my max HP by 70k+. I now had a base HP of 500k, a stat that was absolutely critical considering that I was adventuring alone in Iron Skull Wilderness, an unfamiliar place filled with unknown danger. I couldn¡¯t always use an HP-buffing card because I needed to maintain a certain level of DPS, so the higher my base HP was, the better! Brimming with happiness, I checked out the third and final equipment drop of the Scorpion King, the green dagger. It was a Level 200, 8-star Outstanding Heaven-grade weapon, and it was good enough to sell to Cute Little Naughty for a super cheap price. She had been growing stronger and stronger under Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon¡¯s guidance. In the future, she might just be able to defeat Moonkiss or Farewell Song and become the greatest assassin in China! Next, I picked up the azure-colored skill book and flipped it open. A line of text immediately entered my eyes¡ª Purple Frost Concentration: Stab your opponent with unstoppable force and poison them, lowering their Defense by40% for 60 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds. Class Requirement: None. Level Requirement: 200. Learning Cost: 50000 Reputation and 1 Luck. ¡­¡­ I was stunned. A skill that lowers the target¡¯s Defense by 40%? This skill was a must-have against any top-tier expert! Finally, the heavens had blessed me with an armor break skill! Not only that, Purple Frost Concentration hardly applied to opposing players only. If I had this skill before my fight against the Scorpion King, I would¡¯ve been able to end it as soon as thirty minutes, not struggle with it for an entire hour. Armor break skills were just that useful. I was so happy that I actually faced toward the sky and laughed like a madman. I raised my arm, and the skill book turned into a ray of light before entering my body. Before I knew it, there was a new purple-colored skill button in my skill window. It looked incredibly pretty. Metaphorically speaking, the prettier the rose, the sharper its thorns. So far, this rule hadn¡¯t been proven wrong in this game just yet. An idea entered my mind, and I side-eyed the Phantom Wolf King with a sinister smile on my face. As if sensing my malicious intention, the little wolf trapped its tail between its legs and whined pitifully at me. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare escape, boy!¡± After I changed my attack mode to free-for-all, I abruptly stabbed the little wolf in the butt and activated Purple Frost Concentration, delivering a jet of venomous poison straight into its body. The Phantom Wolf King immediately turned purple in the face and barked at me with an expression of deep betrayal. That didn¡¯t matter though. What mattered was that it had lost exactly 40% of its Defense. I smirked. This skill is so good! King of the hill, here I come! ¡­¡­ The Scorpion King also dropped a ton of magic stones, and there were even Purple Crystals and Divine Crystals. Most normal players would never see them for as long as they played the game because one of these stones could sell for 10000 RMB or higher at an NPC store. Naturally, they couldn¡¯t be too common. After I took everything, I climbed back up the Ancient Divine Dragon and exited the cave. Then, I took to the sky and flew toward the Black Wind Scout Battalion¡¯s camp at full speed. Turning in a quest and being rewarded for it never gets old. I checked my experience bar and noted that it was Level 207, 89%. By the time I finished, I should hit Level 208 and become one step closer to Level 210 and my eighth class promotion! ¡­¡­ I looked down on the ground as I flew and saw all kinds of mobs, but no players. So far, the forum claim that Iron Skull Wilderness was crawling with deadly players hadn¡¯t yet been proven to be true, although of course I could¡¯ve just missed them. It didn¡¯t matter though. With my current stats, who could possibly be deadlier than myself? Chapter 1084: Crimson Scythe Scorpion Pa! My boots made a wet sound when I landed on solid ground again. It was because rain had just passed through this area. The camp of Black Wind Scout Battalion already looked terrible in the first place, but now it looked even more ragged than before. The NPCs themselves were completely drenched. Speaking of which, my attention was fully drawn to the hot NPC archer. Her clothes were wet to the point where they were almost transparent, so I was granted a most wonderful view of her round, firm breasts. I love that the assets of in-game NPCs never sag or anything! First things first, I walked up to the middle-aged warrior and passed him the 100 samples of Scorpion Venom I had collected for him. "Here, captain. I¡¯ve brought you the stuff you need!" The warrior¡¯s face reddened with excitement as he said, "Heavens! I thought you would never return from your journey because those scorpions are brutal, but you actually completed this near-impossible quest! Young warrior, you¡¯ve truly impressed me!" I grinned at him and said humbly, "You praise me too much, uncle. Now, give me my reward, please!" "Very well! In the name of Sky City, I grant you the glory you deserve! Your courage and strength are more than deserving of these rewards, young warrior!" Ding~! System Notice: You have completed the S Rank quest [Venomous Scorpion]. You have gained 90 million experience, 80000 gold, and 50000 Reputation. ¡­¡­ I glared at the uncle. Why? Because the reward wasn''t even close to being worth its difficulty, the stingy bastard! The experience I got wasn¡¯t even enough to level me up to 208, and don¡¯t even get me started on the gold reward! I knew that middle-aged uncles couldn¡¯t be trusted! Next, I walked up to the beautiful Mona and showed her the Scorpion King¡¯s stinger. "Here, I got this from the Scorpion King. This is what you¡¯re looking for, right?" The girl¡¯s eyes widened like saucers, and her breasts shook visibly like someone was slapping them around. She abruptly grabbed my hands and said, "Young warrior, you actually managed to kill that Scorpion King? I cannot even¡­ heavens, your achievement is comparable to that of a dragon slayer, I... I¡­" I replied calmly, "Calm down, girl. I¡¯ve brought you your stuff, so my reward¡­?" "Very well!" Mona nodded and said, "Seeing that you¡¯ve fulfilled your promise, I will now grant you the reward you deserve! Receive the blessing of the gods!" Ding~! System Notice: You have completed the SS Rank quest [Kill the Scorpion King]. You have obtained 170000000 experience, 120000 gold, 90000 Reputation and the quest reward, "Fire War God Card" x20! ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t believe it. My amazing reward is¡­ cards? I rubbed my eyes to no avail. Instead of the Divine Armament I expected, the goddamn SS Rank quest actually gave me just 20 cards. Are you kidding me? However, I changed my mind after checking out the exact effects of the cards. They were much, much better than I expected¡ª Fire War God Card: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 70%, attack speed by 35%, and max HP by 80%. Duration: 500 minutes. Level Requirement: 200. ¡­¡­ I was stunned. These boosts were greater than even what one would normally see from a Divine Armament, not to mention that it had a duration of 500 minutes! Assuming that I used it the moment I logged into the game, I would be practically invincible for over 8 hours! I had never seen such a powerful card in my life! I stored them in my bag for later use. These cards were super limited, and they should only be used only when my life was on the line! As I stared at the card stack, I suddenly noticed the fiery red pet egg right next to it. Oh right, I completely forgot that the Scorpion King dropped a pet egg as well. The Sunchaser Cloak and Purple Frost Concentration were such incredible drops that I actually forgot about it. I quickly gave it a look, and, ah, I could feel myself drooling again¡ª Crimson Scythe Scorpion (Immortal Rank Pet) Level: 0 Introduction: Crimson Scythe Scorpion. As a legendary sacred beast of slaughter, the Crimson Scythe Scorpion possesses red, bladed limbs that can hack an enemy into pieces, as well as formidable strength. It was also known as a bloodthirsty killer during the Spirit of Grief era. After ten thousand years of hiding and recovery, the Crimson Scythe Scorpion has finally returned to this world as the offspring of the Scorpion King. ¡­¡­ "God damn, you¡¯re telling me that the Scorpion King was pregnant for ten thousand years? To call this a difficult birth would be the understatement of the millennium!" I sighed while shaking my head. "It wasn¡¯t even born normally. I had to give it a Cesarean delivery. What a sinful man I am¡­" ¡­¡­ I tossed the Crimson Scythe Scorpion back into my bag with the intent of gifting it to Chaos Moon later. The Crimson Scythe Scorpion was equal to the Phantom Wolf King in rank, and the only difference between them was that the latter was a boss pet. It was way stronger than the Ghost Chariot she was currently using, and I was sure that she would appreciate it. Suddenly, Mona blinked once, sat down on the stump next to her and said, "I will be taking my rest, young adventurer, but I wish to see you again in ten hours. I have a very important mission for you, and trust me, I¡¯m not exaggerating when I say that you¡¯re my only hope now!" Oh, there¡¯s a follow-up quest? Awesome! I replied while drooling, "No problem. I will complete anything you ask of me, pretty!" Mona giggled at the praise, unwittingly causing her pair of 36Es to jiggle wonderfully in the wind. Beside him, the blacksmith cackled, "Ooh, it looks like our little Mona is falling for someone! Don¡¯t let the opportunity slip through your grasp, youngster! It¡¯s up to you to win the heart of our battalion¡¯s goddess!" I grinned but said nothing. She¡¯s just an NPC, it¡¯s not like I can actually do anything with her even if I won her heart... ¡­¡­ After the quests had been turned in, I sold all the magic stones to the trader and got over 100k gold in return. It more or less made up for all the gold I had spent to repair my equipment. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t trade with this particular blacksmith for refinement points, and the NPC at Final Duel Valley had left their post a while ago. I assumed that Sophie had summoned them, and then sent them for other business, which meant that the window to evolve one¡¯s equipment was limited. Oh well. I made up my mind to clear out the inventory in my bag the next time I logged back into the game. It was because I didn¡¯t want to risk running into a similar map like Final Duel Valley and losing everything due to an ambush. My experience at Final Duel Valley had made me realize that Resurrection Art wasn¡¯t omnipotent, and that there were ways to counter it. Anyway, it was time to log out of the game! I pulled off my gaming helmet, sucked in a deep breath and drank a bit of water. A day had gone by just like that. A while later, I knocked on Chaos Moon¡¯s door and waited for several minutes for her to admit me. Her hair was a bit messy because she just logged out of the game. Shooting me a glare, she asked, "What is it? I¡¯m carrying Li Chengfeng." I replied, "If you¡¯re not in a hurry, then join me for a meal, will you? Also, when you log back into the game later, come meet me at our usual meeting spot at Dragonbone Mountain Range. I¡¯ll be grinding there until you return. I have some loot I want you to take back to the guild, and a gift for you for keeping me company all these days." Chaos Moon giggled, and her pair bounced visibly under her clothes. I immediately noticed that she wasn¡¯t wearing a bra. How sinful. "Hey! Where do you think you¡¯re looking?" Chaos Moon noticed it as well and immediately shot me a blushing glare. I looked away. "I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. I know it¡¯s impolite to stare¡­" "Quit pretending already," said Chaos Moon while rolling her eyes. "So? How¡¯s the color?" I grinned. "Pink, for now¡­" "Pervert!" Chaos Moon punched me in the chest before pushing me out of the door. "Anyway, give me half an hour to prepare. I¡¯ll come to you for dinner afterward." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ After I returned to the room, I took a bath and checked out the forums to pass time. Too many things had happened during this time, so the Chinese forums kept being bombarded by one headline after another. Today, it got yet another new headline, and it was still about the aftermath of my "betrayal"¡ª "Little Heavenly King Lu Chen ventured deep behind enemy lines, executed the traitor Now and Forever, and returned the City Map of Daybreak City to his country. Tang Long¡¯s crimes are slowly being exposed, and Tang Feng stepped out to provide an official explanation on the matter. Tang Long is currently being put under observation, and the hidden truth at the end of the War of Purple Grape City is soon to be unveiled¡­" I clicked open the thread and read the comments below¡ª 1st comment (Frivolous Boy): Support Lu Chen, our Little Heavenly King, our pride! 2nd comment (Warsky): Fuck, I almost wronged Lu Chen. 3rd comment (Hot and Sour Noodles): Hehe, the truth will be revealed very soon! 4th comment (For Love): I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s said in the India forums that Lu Chen exploited Flowing Cloud¡¯s trust to steal the city map back. This is not how a hero should act, no matter what the cause. Honestly, I¡¯m a little disappointed in him! 5th comment (Abortion): Lu Chen suffered so many wrongs, but he still isn¡¯t able to return to his country. The officials better have a good explanation for this, or this is just the beginning! 6th comment: Sad Dawn Maple: @For Love. Let¡¯s say Lu Chen gave up the chance to retake the city map for Flowing Cloud. Do you understand how many innocent people would be hurt by this, and how badly it would hurt the China server? If this is your idea of someone who values relationships and people, then would you tell me your idea of justice? Since ancient times, loyalty and justice have been difficult to achieve at once. A true hero must have the courage to do what is right even if they are scorned by the entire world as a result, and that is exactly what Lu Chen chose to do even though he knew that he would be scorned and hunted like a rat on the streets. Why can¡¯t you see that as a precious quality? Why can¡¯t you see the burden he chose to bear? Also, is your loyalty toward your country so thin that it is lighter than your trust toward a girl you just met? ¡­¡­ I felt sad after reading all the comments in the thread. It was because few people understood me despite all that I have thought and done for them. Whether or not their criticisms had come from goodness or malice, they pierced my heart like knives all the same. I hurt because I cared for them. Yes, I could¡¯ve chosen the easy way out and gave in to vengeance. I could¡¯ve rallied Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi; Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends and more to leave the China server, turn on the three main cities and uproot all of Tang Long¡¯s forces in one go. I could even join forces with the enemy, conquer the China server and make myself its lord and master if I wanted to. Only a liar would say that it wouldn¡¯t have been a pleasurable experience. But who would I have hurt if I had made this choice? And at the cost of whose moral integrity? Some things could only be done after one had thought through everything. Chapter 1085: Long Time No See, Girl Flowing Cloud was a woman who had trusted me deeply. Our meeting at Final Duel Valley also left me with a good impression. She, a foreigner, was the one person who noticed the truth behind my persistence when everyone else had misunderstood me. Of course, she was also a person who saw me at one of the absolute worst moments of my life. It wasn¡¯t a good experience being hunted like a rat in Final Duel Valley. However, human nature was a complex thing. It was true that Flowing Cloud extended me an olive branch because she admired my character. However, it was even more true that she desperately needed a talent like me to strengthen Elephant City. To that end, she could even make me the guild leader of Natural Flow. As for me, the reason I joined the India server was to kill that traitor Now and Forever, and seize the City Map of Daybreak City from him. My intention was so obvious that I refused to believe Flowing Cloud hadn¡¯t noticed it. It was a gamble between me and Flowing Cloud. Flowing Cloud gambled on the possibility that I would join the India server for real. I gambled on my ability to fight through their millions and millions of troops and bring the city map back to China. In the end, I won, and Flowing Cloud lost. Flowing Cloud had always been aware of God of War and Breeze and Rain¡¯s hostility toward me. She knew that they had troops lying in ambush in the forests of Elephant Canyon to prevent me from escaping. She herself had hidden her White Horse Cavalry in the forest just in case I turned against them. It was a battle of wits, a smokeless war. Trust was a quality that could never be truly destroyed, but sometimes it could be torn apart as easily as paper. From the beginning, Flowing Cloud and my standpoint meant that absolute trust could never exist between me and her. We both had too many things we couldn¡¯t give up on, and we both had reasons to want to kill each other. It would be a very, very long time before the nature of our relationship would see any change at all. Finally, even if Flowing Cloud did trust me from the bottom of her heart, what reason did I have to give up a city as valuable as Daybreak City? Just because she trusted me? I didn¡¯t mind bearing certain grievances alone. It was simply the price I must pay to make Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls the king of its era. ¡­¡­ After I finished checking the forums, I investigated Iron Skull Wilderness next and discovered that it actually did have its own indigenous people. They were abandoned, city-less players who spawned at random NPC camps because they had no nationality to speak of, not one that was acknowledged by the officials at least. As a result, they formed tribes to survive in this harsh environment. People like them could only be united if they were brought together in one place. There were over 220 countries in the world, but only 195 of them had applied for sovereignty. These players all came from non-sovereign countries. This was why they didn¡¯t have a main city, and why they were forced to roam the borderlands. Some of them became wanderers, and some robbers. The reason I hadn¡¯t encountered any of these people was because most of them played in the northern region of Iron Skull Wilderness. The mobs in the southern region were too strong for the average player right now. This was good news to me. Barring any accidents, I shouldn¡¯t encounter any player resistance as long as I stuck to the southern region of Iron Skull Wilderness. When I was Level 210, I would fly straight to my mentor, Rinser, and undergo my class promotion. Since Rinser was located at Dragonbone Mountain Range, I could meet up with him without trespassing into another main city¡¯s territory. ¡­¡­ Half an hour passed by in the blink of an eye. When I stepped out of the door, Chaos Moon was already waiting for me. She had changed into a lively yellow beige dress that looked so good on her that I couldn¡¯t stop myself from shooting her an additional glance. I was blessed to have the company of a 9/10 beauty like Chaos Moon while I was far away from my home. "Let¡¯s go! What are we eating tonight?" Chaos Moon asked while hugging my arm like she was my girlfriend. I didn¡¯t shake her off because I didn¡¯t want to hurt her feelings. "Something good, I hope." She thought for a moment before answering, "Let¡¯s go look for a Hunan restaurant. We¡¯ve been eating Xinjiang food non-stop since we traveled. I bet you¡¯re about to go crazy from the monotony, right?" I nodded. "Sure. Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, we didn¡¯t find a Hunan restaurant in Bagua City. There was a Sichuan restaurant though, a pretty good alternative all things considered. The moment we stepped into the restaurant, we heard a pair of lovers arguing with each other¡ª Guy: "You¡¯re really not coming with me?" Girl: "No way! What if you get me pregnant?" Guy: "I won¡¯t." Girl: "Yes you will, you goddamned pervert!" ¡­¡­ For a time, Chaos Moon and I could only stare at each other. That wasn¡¯t the kind of conversation you expected to hear anywhere. We found a table and quickly ordered some dishes. "Where are you right now, Lu Chen? Eve is very worried about you. She doesn¡¯t know where you can be besides Final Duel Valley," Chaos Moon asked with a blink. I shrugged. "The world is a big place. If I want to, I can make any place my home. Tell her that there¡¯s nothing to worry about. With the Ancient Divine Dragon and Purple Ying Sword by my side, there¡¯s no one in the world who can threaten me. And even if such a person exists, I can always fly into the sky and escape, haha!" Chaos Moon rolled her eyes at me before saying, "A few hours ago, I heard rumors that the guild leader of Natural Flow¡ªyou know, that beautiful girl called Flowing Cloud that we fought during the Nation War¡ªand her elites are capturing Owls at the mountains. If we¡¯re not mistaken, they¡¯re planning to use them as mounts and form an air cavalry to hunt you down. What on earth did you do to her? Why does she hate you so much?" I suppressed a twinge of guilt as I pursed my lips. "Well, I used her to plant myself in the inner circle of the India server. She has every reason to hate me for it." Chaos Moon asked, "I don¡¯t understand why you had to accept the coronation. Was it really the only way to retake the city map?" I nodded. "You¡¯re aware just how huge Elephant Canyon is, and it¡¯s not like I have a skill that can pinpoint Now and Forever¡¯s exact location. Also, my goal was to kill the bastard, and becoming the West King was the only surefire way to draw him to me." Chaos Moon leaned against her chair before nodding. "I guess that makes sense. But why didn¡¯t you just activate an invincibility skill and fly away after you succeeded? Surely they couldn¡¯t stop you from escaping?" I thought for a moment before answering, "I don¡¯t know¡­ it¡¯s like there¡¯s a voice inside of me telling me not to do that. I¡¯m not sure how to describe it¡­" Chaos Moon snorted. "I know what that voice is. It¡¯s called the pride of an expert. You would rather fight your way out than to do things the ¡®cowardly¡¯ manner. You don¡¯t want to be looked down on by anyone, do you?" As it turned out, Chaos Moon knew me better than I knew myself. "You know me too well, Chaos Moon." "Speaking of which, you still haven¡¯t told me where you are!" "Right. I¡¯m in the southern region of the continent, a map called Iron Skull Wilderness to be exact." I enjoyed a sip of tea before continuing, "I found an NPC camp there, so I decided to settle in that area for the moment. Last night, I grinded at Scorpion King¡¯s Cave and got some good loot. That¡¯s why I want you to come to our meeting location again and take it back to Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits and Cute Little Naughty. It¡¯s useless to me right now because there isn¡¯t anyone I can realistically sell it to besides the NPC. That would be too wasteful." "Okay. And what about my gift? What is it?" Chaos Moon asked smilingly. I shook my head and declined to answer though. "Don¡¯t you want a pleasant surprise? You¡¯ll know when we meet up later." "Fine, fine. Anyway, we should eat!" "Mn." "How long does it take you to fly to Final Duel Valley, by the way?" "45 minutes at max speed, give or take." "I see. Man, I hope I get a flying dragon mount one day. I¡¯m so envious¡­" "You¡¯ll get one someday. Just keep doing your best." "Heehee!" ¡­¡­ After we finished dinner, we returned to the hotel and paid for our rooms. Right now, only heaven knew how much longer we would be staying here. I at least didn¡¯t feel like returning to Suzhou until the day I returned to the China server. I logged into the game after returning to my room. Swhoosh! I appeared at Black Wind Scout Battalion camp. I saw the archer Mona sleeping on the broken stomp she had been sitting on and her breasts moving up and down in accordance with her breathing. It was the kind of greeting I wouldn¡¯t mind having every time. I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon, climbed onto its back and held onto its vines for support. A quick order later, my mount let out a mighty roar and took to the sky, slipping into the clouds in just the blink of an eye. My movement speed had skyrocketed by another 75% after I acquired the Sunchaser Cloak, so I was moving even faster than I was before. The entire map looked like it was receding beneath me. Suddenly, a flock of flying birds appeared in front of us. Whoosh! My mount inhaled once and bowed its head warily, growling. It was telling me to hold tight. The incoming birds were around 3 meters long when their wings were fully expanded, and they were none other than the Owls Flowing Cloud had been trying to capture to create her air cavalry. I couldn¡¯t deny that the Owl Cavalry would be a great threat to me if Flowing Cloud succeeded at her scheme. After all, two fists cannot beat four hands. Bang bang bang... The Ancient Divine Dragon created a domain shield of sorts in front of itself and rammed every Owl that happened on its way into bloody paste. Once again, I realized just how amazing a Divine Rank mount was. At the very least, it wasn¡¯t something a mere Owl could fight against. A few seconds later, we passed through the bird formation untouched and unharmed. Surprisingly, the Owls didn¡¯t retaliate despite the humiliating spanking they just received from the Ancient Divine Dragon. They seemed so frightened by the Ancient Divine Dragon that it was a miracle that they were still flying. ¡­¡­ Less than 40 minutes later, the magnificent Dragonbone Mountain Range appeared from the horizon, and I slowly guided my mount downward. It wasn¡¯t long before I spotted Chaos Moon and her Dragonscale Beast waiting at our usual coordinates. She broke into a smile when she saw me. Pa! After I landed on solid ground, I walked up to her with a smile and said, "Long time no see, girl¡­" Chaos Moon blushed. "You too, uncle!" "Fuck!" After the greeting was over, I immediately gave her Cute Little Naughty¡¯s dagger, High Fighting Spirit¡¯s Soul Pardon War Axe, Li Chengfeng¡¯s ring and more. I also told her what I wanted in exchange for the equipment¡ªa sum of gold so small it might as well be free. "Okay, but where¡¯s my gift?" Chaos Moon extended a hand while smiling. I took out the Crimson Scythe Scorpion¡¯s pet egg and placed it in her hand directly. "Here. Satisfied?" Chapter 1086: Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse Tiny wisps of flame could be seen swirling just above the fiery red pet egg. Its shells were semi-transparent, so much so that I could see the faint outline of an incredibly tiny scorpion inside of it. Still, the fact that the egg had so much detail proved that it was no ordinary pet egg. Chaos Moon¡¯s mouth fell open as she accepted the pet egg and looked at me. "Wow, an Immortal Rank pet? Are¡­ are you sure you grabbed the right gift?" I nodded smilingly. "Of course. You were the one who kept me company when I was alone and far, far away from home. Without you, I don¡¯t know if I could¡¯ve withstood everything that had happened until now. So, thank you." Chaos Moon smiled before patting my shoulder once. "Alright, let¡¯s not dwell on the unhappy stuff any longer. This Crimson Scythe Scorpion is an Immortal Rank pet, so it should be pretty powerful. I¡¯m going to hatch it now if you don¡¯t mind?" "Sure." ¡­¡­ Chaos Moon unsheathed her sword halfway before slicing her finger against the edge. Then, she dripped a trickle of blood onto the pet egg, which immediately shone brightly and shivered with movement. A moment later, the shell started cracking and falling on its own. Crack¡­ A fiery pincer pierced through a corner of the egg, followed by its tiny head and its whole body. It looked like a translucent crystal with a pair of fiery scythe-like pincers attached to it. It was probably how it got its name. Not only did it have a cute appearance, it even had a cute hiss. "Haha, it looks surprisingly cute!" I tried to touch it, but the Crimson Scythe Scorpion immediately raised its pincers and glared at me warily. It obviously didn¡¯t want me to get close to it. You little shit! Take this! I pressed my fingers together in an attempt to flick it to oblivion. Unfortunately, Chaos Moon slapped my hand away before I could do anything. "Dude, what are you doing? You said you were going to gift it to me, so why are you bullying it now? Hmph hmph!" I curled my lips. Still hissing, the Crimson Scythe Scorpion climbed up Chaos Moon¡¯s arm and stopped on her shoulder before resuming its glare at me. Whatever, it was just a wee, not to mention that its mother had been killed by yours truly. I had better things to do than taking a baby¡¯s life. "Alright, if there¡¯s nothing else then I¡¯m getting back to the grind, Chaos Moon. I¡¯ll be going to sleep in an hour so that I wake up early and can take a follow-up quest tomorrow." "Okay." ¡­¡­ After that, I climbed back onto the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back and departed Dragonbone Mountain Range at lightning speed. This movement speed was seriously off the charts. A little over half an hour later, I arrived at the wasteland that was Iron Skull Wilderness once more. To be honest, I felt much safer logging off here than anywhere else because I knew there wasn¡¯t anyone in the area. That being said, I made sure to circle around the area just in case someone had intruded into my territory. That¡¯s right, I now saw this area as my territory, and no one was allowed to get inside. After patrolling the area once and discovering nothing unusual in particular, I finally logged out of the game to catch some rest. I hadn¡¯t had a good one since the Nation War began, so I really could use a good night¡¯s sleep. Also, He Yi and Lin Yixin were both members of the good-looks-or-nuthin club, so skipping my beauty sleep and risk turning into Ng Man-tat was a no-no. ¡­¡­ The City Map of Daybreak City had been retaken, and Tang Long¡¯s dirty deeds were about to be exposed to the public. There didn¡¯t seem to be anything left to worry about besides the fact that Purple Grape City, Cyan Earth City and Elephant City all hated my guts. Also, Tang Feng¡¯s emergence meant that the VR department finally had a shred of moral integrity in them. For just a bit, I could almost believe that they could give me the outcome I wanted. The sleep was a deep and undisturbed one. If I had a dream, I couldn¡¯t remember it in the morning. It was great. It was exactly 8 am when I woke up the next morning. I had a 10-hour sleep, and I felt just as refreshed. I opened the window and took in the beautiful sight of the spring rain for a moment. In fact, the peach blossom in the courtyard had bloomed overnight. A while later, I woke up Chaos Moon and ate an exceptionally full breakfast. It was because I was planning to skip lunch that day. The sooner I hit Level 210 and complete my eighth promotion, the better. With luck, I might even be able to ascend to that Heavenly River Realm or whatever it was called again. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I reappeared in Black Wind Scout Battalion¡¯s camp and crawled out of my tent. Not far away, I saw Mona standing atop a hill and watching her surroundings vigilantly. Obviously, she was keeping watch for the camp. Before I did anything, I grabbed the Purple Ying Sword, buffed myself with Martial God and the Ghost Chariot Card, put the mini-sized Ancient Divine Dragon around my arm so it could be summoned in its full form at any moment, and summoned the Phantom Wolf King. After everything was ready, I walked up to Mona and asked, "Mona, are you ready to give me that quest of yours?" Mona turned toward me with an expression of pleasant surprise. "Thank goodness you¡¯re still around, young warrior. I thought you had left us! Yes, I am ready to entrust you with an important task now." "Very well, tell me!" Mona sat down on a giant rock before explaining, "We¡¯ve been trapped in this god-forsaken place for two years, and there is almost no chance that we¡¯ll survive the trip back to Sky City. I spoke to the captain about this yesterday, and we both agreed that the only way we¡¯re making it back is to procure a mount that can travel hundreds of kilometers in a single day. It is the only way we can pass through the bramble forest and avoid the harassment of the evil spirits and the wolves. Otherwise, it is only a matter of time before we all perish." I licked my lips before asking, "Okay, what should I do?" Mona smiled and pointed to the north. "Five kilometers from here to the north of Iron Skull Wilderness lies a place called Zephyr Valley. It is overflowing with high-level undead, and I even heard that a high-level undead magus has been ruling that place for over a millennium. There is some good in all of this though. Their necropolis produces a mount called the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse, and it is a kind of undead mount that is said to possess incredible movement speed. All we need are five Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses, and we¡¯ll be able to make it back to Sky City!" My eyes lit up. "The Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse, you say?" "Mn!¡± Mona nodded before continuing, "Unfortunately, there is a catch. The necropolis is located deep in Zephyr Valley, so you¡¯ll have to kill the undead magus, Juve, first before you can get close to the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse. After that, seal a total of 5 Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses and bring them back to me. I will reward you handsomely if you succeed, but only if you manage to kill the undead magus, Juve!" I raised a fist and chuckled confidently. "Kill a mage, got it. Leave it to me! I won¡¯t disappoint you!" "Very good!" Mona smiled sweetly at me. Ding~! System Notice: You have received the quest [The Way Home]! (Current Quest Rank: SS+) Description: Head to Zephyr Valley, seal a total of 5 Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses and return them to the archer, Mona for a generous reward. However, the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses are raised deep within the necropolis, so you¡¯ll have to kill its ruler and protector, the Great Undead Magus Juve before you can even think of approaching them. You should probably gather a powerful party before setting off on this quest. Be warned! To attempt this without sufficient numbers is almost suicide! ¡­¡­ I stared at the last line on the quest description with a flabbergasted expression. This was probably the first time I read such a dire warning in the game. It showed how difficult the quest really was. That being said, what is a challenge if not doing the impossible? Just watch me! I¡¯m gonna kick this super quest¡¯s ass solo! I looked at Mona and shot her a helpless expression, "I just remembered something¡­ Mona, I want to help you, but I¡¯m not a magic knight. How on earth am I supposed to seal those Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses for you?" Mona let out a giggle before grabbing my arm and leading me to the trader. "You can just buy 5 Sealing Crystals from him. I promise you that it¡¯s cheap and worth the price. Also, today¡¯s the only day he¡¯s going to sell the Sealing Crystals, so don¡¯t miss out!" I shivered in anticipation. It was because I had smelled another opportunity. First, I spoke to the trader and bought two loaves of bread. Then, I checked out the purple crystal that was the Sealing Crystal and noted that it cost only 100 gold per piece. Mona wasn¡¯t lying when she said it was cheap. Not only that, I could stack 100 Sealing Crystals into 1 stack so that they would take up only a single slot in my bag. I looked at my bag before coming to a decision. Fuck it, go big or go home! I had already given all my equipment loot to Chaos Moon, and I saved only 100 slots for potions, cards and Magic Consumables. This meant that I could buy 900 slots worth of Sealing Crystals. I didn¡¯t know how many Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses there were, but I did know that this Sealing Crystal was a one-of-a-kind item that I wouldn¡¯t be able to buy again in the future. And what do you do when you encounter a rare item? You hoard as much of it as you can, of course! I would even give up any equipment I found in the near future because it was that worth it! That was why I bought 900 stacks or 90k Sealing Crystals in one go. Once I returned to Dark Moon City, I would unload them all in my private warehouse and take a couple hundred with me every time I set out. Starting now, I no longer need to worry about missing out on a top-tier mount. Hell, I can even use them to capture a shit-tier mount if I want to, not to mention that the Sealing Crystal was a tradeable item. This was a literal pile of fortune just waiting to be converted into many, many mountains of cash! For a time, I stared at my bag full of Sealing Crystals and reveled in the deep sense of accomplishment. I couldn¡¯t wait to put them to good use! ¡­¡­ It was time to leave and seek out the Great Undead Magus Juve of Zephyr Valley. The quest was rated as an SS+ Rank quest, but it wasn¡¯t a main quest, so I reckoned that this Juve was just a small fry or some sort. At the very least, it definitely wasn¡¯t at the same level as the Nine Sovereigns of Purgatory. Long story short, soloing this boss wasn¡¯t an impossible task. I took to the air and flew toward the north. Along the way, I maintained a relatively low altitude so I could keep an eye for any abnormal activity on the ground. My destination was 10 kilometers away, a not insignificant amount of distance even on dragonback. Along the way, I saw a ton of mobs lurking in the forest, including a mighty Level 270 Thunder Rhino. I wasn¡¯t crazy enough to challenge it, of course. It was a fiend-rank mob, so it might have the ability to one-shot even me... Speaking of which, I still hadn¡¯t encountered a single player up until this point. I was starting to understand why this map was called the Iron Skull Wilderness. This place was as barren as they came! ¡­¡­ A while later, a valley with dark clouds above it appeared on the horizon. The minimap already identified it as Zephyr Valley. Mona wasn¡¯t kidding when she said that it was undead territory because the place was literally brimming with undead energy. The good news was that I was an undead and an Asura King no less, so I held a certain advantage over them from the start. Chapter 1087: Cyan Scale Corpse Eater I looked over Zephyr Valley from the sky. It looked like a toad-shaped basin filled with the aura of death. At the center of the basin was the necropolis I was looking to enter, but it was protected by a giant red force field. Clearly, it was some sort of a defense system the great undead magus had set up. To get at the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses, I must kill the mage first. I could hardly wait if only because the mount had an awesome-sounding name. ¡­¡­ I made the Ancient Divine Dragon descend at the valley entrance even though I could¡¯ve landed deeper. Part of the reason I came here was to grind anyway, and it wasn¡¯t like there was a time limit on the quest. I had more than enough time to grind this whole map. My mount hovered about one meter above the ground with its talons brushing against the grass on the ground. Clouds naturally clung its body and gave it a divine appearance. If I dyed my hair white and put on a blue robe, I bet I could cosplay as Murong Ziying. The little wolf yipped softly next to the Ancient Divine Dragon. I also summoned the apparition because why not? Its cooldown was only 20 minutes. I could easily summon it again if necessary. ¡­¡­ I walked in. The grass looked like they were covered in a sheen of blood. The undead energy in the air grew thicker and thicker. There was a huge lumberyard not far away from the valley entrance, but it had obviously been abandoned for years. Many of the houses had collapsed, and there was a huge tree with a rusted axe stuck in its trunk and a pile of bones beside it. The clothes had rotted a long time ago. There were bite marks on the bones. Clearly, a Corpse Eater had killed this woodcutter. Death was bad enough, but to have one¡¯s flesh consumed after death was just horrific. As I thought, not long after I approached the lumberyard, I saw a group of Corpse Eaters next to a rotten stump with wood ears growing all over it. They were no ordinary Corpse Eaters either. The stooped monsters had cyan scales growing over their skin, which made them look like some sort of mutated creatures. I had never seen Corpse Eaters like these anywhere. I used Dark Pupils to read the stats of the closest Corpse Eater. Cyanscale Corpse Eater (Fiend) Level: 245 Attack: 13700~19500 Defense: 19000 HP: 1900000 Skills: Bite, Claw Swipe, Speed Up Introduction: A terrible monster that resides in Iron Skull Wilderness. The Cyanscale Corpse Eaters used to be humans living in Zephyr Valley until a plague robbed them of their souls and turned them into walking corpses. If their tragedy wasn¡¯t enough, Great Undead Magus Juve arrived, researched a special concoction and caused them to undergo a mutation. As a result, they grew cyan scales that gave them incredible defense. The Cyanscale Corpse Eaters are low-rank guardians of Zephyr Valley, but what they lack in quality they make up for in quantity. They are a main force among the undead legions and a terror to all human armies. ¡­¡­ I hummed to myself. Offense-wise, the Level 245 fiend-rank mob was weaker than the Venomous Scorpions. However, not only did it have a ton of Defense, the lumberyard was positively drowning in red dots. Heaven knows how many Cyanscale Corpse Eaters there were in this valley. This was a good opportunity to grind though. Fiend-rank mobs were so rare that none were discovered at Dragonbone Mountain Range up until this point. I wouldn¡¯t have found any myself if I hadn¡¯t flown all the way to this god-forsaken wasteland. Currently, most of the playerbase was grinding the instances from F all the way to S and enjoying the hell out of the new content. They might even outnumber players who grinded leveling maps like me because the instances reset every week, meaning that they needed to finish the instances they wanted to, and could, do at least once a week if they didn¡¯t want their pass to go to waste. Anyway, back to the present. I aimed at the closest Corpse Eater and used Dragon Slaying Slash + Coiling Dragon Revolution! 133838! 163727! After receiving the attack, the mob howled in pain and charged me immediately. It swiped at the Ancient Divine Dragon repeatedly, but unfortunately it only managed to deal 8k+ damage per hit. Its Attack was slightly lacking compared to its Defense. I could literally lifesteal all the HP I had lost in a single hit. I experimented a bit to figure out the mutated Corpse Eater¡¯s capabilities. Its Bite skill dealt around 12k damage, its Claw Swipe didn¡¯t even do 10k damage, its basic attack did less than 9000 damage, and Speed Up only increased its attack speed. Therefore, I determined that I could fight 3 to 5 Corpse Eaters at once while being relatively safe. I was wearing a full set of OP equipment, and I had a total HP of 500k. It would be troubling if I couldn¡¯t wreck a common mob with this level of advantage. The Sunchaser Cloak flapped behind me as I slashed horizontally and dealt septuple damage to the Corpse Eater, one-shotting it. Thank you for revealing all your tricks to me. Now then, it is time to grind them all! The good thing about solo grinding was that I only needed to consult myself when making a certain decision. It was very convenient. First things first, I looked around for a choke point. I found a large pile of logs and ruined houses that formed a 75-degree angle that could be used as a choke point, so I moved the Phantom Wolf King and the apparition into position before aggroing the mobs myself. The poor Cyanscale Corpse Eaters didn¡¯t have any ranged attack or skill, so there was absolutely nothing they could do as the Ancient Divine Dragon flew over their heads. They chased and screamed like crazy, but all they managed to do was make it look like I was the leader of an army of Corpse Eaters. It didn¡¯t take long before the swarm of Corpse Eaters grew to a thousand. There were many things in life that should be done in moderation, and grinding was one of them. So, I returned to the choke point and turned around to attack the mobs! The Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s body was so long that its lower half was literally suspended above the pile of logs behind me. Like a man relaxing with their legs on the table, it looked both carefree and at ease. Its colorful clouds also brought a trace of liveliness to this dark, deathly Zephyr Valley. The sight of the massive group of Cyanscale Corpse Eaters charging me filled me with joy. Killing undead creatures gave me a ton of experience and undead soul sparks. Obviously, I wasn¡¯t satisfied with just being an Asura King. Once I set my mind to something, I wanted to become the best. In this case, the royal road was to become an Asura God! ¡­¡­ I raised the Purple Ying Sword and launched a triple-hit Burning Blade Slash at the nearest Cyanscale Corpse Eaters. The flaming sword auras easily tore through the mobs and dealt a ton of damage. The weakest hit dealt at least 100k damage, a critical hit usually dealt close to 300k damage, and the septuple damage hit dealt close to a million damage. If a critical hit stacked with the septuple damage effect, then it could deal over 2 million damage, and that was before factoring the splash effect. Long story short, the single skill deleted at least 30% of the horde I had aggroed to myself and left everything else at low HP. It was partly thanks to the Ghost Chariot Card I had used, a card that made my attack ignore a certain percentage of Defense. As a result, Cyanscale Corpse Eaters¡¯ signature trait, high Defense, posed no challenge to me. Thick streams of white light flowed into my body. There were few things more pleasurable than absorbing experience like crazy... That wasn¡¯t all. Some of the Corpse Eaters dropped equipment, and I already knew that a fiend-rank mob had a super low chance of dropping Immortal-grade items. The hope that I might obtain another Immortal-grade item made the normally tedious grind look incredibly rosy. Next, I made my mount use its skill, Summon the Storm. The Ancient Divine Dragon raised its head and let out a mighty roar, and the area in front of me was immediately struck by lightning bolts, wind, and icy blades. Had I mentioned before that the skill also enjoyed the splash effect of the Purple Ying Sword? The one-sided slaughter filled me with dark joy as tons of Cyanscale Corpse Eaters turned into experience. The Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s Summon the Storm skill counted as a magic attack, so it dealt even greater damage than normal to a heavy-armor type mob like the Corpse Eaters, high Defense or not! Chiang chiang chiang... That being said, the enemy horde was too huge, and some managed to make all their way to me and gnaw at my Dragon God Shield, Heaven-burning Armor and even my Sunchaser Cloak. And yeah, they absolutely did onto my dragon¡¯s back just to gnaw at me. I took a moment to roll my eyes at the absurd scene before using War Crush, clearing out all the mobs surrounding me and regaining the 100k HP I had lost instantly. Around 4 or 5 Cyanscale Corpse Eaters could reach me at a time, so I lost HP almost as quickly as I regained it. Why bother defending when you could just regain your health by attacking harder? This was why lifesteal equipment was adored as much as it was. By the way, there was a short, ugly and poor Wind City student who found an Earth-grade ring that gave 9% lifesteal and managed to sell it to a not-very-smart coal mine owner for a whopping 2.7 million RMB. The next week, the student drove the campus belle to a Motel 168 hotel in a Porsche Cayenne and¡­ Do I even need to finish This is why a person should never not have a dream. As long as you don¡¯t give up on yourself, brand cars and cute girls will come to you one day. ¡­¡­ Five minutes later, all 1000+ Corpse Eaters were dead in front of me. They dropped a ton of equipment, but I only picked up those that were Earth-grade, Heaven-grade or Immortal-grade, or had super effects like +30% Attack or Defense or higher, lifesteal or armor penetration. It probably took me more time to look through all the loot and find those that fit my criteria than it took me to kill the Corpse Eaters. Unfortunately, I only had 3 Heaven-grade items to show for it in the end. These mobs were easier than the Venomous Scorpions to kill, but they were all penniless good-for-nothings! Onto some good news, killing fiend-rank mobs gave me a ton of experience. This one fight alone filled my experience bar by 7%. By the time I¡¯m finished with this lumberyard, I reckon that I can hit the 50% mark. Barring any accident, I should make it to Level 209 by the end of the day. Another ten minutes later, I finished absorbing all the undead soul sparks and felt my chest bursting with undead energy. Although I was still a long way from evolving to an Asura God, as the saying goes, persistent effort overcomes any difficulty. I smiled to myself and repeated the motions, luring another horde of mobs to my choke point and killing them all. Any fight where I didn¡¯t have to worry about a ranged enemy shooting me from afar was a joyous one! ¡­¡­ Almost two hours later, I successfully killed every Cyanscale Corpse Eater in the lumberyard. Speaking of which, the mob¡¯s unique card increased attack speed by 25% and Defense by 10%, which was pretty trash compared to the Ghost Chariot Card or Fire War God Card, so I didn¡¯t pick them up. Also, I had 900 stacks of Sealing Crystals sitting in my bag right now, so I literally had no space to fit in some useless cards. "Growl¡­" Suddenly, the Phantom Wolf King looked down a certain direction warily, turned toward me and wagged its tail. I already knew what it was warning me about. A super boss waiting for us to challenge. "Let¡¯s go!" I ordered while patting the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s head. With that, one man, one dragon and one wolf ventured deeper into the dangerous valley. Chapter 1088: Black Crow Tribe The wind in Zephyr Valley was cold and strong, making the night even scarier than it already was. The good news was that the azure-colored magic lamp on the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s map gave me at least 100 yards of natural vision, and Dark Pupils further increased my effective vision range to 200 yards. There should be no danger that could creep up on me. Speaking of danger, I noticed many pairs of red eyes staring at me from the shadows of the trees. On the minimap, I saw about a hundred red dots blocking the way leading to the heart of Zephyr Valley. Swhoosh! A skeleton archer with red-colored bones let loose an arrow that hit my shield hard, dealing over 25k damage. It immediately notified me that this archer had way more Attack than the Cyanscale Corpse Eaters. That wasn¡¯t all. The mobs apparently had very good AI, because the rest of the mobs knew to follow the first archer¡¯s lead and loose their arrows at me in unison. The text above their heads stated¡ª Bloodbone Archer (Fiend) Level: 245 ¡­¡­ They dealt almost the same amount of damage as the Venomous Scorpions, so their Attack had to be similar. The only way to deal with these archers was to kill them one by one, so I immediately moved closer to one and hit it with Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo. The combo easily deleted over half of its HP and gave me 200k+ HP back. It was enough for me to endure their attacks until I killed them all. I also ordered the Phantom Wolf King to attack the other wing of the enemy group. It swiped at a Bloodbone Archer¡¯s chest and tore it apart. Less than five minutes later, the dozens of Bloodbone Archers died and dropped some equipment that I couldn¡¯t care to pick up. After that, I immediately moved toward the necropolis. I didn¡¯t try to grind the archers because they weren¡¯t tightly packed into one big group, and aggroing them en masse was just asking to be killed. Also, my first priority was to take out Great Undead Magus Juve and tame the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses that I still knew nothing about. It wasn¡¯t long before I ran into my first graveyard. It looked absolutely terrifying under the moonlight, and some Rotten Corpses had climbed up out of their graves to catch a breath and screech horribly. Strangely though, there weren¡¯t many mobs on the main path at all. "Hmm?" Suddenly, alarm bells rang in my head. There was a dead Rotten Corpse beside the path and a 8-Quality Big Magic Stone. Someone had obviously killed the mob and left the shitty item there. There¡¯s someone else here besides me?! ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a ton of red dots appeared on the minimap. They were players, not mobs! Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Unnatural shadows shuffled along the hills on both sides of the path. Countless players burst out of their natural cover, drew their bows and aimed at me. Some couldn¡¯t even keep their impulse in check and fired without waiting for their commander to give a command, executing a Spiraling Arrow Blade + Mountain Stagger Arrow combo. There was no time to dodge, so I raised the Dragon God Shield to block the shots. Mountain Stagger Arrow normally deleted a ton of mount tenacity, but these people were so weak that one round of attack only deleted 4% tenacity or so. It was pathetic. "Who are you people? Show yourselves!" I shouted while slapping down three Ancient Seals on the hills to my left. A cacophony of screams cut through the air as a dozen or so players died to the Divine General Skill instantly. Not done yet, I launched Coiling Dragon Revolution to the hills to my right and killed yet another group of players. Although it was nighttime, they were as obvious as a beacon before my Dark Pupils. Thanks to the minimap, I could pinpoint their coordinates to a tee before attacking. They most likely weren¡¯t expecting this. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle... Five assassins tried to sneak their way over across the grass, but I saw them clearly and killed three in three basic attacks. The apparition took care of the fourth assassin, and the Phantom Wolf King took care of the fifth. I gave them no chance to get close to me at all. On the hills, someone shouted¡ª "Goddammit, this brat is incredibly powerful! Dispatch the cavalry! It is the only way to kill him! This Zephyr Valley is ours!" ¡­¡­ Hooves began thundering against the ground, but I wasn¡¯t worried. I had gone through enough battles to know from the sound alone that the cavalry size was less than 200. That was nowhere near enough numbers to pose a threat at all. As expected, a column of shadows emerged from the darkness and galloped toward me. It was a mixed cavalry of horses, boars, greedy wolves and more. Their levels were between 175 and 190¡ªnot too high or too low¡ªand their average equipment quality was passable. There was a lot of monster variety in Iron Skull Wilderness, so it wasn¡¯t exactly surprising. One more thing to note was that none of these players had a nation emblem on their shoulder. It was as the rumors said. These people were unaffiliated players, and there was no way to tell where they hailed from in real life. Speaking of which, these people had blue eyes and curly golden hair, meaning that there was zero chance that any of them could be Chinese. This meant that there was absolutely nothing stopping me from murdering my robbers, and so I would. "Go!" I ordered the Ancient Divine Dragon forward as a 50-yard-long sword beam abruptly burst out of my Purple Ying Sword. I fired Burning Blade Slash into the cavalrymen and ordered the Ancient Divine Dragon to cast Summon the Storm at the center of the group! The enemies screamed like sissies as lightning and ice tore through the group like air. Of all the things they might imagine me to be, an owner of super huge and powerful AoE skills was not among them. To be fair though, I myself wasn¡¯t expecting such an OP character skill to exist before the Ancient Divine Dragon became an adult. I wasn¡¯t going to complain about my good fortune, of course. This skill was my sword to carve a foothold in Iron Skull Wilderness, a place of true chaos. The only law in this place was strength, and the person with the bigger fist was king! The cavalry withdrew mid-charge because they were incapable of withstanding my assault at all. The archers and mages on the hills of both sides of the path kept shooting at me, but the amount of damage they dealt was negligible, and I could one-shot all of them with Ancient Seal, Dragon Slaying Slash or Coiling Dragon Revolution. I was absolutely stronger than all of them. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before the ground was covered in corpses. Countless people had gone to the nearby graveyard to revive. Finally, someone shouted from the crowd, "Hey, dragon rider! Let¡¯s call a ceasefire and talk things out!" I smiled at the direction of the voice and said, "What¡¯s there to talk about? Also, show yourself!" An armored, axe-wielding dwarf who looked to be around 50 years old stepped into the open. His eyes glinted with cunning as he said to me, "I am the chief of Black Crow Tribe. Is it okay if I ask you where you hail from, warrior? I¡¯m pretty sure you don¡¯t belong to any tribe in Iron Skull Wilderness. I¡¯ve never heard of a man with a dragon and a ferocious wolf king around here. Who are you?" I replied indifferently, "I come from China." "Oh?!" The Black Crow tribal chief glanced at my shoulder and smiled. "You do wear the emblem of Sky City on your shoulder. But why is your nation emblem missing?" I shot him a look before replying, "Don¡¯t ask what you shouldn¡¯t ask. I have a question myself. Which country do you belong to, and why did you set up an ambush here?" The dwarf replied, "We don¡¯t hail from one specific country. More specifically, we are a group of people from 19 different countries, and we became unaffiliated because we were abandoned by our own nations, stripped of our identities. That was why we formed the Black Crow Tribe to kill all those who have wronged us. Are you interested in joining us, warrior?" I laughed. "Kill all those who have wronged you? That¡¯s funny, because I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯ve never raised a hand against you or your kind. In fact, you¡¯re the ones who attacked me first the moment I entered this area. You would¡¯ve killed me if I wasn¡¯t as strong as I was, wouldn¡¯t you?" The dwarf smiled placatingly. "It was all just a misunderstanding¡­" Suddenly, he looked at my Purple Ying Sword with unbridled greed. "If I may ask, is that the number one weapon the Weapon Ranking that you¡¯re holding, the legendary Ancient Divine Armament, the Purple Ying Sword?!" I smiled. "Yes, it is. So what?" "Nothing. I just want to say that, if you choose to join our Black Crow Tribe, I guarantee that you¡¯ll become one of our strongest warriors. Black Crow Tribe doesn¡¯t obey any rules, and here in Iron Skull Wilderness we are its king. If you kill someone and get their equipment, you get to keep it to yourself. You don¡¯t even need to pay any taxes. Also¡­" He licked his lips lustfully before wrapping an arm around a western girl next to him and caressed her thigh. "You get to enjoy any woman in the tribe, online or offline!" ¡­¡­ I smiled. I could see a dozen or so stealthed red dots moving toward me on the minimap, nineteen Level 190+ assassins to be exact. Should I thank this Black Crow Tribe for not underestimating me? So far, it looked like the rumors on the forums were true. The players of Iron Skull Wilderness had no sense of honor whatsoever, and they were willing to resort to any method for profit and desire. This dwarven chief in front of me was the perfect example of this type of human being, sending his high-level assassins to assassinate me while pretending to negotiate with me. Too bad for him, he didn¡¯t pay attention to the situation at the Center. Otherwise, he would¡¯ve heard of my name for sure. He also had no idea that I had a skill called Dark Pupils that allowed me to see through any stealth effect! ¡­¡­ "So? Have you made up your mind, Chinese warrior?" The dwarven chief spread his arms. "Join our Black Crow Tribe. With your strength, you will definitely become our king and the ruler of Iron Skull Wilderness!" I smiled. "I¡¯ve made up my mind!" "Oh? And what¡¯s your choice?" He looked excited. I dashed toward him before he could react, grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into the air. Then, I replied, "I¡¯ve decided that I will become the ruler of Iron Skull Wilderness, but I won¡¯t be needing the cooperation of a lowly worm like you!" Pu! I put my sword through his chest and used Burning Blade Slash. The guy was one-shot just like that! The Ancient Divine Dragon raised its head and roared as if it was cheering for me. Meanwhile, I had already turned around, fired a dozen or so basic attacks and killed all the assassins who had been trying to creep up on me. They never knew how I was able to identify their positions so accurately until they died. ¡­¡­ "That brat killed the chief! Kill him!" someone shouted from the crowd. And thus began the complete fallout between Black Crow Tribe and myself... Chapter 1089: Chaotic Contest I raised my arm. I was almost at max Divine Energy Points, so who could possibly threaten me?! Golden seals dropped from the sky again and again, killing countless. The Black Crow Tribe players¡ªat least the party they brought into Zephyr Valley¡ªnumbered 2000 or so, and their vision range was reduced because it was nighttime. There was absolutely no chance they could¡¯ve beaten me with or without the Ancient Divine Dragon. "Fly, little dragon!" The Ancient Divine Dragon soared until it was 40 yards above the ground. Here, my sword aura could hit all the enemies below me with impunity, but their melee players couldn¡¯t even touch me. Burning Blade Slash split the hills into many halves and killed all the archers, mages, tamers and more hiding at the spot I was pointing at. The Phantom Wolf King and apparition were murdering the hell out of the enemy¡¯s pets as well. Speaking of which, the apparition had 70% of my stats, and it was riding the apparition of an Ancient Divine Dragon as well. It alone could make life hell for my opponents. In less than half an hour, the enemy¡¯s 2000-strong party had dwindled to just a handful. ¡­¡­ "Ah!" A poor-looking male priest was running away with shock and disbelief in his eyes. "Fuck, is that guy even human? How the fuck is he soloing so many of us alone¡­" "Roar!" The Ancient Divine Dragon roared, and I descended right in front of the male priest. I pressed the Purple Ying Sword to his throat, pushed him to a nearby tree and shot him a cold smile. "Hey there. I have a skill called Cage Spell, and it allows me to kill you to Level 0 in one go. If you don¡¯t want to return to Level 0, you will answer my questions truthfully. Lie, and I will kill you where you stand, understand?" The guy looked like he was about to shit his pants. He nodded frantically while replying in a Shandong accent, "Ask away. I won¡¯t lie¡­" My lips curled downward. Seriously? Where did he even get a Shandong accent translation plug-in? I gave him a nod and asked, "How many players are there in Black Crow Tribe?" "About 9000. There are 4000 of them online right now." "How many forces are there in Iron Skull Wilderness besides Black Crow Tribe?" "Too many to count, seriously¡­" "Fine. Last question. Why are you here, and why did you ambush me?" White-faced and shaking like a leaf, he answered, "That¡­ that¡¯s because the boss fancied your equipment, and it¡¯s the Black Crow Tribe¡¯s way to kill all solo players or small parties we happen upon. Also, one of our brothers got a map that gave him a quest to kill Great Undead Magus Yuve in Zephyr Valley. If we managed to complete the hundred-man quest, we would be rewarded handsomely for our efforts. That¡¯s why the chief said to kill you and keep away from the center of the map at all costs!" My eyes turned colder. "Very well. Tell your chief to get his ass out of Zephyr Valley as soon as possible, or I¡¯m going to kill him every time I see him. Also, remind him that I very much don¡¯t mind using my Cage Spell to bring you to Level 0. Don¡¯t think I won¡¯t follow through on my words!" The male priest nodded panickedly. ¡°Yes, yes, I understand, I¡¯ll definitely get your message to the boss!" "Good. Now begone!" ¡­¡­ I smiled sardonically as the male priest scampered away from me. These bandits only knew how to bully the weak. Their courage wilted like a flower when they encountered a powerful player like me. I summoned the Phantom Wolf King back to my side and climbed back on my dragon. A low cry later, the Ancient Divine Dragon departed from the ground and vanished into the night sky. I planned to tackle the center from a different direction because I didn¡¯t want to run into these Black Crow Tribe players anymore. It was because I loathed the idea of being interrupted while fighting against a boss, not because I thought I couldn¡¯t take them on. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before I found a three-kilometer long defense line at the periphery of the necropolis. It was overflowing with Level 245+ fiend-rank Corpse Eaters, Hatreds, Skeleton Knights and more. The chances that the Black Crow Tribe would visit this area was very low because one, it would take an incredible amount of energy to tackle this area, and two, there was an extremely high chance that they would party-wipe here. After all, a mob that could hit me for over 30k+ damage could more or less one-shot their magic knights. There were no big guilds in Iron Skull Wilderness, meaning that their ability to grind levels, equipment and more was nowhere as fast as affiliated players¡¯. Their ability to acquire supplies, skills, support and more was greatly limited as well, which was only natural. They didn¡¯t have a main city to accelerate their growth after all. On the other hand, I was a player of Sky City. My support skills such as Foraging and combat skills were all at max rank a long time ago. It would be stranger if they were even close to my level of strength. Suddenly, I heard the dull noise of a gallop in front of me. I saw a group of high-level undead cavalrymen clad in silver armor riding toward me with their spears at the ready. Their complexion was pale, and their eyes were icy red. I had no doubt that they were all Asuras. Heaven knows how many fellow undead they consumed to get to their level. "That¡¯s the daring brat who has been defiling our lands! Kill him!" The undead knight at the forefront shouted on top of his lungs before thrusting his spear at me using Barrier Break. Holy shit, even mobs could use Barrier Break these days! Clang! I easily parried the skill and returned the affectionate gesture with Burning Blade Slash, hitting a dozen or so of undead knights and causing many 100k damage numbers to rise above their heads. These mobs were definitely more powerful than the Corpse Eaters I had fought earlier. I read their exact stats using Dark Pupils¡ª Blood Lion Knight (Heaven Rank Miniboss) Level: 245 Attack: 17500~24000 Defense: 22000 HP: 12,800,000 Skills: Barrier Break, Undead Slash, Frost Strike Introduction: A terrible monster that resides in Iron Skull Wilderness. The Blood Lion Knights were human royal knights until their kingdom fell into ruins, and they were transformed into puppets of the undead. The Great Undead Magus Juve used undead magic to strengthen their skeleton and turn them into one of the most powerful units in Zephyr Valley. ¡­¡­ Pu pu! There were two Barrier Breaks that I wasn¡¯t able to dodge away in time, so they skewered my chest and caused my HP to drop visibly twice. These minibosses were super powerful¡ª 62992! 69383! I made the Ancient Divine Dragon zigzag around the minibosses constantly and used the foremost undead knight as a shield of sorts, reducing the amount of damage I took as much as possible. At the same time, I kept swinging the Purple Ying Sword and using my AoE skills to damage the enemy and heal myself. Although the Blood Lion Knights were just minibosses, their HP was still terrifyingly huge. Their Frost Strike skill was extremely disgusting as well, reducing their target¡¯s movement speed by 80%. It was almost like I was hit by an immobilizing skill. I sneaked a glance at the general direction of the necropolis and noticed that I had reached the center before I knew it. In fact, right in front of me was a wooden house and an undead mage meditating to himself. A blood-red scepter was lying next to him. I had no doubt that he was the magus I had been tasked to kill, Great Undead Magus Juve, which made these twelve Blood Lion Knights his bodyguards. Once I had killed them all, I would be able to fight Juve one on one! ¡­¡­ Pleased that my objective was right in front of me, I dropped a couple of Icy Cyclone Domains to slow the Blood Lion Knights and hit them with Coiling Dragon Revolution, Ancient Seal, Burning Blade Slash and more. They might be minibosses, but their HP pools were hardly infinite. That being said, the Heaven Rank minibosses were no pigs waiting to be slaughtered by the butcher. They swung their ice cold spears again and again, using Barrier Break the moment it was off cooldown. Not only that, they even knew how to coordinate their Trapping Nets! No matter how fast I was, I couldn¡¯t dodge everything all the time. In the end, I slipped up and... Pu! The moment Trapping Net took effect and held me in place, seven Blood Lion Knights rushed in and used their Barrier Breaks at once. I didn¡¯t even have the chance to dodge out of the way. It was a grave situation. I was aware that seven Barrier Breaks were enough to one-shot even me. That was why I used Tenacity of the Dead in the middle of the attacks! A red light surrounded me and healed me for 25%, just barely putting me out of lethal range. Then, I stabbed my sword into the ground and used War Crush, rocking the bodies of the Heaven Rank knights and causing a ton of numbers to pop up everywhere¡ª 152727! +30545! 155900! +31180! 165050! +55010! ¡­¡­ I instantly returned to full health, but the minibosses wouldn¡¯t stop until I died. As a result, my health kept shooting up and down like a roller coaster. Every time I almost hit rock bottom, I would use an AoE skill to heal myself back to full. It was so dangerous that I dared not even use War Crush every time it went off cooldown, saving it only when I really needed the health. I had to say that the 20% lifesteal of the Purple Ying Sword was an absolute lifesaver. Without it, I would¡¯ve turned into an actual corpse a long time ago... Ten minutes later, I finally brought the dozen or so minibosses to red health. They bared their teeth in anger, but there was nothing they could do against me. Thanks to me, my pet¡¯s perfect positioning, and the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s absolutely devastating Summon the Storm, I was ultimately able to defeat them! "Roar roar¡­" Two minibosses dropped dead at the same time, and they shouted angrily, "Just you wait, damned adventurer! The great undead magus will take revenge for us! Our loyalty to the Night Creatures is eternal, and our souls will be redeemed!" ¡­¡­ My experience skyrocketed by almost 10% after the two minibosses died. By the time I killed the rest of them, a pillar of golden light washed over me and increased my level to 208. Hell, I was already sitting at 49%! Once I killed the Great Undead Magus Juve, I bet I could level up to 209. I jumped off my dragon and hemmed and hawed at the equipment dropped by the minibosses. All things considered, the loot was pretty good. There were three Heaven-grade and one Immortal-grade item. The Immortal-grade drop was an icy whip exclusive to the Tamer class, and it had a passive that increased all tamer skill ranks by 2. It was an absolute powerhouse of a weapon, but unfortunately Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls didn¡¯t have any tamer that was worth mentioning at all. I was most likely going to sell it for a fortune once I returned to Sky City. I had heard that Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon were raising their super tamers. I was sure that they could afford it. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a large group of red dots appeared on the minimap and approached my position at high speed. I shivered with apprehension. The red dots were players, not mobs, and judging from the way the ground was trembling, it was another cavalry troop. Who the fuck are these people, and why is this normally barren wasteland so crowded today? Chapter 1090: Hickey I quickly picked up some choice equipment from the floor before summoning the Phantom Wolf King back to its world. I did the same with the Ancient Divine Dragon before using Earth Escape and slipping underground. Once I knew what I was dealing with, I could come up with the appropriate measures. Whatever the case, this obviously wasn¡¯t the time to engage the boss in a fight. I trudged toward a corner of the nearby hill where it offered an excellent point of view. I was curious to know the players who were strong enough to make their way to this part of this god-forsaken wasteland. ¡­¡­ The thundering hooves grew louder, and unnatural shadows flitted across the ground. Soon, a huge company of cavalrymen with red names and no main city emblems appeared at this part of the valley. Obviously, they were all unaffiliated players, the natural denizens of Iron Skull Wilderness! These players were much stronger than the Black Crow Tribe party I had encountered earlier. First, almost everyone was over Level 180 and had undergone their seventh promotion. Second, their equipment was Earth-grade on average, and most of them had at least one or two Heaven-grade items on their person. In a sense, they weren¡¯t too far behind even our Dragonlight Cavalry. I found it difficult to believe that a party like this could exist in this wasteland. The traveling party abruptly split up to allow a lone rider to ride up to the front. She was a gorgeous woman wearing a white skull on her head and riding a red warhorse. Her body shape was perfect, her features were exquisite, and her eyes burned with fighting spiti. She wore dark gold¨Ccolored armor that outlined her 36Es perfectly. Breast size like this rarely appeared among eastern women, so even before looking at her dark blue eyes I was one hundred percent sure that she was a westerner. I kept quiet as I examined the lines of text above the woman¡¯s head. They stated¡ª ID: Hickey Level: 199 Class: Warrior Guild: None Position: None Nationality: None ¡­¡­ Just like everyone else around her, she was a "Triple None" player who didn¡¯t have a guild or a country to support her. However, she was sitting at an insane Level 199. Currently, the two highest-leveled players in Sky City, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin, were only Level 204. Even Lin Yixin was only Level 203. That this woman was somehow able to grind up to Level 199 despite the resource scarcity was almost unthinkable. Riding next to Hickey was a Level 197 axe-wielding magic knight. He looked at the floor of equipment and dead mobs and reported with a frown, "Guild leader, it seems that someone has gotten ahead of us. Who¡¯s this motherfucker anyway? I can¡¯t believe someone managed to kill the great undead magus before Sacred Oath!" Hickey responded with a smile, "No, look to your seven. The boss is still alive. The mobs around the boss are all dead though¡­ Oh wow, they were all minibosses too. Whoever this mysterious group is, they at least have the power to take out all these minibosses by themselves!" The magic knight shuddered visibly. "Who could it be? It can¡¯t possibly be those idiots from Black Crow Tribe, can it?" A bit of disdain peeked out of Hickey¡¯s features. "Those clowns are greedy and ruthless, but they absolutely don¡¯t possess the strength to defeat these minibosses. I¡¯m absolutely certain that someone else is behind this!" A female knight chose this moment to speak up, "Guild leader, I heard that Black Crow Tribe was ambushed just a while ago. They had lost over a thousand players, and their assailant¡­ was just a single player!" Hickey exclaimed in surprise, "Oh? That is amazing. As far as I¡¯m aware, those crows always operate in hundred-man parties or bigger. Who in the world could perform such a feat?" The female knight elaborated, "I heard that they¡¯re Chinese, but that¡¯s it¡­" Hickey¡¯s eyes widened in shock. "Could it be¡­ he¡¯s here?" The magic knight asked, "He? Who¡¯s he, guild leader?" Hickey replied with a trace of displeasure, "Don¡¯t ask me questions I don¡¯t feel like revealing the answer to. Anyway, once our ranged parties have reached us, and our the bards have buffed our frontliners, surround the boss in a ring and prepare to fight. As usual, let¡¯s try to reduce the number of casualties as much as possible. Also, it¡¯s very possible that we aren¡¯t the only players at this place, so keep your eyes open and be ready for anything!" "Yes, guild leader!" ¡­¡­ I decided to remain hidden while Hickey and co were waiting for their ranged parties to catch up. My quest was to seal the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses, not to kill the Great Undead Magus Juve, so there was no reason for me to take unnecessary risks and challenge a party this strong. Of course, I would prefer to kill the boss with my own hands if I could. I hadn¡¯t killed all the minibosses just so that another party could steal the main course from right under my nose. While waiting, I brought up the official database and searched for the ID "Hickey¡±. A couple hundred results appeared on the search page, and the ones that caught my eyes were¡ª Hickey (China): Assassin, LV-165, belonging to the guild "Who Will Fight Me". Hickey (USA): Warrior, LV-192, belonging to the guild "Hero Alliance". Hickey (None): Warrior, LV-199, unaffiliated. Dutch. After publicly protesting during the 2017 Dutch general election, she renounced her Dutch citizenship and became a stateless person. In the game, she roams the wasteland and founded an unofficial guild "Sacred Oath¡±. ¡­¡­ Found you. There was only one Hickey who was Level 199, and to my surprise she was a stateless person in real life as well. This was a woman whose resolve was completely beyond us normal people. Not anyone had the courage to renounce their citizenship of their own accord. I looked at Hickey again, and this time I noticed that she had a tiny guild emblem on her shoulder. However, she being an unaffiliated player meant that her ability to expand her guild was extremely limited. It was because there literally wasn¡¯t a high-level NPC in the area that could increase her guild¡¯s rank beyond a certain point. In fact, Sacred Oath was just a Rank 6 guild that could only fit a maximum of 30k players. Take Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ main guild for example. We were currently at Rank 8 and could accommodate a total of 100k players. Speaking of which, I heard that my guild had almost accumulated enough experience to upgrade to Rank 9. I downloaded an internet censorship circumvention software and entered the Europe forums. A bit of searching later, I found what I was looking for. Sacred Oath was a guild of 30k elites, and they hailed from countries all over Europe. In fact, a large majority of them sought out Sacred Oath precisely because Hickey was the guild leader. She had been Netherland¡¯s number one expert, and she was loved enough that people flocked to her cause even after she renounced her citizenship. In fact, some hot-blooded youngsters went as far as to renounce their own citizenship to chase after their goddess. I gripped my sword tighter and licked my dry lips. Should I attack them? This boss was mine, dammit! I could reveal myself and say to Hickey, "Hey girl, this boss''s mine, and the reward¡¯s mine too. I¡¯ll treat you to lunch as compensation someday¡±, but I had a feeling that she wouldn¡¯t agree to it... In the end, I decided to remain where I was and wait for an opportunity. Ideally, my skill should be enough for me to land the last hit, nab the boss''s equipment, and escape to safety. ¡­¡­ About ten minutes later, another big group of players entered the valley. They were all seventh-promotion, and they all wore the Sacred Oath guild emblem¡ªa red fist¡ªon their shoulder. "Guild leader, we¡¯ve cleared out the road. The Corpse Eaters have all been lured elsewhere," reported an assassin walking up to Hickey. Hickey nodded. "Good job. Now spread out and prepare for the boss fight. Cavalry, I want you Barrier Break the boss and run in ten-man groups. If your HP falls below 40%, then withdraw to safety immediately. Priests, spread out and drop your AoE heals around the boss indiscriminately. I¡¯ll handle the boss''s main aggro myself. Let¡¯s kill this boss with minimum casualties, shall we?" "Yes, guild leader!" An icy sword by her side, Hickey slowly walked toward the boss with a smile on her face. "A Level 250 Immortal Rank boss, huh? The system sure thinks highly of us. I know I said that we should do this with minimum casualties, but honestly? I don¡¯t think we¡¯re walking away from this without losing anyone." The Sacred Oath members quickly moved into position. Soon, several thousands cavalrymen had formed their ten-man groups and surrounded the Great Undead Magus Juve¡¯s wooden house completely. "Ready, go!" Hickey Charged the moment she gave the go signal. The flaming cone that was her sword pierced the boss''s chest before her person even reached it. I was surprised. Her timing was at least as good as Farewell Song¡¯s and Li Chengfeng¡¯s! 159288! Her attack was pretty impressive as well. Not everyone could deal over 150k damage to an Immortal Rank boss who was 51 levels higher than them. Behind her, the first ten cavalrymen Charged but failed to land even a single stun. It was the natural result. Considering the level gap, the skill¡¯s chance of success was infinitely close to 0%. ¡­¡­ "Arrrrrr¡­" Great Undead Magus Juve rose to his feet after he awoke from his slumber. Shockingly, the mage at full height was as tall as a cavalryman on a mount. He growled menacingly after gripping his scepter, "Puny humans, how dare you awake me from my dreams! Death is the only mercy you will have!" Bang! He slammed his scepter against the ground and used a skill called "Current Blast"! Terrifying damage numbers immediately popped above the cavalrymen¡¯s head¡ª 272818! 313477! 276673! ¡­¡­ The skill killed all ten cavalrymen almost immediately. Even Hickey lost as much as 180k HP. This great magus was terrifyingly powerful! Hickey cried through gritted teeth, "Don¡¯t screw up the healing while I keep the boss busy, people! Cavalrymen, keep up the assault as we have discussed earlier! Archers, use Penetrating Arrows! It is the only way to pierce the boss''s Magic Shield! Just do as I say and don¡¯t hesitate!" As the Sacred Oath players continued their assault, the furious Great Undead Magus Juve raised his scepter and shouted, "Look up to the thunder and tremble, mortals!" Dark clouds covered the sky before shooting lightning bolts at the tiny humans below. It was yet another super AoE skill, Rolling Thunder! BOOM BOOM BOOM! The second group of cavalrymen were one-shot just like the previous one. Hickey stumbled backward with barely a sliver of HP until her priests healed her back to full. So far, it looked like she was the only one who could withstand the boss''s attack. While this was going on, arrows, Touches of the Dragonkiss, and more skills were raining on the boss and deleting his HP continuously. The boss was powerful, but the human wave attack was even greater! ¡­¡­ My palm turned sweaty as the battle continued. Unless Hickey massively screwed up her tactics¡ªwhich she absolutely hadn¡¯t up until this point¡ªSacred Oath was going to steal the boss from right under my nose! It was at this moment a group of players appeared from the east. The leader was the dwarven warrior I encountered some time ago. When he saw Sacred Oath, he immediately shouted, "Halt! Someone¡¯s fighting the boss over there!" My eyes lit up. It¡¯s the Black Crow Tribe! This is going to be good! Chapter 1091: Sacred Armament "Shit! The Black Crow Tribe is here!" The vice leader of Sacred Oath, the Level 197 magic knight, swore grimly, "We cannot allow them to disrupt our boss fight!" After slashing the boss''s scepter and executing Barrier Break, Hickey said in a low voice, "Take two thousand players with you and kill them all. No one is allowed to disrupt our plans and steal our boss, especially Black Crow Tribe!" "Yes ma¡¯am!" The vice leader immediately raised his spear and ordered, "Third legion, follow me! It¡¯s time for some house cleaning! Don¡¯t leave a single Black Crow Tribe player alive!" Hundreds of cavalrymen immediately charged toward the Black Crow Tribe. They were followed by a not-insignificant number of archers as well. It was a one-sided slaughter. The Black Crow Tribe guild was utterly inferior to Sacred Oath, so they were taken out in just the blink of an eye. Their dwarven guild leader took one spear hit to the heart and died as well. ¡­¡­ Time passed quickly, and so did the boss''s HP. Less than 20 minutes later, the boss only had 5% left. Still hiding in the underground, I was stuck between the choice to steal or give up the boss. If I stole the boss, I would be making an enemy out of Sacred Oath. However, metaphorically speaking, I was incredibly reluctant to give up the food in my mouth. It was at this moment Hickey was sent stumbling toward my position by another Current Blast. While accepting the heals of her priests and drinking a health potion, she abruptly glanced in my direction and smirked knowingly. "I knew it¡­" Shit! I hurriedly backed away and prayed that it was just a fluke. Unfortunately, Hickey really did discover my position. She abruptly charged toward me and cried, "Breaking Slash! Show yourself, Chinese boy!" Bang! It was either revealing myself now or taking a sword to the face, so I immediately returned to the surface and clashed swords with Hickey! Chiang! Sparks flew everywhere, and neither of us was able to get the upper hand over the other person, at least damage-wise. However, due to the difference in our Strength stats, Hickey and her mount were sent stumbling. After that, I raised my arm and growled, "Come out, Divine Dragon!" The Ancient Divine Dragon awoke from my pet space. It appeared with a ton of pretty special effects and in its adult form and pressed its large head affectionately against my arm. The mount seat was literally right next to me, so I grabbed the vine, climbed up my dragon¡¯s back and instantly gained a massive boost of stats. Hickey stayed her hand after forcing me out of my hiding spot. She stared at me and asked, "I heard you offended a lot of people, Chinese boy?" I smiled. "Not at all!" "Hmph!" Hickey shot a glance at the boss''s HP before turning her gaze back to me. "I heard that something big happened at Elephant City a few days ago, and unless I¡¯m mistaken, you are the person behind it. No one else has the power to enrage those Indian experts that much. Still, you shouldn¡¯t have come to Iron Skull Wilderness!" I raised an eyebrow. "Why not?" Hickey replied indifferently, "Your presence will bring chaos to these lands and disrupt our peaceful life." I shot the boss''s HP a glance myself before replying, "Huh. It almost sounds like you¡¯re terrified of the Indians." "Hmph. It¡¯s none of your business!" Hickey abruptly backed away from me and ordered, "Stun him with Shock Arrow and focus-fire him now! He mustn¡¯t be allowed to escape this valley!" A rain of arrows flew toward me. It was too coordinated to be an impromptu order. She must¡¯ve coordinated this in the guild channel while we were speaking! My eyes narrowed as I locked onto the boss and Charged. Despite the size of the Ancient Divine Dragon, I vanished from my original spot so fast that it almost looked like I had teleported. I hit the boss at the same time I heard the rain of arrows thudding into the ground I was standing at mere moments earlier. Thank goodness I managed to react in time, or not even I with my resistance would be able to avoid getting stunned. ¡­¡­ Right now, the poor Great Undead Magus Juve only had less than 2% HP left. After I lowered his Defense drastically with Purple Frost Concentration, I executed Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash for massive damage¡ª 221837! 142838! 183773! 1657964! My super high damage stunned everyone. The last hit of the Burning Blade Slash even triggered the Purple Ying Sword¡¯s septuple damage effect, killing Juve instantly. Although the experience didn¡¯t go to me, a ton of equipment was exploding from the boss''s body. Suddenly, a system announcement rang and stopped our hearts temporarily¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, Great Undead Magus Juve has been killed by player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand", and has dropped the Sacred Armament, "Fire God Helmet¡±. The current location of "Fire God Helmet" is: Zephyr Valley (11277, 2838). The Sacred Armament will drop if the player holding it is killed. If the player logs out of the game, the Sacred Armament will automatically drop. The player with the Sacred Armament also cannot use any invincibility skill, teleport to a city, or fly. Once a player has held onto the Sacred Armament for 10 hours, the item will automatically become bound to the player. ¡­¡­ It was nighttime, but I was able to spot the fiery red helmet amid the dropped items perfectly. It had to be the legendary Sacred Armament! Haha! What an interesting map this is! I never thought that the final boss would lob a bomb into the players¡¯ laps after he died! Pa! I moved like the wind, grabbed the scorching hot Fire God Helmet, and put it in my bag immediately. The action triggered another system announcement¡ª System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" has claimed the Sacred Armament "Fire God Helmet¡±. Its current coordinates are: Zephyr Valley (11277, 2839). Kill the player for a 100% chance to get the Fire God Helmet to drop! ¡­¡­ What an abominable system announcement! What should I do with this bomb, I wonder? Flying was forbidden while the Fire God Helmet was still in my possession. For 10 hours, my Ancient Divine Dragon would be no better than a land-bound snake... Ten yards away, Hickey shouted in an urgent voice after she came to her senses, "Spread out and kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand now! Quickly!" The woman herself rushed toward me again after giving the order. Even if I disregarded the fighting spirit burning in her eyes, the way she zigged and zagged repeatedly on horseback was all I needed to see to know that she was a great threat. Her blade was also glowing a green hue. She was clearly going to use some sort of skill! I didn¡¯t try to engage her, of course. As the holder of the Sacred Armament, my one job was to run like a rabbit. She was the one who had to force an engagement here. The Ancient Divine Dragon let out a massive roar before dashing dozens of yards away to the back. After launching 7 Ancient Seals into the archer group, I dove toward the enemy wing and made a break for it. There was no need to be greedy since the boss''s best piece of equipment was already in my possession. Also, as long as the Sacred Armament remained in my bag, the system would announce my coordinates to all my pursuers from time to time, so I absolutely couldn¡¯t afford to linger around. This was easily the most annoying part of the entire setup. The only good news was that the system announcement was restricted to Iron Skull Wilderness only. If this was announced to the entire world, literal armies would cross over the land, the sea and even the sky to chase after me. ¡­¡­ As the Ancient Divine Dragon slithered toward freedom, my Dragon God Shield shuddered to the bombardment of arrows and magic again and again. Sacred Oath players were everywhere and fully taking advantage of the fact that I couldn¡¯t afford to fight them. Angry and frustrated, Hickey tried to catch up to me, but the harder she chased, the bigger the distance between us grew. There was nothing she could¡¯ve done. It took a very special mount to even catch up to the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s movement speed, much less surpass it. In less than half a minute, I managed to break out of the encirclement with 27% HP. One Saint Spirit Potion later, I was one minute away from returning to full health due to Regeneration of the Undead. Now that I was temporarily free from enemy fire, I opened my bag and examined the Fire God Helmet carefully. I wondered if the legendary Sacred Armament was as good as a Divine Armament. My heart raced as I stared at the fiery red item. When its stats appeared to my eyes, my heart almost stopped beating¡ª Fire God Helmet (Sacred Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 12500 Magic Resist: 11700 Strength: +1950 Stamina: +1900 Agility: 1850 Tactics: +195 Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 90000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist by 45% Slots: 17 Outstanding: Rise of the Guardian Dragon. By summoning the power of the Hidden Dragon and making a seal with one hand, awaken a slumbering divine dragon and attack all enemies within 100 yards with the power of the rising dragon. Costs 1000 gold per use. Cooldown: 6 minutes. Introduction: During the ancient times, an excellent youngster born from a fallen noble family cultivated single-mindedly and obtained the Fire God¡¯s inheritance as a result. In the end, he became the new Fire God. The Fire God Helmet is one of the ultimate armaments he possessed. Tens of thousands of years later, when miracles were a thing of the past, the Fire God Helmet suddenly reappeared and awed everyone. It contains the power of the Fire God, and legend says that its wearer will inherit a portion of his divine power, the Rise of the Guardian Dragon. Level Requirement: 205 Reputation Requirement: 700000 Class Requirement: Fighter class Note: Item not bound to any player yet. ¡­¡­ I nearly wept with joy when I saw the stats screen. Screw my life or my Reputation, I¡¯m going to protect this helmet if it¡¯s the last thing I do! Self-appropriation is the best appropriation! It wouldn¡¯t be an easy thing to do though. A black sea of players was chasing behind me. Motherfucker, just how many Sacred Oath players had come to this valley today? This was one of the reasons I didn¡¯t want to engage them in a fight. It would be never-ending. "To the right, little dragon!" After I exited Zephyr Valley, I immediately steered the Ancient Divine Dragon to the right. It was where the high-level mobs were operating. I was high-level enough that the chances of the Level 240+ fiend-rank mobs one-shotting me was fairly low, but the players behind me couldn¡¯t claim the same thing. It took more than just courage to survive in a map like this, much less pursue another player. However, I quickly encountered another group of unaffiliated players. One brawny axe-wielder howled on top of his lungs, "Look, it¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! He has the Sacred Armament halo above his head! Kill him now! We won¡¯t ever have to become robbers again if we get the Sacred Armament!" I nearly threw up some blood. Is this the kind of trash I will have to deal with until the 10-hour period is over? I changed directions and escaped yet again. This wasn¡¯t Final Duel Valley, killing these rotten potatoes wouldn¡¯t give me any experience. Right now, my first priority was to keep moving and survive for 10 hours. Once that period of time had passed, no one would be able to take this Ancient Divine Armament¨Clevel item from me anymore! ¡­¡­ Sacred Oath didn¡¯t give up and kept chasing after me. Unfortunately, my grand escape screeched to a sudden halt when I abruptly realized where I was. I had accidentally run into a dead end valley where the only way out was the entrance I passed through a moment ago. Could the Ancient Divine Dragon climb up the tall mountain ranges surrounding me? I had no idea, but it looked like the only thing I could do right now! Some distance away, Hickey giggled at my predicament and said, "Give up, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. I promise it won¡¯t hurt too much!" I grinned back. "Come to me, baby!" Her players turned purple at the tease, but Hickey barely reacted to it. She was a gorgeous and accomplished woman. I was hardly the first person to have flirted with her. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a Sacred Oath archer ran up to Hickey while shouting, "Enemy attack, guild leader! A huge group of enemies just appeared behind us..." "What? Who are they?" Hickey exclaimed in alarm. Before the archer could reply, a blood-red sword pierced through his neck and silenced him. A young warrior rode up to the corpse and pulled out his weapon. Then, he waved his elite cavalry forward with a lazy smile on his face, "It¡¯s time for some house ncleaning, brothers and sisters!¡± ¡­¡­ Hickey shook all over as she glared hatefully at the young warrior. "Is bullying unaffiliated players the only thing you can do, Breeze and Rain? You already swept us last month, and now you show your face again? What the hell do you think we are?!" Chapter 1092: Berserk That¡¯s right, the newcomer was none other than the right hand man of Cyan Earth City¡¯s number one guild, the peak expert Breeze and Rain! Hickey wasn¡¯t the only one who was surprised by this. How the fuck did Breeze and Rain find this place? And fuck, he had brought several tens of thousands Beast King Cavalrymen with him, making my situation even worse than it already was! ¡­¡­ "Let the hunt begin!" A huge number of Beast King Cavalrymen entered the valley and surrounded us completely after Breeze and Rain gave the order. The Agility Warrior then looked at me and sneered with greater killing intent than ever before, "We meet again, Lu Chen. Do you really think we couldn¡¯t find you if you hid yourself in Iron Skull Wilderness?" I stared at him coldly without saying anything. Breeze and Rain continued, "I know that your Ancient Divine Dragon is extremely high-level. It may even be the strongest mount in the game for a very, very long time. However, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware that the Ancient Divine Dragon isn¡¯t invincible, not to mention that we¡¯ve come up with a countermeasure ourselves!" I spat on the ground. "Come at me then!" It was at this moment Hickey looked back and forth between Breeze and Rain and me before asking, "Boy, are you an enemy of the India server?" I looked at her. "What does the nature of my relationship with the Indian server mean to you?" Hickey smiled. "It¡¯s simple. Ever heard of the saying ¡®the enemy of my enemy is my friend¡¯? If you¡¯re their enemy, I¡¯ll fight alongside you and ensure that the Sacred Armament doesn¡¯t fall in their hands. The Sacred Armament belongs to the people of Iron Skull Wilderness and no one else. While you don¡¯t quite fit the bill, right now you are an unaffiliated player just like us, aren¡¯t you?" Her words made sense, so I nodded. "I suppose that you do have a point, but are you sure you won¡¯t stab me in the back later?" Hickey smiled. "Even if I do, I can promise you that it¡¯ll happen after Breeze and Rain has been killed. You should know how strong Breeze and Rain is, we can¡¯t afford to fight among ourselves until he¡¯s dead." I pursed my lips. "Of course I know. I¡¯ve fought him multiple times during the WEL, you know?" Hickey¡¯s eyes widened. "Oh, now I remember. You¡¯re the MVP and the champion of the WEL! I was wondering how you came by such a pretty gold emblem¡­" The girl had a pair of bewitching eyes, so I avoided her gaze and focused on Breeze and Rain. "By the way, when are you going to launch your assault? You¡¯re not one of those cartoon villains who spend ages talking the talk before walking the walk in battle, are you?" Breeze and Rain gritted his teeth. "Just you wait!" It was at this moment a huge flock of humongous birds suddenly appeared from the sky and landed on top of the branches of a huge tree. Each bird was carrying a player. They were none other than the Owl Cavalry I had heard of a while ago. At the forefront of the cavalry, a female warrior jumped down to the ground, trained her gaze on me and said, "We meet again, Lu Chen. You broke my heart, so I¡¯m going to make you pay for it!" "Flowing Cloud¡­" I muttered while staring at the goddess of India. Flowing Cloud continued, "Nearly everyone in the India server condemned me for what you did, you bastard. This time, I¡¯m going to kill you until you¡¯re Level 0. If you think your Ancient Divine Dragon can fight 10000 Owl Riders on their own, then bring it on!" I smiled. Right now I was carrying the Sacred Armament, so I couldn¡¯t fly and engage her Owl Riders in glorious aerial combat even if I wanted to. For the next couple hours, my little dragon was nothing more but a four-limbed crawler! ¡­¡­ I scanned the map with Dark Pupils and determined the India party¡¯s fighting strength in no time. Roughly speaking, Breeze and Rain had brought almost 40k Beast King Cavalrymen with him. It wasn¡¯t an exaggeration to say that he had the power to sweep the entire map. I had fought the Beast King Cavalry before, so I knew that they weren¡¯t too far behind the Dragonlight Cavalry. There was no way Hickey¡¯s cavalry could deal with them. Not only that, he was supported by Flowing Cloud and her 10000-strongOwl Cavalry. Flowing Cloud herself was a Divine General. The threat they posed couldn¡¯t be understated! On the other hand, the Iron Skull Wilderness natives and me didn¡¯t even amount to ten thousand players. It was simply impossible for us to go up against the enemy¡¯s elites, not like we had a choice in the matter. ¡­¡­ Hickey¡¯s ploy was simple but sound. Once we took out Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud together, she would kill me and claim the Sacred Armament for herself. This particular map was a dead-end valley, so I couldn¡¯t fly away for as long as I still possessed the Sacred Armament. I was literally trapped here unless I found a way to break out of the encirclement. That was for the future me to consider though. Right now, my first priority was to kill Breeze and Rain! Chiang! So I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and declared, "Come at me, Breeze and Rain! I know you want to kill me, and Iron Skull Wilderness is a lawless map! You can sweep the entire area again and again, and no one will be able to say a thing about it! But remember, as long as I¡¯m still alive on this map, you¡¯ll never be able to do as you please!" Breeze and Rain also unsheathed his weapon. "We shall see about that!" He then looked at Flowing Cloud and said, "Flowing Cloud, the time to shuffle the cards of power has come. I¡¯m going to contact God of War right now and have our main force move over, clear out all its existing forces and grind here. Starting now, we¡¯re going to make Iron Skull Wilderness our third domain besides Cyan Earth City and Elephant City! You understand what this means, don¡¯t you?" She pursed her lips and nodded. "Sure, whatever you say. I¡¯ll mobilize the White Horse Cavalry then." "Good!" Hickey had something to say about their grand plan, however. She gave her sword a swing and said, "You think Iron Skull Wilderness is a place you can come and go as you please? You think that the millions and millions of unaffiliated players living here will let you? Pooh!" Breeze and Rain smiled. "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll show you how it¡¯s done every step of the way! Everyone, attack! The operation ¡®Sweep Iron Skull Wilderness¡¯ begins now!" With that, the battle kicked off earnestly! ¡­¡­ I ran along the edges of the mountain ranges¡ªcircling around Hickey and Sacred Oath in the process¡ªand summoned the Phantom Wolf King. Once I got close to a group of Beast King Cavalry, I thrust the first hit of my Burning Blade Slash into the crowd before swinging left and right for the second and third hit. The flaming sword auras tore through their armor and one-shot them instantly. On the other side of the battlefield, Hickey once again proved herself to be a fearless woman. Charging right into a group of the Beast King Cavalry, she raised her sword and fired a sword aura that dealt incredible damage to her enemies. Behind her, her super elite cavalry let out a battle cry and slammed into the Beast King Cavalry as well. Breeze and Rain gritted his teeth and attacked Sacred Oath¡¯s players. An aura and a halo that marked him as a Divine General surrounded him as he cut down Sacred Oath¡¯s players in droves. There was a clear gap of power between him and Sacred Oath, and from what I could see, his equipment gave him at least 8% lifesteal. There was no chance Hickey¡¯s subordinates could kill him. For a time, hooves rocked the valley like an earthquake, and blood wet the valley floor like a river. ¡­¡­ Half an hour passed since the battle began. Hickey¡¯s players kept dying, but Breeze and Rain kept getting reinforcements from outside. A while later, Hickey faced toward me and said, "Lu Chen, are you seriously all alone? Why is no one from China coming to help you?" I shrugged. "The China server is literally one Elephant City and one Purple Grape City away from here, and both cities are our sworn enemies. Their hearts are with me, but their bodies, well¡­" "OMG!" Hickey said while attacking the enemies, "Change of plans. We¡¯re going to punch a hole in the right wing for you to escape. It¡¯s better than all of us being smothered to death here. These fucking tyrants, I¡¯m not going to stop fighting them until every last one of them are dead!" I nodded. "Tell your revived players to withdraw to the north where the main bulk of Iron Skull Wilderness¡¯ players are. They can¡¯t help even if they come to our rescue!" "Got it. Let¡¯s go! I¡¯ll cover for you!" "Okay!" Hickey led the way and tore through the enemy while I followed closely behind her. For all her flaws, she was quite the principled woman. Not everyone could stake their lives just to prove a point or to save a stranger like me, even though she did try everything in her power to take me out half an hour earlier... "Ancient Divine Dragon, Summon the Storm!" I shouted while locking onto a group of Beast King Cavalry directly ahead of us. Lightning and ice immediately rained within the area of effect and elicited bloodcurdling screams from hundreds of Beast King Cavalry. The power of my dragon¡¯s skill was based on my stats, so of course it dealt a ton of damage! Every time I used Summon the Storm, it killed everything and everyone within its area of effect. It was no exception this time. By the time the skill came to an end, the enemies before us had all turned into corpses, potions, equipment and more. Of course, no one was bothering with the shiny loot right now, least of all me. After all, everything the enemy dropped combined wasn¡¯t worth even a tenth of the value of the Fire God Helmet! "Let¡¯s go, little dragon!" The Ancient Divine Dragon obeyed my command and broke out of the encirclement. Then, we moved full speed toward the north. Breeze and Rain glared at my back furiously while shouting, "What are you waiting for, Flowing Cloud? Get him!" However, Flowing Cloud thought for a moment before suggesting, "No. There are high-level fiend-rank Corpse Eaters to the north, and my Owl Riders aren¡¯t tanky enough to face them. You and the Beast King Cavalry should be the ones to chase after Lu Chen. Leave this place to me!" "I see. Got it!" ¡­¡­ Breeze and Rain nodded and chased after me with at least 10000 Beast King Cavalrymen while Hickey and Flowing Cloud clashed swords behind him. It didn¡¯t look like a victor would be decided between the two girls quickly. At full speed, the Ancient Divine Dragon was absolutely equipped to shake off the Beast King Cavalry. However, some terrain was incredibly difficult to traverse, and I had to circle around some mobs. As a result, I ultimately wasn¡¯t able to shake off my pursuers. Suddenly, a couple thousand players stepped into the clearing in front of me. The leader was none other than the dwarven warrior and the chief of Black Crow Tribe. When he saw the ten thousand Beast King Cavalrymen behind me, he turned as green as a frog and shivered like a leaf. "Shit! It¡¯s Cyan Beast¡¯s Beast King Cavalry! They¡¯re here to rob us again! Run!" The group immediately escaped into the forest like rabbits. I almost couldn¡¯t believe how cowardly these robbers were acting. Breeze and Rain must¡¯ve "educated" them real often to elicit such a response from them. "Pooh! Useless bastards¡­" I spat at the Black Crow Tribe party from above my dragon. It was at this moment a cacophony of hooves thundered from the forest beside me. It was a new troop of cavalrymen! They were unaffiliated players, but they were very brawny and above Level 180. Their equipment and mount were absolutely terrible, but that didn¡¯t stop them from screaming a furious battle cry and swinging their war axes like mad. Their leader, a huge man with a red beard growled, "Activate Berserk and fuck them up, men!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Columns of red light surrounded the poorly equipped cavalrymen, and their muscles swelled in a most unnatural manner. At the same time, their Attack, attack speed and movement speed became much greater than before. Who the hell are these people?! Chapter 1093: Virgin Islands "Them again?" Pissed off, Breeze and Rain ordered, "Second squad, surround them from the right wing and cut down their numbers with your speed advantage! Magic knights, immobilize them with Trapping Net and minimize the threat of their Berserk skill as much as possible! The rest of you, follow me and cut them down head-on!" The moment he finished giving his orders, Breeze and Rain moved like lightning and unleashed a shockwave that looked like a crescent, killing three Berserkers instantly. The problem with these newcomers was that both their Defense and HP were piss poor. Some of them were still riding with Level 120 Silver Rank mounts. It was no wonder they were no match for Breeze and Rain at all! "Break!¡¯ However, another three Berserkers reached Breeze and Rain and were able to sink their weapons¡ªan axe, a sword and a spear respectively¡ªinto the Agility Warrior¡¯s body. The amount of damage they did was unbelievable¡ª 98873! 102922! 79191! Breeze and Rain hurriedly turned away and used a recovery skill and a potion to recover his HP. His expression turned even uglier than before. Just like me, the Agility Warrior could see that these Berserkers¡¯ equipment was absolutely trash, and their base Attack might not even be half of his. However, that Berserk skill increased their Attack so much that they were able to pose a fatal threat to his life! Breeze and Rain buffed himself with Blazing Wind Art before weaving his way into a group of Berserkers. Then, he killed them all with a devastating triple-hit Blazing Slash. Behind him, the Beast King Cavalry and the Berserkers were clashing against one another, but the Beast King Cavalry was the clear winner between the two. Their mounts were Level 175 boss mounts, so of course they were superior to their opponents. Despite the Berserkers¡¯ show of utter fearlessness and power, they were slaughtered by the Beast King Cavalry almost at a 5 to 1 ratio. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the leader of the Berserkers was swinging his axe in a circle. The red hue surrounding his body meant that even the Beast King Cavalry had to give him a wide berth. Some time later, the redbeard suddenly shouted, "Eat this, you little shits! Whirlwind Slash!" "Roar!" The axe suddenly spun a hundred times faster than before, and the redbeard cut through the Beast King Cavalry like a living hurricane, dealing over 100k damage to all enemies who stood in his way. Even I had nothing but praise for his offensive power! Meanwhile, I finally found an opening to scan the redbeard¡¯s profile¡ª ID: War Scar Level: 197 Class: Great Earth Berserker Guild: Godkiller Position: Leader ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, a Level 197 Great Earth Berserker? No wonder he was as formidable as he was. Also, if my memory served me well, Godkiller was a relatively famous guild in Iron Skull Wilderness, just like Hickey¡¯s Sacred Oath. Also, I had nothing but respect toward their courage to challenge Cyan Earth City¡¯s ace legion despite their absolutely terrible equipment and mount. Not everyone had the courage to defend their homes. Black Crow Tribe was the living example of that. "What are you waiting for, boy?" Warscar cut down a Beast King Cavalryman before shouting at me, "Are you going to let our sacrifice be in vain? Take your Sacred Armament and get lost already! That¡¯s an item only us vagabonds are qualified to keep, not the wolves of India!" However, contrary to his expectations, I returned to the frontline and fired Thousand Ice Slash into the Beast King Cavalry instead. I declared, "Since we¡¯re all vagabonds here, let¡¯s fight together! We win if these Indian riders are dead, right?" "Hahaha!" Warscar barked out a laugh. "You don¡¯t look like much, but you at least got some balls with you! Very good, let¡¯s kill these arrogant Indian players together!" ¡­¡­ I made the Ancient Divine Dragon travel along an S-shaped path while reaping all the Beast King Cavalrymen around me like wheats. A short distance away, Breeze and Rain overtly stayed out of my way and retreated so that I wouldn¡¯t be tempted to give him a sudden fright. He was aware that there was a huge difference between our stats right now, and he wasn¡¯t foolish enough to challenge me alone until he found a better mount. I took control over my mount and fired another Summon the Storm into the enemy. The falling ice and lightning immediately killed hundreds of flabbergasted Beast King Cavalry in an instant. It wasn¡¯t their fault, really. The Ancient Divine Dragon simply wasn¡¯t something a normal player could withstand! Beside me, the stunned Warscar muttered, "What¡­ what is this ridiculous skill? Who are you, boy? You¡­ you can¡¯t possibly be an NPC, can you?" Chiang! I brought my sword downward and cut a Beast King Cavalry¡¯s shield, shoulder armor and body in half. Unfortunately, the resulting blood spray hit my face and forced me to spend a moment to wipe it clean. While doing so, I replied, "Nope, I¡¯m a player. And don¡¯t relax yet, they have far more players than we do!" "Yeah. By the way, you wanna add me as a friend?" "Sure!" Unaffiliated players could add each other as friends. And so Warscar, a Level 197 mounted berserker, became my first friend since I was kicked out of the China server. "Kill!" The Berserkers kept fighting and shouting their battle cries. Although they were losing numbers at an incredible rate, their morale barely looked like it was affected at all. Warscar and I especially fought side by side and seemingly unbeatable. Unfortunately, individual strength couldn¡¯t alter the flow of a war. In just twenty minutes, the Berserkers under Warscar had dwindled to just a couple hundred, while Breeze and Rain still had thousands under his command. Worse, more reinforcements were on the way. A satisfied smile cut across Breeze and Rain¡¯s face before he ordered, "Camp the nearest graveyards so that these madmen can¡¯t revive! Tonight, we¡¯re going to teach them not to fuck with us!" ¡­¡­ "Looks like this is as far as we go!" Warscar said with a face drenched in blood, "You have a great mount, brother, so you should escape while you still can. We¡¯ll cover your retreat!" I glanced once at my Fire God Helmet and replied, "Got it. I¡¯ll do my best to protect the Sacred Armament. By the way, tell your friends to stay dead for the moment and wait for my signal. Breeze and Rain can¡¯t camp the graveyards forever if he wants the Sacred Armament!" Warsky nodded with a smile. "Mn!" ¡­¡­ My dragon let out one last roar before making a break for it. If I stayed any longer, the Indian army would surely catch me in a death trap. As much as I appreciated Warscar¡¯s timely interference, fighting to the death with them was easily the stupidest option. After all, we all lose if I died and lost the Sacred Armament to the Indians. The Ancient Divine Dragon was fast, and it swam across the bramble-covered forest in just the blink of an eye. It barely lost any movement speed to the difficult terrain. The Beast King Cavalry couldn¡¯t claim the same though. Their mounts couldn¡¯t pass through the brambles, so they had no choice but to dismount to continue the pursuit. However, they could never hope to catch up to me as long as they remained on foot. I took a turn and circled all the way back to the edge of the battlefield. There, I watched quietly as Breeze and Rain and several hundred Beast King Cavalrymen camped the Berserkers. Occasionally, a couple of them would revive because they couldn¡¯t stand waiting and doing nothing, but the Indian army killed them all without mercy. ¡­¡­ Speaking of which, Warscar¡¯s corpse was about a hundred yards away from me. He was on his knees and clutching his war axe in a death grip. He had to have been killed by Breeze and Rain because no one else had the ability to do it. I opened the friend list in an attempt to contact Warscar, but to my surprise it was he who sent me a call request first¡ª "Well? Can you tell me who you are now?" he asked with a smile. I smiled back. "A Chinese player who was exiled from his server." "Wait, you¡¯re¡­ the Unkillable War God who bullied the crap out of the Purple Grape City players in Final Duel Valley? The legendary pride of the China server and the MVP of the WEL internationals?" "That¡¯s me." Warsky slapped his legs while laughing. "Haha, I should¡¯ve realized this from the start! That golden emblem on your shoulder is the WEL MVP emblem, and you hid your ID so that no one can identify you! Haha, I can¡¯t believe I fought side-by-side with a world champion!" I scratched my head awkwardly. I was having a hard time adjusting to his accent because the guy was using a Sichuan translation plug-in software. "So, who are you guys, Warscar?" An enigmatic smile sprung to Warscar¡¯s lips. "Ever heard of a country called the Viking Islands?" My eyes widened. "I think the common name for it was Virgin Islands?" Warsky laughed again. "Yep, we¡¯re all players from Viking Islands, but our country doesn''t possess any sovereignty. As a result, we were spawned in this Iron Skull Wilderness from the beginning of the game. This is our home though. We may be surrounded by high-level mobs, deadly NPCs and powerful empires, but we vikings have always been a tenacious bunch. We will never stop fighting, and the talent we were spawned with is the living proof of it¡ªBerserk!" "Berserk?" I exclaimed in surprise. "Is this why you have this many berserkers?" Warscar nodded seriously. "Mn. Berserk is our character talent. When we activate it, we increase all our stats at the expense of Defense. Also, we all chose fighter classes when we first joined the game. Seriously. It¡¯s the biggest reason why our levels, equipment, and mounts always fall behind everyone. We just die way too often in combat!" I asked, "How many viking players are playing the game?" "Around 25k, and 20k or so are always online," Warscar declared with a proud smile on his face. "They are very trustworthy, and they are all my eternal brothers and sisters! By the way, what¡¯s your name, boy?" "My name is Lu Chen." "Very well. Lu Chen, you¡¯ve fought side by side with us. In my eyes, you¡¯re halfway there to becoming our brother. Will you consider joining us since you¡¯re now an unaffiliated player?" I gave it some thought, but I shook my head and said, "I don¡¯t belong here, so I cannot become one of you." "That¡¯s a shame¡­" "By the way, do you know Hickey?" "Oh?" Warscar smiled. "You mean that cunning lass? Yes, several times. I don¡¯t like her though¡­" "Why not? Let me guess. It¡¯s because you can¡¯t beat her in a fight?" I joked. Warscar immediately looked embarrassed. "O¡­ of course not!!" I laughed. "It¡¯s fine, I won¡¯t tell anyone about it." "Really? You¡¯d better! If you tell anyone I¡¯ll fight you to the death!" "I know¡­" ¡­¡­ While we were talking, I looked at the battlefield again. Breeze and Rain had finally lost his patience and was about to leave with his band of Beast King Cavalry. There were also 60 seconds left on the clock before the system announced my goddamned coordinates to the entire Iron Skull Wilderness once more. Time to run! Chapter 1094: New Objective Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" has claimed the Sacred Armament "Fire God Helmet¡±. Its current coordinates are: Zephyr Valley (42899, 92832). Kill the player for a 100% chance to get the Fire God Helmet to drop! ¡­¡­ I moved the second my coordinates were revealed, passing through a lush forest and aggroing countless Level 250 fiend-rank Mad Leopards in the process. Too bad for them, they were just a bit slower than the Ancient Divine Dragon, and after just a couple minutes of pursuit they lost the aggro and returned to strolling aimlessly in the wilderness. The same couldn¡¯t be said for the Beast King Cavalry though. Bloodcurdling screams kept ringing from behind me. The cavalrymen couldn¡¯t maintain their formation in the first for long, so when the Mad Leopards ganged up on them in groups they were one-shot before they were able to do anything! Breeze and Rain was a very smart man. He had predicted where I would eventually exit the forest from and positioned several thousand Beast King Cavalrymen there. However, he had no idea that my Dark Pupils also extended the detection range of my minimap, so I could see exactly where his Beast King Cavalry was stationed! "Lock down this forest and keep up the pursuit! Don¡¯t let him escape this area!" Breeze and Rain ordered in a harsh tone. "Get your act together, people! Our ranged parties will show up in just another two hours! God of War has made up his mind to uproot this god-forsaken place once and for all, and we¡¯re going to destroy that bastard Lu Chen as well! He has been humiliating our server for too long already!" The Beast King Cavalrymen unsheathed their weapons and prepared to fight me the moment I showed my face. ¡­¡­ "Hoot hoot¡­" Suddenly, I heard a couple of hoots from above. When I looked up, I saw a couple of Owl Riders flying in the sky. One of them shouted from barely ten feet away from me, "I see him! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is at coordinates (43982, 92911)! Dispatch our assassins to kill him before he escapes!" I shot the guy a look of disbelief. Is he crazy? Does he seriously think he¡¯s safe from me this close? I wasn¡¯t a man of half-measures, so I immediately brought my sword low before tossing it into the air. The spinning hurricane that was my sword easily cut through the Owl and the rider¡¯s torso, dealing 192882 damage and one-shotting him instantly. As blood and feathers fell from the sky, I grew certain that a certain rumor I read on the forums were true. The Owls were fast and very suited for aerial combat, but apparently they came with a horrific demerit that reduced their riders¡¯ max HP by 20%. The Ancient Divine Dragon had no such flaws since it was of a much higher rank. I changed directions immediately after killing the Owl Rider. At the same time, I sent a message to Warscar, "Dude, you can tell your guys to revive now. Don¡¯t try to fight against the Indians though. Go find a leveling map and grind or something. In 10 hours, when I¡¯m no longer restricted by the system, I¡¯ll come find you all again!" Warscar responded, "Got it. Don¡¯t hesitate to call me if you¡¯re in danger. We vikings will do anything for a friend. Fuck that hammer Breeze and Rain¡­" Hammer what? Heavens, Sichuan accent sounds so strange on a Nordic uncle. "Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ Another two or three Owl Riders appeared above my head. These players were once White Horse Cavalrymen, so they definitely counted among the elites. However, their new flying mounts had a turn rate far inferior to their previous companions, so even something as simple as making a turn was difficult for them. I exploited this weakness and kept killing them with Coiling Dragon Revolution and Dragon Slaying Slash. Pu! During one such kill, I stretched out my hand and caught the weapon dropped by a rider as he fell from the sky. It was a 3-star Outstanding Heaven-grade spear with very good Attack and 5% lifesteal. It was comparable to a Level 170 basic Divine Armament. I put it in my bag and resumed my escape. As of now, it didn¡¯t look like I could catch a breather during these ten hours. An idea suddenly entered my mind, and I brought up the friend screen and searched for the ID "Hickey¡±. A few seconds later, my friend request was accepted, and Hickey officially became my second friend ever in Iron Skull Wilderness. "Hi, Hickey!" I greeted her smilingly. Hickey breathed heavily as she replied, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? Oh, your name¡¯s Lu Chen. Lu Chen, have you escaped yet? You¡­ haven¡¯t been killed by Breeze and Rain, have you?" I grinned. "Of course not. I¡¯m just checking up on you. How¡¯s Sacred Oath doing?" Hickey answered in a helpless tone, "Flowing Cloud¡¯s skill and equipment are both first-class. I tried 1v1ing her just now, but I came up a bit short so to speak. Right now I¡¯m just trying to beat an organized retreat with my remaining men. The Owl Riders are too numerous, and another 10000 White Horse Cavalrymen just came to Flowing Cloud¡¯s aid. This girl is doing her utmost to kill me!" I replied, "Eh, it¡¯s more like she¡¯s doing her utmost to kill me, and you just happened to be in the way¡­" Hickey chuckled at that. "What on earth did you do to her, boy? You didn¡¯t dump her after you got in bed with her, did you?" I rolled my eyes. "What on earth are you talking about? We just belong to different worlds, is all. Long story short, Flowing Cloud and I are destined to be enemies." "I see." Suddenly, Hickey asked me, "By the way, I heard that you formed a temporary alliance with the vikings. Is that true?" "Yep. I like how straightforward and stubborn they are!" Hickey giggled. "You don¡¯t need to pretend with me. We both know they¡¯re just a bunch of donkeys¡­" Me: "..." "Lu Chen?" "Yes, what is it?" Hickey ground her teeth visibly before continuing. "Will you stay with us and protect Iron Skull Wilderness from the Indians? We¡­ really don¡¯t want to give up our homes, even if it¡¯s just a barren wasteland that¡¯s filled with danger¡­" I replied without hesitation, "Of course I will. I am fighting with you right now, aren¡¯t I? Plus, I don¡¯t think Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud will allow me to escape." "Yeah. Anyway, I need to run again, so talk to you later. I¡¯m going to rally the other tribes in Iron Skull Wilderness and have them fight against Cyan Earth City and Elephant City together!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I turned off the communicator. Starting another war was the last thing in my mind when I came to Iron Skull Wilderness, but on second thought, why not? If I could keep Cyan Earth City and Elephant City busy here in the south, the China server would have more time to regain their strength. Also... An idea suddenly flashed across my mind. I wasn¡¯t really thinking earlier, but why can¡¯t I become a true member of Iron Skull Wilderness? Why can¡¯t I create my own private army in Iron Skull Wilderness? I could recruit the Berserkers of Virgin Islands to my cause and strengthen them with my level, equipment and mount. Growing my power would also grant me true authority over Iron Skull Wilderness! The new objective took root in my mind in no time. Yes, I would unite the barbarians of Iron Skull Wilderness and create a dynasty that belonged to myself. I would use them to fight against all the wolves around me! I even had two perfect targets to kick off my recruitment drive. Warscar was a brave and honest warrior. He shouldn¡¯t be difficult to recruit at all. Hickey was much smarter and skillful than the viking, and I imagined that it would take a lot more effort to convince her to join my cause. If I could succeed though, conquering Iron Skull Wilderness would become a lot easier! ¡­¡­ A while later, Hickey contacted me again and informed me that she had successfully escaped Flowing Cloud¡¯s pursuit. I let out a long sigh of relief and said, "That¡¯s one less worry off my shoulders¡­" Hickey smiled as well as she replied, "Life is such a roller coaster. Just a few hours ago, I was trying my best to kill you and rob you of the Sacred Armament. Now? We¡¯re both worrying about each other¡¯s safety." I replied, "A common threat will do that, especially one as powerful as India." Hickey asked, "Lu Chen, the reason I would rather let you keep the Sacred Armament than give it to the Indians is because you are currently an unaffiliated player of Iron Skull Wilderness. What will you do after the Sacred Armament is truly yours?" I thought for a moment before responding, "The Fire God Helmet will greatly increase my power, so I plan to turn in my quest after the 10-hour duration is over. How would you like me to pay back the favor, Hickey? Is there anything I can do to help you?" Hickey replied, "Hmm, how about¡­ you help me beat the S1 instance?" "Sure!" "Are you sure you can beat it though? We don¡¯t have any priests, so we won¡¯t have a source of healing¡­" "Don¡¯t worry!" I showed off my stats for a bit. "I have 23170 base Attack, 540% boost from my equipment, and another 50% from undead energy. Sadly it¡¯s not multiplicative, so that¡¯s a 590% boost. Quick math, that¡¯s like 160k effective Attack. Next, I have 27715 base Defense, 550% from my equipment, and a skill called Ghost Deity Shield which I haven¡¯t maxed yet, but I should be around 200k effective Defense. Moreover, my Ancient Divine Armament gives me 20% lifesteal. You probably noticed it already, but not even Breeze and Rain¡¯s Beast King Cavalry can pierce my Defense much unless they¡¯re using Barrier Break. Do you think I¡¯m strong enough to beat the S1 instance now?" "Wow¡­" Hickey blinked once before replying, "I understand now that the S1 instance is a waste of time for you. Let¡¯s try out the S2 instance instead¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ We talked a bit longer before hanging up. I asked both Hickey and Warscar to hide themselves and grind their levels back to par. Both of them had been weakened after the battle against the Indians, so there was no reason for them to throw their lives away. Meanwhile, while I was studying the minimap, I suddenly came up with the excellent idea of making my escape path a pentagram and did exactly that. With limited area, it was the best way to change direction constantly and just enough to never come close to my pursuers lagging behind. Thanks to the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s movement speed, Breeze and Rain never really knew where to look for me. By the time I was done "drawing" my super massive pentagram, my 10-hour timer was almost up. It was only then Breeze and Rain slapped his thighs in realization and complained to Flowing Cloud, "OMG, this¡­ this fucker is drawing a pentagram!! I¡­ I should¡¯ve noticed this much sooner¡­" Flowing Cloud couldn¡¯t help but laugh at this. ¡­¡­ Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" has claimed the Sacred Armament "Fire God Helmet", and retained it for 10 hours. The Fire God Helmet is now bound to player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" and cannot be dropped! ¡­¡­ Joy swelled in my heart as I stood at the center of the valley. I took out the Fire God Helmet and admired the flames flickering across its surface. What a beautiful piece of equipment! Chapter 1095: Faster Sealing Fire God Helmet (Sacred Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 12500 Magic Resist: 11700 Strength: +1950 Stamina: +1900 Agility: +1850 Tactics: +195 Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 90000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist by 45% Slots: 17 Outstanding: Rise of the Guardian Dragon. By summoning the power of the Hidden Dragon and making a seal with one hand, awaken a slumbering divine dragon and attack all enemies within 100 yards with the power of the rising dragon. Costs 1000 gold per use. Cooldown: 6 minutes. Introduction: During the ancient times, an excellent youngster born from a fallen noble family cultivated single-mindedly and obtained the Fire God¡¯s inheritance as a result. In the end, he became the new Fire God. The Fire God Helmet is one of the ultimate armaments he possessed. Tens of thousands of years later, when miracles were a thing of the past, the Fire God Helmet suddenly appeared and awed everyone. It contains the power of the Fire God, and legend says that its wearer will inherit a portion of his divine power, the Rise of the Guardian Dragon. Level Requirement: 205 Reputation Requirement: 700000 Class Requirement: Fighter class Note: Item bound to player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" ¡­¡­ Words couldn¡¯t describe how blessed I was feeling right now. Just look at those stats! If I had one nitpick to make though, it would be its active skill, Rise of the Guardian Dragon. A skill that costs 1000 gold, a.k.a. 1000 RMB, per use? This seriously wasn¡¯t something a normal player could afford to use. Even a white collar could only use it a couple of times before they were forced to make do with cup noodles for the rest of the month. Long story short, I should use Rise of the Guardian Dragon only when it is absolutely necessary! I replaced my Dragonlight Helmet with the Fire God Helmet. A scorching power immediately flooded my body, boiled my blood vessels, and tightened my muscles to the point where I had to find release. Tsk tsk, it felt exactly like when I was equipping the Ancient Divine Armament Purple Ying Sword. Roughly speaking, the Sacred Armament was around the same level as an Ancient Divine Armament, or much better than a Cambrian Divine Armament. I checked out my stats page again. All the relevant stats had gone up visibly¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Martial God of the Abyss) Class: Undead Swordsman (Great Earth Swordsman) Level: 208 HP: 601820 Attack: 21320~24770 Defense: 38865 Magic Resist: 34920 Reputation: 829400 Tactics: 1346 Luck: 73 ¡­¡­ Look at this baby! One Sacred Armament was all it took to elevate my survivability to a whole new level! I now had a max HP of 600k, and a base Defense of nearly 40k! I could call myself the tankiest player in the world right now, and it wouldn¡¯t be exaggerated in the slightest! I dazedly put away the Dragonlight Helmet as the warm sensation called happiness continued to assault my senses. With these stats, I shouldn¡¯t need to worry about being chased anymore, right? Unfortunately, Breeze and Rain and his Beast King Cavalry appeared at just the wrong moment to shout, "I¡¯ve come to ¡®congratulate¡¯ you on your new loot, Lu Chen!" I raised my eyebrows but deflated a bit. Fine, you outnumber me, you win... Although my survivability had jumped by leaps and bounds, Breeze and Rain could still reduce all my stats by 70% with Soul Capture and one-shot me. Moreover, I was alone, and he was supported by thousands of Beast King Cavalrymen. There was no reason to risk being caught by a Trapping Net and killed. There was only one course of action here, and I took it without hesitation. I patted the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back once, and it immediately let out a mighty roar and soared into the sky. After I was a hundred meters above the ground, I said to Breeze and Rain with a smile, "Play time¡¯s over, Breeze and Rain! Chase me if you can, hahaha! See you later!" After that, the Ancient Divine Dragon slipped into the clouds and vanished completely from view. Right before I looked away, I could see the resistance and fury in Breeze and Rain¡¯s eyes. The Agility Warrior was one of the strongest experts in the entire Cyan Earth City, no, the entire India server, and yet he hadn¡¯t been able to best me in Iron Skull Wilderness at all. It was no wonder he found it difficult to swallow this indignity. ¡­¡­ While in the sky, I opened the world map and locked onto Zephyr Valley. The final boss had already been eliminated, so it was time to find out what the mysterious Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse really looked like. Mounts had always been one of my highest priorities, and I had good reason to believe that the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse would turn out pretty good. Assuming that my expectation wasn¡¯t betrayed, the Cyan Tiger Cavalry would have much to celebrate after this. They were long due for a replacement mount anyway. In just ten minutes, I entered Zephyr Valley and swooped down on the Great Undead Magus Juve¡¯s tiny house like a hawk. His Fire God Helmet was mine, and the rest of his loot, Hickey¡¯s. In a sense, we both got what we wanted from the boss. Pa! After the Ancient Divine Dragon, I jumped off its back and summoned the Phantom Wolf King. I progressed through the darkness. Directly in front of me was a seemingly endless stretch of graves. I moved closer to one of the tombstones to check out the engravings, and it stated¡ª "Grave of a brave warrior of the Empire, Cardirola, one of the 100000 braves who perished in the Battle of Flowing River. He and his horse had died to the same arrow, so they were buried together in this land." ¡­¡­ Both the master and the mount had died to the same arrow? I thought for a moment before tentatively poking my sword into the soft mound behind the tombstone. A bloody, bony arm instantly burst out of the soil and grabbed the blade! Holy shit, that gave me a fright! Clearly, Cardirola had been transformed into an undead. Unfortunately for him, he was just a Level 247 fiend-rank mob. He wasn¡¯t quite strong enough to even damage me anymore. After I returned Cardirola to true death with a couple of hits, a warhorse abruptly burst out of the same mound the undead had emerged from. It was a skeletal warhorse with bones as tough as steel and dark blue eyes. It was also surrounded by icy wind blades. Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse (Ancient Spirit Rank Boss Mount) Level: 1 Taming Level Requirement: 200 Riding Level Requirement: 180 ¡­¡­ So, it was a Level 180 Ancient Spirit Rank Boss mount. Its level was way higher than the Beast King Cavalry of India! I couldn¡¯t help but be curious about its exact stats. So I produced a Sealing Crystal, pointed it at the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse and ordered, "Get inside, boy!" However, the livestock neighed imperiously at me and foiled my sealing attempt! Thankfully, failing a seal doesn¡¯t use up the Sealing Crystal. I was a bit annoyed, but I pushed past it and tried again. This was how sealing usually turned out after all. However, I repeated the attempt 17 times and still failed to seal the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse! "What the fuck is going on?" I swore out loud. Suddenly, the Ancient Divine Dragon rubbed its head against my arm and grabbed my attention. Then, it roared at the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse and caused the latter to drop to its knees! Seriously! It was like a scene straight out of an anime! Swhoosh! This time, the Sealing Crystal successfully sealed Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse. I couldn¡¯t stop grinning when I saw its exact stats¡ª Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse (Ancient Spirit Rank Boss Mount) Strength: +900 Stamina: +940 Attack Increase: +40% Defense Increase: +39% Attack Speed: +55% Movement Speed: +150% Attack Range: +29 yards Max HP: +20000 Turn Rate: -39% Mount Tenacity: +30% Unique Skill: Zephyr of Death. The mount roars and increases user¡¯s Attack by 60%, and attack speed by 20% Introduction: The Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse is a cursed animal. It is said that the riders of the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse always become powerful warriors, but they become easily overwhelmed by killing intent. Level Requirement: 180 Reputation Requirement: 200000 ¡­¡­ Hmm. As a whole, the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse¡¯s stats were slightly lower than the Dragonscale Beast¡¯s. However, both mounts shared the same level of offensive power. The key difference here was the Dragonscale Beast¡¯s Dragon Soul Protection¡ªa buff that increased both Attack and Defense of its rider by 50%¡ªand the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse¡¯s Zephyr of Death. Long story short, the undead mount had excess in offense and not enough defense. I was still pretty satisfied though. The Dragonscale Beast was He Yi¡¯s WEL reward, so of course it wasn¡¯t something that could be caught in a random map. In fact, I should be thanking all my previous incarnations for accumulating enough karma to create an encounter between me and the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses! ¡­¡­ I mounted the Ancient Divine Dragon once more. Its gesture made me realize that my intimidation power as an Asura King was nothing compared to my mount¡¯s draconic might. In other words, sealing a creature on dragonback was far easier than otherwise! I moved on to the next grave. Every one of these graves contained an undead warrior and a Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse, and I was on the journey to catch them all! I managed to capture the second Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse on the first try, further solidifying my certainty that the Ancient Divine Dragon boosted creature capture rate. OMG, this mount is so good... It almost felt like I was cheating as I grinded undead warriors and sealed Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses. More and more Sealing Crystals turned dark blue¡ªthe main color of the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse¡ªas I worked for three hours straight. I couldn¡¯t say that I was disappointed in the slightest though. Suddenly, I heard a couple of unnatural knocks from above. It was Chaos Moon tapping on my helmet. After I found a place to set up my tent and log out of the game, the first thing that entered my sight was Chaos Moon¡¯s starving face. "Dude, it¡¯s 8 pm already. Are you going to eat dinner or what? I¡¯m about to die from starvation¡­" I replied, "Sorry, I¡¯m busy right now. You¡¯ll have to eat dinner yourself tonight." Chaos Moon giggled a bit. "Say, I heard that you fought against Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud again in Iron Skull Wilderness? You truly are something!" I smiled. "I know. Anyway, you should go. Do remember to buy something for me. I¡¯m most likely going to burn the midnight oil today." "Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ After I returned to the game, I decided that my grinding speed was too slow. So, I made the Phantom Wolf King run over thousands of undead graves before one-shotting them all with the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s Summon the Storm. I even spent the 1000 gold fee to activate the Fire God Helmet¡¯s skill, Rise of the Guardian Dragon. The Ancient Divine Dragon lowered its body, and I pressed the seemingly infinite energy in my palms into the ground. The draconic energy sank into the earth before bursting out in columns of mighty explosion, one-shotting even more undead warriors and filling up my experience bar like crazy! God damn, Rise of the Guardian Dragon might cost 1000 gold per cast, but its damage was worth every yuan. This skill was way stronger than even Summon the Storm! After I had cleared out a sizable number of undead warriors, I took out a whole set of Sealing Crystals and threw them at the now defenseless Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse at random. The result was insane to say the least. I was sealing at least one mount every two seconds! Assuming that I sold these at Sky City, I bet I could fetch at least 5000 gold per Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse. Only heaven knows how rich I would become by the end of the day. Of course, it was just a pipedream. There was an extremely high chance that Eternal Moon would detect the unnatural amount of gold that was being transacted and smother my plans before I could finish selling them all. No, the safer thing to do here was to equip my army with these mounts. After all, the game company might stop me from making too much money, but they wouldn¡¯t stop me from becoming the king of mercenaries. Chapter 1096: Virgin The night was one filled with horses, crystals and madness. I logged off only when it was past 9 am in the morning. Chaos Moon stared at my bloodshot eyes curiously. "Damn, you look like you robbed a house last night." "I guess that isn¡¯t too far away from the truth¡­" I couldn¡¯t refute Chaos Moon¡¯s observation when I recalled the mindblowing fortune I made last night. In fact, saying I robbed a bank might be a more apt description. Whoever had designed this part had probably intended for one magic knight to seal just one Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse, but because I coincidentally accepted the Black Wind Scout Battalion¡¯s quest and bought a crazy amount of 90k Sealing Crystals in one go, I was able to pocket over half of Zephyr Valley¡¯s mounts overnight. Chaos Moon took a sip of hot tea before saying, "Well, what are you waiting for? You look like you¡¯re about to die from starvation¡­" "Mn." I rolled the pizza on my plate and stuffed the whole slice into my mouth. She was correct. I had been so hungry that, when Chaos Moon returned with a box of pizza, I had nearly shed tears of joy. The ancients didn¡¯t lie when they made up the sayings "to send charcoal in snowy weather", and "hoeing the grass under the noonday sun¡±... ¡­¡­ "Seriously though, what on earth are you doing in Iron Skull Wilderness? Eve worries about you a lot, but she didn¡¯t dare to call you because she didn¡¯t want to catch you while you¡¯re on the run or something. It would suck for everyone if you were killed because a phone call distracted you." "Well, right now I¡¯m building a powerful army in Zephyr Valley¡­" "A powerful army?" "Yep. Don¡¯t worry, you should see the results very soon." Chaos Moon giggled. "You know what, why don¡¯t I come to Iron Skull Wilderness and meet you? The Crimson Scythe Scorpion you gifted me is now Level 110, by the way. It levels up quickly, and its offensive power is incredible. I put all its stat points under Strength." "Of course. If it¡¯s an offensive pet, then you always add Strength. It won¡¯t be able to pierce a high-level mobs¡¯ Defense otherwise." "Mn. Do you know how envious Eve was when she saw the Crimson Scythe Scorpion?" Chaos Moon chirped with a pleased expression. "She said that the Crimson Scythe Scorpion is way stronger than the Firelight Mouse and Ghost Chariot. Sister Mingyue even tried fanning some flames saying that you¡¯ve had a change of heart and fell for me¡­" I nearly spat out the cola in my mouth when I heard that. I complained, "That¡¯s more or less the usual bullshit I expect to hear from sis alright. Fall for you? I would have a bigger chance falling on you¡­" Chaos Moon blushed like an apple. "Why am I getting burned? Sister Mingyue¡¯s the one who said it, not me!" "Haha!" After I ate another slice of pizza, I patted my stomach in satisfaction before saying, "Well, I won¡¯t keep you occupied any longer. I¡¯m going to sleep, wake up at three, and hopefully finish everything before 12 midnight so I can readjust my biological clock." "Mn." Chaos Moon nodded once before saying seriously, "By the way, the investigation on Tang Long is progressing quickly. The CGL officials are constantly releasing new information and updates regarding the investigation. It seems like Tang Long and the higher-ups of the VR department really did have some sort of unspeakable deal with each other, so Li Chengfeng has traveled to Japan to investigate it himself. Long story short, the investigation is progressing in both the real and the virtual world. Tang Long will fall once enough evidence has been gathered." "Awesome!" I replied. However, Chaos Moon glared at me and added, "Idiot. I¡¯m asking you if we¡¯re returning to Suzhou soon. Eve, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin all miss you a lot. Beiming Xue especially asks me day and night how you¡¯re doing, whether you¡¯re eating and sleeping on time, and more. The same questions, every. Single. Day. I¡¯m literally running out of words here¡­" Feeling a surge of warmth in my heart, I replied with a smile, "Tell Eve, Beiming and Little Xin that I miss them a lot as well. Tell them that we¡¯ll return to Suzhou once my business at Iron Skull Wilderness is settled." "Nice. Alright, you should catch some sleep soon." "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Another day passed by in the blink of an eye. As it turned out, my obsession with the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses surprised even me. After 29 total hours of hard work, when the beginning rays of sunshine began shining through the window once more, I finally managed to sweep through the entire necropolis and capture every Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse there was. In total, I had captured 51k+ Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses, which was absolutely enough to build a super powerful cavalry legion. It was only then I logged out of the game and took my rest. On the same day, when the clock reached 9 am sharp, I logged back into the game with a full stomach. Swhoosh! After I reappeared in the depths of Zephyr Valley, I took a moment to admire my bagful of Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses and felt very pleased with myself. The first step of my super massive plan was finally complete, and it was time to begin the next step. Speaking of which, Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud had been carrying out their suppression plan in the past two days. Unfortunately for them, I had suggested to Warscar and Hickey to exploit their familiarity with their homeland and engage the Indian forces in guerilla warfare. As a result, they weren¡¯t able to make any solid progress whatsoever. I closed my bag and summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon. After I jumped onto its back and grabbed the vine to steady myself, I ordered smilingly, "Time to go to Black Wind Scout Battalion camp, little dragon! We can deal with everything else after I¡¯ve turned in my quest! Level 209, here I come!" The Ancient Divine Dragon bent its neck backward and let out a mighty roar, shattering the forest¡¯s silence instantly. Then, it took to the sky and flew toward Black Wind Scout Battalion camp in a straight line. In less than half an hour, we arrived at our destination. "Ah, my dear warrior! You¡¯ve finally returned!" The archer Mona greeted me passionately and cheerfully. She even stopped calling me boy. "Mn." I walked up to her, passed her 5 Sealing Crystals and said with a smile, "It wasn¡¯t easy, but I¡¯ve brought the 5 Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses you requested, Mona. I wish you all good luck and safety on your journey back home. I¡¯m an adventurer of Sky City myself, so maybe we¡¯ll run into each each other when I finally return home!" Mona¡¯s eyes reddened with tears immediately. The girl barely met me a handful of times, and yet her Amity toward me was almost abnormally high. Clutching the Sealing Crystals and wrapping me in a bear¡¯s hug, she said, "I will be waiting for you at Sky City, young warrior. Don¡¯t die in this wilderness no matter what, okay?" I forced a smile on my face as I replied, "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m the man who managed to kill even the Great Undead Magus Juve. There¡¯s nothing in this god-forsaken land that could kill me, hahaha!" This was a lie. The fact was, the Great Undead Magus Juve had been killed by Hickey and her people via the unbeatable human wave attack. Had I had to fight the super boss solo, I would¡¯ve lost between 1 to 3 levels at least. Juve¡¯s Magic Attack was insane, and I didn¡¯t have the Fire God Helmet at the time, so I couldn¡¯t claim that I could cleanly beat him with absolute certainty. ¡­¡­ The quest reward gave me an incredible amount of experience, and just as expected I skyrocketed to Level 209 14%. I was now only one step away from reaching Level 210 and qualifying for my eighth-promotion quest. After saying their goodbyes to me, the scout battalion got onto the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses and prepared to leave. At the last moment, Mona looked back to me and said, "You must come find me when you return to Sky City, okay?" I nodded. "I will!" The middle-aged warrior said with a cheeky grin, "Our scout battalion¡¯s number one beauty has fallen for you, so you¡¯d better not break your promise, boy! Hahaha¡­" I smiled but didn¡¯t say anything. I mounted the Ancient Divine Dragon and bid them one last goodbye, "Let¡¯s all do our best!" "Mn!" Just like that, I left the camp and vanished into the clouds. ¡­¡­ In the sky, I brought up my friend list and sent Warscar a message: "Yo, where are you right now?" Warsky replied quickly, "We¡¯re grinding Undead Earth Dragons at Bonecrush Forest right now. These fucking hammers killed a bunch of our brothers already!" I shook my head. It would be a while before I finally got over that accent. "I¡¯m coming over. Wait for me!" "Sure!" After I located the coordinates of Bonecrush Forest, I made the Ancient Divine Dragon fly there at top speed. Less than twenty minutes later, a bunch of green dots appeared on my minimap. I was listed as a friend of Warscar¡¯s guild, Godkiller, so the Berserkers wouldn¡¯t be able to hurt me even if they wanted to. After I landed on the ground, I jumped off my dragon¡¯s back and faced toward Warscar. The guy walked up to me with a hearty laugh. "Good day, brother Lu Chen! So, you wanted to say something?" I began, "Warscar, have you ever thought that the one true way you can protect yourselves from the India server is to form some sort of alliance of vagabonds?" "What? An alliance?" Warscar¡¯s expression immediately turned disgusted. "You want me to work together with that girl, Hickey? Or worse, those hammers who call themselves the Black Crow Tribe? Absolutely not! We vikings only respect the strong. Only those with the power and courage to fight side-by-side with us against powerful enemies have the right to become our brothers!" I licked my lips once before asking, "Warscar, can you tell your corp commanders and vice commanders to assemble here?" "Mn, sure!" It took only a short time for twenty or so brawny and doe-eyed viking warriors to surround me. They were all waiting to see what I had to say to them. ¡­¡­ I started, "You have all been bullied and party-wiped by Breeze and Rain before. Have you ever wanted to take revenge against him?" All twenty or so commanders raised their weapons at once. "Of course! We all dream of tearing that hammer¡¯s head into pieces or using it as a chamber pot!" I spoke louder. "How are you going to do that though? Do you think you can beat Breeze and Rain or his Beast King Cavalry?" Everyone including Warscar fell silent. In reality, they knew that they were no match for the Beast King Cavalry at all. They didn¡¯t have high-level mounts or high-level equipment. Even if with their incredible Berserk talent, they were no match for their opponents at all. After pausing for what felt like a suitable amount of time, I continued, "Well, I have the strength to make y¡¯all stronger than the Beast King Cavalry! I have a condition though!" "What condition?" Warscar asked immediately. Judging from the urgency in his eyes, the guy had been bullied by the Indians for far too long already. I smiled. "I want you all to obey my orders unconditionally!" Warscar looked surprised. "You want us to obey you? That¡¯s¡­ not a problem. You are already one of us. But can you actually make us stronger than the Beast King Cavalry?" I nodded and tossed a Sealing Crystal with the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse into his hands. "Summon it and equip it, brother!" "Ah?" A stunned Warscar did as I said. After the magnificent-looking stallion appeared before him, Warscar climbed onto its back and let out an exclamation of shock, "My god, it¡¯s an Ancient Spirit Rank Boss mount! This¡­ this is freaking lit!" I smiled. "You see now? Obey my command, ally with the other forces of Iron Skull Wilderness, and fight the India server with me! If you agree, then I will give all of you a Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse each! That¡¯s right! Every viking warrior will be getting an Ancient Spirit Rank Boss mount!" ¡­¡­ The crowd immediately erupted into cheers. The viking warriors waved their weapons and roared with bloodshot eyes, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! The King of Virgin! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! The King of Virgin!" I felt like someone kicked me in the balls when they chanted that though. The chant was in English, but I wasn¡¯t so illiterate that I couldn¡¯t recognize the English word "virgin"... What the fuck! The last thing I wanted to become was "the king of virgins"! Chapter 1097: Becoming the Master of Godkiller "Come! Join our guild!" Warscar sent me a guild invitation. "We¡¯ve fought against Elephant City again and again, but we¡¯ve never managed to gain the upper hand even once. While I know that I¡¯ve never let down my brothers and sisters, the fact is we need more than just brotherhood to win this war." I clicked accept, and Warscar immediately surrendered his position to me. A system notice rang beside my ears¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Player "Warscar" has relinquished his position. You are now the leader of the "Godkiller¡± guild! ¡­¡­ As The last vestiges of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ guild emblem faded into nothing, a war axe took its place. It was the symbol of the Godkiller. With this, I had officially become the new guild leader of the Godkiller guild. After I elevated Warscar to the vice leader position, I looked at everyone and said, "Warscar, please give me a tally of all currently online players and assemble them at this spot. I¡¯ll be handing out a Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse to everyone who¡¯s Level 180 or higher. It so happens that Godkiller is a guild made purely of fighters who can already ride mounts, and Breeze and Rain¡¯s strongest force in Iron Skull Wilderness is the Beast King Cavalry. When we¡¯re ready, we¡¯ll meet them on the battlefield and crush them into dust!" Warscar clenched his fists and laughed heartily, "Got it! We¡¯ve waited for this moment for too long already! Finally, we have a true commander to lead us!" While waiting, I checked out the data Warsca sent me. I was very satisfied. The guild could fit a maximum of 30k players, but only 25129 of the slots were filled. It was because there were only so many Viking Islands players. However, over 20k players were almost always online, and over 95% of the guild were over Level 180 and seventh-promotion. Even the ones who weren¡¯t were just 1 or 2 levels away from hitting Level 180. A day¡¯s time was all they needed to reach the level requirement. Pa! I stabbed the Purple Ying Sword on the ground while waiting for all the viking warriors to assemble. Behind me, the Ancient Divine Dragon was rubbing its head against my shoulder and narrowing its eyes at the players before us. Warscar and the corps commander returned the stare both curiously and fearfully. After all, they had all bore witness to the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s power when it unleashed its skill, Summon the Storm. Honestly speaking, it wasn¡¯t a skill any player should ever have. It was gamebreakingly powerful. A short time later, the viking warriors finally arrived and stood in orderly lines in front of me. They stared at the guild leader emblem on my shoulder with respect not because I was now their guild leader, but because I was that strong. I had more than proven myself during the short time we fought side-by-side. "Alright, come to me one by one, people," I said while taking out the stacks of filled Sealing Crystals from my bag. A brawny guy wielding a long axe walked up to me first. When he read the mount¡¯s exact stats, he looked up at me in shock. "Guild leader, are you¡­ are you sure you want to gift this to us? A mount this powerful could sell for at least 100k EUR in the black market, you know?" I smiled. "If you were someone else, then of course I wouldn¡¯t gift it to you for free. But we are one big family now, and it¡¯s only natural that I do my utmost to help a family member. Grind hard. In a few days, Godkiller will meet with Breeze and Rain and challenge them once more!" "Got it!" The berserker cheerfully moved out of the way and binded the mount. Then, he mounted the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse and made a lot of noise at the forest edge. It didn¡¯t take long to distribute all 200 stacks of Sealing Crystals to the Godkiller players. Everyone who was always online had gotten a Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse. "Form up!" The twenty thousand cavalrymen formed up at the clearing after Warscar raised his axe and barked out the order. After he put down his axe again, I slowly climbed up the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back and made it hover about three meters above ground. Looking down at Godkiller from above, I began, "We are all people who had been abandoned for one reason or another. We all call Iron Skull Wilderness our homes. Cyan Beast has attacked us again and again thinking that we are the sheep to their wolves, but that is no longer the case. In the very near future, we will show Breeze and Rain just how powerful the counterattack of the ¡®weaklings¡¯ is!" Everyone raised their weapons and shouted, "King of the Vikings!" It looked like Warscar had spoken to them about my new title. Iron Skull Wilderness was a cruel and bloodthirsty world, and it was impossible to make a name for oneself without an epic title. The King of Vikings, huh? It was a good-sounding title even in Chinese. I would gladly accept it. ¡­¡­ Next, Warscar asked me, "What do we do now, guild leader?" "For now, our first priority is to upgrade everyone¡¯s equipment. What you guys are wearing now is just¡­" I chuckled a little at the sorry sight before continuing, "There are 25000 of you in the guild, but not a single Immortal-grade item. Even the amount of Heaven-grade items you have is extremely pitiful. Even with your new mount, there¡¯s no way you can beat the elite Beast King Cavalry as you are." Warscar clenched his fists angrily. "We all wish to grind some high-level equipment ourselves, but Berserk decreases our Defense by 25%. Therefore, we can only grind shadow-rank mobs for experience and loot. Ancient and dread-rank mobs are completely out of our reach, much less the fiend-rank mobs that roam these lands." I sucked in a deep breath before replying, "Well, it¡¯s different now. Your Attack, Defense and HP have all gone up massively now that you¡¯ve got the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses. You now have the strength to grind fiend-rank mobs with exceptional Defense but weak Attack. Fiend-rank mobs have a chance of dropping Heaven-grade and even Immortal-grade equipment. Do your best, and Lady Luck may yet grant you her blessing." Warscar nodded in high spirits. "Got it! But uh, what fiend-rank mob should we grind exactly? Practically every fiend-rank mob we¡¯ve ever encountered is ridiculously powerful. It takes 10 to 20 of us to kill just one fiend-rank mob, and it always costs us around 7 to 8 lives. Their levels are simply too high." Now that he mentioned it, I recalled the Cyanscale Corpse Eaters in Zephyr Valley. While I had cleared out the mobs around the lumberyard, there were still a ton of them left in the map. The Corpse Eaters had super high Defense but not enough Attack. It was exactly the kind of mob the vikings needed right now. So, I raised my sword and declared, "From now on, this detachment will be known as the ¡®Viking Cavalry¡¯! We will make the entire Iron Skull Wilderness tremble to our names! Now follow me! I¡¯ll take you all to a good leveling map!" The vikings fell in line without any hesitation. They still hadn¡¯t recovered from their pleasant daze of getting a super mount yet. ¡­¡­ While I was traveling, I checked out the 60+ pieces of equipment I had picked up while killing the undead warriors in Zephyr Valley. They were all items with ridiculously good stats and effects, so much so that I tossed out my Magic Consumables to make space for them. I shot Warscar and the key generals of Godkiller a glance before saying, "Come closer. I¡¯m going to give you all some powerful equipment¡­" "Oh?" Warscar exclaimed in astonishment. I asked Warscar, "Can you describe your armor and your axe¡¯s stats to me?" Warscar brought up the equipment screen before reciting, "My armor is a Level 165 3-star Outstanding Earth-grade item that increases my Defense by 25%. My axe is 4-star Outstanding Earth-grade and increases my Attack by 40%..." I shook my head before passing him a cyan-red war axe and obsidian battle armor. "This axe is a 4-star Outstanding Heaven-grade item that increases Attack by 11%, splash effect by 15% and lifesteal by 4%. This metal armor is also Heaven-grade, increases Defense by 55%, and lifesteal by 3%. It also has way higher base Defense than your basic Heaven-grade armor as well. Equip them!" "Ah?!" Warscar stared at the two pieces of equipment like a beggar who had been starving for three years. He looked back and forth between me and the equipment with indescribable joy and shock before asking, "Guild leader, are you¡­ sure you want to gift them to me? I¡­ I can¡¯t afford to buy these items. They¡¯re super rare even in the black market¡­" I smiled. "It¡¯s a necessity to keep the guild functioning, not a gift. We don¡¯t have a guild warehouse, so I can only give these items for you guys to wear, get it?" Warscar returned my smile. "Gotcha. We won¡¯t disappoint you, guild leader." "Mn." After that, I distributed the rest of my loot to the other generals. Thankfully, over 70% of the equipment dropped in Zephyr Valley was exclusive to cavalry classes, and everything I had picked up except one dagger fell under that category. By the end of the giveaway, almost all of the key players of Godkiller had undergone a rebirth. ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take long before I arrived at Zephyr Valley once more, and this time I moved to the north instead of following my previous route. Just as I expected, we ran into a couple of huge lumberyards that were completely surrounded by Cyanscale Corpse Eaters. They were perfect for the Viking Cavalry. "How should we do this? They packed like sardines¡­" Warscar said. I suggested, "Form 50-man parties and lure them to you one by one. My only condition is that you survive the grinding. Can you do it?" Warscar laughed. "Yes, we can!" And so the group split up and went about their own businesses. I myself went to the eastmost lumberyard to solo grind the mobs there. I had to because I needed to hit Level 210 and complete my eighth-promotion quest as soon as possible. Also, with my 73 points of Luck, my chances of getting a loot to drop was at least 5 to 10 times higher than a normal player¡¯s. I only needed the experience, so I could distribute all the items I would get to the Viking Cavalry. Right now, they needed equipment more than they needed experience. They needed at least 20k+ base Defense if they were to compensate for the -25% Defense of their natural talent, Berserk. When that happened, the Viking Cavalry would become the most powerful cavalry I ever had since the beginning of Heavenblessed. Yes, in terms of crushing enemy defense lines, they would be even more powerful than the Dragonlight Cavalry. Their Berserk skill was just that OP! Chapter 1098: Hickey’s Disdain Boom! The Cyanscale Corpse Eaters ate three gorgeous sword auras as I swung my weapon. They were also being skewered by my Icy Cyclone Domains and roasted by the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s Summon the Storm. An entire horde of Level 245 fiend-rank mobs dropped to 50% HP in just the blink of an eye. I thought I would see through the assault until the end, so I made the Ancient Divine Dragon bow its head low enough that I could press my left palm against the ground. The next moment, countless seals appeared on the ground, and indigo-colored energy beams abruptly burst out all around me. It annihilated absolutely everything in its path, and even the lowest damage dealt was still over 150k. Ever since I obtained the Sacred Armament, my Attack had reached a point where it could only be described as brutal... "Roar roar roar¡­" The Cyanscale Corpse Eaters kept dying and contributing to my experience bar and Divine Energy Points. After killing almost a thousand Cyanscale Corpse Eaters in one go, I said to the hundreds of Viking Cavalrymen standing some distance away from me while absorbing the undead soul sparks, "What are you guys waiting for? Come over and take the equipment you need already. I¡¯ve changed the loot mode to free-for-all, so anyone can pick them up." The vikings buzzed with excitement. "Hahaha, thank you, but isn¡¯t this¡­ too much?" I rolled my eyes. "Keep playing the saint, and someone¡¯s going to get the OP equipment before you!" The group immediately ran over like the wind and swept the ground clean in just the blink of an eye. Forget the girls, even the guys were screaming like they just found a treasure¡ª "Ooh, I got a Heaven-grade ring¡­ Oh. My. GOD! It adds 40% Attack and 15% Defense! This is practically a Divine Armament¡­" "A shield! A Level 190 3-star Outstanding Earth-grade shield! Finally, I found a high-quality shield, hahahaha!" "Oh my sword, this baby is Level 190, Spirit-grade and adds 70% Attack. I wanna cry¡­" ¡­¡­ To put it mildly, the scene was somewhat chaotic. The sight where some of them broke down crying just because they got a good Spirit-grade item was especially embarrassing. It was to the point where I was starting to wonder if these country bumpkins could actually beat Breeze and Rain¡¯s elite Beast King Cavalry. I might be the King of the Vikings, but my subjects were just country bumpkins who even now had only experienced small-scale battles in Iron Skull Wilderness. On the other hand, Breeze and Rain¡¯s Best King Cavalry were super veterans who had fought many wars including the legendary War of Purple Grape City. Also, these people were cheering over Spirit-grade equipment while the Beast King Cavalry had already begun equipping themselves with the S1 instance set. To say that there was a huge gap between the vikings and the Beast King Cavalry¡¯s horizons would be an understatement... That being said, we did have a couple of irreplaceable advantages of our own. For one, their courage on the battlefield was something few could match. Two, their Berserk talent was absolutely OP. Not even Breeze and Rain could stop our Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses¡¯ charge spearheaded by me and the Ancient Divine Dragon! After I had cleared out an area, I searched for the next choke point and killed more Cyanscale Corpse Eaters. In just half an hour, I had killed an entire horde, transformed many of them into loot, and had the Viking Cavalry come over to choose their equipment in batches. My drop rate was so high that every mob had around a 30% chance to drop something. Sometimes, a single mob could drop 2 or even 3 Spirit, Earth or Heaven-grade pieces of equipment at once. If this was the Dragonlight Cavalry, then most of these items wouldn¡¯t be up to their standards. However, they were perfect for these berserkers because most of them were wearing shameful colors on their body. Silver, Bronze, Dark Steel; they almost fooled me into thinking that I had traveled back in time... ¡­¡­ Not far away, Warscar asked me a good question, "Guild leader, can you tell me what is wrong with your drop rate? The amount of loot we got after sweeping an entire field of mobs isn¡¯t even equal to 25% of yours, and our rate of Outstanding equipment is even lower. That group for example took out hundreds of Cyanscale Corpse Eaters, but they only got 7 items in total, and the highest grade they got was Earth, 1-star Outstanding. On the other hand, you killed the same amount of mobs and got 3 Heaven-grade, 12 Earth-grade, and many, many Spirit and Purple Gold¨Cgrade items. I also noticed that you barely dropped any Dark Steel or Bronze¨Cgrade items. How do you do this?" I shot him a meaningful smile. "Well, I¡¯ve been accumulating power since the very beginning of the game. I¡¯ve killed high-level mobs, completed main quests, and obtained the MVP title in every national or international competition I have fought in." Warscar blinked. "Could it be¡­ Are you talking about the legendary stat, Luck?!" I nodded. "Of course I am. Wait a second, how do you not know about this? Luck determines how reliably you get a high attack roll when attacking something, item drop rate, the grade of items you get and more. Long story short, the better your Luck, the stronger you¡¯ll become¡­" Warscar lowered his axe with an upset expression. "Sigh. It¡¯s a tragedy. There are no main quests in Iron Skull Wilderness at all, and even the bosses are usually the unbeatable type. Take the Great Undead Magus Juve for example. We challenged him a total of three times, but it always ended in a party wipe. We were even killed by that Hickey woman during our last attempt. The total Luck stat of entire Godkiller is still a single digit¡­" I shook my head dramatically and shamelessly. "Man, I pity you poor fucks, really!" Warscar: "..." ¡­¡­ The grind continued until it was past 3 pm. Thanks to everyone¡¯s efforts, everyone got to replace at least one piece of equipment on their person. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was the best result we could hope for considering the circumstances. Also, I was able to give Warscar and a dozen or so elite vikings a complete makeover. Even their lousiest equipment was high-level Spirit-grade. Warscar in particular was currently wearing 3 Heaven-grade and 4 Earth-grade items . His ring and his necklace also had OP stats and effects. After he equipped the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse, he would have 350k max HP and almost 100k effective Defense. He was no longer in constant danger of being one-shot even when he was in the Berserk state. It was at this moment a female viking rode up to us with an urgent report. "Bad news, guild leader!" I turned around immediately and asked, "What¡¯s wrong?" The female rider pointed to the distant forest and said, "A party of 5000 is coming toward us! They are Sacred Oath players, and I think they¡¯re led by Hickey herself. That she-devil has never really liked our guild¡­" "Oh?" I looked to Warscar for an explanation. Warscar grinned a bit before replying, "We killed their players and snatched their bosses in the past, so that hammer lass thought we¡¯re all just a bunch of big dumb oafs and looked down on us. Hmph! I¡¯ve always wanted to teach her a lesson, and she came at just the right time!" I shot him a glance. "Hickey¡¯s someone even I cannot afford to underestimate, and you want to ¡®teach her a lesson¡¯? Look, I¡¯m not trying to disparage you, but there¡¯s a 99% chance Hickey¡¯s the one who¡¯s going to teach you a lesson instead¡­" Warscar raised his axe and replied sheepishly, "Er¡­ let¡¯s set that aside for the moment. What do you think we should do now? They¡¯re probably here to grind the Cyanscale Corpse Eaters as well. Hickey and Sacred Oath may very well choose to kick our asses just because." "Don¡¯t worry, just leave Hickey to me. But don¡¯t start a fight without my permission, get it? Anyone who steps out of line will get a spanking from yours truly!" Warscar and the Godkiller players broke into a chorus of laughter before nodding. "Got it, guild leader¡­" ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take long before a troop of black cavalrymen rode to the edge of the lumberyards. Just as the scout had reported earlier, the leader was the warrioress, Hickey. She seemed to have upgraded her mount to something that looked very similar to the Cyan Battle Tiger, but of a much higher rank. "Guild leader! It¡¯s those barbarians from Godkiller again!" Sacred Oath¡¯s vice leader reported loudly. Hickey glanced around the area before snorting loudly. "Hmph, how unlucky. To think that these oafs would discover this leveling map." "Should we chase them out, guild leader?" "Wait!" Hickey suddenly noticed me and jolted in surprise. "He¡¯s here too? I guess clearing them out isn¡¯t an option anymore." "That¡¯s¡­ Oh, it¡¯s that thief Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Hmph! How did he become the guild leader of Godkiller? I can¡¯t believe that idiot Warscar would actually give up his position¡­" Sacred Oath¡¯s vice leader clenched his fists angrily. "That Sacred Armament was supposed to be ours!" Hickey shot him a look. "Quiet!" After she moved close enough to us, Hickey looked at me and said, "Did you choose to become the guild leader of Godkiller, Lu Chen? Are you seriously going to ally yourself with these big dumb oafs with shit for brains? How disappointing. To think that a god like you would fall this far¡­" "What did you just say, hammer lass!?" Warscar immediately rose to the provocation and raised his axe in anger. Hickey pulled out her sword halfway before continuing, "What, you want to fight me? Did you already forget that you¡¯ve never won once in the 17 times we clashed blades with each other? Hmm, you and your oafs seem to have upgraded your mounts, but you know that I can still beat you with just one arm and leg, right?" Hickey¡¯s taunting smile added fuel to the inferno that was Warscar¡¯s fury and destroyed his reason completely. However, it also made me value her qualities even more. Warscar might be an easily infuriated bull, but it still took considerable skill to taunt him into a flying rage so quickly. So far, it looked like there was a good reason she used to be called the number one player of the Dutch server. Her individual prowess and intelligence were both top-notch. Moreover, I had a feeling that I alone couldn¡¯t truly defeat the Indian army on my own. However, it would be a very different story if I had the aid of a strong, wise and beautiful general like Hickey. At the very least, I wouldn¡¯t need to do everything on my own. ¡­¡­ "Uhh... why are you looking at me like that?" Hickey shot me a glare before checking her attire to confirm that she hadn¡¯t accidentally exposed herself or something. Then, she glared at me again and asked, "Seriously, why are you staring at me like that?" I ignored her question and smiled at her. "Hickey, you should know that neither Breeze and Rain nor Flowing Cloud will stop until they¡¯ve truly conquered Iron Skull Wilderness. Unless you think you can fight them yourself, I would suggest that you join forces with us. Only then will we truly have the strength to give the Indian server a real challenge." Hickey burst out laughing and pointed a finger at Warscar. "You want me to work together with these bulls who only know how to fight brainlessly because they have Berserk? No way! Even if I pretend they won¡¯t drag Sacred Oath¡¯s image through the mud, these idiots can¡¯t even beat Breeze and Rain¡¯s scout party! Why should Sacred Oath ever work together with such weaklings?" Chapter 1099: Bluff Swhoosh! Warscar¡¯s twitching face turned completely red, and it wasn¡¯t because he was blushing in embarrassment. The guy had activated Berserk and awakened the War God bloodline in his veins. Hickey¡¯s last taunt had broken his reason completely, and he was going to teach her a lesson even if he was the one who was probably going to be taught a lesson in the end. "Ooh, wanna fight? Come on then! I have some free time to spare right now!" Hickey fully unsheathed a weapon with a giggle. "Stop!" I turned around to push down Warscar, but his current Strength was beyond what I could handle with just one arm. So, I immobilized him with God Binding Art instead. The guy was seriously too impulsive. ¡­¡­ I looked at Hickey again and said, "I am not asking for an alliance, Hickey. To clarify, I want you and Sacred Oath¡¯s elite players to join Godkiller, and for Sacred Oath to become a subsidiary guild of Godkiller. Together, we will form a greater guild than what we would¡¯ve been otherwise." Hickey immediately lost her cool. "I admit that I¡¯m no match for you, but don¡¯t you think you¡¯re asking too much? Why should Sacred Oath be merged into Godkiller? Nope, no way! We won¡¯t even accept an alliance, and you want us to merge into a third-rate guild like Godkiller? Dream on!" I smiled confidently. "Oh? You think that Godkiller is a third-rate guild because they supposedly can¡¯t even beat one of Breeze and Rain¡¯s scout party, is that it?" "Yeah, so?!" Hickey uttered through gritted teeth. I nodded. "Very well. What will you do if I prove their strength to you?" "Fine!" Hickey said in a fit of anger, "There is a 5000-man-strong Beast King Cavalry troop three kilometers to the south of Bonecrush Forest. They pass through that area once per hour and kill all unaffiliated players who try to grind in Bonecrush Forest. If you really want me to join Godkiller, then prove to me that an equal number of vikings can beat this cavalry troop!" I nodded. "Understood. We¡¯ll get to work right away!" "Hmph! You¡¯re not allowed to participate in the battle!" "Of course!" ¡­¡­ After Warscar had calmed down, he suddenly bumped my shoulder before whispering, "Guild leader, are you serious about this? One Beast King Cavalryman is strong enough to solo 3 of us vikings. How can we possibly beat them in a 5000 versus 5000? The gap is just too huge¡­" The corner of my lips curled upward. "Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll definitely win!" After reassuring Warscar, I turned back to Hickey and said, "I¡¯ll select 5000 Viking Cavalrymen and move out right now. You can come with me to watch the show. Oh right, you can leave your people here to grind. The Beast King Cavalry may be a legend in the epic of Cyan Earth City, but not in my epic! I¡¯ll show you that Godkiller has the power to beat them!" "Very well. I¡¯ll come with you." Hickey was definitely a competitive girl. "You said it. If the vikings can defeat 5000 Beast King Cavalrymen without your aid, then I will join your Godkiller as promised. Otherwise, hmph hmph¡­" I smiled. "Otherwise?" "You will join Sacred Oath instead!" Hickey finally revealed her plan. "I¡¯m not a greedy girl. I¡¯ll be satisfied with just you joining us, not that I want a dumb oaf like Warscar in my guild!" Warscar immediately panicked. "Guild leader, you cannot agree to this condition!" "It¡¯s fine, I know what I¡¯m doing!" I looked at him and ordered, "Assemble the Top 5000 players in the level and equipment rankings and come with me to Bonecrush Forest. Hmph, it is time we prove to the world that the Berserk talent is the best talent in the world¡­" My words seemed to fill Warscar with courage because he said, "Very well, guild leader. We vikings have never feared charging into the greatest battlefields and fighting the greatest opponents, but I would be lying through my teeth if I said that we¡¯ve never lost. However, if beating the Beast King Cavalry is the only way to keep you in the guild, then we will crush them no matter the odds!" I chuckled. "Well said!" Hickey taunted from the side, "Hmph hmph, delusional fools¡­" Unfortunately, it looked like there was no changing Hickey¡¯s disdain for Warscar and the players of Viking Islands in a short time. That being said, Hickey was a war goddess worth taking a gamble for. If I could truly make Hickey my own, I was pretty sure that my war in Iron Skull Wilderness would be smooth-sailing all the way. Ten minutes later, a total of 5000 Viking Cavalrymen assembled in front of me. They were all riding Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses, and they had all upgraded one to three of their equips. Theoretically speaking, they should have enough power to go head-on against the Beast King Cavalry now. Realistically though, it was hardly a sure thing. The Beast King Warhorse was a high-level mount itself, and while it was inferior to the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse, the gap wasn¡¯t insurmountable. With that done, I climbed onto my dragon¡¯s back and declared, "Alright. Let¡¯s go!" "Mn!" The Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses neighed loudly before galloping after me out of Zephyr Valley. Something unexpected happened though. As it turned out, Hickey¡¯s mount wasn¡¯t as fast as the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn¡¯t keep up with the Viking Cavalry. I would¡¯ve laughed at her bright red face if I wasn¡¯t worried that it would negate our deal. So I turned back and stopped just above Hickey. Then, I threw her a Sealing Crystal with the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse in it before saying, "Take this. This mount¡¯s both stronger and faster than the one you¡¯re riding¡­" Hickey was surprised that I would give her a mount for free. "Huh¡­" She was even more surprised when she saw the exact stats of the mount. "Lu Chen, this mount is amazing! Are you seriously going to give it to me for free?" I nodded. "Sure! You¡¯re going to become mine very soon, so why wouldn¡¯t I give you a good mount? Wahahaha¡­" Hickey turned even redder. "Watch your wording, ladies¡¯ man! Hmph! Say all you want, there¡¯s no way I¡¯m going to believe that those dumb bulls will be able to beat an equal number of Beast King Cavalrymen! Never!" I curled my lips. "Sure, believe whatever you want. It won¡¯t change the fact that you¡¯re joining Godkiller today." "Hmph! We¡¯ll see about that!" ¡­¡­ Although Hickey was reluctant to admit defeat, she ultimately chose to bind the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse and ride it. She immediately began moving faster than Warscar and the Viking Cavalry. It was because her boots were Heaven-grade and added a lot of movement speed. The sound of thundering hooves shattered the forest¡¯s silence. When we got close to Bonecrush Forest, I immediately ordered the Viking Cavalry to slow to a trot. Hickey pointed in a certain direction and said, "There. The Beast King Cavalry always passes through that area once per hour¡­" I nodded. "Wait here for me." "Okay." After the Ancient Divine Dragon took to the sky, I activated Dark Pupils to reveal the Beast King Cavalry¡¯s patrol path. It surrounded the entire Bonecrush Forest. I was able to spot a narrow route to the southeast of the forest very quickly. It was surrounded by two hundred-meter tall mountains, and the Beast King Cavalry had to go through it if they were to continue their patrol, making it an excellent spot to ambush the enemies. The Viking Cavalry hadn¡¯t yet fully upgraded their equipment, so they absolutely needed the surprise advantage to increase their chances of winning. ¡­¡­ After I returned to the ground, I said, "I¡¯ve found a good ambush spot. Follow me." Hickey said expressionlessly, "An ambush isn¡¯t exactly fair, is it¡­" I stared at her. "Seriously? Should I message the Beast King Cavalry and challenge them to a righteous 5000 versus 5000 duel then?" "Fine, whatever, let¡¯s go¡­" "Now you¡¯re talking¡­" "..." In five minutes, we arrived at our destination, and just in time too. I could already hear the five thousand Beast King Cavalrymen riding toward this location. Whatever I might say to disparage the Beast King Cavalry, the fact was they were Cyan Beast¡¯s aces. I would be a fool to underestimate them for real. "Here they come!" Warscar laughed excitedly. "Prepare for battle, brothers and sisters!" The Viking Cavalry immediately unsheathed their weapons and began to take action! I immediately shouted them down, "Cool your horses, people! It¡¯s not the time to engage the enemy yet! Keep your heads down and let the enemy cavalry pass through this area!" "But why?" Warscar looked at me in confusion. I simply said, "Just trust me. Remember, you promised me that you will follow my orders unconditionally!" "Very well, guild leader. We¡¯ll do as you say!" Warscar nodded. Hickey was lying in the bush next to me, and a look of disbelief was etched on her features. She couldn¡¯t seem to believe that the normally unruly and barbaric Warscar would obey my orders like a meek lamb. ¡­¡­ As planned, the Beast King Cavalry rode through the area unharmed. They gradually vanished from our sight. It was only then I rose to my feet and pointed to the opposite side of the canyon, "Warscar, take 2000 men with you and hide on the opposite side. Wait until I give you the order to attack." "Yes, guild leader!" I then said to the other corp commanders, "War Dead, take another 2000 men with you and guard this area until I give you the order to attack. War Axe, take the last 1000 men with you and lie in hiding until the 5000 Beast King Cavalrymen appear. The moment they pass through your location, block their way and hit them with everything you got. We¡¯re going to catch them in a triple flanking maneuver and crush them while they¡¯re panicking." Warscar raised a good question, "A triple flanking maneuver is great and everything, but won¡¯t they just escape through the front?" I smiled. "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll handle that part. Anyway, you should all go to your hiding spots now. The Beast King Cavalry will be returning in an hour, so I want all of you to be prepared by then!" "Yessir!" ¡­¡­ All 5000 Viking Cavalrymen moved into position in no time. Speaking of which, Warscar was a Famous General with Knight General, so he could share his buff with exactly 2000 players. The other two corps commanders weren¡¯t, but they did have Encourage VII, which was enough for the purpose of this battle. After all the arrangements were complete, I lay down on my back and waited patiently for the Beast King Cavalry to arrive. Hickey sat against a tree trunk not far away from me while asking, "How are you so confident in these bulls¡¯ abilities?" I shot her a smile. "Why not? The tactics are ready, and the warriors have a clear goal in mind. The viking warriors have always been a powerful bunch, the only thing they were lacking until now was a wise tactician¡­" Hickey smiled and fell silent after that. ¡­¡­ An hour later, the canyon trembled to the Beast King Cavalry¡¯s hooves once more. The Zephyr Cavalry were lying in wait behind the bushes of the mountains. They were all using Pine Tree Cards to conceal themselves. This part was the riskiest part of the battle, to be honest. If even one of the Beast King Cavalrymen had something like Dark Pupils, they would definitely see through this ambush. "It¡¯s time¡­" I grabbed my sword and climbed up my dragon again. "Stay here and enjoy the show, girl!" Hickey looked at me in confusion. "I thought you¡¯re not participating in the battle?" "I¡¯m not, but I am going to bluff the enemy. Nowhere in our deal was it stated that I can¡¯t do that, right?" Hickey: "..." Chapter 1100: Winning Hickey Over I stood at the center of the narrow canyon path with the Ancient Divine Dragon behind me. I didn¡¯t summon the Phantom Wolf King this time because I wasn¡¯t going to fight anyway. The Ancient Divine Dragon was standing right behind me with its head bowed. All I needed to do was to jump backward, and I would be able to mount it if the situation called for it. A troop of Beast King Cavalry was thundering its way toward me. I could even see fresh blood on the blade of their weapons. Obviously, it was the blood of the victims they had killed. Every Beast King Cavalryman was an expert in their own right, and it looked like they enjoyed murdering other players a lot. Unfortunately for them, they didn¡¯t realize that they were soon to have a taste of their own medicine. ¡­¡­ "There¡¯s someone up ahead of us! I can¡¯t see his level from here, but the emblem on his arm seems familiar¡­ I think he¡¯s the leader of Godkiller!" someone shouted. "Doesn¡¯t matter who he is, we¡¯ll run him over and kill him where he stands! Godkiller is just a bunch of noobs that are all brawns and no brains anyway. There¡¯s nothing they can do to us¡­" The five thousand men laughed, unsheathed their blades and rode toward me. When they came close enough to spot my Ancient Divine Dragon, it was already too late. Pa! I pressed my palm to the ground and let out a growl. Golden seals and energy cyclones immediately appeared within 100 yards of me. Dust covered the sky, and the earth split like an earthquake. The next moment, countless earth dragons with sharp scales and terrifying expressions burst out of the ground and flew to the sky. Although the skill didn¡¯t hurt anyone, the visual effects alone scared the crap out of the Beast King Cavalry. No one beside the Godkiller had witnessed the true power of the Sacred Armament until now! "Now! Attack them now!" I shouted inside the guild channel. Warscar and War Dead immediately rushed out from their hiding spots and slammed into the Beast King Cavalry¡¯s sides. War Axe also rushed out and hit the enemy from behind. On the way, they whipped their Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses to full speed, unsheathed their weapons and activated Berserk with a mighty roar. A sheen of bloody light surrounded their bodies, enlarged their muscles and drastically increased their offensive power. "Kill!" Warscar roared and fired a cone-shaped AoE skill straight at the Beast King Cavalry in front of him, deleting around 40% of their HP and knocking them backward. The other Zephyr Cavalrymen followed his lead and struck the enemies in front of them with Barrier Breaks, killing hundreds before the patrol party could mount a proper response. The surprise attack had kicked off to a perfect start. ¡­¡­ "Hold! Hold!¡± shouted a Cyan Beast corps commander, raising his sword. "Form a group before countercharging the enemies! Magic knights, move to the back, lock onto a suitable target and trap the enemy with Trapping Net so your allies can kill them! The Godkillers are just noobs! There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of! Kill them all!" The Beast King Cavalry¡¯s training showed because they immediately regained their calm and launched a counterattack on both flanks. The magic knights also performed as ordered and threw their Trapping Nets at the incoming fighters. They scored a lot of hits, but not a single viking warrior was immobilized. Why? Because Berserk also gave them temporary immunity to all CC just like War God Rampage! Crack! Crack! The sounds of blade sinking into flesh and bone rang everywhere as the two forces officially entered melee combat. The corps commanders of the Viking Cavalry and the Beast King Cavalry kept galloping back and forth and killing as many enemies as they could. ¡­¡­ "Boss, I don¡¯t think we can hold this!" a Beast King Cavalryman looked to the only direction that wasn¡¯t surrounded by vikings and suggested, "Let¡¯s retreat in that direction! Their guild leader seems to be alone!" The corps commander spat angrily, "Fine. Let¡¯s go!" Seeing that the Beast King Cavalry was about to mount a retreat, I immediately jumped onto my dragon¡¯s back, unsheathed my sword and yelled, "Show them your power, Ancient Divine Dragon!" Boom boom boom! Dark clouds immediately surrounded the sky, and the next moment a storm of lightning and ice struck the ground in front of the Beast King Cavalry. The skill looked so terrifying that they immediately beat a hasty retreat. Pu! Just to make sure they didn¡¯t get any second thought, I stabbed the Purple Ying Sword into the ground and activated Purple Dragon Howl. Then, I pulled my sword out and fired it at an empty space close to the Beast King Cavalry. The devastating energy blast shredded the ground like nothing and drilled a massive hole in it, frightening the cavalrymen even more. ¡­¡­ "He¡­ he¡¯s not really going to attack us, is he? I recognize him now. He¡­ he¡¯s the guy who killed our guild leader, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, the Little Heavenly King of China! How did he become the guild leader of Godkiller? What on earth is going on?" one of the Beast King Cavalry stuttered while quaking in his boots. The corps commander looked absolutely furious, but he dared not test my patience for fear that I would actually attack them from the back. He knew that the battle would end in less than half an hour if I did. Had they had known about my bet with Hickey, they would¡¯ve known that I wouldn¡¯t lift a finger against them. My only purpose here was to unleash my ultimates, bluff them into thinking that escaping the battle was a bad idea, and distract them from the Viking Cavalry as much as possible. This way, Warscar could sweep them and win a battle he normally couldn¡¯t have won! ¡­¡­ The battle lasted 50 minutes. In the end, it was the Viking Cavalry who emerged as the victor. The corps commander of the Beast King Cavalry tried reviving, but Warscar and the vikings still ended his second wind with Barrier Break. "Hah, hah, hah¡­" Panting heavily and staring at the heaps of corpses on the ground, Warscar gave his bloodstained axe a swing and ordered, "Well done, people! You may pick up the equipment on the ground now, first come first serve! Also, keep an eye on these fuckers¡¯ bodies and make sure that none of them revive. Motherfucker, this revenge has been a long time coming for sure!" It wasn¡¯t a clean victory. Only less than 500 Viking Cavalry were still standing after they had slewn all 5000 Beast King Cavalrymen¡ªthe rest were running over from the nearby graveyard and trying to revive. Still, it was an indisputable fact that the Viking Cavalry had gone against the Beast King Cavalry head-on and won. After the battle was over, I flew up the hill and dismounted in front of Hickey. I smiled at her and said, "Well? Are you satisfied now? Welcome to Godkiller, Hickey!" Hickey balled her right fist and stared at me. "Hmph! I should¡¯ve known that you would try something like this to win. How cunning of you!" I shrugged. "Duh? Warfare is all about tricks and deception. How else do you expect the vikings to beat 5000 elite Beast King Cavalrymen with their current level, equipment and skill disparity?" "Sigh¡­" Hickey let out a sigh. "A bet is a bet. I lost, so I and the elite players of Sacred Oath will join Godkiller. Hello, guild leader!" I extended my hand toward her. Hickey smiled a bit before shaking it. "I will be loyal to the guild, but I must warn you that I will not sell out my conscience for anything. If you ever do something immoral and force me to serve an advocacy group or something, I will leave the guild." I nodded. "Don¡¯t worry, I am only loyal to my country. I will never serve an advocacy group. If I ever become such a person, feel free to leave me whenever you want." "Mn." Hickey nodded before saying, "I have one condition, however." "Tell me!" "Sacred Oath has a lot of high-level mounted players. Now that we¡¯re a part of Godkiller, shouldn¡¯t you give us some Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses as well? It¡¯s not good to play favorites, right?" I hesitated. "Hmm, I don¡¯t know¡­" Hickey curled her lips. "What do you mean you don¡¯t know? I¡¯ll be frank with you. My players won¡¯t be happy when they hear about our merging with Godkiller. I may be the guild leader, but the guild doesn¡¯t belong to me alone. I can¡¯t just order them to move to Godkiller without a good reason." I thought for a moment before answering, "Well, okay. I can only afford giving you 1000 Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses though. Is that okay?" "1000?" Hickey blinked once before breaking into a wide grin. "Of course! I¡¯m fine as long as our core players can all equip a Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse. So, when are we merging our two guilds?" "Give me two hours. I need to log off and grab some food." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I logged out of the game and ate together with Chaos Moon. After that, I immediately logged back into the game. To say that I was excited would be an understatement. I had successfully recruited both Warscar and Hickey, meaning that the most important step to conquering Iron Skull Wilderness was finally complete. Swhoosh! The moment I reappeared in Iron Skull Wilderness and crawled out of my tent, I immediately saw that I was surrounded by the players of Godkiller and Sacred Oath. "Quiet down! The guild leader came back online," I heard Hickey saying. I walked to the front. It was nighttime in the game, so a lot of players were raising their weapons to illuminate their surroundings. Of course, Heaven-grade weapons shone way brighter than the Dark Steel or Bronze¨Cgrade ones. My Purple Ying Sword especially shone like a literal moon in my hands. I looked at Hickey and asked her, "Have you chosen the subguild leader who¡¯s going to take over Sacred Oath?" "Yep, my vice leader." "Awesome." I gave Warscar a nod before saying, "Let¡¯s begin. Hickey, you can withdraw from your guild and join Godkiller now." "Okay!" Hickey did as I commanded, and the guild emblem of Sacred Oath on Hickey¡¯s arm was replaced by Godkiller¡¯s. I then made her a vice leader just like Warscar immediately. I was one hundred percent certain that Sacred Oath¡¯s players would riot to hell and back if I didn¡¯t elevate their goddess to a suitably high position. The merging process took a while, but in the end almost 7000 Sacred Oath elites had joined Godkiller. I also handed Hickey 1000 Sealing Crystals with the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses in them and let her handle the rest. To be honest, it hurt my soul to give away so many mounts for free. The reason I didn¡¯t feel this way with the vikings was because they had their OP Berserk talent. The Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses couldn¡¯t be wasted in their hands. I checked my bag and noted that I still had around 30k Sealing Crystals in my bag. I looked forward to the day Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ main guild gained 30k Zephyr Cavalrymen. Chapter 1101: Tomb of the Death Gods I suddenly felt a couple of water droplets on my cheeks. Rain had begun to fall in Bonecrush Forest. Hickey hugged her sword, closed her eyes and faced toward the sky, enjoying the soothing sensation of cold water wetting her cheeks. A while later, she looked toward me and asked, "What is your goal, Lu Chen? Are you trying to bring all the tribes in Iron Skull Wilderness together so we can resist Elephant City and Cyan Earth City?" I smiled and nodded affirmatively, and Hickey smiled back. "That¡¯s fine at all, but I must warn you that some of them are not worth your trouble, ever. Take Black Crow Tribe for example, their entire guild is made up of thieves, gangsters, criminals, swindlers and pimps. As a whole group, their total prison sentence is over ten thousand years¡­" "I¡¯m well aware. I¡¯ll stay away from Black Crow Tribe as much as possible." "Heh, good." ¡­¡­ Beside me, Warscar planted his axe head-on the ground before asking, "We¡¯re pretty strong now, aren¡¯t we, guild leader? Should we head to the northmost entrance of Iron Skull Wilderness now and block the Indians from coming in?" For a time, I couldn¡¯t help but stare at him in astonishment. Hickey burst into a giggle before saying, "You truly are a simple oaf, Warscar. Why would we need to do that when we¡¯re the ones who have the home field advantage? We know Iron Skull Wilderness better than any foreigner. There¡¯s absolutely no need for us to move all the way to the north entrance and block Cyan Earth City, not to mention that Breeze and Rain is far trickier than you think." I nodded in agreement. "According to forum rumors, a large-scale 10000-player battle happened between Cyan Earth City and Purple Grape City last night. The entire east side of the continent is bubbling with restlessness right now, and the cityless Japanese are plotting to vent their anger somewhere." Hickey blinked once before replying smilingly, "I know you¡¯re the Little Heavenly King of China, boss. I spent the whole night brushing up on my knowledge of the China server yesterday, and you have my full sympathy regarding your exile. However, you¡¯re the one who destroyed Purple Grape City, and because of that the Japanese are attacking the Indians. It¡¯s very possible that Breeze and Rain, God of War and Flowing Cloud will target you specifically and vent their frustrations on you, you know that right?" I grinned. "So what? I¡¯ll deal with it as it comes. Iron Skull Wilderness¡¯ monster level is ridiculously high, and its map size is almost 4 to 7 times bigger than Purple Grape City¡¯s. Even if Cyan Beast and Natural Flow enter Iron Skull Wilderness in full force, we can just avoid them until we find the right strategy to defeat them. It¡¯s not a problem." Hickey shrugged and returned her sword into her scabbard. The western girl then crossed her arms and smiled like a load was taken off her shoulders, "That¡¯s good. It looks like I can rest a bit easier with the so-called unrivaled warrior of China on our side." Warscar asked, "Do you have a plan to share with us, guild leader?" I shook my head. "Of course not. I don¡¯t even know when Breeze and Rain is returning. When he does though, we¡¯ll make sure to bury him here. We¡¯ll teach the India server that Iron Skull Wilderness is neither underpowered nor masterless." "Mn mn! I like the sound of that!" Hickey nodded smilingly. "By the way, boss. Are you in China right now?" I nodded back. "Yes. What¡¯s wrong?" Hickey shot me a meaningful smile. "Oh, I was just thinking that I should visit China when I¡¯m free. I heard that Guilin¡¯s scenery is famous throughout the world, and the pictures I saw on the internet certainly live up to its reputation. If you happen to be free at the time, would you be interested to accompany me to Guilin and be my tour guide?" I shrugged. "I haven¡¯t been to Guilin myself, so we¡¯ll see when the time comes. What about you, Warscar? Are you interested in touring China with us?" Warscar smiled like he was onto something. "Nah, maybe some other time. For starters, I have no interest in becoming you and Hickey¡¯s third wheel. Two, I may be dumb and one-track-minded, but I¡¯m not that dumb that I couldn¡¯t recognize the signs when I see them. Am I right, Hickey?" The former guild leader immediately started punching Warscar. "Pooh! Like hell you do!" I grinned. "Come on, have some manners, people!" Hickey giggled. "I¡¯m currently using a Chinese translator to converse with you, but I promise I¡¯ll learn as much Chinese as I can before my visit. I don¡¯t want to meet you in person only to find that we are completely unable to communicate with each other." "Don¡¯t worry, my boss speaks excellent English. She can be our translator if necessary¡­" I replied while thinking about He Yi. The so-called genius girl of GGS might not be the vice president of GGS anymore, but her skills had only improved since. From my point of view, her mastery of the spoken language of English was practically native. She had done business with countless foreigners. Hickey¡¯s eyes widened. "Your boss? Oh, you¡¯re talking about the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, From Water, right? I recognize her! She¡¯s an incredibly beautiful eastern woman~~" Warscar interjected, "The boss of our boss? So she¡¯s like the empress dowager, huh¡­" I laughed. "Alright, we¡¯ve wasted enough time. Let¡¯s see¡­ Warscar, you¡¯ll continue grinding with Godkiller. Hickey, we¡¯re going to grind the S2 instance, so I want you to choose two priests and one archer to join our party. The goal is to get you a full set of S2-exclusive equipment. Once you¡¯re done, we¡¯ll do the same for Warscar." Hickey¡¯s eyes widened with pleasant surprise. "Really? We¡¯re actually going to challenge the S2 instance? Also, did I hear you right when you said to bring two priests instead of a priest and a mage?" I gave the Purple Ying Sword a wave before declaring confidently, "Of course! Why would we need a mage when I¡¯m all the DPS the party needs? I want two priests because I¡¯ll be tanking and dishing out the majority of the damage, and an archer to keep the boss CC¡¯ with Freezing Arrows and Shock Arrows. Trust me, the S2 boss is going to go down like nothing!" "Mn mn!" "One more thing, Hickey." "Yes?" "I want you to transfer 5000 priests from Sacred Oath to Godkiller. Warscar¡¯s subordinates are all fighters, so they literally have zero support. There¡¯s no way the guild will be able to grind or PvP normally without priests." "Got it. I¡¯ll get it done in ten minutes. After that, we proceed to the S2 instance!" "Okay." ¡­¡­ While waiting, I checked the forums and noted that the S1 instance had already been beaten by the five-supergirl party: Lian Xin, Beiming Xue, He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Chaos Moon. They were currently challenging the S2 instance, and so far, I heard that they were doing okay. Candlelight Shadow had also beaten the S1 instance and gathered a full set of S1 equipment for Blue Sky Scar, greatly improving the latter¡¯s strength. The set was called the Checkmate set. In other news, Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes had become such close allies that the only friendly thing they hadn¡¯t done was to merge their guilds together. Warsky, Farewell Song, Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and Ringwraith had also formed a five-superman party and beaten the S1 instance, and were currently challenging the S2 instance. The top players in the entire world were challenging the S2 instance right now, so, in a sense, Hickey and I were finally catching up to the mainstream. One final thing I noticed was that Snowy Cathaya¡¯s players hadn¡¯t made much of a splash at all. Purple Marquis, Clear Perfume and the key players of Snowy Cathaya tried to challenge the S1 instance, but because Lin Yixin wasn¡¯t around they ultimately weren¡¯t able to beat the final boss. It made me very puzzled. What on earth was Beauty Lin doing in the past two days? Oh well. I¡¯ll give her a call when I log out later. ¡­¡­ Ten minutes later, a smiling Hickey returned with a couple of players behind her. "All done, boss. I¡¯ve also gotten the two priests and one archer you requested¡­" "Mn." I looked at my soon-to-be party members. The priests were both male and Level 194, and they were some of the best priests within Sacred Oath. The Level 195 archer was a European girl with golden hair and blue eyes. She wielded a short bow, and she was the best archer in the guild. It was a shame I didn¡¯t have access to Dark Moon City right now, or I could elevate her to a mounted archer and make her so much stronger than she currently was. "Alright, let¡¯s go!" I rode at the forefront of the party while saying, "The S1 and S2 instances give Heaven-grade equipment sets, but the S3 one rewards the Immortal-grade Level 200 Martial God set. Therefore, we have to clear the S2 instance before challenging S3, but we don¡¯t need to clear the S1 instance before challenging S2. You could say that we¡¯re exploiting a loophole." The archer asked, "Boss, has anyone gathered a full set of the S3 Martial God set yet?" "Nope. No one in the world has even beaten the S2 instance yet." "Oh, I see¡­" ¡­¡­ That being said, I was sure that someone would beat the S2 instance in three days at most. There were countless super experts in the entire world, and its difficulty was so-so at best. The super parties in China needed not be mentioned. God of War and Breeze and Rain were absent for the past two days, and I was certain that they were currently grinding the instances. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow must be doing the same thing in the northern Hero City as well. Everyone was doing their utmost to strengthen themselves before the next war began. The entire Heavenblessed continent stank of the stench of war right now, and one could happen the second the rest period was over. It would be terrible to be caught unawares. The S2 instance was called the Tomb of the Death Gods. It was the final resting place of a generation of Death Gods. When I opened the world map and searched for the location, I discovered that it was actually pretty close to Zephyr Valley. So, I simply dismounted and walked my way over to the dungeon entrance. Hickey and the others also did the same thing. Half an hour later, we arrived at the edge of the valley. The wind in this area howled like a ghastly wail. It was Zephyr Valley¡¯s "special" trait, so to speak. The two male priests asked Hickey, "What should we do?" Hickey answered, "Keep the MT healed." "Who¡¯s the MT?" "Our boss¡­" "Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ A subdued wail of some sort actually entered our ears as we parted a thick bush of leaves and branches and moved closer to the entrance. We saw what seemed like a temple entrance directly ahead of us with rotten wooden boards and weathered rock floors. Totems with pythons etched onto its poles aligned both sides of the entrance, and the end point was a pitch black cave that looked like the maw of some horrible ghost. Hickey unsheathed her sword and declared with a smile. "Ready, everyone? Let¡¯s try and beat the S2 instance on the first try!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I mounted the Ancient Divine Dragon and summoned the Phantom Wolf King. Then, I used a precious Fire War God Card and buffed my Attack by 70%, attack speed by 35%, and max HP by 80%. I didn¡¯t feel too sorry for using the card because it was meant exactly for situations like these. Also, for the sake of everyone¡¯s morale, I was going to do my best and beat this instance in one try! Chapter 1102: Death God Set The icy wind felt like knives as they brushed against the skin. The Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s paws made rustling noises as it stepped across the dead leaves. The area in front of us was pitch black, and there were graves all over the place. Thanks to Dark Pupils, my minimap was littered with red dots; an enemy undead beneath each and every grave to be exact. I had no doubt that they would climb out from beneath the soil and challenge us to an epic fight the second we got within range. Behind me, Hickey was guarding the two priests and the archer. She couldn¡¯t help but purse her lips and commented, "Damn, the stench of the dead is thick within this tomb!" I smiled. "I¡¯m going to aggro the mobs now, so be careful. Archer, use Spiraling Arrow Blade to mow down the enemy, but make sure you don¡¯t attract too much aggro. Priests, keep me above the safety line at all times. Hickey, you¡¯re the DPS, but avoid as many attacks as you are able. You may not be able to tank the mobs with your current Defense." "I know¡­" Hickey replied with a chuckle. ¡­¡­ Illuminating the path with the Purple Ying Sword and walking within the tomb, I took a moment to check out my HP. I had a base HP of 600k, and after using a Fire War God Card I was now sitting at an admirable number of 1080000 HP. Considering my current Defense, I was practically an indestructible walking fortress. My super high HP also ensured that I would get massive value out of the priests¡¯ Health Recovery, a percentage-based healing skill. "Roar roar¡­" When I came within 10 yards of the graves, a terrible screech suddenly cut through the air. It was the mobs finally noticing my presence. At least a dozen or so skeletal warriors burst out of the soil they were buried in and rushed toward me with rusted swords. They roared angrily and unclearly, "I can smell your flesh and blood, damned human! Has a fresh meal delivered itself onto our doorsteps?" "Like hell it did!" I met them with a laugh in my throat. The skeletal warriors were Level 240 fiend-rank mobs with higher Attack than the Cyanscale Corpse Eaters, but way lower HP and Defense. With a flick of my wrist, I launched three flaming auras into the group of skeletal warriors and dealt an incredible amount of damage¡ª 149282! 182927! 252828! ¡­¡­ Four skeletal warriors took septuple damage, and another ten took critical hits. Over half of their HP was gone just like that. Thousand Ice Slash, Summon the Storm from my Ancient Divine Dragon, and Purgatory Storm from the Phantom Wolf King later, all 17 fiend-rank mobs dropped dead before Hickey and the others could even lend a hand. "Er¡­" Hickey stared at me with her mouth agape with shock. A male priest said while shivering like a leaf, "My god, the guild leader¡¯s attack power is¡­ Does he even need us? What can we possibly do to help him?" The female archer giggled. "I got an idea! You can buff him with Flames of the Heart and increase his Attack by 15%! Now you¡¯re not useless¡­" The two male priests immediately wept tears of uselessness. ¡­¡­ Jokes aside, my item drop rate was as high as my DPS. The 17 fiend-rank mobs had dropped a total of 13 pieces of equipment, and they were all instance equipment that automatically bound to whoever equipped them. The female archer picked up a pair of legguards with a chuckle. "Hehe, this is an Outstanding Earth-grade item that adds 14% Agility and 20% ranged attack power. Can I have it?" Hickey nodded. "Sure. These items auto-bind to the player who equips them, so it¡¯s not like you can sell them to other players. The NPC stores do accept them, but with the amount of gold they pay, well, you may as well keep them¡­" "Yeah!" The grind continued as we killed more high-level undeads. The path of ascension of an undead seemed neverending, but that was no reason for me to slack off. I absorbed every undead soul spark I came by knowing that I would reach the end eventually. Hickey was an intelligent woman. She only hit full-health mobs with AoE skills such as the cone-shaped Earth Shattering Slash, and she said to the archer, "Our boss has 73 Luck, so we should always leave the last hit to him. The same rule applies to the boss. Remember, we¡¯re here for the equipment, not experience¡­" The female archer nodded. The two male priests, well, they had no say in the matter because they weren¡¯t damage dealers. ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take long to sweep an entire hill of skeletal warriors. However, even the best equipment we got was just Earth-grade. We had expected this though. We continued downhill until we saw a red light in the middle of a black valley. I turned on Dark Pupils again and saw that it was a skeletal boss in a blood-red battle armor. It wielded a wolf fang mace and huffed out something rotten and disgusting as it roared at a nearby group of enslaved Corpse Eaters, "Carry those fresh corpses in already, you lazy worms! I¡¯ll use your bones as my bed if any of you dares to slack off!" Hickey narrowed her eyes as she asked, "What is that red dot? Is it a boss?" I nodded. "Yep, that¡¯s our first boss. Let¡¯s go! Priests, just in case this boss turns out to be stronger than expected, always keep Health Recovery on me, okay?" Both male priests nodded in unison. Hickey and I raced down the slope, and soon we were just 100 yards away from the boss. The boss was Level 245 and Immortal Rank, but it was much weaker than the Undead Great Magus Juve because it had powerful physical Attack, but almost no AoE skills. It wouldn¡¯t be able to pose a threat to our party. "Here I go!" I raised my sword and fired Dragon Slaying Slash straight at the boss''s head, dealing 150k+ damage and focusing all of its aggro on me. Before it could even turn around to face me, I activated Thunderous Charge and stunned it. First things first, I stabbed the Purple Ying Sword between the boss''s armor and injected something that looked like purple frost into its body. It was my armor break skill, Purple Frost Concentration. Of course, the boss being a boss resisted some of its effects, but me being me mitigated some of these resistances too. In the end, the final defense reduction turned out to be 33.9%. It was a good number all things considered. While Hickey was busy clicking her tongue in admiration, I launched Burning Blade Slash and seized the boss''s aggro completely! ¡­¡­ "Ahhhhh! Your souls are about to obtain redemption, you filthy humans! The power of the dead is the true essence of living, so come and receive the embrace of the dead!" The undead boss called "Mist Soul the Minstrel of Death" brought his wolf fang mace to bear and scored aUndead Slash right across my shoulder. A damage number popped where it struck¡ª 79002! Its Attack was pretty high, but with my current max HP and my new stats provided to me by the Sacred Armament, the Fire God Helmet? The chances of him killing me were next to zero! The brief contact was all I needed to know that I could¡¯ve soloed this boss without too much trouble. The two priests didn¡¯t save their MP and did everything in their power to keep me healthy while Hickey and I attacked the boss. Less than 5 minutes later, Mist Soul¡¯s HP had dropped to just 10%. It was easy! ¡­¡­ Hickey backed away and said, "Have at it, boss!" "Mn!" I checked my experience bar. Killing this bar should increase my experience to around 40%, putting me just 60% away from Level 210. Assuming that I could last-hit the remaining three bosses, then I could definitely hit the Level 210 mark and take my eighth promotion quest at Dragonbone Mountain Range. Swhoosh! My sword suddenly felt icy cold, and the next moment I dealt 7 times more damage than normal. It instantly deleted Mist Soul¡¯s last sliver of HP and erupted his humongous body into pieces. The boss dropped a ton of equipment, magic stones and so on and increased Hickey¡¯s level to 200. "Hoho, I¡¯m at Level 200 now!" Hickey smiled sweetly. The two male priests also congratulated her, "Congratulations, boss!" "I¡¯m not the boss anymore. Call me vice leader¡­" Hickey reprimanded them. I dismounted and picked up the equipment on the floor. A quick inspection later, I distributed them to everyone, "Let¡¯s see. Soul Destroyer Wristguards, Level 190 Earth-grade wristguards. This is yours, archer girl. Merciful Night Ring, Outstanding Earth-grade with a 19% healing boost. Priests, feel free to roll for it. Spirit Destroyer Cape. Not bad. Here you go again, archer girl¡­" Finally, I was left with a dark red helmet and a pair of dark red boots. Considering that the light they gave off was almost identical, I was certain that it was the S2 Death God set. Beside me, Hickey stared at the equipment with expectant eyes. "Show us the stats?" I brought up the helmet first and waved my hand across it. Its stats screen immediately appeared before everyone¡ª Death God Helmet (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 2750 Magic Resist: 2550 Strength: +800 Stamina: +750 Agility: +700 Tactics: +70 Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 30000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist by 35% Slots: 12 Outstanding Property: Death God Energy. Deals 10% more damage to all living targets. Introduction: Death has always been the biggest fear of the humans and the gods, and the Death Gods controlled the laws of life and death for generations. However, even the Death Gods were not immune to the curse of death. Massive amounts of death energy accumulated where the Death Gods were laid to slumber, condensing into a set of armor infused with Death Gods¡¯ power. It is said that those who wear the Death God set can occasionally see through the profound principles of life and death itself. 1% chance to revive at full health upon death. Level: 190 Reputation Requirement: 300000 Effect: Binds automatically upon pick-up (Not yet bound) ¡­¡­ "Ah? The Death God set can revive someone upon death?" Hickey¡¯s mouth fell open. I nodded. "Yep. I¡¯ve seen this effect before." Meanwhile, the archer girl was checking the database and exclaiming in surprise, "Wow! According to the S2 instance database, the Death God Helmet is supposed to give 25% Defense only. This one gives 35%! Is this the legendary Luck in effect?" Hickey¡¯ smiled even wider as she hugged the helmet. "Ah, it sure seems like it. Our boss''s karma is just too good." I corrected her, "It¡¯s Luck. Luck makes the improbable inevitable¡­" We checked out the dark red war boots next. As expected, they were the Death God War Boots, and their stats weren¡¯t too different from the Death God Helmet. Long story short, they were great equipment. Hickey equipped both items immediately and experienced a massive boost in stats. She grew so confident that she declared, "I want to be the main tank for the next boss fight!" I hid a snicker. "Sure¡­" Chapter 1103: Eighth Promotion We continued deeper into the Tomb of the Death Gods, and it was smooth-sailing for most of the journey. The second boss was an undead mage, and as Hickey requested I allowed her to become the MT. However, after eating just 2 Fireballs of Deaths and losing nearly 300k HP, she withdrew in panic and said, "Er, forget what I said earlier, boss¡­" I shook my head in amusement. Even with a Roland Bloodknight Card, Hickey¡¯s max HP would only have 600k HP. A critical hit might be all it took to kill her. Despite the initial scare, the second boss went down smoothly and dropped three pieces of the S2 set in one go. They were the metal-armor Death God Wristguards and Death God Legguards, and the leather-armor Death God Leather Helmet. The archer girl was super happy that she finally got an S2 set piece she could wear. The two priests though, the poor bastards hadn¡¯t even glimpsed the shadow of a cloth-armor equipment from the start. It took only 5 items to complete the S2 equipment set: Helmet, chest armor, wristguards, legguards and boots. This meant that Hickey was just one item away from owning a full set. ¡­¡­ As our boots squelched against the dark, rotten ground of the tomb, Hickey looked at the bright moon above her head and said with a smile, "Ah, I feel so happy right now. I¡¯ll be even happier if we can get the Death God Battle Armor from the final boss. If we do, I wonder if I will be the first person ever to gather a full S2 set on the first try?" I shook my head. "I doubt it. The Death God Battle Armor only drops from the final boss, but the basic drop rate is less than 3%. Even with my Luck, the drop rate is only 22% or so, or less than a quarter of a chance, so don¡¯t be disappointed if it doesn¡¯t drop. Remember, we can always try again next week." "It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m very satisfied with just four pieces of the S2 set." "That¡¯s good. Well, let¡¯s get ready for the final boss¡­" I looked at my experience bar again and said, "I¡¯m only 9% away from hitting Level 210. I can¡¯t wait to see what type of skill I¡¯ll get for my eighth promotion¡­" Hickey giggled. "You can think about it after we kill the final boss¡­" "Yeah." ¡­¡­ We soon arrived at a path that was surrounded by countless totems. At the end of the totem forest was a pitch black throne too far away from us to see clearly. When we approached the throne, Hickey¡¯s eyes suddenly widened in surprise. "Look! What¡¯s that black thing on the throne?" I raised the Purple Ying Sword to illuminate the throne. To our shock, a rotten skeleton that had been dead for god knows how long was sitting there. It wore some sort of black armor and wielded a gray, dusty sword. The sword was placed horizontally across his thighs, and his skull was bent downward. Its rotten sockets were completely lightless. Hickey, being the brave girl she was, tempted fate by slapping the dead Death God once on the shoulder. Then, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well shit, it looks like the final boss died a natural death. What do we do now? Has anyone beaten the final boss of the S2 instance yet? Maybe we can consult a walkthrough?" The archer girl shook her head. "I don¡¯t know¡­" I walked up to the Death God as well with a smile. "Ooh, look, I think the sword might be worth something. Let me just¡­" I brushed my fingers across the surface of the blade, and the resulting shine almost blinded my eyes. God damn, it had to be a Divine Armament to have preserved its glow after so many years. My Purple Ying Sword probably would¡¯ve rotten to god knows what after ten thousand years. So I grabbed the hilt of the sword and tried to pull it out of the Death God¡¯s grip. "Well, we can¡¯t go back empty-handed no matter what. Thank you, old man, now let go¡ª" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, I heard a voice. "Do you wish for death, adventurer from distant lands?" "What¡¯s that?" Hickey looked around in confusion. When I looked up, I discovered the supposedly dead Death God had raised his head and was staring at me with its deep, black sockets. A pair of eerie red lights were shining from somewhere inside the sockets. Pulling his rotten lips into a sneer, he spoke, "Who are the intruders who disturbed my long slumber? How do you wish to die?" Hickey retreated swiftly while I climbed onto my dragon. Cape flapping coolly behind him, the Death God abruptly rose to his feet and let out an impressive roar, "Have I been imprisoned for tens of thousands of years just to welcome these weakings?" Whoosh! I unsheathed my weapon and barked out a laugh. "We are no weaklings, old man!" "Come!" The Death God abruptly coated his blade in a sheen of bloody light and jumped toward me. It was obviously undead energy. He shouted, "Enjoy the taste of death, intruder!" I hurriedly raised the Dragon God Shield in defense. Parry first, everything else later! Bang! My arm turned numb, and a sensation I had never felt before flooded my senses. It felt like my bones had been shattered into many tiny pieces. Worse, the parry had failed to take effect, and the Death God¡¯s blade scored a direct hit on my shoulder and inflicted even greater pain. The HP bar above my head suddenly dropped drastically¡ª 252727! Holy shit! I finally understood why no one had managed to beat the S2 instance yet. If this boss could hit me for over 250k damage, then it most certainly would one-shot or almost one-shot most MTs! Seriously, the number of players who could survive this attack could probably be counted on two hands! "Heal me!" After I had regained my balance, I rushed toward the Death God and stabbed his neck with Purple Frost Concentration. A struggle of stats and resistances later, the final amount of Defense reduced stopped at 31.4%. It was a respectable amount considering how strong the boss must be. Behind me, the two priests obeyed and healed me with everything they got. My decision to bring two priests to this quest had definitely come in clutch here. Next, I launched Burning Blade Slash right across the Death God¡¯s chest and dealt a sizable amount of damage. Today, I shall see if the might of the Ancient Divine Dragon is enough to fight the S2 boss head-on! ¡­¡­ "Receive the judgment of death, damned adventurer!" The Death God looked absolutely livid as he took to the sky and fired three sword beams at me. At the same time, he shouted, "Ancient Judgment!" Even a blind man could see that this skill was no joke. I hurriedly raised the Dragon God Shield and Guarded! Bang bang bang! My body rocked like a boat against the raging storm, and even the Ancient Divine Dragon cried in pain as it was pushed back. The triple-hit skill had passed through my shield unhindered and struck my body completely! As it turned out, the boss''s rank was so high that my Guard was completely ignored! 210920! 245838! 512294! ¡­¡­ The third hit was even a critical hit, dropping me to below 10% in an instant. Forget my party members, even I had nearly shat my pants at that moment. If even I with my Defense took this much damage, could He Yi¡¯s party really defeat this bullshit Death God? Swhoosh! I healed myself for 25% of my HP immediately with Tenacity of the Dead while the two priests behind me were working over time. At the same time, I executed Pardon + basic attack + Universe Break combo that punched through the boss''s neck like paper and caused a spurt of black blood and rotten flesh bits. I might not be able to withstand the Death God¡¯s attacks, but he couldn¡¯t withstand my attacks either! MISS! 1949794! +389958! 312284! +62457! ¡­¡­ Woohoo! That Pardon-empowered basic attack actually triggered the septuple damage effect of the Purple Ying Sword and healed me for almost 400k HP! Thanks to that, I was almost back to full health again. Meanwhile, the two male priests at the back looked like their eyeballs might fall out of their eye sockets. "Holy shit! Is this really a fight between a player and a boss? Boss isn¡¯t secretly a god, is he??" The battle between a peak expert and a boss wasn¡¯t something a normal player¡¯s heart could handle, it seemed. After that, the rest of the battle was basically the Level 250 demigod and me trading powerful blows back and forth. I kept dropping below 25% HP again and again, but my massive burst damage and 20% lifesteal pulled me back to full health and kept me in the fight. Had I lacked any one element¡ªthe 20% lifesteal or the septuple damage effect of the Purple Ying Sword¡ªI seriously wouldn¡¯t have been able to kill this boss. As for the two priests, well, as it turned out, two of them still weren¡¯t equal to one Murong Mingyue. Their Instant Heals only healed around 50k HP, which was absolutely terrible compared to Murong Mingyue¡¯s 100k. Also, the busty girl had insanely high healing critical rate, so she could heal even my kind of max HP to full in no time. She was especially missed during these types of scenarios. ¡­¡­ About 30 minutes later, the Death God¡¯s HP finally dropped to 2% or so. Hickey said happily, "I wonder if a Demigod Rank boss will drop a Cambrian Divine Armament?" I rolled my eyes at her. "Stop dreaming. You should thank your lucky stars if it even drops the Death God Battle Armor¡­" "That¡¯s true¡­" I backed away and made the Phantom Wolf King and apparition eat a blow for me. While the boss was stalled, I unleashed Purple Dragon Howl! Boom! The powerful skill mixed together with the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s Summon the Storm to torment the boss greatly. In the end, the Death God wasn¡¯t able to overcome his death and came crashing into the ground, creating a huge pit and exploding into a ton of equipment. Swhoosh! A column of golden light surrounded me, and I was finally Level 210. I didn¡¯t know if I was the first player to fulfill the requirements to undergo my eighth promotion, but I did know that I was absolutely ecstatic to reach it! Meanwhile, Hickey had jumped into the pit, knelt next to the pile of equipment and held up a dark red metal armor. She looked so happy enough to shed tears of joy, "Ah¡­ the Death God Battle Armor! It¡¯s actually the Death God Battle Armor! This¡­ this means that I have a full S2 set!" I chuckled. "That¡¯s great, but you should check out the rest of the equipment now. It¡¯s only right to spread the joy around." "Yeah." There were three more items besides the Death God Battle Armor, and they were one leather-armor piece of the S2 set and 2 pieces of cloth armor. The leather armor went to the archer girl as a matter of course, and the priests split the cloth armors between them. As for myself, I was here purely for the experience, so I didn¡¯t mind getting nothing at all. ¡­¡­ Ka! Hickey immediately equipped the Death God Battle Armor. The dark and murderous-looking battle armor outlined her body perfectly, and it even made her huge breasts looked like they would burst out of the steel. If there was one thing I liked about western girls, it would be their absolutely devilish curves. It was distinctively different from an eastern woman¡¯s curves, but just as attractive. "How do I look? It¡¯s so cool, isn¡¯t it?" Hickey said with a chuckle. I nodded wholeheartedly. "One hundred percent." "Thank you again, Lu Chen!" "You¡¯re welcome. Anyway, I¡¯m going to get myself promoted. You should all catch some rest," I said. "Yeah." ¡­¡­ After we left the instance, I rested for a bit before mounting the Ancient Divine Dragon again. It was about time I returned to the edge of my homeland, Dragonbone Mountain Range, and met up with my mentor. It truly had been a while since I¡¯d last seen him. Chapter 1104: Master Swordsman The Ancient Divine Dragon passed through the clouds and soared like an airplane toward my destination. Fifty minutes later, we arrived at the edge of the map of the China server. I had been maintaining my altitude and checking out the ground from time to time. One thing I noticed was that White Rose Fortress had finally been rebuilt. It stood tall as a barrier between the China server and the Japan server. Not long ago, we had spilled sweat and blood to defend our homeland and launched a counter-invasion against the invaders. I felt many emotions as I checked out White Rose Fortress and the distant Impassable Great Wall. My return home could only be temporary because one, there were people waiting for me to return to them at Iron Skull Wilderness, and two, the China server still couldn¡¯t accept me. I wouldn¡¯t return until all the filth on my person had been washed away! ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before the tall, long body that was Dragonbone Mountain Range appeared in front of me. I wiped away the clouds blocking my sight, locked onto Rinser¡¯s coordinates and began my descent. The Ancient Divine Dragon let out a mighty roar as its body slithered across the top of the snow ridges and kicked up a ton of ice and snow. Bang! The Ancient Divine Dragon landed like a rock. Then, I made it walk slowly toward Rinser. Three meters in front of me, the old skeleton was staring at the Ancient Divine Dragon with fearful eyes and a scream in his throat. "H-has God Domain finally sent someone to punish me? This divine draconic aura is¡­ it¡¯s a descendant of the ancient gods! I¡¯m so fucking dead¡­" It wasn¡¯t until I dismounted from my dragon¡¯s back did his fear finally lessened. "Boy, how¡­ how are you riding an ancient divine dragon?" I shot him a grin. "I came across it by chance. Long time no see, mentor." Rinser finally relaxed and walked closer to me to tap my chest armor with his scepter. "Boy, you¡¯ve become even stronger than the last time I¡¯ve met you. I¡¯m glad. Now that we¡¯ve gotten the pleasantries out of the way, will you tell me what you are planning to swindle from my pockets this time?" I shrugged. "Swindle? Swindle what? It¡¯s not like you have anything that¡¯s worth swindling! Anyway, I returned to apply for my class promotion, mentor. I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m strong enough, right?" "Oh, I see!" Rinser examined me for a moment before replying, "It¡¯s true that your strength had surpassed my expectations. Yes, yes, you¡¯re definitely qualified to advance to the next class. Some time ago, Lady Wind Singer came over to tell me to tell you that there is a class that is very suited for you. However, you will have to obtain the proof of class advancement yourself." I asked, "Oh? What exactly is this proof, and how do I obtain it?" Rinser replied with a smile, "Long story short, you will need to obtain a handwritten letter from Princess Karinshan. Give me her letter of recommendation, and I will grant you this great class. Oh right, you also need to pay the processing fee of the class promotion, which is 100k gold in total. Are you sure you want to do this, boy?" I swore inside and outside my mind, "100K GOLD? Are you fucking serious? This is beyond pale, you greedy, shameless bastard!" Rinser shook with anger as he pointed a finger at me. "You brat! If Xinran wasn¡¯t your sister, I¡­ I would¡¯ve turned you into a pile of rotten meat already!" I brandished the Purple Ying Sword and said with a smile, "You want to kill me? Come on then! Let¡¯s see if you can actually do it!" Rinser took one look at the growling Ancient Divine Dragon behind me and shivered from head to toe. "Whatever, what am I doing fussing over money with a brat like you anyway. Now go. Seek out Princess Karinshan and have her write a recommendation letter. I will then grant you your eighth class promotion." "Got it!" I waved my hand and jumped up the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back. "Let¡¯s go, little dragon!" Well, there was no avoiding Sky City this time. The Ancient Divine Dragon let out a mighty roar and left Dragonbone Mountain Range instantly. In less than five minutes, it was already circling above Sky City. I dared not enter the eastern plaza though. While I missed the days I set up stalls and sold stuff on the plaza a lot, heading there as a red name was just asking for trouble. The good news was that Tang Long had the power to make me a red name in every Chinese player¡¯s eyes, but not the NPCs. Not even he had the authority to alter the game¡¯s main program. After I slowly descended at the center of the royal palace¡ªjust in front of the stairs¡ªhundreds of NPC guards looked at me before recognizing the emblem on my shoulder. They immediately dropped to one knee and greeted me, "My lord!" I smiled. It was nice to confirm that my status and military position in the Silver Moon Alliance was high enough that I could enter and exit the royal palace unhindered. ¡­¡­ As I slowly climbed the stairs and entered the royal palace, the Ancient Divine Dragon blinked once before shrinking itself to around two meters or so. It followed me into the palace hall and stayed very close to me, almost as if it had a feeling that we might be attacked here. It was why it maintained a form where I could mount it immediately. There were two rows of military generals standing at the end of the palace hall, and between them was a huge sand table with all kinds of terrains and units on it. They were clearly discussing some sort of battle. Princess Karinshan herself was a martial general, and her way of protecting the balance of the world and conquering it was through martial force. It was also why she was seen as the final hope and mental pillar of the humans, the succubi and the elves. Karinshan was pointing at a corner of the sand table when she cleared her throat and said, "If we climb over Dragonbone Mountain Range and enter Wind City¡¯s territory, we¡¯ll be able to set foot on Bloody Shield Domain. The Night Creatures have gathered an undead army of five hundred thousand, and Wind City¡¯s city lord has sent us a letter for reinforcements. As the treaty dictates, we have a responsibility to march to their aid, so, Stark!" A general clad in black armor immediately dropped to one knee. "Yes, Your Highness!" Karinshan said, "You will ride to Wind City¡¯s aid with 200000-strong Black Wind Cavalry. I will send you the army provisions you need at a later time. If you discover a powerful Night Creature among the enemy forces¡ªsomeone at the level of a Purgatory Sovereign¡ªthen focus on defense and wait for further orders. Also, send a secret message to Vanished God City¡¯s Heartless Knight, Cloudway, and have him join you. He has been trained by the Wind Singer herself, and his martial skills are much greater than what they used to be. He may be of great help to us." "Yes, Your Highness!" Karinshan nodded. "Mn. If there is nothing else, then you may leave now and prepare for your departure!" "Yes, Your Highness!" ¡­¡­ Stark was about to walk away when he saw me. He broke into a smile and greeted me, "Long time no see, my friend! You look like you¡¯ve grown even stronger than before!" I nodded back. "Yeah. Hello to you too, Stark!" "Haha!" Karinshan also walked up to me with a smile, "Oh, it¡¯s you, my young friend! Have you come for business, or...?" I answered, "Nah, it¡¯s nothing big. I¡¯m just here to ask you to write a recommendation letter for me. It¡¯s a requirement set by my mentor, Rinser, to promote my class to a higher level." "Oh, I see¡­" Karinshan smiled as she tilted her head a bit. "I have a question though. Why are you still obeying Rinser when you¡¯re already this powerful? Hmph, that old bastard is a good undead, but only just barely. Just last month, he drank a dozen barrels of wine without paying a copper. He even went out with a girl at the inn, had¡­ well, you know what I mean, and left without paying her anything!" Karinshan¡¯s face was red with embarrassment when she said this. I swore loudly inside my head. I should¡¯ve known that something was off! Rinser was still a skeleton the last time I met him, but today I discovered that he had evolved into an Asura and gained a physical body. At the time I didn¡¯t think much about it, but now I learned that the fucker had evolved into an Asura to have sex! Motherfucker, the stuff he did at the inns of Sky City could only be described as terrible! I pursed my lips. "Er, Rinser is my mentor, yes, but¡­ his private life is completely separate from mine. So please don¡¯t lump me together with him, Your Highness!" Karinshan burst into laughter. "I understand. Anyway, you need a recommendation letter, right? Very well, I¡¯ll write it for you right now. The battle situation at the frontlines is rather critical right now, so I can¡¯t afford to waste too much time here¡­" "Got it, thanks!" Karinshan turned around and accepted a goose-feathered quill and paper from her servant. Then, she lay the paper down on the sand table and wrote with fine handwriting¡ª Rinser: May this letter be the embodiment of my will. The Sky City adventurer who hands in this letter is looking for a class promotion from you. You will do as he says, and you shall not hinder him any further. If you dare to slack off on your responsibility, I promise you I will send a great army to Dragonbone Mountain Range, dismantle that grassy hole you call home, get back the 79 gold you owe our town¡¯s inn, and beat you up so badly that you will need someone to support you when doing something as mundane as peeing! Sincerely, Karinshan of Sky City. Do not keep me in your mind. ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t stop my jaw from hitting the floor when I read the letter. No wonder she was the regent of Sky City. Every word she wrote was so lordly and forceful that I couldn¡¯t help but want to bow my head to her... "Alright!" Karinshan clapped her hands once before accepting her helmet from a guard. She then slapped my shoulder once before bidding me goodbye, "I have to leave now, my dear warrior. See you in the future!" I nodded back. "I look forward to it, princess!" Princess Karinshan exited the palace hall, got up her warhorse and disappeared from my view in no time. I also left the palace hall to return to Dragonbone Mountain Range. The moment we stepped out, the Ancient Divine Dragon immediately grew larger and waited for me to mount it. Then, it jumped into the air and soared to the sky in one smooth motion. The commotion was loud enough that a group of players who were buying potions just outside the palace immediately looked up and caught a glimpse of the vanishing Ancient Divine Dragon. A young girl about 17 to 18 years old blinked her eyes before saying, "Did¡­ did my eyes just deceive me? That dragon rider just now looked like Lu Chen¡­ Has the Little Heavenly King finally returned to us?" The manly man next to her immediately quipped, "It¡¯s not good to idolize someone so much that you see things, girl! Lu Chen is still roaming the foreign lands, so how could he possibly appear in Sky City?" The girl pouted but said nothing in reply. ¡­¡­ Pa! After the Ancient Divine Dragon appeared on Dragonbone Mountain Range once more, I passed him Karinshan¡¯s recommendation letter and 100k gold. Then, I said, "Mentor, here¡¯s everything you requested. Can I please promote my class now?" The old fellow examined the bag of gold for a bit before smiling widely. "Very good, I knew that my disciple was a tall, handsome, cool, mighty, powerful and rich man!" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ After that, he put his hand on my shoulder and said in a deep voice, "In the name of the war god, I, Rinser, grant you a new class and a title¡ªthe Master Swordsman of Death!" Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" has obtained the eighth promotion class, Master Swordsman of Death! As the first eighth-promotion player in all the servers, they obtained rewards: Luck +5, Level +3, and an item reward: "Fire War God Card¡± x50! Chapter 1105: Myriad Swords Obliteration Fuck, 50 Fire War God Cards again¡­? I felt like tearing up as I stared at my reward as the first eighth-promotion player in the game. While 50 Fire War God Cards were of course a great reward, it ultimately wasn¡¯t as solid as say, a Divine Armament. On the other hand, the masses would probably curse me and the game company again if the Eternal Moon Corporation rewarded me with yet another Divine Armament. I already had three on my person. I put away the 50 Fire War God Cards and checked out my class. The title "Undead Swordsman" had been replaced by something called the Master Swordsman of Death. Finally, I had transformed from a nameless skeletal warrior to a master of an era! I also got a new title called "The Frostblade of Death¡±. It was a murderous-sounding title and an absolute necessity when killing other players and dating girls. There were far too many men who played games these days, so anyone who managed to stand out among the competitors was as popular as hot cakes. ¡­¡­ I looked at Rinser again and smiled at him. "So, what eighth-promotion skills can I learn, mentor?" Rinser shivered from head to toe for some reason. "I¡­ I no longer have the ability to teach you anything!" I immediately raised my Purple Ying Sword threateningly. "Ah? You can¡¯t teach me anything? Why would I need a mentor who can¡¯t teach me anything, huh?" Cold sweat slid down Rinser¡¯s skin as he searched his pockets frantically. Finally, he produced two golden skill books and passed them to me, saying, "I may not have anything left to teach you, but I have acquired some ancient warriors¡¯ martial arts during my days of exploration and cultivation all across the continent. I hope they are of use to you!" I smiled the moment I saw the contents of the skill books. Eighth-promotion skills were about as powerful as I expected them to be¡ª Myriad Swords Obliteration: Summons tens of thousands of swords, control them remotely with your energy and deal an incredible amount of damage to all targets within 40 yards. The skill¡¯s attack power is 150% of the user¡¯s base Attack. Cooldown: 25 seconds. MP cost: 500. Level Requirement: 210. Class Requirement: Master Swordsman of Death. Weapon Requirement: Sword-type weapon. Last Stand: Passive skill. Automatically activates when the player¡¯s HP is below 50%. The player¡¯s Attack and Defense are increased by 25%. The player also absorbs 5% of their damage received as HP. Level Requirement: 210. Class Requirement: Master Swordsman. ¡­¡­ Myriad Swords Obliteration was about as standard of an AoE skill as it could get. It also seemed to be exclusive to my class only. On the other hand, Last Stand was a common skill every warrior would eventually get. When my HP was below 50%, it would increase my combat capabilities by leaps and bounds. It also made up for the Warrior class¡¯s shortcoming, no reliable way of healing itself, and thus low sustain. I waved my hand, turned both skill books into balls of light before absorbing them into my body. Alright, time to give my new skills a whirl or two! I raised the Purple Ying Sword and locked onto a giant rock about 20 yards in front of me. Then, I activated Myriad Swords Obliteration and immediately felt a great surge of energy flowing into my brain. Bending my left fingers into some sort of hand seal, I let out a shout and fired a silver-colored sword blast into the air. The next moment, it transformed into an innumerable number of silver blades and drilled holes into my target, absolutely devastating the giant rock and the snow around it. Power aside, the skill was absolutely gorgeous to look at! Myriad Swords Obliteration was basically Ancient Seal that didn¡¯t require Divine Energy Points to cast. In fact, its Attack might be even higher than Ancient Seal¡¯s. It was the perfect skill to use against enemy shield formations. Overjoyed, I mounted my dragon again before bidding Rinser goodbye. "Alright, I¡¯m leaving, mentor. I¡¯ll come see you again another time¡­" Rinser nodded. "Work hard, boy. You are the pride of all undead!" I nodded, and the Ancient Divine Dragon let out a mighty howl. The next moment, we were already far from Dragonbone Mountain Range. And so I followed the same path I had come through and flew back to Iron Skull Wilderness, the place I was meant to be at this time. Unless I was sorely mistaken, Breeze and Rain, Flowing Cloud and God of War would be making a move soon. Iron Skull Wilderness sat to the south of Elephant City, and it was like a time bomb that could explode and destroy their southern defense at any moment. There was no chance they would let me grow stronger without doing anything to stop me. ¡­¡­ An hour later, I arrived at Bonecrush Forest where a supply camp was set up by a neutrally aligned gnome. It was also where Warscar, Hickey and the others usually resupplied themselves. There were also class mentors here, but the skills they offered weren¡¯t as comprehensive as the main cities¡¯, and a lot more expensive to boot. It was yet another reason why unaffiliated players weren¡¯t able to keep up with the players of main cities. Pa! After I landed on my feet, a group of Zephyr Cavalry helmed by Warscar himself immediately rode up to me with an urgent expression, "Finally! Something bad has happened while you were gone, guild leader!" "What is it?" I asked calmly. Warscar uttered through gritted teeth, "Besides Godkiller and Sacred Oath, there¡¯s another powerful force in Iron Skull Wilderness called Beast Soul. They normally operate at the far north of Iron Skull Wilderness only, but half an hour ago, a large group of Beast Soul players was spotted entering Bonecrush Forest. I¡¯m sure they¡¯re plotting something!" "Let¡¯s head over and take a look!" "Mn." I spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon and entered the forest with my players. It wasn¡¯t long before we arrived at a canyon where green and yellow painted a scenic picture, and colorful butterflies could be seen flapping around the area. Unfortunately, none of us were in the mood to enjoy it because at the center of the canyon were at least 10000 Beast Soul players. Hickey in her new complete S2 set was standing at the forefront of her party and facing down the Beast Soul party without giving a single inch. Her normally pretty face was etched with anger, and she looked like she was one nudge away from engaging Beast Soul in anger. Thank goodness Hickey was the one here and not Warscar, or we would¡¯ve arrived to a battle instead of a standoff. Standing at the forefront of the Beast Soul party was a magic knight with a battle axe. His profile stated¡ª ID: Beast Trainer LV-198 Class: Magic Knight Guild: Beast Soul Position: Leader ¡­¡­ Beast Trainer said with a lazy smile, "Yo! Why so nervous and unfriendly, Hickey? We¡¯re just passing through the center of the Wilderness is all¡­" Hickey replied with a smile that didn¡¯t reach the eyes, "Beast Trainer, your headquarters is at Thunder Mountain Range, while ours is here at Bonecrush Forest. Surely you understand why we can¡¯t let you waltz right into headquarters?" Beast Trainer waved his axe once before saying, "Every player who lives in Iron Skull Wilderness is a homeless wanderer, and in that sense there is no place in this map that we cannot call home, am I right? If Godkiller and Sacred Oath can co-exist together in Bonecrush Forest, then why can¡¯t we join you as well? This display of hostility is entirely unnecessary." Hickey simply pursed her lips and said nothing in return. It was at this moment I moved next to Hickey. I was still riding the Ancient Divine Dragon of course. "You¡¯re finally here, boss!" Hickey gave me a nod of acknowledgment. I shot her a smile before facing toward Beast Trainer. "Godkiller has already declared their dominion over this map, and more importantly, this is our base of operations. We can share leveling maps with fellow wanderers, but we aren¡¯t so kind that we will share our base of operations as well. Do empathize with our circumstances, Beast Trainer." "Empathize?" Beast Trainer raised his bushy eyebrows. "So, you¡¯re that Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand who managed to tame our number one war goddess, Hickey? You look more normal than I thought. Also, you¡¯re not a player of Iron Skull Wilderness, so who are you to point fingers at us and tell us what to do?" Enraged, Hickey unsheathed her weapon and declared, "Watch your mouth, Beast Trainer! You don¡¯t seriously think we¡¯re too afraid to kill you and your party? Just because we gave you an inch doesn¡¯t mean that you can take a mile!" Beast Trainer grinned coldly. "Feel free to attack us if you want to. But remember, Beast Soul is the one and only Rank 8 guild in the entire Iron Skull Wilderness. Our main guild alone numbers over a hundred thousand players, and our 5 subguilds, almost two hundred thousand. What you see here today is less than 10% of our full strength. Attack us, and I promise that both you and Godkiller will vanish from the surface of Bonecrush Forest!" Hickey gritted her teeth and tried to make a move. However, I grabbed her hand, pulled her closer and whispered, "Wait! Look to the southeast corner of Beast Soul¡¯s party. Do you see something familiar?" Hickey followed my gaze and widened her eyes in surprise. "OMG, that¡¯s¡­ the Beast King Cavalry! Why is there Beast King Cavalry in Beast Soul¡¯s party?" I gritted my teeth. "Isn¡¯t it obvious? It¡¯s because Beast Soul has submitted to Cyan Earth City! The Beast King mount is Cyan Earth City¡¯s unique mount, and there¡¯s no way God of War would give them away for nothing. They¡¯re strengthening their puppet, Beast Soul, to fight us in their place! Breeze and Rain thinks he can vanquish us without lifting a finger of his own!" Hickey¡¯s beautiful eyes widened even further. "Does Breeze and Rain really underestimate us that much?" "Hmph!" I looked behind me and sent Warscar a message: "Take 10000 Viking Cavalrymen with you and circle around to Beast Soul¡¯s back from the right ring. They think they can challenge the right to our homes? Very well! We¡¯ll answer that challenge by wiping out every single one of them!" Warscar laughed. "Understood!" ¡­¡­ Five minutes later, I abruptly unsheathed my weapon and shouted, "Attack!" I and over a thousand Zephyr Ironbone Cavalrymen charged toward the enemy as the Ancient Divine Dragon roared. Unsurprised, the guild leader of Beast Soul, Beast Trainer, also waved his battle axe and shouted, "Beast King Cavalry, attack!" About 5000 Beast King Cavalrymen dashed to the front of the enemy troop and rode straight toward us. I bent my left index finger and middle finger to form a hand seal. Then, I shouted, "Myriad Swords Obliteration!" Swhoosh! A silver sword blast surged toward the air before transforming into countless silver blades. They crashed on top of the Beast King Cavalry and dealt an incredible amount of damage¡ª 192832! 173837! 201828! ¡­¡­ Beast Trainer¡¯s pupils shrank like a needle at the sight of this. The next moment, he winced visibly and growled out, "The enemy has an eighth-promotion player? That damn Breeze and Rain betrayed me! Everyone, focus down Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand now! He¡¯s an eighth-promotion player!" Chapter 1106: Lexi Visits After Myriad Swords Obliteration had deleted over half of the Beast King Cavalrymen in the front, I cast Summon the Storm to wipe almost a hundred Beast King Cavalrymen from the grasses of Bonecrush Forest immediately. Beast Soul thought they could dominate any opponent in Iron Skull Wilderness with the Beast King mount Breeze and Rain had afforded them, but neither Godkiller nor Sacred Oath were who they were a day ago. From the moment they failed to take heed of the saying "beyond mountains there are mountains", they had already lost the race to conquer Iron Skull Wilderness. The roaring Phantom Wolf King used many Purgatory Storms and Claws of the Storm in the bulk of the enemy. It darted between the players like a fiery lightning bolt and swiped at their chests again and again. It moved so fast that most players couldn¡¯t even keep their eyes on it, much less hit it. I occasionally interjected with Myriad Swords Obliteration as I went through my usual rotation of skills; Burning Blade Slash, Thousand Ice Slash, Coiling Dragon Revolution and more. The silver blade pierced through the Beast King Cavalry¡¯s armor like paper, elicited blood-curdling screams, and robbed them of their lives. The bloody sight would almost be unbearable if it wasn¡¯t the fact that they were the aggressors. Hickey was cutting enemies down left and right on her Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse. I already knew that she had an amazing grasp of her skills, but the fact that she constantly sought out the right angles to maximize the effects of her AoE skills, and one-shot magic knights around 75% HP with Barrier Break was still a sight to behold. Also, her new complete S2 set boosted her power so much that there was literally not a single Beast Soul player who could¡¯ve stopped her, no matter how much they tried. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a loud commotion broke out from behind the Beast Soul¡¯s party. There were also many flashes of red as well; the visual effect of the Berserk talent coming active. It was Warscar and his ten thousand Viking Cavalrymen arriving just in time to hit the enemy¡¯s flanks. Surprised, Beast Trainer immediately ordered, "Shield up and stop those cowards now! I¡¯ve seen these people in action before, they¡¯re only good for one charge!" Warscar roared and slashed Barrier Break at a magic knight¡¯s shield, sending the poor chap and his mount flying with his explosive power. Another Earth Shattering Slash later, the magic knight died, and two other players close to him dropped to red health as well. If Warscar was alone, then that was that. However, he was accompanied by countless berserking vikings as well. As the skirmish broke out in earnest, it soon became clear that the vikings held the absolute advantage. Their new mount and equipment had improved their Attack so much that Beast Soul¡¯s shield formation had been shredded into pieces in just the blink of an eye. It was a rout. For the first time, after their equipment and mount underwent a massive upgrade, Warscar was beginning to realize the true power of he and his brethren¡¯s Berserk talent. His expression was a mix of joy, excitement, and relief, but only he could truly understand the depth of emotions that he was feeling right now. "How¡­ how could this be?" Beast Soul¡¯s guild leader, Beast Trainer, stared at the battlefield with sadness and despair. "Breeze and Rain told me that the new Godkiller is just a mob! How are they able to slay our elites so effortlessly?" Beside him, a cavalryman said, "It means that Breeze and Rain lied to us, guild leader. I told you from the start that the new Godkiller is not to be underestimated. Not only have they subsumed Hickey¡¯s elite forces into their ranks, they are led by the world famous Little Heavenly King of China himself. I doubt that even Cyan Beast could defeat them alone. From the start, they were just planning to use us as cannon fodder¡­" Complexion completely gray at this point, Beast Trainer let out one last wail before ordering, "This Bonecrush Forest must be cursed! Withdraw, brothers and sisters! Withdraw to the north now!" Noticing that Beast Trainer was attempting to escape, I hurriedly spurred my Ancient Divine Dragon into the sky, identified Beast Trainer¡¯s next location from above before shouting, "You think you can just leave after challenging us like that, Beast Trainer? Die!" "What?!" When Beast Trainer looked back and noticed the threat I posed, he hurriedly performed a zigzag to dodge my attack. Unfortunately for him, he had good leadership, but not nearly enough skill or understanding of positioning! I easily deduced where he was going to escape to and sent my sword spinning toward him like a hurricane, piercing his back with Coiling Dragon Revolution. Then, I made a hand seal and fired Myriad Swords Obliteration right at him and the players around him. He had nowhere to run, and he didn¡¯t have an invincibility skill. In the end, he died and dropped his head, literally. "The guild leader is dead, the guild leader is dead!" shouted a magic knight as he picked up Beast Trainer¡¯s helmet and tried to escape. Unfortunately, he immediately came face to face with 10000 highly-spirited and berserking Zephyr Cavalrymen. They would¡¯ve been hard-pressed to fight the vikings when they were at full morale, much less now. With Hickey at the front and Warscar at the back, the tragedy that was Beast Soul¡¯s annihilation was unavoidable. The only thing left was the killing to get there. ¡­¡­ The battle ended a bit over an hour later. Just as I promised from the start, not a single player of the 10000-strong Beast Soul army was able to escape. Only a handful of them had invincibility skills, and even if they had one, it was useless because there was no such thing as a main city as Iron Skull Wilderness, meaning that they couldn¡¯t pull off the unbeatable invincibility + return scroll combo. After we looted the bodies clean, Hickey watched at the bloody battlefield dreamily and commented, "If only they could come here and shower us with equipment everyday!" The corner of my mouth twitched. "Too much dreaming is bad for your health, you know?" Warscar walked over with a smile and praised, "The guild leader is truly as intelligent as a demon. The moment we caught Beast Soul in a pincer attack, they straight up deflated like a balloon." "As intelligent as a demon? This is literally one of the most basic tactics of warfare!" I shot him a look. "Also, who taught you to say something like that? I¡¯m one hundred percent sure you don¡¯t have the vocabulary!" It wasn¡¯t me insulting his intelligence, it was all about his personality. For a brute like him, intelligence was the last thing he would attribute any feat to. This word might as well not exist in his dictionary. "It¡¯s her!" Warscar immediately shifted the blame to Hickey. "She¡¯s the one who came up with the phrase after investigating your accomplishments and sorting out your tactical philosophies¡­" I turned my angry glare on Hickey, and the girl pretended to look at the sky. "Sigh, it¡¯s almost summer already. Do you know that summer in the Netherlands is extremely hot? I should buy some hot pants and prepare for the season. Say, do you like blue or white, boss?" I rolled my eyes. "For fuck¡¯s sake!" Warscar chuckled from the side. It was at this moment a corps commander asked me, "Er, I have a question. Should we camp their corpses? We just killed a couple of reviving players just now." Hickey suggested, "I think we should leave. Camping 10000 players is no joke, and they¡¯re only going to distract us from grinding." I nodded. "Yes, you¡¯re right. Godkiller¡¯s main guild is only a hair away from reaching Rank 7, so we should focus on completing the upgrade today instead of camping them endlessly. Once we¡¯ve expanded our numbers to 50k, we¡¯re going to make a rush for Rank 8 within one week. No one is allowed to solo grind during this time, understand?" The order not to solo grind included me. I was Level 213 and far, far ahead of the current curve, so I could afford to take a small break and increase the guild¡¯s experience via clearing instances and grinding leveling maps for now. ¡­¡­ Hickey walked up to me and blinked her pretty eyes. "Boss, Tang Long may have been removed from his office, but as the saying goes, you can¡¯t pull out a carrot without taking some soil on it. He and his underlings still control much of the VR department¡¯s resources, so the matter can¡¯t be settled immediately even if Tang Feng is as fair as he seems to be. My point is, you¡¯ll still be with us until that time, am I right?" I nodded. "Yes, Hickey, I won¡¯t leave until the matter is settled. However, my heart ultimately belongs to the Center, and it''s only a matter of time before I go home. You understand that, right?" Hickey pursed her lips as a trace of helplessness flashed across her eyes. "You don¡¯t seem like a man of blind loyalty, boss. Is the Center really that important to you?" I replied quietly, "I am only loyal to those who love me and my home." Hickey bit her lips and murmured after a moment, "I am loyal only to myself, so I may not be following you to the Center. You won¡¯t blame me for this, will you?" I smiled. "Of course not. No matter where in the world I go to, our friendship will never change. Isn¡¯t that right, Hickey?" "Mn!" A small smile appeared on Hickey¡¯s face. "Our friendship will never change!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Warscar rode up to us while shouting, "Boss, Hickey, come over quickly! A red-named leather-armored rider seemed to be roaming the southside of Bonecrush Forest and scouting us out! Our Zephyr Ironbone Cavalry can¡¯t catch up to her! Quickly!" "Leather-armored rider?" I exclaimed in surprise. It could only be a mounted archer. But who? Who was the Chinese player who came all the way to this place? "Right, let¡¯s hurry. Coordinates?" "It¡¯s directly south from here!" "Got it!" I took to the sky while Warscar followed me from the ground. Hickey moved smarter and took a circuitous route toward the coordinates. With good enough prediction, she could easily surround the opponent. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! An indigo figure darted across the forest. Not only was the rider a Chinese female player, the guild emblem on her shoulders was extremely familiar to me! "Die, intruder!" Hickey abruptly rushed out and unleashed Triple Slash! The rider let out a cry of surprise, but managed to parry the first hit with her bow. She even managed to pull out her dagger with her left hand and block Hickey¡¯s second and third strike in time. However, Hickey¡¯s Attack was too high for her to nullify the attack completely, so both her and her mount stumbled to the back. "Hmph!" As the mounted archer retreated, she notched an arrow and fired Mountain Stagger Arrow and Freezing Arrow at Hickey¡¯s chest. Not done yet, she performed Blink Arrow and scored a perfect hit between Hickey¡¯s neck, dealing a massive amount of damage¡ª 98285! Hickey was surprised, but she immediately Charged toward the mounted archer and swung her weapon in an arc. ¡­¡­ Chiang! I arrived just in time to parry her attack. Then, I said quietly, "Stop, Hickey. She¡¯s an ally¡­" "Ah?" Hickey¡¯s mouth fell open in surprise. ¡­¡­ I slowly turned around and stared at the half-health mounted archer. "Long time no see, Lexi. Why are you here?" That¡¯s right. The newcomer was none other than Snowy Cathaya¡¯s strongest archer, Nangong Lexi. Nangong Lexi shot me an exasperated look. "I knew you would be here, Lu Chen. Hmph!" "What is it?" "Yiyi went to Tekes County, Xinjiang, alone to find you. She¡¯s been missing for a whole day!" "What?!" Chapter 1107: Searching Left and Right I immediately grabbed the girl¡¯s shoulders and shook her urgently. "When did she come over? And how did she go missing? What the hell happened?" Nangong Lexi pouted, "Hmph, what else? She went to look for you. She traveled to Xinjiang yesterday, but during the afternoon she suddenly sent a message to Qingqing saying that she lost her phone, her cards and her wallet. She¡¯s currently waiting for help at the train station right now. Needless to say, both Qingqing and I are very worried for her. The sky¡¯s about to turn dark, and she¡¯s one girl in a strange place with not a single yuan on her person. That¡¯s why I came all the way to find you." Me: "..." I checked the time in the real world and noted that it was past 6 pm already. "Understood, I¡¯ll log out and search for Yiyi right now. Lexi, thank you for the message, but you should head back to Sky City now. It¡¯s not safe here. Once I find Yiyi, I¡¯ll make sure she goes online and informs you all of her safety." Nangong Lexi nodded. "Yes, yes, don¡¯t wait on my account. Seriously, both Qingqing and I are about to go mad with worry. What the hell was she thinking traveling all the way to Tekes County alone¡­" "Mn." I logged out after bidding Hickey and Warscar goodbye. ¡­¡­ Dong dong! I knocked a couple of times on Chaos Moon¡¯s door but heard nothing from inside. She was probably still inside the game. So, I left a message in my own room¡ª "Chaos Moon, Yiyi came to Xinjiang to look for me, but she lost her wallet and she¡¯s currently wandering around the train station. I¡¯m going to receive her. If I¡¯m not back when you see this message, go grab your own dinner and don¡¯t wait for me!" I left immediately after finishing the message. Bagua City was some distance away from Tekes County, so I had to hail a taxi to get there. ¡­¡­ After I entered the taxi, the big bearded driver asked me smilingly, "So, where are we headed to, lad?" "Tekes train station. How much is it?" I asked him. "Oh, that¡¯s pretty far. 200 it is!" "What? It¡¯s far, but not that far! 100!" As the taxi took off, I checked my pockets and blanched suddenly. As it turned out, I hadn¡¯t brought too much money with me on the way out. I immediately said, "Seriously, driver, is 100 okay?" The driver shot me a look. "Lad, your clothes look fine, and your watch is worth at least 300 RMB or more. Do you not have a heart?" I fished around my pockets futilely. "But I really forgot to bring my cash with me, and I¡¯m in an emergency here¡­ how about you drive me back to the hotel? I¡¯ll get your money for you." The driver thought that I wanted to escape, so he actually stepped down on the gas pedal and drove faster. "No way, once you¡¯re in my car you¡¯re not getting out until you cough the dough! The people didn¡¯t call me Seven Knives for nothin¡¯, ya know. How much money do you have, lad?" The corner of my mouth twitched incessantly. "Is this a robbery?" "Hahaha! Whatever are you talking about? I¡¯m a law-abiding citizen. I¡¯m just checking if you have enough money to make it worth the trip. If you don¡¯t, then I¡¯m dropping you here." I checked my pockets again. "I have 174 in total." "Very well. Since this is my 10th business of the day, I¡¯ll give you a discount. 170 it is." It felt like I was being stabbed in the gut. "Driver, can we please make it 150? I need at least 24 RMB to take public transport back to Bagua City after I¡¯ve found my girlfriend¡­" "No way, you promised it¡¯d be 170! A man doesn¡¯t break his word!" I stared at him with dead fish eyes. "The fuck, you¡¯re the one who said 170, not me¡­" "Haggle some more and I¡¯ll drop you at the police station, and sue you for trying to get a free ride¡­" "Fine! Fine, 170¡­" In the end, I acquiesced because there was a saying called "the strong dragon cannot repress a snake", and I wasn¡¯t even close to being a dragon. I could decide what to do after I¡¯ve found Lin Yixin. ¡­¡­ The taxi flew like the wind, and we arrived at Tekes train station an hour later. After I got off, I stood at the entrance of the train station with just 4 coins in my pockets like a true idiot. I rushed inside and tried to call Lin Yixin only to recall that her limited edition diamond phone had been stolen by pickpockets. It was a shame. Keeping my eyes wide open, I searched every face and walked up and down the entire waiting room for over an hour. However, I still couldn¡¯t spot Lin Yixin anywhere. My anxiety kept growing. What should I do? It was very possible that something bad could happen to a lone woman in this rundown train station. The more I worried, the harder it was to think clearly. In the end, I made up my mind and went to the broadcasting room. There, I found an auntie sitting there and saying something through a walkie talkie. Dong dong... I knocked on the door, and she looked at me and asked, "Is there anything you need, sir?" I nodded. "I¡¯m looking for someone, auntie." "I see. What is this person¡¯s name, and what is your name?" I answered, "My name is Lu Chen, and her name is Lin Yixin. She came to Tekes County alone but lost both her phone and her wallet. I¡¯ve tried to look around, but I couldn¡¯t find her anywhere. Please help me search for her¡­" "Okay, not a problem." The auntie faced toward the mic and said softly, "Passenger Lin Yixin, your friend Lu Chen is looking for you. Please make contact with the train personnel and come to the broadcasting room after you¡¯ve heard this announcement, thank you." She repeated the announcement three times before stopping and shooting me a smile. "Don¡¯t panic, boy. She will show up very soon." I nodded and slumped down on the stairs dejectedly. A couple of passengers passed by my location while I was waiting for Yiyi to show up. A pretty girl tilted her head at me before asking her friend, "Girls, did I hear that earlier announcement right? Did it say Lu Chen is looking for Lin Yixin? Isn¡¯t Lu Chen the Little Heavenly King Falling Dust, and Lin Yixin the Fruit Knife Goddess Wind Fantasy?" "Now that you mentioned it, yeah!" The girl with a bowl cut next to her also shot me a look before shaking her head. "This guy looks pretty handsome, but he can¡¯t possibly be Lu Chen. For starters, Lu Chen lives in the south, and this guy is obviously a labor worker of some sort!" "True. There are even labor workers who look like Tony Leung and Andy Lau¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Another two hours passed by, but Lin Yixin was still nowhere to be seen. It was already past 10 pm, and the amount of passengers in the waiting room kept decreasing. At this point, my anxiety had turned into full blown panic. I entered the broadcasting room once more and shouted into the mic personally, "Yiyi, where are you? Come to the broadcasting room now! It¡¯s me, Lu Chen! Come to the broadcasting room now!" Unfortunately, Lin Yixin was still nowhere to be seen. The auntie shot me a helpless look. "If I had to guess, your friend is no longer at the train station." I didn¡¯t know what to say in reply. My mind was an absolute mess right now. I exited the waiting room and circled around the entire train station. I checked at the hotels, the clubs, the food stalls and more, but I still couldn¡¯t find Lin Yixin anywhere. All kinds of thoughts fleeted across my mind every second. Where was Lin Yixin? Where could she possibly go to with no method of communication and no money? Also, she should be starving right now just like me. I saw someone barbecuing lamb meat at a food stall and swallowed hungrily. Unfortunately, I only had 4 RMB. I had to save this for absolute necessities... ¡­¡­ In the end, I returned to the now ice cold waiting room of the train station and waited there. I didn¡¯t dare to leave in case Lin Yixin came back and missed me. Du¡­ du... My phone rang. It was Chaos Moon. "Have you found Beauty Lin yet, Lu Chen?" "No." I thought for a second before instructing, "Chaos Moon, can you log into the game and ask Sun Qingqing and Nangong Lexi to check if they can contact Yiyi inside the game? If they can, ask Yiyi where she is and tell her that I¡¯ll be waiting for her at the train station all night¡­" "Okay." I hung up and continued to wait for Yiyi. ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t know when I fell asleep, but it had been a long and arduous day today. In my dream, a girl with a bell-like laughter held my hand and called me Little Cheat again and again as we strolled down by the riverside. However, I kept crying as I watched her because I kept being beset by the feeling that I would never be able to hold her hand again; that I might lose the girl of my life forever. "Hello? Boy?" Suddenly, someone pushed me on the shoulder and woke me up from my dream. When I looked up, I saw an older man in a uniform. He was a police officer. He asked me with a surprised expression on his face, "How did you even fall asleep while standing? Anyway, you shouldn¡¯t fall asleep in the train station. Someone might try to steal your things¡­ er, are you crying?" More like I cried in my dreams. I hurriedly wiped my tears and answered, "I¡¯m okay¡­" "Are you waiting for a friend?" "Yeah." "And they¡¯re not here yet?" "Yeah." He sighed. "I see¡­ in that case, you can wait for as long as you wish. I hope you find your friend soon." "Yeah, thanks." ¡­¡­ The short nap rejuvenated me a bit, so I rose to my feet and looked around the waiting room. There was barely anyone left in the area because the last trains left around midnight. I walked to the entrance next and took a look outside. It was dark, but I could see that it was snowing. No wonder I had woken up feeling ice cold. I hurriedly pulled my clothes tighter after a shiver coursed through my body. I stepped out and felt the snow falling on my hair, my eyebrows and my shoulders. I stared at the distant lamps and murmured to myself, "Where on earth did you go, Yiyi?" At that moment, I almost broke into tears. Suddenly, a woman wearing black stockings and cheap perfume walked up to me and said, "Are you interested in passing the night somewhere warmer, handsome?" I shook my head with reddened eyes. "No, thank you¡­" It was then she tilted her head and widened her eyes. "Wait a second. You look real similar to the Little Heavenly King, Lu Chen. You¡­ you can¡¯t actually be him, can you?" I shook my head again. "No, you¡¯re mistaken¡­" She frowned. "You sure? Because your eyes aren¡¯t fooling anyone." I shot her a bitter smile before walking back into the waiting room. Then, I stared at the lamps outside through the glass. The woman watched me through the same glass for a moment before shaking her head. She then left and walked into the hair salon on the opposite side of the train station. ¡­¡­ My stomach growled loudly for food, and the fact was I felt like I was about to die from hunger. But what could I possibly order with 4 RMB? A hand cake? These days, 4 RMB might not even be enough to order a breakfast. I fell asleep again without noticing, and when I opened my eyes it was already daybreak. The world outside had gotten a complete makeover and turned into an icy world. It was almost summer, so a late spring snow like this was super rare. I stepped out of the waiting room and sat on the stairs outside the train station again. Hopefully, I would be more visible this way. It was cold. My face was pale, and I was shivering like a leaf. The time slowly ticked past 6, and a bun shop opened to begin its business. The sweet scent of food made me feel even hungrier, but I wasn¡¯t even in the mood to fill my belly. Lin Yixin was still nowhere to be seen, and I felt like my world was about to shatter into pieces. ¡­¡­ I hugged my knees to keep warm. Eventually, I fell asleep again. "Yiyi¡­" Inside my dream, I called out her name in a powerless voice. Directly in front of me, the girl holding my hand responded to my voice and looked back at me with a smile, "You need to find me, Little Cheat. I trust that you¡¯ll be able to find me¡­" It was at this moment I heard a soft voice. "Little Cheat?" I looked up groggily, almost unable to believe that I wasn¡¯t dreaming. When a gorgeous face entered my view though, I finally realized that I was seeing her in reality. Lin Yixin was wearing a down-filled garment, and she was staring at me with a look of shock and joy. Suddenly, her face scrunched up like she was about to cry. "Is it you, Little Cheat? Is it really you?" I whispered, "Yiyi, I¡­" She pounced into my lap and cried loudly before I could finish. "What took you so long, you bastard? What took you so long¡­" Chapter 1108: Beg For Food Emotions I couldn¡¯t describe coursed through my veins as I hugged Lin Yixin. I had finally found her, and it felt like the world had cleared up in an instant. ¡­¡­ "Where did you go last night, Yiyi? I was so worried!" Still holding her, I asked the first question that came into my mind. Lin Yixin looked up, wiped away her tears and broke into a bright smile. "I didn¡¯t go far. I was inside the bun shop on the opposite side of the road rolling dough for the auntie. She allowed me to spend the night there¡­" "Holy shit, you know how to roll buns?" I stared at her. "Still, you should¡¯ve come to the train station to check if someone had shown up to get you! I was waiting for you the whole night! Do you know how cold it was?" Lin Yixin said, "Well, it was snowing hard outside. Also, I didn¡¯t know that you came to look for me!" She then grabbed my hand, rose to her feet and said smilingly, "I missed you so much, Little Cheat¡­ Now treat me to breakfast¡­" If the first part of her sentence made me feel like I was dreaming, then the second part shattered my heart into many tiny pieces. I fished out the four coins in my pocket and showed her. "We have a problem. The cab driver who drove me here took everything I had except these¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes widened. "So you¡¯re telling me that we¡¯re going to have to starve for the whole morning, is that it?" I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. "Weren¡¯t you working for the bun lady yesterday? Let¡¯s buy a few buns on credit and eat them while I call Chaos Moon over to bring us some cash!" Lin Yixin pursed her lips. "Buy on credit? I¡­ can¡¯t possibly do that. Last night the bun lady asked me who I was waiting for, and I told her that I was waiting for my ¡®tall, rich and handsome¡¯ boyfriend. You want her to expose my lies?" My mouth twitched. "You say that, but I feel like I¡¯m the one who¡¯s going to be exposed when I get there." Lin Yixin burst into a giggle before hugging me again and kissing me on the cheeks. "Whatever. Anyway, I don¡¯t mind eating nothing for the morning. I¡¯m happy with just being able to see you!" I returned her gesture with a peck on the lips before saying, "I¡¯m happy to see you too, but we can¡¯t have you starve. Let¡¯s sit at the station entrance and beg for food together." "Seriously? You¡¯re so shameless!" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin then pulled me toward the bun shop. "Come on, I¡¯ll introduce you to the auntie. I didn¡¯t have a single cent with me. If she hadn¡¯t taken me in, I would¡¯ve been forced to sleep on the streets last night." I curled my lips. "How lucky of you. I already slept on the streets last night¡­" Lin Yixin giggled. After we crossed the road and arrived at the bun shop, she greeted the bun lady, "I¡¯m back, auntie¡­" "Oh! Have you found your boyfriend?" The bun lady smiled at me. "Your boyfriend looks pretty good, girl!" The praise filled me with happiness. "He reminds me of Bi Fujian¡­" she added. The "praise" filled me with shocked disbelief. Not noticing my reaction, the bun lady asked, "You two haven¡¯t eaten yet, right? Come, I¡¯ll treat you to some buns and hot soup." "Ohh! Thank you!" Lin Yixin immediately dragged me to a table. Frankly, I was about to faint from hunger myself, so I swallowed my pride, ate nine buns and drank 3 bowls of soup. At the end of the meal, I wiped my mouth and said, "Aiya, I¡¯m so full..." The bun lady stared at me with widened eyes. "Boy, you sure have an amazing appetite¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s expression turned even more guilty and apologetic. "Auntie, neither of us have much money on our person right now. If you don¡¯t mind, let us repay your kindness by helping you with your work for the morning, okay?" The bun lady broke into a wide smile. "Of course I don¡¯t mind! I was going to close the shop temporarily to buy some fresh wheat and pork meat, but since the two of you are here you may as well watch the shop for me. The big meat bun is 1 yuan, the vegetable bun is 80 cents, and the soy milk is 1 yuan. Don¡¯t mix them up!" Lin Yixin replied confidently and smilingly, "No problem!" "Mn!" The bun lady got on her small electric bike and left like the wind, entrusting her shop to Lin Yixin and my care. I was still hungry, and the baskets of steaming buns were really starting to tempt me. I licked my lips and inquired Lin Yixin¡¯s opinion, "Er, Yiyi, is it okay if I eat another big meat bun?" Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me. "No! You didn¡¯t eat anything last night, did you? You¡¯re going to break your stomach if you stuff yourself like this. If you¡¯re really that hungry, then you can buy a bowl of porridge from that stall." "Never mind then. Business is more important¡­" It didn¡¯t take long before the street was filled with people who were trying to catch the early train, and a lot of them stopped by the shop to buy breakfast from us. Soon, we became too busy to even speak with each other. Although Lin Yixin was currently wearing a ragged down-filled garment, it couldn¡¯t conceal her gorgeous features and beautiful hair. Countless customers who weren¡¯t planning to buy breakfast still stopped by the shop and bought a bun or two just to speak with her. Tree-ling-ling... It was at this moment three highschool girls riding a bicycle each stopped by the shop. The thin girl looked at me and said, "Two vegetable buns and one soybean milk for each of us, and please keep the food separate, handsome." I replied without looking up, "Right away! It¡¯ll be 7.6 RMB, thank you!" After I packed the food and passed it to the girls, another girl with huge, round eyes abruptly exclaimed in surprise, "OMG, why do you look so familiar? Wait a second, you¡­ you¡¯re the CGL Hall of Famer and Little Heavenly King, Falling Dust! My older sister is a big fan of yours!" I was far calmer than I was last night, so I replied with a grin, "Nope! I¡¯m just a bun seller¡­" "You¡¯re lying!" The girl pointed at Lin Yixin next. "I might mistake you for someone else, but there¡¯s no way I can mistake the Fruit Knife Goddess! The rumors are true after all! The Fruit Knife Goddess and Little Heavenly King really are dating each other! Man, you two came all the way to the north just to open a stall and sell buns together? So romantic¡­" Judging from the look on Lin Yixin¡¯s face, I was sure that she was feeling as exposed as I was feeling right now. After all three girls took out their phones and snapped our pictures, they bade us goodbye with wide grins on their faces. "See you next time!" ¡­¡­ "Well shit, everyone¡¯s going to know that we¡¯re here now¡­" I said while staring at the school girls¡¯ departing backs. Lin Yixin wiped away the sweat on her forehead as she giggled. "So what? It¡¯s not like it¡¯s bad publicity. It¡¯s not our shop, but we¡¯re still working hard and earning an honest living. Seriously though, have you called Chaos Moon yet? We can¡¯t be selling buns here forever." I laughed. "I did, but she hasn¡¯t accepted my call. She¡¯s probably in an instance or leveling right now. I did leave her a message though, so I expect her to show up by noon at the latest." "Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ We continued selling buns until it was almost noon. During lunch time, the bun lady finally returned and shot us a smile, "Your friend isn¡¯t here yet? Hmm, it¡¯s noon. I bet you¡¯re all hungry now, aren¡¯t you? Come, I¡¯ll treat you all to a meal!" Lin Yixin hurriedly shook her head. "No, no, we¡¯ve already troubled you too much, auntie!" While saying this, she took off the down-filled garment the bun lady had lent her and returned it before grabbing her bag. Her gaming helmet was in it. Thank goodness she hadn¡¯t lost her luggage as well, or it would¡¯ve been really bad. However, the bun lady said, "It¡¯s fine, a simple meal isn¡¯t going to cost me too much. Also, the two of you helped to sell a lot more buns than I usually did. I won¡¯t rest easy if you don¡¯t let me repay the favor." Lin Yixin giggled. "Okay then, thank you so much, auntie¡­" "Mn!" We followed the auntie to a small restaurant. She ordered some kibbeh and a bowl of sticky, green soup. I took a bite from the kibbeh. It was great. I then bent down to sniff the soup once before asking, "What is this soup, auntie? I¡¯ve never seen it before. Is it green bean soup? Are there green beans in the north?" The auntie simply smiled and said, "It¡¯s very tasty. Give it a try?" "Sure." I took a sip, and it kind of smelled of some sort of odor and tasted bitter. The aftertaste wasn¡¯t bad though. On the other hand, it could just be my hunger lowering my usual standards of tasty food. Lin Yixin stared at me with her cute, round eyes while asking, "So? Is it good?" I nodded. "It¡¯s not bad¡­" Lin Yixin tried a sip but frowned almost immediately. She let out a chuckle as she said, "This taste is a bit too weird for me. You can have it all if you want, Little Cheat. I¡¯m fine with just the kibbeh¡­" "Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ I drank about half the bowl of soup, but I still couldn¡¯t get over my curiosity, so I asked again, "Auntie, what is this soup exactly? Its taste is very unique. I¡¯ve never drank something like this before." The auntie replied mysteriously, "It¡¯s called the Yangbie soup. It¡¯s very nutritious¡­" "Yangbie soup?" Beside me, Lin Yixin performed an internet search using my phone, "Let me check¡­" For some reason, Lin Yixin¡¯s complexion turned as green as the soup. "Little Cheat¡­" I stared at her with trepidation. "Why are you looking at me like that?" It was at this moment we heard the sound of cooking from the kitchen. The auntie said, "Oh, they¡¯re making the Yangbie soup right now. Do you want to see how it¡¯s done?" Again, we allowed our curiosity to lead us by the nose and walked to the kitchen. We shouldn¡¯t have. We saw the cook dropping a bunch of green intestines¡ªfresh lamb intestines with fresh green shit all over it¡ªinto the frying pan. As he fried the intestines, its contents flowed out and formed some sort of green muck. A bit of water, oil and spring onions later, voila, the legendary Yangbie soup was born... "BLARRRRRGHHHHHH¡­" Both Lin Yixin and I threw up our stomach¡¯s contents when the realization finally hit us. ¡­¡­ By the time I was finally done retching, my complexion was almost as green as grass. While supporting Lin Yixin, I said, "Yiyi, why did you vomit everything when you only took one sip? I know the Yangbie soup looks bad, but doesn¡¯t actually taste that bad¡­" Lin Yixin shut me up with a purple complexion. "Never say that name to me again!" Her misery was my happiness. I laughed. "You¡¯re laughing at me!?" Lin Yixin punched me again and again with her small fists. It was at this moment we both heard a familiar voice, "Have I arrived at the wrong time?" Both Lin Yixin and I shivered. Finally, our savior was here! We turned around, ran toward Chaos Moon like lightning and grabbed an arm each. "Did you bring the cash? Did you bring the cash?" Chaos Moon slapped her handbag smilingly. "Yep! More than you can spend, I promise!" I replied, "Oh thank heavens. Let¡¯s head back now, eat something less hardcore and catch some sleep. I¡¯m so tired I can die¡­" A puzzled Chaos Moon asked, "Hardcore? What did you eat?" Lin Yixin pointed at the bowl of green on the table, and Chaos Moon laughed so hard that she nearly shed tears. "Oh, my stomach. I can¡¯t wait to tell the guild our Little Heavenly King and Fruit Knife Goddess came all the way to the north to enjoy our fresh northern delicacy¡­" Me: "..." Lin Yixin: "..." ¡­¡­ We arrived at the hotel in the afternoon, and when we arrived at the registration counter, I kept a firm hold on Lin Yixin¡¯s hand while saying to the female receptionist, "Hello, I¡¯m the guest living in room 807. My girlfriend came today and insisted on booking a new room, but the hotel¡¯s already fully booked, riiight?" The receptionist stared at me for a long time before breaking into a grin. "As you wish, sir. It is the weekend, and we¡¯re fully sold out." Lin Yixin: "..." Chapter 1109: We’ve Never Been the Giving Type Beside us, a flabbergasted Chaos Moon commented, "Even if all the rooms are sold out, I¡¯m right here¡­ Lin Yixin can sleep with me..." Lin Yixin shot me a look, but her eyes softened as she grabbed my hand with a smile. "It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s been too long since I last saw him, so just for today, I¡¯m going to spend the whole day with him¡­" Chaos Moon facepalmed. "No, not you too¡­ Oh well. Don¡¯t be too loud, okay?" Lin Yixin: "..." Me: "Pooh. You¡¯re definitely overthinking things..." ¡­¡­ After that little intermission, we entered the lift together and went to my room. After Lin Yixin put her gaming helmet on the bed, she plopped down next to it, lay down on her back, and let out a most satisfied groan. "Nngh~! Hotel room beds are the best. I didn¡¯t sleep very well last night because I had to share a bed with auntie. Not only did she almost squeeze me off the bed, she wouldn¡¯t stop introducing her nephew to me. I think he was an elite student who graduated from the China University of Political Science and Law?" I sat down beside her and held her hand gently. Lin Yixin smiled and faced toward me. "By the way, where did you graduate, Little Cheat? Why weren¡¯t you a China University of Political Science and Law graduate?" I watched her expressionlessly as I replied, "Girl, did you forget that we went to the same university?" "Oh, you¡¯re right! I actually did forget about it¡­" "..." Chaos Moon asked, "Beauty Lin, you¡¯re both smart and wealthy. If you wanted to, you could¡¯ve studied abroad or entered Tsinghua University or Peking University, right? So how did you end up in Suzhou University of Science and Technology instead?" The question surprised Lin Yixin. A short silence later, she replied in a small voice, "It¡¯s because Suzhou University is close to my home, and the only institute I can attend and still visit my mom everyday¡­ Also, it¡¯s not like Tsinghua University or Peking University is a must-have in life. I am the one who leads my own life, so why should I follow what others claim is best for me? I might not have gone even if Tsinghua sent me an offer letter." I agreed wholeheartedly. "Well said, Yiyi! I definitely wouldn¡¯t have gone to Tsinghua if they had sent me an offer letter. Pooh!" However, Chaos Moon rolled her eyes and said, "Pooh, you say it like you had the skills to get in in the first place¡­" Me: "..." In the end, I decided not to argue with Chaos Moon because one, a real man doesn''t fight with womenfolk, and two, her guess that I was incapable of entering Tsinghua was spot-on. My score was at least 250 points lower than Tsinghua University¡¯s acceptance score, so, yeah... ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin sat up and said, "Well, that¡¯s enough resting for the day. I need to buy a new phone, report the loss of my phone card and get a new one, report the loss of my bank card and get a new one, and get a new resident ID card too. Thank goodness you can verify your identity super quick with retinal scans these days, or it would¡¯ve been a real hassle." I nodded. "I¡¯ll go with you. But before that, we should get something nice to eat at the hotel restaurant. Whatever they might serve, it has to be better than Yangbie soup¡­" Lin Yixin immediately glared at me. "OMG, I told you not to repeat that name! Ah, to think that this is how I lose my reputation¡­" Chaos Moon stifled a laugh before teasing us, "You guys are too harsh. Yangbie soup¡¯s a perfectly serviceable dish¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ And so, I accompanied Lin Yixin to Tekes County again, and this time, I made sure to carry my bank card with me. First things first, I bought her the latest Nokia SK76. It cost me a whopping 30k+ RMB, but after such a long time of separation I thought that the gift was perfectly reasonable. Next, we got her a new phone card but used the same phone number as before. After we reported the loss of her bank card, we immediately got her a new one and restored her access to her bank account again. Besides getting a new identity card, Lin Yixin also bought a few sets of clothes and some daily necessities. It certainly looked like she planned to stay here for a long time. Long story short, it was nighttime by the time we finally returned to the hotel. We called Chaos Moon to join us for dinner. After that, it was just me and Lin Yixin inside my room. Pa! As I locked the door from inside, Lin Yixin blinked once before asking me, "What are you doing, Little Cheat?" I smiled at her, walked up to her and hugged her. "I missed you so much, Yiyi¡­" That one line was all it took to melt away all of Lin Yixin¡¯s wariness. She returned the hug tightly and buried her face in my neck, whispering, "I missed you too¡­" A while later, Lin Yixin stared at me with loving, regretful eyes. "I¡¯m so sorry, Lu Chen¡­" "Why are you apologizing?" "I shouldn¡¯t have let you suffer alone in a strange place. I shouldn¡¯t have let you bear all that injustice alone¡­" Tears slid down her cheeks as she started sobbing. "I of all people should know how painful it feels to be betrayed by everyone. I should¡¯ve joined you from the start, Lu Chen¡­" I kissed her on the cheek and consoled her, "You¡¯re here now, and that¡¯s all that matters. Plus, have you forgotten how high my Defense is? This bit of injustice is nothing at all, not to mention that I found some OP equipment at Iron Skull Wilderness such as an Immortal-grade ring, the Sacred Armament Fire God Helmet, and evolved the Purple Ying Sword. I¡¯m doing more than fine, so¡­" Lin Yixin nodded with a bright smile. "I know, I know. My Little Cheat is the toughest man in the world¡­" I looked into her eyes, and so did she, our gazes locking together. Slowly, I bent down and kissed her on her soft, red lips. She shivered all over and she responded clumsily to my advances. She whined as if she was disturbed by the way I was licking her tongue, but her arms only tightened to the point where I felt like she was trying to bury herself in my torso. ¡°Ah¡­" Lin Yixin exhaled audibly as we parted slightly for air. Her cheeks were bright red, her tears hadn¡¯t even dried yet. The translucent droplets hanging atop her long eyelashes made her look even prettier than she already was. I could literally feel her body temperature rising as she twisted slowly in my arms. Lin Yixin was, to put it bluntly, turned on after that long kiss. "Yiyi¡­" I called out to her. "Mm?" Still kissing my lips, she opened her eyes and stared at me inquiringly. I kissed her again and said, "I have a feeling that something is going to happen between us tonight¡­" She turned even redder than she already was before pushing me away. "Don¡¯t even think about it! When I told my mom that I was coming for you, she told me that a girl shouldn¡¯t give herself easily!" I looked at the starry sky outside the window. "It¡¯s too bad that we were never the giving type, were we?" Lin Yixin pretended to spit at me before saying, "Cease your evil thoughts. Now help me connect my gaming helmet. All-nighter gaming session, here we come!" I scratched my head. "Are you seriously going to leave me hanging like this?" "Did you forget already?" Lin Yixin pointed to the room next to ours. "Chaos Moon is just next door. She¡¯ll¡­ hear if we do¡­ something." Me: "..." It was at this moment Chaos Moon¡¯s voice came through the wall. "Don¡¯t worry, I can¡¯t hear you, so just keep doing whatever you¡¯re doing. I¡¯m busy eating Dairy Queen ice cream anyway¡­" Me: "..." Lin Yixin: "..." What star was this hotel again? Well, it doesn¡¯t matter, because its soundproofing was absolute shit! Pooh! ¡­¡­ The good news was that every hotel room had 8 dedicated lines that allowed a guest to connect to an Eternal Moon game, so both Lin Yixin and I could log into the game and play. The concerning news was why a single room would even have 8 dedicated lines to begin with. The bed couldn¡¯t possibly fit 8 people, could it? That would be something to see. Before we logged into the game, Lin Yixin asked me, "What will you be doing after you go online?" I thought for a moment before answering, "PvP, I suppose. Iron Skull Wilderness is a dangerous place, and both Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud are just waiting for an opportunity to beat my ass. I have to be on my guard at most times to ensure that they don¡¯t blitz my territory while I¡¯m gone. What about you, Yiyi?" "Kill the final boss of S2 and gather a full set of S2 equipment for Purple Marquis." "I see." "Actually, I heard that the first S2 set ever just appeared yesterday. I wonder who was the player who managed to beat it? The last boss, the Death God, has a ridiculous Attack. I almost couldn¡¯t believe someone managed to beat it¡­" I coughed. "Yeah yeah, he must be an incredible player¡­" Lin Yixin stared at me. "What do you mean ¡®he¡¯? Wait¡­ was it you? It has to be you, right?" Me: "..." "It was you! Who¡¯s the lucky girl who got the S2 set, you bastard?" Lin Yixin punched me. I defended myself while asking, "The fuck, how did you even know that I gave it to a girl?" "Isn¡¯t it obvious!?" "Fine, fine, I gave it to Hickey¡­" "Oh?" Lin Yixin turned thoughtful. "I know her. She was the number one warrioress of the Dutch server, but she quit and became unaffiliated. A few days ago, you managed to win her over to your side, didn¡¯t you? Yes, Qingqing told me about it. Also, there were rumors about you planning to make yourself the king of Iron Skull Wilderness in the India forums¡­" "I suppose that¡¯s more or less correct¡­" I smiled at her before checking the time. "Anyway, it¡¯s 8 pm now. I¡¯ll be playing for 3 hours and logging off at 11 pm sharp. You should do the same. We both could use some rest after everything we went through¡­" "Mn, I know." We cuddled as we lay down on the bed and slipped into the virtual world. Thanks to our experience and Lin Yixin¡¯s house last time, we weren¡¯t as embarrassed as we were before. Of course, we didn¡¯t do anything besides cuddling. Last time, we were worried that Lin Yixin¡¯s mother might catch wind of our activities, and this time it was because the hotel room had quite the "OP" soundproofing, so to speak. Who knows if Chaos Moon wasn¡¯t just waiting to catch us red-handed, and I wasn¡¯t going to tempt fate. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After I appeared in Bonecrush Forest, Hickey immediately sent me a message: "You¡¯re finally online, boss. We all missed you so much¡­" Me: "Did anything happen while I was gone?" "Yeah!" Hickey explained, "Beast Trainer couldn¡¯t accept his defeat and came to Bonecrush Forest again with almost 70k players, but I took the fight to them and ambushed them at Thorny Valley. Both Godkiller and Sacred Oath went all out, and the battle resulted in Beast Soul¡¯s utter annihilation 7 hours ago. We lost almost 27k players, but overall, it was a huge boost to everyone¡¯s morale." I smiled. "Well done, Hickey!" She continued, "Also, a couple of guild leaders contacted me this morning, and they all requested to join our guild. I accepted them as our subguilds, so we now have 5 subguilds, or 100k players, in total!" I asked, "Are you sure they¡¯re reliable, Hickey?" Hickey replied with a giggle, "Don¡¯t worry, boss. I know these guild leaders personally. They¡¯re all fairly good people, or I wouldn¡¯t have accepted them without going through you first. For example, I would never accept Black Crow Tribe¡­" "Understood. Again, well done!" "Heehee. Do you have any rewards for my hard work, boss?" "I already grinded a full S2 set for you. What else do you want? Anyway, find Warscar and two priests and join me. We¡¯re going to beat the S1 instance in 4 hours and get him an S1 set. Right now, he still doesn¡¯t have equipment fitting for his power and position." "Mn, right away!" Chapter 1110: Oath "Pro offering to carry any Iron Skull Wilderness player through god-tier instances like S1 and S2! Males must pay 100k gold, and females, 10 gold! We welcome both old or new customers, and we guarantee that our service and technique will be to your satisfaction!" I shouted on top of my lungs as I stood at an intersection of Bonecrush Forest feeling really pleased with myself. Behind me, Hickey burst into a giggle. "Can you not not crack a joke, boss?" Warscar followed behind us and laughed just as loudly. "It¡¯s finally my turn, dammit! I can die without regrets if I truly can gather a full set of S1 equipment!" I rolled my eyes at him. "Broaden your horizons, country bumpkin!" Hickey chuckled good-naturedly. "Let¡¯s go. With Boss Lu Chen in our party, we¡¯ll definitely beat this in one try." "Of course! Our boss has beaten even the S2 instance in one try! What could S1 possibly do to us?" Warscar declared confidently. Reality was a cruel mistress for the simple-minded brute though. Warscar disregarded orders, aggroed mobs like an idiot and lost 50% of his level. It was a heart-wrenching moment to say the least. Thankfully, everything else about the instance went smoothly. Not only did we defeat the Slaughter Forest in one try, my super-high Luck allowed me to gather the legendary S1 equipment set, the Slaughter set in one try as well. Luck was absolutely the best stat in the game bar none. My item drop rate was at least 7 to 8 times better than a player with 0 Luck. In this case, it meant that what I could accomplish would take a normal player about ten runs, or two to three months, to gather in a single run. ¡­¡­ It was 10:30 pm in real life and nighttime inside the game as well. The Godkiller players were resting, repairing, buying potions and more at the edge of Bonecrush Forest. Unfortunately, the potion merchant here only sold low-rank potions, and better potions Level 180 players would normally use weren¡¯t available. To give an example, two days ago, after we killed the Beast King Cavalry scout party, I was almost overrun by these savages wanting my great potions, they were like hyenas running to a carcass. It was embarrassing. "Now that I have a full S1 set, I can defeat any enemy on the continent, right guild leader?" Warscar asked with a grin. He was sitting on a stump and carrying a war axe as usual. I replied while staring at the bonfire in front of me, "Of course not. Did you know that the S1 set is almost common in the China server? You still have a long way to go, so keep grinding!" Warscar¡¯s eyes turned as wide as saucers. "What? My S1 set is common in the China server? My god, just how lit are the players of China?" Hickey laughed at his ignorance. "Boss is just playing with you, you idiot. There are only a total of 27 S1 sets in all the servers, and the details of every set can be found in the game¡¯s database. How do you not know how to perform basic research? No wonder boss wants me to make the calls when he isn¡¯t around! You only know how to fight and nothing else!" Warscar curled his lips. "Guild leader, both Hickey and I are vice leaders, right? So why do I have to listen to her spittle when you aren¡¯t around? It¡¯s not hammer for a man like me to listen to a little girl like her¡­" I shot him a look. "Warscar, you¡¯re too impulsive, and you don¡¯t know how to weigh the pros and cons. On the other hand, Hickey is the opposite, precisely because she¡¯s a girl. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust your abilities, there are just many, many things Godkiller needs to do to secure their future, and we cannot afford to be stalled by setbacks that we could¡¯ve easily avoided. This is why I need you to listen to her whenever I¡¯m not around." Hickey¡¯s eyes widened. "Can you elaborate what you mean by ¡®we still have a lot of things to do¡¯, boss?" "Sure." I nodded before starting, "First, we need to continuously expand our strength until we have an army at least 200k strong. Then, we need to expand our influence beyond Iron Skull Wilderness. This place may be our home, but no one should stay in their home forever, am I right? Therefore, I want everyone to grind hard and shorten the power gap between us and the first-rate guilds as much as possible. It shouldn¡¯t be a difficult task to achieve with the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse." "And after that?" Hickey asked curiously. I pondered for a moment before continuing, "First, we need to grow into a threat big enough for Breeze and Rain, God of War and Flowing Cloud not to underestimate. Then, we¡¯ll march out of Iron Skull Wilderness, advance toward the center of the continent; to Thunder Mountain Range and Dragonbone Mountain Range to be exact, and establish a foothold somewhere. A man should always seek to expand their borders, be it physically or mentally. Why else are we born into this world?" Warscar abruptly planted the eye of his axe to the ground and rose to his feet excitedly. "Well said, guild leader! You¡¯ve said practically everything I wanted to say! The vikings have always been an adventurous clan, and it isn¡¯t our destiny to hole up in a tiny Iron Skull Wilderness forever! That would be too boring!" Hickey shot him a look before saying, "What are you getting so excited for? Without boss''s instructions, the Viking Islands would be stuck in Iron Skull Wilderness forever¡­" However, Warscar readily admitted his weakness with an honest smile. "You are completely right. That is why boss is the person I admire the most! And there are only a handful of people I¡¯ve ever looked up to in my life!" Hickey: "..." ¡­¡­ I exhaled a bit before continuing, "Hickey, you are more familiar with the guilds and tribes of Iron Skull Wilderness than me. I trust you to find a way to recruit the reliable ones. In the near future, Breeze and Rain and God of War will return to Iron Skull Wilderness, and we are still nowhere strong enough to fight them. If we don¡¯t resist with all our might, we will be conquered by the enemy. It¡¯s all in our hands now." Hickey clenched her fists and answered firmly, "Don¡¯t worry, Lu Chen. I won¡¯t disappoint you." I smiled. "I know. You haven¡¯t disappointed me even once so far!" "Hehe!" Warscar looked between me and Hickey. "Hey girl, is it just me, or does it look like you fancy our guild leader?" Hickey unclenched her fists and smiled honestly. "Of course. Our boss is approachable, smart, strong and handsome. Why wouldn¡¯t I feel attracted to him? Who knows, I may even fall for him for real in the future." Warscar scratched his head. "But I heard that the guild leader already has a girlfriend in China." Hickey giggled. "Yes, so? If I truly fall in love with him, I won¡¯t care if he has a girlfriend or not. I don¡¯t need to have sex with him to prove that I love him." Both Warscar and I shivered at the same time. I already knew this, but European women were seriously no joke. This wasn¡¯t something you would hear from many eastern women at all. Of course, Korean women didn¡¯t fall under this category. Their famous quote was: Oppa, let¡¯s have sex... ¡­¡­ About a hundred Godkiller players were sitting around bonfires and chatting amiably with one another. Hickey blinked before leaning against the redwood tree behind her and staring at the starry sky. "Boss, you helped the China server to defeat the combined force that was Purple Grape City, Cyan Earth City and Elephant City. Your achievements in the War of Purple Grape City stunned both the north and the south. However, all your hard work only resulted in your in-game nationality being stripped away from you. Do you really feel no hatred toward your wrongdoers at all?" I clenched my fists and punched a rock next to me hard. "Of course I hate them!" Warscar also gripped his axe and uttered angrily, "Guild leader, if you wish, we can attack Sky City with you and take revenge against those who wronged you after our army is ready!" I shook my head smilingly. "No, no. Most of the players in Sky City are my friends. Those who wronged me are really the minority, so it makes no sense to vent my anger on the entire city. Plus, our true enemy has always been the India server, not the China server!" Hickey giggled. "You let your impulse get to your head again, idiot¡­" Warscar rubbed his head with a laugh. "Sorry. I just want to make life difficult for those who made our guild leader¡¯s life difficult¡­" Me: "..." A moment of thoughtful silence later, I continued, "Frankly, the three main cities of the China server are in a precarious situation right now. Powerful enemies surround them from all sides, and everyone wants a piece of the pie that is the King of Cities. Therefore, there may be a day I will call upon your aid to save them. You are free to turn down the request, of course. After all, you have no obligation to rescue the China server. If there is no choice, I can and will enter the battlefield alone¡­" Hickey pursed her lips, closed her eyes and said nothing in response. However, Warscar abruptly rose to his feet and growled, "If one day we travel to China with an army, it will not be because we are there to help China, but because we are there to help Lu Chen, our brother! That is all!" Hickey abruptly opened her eyes and bloomed into a wide smile. "Heh, the idiot finally said something right for once¡­" I said gratefully, "Thank you!" Hickey lay back down on the stump while waving me off. "Your thanks are unnecessary. You are our guild leader, our boss, and most of all, our family. Who needs a reason to help out a family member?" I chuckled and accepted her feelings silently. The clock ticked 11 pm, the time I said I would log out and get some much-needed rest. So I bade everyone goodbye and logged out. ¡­¡­ A fragrant scent entered my nose the moment I took off my helmet. I looked beside me and saw that Lin Yixin was lying next to me with her helmet already removed. In fact, judging from the fragrance and the towel wrapped around her person, she had just taken a bath. The girl was pretending to be asleep, but her shivering eyelashes had betrayed her wakefulness. "Yiyi?" I called out to her softly. She still pretended to be asleep and didn¡¯t answer me. I smiled wickedly and said, "Oh, you¡¯re asleep? That means I can¡­" I slipped my right hand into the blanket until I touched something soft and bouncy. "Ah?!" A surprised Lin Yixin abruptly opened her eyes and grabbed my eyes. She glared at me as she asked, "What are you doing?" I pecked her once on the lips before replying, "Nothing? I¡¯m just touching my girlfriend. Is there a problem?" "I cannot believe you just said that with a straight face." Lin Yixin shook her head before adding, "You should get a bath before you sleep, by the way. You stink¡­" "Fine¡­" ¡­¡­ After I finished bathing myself, I returned to the bed feeling a mix of anticipation and lust. However, I quickly realized that Lin Yixin had actually fallen asleep while I was washing myself. I supposed the last couple days had really taken a toll on her. I stared at her gorgeous face for a moment and felt a massive surge of love inside of me. Was there anything I wouldn¡¯t do to protect her? She must¡¯ve been very stressed out when she came all the way here alone only to find that her belongings had been stolen by a damned pickpocket. I couldn¡¯t possibly wake her up right now. So I suppressed my unholy thoughts, kissed her one more time on her lips before whispering to her, "Sleep well, my love¡­" Lin Yixin let out a soft whine. It seemed like she was having a nightmare. She curled up a little, felt my warmth, and wrapped her arms around me tightly. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment that my phone rang. Chapter 1111: The Immovable Seal I accepted the call immediately because I didn¡¯t want to wake Lin Yixin up. It was Beiming Xue¡¯s number. "Big brother?" Beiming Xue asked softly. I smiled. "Hi, Beiming. Long time to see." "Yeah!" Beiming Xue¡¯s voice grew relaxed. "Are you sleeping, big brother?" "Almost. I just lay down on the bed." "I heard that Sister Lin Yixin went to Xinjiang to look for you. Is that true? Is she with you right now?" "Yep," I replied casually. However, my answer got a not-so-casual reply as Beiming Xue¡¯s tone climbed several decibels. "I knew it! You¡¯re sleeping with Sister Lin Yixin! Hmph, your daring knows no bounds, big brother¡­" My jaw nearly hit the floor. "It¡¯s not what you think, Beiming!" "Hmph! Only a guilty person would say that¡­" I rolled my eyes. "Fine, yes, I¡¯m sleeping with Yiyi, so? What are you gonna do about it? Bite me?" Beiming Xue: "I want to visit you too, big brother¡­" Me: "I may be heading home very soon, so please hang on just a bit longer, Beiming. I don¡¯t even know how I¡¯m supposed to persuade Yiyi to go home, if you girls show up too, it¡¯ll truly be a mess¡­" Beiming Xue: "You don¡¯t want me anymore, big brother?" "It¡¯s not like that¡­" "What are you doing right now, big brother?" "Er, going to bed?" "Don¡¯t touch Sister Lin Yixin, or you¡¯ll be unfaithful to Sister Eve, understand?" "I get it, I get it¡­" ¡­¡­ I hung up and let out a sigh of relief. My back was covered in cold sweat right now. I looked down and saw Lin Yixin pressed up against me and sleeping soundly. The problem was that her towel had been kicked off her person a long time ago, so her naked breasts were literally pressed up against my chest. I nearly lost my mind when the realization struck me. "C-calm down, calm down, Lu Chen. Think of p-p-papayas, yes, sweet, round, pl¡ªno!" The conflict raging in my heart felt strong enough to physically tear me in half. On one hand, my desire was telling me to rock the bed with Lin Yixin right now. On the other hand, I didn¡¯t want to disturb her peaceful sleep, I literally just received a call from Beiming Xue telling me not to do exactly what my heart was telling me to do, and most importantly, I could hear rustling noises from the room next door! Chaos Moon was still awake! "Lin Bing Dou Zhe Zhen Lie Zai Qian¡­" (T/N: He¡¯s muttering and doing religious hand gestures. Each word corresponds to a certain type of hand gesture.) I made the hand gestures of a certain secret sect to steady my mind. Yes, pressed up against my body was the Fruit Knife Goddess of countless weebs¡¯ dreams. Yes, Lin Yixin was completely defenseless and in full display in every sense of the word. And yes, I felt like a demon was tearing my insides right now, but that was no reason to lose control of myself. So, I continued making hand gestures to calm myself¡ª Seal of the Immovable Wisdom King! Seal of the Outer Lion! Seal of the Inner Lion! Seal of the Wisdom Fist! Seal of the Concealed Form! Seal of the Immovable Roots! ¡­¡­ As the seals of the Mantra of Nine Words emerged into existence one by one, I came within one step of cultivating a peerless divine art when Lin Yixin suddenly hugged my neck and raged at me, "What the hell are you doing in the middle of the night? Go to sleep already, bastard!" I dared not say a word in retort. Now that she was awake, I hugged her gently and whispered beside her ear, "Yiyi, can I¡­" Lin Yixin cut me off murderously, "You can try!" Me: "..." "Idiot¡­" Suddenly, Lin Yixin deflated and sighed quietly. "Why did you fall in love with me even though you already have Sister He Yi? If one day you come to love me and me alone, then¡­" She turned her back on me and started sobbing quietly. I hugged her wordlessly from behind. "Little Cheat." "Hmm?" "Do you love me?" "Mn." She turned around, returned my embrace, sobbed, smiled, and sobbed again. "If I could go back in time and start this over, I might have chosen to not fall in love with you¡­" I said quietly, "We¡¯re going to have to book a room for you tomorrow¡­" "Oh? Why¡¯s that?" she said with a smirk. I rubbed my nose and answered honestly, "You¡¯re a girl. You¡¯ll never understand what it means to have a raging boner all night¡­" Lin Yixin: "..." ¡­¡­ The next day early morning, sunshine shone through the gaps between the curtains and pricked me to wakefulness. I opened my eyes. Lin Yixin mumbled something incomprehensible in my bosom before looking up and shooting me a dazzling smile. "Did you sleep well last night?" "Mn." I nodded before asking, "Say, when did you put on a pyjamas?" Lin Yixin blushed a bit before replying, "Last night. I was worried that you''d lose control of yourself when you woke up in the morning and saw¡­ so I..." Me: "..." I bent down and kissed her deeply on the lips. Lin Yixin squirmed a bit before hugging me back and meeting my advances. Her arms felt like soft, flexible vines that I wouldn¡¯t mind being trapped in forever. Happiness welled inside my heart. Ever since I was exiled from the China server, I had been forced to live far away from my home and spend the days in coldness and solitude. It wasn¡¯t until this morning that I understood just how wonderful life could be. To be able to wake up to such a beautiful sight first thing in the morning was... All I could say was that I could rest in peace now... My hands automatically slipped down to Lin Yixin¡¯s round, plump butt, causing her to let out a cute whine and shoot me a glare. It didn¡¯t matter though, because all it took was another long kiss to chase away her indignation to god knows where. Eventually, my hands roamed all the way to her firm breasts, and again, she tried to stop me to no avail. "Ngh¡­" A long time later, Lin Yixin finally had to pull away to breathe. Her face was completely red as she panted. My hands were still on her wonderful breasts as she asked me, "How can you act like this is a perfectly natural thing to do? And how much longer are you going to touch me¡­? It feels good, right?" Blushing, I withdrew my hands and pecked her once on the cheeks. "Sorry, you were just too beautiful. And of course it feels very good. Your figure is absolutely exquisite¡­" Lin Yixin smirked cunningly. "So, which one of us has better curves? Me, or Sister He Yi?" Not realizing the trap, I hopped in. "You¡¯re both absolutely amazing!" "Bastard! I knew it! You¡¯ve touched Sister He Yi already!" Lin Yixin exclaimed in mock anger and punched me a couple of times. After she calmed down, she glared at me and asked hesitatingly, "You, you two haven¡¯t done it, right¡­? Hmph!" I hurriedly nipped her dirty thoughts in the bud. "Wow! Cease your overactive imagination, young lady! Eve and my relationship hasn¡¯t progressed that far." "Hmph! Like I¡¯d believe you!" While saying this, Lin Yixin grabbed the pink bra next to her and said, "Turn around. I¡¯m going to change¡­" I replied shamelessly, "I wanna see¡­" Blushing like an apple, she threatened, "I¡¯ll destroy you!" I crossed my arms in front of me and declared, "Do it. I¡¯ll die happy if it¡¯s you¡­" "Pooh! Have you no shame?" "What is shame, if not something to throw out the window?" Seeing that I wasn¡¯t going to change my mind, Lin Yixin had no choice but to give up, sit up and prepare to put on her bra. As promised, I watched her with wide open eyes, and sensing my gaze she ultimately chose to close her own eyes and pretend that I wasn¡¯t there. I opened my eyes even wider, engraving the sight of my cute, gorgeous girlfriend blushing like autumn¡¯s apple and shivering in embarrassment into permanent memory. What other regrets could I possibly have in my life with a girlfriend like this? Rustle rustle... The blanket slid off her person, and after she took off her pyjamas she quickly clipped her bra around her breast. Her movement was quick, but not nearly quick enough to flash me a sight that stunned me so much that I felt like time itself had frozen. How did I ever get the crazy idea that I had already seen everything from porn? There was absolutely no one in my porn stash with curves like Beauty Lin¡¯s. No one... ¡­¡­ After Lin Yixin put on a pink shirt, she shot me a glance and straightened her hair. "Your saliva¡¯s dripping, idiot¡­" Me, still frozen in time: "..." She burst into a giggle before pecking me once on the lips. After she wiped my mouth with a tissue, she started giggling non-stop like she had found a link to her laugh tank. "Oh c¡¯mon, stop laughing already¡­" I was so embarrassed I nearly flew into a rant to protect my dignity. Lin Yixin tossed the tissue casually to the side before glaring at me. "I knew you wouldn¡¯t be able to control yourself. There¡¯s no way I¡¯m spending another night with you, you shameless fella¡­" I retorted as I put on my own clothes, "Excuse me? I had to control myself for the entire night! You think a lesser man could¡¯ve done what I did? You¡¯re the one who¡¯s shameless, Yiyi!" "No, you! Pooh pooh pooh!" ¡­¡­ As we argued, we got off the bed and entered the toilet to brush our teeth and whatnot. After we were fully clothed, we got ready to call Chaos Moon to join us for breakfast. As much as I would like to spend more time with Lin Yixin, time¡¯s a wastin¡¯, and we all needed to get back to the grind. Crack! When I opened the door though, a girl stumbled right into my embrace. It was Chaos Moon. What the fuck? Has she been listening to us outside the door? I opened the way and let Chaos Moon into the room. Then, I interrogated her, "What the fuck were you doing? Were you eavesdropping on us?" Chaos Moon raged, "Do I look like that type of person? Hmph!" I pressed, "If that¡¯s true, then why did you wake up so early?" It was at this moment Chaos Moon smirked evilly. "You¡¯re a boy. You¡¯ll never understand what it means to be kept awake all night¡­" "What the fuck!" It was like someone had nuked my brain. Lin Yixin was also looking as red as an apple. If she heard this, what else did she hear? Were the walls of this hotel made of fucking paper? Like Sherlock Holmes, Chaos Moon¡¯s eyes shifted to the tissue on the ground and smiled meaningfully. "Oh my god, you only did it once the whole night?" Window! I need to open the window and jump out of this building right now! Lin Yixin turned even redder. She might act like a bonafide gangster when she was with me, but Lin Yixin was really as shy as a blooming flower when interacting with other people. There was absolutely no chance she could trade barbs with an actual gangster, and from the looks of it, she was a hair away from punching Chaos Moon. It was way too early in the morning to have a catfight, so I immediately grabbed Lin Yixin¡¯s hand before she could make a mistake and said, "Anyway, let¡¯s go get breakfast already. We still have work to do. Oh, Yiyi, tell us some current updates regarding the China server, will you? I¡¯ve been away from Sky City for too long." She nodded. And so, we went downstairs and out of the hotel to enjoy some authentic northern breakfast. ¡­¡­ Inside a noodle shop beside the streets. Lin Yixin said while playing with her chopsticks, "Contrary to popular belief, Tang Long hasn¡¯t yet been isolated. In fact, he even enjoys a good degree of personal freedom. The investigation is currently facing massive difficulties because he wasn¡¯t the only one involved in this scandal. As it turns out, a couple of Civil Service wire-pullers were involved as well. Long story short, this was an act of interest that involved an entire group of people." I nodded. "I know. It¡¯s our country¡¯s special." Chaos Moon smiled sardonically at that. Lin Yixin continued, "The waters of the three main cities are pretty murky as well. Not long ago, over a hundred big or middle-sized guilds banded together to form an alliance called ¡®Dragons Run Wild¡¯, and the head of the alliance is none other than the vice leader of Sword Lord of Jianghu, Amber Pupil. There are rumors saying that Amber Pupil is Tang Long¡¯s nephew, and the reason he formed this alliance was to help Tang Long in some way. Anyway, the situation in the China server is growing increasingly complex, and the sheer amount of high officials sticking their hands into this matter greatly stalled the investigation on Tang Long." I sucked in a deep breath. "I knew it wouldn¡¯t be so simple. I can¡¯t return to the China server until all these major players are dragged from behind the curtains!" Chapter 1112: Dragonsnake Devil’s Den Lin Yixin cupped her soup bowl and stared at the floating chopped onions for a bit before saying to me, "Lu Chen, I¡¯ll come look for you at Iron Skull Wilderness after I carry Purple Marquis, Lexi and the others past S2, okay?" I grinned but turned down her offer. "Thanks, but you shouldn¡¯t. Sky City has general stores, potion stores, skill trainers and everything. On the other hand, Iron Skull Wilderness is a god-forsaken place where everything¡¯s scarcer and worse, and there are all kinds of unaffiliated players wandering that place. Practically everyone will target you, an affiliated player, if you go there. It¡¯s too dangerous." She huffed at me before slapping the table with her hand. "Didn¡¯t you say that you¡¯re the king of Iron Skull Wilderness? What kind of ruler lets their girlfriend be killed in their own territory?!" Me: "..." Chaos Moon put a hand on Lin Yixin¡¯s shoulder and pushed her back to her seat gently. "Calm down. You know that Lu Chen sometimes boasts things out of proportion. Yes, he gathered a bunch of barbarians to fight against Breeze and Rain, but he¡¯s nowhere strong enough yet to call himself king." I shrugged. "Whatever you say. Anyway, I¡¯m serious, Yiyi. You shouldn¡¯t come to Iron Skull Wilderness. It¡¯s no playground where you can come and go as you please." Lin Yixin simply smirked at me while playing with her new phone. "Don¡¯t worry, I wouldn¡¯t tell you even if I went there. Iron Skull Wilderness can be a den of gods and devils, and I¡¯ll still rise above all opposition¡­" One of the reasons I loved Lin Yixin so much was because of her abundance of confidence. Right now, she looked so lovely that I couldn¡¯t help but say, "You know, maybe we don¡¯t need to book a new room tonight. What do you say?" "I say that you¡¯re out of your mind. We¡¯re booking a new room, and that¡¯s that. I don¡¯t want to disturb your sleep¡­" "Fine, fine. Anyway, give me a knock outside the game once you¡¯ve reached Iron Skull Wilderness. I¡¯ll be sure to afford you my protection." "Mn. But you should take care of yourself first. Do you know how much Breeze and Rain and God of War hate you for killing their VR department chief? I probably don¡¯t need to tell you this, but they both want to kill you to make it up to him. Oh, and let¡¯s not forget about Flowing Cloud. The rumors say that Flowing Cloud was the one who recommended that you be anointed the West King, and that she¡¯s the only reason you were able to get the chance to kill Now and Forever and steal the city map. No matter what she thinks about you, the fact is every Elephant City player is condemning her because of you. Therefore, she will want to take revenge." A beautiful and confident smile crossed Lin Yixin¡¯s face at that moment. "But don¡¯t worry, you just focus on handling God of War and Breeze and Rain. I¡¯ll handle Flowing Cloud myself¡­" Chaos Moon was taking a bite from a pancake when she shivered from head to toe. "Is this how the first wife battles the mistresses in the real world? So scary¡­" I glared at her. "If Flowing Cloud¡¯s my mistress, then who do you think you are, hmm?" Chaos Moon hurriedly bowed her head to drink her soup. "I¡¯m sorry! I knew too much and said the wrong thing! To apologize, I¡¯ll dig a hole and bury myself first thing after I log into the game, I promise!" Me: "..." Lin Yixin: "..." It was at this moment my phone suddenly rang. I looked at the number and noted that it was a number I had just added a while ago; Hickey¡¯s number to be exact. Due to the exorbitant fees of international calls, I told her to avoid calling me unless it was a true emergency. Whatever possessed her to call me now? As expected, a sweet girl¡¯s voice entered my ears the moment I clicked Accept¡ª "Hello?" I cleared my throat before greeting Hickey in English, "Hickey. It¡¯s me. What¡¯s up?" At the same time, I praised myself inside my head. Did you hear that accent, me? I did, me! It was absolutely perfect! You¡¯re so cool, me! However, my response surprised Hickey and somehow gave the idea that she should test out her Chinglish. And by that I meant that she started mixing both languages together. "Boss¡­ please, Breeze and Rain¡­ is moving. Iron Skull Wilderness¡¯ north¡­ a new map¡­ renovate¡­" (T/N: the italics are the English words) Let¡¯s just say that her Chinglish made me regret everything. "Stop, stop! Hickey, just speak normally in English. I¡¯ll get a translator to translate it to me later¡­" "Okay, boss¡­" I passed my phone to Lin Yixin and said, "Help me with this international call, will you? Please speak with her and tell me what happened." Lin Yixin blinked at the impromptu request but accepted my phone. She said in English, "Hello?" Hickey and Lin Yixin began conversing in fluent English that wowed Chaos Moon and shamed me so much I felt like diggin a hole myself. A while later, Lin Yixin hung up and said to me, "This ¡®Hickey¡¯ woman said that a new map called ¡®Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den¡¯ appeared to the north of Iron Skull Wilderness around half an hour ago. Apparently, whoever kills the strongest boss in the map has a 100% chance to drop a special item called ¡®Ascension Proof¡¯, which they can then use to acquire a Divine General Skill immediately. The India server is already on the move, and she¡¯s telling you to get back online as soon as possible because Godkiller needs you to lead them." I clenched my fists as I chuckled. "Hah! I almost cannot believe it. An item that makes someone a Divine General? Tsk tsk, there¡¯s no way I¡¯m giving this Ascension Proof up to anybody." Lin Yixin nodded smilingly. "Mn. Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den is extremely close to Iron Skull Wilderness, so it will take you only less than an hour to get there. It will take India¡¯s Elephant City three hours to get there, longer for Cyan Earth City, and at least 6 hours for the main cities of the China server. The saying ¡®the pavilion closest to the water enjoys moonlight first¡¯ perfectly describes this." Bubbling with happiness, I said, "Hehehe, I can¡¯t believe I¡¯ll have the chance to create my own Divine General one day! Obviously, I¡¯m going to ascend Hickey first!" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes narrowed. "Hmph hmph, this Hickey was a former guild leader of Iron Skull Wilderness, wasn¡¯t she? Not even a foreigner is immune to your perverted ways, hmm?" Chaos Moon giggled and dumped fuel into fire. "I know right? I heard that this Hickey was a mixed blood with Dutch, French and Italian bloodline in her. She¡¯s a super gorgeous babe with milky white skin and even bigger breasts than you, Yiyi, or at least that¡¯s what I think at a rough glance¡­" Lin Yixin sighed deeply. "I¡­" I cut her off before things could get worse. "What the fuck are you girls even on about? Hickey is the guild leader of Sacred Oath, and Warscar is the guild leader of Godkiller. I had combined them both to make a force capable of fighting against Breeze and Rain. As strong as I may appear to be right now, my class advantage will disappear when a large majority of top players attain their eighth promotion in just a week." Lin Yixin nodded. "Yeah. Be careful. I may be able to hit Level 210 after I defeat the S2 instance. I¡¯ll look for you only after I¡¯m eighth-promotion." "Mn. Now let¡¯s wrap up this breakfast already. I need to get back to business!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ After returning to the hotel and booking a new room for Yiyi, I went online immediately. Swhoosh! I immediately found myself surrounded by Godkiller players the moment I appeared at Bonecrush Forest. Hickey walked up to me and said with a smile, "You have a good voice, boss¡­" My mouth twitched at the "praise." "Your Chinese isn¡¯t pretty bad either¡­" "I¡¯m working overtime to learn the Chinese characters and phrases already¡­" Hickey complained with a pout before asking me, "By the way, who was the girl you asked to be your translator, boss? Her voice is melodious, and her English is really fluent. It¡¯s obvious she¡¯s spent some time speaking the language overseas." I smiled. "She¡¯s my girlfriend¡­" Hickey¡¯s mouth fell open in shock. Whatever answer she was expecting, that clearly wasn¡¯t what she expected to hear. Next to her, Warscar mocked her laughingly, "And just like that, pliang! A fragile girl¡¯s heart shattered into a million pieces. What a hammer this is¡­" A murderous-looking Hickey turned around and punched Warscar so hard that he was sent flying. She declared angrily, "Pooh! I told you that I may fall in love with boss, but I will never think to keep him all to myself! He is my most beloved friend, but that is all! Don¡¯t judge our relationship with that perverted middle-aged man¡¯s mind of yours, Warscar!" Warscar pointed at his nose. "Me? Middle-aged? I¡¯m only 27!" "Ask anyone around you if you don¡¯t look like a middle-aged man with that beard of yours. Hey you! What do you all think? Do you think he looks like a young adult?" Every Godkiller player within hearing distance shook their heads and expressed their objection. Warscar wailed and felt his heart shattering into a million pieces as well. ¡­¡­ I brought up the world map and searched for the new map¡¯s coordinates. Just as Hickey had said on the phone, a canyon map with countless caves in it had appeared on the empty plains to the north of Iron Skull Wilderness, just beyond the border. It was none other than the Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den. For now, no one knows what might be waiting inside the map. There could be snakes, dragons, or both. One thing was for certain though, it would be an incredibly dangerous journey. Not only did we have to fight against powerful bosses, we had to deal with powerful enemies like Breeze and Rain and God of War as well. They would never let a chance like this slip by their fingers. To date, there were only 100+ Divine Generals in the entire world. Needless to say, Divine Generals were a very valuable and precious resource. Hickey asked me, "Should we head over now, boss?" I nodded and pointed at the map. "We¡¯ll pass through Hundred Birds Forest and follow the mountain ranges until we arrive at Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den." Warscar exclaimed in astonishment, "Are you sure, guild leader? If we go through Hundred Birds Forest, it¡¯ll take us at least half an hour longer to get there!" Hickey immediately said, "Warscar, if you don¡¯t get boss''s meaning the first time, don¡¯t prod further. Trust me, it¡¯s better for you." "Fine." Warscar nodded. He knew that Hickey and my mind for strategy were tens of leagues ahead of his. His strength lay in charging and breaking through enemy lines, and he trusted us enough that he didn¡¯t need to know every facade of the plan. Hickey and I exchanged a knowing smile with each other. The reason we chose to go around Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den was to avoid Beast Soul¡¯s territory. Beast Trainer absolutely hated our guts right now, and I had every reason to believe that the guy would try to stop us if we entered his territory. Right now, Godkiller¡¯s average strength had become much stronger than Beast Soul¡¯s despite the difference in our guild size. We could handle Level 245+ fiend-rank mobs with little trouble, but they didn¡¯t. Therefore, there was no need for us to try and take them out at all. The mobs would kill them for us as they tried to make their way to Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den. After the decision was made, everyone went through the necessary motions of restocking their potions, repairing their equipment and so on before setting off toward Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den. After an entire day of hard work, Godkiller now had a total player count of 100000 players. We brought every single player with us because a fierce war was sure to break out at Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den. Without sufficient manpower, we wouldn¡¯t be able to challenge Cyan Beast. Chapter 1113: Southern Barbarian Elephant "Roar roar¡­" A Mad Lion Beast slowly collapsed as Warscar pulled his axe violently from its throat. "The way is clear. All we need to do now is to go forward, and we¡¯ll be crossing into Frost Stained Canyon. Should we march right in and head straight to Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den, or should we send a couple of scouts to check out the area first, guild leader?" I made the Ancient Divine Dragon rise slowly into the air while answering, "I¡¯ll scout. You guys wait here until I give you all a signal. More specifically, I¡¯ll be maintaining contact with Hickey while I¡¯m inside the map, so just do whatever Hickey tells you to do. Frost Stained Canyon is a new map, and we don¡¯t know what kind of mob resides in this map. Entering carelessly may result in huge casualties." "Mn." Warscar nodded. He would never question my order. Hickey cautioned. "Be careful, boss!" "I know." The Ancient Divine Dragon let out a guttural growl, and we vanished into the sky as a beam of dark silver light. The wind howled beside my ears as I crouched behind my dragon¡¯s back. I could barely keep my eyes open as I gripped my sword with one hand and held the vine with the other. I also activated Dark Pupils while moving the Ancient Divine Dragon to about 500 yards above the ground where the clouds were. Those on the ground had a slim chance of spotting me, but I could definitely see them with the aid of Dark Pupils. ¡­¡­ The ground was covered in a lush ancient forest. It was as if the whole map had been unearthed from the underground. Many high-level monsters were lurking beneath the large trees and swaying leaves, and while I couldn¡¯t see them clearly from above Dark Pupils gave me a clear insight to their stats¡ª Cyanblade Tiger, a Level 248 fiend-rank mob with super high Attack and low HP. Its body was covered in armor that looked like cyan-colored blades. Southern Barbarian Elephant, a Level 250 fiend-rank mob with super high HP and pretty good Attack. It was a hard-hitting tank, and it wouldn¡¯t be easy to defeat. Dark Hunter, a Level 250 fiend-rank mob with a humanoid appearance. It was a wandering assassin with concealment abilities, and it killed its opponent by ambushing them with a dagger. ¡­¡­ Basically, the mobs here were much stronger than both the mobs in Bonecrush Forest and Zephyr Valley. The average player would find it difficult to traverse this map, but thankfully the Godkiller guild had surpassed the average line a while ago, not to mention that we had 21k Zephyr Cavalrymen and a good number of priests. At the very least, they wouldn¡¯t be one-shot by a Level 250 fiend-rank mob. I flew almost five kilometers before drawing a route on the world map. Then, I shared it with Hickey and said, "Follow this route to the point I marked, Hickey. Relatively speaking, it¡¯s the route with the least amount of mobs. Also, tell everyone to avoid killing the mobs as much as possible. We are for the Ascension Proof in Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den, not grinding the new map." Hickey replied, "Got it. Stay in touch!" "Yeah!" Suddenly, a bunch of red dots appeared from the southwest corner of the map. They were obviously players. I immediately turned a corner and flew toward their location. When the clouds parted in front of me, I was greeted by the sight of a ton of unaffiliated players. They numbered around twenty thousand, and they were led by none other than Beast Trainer himself. The Beast Soul players were slowly pushing their way through an area that was overflowing with Southern Barbarian Elephants, a Level 250 fiend-rank mob. This wouldn¡¯t be easy for them. "Roar roar¡­" A Southern Barbarian Elephant let out an earthshaking roar as it thrust its sharp tusk upward and skewered an unfortunate player. It then raised its forefeet, used a skill called Stamp and killed an entire group of magic knights. The Level 250 fiend-rank mob possessed an incredible Attack, not to mention that the average level of Beast Soul¡¯s players was only 180 or so, and a large majority of them weren¡¯t even seventh-promotion. There was no chance they could¡¯ve survived a Level 250 fiend-rank mob¡¯s rampage. "Stop the seven elephants over on that side! Archers, work harder! Slow them with Freezing Arrows and CC them with Shock Arrows! Mages, focus them down with Touch of the Dragonkiss! Don¡¯t let our frontliners die for nothing! Also, do not steal the dead¡¯s equipment, you fucking idiots! Who do you think is tanking the elephants for you? Those who died, run back to your corpse as soon as possible and continue tanking the mobs! The guild promises to compensate you 100 gold for each time you die!" Even from where I was, I could see green veins popping on Beast Trainer¡¯s face. He continued ordering, "Make sure you attack in echelons! No matter what happens, we must enter Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den ahead of Godkiller and become the first guild to have a Divine General in Iron Skull Wilderness!" Next to him, his vice leader, an archer, asked, "What do we do if the Indians come to Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den too, boss? We may not be a match for them, and they gave us 1000 Beast King mounts when we signed a contract of alliance with them. Are we sure we want to go against our own ally?" Beast Trainer sneered. "Ally? A contract of alliance is just a method to deceive your opponent. From the beginning, Breeze and Rain was just using us to put a dent on Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s growth in Iron Skull Wilderness. Let me put it this way: if Breeze and Rain tries to take Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den from us, then they are the ones who break the contract first, not us!" The archer smiled. "I understand. The guild leader is wise!" ¡­¡­ I stifled a chuckle as I eavesdropped on their conversation. The country bumpkins of Beast Soul had no idea about the kind of trouble they were walking into. This was just the edge of Frost Stained Canyon, and they were already dying in droves. So what if they ultimately managed to enter Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den ahead of us? All that would achieve was the boss camping their dead bodies. Beast Trainer was right to say that a contract of alliance was just another method to deceive one another though. Good power and judgment were the two elements that truly determined the winds of war, not an ally¡¯s promise. I sent a message to Hickey: "Beast Soul has entered Frost Stained Canyon. They¡¯re close to coordinates (11237, 00387), which isn¡¯t too far away from our forces. Be careful, and try to avoid crossing paths with them as much as possible. There is no need to waste any energy on them when the mobs will take them out for us." Hickey chuckled. "Got it!" With that done, I turned the Ancient Divine Dragon around and flew toward the center of Frost Stained Canyon. Even from afar, I could see that a sheen of silver that looked like some sort of frost stain had covered the ground. It was obviously how Frost Stained Canyon came by its name. The ground was crawling with all sorts of animals and worms, and there was a necropolis to the right where countless undead creatures roamed the land. There was a tall mountain range at the heart of the map, and at the bottom of it was a pitch black cave with seemingly no end. It was obviously the Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den. I was about to order the Ancient Divine Dragon to get a closer look when an unnatural gust of wind suddenly blasted my face. A dozen or so flying mobs had detected our presence and were attacking us! They were bats with sharp teeth and a wingspan of about two meters. They made screeching noises, and the text above their heads stated¡ª Dark Bats (Fiend) Level: 255 Attack: 19000~25500 Defense: 22000 HP: 2500000 Skills: Bite, Dark Gouge, Dark Net ¡­¡­ "Jie jie¡­" The dozen of Dark Bats let out a horrible screech before chomping their teeth around the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s forelegs at once, eliciting an immediate cry of pain. Although I didn¡¯t lose too much HP, the one attack had cost me a total of 15% mount tenacity. This cannot continue! I moved my dragon to the back and used Thousand Ice Slash! Bang! The skill froze more than half of the Dark Bats, and I hurriedly beat a hasty escape. The airspace of Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den was clearly not a place to linger around. I kept withdrawing while slashing at the pursuing Dark Bats, leeching as much HP as I could. In the end, I was barely able to escape with 40% left in my HP bar. I let out a sigh of relief as some of the mobs turned into many tiny pieces. The Ancient Divine Dragon was strong, but in the sky, not even a god could battle against a whole group of mobs and leave unscathed. "What is your progress, Hickey?" I turned on the communicator and asked. Hickey replied while panting heavily, "We¡¯re currently killing some Southern Barbarian Elephants. We¡¯ve been following the route you marked, and we are about an hour away from Dragonsnake¡¯s Devil Den. Taking the time we spent to clear the mobs into consideration, we should arrive at our destination in two hours or so. What about you, boss? I saw your HP bouncing up and down on the party screen just now. Were you attacked by enemy players or something?" I shook my head. "No, I almost got killed by some aerial mobs!" Hickey: "..." ¡­¡­ While I was retreating, another group of red dots appeared at the edge of the world map. It was again another group of enemy players. I ascended above the clouds and scanned the ground with Dark Pupils. I saw a man riding through the forest with a cautious expression and speaking to his subordinates, "We are about 10 minutes away from Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den. There are Level 250+ fiend-rank mobs everywhere in this map, so let¡¯s take this slow and prioritize our own safety. Also, send out the assassins to scout out the map. I want to know every corner of Frost Stained Valley. This Ascension Proof is Cyan Earth City¡¯s!" "Yes, vice leader!" Obviously, the young man was none other than the vice leader of Cyan Beast and the second strongest player of Cyan Earth City, Breeze and Rain himself. Breeze and Rain had shown up far earlier than expected, and after some thinking I arrived at the only answer. The Agility Warrior was already marching into Iron Skull Wilderness a couple of hours ago, but halfway toward his destination, the system suddenly announced the generation of Dragonsnake¡¯s Devil Den. He was already on his way to conquer Iron Skull Wilderness anyway, so he thought that he might as well take care of Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den first. It was bad. Beast Soul might not possess the strength to threaten Godkiller, but Cyan Beast was a completely different story. ¡­¡­ "Boss? Why did you fall silent all of a sudden?" Hickey asked me. I replied solemnly, "Cyan Beast has entered the center of Frost Stained Canyon. They¡¯ll reach Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den in half an hour at most¡­" "What?" Hickey exclaimed in shock, "How did they arrive so quickly?" "How else? They must¡¯ve already been marching to attack us a couple of hours ago. Anyway, I don¡¯t know their exact numbers yet, but I can tell you that there are a lot of them. Be careful and send out the assassins to scout the area. Don¡¯t let Cyan Beast ambush us." "Got it. When are you coming back, boss? We need you here." "I¡¯m coming back right now." "Got it. We¡¯ll be waiting!" ¡­¡­ I made my way back to Godkiller. Despite my aerial advantage, assassins were ultimately more suited for scouting. Assuming that the sky was clear, all the enemy needed to do was to look up to spot me. And even if that wasn¡¯t the case, Entering the wrong airspace meant that I would have to endure the Dark Bats¡¯ harassment. It simply wasn¡¯t worth the effort. A while later, I glided back down to the Godkiller players and slashed a Southern Barbarian Elephant in the process. Hickey let out a sigh of relief at the sight of me and said, "It takes too long to kill the elephants. Their Defense is just insane!" Warscar also commented, "Hickey¡¯s S2 set is more geared toward defensive than offensive. She just doesn¡¯t have your firepower, guild leader!" Hickey pouted. "You realize that your comparison is skewed, right? How many people do you think have our boss''s firepower?" After that, she looked to the distance and said, "Oh right, how are we going to deal with Breeze and Rain and Cyan Beast, boss? Do we focus on contesting the Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den, or?" Warscar gave his axe a swing. "It¡¯s simple. All we need to do is to cut off Breeze and Rain¡¯s head!" I rolled my eyes at his simple-minded suggestion. "If only it was that simple¡­" I looked at Hickey and ordered, "Send out some high-level assassins to scout out their location and figure out their exact numbers." "Okay. What do we do after that?" "After that¡­" I thought for a moment before clenching my fists in determination. "We kill them all in three hours, no matter how many troops Breeze and Rain brought with him!" Chapter 1114: Bloodthirsty Demon A morning fog came over Frost Stained Canyon. "All units, shrink the formation! Don¡¯t spread out too much!" Hickey shouted while riding along the edges of Godkiller¡¯s formation, causing the players on the outside to withdraw immediately and move closer to one other. The move increased the density of our firepower and minimized the chances of our coordinates being exposed to the enemy. While Breeze and Rain¡¯s troops had high levels and great equipment, they ultimately weren¡¯t residents of Iron Skull Wilderness. They were much less familiar with the terrain than Hickey or Warscar. Swhoosh! I fired Thousand Ice Slash and froze a group of Cyanblade Tigers. A group of screaming vikings immediately rushed forward and cut them down to size. Thanks to their Berserk talent, there was no such thing as a mob they couldn¡¯t kill with sheer numbers. The dead mobs generously donated us a good number of items as well. It was at this moment a cavalryman rode up to me. He was a human warrior and a former subordinate of Hickey¡¯s. He said in a respectful tone after dismounting, "Guild leader, a new party of players is approaching us from the south slightly to the east. They belong to Iron Skull Wilderness." I oh¡¯d in acknowledgement before asking for details, "Which guild do they belong to?" "Bloodlust." "What? Bloodlust is here?" Hickey exclaimed in astonishment when they heard this. I asked, "Hickey? Is Bloodlust a powerful guild?" She nodded. "Yeah. Half a year ago, when I first entered Iron Skull Wilderness, I interacted and clashed with Bloodlust a couple of times. In terms of player numbers, they are a strong guild we cannot afford to underestimate. The guild leader of Bloodlust, Bloodthirsty Demon, used to be a top expert of the German server. Later on, he rejected his in-game nationality and became an unaffiliated player. He¡¯s famous enough that he managed to rally a ton of Iron Skull Wilderness players to his wings, and he currently has almost 200k players under his command. One might say that at least 20% of all unaffiliated players in Iron Skull Wilderness belong to Bloodlust. They are a super powerful force we must watch out for." I gritted my teeth. "Understood¡­" Warscar asked me, "What do we do with these people, guild leader? Do we take the fight to them and destroy them, or?" I shook my head. "No, our biggest enemy is still Breeze and Rain and his Beast King Cavalry, not to mention that we don¡¯t know if God of War is joining him. We¡¯ll see what happens when we encounter Bloodlust. Don¡¯t provoke or attack them unless they do it first, okay? Anyone who does that will have to answer to me!" "Er, okay!" ¡­¡­ About five minutes later, the thunder hooves came from the forest nearby. Then, a couple hundred Level 190+ metal-armor players riding gray warhorses burst into the clearing. Their levels were fairly high, and they weren¡¯t too weak even compared to our core players. Leading them was a young man wielding a broadsword. He was a Level 201 rider, and his ID was Bloodthirsty Demon. He was of course the leader of Bloodlust. One only needed to see his prideful expression and cold confidence to know that he was a top expert. Bloodthirsty Demon looked at the Godkiller players who were fighting the mobs and sneered, "So Godkiller arrived first, huh? Where¡¯s Hickey? Step out and speak to me!" Hickey walked out of our ranks and said indifferently, "Bloodthirsty Demon, you and your goons came here for the Ascension Proof, didn¡¯t you? Hmph! You do know that we aren¡¯t the only forces in Frost Stained Canyon, right? A huge number of Indian players are coming in from the north side of the map already." Bloodthirsty Demon chuckled. "Oh, I know. That is exactly why Godkiller will stay put, right?" Hickey gritted her teeth. "What do you mean by that?" Bloodthirsty Demon pointed his sword at her. "You heard my meaning loud and clear. Even if I disregard the fact that you¡¯re intruding upon my territory, you guys are too pussy to engage the Indians! Strongest force in Iron Skull Wilderness my ass, cowardly rats like you people will never accomplish anything in your life!" Hickey exploded. "Bullshit!" Hickey abruptly charged Bloodthirsty Demon and thrust her sword at her opponent¡¯s chest. The latter acted even faster and charged right past Hickey, causing her attack to miss. Not only that, he swung his shield at her sword arm and sent her stumbling to the back with his incredible Strength. Hickey¡¯s reaction was no slower than her opponent¡¯s however. She retaliated with a Barrier Break to the shield that dealt an incredible amount of damage¡ª 133229! Angered by her retaliation, Bloodthirsty Demon exploded, "You are courting death!" He raised his sword and executed Triple Slash + Earth Shattering Slash combo. The combination of single-target skill and AoE skill prevented Hickey from dodging. "Ngh¡­" Hickey¡¯s eyes burned with fighting spirit despite her dire predicament. First, she parried the first two hits of the Triple Slash and ate the third hit with her shoulder. Then, she leaped away from her mount before Earth Shattering Slash could land and kicked Bloodthirsty Demon in the chest, somehow canceling his skill before it could take effect. However, her opponent¡¯s Triple Slash still dealt almost 90k damage to her. Hickey was more skilled than Bloodthirsty Demon, but both her equipment and her abilities were lousier. It was why she was still at a disadvantage here. Meanwhile, Bloodthirsty Demon raised his weapon and exploded again. "You asked for this, Hickey! Don¡¯t blame me for killing you!" Seven rays of light suddenly shone from the tip of his blade before he thrust out at her as quick as lightning. "Eat this! Fleeting Shadow Seven!" "Ah?" Hickey wasn¡¯t expecting Bloodthirsty Demon to know such a skill, and the man was moving too fast for her to dodge. She crossed her sword in front of her and used Guard, but there was still a great chance that she would die here. Whoosh! It was at this moment a dragon suddenly blotted Hickey¡¯s vision. It was me coming to her rescue on the Ancient Divine Dragon, of course. She watched the bloody Sunchaser Cloak flapping behind my back and said smilingly, "You sure took your time, boss¡­" I activated Great Earth Transformation and Guarded with the Dragon Shield. I wanted to see exactly how powerful this so-called Bloodthirsty Demon really was! Bang bang bang¡­ My shield rocked 7 times in a row, and each time I dropped about 30k HP. Even I couldn¡¯t find fault with Bloodthirsty Demon¡¯s Attack. Unfortunately for him, I had a total HP of 600k. There was no player in the world who could one-shot me. "Who are you!? How dare you interfere with my duel!!" The arrogant man didn¡¯t care who I was at all. He thrust a Barrier Break at my shield clearly intending to kill me first and "talk" later. I had a clear view of his movements, so I easily zigzagged around the attack and knocked his sword to the side. After he was open, I punched him in the chest with a bloody fist! My fully-powered punch knocked him backward and dealt over 40k HP, causing his mouth to fall open. I did it to show him that I could hurt him much, much worse had I attacked him with my weapon. "Guild leader!" A group of high-level Bloodlust players immediately unsheathed their weapons and came to their guild leader¡¯s rescue. Bloodthirsty Demon¡¯s sword also glowed with the light of Triple Slash again. Whoosh whoosh... I urged the Ancient Divine Dragon to back away about a dozen or so steps before making a hand seal with my left hand. As light erupted from my person, I growled out, "Myriad Swords Obliteration!" Swhoosh! A silver sword blast flew into the sky, and the next moment a couple thousand silver blades fell indiscriminately on the ground in front of me! Bang bang bang... Dust flew everywhere as the silver blades pierced armor and shield with equal ease. Not only did they deal incredible damage to the pursuing players, a couple of them were one-shot where they stood. Even Bloodthirsty Demon himself had dropped to low health. ¡­¡­ "Enough!" I abruptly shouted and pointed my sword at Bloodthirsty Demon. "Godkiller wasn¡¯t going to be your enemy, so if you know better, you¡¯ll stay the fuck away. No one will stop you from entering Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den, but provoke us again and you will regret it!" Bloodthirsty Demon licked the blood on his lips before sneering, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? You¡¯re the Chinese boy who recruited Warscar and Hickey? Very well, I¡¯ve memorized your face. When I¡¯m done with Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den, I¡¯ll come to you and teach you a real lesson. Just watch, we always repay our debts!" Finally, Bloodthirsty Demon shouted to the players behind him, "Move to the east and avoid Godkiller! We¡¯ll enter Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den from the side!" The tense atmosphere finally relaxed a little. Everyone was watching Bloodlust with wary eyes, and I was especially afraid that Warscar would lose his shit and rush them again. Thankfully, he managed to restrain himself this time. I should make sure to praise him later. ¡­¡­ As a seemingly endless stream of cavalrymen, archers, mages, priests and more streamed past our party, I couldn¡¯t help but admit that Bloodlust had a good reason to believe that he could obtain the Ascension Proof. I counted at least 200k troops that were marching to Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den. Bloodlust was literally going all out. Hickey¡¯s eyes shone with wisdom as she stared at Bloodlust¡¯s backs. "There are many Famous Generals in Iron Skull Wilderness, but not a single Divine General. Bloodthirsty Demon has always thought himself to be the strongest expert of Iron Skull Wilderness, and I¡¯m willing to bet that he¡¯s willing to do anything to get the Ascension Proof." I gritted my teeth. "It¡¯s fine. Tell everyone to resume the march and stay patient. Don¡¯t you worry, Hickey, that Ascension Proof will be yours!" Hickey giggled. "Thank you in advance¡­" Chapter 1115: Beautiful Man-eating Flowering Vine On the map, the Cyan Earth City players streaming in from the north looked like a gigantic red python of endless length. Heaven knows how many players Breeze and Rain had mobilized to attack us. If the Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den hadn¡¯t appeared out of nowhere, they would¡¯ve been able to apply the full strength of their army on us. There was another force streaming toward Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den from the opposite direction, and it was of course Bloodlust. Bloodthirsty Demon wouldn¡¯t surrender the Ascension Proof to anyone, so it was only a matter of time before he battled Cyan Beast. A great war was upon all of us. ¡­¡­ I turned off the map and looked to the front. "We can¡¯t afford to wait any longer. We must be elsewhere the moment Bloodlust and Cyan Beast engage each other. Let¡¯s move faster." "Understood." Hickey nodded affirmatively. Warscar looked at the brothers and sisters behind him before asking, "Guild leader, our 20000 elite Zephyr Cavalrymen are strong enough to fight Cyan Beast, right?" I shook my head. "Let¡¯s just say you need to work harder. Not even my Dragonlight Cavalry dare say that they can defeat 250k Beast King Cavalrymen in a direct confrontation, to say nothing of your 20k Zephyr Cavalry who abandon Defense for Attack. Well, it¡¯s not completely hopeless. If we can catch them by surprise then¡ª" "Let¡¯s do that then!" Warscar interrupted me with a highly spirited shout. Hickey looked like she was about to strangle Warscar. "Do you think that the enemy will just wait around for us to move into position and ambush them? It takes timing and opportunity to pull off an ambush, you idiot¡­" I pointed to the front. "We can go through here and arrive at the edge of Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den where their battlefield is set. Er, does anyone know what this basin-like canyon is called?" Warscar replied, "Grass Vine Canyon¡­" Hickey replied, "Huh. It is called Grass Vine Canyon. Its mob composition is an enigma though¡­" I raised my sword. "Doesn¡¯t matter. We¡¯ll know once we get there. Let¡¯s go!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ The Ancient Divine Dragon and Phantom Wolf King stood at the forefront of the party. I also summoned my apparition, who was riding an Ancient Divine Dragon of its own. It was such a powerhouse that Hickey arranged three dedicated priests and joked that it was the strongest war god of the entire Godkiller besides myself! As we sped up our march, the land kept declining until we arrived at what seemed like a dry lake. Actually, judging from the cracks on the floor, it definitely was a dry lake that had turned into a canyon due to a powerful magician¡¯s spell or whatever. If it was summer season inside the game, then a heavy downpour could easily turn this canyon into a lake once more and give us the opportunity to set up a flood or something. Unfortunately, it was currently spring. The occasional drizzle might not even be enough to wash one¡¯s face, much less flood an army. Rustle rustle... Suddenly, the dry ground ahead of us swelled up like a ball before bursting into huge flowering vines. It had a red name, so it was obviously a mob. An unfortunate magic knight who happened to be closest to it let out a bloodcurdling scream as the flowering vines tangled around and pulled him toward a particularly huge flower. The huge flower revealed its sharp, toothy stamen, and a second later, the magic knight was swallowed just like that. We could see the magic knights struggling and hear him screaming for help inside the flower bud. Judging from the speed at which his health was dropping, he would be digested by the man-eating flower¡¯s bodily fluids in at most two minutes. I waved the Purple Ying Sword and ordered, "The Beautiful Man-eating Flowering Vine is a Level 255 fiend-rank mob. It cannot move, but it will attack anything that enters its range. It can devour 3 players at most. Archers, mages, the time to show your worth is now! Attack it from range and wipe them out as fast as you can! Priests, keep healing the devoured frontliners. The mob doesn¡¯t have enough Attack to one-shot them. This is your chance to earn a ton of experience!" Everyone rushed toward the mobs upon hearing my order. The Zephyr Cavalry charged the Beautiful Man-eating Flowering Vines fearlessly and unleashed their Barrier Breaks. However, many of them were devoured by the mobs. Godkiller would have to rely on their archers, mages and tamers to be the main damage dealers this time. I made the Ancient Divine Dragon move again and again as I attacked a plant of my own. The mob kept trying to devour me, but it kept missing and ate only mouthfuls of soil. If the mob could feel, I bet it would die from sheer anger and frustration. Less than half a minute later, the Phantom Wolf King and I successfully killed it without suffering a single scratch! Hiss hiss¡­ The mob dropped three pieces of equipment when it died. Hickey picked them up with a wide smile on her face, "This drop rate is insane! It dropped two Outstanding Spirit-grade and one Earth-grade item. Boss, is it your Luck, or is it the mob¡¯s drop rate? Heehee¡­" I replied, "Of course it¡¯s the mob¡¯s drop rate. Even with my Luck, I could only get a normal mob to drop two pieces of equipment at most. Three is definitely an anomaly¡­" "Yeah." A few minutes later, after the other players managed to kill their Beautiful Man-eating Vines, cries of pleasant surprise broke out everywhere. As expected, the mob had a ridiculous, near 100% item drop rate. Although the quality of the equipment varied drastically, it didn¡¯t change the fact that they dropped a ton of equipment. For a poor land like Iron Skull Wilderness, they were worth a fortune. Unaffiliated players were all lost people with poor equipment, poor supplies, and poor skills because they usually didn¡¯t meet the skill requirement. Naturally, their ability to kill mobs and drop good items sucked. Even now, some Zephyr Cavalrymen were still wearing "legendary" tier equipment... Dark Steel and Bronze¨Cgrade. I even saw a white goddamned Common-grade item on a female knight¡¯s wrists. I examined the Grass Vine Canyon for a moment before saying with a smile, "Let¡¯s sweep this area completely. We still have some time, and a chance like this doesn''t come by everyday. Everyone¡¯s equipment should jump a grade at least by the time we clean out this Grass Vine Canyon." Hickey agreed. "I think so too." ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a blond-haired middle-aged man walked up to a dead Beautiful Man-eating Flowering Vine, crouched down and procured some dark green blood with a pair of tweezers. "Oh, this is¡­" Hickey called out to him, "Did you find something, Uncle Nick?" Uncle Nick looked up with a grin. "Boss, I think this green blood is some sort of gatherable fuel. If I remember correctly, China has a siege weapon called the White Marsh Catapult, right? One of the ingredients used to make its payload is this mob¡¯s blood. It says here that it has incredible explosive power, and it''s a Rank 10 Alchemy material. It¡¯s too bad that my secondary profession is Foraging, not Alchemy¡­" "It¡¯s of no use to us then," Hickey said. Uncle Nick nodded. "Yeah." It was at this moment there was a sudden explosion from somewhere. More accurately speaking, the blood of the mob had caught on fire and burned one of our magic knights with it. The poor guy was screaming and losing HP like crazy, and although our priests were doing their best to heal he was coated in a sizable amount of vine blood. I hurriedly moved toward the guy while shouting, "Get me a few mages over here and switch to free attack mode! Hit him with Arctic Rain to extinguish the fire!" "Oh!" Three mages immediately did as ordered and dropped an Arctic Rain on the magic knight, extinguishing the flames on his person almost immediately. I thought that it would work. In this virtual world, ice magic could extinguish almost any fire. Not far away from the magic knight, the inferno surrounding a mob¡¯s body quickly died under the effects of Arctic Rain as well. "What happened?" Hickey asked concernedly. Warscar made a wave before answering, "One of our mages was attacking the mob with Fire Dragon Spell, and ten seconds later, the fluid in its body suddenly caught fire and burned up. It was terrifying. Its blood is just the same as oil. It explodes into flames once its temperature exceeds the combustion point¡­" I chuckled. "That¡¯s amazing. Are you absolutely sure we can¡¯t gather this?" Hickey shook her head. "We don¡¯t even have enough production players, not even those that focus on secondary professions." I replied regretfully, "That¡¯s a shame. Oh well, let¡¯s continue. All units, avoid using fire-type skills on the mobs. Barrier Break and Earth Shattering Slash are fine, but Fire Dragon Spell or Firewall is a no-no." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ We continued forward. It took around one and a half hours, but we finally reached the end of Grass Vine Canyon. The inner area was positively chock-full of Beautiful Man-eating Flowering Vines, and their experience wasn¡¯t too far behind their insane drop rate. Thanks to their beautiful sacrifice, almost every Zephyr Cavalryman had been able to upgrade one or two of their equipment pieces. It was at this moment an assassin shouted to me, "Guild leader, I just received news that Bloodlust and Cyan Beast are fighting in a forest about five kilometers away from here!" My gaze sharpened. "Very good! Hickey, Warscar, assemble all our Zephyr Cavalrymen and tell them to stand by! The rest of you, remain in Grass Vine Canyon and clear out the last Beautiful Man-eating Flowering Vines. This is God¡¯s gift to us, and we will do well not to waste it, haha¡­" Everyone answered affirmatively, "Yes, guild leader!" ¡­¡­ Ten minutes later, all 20000 Zephyr Cavalrymen had assembled in front of me. A large majority of them were vikings with the Berserk talent. I, Hickey and Warscar would be leading them. Their morale was sky-high since their levels and equipment had gotten a lot stronger than before, and once I grounded it with solid battle experience, they would truly be ready to face anything. As of now, the Zephyr Cavalry was still too inexperienced in the art of war, and the only way to get them ready was to put through them a great war like nothing they had ever seen. They were my most loyal subordinates in this foreign land. I would make sure that they transformed into elite warriors that could take down ten players on their own! "Let¡¯s go!" I led at the forefront and flew the Ancient Divine Dragon about five to six meters above ground. It was so that everyone could see me from behind and take it to heart. Hickey and Warscar followed closely behind me. ¡­¡­ "Boss¡­" Hickey suddenly called out to me. "Hmm?" "I just received news that Bloodlust has engaged the Beast King Cavalry in positional warfare. They¡¯re at the height of their battle right now. We cannot allow this opportunity to slip past us!" I nodded smilingly. "I know, but it¡¯s still wiser to act after we learned more about the battle situation. The Zephyr Cavalry is best used as a hit-and-run mobile force. Therefore, we need to gather enough information first to avoid being surrounded by a bigger enemy." Hickey burst into a giggle. "Alright. I understand now why the Indians and Japanese all say that the Little Heavenly King of China is a cunning, wicked and despicable bastard. It¡¯s all true¡­" Me: "The fuck? Who¡¯s the bastard who spread evil rumors about me¡­" Chapter 1116: Hitting the Snake at Its Weak Point We galloped for five kilometers. Battle cries were breaking out from the forest directly ahead of us, and flashes of skills constantly peeked from the gaps in the foliage. Cavalrymen were slamming into one another, mages were going on a rampage, and even archers were displaying a surprisingly solid ability to kill. When I parted the thick leaves blocking my sight, I was greeted by a most stunning sight. On one side of the clearing, Bloodthirsty Demon was charging Cyan Beast¡¯s formation with tens of thousands of cavalrymen. On the other, Breeze and Rain was doing the same thing with almost one hundred elite Beast King Cavalry. At the back of both forces, archers and mages were providing their frontliners with firepower, and priests were casting healing spells like the rain. Number-wise, Bloodlust wasn¡¯t too behind Cyan Beast. Bloodthirsty Demon had brought everyone in his guild on a do-or-die gamble, and Breeze and Rain had brought 100000+ Beast King Cavalrymen and 100000+ ranged and support classes as well. All in all, their total numbers were very similar. However, Bloodlust¡¯s individual combat ability was far weaker than Cyan Beast¡¯s. In just a couple of charges, many of their frontliners had died atop their own pools of blood. Face looking as red as a tomato, Bloodthirsty Demon roared on top of his lungs, "Breach their defense line! We must breach their defense line!" Breeze and Rain chuckled. "It¡¯s fine. Let the meat come to the meat grinder!" God of War appeared from behind his troops. He stood at the center of a group of shielders and smiled a kind of confident smile that suggested that Bloodlust was nothing to him. It was the truth. This battle was a cat toying with the mouse from the start. ¡­¡­ "So that¡¯s God of War? OMG¡­" Hickey commented from beside me as she observed the man from super far away. We were crouching, but we weren¡¯t particularly worried that God of War would notice us. Without a skill like Dark Pupils, there was no chance he could see our dots on the map. "Mn. He¡¯s a great fighter with even greater equipment. His individual strength is even greater than Breeze and Rain¡¯s¡­" I commented with a nod. Hickey stuck out her tongue in shock. "Breeze and Rain is already plenty powerful. Just how strong is this God of War exactly?" I gave an example. "He can probably kill Bloodthirsty Demon in three exchanges." "H¡­ how is that even possible?" Hickey¡¯s mouth fell open in clear disbelief. I gave the Purple Ying Sword a small wave. "It¡¯s nothing to be surprised about. I can pull off the same feat if I had tried to go all out against Bloodthirsty Demon earlier. I just don¡¯t want to because Iron Skull Wilderness already does not have the players to throw back the Indians. Also, if I had killed Bloodthirsty Demon earlier, Bloodlust would have surely fought us to the death. We would¡¯ve been in dire straits before the Indians even lifted a finger¡­" Hickey giggled. "Yes, you are right. So, when are we acting?" I activated Dark Pupils and paid attention to everything that was moving on the map. "Not yet. The opportunity still hasn¡¯t arrived yet. Tell everyone to keep themselves concealed as much as they are able." "Okay." ¡­¡­ A short while later, I spotted some unnatural movement on the map. A group of players was moving away from Cyan Beast¡¯s main army and moving to flank Bloodlust from the dense forest to the side. "Fuck!" I hurriedly ascended to the clouds and observed the detachment from above. As I thought, I saw around 20k Lightning Archers running along the forest line. Obviously, Breeze and Rain had borrowed them from Flames of War for his invasion. His tactic became perfectly clear to me at that moment. Breeze and Rain was planning to have the Lightning Archers ambush Bloodlust¡¯s main formation from behind. If they were allowed to succeed, the Beast King Cavalry would run over Bloodlust like a lawnmower. I descended back to the ground and said in a low voice, "It¡¯s time!" Seeing that Hickey was looking at me with a confused expression, I shared my POV with her and explained, "You see these red dots? They¡¯re the ace unit of Flames of War called Lightning Archers. They can fire Lightning Arrows that have an extremely high chance of paralyzing the enemy. If they are allowed to ambush Bloodlust, the latter will crumble in ten minutes tops. Therefore, we are going to help Bloodlust and intercept the Lightning Archers halfway. We will move in parallel to their units and extend the battle line to several kilometers long so we can hit them all at once. We¡¯re faster than they are and we know where they are, so we can definitely pull off this surprise attack successfully!" Hickey nodded. "Got it. Leave the army arrangements to me!" "Mn. When the timing is right, I will swoop down and distract them. The rest will be up to you and Warscar. Make sure you succeed the first time, okay?" "Hee hee, don¡¯t worry!" ¡­¡­ I returned to the sky and paid close attention to everything on the battlefield. Using the dense forest as cover, the Zephyr Cavalry galloped away unnoticed by the enemy until they were about 3 kilometers away from the battlefield. Then, they circled back, moved in parallel with the Lightning Archers, and slowly approached them like some sort of caterpillar track. Beep! Hickey sent me a call request that I accepted. "Boss, we¡¯ll be launching our assault exactly 120 seconds from now." I nodded. "Got it!" I turned on the timer and spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon to the sky again. When there were only 15 seconds left on the clock, I abruptly pulled my mount¡¯s hair and barked, "Now! Get them!" My little dragon let out a mighty roar and charged toward the Lightning Archers. I immediately cast Summon the Storm and showered a group of surprised archers in fatal ice and lightning. Another Coiling Dragon Revolution and Thousand Ice Slash later, I landed in the middle of the Lightning Archers without fear. ¡­¡­ The detachment panicked at the side of me. A high-level commander barked angrily, "The devil¡¯s here! Stun him to death with Lightning Arrows now!" "Haha, come at me!" I pressed my hand to the ground, and 1000 gold departed my pockets in an instant. The ground trembled, and Rise of the Guardian Dragon exploded from beneath the archers. Blood-curdling screams filled the air as several hundred enemies were one-shot again. Of course, it wasn¡¯t like the enemies were doing nothing while I was ravaging them. I only enjoyed a few seconds of freedom before my vision darkened, and I found myself immobilized. The Lightning Arrow¡¯s stun chance was seriously insane. I smiled despite my rapidly declining HP, however. It was because I could already feel the tremor on the ground. A long line of orange dots were riding my way like a hurricane, and the only cavalry with this kind of movement speed besides the Dragonlight Cavalry was the Zephyr Cavalry! As the leaders of the charge, Hickey and Warscar emerged from behind the forest line first and tore right through the Lightning Archers. Behind them, a long line of Zephyr Cavalrymen did the same thing and shredded the enemy¡¯s battle line in many places. "Focus fire!" an archer shouted. The Lightning Archers who weren¡¯t hit yet retaliated with powerful Lightning Arrows that killed many Zephyr Cavalrymen, but we were mowing them down faster than the other way around. In just a moment, blood and gore colored the ground until it looked like the reddest sea in the world. The enemy commander had made the critical mistake of exposing his units for speed. Had he taken the slower but safer approach of navigating through the forest, the cavalry charge wouldn¡¯t have been enough to decide the battle. ¡­¡­ More than half of the 20k-strong Lightning Archer Legion had been killed in less than ten minutes. Berserk gave the Zephyr Cavalry tremendous penetration and destructive power, so there was no chance the archers could have withstood them. At the end of the short skirmish, almost 20000 bodies were left behind on the forest clearing. Only 2000+ Lightning Archers had managed to escape into the forest. "Chase them! Kill them all!" Warscar shouted. This was probably the most exhilarating battle he had ever been in since he joined the game. His viking heritage was on full display at that moment. Swhoosh! However, I descended right in front of Warscar and the Zephyr Cavalry before raising my sword, shouting, "The battle¡¯s over! We will withdraw five kilometers to the north right now!" "But guild leader¡­" Warscar stared at the escaping Lightning Archers reluctantly. Hickey immediately scolded him, "Do you want to die, Warscar? Obey the guild leader¡¯s order!" That broke him out of his stupor and caused him to nod rapidly. "Right, right. Do as the guild leader says! Withdraw!" Already, a group of Beast King Cavalrymen had appeared from the distance. Obviously, Breeze and Rain had learned of the disaster and dispatched them to stop us. I bet he was hopping mad right now. Unfortunately for the enemy, the Zephyr Cavalry was too fast. It only took a moment for the Beast King Cavalry to lose track of them. ¡­¡­ After we passed through a forest and stopped at a different clearing, Warscar complained to me, "Why did you order a retreat, boss? Had we charged into the forest and killed the last couple thousand archers, Cyan Beast would¡¯ve lost their strongest ranged party¡­" I rolled my eyes at him before replying, "2000+ Lightning Archers aren¡¯t enough to threaten a real army, and didn¡¯t you see the Beast King Cavalry who were chasing us? Had we done as you said, they would¡¯ve cut off our retreat and surrounded us. Do you think we can battle Breeze and Rain¡¯s 100000+ Beast King Cavalry and escape unscathed? Would you like to bear that responsibility?" Warscar said sheepishly, "Er, fine. I¡­" Beside him, a corps commander, War Dead, said with a chuckle, "Brother, let¡¯s just do as the guild leader says, okay? It is a fact that his tactics are clean, decisive and extremely effective." Warscar nodded in agreement. "You¡¯re right." ¡­¡­ Smiling, Hickey asked me, "So, we¡¯ve taken out 20000 Lightning Archers and lost less than one thousand men. I bet Breeze and Rain is about to explode. What do we do now, Lu Chen?" I thought for a moment before saying, "Let¡¯s have 10000 archers enter this forest and find a good ambush location. I¡¯m one hundred percent sure the Beast King Cavalry will come after us. By now, Breeze and Rain should¡¯ve figured out that their greatest threat in this canyon isn¡¯t Bloodlust, but us. We are the only ones who can land the fatal blow to their troops." "Got it." ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Warscar pointed to the east. "Boss, look! Those¡­ look like Bloodlust players. Have their forces begun routing already?" I looked at the direction he was pointing. Just as he said, I saw a couple hundred Bloodlust players in tattered clothing running away from the battlefield. They definitely looked like they had been routed for sure. Not long after, our suspicions were confirmed when we saw at least a thousand Beast King Cavalry chasing them from behind. Chapter 1117: Mist Rider "What else are we waiting for? Let¡¯s kill them already! It¡¯s just a thousand Beast King Cavalrymen¡­" exclaimed excited Warscar again. Hickey immediately threw him a death stare. "Did your insanity get hold of you again? Unless you and your brothers want to die, don¡¯t make an order without going through the guild leader!" Warscar coughed embarrassedly. "R-right. Maybe there¡¯s some sort of variable I¡¯m not seeing here." ¡­¡­ I scanned our surroundings with Dark Pupils and saw no enemy except the less-than-2000 Beast King Cavalry within a 3-kilometer range. For once, Warscar was right. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. "Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s safe. Let¡¯s kill them all right now!" I ordered. Warscar and Hickey happily received their orders, and we took off toward the Beast King Cavalry as three armies. The enemies immediately shat their pants when they noticed us. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ This was a cavalry-versus-cavalry battle, and we had the quantity, the quality, and an overwhelming amount of Trapping Nets to keep them from escaping. Also, my Martial God boosted everyone¡¯s Attack by 200%, and Warscar and Hickey¡¯s Knight General boosted their party members¡¯ Attack by 135%. The enemy party leader only had Encourage VII, and their Tactics was so low that their party members¡¯ Attack was only boosted by 87%. Naturally, it was a massacre. ¡­¡­ Battle cries filled the air as the Godkiller players surrounded the Beast King Cavalry from all sides. This time though, I hovered in the sky and didn¡¯t participate in the battle for two reasons: one, I wanted to gauge exactly how strong the berserking Zephyr Cavalrymen were, and two, I wanted to keep an eye on my surroundings just in case the Indians made a move. I was certain that God of War and Breeze and Rain had heard of our coordinates the moment the battle broke out, so I needed to watch out for whatever battle plan they came up with to deal with me. There was a saying "a plan can win a battle a thousand kilometers away¡±.God of War was the man who conquered the India server, but he had lost multiple times in my hands. This battle was the perfect opportunity for both him and Breeze and Rain to take revenge against me, so they would definitely do everything in their power to kill me to Level 0. Even if that might prove to be impossible, they would want to defeat me decisively at least once to sate the desire for vengeance stewing in their hearts. Pu pu pu... Hickey fought like a butterfly who couldn¡¯t be caught. Her battle philosophy was extremely similar to Lin Yixin¡¯s in that she always strived to use the minimum amount of power to strike down the strongest enemy. When she acted, she never missed, and most of the time the strikes were also fatal. Wherever she went, bodies dropped like bundled wheats. On the other hand, Warscar¡¯s battle philosophy was much more forceful. His Berserk talent massively enhanced his strength, and his axe crushed the enemy¡¯s shields to bits like furious thunder. Every Beast King Cavalryman who had the misfortune of going up against him was almost always decapitated. However, the isolated detachment of Beast King Cavalry proved themselves to be incredibly elite despite not being a part of the main force. Working together in groups of threes, fours or fives, they hit the Zephyr Cavalry with coordinated Barrier Breaks and were almost always able to kill them. It was a technique the Zephyr Cavalry simply didn¡¯t possess right now. There was no need to rush things, however. These berserking babies had just begun embarking on their journey of conquest. I could teach them how to work together in small groups after they had learned the most basic offensive and defensive formations. In fact, I didn¡¯t need to do this alone. Hickey¡¯s 1000 Zephyr Cavalrymen were going equal against the Beast King Cavalry, indirectly proving how excellent a commander she was. I was very glad to have her. She made my life a lot easier than it would¡¯ve been. ¡­¡­ The battle ended less than ten minutes later. Not a single Beast King Cavalryman was able to escape. Some of them tried, but I had cut them all down myself. After the battle was over, Hickey watched her surroundings carefully while saying, "The closest graveyard to this location is the one 20 minutes away from here to the south, so they won¡¯t be able to revive immediately. Still, we should withdraw right now, or they may keep us tied up long enough for their reinforcements to arrive. That would be bad." "Yeah. Let¡¯s go!" We escaped to the west and continued roaming the battlefield for better attacking opportunities. ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, Hickey returned from her scouting with a smile on her face. "There¡¯s a ten-thousand-mage party about 1 kilometer away from here. They¡¯re guided by almost 3000 Beast King Cavalrymen. They¡¯re on the move, so we have at most ten minutes to do something to them. So? Do you think we should test this iron plate?" Warscar clenched his fists and looked at me with excitement. "There¡¯s no need to think about this, guild leader! We are all looking forward to a real fight! Also, if we keep ambushing the Indian forces like this and avoiding their main force, they¡¯ll always look down on us even if we win the battle in the end! We need a real battle where we fight them head-on and crush their spirit by force!" I frowned deeply, but Warscar was right. We would never be able to threaten the enemy¡¯s morale unless we engaged them in a true fight. So, I clenched my fists and declared, "Very well, you will have it! We don¡¯t have much time, so we¡¯ll travel at full speed to the east as five 4000-man parties! We will attack them from five different directions! But remember, don¡¯t try to tango with the Beast King Cavalry! Just immobilize them with Trapping Nets and focus on Barrier Breaking the mages! Every kill we score is a step closer toward total victory! Also, always be on the move and don¡¯t linger in one place! The mages will trap with you their ice magic otherwise!" Warscar laughed excitedly. "Roger that!" ¡­¡­ The ground trembled visibly as 20000 Zephyr Cavalry charged toward the east at full speed. I led at the helm of the party to draw the enemy¡¯s firepower and keep an eye on our surroundings. "Roar!" The Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s roar resounded in the air as it swooped over the forest and charged straight toward a group of running mages. Not waiting for a response, I unleashed Thousand Ice Slash + Burning Blade Slash combo immediately. The mages needed to take a nap at the graveyards as soon as possible, or the Beast King Cavalry would become even more threatening than they already were. "Kill!" Furious battle cries broke out from the forest behind me as the Zephyr Cavalry rushed to battle. Led by Warscar and Hickey, they attacked from five different directions, shredded the defense line made of 3000 Beast King Cavalry like nothing, and carved their way into the mages immediately. Thud thud thud¡­ Countless mages became skewered by blazing blades. Berserk protected its user from all status effects for a short time, which was why the Zephyr Cavalry was able to disregard the enemy¡¯s ice magic and run over them like lightning. The poor bastards could only stare in shock as the bane of their existence swooped down on them and claimed their heads as trophies. They couldn¡¯t believe how fast we were moving at all. ¡­¡­ "Lock down their charge with Touch of the Dragonkiss and Galaxy Storm! Fire at will!" a high-level mage shouted from the enemy ranks. Obviously, the element of surprise couldn¡¯t last forever. After the shield came to, it immediately started to defend against the spear in earnest. Countless Zephyr Cavalrymen died under the baptismal fire that was Galaxy Storm, but those who survived were able to tear through their attackers like they were nothing more than a wet tissue. The mages¡¯ HP, Defense and mobility were all inferior to the Zephyr Cavalry¡¯s. Even their one and only advantage, range, was nullified by the fact this was a surprise attack, not your standard positional warfare. For seven minutes, we were able to destroy enemy ranks and rack up our kill count like crazy. Unfortunately, the very first reinforcements coming to the mages¡¯ rescue consisted of God of War himself and tens of thousands of Beast King Cavalrymen. He shouted murderously as he waved his fiery blade, "These barbarians have plagued us for too long! Kill them and show them the true taste of war!" "Shit!" I swore in my head and I barked out an order, "Retreat! Retreat full speed to the east now! Don¡¯t even think to linger!" ¡­¡­ We lost a lot of people, but we also killed a large majority of Cyan Beast¡¯s mages. It was also obvious from the enemy¡¯s pale complexion that we had struck a real blow to their morale. They¡ªor at least the common players¡ªnow knew that they weren¡¯t the only powerful force in Frost Stained Canyon, and that there was at least one force that could challenge and even beat them in a direct battle. Still keeping Berserk active, around 15k Zephyr Cavalry obeyed my order and escaped to the east immediately. While they did this, I protected the rear and killed every enemy who tried to pursue them with Summon the Storm and Myriad Swords Obliteration. Obviously, I needed to minimize our losses as much as possible. As God of War came closer and closer, he activated God of War¡¯s Art and turned every one of his attacks into crits. In fact, he managed to deal 270k+ damage to me with just one long-range sword aura. It was truly ridiculous. "Hickey!" "Yes, boss?" Hickey looked back at me. "What is it?" "Are our 10000 archers in position already?" "Mn!" Hickey brought up her own map and said, "They are lying in wait at Mist Forest right now. It¡¯s currently early morning, and there is morning fog everywhere. Our archers can spot the enemy cavalry with their perception, but not the other way around. We have all the advantage here. In five minutes, we¡¯ll reach Mist Forest and be ready to launch our counterattack!" "Very good!" ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before Mist Forest appeared at the distance. The white fog that looked like a permanent attachment to the trees greatly impeded even my vision. Our 15000 Zephyr Cavalrymen quickly slipped between the trees as the Beast King Cavalry pursued closely behind. "We¡¯re here!" Hickey laughed. I was frowning though. On our way here, I thought that I saw a flickering of red dots on the map while Dark Pupils was active. Was it just my imagination, or¡­? A high-level archer with the Godkiller symbol on his shoulder stepped out of the forest and gave us a wave. "Over here, guild leader! We¡¯re ready!" "Okay¡­" Hickey smiled from the distance. It was at this moment a bloody gash appeared between the archer¡¯s throat without warning. A huge "80128" damage number appeared from the wound, and the archer dropped dead just like that. At the same time, a bloody figure appeared for an instant¡ªthe blood on his blade was as bright as day¡ªbefore vanishing like it was never there. It was obviously a cavalryman! ¡­¡­ "What the fuck? An invisible rider?!" Hickey¡¯s jaw hit the floor in shock. The archer wasn¡¯t the only one who was killed. All of a sudden, bloodcurdling screams started resounding throughout the forest. A group or archers rushed out of their hiding spot and fired Spiraling Arrow Blades behind them, temporarily revealing the stealthed riders in bloody armor behind them. However, the riders vanished into thin air again in just three seconds. It was a goddamned massacre. Over half of the 10000 archers we had hid here were killed in the blink of an eye. ¡­¡­ Hickey stared at the scene slack-jawed for a moment before erupting, "Fuck! The rumors were true after all! I heard that Cyan Beast¡¯s territory has reached Rank 10, and that their territory skill was something called the ¡®Mist Rider¡¯! They could train riders that could turn invisible whenever there was fog in the area! Fuck!" Guilt tore away at my insides as I clenched the Purple Ying Sword tightly. It was my fault for underestimating the enemy. I should¡¯ve predicted that Breeze and Rain would guess that we had ambushers around and come up with some sort of counter, and he did. He had used his Mist Riders to cripple our archer party completely. What do we do now? The Mist Riders were blocking our way, and almost 100000 Beast King Cavalrymen were nipping at our feet. What do we do? Chapter 1118: Ruthless "Dammit!" Ashen-faced, Hickey clenched her fists while saying, "Breeze and Rain figured out our plan and took out our archer party. We ourselves may not be able to escape this place." Warscar raised his axe and declared, "Let¡¯s cut through them!" I nodded. "All units, full speed toward the east! Don¡¯t hesitate! If we don¡¯t breach the encirclement now, it will truly be too late!" "But¡­" Hickey stared at the forest in front of us. "There¡¯s got to be at least 10000 Mist Riders in there. How are we supposed to¡­" "Don¡¯t worry!" I rushed forward and shouted, "Summon the Storm!" A lightning-and-ice storm immediately chased away the fog. Several hundred Mist Riders died to the skill as well. The Cyan Beast special unit might be able to turn invisible, but its Defense was also obviously weaker than heavy cavalry¡¯s. It might be our only hope to breach this encirclement. "Kill! Break out!" Warscar roared as all 15000 Zephyr Cavalrymen raised their weapons and rushed through the forest. Behind us, the 100000 Beast King Cavalry led by Breeze and Rain and God of War were already dangerously close, and those who fell even slightly behind were instantly torn to shreds. The Beast King Cavalry¡¯s combined charge was simply too powerful, so much so that even an ace heavy cavalry like the Dragonlight Cavalry couldn¡¯t treat them as a negligible threat, much less this newly-formed Zephyr Cavalry. ¡­¡­ Boom! My Burning Blade Slash shredded a massive tree and the group of Mist Riders surrounding it. The Zephyr Cavalry beside me also maintained charging speed and ran over the invisible Mist Riders who were in their way. Neither side could claim that it was the most organized battle they had ever fought in, although the Mist Riders definitely hurt us more than we hurt them. All too often, a group of Mist Riders would emerge from the fog and kill an entire row of Zephyr Cavalry, wounding my heart in the process. Hickey stared intently at the mist in front of her before shouting suddenly, "Open your eyes, people! The Mist Rider¡¯s invisibility isn¡¯t absolute! When they move in the fog, their bodies will push aside the fog and form something that looks like a vacuum! That is where the fuckers are at, so hit those spots with Barrier Break and Triple Slash! Trust me!" It was an excellent idea that lifted the fog covering our minds, and Warscar was the first to implement the tactic. He used Quadruple Slash at a fog-less area in front of him and knocked a Mist Rider out of invisibility immediately. One last hit later, the guy was dead where he stood! At the front, the berserking Zephyr Cavalry were doing their best to punch through the Mist Riders as fast as they could. At the back, the Beast King Cavalry inevitably caught up with us and tore chunks from our tail. ¡­¡­ Warscar¡¯s eyes turned red as bloodcurdling screams rang behind us. "Motherfucker! About a thousand of our brothers were caught by the fuckers! What do we do? We can¡¯t leave them behind¡­" I asked sternly, "Do you wish to kill these 100000 Beast King Cavalrymen, Warscar?" "Of course I do! I only wish I could swallow them alive!" "Good. Send a corpse commander and 2000 Zephyr Cavalrymen to cover our rear. They¡¯ll need to buy as much time as possible for our main force to escape this forest." "Got it!" Very soon, over 2000 Zephyr Cavalrymen turned back and countercharged the Beast King Cavalry despite knowing that it was a suicide mission. While the Ancient Divine Dragon was slithering between the trees, I said to Hickey, "Order the players at Grass Vine Canyon to withdraw to Wilderness Trail and light bonfires to confuse the enemy. Also, I want 3000 mages to stay within Grass Vine Canyon, hide themselves in the surrounding forests and stand by for further orders." "Okay?" Hickey blinked but didn¡¯t ask me unnecessary questions. She did as I ordered. ¡­¡­ Some time later, over 10000 Zephyr Cavalrymen burst out of the forest and emerged into a huge clearing. There were two paths we could choose from here. The first one was Grass Vine Canyon, a wide, open space where cavalry could almost gallop at full speed unhindered. The second one was Wilderness Trail, a most narrow and craggy path. In the distance, I saw many Godkiller archers, mages and priests climbing up the hills of Wilderness Trail and brandishing their flags, making it seem like there was almost no one at Grass Vine Canyon. I ordered, "Hickey, take 2000 men with you and leave hoofprints on the path to Grass Vine Canyon. The rest of you, run along the grassland to Wilderness Trail and hide there!" "Yessir!" I led the rest of the troops to Wilderness Trail and hid within its dense forest. A while later, Hickey also returned with her two thousand men and joined us, and not a moment too soon. Everyone felt a suffocating feeling as a sea of Beast King Cavalry rode toward our direction. The 100000-strong Beast King Cavalry was Cyan Earth City¡¯s ace unit, and they absolutely possessed the power and numbers to annihilate all 13k Zephyr Cavalrymen in a direct battle. At best, we would kill about 20k Beast King Cavalrymen before being routed completely. ¡­¡­ Hickey stood next to me with a puzzled expression, "Lu Chen, why are you making us hide here? It¡¯s obvious that this place was frequented by players, not to mention the bonfires we just lit. Once the Beast King Cavalry comes here, it¡¯ll all be over¡­" I answered, "Do you know what the ancient saying ¡®if it''s fake then make it real, if it''s real then make it fake¡¯ means, Hickey?" "I think I get what you mean, but I could use an explanation anyway," Hickey replied. Warscar shook his head as well. I smiled. "I had heard that Breeze and Rain is enamored with Chinese culture, and that he spent much of his time researching ancient Chinese military scriptures. If that is true, then he must know of this saying. In fact, I¡¯m counting on it. This is what I¡¯m hoping he would do: first, he notices all the traces we left at Wilderness Trail and suspects that something is amiss. Then, he recalls the saying and believes that we left behind all these traces to mislead him into chasing into Wilderness Trail, when really we were escaping through Grass Vine Canyon. Finally, he leads his army into Grass Vine Canyon believing that we escaped there!" [1] Warscar looked completely confused. He obviously didn¡¯t get what I was trying to say. Hickey clenched her fists and giggled. "OMG, you Chinese are so devious. You won¡¯t ever deceive me like this, will you boss?" I smiled. "Of course not." ¡­¡­ Warscar played the good student and asked, "Guild leader, assuming that the Beast King Cavalry goes into Grass Vine Canyon, so what? We still can¡¯t do anything against them. In fact, the Beast King Cavalry can just run over everything in their path, travel straight to Bonecrush Forest from Grass Vine Canyon, kill all the supporting NPCs there and make us temporarily homeless. We won¡¯t be able to buy potions, repair equipment and so on..." I replied, "Have you already forgotten what you killed at Grass Vine Canyon, Warscar? The map is overflowing with dead Beautiful Man-eating Flowering Vines, and more importantly, flammable fluids! Why do you think I left 3000 mages in Grass Vine Canyon? If they do fall into our trap, I¡¯ll have the mages cast Firewall and light up the flammable fluid and all 100000 Beast King Cavalrymen at once! The fire cannot be extinguished unless they use water or ice-based magic, but we¡¯ve already slaughtered most of their mages during the forest battle earlier. There¡¯s no way the remnants can make it there in time to rescue them! I¡¯m going to bury all 100000 Beast King Cavalrymen there in one go!" For a long time, Hickey could only stare at me with her mouth open. "What¡­ what a devious interlocking strategy! Now I get it! You were planning to make use of Grass Vine Canyon from the start, weren¡¯t you? You¡¯re so ruthless!" I declared, "How else do you deal with murderous tigers and wolves?!" Warscar stared at the distant enemies while rubbing his hands together in excitement. "C¡¯mon, c¡¯mon, get inside Grass Vine Canyon already, you fuckers!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Breeze and Rain halted his troops temporarily and rode alone to the intersection between the two paths. He examined the hooves on the ground carefully before ordering a dozen or so Beast King Cavalry into Grass Vine Canyon to scout things out. My heart had jumped to my throat at this point. There were few things more exhilarating than dueling wits with an intelligent and powerful warrior like Breeze and Rain! A few minutes later, he nodded as if he received some sort of information from his scouts, and he directed God of War and the 100000 Beast King Cavalrymen toward Grass Vine Canyon with the wave of a sword. I bet it was because the scouts had seen the cavalry hooves I had told Hickey to leave behind and the bodies of dead mobs on the ground and reported accordingly. All the signs seemed to point toward us trying to mislead them into chasing us down through Wilderness Trail while making a run for it through Grass Vine Canyon. Unfortunately for Breeze and Rain, he ultimately made a grave miscalculation that would cost him his army. One might argue that the scouts should¡¯ve done their job better, but there was only so much they could glean from an unfamiliar terrain. The Indians could never know the lay of the land of Iron Skull Wilderness as well as the natives who lived here! I clenched my fists triumphantly as all 100000 Beast King Cavalrymen raced into the canyon. Grass Vine Canyon was more than big enough to fit all of them. I immediately looked at Hickey and Warscar and ordered, "Hickey, take 5000 Zephyr Cavalrymen to the entrance and cut off their retreat path. Warscar, take 5000 Zephyr Cavalrymen to the exit and stop them from escaping through the hills. The rest of you, follow me to kill all the enemies who manage to escape through the fire. Don¡¯t leave a single one of them alive! The closest graveyard from here is at least an hour away, so this is our best chance to take them out!" Everyone nodded and went about their business. I gripped my weapon tightly as I stood above the canyon and looked down at the Beast King Cavalry below. ¡­¡­ Thud thud... Breeze and Rain frowned as his army galloped over the green, oily fluid. "The stench of these mobs is terrible. Hmph, Godkiller must¡¯ve escaped through the canyon bottom where the mountain forests are. C¡¯mon, they¡¯re just up ahead of us. Once we enter the forest, prepare to dismount and take them out!" "Yessir!" The Beast King Cavalry all unsheathed their weapons in anticipation. I felt like my heart was about to explode as the last of the Beast King Cavalry entered the canyon. They actually didn¡¯t notice anything amiss with the Beautiful Man-eating Flowering Vines on the ground! I pumped my fist once before ordering, "All mages in Grass Vine Canyon, light up the dead mobs now! Use Firewall to inflict continuous damage! Don¡¯t let a single one of them escape!" Countless mages emerged from their hiding spots and threw their flame spells into the mobs immediately. The 7-second-long Firewall spell immediately ignited the flammable fluid on the bodies and transformed into a raging inferno in no time. The flames spread from body to body in little to no time, and since there were so many of them that there were no gaps where the Beast King Cavalry could escape through at all. ¡­¡­ "What the hell?!" Breeze and Rain looked around him. Blood drained away from his face as realization struck him. God of War roared angrily, "Lu Chen, you ruthless motherfucker! You plan to burn all one hundred thousand of my elites to death here?!" 1. (T/N: As much as I want to roll my eyes, it was hinted during the WEL that Breeze and Rain knew the language enough to speak it, so saying that he was interested in Chinese culture wasn¡¯t complete baseless. Still a retarded strategy though. All Breeze and Rain needed to do is to send some scouts to Wilderness Trail and they¡¯ll be exposed. Even if he doesn¡¯t, just split the goddamn army dammit, God of War down one lane and Breeze and Rain the other just in case. Sigh.) Chapter 1119: Fire God’s Blade Whoosh whoosh whoosh! All around Grass Vine Canyon, fire raged and spread toward the heart of the canyon. The Beast King Cavalry closest to the edge were frightened by how big the inferno was growing, and already many who had been splashed with the dead Beautiful Man-eating Flowering Vine¡¯s bodily fluids earlier caught on fire. They screamed as they dismounted and tried to pat out the fire licking at their bodies. Their allies tried to help them, but they couldn¡¯t extinguish the deadly blaze no matter what they tried. God of War raised his sword and shouted, "Follow me! We will charge through the fire and break out from behind! Don¡¯t hesitate! There is no such thing as a hardship that cannot be overcome!" The Beast King Cavalry immediately turned around and activated Charge. They were hoping that they could cut through the sea of flames in an instant. Unfortunately for them, it was already too late. The fire had spread so fast that the inferno blocking the entrance they came from had grown to almost a hundred meters. Most of their players became drenched in flammable liquid and were losing almost 10k HP per second after charging just a dozen or so meters. There was no potion in the world that could reverse their grim fate. It almost looked like God of War was riding a flaming horse as he charged through the inferno. His arm was crawling with flames as well. However, he had a powerful recovery skill, so he was the only person in his party to successfully escape the 100-meter-deep inferno. Swhoosh! God of War rode out of the flames looking like a fire god, but was greeted by a bitter sight immediately. Blocking his way to freedom was none other than Hickey, a group of magic knights and an entire backline of archers and mages. Hickey raised her flexible arm and shouted, "Loose!" Thud thud thud... Arrows immediately started peppering God of War¡¯s body and decreasing his HP even faster. Despite his best attempts, he wasn¡¯t able to avoid all of them. That wasn¡¯t to say he didn¡¯t have one last hurrah in him though. After he empowered himself with God of War¡¯s Art, he launched an Inferno Sixtuple Slash against the shield formation and one-shot a dozen or so Zephyr Cavalrymen immediately. No one who was hit was able to survive the powerful skill at all. Not only that, the skill helped God of War regain almost a hundred thousand HP. Judging from the amount of HP he healed, his weapon had to have at least 7% lifesteal. No wonder he was able to dominate the India server. Hickey was unperturbed, however. She ordered calmly, "Keep shooting!" Arrows kept flying toward God of War, and eventually... Thud! The Indian warrior abruptly froze in his tracks as if the strings controlling his body were cut. One successful Shock Arrow was all it took to turn the tables against God of War completely! Hickey immediately rushed toward him and uttered murderously, "You may be the god of India, but you are no god of Iron Skull Wilderness! Keep your dirty hands away from our home!" Pu pu! Hickey was wearing a full S2 set, and Barrier Break + Death God Slash was a very powerful armor-piercing combo. One last basic attack later, the guild leader finally lost his last sliver of HP. "Sigh¡­" The king of India let out a soft sigh before falling off his mount limply. He even dropped a shiny sword that was surrounded in flames. It was none other than his main weapon. "Ah?" Pleasantly surprised, Hickey picked up the sword and examined it. A second later, she exploded with excitement and waved it excitedly while facing toward the hill I was standing on. "Boss, This Fire God¡¯s Blade is an Archean Immortal-grade weapon! An Archean Immortal-grade weapon with 9% lifesteal! It¡¯s so good¡­" I instinctively groaned on behalf of God of War. You poor bastard, of all the items you could possibly drop, you just had to drop your main weapon, didn''t you? Thank you... I sent Hickey a message: "Well, it¡¯s yours now. Equip it and be ready to defend against Breeze and Rain¡¯s charge next!" "Yeah!" The weapon appeared in Hickey¡¯s hand in a flash. With this and the S2 set, Hickey was really starting to look like a true god-tier warrioress of the foreign lands. ¡­¡­ By now, the entire Grass Vine Canyon had gone up in flames. The burning Beast King Cavalry and the seemingly endless screams made it look like a scene straight from hell itself. I let out a soft sigh as I observed the scene from above. War Dead shot me a glance and asked me, "Are you pitying them, guild leader?" I nodded honestly. "I¡¯m a man, not an animal. This is just a virtual game, and the price of death is just a level¡­ but it doesn¡¯t change the fact that I¡¯m the one who subjected them to the painful fate of burning to death. I cannot deny that this triggers my guilty conscience." War Dead sucked in a deep breath before replying, "That is true. It is something all people who wish to do great things must go through, however. It cannot be shared either." I smiled bitterly. "I don¡¯t want to do great things. I just want to go home a bit sooner¡­" War Dead shuddered. A long time later, he murmured, "Guild leader, you really are a charismatic man. No wonder Hickey obeys you fully despite her wild personality¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Breeze and Rain stared at the surrounding inferno while saying, "The guild leader¡­ is dead¡­" Beside him, a Beast King Cavalryman said, "There¡¯s no point holding out any longer, vice leader. It¡¯s true we¡¯ve been outfoxed by Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, but it¡¯s just one battle. There is no shame in admitting defeat. You should activate your invincibility skill and teleport back to Cyan Earth City. You don¡¯t need to die here needlessly." However, Breeze and Rain declared with clenched fists, "Absolutely not. How can I live in shame when God of War died fighting? Anyway, it¡¯s just a level, and the battle isn¡¯t over yet. The nearest graveyard is only an hour away from here, and it¡¯ll take only an hour to return to our bodies. Tell everyone to wait for my signal at the graveyard. We¡¯ll revive together and battle Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand again!" "Mn!" It wasn¡¯t long before Breeze and Rain and the rest of his soldiers dropped to their knees and burned to death. Not a single Beast King Cavalryman had managed to escape, but none of them used a return scroll to teleport back to their city either. They had at least ten minutes of non-combat state to do so, but they would rather lose a level now so that they could fight us to the death later. ¡­¡­ After Hickey returned to our side, she asked me, "The fire is dying, and all 100000 Beast King Cavalrymen are at the graveyard. What do we do now?" I looked at Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den and said, "We will rally our 20000 Zephyr Cavalrymen, archers, mages, bards, and priests, and set out to Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den. Don¡¯t forget that our final objective is to take out the final boss and take the Ascension Proof, not defeat the Beast King Cavalry." "Understood. Let¡¯s go!" Two minutes later, Godkiller¡¯s over 50k-strong party set out toward Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den once more. Over ten thousand Zephyr Cavalrymen opened the way at the front while tens of thousands of ranged players followed closely behind them. ¡­¡­ Twenty minutes passed in the blink of an eye as we arrived at the perimeter of Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den. In the forest, the players of Bloodlust and Cyan Beast were still locked in battle, and there were only several thousand normal Cyan Beast riders guarding the entrance. They were far weaker than the Beast King Cavalry, so they couldn¡¯t pose a real threat to us. "Go! Kill them all!" I ordered. Warscar and Berserk-empowered Zephyr Cavalrymen shouted their battle cries and charged, tearing the players guarding the entrance to shreds instantly. After all fifty thousand of us had gone inside, we left behind a group of cavalry to block the entrance, gave War Dead command over the archers and mages and put them on standby. The rest followed me, Hickey and Warscar into the inner area of Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den. Of course, Cyan Beast¡¯s main army noticed our movement and immediately dispatched 10000+ Beast King Cavalry to stop us. They dared not to underestimate us, however. Their companions¡¯ downfall at Grass Vine Canyon had stunned them and burned their scorn for us to ashes. Since War Dead and the thirty thousand players we left behind to hold the entrance were holding an advantageous terrain, it didn¡¯t look like the ten thousand Beast King Cavalrymen would be making their way through any time soon. The area leading to the cave entrance to Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den was littered with totems with python engravings. They looked quite scary. Hickey suggested, "Let¡¯s form a thousand-man party with you as the party leader, Lu Chen. It¡¯ll need a sufficient amount of mages, archers, priests and bards so that it has sufficient strength to take down the boss. Everyone else will focus on clearing out the mobs blocking the way. What do you think?" "Let¡¯s do that." I nodded before continuing, "The main party will need 200 Zephyr Cavalrymen with high Defense as well. Oh, and don¡¯t forget about the bard buffs. The boss will be able to kill them in a single hit otherwise. Can you imagine how shameful that would be? An MT who cannot even tank one hit?" Hickey giggled. "I got it¡­" ¡­¡­ From our position, the winding hill ahead looked like a giant dragon. Its open maw was also the cave entrance to Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den. We looked up at the dragon¡¯s head after we arrived at the entrance. My Ancient Divine Dragon was practically a cutie compared to this ugly bastard. There was also that gnawing fear that the giant maw would close up and crush all of us the moment we stepped inside. Rustle rustle... Talons and hooves stepped across wet ground as we entered the cave. A chilly wind brushed against our skins and made us shiver. Surprisingly, the interior of the cave was incredibly vast. Even our thousand-man party only occupied less than 20% of the passageway. We could absolutely fit four or five thousand-man parties with room to spare. "Monster incoming!" Hickey pointed to the front. I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and chased away the darkness that was limiting our vision. A red python entrenched on a patch of ground abruptly entered our view, and I shared its stats with everyone¡ª Cruel Red Python (Fiend) Level: 255 Attack: 15500~23500 Defense: 19000 HP: 3000000 Skills: Swallow, Snake Tail Sweep, Python God Possession Introduction: As a low-rank guardian of Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den, the Cruel Red Python is an extremely cruel monster who devours animals and humans alike. Its millennium-long cultivation gives it incredible Attack and Defense. ¡­¡­ "Holy shit, 23500 Attack? What a monster!" Warscar exclaimed in shock. I curled my lips. "Go test it out, Warscar. Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s just 50 levels higher than you. You have 4 bard buffs, so there¡¯s no chance it can one-shot you¡­" Warscar responded palely, "Okay¡­" As expected of the fiercest general of Godkiller, Warscar swallowed my bullshit and Charged the Cruel Red Python in a straight line. He raised his axe and executed Barrier Break + Triple Slash combo! 78282! 39812! 41227! 41277! ¡­¡­ It was pretty good damage. At the very least, it visibly deleted a chunk of HP from the mob. However, the Cruel Red Python was no beta. The moment it awoke from its slumber, it flicked its forked tongue at Warscar, glared at him with inhuman eyes and opened its mouth. The next moment, both Warscar and his mount were inside its stomach! Chapter 1120: Little Green Snake Warscar was huge, but the red python still ate him, his axe and his mount all at once. The Viking Islands warriors were absolutely flabbergasted by the sight¡ª "Holy shit, boss got eaten by the mob!" "The fuck are you guys waiting for? We need to save him, or he¡¯ll turn into snake shit in just a couple minutes!" "Say, assuming that boss got shat out, do you think he¡¯ll maintain a humanoid shape? Do you think that smoke will rise off his corpse?" "Of course not! A snake is a cold-blooded animal!" "Seriously? A snake is obviously a vertebrate! I once caught one and turned it into snake soup. It was delicious!" "Say, do you think our boss is a vertebrate?" "No way, he looks like a gorilla in human skin. I bet he¡¯s a primate that hasn¡¯t fully evolved¡­" "Holy shit, you¡¯re extremely knowledgeable. Where did you graduate, bro?" "Netherland¡¯s Rotterdam Rhyne Technical College of Art and Science, the adult education type¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ Unable to stand the sight any longer, Hickey pointed her sword at the boss and ordered, "The red python can only eat three people at a time. You two, go get yourself devoured so we can start killing the mob!" Two fearless vikings immediately did as she commanded, allowing the red python to swallow them. Its stomach immediately swelled to three lumps, and it twitched visibly as it tried to digest the Zephyr Cavalrymen. I rushed forward and executed Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo, deleting almost half of its HP instantly. My dragon-riding apparition also did the same thing. The bards had applied a full buff on me and increased my Attack, Defense, HP and speed stat by a total of 42%, so the amount of damage I was dealing was but the natural result. I still missed Pure Love though. Her buffs could increase my stats by 60% or higher! Crack! After I cut off the Cruel Red Python¡¯s head, its stomach automatically burst open and spilled out its contents. The half-health Warscar leaped to his feet and swore, "Dammit!" Hickey said indifferently, "Wipe the snake oil on your face first before you speak¡­" Warscar: "..." Besides the vikings, the mob also dropped a lot of good stuff. It dropped two Spirit-grade pieces of metal armor and one card. The card in particular increased HP by a whopping 75%. It was obviously meant to be used by a main tank, but I didn¡¯t need it because I had the much better Fire War God Card. So, I gave it to Warscar instead. ¡­¡­ We continued. Now that we knew what to expect, we split up into ten 100-man parties and tackled a Cruel Red Python each. The arrangement ensured both speed and safety. Over an hour later, we received word that the defense line we had set up at the entrance had finally been breached. After Breeze and Rain, God of War and the 100000 Beast King Cavalrymen who had burned to death revived, they came straight to Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den. Bloodlust, Black Crow Tribe and other forces had infiltrated the place as well. Starting now, Godkiller no longer had exclusive rights over this map. I was fine with it though. I didn¡¯t think that we would be able to monopolize the entire map anyway. The strong would get the final boss and the true prize, while the weak would feast on the mobs like hyenas. Both ways were valid to survive laws of the jungle. As we continued, the main path eventually branched into seven different paths. According to the map, they all ended up in the final area, the Dragon God Hall. It was there we would be fighting the final boss. "What do we do? Which path should we follow?" Hickey looked to me for direction. I examined the pathways carefully. Each pathway was about a hundred meters wide, which was neither too wide nor too narrow. It was just the right size that a cavalry unit like the Beast King Cavalry wouldn¡¯t be able to make use of their number advantage, while strong individuals like Hickey and I could unleash our full power. In my case, my Summon the Storm and Rise of the Guardian Dragon could cover the entire passageway. It was perfect. So, I pointed to the rightmost path and said, "Our main party will go through here. The rest of you can choose whatever path you want to follow. There¡¯s no need for us to squeeze into the same path. It will be very dangerous no matter which path you choose though. If you want to play it safe, then you may head back and focus on grinding the Cruel Red Pythons instead. It¡¯s your choice." Everyone nodded, and the corps commanders left with their parties. The rightmost, or seventh, path was dark and wet. We moved quickly because we knew that Cyan Beast would make it to this location in less than ten minutes. Suddenly, we heard a hissing noise in front of us and skidded to a halt. It was a tiny, three-meter-long snake hissing at us menacingly. Its body size was incomparable to the Cruel Red Python¡¯s, and its whole body was covered in cyan scales. It looked pretty cute, to be honest. "Haha, the little snake is so cute!" Warscar said with a laugh. Hickey chuckled. "Oh really? Why don¡¯t you fight it then?" "Why not?" Warscar walked up to the snake while grinning, "Come to me, little snake! I¡¯ll beat you up so hard you¡¯ll regret ever blocking this hammer¡¯s way, muahahaha!" Suddenly, the little snake moved like lightning and bit Warscar in the arm before he could. A huge damage number immediately appeared above viking¡¯s head¡ª 182993! Not only that, it even inflicted the Poisoned status to Warscar. Thank goodness we had priests in our party, or the man was as good as dead. Everyone except me was stunned by the sheer power of the little snake. I expected this because it looked very similar to bamboo viper, except a lot bigger. Long story short, it was a literal snake boss! ¡­¡­ I shared the boss''s stats screen in the party channel after identifying it with Dark Pupils¡ª Cyan Snake King (Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 255 Attack: 18000~27500 Defense: 29500 HP: 45000000 Skills: Venomous Bite, Venom Frost Whirlwind, Human Form Introduction: An elite guardian of Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den, the Cyan Snake King was a small snake until it consumed a huge amount of spiritual energy, hid itself in Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den and cultivated for tens of thousands of years. Today, it is a powerhouse that can fight as a snake or a human. It possesses incredible attack power, and it has killed countless human braves with its fangs over the last hundreds and thousands of years. ¡­¡­ "Let¡¯s go! It¡¯s an Immortal Rank boss!" I spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon forward to cover Warscar¡¯s retreat and attack the boss. I struck its natural weak point with Universe Break, and¡ª 112023! The damage was poor, but the snake shuddered and froze all of a sudden. I received a system notice saying that my Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade had triggered its Broken Blade effect and stunned it for 7 seconds. This is my chance! I immediately thrust my sword into the boss''s body and used Purple Frost Concentration, lowering its Defense. It was a must-do because the boss had almost 30k base Defense, which was almost too much for me to pierce, much less everyone else. The boss shivered again and lost 29.7% of its Defense. It was better than nothing! At the same time, Hickey, Warscar and the others surrounded the boss and executed their own Barrier Break + flurry skill combos, removing chunks from the Cyan Snake King¡¯s health. While this was happening, Hickey asked me, "Boss, is this the boss that will drop the Ascension Proof?" I shook my head. "Nah, it¡¯s too weak to be the final boss." "It¡¯s not weak at all though¡­" "I¡¯m aware¡­" After the Cyan Snake King recovered, it immediately opened its mouth and unleashed Venom Frost Whirlwind. The poisonous wind instantly poisoned the dozen or so melee players surrounding it and dealt around 150k damage. I was the only one who lost 50k+ HP because I had super high Magic Resist. ¡­¡­ "Keep our guys healed and keep attacking! Don¡¯t retreat!" Hickey looked to the distance while saying, "We need to kill this boss before Breeze and Rain and his goons show up. Otherwise¡ª" Before she could finish, the Cyan Snake King suddenly let out a roar and spasmed unnaturally. There was an explosion of light, and it suddenly stood vertically and transformed into a beautiful girl clad in cyan armor. She wielded a glowing bamboo stick, and she shouted at all of us, "You shouldn¡¯t have stepped into my domain, adventurers of distant lands! You will not leave this place alive¡­" To our surprise, the now-human snake unleashed Barrier Break and took out an unsuspecting Zephyr Cavalryman in one hit. After killing another with Freezing Slash, she spun rapidly until the air around her turned into a whirlwind. It was the Whirlwind Slash, and it killed almost 50 Zephyr Cavalrymen at once. "Holy shit!" I was flabbergasted to say the least. After the boss had assumed a human form, her Attack and skills were no worse than a super-tier warrior¡¯s! I immediately raised my hand and unleashed the God Binding Art! Thud thud! Several divine weapons fell from the sky and immobilized the girl before she could rampage any further. The moment the skill succeeded, I immediately executed Burning Blade Slash + Barrier Break combo between her neck where her weak point was. I didn¡¯t hold back because she was way too powerful. Restraining myself because she was a girl would only result in all of us getting killed. Healing spells flashed on Hickey and my person again and again. We were the only ones who could fight the boss at close range, while everyone else had to stay far, far away and throw whatever range skills they had. The good news was that my DPS was high enough to keep the boss''s aggro on me at all times, and the archers and mages¡¯ CC skills hampered the boss enough that she couldn¡¯t one-shot us. Generally speaking, a thousand-man party could handle most Immortal Rank bosses without trouble. Time passed bit by bit. The Cyan Snake King had alternated between both snake and human forms as she fought us and, despite our best efforts, had killed another 100 Zephyr Cavalrymen by the time she finally dropped to 5% HP. On a related note, I kept Dark Pupils on all the time because I didn¡¯t want an Indian assassin to stealth over and steal the last hit. "Hiss hiss¡­" The Cyan Snake King assumed her human form one last time before threatening us with a pair of bloody lips, "I will evolve again and become stronger, damned humans! Just you wait! I will have my revenge and bleed all of you dry!" "Yeah, yeah. Now die already¡­" I unleashed Burning Blade Slash that triggered the septuple-damage effect. It immediately deleted the Cyan Snake King¡¯s last sliver of HP. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh! Multiple players including Hickey leveled up at once. The Level 255 Immortal Rank boss gave a ton of experience and dropped a lot of equipment. Wait, is that¡­? My heart skipped a beat when I saw something that looked like a cyan pet egg. Another boss-tier pet egg? I can¡¯t wait to check it out already... Chapter 1121: Blood Dragon God For a time, no one said anything as they stared at the small hill of equipment, gemstones and items. Then, Hickey waved her hand and declared, "Boss, you¡¯re the backbone of this boss fight, so you should make the first pick." I wasn¡¯t planning to claim any boss loot at all, but the pet egg was just too tempting for me to resist. It had been a long time since I saw He Yi, and it was about time I gave her a gift anyway. He Yi was still using the Firelight Mouse and Ghost Chariot, so she could definitely use a powerful boss-tier pet. So, I accepted the offer, picked up the cyan pet egg and tossed it into my bag without even checking its stats. I said, "I only want this. You may roll the rest of the loot among yourselves¡­" "Alright!" ¡­¡­ The smile on Hickey¡¯s face spread like a blooming flower as she picked up the Cyan Snake King¡¯s equipment one by one. She shared the equipment¡¯s stats with everyone so that they could roll for the one they wanted. Cyan Flame Battle Axe: Level 200 Immortal-grade. Increases user''s Attack by 125%, can trigger the Cyan Flame to attack a huge area. Cyan King War Shield: Level 200 Heaven-grade. Increases user''s Attack by 87%, can trigger a shield to protect the user. Ring of the Warsong King: Level 200 Earth-grade. Improves effects of a bard¡¯s skills by 20%. Cyan Soul Cloak: Level 200 Immortal-grade. Increases user¡¯s Defense by 45%, reduces damage taken by 15%. ¡­¡­ The amazing loot dropped by an Immortal Rank boss stunned the country bumpkins of Iron Skull Wilderness so much that they forgot to speak for a time. A great rolling session later, Warscar became the triumphant winner of the Cyan Flame Battle Axe. The new equipment was sure to increase his combat and destructive power massively. The Cyan King War Shield had slightly better stats than my Dragon God Shield, but no invincibility skill. That was enough for me to filter it from my mind. War Dead was the next lucky guy to win it. Ring of the Warsong King was won by a bard, and Cyan Soul Cloak went to Hickey. All in all, our party¡¯s survivability had gone up considerably. I checked the cyan pet egg only after the rest of the loot had been shared. What I found gladdened me. I was sure that He Yi would like it¡ª Snake King Little Qing (Immortal Rank Boss pet) Level: 0 Introduction: Venomous. Can assume a human form after growing into an adult. ¡­¡­ Well well, it looked like the Snake King retained its ability to transform into a girl and fight that way! Not bad at all! I had every reason to believe that He Yi would love it. In fact, if I hadn¡¯t planned to give it to her as a gift, I would¡¯ve claimed it for myself. Oh well. It wasn¡¯t like the Phantom Wolf King was inferior to it. It was also very doggy and very cute. We continued forward after the loot distribution was complete. This time, we encountered a ridiculously huge white snake mob. It had a bloated body shape, average Attack and ridiculous Defense, so much so that even Warscar and a group of Zephyr Cavalrymen took a long time to take out just one of them. Of course, I didn¡¯t encounter such problems. I challenged a white snake alone and lowered its miniboss Defense by 37% using Purple Frost Concentration right off the bat. After that, well, it was a slaughter. Hickey had assigned 3 priests and 2 bards to me alone. The priests could heal, and the bards not only had buffs, but also some minor DoT heals to stack. As a result, I was able to kill a white snake while maintaining over 90% HP. I was never in danger because my Defense was, just like the white snake mob, off the charts as well. And so we kept brutalizing the white pythons along the way, inhaling their experience and claiming their equipment as trophies. Almost three hours later, we finally got close to the Dragon God Hall. ¡­¡­ Hickey said to me while holding the blood-drenched Fire God¡¯s Blade, "Boss, I just received a report saying that Breeze and Rain and God of War are making their way to the Dragon God Hall through the third path. The one-thousand man party tackling that path were completely destroyed by them. Bloodlust and Black Crow Tribe were also making progress, and, oh, India¡¯s Natural Flow is on the second path. Just like us, they¡¯re about to reach the boss¡­" I exclaimed in surprise, "Natural Flow¡¯s players are here too? Did¡­ did their guild leader, Flowing Cloud, come too?" Hickey giggled at my reaction before slapping me on the shoulder. "Why do you look so nervous? Is she an important person to you? We¡¯ve cooperated for quite some time, but I¡¯ve never seen you this nervous before." I curled my lips. "It¡¯s not like that. I owe her one, and I don¡¯t think I can bring myself to kill her if we run into her. However, that will impact our chances of success, so¡­" "Ah." Hickey nodded understandingly before saying, "Understood. If Flowing Cloud does show up, I¡¯ll be the one to kill her. This is as good a chance as any to find out if Elephant City¡¯s war goddess is truly as great as she seems¡­" Warscar teased her, "You may be able to defeat Flowing Cloud, but you definitely won¡¯t be able to defeat China¡¯s number one female fighter¡­" "Oh, you mean the Fruit Knife Goddess Beautiful Little Pepper?" Hickey¡¯s eyes sharpened as she said, "I¡¯ve heard of her all the way back in Spirit of Grief. She was the girl to watch out far after Windy, Wind That Touches The Moon and Iced Tea. I will duel her when the chance presents itself." I shrugged. "I would advise you to forget about it. Your skills are at least a tier behind hers, so¡­" "Er¡­" Hickey exclaimed in realization, "Oh! Now that I thought about it, Beautiful Little Pepper is your girlfriend, right? I can¡¯t believe I forgot about it¡­" "Anyway, let¡¯s clear out the mobs as soon as possible so we can aggro the boss. No one knows how strong the final boss is, so be prepared to be party-wiped¡­" I paused for a moment before continuing, "If the boss turns out to be too powerful, we can surrender the boss at the beginning, let the Indians do the hard work for us before ripping it back out from their jaws. To be honest, Godkiller is no match for the Beast King Cavalry right now. It¡¯s best to avoid a direct confrontation whenever possible." Warscar clenched his fists. "It¡¯s too bad we don¡¯t have enough people. We vikings only number around 20000 players only. Sigh, when are we ever going to be able to fight Cyan Beast?" I patted his shoulder consolingly, "Don¡¯t worry, I have several hundred thousand brothers and sisters in China who¡¯ll lay down their lives for me. When the war in Iron Skull Wilderness is over, I¡¯ll find an opportunity to consolidate our forces with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯. I promise you we¡¯ll crush Cyan Beast beneath our boots together!" "Holy shit!" Warscar exclaimed with wide eyes. "Really? You¡¯re not joking, are you?" Hickey giggled. "What do you think? Boss¡¯s guild had gone up against Cyan Beast, Natural Flow, God¡¯s Domain and many more top guilds head-on repeatedly, and they never lost a single battle!" Warscar¡¯s eyes turned round. "God damn¡­" I smiled. "We are not alone, understand? We just need to hold on a bit longer, and a much brighter future will descend upon all of us¡­" Warscar nodded. "Got it. Anyway, let¡¯s lure the miniboss over and kill it already¡­" "Yeah¡­" ¡­¡­ After we took out the last of the white snakes, we climbed up the stairs leading to the Dragon God Hall and emerged into a clearing. There were six other exits beside ours, and all of them were pitch black except one that was occasionally illuminated by the light of skills. It was obviously Cyan Beast¡¯s passageway. Breeze and Rain and God of War would be showing up very soon. Hickey looked at the exit and commented, "Goddamned Cyan Beast is like grass that cannot be wiped out even with wildfire." I smiled. "Even if the boss''s experience goes to them in the end, it¡¯s all fine as long as we get the Ascension Proof. Also, we should stall them for as long as possible¡­" "Er, why do we want to stall them?" Warscar asked in confusion. Hickey explained to him, "It¡¯s because they had to travel a long way to come to Iron Skull Wilderness. There¡¯s no way we can kill them all to Level 0, but we can stall them out and make them use as many potions and consumables as possible. They can¡¯t wage war against us without any supplies, can they? Once they¡¯re out, they¡¯ll have to retreat no matter how much they want to continue the war¡­" "Oh, I see¡­" ¡­¡­ I made the Ancient Divine Dragon fly up the final staircase and arrived at a huge hall with a blood-red ceiling. At the center of the hall was a huge dragon covered in red flames. Its head was bowed, its eyes were closed, and its wings were withdrawn to its back as if it was asleep. It was a flying lizard with a very impressive name¡ª Blood Dragon God (Ancient Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 260 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: As a member of the ancient holy dragon race, the Blood Dragon God¡¯s bloodline is among the holiest bloodlines of all dragons. However, he chose to cultivate the evil laws of blood refinement and grow his strength by devouring others, so he was exiled by the Dragon God and even chased by the Dragon Speaker Binglan to the ends of the world. Binglan managed to cut off its right wing and seal it, but the Blood Dragon God was able to break the seal and return to the world. Today, it¡¯s Linda the Whisperer¡¯s personal mount. ¡­¡­ Are you shitting me? A Level 260 Ancient Immortal Rank boss? It was bad enough that I couldn¡¯t see its stats at all, but this Blood Dragon God was Linda the Whisperer¡¯s personal mount as well. Linda the Whisperer was the third strongest Purgatory Sovereign of Heavenblessed and an absolute monster who was only weaker than Sophie and Lin Na. Even if we managed to overcome all adversaries and kill the Blood Dragon God, Linda the Whisperer would most likely seek us out for revenge. My palm became covered in sweat. I honestly didn¡¯t know what was the best course of action to take. "Do we fight it, guild leader?" Warscar asked me. Hickey pursed her lips together. "I¡¯m not sure if we can do it, not to mention that Breeze and Rain and God of War are about to arrive¡­" In the end, I gritted my teeth and declared, "Screw it! Let¡¯s awaken the Blood Dragon God first and grab its aggro! Whether or not Breeze and Rain decides to take it from us is his business!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Pa! After I had fully buffed myself into a walking fortress, I spurred my little dragon forward, activated Great Earth Transformation and tossed my weapon. Go, Coiling Dragon Revolution! The spiraling vortex of murder struck the Blood Dragon God squarely on the head, but to my shock, the weapon was knocked back right back to me, meaning that it had failed to penetrate its Defense at all. I almost vomited blood when I saw this. If even I couldn¡¯t scratch the boss, who else in the world could threaten it!? Chapter 1122: Hickey Versus Flowing Cloud Swhoosh! The gigantic dragon abruptly opened its eyes and stared at me with its golden, merciless, rhombus-shaped pupils. A mighty roar later, it bounded toward me¡ªthe armor around its neck area making grating noises as it moved¡ªopened its mouth and tried to swallow me whole! I turned my wrist and pressed my left hand against the flat side of my blade. An instant later, the Purple Ying Sword clashed against Blood Dragon God¡¯s row of sharp teeth. BANG! Sparks flew everywhere as a tremendous force numbed my arms and threw both me and my dragon several steps backward. I knew that the Blood Dragon God had insane Strength stat, but the fact that it knocked me backward still came as a surprise to me. Half of my equipment was Immortal-grade or Divine Armaments, and I was riding a Divine Rank mount too! Just how goddamn powerful was this boss!? I raised my arm and used God Binding Art! MISS! However, the skill failed to take effect as expected. The Blood Dragon God was 47 levels higher than me and an Ancient Immortal Rank boss. It was almost a Divine Rank boss and not too far behind even the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns. ¡­¡­ "Let¡¯s go! Barrier Break!" shouted Warscar as he charged the boss with a dozen or so Zephyr Cavalrymen. They all screamed and activated their Berserk talent. To my surprise, the Blood Dragon God made a scornful expression before swiping its claws twice at the incoming cavalry. The force behind its attack was so much that three Zephyr Cavalry were sent flying into the air, and blood was jetting out of their orifices! They were dead even before they landed on the ground! I hurriedly rushed forward and fired a long-range Burning Blade Slash! Bang bang bang! The Blood Dragon God lowered its head to block the sword auras. Before it could look up again, I ordered the Ancient Divine Dragon to cast Summon the Storm and caused an icy storm to flood the Dragon God Hall instantly. The skill greatly lowered the boss''s movement speed, but only did between 20% to 40% of its normal damage. It wasn¡¯t even enough to overwhelm its health regeneration. So I turned around and yelled, "Everyone withdraw to the seventh path now! The Blood Dragon God is too strong, and we don¡¯t have the numbers to challenge it head-on¡­" Hickey immediately nodded and ordered a swift retreat. However, a king¡¯s fury must be vent somewhere, and I was the only available target. I immediately raised my hand and summoned my apparition. Then, I turned around and escaped the battlefield as well. The apparition had 1.1 million HP thanks to the Fire War God Card, so it should be able to hold off the Blood Dragon God for a short time. Even so, the boss still dealt 300k damage in a single hit. It was terrible... ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a burst of activity came from a different pathway. Finally, the Beast King Cavalry led by God of War and Breeze and Rain had arrived. The moment they saw the boss, God of War immediately waved his hand and growled, "Surround the Dragon God Hall and prevent all hostile forces from stepping inside! Beast King Cavalry, charge the boss in echelon formation! Mages, priests, archers, spread out so that the boss can¡¯t hit you with an AoE, and trust me, a boss this powerful will have an AoE skill! Let¡¯s go!" God of War himself Charged toward the boss before swinging his blade between its neck. The Blood Dragon God¡¯s armor was so tough that metallic sparks flew off the point of impact, and the attack only dealt 10k+ damage. Also, his Attack was weaker than usual because he had been forced to replace his lost main weapon, the Fire God¡¯s Blade, with a Heaven-grade weapon. The boss swung its claws in retaliation and caused a shower of blood and gore to explode from God of War¡¯s chest. Not only was the warrior knocked to the back, the simple attack had deleted 340k HP and scared the shit out of him. Had the attack critted, God of War would be dead already. "All frontliners, use HP-buffing cards and advance while Guarding! Drive the Blood Dragon God to a corner so that our ranged units will be safe from its attack! Yeye the Witch, lower its Defense with your Nether Flame Arrow! Bards, make sure you buff our frontliners so they can take even a hit more!" After Breeze and Rain called out a series of orders from behind, he looked at God of War and smirked at him. "I told you to control yourself. So? Did you enjoy the taste of an Ancient Immortal Rank boss?" God of War¡¯s mouth twitched as he replied, "You¡¯re as tricky as ever, man. By the way, did you notice that someone had aggroed this boss beforehand? There are even dead bodies on the ground. Hmph! Godkiller must have shown their faces earlier, and judging from the body count, they retreated after deciding that they couldn¡¯t defeat the boss. You¡¯d better watch out for potential interruptions!" "Relax¡­" Breeze and Rain declared with a confident smile, "Someone will take care of those bastards!" "Good!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, I hid in a corner and watched Cyan Beast¡¯s movements closely. "Roar roar¡­" The Blood Dragon God¡¯s roar rocked the entire Dragon God Hall, and its talons kept killing the tiny ants on the ground. The Zephyr Cavalry couldn¡¯t withstand a hit from the Blood Dragon God, and the same went for the Beast King Cavalry. God of War and Breeze and Rain were the only ones who could survive its attack. A while later, the Blood Dragon God faced toward the Beast King Cavalry¡¯s square formation and raised its head as if it had had enough of them. For a second, the skin beneath its chin swelled like a balloon, and the next it spat out a fiery breath that annihilated absolutely everything in its path. Still breathing fire, it turned its neck sideways and left behind patches of burning flames on the ground. "Ahhhhhh¡­" Blood-curdling screams filled the air. The Blood Dragon God¡¯s dragon breath was obviously going to be powerful, and it dealt extra damage to metal armor because it was a magic-type attack. As a result, all the Beast King Cavalry who were hit by the attack dropped to zero HP instantly. It was a grim battle to say the least. However, Cyan Beast had plenty of bodies to spare, and even more Beast King Cavalrymen charged toward the boss and unleashed their skills without fear. It was around this time their number one archer, Yeye the Witch, fired several purple arrows at the Blood Dragon God¡¯s neck and corroded its scales slightly, but soon, she panicked and said to Breeze and Rain, "Oh no! My Nether Flame Arrow can only reduce its Defense by 11%!" Breeze and Rain¡¯s eyes widened. "I thought the full effect was 25%?" Yeye the Witch replied in a helpless tone, "The boss''s resistance is just too high. What do we do now?" Breeze and Rain said, "It¡¯s better than nothing. Keep attacking with armor-breaking arrows. The job of killing the boss lies on you, ranged players. Don¡¯t worry, we may lose 10000 Beast King Cavalrymen at the end of this battle, but we won¡¯t let the Blood Dragon God touch a hair on you guys. The dragon¡¯s breath only has a range of 30 yards, so archers should keep around 40 yards away. Mages, just use Touch of the Dragonkiss. Everything else will only tickle the boss!" Breeze and Rain knew how to adapt to the situation and command his troops accordingly. I had to admit that he was a pretty good battle commander. ¡­¡­ I remained in the darkness while caressing the Purple Ying Sword¡¯s smooth patterns. I was wondering if I should stab Cyan Beast in the ass by killing their bards. Without buffs, the archers and mages¡¯ ability to mow down the boss''s HP would be greatly reduced. However, Hickey suddenly shouted from behind me, "Boss! We have trouble! A group of Elephant City players have snuck up behind us, and they¡¯re planning to wipe us out! Warscar is battling them right now!" "The fuck? Elephant City who??" "They¡¯re White Horse Cavalry, the ace cavalry of Natural Flow!" "Fuck!" I immediately turned around and rushed to my people¡¯s aid with Hickey. By the time we arrived though, we discovered that the several hundred Zephyr Cavalrymen we had brought with us were almost all dead. I counted tens of thousands of Natural Flow players in total. There were at least 5000 White Horse Cavalrymen at the front and, worse, 2000 Lightning Archers at the back. Clearly, Natural Flow had borrowed them from Flames of War. That was definitely more than enough players to kill us... ¡­¡­ Standing at the forefront of the orderly formation was none other than Flowing Cloud herself. She wore a suit of silver armor and wielded an ice sword. She greeted me with a smile on her face, "Long time no see, Lu Chen!" I gritted my teeth in anger because I spotted a group of dead Zephyr Cavalrymen just three meters in front of Flowing Cloud. Even Warscar had died in battle, his body slumped against the wall. His axe was covered in blood, and his chest was marred by around a dozen of blade wounds. It was horrific to say the least. "Flowing Cloud." I replied in an indifferent tone. "You came all the way here just to fight us? Are you sure you want to act as Cyan Beast¡¯s tool?" Flowing Cloud chuckled. "Don¡¯t bother. You can¡¯t drive a wedge between me and the future of the India server. As long as you are occupied, Cyan Beast will be able to kill the boss and claim the Ascension Proof. I will have more than made up for my past mistakes then." I raised the Purple Ying Sword. "You think you can stall me?" "I can certainly try!" Flowing Cloud¡¯s eyes sharpened into steel. "All Lightning Archers, use Far Shot to increase your attack range and delete the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s mount tenacity with Shock Arrows and Mountain Stagger Arrows! Lu Chen is just a human, not a god! We can beat him with perfect cooperation! White Horse Cavalry, split up and Charge the enemy in an organized group! Let¡¯s wipe out his surrounding allies first!" Our original thousand-man party had dwindled to just less than hundred at this point. The boss had already killed some of our players prior to this engagement, and Natural Flow killed way more than that. There weren¡¯t many Godkiller players left in the other passageways either. There were only several ten thousand of us in total, while the Indians easily numbered hundreds of thousands. It was a disadvantage we simply couldn¡¯t make up for. ¡­¡­ "Leave this woman to me and go kill the Lightning Archers, boss! It¡¯s now or ever!" Blade scratching against the wall and leaving behind a trail of metallic sparks, Hickey charged toward the enemy formation and zigzagged around a Shock Arrow. Then, eyes brimming with fighting spirit, she swung a fiery blade at Flowing Cloud. Chiang! Sparks flew everywhere as Flowing Cloud retaliated with equal strength and ferocity. After the clash, both women backed away and started walking in circles almost as if they were trying to draw a bagua circle. The Natural Flow players around them could only watch on in astonishment. It would seem that Flowing Cloud had finally met her match. Chapter 1123: Escape From Hell Crack! Two blades sailed toward one another, and Flowing Cloud was the one who altered her attack trajectory first. She aimed at Hickey¡¯s waist and forced the latter to bend backward so much that she dismounted from her horse. Before Hickey¡¯s feet even landed on the ground, she locked onto Flowing Cloud and activated Charge. On foot, her turn rate was much higher than Flowing Cloud¡¯s. Realizing the danger she was in, Flowing Cloud made the snap decision to dismount as well. After parrying Hickey¡¯s attack with her sword, she raised her free left arm and punched Hickey¡¯s shoulder using a skill called Blazing Hammer. 31298! Hickey was sent flying to the back, but she was able to retaliate with Earth Shattering Slash that dealt 50k+ damage. ¡­¡­ The two girls¡¯ battle was fierce and bloody. In the end, both of them were able to drop their opponent to below 25%, but because of the priests present on the battlefield, neither of them was really able to land the fatal blow yet. Natural Flow¡¯s vice leader, a magic knight, was the first to lose his cool first and raised his spear. "White Horse Cavalry, charge and destroy all opposition!" Hooves resounded throughout the cavern as the White Horse Cavalry stormed toward our troops. Although the cavalry wasn¡¯t as powerful as the Beast King Cavalry, they made up for it with their extraordinary Defense. It was why Natural Flow was able to dominate Elephant City. I slowly lowered my dragon on the frontline while casting Summon the Storm and Rise of the Guardian Dragon at the same time. Hundreds of White Horse Cavalrymen were delivered to kingdom come just like that. They could have the highest Defense in the world, and it still wouldn¡¯t be enough to withstand my power. Not done yet, I fired Dragon Slaying Slash at Flowing Cloud next! "Ah?" Sensing danger, Flowing Cloud abruptly looked in my direction before jumping to the back. An instant later, the Dragon Slaying Slash erupted where she stood with visual effects that suggested that it would¡¯ve been a critical hit. She would¡¯ve died if she hadn¡¯t dodged the skill in time. "You ruthless bastard!" Flowing Cloud shot me a distant glare before ordering, "Lightning Archers, you may attack now!" I had no choice but to move backward as lightning-infused arrows rained down on my position. The Ancient Divine Dragon could fly at any altitude, but the problem was that I was inside a cavern right now. There was nowhere I could fly that was out of the Lightning Archers¡¯ shooting range. Thud thud thud... The last group of Zephyr Cavalrymen was stunned by the Lightning Arrows and trampled by the White Horse Cavalry. They were torn to pieces in the blink of an eye. "Ugh¡­" Hickey also took three arrows to the chest and froze where she stood. Just like the others, she was temporarily paralyzed and couldn¡¯t do anything to defend herself. Pu! Flowing Cloud¡¯s pierced Hickey¡¯s chest and caused a spurt of blood. As the war goddess slowly pulled out her sword, she said, "You deserve your title as the number one war goddess of Iron Skull Wilderness. If only you had more troops¡­" Hickey slowly collapsed as she stared at me with dilating pupils. "Boss, I¡­" ¡­¡­ I gritted my teeth. It wasn¡¯t even that long, and before I knew it I was the only Godkiller player left in the entire Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den. What could a single guild leader possibly do anything? Flowing Cloud pointed her sword in my direction. A hail of arrows immediately rained on top of me. I darted here and there and tried my best to dodge, but there were just too many enemies and only one of me. In the end, I caught a Lightning Arrow to the shoulder and was paralyzed where I was! The White Horse Cavalry instantly surrounded me and Barrier Break¡¯d me. Just as my HP was about to bottom out, I awoke from the stun and one-shot everyone around me with War Crush + Rise of the Guardian Dragon combo. I was back to full health, but my situation hadn¡¯t improved in the slightest. Thud! Again, I was stunned before I could do much of anything. There just wasn¡¯t enough space in this goddamned cavern for the Ancient Divine Dragon to maneuver around. As an entire hail of Mountain Stagger Arrows struck me, Flowing Cloud charged in with her sword at the ready. Once she got into range, she unleashed the Mountain Stagger Slash! Bang! Finally, the Ancient Divine Dragon let out a terrible wail and disappeared. It was too big in a place that was too small, so the enemy was able to empty my mount tenacity. There was no time to steady myself, so after I dropped to the ground and stumbled backward, I locked onto an assassin and used Charge. Pu! I skewered him through the chest but didn¡¯t pause to admire the scenery. The moment I jumped out of the exit and temporarily out of view, I used Earth Escape and slipped underground. At this point, every second I lived was a second longer than I deserved. I also made terms with the very real possibility that I would die here. Some distance away, God of War, Breeze and Rain and the Beast King Cavalry were still battling the boss. Their human wave attack was nothing like the shoddy ones employed by the likes of Mad Dragon. Several thousand Beast King Cavalrymen had died to the Blood Dragon God already, but the boss had also dropped to just 40% HP. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Natural Flow¡¯s players finally showed up to search around the area. Everyone looked pissed off because they had lost way too many people to my Rise of the Guardian Dragon and Summon the Storm. "Where? Where is that sonuvabitch?" "When I find that fucker, I¡¯m going to stab him 108 times before sending him to hell!" Flowing Cloud swept her gaze across the surroundings before stopping at the spot I was hiding at. At first, I thought she had spotted me when she walked toward my direction. Instead, she sat down on a broken totem just three meters away from me before pointing to the south and the east, ordering, "You guys, go search for him there and there. I¡¯m going to take a break!" "Yes, guild leader!" ¡­¡­ On the stairs leading up to the Dragon God Hall where the boss battle was taking place, Breeze and Rain turned around to shoot Flowing Cloud a glance before asking, "What happened? You brought 50000 players and 4000 Lightning Archers with you, right? Don¡¯t tell me you still couldn¡¯t kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?" Flowing Cloud replied in an indifferent tone, "We killed every Godkiller player we encountered, but Lu Chen¡¯s Defense is just too high. He managed to escape and use his stealth skill¡­" "Fuck me¡­" Breeze and Rain swore through gritted teeth before saying, "We¡¯d better search the area as soon as possible then. All mages and archers, use your AoE skills to sweep the area around you! Don¡¯t let Lu Chen killsteal our boss! Oh right, Natural Flow, you don¡¯t need to clear the area within 100 yards of the boss.This we will handle ourselves!" Flowing Cloud pressed her lips tightly. "Are you that worried that Natural Flow will steal the Ascension Proof from you, Breeze and Rain?" Caught off-guard but undeterred, Breeze and Rain shot her a placating smile and said, "It¡¯s not like that. It¡¯s just that we agreed beforehand that Natural Flow will clear the surrounding mobs, and Cyan Beast will claim the boss and the Ascension Proof, right? I don¡¯t think that my order affects that agreement at all, does it?" Flowing Cloud snorted but stayed silent. She continued sitting on the totem alone while everyone else was carrying out their business. Galaxy Storms and Spiraling Arrow Blades were exploding everywhere. Just as Breeze and Rain had ordered, they were doing their best to sweep every inch of the map and prevent me from kill-stealing the boss. Relatively speaking, Flowing Cloud¡¯s location was the only spot that was safe from the sweep. One glare was all it took for her to stop the archers from shooting their Skypiercers at her location. It was at this moment she leaned backward and whispered softly, "The boss''s HP is only 15% now. Don¡¯t disappoint me, Lu Chen." I shuddered from head to toe. What the hell did she mean by that? Did she find out where I was at the beginning? Was that why she was covering this location and covering me from exposure? However, what could I do even if I managed to kill the boss and steal the Ascension Proof? I neither had a return scroll nor a city to teleport to. I wouldn¡¯t be able to escape even with an invincibility skill. It was at this moment Flowing Cloud rose to her feet and slowly walked to my location. She glanced at several players at the distance and ordered, "Why are you guys just standing and doing nothing? Sweep the east side again just in case." At the same time, she dropped a red-colored scroll right beneath her feet and whispered again, "Hold this, Lu Chen. Do your best to get the Ascension Proof. If you succeed and manage to escape, I¡¯ll meet you at the north side of Iron Skull Wilderness, (147387, 900989) in half an hour¡­" Stunned as I was, I accepted the scroll anyway and read its contents¡ª Escape From Hell Scroll: In three seconds, teleport the user away from the current map and to a random location of the previous map they were at. ¡­¡­ Holy shit, this scroll was amazing! It would teleport me away from Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den and to a random location in Frost Stained Canyon! Considering how huge Frost Stained Canyon was, the chance I would be caught before I could summon the Ancient Divine Dragon and escape to the air was practically zero! All I needed to do now was to grab that Ascension Proof... "Flowing Cloud, you¡­" I finally broke my silence and whispered back to Flowing Cloud. The Indian war goddess let out a soft chuckle. "Don¡¯t waste it, seriously. It cost me 70k gold to buy this, and up until now, there is only one Escape From Hell Scroll in the entire Elephant City¡­" "Mn." It took a while, but I finally figured out why Flowing Cloud was doing all this. And even if I hadn¡¯t, the way Cyan Beast was unnaturally wary of Natural Flow showed me that Elephant City and Cyan Earth City were not as united as they seemed to an outsider. In fact, I now had good reason to believe that the river of grudge between them was deeper than even the one shared by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Candle Dragon. Now that I had the Escape From Hell Scroll, my confidence went from zero to a hundred right away. The Dragon God Shield¡¯s Dragon Soul Protection would turn me invincible for 25 seconds, so unless I screwed up the execution hard there was no way this heist could go wrong. Now all I needed to do was wait for the right moment to killsteal the boss and steal the Ascension Proof. ¡­¡­ At the Dragon God Hall, the Blood Dragon God was still ravaging the Beast King Cavalry like the Ancient Immortal Rank boss it was. Sometimes it summoned a lightning storm, and sometimes it summoned meteors that literally penetrated the ceiling of the cavern to smash the puny ants trying to kill it. It was a bloody battle to say the least. However, Cyan Beast¡¯s arrows and magic were slowly but steadily decreasing Blood Dragon God¡¯s HP. It was a living representation of the saying "an army of ants can kill an elephant¡±. God of War, Breeze and Rain and Cyan Earth City players were all waiting for the moment the Blood Dragon God¡¯s HP dropped to 2% or so. When that happened, they would all unleash our strongest combos and deal the last hit. ¡­¡­ Because I more or less guessed what my enemy was planning, I inched toward the boss until it had dropped to 4% HP. Then, I preemptively launched my assault! Swhoosh! The second I escaped the underground, I immediately activated my 25-second invincibility skill. Divine draconic power protected me from all damage as I Charged toward the Blood Dragon God in a straight line! First things first, I stabbed the Blood Dragon God in the neck and used Purple Frost Concentration! The skill immediately lowered the boss''s Defense by 27%, which was way better than Yeye the Witch¡¯s Nether Fire Arrow. Then, I executed Burning Blade Slash + Rise of the Guardian Dragon combo! Boom boom boom! The ground shook like an earthquake was going on. The combo greatly decreased the Blood Dragon God¡¯s HP and turned all the surrounding Beast King Cavalrymen into dead bodies. ¡­¡­ It was only now that Cyan Beast¡¯s players realized what was going on and shouted on top of their lungs, "That motherfucker is still around! He¡¯s going to steal the boss! STOP HIM!" Behind them, God of War and Breeze and Rain rushed forward to stop me. I only had less than 3 seconds left! Thud! I slammed my weapon into the ground and summoned the power of Purple Dragon Howl. As I swung my sword sideways, the purple energy rotated up the boss''s neck, elicited painful howls from it and deleted its HP to almost zero! I gritted my teeth and forced myself to land one last basic attack. Purple Dragon Howl left its user in an Exhausted state for 3 seconds after using it, so I only managed to deal a pitiful 1904 to it. However, it was enough to end the super boss''s life! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! A column of golden light surrounded me as I leveled up to 214. At the same time, I snatched a golden proof from the air and threw it into my bag. Chapter 1124: One and the Same I was already acting the robber, so I might as well go all out. After snatching the Ascension Proof from midair, I grabbed the necklace right next to it and¡­ that was it. The rest of the equipment was too far away for me to reach, and Dragon Soul Protection could only last so long. I would certainly die if God of War and Breeze and Rain caught up to me as my invincibility skill expired. Crack! I crushed the Escape From Hell Scroll and caused another sheen of golden light to erupt from my body. It would take three seconds for me before the teleport was complete! ¡­¡­ God of War and Breeze and Rain skidded to a stop just three meters away from me. Judging from their furious expressions, they knew that it was already too late. Breeze and Rain pointed his sword at my face and uttered harshly, "No one has ever stolen the food in our jaws, and you are the first, Lu Chen! Just you wait, we will teach you a lesson later! You will pay heavily for everything you¡¯ve done!" I sneered, "Bring it on." Finally, the scroll¡¯s magic ripped a hole in space and time and teleported me away from Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I appeared inside a lush forest. At the distance, I looked to the side just in time to catch a group of Beast King Cavalrymen galloping toward somewhere. Good, I¡¯m back at Frost Stained Canyon. The tiny dragon coiled around my arm turned into a huge dragon, and after I climbed onto its back I ordered, "Let¡¯s go!" Just like that, I soared to the nine heavens and left the Beast King Cavalry behind. Beep! It was around this time Hickey sent me a call request: "How is it, boss? Did you escape successfully?" I smiled. "Yes. It¡¯s time to leave this accursed map behind. Let¡¯s regather at Bonecrush Forest and protect our domain." "Mn mn, your safety is more important than the Ascension Proof, boss!" That made me laugh a bit. "Who said I didn¡¯t get the Ascension Proof?" Hickey exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "Wait, seriously? You got it?" "I got it. See you at Bonecrush Forest!" Hickey cheered. "Mn mn!" ¡­¡­ The Ancient Divine Dragon flew toward Bonecrush Forest in a straight line. Barring any accidents, I should arrive at my destination in 20 minutes. At full speed, my mount moved like a meteor and was way faster than even the speed-based Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses. Part of the reason was because a land mount was affected by the terrain and could only travel between 50% to 90% of its max speed. To give an example, a land mount could only travel at at most 90% of their max speed on a perfectly flat plain. On the other hand, an aerial mount retained at least 97% of their max speed almost all the time. It was never going to be a fair comparison. On the way, I opened my bag to check out my prize. Besides the golden Ascension Proof, I had also gotten a shiny necklace with a bent, heart-shaped pendant. Mini cyan cyclones surrounded the necklace, and it glittered like the most dazzling accessory in the world. I fully expected it to be OP, and I wasn¡¯t disappointed when I checked its stats¡ª Necklace of the Ice Wind Goddess (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Agility: +1250 Stamina: +1100 Intelligence: +1170 Passive: Increases user''s ranged attack power by 40% Passive: Increases user¡¯s ranged skills¡¯ rank by 1 Outstanding Property: Power Strike Aura. Increases ranged attack power of all party members within 100 yards by 15% Level Requirement: 205 Reputation Requirement: 450000 Class Requirement: Archer ¡­¡­ My heart sang. What an amazing archer-exclusive necklace! The trip to Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den had definitely been worthwhile. The one necklace I nabbed was an Archean Immortal-grade equipment, and more importantly, I got what we came here to get, the Ascension Proof. This Ascension Proof was more valuable than any other item I could¡¯ve gotten because it turned anyone into a Divine General of Iron Skull Wilderness, one that was loyal to me no less... A while later, I arrived at my destination and jumped off the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back to land in front of the NPCs of Bonecrush Forest. All around me, Godkiller players who had been killed in action and returned to our headquarters nodded at me and greeted, "Welcome back, guild leader!" "Mn." I nodded back in acknowledgment before lying down on top of a huge limestone and waited for Hickey, Warscar and the others to return. Although I had the Ancient Divine Dragon guarding by my side just in case, I wasn¡¯t worried that someone would attack our resting spot. Bonecrush Forest was our headquarters, and Godkiller players were all over the place. Even Cyan Beast had to weigh their strength before invading this place, and after the battle of Frost Stained Canyon, I was certain that a large majority of their players had used up most of their supplies. This meant that they would have to return to Cyan Earth City for a time and restock their potions before attempting another invasion. After all, not everyone had the privilege of over 1000 bagspace and could spend half a month outside without worrying about supplies like me. Almost 40 minutes later, Hickey, Warscar and the rest of the guild finally returned to Bonecrush Forest. Hickey greeted me with a smile, "Boss!" By the time I sat up, Hickey had already plopped down next to me and watched me expectantly. I passed her the Ascension Proof and said, "Here. Use it now and become a Divine General. If you had Great Earth Transformation earlier, you may not have lost to Flowing Cloud." "I know!" Hickey gladly accepted the Ascension Proof. The next moment, it flowed into her body as a glob of radiance¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Hickey" has used the Ascension Proof and become the first Divine General of Iron Skull Wilderness! They have gained Level +2, Luck +3, gold +50000, and achieved the realm of Great Earth Transformation! They have also obtained an exclusive Divine General Skill: Great Earth Dragon¡¯s Blade: Trigger the rage of the great earth dragon and conjure draconic blades to kill all targets on the surface with the power of the divine. Deal AoE damage to all enemies within 15 yards. Skill¡¯s attack power is based on the user¡¯s stats. Skill exclusive to Hickey. ¡­¡­ Warscar clenched his fists as he laughed, "Hickey has ascended to become a Divine General! Iron Skull Wilderness has finally welcomed its first Divine General, wahahaha..." Hickey thanked me profusely, "Thank you so much, boss!" "You¡¯re welcome¡­" I waved at her. "We are one and the same from the moment Sacred Oath and Godkiller joined hands." "Yeah!" It was at this moment I checked the time and realized something. "Oh shit, I almost forgot I had an appointment. I need to leave right now. Protect Bonecrush Forest and keep an eye out for Cyan Beast. We cannot allow Breeze and Rain and God of War to ambush our headquarters. If we lose these NPCs, we won¡¯t be able to resupply for several days at least." "Got it¡­" ¡­¡­ I returned to the sky and arrived at the agreed upon coordinates seven minutes later. I could see Flowing Cloud holding the reins of her white horse and staring at me from the ground. "Roar¡­" The Ancient Divine Dragon let out a warning roar as I jumped down while I was still three meters in the air. After I landed on both feet, I walked up to her and said with a smile, "Thank you for helping me earlier, Flowing Cloud. I will remember this favor." Flowing Cloud smiled wider. "How many times have you owed me already?" "Whatever. Now talk to me. You called me over for a reason, right?" "Mn." Flowing Cloud drew in her cloak before leaning against a nearby stone wall. "You¡¯ve seen what happened in Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den earlier, haven¡¯t you? Natural Flow is one of the top guilds in Elephant City, but Cyan Beast thinks of us no more than a puppet." I nodded in agreement. "God of War and Breeze and Rain are arrogant fellows. They have the strength to match that arrogance though." "That is why I would like to change things!" Visibly agitated, she clenched her fists tightly and breathed hard enough to cause her bust to sway hypnotically. "Just a few days ago, God of War had the gall to contact me and suggest that Natural Flow is subsumed into Cyan Beast. Subsumed! He wants out elite players to join their main guild, and the guild itself to become their subguild! The shame!" She abruptly unsheathed her sword and cut down an orange tree next to her. Face stiff with determination, she continued, "I, Flowing Cloud had climbed all the way to where I am now through my own two hands. I¡¯ve neither relied on others nor begged for outside help. If Cyan Beast must extend their claws to Elephant City, then I will be the one to cut off their talons myself!" I leaned against a fir tree while confirming her intentions. "You wish to break ties with them?" "Yes." Flowing Cloud nodded. "Well, maybe not that far. But Natural Flow will never become another person¡¯s puppet. You should¡¯ve figured it out by now, but I helped you today so you could do me a favor¡­" I laughed. "You sure think highly of me, Flowing Cloud. Well, speak. If whatever you want me to do benefits me as well, then I promise you I will do everything in my power to see it done. You are the only one who respected my strength enough to travel all the way to Final Duel Valley to recruit me after all, not to mention that it irks me that I¡¯ve never been able to repay so much good will you¡¯ve shown me." Flowing Cloud giggled a bit before tilting her head. "Why do you think I helped you because I respect your abilities, not because I fell in love with you?" I licked my lips and answered, "All the women who love me would never hurt me. You would. It¡¯s that simple." Flowing Cloud pursed her lips. "You also dislike women who are too calculative, right? Hmph." I looked her in the eyes and replied seriously, "Yes. I like smart women, but I dislike those who are good at manipulation. Maybe I¡¯m misjudging you, but make no mistake: I will never think of you that way, Flowing Cloud." "Ceh, like I want your love¡­" Flowing Cloud snorted in disdain before continuing, "Anyway, back to business. All I ask from you is one thing¡­" "Mn, speak¡­" ¡­¡­ Flowing Cloud withdrew her smile and started in an unusually serious tone, "In 19 hours, a conquerable NPC territory will spawn close to Elephant City at Thunder Mountain Range. What¡¯s special about this territory is that it will be Rank 9 from the moment it spawns, and it increases drop rate of all members of the guild it belongs to by 15%. It is why all the guilds in India are vying for it. I¡¯ve come to a secret agreement with various guilds such as Dark Clouds and Flames of War, and, long story short, we are going to do everything in our power to stop Cyan Beast from obtaining it. If they succeed, Cyan Beast will truly be unbeatable in all of India. I want you to help me occupy this territory¡­" I exclaimed in astonishment, "You want me to help you occupy a Rank 9 territory? But¡­ how does this benefit me?" Flowing Cloud chuckled. "It¡¯s very simple. This territory stands directly between Railroad Fortress and the China server. If I become the owner of this territory, not only will I allow you to enter and exit it as you please, I will clear the way home for you myself!" "The way home¡­" She got me. Flowing Cloud was a smart woman, and she knew exactly what my weakness was. ¡­¡­ A long time later, Flowing Cloud walked up to me and kissed me on my forehead. After she pulled away, she said seriously, "Lu Chen, you are my friend. [1] I hope you will help me just this once." I thought for a long time before answering, "I demand 10 million gold as compensation for the brothers and sisters who are going to die for your cause. We are done if you disagree." "Very well!" Flowing Cloud replied imperiously, "10 million it is! I can afford it!" 1. T/N: a million are you fucking serious E/N: She was already a rival figure like Lin Yixin or Gui Guzi at the beginning. Subtract rivalry and ¡®friend¡¯ not much of a stretch Chapter 1125: Bloodthirsty Demon’s Suggestion "Upfront payment, please¡­" Flowing Cloud brought up the trade window and traded me 10 million gold right away. To Godkiller, this was an enormous amount of money because the mobs here were split into two extremes: those that were way too powerful to kill, or those that were so weak that their drops might as well be worthless. Moreover, Iron Skull Wilderness barely had any NPCs at all, much less ones that offered you quests to grind money with. Naturally, everyone living in this wasteland was poor. Flowing Cloud¡¯s generosity was most welcome to say the least. I spent a moment admiring the bag of gold in my hands before smiling at her. "The guild I founded in Iron Skull Wilderness is really starting to look like a mercenary guild. As long as our employer pays us enough money, we¡¯ll happily throw our lives away for them. Thank you very much for your ten million gold, Flowing Cloud." The woman leaned against a tree and replied in an indifferent tone, "I expect the results to be worth the amount of gold I paid you. In 15 hours, you and your men will depart from Iron Skull Wilderness, pass through Frost Stained Canyon and travel along Thunder Mountain Range. You should arrive at a map within Elephant City¡¯s borders called Dirge Canyon. It is where the territory I¡¯m planning to occupy will spawn. After the territory is spawned, all players may only enter Dirge Canyon once in the next 24 hours. Anyone who dies in Dirge Canyon will be respawned at a random location in the previous map." "Okay, so?" "My request is simple." The corners of Flowing Cloud¡¯s lips curved upward. "All I want you to do is to intercept Cyan Beast¡¯s 100k Beast King Cavalrymen and preferably replicate your glorious success at Grass Vine Canyon. If you succeed, I will occupy the territory and grant your guild the right to pass through my territory anytime you please." I shook my head. "My burning of the Beast King Cavalry at Grass Vine Canyon was pure coincidence. Not only that, I doubt I¡¯ll ever be able to replicate the feat again. God of War isn¡¯t the type of person to fall for the same trick twice, and frankly, your demand for me to defeat all 100k Beast King Cavalrymen is almost unreasonable. If my Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers were with me, defeating the Beast King Cavalry wouldn¡¯t be an issue. Right now though? You¡¯ve already experienced the caliber of troops I¡¯m currently in command. The Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse is literally the only advantage Godkiller has over the Beast King Cavalry. Everything else¡ªlevel, equipment, skill, coordination and even sheer numbers¡ª is inferior to say the least. For now, I can¡¯t think of any way for us to beat the Beast King Cavalry head-on." "I¡¯m aware¡­" Flowing Cloud exhaled deeply. "I won¡¯t pressure you too much, Lu Chen. Just do your best. Oh right, Cyan Beast has formed an alliance with Nation Guardian, and I¡¯m pretty sure the latter will be joining this territory contest as well. In short, we¡¯ll be facing more than just Cyan Beast. This is a war of the weak against the strong, but I¡¯m confident that your genius will be enough to turn the tides of this civil war¡­" I nodded. "I¡¯ll do my best, but I give no guarantees." "That is all I ask, hehe¡­" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a cacophony of hooves suddenly rang from the forest behind me. The next moment, a warrioress with her head covered in red maple leaves burst into the clearing. The moment she saw us, she accused in an indignant tone, "I knew you would be meeting this woman, boss! Hmph! What¡¯s so good about her? She even ambushed us at Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den!" Me: "..." Flowing Cloud walked up to her smilingly. "That was then, this is now. Good day, Hickey. Do you know that we¡¯re allies now? You may ask your boss if you don¡¯t believe me." "Really?" Hickey suppressed the urge to attack Flowing Cloud and shot me an inquiring glance. I nodded. "Mn, yes, we have come to an agreement with each other. We will be allies for a long time to come, so give up on trying to PK Flowing Cloud, Hickey." "But¡­" Hickey still looked dissatisfied, so I brought up the trade window and transferred 10 million gold to her straight away. "This is what Flowing Cloud paid us to sell our lives for her one time. She is a very generous employer, isn¡¯t she?" The sight of so much gold instantly overwrote Hickey¡¯s expression into a bright one. "Wow, this truly is a great sum of money! How do you want to distribute this, boss?" My lips curled a little. "I leave it to you to decide, but make sure you pay the Zephyr Cavalry more than the others so that they¡¯ll happily toil their lives for us. I guess it¡¯s a blessing in disguise that our guild size is still relatively small. I¡¯m sure everyone will be satisfied with the ¡®benefits¡¯ they are getting!" "Mn mn!" However, Hickey was still looking at Flowing Cloud challengingly. She even activated her Great Earth Transformation and said, "I still want to have a proper duel with the number one war goddess of Elephant City, however. Give me face, Flowing Cloud. Let us fight a no-death spar with boss as the witness, shall we?" I shook my head. Sometimes, Hickey was too competitive for her own good. She must have been itching for a good fight ever since she obtained her Divine General Skill. Flowing Cloud was an incredibly clever woman, so she nodded without hesitation and replied smilingly, "If that is your request, then so it shall be, sister¡­" ¡­¡­ And so the two women dueled each other on the forest clearing. It would be a round-of-5 battle with me as the witness. Swords and shadows danced with each other for a moment. It didn¡¯t take long for a victor to be decided. Hickey was the victor with a 3:2 score. Hickey¡¯s S2 set gave her incredible Defense, and I could sense clearly that Flowing Cloud was having a hard time dealing with it. It was so pivotal that Flowing Cloud went all out during the first and third rounds, but she still lost to Hickey. However, Flowing Cloud was slightly more skilled than Hickey, and she was even able to gain the upper hand for a time during the fifth and final round. At the last moment though, Hickey sold an opening that Flowing Cloud bought hook, line, and sinker, causing the Iron Skull Wilderness warrioress to turn the tables and emerge victorious. "And that¡¯s settled! Just in case, I will remind you two that this is a friendly spar!" I waved my sword to emphasize the point. Hickey gave Flowing Cloud a nod of respect. "The strongest warrioress of Elephant City is truly formidable. I¡¯ve never met such a powerful opponent in Iron Skull Wilderness before¡­" Flowing Cloud pointed with her lips at the WEL MVP emblem on my shoulder and said, "What are you talking about? The strongest player in the world is right there. I bet there¡¯s a high chance you¡¯ll become the strongest female warrior in the world if you spar your boss just a couple of times everyday. Trust me¡­" "Heehee, yeah!" I shook my head. Hickey was an intelligent woman, but her wisdom was far, far behind Flowing Cloud¡¯s. I would almost say that she was naive judging from the fact that she still hadn¡¯t realized Flowing Cloud¡¯s intentions yet. Well, it wasn¡¯t a bad trait for me per se. A woman who was too shrewd was hard to control... ¡­¡­ After we bade Flowing Cloud goodbye, I returned to Bonecrush Forest with Hickey and checked the time. It was almost time for dinner, and I bet that Lin Yixin and Chaos Moon were just waiting for me to log out. So I said to her, "Alright, I¡¯m logging out and taking my well deserved break now. The rest of you, keep doing whatever you¡¯re doing at full power, yeah? Also, I want everyone to be online and ready to go 15 hours from now. We have a big operation ahead of us, and we¡¯re not the type of people who would accept ten million gold and not do our jobs properly, are we?" Hickey nodded smilingly. "You said it, boss!" However, Warscar walked over to me with a stern expression and said, "Wait, guild leader. Something urgent just came up!" "What¡¯s wrong?" "Bloodlust just showed up outside Bonecrush Forest with 30k heavy cavalrymen. It seems to me that Bloodthirsty Demon was unhappy that you bested him last time and is plotting to take revenge. He asked for you specifically to meet him¡­" Hickey looked furious. "Aiyo, that sonuvabitch thinks he can come to our headquarters and taunt us just because we cut him some slack the first time? Boss would¡¯ve slaughtered him if he really went all out! Hmph hmph, you just sit tight and relax, boss. This time, I¡¯ll be the one to take him out, that arrogant¡­" I chuckled. "Calm down. We don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on yet. Let¡¯s meet him and deal with this as soon as possible!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ We rallied about 10000 Zephyr Cavalrymen before exiting Bonecrush Forest together. On the wide clearing, Bloodthirsty Demon and his 30000-strong heavy cavalry were already in formation and staring at us with stern eyes. "You¡¯ve finally come, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" Bloodthirsty Demon started. I dismounted from my Ancient Divine Dragon and walked up to the guy with a lazy smile on my face. "Hello, Bloodthirsty Demon. What is your business with me?" He replied, "Are you aware that we fought against Cyan Beast at the forest of Frost Stained Canyon?" I nodded. "I know. I¡¯ve watched it with my own eyes." "Hmph¡­" Bloodthirsty Demon let out a soft snort before continuing, "Our levels, equipment and skill were far inferior compared to our opponents¡¯. Iron Skull Wilderness¡¯ amount and quality of supplies are too lousy as well. As a result, Bloodlust suffered the greatest defeat it has ever had since its conception despite outnumbering their opponent. Our casualty rate was 95%, and we lost over 200k players for less than 50k enemies in that battle. It was humiliating¡­" I raised my eyebrows. "So?" Bloodthirsty Demon abruptly clenched his fists. "Have you heard of the saying ¡®united we stand¡¯? When Bloodlust was battling Cyan Beast¡¯s weaklings at Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den and losing horribly, Godkiller had torched all 100k Beast King Cavalrymen at Grass Vine Canyon to death with less than 50k troops! I am an arrogant man who only respects the strong, and you, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, have my respect with your courage to fight a much bigger enemy, and your wisdom to come up with that amazing strategy. Therefore, I would like Bloodlust and Godkiller to merge together. What do you think?" Hickey¡¯s mouth fell open slightly. "What? You want to merge with us?" Warscar immediately blurted, "Wonderful! Have your Top 5000 players join our main guild, and the rest of them become our subguild then!" Unfortunately, a magic knight next to Bloodthirsty Demon lost his cool and swore, "Pooh! Who the fuck do you think you are? You ain¡¯t subsuming our guild that easily!" Warscar retorted, "You¡¯re the ones who outnumbered the enemy and still got their asses kicked! You think you have the right to talk conditions with us?" War Dead joined in. "Yeah. Speaking of sayings, isn¡¯t there one about the weak should obey the strong? You lost, so you should obey us, the victors!" ¡­¡­ Bloodthirsty Demon looked like he wanted to say something, but didn¡¯t know how to start. I could see that he truly wanted to fight alongside Godkiller, but he was the leader of a large group that wasn¡¯t always of the same mind. His intentions were benevolent, but good intentions didn¡¯t necessarily always bring good results. Chapter 1126: Beauties Arise I didn¡¯t rush to make a decision. I took a long time to weigh the pros and cons of Bloodlust joining us. Bloodlust was a guild with over 200k players. One might say that more than half of the casual players of Iron Skull Wilderness were gathered in Bloodlust. Therefore, if my goal was to bring most of the unaffiliated players in Iron Skull Wilderness together, reorganizing Bloodlust was more or a less a must-do. Moreover, I had witnessed their battle at Frost Stained Forest. Their strength was uneven, and their ability to command a positional warfare was even worse than Gui Guzi¡¯s, but they absolutely had courage in spades. At the very least, they were better than bullies like Black Crow Tribe. Moreover, we were going to march into Dirge Canyon in 15 hours, and Godkiller¡¯s numbers didn¡¯t exceed 100k. Frankly, I had strong doubts that we would be able to meet Flowing Cloud¡¯s expectation considering our current strength. I might not be an actual famous war general of China like Han Xin, but I at least understood the saying "the more, the better¡±. The bigger my army, the higher my chance to defeat the enemy. And so, I made up my mind. ¡­¡­ I stepped out into the open and raised my arm. Godkiller¡¯s players were the first ones to quiet down first, followed by the players of Bloodlust. Bloodthirsty Demon looked at me and asked, "Can you share your opinion with us, guild leader Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? I agree with my subordinate that sending our elites into your main guild and turning our main guild into your subguild is going too far. It has been more than half a year since Bloodlust was founded, and everything we achieved together is fought by our own sweat and blood. If possible, no one wants to become the vassal of a bigger force." I nodded. "I understand what you¡¯re saying. If I may, I have a suggestion for you." "Please speak!" Bloodthirsty Demon had always been an arrogant man, but it seemed that that negative trait of his was utterly crushed by the terrible defeat he suffered at Frost Stained Canyon. I almost couldn¡¯t believe how polite he was acting to me right now. It was reality though. There were few things that opened one¡¯s eyes better than a horrible defeat. I planted my sword on the ground to assume a more comfortable posture before starting, "It¡¯s simple. We won¡¯t ask Bloodlust to disband and join Godkiller. Instead, we will ask you to form an alliance with us and become our satellite guild. Bloodlust will retain full autonomy and integrity, but I request that you obey my command when a great war is on the horizon. As for your subguilds, they will join Godkiller¡¯s subguilds. Finally, I would like it if you added the prefix ¡®Godkiller¡¯ in front of your guild name so that it¡¯s clear that you are our satellite guild. Of course, you may keep your guild emblem. We aren¡¯t subsuming you after all. So, what do you say?" A smart person would notice that I was still asking Bloodlust to become our subguild. I just dressed my words with sincerity and avoided unpleasant terms like "reorganization¡±. Sometimes, pretty words were all it took to make something unacceptable acceptable... Bloodthirsty Demon pondered about the offer for half a minute before discussing it with his subguilds¡¯ leaders. Finally, he nodded to me and said, "Very well, we will do as you say, guild leader. From now on, Bloodlust¡¯s main guild will become Godkiller¡¯s satellite guild. We will obey your command and wisdom in all forms of large-scale warfare!" Warscar grinned. "Awesome! Now that we¡¯re one big family, there¡¯s no need to snatch hammers from each other anymore!" Bloodthirsty Demon smiled as well. "Yes. From now on, we are brothers and sisters with common enemies and dreams. We may be unaffiliated players, but we will shine bright and strong in these troubled times nonetheless!" I sent Bloodthirsty Demon an alliance invitation, and just like that, Bloodlust became our ally. After adding the prefix "Godkiller" to their guild name, Bloodlust officially became our strongest subguild, with a couple of minor differences. One, Bloodthirsty Demon still had full power over the internal affairs of his own guild, and two, he possessed his own authority. That was fine. We could take this one step at a time. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a Zephyr Cavalryman wielding a spear galloped over while shouting, "Bad news, guild leader! Beast Soul has appeared from the north again, and this time they brought around 20k+ players with them! They claimed that they¡¯re going to flatten Bonecrush Forest and destroy Godkiller! What do we do?" Hickey smiled. "Their timing couldn¡¯t be any better¡­" My own smile was a mirror of hers. I said to Bloodthirsty Demon, "Demon, a stepping stone has just appeared at our doorstep. Show me the power of Bloodlust!" Bloodthirsty Demon nodded affirmatively. "Got it!" I spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon into the air and looked to the north. I quickly spotted Beast Trainer, the guild leader of Beast Soul, among the huge army he brought. The guy had come to raid our NPC camp probably because he thought that we were weakened after the battle at Dragonsnake Devil¡¯s Den. After I slowly descended back to the ground, I pointed to the east and ordered, "Hickey, take 5000 Zephyr Cavalrymen with you and hit the enemy¡¯s wing from the east. Warscar, take everyone else with you and surround the enemy from the west. Both of you will attack only after I give you the green light. Bloodthirsty Demon, you and Bloodlust¡¯s main force will hit the enemy head-on. There¡¯s no need to set up a defense line or anything, just bumrush those idiots until they die. We¡¯re going to settle this in ten minutes, people!" Bloodthirsty Demon had probably never experienced something called planning before a great battle. He pulled out his broadsword and declared with a fierce smile, "We will do as you say, guild leader!" ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t participate in this battle because I wanted to gauge the power of the new Godkiller. I perched the Ancient Divine Dragon on a giant tree tall enough to oversee the entire battlefield. There were dust clouds everywhere at the horizon. Most of Beast Soul¡¯s players were cavalrymen, and I spotted several thousand Beast King Cavalrymen among them. It became obvious that Cyan Beast was the real reason they came to attack us again. The moment both sides entered the battlefield, I immediately ordered, "Now is the time! Attack!" The ground shook like an earthquake as Bloodthirsty Demon waved his weapon and charged with his riders fearlessly toward the enemy. Not only that, Hickey and Warscar¡¯s 5000-strong Zephyr Cavalry parties also burst out of the forests on the two sides of the clearing and caught Beast Soul in a pincer attack. Beast Soul¡¯s morale dropped like a rock even before impact was made. The noises of cavalry slamming into cavalry, and blades tearing into armor resounded throughout the battlefield. The cavalry engaged one another faster than the ranged parties could follow. The battle was almost completely one-sided. Fighting at the forefront, Bloodthirsty Demon and the elites of Bloodlust single-handedly stopped the enemy¡¯s charge. To the flanks, Hickey and Warscar shattered Beast Soul¡¯s defense like nothing and carved their way to the heart of their formation like a pair of unstoppable blades. Beast Trainer exclaimed amid green-faced shock, "What¡­ what the hell is going on? Since when is Bloodlust Godkiller¡¯s subguild?" Obviously, Bloodthirsty Demon had no time to answer him. He was fully absorbed in his bloody task. Less than ten minutes later, Beast Soul broke under pressure and routed as expected. Most of them weren¡¯t able to outrun Godkiller¡¯s pursuit. ¡­¡­ It was done. I checked the time one last time before sending Bloodthirsty Demon, Hickey and Warscar each a message informing them that I was logging off and telling them to have fun. I also reminded them that they must come online 15 hours later for the revenge operation against Cyan Beast. Natural Flow might be an enemy in the future, but for now we were joining hands in the name of mutual profit and fighting against our common enemy, Cyan Beast. Iron Skull Wilderness had always thought of Cyan Beast as their number one enemy, and practically everyone had had enough of Beast King Cavalry¡¯s reign of terror. ¡­¡­ I logged out of the game and took off my helmet. It had been a very fulfilling day of blood and slaughter. After I was ready, I immediately knocked on Lin Yixin and Chaos Moon¡¯s doors and invited them for dinner. They had been waiting for me for quite some time. We went to a western restaurant downstairs and enjoyed a steak. After we were done eating, we relaxed on the restaurant¡¯s sofas and chatted idly about everything. Lin Yixin was sitting next to me and holding my hand. Chaos Moon was sitting on the opposite side of the table. Right now, Chaos Moon was covering her forehead with one hand and complaining, "Guys, I¡¯m a single woman. Can you have a heart and not act so lovey-dovey in front of me?" Lin Yixin giggled. "You can find a man yourself if you¡¯re that lonely. Gui Guzi, Yamete and Xu Yang are all good people¡­" "Unfortunately, they don¡¯t meet my standards¡­" Chaos Moon shrugged. Lin Yixin immediately wrapped both her arms around me, "This one¡¯s mine! Don¡¯t even think about taking him from me!" Chaos Moon: "..." Another bout of idle conversation later, Chaos Moon asked, "So, what did you achieve today, Lu Chen? I heard that Iron Skull Wilderness is torn by war right now. You truly are the god of war and chaos. Wherever you go, war follows¡­" I took a sip from my drink before replying, "The usual. I¡¯m currently making my way to Thunder Mountain Range. With luck, I should be able to make my way home very soon. Oh right, can you come to Iron Skull Wilderness when you log on tomorrow morning? I need to give you some stuff. Make sure you clear out at least 300 inventory slots." "Ohh, what¡¯s this about?" "You¡¯ll know when I trade you the stuff. Make sure you depart early. Even with the Dragonscale Beast¡¯s movement speed, it¡¯ll still take you 2.5 hours to reach Iron Skull Wilderness. I¡¯ll be waiting for you at the northwest zone of the map." "Okay." Beside me, Lin Yixin asked me, "My party cleared S2 today, so I would like to visit Iron Skull Wilderness. Is that okay?" "Do whatever you want¡­" "Okay. I¡¯ll travel together with Chaos Moon then." "Yeah, that¡¯s a good idea. You¡¯ll be able to take care of each other in case something happens. Don¡¯t engage anyone in battle though. I don¡¯t think anyone can catch up to you two as long as you keep traveling at full speed anyway." "Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ I returned to my room and hit the bed. I blacked out practically the second my head landed on the pillow. It was very early in the morning when I woke up. There were still 4 hours until the agreed time of departure, so I decided that I might as well use this time to receive Chaos Moon and Lin Yixin. I wanted Chaos Moon to take the 300 stacks, or 30000 Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse Sealing Crystals, in my bag back to Dark Moon City so that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls could have their own Zephyr Cavalry. I had been searching for a way to make up for the rarity that was the Dragonlight Cavalry, and the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse was the perfect solution to that problem. Our high-end players were far, far stronger than Godkiller¡¯s players be it in terms of equipment, levels or skills, so they could all become heavy cavalry, the type of cavalrymen with both high Attack and Defense and was pivotal in any warfare. Swhoosh! After I ate breakfast, I logged into the game and appeared in Bonecrush Forest. After I repaired my equipment and stocked up on some potions, I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and traveled to the zone where we had agreed to meet. However, there were still 3 hours before Chaos Moon and Lin Yixin would arrive, so I summoned my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King and grinded the mobs there. I cleared out every mob within a kilometer radius to welcome the two beauties. Chapter 1127: Beauties Unite Time passed quickly. Soon, it was 10 in the morning. A cool wind blew against my battle garments as I waited at the edge of the northwest edge of the map. A couple minutes later, I heard the sound of a couple of mounts riding toward me until one of them¡ªa ferocious tiger¡ªlet out a mighty roar. The next moment, my Beautiful Little Pepper clad in fiery red armor appeared in front of me on her white-spotted tiger. "You girls sure took your time, hehe¡­" A smile crept onto my face as I watched the in-game Lin Yixin. Chaos Moon appeared from behind Lin Yixin as expected, but to my surprise, a third beauty appeared to the scene while riding a Dragonscale Beast as well. She wore a set of leather armor, and she carried a longbow behind her back. Her hair was tied into a bun, and she exuded an aura of purity and innocence. She was none other than Beiming Xue. "Hi, Beiming! Why have you come?" I walked up to her and asked with a smile. Instead of answering, Beiming dismounted mid-gallop and fell on top of me like a truck. There was so much force behind her that I stumbled backward until I slammed into a maple tree. Hugging me as tightly as she could and burying her face between my neck, she murmured beside my ears, "Big brother, I miss you so, so much!" Lin Yixin and Chaos Moon stood next to me with strange smiles on their faces. Chaos Moon¡¯s smile was one of schadenfreude, while Lin Yixin¡¯s was a forced smirk that barely concealed her killing intent. She was obviously jealous, but she also knew that I was the one who had recruited Beiming Xue to Bloody Mercenaries and invited her to my world. She understood why Beiming Xue was so dependent on me, and so tried her best to swallow her frustration. "Beiming, Beiming¡­" I was embarrassed to say the least, so I patted Beiming¡¯s shoulder repeatedly and said, "It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s okay¡­" A while later, the archer looked up with teary eyes and kissed me on the cheeks. "This one¡¯s from Sister Eve. She managed to beat S2 as the guild¡¯s main tank, and she¡¯s currently attempting S3 with Lian Xin, Sister Mingyue and Li Chengfeng to grind some S3 equipment for Li Chengfeng. That is why she couldn¡¯t join me¡­ She asks you to forgive her¡­" I nodded. "There¡¯s nothing to forgive. I completely understand. Also, don¡¯t you know that I¡¯m doing pretty well in Iron Skull Wilderness? I understand that you¡¯re all worried about me, but seriously, you make it sound like I¡¯ve been sold to Africa as a miner, like come on¡­" Beiming Xue burst into an uncontrollable giggle before she punched me in the shoulder. "You always know how to make me laugh, big brother!" I shook my head. "Right, right. Now can you get off me already?" "Oops¡­" As if she just realized what she was doing, Beiming hurriedly let go of my neck and climbed back to her feet. Face as red as an apple, she said, "Sorry, big brother. I was so excited to see you that I forgot that Sister Lin Yixin is here. I promise I¡¯ll sweet-talk her into punching you less when she beats you up later¡­" My eyes widened. "You knew she would do that, and you did it anyway? You little...!" Meanwhile, Lin Yixin interrupted expressionlessly, "It¡¯s fine, I don¡¯t care. If I got pissed off for every ¡®little sister¡¯ you dote on, my hair would turn white in a single day¡­" I chuckled. "Come, Chaos Moon. Give these to Eve when you see her later." "Sure. Show me the stuff!" I took out the 300 stacks of Sealing Crystals in my bag and dumped them in Chaos Moon¡¯s hands. "This is the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse. It is much stronger than the Cyan Battle Tiger, and not much weaker compared to the Dragonscale Beast. They should be enough to meet the guild¡¯s demand for cavalry for the moment. I know that Dark Moon City¡¯s resources are limited, and that there¡¯s only so much Dragonlight Cavalrymen it can produce, so¡­" Chaos Moon¡¯s eyes widened as she stared at the Sealing Crystals. "Holy shit! These Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses are amazing! You really have become the wealthy landlord of the frontier¡­" "There are 30000 of them in total. You should upgrade the Cyan Tiger Cavalry with them¡­" "Understood." "Alright, you can go back now. Teleport straight back to Dark Moon City and give them to Eve so that you don¡¯t lose them. Leave the distribution to her." "Okay!" "Wait!" "Er, yes?" I asked her, "I haven¡¯t returned to the China server in a long time. Can you tell me how many Dragonlight Cavalrymen and Dragonlight Archers we have now?" Chaos Moon shrugged. "You already know that we¡¯re dry on resources. As far as we¡¯re aware, we¡¯ve swept all resources available in all the main cities and still couldn¡¯t produce nearly enough Dragonlight Cavalry. That being said, it¡¯s not like their growth wasn¡¯t significant. Let me see¡­ Right now, we have a total of 31k+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 15k+ Dragonlight Archers. You can see for yourself that we haven¡¯t been lazy while you¡¯ve been gone." I nodded with a chuckle. "30000 Dragonlight Cavalry, 15000 Dragonlight Archers and now 30000 Zephyr Cavalry. This means that we have 75k peak-tier cavalry in total, or almost enough to sweep the entire Cyan Beast single-handedly! This is wonderful! Well, tell everyone to keep working hard. It¡¯s only a matter of time before I return to the guild. Oh right, did anything notable happen around Dark Moon City during this time?" Chaos Moon said, "Lil Beiming, tell him!" Beiming Xue clung onto my arm as she replied, "There¡¯s nothing particularly big except one thing, big brother. Amber Pupil gathered almost 200 guilds and created an alliance called ¡®Dragons Run Wild¡¯. They made a huge splash while grinding at Dragonbone Mountain Range, and they recently occupied a territory that was close to Black Coast and Dark Moon City. Sister Eve left them alone since Amber Pupil hadn¡¯t tried to provoke us, but¡­" "But?" Beiming Xue chuckled. "However, big brother Gui Guzi is still leading Bloody Mercenaries, and he had no qualms killing Dragons Run Wild. He led 10000+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen and killed almost 100k Dragons Run Wild players before pulling away. Surprisingly, Amber Pupil kept his cool very well and posted a thread denouncing Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ bandit-like behavior. However, he didn¡¯t add Ancient Sword into his accusations because Gui Guzi had declared beforehand that Bloody Mercenaries was a separate guild from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡­" "OMG, Little Gui¡­" I clenched my fists. Chaos Moon also said, "Hmph, that guy¡¯s so wild that even Eve couldn¡¯t control him. He made her cry, you know¡­" Me: "Hmph! Just wait until I return to the Chia server. I¡¯m going to beat the shit out of him!" "Yeah, show him no mercy¡­" Beiming Xue joined in on the bullying. I looked at Chaos Moon. "By the way, why are you still standing around here? I¡¯ll hold you responsible if you drop my 30k Zephyr Ironbone Warhorses, understand?" Chaos Moon pulled out her return scroll and stuck out her tongue at me. "Do you think I¡¯m your private postman or something? You don¡¯t even pay me for my service¡­" "You want money? I¡¯ll give you money. Get over here!" "Buh bye¡­" A ray of light surrounded Chaos Moon, and she vanished just like that. ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue asked me smilingly, "So, what are you going to do next, big brother?" I was wondering if I should tell her about my plans when a chorus of hooves rang behind us. I turned around just in time to see Hickey, Warscar and the rest of Godkiller¡¯s heavy cavalry galloping toward us. Hickey dismounted long before she reached us and said respectfully, "Boss, everything¡¯s ready. We can depart anytime you wish!" While saying so, she glanced at Lin Yixin and Beiming Xue and exclaimed in astonishment, "Wow, who are these beautiful Chinese girls? Are they yours, boss? Oh, I recognize you! You¡¯re Beautiful Little Pepper, right? Hehe, I¡¯m so glad I finally got to meet you in person¡­" Lin Yixin sheathed her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and greeted Hickey politely, "Good day, Hickey!" "Good day to you too!" Next, Hickey looked at Beiming Xue for several seconds before exclaiming, "Her translated ID says¡­ Beiming Xue? Are you the number one archer of China, the Dark Archer Beiming Xue?" For some reason, Beiming Xue pouted and asked me, "Who is this woman?" I shrugged. "That¡¯s a long story. What I can tell you is that we¡¯re all on the same side. Beiming, this is Hickey and Warscar, the allies I¡¯ve made in Iron Skull Wilderness. Hickey, Warscar, this is Beiming Xue, my younger sister. Just like you two, she¡¯s my right hand in China." Hickey nodded in acknowledgement. "Girl, you are very cute." Beiming Xue: "..." Lin Yixin finally asked a question, "Say, what have you assembled so many men for?" Hickey looked surprised. "You don¡¯t know yet? We¡¯re going to Dirge Canyon to carry out a secret military operation¡­" Lin Yixin immediately bubbled with excitement. "Ohh, a military operation? Wonderful! I don¡¯t have anything to do this afternoon anyway. I¡¯ll be coming with you all!" However, ignorant Warscar said, "You should stay out of this, girl. Our opponent is the scary Cyan Beast. We ain¡¯t going to console you if you drop a Level and cry." Hickey immediately elbowed him. "You idiot! How can you say something like that without knowing who she is?" Warscar rubbed his eyes. "She¡¯s a female player. So?" "She¡¯s also a Top 5 CGL Hall of Famer and one of the best players of the China server! Her ID is Wind Fantasy!" "Wind Fantasy?!" Warscar suddenly recalled something and turned green. "You mean that badass woman who killed twenty million Northern Alliance players with God¡¯s Tear? Sorry, sorry¡­" Lin Yixin simply ignored Warscar and looked at me. "This is the type of players you recruit in Iron Skull Wilderness, Little Cheat?" Warscar¡¯s complexion turned even grayer. "I¡­" I shook my head. "Right. Since you¡¯re both here, you may as well join us, Yiyi, Beiming. We can use two Divine Generals¡¯ help. By the way, you both have full Divine Energy Points, right?" Both ladies nodded in unison. "Mn!" Hickey smiled even wider. "Hoho, this is wonderful! 4 Divine Generals is definitely enough to teach those Cyan Beast bastards a lesson!" I nodded and checked the time again. "Alright, let¡¯s go! We depart to Dirge Canyon!" Warscar raised his axe and shouted, "We march, brothers and sisters!" ¡­¡­ I rode and flew closely to the ground. To my left was Lin Yixin, and to my right Beiming Xue. Their arrival had increased our chances of success by 5% at least. I¡¯m so happy! Chapter 1128: Dirge Canyon The plains to the north of Iron Skull Wilderness were a stretch of fertile land filled with wild mobs. There were weak Level 150 Wild Dogs, and there were powerful Level 260 Elite Tigers. This time though, we killed absolutely everything in our way. After all, the goal was to sweep Dirge Canyon and deal a heavy blow to Cyan Beast. ¡­¡­ I was currently soaring in the sky with Dark Pupils activated, revealing all existing targets within several thousand meters on my map. I was the fastest person in the party thanks to the Ancient Divine Dragon, so I took it upon myself to scout everything within a kilometer of the main army. I changed the color of the indicator for mobs to blue, and hostile players to red so that they were easier to differentiate. Swhoosh! I steered my dragon lower immediately after a red dot appeared inside a forest. It was Cyan Earth City archer. Cyan Beast had withdrawn to Cyan Earth City, so this guy was either a solo grinder or a long-term scout who was responsible for watching over this location. Long story short, he had to die. "Roar!" As the Ancient Divine Dragon glided across the air, I swung my weapon and used Dragon Slaying Slash! "Ah?!" The archer finally noticed that he was in danger and looked up, but it was already too late. Dragon Slaying Slash hit him on the shoulder and sent him crashing to the ground, dealing an incredible amount of damage¡ª 180903! At the current stage of the game, the average archers only had 50 to 100 thousand HP. Only a top archer like Beiming Xue would have almost 200k HP. Therefore, the archer died in one hit and exploded into a floor of potions. Speaking of which, the map we were currently at was called "Cursed Wilderness¡±. Another long story short, it was a cursed map that teleported any player who died here straight back to their city. On the ground, Beiming Xue rode up to me and asked, "Can I have the next one, big brother? It¡¯s been a while since I killed someone¡­" "Sure." I looked around before breaking into a smile. "Found one. There¡¯s a stealthed Level 192 assassin about 300 meters directly ahead of us and slightly to the east. I leave him to you, Beiming!" "Okay!" Beiming Xue lifted her sharp ears and stared at the front with her blood-red pupils. As she rode in the direction of the assassin, her high perception enabled her to quickly identify the assassin¡¯s footsteps and the unnatural rustling of the grass. She immediately raised her bow and fired a super long range Skypiercer at her target! Thud thud thud¡­ The skill struck the forest where the assassin was at and elicited a blood-curdling scream. The low-health assassin hurriedly escaped into the denser area of the forest to drink a health potion before emerging back into the open a couple of seconds later. Running toward Beiming Xue and activating Dance of Death at the same time, he shouted angrily, "Die, damn Chinese archer!" Beiming Xue lowered her bow and pulled out a blood-red dagger. Then, she rode up to the assassin while channeling a crystalline glow to the blade of her dagger. It was Archer class¡¯s melee skill, Beast Hunt! Chiang! After parrying the assassin¡¯s attack with her bow, she swung the dagger¡¯s blade across his neck and caused a massive spray of blood. It deleted the assassin¡¯s last chunk of HP and killed him where he stood. The poor guy even dropped a leather-armor helmet. Beiming Xue happily accepted his tribute. On the other side, Lin Yixin shot me and Beiming Xue a smile from atop her Moonchaser Tiger, "Let¡¯s go! This is the assault of three great scouts!" Beiming Xue and I chuckled at the same time. The reason the three of us were the only ones killing the enemy scouts on Cursed Wilderness was because we didn¡¯t want Elephant City or Cyan Earth City to know that Godkiller had come to cause them trouble. After the War of Purple Grape City was over, relations between China, Japan and India had deteriorated completely. As a result, players would often slip into other servers¡¯ maps and assassinate the players there for one reason or another. For example, there was a time Little Piglet vanished from Sky City for three days straight. It was because he had traveled to Elephant Canyon to assassinate the Elephant City players grinding in that location. He only targeted the damage dealer in a party, and never lingered long enough for the enemy to catch him. Since he was a Divine General, there was practically no one who could stop him from coming and going as he pleased. During these three days, he terrorized the shit out of the middle to high¨Clevel players of Elephant City to the point where he became known to the Indians as "The Hunter¡±. Naturally, Hegemon Palace gained a lot of face from Little Piglet¡¯s exploits, and Pillar of the Nation was about as happy as he could be. ¡­¡­ I looked to the back. Hickey, Warscar and the corps commanders were following behind us with a huge army. Godkiller only had 80k+ players at the beginning, but after Bloodlust joined us with 270k players, we now had an army of 350k. Every single one of these players had suffered in some ways in the hands of Cyan Earth City before. Most of them had also won at least one battle under my command. It was why they couldn¡¯t wait to fight the next battle. That our target this time was Elephant City¡¯s Dirge Canyon only added fuel to the fire. Who doesn¡¯t want to take revenge against their tormentors? Over three hours later, we were only a bit over an hour away from where the territory was supposed to spawn. Our army had also gotten close to the perimeter of Dirge Canyon. The Ancient Divine Dragon let out a low growl as I hovered in front of my troops. I declared, "Alright, we will stand by at this location for a moment. Hickey, dispatch the scouts to sweep the surrounding area. Try to avoid revealing our intentions as best you can. I¡¯m going to scout out Dirge Canyon and familiarize myself with the map." She nodded. "Okay. Be careful, Lu Chen!" "Yeah." Beiming Xue asked from beside me, "I can turn invisible, big brother. Can I follow and support you from the ground?" "Sure. Yiyi, stay with Hickey until we return, okay?" Lin Yixin nodded. "Mn. Be careful, both of you... By the way, that Rank 9 territory is attractive enough that Cyan Earth City and Elephant City¡¯s greatest guilds are coming to fight for it, right? Do you think I should mobilize Snowy Cathaya? I can have Purple Marquis and Nangong Lexi cross Thunder Mountain Range with the Kui Dragon Cavalry and hit the enemy¡¯s flank if you want to." I considered the idea for a moment but shook my head. "Thanks, but no thanks. In fact, I would rather not drag our country¡¯s forces into this fight and earn them even more hate than they already got. The Northern Alliance and the Japan server had been suspiciously silent as of late, and I can¡¯t help but feel like they are plotting something. We can do this without draining our country¡¯s strength." Lin Yixin replied with a smile, "You¡¯re too paranoid, but fine. See you!" "Mn." And so I entered the airspace of Dirge Canyon together with Beiming Xue. Dirge Canyon was an extraordinarily huge and dark map. It was also a new map that had just been generated in the past 24 hours, not unlike Frost Stained Canyon. The good news was that the terrain here was unfamiliar to both Indians and foreigners alike, so everyone would be starting on an equal footing. [1]) ¡­¡­ Dirge Canyon was a layered map that was mostly shrouded in fog. There were all kinds of terrains in this place, and among the most eye-catching of them all was a moon-shaped lake called Moon Lake. It was shaped like a ring, and it only had one entrance. The center of the lake was a huge open clearing. It was probably very defensible. Also, a map called "Frost Maple Woodland" occupied over 70% of the entire map. It didn¡¯t have many clearings, so it wasn¡¯t the best place for cavalry battles. Directly south of Moon Lake was a mountain so tall that its peak was blocked by the clouds. It was called the Dragon Whisker Mountain. The tall, majestic mountain towered over the ground like a lofty ruler. The Rank 9 territory hadn¡¯t spawned yet, so I couldn¡¯t really strategize a way to storm it. Moon Lake was terrible for cavalry battle, and its terrain severely limited the number of surprising traps I could spring upon the territory. Frost Maple Woodland was also a bad terrain for cavalry battle. Sigh. I already knew that this was going to be a difficult job, but my scouting only seemed to confirm it even more. It was around this time a couple of dots appeared at Frost Maple Woodland. It was a couple of Indian players scouting out the map and preparing for the upcoming battles. After I circled around the entire map once, I even spotted a 10000-strong party at Moon Lake. They were Cyan Beast players led by Yeye the Witch. Of all the Indian players, Cyan Beast clearly looked like the most dominant and prepared of them all. ¡­¡­ I checked the time. There were only 58 minutes left before the new territory would be spawned, so I remained around one thousand meters above the ground level and circled the map continuously. Shortly after, I noticed a couple hundred Owl Riders patrolling the sky as well. They were Flowing Cloud¡¯s men, but they didn¡¯t attack me even though my appearance clearly caused them to turn apprehensive. Well, that was the agreement. For now, we were allies. A new group of players marched into Dirge Canyon from the north. It was Cyan Beast¡¯s main army. God of War and Breeze and Rain were both present, and I counted almost 200k Beast King Cavalrymen. The confident-looking God of War seemed to have gotten himself a new Immortal-grade weapon. Breeze and Rain looked as calm and calculative as ever. "Has Flowing Cloud shown up yet?" God of War¡¯s eyes sharpened at the mention of the name. Breeze and Rain replied indifferently, "Not yet, but she already declared that she was going to fight for this territory, so there is no avoiding this civil war. For today at least, Natural Flow is our greatest enemy!" God of War nodded affirmatively. "Mn. Control all areas in Dirge Canyon and don¡¯t let a single fly escape our notice. This territory sits between Elephant City, Cursed Wilderness and Purple Grape City. It is a very important strategic location. If Natural Flow manages to take it, we will lose all control over the southern region." Breeze and Rain replied smilingly, "I know, you don¡¯t have to remind me. Anyway, I¡¯ll be taking 100k Beast King Cavalrymen with me and leaving to do some business, so I leave this place to you." God of War smiled back. "Yeah. Stay safe!" ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t hear anything else because of the blowing wind, but that was fine. Scouting was hardly my true calling. I remained in the air and continued to wait for the winds of change to blow across the battlefield. Be it Cyan Beast, Natural Flow, Dark Clouds, Nation Guardian or more, every single one of these guilds had invested at least a million troops into this territory conquest. On the other hand, at least 50% of my 350k troops were mobs that could be run over with a stick. Oh well. If we couldn¡¯t become a main force, then we would play the role of the ambusher! 1. T/N: when it was Frost Stained Canyon though he claimed that Iron Skull Wilderness had the "native advantage." Can you smell the bullshit? Chapter 1129: Frost Wind City "Do you think Flowing Cloud will intercept Cyan Beast¡¯s forces before they enter Dirge Canyon, big brother? It¡¯s not impossible, right?" Beiming Xue asked me through the party channel. I replied immediately, "That¡¯s impossible. When the territory conquest begins, any player who dies in Dirge Canyon won¡¯t be able to enter the map again. This means that the only effective way to diminish the enemy¡¯s forces is to kill the ones who are inside the map. With that in mind, why would she waste her energy on killing the players outside? Flowing Cloud is an intelligent woman. She must know this as well as us." "So, we just wait here and do nothing?" Lin Yixin confirmed. "Yeah. There¡¯s no benefit in entering the canyon ahead of time, and exposing ourselves too soon can only be detrimental to us." "Okay." ¡­¡­ Time passed bit by bit. Finally, the territory spawned¡ª Ding~! System Notice: All players, please be informed that the Rank 9 territory "Frost Wind City" (subject to change) has spawned at coordinates (21727, 90283). The guild that kills the boss protecting the territory and obtains the Territory Token will gain temporary control over the territory. Defend the territory for 24 hours straight to gain permanent ownership! ¡­¡­ "Finally!" I said with a grin while bringing up the map screen. "Aw, fuck, the territory spawned at the center of Moon Lake. It¡¯s almost completely surrounded by water, and there¡¯s only one way into the territory. Even worse, the entrance is facing toward the northern Frost Maple Woodland, way too far away from us. Looks like our guerilla tactic dream is dead before it can even begin." Warscar asked, "What do we do then, guild leader?" "We¡¯ll wait for Flowing Cloud and Dark Clouds to make a move. We¡¯ll assist them in battle, but avoid the brunt of the enemy¡¯s assault!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ The map turned chaotic the second the territory spawned. The northern entrance to Dirge Canyon was jam-packed with Cyan Beast¡¯s Beast King Cavalry and Nation Guardian¡¯s Divine Elephant Cavalry, and tens of thousands of players were flooding into the map by the minute. However, Natural Flow¡¯s players were still nowhere to be seen for some reason. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit worried. What on earth was Flowing Cloud doing? Suddenly, the sounds of battle appeared from the east side of Dirge Canyon. Speak of the devil! Natural Flow¡¯s White Horse Cavalry had crossed over a mountain range and was galloping down the slopes! Not only that, Dark Clouds¡¯ Cheetah Cavalry had shown up at the same time. The entire valley started trembling slightly. Just like that, a civil war between two great Indian forces had officially begun! At the middle of the mountain, I saw Flowing Cloud commanding a group of engineers to build some sort of well with dark blue spring water in it. It was a war-exclusive building, the Fountain of Life, and it increased HP regeneration of all allies within 1000 yards drastically! Tsk tsk, Flowing Cloud was clearly planning to fight a war of attrition! ¡­¡­ Chiang! God of War unsheathed his weapon and pointed at the mountain where Natural Flow was at. "Beast King Cavalry, Divine Elephant Cavalry, attack! Cut off that fake war goddess¡¯s banner and teach her a lesson for challenging us!" The two cavalry troops immediately screamed out their battle cries and charged up the mountain range. The White Horse Cavalry and Cheetah Cavalry obliged and rode down to meet them as well. Both sides clashed against one another in just the blink of an eye! Bang bang bang! The bone-crunching noises of cavalrymen slamming into cavalrymen filled the air, and Barrier Breaks flashed across the entire battle line. Everyone was doing their utmost to deal heavy damage to the enemy in the shortest amount of time possible. It took barely a moment for bodies to cover the ground, and blood to dye the grass red. A highly-spirited God of War was fighting at the forefront and murdering countless with Earth Shattering Slash, Inferno Sixtuple Slash and more. Players died like flies wherever he went, and not even the defensive White Horse Cavalry was able to stop him. Sometimes, quantity just wasn¡¯t enough to make up for a gap in quality. Moreover, the guild leader of Nation Guardian, Wild King, was fighting side-by-side with him, and behind them, their ranged players had finally caught up to the cavalry. The bards kept buffing Beast King and Divine Elephant Cavalries, and the priests focused on healing those who had withdrawn from the battle line because of low HP. Cyan Beast¡¯s corps commander, the assassin Shallow Sunlight, was standing at the back of the group and ordering loudly, "Everyone whose HP is below 30% and has used War God Recovery, withdraw to the backline so that the priests can heal you! Don¡¯t charge senselessly! Keep yourself alive!" Unfortunately, not many players could control themselves once they became fully absorbed in battle trance, bloodlust, or both. The Cheetah Cavalry was absolutely unable to deal with the combined stampede that was the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry¡¯s charge. Natural Flow¡¯s White Horse Cavalry did better thanks to their high Defense, but they were still dying way faster than Flowing Cloud would like. ¡­¡­ The war goddess narrowed her eyes before raising her hand. "Archers, Far Shot!" Countless archers immediately emerged from behind her and the executed Skypiercer + Mountain Stagger Arrow combo. Flowing Cloud¡¯s strategy was to hold back the enemy¡¯s frontline while putting them through the meat grinder that was her ranged players. Bang bang bang... The skills erupted among the cavalry and dealt massive damage. The Mountain Stagger Arrows especially one-shot some Beast King Cavalrymen¡¯s mount tenacity and forced them to engage the White Horse Cavalry on foot. The war had just begun, and the melee was already bloody and desperate. Next to Flowing Cloud, the guild leader of Dark Clouds, Dark Clouds Sorrow, said, "We need to switch things up, Flowing Cloud. It hasn¡¯t even been ten minutes, and we¡¯ve lost over 10000 Cheetah Cavalrymen¡­" Flowing Cloud nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Tell the Cheetah Cavalry to withdraw and move back the battle line by 100 meters." "Got it!" As soon as the Cheetah Cavalry began withdrawing, the Divine Elephant Cavalry immediately shouted in excitement, "The cowards are crumbling under pressure! Kill them and drop all their equipment!" Flowing Cloud proved their judgment incorrect, however. As a small smile flashed across her lips, countless ballistae were pushed out from behind her, pointed at the Divine Elephant Cavalry and fired immediately. The thick steel bolts instantly pierced the cavalrymen and wounded thousands, causing Wild King¡¯s eyeballs to nearly fall out of their sockets. ¡­¡­ Chiang! God of War abruptly sheathed his sword again and said, "Damn, Flowing Cloud is too well-prepared. She had already moved her siege weapons to the peak long before we showed up. Oh well, let¡¯s retreat. There¡¯s no winning positional warfare against siege weapons, and even if we did win, it would be a victory too pyrrhic. We will have to hold the territory for a day, we can¡¯t afford such losses. It would be a fatal mistake." Wild King replied in a furious tone, "But I lost so many brothers and sisters! You¡¯re not telling me to let this go, are you?" God of War sneered. "Of course not. Just because we¡¯re abandoning this fight doesn¡¯t mean that we¡¯re abandoning this war. Don¡¯t forget that our real goal is to seize Frost Wind City, not kill Flowing Cloud. Anyway, let¡¯s mount a retreat, enter Moon Lake and seize Frost Wind City first. Once we succeed, we¡¯ll be the ones who hold all the cards. Plus, you don¡¯t think we¡¯re the only ones who want to kill Flowing Cloud, do you?" Wild King nodded in agreement. "Got it!" ¡­¡­ Natural Flow let out a sigh of relief Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian¡¯s players faded away like tidewater. However, before they were even done exhaling, a battle cry suddenly erupted from the other side of the mountain range. A huge army of dismounted Beast King Cavalry had somehow made it up the mountains without them noticing, and their leader was none other than Breeze and Rain himself! Crack! After he cut off a ballista¡¯s rope, Breeze and Rain growled out, "Dismount and destroy all the siege weapons! We are on bramble terrain, so there¡¯s no pointing staying on your mounts! Anyone who manages to kill Flowing Cloud will get 1 million gold from me!" The one hundred thousand strong Beast King Cavalry screamed harder and unleashed all kinds of skills against Natural Flow and Dark Clouds. Just like that, Breeze and Rain had stolen the initiative from Flowing Cloud. ¡­¡­ Dark Clouds Sorrow said with a purple face, "How on earth did Breeze and Rain get here?" Flowing Cloud replied through gritted teeth, "Hmph. I knew it wouldn¡¯t be so easy. Breeze and Rain must¡¯ve predicted our movements beforehand. Tell the archers to switch to Shock Arrows and stun them! White Horse Cavalry, remain on your mounts and use your iron defense to outlast the enemy! They ride past our front door, they ain¡¯t getting away from here alive!" Flowing Cloud herself unsheathed her weapon and charged toward the enemy. She had made up her mind to wound the enemy as much as she could. ¡­¡­ Right now, countless battles were occurring both on and below the mountain ranges. The four great Indian guilds were hardly the only ones who were battling, although they were of course still the main contenders of this war. Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud duked it out for almost half an hour, and just as Flowing Cloud predicted, the dismounted Beast King Cavalrymen were incapable of fighting a protracted battle. Unfortunately, Breeze and Rain had also accomplished his objective, destroying the hundreds of siege weapons she had spent great effort to push up the mountain range. "Retreat!" After Breeze and Rain ordered a retreat, the Beast King Cavalry immediately summoned their mounts and rode down the mountain range. He had lost almost 30k Beast King Cavalrymen in total because Flowing Cloud had kept her cool and fought back in a controlled manner. "I will be back!" Breeze and Rain shot Flowing Cloud a suggestive smile and a taunt before he left, leaving the war goddess to grit her teeth in fury. Less than ten minutes later, a large group of metal-armor foot soldiers bolstered by a plethora of bards, mages, priests and archers appeared amid the trees of the forest in a huge square formation. It was a massive party of five Cyan Beast subguilds, or nearly two hundred thousand troops, and they were obviously Breeze and Rain¡¯s next plan to eliminate Natural Flow from the conquest. Even I could see that Natural Flow didn¡¯t have a good chance of winning a direct battle. As expected, Flowing Cloud climbed up her mount and ordered, "We will ride along the edges of Frost Maple Woodland and travel south to seek out new opportunities!" ¡­¡­ A new chorus of battle cries broke out from the direction of Moon Lake. It was Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian¡¯s main force engaging Frost Wind City¡¯s NPCs in battle while fending off the plethora of casual Elephant City guilds surrounding them from outside. This was a war between Elephant City and Cyan Earth City. Of course they wouldn¡¯t let Cyan Earth City snatch a neutral Rank 9 territory from under their noses. ¡­¡­ "Big brother¡­" It was at this moment Beiming Xue sent me a private message: "Look to the west side of Dragon Whisker Mountain! A troop of Divine Elephant Cavalry is making its way over! There are at least 50k of them¡­" I hurriedly brought up the world map. She was right. I didn¡¯t see it happen, but the Divine Elephant Cavalry had split out 50k troops to the west. Wild King was clearly plotting to work together with Breeze and Rain, catch Natural Flow in pincer attack and eliminate their main force in one go. That was my cue. Finally, us unaffiliated players had a role to play in this stage! I ordered inside the party channel, "Hickey, Bloodthirsty Demon, command Bloodlust¡¯s main force to enter Dirge Canyon right now. 50k Divine Elephant Cavalrymen are expected to reach the southern Frost Maple Woodland in 30 minutes, so I want you to hide there and be ready to ambush. Move fast, but try to keep yourselves concealed as much as you can. We¡¯re going to wipe them all out!" Chapter 1130: Fighting Nation Guardian "It¡¯s finally our turn to act!" Warscar exclaimed in excitement. However, Bloodthirsty Demon questioned my decision after he recovered from his surprise, "The Divine Elephant Cavalry is Nation Guardian¡¯s ace cavalry, guild leader. I¡¯m not sure if we¡¯re the best choice for this ambush. Why not use the Zephyr Cavalry? They certainly have a bigger chance of succeeding, not to mention that their Berserk talent is made for ambushes¡­" As I thought, Bloodlust wasn¡¯t completely satisfied with their position. Bloodthirsty Demon wanted to avoid his forces being used like cannon fodders as well. ¡­¡­ I considered my words for a couple of seconds before answering, "We only have 20k Zephyr Cavalrymen, so I¡¯m saving them all for the Beast King Cavalry. Moreover, the Zephyr Cavalry has poor Defense, so your mixed cavalry is actually more suited for forest battles. You have both foot soldiers and ranged damage dealers at your disposal to mow down the Divine Elephant Cavalry. Finally, I should remind you that our killing of the 100k Beast King Cavalry at Grass Vine Canyon yielded almost enough loot for all our Zephyr Cavalrymen to upgrade their equipment. Don¡¯t you want to strengthen your brothers and sisters with the equipment of the legendary Divine Elephant Cavalry? If you kill them, you hold all the right to their loot. But if the Zephyr Cavalry kills them, then the Zephyr Cavalry will be the one granted this boon." The explanation was satisfactory, so Bloodthirsty Demon broke into an immediate smile and said, "Understood, guild leader! We¡¯ll do our best!" "Good. The rest of us will join you on your attack. Zephyr Cavalry, stay at the periphery and avoid fighting unless the enemy attacks you first!" "Understood!" ¡­¡­ Ten minutes later. A cool breeze blew across the wild forest and caused the grass to sway back and forth. Surface waves could be seen rippling across the green plains while butterflies danced to the scent of flowers. The scenery of Frost Maple Woodland was most of the time gorgeous except the night where fog would shroud everything. It was also what worried me the most. The 10k+ Mist Riders commanded by Breeze and Rain could very well become one of the unpredictable variables of this war. I had withdrawn the Ancient Divine Dragon and lay low under the brambles to avoid being seen. There was enough cover that even our player IDs were barely visible from the outside. It would take someone with very keen eyes to spot us behind our cover. While waiting, we observed the horizon for any movement from between the trees. A short while later, the ground started shaking slightly, and the massive cavalry army that was the Divine Elephant Cavalry appeared at the distance. However, a dozen or so lone riders were riding in front of the army and slipping into every patch of forest they passed through at high speed. The riders were scouts with far greater mobility than the Divine Elephant Cavalry. Like the frigates of an aircraft carrier, they were responsible for scouting the surroundings and preventing their main force from being ambushed. Lin Yixin was leaning against me and holding the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword against the ground. She blinked her long eyelashes before saying to me softly, "Little Cheat, it looks like this ambush is going to be a tough one. Wild King is cautious enough to send out scouts, and they¡¯ll know there¡¯s an ambush the moment we kill them." I nodded in agreement. The corners of Hickey¡¯s lips turned upward as she declared confidently, "If an ambush is impossible, then we¡¯ll just fight them head-on. The Divine Elephant Cavalry is only 50k strong, while we are 250k strong. All we need to do is to pin them down in the forest and let our archers do the rest!" Warscar chuckled in agreement. "Yeah!" Bloodthirsty Demon licked his lips and consulted my opinion."What do you think, guild leader? Does Hickey¡¯s strategy sound reasonable to you?" I smiled reassuringly. ¡°It does. We need to finish this quickly though¡ªpreferably within an hour¡ªor Wild King will be able to send troops after us. Also, remember that this regiment of 50k Divine Elephant Cavalrymen isn¡¯t Nation Guardian¡¯s main force. They¡¯ve saved up at least another 200k to deal with Flowing Cloud!" Hickey said, "Flowing Cloud sure is a courageous woman. She openly challenged Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian even though she was well aware that they had far greater numbers and far superior quality of their ace players." I replied, "A person can be bullied, but not humiliated. God of War wanted to devour Natural Flow with zero regards for Flowing Cloud¡¯s dignity, so of course she was going to fight him to the death. It¡¯s not like she¡¯s alone either. All she needs to do is send out the call, and countless people would rise to fight alongside her. She is that outstanding of a leader." Hickey giggled a bit and shot me a playful look. "Now that I think about it, this isn¡¯t unlike the time you wanted to devour my Sacred Oath. I should¡¯ve acted like Flowing Cloud and fought you to the death in defense of Sacred Oath¡¯s independence, huh?" I replied disdainfully, "Excuse me? There¡¯s nothing similar between your situation and Flowing Cloud¡¯s. We made a bet with each other, and you lost fair and square. You¡¯re not having second thoughts, are you? Not that it matters now. Once a Godkiller, always a Godkiller." "Hmph!" Hickey snorted hard enough to jiggle her plot and attract Warscar and Bloodthirsty Demon¡¯s eyeballs like magnets. Meanwhile, Lin Yixin turned to me with a questioning look, "What were the rules of this bet exactly?" Alarm bells suddenly rang inside my head, and I hurriedly put my arm around her thin waist and said, "It¡¯s nothing. Life is like a gamble, and I was alone in Iron Skull Wilderness at the time. My ass would¡¯ve been wiped if I didn¡¯t make a desperate gamble here and there. You can confirm this with Warscar and the others if you want to. At the beginning of my stay in Iron Skull Wilderness, I was hunted by Breeze and Rain, the Black Crow Tribe, Beast Soul, bosses, and even a green foxtail by the roadside. The entire Iron Skull Wilderness was my enemy¡­" The grass beside me suddenly shuddered in an unnatural manner. It was Beiming Xue bursting into an uncontrollable giggle. She didn¡¯t say anything in response though. Lin Yixin glared at me for a moment before sighing. "You always have an excuse at the ready. Fine, I¡¯ll let you off this time. The heavens have already punished you on my behalf anyway¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Hickey dropped her joking demeanor and turned serious. "Heads up, two scouts are heading our way. Do we kill them, or do we let them into the forest? The enemy cavalry is still about a kilometer away from us. Killing the scouts will definitely draw their attention. What do we do?" I steeled my heart. "All riders, mount up and get ready to charge the Divine Elephant Cavalry! Archers, mages, priests, stay close to your frontliners and don¡¯t fall behind! Bards, you may apply your buffs to our cavalry now! All Level 190+ riders must be fully buffed before they enter the battlefield! It¡¯ll be a waste otherwise!" "Yessir!" As our forces carried out my orders, Beiming Xue nimbly darted up a tree to increase her vision range. She then drew her bow and asked me, "Big brother, do you want me to kill both scouts, or?" I nodded. "You take the left one, I¡¯ll take the right. Try to avoid using flashy skills and minimize the noise." "Got it." "Now!" Beiming Xue immediately let loose Evil Spirit Volley + Shock Arrow. The arrows thudded against the magic knight¡¯s throat repeatedly until he dropped dead. At the same time, I fired Dragon Slaying Slash that the second knight tried to dodge out of the way to no avail, taking 140k damage. Before he could make an escape, the invisible Phantom Wolf King broke out of its stealth, hit him three times and flattened him like a pancake. "Done!" Lin Yixin mounted her Moonchaser Tiger and asked me, "Do we charge now, or?" "Not yet. I want to see what they¡¯re going to do first¡­" "Okay." ¡­¡­ At the distance, the Divine Elephant Cavalry party came to a slight pause. Soon, a player rode to the frontline and shouted with his weapon raised, "There are axes ahead of us! Drag them out and kill them all! There can only be Nation Guardian and Cyan Beast players in Dirge Canyon! Leave no one hiding in the forest in front of us alive!" I was hoping for a lucky break, but not this time, I suppose. Chiang! I unsheathed my weapon and mounted the Ancient Divine Dragon. Then, I shouted, "All units, charge! It is time to battle the legendary Divine Elephant Cavalry!" Bloodlust¡¯s players roared as they broke out of their cover and rushed toward the enemy. Obviously, Lin Yixin, Hickey, Warscar and Bloodthirsty Demon took point and made their way toward the core of the enemy¡¯s formation. Fifty thousand riders was a huge army, but it wasn¡¯t enough to frighten any of us! As the first player to reach the enemy, I immediately cast Summon the Storm and fired 15 Ancient Seals in a horizontal line in front of me. Although the Divine Elephant Cavalry were tanky, they weren¡¯t tanky enough to ignore this level of destruction. Most of them took over 200k damage, and some even took critical hits, dying immediately. Lin Yixin appeared next and cut right into the enemy crowd, parrying many hits in the process. After she executed a devastating Ice Flame Slash, she unleashed five God¡¯s Tears in a row and damaged countless enemy riders. Beiming Xue shot one Skypiercer after another into the sky. Occasionally, she would cast Well of the Abyss and drag an entire group of Divine Elephant Cavalrymen into the center. Hickey fought bravely at the frontline and cast her Divine General Skill, Great Earth Dragon¡¯s Blade, whenever she found an opening. The Fire God¡¯s Blade easily tore apart the enemy¡¯s armors and rent the flesh hidden behind to shreds. In terms of sheer frontline power, Godkiller was obviously superior to Nation Guardian. It was because they were supported by four Divine Generals. ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang... However, the individual players of Bloodlust were clearly inferior to Nation Guardian¡¯s. As two armies met, many of our frontliners were sent stumbling to the back and one-shot by a Barrier Break or two. Hickey ordered loudly, "Don¡¯t break formation! Form groups of seven and focus your Barrier Breaks on one Divine Elephant Cavalryman at a time! Archers, activate Far Shot and execute Shock Arrow + Mountain Stagger Arrow + Skypiercer combo! Mages, get your head in the game and envelop the whole battlefield with Galaxy Storms! Priests, heal at will! Heal whoever you find has low HP!" ¡­¡­ If our individual players were inferior to the enemy¡¯s, then we would find a way to delay the enemy long enough until they died from chip damage. Hickey¡¯s strategy was a perfect example of that. It was a David vs Goliath battle, and our forces were undoubtedly inferior to Nation Guardian¡¯s elite riders. However, thanks to us Divine Generals and Famous Generals doing everything in our power to reduce the pressure on our mixed troops, and Hickey¡¯s well thought out commands, Bloodlust was able to mount a well-coordinated assault and keep themselves alive. Over time, we were able to slowly turn the tables on the Divine Elephant Cavalry. As the enemies¡¯ dying rate kept increasing, and the number of their dead bodies started soaring higher and higher, our army¡¯s morale was also greatly boosted. Ten minutes later, I let out a heavy sigh of relief. Despite my reservations, our first battle in Dirge Canyon was looking to end with our victory. Chapter 1131: Dive Tactic The battle lasted almost an hour. Blood dyed the ground of this part of Frost Maple Woodland completely red, and dead bodies and items were strewn everywhere. No one was picking up the items yet because those who had tried, also had paid the highest price. Being distracted on the battlefield was often a costly and fatal mistake. All in all, Godkiller had the complete upper hand thanks to its four Divine Generals. Chiang! Some time later, I sheathed my weapon, landed beneath a huge tree and observed the battlefield from there. This wasn¡¯t a Nation War, so I wouldn¡¯t gain contribution points no matter how many enemies I killed. Also, I didn¡¯t want to rob my players of their chance to grow. Most of these unaffiliated players had never fought a real great battle before, so the experience was extremely valuable to them. ¡­¡­ "Looks like Nation Guardian isn¡¯t sending anyone to save this detachment. I guess they¡¯ve given up on them," said Lin Yixin while walking up to me with a smile. "Mn. This should alleviate some of the burden on Flowing Cloud¡¯s shoulders¡­" "Yeah!" Hickey rode up to us and asked me, "We won, boss. What do we do now?" I replied, "Sweep the battlefield and tally our casualties." "Mn." On the wide clearing where the battle had been fought, the mob of Godkiller players were picking on the cold, dead bodies of the 50000 Divine Elephant Cavalrymen like hyenas. Even Hickey had left our side temporarily to command the players to loot the battlefield. I was fine with it as long as they didn¡¯t fight each other over some loot. These poor unaffiliated players had been "starving" for ages, and Bloodlust could absolutely use Divine Elephant¡¯s high-grade equipment to bolster their strength. Bloodthirsty Demon rode up to me with a look of excitement on his face, "That was a wonderful battle, guild leader! I cannot believe we actually beat the legendary Divine Elephant Cavalry, hahaha¡­" I shot him a glance. "C¡¯mon, it¡¯s not that impressive. I presume that you¡¯ve tallied our casualties?" "Mn. We¡¯ve killed 52034 Divine Elephant Cavalry at the cost of 71929 players. It¡¯s a big win overall, right?" Bloodthirsty Demon laughed again. I shook my head with a frown. "You call a battle where we lost more players than the enemy a ¡®big win¡¯? Well, if it makes you happy¡­ Anyway, this is just the appetizer, so don¡¯t let down your guard. We have many more harder battles ahead of us¡­" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Ten minutes later, we received bad news that Flowing Cloud was ambushed by Breeze and Rain twice and lost a ton of White Horse Cavalrymen on the other side of the mountain range, not to mention Nation Guardian¡¯s assistance. Natural Flow was already bending under the combined weight that was Nation Guardian and Cyan Breast. Swhoosh! Suddenly, a magic knight clad in black armor and riding a fiery warhorse burst out of the forest beside us. His shoulder bore the emblem of Natural Flow. His face was covered in sweat, and his arm was bloody and scarred. He froze in fear when he saw our 200000-strong army. "You¡¯re¡­" The player named "Drought Breaker" broke out of his reverie only when I stepped into the open. His eyes lit up with pleasant surprise, "Are these your men, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?" I nodded. "Yeah. What¡¯s wrong? How is Flowing Cloud doing?" Drought Breaker uttered through gritted teeth, "That damned Breeze and Rain attacked our formation twice using valley terrain. We¡¯ve lost over half of the White Horse Cavalry, and our supply line outside the map had been cut off by Flames of War. Even the reinforcements guild leader mobilized were unable to get in yet. Suffice it to say, the situation is critical right now!" "What happened afterward?" Hickey asked. Drought Breaker pointed to the north and said, "Breeze and Rain is chasing our main army with around 70k Beast King Cavalrymen and 60k Divine Elephant Cavalrymen. That¡¯s about 130k enemies in total. Our guild leader is currently fighting a defensive retreat, and she¡¯s expected to reach this location in about an hour. Our forces are severely weakened, and we are in desperate need of your assistance!" "Contact Flowing Cloud and show me her retreat route. Also, tell her to keep her cool and not make any rash decisions. The important thing now is to preserve our effective fighting power, not take the territory." "Understood!" A few minutes later, Drought Breaker shared with me a plotted map. Judging from the handwriting, it was most likely written by a woman. It clearly showed where Natural Flow was going, and so far, I didn¡¯t find much to criticize about the retreat route at all. It avoided terrains with massive elevation disparity, and it was circuitous in a way where Natural Flow could launch a counterattack at any moment. The opponent couldn¡¯t just attack them willy-nilly and expect to come out unscathed. Drought Breaker stared at me with fervent eyes. "It may be for just a couple of seconds, but you were Elephant City¡¯s West King. Guild leader also told us that you were China¡¯s God of Slaughter, and that you can always conjure miracles when all hope seems lost. Natural Flow has already fallen into a disadvantage, and it¡¯s all up to you to turn the tables now!" However, I rolled my eyes while replying, "My dude, I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re expecting, but the fact is that my current army is vastly inferior to the enemies both in terms of quantity and quality. Just take Breeze and Rain¡¯s 70k Beast King Cavalrymen and 60k Divine Elephant Cavalrymen for example. How do you expect me to somehow defeat all these high-level boss-tier mounts all by myself? This is like throwing an egg against a rock and expecting the rock to break¡­ I¡¯ll do my best, but I can make no promises!" Drought Breaker nodded strongly. "I understand. We all knew that this would be a one-sided war from the beginning. We just couldn¡¯t let Cyan Beast trample over us like the dirt beneath their boots! A true man would rather die in honor than live in shame!" I smiled. "Mn. I understand¡­" ¡­¡­ I picked up the map scroll, leaped onto a giant rock and sat there with my eyes closed. Honestly, things weren¡¯t looking good one bit. It was no easy feat to eliminate 130k ace elites, and the forests of this map weren¡¯t dense enough that I could start a forest fire to kill the enemy. More likely than not, the enemy riders were going to escape long before the fire could reach them. Moreover, it was a sunny day with no water source to be seen anywhere, meaning that I couldn¡¯t start a flood and drown the enemy either. Two most basic strategies for wiping out large armies were gone, taken out of the equation, just like that. Ugh, what a headache. I looked up and gazed to the east. There was a grassy plateau there called the Howling Plains that was connected to the canyons. Its slopes were around 60 degrees steep, and its length was at least 5 kilometers. It wouldn¡¯t be an easy climb on foot. There weren¡¯t many trees in the area. In fact, a large majority were shrubs that a cavalry could pass through with relative ease. A bold plan entered my mind at that moment. I leaped down from the rock immediately. "You have a plan?" Lin Yixin asked smilingly. "Yeah." I looked at everyone and said, "It¡¯s time for our next move. Hickey, can you please tally the number of riders who are Level 150 or higher in Godkiller?" "Mn." A few minutes later, Hickey finished her tally and reported, "There are 21k+ Zephyr Cavalrymen and almost 10k riders in the main guild who meet the requirement. As for the subguilds, there are around 53k riders that fit the bill. In total, 84k. What are you planning, boss?" I nodded. "I want these 84k riders to climb up Howling Plains until they¡¯re around 2.5 km above sea level and stand by for orders. I also want 20k bards to accompany them to buff our strongest riders. The rest of our troops will hide in this location about 5 km to the west and ambush Breeze and Rain¡¯s great army when the time comes." Hickey¡¯s mouth fell open. "But why do you want our riders to go there, boss?" Lin Yixin chuckled. "A charge!" I clenched my fists as I declared, "Correct. We¡¯re going to exploit Howling Plains¡¯ height advantage and increase our impact and attack power drastically. Can you imagine what 5 kilometers of run-up will do? I bet it¡¯ll increase our instantaneous damage and knockback power by 100% at least! Let¡¯s see if the Beast King Cavalry can withstand 84k trucks zooming toward them!" Hickey grinned when she imagined the scenario. "You¡¯re so cunning, boss!" "Yes, yes, now get our men ready as soon as possible!" "Yessir!" After that, I looked to Drought Breaker and said, "Contact Flowing Cloud and tell her to guide her army to just in front of this canyon and stop there. We¡¯ll catch Breeze and Rain¡¯s 130k troops in a triple squeeze and hopefully crush them all in one go! One way or another, Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian will rue the day they crossed us!" Drought Breaker said excitedly, "Understood! Your reputation is well-deserved, West King!" "Hold it! You can praise me after we¡¯ve won this battle!" "..." ¡­¡­ And so, 84k riders climbed up the mountain range until they were 2.5 km above sea level. Then, they spread out until it looked like a giant, horizontal line was etched onto the mountain itself. Countless players had already unsheathed their weapons in excitement. They were obviously looking forward to the upcoming battle. As for me, I had taken to the skies to observe the battlefield from a bird¡¯s eye point of view. Over an hour later, I finally heard the sounds of fighting from the forest about 5 kilometers away from my location. Another short while later, countless White Horse Cavalrymen reached the agreed-upon location while covering for the squishies. Flowing Cloud was among them as well. The war goddess was currently swinging a bloody sword and shouting, "Keep moving!" Behind them, the tidewater that was the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry was chasing after Natural Flow¡¯s forces relentlessly. Every time someone swung a weapon, a White Horse Cavalryman would drop from their mount and die. In a direct fight, Natural Flow was far inferior to the two big guilds of Cyan Earth City. I couldn¡¯t even see Dark Clouds¡¯ Cheetah Cavalry anywhere anymore. Ding! It was around this time everyone on the map received a system announcement saying that Frost Wind City had been occupied by none other than God of War himself. As predicted, God of War was able to occupy the territory with ease while Breeze and Rain was hunting down Flowing Cloud. They must¡¯ve executed a similar ploy many times already. Flowing Cloud looked to the north where Frost Wind City was reluctantly. "Hmph!" ¡­¡­ "Here it comes!" Ever in high spirits, Hickey abruptly raised her sword and prepared for battle. However, I raised my hand to stop her and said, "Wait, not yet. We need to wait until most of the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry are in range. I¡¯ve stretched my units to a line 3 kilometers long, and I don¡¯t want the one-time super charge to go to waste!" "Yeah." People swarmed the foot of the mountain. The 100000-strong army that was Natural Flow was fighting and retreating while the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry were doing their utmost to cut them down. Both sides were sparing no effort to cut down one another, and this civil war was no less intense than a Nation War. When the time was finally right, I swung my arm downward and yelled, "Full speed ahead!" ¡­¡­ All 84k cavalrymen immediately took off and charged toward the enemy like dive bombers. Lin Yixin, I, Hickey and Warscar were still the point, but this time the twenty thousand plus Zephyr Cavalry was the backbone of the assault. Our objective this time was to kill as many enemies as possible. There were no holds barred because the enemy was way stronger than us. Chapter 1132: Bunch of Beggars Tens of thousands of Godkiller cavalrymen rushed down the slope at lightning speed. Even with inferior equipment and levels, 5 kilometers of run-up could turn any cavalryman into a speeding truck that couldn¡¯t be ignored. This was especially true for the 20000 Zephyr Cavalrymen. Their racial trait gave them incredible Strength scaling and the super armor penetration granted by Berserk. There were few players who were more suited than them for charging and breaking the enemy than them, and in this case, they were the absolute best choice. The Divine Elephant Cavalry and Beast King Cavalry were all-rounder troops with both high Attack and high Defense. They were the perfect grinding stones for the Viking Cavalry. ¡­¡­ On the ground, Nation Guardian¡¯s vice leader sensed the tremor and looked up. When he saw the sea of cavalrymen galloping toward him at full speed, he could only shudder from head to toe and exclaim in shock, "What¡­ what is that?!" A Divine Elephant Cavalryman next to him sucked in a deep breath and answered, "They¡¯re all red names. I think they¡¯re from Iron Skull Wilderness¡­ Yeah, that flag belongs to Godkiller! God dammit, why is Godkiller here? Their charging speed is insane! Are these madmen going to do what I think they will!?" Whoosh! Breeze and Rain pulled out his blade from a White Horse Cavalryman¡¯s neck before following their gazes. He gritted his teeth and swore, "Fuck me! I can¡¯t believe I forgot about this tactic! Damn you, Lu Chen!" He turned around, pointed his sword at the mountain peak and shouted, "All riders facing toward the mountain, form a shield wall and hold up your spear against the ground! No matter what you do, you must withstand the first wave no matter what! The beggars of Iron Skull Wilderness only have enough power to pose a threat during the first charge! Fuck them like you¡¯d fuck your girls the second they run out of steam!" The Beast King Cavalry laughed at the joke as they carried out his orders. They slammed their shields into the ground and held their spears in front of them. Say what you want about the Beast King Cavalry, but their discipline and skill were truly exceptional. They could interpret a simple order and carry it out to the best possible degree. ¡­¡­ I gnawed my teeth anxiously as I stared at the swiftly forming shield formation below us. I looked at Lin Yixin and said, "Yiyi, Hickey, Beiming, I don¡¯t care if you use up all your Divine Energy Points, but bombard their shield formation with everything you have and create the best possible conditions for the Zephyr Cavalry! All cavalry, your first strike must be Barrier Break, and you will not stop charging into the enemy lines until your momentum is completely spent! Don¡¯t worry, the brothers and sisters behind you will handle the rest!" The girls nodded in unison. The Viking Cavalry even raised their weapons in unison and shouted, "THE KING OF VIRGIN!!" Lin Yixin almost burst out in uncontrollable laughter when she heard this. "Your new title is killing me, Little Cheat!" Me: "..." The four Divine Generals were the first ones to reach the enemy¡¯s battle line as a matter of course. The defenders were guarding with all their might, and the only way to break them was to go all out myself. I raised my arm and fired 21 Ancient Seals in a row, hitting nearly everyone I could hit around me. I also made the Ancient Divine Dragon use Summon the Storm and devastated the area in front of me with a seemingly endless amount of ice, wind and lightning blades. The Beast King Cavalrymen who were already low in HP due to the Ancient Seals instantly dropped dead and turned into heaps of corpses. I made the Ancient Divine Dragon glide over the ground and launched Burning Blade Slash into a dozen or so Beast King Cavalrymen who tried to Barrier Break me. They too shuddered and died before they could execute their skills. "Trapping Net! Kill him with Trapping Nets! That¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, the devil of Final Duel Valley!" Most of the Beast King Cavalrymen had heard of my name, but they hadn¡¯t actually seen me before. Well, their dream¡ªor rather nightmare¡ªwas finally fulfilled. As I changed my speed and direction repeatedly to dodge the countless Trapping Nets flying my way, I abruptly sank low and pressed my left hand to the ground. 1000 gold disappeared from my pockets with a ding, and dragons burst out of the ground and killed absolutely every enemy around me. Rise of the Guardian Dragon would be a perfect AoE skill if it didn¡¯t cost 1000 gold per cast. Chiang chiang chiang... Of course I couldn¡¯t dodge all attacks, and countless blades struck my Heaven-burning Armor and Fire God Helmet. Unfortunately, most of them were able to deal between 100 to 2000 damage only. Their Attack was lacking, and my Defense was insane. Fire God Helmet + Dragon God Shield already gave me incredible survivability, and Fire War God Card practically doubled it, or even more. Not far away from me, Lin Yixin was ravaging the enemies with God¡¯s Tear, and Hickey, with Great Earth Dragon¡¯s Blade. At the back, Beiming Xue was providing us artillery support with Skypiercers as well. A group of enraged Beast King Cavalrymen tried to rush down our little archer before she could cause more damage, but all they got was Well of the Abyss beneath their feet. Even I couldn¡¯t help but pity them a bit. Besides the four Divine Generals, Warscar and Bloodthirsty Demon also got one Fire War God Card each from me to be used in this battle. Breeze and Rain wasn¡¯t wrong when he called Godkiller a guild of beggars. Our levels, skills and equipment were far inferior to the opponent¡¯s, so the only way we could make up for it was to exploit every advantage we could. ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang... The two armies clashed against one another, and the outcome was gruesome to say the least. The Zephyr Cavalry looked like they were bathed in blood when their Berserk talent was active. The moment they got close to the enemy, they swung their axes, spears and broadswords at their opponents with all their might. Thanks to the run-up, neither the Beast King Cavalry nor the Divine Elephant Cavalry were able to block it at all. Both man and mount alike were sent flying into the air. Warscar waved his axe like a helicopter as he cut through the enemy lines. His Earth Shattering Slash dealt massive damage to everyone who was struck by it. Pu pu pu... Everything was going as I predicted it would. The super charge had increased our attack power drastically and enabled the 20000 Zephyr Cavalrymen to tear through even the iron defense that was India¡¯s strongest cavalry. At the same time, Hickey ordered the archers and mages on the opposite side of the mountain to emerge from their hiding spots and catch the enemy in a pincer! Finally, Flowing Cloud abruptly turned around, unsheathed her weapon and ordered calmly, "It is time! All units, turn around and attack the enemy! We will defend our friend and ally, Godkiller!" The White Horse Cavalry that had been at a disadvantage all this time immediately unsheathed their weapons. Finally, it was time to launch a counterattack! ¡­¡­ Not only were Cyan Beast¡¯s forces being attacked from three sides, Bloodthirsty Demon had taken the initiative to circle around to the enemy¡¯s flanks with a group of players and complete the encirclement. The super cavalry charge alone had taken out over 50k unprepared Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry in total, and that wasn¡¯t counting the damage we Divine Generals and peak experts was doing. No matter how disciplined the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry were, they couldn¡¯t help but be shaken by this setback. "Form battle formations of ten and don¡¯t panic! Focus-fire the enemy one by one with Barrier Break! Just stay calm and hold your ground, and this war will be ours to take! Our enemies are mobs, and you are the strongest riders in the entire India server, so there is nothing to be afraid of! Are you going to lose to a bunch of mobs? No! For Cyan Beast¡¯s honor and pride!" Breeze and Rain did his utmost to kill as many Zephyr Cavalrymen as possible while steadying his players¡¯ faltering morale. Unfortunately, a commander of the Divine Elephant Cavalry, the vice leader of Nation Guardian, chose this exact moment to drop dead to a certain goddess, effectively making his efforts half as useful as they could¡¯ve been. Lin Yixin put away her fruit knife elegantly before unsheathing her sword again. The beautiful assassin made it seem like killing a commander in the middle of an army of tens of thousands was child¡¯s play. Breeze and Rain ground his teeth in anger, but there was nothing he could do to turn this situation around. The super charge had uprooted his army¡¯s morale, and he couldn¡¯t defeat either me or Lin Yixin, the one sure way to reinvigorate his people and demoralize ours. In fact, both of us had the ability to one-shot him, so he had no choice but to back away from us while fighting. ¡­¡­ The bloody battle lasted for an entire hour. Finally, Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian¡¯s elite riders had been routed completely and became the prey of Godkiller and Natural Flow. River of blood flowed between the woods, and countless pieces of equipment, Health Potions, Magic Consumables, cards and more littered the ground like trash. No one bothered to pick them up, obviously. At this point, the one all-consuming thought in our minds was to unleash our skills as soon as they were available. We would not stop until all 130k Beast King Cavalry were dead. In the end, a blood-drenched Breeze and Rain managed to break through the encirclement and escape with a dozen or so Beast King Cavalrymen. He was moving too fast even for me to catch him, but I wasn¡¯t planning to kill him anyway. A war was a team effort, not a solo brawl. Him being alive wouldn¡¯t affect the war situation too much. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle... I stepped across the body strewn ground toward my companions. The Purple Ying Sword was covered in blood and glowing slightly with draconic energy. After I looked around me for a bit and wiped away the blood on my face, I laughed. "Hah! We actually won¡­" Hickey was standing in the middle of the bloodbath with a blood-drenched cloak as well. She joined in on my laughter and said, "Yeah, we won. We won against the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry¡­" Not far away, Flowing Cloud walked up to me with a sword that looked like it was about to fold on itself due to the sheer amount of usage. "Thank you, Lu Chen. Thank you, friends from Iron Skull Wilderness. Without you, this would¡¯ve been a complete defeat for Elephant City already!" I shrugged. "Don¡¯t celebrate just yet. Frost Wind City is still under Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian¡¯s control." She nodded but said in a light tone, "Sure, but they¡¯ve also lost over 300k ace riders, or more than half of their main cavalry so far. The war now favors us no matter how you look at it." I mentally calculated in my mind. Earlier, Godkiller had killed 50k Divine Elephant Cavalrymen at Frost Maple Woodland. Now, we had killed another 60k of Divine Elephant Cavalry and 70k of Beast King Cavalry, not to mention the ones Natural Flow had killed during the earlier battles. In the end, I concluded that Flowing Cloud¡¯s assessment was correct. Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian had underestimated their enemy too much and lost most of their elite cavalry as a result. Smiling, Hickey asked for directions, "What do we do now, boss?" I replied, "We march to Moon Lake and take Frost Wind City¡­" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Natural Flow scanned the battlefield for a bit before saying, "Natural Flow, we¡¯ll head to Dragon Whisker Mountain now and leave the loot to Godkiller. After all they¡¯ve done for us today, they definitely deserve the reward!" Again, I couldn¡¯t help but admire Flowing Cloud¡¯s wisdom. Clearly, she noticed the pathetic equipment my band of beggars were wearing and decided to take pity on us... Chapter 1133: Cannot Afford to be Selfish Warscar and Bloodthirsty Demon were wearing such wide grins you would be justified to worry if their faces were going to split apart. They had immediately assembled a group of elite players and scoured every inch of the battlefield for loot. The dead were some of, if not the most, elite cavalrymen in the India server, and their dropped equipment, potions and more were no exception. Like a bunch of beggars who were treated to a Manchu Han imperial feast, cries of excitement and joy reverberated endlessly across the air¡ª "Jesus, the Beast King Cavalry are so goddamn rich. This baby¡¯s a Heaven-grade ring that adds 17% Attack! I¡¯m giving this to my girlfriend, so keep your hands away from it!" "Earth-grade shield! An Earth-grade shield that adds 47% Defense and 30% Magic Resist! This one¡¯s mine!" "Why are you putting your grubby hands on my metal-armor boots? Get lost!" ¡­¡­ The players bickered over the loot like children, but their joy and satisfaction were as clear as day. Although the battle was fierce and terrible, at least it was worth it in the end. Hickey walked up to me with a hint of worry on her beautiful face. "Care to guess how many players we lost, boss?" I pursed my lips. "It¡¯s got to be a lot." "Yeah." Hickey looked at the looters while reporting, "We lost almost 40k cavalrymen in total, which is at least half of all the cavalrymen we have. We also lost a lot of mages and archers during the enemy¡¯s assault. Without Natural Flow¡¯s White Horse Cavalry, we would not have been able to defeat the 130k riders from the most elite cavalries of India." I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Our opponent simply outclassed us too much, not to mention that there was a certain element of luck involved in this victory. Lady Luck won¡¯t stand on our side forever, so we need to keep strengthening ourselves and minimize our dependence on her. That being said, some things can¡¯t be rushed, and this is one of them. Let¡¯s take this one step at a time." "Mn." Hickey said smilingly, "A few more successful battles like this one, and our strength will definitely jump to a whole new height." "Anyway, please inform everyone that we¡¯re setting off for Moon Lake immediately after they¡¯re done looting. Remember that our true objective here is to occupy Frost Wind City for Natural Flow. Otherwise, we¡¯ll be the losers even if we manage to kill every Beast King Cavalryman in this map." "Got it!" ¡­¡­ Ten minutes later, the sweep was complete, and the army was ready to go. By now, Natural Flow¡¯s players were but specks of barely discernible dust on the horizon. I mounted the Ancient Divine Dragon, raised my arm and ordered, "We march to Moon Lake!" We had lost almost 100k players in total during this battle, meaning that we only had around 150k left. It would be extremely difficult, but not impossible, to fight another battle or two with this number of players. I had also ordered our revived players to stand by outside Dirge Canyon just in case we needed them. They might not be able to enter Dirge Canyon anymore, but there were certain scenarios where they could help us in a pinch. Long story short, it was better to be safe than sorry. We were harrassed by many smaller Cyan Earth City allied guilds along the way, but our 14k+ Berserk Zephyr Cavalrymen prevented them from scoring any sucker punch on us. We were able to scatter them with little to no trouble. While I was checking my bag, I suddenly realized I had forgotten something really important and beckoned Beiming Xue to my side. "Beiming, come here!" "Yes? Big brother?" After Beiming Xue caught up to me, I took out the Necklace of the Ice Wind Goddess and put it in her hands, smiling. "This is an Outstanding Archean Immortal-grade necklace. I stole this from between Breeze and Rain¡¯s teeth after I killed the Blood Dragon God. You are the best person for this equipment, so take it." "Oh!" The pleasantly surprised Beiming Xue accepted the necklace and put it on immediately. "Thank you, big brother! Not only does this necklace give a lot of Attack, it even boosts my party members¡¯ Attack as well! It¡¯s a shame my 2000 Dragonlight Archers aren¡¯t here, or else¡­" I rolled my eyes. "I can say the same thing. If I had my 30k Dragonlight Cavalrymen, I could sweep this whole map and occupy Frost Wind City myself, especially now that Nation Guardian and Cyan Beast have lost most of their main cavalry. Haha!" Lin Yixin chuckled at us. "Alright, quit dreaming already. This is a civil war between Indian forces, so it¡¯s best if the China server stays out of it. Take Beiming Xue and me for example. We are acting independently, and we areonly sidekicks in this war." I shot her a glance. "You call yourself a sidekick after all the players you killed during the previous battle? Are you trying to shame Breeze and Rain to death?" "..." ¡­¡­ A while later, a tall mountain that stretched all the way into the clouds appeared beside us. It was none other than Dragon Whisker Mountain. From below, the mountain looked like a giant dragon that was soaring to the sky. It was too steep to climb normally, and its slanted appearance made me worry if it would collapse on us without warning. I knew it was impossible, of course. If this mountain wanted to collapse, it would¡¯ve done so a long, long time ago. Feelings were often illogical, though. Another half an hour later, we came close enough to Moon Lake to see that its entrance was covered in layers upon layers of corpses. As expected, an untold amount of horrific battles had taken place there, so much so that every inch of grass was covered by corpses, with equipment, potions and other items sprinkled on top of them. "Ugh¡­" Not far away, Flowing Cloud was staring at the carnage with sympathy and sorrow. The vast majority of the corpses belonged to Elephant City; Natural Flow¡¯s allies to be exact. They had tried to punch their way through Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian¡¯s defense multiple times, but it was clear that all of their attempts had ended in failure. Not far away, a magic knight wielding a spear ran toward Flowing Cloud. His armor was covered in blood, and his spear was chipped and cut so badly that it was obviously nearing the end of its durability. He was the guild leader of a super guild in Elephant City, and his ID was "End of Summer¡±. Glaring angrily at Flowing Cloud, he tossed his spear at the ground beside him before shouting, "This is the price you speak of, Flowing Cloud!?" He was almost shouting on top of his lungs as he pointed a finger at Moon Lake¡¯s entrance, "I lost 170k brothers and sisters trying to break through that damn entrance four times! Every one of our attempts failed, and not one of my players made it out alive because Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian killed them all with layered attacks! Where the hell were you while we were dying for your cause!?" Flowing Cloud dismounted and replied calmly, "End of Summer, I know this defeat is too terrible for you to swallow, but you¡¯ll know that I haven¡¯t been lazing around if you look at the state of my men. They¡¯ve been fighting against the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry all this time, and I¡¯ve returned to tell you that we¡¯ve successfully wiped out 130k riders from the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry at Howling Plains. This is Natural Flow¡¯s contribution to this war." End of Summer¡¯s eyes lit up. "What? You¡¯ve wiped out the main bulk of Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry? Really?" Flowing Cloud nodded. "At least 70% of them are gone after the battle at Howling Plains. That is why your people¡¯s sacrifice wasn¡¯t in vain. Anyway, now is not the time to argue among ourselves. Natural Flow will act as the main force this time, so assemble your remaining players and prepare for the final charge. Together, we will defeat Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian and occupy Frost Wind City in one go!" "Okay!" End of Summer nodded strongly. "Records of Awakening had gathered an army of 240k to block off the entrance to Dirge Canyon and prevent Cyan Earth City¡¯s reinforcements from coming through, meaning that we only have to contend with the 500k enemies currently guarding Frost Wind City. However, they are commanded by God of War and Wild King, and their defense line is way too strong to beat!" Flowing Cloud simply gazed at the direction of Frost Wind City and said calmly, "There is no such thing as an unbreakable defense. Just watch. I will make God of War pay the price for his arrogance!" "Okay!" This conversation alone convinced me that Flowing Cloud was the true number one player of Elephant City. Be it in terms of martial strength, strategy or foresight, she was far greater than the leader of the number one guild of Elephant City, Dark Clouds Sorrow. ¡­¡­ I ordered my troops to rest close to Moon Lake for the moment. I simply didn¡¯t have the manpower to participate in a direct assault. I waited for Flowing Cloud to unfold her final strategies for this final battle so I could decide what to do later. Frost Wind City was a circular territory surrounded by water from three sides, with the only entrance being on the remaining side. The path to the city was about a kilometer wide, and at the entrance, the choke point, was jam-packed with Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian players. I counted at least five layers of Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry at the frontline and a massive swarm of mages, archers, bards and priests in the back. The ranged damage dealers could rain hell upon the attackers with impunity while the healers kept the frontlines healed and buffed. No wonder no one had dared to pick up the layer upon layer of equipment stacked right on top of the sea of Elephant City corpses. Standing atop an elevated ground beside the lake, God of War pointed his blade at the lake entrance and chuckled, "Flowing Cloud, the leader of this flock of sheeps is finally here. We¡¯ll remain at this position. When her forces come, hit them with everything you¡¯ve got. Don¡¯t worry about running out of potions; I will arrange for them to be carried to you all from the city. Don¡¯t worry, the White Horse Cavalry has strong defenses but poor offensive potential, so there¡¯s almost no chance they can break through as long as the priests keep our Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry healed." Beside God of War, Breeze and Rain played the bad cop and growled, "All frontliners, you will not leave your position to pick up the equipment no matter how good it is! Flowing Cloud is no ordinary woman, she will exploit your mistake if you give her one!" Everyone nodded affirmatively. ¡­¡­ Back to Elephant City¡¯s forces. Beside Flowing Cloud, Dark Clouds Sorrow asked, "How do you think we should fight this out, Flowing Cloud? How many White Horse Cavalrymen do you have left?" The war goddess shot him a glance before replying. "70k, although I¡¯m the one who should be asking you this question. You¡¯re aware that the Cheetah Cavalry should be the one leading this assault, right? Dark Clouds Sorrow, I understand selfishness, but we¡¯re long past the point where we can afford to be selfish. If we lose here, we¡¯ll lose this alliance, this battle, this territory, and even the war for dominance between Elephant City and Cyan Earth City. We¡¯ll never be able to raise our heads in front of them. These bastards will call us a sheet of loose sand and laugh at us, and we can¡¯t even say they¡¯re wrong¡­" Dark Clouds Sorrow clenched his fists tightly. "We won¡¯t let it happen. I have 120k+ Cheetah Cavalrymen left, and you will have full command of them. Be warned though, the defense line of the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry is too powerful. If we simply attack them directly, I doubt we¡¯ll be able to overwhelm them even if with all our might!" Flowing Cloud smiled. "Don¡¯t worry. It will work!" ¡­¡­ Half an hour later, Elephant City¡¯s attack formation was ready. The 120k Cheetah Cavalrymen would be acting as the battering ram, and the 70k White Horse Cavalrymen would be assisting them. Behind them, archers, mages, priests and other classes would slowly push forward, moving the line of healing and ranged attacks closer and closer. It was clear that Flowing Cloud was planning to challenge Cyan Beast to a positional battle. Chapter 1134: Crossing A Lake Chiang! Flowing Cloud rode her horse to the forefront of her formation and unsheathed her sword in one fluid motion. Then, she raised it into the air and cried, "Attack!" Waves undulated across the lake as the thunderous hooves started. The final battle had finally begun. The 120k Cheetah Cavalrymen took off and charged toward the enemy at high speed. In terms of the ability to break through defense lines, the Cheetah Cavalry was definitely much stronger than the White Horse Cavalry. Cyan Beast retaliated with a hail of Shock Arrows and Mountain Stagger Arrows. Pu pu pu¡­ The rain of arrows easily mowed down groups and groups of Cheetah Cavalry. However, riding at the forefront was Flowing Cloud herself, and after she slammed mount first into the forest of spears, she swung her weapon horizontally and executed her Divine General Skill. Her bravery bought her riders some much needed cover. "Kill!" Eyes reddened with bloodlust and fury, the Cheetah Cavalry ignored their dying teammates and moved even faster. On the other side, Breeze and Rain unsheathed his weapon and barked command after command, "Throw your Trapping Nets at will and lock the enemy down! Don¡¯t let them come close to us!" The Cheetah Cavalrymen at the front were immediately caught in the inescapable rain of Trapping Nets and immobilized. The outcome was gruesome. The players at the back had to trample over their allies just to get closer to Cyan Beast¡¯s defense line, but no one stopped because they knew that this battle was all or nothing. ¡­¡­ The Cheetah Cavalry had to pay a terrible price, but the two armies finally engaged each other in melee. Their misery had just begun, however. Commanding his troops with unusual seriousness, Breeze and Rain conducted a deep operation and was able to mow down the Cheetah Cavalry like grass using his archers and mages. The casualty ratio on both sides was not even close to being even. Dark Clouds Sorrow cried angrily, "I¡¯m going to lose everyone in just an hour if this continues, Flowing Cloud!" "Patience. Any time now," Flowing Cloud replied enigmatically. Suddenly, the sounds of bird cries drew their attention. It was none other than Natural Flow¡¯s secret weapon, the Owl Riders. I counted 20000 of them, and they were swooping down toward Cyan Beast¡¯s backline almost like they were going to dive bomb the enemy. If only that was the case. I clenched my fists tighter as I watched them. "Is she?!" Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open. "Are they going to paradrop right on top of the enemy!?" I nodded affirmatively. "It¡¯s the only answer. Paradropping troops right into the enemy¡¯s backline? What a bold and expert tactic from Flowing Cloud!" A smiling Hickey said seriously, "It is, but she would never have done this if she had any other choice¡­" "Yeah." ¡­¡­ After the Owl Riders appeared above the ranged parties, they dismounted and dropped right on top of the archers and mages. It was crazy, suicidal, and most importantly, effective. The mages and archers dropped like flies after the metal-armor players literally descended on top of them. Like tigers released within a pen of sheeps, they killed everything and everyone in their way with zero regard for their own safety. The even became less one-sided than it was a moment ago. Both sides were sustaining some degree of losses now. Cyan Earth City had lost most of their Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry due to their earlier mistakes. As a result, Elephant City¡¯s mad charge was slowly but surely chipping their remaining forces to size. Flowing Cloud¡¯s insane paradrop tactic especially disrupted Breeze and Rain¡¯s deep operation and enabled small groups of Cheetah Cavalry to slip through the gaps and attack the ranged players, kicking off a vicious circle of death. If this continues, Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian would lose for sure. "What do we do, boss?!" Breeze and Rain looked to God of War for instructions. God of War¡¯s response was to climb up his mount and unsheath his weapon. "Hold for ten minutes while I mobilize the 50k Blood Roar Cavalrymeninside the city! Natural Flow and Dark Cloud are almost spent. Hold out this wave, and Frost Wind City will be ours!" Breeze and Rain nodded affirmatively. "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Not long later, a stream of red appeared from the direction of Frost Wind City. It was a troop of elite riders riding some sort of blood-red mount. I quickly searched the forums and found the information I was looking for. The Blood Roar Cavalrymen were a new cavalry troop Cyan Beast had just recently developed. It was only 50k strong, but their mount¡ªthe Blood Roar Warhorse¡ªwas a Level 180 Earth Rank mount. It wasn¡¯t a boss mount, so its stats were about 15% weaker than the Beast King Cavalry¡¯s. That by no means meant they weren¡¯t powerful, however. "The Blood Roar Cavalrymen are here!" The guild leader of Records of Awakening, End of Summer, narrowed his eyes. "What do we do, Flowing Cloud? We don¡¯t have many cavalrymen left!" "Hmm¡­" However, not even Flowing Cloud could find a way out of this this time. She had used almost all of the trump cards she possessed, and they had lost so many White Horse and Cheetah Cavalrymen during the initial charge that there were probably less than 20k of them right now. How could they possibly fight against the fresh and elite 50k Blood Roar Cavalrymen? In the end, Flowing Cloud gritted her teeth and said, "Forget about the Blood Roar Cavalrymen. Mobilize everyone and attack the enemy with everything you have! For Elephant City¡¯s honor, for the pride of those who had been underestimated by Cyan Earth City, we must pull this off no matter what!" End of Summer nodded strongly. "Very well! We will fight to the very end!" ¡­¡­ As the battle entered its final stages, Lin Yixin asked me, "Should we head over and help them now?" "No¡­" However, I shook my head and explained, "It will be useless. The enemy has at least 100k elite players left, and frankly, our troops aren¡¯t even worthy to be their prey. We must find a way to ambush them somehow, or this war is basically lost." "Sure, but how on earth are we going to ambush the enemy when three sides of the territory are surrounded by lake water? It¡¯s such a shame that my Kui Dragon Cavalry isn¡¯t here, or we would be able to cross the river safely¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s complaint gave me an idea, however. I hurriedly ordered, "All units, spread out and search for shallow waters as soon as possible! With luck, we may just be able to cross Moon Lake for real and ambush the enemy!" "Yessir!" ¡­¡­ The sun was setting. Nighttime was descending upon everyone. Splash splash... I was flying the Ancient Divine Dragon near the lake, letting the draft and its legs part some of the water. To help its efforts, I kept throwing my strongest skills down, splashing water all around, trying to catch a glimpse of the bottom. If I did, I would have found the shallow waters.. Suddenly, Warscar shouted in the guild channel, "I found it, guild leader! Come to coordinates (22738, 192877) right now! The water here is shallow enough to cross!" "Are you sure, Warscar?" "I am! If you cross about ten meters into the lake from here, you¡¯ll be able to see a smaller map called ¡®Flowing Fish Shallow Waters Area¡¯. It''s only 1.5 meters deep, which is not deep enough to auto-cancel our mounts! I¡¯m standing in the middle of the lake right now!" "Very good! Rally all our riders to your location right now! We¡¯ll be launching our ambush in ten minutes! All ranged players, join Natural Flow¡¯s forces now and join in on the main assault! We don¡¯t have much time left, so be quick!" "Yessir!" Ten minutes later, 50000 Godkiller cavalrymen had assembled at the edge of Moon Lake facing toward the smaller map called Flowing Fish Shallow Waters Area. Seeing my arrival, they all unsheathed their weapons at the same time. I raised the Purple Ying Sword into the air and declared with a smile, "Starting now, you will all turn off your equipment luster, dial down your mount speed to below 50%, and keep absolutely quiet. Once we¡¯ve arrived at the shores, we¡¯ll circle around and hit the enemy¡¯s defense line right in the butt! Let¡¯s take down both Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian in one go!" Everyone responded, "Yessir!" "Let¡¯s go!" I led the way on the Ancient Divine Dragon while Lin Yixin and Beiming Xue followed closely behind me. It wasn¡¯t long before everyone¡¯s armor was half-drenched by water. Nation Guardian and Cyan Beast had no idea that a deadly threat was sneaking up on them, and hopefully, it would be too late by the time they finally realized it. ¡­¡­ Less than twenty minutes later, after all 50000 of our cavalry had successfully reached the shores, we slowly crept toward the enemy¡¯s defense line under the cover of pampas grass and pine trees. I brought up the map screen. I could already see the sea of red dots thanks to the superior vision range of Dark Pupils. Rustle rustle... I rose out of cover and gazed into the distance. The flashes of skills and battle cries were still occurring at the entrance of Moon Lake, but our allies¡¯ struggles were growing weaker and weaker. Even Flowing Cloud was looking exhausted and losing confidence. Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian were just too strong for the players of Elephant City to defeat without aid! I made a quick calculation. There was around 5000 yards of distance between us and the enemy, and if we dropped all the pretenses and straight-up charged, we should be able to reach them in 5 minutes tops. The Zephyr Cavalry were equipped with a super-fast mount, and at their fastest, they would be travelling at a speed of 100 km per hour, or 1.66 kilometers per minute. Yes, we would definitely hit the enemy even considering the terrain! Chiang! So I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and declared, "All units, we will charge at top speed and aim to crush their defense line as soon as possible! Show their mages and archers no mercy! Teach these arrogant Cyan Earth City players that the wandering legion of Iron Skull Wilderness is to be feared!" Everyone raised their weapons and cried out in unison, "ATTACK!" Our hooves shook the ground so much that the ripples appeared almost across the whole lake. All 15k Zephyr Cavalrymen activated their Berserk talent and charged at full speed, with me at the point. ¡­¡­ We weren¡¯t trying to hide our tracks anymore, so the Cyan Earth City players heard the commotion and looked behind themselves in shock. "What is that? Why are there red names attacking us from Frost Wind City?!" I activated Thunderous Charge! Swhoosh! My sword left a fatal line on an archer¡¯s neck with lightning speed. The Zephyr Cavalry waved their weapons and reaped the enemy¡¯s heads like it was the gathering day. We instantly crushed the enemy¡¯s ranged formation and lifted the massive pressure off Natural Flow¡¯s shoulders. I didn¡¯t save my Divine Energy Points and fired as many Ancient Seals as I was able around me. Lin Yixin did the same with God¡¯s Tear as we ravaged the enemy¡¯s defense line together. Breeze and Rain¡¯s heart turned as cold as ice when he saw the flashes of our Divine General Skills. "God dammit, it¡¯s Lu Chen again!" God of War brandished his weapon. "Blood Roar Cavalrymen, with me! We need to take out these wanderers before it¡¯s too late!" ¡­¡­ Ten thousand Blood Roar Cavalrymen screamed as they charged us. My only response toward their countercharge was a smile and an order. "Teach that arrogant Blood Roar Cavalry a lesson they won¡¯t forget!" Chapter 1135: Moving to Final Duel Valley I passed the party leader to the Fruit Knife Goddess so she could activate her Famous General Skill, Bombshell. It increased every stat by 80% and more than made up for the Zephyr Cavalry¡¯s disadvantage in Defense while their Berserk talent was active. Right now, their stats had surpassed even the Beast King Cavalry and the Divine Elephant Cavalry. Warscar, Hickey and everyone else except me and Beiming were stunned by the sudden jump in stats. In fact, they looked like they were about to shed tears of joy. They had never enjoyed such a wonderful stratagem in their life until Yiyi showed up. It was like a god had granted them a divine blessing! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I fired God Binding Art at God of War, which he expertly dodged. However, Lin Yixin was able to catch him by surprise and slash his neck with Extreme Break. After she turned around, she immediately executed a merciless Ice Flame Slash + God¡¯s Tear combo! God of War ground his teeth in frustration but activated his invincibility skill. He knew he would die otherwise. Whoosh! I immediately blocked in front of God of War¡¯s way and parried two of his attacks. I knew that this fucker would try and one-shot Lin Yixin while his invincibility skill was still active. Not on my watch! All around us, Warscar, Hickey, Bloodthirsty Demon and the rest of the Zephyr Cavalry were running over the Blood Roar Cavalrymen like a truck would run over a person. Both God of War and Breeze and Rain looked like they couldn¡¯t believe that the Zephyr Cavalry had overwhelmed their elites so easily, but that was just the power of Bombshell. Their casualties hit the thousands in just an instant, and their defense line was all but crumbling right now. "We need to withdraw into Frost Wind City now!" God of War declared. However, Breeze and Rain replied with an ugly expression on his face, "What¡¯s the point? We barely have any troops left in Frost Wind City, and I just learned that Flowing Cloud still has 200k reserve troops at the foot of the mountain range¡­" God of War: "..." The guild leader of Nation Guardian, Wild King, asked, "What do we do then? I only have less than 1000 Divine Elephant Cavalrymen left! Is this going to turn out the way I think it will?" God of War shot the Zephyr Cavalry one last glare before roaring, "We lost this time because the main bulk of our forces was destroyed at Howling Plains, and this ambush. I won¡¯t forget this, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Carve his name into your minds, for he is Cyan Earth City¡¯s greatest enemy!" Breeze and Rain sighed. "Let us withdraw from Dirge Canyon. I never agreed to occupy this city anyway. Even if we managed to occupy it, it is too close to Elephant City, and Flowing Cloud has countless opportunities to raid it when we¡¯re not looking. In the end, Cyan Earth City is our real domain." God of War nodded. "Very well, we will abandon this territory and withdraw from Dirge Canyon. Those who are unhappy with this outcome, you may remain on the plains outside Dirge Canyon and hunt down the enemy until you¡¯re satisfied¡­" Wild King: "..." ¡­¡­ And so, the super alliance made up of Cyan Beast, Nation Guardian and a dozen more super guilds withdrew from the city like tidewater and made their escape. Flowing Cloud chose to leave them alone and focused on guiding her troops into Frost Wind City instead, occupying it and replacing Cyan Beast as the new owner of the territory. No one had expected the light at the end of the tunnel until it happened. Victory should¡¯ve been firmly within Cyan Earth City¡¯s grasp, but one variable was enough to change everything. Frost Wind City was a lone city set in the middle of a lake, but its geography was absolutely exceptional. It bordered many major leveling maps and almost all the Elephant City instances that were Level 180 or higher. Dirge Canyon itself was also the crossroad between the China server, the India server and the Japan server. Controlling it was the equivalent of controlling the pulse of the southeast side of the continent. Any military commander worth their salt would consider the map a must-have. Natural Flow didn¡¯t let their guard down just because Cyan Earth City appeared to be retreating. After they entered their new city, the archers and mages immediately ran up the walls and assumed defensive positions immediately. I led Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue, Warscar, Hickey and the others to the foot of the city. Then, I ordered them to stay where they were before walking up to the city entrance myself. The gate opened, and Flowing Cloud walked out with her two vice leaders and other guild leaders such as Dark Clouds Sorrow and End of Summer. She shot me a smile and said, "Thank you. Your ambush was exactly what we needed to turn the tides of war. In fact, without the aid of Iron Skull Wilderness, we would never have been able to take this city." I nodded in acknowledgment. "It¡¯s nothing. I¡¯m no great person, but I at least know what it means to do what I was paid for." Flowing Cloud looked at the mountain ranges to the east before continuing, "Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian¡¯s main forces have withdrawn from Dirge Canyon. It looks like they¡¯ve truly given up on Frost Wind City." The guild leader of Records of Awakening said with a smile, "From the beginning, they only had one shot at taking this city, and they missed that shot at least half an hour ago. Also, we can replenish our numbers non-stop because Elephant City is right next to this territory, but they have to mobilize their troops all the way from Cyan Earth City. God of War and Breeze and Rain are both smart people. They won¡¯t make unnecessary sacrifices for something that is already lost." I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Had they been able to hold out until the end, this territory would¡¯ve fallen under Cyan Earth City¡¯s control. But they failed, and two guilds cannot fend off an entire city no matter how strong they are." Flowing Cloud asked, "I¡¯m going to have to guard this territory for the next 17 hours. What about you? What are you planning to do next?" A small smile sprang to her lips. "If you don¡¯t mind, we welcome you to become a part of Frost Wind City and develop your strength at Dirge Canyon. I can give you a 50% discount on all your purchases, repairs and more, which is the same discount as our main guild enjoys. Do consider my offer." Hickey pulled my arm from behind before whispering, "I don¡¯t want to be another guild¡¯s guardian dog, and Godkiller isn¡¯t that type of guild." Warscar also said, "Yeah, we did our job, so it¡¯s time to leave. There¡¯s no point staying here any longer than is necessary." I smiled. "Don¡¯t worry, I know!" The discussion done, I turned toward Flowing Cloud and replied, "We are just unaffiliated players, and for now, we have no plans of staying in any territory. Thank you for the offer, but we will be taking our leave in a moment. We promise we won¡¯t bring you any trouble." Flowing Cloud tried to change our minds, "Are you sure? There are many benefits we¡ª" Suddenly, Bloodthirsty Demon shuddered like he had a stroke before he plunged his sword to the ground. "Shit! Guild leader, we have a problem!" "What is it?!" I asked urgently. The man reported furiously, "Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian formed an encirclement outside the entrance after leaving Dirge Canyon! They¡¯re currently chasing after the players we had camped outside the canyon! The brothers and sisters who died fighting with us are there as well! They¡¯ve already lost a couple thousand players, and they need a decision from you right now!" I swore, "God of War! That motherfucking shameless son of a bitch!" Lin Yixin urged me, "No time to swear. How about we order them to enter the canyon? We can use the protection of Frost Wind City." "That won¡¯t work. Those who died once won¡¯t be able to enter." "They can escape back to Iron Skull Wilderness?" Hickey suggested. Bloodthirsty Demon shook his head. "It¡¯s too late. Breeze and Rain had already sealed off the path to Cursed Plains with several tens of thousands Beast King Cavalrymen. Our people will be camped ad infinitum if we do that¡­" Warscar panicked. "What should we do then? We can¡¯t just let them slaughter our people as they please!" Everyone looked at me at the same time. I clenched my fists and made my decision. "We will ride out of the canyon and meet up with our people first. We will then ride along Thunder Mountain Range, pass through Elephant City, and escape to the Purple Grape City domain!" Hickey, Warscar and everyone else shivered at the same time. "Are you sure, boss?" "Mn." I nodded before explaining my reason, "Purple Grape City is a neutral, undead region right now, so we won¡¯t have an entire nation bearing down on us. Also, while the Japanese no longer control the place, Cyan Earth City can¡¯t chase us past the borders without considering what the Japanese may do. Finally, Purple Grape City borders the China server. My brothers and sisters may be able to lend us a hand there!" Hickey immediately said, "What are we waiting for then? Let¡¯s head to Purple Grape City now! It¡¯s a neutral region anyway, and anywhere that isn¡¯t a country belongs to us wanderers!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ After our minds were set, we immediately left Dirge Canyon and exited through a smaller exit. Flowing Cloud personally escorted our almost-120k-strong group to the exit with fifty thousand riders. The outside of Dirge Canyon was a flat, borderless plain, the kind of terrain a cavalryman loved the most. It was no wonder our people were hunted as they were. Already, we could see a group of Godkiller players running and fighting about 1000 yards away from us. I pulled out my weapon without hesitation and shouted, "All Zephyr Cavalrymen, follow me to intercept the pursuers and cover our people¡¯s retreat to Thunder Mountain Range. Once everyone is gathered, we will continue to Final Duel Valley!" Everyone¡¯s blood boiled when they heard the name. Final Duel Valley and its ruthless rules were the equivalent of heaven to those who enjoyed risk-taking, and my seven-day battle at Final Duel Valley made it so famous that stories about the place circulated throughout the forums across the world. Thanks to Lin Yixin and Beiming Xue¡¯s aid, we were able to crush the pursuers in just a short time. However, the main force of the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry caught on quickly and gave chase, forcing us to turn around and herd our players into the forests of Thunder Mountain Range as quickly as we were able to. There, the cavalrymen wouldn¡¯t be able to move faster than even a foot soldier due to the plethora of brambles and bushes. ¡­¡­ "Hah, hah, hah¡­" After we escaped into the forest, a panting Warscar sat down on a nearby rock and asked in a frustrated tone, "We lost another couple thousand people, and they are all trapped near some grinding zones. What do we do?" I replied with a deep frown, "Tell everyone who died to wait until the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry leave before they revive, even if they have to wait half a day or longer. Those chuckleheads have to leave eventually. After they revive, they can move across Thunder Mountain Range themselves and meet up with us at Purple Grape City. As for us, we need to move now. It¡¯s time to go to Final Duel Valley!" "Okay!" Chapter 1136: Cyan Frost Blocks the Way A small breeze mixed with the scent of flowers was blowing gently across the forest of Thunder Mountain Range. Flap flap flap... However, a flock of birds resting peacefully atop the trees sensed something and took off in panic. Not a moment too soon, a troop of cavalrymen clad in tattered armor galloped through the area like the wind. Following right behind them was a large band of foot soldiers, archers, mages and more. "Hah, hah, hah¡­" Hands trembling a little from exertion and breathing heavily, Bloodthirsty Demon swore loudly, "That son of a bitch God of War! He just won¡¯t stop biting at our heels like a mad dog! Has he gone crazy? How many more people will he kill until he¡¯s satisfied?" Hickey said with a frown, "I¡¯ve ordered one thousand archers to set up an ambush in this area and cover our retreat. We need to move fast though. Purple Grape City is just ahead of us. Even God of War will have to restrain himself once we cross through the border." I nodded. "Yiyi, Beiming and I will stay behind with the archers. Warscar, Hickey, Bloodthirsty Demon, I trust you three to lead our men safely across the hills. Now go!" "Yes, guild leader!" We had been losing people non-stop since the battle began. At this point, I could say with confidence that we paid too big a price to help Flowing Cloud occupy Frost Wind City. On the other hand, this was an experience Godkiller absolutely needed to truly evolve from a collective of noobs to a group of professionals, so it wasn¡¯t all that bad. They would never be more than just a roaming band of ragtags otherwise. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle... I didn¡¯t want to dismount, but I still wished to stay hidden. Seemingly sensing my intentions, the Ancient Divine Dragon lay as low as possible and only raised its head just high enough to scan the surroundings. "Heehee¡­" Lying next to me atop the Moonchaser Tiger, Lin Yixin gave the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s head a rub before saying, "Long time no see, little dragon. He¡¯s still at the adult stage, right Lu Chen? When will it enter the awakening stage? I can¡¯t wait to see how it looks as a draconic armor!" I chuckled. "Not anytime soon, I¡¯m afraid. I¡¯ve been grinding non-stop for the past couple of days, but it still hasn¡¯t reached Level 130. The level to enter the awakening stage is 150, and I can¡¯t even imagine how much more experience it will take to reach that level. I imagine that we will have to grind the S3 and S4 instances many times before it happens." The beautiful girl nodded before jumping off the Moonchaser Tiger¡¯s back and landing on top of the Ancient Divine Dragon. As if by instinct, I snaked an arm around her waist and enjoyed the sensation of her shockingly firm and bouncy breasts, and her round butt pressing up against my thighs. Thank goodness I couldn¡¯t see what was below her battle garment, or blood would be spewing out of my nose right now. She looked at me with a small smile on her face. "When you return to the China server, let¡¯s conquer S3 and S4 with you, me, Sister Eve, Sister Mingyue, and Beiming or Lian Xin in one try, shall we?" It was a nice dream, but I knew better than to look forward to it. Feeling a bit deflated, I said softly, "If I can return to the China server, then sure. Right now, the investigation on Tang Long is at a standstill, and there are too many people who are involved in this corruption. Tang Long¡¯s nephew, Amber Pupil, had also occupied part of Black Coast after forming Dragons Run Wild. I know he¡¯s just keeping me from returning to the Center." Lin Yixin blinked her big eyes and shot me a reassuring smile. "Don¡¯t worry about it too much. The truth is there for all to see, and all dark clouds pass eventually." "Yeah." It was at this moment that a chorus of thundering hooves appeared from the distance. A while later, God of War and tens of thousands of Beast King and Divine Elephant Cavalrymen appeared to be riding toward our ambush location. "Get ready, everyone! Prepare to kill the Beast King Cavalry with Shock Arrows and Spiraling Arrow Blades!" I barked out orders at the 1000 archers who stayed behind and pulled out the Purple Ying Sword. Everyone drew their bowstrings and waited for the moment to arrive. Lin Yixin had also returned to the Moonchaser Tiger¡¯s back and unsheathed her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword, ready to do battle at a moment¡¯s notice. "Big brother¡­" Suddenly, Beiming Xue called out to me softly. "Yes, Beiming?" "I only have less than 40 Divine Energy Points left. Should I use Well of the Abyss or Great Earth Transformation? I can¡¯t do both at the same time, or I¡¯ll run out of Divine Energy Points in just a couple of minutes." "Great Earth Transformation for the damage increase. Here, take another 5 Fire War God Cards with you. You too, Yiyi. Don¡¯t use them all too quickly, okay? We need to buy as much time as possible for our players to escape to Purple Grape City. It¡¯ll be incredibly troublesome if too many people die within Elephant City borders. Judging from how ruthless God of War is, it¡¯s not impossible that he¡¯d have a rotation of players camping our players for eternity. That would be the worst-case scenario." "Alright then, Great Earth Transformation it is. Thanks for the cards, heehee!" The girls and I used a Fire War God Card each, boosting our Attack, Defense and HP all at once. This card truly was one of, if not the most powerful item in open-world PvP! ¡­¡­ "Kill!" I cried out and made the Ancient Divine Dragon glide toward the enemy. At the same time, I summoned both my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King. Speaking of which, my apparition could also use Summon the Storm, but it couldn¡¯t use Rise of the Guardian Dragon because it technically didn¡¯t carry any gold with it. I would truly be unbeatable if that wasn¡¯t the case. The two Summon the Storm and Beiming Xue¡¯s Skypiercer instantly annihilated an entire group of Beast King Cavalry. However, the enemy was so numerous and fast that the riders at the back and the sides instantly caught up to us and engaged us in melee! Chiang! I shattered a shield with the Purple Ying Sword before thrusting it right through the neck of a Beast King Cavalryman. I was close enough to see both the shock and the helplessness in his eyes. Then, I executed Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash combo, killing not only him but also many players behind him. Glowing with the light of Great Earth Transformation, Lin Yixin rode fearlessly into the enemy troops and killed countless with her sword. Ice Flame Slash here, Ice Storm there, and the Ice Dragon Kris spitting fiery death from above, her DPS wasn¡¯t too far behind mine at all. Moreover, not only could the enemy cavalry not attack the flying dragon, its dragon scales made it immune to the immobilizing effects of the Trapping Net completely. God of War was absolutely not happy about this at all. ¡­¡­ At the same time, a rain of arrows flew out of the forest and stunned the Beast King Cavalry and Divine Elephant Cavalry. It stalled the enemy¡¯s speed and charge. "Motherfucker!" God of War let out a furious cry before charging into the forest with several thousand Beast King Cavalrymen and killing the panicked archers. In just the blink of an eye, all 1000 Godkiller archers had turned into dead bodies on the ground. I gritted my teeth, but I would be lying if I said I hadn¡¯t expected this outcome from the beginning. I checked the time and noted that we had delayed the enemy for 20 whole minutes. I immediately shouted, "Yiyi, Beiming, let¡¯s go! We¡¯re done here!" "Yeah!" Both girls began pulling out of the battlefield at high speed. Since they both had Great Earth Transformation on, and their ability to weave between the trees and dodge the Trapping Nets were top-notch, the Beast King Cavalry ultimately weren¡¯t able to stop them. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I fired God Binding Art straight at the speeding God of War and successfully immobilized him for 12 seconds. The guy was so focused on one-shotting Beiming Xue that he lost track of me and gave me the opportunity to land my CC skill. 12 seconds was more than enough time for a speedster on steroids like Beiming Xue to escape to safety. We quickly slipped deeper into the forest. Less than ten minutes later, we successfully shook off our pursuers and rushed to the agreed upon coordinates. Rustle rustle... We were shocked by what we saw when we burst out of the forest and arrived at a clearing, however. The ground was covered in bodies, arrows and magical flames. It was clear that a terrible battle had taken place here during the time we were gone. Less than 30% of the bodies were Beast King Cavalry¡¯s, making it clear that our forces had been intercepted by another enemy detachment while we were gone, and lost. Without Beiming Xue, Lin Yixin and me, the Zephyr Cavalry lacked the ability to defeat the Beast King Cavalry in a head-on clash. Beep! It was at this moment Warscar sent me a message: "We¡¯ve passed through Thunder Mountain Range and entered Purple Grape City domain, boss. Come quickly! Also, we were attacked by Breeze and Rain and his ten thousand riders during the last stretch of our journey, that hammer damned bastard!" I replied, "Good. Stay there and wait for me to come to you. I should be there in five minutes. Where is Breeze and Rain and his men? Are they still on your tail?" "No, they¡¯ve either withdrawn or are making their way into Purple Grape City through another path to continue their pursuit¡­" "Never mind then. We¡¯re coming!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue and I crossed over a certain line and received a system notification saying that we had entered Purple Grape City domain. It truly had been a while since I came here. I took in the sight of the lush forest in front of me while immersing myself in memories for a bit. Just half a month ago, I had fought alone against an entire server and came out victorious. Today, I had returned with an army with me, however ragtag it might be. Even I couldn¡¯t quite describe the complex feelings I was feeling right now... It was at the foot of a nearby mountain that we met up with Hickey, Warscar, Bloodthirsty Demon and the rest of the Godkiller. There three were the core of the guild and the decision makers when I wasn¡¯t around. "The guild leader is back!" Hickey beamed after she spotted me, "I knew that God of War won¡¯t be able to keep the Little Heavenly King down¡­" I shot her a grin while walking up to them, "So? Have you sent out the scouts and checked the surroundings? It¡¯s not too dangerous, is it?" "For now at least, we are in the clear." Hickey blinked once before asking, "So, where do we travel next, boss? Do we go through Final Duel Valley or Lost Forest?" I answered without hesitation, "We go through Lost Forest. Final Duel Valley is way too dangerous, and I have no intentions of letting any of you drop to Level 0. It just isn¡¯t worth it! Our current destination is Ice River Canton. Ice River Canton had never been restored after the Nation War, and the Japanese players hadn¡¯t had the energy to manage it. This is also the perfect time to check if there¡¯s a neutral camp somewhere that we can use as a temporary supply spot." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ Our numbers had shrunk drastically compared to what they had been at the beginning. After all the battles we had gone through, our 300k-strong army had shrunk to less than 70k. There were many players stuck at various graveyards in Elephant City and unable to revive, although some did find the opportunity to do so and log out of the game. They had no plans to return to the game until everything was safe again. As the saying went, while the green hills last, there''ll be wood to burn. "Wait¡­" Suddenly, I raised an arm and brought my troops to a halt. It was because I saw through Dark Pupils that a large clump of red dots had appeared in front of us. There were forest birds flying into the air as if they had been startled as well. It was obviously an ambush. Warscar took a step forward, brandished his war axe and shouted, "Show your face!" ¡­¡­ The leaves shook, and a beautiful woman and a huge group of red names emerged from behind the foliage. Their nation emblem marked them as Japanese, and the woman was none other than the vice leader of God¡¯s Domain, Cyan Frost the Ice Knight! "Long time no see, Lu Chen. What¡¯s wrong? Are you homesick?" Cyan Frost shot me a small but murderous smile. Chapter 1137: The Huarong Escape God¡¯s Domain? I groaned internally. This was starting to resemble Cao Cao¡¯s escape to Huarong Pass. Ever since we had decided to make a break for it, we had been assaulted non-stop by various powerful forces with barely a moment to rest. I had no idea how many of us would be alive by the time we finally reached Ice River Canton. I looked at the 70k Godkiller players beside me. They were tired, low on consumables, and in desperate need of repairs. Their armor was bloodied and tattered, and their blades looked like they were chewed in various places. Worse of all, their struggles had only just begun. I was a hate magnet to begin with, but here in Purple Grape City, the Japanese wanted nothing more than to swallow me whole. Chiang! All smiles, Lin Yixin unsheathed her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and pointed its sharp and translucent point at Cyan Frost. "Cyan Frost, an honored member of the JGL Hall of Fame. A shame that you fell to Li Chengfeng at Final Duel Valley and dropped to Level 0 a couple of weeks ago. You don¡¯t seriously think you can beat any of us around Level 150, do you?" Cyan Frost looked so angry that her entire face was beet-red. "Arrogant bitch! You think your shitty little army can beat mine? Dream on! Purple Grape City is the property of the Japan server. You¡¯ll not take another step unless you kill all 50k Wildfire Riders behind me!" Lin Yixin¡¯s delicate shoulders and firm breasts trembled as she giggled. She said, "The Japan server¡¯s? Unless my memory is deceiving me, Purple Grape City is the rightful property of Sophie the Snow Minstrel right now, so what does anything that happens within Purple Grape City borders have to do with you? If you¡¯re smart, you will focus on protecting your ¡®super city¡¯, Swallow Ear Canton instead¡­" Her words were like a knife through the Japanese players¡¯ hearts. They had been gathering their strength and doing their utmost to retake Purple Grape City, but Sophie¡¯s army was just too powerful. They couldn¡¯t even throw their full weight against the undead castle because it would leave them open to the Chinese at White Rose Fortress. They could hardly afford to lose Swallow Ear Canton as well. An infuriated Cyan Frost declared, "Wildfire Riders, prepare to charge! Kill this homeless trash from Iron Skull Wilderness to the last!" Warscar, Hickey, Bloodthirsty Demon and everyone else immediately pulled out their weapons. Every player in Godkiller was unaffiliated, so unintentionally or not, Cyan Frost had deeply wounded their pride with her words. There was no way they were just going to stand there and accept the humiliation. I too unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword while ordering, "Kill, but don¡¯t linger! Break through them and escape toward the direction White Rose Fortress! They won¡¯t dare to approach the Chinese army there!" "Kill!" After letting out a battle cry, the Viking Cavalry immediately activated Berserk and charged toward the enemy. Mounts slammed against mounts as the riders stabbed their weapons into each other¡¯s torsos. Just like that, a melee battle had broken out in front of Final Duel Valley. Instead of running wild like I normally did, I made sure to remain at the front and center of the party so I could catch the majority of the Wildfire Riders¡¯ firepower, deal as much damage as possible, and reduce the pressure on my fellow allies. Lin Yixin and Beiming Xue were doing the same thing. We buffed everyone with Martial God, Bombshell and Bow God, did our best to keep the formation steady, and slowly broke through the enemy¡¯s encirclement. Cyan Frost¡¯s level was too low, so she didn¡¯t dare to engage us directly. Instead, she lingered around the edges and cut down the Zephyr Cavalrymen one by one. The push was slow and agonizing. Every inch of ground felt like it was paved with blood. My heart ached every time a Zephyr Cavalryman fell off their mount and died. Finally, a miracle happened. Lin Yixin¡¯s party broke through the enemy¡¯s defense line first and punched a hole in the encirclement. Together, we ripped apart the defense line of 50000 Wildfire Riders and escaped to the forest in front of us. The enemy was doing their utmost to consume the lower half of our formation, but we were well past the point where we might try to save everyone we could. If we turned around to rescue the rear, we were probably all going to die here. The essence of an army is speed. For every second we spent fighting Cyan Frost, every other Japanese player who had caught wind of our location was moving toward us as well. The last thing I wanted was to be caught up by an endless tide of players and overwhelmed. We had to withdraw into Lost Forest and use both NPCs and monsters as our cover, or our 70k army would go poof just like that. ¡­¡­ Hooves thundered loudly against the ground. One second we were still inside the forest, the next we were outside Lost Forest. A long stretch of plain lay in front of us, and I could even spot White Rose Fortress¡ªa white block at the horizon¡ªfrom here. Sitting on the opposite side of White Rose Fortress was the Impassable Wall, a fearsome bastion that we had once toppled. The Japanese players had rebuilt it as a matter of course. Otherwise, our players would¡¯ve already trampled over Swallow Ear Canton a dozen times over. "White Rose!" Lin Yixin pointed to the west with a smile. "Let¡¯s hide in White Rose Fortress for a bit. Even if we can¡¯t go inside, we should be safe as long as we move to the foot of the wall. Cyan Frost and her goons wouldn¡¯t dare hurt us there." "Yeah!" However, Beiming Xue looked to the east and said, "Big bro, the forest over there is shaking. I think it¡¯s a new group of pursuers. We¡¯re so hated¡­" Her guess was spot on. A sea of flaming mounts emerged from between the trees, and they were none other than the Fiery Scale Cavalry of the second strongest guild of Japan, Era of Strife. The leader of the riders was a blade wielder and the guild leader himself, Cooper Spear. It wouldn¡¯t be a mistake to say that we were very familiar with each other at this point. We had fought a great battle at the foot of Purple Grape City. "Kill!" Copper Spear roared on top of his lungs, "Kill them all! Lu Chen has finally deigned to return to our homeland, so show him no mercy and beat the shit out of him! Give him no chance to return to glory!" The Fiery Scale Cavalry roared and moved even faster. I could feel my headache growing by the minute. As it turned out, Era of Strife hated me so much that they had mobilized almost 100k Fiery Scale Cavalrymen. Adding that to the 35k Wildfire Riders still nipping at our heels and the fact that our numbers had dwindled to less than 50k, an engagement was tantamount to suicide. "Full speed to White Rose Fortress!" I roared at my players before turning around and charged toward my pursuers alone. There was no way I was going to let my players be killed like cattle. ¡­¡­ Era of Strife and God¡¯s Domain¡¯s players slowed down when they saw me facing toward them alone. The short stand-off lasted until I saw that my players had reached the foot of White Rose Fortress. Instead of engaging the enemy, I immediately turned around and escaped. No matter how strong I was, there was no way I could fight a hundred thousand elite riders alone. That would only be assisted suicide! Copper Spear and Cyan Frost raised their blades at almost the same time. "Kill!" No less than 200k Japanese players chased after my back like murder. Their thirst for vengeance couldn¡¯t be sated until they killed me, and maybe not even then. ¡­¡­ Our players¡¯ mouths fell open in astonishment as they stared at the majestic White Rose Fortress. Warscar commented, "This city is so tall and lit! I don¡¯t think even a cannon can crack it open!" Hickey¡¯s mouth twitched once as she replied, "From what I heard, this fortress had once collapsed entirely into rubble during the War of Purple Grape City." I nodded. "That is true." Bloodthirsty Demon was too busy staring at our pursuers and sweating bullets to care. "Is this really the time to chat? They¡¯re right behind our backs! What do we do?" "We enter the fortress!" Warscar said with a laugh and galloped faster toward the fortress. When he was about 50 yards away from the walls though, arrows suddenly rained down from the walls and shocked everyone! Chiang chiang chiang¡­ Warscar parried a ton of arrows before returning with less than 50% HP. He glared at the fortress and swore with frustration, "What the hammer? Why did they attack me?!" ¡­¡­ On the walls, countless Chinese archers had poked out their heads to stare at us. There were players from Warsky Alliance, Snowy Cathaya, and Dragons Run Wild. In fact, more than half of the garrison troops belonged to Dragons Run Wild. "Look at that dragon rider! That¡¯s our Little Heavenly King Lu Chen, isn¡¯t it?" a young archer shouted. Beside him, a female archer was so agitated she almost cried. "Uu, it¡¯s really Lu Chen! It¡¯s really him! Is he finally going to come home?" "Open the gates, quickly! Let Lu Chen in!" ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, no one obeyed the cry. A player wielding a dark blade was standing atop the walls and staring down on us from above. He said loudly, "Wind Fantasy, Beiming Xue, you two can come in because you¡¯re Chinese players. Not those unaffiliated players though!" He was none other than the alliance leader of Dragons Run Wild, Amber Pupil. Wearing a frosty look on her face, Lin Yixin walked up to the fortress and pointed her sword at the walls. "Who the hell do you think you are, Amber Pupil? Since when are you the commander in charge of White Rose Fortress?!" Amber Pupil said with a smile, "Almost 30 guilds from my alliance entered White Rose Fortress just the day before yesterday. Right now, over 75% of the players guarding White Rose Fortress are from Dragons Run Wild. You tell me if I¡¯m the commander of White Rose Fortress or not, Beauty Wind Fantasy." Infuriated, Lin Yixin shouted, "Snowy Cathaya, get down from there and open the gate for us right now!" A troop of Kui Dragon Cavalry about 2000 strong immediately summoned their mounts and unsheathed their weapons. They shouted, "Let¡¯s go! Kill anyone who tries to stop us!" Amber Pupil raged, "Shielders, form up and stop them now! Are you turning traitors, you fools? Do you not know that those are unaffiliated players? Are you going to bear the responsibility if they cause havoc in the China server?¡± Chapter 1138: King of Destruction There was a stand-off on the walls, but we didn¡¯t have the time to wait for them to finish. Already, Copper Spear¡¯s Era of Strife was engaging our backline and killing our players right before everyone¡¯s eyes. I gritted my teeth and pointed my sword at Amber Pupil. "Open your eyes and watch, dog! Godkiller and I will survive even without having to enter White Rose Fortress!" After that, I ordered, "All units, break out through the north and enter Lost Forest!" ¡­¡­ The Zephyr Cavalry activated Berserk and charged the enemy for the n-th time of the day. Our casualties were severe, and our potions and consumables were almost all gone. There were only a couple thousand of us left by the time we finally broke out of the encirclement. We were all exhausted as hell, and still, the Fiery Scale Cavalry wouldn¡¯t stop chasing after us. The lush forest before our eyes seemed to be our only hope. Thud! Suddenly, a Zephyr Cavalryman dropped his sword, fell off his horse and even dropped to his knees. He moaned in despair, "What are we even fighting for? We are hunted no matter where we go. Where is our hope? I don¡¯t want to do this anymore¡­" I had no words of consolation to offer him, neither had I the time. Our pursuers were still chasing after us. Fear and despair clouded every Godkiller player¡¯s face. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Suddenly, a fiery red figure burst out from between the trees in front of us. She was followed by countless elite riders who were clad in indigo armor, and everyone was wearing a bloody sword on their shoulder. It was none other than Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! "Kill!" At her command, every Dragonlight Cavalryman activated Dragon Soul Protection and attacked Era of Strife. Led by Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits and more, the Dragonlight Cavalry easily ran over the Fiery Scale Cavalry like they didn¡¯t even exist. It was almost comical how quickly the tables had turned. Warscar, Hickey, Bloodthirsty Demon and the rest of the guild could only watch with their mouths agape as the Dragonlight Cavalry annihilated their opponent with impunity. Maybe now they finally had an idea what a champion cavalry truly looked like. The commander of the Dragonlight Cavalry party¡ªa female knightress wielding the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear and wearing a fiery red cloak¡ªslowly walked up to me. She shot me a beautiful smile and asked gently, "Have you finally decided to come home?" ¡­¡­ I shivered from head to toe. One simple question from He Yi had almost caused me to break into tears. He Yi might be the only person in the whole world that I didn¡¯t need to force a smile and put a brave front for; the only one that could make me expose the depths of my pain and hurt without disguise. "Who¡­ who is this lady? Is every woman in the China server this beautiful?" Warscar exclaimed in astonishment. Bloodthirsty Demon hurriedly elbowed him. "Quiet down, she seems to know our guild leader¡­" Hickey rolled her eyes at both of them. "Idiots¡­" ¡­¡­ He Yi dismounted, walked up to me and wrapped me in a tight hug. She cried even though we were still surrounded by enemies and allies alike. "Eve¡­" I murmured. A while later, she wiped the corners of her eyes and smiled at me again. "I know. I know that Beauty Lin is here too. I just¡­ I just couldn¡¯t quite¡­" "You don¡¯t need to explain anything," I replied back. "Mn." Finally, He Yi let me go and greeted Lin Yixin. "Yiyi." Lin Yixin had been pretending to be looking elsewhere until Eve called out to her. She turned around and said with a smile, "You took your time, Sister Eve. You had no idea how badly we were chased up until this point¡­" He Yi giggled. "I can see that none of your equipped items is above 25% durability. If I came any later, you would¡¯ve had to fight with your bare hands, huh?" "Yeah, it was a horrible day¡­" ¡­¡­ At the distance, Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits were absolutely wrecking Era of Strife left and right while incurring minimum losses. It was worth mentioning that Li Chengfeng had climbed to Level 173 in half a month¡¯s time. He was probably one of the fastest grinders I had ever seen in my gaming career. "Retreat, retreat!" Copper Spear shouted repeatedly while waving his blade, causing Era of Strife to run away like tidewater. Cyan Frost and her tens of thousands of Wildfire Riders also crept away after they saw our 20k Dragonlight Cavalry. They knew that they were no match for the Dragonlight Cavalry. Not only was the Dragonlight Cavalry famous throughout the entire continent, their numbers were much greater than before. Right now, there was literally no cavalry in the world that could stop them. After Li Chengfeng shook off the blood on Dark Blade, he rode up to me, dismounted and gave me a big hug immediately. Then, he let out a hearty laugh and said, "You came back alive, brother!" I laughed just as loudly. "But I won¡¯t rest easy until I see you complete your eighth promotion, brother!" Chaos Moon teased us, "Alright, enough hugging already! Did you both forget that you¡¯re guys or something?" High Fighting Spirits laughed at her. "You won¡¯t understand this type of love, Chaos Moon!" I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you won¡¯t understand!" That caused her to cross her arms beneath her wholesome breasts and glare at me. "Sure, it¡¯s just like how I can¡¯t understand how it feels to have a raging boner all night, right?" He Yi looked completely confused. "Er, what does that mean?" Beside me, beet-red Lin Yixin bowed her head and carved two words on the grass with the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword: Fuck you... Everyone laughed knowingly and skipped over the subject. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng said, "I was grinding experience inside the A6 instance when Lil Beiming told us that you were being chased by the enemy. So, guild leader Eve rallied the Dragonlight Cavalry in a hurry, climbed over Sky Ridge and came to your rescue as soon as possible. I¡¯m glad to say that we hadn¡¯t arrived to a sea of corpses!" I shrugged. "To be honest, there is a sea of corpses, but they are spread thin over the last few kilometers. We began our great escape from Iron Skull Wilderness with a troop of over 300k players, and over 90% had been killed by the time we reached White Rose Fortress¡­ Oh right, let me introduce you all to each other first. These three are Hickey, Warscar and Bloodthirsty Demon. They are the friends and leaders I¡¯ve made at Iron Skull Wilderness. Guys and girls, these are the Chinese brothers and sisters I often talked to you about¡­" After I made the first round of introductions, High Fighting Spirits grabbed Warscar¡¯s hand and shook it strongly. "Oh, so you¡¯re Warscar! Do you know that you¡¯re famous in the China server? They say that you cut down 20000 Beast King Cavalrymen all by yourself! We all call you the King of Destruction¡­" Warscar looked like someone had punched him in the gut. "By the hammer, I wish I knew I was that powerful..." Li Chengfeng: "..." After the greetings were over, Li Chengfeng asked, "What happened at White Rose Fortress just now? Why didn¡¯t you hide inside the city?" Lin Yixin replied, "You think we didn¡¯t want to? Dragons Run Wild is currently manning the fortress, and Amber Pupil came up with a billion excuses to prevent our entry. We didn¡¯t have the time to entertain his bullshit, so¡­" "What the fuck!?" High Fighting Spirits¡¯ anger meter immediately went from zero to a hundred. "That son of a bitch must be itching to die today! Let¡¯s turn him into sushi before heading back to China!" He Yi hurriedly stopped him. "Calm down. It¡¯s a sensitive period right now, and Dragons Run Wild, at least on paper, is an alliance made to protect the China server from being invaded. It will be all too easy for our enemies to criticize us if we attack them at this time, not to mention that Tang Long is the mastermind behind this alliance. You wouldn¡¯t want to give a master like him the chance to slander us." Lin Yixin pouted. "You don¡¯t need to be too careful all the time, Sister Eve. It¡¯s an incredibly tiring way to live¡­" Li Chengfeng corrected her, "On the contrary, if the guild leader wasn¡¯t as careful as she is, our Dark Moon City would¡¯ve been invaded a long time ago. You know how many enemies we have¡­" I nodded. "Yeah, Chengfeng is right." ¡­¡­ He Yi looked at the emblem on my shoulder¡ªor more accurately, the lack thereof¡ªand said, "I don¡¯t know when you¡¯ll be able to regain your in-game nationality, but I¡¯ll do my best to accelerate the process." I smiled. "Thanks, but there¡¯s no need to rush things. I¡¯ve actually gotten used to becoming an unaffiliated player." Li Chengfeng asked, "What is your plan bringing a couple hundred thousand unaffiliated players into Purple Grape City, Lu Chen? Are you planning to move into the China server and develop your guild there, or stay inside?" I clenched my fists and said, "Of course I¡¯m not returning to the China server. For one, Dragons Run Wild will never allow that to happen. Two, that may be exactly what Tang Long is hoping to happen. I¡¯d open the floodgates to an endless sea of slander if I did that!" "What is your plan then?" "Right now, we¡¯re heading to the ruined Ice River Canton to find a neutral NPC supply camp there. My players have fought long and hard today, and they desperately need some rest both in virtual and in real life." ¡­¡­ He Yi¡¯s eyes lit up. "That¡¯s a happy coincidence! Just yesterday, Princess Karinshan dispatched scout parties to the borders of Sky City. I received a quest to hunt down the undead mages who had slipped into the empire, and my destination just happens to be the ruins of Ice River Canton, or more specifically, the small NPC camp there. With your level of amity with Princess Karinshan, you should be able to persuade her to give you and maybe even your unaffiliated players a quest too." "Wonderful!" I nodded happily. "In that case, let¡¯s not dilly-dally any longer!" "Yeah. We¡¯ll escort you there." "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ We waited for a moment so that our dead could revive and rejoin us. After our numbers returned to one hundred thousand or so, we entered Lost Forest and traveled toward the Ice River Canton. However, we ran into a troop of elite cavalry not long after we began our journey. They were the 30000 Zephyr Cavalrymen I had given to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls a while ago, and their commander was none other than Xu Yang himself. The guy currently wielded a broadsword, and he slapped my shoulder repeatedly while laughing heartily. "You sure took your time to come home, man! Also, I heard that you made a new Dutch girlfriend! Is that true?!" He just couldn¡¯t help himself, could he!? The idiot... I responded with a bloodless face, "Cut the bullcrap and open up a way with the Zephyr Cavalrymen already¡­" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ About an hour later, we arrived at the northern border of Purple Grape City. Any farther than this, and we would enter Soaring Flame Desert, the map between Purple Grape City and Cyan Earth City. Even at a distance, I could see the wooden fences of the temporary NPC camp. "There really is a temporary supply camp! Thank god!" Warscar rubbed his hands together excitedly. Hickey was less optimistic though. "We don¡¯t know if they¡¯ll accept us yet¡­" ¡­¡­ I walked up to apply my magical connections, and to my surprise, I was met with a beautiful and familiar face. "Ah, my dear warrior! You actually came to see me!" Mona the archer? Man, what a coincidence this was... Chapter 1139: Resolving Tension Between Brothers "Mona¡­" I did some quick thinking while standing at the entrance of the camp. "I was just bringing my friends over to Sky City. I wasn¡¯t expecting to see you here. You were going to report your success to Princess Karinshan, right? How did you come to be in the Purple Grape City domain?" Mona replied with a giggle, "Let me explain. After I filed a report, Princess Karinshan put me in General Stark¡¯s army, and General Stark gave me command over the Black Cavalry¡¯s 5000-strong scout battalion. So, I brought them to this desert. Princess Karinshan had ordered me to rebuild this place and set up a small fortress just in case we need to defend against certain crises." "Certain crises?" I immediately thought of Sophie¡¯s army. Sophie was ultimately an undead, so even if they were on the same side, Karinshan could never put her full trust in her. That was why Karinshan had dispatched 5000 troops to build a temporary camp to use as a forward base. ¡­¡­ The camp behind Mona was¡­ pretty shabby, to be honest. I saw a lot of swordsmen polishing their swords without anything to sit on. Instead of stables, the riders had to tend to their horses between the trees. In fact, the only notable structures in the camp were a couple of bonfires and tents that could be made from sticks and leaves. They couldn¡¯t even protect them from the rain, and even with no rain in this desert, the tree leaves would rot and have to be replaced over time. "Forgive me for saying this, but it looks like your camp is a long way from completion¡­" I said with a smile. Mona turned a little red before sighing. "I know, but this is all I can do right now. All seven of our armies are currently battling against the undead of Bloody Shield Domain at Vanished God City. You already know this, but Bloody Shield Domain is currently commanded by a cunning Purgatory Sovereign, Coldblade right now, so most of our supplies are dedicated to that battlefield. Princess Karinshan herself told me that we would have to be self-sufficient because the empire no longer had the resources to devote elsewhere." I shook my head. "I see. So, how many people did you bring with you? Actually, scratch that. Do you have blacksmiths, potion sellers and item sellers in your midst?" Mona pointed a finger behind her and said matter-of-factly, "Of course! We are an army, you know. How can we fight without a complete assortment of merchants? I only wish that we didn¡¯t need to pay these lazy bastards a ton of gold to follow us, and even then, the contract is only half a year long." That was good news. I said, "So, Mona, as you can see behind me, the friends I brought with me are unaffiliated players. However, I promise you that they are all reliable fellows. Can you do me a favor and allow them to resupply at your camp?" "Ah?!" Mona opened her mouth with a slightly troubled look on her face, "I¡¯m a soldier of Sky City. You know I can¡¯t associate myself with wandering soldiers too much, unless¡­" "Unless?" "Unless they will be of use to me!" "And how exactly do you want them to help you?" "For starters, they can help complete my camp¡­" "No problem!" I agreed immediately, "Just tell us what to do, it will be done." "Okay." Mona nodded and pointed at a swordsman uncle behind her, "This guy here is our materiel officer. Speak to him, and he¡¯ll give you and your wandering soldiers various tasks that will help us rebuild these ruins. Every time you complete a task, you will receive a certain number of glory points exclusive to our Black Cavalry Scout Battalion. Once you¡¯ve obtained 100 glory points, you will become a guest of the Black Cavalry Legion and obtain the right to resupply here and even our protection." Mona¡¯s request could be boiled down to one thing: work for her, and she would grant us the right to enter her temporary camp. Grind enough amity, and she and the 5000 high-level fiend-rank NPCs would even offer us their protection. The players of Purple Grape City wouldn¡¯t dare to attack us then. ¡­¡­ So I turned around, faced Godkiller players and pointed at the materiel officer with my thumb. "You heard her. Accept rebuild quests¡ªpreferably in hundred-man parties to speed things up¡ªand grind glory points. Once you have 100 glory points, you¡¯ll be able to resupply here." Warscar broke into a wide grin. "Got it!" Even Hickey was smiling. "I didn¡¯t think things would go this smoothly!" I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Make it snappy though. We could all use some rest soon." "Yeah!" He Yi walked up to me and asked me smilingly, "Are you going to stay in Ice River Canton for the time being, Lu Chen?" "Duh. Where else can I go?" I shrugged. "I¡¯m the child who¡¯s been abandoned by his own people. Making a living for myself in these ruins is all I can do now¡­" He Yi pursed her lips. "Screw you! We haven¡¯t abandoned you¡­" I laughed. "Anyway, thanks for everything you¡¯ve done, but you shouldn¡¯t let me keep you or the gang any longer, Eve. Don¡¯t worry, now that Godkiller is back to a couple hundred thousand, God¡¯s Domain and Era of Strife can¡¯t just face-rush us anymore. We¡¯ll be fine." However, He Yi insisted, "I don¡¯t want to. I want to stay here with you¡­" Beiming Xue pulled my arm and said, "C¡¯mon, big brother. Sister Eve hasn¡¯t seen you for a very long time. Let her keep you company just a bit longer¡­" "Ah¡­ yeah. Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment the ground trembled unnaturally again. A group of heavy cavalry was charging toward us, and the leader of the group was a grim-faced man wielding a bloody spear. Chiang! Hickey quickly unsheathed her weapon and uttered through gritted teeth. "My god, is this place the devil¡¯s den or something? There are powerful enemies all over the goddamn place. Ugh, those riders look really powerful. We¡¯ll have to stop them with all we got¡­" "It¡¯s fine!" However, I pressed down her sword arm and said, "They¡¯re one of us." "Ah? One of us?" Hickey asked in confusion. The incoming cavalrymen had the emblem of Bloody Mercenaries on their shoulders. That¡¯s right, the newcomers were none other than Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and everyone else in Bloody Mercenaries. It was practically impossible to not recognize Gui Guzi the Knight God and Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust the Knight Generals. Pa! Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi jumped off their horses and ran toward me immediately after they came close. Both men caught me in a bear hug as Du Thirteen laughed on top of his lungs. "You finally came home, brother!" Gui Guzi was laughing just as loudly. "We are all worried about you, Boss Broken Halberd. We wondered if you were getting rekt in the outer lands everyday¡­" "You¡¯re the one who¡¯s getting rekt¡­" I rolled my eyes at him good-naturedly, but I quickly turned serious and pushed Gui Guzi away from me. "Speaking of which, I have a score to settle with you, Little Gui. What the hell were you thinking taking Bloody Mercenaries away from Ancient Sword and even making Eve cry, huh? Did someone hit you in the head or something?" The joy on Gui Guzi¡¯s face was immediately replaced by intense awkwardness. He took a step backward, straightened his spear and bowed his head deeply. "I was wrong, Boss Broken Halberd. If you want to hit me for it, then do it. I, Wang Xu, swear that I won¡¯t hit back!" I obliged him and punched him right on his shield. He stumbled a few steps backward before looking up at me in shock, "Boss Broken Halberd, you¡­" I gritted my teeth. "Have you forgotten the oath of Bloody Mercenaries? We exist to protect Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and to fulfill the dreams we failed to fulfill during Spirit of Grief. Not only that, Eve is my dearest person, and you put her on the spot like that in front of everyone? Do you really still consider me your brother?" Gui Guzi clenched his fists tightly. "Boss, I¡­" Suddenly, Beiming Xue stepped in front of Gui Guzi and spread her arms protectively. "This really isn¡¯t big brother Gui Guzi¡¯s fault, big brother¡­" "And why¡¯s that?" "Because¡­" Beiming Xue bit her lips. Finally, He Yi stepped out and said quietly, "Because I¡¯m the one who told him to do what he did, dummy¡­" Me: "..." He Yi continued her explanation. "If I hadn¡¯t made Gui Guzi and the Bloody Mercenaries ¡®betray¡¯ Ancient Sword, they couldn¡¯t have flattened Sword Lord of Jianghu¡¯s territory or gone up against Tang Long until now. It was a bold move, but to be honest, Bloody Mercenaries have been the ones to suffer the most..." Gui Guzi put on an appropriately suffering expression. "I know right? But nooo, Lu Chen obviously thinks that he¡¯s the only one who¡¯s suffered¡­" "Fuck you!" I stared at him. "You think I didn¡¯t know that Eve gave you the permission to leave? Sure, Thirteen and Mamate are bone-headed enough to follow you, but there is zero chance Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust would¡¯ve done the same without Eve¡¯s permission. I¡¯m angry not because you ¡®betrayed¡¯ Ancient Sword, but because your goddamn acting in that situation was too fucking convincing! You actually made Eve cry at Dark Moon City, you fucker!" Gui Guzi chuckled awkwardly. "Well, I guess that¡¯s true¡­ I honestly wasn¡¯t expecting that to happen, but at that moment, I guess I wasn¡¯t acting at all. I just couldn¡¯t stand the fact that you had to bear all the burden by yourself!" "Alright, let¡¯s put it behind us." I glanced at him. "By the way, I remember that you registered your name as Gongsun Gu when we registered for our first tournament. So why did you call yourself Wang Xu just now?" "Ah, that was a fake identity I had falsified together with my diploma. It cost 500 RMB even after a 50% discount¡­" "Holy shit¡­" We laughed. The truth had finally been unveiled, and Bloody Mercenaries didn¡¯t need to act like shifty fuckers around their own main guild anymore. They were and always will be Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ protectors. ¡­¡­ A while later, Xu Yang slapped Gui Guzi on the shoulder before saying, "By the way, Lu Chen¡¯s brothers and sisters from Iron Skull Wilderness have decided to settle themselves at Ice River Canton for the moment, but there are thousands of high-level mobs here, and the Japanese guilds such as God¡¯s Domain, Era of Strife and Asuka Period are just waiting for an opening to screw them over. We¡¯ll need someone to protect them in the meantime." Gui Guzi immediately slapped his own chest and declared confidently, "No problem, Bloody Mercenaries will handle this. The ten thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen at Sky Ridge will lend their aid at any moment. But I¡¯m going to need to give me your 30k Zephyr Cavalrymen. 10k elite cavalrymen are not enough you see¡­" "Fine¡­" Chapter 1140: Mad Leopard And so, Xu Yang led the main guild back to Sky City for grinding and instances while Gui Guzi grinded in Lost Forest with 10000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 30000 Zephyr Cavalrymen. Both types of cavalry were all-rounders, and War God Recovery was enough to deal with the monsters most of the time. They only needed to resupply once every 24 hours, meaning that they could spend most of their time in Ice River Canton. He Yi, Beiming Xue and Lin Yixin kept me company instead of leaving with the main guild. A while later, Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin showed up as well. Lian Xin had walked out of a forest together with Beiming Xue. When she saw me, she grew so excited that she even tossed her scepter to the side, jogging up to me and jumping into my lap. A smiling Murong Mingyue crossed her arms in front of her chest and greeted me, "You look a lot tougher compared to the last time we met, boy¡­" I simply opened my arms and said, "Give me a hug, sis¡­" Murong Mingyue calmly put away her scepter and wrapped her arms around my neck. She asked smilingly, "Has any of the girls given you a public kiss yet?" "Nah¡­" I shook my head. "That¡¯s a shame. Well, I¡¯ll do it¡­" Before anyone could react, she pecked me on the cheeks and smiled like the Chesire Cat. Both Lin Yixin and He Yi rolled her eyes before Lin Yixin said, "She¡¯s just kissing his cheeks. It¡¯s nothing, right Sister Eve?" "Mn." He Yi acknowledged. Murong Mingyue smiled wider at their comment before standing on her toes again and kissing me on the lips. She turned toward the two girls and asked, "How is this?" "Fuck!" Lin Yixin raised her fists menacingly. He Yi hurriedly held her down. "Calm down, this is just the way Mingyue is. You¡¯ll eventually understand that there¡¯s no point getting angry over it¡­" Lin Yixin pouted. "You sure are calm¡­" "How can I not be? Just look at the type of environment I live in. This is nothing at all¡­" Lin Yixin: "..." ¡­¡­ In the end, Lin Yixin, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue formed a party and left to clear the S2 instance. They wouldn¡¯t clear the S3 instance without me because I was the only one strong enough to be the MT in there. According to the rumors, the very first boss of the S3 instance, the Martial God Hall, was ridiculously powerful, so much so that Warsky, Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and more couldn¡¯t defeat it even after three tries. Naturally, they weren¡¯t able to lay their grubby hands on the S3 equipment set, the Martial God set. The Martial God set was a Level 200 Immortal-grade equipment set, something everyone and their mothers dreamed of getting. Of course, obtaining it wasn¡¯t easy at all. Even a player at Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s level had been two-shot by the very first boss of the instance. While the girls were clearing the S2 instance, I went to the materiel officer to receive my quest. I needed to grind 100 glory points before I could resupply here. After I initiated a dialogue with him, the materiel officer immediately raised his giant axe and said, "Hello, warrior from distant lands! Welcome to our humble camp! Here at Black Cavalry Scout Battalion, we promise to make you suffer more than you have ever suffered before! What? You wish to serve the camp? Very well. We are building the walls right now, but we lack the necessary stones to make it work. More specifically, it needs to be tough enough to withstand an attack. You can find these stones at the foot of the mountain range, but the place is crawling with brutal wild bears. Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you, but let your guard down, and their tongues will lick the shit out of you!" Ding! I accepted the A Rank quest. The task was to gather 10 chunks of top-quality Stone (quality higher than 85) and turn it in to the materiel officer. If I succeeded, I would obtain 5 glory points. Easy peasy. ¡­¡­ I climbed onto my dragon and set off right away. I descended at the foot of a mountain range where a bunch of shiny rocks were embedded in the walls. Their shiny appearance meant that they could be extracted for materials. Of course, just as the materiel officer had mentioned earlier, the area was crawling with Bloodthirsty Black Bears¡ªLevel 235 fiend-rank monsters¡ªbrutal things if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that its Level was fairly low. At this level, even a hundred-man party made up of casual players could grind it with some difficulty. If this was a Level 250 fiend-rank mob from Iron Skull Wilderness, the average fighter would¡¯ve been one-shot easily. It was why the players of Iron Skull Wilderness always fell behind in terms of levels. The mobs there were either stupidly powerful or stupidly weak. Swhoosh! I summoned the apparition and made it fight the mobs with the Phantom Wolf King. I myself jumped off the Ancient Divine Dragon and started digging. I walked up to the closest rock and stabbed my sword into the edges. I exerted a bit of strength and, pop! The whole rock jetted out of its original spot. I put it into my bag, but... Dark Stone: Quality 57, average quality. ¡­¡­ Dammit, this wasn¡¯t good enough to meet the quest requirement. Next! I moved on to the next rock, and this time it was a hit. Red Stone: Quality 94, top quality. ¡­¡­ I smiled. Perfect. Suddenly, I recalled something. I forgot to give the snake pet egg to He Yi! Oh well, I could give it to her later after she finished the S2 instance... It wasn¡¯t long before I was done digging, and I had 10 top-quality Stones in my bag. It was time to turn in my quest! I flew back, gave the items to the materiel officer, and was rewarded with a ton of experience. Awesome! The next quest I received was a bit more challenging¡ª Construction Quest (SS Rank): Constructing the base requires a lot of animal fur. It is said that a high-level monster called ¡®Mad Leopard¡¯ lives to the north of Lost Forest. It is a speedy and destructive beast, but its fur is also the best material to craft the best imaginable leather armor. Collect 100 Mad Leopard Fur to greatly increase the attack power of Black Cavalry Scout Battalion¡¯s archers and the camp¡¯s defense. Awards 55 glory points upon completion! ¡­¡­ I was stunned by the generous reward. Not only did it give 55 glory points in one go, the quest itself was highlighted in gold. What kind of god-tier quest was this, and just how powerful was this Mad Leopard that it elevated what should¡¯ve been a simple quest to the SS Rank? On second thought, I supposed that the quest not being shareable added to the difficulty as well. I took off to the north with great excitement. I wanted to know just how OP this Mad Leopard was that it could elevate a quest to the SS Rank. Not even the Scorpion King Cave had featured this level of difficulty! Five minutes later, I descended at the northern perimeter of the map. Any further than this, and I would be faced with the impassable Dragonbone Mountain Range. It was obvious that almost no one had visited this place before because the monster levels were simply too high. Even a random skeletal warrior in the forest was Level 260. Who but a handful could deal with them? I brought up the map screen after landing on the ground. Yep, this was where the Mad Leopards should appear alright. It was where the quest marker was; a blood-red region. I walked forward with the apparition and the Phantom Wolf King by my side. I had barely taken a few steps when the bush in front of me suddenly rustled, and a shadow darted into view. It was none other than the Mad Leopard I was looking for. The creature was covered in black dots. It had a pair of merciless brown pupils, and flames were rising from its body. Its head was oddly-shaped, there were bits of flesh stuck between its sharp teeth, and a translucent thread of saliva was dripping down its mouth. Just how much did the monster underestimate me? It absolutely thought that I was easy prey. Dark Pupils revealed the Mad Leopard¡¯s stats. It was as powerful as the quest had suggested, but the greatest advantage it had over most players was its incredible level. At Level 260, the level penalty that would be imposed on the average player was almost obscene¡ª Mad Leopard (Fiend) Level: 260 Attack: 21000~28500 Defense: 24000 HP: 2200000 Skills: Bite, Acute Perception, Wild Berserk Introduction: The Mad Leopards are ancient animals that reside at the center of the continent. These monsters have existed since the ancient times, and they possess powerful senses and offensive power. They can sense any creature¡¯s fear and panic, and their teeth and claws are imbued with divine power. It is why they are known as the blessed creature of the gods. While they normally do not reveal themselves, they always prove to be a human¡¯s worst nightmare when they do. Not even an elite imperial knight may be a match for a Mad Leopard. ¡­¡­ I raised my hand and used the God Binding Art. High-level fiend-rank mobs like these were actually very easy to kill especially when they were alone. All I needed to do was to bind them with the God Binding Art and gangbang them with my pet and my apparition. Twelve seconds, or two rotations of skills were generally enough to kill any monster. Swhoosh! However, the Mad Leopard defied my expectations and dodged out of the way with incredible speed. I couldn¡¯t believe my eyes. I knew myself, and I knew that there was no chance I had misfired my skill! I found my answer when I checked the combat log. Acute Perception was a skill that protected the Mad Leopard from all crowd control skills, critical hits, weakening skills and more. Lore-wise, it was described as their natural ability to sense danger. That was why my God Binding Art had missed even though I had predicted its movement perfectly. Since Acute Perception was a passive skill, to say that it was OP would be an understatement. If a top-tier player could have a skill like this, it would be like having half an invincibility skill all the time. After all, they could never take critical hits, never be immobilized by Trapping Nets, never be stunned by Shock Arrows and more. It would¡¯ve been utterly ridiculous. Chiang! The Mad Leopard leaped into the air and left some scratch marks on my Dragon God Shield, deleting 30k+ HP. It was very impressive since the normal monster couldn¡¯t even break my Defense. I retaliated with Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo. I didn¡¯t know if the Mad Leopard could dodge an offensive skill, but there were two of me and one Phantom Wolf King. Even if Acute Perception was that OP, it couldn¡¯t possibly dodge everything we threw at it. And I was quickly proven to be correct. "Roar roar¡­" The first Mad Leopard died to my sword just like that. It would be embarrassing if I failed to kill a single fiend-rank monster while in possession of an Ancient Divine Armament. The monster also dropped a blood-red card. I gave it a look and noted that it was pretty useful¡ª Mad Leopard Card: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 45%, Defense by 20%, and attack and movement speed by 30%. Duration: 120 minutes. Level Requirement: 200. ¡­¡­ It was a very good card. Obviously not as good as the Fire War God Card, but still very useful for both PvE and PvP. I used the card immediately and activated Death Plunder on the body. As expected, the skill was a success, and Mad Leopard Fur appeared in my bag. Next! Chapter 1141: Emperor Wang Almost two hours of hard work later, I gathered all the Mad Leopard Fur I needed and even found 28 Mad Leopard Cards. I shouldn¡¯t run out of Mad Leopard Cards for quite a while. Pop! The last Mad Leopard I killed even dropped a pair of shiny war boots that added 18% Defense and 11% Attack. It was a fairly good piece of equipment, so I planned to hand it to Hickey later. As the former number one warrioress of the Netherlands, Hickey¡¯s reputation and wisdom were among the best in Godkiller. Not only did she know strategy, she was the guild¡¯s logistics officer as well. Godkiller didn¡¯t have a guild warehouse, so Hickey¡¯s bag was our warehouse. Everything we found, we gave it to her for distribution. ¡­¡­ Beep! I received a message from Hickey exactly when I was thinking of her. "Boss, we need you as soon as possible. Someone is trying to chase us out of the Black Cavalry camp. I¡¯m so angry!" Me: "Will do. Who are these people? Are they from Purple Grape City?" "No, they¡¯re Korean!" "What?!" I was shocked. This place was the intersection point between Purple Grape City and Cyan Earth City, so I had expected to be harassed by the Japanese and Indians. But why did the Koreans purposely come all the way here? I leaped up the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back, grabbed the vines to steady myself and ordered it to fly into the air. At max speed, it only took us less than five minutes to arrive at the Black Cavalry camp. I then jumped down from the sky and landed outside the camp entrance. Just as Hickey reported, a group of red-name Korean players had surrounded my Godkiller players. There were about 1000 of them, and the emblem of Throne of the Wild adorned their shoulders. A chill crept into my heart. Throne of the Wild was the strongest guild of the Korean server, and Candlelight Shadow¡¯s junior sister, Tear Stain, a ridiculously skilled warrioress, was their guild leader. What was her guild doing here? The leader of the Korean party was a mounted warrior with a vice leader emblem on his arm. His ID was "Emperor Wang", and he was a Level 210 cavalryman. What surprised me the most was that his class was listed as Master Swordsman, which meant that he was an eighth-promotion player. I almost couldn¡¯t believe that the Koreans had hit the warrior¡¯s eighth promotion class before us! ¡­¡­ "What¡¯s going on?" I parted the crowd and stepped toward Emperor Wang and the Koreans. I plunged my sword into the ground before asking, "Why have you come all the way to the border of the China server, friends from Burning City?" Emperor Wang narrowed his eyes at me before sneering. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? So you¡¯re the legendary Little Heavenly King of the Center? You look more normal than I expected¡­" Hickey immediately gripped the hilt of her sword. "Shut your smelly trap. Who the hell do you think you are?!" Emperor Wang waved his sword imperiously, "I¡¯m just the vice leader of Throne of the Wild, and I came here today to tell you that rich resources in the north side of Purple Grape City are ours. Our main army will be arriving in three days, so either you leave before then, or we¡¯ll make you!" A trace of pity and a sinister smile flashed across his features. "It¡¯s a pity, but you homeless people will have to stay homeless¡­" Me: "..." Warscar erupted, "Pooh! So what if you¡¯re Throne of the Wild? You¡¯re still a small guild in a small main city! Even your city is just the lackey of the USA server! Who the fuck gave you the right to spit in our faces?" Emperor Wang raised his sword. "Can¡¯t handle the truth? Should we 1v1 then? If anyone here beats me, I¡¯ll take my men and leave right away." Whoosh! My sword glowed brighter as I declared smilingly, "How nice of you. Once I¡¯ve sent you back to Burning City, you¡¯ll learn that wherever I tread, there¡¯s no place for the likes of you!" However, a Level 203 assassin from Godkiller stopped me and said, "You are better than this man, guild leader. I¡¯ll do it!" He was the best assassin in Godkiller. While he was inferior to Moonkiss and Farewell Song, he was pretty skilled and he had his own unique style. "Mn, be careful." "I know!" The assassin crossed his daggers in front of himself and smiled at Emperor Wang. "Here I come!" He slowly vanished into thin air after saying that. An unnatural calmness came over Emperor Wang as he stayed where he was and waved his sword a bit. Then, he ordered in a quiet voice, "All units, spread out!" I was surprised. No matter how quietly his people moved, they would have to make some noise and affect his ability to hear a stealthed assassin making his way toward him. Just how arrogant was this guy? Could he really discern our assassin¡¯s position through sight alone? Pu! There was a red flash, and both Emperor Wang and his mount were stunned where they were. Our assassin immediately attacked his armor with Blade Vortex before following up with a near perfect Poisoned Weapon Kill at the end of the stun duration. After the enemy was stunned again, he gathered his energy, slid to Emperor Wang¡¯s right flank and used Coldblood Flurry. Crack! 122377! Emperor Wang only had 27% HP now. One misstep from him would be all it took for our assassin to delete him from existence. The Throne of the Wild players behind Emperor Wang looked shocked, but the man himself looked completely unperturbed. It was because he knew that an assassin could no longer threaten him after they used both their CC skills. He was confident that 27% HP was all he needed to kill his opponent. He turned around and slashed horizontally! Chiang! The assassin parried the attack but was sent stumbling to the back. Emperor Wang pressed forward and raised his sword. "Die!" Boom! A dark cyan sword aura erupted from his sword, and I estimated that it had an area of effect of 10 yards or so. It pressed down on the assassin like a mountain while Emperor Wang shouted, "Ultimate Strength Break!" 313680! The assassin stood frozen for a moment before collapsing heavily to the ground. What ridiculous damage! The guy had been one-shot without being able to resist at all! Everyone in Godkiller fell into dumb shock, while those in Throne of the Wild erupted into cheers. The Ultimate Strength Break had been short but devastating. ¡­¡­ Hickey stared at the dead assassin¡¯s body while saying to me, "I found it. Emperor Wang is the highest-leveled player in Burning City. More accurately, both him and Tear Stain share the same spot as they are both Level 210 and eighth-promotion." I nodded. "Ultimate Strength Break is the warrior class¡¯s common skill. It''s similar to Barrier Break in that it pierces shields, but its attack calculation is completely different from the basic attack calculation. It deals fixed damage that is equal to 40 times the difference of martial strength between the user and its target. Since Emperor Wang had dealt 313680 damage to our assassin, this means that his martial strength is at least 7842 points higher than our assassin¡¯s. His equipment must be pretty impressive¡­" Hickey replied with a smile, "So what? Martial difference is basically Strength difference. While Ultimate Strength Break is absolutely deadly against low-Strength classes like priests, mages and archers, it is at best a situational skill against another warrior. Let me fight him, boss. I¡¯ll show him." I smiled. "Alright. If even you can¡¯t beat him, then I¡¯ll fight him myself. I¡¯m curious to know how good this so-called highest-leveled player of Korea is anyway¡­" "Mn." Suddenly, a sweet girl¡¯s voice came from behind me, "I heard that Emperor Wang is Tear Stain¡¯s disciple and that all his skills and techniques are learned from her. Since Tear Stain was Candlelight Shadow¡¯s disciple, this means that Emperor Wang is Candlelight Shadow¡¯s grand disciple, heehee¡­" I turned around and saw a smiling Lin Yixin walking toward me. The equipment around her feet and thighs had been changed to the S2 equipment. He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue had also come back. They had obviously finished the S2 instance. "You girls cleared the S2 instance already?" I asked. Lin Yixin nodded. "Yeah. I wasn¡¯t expecting to find some Koreans picking a quarrel at our doorsteps right after we came out though. Who are you sending to fight that guy? I can do it if there¡¯s no one else¡­" I smiled. "It¡¯s fine, Hickey wants to take on the guy herself." "Oh?" Lin Yixin tilted her head at Hickey before smiling. "You must have sparred with her a couple of times after you guys came together, right? Now I¡¯m curious to know if your disciple can best Candlelight Shadow¡¯s grand disciple?" "I have never sparred with Hickey or taught her anything, actually. She¡¯s been a technician-style expert from the beginning, so she didn¡¯t need my guidance at all¡­" "Heehee!" Hickey shot me a smile before walking toward Emperor Wang, "Come, Emperor Wang! I¡¯ll fight you!" The man let out a cold snort. "Come then!" ¡­¡­ The two experts circled around each other for a moment. Hickey¡¯s advantages were her Divine General status and S2 set. Emperor Wang¡¯s advantages were the 6 levels he had over Hickey and his eighth-promotion skills. The Warrior class got two common skills during their eighth promotion, and considering how powerful Ultimate Strength Break was, I bet that the other one would be just as deadly! Thud! Some time later, Hickey abruptly dashed toward Emperor Wang like lightning. She had abandoned her mount to increase her turn rate, which was a critical attribute in a fight like this. Admired by her decisiveness, Emperor Wang shouted ¡°Not bad!¡± before abandoning his own mount and charging toward Hickey. Both combatants moved in an unpredictable manner before crossing each other¡¯s path and firing their skills at the same time! Hickey flicked her sword lightly at Emperor Wang¡¯s arm and executed an exquisite Barrier Break + Triple Slash combo, dealing an incredible amount of damage¡ª 110229! 32882! 32118! 29030! ¡­¡­ However, Emperor Wang¡¯s Defense was so high that only her Barrier Break could delete a significant chunk of HP. "Heh!" Emperor Wang let out a mad laugh as his blade glowed with the same dark cyan light as before. He struck Hickey¡¯s chest with Ultimate Strength Break again! 44080! Unfortunately for him, Ultimate Strength Break failed to break even 6 digits because Hickey¡¯s Strength wasn¡¯t too far behind his. Emperor Wang wasn¡¯t done yet, however. He abruptly turned around, growled, and surrounded himself in a ring of light. It was the second eighth-promotion skill of the Warrior class, Blitzkrieg! Blitzkrieg was a skill that increased the hard limit on a warrior¡¯s skill combo execution from 2 to 3. What this meant was that Emperor Wang could now use three melee skills in a row before he had to wait 6 seconds! For a warrior, three melee skills were almost always enough to deal a fatal amount of damage to another player at the same level. This combo potential was the true power of an eighth-promotion warrior! Emperor Wang shouted triumphantly as he executed Barrier Break + Triple Slash + Heavy Slash combo at nearly the same time. There was no time for Hickey to dodge at all! Bang bang bang... The warrioress was sent rolling unceremoniously across the grass as her HP dropped to the red zone. Thankfully, she was able to retaliate in time with Great Earth Dragon¡¯s Blade that dropped Emperor Wang to the red as well. At this point, neither expert had a skill that could restore or regenerate them to full health immediately. "Kaka, this is fun!" Emperor Wang wiped away the blood trickling down his lips before attempting to charge Hickey again. If nothing else, the guy was a fearless bastard. He didn¡¯t have Great Earth Transformation because he wasn¡¯t a Divine General, but that didn¡¯t stop him from bulldozing into Hickey and actually going even against her. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a woman¡¯s voice came from the forest behind Throne of the Wild. "Enough, Emperor Wang¡­" Chapter 1142: A4 Set Emperor Wang should be neck deep in battle lust right now, but amazingly, that soft voice was able to pierce through that veil, cause a shudder and make him lower his sword. Everyone looked to the direction where the voice had come from. She was a beautiful warrioress wearing the S2 set and wielding an Immortal-grade sword. The text above her head stated¡ª Tear Stain LV-210 (Master Swordsman) Main City: Burning City Guild: Throne of the Wild Position: Leader ¡­¡­ The newcomer was none other than Candlelight Shadow¡¯s junior sister and the number one player of the Korea server, Tear Stain. I would never have thought that she would come to these dead lands. Chaos Moon was right after all. I was the god of war, and wars broke out around me no matter where I traveled to. "Guild leader¡­" Emperor Wang sounded a bit deflated for some reason. Tear Stain stared at his less-than-15% HP and pressed her lips tightly. "Seriously, what do you even want me to say? Criticize you for letting an unaffiliated player from Iron Skull Wilderness push you this far? Also, I told you to look for a new leveling map in Ice River Canton Ruins, not start a battle with an entire group, did I?" Emperor Wang: "..." After that, she slowly walked toward us while smiling, "Long time no see, Lu Chen. You¡¯ve done and experienced many things since the WEL, haven¡¯t you? Everyone in the Northern Alliance was looking forward to you turning the southeast region of the continent upside down¡­" Chiang! I sheathed my sword and replied calmly, "Is that a praise or a criticism, Beauty Tear Stain?" Tear Stain smiled. "Praise, of course. Do you think the average person has the ability to turn three servers and six main cities upside down?" I shrugged. "You heard of my abilities, and you still come to quarrel with me?" "Hehe¡­" Tear Stain giggled so hard that her shoulders were shaking. "I had no idea that there was an NPC army at Ice River Canton Ruins, much less a player group before I came." "And now you know." "Yep. Now I know." Tear Stain turned serious. "But that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m going to give up my plans entirely. Ice River Canton Ruins is an abandoned territory, and no one is developing it right now. So why can Iron Skull Wilderness¡¯ unaffiliated players help, and we, Throne of the Wild, cannot? How about we both make a compromise and develop this place together?" Lin Yixin walked up to my side and planted the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword on the ground as well. She then said, "Compromise? Forget it. For starters, we are the ones who came here first. Two, Ice River Canton Ruins was conquered by us Chinese, so why should we share it with you? Finally, do you really think the NPCs here will accept you Koreans? Seriously, just try it¡­" Behind us, the fiend-rank NPCs on the shabby arrow towers had already drawn their bows and were aiming at Tear Stain¡¯s group. It was obvious that they would be attacked if they entered into range. These were Sky City NPCs, and Sky City and Burning City were currently hostile toward each other. Their merciless reaction was completely within expectations. "You¡­" Tear Stain gritted her teeth, but she couldn¡¯t say anything against the Fruit Knife Goddess. She gave them many good reasons why the Koreans couldn¡¯t and shouldn¡¯t entrench themselves at Ice River Canton Ruins. "Are we really going to head back to Burning City like this?" Emperor Wang shot Tear Stain a reluctant look. "We can just fight it out if you want, guild leader. I¡¯ve heard from the scouts that there are only 5000 NPCs at this place. Sure, they are all really high-level, but we¡¯ve also brought nearly 400k players with us. We should be able to wipe out this NPC camp at the cost of 100k players at most and claim Ice River Canton Ruins by force!" Hesitation flashed across Tear Stain¡¯s eyes. She was clearly trying to decide what to do. It was at this moment a cacophony of thundering hooves appeared from one section of the forest. A moment later, Gui Guzi and his troop of elite Dragonlight Cavalry appeared with a shout, "Is someone trying to pick a quarrel with us? Wonderful! You¡¯ve kept us waiting, you sons of bitches! All units, prepare to cut down all the uglies in front of you!" Ten thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen and the thirty thousand Zephyr Cavalrymen Xu Yang had given to Gui Guzi earlier emerged from the forest. Godkiller itself had 20000 Berserk Zephyr Cavalrymen who were ready to go at a moment¡¯s notice. This was why I wasn¡¯t afraid of Tear Stain¡¯s forces in the slightest. The Dragonlight Cavalry had made themselves famous all the way back in the War of Dawn City, not to mention the War of Purple Grape City. No matter how confident Tear Stain was, she had to give the godlike cavalry a good measure of respect. Moreover, the Divine Generals of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and even Lin Yixin were here. She would be a fool to attack us without weighing all these factors first. I hugged my sword and leaned lazily against the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s head, smiling. I patiently waited for her to come to a decision. Obviously, Tear Stain hadn¡¯t come all the way to Purple Grape City for tourism. In fact, I bet that she had a most heinous objective in her mind. The Japanese players of Purple Grape City were demoralized right now, and it was entirely possible that Tear Stain was plotting to exploit that low morale to build an iron fortress that would keep Sky City in check. Sky City was the great King of Cities that every foreign player was afraid of, and Burning City wasn¡¯t an exception to the rule. Previously, the Chaotic 27 had kept the Northern Alliance out of the War of Purple Grape City, but it would seem that the alliance had gotten strong enough to fish for some advantage elsewhere. ¡­¡­ "What do we do, guild leader?" Emperor Wang asked again in an urgent tone. He was obviously in favor of fighting us, and I could tell that this guy was born with a natural thirst for battle. Personally, I was hoping that Tear Stain would give in and choose the aggressive option myself. Our chance of winning this battle was high, and defeating the number one Korean guild here would be a good warning to the local guilds like God¡¯s Domain and Era of Strife. These days, tactics weren¡¯t the only factor in play in a war. Those who couldn¡¯t keep up appearance would be thought as weak and preyed upon as well. Tear Stain remained like this for at least half a minute before a smile suddenly sprung to her lips. She then said, "Although the Northern Alliance and the China server don¡¯t share a harmonious relationship with one another, it doesn¡¯t mean that we must fight every time we meet. You came here first, so you should have Ice River Canton Ruins just as the Fruit Knife Goddess says. But I have a condition I hope you¡¯ll accept, Lu Chen!" "What is it?" "I have brought 400k players with me, and I can¡¯t just go back empty-handed. So¡­" She smiled wider. "I won¡¯t ask for permission to roam in Purple Grape City, but I do want to grind at Dragonbone Mountain Range for a week or so. Surely you¡¯ll agree to this condition, Lu Chen? Remember that Dragonbone Mountain Range is a neutral territory that belongs to no one." I thought for a couple of seconds and decided she was correct. Plus, it wasn¡¯t a good idea to drive them into a corner too much. Who knows what they would do then? So I nodded and replied, "Very well, I have no reason to stop you from grinding at Dragonbone Mountain Range. I will warn you not to approach the submaps that are close to the China server though. Don¡¯t come crying to me if someone attacks your party there. It won¡¯t be my fault." "I understand¡­" Dragonbone Mountain Range was several thousand kilometers long, and spanned the entire continent. So big it was that even the China server only bordered a third of it. I really had no reason or the ability to stop Tear Stain from grinding at a part of Dragonbone Mountain Range that wasn¡¯t close to the China server. Just in case though, I still sent Gui Guzi a message: "Little Gui, increase the number of troops we have around Sky Ridge, and don¡¯t let even a single fly pass through the area. Tear Stain doesn¡¯t do pointless things, and I¡¯m sure she came to the Purple Grape City domain for a reason." Gui Guzi responded positively, "Don¡¯t worry, Boss Broken Halberd! My offensive strategies may not be up to snuff, but my defensive ones are at least above average!" "Good!" ¡­¡­ And so, Tear Stain and her couple hundred thousand Throne of the Wild players slowly shuffled their way out of Ice River Canton Ruins. As promised, they didn¡¯t attack any of us, not that they had any chance with the Dragonlight Cavalry and Zephyr Cavalry around. "So, what do we do now?" He Yi asked me. I suggested, "I¡¯m almost done with the glory points, so why don¡¯t we go clear the S3 instance now? Hehe, the first-ever S3 Immortal-grade set is waiting for us inside¡­" "Sure! Who do you think should join your party?" Lin Yixin asked smilingly. I checked out my equipment before saying, "I don¡¯t need the S3 equipment since my Fire God Helmet is a Sacred Armament, the Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet is a Cambrian Divine Armament, and the Sunchaser Cloak is a Hadean Immortal-grade item. There¡¯s no way I¡¯m switching them out even for the S7 set. Yiyi, Eve, who between you two wants the S3 set first?" Lin Yixin replied immediately, "I already have an Ancient Immortal-grade item on me, and a Divine Armament. Sister Eve should have the first S3 set!" He Yi nodded. "I have no reason to turn this offer down. Thank you very much, everyone." "Well, we obviously need a healer, so sis is in the group for sure. We also need someone with CC, so come here, Beiming. Well of the Abyss is very good against bosses too¡­" Lian Xin immediately pouted. "Hmph, my Origin Force Field is also pretty good, okay? You¡¯re just biased toward Beiming, hmph hmph¡­" I rolled my eyes. "I¡¯ll bring you with me next time, okay? You know that these instances are made for 5-man parties. If you¡¯re bored, take three Dragonlight Cavalrymen and a priest with you and grind the A4 instance. The War Song set is an Earth-grade set that increases physical Attack and Defense, and it¡¯s very suited for Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalrymen." After that, I beckoned Gui Guzi to my side. "Come here, Little Gui!" "Yeah?" Gui Guzi walked over. I shot him a smile and said, "I¡¯ve researched all the instances from A1 to S2 in detail, and I¡¯ve come to the conclusion that everything after A4 is too difficult for the average player to beat, but the equipment set between A1 to A3 is too lousy to use for long. The A4 instance is the only instance that¡¯s moderately easy while still providing a powerful equipment set. Starting now, I want you to mobilize our main force and have them carry our Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalrymen through the A4 instance in pairs or threes. I want at least 40% of our elite cavalrymen to be wearing a full A4 set in a week¡¯s time!" However, Gui Guzi complained, "Boss, that¡¯s almost impossible. Not everyone has your Luck, you know¡­" "Well, okay. But they have to have between 1 to 3 A4 set pieces at least." "That, I can guarantee!" Gui Guzi nodded before leaving to carry out his orders. ¡­¡­ If every Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalryman could have the Level 180 Earth-grade War Song set, our battle prowess would increase by more than just leaps and bounds. We could practically conquer any city as long as we set our minds to it! After I turned in the quest, I looked at the girls and suddenly recalled something, "Holy shit, now that I thought about it, we haven¡¯t logged out for¡­ 12 hours, have we?" Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me. "You just realized? Let¡¯s grind the S3 instance tomorrow morning. Oh, we should send Chaos Moon a message and tell her to log out as well." "Yeah. Eve, Beiming, sis, are you all okay with grinding the S3 instance tomorrow morning?" "Yes. 9 am?" "Sounds good!" After setting an alarm, I logged out. Chapter 1143: Rich Bet The next day, around 7 in the morning, I was woken up by a bunch of knocking. When I opened the door, I saw Lin Yixin standing outside in a white sports attire and Chaos Moon in a blue sports attire. Stunned, I asked, "What are you two doing?" Lin Yixin stared at me while answering, "Brush your teeth and wash your face. We¡¯re going to jog around the city for a bit. Do you even remember the last time you exercised, huh?" I shivered from head to toe. "Jog around the entire Bagua City? Please don¡¯t scare me¡­" "It¡¯s just a figure of speech, but there will be some exercising. We can¡¯t be too lazy¡­" "Fine!" And so I and the girls went out of the hotel and stood on the streets for a moment. It was really cold today, but luckily both Chaos Moon and Lin Yixin were very cold-resistant. Speaking of cold resistance, I spotted a beautiful stranger wearing a black mini skirt just 200 meters away from us. There was spring snow last night, so the current temperature was around 10 degrees Celsius at most. Just how tough were the women of Bagua City? I swung my fists for a bit and felt like I was overflowing with stamina. I couldn¡¯t help but smile at this. "I didn¡¯t think I would be this strong when I play every day, hehe¡­" It was probably because of the virus. In fact, it was the only explanation. It made no sense I remained fit despite remaining indoors all day otherwise. Cheeks reddened because of the cold, Lin Yixin shook her head at my comment before saying, "Come on. We¡¯re going to run at least 2 km before we come back¡­" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ 20 minutes later, at a street corner. "Ahhhhh¡­ I can¡¯t do it any longer!" Chaos Moon was leaning against a wall, lolling her tongue and covered in sweat as she said, "I¡¯m so tired¡­ I can¡¯t run any longer!" Lin Yixin was also leaning against a lamppost and lolling her tongue a little. "Ah, it feels nice to sweat like this. Once we get back and take a bath, we can grind the S3 instance right away!" "Oh, are you guys challenging S3 already? Who are your party members?" "Me, Lu Chen, Sister Eve, Beiming and Sister Mingyue!" Chaos Moon smiled. "Wow, that¡¯s five gods in one party! Yeah, there¡¯s a good chance you guys will succeed, not to mention Lu Chen is outright broken, even against super bosses." "Yeah. Shall we go back now?" "Sure!" ¡­¡­ I logged into the game after I returned to the hotel and did my business. Swhoosh! I appeared at Ice River Canton Ruins. Not far away, the NPC Mona was commanding the NPCs to build the walls with the stones I and the Godkiller had collected for them. Since all the stones we had brought were top-notch, I bet the camp would be much harder to breach after they were complete. Besides that, tall buildings that would serve were watchtowers or archer towers had been built inside the camp. Ice River Canton was in a weird spot where it bordered the China server, Japan server, India server and Korea server all at once, meaning that it could be attacked at any moment. It was probably why Princess Karinshan had stationed some of her troops here. It even looked like she was planning to develop this temporary camp into a much more permanent fortress. If that was true, it was wonderful news for all the unaffiliated players of Iron Skull Wilderness. The girls hadn¡¯t appeared yet, so I accepted and completed a quest that would put me exactly at 100 glory points. Finally, I could speak with the expert scammers that were the blacksmith, the item merchant and so on, repair my equipment and restock on supplies. Lin Yixin wasn¡¯t unaffiliated, so she could just return to Sky City to repair her equipment and resupply. During this time, He Yi, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue all logged into the game. We gathered at the edge of the camp. The S3 instance lay to the north of Ice River Canton and Purple Grape City. After Purple Grape City had fallen, the Japanese players¡¯ growth had been suppressed to a point where no one even thought to challenge the S3 instance at all. Therefore, we could almost monopolize the entire instance to ourselves. I didn¡¯t summon the Ancient Divine Dragon as we traveled to the S3 instance. I simply enjoyed the walk with Lin Yixin to my right and He Yi to my left. "Damn, I almost forgot something again¡­" I suddenly spoke up in realization. Lin Yixin blinked. "What is it?" "It¡¯s a pet egg that I was planning to give Eve¡­" I explained. "Your ice dragon is super good, so you don¡¯t need to change your pet yet. On the other hand, Eve¡¯s pet is really weak at this stage of the game, so I was going to give her a pet egg I found at Frost Stained Canyon." Lin Yixin giggled and placed an arm across He Yi¡¯s shoulder. "You don¡¯t need to explain yourself to me, especially explain a gift for Sister He Yi!" Me: "..." "What is it?" He Yi tilted her head at me smilingly. It took a while, but I was finally able to locate the pet egg in my bag and passed it to He Yi. "Here. This is a boss pet with two forms. Its original form is a venomous snake king, and its second form is a human form with super high Attack and melee skills. It can even use skills like Barrier Break and Earth Shattering Slash!" "Ohh, that¡¯s amazing¡­" He Yi cheerfully accepted the pet egg. Light erupted from the egg after she dripped her blood and formed a contract with it. A moment later, a cute, cyan-colored snake about the length of a finger appeared in her palm. It looked incredibly cute, and it stared at He Yi with cute, round eyes while wagging its tail. "Wow, it¡¯s so cute!" Lin Yixin chirped. Murong Mingyue nodded. "Yes, it looks pretty good. I wonder how it¡¯ll look when it becomes an adult though. I bet it¡¯ll be long and thick¡­" "Long and thick¡­" I barely stopped the corner of my mouth from twitching. "Beiming, don¡¯t ask me what she meant." Beiming Xue blushed. "I already know the answer, so I won¡¯t!" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before we arrived at the entrance to the S3 instance on foot. As expected, there wasn¡¯t a single person around the area at all. After we confirmed our party members and registered our party, we got ready to enter the instance. Suddenly, a player emerged from the distant forest at high speed. He was a mounted warrior clad in fiery red armor, and a 5-star red flag floated above his head. He was a guy I hadn¡¯t met in a long time, Song of Ice and Fire! "Hello!" The warrior smiled good-naturedly at us. "I wasn¡¯t expecting to see you all here. What¡¯s wrong? Have Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya decided to focus on Purple Grape City?" I replied smilingly, "What do you mean? We were already guarding this place from the beginning. You though, why are you here? Are God Bone and Ringwraith coming as well?" Song of Ice and Fire laughed. "You are correct. God Bone is escorting Ringwraith and our priest over right now." "Why did you come all the way here instead of just entering the S3 instance at Sky City?" He Yi asked. Song of Ice and Fire shrugged helplessly. "We fought the first boss seven times in total, but weren''t able to beat it even once. Worse, we were always just a hair away from succeeding. So, we decided to change entrance for luck. You can call it tinfoil, but who knows, maybe we¡¯ll succeed this time..." Lin Yixin¡¯s lips curled into a smile as she replied honestly, "That is unlikely." It was at this moment Warsky, Song of Cloud and Water, God Bone, Farewell Song, Laughing At The Heavens, October Rain and more showed up. I counted about a hundred or so people, and they were all Warsky Alliance or Soul Battle Robes players. It looked like the rumors that Soul Battle Robes were just a step away from becoming Warsky Alliance¡¯s subguild were true after all. If it wasn¡¯t for Song of Ice and Fire and God Bone, it would¡¯ve become their subguild a long time ago. ¡­¡­ Laughing At The Heavens was escorting October Rain when he saw us. He couldn¡¯t help but let out a snort and said, "Heh, look. The conqueror of Iron Skull Wilderness, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, has returned! What¡¯s wrong, were the foreign lands too much for you, and you¡¯ve decided that it¡¯s easier to just be the king of civil wars?" I abruptly plunged my sword into the ground and pointed my hand at him, ready to unleash the God Binding Art at a moment¡¯s notice. "Who did you get your mouth from, Laughing At The Heavens? Must I kill you every time we meet?" Warsky hurriedly jumped off his mount and blocked in front of Laughing At The Heavens. "Calm down, it¡¯s just a misunderstanding. What Laughing At The Heavens is really trying to say is that now that you¡¯ve returned, you don¡¯t have to worry about being hunted like a dog everywhere you go!" October Rain facepalmed for a moment. "You might as well have not explained anything..." After that, the archer walked up to me and shot me a polite smile. "Anyway, long time no see, Lu Chen. Are you aware that your foreign exploits are famous throughout the country?" I laughed. "It¡¯s nothing. Me and my beggars are just looking for a place to settle in Purple Grape City!" Warsky asked, "Huh? Does that mean you¡¯re still not returning to enter the China server?" "I¡¯m not returning until the truth about Tang Long is fully unveiled. Plus, Tang Long¡¯s nephew, Amber Pupil, considers me his sworn enemy. I have no intention of going home just so that he can stab me in the back¡­" "That¡¯s fair. By the way, are you guys here for the S3 instance as well?" "Yeah." "Haha¡­" Laughing At The Heavens slapped his chest confidently. "We just gathered a full set of S2 equipment, and we¡¯re planning to challenge the S3 instance. Do you want to go for a bet and see who will overcome the S3 instance first?" I smiled. "A bet? Interesting. What are the stakes?" ¡­¡­ Warsky pondered for a moment before trying, "10k gold?" October snorted, but didn¡¯t say anything. I curled my lips. "That is just boring. We all know that ten thousand gold is nothing to a tall-rich-handsome like you at all. How about we bet our guild resources? That¡¯ll be much more exciting, don¡¯t you agree?" Warscar looked surprised. "Resources? That works too. How much are we talking about?" I smiled wider. "Don¡¯t worry, both of us will be able to afford it. The bet will be 5 million resources of each type, 20 million resources in total. The loser will immediately dispatch the caravans to the other person¡¯s territory. What do you say?" Farewell Song licked his lips. "Really? You call that ¡®affordable¡¯?" He Yi chuckled. "What¡¯s wrong? Are you afraid that you¡¯ll lose?" Warsky was a hot-blooded male who was weak to provocations, so he immediately clenched his fists and declared, "You have your bet, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Just in case you don¡¯t know, our party is a mix between Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes. I, Ice and Fire, God Bone, Ringwraith and a priest will be challenging this instance together. You¡­ well, there¡¯s only five of you, so I¡¯m assuming that this will be your instance party?" "Yeah. In fact, we¡¯ve already registered our party. Finish your registration now so we can enter the instance together!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ And so the bet was on. Warsky thought he could win because he had a super damage dealer like God Bone, and that the full S2 set he was wearing would make him tankier than even me. All I had to say was that he was way overconfident. His evaluation would be fair had my equipment remained exactly the same as it was before the day I entered Iron Skull Wilderness, but now? My Purple Ying Sword had become an Ancient Divine Armament, and I had gained various god-tier pieces of equipment such as the Purple Cloud Ring, the Sunchaser Cloak and the Fire God Helmet. The Fire God Helmet especially increased my survivability by at least 25%, so I was tankier than ever before. He had no idea that the bet was his to lose from the start. Moreover, my greatest advantage was the Fire War God Card, a super OP item that increased user¡¯s Attack by 70%, Defense by 35%, and max HP by 80% for 500 minutes. All I needed to do was to distribute one to every member in my party, and our stats would inflate beyond Warsky¡¯s wildest imaginations. Like I said earlier, how could we possibly lose with all these advantages, unless we lost on purpose? 20 million resources was enough to create 50 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. This was a win-win scenario no matter how you looked at it. I couldn¡¯t stop myself from laughing, so I laughed. October Rain shook her head at my loss of control and said to Warsky, "You see that? I have a feeling that we¡¯re going to lose¡­" Warsky: "Nah, I¡¯m sure that cunning son of a bitch is just pretending to make us doubt ourselves, as usual!" Me: "..." Lin Yixin: "..." Chapter 1144: Old Gatekeeper As we entered the instance, we were treated to a bunch of cutscenes. The War God Academy was also called the Martial God Hall. It was a hall of great history, and it had produced countless experts over thousands and thousands of years of its rich history. Not only had it produced 11 Sword Saints in total since its foundation, the president of the War God Academy himself was a powerful Sky Sword Saint. Unfortunately, the same Sky Sword Saint would also be the last and biggest obstacle standing in our way of completing this instance. ¡­¡­ Thud! I landed on a row of stairs and looked up. The War God Academy directly ahead of me looked both beautiful and majestic under the soft moonlight. While the surrounding ruins were blurry and unclear, the academy itself looked as glorious and distinct as it was thousands of years ago. The undead residing in the academy were unwilling to pass into oblivion without resistance, so they clung onto their unnatural existence and waited for adventurers from the future to challenge them. Ding~! System Notice: You have entered an instance. You have obtained the quest ¡°Guardian Blade¡±! (Main Quest: Only the first party to clear this quest will obtain the reward) Description: War God Academy was a glorious hall of experts until death arrived and sank it into the depths of the purgatory. The world turned to ruins, and its students, teachers and the president died one by one. However, not only did their souls not perish as they should have, their desire to return and conquer eventually won and brought them back as undead. You must kill the president of War God Academy, take the Guardian Blade from him, and hand the weapon to a main city lord who is deserving of it. You will receive a generous reward! ¡­¡­ As Lin Yixin summoned her Moonchaser Tiger and jumped onto its back, she said smilingly, ¡°Ooh, a main quest. Looks like we can kill two birds with one stone if we clear this quest. Not only will we win 20 million resources from that idiot Warsky, we¡¯ll gain the reward of a main quest as well. Let¡¯s do our best, everyone!¡± Beiming Xue nodded smilingly. ¡°Yeah, yeah! The monsters in this instance are not a real threat to us. The three bosses though, we¡¯ll have to deal with them one way or another!¡± I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon, the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition before giving everyone a Fire War God Card each. Then, I said, ¡°500 minutes should be more than enough to clear this instance, so use it now. But please remember that these cards are exclusive rewards, so there¡¯s no way to get more if we use them all up. Don¡¯t waste them!¡± He Yi smiled as she waved her hand and applied the buff to her amazing body. Then, she looked at me and asked, ¡°So, which stratagem are we going to use for this instance? Your Martial God, my Royal Road, or Yiyi¡¯s Bombshell?¡± I thought for a moment before replying, ¡°Let¡¯s use Royal Road to decrease the bosses¡¯ stats. A main quest¡¯s boss must be very powerful, not to mention that this is the S3 instance. If it was that easy to clear, everyone would be wearing a full set of Immortal-grade equipment already, and Eternal Moon Corporation would never allow this to happen even after we entered the latter stages of the game. Yes, I¡¯m certain that the number of players who can beat the S3 instance will be few and far between. As pioneers, we must be mentally prepared to party-wipe at least once or twice¡­¡± Murong Mingyue clenched her fists in determination. ¡°I resolved to die in an instance a long time ago. I¡¯m just worried that we¡¯ll have to die too many times to clear it¡­¡± I smiled. ¡°If you die in an instance, you lose 50% of your current level¡¯s experience. If your experience is less than 50%, you will drop a level. If things get dangerous, feel free to use me as the sacrificial lamb. I am Level 214 and already after my eighth promotion, so I can afford to drop some levels. The rest of you though are only 1 or 2 levels from being able to promote your class, so don¡¯t die unless there¡¯s no way out.¡± ¡°Understood. Now let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± ¡­¡­ I naturally took point as I was the main tank of this party. The Phantom Wolf King was following next to me, and the dragon-riding apparition closely behind. We slowly walked up the stairs of War God Academy. Suddenly, a ball of shadow wriggled from the shadows at the top of the stairs. The next moment, an old man dressed in linen clothes and wielding a blood red spear emerged into existence. He blocked our path and said in a low tone, ¡°Are you here to register as a new student, boy? Unfortunately, the registration period is long past. If you still wish to enter the academy, you will have to wait for a year¡­ or pay me 100k gold now. What do you say?¡± I was stunned. We hadn¡¯t even passed the entrance yet, and this fucker was ripping us off already? This couldn¡¯t stand! There was also the fact that the old man¡¯s stats and ID were in red font. Whatever he was, he clearly wasn¡¯t friendly¡ª Guardian Shire (Immortal Miniboss) Level: 255 Attack: 19500~27500 Defense: 24000 HP: 15800000 Skills: Barrier Break, Undead Slash, Fire Break Introduction: The gatekeeper of War God Academy. Shire may look like a stooped old man, but he is not to be underestimated. He was once one of the strongest generals of the empire, and there were few in the foreign lands who could stop him. After he grew old, he joined the War God Academy and became its gatekeeper. Countless experts had tried to challenge the honor of War God Academy, but none of them was able to pass through Shire. ¡­¡­ ¡°Holy shit, a miniboss already?¡± I backed away swiftly while unsheathing my weapon. ¡°Prepare for battle, girls! It¡¯s a Level 255 miniboss, and this place is a bit too small to fight! Beiming and sis, back up to the edge of the map! I¡¯ll keep him busy in the meantime!¡± "Mn mn!" The two girls retreated immediately. Shire slowly rose to his feet while holding his spear loosely on one hand. After he pulled away the cloak covering his head to reveal a withered face, his lips curled into a malicious and ugly smile as he laughed. "Jie jie! Finally, someone new has come to commit suicide and loosen my bones!" I crossed my weapon in front of myself while retorting, "Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll take you apart so you won¡¯t ever have to loosen your bones again!" "You are courting death, boy!" Shire abruptly jumped into the air and fell straight down on me. Not only that, he was using Barrier Break. He moved so fast that I had no time to parry or dodge at all. The spear passed right through the Dragon God Shield and slammed into my chest, inflicting a massive amount of pain. God damn, this Level 255 miniboss hits like a truck because of its level advantage! 153992! However, my total HP was over a million thanks to the Fire War God Card, so this bit of damage didn¡¯t matter at all. Moreover, one Instant Heal from Murong Mingyue had restored 110k+ HP to my health, making the damage even more negligible than it already was. Who in this academy could kill me as long as Murong Mingyue remained alive? Not one to take a hit without retaliation, I stabbed Shire in the stomach and cried, "Purple Frost Concentration!" There was a ding, and the boss lost 32% of its Defense immediately. Meanwhile, Beiming Xue had rode to the edge of the map and shot Bone Eroding Arrow, multiplicatively lowering the boss''s Defense by another 24%. Now, the boss only had 52% of its original Defense. Burning Blade Slash + War Crush! Shire shook like a leaf as my skills removed huge chunks from his health bar. For a time, the girls could only watch in shock¡ª 149298! 182837! 223366! 173632! 172623! 159200! ¡­¡­ "OMG, Lu Chen¡¯s Attack is even crazier than before. A Level 255 miniboss''s Defense is as fragile as a piece of tofu before him¡­" Murong Mingyue commented in a dumbfounded tone. Lin Yixin executed her Ice Storm + Triple Slash combo but only managed to deal 90k+ damage or so per hit. He Yi¡¯s Attack was even lower, so she only managed to deal 70k+ damage per hit. The attack power difference was like night and day. While slashing and stabbing the boss with impunity, I explained, "The Purple Ying Sword evolved into an Ancient Divine Armament, so it now increases my Attack by 175%, and its upper Attack limit is over 10000 The Sacred Armament I obtained from Iron Skull Wilderness called Fire God Helmet also gives a hidden Attack boost, and finally, the Ancient Divine Dragon also increases my Attack by 175%. It''s perfectly natural that I deal way more damage than you all¡­" Lin Yixin whined cutely, "My equipment is considered top-tier at Sky City, but compared to yours it almost feels as cheap as stall equipment¡­" I smiled. "That¡¯s why I¡¯m grinding with you all right now, am I not? With me around, our chances of beating the S3 instance are at least 50%. For now, let¡¯s try and gather a full S3 set for Eve first and then the S4 set for Yiyi. There¡¯s no rush. We can take this one step at a time¡­" Both girls responded with wide smiles. "Mn mn!" Murong Mingyue commented in a dumbfounded tone again, "Wow, what a harmonious relationship¡­" Beiming Xue replied, "This is good though, isn¡¯t it? Anyway, let¡¯s take out this unbelievably ugly gatekeeper as soon as possible, big bro! He reminds me of our dorm aunt¡­" A certain poor gatekeeper shuddered violently. "..." ¡­¡­ The fighting continued for a bit, and it soon became clear that the gatekeeper was incapable of one-shotting me at all. Even if I allowed him to land his Fire Break + Barrier Break combo and both skills critted, he could only deal 600k+ damage at most. With Murong Mingyue¡¯s superior healing and my own 20% lifesteal constantly healing me with every hit, there was never any hope for the old gatekeeper to beat me. I must admit that this Level 255 miniboss was interesting from a game design perspective though. Figuratively and literally, this gatekeeper would prevent at least 95% of the parties in the entire world from even passing through the gate. If the gatekeeper could deal 300k damage to me with a combo, then the same combo would deal 500k damage or even 800k damage to another mounted player. The reason this fight was so "easy" for us was only because I had Divine Armaments and a ton of Immortal-grade items on me, and I was riding the Ancient Divine Dragon. There was literally no one in the world with my level of Defense right now. Pu! During the last hit, my sword pierced the old gatekeeper¡¯s chest and nailed him to the gate. He screamed for a moment before lolling his head to one side and weeping, "I¡¯ve truly gotten old¡­" The miniboss died and dropped a ton of equipment, but unfortunately, even the best item it dropped was just Heaven-grade. I threw them all into my bag and decided to sell them to the NPCs later. Instance equipment was bound to the player upon looting, so they couldn¡¯t be sold to another player. Otherwise, we would be filthy rich just grinding the S2 instance and selling its equipment to other players already. ¡­¡­ When picking up the magic stones, I didn¡¯t hesitate to throw it all into my bag while saying, "These stones are mine, okay? I¡¯m an unaffiliated player, so I have no other source of income besides this. If I share the stones with y¡¯all I won¡¯t even have enough gold to repair my equipment in just a couple of days." "Are you really that poor?" Lin Yixin shot me a look before bringing up the trade window and selecting 5 million gold on the trading screen. I smiled. "You¡¯re so cute, Yiyi. It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m not that poor yet¡­" My mouth said no, but my heart said "aw yis I¡¯m so happy I have a girlfriend like this¡±. If one day I stopped gaming and became a loser, she would still feed me until the end of my lifetime... Chapter 1145: Melodramatic We moved on. After we looted everything the boss had to offer, we pressed against the shut doors of the War God Academy and forcefully pushed them open. In a sense, it was only now that we were truly entering this instance. Creak... The iron door let out a long, ugly creak as it slowly opened. To our surprise, it was so bright inside the War God Academy that it looked almost like a summer afternoon. As I thought, this place was kept functioning through magic. Although it was clearly nighttime outside the academy, it was eternally afternoon on the inside. ¡­¡­ The burning sun and the heat waves conjured memories of hawkers selling popsicles immediately. So hot! The girls were also staring at the sunny interior of the War God Academy, fanning their faces and complaining, "It¡¯s so hot! It¡¯s like we fell into the mouth of a volcano¡­" I curled my lips. "Eh, it¡¯s not so hot that it¡¯s turning us all into Quanqude roasted ducks, so whatever. Let¡¯s continue¡­" While Lin Yixin was giving her shirt hem a tug, her cape swayed upward and exposed her long, perfect legs under the sunlight. They dazzled like someone had painted a sheen of silver light over them. Her features were already out of the world, but the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword also made her look heroic and formidable as well. It was no wonder that Eternal Moon Corporation had sought her out repeatedly to be their game¡¯s poster girl. It was an honor that no one else got to enjoy. Lin Yixin was beautiful enough to bewitch countless young men with her looks alone, but she was also the Fruit Knife Goddess, an incredible player with unrivaled skill and ability to command. The perfect combination of beauty, brawn and brains was why she became a legend of Heavenblessed. Lin Yixin looked back and forth between my eyes and her legs once before glaring at me. "How much longer are you going to stare at me? And right in front of Sister Eve no less. Do you want to die that much? Hmph!" This was hardly the first time I had been caught staring, so I calmly moved my gaze away like nothing had happened at all. He Yi chuckled. "I wouldn¡¯t be angry over something like this. Yiyi is both pretty and sexy. Lu Chen is a straight male, so it makes perfect sense that he would stare at her from time to time. In fact, I would be worried if one day she failed to attract Lu Chen¡¯s attention at all¡­" "Heavens¡­" Murong Mingyue stuck out her tongue. "Eve¡¯s resolve has reached new heights, I see. By the way, seeing as the two of you are indulging Lu Chen like a baby, does that mean that you¡¯ve finally decided to share a husband?" "What on earth are you talking about!?" Lin Yixin and He Yi glared at Murong Mingyue even as they turned beet red at the same time. It was one thing if no one said anything about it, but to drag something like this out into the open? I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if the girls were contemplating murder right now. So I turned around and glared at all three of them. "Are we here to grind, or to chat the daylight away?" "Grind¡­" As the girls nodded and followed behind me, He Yi suddenly said smilingly, "After you were stripped of your in-game nationality and expelled from the China server, both Yiyi and I agreed that we wouldn¡¯t make you worry about us anymore, at least not until you were finally able to come back to us. Isn¡¯t that right, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin nodded affirmatively. I was touched on the inside, but like all guys I wasn¡¯t able to help myself from acting stupid. "Ohh, that¡¯s wonderful! Have you guys agreed who¡¯s going to be the first wife and who¡¯s going to be the concubine? If possible, let me know before we go through the weddings¡­" Their gazes immediately turned murderous. "I can¡¯t believe you actually asked that! Do you want to die that much?" I immediately put a dozen or so meters between myself and the girls. One of them was the guild leader of Snowy Cathaya, and the other, the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I couldn¡¯t possibly handle the wrath of either one of them, much less both at the same time. ¡­¡­ I brought up the map screen and gave it a close look. War God Academy was extremely huge, and it was split into three parts in total. The first part was called the Martial Zone, also known as the part where we were at right now. Twelve training grounds were joined together to form one giant training ground, and countless martial artists were practicing their martial techniques on it. Since they were all undead right now, this meant that we could kill all of them.[1] "Let¡¯s start from the left side, shall we?" I asked the girls. They all nodded and said, "You¡¯re the one who¡¯s going to be beaten up, so you get the right to pick your beater." I could barely suppress a groan when I heard that. The first training ground was already as huge as a soccer field. Some distance away, I could see students clad in metal armor waving around their iron swords and practicing their combat skills. There were three minibosses in total, and they were all combat trainers. They were probably harder to deal with than the gatekeeper, but I was happy to see them because minibosses gave a good amount of experience. Assuming that we managed to complete this instance, the girls should all be able to hit Level 210 and undergo their eighth class promotion. A young student clad in fiery red armor was swinging his broadsword. The withered flesh on his face shuddered as he said in an unearthly voice, "I am the strongest rookie among the nobles. A low-level combat skill like this is nothing to me. Eat my Blaze Devour, Harvey!" Roar! A fireball flew out of his sword at the same time the latter smashed a hole in the ground. It looked like he was a student who cultivated both martial arts and magic. However, the student in front of him said while clapping and laughing loudly, "You call this Blaze Devour, Star? Oh, my stomach! I¡¯ve never seen someone use Blaze Devour like they¡¯re plowing the ground! Son of a noble my ass, you look more like the son of a farmer right now!" "You bastard! I challenge you to a duel¡­" Pling plang plong! We hadn¡¯t even begun to fight yet, and the young¡ªrelatively speaking, since they had been dead for thousands of years at least¡ªwarriors of the empire had begun dueling among themselves and shooting all kinds of melodramatic skills left and right. ¡­¡­ While hugging her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword, Lin Yixin leaned lazily against the bamboo fence behind her while staring at me. "Is this super eye-rolling drama scene that interesting to you, Little Cheat? How much longer are you going to wait before you aggro the mobs?" He Yi was sitting on top of a stump and shaking her legs left and right. I would¡¯ve been able to admire them swaying beneath the jade tinted cloak a bit longer if she wasn¡¯t glaring at me as well and saying, "Yeah, are we grinding or what? We¡¯ve even picked our choke point already. All that¡¯s left to do is for you to aggro all the mobs so we clear them all out at once¡­" My facial muscles twitched at the bold statement. "Girl, these are Level 255 fiend-rank mobs we¡¯re talking about, and Level 255 minibosses in total. Are you that confident that I would be able to tank them all?" "Sure you can! You have 20% lifesteal and Murong¡¯s healing. There¡¯s no way you¡¯re going to die unless you blank out in the middle of the battle, and a party wipe is practically impossible!" "Fine!" The choke point we chose was a corner of the training ground. Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue stood on the inside, while He Yi, Lin Yixin, the Ghost Chariot, the Ice Dragon Kris, the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition stood on the outside. As for me, I would be standing on the forefront and tanking 4 to 5 mobs¡¯ attacks at the same time. It was pretty risky, but there was a good chance I would be able to handle even this level of pressure. I spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon into action and flew over the students¡¯ heads. They immediately broke out of their drama, grew unnaturally violent and chased behind me with their axes, swords, spears and other weapons unsheathed. Someone shouted, "How dare this dragon rider intrude into our academy without permission! Shire must¡¯ve drank too much malt and fallen asleep on duty, that old bastard!" Thud! After I aggroed every mob there was to aggro on the training ground, I returned to the girls and landed in between He Yi and Lin Yixin. I turned around and looked. At least a thousand Level 255 fiend-rank mobs were running toward us. "You girls ready?" I said smilingly. "Of course we are. If anything, you¡¯re the one who should get ready¡­" Lin Yixin replied. I rolled my eyes. "You make it sound like I¡¯m going to die for sure¡­" I should¡¯ve known better than to tempt fate, but 7 Barrier Breaks and 3 armor-breaking arrows hit me at the same time. The fuck? I didn¡¯t know they had archers in their midst. I immediately dropped 400k+ HP in one go. No wonder Beauty Lin said what she said. This was seriously ridiculous¡­ The mobs¡¯ attacks were relentless, and I was at the center of all the aggro. Three rounds would be all it took to kill me. Swhoosh swhoosh! Or that would¡¯ve been the case, if Murong Mingyue wasn¡¯t healing me constantly. Her HPS could only be described as insane¡ª +142992! +301920! +124389! ¡­¡­ The best priest in Godkiller healed on average only 50k+ HP per cast, while even her weakest heal recovered at least 100k HP! It was practically a difference between an ant and a god! Now this is what you call a super priest! I fired Burning Blade Slash into an entire group of students and dropped them all to low health thanks to the skill¡¯s incredible power and the 65% splash effect. At the same time, I held my left index finger and middle finger together in front of my forehead to gather my energy¡ªlooking incredibly cool at the same time as a matter of course¡ªand cry, "Myriad Swords Obliteration!" Swhoosh! The cyclone surrounding my person dissipated, and countless sword auras rained down from the sky and killed countless. The 20% lifesteal of my weapon healed me back to full instantly, but just as quickly, the mobs beat me back down to 75% or so. The back and forth wouldn¡¯t stop until all the mobs were dead. He Yi and Murong Mingyue¡¯s mouths fell open when they saw my new skill. "Wow. Is this your eighth-promotion class skill?" I nodded smilingly. "Yep. This one¡¯s called Myriad Swords Obliteration. I have one more skill called Last Stand, and it greatly increases my Attack and lifesteal if my HP falls below 50%." He Yi smiled. "That¡¯s amazing!" Obviously, the rest of the girls weren¡¯t idle, and they used their equally gorgeous Ice Flame Slash, Purgatory of Ice and Magma, Skypiercer, Evil Spirit Volley and more. Besides that, every time He Yi had gathered enough Divine Energy Points, she would activate her Godslaying Blade¡ªcreating a super long energy spear blade¡ªand deal AoE damage to everything even with just basic attacks, causing her DPS to skyrocket. ¡­¡­ The students of War God Academy were clearly no match for us, and since us frontliners and our pets handled a miniboss each and kept them separate, none of us were in too big of a danger. Less than half an hour later, all the monsters were dead, and my experience was 14% higher than it was before. This instance was fucking amazing! "Now I understand why Warsky, Song of Ice and Fire and the rest of their party suddenly skyrocketed in levels. It¡¯s all thanks to the S3 instance¡­" Lin Yixin said. I replied, "You girls¡ªeven sis¡ªshould be at Level 210, or at least almost there, after we take out the first boss." "Mn." Lin Yixin blinked once before smiling at me. "If we manage to clear this instance, you¡¯ll return to Sky City together with us and turn in the quest, okay?" "Okay!" 1. (Author¡¯s Note: if you¡¯re a Tang San fan, you¡¯ll know that Tang San has a complex with school love, and he never fails to add one to his stories. I¡¯m a Tang San fan too, but right now my characters are going to grind an academy. Sorry Tang San¡­) Chapter 1146: What Are You Planning to Do to Me We cleared all 12 training grounds. To be honest, we didn¡¯t need to kill all the undead students on the training grounds, but they offered so much experience that we just couldn¡¯t bring ourselves to waste such an opportunity. Moreover, instances could only be cleared once a week, so if we missed out on them, we would have to wait for seven days for another opportunity. It took 5 whole hours, but we managed to grind everything in the end. Lin Yixin and Beiming Xue were able to hit Level 210 first. He Yi was sitting at Level 209 and 75%, and Murong Mingyue had climbed to Level 209. She would soon become the first eighth-promotion priest in the game. She expressed her delight in being able to "freeload" off a super party like this. ¡­¡­ We stood together on the jadestone floor of the Martial Zone. The Magic Academy was right ahead of us, and standing in our path was a warrior clad in golden armor and red cape and wielding a blood-red broadsword. It was none other than the first boss of the S3 instance and the one who beat the crap out of Warsky¡¯s party! Rustle rustle... The Moonchaser Tiger¡¯s gigantic paws made some soft noises as it ran across the stone. We soon arrived right in front of the boss. The young warrior looked up. Just like all the students and trainers we had fought earlier, his face was rotten and withered in the way only an undead¡¯s could. He had golden hair and dark red eyes, and the muscles pulling at his features gave him a horrifying appearance. However, even like this I could tell that he was a ridiculously handsome man when he was still human; the type who made women squeal in high-pitched voices just by making an entrance. "You lot¡­" He glared at us hatefully as he said, "You think your feeble powers are enough to unearth the dignity of the War God Academy, adventurers of the future? You¡¯ve only killed mediocre students or newbies until this point! Come! I will show you the power of the strongest student in the whole academy!" Lin Yixin shook her head regretfully. "What a shame. He must¡¯ve been so handsome when he was still alive¡­" He Yi said, "Let¡¯s focus on finding a way to kill him¡­" I had already activated Dark Pupils and shared its stats in the party channel. If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles¡ª Ochil the Fire (Ancient Immortal Rank Boss) Level" 258 Attack: 24500~31500 Defense: 29000 HP: 40000000 Skills: Fire Break, Ice Flame Slash, Myriad Swords Obliteration Introduction: Ochil was a son of the empire¡¯s marshal and became the strongest student in the history of the War God Academy. During the very first year of his study, he defeated seven of the strongest students of the academy one after another. His skills and talent were so impressive that the president himself took him as his disciple and taught him his laws of fire. He was the most likely person in the empire to inherit the title as the strongest sword saint. For thousands and thousands of years, no legendary expert who entered War God Academy has ever been able to survive Ochil¡¯s sword. ¡­¡­ I pursed my lips. "A Level 258 Ancient Immortal Rank boss with over 30k max Attack? No wonder Warsky¡¯s party was wiped by him. Everyone, be careful. Sis, Beiming, never let the boss get close to you, or you¡¯ll almost certainly be one-shot. Yiyi, Eve, you two need to be careful as well!" "Got it!" "I¡¯m going to aggro the boss first, and we¡¯re going to charge him one by one. If we can stun him, then all is well. If not, Eve, Beiming, get ready to use your CC skills the second they¡¯re ready. Keep the Trapping Nets and Shocking Arrows coming." "Got it!" After I gave everyone their instructions, I activated Great Earth Transformation, waved my arm and fired a God Binding Art at the boss. If this landed, there was a small chance we might be able to end this without taking a scratch! Swhoosh! The skill missed just as I predicted it would. An Ancient Immortal Rank boss naturally possessed much higher resistance than a normal Immortal Rank boss. Still, Ochil was successfully aggroed, and he Charged me the same time I used Thunderous Charge. We slammed into each other halfway! Bang! Both the boss and I were stunned at the same time, and my stun would last 2.4 seconds. He Yi and Lin Yixin used their Charge skills in an attempt to land their stuns as well, but unfortunately, they both missed. I hurriedly shouted in the party channel, "Don¡¯t attack him!" "Mn!" Both girls backed away immediately. The aggro was still on me, but any attack from them that wasn¡¯t Charge could cause an OT. I dared not say that they would be able to tank the boss until I dragged the aggro back to myself. As I thought, Ochil woke up before me and attacked me with a devastating triple-hit Fire Break + Ice Flame Slash combo! Bang bang bang... My body shuddered violently as a tearing paint bit into my body. Since I was still stunned, I wasn¡¯t able to Guard or parry the skills at all¡ª 192003! 212384! 242617! 273838! ¡­¡­ Unbelievable! The boss had deleted over 60% of my max HP in one go, and this was after Royal Road and the Fire War God Card had buffed my HP to almost 1.4 million HP! There was no need to doubt the boss''s strength. This was most certainly going to be a difficult fight. Once I broke out of the stun, I immediately healed myself for 25% HP using Tenacity of the Dead and struck Ochil using Purple Frost Concentration! Pu! As Ochil¡¯s face turned purple and lost 29% of his Defense, Beiming Xue activated her own armor break skill and lowered his Defense some more. Then, I executed Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo! 142882! +28576! 182938! +36587! 242020! +48404! 251932! +50386! All my melee skills could lifesteal, and the damage and healing numbers rising above the boss''s head were a most gorgeous sight. After that, I flicked my wrist and absorbed another 20k+ HP with a basic attack. Normally, this amount of HP absorbed was enough for me to keep a boss at bay, but Ochil wasn¡¯t one of those bosses. It would kill me long before I absorbed enough HP to offset the damage. Thankfully, Murong Mingyue was already preparing a Greater Heal! Swhoosh! A warm sensation flooded my veins and increased my HP drastically¡ª +372848! While tossing her Trapping Net, He Yi said with a chuckle, "Well done, Miss Murong! That was exactly the kind of critical heal Lu Chen needed! You¡¯re out of danger for now, Lu Chen!" "Yeah!" I continued attacking the boss while parrying his attacks with the Dragon God Shield. It was an extremely close and dangerous battle because the boss dealt at least 300k+ damage to me every time it critted. In fact, one strike from the boss was enough to make Lin Yixin and He Yi yelp and run away with their metaphorical tail between their legs. Once again, it fell on me to get my crap beaten out of me for the party. ¡­¡­ "Damn you! I will make you all pay!" Some time later, Ochil suddenly stopped in his tracks and raised his index finger and middle finger in front of his forehead. At the same time, a cyclone of energy started spinning rapidly around him. He was obviously casting his ultimate skill, and it was one that I was only all too familiar with. It was the skill Xinran had searched the ancient era for and entrusted Rinser to teach me, Myriad Swords Obliteration. Why was I so sure it had come from the ancient times? It was because Ochil, an undead from ancient times, was the only entity so far to have used this skill. At the current stage of the game, I was fairly sure there was no NPC that could teach it. Xinran must have searched far and wide to stumble upon it. "Watch out! It¡¯s Myriad Swords Obliteration!" I hurriedly shouted. Lin Yixin and He Yi dashed tens of yards away from the boss immediately. I remained where I was and fought fire with literal fire, carving up Ochil¡¯s face with Burning Blade Slash. "Kill!" Ochil growled, and a seemingly infinite rain of swords fell from the sky. One second I felt a chilling sensation, and the next I had already lost over 400k HP. What a monster! "Roar roar¡­" The Phantom Wolf King, the Ghost Chariot and the Ironwing Dragon all died at the same time. Lin Yixin¡¯s ice dragon was the only one still alive after the skill, but even it was surviving with only 37% HP. The Ancient Immortal Rank boss''s attack was so "spicy" that even a holy dragon couldn¡¯t withstand it. ¡­¡­ "Well, this is beyond even my AoE heals to save!" Murong Mingyue stuck out her tongue cutely. I retreated as I fought and dropped to the very dangerous point of 19%. Even after I used Tenacity of the Dead, I still wasn¡¯t at 50% HP. Thankfully, my other eighth-promotion skill, Last Stand, came active on its own because its condition had been met, drastically increasing my Attack and boosting my lifesteal to 25%. Also, the Last Stand buff would linger for 12 more seconds, even after my HP had climbed back to over 50% HP. All I could say was that I loved the developers. I drank a health potion and was just barely able to remain in the fight. Thud! At a critical moment, Lin Yixin activated Charge and miraculously stunned the boss. She said urgently, "I¡¯ll hold the boss off for a couple of seconds! Let Sister Mingyue heal you now!" "Mn!" Murong Mingyue hurriedly healed me while I pulled away from the boss. Behind me, Lin Yixin ate Fire Break + Ice Flame Slash combo from Ochil and dropped below 20% HP in just the blink of an eye. It was scary to say the least. I gritted my teeth and rushed back into the fray using Thunderous Charge. Then, I executed Burning Blade Slash! Thud! To my surprise, the boss froze and became stunned for 7 seconds straight. It was the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade taking effect again! "Gather together in one group!" Murong Mingyue shouted. Lin Yixin, He Yi and I immediately surrounded Ochil in a circle and went all out while Murong Mingyue¡¯s AoE heal dragged us all back to full health. However, Ochil raised his fingers and attempted to channel Myriad Swords Obliteration again the moment he woke up. Motherfucker! "Eat this!" I shouted and punched out with a swirling red fist! Bang! Magic Piercing Punch actually worked thanks to my ridiculous amount of Strength. The boss''s Myriad Swords Obliteration was canceled before it could finish its build-up. ¡­¡­ Occasionally, Lin Yixin would exploit the Ice Dragon Kris¡¯s impressive regeneration powers to keep the boss busy while the rest of us ran circles around him and scored cheap hits. Even the white jade stones that made up the place were shredded by our skills. Kris was the only pet that the boss couldn¡¯t annihilate in a single hit. Not even my apparition was an exception to the rule. It took the three of us juggling the boss''s aggro and controlling the boss with skills such as Trapping Net and God Binding Art to stay alive, and even these skills worked only 20% of the time. However, the breathers we earned when they worked were absolutely critical in prolonging our existence in this boss fight. Without them, we would¡¯ve died to this powerful boss already. The roller coaster of a boss fight lasted a bit over half an hour. Finally, Ochil¡¯s HP was about to hit 0! ¡­¡­ "Should we let Lu Chen kill him?" Lin Yixin asked. He Yi nodded affirmatively. "Lu Chen has the highest Luck. We will get the best possible drops if he gets the last hit!" "Got it!" The two girls backed away at the same time while I rushed in for the last hit. I pressed my left hand to the ground and cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon! For some reason, Ochil stared at my hand gesture and wailed almost as if he had suffered this skill before. "What the hell are you planning to do to me, you damn monster!?" Me: "..." The draconic shockwaves rocked his body like a lightning storm would do to a falling leaf. In the end, he wasn¡¯t able to survive the powerful skill. Chapter 1147: Brave General Horseshoe Pop pop pop¡­ A ton of items and equipment erupted from Ochil¡¯s body and littered the floor as his HP hit zero. However, despite his failing knees, the man managed to keep his eyes open and his body upright as he cursed, "The dignity of the War God Academy will not be violated. You may have beaten me, but you¡¯ll never be able to defeat my teacher, boy!" ¡­¡­ I sat next to Ochil¡¯s body and examined the loot at leisure. I didn¡¯t even activate Dark Pupils because we were inside an instance, meaning that there was no need to check for lurking assassins. Instances were dynamically-generated independent shards of reality, just for you. No one except us could enter. For example, Warsky¡¯s party was currently fighting in a separate instance of the War God Academy right now. I wonder how they are doing. The four girls surrounded me as I flipped the boss up and down to make sure that I didn¡¯t miss any loot. For the first boss of the S3 instance, Ochil was quite the generous giver. He had given us 5 pieces of equipment in total: a fiery helmet, a steaming pair of wristguards with complex magical runes on them, a shield, a dagger and a pitch-black round-shaped object that I didn¡¯t recognize. First, I picked up the helmet smilingly. "Who wants to bet that this is one of the equipment of the S3 set?" I waved my hand, and the helmet¡¯s stats appeared in the party channel. The way Lin Yixin and He Yi¡¯s mouths parted looked incredibly sexy¡ª Martial God Helmet (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 6900 Magic Resist: 6550 Strength: +950 Stamina: +900 Agility: + 895 Tactics: +110 Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 40000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 35% Slots: 12 Outstanding Property: Martial God. Increases user¡¯s Attack by 15% Introduction: The War God Academy is a legend of ancient times, and its president was a master martial artist renowned for his strength. After many years of cultivation, the president explored the world in search for a kind of special metal before giving it to a divine smith. That is how the Martial God set came to be. It is said that the person wearing the Martial God set will gain protection of the gods. Level Requirement: 200 Reputation Requirement: 400000 Class Requirement: Fighter ¡­¡­ As I thought, the helmet was a part of the Martial God set. It added 35% Attack in total, and it was a 5-star Immortal-grade item. Overall, its stats were pretty good, and its Outstanding Property increased the wearer¡¯s Attack. The obvious difference between the S2 and S3 set was that the former was focused on Defense, while the latter focused on Attack. Personally, I thought that the S3 set was the better of the two. Purely defensive equipment might make an excellent tank, but the tank themself might then lack Attack to hold the boss¡¯s aggro, which defeats the whole purpose of stacking defensive items to be the main tank. I moved on to reveal the wristguard¡¯s stats. As expected, it was yet another component of the Martial God set. As 5-star Outstanding Immortal-grade metal-armor wristguards, their stats were very powerful. I passed both items to He Yi with a smile. "Here, Eve. I said the S3 set is yours, right?" "Mn." He Yi smiled and nodded in thanks. I then said to Lin Yixin, "When we clear the S3 instance, and you¡¯ve all undergone your eighth class promotions, let¡¯s grind the S4 instance together and get you the first S4 set in the entire world, Yiyi." Lin Yixin giggled. "It¡¯s a promise! And that applies to everyone here, okay? No matter what is keeping y¡¯all, you must make time and help me grind my S4 set, okay?" "No problem¡­" ¡­¡­ I moved onto the shield next, but what I saw shook me to my core. Motherfucking Dark Steel¨Cgrade trash from an Ancient Immortal Rank boss!? Shame on you, Ochil, shame on you. I tossed the shield behind me and picked up the fourth item he dropped, a fiery dagger. It was long enough to be called a shortsword instead of a dagger, and its blade was engraved with strange but elegant patterns. If I had to guess, it was probably a weapon used by the ancient nobles. I turned my wrist and brought up its stats screen in front of everyone¡ª Mow Fireblade (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 4500~7500 Strength: +1050 Stamina: +1000 Agility: +950 Tactics: +125 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 115% Passive: When swinging the Mow Fireblade, 10% chance to trigger Flame Attack and deal massive damage. Slots: 12 Outstanding Property: Armor Break. When attacking a target, 100% chance to reduce the target¡¯s Defense by 20% for 15 seconds. Introduction: In ancient times, there existed a demonic flame, hidden deep within the mountains. Stumbling upon it, a hunter faced its guardian, a fierce tiger, and succeeded in killing it, but succumbed to the fire. Devouring the hunter and his dagger, the blade was refined by the demonic flames.Thousands and thousands of years later, the dagger reappeared in the world as the Mow Fireblade, a weapon imbued with powerful flames. Level Requirement: 200 Reputation Requirement: 500000 ¡­¡­ I smiled. Neither Lin Yixin nor I had entered the S3 instance thinking that we would walk away with something, but that was no longer the case for Lin Yixin. This dagger was the perfect compensation for her hard work. "Fruit Knife, you want this?" I asked while holding the dagger in a reverse grip. Lin Yixin replied with a small but sweet smile, "Its Attack is very high. Not bad, not bad at all! This is a good replacement for my current dagger!" He Yi chuckled. "It even has a good name! Moe Fireblade, haha!!" Lin Yixin¡¯s smile grew even sweeter. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin sheathed her new dagger in the scabbard around her waist. If necessary, she could switch her weapon in an instant. Unlike most, if not all the other players out there, Lin Yixin could equip two main weapons¡ªa sword and a dagger¡ªand enjoy both of their stat boosts at the same time. As far as I was aware, it was an advantage that was entirely unique to herself. Finally, the round-shaped object was the only item left. He Yi rubbed it curiously while saying, "What is this thing? It¡¯s so weird¡­" I shrugged. "We¡¯ll know in a second." I waved my hand again and brought up its stats screen. Immediate silence overtook us¡ª Brave General Horseshoe: Quest Item. Introduction: The Brave General Horseshoe can be slotted into any land mount that is Level 150 or higher. All mount stats are increased by 15%. Increases user¡¯s Attack and Defense by 35%, and max HP by 50000. ¡­¡­ For a time, the girls and I could only exchange shocked looks with each other. Finally, Lin Yixin, I and He Yi blurted out at almost the same time, "What a godlike item!" This Brave General Horseshoe was very similar to the Qilin Stone I had dug out of the Ice Dragon Kris¡¯s anus. However, unlike the Qilin Stone, it couldn¡¯t be used directly because it was a quest item. How do I use this? Oh well. I tossed it into my bag and said, "We¡¯ll find an NPC to identify this after we exited the instance. For now, let¡¯s continue." "Yep." I took point again and led the girls deeper into War God Academy. Next stop, the Magic Academy. ¡­¡­ A warm breeze brushed against our skins as we entered the Magic Academy. The students here were all wearing robes as a matter of course. The scene would almost be homely if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that they were all walking skeletons whose flesh had rotted away completely. Unlike the Martial Zone, the Magic Academy consisted of just one big student hostel. The building was surrounded by a thick swarm of Level 258 fiend-rank mages, and their magic damage was so high that even I was afraid to approach them. Thud! I abruptly stopped in my tracks and pointed at the mages. "There¡¯s enough mages here that they can one-shot me just by casting Fire Dragon Spell once, can¡¯t they?" Lin Yixin laughed heartlessly. "Don¡¯t worry. If you die, we¡¯ll hold a special barbecue funeral for you!" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ I glanced at the mages again. Generally, a mage had an attack range of 40 yards, and judging by how huge the crowd was, as many as 100 mages could attack me at once. These were all fiend-rank monsters too, so one Fire Dragon Spell could deal at last 20k+ damage to me. This meant that I would need at least 2 million HP to prevent myself from getting one-shot. Obviously, I didn¡¯t have 2 million HP. Beiming Xue said concernedly, "Let¡¯s try something else. Big brother will definitely die if he tries to tackle this head-on!" I immediately hugged Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulders and said to Lin Yixin and He Yi, "I knew you would worry about me, Beiming! You two should learn from her example!" Lin Yixin snorted. "We do worry about you, you shameless fellow! Oh well. If it¡¯s really impossible, we¡¯ll just use the pet suicide tactic. While our pets absorb the first round of attack, we¡¯ll go all out, spam our Divine General Skills and kill as many enemy mages as possible. For now, I can¡¯t think of any other way¡­" I nodded in agreement. "You¡¯re such a smart girl, Yiyi. Since your ice dragon has the highest Magic Resist of all our pets, let¡¯s have her suicide charge the enemy for our cause. While she¡¯s getting beaten up, we¡¯ll pick an area full of mages and try to kill most of them in 5 seconds. It¡¯s either them or us, so let¡¯s make sure it¡¯s them." "You bastard¡­" Lin Yixin complained with a pout, but her objection was ignored as a matter of course. Her ice dragon could fly, and it was the tankiest of all our pets. There was no better choice than it. ¡­¡­ Whoosh! After the Ice Dragon Kris glided over the enemy mages and covered their faces with dragon flames, I immediately charged to the edge of the mage group and executed Thousand Ice Slash + Burning Blade Slash combo! Boom boom boom! Countless damage numbers rose to the air, and almost half of the student mages were encased in ice. He Yi and Lin Yixin appeared right after me and unleashed their God¡¯s Tear, Godslaying Blade, Ice Flame Slash, Purgatory of Ice and Magma and more as well. Meanwhile, I spammed my non-melee skills such as Ancient Seals, Summon the Storm, and Coiling Dragon Revolution. The students only had less than 2 million HP, so they never had a chance of surviving our greatest attacks. However, we couldn¡¯t overlap our skills to cover all the mobs, so around 40 students were able to survive. They fired their fire dragons, ice blades and more at us, and all three of us dropped below 50% HP immediately. It was terrifying. Thankfully, we had a top-tier priest with us. Unperturbed by the seemingly dire situation, she healed us with her single-target spells repeatedly and never allowed our HP to fall below the safety line. Three minutes later, all 100+ mobs had been killed, but we all felt like we had just fought a hundred battles. Chapter 1148: Great Earth Hydralisk We spent three whole hours cleansing the student hostel of skeletal mages. There was no training ground in the Magic Academy because they meditated on their own beds. A column of golden light surrounded me as I took out the last group of student mages. I had risen to Level 215, Lin Yixin and Beiming to Level 211, and He Yi and Murong Mingyue to Level 210. This meant that everyone in the party could now undergo their eighth class promotions after we¡¯ve cleared the S3 instance. As the main tank of the party though, all I had to say about the experience was torturous. Twice, the student mages actually managed to kill me, triggering Immortality once but not the other time. Otherwise, I would¡¯ve hit Level 215 a long time ago. That being said, Resurrection Art increased my Attack by 10%, and this buff would remain with me until I logged out of the game. ¡­¡­ There was a magic tower at the end of the Magic Academy, and standing beneath it was an old man in gray robes. His back was stooped, his eyes were lightless, and he was holding a dark blue-colored magic ball in his left hand. He said in a shuddering voice, "Cultivators of the future generation, I am glad that you were able to make your way to this place because it means that your strength has surpassed our expectations. This is as far as you will go, however. I, the royal mage of the empire, Cayman the Psychic, will stop your carnage here. Prepare to die, you presumptuous fools!" His words were scary, but his appearance was so shabby that we all wondered if the boss could actually put up the fight he promised. Lin Yixin even stuck out her tongue playfully and said, "He can¡¯t even see with his eyes anymore. Can he even land his magic properly? Maybe the devs decided to be considerate and designed this to be a pushover boss?" I agreed. "Yeah, how can this bag of old bones possibly deal with us youngsters?" He Yi giggled. "Come on, you guys are being super impolite to your elders right now. I personally think it¡¯s amazing that he can even stand with his age. Oh, that walking staff of his is pretty good-looking too. It¡¯s very neoclassical¡­" Beiming Xue: "..." ¡­¡­ Cayman quaked with rage as he listened to our insults. He raised his scepter, activated the magic circles around him and shouted shudderingly, "Suffer the curse of fate, foolish youngsters!" While this was going on, I shared the stats screen I obtained through Dark Pupils in the party channel¡ª Cayman the Psychic (Ancient Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 260 Attack: 23500~30500 Defense: 24000 HP: 30000000 Skills: Flame Blast, Ice Dragon Break, Summon Strange Beast Introduction: As the strongest mage and summoner in the history of War God Academy, Cayman the Psychic possessed unparalleled talent in comprehending the elements of magic. He was regarded by the emperor himself to be an extremely talented mage since young, and as he grew older, he became known as the strongest mage of the empire. Not only that, Cayman was well-versed in the art of summoning, and he was capable of summoning ancient strange beasts to aid him in battle. As a result, he was strong enough to fight even a Sword Saint level expert on even footing. Countless experts had perished to Cayman¡¯s magic over hundreds of thousands of years. ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue pursed her lips. "Why do I feel like big brother and Sister Lin Yixin just stirred up a hornet¡¯s nest?" Murong Mingyue nodded in agreement. "Not only that, they practically smacked it off the tree and stomped on it. This is going to be ¡®fun¡¯..." Chiang! I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword with a laugh, "So what if I did? We were always going to fight him anyway! Anyway, it¡¯s time to apply the buffs. Girls, come closer so I can squeal at the sight of your beauty, will ya?" After Lin Yixin and He Yi walked closer to me, I used Wild Roar and gave everyone a 15% Attack boost. Then, I said, "We¡¯ll surround the boss in a triangular formation. This way, only one of us will be caught by its Flame Blast at a time, which is a straight-line AoE skill. Ice Dragon Break also seems to be a straight-line skill, so there¡¯s even less to be afraid of!" "Got it!" Both girls nodded in unison. I charged toward the boss first and started with God Binding Art. A couple of divine arms immediately fell from the sky and surrounded the boss, but they weren¡¯t able to contain him. He was a Level 260 Ancient Immortal Rank boss. The Psychic laughed sinisterly as he waved his scepter at me. "Rise, dragons that slumber in the ancient earth! Tear everything before your eyes to bits! Ice Dragon Break!" Swhoosh! An ice dragon flew straight toward me, but I couldn¡¯t retreat because an OT would happen. So, I gritted my teeth, moved my arm backward, and tossed my sword straight at the surge of magical energy! Coiling Dragon Revolution! Break!" Coiling Dragon Revolution pierced through the boss''s spell and his chest, dealing over 180k damage. However, the Ice Dragon Break also splashed against my Dragon God Shield and made me feel like something was tearing my body into bits and pieces. 30k Magic Attack was just too much for anyone to endure! 372872! Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t hold back a gasp of surprise as she stared at the damage number rising above my head. "OMG, even Little Cheat with his Magic Resist took this much damage? Don¡¯t let your guard down, Sister He Yi!" "I know!" He Yi galloped toward the boss and threw Trapping Net at him. Then, she pierced his neck with the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear and used her five-hit Purgatory of Ice and Magma! The Psychic howled in pain but retaliated with Flame Blast immediately. It hit He Yi squarely on her shield! 491238! At this point, everyone¡¯s complexion had turned into various shades of blue and purple. He Yi only had a max HP of 900k or so. Had the Flame Blast critted, there was a high chance she would¡¯ve died just like that. "Ugh¡­" The magic knight endured the scorching pain and executed Green Wave Slash, deleting another 150k HP from the boss''s health bar. Sensing an opening, I dashed close and stabbed the Psychic in the chest with Purple Frost Concentration, greatly reducing his Defense. Lin Yixin also coordinated with me by pulling out her brand new Mow Fireblade and slapping the boss with Extreme Break + Moon Gaze combo, greatly reducing the boss''s Defense and max HP as well. I immediately followed up with Burning Blade Slash + War Crush, then Summon The Storm + Rise of the Guardian Dragon before the Extreme Break¡¯s debuff was over. The boss was able to put a hole in my body with Ice Dragon Break again, but during the time I backed away to safety, I held my fingers in front of my forehead and cast Myriad Swords Obliteration, riddling the boss''s body with swords and dealing tons of damage. The Psychic roared as he cast more common spells such as Fire Dragon Spells and Galaxy Storms, causing everyone¡¯s HP except Beiming and Murong Mingyue to drop like a rock. It was absolutely terrifying. Every spell was a chance for the boss to delete us, and in order to protect the girls I had to work extra hard and hold his aggro for the majority of the time. Even the Ancient Divine Dragon was glaring at the Psychic and twisting its body here and there to facilitate my attacks. "Damn you all! You will pay the price of blood!" The Psychic growled and raised his scepter. He was obviously going to use his ultimate skill! I hurriedly rushed forward and punched the boss in the head with Magic Piercing Punch. Unfortunately, the skill failed to take effect, and the Psychic continued chanting his ultimate skill unhindered. ¡­¡­ "O¡¯ slumbering beasts of the nine hells, heed my call and awaken from your long, lonely slumber! I, Cayman the Psychic, beseech the power of the strange beasts!" As his raised scepter shivered in his hands, columns of blue magic suddenly burst out of the ground. The trembling continued for a moment until many, many monstrous-looking beasts emerged into view. Their upper body was that of a porcupine, but their lower body was that of a snake. They wielded a pair of scythes, and they screeched like what you would expect from an unholy monster. Worse, the mage had summoned 12 of these "strange beasts" at once! [1] I locked onto one of the monsters and checked its stats. It was called Great Earth Hydralisk, a mob with formidable assassin-like attacks that could also go into stealth. It hadn¡¯t shown its face on the continent for tens of thousands of years until now. "Jie jie¡­" The wriggling hydralisks rushed us and swung their twin scythes like crazy. A second later, Lin Yixin let out a groan and became the first of all of us to die! He Yi tried to protect Murong Mingyue, but she lasted only for a moment before dying as well. "Fuck!" Although my eyes were widened with shock, I didn¡¯t stop fighting and tried to one-shot the Great Earth Hydralisks with Burning Blade Slash, but I quickly discovered that every single one of them was a miniboss with incredibly high HP. Long story short, not even I could kill them in a short time. Worse, after the Great Earth Hydralisks discovered that I had high tankiness and high Attack, they suddenly burrowed into the underground and... Thud thud thud! Spears suddenly burst out of the ground and damaged me again and again. If this was outside, I would be able to fly high into the sky and avoid all the damage. In an instance though, the Ancient Divine Dragon could only fight on the ground. What this meant was that I had no choice but to endure the attack and lose HP non-stop. Behind me, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue groaned and died at the same time after they both ate a spike. Not only were the Great Earth Hydralisks ridiculously powerful, there were 12 of these bastards in total. What a scam! ¡­¡­ Inside the party channel, Lin Yixin said to me, "Turn off your Resurrection Art, let the boss kill you, and run with us, Little Cheat! We need to come up with a new strategy, or we won¡¯t be able to beat this Psychic!" "Yeah!" It was at this moment I finally understood why Cayman was Cayman the Psychic, not Cayman the Bullshit OP Broken Kickass mage. His true power lay in his ability to summon 12 Great Earth Hydralisks, not his magical prowess, that shameless fuck... And so, I allowed myself to be killed by the boss. An instant later, I appeared at a graveyard outside the instance as a soul. ¡­¡­ "Ugh¡­" I felt a bit embarrassed when I saw four ghost girls staring at me with their wide, beautiful eyes. "You guys were waiting for me?" Murong Mingyue giggled. "Even the invincible Lu Chen couldn¡¯t cheat death this time. Tsk tsk, this sure is one hell of a party wipe¡­" "More like one hell of a load of bullcrap. I dropped back to Level 214, dammit¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ "So, how are we going to fight this out? Also, let¡¯s think while we run back to our bodies, or the boss will return to full health soon¡­" Lin Yixin started. He Yi nodded. "Mm, we need to kill those hydralisks first, or we won¡¯t be able to focus down that Psychic. Sigh, this second boss is way harder than I thought¡­" I chuckled. "Of course it is. That¡¯s how you know that the S3 equipment you¡¯re wearing is super valuable!" "Yeah." 1. (T/N: this is totally the hydralisk from Starcraft) Chapter 1149: Powerful Set While running back to our bodies, I said after a moment of thinking, "I think I have a plan to deal with this Psychic, but it¡¯s going to be pretty brutal¡­" "Speak!" Both Lin Yixin and He Yi turned toward me at the same time. I explained, "Sis will focus on healing me while I use Summon the Storm and Rise of the Guardian Dragon to break the Great Earth Hydralisks from their stealth state and aggro them toward me. After they¡¯re all clumped up around me, you will all unleash your greatest combos in 1 second before Beiming Xue casts Well of the Abyss on me. During this time, Eve and Yiyi will keep the boss busy. After Well of the Abyss is over, we will all repeat the same process until all the Great Earth Hydralisks are dead. We will have to time Well of the Abyss cooldown well of course. "If all goes well, we¡¯ll be able to kill all 12 Great Earth Hydralisks and the cost 3 or 4 Wells of the Abyss and a level or two from me. So? What do you all think? It¡¯s a good plan, right?" Murong Mingyue replied, "You¡¯re right. It is an extremely brutal strategy¡­" Lin Yixin stared at me with a weeping expression. "But I don¡¯t want you to get hurt¡­" He Yi couldn¡¯t stop herself from blurting, "What the fuck¡­" I said, "Really? Then you can aggro the Great Earth Hydralisks then. You have over 900k HP anyway, so¡ª" "No way! How could you send me to my death!" Lin Yixin waved her Mow Fireblade threateningly at me. "Then why did you¡­ Whatever, I¡¯ll do it¡­" I surrendered. ¡­¡­ After we returned to the second map of the instance, we saw from a distance that Cayman the Psychic had returned to 77% HP, and the 12 Great Earth Hydralisks were still underground. There¡¯s no helping it then. Attack! After I had reapplied my buffs and reactivated Resurrection Art, I spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon forward and activated Dark Pupils, rendering the Great Earth Hydralisks¡¯ invisibility useless against me. Then, I activated Summon the Storm and damaged all 12 mobs at once. I was hoping that the one skill would be enough to force the evil monsters out of their holes, but unfortunately, it seemed that I would have to use Rise of the Guardian Dragon after all. I pressed my left palm against the ground! Ding~ 1000 gold flew away from my wallet, and up came Rise of the Guardian Dragon! "Roar roar roar¡­" Countless gigantic dragons burst out of the ground while roaring, shredding the ground and the Great Earth Hydralisks hiding beneath it as well. Finally, the accumulating damage exceeded a certain threshold, and all 12 monsters broke out of their stealth state. They then rushed toward me and hit my shield repeatedly with their scythes. After moving in a way so that the Great Earth Hydralisks were all clumped up in one place, I shouted, "Now!" As my HP dropped like a rock, I executed Burning Blade Slash + War Crush. I also executed Myriad Swords Obliteration + Ancient Seal combo¡ªneither skill counted toward the skill combo limit¡ªand flooded the Great Earth Hydralisks in a tide of destructive energy. Lin Yixin and He Yi did as they were told and blasted the monsters with their Divine General Skills. Even the Ice Dragon Kris was spitting flames from above. Right before I was about to die, I shouted, "Beiming!" Beiming Xue immediately canceled her Skypiercer midway and dropped Well of the Abyss, catching me and the 12 Great Earth Basilisks together. I only had 100k+ HP left, so losing 50% of my HP was nothing to me. The Great Earth Basilisks couldn¡¯t claim the same, however. Obviously, they wouldn¡¯t lose as much as 50% of their HP, but it was still a sizable chunk of HP. ¡­¡­ During these 12 seconds, we left the task of sponging the Psychic¡¯s aggro and spells to Lin Yixin¡¯s ice dragon. The poor thing was blasted left and right like a ragged doll even with Murong Mingyue healing it non-stop. "Mingyue, get ready!" He Yi warned as Well of the Abyss almost came to an end. "Mn!" The second I and the Great Earth Basilisks were released from their metaphorical cage, Murong Mingyue waved her scepter and hit me with Greater Heal + Instant Heal + Heal combo. The result was pleasing to say the least¡ª +390202! +142291! +152298! Wonderful! Greater Heal had a long channeling time of 3 seconds, but it was a crit and made it all worth it! After I used Tenacity of the Dead, and my HP blew past the 50% mark, I repeated the same War Crush + Burning Blade Slash combo but used Myriad Swords Obliteration and other skills that didn¡¯t count as combo skills. The resulting devastation aggravated the Great Earth Hydralisks even more than they already were and caused them to pounce on me like crazy. Thud thud... In the end, I wasn¡¯t able to prevent myself from dying and had to revive using the Resurrection Art. The Attack boost jumped from 10% to 20%, but my experience also dropped to just Level 214, 4%. That being said, I could earn it all back as long as I scored the last hit on the boss. ¡­¡­ And so, I paid experience and levels again and again to drop the 12 Great Earth Basilisks to low health. However, their HP was far greater than I imagined, and it took nine freaking Wells of the Abyss to finally delete most of their HP. I died another 3 times during this time, but thankfully, 2 of these deaths triggered Immortality, so discounting the party wipe from earlier, I had only dropped 1 level in total. "It¡¯s time to end this, you shameless worms¡­" I laughed as I placed my index finger and middle finger in front of my forehead and cast Myriad Swords Obliteration. The rain of swords skewered the disgusting bastards, killing 9 of them at the same time and leveling me straight back to Level 215. The other three Great Earth Basilisks were killed by He Yi, Lin Yixin and Beiming Xue, and they were able to earn back their lost experience as well. The floor was littered with equipment, but no one paid attention to them because the boss was still alive. I immediately fired God Binding Art at the Psychic and successfully bound him this time. Considering how ridiculously powerful the summoning spell was, I had good reason to believe that he wouldn¡¯t be able to use it again in a short time. In other words, this was our chance to beat the flying crap out of him and end it once and for all! I force-canceled the Psychic¡¯s Flame Blast with Magic Piercing Punch and treated him to the bone-tingling acid that was Purple Frost Concentration again. Lin Yixin also landed her Extreme Break at a suitable time and enabled us to chip away at his HP massively. Surprisingly, the saddest fuck on this battlefield wasn¡¯t me, but our melee pets such as the Phantom Wolf King and Ironwing Dragon. Again and again we summoned them on cooldown, and again and again, they were wiped out by a casual Galaxy Storm after scoring just a couple of hits. At least the cyan snake sitting on He Yi¡¯s shoulder was leveling quickly. It was almost Level 100 now. ¡­¡­ Even after we murdered the Great Earth Hydralisks, the battle still continued for another 30 minutes. Considering that we were some of the greatest experts in the entire world, it was an amazing feat to say the least. This Psychic was undoubtedly an OP summoner and a hyper-tank in his own right. "Sister He Yi, let Lu Chen score the last hit!" Lin Yixin caught He Yi¡¯s arm and pulled her to the back. While they were pulling away to safety, I luckily triggered the 7-second stun of my necklace again and the septuple damage of the Purple Ying Sword. Since I had slapped Pardon on the boss beforehand, my basic attack did over 1 million damage and deleted the final sliver of his HP. "Ah! Maybe I was wrong, youngsters. You are all very powerful. May you survive the president¡¯s blade¡­" The great mage gave us his final blessings as he slowly dropped to his knees. ¡­¡­ A wave of exhaustion washed over me. This boss was way too tiring to kill. I sat on the rock smithereens next to the boss''s body and stabbed my sword to the ground. Gritting my teeth, I said, "If this is how strong the second boss is, I don¡¯t even want to think about the Sword Saint that is our third and final boss¡­ it may take us three party wipes at least to beat it¡­" He Yi smiled. "As long as we beat the instance, then it¡¯s still okay. Let¡¯s check out the loot, shall we?" "Yeah!" I flipped the boss around to gather the loot, and just as I thought, he dropped fiery war boots and fiery legguards. They were both S3 set pieces and exactly the parts He Yi was lacking. My 78 Luck was just too good. I passed them all to He Yi and said smilingly, "Four down, one more to go! Put them on, Eve!" "Mn!" Besides that, the boss also dropped two S3 leather-armor wristguards and boots. I gave them all to Beiming Xue. Assuming that we were lucky, we might even be able to gather a full S3 sets of both leather and metal armors. That would truly be the perfect ending to this instance run. The fifth and final equipment drop was a pair of S3 mage wristguards which we gave Murong Mingyue. It didn¡¯t really suit her class, but it was better than nothing... ¡­¡­ It took He Yi only a couple of seconds to put on her equipment. She was only lacking the S3 chest armor now. Speaking of chest armor, the one she was currently wearing outlined her amazing breasts well and made them look like they were about to spill out of their trappings. The patterns running along her thin waist, the cloak flapping behind her back and more all came together to give her the look of a war goddess of fire. She would only look even more beautiful and heroic once we gathered the full S3 set. "Can you show us the S3 set effects, Sister Eve?" Lin Yixin asked while wrapping an arm across the guild leader¡¯s shoulders affectionately. "Sure." He Yi waved her hand once, and a hologram appeared before all of us¡ª Martial God Metal Armor Set Attributes: 1 piece: None 2 pieces: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 70% (Active) 3 pieces: Increases user¡¯s physical attack power by 50%, and attack speed by 40% (Active) 4 pieces: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 125%, and max HP by 110000 (Active) 5 pieces: Martial God Transformation. Transform into the Martial God for 120 seconds. Increases user¡¯s Attack by 120%, grants 45% armor penetration, all attacks gain 75% splash effect, and grants 35% chance to dodge all physical attacks (Not Active) ¡­¡­ Everyone¡¯s eyes were red with envy. As expected of the S3 set, its complete effects weren¡¯t too far behind even my current equipment. "Your max HP is now over 1 million now, right Eve?" I asked. "Yep!" She nodded smilingly. "With Royal Road and the Fire War God Card, that¡¯s 1.18 million HP to be exact." Lin Yixin giggled. "Our chances of killing the third boss just grew a lot higher!" "Yeah, let¡¯s go let¡¯s go! It¡¯s time to impregnate that bitch¡­" I said excitedly while pointing at the final area of War God Academy, the Sword Saint Academy. ¡­¡­ All the girls turned to stare at me. "What¡¯s with this sudden burst of excitement?" Murong Mingyue even said, "Impregnate? You sure you have the courage to impregnate anything?" I grinned widely. "That depends on the person, obviously¡­" Murong Mingyue instinctively looked at Lin Yixin and He Yi, and both girls shot her a murderous glare. "What are you looking at, huh!?" The priest shuddered. "Nothing. Let¡¯s go kill the final boss already!" ¡­¡­ The sun was setting in the sky. Finally, the last leg of our S3 journey had begun. Chapter 1150: The Legendary Sword Saint Sword Saint Academy, the last area of the War God Academy. Whoosh whoosh... It felt as if there were sword auras mixed within the warm wind because my face hurt every time a gust blew against my skin. A bunch of tightly-packed training grounds appeared before our eyes again as we walked across the leaf-covered floor and decrepit buildings. I smiled because it meant that we would get to grind a ton of ¡°buffer¡± experience to lose when we fought the final boss later. Compared to other parties, we were far more composed because we were mentally prepared to drop levels from the start. In fact, if the Sword Saint turned out to be weaker than expected and failed to kill us, we might even be disappointed enough to Leeroy Jenkins it. ¡­¡­ ¡°Is this the extent of your high-rank Fire Sword Art? Hah!¡± On a training ground, an armored youngster with blood-red hair was swinging around his sword and laughing at the student in front of him. ¡°Have the instructions our teachers left you all turned to the sweet whisperings of young wives? Where is your power, Naik? You are ridiculous. Do you really think you have any chance chasing after our academy¡¯s prettiest and strongest female student as you are right now?¡± Enraged, the other student lowered his center of gravity and abruptly rammed into the redhead¡¯s waist. ¡°Wild Collision! I¡¯ll show you that I have other consummate skills besides my sexual skills¡­¡± ¡°Before that, how about you try harder, you trash!¡± shouted the redhead and brought his sword down, ruthlessly crushing the other student¡¯s back with his sword¡¯s pommel. ¡­¡­ For a time, we felt as confused as the chaos that was happening on the training ground right now. That being said, none of these melodramatic bullshit had anything to do with us. Our goal was to defeat the final boss of War God Academy, the Sword Saint president who also wielded the Guardian Blade. Becoming the first party to defeat the S3 instance and nabbing the Guardian Blade from his cold, undead hands was why we came here! ¡°Time to grind¡­¡± Lin Yixin said, ¡°These undead are all advanced students, and they¡¯re Level 260 heavy-armor monsters who can use all the common skills of the fighter classes, including Barrier Break. No matter how strong our Defense is, Barrier Break will still be able to pierce it. Have you decided on the method to grind this, Lu Chen? Do we kill them one by one, or do we AoE them?¡± I clenched my fists. ¡°We AoE them, of course. We¡¯ve been online for ten hours or so, and we have to log out eventually. Let¡¯s finish this instance in four hours, log out, rest for a bit, and turn in our quest later!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡­¡­ Clad in almost a full set of S3 equipment, He Yi moved to a corner of the map and pointed left and right with her thumb. ¡°This place seems like a good choke point. It allows us to go all out while minimizing the amount of damage we take at the same time¡­¡± I smiled. ¡°Very well. Get into position while I aggro the mobs!¡± ¡°Mn!¡± The girls did as I said and saved some space for me. I flew toward the undead students and aggroed them all; exploiting my speed advantage to zigzag between them without getting caught. Very soon, The 400+ advanced senior brothers and senior sisters on this training ground were chasing after my back screaming bloody murder. Their Attack, Defense and other stats were higher, but their experience yield was generous as well. Very few leveling maps outside this instance had Level 260 fiend-rank monsters, so this wasn¡¯t an opportunity we could afford to miss. Almost all of the resources in Dragonbone Mountain Range had been excavated, and it was confirmed that the monsters at its highest peak were only Level 255. Moreover, it took two whole hours just to get there on foot. No one without a mount would bother to make the trip. After I returned to the girls, I directed the Ancient Divine Dragon to squeeze into the space between Lin Yixin and He Yi. Then, I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and said, "Let¡¯s go! Don¡¯t hold back on my account!" Both of them smiled and unleashed their Ice Flame Slash and Godslaying Blade before the monsters even got close. I also executed Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash combo that froze many of the students in place, allowing me to follow up with Myriad Swords Obliteration. A ton of 150k+ damage numbers immediately rose above their heads. With damage like this, it was no wonder that the girls treated me like their must-have talisman in grinding! ¡­¡­ "Your death is upon you, you damned adventurers! In the name of the elite warriors of the empire, I declare that your time to die is now! Perish!" The students wore brutal expressions as they kicked off their assault with the skill we feared the most, Barrier Break. The skill was just too good at armor penetration, and even with our Defense we still lost almost 100k HP with every slash. This time, Murong Mingyue was the most stressed player of us all. She had to keep us all alive with AoE healing spells and refresh the Pool of Life beneath our feet from time to time. "Gulp!" Lin Yixin and I happened to gulp down a potion at the same time. The enemy¡¯s DPS was too high to leave all the healing to Murong Mingyue. Otherwise, we would wipe before we even meet the final boss. When the fight was over, everyone at the frontline was left with HPs of various shades of yellow and red. It was a terrible experience to say the least. The good news was that the 500+ Level 260 fiend-rank mobs we cut down more than made up for the experience we lost during the second boss fight and even pushed me close to Level 216. Swhoosh swhoosh! Beiming Xue and Lin Yixin had leveled up to Level 212 as well. This instance was truly an experience gold mine. The girls were still smiling from ear to ear after we swept the loot on the floor and moved on to the next training ground. The experience we got was amazing. Eternal Moon Corporation was as cunning as ever. By making Ochil, a super powerful boss, the boss of the first map, they were able to wreck 99.9% of the parties who tried to challenge this instance and keep them away from the experience feast that was the third area. At the current stage of the game, only a handful of the strongest players in the world would ever get to enjoy this. ¡­¡­ While grinding, I asked the girls, "By the way, how is Warsky¡¯s run going? Did anyone outside see anything?" He Yi giggled. "They did, in fact. Chaos Moon just said in the guild channel that she saw Warsky, Song of Ice and Fire and God Bone corpse-running repeatedly like they¡¯re in a relay race. No one knows how many times they¡¯ve been party-wiped, but it is said that they still haven¡¯t gotten past Ochil. Ochil¡¯s attack power was so high that they just couldn¡¯t live long enough to defeat the boss no matter what they tried. And after all the tanks had died, there was nothing Ringwraith and the priest could do except wait for Ochil to end them." I shook my head. "Poor fellows. Their priest is so much weaker than sis that it¡¯s not even funny." Murong Mingyue waved her scepter. "That¡¯s one factor, sure, but their biggest problem was that they lacked an absolutely broken player with super-high Defense and over 1 million HP like Lu Chen. Honestly, Ochil was almost easy with you as the MT¡ªalthough your deaths in the hands of the Psychic could only be described as shameful, of course¡­" Me: "You do know that you can live without taking a dig at me, right?" Beiming Xue said, "Okay, enough chit-chat. We still have a ton of monsters to grind. At this rate though, Warsky¡¯s party probably won¡¯t be able to beat Ochil even after we beat this instance. They may even give up before the day is over because they still need to do their eighth promotion quests. The top two players of the Korea server have already undergone their class promotions, so they can¡¯t fall behind even for a bet¡­" "That¡¯s true." ¡­¡­ Pop pop! Sometimes the mobs would drop a kind of golden card when they died. Brave General Card: Increases user''s Attack by 50%, and attack speed by 25%. Duration: 120 minutes. It was purely a grinding card, and it dropped fairly frequently because all of our damage dealers had high Luck. We were all participants of various super competitions with Luck rewards such as the WEL after all. More importantly, card items were not one of the items that automatically bound to a player upon pick-up, meaning that we could sell them at the market when we went out. This meant that the cards were our most profitable reward of this instance. The Brave General Card could be sold for 100 gold at least, and there were many small guilds that would purchase cards like these in bulk when they were planning to defeat a boss or clear an A Rank instance. Almost a year had passed since the opening of the servers, and players were still pouring into into the game. Countless financial groups and trust fund babies had become consumers of Heavenblessed as well. They must if they wished to invest in the game and establish gaming legends like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and Candle Dragon. The good news was that people like them were never afraid to spend money, and top players like us got to benefit of of it. Almost 4 hours of grinding later, we finally wiped out the last monster on the last area. After that, the only area we hadn¡¯t explored was the backyard of the academy; a hill that was covered in swords. There was a single cobblestone road between the swords leading toward the distance. This backyard was almost certainly where the strongest Sword Saint of legends and the president of War God Academy lived. ¡­¡­ Surprisingly, the backyard was quiet and almost relaxed compared to the training grounds. We took our time as we walked along the path toward god-knows-where. I kept Dark Pupils active and kept a watchful eye on our surroundings, but couldn¡¯t find a red dot anywhere. If the Sword Saint was hiding somewhere near, my Dark Pupils weren¡¯t seeing it. "Where¡¯s the boss?" Murong Mingyue asked suddenly. Beiming Xue pointed to the distance. "Maybe he¡¯s in that small house?" "Holy shit, I didn¡¯t even see it¡­" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin suggested, "Should I head over and take a look?" "Yeah, sure. Be careful!" "Relax. There¡¯s no boss in the world that can one-shot, is there?" "That¡¯s true¡­" And so, Lin Yixin slowly approached the small house with her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword at the ready. However, right before she was going to push the door open, an abnormally strong wind suddenly pushed her and her mount backward. "What¡ª?" Before I could finish my sentence, a cold light suddenly flashed out of the building and slashed Lin Yixin right across the chest armor. At the same time, a huge damage number rose above her head¡ª 978824! It was a critical hit! ¡­¡­ Thud! Lin Yixin slowly fell off her mount, transformed into a soul and returned to the graveyard. "What the fuck???" I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and swore, "What the fuck is that thing? I can¡¯t believe it actually one-shot Yiyi!" I threw my sword at the small house using Coiling Dragon Revolution! Boom! The spinning weapon pierced the house, but instead of the usual sound of metal sinking into flesh, I heard a metallic ping and saw my blade being bounced back toward me. The next moment, a white-bearded old man wearing a white robe jumped into the sky, stayed there and glared at us furiously, "Have you come to die, adventurers of the future generations?" Chapter 1151: Battle Astral Wind "What the hell happened¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s dumbfounded voice came from the party channel. I replied in a quiet voice, "We¡¯ll keep the boss busy, but I don¡¯t know how long we¡¯ll last, so revive as soon as you can, Yiyi. This Sword Saint is no joke¡­" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ A small but sinister smile appeared on the Sword Saint¡¯s face as swirls of true qi spun around him. "Oh, you are definitely stronger than your usual travellers. A Master Swordsman of Death, an elite knight, a strong archer, a powerful priest, and the light wanderer I just killed. It¡¯s unfortunate that you¡¯re still not strong enough to fight against me!" I gritted my teeth and said in a quiet voice again, "I¡¯ll try to pin him down with the apparition and the Phantom Wolf King. Beiming, prepare your Shock Arrow and try to stun him. We¡¯ll have to fight this the smart way, or this won¡¯t end well for us." "Mn!" My dragon-riding apparition and my little wolf charged toward the Sword Saint at the same time. I tried scanning the Sword Saint¡¯s stats with Dark Pupils, but, unsurprisingly, most of them were hidden¡ª Dylan the Sword Saint (Ancient Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 265 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: The strongest expert in the history of War God Academy, Dylan was an orphan until he was taken in by the strongest swordmaster of the empire when he was four years old. As it turned out, his talent for martial arts was borderline supernatural. He became a Great Earth Swordsman at the age of 7, a Sky Swordsman at the age of 12, entered the Star Realm at the age of 17, and became the Sword Saint of Stars before he was 20. To this day, Dylan¡¯s achievements remain unsurpassed by anyone. After Lin Na the Purgatory Sovereign personally traveled to the War God Academy and destroyed it with his own hands, Dylan¡¯s refusal to succumb to death caused him to transform into an undead. Today, his mind only has room for carnage and vengeance. ¡­¡­ I took control of all three characters at once and made my apparition fire a sword aura at the Sword Saint! Pu! Unfortunately, the attack was dispelled by some sort of invisible astral wind right as it was about to touch Dylan¡¯s skin. It failed to do even the tiniest amount of damage. "Die!" Dylan let out a furious roar before rushing toward the apparition like lightning. He retaliated with a fiery triple-hit flurry combo and dealt an insane amount of damage¡ª 398821! 492282! 612677! ¡­¡­ One more basic attack later, the apparition with almost 1.5 million HP died just like that. I almost couldn¡¯t believe that Dylan the Sword Saint had almost one-shot my apparition with my signature move, Burning Blade Slash. I thought I was the only one in the world to possess this powerful skill! The apparition¡¯s sacrifice wasn¡¯t for nothing, however. I was able to dash behind the boss during this time and execute my strongest combo, Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break. From the beginning, Dylan the Sword Saint made fully clear that we either go all-out against him, or die. Unfortunately, not only did all four skills result in a miss, I finally noticed this line in the combat log: Your "Burning Blade Slash" has been nullified by Dylan the Sword Saint¡¯s Battle Astral Wind. Battle Astral Wind has dropped to 97% durability! Cold sweat spilled out of every pore of my body. 97% durability after a goddamn Burning Blade Slash? What the hell was this energy shield made of? Are you sure that you didn¡¯t overtune this to hell and back, devs? Thud! Naturally, Beiming Xue¡¯s Shock Arrow also resulted in a miss. While this was going on, Dylan the Sword Saint laughed maliciously. "Have you realized how powerful my martial arts are, children of the future generation? Surrender and let me wet this drying land with your blood, hahaha! Now that I think about it, it¡¯s been several hundred years since it rained, hasn¡¯t it? I supposed that makes you the rainmaker of our academy¡­" "Your sister¡¯s a rainmaker!" I uttered while backing away from the boss and throwing my weapon at him again. Just like before, his Battle Astral Wind stopped my Coiling Dragon Revolution from advancing and blocked it completely. Until we destroyed it, we couldn¡¯t harm even a hair on the boss''s body! Thud! As the Ancient Divine Dragon clung firmly to the ground, I placed my fingers in front of my forehead and cast Myriad Swords Obliteration, riddling the boss with a seemingly infinite amount of swords. Not done yet, I pressed my palm to the ground and cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon, battering his Battle Astral Wind even further. Destroying his shield as soon as possible was our only chance at winning this! Dylan simply laughed as Myriad Swords Obliteration smashed harmlessly against his skin. He jumped into the air and brought his sword down on my head, "Still not giving up yet, boy?" I remained cool-headed despite the massive pressure I was facing right now. I knew that panicking would only make things even worse than they already were. I brought my sword upward from a 30-degree angle, and the moment contact was made, excruciating pain immediately erupted from my arm. I managed to push Dylan the Sword Saint¡¯s fatal strike away, but I still took almost 200k HP damage. While the boss was open, I fired Dragon Slaying Slash straight at his head. "Hahaha¡­" Laughing like a madman and crushing a pebble beneath his feet as he landed, Dylan the Sword Saint abruptly tossed his sword at me while shouting, "Manipulating the sword with qi! Eat this!" The Guardian Blade started spinning madly and turning into a storm of blades very much like my Coiling Dragon Revolution. If I didn¡¯t parry this properly, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if it dealt at least 400k damage to me! That would be unacceptable! I lowered my center of gravity slightly and raised the Dragon God Shield. I also placed my sword in front of it for maximum effect! Bang! The resulting impact sent me and my dragon staggering toward the back. Blood was literally dripping down my arm too. Heavens, just how much Attack did this Dylan possess? It was a successful parry, but the skill still shattered my defense and dealt 270k+ damage to me! Behind me, Murong Mingyue cried while healing me, "Be careful, Lu Chen!" He Yi said while looking for a good angle of attack angle, "See if you can find a way to pierce his Battle Astral Wind and attack his true body directly, Lu Chen! It may be faster than just whittling it down bit by bit! At this rate, we¡¯re all going to die before we even breach his Battle Astral Wind!" "Understood. Keep me healed, sis!" I swallowed Saint Spirit Potion and rushed straight toward the boss. My turn! "Are you this desperate for death, child?!" The Sword Saint¡¯s eyes widened as if he couldn¡¯t believe my foolishness. Laughing like a madman again, he abruptly brought his left index finger and middle finger to his forehead and surrounded himself in a cyclone of power qi. I recognized this, of course. It was none other than Myriad Swords Obliteration. Dylan the Sword Saint¡¯s path of cultivation was identical to mine in the sense that we both cultivated the path of the master swordsman. It was why even our skills were so similar to one another¡¯s. My eyes lit up. Seeing as our path of cultivation was similar, was there a chance that I could learn this Battle Astral Wind? If I could, then it was like having a shroud of invincibility, but one that lasted for longer than the usual invincibility skill. No one would be able to rival me anymore... I dashed even faster toward the Sword Saint and surrounded my left fist with a cyclone of blood-red energy. I punched him squarely in the chest using Magic Piercing Punch, but the skill had failed to cancel his Myriad Swords Obliteration. This meant that I would have to eat his skill head-on. Thud thud thud! The swords pierced through my body an inflicted a massive amount of pain and damage¡ª 771982! This is bad! The motherfucker actually scored a critical hit on me! I swore inside my head as I followed up with Purple Frost Concentration. Pu! A miracle happened. The skill actually pierced through the Battle Astral Wind, pierced into his body and reduced his Defense! This meant that Purple Frost Concentration, and similar armor break skills, were the counter to his Battle Astral Wind! The boss''s Defense dropped by 26.4%, and the Battle Astral Wind lost a ton of durability all of a sudden. Not only that, Beiming Xue¡¯s Spiraling Arrow Blade, Skypiercer, Evil Spirit Volley and more suddenly did a lot more durability damage to the Battle Astral Wind than before! "Well done!" He Yi praised while rushing in from the right and executing Barrier Break + Purgatory of Ice and Magma combo. All six hits pierced through the Battle Astral Wind somewhat and dealt a negligible amount of damage to the boss. Still, that the attacks went through at all meant that we had finally found a realistic way to beat Dylan. Purple Frost Concentration had turned what had seemed like a near invulnerability into a moderate annoyance. ¡­¡­ "Die!" Dylan shouted and abruptly thrust his sword sideways, stabbing through He Yi¡¯s shield and dealing over 900k damage to her. It was again a critical hit! He Yi had four pieces of the S3 set right now, and she still lost almost all her HP! "Back up, Eve!" I hurriedly blocked in front of the boss while using War Crush, drawing the boss to myself to cover her retreat. My high HP and high Defense showed their true value in this moment. I was the only one here who could tank the boss head-on. ¡­¡­ The beating I suffered for the next couple of minutes could only be described as inhuman and brutal. My shield and armor were all blemished and crumpled in some places, and Dylan the Sword Saint showed no signs of stopping his attack anytime soon. It wasn¡¯t just my HP that I needed to worry about, the sword auras he fired dealt an unbelievable amount of durability damage as well. In less than three minutes, all my equipment had lost at least 5% of their durability. If this continued, I would be naked in less than an hour. Speaking of HP, I kept lingering around the 40% mark. It was entirely possible that I could die to a random critical hit. If not for Beiming Xue¡¯s Ice Soul triggering its freezing effects from time to time and buying me time to heal, I certainly would¡¯ve died already. "Die, boy!" Again he used Burning Blade Slash, but unlike the previous times it critted twice in a row and dropped me to my knees. I knew I shouldn¡¯t have jinxed it! After I revived myself with Resurrection Art, I immediately engaged the boss again. It took a while, but finally Dylan the Sword Saint¡¯s Battle Astral Wind made some rustling noises and dissipated completely. We could finally damage him directly! Pa! Beiming Xue landed a Shock Arrow at the perfect moment and stunned Dylan. Not far away, a gorgeous woman abruptly dashed in like lightning and stunned the Sword Saint for a second time as well. Lin Yixin said with a smile, "I¡¯m back!" ¡­¡­ "And thank heavens for that! We were this close to being party-wiped! Don¡¯t let him one-shot you again!" "Mn!" Lin Yixin pulled out her Mow Fireblade, shredded the boss''s Defense to pieces, and pulled away like a silver fox. She gave the boss very little chance to attack her. Chapter 1152: Dream Come True The battle lasted for two whole hours. Our super party was wiped 4 times in total¡ªthat was two levels lost across the board¡ªwhich was an unprecedented number of deaths for this party since the beginning of Heavenblessed. There were several factors that contributed to those deaths. For starters, Dylan the Sword Saint had casted Battle Astral Wind three times in total during this time, meaning that the skill probably had a 30-minute cooldown. Next, the boss had a skill that allowed him to enter a berserk state, and absolutely no one had the power to stop him until he was done rampaging, not even me. Speaking of me, I had died at least 7 or 8 times to the boss because I was the MT. I had dropped from Level 216 all the way down to Level 213. ¡­¡­ "The boss only has 1% HP left now. Are you ready?" Lin Yixin asked. I nodded. "Yeah. I need this last hit after all the levels I lost, this goddamned S3 instance¡­" "Mn!" Lin Yixin and He Yi backed away while I continued to duke it out with Dylan. Three to five basic attacks later, I unleashed a Rise of the Guardian Dragon combo and finally managed to land the killing blow. As Dylan the Sword Saint slowly dropped to his knees, he said in a very reluctant tone, "Ahhhh! You are strong, adventurers of the future generations, but you won only because you fought me as a group. You would never have won if this was a one-on-one fight¡­ The Guardian Blade is yours now. I hope that you¡¯ll be able to find a fitting master for it¡­" Pop! The sword he was holding, the quest item "Guardian Blade", fell out of his hands after that. Of course, he also dropped a ton of equipment and items. We were overjoyed, of course. How good was the loot of a Level 265 Ancient Immortal Rank boss? We didn¡¯t know yet, but the answer could only be ¡®yes¡¯. At the same time, a column of golden light enveloped me and returned me to Level 215, thank the heavens. For me at least, this journey had been a roller coaster for my levels from the start until the end! Pa! I stabbed my sword diagonally against the ground and inspected the equipment surrounding Dylan the Sword Saint on one knee. It was my way to pay respect to the ancient and powerful expert. Dylan dropped five pieces of equipment in total: a fiery red chest armor that was almost certainly the last piece of S3 equipment He Yi was missing, the Martial God Armor; two pieces of leather armor and two pieces of cloth armor. Unless I was mistaken, they were all parts of the S3 set. Generally speaking, instances dropped instance-exclusive equipment only. Lin Yixin¡¯s Mow Fireblade was an exception to the rule, not the norm. I picked up the chess armor and waved my hand over it. As expected¡ª Martial God Armor (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 8900 Magic Resist: 7550 Strength: +1050 Stamina: +1000 Agility: +995 Tactics: +120 Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 50000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 45% Slots: 14 Outstanding Property: Martial God. Increases user¡¯s Attack by 18%. Introduction: The War God Academy is a legend of ancient times, and its president was a master martial artist renowned for his strength. After many years of cultivation, the president explored the world in search for a kind of special metal before giving it to a divine smith. That is how the Martial God set came to be. It is said that the person wearing the Martial God set will gain protection of the gods. Level Requirement: 200 Reputation Requirement: 400000 Class Requirement: Fighter ¡­¡­ "It is ready! Haha¡­" I passed the Martial God Armor to He Yi while smiling. Clink! Flames gushed out of my beautiful guild leader¡¯s body the moment she put on the final piece of her set. At the same time, a milky white luster rippled across the surface of the battle armor. It was most likely the S3 set¡¯s unique luster. The set looked incredibly elegant on a female player, which was a great fit with He Yi¡¯s mature aura. Her smile especially was charming and intoxicating in a way that a little girl could never hope to match. The other four items were split between Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue as a matter of course. With the amount of pieces they had currently gathered, it wasn¡¯t good enough for them to switch out their current equipment yet. Therefore, they would have to wait until another S3 run and hopefully collect all the pieces they needed. However, Murong Mingyue might not change out her equipment even after she gathered a full S3 cloth-armor set because the set was designed for the other cloth-armor class, Mage, and increased magic attack power instead of healing effectiveness. It truly was a tragedy for the Priest class to have no viable sets. "Look at this, a skill book¡­" said Lin Yixin smilingly while holding up a skill book. It looked dusty and ancient, but the bamboo green luster rippling across its surface suggested that it was anything but that! "Show us what it is," I said. "Okay." When she brushed the surface of the skill book with her fingers and brought up its stats screen, my heart nearly came to a sudden stop¡ª Battle Astral Wind: Divine Rank skill book. Conjure astral wind infused with battle qi to protect yourself from harm. The durability of the astral wind scales with player¡¯s Attack. Level Requirement: 210. Class Requirement: Master Swordsman. Cost: 100000 Reputation and 100000 gold. My eyes turned round. "OMG, is it¡­ is it really the Battle Astral Wind? My eyes aren¡¯t playing tricks on me, are they? Holy shit, it really is that super OP defensive skill¡­¡± Lin Yixin smiled sweetly as she nodded. "Yep, it¡¯s that skill that tortured the hell out of you, Battle Astral Wind. Even better, its class requirement is Master Swordsman, and neither mine nor Sister Eve¡¯s eighth-promotion classes fall under that category. You¡¯re the only one who can learn this, so rejoice, Little Cheat!" Battle Astral Wind massively improved my survivability on all fronts. To give an example, my Ghost Deity Armor, Lin Yixin¡¯s Profound Ice Armor and He Yi¡¯s Rock Shield would die from shame if they had a mind of their own. Obviously, this had everything to do with my massive amount of Luck! "What¡¯s wrong? Aren¡¯t you happy?" He Yi said while smiling at me. "It¡¯s an incredible skill book¡­" It wasn¡¯t that I wasn¡¯t happy, but because my brain couldn¡¯t catch up to sheer fortune that had just landed in my lap. About half a minute later, I finally returned to myself and suddenly wrapped my arms around Lin Yixin in a bear hug. I gave both her and He Yi a wet kiss on the cheek before laughing like crazy, "You could ask, and I still won¡¯t give this skill book to anyone! Finally, I don¡¯t need to worry about being hunted by Breeze and Rain and God of War in the foreign lands anymore, hahahahahahahaha¡­" While the two girls froze like a statue, Beiming Xue chuckled and said, "Did big brother eat a bear¡¯s gall today? I can¡¯t believe he kissed both of them in a row!" Murong Mingyue pouted. "Just two? If he really had balls he¡¯d make 4 kisses¡ª" Before she could finish, I kissed the Battle Astral Wind skill book twice and shut her up. Murong Mingyue: "Fuck¡­" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The skill book turned into a ray of bamboo green light and seeped into my body. A moment later, I activated the super skill that had appeared in my skill window¡ª Beep! Combat Log: You have activated the skill "Battle Astral Wind¡±. The durability of "Battle Astral Wind" is set to 123850 based on your current Attack! ¡­¡­ I made a quick calculation. It was exactly 5 times my max Attack! Astral wind and battle qi immediately surrounded my body. I could literally feel the energy protecting my body like some sort of divine armor. I slapped my chest confidently and said to Lin Yixin, "Hit me, Yiyi!" "Sure!" Lin Yixin smirked as she changed her attack mode to free for all. Then, she hit me right on top of my head with Ice Flame Slash! Boom! Combat Log: Player "Wind Fantasy" has attacked you. Their attack has been canceled by Battle Astral Wind. Battle Astral Wind loses 7% durability! ¡­¡­ Er, huh. It wasn¡¯t as powerful as I thought it would be. Still, it would take a lot of hits for even a player at Lin Yixin¡¯s level to breach my Battle Astral Wind, so I should be fine unless I went up against an entire army alone. Moreover, this Battle Astral Wind was like a permanent invincibility skill in 1v1s! There was no more loot that was worth mentioning, so we simply split the random magic stones et cetera among ourselves and picked up the Guardian Blade. Five minutes later, the system automatically teleported us out of the instance. Swhoosh! We appeared at the entrance of the instance where the meeting stone was, and it just so happened that Warsky, Song of Ice and Fire and the rest of his party were running out of the instance. October Rain, Song of Cloud and Water, Farewell Song and the rest of the gang were present as well. They looked like they were ready to head home or something. ¡­¡­ I spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon toward Warsky and greeted him with a smile, "Remember our bet, Warsky?" The guy shivered from head to toe before checking out my level. "It can¡¯t be! Your level¡¯s almost the same as before!" I smiled even wider. "That¡¯s right, we¡¯ve cleared the S3 instance. If you don¡¯t believe me, you¡¯ll soon hear a system announcement saying that we¡¯re the first to defeat the S3 instance after we turn in our quest. What¡¯s your progress, by the way?" October Rain shrugged. "What else were you expecting? They¡¯re still stuck on the first boss Ochil, and they¡¯ve been killed around 7 or 8 times already. We were just planning to head back to A6 and grind back all those levels they lost. After all, it¡¯s more important to hit the eighth class promotion¡­" Warsky still looked like he couldn¡¯t believe us. "Did you really beat the S3 instance? God dammit, I just can¡¯t accept that¡­" I turned around and put an arm across He Yi¡¯s shoulders. "See this? This is the S3 set. It¡¯s pretty, isn¡¯t it?" "OMG, it really is the S3 Immortal-grade set¡­" Warsky wailed. A milky sheen rippled across the elegant red armor. It looked so beautiful that even October Rain couldn¡¯t help her mouth from falling open. "Wow, the female version of this S3 set really is gorgeous. I should¡¯ve made a warrior account instead¡­" I shrugged once before saying, "Now then, you won¡¯t renege on your bet, right Warsky? I expect you to head back to Warsky City and transport those resources to my Dark Moon City now. Send us a message when your resource carts exit your city, by the way. I¡¯ll ask Xu Yang to escort them¡­" Warsky clenched his fists. "Fuck me! Oh well, a bet is a bet. I¡¯ll start now, but it¡¯ll still take until tomorrow morning to prepare all these resources, so I¡¯ll send you a message then. You don¡¯t need to send your troops over though. It¡¯s not like there¡¯s anyone who would dare to rob our resources in our domain." I chuckled. "It¡¯s not like I don¡¯t trust you, but we¡¯re the ones who stand to lose here if something does happen to the resources. Just let my Dragonlight Cavalry escort them¡­" "Whatever. Anyway¡­ did you really beat the S3 instance?" "Oh fuck off already" "..." ¡­¡­ Warsky and Soul Battle Robes left after their catastrophic, broken-halberd-sinks-into-sand levels of failure to clear the S3 instance. The girls and I returned to the camp to log off and eat a full meal before we turned in the quest. We were both starving and exhausted after the grueling session. Chapter 1153: I Have a Long Tongue At a small restaurant of Bagua City, I said with flatbread between my teeth, "I miss the buffet restaurant of Suzhou so much. It¡¯s the only place I can walk in and out of the restaurant while hugging the walls for support. This city is fine, but I just cannot relive that experience¡­" Lin Yixin said smilingly, "You shouldn¡¯t eat like that anyway. It¡¯s bad for your health to binge eat after starving for a long period of time. Here, drink some porridge. If you want to eat Suzhou¡¯s food so bad, we can fly back in a couple of days. Also, we should go to bed after we turn in our quest." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ It was past 9 pm when we returned to the hotel. I immediately logged into the game and got ready to turn in my quest. I waited at Black Cavalry Battalion Scout Camp for a couple of minutes as He Yi, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue all came online one after another as well. After all five of us had assembled, He Yi asked, "How do you plan to return to Sky City, Lu Chen?" I replied smilingly, "I¡¯ll descend on the royal palace directly. It should take me around 20 minutes at most. You girls should use your return scrolls of course!" "Okay. We¡¯ll wait for you at the palace entrance then!" "Okay!" I couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit bitter as I watched the girls crush their scrolls in their hands, however. Thanks to my status as an unaffiliated player, it had been a long while since I enjoyed the sensation of being pulled into a magical wormhole and spat out in a completely different location... After the girls were gone, I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and buffed myself with Wild Roar. I was in the middle of a hostile territory right now. My enemy wouldn¡¯t hesitate to kill me if I let my guard down now. Before I could take off though, Hickey suddenly rushed over and grabbed the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s lamp vine with a pout. "Hey boss!" "Yes, Hickey?" "Where are you going?" I¡¯m heading to Sky City to turn in the quest item I got from the S3 instance and earn some experience. What¡¯s wrong? Did something happen?" Hickey relaxed before replying smilingly, "It¡¯s nothing. I just¡­ thought that you were going to abandon us and leave us to our own devices. Please don¡¯t do that, I promise you we won¡¯t be able to survive this place without you. If that foolish boy withdrew his Dragonlight Cavalry, we would literally be isolated and without help¡­" "Foolish boy?" I thought for a moment before breaking into an involuntary grin. She was most likely talking about Gui Guzi. It was true that Gu Guzi and the tens of thousands elite cavalrymen he commanded were Godkiller¡¯s greatest patrons in Purple Grape City domain. As the representative of the king of guilds of Sky City, he was an obstacle both Purple Grape City¡¯s players and Burning City¡¯s players had to consider before attacking this place. "I¡¯m not leaving, Hickey, so your worry is unnecessary. I¡¯m the one who took you away from Iron Skull Wilderness, so I will take care of you until you¡¯re capable of taking care of yourselves. I promise to give Godkiller the legendary war they need to transform into a true army that no longer has to fear anyone!" "You¡¯re the best, boss, heehee¡­" I curled my lips. "Are you flirting with me right now?" But Hickey didn¡¯t understand the concept of embarrassment, so she replied with a giggle, "If you think so, then sure. Come back soon!" "I will." ¡­¡­ I let out a soft cry and spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon toward the sky. After I entered the clouds, I flew toward the direction of Sky City like a silver meteor. As it turned out, it took less than twenty minutes for me to enter the airspace of Sky City. I descended directly in front of the palace entrance instead of the squares because I was still a red name to all the players of the China server. Many players just naturally hated red names and couldn¡¯t wait to wipe the floor with them, so I would rather not create unnecessary trouble for myself. "Here he comes!" In the shadow of the nearby trees I could see Lin Yixin, He Yi, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue waiting for me without their mounts. The sight of beauties sitting under the tree was quite picturesque. Pa! I jumped down from the dragon¡¯s back and landed firmly on my feet. A wave of my hand later, it transformed into a ray of silver light and returned to my pet space. After all, it would be extremely obnoxious of me to enter the palace while riding the Ancient Divine Dragon. I took the opportunity to check out its level as well. After that mad grind in the S3 instance, the Ancient Divine Dragon had leveled up to an impressive Level 148, and was very close to Level 149. It was only a bit over a level away from reaching its next big power spike, Level 150 adulthood. I couldn¡¯t wait to see its next pleasant surprise for me. "Let¡¯s go!" I took out the Guardian Blade and walked up the stairs with the girls. We traveled straight to the palace hall. Something was happening as we entered the palace hall, however. I saw Princess Karinshan pulling out her sword and stabbing the stone beneath her feet angrily before pointing at a huge iron cage in front of her. She uttered hatefully, "Those goddamned undead! I cannot believe the gall of that wretched Coldblade! I¡­ I will never forgive the Night Legion!" Commander Ziyan consoled her, "Calm down, Your Majesty. Coldblade was hoping that this would unsettle you. If you fall for his ploy and lose control, we may very well lose the war of Bloody Shield Domain." Princess Karinshan sighed before looking at the huge cage again. Inside the cage was a gigantic Death Devil with steel, wing-like spikes growing out of its back. It also had an unusually long¡ªalmost twenty centimeters outside of its mouth¡ªtongue. Crouching on all fours, screaming angrily at Karinshan and slamming against its cage again and again, the Death Devil roared, "I didn¡¯t think a soft and supple woman like you would be able to become army commander, little girl. Why don¡¯t you return to my undead castle with me so I can show you the taste of womanhood on my bone bed?" "Ugh¡­" Karinshan gripped her sword, pulled it out from the bricks and declared sorrowfully, "Uncle Carrian, I¡¯m sorry I couldn¡¯t save you from becoming a puppet of the undead. I¡¯m sorry that the living don¡¯t have a cure for the undead plague even to this day. The only thing I can do¡­ is to end your pain even a moment sooner!" The devil stuck out its long tongue and screeched angrily at Karinshan, "You¡­ you damned bitch! You cannot kill me! Even if you do, I swear I will return, tear your clothes on your throne and teach you the meaning of a fate worse than death! Seriously though, can you not reconsider your decision? I have a long tongue! I can¡ª" Unable to hear this any longer, Karinshan turned her back on the Death Devil and waved tiredly. "Take him away, Ziyan. Have our holy warlocks purify his body. Make it instantaneous if at all possible. I don¡¯t want him to suffer too much pain before he goes¡­" Ziyan nodded before glancing at a group of royal guards. As they lifted the cave to their shoulders, one of them swung his axe handle at the devil and knocked him backward. He swore at it, "How dare you blaspheme our queen, you monster! Take him away¡­" Karinshan frowned but didn¡¯t say anything against it. ¡­¡­ After the interlude was over, I walked toward Princess Karinshan with the Purple Ying Sword in one hand and the Guardian Blade on the other. I greeted her in a solemn tone, "Karinshan!" "Ah?" The depressed Princess Karinshan broke into a smile when she saw that it was me who had called out to her. "You have returned, young warrior. What is it that troubles you this time? Rinser hasn¡¯t given you trouble again, has he?" I smiled. "Of course not. My teacher is a kind and generous elder¡­" He Yi: "Hmph hmph¡­" It was at this moment I raised the Guardian Blade and said to Karinshan, "Do you recognize this artifact, Your Majesty?" "Oh?" Karinshan tilted her head left and right and examined the Guardian Blade for a long time, but couldn¡¯t come up with an answer. "I don¡¯t recognize this object. What is it?" When she touched the weapon¡¯s blade though, she abruptly withdrew her hand and exclaimed in surprise, "Heavens, what an impressive amount of power! Now that I think about it, I think I recognize this totem symbol from somewhere. It¡¯s an ancient symbol from¡­ heavens! The Guardian Blade! This has to be the Guardian Blade, right?" I nodded affirmatively. "That is correct. We have retrieved the Guardian Blade from the War God Academy, and we¡¯ve decided to bring it to you. Do you need it?" Overjoyed, Karinshan grabbed the Guardian Blade immediately and said, "This weapon was forged by an ancient divine smith, and it contains the legendary sacred energy, a power that is absolutely effective against all devils of the dead. It is believed that the Guardian Blade had fallen into hell for eternity with Dylan the Sword Saint, but you have gone and done the impossible! This is wonderful! I was just worrying that I lacked a usable weapon!" I smiled. "As long as it is useful to you, Your Majesty. It means that our efforts haven¡¯t gone to waste after all!" Karinshan immediately understood and smiled wider. "I get your meaning. Come forth, young adventurers. You have accomplished the near impossible and retrieved a legendary divine weapon for the empire. As the master of Sky City, I, Karinshan, shall reward you handsomely for your achievements!" Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, please be informed that players "Wind Fantasy", "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand", "From Water", ¡°Beiming Xue" and "Murong Mingyue" have successfully cleared the S3 instance, "War God Academy¡±. They have also killed Dylan the Sword Saint and retrieved the Guardian Blade. Their rewards are: Luck +3, Level +1, and gold +2000000! ¡­¡­ I broke into a wide smile after I saw the reward. Although the quest hadn¡¯t rewarded me with an Ancient Immortal-grade item or a Divine Armament, 3 Luck and 1 level were still an incredible reward. After all, Luck was the true representation of power and the most important stat in this game. Top-tier equipment naturally came to players with high Luck! Also, the level reward seemed poor for a main quest, but if you looked at our current levels¡ªabove Level 210 across the board¡ªthen you would understand that the system was just taking preventive measures to combat the issue of rampant level inflation. Some players would literally delete their accounts if the system had handed out the usual 2-3 level rewards to players on top of the leaderboard like free candy. After that, Karinshan returned to her throne to play with her new toy. It was time for us to leave. ¡­¡­ He Yi asked me, "What do you plan to do next, Lu Chen? Do you want us to stay with you and clear the A6 and A7 instances as well?" I thought for a moment but turned down the kind offer. "It¡¯s fine. Let¡¯s just wait for next week to grind the S3 instance again. After that, we¡¯ll challenge the S4 instance and gather the Heavenly Melody set for Yiyi!" "Okay. Does that mean you¡¯re returning to Ice River Canton Ruins now?" "Of course. Now is still not the time for me to return to Sky City, not to mention that there are still a couple hundred Godkiller players at Ice River Canton Ruins that I need to feed. You guys should remain in Sky City and work on whatever it is that you need to do. If you need anything from me, feel free to use Yiyi and Chaos Moon as your messengers¡­" "Okay. See you!¡± And so, I stepped out of the royal palace and summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon. I took to the sky after bidding the girls goodbye. Chapter 1154: Obsidian Metal The next morning, I logged into the game and appeared inside my tent at 8 am sharp. I felt much better after a full night¡¯s sleep. Yesterday¡¯s instance was one of the most difficult experiences I had had since the game began, and none of the bosses were pushovers. Having to constantly maintain good positioning, technique, and so on throughout the instance was extremely taxing to say the least. ¡­¡­ As I walked among the Black Cavalry Scout Camp, I noticed that its building layout had changed significantly. The human resource that was Godkiller provided the camp with a steady influx of high-quality resources every day. For example, 10 stones per player every day was enough to turn the camp into a stone fortress with much wider walls. The smithy, potion shop and more had been moved into actual structures and no longer needed to withstand the battering of the elements anymore. Standing in front of me was a tall camp office. I went in to check it out, but there was nothing inside it besides dozens of guards. Curiosity sated, I stepped back out of the building and walked to the smithy. I then passed the Brave General Horseshoe to the sweating, muscular blacksmith and asked him, "Can you identify this for me?" However, the blacksmith took one look at the horseshoe and sneered, "It¡¯s just a piece of trash metal. Why have you brought this to me, young warrior? You¡¯re not looking down on Ula the old blacksmith, are you?" I curled my lips. "My apologies¡­" It was at this moment a beautiful woman carrying a bunch of broken weapons stepped out of the smithy. When she looked up and saw me, she exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "It¡¯s you? Why have you come to the smithy?" I asked her, "I thought you¡¯re an archer, Mona? Why are you forging weapons?" Mona giggled. "It¡¯s simple. I¡¯m both an archer and a famous swordsmith of the empire. What¡¯s wrong? Do I not look like a swordsmith? I¡¯ll have you know that most of the royal guards¡¯ weapons are made by me. Commander Ziyan¡¯s Crimson Flame and Commander Stark¡¯s Black Fire were made by me too¡­" Beside her, the blacksmith greeted her respectfully, "Captain!" Mona gave him a nod of acknowledgment before resuming, "You still haven¡¯t told me why you¡¯ve come to the blacksmith. Wait, have you come to see me in person?" Me: "..." Mona played coy for a couple of seconds until she saw the Brave General Horseshoe on the table. She abruptly snatched it for a closer look while exclaiming in shock, "Ah? Who¡­ who brought this here? Where did it come from?!" The blacksmith looked surprised by his superior¡¯s reaction. "It¡¯s this boy¡¯s trash, actually." "Trash!?" Mona¡¯s eyes widened at her blacksmith¡¯s assessment. "This thing is anything but trash, uncle! This is the legendary Brave General Horseshoe, a must-have accessory for every war mount in ancient times! The reason it is not known by the people today is because both its forging technique and its blueprint have been lost to time. I wouldn¡¯t know of the Brave General Horseshoe myself if my master hadn¡¯t told me about it!" My heart started beating wildly. "Well, I can tell you with certainty that this is definitely a bonafide Brave General Horseshoe. Would you like to research it, Mona? Maybe you can find out how to duplicate it and make more of this stuff for me?" Mona frowned slightly. "I¡­ don¡¯t know if I have the ability to recreate this horseshoe, but I¡¯ll give it a try. Come find me again in an hour. I need to research its forging method and necessary materials first¡­" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I had nothing to do in the meantime, so I exited the camp and took 4 Viking Cavalrymen with me to grind the A4 instance. They didn¡¯t need to do anything besides leeching experience and picking up the equipment. I single-handedly took over the role of main tank, damage dealer, healer and everything else. A bit over an hour later, I successfully gathered the Godkiller¡¯s first ever complete A4 set, delighting the four Viking Cavalrymen to no end. They literally rode around the entire Black Cavalry Scout Camp seven times before they finally calmed down. I went to the smithy again after I returned to the camp. Mona was standing there holding a hammer and tapping the horseshoe I gave her here and there. Seeing as she was sweating like crazy, I tenderly wiped away some of the sweat covering her face before asking, "How did it go, Mona?" Mona smiled. "I¡¯ve redrawn the blueprint for the horseshoe and found out the materials necessary to make it. However, the materials used to produce it are pretty rare, so you¡¯ll have to gather them yourself if you wish to mass-produce them. Is that okay with you?" "Mn. Tell me what I need to gather." "To forge 1 Brave General Horseshoe, you will need 1 Crystal and 10 chunks of Obsidian Metal with quality above 85. The key material here is the Obsidian Metal. If the quality isn¡¯t high enough, the horseshoe that is produced will only be a common horseshoe¡­" "Understood. Will you still be here by the time I return?" "Yes, I¡¯m not going anywhere for the foreseeable future, so you don¡¯t have to worry about me being away from the camp for some business. Now go gather the materials." "Will do!" ¡­¡­ I was brimming with excitement when I exited the camp. Just think of the possibilities! The Brave General Horseshoe was already an incredibly powerful item, but now it had been confirmed that I could mass-produce it! If I could equip every Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalryman with a Brave General Horseshoe, I bet they would be able to 1v10 almost any enemy! I immediately summoned the top players of Godkiller and Gui Guzi over for a meeting. Ten minutes later, Gui Guzi, Hickey, Warscar, Bloodthirsty Demon and everyone else gathered around me at the forest clearing directly in front of Black Cavalry Scout Camp¡¯s entrance. Once everyone was ready, I showed them the stats screen of the first Brave General Horseshoe Mona created. I was satisfied to see everyone¡¯s jaw hitting the floor with a resounding thunk¡ª Brave General Horseshoe: Embed Item Introduction: The Brave General Horseshoe can be slotted into any land mount that is Level 150 or above. Increases all mount stats by 15%. Increases user¡¯s Attack and Defense by 35%, and max HP by 50000. ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi exclaimed with fully round eyes, "Holy shit, where did you get this, Boss Broken Halberd? 15% stats, along with mount tenacity, 35% Attack and Defense, and 50k HP? This is just absolutely bonkers! Is this an extra horseshoe you have no need for? Can I have it?" I shot him a glance. "You really need to think bigger, man. What¡¯s the point if only you grow stronger?" Hickey¡¯s mouth opened even wider. "Wait, wait. Is it just me, or are you suggesting that you have a lot more of these Brave General Horseshoes? Now that¡¯s bonkers!" I nodded affirmatively. "Hehe, that¡¯s right. When the girls and I killed the first boss of War God Academy, we managed to get him to drop this Brave General Horseshoe. After I spoke to Mona, she confirmed that the horseshoe can be mass-produced. Therefore, I¡¯m planning to have all our Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalrymen embed their mounts with the Brave General Horseshoe. It will improve our cavalry¡¯s power by at least 25% and ensure that the Dragonlight Cavalry retains its throne as the strongest cavalry in the world!" Gui Guzi gripped his fists in excitement. "It¡¯s an instance drop? That¡¯s amazing, haha! So, tell us what we need to do to mass-produce this horseshoe already! I¡¯m sure something this good cannot be free." I smiled. "That is correct, we¡¯ll need to gather the materials ourselves. The only reason I managed to get Mona to produce the horseshoe for us and without additional costs is because I had saved her party at Iron Skull Wilderness before. Anyway, the materials to make a Brave General Horseshoe is 1 Crystal and 10 Obsidian Metal above 85 Quality. So? Does anyone have a clue where to get them?" Hickey replied, "Crystals are common materials that are literally sold in this very camp, so that obviously won¡¯t be a problem. I¡¯ve never heard of Obsidian Metal though¡­" Gui Guzi had nothing to offer. Heaven¡¯s Rain, though, raised her hand excitedly and said, "I know, big brother!" I smiled wider. "Oh? Tell us, Little Rain!" "Mn!" She said seriously, "Diamond Dust and I once grinded at the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range close to White Rose Fortress, and we discovered a lot of caves somewhere between White Rose Mountain and Sky Ridge. The map is called Obsidian Cave, and it¡¯s a dozen or so caves with a ton of Obsidian Metal joined together. Even better, the Mining skill isn¡¯t necessary. It can be mined by anyone as long as they have a Mining Pick. However, barely anyone frequents the map and mines them at all because there is no forging recipe that requires it¡­" Overjoyed, I said, "Wonderful! We shall head there right away! Little Gui, I want you to muster 10000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen right away. Hickey, you should muster 10000 Zephyr Cavalry as well. Once everyone has bought a Mining Pick, we¡¯ll travel to Obsidian Cave and mine the Obsidian Metal right away! Hopefully, we¡¯ll be able to forge at least 10000 Brave General Horseshoes in a day to enhance our cavalry!" "Mn!" While saying this, I tossed the Brave General Horseshoe I was currently holding to Gui Guzi so he could use it to upgrade his Dragonscale Beast. The others could wait until later. ¡­¡­ After I bought my Mining Pick at the smithy, I descended on the camp entrance on the Ancient Divine Dragon. After all 20000 cavalrymen had bought their Mining Picks and were ready to go, we let Heaven¡¯s Rain lead the way to Obsidian Cave. The forest was crawling with beast-type monsters, so the players at the forefront switched back to their weapons and cut them all down. We didn¡¯t encounter any notable resistance whatsoever. Half an hour later, we got close enough to Obsidian Cave that I could see it on my map screen. As Heaven¡¯s Rain had mentioned earlier, they were right at the foot of the mountain range. "It¡¯s over there¡­" Heaven¡¯s Rain pointed to the distance. "Alright, let¡¯s go!" I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword. Thanks to Dark Pupils, I could see that there were a couple of red dots inside the caves. They were obviously all monsters. In fact, right as I parted the maple leaves blocking my vision, I saw a group of Greedy Wolves directly ahead of me. "Kill!" Gui Guzi waved his Spear of the Knight God, and his people charged forward to tear the monsters to pieces. The Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s stats were so amazing that the Zephyr Cavalry of Godkiller could only stare at them in shock. It was a given. Thanks to his Knight God and the Spear of the Knight God, he buffed his party members¡¯ Attack and Defense by a whopping 225%. Warscar¡¯s Knight General was nothing compared to that. ¡­¡­ After we arrived, I canceled the Ancient Divine Dragon and entered the caves first. Immediately, Level 245 fiend-rank Cave Bears rushed toward me for invading their home. Of course, they were no threat to us whatsoever. While Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust rushed forward to tear the monsters to pieces, I switched my weapon to the Mining Pick and swung it at a pile of ores growing out of the wall. Pa! System Notice: Congratulations, you have obtained "Obsidian Metal (Quality: 91)" x4! Chapter 1155: You Don’t Kill Messengers I nearly laughed out loud when my first very payout was four chunks of 91 Quality Obsidian Metal. This officially confirmed that our dream of mass-producing the Brave General Horseshoe wasn¡¯t a dream anymore. Pa pa pa! I kept hitting and growing the pile of Obsidian Metals in my bag. My bagspace was big enough that I didn¡¯t have to worry about going overboard, and Obsidian Metal of identical quality could be stacked together. Gui Guzi, Hickey and the others also dismounted, found a spot for themselves and began their mining. For a time, the entire map was ringing with the sound of metal striking against ores and the occasional chatter. It was almost as if we were holding a hero¡¯s mining party at this place. ¡­¡­ Half an hour later, I had gathered over 500 chunks of high-quality Obsidian Metal. I hummed a happy tune while mentally calculating the average amount of Obsidian Metal my people had gathered during this time. Also, Hickey had dispatched a couple of people to purchase Crystal en masse. It wouldn¡¯t be long before we could start forging the Brave General Horseshoes. It was at this moment Gui Guzi suddenly looked up with a deep frown on his face. "Fuck!" "What¡¯s wrong?" I asked. "Something¡¯s going on at White Rose Fortress¡­" "What is it?" "Purple Maple Forest is one of one of the main guilds of Dragons Run Wild. Their guild leader, ¡®Lunatic¡¯ just exited White Rose Fortress with almost 50k cavalry and tens of thousands of backliners. They claim that they¡¯re patrolling the borders of Purple Grape City, but in reality they¡¯re heading straight toward us. I suspect¡­" He clenched his fists as his voice grew more severe, "... that those fuckers from Dragons Run Wild are planning to fuck with us again. That idiot Lunatic is almost certainly going to stop us from mining Obsidian Metal! Purple Maple Forest isn¡¯t a weak guild, so we have to be ready before they arrive!" I nodded. "Heaven¡¯s Rain, you can stop mining now. Take 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen with you, guard the cave entrance, and forbid all strangers from coming inside. If anything big happens, feel free to contact us immediately." "Yessir!" Heaven¡¯s Rain rushed out and summoned her Dragonscale Beast. She left after mustering her party members. ¡­¡­ Less than ten minutes later, the sounds of battle suddenly came from outside. Gui Guzi¡¯s face turned frigid, "Holy shit, shameless fuckers really did attack us! Just how shameless can they get!?" I immediately switched out the Purple Ying Sword and ordered, "We¡¯ll leave 10000 people to continue the mining. The rest of you, follow me to meet the enemy!" "Yessir!" We rushed out of the cave and summoned our mounts. After summoning the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition, I formed a party with 2000 Zephyr Cavalrymen and charged straight toward the forest. I could already see Heaven¡¯s Rain 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen engaging the enemy! Chiang chiang chiang! Heaven¡¯s Rain charged and hacked away at the enemy¡¯s shield, but several thousand Dragonlight Cavalry weren¡¯t enough to break open the enemy¡¯s shield formation. They managed to breach the first defense line, but there was still the second and the third defense line. Moreover, Purple Maple Forest¡¯s mages and priests had arrived just in time to heal their frontliners and drop their Galaxy Storms on our Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Already, Heaven¡¯s Rain was forced to use War God Recovery to keep herself healthy, much less the rest of her party. ¡­¡­ The grassy clearing was completely covered in players. Purple Maple Forest¡¯s mixed cavalrymen were keeping a tight shield formation to keep Heaven¡¯s Rain party from breaking through their ranks. A high-level magic knight with a blade scar on his face and wielding a spear laughed savagely. "Raise shields! Archers, drag the enemy down their horses with Shock Arrows and Mountain Stagger Arrows! Don¡¯t leave even a single one of these trash Iron Skull Wilderness players alive in our territory!" I was furious. They didn¡¯t even bother to hide the fact that they were attacking me. Well, bad news for them, I had more than enough players and Famous Generals to deal with them too. Swinging my weapon, I shouted an order to Gui Guzi, "Charge the left side of their shield formation, Little Gui! The rest of you, follow me to the right! All Viking Cavalrymen, activate Berserk now!" The Viking Cavalry immediately shouted their battle cries and transformed themselves into red warriors with extreme destructive power. They charged straight toward the enemy with me as the point. I fired Burning Blade Slash straight at the enemy¡¯s shield formation and easily shredded them to pieces. Purple Maple Forest was a second-rate guild at best, so they never had a chance to stop me. After I slipped into their ranks, I immediately made my Ancient Divine Dragon cast Summon the Storm! I alone was almost enough to shred their defense line completely. After Warscar, Hickey and the other Berserking Vikings arrived as well, it was like the shield formation had never existed. ¡­¡­ Furious, Lunatic pointed his spear at me and shouted, "Lu Chen is over there! Focus-fire and stun him with Shock Arrows! If he dies, Ancient Sword will lose all their fighting spirit!" A sky full of arrows and Galaxy Storms immediately flew my way. Clearly they weren¡¯t going to make this easy for me. If I hadn¡¯t cleared the S3 instance earlier, I would have had to treat even the focus fire of a second-rate guild seriously. But now? "Hehe!" I smiled and used my new skill, Battle Astral Wind! Swhoosh swhoosh! An invisible shield appeared around me and caused all the arrows and magical spells to bounce off. Moreover, they dealt far less durability damage than Lin Yixin¡¯s Ice Flame Slash, deleting only 7% durability in total. This Battle Astral Wind was the perfect bully skill, it existed so that I could bully the fuck out of players who were far weaker than me! Laughing, I cut deeper into the enemy¡¯s formation and unleashed my Thousand Ice Slash, Burning Blade Slash, Rise of the Guardian Dragon and more, terrorizing the shit out of Purple Maple Forest¡¯s players. Behind me, the Berserking Zephyr Cavalry and Hickey were doing pretty well themselves. Hickey said while cutting down a couple of enemies, "Hmph, I heard that boss is very loved in the China server, but these people would go so far as to venture beyond their borders just to attack him. Sigh, there is nothing a person of noble character fears more than a vile person¡­" Warscar grinned murderously. "It¡¯s fine. We just need to kill them all¡­" ¡­¡­ "Their party is less than 80k strong. What do you want to do, Boss Broken Halberd?" Gui Guzi suddenly sent me a message. I replied swiftly, "Mobilize the 30000 Zephyr Cavalrymen under Xu Yang¡¯s command to hit them from behind and stop them from escaping. These idiots think they can provoke us? We¡¯ll kill them all and get our Godkiller friends some new equipment!" Gui Guzi laughed heartily. "That is exactly what I was hoping to hear!" A short while later, a new troop of Zephyr Cavalry appeared from behind Purple Maple Forest and utterly crushed their already crumbling formation. These players had never fought a great battle before, so they started tethering on the brink of annihilation almost all too quickly. The 30000 Zephyr Cavalry used to be the Cyan Tiger Cavalry, and they had all gone through a hundred small or big battles at least. This fight was nothing to them. Less than twenty minutes later, Purple Maple Forest officially began to flee earnestly! Lunatic shouted furiously, "Keep calm! Rearguard, you are now the vanguard! The rest of Dragons Run Wild are there, so we¡¯ll be safe once we withdraw to White Rose Fortress! Fuck, I can¡¯t believe these Ancient Sword motherfuckers would collude with our foreign enemies!" ¡­¡­ Thud! Suddenly, a couple of divine arms dropped around Lunatic and immobilized him in place. At the same time, I rushed toward him and pointed my sword straight at his nose. "What the fuck did you just say? Care to repeat yourself?" Surrounded by a bunch of shivering Purple Maple Forest players, a red-faced Lunatic forced himself to say, "Godkiller is a guild of the unaffiliated players from Iron Skull Wilderness, and they are all wild beasts that cannot be tamed! However, Ancient Sword is literally protecting them against players of their own country in Ice River Canton Ruins right now! If this isn¡¯t a collusion, what is?" Hickey, Warscar and the surrounding Godkiller players shivered. They didn¡¯t know how to refute him. I gritted my teeth even harder before shouting, "Bullshit! After Godkiller had entered Purple Grape City, they fought against forces from Elephant City, Cyan Earth City, Purple Grape City and Burning City. However, not once had they fought against anyone from the China server until you showed up! Even a fucking retard could see that they¡¯re our goddamned allies, and somehow you fared worse than a retard! Also, who the fuck do you think you are? You seriously think you can represent the will of the China server? I¡¯ve never seen Purple Maple Forest in any Nation War, and you dare wave your authority in front of me? Who was the one who conquered Purple Grape City? Who was the one who retook the White Rose Fortress your trash alliance is guarding right now? After you die, tell Amber Pupil that Lu Chen and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will not hesitate to wipe Dragons Run Wild off the surface of Heavenblessed if he continues this farce! And don¡¯t think I wouldn¡¯t dare to do it. Thanks to your motherfucking Tang Long, I¡¯m an unaffiliated player right now! I can do whatever the hell I want!" For a time, Lunatic was too flabbergasted to say anything. Then, he retorted furiously, "You cannot kill me if you want me to bring your message back to Amber Pupil! You don¡¯t kill the messenger in war!" Pu! I stabbed him right through his chest before replying, "Messenger? You¡¯re no messenger. You¡¯re just one of Amber Pupil¡¯s many dogs!" ¡­¡­ After I took out Lunatic, I raised my sword and ordered loudly, "Seal off all the escape routes! Purple Maple Forest thinks they think they can screw with us? Dragons Run Wild thinks us weak because we left them alone? Very well then! Tell them with your weapons that the price of their transgression is death! Camp their corpses and make them drag themselves back to White Rose Fortress inch by inch! Show Dragons Run Wild the price of making an enemy out of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" The Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalrymen attacked mercilessly. Although Purple Maple Forest outnumbered us, no one doubted that they were in a complete disadvantage right now. The chances of them beating us was a big fat zero. The video had already been uploaded. I bet Amber Pupil was watching this and gritting his teeth in hate right now. Half an hour later, all 80000 players of Purple Maple Forest died just as I promised they would. Some of us camped the corpses and swept the battlefield for loot, while the rest returned to the caves to continue mining Obsidian Metal. Our main objective was mining the ores after all. Gui Guzi walked up to me with a chuckle. "Interesting!" "What is it?" "Apparently, Amber Pupil had wanted to come to Purple Maple Forest¡¯s rescue with the main bulk of Dragons Run Wild, but Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Purple Marquis immediately blocked the entrance with tens of thousands of Purple Dragon Cavalrymen and threatened an all-out battle if they took even a step out of the gate¡­" I smiled. "Goddamn. It has to be Yiyi¡¯s doing." Gui Guzi nodded. "Beauty Wind Fantasy is a monster in every sense of the word¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ When it was noon, and we had gathered a sufficient number of Obsidian Metal, a group of players including myself returned to the territory. We would turn in the materials to Mona and have her forge our very first batch of Brave General Horseshoes. Chapter 1156: Another Party Crasher Cold wind blew across Black Cavalry Scout Camp. After I arrived at the smithy, I dropped piles and piles of Obsidian Metal on the table before declaring loudly, "This is enough, right? Hehe! Please help me forge as many Brave Generals Horseshoes as you can, Mona!" Mona¡¯s mouth fell open. "Heavens, where on earth did you find so much Obsidian Metal? You haven¡¯t raided the empire¡¯s armory, have you?" My facial muscles twitched a bit. "Do I look that bold? No, these are the result of my brothers and sisters¡¯ hard work! Can you forge them for me now, Mona?" "Of course." Mona nodded and said with a smile, "Keep me company while I forge your equipment, will you?" "Sure¡­" ¡­¡­ I lifted my cloak and sat down on the stump on the opposite side of Mona¡¯s work table, smiling. At first, I thought it would take her a long time to use up all the Obsidian Metal and Crystal I gave her, but my worries turned out to be unfounded. She had summoned three blacksmiths to help her out, and just a couple of seconds later, a Brave General Horseshoe was created just like that. I should¡¯ve known that the creation process would be as fast as a player forging equipment. Less than ten minutes later, over 1500 Brave General Horseshoes were laid out in front of me. Even I didn¡¯t have the inventory slots to fit all of them. I looked at Gui Guzi and said, "Let¡¯s outfit the 10k Dragonlight Cavalrymen in Bloody Mercenaries first, shall we? Our brothers and sisters have suffered long enough." Gui Guzi chuckled. "By all means! That being said, they¡¯re not actually the original members of Bloody Mercenaries. They¡¯re troops Eve had temporarily lent to Bloody Mercenaries, and you wouldn¡¯t believe the number of times these ungrateful bastards asked me when we¡¯re finally going to return to the main guild. It is true that it feels more glamorous to be in the main guild than it is in Bloody Mercenaries though. You know the feeling better than I do¡­" I nodded strongly. "As the guy who can¡¯t even have a 5-star red flag in front of his ID, much less the ASDS guild symbol, I completely understand their feelings¡­" Gui Guzi slapped my shoulder consolingly. "You will be able to return home eventually, Boss Broken Halberd. Anyway, I¡¯m summoning the corps commanders over to grab the horseshoes right now. Remember, the first 10000 horseshoes are ours¡­" I nodded affirmatively. "No problem. We¡¯re going to equip the 10000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen of Bloody Mercenaries first, and the 20000 Berserk Viking Cavalrymen of Godkiller second. After that, we¡¯ll split the rest between the main guild¡¯s Dragonlight Cavalry, Dragonlight Archers and Zephyr Cavalrymen. It only makes sense that we equip our best mounts with this item, right?" "Yeah!" Gui Guzi happily went away to summon his people. Soon, dozens of Bloody Mercenaries Dragonlight Cavalrymen showed up to carry the Brave General Horseshoes and distribute them to the others. Less than two hours of intense crafting later, over 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen of Bloody Mercenaries had equipped the item and experienced a massive boost in power. Hickey¡¯s players acted as the transport crew and rode tirelessly between Obsidian Cave and Black Cavalry Scout Camp, transporting the newly dug Obsidian Metal to Mona non-stop. I acted as the middle-person between my players and Mona. Every time I received a new pile of Obsidian Metal from Hickey, I would drop them on Mona¡¯s table so she could forge them¡ªand she did at the beginning, until she got tired of the job, sat down cross-legged beside me, and summoned another two blacksmiths over to do her job instead. Now that she had the blueprint, even a common blacksmith could create as many Brave General Horseshoes as they liked. It was because the horseshoe wasn¡¯t a divine item that could only be forged by a divine smith. The afternoon passed by in the blink of an eye, but the mining activity still showed no signs of ending. When the time ticked past 7 pm, all 10000 Dragonlight Cavalry under Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust¡¯s command also got their horseshoes and a massive upgrade as well. Hickey was standing guard beside me when she asked, "Alright, that¡¯s 10000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen equipped with the Brave General Horseshoe. We¡¯re next, right?" I nodded. "Yeah, the 20000 Zephyr Cavalrymen are up next. This will greatly make up for their paper-thin Defense." "Good. Just so you know, you were this close to having a riot because of your negligence¡­" "Haha, I know right?" "..." ¡­¡­ After instructing Hickey to continue gathering the materials, I took a short break and logged out of the game. It was because I was starving, and because Chaos Moon and Beauty Lin had literally entered my room to shout me up for dinner. The gaming helmet had incredible soundproofing, but it ultimately wasn¡¯t vacuum soundproofing. Just shout next to someone¡¯s ear, and they would be able to hear you even through the helmet. So, I set up a tent, informed everyone that I was going to take a one-and-a-half-hour break, and logged out of the game! As expected, both girls were waiting for me inside my room already. Lin Yixin was sitting on my bed with a pout, "Took you long enough. Since we haven¡¯t eaten lunch today, I want to eat the most genuine dapanji in the area!" Chaos Moon giggled. "I know. There¡¯s a famous local dapanji restaurant on the eastern street, and I¡¯ve already booked a table for us. If we leave now, we may even be able to avoid a queue." "Very well, let¡¯s go!" I put on a jacket, held Lin Yixin¡¯s small hand in my own, and set out. It was already dark outside, and there were plenty of people walking here and there on the streets. We crossed to the opposite side, and the dapanji restaurant was right there just as Chaos Moon promised. A lot of people were waiting outside the entrance, but since Chaos Moon had booked a table earlier, we only needed to wait less than ten minutes before we got to go inside. We ordered our meals and waited for them to be served. "What have you been doing all day, Lu Chen?" Chaos Moon asked me. I took a moment to arrange my thoughts before answering, "The big stuff, of course. Do you still remember the Brave General Horseshoe we got after we killed Ochil in the S3 instance, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin nodded. "Mn, I know. You mean that quest item with ridiculously good stat boosts, right? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve found a way to use it already?" I smiled. "Not only that, I¡¯ve begun mass-producing it thanks to my good relationship with one of the NPCs in the camp! We¡¯ve created over 10k Brave General Horseshoes in one afternoon and equipped all the Dragonlight Cavalrymen of Bloody Mercenaries already. We¡¯re going to devote the rest of our time outfitting every elite cavalryman in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls with a Brave General Horseshoe!" "Wow!" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes sparkled with wonder. "Tsk tsk, Ancient Sword¡¯s Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers are about to fly to the moon! I have a small request, Little Cheat. Can you save 101 Brave General Horseshoe for my mounted archer party and myself? Please?" I nodded. "No problem. You¡¯re my you-know-who, of course I¡¯ll take care of you¡­" Chaos Moon shot us both a dumbfounded look. "Why do I feel like a super third wheel all of a sudden? Should I evacuate my room and sleep in Beauty Lin¡¯s room tonight? Even with the walls being as thin as they are, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to enjoy yourselves without having to worry about li¡¯l ol¡¯ me¡­" Lin Yixin turned bright red instantly. "Are you listening to yourself!?" "Yeah, yeah! What do you mean ¡®enjoy ourselves¡¯, huh?!" I was just about to teach Chaos Moon a lesson when our dapanji and the smaller dishes we had ordered were served. As the wonderful scent of food smoothed my nerves, I ordered a couple of beers and toasted the girls. At Suzhou at least, both Lin Yixin and Chaos Moon were the type who ordered red wine whenever we went out for a drink, so of course they were unable to keep up with me now. Louis XIII? Snow? I¡¯m gonna drink you all! We drank 7 bottles of wine in total before making our way back to the hotel feeling slightly drunk. As we walked, I wrapped my right hand around Lin Yixin¡¯s fine waist, and she gladly leaned against me while speaking with Sun Qingqing on the phone. On my left side, Chaos Moon cheekily claimed ownership of my arm and made sneaky finger gestures at Lin Yixin. Luckily for her, the latter was too busy speaking to Sun Qingqing on the phone to notice anything amiss. Their conversation went something like this¡ª "By the way, did the granny of the language class take attendance today, Qingqing? Did she call my name again? Dammit..." "Oh, totally. This is the third time she called your name, not to mention that you¡¯ve been missing her class since the start of the semester. You¡¯re definitely going to fail this course. Congratulations!" "Mu! Why didn¡¯t you ¡®present, ma¡¯am¡¯ for me?" "Pooh! You want me to shoulder your burdens when you left me to fool around with your Lu Chen? No way!" "Muuuu¡­" "Heehee. I¡¯m just kidding with you, Yiyi. The granny is sick, so she hasn¡¯t shown up for either one of these classes." "Oh, thank goodness¡­" As Lin Yixin patted her own chest in relief, I turned around and kissed her lightly on the cheek. She turned bright red and whined cutely, "Mu, bastard¡­" On the other side of the phone, Sun Qingqing asked, "What¡¯s wrong, Yiyi? Is it just me, or did I hear something?" "Ah, nothing. It¡¯s just Lu Chen¡­" "What the fuck, girl. He was bullying you, wasn¡¯t he? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve let him eat you! Yiyi, you know I don¡¯t like to nag, but you have to be careful about such things. Men are bastards who¡¯ll grow tired of you and cast you aside once they¡¯ve enjoyed the first taste. You need to play him like a fish on a bait¡­" "I know, you don¡¯t need to teach me that¡­" Lin Yixin replied while sticking out her tongue. I could only shoot her a dumbfounded look. These girls! ¡­¡­ "Are you going to keep forging more horseshoes after we return to the hotel?" Lin Yixin asked me, smiling. "Yep." I nodded before pulling her toward me and hugging her tightly. "So¡­ I know I promised you, but can we set aside the S4 instance for now? You¡¯re wearing Divine Armaments and Ancient Immortal-grade equipment anyway, so you¡¯re in no hurry to change them out, right?" "Sure. I don¡¯t really care about the set to begin with. In fact, I feel more like a proper expert wearing a random assortment of god-tier equipment. All true experts wear their own DIY equipment, am I right?" I smiled. "Yeah, I don¡¯t care about the S Rank instance sets myself. My Fire God Helmet alone is probably something even the S7 helmet can¡¯t match¡­" "Of course! The S7 set is just Ancient Immortal-grade. It¡¯ll never be better than a high-level Divine Armament¡­ You¡¯re seriously lucky though. I can¡¯t believe you managed to get a Sacred Armament from a wasteland like Iron Skull Wilderness¡­" "Hehe!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a phone call interrupted our conversation. It was my phone. I checked the number, and just as I thought, it was Hickey giving me a long-range call again¡ª "Boss¡­" the moment the call connected, Hickey immediately spoke in very broken Chinese, "Come back quickly¡­ we at Obsidian Cave¡­ ambushed¡­ quick¡­" It wasn¡¯t Chinglish this time, so I more or less got what she was saying. I hurriedly replied in common Chinese, "Who ambushed us, and how many?" Hickey replied, "Burning City¡­ is Tear Stain! That woman brought great deal of people and came¡­" I didn¡¯t understand the two English words[1], but again I got her meaning. She must be saying that Tear Stain showed up with a lot of troops, or she wouldn¡¯t have panicked otherwise. "Got it. I¡¯m coming right away!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ The second I hung up, I received another incoming call from Gui Guzi. He said concisely, "Boss Broken Halberd, Tear Stain came to crash the party. Come back as soon as possible so we can fuck them up!" I replied, "Right away!" 1. the ones in italics Chapter 1158: The Sorrow of Ultimate Strength Break In the wilderness, players were duking it out against one another like crazy. Battle cries filled the sky, and bodies were all over the ground. Since this place was very close to a graveyard, all the players who died in battle were able to revive and rejoin the fight almost immediately. It was one of those never-ending battles where the only real way to win was to outlast the enemy¡¯s patience. The Dragonlight Cavalry led by Gui Guzi himself were charging back and forth across the battlefield and annihilating absolutely everyone who dared to stand in their way. Since all 10000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen under his command had been strengthened by the Brave General Horseshoes, their HP, Defense and Attack surpassed Tear Stain¡¯s elite cavalry by a margin even bigger than the gulf before. There wasn¡¯t a single cavalry troop Throne of the Wild could deploy that would be effective against them. Meanwhile, Hickey commanded the Godkiller players inside the caves to continue mining the ores as fast as they could. There wasn¡¯t much ore left in this particular cave anyway since we had mined most of it during the afternoon, and I reckoned that it would take at least half a month before the system respawned them. It was obvious what Hickey was planning. She wanted to mine most, if not all of the Obsidian Metal in Obsidian Cave and deposit it in our players¡¯ bags, preferably within 10 hours. The best way to foil Tear Stain¡¯s plan was to give her nothing to mine in the first place. ¡­¡­ At the back, the vice leader of Throne of the Wild, Emperor Wang, was carrying a heroic banner on his back and slaughtering our players left and right with his spear. At some point, he abruptly leaped into the middle of an archer party and caused his spear to burst into light. It was the warrior¡¯s eighth-promotion skill, Ultimate Strength Break! Bang! Ultimate Strength Break fell like a giant hammer and absolutely annihilated the archers with barely any Strength. The damage numbers that popped above their heads were incredible as a matter of course¡ª 261680! 191240! 204440! Ultimate Strength Break dealt damage that was equal to the martial strength difference between the user and the target times 40, and Emperor Wang had at least around 8000 Strength. In most cases, martial strength was synonymous with Strength. Even in the best case scenario, Godkiller¡¯s archers only had a Strength stat of 4000 or so¡ªand in the worst, a pitiful sum of 2000¡ªso this was always going to be a tragedy no matter what. This was why people said that Ultimate Strength Break was a skill meant for bullying agility-based classes, mages and all support classes. For example, I had a total Strength of 14980. Assuming that I had Ultimate Strength Break, I would be able to do a monstrous 13000 times 40 damage to a player with only 2000 Strength. If the septuple damage effect of the Purple Ying Sword triggered as well, it was entirely possible that my victims would be tempted to delete their accounts outright. Luckily for them, my eighth-promotion class skill was Myriad Swords Obliteration, not Ultimate Strength Break. Or was it? The AoE of Myriad Swords Obliteration was seven or eight times bigger than Ultimate Strength Break¡¯s, and with my level of attack power, I would still be able to one-shot the agility-based players, mages and supports anyway. If anything, the damage spillover was just a waste of potential DPS. A one-shot was a one-shot whether it dealt 1 million or 100k damage. ¡­¡­ My hand itch suddenly grew a lot worse as Emperor Wang continued to go to town on our players. Hickey then said to me, "If you can¡¯t stand it, then go. At the very least, killing the vice leader of Throne of the Wild will be a blow to their morale." "Yeah!" I nodded strongly before turning the Ancient Divine Dragon around and rushing toward Emperor Wang like lightning. I activated Thunderous Charge when I was still 40 yards away from him, and Emperor Wang was skilled enough to spot me, send an archer flying into the air and take two steps to the back to dodge the skill. Instead of halting my momentum, I continued charging for a couple more meters before turning my mount around suddenly and executing War Crush. Three red rings erupted from my person and deleted much of Emperor Wang¡¯s HP before he could react. "Ah?!" It was said that some things didn¡¯t feel real until you had experienced it yourself, and that was exactly the case for Emperor Wang right now. He didn¡¯t really understand how high my Attack was until my War Crush left him with only 50% HP. He hurriedly drank a big health potion before landing Triple Slash against my Dragon God Shield! Chiang chiang chiang... 49890! 51282! 49010! As expected of an eighth-promotion player, his Attack was pretty good. But that was all. I didn¡¯t even activate Battle Astral Wind because I didn¡¯t want to feel like a child bully. "Motherfucker! Die!" There were a lot of Throne of the Wild players in the vicinity, and apparently the arrogant man couldn¡¯t stand the humiliation I dished out to him in their presence. Embarrassed and angry, he raised his spear and did something a more coolheaded him would have never even attempted¡ªBlitzkrieg into Ultimate Strength Break. I was stunned. Did this idiot really think it would work? I lowered my shield and let the blade hit me. Of all the things I might be afraid of, Strength battle was absolutely not one of them! Bang! Emperor Wang¡¯s Ultimate Strength Break hit my shoulder, but not only did it fail to inflict the overwhelming pressure it was intended to do, Emperor Wang himself staggered backward as if he was struck by something. At the same time, a damage number rose from my head¡ª 1000! It was hilarious. Ultimate Strength Break thrived on Strength difference, and Emperor Wang¡¯s total Strength was at least half of mine, if not more. As a result, the super skill only managed to deal 1000 basic damage to me. If this wasn¡¯t a tragedy, what was? ¡­¡­ "Ugh¡­" A groan of despair escaped Emperor Wang¡¯s throat and he froze like a statue. Not bothering to wait for him to recover, I rocked his body with Burning Blade Slash before casting Myriad Swords Obliteration on both him and his lackeys. They died without being able to put up any resistance whatsoever, and those who were lucky enough to be outside the range of the skill lost their shit and didn¡¯t dare to rush our ranged players anymore. The battle was still going on though, and not only were people dying and reviving at high speed, equipment was being "traded" on both sides almost as if we were having a trade gathering or something. I kept fighting and killing everything in my sight, and an hour later I encountered Tear Stain once more at the foot of a mountain. Swhoosh! I applied Battle Astral Wind to my person immediately. It was about time I let her taste the power of my new OP skill and correct her misunderstanding that she could kill me with the human sea attack. Bang bang bang! Empowered by Blitzkrieg, Tear Stain landed a triple-skill combo¡ªIce Flame Slash + Ice Blade Slash + Quadruple Slash¡ªon my shoulder. However, the invisible energy surrounding my body swallowed all the skills and lost only 15% of its durability. Tear Stain¡¯s jaw hit the floor. "How¡­ how is this possible?!" Not bothering to answer, I executed Summon the Storm + Rise of the Guardian Dragon combo and instakilled all the elite cavalrymen in the area. Tear Stain herself had to run away with just 15% left in her health bar while shouting, "Retreat!" Throne of the Wild¡¯s players heeded her command and withdrew like tidewater. For now at least, Tear Stain had decided to abandon the raid. Gui Guzi and his players had also taken out the thieves who were trying to do some quick mining at the edges of the cave and regained much of the stolen Obsidian Metal. ¡­¡­ "Little Gui, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, round up the Dragonlight Cavalry and pursue the enemy for 5 kilometers!" I ordered. "Yessir!" All 10000 Dragonlight Cavalry soon vanished from both our sight and our hearing. I left the task of hunting down the defeated enemy to them because they were fast, strong, and ridiculously tanky. Even if Tear Stain tried to turn around and fight, she wouldn¡¯t be able to threaten the Knight God¨Cbuffed Dragonlight Cavalry. Besides that, I ordered the 20000 Zephyr Cavalrymen of Godkiller to sweep the battlefield for equipment and items. Despite all the battles they had gone through so far, the equipment of Iron Skull Wilderness¡¯ players was still trash compared to the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s. I wouldn¡¯t be able to face them if I failed to improve their welfare. Moreover, I was part of the reason they had traveled all the way to this crossroad of the servers. They wouldn¡¯t be able to survive this place unless I built up their strength. ¡­¡­ Staring at the direction Throne of the Wild had escaped to, Hickey asked me, "Are you sure Tear Stain and her men have withdrawn, boss? That they¡¯ve given up on raiding the Obsidian Cave?" I shrugged. "I don¡¯t know. I have no idea what she¡¯s plotting after all. However, she is Candlelight Shadow¡¯s junior sister. She had learned all kinds of strategies and tactics from him, and her mental strength is one of a kind, so I¡¯m fairly sure she wouldn¡¯t give up just like that. This is just the beginning. You¡¯ll have to station more men around the caves and protect our miners¡­" "Understood." Hickey nodded. "I¡¯ll move Bloodlust¡¯s one hundred thousand elite troops to this area so that they can react to the enemy¡¯s activities at a moment¡¯s notice." "Good!" I shot her an encouraging smile before saying to Warscar. "Warscar, drop everything you¡¯re doing right now and focus on patrolling our supply line with 20000 Berserk Viking Cavalrymen. Make sure you escort our transporters to Black Cavalry Scout Camp every step of the way. I have a feeling that that woman will try to raid our supply lines now that her frontal assault has failed." Warscar grinned. "Will do, guild leader." ¡­¡­ Instead of joining Hickey or Warscar on their business, I made my way back to Black Cavalry Scout Camp. As expected, the blacksmiths were forging the Brave General Horseshoes at a snail¡¯s pace. Mona wouldn¡¯t urge the blacksmiths to work faster if I wasn¡¯t around, so I needed to stay in the camp to make sure that the work was being done at a reasonable pace. When the clock hand moved past 9 pm, another 20k+ Brave General Horseshoes were finally complete. I gave them to Hickey and Warscar to distribute to the Zephyr Cavalry. At the same time, Hickey rode over while breathing heavily. "Boss, the situation at Lost Forest went exactly as you predicted. Tear Stain had tried to ambush our transporters with 30000 cavalrymen, but Warscar managed to hold the line in the end. Your boy, Gui Guzi, and his 10000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen were also a great help¡­" I nodded. "Of course." Suddenly, Warscar sent me a message: "Boss, our people at the two southernmost caves just came under attack¡­" Hickey frowned. "Dammit!" I also clenched my fists together. "Fuck, she¡¯s trying to create diversions and spread our forces thin. She knew that we don¡¯t have the numbers to cover all areas¡­" Hickey replied, "Yeah. Speaking of which, I wanted to tell you that a large amount of ores in the innermost area of the three northernmost caves suddenly went missing. It wasn¡¯t until ten minutes ago that I learned that Tear Stain had dispatched almost ten thousand assassins to stealth into the caves and dig the ores. It was already too late when we found out¡­" "Fuck¡­" I leaned against the tree and rested the Purple Ying Sword on my knees. "Ah, whatever. We knew from the start that this woman was a smart and formidable opponent. She must desperately need the Obsidian Metal to go so far as to steal our ores. Let¡¯s do it this way. Hickey, I want you to dispatch archers to each cave and have them use Skypiercer every minute. It should stop Throne of the Wild from repeating the same ploy and stealing our ores without us noticing. Also, tell everyone that we¡¯re going to be mining all night. Remember, the entire reason Tear Stain is mining these ores is to build Obsidian Thunder Siege Engines and fuck us over. There¡¯s no way we can let her succeed!" "Understood, boss. One more thing. About 1000 God¡¯s Domain¡¯s players have appeared at the edge of Ice River Canton. For now, they seem to be observing us only." "Ignore them and focus on mining. They can be our guinea pigs after we¡¯ve outfitted all our riders with Brave General Horseshoes!" "Mn!" Chapter 1159: New Threat I hung on until past 1 am in real time, but in the end I couldn¡¯t stay awake any longer and went to bed. The good news was that the forging of the Brave General Horseshoes went very smoothly, and most of the Obsidian Metal was either sitting safely in my players¡¯ bag or in the camp. A basic estimate also told me that we had enough Obsidian Metal to equip almost 50k Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Dragonlight Cavalrymen and Dragonlight Archers. The next morning, I woke up and checked in with Hickey to see if anything had happened while I was gone. And there was a lot. Tear Stain turned out to be far more determined and resourceful than any of us could¡¯ve imagined. Throughout the night, she created all sorts of diversions, fake attacks and more to distract our players and steal or raid the Obsidian Metal. Thanks to her relentless efforts, she was able to seize at least 10000 Obsidian Metal for herself. The good news was that over 95% of the Obsidian Metal was still in our control, and after a whole night of mad digging, all 12 mining spots in Obsidian Cave had been picked clean by us. A large majority of the Obsidian Metal had also been carried into Black Cavalry Scout Camp and freed from Tear Stain¡¯s ambitions as well. ¡­¡­ In the late morning, I sat inside the territory with a small hill of freshly made horseshoes by my side, and Mona working at the smithing table in front of me. Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Li Chengfeng were present as well. Outside the camp, a large troop of Dragonlight Cavalrymen from the main guild had shown up to carry hundreds and thousands Brave General Horseshoes back to Dark Moon City. His Dark Blade in hand, Li Chengfeng embedded it into his mount, looked at his stats and couldn¡¯t resist the grin spreading across his face. "OMG, look at those beautiful, beautiful numbers. Where did you even find so many, Lu Chen? I thought an item like this would be one of a kind¡­" I nodded. "I know right? The horseshoe was a reward for being the first party to beat the first boss of the S3 instance, Ochil. It so happens that I know an NPC in this camp, so together we were able to create its blueprint and duplicate this horseshoe to infinity and beyond. The materials necessary to make it can only be found at a series of caves in Dragonbone Mountain Range, so we went there to do some mining only to be interrupted by Dragons Run Wild first and Throne of the Wild later. Since yesterday morning, we¡¯ve been fighting almost non-stop until now. It was disgusting¡­" Li Chengfeng guffawed before slapping me on the shoulder. "So what? If we really can get every Dragonlight Cavalryman and Dragonlight Archer a Brave General Horseshoe, then even fasting for a week is not an unacceptable cost. At face value, this horseshoe may not look like much, but it improves our rider¡¯s overall strength by at least 20%. That is a decisive amount of power in a PvP group battle in the open world. Personally, I think our 50000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen can sweep Cyan Earth City¡¯s 250000 Beast King Cavalry with the upgrade. What do you think?" I clenched my fists tightly in excitement. "But of course! We¡¯ll show them when the next Nation War starts. Speaking of which, how are things within the country right now?" Li Chengfeng leaned against a wooden stake next to me before replying, "What else? Candlelight Shadow gave Pop Culture enough support to continuously absorb the new players within Sky City and grow themselves into a super guild with a million members. For the past few days, they¡¯ve been sending players to Dark Moon City¡¯s perimeters and gauging our temper. I suspect that they would¡¯ve attacked us already if it wasn¡¯t for the 1000 Bone Dragons sitting in our Dragon¡¯s Lair." I asked, "What is Eve¡¯s opinion on this provocation?" Chaos Moon giggled. "Guild leader told Li Chengfeng to do as he sees fit. Excluding the 10000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen Gui Guzi had taken to Bloody Mercenaries, we have 30k Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 18k Dragonlight Archers. These two troops alone are enough to sweep the army of one million small fries from Pop Culture, not to mention the 30k Zephyr Cavalrymen you gave us. Long story short, we aren¡¯t worried about the clowns from Pop Culture at all. If they become too annoying, we¡¯ll just trash them so hard that they need their nanny to carry them to the toilet, heehee." Me: "..." I shot a look at the Ancient Sword players coming over to pick up the Brave General Horseshoes before saying, "Hey you guys, if you¡¯ve filled your bag with the horseshoes, you should teleport back to Dark Moon City and store them in the guild warehouse right away. The guild leader will distribute them later. These horseshoes are our blood, sweat and tears, and it¡¯d be a shame if someone managed to steal them from you." They broke into smiles and answered, "Yes, vice leader! We¡¯ll head back right away!" My shoulder was missing its guild emblem and nation emblem, but my players still knew me as Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ vice leader. In fact, Lian Xin was still the only vice leader of the main guild to this day. No one had taken over the position that I had been forced to leave behind. ¡­¡­ When it was almost noon, the tally was finally complete. A total of over 70k Brave General Horseshoes had been transported back to the guild warehouse, and it was enough to equip a ton of riders with the Brave General Horseshoe. Including the troops currently under my command, Ancient Sword had a total of 40k Dragonlight Cavalrymen, 18k Dragonlight Archers and 60k Zephyr Cavalrymen, and very soon they would all be upgraded with Brave General Horseshoes. The world would soon learn the true terror that was our cavalry legion! At noon, I logged out of the game and ate lunch with Chaos Moon and Lin Yixin. However, I received yet another phone call in the middle of a meal, and this time it was a number I hadn¡¯t seen in a long time, Gui Guzi. "Yes, Little Gui?" "Bad news, Boss Broken Halberd!" Gui Guzi said while panting heavily. "What¡¯s wrong?" I remained calm. He replied, "We found out that Tear Stain wasn¡¯t raiding the Obsidian Metal for siege engines! It was for a quest to generate a neutral Rank 8 guild territory at Soaring Flame Desert next to Dragonbone Mountain Range! Tear Stain was able to react faster than everyone and surround the territory with 400k Throne of the Wild players she had brought with her. She is expected to occupy it in half an hour at most. We only have 10 hours left to make a decision now. What do we do, boss? Are we occupying this territory or not?" "Soaring Flame Desert?" I shivered. "And it borders Dragonbone Mountain Range? That¡¯s¡­ really close to our Dark Moon City. Fuck!" Gui Guzi replied, "Exactly. Guild leader Eve stated that it was ten kilometers away from Dark Moon City at most. If Dragonbone Mountain Range isn¡¯t literally impassable, they could easily reach us in 1 hour at most. Even still, the guild leader is worried that there¡¯s a secret path through Dragonbone Mountain Range that we aren¡¯t aware of. If her assumption is true, it will be all too easy for Throne of the Wild to raid us¡­" I put down my chopsticks and hummed thoughtfully. "Did Tear Stain really come all the way to Purple Grape City for this one territory? What on earth was she thinking?" "I don¡¯t know. I can¡¯t figure out her motivations either¡­" Gui Guzi replied. I gritted my teeth and said, "Regardless of her true intentions, we cannot allow Throne of the Wild to occupy this territory without a fight. Little Gui, log into the game and inform Warscar and Hickey to rally my men. I¡¯m logging in too. Once we¡¯re ready, we¡¯ll set off to Soaring Flame Desert and take this territory from Tear Stain!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I hung up and explained the situation to Lin Yixin and Chaos Moon. Being the intelligent girl she was, Lin Yixin immediately noticed something. "Tear Stain is obviously building a frontline base. A Rank 8 territory can unlock teleportation formation immediately, so Burning City would be able to teleport millions and millions of troops to this territory. If they found a shortcut through Dragonbone Mountain Range as well, then they¡¯d have a direct path to both our territories and the three main cities of the Center. No, we absolutely cannot allow this territory to fall into Tear Stain¡¯s hands¡­" Chaos Moon urged, "What else are we waiting for then? Let¡¯s log into the game and rally our troops right now! It¡¯s only Tear Stain and Throne of the Wild. We¡¯ll be able to wipe them out with a snap of our fingers!" I nodded. "Yeah, let¡¯s!" ¡­¡­ And so, we rushed back to the hotel and logged back into the game. Swhoosh! The forging process had been completed by the time I appeared in the camp once more. I repaired my equipment and departed after bidding Mona goodbye. Outside Black Cavalry Scout Camp, Warscar, Hickey, Bloodthirsty Demon and the others had already assembled the men at the entrance. The moment they saw me, Warscar said, "Less than half of our people are online due to last night¡¯s work. For now, we only have 9000+ Zephyr Cavalrymen. Should we wait a bit longer, or should we depart now?" "We depart now. Hickey, please identify the exact coordinates of the guild territory. We¡¯re marching to Soaring Flame Desert right away!" "Mn!" Hickey nodded before replying, "Your Gui Guzi had returned to Sky City. He said that he¡¯d assemble the troops and return with your main guild¡¯s army. An official owner will be decided in 10 hours, or in this case, a bit over 9 hours because of all the work and marching. We don¡¯t have much time." "Yeah. Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ The Godkiller and I marched for a bit until a large group of players suddenly appeared on our right wing. I had never seen them before, and their guild symbol was that of an evil dragon. "Eh? Who are those people?" I asked. Hickey replied, "They¡¯re a group of 7 guilds from Iron Skull Wilderness around 200k players strong. After we escaped into Purple Grape City, a dozen or so second-rate Cyan Earth City guilds turned their ire on them to vent their frustration. As a result, they ran all the way here to meet up with us. Since you weren¡¯t online at the time, I didn¡¯t accept them into the guild, and I told them to do whatever they wanted in the meantime¡­" I frowned. "Are they reliable?" "I have no idea." "Er¡­" Warscar suggested, "How about we decide this after we¡¯ve taken over that territory? We can let them join us, since there¡¯s no better place than a battle to see if they have balls or not!" I nodded. "Heh, that¡¯s a good idea¡­" ¡­¡­ Including the 9000+ Zephyr Cavalrymen, our total troop amounted to less than 200k, and our non-cannon fodder players numbered less than 50k. There was a reason Tear Stain thought of Godkiller as a guild of mobs. After we marched past the forest area, the land around us slowly turned barren and yellowish. Another ten minutes later, everything was sand except the occasional cacti and dry animal carcasses. There were bones of alpacas, sand wolves and more. The marked coordinate on the map screen grew closer and closer. Finally, a majestic shadow appeared at the distant horizon. Warscar immediately raised his axe. "That¡¯s the main city. Let¡¯s ride to it and crush it to pieces now!" Me: "..." Chapter 1160: Song of Cloud and Water’s Choice The corners of Hickey¡¯s turned up a little as she stared at the brand new city in the middle of the desert. "Look, there are at least 200k Throne of the Wild cavalrymen at the foot of the city. There are also regiments of archers, mages and priests behind them. Our tiny army probably isn¡¯t even enough to tickle their defenses, much less defeat them." Bloodthirsty Demon raised his spear. "Tiny? But we also have 200k men, you know?" Hickey shot him a glance. "Look, Demon. These players hail from Throne of the Wild¡¯s main guild and subguilds. Almost all of them are above Level 180 and seventh-promotion, not to mention that each player has between 1 to 3 pieces of Earth-grade equipment at least. Do you really think that Bloodlust¡¯s equipment can measure up to theirs?" "Er¡­" Bloodthirsty Demon looked back at his brothers and sisters and scratched his head in embarrassment. At least 50% of his players were still sixth-promotion players, and even more were wearing Silver or Gold-grade garbage. Individually speaking, they were no match for Throne of the Wild at all. Warscar looked at me with his long axe nestled on his shoulder. "What do you think, guild leader? Should we engage them now, or¡­?" I shook my head. "I¡¯m not worried about Throne of the Wild. I¡¯m worried that enemy reinforcements could be showing up from Cyan Earth City¡¯s direction soon¡­" "What?!" Everyone was shocked. Less than three minutes later, a huge army of Cyan Earth City players appeared from the horizon just as I said it would. It was an old pal of ours, the Divine Elephant City of Nation Guardian. The 150k+ Divine Elephant Cavalrymen galloping at top speed were so loud that the noise spread throughout Soaring Flame Desert. ¡­¡­ When it rains, it pours. Cyan Earth City had obviously decided to join in on this battle, and whoever their informants were must be working double time for them to arrive so soon. Moreover, if Nation Guardian was here, Cyan Beast and Flames of War couldn¡¯t be too far behind as well. They were all loyal servants of Cyan Beast¡¯s God of War and Breeze and Rain after all. "Is Nation Guardian a friend or a foe in this fight?" Hickey hummed thoughtfully. I unsheathed my weapon and declared, "We kicked their asses all the way to the moon back at Dirge Canyon. Of course they are our foes! I want battle formations to be set up at the flatland 1.5 kilometers away from the city, and our shielders to move to the frontline right now!" "Yessir!" Hickey was aware that we absolutely lacked the numbers to launch an assault against the enemy at all. Right now, the only thing we could do was to defend passively until our Chinese allies showed up. Of course, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya were showing up for sure, so our chance of winning this territory war was still very huge. I spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon forward and stayed at the point of the formation together with my Phantom Wolf King. Behind me, the shielders quickly moved into position before dropping their shields on the ground, and the archers, mages and other classes got ready for battle as well. Although Iron Skull Wilderness¡¯ players weren¡¯t powerful, our numbers were surprisingly scary. Even with 50% of our players offline, we still managed to assemble a troop of over 200k players. ¡­¡­ Our decision to stay where we were actually confused Tear Stain a little. She restlessly walked back and forth on the walls for a bit until she finally put her hands on her hips and yelled at us, "What the hell are you planning, Lu Chen? If you want to fight, then fight! I, Tear Stain, am not afraid of you!" I smiled placidly at her before replying, "Sorry, but we¡¯re just the lookout, not the main attacker. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m sure the fight you want will happen very soon¡­" Tear Stain: "..." While waiting, I brought up the Chinese forums and noted that it was bubbling with activity. It was clear that everyone knew just how critical this Soaring Flame Desert territory was. A player named "Hillside Bai Xiaosheng" posted: "A week ago, about 7 km away to the north of Sky Ridge, I found a small mountain passage that cuts through the entire Dragonbone Mountain Range. If Burning City learns of this passage, they¡¯ll be able to march from this new territory to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ Dark Moon City in under an hour, and their cavalry will be able to make it to Sky City in just an hour and a half¡­" As a result, every major guild in China declared publicly that they would muster their forces and contest this new territory right away. Even destroying the Rank 8 territory outright was preferable to letting it fall into Tear Stain¡¯s hands. Tear Stain was well-known for her strength and leadership, and she was the champion of the Korean players. She would never be satisfied with just Burning City, especially since the Center possessed a wealth of resources that no country in the world wouldn¡¯t thirst for. ¡­¡­ Ten minutes later, Cyan Earth City¡¯s Nation Guardian came to a stop at the east side of territory. Despite their eagerness, they had chosen to stay their hand for now. A while later, their guild leader, Wild King, made a bold move. He rode up to our formation alone and stopped around 50 yards away before greeting me, "We meet again, West King¡­" I shrugged. "I¡¯m sorry, but I haven¡¯t been your West King for a long time now. I¡¯ve also returned all the money God of War paid to invite me to Elephant City. The reason I even accepted the offer in the first place was to take out the traitor, Now and Forever. I don¡¯t regret my decision one bit, and if you think you can provoke me with that title, I¡¯m sorry to say that you¡¯ve misjudged." Wild King grinned. "Fine, you cannot be the West King. However, neither you nor Tear Stain can have this territory either, for it belongs to Nation Guardian. If you¡¯re smart, you will stay where you are and do nothing as you¡¯ve done until now. Otherwise, don¡¯t fault the Divine Elephant Cavalry for making the ruthless decision!" I raised my eyebrows. "Are you threatening me?" "Heh! Of course not. Who would dare threaten the unrivaled Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? I¡¯m just giving you a friendly warning. You should be well aware that the small fries you command are of no threat to my forces whatsoever." Wild King¡¯s disdain was obvious for all to see. I couldn¡¯t even say that it was misplaced. With the 100k+ Divine Elephant Cavalrymen he currently commanded, he absolutely possessed the power to annihilate my forces, not to mention that over half of my Viking Zephyr Cavalry was still offline. I watched Wild King for a moment before asking, "In my memory, Cyan Earth City, Burning City and the Northern Alliance have always stayed a good distance away from each other¡¯s business. You aren¡¯t enemies, but you certainly aren¡¯t allies who could put down their self-interests and work together toward a common goal. So why does it look like you¡¯ve changed your mind today? Is Nation Guardian actually here to block Godkiller¡¯s advance on Tear Stain¡¯s behalf?" Wild King guffawed and planted his spear on the ground. "Speaking with you has been a refreshingly direct experience. Very well, I shall speak directly as well. You are correct. Cyan Earth City, Burning City, Hero City, Hot Sand City and more have never stopped skirmishing against one another in the name of profit, but today we all share a common enemy. Do you really not understand why this is happening, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? The China server has performed too well in the War of Dawn City and the War of Purple Grape City. Your team even won the WEL championship and made Sky City the King of Cities. Knowing this, how can we not set down our differences and slay the massive dragon that is breathing down our necks? Besides¡­" Wild King¡¯s expression suddenly turned amused. "Despite everything you¡¯ve done for the China server, they still did the unthinkable and exiled you. They can¡¯t not know how much they¡¯ve weakened themselves with this act, but they did it anyway for their own self-interests. Hahaha! It truly was the funniest joke in the entire world. China server without Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s leadership is like a tiger without its teeth, and even you can do nothing more but hit the occasional objective with a bunch of strays. It would be a sin not to capitalize on this opportunity, don¡¯t you agree?" I nearly broke my own teeth due to the sheer amount of pressure I was putting on them. I said quietly, "No need to test me with schadenfreude. Just watch. Even without an emblem on my arm, I will still bleed to the last drop of my blood for my server!" "Very well! Be sure to show me how you¡¯re going to kick our asses later!" Wild King went away laughing after that. I sighed as I unclenched my hurting fingers. Hickey walked up to me from behind and said softly, "I understand the pain and humiliation of betrayal completely, boss. I will always support you no matter what you do." I smiled at her. "Thank you, Hickey. I¡¯m fine. Let¡¯s put up a good fight so that the territory doesn¡¯t fall to either the Northern Alliance or Cyan Earth City, okay?" "Yeah." ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a new rumble appeared from behind us. They were the Cyanscale Cavalry, Level 175 Spirit Rank Boss mount riders that Warsky Alliance had been developing for the past half a month or so. It looked like their numbers had swelled to 100000 already. Warsky led at the forefront of the group, and next to him were Laughing At The Heavens, Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and more. Speaking of which, Soul Battle Robes had officially become the number one subguild of Warsky Alliance. Their guild leader, Song of Cloud and Water was carrying a spear and riding toward us on a dark green¨Ccolored warhorse as well. "Why haven¡¯t you started yet, Lu Chen?" Warsky asked in surprise while looking at my troops. I pointed to the territory. "Tear Stain isn¡¯t the only one guarding the territory, you know. Nation Guardian is just waiting for us to make a move. Also, you should¡¯ve noticed that I¡¯m lacking the numbers to mount a proper assault. Heck, I don¡¯t even have a single Dragonlight Cavalryman in my party. How do you expect me to siege the city?" "Haha! In that case, it¡¯s time for my Cyanscale Cavalry to shine first!" Warsky laughed. However, I hurriedly blocked his way. "Wait!" "What¡¯s wrong?" "A new group of enemies just came in from Cyan Earth City¡¯s direction¡­" "Ugh¡­" A thick line of elite cavalry appeared from the horizon. It was none other than the Beast King Cavalry commanded by God of War and Breeze and Rain themselves. The sea of players was innumerable. Warsky clenched his fists unconsciously. "Fuck. Things just got really complicated¡­" I glanced at everyone before suggesting, "Let¡¯s attack after our total troop count exceeds a million. Otherwise, we won¡¯t be able to hold the territory even if we manage to take it from Throne of the Wild." "Yeah!" Warsky nodded heavily. ¡­¡­ I leaped off my mount¡¯s back before walking up to Warsky Alliance¡¯s party. I shot Song of Cloud and Water a look before asking, "Have you finally joined Warsky Alliance, Seven-Star Lamp¡¯s sister?" She shot me an aggrieved look. "You wouldn¡¯t join my Soul Battle Robes, so this was the only choice left for me. Plus, big brother Warsky is a pretty good guy¡­" Me: "..." I paused for a second before extending a hand to her, "You don¡¯t have to become Warsky Alliance¡¯s subguild, you know? I have an idea. Why don¡¯t you join me in foreign lands? We can operate Ice River Canton Fortress together. I¡¯ll even change my guild name to Soul Battle Robes if you want!" Song of Cloud and Water: "..." Chapter 1161: Clear As Flame "Is that a joke!?" Song of Ice and Fire crossed his axe between me and Song of Cloud and Water and glared at me. He growled, "You want Soul Battle Robes to join your guild? The only way we¡¯ll allow this is if Song of Cloud and Water is made the guild leader! Otherwise, don¡¯t even think about it! We are the successors of Seven-Star Lamp, and we¡¯ll never be mentioned in the same breath as those foreign, unaffiliated players of yours!" Amused, I replied, "Just say no if you don¡¯t want to join us. There is no need to slander us lonely, unaffiliated players whatsoever. However, are you sure Ice and Fire¡¯s words are representative of yours, Sister Cloud and Water?" Song of Cloud and Water¡¯s chest rose up and down, and her eyes clearly looked torn by indecision. She whispered, "Of all the Divine Generals in the China server, I¡¯ve always liked you the most and believed that you¡¯re the strongest of them all, Lu Chen. I¡ª" She was about to say something more when Warsky interrupted her by putting a hand on her shoulder and smiling at me. "You¡¯re as scummy as usual, Lu Chen. You don¡¯t seriously think I¡¯m going to let you steal Soul Battle Robes right before my eyes, do you? Hmph hmph, you already have Beiming Xue and Lian Xing, so why are you trying to take my younger sister away from me? Excessive greed will be your undoing¡­" I shrugged and said frankly, "Sigh. It¡¯s not like I want to do something like this myself, but poverty stunts ambition, and you know how terrible my current situation is right now. At first, I had to carry a bunch of low-level poorly-equipped brothers and sisters by myself. Then, we were chased out of Iron Skull Wilderness and pursued all the way to Final Duel Valley. Even after we¡¯ve settled down at Ice River Canton Ruins, we were harassed by Era of Strife first and Throne of the Wild later. It was horrible. If I don¡¯t gather as much manpower as I can, it is only a matter of time before our enemies flatten us!" Obvious sympathy entered Song of Cloud and Water¡¯s eyes as she said, "Is it really that bad, big brother Lu Chen? Maybe¡­ I can spare you some of our subguilds¡­" To my surprise, October Rain stepped out and interrupted smilingly, "Seriously, girl, who do you think Lu Chen is? He¡¯s the playmaker who won the War of Dawn City and the War of Purple Grape City. If he can¡¯t survive in the foreign lands, then no one can. Don¡¯t listen to his bullshit, Sister Cloud and Water. He¡¯s way tougher than he¡¯s pretending to be!" I curled my lips. "You praise me too much, Beauty October Rain!" "Fuck off. You will not steal our people, end of story!" ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, another group of players appeared from the direction of White Rose Fortress. This time, it was none other than the several tens of thousands of Dragonlight Cavalrymen led by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ Famous Generals, and the near 20000 Dragonlight Archers led by Beiming Xue. Speaking of which, Gui Guzi had officially returned to the main guild¡ªthe main guild emblem on his arm was the proof of that¡ªand Du Thirteen had retaken his position as Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ guild leader once more. Besides that, hundreds and thousands of Ancient Sword elites were marching toward Soaring Flame Desert as well. It looked like almost every elite player in the guild was attending this battle. "Boss Broken Halberd!" Gui Guzi greeted me cheerfully after arriving. "We didn¡¯t come too late, did we? Were you anxious? Haha!" I nodded at him before checking the time. "We only have 8 hours left. In 8 hours, we must kill every Throne of the Wild player in the territory, so let¡¯s run wild for a bit while we wait for the other guilds to arrive, Little Gui. By the way, where¡¯s Eve?" "The guild leader is escorting our ranged parties. She¡¯ll be arriving in a moment." "Got it!" While carrying her bow, Beiming Xue asked me, "What should I do, big brother?" I smiled. "You just need to lead the Dragonlight Archers and cover our cavalry with Skypiercers. By the way, you¡¯re eighth-promotion now, right?" "Yep!" "Can you explain to me your eighth-promotion skills?" "There are two. The first one is Clear As Flames. Upon activation, it allows me to identify all invisible targets within 40 yards. The second one is Impossible Escape. Upon death, the eighth-promotion archer has a 10% chance to revive on the spot with 50% of their HP and MP." I smiled. "Tsk tsk, not bad at all. A 10% chance to revive is always better than no chance to revive at all, not to mention that Luck can boost that number even further. With your Luck, you should have a 20% chance to revive at least. Clear As Flames is also a super practical skill and a must-have when scouting. The archer¡¯s survivability is much improved after the eighth class promotion, I see." Beiming Xue pouted. "I know you¡¯re trying to console me, big brother, but no matter how strong these skills are, they¡¯re still not as good as the fighter classes¡¯ Blitzkrieg and Ultimate Strength Break!" I looked at Gui Guzi next and asked, "How about you, Little Gui? Have you gotten your new class skills?" Gui Guzi let out a chuckle before lighting his spear with the light of Ultimate Strength Break. "Ultimate Strength Break is an incredibly powerful skill. During the couple of times I sparred against Lil Beiming, I was able to deal almost 200k damage to her every time I landed the skill. There was even one time where I had one-shot her outright. Unfortunately, she also triggered Impossible Escape and revived, so¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ "How much longer are we going to wait, big brother? Sister Eve should be arriving in ten minutes¡­" Beiming Xue asked. I shot her a smile and said, "Then we¡¯ll wait for her. Once she and our main force arrive, we¡¯ll immediately siege the territory and try to become the first guild to seize it!" "Mn!" It was at this moment Hickey tilted her head and examined Beiming Xue for a moment before asking, "Are you sure she isn¡¯t your actual sister, boss? She¡¯s so cute¡­" Beiming Xue blushed but didn¡¯t say anything. A while later, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Lian Xin and the rest of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ ground troops finally entered Soaring Flame Desert. Arriving together with them was Lin Yixin¡¯s Snowy Cathaya. I also spotted Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends, Pop Culture and more guilds trailing behind them. A great war was obviously culminating on this map. Chiang! Now that the time had finally arrived, I pointed to the city and shouted, "Cavalry, we¡¯re taking the first fight! Prepare to charge!" However, a group of Chinese players had launched an assault from the northwest direction first even before I could unsheath my sword. They were none other than the Mad Dragon and Flower Room¡¯s alliance of guilds. Even Dominating Heaven Blade had shown himself with several tens of thousands players. As important as this territory war was, it was just a territory war. The guilds didn¡¯t bring their entire armies, only around 30% or so. By no means were they conserving their strength though. All the players here were the guilds¡¯ elites. There just wasn¡¯t much point bringing low-level players who wouldn¡¯t be enough to even be cannon fodder. ¡­¡­ "OMG, why are those idiots so impulsive?" Lin Yixin uttered through gritted teeth. Purple Marquis shrugged. "Who cares about them?" Li Chengfeng looked on hesitantly. "Ah, dammit. Are we still launching our assault, or¡­?" "We are!" I clenched my teeth tighter. "We¡¯re going to annihilate the 150k Divine Elephant Cavalry first. That idiot Wild King threatened Godkiller earlier, and I¡¯m absolutely going to make him pay for it!" Gui Guzi raised his Spear of the Knight God high and declared with a guffaw, "You heard the boss, Dragonlight Cavalry. Let¡¯s show the Divine Elephant Cavalry of Nation Guardian what we¡¯re made of!" The 50k elite cavalrymen laughed and raised their weapons as well. I, He Yi, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng and more formed our thousand-man parties and activated our respective Famous General Skills. After everything was ready, we took off and charged straight toward Nation Guardian¡¯s formation. Speaking of which, High Fighting Spirits was riding side by side with Warscar, and both animals in human skin were hollering on top of their lungs. They were easily one of the most intimidating duos in the world. ¡­¡­ "Fuck¡­" Wild King felt like his eyes were about to fall out of their eye sockets when he saw that the Dragonlight Cavalry was charging toward him. This was far worse than the time he had fought them during the War of Purple Grape City because the Dragonlight Cavalry only numbered around 15000 players back then. Not only that, a lot of them had completed their eighth class promotions and picked up the super skill, Ultimate Strength Break. He might be the guild leader of Nation Guardian and a warrior with several great wars under his belt, but he still couldn¡¯t help but shake at the sight of them. "Kill!" Wild King abruptly raised his spear and roared angrily, "Don¡¯t fear the enemy¡¯s strength! We are Nation Guardian, the king of guardians of Cyan Earth City! Show them what we¡¯re made of!" And so, the two cavalry troops met at the center of the plains in one massive, continuous impact. The world was literally rocking like an earthquake! Bang bang bang¡­ The sheer amount of force of two cavalries slamming into one another sent countless fighters flying into the air. As the familiar music of blade sinking into flesh began, High Fighting Spirits waved his battle axe and shouted a skill that I hadn¡¯t seen in a very long time, Xiezhi Howl. Most Divine Elephant Cavalrymen lost a ton of HP, and some were even one-shot where they stood. A short distance away, He Yi was swinging her Seven Star Veluriyam Spear repeatedly and dealing massive damage with her Godslaying Blade. Li Chengfeng was slashing necks like the Dark Blade weighed nothing before changing his style all of a sudden and executing a brute-force Dragonblade Revolution, killing even more. ¡­ The battle turned completely one-sided in our favor after just ten minutes. The usually indomitable Divine Elephant Cavalry fell like wheats to the scythe that was the improved Dragonlight Cavalry. Although they outnumbered us three to one, they were losing almost immediately after they made contact with us. "How¡­ how can this be?!" Wild King roared furiously while fighting, "How did we lose so quickly?! Hang on, brothers and sisters! The Beast King Cavalry will come to our rescue in just a moment! Hang on¡­" Wild King didn¡¯t know that I had upgraded the Dragonlight Cavalry with the Brave General Horseshoes. Almost 100k Brave General Horseshoes had been forged in total, and they improved the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s strength so much that the outcome of this battle was completely different from the last time we fought the Divine Elephant Cavalry. It was no wonder Wild King found it difficult to accept reality. ¡­¡­ When the main guild¡¯s 30k Zephyr Cavalrymen joined the battle as well, any chance Nation Guardian might¡¯ve had at turning this around was lost completely. The army of 150k Divine Elephant Cavalrymen had been shredded with almost no resistance whatsoever. "Withdraw! Cyan Beast will deal with them!" Wild King finally broke and escaped, but we didn¡¯t try to give chase. Less than ten minutes later, God of War and Breeze and Rain showed up to replace Nation Guardian as we expected they would. Too bad for them, our main guild had grown too strong to be worn down by continuous battle! Chapter 1162: Rough and Tumble on the Desert "Candle Dragon¡¯s here¡­" Gui Guzi was lighting a dozen or so Beast King Cavalrymen aflame and dealing over 70k damage to each of them with Crescent Moon Flame when he spotted Candle Dragon. He said while looking at the distance, "They sure took their sweet time to show up. What on earth was Candlelight Shadow thinking?" Chaos Moon replied, "Tear Stain is Candlelight Shadow¡¯s junior sister. I even heard that they used to be in a relationship when Candlelight Shadow was studying abroad. Maybe the guy doesn¡¯t feel like going all out because the enemy is his old flame?" I casually slaughtered a bunch of people before replying smilingly, "Who cares? No matter what Candle Dragon¡¯s stance is in this matter, we¡¯re still going to seize the territory. At the very least, we cannot allow Tear Stain to occupy it. Otherwise, the Northern Alliance will be able to attack our hinterlands without having to go through the Fortress of the Iron Halberd." "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow made a beeline straight toward us. To our surprise, he used Ultimate Strength Break on a group of Beast King Cavalrymen, a skill that was normally ineffective against fighters, and actually managed to deal over 150k damage to all of them. It was because his Strength stat was super high¡ªjudging from his damage, he had to have almost 4000 Strength over these Beast King Cavalrymen at the very least¡ªand his equipment was excellent. It also showed that he was super confident in his Strength. Whoosh! After he cast Outer Flame and instakilled the group of low-health Beast King Cavalrymen, he rode up to the area where He Yi, Beiming Xue and I were fighting and called out to us, "He Yi, Lu Chen!" "Yes?" He Yi paused in her tracks. Candlelight Shadow pointed at the territory and said, "Ancient Sword doesn¡¯t need a Rank 8 territory, right? Tear Stain is my junior sister, so I would like you to leave Throne of the Wild to Candle Dragon to handle. I promise you we will seize it from the Northern Alliance in 7 hours tops. What do you say?" I was fine with that. It didn¡¯t matter who took the territory as long as it wasn¡¯t the Northern Alliance. So I nodded. "Sure. If you really can seize the territory, then we won¡¯t contest it. We¡¯ll even hold off Cyan Beast, Nation Guardian, God¡¯s Domain and the rest of the pests for you, so you¡¯d better exceed our expectations and seize the territory in four or five hours!" Candlelight Shadow actually smiled a little before replying, "Got it. Just leave it to Candle Dragon. Thank you for giving me this chance to speak with Tear Stain without interference!" After He Yi and I nodded, Candlelight Shadow immediately left to rejoin his troops. ¡­¡­ Empowered by Battle Soul Possession and wielding the Dark Blade, Li Chengfeng slaughtered his enemies like a ghost of the battlefield. He was currently Level 177 and not yet at the level where one would undergo their seventh class promotion, but it was fine because he had already learned all his seventh-promotion class skills beforehand. Suddenly, a shadow interrupted his momentum and clashed blades with him three times in a row. The dragon warrior disengaged the moment he found an opening. It was Breeze and Rain who had challenged him to a fight! While backing away, Li Chengfeng used Dragonblade Revolution and struck Breeze and Rain¡¯s chest armor with Cyan Dragon Horn at the same time. His intent was to drive the latter further away from him. Breeze and Rain¡¯s palm glowed with the light of Soul Capture, but Li Chengfeng moved in such an unpredictable fashion that the Agility Warrior couldn¡¯t fight an opportunity to land it at all. Obviously, Li Chengfeng wasn¡¯t going to fight Breeze and Rain head-on because he was tens of levels below the latter. Also, he was more capable at ranged combat than Breeze and Rain was, so attacking him from range was definitely the right call here. "Dammit!" Breeze and Rain gave up on chasing Li Chengfeng and slapped his Soul Capture against a Dragonlight Cavalryman¡¯s chest. Then, he followed up the debuff with Ultimate Strength Break. Since the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s stats had been reduced by 70%, his Strength naturally became far weaker than the Agility Warrior¡¯s. The skill bypassed his Defense and dealt a massive amount of damage¡ª 271320! Breeze and Rain¡¯s act of venting his frustrations against a fellow Dragonlight Cavalryman pissed off Li Chengfeng completely. He readied his Dark Blade again and shouted, "Little Gui, Chaos Moon, Fighting Spirits, let¡¯s wipe the floor with this guy together! Lu Chen, one-shot him if you find a chance! Let¡¯s see what else Cyan Beast can do after we annihilate their vice leader!" Gui Guzi and Chaos Moon immediately pincered Breeze and Rain and unleashed their respective AoE skills. Breeze and Rain only had enough time to parry Gui Guzi¡¯s Crescent Moon Blaze before he was struck by Chaos Moon¡¯s Rock Crush. High Fighting Spirits Charged Breeze and Rain before executing a devastating Xiezhi Howl, deleting almost 200k HP from the guy¡¯s health bar. Just like that, the Agility Warrior had dropped below 25% HP. "Fuck!" Breeze and Rain let out an angry swear before flipping down his mount and slashing Gui Guzi right across the shoulder. Then, he kicked High Fighting Spirits in the axe handle and propelled himself from the frontline like a lightning bolt. Not only that, he managed to slash a Dragonlight Cavalryman on his way and kill that guy too. Some distance away, I aimed my sword at Breeze and Rain and used Dragon Slaying Slash! Thud! Unfortunately, the energy blade missed by a couple of centimeters and slid harmlessly across the tip of his nose. It still frightened him enough to bleach his face deathly white though. "Heavens!" Not done yet, Beiming Xue fired a number of arrows at Breeze and Rain¡¯s general direction, forcing the Agility Warrior to scramble to safety on all fours. He just barely managed to escape under the cover that was his fellows of Beast King Cavalry. I was sure that he wouldn¡¯t dare to show his face again for a while. ¡­¡­ At another part of the battlefield, God of War and an entourage of a dozen or so first-rate experts were going to town against our players and allies. They had formed a vortex of murder that destroyed everyone who was caught in it in ten seconds at most. They were so successful that Du Thirteen walked up to me and pointed at them, saying, "Those fuckers are way too powerful. They¡¯ve killed at least a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen! Can you deal with them, Lu Chen?" I nodded affirmatively and flew to Beiming Xue¡¯s side. After I pulled her onto the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back, I ordered, "Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Eve, you guys will attack them from the ground. Beiming and I will attack from the sky. Beiming, you¡¯ll use Well of the Abyss to break God of War¡¯s mini formation later. The rest of you, kill them the second you find an opportunity!" "Good!" With the Ancient Divine Dragon, I was able to arrive at God of War¡¯s location in just a couple of seconds. After I lowered its elevation a bit, a smiling Beiming Xue jumped off like a butterfly, landed on the ground and immediately started casting Well of the Abyss. "Shit!" God of War¡¯s pupils shrank drastically at the sight of danger. "Incoming Well of the Abyss! Use invincibility or CC immunity skills!" His entourage reacted extremely quickly, and God of War himself charged straight toward Beiming Xue after activating his own invincibility skill. However, the Dark Archer managed to finish her spell cast first, successfully trapping everyone except God of War himself and two other first-rate experts. "Die!" God of War immediately executed his Inferno Sixtuple Slash. If Beiming Xue died, there was a chance the Divine General Skill would be canceled prematurely. Unfortunately, Beiming Xue was no greenhorn he could slaughter however he liked. She Leaped straight into the air and right onto the back of my Ancient Divine Dragon. After I wrapped my arm tightly around her waist, God of War lost any chance he had of killing her. On the ground, fully-buffed Gui Guzi activated Killer God Formation, increasing his own stats by 50% and all of his party members¡¯ by 25%. He smashed right through the enemy line like a truck and opened up a path for He Yi, Chaos Moon and the others to follow. Fifteen seconds later, after Well of the Abyss reached the end of its duration, the players trapped inside it were spat out into a plethora of AoE skills such as Xiezhi Howl, Purgatory of Ice and Magma, Rock Crush and more. They never had a chance to save themselves. The 20 experts God of War had brought with him died just like that. Pop pop pop... They even dropped a ton of equipment and potions. I glanced at God of War and clearly saw the pain on his face. Every one of these players was an elite in his guild, but they were surprised by Well of the Abyss and subsequently killed by our combined AoE skills. It was one of the most frustrating ways to die for sure. ¡­¡­ At the back, Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue and the rest of our ranged players were slowly pushing closer and closer to the frontline as well. The Beast King Cavalry started losing people at an exponential rate when the mages¡¯ spells and the archers¡¯ arrows began. Although the Beast King Cavalry were ferocious enough to hold their ground, they were sustaining losses that were beyond God of War¡¯s ability to accept. Less than two hours later, the guild leader finally raised his sword and shouted, "Withdraw! We¡¯ll reorganize and fight the enemy later!" ¡­¡­ Cyan Beast¡¯s players withdrew like tidewater, leaving us feeling both dumbfounded and dissatisfied. "How do you think Cyan Beast performed in this fight?" He Yi was the first to ask the question. Lian Xin replied, "It feels... like they¡¯re not as strong as they were during the Nation War. What¡¯s going on?" I declared confidently, "They¡¯ve obviously conserved their strength." "Conserve their strength?" Lian Xin looked confused. "But why? They¡¯re going up against us. If anything, they should give it everything they got!" I smiled. "It¡¯s a matter of self-interest, you see. While the Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City and Elephant City had formed a temporary alliance, that doesn¡¯t mean they aren¡¯t scheming behind each other¡¯s backs. There¡¯s zero chance God of War would let all his elites lose a level for a mere territory, not to mention that it is a hot potato that no one really wants to hold if possible." It was at this moment Li Chengfeng rode up to us and pointed. "Look, Snowy Cathaya and Blazing Hot Lips are fighting Era of Strife and Asuka Period right now. And that guy¡­ the fuck? Isn¡¯t that Red Maple? How is he grinding his levels so quickly? Looks like God¡¯s Domain is finally going to make a comeback¡­" ¡­¡­ We looked. As expected, God¡¯s Domain¡¯s Wildfire Riders were circling around the edges of the battlefield and plotting to hit Snowy Cathaya from the flank. The strategy was very Red Maple alright. Without hesitation, I waved my arm and declared, "Well, what are you guys waiting for? Let¡¯s take them out already! We¡¯re here to act out the war movie, not spectate it!" Everyone laughed before raising their weapons in response. We then took off to intercept God¡¯s Domain¡¯s players. Chapter 1163: Blackwing Massive battles were happening all over Soaring Flame Desert over one tiny territory. Already, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon and more Chinese guilds had entered this short but critical war against the Indians and the Koreans, and when time ticked to around 3 hours before the end of the territory war, the main guilds of the Northern Alliance finally showed up! ¡­¡­ The first group to appear was the elites of Hero City. Their leader was none other than the alliance leader of the Northern Alliance, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow! It had been a long time since I saw the man. He was Level 212, and he bore a completely different set of equipment than the one I saw him in previously. The weapon he held in his hand glowed a dark cyan color, and I had a feeling that it was an Ancient Immortal-grade weapon. Considering his character skills and technique, he must be terrifyingly strong right now. "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is here!" On the edge of the battlefield, Hegemon Palace¡¯s Little Piglet narrowed his eyes before shouting, "Brothers and sisters, follow me to kick Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s ass! This is our chance to pay him back for everything he has done to us!" After he had buffed himself with Great Conqueror and gotten an affirmative nod from his guild leader, Pillar of the Nation, he charged forward with his elites and shouted, "Kill! Kill so that we can climb up the Guild Ranking and enter the CGL Hall of Fame!" Warsky, Song of Ice and Fire, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and more barely resisted snorting when they heard his battle cry. Everyone knows that Little Piglet possessed the soul of a businessman, and his battle cry was a perfect example of that. In fact, many Chinese guilds were participating in this war not because they wished to defend their homes, but because they wished to earn guild glory points. The guild ranking evaluation committee kept a close eye on every large-scale battle and rated each guild¡¯s performance accordingly. Killing a powerful enemy player would certainly improve a guild¡¯s status. Speaking of which, the VR department¡¯s Tang Feng had officially intervened in the CGL committee¡¯s business. A couple of days ago, he announced that he would reorganize the CGL committee and flush out the rotten apples. He also made a formal apology to all the players who had withdrawn from the CGL Hall of Fame, and hoped to add both old and new players back to the CGL Hall of Fame. What this meant was that a golden opportunity had presented itself. Anyone who performed outstandingly during this lull might be able to become a CGL Hall of Famer themselves. ¡­¡­ Sneering, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow spurred his mount toward Little Piglet before raising his left arm abruptly, shouting, "Come out, Blackwing!" "Roar!" A black cyclone circled around Vienna¡¯s arm, and a hexagram appeared above his head. The next moment, an adult black dragon with a sinister-looking head and a neck covered in scales emerged from the center of the hexagram. It looked like a creature from hell. After grabbing the edges of the magic formation with its talons and forcing itself through, the black dragon extended its meaty wings and let out a mighty roar. Its wings had many tiny holes in them, but it didn¡¯t seem to impact its ability to fly. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow abandoned his original mount and climbed up his dragon¡¯s back. At the same time, an energy beam about 20 yards long extended from his weapon almost like a lightsaber. It was of course his Divine General Skill, Ice Stream Blade! Almost everyone looked stunned by this. Who would¡¯ve thought that Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, the king of the northern region, would become the first true dragon knight of the game? With a giant dragon¡¯s super stats and Ice Stream Blade¡¯s ranged firepower, who in the north could possibly unseat him from his throne? Although I was the first player to ride a dragon, I was known to the Northern Alliance as a "dragon runner", not a "dragon knight." The reason for this was because the Ancient Divine Dragon wasn¡¯t a western-style dragon and so didn¡¯t quite fit the traditional description of a dragon knight, even though I looked cooler, in my opinion. ¡­¡­ Cackling, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow swung his weapon and split the ground beneath his feet. A gigantic, icy tear appeared in the middle of a Hegemon Palace party and killed a line of magic knights instantly. It was just a basic attack, but every player that was caught in it took at least 200k damage. Those who were unfortunate enough to eat a critical hit died instantly! "Ceh!" Little Piglet roared. Despite being empowered by Great Earth Transformation and crossing his blade in front of himself, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was still able to deal 170k+ damage to him. Suddenly, the Chinese tank crouched on top of his mount¡¯s back, launched himself upward like a cannonball and pulled off an exquisite maneuver that stunned even me. Grabbing onto the black dragon¡¯s talon with his left hand and thrusting his sword upward with his right, he was able to draw blood and elicit a cry of pain from the mount. Still holding a tight grip on his weapon, he somehow managed to push himself toward the black dragon¡¯s tail and hold on with both arms. "Holy shit, the balls on this guy!" Li Chengfeng praised while clenching his fists. Little Piglet was a genius expert who had joined Heavenblessed at the same time as Li Chengfeng, and right now, the Cold Wind Swordsman[1] was declaring to the world with his actions that Hegemon Palace¡¯s name wouldn¡¯t be buried in history. ¡­¡­ Vienna¡¯s Sorrow saw through Little Piglet¡¯s plot and smiled. He immediately took control over his mount while shouting, "Fly, Blackwing! Drop this fool like the sack of potatoes he is!" Blackwing immediately roared in response, flapped its wings and flew upward. Pinned down by the inertia, Little Piglet could only hang onto the black dragon¡¯s tail without being able to attack. At the same time, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow turned around and hit Little Piglet directly with Ultimate Strength Break. It actually critted and dealt an incredible amount of damage¡ª 260000! It was yet another stunning sight. Little Piglet and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow were both super-tier experts, but the Strength gap between the two actually exceeded 3000. Only the heavens and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow himself would know exactly how much of a stat boost his Blackwing gave him, but it couldn¡¯t be too far behind even my Ancient Divine Dragon. ¡­¡­ Little Piglet groaned as blood dripped profusely down his arm. Still holding onto the black dragon¡¯s scales with a death grip, he crawled little by little until he was 5 yards away from Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡ªhis attack range while Great Conqueror was active¡ªand attacked. Although he was able to land hit after hit on Vienna¡¯s armor, there was little chance he would be able to kill the latter first before the latter killed him. The dragon buffed Vienna¡¯s HP and Defense to incredible levels after all. "Little Piglet¡¯s going to die¡­" He Yi commented. I gave my Ancient Divine Dragon a rub before shooting her a smile. "I¡¯m going to help him!" "Mn!" Both He Yi and Beiming Xue nodded at the same time. Dust flew everywhere as the Ancient Divine Dragon took off and soared toward the sky. In just a couple of seconds, the distance between me and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had shortened to speaking distance. Little Piglet looked up in surprise. "You came for me, Lu Chen?!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow cackled. "I have waited for this day for too long, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! I care about settling my score with you far more than I care about the territory beneath our feet! Now come! As for you, fall down already! You are disrupting our sacred duel!" Bang! While saying that, he kicked Little Piglet in the head hard enough to dislodge the latter from his dragon. The man¡¯s character was like the wind, and so was his class, but he was still going to die a windy death falling from this height if I didn¡¯t save him right now. "Little dragon!" I hurriedly made the Ancient Divine Dragon fly downward and catch the falling Little Piglet with its jaws. However, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s roar hit me like an explosion, "You care about others when you can¡¯t even take care of yourself, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? Don¡¯t mind if I do!" Blackwing let out a roar, and the next moment I felt a tearing pain cutting through my back and lost 170k+ HP. This was the most damage anyone had dealt to me with a basic attack since I rode the Ancient Divine Dragon! Little Piglet downed a health potion and yelled through gritted teeth, "I¡¯ll be fine, Lu Chen! Just drop me! Focus on killing Vienna!" "Got it!" Right after the Ancient Divine Dragon slackened its jaw, I grabbed it by its reddish whiskers and pulled, forcing it to fly along an S-shaped path. The poor thing was yelping in pain, but there was no time for gentleness right now. On the ground, countless players had stopped fighting to watch the great aerial battle taking place above their heads. The Ancient Divine Dragon possessed exceptional turn rate, so I was able to stop my descent first, arrive at Blackwing¡¯s right wing and execute a devastating midair Burning Blade Slash! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow saw what I was attempting and tried to parry my skill. He managed to block the first two hits, but the third one landed perfectly and dealt an incredible amount of damage¡ª 210202! "Impressive!" Vienna bellowed while retaliating with Berserk Triple Slash. It was an extraordinarily powerful triple-hit flurry skill and Vienna¡¯s strongest killer move. I raised my arm without hesitation and summoned a gust of wind around me. I would stop his strongest attack with my strongest defense¡ªBattle Astral Wind! Bang bang bang! MISS! MISS! MISS! The misses rising above my head caused Vienna¡¯s Sorrow mouth to widen into an O-shape. "How¡­ how is this possible?" Not bothering to reply, I followed up with Universe Break! 271828! Despite the incredible attack I dealt, his HP only dropped to 60% or so. This goddamned black dragon sure added a ton of HP. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was a true expert, so his shock only lasted half a second or so. Upon recovering his senses, his blade suddenly glowed with the color of the deep sea. When we passed by each other, he abruptly thrust his weapon at my chest and growled out, "Penetration of the Deep!" Pu! A chill entered my chest, and my HP dropped by 300k+. Worse, my strongest defensive skill, Battle Astral Wind lost 40% durability in an instant, dropping to 32%. Goddammit, Vienna¡¯s Penetration of the Deep was practically the perfect counter to my Battle Astral Wind! That being said, I was aiming for the same opening as he did. While he was executing Penetration of the Deep, I also opened my palm and slapped God Binding Art point-blank against his chest! MISS! Unfortunately for me, the bastard got super lucky, and the skill didn¡¯t take effect. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s complexion was green though. He knew full well what would¡¯ve happened if I had managed to immobilize him. Blackwing abruptly came to a stop and unleashed a fiery breath directly against me and the Ancient Divine Dragon. One more Barrier Break from Vienna¡¯s Sorrow later, Battle Astral Wind finally lost all of its durability and dispelled on its own. However, I was able to retaliate with a flurry skill that would¡¯ve deleted Vienna¡¯s last sliver of HP had he not shouted¡ª "Black Wing Protection!" A pair of black wings appeared around him all of a sudden and blocked my attack. It was a protection skill! After taking a fiery spit to the face, the Ancient Divine Dragon finally lost control of its animalistic instinct and grabbed onto the black dragon¡¯s head with both claws. Then it opened its jaws and tore chunks of scales and flesh right off the black dragon¡¯s neck. Of course, Blackwing returned the favor with equal ferocity, and the fight quickly devolved into a melee between a Holy Giant Dragon and an Ancient Dragon. 1. Some of you may remember, but Lu Chen noticed both of them at the same time in the first search of Sky City¡¯s Heavenly Ranking, and wanted to recruit both of them into his guild Chapter 1164: Thank You Dear There was a purple flash, and the Purple Ying Sword pierced Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s chest. When Purple Frost Concentration took effect, Black Wing Protection instantly shattered into a million pieces. Chiang! I withdrew my blade just in time to parry a strike. Vienna was very close to dying at this point, and he looked astonished at the rate he was losing HP. Desperate, he abruptly raised his arms and let out a growl. As black light surrounded both limbs, his muscles suddenly swelled up unnaturally! Beep! Combat Log: Player "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow" has used the skill "Iron Arm Reinforcement", increasing his Strength by 70% for 7 seconds! ¡­¡­ "Shit!" I shuddered. Unfortunately, I reacted too late. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow made his black dragon ascend a little, brought his weapon down on my shoulder and executed his eighth promotion skill, Ultimate Strength Break! BANG! It felt like a mountain in the shape of a sword was cleaving through my body. My Strength was no match for Vienna¡¯s after he had enhanced the stat by 70%, so both me and my dragon were sent falling toward the ground. The damage number rising above my head was terrifying to say the least¡ª 409600! It was even a critical hit. A rough estimate revealed to me that Vienna¡¯s Sorrow currently had 5000+ Strength over me, and even discounting the 70% increase it was still over 10k+ Strength. While his actual Strength was lower than mine, Iron Arm Reinforcement more than made up for it in a short time. Not only that, it was the perfect complement to Ultimate Strength Break![1] I wasn¡¯t finished though. While falling, I locked onto Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and threw my weapon as hard as I could. The Purple Ying Sword turned into a cyclone and flew straight toward the Berserker! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow immediately shouted when he saw this, "Shit!" Boom! Coiling Dragon Revolution almost punched through Blackwing¡¯s stomach completely and dealt a heavy blow to Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. The skill should¡¯ve deleted him where he flew, but he leaped into the air in the nick of time¡ªmeaning that he dismounted from Blackwing and let it suffer the full brunt of the skill to its tenacity¡ªavoided the death blow and landed back on his dragon¡¯s back. Since Blackwing only had 4% mount tenacity left, he shouted, "Just you wait! We will meet again!" ¡­¡­ Bang! A deep pit appeared where the Ancient Divine Dragon had crashed. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow Ultimate Strength Break had that much force behind it. That being said, I now had a better grasp of his new skills. Next time, he wouldn¡¯t be able to get away this easily. I had to hide my shock when I checked my HP and noted that less than 30% was left, however. Just as I had the chance to kill Vienna, Vienna too had a chance to kill me. This was one of the most dangerous duels I had fought up until this point. Around me, a group of Hegemon Palace players scattered to open up a way for Little Piglet. He walked up to me and asked smilingly, "How does Vienna¡¯s skill feel, Lu Chen?" I smiled. "You know best out of everyone here¡­" Little Piglet: "..." I gave the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s red whiskers a pull, and it soared to the sky again before landing in front of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ formation. God¡¯s Domain¡¯s Red Maple, Cyan Frost and more were having a great time murdering chaps when they saw me flying in their direction and retreated immediately. They knew that their levels were still lacking, and the chance that they could fight the Level 216 me head-on was exactly zero. Of course, if they had a black dragon mount and a set of super-tier equipment like Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, then level disadvantage or not, they would fight me to the death. ¡­¡­ Nothing worth mentioning happened after that. The war dragged until the final hour, but from the looks of it, things were going to end soon enough. Heaps and heaps of bodies adorned the ground all because of one territory, one that Candle Dragon more or less had under control thanks to the cooperation of Pop Culture, Warsky Alliance, Purple Lily and more. Candlelight Shadow fought his way into the territory as soon as he was able, and was currently focused on clearing out the remaining Throne of the Wild players. "It looks like it¡¯s our victory this time¡­" He Yi shot me a smile. "The Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City and Elephant City really haven¡¯t sent too many men over. They might have crushed us had they been a bit more prepared¡­" I nodded. "Yeah. This whole thing feels like a feint for some reason¡­" "Well, whatever. The important thing is that we have control of the territory now." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ The war entered its final stage, and God¡¯s Domain, Cyan Beast, Hero Alliance and more had all withdrawn away, leaving Tear Stain and only several tens of thousands Throne of the Wild players to fend for themselves. Now, all that was left to do was to seize the Territory Token from Tear Stain¡¯s hands. I withdrew the Ancient Divine Dragon and led He Yi, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and the others into the territory on foot. We didn¡¯t interfere because this was Candlelight Shadow¡¯s battle, not ours. Even Lin Yixin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Luo River God of the Capital, Warsky and more had walked in as well. We stood at the plaza and watched as Candlelight Shadow continued pursuing Tear Stain and her remaining troops. ¡­¡­ A while later, I checked the time and noted that there were less than ten minutes left on the clock. So I shouted from afar, "Kill Tear Stain already, Candlelight Shadow! It¡¯ll be a complete waste of everyone¡¯s time if you don¡¯t seize the Territory Token now!" Candlelight Shadow said in a low tone, "I know. You don¡¯t need to remind me!" It was at this moment a group of players appeared from behind. It was none other than the alliance leader of Dragons Run Wild and one of Tang Long¡¯s in-game representatives, Amber Pupil. Lu Chen!" Amber Pupil glared at me with jealousy and hatred. "Who gave you the right to enter this territory? You¡¯re an unaffiliated player, you have no right to participate in this war at all. Also, Purple Lily, Blazing Hot Lips, Snowy Cathaya, why are you colluding with Lu Chen even though you know he¡¯s a traitor?" Warsky unsheathed his sword threateningly, "Bullshit! Nobody except you actually thinks that Lu Chen¡¯s a traitor, not to mention that you yourself would be wandering at an abandoned city right now if it wasn¡¯t for him, hmph!" Farewell Song, Song of Ice and Fire and more unsheathed their weapons as well. They looked like they were planning to teach Dragons Run Wild a lesson. Amber Pupil grinned and planted his sword on the ground. "You want to fight? Let¡¯s fight! My Dragons Run Wild is 300+ subguilds or almost 5 million players strong. Today, I¡¯ve only brought less than 2 million with me. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to kill all of us, but I promise you that a most shameful civil war will break out after today. If you want Tear Stain or the other Koreans to look down on us, then do it! I dare you!" Warsky gritted his teeth. "Motherfucker!" ¡­¡­ I neither criticized Amber Pupil nor even looked at him. I continued shouting at Candlelight Shadow, "There¡¯s only 6 minutes left until the end of the territory war, man! How much longer are you going to play around? Or are you hinting for me to act on your behalf?" Tear Stain was strong, but I was fairly confident that I could kill her in just 5 minutes. Candlelight Shadow faced toward me and said, "I told you I don¡¯t need you to remind me! Again, this is Tear Stain and my battle, and I don¡¯t want anyone to interrupt us! I will show her that our pride is inviolable, and that I will not give her control over a deadly territory like this myself!" "Good. Now less talking, more killing¡­" Candlelight Shadow: "..." ¡­¡­ "Transient Smoke and Clouds, Blue Sky Scar, God¡¯s Dance, Tempest Shadow, follow me to seize the Territory Token together! We can¡¯t dilly-dally any longer!" Candlelight Shadow summoned his four gods and chased after Tear Stain immediately. No one was able to stop their advance. At a corner of a city rubble, Tear Stain was riding back and forth and killing her enemies again and again. Her shoulder was covered in blood, and her blade looked like it was about to fold upon itself. After nearly 10 hours of fighting, everyone had bore witness to the strength of the Korea server¡¯s number one player. Swhoosh! Tempest Shadow Charged, but the smirking Tear Stain simply took two steps backward and slashed at the fighter, causing him to spin on his feet like a top. Then, she fired a ranged skill and interrupted Blue Sky Scar¡¯s attack midway. Her prediction ability was truly stunning. Whoosh! However, Touch of the Dragonkiss erupted beneath her feet and dealt over 100k damage, and Transient Smoke and Clouds¡¯ Skypiercers and Spiraling Arrow Blades chased after her like her shadow. As her priests were falling one by one, it was only a matter of time before Tear Stain lost all of her healers. Rustle rustle... The sound of moving bricks entered our ears. It was Candlelight Shadow abandoning his mount and walking toward Tear Stain in silence. He unsheathed his weapon and used Barrier Break! Thud! 157892! Tear Stain shuddered like a leaf, spun toward her former lover and tried to retaliate. However, Candlelight Shadow easily parried it before slamming his shoulder into her solar plexus. Tear Stain slammed into the wall behind her! Chiang! The man¡¯s blade pierced the wall millimeters away from Tear Stain¡¯s neck. All he needed to do was to twist his blade in any direction, and he would be able to kill the low-health Tear Stain instantly. ¡­¡­ "You shouldn¡¯t have come here!" he said quietly. However, Tear Stain watched Candlelight Shadow with longing in her eyes. "You left me for Candle Dragon, you cruel man. Do you know how long I¡¯ve been looking for you?" Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes turned colder. "Don¡¯t talk to me about that. Surrender the Territory Token to me now, and we can talk later. Otherwise¡­" "Otherwise, what?" Tear Stain shot him a painful smile. "Are all men as cruel as you are?" Candlelight Shadow gritted his teeth. "Don¡¯t make me do this, Yoon Pae Meng!" "I refuse! What are you going to do about it?!" Tear Stain yelled back after her real name was revealed. For a long time, Candlelight Shadow shivered from head to toe and couldn¡¯t act for a very long time. ¡­¡­ "God damn, Candlelight Shadow 100% slept with Tear Stain before¡­" Gui Guzi commented. I licked my lips. "Bruh, even a blind man can see that¡­" I then raised my voice and shouted, "Fang Zhuo, 30 seconds left on the clock! Do it!" ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow¡¯s hand shivered, but he ultimately moved to slash Tear Stain across the neck. However, to everyone¡¯s shock and disbelief, Tear Stain suddenly smiled and nullified the attack with an aura of golden light. It was an invincibility skill! "You¡­" Candlelight Shadow saw in his combat log that the invincibility skill wouldn¡¯t end until 25 seconds later. It was all over! Tear Stain stood on her toes, kissed Candlelight Shadow lightly on his cheek before saying smilingly, "Thank you, dear¡­" His face turned as gray as death there and then. ¡­¡­ Stranger of Three Lifetimes shivered from head to toe. "My god, this woman is positively terrifying. Candlelight Shadow is so fucking dead¡­" 1. (Author¡¯s Note: Er, this is a correction to the damage done to Little Piglet when he took an Ultimate Strength Break from Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. I can¡¯t edit the chapter after it¡¯s been posted, so sorry. All you need to know is that Lu Chen¡¯s Strength is way higher than Little Piglet¡¯s¡­) Chapter 1165: Protective Umbrella A system announcement rang across the sky of Soaring Flame Desert. In the end, the territory had fallen into Tear Stain and Throne of the Wild¡¯s hands. The map would be refreshed in ten minutes, and anyone who was still here after the time would be teleported away by force. Candlelight Shadow stood absent-mindedly with his hands resting on his pommel. A gust of autumn wind tickled the hair in front of his forehead and painted a rather forlorn picture of the man. ¡­¡­ I walked up to the man and said quietly, "You made this choice, so the consequences are yours to bear. Understand, Fang Zhuo?" Candlelight Shadow growled out, "I¡­ I know. I don¡¯t need you to remind me!" "Good!" I turned around and said to the players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, "This is the end of today¡¯s fight. Feel free to return to your cities, log out and catch some rest, everyone! Of course, it¡¯s back to the grind after that!" However, not long after I left Candlelight Shadow¡¯s side, Amber Pupil walked up to the man and shouted angrily, "What the fuck were you doing, Fang Zhuo? That was as free as it gets, and you let Tear Stain get away with everything? Even if she was your woman, how could you let her seize a critical location like this?!" Candlelight Shadow looked up and asked in an indifferent tone, "What¡¯s wrong? Does the alliance leader of Dragons Run Wild wish to kill me?" "What if I am? I¡¯m going to kill you on behalf of all the players in the China server!" The guy actually raised his sword, swung it four or five times before blasting Candlelight Shadow with a magic ball. One last basic attack later, the dismounted Martial God slowly leaned against the wall behind him and dropped to his butt, dead. He actually let Amber Pupil kill him. ¡­¡­ "Candlelight¡­" God¡¯s Dance¡¯s mouth fell open in disbelief. Tempest Shadow exploded, "What the fuck? Who the fuck do you think you are, Dragons Run Wild? Who gave you the right to kill Candlelight Shadow!?" He smashed his shield into Amber Pupil¡¯s side at the same time Blue Sky Car carved his body into pieces. Volley from Transient Smoke and Clouds later, the alliance leader was dead in almost an instant. Enraged at their alliance leader¡¯s murder, Lunatic and Purple Maple Forest players immediately assaulted Candle Dragon¡¯s forces for revenge. It was chaotic to say the least. ¡­¡­ "Heavens, what on earth is this nonsense?" Chaos Moon pursed her lips. I turned away and said, "C¡¯mon, there¡¯s nothing to see, is there? This fight isn¡¯t going anywhere anyway. There¡¯s only ten minutes left on the clock." "Mn¡­" And so the players began pulling out their return scrolls and teleporting back to their respective cities, while us unaffiliated players galloped full speed back to Black Cavalry Scout Camp. For now, that was our base of operations. ¡­¡­ However, when we arrived at the area outside Black Cavalry Scout Camp, we suddenly ran into a ton of red names. They were Era of Strife, and their leader, Copper Spear, was standing off against Hickey. He declared loudly with his weapon raised, "Whether Ice River Canton is ruined or not, it still belongs to the Japan server. Today, on behalf of the Japan server, I, Copper Spear, would like to ask you to leave our home and return to us a peaceful leveling environment. Hickey, you¡¯re quite the famous person in the Netherlands server. Surely you¡¯re not going to overstay your welcome?" Hickey replied in an indifferent tone, "Quite the mouth you have there, Copper Spear. The China server¡¯s grinding here too, but I don¡¯t see you telling them to fuck off your territory, sorry, your ruins? Hell, you don¡¯t even have the power to shoo off the monsters here, so what¡¯s the harm of us grinding at a map you can¡¯t control? Finally, we have no plans to overgrind the resources of this map or stay here permanently. We are simply resting until we are ready to seek out a new home. Until then though, know that we will fight anyone who seeks to threaten our supply spot to the death!" The moment Hickey pulled out her Fire God Blade, the Zephyr Cavalry behind her did the same and entered a Berserk state as well. The moment Era of Strife said yes, they would fight them to the death as promised. Ashen-faced, Copper Spear smashed his long blade against the ground before growling, "If a fight is what you want, then a fight is what you¡¯ll get! Hmph! Don¡¯t think that Era of Strife is afraid of you mobs!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment I dropped the Ancient Divine Dragon right in the middle of the two forces and brandished my weapon. Smiling, I said, "You really want to do this, Copper Spear? Very well. I¡¯ve just contacted my 30000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 10000 Dragonlight Archers to come play with you. They¡¯ll be arriving in ten minutes. Let¡¯s play!" Copper Spear shivered and turned even paler. He knew full well just how deadly the Dragonlight Cavalry was under Gui Guzi¡¯s command. In fact, it was perfectly apt to call Gui Guzi the god of cavalry warfare since his Famous General Skill buffed Attack and Defense by 225%, and his Divine General Skill buffed all attributes by another 25%. His reputation had only become greater since. Suddenly, a vice leader whispered something to Copper Spear and caused his expression to relax somewhat. Then, he sneered at me and said, "You think you can threaten me with your words, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? It is true that the Dragonlight Cavalry are powerful, but they are hardly unbeatable. Even you were nearly killed by Vienna¡¯s Sorrow earlier, weren¡¯t you?" I answered lazily while toying with the Purple Ying Sword, "So what? Even if Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had managed to kill me, what does his strength have anything to do with you? If I were you, I wouldn¡¯t boast another person¡¯s strength or achievement like it was my own. It just makes you look bad. What¡¯s yours is yours, and what isn¡¯t, isn¡¯t!" Copper Spear humphed. "Whatever. I have something else to do anyway, so I¡¯ll let you go this time. You won¡¯t be this lucky the next time we meet!" "Goodbye. No need to see us out!" Copper Spear and his tens of thousands of players left after that. They were probably looking to vent their frustrations on us, but we were more prepared than they thought, and the threat of the Dragonlight Cavalry was ever looming. If they fought us and lost, Era of Strife¡¯s reputation was sure to suffer a huge blow. ¡­¡­ And so, we returned to the camp, resupplied ourselves, and let everyone do whatever they wanted like grinding at the nearby maps, clearing instances, or both. Unlike Iron Skull Wilderness, Ice River Canton Ruins had access to all the instances between A1 to S7. It was why we were willing to camp here temporarily. "Boss, wait¡­" Hickey called out to me. "What¡¯s wrong?" "We need to hold a meeting. It¡¯s about reforming our players as soon as possible." "Oh?" I put away my mount and walked up to her. "Explain." Hickey responded smilingly, "At first, Godkiller only had 20000 players. Then, they were joined by Sacred Oath¡¯s 100000+ players. After that, Bloodlust¡¯s 200k players joined as well. Finally, the 20+ guilds that escaped from Iron Skull Wilderness are with us as well. Currently, we are a disorganized mess to say the least. That is why I want us to contact the core members of each guild and hold a meeting at the clearing at the front of the camp in about half an hour. We really need to decide how we¡¯re going to proceed forward as a unified entity." I nodded. "Thank you for reminding me about that. Indeed, it¡¯s never good to leave a problem to fester. See you in half an hour then." "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Thirty minutes passed by in the blink of an eye. Hickey and I were the first ones to arrive at the clearing, but we were soon joined by Bloodthirsty Demon, Warscar, and a couple hundred more guild leaders. These guild leaders belonged to the unaffiliated guilds we had encountered at Soaring Flame Desert earlier. They had displayed a pitiful amount of combat strength, a near complete inability to withstand the enemy¡¯s cavalry charge, and a horrific level of command and coordination in that battle. "Is everyone here?" Hickey rose to her feet, sheathed her sword and gave everyone a polite bow. Then, she said, "I am Hickey, the vice leader of Godkiller and the former guild leader of Sacred Oath. I¡¯m sure most of you are already aware of who I am. After all, we¡¯ve either grinded or murdered the hell out of each other before." Everyone guffawed good-naturedly at her joke. She continued, "If one man didn¡¯t come to Iron Skull Wilderness, Sacred Oath and I would probably still be fighting to protect our pitifully small territory or escape Elephant City¡¯s murderous pursuit today. That is no longer the case, however. Today, for one reason or another, we have come together to protect this Black Cavalry fortress and to fight against our enemies together. Before that could happen though, we must actually come together as a united force. Therefore, I suggest that we combine all our guilds together into one giant guild." A mage with messy hair immediately stepped out and said, "That¡¯s a good thing, but who will be the leader of all of us?" Warscar put his axe on his shoulder and replied lazily, "Who else? It can only be Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand of course! Surely no one here thinks that they can beat him in any way, can they?" The mage deflated immediately. "Well, yeah, you¡¯re right. I have no objections to Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand becoming our guild leader. We can¡¯t accept Godkiller as our guild name though. It¡¯ll sound like Godkiller has subsumed all of us!" I nodded. "Sure. What would you like to call us then?" The country bumpkins of Iron Skull Wilderness immediately started¡ª "Let¡¯s call ourselves the Cavalry Empire! That¡¯s cool as hell, right?" "Yeah, yeah! Or maybe, we can call ourselves Sword and Woman! After all, wielding a sword and riding a woman are a man¡¯s greatest pleasures, right?" "Are you even listening to yourself? I think we should call ourselves Gods of Destruction!" "That¡¯s already taken, bro. How about Gods of Annihilation?" ¡­¡­ Hickey shook her head and facepalmed hard. "They¡¯re not even trying to defend the names they come up with, not to mention that it¡¯ll take forever for these monkeys to come up with a good guild name. What do we do?" I smiled and jumped down from the maple tree I was perching on. "I have an idea. How does ¡®Protective Umbrella¡¯ sound? It means that we will protect our new home and our friends from any enemy! It also means that we fight not for glory, but for our loved ones!" Everyone agreed to it, and that was that. And so, Godkiller became Protective Umbrella with Sacred Oath as its first subguild, and Bloodlust, its second. After that, we ordered the rest of the subguilds by their overall strength and ended up with one main guild and 15 subguilds. That was almost 500k players in total. It took a while, but we were ultimately able to reform our band of mobs into something better. ¡­¡­ When nighttime arrived, I logged out of the game and ate dinner with Lin Yixin and Chaos Moon. Then, I brought up the official forums, collected and analyzed the information on them as usual. Recently, a lot of Rank 7, 8 and 9 territories had appeared around the borders, and countless guilds contested over them like their lives depended on it. Even Cyan Beast, Hero Alliance, God¡¯s Domain and more had fought to seize a territory of their own. I sat in front of the computer table, opened the hotel¡¯s suggestion book and drew a simple map of Heavenblessed. Lightly tapping my pencil against the paper, I marked the coordinates of each new territory and the guilds that occupied them. I kept working and thinking until midnight because I couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that something was about to happen. Chapter 1166: Evil in Power I brought up the territory database in the Heavenblessed server and stared at the recently spawned territory for a moment. The No. 179 territory, the one close to the north side of Dragonbone Mountain Range where Kalusi Forest was, was occupied by the first subguild of Hero Alliance. Next, I brought out the corresponding map and entered the local database of Kalusi Forest. After enlarging the map on my display, I searched for the keyword "trail" and examined the results until I saw this line¡ª At coordinates (34892, 11092) to the south of Kalusi Forest, there is a Bear Cave that was mined out by the miners that leads directly to the other side of Dragonbone Mountain Range. It is a secret passage that circumvents the formidable Fortress of the Iron Halberd. This data comes from a herbalist of Seven Star City with screenshot proof. ¡­¡­ I circled it on my paper before moving on to the next territory coordinate. This time, I entered the names of the super guilds into the search bar and reviewed their recent activity. I quickly found out that two days ago, Nation Guardian of Cyan Earth City had covertly occupied a Rank 6 territory that was close to Dragonbone Mountain Range as well. It was located at the edge of Dark Waters Lake, and assuming that Nation Guardian had a way to cross the lake, it would take them only one hour to reach Dawn City from there. My heart sank. I felt like someone was slowly choking me out. What was this terrible anxiety? I just couldn¡¯t shake it off no matter how hard I tried. I didn¡¯t sleep the whole night. At the end of my investigation, I discovered a total of 37 new territories that had spawned very close to the cities of China server. Worse, each territory possessed a hidden passage that led directly into the China server, and as far as I was aware, no one in the country had any idea that this was a thing. If I hadn¡¯t typed in these specific keywords, I wouldn¡¯t have noticed them myself. My investigation made me realize that Dragonbone Mountain Range was anything but a natural barrier for China, at least not anymore. As the game progressed, more and more "holes" started appearing on the once impenetrable barrier that was Dragonbone Mountain Range. Each and every one of these trails, caves or lakes gave our enemies direct access to our homeland. ¡­¡­ Knock knock... I went to the door and opened it after I heard someone knocking. It was Lin Yixin and Chaos Moon looking astounding as usual and wanting to invite me for breakfast. Confused, Lin Yixin examined my eyes and asked me, "Why are you eyes bloodshot, Little Cheat? If I remember correctly, you went to bed quite early last night. Did you burn the midnight oil again?" I nodded and pointed at the world map I drew on the table. "I want you both to check out this map, Yiyi, Chaos Moon. I worked all night on it." "Okay?" Lin Yixin picked up the paper and studied it for a moment. However, she didn¡¯t understand what it was about and asked me again, "What is this for?" I sighed. I understood now why no one in the server was panicking or investigating these locations. Even my wise and intelligent Fruit Knife Goddess had failed to see the problem. I tapped on the circled dots on the map and explained, "These 37 coordinates are the new territories our enemies¡¯ super guilds have occupied in the past week. Each one has a hidden passage that allows them to circumvent the natural barrier of Dragonbone Mountain Range and attack our main cities directly." Her mouth fell open as she exclaimed in realization, "Little Cheat, are you saying¡­" "Yes!" I nodded again before replying, "I suspect that the Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City, Elephant City, Purple Grape City, Greedy Wolf City and more have been communicating with each other and plotting something huge, and at the center of their plot are our three main cities. They have occupied all these territories without us knowing, and the only one that had caught our attention was the territory at Soaring Flame Desert. It¡¯s like Xiangqi. All the pieces are already in place, and they are just waiting for the right time to launch the killing blow!" Mouth still open, Lin Yixin slowly sat on the edge of my computer table to recover herself. Chaos Moon¡¯s mouth was agape too. "The killing blow, you say? Then it has to be¡­" "Yeah. It¡¯s game over if they manage to checkmate us!" I gritted my teeth. "What really annoys me though is how no one noticed this until I, an unaffiliated player, decided to check things. What the fuck are our players doing?" Lin Yixin took my hand into hers and said gently, "Maybe it¡¯s because they¡¯ve all been watching your fight against the VR department so much that they forgot to look to the borders. Anyway, what should we do now?" I sucked in a deep breath before replying, "Well, we obviously need to notify everyone about this. The consequences will be unimaginable otherwise. I¡¯ll contact Hot and Sour Noodles after we have breakfast." "Mn." ¡­¡­ At a small restaurant in Bagua City, I called Zhang Chun¡¯s number¡ª "Lu Chen! It¡¯s been a while since you called me on the phone!" Zhang Chun greeted me with a laugh after accepting the call. I let out a chuckle myself and said, "Yeah. Good morning, uncle." "So, what is your business with me? You haven¡¯t called me just to say good morning, right?" "Mn. Can you send a summon notice to all the guild leaders of the China server and have them gather at Sky Ridge later this morning? I have something very important to tell everyone." "Very important, you say?" Zhang Chun sounded hesitant. Clearly, he knew that my request wasn¡¯t very appropriate considering my current status. Still, I heard him clapping his chest once and promising, "Okay! Is 10 am fine with you? Don¡¯t worry, I promise that everyone who matters will show up." I nodded. "Okay. I¡¯ll hang up now, so please send the notice right away." "Will do!" ¡­¡­ I ate a small breakfast because I really wasn¡¯t feeling it today. Then, I took the girls back to the hotel and logged into the game once more. So many things had happened as of late that it almost felt like we had no time to ourselves at all. It was already past 9 am, so I immediately departed from Black Cavalry Scout Camp and traveled straight to Sky Ridge. The Ancient Divine Dragon growled softly as I flew against the wind and snow and made its way to the top of Sky Ridge. Once I arrived, I put away my mount and sat down on top of an icy rock. The strong wind flapped my cloak repeatedly while I held my silence like a silent thinker. Thud! A couple of players climbed up the edges of Sky Ridge, and they were none other than Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes. Warsky walked up to me and said with a dissatisfied look, "We were about to find a good grinding method, Lu Chen. Why have you summoned us so early?" I replied, "I¡¯ll explain once everybody¡¯s here." "Okay¡­" He Yi, Li Chengfeng and Beiming Xue showed up next, and a couple of minutes later the leaders and vice leaders of Candle Dragon, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips, Pop Culture, Purple Lily, Peach Garden, Hall of Immortality and more had shown up as well. Even the alliance leader of Dragons Run Wild, Amber Pupil, had shown up. Well, he was the commander of 5 million troops. It was impossible to cut him out of such a meeting even if I wanted to. ¡­¡­ Hot and Sour Noodles checked the time before starting, "It¡¯s 10 am, Lu Chen. Please tell us why you¡¯ve summoned us here!" "Okay!" I sheathed my sword, rose to my feet, and slowly walked to the center of the crowd. I held my palm in front of me, waved a hand across it and brought up a hologram. It was none other than the map I had drawn, marked and labeled earlier. I had scanned it into the game so I could show it to everyone. Everyone looked up in astonishment for a moment. Stranger of Three Lifetimes said, "Isn¡¯t this the world map of Heavenblessed? What¡¯s with the labels?" He Yi pursed her lips. "These circled dots are¡­" Warsky complained, "OMG, you haven¡¯t summoned us all the way here to explain to us the geography of the Heavenblessed Continent, have you?" ¡­¡­ I ignored their reactions and started, "These 37 dots at the edges of this section of the map are foreign territories that just recently spawned in the past week. You may have noticed how close they are to the China server, and how they wrap around the China server like a cage." Lone Moonshade of Pop Culture said carelessly, "So what? We have the impenetrable Fortress of the Iron Halberd and White Rose Fortress at key areas of Dragonbone Mountain Range, and our three cities combined have a total player population of over one hundred million. Why should we worry about these player territories?" I turned around and yelled at him, "Because all 37 territories have hidden passages that lead straight into the China server, you doofus! The Bear Cave of Kalusi Forest and the Dark Waters Lake of Nation Guardian are just two of the thirty-seven such examples! I¡¯ve already shared the map with all of you, so you can confirm the authenticity of my words yourself. Also, check the detailed attack routes I¡¯ve marked on the map. Assuming that they¡¯re all in cahoots with each other, and they launch a massive assault all at the same time, can you guess what will happen to us? We would be facing an invasion of almost one BILLION players, and none of you would even be prepared if I hadn''t brought this up now! With awareness like you people, how do you suppose we hold the three main cities?!" Lone Moonshade took two steps backward in shock. He wasn¡¯t the only one who felt like his head was just blown clean off his shoulders. Zhang Chun clenched his fists tightly while uttering, "Ceh, I¡­ I can¡¯t believe I didn¡¯t notice this at all¡­" Warsky also gritted his teeth. "It does look like they¡¯ve dropped a huge net on all of us¡­" ¡­¡­ However, the alliance leader of Dragons Run Wild, Amber Pupil sneered, "So what? We¡¯ll just deal with it when it happens! By the way, have you forgotten that you¡¯re just an unaffiliated player? Why should we believe your words? In fact, you and a couple hundred thousand unaffiliated players from Iron Skull Wilderness are sitting right next to the eastern borders of China right now, who¡¯s to say that you aren¡¯t trying to distract us with these talks so you can attack a main city and become its king?!" I was so pissed that my fingernails almost pierced my palm. I punched the icy rock next to me, shattered it into pieces and glared at bloodshot eyes, "Did you think I stayed up all night gathering this data just so you can talk smack, Amber Pupil? If I truly wanted the China server for myself, do you really think I couldn¡¯t just take over Sky City right now with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Are you such a stone cold bastard that you can¡¯t see the sweat, blood and effort we¡¯ve poured to protect the borders of China!?" Amber Pupil gritted his teeth. "In fact, I can¡¯t possibly know what you¡¯re thinking, or the saying ¡®you can see a man''s face, but you can''t see his heart¡¯ wouldn¡¯t exist. Why on earth should we trust your words?" One of the subguild leaders of Dragons Run Wild also stepped out and said, "Yeah, why should we trust a person who left the China server for such a long time? You were chased out by the VR department, so who¡¯s to say that you aren¡¯t trying to take revenge against us? Assuming that you are blinded by hatred, you would be more than happy to see the three main cities fall, wouldn¡¯t you? You say that this is a trap by the enemy, but who¡¯s to say that you aren¡¯t the true mastermind behind this?" Amber Pupil¡¯s cackled in delight. "Learn to choose a side already, Lu Chen! I doubt you even know which side you¡¯re on though!" ¡­¡­ I clenched my fists and let out a sigh. I mounted the Ancient Divine Dragon, shot everyone a cold look before saying, "I¡¯ve done all I could. The rest is up to you people. The way the China server is now, trust me, I wouldn¡¯t want to return even if you rolled me a red carpet!" The Ancient Divine Dragon vanished into the snow. Zhang Chun could only stare at the sky in helplessness and anger. Chapter 1167: Happiness in Silence "Fuck that choosing a side bullshit!" I swore while punching the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back. I felt like my heart was about to explode from sheer frustration. ¡­¡­ I logged out of the game after returning to Black Cavalry Scout Camp. After I set my gaming helmet aside, I pulled the blanket over myself and tried to sleep. However, Lin Yixin entered my room a couple of minutes later and looked at me with sad, red eyes. "Please don¡¯t let a dog like Amber Pupil get to you, Little Cheat. He¡¯s Tang Long¡¯s nephew, he was always going to annoy you no matter what you say¡­" I pulled away my blanket and answered, "I know. I just want to sleep for a bit." She smiled. "Sorry. Sister Eve, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Moonkiss and everyone asked me to visit you on their behalf because they¡¯re all worried about you. Also, Uncle Zhang Chun and the others are discussing countermeasures at Sky Ridge. Long story short, each guild will guard the passage close to their territories and ensure that the China server won¡¯t be invaded from all sides at the same time." I sighed. "Mn. Anyway, I need to sleep, so I¡¯ll take you out later this afternoon, okay? I heard that a new scenic lakeshore just opened as of late. We''ll head there and relieve ourselves from these annoyances for a bit¡­" "Yeah, sure! I won¡¯t disturb you any longer." "Okay!" Lin Yixin walked closer to give me a goodbye kiss. However, I trapped her within my embrace and gave her a long kiss. A minute later, she finally struggled and whined cutely, "Enough. We¡¯ll both regret this if you keep this up any longer¡­" Me: "..." In the end, Lin Yixin left with a wide smile on her face. I took a moment to calm myself before sinking into lalaland. ¡­¡­ It was noon when I woke up again. Lin Yixin had already logged out of the game and was waiting for me. After we ate a simple meal, we headed out straight to Orchid Lake, the closest tourist attraction in the area. The place should be beautiful because the spring season was upon us, and I could use the distraction anyway. Maybe it was because I had shouldered too much burden as of late, but I nearly burst into tears like a bitch when Amber Pupil did his usual bullshit earlier. Heaven knows that I need this walk... It took a half an hour ride on a bus to get to the tourist attraction, so we did just that. For this date, Lin Yixin wore a plaid shirt coupled with a black jacket and a pair of dancing shoes that gave her an innocent appearance. She also carried a small black handbag. On the bus, she clung to my arm as if she didn¡¯t want to let go of me for even a second. I soaked in the grassy ground and dancing butterflies outside the window for a moment. Despite the beautiful scenery though, Lin Yixin was obviously bothered by something. Still clinging to me, she said, "Let¡¯s make a bet, Little Cheat!" I smiled. "Oh? What bet?" "I want you to tell me a joke. If you can make me laugh, I¡¯ll¡­" "Give me a kiss?" "Fine, whatever you say¡­" The two girls sitting at the seat in front of us immediately looked back at us. They were obviously trying to hold in their smiles. Anyway, I cleared my throat and began, "This is a story about the Kaifeng court of the Song Dynasty. One day, Zhan Zhao told Ma Han a heroic story about himself: ¡®One night, I was scouting the Xiaoyao Pavilion for important intel when a trap caught me and inflicted serious injuries to me. I just barely made it back to Kaifeng court when my vision turned black, and¡­¡¯ Ma Han asked urgently, ¡®You fainted?¡¯ Zhan Zhao replied, ¡®No, it was just Lord Bao!!!!¡¯¡± [1] I wasn¡¯t even done with my joke yet, and Lin Yixin was already laughing so hard that tears were spilling out of her eye ducts. She pushed her face into my chest and punched me again and again. "Alright, you lost¡­" I said. Lin Yixin tightened her grip around my arm. "Oh, I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s a bit too public here¡­" "No way! Gimme my prize now!" Seeing that she wouldn¡¯t comply, I kissed her on her cheek myself and said, "If you won¡¯t kiss me, then I¡¯ll kiss you myself." The two girls in front of us were so entertained by our antics that they were laughing and clapping their thighs as well. ¡­¡­ We arrived at the tourist attraction half an hour later, Lin Yixin and I walked out of the bus hand-in-hand. It was afternoon at this point, and the warm wind blowing from the lakeshore felt extremely comfortable. We found a stone bench to sit down beside the lake. However, it was covered in dry leaves. "Well, have a seat¡­" I pointed at the space beside me. Lin Yixin pouted. "There are ants, and I¡¯m wearing a skirt¡­" "In that case, would you like to sit on my legs?" I pulled her closer, and she didn¡¯t reject my offer. Obediently and gently, she sat on my legs and filled me up with her fragrant scent and warm body right away. As I tightened my arms around her thin waist, she looked back at me and shot me a sweet smile and starstruck eyes. A woman in love was lost no matter how smart she was. As Lin Yixin¡¯s face moved closer and closer to my face, her long hair spilled onto my shoulder like a cascade of a waterfall. She pressed her cheeks against my nose and let out a cute giggle. "I love this feeling. If only time would stop right at this moment; the moment where our love for each other is at its peak. I think I¡¯m starting to understand what the saying ¡®if only life could always be the first time we met¡¯ truly means¡­" I smiled and kissed her cheek softly. "Mn. Life isn¡¯t permanent, just like how love is simply one of the brightest seasons of one¡¯s life. In the end, even love will fade away in time. Still, the memories of this moment of passion are enough to satisfy me for a lifetime." Lin Yixin wrapped her arms around my back and giggled. "I didn¡¯t know that you¡¯re an expert in love! Now confess. How many innocent girls have you swindled before you met me and Sister Eve?" I grinned at her. "Your accusation is completely baseless, girl. I¡¯ve never even met Eve in real life until the day before Heavenblessed¡¯s servers opened, much less dated another girl. Now that I think about it, both you and Eve are my first loves¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes immediately became filled with scorn. "Shameless man! Only you are shameless enough to call two girls your first loves!" An idea entered my mind as I stared at the smoke-like willow leaves above the lakewater. "Why don¡¯t we rent a boat and go boating for a bit, Yiyi? Oh, we should also rent a fishing rod so I can fish us some dinner. Then, we¡¯ll camp here for the night and go back tomorrow¡­" Lin Yixin immediately turned beet red. "What are you thinking?!" I curled my lips. "You¡¯re the one who¡¯s thinking too much. You can rent tents and blankets here, and you can see that the tents are only a couple meters apart. I¡¯m not that desperate that I would have sex with you in public." "Lalala, I don¡¯t understand what you are saying¡­" she said loudly while putting her arms on her lips. I slapped her round butt lightly. "Your understanding is unnecessary. Now get down so I can get us our boat. By the way, do you know how to swim, Yiyi?" "Yeah. Why?" "Good, because I don¡¯t. Do rescue me if I fall off the boat, okay?" "I really don¡¯t get how you can say such things with a straight face, you bastard!" ¡­¡­ I had to pay an uncle 100 RMB for the boat and another 200 RMB for a full set of fishing equipment. The expense was negligible though since Lin Yixin¡¯s small handbag was stuffed full of cash. I could¡¯ve brought nothing with me, and the legendary Fruit Knife Goddess still would have enough to foot for everything! The boat wasn¡¯t big, but it was fairly stable. I rowed the boat while Lin Yixin sang a sweet, ancient folksong in a soft voice: Let''s row the boat together, The little boat propels the waves away. The beautiful White Pagoda is Reflected in the sea Surrounded by the red wall and trees. The little boat Floats gently in the water, Cool breeze blowing against our faces. ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t help but smile as I commented, "Not bad at all. You sound as good as the Black Duck Singing Group¡­" Lin Yixin chuckled. "Too bad this is probably the only folksong I actually know how to sing. Still, I nailed the rhythm perfectly, am I right Little Cheat?" "Eh, it was okay. Ooh, we¡¯re a hundred meters away from the shore now. I¡¯m gonna fish! Will you observe, or will you observe?" "..." After the bait was in place, I threw the fishing hook into the water and fell into silence. Occasionally, a gentle breeze would blow across the water and cause small ripples to rock the fishing float, but I wasn¡¯t that bad an angler that I would be fooled by the natural phenomenon. Lin Yixin was also staring at the fishing float in silence when she suddenly whispered, "Look, I think it¡¯s moving. That¡¯s a fish, right?" I nodded before replying in a confident tone, "The fish is testing the bait. I¡¯ll pull it up once the float shakes around four times. I bet you it¡¯s at least this heavy!" I raised two fingers. "Two catties?" Lin Yixin chirped excitedly. "Er, no. I mean two liang (? of a catty)..." I replied. Lin Yixin: "..." When the float shook four times, I gathered my qi, prepped my core and abruptly gave my fishing rod a mighty pull. However, not only was there no fish on my fishing hook at all, the bait had been eaten completely by the cunning fish I was trying to catch. Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes turned wide. "Er, is this what you mean by testing the bait?" I answered shamelessly, "No, this is just an exceptionally cunning fish. Just wait, we¡¯ll get a big one next time¡­" "Fine, I¡¯ll wait¡­" I dropped the fishing hook into the water a few seconds later, and this time I pulled when the float shook three times. It immediately triggered a wild thrashing from the fish on the hook, and Lin Yixin exclaimed in excitement, "Wow! Is this a big one?" "Of course it is!" I pulled my catch out of the water and reeled it into the boat. It was¡­ a yellowhead catfish that was the length of my finger. It felt like it was mocking me. Lin Yixin consoled me, "It¡¯s not even half a liang heavy, but a catch is a catch. Do you want me to put the fish in the bucket for you, dear?" I shook my head. "No, not this one. It¡¯s very easy to cut yourself on this fish. I¡¯ll do it." I picked up the yellowhead catfish and dropped it in our small bucket with a plop. If there was one thing good about this fishing trip, it would be that it didn¡¯t have the bullshit rules of Hangzhou or Shanghai where you had to weigh your catch and pay the owner accordingly. Here at Orchid Lake, nobody cared how many fishes you caught because it was an unmanaged lake. ¡­¡­ I continued fishing while Lin Yixin took out her phone and read whatever it was she was reading. A while later, she raised her arms, stretched, and distracted me from the fishing float immediately. Damn, my little girlfriend¡¯s breasts are so round, full and genuine... "What are you looking at?" She glared at me. I smiled. "Nothing? I¡¯m just¡­ determining how my future sex life will be¡­" Lin Yixin: "..." After Lin Yixin had completed her stretch, she pulled her skirt together and curled up into a ball like a lazy, sunbathing cat. Laying her head-on my thigh, she said, "I¡¯m sleeping. Wake me up if you catch a big one, okay? Do your best. I don¡¯t want to go hungry for the night¡­" "Don¡¯t you worry!" Lin Yixin closed her eyes, and things were peaceful for a very long time. The bubbles from the lake, the chirps and her soft breathing combined together to paint a unique picture of tranquility. I shot Lin Yixin¡¯s sleeping face a glance and felt a surge of warmth in my heart. Perhaps true happiness was the fleeting joy earned at the end of a long struggle after all. 1. (T/N: The joke here is that Lord Bao¡¯s skin is as black as the night) Chapter 1168: Sweet Night I woke Lin Yixin when the sun began setting. She turned left and right for a bit before she finally climbed to her feet. While massaging my thighs, she asked smilingly, "Are you numb?" I rolled my eyes at her. "What do you think?" "How much did you catch?" "Enough for tonight¡¯s dinner¡­" "Oh?" Lin Yixin looked into the bucket and exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "Not bad at all! There are at least two to three catties worth of fish in here! Let¡¯s return to the shore now, Little Cheat. It¡¯s starting to get cold out here." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ I rented a set of cooking utensils and a tent after we returned to the shore. Already, a dozen or so tents had been set up by the lakeshore. Most of them were families, but there were a few couples like Lin Yixin and I as well. Some of them were enjoying a barbecue party, and their excited cries conjured many wild images in my mind. After raising the tent, I grabbed a hammer and nailed the stakes into the ground. Setting up a tent in real life was obviously a lot harder than it was inside the game. I had to consider the balance of the tent and many other factors. Due to hygiene concerns, we carried our newly-bought beddings straight into the tent. Although it was the spring season now, the temperature could still drop to a dozen or so degrees Celsius at night. It was especially chilly when the wind started blowing. After the beddings were spread out properly, Lin Yixin shot me a smile from inside the tent, "It looks like a small house, doesn¡¯t it?" I curled my lips. "Come out and zip the flap as soon as possible, girl. We¡¯re in the countryside right now, not the city. Small animals will crawl into the tent. You don¡¯t want to spend the night hugging moles or dung beetles, do you?" Lin Yixin turned green almost immediately. "Okay, okay, I¡¯m coming out right now¡­" We set up the stove in front of our tent and used the charcoal provided by this place. It would be very difficult to gather the dry sticks and logs we needed to start a fire anyway. We were able to cook a pot of fresh and spicy white water fish soup. We also bought two boxes of rice from a nearby food stall. A fragrant scent permeated the air a while later. It was proof that my outdoor cooking skill was really not too far behind my instant noodle cooking skill. After that, Lin Yixin and I grabbed a stool each, sat right next to each other and ate dinner together. The fish in the unmanaged lake were seriously tasty. Not only was the flesh fresh, tender and scentless, it barely had any fat tissue. Usually, the fish one bought from the market had more fat tissue than even pork meat. ¡­¡­ After we finished dinner and cleaned things up, we sent Chaos Moon a message informing her that we were safe and sound. So far, this had been an excellent experience. I felt so relaxed that I felt like I was about to transcend worldliness. I could see why people were advised to take breaks every once in a while. It was too early for bed though, so I sat outside the tent and watched the stars for a bit. Some distance away from us, I saw a few couples hugging each other and doing all sorts of intimate things that made me really wonder if they were going to take things too far. Suddenly, an auntie carrying a basket walked up to us and tried to sell us some stuff. Unfortunately, her accent was a bit too thick for me to understand what she was saying. "What is she selling?" I asked Lin Yixin. She shot me a blank look before saying, "Check it out yourself¡­" I climbed to my feet to take a better look and, holy shit! It was an entire basket of condoms of all sorts of brands such as DLS, JSB and more! She was clearly targeting those couples who came out here to spend the night but didn¡¯t prepare sufficiently! I asked, "So, you wanna buy one, Yiyi?" She immediately glared. "Don¡¯t even think about it!" "Fine," I said while shrugging. "I¡¯ll hold it in for one more night. Don¡¯t take too long though. You¡¯re the one who¡¯s going to suffer if it explodes from excessive abstinence¡­" Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me. "It¡¯s okay, I¡¯ll still feed you forever¡­" I exploded. "That¡¯s not the problem, nor does it have nothing to do with my money-making ability!" She burst into a giggle before waving the auntie away. "Thank you, auntie, but we don¡¯t need it¡­" The auntie shot me a long look before shaking her head and muttering to herself. This time, I understood what she was saying, "This handsome lad cannot possibly be ED, can he?" I choked back tears. Lin Yixin hugged me and comforted me for a long time. ¡­¡­ "Say, do you want to go to the lakeshore and see if we can catch some fireflies?" Lin Yixin suggested. I replied while staring at the sky, "It¡¯s freaking spring, girl. Where would you even begin to find one?" "If you don¡¯t come with me, I¡¯ll go find that middle-aged man over there instead," Lin Yixin threatened. "So? Are you coming with me or not?" "Fine, fine, whatever, fucking seriously¡­" "What¡¯s with the attitude!?" "I¡¯m sorry Yiyi, it¡¯s totally my fault. Now, let¡¯s go catch some fireflies, shall we?" We walked to the lakeshore together while holding hands. It was a bit colder here, and there were a lot of couples who seemed to have the same idea as us, relatively speaking. For a time, we simply stared at the lake and admired the way it glimmered under the stars. Leaning against me, Lin Yixin whispered, "I¡¯m sad that we have so little alone time with each other¡­" Feeling guilty and regretful, I hugged her and whispered back, "Sorry, Yiyi. Things have been very busy lately, and¡­ yeah. We weren¡¯t able to spend much time with each other at all." "You also have to split some of that time with Sister Eve, right?" she said in a jealous tone. I shivered. "Eve is¡­" Lin Yixin looked up at me and asked, "Can you tell me the truth, Little Cheat? Do you love Sister Eve, or should I say, do you think you love Sister Eve?" I sucked in a deep breath before answering, "Promise me you won¡¯t get mad no matter what I say?" "Mn." "Okay. Since the very day He Yi took me into Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I¡¯ve always thought of her as the most reliable person in my life. I feel like I would lose a lot of energy in life without her, not to mention that she¡¯s been keeping me company since the day I joined Heavenblessed. Maybe sis was correct when she said that I love Eve, but I am unable to recognize that feeling in myself for some reason. I am certain that I love you very much though, and it is a love I can voice out with absolute certainty, Yiyi¡­" Tears of happiness seemed to swirl inside Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes as she made a cute noise and kissed me on the lips. I embraced her quivering body and focused on enjoying the kiss. It wasn¡¯t until two minutes later did she finally pull away. Breathing a bit heavily, she blinked her cute, round eyes and asked, "So, who do you love more, me or Sister Eve?" I replied expressionlessly, "Ask me again, and I¡¯ll jump into the lake¡­" Lin Yixin stuck out her tongue at me. "Fine, fine, I won¡¯t ask you this question again. You¡¯re always so serious¡ªno, wait, that¡¯s not right. It¡¯s more like you always dodge the serious questions, you insincere man¡­" "Insincere? I kept you company the whole day, and you call me insincere?" "I¡¯m the one who kept you company!" "It¡¯s the same thing either way! Man, you¡¯re so shameless¡­" "No, you are!" ¡­¡­ It was getting colder and colder, so Lin Yixin and I eventually retreated into our tent. Of course, we put all our belongings inside the tent so as to avoid someone stealing them. The tent was a bit warmer than it was outside, but neither of us had brought a pyjamas with us. I wasn¡¯t too bothered because I didn¡¯t have the habit of wearing pyjamas to bed anyway, but Lin Yixin kept making weird noises that sounded like a kitten¡¯s meow. In the end, she put on an extra layer of shirt, slipped into the blankets and pressed her back tightly into my chest, saying, "It¡¯s so cold¡­" I chuckled while hugging her. "You must not love me too much if you feel cold in my embrace¡­" "Say that again, and I¡¯ll drop your cold, dead body into the lake!" I shuddered. "You¡¯re so ruthless¡­" ¡­¡­ The night grew deeper as we chatted idly to pass the time. By now, it was past 10 pm, and most of the tents had grown completely silent. Almost everyone was asleep now. "I can¡¯t hear any chatter anymore¡­" said Lin Yixin while stirring a bit restlessly in my arms. I nodded. "Yeah, they¡¯re probably tired. We should sleep too¡­" "Okay¡­" However, less than five minutes later, the wind carried the sounds of muffled moans and movement into our ears. OMG, the couple in the tent to our right is actually going for it... My eyes widened, and the blood in my veins suddenly quickened considerably. I was a young, hot-blooded male, so after hearing the stimulation I couldn¡¯t stop myself from cupping a certain beauty¡¯s breasts and giving it a gentle squeeze. "What are you doing?" Lin Yixin asked while remaining unusually calm. I licked my dried lips and answered, "A massage for better er, development?" "Like hell!" Lin Yixin turned around and bit me gently on my shoulder. "I¡¯m already well-developed! Your massage is completely unnecessary, your shameless bastard!" That was what she said, but her breathing grew unmistakably heavier and something¡­ more. I was really starting to lose control as I trailed kisses on her cheeks. Before I knew it, I had climbed on top of Lin Yixin and was staring into her misty eyes. She whispered, "Lu Chen¡­" "Hmm?" "What are you doing to me, you shameless bastard¡­" I answered, "Nothing. Just sleep¡­" "Seriously? You think I can fall asleep in this situation?" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin embraced me and bit my earlobe softly. Then, she said softly, "Please no, at least¡­ not here. I won¡¯t ever be able to show my face here again if someone discovers us. Sure, you¡¯re probably shameless enough not to care, but I¡­" It was impressive how Lin Yixin didn¡¯t forget to make fun of me even when she was begging. I trailed a couple more kisses along her neck before I finally shot her a smile and lay back down next to her. "Fine, I¡¯ll stop teasing you. This place is a tad too inappropriate for tasteful people like us¡­" "Ceh, I¡¯m tasteful, but you¡¯re not¡­" "Oh really? Does that mean I can do it after all?" "Nooo, you¡¯re tasteful too¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ It was at this moment my phone rang. It was a message from Chaos Moon. "Hi~ so? How does it feel to fuck outdoors? Here take my energy if you don¡¯t have enough~" Lin Yixin¡¯s face turned purple. "Chaos Moon is such a bad, bad girl¡­" "I know right? Fuck!" Lin Yixin let out a giggle before crawling back into my lap once more. A few minutes later, she fell asleep and flew away to lalaland. Considering how much she already slept this afternoon, I couldn¡¯t believe she managed to fall asleep before me. In hindsight, I should¡¯ve known that beautiful girls¡ªespecially ones at Lin Yixin¡¯s level¡ªwould have an amazing sleep cycle. I fell asleep at some point and dreamed many dreams. I couldn¡¯t remember them, but they were happy but confusing dreams. When dawn broke, and a bit of light shone through the tent fabric above our heads, we woke up at almost the same time. Mm¡­" Lin Yixin opened her eyes and asked, "What time is it?" I grabbed my phone and was just about to take a look when it rang. It was He Yi. Considering how early it was, she must¡¯ve some urgent business with me. I immediately accepted the call and asked, "What¡¯s wrong, Eve?" She replied urgently, "Are you online now, Lu Chen? The third Nation War has just begun. A total of 47 cities¡ªthe Northern Alliance, the Chaotic 27, Cyan Earth City, Elephant City, Purple Grape City and more¡ªhave declared war on the China server at the same time! We¡¯ve already lost Vanished God City!" "WHAT? Vanished God City is gone already? How¡­ how the fuck did that happen? Wasn¡¯t Vanished God City guarded by Momo and the others? Who¡¯s the final boss server who managed to conquer it in an instant?" "It¡¯s Coldblade¡¯s army who destroyed the defenses Karinshan set up, not the players. Vanished God City has fallen in the past 24 hours, and Wind City is currently crawling with Northern Alliance players. Even Sky City has come under threat already¡­" I clenched my fists. "Dammit. Speak of the devil and he doth appear! I¡¯ll go online as soon as I can!" "Mn!" Chapter 1169: The Bone Dragons’ Power As we left the beautiful Orchid Lake in a hurry, I had a feeling that we would be stuck in this premeditated ploy for a considerable time to come. The Nation War had just begun, and already Vanished God City had succumbed. The enemy had already surrounded Wind City, and soon Sky City would come under threat as well. A suffocating feeling crept into my heart. Unlike all the previous Nation Wars, this one wasn¡¯t something a player or a single organization could turn around at all. On the bus, I connected to the internet and searched for the details of Vanished God City¡¯s downfall¡ª Vanished God City: Cyan Earth City¡¯s Breeze and Rain, Shallow Sunlight and more completed an SSS Rank quest [The Devil¡¯s Scar] and restored the soul of one of the Nine Sovereigns of Purgatory, Coldblade the Infinity Storm. As a result, the Purgatory Sovereign became considerably more powerful than before, and all the Night Creatures in Bloody Shield Domain entered a state of berserk. Led by Coldblade himself, the undead legion was able to break through the encirclement set up by Princess Karinshan and invade into Vanished God City. Not only that, they destroyed the heavy defenses set up by the seven great armies of Vanished God City like hot knife through butter, entered the royal palace and slain the king in the end. Left with no choice, Prince Cloudway the Dragonheart Knight and his troops withdrew from Vanished God City to Sky City with Princess Karinshan. Vanished God City¡¯s name was changed to Vanished Devil City, and monsters belonging to the Night Creature faction had spawned all around the main city. It won¡¯t be possible to retake it in a short time. Stranger of Three Lifetimes had led the guilds of Vanished God City and resisted valiantly against the invaders, but they were absolutely no match for the combined army of NPCs and players. After reviving, Blazing Hot Lips, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, Hunting Moon Dynasty and the rest of the super guilds moved into Sky City to continue their defense there. As much as people would like to assign blame, this unforeseen event wasn¡¯t something any player could¡¯ve changed. ¡­¡­ I exhaled softly and looked outside the window to recollect myself. Then, I checked out Wind City¡¯s war situation next. Currently, Wind City was at a complete disadvantage against the invaders. The Northern Alliance was able to penetrate the defenses set up at Bear Cave and invade Wind City en masse. Even more invaders had made it in via various hidden trails that allowed them to overcome the usually impenetrable barrier that was Dragonbone Mountain Range. Right now, Wind Canyon was crawling with players from the USA, France, Korea and more. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that Wind City was currently being attacked on all fronts. Candlelight Shadow, Luo River God of the Capital, Indigo Collar and more were still resisting the enemy with all their might, but things weren¡¯t looking good for them. Things were even worse down the direction of Black Coast, however. Cyan Earth¡¯s God of War, Wild King and more were crossing the sea with a massive army. They had used Dark Water Lake as a shortcut to reach the shores of the China server directly. Already, they had taken out one of Dragons Run Wild¡¯s territories, and they were currently taking their time to form an encirclement around Dark Moon City. It was clear that God of War knew that the famous Rank 10 city of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls wasn¡¯t going to be an easy city to take. On the other side, Tear Stain had shared the teleportation access of her newly-acquired Rank 8 territory with most of the players of the Korea server, the Vietnam server, the England server and more. It enabled them to skip past Dragonbone Mountain Range and march straight to the borders of Sky City. This was certainly going to be the biggest crisis the China server had ever faced. ¡­¡­ I clenched my fists and uttered through gritted teeth, "What are these shit-for-brains doing? I already told them to set up defenses on the 37 shortcuts, so how is it that the enemy was able to penetrate our borders like nothing?" Lin Yixin put down her own phone and said softly, "Warsky Alliance, Righteousness, Candle Dragon, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and more had all dispatched their elites to block these shortcuts, but the enemy¡¯s invasion armies are equally elite, if not more. Take the shortcut Righteousness was guarding for example, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had personally attacked it with 12 Heroic Bannermen and the entire Hero Alliance. There was nothing they could¡¯ve done to stop them. Not only that, the same thing is happening all across Sky City. We simply don¡¯t have the quantity or quality of players to defend an invasion on all fronts, not to mention that they¡¯ve plotted this invasion for far longer than we did our defenses¡­" I leaned into my seat and sighed. "Right. For now, let¡¯s see if we can hold Wind City. We already lost Vanished God City, we cannot lose Wind City as well¡­" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ I logged into the game immediately after I returned to my hotel room. Swhoosh! I exited my tent, repaired my equipment and purchased my potions as quickly as possible. Then, I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and ran to the camp entrance. I noticed that Hickey, Warscar, Bloodthirsty Demon and more were already sitting atop their mounts and ready to go at a moment''s notice. Hickey rode up to me and said, "We were waiting for you, boss!" "Mn. How is the situation right now?" "Your Vanished God City has fallen, and your Wind City is heavily surrounded. We reckon that it¡¯s only a matter of time before it falls too. What do we do now? Should we travel to Sky City and join in on the defense?" Hickey blinked once before continuing, "By the way, you don¡¯t need to worry about Protective Umbrella not wanting to participate in this war. I¡¯ve already talked with everyone and convinced them. The Dragonlight Cavalry of Sky City has protected us again and again at Ice River Canton Ruins. Now is the time we repay the favor. Protective Umbrella will protect both our and our friends¡¯ homes." I nodded. "Thank you. For now, we¡¯re going to do this slowly. Hickey, I want you to climb up Sky Ridge with everyone and stop all enemies who attempt to pass there. I need to go to Sky City and manage the war there, so I leave the battles here to you!" "Yeah, just leave it to me, boss!" ¡­¡­ I mounted the Ancient Divine Dragon and discovered that it was Level 149, 97%. This meant that it was just 3% away from entering Level 150 and the Awakening stage. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have the time to grind the remaining experience. Checking out Wind City and doing whatever I could to protect it was my topmost priority because Wind City was the home of Candle Dragon, Purple Lily, Peach Garden and more. If Wind City fell, our north side would be completely open. That was one of the last things I wanted to happen. "Roar!" The Ancient Divine Dragon slipped into the clouds and flew past the borders of Ice River Canton Ruins in the blink of an eye. At full speed, it took me only less than 10 minutes to enter Black Coast. That was when I looked down and saw that Dark Moon City was being attacked by the enemy. ¡­¡­ The ground was crawling with Cyan Earth City players. More specifically, they were the Divine Elephant Cavalry led by the guild leader of Nation Guardian himself, Wild King. The man roared on top of his lungs¡ª "No need for trickery! We will penetrate their gates from the front! I want every ballista and catapult to be moved to this location now! This is Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s territory, and now is the time to take revenge against him! Attack! All-out attack!" Xu Yang and only Xu Yang was commanding the defense from the walls. He pointed his sword at the enemy formation and shouted just as loudly, "Hold! Hold! Dragonlight Cavalry, we will ride out of the city and attack the enemy¡¯s formation in a moment, so be ready! The Divine Elephant Cavalry will not take our territory no matter what!" Behind the gates, 20000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen had already unsheathed their weapons and were ready to go. Everyone looked like a knight in shining armor today. Thud! It was at this moment I landed the Ancient Divine Dragon atop the gate. The lady archers immediately exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "It¡¯s vice leader Lu Chen! Lu Chen has come back to us!" I nodded and smiled at them. "Hello, everyone¡­" Meanwhile, Xu Yang jogged up to me and said, "Finally! Lu Chen, I probably don¡¯t need to tell you how serious the situation is, but here I go. Boss, Li, Little Gui, Beiming, Lian Xin and everyone else except me had left to reinforce Wind City. However, some time after they had left, Nation Guardian suddenly launched an all-out assault against our territory. They¡¯ve already launched three all-out assaults and lost countless players, but that motherfucking Wild King is still throwing his men at us like crazy. We will truly be in danger once they manage to get all their siege weapons in position." A chill flashed across my eyes as I stared at the direction of Nation Guardian. "No worries, brother Xu Yang. I¡¯m going to teach them a harsh lesson in war very soon!" "Mn!" Speaking of which, I was still the master and city lord of Dark Moon City, while He Yi and Li Chengfeng were the assistant city lords. They had access to most of Dark Moon City¡¯s functions, but ultimately there were certain things that only I, the city lord, could do. ¡­¡­ Back on the ground, the beats of war drums filled the air as Wild King raised his weapon and shouted, "Attack! Flatten Dark Moon City and take this coastal fortress away from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! This will allow our brothers and sisters to invade the China server directly!" Creak¡­ It was at this moment the gate of Dark Moon City opened, and 20000 Dragonlight Cavalry rode out. Xu Yang himself jumped off the gate, summoned his mount after he landed on the ground and laughed, "I¡¯m heading out for a charge, Lu Chen! I leave the rest to you!" "Yeah!" Facing toward the Dragonlight Cavalry was a 100000-strong army of grim-faced Divine Elephant Cavalrymen. Wild King urged his men forward, and they clashed against Xu Yang¡¯s men in no time at all. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the enemy¡¯s siege weapons had finally appeared on the horizon. Siege weapons were the bane of all cities, and Dark Moon City was no exception. I wasn¡¯t worried though. I looked up and stared at a cloud-height building supported by almost a hundred purple stem pillars. It was none other than the Rank 10 building of my territory I took the most pride in, the Dragon¡¯s Lair! Chiang! I abruptly pulled out the Purple Ying Sword and shouted, "The enemy¡¯s at our doorsteps, Bone Dragons! What else are you waiting for! Go! Crush those siege weapons to bits!" The sky immediately darkened. The Bone Dragons that were hugging the pillars and slumbering immediately awakened, took to the sky and rocked the ground with their earth-shattering roars. These 1000 Bone Dragons were the greatest undead dragons of Sophie¡¯s brood. Suffice it to say, their bite was much, much greater than their bark! ¡­¡­ "Ah? Wha¡­ what is that?!" exclaimed Wild King as he stared at the darkness above his head in shock. A few seconds later, the Bone Dragons swooped down and spat their deadly ice-and-fire breaths on Nation Guardian¡¯s troops, inflicting massive damage and pain on them. The dragon¡¯s breath dealt alone at least 200k+ damage to the 400k HP Divine Elephant Cavalrymen, and that was before the breath¡¯s splash effect and the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s charge. An entire group of Divine Elephant Cavalry was gone just like that, and since this was a Nation War, they wouldn¡¯t be able to enter the China server again for three days. Worse, the armor type of siege weapons was metal armor, meaning that they received double the damage from magic attacks. As a result, the Bone Dragons easily burned the catapults to bits. ¡­¡­ "What the fuck is this bullshit¡­?!" For a long time, Wild King could only stare at the disaster happening around him in shock. Finally, he recovered and ordered furiously, "All players, retreat! We will move to the mountain ranges and circle around this territory! Goddammit!" Chapter 1170: The Kill All Strategy I let out a sigh of relief as Nation Guardian pulled back like the tidewater. Dark Moon City was the spine of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Losing it would be absolutely devastating to the guild. Also, the 1000 Bone Dragons had proven to be incredibly useful. I should¡¯ve known that the undead creatures trained by Sophie herself would be outstanding. After the Bone Dragons had completed their mission, they returned to the Dragon¡¯s Lair and clung onto the stem pillars like bats. At the same time, I issued them a new order. If the number of enemies that entered within 1000 yards of Dark Moon City exceeded 10000, they would automatically awaken from their slumber and destroy all of them. Now they could unleash their devastation even without my presence. ¡­¡­ After Xu Yang returned to me, he asked, "The war at Wind City is dire. Should I and the twenty thousand Dragonlight Cavalry come with you?" I nodded. "Yes. Everyone else will stay behind. Dark Moon City needs at least 200k troops to defend it. Take command of the Dragonlight Cavalry and meet up with Eve. I¡¯m going to fly there first and get a handle on the war situation!" "Yeah. Be seeing you!" The Ancient Divine Dragon let out a roar and took to the sky. For now, the crisis of Dark Moon City had been alleviated. The clouds acted like thick fogs that impeded my vision until suddenly, they cleared up completely. Then, a hellish scene entered my eyes. The flames of war were literally burning across the entire Wind City domain, and my heart chilled at the sight of it. The flashes of skills happened all across the ground. I spotted the players of Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and even the Chaotic 27. Heaven knows what kind of coercion they received to join in on the invasion of the China server as well. ¡­¡­ At the edge of a burning stream, a group of Northern Alliance cavalrymen was chasing after a couple hundred Purple Lily archers. They were going to die very soon if I didn¡¯t do something to help them. "Descend!" The Ancient Divine Dragon swooped down on the cavalry troop, and I unleashed my Coiling Dragon Revolution, Burning Blade Slash, Summon the Storm and more. It didn¡¯t matter how high their Defense was, no one here could withstand my Myriad Swords Obliteration. The 1000-strong cavalry troop lost over 200 of their numbers in the blink of an eye. The cavalry leader¡¯s eyes widened. "Shit, it¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Withdraw!" They turned tail and ran, but I didn¡¯t give chase. I looked back at the archers and asked, "Where is your main force? Where is it?" One of the girls immediately broke down crying. "They¡¯re trapped inside the West Wind Trail. They might even be destroyed already!" "How is that possible? This is Purple Lily we¡¯re talking about!" I exclaimed in shock. "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and Breeze and Rain are commanding the encirclement personally. Not even boss will be able to break through them¡­" "Fuck!" I clenched my fists and checked the Nation War contribution points. As expected, Luo River God of the Capital was at first place with almost 3 times the points of the runner-up, Candlelight Shadow. However, her dim ID showed that she was dead. In fact, six of the Top 10 players on the leaderboard had all died. The fact that most of them were Purple Lily mages was all the proof I needed to accept that Purple Lily was truly destroyed. It was unbelievable, but this was Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and Breeze and Rain that we were talking about, two of the strongest experts in the entire world, be it in terms of individual prowess or strategic mind. In hindsight, it wasn¡¯t surprising at all that the two of them combined possessed enough might to wipe out Purple Lily. ¡­¡­ "I have to go. Take care!" I leaped onto my dragon¡¯s back and took off again. It wasn¡¯t long before I spotted Wind City¡¯s magnificent walls at the heart of the distant canyons, but it was surrounded by countless red names and defended by not nearly as many Chinese players. I checked the Nation War interface again. The troop strength between the invaders and the defenders wasn¡¯t comparable in the slightest¡ª Attacker: 79217371 Defender: 17991933 ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t believe that the number of defenders didn¡¯t even exceed twenty million. Heaven knows how many Chinese players had already perished in this war! I spotted the Dragonlight Cavalry while I was still far, far away from them. He Yi, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and the rest of our players were fighting beneath the eastern walls. The attackers had no choice but to withdraw after losing tens of thousands of bodies and achieving nothing. "Hah, hah¡­" Gui Guzi was panting heavily despite the victory. His Spear of the Knight God was coated in so much blood that thick globs were dripping from it and painting the flowers on the grass blood-red. He couldn¡¯t stop a flash of despair from entering his eyes as he stared at the horizon. "Fuck, there¡¯s no fucking way we can stop this. What do we do, boss¡­" He Yi replied quietly, "I don¡¯t know¡­" It was at this moment I descended from the sky. "Boss Broken Halberd!" "You¡¯re here, big brother!" Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue exclaimed in joy at the same time. He Yi walked up to me with a new smile on her face. "Took you a while, Lu Chen!" "Sorry I¡¯m late. What¡¯s the situation?" I asked while staring at the Seven Star City players who had temporarily halted their assault. Either they were plotting something nefarious, or they were intimidated by our seemingly indomitable strength. ¡­¡­ He Yi wiped away the blood on her spear blade before planting the weapon¡¯s butt against the ground. "It¡¯s bad. Right from the get-go, we had misjudged the enemy¡¯s strategy. Candlelight Shadow and Zhang Chun both thought that the enemy¡¯s focus was on the cities, and that they would strive to conquer them as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for us, they were wrong. Breeze and Rain was the one who came up with the strategy, and his plan is to split up our effective strength and destroy them all. After all, who can stop them if there is no one left to defend the cities..." I shuddered. "What a horrific strategy¡­" Li Chengfeng uttered through gritted teeth, "It was how Purple Lily was destroyed. All 400k+ of their main force including Luo River God of the Capital and Moonkiss were lured into West Wind Trail and annihilated. Even Peach Garden has lost a large majority of their forces, and Candlelight Shadow lost all of his fighting legions. Overall, Candle Dragon¡¯s casualty rate is over 70%." Gui Guzi clenched his fists. "Yeah. Almost everyone is dead¡­" A bit of despair seeped into my being as I stared at the corpses on the floor. A while later, I turned away and said, "Can one of you tell Xu Yang to stop the 20000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen at Sky Forest? I told him to come earlier, but there is just no point anymore." "What?" He Yi looked at me in astonishment. "Are you saying that we should stop protecting Wind City?" I replied in frustration, "There are 48 hours left on the clock, the enemy is pounding at the gates, and their number is at least four times ours. Long story short, Wind City is already lost. No, Sky City is my biggest worry right now. If we lose it too, it will truly be over for the China server. Why do you think that most of the invaders here are Northern Alliance and Cyan Earth City players? It¡¯s because Purple Grape City and Elephant City¡¯s players are moving toward their final objective, Sky City. The King of Cities is their greatest threat after all!" "W-what should we do then?" Gui Guzi asked in confusion. I pointed at the enemy and declared, "We employ the same strategy as the enemy! I want all Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalrymen to kill as many enemies as possible until they die! Every player we kill here means a player less to attack Sky City!" "Yeah, okay!" ¡­¡­ And so the 30k Dragonlight and 30k Zephyr Cavalrymen charged toward the enemy under my, Gui Guzi, He Yi, Li Chengfeng and more Divine Generals and Famous Generals¡¯ leadership. Army-wise, of all the Famous Generals and Divine Generals present, Gui Guzi was the best of us all. His Knight God and his Killer God Formation buffed the stats of the several thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen under his command by a total of 250% and made them practically unkillable! "Kill!" The Seven Star City players at the forefront shuddered from head to toe when they heard our battle cry. A second later, the merciless hooves of the Dragonlight Cavalry trampled them all! Inspired by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ counterattack, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends, Peach Garden and more all launched an all-out assault against the enemy as well. If our city must fall, then the enemy must pay the price of blood! ¡­¡­ Boom! I cut open a path ahead and cast Summon the Storm for good measure. After Pure Love dropped all her buffs on me, and I used a Fire War God Card on myself, I jumped right into the thick of it and started slaughtering everyone. A single cast of Rise of the Guardian Dragon was enough to make my contribution points jump like crazy. These Seven Star City players must¡¯ve killed a lot of Chinese players to yield so many contribution points. Although I was an unaffiliated player, my ID was still shown on the leaderboard. I didn¡¯t know if I would receive a reward for my efforts, however. He Yi empowered her spear with Godslaying Blade and caused a ridiculous amount of damage numbers to rise in front of her. Not only that, her targets all took an insane amount of damage because their stats had been decreased by 30%. Royal Road was the best large-scale PvP Famous General Skill since the beginning, and that status probably wouldn¡¯t change even until the end of Heavenblessed. Speaking of Famous Generals, Li Chengfeng had risen to Level 180+ before I knew it. He was currently running people down left and right with Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust. Our cavalry numbered 60k only, and yet we were able to crush the enemy¡¯s one million troops like they didn¡¯t exist. Judging from the enemy¡¯s pale faces, they clearly weren¡¯t expecting this to happen. ¡­¡­ The ground beneath our feet was warped due to the sheer amount of abuse it received and covered in blood. The air reeked of blood stench and the charcoal-like smell of burning clothes and bodies. This was always going to be bloody since our backs were backed against the wall. A guild leader from Seven Star City was running away from us and shouting frightfully, "What do we do? There¡¯s no stopping Ancient Sword¡¯s elite cavalry!" Further behind, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow wiped the bloodstain on his blade and growled out, "So what? They can¡¯t possibly kill all of us! Get your asses up there and rally more archers and mages! Let¡¯s see who¡¯ll be the final victor of this battle of attrition!" Chapter 1171: The City Falls Crack! A Seven Star City magic knight gaped in shock as a flash of purple shattered his shield and cut his chest in half. His Guard was almost useless against the Purple Ying Sword because my Attack was too high, and I had aimed for his weak point. While executing Reverse Scale Slash, Li Chengfeng yelled while laughing, "Kill to your heart¡¯s content! With enough Kill Points, there is a not insignificant chance that you may become a Divine General, or even ascend to the Heavenly River Realm!" Heaven¡¯s Rain slashed a Seven Star City player across the neck before blinking. "Wow, big brother Lu Chen is already Top 20, and it hasn¡¯t even been an hour since he joined. That¡¯s crazy¡­" Gui Guzi asked, "What is the Heavenly River Realm anyway? I¡¯m Level 210 now. Does that mean I have a chance to ascend to this whatever realm too?" "Of course! Just kill as many people as you can!" "No problem! That is one of my expertises!" ¡­¡­ We fought for 5 hours straight. The fight was so intense that a lot of players began suffering from weapon durability problems. Our feet were covered in layers and layers of bodies, potions and equipment, but no one bothered to pick them up. Of all the battles we had fought in, this was probably the one where we cared the least about loot. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was an intelligent man, and he replied with ranged firepower to whittle away at our strength. I, on the other hand, employed a push-and-pull strategy where I made my forces punch deep holes in the enemy lines, pull back and repeat, all without disrupting the integrity of our formations. Five hours later, nearly every Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls player was drowning in blood and contribution points. As for myself, I was now sitting at the top of the Nation War leaderboard. The reason I was able to surpass everyone despite my late arrival was because of my three super AoE skills, Rise of the Guardian Dragon, Myriad Swords Obliteration and Summon the Storm. I slaughtered so many Seven Star City players that even the normally coolheaded Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was starting to lose his cool. "Just how many of ours did that motherfucker kill? Will he stop only when all our brothers and sisters are dead?" Suddenly, a group of players led by Candlelight Shadow himself rode up to us. They were Zhang Chun, Indigo Collar, Warsky, Song of Ice and Fire and more executive-level players. "Lu Chen!" Candlelight Shadow said, "Our player count has dwindled to less than 4 million, and most of the NPC troops have been slain. We don¡¯t think it¡¯s possible to defend Wind City any longer, so we¡¯ve decided to withdraw to Sky City. What do you say?" I looked at Zhang Chun. "What is your opinion, uncle?" He nodded. "I agree with Candlelight Shadow. Our reinforcements cannot punch through the enemy¡¯s encirclement, and we lack the strength to continue guarding the gates. If we remain stubborn, we will all die at this place. The only way left is to abandon Wind City and defend our last remaining main city. I¡­ sigh. We should¡¯ve listened to your suggestion sooner and prepared a better defense." I replied in an indifferent tone, "It¡¯s fine. The enemy is simply too numerous and strong. No level of defense would¡¯ve been enough to stop this assault. C¡¯mon, let¡¯s get away from this place already. My guild and I will lead the way, so don¡¯t fall behind!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ I abruptly gave the Purple Ying Sword a swing and shouted, "All Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalry, we will break through the enemy encirclement from the east and continue our defense at Sky Forest! Wind City is lost, but do not despair, for the war is not yet lost! Once we¡¯ve regained our strength, we will retake them from the enemy!" Everyone swung their blades and fought with everything they got. The fall of Wind City was a mark of shame on the entire China server. When the time was right, we would repay the enemy¡¯s "favor" ten times over! Since Gui Guzi had Knight God and Killer God Formation, he joined me as the vanguard of the Chinese army. I also pulled Lian Xin up my dragon because she was a fragile mage. Sky City still had a need for her services, and it wouldn¡¯t do for her to die here. However, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and an army of mounted players with blindingly shiny shields stepped out several hundred meters away from us. After their shield formation was set up, they cackled. "Come to us, Dragonlight Cavalry! You think you¡¯re the unstoppable force? Today, we¡¯ll show you the power of the immovable object!" ¡­¡­ "Fuck!" Enraged Gui Guzi charged toward them and hit a group of shielders with Ultimate Strength Break. However, he discovered shockingly that the shielders only lost 100k+ HP or so. Their Strength was so high that not even Gui Guzi with his ridiculous boosts could wipe the floor with them. I rushed forward and used Myriad Swords Obliteration! Bang bang bang... The rain of swords fared better than Gui Guzi¡¯s Ultimate Strength Break, but better still wasn¡¯t enough to kill the shielders. Due to Holy Shield, they lost only half their HP before the priests healed them all to full with Holy Light. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow cackled. "Far Shot, archers! Destroy these fools who think they can break through our defense!" Everyone¡¯s heart sank. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was obviously ready for this from the start. Although return scrolls were an option, it meant that we would have to abandon more than half our numbers behind. In a chaotic battle like this, there were only too many people who couldn¡¯t escape combat state and use a return scroll. ¡­¡­ "Allow me!" Suddenly, Lian Xin jumped off my mount and charged toward the enemy¡¯s shield formation. She waved her scepter and conjured a massive fire spell in midair before crying, "God Devil Break!" The resulting damage numbers were absolute massive. She actually managed to one-shot an entire group of shielders¡ª 369440! 349680! 391440! ¡­¡­ To say that we were shocked would be an understatement. God Devil Break was basically the mage version of Ultimate Strength Break. It had an absolutely ridiculous radius of 50 yards, and it dealt damage equal to 40 times the Intelligence difference between the caster and the target. Technically speaking, the shielders were dumb oafs with barely any Intelligence in their bodies. Therefore, Lian Xin¡¯s 10k+ Intelligence was absolutely lethal against them! After Lian Xin cast God Devil Break, she dropped twelve force fields across the battlefield and disrupted the enemy¡¯s shield formation completely. While she was doing this, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, He Yi and everyone else pounced on the hole on the enemy¡¯s formation and continued fighting toward the exit. Even High Fighting Spirits grew a brain for once and activated his Famous General Skill, Stamp, that granted his party armor penetration, allowing them to run over the shielders much easier than before. Swhoosh! Suddenly, a spinning blade struck Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s black dragon in the head and elicited a painful howl. It was me landing Coiling Dragon Revolution while the man wasn¡¯t paying attention, of course. I was well aware that the only way we were going to break through this place was to defeat Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, and I was the only one who could fight him on even ground. "Tsk!" However, like a true hero¡ªand I mean it, a true hero would know when to fight and when not to¡ªVienna¡¯s Sorrow disengaged and pulled away from me. Then, he flew to the horizon and left us to break through the encirclement. He knew full well that staying behind where the peak experts of China were gathered would only result in his death. After all, even Little Piglet could threaten him somewhat. The likes of Li Chengfeng and Candlelight Shadow would only be deadlier. Hero Alliance¡¯s defense line crumbled instantly after their leader escaped. However, a sea of mages and archers were waiting behind them to greet us. It made us feel like we were punching air, and that our devastating strength was locked behind chains and chains of steel. There would be no escape without suffering massive damage. ¡­¡­ It took us over an hour, but we finally managed to escape Wind Canyon. My Purple Ying Sword was an Ancient Divine Armament, but its blade was chipped everywhere, and its durability had dropped to just 45%. Things were only worse for Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Gui Guzi and everyone else, who were just a dozen or so swings away from losing their weapons completely. Ranged players didn¡¯t have such problems though. Shooting arrows or casting spells didn¡¯t cost weapon durability, so their weapons looked as good as new. The Heaven-burning Armor was scarred and bloodied, and my cloak stuck to the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back like a piece of red, wet cloth. I shot a glance at the enemy players nipping at our heels and felt my mouth twitch. Everyone had given their all in this war, but the enemy was simply too numerous and too powerful. This was just impossible. I looked at the Nation War contribution points leaderboard again. Looking at the total contribution points, China actually had 15% more contribution points than all the other countries. However, what did that matter when we had lost Wind City? The China server was just too dazzling. It had always been a matter of time before this happened. ¡­¡­ Covered in wounds, Candlelight Shadow turned back to look at his home city. It was at this moment the entire city shuddered and ceded ownership to a different server. The royal palace was breached, and the last of the Chinese players still stuck inside Wind City had been destroyed. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was the one who took the city¡¯s totem and gained ownership of it. From now on, Wind City belonged to the USA server. Thud! Tears flooded down Candlelight Shadow¡¯s cheeks as he dropped to his knee. He roared in regret and self-blame, "If only we learned of their intent sooner, if only we were more aggressive in our approach! We could¡¯ve saved Wind City. We failed our VR industry¡­" Zhang Chun put a hand on his shoulder and said quietly, "Don¡¯t be disheartened. Victory and defeat are commonplace on the battlefield, and this isn¡¯t over yet!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Stranger of Three Lifetimes shuddered and let out an exclamation of surprise, "Ah¡­" "What¡¯s wrong?" Eyes Like Water asked concernedly. The guild leader breathed. "White Rose Fortress has fallen. Purple Grape City¡¯s God¡¯s Domain, Era of Strife, Asura Period and more are invading Sky City at full force¡­" "WHAT!?" Gui Guzi shouted with bloodshot eyes. "How¡­ how the fuck did this happen? Didn¡¯t White Rose Fortress have 4 million players defending it? How did they breach it so quickly?" He Yi replied quietly, "It¡¯s because 3 million+ of the original 5 million defenders belong to Dragons Run Wild, and two hours ago, Amber Pupil withdrew all his troops and left. Naturally, the remaining troops lacked the strength to hold God¡¯s Domain at bay¡­" Zhang Chun punched a birch next to him and roared, "What the fuck was that man thinking? How could he not realize the consequences of his action? Has he forgotten his promise to defend White Rose Fortress at all costs?" Chaos Moon replied, "Well, the territory of Dragons Run Wild¡¯s main guild was attacked, so¡­" "That animal, animal!!" Zhang Chun looked angry enough to tear Amber Pupil to bits with his bare hands. Chapter 1172: Destroying Olympus "What¡­ what do we do now?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes asked as if in a daze, blankly taking in the cold breeze. Now that I looked at her, I noticed there were barely any Blazing Hot Lips players left. The flames of war hadn¡¯t yet ended, but almost everyone was as demoralized as they could be. No one could see the light at the end of the tunnel because our enemy this time consisted of the 8 servers of the Northern Alliance, the India server, the Japan server and the Chaotic 27. The enemy was so numerous that some of us literally weren¡¯t literate enough to spell out the number. Wind City was lost, and there were still over 30 hours left on the clock. Heaven knows if it was even possible to defend Sky City. ¡­¡­ Whoosh! I abruptly stopped in my tracks and turned around. Staring at them with determined eyes, I shouted, "What¡¯s wrong? Giving up already just because it looks like we¡¯re about to lose this Nation War? Did the Northern Alliance give up after losing a Nation War? Did Purple Grape City give up after losing even their main city? No? Then get your goddamn act together! If you have the time to sulk, you have the time to plan our next move!" A bit of fire reentered Zhang Chun¡¯s eyes. "What do you think our next move should be?" I answered, "It¡¯s simple. We¡¯ll pay them back!" "What do you mean?" "What the enemy did to Purple Lily at Wind City, we can do the exact same thing to them in Sky City! First, We¡¯ll dispatch our elites to the entrances of Sky City and find advantageous terrains. Then, we¡¯ll let some of them into our kill zones, plug the entrance and kill them all! We¡¯ll crush their overwhelming numbers with overwhelming force!" Zhang Chun¡¯s eyes lit up. "Hmm, that¡¯s certainly a better strategy than passively defending the main city. At the very least, it¡¯ll win us some initiative, and it beats being a freaking punching bag!" I nodded. "Uncle, I leave the defense arrangements to you. We don¡¯t have much time left." "Understood!" Zhang Chun pointed his palm upward and brought up the map of Sky City. Then, he said, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ main force is still intact, so you will be responsible for the biggest entrance to Sky City. In fact, it is the map we¡¯re standing on right now, Wind Canyon. Defending Wind Canyon will prevent the enemies from Wind City, Dawn City and Black Coast from entering Sky City domain. This area here to the west of Wind Canyon is a good place to let the enemy in. Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips, I trust you to secure it and eliminate anyone that enters your location. Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and Peach Garden, you will guard the northwest area of Wind Canyon¡ª" Zhang Chun delivered his orders clearly and methodically. He truly was an excellent defensive commander. If only he had a bit of courage and daring, he would be a super commander already. ¡­¡­ As Li Chengfeng stared at the scenery around him, he gripped his fists tightly and said, "You know, this reminds me of the War of Dawn City¡­" It was here Li Chengfeng had fought to the death during our very first Nation War. It was a well known fact. I grinned while keeping my eyes half-closed to weather the storm blowing against my face. "Don¡¯t worry, Chengfeng. This time, we are right here with you. If we die, we die together!" "Yeah!" Li Chengfeng nodded strongly. "We¡¯re also so much stronger than we used to be. They won¡¯t kill as easily as the last time, haha!" ¡­¡­ After Zhang Chun was done, the guilds scattered and left to their respective locations. According to Sky City¡¯s Nation War interface, there were still 47m+ Chinese players in Sky City. One might say that our main force was still relatively intact. Right now, the strongest of them all had spread out to the borders to lie in wait for the enemy. Xu Yang walked up to me and asked, "How are we going to go about this defense, Lu Chen?" I replied without hesitation, "I want 40k+ Dragonlight and 30k Zephyr Cavalrymen to wait inside the canyon, and 100k mounted players¡ªpreferably the Cyan Tiger Cavalry¡ªplus our ranged parties to block the entrance. We¡¯ll also set up Zhuge Repeating Ballistae and White Marsh Catapults on the edges of mountain ranges to fire down on the entrance. When I give the order, open up the defense line and let in a couple hundred thousand enemies into the canyon. Eve, Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon and Chengfeng, you will be the party leaders of the Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalries. Oh, and make sure you have our archers and mages form an oval line around the kill zone. Leave no one alive!" Xu Yang nodded smilingly. "Understood. You heard the man, people! Go go go!" The Dragonlight Cavalry and Zephyr Cavalry were the blades of my guild. In fact, they might be the only two troops in the world that could defeat the enemy¡¯s elite forces with minimal losses. Of course, our Famous Generals and Divine Generals¡¯ stratagems played a critical role in their successes as well. Without them, we would¡¯ve lost a huge majority of them during the war at Wind City already. Everyone here understood how complementary advantages worked. ¡­¡­ "Here they come!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and a bunch of Cyan Tiger Cavalry laughed while standing above a slope. "The enemy came sooner than expected. They must be looking for that first class merit. Archers! Can someone tell us who their commander is? I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they¡¯re the Sunjian of Jiangdong though, hahaha¡­" I leaped onto my dragon and soared into the clouds. When I was about several hundred meters above the ground, I saw the vanguard my people were talking about. Dark Pupils revealed to me their details, and the armored swordsman riding at the forefront of the group was none other than¡ª Titan God LV-211 Main City: Titan City Guild: Olympus Position: Leader ¡­¡­ "That¡¯s the Fire Rhinoceros Cavalry of Olympus! God damn, there are at least 200k of them! These fuckers, they didn¡¯t take a rest before coming to Sky City! Just how great are the depths of their appetite and cruelty?!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun roared, "Guard, people! Don¡¯t let them in, or Sky City will be in serious danger!" However, I countermanded his order and said, "It¡¯s fine, You and Yun! Spread out and let the Fire Rhinoceros Cavalry in, all of them! Olympus wants to fuck us over? We¡¯ll show them you can¡¯t fuck the fucker! Once the enemy cavalrymen are in, cut off their retreat and wipe them all out! Attackers, spread out and prepare to kill the enemy!" "Yes, boss!" It wasn¡¯t long before the birch leaves and branches started shaking to the rumbling of the enemy cavalry. Olympus¡¯ ace cavalry was absolutely numerous, so much so that even Zhang Chun couldn¡¯t help but worry for us from afar, "Ancient Sword wants to wipe out Olympus¡¯ ace cavalry? What a bunch of crazy bastards¡­" I leaned against the stone wall behind me and let out a small sigh. Did they think I was stupid? Who would want to go head-to-head Olympus¡¯ main force if there was any other choice? If we didn¡¯t fight Olympus now, they would almost certainly strike a fatal blow to our main city. Now that would truly be stupid. "Get ready!" A while later, I gave everyone a nod. Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi clenched their weapons tighter and nodded back. The latter asked me, "We don¡¯t need to watch out for anything, right Boss Broken Halberd? All we need to do is wipe them all out, right?" I smiled. "Correct. We¡¯ll devour these fuckers until there¡¯s literally not an inch of space left in our stomachs. Aside from that, don¡¯t let even a single fly through!" "Got it!" The Dragonlight Cavalry stood at the ready behind the forest. Those on the clearing wouldn¡¯t be able to notice our existence, so the first enemy group to enter the canyon was going to be surprised no matter what. ¡­¡­ "Here they come!" The first group of Fire Rhinoceros Cavalry rode into the canyon like the wind. They had no idea yet that this gourd-shaped entrance would be their grave. It took only a moment for the enemy cavalry to flood the entire clearing. If nothing else, they were impressive to look at. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun half-yelled, "Alright, all 250k Fire Rhinoceros Cavalrymen have entered the canyon! We¡¯re cutting off their retreat now! Take them all out!" Chiang! I unsheathed my weapon in one smooth motion and roared, "Kill!" The ground trembled, and nearly 50k Dragonlight and 30k Zephyr Cavalrymen charged at the same time. Even Beiming Xue and her 20k Dragonlight Archers were riding toward the enemy and showering them with AoE skills. With their numbers, they could kill an entire several football fields of enemies in the blink of an eye. At the center of the Fire Rhinoceros Cavalry, Titan God shouted, "Fuck, it¡¯s an ambush! But don¡¯t panic, remember that we have the absolute number advantage! Begin the counterattack!" Li Chengfeng rushed straight toward Titan God and greeted him with a smile, "We meet again!" Titan God narrowed his eyes. "It¡¯s you again!" Before he could say anything else though, Rock Crush + Aurora Thrust[1] combo hit his flank and nearly knocked him off his horse. This was a crisis, so Li Chengfeng could have his 1v1 battle some other time! "Motherfucker!" Titan God roared in anger and swung his weapon again and again. After he took out three Dragonlight Cavalrymen, he tried to retreat only for me to fly right over his head. One hand clinging onto the lamp vine and another pointed toward Titan God, I fired a well-aimed God Binding Art! Swhoosh! Titan God froze, unable to move even an inch in any direction. Li Chengfeng arrived an instant later and deleted the guy¡¯s HP with the triple-hit Dragonbone Flurry! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, Heroic Bannerman "Titan God" (USA) has been killed by player "Legendary Brave" (China)! ¡­¡­ I whooped inside my head. Killing Titan God during the first first point of contact was absolutely what our army needed right now. Also, the death of their commander was sure to demoralize Olympus and make it easier for us to destroy them. The sounds of blades hacking against armor filled the air. He Yi, Gui Guzi and more rushed the enemy and specifically targeted the 5-Stamina magic knights with Ultimate Strength Breaks. Lian Xin¡¯s God Devil Break was even deadlier and hit for at least 300k+ damage, not to mention her other super AoE skills such as Ice Spiral Matrix. Suffice it to say, everyone and everything within 40 yards of her died like she was the incarnation of Madam Kill-All herself... Riding together with Chaos Moon and Heaven¡¯s Rain, I fought at the forefront and greeted every enemy around me with Rise of the Guardian Dragon, Summon the Storm and Myriad Swords Obliteration. We easily cut through the entire cavalry army and made it to the other side, and subsequent charges only grew easier and easier. The more the enemy¡¯s cavalry was split up, the easier it was for us to annihilate them. 1. That¡¯s obviously Chaos Moon and Gui Guzi Chapter 1173: Gods of Destruction Can Bite Too The fierce battle lasted for almost an hour. Olympus was already demoralized from the death of their guild leader, Titan God, and Ancient Sword¡¯s ambush did them no favors whatsoever. Of all of us, Gui Guzi¡¯s party was the one that struck the most terror into the hearts of our enemies. A 225% boost to Attack and Defense was already monstrous, but Killer God Formation also boosted everything by another 25%. It turned the 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen he commanded into indestructible, unstoppable fortresses of war. As per my command, Gui Guzi stayed at the frontline and ensured that the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s losses were kept to a minimum. The fertile land of Wind Canyon was covered in bodies, and over 95% of them belonged to the Fire Rhinoceros Cavalry. That was how stunned they were by our ambush, not to mention that they were no match for us even in a direct battle. I stared at the floor of equipment, potions and items for a moment before ordering, "Sweep the battlefield for loot and be sure to pick up a set of Magic Consumables for yourselves. Destroy the rest so that our enemies will starve to death in Sky Forest!" ¡­¡­ The clouds at the canyon entrance shook to the sounds of combat. Olympus had lost far more cavalry players than they expected to, so their ranged parties had no choice but to trade blows with our players at the canyon entrance. Beiming Xue and her Dragonlight Archers were shooting from the cliffside in order to provide cover fire for our shielders. An incredible amount of arrows and spells were traded by the second. Both sides lost a not insignificant amount of troops. Our players weren¡¯t gods of war, they could die in droves just like anyone else, especially since the subguilds were far weaker than the main guild of Bloody Mercenaries. Currently, we were relying on their flesh and blood to become the barrier that blocked the enemies¡¯ passage to our main city. On the frontline, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was killing a ton of enemies with his longblade. The enemies¡¯ arrows rocked his shoulders and deleted his HP quickly, but he remained standing thanks to his dedicated party of priests. At the same time, he executed Do or Die + Rock Smash combo that killed a group of foot soldiers. Our frontline players were growing steadily after almost a year of hard work. High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, Lu Buyi, Pure Love, Moon Dew and more had also transformed from generic elites to first-rate experts as well. Almost every one of them could be trusted to bear a certain amount of responsibility. One of the advantages of being in a super guild was that the battles that you would be fighting in could push you past your limits and transform you into an extraordinary expert. ¡­¡­ Dressed in white and wearing a traditional headcloth, Lu Buyi waved his feather fan behind a group of Cyan Tiger shielders and buffed all their stats by 100% using Purple Dragon. Not only that, his Dragon Vein Art dealt as much damage as a mage spell, if not more. In fact, he could almost delete a metal armor player from existence with just two casts of the spell. Considering his class, his combat prowess was anything but normal. Another charge later, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun looked at me and shouted, "Vice leader, we¡¯re losing players a bit too quickly. What do we do?" I gritted my teeth and said, "Gui Guzi, head up there with your party and hold the line for half an hour. Then, come back to us and lure new prey into our cage!" "Yessir!" Gui Guzi waved his Spear of the Knight God once and laughed. "It¡¯s showtime, brothers and sisters! We¡¯re gonna kick the Northern Alliance in the nuts and halt their assault for a bit!" Like a giant bolt of lightning, the Dragonlight Cavalrymen rode to the frontline, unsheathed their weapons and cleared out a whole line of enemies. Then, they stood there and blocked the enemy¡¯s arrows, spells and even payloads with their bodies. The bards¡¯ buffs turned them as tough as steel walls, so they refused to fall no matter how much damage they took. ¡­¡­ Xu Yang stood beside me and said, "We already lost nearly 50k brothers and sisters in less than two hours. At this rate, we¡¯re going to lose everyone in less than ten hours. We absolutely need to come up with something. There are 7 entrances from Dawn City to Sky City, and yet over 50% of the enemy¡¯s full might is on us. There¡¯s no way we can hold this entrance alone." The terrifying truth hadn¡¯t escaped my notice. So much of the Northern Alliance and Cyan Earth City¡¯s forces were concentrated at this entrance that Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon and everyone else were barely breaking a sweat at all. There was also the fact that the path we were guarding was the main path into Wind Canyon and nothing like the mountain trails the other guilds were guarding. The Northern Alliance¡¯s morale was high after conquering Wind City, and I bet they were plotting to ride on that momentum and crush the strongest guild of China as well! He Yi suggested, "Let¡¯s contact Zhang Chun. This is just too much for one guild to hold!" However, I rejected the idea after a moment of consideration. "Forget it. We need cannon fodder right now, and there is no guarantee that the guilds he sent to help us will be willing to perform this shitty task. Not everyone¡¯s a selfless hero after all. Also, what if he decides to dispatch those motherfucking Dragons Run Wild to us? It would truly be GG for everyone¡­" He Yi blinked. "What should we do then?" "Please contact Dominating Heaven Blade of Gods of Destruction and Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties of Hunting Moon Dynasty and tell them to send us some reinforcements. These two may be unreliable allies at best in a civil war, but they¡¯ve proven again and again to be the opposite in Nation Wars. This is the safest, most surefire plan I can think of right now!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Half an hour later, Gods of Destruction and Hunting Moon Dynasty appeared from the direction of Sky Forest just like I expected they would. Indirectly, their appearance also proved that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was reputable enough that we didn¡¯t need to beg the higher command to mobilize another army. Of course, if this was the olden days, this act would be enough to land me in military punishment. Carrying a broad blade on his shoulder, Dominating Heaven Blade greeted me with a laugh, "Tsk tsk, to think that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would call upon Gods of Destruction to be their helpers one day! I think we¡¯re going places, people!" I curled my lips. "Enough bragging. How much effective strength does the Gods of Destruction guild have left, Dominating Heaven Blade?" "We are more or less fine. We have 300k cavalry and 400k ranged attackers and supports. That¡¯s 700k troops in total. What do you require of us, Lu Chen?" I licked my lips before starting, "Currently, our strategy is to remove as much effective strength from the enemy as possible. In fact, we¡¯ve just taken out more than half of Olympus¡¯ best cavalry in the past hour. You can check the bodies on the floor if you don¡¯t believe me. Unfortunately, we are losing defenders much faster than we would like. At this rate, we won¡¯t be able to hold out until our strategy succeeds. Therefore, I want you and Gods of Destruction to plug the hole and let in the enemy¡¯s elites from time to time under my command. Yes, I know how it sounds. I want to send you and your people to be the fabled cannon fodder. The choice remains yours, and I will understand if you refuse, but I also hope you¡¯ll agree for our server¡¯s sake." Dominating Knight God sucked in a deep breath. "Cannon fodder. You want our guild to hold off the Northern Alliance and Cyan Earth City for you?" I nodded. "That¡¯s right!" Dominating Warrior God said, "This¡­ this is too much! Boss, we¡¯re a Top 10 guild on the China Guild Ranking, we can¡¯t possibly play the role of cannon fodder!" "Silence!" Dominating Heaven Blade gripped his fists and growled out, "You still care about that when we¡¯ve lost Wind City, and now Sky City is in danger of being overwhelmed by an army that¡¯s almost a hundred million strong!? Yes, Gods of Destruction is one of the Top 10 guilds of China, but why do you think that is the case? Do you think it¡¯s because we¡¯re as strong as Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Candle Dragon or Snowy Cathaya? Of course not! It¡¯s because we¡¯re willing to do what the others won¡¯t do for the sake of our pride and the China server! If even we won¡¯t become the cannon fodder our server needs, then who will? ¡°Come! Let¡¯s replace Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and tell these fucking invaders that we are someone to be reckoned with!" Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s speech immediately caused the players of Gods of Destruction to roar on top of their lungs. Frankly, I thought that their boiling point was way too low for their own good, but I couldn¡¯t deny that it was why they were stronger than the average guild! After Gods of Destruction left, Hunting Moon Dynasty¡¯s Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties walked up to me next. The CGL Hall of Fame emblem floated above his head as he asked me, "What do you need us to do, Lu Chen?" I shot a look at the frontline before saying, "Gods of Destruction can hold out for 5 hours at most, so you and your guild should take this time to log out and rest. Come back in 5 hours." "What? Gods of Destruction can hold out for 5 hours only?" "Yes, that¡¯s the most optimistic estimate!" Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties clenched his fists before uttering, "Alright. Don¡¯t worry, we will do anything to protect the China server and to take revenge for the loss of Wind City. Best-case scenario, we may even be able to wipe out the enemy¡¯s ace legions, launch a counterattack, and retake Wind City in 72 hours¡­" I smiled. "Mn." In reality, I knew just how impossible Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties¡¯ best-case scenario was to achieve. Forget taking back Wind City, we probably won¡¯t even be able to defeat their army of a hundred million players... ¡­¡­ "Here they come again. This time it¡¯s¡­" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun glared at the distance. "It¡¯s Daybreaker and The Storm from Vietnam¡¯s Hot Sand City. They¡¯re dispatching their ranged parties to support their cavalry this time, so I think they¡¯ve figured out our strategy. What should we do?" I gritted my teeth. "Tell Gods of Destruction to open up a gap and let Daybreaker and The Storm in. So what if they have ranged support? They¡¯re still all going to die. What is their troop size?" "A million or so!" "No change to my order then. Once they¡¯re dead, Hot Sand City will more or less be out of the war!" "Understood!" A few minutes later, a swarm of Vietnam players started pouring into Wind Canyon like tidewater. After Gui Guzi and his Dragonlight Cavalry had lured the army deeper into Wind Canyon, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and the others cut off their retreat and surrounded them completely. Gods of Destruction was blocking the entrance this time, so every Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls player was able to participate in this battle. We used the same tactics, and achieved the same results. Daybreaker and The Storm knew what we were doing, but they were powerless to stop us nonetheless. The Dragonlight Cavalry was simply powerful beyond the ordinary players¡¯ imagination. ¡­¡­ The battle lasted two hours, and there was so much blood and death that the stench had spread to the entire canyon. In the end, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was able to wipe out everyone at the cost of 70k of our own, and that was only because Hunting Moon Dynasty helped us midway. There was no ploy involved in this battle whatsoever. It was ¡°kill or be killed¡± in its purest form. Chapter 1174: Divine Dragon Armor Countless Fire Catapults, ballistae and other siege weapons had been set up near the canyon entrance. Their objective was to annihilate the Gods of Destruction players defending it. Twang twang twang... Thick, heavy steel bolts sailed across the sky and penetrated the defenders¡¯ bodies endlessly. This scene alone was gruesome enough, but it was nothing compared to the burning hell created by the burning payloads of the Fire Catapults. Countless Gods of Destruction players were rolling across the floor and screaming in pain as the fire ate away at their flesh, blood and bones. Outside the canyon, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was hovering in the sky and chuckling lightly, "Heh, does this guild really think they have what it takes to stop Hero Alliance¡¯s march?" It was clear that the Northern Alliance had finally decided to turn serious. So eager were they to invade Sky City that even Hero Alliance had entered the battlefield. ¡­¡­ Dominating Heaven Blade bore the sea of flames and fought valiantly to hold back the endless tide, but the sight of his brothers and sisters turning into pincushions or burning to death was slowly but surely getting to him. "Boss!" Dominating Warrior God let out a cry when a Far Shot Shock Arrow stunned him and froze him in place. The next second, a dozen or so steel bolts punched through his armor. He couldn¡¯t have survived dozens of ballistae targeting him no matter how high his Defense was. He slid down his warhorse and joined the sea of skewered or burning corpses. "FUCK!" Dominating Heaven Blade looked mad enough to explode like a balloon. "How is this fair? Come fight us in melee if you dare, you northern scumbags!" ¡­¡­ Unable to stand the sight any longer, I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and ordered, "Elite cavalry, follow me to destroy the enemies Fire Catapults and engage Hero Alliance! I¡¯m aware that there are at least a hundred million players waiting for us outside, but I ask you to be fearless for our one and only home!" I made the Ancient Divine Dragon glide across the ground as they pulled out their weapons. Suddenly, I discovered that the Ancient Divine Dragon had risen to Level 150 and entered the Awakening stage. When did this happen? Did they change the rules of the Nation War so that killing players would give experience? Nah, it was probably the stray mobs I accidentally killed when I used super AoE skills like Summon the Storm. This was good news of course. It meant that I had a new trump card up my sleeve! I opened the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s stats screen and stared at its new, Awakening stage skill¡ª Fusion Armor: The Ancient Divine Dragon transforms into an armor and fuses with its rider. Its hidden Defense is increased by 100%, mount tenacity becomes infinite, the rider cannot be dismounted, and the turn rate penalty is removed! ¡­¡­ OMG, this Fusion Armor was absolutely OP! The moment I raised my arm and activated Fusion Armor, the Ancient Divine Dragon immediately roared and dissolved into a shower of orange sparks. They concentrated around my Heaven-burning Armor and my Fire God Helmet before solidifying into bamboo-green armor plates. It was almost like I had put on a Divine Dragon equipment set or something. Not only that, a hexagram with the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s symbol at the center appeared beneath my feet. Wherever I went, it followed. Everyone was shocked by this sudden change. High Fighting Spirits blurted, "What the fuck? What happened to Lu Chen? Did he get possessed by his mount or something?" He Yi nodded. "That¡¯s not an inaccurate statement. The name of the skill is Fusion Armor!" Gui Guzi grinned. "Whatever the case, he must be a lot stronger than before. Otherwise, it doesn¡¯t deserve to be called a Divine Rank mount¡­" ¡­¡­ I bent my knees a little and jumped. To my surprise, I was able to reach a height of three meters with barely any effort at all. Although I couldn¡¯t fly in this form, the removal of the turn rate penalty more than made up for this flaw, not to mention that the Ancient Divine Dragon was a gigantic target everyone could hit in its usual form. Also, this form allowed me to execute my techniques to their max potential. The description said that my hidden Defense was increased by 100%, but I had no idea how much that was because, well, the number was hidden. Of all the benefits the Fusion Armor afforded me though, the disappearance of the mount tenacity bar was the one I valued the most. I could no longer be dismounted, meaning that I no longer needed to fear Mountain Stagger Arrows, Ice Dragon Howls or other skills meant to reduce mounts tenacity. Speaking of which, gusts of rainbow clouds were pushing at the soles of my feet and keeping me afloat about half a meter above the ground. No, this wasn¡¯t flying, I was still a "land-bound" unit as far as the system was concerned. So, what was the point of this floating? Well, it ensured that no rider would have a height advantage over me. It meant that I possessed all the advantages of a foot soldier and cavalryman, but none of their disadvantages! ¡°Kill!" I ran toward the enemy and moved as fast as I would¡¯ve been riding the Ancient Divine Dragon. Tsk tsk, I am without a doubt the Usain Bolt of Heavenblessed right now! Behind me, my 400k strong elite cavalrymen unsheathed their weapons and did their best to keep pace with me. They were literally our guild¡¯s last melee fighters, so I¡¯d better make this count. ¡­¡­ "Ancient Sword is here!" Dominating Heaven Blade glanced behind himself once before shouting, "Everyone, split up and let them through! Prepare to receive them when they return!" Gods of Destruction players immediately parted ways with extraordinary discipline, making Dominating Heaven Blade look like Moses himself. I immediately noticed that Hero Alliance was rushing toward us as well. As it turned out, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had chosen the exact same timing as me to crush Gods of Destruction once and for all. That was fine by me. Let¡¯s see who would come out victorious at the end of this skirmish! The ground trembled like an earthquake. Both sides sped up even more as more speed meant more impact! ¡­¡­ "Hahaha!" A dozen or so high-level Hero Alliance riders couldn¡¯t help but laugh when they saw me. One of them blurted, "What the hell is that foot soldier thinking joining in on a cavalry charge? Oh, my stomach! C¡¯mon guys, it¡¯ll be disrespectful not to fulfill this idiot¡¯s death wish. Hmm, he¡¯s a guild leader too. What¡¯s this guild called? Protective Umbrella? Hahaha¡­" Although their lips were curled into disdainful sneers, they didn¡¯t treat me lightly. A couple of them concentrated their Barrier Breaks on me the moment I entered their range. I sneered back. They obviously didn¡¯t recognize the symbol of the Ancient Divine Dragon on my shoulder. My Purple Ying Sword burst into flames, and three swings later all the heavy cavalrymen in front of me were sent flying into the air. It was like a tank running over a fly. They were dead by the time they hit the ground. This was just the beginning. I cast Summon the Storm next, injuring and killing countless. Bang! After I physically thrust myself into the middle of the enemy group and one-shot an entire row of cavalrymen, I pressed my palm against the ground and cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon. For a time, countless red giant dragons burst out of the earth, killed hundreds and hundreds of Hero Alliance cavalrymen and illuminated the starry sky. At this point, even the dullest Hero Alliance player had come to the realization that their initial prediction was completely off. In a peak battle like this, there were only two types of players who would challenge a mounted player on foot. The first one was the super noob who came all the way here just to be eaten by the warhorses. The second one was the godlike expert who thought it beneath them to challenge their enemies mounted, also known as myself. ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi guffawed while giving his Spear of the Knight God a thrust at the sky. "Woohoo! Look at Boss Broken Halberd go! Time to kill, brothers and sisters! Doesn¡¯t matter if the enemy¡¯s the number one guild in the USA server, kill them all!" Bang bang bang! Finally, the Dragonlight Cavalry and the Hero Alliance¡¯s ace cavalrymen clashed against one another and swung their weapons at the enemy in front of them with all their might. In general, Hero Alliance¡¯s elite cavalry was better than the Beast King Cavalry, but only slightly. As a result, the Dragonlight Cavalry easily knocked them backward and sent them stumbling into their own teammates. High Fighting Spirits screamed like a madman and dashed into a group of enemies with a Whirlwind Slash. The next moment, the Xiezhi Howl exploded and threw a ton of bodies into the air. While Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng, and Xu Yang pressed the knife deeper into the enemy¡¯s flesh, our beautiful guild leader, He Yi was swinging her Godslaying Blade repeatedly and teaching everyone why the S3 set she was wearing was to be feared. There was nothing the enemy could throw that could rattle her one bit. For the first time since the war began, Hero Alliance realized just how big of a power gap there was between the Dragonlight Cavalry and them. There was a reason the Dragonlight Cavalry was renowned as the strongest cavalry in the world, and the Brave General Horseshoes had widened the gap even further than it already had been. Moreover, we were no longer the small, mobile force of 10k+ that had to be used sparingly like in the past. With a total cavalry count of 40k+, there was no longer any cavalry in the world that we couldn¡¯t crush head-on, and Northern Alliance¡¯s aces were no exception. ¡­¡­ "Dammit!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow roared angrily before descending from the sky. He fired a well-timed blade aura into our midst, and at least a dozen low-health Dragonlight Cavalry were deleted from existence. The Dragonlight Cavalry were strong, but the dragon rider was on a whole ¡®nother level. Not done yet, he turned his wrist and shouted, "Ultimate Strength Break!" Boom! The sword aura poured into another group of Dragonlight Cavalry, and a terrifying sight took place before our eyes. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had temporarily boosted his Strength with Iron Arm Reinforcement before casting the skill, so not even the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s current Strength was enough to save their own lives¡ª 382400! 321040! 359880! ¡­¡­ The whole group was one-shot just like that. Iron Arm Reinforcement boosted its user¡¯s Strength by 70%, and while the skill was active Vienna¡¯s Sorrow total Strength was even higher than mine. Even Li Chengfeng couldn¡¯t help but gape in shock. "How the fuck did he do so much damage to the Warrior class? Where the hell did he get so much Strength?" It was clear that we had to take out Vienna now, or all our hopes and dreams could come apart in this very fight! I took a couple of steps in Vienna¡¯s direction and stabbed an enemy cavalryman in the neck. Then, I stepped on his shoulder and jumped high enough to catch one of the black dragon¡¯s talons! Not waiting for Vienna¡¯s Sorrow to react to my sudden assault, I raised the Purple Ying Sword and stabbed the black dragon in the leg. Then, I climbed over its back like a lightning-fast lizard before firing Burning Blade Slash straight at its head. At the same time, I crouched lower and attempted to sweep Vienna¡¯s Sorrow off his feet with a leg sweep. "Motherfucker!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow couldn¡¯t believe my audacity, or the amount of mount tenacity he just lost. He immediately retaliated with a lightning-fast, undodgeable Inferno Sixtuple Slash! Bang bang bang¡­ I was forced backward by the flurry skill, but Battle Astral Wind prevented me from taking damage. Next, I grabbed onto the black dragon¡¯s horn and slashed three or four times at its eyes. The creature screeched in pain before falling toward the ground. ¡­¡­ Anger reaching its peak, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow destroyed my Battle Astral Wind with his Penetration of the Deep and canceled his mount. Then, catching my cloak in one hand, he started hacking and kicking at me like a madman. Of course, I repaid the favor by punching him below the chin again and again. We kept fighting even though we were falling from the sky! Chapter 1175: Iron Courage Bang! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow crashed heavily onto the battlefield that was covered in rampaging cavalry. Unwilling to surrender, he supported himself with one hand and waved his weapon with the other in a feeble attempt to protect himself from any attacks while getting up. Still wearing the Fusion Armor, I jumped high up into the air and launched a mighty kick into his chest. "Hmm!" I regretted my action immediately. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow let out a muffled groan and rolled like a ball, but his momentum carried him behind his allies, and soon I couldn¡¯t even spot him anywhere. As pleasing as the kick had felt, killing him here would¡¯ve been so much better for everyone. I might have foiled my own assassination attempt, but my role as the blade of the Dragonlight Cavalry wasn¡¯t over yet. I parried a strike from the left and the right before dishing out Burning Blade Slash. Hovering in midair, I abruptly spread my arms and cast Myriad Swords Obliteration, raining a million light swords upon my enemies. ¡­¡­ Behind me, He Yi shouted while swinging her Godslaying Blade¨Cempowered Seven Star Veluriyam Sword, "Stick together as one to cut through the enemy¡¯s defense line! Form a line formation when destroying their siege weapons! The less siege weapons they have, the longer we¡¯ll be able to hold the entrance!" Countless Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalrymen followed closely behind He Yi, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and more while slaying every enemy in their path. Over time, their names appeared on the Top 100 of the Nation War leaderboard one after another. There was also the international Nation War contribution points leaderboard where the players of both sides of the war were lumped together in one giant leaderboard. I was far, far ahead of everyone in first place, Luo River God of the Capital was still the second, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was the third, Breeze and Rain was the fourth, and Lian Xin, the fifth. At the end of the Nation War, the first place player would be crowned the MVP and rewarded accordingly even if their side was the loser. The Dragonlight Cavalry roared like crazy and swung their arms tirelessly. They were able to tear apart Hero Alliance¡¯s shield formation instantly and flabbergast the enemy to no end. For this charge Chaos Moon¡¯s Rock Crush and High Fighting Spirit¡¯s Xiezhi Howl were the MVPs. He Yi¡¯s Godslaying Blade did a lot of work as well. After Vienna¡¯s Sorrow resummoned his black dragon and took to the sky, he ordered, "All archers, use the Far Shot mode to whittle at their riders with everything you got! No matter how strong their defenses are, they cannot withstand everything we throw at them! Mages, use Galaxy Storm from max range as well! Catapults, change targets and focus down the Dragonlight Cavalry!" A vice leader from another guild shouted at him, "Are you crazy, Vienna!? Catapults damage everyone indiscriminately! Your order will kill our players too!" However, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow clenched his fists and growled back, "Doesn¡¯t matter! The Dragonlight Cavalry must be stopped even at the cost of our own allies! Now do as I say!" "F-fine!" ¡­¡­ A few moments and a series of twangs later, a ton of flaming rocks were launched into the air straight toward us. Joining them was a ton of Spiraling Arrow Blades, Galaxy Storms and more skills as well. "Raise shield!" Gui Guzi roared. The Dragonlight Cavalry immediately raised their shields in front of themselves to block the attack, but their bodies were ultimately made of flesh and blood, not steel. The first volley alone killed over 500 Dragonlight Cavalrymen as our men were either crushed to death, burned to death or both. It was a casualty rate we absolutely couldn¡¯t accept. I hurriedly turned around and called out, "Beiming!" Beiming Xue rode toward me at high speed until she suddenly skidded to a halt and ordered the 10000+ Dragonlight Archers behind her, "Far Shot 25 degrees northeast! Skypiercer + Spiraling Arrow Blade combo!" The arrows were loosed, and the sky was temporarily blotted by them. Their attack range was buffed by their mounts, so they were able to launch their attacks farther away than the enemy archers. A ton of white light erupted almost immediately where the rain of arrows had crashed. Naturally, the Northern Alliance¡¯s archers and mages were incapable of withstanding the counterattack at all. Gui Guzi seized the moment to raise his spear and shouted, "Kill! Destroy the Fire Catapults and ballistae first!" ¡­¡­ My cloak flapped loudly behind me as I ran through the enemies like a bolt of bloody lightning. I fired multiple sword auras to clear the way before dropping Myriad Swords Obliteration right atop a Fire Catapult. Not done yet, I pressed my palm against the ground and conjured a stunningly huge hexagram, and the next moment countless dragons erupted into existence and annihilated both players and siege weapons alike. "God dammit!" In the sky, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow uttered through gritted teeth, "Do you think I will allow you to continue rampaging like this, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!?" His Blackwing roared as if it was ready to launch an attack. While the enemy¡¯s arrows and magic spells peppered uselessly against my Battle Astral Wind, I quickly dashed away from my original location, shortened the distance between us with a couple of jumps, jumped into the air and threw the Purple Ying Sword at the black dragon! Bang! Coiling Dragon Revolution slammed hard against the black dragon¡¯s head and deleted a large chunk of mount tenacity immediately. After I caught my returning sword, I stared at Vienna¡¯s Sorrow coldly and emotionlessly. My intention was clear. As long as I was still on the ground, I would never allow Vienna¡¯s Sorrow to come down and assist his allies. He wouldn¡¯t escape my blade a second time even if he was a dragon knight. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow turned pale and actually remained in the air. To be honest, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s strength wasn¡¯t so far behind mine that he didn¡¯t stand a chance to beat me at all. The real difference between us was our level of motivation. I was fighting with everything I had because the last of our three main cities and my homeland was behind me. He, on the other hand, had successfully occupied Wind City and lacked the drive to push himself further than this. Also, however low that chance may be, I could still one-shot him. As the true champion of the USA, he couldn¡¯t risk that blow to his image and reputation, or to his troops¡¯ morale. ¡­¡­ In the end, I was able to prevent the King of the North and the dragon knight Vienna¡¯s Sorrow from landing through the sheer power of intimidation. While this was going on, I continued leading my generals and the Dragonlight Cavalry through the Northern Alliance¡¯s ranks and reaping all lives around us. Of course, we suffered many casualties too because we were a troop of pure cavalry with no support whatsoever. In fact, the moment we slowed down our charge, there was a huge probability that our enemies would be able to devour us. So we didn¡¯t. In less than ten minutes, the Dragonlight Cavalry was able to destroy hundreds of Fire Catapults, basic catapults and more with their Barrier Breaks. Eventually, we cut a line through the entire Hero Alliance army and came face to face with Titan City¡¯s third strongest guild, War Axe. Standing in front of War Axe¡¯s shield formation was their guild leader, Blade of Kings. He raised his frozen axe and roared, "The enemy before us is the China server¡¯s strongest guild, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Since they have pierced through Hero Alliance¡¯s defense, it falls upon us to stop them here. Show the Chinese your power and teach them not to look down on Titan City, brothers and sisters!" I raised my own weapon and roared, "Just punch through them! Leave no one alive!" The second I slammed into the shield formation, I immediately treated them to a heart-pounding Burning Blade Slash + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo. The enemy¡¯s ranged players were focus-firing me with everything they got, but Battle Astral Wind was just too powerful. All the arrows and spells I received only felt like a tickle against my skin. Unless they were a top expert like Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, there was basically no chance they could deal any fatal damage to me. And so, I absorbed most of the enemy¡¯s firepower while the others tore through War Axe¡¯s defense line like an unstoppable train. Not only that, the Dragonlight Archers¡¯ firepower arrived just in time to kill off the enemy¡¯s ranged parties before they could launch their own attacks. As a result, War Axe¡¯s counterattack was greatly diminished. ¡­¡­ We were a lone army cutting through the enemy¡¯s formation with no one to support us. We punched through War Axe¡¯s defenses, divided almost a hundred other Northern Alliance guilds in half and penetrated at least fifteen kilometers deep into the enemy lines. The quote "leaving a trail of death and devastation in its wake" had never been as literal as it was now. A true war required iron courage, and an unexpected frontal assault like this was what it took to shatter the Northern Alliance¡¯s confidence completely. The Nation War window in the guild interface displayed our battle result since the beginning of this Nation War¡ª Total Deaths: 479002 Total Kills: 7828831 ¡­¡­ Almost every player of ours had killed at least ten opponents. This was the true power of the Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalries. Even better, many Northern Alliance guilds didn¡¯t think that we would be able to make it to their location or thought that their allies at the front would be able to hold the line, and so suffered massive casualties as a result of their lack of preparation. Boom! After I killed a bunch of people with Thousand Ice Slash, I finally turned around and shouted, "Alright, that¡¯s enough! Someone tell Gods of Destruction that we¡¯re coming back now! Eve, order all our ballistae and White Marsh Catapults to cover our retreat! The enemy mustn¡¯t be allowed to slip into the canyon while we¡¯re making our return!" "Got it!" However, a surprising number of pursuers appeared behind us. It was because multiple people had shouted "The Chinese are defeated! Hunt them down now!" the moment we made our retreat. Unfortunately for them, Beiming Xue and her elite Dragonlight Archers were able to foil their scheme. Their ceaseless suppressive fire and hit-and-run tactics tormented our pursuers so much that they gave up almost as quickly as they had given chase. By the time we finally returned to the canyon entrance, seven hours had passed by in the blink of an eye. Every surviving Dragonlight Cavalry was as tattered and exhausted as they could be. While we were ravaging the Northern Alliance troops at the back, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had been fighting at the canyon entrance and attempting to blast his way in with a group of foot soldiers. However, Lu Buyi and his party of archers and mages was ultimately able to rain enough hell from the mountain ranges and keep them at bay. Boom boom boom... The White Marsh payloads landed among the Northern Alliance players and crushed everyone who was unlucky enough to be at the center of the impact. The resulting shockwave reduced much of the surrounding players¡¯ HP as well. The Center was a rich and fertile place, and Sky City was the richest of all the three cities. Therefore, we had been able to produce tens of thousands of White Marsh Catapults, ballistae and more, push them to the mountains, and have them rain hellfire from above. The Northern Alliance numbered millions upon millions, but they weren¡¯t able to push even a step closer. Chapter 1176: Defense Breach After we returned to the inner area of Wind Canyon, Dragonlight Cavalry, Zephyr Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers began resting and reorganizing themselves. There was a temporary NPC supply camp at this location, and it provided all the services one might need in a war such as potions, equipment repair and more. This was also one of the few advantages the Northern Alliance didn¡¯t have. As the denizens of Sky City, we could resupply almost everywhere we wanted to within the borders of Sky City. Meanwhile, the Northern Alliance was already starting to run out of food, potions, equipment durability and more. ¡­¡­ Dominating Heaven Blade was looking at the Nation War interface when he walked up to us. He swallowed once before giving us all a thumbs-up. "I can¡¯t even begin to tell you how amazing it is that you managed to get out there, do what you did and return mostly in one piece. One look at these numbers is almost enough to make me piss my pants, not to mention the number of all Northern Alliance players in our territory. The only word I can think of that describes your strategy well is overwhelming power!" He Yi smiled a little. "That¡¯s two words, you know." The corners of Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s lips twitched. "Haha, it¡¯s just one word off, right? Anyway, what¡¯s the next step of our plan? Gods of Destruction still going to act as the main defender?" I asked, "How is your guild doing?" "It¡¯s been 7 hours since you guys did that insane charge, but only 45% of us are dead, so we¡¯re doing so-so I suppose. We aren¡¯t noobs after all¡­" I chuckled. "That¡¯s only because we set out and turned most of the Northern Alliance¡¯s attention away from you. Don¡¯t underestimate their power, understand? In any case, I leave the defense in your care. My brothers and sisters all need some rest." "Got it. Take your well-deserved rest and leave the next couple of hours to us Gods of Destruction. If we falter, there¡¯s still Hunting Moon Dynasty to replace us!" "Good!" ¡­¡­ Next, I turned to Chaos Moon and asked, "What are our casualties, Chaos Moon?" She nodded at me before reporting, "440k of us set out earlier, and only 270k of us returned in the end. Still, it¡¯s a pretty good outcome considering the level of opposition we were facing. Also, we only lost less than a thousand Dragonlight Archers." I smiled wider. "Good, good. Tell everyone to log out and rest for 5 hours. After that, everyone must log in and prepare to stay online for the next 24 hours. It¡¯ll be the final effort to protect Sky City!" "Mn!" After I repaired my equipment, I send a comm request to Hickey¡ª "Hickey?" "Yes boss?" "How are you guys doing?" "Not very well, to be honest. Purple Grape City has sent a ton of people to attack Sky Ridge, and Warscar and I are currently doing our best to hold them back." "Got it. I¡¯m going to log out to rest right now. In five hours, I¡¯ll return for the final battle. What are your casualties, by the way?" Hickey chuckled. "Pretty high. We lost a bit over 80k players. We still haven¡¯t mobilized 20k Zephyr Cavalrymen though!" I nodded. "Yes, keep them for later. Don¡¯t worry, they¡¯ll be put to great use. Thank you for your hard work!" "You¡¯re welcome. Anyway, you should catch some sleep as soon as possible, boss. I just came back from an 8-hour rest because there was nothing much to do earlier." "Got it!" ¡­¡­ I also contacted Lin Yixin¡ª "Yiyi, we¡¯re logging out and taking our rest now. What about you?" The sounds of war and her heavy breathing came from the other side of the call, "Not yet. Those annoying Purple Grape City players are invading from Black Coast, and I¡¯m fighting against Copper Spear and Era of Strife¡¯s main force right now. You should go to sleep first. I¡¯ll probably rest only after you log back into the game." "Okay. Thank you for your hard work, but don¡¯t work too hard, okay Yiyi?" "I know. Go take your rest already!" "Mn." ¡­¡­ That was what I said, but I took a moment to check out how the war was going anyway. In summary, Sky City was being attacked on all fronts. We were approaching the final 30 hours of the Nation War, and the Northern Alliance, Purple Grape City, Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and the Chaotic 27 were all starting to ramp up the pressure. It looked like Wind City alone wasn¡¯t enough to satisfy their appetite, and their ultimate goal was the King of Cities, Sky City. I took out my tent and crawled inside. Then, I logged out of the game. My entire body felt disgusting when I took off my gaming helmet. Maybe it was because I fought too hard during the Nation War, but my entire body was covered in sweat. I took a bath before putting on a set of vigorous-looking clothes. Then, I went downstairs and bought a couple of fragrant-smelling steamed dumplings and lamb meat soup. After I went upstairs, I entered Lin Yixin¡¯s room using the room card she had given me and ate my meal beside her bed. Maybe it was because the smell of food was just too tempting, but Lin Yixin twitched and actually logged out of the game after just a short while. She shot me an exhausted but cute look and whined, "Mn, I want some food too¡­" I smiled. "Give me a kiss first!" Lin Yixin pounced on me and gave me a long, wet kiss. After that, she sat down beside me and began chowing down the food. "You are crazy, Little Cheat. I doubt anyone else has the courage to charge out of Wind Canyon and do what you did, and even if they did they most likely would¡¯ve been wiped out completely." "It¡¯s just an attempt born out of desperation. Had we continued to defend passively, the mounting pressure might¡¯ve exceeded our northern defense line¡¯s ability to endure and cause a total collapse. If the Northern Alliance enters Sky Forest too soon, our hopes of holding Sky City will become even dimmer than before." "That¡¯s true. In fact, the situation is still super dangerous right now. We¡¯re losing players far too quickly, and last I checked before logging out of the game, the Northern Alliance¡¯s total player count is 7 times ours. Even after all the killing we did, there are still over 300 million players who are invading the China server right now¡­" "The Northern Alliance is going all out, Purple Grape City is desperate to occupy a new main city, and Cyan Earth City and Elephant City aren¡¯t satisfied with just conquering the frontiers. This has always been just a matter of time. Sigh, if only we had more time¡­" "I know. We wouldn¡¯t have lost Wind City to the wolves otherwise¡­ By the way, did you know that Candlelight Shadow regretted his decision so much that he posted a letter of apology on the forums? He even put the loss of Wind City entirely on himself." I chuckled. "It was his leniency that resulted in Tear Stain occupying the territory in Soaring Flame Desert and enabling Burning City, Elephant City and more to reach our borders instantly after all. It was one thing to favor a loved one, and another to go so far that you cross your own bottom line. This was definitely one of the biggest mistakes Candlelight Shadow has ever committed. Still, the fact that he possessed the courage to assume full responsibility proves that he¡¯s not as hopeless a man as we thought he was. At the very least, he is way more responsible than these sons of bitches from Dragons Run Wild!" Lin Yixin looked surprised. "You hate Dragons Run Wild that much, Little Cheat?" "Of course! If those pathetic excuses for human beings didn¡¯t abandon White Rose Fortress, Purple Grape City wouldn¡¯t have been able to invade us as easily as they did¡­ Oh right, did you have time to find out what the other main cities are doing?" "In fact, I did. Russia¡¯s Iron Horse City and Frostsword City dispatched at least ten million players to Floating Ice City to intercept Purple Grape City and Elephant City¡¯s players. Without their aid, our southern and eastern defense line would¡¯ve collapsed a long time ago. Also, the two frontier cities, Greedy Wolf City and Earth Tiger City, launched an invasion against Elephant City and forced Natural Flow to turn back and defend, relieving much pressure from our shoulders¡­" I sighed. "We have too few allies. This shows that we still aren¡¯t strong enough to make all the servers submit to us naturally. Once this Nation War is over, we should consider changing our overall strategy." "Yes, I think so too!" ¡­¡­ After we finished our food and left Chaos Moon¡¯s portion in her room, we returned to our respective rooms and slept. Time was short, and we only had so much time to sleep before we were forced to go back online. I slept like the dead the second my head hit the pillow. Forget dreaming, I couldn¡¯t even remember my name until my phone alarm woke me from my deep slumber. I immediately put on my gaming helmet after I guzzled down a light meal. Swhoosh! The moment I appeared in Wind Canyon and opened my tent flap, I was greeted to a terrifying sight. Mounts of all shapes and sizes were riding right outside my tent, but they belonged to the Northern Alliance, not us. Did the enemy breach into Wind Canyon already?! Beep! He Yi sent me a communication request, and I accepted¡ª "What¡¯s going on, Eve?" I asked while staring at the endless stream of enemy players. He Yi replied, "Three hours ago, the Northern Alliance launched a full power assault that destroyed almost the entire Gods of Destruction army and overwhelmed even Hunting Moon Dynasty. Luckily, I logged in earlier and was able to rally Wang Xu, Beiming, Lian Xin and around 10000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen outside the canyon. In fact, we were just about to launch a counterattack right now. Since you¡¯re up, please cooperate with us from the inside, okay? We¡¯re going to wipe out these people and withdraw into Sky Forest later. The siege engines we set up on Dragonbone Mountain Range have already been destroyed, so we cannot hold this place any longer. We¡¯re going to have to withdraw to the hinterlands and engage the enemy in a deep operation!" I looked outside for a bit and noted that He Yi¡¯s judgment was correct. The enemy count had already swelled to a size where we couldn¡¯t possibly hold it, no matter what, not to mention that a large majority of them were elites. The only reason we were even plotting a counterattack was so that our offline players could log back into the game and safely withdraw with us. ¡­¡­ At the distance, Gui Guzi, He Yi and 10000+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen who were buffed by Knight God and Royal Road officially began their counterattack. Beiming Xue and her Bow God¨Cbuffed Dragonlight Archers followed them closely and provided covering fire with Skypiercers and Spiraling Arrow Blades. Chiang! It was time. I unsheathed my Purple Ying Sword, summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and activated the Fusion Armor. Then, I activated Battle Astral Wind, buffed myself with Martial God and the Fire War God Card, summoned my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King. After everything was ready, I burst out of my tent, activated Great Earth Transformation, and summoned a thousand icy blades from above. Boom! Thousand Ice Slash froze a whole group of cavalrymen instantly. Then, I slapped the ground and cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon! ¡­¡­ The enemy shouted through the cloud of death and destruction. "He¡¯s up! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is up! Get over here and focus-fire him right now!" Chapter 1177: You’re All Baddies Thud thud thud¡­ Countless arrows and magic spells like Touch of the Dragonkiss erupted across the defensive barrier that was my Battle Astral Wind. I kept dashing horizontally and retaliating with Myriad Sword Obliterations and Burning Blade Slashes so that most of the enemy¡¯s attention was on me, not He Yi, Gui Guzi and the others. The good news was that Battle Astral Wind was insanely durable. Despite being blasted for ten seconds straight, I had only lost 19% durability in total. There was also the fact that I was currently inside a forest, and I was using obstacles to force certain ranged skills to miss and avoiding over 75% of the attacks in general. That was why the enemies were as frustrated as they were. The Phantom Wolf King roared and killed all the archers and mages who were unlucky enough to stray onto its path of carnage. Although eighth-promotion mages had a skill called Galaxy Shield that greatly increased Magic Shield durability, only a handful of mages had hit that threshold. Therefore, the Phantom Wolf King was still a god among ranged players. I controlled the apparition to perform all kinds of dodging movements and offensive skills. Burning Blade Slash, Summon the Storm and more. My goal was to maximize my DPS and minimize the threat the enemy posed to the other players. Once all of our players had come back online¡ªI expected it to take between 10 to 20 minutes¡ªwe could withdraw from this place. ¡­¡­ On the other side, Godslaying Blade, Aurora Thrust and more skills erupted from the 10000+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen who were making their way toward my location. Hero Alliance¡¯s players they faced looked tired and terrified because of that monstrous charge we had done earlier. Having lost their courage to go head-to-head against the Dragonlight Cavalry a long time ago, most of them simply focused on getting out of our way. Suddenly, a man rushed out of a tent about 50 yards away from my position before scrambling up his mount. He wielded a dark red blade, his armor resembled a dragon. It was of course Li Chengfeng. Upon activating Great Earth Transformation, he immediately cut a dozen or so players in the neck and jumped into the air. Then, he threw his blade at a group of players and one-shot them all with Dragonblade Revolution! "Lu Chen!" Li Chengfeng shouted. "Why are there enemies all around us, and how are we going to do this?" I pointed to the east and said, "Eve and Little Gui are coming to us from over there! Our main force is there as well! Join them while I cover for you!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ Relying on Battle Astral Wind to protect me, I dashed toward the enemy¡ªblue ripples of energy spreading from beneath my feet every time I took a step¡ªand cut down everyone in my path. At the same time, I cast Summon the Storm to clear out a path for Li Chengfeng. The dragon warrior didn¡¯t waste even a second to empower himself with Battle Soul Possession and kill off all the low-health players who survived Summon the Storm. We quickly met up with our main force, but the entire canyon was overflowing with enemies. It meant that we had to sweep the whole place to rescue the players who couldn¡¯t exit their tents despite having come back online. In theory, our tiny stream would eventually grow into a thick river that could withstand the enemy¡¯s brutal attempt to suppress our charge. In practice, it was of course a lot harder than it seemed. Thankfully, the strategy went smoother than expected, and our numbers kept swelling more and more. The buffs Moon Dew, Pure Love and more applied to us helped a lot to maintain our momentum, and our counterattack truly began when Lu Buyi came online as well. A 100% boost to all stats was more than enough to transform the one thousand troops he commanded into moving fortresses capable of sweeping almost any enemy. Slowly but surely, we were able to turn the situation on its head. It took half an hour, but we were able to hold out until practically everyone had come back online. It was at this moment a new army appeared from the northeast direction. They were Chinese, and they were commanded by none other than Warsky himself. They numbered around 200k players, which meant that their main force was still relatively intact. Warsky yelled while swinging his blade, "We¡¯ve come to protect your rear, Lu Chen! Lead Ancient Sword to the defense line we set up at Sky Forest now!" I nodded. "Got it. Thanks!" We broke out of the heavy encirclement and pulled out of Wind Canyon. Speaking of which, the tally showed that over 20 million players had died in the map in the past 24 hours. It wouldn¡¯t be inaccurate to call it a meat grinder. ¡­¡­ Sky Forest was in every sense of the word the hinterlands of Sky City. Many Sky City¡¯s players had grinded on this map from Level 50 all the way to Level 180 or higher. It was a very fertile map. Not only that, a total of 5 player territories had spawned there. They belonged to some of the strongest guilds of Sky City. After I arrived at the edge of the forest, I immediately turned around and shouted, "We¡¯ll set up our defense here! Magic knights, you will form the first defense line! Archers, mages, priests, you don¡¯t need to tell you how to position yourself, do you? Use the forest as cover to minimize the damage to receive! Also, can someone get all the catapults in our guild out here? The artillery support will be much appreciated! Today, we defend Sky Forest like we defend our homes! Today, we live and die together with Sky City!" Sky City was the last main city of the China server. If we lost it, we would truly have nothing left. Chiang chiang chiang... Puffs of dust clouds rose into the air as our players dropped their long shields on the ground. It wasn¡¯t long before a defense line about several kilometers long was formed. Joining our left side were native guilds such as Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, and Baidicheng, while our right were foreign guilds such as Blazing Hot Lips, Candle Dragon, and Peach Garden. Regardless of our origin, every guild in the China server had come together to protect our second last line of defense to the death. ¡­¡­ A while later, Dominating Heaven Blade, Dominating Archer God and the rest of Gods of Destruction walked up to us. The guild leader started apologetically, "Sorry, Lu Chen. It¡¯s our fault that the canyon entrance was breached. We still have 50k players or so, so feel free to use us as you please." Knowing that they had done their best, I said, "It¡¯s okay. Why don¡¯t you join our defense line and help us defend this section of the forest?" "ºÃ£¡" "Okay!" Speaking of which, Hunting Moon Dynasty¡¯s troops had dwindled to less than 100k as well. Blazing Hot Lips had accepted them to plug a small hole in their defense line. I examined our guild¡¯s defense line again before frowning. "How many Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalrymen do we have left?" He Yi replied quietly, "We have over 30k Dragonlight Cavalrymen, 18k Zephyr Cavalrymen and 15k Dragonlight Archers left. They¡¯ve fought too many battles in a row, so many of them are not in tip-top condition¡­" I nodded in agreement. If it wasn¡¯t for them, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls wouldn¡¯t have been able to cut straight into the heart of the enemy¡¯s army and wreak havoc there. And if it wasn¡¯t for He Yi, our super cavalry¡ªat least not in these numbers¡ªwouldn¡¯t even exist in the first place. After all, Dark Moon City might¡¯ve been stolen from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls if she hadn¡¯t made the painful but necessary decision to kick me out of the guild. I shuddered when I thought of this and reached out to grab He Yi¡¯s hand. In a gentle tone, I said, "Thank you for everything you¡¯ve done during my absence, Eve." He Yi smiled back. "I¡¯m fine. Why are you talking about this now?" "It¡¯s n-nothing¡­" Murong Mingyue chuckled. "Try saying it to Eve again once you¡¯ve returned to Suzhou. If the atmosphere is right, you may even be able to convert it into a first down, if you get what I mean¡­" He Yi turned beet-red instantly. I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "You truly have no shame, sis¡­" "I¡¯m shameless? This is a perfectly valid concern for a fellow sister, okay!? You¡¯re the shameless bastard who¡¯s been screwing around with Beauty Lin for god knows how long!" "Maybe we can go back after this Nation War is over." "Hmph hmph, good!" It was at this moment Li Chengfeng interrupted, "Er¡­ dear leaders, I know you miss each other very much, but this doesn¡¯t seem to be the right time to flirt. The enemy is almost upon us¡­" Murong Mingyue shot him a coquettish look. "Aiyo, someone is jealous I see! Now that I think about it, you were trying to woo Diamond Dust, right? So? How did it go?" Li Chengfeng sighed. "Now that you mentioned it, I simply must complain about this. You remember that time I took her to a movie? During a touching scene, she broke into tears, grabbed my shoulder and called not my name, but Lu Chen¡¯s! She¡¯s been twisted too much by him¡­" I turned purple. "Fuck, how am I getting dragged into this mess? This literally has nothing to do with me!" He Yi giggled. "On the contrary, it¡¯s perfectly natural for a known womanizer to be blamed for such things. Don¡¯t worry though, no matter what happens, you¡¯re still the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. We¡¯ll make sure you look good even when you exit the stage¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ I put a hand on Li Chengfeng¡¯s shoulder and said, "Well, keep working on it. She¡¯s a young woman, so her view of love is still relatively simple. As long as you don¡¯t give up, you¡¯ll be able to set her on the straight and narrow eventually. I promise you that my image of her is like Richard Moore in Detective Conan¡­" Li Chengfeng clenched his fists in determination. "Fine, I¡¯ll do my best to set her right. If I fail though, you have a duel waiting ahead of ya¡­" Thud! I planted my sword on the ground and declared, "You can try, but you¡¯ll never beat me¡­" "Bruh, I know it¡¯s the truth, but you could¡¯ve put it a bit nicer¡­" It was at this moment the girl in question walked up to us with a frigid expression on her face. "Pooh! Who are you calling twisted, Li Chengfeng? And so what if I like Lu Chen? I never change my mind once I set my mind on someone, so just give it up already! What do you like so much about me anyway? I¡¯ll change! In fact, I have a sister who I think is a perfect fit for you. I can introduce her to you if you want!" Li Chengfeng hugged his sword and rocked himself. "I don¡¯t wanna¡­" "She comes from a rich family. She has five houses at the 3rd Ring Road of Beijing!" "No!" "She¡¯s as pretty as Yang Mi¡­" "No!" "She¡¯s kind, gentle and has a great personality¡­" "No!" "Her bust size is 36D¡­" "N-oh. What¡¯s her name?" ¡­¡­ A chorus of uncontrollable laughter filled the forest for a moment, so much so that even Lin Yixin was shooting us a frown¡ª Sun Qingqing said, "I can literally hear the slime in his cackle. Wanna bet that your Lu Chen is flirting with some girl again?" Lin Yixin clenched her fists tightly. "Hmph! I bet that bastard is flirting with Diamond Dust or being flirted at. Either way, they¡¯re both dead!" Purple Marquis raised his blade. "Really? I¡¯ve wanted to duel Lu Chen for a long time now, not to mention that Dark Moon City is an amazing territory. Let¡¯s attack it next month, shall we?" Nangong Lexi also agreed. "Yeah, we should totally occupy Dark Moon City. Your order, boss?" Lin Yixin looked at them teary-eyed. "You¡¯re all baddies¡­" Of course, the crowd stared back. "Fuck you!" Chapter 1178: Kill Them Myself "Here they come!" Gui Guzi abruptly pointed to the distance and said, "Holy shit, there¡¯s so many of them¡­" "Yeah!" Chaos Moon¡¯s eyes widened. At the distance, a constant rumbling shattered the silence of Sky Forest and alarmed countless birds into taking off to the sky. Then, a sea of red-named cavalrymen slowly but surely flooded everything within our view. This time, it wasn¡¯t just the Northern Alliance. Every powerful enemy Sky City had ever made¡ªCyan Earth City, Elephant City, Purple Grape City and more¡ªhad arrived at the King of Cities. Their reaction was understandable. The China server was already plenty powerful. If they allowed us to continue developing ourselves unhindered, it was only a matter of time we threatened the entire continent. ¡­¡­ Vienna¡¯s Sorrow pushed the back of his dragon¡¯s head to make it descend and glide along the ground. Then, he said to the distant God of War with a guffaw, "Do you see that, king of Cyan Earth City? Our dreams and conquest are right before our eyes! Finally, Sky City will fall to our feet!" God of War cackled ambitiously. "You¡¯re right, and it is all thanks to Breeze and Rain¡¯s strategy too. We wouldn¡¯t have been able to enter Sky Forest as easily otherwise!" Breeze and Rain also looked at Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and said, "Don¡¯t forget your promise, Vienna. Wind City is the USA server¡¯s, Dawn City is Hot Sand City¡¯s, all the tier 2 cities in Wind City go to the Chaotic 27, and Sky City is ours! This is our one immutable condition!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow chuckled. "Of course I remember. Don¡¯t worry, Sky City will go to Cyan Earth City¡­ provided that you are capable of devouring this huge pie alone, of course!" Breeze and Rain smiled coldly. "Oh, don¡¯t you worry about it. With the full weight of the Northern Alliance behind this assault, I don¡¯t see any reason why we shouldn¡¯t succeed. And even if the enemy somehow performs the impossible, we have around ten thousand elites resting about 5 kilometers away from Wind City right now. They will assist us at first notice the moment we show any signs of faltering!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow shuddered but sneered back, "Understood¡­" ¡­¡­ Obviously, the attackers were trying to outwit each other as well. If the Northern Alliance refused to attack Sky City seriously, Breeze and Rain would immediately mobilize the thousands and thousands of elites he posted outside Wind City and take it for himself. From the beginning, Breeze and Rain had set himself up to win no matter what. He truly was a shrewd person. I turned back to look at my people and said, "Little Gui, split up the Dragonlight Cavalry and Zephyr Cavalry and have our bards buff all of them. After we hold off the first assault, we¡¯re going to countercharge the enemy¡¯s strongest formation. This is the final battle, so there¡¯s no need to hold back any longer!" Gui Guzi nodded. "Understood, Boss Broken Halberd. We¡¯ll give it our all!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ There was a temporary lull where the enemy took their time to reorganize themselves on the plains. After they were ready, they began charging toward us at top speed. To reach Sky City, they must first go through Sky Forest. However, not only was Sky Forest guarded by over 20 million Chinese players, they were all elites. Anyone who managed to survive up until this point had to have some level of skill after all. "Prepare to defend!" I raised my sword and resummoned the apparition and the Phantom Wolf King. As the enemy cavalry rode toward us, one of my players shivered so strongly that his sword kept clanging against his own shield. I rolled my eyes and kicked his leg lightly. "Calm yourself, man¡­" He shot me an embarrassed smile. "I know, boss. It¡¯s just that there¡¯s so many of them¡­" "Don¡¯t worry. They may be numerous, but they¡¯re still human. Every enemy you cut down is one less enemy to face later!" "Mn!" The enemy¡¯s cavalry entered our ranged players¡¯ attack range. Beiming Xue immediately raised her Ice Soul Feather and ordered, "Dragonlight Archers, fire your Shock Arrows and Mountain Stagger Arrows with Far Shot!" Thud thud thud... The arrows flew to the sky and rained down on the area in front of us. Some enemies got stunned by the Shock Arrows and skidded to a sudden stop, causing a massive collision between themselves and the riders behind them. Even more players were straight up killed or gravely wounded by the spells and arrows flying their way. That wasn¡¯t all. We managed to set up our siege weapons before the enemy launched their all-out assault, and the payloads killed countless every time they hit the ground. The war was already bloody, and their existences easily made it ten times worse. "Here they come!" When the first wave was about to hit us, I fired Burning Blade Slash and cut down the riders directly in front of me. My apparition also did the same thing to reduce the others¡¯ pressure as much as possible! Bang bang bang... The enemy cavalry slammed hard against the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s shields, but they held their formation and retaliated calmly against the enemy. The healers at the back also made sure to keep them alive. However, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls might be strong enough to hold the line, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for guilds such as Mad Dragon, Flower Room, Pop Culture and more. The only good news was that there were still a ton of players in the forest, so them being breached wasn¡¯t the end of the world. ¡­¡­ The endless charge was too much, and even our shielders were beginning to die. The only ones who remained as solid as a rock was the Dragonlight Cavalry commanded by Gui Guzi. Noting that our defense line was crumbling quickly, Xu Yang immediately shouted, "Second line, move up and reform the shield formation!" The flashes and sounds of blades striking against shields seemed like they would never end. The frontline quickly turned into a sea of flames¡ªin some cases, literally¡ªwhere both sides vied to outdo the other. Almost half an hour later, the Northern Alliance finally decided that they were taking too much damage and withdrew to reorganize. This was our chance. "Now!" I growled out, "All Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalrymen, as well as Dragonlight Archers, follow me to hunt them down! Don¡¯t even give them the chance to breathe! Defenders, continue plugging the holes and stay alert!" Our 50k cavalrymen and 15k mounted archers took off. With me, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, He Yi and more generals acting as the point, we launched a counterattack against the withdrawing enemies. At the distance, we saw that Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips, Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon and more were doing the same thing even though we hadn¡¯t informed them about our plan. As the saying goes, great minds think alike. A thousand meters away, both Northern Alliance and Cyan Earth City players flashed out their shields and formed a hasty shield formation. This time, it was their turn to defend against us. Chiang chiang chiang! As blades clashed against shields, He Yi used Ultimate Strength Break on a group of enemies, bringing them all to low health. No one was expecting the guild leader to possess this much Strength. Panicked by their disappearing health bars, they couldn''t pose a threat to Eve with Royal Road boosting all her stats. The flames of war sliced into every inch of our skin as we punched through the enemy¡¯s defense line and stabbed them right in the art. For half an hour, we ravaged their archers, mages, priests and other critical classes without mercy until they regained their footing. I ordered a retreat immediately after I noticed the signs. It was one thing to exploit the enemy¡¯s weakness, and another to shoot oneself in the foot. ¡­¡­ When we withdrew, the enemy did the same thing to us and launched their own counterattack. The player counts on the Nation War interface rose and fell sharply as we fought. The system was probably screaming from the sheer load; the sheer speed at which people were dying right now. Well, it was the final war. Here in this vast forest, we either hold off the enemy for 24 hours until the timer runs out, or we lose. There were no two ways about it. Half an hour later, Elephant City unleashed their first trump card. Their number one guild, Dark Clouds, rode all the way to the forest edge before dropping down tens of thousands of Ivory Towers. The effect was immediate and gruesome. We did our best to destroy them as quickly as possible, but it still cost us millions and millions of players. Not only did we lose most of our initiative, the already huge gap between our player count grew even wider. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a new set of horse hooves appeared from inside the forest. They were an army of NPC riders in black armor. More and more NPC carrying all sorts of colorful banners showed up, and even the Griffin Legion had descended from the sky. Under the royal banner was an extraordinarily beautiful warrioress, none other than the reigning sovereign of Sky City, Karinshan! "The invaders are numerous beyond imagination, Your Majesty!" Commander Ziyan said in a soft voice. Karinshan smiled a little before replying, "Wind City has fallen to the wolves, and its duke was beheaded in public. Will you swallow the shame just because the enemy is endless? Have the Black Cavalry and Frost Army work together with the Griffin Legion to charge the enemy, and our royal magi to exterminate them!" "Yes, Your Majesty!" The sounds of war drums filled the air, and all seven great legions of Sky City attacked at once. Not only that, their hidden stats were boosted because they were the NPC legions of the King of Cities. At the distance, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow turned serious and raised an arm. "Don¡¯t stop! Doesn¡¯t matter how many players or NPCs stand in our way, no one can stop us from taking Sky City!" The earth trembled. Now that the NPCs had joined the battle as well, nearly a hundred million units were fighting each other at once. Suddenly, a couple of enemy players rushed toward the royal banner. It was a couple of Heroic Bannermen cackling like villains and saying, "Kill the pretty princess of Sky City, and the main city will be ours!" Angry that the invaders would shame her regent so, Ziyan pulled out her sword only to be stopped by Karinshan herself. "Stop, Ziyan." "Your Majesty? You can¡¯t possibly wish to spare them?" Ziyan exclaimed in astonishment. "Of course not. I just want to kill them myself!" Karinshan abruptly vanished from her mount and appeared dozens of meters away. A lightning fast slash later, every single Heroic Bannerman who tried to run her down saw their heads flying unceremoniously across the air. They were some of the strongest players within the Northern Alliance, and they still couldn¡¯t take one hit from Karinshan! ¡­¡­ I watched the scene unfold calmly from the edge of the forest. The NPCs¡¯ arrival could only be described as timely and gave us the breather we severely needed. Things weren¡¯t looking good, however. It had been ten hours since the final battle began, and the numbers on the Nation War interface were disheartening to say the least¡ª Attacker: 72993211 Defender: 4099231 ¡­¡­ Each and every guild in the China server had lost the large majority of their men, and even the greatest Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had dwindled to less than 150k players. If the NPC legions hadn¡¯t joined the battle, we might not have been able to hold on for even two hours, much less the full 14 hours left on the clock. "Can we win this, big brother?" Beiming Xue looked on in despair. I gritted my teeth as I answered, ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­" The NPC legions were powerful, but they weren¡¯t invincible. More importantly, they couldn¡¯t deal with the war of attrition Breeze and Rain and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had been plotting for a very long time. Chapter 1179: Friend or Foe The gruesome tug of war continued for three hours. The Black Cavalry fearlessly charged into the sea of Northern Alliance and Cyan Earth City players, and the Griffin Legion swooped down on their prey. In the end though, not even the greatest NPC armies of Sky City were able to turn the tide around. Even the airborne Griffin Legion weren¡¯t able to escape the endless sky of arrows and spells. "God dammit!" Beside Karinshan, Commander Stark of the Black Cavalry¡ªdubbed Beardy by the players¡ªraised his blade and prepared to leave. "I¡¯m heading out, Your Majesty!" Karinshan bit her lips and nodded. "Return alive!" Stark let out an angry cry and charged with the last remnants of the Black Cavalry beside him, all tens of thousands of them. Far away, Breeze and Rain narrowed his eyes and barked out some orders and words of encouragement, "The cornered animals¡¯ last struggles are upon us! Heavy cavalry, back off slowly and block them flexibly! Work together with our ranged parties and wipe them all out! Just tens of thousands fiend-rank NPC riders can¡¯t threaten us!" He was right. Stark¡¯s Black Cavalry might be high-level fiend-rank NPCs, but they wouldn¡¯t be able to wipe out the millions and millions of invaders especially because Breeze and Rain was an intelligent commander. Stark¡¯s final charge was skillfully deflected by flexible defense, causing the Sky City commander and his remaining troops to be unable to unleash their true power. ¡­¡­ Finally, another NPC general lost his cool and caused his fiery dragon to roar out in fury. It was the Fire Dragon Knight, Harell. "Your Majesty, these wolfish invaders are trying to slaughter all of our warriors, and our empire tethers on the brink of destruction, so please allow the dragon knights to join the battle already! If we don¡¯t act now, we¡¯ll lose even our final chance to defend our homes!" Karinshan gripped the Guardian Blade and whispered again, "Go, Harell, everyone. But remember, you will return to me alive. Whatever may happen to Sky City, all of you must return to me alive!" "Yes, Your Majesty!" The five dragon knights took off at once and tore into the enemies. On the ground, we reorganized our elite cavalry and launched a coordinated assault with the dragon knights as well. Our side¡¯s kill count increased dramatically during this time, but it was frankly a near impossible battle. Almost 90 million enemies were still surrounding Sky Forest, but our player count had dwindled to less than 10 million. ¡­¡­ "Ah¡­" After weathering a seemingly endless bombardment, Harell the Fire Dragon Knight finally showed signs of exhaustion and dropped to just 10% HP or so. If he continued, he would surely die to the Northern Alliance. I immediately turned around to stare at Karinshan. "Princess, we need to call back the dragon knights now! Sky City can be retaken if we lose it, but the dragon knights won¡¯t come back to life if they die, will they!?" Karinshan bit her lips and nodded strongly. "Mn! Call back the five dragon knights!" "Yes, Your Majesty!" Then, Karinshan herself unsheathed the Guardian Blade in one smooth motion, rode out and shouted, "Withdraw now, my dragon knights! You have already fought enough!" However, Tia the Green Dragon Knight and her dragon were being pinned down by a group of Northern Alliance players and struck with Barrier Breaks. The creature¡¯s scales were torn, it was bleeding all over the place, and Tia herself was half-drenched in blood. She was simply too occupied by the enemy to flee. I clenched my teeth before saying, "No, we can¡¯t let her die. Chengfeng, come with me to save the Green Dragon Knight! The five dragon knights are the living symbols of Sky City! We absolutely cannot lose them no matter what!" "Gotcha!" Side by side, we charged straight to where the Green Dragon Knight was. Behind us, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen and more were following as well. Even before I reached our destination, I was already casting Summon the Storm and dealing tons of damage to the Northern Alliance players in front of me. At the same time, Li Chengfeng finished the job by executing Dragonbone Flurry from the side and killing them all. The next moment, approached Tia and said,"Tia, Princess Karinshan has given the order to retreat. Go! We¡¯ll cover for you!" She nodded. "Mn. Be careful!" As Tia took to the sky, I, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and the rest made a beeline for the enemy¡¯s archer and mage parties and wreaked as much havoc as we could. In the end, we were able to distract the enemy enough for the Green Dragon Knight to escape back to her people. This charge only lasted ten minutes or less, but we lost enough Dragonlight Cavalry that my heart ached at their loss. Every player killed in a Nation War was lost until the very end, and we still had 10 freaking hours left on the clock! ¡­¡­ Blood seeped deeper and deeper into the ground of Sky City. Already, countless Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City and Chaotic 27 players had pierced through some parts of our defense line completely. Some casual players were even climbing up the floating rocks that led to the entrance while laughing like crazy. "King of Cities my ass, in the end they must fall to Seven Star City! Woohoo! The King of Cities is ours!" At the edge of Sky Forest, we could only watch as the enemy cavalrymen pierced through our formation again and again. Slowly but surely, helplessness and despair crept into everyone¡¯s eyes. The sound of a sword thudding against the ground entered my ears as Heaven¡¯s Rain slowly hugged her knees. "This time, there¡¯s no turning things around¡­" I must admit that my heart was filled with helplessness as well. We realized too late that the enemy¡¯s strategy had been aiming to remove our chess pieces from the chessboard and worsened the already insurmountable difference in our player counts. Their reinforcement kept coming, and our strongest guilds were almost fully wiped out already. The remaining couple million players we were left with simply weren¡¯t strong enough to alter the outcome of this epic war in any way. ¡­¡­ Far away, Breeze and Rain suddenly barked another order, "Cyan Earth City, don¡¯t make haste to occupy the royal palace. It is because the regent of Sky City, Princess Karinshan, is right in front of us! Only by killing Karinshan and taking the royal scepter from her will we be able to claim ownership of Sky City!" Everyone looked. As he said, there was a scepter spinning above Karinshan¡¯s head, and it was most definitely the royal symbol of Sky City. Only by taking the scepter would the invaders be able to seize Sky City, or they could crush the entire city into smithereens and still accomplish nothing. I shuddered a little as I said quietly, "Protect Princess Karinshan no matter the cost¡­" "But our numbers are too few¡­" He Yi reminded. "Still¡­ we must protect the princess¡­" "Very well!" ¡­¡­ I had almost forgotten that the human sea tactic didn¡¯t just work against bosses, but also players. The enemy kept battering against our faltering defenses, and even I and the Dragonlight Cavalry were growing exhausted beyond imagination. The entire Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls defense line shuddered like the final moments of a crumbling dam. Some distance away from us, the defense line of Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, Snowy Cathaya, Peach Garden and every other guild had already crumbled completely. A blink of an eye later, the Northern Alliance was charging the NPCs¡¯ shield formation already. Grunts and squeals filled the air as players and NPCs fought against each other. Karinshan frowned for a moment before pointing to the east suddenly, ordering, "Withdraw to White Horse Highland! It is the only place that may grant us a chance at survival!" "Yes, Your Majesty!" Ziyan answered in a low tone. White Horse Highland was a large leveling map in Sky City domain. It was vast but incredibly difficult to attack. It was especially advantageous to defending cavalrymen for reasons I had already demonstrated during the battle of Howling Plains. Although Karinshan¡¯s NPC legions were able to withdraw to White Horse Highland, we didn¡¯t have the option. The enemy had us completely surrounded at Sky Forest. So anxious was Breeze and Rain for results that he had entered the fray himself. Every time he swung his sword, one elite Chinese player was put to death. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before it became clear who was the victor, and who was the loser. The Northern Alliance had our last 4 million players trapped inside Sky Forest while Cyan Earth City pursued Karinshan¡¯s NPC legion under God of War and Breeze and Rain¡¯s command. The cruelties of war had far exceeded our players¡¯ imagination, and even the invincible Karinshan was now facing the threat of death. Time passed bit by bit. I, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and everyone kept riding back and forth increasing China''s kill count, but we simply couldn¡¯t turn things around by ourselves. Crack! Candlelight Shadow stabbed his sword through a player¡¯s armor, dragged it horizontally across the torso and killed them where they stood. He growled, "Motherfucker, does anyone know where Dragons Run Wild has run off to?" Blue Sky Scar replied indifferently, "No idea¡­" It was at this moment a chorus of battle cries erupted from the southeast direction. A sea of red¡ªnot red names, but players carrying red 5-star flags on their shoulder¡ªwere riding in our direction, and they were none other than Amber Pupil and the players of Dragon Runs Wild. After blasting a Northern Alliance cavalryman to death with a fireball, the guild leader pointed his sword at Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and shouted, "Vienna, you motherfucker! Why did you occupy Wind City?!" Sitting atop his black dragon, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s eyes flashed with cunning as he replied, "I¡¯m sorry? Why can¡¯t I occupy Wind City? It¡¯s our rightful spoils of war, isn¡¯t it? Unless you have something to say about the matter?" Amber Pupil looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end he simply let out a furious growl and spat out, "Pooh! Despicable bastard!" ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow narrowed his eyes at Amber Pupil. "Why are you wasting your breath on the enemy, you trash?" "Enemy?" However, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow interrupted him with an uncontrollable burst of laughter. "It seems you are misunderstanding, Candlelight Shadow, Martial God of the China server. Allow me to correct you. Not only is Amber Pupil not the enemy of the north, he is our staunchest friend! Why do you think we were able to take Wind City as quickly as we did? It was all thanks to Amber Pupil giving us¡­ every¡­ last¡­ detail¡­ of the attack routes we needed to take!¡± I, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, He Yi, everyone stopped what we were doing and stared at Vienna¡¯s Sorrow blankly. We simply couldn¡¯t believe what we were hearing. "I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m sorry?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes muttered dumbly. "Spill it already, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow!" Warsky clenched his fists. Chapter 1180: They Hurt Us, We Hurt Them A taunting smirk danced across Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s lips as he sheathed his sword and pointed at Dragons Run Wild. "Oh, it¡¯s simple. Before the invasion, I spoke with Amber Pupil and gave him a deal: the Northern Alliance will invade Wind City up until the last point before stopping and letting Dragons Run Wild retake it. In return, Amber Pupil will give us three tier 2 cities to the north of the China server, including Dawn City. He agreed." Amber Pupil shuddered in shock and fright. "S-stop lying, Vienna!" The berserker simply smirked again and said, "I¡¯m well aware of the politics in the China server right now. Your man in the VR department is so desperate to win back public support that he ordered you to betray your own country and pretend to be the messiah. Normally, that would be a wonderful plan, but you are so stupid that you don¡¯t even understand the basic concept of deception. Why on earth wouldn¡¯t we take Wind City when you¡¯re surrendering it for free? Hahaha¡­" Amber Pupil shivered violently. "No¡­ that¡¯s not true¡­" ¡­¡­ I abruptly rose to full height, brandished my weapon and growled out, "Amber Pupil, you fucking scum! Facts speak louder than words, and no one¡¯s going to trust your lies anymore!" Candlelight Shadow was pulling at his mount¡¯s reins and roaring as well. "Scum! You would give up three of our tier 2 cities just to make your alliance famous? Are you fucking mad? Do you really think the Northern Alliance is going to dance to your tune, you stupid animal!?" Warsky was shaking with so much fury that all he could do was point a finger at the general direction of Dragons Run Wild and swear again and again, "Fuck¡­ fuck¡­" I turned toward the players behind Amber Pupil and shouted, "You heard that? Are you really still going to serve this despicable bastard? If you have even a shred of conscience left in your goddamned hearts, you will withdraw from Dragons Run Wild right now! Otherwise, I, Lu Chen swear that I will delete you from our homeland no matter the cost!" At first, the players of Dragons Run Wild could only stare at us dumbly. Very soon though, tens of thousands pulled at the alliance emblem on their shoulders, threw it on the ground and even stomped on it. They shouted angrily, "I cannot believe how badly you got us fooled! You said that the purpose of Dragons Run Wild is to take revenge and become the wall of the China server, but it¡¯s all lies! You are scum, Amber Pupil! You are scum just like your uncle, Tang Long!" Hundreds of thousands of Dragons Run Wild players withdrew from the alliance until only several ten thousand players remained in the end. These people were either Amber Pupil¡¯s aides or collaborators who were promised a portion of the profits. Long story short, they were all bad, bad people. ¡­¡­ For a while, Amber Pupil could only shudder in place. Then, his eyes suddenly became filled with hatred, and he charged toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow while shouting, "Vienna, you treacherous scum!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow simply raised his sword and sniggered. "I bet you¡¯ve never heard of the saying ¡®all¡¯s fair in war¡¯. Also, me, a scum? If you were a man who would protect your home even after you were exiled from your server like Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, then maybe I would¡¯ve honored the deal. I certainly would¡¯ve respected you a lot more. But you? You are just some trash who sold his own country for fame. Never put me under the same label as you." Blackwing abruptly swooped down from the sky, and Amber Pupil was sent rolling across the ground, bleeding like crazy. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow on his dragon was just too powerful. Thud! I abruptly stomped the ground and sent myself flying toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow like a lightning bolt. Unsheathing my weapon, I slashed the back of the black dragon four times in a row using Burning Blade Slash and Thousand Ice Slash to force him to back away. He stared at me in confusion and asked me, "What is the meaning of this, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?" I slowly landed back on the ground before replying, "Amber Pupil is a Chinese traitor, true, but he¡¯s not for you, a Northern Alliance player, to execute.¡± "Hah! Hahaha! Very well!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow shrugged. "Feel free then! I promise I won¡¯t get in your way!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, an unnatural sound of wind erupted behind me. It was Amber Pupil trying to stab me in the back! I adjusted my POV immediately, turned around and parried the strike without looking. Then, I punched out with my fist, sent him flying into the air and dealt a massive amount of damage¡ª70292! "God damn!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow couldn¡¯t help an exclamation of surprise. He couldn¡¯t believe how much damage I did even when barehanded. Amber Pupil rolled across the grassy land for a time before coming to a stop. Then, while crawling away from me and wiping the blood on his lips, he suddenly cackled as if he had gone mad and shouted, "Yes, I¡¯m a traitor! But so what? I lived for myself, and I stayed true to my beliefs! Protect my homeland? Defend the honor of my country? Are you shitting me? Why the hell would I care about something like that? I am a selfish person, and I¡¯m proud of it! You, on the other hand, are just a hypocrite who had to work himself to the bone to keep up his facade! I pity you!" I laughed. "I¡¯m most definitely not dissatisfied with my life, and I certainly do not need your sympathy!" Behind Amber Pupil, Little Piglet suddenly appeared and slashed him in the neck three times, laughing like a madman. "Lu Chen thinks it¡¯s beneath him to kill you, but that¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll be perfectly happy to end your traitorous life!" Crack crack crack... Again and again, Little Piglet hacked away at Amber Pupil¡¯s neck with basic attacks. It looked like he was trying to execute Amber Pupil by beheading, which he succeeded a few seconds later. Raising his blood-covered blade and sending Amber Pupil¡¯s head flying with a kick, he let out a scornful snort and said, "There¡¯s no one I look down on more than people like you. I may be a greedy fuck, but even I haven¡¯t stooped so low that I would betray my own country!" It was at this moment Xu Yang pointed an accusatory finger at him. "Little Piglet, you fuck! You didn¡¯t even let us get a hit on the fucker! How are we going to vent our frustrations now?" Little Piglet grinned placatingly. "Eh, well, Amber Pupil¡¯s aides are right over there, and there¡¯s at least tens of thousands of them. Feel free to kill them all, I promise I won¡¯t stop you¡­" "Pooh!" ¡­¡­ As it turned out, neither Xu Yang nor I needed to clear out the remnants of Dragons Run Wild ourselves because Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi were already leading a bunch of Dragonlight Cavalrymen to trample over them. The war could wait until all these fucking traitors were dead! Time passed slowly after that. Still trapped inside Sky Forest, China¡¯s last couple million players tried again and again to break out of the Northern Alliance¡¯s encirclement. Although our losses were severe, the Northern Alliance wasn¡¯t faring much better themselves. After all, anyone who survived up until this point was undoubtedly among the best of the best. Our Dragonlight Cavalry especially was still almost 25k strong, and together with the 10k+ Dragonlight Archers they were able to inflict massive damage that even Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was unable to ignore. Even at their current state, they were still able to cut through the enemy army like hot knife through butter, while Vienna¡¯s attempts to wipe them out were like hitting a rock with an egg. Five hours passed, and there were only 5 hours left before the Nation War ended. Our panic grew, however. The intensity of the Northern Alliance¡¯s assault was growing by the minute, while Breeze and Rain had finally managed to wear down Karinshan¡¯s NPC troops at the cost of millions and millions of players. Karinshan¡¯s war generals were abnormally strong, so it was impossible to eliminate them without paying the blood price. Still... ¡­¡­ "We need to do something. If this continues, the NPC legion will crumble before us¡­" Gui Guzi said to me quietly. I nodded. It was at this moment Warsky, Candlelight Shadow, Indigo Collar, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and the others walked up to us with bloodied weapons and grim expressions. Our commander-in-chief, Hot and Sour Noodles, and a group of players in tattered armors and hole-riddled cloaks walked up to us. "Take a seat¡­" I waved tiredly before plopping down beneath a tree and setting my sword against it. Lin Yixin and He Yi also sat to my left and right. Everyone was exhausted after the long, intense battle. Warsky, Candlelight Shadow, Zhang Chun and more also took their seats. Our faces were pictures of worry. "So, does anyone have any idea how we can save our one and only main city?" Hot and Sour Noodles sat beneath a mulberry tree and looked at everyone with bloodshot eyes. Little Piglet suggested, "Er, we throw everything we have at them?" Warsky stared at him. "What the fuck do you think we¡¯ve been doing since the start? It¡¯s useless. With our current numbers, each of us can kill 10 of theirs, and we¡¯re still going to be outnumbered in the end¡­" Candlelight Shadow leaned against a shrubbery and looked up. "We need to catch them by surprise, or we will fail to protect even one of our main cities, and this will be a total defeat for our server¡­" Candlelight Shadow let out a sorrowful sigh as closed his eyes after that. Once upon a time, the Martial God was the one leading the invasion and flattening countless enemy main cities. That was in the past, however. Today, all the servers had honed themselves to perfection, and they were no longer the easy prey they used to be. It was to the point where even the Martial God couldn¡¯t help but speak in a spent, defeated tone. The twilight of a hero was never pretty, and even we couldn¡¯t help but feel sad on his behalf. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Warsky turned toward me. "Lu Chen, now is the time for you to shine! The China server needs you now more than ever, so work that devious brain of yours and think of a way to save us all already!" I clenched my teeth. "You serious? Our situation is so bad that even a god would be hard-pressed to save it, and I¡¯m not a god. With our current numbers, we won¡¯t even be able to tickle the enemy!" Warsky: "I¡­ fuck¡­" Beiming Xue knelt beside me and blinked at me. "Is there really nothing we can do, big brother?" I let out a sigh and lay down on the ground. Less than three seconds later, I abruptly bounced up to my butt. "What? Did you think of something?!" Zhang Chun, Candlelight Shadow and Stranger of Three Lifetimes exclaimed in unison. I nodded. "Yeah, I have a shitty plan that may be helpful¡­" "Tell us!" they shouted in unison. ¡­¡­ I clenched my teeth and said, "They hurt us, we hurt them!" Chapter 1181: Double Trouble "They hurt us, we hurt them?" Warsky licked his lips and said, "You mean like, teach the enemy the lesson even at the cost of Sky City? Kill every invader by using Princess Karinshan as bait?" I stared at him. "You know what? Your plan is officially more stupid than mine!" Zhang Chun urged, "We don¡¯t have time for this. Tell us your plan already, Lu Chen!" "Broadly speaking, it¡¯s a two-part diversionary strategy. I need everyone here to keep it a secret, okay?" I paused for a moment before continuing, "Okay. First, we need to distract the enemy¡¯s main force. At our current strength, we¡¯ll destroy ourselves first if we try anything while the enemy is aware of what we¡¯re doing." "Yes, you mentioned that it¡¯s an interlocked diversionary strategy already. So? What are we doing exactly?" Candlelight Shadow asked. I raised my eyebrows. "Before that, I have a question to both you and Warsky. Do you have balls?" Candlelight Shadow looked confused. "I¡­ sure? We¡¯ll do whatever it takes to save the China server!" Warsky also patted his chest. "Just tell us what we need to do, and it will be done!" ¡­¡­ I nodded. "We¡¯re going to counterattack the enemy at full force and break through their encirclement through the north. While I¡¯m leading the main force to tackle Vienna¡¯s main force from the east, I want you two to assemble your greatest cavalry, slip back into Sky Forest, and cross over Dragonbone Mountain Range under cover. Your goal will be the closest USA city to us, Seven Star City! Do you understand what I¡¯m saying now? I want you to blitz the city and occupy the city via regicide! We will pay back exactly what they did to Wind City!" Candlelight Shadow clenched his fists. "God damn! That sounds super risky!" I smiled wider. "Of course. If it wasn¡¯t this risky, I wouldn¡¯t ask both of you to carry out this mission together!" Zhang Chun interrupted, "Okay, Ancient Sword is going to distract the enemy while Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance crosses the Wet River [1]to storm Seven Star City. However, you said that it¡¯s a two-part diversionary strategy, and this is just the first part, right? What is the second part?" I sucked in a deep breath before continuing, "After the strike force has slipped away, we¡¯ll change course for White Horse Highland, attack Cyan Earth City and rescue Princess Karinshan! I have one more army at Dragonbone Mountain Range, and I¡¯m going to order them to tear open a hole in the enemy¡¯s southeast defense line, coordinate with us and cut into the heart of Cyan Earth City! I promise you that Breeze and Rain¡¯s defenses will not be able to handle the pincer attack!" Zhang Chun smiled. "Alright, let¡¯s do that!" "Let¡¯s move. It will take our cavalry 3 hours at minimum to make it from here to Seven Star City, so we don¡¯t have much time at all. Also, Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance, make sure that you limit the number of players you bring because they¡¯re only going to slow you down otherwise. Take a hundred thousand elites with you, and no more than that!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ After we climbed up our mounts, I, Gui Guzi, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng and more launched an all-out assault against the northside of the encirclement. Since Vienna¡¯s Sorrow chose to avoid us, we were able to cut all the way through without much resistance. During this time, Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance¡¯s best cavalry had successfully vanished into the forest leading to Dragonbone Mountain Range like a ghost. Of all my allies, I had to admit that Candlelight Shadow and Warsky were some of the more reliable ones. "Everyone, we ride west now!" I raised my weapon and executed Myriad Swords Obliteration. An entire group of Northern Alliance players were torn to shreds just like that. ¡­¡­ On the sky, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow watched us with a smile but didn¡¯t move a muscle. Hero Alliance¡¯s strongest forces hadn¡¯t tried to intercept us as well. So far, things were moving exactly as I hoped they would. It was impossible for us to defend Sky City alone, but if I exploited the cracks between the Northern Alliance and the Indian server to our advantage, then we might just have a chance to pull off the impossible! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had purposely let us break out of the encirclement because he guessed that we were gunning for Cyan Earth City. In fact, I bet he really wanted us to defend Sky City successfully and save the China server from annihilation. If the King of Cities fell into the hands of the Indian server, they would become strong enough to threaten the Northern Alliance¡¯s dominant influence over all the other servers. Long story short, the politics involved in this shit were enough to drive a person crazy. I couldn¡¯t help but sigh when I thought up to this point. High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon and more all thought that I was naturally devious, but in reality, who wouldn¡¯t want to lead a simpler, more unsophisticated life? In a battle of wits, you either survive by being smarter than all your enemies, or die. While Gui Guzi was swinging the Spear of the Knight God, he asked me in a soft voice, "Boss Broken Halberd, can I ask you a question? Why did you ask Warsky and Candlelight Shadow to storm Seven Star City instead of Elephant City? Geographically speaking, Elephant City is the closest city to our location, so it should be much easier to raid than Seven Star City, shouldn¡¯t it?" Xu Yang echoed in agreement, "He¡¯s right. Why did you choose Seven Star City over Elephant City?" I chuckled. "You think Elephant City is the easier target, but that is in fact completely incorrect. Some of you might have noticed already, but Natural Flow hasn¡¯t shown up in this invasion at all. That¡¯s because they¡¯ve chosen to stay out of this war. Even if I¡¯m willing to repay her favor with evil, I doubt Warsky and Candlelight Shadow have much of a chance raiding the city with her around. More importantly, taking Seven Star City isn¡¯t the end of that part of the strategy." "What do you mean?" Zhang Chun asked. I replied, "Uncle, please contact Candlelight Shadow and Warsky now and tell them to contact the number one player or the Argentina server, Red Ovenbird, after they¡¯ve occupied Seven Star City. Yes, I¡¯m talking about your Chaotic 27 friend. Then, tell them to tell Red Ovenbird that we¡¯re going to give them Seven Star City for free¡­" Gui Guzi exclaimed in shock, "What the fuck? But why? That¡¯s our prize!" Contrary to Gui Guzi¡¯s reaction, Hot and Sour Noodles burst into a grin. "Oh, I understand now. You truly are the smartest tactician of our country!" Chaos Moon also chuckled. "Yes, one Seven Star City for the official fallout between the Chaotic 27 and the Northern Alliance is absolutely worth it! Slow and steady is the way to retake our lost territories!" I nodded. "In fact, retaking our territory is just the beginning. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow thinks he¡¯s beaten us? We¡¯ll see if he can retain his smug face when we bring the war to him!" ¡­¡­ I contacted Hickey, explained the situation, and informed them of the coordinates and attack routes they should take. Hickey happily accepted after stating that Protective Umbrella had been waiting for too long already. Meanwhile, we finally made it to the foot of White Horse Highland where Cyan Earth City and Elephant City players were at. There were only a million plus of us now. God of War was killing the NPCs on the frontline, while Breeze and Rain was darting here and there, barking out commands like a bat with ADHD. This man was the one who almost single-handedly orchestrated the downfall of the Center. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that he was the number one enemy of the China server. "Defenders, prepare! The Chinese are here!" Breeze and Rain raised his weapon and ordered, "Beast King Cavalry, form a shield formation to block them! God¡¯s Domain¡¯s Wildfire Riders, attack them from the left, and Nation Guardian¡¯s Divine Elephant Cavalry, attack them from the right! Flames of War¡¯s Lightning Archers, move behind them and cut off their retreat! We will wipe them out right here and now!" Gui Guzi inhaled. "That brutal motherfucker! I cannot believe that Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and even Purple Grape City are listening to him now." I nodded. "Purple Grape City probably came to a secret agreement with Cyan Earth City again¡­" Lin Yixin gripped her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and asked, "What¡¯s it going to be, Little Cheat? Feint or real?" I replied in a low tone, "Real. We go all out and hold nothing back. It¡¯s the only way to fool that cunning bastard!" "Got it!" On the frontline, all the surviving guild leaders of the China server pulled out their weapons and pointed to the front. They shouted in unison, "ATTACK!" The ground trembled. The final battle on the plains of White Horse Highland began. We only had a couple hundred thousand cavalrymen left, but they were all elites, and many of them were Famous Generals, Divine Generals, or both. Looking at the stratagem rings beneath their feet, almost everyone was buffed by a Famous General Skill¡ªKnight God, Knight General, Bow General, Soul of the Foot, you name it. Bang bang bang¡­ The sounds of impact were absolutely deafening. Ancient Sword¡¯s generals were the first to make contact with the enemy and kickstart the fireworks of skills. ¡­¡­ The corners of Breeze and Rain¡¯s lips curled upward as he ordered, "Seek out your targets at will, killers!" A beautiful woman flashed into view as if answering his command, and she was none other than the JGL Hall of Famer of Purple Grape City, Cyan Frost. She charged straight toward Eyes Like Water and struck her with Freezing Slash before she could react, turning her into a block of ice. Before anyone could do anything to rescue her, Yeye the Witch landed Nether Flame Arrow, and God of War ensured the kill with his signature Inferno Sixtuple Slash. She was dead just like that! Everyone was speechless for a moment. The Indian¡¯s and the Japanese¡¯s best players were concentrated at this place, and the battle quickly proved to be some of the hardest we had ever fought! ¡­¡­ One by one, our elites were killed by the enemy. Not even a top-class expert like Purple Marquis was an exception. Breeze and Rain and God of War simply worked too well with each other, not to mention the disgusting skill that was Soul Capture. Moreover, the enemy could afford to take risks due to their number advantage, while we were forced to fight conservatively due to being attacked from fucking everywhere. It was horrible to say the least. Whoosh! High Fighting Spirits executed Xiezhi Howl and murdered countless. However, it also earned him a ton of hate! Thud! There was a flash, and High Fighting Spirits became stunned by a Shock Arrow. Almost immediately, five god-tier experts¡ªBreeze and Rain, God of War, Cyan Frost, Red Maple and Purple Thunder¡ªrushed toward him! "Save Fighting Spirits!" Gui Guzi exclaimed in shock. However, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and He Yi were hundreds of yards away from him. Lin Yixin, Stranger of Three Lifetime and Lian Xin were nowhere close as well. I was the only one close enough to save him. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle! My boots rustled against the grass as I traveled at full speed. Thanks to the Ancient Divine Dragon, I moved like lightning and was able to block in front of High Fighting Spirits before any of his attackers could reach him. Trusting in Battle Astral Wind to protect me, I swung my sword three times in a row. Chiang chiang chiang... Red Maple, Purple Thunder and Cyan Frost were knocked to the back. They looked like they couldn¡¯t believe what just happened. 1. T/N: an idiom, I incorporated it into the sentence to make it sound bette Chapter 1182: Giving It Our All "You are courting death!" God of War attacked from behind before he growled out his threat, but I was able to drop to my knees in time and watch the sword sailing past my forehead with inches to spare. However, the world-class player turned his wrist, angled his sword downward, and attempted to skewer me with Barrier Break. It was some of the fastest reactions I had seen yet. Pa! Thankfully, I was still faster than him. First, I caught his wrist to slow down his strike. Then, I executed helix maneuver without altering my POV and successfully moved out of the way of the attack, and performed a back kick that sent him flying to where he came from. Strength-wise, I was much stronger than he was. It wasn¡¯t over though. I bent my body to the side just enough that an arrow aimed at me sailed harmlessly next to my nose. I immediately determined Yeye the Witch¡¯s location, brought my left hand to my forehead and cast Myriad Swords Obliteration. At the same time, I widened my stance and threw the Purple Ying Sword at her. I completed both moves in just 0.15 seconds, a time shorter than what it took for a normal person to react! "Ah!?" Yeye the Witch only managed a yelp before my sword carved a huge hole into her chest. Coupled together with Myriad Swords Obliteration, she had no choice but to collapse to the ground and trigger a system announcement¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (Unaffiliated) killed the Temple Guard, player "Yeye the Witch" (India), and obtained 10% of the contribution points, 212820 points! ¡­¡­ I already knew that my combo was going to kill Yeye the Witch, so I wasted no time in charging forward and blocking Purple Thunder¡¯s Cruel Blade and Freezing Slash with my shield. My Battle Astral Wind dropped a considerable amount of durability anyway because none of these players were small fries. "Dammit!" Cyan Frost hurriedly turned around and ran along an S-shaped path. It was because she realized that I was trying to kill her! "You think you can escape!?" All I needed to do was slide sideways to block in front of the girl. Her gaping mouth was a good enough reaction toward the power of the helix maneuver. Of course, another reason why I was able to turn this quickly despite moving at insane speed was because the Fusion Armor removed all the turn rate penalty. It was without a doubt one of the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s greatest qualities! Bang! I punched behind me and dispelled Breeze and Rain¡¯s Soul Capture before he could catch me with it. Then, I quickened my footsteps and caught the returning Purple Ying Sword just in time to inject her veins with Purple Frost Concentration. The second her Defense was reduced, I executed Burning Blade Slash and caused three damage numbers to rise above her head¡ª 280003! 371871! 423885! There was no chance the Ice Knight could survive my powerful Attack after her Defense was reduced. I could see the burning fury in her eyes as she dropped to the ground. Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (Unaffiliated) killed the JGL Hall of Famer, player "Cyan Frost" (Japan), and obtained 10% of the contribution points, 190870 points! ¡­¡­ My back turned cold as Inferno Sixtuple Slash shredded my Battle Astral Wind completely. Well, there goes my moment of invincibility! Right after my protection skill was gone, Red Maple¡¯s Maple Kill struck me and dealt 170k damage. Motherfucker, how does the bastard hit so hard even though he¡¯s just Level 182? Whoosh! The Divine Martial War Boots skidded across the ground as I turned again and knocked aside God of War¡¯s sword with the Dragon God Shield. Then, I charged straight toward Red Maple! "You want to kill me now, brute?!" Red Maple grinned savagely. He fired his Thunder God Ball and Wind Dragon Revolution at me while backing away. Behind me, Breeze and Rain and God of War clung to me like shadows and unleashed their own attacks. There was no surviving three of them attacking me at once, no matter how powerful I was. Swhoosh! Breeze and Rain reached me first and cast Soul Refining Cage. If it hit me, I would be trapped for 7 seconds straight! I dashed behind a shrubbery and went silent for a time. As the spell hit the location where I was at, God of War asked, "Did it land?" Breeze and Rain¡¯s pupils suddenly shrank. "No!" I burst out from the shrubbery and rushed toward Red Maple again, uncaring for the fact that I was covered in leaves. Soul Refining Cage would¡¯ve hit me there if I hadn¡¯t abused the line of sight break tactic in the nick of time. My sword cut through Red Maple¡¯s neck, but the man immediately responded by turning his ring. He was about to activate his invincibility skill. Swhoosh! My cloak fluttered in the air as I made a sharp turn and punched out with the Magic Piercing Punch. The unthinkable happened. The skill actually managed to interrupt the invincibility skill cast and dispel it. After that, it was just a matter of choosing which skills I wanted to use to end him. I decided to go with Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash. Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (Unaffiliated) killed the JGL Hall of Famer, player "Red Maple" (Japan), and obtained 10% of the contribution points, 280901 points! ¡­¡­ Bang! Suddenly, I heard a dull impact from behind and felt like someone had shredded my back into pieces. I checked my health and realized in fear that it had dropped below 21% before I knew it. After drinking a health potion and using Tenacity of the Dead to restore my HP, I turned around and attempted to drive back my pursuers with Myriad Swords Obliteration + Rise of the Guardian Dragon. I managed to kill a group of enemies, but Breeze and Rain and God of War simply downed a health potion and kept charging. There was also that minor problem of holy light constantly healing these two hyenas. "Fuck!" Anyone could see that they were desperate to remove me from the battlefield. I could understand why. Cyan Earth City and Purple Grape City were allies on this battlefield, and I had just killed some of Purple Grape City¡¯s greatest players right under Breeze and Rain and God of War¡¯s noses. Of course they wouldn¡¯t be able to stand the humiliation. All experts possessed at least some amount of pride, and they would do anything to eliminate those who stepped on it! It was at this moment I heard Gui Guzi and Lin Yixin behind me. I immediately jumped with everything I got and sailed through the air like a rocket. Immediately after that, Lian Xin appeared in my vision and killed an entire group of Beast King Cavalry with God Devil Break. They probably weren¡¯t unfamiliar with the skill, but I bet they had never seen one that was this powerful! ¡­¡­ "Backup frontliners, charge!" Breeze and Rain raised a clenched fist and shouted angrily. A group of Beast King Cavalry immediately charged toward us. Because they were galloping down a slope, the additional charge power instantly destroyed our battle line and turned it into a mixed battle once more. I ran back and forth and pushed myself to the limits, but it just wasn¡¯t possible for one man to change the tides of war. As my companions grew fewer and fewer, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun suddenly shouted in my direction, "Boss, I¡¯m out of pots!" I replied helplessly, "Me too!" In fact, the consecutive battles and non-stop fighting had worn all of us down to the maximum degree. Even the Cyan Earth City players we were murdering dropped equipment only. Everyone was out of supplies at this point. ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud! A rain of arrows fell from the sky and killed both High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. Right after that, Lu Buyi lost his magical shield and died to the arrow rain as well. Pure Love and the other bards were outright trampled over by the Beast King Cavalry and killed. Every supply spot within Sky City domain had already been bought clean or destroyed, so the battle quickly became one-sided against us. There were only two hours left on the clock now. Unfortunately, it was easily the hardest period of the entire war. I wasn¡¯t kidding when I said I was all out of potions. I had given all my Saint Spirit Potions to Lin Yixin, He Yi, Gui Guzi and the others sometime during the fight, so I was surviving purely on lifesteal. There was good news though. The Protective Umbrella had finally arrived! ¡­¡­ On the hill, Breeze and Rain commanded one group of archers to Far Shot their skills at us, and another group to rest up and recover themselves. They could afford to do so because they had the number advantage. I turned around and saw that the plains behind me were absolutely covered in bodies. There were almost 1.5 million of us when we arrived, and now we didn¡¯t even number 100k. Still, we were able to make Cyan Earth City pay the blood price of 5 million players at least. Part of the reason we were able to do so was because Breeze and Rain had split up his army in two. He had one half surrounding White Horse Highland and denying us entry while sending the other half against Karinshan¡¯s NPC legion. Speaking of Karinshan, her troops had dwindled to just a couple of generals now. The grass beneath my feet was slick and slippery due to the sheer amount of blood that was drenching it. I looked to the distance before calling out, "Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, to me!" "What is it, Boss Broken Halberd?" Gui Guzi and the two girls rode up to me. I wiped away the blood on my lips and said, "I want you three to circle to the right and meet up with Hickey¡¯s party. Then, take over as the Zephyr Cavalry¡¯s party leaders and make a beeline for Karinshan. You are the only ones who can protect her now!" "Don¡¯t worry! We will!" They rode away and soon vanished into the dust clouds. ¡­¡­ With that done, I looked back at the last remnant of the Chinese army and said, "Everyone, this is the final battle. We may die beneath this hill today, but we must never submit and beg for their mercy!" Zhang Chun pulled his sword from the ground and grinned. "Yeah. Let¡¯s take a moment to reorganize before launching another assault!" We numbered less than one hundred thousand, but we were going to assault a shield formation that was 2 million strong. Our action could be only described as insane, but what else could we do when it was our only option? "Kill!" I raised my sword and kicked off the journey of no return together with He Yi, Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng, and everyone else. The arrows falling from the sky seemed like they would never end. Since we were out of supplies, Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew and the other priests were all out of MP. All they could do was keep pace with us and wait for their MP to regenerate passively. Thud thud thud... Arrows pierced our bodies, and another group of players collapsed like bundles of wheat. Even Stranger of Three Lifetimes was incapable of going any further after losing her Magic Shield one last time. She sat on the blood-drenched grass and looked at me. "Go, Lu Chen. At this point, even if I come with you, I¡¯ll only be able to smack the enemy with my scepter¡­" I nodded. "Take care, Momo!" Before I could even finish my sentence, an arrow pierced her chest and ended her life. She looked down at her wound and shot me a tragic smile. "Ah, damn. Guess I won¡¯t be able to keep my promise. Goodbye¡­" There was a flash of light. Then... Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "The Smell of Home" (India) killed the CGL Hall of Famer, player "Stranger of Three Lifetimes" (China), and obtained 10% of the contribution points, 318801 points! ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t the first system announcement, and it wouldn¡¯t be the last. God¡¯s Dance, Come See The Snow Tonight, October Rain, Ling Xueshang, Farewell Song and more died after that. No matter how powerful a player was, it was all too easy for them to die without potions and consumables to sustain them. Even Farewell Song was seen through by a high-level archer with Clear As Flame and killed. Crack! My eyes grew bloodshot as I chopped off a magic knight¡¯s arm. The people around me kept dying one after another, and not even Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, Zhang Chun, Clear Perfume and more were an exception. Almost all of the Dragonlight Cavalry was gone too. This war was simply too cruel against us. ¡­¡­ Breeze and Rain clenched his teeth as he watched us struggle even at the state we were in. In the end, he couldn¡¯t help but growl out, "What on earth are you fighting for? You know that this main city is going to fall to our hands no matter what you do, so why are you still struggling?!" He Yi and Lin Yixin cast their Barrier Breaks at the same time before replying with a smile, "Make a guess¡­" Breeze and Rain: "..." It was at this moment someone whispered something into the Agility Warrior¡¯s ears. He shuddered from head to toe before swearing, "Dammit! A surprise attack? I shouldn¡¯t have thought that I¡¯ve seen Lu Chen¡¯s limits!" Chapter 1183: No Regrets Boom! The cold light of Ice Flame Slash erupted amid a group of low-health Beast King Cavalrymen and killed them all. The ring of the Moonchaser Tiger surrounding her feet, Lin Yixin reversed her grip on her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword, dashed backward like a butterfly, and caught He Yi¡¯s wrist. "Almost all of our men are dead, and Little Cheat¡¯s hidden cavalry has shown up. It¡¯s time for us to withdraw, Sister Eve. Also, I have Purple Marquis and Lexi¡¯s equipment, and I don¡¯t want to die and lose it..." He Yi nodded and knocked back a bunch of pursuing shielders with her Godslaying Blade. Then, she downed a health potion and withdrew with Lin Yixin. The Fruit Knife Goddess wasn¡¯t the only one who was carrying a ton of dropped equipment. He Yi was currently carrying Chaos Moon¡¯s sword and Li Chengfeng¡¯s helmet in her bag too. Someone had to look after them after all. ¡­¡­ I bent down and pressed my left palm to the ground, paying 1000 gold to cast the powerful Rise of the Guardian Dragon and killing a group of pursuing Beast King Cavalrymen. Rise of the Guardian Dragon was so powerful that even I, a miser, couldn¡¯t stop myself from using it again and again. After all, one Rise of the Guardian Dragon for thousands, if not ten thousand Nation War contribution points was absolutely worth it! A chorus of battle cries erupted from the other side of White Horse Plains. I had no doubt that they belonged to Protective Umbrella. It took them some time and a lot of effort, but they were finally able to break through the enemy¡¯s defenses and enter the hinterland of Sky City. It was commendable. Speaking of which, Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust had reached them and shared their Famous General Skills with them. With 1 Knight God and 3 Knight Generals¡ªWarscar himself was a Knight General after all¡ªthere was practically no defense line the Berserk Zephyr Cavalry couldn¡¯t break. On the hills, a trace of anger crossed Breeze and Rain¡¯s lips. "God of War, intercept the unaffiliated players of Protective Umbrella while I pursue the remnants of the Chinese army. If I don¡¯t kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Wind Fantasy and From Water today, I will not be able to face the millions of brothers and sisters who died fighting here at White Horse Highland!" God of War nodded a little. "Take care! First and second Beast King Cavalry legions, follow me!" Hooves thudded against the ground as God of War took off with several ten thousand Beast King Cavalry. Breeze and Rain himself mustered almost ten thousand Beast King Cavalry before raising his sword and shouting, "Ride with me to kill the stubborn fools of China!" ¡­¡­ I pulled back to cover Lin Yixin and He Yi¡¯s withdrawal. At the same time, around 500 mounted archers led by Beiming Xue appeared at the foot of the hills. They were our last remaining troops. Right now Beiming Xue¡¯s Ice Soul Feather¡¯s was covered in blade marks. Her leather armor was cut here and there, and her cloak was dyed red in blood. She shouted to me, "Over here, big brother and sisters! I¡¯ll cover you!" I clenched my teeth. "The Dragonlight Archers don¡¯t even have enough MP to use Shock Arrow, right Beiming? How can you cover for us like this?" Beiming Xue smiled confidently. "It¡¯s fine. Just because we¡¯re stuck to basic attacks doesn¡¯t mean we cannot hit-and-run the enemy as per usual. Breeze and Rain himself is running out of men anyway. Also, all Dragonlight Archers have high Intelligence, so we¡¯ll regenerate enough MP to use a Shock Arrow every 15 seconds or so." "Okay!" The importance of equipment was shown at this moment. Take me for example. The Purple Ying Sword¡¯s 20% lifesteal gave me the power to fight without health potions, and the several thousand Intelligence my equipment added meant that I would never have to worry about running out of MP and being unable to cast a skill. Most importantly, as players grew higher in levels, and more mages learned OP skills like God Devil Break, a skill that dealt pure damage based on Intelligence difference, having high enough Intelligence as a melee class player was the difference between life or death. According to Heavenblessed¡¯s rules, it took the Heaven grade or higher for an item to boost three attributes, and most metal-armor equipment only boosted Strength, Stamina and Agility. Only a Divine Armament would boost all four attributes, which was why everyone should always strive to own a full set of Divine Armaments. Also, 5000 Intelligence was the minimum amount one must have to survive the bombardment of a group of high-level mages. In other words, future cavalrymen must have both Strength and Intelligence to qualify as god-tier. Funnily enough, the same rule applied to mages as well. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t be able to survive the fighter classes¡¯ Ultimate Strength Break. ¡­¡­ I abruptly turned around and placed my index and middle finger in front of my forehead. A surge of energy surrounded me as I shouted, "Myriad Swords Obliteration!" Countless swords rained from the sky, injured and killed a ton of Beast King Cavalrymen. At the same time, Beiming Xue ordered, "Focus-fire enemies who are low health and make sure to keep your distance! There are only 500 of us left. If we die, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will truly be out of this war!" The Bow God¨Cbuffed Dragonlight Archers notched their arrows and loosed them at high speed. There were multiple reasons why these people were able to survive this hellish war until now. Obviously, them being able to attack from range was a reason, but their individual skills were nothing to scoff at either. Every single one of them were capable of swift and unpredictable shots that absolutely fucked up the pursuing Beast King Cavalry. Breeze and Rain clenched his teeth and ordered his troops to split into three. Then, he charge the Dragonlight Archers from the front and the wings while tossing Trapping Nets. Dozens of Dragonlight Archers were caught in just the blink of an eye. Panicking, Lin Yixin and I immediately skidded to a stop and spent every last drop of our Divine Energy Points to fire our God¡¯s Tears and Ancient Seals. We were able to kill hundreds in an instant and intimidate the pursuers for a bit. Besides that, I had Summon the Storm and an apparition who could go all-out without having to worry about survival. Lin Yixin¡¯s Ice Dragon Kris was also spitting fire here and there and giving Cyan Beast even bigger of a headache. Unfortunately, the numbers disparity was still too huge, not to mention that Breeze and Rain was alive and well. Every time he attacked, he could always kill at least 1 Dragonlight Archers. In less than 5 minutes, our 500 mounted archers had dwindled to just 300, while the Beast King Cavalry were still 7000+ strong. "Shit! We can¡¯t hold them back!" I hurriedly ordered, "Beiming, take Eve and Yiyi into the forest and use the bramble terrain to kill off Breeze and Rain¡¯s last troop of ace cavalry!" Beiming Xue blinked before asking urgently, "What about you, big brother?" I glanced at White Horse Highland and said, "I need to go to the highland and protect Princess Karinshan. Also, I¡¯m the guild leader of Protective Umbrella. It¡¯s my responsibility to fight together with Warscar and Hickey, not to mention that their morale will be higher with me around." Lin Yixin pursed her lips, but He Yi nodded without hesitation. "Take care. We¡¯ll handle Breeze and Rain and the Beast King Cavalry!" "Yeah!" I raised my arm, dissolved into rays of bloody light and slipped underground to avoid the Beast King Cavalry¡¯s pursuit. After I had circled to their rear, I emerged from the ground once more and ran toward White Horse Highland at top speed. Behind me, Beiming Xue, Lin Yixin and He Yi led the Dragonlight Archers and the last thousand or so Chinese players deeper into the forest. With the terrain on their side, I didn¡¯t think they would be wiped out by just 7000 Beast King Cavalry. Breeze and Rain was a threat, but Lin Yixin should be able to deal with him. ¡­¡­ The wind blowing across White Horse Highland was strong and thick with the stench of blood. Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and Purple Grape City corpses were strewn all over the place. They had incurred massive losses to kill off the NPC legion, and right at the center of their torment was the beautiful Princess Karinshan. Gripping the Guardian Blade and standing tall amid the sea of corpses, she challenged, "Come kill me if you dare! You will not succeed!" Thud thud thud! A hail of arrows pierced Karinshan¡¯s chest and caused a small shower of blood. Cyan Beast¡¯s players had wisely chosen to rely on the Lightning Archers to whittle down Karinshan from afar instead of challenging her directly. It was why the princess only had 25% HP left. Also, the greatest generals of the empire¡ªCommander Ziyan, Stark, the five Dragon Knights and more¡ªwere lying motionlessly on the ground behind Princess Karinshan. They were alive, but they were so heavily injured that they were barely breathing at all. They were only alive because Princess Karinshan was protecting them with her life. Somewhere beneath the rocks, the Zephyr Cavalry was also killing the enemy under Gui Guzi, Warscar, Hickey and more generals¡¯ command. Their powerful stats allowed them to fight as if the enemy¡¯s shield formation didn¡¯t exist. Countless shielders had been cut in half together with their shields. Even a player of God of War¡¯s caliber quickly found himself dropping below 20% HP and was forced to withdraw temporarily. ¡­¡­ I clenched my teeth and fired Thousand Ice Slash into a group of Beast King Cavalry, freezing most of them. Summon the Storm later, they all dropped to the ground and died. At the same time, I stepped on a magic knight¡¯s shield, jumped ten meters into the air, and executed War Crush the second I landed back on the ground. All the Beast King Cavalrymen close to me fell from their mounts at the same time. When Gui Guzi spotted me, he raised his spear and guffawed in excitement. "Boss Broken Halberd is here! Haha! Let¡¯s go let¡¯s go! Kill these Cyan Earth City bastards to the last!" I glanced around once and figured out Protective Umbrella¡¯s situation immediately. After the prolonged fighting, there were only 7000 Berserk Zephyr Cavalrymen left on the battlefield. The good news was that all of them were either buffed by Knight God or Knight General. The bad news was that the united army of Cyan Earth City, Purple Grape City and Elephant City still numbered almost 3 million. It was one hundred percent impossible for us to kill them all. After I joined up with the Zephyr Cavalry, I fought with them for 30 minutes only to discover that, paradoxically, the number of enemies was growing despite all the killing. Moreover, God of War was smart enough to stay far, far away from us and attack using ranged skills only, knowing that I would try to kill him and demoralize his army. As long as he remained cautious, my chance of landing God Binding Art was infinitely close to zero. ¡­¡­ As our numbers decreased more and more, Hickey frowned and said to me, "Boss, you know there¡¯s no way we¡¯ll be able to wipe out the enemy, right? Go and save your beautiful regent!" I looked up and noted that Karinshan¡¯s HP had dropped to just 7% now. So I said, "I¡¯m sorry, Hickey, everyone. I dragged you all into a war that has nothing to do with you¡­" However, Hickey wiped the blood on her face and beamed at me. "What are you talking about, boss? Before you showed up, everyone in Protective Umbrella was bullied by Elephant City practically everyday. However, all that changed after you arrived. We may be unaffiliated players, but we wish to live with dignity as well. We were supposed to defend our territory at Black Cavalry Scout Camp, and yet it was the Dragonlight Cavalry who protected us every time. With that in mind, why shouldn¡¯t we return the favor and protect the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s home at least once? Plus, you¡¯re the guy who loved saying dying won¡¯t get you pregnant. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve gone cold turkey after all this time." I smiled back. "If you put it that way, I suppose that I have no choice but to accept your kind offer. Don¡¯t stop fighting, you all. If we must die, we will die without regrets and with a mountain of enemies to keep us warm!" Chapter 1184: The Final Hope Thud! My boots shattered a couple of rocks as I jumped up to where Princess Karinshan was. I actually slipped a bit because there were so many bodies that the rocks were slick with blood. Not only that, both the rocks and Princess Karinshan¡¯s body were riddled with arrows. "Ugh¡­" At the peak of the tall rocks, Karinshan let out a groan and dropped to one knee. It was because a hail of arrows had plunged into her snow white thigh. Frowning, she cut off the shafts of the arrows but left the heads embedded inside her flesh. Then, she went back to shooting her cyclones and ice blades, showing off her prowess as a dual cultivator and tormenting Cyan Beast again. She had been fighting for several hours straight, and I had a feeling that she had killed at least a million players by herself. The literal mountains of bodies and equipment surrounding the hill she was fighting on was the proof of it, and that was without considering the despawned bodies. Whoosh! Suddenly, I appeared behind Karinshan and blocked another hail of arrows that was targeted at her with the Dragon God Shield. It might seem like I was fighting on foot, but my stats were the same as when I was mounting the Ancient Divine Dragon. With over 100k effective Defense, arrows were one of least effective attacks against me. "Ah¡­" Karinshan shuddered as she looked behind herself. She knew who I was the moment she glimpsed my shoulder. She let out a soft sigh and smiled a bit. "It¡¯s you again¡­ you were always with me during my final moments, weren¡¯t you?" I grinned. "It¡¯s a brave¡¯s honor to be able to protect a princess¡­" "Hehe!" Karinshan chuckled. "A brave¡¯s honor, huh? Yes, it is my honor to be able to protect this land too¡­" I said, "By the way, Your Majesty. In the future, you should avoid using ¡®hehe¡¯ when you laugh¡­" "Why¡¯s that?" "Well, in my world ¡®hehe¡¯ is usually a form of sarcastic laughter. Usually, people laugh like this when they want to say, ¡®go fuck yourself¡¯ but want to be subtle about it¡­" Karinshan: "..." ¡­¡­ Bang! There was a loud bang, and a dozen or so Lightning Arrows erupted around us and rudely interrupted our conversation. After that, God of War slowly walked out from between the piles of bodies with a sneer. "What are you even doing here, you pitiful bastard who was abandoned by his own country?" My eyes turned steely. "I¡¯m here to kill you, of course!" I dashed toward God of War like a loosed arrow and executed Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo immediately. If it hit, God of War would be near dead or just dead. Unfortunately, God of War was far stronger than the likes of Cyan Frost or Yeye the Witch. "Fuck!" He bent backward and just barely avoided my Universe Break. Ignoring the searing pain of my Burning Blade Slash, he tossed Fire Net at me and forced me to dash horizontally. After successfully scoring a basic hit on me, he immediately unleashed Inferno Sixtuple Slash! I managed to parry three of the six hits, but that was it. My shoulders were burning with pain, but it was nothing compared to the Spiraling Arrow Blades and Galaxy Storms erupting around my person all the time. I was fighting alone, but God of War wasn¡¯t. If I didn¡¯t end this as soon as possible, this would be the hill I died on. So, I crouched a little and exploded toward God of War like a lightning bolt! Bang! My abnormal speed caught God of War off-guard, and I was able to kick him off the rock and score a long-range Coiling Dragon Revolution on him at the same time. Frightened by the amount of damage he took, he scrambled back to his army to seek out his priests. ¡­¡­ I returned to Karinshan¡¯s side and checked the timer again. There was still 1 hour and 17 minutes left on the clock. It seemed almost impossible to protect Karinshan until it hit zero, but I had to try anyway. I let out a cry and activated Battle Astral Wind. It was the best protection I had right now as it was especially good against arrows, and it made me several times tougher than before. The one guy who might be able to shatter it prematurely, God of War, had also decided to lie low for the moment. It was probably because he thought that victory was already in his grasp, and he didn¡¯t need to risk his neck to kill me. After all, all they needed to do was to kill Karinshan, and victory would be theirs. The several thousand Berserk Zephyr Cavalry fighting somewhere beneath the hills were only good enough to delay the inevitable, but considering that they delayed Karinshan¡¯s death by three whole hours, I only had the highest of praises for them. One by one they died until Gui Guzi, Diamond Dust and only a hundred or so players were left standing. Gui Guzi in particular was an absolute unit made up of monstrous stats that even I would be hard-pressed to delete, much less the enemies. "Boss Broken Halberd, we¡¯re out of men! What do we do now?" Gui Guzi called out to me from below. I shot him a glance before answering, "Ride toward Sky Forest and meet up with Eve and Lil Beiming! There¡¯s no need to wipe here, and I have no time to pick up your Spear of the Knight God if you drop it!" Gui Guzi grew visibly anxious. "Fuck! You¡¯re not going to stay here alone, are you?" "I won¡¯t die, so don¡¯t worry!" "But what about Karinshan?" "I have a plan. Just get your ass away from this hill already!!" I almost glared at the guy as I ordered. Gui Guzi still looked like he wanted to say something until Hickey slapped him on the arm and said, "When the boss says something, you listen! Now come on!" "Fine¡­" In the end, he relented and started charging downhill. I relaxed. At least some of us would be surviving this fucking war. ¡­¡­ Seriously though, what do I do about Karinshan? I was one man, and there was no chance in hell I could protect Karinshan until the timer hit zero, not to mention that her HP had dropped to just 3%. God of War was also getting restless again. I had no doubts in my mind that he was on the verge of making a sudden charge to land the fatal blow on Karinshan and steal the royal scepter. It would be all over if that happened... Pu! Another blade pierced Karinshan¡¯s white arm, and a muffled groan later she looked at me and said, "I¡­ I don¡¯t have much strength left in my body. You should go. Take the creed of Sky City with you and fly to safety. Sky City will resurrect for as long as the warriors of Sky City live¡­" I lent her a shoulder while replying, "You must be joking, Your Majesty. I¡¯m a Great Earth Swordsman, not a Great Earth Emperor. I cannot possibly revive an entire empire by myself¡­" Karinshan: "..." Suddenly, God of War unsheathed his weapon and cried, "It is time, my brothers and sisters! Dismount [1] and cut down the princess now! Don¡¯t leave a single one of those Dragon Knights alive either!" Chiang chiang chiang... Rows and rows of cold, gleaming swords were pulled out of their sheaths. Finally, God of War¡¯s patience had reached his limits. His desire for the King of Cities was so overwhelming that he couldn¡¯t even wait for his archers to whittle down Karinshan some more. ¡­¡­ My mind felt like a jumbled mess as I continued blocking the incoming arrows while supporting Karinshan. Then, an idea suddenly entered my mind. Maybe¡­ maybe I could do that¡­? There was no time for thought. I immediately canceled my Fusion Armor! "Roar¡­" My beloved dragon flew away from my arm and transformed into a gigantic dragon in an instant. It wagged its tail a bit and pushed its head against my chest almost as if it knew what I was planning. It certainly knew how dangerous of a situation I was in right now. I supposed that this was what they called the bond between a phantasmal beast and its master? "What¡­ what are you planning?" Karinshan looked at me in surprise. I hugged her blood-coated, arrow-riddled waist and placed her on top of the Ancient Divine Dragon. Then, I whispered to her, "Your Majesty, if you live, Sky City lives. If you die, Sky City is gone as well. That is why I can die, but you cannot. The Ancient Divine Dragon will deliver you to Sky Ridge of Dragonbone Mountain Range. Stay alive no matter what happens, okay?" "I refuse! I cannot possibly allow a young warrior like you to die in my place!" Karinshan refused immediately. I shot her a smile and said, "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll revive even if I die. Now go!" After that, I tossed Stark, Ziyan, Tia and the rest of the Dragon Knights onto the back of my dragon as well. Obviously, this was far beyond the mount¡¯s usual carry load. I was simply gambling on the hope that an Ancient Divine Rank mount was powerful enough to operate independently and fly despite carrying a load far beyond its capacity. Pa! I slapped the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s head lightly before ordering, "I¡¯ve already set the destination for you, so go, little fellow! Carry the hope of Sky City to Sky Ridge!" My mount bumped my chest with its head-one last time before letting out a roar. Then, it took off to the sky and vanished with all the NPCs. ¡­¡­ Pa! My stats were much, much weaker without the Ancient Divine Dragon, so I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse instead and pointed my sword at the enemy. "Come now. This final hour of the Nation War is your only chance left to kill me. Next time, it¡¯ll be my turn to kill all of you!" Clenching his teeth in anger, God of War rushed forward and shouted, "Everyone, go!" I dropped Myriad Swords Obliteration on top of a group of players. Even with my reduced stats, some of them were outright one-shot because their HP was much lower when dismounted. Of course, I also ate a good amount of Barrier Breaks and Spiraling Arrow Blades in return. Oh well, the only thing I could do now was to fight harder and keep myself alive with the 20% lifesteal. Chiang! Suddenly, about 5 cm of the tip of the Purple Ying Sword broke off. It was because my weapon durability had dropped below 5%. Not only that, the Heaven-burning Armor, the Dragon God Shield and the rest of my equipment were crumbling as well. All of my stats dropped like you wouldn¡¯t believe. God of War saw this and growled out, "He¡¯s at his limit already! Kill him! He must pay for rescuing all the NPCs!" I stood on top of the rock and beckoned him to come. "I¡¯m waiting!" ¡­¡­ I died three times in a row in less than five minutes. Immortality triggered twice, and Resurrection Art once. However, I also received a system notice stating that the Ancient Divine Dragon had reached Sky Ridge. This meant Karinshan was safe for now. I relaxed. Thud! I plopped on top of a pile of bodies and set my sword beside me. Not only that, I canceled Resurrection Art because there was no need to persist any longer. Once I died, I would be logged out of the game by force until the Nation War was over. God of War grew even angrier when he saw this. It was at this moment a system announcement rang across the sky¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Candlelight Shadow" (China) has successfully killed the regent of Seven Star City, Fario the Seventh, and claimed the royal scepter. They may choose to occupy or abandon the city! It didn¡¯t matter how many cities were involved at a time. When a Nation War began, it would continue for 72 hours, and no more than that. This also meant that the players of Seven Star City only had one hour left to retake their main city! ¡­¡­ "Hahaha¡­" I laughed like a madman as I lay on top of the pile of bodies and facing toward the sky. "Seven Star City, Seven Star City¡­ I bet neither you nor Breeze and Rain expected this outcome, eh?" God of War clenched his fists and swore with bloodshot eyes. "FUCK!" 1. (T/N: it¡¯s probably because the hill is too steep, and mounts have severe movement penalties on this terrain) Chapter 1185: Without The Lips, The Teeth Feel The Cold "Goddammit! We fought so hard, and it¡¯s all for nothing!?" A Cyan Beast corps commander threw his broken blade against the ground and spat in uncontrolled anger. "We didn¡¯t get Sky City, and Wind City isn¡¯t ours either! What the fuck are the Americans doing anyway? How is their security so lax that Seven Star City was stolen right beneath their nose?" The guild leader of a different guild lamented, "Is there even a point in killing Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand anymore? Everyone¡¯s tired. Time to return to our city, log out, and take a rest." Countless other players heeded the advice, took out their return scrolls and did just that. ¡­¡­ While God of War¡¯s shoulders were shaking with frustration and anger, another system announcement entered our ears¡ª Ding~! System Notice: All players, player "Wind Fantasy" (China) killed the Temple Guard, player "Breeze and Rain" (China), and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 401823 points! ¡­¡­ I smiled when I saw this. As expected of my precious little babe, she actually pulled off the near impossible and killed off Breeze and Rain in the forest! Right after that, I heard a commotion breaking out from beneath the highland. The Ice Flame Slash exploding amid a group of Cyan Beast players came from none other than Lin Yixin herself. To my surprise, she was followed by a ton of Frostsword City players. After she reached me on her Moonchaser Tiger, she shot me a smile and said, "Our reinforcements have arrived, Little Cheat!" I blurted, "How did you show up this quickly? I thought you just killed Breeze and Rain a moment ago?" Lin Yixin giggled. "Nah, most of the work was done by our allies from Frostsword City. All I did was steal the last hit¡­" It was at this moment a heavily armored female player rode up to us. She rode a muscular, ice-type warhorse, and the text above her head stated¡ª Below 30 Degrees Snow Night LV-211 City: Frostsword City Guild: White Bird Position: Leader ¡­¡­ White Bird was the strongest or the second strongest guild in the Russia server. No wonder they were able to take out Breeze and Rain this quickly. Russian cavalry immediately charged toward God of War¡¯s group when Snow Night pointed her sword at him. Normally, this would be an even battle at best. In fact, Cyan Beast was slightly stronger than White Bird. However, Cyan Beast had fought long and hard up until this point, and almost everyone was low on durability, potions and consumables. Naturally, they were incapable of threatening the fresh cavalry at all. God of War was pissed when he saw that his troops were defeated with barely any resistance, but he made the right call by ordering, "Withdraw and teleport back to the city!" White flashes occurred everywhere as the players of Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and Ice River Canton teleported away. Finally, the battle of White Horse Highland had come to an end, and most importantly, I didn¡¯t have to die any more. God, I¡¯m so happy! He Yi ran up the rocks and to the pile of corpses where I was lying on top. When she saw my horrible appearance, she pulled me to my feet and consoled me with a giggle, "It¡¯s okay. Even if Sky City is lost, we still have Seven Star City¡­" I smiled back. "Who said Sky City is lost?" "Huh?" He Yi blinked once and Lin Yixin stood beside her. After looking around for a bit, their mouths grew steadily wider. "Where is Princess Karinshan? I don¡¯t see her body anywhere." I laughed. "Didn¡¯t you see that I¡¯m riding the Armored Ice Qilin Horse? Turns out, the Ancient Divine Dragon is a true godlike mount. I tried making it carry Karinshan, Ziyan, Stark and the five Dragon Knights to a safe place to hide, and it actually worked! Without Karinshan, the Northern Alliance can murder everyone in Sky City twice over and still not get the royal scepter. This means that the King of Cities still belongs to the China server!" Lin Yixin exclaimed with joy and disbelief, "Then¡­ we actually did it? We protected Sky City?" "Yes, we did!" I nodded seriously. The girls were so happy that they pounced on top of me and squealed into my chest. While holding the girls in my arms, I leaned against the bloody rocks behind me again and felt a wave of exhaustion washing over me. Sky City was safe. We, or at least the players of the China server, didn¡¯t need to wander like I did. ¡­¡­ Another system announcement entered our ears at this moment¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Red Ovenbird" (Argentina) has used the royal scepter. The city under the royal scepter¡¯s control, Seven Star City, now belongs to the Argentina server. A main city cannot enter another Nation War until 15 days after the transfer of ownership! ¡­¡­ I slapped my thigh and barked out another laugh. "Good! Thank goodness Candlelight Shadow didn¡¯t greed over Seven Star City! Now that the Argentina server¡ªand by extension, the Chaotic 27¡ªhas taken over Seven Star City, the Northern Alliance must watch them like one would watch a poisonous thorn in their hitherland! What a relief! I cannot wait to see Vienna¡¯s Sorrow deal with this mess. You¡¯re finally living up to your name, fucker!" Still clinging to me tightly, He Yi looked up with a bright smile on her face. "I just received news that Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and the remnants of Hero Alliance have teleported away to deal with the flaming inferno that is their backyard. It¡¯s too late though. There is only half an hour left until the Nation War ends. Not even Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and Hero Alliance can retake Seven Star City during this time." I clenched my fist and exhaled a bit. "It¡¯s such a shame that our numbers are too few, and the Dragonlight Cavalrymen are all dead. Otherwise, this would be the perfect opportunity to return to Wind City and reclaim the royal scepter¡­" Lin Yixin nodded. "Yeah. The Northern Alliance had made sure to station a sizable force in Wind City after taking it, and there¡¯s no chance they¡¯ll loosen their guard and let us sneak it at the final moment. Retaking Wind City will have to wait until another time." ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, I had regained enough energy to guide Lin Yixin and He Yi down the corpse-ridden hill and toward the Frostsword City players. I shot Snow Night a smile and said, "Thank you for the timely rescue. We would¡¯ve died if you came even a minute later." Snow Night smiled courteously. "You¡¯re welcome. We are allies after all¡­" However, I couldn¡¯t help but complain after hearing her comment, "Pooh! Are you serious? Since the start of the Nation War, you¡¯ve focused most of your attention on attacking Elephant City and seizing as many territories as possible. Not only that, you waited until the last possible moment to rescue Sky City. If this is what qualifies as good allies, then I gotta say that Frostsword City and Iron Horse City fulfilled your responsibilities to a T. Seriously, don¡¯t you understand that China is the only reason the Northern Alliance, Purple Grape City and the Chaotic 27 don¡¯t have a direct path to your cities? You have heard of the idiom ¡®without the lips, the teeth will feel cold¡¯, haven¡¯t you?" Snow Night replied apologetically, "Please don¡¯t be mad, Lu Chen. The Russia server is a conglomerate of thousands and thousands of guilds, and all of our strategic decisions are done through voting. If my people don''t wish to reinforce Sky City, there is nothing I can do to change it¡­" I said sharply, "Frostsword City and Iron Horse City are just afraid that the China server will grow too strong, aren¡¯t they?" "If you must put it this way, then I guess I have no choice but to admit that you¡¯re right¡­" Snow Night shrugged nonchalantly before explaining, "The China server possesses the three richest main cities in the entire continent, and the highest number of Famous Generals and Divine Generals in the entire world. They also have the best player and strategic mind in the world, the Heavenly King, namely you.. Is there anyone who plays this game and hasn¡¯t heard of your fame after the War of Dawn City and the War of Purple Grape City? So yes, of course our cities are afraid of you. Your achievements are so supernatural that it cows both your enemies and your allies. Still, why are you ridiculing me for my server¡¯s mistakes? No matter what you think of me, I have come to your rescue after all. Me and my 900k+ players came all the way to the China server and killed at least 2 million Purple Grape City players for you, even though our strategy was to leave you alone. I¡¯ve already gone above and beyond to help the China server, okay?" I smiled. "Well, yeah. You¡¯re right. If nothing else, Snow Night is definitely a good ally to us. By the way, how is your conquest of Elephant City going?" "We were able to occupy three tier 2 cities at first, but Flowing Cloud managed to retake two of them. Still, after seeing what happened in this war, I dare say that one tier 2 city is an acceptable outcome. What about the China server?" I shrugged and put on a bitter expression. "Do I even need to say it? Wind City was taken by the Northern Alliance, Vanished God City was stolen by Coldblade, a fucking Purgatory Sovereign of all things, all 9 of our tier 2 cities have been gobbled up by the invaders, and my Dark Moon City is the only player territory that hasn¡¯t fallen to the enemy..." "Er¡­" Snow Night chose her words carefully. "You have my deepest condolences. Still, I am certain that the Little Heavenly King of China will be able to retake them with little trouble¡­" I shot her a self-deprecating smile. "Sure, if my server decides to hand me back my nationality that is. Otherwise, there is nothing I can do to help¡­" Snow Night smiled subtly. "Again, my deepest condolences for the state of your country. I remember a Chinese quote that goes something like this: ¡®Just as heaven keeps moving forward vigorously, a man of virtue should strive continuously to strengthen himself. Just like the earth, which is generous and peaceful, a man of virtue should have ample virtue and accommodate all things¡¯ [1]. Right?" I nodded. "Yeah. it¡¯s what keeps me alert and going despite everything." "Yep. Anyway, it looks like you don¡¯t need me anymore, so I¡¯m going to ciao before you accuse me of raiding your cities under the pretense of reinforcement¡­" I smiled. "Don¡¯t worry, we are not the corrupt and useless Qing Dynasty. If you dare take advantage of our crisis, I promise you we will punch back just as bravely¡­" "Yes, yes, I know you¡¯re stupid OP. Goodbye¡­" "Bye!" ¡­¡­ And so, Snow Night and Frostsword City¡¯s players left and withdrew from our borders, leaving Lin Yixin, He Yi and I to stare blankly at the sea of bodies and loot. There must be at least one million pieces of equipment here... "A shame we don¡¯t have anyone left to pick up all this loot. Shame¡­" I commented regretfully. However, He Yi blinked once before saying, "What do you mean we don¡¯t have anyone left?" "Huh? I thought there were no more Chinese players left in Sky City? Even Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance and more are completely conked out¡­" "Did you forget that our garrison troops are still alive and well in Dark Moon City? You know, the 70k Bloody Mercenaries we left behind?" He Yi giggled. "Half an hour ago, I gave them the order to join us on our final hurrah. Since that is no longer necessary, they can help us loot the battlefield instead. Long story short, Dark Moon City is gonna be rich¡­" I erupted with joy. "Really? Hell yes, haha!" Lin Yixin pouted beside me. "Aiyo, Snowy Cathaya is going to lose out so much. Not only are there less than one thousand of us left, I don¡¯t even know where they are right now¡­" I pointed to the floor. "I get it. Pick any equipment you want, Yiyi. You can have the first dibs on everything¡­" "Okay¡­" 1. (T/N: quote from the Book of Changes) Chapter 1186: Ghost Spirit War Boots When Lin Yixin was looting, Gui Guzi, Hickey and the remaining one thousand cavalrymen of Protective Umbrella rode up to us from somewhere at the foot of the highland. Gui Guzi guffawed as he brandished his Spear of the Knight God, "Boss Broken Halberd, I saw your Ancient Divine Dragon carrying Princess Karinshan to the east! You¡¯ve truly gone and surpassed all expectations! As long as the princess stays alive, Cyan Earth City will never be able to take Sky City!" I nodded. "Yeah. This Nation War was an unusual one though. There¡¯s never been a regent who could leave their own palace to fight the enemy until now, so I¡¯m not sure how the system is going to decide this one." While saying this, I pointed to the equipment and item on the floor, "Little Gui, Hickey, Warscar, gather your men and pick up the loot, will you? Make sure to pay special attention to the loot around the rocks. Many of them are Heaven-grade or Earth-grade pieces of equipment because they were dropped by high-level players." "Of course!" While the trio happily left to do some plundering, Heaven¡¯s Rain walked up to me with a half-pout-half-smile. "It¡¯s a shame we don¡¯t have many people left. Even Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Lian Xin and Sister Mingyue were killed in the fight. It would¡¯ve been a near perfect ending otherwise!" Diamond Dust added with a smile, "I don¡¯t know, Li Chengfeng was a bit off right before he died. He had charged forward like a madman and was completely out of sync with the rest of us. The rest of us were trying not to die, but he seemed to be the complete opposite. That was why he and High Fighting Spirits had died together." Me: "..." He Yi smiled. "Maybe he wanted to take a break because he was too tired?" "Yeah, maybe. That guy¡­" ¡­¡­ Very soon, 50k+ Bloody Mercenaries cavalrymen showed up and started sweeping the valuable loot lying on the ground at high speed. Of all the Chinese guilds, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was without a doubt the one that benefited the most from the final part of the war. Not only did we manage to keep Dark Moon City alive, tens of thousands of our players were still alive. Assuming that each player could carry 100 pieces of equipment on average, that was several million high-level items we could loot. It would greatly improve our guild¡¯s strength for sure. Over half an hour passed by quickly. More and more Chinese players started gathering around White Horse Highland. The Chinese players who just logged into the game and those who managed to escape death by hiding inside the forest were all converging on this map because I, Lin Yixin, He Yi, Gui Guzi and more were here. For now, it seemed like White Horse Highland was our new command center. Also, the Northern Alliance and Cyan Earth City were still surrounding Sky City. Not all of their players had gone away after all. He Yi twinkled as she stared at the Nation War interface. "The Nation War is almost over, and Lu Chen is far, far above everyone on the contribution leaderboard. Unfortunately, you are probably not getting the MVP reward¡­" I shrugged. "It¡¯s fine. If I get it, it¡¯s good luck. If I miss it, it¡¯s just fate!" "Yeah!" A few seconds later, the moment we were all waiting for finally arrived. A series of system announcements resounded across the entire Sky City¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, the Nation War has officially ended. The USA server has successfully occupied Wind City. The Argentina server has successfully occupied Seven Star City. Sky City¡¯s regent is currently away from their city, so the city cannot be occupied or used by any player. Regent Karinshan shall return to the city in 7 days, and Sky City will once again belong to the China server. All other cities such as Dawn City, Daybreak City and more have been occupied by an enemy. Players may launch a counterattack to retake the cities after 72 hours! Ding~! System Announcement: Due to the number of servers participating in the Nation War, a Nation Contribution Leaderboard has been created. In descending order, the Top 10 nations with the most contribution points in this Nation War are¡ªChina, USA, India, Japan, Korea, England, Argentina, Brazil, Russia, and Vietnam. As the number one server on the leaderboard, the China server is appointed the MVP of this Nation War. All players of the server are awarded with Level +1. Their remaining city, Sky City, gains: Rank +1, Defense +25%, City Defense +75%, and 87% city NPCs are revived! Ding~! System Announcement: In descending order, the Top 10 players with the most contribution points in this Nation War are¡ªBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (China), Vienna¡¯s Sorrow (USA), Wind Fantasy (China), Lian Xing (China), Tear Stain (Korea), Legendary Brave (China), Breeze and Rain (India), Beiming Xue (China), God of War (India), From Water (China), and Candlelight Shadow (China). Moreover, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" from China is the MVP of this Nation War and awarded Level +5, Luck +5, and the equipment reward "Ghost Spirit War Boots" (Sacred Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)! ¡­¡­ I froze like a statue. All around me, columns of golden light were enveloping the players of China and increasing their level. Lin Yixin and He Yi especially got more than just levels because they were one of the Top 10 players of the Nation War. The system announcement only showed me my individual reward though. It was a pair of boots and an 8-star Outstanding Sacred Armament on the same level as the Fire God Helmet. The Fire God Helmet had given me the amazing Rise of the Guardian Dragon, so I couldn¡¯t help but wonder what the Ghost Spirit War Boots would give me. Wait a second¡­ the fuck!? Suddenly, realization struck my head like a lightning bolt. I stared wide-eyed at He Yi, Lin Yixin and Beiming Xue while shuddering like a leaf. "I¡­ I¡¯m still an unaffiliated player, right? Why did the system announce me as a player of the China server?" Lin Yixin pointed at my shoulder with her mouth open. I was stunned to say the least. I had no idea when it had happened, but a 5-star red flag was hanging on my shoulder like it had neve left. Somehow, someway, I had been accepted back into the China server. What on earth is going on?! It was at this moment a platoon of players rode up to us from the foot of the mountain. They were all casual players. Leading at the forefront was a low-level mounted player with the ID¡ª ID: Tang Feng Level: 176 ¡­¡­ He was none other than the true person-in-charge of the China VR department, Tang Feng! "We made it!" Tang Feng dismounted and checked the nation emblem on my shoulder immediately. A smile bloomed across his face. "We actually made it in time!" Beside me, a Level 204 magic knight replied in a respectful tone, "That we did, chief. It was a close call though. A couple minutes later, and the Sacred Armament, Ghost Spirit War Boots, would¡¯ve gone to that American, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow." Now I understood. Tang Feng was the one who restored my status. He and Tang Long were the only two China VR department chiefs who could sway the decision-making of the China branch of Eternal Moon Corporation with a single command, and now that Tang Long had fallen, there was no one left to contest his decision.[1] I dismounted and walked up to Tang Feng with my players in tow. I shot him a polite smile and said, "Thank you, Chief Tang Feng. TheseGhost Spirit War Boots are pretty amazing." Tang Feng waved his hand kindly. "You¡¯re welcome. By the way, chief is a bit too impersonal a title, don¡¯t you think? How about you call me Uncle Tang? I¡¯m about that age anyway. I¡¯ve been following you, Fang Zhuo, Lin Yixin, and Li Chengfeng¡¯s careers for a long time¡­" Tang Feng was a casual and amiable person, so I didn¡¯t have a good reason to undermine him. I replied neutrally, "I must say that this sudden restoration of my nationality was¡­ abrupt. What is your plan to deal with this?" "Er¡­" Tang Feng observed the destruction around us before letting out a sorrowful sigh. "As you can see, the China server is in shambles right now. We may have top-tier experts like Fang Zhuo, Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng, Wang Luo and more, but that still isn¡¯t enough to fend off the powerful enemies who have us surrounded from all sides. Candlelight Shadow dominated the VR world for many years, but he was never truly able to claim the title of Heavenly King. You are a different story, however. Everyone thinks of you as the Heavenly King of this era, and we need your power now more than ever before. Therefore, on behalf of every Chinese player, I sincerely hope that you will return to us and protect our homeland from further destruction. You are the face of our country, Lu Chen. We cannot do this without you!" I clenched my fists before replying, "I can return to the China server, but not until certain matters are settled, understand? There is no point in me returning if the evil in our server remains rooted!" Tang Feng asked, "I understand. Tell me your wish, and it shall be done!" "First, your cousin, Tang Long, must be brought to justice!" I went straight to the point. Tang Feng clenched his teeth but nodded. "Of course. I know full well that he must pay for his own crimes. The matter has already been submitted to the procuratorate, and you won¡¯t find me disagreeing with whatever judgment they pass down on him!" "Next, the traitors must be kicked out of our server immediately. I will send my men to hunt them down!" "Alright. Who are they?" "Now and Forever, the guild leader of Sword Lord of Jianghu; Amber Pupil, the alliance leader of Dragons Run Wild; and the guild leaders of the dozens of big guilds that make up that alliance. I¡¯m one hundred percent certain that they all had a hand in this matter, so they must be dealt with as well!" "Very well!" Tang Feng looked at the magic knight standing behind him. "Little Wang, please jot down these names and send them to Eternal Moon¡¯s China branch right away. Wipe their data from our server and exile them all." "Yes, chief!" ¡­¡­ Tang Feng left after his business with me was done. The server would be closing in 20 minutes to refresh the map, so I quickly out checked the stats of my MVP reward¡ª Ghost Spirit War Boots (Sacred Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 12750 Magic Resist: 12500 Strength: +1990 Stamina: +1920 Intelligence: +1870 Agility: +1750 Tactics: +210 Passive: Increases user¡¯s movement speed by 275% Passive: Increases user¡¯s physical attack power by 75%, and all resistances by 50% Slots: 17 Outstanding Property: Ghost Spirit Step Art. An ancient movement art that allows its practitioner to move like a ghost. Upon activation, it greatly increases user¡¯s movement speed and nullifies 75% of the attacks they would receive for 15 seconds. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Level Requirement: 220 Reputation Requirement: 800000 Class Requirement: Fighter Class ¡­¡­ I was overjoyed when I saw the stats. A 75% chance to dodge all attacks for 15 seconds was almost as good as outright invincibility. It was a godlike Outstanding Property, be it for mob grinding or boss fights! I checked my level. I was exactly at Level 220 after receiving my MVP reward, so I equipped it immediately and saw a pair of boots with ghastly red aura and starry light surrounding them appear around my feet. They were definitely better than the Divine Martial War Boots, and its grade much higher because it was a Sacred Armament. ¡­¡­ "Should we log out now?" Lin Yixin smiled at me after I was done admiring myself. "Yeah." I looked at He Yi, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi and everyone else and said, "You guys should log out as well. We¡¯ve all been online for too long." "Yeah, got it." There wasn¡¯t a single soul who wasn¡¯t exhausted after the insanely long battle we had fought. I let out a yawn as I took out my tent and crawled inside. Although my nationality had been restored, my return scroll was still useless because Sky City was currently unusable by any player. 1. (Author¡¯s Note: For those who think that Eternal Moon Corporation, an international company cannot be persuaded by the local government, please cease your naive thoughts. To those who don¡¯t believe me, please recall that time where WoW had been sent back for censorship for god knows how long by a certain government department after NetEase took over.) Chapter 1187: Li Chengfeng’s Pleasant Surprise The next day in the early morning, Chaos Moon knocked on my door and called out to me, "Wake up, Lu Chen. We¡¯re packing our stuff and returning to Suzhou after we have breakfast!" "That quick?" On second thought, it wasn¡¯t quick at all. It had been ages since I was "stranded" in Bagua City, and everyone in the Frost Cloud workshop was looking forward to my return. Yeah, I shouldn¡¯t delay it even a second longer. ¡­¡­ After everything was ready, I dragged two luggages behind me and boarded the high-speed train to Beijing with Lin Yixin and Chaos Moon. It would take 5 hours to arrive at our destination. After that, we would take the flight to Wuxi. On the train, Lin Yixin and my seat were right next to one another. Chaos Moon sat with an uncle on the opposite side. "What¡¯s the rush, by the way? None of you told me that we¡¯re going home this soon¡­" I asked while hugging the gaming helmet. Chaos Moon chuckled. "It¡¯s not my choice. That idiot, Li Chengfeng, booked an afternoon flight for us, so we have to leave for Beijing as soon as possible, or we won¡¯t make it in time. It¡¯s not all bad though. Barring any accident, we should meet Eve, Beiming and Sister Mingyue at around 3 pm. Don¡¯t you miss them?" I smiled. "Of course I do. It¡¯s been ages since I left the workshop." Lin Yixin stared at me. "Hmph hmph, now that you mentioned it, you haven¡¯t visited me at the university for a very long time. You didn¡¯t look like you missed me at all." "What are you talking about? Of course I do¡­" This level of questioning was nothing to me. "Didn¡¯t I go to lunch or dinner with you all the time? Count yourself how many times I went to pick you up at the university. Heck, I¡¯m practically your call boy, flying to your service every time you make a call. In fact, I¡¯m the one who should say that you don¡¯t miss me at all. Since the time we knew each other, you¡¯ve only visited me at the workshop once¡­" "That¡¯s a lie!" Lin Yixin sat up straight and argued with a tinge of red on her cheeks, "I er, I visited you that time during New Years, didn¡¯t I?! And... er¡­" "And? Is that it? Please, I want to know all about these visits that I can¡¯t recall for some reason..." "Er¡­ I don¡¯t remember right now. But I did!" "Hmph. Sure you did¡­" ¡­¡­ I took out my notebook, placed it on my seat table and surfed the net for a bit. A while later, I brought up the Heavenblessed website and read the news because I had nothing to do anyway. The game had come back online after a 10-hour maintenance. On the homepage, it came as no surprise that the current number of main cities under the China server was zero. Vanished God City had fallen into Coldblade¡¯s hands, Wind City had fallen to the USA server, and Sky City was currently unusable because Karinshan was away from Sky City. Lin Yixin shot a glance at the headline while peeling an apple. "Hmph hmph, the officials truly have no shame whatsoever. They zeroed in on your return and avoided talking about the fall of the three main cities at all. Truly, this is the worst case of the ostrich syndrome I¡¯ve seen in a while¡­" She was correct. The red, bolded headline loudly announced my return to the China server¡ª [Headline] Despite many twists and turns, the Little Heavenly King Lu Chen led Protective Umbrella against Cyan Beast at White Horse Highland and successfully defended the royal scepter of Sky City. Even better, right before the nation was ended, he was returned to his motherland¡¯s embrace! What a joyful day it was! Details: The China server suffered huge losses during this Nation War. Vanished God City was occupied by an NPC, Wind City was brought down in 24 hours by the combined firepower of the northern nations, and the elites of China were forced to spend the remaining 48 hours defending Sky City. Despite killing over 200 million players in total and winning the Nation War in the end, it wasn¡¯t a total victory. Sky City¡¯s regent is currently away from Sky City, and the King of Cities won¡¯t return to service until 7 days later. This means that all China players are unaffiliated in the meantime. Beneath the news passage were the players¡¯ comments¡ª 1st comment (Player "Small Fly"): The CGL officials are sooooo shameless! They were the ones who chased out Lu Chen in the first place, and they invited him back only after the three main cities were wrecked! There will be no appeasing the people until Tang Long is dead, pooh! 2nd comment (Player "Warsky"): Bump! Well said, 1st commenter! 3rd comment (Player "The Heavens Have Eyes"): There were rumors about Tang Long taking a risky, obscenely big bribe from the person-in-charge of a foreign server, and Lu Chen¡¯s decision to abandon Purple Grape City had fucked it all up. That¡¯s why Tang Long had kicked Lu Chen out of the server. As for exactly how big that bribe was, just trust me when I say that it¡¯s a huge amount. Hmph, the guy should be executed by firing squad in my opinion! 4th comment (Player "1.5 Km Away"): Tang Long must go, and Amber Pupil too! That shameless bastard who calls himself Tang Long¡¯s nephew ain¡¯t a good egg either! They both must go! 5th comment (Player "Cube"): Man, you guys are so excited today. Personally, I¡¯m more worried about the lack of supply spots in the China server right now. Almost all the NPCs are killed, and Sky City is currently unavailable because the regent is away. Where else can we buy potions and repair our equipment? 5th comment (player "Xu Yang"): Speaking of which, please take note of the only player territory standing in Sky City, the Rank 10 Dark Moon City. It is located between Black Coast, Dawn City and Sky City, and it is close to Dragonbone Mountain Range. Here in Dark Moon City, there are mountains to hunt on, sea to fish in, and a teleportation formation connected to all the teleportation points within the China server. We also have Rank 10 potion shops that sell every potion there is to be sold by the NPCs, and Rank 10 smithies that can repair any equipment without reducing max durability. Welcome to Dark Moon City... 7th comment (Player "From Water"): We at Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are not hustlers who would exploit our own countrymen during these trying times, so here are the benefits we offer to everyone. For 7 days, all teleportation is free, potion and magic consumable prices are discounted by 60%, and repair fees by 80%. Basically, we¡¯re charging you the cost price. Right now, we don¡¯t care about earning money, only that everyone gets a shelter to stay in. Also, Dark Moon City has absolutely no qualms becoming the launching board to retake Wind City. Let¡¯s all fight together when the time comes! ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin fed me a slice of apple and giggled. "Oh, Sister Eve is so bad. There cannot be a better time to make an advertisement than now. To be fair, Dark Moon City is probably the only supply spot left in Sky City domain, but still, giving everyone massive discounts and even charging nothing for teleportation fees? At this point, everyone¡¯s going to look to Dark Moon City as THE city. So baaaaaad!" I smiled. "He Yi has always been a smart girl, but don¡¯t sell yourself short, Yiyi. If Silver Fir City was still standing, I¡¯m sure you would¡¯ve done the same thing." Lin Yixin clapped her hands and placed the well sliced fruits on the tray. "Eh, I guess. Unfortunately, that reality exists in a different timeline, not to mention that we don¡¯t have your crazy OP Bone Dragons to defend our city. Well, we only need to wait 24 hours after a Nation War to launch a territory war to reclaim our territories¡ªwhich is tonight¡ªso I guess it¡¯s not too bad." I counted inside my head. "We should all be tucked inside our homes by then. Silver Fir City is very close to Dark Moon City, so even if there are Northern Alliance players still guarding that territory, we should be able to sweep them aside without any trouble." "Yes. Silver Fir City is taken by a guild from Titan City. More specifically, it¡¯s the 14th strongest guild on the USA Guild Ranking. It will be easy. I¡¯ve already spoken with Purple Marquis, Lexi and Qingqing beforehand. We¡¯ll attack Silver Fir City at 12 am sharp and retake it within an hour. The other super guilds are probably plotting the same thing as well." Chaos Moon replied after blinking once. "Taking back our territories should be very easy in general. We¡¯re on homeground, and both the Northern Alliance and Cyan Earth City have completely lost their spirit after the defeat. There¡¯s no way their players will be able to stop us. Retaking Wind City is still going to be a headache though." I smiled. "It¡¯ll be fine. We can discuss the details when we get back later, but it¡¯s just a matter of sealing Dragonbone Mountain Range completely and assassinating all of the teleportation NPCs inside the main city. After that, Candlelight Shadow and Warsky alone can retake the isolated city. This is just the way main cities are in a game; easily occupied and difficult to defend, especially when it¡¯s set on foreign land. Considering the strength of players these days, having too many cities is actually a bad thing." "Yeah. That¡¯s why your decision to abandon Purple Grape City back then was the best decision you could¡¯ve made..." I leaned into my seat and continued, "In the near future, I expect the maps within our server to be very busy. Depressed or not, the Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and Purple Grape City will not surrender control back to us without a struggle. First, we should take back the nine tier 2 cities we lost. Then, we should retake Vanished God City from the NPCs. Finally, it¡¯s just a matter of pincering the enemy with the might of two main cities to retake Wind City." Chaos Moon also leaned leisurely into her seat and shot me a smile. "I finally understand why Tang Feng is so desperate to drag you back into the China server. The war hasn¡¯t even begun yet, and you already have a general outline of our future strategy planned out in your head. A dung spoon job like this is perfect for an underhanded man like you¡­" "Would it kill you to praise me normally? By the way, how did you die yesterday? One moment you were there, and then the next, poof¡­" Chaos Moon waved her fist angrily. "Those fuckers gave me the porcupine treatment after running over me with their mounts, hmph! If I wasn¡¯t all out of potions, or I might¡¯ve survived the Nation War yet. Speaking of which, that¡¯s how your good brother Du Thirteen and Yamete died too¡­" I laughed. No one knew better than me how hard it was to kill a Dragonlight Cavalryman. The Beast King Cavalry would¡¯ve been hard-pressed to kill even one of them if they didn¡¯t run out of potions¡­ Except Du Thirteen, I guess... ¡­¡­ It was past 1 pm when we arrived at the Beijing airport. There were still almost two hours before our flight, so we loitered around the stores to waste time. Suddenly, a group of policemen appeared at the distance. There was at least one of them standing guard every ten meters of the waiting hall. It was like we had suddenly stumbled upon an army procession. "What¡¯s going on? It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve seen this many policemen in one place," I asked. Chaos Moon replied mysteriously, "You may know the answer very soon¡­" Me: "The fuck? Tell me now, or I¡¯ll pour soda down your throat until you¡¯re full!" Chaos Moon: "..." ¡­¡­ Suddenly, my phone rang. The caller was Li Chengfeng. "Yes, Chengfeng?" "Come to the 7th boarding gate, brother. I have a pleasant surprise for you!" "What?!" ¡­¡­ The two girls and I hurriedly ran over to meet Chengfeng. Then, an unbelievable sight entered my eyes long before we reached the 7th gate. A bald old man was pressed on the ground by a policeman, and the man on duty was none other than Li Chengfeng himself! I looked at the old man pressed to the ground and felt the yoke in my brain turning white from anger. It was Tang Long! Thud! I took off like an arrow until it looked like I was gliding across the floor for a bit. Then, I raised my fist and punched a pair of incisors right out of his mouth! Chapter 1188: 500 Million "What are you doing? Who are you?" a policeman yelled at me. Li Chengfeng immediately looked up and shot him a placating smile. "Calm down, Little Wang. He¡¯s the victim, you see." "Oh? Oh!" The policeman immediately stared at me with wide eyes. "Ha, ahaha! You¡¯re Lu Chen? I never thought I''d be able to meet you in person! Your in-game avatar is plastered all over the official home page, but you¡¯re a surprisingly handsome lad in real life too, huh?" Li Chengfeng shook his head. "Enough talk. Bring the handcuffs and cuff this bastard already, will you?" "Sure thing!" Li Chengfeng cuffed one of Tang Long¡¯s hands to a nearby pole. Then, he sat down on the chair, produced a bottle of xylitol from his pockets and poured me one. While chewing, he said, "The old fox thought he could escape, but I had nearly the entire airline network under surveillance after I received word that he was going to make his escape soon. The reason I kamikazed my way to the afterlife in the Nation War was to fly back to Beijing and lie in wait for him myself!" I curled my lips. "I knew it. I was confused when they told me you overextended, run into the enemies by yourself and died. That¡¯s High Fighting Spirits¡¯ style, not yours!" Li Chengfeng chuckled. "Pooh! If he hadn¡¯t been blocking my escape paths all the time, I wouldn¡¯t have died that quickly¡­" Lin Yixin and Chaos Moon sat down nearby and looked at Tang Long. The guy cut a sorry figure especially after the punch I gave him, and his eyes burned with despair and anger. He most likely wasn¡¯t expecting to be caught here. Lin Yixin asked, "Why is he alone? Shouldn¡¯t a power-hungry person like him have a ton of bodyguards?" Li Chengfeng sneered. "When the tree topples, the monkeys scatter. Who would work for him after he lost his power? That being said, he did show up with seven or eight bodyguards. Long story short, my men kept them busy outside the airport." Tang Long spat out a bloody spittle before raging at the girls, "What the fuck do you know, you prepubescent brats? You would never have caught me if someone hadn''t leaked my activities to you!" Li Chengfeng flexed his muscles. "Aiyo, it looks like someone hasn¡¯t figured out the situation yet. Allow me to teach you a lesson in humility!" Before he could act though, the policeman nicknamed Little Wang hurriedly caught his arm in a death grip. "How many times have the higher-ups warned you not to enforce via violence? Seriously, calm the fuck down. You¡¯re literally one or two punches away from entering the blacklist, dude¡­" It was only then Li Chengfeng relaxed and looked at me. "Say, Lu Chen. Care to guess how much bribe this fucker accepted to protect Purple Grape City?" "Just tell me." Li Chengfeng raised five fingers, and I exclaimed in surprise, "5 million? My god, Little Japan is even stingier than I am! These days, even a Sacred Armament is worth 5 million!" Li Chengfeng rolled his eyes. "I swear that you¡¯re like a kid sometimes whenever money is involved. Of course not!" "5000W£¿" "50 million then?" "Nope!" "No way. 500 million?" I was in complete disbelief at this point. Li Chengfeng smiled. "You¡¯re kinda there, but no, it was 5 billion RMB, man. To be specific, the other guy paid him 500 million in deposit, but since he failed to follow through with his promise, he didn¡¯t get the rest of it. Still, do you know that he has almost 1.1 billion worth of stolen funds in his Swiss bank amount? He embezzled all of them during his time as the vice chief of the VR department. Also, this fucker had apparently forced the China branch of Eternal Moon to cough out 500 million RMB to bring Heavenblessed to China. All in all, he was able to embezzle a total 1.6 billion RMB during his ¡®service¡¯. We weren¡¯t able to freeze the funds, so this fucker would¡¯ve been swimming in cash had we allowed him to escape overseas!" I fell silent for a moment before clenching my fists. "Let me guess. This old fucker¡¯s family members have already gotten their green cards or something and taken up residence overseas, haven¡¯t they?" Li Chengfeng patted my shoulder with a bitter smile on his face. "Welcome to the future, brother." For a time, I worried about the future of my nation and my people until Lin Yixin dragged me back to the present. "What are you even worrying about? Let¡¯s focus on retaking our main cities first!" Li Chengfeng laughed. "Well, Beauty Lin, Lu Chen, I trust you all to deal with the in-game stuff. I¡¯ve been so busy lately that I can¡¯t even spare the time to grind, not to mention that I have to settle Tang Long¡¯s case within a week. Anyway, this guy must be super anxious to tour his execution ground, so I have to go now! See you all later!" You could probably imagine how white Tang Long looked when he heard this. An outsider might think that Li Chengfeng was exaggerating, but the anti-corruption movements within the country had been growing stronger and stronger in the past few years. We in China didn¡¯t believe we have the ability to guide an evil, heartless, and false servant of the public like Tang Long back on the right path, so our only option left was to leave it to God to save his immortal soul. ¡­¡­ Tang Long was a big fish. At least a hundred policemen had entered the waiting hall over time, not to mention that Li Chengfeng, a high-level officer himself, had shown up to catch him. Eventually, the old man was escorted toward the exit like a superstar who was surrounded by the paparazzi. Right before he vanished from my sight though, he looked back and shot me a hateful and disdainful sneer. "You think you¡¯re a hero, boy? You¡¯re just an idiot who has no idea you¡¯re protecting an apple that has rotted all the way to the core!" I simply shrugged before saying to myself, "You¡¯re the idiot. You think I care about the rotten stuff? I¡¯m protecting the seeds inside the core."[1] Lin Yixin gave my arm a tug and said, "Come on. There¡¯s no need to split hairs over a guy who¡¯s about to warm his jail cell, is there? By the way, it¡¯s almost time to board the plane. Do you want to call Sister He Yi and Beiming Xue before that?" "Yeah!" I called He Yi and decided the meeting time. Obviously, He Yi and Murong Mingyue would be driving a car each to receive us. ¡­¡­ An hour or so later, our plane was cutting a line across the sky and taking us home. As I was watching the blue sky and rays of sunlight outside the window, I raised my head and let out a sigh. It was finally over. It came at a great cost to my person, but the utterly corrupt Tang Long was finally removed from the VR department. For now at least, peace had returned to the China server. Chaos Moon was listening to something on her phone when she suddenly looked at me and said, "I just saw on the phone that the CGL Hall of Fame has been reordered. Gui Guzi and Lil Beiming have also been invited to enter, or so I heard. I wonder if Eve received an invitation too? At any rate, I¡¯m sure there¡¯s going to be a lot of new faces in the CGL Hall of Fame this time." Lin Yixin blinked once before saying, "Sister Eve has proven herself to be a great fighter and leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I¡¯m sure the CGL Hall of Fame would want to have her. Just the same, Gui Guzi is the face of all cavalrymen and the owner of the absolutely broken Knight God, so it would actually make no sense if he wasn¡¯t added to the CGL Hall of Fame. Lil Beiming is the Dark Archer and a fierce contender for the title of best archer in China, so her entry should be a no-brainer as well. Even my vice leader, Purple Marquis, should just barely make it into the CGL Hall of Fame¡­" Chaos Moon chuckled. "Yeah. If I remember correctly, the new ranking will be announced at 2 pm. We should see it before we get off the plane¡­" "Yeah, I very much look forward to it!" "Heehee, me too!" ¡­¡­ Anticipation filled our veins as we waited for 2 pm, and soon it was proven that Chaos Moon hadn¡¯t misremembered the time. I connected to the internet using the plane wifi, and just as promised, the CGL ranking on the official website had been refreshed. A whopping number of 10 players had been added to the CGL Hall of Fame, and the four pillars of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡ªHe Yi, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi and Lian Xin¡ªwere among the new entrants. This was definitely a huge win for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡ª 1-5£ºFrivolous Scholar, Vegetable Tofu Soup, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Murong Shanshan, Wind Fantasy 6-10£ºCandlelight Shadow, Seven-Star Lamp, Windy Snow, Zhi Yun¡¯er, Luo River God of the Capital 11-15£ºFarewell Song, Wind That Touches The Moon, Power Cooker, Ling Xueshang, A Dust 16-20£ºLegendary Brave, Moonkiss, God¡¯s Dance, From Water, Stranger of Three Lifetimes 21-25£ºOctober Rain, Beiming Xue, Warsky, Come See The Snow Tonight, Lonely Grave 26-30£ºGui Guzi, Purple Marquis, Lian Xing, Little Piglet, Laughing At The Heavens 31-35£ºTransient, Transient Smoke and Clouds, Blood Red, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties, Blue Sky Scar 36-40£ºSong of Ice and Fire, Predestined, Dominating Heaven Blade, Tempest Shadow, Hot and Sour Noodles ¡­¡­ Chaos Moon smiled in joy as she looked at the new ranking. "Tsk tsk, 6 of the 40 players on the CGL Hall of Fame belong to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It¡¯s all thanks to these Nation Wars! Number-wise, we are not inferior to Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon anymore!" I smiled. "Yeah. He Yi must be so happy right now!" Lin Yixin glanced at the ranking before replying good-naturedly, "It¡¯s a shame Snowy Cathaya only has two players in the Hall of Fame..." I shot her a comforting smile before reading the ranking again. He Yi had appeared on the 19th place immediately, but that was natural since she was the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was now the indisputable number one guild in the China server right now. Yes, our guild power had exceeded Candle Dragon¡¯s before we knew it. Again, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin¡¯s placement between the 20th to 30th places was within expectations. Their contribution points in this Nation War could only be described as crazy, and their reputation was more than enough to qualify for the CGL Hall of Fame. As for the others, Purple Marquis was the vice leader of Snowy Cathaya, and Little Piglet performed outstandingly during the Nation War. Song of Ice and Fire was a powerful player to begin with, and I heard his contributions were huge during the raid of Seven Star City. Of course, I had no idea of the details, but whatever he did must be very impactful. Finally, I was surprised that Dominating Heaven Blade had entered the CGL Hall of Fame as well. The guy was a first-rate player at best, but his performance in this Nation War was outstanding, and his fearlessness and willingness to play the unpopular role of cannon fodder must have won the appreciation of the committee. Even a consolation prize is a prize... ¡­¡­ Soon after, the plane descended on the Wuxi airport, and we arrived at the meeting place with our luggages. Beiming Xue spotted us long before we even reached them and bounced on her feet, crying, "Big brother! Big brother! We¡¯re over here!" I jogged forward. As I thought, He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin were all present. Not only that, Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Du Thirteen and Yamete were here as well. Okay, this entourage was getting a bit too big for a small man like me! "You all came¡­" I greeted everyone with a grin. Du Thirteen slapped me once on the shoulder before guffawing. "Of course! We¡¯re here to receive you and help wash away all the dust you¡¯ve accumulated from your journey! Tonight, we ain¡¯t stopping the chugging until we¡¯re completely drunk, yeah!?" "Hell yeah!" However, Yamete played the voice of reason. "Cool your horses, did you forget we¡¯re supposed to help Snowy Cathaya retake Silver Fir City tonight? The guild defending that territory isn¡¯t so weak that we can play truant, you know¡­" Xu Yang slapped his chest and laughed. "Heaven¡¯s Rain alone can run down those fuckers with the Dragonlight Cavalry, minor issue!" My eyes widened at the foreign addition at the end. "Fuck, when did brother Xu Yang learn English?" 1. E/N: That¡¯s one deep response considering he had literally less than a second to think about it Chapter 1189: You Are My Eyes At night, we went to Tenglong Hotel and drank until we were as drunk as a skunk. The promise we made to help Snowy Cathaya retake Silver Fir City? It was thrown out of the window about as irresponsibly as you could possibly imagine. Even the guild leader herself, Lin Yixin, was having so much fun chatting with Beiming Xue and the others that she irresponsibly dumped all the responsibility on Purple Marquis, Nangong Lexi and Clear Perfume. Halfway into the drinks, He Yi rose to her feet, held up a little less than half glass of red wine and said cheerfully, "Although two of the three main cities of China have succumbed, and almost all our forces had perished in battle, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was ultimately able to protect Dark Moon City and Sky City. Not only that, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xing and I were invited to join CGL Hall of Fame afterward. Let us toast to ourselves, shall we? Cheers¡­" Everyone raised their glasses. The beautiful guild leader herself had requested a toast, and no one here had the right to turn her down. Gui Guzi grinned like an idiot as he said, "Yes, yes, it took a year of hard work, but I finally made it to the peak. A year ago, I wouldn¡¯t even dream that I would be able to enter the CGL Hall of Fame!" Beiming Xue rose to her feet, cleared her throat and started as well, "Me too. Before this, I was just a little archer who liked to PK others in the open world, and my best skill was sniping an enemy from afar. After I came to Suzhou and joined Ancient Sword though, I¡¯ve fought countless party battles and Nation Wars and become a true first-rate archer. It is all thanks to big brother. Without him, I would never have entered this wonderful and dreamlike world, hehe. This is for you, big brother!" After saying that, she downed everything in her glass in one go and turned as red as an apple. "Slow down, Beiming!" I advised. However, He Yi shook her head and said, "It¡¯s fine. Just this once, let her drink as much as she wants to¡­" "Huh?" I was surprised. "You¡¯ve never indulged her like this in the past. Did something happen?" "Mn." He Yi acknowledged, but pointed a finger at Beiming. "But it¡¯s not for me to say. Ask her." "Beiming? What happened?" I asked. For a time, Beiming Xue simply sat there and stared at me blankly. Then, red circles appeared around her eyes, and she nearly burst into tears there and then. "I received a university registration notice not long ago, big brother. It¡¯s tomorrow. It means that I can¡¯t stay in Suzhou anymore¡­" A chill pierced through the warm veil of alcohol. Beiming Xue had been by my side for at least half a year, and not only was she leaving, she was leaving tomorrow? No wonder she was acting so odd. I pulled my chair closer to hers and patted her shoulder consolingly. "It¡¯s okay. Suzhou is less than an hour¡¯s drive away from Wuxi, and you¡¯ve already gotten your license, right? Once you buy a car, you can visit us anytime you want to, and vice versa¡­ Oh, you don¡¯t want to get a car yourself? No problem, I¡¯ll buy one for you then¡­" Chaos Moon teased. "Dear, that line belongs to a tall-rich-handsome, not you¡­" Me: "..." Beiming Xue continued with bloodshot eyes, "Can we go somewhere else to play after this celebratory feast is over, big brother? I¡¯m not sleeping tonight since I¡¯m leaving tomorrow. I will stay with you until then¡­" I wanted to say something, but He Yi smiled indulgently. "It¡¯s fine. Just do as she wants¡­" "Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ There wasn¡¯t a soul in the feast who wasn¡¯t smashed, so He Yi made a call to Raincube and ordered a couple of drivers to drive us home. Some of us were driven back to the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls base. Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and the other members of the ASUS gaming club were driven back to their own base. Speaking of which, Lenovo gave He Yi a call to congratulate her, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin for joining the CGL Hall of Fame, and to congratulate me for my return to the China server. On behalf of Lenovo, Rose also expressed her sincerest regret at their inability to prevent my in-game nationality from being stripped from me in the first place. She said that the company had tried their best, but Tang Long¡¯s power was just absolute at the time. When the time ticked past 11 pm, the eight of us¡ªI, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue, Du Thirteen and Yamete¡ªwalked toward the closest karaoke box to sing for a couple of hours. The plan was to spend the night there and send Beiming Xue back to her university tomorrow. We entered a place called Lake Color Karaoke, booked a room and swarmed inside. We began taking turns to sing after we ordered the drinks, fruits and snacks. I was an introvert, so I didn¡¯t enjoy singing too much. Du Thirteen and Yamete were tone deaf, but they absolutely didn¡¯t mind singing our ears off. Thankfully, He Yi and Lin Yixin were present to heal our bruised ears with their singing. They sounded so beautiful that Murong Mingyue lamented about the unfairness of god. She complained that Lin Yixin and He Yi shouldn¡¯t be granted such beautiful singing voices when their beauty was already out of the world. For an entire hour or so, Beiming Xue clung to me like a teddy bear. Even an inanimate table could sense her deep feelings for me. Exactly what her feelings were though, I had no idea. It could be the sibling love of a younger sister toward her older brother, or¡­ I didn¡¯t want to pursue it. He Yi and Lin Yixin wisely chose to ignore it as well. "Big brother¡­" Beiming Xue looked up and stared at me with starry eyes. "Yeah?" "Can I sing a song for you?" she asked smilingly. I nodded. "Of course. Thirteen, mind surrendering the stage for a bit? Beiming wants to sing something¡­" He smiled. "Sure!" ¡­¡­ A few seconds later, Beiming Xue held the mic in one hand and straightened her skirt with the other. Standing at the center of the dance floor about two meters away from my seat, she stared straight into my eyes instead of the subtitles on the display. When the song began, she brought the mic to her lips and filled the room with her shatteringly young and beautiful voice¡ª The darkness before our eyes isn''t black What kind of white is that you talk about The sky blue people talk about Is the blue sky behind those clouds in my memories I look toward you But I could see nothing Has God blindfolded me and forgot to free me from the blindfold You''re my eyes, that led me through the changes of the four seasons You''re my eyes, that led me through the dense crowds You''re my eyes, that led me through the vast ocean of books Because you''re my eyes You allowed me to see that the world''s in front of me [1] ¡­¡­ Tears suddenly slid down Beiming Xue¡¯s cheeks as she said in a sobbing voice, "You are my eyes, big brother. You allowed me to see how wonderful the world is. I love you, big brother. I¡¯ll always love you and you alone¡­" For a time, I could only stare at her blankly. My nose felt tingly, and my hand and my can of cola were frozen in mid-motion. It was only now I finally realized just how deep Beiming Xue¡¯s mysterious love for me ran. Even Du Thirteen couldn¡¯t stop his eyes from turning red as he said to Yamete, "Wouldn¡¯t it be nice if people could stay together with their loved ones forever?" Yamete wiped away his own tears before replying, "Nonsense. How can there be a reunion if there is no separation? Also, Beiming only has to wait until she¡¯s graduated¡­" I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Once Beiming has graduated, well, we¡¯ll see¡­" Beiming Xue wiped her own tears and replied sobbingly, "You promised, big brother! I¡¯ll come to you the moment I graduate! Any game you want to play, I¡¯ll play. Any company you go to work in, I¡¯ll go too. I want to stay with you forever¡­" What should I even say to that? He Yi rose to her feet and wrapped her arms around Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulders. "Don¡¯t cry, Beiming. You¡¯ll meet each other very soon. Lu Chen said he¡¯s going to give you a car, didn¡¯t he? It¡¯ll take you only an hour to drive to Suzhou. If your schedule isn¡¯t too packed, or if it is, well, you can always skip class and visit us¡­" Beiming Xue nodded. "Okay, Sister He Yi. I have a question for big brother though. What car are you planning to give me?" I shrugged. "Well, what type of car do you want?" "A BMW?" "Sure, no problem." That was how I came to owe Beiming a BMW. It would be expensive, but as long as Dark Moon City and Air Force One remained in my possession, this sum of money wouldn¡¯t even put a dent in my bank account. ¡­¡­ We sang for about three hours until 3 am before we moved to a nearby bar. The sound of noisy bass rocked against our eardrums. Du Thirteen and Yamete played dice with one another while He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Lian Xin and Lin Yixin played cards. I didn¡¯t play shit because Beiming Xue was lying on top of my chest and practically holding me down on my sofa. I didn¡¯t even dare to breathe too deeply for fear of triggering another outburst from Beiming Xue. The way she kept murmuring god knows what into my chest was weird to say the least. When dawn arrived, and a ton of assurances from everyone, Beiming Xue finally decided it was time to leave. We returned to the workshop, helped her pack her stuff, and saw her off to the entrance where a Raincube driver was waiting for her. I felt like I lost something as the car took off into the distance. A yawning Lin Yixin had also gone back to her university to catch up on sleep as well. Speaking of which, Snowy Cathaya¡¯s 600k troops and the 200k cavalry reinforcements we had sent them had successfully retaken Silver Fir City already. According to the data on the official website, as much as 85% of the player territories in Sky City and Vanished God City had been retaken as well. However, the only player territories that were reclaimed at Wind City were Candle Dragon¡¯s and Purple Lily¡¯s. Wind City was under the control of the USA server right now, so the average guild simply didn¡¯t possess the power to retake their territories. "Cough¡­" A coughing fit suddenly took over me. He Yi patted my back gently before asking, "What¡¯s wrong? Are you sad because Beiming is leaving?" I smiled. "What do you mean? Beiming may be gone, but I still have a younger sister, don¡¯t I?" Lian Xin pursed her lips. "Feel free to treat me like I¡¯m invisible and focus all your thoughts on Beiming for now. I¡¯ll comfort you after you¡¯re done grieving¡­" Murong Mingyue smiled meaningfully. "Oh? How are you going to comfort him exactly?" Lian Xin blushed red immediately. "Please have some shame, Sister Mingyue!" He Yi laughed. "Like she knows what that even is¡­" Murong Mingyue: "..." I said, "Alright, time to go to bed, people. We¡¯ll wake up in the afternoon and get back to business after that, okay? It¡¯s great to waste time once in a while, but only for a while." He Yi said, "Yeah. I have a meeting to attend in Shanghai this afternoon though, so don¡¯t bother to wait for me." "Thank you for your hard work, boss¡­" "Anything for the almighty RMB!" "..." ¡­¡­ After we returned to the workshop, I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow. It was 2 pm in the afternoon when I woke up again and was greeted by a familiar scent; the scent of He Yi¡¯s fabric softener. The sight of the girls¡¯ shorts and bras on the balcony was incredibly familiar as well... After I woke up everyone from their slumber, I took Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue downstairs to have lunch. Then, it was time to take care of business. Swhoosh! I checked out my mount space the moment I appeared on White Horse Highland. Both the Armored Ice Qillin Horse and the Ancient Divine Dragon were present. I immediately summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and flew back to Dark Moon City to repair my equipment and restock on potions. 1. (T/N: Translation of the lyrics is taken from lyricstranslate.com) Chapter 1190: The Perfect Plan Dragonbone Mountain Range, Sky Ridge. Whoosh! I jumped off the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back after arriving at Sky Ridge. I had planned to meet up with Karinshan and the thousands of NPCs of Sky City, but to my shock they were nowhere to be seen at all. Where had they gone to? Although the Nation War was over, a ton of enemy players were still lurking within our borders. Once in a while, Cyan Earth City and the Northern Alliance would show up and test our reactions so to speak. Karinshan might be powerful, but anyone could be pushed down given sufficient numbers. Anxiety spiking, I made the Ancient Divine Dragon glide down Sky Ridge only to discover a large group of people somewhere at the halfway point of Dragonbone Mountain Range. It was none other than the NPCs of Sky City. There was a problem, however. A group of undead had them completely surrounded. The dragon knights could fly and so could escape if necessary, but everyone else was bound to the ground. Karinshan was brandishing the Guardian Blade threateningly and staring at the undead around her with hostility. "What is the meaning of this?" The undead legion belonged to none other than Sophie, the current lord and master of Purple Grape City. An undead general riding a bone horse said in an unnaturally harsh voice, "You are aware that Purple Grape City is currently under Lady Sophie¡¯s rule, right, Princess Karinshan? Please return to your domain as soon as possible. A guest like you is too much even for our undead hearts!" Karinshan retorted angrily, "It¡¯s bad enough Sophie didn¡¯t send aid when Sky City was in peril, but for her to send you to pour salt on our wound as well? You don¡¯t seriously think that you lowly undead will be able to stop me, do you?" The undead general looked slightly taken aback. "Calm down, princess. We don¡¯t wish to harm a flesh of nobility like you if possible!" On the sky, the Dragon Knight Tia pointed her sword at the undead general and yelled angrily, "We¡¯ve been stuck in Sky Ridge for four days and nights [1] without a single grain of food or a drop of water, so we just wanted to procure some supplies from Purple Grape City! We weren¡¯t planning on harassing you people, but if you insist on stopping us from surviving, we will do the same to you!" The undead general clenched his teeth. "Pooh! Is that a threat?" A beam of light at least ten meters long erupted from Tia¡¯s blade. "So what if it is?!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a deep voice resounded from the sky¡ª "This is not how you treat guests who visit our undead castle, Orlis! Stand down. I¡¯ll handle this!" A black shadow descended gracefully from the sky. Her pale white skin painted a stark contrast against her black armor. She was of course Sophie the Snow Minstrel. Sophie smiled at Karinshan and said, "Who would¡¯ve thought that you would fall this low, Karinshan? You were the supreme commander of the Silver Moon Alliance, but not only were you attacked by your former allies, you nearly lost Sky City to them. At the very least, Vanished God City has fallen into the hands of Coldblade. What do you have to say for yourself?" Karinshan clenched her teeth. "I¡­ I¡­" ¡­¡­ I chose this moment to step out and say, "Enough, Sophie. You know well that Karinshan has nothing to do with the fall of Sky City, so quit mocking her already." "Oh? Long time no see, boy¡­" Sophie giggled as a trace of lust flashed across her eyes. "Yo, you¡¯re a lot stronger than I remembered. Will you perhaps consider working in my undead castle? You can be a Huntsman, a Netherworld Knight, a Shadow God General, or even my personal guard¡­" I caught Sophie¡¯s arm before she could wrap it around my shoulders. "Sophie, please, I belong to Xinran¡­" "Er¡­" that snapped her out of her teasing mood enough to sulk a little. "Fine, I¡¯m not a person who¡¯d steal my sister¡¯s man. Why are you here anyway, boy?" I spoke frankly, "For Karinshan, of course. I plan to protect Karinshan until she can reclaim Sky City. It would be bad if it became a masterless city." Sophie giggled. "That¡¯s perfect for me though. I can take Sky City for myself and convert it into my second undead city¡­" I stared at her. "Your joke isn¡¯t funny. That¡¯s my home you¡¯re talking about!" "Oh right, I almost forgot about that." After that, Sophie looked at Karinshan and said half-jokingly, "The boy adores you, Wind Singer Xinran adores him, and I, unfortunately, adore Wind Singer Xinran. That is the only reason I¡¯m staying my hand, understand? The next time you lose Sky City, I will take it from you!" The smile of the Goddess of Death caused Karinshan to shudder from head to toe. The woman secretly swore she would never allow Sky City to fall into danger again. ¡­¡­ Sophie was just about to leave when I called out to her, "Sophie, wait!" "What¡¯s wrong?" She turned back to face me. I shot her a smile before starting, "Aren¡¯t you angry that Coldblade has occupied Vanished God City at all? You didn¡¯t forget that he is your sworn enemy, right? He was the one who fabricated lies and instigated Ovia the Bloody Finger to massacre your empire. If I were you, I would¡¯ve done everything in my power to kill him already!" A devious smile crossed Sophie¡¯s face at that moment. She slowly walked up to me before snaking her arm around my neck with a giggle. "Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re trying to do, boy. You don¡¯t really care if Coldblade lives or dies. You just want me to mobilize my forces to retake Vanished God City. Am I right?" I did my best to remain calm before replying, "I¡¯m sorry? I would be very happy to see Coldblade dead. For starters, his weapon looks like something I can use..." "Hmph. Forget it. For now at least, I have no plans to attack Coldblade!" Sophie declared without hesitation. Her answer confused me. "But why?" "It¡¯s simple. I simply don¡¯t have the troops to take it." Sophie sucked in a deep breath and turned serious. "Coldblade has his own undead legion, and he has reinforcements from Lin Na himself. In fact, there is an extremely high chance Lin Na will once again appear on this continent soon. Coldblade may be a threat, but the other devil is the one I don¡¯t want to ever see in my life, do you understand? Also, my newly summoned undead have no armors or weapons at all. You don¡¯t seriously expect my skellies to fight against Coldblade¡¯s iron cavalry naked, do you?" I clenched my teeth and tried to think of something that would convince Sophie to make the leap of fate. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t come up with anything. "So? You can¡¯t think of anything that will convince me, can you boy?" Sophie chuckled. Karinshan bit her lips and stared at me hopefully. Ziyan and Stark looked high strung and were one step away from attacking Sophie. Half a minute later, I suddenly recalled something and pointed at Sky Ridge. "I have the perfect plan, Sophie! Just this once, you must listen to me¡­" "Oh? Tell me¡­" "You¡¯re saying that you¡¯re desperately in need of resources to equip your army, right? In that case, you should build a fortress in Sky Ridge¡ªlet¡¯s call it Sky Ridge Fortress¡ªand have Princess Karinshan defend it with her men." "What?!" Sophie¡¯s eyes widened. "Why on earth would I do that? Bad enough that I¡¯m gifting her a fortress for free, how does this benefit me in any way?" I explained smilingly, "Like you won¡¯t even believe. As the builder of the fortress, you get the right to send your men and post quests to collect all the materials you need to forge armor and siege weapons such as Stone, Iron and more. Sky City is a resourceful country, so I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll have more than enough to equip your undead legion to the teeth. Surely you¡¯ll be able to defeat Coldblade then?" Sophie smiled. "Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll take Vanished God City for myself?" I replied without hesitation, "Not at all. The former master of Vanished God City is the Dragonheart Knight, Cloudway. You remember him? That¡¯s right. He¡¯s one of Xinran¡¯s trusted aides. If you steal his home from him, you¡¯ll be slapping my Xinran in the face. Surely you wouldn¡¯t do such a thing to your sister?" Sophie fumed. "I see you¡¯ve plotted out every step, boy!" Karinshan couldn¡¯t suppress a giggle when she heard this. I added, "Seriously, please consider my suggestion, Sophie. With my plan, You have everything to gain and nothing to lose. You will be using Sky City to help you forge an invincible army. Forget harming Karinshan, you should be thanking her for lending you her aid¡ªif you agree to the plan that is." Sophie thought for a very long time, but in the end she nodded and said, "Very well, I¡¯ll do as you say. I will deliver the necessary resources to Sky Ridge. Lady Karinshan, please forgive me for my earlier transgressions. Perhaps I do need the Silver Moon Alliance¡¯s help to survive in the human world after all!" Karinshan nodded smilingly. "Thank you, Lady Sophie. By the way, I¡¯ve informed Queen Sophia of the Violet Empire to send her undead troops to protect me, so you may focus all your efforts on building this fortress. Sky City promises to do their utmost to fulfill your needs." "Very well¡­" Sophie turned away, but she shot me a slightly resentful look before leaving. "I hate that Xinran has a cunning brother like you¡­" I simply chuckled and said nothing in return. ¡­¡­ The next moment, a system announcement resounded across the sky¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: All Sky City players, Sophie the Snow Minstrel will be building Sky Ridge Fortress at Sky City. It will be finished in 10 hours, and the Sky Ridge map will go into maintenance for five minutes. After the fortress construction is complete, players may resupply at Sky Ridge and receive faction quests! ¡­¡­ Hell yeah! That was one major issue out of the way! I was extremely pleased especially because I hadn¡¯t expected things to go this smoothly. Breeze and Rain had exploited a quest to make Coldblade attack Vanished God City, and now I was going to do it right back at him by making the super boss Sophie retake Vanished God City for us. Of course, we would still involve ourselves in the retake, but it would cost us a lot less than it would have otherwise. For starters, our players would be able to spend more time grinding. Two, we wouldn¡¯t lose nearly as many players. This was Coldblade¡¯s legion we were talking about. Without help, things could go south in the blink of an eye. After that, I went to greet Hickey, Warscar, Bloodthirsty Demon and the rest of Protective Umbrella at Black Cavalry Scout Camp. They were still grinding dutifully around the camp. Despite the service they had done to the China server, they were still unaffiliated players. The China server couldn¡¯t just let them cross into our domain whenever they liked, so they maintained the usual arrangements instead. 1. T/N: not a mistake, like I said in-game time moves faster than real time Chapter 1191: Begin the Grind The Fusion Armor patterns etched across my arm looked incredibly dazzling in the night. Sky Forest was incredibly silent at this time, and the demonic, bloody glow of the Ghost Spirit War Boots gave off made me look even more sinister in the dark. I was walking at a leisurely pace, but Lian Xin had to jog to keep up with me. She shouted from behind, "Slow down, bro! I can¡¯t keep pace with you!" Although I was walking, Fusion Armor made me as fast as the Ancient Divine Dragon. It was no wonder Lian Xin couldn¡¯t keep pace with me. So, I reduced my speed a bit and walked side-by-side with her. "Little Xin." "Yeah?" "You were the fourth best player on the Nation War contribution leaderboard. You must¡¯ve gotten a great reward, right?" "I got an Archean Immortal-grade cloth-armor robe, so it¡¯s okay, I guess. Still way worse compared to your Ghost Spirit War Boots though." "It¡¯s good. As of now, Archean Immortal-grade equipment is priceless and cannot be found anywhere in the market." "Yeah." Lian Xin blinked before asking another question, "By the way, how much longer are you going to be Protective Umbrella¡¯s guild leader? Boss openly said that she hopes that you return to Ancient Sword as soon as possible. It¡¯s why the vice leader position has been left empty until now!" I smiled. "I know. I want to go back too, but Protective Umbrella hasn¡¯t solidified their footing at Ice River Canton yet. Currently, my plan is to find and occupy player territory close to Dark Moon City and Black Coast for Protective Umbrella. This way, they¡¯ll become Dark Moon City¡¯s defense line against the enemies from the sea, and Dark Moon City can protect them from everything. It¡¯ll be a mutualistic relationship." "Wow, that is a good idea. Okay, we¡¯ll do as you say. I¡¯ll check what territories are available at Black Coast right now¡­" "I¡¯ve already done that. Dragons Run Wild alliance has a Rank 8 guild that has a territory at Black Coast. Since Dragons Run Wild has collapsed, the guild territory is still under British players¡¯ control. I¡¯ve already asked Gui Guzi and Xu Yang to attack them with the main cavalry of Bloody Mercenaries. Once all opposition has been swept away, Hickey and the Zephyr Cavalry will enter and occupy the territory. In fact, they should be fighting already." Lian Xin¡¯s eyes widened. "You should¡¯ve just started off with that. Also, don¡¯t you think that you¡¯re being a bit too smart as of late, big brother? Girls don¡¯t like guys who are too smart for their own good, you know?" I chuckled. "So what? I have Eve and Yiyi anyway. They are all the women I need!" "Hmph. Playboy!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment sounds of battle suddenly erupted from the forest in front of us. The erratic flashes of skills seemed to suggest a massive PvP battle. I perked up. As mentioned before, there were still a ton of small or large Northern Alliance forces attacking our players and acting as they pleased within Sky City. The reason Lian Xin and I had formed a two-man party today was to deal with these nuisances. Chiang! I unsheathed my weapon and said with a smile, "Someone with big balls is PKing in our territory, I see. Get ready, Little Xin. If it¡¯s a civil war then whatever, but if it¡¯s a red name then they must die!" "Heehee, understood!" I dashed ahead of Lian Xin and hacked apart the brambles blocking my way. At the forest clearing, I saw a large group of Korean cavalrymen from Burning City fighting against a group of Gods of Destruction players. The only player I recognized was Dominating Knight God, and he and his men were obviously the ones at a disadvantage. I rushed in without hesitation and fired Myriad Swords Obliteration long before I physically reached them. An entire group of Korean cavalry immediately lost a ton of HP. When they turned around and saw who I was, the leader exclaimed in astonishment, "Shit! It¡¯s a god-tier player, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Retreat to the southeast! We don¡¯t have the numbers to kill him!" The corners of my mouth curled up. "You think you can escape after invading our homeland a second time? Rejoice! Today¡¯s lesson is infinite corpse camping!" I dashed past them like a lightning bolt while swinging the Purple Ying Sword left and right, eliciting howls of pain with Thousand Ice Slash and Burning Blade Slash. I also made the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition attack from two different directions so that they couldn¡¯t escape. They didn¡¯t even number one thousand, so they faltered practically immediately. Boom boom boom! Their nightmare was just beginning, however. I wasn¡¯t the only enemy they had to fight. When an explosive, magical kaboom rocked everyone¡¯s eardrums, they realized in terror that one of China¡¯s best mages, Lian Xing, was present as well! God Devil Break thrived on massive Intelligence difference, and none of these cavalrymen had the Intelligence necessary to survive Lian Xin¡¯s attack. They scattered in every direction after seeing their brethren¡¯s death, but Lian Xin made them faceplant into her Origin Force Fields with ease. At this point, even I couldn¡¯t help but feel pity for them. "It¡¯s impossible to win this! Run! Run!" A dozen or so cavalrymen escaped toward the deeper area of the forest, but they were no match for my speed. After catching a magic knight and stabbing him through the back, I fired three Ancient Seals and two Dragon Slaying Slashes to annihilate another dozen escapees. Finally, I crouched a little before tossing the Purple Ying Sword mightily into the forest. Just like that, the spinning cyclone of doom that was Coiling Dragon Revolution turned the last group of escapees into cold, icy corpses. We weren¡¯t in a Nation War, so they must run back to their corpses to revive. The enemy party was killed so quickly it was almost unbelievable. My movement speed was at least several times higher than the enemies¡¯, so I was able to kill them one by one as fast as if they were clumped up in a group. It absolutely wasn¡¯t a fair fight at all. ¡­¡­ When the dust settled, Dominating Knight God sucked in a deep breath and looked back and forth between the floor of corpses, and me and Lian Xin. He said in a dumbfounded tone, "Heavens, I wouldn¡¯t believe that two players could take out an entire thousand-man party if I didn¡¯t just see it with my own eyes¡­" I chuckled. "What are you waiting for, Dominating Knight God? Contact Dominating Heaven Blade and tell him to send some men over to corpse-camp these bastards already. These Koreans think they can rob us while we¡¯re down? We¡¯ll have them cough out their heirloom and some more!" Dominating Knight God grinned. "Haha, you¡¯re right. I¡¯ll do that right away!" Lian Xin and I turned around and left after that. There were a lot of Northern Alliance players in Sky City, but there were even more Chinese players as a matter of course. Now that there were enough player territories around to provide everyone with equipment repairs and supplies, they automatically formed hundred-man parties, thousand-man parties and even ten thousand-man parties to wipe out the rest of the invaders. Lian Xin and I spent the whole afternoon killing players in the forest and little else. When it was nighttime in the real world, there were almost no foreign players left in Sky City domain. It wasn¡¯t just Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls who were doing this either. Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, Blazing Hot Lips and more had sent out their elites to eliminate the foreign forces as well. The goal was to suppress them completely in 7 days so we wouldn¡¯t have to worry about our backyard going up in flames when we launched our counterattack. We fought until it was past 9 pm when Murong Mingyue messaged me stating that He Yi had returned from Shanghai. Only then we logged out of the game to have supper. On an unrelated note, my friend list was completely deleted after I was exiled from the China server, so not only did I have to add my friends back one by one, I had to retrain all my Intimacy from 0. I would like to hold someone accountable for this, but Tang Long was already in prison, and Tang Feng was an old fox who would almost certainly deny all responsibility in this regard. The only good news was that most of the friends on my friend list were pretty women, so grinding with them was a benefit, not a taxation on my mental health. ¡­¡­ Tonight¡¯s supper was mudbugs at the night market. The four of us sat around a table, drank several bottles of beer and enjoyed a good breeze in general. It was a pretty relaxing night until Murong Mingyue said, "Sigh, if only Lil Beiming was with us¡­" I immediately shot her a glare. "Seriously?" "Ahem, sorry. Let¡¯s continue eating¡­" It was past 10 pm by the time we finished dinner. After we returned to the workshop, we agreed to meet up at Sky Ridge Fortress, seek out Princess Karinshan and receive faction quests from her. News of the construction had spread throughout the China server, and no one was foolish enough to pass by the opportunity to grind. We logged into the game, but Beiming Xue wasn¡¯t present. We called her to see what was keeping her, and she told us that her hostel was missing a game data line interface, and she unfortunately was the one who drew the short straw. Speaking of which, Beiming Xue was swamped by fans the second she returned to her university. University students from all around Wuxi went to her university just to catch a glimpse of the legendary Dark Archer of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls in real life. It was so annoying that Beiming Xue spent 15 minutes just complaining about it. Outside the gate of Dark Moon City, I spared a moment to admire the beautiful light adorning my arm. Not only was the Fusion Armor powerful and agile, it looked cool as heck as well. During the battle of White Horse Highland, one of the major reasons I was able to solo 7 top-tier experts including Breeze and Rain, God of War and Red Maple and come out on top was thanks to the turn rate penalty removal of the Fusion Armor. I had moved way faster than my opponents expected, and my overwhelmingly powerful Attack and Defense meant that they didn¡¯t get a chance to adjust before they died. That was why I was able to kill Red Maple and Cyan Frost. ¡­¡­ "Everyone ready? Alright! Frost Cloud workshop¡¯s five-man party, go!" Lian Xin chirped. However, Murong Mingyue covered her forehead and said, "I thought you majored in management, Lian Xin? Was your Math teacher a Fashion teacher or something? There are only four of us since Lil Beiming isn¡¯t around¡­" "Er, huh. You¡¯re right. There are only four of us!" I shook my head. Anyway, I made He Yi the party leader and had her activate Royal Road. Originally, the plan was for He Yi to carry Murong Mingyue and me Lian Xin to Sky Ridge Fortress, but I didn¡¯t have enough Intimacy with her yet. As a result, we had no choice but to run on foot toward our destination. That being said, we got to kill some mobs on the way, so it wasn¡¯t a complete waste of time. 50 minutes later, we arrived at Sky Ridge Fortress. I looked up. Sky Ridge was covered in ice and snow as usual, but now a magnificent building had been constructed at the top, and the vines had been replaced by 20 ice ladders or so. Still, for the sake of player convenience, we weren¡¯t required to climb to the top to receive the faction quests. There were rows of buildings at the foot of the mountain, and we could receive the faction quests from the NPC guards outside. He Yi walked up to an NPC and chatted with him for a moment. A moment later, we received our first party quest¡ª [Collect Animal Fur]: Kill any wild monster above Level 200 and collect 1000 animal fur. Bring it to the guard for 100 faction points per person in your party and a great amount of experience. Max Party Size: 10. Chapter 1192: Ancient Divine Skill Lian Xin pointed to the north and said, "There¡¯s a path next to Dragonbone Mountain Range over there called ¡®Angry Bear Canyon¡¯, and it¡¯s filled with brutal fiend-rank bears between Level 240 and 250. They¡¯re just right for a party like us and especially for big brother Lu Chen. If he fights a monster that¡¯s too weak, he won¡¯t get any experience at all. That would be too unfair¡­" He Yi let out a soft chuckle. "Very well, we shall head to Angry Bear Canyon and grind some angry bears¡­" Murong Mingyue giggled. "Yep. Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ There was huge traffic beneath the mountain range. It was because over half of the players of the entire China server had come here to rest and resupply. After we finally squeezed our way out of the crowd, I maintained the Fusion Armor and kept pace with Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin while He Yi acted as the point of our party. He Yi took out all the random mobs we ran into on the way until we reached Angry Bear Canyon. There were almost no players here because the mobs in Angry Bear Canyon started at Level 240 and ended at Level 260. At the current stage of the game, only those with extremely good equipment would be able to challenge them. We saw a 10-man party standing at the entrance to Angry Bear Canyon. One of the archers was saying with a deep frown, "We already lost Fourth once to the mobs, so I think we should stop here. Yes, our quest is to venture into the deeper areas of Angry Bear Canyon to gather the herbs there, but at our level it¡¯s just plain suicide. Fuck that Princess Karinshan, seriously. Can¡¯t she gather some more common herbs?" The assassin beside him echoed in agreement. "Yeah, this is just impossible. Furious Strike from one Angry Bear is enough to delete 190k HP from our main tank. Two can straight up instakill him before we can do anything else. Even with a priest and a bard in the party, we don¡¯t have even nearly enough HPS¡­" "This quest is just fucking impossible, man. A map like Angry Bear Canyon is just a suicide map until you¡¯re at least Level 240 or something¡­" ¡­¡­ Their complaints stopped temporarily when He Yi and I walked up to them and asked, "Excuse me, but can you move out of the way? We¡¯re going inside to do a faction quest." "You want to enter Angry Bear Canyon as a four-man party? Are you trying to kill yourselves?" the assassin said bluntly. However, the axe wielder next to him frowned and said, "Shut up and open your goddamned eyes, Fifth." "Er¡­" The assassin finally noticed the guild emblem on our shoulder. Although we had hidden our IDs, we were so famous that few people would be unable to identify us through appearance alone. He shuddered from head to toe and murmured, "L-lu Chen, From Water, Lian Xing and Murong Mingyue¡­? Fine, I was wrong. This map is easy peasy for you four¡­" I shot him a polite smile and walked past him. Immediately, I spotted 5 Angry Bears on the other side of the entrance. They were all Level 249 fiend-rank mobs. It was no wonder that a normal player would have trouble against them. I clenched my fist and let out a growl. Battle qi instantly condensed around me into a protective layer of astral wind. Was this overkill? Of course not. Why be sorry when you could be safe? I walked straight toward the group of monsters and unleashed Summon the Storm. The skill enveloped a wide enough area that 7 Angry Bears were aggroed toward me at the same time. When they swiped my chest with their blood-red claws, the assassin behind us turned purple. "Holy shit, 7 Furious Strikes in a row? Not even Lu Chen can survive this, can he?!" He Yi and Lian Xin giggled at the comment. The damage numbers, or rather lack thereof, quickly proved that his concern was appreciated, but unnecessary¡ª MISS! MISS! MISS! ¡­¡­ Battle Astral Wind was so strong that it absorbed 7 Furious Strikes in a row and lost less than 3% durability. It truly was a god-tier skill in every sense of the word, be it for PvE or PvP. And even if I hadn¡¯t used it, there was still little chance these Angry Bears could threaten me at all. The two Sacred Armaments, multiple Divine Armaments and Immortal-grade equipment I was wearing wasn¡¯t for show after all. After that, Lian Xin unleashed her God Devil Break and Ice Spiral Formation, and ten or so seconds later, all 7 Angry Bears were dead at the same time. The ten-man party behind us could only stare in shock. To put it mildly, what they were shown was a level of power they could never hope to bridge. He Yi spurred her mount forward while smiling at the party. "Lu Chen has opened up the way, so feel free to go in and complete your quest. Of course, we won¡¯t be escorting you all the way. Whether you can complete the quest is up to your own abilities." The assassin declared confidently, "Yeah, thanks! It should be fine now. There is ample space within the canyon, so it should be no problem stealthing over to the herbs and gathering them at all." "I wish you luck." After we bade the ten-man party goodbye, we continued deeper into the canyon, killed more Angry Bears and picked up all the fur they dropped. Because we had a fur-gathering quest, over 75% of the furry monsters we killed would drop the animal fur we needed. Of course, their pelts were classified as quest items and couldn¡¯t be used to forge leather armor or anything of the sort. The canyon was filled with short shrubberies and rocks. Multiple Angry Bears could be seen growling from between the rocks almost as if they were protesting something. They should be. The entire point of a monster¡¯s existence was to be killed by players, and their tragic fates would never change. ¡­¡­ 1000 fur wasn¡¯t a small number, so I suggested that we find a choke point and aggro the mobs en masse. It would take less time and net us more experience this way. Whoosh! Like a dragonfly, I swooped just low enough to aggro a group of mobs before rising back into the air. I repeated this again and again until nearly a hundred Angry Bears were chasing behind me. After I returned to He Yi¡¯s side and plugged the last hole in our defense line, Lian Xin and I put on a light show and murdered the absolute hell out of the poor mobs. The Angry Bears were physical attackers with super high Strength but next to zero Intelligence, literally. This meant that Lian Xin¡¯s God Devil Break was absolutely monstrous against them. Every time she cast the spell, she easily dealt over 400k damage to each mob. The grinding speed of an eighth-promotion mage was inhuman to say the least! In fact, Lian Xin¡¯s PK speed was just as crazy as her grinding speed. During the Nation War, the number of metal-armor cavalrymen who had died in her hands was practically uncountable. Every time there was a battle, she would hide behind He Yi and cast God Devil Break again and again, reaping all kinds of ace cavalrymen like wheat. It was why she was placed fourth on the Nation War leaderboard, and why her contribution points outstripped even Beiming Xue¡¯s by a country mile. Ultimately, mages were just better at grinding, and archers at scouting and interception. ¡­¡­ It took us almost 2 hours, but we were able to gather a total of 1000 animal fur and some more. We returned to Sky Ridge Fortress just in time to catch Commander Stark galloping with 10000+ Black Riders for training purposes. A temporary barracks had been set up at the bottom of Sky Ridge Fortress, and all the NPC soldiers of Sky City were gathered at this place. Karinshan had never been a passive person, and she knew that strengthening oneself as quickly as possible was the one true way toward obtaining true authority on this continent. I looked up. The five Dragon Knights were flying high above the sky doing whatever it was they were doing. Sky Ridge had become Karinshan¡¯s new base, but she would return to Sky City the second the 7-day period was up and return the mighty King of Cities into our possession. This wasn¡¯t something the Northern Alliance or Cyan Earth City could prevent no matter what. We found a guard and turned in the quest. Upon submission, the guard guffawed and said, "Oh, you actually managed to gather all these precious materials, my brave adventurers! Thank you for your contributions to the Silver Moon Alliance! Please receive your reward!" We each got 100 faction points and a ton of experience. If we weren¡¯t certain before, we now knew that the faction quests were a pretty good choice to grind. Moreover, the appearance of faction points also unlocked the ability to obtain military titles within Sky City. Unfortunately for me, my faction points went straight into my undead faction as Kill Points because I was an undead, so there would be no Sky City military title for me¡­ Currently, my military title in the undead faction was Phantom Knight[1], and the benefit I got from it was a 7% reduction to the experience needed to level up. It might not seem like much at all, but at this level every bit of reduction was greatly appreciated. Moreover, this was just the fifth-lowest military title. At Rank 9 or ¡°Shadow God General¡±, the percentage of experience reduction was a whopping 15%. Level was king in an MMO, and just imagine having to grind 17% more experience than the other player simply because their military title was better than yours. It would be so depressing¡­[2] ¡­¡­ I grinded cheerfully until it was almost midnight. Then, I went to bed. The next day early morning, I opened my eyes and chanted this in my head like a mantra: faction quest, Rank 9, Shadow God General, level up! Faction quest... After I got out of my bed, cleaned myself and entered the living room, I saw that He Yi and Lian Xin were checking out a web page, and Murong Mingyue was chopping pumpkins in the kitchen. Murong Mingyue smiled at me and said, "Today¡¯s breakfast is pumpkin porridge, Lu Chen. Just give me half an hour¡­" I asked in puzzlement, "What are you guys reading, Eve, Lian Xin?" "Check this out, Lu Chen! A new patch has been released!" "Ah? what new patch?!" I exclaimed in surprise. "Just come over and read this!" I did as she said and sat down beside He Yi. After I put my arm across He YI¡¯s shoulder and moved my head toward the monitor, I saw an eye-catching headline on the official website¡ª The Heavenly River Era had officially begun. A new map called the "Sky Vortex" will be spawning at the foreign map in between Wind City, Cyan Earth City and Purple Grape City in 72 hours! ¡­¡­ "Heavenly River Era¡­ Sky Vortex¡­" I muttered in a daze. He Yi nodded smilingly. "You may have guessed it already, but Sky Vortex is the springboard to Heavenly River Realm. Once you pass through the Sky Vortex, you¡¯ll enter a new map called the Ruins of the Gods. There, you will experience many adventures and potentially learn a whole new skill called the Ancient Divine Skill. All players who learn an Ancient Divine Skill will automatically enter the Heavenly River Realm¡­" "Holy shit!" 1. Introduced in chapter 132. He became Phantom Knight¡­ in chapter 230. xD 2. That¡¯s not how math works author. You don¡¯t have to grind 100% more mobs if your enemy has 100% exp reduction. Actually, you¡¯d probably never catch up to their infinite level then. Chapter 1193: How Much Do You Love Her "Ancient Divine Skill? What the heck is that?" I was a bit bummed out, to be honest. "I thought it would be an immediate ascension like when you become a Divine General, but now we must learn an Ancient Divine Skill before we can ascend to the Heavenly River Realm? How troublesome. This is a scam, dammit¡­" He Yi giggled and bumped me with her sweet-smelling shoulder. "Aren¡¯t you a lazy bum? This Ancient Divine Skill is no situational skill, you know. I guarantee that you¡¯ll love it to death!" "Oh? Show me!" He Yi clicked a button on the web page, and immediately, the characteristics of Ancient Divine Skills were displayed before my eyes¡ª Ancient Divine Skill: There are a total of 99 Ancient Divine Skills in the Sky Vortex. Each player can only learn one exclusive Ancient Divine Skill. The Ancient Divine Skills are split into two major categories, Offensive and Support. Ancient Divine Skills cannot be guarded, parried or evaded. They ignore invincibility skills and greatly increase one¡¯s Attack when one¡¯s life is in danger. The player must be at Level 210 and must have undergone their eighth promotion before they can learn an Ancient Divine Skill! ¡­¡­ "Gulp!" I gulped audibly as my eyes widened into saucers. "Is it just me, or does this mean that there can only be 99 Heavenly River Realm players at max in all the servers?" He Yi nodded smilingly. "Yeah. Moreover, Sky Vortex is a special map where one player; one account can only enter it once in a lifetime. This means that you either find your exclusive Ancient Divine Skill the first time you enter the Sky Vortex, or you¡¯ll never be able to ascend to the Heavenly River Realm. Moreover, players are teleported to random locations inside the Ruins of the Gods, kept from communicating with anyone outside the map, and forbad from forming parties. Long story short, everyone who passes through the Sky Vortex must seek out their Ancient Divine Skill through their own abilities. Those who lack it will simply die and miss out on the opportunity forever¡­" The beautiful cook named Murong Mingyue poked her head out of the kitchen and complained, "I know. Whoever came up with this rule must be a total asshole. How can a priest do anything if they can¡¯t form parties or communicate with each other? If I pass through the Sky Vortex, my only fate is to be one-shot by mobs or players. This is bullshit¡­" I exhaled a bit before replying, "Calm down, sis. Maybe you¡¯ll get lucky and find a Chinese expert who¡¯s willing to help you. With protection, it shouldn¡¯t be impossible to acquire an Ancient Divine Skill. Also, the patch will come in three days, so we still have time to plan out strategies and tactics¡­" He Yi cautioned, "We certainly need to be careful about this. This stupid vortex is set on a foreign map between Wind City, Cyan Earth City and Purple Grape City, so we¡¯ll have to go through the Northern Alliance, India and Japan before we can even get to the vortex. We must prepare." I clenched my fists and smiled confidently. "Very well. Three days later when the patch comes online, we¡¯ll wake up earlier, eat breakfast, take care of our physiological needs, and be ready to stay online for three days and nights. Once I¡¯ve entered the Ruins of the Gods, I won¡¯t log out immediately even after I find my Ancient Divine Skill. Instead, I¡¯m going to stay there and kill as many Northern Alliance players as possible. Ideally, we don¡¯t want anyone who isn¡¯t Chinese to have the chance to ascend to the Heavenly River Realm, hehe¡­" Lian Xin chuckled. "Big bro, you realize that you¡¯re hardly the only one who¡¯s plotting the same thing, right? Take Breeze and Rain, God of War and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow for example. Every single one of them has ambitions higher than the sky itself. Mn, I have a feeling that the battle of Sky Vortex will be a tournament between the strongest eighth-promotion players out there. Since there are no parties, this is going to become a full on battle royale!" I grinned. "Perfect. That¡¯s the type of PvP I enjoy the most¡­" "Hmm, whatever you say¡­" ¡­¡­ After we finished our pumpkin porridge breakfast, we went back online and did more quests. Before that though, I contacted Raincube¡¯s Lin Yujia¡ªshe was Murong Mingyue¡¯s right-hand woman¡ªand asked her help to purchase a white-colored luxury two-seater BMW 930 with a 6.0 L engine. In my opinion, it was perfect for a delicate girl like Beiming Xue.[1] I could buy her a sports car, but she was a student, and I didn¡¯t want to add more to her attention troubles already. Of course, a BMW 930 that was worth a whopping 2.4 million was very conspicuous too, but¡­ oh well. As long as it was to Beiming Xue¡¯s liking, it should be fine. I spent the rest of the day doing faction quests. The next day, Lin Yixin and I agreed to meet up in the morning and head to Wuxi together. At around 8 am or so, I drove the new BMW to the streets and parked it outside Suzhou University of Science and Technology. As I put down the window, took in the spring breeze and stared at the school girls in mini skirts, I could help but think that life was perfect as it was... A while later, a gorgeous Porsche Panamera growled out of the gates. It was Lin Yixin¡¯s new car. She smiled at me after she put down the window. "Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ve set the GPS, so I should lead the way." I chuckled. "Sure. But don¡¯t go too fast, okay? We¡¯re not speeders. You¡¯re not allowed to go over 150 km/h even on the highway!" Lin Yixin pouted but replied obediently, "Okay¡­" Not far away, two male students who were eating cake stared at the two of us in awe¡ª "Holy shit, Lu Chen has Beauty Lin completely whipped!" "Nah, it¡¯s just for appearance¡¯s sake. I promise you it¡¯s the complete opposite when they¡¯re in bed¡­" "That¡¯s true. Kakaka!" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin blushed and wisely chose to stop listening to the duo. She hit the gas and took off like a lightning bolt. Although the 930¡¯s acceleration was lower than the Porsche¡¯s, its top speed was a different story. I quickly caught up, and together we entered the highway and drove toward Wuxi. Beiming Xue already gave us a call stating that she would wait for us since she had no morning class. We arrived at our destination less than an hour later. This corner of the city was full of universities and even more university students. Personally, I never thought that university study was a necessity in life. The vast majority of people preferred to live in the present and think nada of the future at all. As per agreed on the phone earlier, Lin Yixin and I parked our cars beneath the women¡¯s hostel. I got out of the car and called Beiming, but the second the phone connected, a window on the fifth floor opened to reveal the girl. She waved at me and said smilingly, "I see you already, big brother. I¡¯m coming down right away¡­" I nodded. "Yeah." Maybe it was because our cars were too conspicuous, but more and more girls started opening their windows, leaning on the window sill and stared at me and Lin Yixin. I could even hear some of their conversations from where I was¡ª "Wow, that guy driving the new brand BMW looks really handsome and¡­ familiar for some reason. If only he was my boyfriend¡­" "Yeah, he¡¯s so handsome I wish I could give birth to his children¡­" "Heavens, girl! Have some shame!" "The car next to the BMW is a Porsche, right? The driver¡¯s super beautiful and familiar too. Where on earth have I seen them before?" "Idiots. The guy¡¯s the Little Heavenly King Lu Chen, and the girl¡¯s the Fruit Knife Goddess Lin Yixin. Moreover, they¡¯re obviously here to meet Beiming Xue, who¡¯s living on the fifth floor!" "OMG, you¡¯re right! It really is Lu Chen and Lin Yixin! I¡¯m going to head downstairs and get their signatures right now!" ¡­¡­ Pa! The door of the hostel was kicked open, and Beiming Xue emerged wearing a pink-colored casual outfit. She then jumped into the air to give me a hug. She would slam into the BMW behind me if I didn¡¯t catch her, so I had no choice but to do it before everyone. Lin Yixin snorted, but didn¡¯t give me trouble. "I miss you so much, big brother!" Beiming Xue confessed with a blush. I let out an embarrassed cough. "How about we take this to somewhere more private?" "Heehee. Okay, big brother!" As Beiming Xue gave me another tight hug, a bunch of girls flushed out of the entrance and swamped us with fansign requests. I pushed it all to Lin Yixin because I was busy dealing with Beiming Xue. Lin Yixin started signing "Lin Yixin & Lu Chen" on various notebooks, T-shirts, postcards and more... I held Beiming Xue¡¯s hand and put a hand on the BMW. Then, I smiled at her and asked, "It¡¯s the latest model. Do you like it?" "Of course! It must have cost a lot, right big brother?" Beiming Xue blinked. I smiled. "It¡¯s fine, It¡¯s not like I¡¯m not filthy rich¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ I parked the car at the hostel¡¯s parking lot and gave Beiming Xue the keys. Then, the three of us ate lunch at the restaurant outside. "The pickled hot and sour fish and boiled fish of this restaurant are pretty good. Don¡¯t hold back!" Beiming Xue said cheerfully. However, Lin Yixin stared at the dishes with a dubious look on her face. "Why is it always two fishes?" I clenched my teeth, but forced the words out of my mouth. "I know, but the glorious tradition that has been passed down for three Eternal Moon games must be kept..." Lin Yixin: "..." It was at this moment a young guy wearing a pair of black-framed spectacles showed up with a bouquet of roses. He carefully walked up to our table, gave me a bow and said in a sincere tone, "Brother, I know you¡¯re Beiming Xue¡¯s big brother. I love Beiming Xue a lot, so I wish to have your blessing to date her¡­" Beiming Xue immediately grew angry and anxious. "What is the meaning of this, Liu Bin? I already told you ¡®no¡¯ many times already! Can you please have some dignity?" I smiled at the young man and motioned for him to take a seat. "Why don¡¯t you take a seat before we talk?" "Okay." He sat down. His eyes were filled with determination. I looked him in the eye before starting slowly, "You say you love Beiming Xue a lot. I¡¯m no seer, so I can¡¯t tell how much you truly love her, but can you promise me that your love will remain eternal after you manage to force yourself into her bed? A flower is pretty, but it cannot remain forever fresh. Moreover, you should pay more attention to the heart than the method when you¡¯re pursuing a girl. Can you promise me that you will give her eternal happiness?¡± The youth opened his mouth. ¡°Stop. The fact that you think you can give me an immediate answer shows me just how weak that promise is. If Beiming is in love with you, then I can only honor her decision. It is not my place to decide who she can love after all. But if that isn¡¯t the case, then I must ask you to remove yourself from my sight right now. I can at least promise Beiming Xue safety when she¡¯s with me. But you? You cannot promise her anything." ¡­¡­ The young man looked completely flabbergasted after everything I said. In the end, he simply nodded and said, "O-okay¡­ I¡¯m leaving then¡­" "Yeah. Study hard¡­" "Oh, okay¡­" After the young man left, Beiming Xue pouted at me and whined. "Big brother!" Lin Yixin was also chuckling. "Sigh. You could¡¯ve tried to mince your words a bit, you bastard¡­" I shrugged. "Eh, the less anyone has to do with men who would do anything to chase a skirt and toss them away after, the better. Now, let¡¯s get back to our meal, shall we?" Lin Yixin nodded. "Yeah. We need to head back and grind more quests before the Sky Vortex opens¡­" "Yeah." 1. Yes, 6 freaking litres is perfect for a delicate girl. First impulse to visit Lu Chen and she ends up in a ditch Chapter 1194: Sky Vortex Two days passed by in the blink of an eye. I was able to grind my level up to 221, and my military title to Rank 7, Bloody General. This meant that my experience requirement was reduced by 11%. Moreover, we were able to accumulate the resources Sophie needed within 72 hours, triggering a massive counterassault from Purple Grape City. Leading the invasion herself, Sophie and her NPC armies had crossed over Thunder Mountain Range and Dragonbone Mountain Range to arrive at Vanished God City directly. With Karinshan¡¯s Sky City Legion and the players acting as her backup, she was able to regain all the lost ground including the three tier 2 cities in Vanished God City. When the NPC legions finally reached Vanished God City and surrounded it, Coldblade was so scared that he actually abandoned his own army and escaped back to the infinite Purgatory. It took us only 7 hours to retake Vanished God City completely. The Northern Alliance had tried to hamper our progress, but Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Candle Dragon, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips and more super guilds had joined forces to plug all the entrances to Vanished God City from Dragonbone Mountain Range. Without Cyan Earth City and Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s assistance, the Northern Alliance lacked the strength necessary to overcome our defenses, so their plan was halted before it could even bear fruit. In fact, the Northern Alliance was stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. The players of the Chaotic 27¡ªArgentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Colombia and more¡ªhad migrated to Seven Star City immediately upon acquiring it. The total population of the 27 countries was around 1.1 billion, and 5% of them played Heavenblessed. This meant that they had a player population of 55 million, and more than half of that¡ªaround 30 million or so¡ªhad migrated to Seven Star City. It was an insane amount of people to say the least. Worse, the USA server didn¡¯t dare to launch a frontal assault because they were afraid that the Chinese would take the opportunity to attack Titan City through Fortress of the Iron Halberd. If we succeeded, they would truly be in deep trouble. ¡­¡­ The third day early in the morning, I grabbed my phone and opened Heavenblessed¡¯s home page the moment I woke up from my dreams. As I thought, the headline slapped at the top was incredibly invigorating¡ª "The China server successfully retook Vanished God City and the three tier 2 cities, returning to the strength of two tier 1 main cities and six tier 2 cities! After the Dragonheart Knight, Prince Cloudway rebuilt Vanished God City, Karinshan dispatched a great amount of troops to help protect it and conferred Cloudway the title of Duke, officially appointing him as the guardian of Vanished God City. I smiled. It took a while, but we definitely set on the path of reconstruction. Although Sky City was still unavailable, it was as good as ours. Four days later, after Karinshan and her troops had returned to Sky City, we would be able to make use of it once more. On a related note, Sky City had officially entered into a military alliance with the Violet Empire. Although Queen Sophie and Shadow Dancer Xue Wei were able to defend their city successfully, they recognized that what had happened to Sky City could easily happen to them as well. Karinshan had also been able to set down her prejudice against the undead. Long story short, the two powerhouses had become truly united for the first time, and the next time the wolves invaded the Center, they must face the Violet Empire¡¯s undead cavalry as well. ¡­¡­ After I got out of bed and finished breakfast with the girls, I said while drinking a glass of lukewarm water, "Sky Vortex will be opening in one and a half hours. What are your thoughts? Do you want to enter the Ruins of the Gods and search for our Ancient Divine Skills immediately, or give it some time?" He Yi replied, "I¡¯m Level 215 now, so I¡¯m qualified to enter the Sky Vortex. However¡­ the competition at the beginning will be incredibly fierce, and each Ancient Divine Skill is guarded by a guardian boss. In my opinion, we should wait for say, 10 hours after Sky Vortex is opened before we enter. Right now, there are 187 eighth-promotion players who are over Level 210 in China, and there¡¯s more than a thousand all over the world. For Mingyue, Lian Xin and I at least, I think we should wait until they¡¯ve whittled themselves down during these 10 hours. After all, we don¡¯t have an invisibility skill like you. We cannot roam the Ruins of the Gods alone¡­" I nodded. "Yes, Eve is correct. Sky Vortex is a hellish trial ground and not the treasure map most people seem to think it is. Without sufficient strength, it would be suicide to venture inside, not to mention that we know nothing about the map at all. I may as well scout out the place for you girls¡­" "How should we contact you then?" "Just knock on my gaming helmet or speak to me right next to my ear so I can hear you. I won¡¯t be able to respond to you though." "We know!" "Alright, I¡¯m going online. We¡¯ll speak again after we reach Sky Vortex!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I went to the potion NPC and filled my bag with potions the moment I appeared in Dark Moon City. I also made sure I bought a sufficient amount of cards and other consumables as well. The trial of Sky Vortex was a cruel dialogue between the absolute best players in the entire world, and the importance of an Ancient Divine Skill couldn¡¯t be understated. Anyone who was killed after they entered the Sky Vortex would basically lose their chance to enter the Heavenly River Realm permanently. It was both incredibly cruel and exciting! After I repaired my equipment and prepared everything, I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon, jumped on its back and searched for the coordinates of Sky Vortex. With my mount¡¯s speed, it should take only 30 minutes or so to arrive. For normal players though, a cavalryman would need to travel for 2 hours at least, and a foot soldier would take even longer. My dragon let out a long cry before taking to the sky. On the way, I saw countless players including those who weren¡¯t Level 210 yet making their way toward Sky Vortex. They were probably heading over to join in on the fun. While I was flying over the forest, I saw Warsky heading toward the Sky Vortex with a group of Warsky Alliance players as well. The guild leader was raising his shoulder high to show off the silver CGL Hall of Fame emblem on his shoulder and guffawing. "Guys and girls, today we¡¯re going to grind at the map where Sky Vortex is until we¡¯re Level 210, okay? The first 13 people to hit Level 210 and complete their eighth-promotion quests will get to head inside. While inside, everyone should head to coordinate (0, 0) and wait until all the others have arrived. Everything¡¯s faster and easier with enough numbers, right?" They all nodded and cheered in unison. "The boss is wise!" What should I even say about this? I was about to take my leave when Warsky looked up and saw me. "Oh, Lu Chen! You¡¯re heading over now?" "Yeah. Don¡¯t mind me. Just take your time¡­" "Sure. Please don¡¯t attack any Warsky Alliance player when you get there, okay?" "Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t harm anyone with a 5-star red flag on their shoulder!" "Okay! Good luck! Go get ¡®em god-tier Ancient Divine Skills!" "Heh, you¡¯re welcome. Later!" My little dragon let out a low growl, and I vanished into the horizon like a dark silver rainbow, stunning all the Warsky Alliance players on the ground. "Holy shit, that mount is super fast! Looks like flying dragon mounts are the future of cavalry after all!" The corner of Warsky¡¯s mouth twitched. "Please, getting a dragon egg is harder than winning the 5 million jackpot of a Mark 6 lottery!" Song of Ice and Fire smirked. "You¡¯re not entirely right. If you could buy a giant dragon¡¯s egg with just 5 million RMB, China would be overrun by dragon knights already." God Bone was smirking as well. "What can you do? Our country is overflowing with trust fund babies¡­" Warsky responded ashen-faced, "Stop looking at me like that you bastards! I¡¯m an entrepreneur, not a trust fund baby!" "Excuse me? Your dad gave you your starting capital!" "You¡¯re going to grow gray hair if you keep minding the details, dude¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ Half an hour later, the Ancient Divine Dragon arrived at a canyon that was absolutely jam-packed with players. Some belonged to the Chaotic 27, some from the Northern Alliance, and some from China and India as well. Everyone was keeping to their sides. Small skirmishes were happening here and there, but because the map wasn¡¯t open yet no one wanted to die and be teleported back to their respective cities. I could spot a dark vortex spinning violently at the center of the canyon, and a blue zone that kept anyone from entering. Forty minutes later, this barrier would probably disappear, and let everyone nearby to be teleported into the Ruins of the Gods. ¡­¡­ I made the Ancient Divine Dragon hover in midair and overlook the ground. The Ancient Divine Dragon let out a mighty roar and immediately attracted the attention of the Northern Alliance players on the ground. They looked up at me and shouted in overt anger, "It¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, the bastard who got the MVP again! Motherfucker, he was the MVP of the War of Dawn City and the WEL already, and now he¡¯s the MVP of the War of the Center too! Someone get up there and kill him!" The Northern Alliance players were pissed off, but none of them could do anything against me. The melee players obviously couldn¡¯t reach me, and the archers who used Far Shot quickly discovered that I was too high up in the air, and that their arrows could only bounce harmlessly off the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s steel-like scales, resulting in a MISS. I ignored them, but didn¡¯t hide my disdainful smirk. Suddenly, a black shadow appeared from the opposite side of the sky. It was none other than Vienna¡¯s Sorrow on his black dragon. He stopped a suitable distance away from me and shot me a cold look, but it didn¡¯t look like he was planning to fight me. Well, he didn¡¯t have much of a chance even if he tried. My new Ghost Spirit War Boots had an active skill called Ghost Spirit Step Art that nullified 75% of the attacks I received for 15 seconds. I wouldn¡¯t mind teaching Vienna¡¯s Sorrow a lesson in sorrow if he tried to engage me. I could fight Vienna¡¯s Sorrow now, but I wanted to do it after he passed through the Sky Vortex and entered the Ruins of the Gods. It was because killing him there would mean removing his chance to enter the Heavenly River Realm forever, thus removing a super threat from the China server permanently! On the ground, Breeze and Rain watched me coldly as he ordered, "Archers, get ready to knock Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand from his dragon with Shock Arrows later. He mustn¡¯t be allowed to enter the Sky Vortex without a fight. The Sky Vortex is very close to Cyan Earth City, so it only makes sense that it belongs to us!" All the Cyan Earth City players nodded in unison. I heard his command, but still I kept calm and didn¡¯t rise to the provocation. Some distance away, a large party belonging to China was watching me as well. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that I was their symbol of power and the source of their confidence right now. No one was going to give up this tournament without a fight because of how OP the Ancient Divine Skill would undoubtedly be. A skill that bypassed guard, crushed parries, couldn¡¯t be evaded and ignored invincibility skills. This meant that the ultimate combo, invincibility + return scroll, would be a thing of the past. I would no longer let opportunities slip through my grasp. ¡­¡­ Time passed bit by bit. Then, the countdown finally began¡ª 10! 9! 8! ¡­¡­ Breeze and Rain narrowed his eyes and began moving into position. The second the countdown hit zero, countless Cyan Earth City players swung their weapons and fired their Barrier Breaks at me! I activated Fusion Armor as the Ancient Divine Dragon descended. It immediately scattered into sparks of light before solidifying around certain parts of my body. Making sure to avoid the area where Breeze and Rain was, I crashed right on top of a group of players and used War Crush! Boom! A group of Beast King Cavalrymen groaned in pain as they were knocked backward. At least half of them had been one-shot by the skill! After that, I dashed into the Sky Vortex and felt its powerful magic pulling me into a different space. Idiots. Did they really think they could stop me from entering the Sky Vortex? Chapter 1195: Cyan Wolf Guard Swhoosh! The cost of entering the Sky Vortex was 1000 gold and 10000 Reputation. One moment I was spinning rapidly inside the vortex, and the next, my feet had found solid ground. When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was inside a jade green forest. Suddenly, a flash appeared right in front of me. It was another player teleporting to my exact location. Not only was he a red name, he was the vice leader of Hero Alliance and the legendary Knight of Stars, Beethoven¡¯s Joy! He was a fairly powerful player in the USA server, and he was Vienna¡¯s right hand! Thud! Debris floated where my foot had pushed off as I dashed toward Beethoven¡¯s Joy. I managed to stab his chest and execute Burning Blade Slash before he could react¡ª 152787! 193200! 231773! The Knight of Stars let out a shout of dismay and anger. Well, I would be if I was him. Not only had he teleported to the same location as me, we were barely a couple of steps apart. He never had the chance to run away from me. Beethoven¡¯s Joy grabbed the back of my blade and pushed me off him. At the same time, he summoned his mount, climbed on and escaped toward the mountain range directly in front of him. He knew that he was no match for me, so he chose to escape as quickly as possible. Here at the Ruins of the Gods, dying was a one-time thing. Whoever died here before finding their Ancient Divine Skill would never be able to enter it again, thus losing their account¡¯s one and only chance to enter the Heavenly River Realm. ¡­¡­ Gusts of wind gathered beneath my feet as I brandished my weapon and gave chase. Although I was floating about half a meter above the ground, the Ghost Spirit War Boots still gave off shockwaves every time I took a step. Like a shadow, I hounded the Knight of Stars until he was forced to down a health potion and shout, "Must you be so ruthless, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?!" I shouted back just as harshly, "Ruthless? Who¡¯s the ruthless mofo who invaded Sky City and Wind City just a couple of days ago? Blame your luck for running into me so soon!" The Ancient Divine Dragon was much, much faster than the Knight of Stars¡¯ mount, so he knew then he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape. He turned around and executed a five-hit Star Slash + Armor Break Flurry combo! The air felt like it was being torn apart as a violent storm of heat and steel made its way toward me. However, I narrowed my eyes, swung my sword four times and parried all the attacks with almost effortless ease, causing Beethoven¡¯s Joy to turn even greener than he already was. He turned around and tried to escape again, but... "Seriously? Give it up and drop dead already!" I raised my arm and cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon about ten meters away from me. Beethoven¡¯s Joy and his mount were immediately pushed into the sky. Before he even fell down on the ground, I tossed the Purple Ying Sword at him and watched as a huge, gaping hole appeared at the center of his chest. Just like that, his final sliver of HP was gone. ¡­¡­ Ding~! System Announcement (Ruins of the Gods): Player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) killed the Heroic Bannerman "Beethoven¡¯s Joy" and obtained 1 Sky Kill Points! The ringing sound wouldn¡¯t stop for a time, but I paid it no heed. All my attention was on this "Sky Kill Point" thing I got. I wondered what it was for? Oh well, I supposed that I would find out eventually. I picked up the boots Beethoven¡¯s Joy dropped and found that they were pretty good Immortal-grade equipment. Obviously, they were leagues behind my Ghost Spirit War Boots, but they were easily something that could sell for tens of thousands of RMB if I dropped it on my stall at Sky City, with buyers climbing over each other to get it. I looked around and found that all was silent. It would appear that my killing of Beethoven¡¯s Joy hadn¡¯t triggered any reaction whatsoever. There was also the fact that the Ruins of the Gods was an incredibly huge map, so running into another player was an incredibly rare thing. Now that I had time to think over things, it truly was a tragedy for the Knight of Stars to appear so close to me right from the get-go... ¡­¡­ I checked the map screen and saw a blood-red region right in front of me. I had no doubt that it would have mobs, bosses and even my Ancient Divine Skill. I activated Dark Pupils as I strode forward. Despite my confidence, I wasn¡¯t about to let my guard down for a second. Only elite eighth-promotion players could enter this place, meaning that everyone I encountered had a chance to threaten me, no matter how slim that chance might be. Carelessness would most definitely result in a deadly outcome. The red on the map grew darker and darker as I ventured deeper into the region. Soon, I began hearing wolfish howls coming from nearby. A gigantic wolf covered in cyan fur jumped out of the forest, stopped on top of a pile of rocks and stared at me with its bloody red eyes. Judging from the saliva dripping down its gaping mouth, I dared say that it hadn¡¯t tasted flesh for a very, very long time¡­ Cyan Wolf Guard (Fiend) Level: 270 Introduction: The Divine Wolf is a natural protector that has guarded the Ruins of the Gods for tens of thousands of years. Born with the ancient god¡¯s bloodline in their veins, their only goal is to bury all the invaders who vie for their treasure. Their numbers are incredible, and the Ancient Divine Skill they guard remains as new as ever despite the passage of time. ¡­¡­ The Divine Wolf Race? I was surprised. I wasn¡¯t expecting to encounter signs of the first Ancient Divine Skill so quickly. I was curious about the details of the Divine Wolf¡¯s Ancient Divine Skill, but making my way there clearly wasn¡¯t going to be an easy task. Even with my level and Dark Pupils, I couldn¡¯t see the exact stats of this level 270 fiend-rank monster. As of now, only a handful of players could solo a monster like this. I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition. Let¡¯s test things out with a Dragon Slaying Slash first, shall we? Pa! The cyan energy blade hit the Cyan Wolf Guard in the head and dealt only 157892 damage. As I thought, the 50-level gap was so huge that my insane Attack was suppressed to a massive extent. Enraged by the attack, the Cyan Wolf Guard rushed toward me with even great murderous intent only to be intercepted by my apparition¡¯s Thunderous Charge! 78937! Holy shit, my apparition¡¯s Attack almost couldn¡¯t breach the Cyan Wolf Guard¡¯s Defense. The mob retaliated by swiping at the apparition¡¯s head with thunderous energy and dealt a level of damage I had never seen before from a mere mob¡ª 140024! I was stunned to say the least. I should¡¯ve known that a Level 270 fiend-rank mob would be absolutely bonkers! I charged toward the Cyan Wolf Guard and cut through its Defense with Burning Blade Slash and Universe Break. Not only did it take almost a minute for me to finally defeat it, my HP had dropped to 74%, and the apparition 23%. It was crazy. I had never fought against a mob that felt like I was challenging a boss until now. Thankfully, the experience reward was well worthy of the difficulty. Although my main goal was to obtain an Ancient Divine Skill, I didn¡¯t mind earning a ton of experience or two along the way. Moreover, if I couldn¡¯t cut down the mobs like vegetables, then everyone else could only fare worse than me. I doubted anyone expected the monsters of the Ruins of the Gods to be this powerful, and I bet that many of them were regretting entering this place too hastily. This was a one-time thing. They would never be able to come in again if they left now. Anyway, I stepped over the Cyan Wolf Guard¡¯s body and continued forward. This time, a dozen or so Cyan Wolf Guards entered my view, and at the very end of the canyon was a wolf cave with some sort of orange light shining from the inside. Unless I was mistaken, it had to be the Ancient Divine Skill I was looking for, hehe! I took out the dozen or so Cyan Wolf Guards blocking my way before circling around the tens of thousand of Cyan Wolf Guards at the center of the canyon. It would take forever to kill them all, and time wasn¡¯t on my side. I could always come back after I learned the Ancient Divine Skill and entered the Heavenly River Realm! I used Earth Escape to slip closer to the wolf cave until I was about a dozen or so meters away from it. I had a feeling that the Cyan Wolf Guards at the distance would be able to see through my stealth, but I wouldn¡¯t know until I tried. Unfortunately, my feeling was correct. When I was 17 yards away from the closest Cyan Wolf Guard, the mob abruptly let out a roar and pounced straight toward me! I hurriedly backed to an empty space and killed the Cyan Wolf Guard there. Then, I used Dragon Slaying Slash to aggro the Cyan Wolf Guards blocking the entrance one by one and killed them as well. In total, it took me almost an hour to kill all the mobs guarding the cave. "Roar roar¡­" I smiled when the last Cyan Wolf Guard blocking my way dropped dead and died. Every Cyan Wolf Guard gave me around 1% experience or so, which was absolutely crazy considering my current level. It was at this moment I spotted a pair of purple dots with my Dark Pupils within the forest some distance away from here. They were players, not monsters. One of them was an archer, and the other, an assassin. They both hailed from Elephant City. Considering that I was surrounded by high-level monsters, I had no intention of engaging them right now. I quickly used Earth Escape again and entered stealth before the two of them could spot me. Then, I entered the cave. The first thing I noticed was the terrible stench that permeated every inch of the place. Even a Divine Wolf¡¯s den was still a wolf¡¯s den, I supposed. Still, the Ancient Divine Skill had to be inside here, right? There were many twists and turns inside the cave, and it took me five minutes of navigation before the familiar orange light finally entered my vision again. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle... My sword drew a shallow line across the ground as I exited Earth Escape. However, I was immediately treated to a shocking sight when I looked up. A gigantic wolf with red fur was curled in front of the Divine Wolf¡¯s temple, and behind it was a platform with an orange scroll on top of it. My eyes lit up. It had to be the Ancient Divine Skill! ¡­¡­ I gulped inaudibly when I used Dark Pupils on the wolf king, however. It was a motherfucking Level 280 Divine Rank boss! What the hell were the devs thinking? How could I, a Level 220 player, possibly fight against it? Maybe there was a chance if I was wearing a full set of Divine Armaments, but as I was challenging the boss could only be suicide! What should I do?! I gritted my teeth. I wanted the scroll, but I was no match for the OP wolf king. What should I do? Suddenly, an idea entered my mind. I immediately summoned my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King. Maybe I could use these two to lure the boss away and steal the scroll in the meantime? The second the Phantom Wolf King darted forward, the wolf king immediately rose to its feet with an angry roar and a blood-red totem surrounding its body. I knew that this guardian boss was anything but ordinary. The very first thing it did was to throw a gust of burning gale at the Phantom Wolf King, and my poor pet screeched and lost 400k+ HP just like that. Holy shit! ¡­¡­ Pa! I activated Ghost Spirit Step Art and dashed straight toward the scroll. Two jumps later, the warm-feeling scroll was in my hand! Chapter 1196: Heavenly River Transformation Power filled my body the moment I grabbed the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll. I didn¡¯t dilly dally though. After dashing¡ªor more concisely, escaping¡ªa hundred meters away in just a couple of steps, I let out a cry and turned invisible not a moment too soon as both the Phantom Wolf King and the apparition¡¯s avatar darkened at the same time. The wolf king¡¯s Attack truly was out of the world. It had destroyed both my baits in just a couple of seconds! Heart beating like crazy, I prayed that the boss wouldn¡¯t follow me. I had run over 100 yards away from the boss, so I should be out of its detection range already, right? Also, Earth Escape was also stronger than your usual stealth, even though it was inferior to Farewell Song¡¯s enhanced stealth skill. "Pant, pant¡­" I stared at the direction of the boss while breathing heavily. Unfortunately, luck wasn¡¯t on my side today. The wolf king let out an angry roar and ran straight toward me! It was almost as if it was attracted by a certain object! I hurriedly ran out of the wolf cave and up the mountain range at the back. The wolf king most likely could sense the scroll no matter the range. Trickery wouldn¡¯t work here, it seemed. I still had some time, so I decided that I might as well check out the Ancient Divine Skill I got! I identified the scroll while running like hell¡ª Greedy Wolf Howl (S Rank Ancient Divine Skill): Increases user''s Attack by 75%. Land a Greedy Strike on the target and steal gold equal to the damage dealt divided by 10. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Cost: 50% MP! ¡­¡­ Increase Attack by 75%, damage the opponent and steal their gold based on the damage done? That¡¯s crazy! Assuming that the player dealt 100k damage to a target, that¡¯s 10k gold stolen just like that! I didn¡¯t know what the other Ancient Divine Skills were like, but this had to be one of the most inhumane ones out there... However, I hesitated about three seconds before tossing the scroll into the forest. The moment it left my hand, it transformed into a ball of light and rolled down a cliff about 300 meters tall. The scroll was so shiny that it was visible all the way down. The reason I had decided to discard this Ancient Divine Skill was simple: I wanted an Ancient Divine Skill that granted me absolute killing power, and one that increased my Attack by 75% wasn¡¯t what I was looking for. While its Greedy Strike effect was undeniably incredible, I didn¡¯t need that much money. I might as well leave it to someone else. Just dozens of meters away from me, the Elephant City assassin from earlier abruptly exited stealth, activated Swift Dash and raced straight toward the falling scroll. At the same time, he shouted, "That¡¯s an Ancient Divine Skill Scroll, Wind Spirit! I cannot believe that a Chinese player just tossed it like it was nothing! Well, don¡¯t mind if I do¡­" The archer named Wind Spirit hurriedly shouted, "Wait! The guardian boss is chasing after the scroll as well! Be careful!" The assassin couldn¡¯t hear her advice, however. After all, the person to use the scroll first would be able to ascend to the Heavenly River Realm. Unfortunately for him, the wolf king was way faster than even the assassin with Swift Dash turned on. It was racing toward the scroll as well. The assassin, archer and the wolf king were all racing toward the scroll, but their objectives were completely different from one another. It was an interesting sight to say the least. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, an exclamation of surprise came from beneath the mountain. "Am I seeing this right? Is that an Ancient Divine Skill Scroll??" The man at the foot of the mountain was a Japanese player. In fact, he was none other than the guild leader of Era of Strife and the leader of almost a million men, Copper Spear. He was galloping toward somewhere when the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll¡¯s light caught his attention. It was way too shiny to miss. Wind Spirit dashed between and over the trees and the rocks like a swallow, falling in a swift but controlled manner toward the scroll. At the same time, she notched an arrow and shouted to her partner, "Grab the scroll while I put down Copper Spear, Night Chill! The Japanese must not get their hands on the first Ancient Divine Skill Scroll of the game!" "Got it!" I could see that the assassin and the archer were both first-rate. No wonder they were confident enough to enter the Sky Vortex and seek out its treasure the moment it was opened. I didn¡¯t want the scroll to fall into the hands of Copper Spear or the two Elephant City players, so I decided that I might as well see this through until the end. So, I gathered swirls of air beneath my feet and glided down the mountain range while leaving blue ripples behind my trail. Meanwhile, the scroll kept smacking into tree branches and changing directions as it fell, causing the trio¡¯s heartbeats to spike like crazy! "This is mine!" Copper Spear abruptly jumped up from its mount and raised its hand into the sky. His aim was true, and it looked like the scroll was about to enter his possession. "Roar roar¡­" However, the wolf king arrived just in time to swipe at Copper Spear with its sharp claws. Although Copper Spear raised his shield and blocked the attack, he still lost a ton of HP¡ª 219399! 258284! Not only had he failed to catch the scroll, the wolf king had nearly turned him into a human pancake. The assassin, Night Chill hit the ground with a thud and dashed toward the scroll at high speed. Unlike Copper Spear, no one was around to stop him from swiping the scroll from the air! Swhoosh! However, before the assassin could put the scroll into his bag, a spinning sword suddenly appeared from his blind spot and sent him flying. Coiling Dragon Revolution had almost one-shot him, leaving him with just 3% HP. More importantly, the scroll escaped from his grasp and flew into the air once more. Shocked but not deterred, the archer Wind Spirit ran toward me and fired a quick Shock Arrow! Thud! My movement came to an abrupt halt. Are you kidding me? The Shock Arrow had at best a 10% chance of stunning me, but it succeeded anyway and stunned me for 2.3 seconds. "Grab the scroll now, Night Chill!" Wind Spirit shouted. The assassin hurriedly climbed back to his feet and attempted to swipe the scroll from the air again, but in his haste he failed to notice the man running toward him from behind. Copper Spear had somehow escaped the boss, and he didn¡¯t waste a moment to plunge his sword through the assassin¡¯s back and cackle sinisterly. "This Ancient Divine Skill is mine, small fry!" After that, he flicked the assassin¡¯s corpse off his blade before downing a health potion and using War God Recovery. He then galloped straight toward the scroll. I absolutely wasn¡¯t going to give him the scroll, so the second the stun ended I dashed toward the guild leader like lightning and slammed my knee right into his stomach! Bang! The blow sent both him and his mount flying to the back and caused his eyes to widen like saucers. However, he clenched his teeth and roared, "No one can have this scroll except me!" Golden light surrounded his body. He actually activated his invincibility skill! Swhoosh! However, half a second after the invincibility came active, a gigantic creature abruptly descended in front of him and clamped its nasty teeth around Copper Spear¡¯s forehead. The guild leader shivered like a leaf, but he looked up and forced a smile onto his face, "You¡­ you¡¯re just a kind little animal, right? You won¡¯t bite me, right?" Crack! The sickening sound of something breaking entered everyone¡¯s ears, and blood spilled out of Copper Spear¡¯s head like a fountain. At the same time, the man groaned, "Are you kidding me? It can ignore invincibility?" Pu! That was all he managed to say before the wolf king bit his entire head off. Now I knew for certain that the guardian bosses of the Ancient Divine Skills possessed the same invincibility-ignoring qualities as the skills themselves. Starting now, the age of invincibility skills being synonymous with absolute safety had become a relic of the past. ¡­¡­ "Roar roar!" Unfortunately, I was the closest player to the wolf king besides Copper Spear, so it immediately turned toward me and swiped at me three times in a row. Despite a successful Guard, I still lost nearly 200k HP. This boss''s Attack was way too powerful. While I was staggered, the archer, Wind Spirit seized the opportunity to leap into the air and stretch her hand toward the scroll. Oh no, she¡¯s going to catch it... It was an outcome I couldn¡¯t accept, so while holding off the boss''s attacks with the Dragon God Shield, I aimed my sword at the scroll and threw it! Chiang! Just like that, the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll flew into the air again and toward the forest. Wind Spirit narrowed her eyes in annoyance, "Not again! Bastard¡­" She turned around and fired her Shock Arrow again. Was she the bane of me or something? She actually managed to stun me again! The boss didn¡¯t let go of the opportunity and used me like a punching bag... ¡­¡­ Thud! Wind Spirit raced toward the grass where the scroll had landed. However, a beautiful woman emerged from the forest, bent down and picked up the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll long before the archer could do anything. She giggled like a bell and said, "Oh my, I¡¯ve never had a gift from heaven literally rolling to my feet before. I don¡¯t think I can get luckier than I am today." I was smiling too. The new arrival was none other than Chaos Moon herself! She waved the scroll in her hand while looking at me. "Do you want this scroll, Lu Chen?" I shook my head and punched the boss in the head. "Nope. Anyway, no time to wait, Chaos Moon! Use it now!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ The scroll vanished into her palm in a flash, and the familiar ring entered all our ears¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Chaos Moon" (China) used an Ancient Divine Skill Scroll and obtained the Ancient Divine Skill, "Greedy Wolf Howl." They¡¯ve successfully entered the Heavenly River Realm and gained Heavenly River Transformation and Domain. As the first player to enter the Heavenly River Realm, they gain Level +2, Luck +2, and an equipment reward, "Galaxy Armor" (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)! ¡­¡­ Air suddenly swirled beneath Chaos Moon¡¯s feet as she opened her palm and activated Heavenly River Transformation. It looked as if a pair of snow white wings had appeared behind her back. At the same time, a force field¡ªit had to be that Domain mentioned in the system announcement¡ªappeared around her and froze the leaves dancing around her person. The archer raged, "How dare you take my scroll!" She drew her bow and loosed Bone Eroding Arrow straight at Chaos Moon. Surprised, Chaos Moon held up her palm in front of her and forced the shot to come to a sudden stop in front of her. However, it seemed like holding the arrow in place wasn¡¯t an easy thing to do, so she moved away from her original location before releasing her hold. Just like that, the Bone Eroding Arrow sailed past her harmlessly and caused a MISS to rise above her head. I was stunned. This was but the tip of the iceberg that was the Heavenly River Realm. Starting today, the word "Domain" was probably going to rewrite the existing concept of PvP completely! Chapter 1197: Alexander Chaos Moon dashed toward Wind Spirit as the sinister-looking image of a Greedy Wolf appeared around her blade. Greedy Wolf Howl increased her Attack by 75%, so the blow dealt over 190k damage and one-shot the archer where she stood. That wasn¡¯t all though. The gold stealing effect activated, and around 18k gold vanished from Wind Spirit¡¯s pockets and into Chaos Moon¡¯s pockets with a golden flash! "What the fuck¡­" I was stunned, obviously. In a sense, this Greedy Wolf Howl was the best taunt skill in the entire game. All Chaos Moon needed to do was to PK other players in Sky Forest for a day or so, and the next day she would surpass me and become the new public enemy No. 1! ¡­¡­ Whoosh whoosh... Swirls of fire danced around Chaos Moon¡¯s sexy body as she floated in midair. Angel-like wings still spread out behind her back, she shot me a smile and said, "How does it look, Lu Chen? This Heavenly River Transformation is gorgeous, isn¡¯t it?" I nodded wholeheartedly. "Yes it is!" Crack! The wolf king bit down on my head and dropped my HP below the 25% mark at this exact timing almost as if it was voicing its agreement. Too bad I couldn¡¯t care less about its opinion. Enraged, I punched it off my skull and executed Burning Blade Slash. After pushing myself away from its attack range using the knockback effect, I pointed my palm at it and landed a very lucky God Binding Art. It was at this moment that Chaos Moon strode toward us. Ripples appeared beneath her footsteps as if she was walking on water. I bet her ability to suspend herself in midair was also an effect of the Domain part of Heavenly River Transformation. After scoring a hit on the boss''s head, Chaos Moon shot me a smile and said, "You¡¯re not killing this boss, right Lu Chen? In that case, I¡¯ll cover for you while you make your escape!" "Great! Let¡¯s meet again in the southern forest 1000 yards away from here!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I ran like crazy until both the boss and Chaos Moon had vanished completely from view. Eventually, I could only hear faint howls from time to time. Chaos Moon¡¯s Attack and Defense stats had grown massively after she entered the Heavenly River Realm, and she even gained the ability to fly. This meant that her survivability was now as good as mine. Even if the wolf king managed to kill her, it didn¡¯t matter because she had already acquired her Ancient Divine Skill. To put it bluntly, my life was more precious than hers right now. A few minutes later, Chaos Moon met up with me in her normal form and said smilingly, "Alright, I¡¯m going back now that my job is done." "Oh? That fast?" "What, you think I want this? Any player who¡¯s learned an Ancient Divine Skill will automatically be teleported out of the Ruins of the Gods 10 minutes later." "That¡¯s a shame. I was hoping that you¡¯d become my bodyguard for the trip¡­" "Heehee. Take care!" "I will!" ¡­¡­ Chaos Moon took out a guild return scroll and teleported straight back to Dark Moon City. After she was gone, I checked my surroundings for danger before resummoning the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition. Then, I continued onward to the unknown. I now knew that the Divine Wolf ruins I just explored were but one of the many, many minimaps of Ruins of the Gods. I wasn¡¯t going to stop until I finally found what I wanted! A while after I dashed through Cold Wind Forest, Dark Pupils revealed more red dots in front of me. They were mobs. The moment I emerged into a clearing, I saw a bunch of broken walls that resembled the ruins of an empire stowed away inside a great canyon. The fantastical structures had long lost their vitality, and the streets were overrun by undead soldiers with empty eye sockets. They wielded halberds, knives, iron swords and more. I gripped the Purple Ying Sword tightly and snuck forward. Then, I locked my eyes onto the closest undead soldier¡ªa spear wielder with glassy eyes, hoarse-sounding screams and simple armor¡ªand read its stats¡ª Ancient Undead Soldier (Fiend) Level: 270 Introduction: These undead soldiers used to be elite soldiers of an ancient empire. Together with their master, they conquered many lands until they became known as an invincible army. One of their most notable achievements was defeating over 200000 enemies with minimal losses in an ancient war. They were praised by the world as the Holy Army. ¡­¡­ I pursed my lips. The description was pretty telling on its own, but what made me feel certain that these undead soldiers were a parody of a certain conqueror¡¯s army in real life was the star symbol on their shoulder. They had to be the army of Alexander the Great. According to history, the 40000-strong Holy Army engaged Persia¡¯s 160000 troops and killed over 100000 at the cost of only 5000 soldiers. During the B.C. era, assuming that Alexander the Great hadn¡¯t given up his conquest of India halfway, he would¡¯ve come face to face with the Warring States of China. It would¡¯ve made for a most interesting history for sure. In this game though, only one fate awaited Alexander the Great¡¯s invincible army, and that was player fodder. I was also pretty sure that the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll of this map would be related to Alexander the Great in some ways. I wondered what the connection would be though? Multiple considerations passed through my mind, but in the end I decided to grind the mobs at the edge of the mountain range. The plan was to delve deeper into the map while keeping as low a profile as possible. However, I had no plans of actually using the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll of this map even if it did fall into my hands. The reason for this was very simple: as one the first players to enter the Sky Vortex, I had an ample amount of time to explore the Ruins of the Gods and find an Ancient Divine Skill that was truly of my liking, and ideally I wanted to obtain an Ancient Divine Skill with origins from an ancient Chinese myth. Obviously, Alexander the Great¡¯s Ancient Divine Skill didn¡¯t fall under this criterion. ¡­¡­ Chiang chiang! Metallic sparks flew off the undead soldier¡¯s torso as I landed a strike on its shoulder. Despite its tattered appearance, the mob was so tough that not even the Purple Ying Sword was able to penetrate its Defense completely. However, I wasn¡¯t daunted because the mobs provided an equally generous amount of experience in return. Currently, my plan was to cut my way through the canyon and make it to the red zone directly in front of me. The redder a zone on the map screen, the stronger the guardian boss, and the better the quality of the Ancient Divine Skill. I fought for almost two hours until I heard the sound of someone speaking. Dark Pupils immediately revealed to me that three people were coming my way! I immediately stopped grinding and jumped behind a shrubbery to hide myself. A while later, two magic knights and one mage with the emblem of Elephant City floating on their shoulder entered my view. I even recognized the guild emblem. All three players belonged to Dark Clouds, the strongest guild in Elephant City, and the only other super guild that could go toe-to-toe against Natural Flow. Among the trio, one of them was a corps commander, and the other two were the elites of the guild as well. I knew that a ton of Elephant City players had passed through Sky Vortex, but these three still got insanely lucky to have encountered each other so soon. "This is the place¡­" The leader of the group, a magic knight said with a smile, "According to Little Cat¡¯s intel, this is the resting place of Alexander the Great. Apparently, the ancient emperor had ascended and become a god after conquering this land. However, even gods weren¡¯t immune to death, and Alexander the Great¡¯s Battle Axe is said to be somewhere on this map¡­" The mage voiced his confusion. "Alexander the Great¡¯s Battle Axe, you say?" "Yep. Well, it says it¡¯s an axe, but it¡¯s really a skill. The Eternal Moon¡¯s Indian branch mentioned that it has incredible offensive power, but that was it. Even they weren¡¯t informed of its exact coordinates, skill, stats and more. One thing was certain though, and that was the Ancient Divine Skill was SS Rank. Do you understand now how lucky we are to run into this map so soon?" ¡­¡­ I hid my surprise. Alexander the Great¡¯s Ancient Divine Skill was SS Rank? I had read up on the publicly released info before logging into the game, so I knew that there were 9 SSS Rank super Ancient Divine Skills, 20 SS Rank Ancient Divine Skills, and 70 S Rank Ancient Divine Skills. For example, Chaos Moon¡¯s Greedy Wolf Howl was an S Rank Ancient Divine Skill. Logically speaking, locating an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill and actually obtaining it should be as hard as trying to grab the moon from its reflection, so an SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Scroll was a good compromise for most players. And thanks to these players, I now knew for certain that this ruin was hiding an SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Scroll. How tempting! The leader of the group ordered, "Come on, we¡¯re going to make our way in from the edge and avoid the mobs at the center. Dark Night and I will be the tanks, and you, the damage dealer. Only attack those I aggro, and make sure you don¡¯t OT, understand? I need you to bring your A-game to this fight. We cannot afford to fuck up with so many enemies around here." The mage nodded. "I understand!" ¡­¡­ The trio began grinding. I was just about to ambush them when suddenly, another four dots entered my radar. Dammit! I reined in my impulse and remained hidden inside the forest. It would be a bad idea to rush out in a hurry. The Ruins of the Gods were a huge map, but quite a number of players were making their way into this map as well. At least five to six hundred eighth-promotion players of various nationalities had entered the Sky Vortex at first notice, but the large majority of them hailed from the Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City or Elephant City. Long story short, there was a much higher chance I would encounter an enemy than an ally, and everyone here was an elite eighth-promotion player. The last thing I wanted to do was to get careless and suffer the price of my arrogance. Some time later, four figures appeared from behind a bush of swaying Jimsonweed. As I thought, they hailed from Asuka Period, Purple Grape City. Their guild leader and mage, Shogunate, strode in the middle while accompanied by two cavalrymen and one archer. It was the perfect grinding party. Shogunate abruptly raised his scepter and said, "Wait!" "What¡¯s wrong, boss?" "Look. There¡¯s a group over there. They¡¯re from Elephant City!" A sneer immediately sprung to a magic knight¡¯s lips. "Elephant City? Hehe. During the War of Sky City, these so-called ¡®allies¡¯ of ours only knew to send us against Dragonlight Cavalry as cannon fodder. I¡¯ve been wanting to fuck them over for a long time. Let¡¯s kill them, boss!" However, Shogunate shook his head and said, "Patience. We only have one chance on this map, so don¡¯t underestimate our opponents. I heard that Copper Spear is out of the game already¡­" "Copper Spear? But Copper Spear is so strong! How is that possible?" "There¡¯s no such thing as impossible. He must¡¯ve been taken out by someone who is stronger than him." "What should we do now then?" "This canyon cuts through the entire map, so I suggest we fight our way over and hopefully reach Alexander the Great¡¯s Ancient Divine Skill Scroll before our competitors. Once one of us has ascended to the Heavenly River Realm, our chances of defeating our opponents will naturally skyrocket. Anyway, we¡¯ll grind the mobs until we reach the boss location. Once we¡¯re there, we¡¯ll find a way to wipe out the Elephant City group. Oh, remember to change your attack mode to Nation War attack mode, okay? You can¡¯t form parties here." "Yessir!" ¡­¡­ I smiled. There was a saying: the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Today, I would be the oriole. I had no fondness for the Ancient Divine Skill especially after I heard its real name, but simply surrendering it to my opponents wasn¡¯t my style either. It was time to put my bag of trickery to good use... Chapter 1198: Thunderblade A couple more casual players entered this map less than an hour later. The ruins of Alexander the Great¡¯s empire stretched across the entire map, so anyone from the north who wished to travel south and vice versa must pass through this canyon no matter what. I could already foresee the great conflict that was sure to occur at this place. Crack! I chopped off an undead soldier¡¯s head and picked up the card it dropped. It was one that increased Strength by 30%, or 18% or so Attack in more practical terms. After all, Strength wasn¡¯t factored into a weapon¡¯s Attack boost. That being said it was still incredibly powerful, especially considering the fighter classes could learn Ultimate Strength Break after they got their eight promotion. A 30% increase in Strength would make it even deadlier than it already was. However, the card had a Level Requirement of 225, and even I was only Level 220, not to mention that I didn¡¯t have Ultimate Strength Break. I tossed it into my bag and planned to sell them after Sky City reopened. Buying that BMW for Beiming Xue had made me almost as poor as a beggar, so I could definitely use the extra cash. I looked up. There was a huge, decrepit structure 200 yards in front of me that looked a bit like the Colosseum of Ancient Rome, and at the center of it sat a mighty-looking general from a much older time. He wore metal armor and wielded a heavy-looking sword, and floating above his head was the image of a scroll. This meant that the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll could only be obtained if the boss was killed. I had thought that an SS Rank skill scroll would be harder to obtain than an S Rank one, and it looked like my prediction was spot-on. ¡­¡­ The number of players on this map had grown before I realized it. I counted over 20 players inside this canyon alone. Not including me, there were 4 Cyan Earth City players, 5 Elephant City players, 5 Purple Grape City players, 3 Hero City players, and 4 Chaotic 27 players. Currently, everyone was making their way toward the boss from different directions. They were also just one step away from the boss now. Cyan Earth City and Elephant City¡¯s players naturally met up and formed a group of 9. Their tactical commander was a woman and the vice leader of Nation Guardian, Moe God. She was also a Level 212 ice knight, which was the same class as Red Maple¡¯s right-hand woman, Cyan Frost. However, Moe God¡¯s skill was far, far shittier than Cyan Frost¡¯s, and she was dead real early during the previous Nation War. In fact, I think it was Du Thirteen and Yamete who took her out. The monsters died one by one under the players¡¯ cooperation. Eventually, the only one left was the undead general at the center of the colosseum-like structure. All 20+ players stood together in one group, but I didn¡¯t join them. Everyone here was part of that massive invasion that almost defeated Sky City¡ªwhich made them my sworn enemies¡ªand I was but a single Chinese player. There was every chance they would gang up on me instantly if I showed my face. ¡­¡­ I glanced at the boss and, to my surprise, I could actually read his stats. It was still horrifyingly powerful though¡ª Thunderblade the General of Fate (Ancient Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 280 Attack: 41200~55000 Defense: 44000 HP: 70000000 Skills: Thunder Crack Slash, Ultimate Strength Break, Warblade Revolution, Earth-shattering Storm Introduction: Thunderblade is an undead war god and the culmination of all the warrior souls of the empire. They had defended the ruins of the empire for tens of thousands of years and killed countless thieves and adventurers who sought to steal the empire¡¯s treasure. Over time, all the slaughter transformed Thunderblade the General of Fate into a violent god of death. ¡­¡­ To say that I was stunned would be an understatement. It was 60 levels above me with an upper Attack of 55k. If I factored in the natural advantages and level penalties, then its effective Attack was at least five times higher than what its stats reflected, or 270k. My 100k+ Defense was definitely not good enough to withstand its attacks. And don¡¯t even get me started on obvious killer moves such as Ultimate Strength Break and Warblade Revolution. This was going to be "fun¡±... I didn¡¯t try to fight the boss even though I was among the first to have reached it. For starters, I didn¡¯t see any terrain that I could use to dodge a skill or block the boss. Two, there was no chance in hell even I could beat this super boss solo. To put into perspective just how strong it was, assuming that my guild¡¯s elites bum-rushed it with zero tactic whatsoever, it would probably kill a couple hundred thousand of us before we finally defeated it... So yeah, it wasn¡¯t an option. I pursed my lips, remained hidden underground and waited for the situation to unfold. ¡­¡­ On the ground, Moe God waved her spear in greeting at Purple Grape City¡¯s Shogunate, who was standing a good distance away from her as a matter of course. "Hello, Shogunate. I am the vice leader of Nation Guardian and a player of Cyan Earth City, Moe God. We¡¯ve fought side by side during the Nation War. You remember me, don¡¯t you?" Shogunate smiled politely as he replied, "Of course!" He shot the slumbering boss at the center of the colosseum before cracking a joke. "This boss is quite something, ain¡¯t it? How about you engage it first while we cheer for you from the back? Haha¡­" Moe God pouted cutely and said, "Aiyo, stop teasing us already, Brother Shogunate. This boss is ridiculously powerful, and there¡¯s only a couple of us. We would¡¯ve fought it already if it was that easy. Why don¡¯t we work together? It¡¯s our only hope to kill it. I¡¯m sure you noticed that the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll is on the boss. Don¡¯t you want to become the second person to enter the Heavenly River Realm?" Shogunate shrugged. "No seriously, your levels are super high. I don¡¯t see how we can help you at all." "Nonsense¡­" Moe God stuck out her tongue. "Haven¡¯t you noticed our party composition? We have range, we have melee, but we don¡¯t have a single priest with us. You, though, have exactly what we need. So again, why don¡¯t we work together? It certainly makes the boss fight a lot more doable¡­" Shogunate smiled. It was obvious that Moe God really wanted the Level 211 male priest¡ªthe only support out of everyone present, by the way¡ªin his group only, but she wasn¡¯t stupid enough to not extend the offer to his entire party. It was true that their chances of beating the boss were better if they had a priest in their party, even though I personally thought that it was still a low chance. "So? Have you decided, Brother Shogunate?" Moe God said while swaying her butt. In the end, Shogunate nodded. "Alright. The boss is of the metal armor type, so I doubt a melee player will be able to penetrate its Defense. Therefore, I¡¯ll be the main damage dealer, and your group, the aggro holders. Use Barrier Break as often as you are able, it is one of the best at drawing aggro. Our priest will do our best to keep you all healthy. Also, everyone should change their attack mode from Nation War to Ally now!" ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and Purple Grape City joined into a 14-man group. Then, something unexpected happened. After Moe God and Shogunate whispered a little something to each other, three of their magic knights abruptly tossed their Trapping Nets at the three Hero City players, catching them completely by surprise and immobilizing them. "Kill!" Moe God dropped her moe act and dished out a merciless Barrier Break + Triple Slash combo at a Hero City mage, killing him instantly. On the other side, Shogunate dropped Touch of the Dragonkiss + God Devil Break on a different player and killed them as well. All three Hero City players were killed before they could even blink. I couldn¡¯t help but sigh at their utter lack of caution. The world was a treacherous place, and these USA kids obviously had no idea how dark the world was beyond their borders. Shocked but not stunned, the four Chaotic 27 players immediately backed away from the Indian and Japanese players. A magic knight growled out while backing away, "Watch out! The Indians and Japanese have joined forces! Back out of their attack range now! We¡¯ll get them when the boss is about to die!" Shogunate sneered, "Hmph. At least these ones aren¡¯t complete fools. I wonder if they were serious when they said they wanted to KS our boss though. With their equipment? Hah!" He was right. The Chaotic 27 players were leveling maniacs, but the best equipment I spotted on their person was A5 at best. It was utterly incomparable to the Immortal-grade equipment Moe God and Shogunate were wearing. In a fight, Shogunate could probably kill all of them alone. ¡­¡­ "Should we start now?" Moe God looked at Shogunate and asked. "Yeah. Go for it!" Moe God raised her hand, and gathered the energy of Trapping Net on her palm. Her idea to use a ranged skill to dispel the boss''s standby state was a good one. It reduced the chance of her getting one-shot by some bullshit spell or something. "Cast Health Recovery on Moe God, priest!" Shogunate ordered. "Got it¡­" The male priest raised his scepter and cast the spell on Moe God as commanded. It was a spell that healed a certain percentage per second; basically a must-have spell for any priest. Right after he cast the spell, I leaped out of my hiding spot, twisted my wrist and tossed my sword at him with one mighty swing. One moment there was a draconic roar, and the next a spinning vortex had torn a giant hole in the priest¡¯s chest and dealt 400k+ damage to him. He never stood a chance. Pop! While the male priest dropped to his knees, I caught the returning blade and slipped back into the underground once more. I acted so fast that no one had a chance to react until it was already over. ¡­¡­ "W¡­ what the fuck just happened?" Shogunate felt like he was dreaming. Moe God checked the combat logs before exclaiming in anger, "Fuck! It was Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! The ambusher is Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Why is he even here? What should we do?" Shogunate clenched his teeth. "We¡¯re still going to fight the boss, but have your archer keep Clear As Flame on at all times and be ready to break the bastard¡¯s stealth. Dammit!" Moe God nodded, and the Nation Guardian archer activated Clear As Flame as Shogunate suggested. Now I had to play it safe. No matter how powerful I was, Shock Arrow + Trapping Net was a combo no one wanted to face if possible. ¡­¡­ The group waited instead of engaging the boss immediately. A short while later, another seven Cyan Earth City players and Purple Grape City casual players reached the area. Although they belonged to different guilds, they had joined Moe God¡¯s and Shogunate¡¯s groups without hesitation. Now, their party was 21 men strong. As mentioned before, no party could be formed in the Ruins of the Gods, but that didn¡¯t mean they couldn¡¯t unite their strength. "There should be enough of us now. Begin!" Shogunate uttered through clenched teeth. Moe God nodded and tossed the Trapping Net she had been withholding all this time. The net hit the boss''s head and resulted in a huge MISS. At the same time, Thunderblade awoke from his slumber, opened his blood-red eyes, and grasped his vicious-looking blade. He rose to his feet and let out a furious roar. "Are you ants still vying for the great emperor¡¯s secret scroll? Come! I, Thunderblade, shall end your avaricious lives!" His steel boots shattered the rotten bricks beneath his feet as he ran. The very first attack he used on Moe God was Ultimate Strength Break! Bang! 568120! Moe God¡¯s HP dropped to 15% immediately. The boss had almost one-shot her! She exclaimed in shock and disbelief, "What the hell is this boss!? I¡¯m using a 70% HP increase card!" Chapter 1199: Dragon Knight Breeze and Rain Just as I thought, it was tough even for a group of 21 experts to battle against Thunderblade. His level was too high, and his Strength stat was out of the world. If his Ultimate Strength Break could hit a fighter for over 500k damage, I could easily imagine that damage doubling against squishies like mages and archers! Moe God moved to the back to allow her two magic knights to tank for her momentarily. I could tell from their equipment alone that they were 5-Stamina magic knights. They raised their shields and attempted to block the boss''s path. However, Thunderblade shot them an arrogant, savage smile that perfectly matched his status as a super boss. He then flung furious waves of energy at the two magic knights with his weapon. It was Warblade Revolution! Bang bang! 398788! 317234! 370399! ¡­¡­ The skill dealt an insane amount of damage to say the least. The two magic knights¡¯ HP dropped to almost nothing in just the blink of an eye. They tried to withdraw to safety, but Thunderblade last-hit both of them with well-timed basic attacks. Suddenly, Thunderblade leaped to the air and channeled a storm of lightning around his blade. It was yet another skill. The archer he was targeting tried to retreat, but he found himself moving as slow as a snail because he had entered Thundeblade¡¯s Domain before he realized it. In the end, he wasn¡¯t able to escape his death. Crack! The archer was almost split in half as Thunderblade¡¯s sword sliced down his shoulder. The Thunder Crack Blade dealt at least 900k+ damage to the archer and stunned Shogunate and Moe God all over again. Thud thud thud... Ice Arrow Spells, Freezing Arrows, Shock Arrows struck the boss''s body. Although their effects were limited, every bit of CC counted against this monster. Also, they were lucky that Thunderblade was a pure Strength boss with so-so movement speed. If it was the wolf king I had fought earlier, their 18-man group would¡¯ve been party-wiped already. "No, no, this cannot continue!" Shogunate slowed the boss with Arctic Rain while shouting, "We need to find an advantageous terrain soon, or we¡¯re all going to die!" Moe God looked left and right before pointing at one of the entrances. "That wall is about a hundred meters wide, and it only has one narrow entrance. If we plug it with two fighters and have our damage dealers attack from behind, we may just be able to beat this unbeatable boss!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ They immediately started withdrawing toward the entrance, but not before another three fighters and two mages dropped dead to a devastating Warblade Revolution, shrinking their group even more. Shogunate¡¯s complexion was purple at this point. He had completely underestimated the boss''s ferocity. Moe God didn¡¯t look as bad, however. She made her way to her position as soon as she could and began shielding Shogunate and the rest of the damage dealers as planned. Something amazing happened. As it turned out, the choke point she chose was absolutely perfect. The boss could only roam back and forth between the two ends of the entrance, and he couldn¡¯t jump over the wall to get at the damage dealers. Of course, he would be almost unbeatable if he was capable of such a stunt. ¡­¡­ "Haha, well done, Moe God!" Shogunate couldn¡¯t help but laugh when he saw that Moe God¡¯s plan had worked out perfectly. Moe God smiled as well as she blocked the boss''s path with her spear, but I gleaned much more than just delight at her plan working from it. By inserting herself between the boss and the Japanese, she practically ensured that no one could get to the boss before her. Once Thunderblade was dead, Moe God would definitely be the first person to reach the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll. Shogunate had to think of a plan soon, or he would be playing second fiddle for Moe God. I continued to watch the boss fight from afar without doing anything. The boss had a great amount of HP, so it would take Shogunate and co. a while to defeat it. I wasn¡¯t planning to steal the boss''s experience¡ªthat would be too greedy considering the circumstances¡ªbut I definitely wasn¡¯t going to leave the scroll. These people mustn¡¯t be allowed to obtain the scroll without a fight. ¡­¡­ Time passed bit by bit. More than an hour later,Thunderblade¡¯s HP had fallen to less than 10%. Speaking of which, one of their archers had a skill that decreased health regeneration, and it was why they were able to whittle down the boss this quickly. Otherwise, considering the HP regeneration of an Ancient Immortal Rank boss like Thunderblade, it would¡¯ve taken them at least three to four hours to defeat him. Shink... I slowly unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword, ready to go at a moment¡¯s notice. No one could have this Ancient Divine Skill Scroll except me! It wasn¡¯t long before the boss''s HP had dropped to 2%, or 1.4 million HP. I didn¡¯t think my Purple Dragon Howl would be able to instakill it unless I used Purple Frost Concentration first. Also, using Purple Dragon Howl would put me in a weakened state for 3 seconds, and both Shogunate and Moe God possessed the strength to one-shot me during that period. No, it was just too risky. That being said, that was no reason not to move closer to the group and get into position. In the end, it was the Japanese who acted first. Shogunate abruptly growled out, "Kill!" The three Purple Grape City players immediately used Barrier Break, Touch of the Dragonkiss and Galaxy Storm on Moe God and the other magic knight at once. However, the second Shogunate made his move, Moe God turned around and activated her invincibility skill to protect herself. Not only that, she stabbed the closest Purple Grape City mage to her and one-shot him with Barrier Break. As expected, no one here was stupid. Practically everyone had anticipated this betrayal to happen and planned accordingly. ¡­¡­ "Dammit!" Shogunate cursed as he cast Freezing Spell, freezing the magic knight beside Moe God instantly. However, his skill pissed off the boss and caused it to unleash its devastating Earth-shattering Storm. Moe God was invincible, so she wasn¡¯t affected by it. Shogunate had also activated his invincibility skill just in time to survive it. Everyone else was one-shot, however. That ultimate skill was fatal against everyone in their group. The situation turned from good to absolutely terrible. They had grown lax because they had handled the boss for an entire hour without issue, but in the end Thunderblade still proved to be the greatest enemy of them all! Boom! Shogunate cast a magic spell that hit both Moe God and the boss. He shouted in anger, "If I can¡¯t get the scroll, you¡¯re not getting it either!" As Moe God withdrew from Shogunate, a dozen or so Indian players suddenly rushed toward Shogunate from outside the colosseum, weapons raised. The mage was completely caught off-guard. He hadn¡¯t noticed the gathering of Cyan Earth City players and Elephant City players until it was too late. "Rest in peace, old man!" Moe God said with a giggle. Invincibility skills only lasted so long, and in the end, Shogunate wasn¡¯t able to escape before his time was up. Three fighters plunged their blades through his chest, and he screamed and dropped to his knees in defeat just like that. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the dozen or so Indian players surrounded the boss again as Moe God ordered, "Go all out! The boss only has 1 million HP now! The scroll is ours once the boss is dead!" That¡¯s my cue to act! I abruptly flew out of the earth and dashed diagonally around the party. 0.7 seconds later, I made the decision to fire Burning Blade Slash at the boss''s direction, killing 5 high-level magic knights and deleting much of Moe God¡¯s HP! "He¡¯s back!" Moe God tossed Trapping Net at me and brought her spear down with Freezing Slash, sealing off two of my attack angles instantly. I wasn¡¯t expecting her to form such a fiery response in just a second. Chiang! I managed to knock her speartip off course and send it careening toward the ground, thus preventing myself from being frozen. Then, I stepped right past her and thrust my weapon at the boss again. Boss first, players later! I executed a Purple Frost Concentration + Universe Break combo, dropping Thunderblade to just 400k HP in an instant. Then, I pressed a palm to the ground and cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon! "Shit!" Moe God shuddered. She knew well how powerful the skill was, just as she knew why I was using it now. Both the boss and her players would die to my skill, and the Ancient Divine Skill would go to me if she didn¡¯t do something now! ¡­¡­ And she did. Moe God went full moe as she raced toward me and raised her fist like she was about to punch me. For a second, I thought she was joking until I saw the familiar red gathering around her fist. What the¡­ Magic Piercing Punch?! It worked. Battle Astral Wind had blocked the damage, but the cancellation still took effect and interrupted my Rise of the Guardian Dragon! It was fine though. Basic attacks work on bosses too! And so, I ran backward in an unpredictable path while slapping the boss''s face with my sword again and again. Since my Battle Astral Wind was almost at full durability, I could easily face-tank a couple of hits from the boss. Deleting his 40k HP before Battle Astral Wind was destroyed wasn¡¯t a problem at all! ¡­¡­ Boom! I cast Thousand Ice Slash that knocked Moe God backward. The Temple Guard looked ashen-faced. It was clear as day that she and her allies couldn¡¯t beat me here. Crack! Finally, Thunderblade lost his last sliver of HP and dropped dead. He erupted into a floor of equipment, but I paid them no more than a cursory glance. I could tell that there was only basic Immortal-grade equipment; not even an Ancient or an Archean Immortal-grade. Naturally, I filtered them out of my mind. Chiang! The Ancient Divine Skill Scroll hit the ground and bounced into the air. To my surprise, Moe God was able to catch it with the tip of the spear and flick it into the air. Thud! She jumped. Her control was superb. She actually managed to catch the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll before I did. ¡­¡­ However, a shadow suddenly enveloped both of us. When Moe God looked up, her expression immediately turned complicated. "Breeze¡­ Breeze and Rain¡­" I looked up. It was Breeze and Rain, and more importantly, the guy was riding a dark green¨Ccolored wind dragon. When, where, how? Its stats couldn¡¯t be too lousy even if it wasn¡¯t a Holy Giant Dragon. Breeze and Rain shot Moe God an indifferent glance before saying, "Sorry, but this scroll is mine!" Puchi! He plunged his blade into Moe God¡¯s chest and killed her. How ruthless! Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian were allies practically since the beginning of the game, and Breeze and Rain had just taken out his ally¡¯s vice leader without even a shred of hesitation! Moe God dropped to her knees in astonishment as well. Even now, she couldn¡¯t believe that Breeze and Rain would kill her with such lack of hesitation. ¡­¡­ Buzz! Unfortunately for Breeze and Rain, a spinning sword arrived just in time to knock the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll into the air once more. It was of course my Coiling Dragon Revolution. After that, I deactivated Fusion Armor, landed on top of my Ancient Divine Dragon and successfully swiped the scroll first before the wind dragon could reach it. You could bet that my movement was so clean that Breeze and Rain was chilled by it. I didn¡¯t use the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll despite clutching it in my hand. I simply smirked at Breeze and Rain and taunted, "I¡¯m very sorry, Dragon Knight, but this scroll is mine¡­" Breeze and Rain¡¯s expression looked ugly, but he wordlessly turned around and flew toward the distant mountains. Chapter 1200: Xing Tian and his Shield and Battle Axe I fumed as I stared at Breeze and Rain¡¯s back. This was the type of enemy I feared the most. The moment he failed to steal the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll, he immediately escaped and gave me no chance to kill him at all. A true hero was the type of person who didn¡¯t allow their feelings to cloud their judgment, and could advance or retreat as the situation called. If only Breeze and Rain was an ally! ¡­¡­ I looked at the orange scroll sitting in my hand. I had to hide underground for more than an hour and play every trick I had prepared for this scenario to get it. No one could say I didn¡¯t deserve it. When my eyes made contact with the scroll¡¯s stats though, I felt like someone had dropped my heart into a pool of ice¡ª Alexander the Great¡¯s Battle Axe (SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill): Increases user''s Attack by 125%. Summon a war axe and deal a Cruel Strike to all targets within 15 yards in front of you, preventing them from receiving any heals for 12 seconds. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Cost: 50% MP. This scroll cannot be used by players from the following servers: China, India, Korea, Japan, Myanmar and Singapore. Fuck! Alexander the Great¡¯s Battle Axe was an AoE skill that increased Attack by 125%, ignored Guard and invincibility skills, and even prevented its targets from receiving any heals for 12 seconds. It was a super good AoE skill that was on par with my Myriad Swords Obliteration, if not better, but¡­ it couldn¡¯t be used by players from the Asian servers! Are you fucking kidding me!? I never wanted this Ancient Divine Skill, but I would be lying if I said that I was fine that I went through all that effort just to obtain a scroll that I couldn¡¯t use in the first place. I bet Breeze and Rain would feel like strangling himself if he had taken the scroll instead of me. ¡­¡­ I made the Ancient Divine Dragon slowly glide down a mountaintop. A bit more later, I entered another red zone. I wasn¡¯t the first one to visit this place as I saw through Dark Pupils a couple of dots searching for something in the distant forest. There was a blue river between the mountain ranges with ancient totems erected on its shores, and there were dragon engravings and oracle bone inscriptions on them. I knew immediately that I had finally found a zone that was exclusive to the Huaxia culture. This was the zone I must search if I wished to obtain an Ancient Divine Skill with Chinese origins. I spotted two players¡ªa magic knight and a wanderer¡ªand they were both Korean. More specifically, they were Throne of the Wild players. Paying no attention to the sky above their heads, they rode through the forest and chatted without any regard for their surroundings¡ª "It looks like we¡¯re the only ones on this map here, Jiho. Anyway, I found out that this river is called the Ji River. It is said in the ancient records that it is the well spring of culture of the Chinese, and the birthplace of their two most revered mythological figures, the Yan Emperor and Huang Emperor." The magic knight licked his lips and snorted. "Hmph. Yanhuang culture? If you ask me, their culture really originated from Silla and Goryeo¡­" I barely hid a snicker in the air. Silla and Goryeo only had a total history of two to three thousand years, but the Yan Emperor and Huang Emperor were mythological figures from at least four to five thousand years ago. The guy couldn¡¯t even get his timeline sorted properly. The wanderer continued, "I wonder where the guild leader is right now? Oh well, with her abilities, I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll survive whatever hardships this map can throw at her. As for the two of us, the only way we¡¯re going to get out of here alive is to cooperate with each other. Ideally, we want to find our way out of this map and meet up with the guild leader. Otherwise, finding our own Ancient Divine Skills and leaving is a good compromise as well." "Yeah, of course!" Both players gave each other a nod of solid determination. Well, that determination was about to be shattered into pieces. This was China¡¯s exclusive map, and Throne of the Wild had no place here. Swhoosh! I fired a God Binding Art and immobilized the magic knight immediately. Shocked, the wanderer looked up only to eat Dragon Slaying Slash to the face! 190042! As he stumbled backward from the attack, I activated Fusion Armor and glided down from the sky. After casting Thousand Ice Slash that froze the escaping wanderer, I fired Dragon Slaying Slash one more time to shut him up permanently. Next time, he wouldn¡¯t dare to badmouth other cultures. I turned around and faced toward the magic knight next. His eyes were filled with shock, terror, and the realization of what was about to happen to him. If I killed him, his current account would lose its only chance to step into the Heavenly River Realm. He would never be able to become anything more than a Divine General. Of course, he had to have entered the Great Earth Realm to become a Divine General in the first place, and I was pretty sure that that wasn¡¯t the case. Pu! I gave him three new holes in his chest and a free ride to heaven. Well, almost free. I picked up the high-rank bread he dropped and ate it to replenish my Satiety. I only had three pieces of bread left in my bag, and I needed to conserve them as much as I could. There was no telling what other dangers might be awaiting in front of me. ¡­¡­ I saw a couple of cute white rabbits hopping here and there between the trees not far away from me. At first, I thought they were normal critters and part of the scenery. That was until I scanned them with Dark Pupils and saw that they were goddamned Level 275 fiend-rank monsters. Their name was Ancient Mage Rabbit, and their Magic Attack was scarily high. They were also proficient in 4 types of magic. I quickly made up my mind to avoid them as I was a metal-armor class. After circling around an area that was crawling with hundreds of Ancient Mage Rabbits, I continued along the river while remaining hidden. My Ghost Spirit War Boots pushed aside the aquatic plants on the shore. I sighed a little as I stared at the lively fish and slow-flowing river. Assuming that the river of history had a tangible shape, it would probably look something like this: tireless and ceaseless regardless of the mortal whims that were imposed upon it. Thousands of years ago, the Huang Emperor Xuan Yuan had fought the Yan Emperor at Banquan, slain Chiyou at Zhuolu, and founded the glorious civilization of China. From there, countless more heartbreakingly beautiful myths such as the story of Nuwa patching up the sky with the five-colored stones were born. Right now, my sole responsibility was to follow the Mother River to its very beginning and reclaim all the Ancient Divine Skill Scrolls I encountered along the way. There was one thing that annoyed me though. There were far more casual players than there were Chinese. What the hell was going on here? ¡­¡­ About half an hour later, I reached the inner area where I saw an undead soldier wielding a stone axe in the forest in front of me. After I moved closer and saw that it was Level 275, I decided to aggro one over. As usual, I kicked off my attack with a Dragon Slaying Slash! Crack! The skill hit the undead soldier squarely in the head and caused him to face toward me with blood-red eyes and a savage expression. He roared, "Who are you? How dare you disturb the peace of my Nine Li Tribes!" He rushed me with his stone axe raised, but something unexpected happened. Before he got close, he waved his axe and somehow launched a blast of fire straight at my Dragon God Shield. It seared my entire body and deleted a visible chunk from my HP¡ª 110028! Not done yet, he raised his axe once more and connected it solidly with the Dragon God Shield, causing my HP to drop yet again. God damn, the undead soldier looked like nothing special, but he was actually a dual cultivator! 50093! His physical damage was less than half of his magic damage though; a non-issue basically. It was natural. As a metal-armor class, I was naturally good at tanking physical attacks. It would be a different story if Beiming Xue or Lian Xin were in my position. Dark Pupils revealed parts of the the undead soldier¡¯s stats¡ª Chiyou Demonic Soldier (Fiend) Level: 275 Introduction: An ancient Nine Li Tribes soldier under the command of Chiyou. After Chiyou was killed by the Huang Emperor Xuanyuan, his troop of millions were put under a permanent seal. Today, these demonic soldiers plotted to return to the human world and arrogantly proclaimed their furious desire to shred all living things into pieces. ¡­¡­ I chuckled. These soldiers thought they could tear the human world apart with just this level of strength? How foolish! I swung my weapon a couple of times and easily took out the Chiyou Demonic Soldier. Thanks to the 20% lifesteal of my weapon, I was left with 70% HP at the end of the fight. Generally speaking, the Chiyou Demonic Soldier was even weaker than the Cyan Wolf Guard. That wasn¡¯t to say they weren¡¯t dangerous. Right after I continued forward, I was ganged up on by three Chiyou Demonic Soldiers at the same time. My HP had dropped to a dangerous 25% at the end of it. They could certainly even kill me if they managed to surround me from all sides. Pop! The 49th Chiyou Demonic Soldier I killed dropped a card. I picked it up and found it to be above average¡ª Chiyou Demonic Soldier Card: Increases user''s Attack by 65%, and Defense by 20%. Duration: 120 minutes. Level Requirement: 200 Although it was much weaker than the Fire War God Card, it was easy to obtain and an amazing buff for grinding or open world PvP. Boosting Attack by 65% was not something even some average Ancient Immortal-grade weapons could boast. I continued forward. I exited the forest and arrived at a meandering mountain range. After I climbed up to its ridge, I was greeted by a surprising sight¡ª I saw a giant covered in flames swinging its axe and attacking a group of players surrounding it. There were at least 50 of them, and they were from the Northern Alliance, Chaotic 27, and even India. The two faces I immediately recognized were Throne of the Wild¡¯s Tear Stain and Argentina¡¯s No. 1 player, Red Ovenbird. Tear Stain was Candlelight Shadow¡¯s junior sister. She was also the one who used the territory she had stolen to launch a near fatal assault against the China server. Red Ovenbird was the guy who promised Zhang Chun and I that he wouldn¡¯t invade the China server, but worked together with the Northern Alliance anyway to attack us during the previous Nation War. We now knew that the man was too self-seeking to be given any trust at all. ¡­¡­ "Careful! The boss has splash damage!" Tear Stain zigzagged toward the boss, landed a chain of combos, and successfully escaped without taking any damage. While retreating, she barked out a series of orders and refined their group¡¯s battle strategy even more. Since everyone here was an elite eighth-promotion player, they were able to operate like a well-oiled machine. The giant at the center had only one eye. He wielded a battle axe on his right hand and a chain-like weapon that looked like a shield on his left. Since he was covered in flames, he dealt continuous damage to everyone within a certain range. Even the likes of Tear Stain had to be supported by 9 priests to be able to survive the constant damage. One look was all I needed to know that the giant was Xing Tian, and the battle axe and chain-like shield in his hands were his signature weapon, the Ganqi. I also knew that these bastards were killing our China-exclusive boss. They are so dead... Chapter 1201: New Cooperation Pa! I dropped from the sky and fell almost soundlessly on top of a grassy patch on the ridge. It was about 200 meters away from the boss. The players were so focused on Xing Tian that none of them had noticed my existence¡­ yet. Also, considering their skill and level, it was only a matter of time before they killed it. I scanned the area with Dark Pupils again. Tear Stain and Red Ovenbird¡¯s players aside, another dozen or so players were walking this direction from another canyon. The blood-red emblem on their arms marked them as a member of the Chaotic 27; Brazilians to be more accurate. Walking in front of them was a young man who looked to be about 27 years old. He wielded an ice blade, and the text above his head stated¡ª Who Will Fight Me LV-212 Master Swordsman Main City: Flying Dragon City Guild: Vanguard Position: Leader ¡­¡­ Oh, it¡¯s Who Will Fight Me¡­ I exhaled a bit. I had investigated this player on the forums before. He was an exceptionally skilled technical player and a strong rival of Red Ovenbird. He was also the number one player of the Brazil server and the leader of the strongest guild in Flying Dragon City, Vanguard. The guild was without a doubt one of his greatest assets. Bang! Red Ovenbird struck Xing Tian¡¯s arm with his axe and dealt 90k+ damage before backing away. He glanced in Who Will Fight Me¡¯s direction before saying in a low tone, "Watch out, Tear Stain. Vanguard is coming our way, and they¡¯re accompanied by Who Will Fight Me. Hmph, That guy and I don¡¯t exactly share the greatest relationship, so don¡¯t let down your guard. He may attack us just because he doesn¡¯t like me!" Tear Stain smirked. "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll speak with this rival of yours, so keep the boss busy in the meantime. This is a good chance to test the strength of the so-called number one expert of Flying Dragon City really." Red Ovenbird smiled. "His technique is inferior to yours, but his guild, Vanguard, cannot be underestimated. If possible, try not to escalate this into a full-blown conflict!" "Got it!" After that, Tear Stain galloped toward Who Will Fight Me¡¯s group and greeted them with a smile, "Hello. Throne of the Wild, Glory and Dark Clouds are fighting the boss right now. Please don¡¯t disrupt us until we¡¯re done." Her words were polite, but Who Will Fight Me narrowed his eyes menacingly and placed his hand on his sword¡¯s grip. "Some people may acknowledge you, but I am not one of them, Tear Stain. Seven Star City is currently in the Chaotic 27¡¯s hands, and everyone knows that Burning City is an ally to the Americans. It is only a matter of time before a war breaks out between us. So tell me, why should I wait until the inevitable when I can take you out right now?" Then, he looked at the boss and noticed Red Ovenbird commanding the boss fight. He cursed, "That bastard is here too!?" Tear Stain smirked. "Red Ovenbird is my ally. So? What are you going to do now?" Suddenly, Who Will Fight Me let out an uncontrollable laugh. "Back then, the bastard promised the China server that his sword would only be pointed to the north, not the China server. However, he later submitted to the might of the Northern Alliance and turned on Wind City instead. Hmph, I disdain vile, self-serving people like him!" "Silence!" Tear Stain grew annoyed. "Who Will Fight Me, don¡¯t think I wouldn¡¯t dare to kill you just because you¡¯re the guild leader of the number one guild in Brazil!" Who Will Fight Me chuckled. "Just try me if you dare, girl. My brothers and sisters may not all be here, but we¡¯re still more than willing to teach you a lesson!" "Then come!" ¡­¡­ The tension felt as sharp as a razor blade. It was bold of Tear Stain to challenge Vanguard¡¯s group of twenty to a fight, but she did possess Candlelight Shadow¡¯s level of skill and equipment. Although Who Will Fight Me was the best cavalryman of his server, Brazil¡¯s competitive standard was inferior to Korea¡¯s. There was a higher-than-50% chance that he wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat Tear Stain. While this was going on, I was panicking in my corner and praying to the heavens that someone would step up and rein in Who Will Fight Me. If the impulsive bastard actually engaged Tear Stain and got himself and his group killed, I would lose the only chance I saw so far to disrupt the boss fight. "We¡¯re here for the Ancient Divine Skill, guild leader. There¡¯s no point in dueling these people and losing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, is there?" His vice leader, an older man who looked to be around 35 years old, said quietly at this moment. It was clear that he was the think tank of his guild. "Hmph!" The light surrounding Who Will Fight Me¡¯s sword slowly faded. In the end, he said, "Fine. This fight can wait until a better time. Do whatever you want, but remember, Vanguard does not promise that they won¡¯t try to contest the boss." Tear Stain chuckled in a carefree tone. "You¡¯re certainly welcome to try, if you are still alive by then!" "Hmph!" ¡­¡­ I let out a sigh of relief. Of all 27 countries, Brazil was the only server that didn¡¯t send a main force to attack Wind City. None of Vanguard¡¯s players had set foot on Chinese soil during the War of the Center either. The reason for this was none other Who Will Fight Me. The man was courageous and honest, and he had done everything in his power to uphold the non-aggression pact between the Chaotic 27 and China even though Red Ovenbird himself had broken it. Based on this alone, it was worth trying to develop Who Will Fight Me into an ally. I leaped out of my hiding spot and dashed between the trees. The players fighting the boss couldn¡¯t see me because a normal player¡¯s radar range was around 150 yards or so only, also known as their vision range. However, my Dark Pupils enabled me to see everything within 2000 yards of me. It was an advantage they didn¡¯t have. A few minutes later, Who Will Fight Me and his players arrived at a forest clearing. They were going to kill the Chiyou Demon Soldiers here until a good opportunity to tournament the boss presented itself. Who Will Fight Me truly was a straightforward, manly fellow. He said he was going to tournament the boss, and so he would. He didn¡¯t even bother to walk out of sight. Swhoosh! I slipped out from the underground and appeared right in front of Who Will Fight Me. Caught off-guard, several Vanguard players exclaimed in shock, "Who the¡ªambush!" "Wait!" Who Will Fight Me was the only one who didn¡¯t panic. He took one glance at the WEL MVP emblem on my shoulder and smiled at me. "It¡¯s a friend, not a foe!" I revealed my ID and returned the smile. "Not bad. You really are as courageous as the rumors say." A small smile crept onto the Vanguard vice leader¡¯s lips. "If Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is here, then¡­ heh, it looks like Tear Stain and Red Ovenbird will have to say goodbye to the boss. That¡¯s good¡­" I smiled again. "Well, I¡¯ll be frank. Want to make a deal and contest this boss together?" "How?" "It¡¯s simple. We¡¯ll snatch Xing Tian¡¯s scroll together and decide who it¡¯ll go to later." Who Will Fight Me chuckled. "That¡¯s not very fair to us, is it? What if you claim the prize and escape right after the boss dies? You know full well there¡¯s no one here who can stop you." I planted my sword on the ground and said seriously, "What if I swear on my ID?" "Haha!" Who Will Fight Me guffawed. "It¡¯s so much easier to speak with someone who understands. Very well, that is good enough for me. Now, how shall we do this?" I shrugged. "What do you mean? We kill Tear Stain, kill the boss, and take the scroll. It¡¯s that simple." "..." Who Will Fight Me looked surprised, but he quickly recovered and said, "I have a request." "Speak!" "I don¡¯t care if Tear Stain lives or dies, but I want you to kill Red Ovenbird on top of taking the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll. Can you do that?" I frowned a bit before replying, "I need to tell you something. If Xing Tian dies, it¡¯ll drop an Ancient Divine Skill Scroll that can only be used by a player of the China server. Therefore, you won¡¯t be able to use it even if you get it. Don¡¯t worry though. If you can get me the scroll, I¡¯ll exchange it for an Ancient Divine Skill Scroll you can use in return!" "Oh?" Who Will Fight Me¡¯s eyes lit up. "You have an Ancient Divine Skill Scroll already?" I showed off Alexander the Great¡¯s Battle Axe for a second before putting it back into my bag. I added solemnly, "It¡¯s an SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill. I promise you it¡¯ll be as good as Xing Tian¡¯s scroll." Who Will Fight Me shuddered visibly before inhaling deeply. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, I¡¯m sure you know the value of the scroll you¡¯re holding. We haven¡¯t even made a move yet, and you¡¯re already promising us a scroll. I can¡¯t help but wonder if you have an ulterior motive. After all, there are no free lunches in this world¡­" I smiled a bit before leaning against the red maple tree behind me and replying, "It¡¯s simple. Red Ovenbird has proven himself to be an untrustworthy oathbreaker, so he is no longer worthy of being the Center¡¯s ally. I¡¯m gifting this Ancient Divine Skill Scroll to you so that your fame and strength will outstrip his in every way. I want you to become the new master of the Chaotic 27. Only then can I trust the Chaotic 27 not to backstab us ever again!" Who Will Fight Me grinned and clenched his fists tightly. "I¡¯ve always disdained self-serving people like Red Ovenbird. Very well. If you will give me your promise, then I will do my utmost to stabilize our situation and take charge of the Chaotic 27 as well. Don¡¯t worry. Even at the worst, no one is going to give up on Seven Star City!" I nodded. "The China server will launch a counterattack against Wind City in four days. I hope that Vanguard will be able to take charge of the Chaotic 27 by then and intercept the reinforcements from Hero City, Titan City, Chariot City and more. With luck, we¡¯ll be able to return Wind City to the Center in 24 hours tops. After that, we will stick together as if we¡¯re the lips and the teeth. I will do everything in my power to ensure that Seven Star City will always be under the Chaotic 27¡¯s control as well. What do you think?" Who Will Fight Me simply walked up to me and extended his hand. "There is one Chinese quote that I am rather fond of: A promise is to be kept a lifetime!" Clink! It was the birth of a new alliance between the China server and the Chaotic 27. While the last one hadn¡¯t gone as well as we hoped, I had a feeling that this one would be firmer than the agreement we had had with Red Ovenbird. ¡­¡­ After that, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and apparition again before slipping underground. I then waited patiently for the boss to grow weaker. Xing Tian wasn¡¯t going to go down without a fight though. He swung his axe and shield and beat the crap out of the players who were disturbing his peace. Tear Stain¡¯s group was 54-man strong at the beginning, but now there were only 21 players left even though Xing Tian had fallen to 7% HP. The severe casualty rate cast a shadow in everyone¡¯s heart. As the guild leader, Tear Stain was acutely aware that the elites she lost would never be able to enter the Heavenly River Realm. "It¡¯s almost time. Get ready!" I said from the underground. Chiang! Who Will Fight Me pulled out his weapon and chuckled. "Got it. Weapons out, boys and girls!" Chapter 1202: Xing Tian’s Defiance Whoosh! Vanguard¡¯s players were all hot-blooded males. They just galloped straight toward the battlefield at full power without bothering to conceal their tracks. Birds took off in fright to the commotion they caused. I made my Phantom Wolf King and apparition charge together with Who Will Fight Me, before circling to the other side of the battlefield myself. My bottom line here was that the Chinese Ancient Divine Skill Scroll must fall into Chinese hands. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a brawny man burst out of the forest beside Vanguard and swung his battle axe, shouting, "Chaotic 27 are all idiots!" "Roar!" The roar of a devastating beast rocked the earth, and a cyclone slammed into Who Will Fight Me¡¯s flank and deleted over half of his HP. The newcomer was still roaring and swinging his axe when Who Will Fight Me parried two attacks before shouting in anger, "Why are you attacking me, Chinese? I¡¯m Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s friend! For fuck¡¯s sake, does anyone recognize this idiot?" "Huh? You¡¯re the vice leader¡¯s friend?" The axe wielder stopped what he was doing and asked the way only he could. I felt like dying. It was High Fighting Spirit of course. I had no idea that he was here, and I definitely wasn¡¯t expecting him to charge a platoon of players alone. His thirst for the world to descend into complete chaos so he could fight forever far outstripped his desire for safety after all! Thankfully, Who Will Fight Me was a fairly smart guy. He pointed at the Phantom Wolf King and the apparition next to him before saying, "See them? Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand just made an agreement with us to contest the boss''s loot together! How are you so¡­ undignified when you¡¯re a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?" After seeing the apparition and finally realizing what was going on, High Fighting Spirits shot Who Will Fight Me an apologetic smile before saying, "Ah, sorry, I misunderstood. Please, recover your HP now so we can continue the charge¡­" "Hmph!" Who Will Fight Me hurriedly drank a health potion and used War God Recovery. High Fighting Spirits had single-handedly disrupted the entire offensive. Thank goodness I had chosen to launch the assault when the boss still had 7% HP left, or I would¡¯ve had to resort to drastic measures. ¡­¡­ Half a minute later, the boss dropped to 4% HP, and Who Will Fight Me had regenerated to 70% HP. This time, we let High Fighting Spirits lead the way. He was the fearless one who always wanted to be in the thick of it anyway. Pa! The Dragonlight Armored Horse glowed with the light of Dragon Soul Protection. Its hoof glimmered sharply beneath the moonlight. An instant later, High Fighting Spirits burst out of the forest while swinging his axe. Some distance away, Tear Stain shot High Fighting Spirits a look and almost froze at what she saw. "Oh no, that¡¯s one of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ main generals! Why is he together with Who Will Fight Me? And that other guy is¡­ it¡¯s Lu Chen in his Fusion Armor! It¡¯s him! Everyone, watch out! Let go of the boss and prepare to face the enemy! We cannot fight this boss while Lu Chen is still around!" Tear Stain didn¡¯t hesitate. If they continued to fight the boss, there was a huge chance this whole thing would end in one big tragedy. Losing the boss and getting thoroughly wiped by the enemy was an entirely possible outcome. ¡­¡­ Vanguard and High Fighting Spirits¡¯ frontal assault was about as honest as it got. Xiezhi Howl ready to be unleashed at a moment¡¯s notice, High Fighting Spirits focused on galloping into the enemy group while completely disregarding the arrows and spells they were throwing against him. In fact, he only had 40% HP left by the time he reached his destination. He attracted firepower like steel attracted a magnet. The good news was that the Dragonscale Beast and the Brave General Horseshoe had increased his Defense to the point where he could pull such a crazy stunt and actually survive. In the past, he would¡¯ve died to the focus fire of the first-rate experts a long time ago. "Kill!" Who Will Fight Me slashed at an Elephant City¡¯s magic knight three times from three different angles. He landed all three because he had caught his opponent completely off-guard. The magic knight was dead after he ate another two arrow shots from behind Who Will Fight Me. Tear Stain¡¯s counterattack was just as fierce, however. Her sword darted around like an actual snake, and she had a fondness of stabbing people through the throat. The amount of damage she dealt whenever she struck a weak point was frankly staggering. Three Vanguard players had died in her hands in less than 10 seconds. As a chaotic battle unfolded across the wide clearing in the middle of the canyon, I finally emerged from my own hiding spot and charged straight toward the enemy¡¯s rear. Tear Stain shouted in horror when she saw my Myriad Swords Obliteration raining down on her group, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is behind us! His real body is behind us! Watch out!" Buzz! A Throne of the Wild mage immediately cast Touch of the Dragonkiss beneath my feet. He dealt an incredible amount of 70k+ damage, considering that it was me that he was targeting. When I got closer, the mage cast God Devil Break! 210840! What a crazy amount of damage! The mage¡¯s Intelligence was over 5000 higher than mine. Two Vanguard magic knights who unfortunately had been standing by my side at the time took 400k damage in an instant and dropped dead just like that. A high-level, eighth promotion mage truly was the nightmare of all metal-armor players! Who Will Fight Me exploded, "Break his shield for me, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" "Okay!" I locked onto the high-level mage and cast Thousand Ice Slash, shattering his Magic Shield instantly. Then, Who Will Fight Me dashed past the mage and cast Ultimate Strength Break. Since his Blink was on cooldown, there was nothing he could do except wait for death to claim him¡ª 390880! It was a one-shot. Who Will Fight Me¡¯s Strength was definitely more than serviceable. ¡­¡­ At the back, Xing Tian was rocking the entire canyon with his angry roar and attacking Tear Stain¡¯s subordinates with relentless rage. Their number dwindled to just six or seven in the blink of an eye. "Retreat! We can¡¯t hold it any longer!" Red Ovenbird shouted. I narrowed my eyes as I sensed an opportunity. I abruptly locked onto the space behind Red Ovenbird and cast Thunderous Charge! Swhoosh! Shock flashed across Red Ovenbird¡¯s eyes as he attempted to dodge my Charge by dashing sideways. However, I forcefully altered my trajectory midway before casting Myriad Swords Obliteration behind Red Ovenbird. Thud thud thud... Red Ovenbird stopped his movement just in time to miss the skill, but only just barely. Some of the swords literally were literally just inches away from the back of his head. Cold sweat covered his nose when the realization that he was inches away from death hit him. Unfortunately for him, death was even closer to him than he thought. By the time he turned around to look at me again, I was already pressing my palm against his chest and casting point-blank God Binding Art. Not even god could help him dodge this one! The moment Red Ovenbird was immobilized, I immediately cast Burning Blade Slash and shredded most of his HP. Then, Who Will Fight Me showed up and cut the oathbreaker right across the torso, killing him instantly! ¡­¡­ I looked up. Of the 50+ players who kicked off this boss fight, only Tear Stain and her 4 subordinates were able to escape to god-knows-where. Their Chaotic 27 and Elephant City allies were all dead. This meant that their plan to kill the boss had officially ended in total failure. Who Will Fight Me let out a hearty laugh as he faced toward the boss. "Let¡¯s finish this!" "Yeah!" While the archers were attracting the boss''s attention, I stabbed him in the eye at the center of his stomach and used Purple Frost Concentration. 0.15 seconds after I zigzagged toward the back, Xing Tian¡¯s Ganqi smashed where I had been mere moments earlier. Thanks to the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s speed and turn rate, I was actually able to dodge the normally undodgeable basic attack. I didn¡¯t stop attacking because I wanted the boss''s experience, equipment and Ancient Divine Skill Scroll. ¡°Gotta catch ¡®em all¡± is my motto... Who Will Fight Me seemed to notice my intention and shot me a reassuring grin. "Relax, we promised that the boss would be yours, and we aren¡¯t ones to break a promise. Just remember to give me that Alexander the Great¡¯s Battle Axe later!" I nodded back. "Don¡¯t worry, I will keep my promise as well!" "Good, good!" ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, that temporary distraction was enough for Xing Tian to score a hit against my head. That was over 300k HP gone just like that. High Fighting Spirits was eager to replace me, but I shooed him away sternly and without hesitation. We didn¡¯t have a priest with us, and with his level of HP and Defense I wasn¡¯t sure if he could survive even one hit from the boss... Normally, it would be incredibly dangerous to challenge a boss this powerful without a priest, but it was doable when it only had 3% HP left. After losing a Vanguard magic knight, I made the apparition back away and cast Purple Dragon Howl while I cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon + Myriad Swords Obliteration. When the light show was over, the ancient god finally succumbed to his wounds. Even so, he let out an unyielding roar before he met his end! The second his gigantic body hit the ground, he dropped a ton of equipment and increased my level to 222. He also dropped a golden Ancient Divine Skill Scroll that I caught immediately. Hehe, what an excellent haul this was! ¡­¡­ High Fighting Spirits, Who Will Fight Me and the rest of Vanguard swarmed around the boss as well. I glanced left and right but didn¡¯t find anything good. This wasn¡¯t the first time this had happened, so I suspected that the devs had made it so that these ridiculously OP bosses wouldn¡¯t drop anything good. That being said, the Ancient Divine Skill alone was good enough a reward. I pointed at the boss''s body and said to Who Will Fight Me, "You can have the boss''s loot. All I want is the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll. Plus, you¡¯ve lost a dozen or so players in this fight. You all deserve some form of compensation." Who Will Fight Me nodded. "Thanks. So¡­" "I know, I know. Just give me a second." "Okay!" I checked out the scroll Xing Tian dropped. It was very impressive¡ª Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance (SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill): Increases user''s Attack by 90%. Summon the Ganqi Axe and Shield to hit all the targets within 15 yards in front of you with a cyclone. MP Cost: 50%. This scroll cannot be used by players from the following servers: USA, England, and more[1]. ¡­¡­ It was yet another AoE skill, and one that increased Attack by 90% too. It was probably on par with Alexander the Great¡¯s Battle Axe, and that was good. I decided to give it to High Fighting Spirits because his temperament and fighting style were very similar to the boss¡¯s. "Fighting Spirits!" I called out to the brute. "Yeah, Lu Chen?" "This one¡¯s yours. Learn it as soon as possible, understand?" After I gave High Fighting Spirits Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance, I tossed Alexander the Great¡¯s Battle Axe into Who Will Fight Me¡¯s hands and said with a chuckle, "Better move quickly! Whoever learns their skill first will become the second to enter Heavenly River Realm and receive its reward!" ¡­¡­ In the end, High Fighting Spirits was the one who won, but only because I gave him the scroll almost 10 seconds sooner. Two system announcements rang across the sky in succession. Swhoosh swhoosh! A column of light surrounded both players, and the next moment, a pair of golden and bloody wings spread out from behind their backs. It was the visual effect of the Heavenly River Transformation. High Fighting Spirits waved his axe and let out a mighty roar, causing the vengeful spirit of Xing Tian to appear behind his back. He gathered the power of Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance and launched it at the forest in front of him. An entire swathe of trees were mowed down almost like they were made of paper. The destructive power of an Ancient Divine Skill truly was extraordinary! An excited Who Will Fight Me was also testing out his skill. The battle axe of the ancient conqueror had an attack range of 10+ yards. It wasn¡¯t bad at all considering that the attack ignored Guard and invincibility skills. 1. As I said in 1200 footnote, it gets confusing from now on. I¡¯ll spoil the next chapter here, but Lu Chen says Tear Stain could use it, so it¡¯s not China-exclusive. It was made for Chinese players, usable by all eastern players. After this arc, if there¡¯s nothing to suggest otherwise, we might go back and change it all to ¡°eastern/western countries¡±. Keeping it vague works. After all, ¡°and more¡± consists of literally the entire Europe, Africa and Americas Chapter 1203: Luo River Map Suddenly, High Fighting Spirits started as if he recalled something. "Oh shit, if I learned Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance, and Who Will Fight Me learned Alexander the Great¡¯s Battle Axe, what about you, boss? Fuck, I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t even think until it was..." I smiled reassuringly. "It¡¯s fine, I was planning to stay here for as long as possible anyway. As long as I¡¯m still here, Breeze and Rain and God of War will not get their Ancient Divine Skills easily!" High Fighting Spirits could only nod and say, "Alright. By the way, I¡¯m going to be teleported out in ten minutes!" Who Will Fight Me said smilingly, "You are probably the only player in all the servers who possesses the power to make such a claim. I will be gone in ten minutes as well. What is your plan?" I pondered for a moment before answering, "I will continue moving toward the source of the Ji River. This river is the lifeline of China. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll find some greater Ancient Divine Skills if I continue following it." "You¡¯re aiming for an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, am I right?" "Of course!" I clenched my fists tightly. "It¡¯s SSS or nothing! That¡¯s my modus operandi for this journey at least!" "Understood!" ¡­¡­ A short time later, the duo vanished in a flash of light, and our short but fruitful alliance came to an end. The eight remaining Vanguard players added me as a friend, although no message could be sent for as long as we were still inside the Ruins of the Gods. They went toward the east, and I, to the north. Ideally, we all wanted to learn our country¡¯s unique Ancient Divine Skills, like how Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance was a Chinese Ancient Divine Skill. It was lucky that High Fighting Spirits and I stumbled upon this place at an opportune time. If Tear Stain had been able to kill the boss and learn it first, she would¡¯ve been able to use our own unique skill against us in a future Nation War. That would¡¯ve been the biggest possible insult to us Chinese! As we had discussed earlier, I continued to follow the Ji River. I was sure that there were other Ancient Divine Skills along the way! After picking up a few gemstones from the ground, I walked between the trees toward wherever the Ji River would lead me. I avoided riding the Ancient Divine Dragon openly because it was way too visible. Also, I could move far more agilely in my human form, and Dark Pupils would always give me the surprise advantage over any enemy. The sheer cliffs on the two sides of the Ji River were growing increasingly steep. They were so tall that it felt like they would meet each other at the center. As it turned out, I didn¡¯t need to walk far before I noticed something of interest. Two dots appeared on my minimap, and they were hostile toward me! I immediately crouched lower and dashed toward them at high speed. Two human figures entered my view. It was an assassin and an archer from Swallow Ear Canton walking along the riverside. To the naked eye, it would¡¯ve appeared that the archer was alone. In reality, Dark Pupils revealed to me that the stealthed assassin was walking right next to him. He was obviously playing bodyguard for his ally. ¡­¡­ There was no need to hesitate. This was a kill-first-and-ask-questions-never scenario. Thud! An indentation appeared beneath my Ghost Spirits War Boots as I dashed toward my opponents like a released arrow. The archer had higher perception than his buddy, and he was able to shout out a timely warning, "Ambush, Third!" At the same time, the archer activated Impossible Escape¡ªa skill that gave him a 10% chance to revive immediately upon death¡ªand Clear As Flame. I could tell from his reaction that he was an excellent archer. If nothing else, he had done everything he should¡¯ve done as an archer. A normal fighter would¡¯ve had a hard time going up against a fully-warned and prepared archer. Unfortunately for him, I was no normal fighter. Rinser¡¯s personality aside, he was a badass skeleton who taught me skills that possessed both physical and magical properties. I brought my fingers to my forehead and fired Myriad Swords Obliteration on top of the archer and the assassin. The archer reacted quickly and Leaped to the back. I reacted even quicker by tossing the Purple Ying Sword right where he was going to land. The spinning blade rushed toward the soaring archer with a draconic roar! "Shit!" The archer was an expert. He knew he was in deep shit the second he saw my wind-up animation. I also made sure to angle Coiling Dragon Revolution in such a way so that he couldn¡¯t pull off some insane body trick and somehow dodge the skill by a hair¡¯s breadth. As expected, the spinning blade tore through his chest armor, carved a hole in his chest, and dealt an insane amount of damage. "Ah¡­" While the archer groaned and dropped dead, the assassin attempted to rush me from a different angle. Thanks to Dark Pupils, I could see some weird sparks floating above the ground. It was the assassin¡¯s eighth-promotion skill, Trap. It was hidden well enough to avoid most players¡¯ perception, but not my Dark Pupils. I fired Dragon Slaying Slash at the Trap and triggered it. It resulted in an explosion that looked like it would deal a ton of damage against a normal player. It looked like the spring season of assassins had arrived as Traps were the perfect complement to their stealth skills, and a wonderful tool during a Nation War. Unfortunately for this assassin, he would have to enjoy his spring another day. "You¡¯re dead!" Says the guy who didn¡¯t even read my ID properly before attacking me. He was running along an S-shaped path and hoping to cut me down while my main weapon was still a ways away. He tried to hit my chest with Blade Vortex, but all I needed to do was spin sideways and knock his skill aside with the Dragon God Shield. I didn¡¯t even activate Battle Astral Wind. After I sent him stumbling backward with another shield bash, I canceled whatever skill he was going to use with a well-timed Magic Piercing Punch and dropped Ancient Seal on top of him. Boom! 242882! The assassin stared at me dumbly as he dropped dead. He hadn¡¯t expected me to use Ancient Seal to one-shot him. I could¡¯ve killed him some other way, but frankly I just didn¡¯t want to waste any more time on this guy. ¡­¡­ After the battle ended, I caught my returning sword and picked up the potions and bread on the ground. Fortunately for the two players, they hadn¡¯t dropped even a single piece of equipment. This is bullshit, I say! On a semi-related note, it seemed that both Chinese and Japanese players shared the tacit understanding that they were going to murder the shit out of each other upon meeting, especially in a map like the Ruins of the Gods. Well, this was that type of game. It was fight, fight, and fight some more! Last but not least, I checked my surroundings to ensure that there were no players close to me before leaving the area as quickly as possible. There was a chance the Japanese players I had killed earlier would log out of the game, get to a player who was inside the Ruins of the Gods, and yell out my coordinates beside their ears. After all, I was the No. 1 public enemy of Purple Grape City. Speaking of which, almost 7 hours had passed since the Ruins of the Gods were opened. I bet that a ton of Swallow Ear Canton players had come inside. If they were able to form a hundred-man group, even I couldn¡¯t say I could survive them with absolute certainty. ¡­¡­ I took out the Chiyou Demonic Soldiers who loitered by the riverside as I continued along the Ji River. It was nice being able to take in the sights and grind some experience at the same time. However, contrary to my expectations, I didn¡¯t find any trace of the Ancient Divine Skills after ten or so minutes. Worse still, checking the map screen revealed to me that I was very rapidly approaching the borders. If I progressed any further than this, I would cross over to another map that was most definitely not tailor-made for China like this one. I had no intentions of getting an Ancient Greece Ancient Divine Skill or something. That would be completely uncool. I glanced at the Ji River again. The waters here were unusually rapid, and there was even a huge, black whirlpool at the center of the river. It looked like a black hole from where I was. With no clue what to do next, I decided to sit down and rest a bit. However... "Ouch!" The back of my head hit something hard. A rock? Why is there a rock hidden inside a bush? That¡¯s practically a trap... However, when I turned around to take a look, I saw a pair of engraved words that sent a shudder of shock through my spine¡ª River Map ¡­¡­ What? Is this THE River Map?! My eyes turned as round as saucers. According to the legends, Fuxi had drawn the River Map based on a picture on the back of a dragon horse. There was also another River Map on the back of the dragon tortoise at the Luo River. It was how Yu the Great was able to dredge and irrigate the rivers later. However, what did this River Map mean in the game? Could it be... I shivered again as I inspected it carefully. I noticed a lot of circles on the River Map. Some of the circles looked empty, and some were not. What did they mean? I knew a bit of hexagrams and yin and yang, but only a little. What should I do? I lay down on the grass, brought up the in-game drawing board, and drew the River Map. Then, I made it appear in the sky as a blue hologram. Suddenly, an idea entered my mind. I opened the map screen, zoomed out, and enlarged the River Map. Then, I overlapped them together. To my shock, I was able to match the place I had killed Xing Tian to a highlighted circle on the River Map. There were 7 such circles on the River Map, so that meant... Seven¡­ Now where have I heard of this number before? I abruptly recalled a line from the official website. It stated that there were 7 Chinese Ancient Divine Skills in total. Could the 7 highlighted circles on the map be the locations of the 7 Ancient Divine Skills? It felt like someone had recharged my batteries instantly. I had to be right! The locations of the 7 Chinese Ancient Divine Skills were all located on this Ji River Map! I glanced at my surroundings. There were two Ancient Divine Skills hidden within the mountain ranges to the east, two within the forest behind me, one at the canyon where I had killed Xing Tian earlier, and finally two more along the Ji River. More importantly, the biggest highlighted circle on the River Map matched the mad spinning whirlpool at the center of the Ji River. Unless I was sorely mistaken, this meant that China¡¯s best Ancient Divine Skill was inside the black whirlpool. I shivered for a third time and grimaced visibly. Did this mean that I had to jump into the whirlpool? What if I was killed by the rapid currents? I¡­ I don¡¯t know what to do. If I¡¯m wrong, the world will learn that the No. 3 player of the CGL Hall of Fame, the Little Heavenly King, has disqualified himself from the Ruins of the Gods via voluntary drowning. I couldn¡¯t even imagine the embarrassment I would feel if that happened... ¡­¡­ In the end though, after a long and hard consideration, I decided to make the leap of faith, literally. I had come all the way here to obtain an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, the best my country could offer. If I failed, then I might as well get nothing at all. Yeah! All or nothing! And so I kicked up to a standing position and stared resolutely at the black whirlpool for a moment. Then, Fusion Armor surrounding my body, I jumped straight into the river. ¡­¡­ Holy shit, it¡¯s so cold! I forged myself to open my eyes while still submerged inside the river water. I saw swirling water plants and the giant whirlpool. From where I was, it looked like it was connected to the bottom of the river. If I entered the whirlpool, that was probably where it was going to take me. There was a problem, however. I literally couldn¡¯t see the bottom of the river. It was entirely possible that I might drown before I reached the end. So, I activated Great Earth Transformation. Maybe I will be able to last longer as a Great Earth Divine General? I waved my arms and slowly swam toward the whirlpool. At first, I was able to swim toward my destination in a controlled manner. However, the closer I got to the whirlpool, the harder it became to control myself. Eventually, I found myself being dragged toward the bottom in an unstoppable spiral. It felt like I was inside a washing machine. My vision darkened, and I nearly blacked out there and then. I hurriedly unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and fired Burning Blade Slash to the river bottom. The plan had been to illuminate the area below and see where I was heading to, but what I saw nearly caused my soul to fly away from my body. There was a gigantic water python resting right next to me. It seemed to be completely unaffected by the rapids, and judging from its shut eyelids and drooping head, it was asleep. ¡­¡­ I slowly dimmed the light on the Purple Ying Sword. The water python was a Level 280 boss. I wasn¡¯t stupid enough to think I was strong enough to challenge it in its territory. The river was ice cold, and it moved so rapidly that it felt like I was physically being torn from limb to limb. Even my Sunchaser Cloak was flapping wildly to the current. Boom! Then, I felt a blade-like impact, and I blacked out there and then. Blacked out... What the fuck!? Chapter 1204: Sacred Beast Pond Bang! A dull smack knocked me out of my coma. When I opened my eyes, I discovered that I was still inside the water. I figured out immediately what happened. The powerful current had smashed me against the rocks at the bottom of the river, and my head was currently covered in moss and algae. Red lights swam behind me. Dark Pupils revealed them all to be minibosses. The Ruins of the Gods truly were an unholy place. Not every boss in this map had an Ancient Divine Skill, but that didn¡¯t stop them from being plentiful and powerful in the slightest. I had barely entered this watery hole, and already I had encountered a super boss and many more minibosses. It didn¡¯t take a discerning eye to tell that any one of them could give me one hell of a time too. The good news was that they hadn¡¯t noticed me, or rather, I was too weak to even attract their attention. I was probably just one small fry in the eyes of these giants, perhaps literally... That was good news though. It meant that I wasn¡¯t dead on arrival. Many of the bosses in the Ruins of the Gods could break through invincibility skills, so it was GG if they intended to kill me. ¡­¡­ I looked above me and saw a ray of light coming from one point of the river surface. Since my breathing meter had dipped below 20%, I hurriedly swung my arms and kicked my Ghost Spirit War Boots to swim toward it. "Pwah!" The moment my head emerged above the surface, I immediately started breathing like I had been reborn. The sunlight shining down on my person was so harsh that I almost couldn¡¯t open my eyes. I opened the map screen and noted that I was not at Ji River anymore. More accurately, the bottom of this river was considered a separate map¡ªa cave? No, an abode, that¡¯s the word I was looking for, and the huge whirlpool was the bridge between the two worlds. The walls of the abode were full of gold and jade gems. I might not be a miner, but I could tell that these ores were at least Rank 9, 10, maybe even higher than that. It was a shame I wasn¡¯t a miner, or this would¡¯ve been an absolute fortune. My wet boots made some soggy noises as I planted my first step on the shore. After I had fully surfaced from the water, I shook my body violently and left behind a huge, watery stain on the ground. I walked up what seemed like a row of stone stairs until I saw a stone statue at the center of the abode. It was a girl in gauze clothing. Her eyes looked like stars, and her appearance was gorgeous, but her expression was a deep frown for whatever reason. She was also holding up a golden sword. So lifelike was the statue that I could almost mistake it for a real person. I walked up to the statue and glanced at the name engraved at the foot of the statue¡ªXuan Nu. "Hmm? Xuan Nu?" Before I could process my surprise, I felt a sudden, irresistible affinity toward the statue. It was a Domain! Buzz! The rocks beneath my feet suddenly sank, and light blue-colored magic abruptly illuminated the cavern. The next moment, a hexagram appeared on the ground, and blood-red chains appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around the statue tightly. I immediately understood that the hexagram was a sealing formation, and that it was targeted at the statue at the center. Could this "statue" actually be a real person after all? I put my right foot into the sealing formation. Immediately, a blast of flames engulfed me and deleted 190k+ HP from my health bar. I had over 1 million total HP though, so this wasn¡¯t an unbearable HP loss. I clenched my teeth, endured the pain, drank a Saint Spirit Potion and continued forward. It took me 7 steps and an unimaginable amount of pain to approach the girl. Finally, I was able to sense a reaction from the statue. "Young man¡­" A sweet and tired voice entered my ears. I abruptly looked up and stared at the statue in astonishment. "Are you the one who¡¯s talking to me?" The statue actually shuddered a bit. "It¡¯s me¡­ it¡¯s me¡­ can you please unlock this seal and free me? I¡­ I¡¯ve been imprisoned here for a hundred thousand years. I beg you, please free me from this prison¡­." I shuddered. "How do I do that?" "Beneath my feet are three profound stones. My petrification will cease if you shatter them all¡­" ¡­¡­ I looked down. As she said, there were three seven-colored stones right in front of her toes. Each one had 10000 durability. Hmm, destroying this shouldn¡¯t be a problem. I was soon proven wrong, however. Metallic sparks flew when the Purple Ying Sword made contact with the profound stone. It only lost 97 durability! I was stunned. My Purple Ying Sword had the Mountain Crush effect, but not only did the profound stone shatter instantly, I didn¡¯t even do 1% damage to it! Just how goddamn high is this rock¡¯s Defense!? I could use skills to make these go faster, but I was afraid of hurting the petrified girl. So, I kept doing basic attack after basic attack until finally, they were all shattered. Buzz! A golden light surrounded the statue, and cracks started appearing all across its surface. I even heard a sweet moan from the girl. Well, it was an understandable reaction. She had been sealed inside this god-forsaken hole for god knows how long. Surprised, I instinctively touched her skin with the hand where the Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet was hanging. The second I made contact, the stone covering her body fell away at once. She was a beautiful girl with a countenance that looked like it was carved by the heavens themselves. Her white dress was a perfect complement to her pale skin. Her round, bright and intelligent eyes didn¡¯t contain even a trace of impurity in them, and her gaze felt like the most innocent gaze in the entire world. "Y-young man¡­" she said softly. "Your hand¡­" I shivered. Oops. My touch had helped to dispel the petrification spell completely, but I was still touching her. Worse, my finger happened to be touching her breast, and I could feel her smooth skin and the bounciness of her breast even now. I hurriedly withdrew my hand before examining her again. The hexagram was still flashing, and the bloody chains were still wrapped around her body. Clearly, shattering the three profound stones wasn¡¯t enough to unseal her. "Ah¡­" Suddenly, she let out a soft cry and slowly sank to her knees. Holy light surrounded her body as she shot me a helpless look, "Can¡­ can you help me? Please¡­" Me: "..." My astonishment lasted a couple of seconds before I noticed the sword she was holding again. It was way too dazzling not to notice, really. However, the weapon soon dissolved into rays of golden light and seeped into her body. It looked like the sword was one with the girl, and she could manifest it any time she wanted. "Is that¡­" I asked in a low tone, "Can it possibly be¡­ the¡­" The girl smiled. "Yes. It is the legendary Xuanyuan Sword¡­" "The Xuanyuan Sword!?" I nearly dropped to my knees myself. ¡°How is this sword in your hands? I thought it¡¯s the weapon of the Xuanyuan Huang Emperor?" The girl nodded as a hint of sorrow flashed across her eyes. "Yes, this is the Xuanyuan Sword, because I¡­ am the daughter of the Xuanyuan Huang Emperor¡­" Realization struck me like a thunderbolt. "That¡¯s right! You¡¯re Xuan Nu, the daughter of Xuanyuan! But why were you imprisoned here? Who¡¯s the one who laid down this formation?" She whispered, "It was Chiyou¡­" "Chiyou?!" I was stunned beyond belief. "Wasn¡¯t Chiyou destroyed by the Huang Emperor and the Yan Emperor together? How was he able to imprison you?" Xuan Nu shot me a miserable look. "That¡¯s because his body is dead, but his spirit isn¡¯t. It had transformed into the Evil Spirit of Chiyou. After dad had ascended to the realm of the gods, he returned to his sinful ways and committed many evils against the human world. Not only did he reassemble the Nine Li Tribes in an attempt to overturn the laws of the human realm, he even¡­" "Even, what?" "He even possessed the Xuanyuan Sacred Beast and turned it into a violent, evil beast. With its new body, it was able to kill countless Xuanyuan descendents and even trap me in this Nine Heavens Formation. Since then, my powers have been slipping away from me bit by bit. You may have noticed, but I no longer even have the strength to manifest the Xuanyuan Sword anymore." I gritted my teeth. "You said that the Evil Spirit of Chiyou possessed a Sacred Beast, right? What does it look like? How can I save you so that your eternal suffering may finally come to an end?" Xuan Nu suddenly smiled a little. "Will you really try to save me, young man? You understand the hardships that will block your way, don¡¯t you? Ones terrible enough to cost you even your life?" I abruptly planted my sword to the ground and dropped to one knee. I declared passionately, "The Evil Spirit of Chiyou is a monster who will destroy the human world. It is my natural duty to slay him, not to mention that he kept you, a defenseless girl, trapped in this terrible place! Xuan Nu, you are the daughter of Xuanyuan, and I am his descendant. Your help may have come 7000 years late, but I will still do everything in my power to save you!" It was only then I remembered that Xuan Nu wasn¡¯t a defenseless girl. She was the wielder of the Xuanyuan Sword! If she was defenseless, then the rest of us might as well be exposed as naked babies! Xuan Nu let out a heartfelt smile¡ªit felt warm enough to melt an iceberg¡ªand whispered, "If your intentions are true, then I thank you on behalf of all the living in the world. During our final battle, I was able to deal the Evil Spirit of Chiyou a grievous blow with the Xuanyuan Sword and weaken him severely. Therefore, your chances of slaying him aren¡¯t that insignificant. However, you must be able to kill the Sacred Beast he¡¯s possessing before you can deal with him. The Sacred Beast has been feeding on the essence of the world for a hundred thousand years. It is extremely powerful to say the least. You must be careful!" I nodded. "So, all I need to do is to kill the Sacred Beast, right?" "Correct." Xuan Nu nodded before continuing, "Once you have defeated the Sacred Beast, give me its inner dan, and I will be able to break through this Nine Heavens Formation. Thank you!" "Where is the Sacred Beast right now?" "It is residing in the Sacred Pond." "And where is this Sacred Pond?" "You should see it if you travel about 500 meters to the east from here. Be careful though, the Sacred Beast is being guarded by two powerful Chiyou Elite Guards. You must defeat them first before you are able to approach the Sacred Pond and slay both the Sacred Beast and the Evil Spirit of Chiyou." "I got it." ¡­¡­ I stood up and looked down on Xuan Nu for a moment. "Wait here for me." She blinked once and murmured, "Promise me you¡¯ll come back alive, okay?" I grinned at her. "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m immortal!" "Oh¡­" Chapter 1205: The Sacred Beast Tianyuan I didn¡¯t receive any quest notification, but if Xuan Nu said it was a quest, then it was a quest. Moreover, she was the holder of the Xuanyuan Sword, the divine weapon of every Chinese¡¯s dream. While it was unlikely that Xuan Nu would gift me the sword as a reward, even a screw from the sword would make me laugh in my dreams for many days to come. The Xuanyuan Sword wasn¡¯t just a simple weapon. It was the faith and totem of our entire nation. Any Chinese player who was granted the honor to even just hold the Xuanyuan Sword could claim that they had achieved one of their life¡¯s goals. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle... The Ghost Spirit War Boots made some rustling noises as I walked along a passage of the abode. The walls were covered in gems, luminous gemstones, and totems engraved using oracle bone scripts. The giant dragon engravings on the walls already looked plenty scary, but the possessed Sacred Beast was supposed to be even stronger. Heaven knows how I was going to beat it. I had promised Xuan Nu that I would succeed though, and I wasn¡¯t going to go back on my word no matter what. After traveling about 500 meters, the path started widening just as Xuan Nu promised me it would. I could even hear the sound of streaming water from here. Suddenly, my vision widened into a tall, magnificent mountain range with a single waterfall rushing down from above. Right beneath the waterfall was a huge, deep pond that had to be the Sacred Pond Xuan Nu was talking about. The supposedly sacred Sacred Pond was glowing a bloody color. It made me certain that the Sacred Beast was slumbering inside of it. It just hadn¡¯t surfaced yet. I softened my footsteps and carefully followed the wall to the front. Just a few seconds later, I immediately spotted the first Chiyou Elite Guard. It was a wolfman miniboss covered in armor and wielding a long blade. It was about 120 yards from me and to the east. I activated Dark Pupils and quickly discovered a second Chiyou Elite Guard as well. It was an undead general riding a Qilin Beast. Normally, this miniboss would be a boss in its own right, but both the undead general and the Qilin Beast were skins and bones, probably because they had been starving for hundreds and thousands of years. Finally, Dark Pupils revealed a red dot inside the pond, and it was enormous. I had no doubt that it was a super boss. This was going to be fun! ¡­¡­ I considered my options for a bit before deciding that I would kill the Chiyou Elite Guards first. Not only that, I was going to lure them to me one by one. Both minibosses were Level 280 and Ancient Immortal Rank, so they could easily instakill me if I aggroed both of them at the same time. Before that, there were some calculations to be made. My Level was 58 below the minibosses, and their detection range was probably something like¡­ 70 yards or so? Moreover, they were close enough to each other that trying to aggro just one of them to me wasn¡¯t very doable¡­ unless I waited for them to move apart. So that was what I did. I didn¡¯t want to use Resurrection Art on either one of the minibosses¡ªthe levels must be saved for the Sacred Beast¡ªso I waited. I hid behind the stone wall for three whole minutes before the two Chiyou Elite Guards finally made a move. Unfortunately, they were moving along the same angle. If I jumped out now, I would still be attracting two minibosses, so I waited some more. It was said time and time again that patience was one of the critical factors to success. It was true. It took almost half an hour of waiting, but finally the two Chiyou Elite Guards walked away from each other. This is my chance! Pa! I nimbly bounded out of my hiding spot and moved straight toward the wolfman to my left. The moment I entered within 72 yards of it, it immediately let out a low, menacing growl and rushed toward me. Not daring to tempt fate and fight it here, I immediately turned back and returned to the passage. After that, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and apparition, kicking the battle off. My little wolf had good Attack but poor survivability, so I had it zigzag in front of the wolfman repeatedly to block its way while the apparition and I used Dragon Slaying Slash, Burning Blade Slash, Myriad Swords Obliteration and more ranged attacks. Pu! I thrust the Purple Ying Sword through its chest armor and executed Purple Frost Concentration, greatly reducing its Defense. A miniboss''s resistance wasn¡¯t as good as a boss¡¯s, so it lost 36% of its Defense instantly. At the same time, the wolfman landed a skill on my shoulder! Astral Blade Sweep! 197742! 182366! 173263! Mn. I had let it hit me to learn exactly how much damage it could do to me, and it was pretty deadly to say the least. Neither hit was particularly deadly on its own, but three of them in quick succession? That was half of my HP gone just like that. I withdrew deeper into the passage and activated Battle Astral Wind. It was one thing to test out the miniboss''s strength, and another to overdo it and die. The Chiyou Elite Guard roared furiously, but there was a skill gap between us that it couldn¡¯t bridge no matter what. Thanks to my apparition, my pet, and my ability to control three characters at once almost perfectly, I kept shooting ranged skills at it while zigzagging left and right to keep the damage I received to a minimum. Even better, Battle Astral Wind provided me with an extra thick blanket of security, losing only 15% of its durability per hit. There was no chance I was going to die to this miniboss. Twenty minutes of high APM and top-notch fighting technique later, the wolfman dropped dead and gave me 24% experience. Considering that I was Level 222 right now, that was an incredible amount of experience. I should be leveling up¡ªor be on the brink of leveling up¡ªafter killing the second miniboss. Then¡­ I should be prepared to lose many levels fighting against the Sacred Beast! ¡­¡­ It only took me half an hour to take out the undead general. According to its description, it used to be a trusted aide of the Evil Spirit of Chiyou. Its strength didn¡¯t match the position it was entrusted with though. Just like all the bosses I had killed so far, it didn¡¯t drop anything good at all. The best equipment I got was only a Heaven-grade helmet. The good news was that the mob gave enough experience to level me up to 223. "Okay!" I sucked in a deep breath and looked at the rippling pond some distance away from me. Finally, the decisive battle was about to begin! ¡­¡­ The closer I got to the Sacred Pond, the more I could feel the violent aura of the Sacred Beast. In fact, the pond suddenly bubbled like it was boiling hot or something. When I reached within a hundred yards of the pond, the Sacred Beast finally noticed me and began surfacing. I immediately resummoned the apparition and the Phantom Wolf King. I also buffed myself with a Fire War God Card so I could face the boss in my best condition. I even used the Iron Wall stratagem¡ªa basic stratagem that buffed my Defense by 100%¡ªinstead of my Martial God because I knew that this was going to be a long, drawn out fight where survivability was more important than power. I gripped the Purple Ying Sword tightly. Despite being a veteran of the battlefield, I couldn¡¯t help but feel nervous¡ªor maybe it was excitement?¡ªto the point where my blood felt like it was boiling in my veins just like the pond around. Chiyou had already been an ancient evil god in its own right, and now it also possessed the body of the Sacred Beast. Just how strong was this boss going to be? Well, ¡®terrifying¡¯ would be a good place to kick off the string of adjectives... I moved closer and dropped two Icy Cyclone Domains on the edge of the pond in front of me. It froze the water surface within its area of effect, but I could see that the ice was very thin. Bang! As expected, a sinister-looking head burst through the ice I made like nothing and glared down on me with its dark blue eyes. Its head somehow resembled both a dragon and a turtle. The top of its head was covered in thick armor, not unlike a snapping turtle¡¯s. More ice shattered into pieces as it gripped the edge of the pond with its claws. It had a shell that made it look like a ten-thousand-years-old giant turtle. That already had ¡®bad news¡¯ written all over it, but it also had a pair of wings. It unfolded them, opened its bloody maw and let out a shrill cackle that could only be described as disgusting. I was surprised, but for a different reason from what one might expect. I immediately executed Coiling Dragon Revolution and sent my sword flying into its exposed mouth. Talk about a freebie! 128873! I had struck a weak point, but my damage was still sorely lacking. It was because I hadn¡¯t reduced its Defense with Purple Frost Concentration. "Jie jie!" The Sacred Beast abruptly bounded out of the Sacred Pond and rushed toward me at high speed. It was like a mountain or the sky itself falling toward me. It let out another brutal roar before spitting a mouthful of ice at me. One of the icicles rocked my Dragon God Shield. Although Battle Astral Wind had canceled the damage, my speed was still reduced by the attack. Worse, it had deleted 51% of the Battle Astral Wind¡¯s durability. One more hit like that, and I would have to wait 120 seconds before I could resummon my life-saving skill. I backed away as quickly as I could and activated Ghost Spirit Step Art at the same time. For 15 seconds, there was a 75% chance that any attack I received would be nullified! By now the Sacred Beast had pulled itself completely out of the water. It stretched its long, ugly neck toward me and attempted to bite me twice in a row. The reason I said attempted was because Ghost Spirit Step Art had turned them all into misses. Its effects couldn¡¯t be understated in a boss fight! I activated Dark Pupils and found a 10-centimeter-wide weak point beneath the boss''s chin. The skin there was weaker than normal. I stabbed my sword through it and used Purple Frost Concentration, and the next moment I was informed that its Defense had been lowered by 24.4%. That was enough! Thud thud thud... I blocked and parried as best I could while retreating to more favorable terrain. There was zero chance I was going to beat this motherfucker on an open clearing like this. The caves behind me were my best chance. Of course, I didn¡¯t forget to use my ranged skills like Summon the Storm and Myriad Swords Obliteration to whittle away at the boss''s HP. Also, I finally had an opportunity to actually read the stats I had gleaned through Dark Pupils¡ª Sacred Beast Tianyuan (Ancient Divine Rank Boss) Level: 285 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: Icicle Thrust, Cruel Bite, Xuanyuan Sword Soul, Heaven-bound Fate Introduction: The Tianyuan is the totem and symbol of the Xuanyuan Clan. The ancient beast stays underwater most of the time, and it was worshipped as the Sacred Beast of Xuanyuan. However, the 170000-years-old Tianyuan was attacked by the Evil Spirit of Chiyou and turned into a violent creature. In the following hundreds of thousands of years, the Tianyuan had killed countless humans. Its eating habits even changed from that of a herbivore to that of a carnivore with a very special interest in human flesh. The Tianyuan also possesses the power to decide the life or death of any individual, including itself. When it dies, it has a 50% chance to revive on the spot with 10% HP. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After I ran back into the cave, I swung my sword behind me and hit the Tianyuan¡¯s head with Burning Blade Slash. The damage I dealt was considerable, but the big fellow had so much health that the HP bar above its head didn¡¯t even budge. "Roar!" My plan had been to get it stuck between the caves while I attacked from relative safety, but it was foiled when the goddamned flying turtle just burst right through the rocks. The terrain just wasn¡¯t strong enough to stop an Ancient Divine Rank boss. As the Tianyuan¡¯s head slammed into my chest, I saw it staring at me with ridicule before opening its mouth and conjuring not an icicle, but a golden sword this time. Fuck! It¡¯s that Xuanyuan Sword Soul skill! Pu! The Xuanyuan Sword Soul pierced through my body instantly. Battle Astral Wind had already been canceled during the head butt from earlier, so I had no choice but to pray that Ghost Deity Shield was enough to block it. It wasn¡¯t. A tearing pain exploded from my chest, and the damage number above my head was an unbelievable¡ª 982663! That one hit had almost killed me. This Tianyuan was Xuanyuan¡¯s totem alright. Even after it was possessed by the Evil Spirit of Chiyou, it still retained the Xuanyuan Emperor¡¯s unique skill to this day. Crunch! One more Cruel Bite later, I felt my body slacken as I died! Chapter 1206: Xuanyuan Slash I revived myself with Resurrection Art, dropping a level but increasing my Attack by 10%. I ran deeper into the cave immediately after the revival, just in time to avoid the Tianyuan¡¯s head smashing into the cave I had been in a while ago. I had no idea where I was going, and it was pitch black inside. It didn¡¯t matter though. If I didn¡¯t find a terrain I could use to fight the boss soon, I would become turtle food! Swhoosh! I relied on the Purple Ying Sword¡¯s light to illuminate my way as I dashed into the darkened map. Suddenly, I emerged into a cavern that was filled with countless totem poles that were shaped like Xuanyuan Swords. It was a wide hall, and the minimap called it ¡°Xuanyuan Hall¡±. Well shit, if there was one place my hope resided, this would be the place! ¡­¡­ "Do you think you can escape death, boy?" To my surprise, the Tianyuan opened its mouth and spoke in a most unpleasant voice. It had to be the Evil Spirit of Chiyou. Ew! The stone-carved totem poles looked like swords standing on the tip of their blade. A pair of them formed some sort of a two-man wide entrance that was more than wide enough for me to pass through, but not the Sacred Beast. Sure, its head could just barely pass through the opening, but there was zero chance its gigantic body¡ªespecially its turtle shell¡ªcould come through without crushing the totem poles outright. I dashed through three or four pairs of totem poles along a beautiful S-shaped path while tossing the Purple Ying Sword at the same time. Coiling Dragon Revolution struck the Tianyuan¡¯s head and dealt around 200k+ damage or so, causing it to roar out again and fire a bunch of icicles at me. I made my apparition attack and slow down the Tianyuan as much as possible by controlling every step I took. As the boss kept firing icicles at me, I changed direction and speed repeatedly to dodge them. The turn rate penalty removal of the Fusion Armor and my own skill showed its true power at this moment. Not a single one of those icicles were able to hit me! The Tianyuan didn¡¯t give up, however. Still carrying a whopping 98% HP after all the damage I had done to it, it chased relentlessly while roaring my ears off from time to time. Behind the Tianyuan, the sword-shaped totem poles reformed itself like they had never been damaged. It was probably because the Xuanyuan Hall was overflowing with immortal qi. They were useless as obstacles though, since none of them could withstand the Tianyuan¡¯s weight. Pu! Suddenly, the Tianyuan expanded its meaty wings and almost surfaced completely into the air. A memory flashed across my mind. In real life, the Tianyuan was actually a kind of flying dinosaur from the Jurassic period, the Pterosaur. What did this mean inside the game? Well, it meant that it had turtle armor, super Defense, and the ability to cultivate all four systems of magic. It was also one of the deadliest monsters in ancient Chinese mythology. A sharp, rending pain pierced my shoulder as the Tianyuan bit me. I tried to turn around and kick myself free, but well, I shouldn¡¯t even have bothered. It was like kicking a steel wall. The Tianyuan raised its claws and swiped at me twice, and three damage numbers rose above my head¡ª 390717! 312784! 712388! The last hit was even a critical hit. I didn¡¯t have OP Famous General Skills like Bombshell or Royal Road, or bard buffs on my person right now. My total HP was just¡ªrelatively speaking¡ªa palty 600k times 1.8 right now. Naturally, I let out a death groan and died yet again. Luckily, I triggered Immortality this time and resurrected on the spot. I took off like an arrow the second I revived. I even used Thunderous Charge on an empty spot just to put as much space between myself and the boss''s seemingly all-encompassing claws as possible. Not only that, I activated Ghost Spirit Step Art to further protect myself, and use Rise of the Guardian Dragon and Myriad Swords Obliteration to whittle down the boss''s HP some more. After that, I ran some more as a matter of course. While running and attacking the boss, I opened the map screen and checked out the Xuanyuan Hall¡¯s structure. There were eight groups of totem poles in the hall in total. Each one was made up of 3 to 6 rows of totem poles. The moment I saw their shape though, realization struck my head like a thunderbolt. Isn¡¯t¡­ isn¡¯t this the legendary Fuxi bagua? The totem poles directly in front of me were arranged in a 1-2-1 formation facing toward the south, the Li trigram. A quick check revealed that it was the Vermillion Bird¡¯s Outlook Door, Ding Wu Bing, and¡­ What the fuck, I don¡¯t get this at all! Still running, I waved my head in front of me and manifested a hologram of the bagua above my head. It spun slowly like an aurora wheel. Right after I passed through the Outlook Door, I took an icicle hit and lost a ton of HP. Instinctively, I dashed toward the Growth Door and... holy shit! It healed me! +500000! That was almost half of my HP healed just like that. Unfortunately, the effect didn¡¯t just apply to me. The Tianyuan behind me was also healed by 500k HP before it crushed the Growth Door to pieces. Dammit... The Tianyuan continued to attack like crazy as I zigged and zagged across the arrangement of rocks. This time, I chose to pass through the Injury Door and lost 200k HP immediately. The Tianyuan was the same, however! "Roar roar¡­" The damn thing fired the Xuanyuan Sword Soul through my chest, and I died again. Again! I was about to go crazy from frustration. I had barely begun whittling down the boss''s HP, and I had dropped two levels already! Worst case scenario, I could lose 100 levels and still not kill this motherfucking thing! My eyes lit up as I dashed toward the side, however. It was because I had found the Death Door! Swhoosh! I crossed under the Death Door and executed another Myriad Swords Obliteration + Burning Blade Slash combo against the Tianyuan at the same time. Screeching in pain and anger, the Tianyuan expanded its wings and attempted to knock aside this arrangement of totem poles as well. However, a miracle happened¡ª Bang! Not only did the Tianyuan fail to knock apart the totem poles that made up the Death Door, the knockback impact was so huge that it actually stumbled toward the back! I knew that the Death Door would be different from the other doors! In this case, the totem poles that composed it were indestructible! Finally, I saw a chance to turn the tables on the Sacred Beast. The gap between the Death Door was small enough that only I could pass through, but the boss could not. It was also big enough for me to launch my AoE skills and ranged skills. Yes, this is it! I executed Myriad Swords Obliteration + Dragon Slaying Slash combo at the same time I dodged the hail of icicles and wind blades it spat at me. Neither skill was powerful enough to one-shot me even if they hit, meaning that I could finally do more damage to it than it could do to me. I gobbled up my Saint Spirit Potions and Magic Consumables again and again as I fought the Tianyuan around the Death Door. The boss wasn¡¯t stupid enough to stay in one place so that I could hit it with little trouble. It kept trying to circle to my sides and damage me with its ranged skills. Moreover, Xuanyuan Sword Soul was almost an instakill. I had to die almost every time it used the skill! Boom boom boom! The six rows of totem poles that formed the Death Door shook under staggering weight that was the Sacred Beast, but a constant infusion of divine energy and immortal qi kept it steady and indestructible. I had a feeling that the Xuanyuan Huang Emperor had left this formation behind precisely so that his descendants could deal with the Evil Spirit of Chiyou. In fact, without it, I would¡¯ve been forced to engage the Tianyuan in melee range. It would¡¯ve been impossible for me to win no matter how many times I could revive. The Tianyuan could fly, so it had higher movement speed that even me. My ploy to use the apparition and my Phantom Wolf King to block its way was completely useless as well. And even if it worked, the Tianyuan could just fire its ridiculously powerful Xuanyuan Sword Soul and kill me, my apparition and my pet all in one go. ¡­¡­ You would think that this fight should be easy peasy now that I had the Death Door to act as an indestructible obstacle, but you would be wrong. I already mentioned how goddamn intelligent the Sacred Beast was earlier, and the fact that it towered over me meant that it still had more than enough room to open its stinky maw and bite my poor head again, and again, and again. It was to the point where I felt like the Fire God Helmet was going to smell permanently of saliva from now on. Did I at least survive the bite attacks, you ask? Of course¡­ not! The battle lasted 3 whole hours when the Tianyuan¡¯s health finally dropped to 5%. I had revived 19 times through Immortality and 12 times through the Resurrection Art, so I was only Level 211 now. I had died a total of 31 times, and my Battle Astral Wind was destroyed many more times than that. The entire Xuanyuan Hall was flashing with the light of skill from a mythical beast and the best player in the world. It was a legendary moment in the game for sure. I took a moment to check my bag. My potion and consumable supplies had dwindled considerably since I had been chugging them down almost off cooldown for the past 3 hours. Assuming that I hadn¡¯t brought any potion with me, I would¡¯ve been lucky to die just one time per minute. Take the boss''s Icicle Thrust for example. It was a common skill, and yet it was fast enough that even with my skill I wasn¡¯t able to dodge it more than 40% of the time. I died so many times that I had grown bored of dying at this point. There was a growing smile on my face, however. As I fired another Ancient Seal, I daydreamed about the reward the Tianyuan might drop for me. I knew that the Ruins of the Gods map prevented bosses from dropping OP rewards for some reason, but come on, this was an Ancient Divine-Rank boss! If a Divine Armament was impossible, then at least drop a Divine Rank pet egg or something! The boss''s HP dropped even more while I was daydreaming. My smile grew even wider. 3%¡­¡­ 2%¡­¡­ 1%¡­¡­ It¡¯s gonna die! I swung my arm one last time and fired Burning Blade Slash across the boss''s body. The Tianyuan let out a death groan, and finally, it¡­ lived!? My knees nearly buckled when I saw the soul-rending green healing number rising above its head¡ª +10000000! It had revived with 10 million HP, which was 5% of its total HP. In other words, this Sacred Beast Tianyuan had a total HP of 200 million. Motherfucker! If I had 200 million HP, I would go to Hero City, slay every single player in it and claim the royal scepter solo right now! ¡­¡­ I forced myself to think positive and kept fighting. Heaven-bound Fate was a skill that gave its user a 50% chance to revive with 5% HP, basically a coin flip! It had to die eventually! Unfortunately, I died a couple more times and dropped a couple more levels before it did. Well, this was expected. Ten plus minutes later, I deleted its final sliver of HP, and the Tianyuan¡­ let out an undying roar and revived with 10 million HP AGAIN! ¡°NOOOOOOOOOOO!¡± I let out a pathetic groan before continuing this goddamned boss fight. When the boss revived for the fourth time, I had dropped to just Level 205. I didn¡¯t even have enough levels to meet the requirement to enter the Heavenly River Realm now! What the hell is going on here!? I cursed the boss again and again in my head. I¡¯ll die if you revive again! I swear! ¡­¡­ Incredibly, the heavens finally heard my prayers! Swhoosh! The moment Myriad Swords Obliteration penetrated the Tianyuan¡¯s body, six columns of golden light enveloped my person and increased my level to 211. This Ancient Divine Rank boss carried so much experience! At the same time, a dark green-colored Ancient Divine Skill Scroll and a ton of equipment dropped from the boss as well. My arms nearly shook when I picked up the scroll. Tears threatened to break loose when I gave it a look and noted that my 4 hours and the tens of levels I dropped weren¡¯t for nothing after all¡ª Xuanyuan Slash (SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill): Increases user''s Attack by 180%. Summon the Xuanyuan Sword and deal Xuanyuan Battle Soul Strike to all targets within 35 yards in front of you. All targets lose 90% Defense for 12 seconds, and have a 25% chance of being instantly killed. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Cost: 50% MP. Chapter 1207: Jiuzhou Han My hands actually started trembling as I held the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll in my hands. The SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill "Xuanyuan Slash" could only be described as the dream skill of millions and millions of Chinese players. It increased the user¡¯s Attack by 180% and summoned the ancient Xuanyuan Sword to deal Xuanyuan Battle Soul Strike to all targets within 35 yards in front of the user. Those who were hit would lose 90% Defense for 12 seconds, and there was a 25% chance they would be killed instantly. Even if the target managed to withstand the +180% Attack Xuanyuan Slash that ignored Guard and invincibility skills, and they were lucky enough to avoid the instant kill effect, their Defense was still reduced by 90% for 12 seconds. There was no chance anyone would be able to withstand the follow-up attack. This Ancient Divine Skill was practically a perfect match with my Attack! Holding the scroll and standing next to the Sacred Beast Tianyuan, I laughed so hard that I was shivering with every exertion. Right after I planted the Purple Ying Sword on the ground, a red-colored evil spirit suddenly gathered next to the Sacred Beast¡¯s body. It took the form of a violent-looking ancient god and pointed a gigantic palm at me as if it would smite me where I stood. "You dare kill my host, brat? You will pay the price of your transgressions! I will be back!" His light faded, and the Evil Spirit of Chiyou slowly faded into nothingness. His soul had been severely damaged during his final battle against Xuan Nu, and now that he lost his host as well he had lost all available means to continue evil. It would be a very long time before he returned to this world. ¡­¡­ I carefully placed the Ancient Divine Scroll at the top of my bag so I could use it at a moment¡¯s notice. I didn¡¯t want to learn Xuanyuan Slash now because ascending to the Heavenly River Realm would result in me being teleported out of the map 10 minutes later. For one, I hadn¡¯t turned in my quest to Xuan Nu yet. Two, it felt incredibly irresponsible to just leave. Three, it was almost time for He Yi, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue, Xu Yang and everyone else to enter the Sky Vortex. They could use my help to fend off the enemies and find an Ancient Divine Skill. I picked up the three pieces of equipment dropped by the Sacred Beast Tianyuan and¡­ nope. They were still a disappointment. Most of them were Heaven-grade or Earth-grade, and the best one among them was a pair of Immortal-grade leather-armor wristguards I couldn¡¯t wear. I planned to sell them when Sky City reopened. I took out a dagger, stabbed it into the Sacred Beast¡¯s skull, and searched inside its brain for a bit. A while later, I pulled out, I found a burning hot inner dan that was about the size of an apple. Good, I found the quest item. Once I return to Xuan Nu, I will be able to free her from her eternal prison. Speaking of which, it still feels unreal to think that I got to help the daughter of the Huang Emperor himself! I put the Sacred Beast Inner Core in my bag and checked the battlefield again. The pieces of equipment the Tianyuan had dropped were unimpressive, but the gems it dropped were a different story. The Rank 15 and 16 gems it dropped were so rare that they were practically unseen in Sky City. Even my Purple Ying Sword was only Rank 15. I planned to slot them into my Fire God Helmet and Ghost Spirit War Boots later. The stat difference between 0-gem equipment and 16-gem equipment was like night and day; almost 50% to be exact. Therefore, there was absolutely every reason to use them. ¡­¡­ And so, the Phantom Wolf King and I returned to the system of caves that the Sacred Beast Tianyuan and I had half-destroyed and made our way back toward the abode. It was so bad some of them were starting to collapse. The moment I emerged back at the heart of the abode, I saw Xuan Nu kneeling on the ground and staring at me. Joy sprang to her features, and she tried to climb to her feet when she realized that I had returned. Unfortunately, she quickly found herself unable to do so because the red chains were still immobilizing her. I strode toward Xuan Nu and dropped to one knee. Then, I said, "Xuan Nu, I have carried out your quest. I have killed the Sacred Beast Tianyuan, and the Evil Spirit of Chiyou has dissipated into smoke. Now, what should I do to unlock this mysterious seal for you?" Xuan Nu¡¯s eyes widened. "You really killed the Evil Spirit of Chiyou?" "I think so. The Tianyuan is certainly as dead as it could be." "Okay. Please crush the Sacred Beast Inner Core and scatter the powder around the sealing formation. It will dispel the evil power that is keeping this formation going and free me for this suffering¡­" "Got it!" I rose to my feet, took out the Sacred Beast Inner Core, and gave it a tight squeeze. It turned into powder just as Xuan Nu said it would. I then walked around the sealing formation and scattered the powder bit by bit. Wherever the powder landed, the hellish flames that empowered the sealing formation immediately extinguished. A minute later, the entire sealing formation fell silent completely. "ßÛµ±¡­¡­" Clang! The first set of chains wrapped around Xuan Nu fell heavily against the ground. When all of the chains had fallen to the ground, they melted into red molten iron and seeped into the ground, vanishing. "Ugh¡­" Xuan Nu moaned as she gripped a nearby rock to steady herself. Her expression was tired, and she was lying half-prone on the ground. Since there was no such thing as a bra in the ancient times, her thin clothing just barely managed to keep the most important bits of her body concealed. Still, her curves and natural beauty were enough to make a lesser man feel the beginnings of a nose bleed. I returned to her and dropped to one knee again. Seeing how weakened she looked, I asked her, "Can you hang on, Xuan Nu? More importantly, what is your plan now? Do you want to stay here to recover your strength, or head out? I must warn you that countless cultivators are currently roaming the Ruins of the Gods though. If you head out carelessly, you might find yourself in trouble¡­" However, Xuan Nu smiled and shook her head. "You may have noticed it already, but the tens of thousands of years of imprisonment have exhausted all of my true energy. I was already wounded from the final battle against the Evil Spirit of Chiyou, and today I no longer even have the strength to summon the Xuanyuan Sword. I am aware¡­ that I have reached the end of my road¡­" I shuddered and grabbed her shoulders. "What are you talking about? You look fine. You can¡¯t have reached the end of your road yet. I have an idea. Come for me, and I¡¯ll seek out Xinran. She¡¯ll help you ascend to the divine realm and find your father, Xuanyuan. He¡¯ll definitely be able to save your life." "No, it¡¯s okay¡­" Xuan Nu shot me a faint smile before exhaling suddenly. "My job is to protect the Xuanyuan Sword and prevent it from falling into Chiyou¡¯s hands. And now, my duty is complete. I¡¯m sure father won¡¯t blame me for¡­ taking a well-deserved rest. And truthfully¡­ I¡¯m so, so tired¡­" "Will you rest here?" I asked her. She nodded. "It¡¯s too dangerous though¡­" I said in a troubled tone. It was at this moment Xuan Nu saw the Purple Ying Sword and perked up. "What a rare divine weapon you have here. This is the Purple Ying Sword, right? I recognize it. Even better, it¡¯s one that can absorb an origin spirit!" She then looked at me and said, "If you don¡¯t mind me asking, will you like to be together with me forever, young man?" "I¡¯m sorry?" I was completely flabbergasted by her question. "What are you saying, Xuan Nu?" She pursed her lips and explained slowly, "Seventy thousand years ago, the Xuanyuan Sword became one with me, and my origin spirit became the guardian spirit of the Xuanyuan Sword. The Purple Ying Sword you¡¯re wielding is an ancient divine weapon just like the Xuanyuan Sword, so it is capable of bearing the Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s power. I think¡­ that I and the Xuanyuan Sword can fuse together with your Purple Ying Sword. If the process is successful, I will fall aslumber in the new sword. I may awaken one day, or I may never. But¡­ it is still a better fate than dying alone in this forsaken place, right?" Still stunned, all I could say was, "You want to fuse yourself and the Xuanyuan Sword with my Purple Ying Sword? But that¡¯s¡­" "What¡¯s wrong? Don¡¯t you want the power of the Xuanyuan Sword?" "Of course I do. But if it comes at the price of your life, then I would rather not have it." "Haha¡­" Xuan Nu let out a chuckle before pressing her cheek to my arm, whispering, "My soul is already starting to fall apart. If you don¡¯t want me, I will become just another wisp of spirit energy of the world. Can you really bear to see me disappear into nothing?" Me: "..." Suddenly, Xuan Nu let out an exclamation of surprise and looked at her own two feet. Swhoosh swhoosh! Her legs were rapidly dissolving into a shower of golden light. Holy shit, it wasn¡¯t a lie! She really was fading away like she said she would! I blurted, "Xuan Nu, you?!" She looked at me and asked, "You really don¡¯t want me?" My heart shuddered, and I finally made up my mind. "Of course I do! Now get into the Purple Ying Sword already! Before it¡¯s too late!" "Very well. I promise I will protect you forever!" ¡­¡­ Those were her final words before she held the Purple Ying Sword in her hands and cut her finger on its blade. The next moment, her entire person scattered into a shower of golden light and seeped into the Purple Ying Sword. The transformation wasn¡¯t over though. The golden light started turning into symbols of the Xuanyuan Sword. The ancient divine weapon, the Xuanyuan Sword, really was merging together with the Purple Ying Sword! For a while, I couldn¡¯t say anything. The Purple Ying Sword shook violently in my hands before it abruptly pulled itself out of my grasp and floated in the air. It kept absorbing the Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s power until the blade itself started undergoing minor changes. Oracle bone scripts started to appear on its body, and it suddenly became so cold that snow appeared out of nowhere and spun around the sword. Not only that, whirlpool-like images started appearing around the oracle bone scripts. One one side, I saw mountains, rivers, cows and goats. On the other, I saw stars, Purgatory, and devils. Finally, sharp, tiny blades started growing on both edges of the sword until the center looked like a bright, round moon that was illuminated by the stars. Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your weapon "Purple Ying Sword" has merged together with the Xuanyuan Sword Spirit and transformed into a new ancient divine weapon, ¡°Jiuzhou Han¡±! ¡­¡­ "Jiuzhou Han¡­" I whispered as I stared at my new weapon. The sword was surrounded by a cold chill, but it also brimmed with the righteous, golden energy of the Xuanyuan Sword. After the transformation was complete, the weapon dropped down from the sky and sank about halfway into the rock in front of me. Its icy energy caused the room temperature to fall a couple of degrees almost instantly. Pa! I gripped the handle of my new sword and shuddered involuntarily. Images of mountains, flowers, birds, animals, people, livestocks and many more representations of life flashed across my eyes. A pause later, images of darkened lands, sundering thunder, roaming devils and whirlpools of death hanging ominously in the sky flashed across my eyes as well. In that moment, I grew certain that the Jiuzhou Han would become a weapon that controlled both the energies of life and death. If not now, then certainly in the future. Chapter 1208: Xuanyuan Art My heart skipped a beat when I saw the Jiuzhou Han¡¯s stats. I knew that my new weapon would be ungodly powerful since it absorbed the legendary Xuanyuan Sword itself, but I had no idea that it would be this powerful. It, no, she, would definitely be my key to win the next Nation War¡ª Jiuzhou Han (Ancient Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 15000~17500 Strength: +2950 Stamina: +2700 Agility: +2650 Intelligence: +2500 Tactics: +305 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 245% Passive: Increases user¡¯s splash effect by 70% Passive: When swinging Jiuzhou Han, 15% chance to deal septuple damage. The effect stacks with critical hits. Slots: 18 (15) Outstanding Property: Mountain Crush. When attacking a target, has a small chance to destroy the opponent¡¯s equipment durability and render it useless. When attacking a building or a mine, greatly increase the shatter effect. Ancient 1: Xuanyuan Art. Activates the Xuanyuan Sword Spirit¡¯s divine power. Raise the sword with its edge facing the front to activate ¡°Life¡±, restoring 50% HP to all allies within 1000 yards. Raise the sword with its blunt side toward your enemies to activate ¡°Death¡± and deal 50% HP damage to all enemies within 1000 yards. Cooldown: 6 minutes. Cost: 100% MP. Ancient 2: Cold of Nine Provinces. Freezes all players within 100 yards of the user for 7 seconds. Cooldown: 6 minutes. Effect 1: Proficiency. Level Requirement is lowered by 35 Effect 2: Evolvable Effect 3: Lifesteal. 20% of the damage dealt is converted into HP Introduction: Jiuzhou Han is the result of the perfect fusion between the two ancient divine weapons, the Purple Ying Sword and the Xuanyuan Sword. The Xuanyuan Sword is a legendary Sword of the Sacred Way used to create the world during the Era of Gods. One side of the blade has celestial objects engraved into it, and the other side, nature. One side of the grip has the art of farming written on it, and the other side, the strategy to unite the four seas. After Jiuzhou Han inherited the Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s divine power, the weapon also gained the power to rule over life and death. Used wisely, and it will bring happiness to the world. Used recklessly, it will cause war, death and destruction. Level Requirement: 240 Reputation Requirement: 800000 ¡­¡­ For a long time, I simply knelt on the floor and stared at the stats screen in front of me. Overjoyed couldn¡¯t even begin to describe my current feelings. Not only were my new weapon¡¯s stats around 40% higher than the Purple Ying Sword¡¯s, its two ancient properties could only be described as broken. Cold of Nine Provinces froze all enemy units within 100 yards of me, making it far, far better than Purple Marquis¡¯s Absolute Zero. Xuanyuan Art was even more broken, giving me the option to either restore 50% HP to all allies within 1000 yards of me, or remove 50% HP from all enemies within the same range depending on how I held the weapon. This divine weapon was practically born for Nation Wars! I knew that the description stated that it could be used for the good of the people, but in my hands, it would only be used for the destruction of my enemies! I clenched the grip of the Jiuzhou Han tightly and felt its cold aura flowing into my body. There was an even bigger surge of righteous energy that chased away my exhaustion and invigorated me like magic. The Jiuzhou Han was a 9-star Outstanding Divine Armament, and as far as I was aware, nine stars was literally the highest rating any equipment could get! I checked my stats again and noted it was really starting to go out of control¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: The Frostblade of Death) Class: Master Swordsman of Death Level: 211 HP: 623820 Attack: 30050~33970 Defense: 48865 Magic Resist: 44920 Reputation: 879400 Tactics: 1567 Luck: 86 ¡­¡­ The lower limit of my Attack had exceeded 30k, so that was a huge improvement. The Jiuzhou Han also increased my Intelligence by 2500, making me much more resistant to God Devil Break. In the future, only super mages like Lian Xin or Luo River God of the Capital could really threaten me. Another while later, I decided that I blanked out long enough, and that it was time to move on. A lot of things must have happened while I was inside here. At any rate, one of the nine SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Scrolls had fallen into my hands. My feat¡­ wasn¡¯t irreplicable per se, but I couldn¡¯t imagine anyone pulling it off without considerably more planning and effort. The Sacred Beast Tianyuan was a monster that couldn¡¯t be beaten through sheer numbers alone, and even I had to die over 30 times before I finally defeated it. Most players should be thankful that they even got an SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Scroll. In that sense, High Fighting Spirits was one of the luckiest mofos out there. The Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance had practically dropped in his lap after just a fight or two. That being said, it was absolutely worth investing in him. He had already proven himself to be an unstoppable force in every Nation War, I was sure that the Heavenly River Transformation was going to make him almost invincible! Right. Less daydreaming, more getting the hell out of this place! ¡­¡­ I rose to my feet, and Jiuzhou Han glistened a faint golden in my hand. It had inherited much of the Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s appearance, but its attribute was obviously slanted toward ice. I liked it though. Ice-type powers could slow opponents, and there was nothing more useful than that in a duel between peak experts. I slowly returned to the pond I had come from and stepped inside. Now that I knew what to do, I held the Jiuzhou Han in my teeth, activated Great Earth Transformation, and slowly swam away from the abode. As I thought, I was caught by the powerful whirlpool again and spun in the opposite direction. About 5 minutes later, I was spat out of the center, and I landed in calmer water. I opened the map screen just in case, but I was glad to see that I was back at the Ji River, or the Ruins of the Gods in general. I wondered how the others were doing, but there was still nothing I could do about it since contact was forbidden until I exited this place. I canceled my Fusion Armor after I swam back to the shore. My quest to search for an Ancient Divine Skill Scroll was complete, and now my goal had changed to helping my fellow countrymen and attacking my enemies. However, there was a small problem. Because I hadn¡¯t used the skill scroll yet, its image floated above my head just like how it did with the other bosses. I would be a target no matter where I went. This meant that I must avoid the ground as much as possible. For one, I didn¡¯t want to be ambushed by assassins even if I could see them coming. Two, there was the thousand-year-old saying called "man beyond man, mountains beyond mountains." I was the best player in the world until I wasn¡¯t, so I must never let down my guard no matter what. So I climbed up the Ancient Divine Dragon and flew up until I was around 200 meters above the ground. My plan was to circle around the area before deciding a course of action. Suddenly, the scroll in my bag vibrated almost as if it could sense another Ancient Divine Skill. In fact, when I checked the map screen, I could see a dot¡ªa cave to be exact¡ªlabeled with the text SSS. It had to be the other Chinese SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill. There was a problem though. The entrance to the cave alone was crawling with over a hundred Level 275 fiend-rank monsters. Even as I was now, going there alone would be suicide, not to mention that I hadn¡¯t even learned the Xuanyuan Slash yet. It would be unwise to let my greed get to me. I was really starting to grow concerned for the others, but they were still nowhere to be seen. In the end, I decided to head north because there was a wide forest there. Logically speaking, it should have more players than other locations. My deduction was spot-on. Less than two minutes into my flight, a couple of dots entered my Dark Pupils¡¯ view. ¡­¡­ Whoosh! The leaves of a shrubbery shuddered unnaturally for a moment until a rider suddenly burst out of it. He was none other than Dominating Heaven Blade. The guy¡¯s mouth was etched in a grim frown as he swore loudly, "What the fuck is wrong with these people? Why do they keep chasing me?" As if on cue, a couple more riders burst out from the same shrubbery. They were Blood Roar Cavalrymen from Cyan Beast, and there were four of them in total. Last I remembered, Cyan Beast had looked like they were planning to push their entire guild into the Ruins of the Gods. It didn¡¯t take a genius to know how determined God of War and Breeze and Rain were to get something out of the Ruins of the Gods. In fact, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if their goal was to claim all 9 SSS Rank scrolls for themselves. I swooped down like a hawk and activated my new weapon skill, Cold of Nine Provinces. Snow instantly fell from the sky, and all four Blood Roar Cavalrymen became encased in ice. After that, it was simply a matter of finding the right spot so that I could hit all of them with Burning Blade Slash + Summon the Storm + Myriad Swords Obliteration. They died as a matter of course. Dominating Heaven Blade stared at me in shock. "Damn, Lu Chen! You got an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Scroll already?" "Yeah. Why are you alone, man?" I asked. "Sigh. I was together with Arrow God and Knight God, but the enemy managed to split us up. Arrow God is probably dead, and I saw at least 200 Cyan Earth City players at the forest plains directly ahead from here. Speaking of which, your From Water, Wind Fantasy, Lian Xing and more are all there! The Indians are going crazy trying to bring them down, no matter the cost!" "Are you serious!?" I hurriedly ascended back to the sky while saying, "I need to go! Take care, Dominating Heaven Blade!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ I flew toward the north where Dominating Heaven Blade said everyone was at. As expected, less than 5 minutes later, countless red dots and orange dots entered my minimap. The plains were covered in dust clouds kicked up by galloping mounts. He Yi, Lin Yixin, Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and Xu Yang were all together. He Yi was carrying Lian Xin on her mount, and Lin Yixin was leading Purple Marquis and the rest of Snowy Cathaya away from the enemy. Behind them, a large Cyan Earth City group, about two hundred men strong, was pursuing them just as Dominating Heaven Blade had told me. It was bad enough that everyone in the group was elite, but Breeze and Rain, the fresh Wind Dragon Rider of theirs, was among them! "There¡¯s too many of them, Sister He Yi! You guys, try and get as far away as possible while I hold the enemy back for a bit!" Lin Yixin shouted as she brandished her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and turned around to face the enemy. He Yi also did the same thing and said, "We may not have the numbers to beat them, but we certainly can deal enough damage that everyone can¡¯t ascend to the Heavenly River Realm! Let¡¯s do this!" However, Gui Guzi cautioned, "Guild leader, Breeze and Rain is a dragon rider now. I hate to say this, but I don''t think we¡¯ll be able to kill him or God of War!" "It¡¯s still better than to go down without a fight! Activate your Knight God, and let¡¯s go!" He Yi ordered. "Yes ma¡¯am!" ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t believe hardly believe my eyes. I was only fighting the Tianyuan for five to six hours, and it was as if I had returned to a different Ruins of the Gods or something. Of all the rotten luck that could descend on my friends and allies, it just had to be our strongest enemy in the world, the group led by the dragon rider Breeze and Rain himself! There was little chance the group of 30 made up of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends would be able to survive unless I helped them! The countercharge led by Gui Guzi, He Yi and Lin Yixin successfully killed dozens of enemies, but they also lost seven to eight Kui Dragon and Dragonlight Cavalrymen in return; an unacceptable loss. Moreover, He Yi and Gui Guzi couldn¡¯t defeat Breeze and Rain even after they worked together. Breeze and Rain was also smart enough to avoid Lin Yixin and focus on He Yi, successfully dropping her HP to just 25% or so. ¡­¡­ "Go, little dragon!" I growled menacingly and swooped down in a straight line. For a moment, everyone on the battlefield could only stare at the sky in shock. They were especially stunned by the symbol above my head. "It¡¯s Lu Chen! Is that¡­ the light of an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill!?" Breeze and Rain turned his blade and ordered, "Kill him! That SSS Rank scroll is ours!" ¡­¡­ Fearless and bloodthirsty as ever, God of War charged straight toward me. I didn¡¯t hesitate to point the Death side of the blade at him and growled out, "Xuanyuan Art!" Buzz! The back side of the sword represented death, devils, and purgatory. A vortex spun rapidly above the sword, and the next moment, a golden ring appeared beneath everyone¡¯s feet and deleted 50% of their HP. Even Breeze and Rain who was in the sky wasn¡¯t able to avoid it. Chapter 1209: What Isn’t, Isn’t "Shit, is that¡­ the Xuanyuan Sword?" God of War exclaimed in shock before turning tail. "Time to leave, people!" God of War had escaped without hesitation. Breeze and Rain though swooped toward me at high speed and attempted to hit me with Soul Capture + flurry skill immediately. This guy was clearly planning to instakill me and take the scroll for himself! Not about to take a chance at this critical juncture, I moved away from him, took out the Ancient Divine Skill Scroll and used it immediately. After the scroll scattered into a shower of golden light and entered my body, I became the fourth player to enter the Heavenly River Realm. While there was no reward, I was okay with it! The buttons for Heavenly River Transformation and Xuanyuan Slash appeared in my skill window. I activated them and felt a tremendous power filling my entire body instantly. A pair of bloody wings spread out behind my battle armor, and a domain took shape around my person. I felt like every wood, every blade of grass even was within my control. It was a godlike power that allowed me to see through absolutely everything within my domain. Not even the Cyan Earth City assassin sneaking up to me from behind was able to escape my notice. I opened my palm and yelled, "Get lost!" Bang! My domain¡¯s power spiked, and the assassin rolled unceremoniously out of my domain as if it had been struck by a heavy, invisible blow. Then, I jumped into the air, ran along an unnaturally huge Z-path and stopped at the point where Breeze and Rain, God of War and I formed a straight line. There was also just enough distance for me to hit both of them with my new skill! God of War shuddered from head to toe. "Dammit!" His instincts were good, and he immediately activated his invincibility skill without hesitation. It was useless though. "Come, Xuanyuan Slash!" I activated my Ancient Divine Skill and thrust Jiuzhou Han forward. The weapon started glowing like the sun and growing in size until it was as big as a small hill. The Xuanyuan Sword was 40 meters long and 4 to 5 meters wide. The ground beneath it crumbled as it exploded toward the two best Indian players in the world! Crack! The light of the Xuanyuan Sword pierced through the shield of God of War¡¯s invincibility skill like paper, causing him to freeze in place. It was because the skill had one-shot the number one player of India. 1709277! Breeze and Rain made a turn so sharp that he and his dragon rolled uncontrollably across the ground. It was ugly, but the Xuanyuan Slash just barely brushed past the tip of his nose and missed. He had survived. A centimeter closer, and he would¡¯ve suffered God of War¡¯s fate and be deleted from this map. If that had happened, he wouldn¡¯t be able to get even an S Rank scroll, much less an SSS Rank scroll. The Ruins of the Gods probably weren¡¯t the only chance ever a player had to ascend to Heavenly River Realm, but unless he became the champion and MVP of a major competition like the WEL, it was pretty unlikely. "Withdraw! Withdraw!" Breeze and Rain shouted twice before bringing his wind dragon to the sky again. Then, he and the 40+ remaining Cyan Earth City players made a break for it. The angle I had fired the Xuanyuan Slash was good enough that I took out not just God of War, but also 80 or so eighth-promotion players. I¡¯m sure they were grateful that they were able to die under the first ever SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill in this game. ¡­¡­ For a time, He Yi, Lin Yixin and everyone else could only stare at the carnage in shock. Finally, Lin Yixin walked up to me and said in an astonished tone, "Is that¡­ the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, the Xuanyuan Slash, Little Cheat?" I nodded with a smile. "Yeah. Took me almost 6 hours to kill the boss carrying it. Not bad, right?" She nodded affirmatively. "Not bad at all. I cannot believe it was powerful enough to one-shot God of War. That idiot certainly hadn¡¯t seen this coming!" I laughed. "I know right? It¡¯s a complete tragedy!" He Yi walked up to me next and asked, "You¡¯ve ascended to the Heavenly River Realm, right Lu Chen? Does that mean you¡¯re going to be teleported in 10 minutes?" "Yeah. In fact, there are only 7 minutes on my clock. By the way, you know that Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon have ascended, right?" "Yeah, we¡¯ve heard!" "Okay. Don¡¯t fall behind them too much, you two!" I thought for a moment before beckoning both girls to come closer. "Eve, Yiyi, there¡¯s something I need to speak with you two." "Okay?" They approached me obediently. After I wrapped an arm each around their waists, I whispered, "Half an hour to the south from here, you¡¯ll be able to find a river called the Ji River, a Chinese map. Right now, there is still one SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill and 4 SS Rank Ancient Divine Skills on that map. The SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill is around coordinates (17266, 67881). The 4 SS Rank Ancient Divine Skills are at (14267, 60882), (10282, 64277), (12837, 59028), (39747, 70988). Finally, the S Rank Ancient Divine Skills are at¡ª" I told them all the coordinates I had found out from the Luo River Map. This way, they wouldn¡¯t have to waste the time to search for the Ancient Divine Scrolls in the first place. ¡­¡­ The two girls were flabbergasted all over again as they stared at me. I smiled in amusement at their open mouths before continuing, "I¡¯ve checked out the location of the other SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Scrolls, and I can tell you that it won¡¯t be easy to get it. Since neither of you has a skill like the Resurrection Art, my suggestion is that you forget about it and just focus on getting the SS Rank scrolls. It¡¯s all over if you get party-wiped after all. Oh right, before you challenge the SS Rank bosses, you should grab an S Rank scroll for sis and Lu Buyi first. Also, teamwork is key to surviving in this place. I may have been forced to use the scroll to chase away the Indians, but the rest of you can totally gather a group of Chinese players before making any move." He Yi nodded. "We will. By the way, you should take your rest soon. You¡¯ve been online for too long already." "Yeah. Take care, all of you!" "Mn mn!" ¡­¡­ A while later, a powerful magical vortex appeared in the sky and pulled me away from the Ruins of the Gods. It also canceled my Heavenly River Transformation automatically, but I was totally fine with it because the cost of maintaining Heavenly River Transformation was crazy. It cost 10 Divine Energy Points to maintain Heavenly River Transformation for a minute, so even with max Divine Energy I could only maintain it for 20 minutes tops. Until there was a way to increase the cap on Divine Energy, Great Earth Transformation + Divine General Skill + Ancient Divine Skill would be the go-to way to fight most battles. Heavenly River Transformation would only ever be used to end a duel against another peak expert as soon as possible as no one had the capacity to maintain it for long. Swhoosh! I appeared in Dark Moon City as it was the teleportation point I set. I brought up my friend list and noticed that Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and Li Chengfeng were all online. I sent the dragon warrior a message¡ª "You grinding, Chengfeng?" "Yep!" Li Chengfeng video-called me right away. "I heard what you got from the Ruins of the Gods, bro. Congratulations on getting the SSS Rank Divine General Skill, the Xuanyuan Slash! We¡¯re gonna drink until we drop on our next gathering, okay?" "No problem. By the way, I see you¡¯re just at Level 190. That¡¯s 20 more levels before you can enter the Ruins of the Gods and find your Ancient Divine Skill. Have you thought of a way to grind fast yet? If you don¡¯t mind, I can carry you through the S1 to S4 instances. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to hit Level 210 in just a day!" "Thanks, but no thanks¡­" "Why¡¯s that?" He smiled a little. "Ever heard of the saying, ¡®what¡¯s yours is yours, and what isn¡¯t, isn¡¯t¡¯? So far, you¡¯re the only one who has gotten an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, and I¡¯m sure your method isn¡¯t something anyone can replicate. I heard that a group of 30+ top Cyan Earth City and Elephant City experts was completely wiped during an attempt to defeat the guardian boss of an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill. That¡¯s how difficult these bosses are. Why should I believe I could do any better even if I hit Level 210 tomorrow? ¡°Rather than forcing such things, I would rather grind to Level 210 at my own pace. Then, I¡¯ll tackle the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill with 2 ASDS hundred-man parties. Slow and steady wins the race!" I nodded smilingly. "That is certainly a sensible plan. I had died over 30 times trying to kill the guardian boss solo, and I can¡¯t imagine anyone else doing better than me. It¡¯s why I advised Eve and Lin Yixin to rein in their desires and seek out SS Rank scrolls only. Some things just can¡¯t be forced." Li Chengfeng replied, "It¡¯s exactly as you say. By the way, I heard that God of War was one-shot by your Xuanyuan Slash. Is that true? Haha!" "How the fuck did you learn about that so quickly? That was like ten minutes ago at most¡­" "That¡¯s wonderful, hahaha! We absolutely have to celebrate this when I get back from the southern headquarters!" "Of course. Speaking of which, how is the matter with Tang Long?" "We¡¯re almost done with the evidence gathering and interrogation part. Now, the only process left is the public trial. The idiom ¡®you can¡¯t pull out a carrot without getting soil on it¡¯ is so true, by the way. Not only did we manage to implicate almost 20 VR departments and other relevant departments in this case, we were able to fish out another two assistant bureau chiefs and one bureau chief as well. I can¡¯t even begin to tell you how much this Tang Long case is worth. Feel free to jot this down in your virtuous achievement book, hero!" "Yep, I¡¯m an anti-corruption hero¡­" "Huh? I never said you¡¯re an anti-corruption hero. You¡¯re more of an anti-fujoshi hero¡­" "Fuck you. Sleep soon, brother!" "You too, brother! I¡¯ll do that after I get this last grind over with!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ I checked the time. I had lingered in the Ruins of the Gods for 14 hours in total, and it was now past 11 pm in the night. Naturally, my stomach was screaming for sustenance. I logged out of the game and walked to the living room. I saw a paper slip with a message written by He Yi herself: "Your favorite Suan Chai Yu is inside the fridge, and the rice is inside the rice cooker. Just microwave the fish for 5 minutes." I smiled. It¡¯s been a long time since I felt like this. It felt so nice to be back with He Yi. I warmed the dishes, sat in the living room and finished supper. After I washed everything, I went to Beiming Xue¡¯s room and called out softly, "Beiming?" Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t receive a reply from the pitch black room. It was only then I recalled that Beiming Xue had gone back to her university already. A sense of loss permeated inside my heart as I entered He Yi¡¯s room next. He Yi¡¯s room was tidy and stylish. The woman herself was lying prone on her bed and shivering from time to time. She was probably fighting a mob or something. Faint light circulated across her helmet slowly. She was currently dressed in white casual wear, and her long hair spilled across her pillow like water. Her breasts looked like upside-down, perfectly-shaped bowls from where I was. I walked up to her and sat down beside her bed. Then, I held her hand and moved closer to her helmet. I said, "Do your best, Eve! Try and get at least an SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill!" He Yi couldn¡¯t reply since she was inside the game, but she could return my grip, albeit only slightly. A response was a response. Lust suddenly welled inside my heart as I watched her for a moment. It wasn¡¯t until I sat right beside her bed did my deep love for her made itself known. It was strange. Maybe Murong Mingyue was right. Maybe I didn¡¯t know my own love for her. If my relationship with Lin Yixin was like burning fire, then my relationship with He Yi was like a cup of oolong tea; tranquil and fragrant. I bent down and lightly kissed her neck. "I¡¯m going to bed then!" He Yi gripped my hand again. I tried rising to my feet and leaving the room like a perfect gentleman, but in the end I wasn¡¯t able to stop myself from sliding my hand across her breasts. They were firm, bouncy, and holy shit did she not wear a bra tonight... Red-faced, I ran back to my room, lay down on my bed and pulled my blanket over my head. I probably looked like a primary school student who sneaked a glance down his beautiful teacher¡¯s collar right now. Chapter 1210: Be Your Lin Yixin The next day early morning, I awoke from my dreams and looked outside the window. It was a sunny day today. I jogged about 500 meters along the streets and bought a bag of buns and soy juice for breakfast. When I returned to the workshop though, He Yi, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue were still online. Things must be pretty tough inside the Ruins of the Gods. It was a shame I couldn¡¯t accompany them on their journey. At first, I had been planning to kill the second SSS Rank boss for He Yi and Lin Yixin. However, I was only at Level 211 at the time, and I simply couldn¡¯t risk dying to Breeze and Rain. Worst case scenario, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to use the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Scroll if I had fallen below Level 210, and I would have lost the Xuanyuan Slash to Breeze and Rain. I would be weeping with regret right about now if that had happened. After all, the Chill of the Nine Provinces was the Xuanyuan Sword now. It would absolutely suck for the Xuanyuan Sword to not be able to use its own signature skill. ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t log into the game immediately after breakfast. Instead, I returned to my room and browsed the official website using the notebook Lenovo had gifted me. A bolded headline entered my view almost immediately¡ª The first player of the battle of Sky Vortex to possess an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill has been revealed! 7 SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill owners emerged from the Ruins of the Gods in a single night! I clicked the link and read the details. Last night was without a doubt a tournament between the best players of all the entire servers. Everyone was giving it their all to obtain an SSS Rank or SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill. Countless players must¡¯ve died last night. 7 names were listed below the China server¡¯s Ancient Divine Skill leaderboard¡ª Xuanyuan Slash (SSS Rank). Score: 100. Owner: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Description: AoE attack, Attack increased by 185%. Gan Jiang and Mo Ye (SS Rank). Score: 87. Owner: Wind Fantasy. Description: Status, stat increase for 12 seconds. Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance (SS Rank). Score: 82. Owner: High Fighting Spirits. Description: AoE attack, Attack increased by 90%. Gonggong¡¯s Furious Strike (SS Rank). Score: 81. Owner: Song of Ice and Fire. Description: Attack increased by 85%. Shennong Tastes Grass (S Rank). Score: 77. Owner: Gui Guzi. Description: Healing, heals allies¡¯ HP. Cyan Dragon Slash (S Rank). Score: 75. Owner: Blue Sky Scar. Description: AoE Attack, Attack increased by 78%. Greedy Wolf Howl (S Rank). Score: 74. Owner: Chaos Moon. Description: Special, steals target¡¯s gold. ¡­¡­ For a couple of seconds, I remained silent. The fact that He Yi, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue were missing from the list meant that they hadn¡¯t found their Ancient Divine Skill yet. Their second greatest supporter beside me, Lin Yixin, was gone as well. Could they really do this alone? It was at this moment I caught a new line at the corner of the screen¡ª Live Report: Player "From Water" has successfully ascended to the Heavenly River Realm and gained the Ancient Divine Skill, "Chengying and Hanguang"! ¡­¡­ Holy shit, she ascended like, just now? My eyes turned as round as saucers as I checked Lin Yixin¡¯s ascension time. It was just 17 minutes ago, meaning that she had ascended after she had gotten a scroll for He Yi. Chengying and Hanguang was identical to Gan Jiang and Mo Ye in that they both increased the user¡¯s Attack by 50%, and attack speed by 100% for 12 seconds. During this time, all of the player¡¯s attacks would ignore Guard and invincibility skills. Technically speaking, both skills were as strong as an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill. It was just that it demanded a great deal of skill and power from its user. The higher the player¡¯s burst DPS, the better the Ancient Divine Skill was. Personally, I still preferred my own Xuanyuan Slash. For one, its name was cool as hell. Two, its attack power was plain tyrannical. If this skill could one-shot God of War, it could one-shot everyone else. Gui Guzi was the other noteworthy player who had ascended besides Lin Yixin and He Yi. Shennong Tastes Grass was a skill that instantly restored 75% HP to all allies within 1000 yards of the user with a cooldown of 60 seconds. Although it was rated as an S Rank Ancient Divine Skill, its effect was especially broken on Gui Guzi. Gui Guzi¡¯s Dragonlight Cavalry was the strongest cavalry in the world, but the lack of sustain during a charge meant that it was impossible to avoid losses. With this skill though, he could restore everyone¡¯s HP within a thousand-yard radius. Slowly but surely, Gui Guzi was becoming a true god of war whose very ID struck fear in the hearts of any country! Also, Soul Battle Robes¡¯ best player, Song of Ice and Fire, managed to obtain an SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill called Gonggong¡¯s Furious Strike thanks to the help of Warsky, Farewell Song, God Bone, Song of Cloud and Water and more. It was basically the poor man¡¯s version of my Xuanyuan Slash. Blue Sky Scar¡¯s Cyan Dragon Slash was even worse since it was just an S Rank AoE skill. Still, it was better than nothing at all. ¡­¡­ So far, the elites of China had taken the center stage of the Ruins of the Gods by storm. A total of 8 SS Rank Ancient Divine Skills had been picked up thus far, and 4 of them belonged to players from China. That was all the proof one needed to see to know the strength of our server. As for SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skills, my Xuanyuan Slash was the only one that was claimed so far. They were that difficult to get. I checked the forums for more related news, and I quickly spotted one about Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and Titan God gathering a group of 300 people¡ªalmost all of the current elites of the Northern Alliance were involved in this¡ªto battle the SSS Rank guardian boss, the God of War Ares. Unfortunately for him, Ares turned out to be even greater than they imagined, and they lost over 170 players during a failed boss fight. In the end, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow couldn¡¯t find a reliable method to beat the boss, and he left to look for an SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Scroll instead. I must admit that I exhaled a sigh of relief. The nine SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Scrolls were the stuff of dreams, but they were no easy pickings to say the least. It was impossible to get them without sufficient strength and good luck. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was the prime example of this. He thought that he could force fate to move to his will, but all he got was a ton of losses and none of the results. It was a true tragedy that befitted his ID. ¡­¡­ The reason Eternal Moon Corporation made the bosses of the Ruins of the Gods as difficult as they were was because they wanted to give the players who hit Level 210 late the chance to get an Ancient Divine Skill as well. Otherwise, the very first group of players to enter the Ruins of the Gods would be able to claim all 99 Ancient Divine Skills for themselves, which was plain unfair. Everyone had their respective circumstances after all. Long story short, the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skills wouldn¡¯t be going away anytime soon, and it was up to the truly strong players to take them all! I briefly wondered how Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue were doing. At least He Yi, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon had all gotten their Ancient Divine Skills. The next Nation War was going to be a war of Ancient Divine Skills, and whoever owned the most Heavenly River Realm players would obviously have the greatest advantage. It was at this moment someone knocked on the door. I opened it to find He Yi standing at the entrance and still wearing the same white casual wear from last night. She beamed at me and started. "Did you see it? My Ancient Divine Skill!" I smiled back. "Yeah. Chengying and Hanguang, right? It¡¯s almost the same as Yiyi¡¯s skill." "Mn!" She nodded smilingly. "We followed the coordinates you gave us and found a boss''s den close to the Ji River. First, we took out the guardian beast defending the Gan Jiang and Mo Ye scroll for Yiyi. Then, we took out the guardian beast defending Shennong Tastes Grass for Gui Guzi. Finally, they helped me obtain my Chengying and Hanguang. Unfortunately, we only managed to get Lian Xin and Mingyue an S Rank scroll because most of the SS Rank scrolls were gone by that point. As for the SSS Rank scroll, that one was just plain impossible. We lost a dozen Dragonlight Cavalrymen during an attempt, and we didn¡¯t even manage to enter the heart of the boss area." "That¡¯s to be expected. So, sis and Lian Xin both got an S Rank scroll, huh?" "Yep! The reason they haven¡¯t logged out yet is because they¡¯re holding onto the skill in case they find something better in the next 5 hours. They also have to carry Xu Yang, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and so on¡­ It probably will be noon before they finally log out. By the way, I saw the breakfast on your table¡­" "Yeah. You should eat them now and catch some rest soon. You must be exhausted." I walked up to her and wrapped an arm gently around her shoulders. "Come, I¡¯ll sit with you¡­" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ After we entered the living room, He Yi sat down on the sofa and drank an entire glass of warm water. She said, "I¡¯ve been starving for too long. I don¡¯t want to get sick because I gobbled down my breakfast too quickly." "Yeah." Suddenly, she turned around and stared at me with those dazzling, moon-like eyes of hers. A smirk danced on her lips as she asked, "So¡­ what did you do to me last night?" I blushed red instantly. "N-nothing? I just¡­ kissed your neck is all¡­" "Really?" She tilted her head playfully. I clenched my fists. "I also¡­ gave you a massage¡­?" "And where did you massage me, exactly?" "I can¡¯t say I quite remember¡­" "Hmph!" He Yi moved closer to me and hugged me tightly, whispering, "Do you know how jealous I felt during the time you stayed together with Beauty Lin at Bagua City?" I returned the embrace and kissed her cheeks. "I know." Suddenly, her shoulders started trembling, and when she looked up I saw that her eyes were wet with grievances and helplessness. She sobbed. "Can you promise me something, dear?" I replied softly, "Yes, Eve?" She wiped away her tears and continued in a sobbing voice, "Can I be your Lin Yixin instead of your Eve in our next life? I¡­ I want to be with you¡­ I don¡¯t want to be the one who has to shoulder the burden on my own anymore¡­" ¡­¡­ I hugged He Yi tighter as a cauldron of mixed emotions churned inside my heart. I knew exactly how much I owed He Yi, but it was only now I realized the true depths of her love for me. It was certainly enough to shatter my already fragile mental defenses into pieces. I kissed He Yi¡¯s lips lightly, and she responded beautifully. Her lips felt like fire as we rolled across the sofa and kissed like long lost lovers. During the embrace, the yoke of her shirt came loose, and her pink bra nearly blinded my unworthy eyes. When she noticed my blank stare, she burst into a giggle before grabbing my hands and slowly putting them over her own breasts. The sensation of my fingers sinking into her softness was positively intoxicating. ¡­¡­ Ten full minutes later, Lian Xin¡¯s voice came from her room. "OMG, am I fated for an S Rank Ancient Divine Skill only?" He Yi and I immediately awoke from our lust and tidied our clothes. We then waited for Lian Xin to come out. Chapter 1211 Creak! The door¡ªno, doors¡ªopened. Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue both walked out of their rooms at the same time. It was obvious from their sleepy faces that they had been logged into the game for too long. I looked up and shot them a smile. "Looks like the two national treasure beauties have finally deigned to grace us with their presence¡­" Murong Mingyue glanced at me and commented, "How about you try that again after you put Eve¡¯s bra strap back on her shoulder?" I shuddered from head to toe and looked at Eve¡¯s shoulder with an ashen face. It was just as she said. He Yi¡¯s pink-colored, C.Gilson-brand bra strap was still hanging beside her arm and painting the perfect picture of the aftermath of a passionate scene. How did we miss that? "Fuck!" I swore inside my head and pulled it back on He Yi¡¯s shoulder. The woman herself let me do my thing and even managed to school her expression into a mask of perfect calm, but her bright red complexion still betrayed her true emotions completely. She was probably contemplating if she could get away with tossing Murong Mingyue off the balcony right now. "Ahem¡­" I tried my best to remain calm as I started, "Sis, we¡ª" Murong Mingyue, the calmest of all of us as per usual, sat down on the opposite sofa and said, "You don¡¯t need to explain your life to anyone!" Me: "..." Deciding to ignore that, I looked at Lian Xin and pulled her hand to sit next to me. "Little Xin, I heard you talking about some S Rank Ancient Divine Skill just now? What kind of skill is it?" Lian Xin held up a bun and took a bite before answering, "My skill is called ¡®Sigh of the Heroine¡¯. It lowers the physical attack power of all enemy players within a certain range. It¡¯s kinda useful against cavalry charges, but it¡¯s still somewhat situational to be honest. Sister Mingyue¡¯s skill is called ¡®Seduction¡¯. It lowers the movement speed of all enemy players within a certain range. In summary, both of our Ancient Divine Skills are support-type skills¡­" I hummed for a moment. "It¡¯s¡­ not bad, to be honest. In a Nation War, you¡¯re both going to be behind shields most of the time anyway. Sigh of the Heroine will lower the enemy¡¯s damage, and Seduction will lower their movement speed. Together with the Dragonlight Cavalry, you can render any enemy cavalry impotent¡­" Murong Mingyue giggled. "Whatever, all I care about is that Seduction is a good escape skill. If anyone dares to chase me, I¡¯ll lower their movement speed by 50% with Seduction and smash their face in with Rockfall!" Me: "..." "Anyway, let¡¯s eat breakfast now and catch some sleep already¡­" "Yep!" ¡­¡­ It was an eternal fact that beauties needed their beauty sleep. He Yi, Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue and even Lin Yixin had all decided that they weren¡¯t crawling out of bed until the next morning. While they were sleeping their heads off, I logged into the game and formed a part with Li Chengfeng, Moon Dew, Gui Guzi and Hickey. Then, we grinded the S1 to S3 instances all in one day. I let Li Chengfeng take all the last hits on the bosses because he needed the levels. Gui Guzi¡¯s Shennong Tastes Grass proved to be invaluable as it turned him into a super priest, if only for one spell. My Xuanyuan Art "Life" skill also helped to keep everyone healthy where Moon Dew¡¯s healing and Gui Guzi¡¯s Ancient Divine Skill couldn¡¯t. Long story short, we were able to clear the instances relatively easily. Thanks to our efforts, Li Chengfeng flew all the way to Level 207 in just one day. Another day like this, and he could probably enter the Sky Vortex and fight for the Ancient Divine Skills. On a semi-related note, we gave all the S3 equipment we grinded in the instance to Hickey because she was the official guild leader of Protective Umbrella right now. As the leader of several hundred thousand players, the owner of a territory at Black Coast and the satellite city of Dark Moon City, she absolutely could use the equipment to strengthen herself and solidify her authority. The third day passed by just as smoothly. Li Chengfeng officially hit Level 210, but he didn¡¯t hurry into the Sky Vortex just as he had said he wouldn¡¯t. He wanted to wait until the main guild had 100 eighth-promotion priests first. Only with sufficient healing would he be able to truly tank an SSS Rank guardian boss and defeat it. ¡­¡­ During the evening, while I was sitting at the balcony and enjoying the reddish sunset and warm breeze of spring. "Lu Chen¡­" He Yi abruptly turned toward me and pointed at her computer screen. "The¡­ the second SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill has appeared¡­" "Oh? Who is it?" I asked while turning toward her. I had always known that it was only a matter of time. "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow!" "What skill is that?" "It took him three days and nights of non-stop fighting, but he ultimately managed to beat the God of War Ares and obtained the Ancient Divine Skill, ¡®Smile of Ares the God of War¡¯. It increases all allies¡¯ critical hit rate within 1000 yards by 70% for 60 seconds, and it has a cooldown of 120 seconds¡­" "Holy shit!" I jumped to my feet and muttered in disbelief, "70% crit rate? That¡¯s crazy. That¡¯s like at least 2 out of every 3 hits being crits¡­" "Mn. This SSS Rank skill is absolutely domineering. One smile from Vienna, and everyone within 1000 yards of him will transform into critical hit monsters. His men will be nigh unstoppable¡­" "Looks like we¡¯ll have to amend our war strategy to killing Vienna¡¯s Sorrow first in the future¡­" "Mn." He Yi replied with a blink. Straightening her skirt and rising to her feet, she walked up to me and asked with a smile. "Tomorrow¡¯s the day we launch our assault to retake Wind City. Any comments?" I smiled. "I don¡¯t know. I guess this is a good opportunity to test out the true might of the Chill of the Nine Provinces? Discounting that one fight where I saved you, I¡¯ve only used it against monsters so far¡­" "Yeah. I''d like to test out the power of Chengying and Hanguang as well." ¡­¡­ When nighttime arrived, I logged into the game and traveled to Dragonbone Mountain Range, the stretch that connects to Thunder Mountain Range to be exact. Snow as big as goose feathers were raining from the sky, and the temperature was absolutely frigid. Pa! After the Ancient Divine Dragon descended on a mountaintop, I leaped down from its back and turned it into dark gold¨Ccolored scaly armor. Not only did the Fusion Armor not take away anything from my stats, it also granted me greater mobility. Six energy vortices circulated across both sides of the blade of my new weapon, Chill of the Nine Provinces as I strode toward my destination. Mountains, rivers, livestocks and other pictures spun continuously thanks to the divine energy circulating throughout the blade. Anyone could see that it was an extraordinary weapon. Beneath a cliff perched at the top of the mountain range, there was a rare shelter where a bonfire had been lit, and a dozen or so players were taking warmth from it. Some of them were Chinese, and some of them were from other cities. The one commonality they shared was that everyone was a guild leader. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand has arrived!" A player with a dragon-shaped main city emblem on his arm rose to his meet and shot me a friendly smile. He extended a hand while greeting me, "Hello, Little Heavenly King of the China server! I am Bread and Water, the guild leader of the Joint Sky guild and a member of the southeast border city, Proud Dragon City!" Surprised, I shook his hand and replied, "Proud Dragon City¡­ that¡¯s the main city of Pakistan, isn¡¯t it? Your main city hasn¡¯t made many big movements since the start of the game, so I thought you were going to sit this Nation War out too. I guess I was wrong¡­" Bread and Water was a youngster around 30 years old. He gave me a good-nature laugh before saying, "Sorry, sorry. We¡¯ve had no energy to participate in any outside war since we¡¯ve been too busy bashing our own faces in. Civil wars, I know. The reason we came here today was because Mr. Hot and Sour Noodles himself had sent us an invitation." I nodded. "Welcome to the Center!" Beside the bonfire, Hot and Sour Noodles rose to his feet and pointed at me with a smile. "Everyone, this here is the Little Heavenly King of the China server and the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Falling Dust. You already know this, but he is one of the central pillars that holds up our server. The other pillar, the Martial God Candlelight Shadow, was going to attend this meeting as well, but he¡¯s still battling inside the Ruins of the Gods. Discounting him, everyone who¡¯s supposed to arrive has arrived, so we can start the meeting now." Hot and Sour Noodles began introducing everyone one by one. "First, allow me to introduce everyone, Lu Chen. As you are aware, there are three main cities at the border of the eastern region, or the top of Purple Grape City and Elephant City. They also border Iron Skull Wilderness. Bread and Water has already introduced himself, so I won¡¯t repeat what he said. This man is Blaze, the guild leader of the number one guild of Greedy Wolf City, Turkey; and that one¡¯s Badax, the guild leader of the number one guild of Earth Tiger City, Spain." I nodded to each and every person politely. These three tier 1 southern main cities had never participated in the conquest of the Center, but they all came here today thanks to Hot and Sour Noodles. I didn¡¯t know how much saliva he had wasted to persuade these bigshots to show up for this meeting today, but he did, and that was impressive in its own right. There was another person in the meeting that I recognized. I walked up to him and greeted him with a friendly smile, "We meet again, Who Will Fight Me!" The guild leader of the number one guild of Brazil, Vanguard, laughed and shook my hand heartily. He said, "I knew you would get an SSS Rank scroll from the Ruins of the Gods, brother! And if it wasn¡¯t for you, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to get my Alexander the Great¡¯s Battle Axe." I replied with good manners. "You¡¯re welcome!" All the people around him were guild leaders of Chaotic 27¡¯s biggest guilds. They must have traveled together. The last familiar face I spotted among the group was a female player. She was none other than the representative of Frostsword City and Iron Horse City, A Snowy Night Below 30 Degrees. It looked like Russia was finally going to show off their true power. ¡­¡­ We all sat back down around the bonfire. Snowy Night was in the middle of barbecuing an antelope when she offered, "You guys hungry? Would you like to eat while we have this meeting?" Hot and Sour Noodles shook his head with a polite smile. "Thank you, but maybe another time, Miss Snowy Night. Now, let¡¯s talk about the next Nation War." Snowy Night started, "It¡¯s quite simple, really. Frostsword City and Iron Horse City will keep Elephant City¡¯s attention fully on the west. We promise you they won¡¯t have the energy to look anywhere else. Earth Tiger City, Proud Dragon City and Greedy Wolf City will push north, sweep Japan¡¯s Swallow Ear Canton, and surround Cyan Earth City, pinning them in place. After that, the China server will retake Wind City with the help of the Chaotic 27." I pondered for a moment before replying, "It is as Snowy Night says, a simple matter. All the Chaotic 27 needs to do in this war is to hold Seven Star City. The three main cities of the USA server combined still amount to less than 30 million players, not to mention that some of those troops are stationed at Wind City right now. There¡¯s no way they can conquer Seven Star City unless you let them. That being said, better safe than sorry. We¡¯ll send at least 10 million players to reinforce your city after we occupy Wind City." Who Will Fight Me clenched his fists. "I¡¯m not worried about this part of the war. I¡¯m worried about England, Germany and Korea marching out in full force¡­" "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make sure that they¡¯re too scared to make a move," I declared confidently. Snowy Night immediately looked at me. "We are all allies here. Unless secrecy is of the utmost importance, I hope you¡¯ll tell us what your plan is." I smiled. "It¡¯s simple. We¡¯ll station a couple million troops at Fortress of the Iron Halberd at Dawn City. If Chariot City, Hot Sand City, Burning City and so on dispatch their main forces to help the USA server, we¡¯ll immediately have them attack their hinterlands. Unless they want to lose their own main cities, they definitely won¡¯t send more than some small reinforcements. We¡¯ll exploit this weakness, split up the Northern Alliance and crush them one by one." Who Will Fight Me guffawed. "We could keep three cities worth of troops pinned without wasting a single life? What a wonderful strategy! I always knew Chinese people were cunning bastards¡­" I wasn¡¯t quite sure what to say at this remark... Chapter 1212 "Hmm, I don¡¯t know. Can Sky City really afford to split their forces to retake Wind City and threaten the Northern Alliance through Fortress of the Iron Halberd at the same time?" Who Will Fight Me voiced his doubts, however. "I had witnessed Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s strength at the Ruins of the Gods before, so I know he is as powerful as the rumors say. On the other hand, the Martial God Candlelight Shadow has been losing again and again since the start of Heavenblessed. Can he really withstand the might of the Northern Alliance? Let¡¯s not forget that Vienna¡¯s Sorrow has ascended to the Heavenly River Realm and obtained an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Smile of the God of War Ares. Can Candlelight Shadow really withstand Vienna¡¯s Sorrow if they encounter each other in battle?" I grimaced. "Don¡¯t worry, I am aware of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s strength. I promise you he won¡¯t disappoint any longer." Zhang Chun also clenched his fists. "Mm, Fang Zhuo knows what to do and what not to do. Do not worry¡­" "Really?" This time, both Who Will Fight Me and Snowy Night voiced their doubts in unison. They were doubting the Martial God¡¯s individual prowess and ability to command, and not without good reason. During the previous Nation Wars, Candle Dragon had performed below expectations, and Candlelight Shadow himself hadn¡¯t been able to show off his peak form. The timing of what happened next couldn¡¯t be anymore perfect. A system announcement suddenly dinged across the sky, and it was¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Candlelight Shadow" (China) used an Ancient Divine Skill Scroll and obtained the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, "Pangu¡¯s Axe¡±. They¡¯ve successfully entered the Heavenly River Realm and gained Heavenly River Transformation and Domain! Pangu¡¯s Axe (SSS Rank): Increases user''s Attack by 165%. Deal Shocking Strike to all targets within 30 yards in front of you. 75% chance to stun a target for 15 seconds. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Cost: 50% MP ¡­¡­ "Fuck¡­" I felt a bit dumbfounded as I stared at the sky. It looked like Candlelight Shadow¡¯s patient suffering had finally borne fruit in the form of the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Pangu¡¯s Axe. It was another top-tier skill on the same level as my Xuanyuan Slash. While its attack power and attack range were inferior to mine, the 75% chance to stun the targets who were hit by the skill was still very OP. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Attack was high enough that practically no one could survive a 15-second stun. You were dead if he managed to land the Pangu¡¯s Axe. "So? Do you still doubt Candlelight Shadow¡¯s strength now?" Zhang Chun was Candlelight Shadow¡¯s old friend, and his happiness was evident on his face. "Fang Zhuo, my boy! He¡¯s been fighting for 72 hours straight, and it cost him almost a thousand Candle Dragon experts, but all that sacrifice wasn¡¯t in vain after all! With this, the China server gains yet another super skill!" I nodded in agreement. "Candlelight Shadow¡¯s ascension is deserving of a celebration. Still, isn¡¯t the price a bit too huge, uncle? You said it cost him almost a thousand Candle Dragon experts?" Zhang Chun shrugged. "Well, Fang Zhuo¡¯s philosophy on things is different from yours. If you are the Benevolent, then Candlelight Shadow¡¯s the Tyrant. He will not care about such minor losses. Plus, let¡¯s not forget that there are only 99 Ancient Divine Skills in total. There are probably more servers than there are Ancient Divine Skills, and around 20 of them are confirmed to be in our possession. That¡¯s plenty amazing already. Finally, only the China server has 2 SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skills, and now they¡¯re in your and Candlelight Shadow¡¯s possession. That¡¯s about as fair as it gets." I wet my dry lips and said, "Yeah, I guess you¡¯re right. Anyway, we should set the assault on tomorrow at 9 am. For today at least, Candlelight Shadow deserves all the rest he can get. Seriously, is his bladder made of steel or what? 72 hours online is just¡­" Zhang Chun couldn¡¯t help but chuckle a bit and slap me on the shoulder. "What¡¯s a bladder compared to revenge? And what kind of gaming professional can¡¯t discipline their bladder like a soldier?" "That¡¯s so vulgar, uncle¡­" Snowy Night: "You¡¯re all vulgar¡­" Who Will Fight Me laughed. "No need to pay attention to the ugly details this time. Anyway, now that China has two SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skills, we are assured that this assault won¡¯t end in failure. Let¡¯s all do our best tomorrow, people!" "Yeah!¡¯ ¡­¡­ After bidding everyone goodbye, Zhang Chun and I walked back to Sky City instead of using a teleport scroll. Our cloaks flapped loudly to the strong wind around us. Zhang Chun said, "I like planning ahead, so I¡¯m going to station Pop Culture, Righteousness and more guilds at Fortress of the Iron Halberd and Dragonbone Mountain Range tonight. As usual, I¡¯ll take charge of the defense, and you the offense." I nodded smilingly. "Got it. My plan to retake Wind City is simple, really. I¡¯m going to take out the four teleportation formations with assassins or flying mounts the instant the Nation War begins. Sieges are much easier when the enemy cannot just replenish their numbers with an infinite amount of troops. Also, considering the current state of things, I doubt the USA will dare to station too many troops in Wind City. In fact, I have good reason to believe that the city will either be isolated¡­ or even empty when we get there." Zhang Chun grinned. "Good, good. Who doesn¡¯t like retaking a main city in a bloodless manner? Once this is over, we¡¯ll take the fight to the Northern Alliance and make them have a taste of the panic we felt back then." I nodded in agreement. "The USA server has always been smart enough to keep the flames of war away from their territory though. Not this time though. They either defend their homeland to the death, or they surrender. There will be no third option." Zhang Chun grew even more pleased. "Good, good! This is the kind of war I love to fight!" I shot him a glance. "By the way, uncle, I heard that Tang Feng has promoted you to the No.1 spot of the CGL committee, right? And if we win this Nation War, the VR department will give your organization a cash reward, right? I don¡¯t want to put this too bluntly, but as a CGL Hall of Famer myself, I wouldn¡¯t mind if we were paid some sort of salary for a job well done, if you get what I mean. Not all of us join the Hall of Fame purely for fame, you know?" Zhang Chun looked surprised. "You really don¡¯t mince your words, do you? This is the first time I heard anyone suggest something like this¡­ fine. They say that the new boss cracks the whips three times, and it¡¯d be a waste to let this opportunity slip by. I¡¯ll hold a video conference with the committee later and check how much operating budget we have. Then, we¡¯ll figure out your salary from there¡­" I laughed. "You must be joking, uncle! Of all the e-sports organizations in our country, the CGL has got to be one of the wealthiest! Dozens of big and small offline tournaments are held every month, and the CGL is a sponsor in all of them. There¡¯s no way you can¡¯t afford to pay us a salary!" Zhang Chun looked like he wasn¡¯t sure if he wanted to laugh or cry. "You just can¡¯t give me an easy task, can you? I bet you have no idea how hard it is to make those grandpas fish even a yuan out of their pockets, not to mention paying everyone in the CGL Hall of Fame a salary. Plus, it¡¯s not like you guys are lacking in money. You¡¯re all famous, flagship-level players of the game¡­" I nodded. "Exactly. That¡¯s why you had better pay us 100k per month at least. Otherwise, we may as well quit the CGL Hall of Fame and work as gong farmers. At least the latter pays faster¡­" Zhang Chun: "..." ¡­¡­ At around 8 pm or so, Zhang Chun sent me a surprising message: "Lu Chen, go check the CGL official website now. The committee has accepted my suggestion. Starting now, every CGL Hall of Famer will be paid a monthly salary, and the money will be transferred directly to your bank accounts. Are you satisfied now?" I hurriedly browsed the CGL website. As he said, an emblazoned headline hung at the top of the home page: "New CGL Hall of Fame rules! Starting now, all CGL Hall of Famers will get paid a monthly salary! The money will be transferred directly to the players¡¯ bank accounts!" There was a Top 10 salary ranking below the title. Of course, my salary was the highest out of everyone¡ª No. 1 Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Monthly Salary: 228730.2 No. 2 Wind Fantasy. Monthly Salary: 186553 No. 3 Candlelight Shadow. Monthly Salary: 150027.6 No. 4 Luo River God of the Capital. Monthly Salary: 147725.6 No. 5 Farewell Song. Monthly Salary: 139282.3 No. 6 Ling Xueshang. Monthly Salary: 122372.1 No. 7 Legendary Brave. Monthly Salary: 122037.2 No. 8 Moonkiss. Monthly Salary: 112273.5 No. 9 God¡¯s Dance. Monthly Salary: 109274.2 No. 10 From Water. Monthly Salary: 107347.2 ¡­¡­ I was a bit stunned, to be honest. As the highest-ranked CGL Hall of Famer, I was paid a monthly salary of 220k RMB. Uncle Zhang Chun was the lowest-ranked, so his salary was only 31k. It also indirectly proved that he was a true man of integrity. If this was Tang Long, he would¡¯ve demanded that he was paid at least half of my salary before he was satisfied. I was a bit confused with the mao (T/N: Chinese cent) at the back though. Why bother? Why not just make it a round number? So weird¡­ (Author¡¯s Note: You thought I would admit that I typed in the numbers at random??) After I returned to Dark Moon City, I saw that Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang and more were standing in front of the territory hall. I asked, "Xu Yang, you ascended yet?" "Nope! I got one-shot by the boss, so¡­" "Damn¡­" "It¡¯s fine, Thirteen was even worse than I was. The boss wasn¡¯t even aiming at him, hahaha¡­" "What about Heavenly Rain and Diamond Dust?" "They¡¯re still trucking on with Beiming Xue¡­" "Hmm, they¡¯ve been online for too long already¡­" "I know. They should be logging off anytime now. For now, it looks like Beiming Xue will have to be satisfied with just an S Rank skill. After all, there are only 20 SS Rank skills in total, the SSS Rank ones are beyond their ability to reach¡­" "Yeah." ¡­¡­ I placed the Chill of the Nine Provinces on top of a brick and sat down on the doorsteps. Then, I beckoned everyone closer before asking, "Is everyone ready for tomorrow¡¯s Nation War?" "Mn!" Li Chengfeng nodded strongly. "All the Dragonlight Cavalry, Zephyr Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers have been notified of the operation. They will arrive at the Fortress of the Iron Halberd before 8 am before making a sharp turn for Wind City. With luck, it¡¯ll all be over in an hour¡­" "Yes, yes an hour sounds about right!" I said with a smile. However, Xu Yang stared at us for a moment before asking, "Are you guys listening to yourselves? You guys think anyone can retake a main city IN AN HOUR?" Me: "..." Li Chengfeng: "..." ¡­¡­ Du Thirteen asked, "We should at least implement some tactics, right? How about we send an assassin or even Lu Chen himself to take out the teleportation formation NPCs first?" I shook my head. "Nah, we can do this with a frontal assault. I was planning to test out Chill of the Nine Provinces and Xuanyuan Slash in a direct battle anyway¡­" Gui Guzi smiled. "Fine, I suppose I can deign to test out Shennong Tastes Grass in a war as well. Just put me at the front of the siege!" Xu Yang tried to maintain a serious expression, but in the end he grinned and said, "Fine, fine. Overwhelming force is my style too¡­" Chaos Moon rolled her eyes. "Shameless bastards!" Chapter 1213 The next day, 8 am in the early morning. The four of us were sitting in the living room and drinking a glass of milk, ready to log into the game after we finished breakfast. "I love Lao Suan Nai[1]¡­" Murong Mingyue said while licking the milk on her lips. I grinned. "Once upon a time, wearing a pair of big toe leather shoes, my grandpa¡­ [2]" "Stop!" He Yi chided me before I could continue. "Can we please enjoy a peaceful breakfast for today at least? We need to be fully prepared for the counterattack at 9 am." I replied, "Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s little chance the Northern Alliance will station too many troops at Wind City. Swallow Ear Canton and Cyan Earth City are under attack by the three southeastern main cities, Earth Tiger City, Greedy Wolf City and Proud Dragon City, so they cannot afford to help the Northern Alliance. Russia¡¯s Frostsword City and Iron Horse City are keeping Elephant City as well. This time, not only is it China + Chaotic 27 versus the Northern Alliance only, we even have the number advantage¡­" "Mn." "Moreover, I¡¯m not the only one in China who has gotten an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill. Candlelight Shadow has gotten the Pangu¡¯s Axe and ascended to the Heavenly River Realm as well. We can just leave the main assault to him and focus on getting the Nation War MVP or something. Wind City is Candle Dragon¡¯s domain after all. He¡¯ll do everything in his power to secure it no matter what." "Heehee, yep!" He Yi let out a giggle before continuing, "Earlier this morning, I heard that Luo River God of the Capital, Moonkiss, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Eyes Like Water have ascended to the Heavenly River Realm as well. However, their Ancient Divine Skills are only S Rank. It¡¯s almost as if there are no more SS Rank Ancient Divine Skills in the Ruins of the Gods." "That¡¯s natural. There weren¡¯t that many to begin with." "Yeah." I thought for a moment before saying, "The number of players who undergo their eighth-class promotions grows by several thousand every single day, so I don¡¯t expect the bloodbath within Ruins of the Gods to stop anytime soon. Tell Li to get ready after we go online. Our players should assemble at the designated coordinates after they enter the Ruins of the Gods as well. If we can muster a ten-thousand-man party for him, there¡¯s a chance he can kill an SSS Rank boss." "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ The girls went online one by one after we finished breakfast. I decided to check the forums before doing the same. As expected, the China server had gained a couple more ascended players, and they were all famous in their own right¡ª Fury of the Descendant (S Rank): Increases user''s Attack by 65%. Gather the power of the descendant to fire a rain of arrows. (Exclusive to Beiming Xue) Phoenix Break (S Rank): Increases user''s Attack by 75%. Summon the phoenix flame to blast all targets within a certain range. (Exclusive to Luo River God of the Capital) Dragon Tooth Slash (S Rank): Increases user''s Attack by 55%. Gather a blade aura to attack all targets within 15 yards. (Exclusive to Moonkiss) Tiger Wing Slash (S Rank): Increases user''s Attack by 55%. Gather a blade aura to attack all targets within 15 yards. (Exclusive to Heaven¡¯s Rain) Dog God Slash (S Rank): Increases user''s Attack by 55%. Gather a blade aura to attack all targets within 15 yards. (Exclusive to Diamond Dust) Hongming Blade (S Rank): Increases user''s Attack by 75%, summon the Hongming Blade to attack all targets within 20 yards. (Exclusive to Stranger of Three Lifetimes) ¡­¡­ Just as I thought, there were almost no SS Rank Ancient Divine Skills left in the Ruins of the Gods. It was to the point where even experts like Wang Luo, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Beiming Xue could only be content with S Rank Ancient Divine Skills. They probably thought that being able to ascend to the Heavenly River Realm was good enough, and they weren¡¯t wrong. This was especially true for players who hadn¡¯t ascended to the Great Earth Realm yet because ascending to the Heavenly River Realm would grant them Divine Energy Points. Beiming Xue¡¯s Ancient Divine Skill was an archer-exclusive skill, so that was great. A skill that increased the power of Bow God was always welcomed despite it being only S Rank. Moonkiss gained Dragon Tooth Slash, Heaven¡¯s Rain gained Tiger Wing Slash, and Diamond Dust gained Dog God Slash. If I remembered correctly, the three skills were a reference to the three demonic blades of ancient times. During the final years of the Xia dynasty, the tyrant Xia Jie had enshrined and worshipped the three demonic blades in his ancestral shrine to defend against Shang Tang¡¯s assault. However, Shang Tang was able to shatter all three blades with the Xuanyuan Sword and seal them. Thousands of years later, a blacksmith of the Song Dynasty obtained the shards of the demonic blades and reforged them into three zhadaos, or lever-style guillotines, namely the Dragonhead Guillotine, the Tigerhead Guillotine, and the Doghead Guillotine. They were then granted to the famous Lord Bao, who put them to great use during his period of service. Today, the three demonic blades had resurfaced to the world and became Moonkiss, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and Diamond Dust¡¯s Ancient Divine Skills. This could only be good news for the China server. In a sense, their blade auras were even better than my Xuanyuan Slash or Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Pangu¡¯s Axe. Our Ancient Divine Skills were SSS Rank, but could only be used once per 120 seconds. Their skill on the other hand, had a much more reasonable cooldown. In terms of sustained DPS, they were easily our betters. I logged into the game and entered Dark Moon City. The system dinged a couple of times informing me that Princess Karinshan and the nine legions of the empire had officially returned to Sky City. In fact, Sky City had been returned to the China server an hour earlier. With this, we had regained ownership of two main cities, and very soon, three! ¡­¡­ I repaired my equipment and stuffed my bag with potions and cards. Then, I walked out of the territory and arrived at the clearing where countless Dragonlight Archers and Cavalrymen were already waiting in formation. Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng were standing in front of them. It was worth noting that Li Chengfeng truly was a hard worker, and that he was at Level 209 now. He put a hand on my shoulder and said, "When you leveled up to 220 , I was Level 0. But now? You¡¯re Level 211, and I¡¯m Level 209. We¡¯re only 2 levels apart now, hehehe¡­" I felt the corner of my mouth twitch. "Fuck you. If it wasn¡¯t for the Xuanyuan Slash, I would be Level 225 now, okay¡­" "No one can deny fate¡­" "Cut the philosophical crap already, will you? Anyway, let¡¯s finish rallying the troops and depart already! We¡¯re heading to Dawn Valley first before turning to Wind City!" "Yessir!" Very soon, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Chaos Moon and more had all shown up as well. Not everyone had come online, but when we departed, we had 100k players from the main guild, and a couple hundred thousand more from the subguilds¡ªalmost 700k in total¡ªmarching slowly toward the direction of Dawn Valley. Dawn Valley had been a place where we fought to the death to protect Sky City. Today, the tables had turned, and we were the ones to assault the enemy in the hopes of retaking our last main city, Wind City in 24 hours tops! ¡­¡­ I flew at the forefront on my dragon while Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, He Yi and more followed closely behind. Li Chengfeng couldn¡¯t help the envy in his voice as he said, "It looks like the era of dragon knights is upon us. If even the likes of Breeze and Rain can become a dragon knight, we must strive to keep up as well. If nothing else, being able to attack the land from air is too big of an advantage to ignore. Let¡¯s go find some dragon babies after this Nation War is over, people!" Chaos Moon rolled her eyes and said, "You don¡¯t think that dragon eggs are as common as chicken eggs, do you? First, you must find a dragon¡¯s den. Next, you must kill a giant dragon. Only then will you have a chance of dropping a mount egg. Do you even understand how much the stars must align for all that to happen?" Li Chengfeng replied optimistically, "What is a man without dreams?" Chaos Moon shot him down mercilessly, "A man who isn¡¯t delusional..." Me: "..." I decided that I had stirred the pot of envy enough for the day, so I activated Fusion Armor and floated back to the ground. Although I was on foot, I was still way faster than the Dragonlight Cavalry. An ignorant person might even think that I was a cultivator with good qinggong or something! On a related note, Dawn City had been retaken by the Chinese force four days earlier. That was why we could see a ton of Chinese troops slowly passing through the Fortress of the Iron Halberd toward the Northern Alliance¡¯s territories at the horizon. So far, everything was going as Zhang Chun had suggested yesterday. This army might or might not actually siege a main city, but the point was that their very presence would put pressure on the enemy¡¯s heart and soul. ¡­¡­ Our army marched through the canyon and entered a vast forest as I and a group of Dragonlight Cavalry opened up a path at the forefront. The fiend-rank monsters here never stood a chance since they were all below Level 250. About one and a half hours later, Wind City slowly emerged from the horizon. The magnificent main city standing at the center of the canyon left us feeling breathless and emotional. Once upon a time, it was one of the three prides of the Center. Now, it had become the main city of the USA server. It was a slight we couldn¡¯t withstand, and we must retake it today no matter how hard the USA server struggles! We heard the sounds of battle even before we reached the foot of the city. A sea of enemy cavalry troops were riding toward us at full speed. Standing together with us were Snowy Cathaya, Gods of Destruction, Warsky Alliance and more China guilds. They drew their weapons in excitement when they saw the incoming enemies. At the distance, Warsky shouted, "Lu Chen, Zhang Chun wants us to focus on the eastern gate of Wind City, but how should we do this exactly? I can¡¯t believe the enemy defenders would come out from behind their walls and try to engage us on the ground! What suicidal idiots!" I replied, "Just do whatever you want. When we reach the bottom of the city, we¡¯ll set up Cloud Stairs and climb up the walls. There¡¯s no need to deploy our siege troops here. Our elite forces alone could flatten these weaklings!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and looked at He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and the rest of my generals. I said, "The cavalrymen in front of us are from Vietnam¡¯s Hot Sand City, and they number at least a hundred thousand. It looks like the leak on the forums claiming that the USA server had convinced the Vietnamese to defend Wind City while Titan City and Hero City¡¯s main forces attacked Seven Star City were true after all. They¡¯re planning to use their allies to hold us back while they pluck Seven Star City from the Chaotic 27¡¯s hands. Tsk tsk, so greedy¡­" He Yi suggested with a smile, "It will be a shame not to use this to our advantage then. While we fight against the Vietnamese here, Zhang Chun should march to Hot Sand City with the troops of the Fortress of the Iron Halberd and trigger a Nation War. This way, the Vietnamese who died here won¡¯t be able to revive in their main city. Let¡¯s retake Wind City and conquer Hot Sand City at the same time and use the latter as our forward base to penetrate deeper into the north!" I laughed. "That is exactly what I was thinking about! Please communicate with Zhang Chun and attack Hot Sand City now, Eve. The Northern Alliance won¡¯t know what hit them until it¡¯s too late! Oh, someone should contact the elite players at Vanished God City to help defend Seven Star City as well. The Chaotic 27 have the numbers, but they may not be able to withstand Vienna¡¯s Sorrow all-out assault!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take long for Zhang Chun to trigger his side of the Nation War and turn this from China server versus Wind City, into China versus Wind City + the Northern Alliance. Now, everyone who died within the affected maps wouldn¡¯t be able to revive on them anymore. 1. (T/N: a form of watery yogurt rarely seen in western countries. Also known as Beijing yogurt, but I decided to transliterate it because it¡¯s less misleading this way) 2. T/N: Lyrics from the song "Big Toe Leather Shoes" by Han Xiao Chapter 1214 Hot Sand City was a tier 1 main city belonging to the Vietnam server. It was also their only main city. Since the USA server had had three main cities¡ªHero City, Titan City and Seven Star City¡ªsince the release of Heavenblessed, and Hot Sand City had the misfortune of being put next to them at the north, they had no choice but to carry out their every whim like a lackey would for their boss. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Chill of the Nine Provinces gleamed intimidatingly in my grasp as I charged toward Wind City, "These fuckers have a part in the collapse of Wind City too, so don¡¯t hesitate and send these clowns back to the real world! After we¡¯ve retaken Wind City, we¡¯ll march to the north and take out their home city next! We will beat the arrogance out of their veins and teach them never to mess with us again!" Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and more guffawed loudly and rode even harder toward Wind City. Around 60k Dragonlight Cavalrymen were riding at the forefront, and almost all of them were commanded by Famous Generals. There were a lot more Famous Generals these days, and while I hadn¡¯t been paying attention to who became a Famous General for a long time, I knew that non-exclusive Famous General Skills that added 120% or so Attack to certain unit types such as Soul of the Soldier, Blood Blade and more had become a lot more common these days. We had 24 Dragonlight Cavalrymen with Soul of the Soldier alone, let alone the others. Famous General Skills were slowly but surely becoming widespread, but Divine General Skills were still as rare as ever. The Vietnamese players charged toward us like their lives depended on it. It seemed that they were aware that they knew that this war would decide the fate of their server. I decided that using our trump cards before our frontlines engaged would be a good idea, so I shouted, "Fighting Spirits, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, use your Ancient Divine Skills now! Take them down a peg or two!" "Yessir!" they all responded in unison. At the same time, I abruptly cranked up my movement speed and shot toward a group of tightly packed cavalry at lightning speed. Chill of the Nine Provinces abruptly shone like a golden sun, and a pair of bloody wings spread out behind my back. After Heavenly River Transformation activated, I raised my weapon and brought down a huge, 35-yard-long golden sword on top of my enemies and stunned the entire battlefield! BOOM! The deafening boom one-shot countless Hot Sand City players and stunned even more. The ground was split like there was an earthquake, and the cavalrymen who were struck fell off their mounts and into the deep ravine. In some cases, both the players and their mounts were straight up annihilated from existence. One only needed to look at the damage numbers rising above their heads to know how powerful the Ancient Divine Skill was¡ª 1002872! 972183! 1126364! 982775! ¡­¡­ "Heavens, this is¡­ completely broken, isn¡¯t it?" exclaimed Du Thirteen and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun while exchanging a look of astonishment with each other. The artificial path I carved out with my skill was rife with death and devastation. I doubted many SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skills would possess as much destructive power as the Xuanyuan Slash.In sheer power, it truly was the indisputable king of the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skills. Thud! While the enemy was still dazed, I cut through to the middle and raised the "Death" side of the blade to the sky, shouting, "Xuanyuan Art!" The special skill activated, and the three whirlpools that represented death spun rapidly. The next moment, every player within 1000 yards of me lost 50% HP in one go. While this was going on, a transformed High Fighting Spirits roared like a madman, raised his axe and summoned the image of the ancient god Xing Tian. The image of the divine weapon, the ganqi, also appeared around his battle axe. One swing later, all the enemies who were struck lost their remaining 50% HP and became shredded into pieces. Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust also unleashed their Tiger Wing Slash and Dog God Slash into a crowd of enemies. The charging riders instantly dropped to the ground like lifeless puppets. Finally, He Yi sped up toward the enemy, activated her Ancient Divine Skill and caused the red shadow of a sword to appear beneath her mount. It was the effect of Chengying and Hanguang. For 12 seconds, all of he Yi¡¯s skills ignored Guard and pierced invincibility. Her Attack was increased by 50% as well! Boom boom boom! Green Wave Slash and Purgatory of Ice and Magma erupted. By the time He Yi passed through the affected area, no one was alive to stop her anymore. Not done yet, she activated Godslaying Blade next, increased her attack range by dozens of yards and swung her weapon again and again, dealing over 200k damage per hit to an entire swathe of enemies. Her DPS was positively obscene right now. ¡­¡­ The devastation wrought by the top elites of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls utterly crippled the Hot Sand City¡¯s cavalry, but their misery was just beginning. All we did was put holes in their defense, break their morale and enable our Dragonlight Cavalry to trample over them with impunity. However powerful our skills were, the true destroyer was still the Dragonlight Cavalry. The melee began, and their blades sank greedily into the Hot Sand City players¡¯ flesh. It was a completely one-sided slaughter. All 200k Vietnamese cavalrymen were killed in just 20 minutes. I had also skyrocketed to the first place on the contribution point leaderboard as well. The Xuanyuan Slash was just that powerful. Even if I could only activate it once per 120 seconds, when I did it was like the enemy was visited by a mini apocalypse. They were completely traumatized to say the least. ¡­¡­ Wind City was a super main city. Its walls were tough and about 40 meters tall, and it was crawling with people right now. The Nation War interface showed that there was a huge difference between our player counts¡ª China: 21087732 Northern Alliance: 7976763 Knowing that there was little chance they could hold Wind City, the USA server had dispatched only one to two million players to defend it. It looked like they fully intended to wear us down with Hot Sand City as the cannon fodder. On the city walls, the number one player of Titan City and the guild leader of Olympus, Titan God, stared at us coolly while saying, "Whatever you do, hold the line until the alliance retakes Seven Star City! Understand that this is our only hope! This time, we won¡¯t back down even if we go down to the last person! For the glory of the alliance!" His players raised their weapons and responded, "For the glory of the alliance!" Titan God¡¯s lips curled into a sinister smile. "Archers and mages, Far Shot the moment the enemies approach within 200 yards of the city. The Chinese will not retake their city without paying the blood price!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Groups of archers gathered at the edge of the walls. Even more flooded were the wallwalk and the city grounds. ¡­¡­ I came to a stop about a thousand yards away from the walls and sucked in a deep breath. "We haven¡¯t brought our siege weapons with us this time, so it¡¯s all about that charge, people! Xu Yang, have our magic knights form 5-man mini groups to cover our engineers. Once we¡¯ve gotten the cloud ladders on the walls, the Dragonlight Cavalry will dismount and begin scaling immediately! While the enemies are distracted, Little Gui, you will take 5000 Dragonlight Cavalry with you and attack the eastern gate! Deleting the gate¡¯s durability is also one way to breach the city!" Xu Yang and Gui Guzi nodded in unison. A moment later, after 20k magic knights had entered into position, they raised their shields, protected the engineers and slowly made their way toward the walls. Besides that, the Dragonlight Cavalry were following closely behind them. Li Chengfeng, He Yi and I charged straight for the enemy¡¯s gate. Tink tink tink... The Far Shot arrows struck my Dragon God Shield and bounced off almost harmlessly. I had grown so powerful that these arrow rain could no longer penetrate my Defense. In fact, most of them dealt only hundreds, tens, and even single-digit damage numbers per hit. It was pitiful. After the cloud ladders were set up on two different sides of the city, the Dragonlight Cavalry dismounted and began scaling upward. They were of course beset by the usual rolling logs, falling stones, arrows, magical spells and much more random shit. The enemy mages had also turned the ground outside the walls into a sea of flames. Such were the conditions we had to endure as we fought. Bang! Gui Guzi struck the gate hard with his Spear of the Knight God, but he only managed to do 4k+ damage or so. The fortified defense of the gate was a perfect counter to Gui Guzi¡¯s basic attack. "Allow me¡­" I walked up to the gate just in time to catch an arrow on the cheek. After I pulled out the arrow, I activated Heavenly Earth Transformation, fired up the Xuanyuan Slash again and smashed it against the gate with everything I got. The skill actually triggered the Mountain Crush effect, and the tearing chains and the ridiculous damage number that popped above the gate stunned all Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players within the vicinity to speechlessness¡ª 796766! Li Chengfeng commented in disbelief, "Bruh, can you be any more OP than this? The gate has 1 million HP, and you just deleted 80% of it in one hit¡­" He Yi giggled. "Looks like Lu Chen is our battering ram from now on!" "Anyway, let¡¯s take down the gate and end this as soon as possible!" "Yeah!" We all raised our weapons and threw all our skills against the gate. Hundreds or even thousands of our players were killed by the second, so we needed to end this as soon as possible. The sooner we breached the gate, the lower our casualties would become, and the bigger the army we could bring to the doorsteps of Hot Sand City. By the time we were done with the Vietnam server, they would learn never to clown around our presence ever again! ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, the east gate of Wind City let out a loud groan and collapsed inward. All the Vietnamese engineers who had been trying to repair the gate were flattened into pancakes. Behind them was a troop of elite cavalry, about 300k strong. Clearly, they were ready and waiting for us. Chiang! Li Chengfeng unsheathed his Dark Blade and charged first, shouting, "Kill! Retake our main city!" The rumbling of hooves restarted, and 40k Dragonlight Cavalrymen galloped into the city with impunity. Speaking of which, the Fruit Knife Goddess and her Kui Dragon Cavalry were right behind us. After summoning the white shadow of a sword beneath her feet¡ªit was the effect of Gan Jiang and Mo Ye¡ªshe bathed a ton of people in the deathly flames of Ice Flame Slash before snorting in dissatisfaction. "We cannot let Ancient Sword claim all the contribution points! Purple Marquis, Lexi, we¡¯re attacking from the right wing!" "Yes, guild leader!" Warsky Alliance followed suit, and soon the streets of Wind City were completely embroiled in a bloody melee. We made sure to enact the Three Alls Policy[1] upon all the NPCs¡ªwho were now considered USA NPCs¡ªbecause Princess Karinshan would send a new regent and NPCs to replace them after we retook the city. 1. The Three Alls Policy was a Japanese scorched earth policy adopted in China during World War II, the three "alls" being "kill all, burn all, loot all." The Policy, sanctioned by Emperor Hirohito himself, was responsible for the deaths of "more than 2.7 million" Chinese civilians. Chapter 1215 Less than an hour later, the difference in player numbers became as clear as day. There were now more attackers than there were defenders. Exploiting the chaos to its maximum, Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust led the Dragonlight Cavalry to trample all enemies in their way and earn as many Nation War contribution points as possible. Every Nation War had an MVP, and every MVP reward was as lucrative as you might imagine it to be. Even if that wasn¡¯t the case, the Top 10 players were rewarded with Luck, a stat no self-respecting player would let slip without a fight. The royal road to power was one forged from millions and millions of souls, revenge and slaughter. It was as maddening as it was intoxicating. ¡­¡­ "Watch out! Titan God and Olympus are coming toward us!" Suddenly, Warsky shouted and pointed above his head. It was just as he said. Titan God was riding down, swinging his weapon and killing Warsky Alliance¡¯s players like they didn¡¯t exist. The guild leader unleashed Mad Thunder Slash and killed dozens of Frostscale Cavalrymen in one go. Even Laughing At The Heavens was sent stumbling toward the back. With a pale face, he said, "We can¡¯t beat this Titan God head-on, guild leader. His skills are too powerful¡­" Warsky shouted, "Soul Battle Robes, get over here and take out Titan God! Song of Ice and Fire, what are you hesitating for? If you don¡¯t take him out now we¡¯re going to sustain massive losses¡­" However, neither Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone nor Ringwraith acted to move toward the stairway. Song of Ice and Fire said idly, "Warsky, I¡¯m the vice leader of Soul Battle Robes, and Soul Battle Robes is just an ally of Warsky Alliance. I am Song of Cloud and Water¡¯s subordinate, not yours. You don¡¯t have the right to order me, understand?" Warsky grimaced. "Ah, fuck!" Song of Cloud and Water pursed her lips for a moment before whispering, "Please stop Titan God, brother Ice and Fire. No good can come from letting him go on a rampage, and the Nation War is more important right now!" "Very well!" Song of Ice and Fire galloped up the stairway, let out a battle cry and activated Heavenly River Transformation. Then, he raised his battle axe and growled out, "Gonggong¡¯s Furious Strike!" Buzz! A giant spear erupted from the tip of his axe blade and pierced through the crowd. Titan God reacted instantly by buffing his HP by 70% with a high-level skeleton card and putting up a Guard stance. Unfortunately for him, Ancient Divine Skills couldn¡¯t be Guarded! Pu! 772898! The attack deleted over 80% of his HP instantly, but he survived. Titan God was a skilled player who even Lin Yixin and Li Chengfeng had to fight seriously. Instead of retreating to safety like most players would, Titan God activated War God Recovery and galloped toward Song of Ice and Fire. Midway during the charge, he leaped into the air, activated the Heavenly River Transformation and used his own SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Blade of Caesar! Bang! 759873! Despite wearing full buffs on his person, the Ancient Divine Skill still sent Song of Ice and Fire falling down from the stairway and crashing unceremoniously against the ground. Not only that, Blade of Caesar continued travelling 20 yards toward the ground and struck the group of Warsky Alliance frontliners standing there, one-shotting all of them! "Holy shit!" Warsky¡¯s arm shivered as he raised his weapon, "Kill that motherfucker now!" It was at this moment someone shouted, "I¡¯ll kill him! Out of the way!" Warsky turned around just in time to see Candlelight Shadow galloping over on a red mount and raising his sword into the sky. Before he even got close, he leaped into the air, activated Heavenly River Transformation and summoned a gigantic fire axe in midair. It was the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Pangu¡¯s Axe! BOOM! The earth shook, and that entire section of the wall trembled under the devastating power that was the Pangu¡¯s Axe. Not only was Titan God shredded into pieces, a crack split the wall in half almost as if it had been struck by a mighty blow from the heavens. All the elite players who were caught within the Ancient Divine Skill¡¯s range were annihilated as well. It was a stunning sight. In that moment, it was as if Candlelight Shadow had finally regained his former glory: dominating, efficient, and unstoppable. ¡­¡­ After watching Titan God¡¯s death about 800 yards away from the scene, I turned back toward Gui Guzi and said, "Let¡¯s storm the palace and take out the NPC regent right now! Our main battlefield isn¡¯t at Wind City, so let¡¯s not waste any more time than is necessary!" Gui Guzi nodded. "Understood!" Thousands and thousands of Vietnamese players tried to resist as the Dragonlight Cavalry made a break for the royal palace, but their weak shields were no match for our cavalry¡¯s iron hooves, not to mention our Famous Generals, Divine Generals, and Ancient Divine Skill owners. The power gap was just unbridgeable. To be honest, we were stronger than even we had imagined. Hot Sand City belonged to Vietnam, and Vietnam had a total population of 90 million people. On average, 10% of the population was playing Heavenblessed, so that was around 9 million players or so. It still wasn¡¯t enough to stop us though. Right now, our one guild was strong enough to wipe out a main city single-handedly, although that was assuming they received no aid from other guilds and powerful experts such as Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and Tear Stain. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s strength needed not be said, and Tear Stain was said to have found an SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill as well. It would be folly to underestimate them. ¡­¡­ We entered the royal palace and found that the regent was a Level 270 Immortal Rank boss. He was much stronger than the duke who had ruled Wind City previously. In just a couple of basic attacks, its direct and splash damage had deleted most of our Dragonlight Cavalrymen¡¯s HP bars. It was at this moment Gui Guzi activated Heavenly River Transformation and raised his Spear of the Knight God. "Shennong Tastes Grass!" A green light surrounded the Dragonlight Cavalry, and 75% of their HP was restored¡ª +487721! +391574! +442989! ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi couldn¡¯t stop grinning as he admired his own handiwork. While raising his scepter, Yamete asked Murong Mingyue, "Do you think that Little Gui counts as a super milker now?" Murong Mingyue shot Gui Guzi a glance before curling her lips. "He¡¯s as flat as a board, and you call him a super milker? Ceh! His chest is even smaller than yours!" Yamete looked down on his own chest, glanced at Murong Mingyue¡¯s and replied humbly, "Nah, I¡¯m still a ways away from you in that department¡­" Murong Mingyue smiled dangerously. "Did you just try to flirt with me, Ma Dai? Do you have a death wish today or something? There¡¯s only one man in the world who¡¯s allowed to do that to me, and that¡¯s Lu Chen. If you¡¯re not as tenacious as he is, I suggest that you be a good boy and save it for someone else!" Yamete was about to say something more when the Ironwing Dragon dropped down from the sky, bit him in the head and started swinging him around like a rag doll. The healer shouted, "Holy shit, even Lu Chen¡¯s Ancient Divine Dragon is way gentler than your dragon!" It was at this moment I walked up to Yamete and stared at his blood-soaked face. "What happened to you, Mamate?" "It¡¯s nothing¡­" "Well, heal yourself already." I shot him a kind smile while ordering, "Sis, please use Seduction to lower the boss''s Attack. Lian Xin, you should cast your Sigh of the Heroine too. This will be much easier if the boss lacks the Attack to hurt us¡­" Both girls nodded smilingly before casting their Ancient Divine Skills. The next moment, the boss lost 29% of its Attack and turned from a hulking dinosaur into a mostly harmless dog. At the same time, I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces toward the sky and yelled, "Xuanyuan Sword!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Boundless green light erupted across the palace hall. Since my current attack mode was set to ¡®Nation War¡¯, every Chinese player within 1000 yards of me had 50% of their HP restored. It truly was a most pleasing special skill! ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue drew her bow and activated her Fury of the Descendant. Immediately, the image of a huge god¡ªthe Descendant¡ªappeared behind her back, and a huge purple arrow enveloped the boss and the NPCs defending it. The killing and wounding of countless enemies reduced the pressure on our players by an even greater margin. The Dragonlight Cavalry Far Shot their attacks from the back, and Lian Xin cast her offensive spells with absolute impunity. There was no chance the boss was ever going to survive this. Less than 10 minutes later, his HP dropped to zero, and¡ª Crack! Li Chengfeng cut off the boss''s head in one clean swing before holding it up into the air. He then said to me, "I¡¯m occupying the city this time, Lu Chen! I wanna hit Level 210 and enter the Sky Vortex soon!" I nodded without hesitation. "Of course. Do it!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ A system announcement rang beside all our ears, and it was announced that Li Chengfeng had obtained the royal scepter and returned Wind City to the China server. It was also announced that Princess Karinshan would be dispatching two of her main legions to Wind City immediately. And so, the first step of this Nation War, retaking Wind City had come to an end. Outside the hall, Candlelight Shadow walked in with Blue Sky Scar, God¡¯s Dance, Tempest Shadow and more and shot us a smile. "Excellent cooperation, everyone. We¡¯ve retaken Wind City and taken our first step toward revenge against the Northern Alliance. What should we do next? There aren¡¯t many Northern Alliance players left in the city now." I replied, "Uncle Zhang Chun is currently attacking Hot Sand City with his elites. The Vietnamese think they¡¯re powerful enough to hold Wind City for the USA server? Then we¡¯ll test that strength by bringing the war to their doorstep! My suggestion is that we leave behind some middle to small-sized guilds to guard Wind City and march all our main guilds to Hot Sand City now. We¡¯ll occupy it in the fastest time possible and build our very first northern frontier city!" Candlelight Shadow nodded in agreement. "Mn. Let¡¯s depart right away!" Warsky asked, "We should still leave behind some high-level players just in case. Warsky Alliance will leave behind 10 subguilds to guard Wind City. What about you guys?" Candlelight Shadow smiled. "We¡¯re fine with whatever. Anyway, see you all at Hot Sand City!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ And so, we exited the city and marched into Wind Forest. Dust clouds covered the sky as the elite cavalry of China galloped toward the northeast direction. It was because we must go through Fortress of the Iron Halberd to enter the Northern Alliance¡¯s territory. Morale was high, and the thirst for vengeance was hot. The true Avengers had arrived to take revenge for everything that had been done to us! Chapter 1216 The flat grounds shook as we passed through Fortress of the Iron Halberd. I looked up and stared at the group of elite NPC archers on the walls for a moment. They were all succubi, and they were all clad in purple cloaks. Their sharp ears shivered, and their purple eyes watched the distance as they paid close attention to any sign of danger. "This war is probably going to be a long one again¡­" On the walls, an archer with a sword strapped to her waist said, "We Purple Bell Scout Battalion are the most elite archer legion in the empire, and we have been commanded by Her Majesty to guard this place. We mustn¡¯t disappoint her, understand? No invader will be allowed to enter Dawn Valley as long as even one of us draws breath!" The beautiful archer next to her giggled a bit. "You worry too much, big sis. This time, it¡¯s our adventurers¡¯ army who will be attacking another city. I highly doubt that Fortress of the Iron Halberd will come under any threat at all." "I know. Still, don¡¯t let down your guard. We¡¯ll be keeping watch for 24 hours a day!" "Yes, ma¡¯am!" ¡­¡­ I passed through the fortress gate and arrived at a windy plain. As my cloak flapped loudly to the wind, I licked my lips and declared with a grin, "Finally, our swords have reached the northern lands. We¡¯ve waited for this day for too long already!" Li Chengfeng kept pace with me as he asked, "The India server and Japan server are surprisingly quiet this time. What did Zhang Chun and you do?" I smiled. "You make it sound like we did something shady or something. All we did was convince our allies at Chaotic 27, Frostsword City, Iron Horse City, and the three border cities at the southeast to invade Swallow Ear Canton, Elephant City and Cyan Earth City at the same time. That is why we are free to attack the Northern Alliance with our full strength." "Oh?" Li Chengfeng clicked his tongue disdainfully. "I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re putting your trust in the Chaotic 27 after what they did to us. They are all a bunch of faithless and untrustworthy scum!" "That¡¯s a bit too absolute, man. There are no eternal friends, only eternal profit. We gifted them Seven Star City and sent them the reinforcements they needed to hold it. I¡¯m sure they can figure out what will benefit them more as a long-term ally. Once we¡¯ve driven the USA server further into the north, they will learn to respect our strength as well. If this still isn¡¯t enough to teach them, we can always take back what we gifted away by force." Li Chengfeng smiled. "Hmm, you¡¯re definitely more well-versed in this kind of stuff than I am. Most of my skill points are dumped into my real job, you see. That being said, it¡¯s never too late to learn new stuff, right?" "Heh¡­" Suddenly, a system announcement dinged in the sky. As it turned out, another player had obtained an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Breeze and Rain" (India) used an Ancient Divine Skill Scroll and obtained the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, "Asura Possession¡±. They¡¯ve successfully entered the Heavenly River Realm and gained Heavenly River Transformation and Domain! Asura Possession (SSS Rank): Summon an ancient god to possess the user. User¡¯s Attack is increased by 100%. Attack, Defense and HP are massively increased for 15 seconds. Cooldown: 120 seconds. MP Cost: 50% MP. ¡­¡­ "Fuck, Breeze and Rain did it? That guy is amazing as always¡­" I grimaced. Li Chengfeng commented while staring at the sky, "Yeah. Anyone who can get an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill deserves that praise at least." "That¡¯s not what I¡¯m talking about. Do you remember that he entered the Sky Vortex at the same time as me? That means he¡¯s been online for 4 days straight. I can¡¯t believe he¡¯s still alive¡­" "..." Li Chengfeng curled his lips. "He¡¯s probably using that newly developed life sustaining helmet that costs 500k RMB per unit then. It minimizes the energy usage of the body so that the user won¡¯t starve to death or die from exhaustion even if they stay online for four, or even five days straight." "Still, this is totally against the natural order. We shouldn¡¯t try to emulate them. 72 hours max, and no more than that." "That¡¯s true. Man takes his law from the Earth; the Earth takes its law from Heaven; Heaven takes its law from the Tao. The law of the Tao is its being what it is [1]. In the end, we all must follow the laws of nature. Those who try to defy the heavens are just begging to kill themselves¡­" "Well said, well said¡­" I praised. Beside us, Chaos Moon finally lost her cool and spat, "¡®Tao is its being what it is¡¯ my ass, like you two shameless bastards understand anything about Tao! We should be discussing the details of Breeze and Rain¡¯s skill!" He Yi chuckled. "Well, Asura Possession is similar to Beauty Lin¡¯s Gan Jiang and Mo Ye and my Chengying and Hanguang, except a lot better. For 15 seconds, all of Breeze and Rain¡¯s attacks and skills ignore Guard and invincibility skills, since it is an Ancient Divine Skill. While it lacks the destructive power of the Xuanyuan Slash and Pangu¡¯s Axe, its sustained DPS is much higher." "Yeah. You¡¯d all better watch out if you encounter Breeze and Rain next time. As of now, not even I can survive Soul Capture + Asura Possession combo¡­" Li Chengfeng raised his Dark Blade and said carelessly, "Whatever, I¡¯m not a Heavenly River player yet anyway, so it¡¯s not my problem~" "You¡¯re getting inside the Sky Vortex right after this Nation War is over." "Er¡­ fine¡­" Chaos Moon blinked once before saying, "Found it. On the first day the Sky Vortex opened, around two thousand players had completed their eighth-promotion quests. That number grew to 7k+000 plus on the second day, 20k+ on the third day, and 50k+ on the fourth day. Long story short, more and more players are becoming eighth-promotion everyday. I expect you to meet considerable resistance when you enter the Sky Vortex, so make sure you bring as many Dragonlight Cavalrymen with you as possible, Li Chengfeng." The dragon warrior nodded. "No problem. Just watch me summon the storm in the Ruins of the Gods¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Another new system announcement rang at this moment and informed us that another world class player had entered the Heavenly River Realm too¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Player "Tear Stain" (Korea) used an Ancient Divine Skill Scroll and obtained the SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, "Yemaek Slash". They¡¯ve successfully entered the Heavenly River Realm and gained Heavenly River Transformation and Domain! Yemaek Slash (SS Rank): Increases user''s Attack by 100%. Summon the god of the ancient Yemaek and deal a powerful strike to all targets within 20 yards, immobilizing them for 3 seconds. Cooldown: 120 seconds. MP Cost: 50%. ¡­¡­ I looked at the sky and said, "Tear Stain ascended as well¡­" "An SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill¡­" Li Chengfeng licked his lips before commenting, "What¡¯s with the name though? Yemaek Slash? Ugh, that sounds so disgusting [2]¡­" He Yi checked the database before smiling. "Korea doesn¡¯t have many myths and legends that are totally unique to their country, which is why they didn¡¯t have an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill of their own. This Yemaek Slash is probably a reference to their ancestors during the BC period called the Yemaek Tribe." I looked to the front before bringing up the map screen. "I want the troops to march faster and reach Hot Sand City within half an hour. Ideally, we want to conquer it in 24 hours tops. Greedy Wolf City, Earth Tiger City and Proud Dragon City are strong, but they can¡¯t pin down both Cyan Earth City and Swallow Ear Canton for long." Li Chengfeng voiced his doubts. "Turkey and Pakistan both have massive populations and playerbases, right? Surely they can keep Cyan Earth City busy for 24 hours at least?" "You never know. What I do know is that the faster we end this, the smaller the chance things can go wrong. Right now the entire continent is stuck in Nation War mode, and those who die during this time won¡¯t be able to log back into the game until the war is over. I¡¯m worried they¡¯ll intercept our main forces on the plains and pull off their kill-all strategy again. If they succeed, our war of vengeance will have to end prematurely." "Very well. We¡¯ll do our best!" ¡­¡­ After communicating with Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Lin Yixin, Ling Xueshang, Warsky, Candlelight Shadow and the other guild leaders, everyone agreed to speed things up. The cavalry, mages and archers would travel at full speed, meaning that the siege units would be left behind temporarily. The sooner we reached Hot Sand City, the higher our chance of taking it. We were in the hinterlands of the Northern Alliance already. It would be folly to grow careless now of all times. As our hooves thundered across the plains, the weather grew hot and stuffy. Heat waves could be seen everywhere, and it looked like the dry grass could burst into flames at any moment. Warsky Alliance acted as the vanguard this time; their 70k Frostscale Cavalry riding at the forefront with Warsky and Laughing At the Heavens. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya¡¯s parties were right behind them. We soon entered a canyon area where we must pass through a narrow valley in order to reach the forest on the opposite entrance. Right behind the forest was the magnificent-looking golden city of Hot Sand City. It looked like a golden fortress surrounded by a sea of greens from where we were. ¡­¡­ "Careful, Warsky!" I manifested the Ancient Divine Dragon and soared above Warsky Alliance¡¯s formation. Then, I called out to Warsky, "There¡¯s probably going to be an ambush here! Slow down your pace and send out more scouts!" Warsky replied, "Don¡¯t worry! The Frostscale Cavalry can handle anything!" "Be careful!" "I know!" ¡­¡­ However, a commotion erupted right after the words left his mouth. It was a series of explosions that caused the earth to quake dangerously. As it turned out, a ton of bombs had been set up across the valley floor, and the 20000 Frostscale Cavalrymen who were unfortunate enough to stumble right into them hadn¡¯t had a good time to say the least. It was the Assassin class¡¯s eighth-promotion skill, Trap. That skill + bombs equals tons of damage! At the same time, enemy archers rose up from the bushes on both sides of the canyon and Far Shot their Skypiercers, Spiraling Arrow Blades and more. The wounded Frostscale Cavalrymen had already lost a couple hundred thousand HP to the Trap skill, so they were unable to endure the archers¡¯ arrow rain at all. The players lying in ambush on the two sides of the mountain range belonged to none other than the number one guild of Vietnam, The Storm. The Level 214 Eye of the Storm raised his battle axe and declared loudly on his mount, "Cavalry, charge! Time to teach the Chinese how it feels to be ambushed!" ¡­¡­ I soared higher and saw what the enemy was doing. About a million players were taking part in this ambush, and the elite riders of The Storm, Daybreaker and more big guilds were flooding toward us from everywhere inside the canyon. It looked like they intended to wipe us out and keep the bulk of our forces outside of it. Warsky licked his lips and inquired October Rain¡¯s opinion, "What do we do, Little Rain?" October Rain smiled and said, "Send the assassins and archers to stealth over to the enemy and kill them all. You and the Qiu Beast Cavalry should launch a frontal assault against the enemy from the front as well. We can¡¯t let the Dragonlight Cavalry fight this kind of battle. They¡¯re our trump cards, not the cannon fodder¡­" "Got it!" 1. T/N: quote from Lao Tzu 2. T/N: I don¡¯t want to say it, but at this point I think we can confirm that Li¡¯s kind of a bigot Chapter 1217 We saw thousands of dead Chinese players inside the canyon. Clearly, Zhang Chun had ordered dozens of big-sized guilds to attack Hot Sand City, but the Vietnamese had intercepted their troops halfway, cut off their rear, and killed the follow-up parties. It was a simple but effective tactic since Vanished God City alone couldn¡¯t conquer Hot Sand City. However, our lightning-fast retake of Wind City and early arrival at their doorsteps had clearly caught them by surprise. ¡­¡­ Warsky charged with his Qiu Beast Cavalry and assaulted The Storm and Daybreaker¡¯s shield formations ferociously. October Rain was leading a bunch of assassins, archers and mages against the ambushers hiding inside the forests on both sides of the mountain ranges as well. Pa! October Rain¡¯s toes brushed lightly against the ground as she dashed across the forest like a colorful butterfly. After executing a Skypiercer + Spiraling Arrow Blade combo, she targeted a Vietnamese shielder and instakilled him with Bone Eroding Arrow. Behind her, the archers of Warsky Alliance Far Shot their skills into the foliage before them and turned the floor into a sea of blood. "H... Can''t wait until tomorrow to see more? Want to show your support? Click here to be a sponsor and get additional chapters ahead of time! Chapter 1218 Hot Sand Forest was lush, hot and wet. The summer sun burning above our heads only made the experience even more unbearable. Right now, I was lying on top of a fallen tree trunk and beneath a broadleaf palm tree. I was activating Dark Pupils and watching the horizon for any sign of activity. A tiny cyan snake slithered down the vine beside me and stared at me with its predatory, brown eyes. Thud! However, there was the swish of a blade, and the little thing was sent flying far, far away by Lin Yixin. She sat down beside me and asked, "How much longer do we have to wait?" "About ten minutes or so. We¡¯re gonna wait until they show up¡­" "But why?" "I don¡¯t understand what you mean? How are we going to ambush them if they don¡¯t show up?" "No, I mean are we seriously going to wait right here?" Lin Yixin curled her lips. "Look at our troops. There¡¯s not even enough cover to hide their heads. Even if Wild King is completely blind, this ambush spot is about as obvious as it gets. Also, there are less than ten thousand of us. If what the scout said is true, the enemy is almost a million strong. How on earth are we going to beat them?" I faced toward her completely and held her hand gently. "I never said that we¡¯re going to ambush them here, you know?" Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open. "Huh? Where is the real ambush then?" From nearby, Li Chengfeng and Purple Marquis also asked, "Yeah, where is the real ambush? And why are we here instead of there?" I smiled. "Long story short, we and the ten thousand troops here are bait. I¡¯ve sent Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and the Dragonlight Cavalry to a much better spot about 1 km behind us. When Nation Guardian shows up later, we¡¯re going to fight them for around five minutes before pretending to lose. Once they enter our ambush zone, we¡¯ll surround them with our cavalrymen and hit them from all sides with archers and mages. That¡¯s the best way to maximize our damage and minimize our losses. This is all pretty basic, you know? Do I look like the type who prefers to fight a costly battle unless there¡¯s no way to avoid it?" Purple Marquis stared at me. "Basic my ass! How did our guild leader ever fall for a devious man like you?!" Li Chengfeng chuckled. "Think of it this way: could a lesser man really win the Beautiful Little Pepper¡¯s heart?" Lin Yixin blushed, but she quickly recovered and chided them all. "Just because this is a feint doesn¡¯t mean you guys get to slack off, understand? I want you all to fight like your life depends on it during that five-minute engagement. Once the enemy enters our ambush zone, we¡¯re going to annihilate all 150k of Wild King¡¯s prided Divine Elephant Cavalry. With luck, we may even scare Cyan Earth City to cease their reinforcements completely!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, the earth beneath our feet started to quake unnaturally. The Divine Elephant Cavalry was the only cavalry in the world that would cause earthquake-like tremors like this. A huge group of players appeared from the eastern canyon, and leading at the forefront was none other than the guild leader of Nation Guardian, Wild King himself. The guy looked absolutely furious even though we hadn¡¯t engaged him yet. He was probably still pissed off by the fact that I had killed him within the first couple hours of his trip to the Ruins of the Gods, thus sealing off his chances of learning an Ancient Divine Skill almost permanently. "Prepare for battle!" I said while staring at the hostile army, "Archers, get ready. Beiming Xue, do you see that Level 213 magic knight beside Wild King called ¡®Heart of Time¡¯?" "Yep, I see him. What about him?" Beiming Xue asked beneath a large canopy. I replied, "Wild King is a straightforward guy with almost no guile whatsoever, so there¡¯s a high chance he won¡¯t be able to see through our tactic. Once he¡¯s baited, he¡¯ll never let go until he¡¯s dead. On the other hand, Heart of Time is the vice leader and Wild King¡¯s voice of reason. Our tactic is hardly so great that he wouldn¡¯t be able to see through it. Therefore, I want you to kill him as soon as possible. It also serves as a good way to piss off Wild King and lure him into our ambush zone!" "Okay, big brother! I like missions like this!" "Me too. In fact, I¡¯ll assist you with Coiling Dragon Revolution. Okay?" "ºÃ£¡" "Okay!" The savagery on Wild King¡¯s face grew increasingly clear as he and the Divine Elephant Cavalry approached us. When he was a suitable amount of distance away from us, he raised his spear and shouted, "Brothers and sisters, the China server has convinced the idiots of Greedy Wolf City and Earth Tiger City to attack us! It is only right that we repay the ¡®favor¡¯ by killing them and rescuing Hot Sand City from their predicament, don¡¯t you agree!?" The Divine Elephant Cavalry all raised their weapons and roared, "Kill!" ¡­¡­ Whoosh! I abruptly sliced the broad leaf covering my person and raised my weapon, shouting, "Go, go, go!" Swhoosh! Beiming Xue was already shooting her Shock Arrow even before I finished my shout. Then, she flicked her Evil Spirit Volley at Heart of Time and dealt a ton of consecutive damage¡ª 89277! 90881! 88983! ¡­¡­ However, Heart of Time was pretty tanky, and he didn¡¯t die to Beiming Xue¡¯s combo. So, I tossed Chill of the Nine Provinces at him and activated Coiling Dragon Revolution. "What the hell?!" Wild King¡¯s eyes widened as he shouted, "Protect Heart of Time now!" A couple Divine Elephant Cavalrymen immediately moved into position and raised their shield. Unfortunately, they underestimated the penetrative power of Coiling Dragon Revolution too much! Bang! Shields were sent flying as Chill of the Nine Provinces pierced through shield, armor, flesh and bone multiple times until it finally found Heart of Time¡¯s heart. It punched a huge hole at the center of the man¡¯s chest before spinning back to my hand. Heart of Time could only widen his eyes, let out a dull groan and fall to his death after the skill deleted the last chunk of his HP. Since countless main cities were dragged into this war¡ªenough that this Nation War was categorized as a continental war¡ªHeart of Time was forcefully logged out of the game. He wouldn¡¯t be able to revive until the Nation War was over. ¡­¡­ "Well done!" I said with a smile before catching my weapon and charging together with Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng and the others. Myriad Swords Obliteration + Burning Blade Slash combo that instakilled around a hundred Divine Elephant Cavalrymen instantly, regenerating 1 Divine Energy Point in the process. Then, with the Fusion Armor wrapped tightly around my body, I charged into an enemy group and continued my slaughter. Wherever my Chill of the Nine Provinces traveled, there was only an icy trail of death and devastation. Li Chengfeng, Purple Marquis, Xu Yang and more all unleashed their full power and killed as many enemies as they could with their several thousand elite cavalrymen. Their skills caused huge cyclones of energy and shredded countless Divine Elephant Cavalrymen to pieces. This was the power of the China server. As a whole, we had entire battalions of pinnacle cavalrymen with such an insane amount of AoE skills that common skills like Barrier Break and Ultimate Strength Break were used as an afterthought. The sheer number of signature moves alone tormented our enemies greatly. When five minutes were up, I waved my weapon and shouted, "Withdraw! Withdraw! There¡¯s too many of them!" The symbol of Gan Jiang and Mo Ye shining beneath her feet, Lin Yixin unleashed a Guard-ignoring Ice Flame Slash and shredded an entire group of Divine Elephant Cavalry to pieces. Then, she let out a bell-like giggle and backed away without any hesitation. Li Chengfeng and Purple Marquis were no less an acting expert than her, and they were able to play the role of a "routing army" to perfection. Plus, it wasn¡¯t like we didn¡¯t lose dozens of troops to the enemy. The Divine Elephant Cavalry were Nation Guardian¡¯s best, not to mention that even a lamb was deadly if they were given sharp claws. "The fuckers are running away! Don¡¯t let a single one of them escape even if we must chase them all the way to Hot Sand City!" Wild King roared furiously. As expected, the possibility of an ambush hadn¡¯t even crossed the guild leader¡¯s mind. The near instantaneous death of his right-hand man, Heart of Time, had clearly traumatized the poor guy. ¡­¡­ The 200000-strong Divine Elephant Cavalry cut quite the imposing figure as they spread out across the whole Hot Sand Forest. It almost felt like they were deforesting the map as they moved. We reached the ambush zone in no time. When I saw Gui Guzi, He Yi, Lian Xin, High Fighting Spirits and everyone else waiting outside the forest. I sent He Yi a message, "C¡¯mon Eve, I thought you were better than this. We as actors must respect our profession, and right now you guys are playing the role of the ambusher. What kind of ambusher just stands in the open and lets their prey spot them?" "Fine¡­" He Yi shot me a helpless smile before leading the others back into the forest. ¡­¡­ The last shred of tranquility in this forest was shattered by the thundering sound of our and the enemy¡¯s hooves. "It is time! Turn back and attack the enemy!" I ordered. The 10000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen I was leading immediately turned around and charged back toward the enemy. He Yi, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and everyone else inside the forest burst out of their hiding spots and surrounded the Divine Elephant Cavalry from all sides. I could even hear Lian Xin ordering in her sweet, melodious voice, "Ranged parties, Far Shot and loose!" The forest lit up for an instant as countless fireballs, wind blades, icicles and arrows flew into the air. They rained down on the tightly packed Divine Elephant Cavalry like artillery shells. "Shit! We¡¯ve been ambushed, guild leader!" a corps commander shouted. Wild King shouted back, "There is nothing to be afraid of! Tell our ranged parties to catch up with us as soon as possible! Ambush or not, we¡¯re going to tear all our enemies to shreds!" "The guild leader is wise!" ¡­¡­ Before he could even finish his sentence though, High Fighting Spirits fired his Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance into a group of Divine Elephant Cavalry. The Ancient Divine Skill instantly one-shot all of them. Right after that, He Yi stabbed into another group of enemies and swung her Godslaying Blade left and right. Because she was empowered by Chengying and Hanguang, everyone who was even touched by the beam of energy was one-shot without question. Earlier, we had spoken with the other guilds and agreed that Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya would face the enemy head-on, while Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends and more would cover the flanks. That was what they were doing right now. Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Eyes Like Water were attacking the enemy¡¯s flanks, and they had already successfully separated the tail of Nation Guardian¡¯s army from the body. Wild King probably still hadn¡¯t realized that he and around 500k of his elites were completely surrounded, and the reinforcements he was waiting for weren¡¯t going to show up. The frontline was full of top-tier cavalrymen such as the Dragonlight Cavalry, Kui Dragon Cavalry, Zephyr Cavalry, Purple Dragon Cavalry and more. Everyone had been training hard for the day we could take revenge against our enemies, and now the time had come to show them the fruits of our labor. If Nation Guardian was so kind as to wash their necks before we killed them, it was only right that we accepted their contribution points. Once Nation Guardian was dead, we would wait and see if Cyan Earth City would send more reinforcements. Currently, my plan was to hit the enemy¡¯s elites with our own and kill them all! ¡­¡­ By the time the battle dragged on for two hours, Wild King¡¯s morale had hit rock bottom. No matter how elite the Divine Elephant Cavalry was, there was little they could do in an ambush and without support. This wasn¡¯t without mentioning that we had countless Famous Generals and Divine Generals, and nearly ten Ancient Divine Skill owners in total. Every once in a while, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust would carve a hole in the Divine Elephant Cavalry¡¯s formation with their Tiger Wing Slash and Dog God Slash, and I myself had used Xuanyuan Slash once. The enemy¡¯s two S Rank Ancient Divine Skill owners had been killed by Lin Yixin and Li Chengfeng respectively as well. Long story short, we had utterly crushed Wild King¡¯s confidence, and Nation Guardian had lost their will to fight completely. It was a massacre. "Ah, screw it. The heart is there, but the strength is not!" Wild King muttered as he sat dejectedly on a bush and watched his players¡¯ corpses. He no longer even had the will to resist. Chapter 1219 A system announcement pinged as Gui Guzi pierced Wild King¡¯s throat and stole 10% of his contribution points. The guild leader¡¯s death also signaled Nation Guardian¡¯s complete defeat in the battle of Hot Sand Forest. It was but the natural outcome. Nation Guardian didn¡¯t hold any advantage, be it quality or quantity. Nearly 4 million players were scattered throughout the map, and they were all the elites of the China server. Nation Guardian didn¡¯t even get the benefit of timely and continuous reinforcements, which we did. They never stood a chance. Thud! Another Temple Guard died as their spear spiraled across the air before thudding against the ground, blood slowly sliding down its blade and becoming one with the soil. It took less than 4 hours to annihilate Nation Guardian completely! ¡­¡­ While looting the equipment on the ground, He Yi said in the guild channel, "Don¡¯t grow lax just because we beat one Nation Guardian. I received word from reliable sources that ten guilds centered around Flames of War, the third strongest guild on the Guild Ranking of Cyan Earth City are marching our way right now. They number over 5 million players, which is almost as big as our army. This one will be a hard fight for sure!" I was currently sitting on a banyan tree branch and leaning against the trunk with my hands placed at the back of my head. Sitting in front of me was a beautiful girl with long, pale legs wearing a suit of exquisite armor and wielding a glazy sword. Currently, she was swinging her legs idly and humming a song I didn¡¯t recognize like a lazy cat. "You are a guild leader, you know. Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re being a bit too lazy?" I shot Lin Yixin a look. She narrowed her eyes and scoffed out loud. "Says the Little Heavenly King who left the battlefield and climbed up here to hide from the hot weather. I don¡¯t even know what to say anymore." I shrugged. "Well, this battle is already won. I don¡¯t want to compete against my fellow compatriots for contribution points when I already have so much. They¡¯ll scorn me for my greed." "You heard Sister Eve, don¡¯t let your guard down. God of War has gone to deal with Earth Tiger City and Greedy Wolf City¡¯s combined army, while Flames of War¡¯s Ironscale is coming to reinforce Hot Sand City with 5 million troops. The scale alone makes our battle with Nation Guardian look like a warm up. I also received word from my scouts that around 100 Cyan Earth City guilds had met up with Flames of War¡¯s army in the middle of their march, so it¡¯s not impossible that their total troop count may exceed 10 million, or almost 20% of India¡¯s playerbase. You¡¯d better watch out¡­" "Ten million, huh?" I clenched Chill of the Nine Provinces¡¯ grip and chuckled. "That¡¯s perfect. Ten million is just big enough an army to make it an interesting challenge. Plus, we have a secure line of reinforcements this time, so we can rally ten million players in under an hour if necessary. Once we¡¯ve taken out their ten-million-strong army, Cyan Earth City won''t be able to do shit anymore!" Lin Yixin giggled. "Fine, you may have a point. Cyan Earth City wouldn¡¯t dare to send more than 50% of their main forces to reinforce Hot Sand City unless they want to risk losing their own main city to the three border cities. So far, Hot and Sour Noodles and your strategy is working wonderfully in our favor." I shrugged again. "Don¡¯t praise me. Most of the effort was Uncle Zhang Chun¡¯s. The only one I really contacted was Who Will Fight Me of Chaotic 27." "Huh? Why are you so humble today?" Lin Yixin asked while cocking her head. I sucked in a deep breath. "A man must be as receptive as an echoing canyon¡­" "Pooh! Like hell you are!" "..." It was at this moment He Yi passed by our tree with a retinue of Dragonlight Cavalry. When she looked up and saw us, she burst into an uncontrollable giggle before chiding, "What are you two doing up there? Come down so I can speak with you!" I obeyed and flipped down the 5-meter-tall tree gracefully. Lin Yixin also did the same thing. The glimpse of her long, full legs nearly caused the Dragonlight Cavalry to salivate there and then. "What¡¯s wrong, Eve?" I asked her. He Yi replied while curling her lips, "I just want you two to be more serious since there¡¯s still a long way to go. Also, you both heard that Flames of War¡¯s Ironscale has rallied an army of almost ten million, right? They¡¯re riding full speed toward us from Soaring Flame Desert right now, and they¡¯re expected to reach Hot Sand Forest in two hours. That¡¯s why I came here to discuss strategy with you. Do you want to wait until they arrive, or do you want to take the fight to them?" I fell silent for a moment before inquiring Yiyi, "What is your opinion, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin replied while gazing into the distance, "I don¡¯t see why we can¡¯t wait until they arrive, but we can¡¯t let them reach us undisturbed. I suggest that we send out a strike force to harass them, preferably one strong enough to cut a couple of holes in their formation. That will demoralize them enough that they can¡¯t help but be slaughtered when they finally reach Hot Sand Forest!" I nodded agreeably. "Mn, Yiyi¡¯s idea is an excellent one!" He Yi asked, "How should we go about this exactly?" I thought for a moment before replying, "Okay, we¡¯ll do it this way. Eighth-promotion players could command a max party of 1000 players, 2000 for Famous Generals, and 4000 for Divine Generals. Therefore, Little Gui, Eve, Yiyi and my four Divine Generals will command a party of 4000 each¡ªthat¡¯s 16k cavalrymen in total¡ªpass through Dragonbone Mountain Range and intercept Flames of War. With our Divine General Skills and Famous General Skills, there is absolutely no reason we cannot punch through their formation and give them a taste of terror, especially since Gui Guzi has Shennong Tastes Grass, and I, the Xuanyuan Art. Their chances of annihilating our strike force are next to nil. ¡°Also, I heard that Breeze and Rain has just logged out of the game to use the toilet, eat, sleep and so on, you know the drill. He has been online for an ungodly amount of time after all. There won¡¯t be a better time to take out his allies. What do you all think?" He Yi and Lin Yixin looked pleased at the plan. "Very well, we¡¯ll do as you say. Let¡¯s begin immediately, shall we?" "Alright!" We began mustering our troops. Xu Yang and Du Thirteen were left behind to command the defense. He Yi, Gui Guzi and I formed a 4000-man party of Dragonlight Cavalry each. Chaos Moon, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust were in my party, Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits were in Gui Guzi¡¯s party, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was in He Yi¡¯s party. Although we were only 12k strong, every single one of us was an elite of elites. Obviously, Lin Yixin brought 4000 Kui Dragon Cavalrymen with her. Their stats were inferior to the Dragonlight Cavalry, but it wasn¡¯t such a big difference that it was questionable, especially since Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell buffed everyone¡¯s stats by 80%. Long story short, our cavalries were more or less equal in strength. ¡­¡­ A tremor coursed through the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range as we passed through it. Soon, we were riding on the domain of Cyan Earth City. Less than half an hour later, a sea of red names appeared on the horizon. They were none other than the Cyan Earth City army marching to reinforce Hot Sand City. We couldn¡¯t see Flames of War from where we were, but that was only natural. The enemy was ten million strong after all. Although players didn¡¯t have to space themselves as much as the real armies in ancient times, ten million was still a ridiculous number. The entire army stretched almost twenty kilometers long, and to find a single guild among all these players was harder than this mission. That was why I considered but ultimately gave up the idea of swooping down from above and assassinating Ironscale. "What do we do? I don¡¯t see Flames of War anywhere," asked Gui Guzi. I gazed at the distant army and said, "The troops we¡¯re seeing are their vanguard, and most of these players belong to the 12th strongest Indian guild. It¡¯s unfortunate that we can¡¯t hit Flames of War right away, but the plan stays the same. We¡¯ll hit them from the sides and carve a path through their whole army. This is guerilla warfare, we are only meant to harass, so don¡¯t try to linger. Gui Guzi and I will act as the points, and Eve and Yiyi the secondary points right behind us. Everyone else should all stay as compact as possible so they don¡¯t get dragged away during the charge. Players at the periphery should immediately move to the center if their HP falls below 40%. Finally, try and stay within range of me and Little Gui so we can heal you with our skills!" Everyone nodded their heads in unison. Both Gui Guzi and my skill had an effective radius of 1000 yards, or a surface area of 1 million times 3.1415923846. It meant that theoretically speaking, we could heal over 3 million players at once. Of course, that wasn¡¯t going to happen especially since we would be on the move. We would be lucky to heal even 100k players. ¡­¡­ "Kill!" Gui Guzi and I led the way as the Dragonlight and Kui Dragon Cavalrymen punched through the enemy¡¯s sides before they could react. Because the enemy wasn¡¯t part of the main force, we chose not to use our Divine General Skills or our Ancient Divine Skills to conserve our Divine Energy Points. We barely met any resistance. Less than five minutes later, the Dragonlight Cavalry had emerged on the other side of the enemy¡¯s formation, leaving behind a trail of tens of thousands of corpses. Whoosh! A group of Dragonlight Cavalry raised their shields to protect themselves when they saw a spear beam flying their way. The attacker was a youngster with an AoE skill, but since the Dragonlight Cavalry he was attacking belonged to Gui Guzi¡¯s party, he only managed to deal a couple thousand damage to each person. A 225% boost to both Attack and Defense was no joke after all. The youngster exclaimed in shock, "What the hell is this Defense! All archers, use Shock Arrows to stun them! Mages, melt them down with your magic!" I hurriedly turned around and ordered, "Turn around and punch through their formation once more!" The Dragonlight Cavalry at the front immediately turned around to rescue their stunned or Trapping Net¡¯d teammates. The only way to teach the enemy a lesson was through overwhelming power! The enemy reacted to the youngster¡¯s command quickly. An entire row of mages showed up and started blasting away with Touches of the Dragonkiss and Galaxy Storms. Less than half a minute later, nearly 10000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen had dropped to low health. They did their best to cut down the mages blasting away at their faces, but it wouldn¡¯t be enough unless we helped them. "Little Gui!" I shouted, "Time to heal!" Gui Guzi galloped all the way to the center of the pinned group before activating Heavenly River Transformation all of a sudden. The next moment, a pair of bloody wings spread behind his back, and Shennong Tastes Grass enveloped every ally within 1000 yards of him. The green 300k+ healing number rising above everyone¡¯s head made the Cyan Earth City players feel like killing themselves. Chapter 1220 Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Greens were everywhere, and the healing numbers were obscene. Shennong Tastes Grass was the only recovery skill among the SS Rank Ancient Divine Skills, and it more than deserved its rank. In one move, Gui Guzi had restored over 3 billion HP across the board. It was an amount that could put every priest in the world to shame. There wasn¡¯t a single priest in the entire world who could boast this level of recovery, and the skill belonged to Gui Guzi and Gui Guzi alone. Truly, the charm of the milk knight was undeniable... I fought at the forefront while riding on the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back. Since the enemy had no peak experts, and noobs were incredibly bad at dealing with attacks from the air, I saw no reason to activate Fusion Armor. Hovering about 45 meters above the enemy, I rained down Burning Blade Slashes, Myriad Swords Obliterations and Summon the Storms, making myself the best damage dealer on the battlefield. A short distance away, Lin Yixin was also riding her mount and throwing Ice Flame Slash and Ultimate Strength Breaks at her enemy. Occasionally, she would point her left palm at a group of enemies and hit them with Ice Storm, turning everyone within the skill¡¯s range into dead bodies. At first, many Indian players thought themselves lucky to be able to meet a cute and beautiful warrioress like Lin Yixin. However, they quickly regretted their impression when the fifth CGL Hall of Famer of China and goddess of moe unleashed her wrath upon them. ¡­¡­ The second time we punched through the enemy¡¯s formation, I checked out my Divine Energy Points and noted that they were almost full. I hadn¡¯t realized how quickly the meter was rising until just now. At this point, I had realized that the average magic knights couldn¡¯t even survive a simple Myriad Swords Obliteration + Thousand Ice Slash combo. That was just how powerful the Chill of the Nine Provinces was. The average Level 200+ magic knights only had 500k HP at most, and my new weapon could inflict over 200k damage to them in one basic attack. Heaven knows how many people had died to it. After we emerged on the other side, I turned around again and swung my sword at a 45 degree angle. "Alright, change of tactics! We¡¯re going to charge in a Z-line this time and inflict as much damage to the enemy as possible!" Li Chengfeng grinned. "Hoho, is this the legendary helix maneuver?" "More or less. Let¡¯s go!" "Haha!" The enemy tried, they really did, but it was futile. Our blades and iron hooves easily scattered the Cyan Earth City¡¯s players¡¯ shield formations like sand and crushed their courage into pieces. ¡­¡­ About half an hour later, the players we fought suddenly grew a caliber or two. Their guild symbol on their arm glowed a faint red color. "That¡¯s¡­ Flames of War! Finally!" Gui Guzi exclaimed in excitement. I nodded. "Yes. Be careful though, Flames of War is nothing like the weak players we toyed with earlier. Now, charge!" "Yessir!" The scattering enemies before us parted to reveal an orderly troop of shielders. Almost all of them were above Level 200, and behind them were rows and rows of Lightning Archers. This was the legendary archer unit that gave us a ton of trouble a long time ago, and their advantage over foot soldiers couldn¡¯t be understated. Chiang! I raised my Chill of the Nine Provinces high and declared, "The critical moment has come, brothers and sisters! It is time to show them the strength of our ace cavalry! Do you want to die beneath their shield formation, or do you want to trample them into pancakes? Answer me!" Everyone raised their weapons in unison and shouted, "We want to kick their asses!" Lin Yixin asked me, "How are we going to do this though? It¡¯s clear they¡¯re planning to halt our initial charge with their shield formation while their Lightning Archers stun and damage us to hell and back. There¡¯s a high chance we may screw up big if we don¡¯t do this carefully, Little Cheat!" I nodded solemnly. "I know! When we get close, I will use Xuanyuan Slash to carve open a path. Yiyi, Eve, I want you two to use your Ancient Divine General Skills and attack their shield formation as well. We will crush their defense from three different directions and weaken them enough that the Dragonlight Cavalry can get through. Dragonlight Cavalry, if one of your brothers is stunned by the enemy, ignore them. Just focus on your charge and kill as many Lightning Archers as possible. That is the best way to save your brother, understand? Players who are already eighth-promotion should use Ultimate Strength Break and fuck them all up!" He Yi and Lin Yixin nodded in unison. "Understood!" Everyone else started speeding up and swinging their blades. "Fuck them all up!" ¡­¡­ Faster than anyone else, I shot toward Flames of War¡¯s formation like an arrow. As expected, I saw Ironscale standing behind his army and cackling loudly, "Get ready to Far Shot your Shock Arrows! These Chinese think that they can stop us with just 10000 elite cavalrymen? Pooh! Show them your strength, Lightning Archers!" Ironscale¡¯s cackle caused a smile to spread across my lips. It was true that the Lightning Archers were god-tier at pinning down enemy units, but the cavalrymen behind me were equally good at tearing down the obstacles standing in their way, no matter the odds. That was without mentioning the countless Famous Generals, Divine Generals and 4 Ancient Divine Skill owners including myself. Finally, Ironscale overestimated himself and brought only 30k cavalrymen and 50k Lightning Archers to stop us. We were going to make him eat a boot or two by the time we were done with him. Buzz! The Chill of the Nine Provinces buzzed ominously as shining energy gathered around its blade. The moment I activated Heavenly River Transformation, a seemingly unlimited amount of divine power surging into the weapon and transforming it into a giant blade of gold. I brought it down in one mighty swing. Xuanyuan Slash! BOOM! Countless cavalrymen and Lightning Archers were shredded to pieces. The frontliners couldn¡¯t believe they were one-shot, and the Lightning Archers couldn¡¯t believe that I could reach them from where I was. Practically every player¡ªtanky or fragile¡ªsuffered a million damage or so. In face of such might, no Defense mattered. Bloodcurdling screams filled the air. The one strike had split the shield formation in half and killed many of the Lightning Archers behind them! Not done yet, I flew straight to the center of the enemy¡¯s formation and fired Burning Blade Slash to my left, and Thousand Ice Slash to my right. Then, I fired my AoE ranged skills, Myriad Swords Obliteration and Summon the Storm and made my Phantom Wolf King and apparition go to town with the enemy. In just the blink of an eye, the enemy¡¯s shield formation looked like they might crumble at any moment. Not far behind me, Lin Yixin and He Yi activated their Ancient Divine Skills and struck the enemy at nearly the same time. White wings spread behind their backs, and sword shadows appeared beneath their feet to turn all their attacks and skills unblockable and empowered. They easily cut down the shielders blocking their way with Ice Flame Slash and Purgatory of Ice and Magma and slaughtered their way into the archers as well. The Dragonlight and Kui Dragon Cavalrymen didn¡¯t let the opportunity slip by. Despite the rain of lightning arrows falling upon their heads, they bravely charged through the enemy lines and executed their Ultimate Strength Breaks at the Lightning Archers. Both Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya had brought their best cavalrymen to this battlefield, and there were at least one thousand eighth-promotion players within our ranks. Therefore, Ultimate Strength Break wasn¡¯t a rare skill among our players. There was nothing the so-called ace units of Flames of War could do as our troops rained hell upon them and dealt at least 300k damage thanks to the Strength difference. It was a slaughter. ¡­¡­ "What?!" Ironscale shuddered and froze like a statue. He couldn¡¯t believe how quickly his players were losing. The Dragonlight Cavalry had shredded the five-layer thick defense line he had ordered like paper, but the real problem was the sheer number of eighth-promotion players among them. Every time a Dragonlight Cavalryman executed Ultimate Strength Break, dozens of Lightning Archers would drop to their knees and die. A couple of them executing the skill at the same time? Well, it was like being struck by several hurricanes at once. Thud thud thud! That wasn¡¯t to say they weren¡¯t putting up a good fight. Countless Lightning Archers Leaped away to safety while firing the Lightning Arrows at us. Mages were also coming from all sides, firing their Touches of the Dragonkiss and deleting much of our players¡¯ HP. Gui Guzi shouted, "It¡¯s your turn, Boss Broken Halberd!" "Okay!" I hovered at the center of my players, held up my weapon with the front facing toward the sky and cried, "Xuanyuan Art!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Columns of healing lights surrounded all Chinese players within 1000 yards of me and restored their HP by 50%, instantly turning from dying cavalrymen to ferocious warriors once more. If Gui Guzi was a king-sized milk knight, then I supposed I was a full-sized one. ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, the storm of Touches of the Dragonkiss raining down on our players was too great, especially the spells from eighth-promotion players. They usually cast God Devil Break in tandem with a single-target skill too. Although the enemy didn¡¯t have many eighth-promotion players, the fact that they existed was a threat to our players. Eventually, Dragonlight and Kui Dragon Cavalrymen started dropping here and there. My party of 4000 had already dwindled to a bit over 3700. Our losses would only grow if we kept this up. "Let¡¯s get away for now so we can use our recovery skills! Protect those who are stunned and use Trapping Net to immobilize the enemy archers! Go go go!" I made a sharp turn and fired off another combo to cover my players¡¯ retreat. At the distance, I saw Ironscale hiding behind his players again with an ashen expression on his face. He yelled, "Retreat! Retreat! We¡¯ll hit back after our main force and cavalrymen are all here! These Chinese motherfuckers won¡¯t get away with this!" ¡­¡­ After everyone had restored themselves to full health using War God Recovery, we charged toward the enemy a third time. In total, we battled for over an hour until our blades were almost completely covered in blood. A quick check at the interface revealed that our total kill count had reached 1.04 million or so, an insane number considering our numbers. On average, each one of us had killed a hundred enemies without dying. Whoosh! The Indian players spread out, and once again Flames of War stepped to face us. Their army formation this time was no joke, however. I counted at least 20 lines of shielders and at least 200 thousand Lightning Archers behind them. To borrow a colloquial term, Flames of War had taken out their marriage money to fight us! Behind them, Ironscale said with a sneer, "Come on! I dare you to charge us one more time!" ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes shouted with bloodshot eyes, "Aiyo, that cocky motherfucker! Let¡¯s go!" However, I shot him down with a glare. "No! There¡¯s zero reason for us to charge head-first into a pitfall! We¡¯ve killed more than enough people, so it¡¯s time to retreat to Hot Sand Forest and meet up with our main force!" Gui Guzi was neck-deep in bloodlust, but he would always listen to my orders. He relented and said, "Fine, we¡¯ll continue our killing there¡­" Chapter 1221 We returned to Hot Sand Forest. It looked a bit blurry from a distance due to the rising heat waves around the area. Of the 12000 who had set out, 8700 survived. It was a resounding achievement, but it didn¡¯t count as "the weak triumphing over the strong" as a matter of course. Compared to Flames of War, our troop of elite cavalrymen, Famous Generals and Divine Generals were like gods to mortals. A small yellow flower became trampled as I, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and more returned to the forest. Some distance away, Lu Buyi cried to his group of 5-Stamina magic knights, "Open up a way for our guild leader and friends!" After we passed through the shield formation, I leaped down from my dragon¡¯s back and waited for a beautiful woman wearing a dagger to walk up to me. She was Cute Little Naughty of course. It had been a while since we met each other face-to-face, but I could still see from her full set of S2 leather armor equipment that she hadn¡¯t been slacking off one bit. "Is everything ready, Little Naughty?" I asked. "Mn." She nodded with emphasis. "I¡¯ve deployed all 194 eighth-promotion assassins in the eighth subguild. You see this area in front of us? We¡¯ve mined every inch of it. Just give us the order, and we will trigger the explosion traps. I promise you that the chain reaction will be very impressive." I smiled. "Very good! Wait for my order then!" "Okay!" "Buyi, you may activate Purple Dragon and buff our 5-Stamina knights now. Flames of War are sending their best cavalrymen, but you must halt their first charge no matter what. Once we¡¯ve taken them out, their morale will hit rock bottom and give us the chance to annihilate them with little effort." "Got it boss!" ¡­¡­ Everything was ready. The only thing missing was the Cyan Earth City¡¯s army now. For less than 20 minutes, we held our breaths and lay quietly within our bushes. Then, the ground started trembling, and a seemingly endless tide of cavalrymen appeared from the horizon. They were all wearing black armor and riding ice mounts, and they were called the Ice Wind Cavalry. The Ice Wind Warhorse was a type of Level 170 Spirit Rank Boss mount, but there were only 50k of them or so. If the Lightning Archers were the unstoppable spear, then the Ice Wind Cavalry was the immovable shield of Flames of War. It was thanks to them the Lightning Archers were able to fire at their enemies with impunity. "Here they come!" exclaimed Lin Yixin while dashing behind a bunch of tree leaves. Her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword shook a little in her grip. I shot her a reassuring smile and said, "Calm down, Yiyi. Victory is ours no matter how this plays out. The key here is to delete all ten million troops with minimal losses. Do you hear me, everyone? Frontliners, please maintain formation and avoid running out on your own. Those who drop below 80% HP should fall back and let our support players heal them and refresh their buffs." "Yessir." However, Gui Guzi waved his Spear of the Knight God nervously and asked me, "The Ice Wind Cavalry is less than 500 yards away from us, Boss Broken Halberd. Are you sure we don¡¯t want to launch a charge of our own and meet them at the center? Dragonlight Cavalry or not, a passive defense is going to be disadvantageous toward us." "Yes, we¡¯re just going to wait for them to hit us. Unlike the previous times, the plan is to destroy them with the explosive traps Cute Little Naughty¡¯s assassins laid down. Just grab your popcorn and enjoy the show!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ As the Ice Wind Cavalry galloped toward us, I could see that their expressions were etched with fury and hatred. It was understandable. Not even a saint would be able to keep their composure after our strike force of 12000 took out around one million of their players. The players of Flames of War couldn¡¯t wait to bash our faces in now that they finally got the chance to engage us in what seemed to be a "fair" fight. A Level 214 magic knight raised his broadblade and shouted, "The cowards are hiding in the forest, brothers and sisters! Our Lightning Archers are right behind us, and our chances of losing with ranged support are exactly zero, so trample them all and don¡¯t hesitate!!" The Ice Wind Cavalry responded by screaming their lungs off. They certainly seemed excited alright. Cute Little Naughty looked at me, "Now, vice leader big bro?" "Not yet¡­" "Okay." I continued waiting for the closest riders to gallop toward us. Four seconds later, I ordered in a hushed voice, "Now, Little Naughty!!" "Okay!" Before I had set out with the strike force, I had specifically warned Cute Little Naughty to use active trigger traps. This meant that the trap would only explode when the trapper triggered it, and only when the trapper was within 100 yards of the trap. There was a moment of silence, then the scenery in front of us was abruptly engulfed by an inferno. The chain reaction was so terrible that it felt like explosions would never end. Smoke, fire and broken limbs scattered all over the place. No matter how powerful the Ice Wind Cavalry might be, there was no chance they could¡¯ve survived the concentrated explosions. The ones at the back tried to weave around the blast zones, but all they managed to achieve was getting in the way of their comrades and getting trampled as a result. It was a pitiful sight. "Dammit, they lured us into a minefield! How do they have this many eighth-promotion assassins with the Trap skill!?" The captain of the Ice Wind Cavalry, a Level 214 magic knight hurriedly swung his blade while shouting, "Calm down! These traps may be damaging, but can they kill all ten million of our army with it? No! So charge! Break through their shield formation!" Chiang chiang chiang! They slammed into our wall of frontliners and executed their combos. However, every player on the frontline was buffed by Lu Buyi¡¯s Purple Dragon, an insane stratagem that boosted all stats by 100%. They were also buffed by our bards. Even the weakest of them had a max HP above 700k, so there was no chance these cavalrymen could punch through. "Loose!" At the back, Beiming Xue gave the attack order and triggered tens of thousands of Dragonlight Archers to release their bowstrings at the same time. Flowers of red bloomed across the entire battle line as the arrows pierced through steel, flesh and bone. The Dragonlight Archers themselves possessed an incredible amount of Attack and armor penetration, not to mention that Beiming Xue¡¯s Bow God buffed their Attack by another 150%. As a result, many metal-armor players weren¡¯t able to survive the assault. Buzz! Suddenly, Beiming Xue raised her bow and activated Heavenly River Transformation. The energy of a domain surged around her person, and the image of the ancient god, Houyi[1], appeared behind her back. A rain of arrows flew into the air¡ªthis was shot completely by Beiming Xue herself¡ªand they exploded on the ground like meteors. At the end of the attack, the ground was marred by deep holes and scars, and all the Ice Wind Cavalrymen who were struck by it took an insane amount of damage¡ª 598727! 712626! 660928! ¡­¡­ "Holy shit, Beiming Xue¡¯s Attack is crazy¡­" Gui Guzi blurted in shock. Li Chengfeng commented mercilessly. "Duh! What do you think Ancient Divine Skills are? Not everyone¡¯s a milk knight with all the milk in the world, but zero penetration power like you¡­" Gui Guzi: "..." Lian Xin waved her scepter with a giggle. "Mages, Far Shot your spells to assist our frontline!" The next moment, several hundred God Devil Breaks erupted across entire lines of Ice Wind Cavalry. On average, the Intelligence gap between our mages and the enemy cavalrymen was almost 7000. To say that they dealt insane amounts of damage would be understating it. Entire groups of Ice Wind Cavalry dropped like flies, and even the lowest damage done was at least 200k. Right now, they were without a doubt our guild¡¯s greatest firepower! Thanks to unique grinding maps, a territory like Dark Moon City, and stat-buffing structures like the War Holy Temple and King of Cities, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ mages were now the highest-leveled mages in the entire world. We had around a thousand eighth-promotion mages or so, so that was a thousand God Devil Breaks every time their cooldowns were up. Given enough MP, they could inflict massive trauma upon any class. Trust me, I knew. During one of my skill tests, I allowed a hundred mages or so to bombard me with God Devil Breaks, and I was just barely able to survive a single volley. Everyone else could only do worse. Starting now, every cavalryman who wished to conquer their enemies must equip themselves with Immortal, Sacred and Divine Armaments and increase their Intelligence stat. In fact, many players at Sky City had already begun purchasing Outstanding Immortal-grade equipment that boosted Strength, Stamina and Intelligence. A long time ago, Strength-type players would¡¯ve gone for equipment that boosted their Strength, Stamina and Agility. Now though, they had to shift their builds a little in order to survive eighth-promotion mages. ¡­¡­ The entire Chinese battle line stretched about ten kilometers long. It was a combination of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips and 40 other guilds. Around 3 million Cyan Earth City players had engaged our players, and more still were pouring in from outside the canyon. Army size¨Cwise, both sides were about even in strength. Of the 3 million, 2 million or so would be engaging our forces in a do-or-die melee in the vast forest! While we had exhausted our repertoire of tactics, the fact that we were the defender and the enemy the attacker gave us a certain level of advantage. For starters, we were able to face off against our opponents in a half-arc formation. It allowed us to maximize and concentrate our firepower. Also, an hour after the battle began, our siege weapons arrived at our rear. Once the White Marsh Catapults, ballistae and more were set up, they unleashed hell upon the enemies and caused even greater devastation. Boom! I fired Thousand Ice Slash against a group of enemies as I roamed the frontline. I was able to create a 100-yard zone where no one was able to invade no matter what they tried. And try they did. Someone had dispatched a cunning archer with an S Rank Ancient Divine Skill, and he had proven to be quite the cunning fellow. After he got close enough, he abruptly dropped to his knees, gathered demonic energy around his bowstring and shouted, "Wild Ghost Devour!" Buzz! A gigantic arrow brimming with the power of the Ghost God flew toward me. The archer was too close, and the skill¡¯s radius too wide for me to dodge. There was no point activating my Invincibility skill either since Ancient Divine Skills pierced invincibility. Instinctively, I buffed myself with a Fire War God card and increased my HP by 80%. Then, I charged straight toward the archer. BOOM! Wild Ghost Devour rocked my body and greedily devoured my flesh. That one hit had dealt over 500k damage! Incredible! The bad news was that the dozens of Dragonlight Cavalrymen, priests and mages around me were one-shot, their equipment and potions scattered across the floor. The good news was that I was still alive to take revenge for them! "Dammit!" The archer backed away the moment he saw that I had survived. Unfortunately for him, it was too late! I raised my arm. I didn¡¯t use Xuanyuan Slash yet because a skilled enough player could dodge it with Leap. Instead, I activated Chill of the Nine Provinces¡¯ ancient property, Cold of the Nine Provinces! The area within 100 yards of me was encased in ice. Naturally, so was the archer still within that range. I spurred my Ancient Divine Dragon to an opportune position and activated Heavenly River Transformation. Only then did I use Xuanyuan Slash. The skill blasted the archer and several hundred Cyan Earth City players into smithereens, and crushed all nearby and distant enemies¡¯ morale as well. Simply put, no ordinary player could survive an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill. 1. E/N: Some of you might be wondering why Houyi, the god of archery, suddenly appeared. Well it¡¯s because the author called him ¡°the Descendant¡± twice. Houyi did descend onto the mortal plane in the mythology so I let that slip, but with this mention I rioted! Turns out author wrote ºóÒá, which is¡­ houyi, translation: descendant, but not the name Houyi (ºóôà)! Therefore, I¡¯m going back to 1213 and 1215 and changing the skill name to ¡°Houyi¡¯s Wrath¡±. Chapter 1222 Currents of air surrounded my person. It was as if an infinite wall had caught the arrows flying toward me before I made them clatter uselessly to the ground with a hand wave. I swung the Chill of the Nine Provinces and executed Burning Blade Slash. Thanks to my domain increasing the skill¡¯s range by leaps and bounds, I was able to annihilate entire swathes of terrified Ice Wind Cavalrymen with ease. I spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon deeper into the enemy line and attacked some more. The sword auras split the earth in half, scattered grass, and spilled blood everywhere. The massive boost in resistance, attack range and splash brought by the Domain of the Heavenly River Transformation almost felt like a drug. It was a shame it cost 10 Divine Energy Points to maintain this transformation for just a minute, or I could literally solo a million-strong army! ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang! Dull-sounding explosions shook my body a little. A couple of smart eighth-promotion mages were hiding behind their cavalrymen and attacking me with God Devil Break non-stop. Even with over a million HP, I had dropped to less than 25% HP in the blink of an eye. I turned and flew back to my people in a hurry, but thin sheens of ice were growing atop my dragon¡¯s back. The mages¡¯ Ice Arrow Spell was useful at any stage of the game. "Over here, Lu Chen!" Murong Mingyue shouted from a distance. I sped toward her with a smile. "Feed me, sis!" Murong Mingyue winked seductively at me before replying, "If not you, then who?" Me: "..." Li Chengfeng and the others immediately broke out in laughter. After unleashing Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance, High Fighting Spirits looked at me and complained, "Hey Lu Chen, do you mind if I ask you an honest question? Is there really nothing between you and Mingyue? Because it feels like you¡¯ve been sleeping with each other. If that¡¯s true then fuck you, how dare you tarnish the goddess of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡­" I stared at him. "Are you kidding me right now? Of course not! Also, stop using Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance so frequently and stick to normal skills! Do you think Divine Energy Points grow on trees or something?! Save up at least 100 Divine Energy Points so you can fire 5 Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance every 10 minutes! That¡¯s the right way you use this!" High Fighting Spirits nodded. "Hmm. Got it boss!" It was at this moment Li Chengfeng held out a golden ring and asked, "By the way, this is a Heaven-grade ring I got from an Ice Wind Cavalryman I killed ten minutes ago. It increases the upper limit of Divine Energy Points by 20, so I¡¯m 100% certain every one of you Divine Generals and Ancient Divine Skill owners would love to get your hands on it. I can sell it for the cheap price of 100k gold. So, anyone? Come now, don¡¯t be shy¡­" Chaos Moon chided him with a chuckle, "You profiteer! We¡¯re in the middle of a battle, and you¡¯re trying to sell us stuff?" Li Chengfeng shrugged. "What can you do? I¡¯ve worked in the Public Security Department for 4 years, and I¡¯ve never made any unclean money. My monthly salary is around 8000, and I¡¯ve waived all oversight expenses and other allowances. How much do you think I can afford with my income? Right now the house price at 6th Ring Road is priced at 40k RMB per square meter, you know? How can I afford one If I don¡¯t earn my RMB from Heavenblessed? ¡°Also, you of all people don¡¯t have the right to criticize me, Chaos Moon! You think I didn¡¯t see you smashing a guild leader¡¯s face in and stealing over 70k gold with your Greedy Wolf Howl? You, a big money-maker who earned 70k RMB in a second dares to call me a profiteer? Have some shame, girl..." Chaos Moon actually blushed at the vehement protest. She tried to defend herself in an embarrassed tone, "I-I mean, I¡¯m a girl who¡¯s living independently, so of course I have to make some cash. A-also, I¡¯m trying to save money for my dowry! What if I marry a useless idiot in the future? I¡¯ll have to be the woman of the house!" Xu Yang cackled. "But I thought you wanted to marry Lu Chen? He¡¯s a big money-maker himself, so he wouldn¡¯t care if you are poor or not. Or have you resigned yourself to marrying a poor but attractive pretty boy with good stamina in bed already? What disappointing loyalty¡­" I interjected expressionlessly, "It¡¯s fine to marry someone you like. Also, Chaos Moon and loyalty? I didn¡¯t know you¡¯re such a joker, Xu Yang¡­" He Yi¡¯s giggle reached me from a somewhat far distance. "Greedy Wolf Howl is an incredible money-making skill, so don¡¯t hold back on our account, Chaos Moon! Plunder them all and become the richest beauty in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" Chaos Moon grew even more embarrassed. "Not you too, CEO He. I¡¯ll never catch up to you even if I give it my all. I would rather focus on collecting more dowry¡­" As she said this, she robbed¡ªI mean she fought even harder and instakilled a bunch of dudes with Rock Crush, Ultimate Strength Break and more killer moves to accumulate Divine Energy Points. Whenever she found a suitable player, she would hit them with Greedy Wolf Howl and steal gold equal to 10% of the damage received by the victim. She only targeted guild leaders or vice leaders because she knew that they would most likely carry tens, or even hundreds of thousands of gold on their person. There was one unlucky fellow who ate Greedy Wolf Howl and lost around 500k+ HP, but survived the Ancient Divine Skill. Two minutes later, Chaos Moon hit him with Greedy Wolf Howl again and even scored a critical hit, stealing around 130k gold this time. The poor guy must be thinking about deleting his account right now. Greedy Wolf Howl truly was a deadly Ancient Divine Skill that murdered not just the body, but also the soul. ¡­¡­ The battle lasted 7 hours. It was a true decisive battle where over 20 million players fought tooth and nail to annihilate the other side. Coincidentally, 7 million+ players were left at the end of the 7-hour long battle, and over 80% of them were Chinese. This victory absolutely belonged to the China server. Crack! Li Chengfeng knocked back Ironscale with a mighty swing of his blade, leaving the Flames of War guild leader with only a sliver of HP. Whoosh! At the same time, Chaos Moon activated Heavenly River Transformation and cried, "Back up, boy! My turn!" "God damn¡­" Li Chengfeng stood slack-jawed with surprise. Ironscale pulled out a dagger and parried a strike from Chaos Moon. He used the knockback force to push himself backward before attempting to Leap away to safety. Unfortunately, Chaos Moon¡¯s skill was among the best in our guild. She Charged perfectly toward the spot Ironscale was about to land, gathered the power of Greedy Wolf Howl around her blade, and stabbed him right through the chest. Just like that, the guild leader of the third strongest guild of Cyan Earth City ate a critical hit, let out a death groan and died! 840992! +42049 gold! ¡­¡­ I would be lying to myself if I said I wasn¡¯t envious. Poor Ironscale. It was bad enough that Chaos Moon had killed him, she even stole over 40k gold from him. This would rank as one of the Top 10 most shameful deaths for sure... Blood, equipment and consumables littered the entire battlefield. Of all the battle lines, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was the most indestructible, and our Famous Generals, Divine Generals and Ancient Divine Skill owners all put on an exemplary performance. They were the main reason our losses were suppressed to a minimum. Over 600000 players had entered the forest, fought at the frontlines for 7 hours and killed countless enemies, but over 450000 of us were still alive, and our main force was more or less intact. "Sweep the battlefield and be ready to receive the next wave!" He Yi¡¯s crisp voice resounded among our ranks. There had been no time to pick up any loot until now, so her order got everyone excited. Everyone started looking for the equipment they wanted in earnest. At the same time, we received news from the western front that France¡¯s Eternal Love City and Germany¡¯s Chariot City had dispatched a massive 9-million-strong army to rescue Hot Sand City. However, October Rain was able to catch them in a three-pronged attack and have Warsky ambush their rear. Thanks to the excellent strategy and terrain advantage, they were able to score a massive victory over the attacking force. Germany and France only had a total playerbase of less than 15 million, and their online player count was lower than most servers¡¯. As a result, they were more or less all out of troops and could no longer do anything in this war. According to the report, the western front was able to kill 5 million enemies before the remaining 4 million+ decided to return to their main cities. The French and the Germans weren¡¯t idiots after all, it was one thing to give one¡¯s all to save one¡¯s "ally", and another to do so much their own main cities were left vulnerable. Overall, thanks to the assistance from the Chaotic 27, Frostsword City, Iron Horse City and three main cities to our southeast, the China server was enjoying their smoothest Nation War ever since the system came online. After the initiative had fallen into our hands, it was almost as if our earlier decline had never happened. The western front was winning non-stop, and our eastern front had also slaughtered over ten million troops and dealt a severe blow to Cyan Earth City. In fact, they should start fearing the possibility of us launching an invasion against them after we were done with Hot Sand City. ¡­¡­ I returned to my spot on the banyan tree, crossed my legs and held a blade of green foxtail between my teeth. I said with a chuckle, "Aiyo, this Nation War is going about as perfect as it can. Tsk tsk, it¡¯s so nice to have the initiative for once! If the three southeast cities, Frostsword City and Iron Horse City would help us sooner, we never would have come within a hair¡¯s breadth to losing all our main cities." Also sitting at the same spot in front of me, Lin Yixin shook her long, pale legs while rolling her eyes at me. "That was then, this is now. Your battle at Dawn Valley had made our server world-famous, and your achievement at the WEL international elevated Sky City to become the King of Cities. It¡¯s only natural that even our ally, the Russia server, would wonder if our meteoric rise was too much and hold back their support. Later on, Vanished God City was flattened by the boss, Wind City was uprooted by the Northern Alliance, and Sky City was on the brink of annihilation. The Russians knew that once China was wiped out, the enemies would come for them next. That was why they finally sent some real forces to help us. ¡°As for this Nation War, well, just wait and see what happens after Hot Sand City falls to us. I bet you that the Russians are going to suddenly lose their motivation¡­" I grinned and moved closer to her. Then, I put a hand on her soft thighs and started caressing. "You¡¯re too smart, Yiyi. You won¡¯t be able to get married like this!" Lin Yixin looked down on my hand while saying, "Who do you think I am? If you think you can dump me after you savor the goods, I¡¯ll have something coming for you!" "Ahem¡­" Suddenly, He Yi let out a cough from beneath us before jumping up the branch. After she sat down beside me, she said, "We are in public, you know¡­" Lin Yixin turned red and pushed my hand away from her thigh. "It¡¯s all his fault, Sister He Yi¡­" He Yi smiled softly. "You tell me. We both know Lu Chen¡¯s a bastard." ¡­¡­ Each girl took up one side of my body, leaning against my torso like cats enjoying a nap under the sun. My mind turned blank for a second, and before I knew it I had my arms wrapped around both girls¡¯ shoulders already. I felt them shiver to my touch before saying, "H-how about we come to an agreement?" "What agreement?" they both asked. I clenched my teeth and forced myself to speak in a less-than-confident tone, "Little Gui once told me that love is a kind of giving. That the person I truly love is someone I feel like I can hang around, cry, and laugh until death. If he ever finds a girl who¡¯ll make him feel that way, he won¡¯t hesitate to marry her. So¡­ I want to stay together with Yiyi and Eve forever. I want to marry you both¡­ can I?" At this point, the shame became so much that I bowed my head and muttered, "I know, I know. Hit me all you want¡­" However, an answer I couldn¡¯t believe came from both my right and left. "Sure!" "Really?!" "Nope!" "Oh come on!" It was at this moment the banyan tree shook violently, and all three of us crashed unceremoniously into a bush. Still hugging the girls, I asked again, "Seriously, give me a real answer, please!" He Yi simply giggled without saying a word. Lin Yixin gazed into the distance and said, "That¡¯s not important right now. Someone is attacking us again, so we¡¯d better focus on that!" I looked up and saw that the horizon was covered in dust clouds and a sea of cavalry. Truly, there was no end to war! Chapter 1223 "Who is it this time?" He Yi turned around to look. The tide of players galloping toward us carried the emblem of Sunset City on their shoulder. There were two possibilities here. Either the Northern Alliance was so surprised by our attack that the English server failed to match the timing of their assault with the Indian server¡¯s, or they thought that we were so weak that we would barely be able to fend off Flames of War, and that this would be a clean-up operation. I believed that it was a mixture of both. The previous Nation War had been overwhelmingly in their favor that they believed us to be easy pickings. Barring a few exceptional people, no one imagined that the China server would join forces with the Chaotic 27, Frostsword City, Iron Horse City and the three southeast cities to launch a lightning-fast counterattack. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng gazed at the distance from atop his mount. "The system says that there are around 4 million of them, which is almost their entire playerbase. They truly are the good ¡®friends¡¯ of the Vietnamese, aren¡¯t they? I wonder how much they were paid to go this far?" I rose to my feet, patted away the dust on my butt, and walked up to the others with the girls. I joined them in their army-gazing and said, "Can someone tell me how many Ancient Divine Skills the English server has?" Chaos Moon did a quick check and exclaimed in surprise, "Just give me a¡ªwhat the fuck? When did they get an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill? They even have 1 SS Rank and 3 S Rank! That¡¯s 5 Ancient Divine Skill owners in one tiny Sunset City! No wonder they are acting so arrogant!" I brought up the database and refreshed the data. It was as she said, Sunset City was now the proud owner of 5 Ancient Divine Skills. That being said, only the SSS Rank and SS Rank skill were really a threat¡ª Odin Slash was an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill with high Attack and wide skill range. Its owner was Soul Slayer, a Level 215 Iron Knight, the leader of the second greatest guild of Sunset City, Blood Soul. Freya¡¯s Kiss was an SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill that increased all allies¡¯ max HP within 1000 yards by 60%, and massively improved health regeneration. Similar to Gui Guzi¡¯s Shennong the Grass, both skills had their own merits. The skill owner was a top-tier Heroic Bannerman named "Shabby Castle", the leader of the greatest guild of Sunset City, "God Breaker¡±. He was once praised as the equal of Vienna¡¯s Sorrow as well. ¡­¡­ "Chaos Moon is right. I would be arrogant too if I was in their place!" Xu Yang cackled. Gui Guzi hummed for a bit before asking, "Ancient Divine Skills are powerful and ignore Defense[1]. We¡¯re almost certainly going to lose a ton of brothers and sisters to Odin Slash if we try to fight them head-on. Any ideas, Boss Broken Halberd?" I smiled. "Heavens, Little Gui finally learned how to weigh the scales! You¡¯re correct. Odin Slash is an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, so it has to be incredibly powerful. Soul Slayer¡¯s Attack stat is between 75% to 85% of mine, so my guess is that his Odin Slash will deal between 700k to 800k damage per person. Here¡¯s the plan. Everyone who has a Roland Bloodknight Card should use it now. You should also prepare two sets of equipment¡ªone with high HP and another with high Defense¡ªand switch between the two accordingly. With enough HP, there¡¯s no reason you can¡¯t survive the enemy¡¯s SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill!" Lin Yixin chuckled. "I can help with this. Bombshell gives 80% HP, the Roland Bloodknight Card gives 40% HP, and a bard¡¯s buff should give around 50% HP, so that''s a 170% HP boost in total. Considering average eighth-promotion cavalryman has a base HP of 300k, it should be enough to tank one Odin Slash!" I nodded in agreement. "Yes. If you run into the enemy¡¯s Heavenly River Realm player, give us a signal so we can dispatch Beauty Lin¡¯s party to tank a hit. After that, those who are close and believe they¡¯re capable should attempt to kill off Soul Slayer as soon as possible. In fact¡­ we¡¯ll do this together. When the fucker shows his face, we¡¯ll both use our Ancient Divine Skills and wipe the floor with him!" "Okay¡­" "Alright. Get ready for battle, everyone!" ¡­¡­ Everyone unsheathed their weapons and performed whatever last-minute preparations they needed to perform. On a related note, it was nighttime inside the game. The bright moonlight was reflecting off our weapons and armor, and the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s mounts exhaled hot, scalding breaths from their nostrils. Everyone held their breaths and waited for the enemy to approach. Suddenly, Cute Little Naughty crouched a little and entered stealth mode. She said with a chuckle, "Big bro, I want to see if I can assassinate Soul Slayer outright!" "Okay. Be careful!" "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll bring as many assassins as possible and seek him out only after we activate our Traps. If we¡¯re lucky¡­" "That¡¯s a good plan. Go get ¡®em!" After the beautiful girl faded into the distance, I clenched my Chill of the Nine Provinces and smiled at everyone on the frontline. "Little Naughty left to assassinate Soul Slayer. We can¡¯t fall behind her now, can we brothers? After the explosive traps are triggered, we¡¯ll charge the enemy and challenge our Sunset City friends to a killing speed competition, shall we?" Everyone nodded in unison. "Yessir!" ¡­¡­ Beneath the moonlight, countless cavalrymen could be seen galloping down a slope and charging toward us. Riding at the forefront was none other than our primary target, the former second best player of Sunset City, Soul Slayer. I said former because history had been rewritten from the moment he obtained an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill. How he obtained the skill didn¡¯t matter. What mattered was that he owned it, so it automatically made him the real number one expert of Sunset City. Soul Slayer was swinging his huge, red blade and laughing like crazy. His eyes bulged visibly with bloodlust. The cavalrymen riding together with him were the ace cavalry of Blood Soul, the Scarlet Blade Cavalry. The mount had a fiery red spike on its head that could be used to attack the enemy¡¯s mount. This was the reason Blood Soul was able to do as well as they did in Sunset City. "Brothers, let me tell you a joke. Those arrogant country bumpkins from Cyan Earth City thought they could wipe out the elite forces of the China server with just ten million troops. As a result, almost all of them were killed in the forest right in front of you, hahaha! Now is the time for us Blood Soul to show off our might! We will trample the bodies of the country bumpkins and declare war upon the China server! Show them how a noble cavalry fights!" Eyes brimming with pride, Soul Slayer raised his sword high and shouted again, "Kill them all and crush everything! We are legends!" He had just finished his speech when the first Trap spell took effect. An explosion instantly engulfed a dozen or so Scarlet Blade Cavalrymen, deleting almost half of their HP and surprising them. Despite the growing chain of explosions, Soul Slayer narrowed his eyes and growled, "Do not panic, people! Those with low health, use War God Recovery to restore your HP! We cannot be deterred by a mere Trap field, can we?!" His people laughed in agreement. Fwoop! Suddenly, a gigantic hole appeared on the ground, and a dozen or so Scarlet Blade Cavalrymen fell right on top of a number of sharpened bamboos. They looked like skewered and barbecued scorpions from where we were. "Continue, for glory!" Soul Slayer continued shouting to maintain his players¡¯ morale. ¡­¡­ Finally, they were only a hundred meters away from us. Thud! There was a sudden red flash, and Soul Slayer abruptly froze in place. It was Cute Little Naughty scoring a 1.8-second stun on him! Her red cloak flapped in midair as she twisted her waist, circled around Soul Slayer and scored a great number of hits. Unfortunately she was alone, and Soul Slayer was anything but that. "Foolish!" The moment Soul Slayer was freed from the status condition, he immediately reined in his mount and parried a dagger strike. Then, he executed a Blazing Slash! Boom! 160777! Cute Little Naughty staggered backward with only 50% or so HP left. Worse still, several of Soul Slayer¡¯s subordinates were thrusting their Barrier Breaks at her. They were clearly disciplined and well-trained, so there was no chance she was going to assassinate Soul Slayer. I shouted at her, "Force stealth now, Naughty!" She obeyed and tossed out a fluorescent powder. A couple of seconds later, she just barely managed to escape to safety. Soul Slayer didn¡¯t want to interrupt the entire charge for one assassin, so he simply ignored her and continued charging with his Scarlet Blade Cavalry. ¡­¡­ "Far Shot, loose!" Beiming Xue ordered. The Dragonlight Cavalry unsheathed their weapons at the sound of the loosened arrows. Finally, He Yi ordered them to charge toward the Scarlet Blade cavalrymen. When two people meet, only one will emerge the victor. In this case, the one with the greater courage would most likely be victorious! "Save your Ancient Divine Skills for now! Act only after the enemy Ancient Divine Skill owner has acted!" Although I was spurring the Ancient Divine Dragon to fly behind the frontline and toward Soul Slayer, he didn¡¯t seem to have noticed me. There were way too many players, and I had made sure to hide my ridiculously shiny WEL MVP emblem with my cloak. "Die!" Soul Slayer let out a shout and kicked off his attack with an Odin Slash right from the get go. The sinister image of the great god Odin appeared above his head, and a humongous sword beam engulfed both me and nearly a hundred Chinese players behind me. It was scary to say the least! Boom! 649877! I shuddered like a leaf as an incredible damage number rose above my head. I could withstand this because I still had over 1.4 million HP, but the Dragonlight, Zephyr and Kui Dragon Cavalrymen who were caught in the attack couldn¡¯t claim the same thing. Many were injured or straight up killed by the sword beam. We had a plan, but the battle line was simply too long, and Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t pinpoint Odin¡¯s location at first notice. ¡­¡­ Standing alone amid a floor of corpses, I spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon toward Soul Slayer and used Cold of the Nine Provinces! Swhoosh! To my surprise, Soul Slayer was able to react immediately with an invincibility skill! Xuanyuan Slash! I activated my own Heavenly River Transformation and fired the Xuanyuan Slash at Soul Slayer. The skill one-shot all the Scarlet Blade Cavalrymen within the skill range, but Soul Slayer actually survived with less than 20% HP. The Ancient Divine Skill had dealt around 1 million damage to him, and apparently he had more max HP than that. Xuanyuan Slash was the only skill I had that could pierce invincibility, so there was nothing even I could do right now. Soul Slayer smirked at me. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, right? I am not going to fight you, heh!" I tried to give chase, but one of the rain of Trapping Nets flying my way managed to trap me. In the end, I could do nothing but watch Soul Slayer as he escaped from my grasp. At this point, it became clear as day that he wasn¡¯t going to engage me if at all possible. 1. E/N: You read it right. Ancient Divine Skills completely ignore Defense now. It was actually mentioned a few chapters back, but I assumed it was Guard, not Defense, because after 100 mentions of them ignoring Guard and invincibility skills, who woulda thought 10 chapters after they left Ruins of the Gods it would suddenly ignore Defense too? Chapter 1224 I tried shooting God Binding Art at his back, but it only resulted in a MISS. I should¡¯ve known that the proud owner of an Ancient Divine Skill wouldn¡¯t be this easy to kill. Judging from the way he dodged my God Binding Art, his control was almost at super-tier. I kept my gaze locked onto Soul Slayer¡¯s back and tried cutting my way toward him as fast as I could, but it was like a boat trying to make its way across a stormy sea. I could fly into the air and drop down on him, but that would make me vulnerable to Shock Arrows and God Devil Breaks. Not even a super god-tier player like me could handle a dozen or so God Devil Breaks smashing into my face at the same time. Li Chengfeng shouted in my direction while cutting down his own enemies, "Just ignore him for now, Lu Chen! That one¡¯s a cunning bastard, but it¡¯s not worth losing you for him! You are the soul of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and a pillar of the China server! You¡¯re not allowed to die!" "Got it!" I nodded heavily before ordering, "All frontliners, if you haven¡¯t done it yet, use a HP card to buff yourself like I said earlier and keep your eyes open for Soul Slayer¡¯s Odin Slash!" "Yessir!" A group of Dragonlight Cavalry used a Roland Bloodknight Card and increased their max HP by 40% immediately. The bards had already buffed their max HP by 50% earlier, so with a bit of luck they might just be able to survive one Odin Slash. On a related note, players with percentage-based damage reduction would have a much better chance at surviving the skill. Ancient Divine Skills ignored and pierced a lot of things, but damage reduction wasn¡¯t one of them. If someone could gather a set of equipment that totaled up to around 30% damage reduction, then Soul Slayer would definitely not be able to one-shot them with Odin Slash. In fact, that might very well be the direction most frontliners would be steering toward when grinding their gear in the future. There was no such thing as a perfect strategy. There would always be a new counter, a counter to that counter and so on. In this case, only the smartest ones would be able to stay on top of everything. ¡­¡­ Fierce raged the tempest of the battlefield [1]. I didn¡¯t hesitate to execute my skills the second they came off cooldown and was able to penetrate a dozen or so meters deep into Blood Soul¡¯s battle line. Once I judged that I was deep enough, I abruptly pointed the back side of Chill of the Nine Provinces¡¯ blade toward the sky. As the three vortices of death on it spun rapidly and made a shrill noise, beams of red light dropped down on every player within 1000 yards of me, reducing their HP by 50%. Those who were below 50% HP were one-shot instantly![2] 1000 yards was such a ridiculous range that even I couldn¡¯t help but pity my opponents. The ancient property affected every Blood Soul player within a 1000-yard radius and boosted my contribution points considerably. Some below-half-health players never even knew what hit them before they dropped to their knees and exploded into equipment and potions. Gui Guzi couldn¡¯t help but laugh. "Well done, Boss Broken Halberd! Just keep using your Death skill and leave the healing to my Shennong Tastes Grass!" "Yeah!" I nodded heavily while making a finger seal and dropping Myriad Swords Obliteration on a group of enemies. The half-health magic knights screamed in pain as the storm of swords pierced their armors and nailed them to the ground. Chill of the Nine Provinces was the manifestation of the Heavenly Divine Armament, the Xuanyuan Sword. Although it was categorized as an Ancient Divine Armament, it really possessed the power of a Heavenly Divine Armament. For example, the Xuanyuan Art was absolutely obnoxious for the enemy. On paper, it seemed like the ability to reduce enemies HP by 50% of their max HP wasn¡¯t as good as Shennong Tastes Grass¡¯ ability to heal 75% of ally HP within 1000 yards. In reality, losing massive amounts of HP was far more demoralizing than watching the enemy healing for a crazy amount of HP, which was a common sight on a large battlefield like this anyway. Most importantly, the Xuanyuan Art had a 6-minute cooldown and didn¡¯t cost and Divine Energy Points to cast. I could spam it as long as I had the MP, which I did since my full set of Divine Armaments and Sacred Armaments gave me a lot of Intelligence. A single Magic Consumable was almost enough for me to regenerate to full MP.[3] The Scarlet Blade Cavalry turned out to be stronger than expected. They knew how to form small groups of three or fives to instakill single Dragonlight or Zephyr Cavalrymen with Barrier Breaks. Of course, the Dragonlight Cavalry returned the favor by doing the exact same thing, except that they executed a greater Triple Slash + Barrier Break combo. As a result, the enemy lost far more troops than we did. Boom boom boom! Firewall spells burned across the entire battle line, so players had to fight each other within a sea of flames. It only made their blood boil hotter though. The super-tier experts of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya especially galloped back and forth and did their damndest to accrue as many contribution points as possible. After war, rewards were distributed based on both sides¡¯ contribution points. The more enemies we killed, the better the experience and equipment reward our entire server would get. We were earning contribution points not just for ourselves, but for everyone as well. Li Chengfeng was the most ferocious fighter of all of us in this battle. He galloped back and forth across the frontline and rained his unique dragon warrior skills on the enemy such as Dragonbone Flurry, Reverse Scale Slash and more without pause. Death and devastation followed him everywhere especially because he was accompanied by our two Ancient Divine Skill wonders, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust and a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen or so. They stuck to him like a satellite protecting its planet. "Yo, why are you two following me non-stop?" Li Chengfeng looked back and asked the girls when his curiosity finally got the better of him. Heaven¡¯s Rain giggled and said, "Big brother Lu Chen doesn¡¯t want you to lose any level in this Nation War because you still have to enter the Sky Vortex and search for your SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill later, lord corps commander. That¡¯s why he ordered me and Little Dust to protect you even at the cost of our own life¡­" Li Chengfeng pouted. "Come on, I gotta be one of the last people in our guild to need protection. By the way¡­ what did you call me just now?" "Lord corps commander?" Li Chengfeng sucked in a deep breath as if he had just heard the most wonderful thing in the world. "Can you call me that one more time?" "Uhh¡­ lord corps commander¡­" "Ah, you¡¯re such a good girl, Little Rain¡­" Heaven¡¯s Rain: "..." ¡­¡­ BOOM! Suddenly, the bloody image of the chief god Odin appeared beneath the night sky. Soul Slayer had found yet another opportunity to unleash his Ancient Divine Skill against a square formation of players, killing at least 300 Zephyr and Kui Dragon Cavalrymen in one strike. SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skills were just that unreasonable. Right now, no one had the power to stop him. A sinister smile danced on Soul Slayer¡¯s lips as he pulled back to safety. He purposely avoided the nearby Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis and Gui Guzi and sought for a different angle to attack our players. He was a smart man alright. He was the reason Blood Soul was able to charge bravely toward us. "Ceh!" Gui Guzi cursed out loud after stabbing two Scarlet Blade Cavalrymen with his Spear of the Knight God. "That shameless coward! Is ambushing our non-Divine Generals the only thing he can do? He even took out my two disciples! I¡¯m going to murder his ass the second I get the chance to do so!" I looked back. "Huh? Since when do you have disciples, Little Gui?" Beiming Xue giggled. "You didn¡¯t know, big brother? They¡¯re both 18-year-old beauties and a part of the Dragonlight Cavalry!" I exclaimed enviously, "Wow! Not bad at all, Little Gui¡­" Gui Guzi blushed. "It¡¯s nothing. They wanted to be my disciples, and I just wanted to teach them some basic PvP skills." I replied in a serious tone, "You don¡¯t have to explain yourself to me. In fact, you don¡¯t need to explain your life to anyone. What you explain is what you hide, and what you hide is truth. So anyway, do you plan to date them both?" He stuttered. Love was such a thing that even the bravest youngster couldn¡¯t help but balk before it. Beside me, an angelic-looking Lin Yixin shot me a look and said, "You think everyone¡¯s the same as you, you shameless bastard?" Purple Marquis echoed in agreement. "Yeah, so shameless!" Gui Guzi clenched his fists and replied, "I don¡¯t think it¡¯s impossible, Boss Broken Halberd!" Everyone: "..." ¡­¡­ Despite our teasing, Gui Guzi was actually a fairly handsome lad and a gaming professional. Naturally, he was pursued by countless women both inside and outside the game. Some wanted a relationship, and some wanted to warm his bed, so to speak. Idolism was a thing for both genders after all. Since Gui Guzi had never been in a relationship before, he was currently stuck in that mire of bliss and didn¡¯t look like he was going to escape any time soon. Li Chengfeng would¡¯ve been in the same situation as Gui Guzi if not for his own personal issues. Although he looked like a fairly carefree person in the guild especially when he was interacting with Chaos Moon, Diamond Dust and Heaven¡¯s Rain, he never truly opened his heart to any of them, and we all knew it. It was like his heart was sealed behind a locked door, and only that girl in the past had the key to it. There was nothing we could do about it except pray that time could wash away all sorrows. As his brother, I could only hope that he would be able to walk out of his shadows one day. ¡­¡­ The battle lasted almost four hours, and nearly the entire forest was dyed red in blood. I must admit that the forces of Sunset City were no joke, and neither Blood Soul nor God Breaker looked demoralized in the slightest despite the massive resistance our forces put up. Finally, when their player count dwindled to an untenable level, Soul Slayer abruptly swung his sword and shouted, "Looks like we can¡¯t settle the score here, so it¡¯s time to withdraw! If we keep this up, there won¡¯t be anyone left to defend our main city!" According to the Nation War interface, of the 5 million players Soul Slayer had brought to this battlefield, less than 500k were still alive. That was over 90% of his troops dead in this battle. It was hardly a massive victory for us, however. Our own numbers had dwindled so much that Ancient Sword, Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips and more guilds combined didn¡¯t even amount to 2 million players. This was at best a pyrrhic victory for us. Soul Slayer had done everything in his power to turn the tides of this battle in his favor. He had unleashed 15 Odin Slashes throughout the battle and used up all of his Divine Energy Points, and no one was able to stop him. The SS Rank Ancient Divine skill owner, Shabby Castle, also used up all of his Divine Energy Points to heal his troops for 60% of their HP with Freya¡¯s Kiss 15 times in total. He too withdrew as Soul Slayer commanded. ¡­¡­ "Don¡¯t let them get away! Kill them to the last man!" I shouted. Li Chengfeng gladly received the order and charged. Soul Slayer and Shabby Castle barked orders again and again as they organized the retreat of their remaining army. Unfortunately, a large majority of them were engaged in combat and couldn¡¯t use their return scrolls. Suddenly, a beautiful figure wearing a tiger-like symbol on her shoulder and wielding the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword raced out of the darkened forest. She was Lin Yixin of course. She, Purple Marquis, Nangong Lexi and about 100k elites blocked the exit before she activated Heavenly River Transformation again. She smiled as the sword shadows of Gan Jiang and Mo Ye appeared beneath her feet. "You lot aren¡¯t getting away this easily!" When did Lin Yixin and her troops circle to the enemy¡¯s rear, and how? It didn¡¯t matter. What mattered was that her brilliant maneuver had sealed the fates of Sunset City¡¯s army! 1. T/N: borrowing a line from a poem I read 2. Thus confirming that it¡¯s not like Well of the Abyss from Beiming Xue. It takes 50% of opponent¡¯s MAX HP, not CURRENT HP. 3. I¡¯m drawing blanks. If one Magic Consumable is enough, he shouldn¡¯t have much MP. And Xuanyuan Art requires 100% MP, right? That means it doesn¡¯t matter how high his MP/Intelligence is Chapter 1225 Thud! A couple of tiny rocks shattered beneath the Ghost Spirit War Boots as I zigzagged toward Soul Slayer like a lightning bolt in the night. The moment I reached the guild leader, I slammed my sword into his, spun around and punched his shield with Magic Piercing Punch. Bang! Soul Slayer turned green as the skill sent him staggering to the back. Because he had avoided fighting me throughout the battle, he had failed to grasp my true speed, accuracy and strength until it was too late. The Devil Bell rang crisply as Lin Yixin appeared from behind me. "Let¡¯s take him out together, Little Cheat!" Understanding what she meant, I launched myself past Soul Slayer like a cannonball but didn¡¯t attack him despite having the chance to do so. Soul Slayer summoned a protective aura to protect himself while retreating, but he still had no idea what Lin Yixin and I were planning. I spun around and locked eyes with Lin Yixin for a second. Then, we both executed the helix maneuver and dashed toward Soul Slayer at the same time. As our blades punched through Soul Slayer¡¯s torso at the exact same time, an incredible damage number rose above his head¡ª 2167874! Soul Slayer groaned and dropped to the ground, dead. It had been a long time since we used our combination skill, Intercourse, and the result had exceeded all expectations. Both of us had grown a lot stronger since the last time we used it, but we still didn¡¯t anticipate it to have grown this powerful. Shabby Castle couldn¡¯t hold the fort alone, so it wasn¡¯t long before he was taken out by Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi. The system announced to all players that both Heroic Bannermen had been killed. ¡­¡­ Standing atop the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back and floating high up in the sky, I said slowly, "This is it, brothers and sisters. Don¡¯t let even a single fly escape our net. Sunset City must pay for their daring to assist the Vietnamese!" The rest of the battle was a cat-and-mouse game. After their two leaders were dead, Sunset City¡¯s players were unable to form even the slightest bit of meaningful resistance. The ground was littered with bodies and equipment alike. It took another two hours or so, but in the end we were able to slay every single Sunset City within the forest. We then spent the time distributing the loot and enjoying the fruits of our labor, also known as equipment. Despite having been online for a dozen of hours, neither of us felt tired in the slightest. In fact, even I was brimming with a kind of high energy excitement that I hadn¡¯t felt for a long time. Up until this point, every war we fought had felt like a mountain that we just barely managed to throw off our backs. That was why a landslide victory like this was something we all craved. I took my time to choose my equipment carefully. It was about time I started looking after myself anyway. My piggy bank had become a bit emptier after spending those millions to buy Beiming Xue¡¯s BMW. Unlike He Yi, I wasn¡¯t a rainmaker who could make it rain gold everyday. I might have 10% of Raincube¡¯s shares in my back pocket, but that didn¡¯t mean I shouldn¡¯t strive to improve myself. ¡­¡­ A while later, all the guild leaders and corps commanders came together at a clearing beneath the moonlight. Sitting atop a dead trunk and holding the Chill of the Nine Provinces loosely in my hand, I invited, "Why so serious, people? Feel free to take a seat if you want to¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes looked at the ground once before replying, "Thanks, but no thanks. The ground is covered in dew, and we have no intention of drenching our clothes¡­" Ling Xueshang sat down beside me before starting. "Although we¡¯ve taken out the main force of Sunset City, it might not be over just yet. The Germans from Chariot City and the Koreans from Burning City both possess the manpower to attack us. That being said, they still haven¡¯t made any major movements up until this point, so there¡¯s a good chance they won¡¯t be coming to Hot Sand City¡¯s rescue." He Yi agreed with her assessment. "It¡¯s probably because they know that there is nothing they can do to save Hot Sand City." I said, "Yeah. Anyway, can everyone give me a casualty report? Maybe we still have enough players to do a little something..." "Sure!" Another while later, everyone reported their situation¡ª He Yi: "Our main guild and subguilds total up to 190k players. 29k of them are Dragonlight Cavalrymen, 12k are Zephyr Cavalrymen, and 14k are Dragonlight Archers." Lin Yixin: "Snowy Cathaya¡¯s main guild plus subguilds total up to 210k players in total. 9k are Kui Dragon Cavalrymen, and 37k are Purple Dragon Cavalrymen." Stranger of Three Lifetimes: "Blazing Hot Lips only has a ragtag group of 70k left. Do whatever you want with them¡­" Ling Xueshang: "Same. We only have 110k players left." Luo River God of the Capital: "Purple Lily is doing fairly well, I guess. We still have around 270k players, and our organization is relatively intact." Indigo Collar: "Can I stay quiet? No? Oh well. We only have 40k players left¡­" ¡­¡­ I smiled and rose to my feet after hearing everyone¡¯s report. "Not bad, not bad at all. Despite all the battles we fought, we¡¯re still a million elite players strong. It looks like we can pull off one last heist big before the Nation War ends after all." "What are you planning, Lu Chen?" Indigo Collar asked. I answered smilingly, "It¡¯s a secret. For now, we should let our backup replace us and catch some well-deserved rest. Let¡¯s meet up again in 8 hours, shall we? It¡¯s 4 am in the morning now, so let¡¯s meet up here at noon tomorrow!" "Okay!" We all needed to catch some rest after tens of hours of fighting. And even if that wasn¡¯t the case, I could almost hear the groans of a million bladders desperately waiting for release. ¡­¡­ I sent a message to Hot and Sour Noodles before I logged out of the game: "Uncle Zhang Chun, the battle at eastern front is more or less finished. We¡¯ve taken out over 17 million enemies in total, destroyed Sunset City¡¯s effective forces and a large chunk of Cyan Earth City¡¯s as well. I trust that you, Candlelight Shadow, and Warsky will be able to hold the northern front while we¡¯re gone? Also, I¡¯m planning to do a bit of something tomorrow afternoon, so I¡¯m going to log out now and take my rest." Hot and Sour Noodles replied quickly, "Wait, Lu Chen. Let me tell you my report first. Our front has less intense battles than the western front, but we still hold the advantage because neither Titan City nor Hero City had dared to send their true elites against us. I¡¯m sure they know how bad the situation is and are unwilling to weaken the defenses of their main cities even more than they already are. The battle at Hot Sand City is still ongoing, and I think it¡¯ll be at least 10 hours before the city is taken. Finally, we¡¯re still getting an endless amount of reinforcements from the Center." "Oh. Good. So, can I log out now? I need to pee¡­" "Haha, sure. Candlelight Shadow and I will stay up for another 10 hours. You¡¯ll take over after that." "Okay!" I set up a tent in the forest and logged out after that. ¡­¡­ It was the wee hours of the morning, and Murong Mingyue had cooked us some porridge. We all went to bed after eating supper. It wasn¡¯t until almost noon did I finally wake up, and even then I felt like I could sleep another 10. As expected, fighting non-stop for tens of hours was extremely exhausting. It was worth it though. We all needed a massive victory to remove the trauma that had been inflicted upon us during the previous Nation War. Du du! At 11:30 am or so, I received a call from Lin Yixin¡ª "Hi, dear!" I greeted her. Lin Yixin didn¡¯t say anything for 2 seconds before replying, "I want to murder someone!" "What¡¯s wrong?" "Nothing. Anyway, I¡¯m treating everyone in the Frost Cloud workshop to lunch at J&W Restaurant, so get up now!" "Ohh! What happened though, seriously? J&W isn¡¯t exactly the cheapest restaurant out there." J&W Restaurant was a well-known restaurant both inside and outside Suzhou. Although it wasn¡¯t star-rated, its dishes were so pricey that normal office workers could only stare at it from afar. I used to be one of these people. Although I was rich enough to afford a table now, I was still afraid to check it out for fear that my natural scent of poverty would betray me. Lin Yixin giggled. "It¡¯s nothing big. Snowy Cathaya performed so well in the Nation War that our Apple e-sports club decided to increase our salary. Our annual salary has been changed to monthly, and our total income is 30% higher than before. It won¡¯t be long before I catch up to you, Little Cheat!" I grinned. "So what? My CGL salary is still way ahead of yours!" "You dare? Very well, you can stay at home while I eat lunch with Sister Eve, Sister Mingyue and Lian Xin then!" "Noooo, you can¡¯t don¡¯t do this to me! Yiyi, Yixin, Xing¡¯er, please take this humble one to J&W, please~~~" "Mu. You¡¯re so corny¡­" ¡­¡­ I stepped into the living room after I was done washing myself. He Yi, Mingyue and Lian Xin were of course excited that Lin Yixin would be treating them to lunch today. Murong Mingyue even held her tummy lightly and swayed her hips left and right, saying, "Thank goodness I didn¡¯t eat too much during breakfast, or I wouldn¡¯t be able to savor Beauty Lin¡¯s beauty today¡­" I looked down at her tummy. "What, are you pregnant, sis?" "If I am, it¡¯s yours!" She puffed up her chest. "And how on earth could it be mine?" "You¡¯re the only one who came on to me recently!" My eyes nearly fell out of my eye sockets at the baseless accusation. "Sis! You¡¯re taking the joke way too far!" He Yi asked quietly, "Yeah, when did Lu Chen come on to you exactly? Confess now, or else¡­" Murong Mingyue giggled. "Well, he supported me while I was carrying a pumpkin the other day. That counts as coming on to me right? You know, the physical contact and everything¡­" After we were done jeering at Mingyue, we raced downstairs and vroomed to J&W Restaurant in excitement. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin had booked a table on the third floor, and it turned out that we weren¡¯t the only ones who were invited for lunch. Purple Marquis, Nangong Lexi, Clear Perfume and Shadow Chanel were present as well. There were nine of us in total. A while later, after the delicacies were served on the table, I grabbed my chopsticks to placate my grumbling stomach and said, "Well, what are you guys waiting for? Please, don¡¯t hold back on my account!" Lin Yixin cocked her head at me. "Who¡¯s the host here, you or me?" I grinned at her and put a piece of rabbit meat on her table. "Here, Yiyi. You should eat more bunny meat so that your bunnies will grow creamier and¡ªer, you guys totally didn¡¯t hear what I just said, did you?" Beside me, Lian Xin suddenly let out an unnatural cough. "Ahem¡­" I immediately picked up on her meaning and put a piece of rabbit meat on He Yi¡¯s plate as well. "I haven¡¯t forgotten about you of course, Eve. For the sake of your bunnies, you should¡ªah pooh! You guys didn¡¯t hear anything! Now eat!" Despite my attempts, Purple Marquis and Nangong Lexi couldn¡¯t help but glare at me with exasperation and disbelief. Shadow Chanel said with a giggle, "It¡¯s hard to be an excellent man, and even harder to be an excellent man with two excellent girlfriends, isn¡¯t it?" I nearly shed tears there and then. "My soulmate! Where have you been all this time!?" Lin Yixin burst into a giggle before forcing herself to say, "Enough! Eat your food already!" Chapter 1226 Purple Marquis carefully placed a glass of pickled plum juice in front of Shadow Chanel before saying, "Drink this. It¡¯ll improve your appetite¡­" Shadow Chanel shot the juice a glance before replying, "I¡¯m trying to lose weight recently, so I don¡¯t want to eat too much." Purple Marquis said concernedly, "Even so, you need to eat something¡­" I asked in a confused tone, "Why are you trying to lose weight in the first place? You¡¯re not fat at all." Sun Qingqing teased, "You see that? This is why Lu Chen is more popular with girls than you are. How do you expect to win a girl¡¯s heart when you don¡¯t even learn to say the right things?" Purple Marquis immediately turned red and said, "I¡¯m not¡­" "Not, what?" The guy looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole and hide, so I hurriedly changed the topic for him. "Oh right, our characters are parked at Hot Sand Forest, right? How is the war going? I was rushing, so I didn¡¯t check before I came here." Lin Yixin sipped her own pickled plum juice before replying, "Long story short, it¡¯s still ongoing¡­" "What about the short story long?" "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and 9 million players from Hero City are locked in a stalemate with the Chaotic 27 and the Chinese guilds defending Seven Star City. The man¡¯s completely stuck between a rock and a hard place now. He lacked the strength to conquer Seven Star City outright, and he couldn¡¯t spare the forces to rescue Hot Sand City either. Also, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, Song of Ice and Fire and the others had gathered over ten million players after their victories last night, and they pose such a threat that Vienna¡¯s Sorrow must be prepared to withdraw back to his two main cities at any moment." She smiled a bit before continuing, "As for our front, we are offline, but a ton of middle to small guilds have taken over temporarily to do battle against small pockets of Elephant City and Cyan City players at Hot Sand Forest. On the other side, A Snowy Night Below 30 Degrees is leading Frostsword City and Iron Horse City to attack Elephant City with everything they¡¯ve got. However, Flowing Cloud is the acting commander of the Indian forces, and she¡¯s got a constant stream of reinforcements. It shouldn¡¯t be an issue for her to hold Elephant City. The same goes for Swallow Ear Canton, which is currently under attack of the three southeast cities. Red Maple should be able to hold it with the reinforcements from Cyan Earth City." I put down my chopsticks and said smilingly, "Sounds like everything is progressing as I predicted it would. It won¡¯t be long before the alliance between the Northern Alliance, India and Japan shatters under the pressure very soon." "What are we going to do next, guild leader?" Purple Marquis asked. Lin Yixin chuckled. "What else? Our main force is still present, and Ancient Sword still has 30k Dragonlight Cavalrymen or so. It would be annoying to end things here, wouldn¡¯t it?" Purple Marquis looked surprised. "Didn¡¯t we beat the crap out of Cyan Earth City and Sunset City already? How are we going to go about this?" Lin Yixin looked at me then. "You should ask Lu Chen that question¡­" Everyone glanced toward me at the same time, so I wet my finger with beer foam and started drawing on the dining table. "This is our current position. Occupying Hot Sand City is just a matter of time now, so instead we should set our sights on the other main cities. Chariot City, Sunset City and Burning City are all potential targets, but let¡¯s talk about the obvious target first. Sunset City is a must-take since we¡¯ve killed off all of their elites. However, the city is pretty far away, and the Koreans and Germans will reach their ally long before we can blitz the city. What this means is that we need someone to feint an attack on Chariot City and Burning City and make it look convincing." "That¡¯s easy. Just leave it to Mad Dragon, Flower Room and Gods of Destruction!" He Yi replied. "Yes," I said with an approving nod, "that was my idea as well. What these guilds lack in quality, they make up for in quantity. They should be able to muster a large enough force to keep both cities in check regardless of their actual effectiveness. That being said, we need to spare some troops for the feint so that the enemy won¡¯t see through our ploy. After that, the true elites¡ªthe Dragonlight Cavalry, Dragonlight Archer, Kui Dragon Cavalry and so on¡ªand all our Ancient Divine Skill owners will ride to Sunset City, breach their gates, cut off their regent¡¯s head and claim it for ourselves, hehe!" Purple Marquis grew excited. "Does this mean we may be able to expand our domain to the north and increase our number of main cities to five after this war? That¡¯s awesome!" I snickered but didn¡¯t answer him. Lin Yixin gave my arm a tug beneath the table before asking, "What¡¯s that snicker for?" I whispered, "Nah, I was just thinking that Purple Marquis is too, how should I put it, idealistic. We don¡¯t have nearly enough manpower or allies to hold five main cities, especially since Hot Sand City and Sunset City are located at the heart of the Northern Alliance¡¯s territories. Therefore, we need to take this one step at a time and start by widening the fractures in their relationship first. Only then we can begin thinking about solidifying our footing in their territory¡­" Lin Yixin smirked. "What evil plan have you concocted now?" I pursed my lips. "Well, I was thinking about keeping you company after this Nation War is over. It¡¯s been a long time since I hugged you, but there¡¯s too many people right now, and Eve will punch me¡­" Lin Yixin let out a giggle as she taunted, "I won¡¯t mind if you hug or kiss me. The only one¡¯s stopping you now is yourself¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ It was 2 pm by the time we finished lunch. I would¡¯ve liked to spend more time with Beauty Lin, but Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen had called me 11 times in total during this time. In the end, I gave in and hurried back to the workshop to finish the Nation War. I drank a bit of water before I put on my gaming helmet. Then, I logged back into the game! Swhoosh! My vision brightened, and I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and Phantom Wolf King after poking my head out of my tent. A lot of Chinese players and the Dragonlight Cavalry, Dragonlight Archers and Zephyr Cavalry were standing by already. The rest of the girls came online one after another as well. Another great battle was soon to begin. ¡­¡­ "Lu Chen, over here!" He Yi called out to me from afar. As I ran over to her, I entered a large clearing where countless Chinese players were shuffling about. Most of them were guild leaders including the likes of Wang Dongliang, Dominating Heaven Blade, Roaming Dragon, Li Le and more. In total, nearly ten million players had gathered at this place while I was enjoying some lovey dovey time with my beloveds. We really have way too many players. "Lu Chen!" Roaming Dragon rode up to me and looked down on me from his mount. "You made us wait for almost 2 hours! Who do you think you are?" Surprised by his outburst, I shrugged and replied, "I was eating lunch with my girlfriend. Not my fault you can¡¯t work around my schedule." Roaming Dragon nearly choked. "You think you¡¯re the only one who has a girlfriend? We wouldn¡¯t be here if we didn¡¯t need you to inform us of the next step of the war strategy!" Wang Dongliang looked He Yi up and down while speaking in a jealous tone, "Seriously, you may be the Little Heavenly King, but to make everyone wait for you for 2 hours is just rude as hell." I noticed his gaze, so I smiled and pulled He Yi into a hug before saying, "You¡¯re just jealous that my girlfriend is gorgeous." "Bullshit, my¡ª" Wang Dongliang tried to say something while pointing at the beautiful archer standing next to him. Unfortunately for him, she was a 6 out of 10 at best. Little Piglet immediately shuffled closer to his boss and said in a hushed voice, "Give it up, boss. You can¡¯t deny that this ¡®girlfriend¡¯ you hooked up with last night at the bar is leagues behind From Water. Be it in terms of class, looks or body, the difference between them is like heaven and earth. Finally, From Water¡¯s the CEO of an international company, and your girl is just an average black fungus¡­" Wang Dongliang¡¯s complexion turned purple. "Little Piglet you asshole¡­" The Cold Wind Swordsman shrugged with a grin. "It¡¯s not a sin to be honest, is it?" ¡­¡­ "Ahem!" It was at this moment Dominating Heaven Blade walked up to us and said, "Let¡¯s cut to the chase already, shall we? What¡¯s the plan, Lu Chen?" I nodded at him before starting, "Hegemon Palace and Gods of Destruction, you will lead an army of 3 million each to attack Chariot City. Flower Room and Mad Dragon, you will do the same to Burning City as well. That is all I need you to do. We¡¯ll handle everything else." Wang Dongliang exclaimed in astonishment, "What? You want me to attack Chariot City with 3 million players? But their forces are practically unharmed! We barely have Ancient Divine Skill owners or Divine Generals either. There¡¯s no way we can beat them." I smiled reassuringly at him. "Relax, it¡¯s just a feint! You don¡¯t actually have to attack them!" Roaming Dragon interjected, "A feint? Doesn¡¯t that make us cannon fodders?" I shook my head. "Again, all I ask of you is to surround the city. Theoretically, you shouldn¡¯t suffer any damage whatsoever if you don¡¯t attack them. Of course, I won¡¯t stop you from trying to beat them if you think you can, but just the same I ain¡¯t taking responsibility if you lose either. As for the third and main step of the strategy, well, that¡¯s a secret. Anyway, you can go now. Do your best!" Although Wand Dongliang and Roaming Dragon were displeased with their orders, the only thing they could do was obey. So, they left the canyon and headed toward their respective destinations. ¡­¡­ "Alright, it¡¯s time for us to depart as well!" I looked at the players of Ancient Sword, Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Purple Lily and more and said with a chuckle, "Unlike them, we are conquerors, so we¡¯re going to conquer a main city, people!" Xu Yang asked while everyone brimmed with excitement, "Which city are we attacking though?" Li Chengfeng replied with a chuckle, "What else? It has to be Sunset City!" I laughed. "That is correct! We¡¯ve taken out both their Ancient Divine Skill owners¡ªSoul Slayer and Shabby Castle¡ªand their main force, so Sunset City may as well be a deserted city right now. All cavalrymen, you will mount up and prepare to ride to Sunset City right now! We will breach the city before they have a chance to prepare and conquer the main city of England!" Everyone did as I said and took off the second the bards had buffed them. I didn¡¯t mean for them to move this urgently, but oh well. Next, I looked at Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue and said, "You two will watch over our ranged parties while they make their way to Sunset City. We may need their assistance to hold Sunset City later." Lian Xin nodded. "Just leave it to us, big brother! Make sure you¡¯ve occupied the city when we arrive, okay?" "I will!" Chapter 1227 A cool wind blew against a barren, darkened plain. It was currently shaking under the thundering hooves of rows and rows of elite cavalrymen. At this time, the only light that betrayed their presence was the fire exhaling from their mount¡¯s nostrils. A total of 270k+ Sky City, Vanished God City and Wind City cavalrymen were launching a sneak attack against Sunset City while their allies kept Burning City and Chariot City busy. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin was riding right next to me on her Moonchaser Tiger as she said, "We¡¯ve rested for two hours on the hills. Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction and Hegemon Palace should have engaged Chariot City and Burning City by now. Things should go smoother for us now." "Yeah." I nodded slightly. It was at this moment a system announcement rang across the sky. It was the news we had all been waiting for a while¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Candlelight Shadow" (China) has successfully killed the Hot Sand City regent, Emero IX, and claimed the royal scepter. The player has used the royal scepter to occupy Hot Sand City for China. Vietnam players may retake the main city by claiming the royal scepter before the Nation War is over! ¡­¡­ Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun let out a snort before commenting, "Damn, this is the second time Candlelight Shadow managed to put his name on a system announcement after Seven Star City. Is he trying to use this to restore some of Candle Dragon¡¯s former glory?" Beside him, Peach Garden¡¯s guild leader, Indigo Collar replied, "Hmph. So what if he¡¯s the one who ¡®officially¡¯ took the city? Everyone knows that the occupation of Hot Sand City is a collective effort. If we hadn¡¯t slain nearly 20 million enemies at the eastern front, forget taking the scepter for himself, he wouldn¡¯t even be alive right now!" I smiled. "Let¡¯s not split hairs over something so trivial, shall we? The important thing here is that the China server is the one who took Hot Sand City. This marks the first time we managed to expand our domain since the beginning of Heavenblessed. In the near future, Hot Sand City will be our stepping stone to intimidate, fracture and weaken the players of the north. Our ultimate goal is to make China the ultimate ruler of the entire continent." Indigo Collar asked, "Lu Chen, are you¡­ trying to turn the other servers into our colonies and make them pay tribute? That¡­ won¡¯t be easy you know." I erupted into laughter. "Colony? Are you kidding me? Even if the other servers are that prideless, there¡¯s no way Eternal Moon would allow the enslavement of players to exist in their game, not to mention that civilization has long since evolved past the point where slavery was the norm! No, what I¡¯m saying is just that we become the dominant force on the continent for a couple of months, or even a couple of years. Even in ancient times, it was impossible for one force to rule the world forever. Take Alexander, Caesar, and Genghis Khan for example. Each conqueror is only greater than the last, and yet their dominion was ultimately reclaimed by the natives. In the end, history is inevitable." Indigo Collar nodded strongly. "You are right. Even just a short period of domination is a good enough prize for our years of passion!" Eyes Like Water said smilingly, "I guess I¡¯ll never understand a man¡¯s world. All Momo wanted is for Blazing Hot Lips to accumulate more contribution points, gather more equipment, and increase our rank in the China Guild Ranking¡­" High Fighting Spirits commented, "That¡¯s pretty ambitious already, okay?" We all chuckled at that. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Gui Guzi¡¯s voice came from the front, "Boss Broken Halberd, there¡¯s a hundred-man group of English cavalrymen ahead of us!" I nodded. "Take your players with you and eliminate them as soon as possible. Everyone else, we ride at full speed. We¡¯re only 10 minutes away from Sunset City now!" Gui Guzi immediately swung his Spear of the Knight God and charged toward the enemy group with his 4000 Knight God¨Cbuffed Dragonlight Cavalrymen. It wasn¡¯t long before bloodcurdling screams broke out from several hundred yards away from us. There was no chance the one hundred Sunset City players were going to survive the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s charge, so they quickly turned into cold, dead bodies on the ground. As we galloped, a magnificent city with a silver hue emerged from the horizon. It was none other than our objective. We also saw a tier 2 city on our right, but we ignored it for now because it wasn¡¯t our primary target. Strong tier 1 main city first, weak tier 2 main city later. ¡­¡­ When we reached within a thousand yards of the main city, we finally brandished our weapons beneath the moonlight. A magic knight on the walls felt his heart freeze for a second when he spotted us before shouting on top of his lungs, "We¡¯ve been tricked! China¡¯s true objective is us, not Burning City or Chariot City! Defend with all you got and send a rescue request to Burning City and Chariot City right now! They know what will happen if our city falls to the Chinese!" Another person roared from the walls, "Archers, get ready to attack the enemy with Mountain Stagger Arrows and Spiraling Arrow Blades! I only spot cavalrymen among the invaders, meaning that they don¡¯t have siege weapons or even cloud ladders to scale our walls! They won¡¯t be able to breach our city quickly! Someone, muster our cavalry now and engage the enemy beneath our walls! With our archers, mages and priests¡¯ support, our cavalry should be able to fight one against ten while we wait for reinforcements!" Creak... The heavy iron gate of the city opened, and tens of thousands of cavalrymen rode out to meet us. Although they hadn¡¯t expected to show up this quickly, it was obvious that they were at least anticipating it. There was no way they would have this many high-level cavalrymen waiting at the gate otherwise. ¡­¡­ Chiang! I pulled out the Chill of the Nine Provinces from behind and raised it into the air, yelling, "Finish them in ten minutes and ride straight for the gate! All Ancient Divine Skill owners, follow me and prepare to use your Ancient Divine Skills on the gate! It must go down within half an hour for this raid to be a true success!" Tens of thousands of Dragonlight, Kui Dragon and Zephyr Cavalrymen unsheathed their weapons at once. I regretted not bringing Warscar and Hickey¡¯s Berserk Zephyr Cavalry with me¡ªtheir presence would¡¯ve ensured that the gate would go down in half the time it would normally take¡ªbut then again, this wasn¡¯t their war to fight. It was one thing to have them help me while the China server was under attack, another to make them attack another server under China¡¯s name. It would make the neutrality I promised them a sham. Moreover, the players of Protective Umbrella were my friends, not my subordinates. I didn¡¯t have the right to mobilize them as I pleased. Finally, Protective Umbrella had settled down at their one and only territory at Black Coast. They would have their own business to deal with. The ground thundered with the sound of hooves. Nearly a million English players had moved up their walls, drew their bows and fired their arrows at us. Arrows and magical spells rained down on our heads like a hailstorm while the Dragonlight Cavalry engaged the enemy¡¯s cavalry at melee. The battle had kicked off just like that. Neither side was holding anything back. One enemy fired a devastating five-hit Crimson Flame Slash that annihilated a dozen or so Dragonlight Cavalrymen, but we retaliated right back with Xiezhi Howl, Ice Flame Slash, Burning Blade Slash, Reverse Scale Slash, Rock Crush, Rock Smash and more. In terms of fighter AoE skills, the English were far, far behind us! Entire groups of enemy players dropped dead at the same time. Not only that, the 5000 Dragonlight Archers behind us Far Shot their skills and gave us cover fire, causing the English cavalrymen to die even faster. Crack! After I split an entire magic knight and his mount in half, I spurred my Ancient Divine Dragon forward before shouting, "Cold of the Nine Provinces!" All the English cavalrymen around me turned into popsicles before my players tore them to shreds. The city gate was only 50 yards away from us now. After cutting down dozens of road blockers with another Burning Blade Slash, I activated Fusion Armor and Heavenly River Transformation at the same time; the power of domain protecting me with all but the strongest of arrow shots. The average player couldn¡¯t even begin to imagine how tough a Heavenly River Realm peak expert was, not to mention that I had Battle Astral Wind even if they managed to pierce my Domain. The English¡¯s SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill owner, Soul Slayer, had already been slain in Hot Sand Forest. What else could they possibly do against us? "Ready? Go! Break the city gate with your Ancient Divine Skills now!" I rushed forward and raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces, causing a gigantic golden blade to manifest in the air. Then, I brought it down and struck the gate with everything I got. To my surprise, I dealt an incredible amount of damage, but it only amounted to 29% of durability or so. This goddamn gate is pretty tough! Behind me, High Fighting Spirits, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust unleashed their Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance, Tiger Wing Slash and Dog God Slash as well. This time, the gate lost around 30% durability in total. "Our turn!" Sword shadows glowing beneath Lin Yixin and He Yi¡¯s feet, the two girls rushed forward and executed their combos¡ªIce Flame Slash, Ultimate Strength Break, Purgatory of Ice and Magma and more¡ªas quickly as they could. The great thing about their SS Rank Divine General Skills was that they made all their attacks armor-penetrating, invincibility-ignoring, unparriable and unblockable! ¡­¡­ In the end, the heavy gate couldn¡¯t withstand the amount of punishment it was receiving and fell backward. Gui Guzi took the opportunity to cast Shennong Tastes Grass and restored all Chinese players within 1000 yards of him to almost full HP. The skill was just too good. Chapter 1228 "Enter the city!" I dove into the city at first notice. The first thing I saw was a thousand archers spread out in a fan-shaped formation and pointing their arrows at me! "Holy shit!" I withdrew just as quickly, put the Dragon God Shield between my body and their aim and Guarded. Not only that, I punched the ground with my right fist, losing 1000 gold from my bag and causing countless dragons to burst out of the earth. This was the perfect occasion to use a skill like Rise of the Guardian Dragon. ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang... Countless scalding hot arrows exploded across my Dragon God Shield. A couple of Dragonlight Cavalrymen had been following right behind me when I charged, and unfortunately they didn¡¯t manage to survive the volley. Even my Battle Astral Wind was shredded, and my HP had dropped by almost 35% at the end of the volley. God damn, that was a painful one! Gui Guzi ran to my aid as quickly as he could while shouting, "What the fuck are you guys waiting for? Do you want Boss Broken Halberd to die? Go go go!" The shout successfully broke everyone from their trance and made them take action. Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Chaos Moon and more peak experts formed a single line and rushed into the archer party as quickly as they could, killing many with their skills. However, the arrow towers within the city began raining thick steel bolts on our cavalrymen as well. I pointed a finger at where the teleportation formation was and shouted, "Yiyi, grab some men and take out their teleportation NPCs right now! Eve, Li Chengfeng, you two will destroy those arrow towers! The rest of you, follow me to kill every last player in this city!" Everyone nodded and started carrying out their orders. Hooves thundered against the ground as tens of thousands of Chinese cavalrymen flooded the streets like tigers released into a pen. Many of our allies were killed by the arrow towers, but powerful units such as the Dragonlight Cavalry were able to ignore the bombardment and focus their energy on killing the enemy. "Bad news, Boss Broken Halberd! An NPC legion is coming our way!" Gui Guzi shouted from afar. I answered, "It¡¯s fine! They¡¯re just Level 255 fiend-rank NPCs! Don¡¯t leave a single one of them alive! Also, get ready to use Shennong Tastes Grass soon!" "Okay!" I ran to the center of the square and noted that almost everyone had fallen below 50% HP. There were just too many arrow towers inside the city, and we didn¡¯t have any priest or bard with us right now. Health Potions and War God Recovery alone weren¡¯t enough to outheal the damage at all. I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces and pointed the front side of the blade toward the sky. Xuanyuan Art took action, and all the allies within 1000 yards of me regained 50% of their HP. The timing was almost perfect. The moment Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Li Chengfeng and more had returned to full health, they immediately led a troop of 10000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen against the NPC legion. Magic spells and arrows flew all over the place. Sunset City quickly descended into complete chaos. I spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon to the sky and took the fight to the other squares. Most of the English had run off to the southern gate since that was where we were attacking from, which made my job of assassinating the teleportation NPCs quite simple. I swooped down on top of one of them, froze him with Thousand Ice Slash, and followed up with Summon the Storm, Rise of the Guardian Dragon, Burning Blade Slash, Universe Break and more. Since the NPC only had 4 million HP, it took me only 2 skill rotations and less than half a minute to kill him. Next! I kept moving places and killing all the enemies and NPCs I encountered. Ten minutes later, all of the teleportation formations had been destroyed, and Sunset City had become completely isolated. If Chariot City and Burning City had any plan to reinforce Sunset City, that opportunity was now completely gone. ¡­¡­ After that, I returned to the battlefield and joined the others on fighting the NPC legions. Usually, killing NPCs wouldn¡¯t give any experience or reward whatsoever. In a Nation War though, killing NPC legions gave experience and contribution points. Meanwhile, nearly half an hour after we engaged the enemy, the ranged party led by Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Luo River God of the Capital and more had finally arrived. The rate at which we destroyed the enemy rose exponentially after that. It only took an hour, but Sunset City was soon to have a new master. Through relentless offense, we were able to annihilate all three of Sunset City¡¯s main legions and plug the entrance to the palace, leaving Blazing Hot Lips and Purple Lily to deal with the remaining resisters. Inside the palace, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and more attacked the duke and regent of Sunset City, the boss with all they got. It wasn¡¯t much of a challenge, to be honest. "Wait¡­" I shouted when the boss had fallen to red health, "Let Chengfeng have the last hit on the boss! He will need the level when he enters Sky Vortex later! Also, leave the royal scepter to me. In exchange, you can have my share of the gold and equipment¡­" Everyone agreed. The royal scepter was both a boon and a curse because it painted a big fat target on whoever was holding it. Moreover, whoever obtained the royal scepter couldn¡¯t fly, so they could only escape on foot if anything happened. ¡­¡­ "Ahhh, you damned invaders! The light of the empire will never fade! Just you wait, the day of the apocalypse will be your judgment day!" After he said his last words, Li Chengfeng deleted the last sliver of his HP with Dragonbone Flurry and dropped him to his knees. As a column of golden light increased his Level to 211, I picked up the blood-red royal scepter from the floor and triggered a system announcement¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) has claimed the royal scepter of Sunset City. They may choose to occupy or abandon the city! ¡­¡­ The symbol of the royal scepter appeared above my head, but I didn¡¯t rush to make a decision. The peak experts of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls following behind me, I moved to the walls and watched the sea of NPC legions¡ªthese ones were garrisoned somewhere across the map when they received word of the raid and came to their city¡¯s rescue¡ªthat were attacking the city. It was a good chance to reap more contribution points, so I ordered everyone to play the defender this time. I gazed to the horizon with my sword planted gently against the blood-stained walls. The natural cold of the weapon actually froze the surface of the wall¡ªall ten kilometers of them¡ªin ice. The extraordinary scene and the Sunchaser Cloak painted me in a most epic and deadly appearance. Sitting between an arrow loop and looking back at me, Li Chengfeng asked, "Why are you holding the royal scepter and not using it, Lu Chen? Is it because you don¡¯t want the main city, or are you trying to tease the other servers or something?" I smiled. "Don¡¯t worry, Chengfeng. I¡¯m waiting for a suitable opportunity. For now, let¡¯s kill the NPC legions and clean out the remaining Sunset City players." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ It took another hour or so, but now there were only Chinese players left in Sunset City. There were over 1.9 million of us in total. Objectively speaking, this number of people didn¡¯t amount to much in a Nation War where tens of millions of players were involved. However, every single one of us was an elite, and they were the main reason the China server had been able to sweep all opposition like they didn¡¯t even exist up until this point! Suddenly, I saw a Snowy Cathaya mounted archer riding toward me. It was Nangong Lexi. After she arrived at the foot of the wall, Nangong Lexi looked up at Lin Yixin and reported, "Yiyi, I just received word from our scouts that our players surrounding Burning City had been defeated by Tear Stain. Her SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Yemaek Slash, was just too strong, and Dominating Heaven Blade and his people just couldn¡¯t hold no matter what they tried. Also, Tear Stain is coming for us with over 2 million Burning City players. They¡¯re probably thinking of retaking Sunset City." Lin Yixin nodded. "Thanks, Lexi. Now come in already. It¡¯s dangerous outside." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Luo River God of the Capital was the second person after Chengfeng to ask me about the same question. "Lu Chen, why are you just holding the royal scepter and not using it? What on earth are you planning?" I smiled. "All I¡¯m going to say right now is sit tight and watch, Sister Wang Luo. By the way, can you tell everyone to come inside? Also, don¡¯t engage Tear Stain and the Koreans immediately after they arrive. I wish to negotiate something with Tear Stain. With a bit of luck, we may be able to deal with the Northern Alliance once and for all." "Oh? Interesting. Very well, we¡¯ll do as you say." And so, all the reputable players in the China server stood together on the walls and waited patiently for the enemy to arrive. ¡­¡­ "Do you know what is Sunset City¡¯s richest resource, Chengfeng?" I asked. Li Chengfeng replied in a surprised tone, "Er, I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve never really checked." However, Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ eyes lit up. "I know! It¡¯s wood called ¡®Hongming Wood¡¯, a must-have material to forge high-level arrows, especially because it can increase the success rate of Shock Arrow and Mountain Stagger Arrow. Also, I heard that all Level 200 Earth-grade bows or above must be forged using Hongming Wood." I nodded. "You are completely correct, Momo. However, do you know that the English never utilized this resource properly because they¡¯re too proud, and they think that using a material that artificially boosts the success rate of skills isn¡¯t ¡®chivalrous¡¯? As a result, Hongming Wood is completely wasted on them." Indigo Collar asked, "Since you¡¯re bringing this up, are you planning to take Hongming Wood for ourselves?" "Nope!" I shook my head. "For starters, we don¡¯t need this material. We already have an ore in Sky City that does the same thing. Let me give you a hint: Burning City is a domain of sparse resources, and they especially would like to get their hands on rare resources such as Hongming Wood. Some time ago, I heard a rumor that Tear Stain had tried to borrow Hongming Wood from Sunset City only to be rejected. Unwilling to give up, she actually snuck into Sunset Forest with a small party in the hopes of stealing some Hongming Wood, but was ultimately caught red-handed¡­" "Holy shit!" Li Chengfeng slapped his thighs in sudden realization. "I think I know what you¡¯re planning now, Lu Chen! You¡¯re so bad, hahaha¡­" I guffawed. "Whatever do you mean? I¡¯m just giving Tear Stain what she wants, hehe. Anyway, the Koreans are an ambitious bunch, and Tear Stain is even more so. There is no chance she would let this opportunity slip past her fingers." ¡­¡­ A while later, Pure Love pointed to the distance and said, "Vice guild leader, Burning City has arrived!" As she said, a tidal wave of cavalrymen started flooding in from the mountains. Leading them was none other than a wary-looking Tear Stain riding on a red warhorse. I knew she would come. Chapter 1229 Tear Stain was keeping her pace to a canter up until that point, but now she had sped up to a full gallop. The moment she reached the foot of the city, a pair of white wings immediately erupted from behind her back. Her blade brimmed with divine energy, and she looked like she was about to bring it down on top of a group of fearless Peach Garden players when one of the magic knights hooted, "This way, little girl! Nothing will make us happier than you wasting your Divine Energy Points on us!" Tear Stain paused as if she couldn¡¯t believe her ears. Then, her eyes widened with fury as the rest of the gang joined in on the hooting. "You will die!" ¡­¡­ She raised her weapon again. These people were brave, but there was no chance they were going to survive this considering Tear Stain¡¯s Attack and the destructive power of an SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill. Thud! I bent my knees a little and jumped off the wall, cloak rising behind my head as I did so. The Ancient Divine Dragon transformed into metallic armor around my body, and what should¡¯ve been a painful landing turned into a graceful, harmless one instead. My Ghost Spirit War Boots glowed an eerie red as I walked toward Tear Stain, raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces high up in the air and said, "Stop!" "Hmm?" The corners of Tear Stain¡¯s lips curled upward as she said, "You¡¯re here too, Falling Dust? Looks like this is going to be a big fight." I smiled noncommittally and said, "Long time no see. To think that we would meet again on the battlefield! That being said, this doesn¡¯t have to be a fight right off the bat, right?" Seemingly catching my meaning, Tear Stain sheathed her weapon and said, "I guess so." On the walls, a vice leader of Peach Garden shouted in a flabbergasted tone, "Are you fighting the enemy or not, Lu Chen? You aren¡¯t seriously thinking about taking Tear Stain as your concubine, are you? Don¡¯t forget that Tear Stain is Candlelight Shadow¡¯s junior! Even if you¡¯re interested, you¡¯ll have to go through him first!" My mouth twitched, and I completely forgot what I was about to say a second ago. Tear Stain was clicking her tongue and looking like she wanted to murder someone as well. Indigo Collar hurriedly scolded his vice leader, "For fuck¡¯s sake, Third! Read the room!" The vice leader clenched his teeth, but he obeyed Indigo Collar¡¯s authority. ¡­¡­ Behind me, more Chinese players such as Lin Yixin, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Du Thirteen, Chaos Moon and more jumped off the wall and joined me both to intimidate the enemy and to help me in case anything happened. Of course, non-metal armor players such as Beiming Xue, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Lian Xin, Luo River God of the Capital and Cute Little Naughty didn¡¯t join us. No one wanted to test Tear Stain¡¯s restraint and get suddenly one-shot by her Yemaek Slash. After all, we and the Korea server were completely hostile right now. The Koreans weren¡¯t willing to be outdone. Hooves rocked the plains, and soon Throne of the Wild and the other Korean guilds stopped just short behind Tear Stain. There had to be at least hundreds of thousands of them. A tall, brawny man carrying a battle axe walked up to his guild leader and asked in an odd voice, "Why are we waiting, guild leader¡ªoh. I wasn¡¯t expecting to see this many Chinese experts. Even the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill owner Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is here. No wonder you didn¡¯t fight them already. It would¡¯ve been a tad troublesome." Tear Stain raised her hand and ordered resolutely, "Stand by while I speak with Lu Chen. No one is to attack the enemy unless I say the word. Those who broke the rule will be punished severely!" "Yes, ma¡¯am!" After that, Tear Stain dismounted from her horse and walked until she was about five yards away from me. Crossing her hands in front of her chest, she said with perfect confidence, "You may speak now, Lu Chen. Less than a hundred people will be able to hear our conversation from here. Also, the ones standing behind your back are your trusted allies, right?" I nodded. "Yes, they are." "Now, speak!" I sheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces to enter a non-combat state. Then, I opened my arms and began, "As you may have noticed, we¡¯ve slaughtered more or less every last Sunset City player in the city. The city itself is currently ownerless, and the royal scepter is in my bag. Anyone who uses it will be able to claim it in their server¡¯s name." A trace of surprise flashed across her eyes. "Yes. So what?" I smiled. "I can see you¡¯ve brought over 70% of your entire server¡¯s playerbase. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re here to visit us or retake the city for the English." "Heh!" Tear Stain let out a scornful chuckle. "And how would you know that? In fact, I am here to retake the city for England. I have nearly a hundred Sunset City players in my friend list, and Burning City and Sunset City have been staunch allies since forever. There is absolutely no reason we wouldn¡¯t help them. You saw yourself how quickly we made our way over¡­" I smiled. "Oh, certainly. Sunset City was under attack for three to four hours, and it took you exactly that long to complete a single hour of journey. Your ¡®aid¡¯ is as timely as it gets." Tear Stain asked, "So? What¡¯s the plan here? Do you want to occupy the city now so I can kill you and retake the city, or do you want to kill me?" I shrugged. "Please, you¡¯re Candlelight Shadow¡¯s junior, and you look like a hard touch might break your skin. It¡¯s completely against a Chinese male¡¯s style to hurt a precious woman like you, much less me¡­" Tear Stain suddenly giggled until her breasts jiggled visibly. Her character aside, I couldn¡¯t deny she was a true beauty. At the very least, she and Candlelight Shadow deserved each other. Her giggle lasted for a moment before she abruptly cut herself off and stared at me with cold, steely eyes. "What on earth are you planning, Lu Chen?" "Nothing much!" I stepped forward until there was only a single step between the two of us. Then, I leaned forward and whispered beside her ears, "There is a large amount of Hongming Wood deep within Sunset Forest¡ªprecious, precious materials that can be used to forge many a great archer. Not only that, Sunset Forest¡¯s monster level and resource variety are top-notch as well. Even if you aren''t as greedy as I thought, are you really going to tell me you don¡¯t want to create a party of top-tier archers for Throne of the Wild, one capable of going head to head against Flames of War¡¯s Lightning Archer Legion at least?" "Ah¡­" Tear Stain let out a cry of surprise and took a step backward. I could see that her eyes were filled with surprise and indecision. Less than three seconds later, she stepped back forward and whispered beside my ears, "It¡¯s true that I want Hongming Wood and all those resources, but I think you¡¯re forgetting the fact that Sunset City and Chariot City are my allies¡­" "Allies, my ass!" I grinned. "If I command my server to attack Burning City right now, I bet Chariot City won¡¯t lift a single finger to help you. Don¡¯t believe me? I can prove it to you right now if you want to. As you¡¯re aware, the Chaotic 27 and China have formed a true alliance with each other, and now that we¡¯ve taken both the USA¡¯s Seven Star City and Vietnam¡¯s Hot Sand City, the war has shifted from the Center to the north. Do you really think you can maintain the current status quo without a second main city at the very least? We aren¡¯t your only enemies, you know. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, God of War, Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud will all be happy to see you go as well." I knew my persuasion was working when I saw the astonishment on Tear Stain¡¯s face. I continued, "You are Candlelight Shadow¡¯s junior and a former member of his party. Therefore, you aren¡¯t completely unaffiliated with the China server. You¡¯ve also held back when the Northern Alliance and the Indians tried to wipe us out during the War of Center. That is the only reason I¡¯m offering you both Sunset City and Sunset Forest, understand?" Tear Stain shivered with even bigger indecision. "I can¡¯t hold this city even if I take it off your hands. Both the English and the German server have a playerbase of ten million each, while we only have a playerbase of 9 million+, and an average online presence of 6 million. There¡¯s no way we can hold Sunset City against both of them." I smiled. "Seriously? You know that Korea¡¯s VR competitive scene is world-famous, right? Your strength especially is world-class. Another server may not be able to claim the same thing, but you Koreans definitely can hold two main cities with just 9 million players. Most importantly, Sunset City is less than an hour away from Hot Sand City, and Hot Sand City is in our hands right now. Will Candlelight Shadow say no if you contact him for reinforcements?" Finally, Tear Stain clenched her teeth and grew determined. "Alright. How do we do this?" I took out the royal scepter and held it in my hand. I told her, "Hit me once, and the royal scepter is yours. Then, we¡¯ll evacuate and leave you to your new city!" "Very well!" She raised her sword and swung down on my head without any warning whatsoever. She¡¯s actually trying to kill me! What a woman! Chiang! I parried the attack and allowed myself to be pushed back despite having much higher Strength than her. Just like that, a royal scepter appeared on the ground where I jumped off. Thud! Tear Stain gripped the royal scepter without hesitation. I could see that her eyes were brimming with excitement. ¡­¡­ "Lu Chen!" A series of shouts erupted from the Chinese ranks. Gui Guzi looked especially furious as he shouted, "That bitch dares to sneak attack my brother!? Get her!" I hurriedly raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces and shouted, "Stop! Stop! Listen to me! We can¡¯t beat the Koreans right now because they¡¯re too OP and excited! All players are to withdraw through the northern and southern gates and rally at the west side of Sunset Forest right now!" Indigo Collar looked like he could scarcely believe his ears. "Lu Chen, what the hell are you¡ª" Stranger of Three Lifetimes interrupted with a smile, "Indigo Collar, use your brain for a moment, will you? What do you think will happen if we retreat now and give up the city to the Koreans? This means that the English and Germans will go to war against them instead! That¡¯s at least 50% of the pressure of this war gone just like that!" Indigo Collar exclaimed in realization, "I¡­ I see! What an absolutely shameless idea! I love it! Lu Chen truly is a strategic genius!" Chapter 1230 Half an hour later, after Tear Stain and a million troops had entered Sunset City, she decided to send everyone else back to Burning City just in case Cyan Earth City¡¯s Breeze and Rain and God of War decided to raid it. Worst-case scenario, they would need every man and woman to hold the city. As for us, we surrounded Sunset City with 2 million players and set up many White Marsh Catapults and Bloodfiend War Drums. This gave us the choice to attack the city or defend ourselves from an outside attack. ¡­¡­ While my Ancient Divine Dragon was resting atop a gigantic, sky-reaching tree, I sat on its tail, hugged the Chill of the Nine Provinces and gazed toward the direction of Chariot City and Hero City. The Americans were busy retaking Seven Star City right now, so there was a small chance they would come to help Sunset City. However, the same couldn¡¯t be said for Chariot City. The players we sent to feint an attack were weak, so their main force could certainly break out of the encirclement if they so wished. He Yi checked the time before saying, "There¡¯s 27 hours left before the Nation War is over. It doesn¡¯t look like there is much fighting left though. The dust has settled with Hot Sand City going to the China server and Sunset City going to the Korea server." Gui Guzi licked his lips before saying regretfully, "It¡¯s a shame that we have to surrender a tier 1 main city like Sunset City to the Koreans though." Lin Yixin giggled. "Relax. There are only so many Koreans, and Sunset City is a huge city. Trust me when I say that they¡¯re going to have a hard time trying to hold it, especially since the English will be eager to take revenge against them. That¡¯s why Lu Chen had surrendered the city to Korea in the first place." Gui Guzi nodded. "Yeah. I have almost no sense of the big picture at all, so this kind of stuff is best left to Boss Broken Halberd to deal with." ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a troop of around a thousand riders led by a middle-aged man rode up to us. He was none other than the supreme commander of the China battle line, the last CGL Hall of Famer and a committee member of the CGL committee, Hot and Sour Noodles. After Zhang Chun dismounted from his horse and looked at me, He Yi, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Lin Yixin and the rest of the guild leaders one by one, he suddenly clasped his fist in a salute and said, "First, on behalf of the China server, I would like to thank everyone here for pulling off such an impressive feat. Never have we taken two main cities in a row in the history of the China VR gaming until now." He Yi responded with a chuckle, "You¡¯re welcome, Chairman Zhang¡­" Zhang Chun laughed. "Just call me uncle. Seriously, that almost sounds like an insult¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes tilted her head. "You¡¯re a weird one, uncle. Here in China, practically everyone who¡¯s in politics enjoys being addressed by their title, isn¡¯t it?" Zhang Chun sucked in a deep breath before replying, "You know I was a CGL member from the beginning, right? The reason I quit and founded Righteousness later on was precisely because I couldn¡¯t stand all the political bullshit. As you can see though, I wasn¡¯t able to abscond my responsibility in the end. I had to go back, or there would be little to no one clean in the entire China VR department." I said from the tree, "So, we managed to retake Wind City, defeat both Hot Sand City and Sunset City, and even widen the fracture between the members of the Northern Alliance. This is a great achievement, right? We deserve some benefits for everything that we¡¯ve done, right?" Zhang Chun nodded heavily. "Don¡¯t worry. I promise you that the Top 1000 players on the Nation War contribution point leaderboard will receive some additional reward. Chief Tang Feng had also created a proposal to make the CGL an official unit in the VR department. Long story short, the two organizations will be merging, and I was given the responsibility to manage them both. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to get you the reward you all deserve." I smiled gladly. "Thanks, uncle." ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Beiming Xue appeared from the distant plains. She galloped at full speed to reach us before reporting while panting, "A huge amount of troops had appeared from the north, big brother! They¡¯re definitely coming for Sunset City! What do we do now?" "Do you know who they are?" "Over 95% of them are Chariot City cavalrymen. I think I also spotted some English among them. They¡¯re most likely Sunset City players." "Hehe, I knew that the English would seek out the Germans to retake their main city. Looks like their defense pact isn¡¯t completely useless after all. Interesting¡­" Zhang Chun¡¯s eyes lit up. "So¡­ should we help the Koreans defend the city, or?" I leaped down from the tree and landed as nimbly as a bird. Then, I replied with a smile, "Of course we¡¯re helping Tear Stain to defend the city! She¡¯s Candlelight Shadow¡¯s cute little junior, and Candlelight Shadow¡¯s our Martial God. Even if we don¡¯t really care for the former, we must consider the latter¡¯s feelings, right? Yes, we must assist the Koreans to defend Sunset City. All main forces, withdraw to the northside and prepare to welcome our friends from Chariot City!" ¡­¡­ Soon, the Dragonlight Cavalry, Zephyr Cavalry, Kui Dragon Cavalry and other metal-armor cavalrymen had formed up and unsheathed their weapons in anticipation of a warm "greeting" from the visitors. When the black tide that was Chariot City¡¯s forces finally appeared from the horizon, a ring of white peeked out of the eastern mountains, and the first ray of dawn shone down on the enemy¡¯s armor and gave them an intimidating outlook. Chariot City hadn¡¯t made a single move since the beginning of this great Nation War, and when they did they surprised everyone by going all out. I counted at least a million riders spread across the plains, and I had no idea how big the ranged parties following behind them would be. Leading in front of the group was a Level 215 elite warrior wielding a fiery red spear. He galloped toward us until he was within hearing distance before saying, "Please move out of the way, Chinese friends! This is a matter of the Northern Alliance!" I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and activated Fusion Armor at the same time, arming myself to the teeth. Then, I stepped forward and said smilingly, "Sorry, but we won¡¯t be able to comply with that request. We have just come to an agreement with Tear Stain of Burning City, so trust me when I say that we will fight to the last man and woman to make sure that Sunset City stays in her hands. Friend from Chariot City, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware that this really has nothing to do with your server. You don¡¯t have to interfere, am I right?" The warrior clenched his teeth but didn¡¯t respond. It was at this moment a couple of English players left the main army and galloped toward us. A Level 212 magic knight in red metal armor pointed a finger to the walls. "Get down from there and speak face-to-face with us, Tear Stain! You know that Sunset City and Burning City strongly rely on one another to survive, so why did you work together with the Chinese to steal our only main city? What the hell do you think you¡¯re doing?" Tear Stain was standing on the wall with her sword held beside her. Her long hair looked a bit disheveled due to the wind, and her cloak was flapping loudly behind her. She bit her lips for a moment before responding loudly, "Ally? A true ally wouldn¡¯t have gone so far as to wipe out our party when we were just trying to gather some Hongming Wood! Hmph! If you won¡¯t give us Hongming Wood, then we¡¯ll just have to take it ourselves!" Absolutely pissed, the English player shouted, "Take it yourself? The Korea server truly is made up of a bunch of shameless scum!" Tear Stain pointed her sword straight at the Englishman and shouted back, "What did you say? I dare you to say that again!" "I said the Korean server is made up of a bunch of scum! What are you going to do about it?" The guy was completely out of control. "Hey!" The Chariot City guild leader next to him was calm, however. He looked at the Englishman and said, "As you can see, Charlie, this is an unwinnable war. Not only are the Chinese helping the Koreans, I see a lot of Ancient Divine Skill owners among their ranks. The only outcome I can foresee from this battle is us losing both levels and equipment for nothing. I¡¯m sorry, but I cannot in good conscience make my players fight a war they cannot win." The Englishman shuddered visibly. "What did you say? We¡¯re allies! If Sunset City is lost, you are the next on the chopping block! Do you really think your server can survive on your own?" The German replied with a calming smile, "Don¡¯t be depressed, my friend. In the larger scheme of things, one loss means nothing at all. For starters, we can retake the main city as soon as next week. Two, we were completely caught off-guard by the Chinese. Not only did their counterattack come way ahead of Vienna and my prediction, they somehow managed to convince Earth Tiger City, Greedy Wolf City and Proud Dragon City to join in on their assault. Think. Can we really win this war from our current position? We cannot, can we? So I beg you to remain calm and wait for a better opportunity. Once Hero City and Cyan Earth City have caught their breath, retaking Sunset City will be as easy as snapping a finger." The Englishman still looked displeased, but the German raised his spear decisively and ordered, "All units, withdraw to Chariot City now! The northern barbarians mustn¡¯t be allowed to capitalize on our absence!" Just like that, the army of Chariot City receded like tidewater. The outcome of the battle defied everyone¡¯s expectation, it was as if it hadn¡¯t happened in the first place. ¡­¡­ On the walls, Tear Stain let out a huge sigh of relief before whispering to herself, "Thank god they left¡­" Tear Stain was feeling like she just rode a roller coaster because she didn¡¯t believe that the China server would go to war against the German server for her at all. That was just her being short-sighted, however. The China server had just retaken Wind City and conquered Hot Sand City, so we needed allies more than enemies right now. That was why I had engineered things so that Burning City would become our ally whether they liked it or not. A while later, a single rider appeared from the horizon, and he was none other than the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill owner, Candlelight Shadow. He was carrying a huge sword and leading several thousand Candle Dragon riders. When he arrived at Sunset City and saw Tear Stain on the wall, he shivered a bit before murmuring, "Lu Chen really did give you the royal scepter¡­" Tear Stain nodded. "I guess we¡¯re friends from here on out, Shadow. There¡¯s no turning back after what I did, and it¡¯s all thanks to your Little Heavenly King¡­" Candlelight Shadow clenched his fists before sighing. "Ai, that bastard Lu Chen!" ¡­¡­ I had returned to my tree to take a nap, and I chose this moment to open my eyes, sit up and say to Candlelight Shadow, "You should be thanking me instead of cursing me, Candlelight Shadow. I made sure that you would never be torn between love and duty, putting our entire server in grave danger." Candlelight Shadow clenched his teeth. "Hmph!" ¡­¡­ This was hands down the smoothest Nation War we had fought since the start of Heavenblessed. There weren¡¯t even many moments where we were pressured at all. I logged out twice during the 27-hour wait to take care of my basic needs. When I logged back into the game for the last time, it was past 8 am on the third day of the Nation War; 1+ hour from the end of the Nation War. Hot Sand City was firmly in our grasp, and Sunset City in Tear Stain¡¯s. In fact, Tear Stain didn¡¯t log out for the entire 27 hours because she wanted to make 100% sure that the city would be hers. She was as ruthless to herself as she was to other people. ¡­¡­ Pa! Finally, Gui Guzi planted his spear on the ground and said, "Guess waiting for the reward announcement is the only thing we have left to do!" Chapter 1231 Time passed little by little. I was browsing China¡¯s Nation War contribution point leaderboard on the Nation War interface. Despite not having fought for an entire day, I was still sitting comfortably in the first place and well ahead of the runner-up, Luo River God of the Capital. The mage had fought from the start until the end this time, and skills such as Galaxy Storm and God Devil Break were as powerful as ultimate skills in her hands. That was why she had outperformed Lian Xin, Lin Yixin, Candlelight Shadow, Li Chengfeng and more. Not even Lian Xin with her better class could beat her, even though the gap was very small. "It¡¯s almost time!" Some time later, Gui Guzi abruptly bounced to his feet and said, "The first to fourth places on the world contribution point leaderboard belong to us, so we are undoubtedly the biggest winner of this Nation War. I can¡¯t wait to see how great our reward is going to be, hahaha!" I nodded with a smile. "Mn. Don¡¯t forget to treat us to a meal if you get a Divine Armament. That applies to everyone as well~" Despite being the attacker this time, China was still the country that killed the most enemies in this Nation War. Our old rivals such as Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, Breeze and Rain, God of War and more were also present on the list, but there were a couple of factors that greatly limited their ability to reap more contribution points. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had to focus all his strength on retaking Seven Star City, so he couldn¡¯t just run amok like he usually did. Neither Breeze and Rain nor God of War had missed most of the major battles, so their enemy kill counts were slightly below their usual standards as well. That was why the top spots of the contribution points leaderboard were dominated by the Chinese. A while later, the long-awaited system announcement resounded across the sky, and everyone received their Nation War reward. It was a hard 72-hour fight where countless opponents were slain, so the reward wee pretty pretty handsome¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Due to the number of servers participating in the Nation War, a total contribution points leaderboard based on countries have been created. In descending order, the Top 10 nations with the most contribution points in this Nation War are¡ªChina, India, USA, England, Russia, Vietnam, Brazil, Japan, Korea, and Argentina. As the number one server on the leaderboard, the China server is awarded the MVP of this Nation War. All players of the server gain Level +1, and their three main cities¡ªSky City, Vanished God City, Wind City¡ªgain Rank +1, Defense +25%, City Defense +40%, and 80% city NPCs revived! Ding~! System Announcement: In descending order, the Top 10 player with the most contribution points in this Nation War are¡ªBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (China), Luo River God of the Capital (China), Wind Fantasy (China), Lian Xing (China), Vienna¡¯s Sorrow (USA), Beiming Xue (China), Legendary Brave (China), Candlelight Shadow (China), From Water (China), and Breeze and Rain (India). Moreover, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" from China is awarded the MVP of this Nation War. They gain Level +5, Luck +5, and the equipment reward "Xuanming Bow" (Twelve Divine Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)! ¡­¡­ I shuddered. What the heck areTwelve Divine Armaments? I opened my bag and saw a deep cyan-colored bow lying inside it. Its strings glowed slightly, and its limb was made of some sort of metal that I couldn¡¯t identify. Its build was perfectly flawless, and despite its relatively normal appearance, I had a feeling that it was one of, if not the most powerful equipment out there right now. "Lu Chen!" He Yi gave my shoulder a push and said, "Show us its stats already! I want to know what these Twelve Divine Armaments are, and why haven¡¯t we heard about them before?" "Yeah." I nodded and took out the Xuanming Bow. As I waved a hand across its limb and summoned its stats screen, the jaws of every Chinese player close by hit the floor with a resounding thunk¡ª Xuanming Bow (Twelve Divine Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 12500~15500 Agility: +2450 Stamina: +2300 Strength: +2250 Intelligence: +2100 Tactics: +275 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 225% Passive: Increases user¡¯s splash effect by 49% Passive: All bow-type skill rank +2, damage +20% Slots: 18 Outstanding Property: Ice Kill. When attacking a target, a small chance to trigger Ice Kill and freeze the enemy. If the target is killed within 7 seconds, they will lose 5 levels instantly. Ancient: Xuanming Flame. Activate to target all enemies within 1000 yards of the user and lower their HP by 45% and deal continuous burning damage. Effect 1: Proficiency, Level Requirement is lowered by 35 Effect 2: Evolvable Introduction: Xuanming Bow. One of the Twelve Divine Armaments, the Xuanming Bow was a creation of the God of Ice and Fire. It was created across a thousand years using a frozen metal that came from beyond the heavens. After the weapon was created, the God of Ice and Fire ordered a divine envoy to hunt down an evil beast at the southern sea, which they succeeded in just a single strike. Unfortunately, the divine envoy grew greedy and left the God Realm with the bow. When the devils slayed him, the Xuanming Bow went missing as well. Level Requirement: 220 Reputation Requirement: 700000 ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi licked his lips with a wide-eyed disbelief. "Holy shit. Its Attack is insane, it boosts all four stats, and it¡¯s even evolvable! If this isn¡¯t a god-tier weapon, I don¡¯t know what is¡­" Li Chengfeng said, "I know right? This bow¡¯s Attack is 7 times my Dark Blade¡¯s. How is this fair? Man, if only I could have one of the Twelve Divine Armaments¡­" Lin Yixin walked over with a dimpled smile on her face. "I know right? My Seven Star Veluriyam Sword needed an upgrade for a long time now. The only reason I¡¯ve kept it until now is because it has excellent passives. Still, it¡¯s time for a change¡­" He Yi echoed in agreement. "Yes, I would like to get a new weapon as well." While this was going on, I walked up to Beiming Xue and handed her the Xuanming Bow. "Here, take this. There¡¯s no one here who¡¯s a better fit with this weapon than you¡­" "Ah!" Beiming Xue¡¯s mouth fell open. "But big brother, it¡¯s Twelve Divine Armaments! One of the only Twelve Divine Armaments in the entire world! You can¡¯t just give it away for free!" I grinned. "If you were anyone else, sure. But my little sister? Sure I can. So just take it." "Mm, okay. Thank you, big brother! I love you forever!" "Heh!" As I turned back to face the others, Li Chengfeng called out to me, "Yo, Lu Chen, check the equipment leaderboard interface, you know? Twelve Divine Armaments have been added to the Weapon Ranking¡­" "Huh¡­" It was as he said. A new ranking had appeared on the leaderboard, but so far only the Xuanming Bow had a clear owner¡ª The Twelve Divine Armaments of Heavenblessed Continent The Dignity That Connects Heaven and Earth¡ªXuanyuan Sword, Owner: Incomplete The Roar of Titans¡ªPangu Axe, Owner: None The War Song of the God of Ice and Fire¡ªXuanming Bow, Owner: Beiming Xue The Aria of the Goddess of Rain and Dew¡ªJasper Flute, Owner: None The Soft Cry of the Wind of Silence¡ªDead Wind Blade, Owner: None The Curse of the Reaper of Darkness¡ªGhost Killing Halberd, Owner: None The Storm of Infinite Void¡ªSpirit Void Fan, Owner: None The Giant Constrictor of the Goddess of Vengeance¡ªSpirit Devouring Whip, Owner: None The Melody That Moves The Heart¡ªSeven-stringed Zither, Owner: None The Eternal Dawn¡ªImmortal Blade, Owner: None The Blaze That Burns All¡ªScepter of Divine Flame, Owner: None The Freedom That Soars The Heavens¡ªWind Severing Sword, Owner: None ¡­¡­ "The War Song of the God of Ice and Fire? Tsk tsk, that¡¯s a pretty cool title¡­" Li Chengfeng chuckled. "Hmm, it doesn¡¯t look like there are many weapons among the Twelve Divine Armaments that suit me unfortunately. The Xuanyuan Sword is obviously out of the question, but the Dead Wind Blade and Immortal Blade may fit me. I won¡¯t mind having the Wind Severing Sword either, hehe¡­" Chaos Moon rolled her eyes at him. "Quit dreaming, there are only 12 of these weapons in the entire server, and the chances that you¡¯ll end up with one of them is next to nil. By the way, it says ¡®incomplete¡¯ in the owner bracket of the number one weapon of the Twelve Divine Armaments, the Xuanyuan Sword. What does that mean?" Gui Guzi smiled proudly. "That¡¯s Boss Broken Halberd¡¯s Chill of the Nine Provinces, of course! It¡¯s not the Xuanyuan Sword yet, but maybe it¡¯ll be during its next evolution! Anyway, it¡¯s just a matter of time!" He Yi giggled. "So, the first and third weapons of the Twelve Divine Armaments belong to the brother and sister, Lu Chen and Beiming Xue, huh? Not bad, not bad at all. Also, it¡¯s looking like the guild with the highest number of Twelve Divine Armaments will own the world in the future!" Xu Yang clenched his fists and guffawed. "In that case, Ancient Sword shall do their best to collect all twelve and become unrivaled!" Lin Yixin pouted. "OMG, are you trying to make the rest of us delete our accounts?" "Hahaha¡­" ¡­¡­ So far, only two Twelve Divine Armaments had surfaced to the world, and my Chill of the Nine Provinces was technically a half-finished weapon at most. Even so, the Xuanyuan Art of the Chill of the Nine Provinces and the Xuanming Flame of the Xuanming Bow were skills with a 1000-yard range, the kind that could decide the scales of a large-scale battle or even a Nation War single-handedly. Therefore, the power of the Twelve Divine Armaments couldn¡¯t be underestimated. Also, the Twelve Divine Armaments weren¡¯t bound items. This meant that their owner could drop them if they were killed. In the future, I fully expected the servers to go to war to claim the Twelve Divine Armaments for themselves! After the interlude, I looked at the others and asked them, "So, what did the rest of you get?" Lian Xin replied first, "I got a Sacred Armament ring that adds 90% Magic Attack and 3000 Intelligence¡­" I sighed on behalf of all our enemies. "Damn, our metal-armor brethren are going to cry so hard when they hear about this¡­" Lin Yixin said, "I got Ancient Immortal-grade boots that I¡¯m going to wear until we grind the S7 instance. Unless I¡¯m sorely mistaken, no other instance equipment except S7 is going to outperform Ancient Immortal-grade equipment." "That¡¯s true." Li Chengfeng complained, "I got a helmet, but dammit, what I need is a weapon, not defensive equipment! I¡¯ve been holding onto this Dark Blade for god knows how many chapters already. I need an upgrade, man!" I grimaced. "Sorry. You¡¯ll just have to work harder, I guess¡­" ¡­¡­ After the loot discussion was over, I took out my return scroll and looked at Sunset City one last time. "Alright, it¡¯s time to head back to Sky City and log out, everyone. This Nation War has given us at least a week of peace, so make sure you cherish it by grinding mobs or instances, doing quests, earning gold and more of that good stuff, okay? Nation Wars aren¡¯t all there is to this game after all." Swhoosh! I crushed my return scroll and teleported back to Sky City first. I had over 900 top-tier pieces of equipment in my bag, so it was high time I unloaded them at Air Force One and made some RMB! "You¡¯re finally back, master!" To my surprise, my beautiful shop assistant, White Fox, looked absolutely excited to see me. She shot me a beautiful smile and said, "The shop hasn¡¯t been doing very well as of late, not to mention that it was closed for a very long time. That being said, I¡¯m sure things will get better now that you¡¯ve returned¡­" I was confused for a moment until I made the connection. She must mean the time I was exiled from the China server. Should I thank Tang Long for just closing my Air Force One instead of deleting it outright? Nah, considering Dark Moon City had remained mine all along, I bet he didn¡¯t have the authority to do so. Chapter 1232 It was a quiet and peaceful summer afternoon at the eastern square of Sky City. There weren¡¯t many players hanging about because most of them had logged out of the game to catch their afternoon nap. I only counted dozens of player stalls scattered throughout the area. Anyway, I sat down at a corner, dropped about a hundred pieces of equipment in front of me and began hollering, "Freshly looted equipment for sale! I got a Level 190 Earth-grade helmet that adds 24% Defense and 10k max HP for only 4500 gold for you tanks! There¡¯s also a Level 200 female-only metal armor that adds 37% Defense and 15% Attack! It may or may not have dropped from the mistress of the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill owner, Soul Slayer! Buy now for only 9999 gold! First come first served, and beauties before all else!" Unfortunately, despite having hollered for customers for over ten minutes, not many people checked out my items, and those that did, couldn¡¯t afford it. After all, 1 gold was equal to 1 RMB in the real world, and it was a price the average player couldn¡¯t hope to afford. Rustle rustle... Suddenly, I heard a rustling of footsteps beside me. Before I could react, Lin Yixin wrapped her arms around me from behind and asked cheerfully, "Guess who I am?" I looked at the Devil Bell hanging from her wrist and exclaimed in mock surprise, "Aue muh gawd, who¡¯s the bastard who killed my Yiyi and stole her Devil Bell? Show yourself now so I may slay you, fiend!" While saying this, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her forcefully into my lap. She obediently sat down between my legs before punching my shoulder embarrassedly. "Choose a better time and place next time, bastard! We¡¯re in public right now!" It was only then I noticed that the stall owners who had been dozing off earlier were staring at us with wide-eyed disbelief. Lin Yixin hadn¡¯t turned off her ID and equipment effect before I pulled her into my embrace, so everyone could see that she was the famous Fruit Knife Goddess Wind Fantasy. Personally, I didn¡¯t think she could hide her identity even if she had gone through the necessary procedure. Her attire and her face were practically the symbol of the China server at this point, not to mention that she had signed a contract with Eternal Moon Corporation to act as their China spokesperson. She had posters of herself on nearly every street and alley. ¡­¡­ After I let go of Lin Yixin, she sat down beside me in a much more dignified position before looking at my equipment selection, "I ate a bit too much during lunch and wanted to take you for a walk, but the weather seems a bit too hot today. So, I logged back into the game to pass the time. What about you? Did you manage to sell anything during this time?" I glanced at my own stall while replying, "I only managed to sell Heaven-grade wristguards and three pieces of Earth-grade leather armor. That¡¯s 19k gold in total. Tsk tsk, it¡¯s so hard to earn money these days. It almost makes me regret not using Chaos Moon¡¯s Greedy Wolf Howl for myself. She¡¯s been killing Purple Grape City players at the foreign lands everyday, and she earned damn near a million gold during this Nation War. That¡¯s a million RMB, sheesh. I heard she went outside this afternoon to buy a BMW 7 Series for herself. I¡¯m so envious¡­" However, Lin Yixin simply rolled her eyes at me and chided, "Cut the act, you know you earned way more money than Chaos Moon. Forget a BMW 7 Series, you can even buy a Lamborghini if you want to!" I shrugged. "Haha, of course not. Did you know that I visited dad and third uncle yesterday and sent them back to Yangzhou? I¡¯m planning to buy a villa in the nearby town for dad and have third uncle and third aunt move in as well so they can take care of each other. There¡¯s land right next to the villa too, so they can plant some vegetables for themselves if they want to. Until I can afford that without murdering my bank account, I have no plans to buy a Lamborghini, at least not now." Lin Yixin shrugged as well before leaning against me. "Whatever you say, dear. You work hard to buy your dad and uncle that villa, and I¡¯ll work hard to buy a Lamborghini for you before your next birthday. What do you say?" "Oh?" I turned to stare at her in surprise. "Did you just say you¡¯re going to buy me a luxury car for my birthday? Since when are you so generous, Yiyi?" "I can buy whatever I want. What, you don¡¯t like it? I¡¯ll give it to Gui Guzi then¡­" I hurriedly stopped her, "No way! Little Gui is an honest boy. If you give him a Lamborghini, he¡¯s going to think that you¡¯re interested in him. I absolutely don¡¯t want to deal with that!" "Hmph~ I guess you¡¯re protective of your girl after all," Lin Yixin said with a cute giggle. "Of course I am." I held her hand for a moment before moving onto another topic, "By the way, I saw something on the forums this morning. It¡¯s probably very important to us." "Oh? What is it?" I sucked in a deep breath before saying, "There is an abandoned Giant Dragon¡¯s nest directly to the north of Cyan Earth City. It is said that it used to be one of the dragon race¡¯s habitats. Anyway, the point is that Cyan Beast had monopolized the map after the Nation War ended. It¡¯s clear that Breeze and Rain is planning to gather as many dragon eggs as possible." Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open in surprise. "You¡¯re saying that Cyan Beast is building a dragon knight army." I nodded affirmatively. "Yes. At the very least, that should be what Breeze and Rain is planning. Putting myself aside, flying armies have more than proven their worth during the previous Nation Wars. Flowing Cloud¡¯s Night Owl Riders are trash, and yet they still managed to wreak havoc on static formations via paradropping. As of now, a dragon knight legion is practically invincible. A guild that manages to assemble a squad of 10 or more dragon knights will possess enough power and mobility to deal massive damage be it in positional or mobile warfare. That is why I feel that we need to do something very soon. We¡¯ll be in deep trouble if we don¡¯t have a proper counter by the time Cyan Beast finishes building their dragon knight legion. At the very least, the Dragonlight Cavalry and Kui Dragon Cavalry alone aren¡¯t enough. They are no match for dragon knights at all." "Hmm, you may be right. Where are we going to find a giant dragon mount though?" I sighed. "Yes, that is what I¡¯m worrying about as well." ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a new rustling of footsteps appeared behind us. We looked behind us and saw a woman carrying a longbow behind her back and a dagger around her waist. She was wearing a black cloak that covered both her face and body, but I could still see that she was stacked in all the right places. "Is this NPC¡­ looking for you?" Lin Yixin asked with a blink. I gripped my weapon and stared at the uninvited guest, asking, "You¡¯ve been standing behind us for a long time. Who are you and what are you planning?" The woman¡¯s shoulders shivered as if she was suppressing a giggle. Then, she unwrapped her cloak and revealed an exquisite countenance and excellent body. She was none other than the greatest general of the Violet Empire under Queen Sophia, Shadow Dancer Xue Wei. "Long time no see, young undead," Xue Wei greeted me with a chuckle. The light movement caused her breasts to ripple in a way that only a woman with a pair of huge breasts could. It was suffocating to say the least. Beside me, Lin Yixin suddenly glared at Xue Wei as if she felt challenged. She abruptly puffed up her own chest until her bunnies looked like they might spill out of her armor. I couldn¡¯t help but sigh "woman" inside my head. They would go up against even a computer-generated avatar if they felt challenged. "Yiyi, you can stop now. I¡¯m already aware that your size is 34D¡­" "Hmm? How did you know that, you pervert?" I smiled and grabbed her hand placatingly before speaking to Xue Wei seriously, "It¡¯s truly been a long time, Xue Wei. Why have you entered Sky City in such an¡­ interesting disguise?" Xue Wei chuckled again. "You already know that your Princess Karinshan doesn¡¯t fully trust our Violet Empire. It would¡¯ve caused some problems if I entered Sky City without any sort of disguise. Anyway, I wanted to inform you that the legions of the Purgatory have finally stirred from their long slumber. Lady Wind Singer Xinran herself had warned Queen Sophia last night that the Dragon Domain to the southwest of the continent is slowly awakening¡­" "Dragon Domain?!" I shuddered from head to toe. "Wasn¡¯t that the Dragon Speaker Binglan¡¯s territory? Last I remember, the entire place had sunk into the ground due to tectonic activity before most of the dragons were massacred by the Purgatory Legion. No one knows where the Dragon Domain is right now, and even if they do, the dragons have all been killed a long time ago. How could it be ¡®awakening¡¯ in any way?" Xue Wei bit her lips and said, "No, I¡¯m not talking about the dragons. It is the awakening of Strela that terrifies us!" "Strela?" Both Lin Yixin and I exclaimed in confusion. Xue Wei nodded. "Yes. Strela the Dark Magma used to be the Dragon God and the ruler of the Dragon Domain. After it lost the protection of the Dragon Speaker Binglan, the dragon race¡¯s pride was trampled, and the Purgatory Ruler himself descended and killed all Holy Giant Dragons who dared to resist him. He sealed Strela¡¯s body and stole his soul. Without the soul, Strela¡¯s body was no different from a devil¡¯s body. The seal had been holding strong for tens of thousands of years, but the body has been showing signs of resuscitation in the past month. That is why¡­" I shuddered again. "Wait a second, Strela is one of the Nine Sovereigns of the Purgatory and a kickass dragon! You¡¯re not trying to make me challenge Strela, are you? That¡¯s practically suicide!" Xue Wei shook her head. "Of course not. You are Wind Singer Xinran¡¯s older brother and a well-respected friend of Princess Karinshan and Her Majesty. I would never dare make you do such a thing!" "Oh. So, why are you here?" "So, here¡¯s the deal." Xue Wei explained with a shrug, "Currently, we estimate that it¡¯ll take Strela at least a month to awaken. That is why we wish to task the strongest human adventurer of this continent on a quest to venture into the ruins of Dragon Domain and search for a long-lost Divine Armament¡­" "What is this Divine Armament?" "It is called the Dragonslaying Sword!" Xue Wei explained further. "The Dragonslaying Sword was Dragon Speaker Binglan¡¯s signature weapon, but it left her side and flew back to the Dragon Domain to protect the dragons after Binglan was sealed. Unfortunately, the Dragonslaying Sword was no match for Lin Na the Purgatory Ruler, and it was ultimately lost within the ruins. That is why I want you to find the Dragonslaying Sword and bring it back to me!" ¡­¡­ Ding~! System Notice: Do you accept the SSS Rank main quest [Searching the Dragonslaying Sword]? To be honest, I was speechless for an instant. Most players had to search high and low to get an SSS Rank main quest. Me? I was literally sitting at my stall and doing my business when an SSS Rank quest walked right into my lap! God damn! Chapter 1233 Smiling cheekily, I asked the pretty little flower next to me after reading the quest description, "So, do you think I should accept or accept this quest, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin slapped me on the arm and smiled back just as cheekily. "You¡¯ll reject it so we can go to the zoo and watch bears later!" Me: "...!!!" I accepted the quest without hesitation and triggered a system ring¡ª System Notice: You have accepted the main quest [Searching For The Dragonslaying Sword]! (current quest rank: SSS) Description: Head to the Dragon Domain, find the remains of the Dragonslaying Sword and bring it back to Shadow Dancer Xue Wei for an exceptionally generous reward. Be warned though, you should definitely write a will before setting off on this journey. Party size limit: 7. ¡­¡­ After we both accepted the quest, I read the quest description and commented, "Did the quest just advise us to write our wills? Just how hard is this SSS Rank quest going to be?" Lin Yixin replied seriously, "It didn¡¯t give us a quest location, and it limited our party size to just 7. It¡¯s going to be very, very, very hard for sure." I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Anyway, who are we going to add to our 7-man party?" Lin Yixin chuckled. "That¡¯s simple. For starters, Sister Eve is obviously going to come with us. We need ranged DPS, so we need both Beiming Xue and Lian Xin. We also need a healer, and who better than Sister Mingyue? The last slot can be healer or ranged DPS. Your choice!" I thought for a moment before answering, "In that case, let¡¯s take Pure Love with us. A bard¡¯s buffs are incredibly useful, and with Pure Love¡¯s equipment she can boost all of the main tank¡¯s stats by 70% at least. That¡¯s incredibly important when killing a boss. Finally, we can give her any bard-exclusive item we get during the quest." Lin Yixin smiled. "Sure! The main force of this party is the Frost Cloud workshop anyway. I¡¯m just going to freeload off you all!" I shot her a glance. "You might as well join our workshop then¡­" "Please, I¡¯m still the guild leader of Snowy Cathaya, you know. Both my guild and my club will scorn me if I do that¡­" "Fine. Anyway, let¡¯s rally the girls and stock up on supplies already. We¡¯re departing in an hour, so best make sure that you have all the cards, items and everything else you need!" "I know!" ¡­¡­ We were just about to take our leave when Shadow Dancer Xue Wei added, "Before you go, I must warn you that there is a barrier blocking the sky of Dragon Domain. You will die if you attempt to fly through it, so make sure that you make your journey on foot. I would advise you to start your journey from Thunder Mountain Range and pass through Fire Dragon Canyon and Cyan Horse Highlands. Then, take a boat from Cyanscale Coast and travel to the east for about a day and a night. It will take you to the edge of Dragon Domain. From there, you will be able to enter the fabled ruins of Dragon Domain. I¡¯ve never been there in person, so this is all the info I can share with you. Please be careful, and make it back to me alive, okay?" I gave her a nod and a smile. "Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll be back before you know it!" "Mn!" With that said, Xue Wei wrapped herself in her cloak once more and made her way toward the city. She kept her head bowed just like a generic assassin would. As expected, the guards wouldn¡¯t stop her as long as she kept her blood-red eyes hidden. ¡­¡­ After we saw Xue Wei off, I sat back down on the square and started messaging the girls¡ª "What are you doing, Beiming?" "Grinding the S2 instance with Sister He Yi. What¡¯s wrong?" "Finish it as soon as possible, replenish your supplies and meet me at the eastern square, okay? We¡¯re going on an expedition to a super-far-away map, so don¡¯t dilly-dally if you can!" "Okay! We¡¯ll be there in half an hour!" "Good!" Next, I put away my stall and unloaded all the equipment I hadn¡¯t managed to sell to Air Force One. I then contacted Pure Love and informed her about our upcoming journey. Despite the short notice, Pure Love was absolutely ecstatic to be able to join the key players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls on a quest. I spent several thousand gold to purchase a bunch of food, herbs and so on and made 500 sets of Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potions on the spot. Then, I repaired all of my equipment. Speaking of equipment, the repair fees were as expensive as they were powerful. I was practically paying the price of a Jiangnan Alto every time I repaired them. Without sufficient wealth, there was no point for a player to get a Sacred Armament or a Divine Armament. They wouldn¡¯t even be able to maintain it. Besides that, I also took out 20 Fire War God Cards from the warehouse in case I needed them. In fact, I was pretty sure the party would need it when we fought the bosses of Dragon Domain. As of now, there were no cards in the world that boosted Attack, Defense, and HP by 80% as well. After everything was ready, I loitered around Sky City because there was still some time until the girls were done with their business. ¡­¡­ Maple leaves were falling on the streets. The beautiful priestesses of a monastery were sweeping the streets when a troop of elite riders abruptly dashed past them, scaring the daylights out of them. They exclaimed in panic and worry, "What¡¯s going on? Why are the riders so panicked?" I was confused as well, so I followed them to the main camp of the royal guards not far away from the monastery. Rows and rows of riders were already standing at the ready, and their leader was none other than my old acquaintance, Commander Stark of the Black Cavalry Legion. He was the right-hand man of Princess Karinshan just like Ziyan. Chiang! Some time later, Stark abruptly pulled out his sword and said loudly, "Three days ago, our camp at Griffin Forest of Yellow Stone Mountain Range was ambushed by Coldblade¡¯s legion. As a result, over 4000 of our Griffin Riders were killed by those evil Bone Dragon Riders. That is why Princess Karinshan has ordered us to travel to Dragon Domain and seek out dormant eggs of giant dragons to breed as many Holy Dragon Knights for the empire as possible. The only ones who can fight against the sky riders of the Purgatory are dragon knights, so we must succeed in this expedition no matter what, understand? We will conquer the ruins of Dragon Domain and form a new contract with the slumbering giant dragons!" Suddenly, the NPCs¡¯ eyes turned solemn and respectful. It was because the ruler of Sky City herself, Princess Karinshan had stepped out of her tent. She was wielding the Guardian¡¯s Blade and wearing her royal cloak. "Is everyone here?" Karinshan asked Stark. The commander replied, "Yes, Your Majesty. All 5000 of the most elite warriors of the Black Cavalry Legion are here. We are all willing to give up our lies to search for the ruins of Dragon Domain!" Karinshan nodded slightly before ordering, "Stand by while I mobilize 100 great mages and 100 holy priests to go with you. This is going to be a most dangerous journey. It would not do for you to go without some enchanters." "Thank you, Your Majesty!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, I walked up to Karinshan to ask, "Are there really dormant dragon eggs in Dragon Domain, princess?" When Karinshan turned and saw that it was me who spoke to her, she broke into a smile and replied, "That is correct. Our great magus has been detecting pulses of dragon life from Dragon Domain, and a new shoot has sprouted from the World Tree. This can only be a sign that life is returning to our continent, and that the ruins of Dragon Domain are finally about to awaken. Our war situation isn¡¯t looking very good right now, so the human race must form a new contract with the dragons before we are both annihilated by the undead." I nodded smilingly. "I see. I wish you luck on your journey then!" I turned away and left after figuring out the situation. My quest and the NPCs¡¯ quest were two separate things, and to journey together with Stark was just asking for trouble. Moreover, I was travelling to Dragon Domain not just to search for the Dragonslaying Sword, but to find a trove of giant dragon eggs for the guild as well. Only by creating a squad of dragon knights would we be able to dominate both the sky and the land and continue our reign on this continent. ¡­¡­ Half an hour later, I returned to the meeting spot and waited. I was standing at the stone bridge of the eastern gate with my arm crossed around my chest when Lin Yixin showed up. "I can¡¯t wait to get a sword-type weapon with at least 10k Attack during this trip. It¡¯s literally the one thing that¡¯s dragging down my overall equipment rank right now¡­" I laughed. "Sure! I have Chill of the Nine Provinces, so I don¡¯t need anything else. Feel free to split any close-ranged weapons between you and Eve." "Mn mn." Right after she said that, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin appeared from behind her. Their eyes widened like saucers after I shared the quest with them. "Wow! An SSS Rank main quest?" I grinned at them and said, "Yep! It¡¯s either go big or go home, people!" While I was saying this, Pure Love finally showed up and said, "Aiyo, I knew I would be the last one to arrive. Li Chengfeng wouldn¡¯t let me go until I buffed him for his trip to the Sky Vortex. Sigh. Anyway, I won¡¯t be able to apply my buffs for another 30 minutes, Lu Chen¡­" I had no qualms with that, so I said, "No problem! Chengfeng does need the buff especially if he¡¯s targeting an SSS Rank Divine Skill Scroll. There¡¯s also less chance of him getting instakilled in the case he was teleported into a bad location. There aren¡¯t many SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skills left in the Ruins of the Gods though. I wish him luck¡­" He Yi said, "He¡¯ll take care of himself. Anyway, let¡¯s go already!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ I shared the route with the whole gang. This was going to be one of the longest adventures we¡¯ve ever gone on because we had to traverse multiple maps just to make it to the ruins of Dragon Domain. The plan was to match our on-foot players with mounted players so that we could shorten our travel time as a whole. Beiming Xue would be carrying Lian Xin on her Dragonscale Beast. He Yi was the only person in our party with over 100 Intimacy with Pure Love, so the two of them would be riding together. Finally, Murong Mingyue would be riding on my Ancient Divine Dragon. After I summoned my mount and sat on its back, I offered Murong Mingyue a hand and pulled her behind me. She let out a giggle and said, "Finally, I get to mount a dragon. Let¡¯s go!" I pretended I didn¡¯t understand the sexual innuendo behind her words and spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon down the floating rocks that connected Sky City to the ground.[1] He Yi, Beiming Xue and Lin Yixin followed right behind me. ¡­¡­ We traveled along Thunder Mountain Range as per advised by Shadow Dancer Xue Wei. We left our pets to take care of all the mobs we encountered along the way. Both the Ice Dragon Kris and the Phantom Wolf King were excellent at this. A while later, we crossed over Thunder Mountain Range and entered another country¡¯s domain. More specifically, we were now in Russia¡¯s Frostsword City. 1. E/N: I completely forgot about it! Is it just me, or did the author completely forget that Sky City is literally suspended in the air? I feel like every siege of Sky City enemies were just ¡°shooting at walls¡±, ¡°breaching gates¡± and ¡°getting close to the walls¡±... Chapter 1234 It was snowing at the section where Thunder Mountain Range was connected to the Frostsword City. In fact, the snow was as big as goose feathers. A long, long distance away at the heart of a canyon stood an icy castle with a sword statue in front of it that was several hundred meters tall. It formed a line together with the rest of the buildings. That was the legendary Frostsword City, a city that a king called the Frost King founded single-handedly a long time ago. Today, it was one of Russia¡¯s main cities. The underground water of Frostsword City was absolutely frigid, and its weather was the complete opposite of what one might expect from a normal season. It snowed for 9 months and hailed for 3 months throughout the year. The god awful weather was awful, but it also hardened the players of Frostsword City to an abnormal degree. It was why Elephant City had never tried to invade Frostsword City despite being neighbors with it. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle¡­ The Ancient Divine Dragon left deep claw marks on the snow as it traveled toward our destination on foot. Murong Mingyue sneezed behind me before pulling her clothes tighter around herself and slipping her arms around my waist. I could feel her warmth transmitting into my back through the Heaven-burning Armor¡ªwhich was a good thing¡ªbut unfortunately it also prevented me from feeling her humongous size. Oh well, it wasn¡¯t like I hadn¡¯t felt it many times in real life. Murong Mingyue was a bold and open-minded girl. Between the members of the Frost Cloud workshop, practically anything that wasn¡¯t sex was considered acceptable physical contact to Mingyue. While He Yi was trotting forward, the cyan snake slithering up and down the mount suddenly jumped off and transformed into a beautiful warrioress in cyan metal armor. It was my gift to her back when I was roaming Iron Skull Wilderness. The Snake King Little Qing was a top-tier pet on par with the Phantom Wolf King be it in terms of attack power or rank. She would definitely be a great help to us in the future. "Looks like your Little Qing has become an adult, Sister He Yi," Lin Yixin commented while tilting her head. He Yi nodded. "Yes, she reached Level 184 while I was grinding an instance last night. Pets level up way faster than players after all." Suddenly, Beiming Xue pointed to the distance and blinked. "Over there, big brother. I see a lot of players grinding in the canyon we need to pass through. They¡¯re all Russians from Frostsword City. Are we going to stick to the route, or¡­?" "There¡¯s no or. It¡¯s the only way here to travel to Dragon Domain." I sheathed my weapon, tightened my cloak and squeezed Murong Mingyue¡¯s hand once to stop her from distracting me with her caress. Then, I said, "It should be fine. We¡¯re full allies with Frostsword City and Iron Horse City right now. There¡¯s no reason for them to attack us." The corners of Lin Yixin¡¯s lips turned up a little. "And if they do attack us?" I smiled back. "You already know the answer. We kill them in self-defense and run away, of course. I¡¯m sure Snowy Night won¡¯t take offense with it." "Well, I hope that¡¯ll be the case. Anyway, let¡¯s go. I hope we can reach Dragon Domain before dinnertime." "I don¡¯t know about that. Even if we passed through the canyon relatively quickly, there is still an entire sea to cross. We may have to spend the whole day just making our way to Dragon Domain." "Sigh, whatever¡­" ¡­¡­ Our four mounts sped up to a gallop with me at the front, Beiming Xue at the middle, and He Yi and Lin Yixin at the back. It was worth nothing that 6 of us were Famous Generals and Ancient Divine Skill owners. We also had 1 SSS Rank and 2 SS Rank Ancient Divine Skills. It should be enough to intimidate any Frostsword City force into inaction. It wasn¡¯t long before we caught the notice of Frostword City¡¯s players. Frostsword City was one of the most peaceful places on the continent. It had never suffered the ravages of war, and it was rarely visited by players from other servers. Naturally, many of them looked at us with surprise and curiosity¡ª "All 7 players in that party are incredibly high-level! I think they¡¯re from Sky City!" "Yes, they¡¯re Sky City players, and their equipment looks incredible. And look! What is that warrior at the front riding? Is that some sort of dragon?" "He¡¯s wearing the WEL MVP emblem on his shoulders. Oh my god, he must be Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! It has to be him!" ¡­¡­ I did my best to keep the party moving at the fastest speed possible without interacting with the locals. That would only increase the likelihood of unnecessary conflict. Unfortunately, conflict turned out to be unavoidable in the end. When a number of shallow footsteps suddenly appeared on the snow in front of me, I immediately tensed up and activated Dark Pupils. A small number of high-level assassins immediately entered my view. I said inside the party channel, "Assassins on our 12, 10 and 3 o¡¯clock! I don¡¯t think they¡¯re friendly!" Beiming Xue raised her Xuanming Bow slightly and asked, "Should we kill them now, big brother?" "Let¡¯s hope it doesn¡¯t come to that. We¡¯ll wait for them to make a move first!" ¡°Okay!" Beiming Xue had higher movement speed than your standard cavalrymen. The moment she steered slightly to the right, the three assassins immediately charged toward her. I hurriedly warned, "Watch out, these people are targeting Beiming Xue! Oh, now I get it. Everyone knows that you¡¯re the owner of the Xuanming Bow, one of the Twelve Divine Armaments, and these people are planning to rob you of it! Damn, they aren¡¯t giving us any face at all!" Beiming Xue giggled. "Can I kill them now?" "Sure!" Beiming Xue abruptly reined in her mount and performed a sharp turn. While doing so, she drew her Xuanming Bow and fired a Skypiercer at the space in front of her! "Watch out!" All three assassins abruptly broke out of stealth and activated Death¡¯s Dance and Haste. Then, they charged toward Beiming Xue as quickly as they could! Thud thud thud! Skypiercer landed, and two of the three assassins were one-shot by the skill. There was nothing they could¡¯ve done. The Xuanming Bow had propelled her Attack to a whole new level. The remaining assassin wore a green complexion, but he still sped toward Beiming Xue like the wind. A cold light rapidly approached the archer¡¯s throat. Lian Xin abruptly dismounted and raised her scepter. "I¡¯ll deal with him, Beiming!" But Beiming Xue said, "No, Little Xin. I¡¯ll deal with him myself!" As the Dragonscale Beast drifted across the snow, Beiming Xue abruptly lowered her bow so that the arrow was pointing directly at the assassin¡¯s throat. Then, she executed an Explosive Arrow! Bang! Blood spilled everywhere, and the assassin dropped dead with his eyes widened in disbelief. Normally, assassins had a fair bit of advantage over archers in a sneak attack scenario, but his opponent was China¡¯s best or second best archer. His fate was sealed from the very beginning. ¡­¡­ "And, done!" Beiming Xue picked up the dagger dropped by the assassin, examined it and broke into a smile. "Oh! It¡¯s a Level 200 Heaven-grade dagger! Not bad at all¡­" I warned, "Don¡¯t let your guard down just yet. These three assassins belong to a guild called Ice Peak, and according to the database they¡¯re the second greatest guild in Frostsword City and Iron Horse City behind White Bird. I doubt this will be the last we¡¯ll see of these people!" "Yeah!" My hunch was spot-on. We didn¡¯t even travel more than 1 kilometer when a hundred or so players abruptly flooded out of the forest in front of us. They were all elite cavalrymen, and they all wore the emblem of Ice Peak on their shoulder. A Level 215 berserker stepped into the open and narrowed his eyes at us. He said, "Faraway friends from Sky City, you truly are friendly. You¡¯ve killed three of our scouts the moment you crossed over our borders." I pulled my little dragon to a stop, unsheathed my weapon, but kept it pointed to the ground. I smiled at him. "Hello, guild leader of Ice Peak, Icy Edge. Our quest takes us through Frostsword City, so please open the way for us. As for your three assassins, I¡¯m sorry to say this, but they were the ones who attacked us first. We were just defending ourselves." Icy Edge sneered. "A Snowy Night Below 30 Degrees may respect you, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, but I don¡¯t. You think we won¡¯t attack you just because you¡¯re strong? You think you can get away scot free after killing my brothers?" My eyes turned cold, and I swung my weapon in front of me. Cold flame crackled around the blade of the Chill of the Nine Provinces, and an entire area of the snow in front of me was shaved clean. "I repeat. We are just passing through the area for a quest, and we don¡¯t plan to offend you. But if you must stand in our way, then I won¡¯t mind killing every last one of you. You don¡¯t think you can stop me with just a couple hundred players, do you?" Icy Edge shuddered as if he just realized who he was talking to, and one of his vice leaders whispered a little something I couldn¡¯t hear beside his ears. His expression changed back and forth, but in the end he cracked a small smile at me and said, "I suppose I should¡¯ve expected this kind of attitude from the number one player of the China server. Very well, you may pass through Frostsword City, but you will not stay here longer than necessary. Frostsword City has never been friendly to visitors, and we don¡¯t plan to update our policy anytime soon. Finally, I have a friendly warning to you. The Fire Dragon Canyon lies to the west of Frostsword City, and most people wouldn¡¯t go there for various reasons. Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you if you happen to die in that map." I smiled a smile that didn¡¯t reach the eye. "Thank you for the warning!" Then, I looked at the girls and said, "Let¡¯s go!" While the girls moved forward, I stayed at the rear just in case the enemy decided to try something. If I had to be honest though, Icy Edge and his goons weren¡¯t a real threat to us. Icy Edge didn¡¯t have an Ancient Divine Skill, and his subordinates weren¡¯t even worth looking at. Assuming that there was a fight, their chances of beating us were less than 25%. ¡­¡­ After we traveled for a distance, I looked back and saw that the players of Ice Peak were dispersing with disgruntled expressions on their faces. They didn¡¯t dare to act on their emotions because they understood the consequences, however. If they fought us and lost, they would be losing more than just a single level. They were the second greatest guild of Frostsword City. If people learned that their hundred-man party plus the guild leader and the vice leaders were slaughtered by a 7-man party, the reputation loss they would suffer would be unimaginable. We crossed out Frostsword City¡¯s border and climbed over Thunder Mountain Range once more. The temperature change was so drastic that we might¡¯ve suffered some form of illness if this was real life. Nearly every part of the canyon in front of us was spewing lava, and we could spot huge beasts making horrible roars from behind the thick smoke. We had arrived at our first destination, the Fire Dragon Canyon! The girls¡¯ faces were bright red from the reflection of the flames. Beiming Xue said with a smile on her face, "You wanted to build a dragon knight legion, right big brother? Wanna bet if there are fire dragons in this Fire Dragon Canyon?" Chapter 1235 "I would probably win that bet, to be honest¡­" I curled my lips as I replied, "I¡¯ve read up on the branches and classifications of the dragon race before. In descending order, a dragon¡¯s power level can be differentiated into Holy Giant Dragons, Gem Dragons, Metal Dragons, Winged Dragons and finally, Pseudo-dragons. Of the five, Pseudo-dragons are not only the weakest the bunch, they aren¡¯t even considered true dragons. They are just a race that has strayed too far from their origins to the point of being unrecognizable. Now that you know this, look at the ¡®dragons¡¯ in Fire Dragon Canyon again. They are mostly earth dragons and lizard dragons, which all fall under the category of pseudo-dragons. These poor bastards¡­" Beiming Xue giggled. "You¡¯re so bad, big brother!" Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me. "Are you done teasing Beiming Xue? If you are, let¡¯s discuss what we should do with this map. Are we going around Fire Dragon Canyon, or are we passing through it?" "Are you kidding me? How long do you think it¡¯ll take to go around this whole map? Of course we¡¯re passing through it¡­" "What if we get party-wiped by the pseudo-dragons?" "Then we reset and try again, duh!" "Hmm. Well, let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ The Ancient Divine Dragon flew down the mountain slope, and we were in the burning canyon before we even knew it. Whoosh! On the way, a jet of lava erupted out of nowhere and struck my poor dragon directly in the abdomen. The good news was that I was covered in top-tier equipment from head to toe, and I only lost around 40k HP from the hit. The bad news was that the girls, especially cloth-armor and leather-armor types like Beiming Xue and Lian Xin couldn¡¯t claim the same level of tankiness. I estimated that the lava would hit them for 100k damage at least, an amount that would one-shot a slightly below average leather-armor player. "Take care not to get hit by the lava eruption, Beiming¡­" I advised. While zigzagging through the lava field, Beiming Xue shot me a confident smile and declared, "Don¡¯t worry, big brother! I may not be as good as you, but I¡¯m not that unskilled." In fact, I did have full confidence in Beiming Xue¡¯s skill. The reason I got hit was because I got careless. Following closely beside me, He Yi said, "Lu Chen, I¡¯m pretty sure these aren¡¯t the only dangers we¡¯ll face in Fire Dragon Canyon. Remember what Icy Edge said? It almost sounded like Fire Dragon Canyon was an off-limits map for Frostsword City. These lava eruptions are dangerous, but they¡¯re nowhere strong enough to form that level of opinion." "I know. We¡¯ll get our answer eventually if we keep going forward." Pure Love looked a bit worried. "Should we circle around the map after all? If this map terrifies even the players of Frostsword City, can we really handle the hidden dangers of this map by ourselves?" I laughed. "Let me put it this way: if we can¡¯t even deal with one Fire Dragon Canyon, then we may as well give up on our quest right now. I guarantee you that the ruins of Dragon Domain are a league or two above this map." "That¡¯s true, I guess." We continued forward. It wasn¡¯t long before we ran into a couple of flame-wreathed earth dragons. They looked as big or bigger than a rhino, and their bodies were covered in scaly armor. They also had sharp horns on their ugly-looking faces. I captured their stats with Dark Pupils and shared them with the party. I also passed the party leader position to Lin Yixin so she could buff everyone¡¯s stats by 80%. It was the safest way to fight these mobs. Also, the 80% boost to HP would put Beiming Xue at almost 500k HP. Barring exceptional circumstances, nothing should be able to one-shot her. Fire Earth Dragon (Fiend) Level: 270 Attack: 27200~38000 Defense: 24000 HP: 1500000 Skills: Rend, Flame Spear, Wild Roar Introduction: The Fire Earth Dragon is a kind of pseudo-dragon with an incomplete evolution. Habitually, it possesses all the characteristics of an earth dragon. Physically, it is much heavier, strong, and possesses sharp teeth that can break metallic weapons with ease. As the guardian of the Fire Dragon Canyon, they are cruel, violent, and want nothing else but to kill all living things that enter the canyon. ¡­¡­ I set Murong Mingyue on the ground before moving toward the Fire Earth Dragon. I said with a smile, "Alright, let¡¯s see how deadly this Level 270 fiend-rank mob really is. There must be a reason why they terrify the players of Frostsword City that much." The girls giggled at that jab. I activated Fusion Armor and rushed toward the nearest Fire Earth Dragon. After I stabbed its head with Purple Frost Concentration and lowered its Defense, I executed Burning Blade Slash and dealt an incredible amount of damage¡ª 246778! 297767! 346763! The mob instantly lost 50% of its HP. Behind me, Beiming Xue giggled. "Big brother¡¯s damage is insane! He can definitely kill this earth dragon solo!" Before she could finish her sentence though, the earth dragon launched its counterattack in anger. A cone of spiraling energy appeared around its horn, and it attempted to spike me with it. I let it. The attack went through my Dragon God Shield as I thought it would, and a damage number rose above my head¡ª 50987! A basic attack followed next, but this time, my Battle Astral Wind caused it to miss. It looked like Flame Spear was a special skill that ignored shields. While backing away, I shouted, "Sis, Little Xin, Guanyue [1], don¡¯t get close to these mobs no matter what! Flame Spear can pierce shields, and if they land a crit on you it¡¯s GG!" "Okay!" Lian Xin nodded and hit the Fire Earth Dragon I was attacking with Touch of the Dragonkiss + Ice Spiral Matrix combo, killing it instantly. Obviously, these earth dragons were no match for our firepower. Pop! The earth dragon dropped a beautiful red card when it died. I picked it up, and it was better than I expected¡ª Fire Earth Dragon Card: Increases user¡¯s fire-based attack power by 150%. Level Requirement: 200. Duration: 120 minutes. ¡­¡­ I tossed the card to Lian Xin and teased her, "You can pretend you¡¯re a fire mage now, Lian Xin! This thing increases fire-based Magic Attack by 150%!" Lian Xin giggled. "Yeah, fire magic is the most brutal magic of them all! I love fire magic!" When we attacked the second Fire Earth Dragon, Lian Xin kicked off the battle with a Fire Dragon Spell + Exploding Flame Spell combo. She wasn¡¯t joking, and the simple combo alone dealt over 300k damage. Long story short, the Fire Earth Dragon¡¯s 1.5 million HP was as fragile as paper before our firepower. After killing dozens of Fire Earth Dragons, Beiming Xue suddenly came to a stop and pointed at the giant rock directly ahead of us. "Big brother, I sense someone behind this rock!" "Oh!?" I rushed forward. The moment I moved past the rock, a fiery blade immediately swung down on my head. The good news was that I was in Fusion Armor mode, so I was able to turn around in time and parry the attack. It was at that moment I saw that my attacker was an NPC thief in black leather armor. "Not bad!" The thief let out a laugh before looking at me seriously. "Why have you come to this death-filled domain, traveler?" I glanced around. Behind the thief was a bonfire, and surrounding the bonfire was a couple of sorry-looking NPCs in ragged clothing. In fact, I saw a female assassin with a thickly bandaged arm leaning against a warrior¡¯s chest and moaning non-stop. I lowered my weapon and responded with a question of my own, "I¡¯m the one who should be asking you that. You don¡¯t look like soldiers of the empire." The thief actually let out a chuckle and declared proudly, "That¡¯s right, we are not the idiots who sold their lives for the nobles. We are proud people who fight for our own happiness and no one else¡¯s. As you may have noticed, we belong to a thief group called the Fire Thieves. Half a year ago, we came here to hunt for the fiery horns of the Fire Earth Dragons." ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Lin Yixin walked up to us and commented, "Well, it sure doesn¡¯t look like you¡¯ve achieved much. Unless I¡¯m mistaken, I see only two Fire Earth Dragon Horns in your camp. Were the monsters that hard for you to defeat?" Embarrassment flashed across the thief¡¯s face for an instant. "Well¡­ truth be told, we came here as a 70-man group during the first month. However, the Fire Earth Dragons proved fiercer than we expected, and we lost nearly half of our members in the first month. After half a year of wind-feeding and rain-drinking, we managed to collect two Fire Earth Dragon Horns, but our numbers have also dwindled to just 7." I smiled politely. "What do you want with these Fire Earth Dragon Horns anyway?" The thief answered honestly, "Fire Earth Dragon Horns are rare materials that can be used to forge flame-type daggers. Three years ago, the infamous leader of the Sword Hero Thieves wielded a dagger called Night Flame. It was forged using the Fire Earth Dragon Horns. However, it takes the energy of 100 Fire Earth Dragon Horns to forge the weapon, so our leader ordered us to gather 100 of them within a year¡¯s time. It looks like we¡¯re going to fail our mission, however." I spread my arms. "That¡¯s fine! As you can see, we are a party of very powerful adventurers. We may be able to gather the materials you need." The thief¡¯s eyes immediately lit up. "Really?" However, He Yi elbowed me lightly before whispering, "Aren¡¯t we going to Dragon Domain?" I explained, "Grinding is grinding no matter where we are, right? We might as well complete this quest before resuming our way. Don¡¯t worry, our quest at Dragon Domain is an SSS Rank main quest. Literally no one besides us has the power to complete it¡­" He Yi smiled a little. "Okay then!" ¡­¡­ The thief looked like he had found his savior, however. More accurately, he looked like he had found a useful prey. A cunning glint flashed across his eyes before he began, "Young brave adventurers, if you truly can gather 100 Fire Earth Dragon Horns for us, I promise to give you a rare treasure that will make you the richest and strongest person in the entire world!" "Oh? What is it?" I asked. This time, Lin Yixin was the one who grabbed my arm and whispered, "You don¡¯t actually believe him, do you?" I hid a snicker. "Of course not. If this thief truly possessed a treasure like that, he wouldn¡¯t be struggling with these Fire Earth Dragons. Dude¡¯s a weakling through and through¡­" "OMG. What are you planning then?" "Ever heard of the saying ¡®you can¡¯t catch tiger cubs without entering a tiger¡¯s lair¡¯?" It was at this moment the thief took out a parchment with the utmost care before saying, "This is a treasure map. It marks the location of the greatest treasure in Fire Dragon Canyon. If you manage to collect 100 Fire Earth Dragon Horns, I¡¯ll give you this one and only treasure map as my thanks!" 1. T/N: Pure Love¡¯s true name for those who forgot Chapter 1236 I gladly accepted the quest, "Sure! We won¡¯t disappoint you!" Ding~! System Notice: Your party has accepted the quest [Fire Earth Dragon Horn]! (Current Quest Rank: A+) Description: Head into Fire Canyon Dragon, kill Fire Earth Dragons and collect 100 Fire Earth Dragon Horns. Bring them to Thief Silai for the Fire Earth Canyon Treasure Map. Follow the hints on the treasure map to find the source of a great treasure! ¡­¡­ Wonderful. An A Rank quest was easy peasy for our party. I might even be able to complete this in an hour myself. After we reentered the part of the canyon where Fire Earth Dragons were everywhere, He Yi said, "Let¡¯s split up. Lu Chen should party with Lian Xin and Pure Love, while I will party with Yiyi, Beiming and Mingyue. Let¡¯s finish this quest and get out of this area as soon as possible. I¡¯m not exactly sure why, but I have this bad, bad feeling that we¡¯ve been tricked by that Thief Silai somehow. His eyes especially remind me of a liar¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes widened. "I knew I wasn¡¯t the only one! In fact, I would go as far as to say that his eyes are very similar to that rich asshole who tricks innocent girls left and right in the university, Flower Room¡¯s Li Le! Hmph! I cannot believe that Little Cheat didn¡¯t notice that!" I shrugged. "Calm down, you two. I did notice, which is why I¡¯m planning to beat him at his own game. Also, completing this quest will give us the treasure map that¡¯ll lead us to the best treasure of this Fire Dragon Canyon. We can¡¯t leave that to the people of Frostsword City now, can we?" Lin Yixin accused indignantly, "You just want the treasure, you shameless bastard!" "You truly know me well, Yiyi¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ Anyway, we split up into two teams as per discussed and started grinding the Fire Earth Dragons. The average level of our party members was almost 220, so the experience of the Level 270 fiend-rank monsters was very good for us. At the very least, we weren¡¯t wasting time here. We encountered no problems killing the monsters whatsoever. However, the quest item drop rate was poorer than expected, so it wasn¡¯t until past 5 pm that we finally managed to gather 100 Fire Earth Dragon Horns. After that, we met up at the thief¡¯s temporary camp. In fact, Beiming Xue, Murong Mingyue, Lin Yixin and He Yi had arrived before us. "I¡¯ll turn in the quest, so give me the horns!" "Okay!" I walked up to Thief Silai, shot him a polite smile and gave him the 100 Fire Earth Dragon Horns. "I have gathered what you asked for. Can you give me your treasure map now, respected thief?" Silai¡¯s eyes lit up as he guffawed. "You have surprised me, adventurer. I didn¡¯t think you would be able to help us with our mission. Very well, I¡¯m sure our leader will be very happy when he sees these horns. Come and receive the reward you deserve, young adventurers! May you survive well in this land!" Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the quest [Fire Earth Dragon Horn]. You have gained 40 million EXP, 1000 gold, 6000 Reputation and an item reward: "Taran Dagger"! ¡­¡­ I opened my bag to check out this Taran Dagger. It was an okay Earth-grade dagger that could be stall-sold at Sky City for around 500 RMB or so. Prices had been depreciating, and gold value had been rising recently, so it wasn¡¯t easy to make money these days. Very few items sold for over 10k RMB unless they were amazing Immortal-grade equipment. This wasn¡¯t the reward I was promised, however. I extended my hand toward the thief again and asked, "The treasure map, Mr. Silai?" "Right, right!" Silai let out an awkward chuckle before fishing out the parchment from his tunic. He then warned me with a heavy expression, "Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you, but no one has been to this treasure location before. Even if they did, no one¡ªnot even the Sword Hero Derek from three hundred years ago¡ªhas returned alive with the treasure. It is said that a terrifying devil lives in that place, and that all those who saw it have been slaughtered¡­" I grabbed the treasure map and replied, "Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯re no sword heroes, but that doesn¡¯t mean that we¡¯ll die to this devil of yours!" After that, Silai slowly backed away with an evil smile on his face. "Good luck, my friends!" As the thief slowly faded into the night, Lin Yixin tugged my arm and said, "Little Cheat, I really feel like we¡¯ve been swindled by the bastard. Are you sure we want to seek out this so-called treasure?" I nodded affirmatively. "Of course! There¡¯s no point in letting go of an opportunity like this. Don¡¯t worry. Worst-case scenario, we die and lose a level. I¡¯ll pick up all your equipment, so feel free to die as many times as you like!" He Yi rolled her eyes at me. "You sure are optimistic today!" ¡­¡­ I grabbed the treasure map and matched it to the map screen. Then, I pointed to the west and said, "Hmm, it looks like the treasure location is slightly south from the center of the map. It should take us 20 minutes at most to get there. Time to get rich, girls!" Lin Yixin interrupted expressionlessly, "Look again. You¡¯re holding the map upside down¡­" "What the fuck? Er, then it¡¯s slightly north from the center of the map¡­" "Let¡¯s go already. You sure like to waste your breath sometimes¡­" "Okay!" I climbed up my dragon, pulled Murong Mingyue up and continued acting as the point of the party. Thanks to the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition, I didn¡¯t encounter much difficulty opening up a path for the girls. Less than twenty minutes later, we arrived at the location of the treasure map. It looked like the flattened crater of a volcano, and not a single Fire Earth Dragon could be seen around the area. Flames and black smoke were shooting out of some holes on the ground. The temperature of this area was much higher than all the locations we had been since coming into this map. Chiang! I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces. It gave us a tinge of coolness that should¡¯ve been non-existent in this place. Lin Yixin trotted forward until her face suddenly turned deathly pale. "Mm. Look, there are so many skeletons on the ground! I see humans, beastmen and even elves¡­" I looked down. She was right. Piles and piles of white bones were littered across the floor. It gave the crater a graveyard-like appearance. There were giant beastmen skeletons and small elf skeletons. Some of the skeletons were wearing rusted armor and gripping broken enchanted weapons as well. There were also long weapons like spears and halberds stuck on the rocks and tattered banners that were too faded away to make out. Lin Yixin contributed her analysis. "I spot some warhorse carcasses over there too. There are enough soldiers here to form a small battalion, and yet it almost looks like they¡¯ve been defeated instantly by something because I don¡¯t see any signs of struggle at all.¡± I activated Fusion Armor and pointed to the obvious lair where heat was gushing out. I said, "Only one way to know the truth. Stay here while I go test the waters. Guanyue, please buff me so I won¡¯t be one-shot instantly!" "Okay!" Pure Love waved her scepter repeatedly and dropped all her buffs on me. I also used a Fire War God Card to push my HP to almost 2 million. As of the current stage of the game, there shouldn¡¯t be any boss in the world that could one-shot me as I was. One couldn¡¯t be too careful though. Dark Pupils had revealed to me a super big red dot directly in front of me. I had no doubt that it was a super boss of sorts. It was exactly where the treasure map was pointing us to go too. The Chill of the Nine Provinces shivered a bit in my grip, and the Phantom Wolf King stayed close to me to protect me. When I arrived at the edge of the crater, it felt like the flames spewing out of it were brushing against my nose. I forced myself to ignore the discomfort and take a look inside, and what I saw scared the shit out of me. A pair of gigantic red eyes were glaring at me with murder! Swhoosh! The ground beneath my feet suddenly shook violently, and the pair of eyes grew much, much bigger. Before I knew it, my leg was trapped between the jaws of a huge, ugly monstrosity! "Holy shit!" I smacked the monster¡¯s head with my sword. Despite my caution, I wasn¡¯t able to avoid the sudden attack! 279887! "Lu Chen watch out!" Lin Yixin screamed behind me. The giant head belonged to a dragon with an extremely long neck. It looked like the neck of tanystropheus from Jurassic Park. However, this dragon had three sharp horns on its ugly head, and its eyes were nearly identical to the one still glowing inside the crater. It was overflowing with desire and violence. ¡­¡­ I backed away as quickly as I could while shouting, "Move back, everyone! This is definitely a super boss! Let¡¯s put some distance between it and us for now!" The earth shook even more violently, and the earth beneath the girls¡¯ feet suddenly swelled unnaturally. Then, three heads burst out of them¡ªone blue, one red and one cyan¡ªopened their mouths, and unleashed their magic at the girls! The blue one was firing icicles, the red one was firing fireballs, and the cyan one was firing wind blades! "Watch out!" He Yi raised her shield and used Holy Shield Protection to block the spells. Beiming Xue Leaped away from the spells without hesitation. It was just the beginning, but the boss had managed to catch us off-guard and push us dangerously close to the brink. ¡­¡­ "What the hell is this monster?!" Lin Yixin shouted. I looked back at the boss and answered, "It¡¯s an Ancient Immortal Rank boss called ¡®Nine-headed Fire Hydra¡¯! Anyway, just get as far back as you can for now! All nine heads can attack independently, and you do NOT want to be trapped at the center while they attack¡­" At the same time, I captured the boss''s detailed stats with Dark Pupils and shared them within the party channel¡ª Nine-headed Fire Hydra (Ancient Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 280 Attack: 45500~58000 Defense: 48500 HP: 50000000 Skills: Bloody Bite, Nine Magic Wind, Earth Seal Introduction: The Nine-headed Fire Hydra used to be a violent beast that was tasked to guard the Fire Dragon Pond of Dragon Domain. After Dragon Domain was destroyed, the Nine-headed Fire Hydra escaped its seal and entered Fire Dragon Canyon. By submerging its body into a volcanic crater and absorbing the heat of the earth, it was able to cultivate for thousands of years without disturbance and grow stronger. It is naturally violent, and it has devoured countless lives. Chapter 1237 I opened my palm and used God Binding Art. A burst of divine energy locked onto one of the boss''s heads and dropped four divine arms around it, shackling it for a short time. "Roar roar¡­" While the shackled hydra¡¯s head was roaring furiously, another fired an icicle at me and forced me to roll out of the way. Right as I cast Battle Astral Wind and rose back to my feet, two fireballs and one wind blast struck me above my torso! MISS! MISS! MISS! The spells didn¡¯t damage me, but Battle Astral Wind lost 30% of its durability just like that. Even more surprising was the fact that God Binding Art could only shackle one head, meaning that the remaining eight heads of the Nine-headed Fire Hydra were free to continue wrecking us. This wasn¡¯t a DPS any single player was equipped to endure. ¡­¡­ The nine heads waved across the sky like tentacles, bursting out of the earth and attacking us from all sides at every opportunity. Its body was also following us underground like a shadow. This was one incredibly annoying lizard for sure! He Yi asked while running, "How on earth are we going to fight this?" Lin Yixin chewed her lips before replying, "We need to stand our ground, or Little Cheat will die quickly without Sister Mingyue. Little Cheat will aggro 4 of the heads, Sister He Yi 3, and I 2. Sister Mingyue, please drop Pool of Life beneath our feet so we can all catch some healing. As for crowd control, Beiming should stun one of the heads with Shock Arrow, and Little Cheat another with God Binding Art. If all goes well, we may just be able to defeat this boss. Finally, Beauty Guanyue should focus on healing us as well!" "Got it!" We all accepted Lin Yixin¡¯s plan without hesitation. This was a boss battle where multiple tanks were absolutely necessary, or there was no way we could beat this for sure. I abruptly skidded to a stop and fired my Burning Blade Slash to catch 5 heads at once and draw their aggro toward me. They immediately turned around, opened their bloody maws and attempted to swallow me whole. Metallic sparks flew off the blade of the Chill of the Nine Provinces again and again. I heard the sound of hooves. It was He Yi and Lin Yixin charging toward the boss from two different directions. Both girls activated the Heavenly River Transformation, swung their Veluriyam Sword and Veluriyam Spear at nearly the same time and executed their signature moves such as Ice Flame Slash and Purgatory of Ice and Magma. It worked. Soon, He Yi was tanking three heads, Lin Yixin two, and me four, exactly as planned. Pa pa! We backed up until our backs were almost touching one another. It didn¡¯t look like the boss had an AoE skill¡ªat least not until it entered a berserk state or something¡ªso this wasn¡¯t an impossible fight. Swhoosh! Murong Mingyue cast her Pool of Life beneath our feet, but it was slow to heal our rapidly vanishing HP. I shouted, "Lian Xin, sis, use your Ancient Divine Skills alternately! Both Sigh of the Heroine and Seduction lower attack power, right? That¡¯ll ensure that we can last longer!" They nodded. Murong Mingyue activated her Heavenly River Transformation first and used the Seduction. The combat log informed me that the boss had lost 37% of its physical attack power for 120 seconds. It was perfect! All three of us felt as if a huge burden was lifted off of our shoulders. After the Nine-headed Fire Hydra had lost 37% of physical attack power, it could only damage me for 100k+ per hit, making tanking four or even five hydra heads at once a manageable task. The same went for He Yi and Lin Yixin. We could find opportunities to launch our counterattack now. The Chill of the Nine Provinces turned frigid as I stabbed one of the heads beneath its neck and injected a stream of purple frost into its body. The boss immediately lost 29% of its Defense. Beiming Xue¡¯s Bone Eroding Arrow struck next, and this time it dropped a whopping 39% Defense. Finally, Lin Yixin pulled out her dagger and used Extreme Break. At this point, the boss barely had any Defense left. I took the opportunity to launch a devastating assault. After moving into position and finding a good angle where all nine hydra heads happened along a single line, I activated Heavenly River Transformation to boost my Attack and executed Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo. Immediately, the hydra heads shuddered like crazy and lost a ton of HP. Nine heads gave it nine times the DPS a normal boss would have, but it also opened itself to nine times the attacks¡ª 358767! 401882! 480927! 512724! ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue couldn¡¯t help but cheer when she saw the damage numbers, "Well done, big brother! At this rate, we¡¯ll finish the boss off in 20 minutes at most!" The boss''s movement speed and attack speed¡ªat least the heads that had entered my domain¡ªfell drastically. I could capture every action it was attempting to take, and do a million more things that I couldn¡¯t have done until a moment ago. The abrupt slowdown also severely impeded its attack patterns and movements. So, I shouted, "I think I¡¯m going to maintain Heavenly River Transformation! Eve and Yiyi should stick to Great Earth Transformation though! Anyway, I¡¯m going to start grabbing the aggro now!" "Okay!" Seven heads tried to swallow me at the same time, but all I needed to do was to zigzag backward in leisure. After I danced past Eve and Yiyi, I cast all my available skills such as Thousand Ice Slash and Myriad Swords Obliteration before ending with Rise of the Guardian Dragon that struck all nine heads. It felt absolutely amazing. The boss started losing HP rapidly. After Murong Mingyue¡¯s Seduction had passed, Lian Xin immediately used her Sigh of the Heroine and reduced the boss''s Attack by around 17%. 17% might not seem much, but for us tanks, even one percent of damage reduction was a huge burden off our shoulders. The fact was the boss was nearly untankable in its perfect state. ¡­¡­ "Roar roar!" Unfortunately, the boss was losing HP a bit too quickly, because all nine of its heads abruptly rose high up in the sky in fury. The next moment, the Earth Seal appeared beneath our feet. Oh man, oh man! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! All three of us were frozen in place for 12 seconds. Then, the Nine-headed Fire Hydra started blasting away with Nine Magic Wind and deleted our HP like crazy. Despite Murong Mingyue¡¯s best attempts, she couldn¡¯t outheal the damage the boss was dealing to all of us, especially since some of her spells would require her to step into the Earth Seal. The next moment, Lin Yixin let out a death groan and became the first player to die in this fight! "Yiyi, come back as quickly as you can!" I said in the party channel. "I know! Just hang on until I¡ªoh, hi Sister He Yi. Are you here for the corpse run too?" "Haha, yes. Let¡¯s do this together¡­" Murong Mingyue was able to focus all of her spells on me after both of the girls had perished, so I just barely lasted 12 seconds before I backed away and cast Tenacity of the Dead immediately. At the same time, I shouted, "Little Xin!" Without a word, Lian Xin rushed toward the boss, skidded to a stop and hit the ground with the butt of her scepter. Frozen Domain took effect, and all nine of the hydra¡¯s heads were frozen for 7 seconds. What a life savior this skill was, and the 100% success rate was no joke too! ¡­¡­ Very soon, He Yi and Lin Yixin revived and rejoined the boss battle. Sword auras and magic spells flew all over the place and left deep, ugly gorges on the ground. Our Great Earth Transformations and Heavenly River Transformations¡ªespecially the latter due to its Domain¡ªdid a ton of damage to the environment as well. Ten minutes later, after the boss''s HP had dropped to 50% or so, the pressure really started to ramp up massively. The boss started unleashing Earth Seal more frequently, which Lian Xin and I tried our best to interrupt either with her Frozen Domain or my Cold of the Nine Provinces. In the case we both failed, I immediately cast Xuanyuan Art to heal everyone for 50% HP. In the case where Murong Mingyue¡¯s Seduction was in effect, we generally could survive the boss''s bombardment for 12 seconds without dying. The Nine-headed Fire Hydra was far stronger than our imagination, but thanks to a logical strategy, a proper cycle of various Attack and Defense debuffs, and good timing to interrupt the boss''s Earth Seal, we were able to suppress it to a manageable state. After almost 17 minutes of incredibly intense fighting, the Nine-headed Fire Hydra finally dropped to less than 5% HP. "This is an Ancient Immortal Rank boss, right? I wonder if it¡¯ll drop a Divine Armament," said Lin Yixin with a faint smile on her face. "I¡¯ve been looking to get a new weapon¡­" I fired Burning Blade Slash before backpedaling away from the boss, relying on Battle Astral Wind to survive its counterattacks. Then, I replied, "Sure. If the boss drops a melee weapon, you and Eve can roll for it!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Killing the boss cost a ton of Divine Energy Points. I was max 200 Divine Energy Points when I first started using Heavenly River Transformation, and now I was almost empty after just a dozen or so minutes. After I moved to the back again, I said, "Yiyi, Eve, tank the boss for a couple of seconds while I use Purple Dragon Howl to end this fight. Beiming, use Clear As Flame just in case some assassins are lurking nearby to steal our boss!" Beiming Xue giggled. "I¡¯ve already turned it on a couple seconds ago. Don¡¯t worry, big brother!" "Good!" I abruptly stood still and healed myself to max health and MP. Then, I cast Purple Dragon Howl while Heavenly River Transformation was still active. I stabbed the Chill of the Nine Provinces into the ground and awakened the power of the divine dragon slumbering deep beneath the earth. After a draconic shadow climbed out of the earth and onto the blade of the Chill of the Nine Provinces, I pulled out the weapon and fired a tremendous cyclone of purple energy straight at the boss! BOOM BOOM BOOM! A ton of damage numbers rose from the hydra¡¯s heads. Each one was at least 800k or higher. In terms of attack power, Purple Dragon Howl was only second to the Xuanyuan Slash. In terms of continuous damage and DPS though, it was way higher than the Xuanyuan Slash. There was no chance the boss was going to survive this. ¡­¡­ "Roar roar¡­" There was a cacophony of ear-piercing death screams. Then, all nine dragon heads fell from the sky and hit the ground with lifeless thuds. Their scales were stripped, and blood was flowing everywhere. The vile beast that had entrenched itself at Fire Dragon Canyon for god knows how many years had finally been conquered by us adventurers from distant lands, and it was without any sort of cheesing too. Most of all, a boss fight where I had pretty girls to buff, heal and cover for me was absolutely enjoyable. Swhoosh swhoosh! Nearly everyone rose a level after the boss was dead. Like that, the experience we lost had been returned to us. Something wasn¡¯t quite right, however. Where was our loot?! ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue blinked her eyes and said my heart¡¯s thoughts, "Where¡¯s the loot?" Lian Xin echoed in agreement, "Yeah. Where is the loot?" He Yi pointed to the dragon¡¯s lair and said, "They¡¯re probably at where the boss''s true body is. Should we head over and grab it now?" "Of course! Let¡¯s go!" I grabbed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and strode toward the dragon¡¯s lair without hesitation. For loot, I would brave even the darkest corners of the world! Chapter 1238 I looked over the burning crater again, this time together with the girls. Thick smoke was rising from it, and it was so bad that Lin Yixin let out a cute yelp of surprise, put a hand on my shoulder to support herself, and coughed repeatedly. "Ugh!" Pressing her lips into a thin line and supporting Lin Yixin, He Yi said, "Is it okay if we stay here while you head down to grab the loot, Lu Chen? This is just too much for us. Also please refresh your buffs on your idol, Beauty Guanyue. It would suck to win the boss fight only to die to environmental damage¡­" Pure Love let out a giggle of acknowledgement before refreshing all the buffs on my person. Finally, she dropped Lesser Restoration and said, "Come back alive after you grab the loot, Lu Chen!" I nodded. "Don¡¯t worry. I will!" I took out an Earth-grade sword from my bag and held it in my left hand. Then, I jumped into the burning dragon¡¯s lair. The walls of the crater were almost perpendicular to the ground, so I was able to thrust the Chill of the Nine Provinces into it and use it to slow down my fall. It wasn¡¯t exactly effective because the blade cut through the wall like tofu, but that was why I had taken out the Earth-grade sword beforehand. I kept alternating between the two weapons until I descended to the bottom of the dragon¡¯s lair. What I wasn¡¯t expecting was for the dragon¡¯s lair to be so deep that it took me almost five minutes to reach the bottom. When I finally passed through the thick miasma that was blocking my vision completely, I was greeted by the shocking sight that was the Nine-headed Fire Hydra¡¯s body. I had thought that the blood-red eyes I saw at the beginning belonged to one of its heads, but no, they were actually on its back. It never shut its hateful eyes even after it died. I couldn¡¯t help but feel nervous about it. ¡­¡­ Thud! After I landed on my Ghost Spirit War Boots, I slowly strode toward the shiny pile of equipment, gemstones and so on directly beneath the boss''s body. I would never have descended to this god-forsaken place if it wasn¡¯t for them. It was truly a disgusting place. After I reached the boss, I had to crawl for a bit in order to push away the broken scales and rotten meat sitting on top of the loot. I nearly gagged when an unbelievably horrible stench wafted from it. Now that I thought about it, the boss hadn¡¯t left this place since the day it moved here. This meant that it peed and shat right at this spot, and it hadn¡¯t bathed for god knows how long. If this was real life, the smell alone could send anyone to the heavens. Ding! Suddenly, my Chill of the Nine Provinces hit something. It was then I noticed that a thick chain passing beneath its stomach. The chain had fallen apart after my accidental contact with it, but I quickly discovered a dozen more chains wrapped around the boss''s entire body. I didn¡¯t quite understand what was going on here, but it looked like someone had trapped the boss''s body here somehow. Well, it was none of my business. I was here for the loot, and I couldn¡¯t care less if the boss was imprisoned here or not! I finally saw the pile of loot after I crawled all the way to the center. It was an invigorating sight. The boss only dropped three pieces of equipment¡ªa dazzling moon-colored necklace, a small and exquisite dragon-shaped ring, and a sword that burned like fire¡ªbut I could tell that they were all extraordinary. I dumped them all into my bag and grabbed all the gems and magic stones it dropped as well. The boss fight had consumed a large portion of my consumables, so I now had enough space to fit everything. It was at this moment He Yi¡¯s worried voice came from the party channel. "Is it safe down there, Lu Chen?" I replied with a smile, "Don¡¯t worry, Eve. There are no dangers down here. The boss dropped a ring, a necklace and a sword, and I¡¯m almost certain that either you or Yiyi are going to be able to replace your main weapons. Anyway, talk to you after I get out of this place. It stinks like you wouldn¡¯t believe, and I don¡¯t feel like sharing the equipment stats while being pinned under a mountain of rotten meat." "Okay! Come back soon!" My beautiful guild leader beamed at me. ¡­¡­ By the time I finally crawled out from the Nine-headed Fire Hydra¡¯s stomach, my face was covered in dust, and my battle garment was almost blood-drenched. When I looked up, I saw that there was a gigantic pool of clear water just in front of me. Don¡¯t ask me how a well-spring could exist in a crater like this, but it had to be where the hydra drank its water. I strode right into it so I could wash away the bloodstains on my body. It would be disgusting to meet the girls as I was otherwise. While I was doing some impromptu bathing, I suddenly noticed that I was stepping on a couple of chains. There 17 of them in total, and some of them passed right through the Nine-headed Fire Hydra¡¯s heart. All the chains were connected to something I couldn¡¯t see on the other side of the pool of clear water. They were the reason the Nine-headed Fire Hydra was trapped here. I walked over curiously. I wonder what it was that pinned down this mountain of meat. As it turned out, it wasn¡¯t a thing, but a person. When I circled around the wall, a rotten stench blew against my face and made me gag. I was shocked when I saw the source of the stench, however. The end of the 17 chains was a human standing atop of a small stone platform. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, the chains had wrapped around his entire body three times, and he was holding the end of the chains with his left hand and a rusted sword with his right. The sword was also plunged all the way to the handle into the stone wall next to him. As far as i could tell, this guy was the entire reason the Nine-headed Fire Hydra¡¯s body was trapped in this crater. Just how strong was he when he was still alive? I said ¡®was¡¯, because this man was clearly dead. His body had rotted away completely, his eyes were empty and lightless, his hair clung to his skin like leeches, and his armor looked like they would fall apart at the slightest movement. ¡­¡­ "Unbelievable¡­" I shivered a little as I muttered to myself, "I don¡¯t know a human could be this strong¡­" To my shock, the human actually raised his head and stared at me with its empty eyes. He then asked in a deep tone, "Am¡­ am I hearing a human? Are you human?" I gripped my sword tighter and replied solemnly, "Yes. I am an adventurer of Silver Moon Alliance. And you are?" "Silver Moon Alliance?" He trembled uncontrollably. "That is an old name alright. To think that the Silver Moon Alliance still exists after all these years¡­ I¡¯m sorry, but may I know how Princess Fia is doing right now?" I hesitated for only a moment. "Princess Fia passed away a hundred thousand years ago, sir¡­" "What?!" He sounded incredibly shocked. "It¡­ it¡¯s been a hundred thousand years? How¡­ how is this possible?" He looked up again. "Adventurer of the later generations, can you tell me what happened to Dragon Domain? And¡­ how is Lady Binglan¡­ the Dragon Speaker, doing?" I answered softly, "During the war of Sainthelm City, Binglan sacrificed all of her life force to seal the maddened Great Saint and died within the glaciers. Tens of thousands of years later, the new Purgatory Ruler, Lin Na, attacked the Dragon Domain and destroyed it¡­" "What¡­???" The man abruptly dropped to his knees and squeezed out a stream of tears that shouldn¡¯t exist in his dead body. He murmured sorrowfully, "Lady Binglan is dead¡­ Lady Bingland is dead? Impossible¡­ this can¡¯t be possible¡­" I said, "I¡¯m sorry, but that is the truth." As his tears wet the stone floor beneath him, he abruptly looked up and screamed, "I failed you, Lady Binglan! I failed my responsibility to Dragon Domain as well! I can never face you again even in the afterlife!" ¡­¡­ Touched by his emotions, I bent down and supported his shoulders gently. "Who are you, and why are you here?" He looked at me again before answering in a trembling voice, "I¡­ am Dragon Knight Captain Callan, a subordinate of Lady Binglan from a hundred thousand years ago¡­ I¡­ was trying to hunt down the Nine-headed Fire Hydra after it betrayed Dragon Domain, but my power was lacking, and I had to use these 17 chains to trap it here and prevent it from bringing harm to the continent instead¡­ but¡­ Lady Binglan is dead, but I am still living in shame. I¡­" I patted his shoulder and said, "Don¡¯t be sad, Callan. It isn¡¯t your fault. You did what you had to do, and Binglan¡¯s death has nothing to do with you." Callan gave the chains a tentative tug before saying, "I can¡¯t feel the hydra¡¯s presence anymore. Is it¡­?" I nodded. "Yes, me and my friends have slain the Nine-headed Fire Hydra. You are free to leave this place now. Dragon Domain may have collapsed, and your body has been rotting for a long time, but I¡¯m sure you will be able to reforge your body after a hundred thousand years of cultivation. As one of, if not the last denizen of Dragon Domain, its future now lies with you." Callan lowered his head in sorrow. "It¡¯s no use. I have transformed into an undead; an undead whose very presence brings shame to Dragon Domain. Unless Lady Binglan returns to life, there is no one who has the power to reforge my body. A vast gulf sits between a human and an undead, and only a god can bridge them¡­" I rose to my feet and said, "I¡¯ve said everything I needed to say. The future of Dragon Domain now lies in your hands, and I¡¯m certain you won¡¯t disappoint Binglan. Now go. The ruins of Dragon Domain are waiting for you¡­" Calan rose to his feet¡ªstill dragging the 17 chains with him¡ªand looked at the sky. Then, he said, "I know what I should do now. Thank you, warrior of the later generations!" With that parting words, he leaped into the air and vanished into the clouds, bringing the chains with him. Sigh. When will I be able to fly on my own like these NPCs, I wonder? ¡­¡­ I canceled Fusion Armor, climbed onto the Ancient Divine Dragon, and flew out of the crater in the blink of an eye. Then, I activated Fusion Armor again and landed gently on the ground. I smiled at the girls and asked them, "Sorry for making you all wait. Did you miss me?" Instead of replying, a wide-eyed Lin Yixin and He Yi asked me at the same time, "Who is that chained man who just flew out of the crater?!" I curled my lips. "He¡¯s an NPC of Dragon Domain; some captain. He was tasked with hunting down the hydra, but he lacked the strength to kill it. So, he used his chains to pin the hydra in the crater and prevented it from roaming free. He is a respectable man." Lin Yixin smiled. "That is very respectable. Anyway, show us the equipment drops already. Are they useful to us?" "Sure!" ¡­¡­ I took out my bag and dropped the pile of loot on the floor. The girls immediately surrounded it from all sides. First, I picked up the ring with the faint shadow of a dragon swimming across its surface. It was obviously an extraordinary item. I waved my hand across it, and the stats screen that appeared afterward was saliva-inducing to say the least¡ª Afterimage Ring (Sacred Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Strength: +2560 Stamina: +2400 Intelligence: +2250 Agility: +2000 Tactics: +240 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 40% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 50000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s resistance toward ice-type magic by 100% Outstanding Property: Afterimage. Summons an afterimage to deal 150% basic attack damage in a single line and prevent the targets from receiving any buffs in 7 seconds. Level Requirement: 220 Reputation Requirement: 700000 Chapter 1239 "Wow, this Level 220 Sacred Armament ring is amazing!" I waved the ring once before saying to He Yi and Lin Yixin, "Alright, I¡¯ll be the judge for this one. For fairness''¡¯ sake, whoever gets the ring will have to give up on the sword." He Yi¡¯s eyes were widened with interest and desire, and Lin Yixin¡¯s were no better. I could almost see the words "I want" flying across her eyes... A long time later, Lin Yixin licked her lips and held both of He Yi¡¯s hands smilingly. "Sister Eve¡­" He Yi almost rolled her eyes at her at the honey-laced voice Lin Yixin was using. "What do you want, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin giggled. "Well you see, you have a shield, a mount, and naturally high Stamina scaling, so your max HP is at least 30% higher than mine. This Afterimage Ring adds Attack and max HP, so¡­ can I have this please? It¡¯ll help me escape the label of glass cannon¡­" He Yi pursed her lips and nodded. "Okay. You take the ring, and I take the sword. Deal?" "Deal!" Lin Yixin immediately equipped the ring upon obtaining it. While she was enjoying the sight of her new stats, I picked up the flaming sword next and examined it for a bit. There were runes floating around the sword, and a pair of fullers at the center of the blade, giving the sword an exquisite and elegant appearance. The weapon was probably better-looking on a female player, and I could tell from its appearance it was of rank lower than my Chill of the Nine Provinces. That was only natural though. Even in its incomplete state, Chill of the Nine Provinces was still one of the Twelve Divine Armaments. It was only natural that it surpassed most other weapons! I waved my hand across the sword and brought up its stats. It wasn¡¯t one of the Twelve Divine Armaments as expected, but it was still incredibly powerful¡­ Suppressing Fire Sword (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 10000~12500 Strength: +2450 Stamina: +2300 Agility: +2250 Intelligence: +2100 Tactics: +259 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 195% Passive: Increases user¡¯s fire-type splash damage by 50% Slots: 17 Outstanding Property: Flame Dance. When swinging the weapon, 20% chance to unleash a flaming sword aura that deals critical damage to all targets within 7 yards. Effect: Benevolence. When attacking a target, 12% of the damage dealt is converted to HP. Introduction: During the ancient times, an emperor with the dynasty name "Zhou" procured a strange metal from the mountains to forge divine arms. It took a decade of effort, but the ancient sword "Suppressing Fire" was born into this world. It was said that Emperor Zhou had summoned the heavenly flames to burn all the demons and devils plaguing the human world with just one swing of the weapon. The feat was so impressive that it became a widespread folktale. For an unknown reason, the Suppressing Fire Sword went missing and wouldn¡¯t resurface until many thousands of years later. It is still as sharp as ever. Level Requirement: 220 Reputation Requirement: 600000 ¡­¡­ I gave the Suppressing Fire Sword to He Yi and said, "This is Eve¡¯s as per the agreement. Now both of you got what you needed. Of course, the next melee-type weapon we run into will go to Yiyi. If the author wasn¡¯t such a lazy fuck, both of you would have been wielding Ancient Immortal-grade weapons for a while now¡­" He Yi giggled. "I¡¯ll be using this Suppressing Fire Sword, Yiyi!" Lin Yixin nodded affirmatively. "Of course!" Both girls were happy with the outcome, which made it the best outcome. After that, I checked out the third and last equipment dropped by the boss before tossing it into Murong Mingyue¡¯s hands. I said, "It¡¯s a necklace that increases base healing by 1500 and healing effects by 185%, and obviously sis is the only one who can use this. It¡¯s also an Ancient Immortal-grade equipment that boosts all 4 attributes and especially Strength by over 1900, which is absolutely critical in tanking Ultimate Strength Breaks. In the future, all classes will seek to increase all four attributes evenly, so grind hard, sis!" Murong Mingyue nodded in agreement. "Yes, you are right. During the previous Nation War, there were multiple times I could¡¯ve died to Ultimate Strength Break if I hadn''t buffed myself with an HP card¡­" "Haha!" I checked out the rest of the stuff the boss dropped. There were Rank 16 and 17 enhancement gems, and they boosted all kinds of stats such as Attack and Defense. We split them all between us in no time. ¡­¡­ After the loot distribution was complete, I rose to my feet and looked to the west. "It¡¯ll take us about an hour to pass through Fire Dragon Canyon and arrive at a small section that is part of Yellowstone Desert. From there, we¡¯ll make our way to Cyanscale Coast and finally, Dragon Domain. There¡¯s an NPC harbor at Cyanscale Coast where we can repair our equipment and restock on potions, so there¡¯s nothing to worry about." "Got it. Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ Over an hour later, we arrived at the burning hot Yellowstone Desert. Although this part of Yellowstone Desert fell under Vanished God City¡¯s domain, it was located at the southwestmost corner. That was why not a single player could be spotted at this place. The desert was littered with monsters like Sand Foxes and Sand Wolves. The monster level ranged between 225 to 275, and the monster rank between dread and fiend. It was a great map to grind in, but the problem was that it was so far away from the main city it took at least 2 to 3 hours for a cavalryman to make it over, and 5 hours or more for a foot soldier. Unless a new territory were to spawn in this area, there was little chance any player would be willing to make the journey. Rustle rustle... The Ancient Divine Dragon didn¡¯t seem to enjoy the scalding hot sand burning its paws, so it twisted here and there to get rid of some of the discomfort. Unfortunately, its swaying movements made Murong Mingyue and I pretty uncomfortable as well. A while later, Murong Mingyue raised her butt a little¡ªshe was sitting in front of me¡ªstretched her scepter to the front and hit my poor dragon right on the head, demanding, "Stop twisting around, you fool! Your master¡¯s going to get hard at this rate!" I could hardly believe my ears, but this was sis we were talking about. Staring blankly at her exposed thighs and round butt, I said, "Sis, you can stand to be a bit modest, you know. Also, seriously? You think this is enough to get me hard?" Murong Mingyue looked back at me before moving her legs so that she was facing toward the side. Then, she wrapped her arms around my waist and narrowed her eyes seductively, "Ho? I guess I did underestimate your cultivation somewhat. Very well, let us try something more blood-pumping this time, shall we?" My blood was already pumping faster as she spoke. She was shorter than me, so I had a perfect view of her amazing cleavage from above. It was a sight no man could possibly resist! Luckily, Beiming Xue woke me up from my trance by saying, "Sister Mingyue, Sister Eve and Sister Lin Yixin are both here, you know? There are other more suitable times to tease big brother." He Yi said expressionlessly, "It¡¯s fine, I got used to it a long time ago¡­" Lin Yixin unsheathed her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword partially and threatened, "Sister Mingyue can tease Little Cheat all she wants, but if Little Cheat crosses the line even a millimeter, I swear I¡¯ll chop off his little brother!" Whatever heat had entered my blood a moment earlier was chased away instantly. "Let¡¯s get out of this desert already! It¡¯s way too hot here!" As I urged the Ancient Divine Dragon to move faster, a chorus of bell-like laughter came from behind me. The girls were absolutely reaping their happiness from my misery and loss of dignity. Of course, I would be lying if I said that it was true misery. As unbearable as it was to hold a 9/10 girl like Murong Mingyue in my arms without reacting, it was still a kind of enjoyment. Of course, I couldn¡¯t show any hint of it on my face unless I wanted to die. Judging from Murong Mingyue¡¯s evil laughter, she knew exactly what she was doing to me. Sigh. Not only were we as close as siblings, she was completely open to me, and I was hardly resistant to her charms. There was nothing I could do except endure until the day Murong Mingyue finally got married. That gave me an idea to launch my counterattack, so I said immediately, "Sis, you¡¯re not a young woman anymore. When are you going to find your perfect partner? I can¡¯t wait to attend your wedding, you know!" Murong Mingyue fell silent for a moment. "My perfect partner?" "Yeah? A boyfriend can keep you company at night, if you get what I mean¡­" Murong Mingyue let out a giggle. "Is that so? You know, summer¡¯s about to arrive, and autumn is never too far behind summer. By the time autumn arrives, the carrots, cucumbers and eggplants will all have matured already. Why would I need a boyfriend when I have them?" I shuddered violently as the desire to slap myself to death erupted. Why did I think I could beat her in a verbal spar? Idiot! ¡­¡­ When we arrived at the edge of Yellowstone Desert, someone brought up the matter of physiological needs. So, we agreed to log off for an hour. At 8 pm sharp, we logged back into the game and continued on our journey. We left the edge of Yellowstone Desert and crossed over a hill, arriving at a lush forest. 20 minutes later, we appeared on the other side of the forest and soaked in the sound of sea waves. The boundless sea was right in front of us, and the map screen showed that we were at Cyanscale Coast right now. He Yi spurred her mount forward and pointed to the north, "Look, our harbor is right there. We can rent a boat there and sail for about 10 hours to reach the other side. Once we¡¯re onshore, we only need to travel west to enter the Snow Region, which is where Dragon Domain is located." I said, "Before that, we should check out the harbor, stock up on supplies and repair our equipment." "Yeah!" The harbor was called a city, but I personally thought that it was a town at best. It was located between the borders of China¡¯s Vanished God City and Russia¡¯s Frostsword City, so most of the players we saw belonged to the two main cities. However, the large majority of them were loners who were here to gather precious herbs and ores. In fact, very few players came here to grind because the monster levels were too high for the average player for now. ¡­¡­ It was nighttime at the harbor. The moon hung high, and the silence was tranquil and soothing. The musical sound of bagpipes flowed out from inside an inn. A group of NPC sailors were downing their ale, hugging beautiful elf women and sliding their hands up and down the latter¡¯s butt. There were also NPC adventurers such as the hill dwarves who were sitting at the corner of the inn and chewing on their rabbit legs wordlessly. Their axes were placed on top of their table. I led the girls into the inn and spoke with the inn assistant to purchase some bread. It was impossible to survive in Dragon Domain on an empty stomach, not to mention that this SSS Rank main quest most certainly wasn¡¯t going to be finished in just a day or two. While buying the bread, I asked the NPC assistant, "Hey man, can I ask you something? How can we make it across?" He answered, "You just need to rent a boat at the harbor registration area, dear guest. This isn¡¯t a good time to sail though. A fierce storm is ravaging the sea right now, and I doubt there¡¯ll be many sailors who¡¯ll be willing to make the trip for you." I curled my lips. "Mn, thanks!" I glanced to the side. A charming elf beauty with half her breasts exposed was enticing me with her eyes. My response was to grab Lin Yixin¡¯s hand and said, "Come on, let¡¯s head out and rent a boat already!" "Oh!" A red-faced Lin Yixin answered before allowing herself to be dragged out of the inn. She was going to murder a bunch of NPCs who were wolf-whistling at her and saying, "What a gorgeous lass you are! Come over here and play with us, girl!" ¡­¡­ After we exited the building, we didn¡¯t go far when someone suddenly called out to us from behind, "Friends from China! Are you guys planning to travel to the other side of the sea? Gold alone isn¡¯t enough, you know. You need to gather a group of 20 players at minimum before the sailors will accept your request. It so happens that me and my friends number 13 people exactly. If you want, we can travel together!" I looked back. The speaker was a brawny axe wielder. The city name on his arm marked him as a member of Frostsword City. Chapter 1240 The moonlight from above made the shiny lines of text floated above the Frostsword City berserker¡¯s head just a bit clearer¡ª Demon Hunter LV-212 Main City: Frostsword City Guild: Ice Age Position: Vice Leader ¡­¡­ I did a quick search on his power ranking and found that he was the 798th best player in Frostsword City, or about the same level as Gods of Destruction¡¯s Dominating Knight God. It wasn¡¯t a bad ranking if you were to compare him to the average player. Assuming that his party members were on the same level as him, they were still no match for our 7-man party. Lin Yixin, He Yi and I turned around at nearly the same time. I smiled politely at Demon Hunter before asking, "You¡¯ve gathered 13 players?" "Exactly 13, yes!" Demon Hunter spread his arms invitingly. "You¡¯re planning to travel to Dragon Domain, right? In that case, why don¡¯t we work together? The mob level of this map is pretty high, so it¡¯s safer to operate in big numbers. Everyone in my party is fairly strong, and healing isn¡¯t a problem since we have 3 priests." He smiled even wider as he continued, "China and Russia have been allies since the beginning of the game, right? We were there when Sky City was under attack, and you are familiar with Snowy Night, right? It so happens that I¡¯m an acquaintance of hers too! I hope we can cooperate with each other. It¡¯ll be beneficial for both our parties." I let out a hum but didn¡¯t reply immediately. Inside the party channel, the girls were busy discussing among themselves¡ª Lin Yixin: "I don¡¯t know, girls. This Demon Hunter gives me a bad vibe, and I really don¡¯t like how he kept looking Sister Eve up and down!" Beiming Xue: "Yeah, I noticed it too. He¡¯s been ogling boss from the start!" Murong Mingyue chuckled. "Now, now, girls. Our Eve is beautiful, classy, and she carries a pair of 34Ds on her person. It¡¯s perfectly natural for her to draw some attention." I suggested, "How about we join their party for now and leave after we get on the boat? The key here is getting on the boat anyway. Otherwise, we¡¯ll be stuck here for a long time trying to recruit another 13 players." He Yi agreed. "Sounds like a good plan. Okay. Let¡¯s do this!" "Yeah." ¡­¡­ After the discussion, I gave Demon Hunter a nod and said, "Sounds like a plan. Where are your party members?" "They¡¯re stocking up on food at the bread shop. They¡¯ll be coming out in a moment!" "Very well. We¡¯re canceling our party now, so please send us the party invite!" "Got it!" Soon after, we joined Demon Hunter¡¯s party. His chosen stratagem was Encourage VII, which boosted the Attack of all party members by 100%. This alone marked him as an above-average player. These days, any player worth their salt¡ªeven if they weren¡¯t a Famous General¡ªwould get Encourage VII or Iron Wall VII so that they could boost their party¡¯s Attack or Defense stats by 100%. Either stat was very useful for a wide variety of situations. It was also why Encourage VII remained a pricey stratagem book that cost at least 10k gold to this day. All you needed was one, and you would become a ten-thousandaire as well. The possibility had driven countless youngsters to grind hard to this day. A couple of minutes later, a stream of Ice Age players walked up to us just like Demon Hunter said they would. The guy hadn¡¯t lied to us about his party¡¯s strength either. I counted 4 mages, 3 priests, 3 cavalrymen, 1 tamer, 1 archer and 1 assassin. All of them were eighth-promotion, and both their party composition and equipment looked good enough to challenge an Immortal Rank boss without any casualties. Underestimating these people no matter how strong we were would be a bad move. After everyone was ready, Demon Hunter registered our 20-man party at the harbor registration area and earned us the right to sail across the sea. The travel fee per player was 100 gold. I stepped onto the deck first before extending a hand to Lin Yixin like a gentleman. The Ice Age archer, a guy who looked to be around 27 years old was watching us both with admiration and jealousy. His admiration was directed toward Lin Yixin¡¯s out-of-the-world beauty, and his jealousy was toward me, the seemingly average guy with all his equipment luster turned off. I had also hidden my ID in the party channel; a benefit that came with being at a higher level. That being said, they could still see our guild emblem, and you would have to be living under a rock to not know that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya were two of the best guilds in China. Unless they were exceptionally clueless, they should have an inkling as to our true identities. Pa! I stayed on edge of the deck to help all the girls over one by one. A while later, He Yi walked to the bow of the ship and shot Demon Hunter a polite smile, saying, "Me and my companions will be staying on the bow for a discussion. That aside, feel free to do as you please, Demon Hunter!" Demon Hunter nodded back smilingly. "You too. Me and my friends will be sitting together at the aft. If you are tired, you may rest inside the hold for a moment. The wind is a lot weaker inside, and you may even be able to catch some sleep in there. At the very least, you won¡¯t catch a cold from the sea wind." "Got it. Thank you!" ¡­¡­ Demon Slayer and his friends passed through the hold at the center before appearing on the aft. Then, they sat there and talked about whatever among themselves. I pointed to the area right before the bowsprit and said, "Sis, Lian Xin, Guanyue, Beiming, please sit over there and catch some rest if you want to. It¡¯s possible to fall into a light sleep inside the game if your brain activity falls below a certain level. Although it¡¯s not a true rest, you¡¯ll still expend far less energy than you would have otherwise. Eve, Yiyi and I will be staying right here." Carrying the Xuanming Bow behind her back and sitting cross-legged at the front of the bow, she asked me with a smile, "Big brother, you want us low-health players over here because you¡¯re still wary of them, aren¡¯t you?" I smiled a bit and left Demon Hunter¡¯s party. After I had created my own party and added everyone back in it, I said, "Yeah. Demon Hunter and his friends hid their eyes well, but I can still sense the burning desire and jealousy. We may have hidden our equipment luster, but they¡¯re not so blind that they can¡¯t recognize their power. Also, the Xuanming Bow was displayed in full on the Twelve Divine Armaments Ranking. A player with a keen eye would notice that Beiming Xue¡¯s bow looks exactly like the Xuanming Bow. They¡¯re not making a move yet, but that is no reason to let our guard down. That is why we¡¯re going to stay right here and wait for them to make a move. If nothing happens, then all is well. If not, we¡¯ll see." Lian Xin sat down beside Beiming Xue too and said, "Big brother is right. We should be careful." Beiming Xue curled her lips a bit before suggesting, "How about you all catch some rest while I keep watch? I¡¯ll activate Clear As Flame so that nothing can sneak up on us." I nodded. In fact, I had activated Dark Pupils and kept a close eye on every Ice Age player since the moment I boarded the ship. ¡­¡­ As He Yi and Lin Yixin sat on the ground, He Yi summoned the Snake King Little Qing and had her stand right next to her like a loyal bodyguard. I also summoned the Phantom Wolf King, had it enter stealth mode, and position it close to the ship hold. We had traveled and grinded for the whole day, so the girls were all looking a bit tired. They leaned on each other and closed their eyes to catch some rest. They might as well. It would take 10 hours for the ship to reach the other shore. Over an hour later, we suddenly heard a rustling noise from inside the ship hold. A short while later, Demon Hunter emerged from behind the curtains while carrying a pair of barbecued fish skewers on one hand. As he walked over with a smile, he said, "Are you hungry? Here are some fish we got fishing and barbecued on the aft earlier. It¡¯s not cooked very well, but it still increases satiety, and more importantly it doesn¡¯t cost the food in your bag, am I right?" He Yi opened her eyes and smiled at him. "Thank you!" I accepted the barbecued fish skewer and said as well, "Thank you for your trouble!" Demon Slayer swept his glance across everyone before smiling back. "You¡¯re welcome. Haha!" He left after saying that. ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue sniffed the fragrant-smelling fishes before asking, "Are we too paranoid after all?" I shook my head. "I don¡¯t know, but we can¡¯t let down our guard. The food offering could be an excuse to scout out our position and check if they have a good chance at ambushing us." Lin Yixin leaned against the railing and replied, "Yeah, he¡¯s right. Just stay on your guard like you¡¯re watching wolves until ten hours is up!" I nodded in agreement. A while later, I suddenly noticed a change with Dark Pupils. A red dot¡ªa Level 211 eighth-promotion assassin¡ªwas crouching at a hidden corner of the aft and observing us with cold, greedy eyes. "Beiming!" I called out quietly without changing my posture. Beiming Xue opened her eyes and asked me, "What¡¯s wrong, big brother?" I answered, "Look to your 11 o¡¯clock with Clear As Flame. Can you see the hidden assassin?" Beiming Xue blinked once before replying, "No, big brother. What¡¯s wrong? Is their assassin watching us?" "Yeah." A tiny sneer crept onto my lips. "They¡¯re a cunning bunch alright. The assassin is watching us from 45 yards away, which is just beyond the range of your 40-yard Clear As Flame. Well, he¡¯s not doing anything yet, so just stay cool and wait for their next move." Still leaning against the railing, Lin Yixin placed her hand on her sword without being noticed by our voyeur and closed her eyes. Then, she said inside the party channel, "Can we just run them down? This waiting game is really getting to me¡­" I rolled my eyes a bit. "Of course not. These guys may be scumbags, but we are still allies with Frostsword City. If we act first, the blame will fall on us no matter what we say. Plus, don¡¯t you trust our strength? We absolutely have the power to give them the first, second and even the third move!" He Yi was lying on the floor and using my lap as a pillow. Eyes closed with contentment, she said, "Lu Chen is right. We can¡¯t give our enemies any way to slander us!" "Fine, I¡¯ll wait." "Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t take too long. I guarantee you they¡¯ll come after us the second some variable changes, whatever it may be!" I declared confidently before continuing, "By the way, that assassin¡¯s been staring at Beiming non-stop. I bet it¡¯s because he wants your Xuanming Bow. Sigh, we¡¯ll never escape the fate of being envied upon by everyone!" Beiming Xue giggled. "Big brother!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a distant lightning bolt illuminated the ship for a moment. Then, a skyful of dark clouds started approaching us. He Yi turned serious. "Watch out. Looks like the change we were waiting for is upon us!" Chapter 1241 The storm came way quicker than expected. In just the blink of an eye, the wind was howling against our ears, and the NPC captain was pressing a palm to his sword hilt and shouting, "Drop sail!" ¡­¡­ Pitter patter... Huge rain droplets pitter-pattered against the deck. I looked up. Thunder roared against our ears, and purple lightning cut across the sky like a demonic eye. A few seconds later, the rain turned into a massive downpour that washed all the dirt and grime on our armor in no time. "Should we head inside the hold now, big brother?" asked Beiming Xue while narrowing her eyes. I shook my head. "The storm is too great. We need to help the sailors to stay on course. If it strikes a reef or worse, capsizes, we won¡¯t be getting to Dragon Domain anytime soon. Also, the ship hold is small enough that dodging is almost impossible. Even I can be one-shot if I¡¯m struck by multiple God Devil Breaks at the same time!" While saying this, I activated Battle Astral Wind to protect myself. The more dangerous a situation was, the more I needed to remain calm and collected. ¡­¡­ As the storm continued to rage over the sea, I kept one hand on the Chill of the Nine Provinces and the other on Murong Mingyue¡¯s shoulder. Priests had low Strength stats, so she needed my help to steady herself on the rocking ship. Suddenly, Beiming Xue pointed to the sky and exclaimed, "What is that?" A black object was falling toward us. When I realized what she was pointing at, I exclaimed in horror, "Is that a fucking fishing boat!? Drop to the ground now! It¡¯s going to crash right into our ship!" We all dropped to the ground at the same time. Less than 5 seconds later, the fishing boat crashed into the bow like an artillery shell, smashing the harbor emblem of the ship into smithereens. Rainwater started to pour into the hull earnestly, so we needed to fix the gap as soon as possible. I grabbed one of the planks that had split away from the fishing boat, ran to the affected area and planted it over the gap. However, I didn¡¯t have any nails to affix the plank, so I had no choice but to take out a pair of shoddy daggers and nail it to each side of the plank. It worked, but it wasn¡¯t going to last long for sure. As I returned my gaze to the deck, I saw that Demon Hunter and the dozen of Ice Age players had rushed over with shocked expressions. He said seriously, "What happened? Did something punch through the floor of the bow? Quick, we need to fix the ship before it¡¯s too late! The NPC sailors can¡¯t handle everything!" Three metal-armor players immediately moved toward us. The archers and mages and the back followed. They all wore worried expressions on their faces, but I knew better than to trust them. ¡­¡­ I wrapped an arm each around Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue¡¯s waists and pulled them behind me. The storm was severely limiting our vision range, and I could no longer see Demon Hunter¡¯s movement clearly. Inside the party channel, Lin Yixin said, "Watch out! They¡¯re about to make a move!" I could see it myself. The moment Demon Hunter approached Beiming Xue, his sword had come out of its sheath, and the light of Ultimate Strength Break and Barrier Break glimmered from the blade. The other two metal-armor players were unsheathing their swords and cutting two of Beiming Xue¡¯s retreat path as well. It was obvious what they were planning. Kill Beiming Xue, and they had at least a 1% chance to get her to drop the Xuanming Bow. If they succeeded, then it would be worth it even if it cost them all their lives. Whoosh! I immediately activated Heavenly River Transformation and caused a pair of bloody wings to spread behind me. Then, I punched Demon Hunter¡¯s sword with my left fist, and kneed the second metal-armor player in the chest to cancel both their Ultimate Strength Breaks. He Yi unsheathed her new Suppressing Fire Sword and moved into position while Beiming Xue darted to the back. Eyes grim with determination, she activated Chengying and Hanguang, lashed out with Godslaying Blade, and sent the third metal-armor player flying straight out of the ship. "Ah!" The player let out a painful groan before sinking into the infinite blackness that was the sea. There was no need to imagine his fate. Demon Hunter ordered with a hateful expression, "Kill them!" The mages immediately cast their strongest spell, God Devil Break. There was only so much space on the deck, so the three God Devil Breaks nearly covered everything. Beiming Xue was well aware that her class had poor HP and Intelligence, so she activated her invincibility skill without hesitation before retaliating with Skypiercer and Spiraling Arrow Blade. They dealt massive damage to the enemy mages and priest shields. Crack! I stabbed an enemy cavalryman through the chest and pulled out the weapon in rapid succession. Then, I immediately turned around and thrust with Universe Break at Demon Hunter. Demon Hunter¡¯s pupils shrank. He slid his left foot backward to widen his stance, and he held his sword at an odd angle as if trying to parry my skill. Did he seriously think he could afford to parry my skill in this situation? I shook my wrist a bit so that my blade would fall on the weakest spot of his blade instead of the parry spot. A parry shatter occurred just as I expected it would. Crack! 557982! The one hit dropped Demon Hunter to less than 20% HP instantly. "Leave this to me!" Beiming Xue dashed toward Demon Hunter and pulled out her dagger. After she sliced his neck open with her dagger, she followed up with a super close range Bone Eroding Arrow that killed the berserker. Demon Hunter¡¯s face was filled with disbelief. He probably thought he would survive longer than this. ¡­¡­ "This is taking too long, Lu Chen! None of us can take another round of God Devil Break," Lin Yixin said urgently. "Use your Xuanyuan Slash and one-shot the mages now!" "Got it!" I raised my sword and manifested a gigantic golden sword, shocking all the enemy mages, priests and the tamer. They must¡¯ve seen the footage of the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill in action before. Well, they were about to experience it with their bodies now. Boom! The Xuanyuan Slash whooshed over the ship and one-shot the remaining ambushers easily. Something absolutely terrible and unexpected happened, however. Chill of the Nine Provinces had triggered its Mountain Crush effect, so the entire ship was split in half! Oh shit! "Oh. My. God!" He Yi and Lin Yixin could hardly believe their own eyes. "Lu Chen you idiot! Why did you break the ship!? We¡¯re so dead!" Seawater poured earnestly into the new gap. The entire ship was sinking at an unbelievable rate. There was a loud noise, and the storm abruptly ripped the bow in half. Before I knew it, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Lian Xin and Pure Moon were already beyond my reach. "What do we do? What do we do?" Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes were bloodshot with panic. I shouted as loudly as I could, "Everyone find a plank and cling to it so you won¡¯t drown! It¡¯s every man and woman for themselves now!" "Mn!" I was watching Lin Yixin carving several pieces of planks for Lian Xin and Pure Love with the Suppressing Fire Sword when a huge shadow suddenly cast over me. Shit! The mast is¡­! "Beiming watch out!" I pushed Beiming Xue out of the way right before the mast smashed our last remaining foothold to pieces. She was able to plant her dagger through the piece of smashed desk she fell on and steady herself, but she couldn¡¯t help but scream helplessly as she tried futilely to row against the stormy currents with one hand, "Big brother! What do I do? Big brother! I¡¯m scared¡­" The night was pitch black. Even with my Dark Pupils, I could barely pierce the impenetrable curtain of darkness. The bigger plank beneath Murong Mingyue and my feet abruptly broke into two pieces. It threatened to pull the two of us apart. I hurriedly held out the Chill of the Nine Provinces to Murong Mingyue while shouting, "Sis! Grab onto the hilt quickly! I¡¯ll pull you over!" Murong Mingyue hurriedly grabbed onto the sword hilt, but again disaster struck as I pulled her close. The plank I was standing on broke because it couldn¡¯t withstand my weight, causing me to fall straight into the water. Luckily, Murong Mingyue was able to stay on top of the remaining plank on her knees, and I managed to cling onto the edge and not be swept away. There wasn¡¯t much else I could do in such ferocious waters though. Soon, I couldn¡¯t even see He Yi, Lin Yixin and everyone else anymore. It was at this moment Murong Mingyue looked down at me and joked, "This reminds me of a certain Rose and Jack¡­" I replied, "I admire your ability to joke in any situation." Then, I asked inside the party channel, "Is everyone okay?" He Yi, Lin Yixin and the others responded, "We¡¯re fine, but god knows where we¡¯re drifting to¡­" "Beiming?" "I¡¯m fine too, big brother. And drifting." Pure Love consoled, "Don¡¯t worry. Judging from the map screen, we¡¯re drifting straight toward Dragon Domain. It shouldn¡¯t take more than 24 hours of drifting for us to reach the other shore¡­" "That is an optimistic observation if I ever heard one." I grimaced. "Anyway, try not to die until we reach our destination. We¡¯ll probably run into some sea monsters on the way, but they shouldn¡¯t be strong enough to kill us¡­" He Yi asked concernedly, "I¡¯m not worried about the others, but what about Mingyue? She¡¯s a priest with almost no offensive abilities. What can she do if she encounters a sea monster?" I replied, "It¡¯s fine. Sis is with me right now." "Good, good. Anyway, take care of yourselves, everyone¡­" ¡­¡­ Our conversation continued a bit longer before we fell into silence. I felt like the sound of the sea waves were making my ears numb. My body certainly felt as cold as ice. Still kneeling on top of the plank, Murong Mingyue asked me, "Hey, it¡¯s not comfortable down there, is it? You want to take turns or something?" I replied, "It¡¯s fine. There¡¯s no need to make both of us miserable¡­" Suddenly, an idea entered my mind. I raised my free arm and dispelled the Fusion Armor. The Ancient Divine Dragon immediately appeared above our heads and looked at me with its round eyes. "Oh right, I almost forgot¡­" Murong Mingyue chuckled. I grabbed onto a vine and pulled myself onto its back. Words couldn¡¯t describe how relieved I felt when I was finally out of this goddamned water. ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t meant to be. Less than a minute after I climbed onto the Ancient Divine Dragon, a black cloud of seagulls suddenly descended on me and attacked me! They were called Night Gulls, and they were Level 278 fiend-rank mobs with red eyes. They kept pecking at me like crazy! "Die!" I swung my weapon and executed Burning Blade Slash + Summon the Storm combo. My experience rose quickly, but the Ancient Divine Dragon still lost tenacity like crazy. Plop! A short moment later, the Ancient Divine Dragon lost all of its tenacity, and I dropped right back into the ocean. Only then did the Night Gulls vanish as if they were never there. I was willing to bet good money that these bastard birds were the apex predators of this area, and they attacked any airborne target that entered their domain. Unfortunately, my plan to save myself some pain didn¡¯t look like it was going to work. Chapter 1242 We bobbed up and down on Cyanscale Sea for a dozen or so hours at least. Thankfully, when the storm had finally passed us by, we entered an astonishingly peaceful part of the sea where a bright, beautiful sun hung above us.[1] I had entered light sleep mode while we were drifting toward Dragon Domain. Suddenly, I felt someone caressing the back of my head. When I looked up, I saw Murong Mingyue withdrawing her hand and smirking at me a bit. "What, you woke up already?" I asked suspiciously, "What were you doing?" "Taking care of you, of course!" "And how were you taking care of me, exactly?" "Like, has the sea rotted your dick yet?" "Fuck you!" I struggled a bit. The part of my body submerged inside the sea felt incredibly uncomfortable, sure. If there was one thing I was certain about though, it would be that my dick was perfectly intact. "»©»©¡­¡­" Whoosh whoosh... I planted the Chill of the Nine Provinces on one end of the plank. Then, I hung a priest cloak on it to use as a simple sail. It should help us get to the shore faster. "Seriously though, are you really okay?" Murong Mingyue asked again. I shook my head. "Of course not. I¡¯m so tired I could fall asleep at any moment. We¡¯re almost at the shore though. With luck, we¡¯ll reach whatever the other coast is called in 2 hours tops." Murong Mingyue lay down on the plank lazily and tilted her head at me. "Sigh, I¡¯m realizing all over again why Eve loves you so much. Little men definitely have their own unique charm¡­" I stared at her. "What the hell are you talking about, sis?" "Nothing. I was just wondering how I should thank you for submerging your dick in the sea for an entire day for me." "You don¡¯t have to thank me. We¡¯re all family." "I won¡¯t accept that. How about¡­" She thought for a moment before suddenly moving her face closer. Before I knew it, her right arm was wrapped around my neck, her red lips were planted against my lips, and her tongue was teasing me lightly. My mind went blank. I was so shocked that I wasn¡¯t able to react at all. Almost 15 seconds later, Murong Mingyue finally let me go and giggled like a female gangster who just pulled off a heist. "Not bad, not bad!" I shot her a glance before asking in a calm tone, "You¡¯ve been looking for a chance to do it for a long time now, haven¡¯t you?" "You realized? Damn¡­" "Damn, my ass!" ¡­¡­ Still lying on top of the plank like sleeping beauty, her breasts looked like they would succumb to the demands of gravity and spill out of her tight clothing. She shot me a seductive look before saying, "No need to think too hard about this. I like you, so I kissed you. It¡¯s that simple. We¡¯re all adults here, and I¡¯m hardly going to ask you to take responsibility for me kissing you. Of course, I¡¯m still not going to ask you to take responsibility if you wish to go¡­ deeper¡­" It felt like my world view was being turned upside down. "Stop trying to brainwash me! I refuse to understand your world view!" "Oh, you stubborn, old-fashioned brat¡­" Murong Mingyue opened the map screen and checked our coordinates after chiding me a bit. She then said, "Yes, it looks like we¡¯ll reach the shore in an hour. By the way, what is the plan after we arrive?" "Log out, eat supper, and sleep like a log!" "Yeah, that makes sense." ¡­¡­ As she said, a lush, forest-filled shore entered our sight 55 minutes later. Thank the heavens! I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon, held Murong Mingyue in a princess carry, and climbed onto its back. Then, I sheathed my weapon and ordered it to fly straight toward the shore. We were out of the deep sea area, so the Night Gulls wouldn¡¯t attack us anymore. And even if they would, they might not be able to catch up to the Ancient Divine Dragon travelling at full speed. I spotted two familiar figures on the beach almost immediately. They were Beiming Xue and Lian Xin. When Beiming Xue saw the Ancient Divine Dragon, she immediately waved with a light smile on her face. "Over here, big brother!" "Mn!" After the Ancient Divine Dragon had descended, and I had set Murong Mingyue on her feet, I asked, "Is everyone here, Beiming?" "Everyone except Sister Eve has arrived. You can see her location on the map screen." She was right. We were party members, so we could check each other¡¯s coordinates. He Yi was less than 5 km away from me. She was just too small to see from here. So I said, "I¡¯m going to fly over and fetch Eve. Feel free to take a rest or whatever while I¡¯m gone. By the way, where are Yiyi and Guanyue?" ¡°They¡¯re picking coconuts over there¡­" "OMG¡­" ¡­¡­ I turned around and took to the sky, flying straight for where He Yi was. Less than 3 minutes later, an orange dot entered my view. It was He Yi sleeping on top of a plank about 2 square meters big with the Suppressing Fire Sword pierced on one end and a cloth armor robe hung over it. I quietly descended beside her. She was curled up like a sleepy Persian cat basking under the warm sunlight. I couldn¡¯t help but look back and forth between her bubble butt and her tightly squeezed breasts. I felt sorry that she had to go through that distressing experience, and yet I couldn¡¯t help but love her current appearance even more. I pecked her on the lips once before hugging her gently, "Time to wake up, Eve." "Mn¡­" When He Yi opened her long eyelashes and saw me, she became so agitated that she gave me a back-breaking hug. "Uuu! I felt so lonely, cold and empty drifting alone last night!" I set her on my dragon¡¯s back and pulled out her Suppressing Fire Sword from the plank. "I know. I felt exactly the same. Now come on. Sis, Yiyi, Beiming and everyone else is waiting for us!" "Mn!" He Yi nodded, but moved closer to kiss me on the lips instead. It was natural for a person to feel a bit fragile after a lonely night¡¯s journey. However, the emotions born from this experience was also one of the truest and most precious of them all. Unlike her usual dignified self, with one knee on my dragon¡¯s back and facing toward me, He Yi hugged me and kissed me deeply while sitting on my thighs. I reciprocated by kissing back just as deeply, snaking my right arm around her delicate waist and caressing her long, tender thigh with my left. I could feel from her slightly shivering body that she was very nervous and very deep into the kiss. It wasn¡¯t until a long time later did she let go of me. I said, "Satisfied yet? You know, sis would say that we were gone long enough to blow a load¡­" He Yi blushed like an apple, but she replied smirkingly, "You wouldn¡¯t be able to do it in the game even if you wanted to. At the very least, Heavenblessed certainly doesn¡¯t have that kind of technology!" I kissed her on the cheek one more time before saying, "Alright, time to go. Sit tight." "Mn!" I gave the order, and the Ancient Divine Dragon shot toward the shore like a lightning bolt. We arrived slightly over two minutes later. As I thought, Lin Yixin, Murong Mingyue, and everyone else had gathered already. ¡­¡­ Pa! I activated Fusion Armor and landed softly on the sand together with He Yi. Lin Yixin held up a coconut and said to me, "I bet your Satiety level is very low, right? This coconut can restore over 80% Satiety in one go if you drink it all, and it tastes excellent. Here!" "Thanks, Yiyi!" I accepted the coconut and drank it all. As promised, it restored my Satiety to almost max. This was great news, because it meant that we wouldn¡¯t be starving in Dragon Domain anytime soon. I checked the time and took out my tent. "Alright, time to log out, people. It¡¯s almost noon already. Let¡¯s eat whatever, go to bed, and explore Dragon Domain around¡­ Actually, do you girls want to do this tonight, or wait until tomorrow morning?" Beiming Xue replied, " Let¡¯s burn the midnight oil. It¡¯s the weekend, so I don¡¯t need to attend class. Also, there might be more players if we wait until daytime." Lin Yixin agreed, "Me too. Let¡¯s burn the midnight oil!" "Sure!" ¡­¡­ The moment I logged out and took off my helmet, a wave of dizziness immediately assaulted me. The consequences of staying up all night were no joke. After I entered the living room, Murong Mingyue said, "I just booked a table at the restaurant downstairs, so get ready. We¡¯re heading down in 20 minutes¡­" "Got it." I brushed my teeth and washed my face. Then, I put on a gray overcoat and left the room. Murong Mingyue was holding her wallet and passing in front of me when He Yi was tying her shoes. Suddenly, she came to a stop and pecked me on the lips before I could react. She then smiled at me triumphantly as if saying, "You think I won¡¯t dare to kiss you in real life? You thought wrong!" It was a mess. My relationship was already pretty messed up, and adding another woman to the mix wasn¡¯t going to help things at all. So, I renewed my determination and took He Yi¡¯s hand in my own. Then, we led the way with Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin behind us. When He Yi or Lin Yixin was with me, I would hold their hands and stay away from any other woman. If they were both present, well¡­ I could only pray for the best. ¡­¡­ My phone rang while we were eating lunch at the restaurant. It was Gui Guzi. "What is it, Little Gui?" "Li got his Ancient Divine Skill, Boss Broken Halberd!" I shuddered. "Oh man! Did Chengfeng get an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill?" "Unfortunately, that is not the case. It¡¯s an SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill that somehow managed to avoid detection until now¡­" "That¡¯s still awesome. What is it called? How powerful is it?" Gui Guzi laughed. "Oh, it¡¯s quite amazing. The name is Crimson Firmament Slash, and it works exactly like your Xuanyuan Slash except that it only increases Attack by 125%. Also, it has a 100% success rate to Blind all targets for 3 seconds. Awesome, right?" I was wild with joy. "Holy shit, that is awesome! An AoE skill that 100% Blinds for 3 seconds? With Chengfeng¡¯s skill, there are only a handful who can eat Crimson Firmament Slash and survive the 3-second Blind! This SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill is almost as good as an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill!" "Yeah!" Gui Guzi then said, "That¡¯s all I wanted to say, so, later!" "Later!" ¡­¡­ I hung up and reported Li Chengfeng¡¯s new skill and effect to my guild leader. Naturally, He Yi was absolutely delighted by the news, and Lian Xin commented, "Our team of Ancient Divine Skill owners is growing crazier and crazier." Murong Mingyue also said, "Over 60 of the 99 Ancient Divine Skills have been taken already, and the rest are hidden in god-knows-where. Not everyone has Li Chengfeng¡¯s luck and skill, so in the end it¡¯s all about grinding that equipment and level. With that said, let¡¯s do our best in Dragon Domain and hit that level cap as soon as possible!" "Sure, right after we finish this meal and catch some sleep¡­" After we gorged ourselves on the food, we returned upstairs and slept like logs. We would continue our journey at Dragon Domain at noon sharp. 1. T/N: I don¡¯t know if you realize this, but there were Cyanscale Straits in chapter 737. It¡¯s pretty amazing to be honest Chapter 1243 Swhoosh¡­ Light flashed repeatedly at the edge of the coast. In just five minutes, all 7 of us had logged back into the game. We made a new party and Lin Yixin the party leader to make use of her Bombshell as usual. Pure Love buffed everyone, and everyone summoned their pets and mounts. Dragon Domain was an unexplored map, and no one knew how powerful the monsters were. Going all-out was the only way to protect ourselves. I climbed up my dragon and pointed to the distance. "We only need to traverse this forest for 10 minutes to arrive at Dragon Domain. Be ready for anything, everyone!" "Yeah!" All the girls unsheathed their weapons and got ready to kill the monsters. ¡­¡­ Horrifying, beastial roars erupted from within the wild, untouched forest from time to time. I could tell immediately that they didn¡¯t belong to any ordinary beast such as wolves or tigers. According to my experience, it should be a low-rank dragon of sorts. The reason I said this was because I believed a Holy Giant Dragon¡¯s roar would be similar to the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s; crisp and penetrating. However, the roars we were hearing were deep, low, and full of resentment and the promise of violence. Rustle rustle¡­ Suddenly, an elk with multi-colored spots on its body darted between the trees. Lin Yixin pointed at it with her sword and commented, "Eh, that¡¯s a Level 275 fiend-rank monster, the Flower Elk! According to the official data, the meat of a Flower Elk is delicious and a high-rank Cooking ingredient. If you add Flower Elk Meat while cooking your Magic Consumables, it¡¯ll increase its effectiveness by 35%!" "Oh?" That caught my attention. Speaking of Magic Consumables, the master cooks in Sky City were producing Rank 12 Magic Consumables already[1]. In fact, they instantly restored slightly more MP than my Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potions. If a Flower Elk Meat was added during the cooking process, then the Magic Consumables could heal over 10000 MP in one go. This was extremely important for high-level mages and priests. As eighth-promotion players became the norm, and everyone¡¯s God Devil Break, Touch of the Dragonkiss, Galaxy Storms and more spells hit Rank 10, every spell cast cost at least 1000 MP. Simply put, a mage without sufficient MP recovery couldn¡¯t fight a protracted battle at all. It was why most mages had to rest half a minute for every one minute of continuous spell cast during a Nation War, or switch to lousier but less MP consuming spells such as Rank 10 Fireballs. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that MP was a mage and priest¡¯s lifeline. When I thought up to this point, I immediately raised my Chill of the Nine Provinces and said, "Let¡¯s take out these Flower Elks first. It so happens that my Foraging is Rank 12 already, so I can strip these mobs of their meat perfectly. They¡¯re worth a lot of money, right?" Lin Yixin¡¯s giggle reached me from behind. "I don¡¯t know how much they¡¯re worth exactly, but I reckon that 1 set, or 100 Flower Elk Meat, is probably worth at least 500 gold." "Haha! Come to me, money¡­" "Ah. Watch out, you idiot! We¡¯re in a forest of Dragon Domain, not Sky City!" ¡­¡­ Murong Mingyue held me tightly as the Ancient Divine Dragon zigzagged around the trees. She was obviously afraid that one sharp movement would throw her overboard. "Lu Chen you idiot! It¡¯s just a bunch of elk meat!" "Are you kidding me? They¡¯re heaps and heaps of cash!" After I caught up to the Flower Elk, I immediately fired God Binding Art! Swhoosh! Four divine arms fell from the sky and caught it perfectly. It didn¡¯t matter if it could run like lightning, there was no escape for it now. I was just about to kill it when Beiming Xue¡¯s urgent voice reached me. "Big brother watch out!" "Roar!" My vision darkened, but it wasn¡¯t Bao Zheng who stood in my way. A wild bear that was at least five meters tall waved its paws, opened its bloody maw and chomped down on the Flower Elk I caught in one gulp! Before I could do anything, my heap of cash was swallowed into its stomach just like that! "YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" Red hot anger entered my eyes as I set down Murong Mingyue and charged the bear. I kicked off the fight with Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash, followed by Purple Frost Concentration + Pardon. Then, I plunged my weapon right through its eyes after identifying them to be its weak points! The bear roared in pain and swiped at the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back in retaliation. However, Battle Astral Wind stopped it and lost only 4% durability. A short distance away, He Yi and Lin Yixin were staring at me in shock. Lin Yixin said, "This guy will fight anyone or anything for money¡­" He Yi nodded knowingly. "He¡¯s been like this since the first day I knew him¡­" ¡­¡­ As it turned out, the bear was a Level 275 Immortal Rank boss called the Iron Skull War Bear. However, a mere Immortal Rank boss could no longer threaten our lives. An Ancient Immortal Rank boss was still deadly though. The Nine-headed Fire Hydra for example was an absolute menace with its 9 heads. "An Immortal Rank boss is even better than the Flower Elk!" a smiling He Yi said while stabbing the boss''s giant thigh with Barrier Break. "An Immortal Rank boss may not necessarily drop Divine Armaments, but it definitely drops Archean and Ancient Immortal-grade equipment, which boosts all four attributes. They¡¯ll be very useful against God Devil Break and Ultimate Strength Break." I replied while sending bits and chunks of bear meat flying all over the place with my sword, "Yeah. This motherfucker better die and drop an Ancient Immortal-grade ring that increases Intelligence for me! Being bombarded by God Devil Breaks at Shabby Castle was one time too many!" Lin Yixin laughed at me. "That was your fault. You were the one who rushed ahead!" I retorted, "If I hadn¡¯t rushed ahead, how could I have killed all those people, earned enough contribution points to be the MVP, and won the Xuanming Bow for China? It¡¯s one of the Twelve Divine Armaments and a Chinese-style bow, you know!" Beiming Xue smiled sweetly as she fired many deadly arrows into the boss''s head. "Thank you, big brother. The Xuanming Bow is priceless to me, and I will treasure it forever just like I will love you forever¡­" Lian Xin couldn¡¯t stop herself from rolling her eyes as she said, "OMG, are you really that innocent, or are you doing this on purpose, Beiming? Anyway, confessions are not allowed in the middle of a boss fight, okay? Also, what will happen to boss and Beauty Lin if you love Lu Chen forever?" The question caught Beiming Xue off-guard, but she quickly recovered and shrugged. "It¡¯s not an issue though? I¡¯m the younger sister. It¡¯s perfectly natural for me to love my big brother forever and ever. In fact, boss and Beauty Yi may be big brother¡¯s wives in the future, but who¡¯s to say they won¡¯t fall out of love and even file for divorce one day?" The comment was so unexpected that Murong Mingyue nearly forgot to heal me. She laughed so hard that tears were flowing down her cheeks. "Y-you hear that Eve, Beauty Lin!? You aren¡¯t even Lu Chen¡¯s wives yet, and someone¡¯s already cursing the stability of your future relationship! Oh, my stomach! Beiming, you¡¯re truly a cute and smart girl!" I felt like dying. "Stop talking about stuff that isn¡¯t related to the boss and focus! It¡¯s weak, but it¡¯s still an Immortal Rank boss, for fuck¡¯s sake! Be serious!" ¡­¡­ Almost 20 minutes of pummeling later, the Immortal Rank boss was close to dying. Not only was our 7-man party powerful beyond imagination, Lian Xin¡¯s Magic Attack was super effective against its metal armor. Touch of the Dragonkiss and Ice Spiral Matrix both did a ton of damage, but the true killer here was without a doubt God Devil Break. The massive Intelligence difference meant that every God Devil Break dealt at least 300k damage to the brainless boss. It was why Lian Xin was easily the highest DPS of this boss fight. "Roar roar¡­" The boss let out a terrific roar that shook the forest. Then, when it still had 19% HP or so, it surprised all of us by smacking my Dragon God Shield once to knock me backward before running away! Its AI must be fairly amazing, because I couldn¡¯t remember the last boss who knew to run after realizing they couldn¡¯t win. Worse, the boss had high HP regeneration, and its HP bar grew at a visible rate after it left our range. "Chase it! I haven¡¯t fought it for twenty minutes just to let it slip out of my grasp!" Lin Yixin cried. I carried out the command without hesitation and chased the Iron Skull War Bear to a clearing. The leg wound I inflicted with the Chill of the Nine Provinces earlier kept jetting blood and eliciting painful groans from the boss, but it was also healing at a legendary rate. At this rate, it was going to heal back to perfection in half an hour tops. ¡­¡­ I abruptly skidded to a stop and raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces. Then, I tossed my weapon at the boss and pierced its back with Coiling Dragon Revolution. The skill dealt an incredible amount of damage, but more importantly it also triggered the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade effect, immobilizing the boss against its will for 7 seconds! "Muahahahaha! You¡¯re not running away from us!" I cackled like a villain as I caught up to the boss. At this point, its fate was as good as sealed. Even if it didn¡¯t drop the Ancient Immortal-grade equipment, Divine Armament or Sacred Armament we dreamed of, we could still sell the lousy stuff for cash, and it would give all of us an incredible amount of experience. "Roar roar..." I could almost hear the despair and helplessness behind its roar. The king of bears definitely hadn¡¯t expected to succumb like this until it had. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the sky above the forest turned red, and the power of Domain enveloped us all. Both Lin Yixin and I backed away from the boss in alarm while exclaiming, "What the fuck? Something¡¯s coming!" We were both Heavenly River Realm players, so we were far more sensitive to domains than the average person was. Right now, the impossible power choking out the breath in our lungs informed us that an impossibly strong expert was swiftly approaching our location. Whoever they were, they probably weren¡¯t a player because the game would never allow a player to grow this powerful. Swhoosh! A red streak flashed across our eyes, and the Iron Skull War Bear let out a death scream. The next moment, we discovered that something had punched through its head entirely! "Fuck! What the hell is that?" I gripped the Chill of the Nine Provinces tightly and moved in front of He Yi and Lin Yixin. ¡­¡­ A general covered in blood abruptly appeared in the sky. He was holding a sword that glinted a cold light in his right hand, and the brain of the bear in his left. He actually took a bite from the brain, chewed it slowly and let out a most horrifying comment, "Jiejie, what a delicious brain this is! I can barely stop myself from swallowing it whole! When will Strella awaken, I wonder? I can¡¯t wait to eat its brain too!" Then, he slowly looked up to the sky and said, "It¡¯s close now, Lord Mingyu. I will revive you. I, Michael, will show you what loyalty beyond death truly means!" ¡­¡­ For a time, we could only gape at the powerful boss in shock. The text floating on his head stated¡ª Michael the Hollow Thunder LV-290 Identity: The Abandoned Faction: Dark 1. T/N: I guess the cap of secondary professions have been raised to rank 12 now. Chapter 1244 "Michael¡­ the Hollow Thunder¡­" Lin Yixin murmured while staring at the undead expert who had probably been dead for thousands and thousands of years, "Why do I feel like I¡¯ve heard this name before? Do I know him from somewhere?" Beiming Xue and Guanyue looked completely confused. "Who is this guy?" I clenched my fists. "Do you even need to ask? Anyone who¡¯s played the latter half of Spirit of Grief would remember that Michael the Hollow Thunder was one of the new ten greatest bosses of Spirit of Grief. He once escaped the pursuit of over 200000 players at Fire Dragon City and commanded countless undead cavalrymen to raid the human main cities. He was called the master strategist of bosses, and he was one of the few bosses who survived until Spirit of Grief was shut down. Michael was the most loyal servant of Mingyu the Deathly Abyss. You can read all these in the giant lorebook Eternal Moon has created if you want to." He Yi asked, "What should we do now? Michael¡¯s appearance in Dragon Domain could only mean that something big is about to happen!" Lin Yixin nodded. "Oh, definitely!" ¡­¡­ I cautiously moved the Ancient Divine Dragon closer to Michael before pointing my sword at him. "Hey you! That war bear is our kill! How dare you take what is rightfully ours!" Michael let out a sinister laugh that stretched his withered skin. "Who do you think you are to talk to me like that, boy? Don¡¯t you know who I am? Even if I ate this bear whole, who are you to make me spit out my food? Anyway, get out of my sight while I¡¯m still in a good mood. Otherwise, your fate will be the same as this bear¡¯s!" Michael had deleted almost 20% of the bear¡¯s HP in one hit, so he absolutely had the power to kill me. On the other hand, I didn¡¯t believe that the fight would go as easy as he imagined. After passing into oblivion for nearly a hundred thousand years, he had obviously declined from a Divine Rank boss to just an Ancient Immortal Rank super boss with a really high level. At the very least, he was weaker than the likes of Coldblade or Annie. Long story short, his best days were already behind him. Of course, there was the saying "a dead camel is still bigger than a horse", and Michael was far from being dead. There was every chance he could one-shot me if I was careless. I snuck a glance at my experience bar. Huh. Although Michael was the one who took out the bear, the experience had been split evenly among the 7 of us. In fact, there was a pile of loot where the bear was killed. It looked like Michael had killed the boss so quickly that the system had failed to determine its new owner. That was why the boss was still considered our kill. "Buzz buzz¡­" Suddenly, a weird buzzing noise mingled with the crisp cries of a dragon broke out from somewhere deep within Dragon Domain. It looked like something was happening, whatever it was. ¡­¡­ "Ah!" Michael shuddered visibly from head to toe, and the bloody claw gripping the bear¡¯s head continued to shiver after that. Tattered cloak flapping weakly in midair, he turned toward the source of the noise and said in a trembling voice, "Did¡­ did I just hear a dragon knight calling out for its mount? Will the dragon knights return to Dragon Domain once more? Hahaha! That is wonderful! Devouring a dragon knight¡¯s spirit will surely restore Lord Mingyu¡¯s strength faster and push the date of his revival ever closer! Wait for me, Lord Mingyu! I will make you the world¡¯s one and only Dark God Dragon Speaker, and no one¡ªnot the dragon knights, and not even Binglan herself¡ªcan stop me!" There was a sonic boom, and before we knew it Michael had shot toward the horizon and left behind only streams of powerful, messy wind. The ancient expert might have been weakened, but he was still very scary. ¡­¡­ "Phew¡­" Lin Yixin sighed and pressed a hand to her chest in an attempt to calm herself. She then said, "I was afraid that Little Cheat would lose control and attack him. This Michael is a Level 290 Ancient Immortal Rank boss and far, far more powerful than even the Nine-headed Fire Hydra. I don¡¯t think it¡¯d be wise to lose levels against him when we could be exploring Dragon Domain and seeking out the Dragonslaying Sword instead!" I nodded. "Yes, that is why I ultimately didn¡¯t attack him. We are here to complete an SSS Rank main quest after all. Of course, we can decide if we want to engage him after we¡¯ve found the Dragonslaying Sword." Beiming Xue blinked once before looking to the distance. "By the way, do you know what that Michael is talking about, big brother? What did he mean by ¡®will the dragon knights return to Dragon Domain¡¯? Last I remember, it¡¯s mentioned in the expansion pack that Dragon Domain is a barren, lifeless wasteland, and that the giant dragons are gone as well. How can there be dragon knights if that¡¯s the case?" I thought for a moment before answering, "Do you remember that undead expert with 17 chains on his person after we killed the Nine-headed Fire Hydra? Michael probably sensed him. He is the Dragon Knight Captain Callan, one of the Dragon Speaker Binglan¡¯s best subordinates in the past. He had spent a hundred thousand years keeping the Nine-headed Fire Hydra trapped, but now that he¡¯s free, he¡¯s decided to return to Dragon Domain to awaken his guardian dragons." He Yi nodded. "Yes. Currently, most of the dragon knights of this continent are serving various empires and have become the symbol of royal authority. Until Callan showed up, very, very few dragon knights who still aim to protect all the living on this continent still exist, if at all." Lian Xin then asked a very important question, "Can Callan defeat Michael?" I shivered. "I don¡¯t know, but we should enter Dragon Domain as soon as possible. With luck, we may be able to run into Michael or Callan a second time. If they fight each other, we can lend Callan our aid. Michael wants to revive Mingyu and destroy the existing order. Callan just wants to protect Dragon Domain. No matter how you look at it, we have every reason to help Callan." Lin Yixin pointed at the bear corpse on the ground. "Before that, let¡¯s take care of the loot first, shall we?" "Yeah!" I walked up to the bear and checked its corpse. To our surprise, the mere Immortal Rank boss dropped quite a lot of good equipment¡ª Skull Breaking Ring (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Strength +1850, Stamina +1800, Intelligence +1740. Increases user''s max HP by 20000. Outstanding Property: Skull Break. Damage dealt to weak points is increased by 33%. Iron Arm Wristguards (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Agility +1800, Stamina +1780, Intelligence +1740. Increases user''s ranged attack power by 37%. Outstanding Property: Iron Arm. Increases the hit rate of bow-type skills by 25%. Graceful Mage Boots (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Intelligence +1820, Stamina +1700, Strength +1640 . Increased bard buff effects by 7%. Increases movement speed by 70%. Outstanding Property: Dance Pose, increases movement speed by 100%. ¡­¡­ Skull Breaking Ring only boosted three attributes, but it boosted one very important attribute, Intelligence. For a metal-armor player, 1740 Intelligence was a huge boost to their resistance toward God Devil Break, not to mention the 20k increase to base HP. After a short discussion, we decided to give Lin Yixin the ring because my resistance was already pretty amazing, and He Yi¡¯s HP was fairly good as well. Out of the three of us, the Fruit Knife Goddess was the only one who needed the extra survivability. The Iron Arm Wristguards went to Beiming Xue as a matter of course. The increase in skill hit rate meant that all the arrows she loosed would automatically home in on her target like laser-guided missiles. It also reduced the chances of her opponent dodging her skill via good technique. In an ideal scenario, if an archer could somehow increase their skill hit rate to 500% or so, then even I with my level of skill wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge it. It would be brutal to say the least. Finally, we gave the Graceful Mage Boots to Pure Love because they increased the effectiveness of her buff skills by 7%. It might not seem like much, but on a monster like me, 7% was a lot of stats. Finally, we split the gems and magic stones among ourselves before continuing on our journey to conquer Dragon Domain. ¡­¡­ An hour passed smoothly since our encounter with Michael. On the way, we took out a ton of monsters¡ªthey were mostly fiend-rank¡ªand beast-type minibosses. The closer we got to the mysterious map that was Dragon Domain, the less mobs below the fiend rank we encountered. "ɳɳ¡­¡­" Rustle rustle... According to the map screen, the magnificent mountain range in front of us was the last thing standing between us and the canyon that was Dragon Domain. The map that had slumbered for a hundred thousand years was finally going to show itself to us. I continued acting as the point and escorted the girls up the mountain. When we finally reached the peak, we were stunned by what we saw¡ª The canyon that used to be Dragon Domain was covered in thick, impenetrable mist and violent auras. Although there were no living things on this map, there were a lot of undead roaming the ruins. Using Dark Pupils to increase my vision range and penetration, I could see two gigantic shadows¡ªthe carcasses of what used to be two thunder dragons, one of the highest-ranked Holy Giant Dragons there were¡ªflying through the misted sky. Not only did the poor things fail to earn the eternal rest they deserved, they were transformed into undead puppets that threatened everything that lived on this continent. It was impossible to know which evil undead mage had brought them back to life. ¡­¡­ I opened the map screen in hopes of getting quest coordinates that would point us to the Dragonslaying Sword, but there were none. Feeling a bit miffed, I said, "The quest still isn¡¯t showing us the Dragonslaying Sword¡¯s coordinates. I guess that means that we must venture into Dragon Domain ourselves and search for it on our own. Hopefully, we¡¯ll run into it in just three to five days¡­" Beiming Xue pointed to the distance. "Big brother, look! Those Bone Dragons all have their own names, and they¡¯re all Immortal Rank bosses! Are you sure you want to enter Dragon Domain? I bet 100 RMB that we would party-wipe if we got attacked by 3 or 4 of those monsters at once!" I shot her a reassuring smile. "Calm down. No one said that we must engage them. The righteous way is sometimes the cowardly one, you know¡­" Lin Yixin giggled. "Only you can say such a shameless thing without turning red. Anyway, let¡¯s head inside already. The ruins of Dragon Domain, huh? I¡¯m so excited¡­" We all turned to stare at her for a moment, startling her and causing her to cover her mouth with her hand. "What? Did I say something wrong?" "Nothing. Anyway, let¡¯s go! I¡¯ll be the tank, so please keep an eye on our surroundings so I can move into position in time. Dragon Domain is an unknown map, and whether we¡¯ll walk away a winner is up to our ingenuity!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ I buffed myself with a Ghost Chariot Card and spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon to the forefront. Murong Mingyue was riding with me because she was our only priest and our key to fighting a protracted battle on this map. Naturally, she must be protected by our greatest tank, me. Chilling screeches came from within the mist from time to time. "Damn, what an evil atmosphere¡­" I grimaced and stopped in my tracks. Chapter 1245 Lin Yixin stared at my face as she giggled. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you could be scared of anything. Oh well. If Little Cheat is too scared to lead the way, then I¡¯ll do it¡­¡± I shrugged. ¡°Sure! This fog is too thick, and something doesn¡¯t feel right about this map. Even my Dark Pupils don¡¯t seem to be working anymore; I don¡¯t see any enemy dots wherever I look. And yet, I¡¯m absolutely certain there are mobs within 200 yards of us¡­¡± Lin Yixin patted her Moonchaser Tiger¡¯s fluffy head and said, ¡°Come on, Little White. It¡¯s our turn to lead the way since Little Cheat is too scared¡­¡± The Moonchaser Tiger raised its head proudly and let out an affirmative cry. Then, it carried Lin Yixin forward while Kris the Ice Dragon followed in the sky. ¡°Let¡¯s go¡­¡± I said to everyone else. The 7 of us entered the fog together. Visibility was extremely poor, and we could see at most 3 meters in front of us. Even with Dark Pupils, I wasn¡¯t able to see more than 20 yards ahead. ¡­¡­ ¡°Hiss hiss¡­¡± Suddenly, a horrific hiss came from the front, causing a tremor across Lin Yixin¡¯s shoulders and halted her footsteps. The next moment, a dark green¨Ccolored skull of a bone dragon emerged from the fog, clamped its sharp teeth around Lin Yixin¡¯s arm, and dragged her deeper into the mist. ¡°OMG, that monster is kidnapping your girlfriend, big brother!¡± Beiming Xue warned. ¡°Motherfucker!¡± Enraged, I charged forward and fired a Thousand Ice Slash straight into the mist. However, the skill failed to hit anything. When He Yi caught up to me, she reminded, ¡°Fog is just water vapor. If you use the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s Summon the Storm, the storm will chase it all away!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± I spread my hand and cast Summon the Storm. The ensuing rain immediately melted the fog and revealed a landbound hydra with two heads crouching inside a bush. Its neck was at least 50 meters long, and one of them was biting Lin Yixin. ¡°Ugh, what a disgusting creature¡­¡± Despite being caught like a side character in a horror movie, Lin Yixin was unperturbed enough to make a comment about the mob¡¯s appearance. At the same time, she smacked its head with Ice Flame Slash and successfully forced it to let go. It was only now the hydra realized that the cute and gorgeous human was nowhere as tender as she looked. The rest of us ran over and started beating the crap out of the hydra. The hydra was called ¡° Two-headed Ice-and-Fire Hydra¡±, and it was a Level 275 mini boss. However, Its stats were average, and its Attack was so-so at best. Lin Yixin probably wouldn¡¯t have survived the ambush without significant effort otherwise. Despite possessing both fire and ice magic, the Two-headed Ice-and-Fire Hydra¡¯s magical prowess was again, so-so. It couldn¡¯t even threaten our metal-armor players, so it took us less than five minutes to delete it from the surface of this world. When it died, it dropped a big and round Purple Crystal. After I tossed the magic stone into my bag, I checked the time and said, "It¡¯s 7 am inside the game right now. In a couple more minutes, the sunlight should pierce through the clouds and chase away the fog, so let¡¯s wait until visibility gets better. We got lucky with the Two-headed Ice-and-Fire Hydra, but I don¡¯t want to keep testing our luck." Lin Yixin nodded. "Okay. Let¡¯s keep waiting then!" And so, we stayed where we were and waited for five minutes or so. The moment we felt the sunlight on our faces, the thick fog started scattering at a prodigious rate. Soon, the plains within the canyon became much clearer than before, and we could see many Two-headed Ice-and-Fire Hydras roaming here and there. We paid little attention to them since they weren¡¯t true dragons. ¡­¡­ "Big brother!" Suddenly, Beiming Xue let out a cry of pleasant surprise while pointing toward the distance. "Big brother look! There¡¯s a Level 1 hydra over there! We¡¯re gonna be rich!" I followed her gaze and was delighted by what I saw. Not only was it a rare Earth Rank Boss mount, its stats were better than even the Dragonscale Beast¡¯s. So, I took out a Sealing Crystal and asked for permission, "Is everyone fine if I capture it? It¡¯s an Earth Rank Boss mount, and a hydra is a type of dragon, so it fits our objective, right?" Lin Yixin curled her lips. "If you don¡¯t mind brainwashing yourself into believing that a hydra knight is a dragon knight, sure. Let¡¯s also clean up the rest of the normal mobs while we¡¯re doing this. The minibosses are worth a lot of experience." "Yeah!" I activated Fusion Armor and raced toward the Level 1 Two-headed Ice-and-Fire Hydra. Then, while ignoring another Level 275 Two-headed Ice-and-Fire Hydra that was blasting away at me, I pointed my Sealing Crystal at the capturable mount! I failed 7 times before I finally managed to capture it. As expected, the hydra was way harder to capture than the Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse. The Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse wasn¡¯t a dragon, so I was able to exploit the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s draconic pressure to increase the success rate to almost 100%. The hydra, however, was a type of dragon even though it was of a lesser species. Therefore, my success rate was only 10% or so. Swhoosh! The image of a two-headed dragon appeared inside my sealing crystal. Its stats were around 10% to 20% higher than the Dragonscale Beast¡¯s and Zephyr Ironbone Warhorse¡¯s. Although it looked cooler than the Dragonscale Beast, its ridiculously long necks were kind of a turn-off. "Which one of you wants this?" I asked Lin Yixin and He Yi. Lin Yixin hurriedly shook her head. "Thanks but no thanks¡­" He Yi also shook her head smilingly. "Same. Its appearance is a little too ahead of my time¡­" I grinned. "Fine, I¡¯ll check in with Xu Yang, High Fighting Spirits or Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun later. They should like savage-looking mounts like these." "Haha, yeah!" The mere imagination of the manly dudes riding this long-necked mount put an amused smile on my face. ¡­¡­ I put away the Sealing Crystal and went back to grinding the mobs. Maybe it was because the miniboss was too easy, but I succumbed to Lin Yixin¡¯s suggestion and aggroed 3 Two-headed Ice-and-Fire Hydras at once. The three of us¡ªme, Lin Yixin and He Yi¡ªwould be tanking a mob each. Thanks to Murong Mingyue and Pure Love healing us, we were never really in danger of being killed. We set our sights on a valley directly ahead of us because it was the heart of Dragon Domain. To get there though, we would have to kill all the Two-headed Ice-and-Fire Hydras standing in our way. I could fly there if I wanted to, but I was almost certain that it would aggro the thunder dragons flying around the valley. A lesser dragon was one thing, but a Holy Giant Dragon, even an undead one, was a completely different level of difficulty. We fought until 4 am or so, earned a ton of experience and grinded a lot of top-tier saleworthy equipment. However, our best finding was without a doubt the 7 Two-headed Ice-and-Fire Hydra mounts we got after sweeping nearly 30% of the map. Pop! After I put the Sealing Crystal into my bag, I shot Lin Yixin an amused smile and asked her, "Why are you looking at me like that?" She pouted, "The Two-headed Ice-and-Fire Hydra¡¯s stats are so good, but why is it so goddamn ugly¡­" I smiled wider at her complaint. "Come now, you¡¯re well aware that life rarely goes the way you wish for. Anyway, we¡¯re close to the center of Dragon Domain now. If we find a high-rank Holy Giant Dragon or Gem Dragon mount pet egg somehow, you and Eve will get the first dibs. Okay?" "Okay! I want a Holy Giant Dragon!" "Yeah well, we need to find one first." I looked at the distant ruins and made a pessimistic remark. "Dragon Domain has been corrupted by evil spirits for a hundred thousand years, and the dragons living here were either tamed or turned into puppets by the undead. It would be miraculous enough if we find any living dragon at this place, to say nothing of a Holy Giant Dragon¡­" "Sigh. We¡¯ll know when we get there!" "Indeed." ¡­¡­ This part of the canyon was covered in red brambles that looked like blood. It almost looked like it had been met with an apocalypse, which¡­ was probably what happened when Lin Na conquered Dragon Domain, actually. The dragon knight legion was slaughtered, and those who survived became the royal guards of various empires after Dragon Speaker Binglan had passed away. Even the Dragon God itself had been imprisoned and turned into a puppet of the undead. It was no wonder that Dragon Domain had never improved despite a hundred thousand years passing by. I cautiously took point while observing the piles of dragon bones on both sides of the canyon entrance in front of us. The bones were deader than dead, but Dark Pupils revealed a giant red shadow blocking at the center of the entrance. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, the red shadow was most likely a boss; a gatekeeper of this entrance. "Careful, everyone! I think there¡¯s a boss right ahead of us!" I warned the girls before adding, "Buff yourselves with an HP card. Boss fights are about surviving until the end, not killing them as quickly as possible." They nodded and used HP cards such as Crimson Flame Card, Pentacolor Deer Card and so on. These cards buffed not only HP, but also Attack or Defense by a bit. ¡­¡­ The sunlight shining down from above cast various shadows on our person. Lin Yixin followed closely behind me and swiveled her head left and right like a radar as we slowly approached the red shadow. "I don¡¯t see anything, big brother. Are you sure¡­?" Beiming Xue asked. "Of course I¡¯m sure." I gripped the Chill of the Nine Provinces tighter while declaring, "My Dark Pupils is never wrong! There¡¯s an incredibly powerful boss just 20 meters away from us. If we can¡¯t see it, it¡¯s because it¡¯s either floating in the sky or hiding underground!" We all looked up as I finished my sentence. The sky was perfectly empty. "It has to be underground then¡­" He Yi said. I declared without hesitation. "Stay where you are. I¡¯m going ahead to see if I can lure the boss out of its hidey hole. Be ready for anything. As I said, it¡¯s incredibly powerful!" "Yeah!" I took a couple of steps forward. As it turned out, that was all I needed to do to cause the ground to start rumbling ominously. Cracks appeared across the ground, and a giant bump rose in front of us. Bang! The bump exploded toward the left and right to reveal a huge pair of dark golden scythes. Then, a rotten one-eyed giant climbed out of the hole. It was about 3 meters tall, and its loin was only covered by a piece of tattered cloth. It stared hatefully at us and declared, "You dare wake me from my dreams, humans? Prepare to die!" Chapter 1246 Mountain Guardian was a Level 285 Ancient Immortal Rank boss. It was the gate guardian of Dragon Domain during the Spirit of Grief Era, but after Dragon Domain fell during the great war of gods of devils, its soul was captured by the Purgatory Ruler. Feeling that it would be a waste to just kill it, Lin Na revived and refined its soul into an evil spirit. After that, he left Mountain Guardian behind to continue guarding Dragon Domain. Therefore, it would be apt to say that the one-eyed monster in front of us was a creation of Lin Na. Pa pa pa... While backing away quickly, I shouted, "It¡¯s a Level 285 Ancient Immortal Rank boss, so don¡¯t be careless! Summon all your pets and prepare for battle! Its stats are hidden even from my Dark Pupils, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that it has super high Attack! Why? Because it only has one eye just like Xiahou Dun! The one who screamed ¡®I cannot waste my parents¡¯ flesh and blood¡¯ before swallowing his own eyeball and so on and so on¡­" He Yi snarked as she rushed past me, "You¡¯re the one who should be getting serious! Hit it with God Binding Art and see if it sticks!" "Okay!" I waved my arm at the boss and hoped for the best, but it resulted in a miss just like I thought it might. Mountain Guardian was almost 60 levels higher than me, so not even my new status as a Heavenly River Realm player was enough to make it work. I dropped two Icy Cyclone Domains on the boss and prepared to fight within the zone. Then, I used Thunderous Charge on the boss! Both my sword and I slammed against Mountain Guardian¡¯s leg with lightning speed, but the bastard only shivered a little from the impact. He looked down on me and curled his lips into a savage grin. "The price of intrusion is death, boy!" He brought his scythe down on my Dragon God Shield. His height and Strength advantage were so big that my feet actually sank an inch or two into the ground as I took 390765 damage. As expected of a Level 285 Ancient Immortal Rank boss, its Attack was leagues above the likes of the Two-headed Ice-and-Fire Hydra. I activated Ghost Spirit Step Art so that most of the bosses¡¯ attacks would miss me. At the same time, I stabbed the Chill of the Nine Provinces into Mountain Guardian¡¯s leg and used Purple Frost Concentration, greatly lowering its Defense. Finally, I used Burning Blade Slash and dealt massive damage to it¡ª 280877! 349772! 398164! ¡­¡­ Mountain Guardian let out a scream of pain before raising its two scythes. Spinning around rapidly, it roared, "Those who¡¯ll stand in Lord Lin Na¡¯s way must die!" The wind started spinning into a hurricane. I recognized this skill. It was High Fighting Spirits and Li Chengfeng¡¯s Whirlwind Slash! Whoosh! Mountain Guardian spun surprisingly quick for someone its size. It struck my Dragon God Shield three times in a row and even landed a critical hit¡ª 318287! 290388! 712662! It was terrible. Not only did my HP drop to 25% in an instant, Whirlwind Slash dealt damage along a single line. What this meant was that both Lin Yixin and He Yi ate two hits and dropped to half health as well. "Stop him!" My shout just barely escaped my lips when He Yi¡¯s pet, the Snake King Little Qing rushed forward and zigzagged between Mountain Guardian¡¯s huge legs. She just barely managed to regain the aggro with Barrier Break and Charge. While He Yi had the aggro, I used Tenacity of the Dead to restore my HP by 25% and chugged down a healing potion. Then, I scored a Universe Break + Pardon + basic attack combo on Mountain Guardian¡¯s back¡ª 476266! MISS! 398872! Finally, the boss''s aggro was directed back at me. I used Battle Astral Wind in the meantime so I could tank a couple more hits. "Pool of Life!" I shouted to Murong Mingyue. The healer complied and cast multiple AoE heals on us while Beiming Xue hit the boss repeatedly with Freezing Arrows and Evil Spirit Volleys. The real MVP of this boss fight was Lian Xin, however. She both used Origin Force Fields to limit the boss''s range of movement and damaged it with Touch of the Dragonkiss + Ice Spiral Matrix combo. Thanks to all the CC skills, the boss''s mobility was greatly limited, and the three of us were just barely able to survive its attack. I barely kept my HP around the 50% line as I and the Phantom Wolf King tanked the boss''s attacks and body-blocked them. My apparition wasn¡¯t going to survive more than a hit or two from the boss, so I made it attack the boss with Dragon Slaying Slash, Myriad Swords Obliteration, Summon the Storm and more ranged skills instead. I didn¡¯t try to use Rise of the Guardian Dragon, however. For starters, it cost 1000 RMB per use. I wasn¡¯t willing to spend the money unless it was a Nation War or a large-scale battle where I could kill many opponents at once. Also, if I went through my skills too rapidly, I would consume MP faster than I could recover it. ¡­¡­ "Jie jie, you lowly humans think you can stop Lord Lin Na from conquering the continent? You are courting death!" He swung his twin scythes again and sent both He Yi and Lin Yixin flying. I had no choice but to tank all the attacks myself, but its attack rate was even more rapid than I had expected. It had unleashed Death Strike, Whirlwind Slash, and two basic attacks in quick succession, crushed my Battle Astral Wind and dropped my HP from 80% all the way down to 15%. What a monster! Things were getting dangerous, so I decided to risk a Cold of the Nine Provinces. Despite the odds, the skill successfully took effect and temporarily froze the boss in its tracks. I immediately used with the positive skill of the Xuanyuan Art and healed everyone for 50% HP¡ª +1002768! +872665! +775662! I had the highest HP out of everyone in the party, followed by He Yi and Lin Yixin. That didn¡¯t mean Lin Yixin was fragile by any means, however. Despite her class, there were only a handful of players who had more HP than the Fruit Knife Goddess. Her equipment was a product of her blood, sweat and tears and not money after all. A P2W player might be able to make it to the super tier, but they would never be able to reach the apex. After all, only the best players could grind the best equipment, and they wouldn¡¯t sell them unless they had a very good reason to do so. Moreover, why sell a Divine or a Sacred Armament to an outsider when you could use it yourself or share it with those you could call brothers and sisters? Crack! The scythes glowed red, signifying that the boss was using a skill yet again. After killing He Yi¡¯s Snake King Little Qing in one hit, it bent backward almost as if it was about to fall, pulled back its right scythe as far as it could, and sent it flying toward the Ice Dragon Kris! BANG! The spinning blade struck the pet like a bomb, stifling its dragon breath and dealing an insane 1.27 million damage to it. It was lucky to have survived with less than 10% HP. It wouldn¡¯t be able to fight for a short time. "OMG, this boss''s physical attack is just too much!" Beiming Xue exclaimed in a dumbfounded tone. Lian Xin cast Ice Spiral Matrix while teasing, "But of course! It¡¯s a Level 285 Ancient Immortal Rank boss with higher Attack than even big brother Lu Chen! It can probably one-shot you with a single basic attack¡­" Beiming Xue shot right back. "Oh yeah? If the boss knows Barrier Break, you won¡¯t survive even if you have two lives¡­" Lian Xin: "..." ¡­¡­ I kept running after the boss''s butt and thwacking it with my sword while shouting, "It¡¯s too hard to face-tank this boss, so we¡¯re going to kite it from start until the end! Yiyi, do your best to body-block it while Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and I attack it from three different directions. Make sure you keep a close eye on the aggro transfer, and Eve, use Godslaying Blade to recapture the aggro if necessary!" It was definitely very difficult to fight the boss head-on. It could instakill even me if it managed to land a couple of lucky crits, much less He Yi or Lin Yixin. Moreover, neither my Xuanyuan Art nor Beiming Xue¡¯s Xuanming Flame could remove 50% of the Ancient Immortal Rank boss''s health. It would either remove less than the promised percentage of HP or most likely, miss completely. As a general rule of thumb, bosses usually possessed the resistance to ignore OP skills such as Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Ghost God Prophecy. Boom boom boom... Mountain Guardian ran back and forth in a 100-yard-side triangle we created like a moving hill. For now at least, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and I were able to manage the threat perfectly. Lin Yixin¡¯s perfect body-blocking also drastically widened our margin for error. Before we knew it, 20 minutes had passed since the start of the boss fight, and Mountain Guardian only had 11% HP left. He should be dying very, very soon. I fired Coiling Dragon Revolution that pierced right through the boss''s abdomen before spinning back to me. Then, I made a hand seal and dropped Myriad Swords Obliteration on its head. I shouted some words of encouragement, "Just a bit more, girls! If we can kill this bastard, we¡¯ll earn the right to enter Dragon Domain! Also, this is an Ancient Immortal Rank boss, so there¡¯s a chance it may drop an Ancient Immortal-grade item or even higher-rank stuff like Divine or Sacred Armaments!" Unfortunately, the girls didn¡¯t have as easy of a time as me, relatively speaking. Despite our kiting strategy, its Attack was more than powerful enough to pose a threat from time to time. My apparition and Phantom Wolf King and the girls¡¯ pets such as the Ironwing Dragon and Kris had already been killed. Even Lin Yixin had died once during the boss fight. The good news was that the graveyard was closeby, so she managed to rejoin the fight in just half a minute. ¡­¡­ Boom! Suddenly, Mountain Guardian stabbed his scythes into the ground. As fire burst out from the earth beneath it, it let out a long, throaty roar and surrounded itself in a sheen of bloody light. "Lord Lin Na, great ruler of the Purgatory, please grant me the power of death so I may shred the powerful enemies before me into pieces!" Ding! Combat Log: Warning, "Mountain Guardian" has successfully evolved into a Divine Rank Boss. Its max HP and Attack have been increased by 70%, and its top-tier equipment drop rate has been increased by 100%! ¡­¡­ After its evolution was complete, it executed Death Strike + Whirlwind Slash combo straight at me! Beiming Xue exclaimed in panic, "Guard, big brother!" However, I didn¡¯t dare to do so. The moment I Guarded, I would lose all the threat and enable the boss to instakill He Yi or Lin Yixin. Lin Yixin had already lost a level, and I dared not imagine what she would do to me if I allowed it to happen a second time. I gripped my shield tighter and hardened my resolve. If I couldn¡¯t Guard, then I might as well attack! I fired Burning Blade Slash at the boss at the same time its combo hit me. I immediately felt as if I was being shaken around like a rag doll. The boss''s Attack was absolutely deadly after it was increased by 70%¡ª 590876! 552772! 592038! 1162902! The last hit was actually a critical hit! Murong Mingyue could be the god of breasts, and she still wouldn¡¯t be able to save me from death! I died and was forced to use Resurrection Art to bring myself back. Damn, my luck wasn¡¯t very good today! Chapter 1247 Swhoosh! Cyan-colored gusts of wind blew around me before condensing into astral walls that were as impregnable as steel fortresses. The second I returned to life, I activated Battle Astral Wind and tried my best to stall the boss as much as possible. In this case, my death was a good thing because it increased my Attack by 10%. There were probably many, many more powerful bosses like Mountain Guardian in this mysterious map, so I was sure that I would appreciate the extra oomph. Mountain Guardian glared at me for a moment before suddenly turning toward Lin Yixin and raising its battle axe. The bastard¡¯s trying to one-shot her with a scythe toss! I hurriedly activated Heavenly River Transformation and caused a pair of bloody wings to appear behind my back. Thankfully, I hadn¡¯t wasted too many Divine Energy Points during the previous boss fight, and I had been saving up precisely for a moment like this. I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces high, summoned the golden sword that was Xuanyuan Slash, and brought it down right on top of Mountain Guardian¡¯s head! Bang! Dust clouds whipped across my face for a moment. Xuanyuan Slash was a critical hit! Not bad! 1840090! That dealt so much damage that the boss lost over 2% HP instantly. It also redirected the aggro back to me and caused it to toss his scythe at me instead! Bang! MISS! Battle Astral Wind was a lot more durable while Heavenly River Transformation was still in effect, so the deadly skill only deleted 19% durability. I wasn¡¯t going to waste the opportunity. "Go all out!" I stopped holding back and executed Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash + Rise of the Guardian Dragon combo. The reason I used Thousand Ice Slash was because I hoped the Freeze CC would take effect, even though chances of it happening were pretty low. It looked like my luck was finally starting to turn around, however. Mountain Guardian let out an angry roar, and its feet became encased in ice for 3.7 seconds! Lian Xin and Beiming Xue complied and began dishing out their strongest skills such as Evil Spirit Volley and God Devil Break. He Yi and Lin Yixin both activated Heavenly River Transformation before launching their strongest skills as well. In the end, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and even Murong Mingyue activated Heavenly River Transformation to maximize their firepower. Guanyue, the only player in the party who didn¡¯t have an Ancient Divine Skill, complained, "Come on, you guys are trampling all over my dignity here¡­" It was a bloodbath for both sides. My Purple Frost Concentration and Lin Yixin¡¯s Extreme Break allowed the party to deal almost true damage to the boss. However, the painful Mountain Guardian also gave us hell with its busted Attack. One might even argue that we were the ones who came up short in the exchange of blows. If Murong Mingyue and Pure Love weren¡¯t with us, we wouldn¡¯t be able to weather its relentless assault for even half a minute. Bang! A powerful impact rocked my shield and sent me skidding across a mountain path for a dozen or so meters. The blow had deleted over 400k HP, but I activated Ghost Spirit Step Art and reengaged the boss without hesitation. The skill gave me a 75% chance to miss any attack for 15 seconds, and it was a time both Lin Yixin and He Yi desperately needed to get their health back. I shot a glance at my Divine Energy Points and noted that I was still sitting at a healthy 117. Speaking of which, killing the Two-headed Ice-and-Fire Hydras gave me 5 Divine Energy Points per kill because they were minibosses. Otherwise, the transformation would¡¯ve sucked me dry with its 10-points-per-minute consumption rate a long time ago. ¡­¡­ One of the reasons Mountain Guardian¡¯s new form was such a pain in the ass to deal with was because all of its attacks had become AoE attacks. Even a basic attack resulted in a blue, 25-degree cone shockwave. That was why Lin Yixin, He Yi and I fought in a triangular formation around the boss while the rest of the girls stood further back at the sides of our "triangle¡±. When brute force wasn¡¯t enough to beat a boss, it was necessary to adapt and come up with appropriate tactics on the fly. The brain was easily the most important position in a super party. The sheer intensity of the battle shook the forests and the mountain itself. The lower Mountain Guardian¡¯s health became, the louder his roars actually became. Suddenly, the boss enveloped himself in an inferno that looked like blood and roared imperiously, "The Purgatory Ruler is the true ruler of the world! No one will stop the specters of death from overshadowing this continent. Not me, not you, not anyone! I will stop you from disrupting Lord Lin Na¡¯s plan even at the cost of my life, boy! Die!" The ground suddenly split apart, and the entire world became engulfed in flames. Before I knew it, all 6 girls except me had vanished from the battlefield. In the end, I wasn¡¯t able to avert the second worst-case scenario. I had had a feeling that the boss had one last super AoE skill up its sleeves, and that evil premonition turned out to be true after all. Even if we were destined to defeat it, it would come at a great cost. As I lost another level, I activated Cold of the Nine Provinces to freeze it for 7 seconds. Maybe it was because my weapon was of super-high grade, its signature skill succeeded more often than I expected it would. I certainly appreciated its success rate considering how close we were to getting party-wiped. I yelled in the party channel, "Corpse-run quick before I die!" "Okay!" I attacked again and again while running rings around Mountain Guardian. I also took the opportunity to resummon my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King. Thirty seconds later, the girls all came back to life, and I used Xuanyuan Art to heal them all from 50% to 100% HP right away. ¡­¡­ We resumed our earlier tactic and made the boss run for every hit it dished out. Although the boss had less than 3% HP left, it would be foolish to grow careless now and die an unnecessary death. "How many Divine Energy Points do you have left, Lu Chen?" He Yi asked me. "54. Why?" "I want everyone to stop attacking for 1 second when the boss drops to 1% HP. During this time, you will take it out with Burning Blade Slash + Xuanyuan Slash combo, Lu Chen. The boss has evolved, and you have 91 Luck. If you are the one who scores the last hit, the chances that it will drop a Divine or a Sacred Armament are easily over 50%! No one has any objections, right? Let¡¯s do this!" "Okay!" I didn¡¯t try to play coy because it was better for everyone if I scored the last hit. The last hit experience was always massive, but it couldn¡¯t possibly compare to a Divine or a Sacred Armament. ¡­¡­ Mountain Guardian¡¯s HP declined slowly and steadily. Thanks to our teamwork, the boss was powerless to change anything anymore. "Now is the time!" Lin Yixin declared, "Go get him, Little Cheat!" I immediately dashed behind the boss and executed lightning-quick Xuanyuan Slash + Burning Blade Slash. The faster I could execute a skill combo, the more time I had to react to its retaliation, and the lower the risk of dying. Boom boom boom! Four damage numbers rose consecutively above the boss''s head. Then, Mountain Guardian let out one final roar before it finally dropped to its knees and hit the ground like a landslide. At the same time, a ton of equipment, gems and magic stones appeared beneath its dead body. ¡­¡­ Pa! The moment I confirmed that the boss was dead, I dropped on my butt and wiped the sweat on my forehead. "Motherfucker. I can¡¯t believe how many levels it took to defeat this goddamned boss!" The girls walked up to me smilingly. "I know you¡¯re tired, but you should check the boss drops and distribute them as soon as possible. Who knows if Mountain Guardian¡¯s death might trigger something?" "Yeah." I rose to my feet, lifted my legs, and kicked the boss so hard that its body rolled over completely. It was part of the perks of having super high Strength. The grass looked crushed by the boss''s weight, but the equipment, gems and magic stones were completely unharmed. The boss dropped a total of four pieces of equipment. The first one I picked up was a metal armor with golden draconic energy coursing through it. Not only did it look cool, I knew in my heart that it was going to be my next armor. The Heaven-burning Armor had served me well, but it was only a Level 160 Immortal-grade item. Even He Yi and Lin Yixin¡¯s S3 set armors were better than that. There was also a snow-covered dagger, cloth-armor wristguards, and a ring with flames dancing around it. They all looked pretty good. The girls¡¯ eyes widened with excitement and cheer. "What are you blanking out for? Show us their stats already¡­" I smiled a bit and held up the draconic armor. When I waved a hand across it, the girls¡¯ jaws hit the floor just as I thought they would¡ª Guardian Dragon Armor (Sacred Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 14700 Magic Resist: 13500 Strength: +2890 Stamina: +2850 Agility: +2700 Intelligence: +2650 Tactics: +220 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 95% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 90000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s resistance toward all types of magic by 240% Outstanding Property: Guardian Dragon. When attacked, 10% of the damage received is converted into HP. Slots: 18 Introduction: During the ancient times, the noble dragons lived in the Moonlight Dragon City. After spending thousands of years injecting draconic energy into an unusual metal, the Dragon Speakers successfully forged a never-before-seen metal armor called ¡°Guardian Dragon Armor¡±. It is said that the wearer of the armor gains a massive boost in vitality and the tenacity of a dragon. Level Requirement: 220 Reputation Requirement: 750000 ¡­¡­ I said slowly, "So, about this equipment¡­" "What?" Lin Yixin shot me a glance and a sweet smile. "My and Sister Eve¡¯s armors are both better than yours, so feel free to take this Sacred Armament for yourself. Also, you¡¯re the main tank of this party. Is there any reason not to give u a high-Defense metal armor like this?" He Yi agreed. "Yes. Yiyi got a ring and I already got the Suppressing Fire Sword anyway. It¡¯s your turn to get the loot now!" So, I replaced my existing armor with the Guardian Dragon Armor and said, "Thank you!" I felt a tremendous energy cycling around my chest the moment I put it on. As expected of a high-level Sacred Armament, even the sensation it gave when putting on was unique! As a general rule of thumb, Sacred Armaments were almost as good as Divine Armaments in the sense that they were better than low-rank Divine Armaments, but poorer than top-tier Divine Armaments such as the Twelve Divine Armaments. All in all though, all peak-level players would want to wear Sacred Armaments eventually. I checked my stats again and found them extremely pleasing to the eye, my Defense even more so¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Frostblade of Death) Class: Master Swordsman of Death Level: 221 HP: 693820 Attack: 31750~35970 Defense: 60865 Magic Resist: 55920 Reputation: 959400 Tactics: 1702 Luck: 91 ¡­¡­ My max HP was close to 700k now. If I factored in my equipment boosts, 70% boost from Pure Love¡¯s buffs, 80% boost from the Fire War God Card, and another 80% from Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell, that was a total boost of 250%[1], or 2.45 million max HP. My base Defense had also jumped to 60k now, or over 200k effective Defense after factoring in my equipment. A normal boss wouldn¡¯t be able to touch me, muahahaha! This Guardian Dragon Armor couldn¡¯t have come at a better timing! 1. T/N: Did Lu Chen naturally have 20% boost to his HP from his passives/equipment? Otherwise it should only be 230%. Eh, whatever E/N: Probably some item has it. I wish we kept track of all his equipped items Chapter 1248 I carefully put the Heaven-burning Armor inside my bag. Although I no longer needed it, it could still fetch me at least ten thousand RMB at Sky City. Immortal-grade metal-armor equipment was incredibly rare, and one with offensive stats like the Heaven-burning Armor, even more so. I checked out the Guardian Dragon Armor for a moment. A layer of thin patterns that looked like dragon scales floated above the metal, and a dense draconic aura coursed within. The key strength of the Guardian Dragon Armor lay not in its Defense, but the fact that it increased all 4 base attributes. For example, the 2650-point increase to Intelligence was going to make God Devil Break a lot less dangerous to me. The conversion of 10% of my damage received into HP was great too. Together with the Chill of the Nine Provinces¡¯ 20% lifesteal, I was now more or less an official member of the "battle recovery style¡±. Battle recovery style sounded exactly like what it was; a PvP philosophy that emphasized recovery through fighting. Generally speaking, players like that would prioritize items with either passive regeneration or lifesteal. At the price of a higher chance of being one-shot, they thrived in sustain. Of course, there were countless other philosophies, such as classic Defense and evasion rate¨Cbased builds, or unorthodox thorn-damage builds. Of course, most builds were mixtures of both, in pursuit of the perfect combination that would be versatile against all offensive builds. Finally, the Guardian Dragon Armor increased my Tactics by 220. This was great because the Tactics stat was the variable that affected the attack power of a Divine General Skill. Everyone knew this. "Hello? Can we check out the dagger already?" Lin Yixin asked while staring at the dagger in my hand; one of the four pieces of equipment Mountain Guardian had dropped. I picked up the dagger. It was only 30 cm long and 3 cm wide, but some sort of sharp, cyan frost surrounded its body. When I tried to touch them, it felt like the cold was cutting into my skin. I didn¡¯t want to know how it would feel if the blade actually pierced my body. I waved a hand across it to bring up the stats screen, and the girls beamed immediately¡ª Dragonfrost (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 10200~12500 Strength: +1950 Stamina: +1700 Agility: +1650 Intelligence: +1400 Tactics: +145 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 120% Passive: When attacking with Dragonfrost, 2% chance to freeze the target for 7 seconds Slots: 15 Level Requirement: 220 Reputation Requirement: 500000 ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t stop myself from blurting out, "God damn, an Ancient Immortal-grade dagger with a ceiling of 12000 Attack? This is just ridiculous! Yiyi, you lucky girl. Or maybe¡­ Do you want this, Beiming?" The Dark Archer shook her head. "No need, big brother. I use my dagger for defense, while Sister Lin Yixin uses hers for offense. That is why she needs a dagger with high Attack far more than I do, not to mention that it¡¯s way stronger than her main weapon, the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword. This dagger is exactly what she needs to supplement her inferior Attack right now, just like the Suppressing Fire Sword for Sister Eve." So, I passed the dagger to Lin Yixin and said, "Beiming forfeited, and both Eve and I wear shields as our offhands. This can only be yours." "Okay¡­" Lin Yixin acknowledged in a gentle tone and accepted the dagger. After she equipped it, she gave it a tentative swing. The weapon left a trail of frosty light behind its path, which both delighted and amazed Lin Yixin deeply. "It¡¯s definitely stronger than the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword for sure. Extreme Break will be even greater now." Murong Mingyue said, "If I remember correctly, Yiyi can equip both her dagger and a mainhand weapon at the same time, right? That means you just gained stats under all four base attributes, 145 Tactics and 120% Attack outright. That¡¯s a ridiculous advantage compared to most players. No wonder people call you the Fruit Knife Goddess¡­" Lin Yixin smiled humbly. "I just got lucky. I wouldn¡¯t have gotten this class if I hadn¡¯t run into a random teleportation formation and was teleported to some cave not long after the servers opened." ¡­¡­ I checked the remaining two pieces of equipment. The cloth-armor wristguards were Level 220 Immortal-grade equipment that boosted Magic Attack power by 70%. Obviously, this was Lian Xin¡¯s. The ring increased Strength, Stamina and Intelligence by a lot and boosted both Attack and Defense by 35%. We decided that He Yi should have it because she was a magic knight¡ªa tank with high HP and strong Defense¡ªand she needed a solution against God Devil Break as soon as possible. That was why the ring suited her more than the rest of us. Equipment that increased all four base attributes were too rare right now; only Divine and Sacred Armaments were guaranteed to do so. Some Ancient and Archean Immortal-grade equipment boosted all the attributes as well, but the chance was only around 30%. We distributed the high-rank gems and magic stones after the equipment distribution was done. Then, I rose to my feet, looked to the heart of Dragon Domain and said, "I think we should enter the canyon as soon as possible. There¡¯s no point wasting time here. We also need to grind some mobs and regain our Divine Energy Points." "Yeah. Let¡¯s go!" We were just about to take our leave when the canyon entrance suddenly trembled. To our shock, Mountain Guardian¡¯s body was trembling, and we could hear roars escaping its throat. Blood red runes circulated around its armor, reddish light seeped out of the earth beneath it, and the sky turned dark without warning. As a column of red light enveloped Mountain Guardian, we received a system notification¡ª Ding! System Notice: Warning, Mountain Guardian will revive in 5 minutes with its HP, Attack and Defense increased by 10%, and drop rate decreased by 70%. Mountain Guardian is the undead guardian of Dragon Domain. Every time it dies, it revives in 10 minutes, gains 10% stats to certain attributes, and gradually loses its drop rate. ¡­¡­ "Shit! Let¡¯s go!" I activated my Fusion Armor, grabbed Murong Mingyue¡¯s hand and ran right through the entrance. It wasn¡¯t until we were 500 yards away from Mountain Guardian¡¯s body that we finally came to a stop. "You know, maybe we should try to kill Mountain Guardian one more time? It still has 30% of its existing drop rate, right?" Beiming Xue suggested. He Yi chuckled. "But Beiming, our quest isn¡¯t to kill Mountain Guardian, not to mention that it is strong enough to kill all of us multiple times even in its unenhanced form. It just isn¡¯t worth it for 30% of its original drop rate. Personally, I think we should seek out the Dragonslaying Sword first and decide our next step later." Lin Yixin nodded in agreement. "Sister He Yi is correct. Let¡¯s complete our actual quest first before doing anything else. We aren¡¯t here on a standard grinding trip after all. Our primary objective is to find the Dragonslaying Sword as soon as possible and complete the SSS Rank main quest, especially since it gives out Luck as a reward." "Yeah, you¡¯re right!" All the girls understood that no equipment was worth more than Luck in this game. ¡­¡­ As we continued forward, I, the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition took point again. I watched both my surroundings and the coordinates on the map screen carefully. The areas in front of us were growing redder and redder, which meant that we were in the heart of Dragon Domain right now. A hundred thousand years ago, this map would be a prosperous domain where giant dragons soared the sky, and dragon knights trained in groups on the ground. Unfortunately, these ancient heroes had either died or become tragic characters like Callan, the chained knight. We trekked along a mountain range called the Iron Wall Mountain Range. Its cliffs towered over us, and the number of wilted grass stalks beneath our feet grew the deeper we traveled. Lin Yixin looked up as she rode at a canter. There were rows and rows of giant holes in the mountain range for some reason. Moreover, they were probably too tall for anyone to climb up to. She asked with a tiny frown on her face, "What are these caves used for? Your normal human would never be able to climb up there, and yet I can see chiseled holes in some of the caves. What are they?" Lian Xin suggested, "Maybe there used to be mountaintop cavemen?" I laughed. "Of course not." "What are they then?" Beiming Xue asked. I thought for a moment before answering, "From what I remember from the in-game database regarding dragons, the large majority of Holy Giant Dragons, Gem Dragons and Metal Dragons possess wings that allow them to fly. They use their breaths to carve holes into towering cliffs much like the ones right beside us and use it as a lair. Therefore, these caves have to have been their lairs in the past. Unfortunately, the giant dragons are all gone, so these lairs are nothing more than ruins now." He Yi said smilingly, "Yeah, it¡¯s a shame the Holy Giant Dragons are all gone. I would¡¯ve liked to capture one as a mount¡­" I grimaced. "Eve, Holy Giant Dragons aren¡¯t so numerous that you can catch one like livestock in a market, not even in the past. According to the database, the strongest empire in the history of Heavenblessed only managed to create 1 Holy Dragon Knight Legion, and only 4 of them were true Holy Giant Dragon Knights. The rest rode just pseudo-dragons. If even the NPCs can barely create a Holy Dragon Knight Legion, it¡¯ll only be harder for us players." It was at this moment Pure Love suddenly pointed her scepter at something in the distance. "Mob incoming. Ew, it¡¯s so disgusting¡­" ¡­¡­ Pu... A bloody arm burst out from the earth beneath a tree. Falling leaves became attached to its body as it slowly crawled its way out of its hole. Face covered in red maple leaves, it let out a horrific chuckle before shambling toward us. Rotted Smith (Fiend) Level: 275 Introduction: A human who was once employed to build fortresses in Dragon Domain. During the invasion of the gods and devils, the smiths were cursed by an undead mage and turned into walking corpses before they were able to escape. Thousands and thousands of years later, their bones became a lot stronger than before, and they transformed into violent creatures with a craving for flesh. The mob was only Level 275, so it was of no threat to us. As I charged toward the Rotted Smith though, even more mobs burst out of the ground until the whole place was chock-full of them. However, this was perfect because we were looking to grind back all the experience and Divine Energy Points we had lost during our fight against Mountain Guardian anyway. It would be bad if we ran into another boss but lacked the Divine Energy Points to use Heavenly River Transformation in a pinch. In fact, most players were incapable of battling any Ancient Immortal or Divine Rank boss that were Level 280 or higher. The best way we had to overcome the rank and level difference was through Heavenly River Transformation. "I see a lot of mobs over there too. Let¡¯s lure them all over so that Lu Chen can test out his new Guardian Dragon Armor!" He Yi suggested. "No problem!" Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue and I split up to aggro the mobs. A few minutes later, at least a thousand Rotted Smiths charged straight toward the gaping maw that was my Chill of the Nine Provinces. Chapter 1249 Crack crack... The rotten corpses swung their claws and bit down mindlessly on my Guardian Dragon Armor. However, the armor¡¯s dense aura merely rippled a bit and even crushed their rotten teeth and claws, decreasing the amount of damage they would¡¯ve done to me. I didn¡¯t activate Battle Astral Wind on purpose so I could test out my new armor¡¯s strength, and so far, the high-level Sacred Armament was exactly as powerful as it seemed. To think that a Level 275 fiend-rank mob couldn¡¯t even pierce my Defense¡ª 2798! 3414! 2937! ¡­¡­ Lian Xin commented in a dumbfounded tone, "Oh my god, these corpses should be ashamed that they dealt less damage than big brother Lu Chen¡¯s passive HP regen. That 10% damage conversion is even more shameless. It¡¯s almost like you¡¯re bullying children right now¡­" Beiming Xue giggled like a bell. "Anyway, let¡¯s not waste any more time and clean up these rotten corpses as soon as possible. It¡¯s been almost a day since we entered Dragon Domain, and we still haven¡¯t found even a clue as to the Dragonslaying Sword¡¯s whereabouts. I don¡¯t understand how you guys are still so calm¡­" "Yeah!" I abruptly raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces, executed Burning Blade Slash, and tore the thick crowd of mobs to shreds. My Attack was so high that the skill easily dealt over a million damage per mob, and that was before considering the splash damage. Long story short, one Burning Blade Slash was enough to clear out an entire area of mobs and turn them all into experience and Divine Energy Points. Killing mobs in Dragon Domain was fun for sure. The Suppressing Fire Sword flashed red again and again as He Yi held off one direction of enemies all by herself. It was worth noting that her new weapon had a 20% chance of triggering a 7-yard sword aura, which was an insanely high trigger rate compared to most of the item skills I had seen up until this point. It triggered almost every four to five swings, and the fact that He Yi had great attack speed increased her DPS even more. Even without using Godslaying Blade, her DPS was absolutely nothing to scoff at. As for Lin Yixin, she wielded the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword in her right hand and the Dragonfrost dagger in her left. Her skills such as Ice Flame Slash and Ice Storm were all AoE skills, so the rate at which she cleared the mobs was no slower than He Yi¡¯s. Dragonfrost had incredible Attack, and Lin Yixin¡¯s class had high Attack scaling. Even with a weak mainhand weapon, her power could only be described as formidable. ¡­¡­ The battle lasted an entire hour. We managed to kill every Rotted Smith within around a kilometer around us. As we progressed forward, we passed by eroded walls and incomplete structures that were most likely the fortresses the smiths had been tasked to build before the disaster struck them. A hundred thousand years of time had eroded them to nothing but a pile of rubble, proving that not even civilization could withstand the passage of time. Pa! The last Rotted Smith in our way collapsed to the ground with an unearthly groan and dropped a Phantasmal Magic Stone. I paid it no attention, however. These days, Phantasmal Magic Stones weren¡¯t worth good cash anymore. As I stepped over the corpse and looked to the distance, I pointed and said, "I think I see more mobs over there. Let¡¯s kill them. I¡¯m only 7 Divine Energy Points away from reaching the cap." "Heavens, you¡¯re so fast!" Lin Yixin pouted a little. Suddenly, Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes widened in alarm. "Watch out! Something¡¯s charging toward us!" "What?!" I looked and saw a red figure running toward us at high speed. It was even faster than when I was riding the Ancient Divine Dragon at full speed! What the hell is it?! Pa! The Phantasmal Magic Stone I had left behind on the ground disappeared. What the fuck? Did a mob just steal our loot right before our eyes? I activated Dark Pupils to catch the thief within my sights, but he was already about 300 yards away from us. The monster looked like a midget with a crooked back. He was carrying a steel fork with a huge bag of valuables hanging on top of it. I could actually see our Phantasmal Magic Stone in it. "What the heck is that thing?" He Yi exclaimed in astonishment. I immediately shared its stats within the party channel¡ª Dragon Domain Scavenger (Ancient Immortal Rank Miniboss) Level: 285 Attack: 35500~47000 Defense: 41000 HP: 20000000 Skills: Wind Speed, Steal, All Out Strike Introduction: Dragon Domain Scavenger was a human thief until he was infected by the undead plague during the gods and devils¡¯ invasion. However, the former king of thieves known as the "Thief King" managed to stop the plague from overtaking him completely by poisoning himself with a special poison he had researched himself. Unfortunately, the incomplete transformation left him neither alive, dead nor undead, and he wasn¡¯t able to return to the human domain for tens of thousands of years. In the end, he led a tragic existence, his only purpose in previous life leading his body toward amassing more and more valuables. Now, he¡¯s known as the Dragon Domain Scavenger. ¡­¡­ "Dragon Domain Scavenger?" Lin Yixin¡¯s lips parted. "OMG, this guy¡¯s a thief? An Ancient Immortal Rank miniboss thief no less?" "Mn." I nodded. "He has Steal and Wind Speed for his skills. This Wind Speed especially is probably the ancestor of the Assassin class¡¯s Swift Dash. Actually, no, it¡¯s big brother levels of OP. It made him so fast that even I couldn¡¯t catch him with my reaction speed¡­" He Yi chuckled and was about to say something when she paused suddenly. A blink later, she said, "You know, he¡¯s a thief god who has been roaming Dragon Domain for a hundred thousand years, right? Maybe we can catch him and grill him about the location of the Dragonslaying Sword? It¡¯s not a sure thing, but it certainly beats searching the map without any clue at all!" My eyes lit up. "That¡¯s a great idea, Eve! Yeah, we¡¯ll catch this Dragon Domain Scavenger and interrogate him!" Lin Yixin shrugged. "How do you suggest we do that though? He¡¯s as fast as the wind!" I smiled. "Oh, it¡¯s simple. What does a thief like him like above all else? Magic stones! I have 3 Purple Crystals in my bag right now. We¡¯ll use it as bait to capture him!" "But big brother¡­ a 100 Quality Purple Crystal is worth 1000 gold¡­" Beiming Xue frowned. "Are you sure you want to take the risk?" I pointed a finger at Lin Yixin. "It¡¯s gonna be fine. Yiyi got 9 Purple Crystals just now. I saw it with my own two eyes!" Lin Yixin shivered. "Said the guy who rolled an 87 Quality Divine Crystal; the only Divine Crystal we got from Mountain Guardian after all that trouble just now! Hmph! If we lose all our Purple Crystals to that thief, we¡¯ll sacrifice your Divine Crystal next!" I declared confidently, "Relax, we have 12 Purple Crystals or 12 baits in total. Do you really think the 7 of us can¡¯t catch a single Dragon Domain Scavenger with this many chances? Just watch. That miniboss is probably in the forest ahead of us. We¡¯ll grind our way to his location while we wait for him to fall for our trap!" "Okay. Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ The 7 of us entered the forest directly ahead of us. This time, I left it to Lin Yixin and He Yi to be the tanks of the party and focused on my task instead. I tossed a Purple Crystal about ten meters away from us. Then, I slipped into the bush next to it and waited patiently for Dragon Domain Scavenger to show up. Rustle rustle... A pair of beautiful eyes peeked out from between the leaves as Beiming Xue said to me, "Big brother, you¡¯ll be the main catcher, okay? If you fail, Lian Xin and I will wipe your butt with Well of the Abyss and Frozen Domain!" I chided her, "You¡¯re a good girl, you shouldn¡¯t say something as inelegant as ¡®wipe your butt!¡¯" Beiming Xue stuck her tongue out at me playfully. "Fine, fine, we¡¯ll cover for you if you fail¡­" "Mn. Now, let¡¯s focus." "Okay!" About a minute later, the red figure in my Dark Pupils suddenly charged toward the Purple Crystal at light speed. I immediately clenched my Jiuzhou Han and said, "Here he comes!" However, the miniboss''s speed far exceeded even my imagination. By the time the God Binding Art hit the ground with a MISS, the thief was already escaping with my Purple Crystal. Not even Beiming Xue and Lian Xin were able to fix my mistake and catch him with their skills. "What the fuck!" I gnawed my teeth furiously. "What the hell is that speed? Farewell Song with Swift Dash is like a tortoise compared to this guy!" Beiming Xue said, "Big brother, I think you should just give up on God Binding Art and use Cold of the Nine Provinces instead. You¡¯re just not fast enough to catch him otherwise!" A sense of defeat hit me immediately. To think I, the so-called best mechanical player in the game, would be undermined by a mere boss! Pa! I tossed out another Purple Crystal as bait and gripped the Chill of the Nine Provinces tightly. I¡¯m definitely going to catch him this time! Unfortunately, our combined efforts resulted in a MISS again. I had heeded Beiming Xue¡¯s advice and tried to use Cold of the Nine Provinces to catch the miniboss, but he still managed to elude my grasp. The skill had a range of 100 yards! Just how fast was this motherfucker? 100 meters per second? ¡­¡­ Again! One, two, three, four... It wasn¡¯t long before there were only 3 Purple Crystals between Lin Yixin and I. There was one time we almost caught Dragon Domain Scavenger, but... "Big brother, I think we spooked him¡­" Beiming Xue said incredulously after no one came to grab our third last Purple Crystal for a long time. Lian Xin said, "Yeah. It¡¯s because big brother Lu Chen almost caught him with the God Binding Art just now. It won¡¯t be easy to bait him out this time." I tossed out our two remaining Purple Crystals and cursed, "Fuck it, I¡¯m going all in! I refuse to believe we can¡¯t catch the motherfucker!" At this point, even He Yi and Lin Yixin had stopped grinding the mobs. We all stared intently at the three Purple Crystals until we almost forgot to breathe. ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, nothing happened after ten minutes had passed. Lin Yixin said, "Damn, it really looks like he¡¯s too afraid to make one more attempt. It¡¯s time to make a real sacrifice, Little Cheat. Bring out the Divine Crystal¡­" I said with a pained expression, "Seriously? It¡¯s an 87 Quality Divine Crystal! It could be sold for 87k RMB! Are you really willing to make me gamble this much money?" Lin Yixin stared. "Says the guy gets paid a yearly salary of almost 20 million from Lenovo. Just do it. You can¡¯t catch the pervert if you don¡¯t risk your wife¡­" Me: "..." Chapter 1250 Pa! A crystal glowing with divine energy rolled across the dark green-colored grass. As of the current stage of the game, we might be the only party crazy enough to use a top-tier magic stone that was worth 87k RMB as bait, especially since we still might not be able to catch the goddamned speeder after this. He was just that fast! "Here he comes!" Dark Pupils revealed to me that Dragon Domain Scavenger was finally on the move once more. I tightened my grip around the Chill of the Nine Provinces and said, "Change of plans. I¡¯m going to find an angle and Xuanyuan Slash that bastard to disrupt his rhythm. After that, I want Lian Xin to freeze him with Frozen Domain. Don¡¯t worry about missing. Frozen Domain has a 100% success rate, and the guy¡¯s just a miniboss!" Lian Xin nodded in acknowledgment. "Got it, big brother!" ¡­¡­ On the map screen, it looked like Dragon Domain Scavenger was charging toward the Divine Crystal in a straight line. In reality, he was smart enough to change his direction randomly right before he was about to grab the loot. It was how he had managed to best us the previous times. Whoosh! I used 10 Divine Energy Points to activate Heavenly River Transformation. Then, I ran across the trees in search of a new angle. Right when Dragon Domain Scavenger was about to make contact with the Divine Crystal, I immediately fired a giant golden sword at him. It was of course the Xuanyuan Slash! BOOM! A small half of the forest was shredded to pieces just like that. The SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill was just that powerful. "Urgh¡­" I knew I got him the second I heard his painful groan. Lian Xin flashed right into the center of the flying rocks and smacked Dragon Domain Scavenger right on the head with her scepter. At the same time, she cast Frozen Domain and froze him in ice. I raced toward the miniboss and cast Cold of the Nine Provinces just in case the bastard broke out earlier than expected. Then, I leaped into the air, brought down my sword with both hands, and nailed his thigh onto a giant rock on the ground. "AHHH¡­" Dragon Domain Scavenger let out a bloodcurdling scream and struggled, but there was nothing he could do to free himself or harm us. After Lin Yixin pulled away his black scarf to reveal the face of a pervert, he bared his teeth at us and uttered furiously, "What the hell do you want, you despicable humans?" I plucked the Divine Crystal out of his hands, tossed it into my bag and sneered at him, "Why aren¡¯t you running? You love to run, don¡¯t you? Ahh?" Dragon Domain Scavenger hugged his pierced thigh and let out another ear-piercing scream. "I¡¯ll stop, I¡¯ll stop running, so please spare my life, hero!" In response, I punched my sword¡¯s pommel with my right fist and caused the sword to sink a couple more inches into the ground. Satisfied, I sat down on the rock on the opposite side of Dragon Domain Scavenger and smiled at him. "To be honest, we were hoping to ask for your help¡­" He said with an ashen expression, "You call THIS ¡®asking¡¯? For help?!" Crack! Another rock shattered. This time, it was Lin Yixin stabbing her Dragonfrost into the rock right next to Dragon Scavenger. It was 1 cm away from piercing his thigh. She said with a bright smile on her face, "Of course. Also, watch your tone, you piece of shit. Take a mile, and just see what I¡¯ll do to you." Dragon Domain Scavenger shivered from head to toe. "Devils, you¡¯re all devils with beautiful exteriors but blackened hearts on the inside! Ah, how did I fall into this state?" I curled my lips. "Relax, we just want to ask you a couple of questions. We¡¯ll let you go if you answer honestly." He gulped. "You want me to ask me some questions?" "Yes." "Well, shoot." "What do you know about the treasure of Dragon Domain, the Dragonslaying Sword?" "The Dragonslaying Sword?" he repeated, a bit confused. "I¡¯ve been roaming this place for seventy thousand years, and I can tell you that I¡¯ve never heard of ¡®Dragonslaying Sword¡¯ before. That being said, I know of a cyan sword outside the Dragon God Cave. Maybe that¡¯s the Dragonslaying Sword you¡¯re searching for?" "A cyan sword?" I furrowed my brow. "Yes. It is a demonic sword with incredible demonic power. It is said that anyone who wields the sword will gain royal power, but I think it¡¯s a sword that only a devil can use. As far as I¡¯m aware, everyone who has approached the sword has died for one reason or another. That is why I¡¯ve never even gotten close to the sword." "Where is it right now?" I asked. A cunning glint appeared in Dragon Domain Scavenger¡¯s eyes. "If you wish to know the location of the sword, then you must pay the necessary price. I won¡¯t tell you anything otherwise." He Yi grew a bit angry. "Pooh! You think you¡¯re in a position to negotiate with us? Do you want to die?" I raised a placating hand. "Calm down, Eve. Just leave it to me." I moved my face closer to Dragon Domain Scavenger¡¯s before asking, "What do you want?" He replied, "For starters, I want a payment of ten thousand gold. I may have become a mere scavenger in Dragon Domain, but in my prime, I was a Sword Hero equivalent in my thief guild. My pride as an expert will not allow me to trade you information for cheap. I would rather die." I nodded. "Makes sense. Very well, I¡¯ll pay you ten thousand gold. Here!" A money bag appeared in my hand, and I stuffed it into his tunic myself. However, he wasn¡¯t satisfied yet. He glanced at He Yi and Lin Yixin next before licking his lips lustfully. "I have one more request to make." I shrugged and shot him a generous smile. "Speak. I will satisfy your demand as long as it¡¯ll give us the location of that cyan sword." He pointed at He Yi and Lin Yixin and said, "I want these two girls to give me a kiss. Only then will I¡ª" BANG! I punched Dragon Domain Scavenger in the face so hard that an incisor flew out of his mouth. Not done yet, I grabbed an Earth-grade spear, plunged it through his other leg and snarled at him, "You really are a fucking turd, you know that? Still want that kiss now?" His face grew even more ashen than before as he screamed, "No! No! Spare me!" Behind us, the girls shuddered in unison¡ª Beiming Xue: "I didn¡¯t know big brother could be so brutal¡­" Lian Xin giggled. "Dragons get pissed off when you touch their reverse scales. In Lu Chen¡¯s case, it¡¯s super obvious what his reverse scale is¡­" Lin Yixin: "..." He Yi: "..." While Lin Yixin and He Yi were hiding their smiles, Murong Mingyue rolled her eyes and urged me, "Sigh, can we get the coordinates and stop wasting time with this idiot already?" "Okay!" I seized Dragon Domain Scavenger by the collar and threatened, "Speak. Where is the cyan sword? Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you; I will cut off your head if you dare to trick us!" He nodded. "It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s just in front of the Dragon God Cave. Dragon God Cave is about 15 kilometers south from here. You must never enter Dragon God Cave, however. As far as I¡¯m aware, all those who have made the attempt have perished." "I see¡­" I grimaced. "Dragon God Cave is the place where the Dragon God resides, right? The Dragon God Strella?" "Do¡­ do not utter that name in my presence! It is just a devil now!" Dragon Domain Scavenger stuttered while shivering uncontrollably. It was obvious how terrified he was of Strella. To be honest, I felt like shivering myself. Strella was one of Heavenblessed¡¯s Nine Sovereigns of the Purgatory, and there was little to no chance a boss that powerful could be beaten by mere players. However, while there was risk, the other side of the same coin had immense profit, and such a boss could only yield so much profit that my brain itched just thinking about it. Still, our main quest was to reclaim the Dragonslaying Sword, not face Strella itself. Unless absolutely necessary, we should strive to avoid it at all costs. ¡­¡­ I searched through my bag for a bit before fishing out a tamer-exclusive, Heaven-grade iron whip called Spirit Snake Dance. I used it to tie up Dragon Domain Scavenger¡¯s hands before making him lead us toward our destination. He couldn¡¯t move nearly as fast as before after we messed up both of his legs, and that was perfectly okay with us. Lin Yixin and I moved at the forefront and stayed close to Dragon Domain Scavenger. Considering how cunning the miniboss was, there was every chance he would escape if we gave him the opportunity. On the way, we took out every mob we ran into to replenish our Divine Energy Points. There was a high chance that a guardian boss would be protecting the cyan sword, and if Mountain Guardian was any indication, all the proper bosses in Dragon Domain were monstrous. Therefore, it was necessary to accumulate as many Divine Energy Points as possible. Almost two hours later, we passed through the dense forest and arrived at the heart of the draconic valley. I could even sense the power of multiple Domains emanating from the area. I counted at least five powerful Domain wielders ahead of us, so our path to the Dragonslaying Sword could only be a thorny one. Rustle rustle... Dragon Domain Scavenger suddenly came to a stop and refused to take even a step further. He pointed to the front and said, "The cyan sword is just a kilometer away from here. However, the death aura of that place may be strong enough to trigger the undead toxin inside my body once more. I would rather die than transform into a mindless undead, so forgive me if I say that this is as far as I go." I had noticed the aura myself, so I nodded and loosened his bindings. "Thank you, Dragon Domain Scavenger. You are free to go now!" "Thank you, adventurers of the later generation!" The second the miniboss regained his freedom, he immediately dashed into the forest as fast as before. Heavens, has he healed from the wounds we inflicted upon him already? That¡¯s insane! ¡­¡­ I activated Fusion Armor and stepped into the cyan fog. The death aura ahead of us was so thick that even I, a former undead, found it difficult to endure. Lin Yixin felt even worse than I did because she was a light wanderer. Blade circulating with holy energy, she said, "The aura here is absolutely disgusting¡­" He Yi trotted up to us and said, "Yeah. Be careful, everyone. Something¡¯s clearly not right about this place." Suddenly, I spotted wisps of cyan energy and unfamiliar runes rising to the air amid the thick fog. Beiming Xue pointed and said, "Look, there¡¯s a cyan sword over there! Is that the Dragonslaying Sword?" A dazzling sword surrounded by runes was floating in the air, and the amount of energy it carried could only be described as vast. I nodded without hesitation. "It has to be the Dragonslaying Sword! I can feel the power coursing through it!" "Who¡¯s that guy below the sword though?" "Hmm¡­" ¡­¡­ Directly below the floating sword was a mountain of corpses at least ten meters tall. There were humans, succubi, elves, beastmen, dwarves and even undead. Their bodies had rotted away after many years, and their rusted armors looked like they would fall apart at the slightest touch. Kneeling at the top of the corpse hill was a human with three swords in his torso. He was gripping a banner with countless arrow-riddled holes on the flag. "Ugh¡­" The human abruptly opened his eyes after letting out a strain sigh. From this distance we couldn¡¯t know whether he was alive, or an undead. Chapter 1251 The human slowly opened his eyes and looked around. When his murky gaze found us, he perked up a bit before asking with a grimace, "Are you¡­ humans¡­?" ¡­¡­ I walked up the hill of corpses until I was in front of him. Then, I nodded and said, "Yes, we are. We are adventurers from Sky City. Who are you, and why are you here? What happened and who killed so many people?" "Who am I?" He shot me a distressed smile before replying, "I was the prince of the Warhammer Empire. I was the prince who lost his light, Prince Lian Qian¡­" "Lin Qian?" I exclaimed in astonishment. "Why is a prince at this place?" Infinite anger flooded his eyes. "It was over four thousand years ago when the Dragonslaying Sword became known to the world. The sword was overflowing with power and resentment due to its failure to find its master, but it was said that the wielder of the Dragonslaying Sword would gain incredible power. So, the empires across the continent dispatched many of their elites to Dragon Domain to fight for it. In the end,... Can''t wait until tomorrow to see more? Want to show your support? Click here to be a sponsor and get additional chapters ahead of time! Chapter 1252 Swhoosh! I left behind a trail of purple lightning as I slammed into the dwarven king using Thunderous Charge. I was much taller than him even though I was in Fusion Armor mode right now. While he was stunned, I stabbed into his rotten, cotton-like body and greatly lowered his Defense with Purple Frost Concentration. Then, I hit him three times in a row using Burning Blade Slash and caused a shower of black blood¡ª 332877! 392172! 442726! At nearly the same time, He Yi and Lin Yixin cut in from the left and right and executed their respective combos. At the back, Beiming Xue fired her Bone Eroding Arrow, and Lian Xin her Ice Spiral Matrix to reduce the boss''s HP even more. "Nngh¡­" After Nordin awoke from his stun with a dull groan, he abruptly slammed his blade into my Dragon God Shield and dealt over 190k damage. True to his reputation, the ancient hero followed up with a 5-hit Blaze Sweep + Sword Rain combo that struck my Guardian Dragon Armor before I could protect myself. 10% of the damage I received was converted into HP, but I still lost around 250k HP per hit, or a total of 1.25 million HP in the end. It was bad. I didn¡¯t fall back though. I was the main tank after all. I retaliated with Universe Break + Pardon + basic attack of my own and held the boss''s aggro in a vice grip. Behind me, Lin Yixin shouted, "Stay strong, Little Cheat! Sister Mingyue and Guanyue, focus all your heals on him! We must defeat this boss right here and now, or heaven knows how many times we have to die before finally beating all three bosses! That is simply unacceptable!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Holy light flashed around my body repeatedly. Murong Mingyue had cast Pool of Life beneath my feet as well. The ancient hero was an abomination who could hit me for over 180k damage with his basic attack, and over 400k damage with his Barrier Break. It wasn¡¯t all bad news though. His Ultimate Strength Break could only deal less than 100k damage to me, meaning that his Strength wasn¡¯t much higher than mine. "Gulp!" I downed a Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion, kept my shield in front of me like my life depended on it, still trading blows with the boss like crazy. Thanks to my lifesteal, HP regeneration, potion, and Murong Mingyue¡¯s buff, I was able to maintain my HP around the 50% mark. "Good, good! Keep this up!" He Yi smiled at this. "Lu Chen¡¯s 2.5 million HP is so good here! If he wasn¡¯t as ridiculously tanky as he is, we would never be able to beat a Level 280 Ancient Immortal Rank boss without casualties!" Murong Mingyue warned smilingly, "We still need to watch out for the boss''s critical hits. If he manages to land multiple crits in a row, then even Lu Chen will be in grave danger!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ The Dwarf King Nordin roared angrily when he realized that his power wasn¡¯t enough to instakill me. Thankfully, Nordin¡¯s AI wasn¡¯t so advanced that he could override the almighty aggro mechanic and kill off our two supports, Murong Mingyue and Pure Love, first. Without their support, even I couldn¡¯t go head-to-head against an Ancient Immortal Rank boss for more than half a minute, much less everyone else. Some distance away, my apparition was using Dragon Slaying Slash, Coiling Dragon Revolution, Myriad Swords Obliteration and more ranged skills to decrease the boss''s HP. Although it only had 75% of my stats, it still carried a lot of firepower. The Phantom Wolf King was also carrying out its own hit-and-run tactic; dashing in to hit the boss with Claw of the Storm and Purgatory Storm before running away as soon as possible. The little fellow understood that its days as a tank were behind it, and that it could only play the role of a damage dealer now. In fact, only a pure tank pet could truly withstand the blows of an Ancient Immortal Rank boss. Lin Yixin¡¯s ice dragon wasn¡¯t a pure tank, so it couldn¡¯t tank an Ancient Immortal Rank boss either. Recently, I heard that Tempest Shadow had caught a giant metal slime with pathetic Attack, good Defense and absolutely ridiculous HP. To give an example, it had less than 30k Attack but over 5 million HP at Level 220. Now this was a classic tank pet. In fact, I had a feeling that the slime was part of the reason Candlelight Shadow was able to get his SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill. After all, percentage-based heals were absolutely insane on a unit with over 5 million HP. ¡­¡­ "Watch out, big brother!" Beiming Xue cried out in warning when Nordin was using a flurry skill. The bastard had gotten lucky and scored a chain of critical hits, causing my HP to drop to just 20% or so. Thud thud thud... I took a couple of steps backward and healed myself with Tenacity of the Dead. Then, I fired off Burning Blade Slash to regain around 200k HP before Murong Mingyue pulled me past the 50% mark once more. This was good news because it proved that the boss was unable to kill me even at its luckiest moment. At this point, it was only a matter of time before it succumbed to our party. Mountain Guardian might have been an anomaly for its rank, because Nordin was nowhere as powerful despite sharing its rank. The fight lasted around 25 minutes or so. When the Dwarf King Nordin only had 1% HP, the girls automatically backed away and allowed me to score the last hit. My Luck was high enough that they could afford to lose the additional experience. Chiang! I knocked aside the enemy¡¯s sword with the Chill of the Nine Provinces before smirking. "You were Prince Lin Qian¡¯s mentor, weren¡¯t you? Have a taste of my sword arts then!" I sidestepped his final attack before plunging my sword through his rotten body. Then, I executed Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break + Rise of the Guardian Dragon combo. The dragon-shaped energies propelled his body into the air and destroyed the final sliver of his HP. Nordin let out his death throes and dropped a ton of items and equipment. Even as his body hit the ground though, he uttered with a distorted expression on his face, "Damn you, Lin Qian, you traitor! I will never forgive you! Never!" I curled my lips, sat down beside the boss and checked out the drops. The first piece of equipment I checked was an Immortal-grade bow. It was obviously lousier than Beiming Xue¡¯s Xuanming Bow, but I reckoned that it could be sold on the market for seven to eight thousand RMB. We all rolled for it, and Guanyue won it with an impressive roll of 97 points. The second piece of equipment was a ring that added 27% Attack and increased Strength, Stamina and Intelligence. Lin Yixin managed to roll it this time. The third item was a necklace that added 57% Magic Attack power, but Lian Xin¡¯s current necklace was better. We rolled again, and finally it was my turn to score some loot. I bet I could sell this at the market for 5000 RMB or so! The four and final piece of equipment was an Immortal-grade axe, and it was won by Murong Mingyue. We gave the rest of the magic stones and gems to Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Guanyue since they didn¡¯t get any equipment drops. Everyone walked away happy from the loot distribution. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle! There was a dark blue¨Ccolored soul essence rolling back and forth on the ground. I picked it up and said, "This is probably Nordin¡¯s soul, right?" He Yi nodded. "Yes, most likely. It¡¯s such a tragedy though. To think that the former mentor of a prince would end up like this." I looked at the soul essence and said seriously, "Don¡¯t worry, Nordin. I¡¯m bringing your soul essence to Prince Lin Qian, but only because he wishes to atone for his sins and rescue your soul from a fate of eternal wandering. So rest in peace!" After I put the soul essence in my bag, I snapped my finger and said, "Alright, our quest is now 33% complete. Time to seek out the next two bosses, take them out, and turn in our quest. This is an SS Rank main quest, so there¡¯s a chance we might get some Luck out of this. Do your best, everyone!" The girls smiled and said, "Okay!" I wasn¡¯t kidding. Luck wasn¡¯t a stat you could grind, just like an SS Rank main quest wasn¡¯t something you could get just because you wanted. There was a real chance we might get some Luck out of this quest. ¡­¡­ We continued following the edge of the mountain with me acting as the point as per usual. After checking my equipment for a bit, I said, "I¡¯m losing quite a bit of equipment durability, and my weapon especially is below 50%. We¡¯re probably going to scrap the barrel by the time we finish this quest." Lin Yixin said, "Yeah. Let¡¯s avoid killing the mobs from now on, and you should activate Heavenly River Transformation only when absolutely necessary." "Yup." We didn¡¯t need to go far before we encountered a pile of giant fire dragon¡¯s bones. They glowed an eerie white beneath the moonlight. The reason I knew that they were the bones of a fire dragon was because I saw tendrils of flames snaking across the frame. Despite having perished for tens of thousands of years, not all of its flaming power had disappeared. Standing in front of the skeleton of the fire dragon was a beautiful succubus carrying a longbow on her back. Her deathly white complexion marked her as an undead. She was staring in the direction of the skeleton, and despite having died for many years the sorrow in her eyes was unmistakable. ¡­¡­ "Who is it?!" The former succubi queen abruptly turned around as if noticing something. When she saw us, she immediately drew her bow and asked harshly, "Who are you? Why have you come here?!" I stepped forward and replied in a solemn tone, "We are adventurers from Sky City, and we have come to clear this place of its undead. Apologies, but we plan to leave no evil creature alive in our wake, and that includes you, Succubi Queen Leila!" Leila¡¯s eyes immediately turned chilly. "You think that a weakling like you can kill me? Dream on!" Chapter 1253 There was a bow twang, and a light blue-colored arrow hit my chest before I could even dodge. That single basic attack actually dealt over 290k damage to me! I could already see that Succubi Queen Leila¡¯s Attack was even higher than Dwarf King Nordin¡¯s. Assuming that Prince Lin Qian¡¯s mentors were only stronger than the next, it was no wonder Lin Qian was able to kill them all. He was the culmination of all their training. "Little Cheat, keep the boss''s aggro on you! Beiming Xue and Lian Xin, use your Shock Arrows and Frozen Domain alternatingly so that Sister Mingyue has the time to heal us!" Lin Yixin barked out tactical orders while running with the Dragonfrost in hand. Leila¡¯s beautiful face grew a bit distorted as she fired her skills at me such as Explosive Arrow, Poison Dragon Arrow, Spiraling Arrow Blade and more without pause. In just 10 seconds, she actually dropped my HP to just 25%. What a monster! I closed the distance between the two of us before executing Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash combo. I got really lucky and managed to freeze her for a couple of seconds. While I was stabbing her with Purple Frost Concentration, the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade triggered its effect and stunned her for yet another 7 seconds. Murong Mingyue complained as she seized the opportunity to unload all of her spells on me, "OMG, it¡¯s so hard to heal Lu Chen¡¯s 2.45 million HP back to full¡­" Lin Yixin giggled. "Sure, but that¡¯s only because the boss we¡¯re dealing with is equally difficult. We would have never beaten Nordin without casualties if not for Little Cheat¡¯s ridiculous HP!" The Moonchaser Tiger let out an angry roar as she said this. She brought down her Dragonfrost and used Ultimate Strength Break! Boom! 274840! It was a very impressive amount of damage. Heavy-armor players could usually exploit the Strength difference and do insane amounts of damage against an Agility-based boss like Leila. If I had Ultimate Strength Break, I would be dealing over 300k damage in a single hit as well. Of course, my Myriad Swords Obliteration could achieve the same amount of damage, so I wasn¡¯t depressed by the loss of choice in the slightest. ¡­¡­ Bang! I punched Leila and rendered her Skypiercer void before it ever got to show itself to the world. Then, I brought my foot down and rocked the earth using War Crush. Face becoming even more distorted with rage, she fired Seeking Arrow to hit me only for it to miss thanks to Ghost Spirit Step Art drastically increasing my movement speed, and me zigzagging past her person to break the line of sight. Ancient Immortal Rank bosses weren¡¯t immune to the techniques that would befuddle a player, not to mention that my Ghost Spirit War Boots gave me the necessary speed to pull it off. As a result, Leila¡¯s accuracy was greatly diminished by my repeated usage of butterfly maneuver. "Damn you! You will all pay the price!" Suddenly, Leila raised her arm and summoned a terrifying-looking image of a giant devil on her head. The next moment, the giant devil aimed its bow at the ground, let out a howl that sounded like it came from the depths of hell itself, and unleashed the skill: Rage of the Ancient Bow God! Boom! A gigantic arrow of light fell from the sky like a meteor and hit the ground with a massive explosion. The massive AoE skill had a diameter of at least 1000 yards, so no one was able to escape the blast! Intense pain seized my senses as my HP dropped drastically. He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lin Yixin and Guanyue all took massive hits as well¡ª 472983! 659292! 671299! 790294! 912727! MISS! MISS! ¡­¡­ Rage of the Ancient Bow God only hit one time, so Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue managed to survive at the cost of their Magic Shields. I, Lin Yixin, and He Yi took 470k, 659k and 671k damage respectively and survived with low HP, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for Beiming Xue, who was one-shot by a whopping 790k damage. Her eighth-promotion skill, Impossible Escape, didn¡¯t trigger either, or she could¡¯ve avoided the level loss. Pure Love ate the most damage out of all of us because cloth-armor players just had shitty Defense, not to mention that a bard¡¯s spell shield was way weaker than priests¡¯, and couldn¡¯t even be compared to mages¡¯ Magic Shields. Knowing this, Pure Love dropped 3 points to Stamina and 2 points to Intelligence every level. Unfortunately, a total HP of nearly 800k still wasn¡¯t enough to survive Leila¡¯s Rage of the Bow God. Swhoosh swhoosh... While Beiming Xue and Pure Love collapsed in a flash of white light, I fired another Burning Blade Slash at the boss and yelled, "Sis, get ready for my Xuanyuan Art! The game is still on, so stay cool, everyone! Massive AoE skill like this shouldn¡¯t have a short cooldown, so let¡¯s try and kill her before she gets another shot out!" After that, I pointed the front side of the blade to the sky and cried, "Xuanyuan Art!" Three vortices representing light and new life spun rapidly and healed everyone by 50% HP. I was back at 100% HP instantly, and He Yi and Lin Yixin were almost at full HP as well. Murong Mingyue healed the remaining HP before they rejoined the battle. I dashed past Beiming Xue¡¯s corpse and picked up a shiny bow from the ground. It was Beiming Xue¡¯s Xuanming Bow, of course. Unlike instance equipment, there was no binding mechanic with the Twelve Divine Armaments. Therefore, it had a chance of dropping just like any other item out there. Without sufficient skill and power, having one of the Twelve Divine Armaments was more of a burden than a boon for the player carrying it. Inside the party channel, Beiming Xue said urgently, "Uuu, I dropped my Xuanming Bow!" I chuckled. "Don¡¯t worry, I have it. Just return as soon as possible. The fight¡¯s a lot harder without your crowd-control skills!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ While Lin Yixin and He Yi were using Ultimate Strength Break at the same time to delete the boss''s HP, Leila fired a 100%-hit-rate Volley that drilled huge holes into our bodies. The boss''s bow-flicking technique was even better than Beiming Xue¡¯s, and every hit dealt at least 200k damage. Forget the likes of Lian Xin or Murong Mingyue, even I was strained beneath the power of the skill. Pa! I maneuvered behind Leila and pressed a palm to her back. "God Binding Art!" The boss exclaimed in alarm, "What are you doing to me, you bastard?" The skill had failed three times in a row before this, but finally, the divine arms were able to immobilize Leila. He Yi chuckled as she dashed over with Little Qing by her side. "Finally! Now is the time to hit the boss with everything we got!" After waving her scepter and healing us back to full HP, Murong Mingyue stuffed her mouth with a magic consumable and said, "I only have 15% MP left, so I¡¯m going to regenerate my MP for a bit. Don¡¯t go ham during this time, okay¡­" "Got it¡­" ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, Beiming Xue and Pure Love revived, and I tossed the Xuanming Bow into Beiming Xue¡¯s hands. Speaking of which, it had been chaos in the guild channel before Beiming Xue regained her Xuanming Bow¡ª Xu Yang: "What the fuck? Why is the owner name beside the Xuanming Bow blank? What happened to Lil Beiming?" Li Chengfeng: "Er, Lil Beiming didn¡¯t drop her bow, did she?" Gui Guzi exclaimed in outrage, "Who dares to steal Lil Beiming¡¯s precious from her? Brother Thirteen and I will wipe them out right now!" He Yi: "It¡¯s a Level 280 Ancient Immortal Rank boss called Leila. Sorry, but I don¡¯t think Thirteen or you are a match for her¡­" I chuckled. "Calm down, people. Beiming was killed by the boss''s ultimate. I¡¯m returning the bow to her right now¡­" Li Chengfeng: Lu Chen, the seven of you¡¯re doing a quest at Dragon Domain, right?" I nodded. "Yeah? What¡¯s wrong?" Li Chengfeng explained in a serious tone, "Well, Warsky Alliance, Gods of Destruction, Mad Dragon, Flower Room, Pop Culture and more are dispatching their elites to your location right now. It¡¯s because there are rumors that there are S Rank quests to be received at Dragon Domain. Candlelight Shadow himself is leading his main force to Dragon Domain." He Yi sounded surprised. "Is Candle Dragon targeting the main quests too?" "No!" Li Chengfeng smiled slightly. "No, his real goal is the giant dragon mounts. I heard it from Ye Yuse herself. Candle Dragon had been plotting this as soon as a week ago, but they didn¡¯t think that you would still get ahead of them. Anyway, Candlelight Shadow has already departed, and he may even be at Dragon Domain already. That¡¯s what Ye Yuse said anyway." I replied, "You¡¯ve gotten quite close to Ye Yuse, huh? Are you guys dating or something?" Li Chengfeng grew embarrassed. "Dude, we¡¯re talking serious business right now. Can you not?" "This is serious business¡­" "ANYWAY, I¡¯m bringing our men to Dragon Domain as well, so see you in a couple hours. Expect your map to turn into one hell of a hot potato shortly after. Everyone wants the reward, but not everyone has the strength to claim it." "Got it. Be careful, you all." "Will do!" ¡­¡­ I activated Dark Pupils and checked our surroundings for a moment. Then, I said in a soft voice, "Watch out, everyone. I just learned that other players have gotten on this map already. We can always trust Snowy Cathaya and Blazing Hot Lips, but the same cannot be said for Candle Dragon, Pop Culture or Warsky Alliance. They will fight us if they notice that we¡¯re killing this boss." Dodging the boss''s attacks via running along a beautiful S-shaped path, Lin Yixin said with a smile, "That just means we have to kill the boss before that happens!" Unfortunately, Leila¡¯s HP was thicker than expected, and her Attack was deadly enough that there were multiple times we got close to the breaking point. Almost 20 minutes had passed, and we had only deleted 47% of her HP. Murong Mingyue looked visibly worried. "This isn¡¯t working. Every time Leila hits me with Frightening Arrow, I lose 4000 MP. I only have 5% MP left now, which is not nearly enough to last the whole fight even with Magic Consumables. What do we do? The boss still has over 50% HP. We¡¯re going to die repeatedly like this¡­" A priest was a party¡¯s lifeline. If the priest couldn¡¯t heal, then the boss fight was destined to end in failure. It was a conundrum though. On one hand, we were reluctant to abandon the boss. On the other, there was a high chance we would have to die repeatedly before we could finally defeat Leila. I could already imagine us holding an offline meeting and crying together if we lost the Xuanming Bow, Chill of the Nine Provinces, Dragonfrost and more... ¡­¡­ "Fuck. Are we really going to fail Lin Qian¡¯s final request like this?" I said to myself. To my surprise, the Succubi Queen¡¯s hourglass figure suddenly shuddered violently. Then, she slowly lowered her bow and stared at me with her blood-red eyes. "What did you say? Lin Qian, he¡­?" Chapter 1254 Bang! A powerful Bone Eroding Arrow from Beiming Xue struck Leila¡¯s chest, shattered the chest armor and spilled some black blood. However, not only did Leila not retaliate, she kept her bow lowered and faced toward me, murmuring, "You said his name¡­ Did you meet him? You¡­" The boss had stopped attacking completely. I must have accidentally triggered a story sequence or something. So, I also lowered the Chill of the Nine Provinces and nodded. "Yes, we saw Lin Qian on a hill of bones in front of the Dragon God Cave. He was the one who asked us to seek out your bodies, collect your soul essences and return them to him. He regrets his actions deeply and wishes to rescue your souls to atone for his sins." "Lin Qian¡­ Lin Qian¡­" Leila¡¯s knees hit the deathly, blackened soil beneath our feet as she looked up in the sky. Tears slid down her cheeks as she said, "After Lin Qian¡¯s mind was stolen by that sword, he¡­ he actually killed us all..." I nodded. "He is still guarding the Dragonslaying Sword. He is filled with guilt and self-blame¡­" Leila would continue to cry for almost five minutes. Finally, she rose to her feet and pulled out the dagger hanging on her waist. She declared with grim determination, "If Lin Qian can rescue my sinful soul, then I will surrender my life to him again!" I couldn''t help but be shocked by her actions. "You¡­" Leila gazed to the distance with deep grief and sorrow. "Where I¡¯m looking is where the Warhammer Empire resides. I know because I can sense the lives there¡­ The first time I met him was the year where maple leaves spread throughout the entire forest. Even then, I already knew that my life would be deeply connected to his. I knew I would teach him archery, tell him the secrets that lay deep within the mountains, and bathe with him beneath the moonlight. And yet all these memories will never happen again in our lives¡­" Leila sobbed a bit more before wiping away her slightly murky tears. "When a soul ascends, there is a chance they may enter the cycle of reincarnation. I remained until now only so that I could meet him one more time. Now come. Take my soul essence to him, and tell him that I¡­ love him¡­" Shink! She cut open her own throat with her dagger. As blood poured out of the wound like a fountain, she slowly dropped to her knees while losing HP at a rapid rate. She looked at us one last time and said, "Thank you in advance for fulfilling my wish¡­" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Golden light surrounded us and increased our levels after Leila passed away. None of us thought that the Succubi Queen Leila would sacrifice her own life for a single man. Her body turned into a real corpse in a flash of light, and her soul essence slowly floated out of her forehead and into the air. It looked incredibly beautiful. I knew nothing about the romantic relationship between a teacher and her student, but I did understand her unwillingness to watch her beloved be stuck in the depths of depravation. That was why she had chosen to kill herself. Was it the right choice? Maybe. Was there a better way than this? Maybe. Only the heavens could answer with certainty. I slowly knelt on one knee and held up her soul essence with both hands. It was only after I had placed it carefully in my bag did I check the boss drops. Leila had dropped us four pieces of equipment in total. There was a pair of rather mediocre Immortal-grade boots, an Immortal-grade spear that was slightly inferior to the Spear of the Knight God, a Level 210 Immortal-grade scepter and finally, a purple red longbow. It was none other than Leila¡¯s signature weapon, Leila''s Longbow! I looked at the girls while holding Leila''s Longbow. "It¡¯s an Ancient Immortal-grade bow. It¡¯s still not as good as Beiming Xue¡¯s Xuanming Bow, but it¡¯s definitely not a bad bow by any means. Is there anyone who wants this?" He Yi knelt down beside Leila¡¯s body and stared at it for a moment. Then, she said as if she hadn¡¯t heard my question, "I¡­ I can¡¯t believe she died like this. Is this the fate of all women¡­?" Me: "..." Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes reddened a bit as well. "I might have done the same if I was in her position. It¡¯s why there is the saying that women are foolish." Beiming Xue cupped Lin Yixin¡¯s hand and said, "You already did it during the War of Dawn City, remember? A player account is basically a player¡¯s life, but you still gave it away without hesitation for the final victory." Lin Yixin: "..." I stayed silent for a couple of seconds before raising Leila''s Longbow again. "Her story is sad, and I do sympathize with her situation a lot, but this bow is an ANCIENT IMMORTAL-GRADE bow with nearly 10k Attack cap, so I¡¯m asking again. Does anyone want this? If not, then I¡¯m going to drop it at my Air Force One later, okay? It¡¯s gonna sell for 100k RMB at least¡­" Murong Mingyue said calmly, "A bow with 10k Attack would sell for 500k RMB at least. In fact, it¡¯s priceless considering how rare Level 220 Ancient Immortal-grade bows are right now¡­" I smiled. "Such a shame that no one wants it, so¡ª" "No one said that." Lin Yixin sniffed once before staring at me with reddened eyes. "Does your brain only compute equipment when you¡¯re in the game? Hmph! Anyway, sell me the bow so I can give it to Lexi. I haven¡¯t given her a proper gift since she came to Snowy Cathaya. Also, this¡¯ll give her the power to finally go toe-to-toe with the likes of Transient Smoke and Clouds, Ling Xueshang and October Rain." I smiled. "What do you mean? She¡¯s already at their power level even without the bow. Nangong Lexi¡¯s skill is at least as good as October Rain¡¯s, and she has the advantage of youth and swift thoughts on her side. Once her equipment is upgraded, she¡¯ll be strong enough to challenge even Beiming Xue. So, how much are you willing to part with for this bow, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin narrowed her eyes and smiled dangerously. "Why do I feel like you¡¯re planning to slaughter my wallet?" I shrugged. "Just earning a living is all. You¡¯re well aware that in-game equipment is losing value every day, and a super-tier bow like this one drops once in a blue moon. Heck, even I haven¡¯t seen an item this good in a while, not to mention that it¡¯s one that fits your current needs perfectly. You get the bow, I get the cash. It¡¯s a win-win scenario for both of us right. Also, you¡¯re the ace of the Apple e-sports club, and you¡¯re paid an obscene amount of money for your service. Surely you can afford it." Lin Yixin pouted. "You always bully me!" He Yi chuckled. "Alright, enough, you two. I¡¯ll decide how this trade is done. Okay?" "Okay!" We both agreed without hesitation. Both her prestige and her trustworthiness were among the highest among all of us. He Yi considered for a moment before suggesting, "Alright, we¡¯ll do it this way. There are 7 of us here, so let¡¯s pretend that the bow¡¯s price is 350k RMB. Yiyi will transfer 50k to each of us, or a total of 300k RMB to buy this bow. Is that fine?" Lin Yixin hurriedly nodded smilingly. "Okay! Okay! I¡¯ll listen to Sister Eve and buy Leila''s Longbow for 300k! Er, please give me a minute to complete the transfers¡­" I was slightly surprised when she finished transferring 50k RMB to each of our account in exactly a minute. That was some impressive operating speed right there. After I passed Leila¡¯s Longbow into Lin Yixin¡¯s hands, I raised the scepter next and asked, "Eifilin Scepter is a Level 210 scepter that increases Magic Attack power by 175%. Again, it¡¯s not as good as Lian Xin¡¯s Thunder God¡¯s Scepter, but it¡¯s still pretty good overall. It¡¯s not going to be nearly as valuable as Leila''s Longbow though, so I suggest that we save it for our guild¡¯s Yu Tong. I heard that she¡¯s still using a Heaven-grade scepter, so this will be the perfect upgrade¡­" The girls nodded, and I passed a money bag with 10k gold in it to Lin Yixin. "The Eifilin Scepter is probably worth around 50k RMB, so this is your compensation." Lin Yixin happily accepted it and said, "I will always take your money!" Me: "..." I also paid Pure Love 10k gold for not claiming the scepter. Obviously, there was no need to pay the girls of the Frost Cloud workshop for this. While I was examining the rest of the loot on the ground, I noted that Leila was probably a weapons master of sorts. The reason I said this was because she had dropped 3 weapons in total. We rolled for the rest of the magic stones and enhancement gems, and I managed to win myself a Rank 17 Dragonstone Gem. I planned to use it to upgrade my new Guardian Dragon Armor later. At Rank 17, the enhancement gems would give me a total increase of 85% Defense. It was absolutely not a negligible amount for sure. Enhancements for the win! ¡­¡­ After everything was taken care of, we returned to the trail and continued toward the third boss, the Holy Magus Lin Xu. He was the palace mage of the Warhammer Empire and Prince Lin Qian¡¯s magic mentor. Once we took him out, we would be able to turn in our quest and receive a generous reward. An SS Rank quest¡¯s reward must be pretty amazing, right? The sky turned gray as dark clouds blocked the sunlight. Then, it started raining in just the blink of an eye. Rain reduced a player¡¯s vision range, but thanks to our high levels, the penalty wasn¡¯t as severe as it could¡¯ve been. I opened the map screen to check the last quest coordinate while walking across the wet grass. I said, "Lin Xu is right inside the valley in front of us. We should reach there in 3 minutes at most. Let¡¯s get there quick. It will be annoying if someone is already fighting the boss when we arrive¡­" Lin Yixin assured me. "Relax, the monsters at Fire Dragon Canyon and outside Dragon Domain are very powerful. No one can make it in easily." "Yeah." Unfortunately, our heart sank when we arrived on a hill that was covered in maple leaves. When I looked down, I was shocked to see that the valley had been occupied by a ton of players. They were fighting a boss in an organized fashion, and the boss wearing a black mage robe was none other than the Ancient Immortal Rank boss, Holy Magus Lin Xu! ¡­¡­ "Watch out for the boss''s Fire Dragon Sneak Attack! It has a five-yard AoE, and it¡¯ll burn everything in a straight line! When the boss uses a skill, a dragon-shaped flame will appear at the tip of its scepter, so watch out for that as well! All magic knights are to use a Roland Bloodknight Card to buff their max HP, and everyone below 30% HP is to back away immediately. Don¡¯t let the boss one-shot you!" A cavalryman riding an earth dragon and wielding a sword was fighting the boss and commanding the boss fight. The emblem of Warsky Alliance floated on his arm. He was none other than the vice leader of Warsky Alliance, Lin Bing Dou Zhe. Further behind Lin Bing Dou Zhe, October Rain was shooting a Shock Arrow and saying, "Give me the party leader position, Lin Bing! I¡¯m going to use Heartpiercer to give us all 20% lifesteal! All cavalrymen, attack in turns using Ultimate Strength Break and Barrier Break! You¡¯ll definitely survive with the lifesteal, so don¡¯t worry! Priests, keep our frontliners healed as much as you can!" ¡­¡­ I groaned inside my head. "Fuck, how did October Rain and Lin Bing Dou Zhe get here first?" Chapter 1255 Ultimate Strength Break was a skill that ignored Magic Shield and dealt damage based on the Strength difference between the user and the target. Although Lin Xu was a holy magus, physically he was a weakling with around 5000 Strength at most. Currently, all eighth-promotion cavalrymen who dropped all their skill points into Strength possessed 8000 Strength at least, which translated to over 120k damage against the Level 280 boss. Not only that, Heartpiercer gave them 20% lifesteal, so they both dealt good damage to the boss and healed from it. October Rain¡¯s tactic was sound for sure. ¡­¡­ The drizzle continued, and red maple leaves swayed to the wind as we watched the boss fight from the hills. Neither retreat nor advance looked very feasible right now. "So, should we get down there and take them all out?" Lin Yixin asked while blinking. I shook my head immediately. "No. Our relationship with Warsky Alliance¡ªespecially during the Nation Wars¡ªisn¡¯t so bad that we can afford to have an acrimonious fallout with them. I would rather negotiate with them first before deciding if we should steal the boss¡­" The corners of He Yi¡¯s lips turned up slightly. "The two of you are pretty confident, aren¡¯t you? October Rain¡¯s party is 300-man strong, and Warsky, Farewell Song and Laughing At The Heavens are centering the valley with a 500-man party. This means that Warsky Alliance has dispatched at least a thousand players to Dragon Domain. I don¡¯t feel very good about our chances if it comes down to that¡­" I assured her in a confident tone, "Nah, our chances of succeeding are pretty high. I can annihilate a hundred-man party instantly with Xuanyuan Slash + Rise of the Guardian Dragon, and I promise you they won¡¯t be able to avoid it even if they know we are coming. There should be no one you and Yiyi can¡¯t handle with your Ancient Divine Skills turned on unless you¡¯re facing off Farewell Song, Lin Bing Dou Zhe or Warsky themselves¡­" However, Beiming Xue objected in a dumbfounded tone, "Big brother, you know that Farewell Song moves as fast as a ghost, and his skills are insane, right? You¡¯re the only one among us who¡¯s guaranteed to beat him." I shrugged. "To be honest, Farewell Song has Heavenly River Transformation, and my Dark Pupils can¡¯t see through his invisibility. If he manages to ambush me, or I fall into his Trap, there¡¯s a good chance he can kill me before I even break out of the stun. Anything¡¯s possible¡­" "Yeah¡­" "And that is why I want to negotiate with them first. Warsky and October Rain will give me this face at least¡­" "Alright. Off you go¡­" "Yeah." ¡­¡­ I leaped over a giant rock on the hill and allowed gravity to pull me toward the ground. Cloak stretching out above my head, I activated Fusion Armor and floated the rest of the way down like some sort of god. The divine light shining from the Guardian Dragon Armor dispelled some of my naturally dark presence as an Asura King, or my Dark Pupils alone could¡¯ve caused someone to piss their pants. Finally, I turned on my equipment luster so everyone knew exactly how many Sacred Armaments, Divine Armaments and Immortal-grade pieces of equipment I was wearing. As long as the person wasn¡¯t blind, they only needed a glimpse to know that I was a peak expert. I was giving the Warsky Alliance players every opportunity to see me coming, and they did. While skidding a few steps to the side, Lin Bing Dou Zhe glanced at me and asked, "How the fuck did Lu Chen get here? If he¡¯s here, then Lu Chen, From Water, Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue and more may be here as well. What do we do, Sister Rain? This isn¡¯t good!" Hundred Battler was chugging down a health potion after losing over 500k HP to a fireball from the boss. "Yeah! We¡¯ve lost dozens of brothers and sisters to drag this boss down to 35% HP. We absolutely can¡¯t give it away now! Sister Rain, please get rid of him one way or another!" A trace of worry flashed across October Rain¡¯s eyes, but she answered, "I¡¯ll do my best!" She left the battlefield and walked straight toward me. After shooting me a beautiful smile and activating Clear As Flame to observe my surroundings, she said, "Long time no see, Lu Chen. We weren¡¯t expecting to meet you today. Are you alone? Are Lin Yixin and Beiming Xue with you?" I knew she was trying to gauge me out, so I smiled back and replied, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have more elites than just Beiming Xue, you know. Just like you, my guild has come to Dragon Domain, and if necessary I can summon my one thousand elites and of course, my Ancient Divine Skill owners, to join me... On an unrelated note, you¡¯ve traveled a long way just to kill some bosses, haven¡¯t you?" October Rain answered, "Yes, we have. Ancient Immortal-grade equipment is the hot shit these days, and the Ancient Immortal Rank bosses here have a low chance to drop a Sacred Armament or even a Divine Armament. Naturally, Warsky Alliance would like to grind a high-level map like this to grow stronger." I didn¡¯t answer her this time. I simply walked past her and straight toward the boss. "Hey!" October Rain caught up to me and grabbed my wristguard. "It¡¯s rude to leave a girl hanging like that! Don¡¯t tell me the boss is more attractive than me?" I continued staring at the Holy Magus Lin Xu. "I¡¯ll be frank with you, Beauty Rain. The girls and I have accepted a quest, and this Lin Xu is our quest boss. We need his soul essence to turn in the quest. Therefore, I would like to enter a negotiation with you. Will you give me the boss if I agree to certain conditions?" October Rain fell silent for a time. She had probably anticipated my question, but she didn¡¯t actually know what to do after her prediction came true. Before the archer could say anything, Hundred Battler ran over and growled at me, "Who do you think you are, Lu Chen? This Dragon Domain isn¡¯t your backyard, is it? We aren¡¯t obligated to give you anything!" I didn¡¯t say a word. Lin Bing Dou Zhe also frothed at me, "Warsky Alliance are no weaklings that you can boss around however you like, and Ancient Sword won¡¯t remain strong forever, Lu Chen! Just you wait! We will replace you one day!" I still didn¡¯t say a word. A few seconds later, Warsky finally showed up with Song of Cloud and Water, God Bone, Song of Ice and Fire and more. The guild leader stopped about tens of meters away from me but didn¡¯t dismount to speak with me. It was almost as if he was looking down on me as he asked, "Long time no see, Lu Chen! What¡¯s going on here?" I smiled politely and said, "Warsky, the boss you¡¯re fighting right now is my quest boss. I need a quest item it drops to turn in a quest. If you kill this boss, there¡¯s a high chance the quest item won¡¯t drop, and my quest will fail here." Warsky smiled. "I see!" He suddenly changed his tune and said, "I¡¯m sure you noticed that we¡¯ve lost almost a hundred players to kill this bastard of a holy magus. They are all elites, but this Ancient Immortal Rank boss is just too strong. I don¡¯t mind giving you this favor, but I can¡¯t let my brothers and sisters die for nothing, can I? Otherwise, they¡¯ll think me weak and scorn me for succumbing to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ might. You understand my position, don¡¯t you?" Warsky wasn¡¯t giving an inch. His attitude was expected, however. After the latest Nation War was over, and a precarious balance had formed between the Northern Alliance, the Chaotic 27, the China server and the India server, the guilds were starting to set their sights on each other once more. Warsky wasn¡¯t a man who was content with the number 2 spot. His goal had always been to dominate the Center with Warsky Alliance. I thought for a moment before offering a compromise, "How about this: I¡¯ll join your party and help your boss fight. I¡¯ll score the last hit, but I won¡¯t claim a single piece of loot it drops. All I want is the soul essence, which is useless to you anyway. Finally, I¡¯ll pay your dead players 1000 gold each for their trouble. What do you say?" Warsky grinned. "That is very reasonable. But I¡¯m sure my brothers and sisters¡¯ lives are worth more than 1000 gold each." This time, I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and stared at Warsky coldly. "Don¡¯t give an inch and take a mile, Warsky. I¡¯m not a lamb who will wait to be slaughtered, let alone your ATM machine. Push me over the edge, and watch me take the boss from right under your nose." "Is that so?" Warsky gripped his sword hilt and declared, "You can certainly try!" Mount cries resounded from above the hill, and the girls entered the fray in no time. It was because they noticed that we were close to a fallout. In fact, Lian Xin and Beiming Xue had already activated their Heavenly River Transformation and were a hair away from attacking Warsky. October Rain hurriedly shot Warsky a meaningful look before stepping in front of him. Then, she smiled politely and said, "Calm down, everyone. Lu Chen, we can give you the boss if you must have it. However, on top of the gold compensation, I have one more condition that I hope you would accept." I nodded. "Tell me!" "Can you train us 100 mounted archers?" "Unacceptable. It¡¯ll cost too much resources. However¡­ I can consider it if you prepare the resources yourselves." Warsky¡¯s eyes lit up. "Really? Will you train us an indefinite amount of mounted archers as long as we supply you the resources?" I shook my head. "Of course not. Dark Moon City is our exclusive territory. There is no way I can justify duplicating mounts or training mounted archers indefinitely for another guild. We can train you 100 mounted archers, but no more than that. You can take it or leave it!" Warsky fell silent. I could see him weighing the pros and cons. Warsky was a pragmatist, and he knew me well enough to know that asking for more was just asking for a fallout. Worst-case scenario, we both lose when all is said and done. Almost two minutes later, Warsky finally nodded. "Alright, you have a deal. We¡¯ll give you the last hit, but you may only take the soul essence as promised. Otherwise, all our efforts will have been for naught." "Very good!" ¡­¡­ Now that the negotiations were complete, the girls got ready to join the boss fight as well. I didn¡¯t let Pure Love, Murong Mingyue or Beiming Xue join the battle because there was a chance the boss might have a large-scale AoE skill. It would suck if they were one-shot without being able to do anything. This was especially true for Beiming Xue because she carried the Xuanming Bow. Agreement or not, Warsky would absolutely try to rob the Xuanming Bow and maximize his gains. It was Warsky Alliance¡¯s objective after all. Swhoosh! I slammed into Lin Xu with Thunderous Charge and stunned him before he could react. Then, I executed a Purple Frost Concentration + Burning Blade Slash combo that deleted the boss''s HP like paper. Our "allies" were so stunned that Hundred Battler actually stopped in his tracks and blurted, "What the fuck is that Attack?!" Chapter 1256 Crackle! Crackle! Electricity crackled on the tip of Lin Xu¡¯s scepter. The boss slowly raised his weapon and cried, "Thunder Spell!" Lightning fell from the sky, and thunder roared against my eardrums. In just an instant, every player within a hundred yards of the boss had been struck by lightning. Pain seared my entire body as the Guardian Dragon Armor absorbed part of the damage as HP¡ª 780992! +78099! He Yi and Lin Yixin backed away from the boss after losing almost a million HP. The attack was a forbidden spell; an absolute nightmare against any and all heavy-armor players. The three of us might have survived, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the 19 melee Warsky Alliance players who were one-shot. Their equipment was only a tad poorer than the average, but that was enough of a difference to kill them even with the Roland Bloodknight Card. Warsky frowned deeply at the sight before saying to October Rain, "Thank goodness you had the foresight to withdraw from the frontline before that happened. You would¡¯ve died to the spell otherwise¡­" October Rain smiled a little. "Hmph. It¡¯s just basic guesswork. The boss was at low health, so I knew that it was going to cast an ultimate sooner or later." After that, she looked at Song of Cloud and Water and asked, "It¡¯s time to deal the final blow. Please send in God Bone and Song of Ice and Fire now, Sister Song of Cloud and Water. But remember, the last hit must go to Lu Chen." Song of Cloud and Water glanced at God Bone and Song of Ice and Water, prompting them to attack the boss. Then, she blinked once and shot me a question, "Don¡¯t you have the Battle Astral Wind, Lu Chen? Why aren¡¯t you using it? I¡¯m sure you¡¯d be able to handle the boss much better if you used it." I didn¡¯t answer her, but October Rain smiled knowingly and put a hand on Song of Cloud and Water¡¯s shoulder. "Come now. You should know better than to question an expert¡¯s secrets." The woman was too smart for her own good. I still didn¡¯t say anything, but I knew that October Rain had figured out my plan. There were only 7 of us and almost a thousand of them. My choice to fight the boss in their presence was no less dangerous than detoothing a tiger. That was why I was saving Battle Astral Wind in case Warsky Alliance decided to betray us. Rustle rustle¡­ An unnatural, shallow depression slowly appeared on the grassy ground less than 10 yards away from me. It was the only visible sign that betrayed the existence of an assassin. The fact that I couldn¡¯t see the assassin even with Dark Pupils meant that it could only be Farewell Song. If I was barely able to capture his outline back when I had first gotten Dark Pupils, now I wasn¡¯t able to see him at all. Warsky must¡¯ve ordered him to keep an eye on me. The moment I reneged my promise and stole any equipment, Farewell Song would immediately stun me so that Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone, October Rain, Lin Bing Dou Zhe and more could kill me. There was almost no chance I would be able to survive their combined assault. "Heh!" I smiled and darted behind the boss in one smooth motion. Then, I fired Thousand Ice Slash that hit not only the boss, but also the spot where Farewell Song was as well. A trail of unnatural footsteps immediately appeared on the wet grass. It was Farewell Song retreating to avoid the skill. In reality, he hadn¡¯t needed to do so because I was using safe attack mode, meaning that my attacks would only damage mobs and bosses. I did it to inform Farewell Song that I knew exactly where he was, and that underestimating me might be the last mistake he committed on this map. Displeasure flashed across Warsky¡¯s face for an instant. For now, I held the upper hand in this psychological warfare. ¡­¡­ A couple more rounds of attacks later, Lin Xu¡¯s HP dropped to almost 1%. October Rain immediately shouted, "All damage dealers, withdraw from the frontline now! Lu Chen will have the last hit! Priests, keep him healed so he doesn¡¯t die!" Relying on my powerful Guardian Dragon Armor to reduce my damage received and Warsky Alliance¡¯s priests to heal me, I abruptly changed tactics and went head-to-head against Lin Xu. His Touch of the Dragonkiss hurt like a bitch, but my Rise of the Guardian Dragon + Burning Blade Slash + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo hurt just as bad, if not more. A few more attacks later, As Lin Xu¡¯s withered face distorted, and his scepter shivered in his hand, he let out one final shout, "Damned adventurers! You may have killed me, but you will not escape the curse! May infinite darkness forever entrap your souls!" Pop pop pop... The boss dropped a ton of equipment and increased my level to 223 when he died. This made the third Ancient Immortal Rank boss I killed since I embarked on this journey, and the amount of experience I had gotten thus far was impressive to say the least. It was equal to several days of instance experience. Pa! I grabbed Lin Xu¡¯s soul essence and activated Ghost Spirits Step Art without hesitation. Then, I pulled away from the boss without even bothering to look at the loot. A promise was a promise, and the chance that the boss might drop a super-tier Divine Armament was incredibly low anyway. It was just an Ancient Immortal Rank boss after all. The chance existed, but it was less than one in ten thousand. I dashed to where full-health Lin Yixin and He Yi were waiting for me. They moved to my left and right side protectively before asking, "You got it?" "I got it. Time to withdraw and turn in our quest!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ However, October Rain raced up to me and said, "Lu Chen, wait?" "What is it?" "You haven¡¯t paid us yet!" "Oh. Right¡­" I transferred October Rain 100k gold immediately before asking, "Is that enough? We can discuss the matter of mounted archers after we return to Sky City!" October Rain smiled sweetly. "Oh yes, no problem. Thank you for your patronage, boss!" "Fuck!" Meanwhile, Warsky had walked up to the boss to check the pile of loot beneath its body. Suddenly, surprise flashed across his eyes, and he abruptly grabbed a long weapon with a dark cyan-colored blade. The blade glowed with divine energy, and the clouds above our heads abruptly parted when he raised the weapon. When the golden sunlight touched the blade, the ground actually trembled like it was welcoming something¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, player "Warsky" (China) has obtained the Divine Armament "Immortal Blade" (Twelve Divine Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)! ¡­¡­ "The fuck? The Immortal Blade?" My eyes bulged with fury and disbelief. "Are you kidding me? A mere Ancient Immortal Rank boss like Lin Xu dropped one of the Twelve Divine Armaments of all things? What the¡­ fuck!?" Lin Yixin was also exclaiming in astonishment, "Oh my god, the chance is one in a couple ten thousand, and you actually got it? This is just¡­" He Yi pressed her lips together, but kept a tight grip on both my and Lin Yixin¡¯s arm. "Calm down, you two. Remember, they¡¯re many and we¡¯re not¡­" Lin Yixin bit her lips. "The Immortal Blade is a Wanderer-specific weapon, dammit! I can¡¯t believe Warsky would get it before me¡­" ¡­¡­ At the valley, Warsky walked over with an expression of barely controlled joy on his face. He stabbed the blade into the ground before clasping his fists at me, saying, "Thank you so much for your gift, Lu Chen! I¡¯m not sure I can digest it all! Haha! This Immortal Blade has such an insane Attack! Thank you so much!" I curled my lips but kept the Chill of the Nine Provinces lowered. "Make sure you hold tight to it and live no matter what, then. It would be a shame if you lost it before you got to enjoy its benefits, eh? There are countless people who are eyeing the Twelve Divine Armaments after all. Don¡¯t look so high that you fall into a pit in the end, eh?" Warsky simply smirked with great confidence and said, "Relax, Lu Chen! Do you think I¡¯m still the same Warsky I used to be? Just watch, I will show you how I transformed from a noob to a top-tier expert!" I furrowed my brows a bit and said, "Very well. I¡¯m going to turn in my quest now. Take care!" Warsky nodded back. "Yes, you do you. Let us meet again¡­ in the champion arena, hehe!" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ I turned around and left the area with the girls. Everyone was looking a bit restless, and a while later Beiming Xue looked back at me and said, "I think Warsky has let his luck get to his head somewhat, big brother. I can¡¯t believe he just issued you an open challenge!" I nodded quietly. Lin Yixin said, "Warsky¡¯s equipment is pretty good, and now that he has the Immortal Blade, his Defense and HP stats are as good as Sister He Yi¡¯s and mine, and his Attack surpassed even ours. If he can find a sufficiently powerful mount as well, then he has a real chance of ushering in a new era of his own." Beiming Xue checked the game database a bit. "Do you know that Warsky is ranked seventh in terms of points in the champion arena right now? He has a 72% win rate against Lin Bing Dou Zhe, and even managed to beat Candlelight Shadow twice in 11 matches¡­" I shuddered. "What? Warsky actually managed to beat Candlelight Shadow twice?" "Yes¡­" "That¡¯s scary. It proves that his skills and tactics are close to Little Piglet¡¯s now¡­" I frowned deeply before adding, "We¡¯ve been so busy grinding instances and fighting Nation Wars that Warsky¡¯s individual growth completely passed our minds. I suppose he has earned the right to challenge me now¡­" He Yi smiled a little before consoling me, "Don¡¯t let it bother you too much, Lu Chen. It¡¯s true that Warsky got a huge gift from you, but remember, the Twelve Divine Armaments aren''t permanently bound to their owners. When the chance arises, we¡¯ll get Chaos Moon to kill Warsky and grab his Immortal Blade!" Lin Yixin smiled as well. "Ohh, I didn¡¯t know you were secretly such a violent girl, Sister He Yi. Have you ever beaten up Little Cheat in the workshop? C¡¯mon, you can tell me!" He Yi shook her head. "No, I didn¡¯t. I can¡¯t possibly do something like that to him." Lin Yixin: "..." I looked to the distance again before saying, "Well, whatever. What isn¡¯t mine, isn¡¯t mine. It¡¯s not bad to have a powerful opponent like Warsky either. When everything is said and done, I¡¯ll check how much he really grew in the champion arena!" "Mn mn! Anyway, it¡¯s time to turn in the quest first!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ When we passed through the dark forest and arrived about 500 meters away from the Dragon God Cave though, a ton of red dots suddenly appeared within my vision. It looked like some players had gotten in front of us. Rustle rustle... A pine cone hit the floor as a player on a mount emerged from the nearby forest. He was clad in shiny armor and wielding a longsword. He was none other than Candlelight Shadow himself. A beautiful girl leaped down from his mount before smiling at him. "Boss, we spent a lot of effort to take down that boss, right? Can you show us your new pet please?" Candlelight Shadow smiled back. "You really want to see it, Yuse?" "Yep!" "Well, fine. It was thanks to you that we managed to beat that giant dragon." Behind them, a new group of people¡ªBlue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, God¡¯s Dance and the rest of the Candle Dragon gang¡ªemerged from the forest as well while saying, "Show us, show us!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Candlelight Shadow waved his sword once, and a magic formation appeared on the ground. Very soon, a tiny dragon covered in delicate scales climbed up his shoulder, let out a cute roar and let loose a small jet of flames. Judging from the flames surrounding its body, it was a fire-type Holy Giant Dragon! Chapter 1257 Chapter 1258: Oathbreaker Lin Qian ¡¶ÍøÓÎÖ®ÌìÏÂÎÞË«¡· ʧÂäÒ¶/Öø, ±¾Õ¹²3245×Ö, ¸üÐÂÓÚ: 2012-08-15 00:02 "ºä£¡" Boom! Lin Qian¡¯s face bulged with violence as he split flesh, bone, earth and rock into pieces with the Dragonslaying Sword. It didn¡¯t take long at all for a ton of players to join the corpse hill the prince was standing on a moment ago. Moreover, Lin Qian was a dual cultivator, so he could stab a magic knight in the chest, and make five other players nearby shudder in terror shouting ¡°Blazing Fireball!¡± "ÎË£¡" Buzz! The fireball struck an archer who was running back and forth and taking potshots at him squarely in the face. It engulfed the man and dealt over 700k damage instantly. The prince might be a son of a bitch, but his power couldn¡¯t be denied. ¡­¡­ Pop Culture lost almost 500 players in less than 10 minutes. In the end, when only Lone Moonshade and a dozen or so players were left, they finally gave up and began mounting a retreat. Not only were they no match for the boss, they didn¡¯t even manage to shave 10% off his health bar. It wasn¡¯t completely their fault though. Barrier Break was one of the most reliable sources of damage against a high-level boss, but they couldn''t even get close to Lin Qian because he one-shot almost everything. For that reason, the damage they dealt to him was minimal. Meanwhile, Lin Yixin, He Yi and I were standing shoulder-to-shoulder with each other at the edge of the forest. Our quest had been updated after Lin Qian¡¯s betrayal, and it was now telling us to kill him to claim the Dragonslaying Sword. However, Lin Qian was so OP right now that, after a brief discussion, we decided staying out of the boss fight for now was the wisest course of action. The plan was to wait for Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and more to wear down the boss first and killsteal it later. We could also wait for our main force to arrive and do the heavy-lifting ourselves later. At any rate, fighting Lin Qian at our current state was plain impossible. "Å¿Ï¡­¡­" "Get down¡­" I put my hands on the girls¡¯ shoulders and pushed them to the ground. Then, I fell to a crouching position myself and kept my eyes trained at the distance, "Candlelight Shadow¡¯s about to act. Let¡¯s conceal ourselves for now and wait for an opportunity to arrive. This is our boss, and no one is allowed to have it." He Yi was pushed up against me in a rather awkward sideway position. Her cheeks reddened when she realized that one of her breasts was firmly pressed up against my chest. This wasn¡¯t the first time I had an intimate contact like this with my beautiful guild leader, but it was definitely the first time for Lin Yixin. "Lu Chen¡­" Lin Yixin glared at me with reddened cheeks as well. "Did you just push me and Sister He Yi down on the ground?" I blushed. "Why do you have to put it like that? I saw Candlelight Shadow looking in our direction just now, so I just¡­" A few meters away, a sitting Murong Mingyue giggled cheekily. "Pushed them on the ground to complete your first ever 3P quest? Wow~" I grew even more embarrassed, but I couldn¡¯t deny that my heart was bursting with excitement. Being able to hug both He Yi and Lin Yixin at the same time filled me up in a way that could only be described as unbridled happiness. Still maintaining the same posture, I planted my Chill of the Nine Provinces on the ground and straightened my back a bit. "Let¡¯s see what Candlelight Shadow does before we act!" "àÅ£¡" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Lin Qian had finally caught up to Lone Moonshade and gifted him a draconic blast that opened up a giant hole in the chest. It seemed to be a property of the Dragonslaying Sword, and it dealt a whopping 1.7 million damage to the poor guy. Pop Culture¡¯s fate could only be described as tragic. Not a single one of them was able to escape the battlefield in time. "OMG, what a horrible party wipe. Even better, their so-called patron, Candle Dragon, didn¡¯t even lift a finger to help them¡­" Lin Yixin sniffed once and said. I took her hand unconsciously and said, "Candlelight Shadow loathes disobedient dogs, and Pop Culture actually tried to steal the Dragonslaying Sword for themselves. Ally or not, there¡¯s no chance in hell he was ever going to help them. Anyway, my Dark Pupils have a vision range between 1000 to 1500 yards right now, and Candlelight Shadows and about 500 Candle Dragon players are rallied about 1000 yards away from us. The only reason they haven¡¯t made a move yet was because they wanted to wait until Pop Culture was annihilated. Now that they have, it¡¯s only a matter of time before Candlelight Shadow makes his move." "Yes, I can¡¯t wait for the show to begin¡­" He Yi smiled. However, Beiming Xue suddenly let out a soft cry of surprise. "Er, I think things are going to become quite a bit more complicated than we initially thought. Soul Battle Robes is coming from this way, and I see Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and Ringwraith already. Warsky, October Rain and Laughing At The Heavens have arrived as well. They¡¯re spreading out and looking like they¡¯re going to engage the boss first¡­" He Yi, Lin Yixin and I immediately stretched out necks and looked at the direction Beiming Xue was pointing at. It was exactly as she said. This was an opportunity though. Initially, I thought that Candlelight Shadow was holding back only because he wanted to wait for Pop Culture to perish. Now, it would seem that Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes¡¯ arrival was another reason. Moreover, Warsky was the wielder of the Immortal Blade right now. The Immortal Blade was the tenth of the Twelve Divine Armaments, but it possessed an incredible amount of Attack, and it gave its user an abnormal amount of HP regeneration. The weapon more or less turned its wielder into an unkillable monster unless they were one-shot. It was no wonder that everyone wanted one of the Twelve Divine Armaments for themselves. Gripping his new dark cyan-colored blade, Warsky ordered, "Spread out so that the boss can¡¯t catch you all together! Soul Battle Robes, pin down the boss from the left side so we can damage him from the right. All archers should use Shock Arrows, and all magic knights should use Trapping Nets. Every successful CC is a few precious seconds to delete his HP. Mages, you guys are the damage dealers this time. You will all use God Devil Break to delete his HP!" ¡­¡­ God Bone let out a mighty cry and charged bravely toward the boss. He tried to skewer Lin Qian with his spear, but his AI proved to be even trickier than expected. Not only did he successfully parry the spear strike, he shot God Bone a malicious, bare-toothed grin before stabbing him through the torso with Universe Break! Lin Qian¡¯s Attack was godly in the first place, so there was little to no chance God Bone could parry the skill! Puchi! 2420874! The critical hit sealed God Bone¡¯s fate completely. One of the best experts of Soul Battle Robes was killed in a single exchange! Pop! God Bone¡¯s helmet dropped to the ground, and his soul respawned at a nearby graveyard. Song of Cloud and Water bit her lips anxiously. "What the heck is that Attack? Watch out, Brother Ice and Fire. Don¡¯t let the boss one-shot you. Magic knights, use Trapping Net to pin the boss down!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Countless Trapping Nets struck the boss, but not a single one managed to stick. It was because the magic knights¡¯ levels were too low, and Lin Qian was a Level 295 Ancient Immortal Rank boss with the Dragonslaying Sword in his hand. It was almost impossible to land any CC on him. Song of Ice and Fire spurred his mount forward, activated Heavenly River Transformation with a growl, and struck Lin Qian¡¯s shoulder with Barrier Break + Berserk Flame Slash combo. When the boss retaliated, he Guarded with unnatural speed and miraculously managed to protect himself. Even then, he was shocked to find that the blow still cost him nearly 700k HP. He only had 1.4 million HP or so. There was no way he could survive the boss''s follow-up attacks. "I¡¯ll help you, Ice and Fire!" It was at this moment Warsky rushed over and replaced Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s position. When he struck Lin Qian¡¯s chest with Explosion Slash + Cyan Tiger Shatter combo, he actually managed to pierce the boss''s Defense and deal quite the amount of damage¡ª 319873! 512727! Cyan Tiger Shatter was a great skill that ignored Defense. Combined with the Immortal Blade¡¯s power, it was enough to deal a sizable amount of damage even to a boss like Lin Qian. The boss roared in fury. Lin Qian was the prince of a human empire, and he had never been humiliated this way until now. He struck Warsky¡¯s head and destroyed his Blaze Protection skill via brute force. Then, he slashed another two times and deleted almost all of Warsky¡¯s 1.4 million HP. "ËÀ£¡" "Die!" However, Warsky hung on and hit the boss right back. At the same time, cyan light flowed down his blade and into his body, healing his battered body at an insane rate¡ª +250000! +250000! +250000! ¡­¡­ Together with the priests behind him, Warsky somehow, someway, managed to survive Lin Qian¡¯s brutal assault. I could see on Candlelight Shadow¡¯s face that even he was surprised by this outcome. Clearly, Candlelight Shadow didn¡¯t think that Warsky would grow so confident that he would try to tank such a powerful boss by himself. Even more unexpected was the fact that he was succeeding in it, albeit barely. While Warsky was holding the boss at bay, a hundred archers were also firing their Shock Arrows at Lin Qian. Although a boss naturally had high resistance toward status effects, and that resistance might as well be untouchable against players who were 50 levels below it, an infinitesimally small chance was still a chance nonetheless. As a result, Lin Qian was stunned once every few minutes or so. Not only that, the mages were annihilating the boss''s HP like crazy, dealing Defense-ignoring true damage to the boss with every cast of God Devil Break. Warsky Alliance had a ton of high-level mages, so Lin Qian¡¯s HP dropped to 50% in just 15 minutes or so. Even I had to admit that Warsky Alliance¡¯s boss-killing ability absolutely couldn¡¯t be underestimated! The boss fight strained Warsky a lot, and even his Immortal Blade was starting to get chipped here and there. It would seem that weapon durability was the price for healing at such a rate. ¡­¡­ Finally, Candlelight Shadow looked like his patience had worn out. Like any good underling, God¡¯s Dance sensed his intentions immediately and said, "Let¡¯s wait a bit longer, Candlelight. Right now, Warsky Alliance still has the ability to give us a run for our money." However, the guild leader declared confidently, "So what if they do? I won¡¯t deny that Warsky has the ability to threaten me now, but I am still his superior in terms of everything. Now get ready. I know that bastard Lu Chen is watching us from somewhere, so let¡¯s show him the true power of Candle Dragon. Yuse, stay close to me. I want you to hit Warsky with Sleep so that Blue Sky Scar and I can one-shot him with our Ancient Divine Skills. With luck, we may even get him to drop the Immortal Blade. A mere Warsky Alliance thinks they can rule China? Dream on!" Ye Yuse nodded affirmatively. Whoosh whoosh! Just like that, Candlelight Shadow and a hundred of elite cavalrymen burst out of their cover at the same time. Their target was none other than Warsky Alliance! ¡­¡­ At the center of the battlefield, Lin Qian suddenly let out a furious roar and surrounded himself in layers and layers of bloody light. Then, a melodious bell resounded in everyone¡¯s ears¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Warning! Oathbreaker Lin Qian has evolved into a Quasi-Divine Rank Boss! All stats increased by 25%, and resistance by 50%! Chapter 1258 Boom! Lin Qian¡¯s face bulged with violence as he split flesh, bone, earth and rock into pieces with the Dragonslaying Sword. It didn¡¯t take long at all for a ton of players to join the corpse hill the prince was standing on a moment ago. Moreover, Lin Qian was a dual cultivator, so he could stab a magic knight in the chest, and make five other players nearby shudder in terror shouting ¡°Blazing Fireball!¡± Buzz! The fireball struck an archer who was running back and forth and taking potshots at him squarely in the face. It engulfed the man and dealt over 700k damage instantly. The prince might be a son of a bitch, but his power couldn¡¯t be denied. ¡­¡­ Pop Culture lost almost 500 players in less than 10 minutes. In the end, when only Lone Moonshade and a dozen or so players were left, they finally gave up and began mounting a retreat. Not only were they no match for the boss, they didn¡¯t even manage to shave 10% off his health bar. It wasn¡¯t completely their fault though. Barrier Break was one of the most reliable sources of damage against a high-level boss, but they couldn''t even get close to Lin Qian because he one-shot almost everything. For that reason, the damage they dealt to him was minimal. Meanwhile, Lin Yixin, He Yi and I were standing shoulder-to-shoulder with each other at the edge of the forest. Our quest had been updated after Lin Qian¡¯s betrayal, and it was now telling us to kill him to claim the Dragonslaying Sword. However, Lin Qian was so OP right now that, after a brief discussion, we decided staying out of the boss fight for now was the wisest course of action. The plan was to wait for Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and more to wear down the boss first and killsteal it later. We could also wait for our main force to arrive and do the heavy-lifting ourselves later. At any rate, fighting Lin Qian at our current state was plain impossible. "Get down¡­" I put my hands on the girls¡¯ shoulders and pushed them to the ground. Then, I fell to a crouching position myself and kept my eyes trained at the distance, "Candlelight Shadow¡¯s about to act. Let¡¯s conceal ourselves for now and wait for an opportunity to arrive. This is our boss, and no one is allowed to have it." He Yi was pushed up against me in a rather awkward sideway position. Her cheeks reddened when she realized that one of her breasts was firmly pressed up against my chest. This wasn¡¯t the first time I had an intimate contact like this with my beautiful guild leader, but it was definitely the first time for Lin Yixin. "Lu Chen¡­" Lin Yixin glared at me with reddened cheeks as well. "Did you just push me and Sister He Yi down on the ground?" I blushed. "Why do you have to put it like that? I saw Candlelight Shadow looking in our direction just now, so I just¡­" A few meters away, a sitting Murong Mingyue giggled cheekily. "Pushed them on the ground to complete your first ever 3P quest? Wow~" I grew even more embarrassed, but I couldn¡¯t deny that my heart was bursting with excitement. Being able to hug both He Yi and Lin Yixin at the same time filled me up in a way that could only be described as unbridled happiness. Still maintaining the same posture, I planted my Chill of the Nine Provinces on the ground and straightened my back a bit. "Let¡¯s see what Candlelight Shadow does before we act!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Lin Qian had finally caught up to Lone Moonshade and gifted him a draconic blast that opened up a giant hole in the chest. It seemed to be a property of the Dragonslaying Sword, and it dealt a whopping 1.7 million damage to the poor guy. Pop Culture¡¯s fate could only be described as tragic. Not a single one of them was able to escape the battlefield in time. "OMG, what a horrible party wipe. Even better, their so-called patron, Candle Dragon, didn¡¯t even lift a finger to help them¡­" Lin Yixin sniffed once and said. I took her hand unconsciously and said, "Candlelight Shadow loathes disobedient dogs, and Pop Culture actually tried to steal the Dragonslaying Sword for themselves. Ally or not, there¡¯s no chance in hell he was ever going to help them. Anyway, my Dark Pupils have a vision range between 1000 to 1500 yards right now, and Candlelight Shadows and about 500 Candle Dragon players are rallied about 1000 yards away from us. The only reason they haven¡¯t made a move yet was because they wanted to wait until Pop Culture was annihilated. Now that they have, it¡¯s only a matter of time before Candlelight Shadow makes his move." "Yes, I can¡¯t wait for the show to begin¡­" He Yi smiled. However, Beiming Xue suddenly let out a soft cry of surprise. "Er, I think things are going to become quite a bit more complicated than we initially thought. Soul Battle Robes is coming from this way, and I see Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and Ringwraith already. Warsky, October Rain and Laughing At The Heavens have arrived as well. They¡¯re spreading out and looking like they¡¯re going to engage the boss first¡­" He Yi, Lin Yixin and I immediately stretched out necks and looked at the direction Beiming Xue was pointing at. It was exactly as she said. This was an opportunity though. Initially, I thought that Candlelight Shadow was holding back only because he wanted to wait for Pop Culture to perish. Now, it would seem that Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes¡¯ arrival was another reason. Moreover, Warsky was the wielder of the Immortal Blade right now. The Immortal Blade was the tenth of the Twelve Divine Armaments, but it possessed an incredible amount of Attack, and it gave its user an abnormal amount of HP regeneration. The weapon more or less turned its wielder into an unkillable monster unless they were one-shot. It was no wonder that everyone wanted one of the Twelve Divine Armaments for themselves. Gripping his new dark cyan-colored blade, Warsky ordered, "Spread out so that the boss can¡¯t catch you all together! Soul Battle Robes, pin down the boss from the left side so we can damage him from the right. All archers should use Shock Arrows, and all magic knights should use Trapping Nets. Every successful CC is a few precious seconds to delete his HP. Mages, you guys are the damage dealers this time. You will all use God Devil Break to delete his HP!" ¡­¡­ God Bone let out a mighty cry and charged bravely toward the boss. He tried to skewer Lin Qian with his spear, but his AI proved to be even trickier than expected. Not only did he successfully parry the spear strike, he shot God Bone a malicious, bare-toothed grin before stabbing him through the torso with Universe Break! Lin Qian¡¯s Attack was godly in the first place, so there was little to no chance God Bone could parry the skill! Puchi! 2420874! The critical hit sealed God Bone¡¯s fate completely. One of the best experts of Soul Battle Robes was killed in a single exchange! Pop! God Bone¡¯s helmet dropped to the ground, and his soul respawned at a nearby graveyard. Song of Cloud and Water bit her lips anxiously. "What the heck is that Attack? Watch out, Brother Ice and Fire. Don¡¯t let the boss one-shot you. Magic knights, use Trapping Net to pin the boss down!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Countless Trapping Nets struck the boss, but not a single one managed to stick. It was because the magic knights¡¯ levels were too low, and Lin Qian was a Level 295 Ancient Immortal Rank boss with the Dragonslaying Sword in his hand. It was almost impossible to land any CC on him. Song of Ice and Fire spurred his mount forward, activated Heavenly River Transformation with a growl, and struck Lin Qian¡¯s shoulder with Barrier Break + Berserk Flame Slash combo. When the boss retaliated, he Guarded with unnatural speed and miraculously managed to protect himself. Even then, he was shocked to find that the blow still cost him nearly 700k HP. He only had 1.4 million HP or so. There was no way he could survive the boss''s follow-up attacks. "I¡¯ll help you, Ice and Fire!" It was at this moment Warsky rushed over and replaced Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s position. When he struck Lin Qian¡¯s chest with Explosion Slash + Cyan Tiger Shatter combo, he actually managed to pierce the boss''s Defense and deal quite the amount of damage¡ª 319873! 512727! Cyan Tiger Shatter was a great skill that ignored Defense. Combined with the Immortal Blade¡¯s power, it was enough to deal a sizable amount of damage even to a boss like Lin Qian. The boss roared in fury. Lin Qian was the prince of a human empire, and he had never been humiliated this way until now. He struck Warsky¡¯s head and destroyed his Blaze Protection skill via brute force. Then, he slashed another two times and deleted almost all of Warsky¡¯s 1.4 million HP. "Die!" However, Warsky hung on and hit the boss right back. At the same time, cyan light flowed down his blade and into his body, healing his battered body at an insane rate¡ª +250000! +250000! +250000! ¡­¡­ Together with the priests behind him, Warsky somehow, someway, managed to survive Lin Qian¡¯s brutal assault. I could see on Candlelight Shadow¡¯s face that even he was surprised by this outcome. Clearly, Candlelight Shadow didn¡¯t think that Warsky would grow so confident that he would try to tank such a powerful boss by himself. Even more unexpected was the fact that he was succeeding in it, albeit barely. While Warsky was holding the boss at bay, a hundred archers were also firing their Shock Arrows at Lin Qian. Although a boss naturally had high resistance toward status effects, and that resistance might as well be untouchable against players who were 50 levels below it, an infinitesimally small chance was still a chance nonetheless. As a result, Lin Qian was stunned once every few minutes or so. Not only that, the mages were annihilating the boss''s HP like crazy, dealing Defense-ignoring true damage to the boss with every cast of God Devil Break. Warsky Alliance had a ton of high-level mages, so Lin Qian¡¯s HP dropped to 50% in just 15 minutes or so. Even I had to admit that Warsky Alliance¡¯s boss-killing ability absolutely couldn¡¯t be underestimated! The boss fight strained Warsky a lot, and even his Immortal Blade was starting to get chipped here and there. It would seem that weapon durability was the price for healing at such a rate. ¡­¡­ Finally, Candlelight Shadow looked like his patience had worn out. Like any good underling, God¡¯s Dance sensed his intentions immediately and said, "Let¡¯s wait a bit longer, Candlelight. Right now, Warsky Alliance still has the ability to give us a run for our money." However, the guild leader declared confidently, "So what if they do? I won¡¯t deny that Warsky has the ability to threaten me now, but I am still his superior in terms of everything. Now get ready. I know that bastard Lu Chen is watching us from somewhere, so let¡¯s show him the true power of Candle Dragon. Yuse, stay close to me. I want you to hit Warsky with Sleep so that Blue Sky Scar and I can one-shot him with our Ancient Divine Skills. With luck, we may even get him to drop the Immortal Blade. A mere Warsky Alliance thinks they can rule China? Dream on!" Ye Yuse nodded affirmatively. Whoosh whoosh! Just like that, Candlelight Shadow and a hundred of elite cavalrymen burst out of their cover at the same time. Their target was none other than Warsky Alliance! ¡­¡­ At the center of the battlefield, Lin Qian suddenly let out a furious roar and surrounded himself in layers and layers of bloody light. Then, a melodious bell resounded in everyone¡¯s ears¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Warning! Oathbreaker Lin Qian has evolved into a Quasi-Divine Rank Boss! All stats increased by 25%, and resistance by 50%! Chapter 1259 Many unexpected things had happened up until this point, but none was as impactful as this, for sure. Against all common sense, Lin Qian had evolved into a Quasi-Divine Rank boss when his HP dropped to 50%! It was probably because of the Dragonslaying Sword, but the cause hardly mattered at this point. What mattered was the fact that his new rank put him just below the likes of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns. If Lin Qian was difficult before, now he was almost unstoppable! "Roar roar!" Lin Qian¡¯s facial muscles twitched in a horrific manner as blood-red tentacles stretched out of the Dragonslaying Sword and sank into his sword arm. It almost looked like the sword was trying to devour his sword whole. The supposedly divine sword glowed black for a moment, and Lin Qian¡¯s eyes suddenly shone with new viciousness and severity. Through his tattered cloak, an ugly face suddenly surfaced from his back like a cancerous tumor. Dark energy whipped chaotically around Lin Qian¡¯s feet as he shuddered violently. Finally, the man looked disdainfully at everyone out of the corner of his eye before speaking in a surprisingly regal voice, "Do you really think you can kill me, foolish humans? I¡­ am a god who has lived three lifetimes via reincarnation! My latest body may be weaker than my previous selves, but it is still enough to bury all of you here!" Lin Qian raised the Dragonslaying Sword high above his head, his entire body bubbling with dark energy. Smiling savagely, he declared, "Dragon Domain feels the same as ever. Now come! Allow me, the new master of this domain to demonstrate what the divine power of Dragon Domain really is like!" He abruptly thrust his sword forward and fired a black, dragon-shaped blast at a group of players, shouting, "Go, War Dragon Strike!" Boom! Lin Bing Dou Zhe and Hundred Battler were caught by the energy blast and lost over 1.5 million HP immediately. As for the 100 Warsky Alliance players behind them, the attack straight up one-shot all of them. The skill was so destructive that the rhombus-shaped shield formation October Rain had spent much effort to devise was torn apart just like that. Not done yet, Lin Qian brought his sword down on Laughing At The Heavens, split his shield in half, and sent him flying across the air with a devastating punch. Another sword blast later, the CGL Hall of Famer and the dozen or so archers behind him were one-shot as well! ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud... An ashen-faced Warsky backed away from the boss while swearing, "What is this bullshit? How is the boss so powerful all of a sudden?!" October Rain uttered through clenched teeth, "We failed, Warsky. We¡¯re not strong enough to beat a Quasi-Divine Rank boss. We need to withdraw now, or we¡¯re going to die before we even remove 10% of its HP!" Warsky wasn¡¯t an indecisive person. He quickly nodded and declared, "Spread out and withdraw into the forest, brothers and sisters! Don¡¯t let the boss catch all of you together!" The several hundred-strong party dispersed immediately. Warsky himself pulled October Rain up his mount before galloping away from the boss as quickly as he could manage. Behind him, Song of Ice and Fire, Song of Cloud and Water and the rest of Soul Battle Robes¡¯ players were evacuating as well. As a Quasi-Divine Rank boss, Lin Qian was far beyond the ability of the current players to combat. If even a full-Stamina magic knight like Laughing At The Heavens was one-shot, then everyone else could only do worse than him. Candle Dragon was halfway to the battlefield when Warsky Alliance mounted their retreat. Having seen everything that had happened up until this point, Candlelight Shadow narrowed his eyes and made a snap decision. "We¡¯re cancelling the charge and retreating to the southeast corner instead, everyone! The boss has evolved, and it will be unwise to tackle it head-on! We¡¯ll wait for a better opportunity!" Meanwhile, Warsky had caught sight of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s party as well. He shouted from afar, "What is the meaning of this, Candlelight Shadow? Were you planning to kick us in the butt?" Candlelight Shadow smiled innocently. "Of course not. Do I look like that type of person? I was just going to watch from a distance until it looked like you were about to lose. I also heard that the Indians and Russians have been sighted at the northeast corner of the map, which is why I decided to come to the aid of another China guild!" "Like hell I¡¯d believe you!" Warsky retorted but didn¡¯t push the issue. It would¡¯ve been a stupid move considering he had just lost a hundred players or so. If he pissed off Candlelight Shadow, and Candlelight Shadow decided to say ¡®screw it¡¯ and kill them all, there was a high chance their journey in Dragon Domain was going to end in tragedy. Of course, considering that Warsky had gotten the Immortal Blade, it would be a minor tragedy at worst. As for why Candle Dragon didn¡¯t bare their fangs and attack Warsky Alliance, it was because Candlelight Shadow heard that the girls and I were skulking somewhere in this part of the map. If Candle Dragon decided to attack Warsky Alliance here, they must take our firepower into consideration, and Candlelight Shadow knew that there was a high chance they would lose if things turned out that way. After all, Ancient Divine Skills were divine power that defied quantity-over-quality rule and allowed any side to overturn a numbers deficit, and I was more than happy to see Candle Dragon be wiped out. ¡­¡­ While Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon¡¯s combined parties of almost a thousand were withdrawing into the forest, the transformed Lin Qian hunted down the stragglers who took too long to escape until everyone in front of the Dragon God Cave was dead. After that, both Candlelight Shadow and Warsky observed Lin Qian from a safe distance, neither attacking the boss nor leaving the area. The Dragonslaying Sword was too great a temptation, and none of them could resist its siren call. Rustle rustle... It was at this moment a series of rustling sounds came from the west side of the forest. A group of red names soon emerged into the clearing. They were all cavalrymen, and they were led by a beautiful woman clad in armor. She was none other than the famous goddess of Elephant City, Flowing Cloud. The players accompanying her were all top elites of Natural Flow, and I counted almost a thousand of them on the map screen. I commented indifferently, "Flowing Cloud¡¯s here!" Lin Yixin shot me a look. "That¡¯s one of your old acquaintances, right?" "Hehe, I don¡¯t know about that. What is an acquaintance before a Divine Armament like the Dragonslaying Sword?" ¡­¡­ When Flowing Cloud caught sight of Lin Qian, she frowned a little and said, "What is going on here? I thought for sure that the Chinese would have taken out the boss by the time we arrived. How did a dozen or so CGL Hall of Famers fail to kill a single boss?" Beside her, a vice leader nodded his head before explaining, "The latest report states that this Oathbreaker Lin Qian has transformed into a Quasi-Divine Rank boss. If that is true, it makes sense why the Chinese¡¯s plans had ended in failure. What do we do now? Do we attack after Flames of War men have arrived?" Flowing Cloud shook her head. "No. We will wait until an actual opportunity presents itself. All units, stay where you are but prepare to launch an assault at first notice!" "Yes, guild leader!" A few minutes later, another group of players appeared from a different direction. These players were riding white warhorses clad in metal armor and wool pelts. The players themselves were wearing battle armor on the outside and hide undershirts on the inside. They clearly hailed from an extremely cold region, and they were none other than the elites of Frostsword City, or more specifically, the elites of White Bird. Their guild leader, A Snowy Night Below 30 Degrees, was among them as well. ¡­¡­ "Even Snowy Night has shown up¡­" I curled my lips in dissatisfaction. "Lin Qian has caused such a commotion that practically every big guild who¡¯s hunting in Dragon Domain are drawn to this place, dammit. What do we do now? Dragon God Cave is already crowded enough, and it¡¯s only going to get even more crowded as time passes. It¡¯s going to be nearly impossible to take the Dragonslaying Sword from all these wolves¡­" He Yi gave my hand a squeeze and smiled reassuringly. "Calm down. An opportunity will show itself eventually. All we need to do is stay calm and wait for it to arrive!" "Speaking of which, when will Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Gui Guzi and the others show up?" "They¡¯re still four or five hours away from Dragon Domain." "I guess it¡¯s all up to us then." "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Very soon, another familiar figure emerged from the edge of the forest. The beautiful mage carrying a scepter was Stranger of Three Lifetimes. While stepping across the grassy clearing, she shot the distant boss a look and smirked a little. "Look at all these guilds waiting for a good time to screw the boss over. It looks like we must try something drastic to be able to get something out of this." Beside her, a dignified-looking Eyes Like Water asked from atop her warhorse, "Don¡¯t tell me you want us to engage the boss while Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, White Bird and Natural Flow are nearby? That¡¯s just impossible." Stranger of Three Lifetimes chuckled and gave herself a pump. "Nah, no need. I can do this myself!" Eyes Like Water¡¯s eyes widened. "What the hell are you talking about? You¡¯re a mage! Just stay at the backline and shoot your spells from there!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes remained undeterred. "Relax, I can do this. I don¡¯t know if you know this, but my scepter-parrying skills are unrivaled in the world¡­" Eyes Like Water cupped her forehead for a bit. "So what? One Ancient Divine Skill is all it takes to send you to the graveyard! Worse, if you drop your new Ancient Immortal-grade scepter, the one hundred lives we paid to get it would be all for naught¡­" "Fine, you worrywart. Hmm? Where is Lu Chen? I thought he¡¯s among the earliest to reach Dragon Domain. He couldn¡¯t have missed this somehow, could he?" Eyes Like Water tilted her head at her guild leader and smirked. "What¡¯s wrong? It¡¯s only been a few days, and you miss your lover already?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes rolled her eyes at her vice leader. "Who are you calling his lover? It¡¯s just that our chances of succeeding are much higher with him around. You know Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance combined have a couple of SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill owners, and even an SSS Rank skill! Only he can keep them at bay¡­" Eyes Like Water sing-songed. "Excuses, excuses!" The guild leader threatened, "Say that again, and I¡¯ll find someone to replace you!" "The guild leader is wise! I¡¯m leaving for sentry duty, okay byeee!" "..." ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Lin Qian was thrusting the Dragonslaying Sword into the fresh bodies like he had gone completely bonkers. He even licked the blood on the blade as if it could sate some sort of thirst. After he returned to the top of the corpse hill, he looked at the Dragonslaying Sword and grinned maliciously, "Dragonslaying Sword, huh? I bet you never imagined that your weapon would be profaned like this, did you, my dear disciple?" Hmm?" Suddenly, Lin Qian looked up and let out a cry of surprise. "What is this power? Dragon and death energy? How is this possible?" Swhoosh! A streak of black light suddenly plummeted from the sky. It then slammed into Lin Qian like a meteor! There was a loud bang, and both Lin Qian and the Dragonslaying Sword crashed into the ground and dug a hole that was nearly a hundred meters long. Standing on top of him and punching his face was an undead general covered in chains. "How dare you profane Lady Binglan¡¯s sword, you animal! Die!" The undead general punched Lin Qian¡¯s face again with all his might after that yell. Chapter 1260 Bang! Lin Qian¡¯s cheeks looked slightly crumpled, but he cackled. "Jiejie! I recognize you! It¡¯s been a hundred thousand years, and you are as impulsive as ever, young dragon knight!" With a hateful expression, Dragon Knight Captain Callan wrapped his chains around Lin Qian¡¯s neck, let out a full-throated roar and pulled, causing bloody imprints immediately. Obviously, the human neck wasn¡¯t made to be twisted like this. "You are courting death!" Lin Qian let out a cold snort and raised his foot suddenly. He managed to kick Callan on the back and sent him flying into the air. Right after that, Lin Qian bounced to his feet, launched himself into the air and swung his sword in an attempt to cleave Callan in half. Chiang! Callan raised his chains, and sparks exploded where metal met metal. Then, Callan retaliated by making his chains snap toward his opponent like venomous snakes. He was able to deal a mighty blow to Lin Qian¡¯s chest! Bang! 4287272! A huge damage number rose above Lin Qian¡¯s head. As usual, battles between NPCs were absolutely ridiculous. Every hit usually deleted a huge chunk of HP. ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud¡­ Lin Qian¡¯s boots crushed the earth as he backed away from Callan. Still wearing a malicious grin on his face, he gave his wavering blade a swing before yelling, "Come and taste my Rising Dragon Strike!" Draconic energy took form, but it was as black as sin in Lin Qian¡¯s hands. He fired the energy straight at Callan. Swhoosh! Eyes filled with astonishment, Callan took a step backward and swung his 17 chains as quickly as he could. He was able to create a powerful hurricane of chains that dispelled the draconic blast completely. It was amazing how powerful he had become considering that he had basically imprisoned himself for a hundred thousand years. However, the moment the hurricane of chains came to a stop, a black hand pressed against his back before he could do anything. Lin Qian chuckled maliciously and said, "Goodbye, dragon knight! Dragon Binding Spell!" The image of a golden dragon let out a roar, and the spell bound Callan instantly! The binding was only temporary, but it was more than enough for Lin Qian to capitalize on it. He raised the Dragonslaying Sword, jumped at least a dozen or so meters above ground, and brought it down in one mighty swing! Crack! Poor Callan lost his arm just like that. Black blood poured profusely from his wound, but he withstood the pain and turned on his feet, flooding his 17 chains with great power. The next moment, they moved as if they had a mind of their own and punched right through Lin Qian¡¯s chest. Somehow, Callan was able to make it an even exchange. ¡­¡­ Chiang! Lin Qian cut off the chains as quickly as he could before backing away from Callan. He looked terrible, and he only had less than 10% HP left. His eyes shone with viciousness as he growled, "Dammit! I knew this body couldn¡¯t unleash my strength completely! I need to find a stronger body!" "Hah, hah, hah¡­" Callan breathed heavily as he dropped to one knee. A while later, he looked up and yelled harshly, "You damned monster! Who are you? How are you able to use the Rising Dragon Strike and Dragon Binding Spell? Only the Dragon Speakers are supposed to know those skills! Speak now!" Lin Qian cackled loudly and disdainfully. "Who am I? In a previous life, I was both a Dragon Speaker and the ruler of death! My name¡­ was Mingyu!" "You are the 24th Dragon Speaker¡­ the Abyss of Destruction!?" Callan¡¯s complexion turned deathly white. "Im¡­ impossible! Lady Binglan had personally slain the Abyss of Destruction during the Battle of Sainthelm City! He is dead! Dead! Lady Binglan has never slipped up, she¡­" However, Lin Qian raised his head and let out a mad cackle. "That traitorous girl thought she killed me, but she didn¡¯t notice that my soul had slipped into the Dragonslaying Sword! After she sealed the Great Saint¡¯s spirituality, I immediately took control of the Dragonslaying Sword and flew back to Dragon Domain! Of course, I hadn¡¯t returned to save Dragon Domain. I merely wanted to continue my cultivation and break out of my material prison one day!" He then pointed at his own body while chuckling. "Some time later, this foolish prince and his three mentors arrived to claim the Dragonslaying Sword. He was so obsessed with power that he didn¡¯t notice the danger until it was too late. After I devoured his soul and turned him into a puppet of power, I made him kill his own three mentors. Today, I¡¯ve finally gained enough soul power to take full control of this body. Unfortunately, it looks like this body is too weak to withstand my power. I have to keep at least two-thirds of my power suppressed so that it doesn¡¯t destroy itself, or you would¡¯ve died a long time ago, Dragon Knight Captain Callan!" Callan kept shuddering violently without saying anything. Pa! Mingyu pulled out the Dragonslaying Sword from the ground and slowly stepped toward Callan. Despite the pain on his chest, he smiled cruelly and said, "Now, allow me to end your painful life. Surely it is an honor to die by my hands, a former Dragon Speaker? When you are in hell, remember to tell Binglan that I said hi!" However, Callan looked up with eyes that burned with fury and determination. "Go fuck yourself! Lady Binglan is eternal! Even if she somehow falls to the Purgatory, she will still rule as its sovereign, become the defender of humanity¡¯s justice and the slayer of all evil spirits!" "Justice? Pooh!" Mingyu spat disdainfully. "Who on the Heavenblessed Continent will risk their lives for such an ephemeral thing?" Callan declared without hesitation, "I will!" Callan charged and launched a furious assault before he finished his words. Although his 17 chains had been cleaved in half by Mingyu, they still moved like they were alive and dealt many blows to the villain. Of course, Mingyu¡¯s counterattacks were even deadlier because he was wielding the Dragonslaying Sword. Callan¡¯s armor had already been crumbling in the first place, and now it couldn¡¯t even provide its wearer any semblance of protection whatsoever. The sky darkened, and astral winds surged at the center of the battlefield as the two Quasi-Divine Rank experts dueled each other. The battle was so fierce and epic that even the players who were playing the oriole had completely forgotten about their objective for a time. ¡­¡­ "Damn, the chained man is so strong¡­" Lin Yixin sighed. "Unfortunately, it looks like he¡¯s no match for Lin Qian. For starters, his weapon is way lousier than his opponent¡¯s¡­" He Yi agreed. "Yeah, he¡¯s probably going to lose at this rate." However, I shook my head and said, "No, Callan¡¯s willpower far exceeds his opponent¡¯s. Mingyu simply wants to further his ambition, but Callan is fighting to protect his master¡¯s honor and the entire Dragon Domain. When a person fights to protect something, the power they unleash is not something mere ambition can possibly hope to match." Murong Mingyue nodded heavily. "Lu Chen is right. It is just like when we resolved to protect Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls back then. We gave it our all, and we regretted nothing." ¡­¡­ As if he was trying to prove the truth of our words, Callan whipped his chains across Lin Qian¡¯s neck and left a wound so deep that I could literally see the bones inside of it. If he was even a bit stronger, he might have been able to send his entire head flying. Swhoosh swhoosh! Mingyu skidded across the ground for a very long time before he finally came to a stop. Coughing profusely, bleeding and kneeling on one knee, it looked like he was swiftly approaching his limits. "No¡­ no! It cannot end like this! There is no way I cannot beat a mere dragon knight! This pathetic body¡­" Mingyu lamented. Dragging his heavy chains behind him, Callan slowly walked toward Mingyu with a determined expression. "Lady Binglan may have failed to kill you back then, but that is fine. It so happens that I invented Soul Refining Curse during my hellish years of cultivation that is perfect for this occasion. You can be the most powerful man in the world, but today will be your doomsday no matter what! Now repent before the once-good Dragon God!" Mingyu simply looked up and spat at him. "Pooh!" ¡­¡­ However, right before Callan was about to land the final blow, a new aura suddenly appeared from the sky. It was bloody and evil, and it was accompanied by a savage roar, "Jiejie! I was wondering who it was! To think that the former dragon knight captain would return to this world! Come, Callan! Michael challenges you to a duel!" Callan hurriedly turned around, but he was too late to stop the attack. Left arm overflowing with thunderous energy, Michael brought his claws down right on top of Callan¡¯s thigh. He was able to cut right through the flesh and bone thanks to the powerful penetration ability of the lightning element. "Gah¡­" Callan let out a painful cry and wobbled unsteadily on his one leg. However, he was able to retaliate by whipping Michael¡¯s back with his chains and rending the flesh open. Still, the injury Michael suffered was nothing compared to the injury he suffered. Mingyu had taken his arm moments earlier, and now Michael took his leg. His ability to fight had been almost completely robbed away. ¡­¡­ After Michael landed, he touched the wound behind his back and cackled. "Is this all you got, Callan?" Callan simply glared at his attacker from the ground and said nothing. "Ugh¡­" Suddenly, Mingyu let out a suppressed groan that caused Michael¡¯s head to swivel toward him like a fan. He shuddered from head to toe before exclaiming in shock, "This familiar aura. Heavens! Is¡­ is it you, Lord Mingyu?" Mingyu grinned. "We meet again, Michael!" Michael couldn¡¯t control himself. He immediately jumped in front of Mingyu before kneeling on both knees. Trembling with agitation, he said, "Michael apologizes for his failure, Lord Mingyu. To think that I would be able to see you again after tens of thousands of years¡­" Mingyu smiled at his subordinate before saying, "There is no need for words, Michael. Now, kill Callan!" "Yes, my lord!" ¡­¡­ Chiang! I abruptly unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and declared, "No more waiting. I won¡¯t let a great man like Callan die in Michael¡¯s hands. Guanyue, buff me with everything you¡¯ve got!" Lin Yixin also readied her Dragonfrost and declared, "I¡¯m coming with you!" Chapter 1261 "Dieeeeeeeee!" The electricity snaking across Michael¡¯s arm converged to form a dark blue spike in his hand. He then attempted to strike Callan with the energy weapon. Callan had literally lost an arm and a leg to his opponents, and he was bleeding so much that it was surprising that he wasn¡¯t dead yet. The attack would certainly destroy his remaining HP and kill him if it was allowed to hit. Pa! I charged full speed toward Callan and activated Battle Astral Wind. Arriving just in time, I skidded in front of the dragon knight captain, slammed the Dragon God Shield to the ground, and used my entire body to withstand the incoming blow! BANG... The explosion resounded long and loud within the canyon. Michael hadn¡¯t charged the lightning blast for almost 7 seconds for nothing, that¡¯s for sure. Not only did the skill deal over 1.1 million damage to me, it was the result of a successful Guard. Otherwise, I would¡¯ve lost 2 million HP or more. The knockback impact was no weaker as it sent me and my shield skidding across the ground for dozens of meters, leaving behind a deep ditch that looked like a scar across the clearing. I had had to pick up Callan right before I was about to hit him, or my momentum would have been enough to kill him all the same. When we skidded to a stop, Callan¡¯s weak voice entered my ears, "Why have you saved me again, young man?" I replied, "A good man like you don¡¯t deserve a death like this." After I set Callan behind me, I made a sudden charge toward Michael and attempted to hit him with God Binding Art. Unfortunately, he easily dodged the binding skill with his insane speed and appeared in front of me before I realized what had just happened. He let out a malicious cackle before saying, "Do you really think you can protect Callan, boy? Dream on! He must die no matter what!" I clenched my teeth and activated Heavenly River Transformation. Bloody energy surrounded me in a cyclone, and a pair of wings spread out behind my back. It was my only hope to survive the impending assault. Pa! I planted my palm on the ground and cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon. The energy blast struck not just Michael, but also his master, Mingyu. 279176! 180238! Mingyu had higher Defense, but Michael had greater max HP. The skill did so little damage that it looked like a mosquito¡¯s bite. "You dare!" Michael raised his sharp claws and struck me three times in a row, causing my HP to drop below 700k instantly. Suddenly, a tiny warmth diminished the tearing pain across my body slightly. It was Murong Mingyue and Pure Love casting their healing spells on me. Lian Xin moved in front of me, activated her Telekinetic Shield and dropped a ton of Origin Force Fields around Michael. Then, she slowed him with Ice Spiral Matrix and damaged him with God Devil Break for over 300k damage. Some distance away, Beiming Xue attempted to trap Michael with Shock Arrow + Well of the Abyss, but neither took effect because both Michael and Mingyu were godlike bosses. They couldn¡¯t be affected by mere Divine General Skills at all. He Yi launched a Purgatory of Ice and Magma into Michael¡¯s back, but the latter retaliated by dropping to just 35% HP in a single strike. It wasn¡¯t unexpected. The guy could two-shot even me, much less everyone else. Meanwhile, Warsky and Candlelight Shadow had burst into the clearing with their respective parties. Even Flowing Cloud and Snowy Night were on the move. Callan had cut Mingyu down to size and left him with less than 10% HP, and whoever killed Mingyu would obtain the Dragonslaying Sword, a Divine Armament whose name alone sent shivers through every player¡¯s heart. When would they attack if not now? Warsky raised the Immortal Blade and declared with great passion, "Ride with me to rescue Lu Chen and his party, brothers and sisters! These two bosses may be too strong for any one player to fight, but together, there is nothing in the world we cannot beat, not even if they are the former number one boss of Spirit of Grief!" ¡­¡­ It was a complete mess where everyone was just doing their own thing. Michael even gave up on me and He Yi and focused on blasting down the Fire Scale Cavalry, Qiu Beast Cavalry and more with his lightning hand. There were so many cavalrymen in the area that it was only a matter of time before he was stunned by Charge, and yet the stuns often didn¡¯t last even half a second. Moreover, the sudden flood of enemies seemed to excite Michael and drove him to kill even more with his lightning powers. "Jiejie! Come, come! Bring all your troops to me!" Michael roared like a madman before raising his arms abruptly. "O¡¯ thunderous light from hell, heed my call and scorch everything before me into ash! I, Michael the Hollow Thunder, cast¡ªScorched Earth!" Fuck! Here comes the ultimate! I hurriedly turned around, grabbed Lin Yixin¡¯s arm and ran toward the edge of the battlefield with all my might. At the same time, countless purple lightning bolts descended from the sky and struck the earth indiscriminately. Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, Natural Flow and more immediately suffered massive damage. Each lightning-struck player received a million damage; an amount the average player wasn¡¯t equipped to withstand at all. Nearly everyone except the stronger players had been blasted into cold, dead bodies. "We¡¯re no match for this boss!" October Rain shouted from afar, "Retreat now, Warsky!" However, a smirk sprang to Warsky¡¯s lips. "Why would we do that when the Dragonslaying Sword is right within our reach? Just watch. The Dragonslaying Sword will become our guild treasure very soon[1], hmph hmph!" "You¡­" October Rain murmured. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! There was a bloody flash as Farewell Song launched his Sneak Attack. His objective was the dying Mingyu, not Michael. Miraculously, Farewell Song successfully stunned the boss and was rewarded with all the time in the world to carve into the former Dragon Speaker¡¯s body. Of course, it was really Prince Lin Qian¡¯s body. Not even Farewell Song could penetrate the Defense of Mingyu¡¯s real body. "Kill!" Warsky only had around 20% HP, but he charged Mingyu without any hesitation whatsoever. The Immortal Blade regenerated around 100k HP to him per second, effectively turning him into an unkillable monster unless his opponent one-shot him or outlasted his weapon durability. Thud! Thud! Warsky and Song of Ice and Fire stunned Mingyu at the same time and executed their respective skills such as Cyan Tiger Shatter and Explosion Slash. Ringwraith was also firing his spells away from the distance and reducing Mingyu¡¯s HP at an incredible rate. With Soul Battle Robes by their side, Warsky Alliance definitely had the right to call themselves the third or even second strongest guild of the entire China server! ¡­¡­ Blue Sky Scar uttered through gritted teeth. "That bastard thinks he can steal the Dragonslaying Sword from right beneath our noses? No fucking way! Tempest Shadow, Transient Smoke and Clouds, follow me!" "Yeah!" Tempest Shadow immediately galloped to the boss and brandished his weapon. However, Warsky¡¯s eyes flashed red as he uttered murderously, "Don¡¯t even think about it! Ice and Fire, let¡¯s kill him together!" Song of Ice and Fire was already activating his Protection of the Divine Flames and zigzagging toward Tempest Shadow. He dodged Tempest Shadow¡¯s attempt to lock onto him via vision blocking, arrived next to the fighter and struck him as swift as lightning! 249287! Tempest Shadow was sent flying by the attack, but before he could do anything else Warsky appeared on his right like the wind and cut him with the Immortal Blade. Not only that, he kept blocking Tempest Shadow¡¯s way so the fighter couldn¡¯t withdraw as he pleased. In the end, October Rain shot him with a super-long-range arrow and ended his life there and then. The poor guy didn¡¯t even manage to last more than three exchanges. "Tempest Shadow!" Furious, Blue Sky Scar killed Laughing At The Heavens with a flurry skill before activating Heavenly River Transformation. Then, he unleashed his Ancient Divine Skill, Cyan Dragon Slash, upon his enemies! Buzz! The image of a dragon appeared above Blue Sky Scar as he swung out. He actually managed to find an angle to hit Warsky, Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and Ringwraith all at once. He was a CGL Hall of Famer and Candlelight Shadow¡¯s right-hand man. Although he was often overshadowed, he wasn¡¯t actually a weakling at all. Boom! The S Rank Ancient Divine Skill hit all four players and dropped Warsky, Song of Ice and Fire and God Bone to red health. Ringwraith was even one-shot by it! Thud! It wasn¡¯t over yet. Shock Arrow appeared at the worst possible moment and stunned Warsky. It was Transient Smoke and Clouds who landed the shot. He would¡¯ve died if it wasn¡¯t for the healing effects of the Immortal Blade. Blue Sky Scar charged toward Warsky. "Keep CCing him like this, Smoke and Clouds! We¡¯ll kill this fucker and get his Immortal Blade first! The Twelve Divine Armaments are practically wasted in the hands of trash like him!" ¡­¡­ Warsky kept backing away and searching for obstacles to hide from Transient Smoke and Clouds¡¯ arrows. Suddenly, he came to a stop and smiled eerily at Blue Sky Scar. "Who are you calling trash, Blue Sky Scar?!" The fighter tensed up, but suddenly found himself unable to move. It was because Farewell Song had appeared behind him and stunned him. The assassin then followed it up with his S Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Qiong Qi Break! Dark green light erupted from Farewell Song¡¯s dagger as he stabbed right through Blue Sky Scar¡¯s chest. One more hit from Warsky later, Blue Sky Scar collapsed to the ground just like that. However, Farewell Song suddenly shuddered with pain as someone slashed him from behind. It was Candlelight Shadow wearing a grim expression on his face. "Was it fun?" Farewell Song withstood the pain and kicked Candlelight Shadow on the wrist, pushing himself away to safety in one smooth motion. Or so he thought. As if he had predicted everything, Candlelight Shadow charged ahead of time to where Farewell Song would end up, swung his sword in a wide arc and activated his Heavenly River Transformation. The warrior wasn¡¯t playing around anymore. He found an angle with lightning speed, and he dropped his Pangu¡¯s Axe right on top of Song of Ice and Fire, Warsky and Farewell Song! Boom! All three CGL Hall of Famers let out groans of pain and dropped to their knees. Candlelight Shadow instakilled all of them! 1. T/N: Warsky is like a budget Liu Bei. Liu Bei is always in control of his acting except the time he lost Guanyu. Warsky can¡¯t keep it together once the blood rushes to his head Chapter 1262 "Now is the time!" While Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon were busy tearing into each other, I rushed toward Mingyu and fired my Burning Blade Slash and Myriad Swords Obliteration from the farthest range possible. The effect was immediate, and Mingyu dropped yet another chunk of HP. Although the boss had returned to life, the human body he inhabited actually became his greatest weakness. Lin Yixin and He Yi also attacked the boss from two different directions, activating their Ancient Divine Skills before firing off their Purgatory of Ice and Magma and Ice Flame Slash. While Gan Jiang and Mo Ye and Chengying and Hanguang were still active, every attack they dealt ignored Defense completely. Judging from how Mingyu was screaming in pain, he definitely didn¡¯t look like he had a good time at all. ¡­¡­ Clop clop clop... Suddenly, a group of cavalrymen on white horses galloped in our direction. It was Flowing Cloud leading her White Horse Cavalry. "Shit! The White Horse Cavalry is planning to surround us! Withdraw!" I hurriedly barked out a warning before rushing to the edge of the enemy¡¯s formation. Then, I fired Thousand Ice Slash that successfully froze almost 30% of the party. I dashed away immediately after firing a skill, and it was a good decision because dozens of Trapping Nets hit the spot barely a second later. It was obvious that they were planning to take me and the girls out first before claiming the Dragonslaying Sword. Dragon Domain was open to all the servers. China, India, Russia, Japan; everyone could accept a quest that was related to the Dragonslaying Sword. Did I also mention that the quests were universal? Anyway, this was a battle to claim the Dragonslaying Sword so that one might complete their own quests. While Lin Yixin, He Yi and I were forced to leave Mingyu, Flowing Cloud let out a chuckle and said cheekily, "Thank you for the boss, Lu Chen!" I gnashed my teeth. "Dammit!" Even Lin Yixin was stomping the ground to vent her anger. After we had escaped to relative safety, she planted her sword on the ground and put her hands on her waist. "Let¡¯s try again when the boss is at 3% HP. Hmph! They think they have the numbers? Just wait till Purple Marquis and Nangong Lexi get here. I¡¯m going to slaughter every single one of these bastards to the last!" I nodded. "Yes, we will!" Unlike the two of us, He Yi was actually less bothered by the fact that we had lost the initiative. "Calm down, you two. The boss still has 8% HP, and don¡¯t forget that it¡¯s a Quasi-Divine Rank Boss. It won¡¯t go down so easily." "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ He Yi was right. Mingyu suddenly jumped to his feet, and fire spun madly around his entire body. Wearing a sinister smile on his face, he declared, "You lowly ants really think your pathetic strength is enough to kill me? Come and taste the trials of the Purgatory!" He then raised the Dragonslaying Sword high into the air and chanted, "O¡¯ giant devils who slumber within the Purgatory, awaken and bring forth the fury of the earth! Turn everything before my eyes into transient ash! I, Abyss of Destruction Mingyu, cast¡ªDeath of the Earth!" It was obviously another super AoE skill. This is going to be "fun"! I grabbed He Yi and Lin Yixin¡¯s hands and high-tailed it out of there without hesitation. Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and the rest of the girls had of course backed off even sooner than us. When the earth trembled and tore itself asunder, fiery devils rose from the cracks and started attacking every player within their vicinity. Natural Flow¡¯s White Horse Cavalry were no exception. Flowing Cloud saw it coming and managed to mount a fairly early retreat, but she still lost over 90% of her HP. The same couldn¡¯t be said for the large majority of her troops. On the other side, Candlelight Shadow activated Heavenly River Transformation, pulled Ye Yuse up his mount and declared, "Retreat for now! We can strike Mingyu down after he¡¯s done casting his spell! The upper hand is still in our hands since Warsky Alliance¡¯s best experts are dead, and it¡¯ll take them at least 5 minutes to run back to their bodies! A shame that Warsky didn¡¯t drop his Immortal Blade though!" While saying this, Candlelight Shadow picked up the pair of wristguards Warsky dropped and let out a cold snort. "Level 215 Immortal-grade metal armor wristguards? He must be wearing a full set of Immortal-grade equipment. Where on earth did he even get this stuff? Fucking P2W players. Oh well, at least it must¡¯ve cost him a lot of money!" Ye Yuse consoled him, "P2W players aren''t invincible, boss. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re way stronger than Warsky!" Candlelight Shadow shot her a smile. ¡­¡­ The battlefield was utter chaos right now. There were probably enough bodies to make a trench or two. I saw Chinese, Russians, Indians, Japanese and even Northern Alliancers among them. Although Dragon Domain was closest to China and Russia, again the map was open to all servers. Naturally, our distant "friends" couldn¡¯t resist the lure that was the Dragonslaying Sword, even if it was more liable to burn them than benefit them. Bang! Mingyu wasn¡¯t done yet, however. He abruptly stabbed the Dragonslaying Sword into the ground and shone like a red sun. Blood-red magic runes floated out of the cracks from the ground as Mingyu looked to the sky and chanted in a deep voice, "Undying souls of Dragon Domain, your master has returned to the world! Come forth and aid me to slay all the enemies before my eyes, old friends!" Crack... The soft crack was followed by an explosion, and the gigantic skull of a dragon poked out from a previously-collapsed cave. It was a silver elder dragon that had died a long time ago, and its cool, frozen eyes flashed with unbridled menace. It opened its mouth and said slowly, "Mingyu, my old friend! You¡¯ve finally returned to Dragon Domain! I¡¯ve waited for this day for far too long already. That brat Binglan had sealed me so, so long ago¡­" Not only that, a dozen or so skeletal dragons crawled out of the underground and climbed to the ground surface as well. These giant dragons were obviously dead for a very long time, but Mingyu¡¯s spell had resurrected them all for this fight. We outnumbered him a moment ago, but now it was practically the other way around! He still wasn¡¯t done yet. Next, he pointed to the east and said, "Human warriors who once served me, rise from your cold graves, control your former companions and join me to create a new world for ourselves. After all, this world rightfully belongs to us dark dragon knights, doesn¡¯t it?" About five hundred meters to the northeast of Dragon God Cave, bony arms suddenly pushed out of the earth. At least dozens of ancient dragon knights who had perished a hundred thousand years ago crawled out of their own graves, grasped their lightless weapons and ran wordlessly to Mingyu¡¯s aid. On the way, dead giant dragons ran over so that their riders could leap onto their backs. Finally, they let out an unearthly roar at the players on the clearing and charged. At least a hundred dark dragon knights dashed to Mingyu¡¯s aid in the blink of an eye. These brave warriors had died to defend humanity, but now they had become humanity¡¯s greatest enemies. ¡­¡­ "OMG, this is bullshit¡­" Lin Yixin complained with a cute pout. "Even if Mingyu only has 7% HP left, there¡¯s no way we can get through all these undead dragon knights and kill him. Maybe we could do it if we were all at the level cap, but now¡­" Not far away, Warsky revived and withdrew with Song of Ice and Fire, Farewell Song and more without hesitation. He shouted, "Retreat! There¡¯s no way we can beat this fucking cheater while these dark dragon knights are around! It¡¯s one thing to fight for the Dragonslaying Sword, and another to lose everything and still fail to get it! This is like getting a woman¡¯s perfume on you and not getting to fuck her! No way I¡¯m throwing myself into this shit!" Everyone was doing the same thing. Mingyu was untouchable right now, so there was no point in even trying. ¡­¡­ Whoosh whoosh... Suddenly, flocks of startled birds took off to the sky. It meant that a large amount of something had entered the forest. The sound of horse hooves and crushed branches grew steadily louder until a beautiful woman riding a snow white warhorse and wielding a sword emerged into the open. There was a redbud symbol on her belt, the royal symbol of Sky City. The royal flag flew behind her back, and she was accompanied by a large number of troops. The woman was none other than Princess Karinshan herself. It would seem that the human leader had somehow detected the drastic change of energy in Dragon Domain, knew that a calamity was upon them, and reacted to it accordingly. War drums resounded from a different direction immediately after Princess Karinshan¡¯s forces appeared, and a group of undead cavalry carrying the symbol of the Violet Empire entered into view. They were led by Queen Sophia and Shadow Dancer Xue Wei themselves. For today at least, it would seem that Dragon Domain had become the center stage of the entire continent. Shadow Dancer Xue Wei shot me a smile from the distance before looking at Mingyu with a frown. "Your Majesty, it looks like Mingyu has summoned the dragon knights from the dead. This will be difficult!" Sophia gnashed her teeth together. "They¡¯re no dragon knights. They¡¯re just powerful puppets at best. Dispatch the square formation and make use of our succubi archers¡¯ natural advantage. It doesn¡¯t matter what Mingyu summons, we¡¯re going to kill everything and claim the Dragonslaying Sword. How dare this Mingyu wake his loyal subordinates from their eternal slumber only to enslave them. He must pay for this!" ¡­¡­ Chiang! Karinshan unsheathed her sword and pointed in Mingyu''s direction. "Kill them all!" The war was about to begin, and everyone was holding their breaths tightly. This was a battle between top-tier NPCs, and us players were not meant to turn things in humanity¡¯s favor, only to steal the Dragonslaying Sword for ourselves when the time was right. It had been said many times before, but whoever obtained the Dragonslaying Sword would obtain a most handsome reward... ¡­¡­ "Big bro¡­" Suddenly, a familiar voice entered my ears. I looked up in astonishment and found a beautiful girl clad in black armor and carrying the Dragonbone Spear floating above me. She shot me a sweet smile and said, "You¡¯re here too, big bro?" Chapter 1263 "Xinran!" I was overjoyed. It was because our chances of claiming the Dragonslaying Sword with Xinran around were much higher than otherwise. Xinran might not be able to beat Mingyu in his prime, but she could definitely beat a mere Lin Qian with some of Mingyu¡¯s power. She landed beside me and held my hand. "This place is too dangerous, big bro. You shouldn¡¯t be here." I asked her, "Why are you here, Xinran?" "Xue Wei told me everything about this place. That is why I came to slay Mingyu myself. He is the former head of all evil. If we don¡¯t manage to kill him, the future of this continent won¡¯t be a peaceful one." "Ok. I want the Dragonslaying Sword though!" "Got it, big bro¡­" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the dark dragon knights were engaging the NPC troops already. The giant dragons burned the human soldiers with their breaths, while the dark dragon knights diced them with their sword auras. Even in their undead state, the power gap between the two forces was rather huge. Stark, the commander of Black Cavalry Legion, made a mad gallop toward dark dragon knights before reining his warhorse suddenly and pulling out a spear. He shouted, "Throw at the dragons¡¯ eyes! Kill!" Swhoosh! The spear zipped across the air with incredible speed and entered a brass dragon¡¯s eye socket. Not only that, it struck the dragon¡¯s soul spark squarely. The dragon let out a horrifying scream, and its soul spark scattered into tiny embers. After it lost control of its body and collapsed to the ground, the knights of Sky City immediately swarmed it and chopped its head off. The dragon knight riding on top of it did his best to slay the enemies, but he was heavily outnumbered, and soon after defeated, returning to a pile of bones. The NPCs followed Stark¡¯s example, and the results were excellent. The dark dragon knights wounded or killed countless, but there were just too many of us and too few of them. Boom boom boom... One by one, the giant dragons and dark dragon knights were killed. Stark, Ziyan and more human commanders fought with great bravery and power, the five dragon knights were wreaking havoc across the battlefield, and archers were unleashing a ceaseless rain of arrows. It quickly became apparent that the upper hand was firmly on Sky City¡¯s side. On the other side, Violet Empire¡¯s NPCs were fighting against the dark dragon knights as well. Blood-red cloak flapping behind her back, Queen Sophia leaped into the air from horseback, propelled herself toward a wind dragon through some sort of movement art, and sliced off its head in one strike. She then aimed her palm at the dragon knight and tore him to pieces with an energy blast. The undead queen was easily the strongest fighter of her forces. There was barely any enemy who was able to withstand a hit from her. These resurrected dark dragon knights were no match for her at all. ¡­¡­ "Dammit!" Hollow Thunder Michael swore before leaping into the air. Lightning coursing through both of his arms, he shot toward Sophia like a lightning arrow and punched her blade like a meteor. The undead girl was sent flying across the sky, but she regained herself after a couple or rolls and retaliated with a sword aura! Crack! Blood exploded from Michael¡¯s chest, but he exploded toward Sophia again as if he couldn¡¯t feel the attack. He moved so fast that Sophia was unable to defend herself in time when he punched her right in the stomach and electrocuted her. While the undead queen was groaning in pain and spitting blood, Michael struck her again on her back, broke some bones and sent her plummeting toward the ground. Boom! Sophia hit the ground like a rock, unable to climb back to her feet for a time. Shadow Dancer Xue Wei hurriedly unsheathed her dagger and fired a long-range dagger aura at Michael, yelling, "Break!" Michael backflipped out of harm¡¯s way before shooting Xue Wei a sinister smile. "Hmph. You¡¯re not a bad fighter, girl, but do you really think you can defeat me with this level of strength? Back in my prime, I was a man whose name alone could send sword saints scurrying away in fear. Who do you think you are?" Xue Wei couldn¡¯t care less about his taunt, however. She hurriedly supported Sophia and asked concernedly, "How do you feel, Your Majesty?" Sophia¡¯s abdomen was scorched with lightning, and her chest was heaving up and down rapidly. Still, she said with a painful frown on her face, "I¡¯m fine, Xue Wei. Just focus on Michael. Order our succubi archers to shoot him. You won¡¯t be able to beat him alone." "Understood!" ¡­¡­ Xue Wei whistled once, and a group of 10000 succubi archers poured into the clearing. The red-eyed archers possessed great agility and perception. They drew their bows and loosed their arrows at Michael immediately after they were in position. Michael sneered and conjured a lightning shield with his left hand to block the arrow rain. Then, he swooped down on the archers and fired a gigantic lightning palm at them. The skill was so powerful that an entire group of succubi archers was annihilated just like that. They didn¡¯t even leave a corpse behind. The former Top 10 boss of Spirit of Grief was ridiculously powerful even today. Not done yet, he fired a couple of lightning astral winds that absolutely destroyed the ground and the soldiers standing on it. The forces of the Violet Empire were incapable of harming the powerful boss at all. Back at Sky City¡¯s side, Karinshan declared, "Hollow Thunder Michael is too strong. The Violet Empire will become a footnote in history if we don¡¯t help them!" She abruptly leaped into the sky and unsheathed her weapon. Countless complicated runes surrounded her blade as she cried, "Eat this!" It was a combination skill of magic and martial arts. In a sense, Karinshan¡¯s cultivation surpassed Sophia¡¯s, so the threat she posed to Michael was definitely greater. Michael turned around just in time to feel the energy piercing holes into his body. After looking down at the wounds for a moment, he actually stretched his neck unnaturally and licked the blood covering his chest. Then, he shot Karinshan a lustful look before cackling, "I¡¯ve heard that the current commander of the Silver Moon Alliance is a cute human girl, and it looks like the rumors were true after all. You are Karinshan, aren¡¯t you? I command you to put down your pride and dignity and become my plaything!" Karinshan bit her lip so hard that it bled. She abruptly summoned a great amount of swords before crying, "Sword Control Art!" The swords rained down on Michael, pierced his armor and inflicted countless wounds on his body. However, he withstood all of the attacks as if he was some sort of unkillable monster. After the skill ended, and Karinshan took a moment to recover herself, Michael immediately rushed forward and fired eight lightning bolts at her at the same time! Bang bang bang... Karinshan¡¯s protective aura shattered in the blink of an eye. Blood spilled out of her lips as he fell toward the ground. Ziyan galloped toward her queen and caught her right before she was about to hit the ground. She asked urgently, "Are you okay, Your Majesty?" Stark raised his arm and ordered, "Kill!" Unfortunately, the cavalry troops didn¡¯t make it far before Michael opened his palm and chanted, "Heed my call, ancient curse of the devils! Raiden!" The earth trembled, and lightning descended from the sky like the rain. Nearly a thousand cavalrymen were zapped into ashes in just the blink of an eye! ¡­¡­ After the incredible display of power, Michael¡¯s cackle grew even more arrogant. "Is this it? How disappointing. The human empires today are so much weaker than in the past. Where are you, Karinshan? Come out and become my plaything! You don¡¯t have a choice!" When Michael¡¯s arrogance reached its peak, a clear voice suddenly appeared behind him, "I am your opponent, you bastard. Turn around and face me!" "What?" Michael turned around just in time to face Xinran, but not fast enough to stop her Dragonbone Spear from piercing his chest and protruding out of his back. For the first time since the start of the battle, an attack had pierced through Michael¡¯s body completely! "You!" Michael¡¯s pupils shrank in shock as he grasped the spear shaft. "Who are you? How do you possess such penetrative power?" Xinran replied indifferently, "Does it matter who I am? You¡¯re going to die in my hands anyway!" "Is that so?" Michael suddenly grinned maliciously. "You are even prettier than Karinshan is, girl. I¡¯ve decided. Both you and Karinshan will be my playthings. I promise to take good care of you both. Hehe! You may be strong, but you still aren¡¯t strong enough to kill me, understand?" Xinran smiled. "You¡¯re the one who doesn¡¯t understand anything." "What?!" Xinran spun her spear at the same time spikes suddenly appeared from the center of the Dragonbone Spear. The attack instantly ground Michael¡¯s innards into a gooey mess. Then, she pointed her palm at Michael and cried, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust!" Boom! An unstoppable blast of energy destroyed Michael¡¯s arms and legs completely. The boss looked like a flesh gourd as he fell toward the ground. No one could believe that the powerful Michael was incapable of withstanding even a single move from Xinran. ¡­¡­ "Ahhhhh¡­" As Michael fell from the sky, he screamed, "Save me, Lord Mingyu, save me! I¡¯m going to die¡­" Mingyue sneered. "You can¡¯t even beat a girl, you trash? Why did I keep you around again?" Michael begged profusely, "I¡­ I was just careless, my lord. I promise to serve you unerringly¡­" Mingyue rose to his feet and glanced around himself for a moment. Then, he fired a red blast through a dark dragon knight¡¯s body before shouting, "Life Contract!" Bang! Both the dragon knight and his dragon exploded into smithereens. Then, their enormous life force started pouring into Michael¡¯s body. A miracle happened. Michael started growing limbs at an incredible rate. He almost looked healthy by the time his limbs were done growing. On the ground, Xue Wei shouted, "Lady Wind Singer, Michael will never die until Mingyu is dead! Quickly!" ¡­¡­ Xinran immediately charged toward Mingyu and tossed her spear! Crack! The Dragonbone Spear penetrated Mingyu¡¯s body and nailed him to a giant rock. Then, to my surprise, Xinran pulled out a shiny sword from behind her back. When did my cute little sister learn to use a sword? "Die!" The sword cut deep into Mingyu¡¯s shoulder flesh and bone, causing the boss to let out a painful groan and lose a ton of HP! ¡­¡­ "Now is the time!" I exploded toward the boss with a shout. Behind me, Lin Yixin followed closely with her Dragonfrost already brandished. I activated Heavenly River Transformation and raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces above my head. SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Xuanyuan Slash, go!! Boom! The skill struck the same spot where Xinran had cut through perfectly. Only a few strands of flesh were still connecting the limb now! Lin Yixin dashed past Mingyu and swung her Dragonfrost. The blow finally severed Mingyu¡¯s arm! I rolled past the severed arm and grabbed the falling Dragonslaying Sword. As a cool sensation seeped into my palm, I activated Ghost Spirit Step Art and booked it with everything I got! Finally, I managed to obtain the Dragonslaying Sword!!! Chapter 1264 "Fuck!" An ashen-faced Warsky swore out loud. "How is it that Lu Chen gets the prize every single time? I lost a level but never even got to touch the Dragonslaying Sword! This is so unfair!" Farewell Song bent down slightly and slipped into stealth mode. He said, "If we don¡¯t try to steal the Dragonslaying Sword from Lu Chen now, we may lose the chance forever. And if Lu Chen has the Dragonslaying Sword, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ status may truly become unshakeable. How much longer must we wait before we finally surpass them?" Laughing At The Heavens agreed. "Yes, I agree with Farewell Song here. It¡¯s not like anyone is fighting for justice this time. We¡¯re all just gunning for the Dragonslaying Sword and the power that comes with it." However, October Rain blocked their way and said, "Stop inconveniencing me already, you fools. This is one of the worst timing possible to seize the Dragonslaying Sword. Lu Chen has a stealth skill, and he¡¯s protected by Lin Yixin, He Yi and Beiming Xue right now. Not only is it highly unlikely that we¡¯ll succeed, we¡¯ll be criticized for acting like bandits. Warsky, have you already forgotten your original aspiration already? You wanted to dominate China via virtue, not power, remember?" Warsky hummed for a moment before nodding. "Yes, Little Rain is correct. Warsky Alliance is a guild of benevolence, not tyranny¡­" ¡­¡­ Beside Warsky, Song of Cloud and Water bit her lips like she wanted to say something. Song of Ice and Fire walked up to her, gave her sleeve a tug before whispering beside her ears, "Are you really not going to reconsider your decision, guild leader? Soul Battle Robes was a great guild that once ruled a corner of the world, and we have our own territory now. There was never any need to attach ourselves to Warsky Alliance. I could¡¯ve ignored this if that ¡®senior brother Warsky¡¯ of yours was a formidable character, but seriously, even you can see he¡¯s not all that impressive, can¡¯t you? Just give me, God Bone and Ringwraith the order, and we¡¯ll attempt to steal the Dragonslaying Sword from Lu Chen. If we succeed, we¡¯ll be able to declare our independence and found our dynasty immediately!" Song of Cloud and Water blinked once. "But¡­" "No buts, guild leader. Your brother, Seven-Star Lamp, was a man who could go toe-to-toe with the likes of Frivolous Scholar. We may no longer be what we used to be, but that is no reason to act like cowards forever!" God Bone nodded in agreement. "Yeah. We joined Heavenblessed because Brother Seven told us to, and because we wanted to help you conquer the world. We didn¡¯t join this game to be Warsky¡¯s lackeys. If you still can¡¯t understand this, you will never be able to unite Soul Battle Robes¡¯ hearts, miss." Song of Cloud and Water thought for a moment longer before finally nodding. "Alright. We¡¯ll do as you say!" "Good!" ¡­¡­ The skilled are often bold, and both Song of Ice and Fire and God Bone were very skilled. The moment they started walking toward me, I knew that they were aiming for the Dragonslaying Sword. I smirked. Swhoosh! I raised my arm and canceled my Fusion Armor. Then, I jumped onto my dragon¡¯s back and flew over their heads like I was crossing an arch bridge, giving them no chance to attack me at all. After I reached my destination, I descended to the ground and activated Fusion Armor once more. Rustle rustle.. Xue Wei made her way toward me while I walked toward her. Pleasant surprise spread across her face when she saw the Dragonslaying Sword in my left hand. "You¡­ you actually brought us the Dragonslaying Sword? This is perfect, perfect! Hehe¡­" I shot the Dragonslaying Sword a glance before passing it to Xue Wei. The weapon possessed the same Attack as my Chill of the Nine Provinces, but it couldn¡¯t be equipped by players because it was marked as a quest item. Therefore, I¡¯d lose nothing by giving it to Xue Wei. "This is the item you requested, Xue Wei. Now, about that reward¡­" Xue Wei nodded smilingly as she accepted the weapon. "Thank you for freeing this sword from Mingyu¡¯s evil enslavement and bringing it to the humans and all good undead. You may now receive the reward you and your friends deserve¡­" Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the SSS Rank main quest [Searching For The Dragonslaying Sword]. You have gained 1.9 billion experience, 150000 gold, Luck +5, Reputation +100000, and an item reward: "Cyan Dragon Shield"! ¡­¡­ There was also a system announcement. I should¡¯ve known that an SSS Rank main quest would trigger one¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to the party of player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" for completing the SSS Rank main quest [Searching For The Dragonslaying Sword]. They have gained the super reward, Luck +5. Moreover, the seal on "Dragon Domain" is officially lifted! ¡­¡­ In the distance, Warsky and Candlelight Shadow exchanged a somewhat helpless look with each other. Warsky complained, "Seriously? Are we cameos in Lu Chen¡¯s movie again?" Candlelight Shadow didn¡¯t say anything, but his narrowed eyes said it all: You at least got one of the Twelve Divine Armaments, the Immortal Blade. I still haven¡¯t gotten shit! I checked my bag. The system was a miser, but not even it could be stingy with the reward of an SSS Rank main quest. The gold reward alone was 150k, so the equipment reward it had given me was bound to be amazing as well! A long, indigo-colored shield was sitting snugly at a corner of my bag. Cyan dragons floated across its surface, and vague draconic roars could be heard from time to time. I knew immediately that it was probably better than even my Dragon God Shield. The Dragon God Shield was an amazing piece of equipment, but it was Level 175 only. It was about time I replaced it. I brought up the Cyan Dragon Shield¡¯s stats screen and wasn¡¯t disappointed by it in the slightest¡ª Cyan Dragon Shield (Sacred Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 31500 Magic Resist: 27000 Stamina: +3050 Strength: +2900 Agility: +2850 Intelligence: +3100 Tactics: +315 Parry Success Rate: +75% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 145% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 100000 Outstanding Property: Cyan Dragon Scale. Summon the scales of a cyan dragon to cover your armor and greatly increase your Defense and resistances. Duration: 120 seconds. Cooldown: 240 seconds. Introduction: In ancient times, many ancient divine dragons had fought each other to become the Dragon God. At first, the five-headed golden dragon was clearly stronger than all its competitors. However, a rainbow cloud suddenly appeared in the sky, and a giant dragon covered in cyan scales descended from above. So tough were its scales that the golden dragon was unable to wound it even after being allowed to use its dragon breath ten times without retaliation. That was the beginning of a legend of the cyan dragon that would later become the Dragon God[1] and the target of all experts of its era. The cyan dragon ultimately died of old age, and its soul transformed into the shield that will be known as the Cyan Dragon Shield. It is said that the bearer of the Cyan Dragon Shield will become nigh invulnerable. Slots: 17 Level Requirement: 225 Reputation Requirement: 1000000 ¡­¡­ The stats were incredibly impressive. As a Level 225 shield, its Defense was more than 4 times greater than the Dragon God Shield¡¯s[2]. I would¡¯ve swapped it based on this alone if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that my old shield had a 25-second invincibility skill, and my new shield didn¡¯t. It didn¡¯t take me long to decide that the Cyan Dragon Shield was the better choice though. As a fighter, there was no such thing as enough Defense. Two, Ancient Divine Skills made invincibility skills a lot less desirable than before. There were 99 Ancient Divine Skills in total, and the China server alone had over 30 Ancient Divine Skill owners after the Sky Vortex had opened. What was the point of holding onto an item with an invincibility skill when the enemy could pierce it anyway? At the current stage of the game, offense was the best defense. Plus, I was skilled enough that an invincibility skill wasn¡¯t mandatory to my survival. Crack! The Cyan Dragon Shield appeared on my left arm for a second before slowly dissolving into the mark of a cyan dragon. I pumped some strength into the limb, and the shield appeared again with a flash that almost blinded me. It was nothing compared to my current Defense though! ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: The Frostblade of Death) Class: Master Swordsman of Death Level: 227 HP: 773820 Attack: 33450~38070 Defense: 84865 Magic Resist: 76920 Reputation: 1259400 Tactics: 1900 (+1787) Luck: 99 ¡­¡­ What an IMBA amount of Defense! I now had a base Defense of 84k, and if I were to add the tally all the boosts from my equipment¡ª145% from the Cyan Dragon Shield, 150% from the Ancient Divine Dragon, 50% from the Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade, 45% from the Fire God Helmet, 95% from the Guardian Dragon Armor, 45% from the Sunchaser Cloak, 45% from the Sea Suppressing Poleyn, 45% from the Purple Cloud Ring, and 25% from the Apparition Ring¡ªthat was¡ªwait, give me a second to use the calculator¡ª645% in total. Finally, there was a base boost of 100%, so my real Defense was really 84865 x 7.45 = over 630k effective Defense[3]! The numbers made my head spin round and round. After I entered Dragon Domain and obtained the Guardian Dragon Armor and the Cyan Dragon Shield, my Defense had risen to insane levels! Lin Yixin was staring at my Cyan Dragon Shield since I equipped it. She asked, "This¡­ is a Sacred Armament, isn¡¯t it? Is it your quest reward?" I nodded. "That¡¯s right. You¡¯re so smart, Yiyi." However, she looked furious. "OMG, Why did you get a Sacred Armament, but I only got an Ancient Immortal-grade item? It¡¯s so unfair! It must¡¯ve boosted your Defense a lot, right?" I smiled. "Yep! You know what, try hitting me with your strongest skill, Yiyi. Let¡¯s see how much damage you can do to me now?" "Seriously?" "Seriously. Now come!" I canceled Battle Astral Wind and raised one of my arms, saying, "Hit me here!" "Okay!" A fiery cone appeared around the blade of Lin Yixin¡¯s dagger. It was Barrier Break, a skill that ignored 65% of my Defense, the cheeky girl. Oh well, just this once. Puchi! The Barrier Break pierced my Cyan Dragon Shield and rocked my chest. I immediately dropped a huge chunk of HP¡ª 221982! Damn. Even with the Cyan Dragon Shield, Lin Yixin was still powerful enough to pierce my Defense. The Light Wanderer class truly had insane Strength scaling. This time, Lin Yixin used a basic attack and only managed to inflict a shower of sparks from my shield¡ª 54772! The damage number was so shocking that Lin Yixin forgot what she was doing. "Ahhhhh! What is going on here? Why can¡¯t I penetrate your Defense anymore??" I grinned. "I have 630k effective Defense now, girl! You won¡¯t be able to breach it easily!" "You madman!" "Haha¡­" ¡­¡­ I made the rounds and learned that everyone got great rewards as well. Beiming Xue got a pair of Sacred Armament leather armor legguards, while Murong Mingyue got a Sacred Armament headdress that boosted healing by a ton. Everyone else got Ancient Immortal-grade equipment. Back to the NPCs, Karinshan was clutching her chest wound and glaring at Mingyu. "What else do you have left now that you¡¯ve lost even the Dragonslaying Sword?" Contrary to her expectations, the former number one boss grinned maliciously. "Have you heard of the name Strella?" Karinshan shuddered visibly. "The¡­ the Dragon God? Where is it!" Mingyu pointed behind himself. "It is protecting the eggs of four Holy Giant Dragons inside the Dragon God Cave right now. They are almost about to hatch too. You ask me what else I have left to destroy you people? Now you know. Hahahaha!" ¡­¡­ Whoosh... Suddenly, my shield arm shivered a little. Lin Yixin tilted her head in confusion. "What¡¯s wrong? Are you nervous?" My eyes burned with obvious greed. "Didn¡¯t you hear what he said, Yiyi? He said that Strella¡¯s protecting four Holy Giant Dragon eggs! Pet eggs! This is why we came to Dragon Domain, isn¡¯t it?!" 1. Isn¡¯t it ironic how he¡¯s replacing ¡®Dragon God Shield¡¯ with a shield from the actual Dragon God? 2. Makes you wonder why his previous shield was even called Dragon God, huh 3. Screw the calculator result I guess, author still hit us with an approximation xD It¡¯s 632244 guys Chapter 1265 "So let me get this straight: you want to rob Mingyu of his four Holy Giant Dragon pet eggs?" "But of course! A true hero would extract a tiger¡¯s tooth directly from its mouth!" Murong Mingyue¡¯s huge, round breasts jiggled up and down as she giggled. "Dude, the sixth Purgatory Sovereign, Strella itself, is guarding the four dragon eggs. We¡¯re getting our asses kicked by Michael already, and now you want us to challenge a Divine Rank boss? You may be able to style on the likes of Warsky and Laughing of the Heavens, but I doubt you¡¯ll be able to do the same to the Dragon God, ¡®true hero¡¯¡­" I wasn¡¯t deterred by her pessimism though. "Now, now, it¡¯s not a good habit to praise others and put yourself down, not to mention that we have never been the type to return empty-handed before a mountain of treasure. None of us will get a good night¡¯s sleep if we give up without even trying to fight for the four Holy Giant Dragon eggs. What do you say, Eve?" He Yi nodded. "Yes. It¡¯s better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all!" Murong Mingyue shrugged. "Well, I¡¯m just the healer. Do whatever you want!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Corpses filled the plains directly in front of the Dragon God Cave. Countless Sky City and Violet Empire soldiers had died there to cut down the undead army Mingyu had summoned. Now, even Mingyu and Michael were so grievously wounded that they were unable to continue fighting any longer. "Cough cough¡­" Michael supported Mingyu while his master coughed out mouthfuls of blood. "Are you really okay, my lord? And¡­ are we really entering the Dragon God Cave?" Mingyu nodded. "Yes, we are. That old bastard Strella was just an elder when I left Dragon Domain. Imagine my surprise when I returned and found that he had become a Dragon God. Still, there is nothing to worry about. Strella will behave in my presence, which is why the Dragon God Cave is the safest place we can escape to right now!" "Yes, my lord!" ¡­¡­ Michael and Mingyu jumped into the entrance of the Dragon God Cave and vanished. Light and energy could be seen emanating from it, and occasionally we could hear the growls of vile beasts as well. I had no doubt that the Dragon God Cave would be a map to die for, both figuratively and literally. It might even contain more than one Divine Rank boss! Chiang! After the two bosses had disappeared, Karinshan sheathed her weapon and slowly walked up to the broken Dragon Knight Captain Callan. There was a small pool of blood beneath him, but thankfully he seemed to have survived the ordeal. Clutching her wound, she asked in a concerned voice, "Are you okay, ancient dragon knight?" Callan opened his eyes a little and smiled at her. "I know you, Karinshan. You are Fia and Annie¡¯s successor, aren¡¯t you?" Karinshan nodded. Callan exhaled deeply. "It¡¯s a shame that I have reached the end of my lifespan. Even if I haven¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t be able to serve the Silver Moon Alliance as an undead. Maybe¡­ maybe I could¡¯ve lived if Lady Binglan was still around¡­" However, Karinshan raised Callan¡¯s chin and declared with determination, "Don¡¯t worry, Callan. I won¡¯t let you die here!" She placed her palm on his chest and transferred some sort of pink energy into his body. His wounds immediately started healing themselves. "Your¡­ your Majesty! Are you casting the Soul Returning Spell? You¡¯re hurting your own cultivation!" Ziyan exclaimed in shock. Sweating a little from the exertion, Karinshan shook her head and smiled at her general. "It¡¯s just a couple decades of cultivation, not to mention that any price is worth saving Callan." Callan trembled. "Your Majesty, I¡¯m an undead, a ghost who passed away a long time ago¡­ Can you really accept someone like me?" Karinshan nodded firmly. "Yes, I can!" Callan closed his eyes and trembled some more. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, I was shaking my head at the scene. "Karinshan is going all out to recruit Callan, it seems. Well, Sky City is lacking a top-tier general like Callan, and as a dragon knight captain he is going to enhance Sky City¡¯s NPC legion strength by a lot. Well played, Princess Karinshan, well played!" Lin Yixin pointed at Violet Empire¡¯s direction with her lips. "I saw Queen Sophia attempting to make a move on Callan too, but she was just one step too slow due to her injury. A shame. I bet she¡¯s incredibly annoyed right now¡­" I glanced in Queen Sophia¡¯s direction. She had to be assisted by her subordinates to sit down on a giant rock due to her abdominal injury. Whatever one might say about the undead queen, a lack of tryhard was definitely not one of them. Still holding the Dragonslaying Sword, Xue Wei knelt in front of Queen Sophia and asked, "Are you alright, Your Majesty?" Sophia nodded. "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not dying anytime soon. All is well as long as the Dragonslaying Sword is in our hands!" "Mn!" Xue Wei gripped the sword tighter in response. Suddenly, something unexpected happened. A near invisible man dashed past me before I realized what was going on and headed straight for Xue Wei¡¯s direction. He slammed a black spear into Xue Wei¡¯s wrist to make her loosen her grip before stealing the Dragonslaying Sword right from her grasp. Finally, he slipped into the forest and vanished from sight almost all too quickly! "God dammit!" Xue Wei rose to her feet and stomped the ground in fury. "What¡­ what the hell just happened? That man stole the Dragonslaying Sword before I could do anything! Y-your Majesty, please allow me to take my leave. I¡¯m going to hunt that bastard down right now!" Xue Wei mounted her horse and gave the order. Soon, thousands of undead cavalrymen took off in the direction of the thief. ¡­¡­ "Holy shit. I didn¡¯t know that NPCs could steal from each other." Murong Mingyue looked completely baffled by what had just happened. Beiming Xue asked, "Who was it? I can¡¯t believe someone managed to steal the Dragonslaying Sword right under Xue Wei¡¯s nose! That¡¯s terrifying¡­" I uttered through gritted teeth. "Who else? It has to be that thief god, Dragon Domain Scavenger! I thought the motherfucker was gone forever, but he actually came back and even stole the Dragonslaying Sword! There¡¯s no way Xue Wei and her troops can catch up to him. Not even I on my Ancient Divine Dragon am faster than him¡­" Lian Xin said, "Thank goodness we¡¯ve already turned in our quest. Whatever happens to the Dragonslaying Sword doesn¡¯t really concern us anymore¡­" I strongly agreed, "Yeah, this is Xue Wei¡¯s business now¡­" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Karinshan had returned to her troops and ordered them to set up some defenses inside the canyon. "We have no idea what¡¯s inside Dragon God Cave, so we shouldn¡¯t head inside carelessly! Ziyan, dispatch our scouts to scope out the mountain ranges of Dragon Domain and analyze the presences within Dragon God Cave! Also, contact the Sword Arts Guild via magical projection and tell them to send 4 sword saints over! Without their help, there is no chance we¡¯ll be able to kill Strella!" "Yes, Your Majesty!" It didn¡¯t take long for the NPCs of Sky City to set up a temporary fortress at the edge of Dragon God Cave. Their timing couldn¡¯t be any more perfect because practically everyone was low on equipment durability and potions. Once we replenished ourselves, we would be able to explore the Dragon God Cave in tip-top condition. The same couldn¡¯t be said for foreign players such as Flowing Cloud and Snowy Night, however. These were Sky City NPCs, so there was no way they were selling any product or service to a foreign empire. They would have to get their repairs and restocks somewhere else, if such a place even existed. ¡­¡­ "Alright, let¡¯s go!" After I repaired my equipment and restocked my potions, I turned to the girls and the Phantom Wolf King beside me. "Strella might be impossible to beat, but we must give it a whirl at the very least. That being said, we¡¯re not going to do it right away. There are only 7 of us, so my plan is to scout out the area until Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and the rest of our troops arrive. Once they do, we can finally challenge Strella!" The girls all nodded affirmatively. "Mn!" It was at this moment Xinran walked up to me. She was followed by the ugly Winged Silver Dragon and Bloody Finger the Headless Knight. She looked at me and said, "I need to protect Sophia from danger, so I won¡¯t be able to accompany you into the Dragon God Cave, big bro. I promise I¡¯ll go inside and find you if you¡¯re in danger though. I won¡¯t let you bear all the danger alone!" I nodded but gave Xinran a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don¡¯t worry, Xinran. Big bro isn¡¯t like you. I¡¯m a player, so I can afford to die once or twice. You don¡¯t have to worry about me at all. Worst-case scenario, I fail to kill Strella and lose a couple of levels. It¡¯s no biggie¡­" Xinran looked confused. "I don¡¯t understand what you mean, but I¡¯ll listen to you, big bro. Be careful!" "I will!" After I bade Xinran goodbye, our seven-man party arrived at the entrance of the Dragon God Cave. Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, Natural Flow, Blazing Hot Lips, White Bird and more were waiting for backup because the map was rated SSS Rank, meaning that even the normal mobs on this map would be extremely dangerous to us players. Also, they were hoping that someone give in to their impulses and play the cannon fodder for them. It wasn¡¯t like Strella was going to die anytime soon anyway, so acting as the patient fisherman was the best play for now. I waved my Chill of the Nine Provinces at Warsky before smiling at him. "Why are you just standing there and doing nothing, Warsky? Have you traded your courage for the Immortal Blade?" Warsky smiled back politely and said, "I¡¯m just waiting for my archers to arrive. Trust me when I say I¡¯ll explore the Dragon God Cave after gathering a hundred-man party of eighth-promotion archers. You feel free to go ahead though, happy adventuring!" I smiled again. "Very well. Let us meet again in Dragon God Cave. Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you though: it¡¯s dark inside Dragon God Cave, so I might accidentally hurt you if you happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time?" Warsky jabbed back. "I can protect myself, so you don¡¯t need to worry about me. You¡¯re the one who should take care not to get killed by Candle Dragon, haha!" "Haha!" After the false pleasantries and fake laughter were done, I returned to the girls and lowered my voice to a whisper, "You guys wait here while I enter the map. I¡¯ll message you all once I confirm that it¡¯s safe to come in." Beiming Xue nodded. "Mn. Be careful, big brother!" Pure Love refreshed my buffs, and my HP jumped to almost 2.7 million. After all the battles we had fought, everyone in the party had climbed to a whole new level of strength. This was especially true in my case because I now had 600k+ effective Defense and scarily-high Magic Resist as well. This was the biggest reason I wanted to challenge the Dragon God Strella. How could I not challenge my limits after obtaining so many high-level pieces of equipment? ¡­¡­ The light shining from within the Dragon God Cave looked a bit like flickering flames. I couldn¡¯t tell exactly what it was though since the entrance was enveloped by a barrier. The only way to know for sure was to step inside. After I took off and passed through the barrier completely... Swhoosh¡­ My vision brightened, and my skin tingled due to the sudden rise in temperature. I had entered an incredibly wide area with stone stairs surrounding the giant abyss directly in front of me. I tried to look down, but couldn¡¯t see a bottom at all. The stone stairs were at least 30 meters wide, and they seemed to lead to the very bottom of the cave. Beep! Combat Log: You have entered the map "Dragon God Cave First Floor¡±. This is a forbidden map; players who die within can not enter it again for 24 hours! Chapter 1266 "Alright, you can come in now!" I said quietly inside the party channel. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ The barrier at the entrance flashed a couple of times, and all the girls entered the map "Dragon God Cave First Floor¡±. Lin Yixin missed a step and knocked into me, so we staggered forward until we were just a meter away from the edge of no return. When Lin Yixin noticed the bottomless abyss in front of us, she stuck out her tongue and said, "That was close. A couple more steps and it would be game over for us¡­" I rebuked her a bit. "Careful! It wouldn¡¯t necessarily be game over. My Ancient Divine Dragon could have caught us had we fell down this cliff." "I¡¯m not so sure about that¡­" He Yi said while pointing the Suppressing Fire Sword at the heart of the abyss. "You see that totem that seems to connect the ceiling and the bottom of this cave? Look up. I¡¯m pretty sure they¡¯re no bats¡­" We looked and were startled by what we saw. A ton of winged dragons were clinging to the top of the totem. Now I understood why He Yi said that flying might be a bad idea. The moment the Ancient Divine Dragon took off, these winged dragons would surely awake from their slumber and attack us. No matter how high my Defense was right now, there was no way I could survive an entire group of high-level dragons. "Well, let¡¯s proceed carefully. This map is extremely dangerous, and dying here means being barred from entry for an entire day." "Mn mn." ¡­¡­ I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and resummoned my Phantom Wolf King and apparition. Then, I took the lead and started toward the unseen depths of the corridor. I said, "This floor is ring-shaped, but I bet there¡¯s an entrance somewhere that¡¯ll lead us down to the second floor. Sis, be ready to heal me at a moment¡¯s notice while I look for a way through." Beiming Xue blinked once before asking, "Big brother, what are the chances Warsky and Candlelight Shadow will follow behind us while we search?" "That chance is a big fat zero." "But why?" "Because they¡¯re afraid that we might hang around the entrance and kill anyone who comes through. I reckon that we¡¯re safe for around an hour. Of course, they might send some cannon fodder to scout ahead and probe our reaction, but again we¡¯re safe for half an hour at least. No one who came to Dragon Domain is an expendable cannon fodder. If they make it too obvious, their people are going to lose trust in them." "I see." ¡­¡­ The darkness was almost complete, and I wasn¡¯t able to see far even with my Dark Pupils. I tried using my Chill of the Nine Provinces to light the way, but even then I was only able to secure around 5 meters of vision range. Rustle rustle¡­ I stepped on the scalding stairs that probably hadn¡¯t been stepped on by anyone for tens of thousands of years. I was certain that Strella was a fire-type dragon because the cave felt as hot as a steamer basket. "Hiss hiss¡­" Suddenly, I heard a worrying hiss from the darkness right as a red dot appeared on the map screen. Here comes our first mob! I summoned the Cyan Dragon Shield into existence and rushed toward the source of the noise. I wanted to see the first mob we encountered in Dragon God Cave with my own eyes. Whoosh! A disgusting-smelling wind hit my nostrils, and a most ugly face entered my view. The head was of a dragon, but it was only as big as a human¡¯s head. Scales covered its humanoid body, and it had a long tail that was about two meters long. Suddenly, it attacked me as soon as I saw it, giving me almost no time to react¡ª Chiang chiang chiang chiang chiang! The mob had struck my new shield five times in a row, and the blows were so powerful that my HP dropped visibly, and my left arm turned slightly numb. What the hell was this thing? 90887! 89283! 91237! 88724! 102281! The Chill of the Nine Provinces revealed the mob completely when it was just a meter away from me. It was a dual-wielding dragonman warrior. It crossed its blades together and struck my shield again, causing me to fall backward even with my Defense¡ª Combat Log: Dragonman Blade Devil used "Twin Blade Slash", dealing 219882 damage! ¡­¡­ "Get lost!" I launched myself into the air, flipped over the mob, and kicked it squarely at the back of its head. After I landed, I fired Burning Blade Slash at the same spot¡ª 290878! 341287! 412662! By the time I followed up the skill with War Crush, my apparition, the Phantom Wolf King and the Snake King Little Qing had joined the battle as well. While Lian Xin and Beiming Xue were deleting its HP, I used the time to check out its stats using Dark Pupils¡ª Dragonman Blade Devil (Fiend) Level: 280 Attack: 39800~57500 Defense: 50000 HP: 3000000 Skills: Dragonblade Quintuple Slash, Twin Blade Slash, Dragonscale Reflect Introduction: Dragonman Blade Devil. They are a pitiful group of warriors whose souls have been devoured. A long time ago, they were braves who were chosen to become dragon knights. Unfortunately, they were betrayed by the dragon race before they obtained their dragon mounts and were transformed into undead soldiers who were doomed to guard the Dragon God Cave for eternity. After they became corrupted by draconic energy, mutation overtook them and gave them draconic scales, incredibly strong arms that allow them to wield two blades at once, and massive explosive power. They are the reason not a single person had set foot in Dragon God Cave for a hundred thousand years. ¡­¡­ Crack! The Chill of the Nine Provinces triggered its septuple damage effect, and my attack sent the Dragonman Blade Devil¡¯s head flying off its shoulders and rolling to He Yi¡¯s feet. Amusingly, she let out a yelp of surprise and instinctively kicked it to Murong Mingyue. Murong Mingyue¡¯s eyes widened as she exclaimed, "What the fuck!" She too kicked the dragonman¡¯s head away from her, and this time the poor thing fell into the bottomless abyss. I walked up to the Dragonman Blade Devil¡¯s body and found a 78 Quality Purple Crystal that could be sold for 780 RMB. This discovery told me that this SSS Rank map was overflowing with riches, but it wasn¡¯t one the average player could enjoy. The Dragonman Blade Devil had dealt over 700k damage to me in an instant even though I had 630k Defense, and Ghost Deity Shield. The average eighth-promotion warrior would¡¯ve been one-shot three times over. Lin Yixin declared as she watched the mob¡¯s body, "The Dragonman Blade Devil is absolutely going to murder most of the players who enter this floor. Not even Laughing At The Heavens will be able to survive Dragonblade Quintuple Slash + Twin Blade Slash + basic attack combo. It¡¯ll take a Warsky or Candlelight Shadow to tank them¡­" I smiled. "Good. Let¡¯s keep snowballing our advantage and enter the second floor as soon as possible. With luck, we¡¯ll leave absolutely everyone in the dust, hmph hmph!" Lin Yixin tilted her head at me and smiled. "You must feel like you¡¯re invincible with all this Defense, am I right?" "Heh, yep. I bet not even Little Gui is as tanky as I am¡­" I said happily. He Yi couldn¡¯t resist rolling her eyes a bit. "Gui Guzi? Of course you¡¯re tankier than him. Both his level and equipment are inferior to yours! Maybe if he had the Immortal Blade¡­" "I¡¯ll give him the Dragon God Shield later. It¡¯s outdated, but at least it has a 25-second invincibility skill." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ We continued. At first, we tried to circle around the Dragonman Blade Devils unless they blocked the way completely. However, the lone mobs gradually started appearing in pairs. "What do we do? There¡¯s two of them now," He Yi said. I replied, "I¡¯ll immobilize one with God Binding Art so we can focus the other one down." "It¡¯s fine!" However, Lin Yixin declared confidently, "I¡¯ll take on the other mob myself. I want to see just how strong they are¡­" "Just make sure you don¡¯t get one-shot by it¡­" "Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t. Sister Mingyue, please be ready to heal me at a moment¡¯s notice¡­" "Let¡¯s go!" Lin Yixin and I targeted a Dragonman Blade Devil each and activated our Charges at nearly the same time. Their HP went down quickly, but the blade devils themselves were no slouches. I lost another 700k HP, and Lin Yixin lost twice that amount. It would¡¯ve been dangerous if Murong Mingyue hadn¡¯t dropped an Instant Heal on her. After I took out my blade devil, I went to Lin Yixin¡¯s rescue and killed hers in a couple of strikes. Then, I asked her again, "So? Still want to fight a Dragonman Blade Devil yourself?" She blushed in embarrassment before saying, "Never mind. You can handle them all¡­" "Hmph hmph, I told you so¡­ the mobs here may be fiend-rank, but they are twice or even thrice as strong as the fiend-rank mobs outside. This map wouldn¡¯t be rated SSS Rank otherwise." "Uuuu, I know already, stop educating me you bastard¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ The farther we went, the more brutal the battles became. Soon, we encountered a group of 4 Dragonman Blade Devils. They were less than ten yards away from each other, so I was certain that they would all attack us if we aggroed any one of them. There was a chance they would split up on their own, but we couldn¡¯t be sure if and when it would happen. Time wasn¡¯t something we could afford to waste now.. "How are we going to do this?" Lin Yixin asked. I thought for a moment before answering, "Let¡¯s do it the usual way. I¡¯m going to immobilize one with God Binding Art, and my apparition will do the same to another one. Beiming Xue will stun the rightmost mob with Shock Arrow, and once the stun is over Lian Xin will use Freezing Domain to freeze all of them. We¡¯re going to focus our firepower on the second to the right mob first, and the rightmost mob second. If the God Binding Arts misses, then Eve will hold off one of the mobs. We can use our pets too if necessary. Pet levels aren¡¯t worth shit anyway. If they die, so be it¡­" "Er, okay¡­" "Go!" I executed Summon the Storm + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo that struck all four mobs. When they started moving toward me, me and my apparition immediately fired God Binding Art each at a mob. Two Dragonman Blade Devils became frozen in place, and Beiming Xue¡¯s Shock Arrows stunned the third mob. So far, everything was going exactly as planned. After the first devil died to our combined firepower, I executed another Myriad Swords Obliteration + Summon the Storm combo to delete the remaining mobs¡¯ HP. The faster the mobs went down, the safer we were. In the end, everything went about as smoothly as it possibly could. They even dropped enough Purple Crystals for everyone in the party to share. There was no need to roll for the loot in this case, and to be honest, I never really liked the loot distribution system. I still remembered that one time Lin Yixin, He Yi and I went out to grind, and we got 17 magic stones at the end of a battle. We decided to roll for it, and I was so unlucky that I failed to get even one. I nearly burst a vein at the time. ¡­¡­ We continued forward after the loot distribution was complete. This time, we encountered a group of five Dragonman Blade Devils! "OMG¡­" Lin Yixin inhaled. "This is too much, isn¡¯t it?" It was at this moment Beiming Xue blinked and pointed behind us. "Big brother, a group of four players is coming up behind us. I don¡¯t think they''re Chinese." Chapter 1267 Lin Yixin immediately turned red with excitement. She grabbed her Dragonfrost and said with great enthusiasm, "Finally, some open-world PvP! Let¡¯s kick some ass, people!" I asked in a flabbergasted voice, "You want to just¡­ charge the enemy and kill them?" "Duh? How else do you PK someone?" "Well, what if they¡¯re super-tier experts? Us heavy-armor players won¡¯t die, sure, but Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and sis aren¡¯t can¡¯t say the same. There¡¯s also that 24-hour death penalty to consider." "Aw man. What do we do then?" I pointed at the nearby wall. "You see that natural depression on that wall? I want all of you to hide inside while I stealth outside. Once they enter our vision range, we¡¯ll ambush them and kill them all. Ideally, I want us to kill them before they even see what hit them. Just imagine what they¡¯ll say about us when they revive outside. I bet it¡¯ll make a cool ass PK legend later¡­" For some reason, the girls all shot me a weird look. In the end, they said, "Fine, we¡¯ll do as you say, cool ass!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh! I dissolved into several rays of bloody light and slipped underground. While I waited, the girls hid themselves inside the depression. Lin Yixin was the closest to the exit, and He Yi the second. They weren¡¯t completely invisible, but it certainly would take an unusually keen eye to spot them from the corridor. We all stared in the direction where the enemy players were expected to show up from. About half a minute later, four players wearing the emblem of Swallow Ear Canton entered our view. Not only were they Japanese players, I recognized the cavalryman leading the way. He was the guild leader of Era of Strife, Copper Spear. His party members were a mage, an archer and a priest. While an exploration party like this was hardly uncommon, there weren¡¯t nearly enough of them to explore an SSS Rank map. Did they think that they were on a newbie¡¯s map or something? I remained where I was and waited for them to come closer. Just because the enemy was careless didn¡¯t mean I should emulate my example. Meanwhile, Copper Spear shot the dead blade devils on the ground a look before saying, "Heads up, everyone. I heard that the Chinese have entered this map before us, and looking at these dead mobs it definitely looks to be the case. They may even be closeby. Archer, activate your Clear As Flame just in case an assassin is lurking somewhere. Now is not the time to save MP." "Yes, boss!" The archer nodded, and a lantern-like image appeared above his head. It was a fitting icon since Clear As Flame was like a lantern that chased away the darkness and revealed the danger lurking within. Too bad for him, I was already shouting inside the party channel before he activated the skill, "NOW! GO GO GO!" Thud! The second I jumped out of the underground, I placed my palm on the ground and cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon, shredding the archer to pieces before he ever got the chance to shout his warning. The nearby priest had also lost his spell shield and died. Of the three who were hit, Copper Spear was the only one who survived with half health. He was currently moving toward the right at high speed. The mage attempted to thwart me with God Devil Break, but he was shocked to discover that his skill only managed to deal 100k+ damage. I was wearing multiple Sacred Armaments and Divine Armaments right now, and every one of these equipment boosted my Intelligence by a considerable amount. Unless he was Lian Xin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes or Luo River God of the Capital, one mage wasn¡¯t nearly enough to push me back. The mage immediately turned tail and ran when he noticed how strong I was. I couldn¡¯t resist a chuckle. "A bit too late to run now, don¡¯t you think?" My sword abruptly turned into a spinning scythe of death, and it easily penetrated both the mage¡¯s shield and body. There was a flash of white, and the player was fully teleported out of the map. He didn¡¯t even leave behind a corpse because of the map¡¯s death penalty, which meant that he probably revived instantly at a nearby graveyard. Some distance away from me, Copper Spear was still running away when a beautiful figure closed the distance between them vanishingly quick. It took her three zigzags, but she successfully tricked Copper Spear into misjudging her trajectory and allowed her to get close. A cut across the throat from Lin Yixin, and a sword through the torso from He Yi later, the man died just like that. Thunk! A helmet spun round and round where Copper Spear was killed. What a generous man! He even left behind a present after he died! When Beiming Xue picked it up and gave it a look, she chuckled. "Oh, it¡¯s an Immortal-grade helmet. Looks like Copper Spear has some pretty good equipment¡­" Lin Yixin put away her dagger with a smile. "But of course. He wouldn¡¯t have survived Lu Chen¡¯s Rise of the Guardian Dragon otherwise." I returned my gaze to the black unknown and said, "We need to hurry and find the entrance to the next floor. Things will get messy as more and more players show up, and we can¡¯t possibly kill all of them." "Mn mn!" ¡­¡­ After I picked up Copper Spear¡¯s Magic Consumable and tossed it into Murong Mingyue¡¯s hands, we continued forward and defeated the 5-man Dragonman Blade Devil party we encountered earlier. It was a close thing, but we managed to do it without suffering any casualties. Unfortunately, the place got even darker as we progressed, causing our vision range to worsen even more. I didn¡¯t see it coming until it was too late. One second my boots were stepping on rotted stone, and the next I was falling through the air. What the¡­ It was a sheer cliff! For whatever reason, the road onward from here had fallen apart completely! "Big brother!" Beiming Xue cried. I hurriedly canceled my Fusion Armor and landed on top of my Ancient Divine Dragon. Then, I returned to the floor where the girls were. The back of my head felt a bit cold for some reason, but I ignored it and tried to assure the stunned girls, "It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine, I didn¡¯t hit the ground so it¡¯s all fine. Anyway, why do you all look like you¡¯ve seen a ghost? Just relax. Now someone gimme a smile already!" He Yi poked my chest with an index finger and continued looking behind me. Behind me? I turned around and nearly jumped out of my own skin. A pitch black giant dragon was flying in the air. Its head looked as ugly as sin, its mouth was curled into a malicious grin, and its dark red eyes were staring right at me. Black scaly armor covered its body, and spine-like blades grew out of its back. It was about 5 meters long, and I immediately recognized it was your classic mountable dragon! Chiang! I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and grinned with greed. "Wow! Not every day a mount delivers itself to your doorsteps!" To my surprise, the giant dragon understood my words and cackled out loud. "Mount? Do you wish to become a dragon knight of legends? Okay! Your grandpa here has been looking for a human to scratch its back for a long, long time. However, the hunger in my stomach seems worse than the itch on my back. Whatever shall I do?" I spat at it. "Stupid dragon!" Lin Yixin pulled my hand and chided me, "Come now, you are being very rude to an Ancient Immortal Rank boss¡­ Not to mention that we may not be able to beat it¡­" Oh, I knew that better than her. I had already scanned it with Dark Pupils earlier, and I shared the results with everyone inside the party channel¡ª Swordback Dragon Mons (Ancient Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 290 Attack: 49500~67000 Defense: 75000 HP: 70,000,000 Skills: Bloody Bite, Sword Hook Storm, Giant Dragon Flame Curse Introduction: A long time ago, Swordback Dragon Mons was one of the dragon elders of Dragon Domain. After the war, it joined Lin Na¡¯s Purgatory faction and became one of the guardian dragons of Strella the Dark Magma. Swordback Dragon Mons possesses nigh indestructible scales, enormous strength, and sharp claws that can tear anything apart. The spine-like blades on its back are a natural weapon as well. Swordback Dragon Mons is a long-time follower of Strella and an adept in Dragon Speaking magic. He is especially good at Giant Dragon Flame Curse. ¡­¡­ I said while watching the boss closely, "A Level 290 Ancient Immortal Rank boss, huh? This thing is even stronger than the Nine-headed Fire Hydra! Get ready for a hard fight, everyone!" I spurred my Ancient Divine Dragon forward and made it bite the boss¡¯s neck. Then, I stabbed my weapon through its supposedly indestructible scales. Hmph, the incarnation of the Xuanyuan Sword might not be able to cut through absolutely everything in the world, but the scales of this dragon wasn¡¯t among the exceptions! The scales shattered, and blood spurted in jets. Without pause, I cast Purple Frost Concentration and lowered the boss''s Defense by 31%. All high-level bosses were prideful though, and this Swordback Dragon Mons was no exception. It let out a furious roar, reared its head back and headbutted the Ancient Divine Dragon away from it. As amazing as my little dragon was, its level was too low to be able to go toe-to-toe against a dragon elder. After a suitable distance had opened up between the boss and I, I fired Burning Blade Slash at its body and dropped Myriad Swords Obliteration at its head. My Attack was high enough that not even a Level 290 super boss could withstand it. "You¡¯ve angered me, you damned brat!" After the mouthed off the angry words, it bit down on my shoulder hard using Bloody Bite, dealing over 640k damage in one go. Considering that I was equipping the Guardian Dragon Armor and the Cyan Dragon Shield right now, its attack power could only be described as terrifying. On a related note, the 60k+ HP I absorbed wasn¡¯t much, but it was better than nothing. "Hang on, Lu Chen!" Murong Mingyue¡¯s eyes shone with excitement as she declared, "The boss''s skill can only hit you for less than 700k damage. This means that there¡¯s a real chance we can beat this boss all by ourselves! Your Defense is seriously amazing. If this was Eve, she would¡¯ve lost a million HP at least!" I was too busy getting mauled by the dragon to share her happiness though. "Ouch! Fuck! Less talking, more healing! Beiming, Little Xin, CC the boss with whatever you got!" "Ohh!" Everyone got to work immediately. Swordback Dragon Mons was airborne, so neither the Phantom Wolf King nor the Snake King Little Qing were able to help out. In fact, of all the pets we had, Lin Yixin¡¯s Ice Dragon Kris was the only one who could generate a steady stream of DPS. The good news was that I had more than enough damage to keep the boss''s aggro firmly on me, and Murong Mingyue carried enough "breast milk" to last me this whole boss fight. ¡­¡­ It only took us ten minutes to drop the boss''s HP to 50%. In fact, I triggered my weapon¡¯s septuple damage effect a whopping 8 times during this time. There was only one way this could end for this boss. "Turn into ash, you damned humans!" Suddenly, Swordback Dragon Mons let out an angry roar. The spine-like blades shuddered for a moment before flying out of its back, and they spun together to form a deadly blade storm. I hurriedly backed away from the blade storm while shouting, "Retreat!" It wasn¡¯t too late for the girls, but it was for me. Both me and my dragon were struck by the Sword Hook Storm, and it only took a moment for my HP to drop to 10%; 200k+ HP! Pu! That wasn¡¯t all. The cunning boss bit my left arm again and twisted left and right, deleting my mount tenacity with every shake of the head. I had no choice but to activate Fusion Armor to stop it from emptying my mount tenacity. However, the moment my dragon transformed into my armor, it abruptly lifted me into the air, whipped its head aside and tossed me straight into the air. I just barely caught a glimpse of the ground of the second floor as I hurtled across the air! Was this motherfucker trying to isolate me on the second floor? Chapter 1268 Thud thud thud... I hit the ground with a roll, but was able to slam my sword into a nearby rock and steady myself. Then, I ran across the slippery floor and straight toward Swordback Dragon Mons. Without hesitation, I activated Ghost Spirit Step Art first, Battle Astral Wind second, and Tenacity of the Dead to heal myself for 700k HP third. Finally, I downed a Saint Spirit Potion to heal even more. Above my head, the boss roared savagely, "Prepare to die, boy!" It unleashed its dragon breath at me three times in a row, but thankfully Ghost Spirit Step Art nullified two of the blasts. While this was going on, I leaped toward the boss¡ªit so happened that it was pretty close to the ground right now¡ªand thrust my Chill of the Nine Provinces into its chin. 372726! That was just the beginning of my attack, however. I grabbed its chin with my free arm and swung myself to its side before it could react. After I held a firm grip on its draconic scales, I began slashing the back of its neck repeatedly. It was the boss''s only weak point, but most players wouldn¡¯t even realize it was there because Swordback Dragon Mons would almost always be higher in altitude, its back never facing the players. The boss screamed again and again as its scales became wet with its own blood. Suddenly, the blades behind its back started spinning, and I knew it was trying to hurt me with its Sword Hook Storm. I didn¡¯t have nearly enough HP to tank it right now, so I kicked myself off and fired Burning Blade Slash at its weak point not just to deal more damage to it, but also to push myself away from its skill using the knockback force. I was successful, having launched myself 30 yards away from the dragon in an instant. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin asked urgently inside the party channel, "How are you doing, Little Cheat? Your HP is jumping up and down like crazy! Is there a bottom down there? We can¡¯t see anything from here¡­" I replied immediately, "Jump down now, the second floor is only less than 200 meters away from the first floor. I¡¯m still surviving against the boss, but I won¡¯t be able to hang on for more than a couple of seconds. Jump down now!" "Er, the fall won¡¯t kill us, right?" "I don¡¯t think so¡­" On the minimap, I saw my Beautiful Little Pepper falling down from above. The party leader had jumped to my aid without any hesitation whatsoever. It was dangerous though. I was "carried" over by the boss itself, so I didn¡¯t really take much fall damage at all. She, on the other hand, was going to take a lot of fall damage if I didn¡¯t do something soon. Swhoosh! I activated God Binding Art and summoned four divine arms from the sky. The skill¡¯s success rate against the boss was less than 25%, but I got really lucky and shackled it this time. I looked up. A beautiful woman carrying the Dragonfrost in one hand and the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword in the other was falling from the sky. Her hair and cloak were whipping wildly above her head, giving her a wild and exotic appearance. The way her long, smooth legs seemed to glow in the darkness was especially attractive. Thud! I calculated her landing spot in my head before jumping off a giant rock. By now, Lin Yixin had accelerated to the point where, when I caught her in my arms, the force was enough to send us rolling a dozen or so meters across the wet floor. Covered in mud from head to toe, she looked up at me and blushed red all of a sudden. "Where do you think you¡¯re putting your hands?" I immediately realized that I had one hand wrapped around her back, and the other around her round, perky butt. Obviously, I wasn¡¯t considering her modesty when I leaped to her rescue. It felt really, really nice to touch... "Ahem¡­" I let out an embarrassed cough before whispering, "What¡¯s wrong? This is my boyfriend privilege, isn¡¯t it?" Lin Yixin let out an amused snort before replying in a sweet voice, "Move it, gangster. Sister Eve and Sister Mingyue are jumping down soon, and you don¡¯t want them to die from fall damage, do you? Beiming, Lian Xin and Guanyue especially have low HP, so we need to catch them properly¡­" "Yeah!" We rose to our feet and looked up just in time to see three figures jumping down from the cliff. It was He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin. Seriously? Had they not considered what would happen if we failed to catch them in time? Lin Yixin and I split up. There was a frantic moment, but somehow, someway, we were able to catch all three girls before they turned into meat pancakes. Beiming Xue was the second last person to jump down, but she said, "No need to catch me, I can land myself¡­" She wasn¡¯t kidding. As it turned out, succubi archers had insane Agility, and Beiming Xue was among the most skilled players in the game. Right before she was about to land, she fired her Evil Spirit Volley and canceled her falling force completely. One extra twist of her perky butt and a beautiful spin in the air later, she landed safely on her own two feet just as promised. The boss had broken free from its bindings when Guanyue made her jump. However, Murong Mingyue had healed me back to 75%, so I wasn¡¯t in danger of dying anymore. I Thunderous Charged it and resumed trading blows with it without using Heavenly River Transformation. After I obtained the Guardian Dragon Armor and Cyan Dragon Shield, mere Ancient Immortal Rank bosses were no longer a threat to me, not even if they were Level 290! Swhoosh! Pool of Life appeared beneath our feet and kept us frontliners healed. We did our best to pin the boss to the ground because it was easily the best way to maximize our DPS. There was a time Swordback Dragon Mons tried to take to the air, and He Yi miraculously managed to land a low-chance Trapping Net. Once it hit the ground like a meteor, we hit it with absolutely everything we got. ¡­¡­ "Damn you ants! Die!" A while later, the boss opened its bloody maw again and cast its Dragon Speak magic, Giant Dragon Flame Curse! Whoosh! Scorching pain erupted from every inch of my body. He Yi, Lin Yixin and I all lost huge chunks of HP because it was the boss''s strongest skill¡ª 1178288! 1322874! 1408289! ¡­¡­ "OMG, I only have less than 10% HP left¡­" Lin Yixin retreated while saying to me, "Please tank the boss until we return, Little Cheat¡­" He Yi also retreated. The girls simply lacked the stats to face-tank Giant Dragon Flame Curse. I remained on the frontline not only because our two off-tanks were healing, but also because our bard, Pure Love, had applied all of her buffs on me. As a result, my resistances were easily the highest out of everyone in the party. Also, the Cyan Dragon Shield made for the perfect biting toy for a boss like Swordback Dragon Mons. Murong Mingyue and Guanyue healed me, the Guardian Dragon Armor converted 10% of the damage I received to HP, and the Chill of the Nine Provinces absorbed 20% of the damage I dealt as HP. As a result, I was able to maintain above 70% HP no matter what the boss threw at me. I could even confidently say that I could keep fighting even if Swordback Dragon Mons cast its Giant Dragon Flame Curse every 15 seconds. Time passed bit by bit. The boss''s roars grew weaker and weaker, while its body was riddled with more and more holes. There were slash wounds, arrow holes, magic burns and more. By the time Swordback Dragon Mons¡¯ HP approached 5%, it was so weak that its resistance felt like the struggles of a dying old man. It could only groan and curse us verbally, "You foolish, fearless brats! I may die, but the great Dragon God Strella will take revenge for me! The dragon flames will turn your bodies to ashes, and your souls will perish! You will never be reborn for eternity!" Bang! My only response was to slap its ugly head with my sword and say, "You have no idea how long we¡¯ve been planning our births, do you? We Chinese haven¡¯t dared to reincarnate since times immemorial because every fetus past six months is forcefully brought to life via labor induction[1]!" The girls joined in on the beatdown, and the boss lost HP even faster. "How much Luck do you have right now, Lu Chen?" Murong Mingyue asked suddenly. "99. Why?" She giggled. "Oh wow, only a point away from 100? Wonderful. Do last-hit the boss so that we can get better loot. If Lady Luck smiles upon us, we may even get one of the Twelve Divine Armaments like Warsky. Our Eve could use that Dead Wind Blade¡­" I snorted. "The Twelve Divine Armaments aren¡¯t stall goods, you know? Do you have any idea how unlikely it was for Immortal Blade to drop from that Ancient Immortal Rank boss?" "Whatever. Just kill it already!" "Fine, fine!" I gathered my strength and unleashed an absolutely devastating five-skill combo¡ªBurning Blade Slash, War Crush, Myriad Swords Obliteration, Rise of the Guardian Dragon and Summon the Storm. Swordback Dragon Mons let out one final groan, and it collapsed to the ground and exploded into a ton of equipment, magic stones, gems and more. I looked at the boss''s dead body and muttered a silent prayer to the heavens above, "I don¡¯t ask for much. All I ask is a dragon mount pet egg. Amen!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! All seven of us leveled up at least once. Since I had gotten the last hit, I leveled up twice and hit Level 229. These days, levels seemed to come and go at an incredible rate. As long as I kept finding super-tier maps like this Dragon God Cave and defeated bosses without losing levels, it shouldn¡¯t be difficult for me to hit Level 250 at all. Level 255 was a dividing line of sorts[2]. As of this moment, no one really knew what awaited beyond. Rustle rustle... I slowly walked up to the boss before kicking its head out of the way. Then, I examined the equipment on the ground. Unfortunately, my prayers weren¡¯t answered. Forget a mount pet egg, the stingy bastard hadn¡¯t even dropped a pet egg. I picked up the items and shared their stats screen in the party channel one by one¡ª Blade of Dragonheart (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 4200~8700 Attack. Increases user''s Attack by 75%, 4% chance to ignore Defense. Level Requirement: 225. Dragonscale Chain Armor (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 11500 Defense, 19750 Magic Resist. Increases user''s Defense by 65%, 7% chance to dodge an attack. Level Requirement: 225. Diggs Cloak (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 3500 Defense. Increases user''s Defense by 25%. Level Requirement: 225. Giant Dragon Plate Armor (Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 8500 Defense, 7700 Magic Resist. Increases user''s Defense by 50%. Increases max HP by 30000. Level Requirement: 225. 1. T/N: The author is probably referring to one of the effects of the one-child policy that was still carried out at the time this chapter was written. He¡¯s saying that a citizen of China would rather pass on to the afterlife than be reborn via the cycle of reincarnation, because the babies that are born during this time are likely to be weaker than normal or worse, still born. 2. E/N: Obviously, 8th power of 2 is 256. 8 bits is 1 byte. Not sure why that would be a problem for storage, but since there¡¯s Level 0, 1 byte can only hold numbers between 0 and 255. Next number to look out for is 4294967295. That¡¯s classic integer size minus one. And this one actually breaks many games if unaccounted for. Chapter 1269 I picked up the silvery Dragonscale Chain Armor and commented with a smile, "Not the best loot drop we¡¯ve ever gotten, but at least we got an Ancient Immortal-grade item out of it. This Dragonscale Chain Armor is not too far behind my Guardian Dragon Armor either. So, who¡¯s going to get it? Yiyi, Eve?" Lin Yixin snuck a glance at He Yi and pursed her lips. For a moment, she looked like a beautiful little thief. "Do you want it, Sister Eve?" He Yi smiled amusedly and she caressed her own chest armor. "My chest armor is Level 215 Immortal-grade with 8200 Defense. What about you? If your equipment is weaker, you can have it." "Well, my chest armor is the Level 200 Immortal-grade S3 piece, so¡­" I tossed the Dragonscale Chain Armor into her hands immediately and said, "Take it[1]. A true top-tier expert won¡¯t be seen with instance equipment. They¡¯ll only wear the legendary equipment dropped by a super boss or two." Murong Mingyue took a step forward and unconsciously jiggled her massive breasts. Pure Love looked like she would suffocate at the sight of it. "He¡¯s right. Instance equipment is ultimately generic, and true pros like you shouldn¡¯t resign themselves to generic stuff. And if nothing else, you can always trust Lost Leaf to cheat for us!" Me: "..." Lin Yixin: "..." ¡­¡­ We rolled for the rest of the equipment. None of them was worth keeping, and they were worth 10k gold at most, an insignificant amount of money for a top-tier party like ours. On a related note, the Giant Dragon Plate Armor was a tad better than He Yi¡¯s existing armor, but she rejected it because it made her look like a giant turtle, or so she claimed. Appearance will always come first for women, I suppose. I rose back to my feet and looked at the pitch black map behind me. I wondered what else could be waiting for us on the second floor of Dragon God Cave. "Well, time to move on. I wonder if there¡¯s another boss on the second floor¡­" I started. However, Lin Yixin declared without hesitation, "Nope! There are no bosses on the second floor!" "How would you know that?" "Because the devs just added the data regarding Dragon God Cave to the official website. Bosses only exist on the first, third, fifth, and seventh floors, and the seventh floor¡¯s boss is none other than Strella the Dark Magma itself. They also claimed that the difficulty level of this SSS Rank map is 100, and the survival chance of any player is a big fat zero¡­" "Sounds like a scam. Well, let¡¯s continue¡­" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ The seven of us continued along the spiraling path when sunlight abruptly shone down from the top of Dragon God Cave. Dawn had finally arrived, and they chased away some of the darkness that was plaguing this land. "Eh?" Suddenly, Lin Yixin pointed at the edges of a cliff wall and said, "Look! Why is there a patch of purple soil about 2 to 3 meters wide near the edge of the cliff?" Beiming Xue chuckled. "Yeah. It¡¯s really beautiful though. I see a ton of small, white flowers growing on it!" "Oh¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes widened even further. "Are those¡­ Dragonheart Orchids? OMG, I¡¯ve searched the entire Sky City domain for them! I had no idea that they were here at all¡­" I shot her a surprised look. "What is this Dragonheart Orchid, Yiyi? Is it useful?" "Oh, it is!" Lin Yixin nodded before launching into a serious explanation, "Dragonheart Orchid is a Rank 13 herb, and it is about as rare as god itself at the current stage of the game. People have been putting up requests to purchase Dragonheart Orchids at the square as soon as half a year ago, but as far as I¡¯m aware, no one has even seen it until now. Dragonheart Orchid is the key ingredient in developing the Rank 13, Heaven-grade, potion called the Dragonheart Orchid Agent, and its effects are incredibly good to say the least. It restores 100k HP to a player instantly, but also regenerates 5% of their HP per second!" I shuddered. "God damn, that is OP. This potion can heal a mage player to full health almost instantly." Lian Xin didn¡¯t share the same opinion, however. "Really? How about a mage with a max HP of 820k after Roland Bloodknight Card and Bombshell?" I replied, "Obviously, bullshit OP mages don¡¯t count¡­" "Screw you!" "..." The 100k HP insta-heal aside, the 5% regeneration per second was absolutely amazing especially for a high-HP player like me. I had a base HP of 750k, and with buffs my max HP easily exceeded the 2 million mark. This meant that the potion would heal me for 100k per second, which was almost as good as the Immortal Blade itself. It wasn¡¯t as good against bosses because they could often instakill players in a hit or two, but in PvP battles it was practically godlike. Of course, at least one of its key materials was ridiculously difficult to gather, and so far Dragon God Cave seemed to be the only place to gather the Dragonheart Orchid. This potion was destined to only ever be a luxury item among top-tier experts and P2W players. Less than 1% of the entire player population would ever get to use it. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin ran up to the patch of purple soil cheerfully. "Here I come, Dragonheart Orchid! I¡¯m going to be the best alchemist Sky City has ever seen, heehee!" "Huh? I thought you were a herbalist? When did you become an alchemist?" "I¡¯ve gotten my second profession three months ago, stupid! You don¡¯t care about me at all!" "I¡­" Lin Yixin crouched down beside a Dragonheart Orchid, produced a small spade and carefully started to dig up the herb. However, my heart suddenly skipped a beat, and I sensed a near indiscernible change in the air flow. It felt like¡­ the activation of a Domain! "Yiyi watch out!" I hurriedly rushed to her side, but it was too late. A bloody light was already flying toward her at high speed! Chiang! Lin Yixin shuddered as a long, red spear pierced her right arm and spilled blood everywhere, deleting 700k+ HP in an instant. Not only that, a dozen more spears soon followed! I stopped in front of her and held up the Cyan Dragon Shield. I was able to block all of the spears, but they turned my arm numb and dealt over 1 million damage in total. What the hell was attacking Lin Yixin? And how were they able to deal so much damage even from range? I didn¡¯t wait for an answer. On a hunch, I dragged Lin Yixin out of the purple zone and was rewarded with blissful silence. The attacks only came if we entered the purple zone. "Uuu, it hurts¡­" Lin Yixin said with a deep frown on her face. Now that I had the closer look, the "spear" was really a sharp spike that was shaped like praying mantis claws with sharp chipped edges. In fact, it looked more like a creature¡¯s body part than a forged weapon. Most importantly, it remained lodged in Lin Yixin¡¯s arm, and it ate away at her HP continuously. "We need to pull this spike out now, or you¡¯ll lose too much blood and die!" I urged. "Okay!" I pulled Lin Yixin into an embrace and grabbed one end of the spike with my right hand. She pressed her face into my chest looking like a fearful girl who was about to receive an injection. She lost another 200k+ HP when I pulled the spike out of her arm. Thank goodness Murong Mingyue was here, or she would be in some serious danger. Clang! I tossed the two-meter-long spike to the ground and watched it slowly vanishing over time. I then asked, "What the hell was that? That¡¯s some insane attack power¡­" Beiming Xue immediately pointed. "It¡¯s the creatures we saw clinging to the totem!" My pupils shrank. She was correct. The savage-looking giant dragons were pretty small for their race¡ªabout three times the size of a human being¡ªbut their limbs were sharp enough that they could sink their feet into the totem and hang themselves. There were also quill-like spikes growing out of their arms and their bodies! Blood Hook Dragon (Miniboss) ¡­¡­ No wonder Lin Yixin took so much damage. It was a miniboss, and super-long-range attacks were its specialty. The Dragonheart Orchid on the ground was a bait to lure players into the Blood Hook Dragons¡¯ range so that they could kill them all. What a devious design! Meanwhile, Lin Yixin was staring reluctantly at the Dragonheart Orchid on the purple patch of soil like a tempted cat. Then, she looked at me and started sweetly, "Little Cheat¡­" I shuddered. "Don¡¯t you even start! I refuse!" "Yes you will¡­" "No I won¡¯t!" Murong Mingyue interrupted, "Can you two stop arguing like little kids?"[2] I nearly spat blood. "Yiyi, you saw how powerful the Blood Hook Dragons¡¯ Attack is! What if you get killed? You won¡¯t be able to return for 24 hours!" She blinked. "I¡¯ll be fine with you protecting me. Just block the Blood Hook Dragons¡¯ attacks with the Cyan Dragon Shield while I gather the herbs. I promise I¡¯ll be quick. I also promise to share the herbs with everyone after we¡¯re done." I gave him some consideration before agreeing, "Fine, but let¡¯s leave this patch of Dragonheart Orchid alone and gather the ones 10 meters further. We¡¯ll rinse and repeat until we reach the end of the road. How does that sound?" "But why?" Lin Yixin looked confused. He Yi got my plan though. She burst out in a giggle and said, "You¡¯re so bad, Lu Chen!" Lin Yixin realized something. "Ahh! You are bad! You want to leave behind some Dragonheart Orchids as bait and make the Blood Hook Dragons kill our enemies for us!" I shrugged. "All is fair in love and war after all. Oh right, can you message Li Chengfeng and Little Gui and tell them to leave the Dragonheart Orchids alone, Eve? They¡¯re totally going to fall for this otherwise¡­" He Yi chuckled. "Got it. I¡¯ll send them both a message now." "Alright. Time to gather some Dragonheart Orchid!" ¡­¡­ A bunch of Dragonman Blade Devils were blocking the corridor, but thanks to our earlier experience, we were able to kill them with little trouble. After we took out all the Dragonman Blade Devils in the area, we began gathering the Dragonheart Orchids. I carried Lin Yixin in one arm and the Cyan Dragon Shield in the other. While I was tanking the Blood Hook Dragons¡¯ attacks, Lin Yixin would gather the herbs behind our shield with lightning speed. We were able to clean out the Dragonheart Orchids like some man-shaped lawn mowers, and thanks to Guanyue and Murong Mingyue¡¯s healing we weren¡¯t in too much danger. Pa pa pa... After we left the purple patch of soil, I looked at the Cyan Dragon Shield and was stunned by the sheer amount of bloody spikes that were stuck to its surface. After I cut them all using the Chill of the Nine Provinces and shook them off, I turned to Lin Yixin. "My shield is losing durability like crazy. I don¡¯t think we can keep this up for long¡­" However, Lin Yixin produced a golden potion from her pocket and declared, "This is an equipment repair lotion I bought using 7000 RMB. I only have this one bottle. So?" I shuddered. "What else do you want me to say? Let¡¯s continue, princess¡­" "Good boy~~" 1. E/N: Sure Lu Chen, break her set bonuses, I¡¯m sure 5-piece set bonus wasn¡¯t completely broken! 2. T/N: there is a sex joke here in the original where it sounded like Yiyi was trying to force Lu Chen to have sex, and Murong Mingyue is making fun of them. Unfortunately, I can¡¯t think of any way to put it in English, so you get the kiddies version instead, literally Chapter 1270 [1] There were no bosses on the second floor, so we planned to leave as soon as possible. Lin Yixin was the only one who was reluctant because she was afraid that there were no Dragonheart Orchids on the third floor. "Don¡¯t worry, there will be some on the third floor too," I consoled. "How would you know that?" "I saw them with my own eyes, duh. Dark Pupils have a long range, you know." "Really?" "Nope. I lied!" "Pooh!" ¡­¡­ As we continued, Beiming Xue suddenly perked up her ears and said, "Big bro, look. There¡¯s another cliff in front of us. I bet we have to jump down to reach the third floor just like before." He Yi sounded a bit exasperated. "Are there no proper stairs in the Dragon God Cave at all? Surely it¡¯s not going to be like this until the last floor?" Murong Mingyue shrugged. "Every living creature here is a dragon. Why would they need stairs when they can fly?" "Well, you got your wish, boss. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be able to jump this one¡­" "What? Why?" "Because I see a shit ton of Dragonman Blade Devils on the ground!" "OMG¡­" ¡­¡­ There were at least a hundred Dragonman Blade Devils at the bottom of the cliff. They were watching us and lolling their tongues almost as if they were anticipating our arrival. Everyone here knew just how powerful the Dragonman Blade Devils were, and even I couldn¡¯t handle three of them attacking me at once. In this case, no matter how carefully I tried to aggro the mobs, at least 10 of them would be drawn to us. There was no chance our 7-man party could survive this. With that in mind, there were two ways we could enter the third floor¡ª One, we could attack the Dragonman Blade Devils from above before jumping down the cliff. However, it would take at least an hour to clear out the mobs, and we probably didn¡¯t have that much time. Two, we could fly down the edge using my Ancient Divine Dragon and bypass the group of Dragonman Blade Devils completely, but we would have to weather at least three rounds of bombardment from the Blood Hook Dragons. There was a chance me and my passenger would die before we reached our destination... After I explained the two plans to the girls, they ultimately decided to go with the second plan. The Blood Hook Dragons might kill us, sure, but the 100 Dragonman Blade Devils would definitely kill us. Whoosh! After I canceled my Fusion Armor, I leaped onto the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back and asked, "I can only carry one person at a time. Who¡¯s going to go down first?" Murong Mingyue said, "I need to heal you when you make the return trip, so I should be the last one to go down!" "Makes sense." So, I extended an arm to a smiling Lin Yixin and helped her up the back of my dragon. After she wrapped her arms around my waist, she advised, "Fly as fast as you can. If you can take us to the third floor in 3 seconds, we won¡¯t receive more than two rounds of bombardment. Also, don¡¯t forget to raise your shield and Guard from the beginning until the end¡­" "Don¡¯t worry, I have Battle Astral Wind¡­" "That is true." The Ancient Divine Dragon let out a cry before dashing to the front. Once it reached the edge of the cliff, I made it fly toward the third floor in an arc toward the third floor. Immediately, the Blood Hook Dragons¡¯ bloody spikes struck my shield, and my Battle Astral Wind was shredded at first notice. There were just too many of them! Swhoosh! I half-crashed when I finally reached the deeper area of the third floor, bouncing off a wall and falling unceremoniously to the ground. That one trip had dropped my mount tenacity to just 87%. Thankfully, I still had over 1.7 million HP, so I could make it back without too much trouble. After I dropped Lin Yixin, I returned to the second floor and waited for Murong Mingyue to heal me to full health. Everything went relatively smoothly, and our 7-man party was able to reach the third floor in less than ten minutes. ¡­¡­ We came to a stop after venturing deeper into the third floor of the Dragon God Cave for some time. We had encountered a 5-meter long, cyan-colored worm with poisonous needles growing on its entire body. It had a dragon¡¯s head, but it looked unusually vulgar for some reason. It was even drooling like a pervert. "What the hell is that thing? Is that the main mob of the third floor?" Murong Mingyue asked in a disgusted tone. I stared at it with Dark Pupils before sharing its stats in my party channel¡ª Snot Dragon (Fiend) Level: 282 Attack: 31800~47500 Defense: 35000 HP: 7000000 Skills: Snot Attack, Body Wrap, Poison Pierce Introduction: Legend says that the Snot Dragon was the scum of the dragon race. In ancient times, when the creations of the heavens first entered the world, the dragon race had sat at the top of the food chain. Unfortunately, certain less-than-honorable dragons had decided to copulate with other races and left behind some offspring that could only be described as the shame of all dragons. Legend says that the Snot Dragon is the offspring of a dragon and a slug. Its Snot Attack is incredibly powerful, and it is capable of inflicting its enemies with deadly poison. It¡¯s a middle-rank guardian of the Dragon God Cave. ¡­¡­ For a time, our group forgot to move or say anything. "A¡­ a dragon and a slug¡­?" A red-faced Lin Yixin rubbed her nose unconsciously. "The dragons that took part in it must have been pretty¡­ hardcore¡­" He Yi agreed, "This is just too much. Maybe they really were in love with each other, but seriously, this is just too much¡­" Lian Xin said, "I¡¯m more curious about how they did it." Beiming Xue giggled. "That truth will probably remain as a mystery forever¡­" Murong Mingyue, as usual, fired only the big guns. "A dragon¡¯s dick must be pretty strong and tough, right? I¡¯m surprised it didn¡¯t pierce the slug¡¯s body¡­ or maybe it did?" Pure Love: "..." Finally, I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces and chided all of them. "Where is your shame, people!? I¡¯m a guy, and even I didn¡¯t imagine all the incredible nonsense you girls came up with! If you have the time to daydream sex between a dragon and a slug, you might as well kill this Snot Dragon in front of you! Now come on! This thing should be easy to beat since it only has high HP! Both its Attack and Defense are pretty poor!" After I said that, I Thunderous Charged the Snot Dragon, lowered its Defense even more with Purple Frost Concentration, and unleashed Burning Blade Slash. The devastating flame auras instantly punched three holes in its flimsy body. "Well, whatever the case, Lu Chen is even more brutal than those dragons¡­" Murong Mingyue declared without hesitation. He Yi chuckled as she Charged the Snot Dragon and unleashed her skill combos as well. The mob was weak, but its HP was insanely high. This would go faster if we attacked it together. "Hiss hiss¡­" While we were beating the crap out of the Snot Dragon, it twisted its ugly head and let out an equally awful hiss. Then, it fired a jet of snot at He Yi¡¯s shoulder and dealt 220k+ damage to her. As expected, the Snot Dragon was way less threatening than the Dragonman Blade Devils on the first and second floor, but it made up for it with its deadly poison effects. When it used its Poison Pierce skill, everyone of us got hit by the undodgeable AoE skill and got a debuff taking 10k HP per second. Thank goodness Murong Mingyue was an incredible healer, or the poison alone could kill some of us. After the Snot Dragon died, it dropped a magic stone that was worth only 7 RMB and a cyan-colored card. I was pleasantly surprised when I picked it up and checked out its effects. "Huh. To think that this thing would drop the first HP card to exceed the Roland Bloodknight Card. We¡¯re using this when we fight whatever boss is waiting for us on this floor!" Snot Dragon Card: Increases user''s Attack by 20%, and HP by 120%. When attacking a target, user has a small chance to inflict poison. Duration: 120 minutes. Level Requirement: 210. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin accepted the card and said smilingly, "This is pretty good. Let¡¯s kill some more Snot Dragons so that everyone in the party can use one when we fight the boss later!" "Yeah!" "Wow! There¡¯s a ton of Dragonheart Orchids over there, Little Cheat! Let¡¯s go!" "Fuck!" As disgusting as it was to tank the Blood Hook Dragons¡¯ attacks, the Dragonheart Orchid was a key ingredient to create Rank 13 potions that would make us more OP. So, I swallowed my distaste, raised my Cyan Dragon Shield, activated my Battle Astral Wind, and played the role of an umbrella for Lin Yixin while she gathered the herbs. A few minutes later, we received a message from the guild channel¡ª Li Chengfeng: "Yo! Are you inside the Dragon God Cave right now, Lu Chen, boss, Lian Xin, Beiming? Little Gui, Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, Yu Tong, Fighting Spirits, You and Yun and I have just arrived!" He Yi: "Yeah. We¡¯re all here. Are you on the first floor, or?" Li Chengfeng: "We¡¯re on the first floor. By the way, do you know that it¡¯s complete chaos at the entrance right now? You would¡¯ve loved this sight, hahaha!" I asked, "What is going on out there?" Chaos Moon answered, "Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, Purple Lily, Natural Flow and more are currently bashing each other¡¯s faces in to get into the Dragon God Cave first. At least tens of thousands of Swallow Ear Canton players were killed before they even got to see what the Dragon God Cave looks like." I chuckled. "That is incredible. They probably wouldn¡¯t be fighting to get in if they knew just how dangerous the Dragon God Cave is, however. In fact, I would even say that those who died early are the lucky ones. The mobs here are completely beyond the normal players¡¯ ability to combat¡­" Li Chengfeng voiced his agreement. "Yeah. We fought a dozen or so Dragonman Blade Devils earlier, and the only reason we suffered no casualties was because we had Little Gui. In fact, I heard that Warsky Alliance had already lost two hundred-man parties on the third floor. One of them had 5 Dragonman Blade Devils spawning right in the middle of them, and the rest was history¡­" He Yi chuckled. "What about Warsky? Is he dead yet?" Li Chengfeng: "As far as I¡¯m aware, no. He does have the Immortal Blade, so he can definitely act as the MT of his party. I also heard that there¡¯s a Candle Dragon party or two somewhere on this floor. I don¡¯t know if we¡¯ll run into them, but if we do we¡¯re definitely going to kick their ass!" Me: "Speaking of which, how many of our players have entered the Dragon God Cave?" Li Chengfeng: "There are over 500 Dragonlight Cavalrymen that I hand-picked myself, and over 2000 other players. Our party has slightly more priests than normal. I ordered everyone else to grind at other maps of Dragon Domain since I don¡¯t know if there are enough mobs here for everyone to grind." "Well done. We¡¯re currently on the third floor, but you don¡¯t need to meet up with us in a hurry. Just take it slow and steady. Also, there are a ton of Dragonman Blade Devils at the cut-off point between the second floor and the third floor. You need to fight them slowly, or you will wipe!" "I know. You should be careful too. Candlelight Shadow, Farewell Song, Little Piglet and the rest of the top experts can¡¯t be too far behind your party now¡­" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ I closed the chat. Despite Chengfeng¡¯s warning, I wasn¡¯t really worried because I knew just how hard it was to make it to the third floor. For starters, the foot of the second floor¡¯s cliff was crawling with Dragonman Blade Devils. Two, we had purposely left behind some Dragonheart Orchids so that our enemies would be baited into the Blood Hook Dragons¡¯ range. Moreover, even if some of them possessed a flying mount, they wouldn¡¯t be able to emulate my example. I managed to fly my party over because the Ancient Divine Dragon was an OP mount, and I had Battle Astral Wind to tank some damage. In their case, their only way to the third floor was to take out the 100+ Dragonman Blade Devils. No matter what they chose to do, there was no way they were making it to the third floor without paying the blood price. 1. T/N: The title is probably a parody of Numemon Chapter 1271 The ground of Dragon God Cave Third Floor was unnaturally slippery. It was because the Snot Dragons left a trail of slime wherever they wriggled. Moreover, visibility had been reduced even further, to 20 yards at most, which also happened to be the maximum aggro range of a Snot Dragon. Thankfully, I had Dark Pupils. It allowed me to see a bit farther than that and discovered the mobs before they discovered us. Also, the Snot Dragon¡¯s Attack was low enough that even He Yi and Lin Yixin could act as tanks, which reduced the burden on my shoulders by a lot. Most of the time, the Phantom Wolf King, apparition and I acted as the damage dealer of the party. After nearly an hour of fighting, we collected almost a hundred Snot Dragon Cards and an insane amount of experience. It was a Level 282 fiend-rank mob, but still, even I at my level had accumulated almost 70% experience in total. Open-world maps and even instances rarely yielded this much experience. ¡­¡­ Crack! After I beheaded a Snot Dragon and killed it at the same time, Beiming Xue suddenly pointed to the distance and said, "Look over there! What is that?" There was a glowing blue circle with runes floating above it on the ground 30 meters away from us. It was clearly a magic formation and, assuming that I wasn¡¯t sorely mistaken, a teleportation formation. Beiming Xue blinked. "It wasn¡¯t there five seconds ago. What triggered it?" I hurriedly unsheathed my weapon and said, "Weapons out, girls. It¡¯s probably a player¡¯s teleportation formation. I had no idea you could teleport in directly from outside." Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes glimmered with killing intent. "Nah, this is fine. All we need to do is kill whoever comes out of it." "You perfectly voiced my thoughts!" I charged first because I had high HP and high Defense. No matter who this mysterious teleporter was, there was no chance they could one-shot me. The light grew brighter, and the teleportation formation grew noisier. Then, a human shape abruptly took form on the other side teleportation formation and stepped through! Thud! Without hesitation, I leaped three meters into the air and brought my Chill of the Nine Provinces right down on their head! "Ah?" To my surprise, the figure let out a girlish cry and raised a shiny scepter to protect herself. She actually managed to parry my overhead strike! However, the difference between our Strength stats was too huge, and she was sent stumbling into the wall behind her. Crack! The tip of my blade sank into the stone wall as I pressed the Chill of the Nine Provinces against her neck. I asked, "Who are you?" Instead of resisting, the woman pressed a left palm to my chest and giggled. "Calm down, you. It¡¯s me!" She then pulled down her cloak and revealed herself to be Stranger of Three Lifetimes! The mage shot me a cheeky smile before asking, "So? How was it? My parry skills have improved, right?" Words could hardly describe my feelings right now. "The fuck? Momo? You... were you trying to kill yourself? You teleported over to an unknown floor, and you didn¡¯t even turn on your Magic Shield? A Dragonman Blade Devil would¡¯ve cut you to five pieces!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes pouted. "I forgot. Well, even the best can make mistakes sometimes, right? It¡¯s not too big of a deal though. Eyes Like Water and the others are showing up real soon, so¡­" It was as she said. The magic formation flashed a couple more times, and Eyes Like Water and some of the best players of Blazing Hot Lips stepped out into the open. They were a party of ten including Stranger of Three Lifetimes. ¡­¡­ He Yi walked up to the party with a smile on her face. "How did you guys teleport directly to the third floor? It¡¯s incredible!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes looked confused. "It¡¯s not that hard? When we entered the second floor and killed our 7th Dragonman Blade Devil, it dropped a teleportation scroll that teleports a maximum of ten players from the second to the third floor. The teleportation formation only lasts 30 seconds, so we had to move relatively quickly." The magic formation behind us was disappearing as she spoke. We didn¡¯t know about the other players, but we were now sharing a floor with Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ party. After a brief discussion, we decided to split up and go our separate ways. Ancient Sword would be moving clockwise and sweeping the Snot Dragons on the way just like before, while Blazing Hot Lips would be exploring in the other direction. We bade them goodbye after that. The accident was a fortunate one, because we now knew that teleportation scrolls existed in the Dragon God Cave. It would only allow us to skip a floor, but it was still an excellent tool when used properly. ¡­¡­ Almost half an hour later, we arrived at a gigantic statue of a dragon. Drip¡­ drip... The statue¡¯s jaws were opened like it was trying to devour something. I could even see translucent beads dripping down from the corner of its mouth. I checked the coordinates being shown by Dark Pupils and frowned. "Why can¡¯t I see a mob anywhere even though there¡¯s supposedly a red dot at this spot? Strange..." Lin Yixin pointed at the statue with widened eyes. "Maybe it¡¯s because¡­ you know¡­ that massive statue¡­" I shuddered and backed away from it instinctively. "That¡¯s unusual. Could the boss really be hiding inside the statue?" He Yi nodded. "We¡¯ve explored the third floor for so long that we¡¯ve gathered over a hundred Snot Dragon Cards. We¡¯ve also explored almost 75% of this floor. This has to be the boss, or Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ party would¡¯ve encountered it before us. So I slowly stepped toward the statue and touched it with my hand. The second I did, a tremendous power that felt like electricity repelled my fingers and began shaking the ground. It wasn¡¯t long before cracks started appearing everywhere. "Holy shit! Withdraw!" I grabbed He Yi and Beiming Xue¡¯s hands, and Lin Yixin scooped up Murong Mingyue in a bridal carry. We ran as quickly as we could as the floor beneath our feet literally crumbled away into the void. If we were even a second too slow, we would¡¯ve fallen into god-knows-where. When we looked back, we saw that the stone of the "statue" fall away bit by bit to reveal a wounded, bleeding giant dragon. Not only that, a boss everyone wanted dead was riding on top of it¡ªMingyu! "What the fuck?" I stopped in my tracks, used a Fire War God Card and spun the Chill of the Nine Provinces in my hands. I growled, "What is going on? Why is Mingyu together with this boss?" The giant dragon let out a powerful roar, but its brutalized black scales revealed its true condition. It looked like it had just gone through a major battle. However, its head alone was two meters long, and its eyes were bloody and full of murderous intent. As its whiskers bobbed up and down, it spoke to us in the draconic language, "Young adventurers, you should not have come to Dragon Domain. This place isn¡¯t for humans, hasn¡¯t been for a long time now, so you will pay the price of your recklessness!" I stared at Mingyu. He had lost an arm during the previous battle, and to my surprise, his HP was sitting at 3% or so, which was the HP he was left with after he took a massive hit from Xinran. It was probably because of story reasons, but his HP wouldn¡¯t regenerate any higher than that. This meant that we had an actual chance at killing Mingyu; a Quasi-Divine Rank Boss, the No. 1 of the Top 10 bosses of Spirit of Grief, and the man who once made the continent of Spirit of Grief tremble. I was certain that he would drop one of the Twelve Divine Armaments if we managed to kill him! Chiang! I unsheathed my weapon and pointed it straight at Mingyu. "Xinran failed to kill you, but that¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll finish her job for her!" While saying this, I scanned the giant dragon with Dark Pupils. It was definitely much stronger than Swordback Dragon Mons¡ª Dark Despair Tiggris (Ancient Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 295 Attack: 55000~72000 Defense: 80000 HP: 75000000 Skills: Bloody Bite, Dark Flames of Fury, Giant Dragon Flame Curse, Dominated By the Divine Introduction: The Dark Dragon Tiggris used to be a leader of Dragon Domain. It was defeated when Lin Na and the Night Creatures invaded, but it clung to the commandments of the Dragon Domain and refused to become a threat to humanity. Furious, Lin Na petrified and imprisoned it in Dragon God Cave. In the end, Tiggris wasn¡¯t able to fight off thousands and thousands of years of corruption and became a puppet of the dark. ¡­¡­ Mingyu smiled savagely from atop the black dragon¡¯s head. "I recognize you. You¡¯re that brat who stole my Dragonslaying Sword! For that offense, I will kill you right here and now! Now, old friend, who was the one who injured you so? Never mind. When this battle is over, I shall treat you and restore you to your former strength!" The black dragon roared, "Thank you, my master. Tiggris will fight for your sake!" I said in the party channel, "This black dragon has over 70k Attack, so Eve and Yiyi should avoid contact with it as much as possible. Just leave all the tanking to me and buff yourselves with the Snot Dragon Card. Replace me only if things get dangerous, and keep a close eye on your stun skill cooldowns. This is probably not going to be a boss we can defeat head-on. We¡¯ll have to stun it repeatedly to manage its DPS!" "Mn!" I kicked the battle off with Dragon Slaying Slash that struck the black dragon¡¯s head and Mingyu. However, only the black dragon was losing HP. In fact, Mingyu was using the black dragon to fight us. Otherwise, I could¡¯ve just cast Purple Dragon Howl and kill him on the spot. Swhoosh! Next, I tossed the Chill of the Nine Provinces at the black dragon¡¯s lower chin and hit it for 279882 damage, tearing off some scales. Finally, the elder grew furious and roared, "Die, brat!" It spat a jet of black flames that engulfed both me and He Yi. It was a one-line attack with a width of about 5 yards that would¡¯ve caught Lin Yixin and Beiming Xue too if they weren¡¯t that nimble on their feet. Both of us lost a ton of HP¡ª 1171767! 1572652! ¡­¡­ The black dragon rushed me and struck my Cyan Dragon Shield with its mighty claws, giving us almost no time to recover. Not about to wait and see if it could instakill us, I used Xuanyuan Art and healed myself and He Yi for 50% HP. I then checked my Divine Energy Points. After all the Snot Dragons I killed, I was sitting at 200 points once more (the higher the rank of a mob, the more Divine Energy Points they yielded), so I activated Heavenly River Transformation and charged. So what if it was one and a half of a super boss? It would bow to our power all the same! Chapter 1272 Pa! Beiming Xue shot a Shock Arrow into the Black Dragon¡¯s eye, spilled its blood and stunned it for 1.7 seconds. I only had 57% HP left, so I immediately took a step back and allowed Murong Mingyue and Pure Love to heal me. While waiting, I checked out the long, deep gashes on my Cyan Dragon Shield. Not only did the black dragon have a high Attack, it possessed some sort of durability-devouring effect as well. Every time it triggered, my shield would lose 3% of its durability. It was clear that the Cyan Dragon Shield had become a thorn in the black dragon¡¯s side, and it wouldn¡¯t be satisfied unless it was wholly destroyed. Unfortunately for the black dragon, I still had the equipment durability recovery potion Lin Yixin gave me in my bag. It could restore 100% durability instantly. It would never be able to destroy my shield before it perished, not to mention that the Cyan Dragon Shield was a Sacred Armament, meaning that it regenerated durability very quickly. It could recover at least 10% durability per hour. If the rate at which the boss wore down my shield was faster than expected, I could take a break and regenerate some durability as well. With luck, the black dragon and Mingyu would kill themselves through sheer indignation! ¡­¡­ "Come forth, draconic flames of darkness! Burn everything to dust!" The earth rocked under the black dragon¡¯s roar, and jets of black flame scorched everything within a 100-yard radius. Thankfully, the skill had a long channeling time, so Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and the rest of the squishies were able to escape out of range before it struck. The three of us protected ourselves, and Lin Yixin drank a Rank 12 HP potion the moment the Giant Dragon Flame Curse struck her. We were all able to survive the boss''s killer move! Golden light suddenly erupted from my Chill of the Nine Provinces. I couldn¡¯t let an OT happen while Lin Yixin and He Yi were retreating, so I made the snap decision to unleash my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Xuanyuan Slash! Buzz buzz! The golden light illuminated the sky of the third floor. It struck Tiggris and Mingyu with earth-shattering power and elicited a painful groan from both. Moreover, a chilly sensation had entered my palm during the swing, so I realized that the attack had triggered the Chill of the Nine Provinces¡¯ septuple damage effect. A huge damage number rose from the boss''s head, and a massive chunk of HP disappeared from its health bar just like that¡ª 15002470! +3000494! ¡­¡­ Another reason I decided to use the Xuanyuan Slash at near point blank range was because the Giant Dragon Flame Curse had left me with 10% HP only. As expected, the lifesteal took effect even when the boss was less than 5 yards away from me. I instantly returned to full health! Behind me, the girls¡¯ mouth were agape in shock¡ª Lin Yixin said, "OMG, I¡¯ve never seen anyone delete 20% of a Level 295 Ancient Immortal Rank boss''s HP in one strike! Little Cheat is definitely not human!" Lian Xin agreed. "20% in one strike is seriously¡­" There were even people talking about it in the guild channel¡ª Li Chengfeng: "What the hell? I think I saw the Xuanyuan Slash flash from the Dragon God Cave Third Floor just now. Did you do it, Lu Chen?" Gui Guzi: "Damn, SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skills are truly one of a kind. I can¡¯t believe we could see it all the way from the first floor!" I replied, "Yeah, it was me. It was purely out of necessity though. We¡¯re fighting the third floor¡¯s boss right now, and so far it¡¯s proven to be a pain to fight against. We might¡¯ve been party wiped if I chose to save it¡­" Gui Guzi: "If we could see the Xuanyuan Slash, I¡¯m sure that everyone else could see it as well. That means that your location has been exposed, Boss Broken Halberd. You¡¯d better finish the boss as soon as possible before danger finds you." I nodded. "Thanks for the warning. You guys should be careful too. Are you guys doing okay?" Li Chengfeng chuckled. "Du Thirteen got careless and was one-shot by two Blade Devils, but otherwise, everything is going smoothly. You probably aren¡¯t surprised to hear that Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon and more have all lost some first-rate experts to the Blade Devils as well. These Level 280 fiend-rank mobs are way, way stronger than all the fiend-rank mobs we have encountered so far, and I myself was nearly instakilled just a couple minutes ago¡­" I shook my head. "Well, be careful. Strella the Dark Magma is waiting at the seventh floor, and we¡¯ll need every man and woman to even have a chance at killing it!" "Got it. You too!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Time passed bit by bit. Everyone except Pure Love had activated Heavenly River Transformation to fight the boss. Even so, we weren¡¯t able to beat the boss without losing levels. As the main tank, there were many times I had come close to death. Even with the Cyan Dragon Shield and Guardian Dragon Armor, I had still died twice in five minutes¡ªtriggering Immortality once, and using Resurrection Art to revive the other time. The boss''s Attack was just too high, and if it triggered a consecutive chain of critical hits, not even Murong Mingyue could save me. "Keep it up, people! The boss only has 7% HP now!" Lin Yixin encouraged while staring at Mingyu. "Lu Chen, keep the black dragon busy, will you? I¡¯m gonna try and instakill Mingyu the second it dies. Bastard thinks he can talk shit to me with 3% HP? I¡¯m so going to¡­" "..." Suddenly, our attention was caught by a chain of bloody explosions about 1000 meters away from where we were. They almost looked like bonfires from where we were. Less than three minutes later, I received a message from Stranger of Three Lifetimes. "Lu Chen, our 10-man party was party-wiped. I myself was removed from Dragon God Cave just 30 seconds ago!" I was shocked. "How is that possible? Who could possibly wipe your party so cleanly? Was it Candle Dragon? Those fuckers¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes stayed silent for a couple of seconds. "We¡¯re not actually sure who our attackers were. What I can tell you is that they¡¯re eighth-promotion assassins because they all used the eighth-promotion skill, Assassin¡¯s Oath. My party was slaughtered before they could put up a fight, and even I only managed to kill one of them with Touch of the Dragonkiss." I processed the information in my head while parrying the boss''s attacks. Assassin¡¯s Oath was the Assassin class¡¯s eighth-promotion skill, and it greatly enhanced an assassin¡¯s stealth ability. It was probably strong enough to render my Dark Pupils useless, and Stranger of Three Lifetimes and her party had been ambushed by an entire party of them. It was no wonder they didn¡¯t survive. Nearly a minute later, Stranger of Three Lifetimes sent another message: "Found it. The assassin who killed me is called Assassin¡¯s Creed, and he''s a Level 217 Coldblood Assassin; a hidden class that possesses exceptional armor penetration. He¡¯s one of the Top 10 assassins of the China server, and he has kept a pretty low profile until now. His guild is called ¡®Blood Alliance¡¯, a mercenary guild made up of assassins only. They usually stuck to Wind City only, so I don¡¯t understand why they came all the way to Dragon God Cave and attacked Blazing Hot Lips so brazenly. Maybe someone paid them to assassinate our players? Ugh, this is going to be such a headache[1]." I nodded affirmatively. "Don¡¯t be sad, Momo. We¡¯ll fuck them up for you once we take out this boss!" "Yeah. Be careful though, I have a feeling that your party is their next target!" "Got it!" I exhaled a bit after closing the chat. Blood Alliance was a low-profile guild, but their players were notoriously bloodthirsty, and they specialized in open-world PK ambushes and guerilla warfare. It was why many major guilds would rather provoke the likes of Flower Room, Mad Dragon or Gods of Destruction than Blood Alliance. Sometimes, a vile man was scarier than a noble man. I didn¡¯t think that Blood Alliance would come all the way to Dragon God Cave to assassinate their targets though. What on earth were they planning? ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! My arm chilled again, and my Pardon + Universe Break combo triggered my weapon¡¯s septuple damage effect again, dealing unbelievable amounts of damage. After Tiggris lost its final sliver of HP and collapsed with a scream, Lin Yixin immediately dashed toward Mingyu with her Dragonfrost at the ready. She flew over the black dragon¡¯s head and attempted to delete Mingyu¡¯s paltry 3% HP with Extreme Break. "Hmph!" However, Mingyu saw her coming and was able to cancel her attack with a single punch. Still, Lin Yixin managed to land Ice Flame Slash that was empowered by her Gan Jiang and Mo Ye, doing a lot of damage. "Goodbye!" The smirking boss abruptly jumped into the pitch of darkness and ditched his so-called "old friend¡±. ¡­¡­ Everyone leveled up after we killed the black dragon, but I paid it no mind and focused on executing War Crush + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo on top of our loot. Dropping my stat points could wait until I cleared out the surrounding assassins first. Beiming Xue said, "You don¡¯t need to do that, big brother. I had Clear As Flame turned on¡­" I smiled. "It¡¯s better to be careful than sorry. Blood Alliance managed to assassinate even Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Eyes Like Water. That means that Assassin¡¯s Oath can potentially elude your Clear As Flame and my Dark Pupils¡¯ detection." "That¡¯s true. So, what goodies did we get, big brother?" "Haha¡­" ¡­¡­ I bent down and stared at the loot pile for a moment. First, there was a rainbow-colored shield that looked similar to the Cyan Dragon Shield, except that its light was dimmer. There was also a fiery scepter, a cloth-armor robe, and a ring. I grabbed the rainbow-colored shield first and felt a great surge of energy immediately. I knew from the sensation alone that it was a high-Defense piece of equipment. I waved my hand, and its stats screen appeared as a hologram to everyone¡ª Rainbow Shield (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 25400 Magic Resist: 19000 Stamina: +1850 Strength: +1900 Agility: +1850 Intelligence: +1700 Tactics: +220 Parry Success Rate: +69% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 110% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 70000 Outstanding Property: Rainbow. When successfully Guarding an attack, 50% chance to reflect the damage received back to the attacker as basic attack damage. Slots: 16 Level Requirement: 220 Reputation: 600000 ¡­¡­ "Rainbow Shield, huh? Both its name and its appearance are plenty gorgeous¡­" I passed it to He Yi while saying to the others, "This is an item for magic knights, and it so happens that Eve could use a new shield. Are there any objections?" Lin Yixin replied cheerfully, "Of course not! It¡¯s only right for Sister He Yi to have it!" He Yi gladly accepted the Rainbow Shield and smiled so wide that her eyes were narrowed into slits. "I almost have 80% of Lu Chen¡¯s Defense now, woohoo¡­" 1. T/N: OMG, Ubisoft¡¯s game has come to life to haunt everyone! Chapter 1273 I checked out the scepter next. It was a 5-star Outstanding Immortal-grade scepter that added a lot of Tactics. It wasn¡¯t bad, but its Magic Attack was lower than Lian Xin¡¯s Thunder God Scepter, so we gave it to Pure Love. The Tactics boost would only increase the effectiveness of her buffs slightly, but that was fine. Every true expert accumulated their power this way. We rolled for the robe since it was just a Heaven-grade item; something we would sell on the streets the moment we returned to Sky City. The ring was a great accessory that granted7% lifesteal, so we gave it to Lin Yixin. The royal road of Heavenblessed was to fuel aggression with aggression. ¡­¡­ After the loot distribution was complete, I walked to the edge of a cliff and looked down. All we needed to do was jump off this spot, and we would be able to enter the fourth floor. It was at this moment a blue magic formation suddenly appeared hundreds of meters away from us on the fourth floor. It was a party teleporting directly to the fourth floor. For whatever reason, our luck with the teleportation scrolls was absolutely horrendous. We still hadn¡¯t gotten a teleportation scroll until now. "Let¡¯s go!" I nodded toward the girls before jumping off the cliff. The wind whistled beside my ears, and my cloak flapped behind me. When it looked like I was about to hit the ground face first, I did a backflip and landed perfectly on my feet. My boots skidded across the ground and left behind a trail of metallic sparks before I finally came to stop. After I gave the OK signal, the girls started jumping down one after another. Soon, all 7 of us were on the fourth floor of Dragon God Cave. We walked a dozen or so meters forward and didn¡¯t encounter any mob. However, we did notice that the purple vines on the third floor were shaking unnaturally. Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes widened for a moment. "I think I know how Blood Alliance¡¯s assassins managed to skulk their way down the floors of Dragon God Cave now¡­" I grimaced. "We should¡¯ve noticed way sooner that they¡¯re swinging down the vines while in stealth. Since Assassin¡¯s Oath upgrades their stealth, not even the Blood Hook Dragons were able to sense them¡­" He Yi clenched her fists. "We don¡¯t know how many Blood Alliance players there are on the fourth floor right now, but we must be careful. The first thing Blood Alliance did after entering the Dragon God Cave was to annihilate Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ best party. They¡¯re not the type to work for free, someone must¡¯ve hired them to ambush Blazing Hot Lips. And if Blazing Hot Lips is on their list, then Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword are probably on their list as well. They haven¡¯t attacked us yet because we¡¯re too strong, but it¡¯s only a matter of time." "Mn." I nodded. "I¡¯m relieving you from DPS duty, Beiming. Starting now, I want you to focus on guarding sis, Lian Xin and Guanyue with Clear As Flame only. Since there¡¯s a chance the enemy may elude that skill, I also want you to drop a Skypiercer on us from time to time!" The Dark Archer giggled. "Got it, big brother!" ¡­¡­ We resumed our journey after the discussion and encountered the fourth floor¡¯s mobs soon after. They were still Snot Dragons, which probably meant that a new type of mob was introduced only every two floors. We cautiously moved forward while grinding the Snot Dragons. This time, we got lucky and found the cliff that led to the fifth floor in less than half an hour. We jumped down. Thud! The moment I hit the ground, an intimidating howl immediately entered my ears. "I sacrifice my soul to obtain the power of the Dragon Speakers! You will never be able to study this power, humans of the future! Hahaha¡­" An old man wearing a blood-red robe was standing about 25 yards away from me. His eyes were dim, his cackle was eerie, his face was rotted, and even his robe was riddled with holes wrought by the passage of time. The scepter he carried marked him as a mage of sorts. "Oh no, the mobs of this floor are mages? Even Lu Chen will be in trouble if four or five of them attack him at once¡­" Lin Yixin said worriedly. I scanned the mob with Dark Pupils and quickly proved that Lin Yixin¡¯s worries were true¡ª Undead Dragonspeech Mage (Fiend) Level: 295 Magic Attack: 42500~55500 Defense: 40000 HP: 2000000 Skills: Crouched Dragon Curse, Dragonspeech Bombing, Death Prophecy Introduction: Once upon a time, the Dragonspeech Mage was a profession that every magic academy student and teacher wished to obtain. When Dragon Domain was still at its prime, a group of youngsters with great talent in the elements were selected from the human empire and sent to Dragon Domain to study magic of the dragons. Legend says that those who learned Dragonspeech magic will gain the greatest magical power in the world. However, despite a lifetime of study, less than 10% of them were able to truly learn it. When the undead plague struck, they lost control over their own souls and became the puppets of Strella. They were remade into evil guardians of the Dragon God Cave. ¡­¡­ "Holy shit. 50k+ Magic Attack? This is going to be ¡®fun¡¯!" I asked Little Xin while gripping the Chill of the Nine Provinces, "By the way, how much effective Magic Attack do you have, Little Xin?" She blinked once before answering, "500k!" "Hmm." I pondered for a moment. "The Dragonspeech Mage is at least 60 levels higher than us, and their rank gives them hidden stat bonuses. Therefore, their real Magic Attack should be ten times their base Magic Attack at least. It¡¯ll be like fighting a ton of Lian Xins, except worse. Oh man oh man¡­" Murong Mingyue chuckled. "Well, just be careful. Now go get ¡®em, Lu Chen!" "Will do!" I Charged toward the closest Dragonspeech Mage, but something unexpected happened. The mob actually raised his scepter and fired a red draconic image at me long before I reached him! It was almost as if he could predict my movement! Swhoosh! Combat Log: You have been afflicted by "Crouched Dragon Curse". You are immobilized for 7 seconds! ¡­¡­ Fuck! Crouched Dragon Curse?! I hurriedly shouted, "I can¡¯t move! Yiyi, your turn!" Lin Yixin was a smart girl, so she realized everything the second she saw my unnatural freeze. She immediately charged the mob and hit him with Extreme Break + Ice Flame Slash combo. Far away, Beiming Xue also cast her Evil Spirit Volley and flicked every shot onto the Dragonspeech Mage. It took us nearly 10 seconds to finally break the fiend-rank mob¡¯s Magic Shield. After I regained my freedom, I charged toward the mob and seized his attention with a devastating Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo. In retaliation, he howled in fury and cast his Dragonspeech Bombing, which was a triple-hit fire blast spell of sorts. The blasts splashed against my Cyan Dragon Shield, seared me through the metal, and dropped my HP like crazy¡ª 449928! 481277! 452723! ¡­¡­ Murong Mingyue healed me while chuckling. "That was definitely stronger than Lian Xin¡¯s spells. Who would¡¯ve thought that a mere mob would hit Lu Chen for so much damage?" I cackled. "It¡¯s too bad that it only has 2 million HP then!" I brought down my sword for one last strike! Shing! "Ahhhhh¡­" The Dragonspeech Mage lost his remaining HP and collapsed to the ground. However, he howled, "Damned adventurers! I curse you!" Swhoosh! A ray of bloody light struck me, and a heart-skipping notice rang beside my ears¡ª Beep! Combat Log: You have been afflicted with Death Prophecy by Undead Dragonspeech Mage. You have a 30% chance of dying in 5 minutes, and you may not revive on this map if you die to the skill! ¡­¡­ "What the fuck!?" My eyes widened in disbelief. "What is this, the superior version of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Ghost God Prophecy? Sis, take the party leader and see if you can cleanse it with your Bright Mirror. If you can¡¯t, then I guess this is where our adventure ends¡­" Swhoosh! A column of holy light surrounded me. Thankfully, it successfully canceled the effects of Death Prophecy! The wild beating in my heart changed from fear to joy. I immediately gave Murong Mingyue a bear hug and laughed. "Man, it¡¯s so nice to have you in the party, sis¡­" She complained with reddened cheeks, "I get it, but let go of me, please! I can¡¯t breathe!" After I released her, I said, "So, this is basically the same as Ghost God Prophecy. We have sis to cleanse us of its effects, but what can the other parties do about this?" Lin Yixin answered, "Lose a party member every five minutes, duh. What else can you do?" Lian Xin said, "I wonder. It may be possible to bypass this floor completely by swinging our way down the vines. However, that is only possible if you¡¯re a great tank, or if you¡¯re an invisible assassin. Everyone else will get killed if they make the attempt." I nodded. "Let¡¯s send a message to Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi. We can¡¯t let our people suffer without a warning." "Yeah. Now, let us continue!" ¡­¡­ It had been a good many hours since we embarked on this adventure. Our eyes were bloodshot, and we were all pretty tired at this point. No one was willing to log out of the game and rest, however. There was only one Strella, and if we missed it and its unique Divine Armament because we took a break, we would surely regret it for a long time to come. One and a half hours passed by as we grinded our way through the fifth floor slowly and methodically. So far, we had cleared out around 25% of the map and gained a ton of experience. We had also obtained a ton of Dragonspeech Mage Cards¡ªwhich were incredibly OP mage-centric cards¡ªwhich we gave away to Lian Xin and Pure Love. So far, nothing bad had happened to our party yet since Beiming Xue was keeping a close watch on our surroundings. Swhoosh swhoosh... I suddenly stopped in my tracks when I sniffed the air and caught a whiff of something ominous. "Everyone, be on high alert please. I smell a stench of blood, but this tang shouldn¡¯t be coming from our blades¡­" Beiming Xue immediately dropped Skypiercer on us, but nothing happened. She asked, "I don¡¯t see anything yet, big brother. Do you want to try using your Xuanyuan Art?" I shook my head. "No. The Xuanyuan Art has an effect radius of 1000 yards, so it will hit the Blood Hook Dragons on the totem and aggro them toward us. If that happens, I bet 100 RMB that they¡¯ll wipe us in under two minutes!" "Who would even contest that bet, you¡¯d automatically win¡­" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin circled around Murong Mingyue for a bit as she gazed at her surroundings with her sharp, purple eyes. Then, her expression grew frigid as she uttered, "Shit, here they come! Watch out!" I glanced in her direction when the dry leaves behind me moved suddenly and unnaturally. I immediately turned around and fired Burning Blade Slash! Thud thud thud! My skill struck true, and three assassins emerged into existence, dead. As I thought, they were Blood Alliance players, and they had us on their kill list. Neither Beiming Xue nor I could see them with our skills because they all had Assassin¡¯s Oath turned on. If they hadn¡¯t disturbed the terrain, we still wouldn¡¯t have seen them coming until it was potentially too late. Pu! A bloody light flashed across Murong Mingyue¡¯s slender neck and dealt 170k damage to her. To her credit, she stepped away and healed herself with incredible speed. Lin Yixin was prepared for this, so she immediately swung her Dragonfrost in a half arc¡ªknocking aside the enemy¡¯s follow-up attack before it could land¡ªand thrust her Veluriyam Sword forward. The Ice Flame Slash instantly engulfed the assassin and killed him. Crack! Not everything went well, however. Behind us, Pure Love suddenly let out a scream and slumped to the ground, dead. An assassin wearing bright red leather armor and covering his features with a black mask had stabbed her in the back through the chest. He declared coldly after the successful kill, "That¡¯s 100k. Withdraw now!" Chapter 1274 "Ugh¡­" Pure Love dropped her scepter as she let out a muffled groan and dissolved into a ray of white light. I could see the resentment in her eyes before she died. She must¡¯ve been surprised to find that her 500k+ HP still wasn¡¯t enough to survive one full skill rotation from a first-rate assassin. The assassin who killed Pure Love immediately bent down to pick up the dropped scepter. He knew that an item dropped by a member of our party could only be fantastic. Lin Yixin wouldn¡¯t allow that to happen, however. She exploded toward the assassin, slashed upward and knocked his hands away from the scepter before he could touch it. Then, she launched a mighty kick straight at the man¡¯s groin before any of them could use a skill. Cold sweat poured out of my neck when I saw her tactical kick, not to mention that her boots were wreathed in flames. Since when did she learn the almighty descendant-ending kick? However, the assassin surprised all of us with a series of impressive movements. First, he activated Haste to dodge Lian Xin¡¯s spells. Then, he brought down the pommel of his dagger with both hands to block Lin Yixin¡¯s kick, and to send himself falling into the black pit right behind him. I rushed to the edge and scanned the man. I discovered that he was the guild leader of Blood Alliance himself, the Level 218 Coldblood Assassin, Assassin¡¯s Creed. After he vanished using a packet of fluorescent powder, the tree vines immediately began swinging unnaturally. I heard a soft landing noise from the sixth floor, and that was the last I heard or saw anything from him. ¡­¡­ "Shit!" My sword hand trembled slightly with anger as I stared at the infinite darkness. "I cannot believe we let that motherfucker escape after killing one of our members!" Inside the party channel, Pure Love said, "Guild leader, Lu Chen, Beauty Lin, everyone¡­ I¡¯ve revived outside Dragon God Cave, and I won¡¯t be able to enter it again. I¡¯ll be grinding with Xu Yang and the rest who died earlier. Stay strong, you all!" He Yi consoled her. "Pure Love, your scepter is with me right now. I¡¯ll give it back to you after we¡¯re done, okay?" "Okay! Thanks!" Pure Love tried to maintain a cheerful tone, but we all could hear that she wasn¡¯t feeling very well right now. Heck, I was feeling pretty down myself because my stats were much weaker without her buffs. I wasn¡¯t so sure about our chances against the boss of the fifth floor now... After that, Beiming Xue dished out a couple more Skypiercer + Spiraling Arrow Blade combos and successfully caught out another two Blood Alliance assassins. They stood no chance after Lian Xin contributed her DPS. In the end, a total of 7 bodies plus their potions and equipment lay on the ground all around us. I sucked in a deep breath before starting, "If we weren¡¯t sure before, we now know for certain that Blood Alliance is targeting us. Our mistake was clearing out the first floor and the second floor too thoroughly. As a result, their assassins were able to slip to the deeper areas of Dragon God Cave without any resistance. The only question left now is who is their employer." Lin Yixin said, "I added Assassin¡¯s Creed as a temporary friend, but he said that it¡¯s an absolute rule in his industry to keep the identity of his employers a secret, and that he would rather die than reveal the truth." Beiming Xue blinked before saying, "We¡¯ll just have to be extra careful, big bro. Also, I believe we should focus most of our efforts on protecting Sister Mingyue. I believe he will target her first, and it¡¯ll be when we are fighting a boss¡­" I nodded in agreement. "Yes, it will be extremely bad if we are ambushed while fighting the boss. Worse, we still don¡¯t know where the boss of the fifth floor is. Sigh, it¡¯s annoying how imbalanced the assassin¡¯s eighth-promotion skill is. I can¡¯t believe it can elude my Dark Pupils as well. This map also has no supply station or room for large-scale cavalry battles, which makes it a heaven for assassins¡­" Lin Yixin said, "And let¡¯s not forget that assassins can set Traps too. I guess the spring season of the Assassin class has finally arrived, hmph¡­" "Maybe. Well, let us continue. The Dragonspeech Mages give pretty good experience, and oh, we should fake some dangerous situations and hopefully lure out as many Blood Alliance assassins as possible. Those fuckers aren¡¯t here to grind mobs anyway; there¡¯s no chance they can beat any of these Level 290+ fiend-rank mobs unless they can chain-stun them until they die." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ Since our 7-man party had decreased to just six, we changed up our formation a little. Lin Yixin and He Yi stood guard around Murong Mingyue, Lian Xin, and Beiming Xue in case anyone tried to attack them. The special condition of this map¡ªthe fact that it could only be entered once every 24 hours¡ªmeant that these eighth-promotion assassins posed a nightmarish threat to all low-health classes. In fact, us heavy-armor players weren¡¯t immune to them as well. From what I heard, Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ party had been ambushed by a total of 47 eighth-promotion assassins, and Eyes Like Water in particular had been chain-stunned by 9 assassins in total. She never even got to lift a finger before she died. If even a top-tier player like her could be chain-stunned to death, then most other players could only do worse. Another hour passed by. We cleared out almost all the Dragonspeech Mages that existed on the right side of Dragon God Cave Fifth Floor, and dumped all the Dragonspeech Mage Cards we gathered on Lian Xin. We moved slowly because we didn¡¯t want to miss the floor boss. Any Ancient Immortal Rank boss above Level 290 had a good chance to drop a Sacred Armament, and we would be foolish to skip it without a good reason. We hadn¡¯t been walking for long when the sounds of battle suddenly reached us. I could glimpse the occasional flash of skills as well. Someone was fighting behind a row of huge dragon-shaped pillars. I whispered while carrying the Chill of the Nine Provinces, "There are players ahead, but they may not be friendly. Watch your backs while I scout ahead!" He Yi nodded. "Be careful as well!" "Mn!" I hid my equipment luster and made my way forward as quietly as I could. While I was walking past the row of pillars, I discovered that a wall nearby had a hole in it. There were vines hanging from the hole, and footprints and climb marks on the surface of the wall. Clearly, someone had used it to descend from the fourth to the fifth floor. I continued forward until the battling party was in sight. There were about 30 of them, and they were fighting against two Dragonspeech Mages. The mobs were incredibly deadly, and the magic knights tanking them came close to dying far too many times to count. Luckily, they brought quite the number of priests with them, so they just barely out-healed the damage they received. I checked their shoulders. They were members of Warsky Alliance. Swhoosh swhoosh... One of the tanks was carrying a long indigo blade. Immortal energy surrounded it, and it kept healing its user. The tank was none other than Warsky, and his fellow sufferers were Laughing At The Heavens and Lin Bing Dou Zhe. ¡­¡­ "Who the fuck designed these mages? That thing just dealt over 700k damage to me with a Fireball!" Warsky hacked away at a Dragonspeech Mage¡¯s Magic Shield while asking, "Have you confirmed that Soul Battle Robes are hanging around the third floor, Little Rain?" October Rain nodded while shooting her arrows. "Yep. Song of Cloud and Water, Song of Ice and Fire, Ringwraith and the rest of the gang are currently grinding Snot Dragons for experience. Apparently, the Snot Dragons have a low chance to drop a mount egg. It is a low-rank dragon despite its appearance, so¡­" Warsky let out a hum. "I sent a message to Song of Cloud and Water earlier, but she wouldn¡¯t tell me why she isn''t meeting up with us. What is going on here?" October Rain smirked. "I thought this might happen eventually. Ice and Fire, God Bone and Ringwraith are all ambitious people, and they were never going to submit to us. Looks like Soul Battle Robes has finally resolved to become an independent guild¡­" Warsky clenched his fists together. "What? We gave them equipment, mounts and even a guild territory. Are you telling me all this investment is for nothing?" October Rain curled her lips. "There¡¯s always a chance that an investment may turn into a loss, and Soul Battle Robes players have fought a lot of battles for us. Whatever they owed us has more or less been repaid. Anyway, Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes will be going our separate ways starting now, and if you¡¯re wise, you won¡¯t bother Song of Cloud and Water again. This may sound heartless, but you were never more than a distant cousin to her. In the end, the man she wanted the most was Lu Chen!" "It¡¯s always Lu Chen, isn¡¯t it?" Warsky grimaced a little. October Rain giggled. "What can you do? His equipment is better, his skill is better, his character is okay, and he even has better looks than you. Plus, Song of Cloud and Water has wanted to recruit Lu Chen from the beginning. If that bastard hadn''t rejected her again and again, Soul Battle Robes would¡¯ve been assimilated into Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls long ago¡­" Warsky: "..." ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a man appeared seemingly out of thin air. It was Farewell Song standing atop a rock and looking like he was suspended on the wall. He said in a cool voice, "I took out 4 Blood Alliance assassins, Warsky, but there are probably more skulking around the Dragon God Cave. Just keep an eye out for danger at all times. Also, our chance has finally arrived!" Warsky¡¯s eyes lit up. "Speak to me, Farewell Song!" Farewell Song pointed a thumb behind him before saying, "The boss is just 30 meters behind me, and I can say with certainty that not even Lu Chen¡¯s party has gotten to it yet. Also, I¡¯ve scouted third and fourth floors. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s party is still on the third floor, and it¡¯ll take them at least another hour of grinding before they reach the fifth floor. Therefore, the fifth floor boss should be ours if we beat it within an hour. Of course, that is assuming that Lu Chen and Lin Yixin don''t show up and steal it from us." Warsky declared immediately, "Kill these two Dragonspeech Mages as soon as possible, people! When we fight the boss later, cavalrymen, push forward and bash their faces in! Mages and archers, coordinate your CCs and make sure it¡¯s up at all times! I will be the MT, so focus your healing on me, priests. As Farewell Song says, this is our chance. With luck, we may get a Divine or Sacred Armament out of this!" After they killed the two Dragonspeech Mages, they vanished under the cover of darkness in high spirits. Chapter 1275 "What¡¯s the situation?" Lin Yixin asked inside the party channel. I replied softly while hiding behind the darkened corner of a wall. "Warsky Alliance found the fifth floor boss. About 37 of them are heading over to fight it now." He Yi asked next, "Who¡¯s in the party?" I glanced in the direction of the departed party before answering, "Warsky, Lin Bing, Farewell Song, Laughing At The Heavens and October Rain are all present. They also have 9 priests and 7 archers. With this many eighth-promotion archers, they should be able to CC the boss pretty frequently. Farewell Song can set up Traps to influence the boss''s movements as well. Finally, they have 9 priests, and Warsky has the Immortal Blade. I¡¯m worried that Warsky Alliance will be able to defeat the boss. The question is, what do we do now?" Murong Mingyue asked, "Well, what do you want to do?" I clenched my fists. "From a moral point of view, we shouldn¡¯t interfere with the boss fight unless they show that they¡¯re incapable of beating it. From a logical point of view though, we absolutely shouldn¡¯t let the boss pass us by. Warsky Alliance has always thought of us as their rival and competitor. If we surrender this boss to them, the experience and loot they get out of it may allow them to catch up to us and even build up a new super-tier expert for themselves. Warsky Alliance is already overflowing with talent. If they gain a couple more Farewell Songs, they will definitely be able to threaten our throne in Sky City." Lin Yixin chuckled. "You can¡¯t have both the moral high ground and the high ground advantage. What do you really want?" I replied, "Well, I think I would like the moral high ground in this case. If Warsky Alliance manages to defeat the boss, then whatever. If they can¡¯t, then we can take overwithout being accused of breaking the moral code. Also, it¡¯ll be easier to kill a half-health boss than a full-health boss. Finally, Warsky Alliance¡¯s presence may be enough to shield us from Blood Alliance¡¯s assassins, so it¡¯s not like we¡¯re getting nothing out of this¡­" "Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ A while later, a smiling Lin Yixin showed up with He Yi, Beiming Xue and the rest of the girls. Her purple pupils looked both demonic and attractive in the darkness. After they got close to me, I made a hushing noise before turning back to look at Warsky Alliance. The spot I chose was at least 50 yards away from the party. This way, Warsky Alliance¡¯s archers wouldn¡¯t be able to spot me with Clear As Flame. Moreover, Dragon God Cave¡¯s lighting was extremely poor, so a red dot 50 yards away wouldn¡¯t show on the map screen. This time, we were in the darkness, and Warsky Alliance was in the light. It was obvious that Warsky had no plans to hide either. If anyone dared to contest the boss, he would give it his all and beat the crap out of them. The guild leader had been overflowing with confidence since he obtained the Immortal Blade. It also improved his strength to a whole new height. At a certain level, skills mattered less than confidence and fearlessness. The victor was usually the one more confident and brazen. In the darkness, Warsky carefully approached the cliffside leading down to the sixth floor. We had been so close away from this spot, but Warsky Alliance managed to get ahead of us this time. So far, all the bosses in Dragon God Cave had appeared at the cliff. They were the guardians blocking the way to the next floor, and the fifth floor boss was no exception. Warsky stared straight ahead as his cloak flapped behind him. In this moment, he was undoubtedly a true expert. He said, "Get ready, everyone. Spread out so that a dragon breath can¡¯t hit all of you at once, but don¡¯t get close to the edge either. We¡¯ve lost a hundred brothers and sisters to the Blood Hook Dragons, and I¡¯m not keen to pay the tuition fee again." Suddenly, a deafening roar erupted from the darkness. Then, a gigantic dragon¡¯s head emerged into view. Its skull alone was two meters wide, and it cast a shadow over Warsky and his mount. It had blood-red scales that gleamed intimidatingly in the darkness, and a pair of eyes that glowed cruelly and animalistically. A pause later, it abruptly opened its maw and cackled. "I guess I wasn¡¯t hallucinating after all! It¡¯s been three thousand years, and it looks like I¡¯m finally getting some fresh meat today. Now come at me, adventurers! I know you¡¯re targeting Mingyu, but Mingyu is an old friend of mine. You¡¯ll have to walk over my corpse before I¡¯ll allow you to travel into the depths!" Warsky shuddered from head to toe. "Holy shit¡­" "What is it, boss?" Farewell Song asked. Warsky¡¯s eyes gleamed cyan as he replied, "According to my Eagle Pupils, this motherfucker is a Level 297 Ancient Immortal Rank boss with an Attack of 70k. This is going to be a fun one. Anyway, I¡¯ll be the MT as usual. Archers, take turns shooting your Shock Arrow. I absolutely won¡¯t mind it if you can chain stun the old bastard from beginning until the end. Farewell Song, please tell our third and fourth floor brothers and sisters to come over as soon as possible. We may not be able to hold out for too long!" Farewell Song replied, "I¡¯ve sent the order. Do we wait for them, or do we fight now?" "We fight now. The longer we wait, the likelier it is for something to go wrong!" "Very well!" ¡­¡­ The Immortal Blade suddenly shone brighter, and Warsky vanished from the spot he was a moment ago. An animalistic roar erupted from his person, and he dropped a powerful Cyan Tiger Shatter right on top of the dragon¡¯s head. The Immortal Blade had a ton of Attack, and not even a Level 297 Ancient Immortal Rank boss was immune to its damage. It lost 390k+ HP immediately and let out a groan of pain. Cyan Tiger Shatter ignored even more Defense than Barrier Break, so it could be seen as a better version of it. After Warsky landed back on the ground, he withdrew while buffing himself with a Snot Dragon Card. "Shoot it now, archers!" The eighth-promotion archers unleashed their skill combos, but they either missed or dealt miniscule damage to the boss named "Crimson Crystal Dragon¡±. They clearly lacked the stats to do anything to it. Warsky grimaced before giving out his next order, "Lower its Defense, Little Rain!" October Rain¡¯s armor-breaking arrow struck before he even finished the sentence, lowering the boss''s Defense by 14.9%. It was a paltry sum, but against a boss this powerful, any amount was acceptable. It certainly was the only reason the archers¡¯ damage had risen to 4 digits. "Roar roar roar¡­" The Crimson Crystal Dragon let out a furious roar and struck Warsky twice with its steel-like talons. Warsky turned green as his shield[1] glowed red like it was on fire, and his HP dropped tremendously¡ª 790283! 812237! The Crimson Crystal Dragon wasn¡¯t done yet. It opened its maw next and unleashed its dragon breath, causing Warsky to instinctively raise his shield and Guard. Normally, this would be a fantastic move, but Guard was useless against magic-type damage like dragon breath. As a result, he lost another 1 million HP. "What the fuck is this Attack?!" You could almost see Warsky¡¯s soul floating out of his mouth. It had taken 9 priests dropping their Instant Heals on him at the same time to keep alive, and he still wasn¡¯t even at 10% HP. The boss fight was just beginning, and already it looked like they were about to wipe. The two magic knights behind Warsky dropped dead without being able to do anything, which was expected since they didn¡¯t have any bard buff on them. Also, Warsky currently had 3 Ancient Immortal-grade pieces of equipment on his person. Of course his resistance would be higher than theirs. Just when Warsky thought he would die, the Crimson Crystal Dragon suddenly stopped moving, and a gigantic stun icon appeared on its head. It was Farewell Song saving his boss in the nick of time. He had activated Heavenly River Transformation, slashed the back of the boss''s neck and successfully stunned it with Ambush for 2.9 seconds. A second slower, and Warsky would be gone already. After Farewell Song landed Blade Vortex + Dance of Death combo, he launched himself away from the boss and vanished in a puff of fluorescent powder. This was the power of a top-tier assassin; the ability to escape no matter how strong the opponent was. As an assassin, landing a combo was secondary to surviving and coming back later. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Meanwhile, Warsky had been healed by his players and his Immortal Blade to almost 2 million HP in just three seconds. The moment he recovered, he immediately charged the boss and engaged it once more. Nine eighth-promotion priests equaled to 2 or 3 Murong Mingyues at least, so healing was among the least of his worries. ¡­¡­ The Crimson Crystal Dragon didn¡¯t always attack Warsky only. In fact, he had the boss''s attention only 80% of the time. It wasn¡¯t completely his fault though. He had my survivability, but he didn¡¯t have my Attack. As a result, he lost 16 players in less than 5 minutes. "Are they here yet?" a 33% HP Warsky yelled while blocking a swipe with his shield. Farewell Song replied in an even tone, "The first 50-man party will be arriving in 30 seconds!" "Good!" Unfortunately, this 50-man party appeared directly behind us. Beiming Xue immediately turned as pale as a ghost. "Oh no, they¡¯ll definitely discover us¡­" However, I placed an assuring hand on her shoulder and said, "Calm down. Remember, we¡¯re just watching the boss fight, not stealing the boss¡­" I then stepped out of the darkness, walked up to an illuminated part of the wall, leaned against it and watched Warsky¡¯s fight with a smile on my face. Behind me, the girls followed suit and stood next to me as well. Lian Xin even sat cross-legged on the ground and unwittingly flashed her smooth, pale legs, distracting the archers so much that they nearly forgot that they were in a boss fight. ¡­¡­ "Fuck me, why are they here¡­" Warsky complained while fighting the boss, "Fuck me! Lu Chen, what is the meaning of this? Are you going to just stand there and do nothing?" I smiled. "Of course! You don¡¯t expect us to help you, do you? A Level 297 Ancient Immortal Rank boss is no joke, and we can¡¯t afford to lose even a single member. No way we¡¯re lending you a hand¡­" October Rain: "..." Warsky gritted his teeth but kept his silence. It looked like he was saying something in the party channel though. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle... A moment later, the leaves on the ground shuddered by a tiny fraction. It was nearly indiscernible, but it didn¡¯t escape my notice. The unnatural movement was caused by two Warsky Alliance assassins, and Farewell Song might be closeby. For now, I didn¡¯t know if they were here to keep an eye on us, or assassinate us. 1. T/N: I think I noticed it some chapters ago, but Warsky has a shield now. I guess it¡¯s been long enough that Lu Chen¡¯s shield mark thing isn¡¯t so rare anymore. Chapter 1276 "Assassins¡­" The intelligent Lian Xin had noticed the disturbance on the ground as well. "Big brother Lu Chen, the assassins are 15 yards away at our 9 o¡¯clock. They¡¯re definitely not Farewell Song since he would never step on dry leaves. Do we take them out, or?" I shook my head. "Leave them. Warsky isn¡¯t that stupid; he knows he¡¯ll be inviting retaliation if he attacks us." "Mn." ¡­¡­ Very soon, a dozen or so Qiu Beast Cavalrymen appeared from the right side. They were quickly followed by a band of mages, archers, tamers, priests and so on. There were exactly 50 of them, and they were all Warsky Alliance players. They were the reinforcements Warsky had summoned to his aid a short while earlier. When a magic knight passed us by, he shot Lin Yixin and I a confused look before asking, "Did we invite Falling Dust and Fruit Knife to watch our boss fight, guild leader?" Warsky uttered through gritted teeth, "Just ignore those bastards, help me tank the boss, and keep the stream of reinforcements coming! The boss has already lost 19% of its HP, so it shouldn¡¯t be long before it goes down. Hmph, my 39 points of Luck should be enough to give us one or two Divine or Sacred Armaments!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe chuckled. "Yep. Long live Sacred Armaments!" Beside me, a seemingly tired Lin Yixin gathered her battle skirt and sat down on the ground. Her long, pale legs seemed to glow in the moonlight as she chuckled. "What was the saying again? Counting one''s chickens before they are hatched?" Warsky retorted, "Please keep your criticisms to yourself, spectator!" Lin Yixin stuck out her tongue, but refrained from commenting further. October Rain shot us a wary look as she suppressed the boss with an Archery skill. "Lu Chen, you won¡¯t try to steal the boss from us, will you?" I shrugged. "If you have everything under control, then I swear on my name that I won¡¯t interfere no matter what. But if you don¡¯t, then I¡¯ll definitely lend you a hand, understand?" I purposely emphasized the line "lend you a hand", and the intelligent woman got my meaning immediately. "Very well. Do what you want¡­" ¡­¡­ After that, I sat down on the ground and kept only one eye on the Crimson Crystal Dragon. The boss still had 80% HP, and it would take at least another 20 minutes before it hit 50% HP and began the real show. Of course, the chances that nothing would happen during this time were minimal. Right now, the Dragon God Cave was the center stage of the day, and at least tens of thousands of experts had shown up from all across the world. Most of them would be fighting on the first and second floors, but the rest should have made it to the third and fourth floor. At the very least, Candle Dragon, Purple Lily, Gods of Destruction and more must be on their way already. It was as I thought. Less than five minutes later, a brawny man carrying a blade stepped out of the darkness. He was none other than Dominating Heaven Blade, and he was followed by his usual cohort¡ªDominating Warrior God, Dominating Knight God and so on. Gods of Destruction had never lost sight of their dreams, and this was the perfect chance to ignite that spark. Dominating Heaven Blade was never going to let it slip past him without a fight. Dominating Heaven Blade silently walked to a different corner and sat there. Then, he stared at Warsky Alliance until both Warsky and Farewell Song felt chills crawling across their backs. Lin Bing Dou Zhe whispered, "God, these fuckers are so cheap! They¡¯re even cheaper than I am!" Laughing At The Heavens could only grimace in response. ¡­¡­ More and more people gathered in the darkness. Rustle rustle... When the dust on the ground next to me stirred almost indiscernibly, I looked up and said, "You¡¯ve come, Moonkiss?" A sweet voice responded, "Yeah, I¡¯m scouting ahead since Sister Wang Luo will be arriving in three minutes. It¡¯s as crowded as a flea market though." Me: "..." Suddenly, Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s eyes sharpened. "Watch out, people! Candle Dragon has arrived!" It was as he said. Less than a minute later, Candlelight Shadow showed up with a meter-long fire dragon lying on top of his shoulders. He was carrying Ye Yuse on his mount, and he was followed by Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, God¡¯s Dance and the rest of Candle Dragon¡¯s main force. They numbered at least a hundred players, which was already more than the number of Warsky Alliance players who were engaging the boss. Warsky¡¯s expression grew even uglier. He was hoping to finish the boss before everyone showed up, but that was obviously a pipe dream now. How difficult would it be to hold the reins of the boss with this many enemy forces nearby? ¡­¡­ "What do we do, guild leader?" Lin Bing Dou Zhe asked in a quiet voice. Warsky wasn¡¯t an indecisive person, so he declared after a short moment, "Priests, focus all of your healing on me. The rest of you, withdraw to the back while I keep the boss busy!" "What are you planning, guild leader?" "Just do as I say!" "Roger!" After Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Laughing At The Heavens and everyone else had retreated, a 50% HP Warsky abruptly turned away from the boss and galloped at full speed. He produced a silver potion from his pockets while shouting, "Warsky Alliance dares not monopolize a boss that rightfully belongs to everyone, so feel free to take it from us! I promise I won¡¯t stop you no matter what!" Swhoosh! As it turned out, the potion was a precious Invisibility Potion. The moment Warsky vanished from view, the Crimson Crystal Dragon lost its aggro on him and targeted the next closest player instead. This unfortunate bastard was Dominating Warrior God. A triple swipe later, his Dragon God Cave journey ended just like that! Everyone was stunned by Warsky¡¯s decisive sacrifice, but it was the most logical choice. Even if Warsky Alliance managed to reduce the Crimson Crystal Dragon to almost nothing, most of their players would¡¯ve perished in battle. Forget killing the boss, they wouldn¡¯t even be able to defend themselves when their enemies swarmed them from every direction. Warsky might even lose his Immortal Blade in the worst-case scenario. But now? Now they had as much chance as anyone to claim the boss experience, loot or both. ¡­¡­ Like a boss, the Crimson Crystal Dragon unleashed a jet of draconic breath and one-shot many Gods of Destruction, Purple Lily, Candle Dragon and Snowy Cathaya players. Speaking of Snowy Cathaya, Purple Marquis had met up with us a while ago. He asked, "Do we fight, guild leader?" Lin Yixin nodded affirmatively. "Yeah. May the best prize go to the greatest player!" Candlelight Shadow was also giving out similar orders. "Go, Candle Dragon! No need to pay attention to the other guilds! Just focus on standing your ground and defeating the boss with your power!" ¡­¡­ Maybe it was because almost everyone here was a Chinese player, but our decision at this moment was surprisingly unanimous. We had all decided to ignore the other guilds, kill the boss first, and snatch the loot later! More and more players gathered on this section of the map. There were at least a thousand of us in total. Arrows, fireballs and wind blades were flying in every direction, and the players were given no choice but to struggle through the chaos. An ant could kill an elephant if there were enough of them. It was the same with the Crimson Crystal Dragon. The boss was powerful, but there were so many of us that its HP dipped below 25% a lot faster than expected. However, the boss''s response also grew a lot more intense, and it used its breath almost once every 10 seconds. It wasn¡¯t long before the floor was covered in bodies, equipment and items. Heaven knows how many lives it would take to kill the Level 297 Ancient Immortal Rank boss. Finally, a band of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players emerged from the darkness. They were none other than Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and everyone else. "The boss still has 25% HP. Do we go now, or?" Li Chengfeng shouted over the commotion. I grabbed the reins of the Ancient Divine Dragon and declared, "Let¡¯s go! Anyone who can transform should transform before getting into the fight! When the boss drops to 10% HP, use your Ancient Divine Skills together and instakill it! Oh, and make sure to change your attack mode so that you don¡¯t accidentally hurt our allies¡­" ¡­¡­ Warsky heard this, and he couldn¡¯t resist gnashing his teeth together in anger. "Holy shit, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ tactic is just shameless! Everyone, go go go!" Candlelight Shadow himself had activated Heavenly River Transformation and was ready to unleash his Pangu¡¯s Axe at any moment. Everyone was going all out at the critical moment. Boom boom boom! High Fighting Spirits was the first one to attack first and unleash his SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance. It struck the Crimson Crystal Dragon on the head and "accidentally" killed 3 Candle Dragon players in the process. "Motherfucker! You did it on purpose!" Candlelight Shadow fumed, but there was nothing he could do about it. Instead, he ran behind the Crimson Crystal Dragon, activated his own Heavenly River Transformation, and acted as if he was going to use his Ancient Divine Skill. I shuddered. "Retreat! Retreat! Candlelight Shadow¡¯s going to use his SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill!" Our party was standing on one side of the dragon, and Candle Dragon the other. After Ye Yuse made High Fighting Spirits fall asleep, she said, "Candlelight, now!" Li Chengfeng uttered angrily, "Lu Chen, let¡¯s use our Ancient Divine Skills and take out Candlelight Shadow first!" "Okay!" As we transformed, I flipped the Chill of the Nine Provinces around and activated Cold of the Nine Provinces to freeze all enemies within 100 yards from me. However, Candle Dragon¡¯s players seemed to have figured out my plan as they all activated their invincibility skills at once. I didn¡¯t hesitate though. A golden sword erupted from my blade, and I fired the Xuanyuan Slash at them! Li Chengfeng assumed a crouching position as blazing flames rose from his Dark Blade, and the image of the ancient divine sword, Crimson Firmament, appeared above him. He had unleashed his Crimson Firmament Slash at nearly the same time as me. In the opposite direction, a currently invincible Candlelight Shadow was also dropping his Pangu¡¯s Axe through the Crimson Crystal Dragon and on top of our players. It was a duel of Ancient Divine Skills! Boom boom boom! The Dragon God Cave lit up like the sun, dust flew everywhere, and nearly the entire fifth floor was shaking from the tremors. The Pangu¡¯s Axe had deleted a considerable amount of my HP¡ª 1378272! Li Chengfeng also lost around 1.5 million HP. Ancient Divine Skills ignored Defense, so the only way to reduce its damage would be to have items that reduced damage taken by some percentage. At least Candle Dragon suffered more damage than we did. My Xuanyuan Slash and Li Chengfeng¡¯s Crimson Firmament Slash had instakilled God¡¯s Dance, Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow and Ye Yuse in one go. Candlelight Shadow himself was left with just 10% HP or so. That wasn¡¯t important now though. The boss had dropped dead under our combined assault, and Candlelight Shadow was running toward the loot! ¡­¡­ "The boss is dead!" Lin Yixin activated Gan Jiang and Mo Ye and fired an Ice Flame Slash at Candlelight Shadow. "And you can¡¯t have the loot!" Candlelight Shadow simply rolled below the sword aura before continuing his way toward the boss. Five pieces of equipment fell from the sky as the boss collapsed. That was what everyone was aiming for. Thud! I jumped into the air and raised my sword. I was able to flick a crimson sword into my other hand and grab it. At the same time, Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng, Candlelight Shadow and Warsky intersected each other¡¯s path and seized a piece of equipment each. Their looting speed could only be described as godlike! Chapter 1277 Thud thud thud... Metallic sparks erupted from between our boots and the hard floor as the five of us split away from each other. At the same time, the Crimson Crystal Dragon, the magic stones and the enhancement gems hit the floor as well. Of course, these items were less important. Nothing was more important than boss equipment, and the last hit, I think, was struck by Warsky. With his 39 Luck, the equipment drops should be of passable quality. Meanwhile, Dominating Heaven Blade was charging a low-health Candlelight Shadow with Dominating Archer God. He had seen the guy claiming a piece of equipment for himself, and taking him out might cause that equipment to drop. According to Eternal Moon¡¯s game rules, the drop rate of a newly-acquired item was far higher than that of an item worn for a long time. Swhoosh swhoosh¡­ However, a pair of Candle Dragon players was able to force Dominating Heaven Blade back with their Barrier Breaks. What surprised me wasn¡¯t the fact that they succeeded, but the ease with which they did it. They were high-level cavalrymen, sure, but Dominating Heaven Blade wasn¡¯t a weak player either. Candlelight Shadow had recruited a ton of experts in the past half a year or so, and it didn¡¯t look like he had skimmed on the quality. At the very least, a pair of them was equal or better than one Dominating Heaven Blade. After Dominating Heaven Blade was knocked back, Candlelight Shadow killed both him and Dominating Archer God with Outer Flame. He sneered while drinking a health potion, "Pathetic. A wiser man would¡¯ve known better than to challenge me with such weak strength!" Suddenly, a deep voice replied, "What about me? Do you think I¡¯m strong enough to kill you?" "What?!" Candlelight Shadow shuddered. A single man dashed out of the darkness, and he was vice leader of Hegemon Palace and the Cold Wind Swordsman, Little Piglet. His equipment was much better than what it used to be, and he was empowered by Strength of Divine Arms. He swung his sword three times from a tricky angle, killed the two Candle Dragon experts, and fired a sword aura straight at Candlelight Shadow! "Ugh¡­" The sword aura struck true, but Candlelight Shadow survived with a sliver of HP left. He rolled off a cliff behind him and vanished before Little Piglet could do anything else. There was no way to tell if he lived or died. ¡­¡­ Little Piglet turned back and shot Pillar of the Nation a smile. "I did my best, but I could only get a hit in. He¡¯s just too fast¡­" Pillar of the Nation sneered. "It¡¯s fine. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s blood isn¡¯t worth dirtying your sword anyway!" Beside the guild leader, Profound Puff suddenly pointed to the sky and said, "Hey look, there¡¯s a red crystal where the boss died. What is that?" We all looked. There was a shiny crystal floating a couple inches above the ground where the Crimson Crystal Dragon was killed. A shiver coursed through Gui Guzi¡¯s body when he saw it. "That¡¯s a Dragon Crystal! According to Mamate and Xu Yang, it¡¯s an incredibly rare key material that is used to forge high-level equipment! Currently, players are only able to forge Heaven-grade equipment consistently, but the Dragon Crystal can be used to forge Immortal or even Ancient Immortal-grade equipment!" "What are we waiting for then? Let¡¯s grab it!" I took off toward the Dragon Crystal at high speed. The Dragon Crystal was a kind of metal that gradually took form inside a dragon¡¯s body. That was why it was as rare as it was. There were two ways a player could obtain high-level equipment. One, they dropped it from bosses. Two, they forged it using precious metals like the Dragon Crystals. Heaven-grade equipment would be outdated eventually, so it was critical that we got our hands on it. I was just about to reach it when someone suddenly slammed me violently off course. I should¡¯ve seen it coming. Little Piglet was faster than me after he activated Freezing Heat. He wasn¡¯t the final victor though. A whooshing sound came from behind us, and a 30% HP Warsky appeared out of nowhere to slam Little Piglet to the ground! Pa! Warsky grabbed the Dragon Crystal and let out a hearty laugh. "The Dragon Crystal is mine!" Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon and more were about to contest it when I shouted at them, "Don¡¯t move! Stay right there!" "What?" Both Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng blurted in confusion. Suddenly, a burst of flame erupted from the underground. Then, before anyone could even blink, a huge, black-colored divine dragon emerged from the darkness and swallowed both Warsky and the Dragon Crystal! "How dare you! That Dragon Crystal is ours!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe charged forward. The dragon¡¯s scales suddenly stood up as if it was enraged by Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s defiance. It fired a jet of dragon breath at him, and the man left behind only a 2 million damage number, a pair of wristguards and dust. The dragon had literally evaporated an expert of Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s level in one hit! ¡­¡­ "Holy shit!" Gui Guzi swore with a stern expression, "That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s one of the nine Purgatory Sovereigns, Strella the Dark Magma! But why is it on the fifth floor?" Li Chengfeng gripped his sword tightly. "This isn¡¯t good. If that thing can one-shot Lin Bing Dou Zhe, the rest of us are¡­" Luo River God of the Capital, Moonkiss, October Rain and everyone else held their breaths. No one dared to say a word and risk provoking the insanely powerful dragon. For a while, Strella simply stared at us with its burning, malicious eyes. Then, it opened its maws and said in a deep voice, "No one can have the Crimson Crystal Dragon¡¯s crystal besides me! As for you lot, hmph! Your foolishness infuriates me, adventurers of the future generations! Come to me if you wish to kill me! I promise to teach you the myriad tastes of death myself!" Strella¡¯s long neck began shrinking back to the darkness below. When its gigantic head finally vanished from view, almost all of us let out an audible sigh of relief. The battle hadn¡¯t even yet begun, and Strella¡¯s sheer presence and domain had almost crushed us all. ¡­¡­ "Fuck!" Lin Yixin clenched her fists and swore out loud as she stared at the spot Strella had disappeared from. A while later, she let out a sigh and asked in a quiet voice, "Are we still going to the seventh floor to kill Strella?" He Yi said thoughtfully, "No one will call us cowards if we retreat now¡­" Beiming Xue looked at me. "What do you say, big brother?" I clenched my fists and declared, "We¡¯re going. Worst-case scenario, we die to a Purgatory Sovereign. That¡¯s not a bad way to go, is it?" Lian Xin: "..." ¡­¡­ Not everyone shared our opinions, however. For example, Gods of Destruction and Pop Culture¡¯s players all pulled out their return scrolls and vanished in a flash of white light. Even Dominating Mage God was swearing like a sailor, "Who the fuck designed this shitty ass map? There¡¯s no way anyone can beat such a powerful boss! Eternal Moon deserves to go fucking bankrupt! C¡¯mon, let¡¯s head back and grind the S1 instance!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Before Strella showed up, there were over 2000 players on the fifth floor. Now though, less than a hundred had chosen to remain. They had all witnessed the power of the Crimson Crystal Dragon and the cruelty of the Dragon God Strella. No one was foolish enough to think that they were strong enough to enter the seventh floor. Warsky, the wielder of the Immortal Blade had been eaten in a single gulp, and Candlelight Shadow himself had been knocked down to the sixth floor. If even the top CGL Hall of Famers couldn¡¯t conquer this map, no one could. I looked at Warsky Alliance but noticed that they hadn¡¯t teleported away for some reason. So, I walked up to October Rain and asked, "Beauty Rain, your best MT, Warsky, has been swallowed by Strella, so why haven¡¯t you gone back yet? You know you¡¯re going to lose a ton of men if you continue, right?" October Rain bit her lips before responding, "Can you cut the crap please? Warsky may be swallowed, but he is still alive in Strella¡¯s stomach somehow. My guild screen shows that he¡¯s still online and inside Dragon God Cave. One way or another, I must find Strella, cut open its stomach, and drag Warsky out whether he¡¯s dead or alive!" I was touched by her loyalty. "Warsky is truly blessed to have a counsellor like you!" However, October Rain replied, "I think you¡¯re mistaken about something. I don¡¯t really care if Warsky lives or dies, but I can¡¯t let his Immortal Blade rot in Strella¡¯s stomach. It¡¯s a small chance, but it¡¯s a chance nonetheless." Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Purple Marquis asked Lin Yixin, "Do we continue onward, guild leader?" Lin Yixin nodded affirmatively. "Mn!" Li Chengfeng also walked up to me and said, "Lu Chen, the ring I picked up earlier is an Ancient Immortal-grade ring that adds 72% ranged attack power and 50k max HP, so I gifted it to Beiming Xue. It wasn¡¯t free though. You¡¯re her older brother, right? If the sword you picked up earlier isn¡¯t a Divine Armament, can I have it in return?" Now that he mentioned it, I hadn¡¯t even checked the loot I grabbed from the Crimson Crystal Dragon¡¯s corpse. I hurriedly pulled it out of my bag. It had a long crimson blade with fiery runes floating across its surface. Appearance-wise, it already looked like a powerful sword. When I brought up its stat screen, Li Chengfeng nearly forgot to wipe his saliva¡ª Crimson Refinement Sword (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 11000~13500 Strength: +2250 Stamina: +2100 Agility: +2050 Intelligence: +1900 Tactics: +185 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 175% Passive: Increases user''s splash damage by 40% Passive: When swinging the Crimson Refinement Sword, 15% chance to deal triple damage. Stackable with critical hits. Slots: 17 Outstanding Property: Crimson Refinement Flame. When attacking a target, there is a 10% chance to trigger flames that will deal damage equal to one basic attack. Effect: Regeneration. Increases user¡¯s HP by 1% every second. Level Requirement: 220 Reputation Requirement: 450000 ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng wiped his saliva before saying, "Holy shit! Not only is it an Ancient Immortal-grade weapon, its Attack completely surpasses my Dark Blade! It¡¯s awesome!" I dropped the weapon in his hands and shot him a smile. "Take it. As you said, you gave Beiming Xue an Ancient Immortal-grade ring, so it¡¯s only right that you get this in return. Plus, your Attack has been lacking as of late. This weapon will more than fix that problem!" "Hell yeah! When we get back, I¡¯m going to torture noobs in the competitive arena for 24 hours straight!" Me: "..." I sent Lin Yixin a message because she was speaking with her guildmates, and I didn¡¯t want to interrupt her. "Yiyi, I know I promised to get you a sword, but Chengfeng asked me for the Crimson Refinement Sword first, and he gifted Beiming Xue a very powerful ring. Don¡¯t worry though. The next sword-type weapon will be yours for sure, even if it¡¯s one of the Twelve Divine Armaments or something!" Three meters away, Lin Yixin shot me a sweet smile and messaged me back. "It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s only right to strengthen your own people first. I can use Dragonfrost like a sword anyway, and I¡¯m not particularly lacking in Attack right now. Oh, and did I mention that my loot was a pair of Ancient Immortal-grade boots? So don¡¯t worry about it. Anyway, let¡¯s head to the sixth floor now, shall we?" I looked at Lin Yixin¡¯s feet and noticed that she was already wearing her new boots. The dark gold¨Ccolored boots looked very impressive. "Mn!" Chapter 1278 Swhoosh! Scorching hot wind blew past my ears as I jumped down from the fifth floor to the sixth floor. It felt like I was entering some sort of molten abyss, and waves of heat just kept rolling in from the front. It was highly likely that the mob of the sixth floor wasn¡¯t the Dragonspeech Mage anymore because I spotted some sort of fiery red globs in the distance the closer I got to the ground. I wondered what they were. Thud! I activated Dark Pupils and cast Summon the Storm the second I landed. Better to be safe than sorry. Assassins could be prowling about, and Blood Alliance¡¯s guild leader, Assassin¡¯s Creed, could still be on the sixth floor. Eighth-promotion assassins could elude detection skills, set up traps and deal massive damage. They were especially difficult to beat on a map like this. ¡­¡­ "You can come down now!" The moment I shouted, Lin Yixin, He Yi, Beiming Xue, and the rest of the girls jumped down to the sixth floor. They were followed by Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, and the rest of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Speaking of our guild members, they kept Gui Guzi as the party leader because his Knight God boosted all cavalrymen¡¯s Attack and Defense by 225%, making it so much safer to fight mobs. Li Chengfeng was still using the Dark Blade because the Crimson Refinement Sword had a Level Requirement of 220. He was only Level 217 right now, so it would take him at least a couple of days of grinding[1] before he could equip it. It was also why he jokingly claimed that he was going to abandon us all and invincible->teleport back to Sky City if the boss managed to bring him to low health. Immortal-grade weapons were extremely precious at the current stage of the game, and his Crimson Refinement Sword had entered the Top 20 of Global Weapon Ranking the moment it came into existence. It was no wonder he treasured it as much as he did. Eyes glimmering with fighting spirit, Gui Guzi licked his lips and asked, "What do we do now?" Chaos Moon chuckled. "What else? We kill the mobs on the sixth floor until we find the cliff, jump into the seventh floor, find Strella immediately, wipe and finally teleport back to Sky City¡­" Gui Guzi: "..." I said, "Anyway, watch out for Blood Alliance¡¯s assassins, okay? They may still be prowling about the sixth floor. Although¡­ I guess you guys have less to worry about. No assassin is going to kill a Dragonlight Cavalryman buffed by Knight God without considerable effort. Still, be careful." Li Chengfeng nodded before voicing his thoughts, "Our assassin subguild and Cute Little Naughty are currently grinding instances, and they showed no inclination to visit Dragon Domain at all. It¡¯s the same with the other assassin guilds because they¡¯re aware that they can¡¯t defeat a boss anyway. Blood Alliance is the only one that showed up with at least ten thousand players, and it¡¯s obvious that someone has paid them to assassinate the core players of various guilds. The question is who, and why?" I thought for a moment before answering, "It¡¯s simple. Whoever benefits the most from this journey is Blood Alliance¡¯s employer and the true murderer of Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Eyes Like Water." To my surprise, Chaos Moon pointed an accusing finger at me and declared, "I knew it! Since you embarked on this journey, you¡¯ve gained the Guardian Dragon Armor, Cyan Dragon Shield, Crimson Refinement Sword, Suppressing Fire Sword and Dragonfrost! You are without a doubt the player who benefited the most from this journey, and that makes you the mysterious employer of Blood Alliance!" Pa! I slapped her hand away lightly before retorting, "Screw you. Those fuckers are getting paid ten thousand RMB to kill a single person! How can a poor guy like me possibly pay the price? I could sell my kidney and still not have enough money to hire them!" It was at this moment Moonkiss dropped down from the fifth floor and blinked. "Kidney? You can¡¯t sell your kidney. Your girlfriends are going to hate you to death if you do that[2]." Me: "..." He Yi chose this moment to speak up, "Are you done chatting? If you are, then let¡¯s continue and try to take out Strella as soon as possible. We¡¯ve been online for over 24 hours, and countless people are tired, hungry, and in desperate need of a toilet break¡­" I curled my lips. "You know what? Let¡¯s log out for half an hour so we can use the toilet and get some food¡­" "Sure!" ¡­¡­ And so, we set up a tent at a corner of the sixth floor and logged out. Although the Dragon God Cave was an SSS Rank map, the devs weren¡¯t crazy enough to make it so that you were automatically kicked out if you logged out or something. Gui Guzi also stationed three Dragonlight Cavalrymen to guard us in case someone decided to ambush us after we came back online. My entire body hurt when I logged out and returned to the real world. I rushed into the toilet, drank some water, and ate two loaves of bread. Thank goodness there were two toilets in the workshop, or there would be a line and maybe even some yelling while business was being done. I drooped my head in exhaustion as I slumped down on the sofa. There were some bread crumbs around my mouth, but I couldn¡¯t be bothered to clean them right now. Behind me, He Yi was dressed in a white pyjamas and basking in the sunlight. She looked like a sprite of dawn and morning dew. Her pyjamas looked half-translucent in the sunlight, and outlined her firm breasts, flat stomach and round butt. I could barely keep my eyes off her. "Stop looking and turn around!" He Yi ordered half-jokingly. I did as she said, and a second later I felt a pair of soft, tender hands pressing down on my shoulders and massaging them. I closed my eyes and caressed He Yi¡¯s arm gently. I had been online for a ridiculous amount of time, and every time we encountered a boss I had to control three characters at once to maximize my DPS. It was exhausting work, but if this was the kind of benefit I got to enjoy after the day was done, I wouldn¡¯t mind it at all. The number of people who got to enjoy a shoulder massage from He Yi could probably be counted on one hand. A few minutes later, He Yi grew tired and took a seat beside me. It was my turn to repay the favor, so I moved behind her and gave her a shoulder massage as well. However, Murong Mingyue chose this moment to enter the living room, and the instant she saw us she immediately smirked and said, "Oh? Have you changed jobs and become a masseur, Lu Chen? How much is a full massage? I want one when you¡¯re done with her. By the way, you probably want to raise your hands a bit. Any lower than that, and you¡¯ll be massaging Eve¡¯s sacred plots. You don¡¯t want to do that in public, do you?" Me: "..." He Yi: "..." It was at this moment Lian Xin entered the living room with a box of yogurt. She said lazily, "Five more minutes until we log back into the game, people. By the way, I¡¯ve already discussed with Beiming what to do when we meet Strella. The plan is to show our faces a bit, die, and teleport back to the city so we can finally catch some sleep. Ultimately, it¡¯s up to you, Lin Yixin, and boss to defeat Strella¡­" I replied, "Nothing is certain until the real fight begins, but yeah. Strella is just too strong right now. It swallowed Warsky in one gulp, and Candlelight Shadow is nowhere to be seen after he fell into the sixth floor. Moreover, this entire map is shrouded in mysteries. I¡¯m not sure why, but I keep having this uneasy premonition that Strella is absolutely going to destroy us somehow¡­" Murong Mingyue rolled her eyes. "Isn¡¯t that obvious? Strella can probably delete two-thirds of your HP in a single breath. That¡¯s a true Divine Rank boss in every sense of the word, and it¡¯s highly unlikely we¡¯ll be able to challenge it without a full set of Divine Armaments. Still, if we somehow manage to beat Strella, the Divine Armaments it will drop are probably going to surpass everything we¡¯ve seen up until this point¡­" I nodded. "Yeah. Anyway, it¡¯s almost time. Let¡¯s get back into the game and try to complete all the scenes of this arc in one go!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ White lights condensed into humanoid figures as we logged back into the game. I poked my head out of the tent and glanced at the Dragonlight Cavalrymen guarding our spot. "Guild leader!" "Mn. Where are Gui Guzi and the others?" "They¡¯re about 100 meters deep. The mobs are kinda hard to kill, and our priests are having problems sustaining our frontliners." "Got it. Let¡¯s head over together!" "Yessir!" My cloak dragged against the ground as I crawled out of the tent. At the same time, I used a Snot Dragon Card to increase my max HP. This increased my max HP to 2.3 million even without a bard¡¯s buffs. I hoped that, accounting for all the Magic Resist I accumulated through my Sacred Armaments and Divine Armaments, I would be able to withstand two breaths from Strella the Dark Magma without dying. The flashes of Barrier Break + Ultimate Strength Break combo temporarily chased away the darkness. As stated, our players were doing battle against the mobs. The mobs of the sixth floor were dragon-shaped fire spirits, Level 299 fiend-rank monsters called Dragon Spirits. It had slightly lower HP than normal, but it more than made up for that weakness by hitting even Gui Guzi for 500k with a simple Fireball. Knight God was amazing, but it didn¡¯t boost Magic Resist. The good news was that there were almost 400 Dragonlight Cavalrymen in the party, so they could just Charge the mob repeatedly and stun it more than 50% of the time. It was only a matter of time before it died to Ultimate Strength Break. The sixth floor map was even wider than the previous floors. Its width alone was 400 meters, and no one knew the circumference of the ring-shaped floor. It also meant that there were more than enough mobs for every guild that entered this floor to grind. For example, Hegemon Palace was grinding about a hundred meters away to the right of Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng¡¯s party. Wang Dongliang, their guild leader, was riding a Bloodbone Warhorse and wearing a full set of Immortal-grade equipment. His skill was average at best, but the equipment he bought with the power of RMB was a different story. It wasn¡¯t too far behind Warsky¡¯s assuming that the latter didn¡¯t have the Immortal Blade. Wang Dongliang was looking in our direction and urging his players, "We need to move faster. As usual, the magic knights are going to Charge and use their Trapping Nets in an organized fashion, and the archers will stun the mobs with Shock Arrows. We¡¯re also going to kill three Dragon Spirits at a time. As long as the priests keep healing, and the bards keep our MTs buffed, the Dragon Spirits won¡¯t be able to stop us. Those who fuck up will be reprimanded!" Little Piglet assured his guild leader while swinging his Ghost Head Blade, "Calm down, boss. The Dragon God Cave Sixth Floor is just one floor away from the Dragon God Strella, meaning that anyone can die at any moment. Barring the exceptionally stupid, no one is going to PK each other on this floor or the next. Moreover, a large majority of the players who had come to Dragon Domain perished in squabbles between each other on the upper floors. Over 1100 of the 5000+ players on this floor belong to us. As long as we keep preserving our strength, we should be able to pose a threat to Strella." Shangguan Wan¡¯er abruptly appeared behind a Dragon Spirit and stunned it with her skills. She said smilingly, "That is correct. There is nothing more important than preserving our strength for the fight against Strella, so we should avoid clashing against the top guilds such as Ancient Sword, Snowy Cathaya and Candle Dragon as much as possible. Ah, Warsky Alliance doesn¡¯t count. Most of their core players such as Warsky and Lin Bing Dou Zhe are dead, and October Rain can¡¯t do anything by herself¡­" A smirk rose to Wang Dongliang¡¯s face. "Puff, if we manage to kill Strella, and our guild¡¯s ranking rises dramatically as a result I¡¯ll treat you, Little Piglet and everyone else to dinner at Longxiang Hotel! I¡¯ll even book two whole floors to show off our success!" The priest, Profound Puff, grinned lasciviously. "Hell yeah! And once the drinking is over, we¡¯ll head to Seven-colored Heaven and pick up some girls!" "Bro, what are you even talking about? Just throw some money on the table, and I guarantee you they¡¯ll strip down for you in no time!" "Sure¡­" 1. T/N: Wasn¡¯t Lu Chen like Level 230 or something, and he only grinded for an hour to accumulate like, 70% experience if I remember correctly? How would it take Li Chengfeng a couple days if he just grinded mobs? 2. T/N: For those who don¡¯t get it, kidneys are said to be a key component of sexual performance Chapter 1279 I joined my players, but I used Myriad Swords Obliteration instead of Ultimate Strength Break because I didn¡¯t have the latter. The damage I dealt still caused my Dragonlight Cavalrymen to go wide-eyed with shock, however. Out of all my AoE skills, Myriad Swords Obliteration¡¯s damage was second only to Rise of the Guardian Dragon. Rise of the Guardian Dragon cost 1000 gold per use, so Myriad Swords Obliteration became my most used AoE skill instead. It was especially useful and good-looking when used on a massive group of mobs. Gui Guzi asked while stabbing a mob with his Spear of the Knight God, "Hegemon Palace has twice as many players as us, Boss Broken Halberd. Should we kill them?" I shook my head. "No, that would be a bad idea. Try looking at Hegemon Palace again. You may notice that they¡¯re setting up Freezing Traps along the edges of their parties. They have at least 50 eighth-promotion assassins, and they¡¯re all stealthing with Assassin¡¯s Oath. Even my Dark Pupils could only detect less than 10 of them¡­" Li Chengfeng fumed. "Wang Dongliang came fully prepared, I see. What the hell is he planning? This is more than what you would usually expect from him." Lian Xin chuckled. "What else? He¡¯s gunning for Strella." "Seriously? He can¡¯t be that stupid." "That¡¯s not necessarily true¡­" I explained, "Let¡¯s say that we brought Strella down to half health, and they were able to ambush us. With their numbers, it¡¯s not impossible for them to bring down Strella. Plus, Strella looks like a physical boss. Assuming that its Intelligence isn¡¯t too high, you can definitely wear it down with God Devil Break." ¡°What should we do then?" "We¡¯ll cross that bridge when we get there. Right now, there¡¯s no point planning anything since it¡¯ll just be speculation. Also, we¡¯re not the only guilds on this floor. If we carelessly attack Hegemon Palace, trust me when I say that countless guilds will jump on the opportunity to smear our reputation. This is especially true for that calculative bastard, Warsky. If he finds the opportunity to post a thread claiming that we were trying to monopolize Dragon God Cave, it¡¯ll already be too late. If we win, we are the evil villain who monopolized everything to ourselves. If we lose, they¡¯ll become the hero who eliminated the villain. It¡¯s a lose-lose for us no matter what¡­" Gui Guzi sighed. "Damn. What a devious world we live in!" Chaos Moon chuckled. "This is just the tip of the iceberg, dumb-dumb. If you¡¯re wise, you will strive to learn as much of the world as possible from Boss Broken Halberd and Li!" Gui Guzi nodded. "Yes, I will¡­" Meanwhile, Lin Yixin was looking at us like she couldn¡¯t believe our gall. "Seriously? They bully you, and you just accept it? Gong¡­ er, I mean Wang Xu, feel free to join Snowy Cathaya if the bullying becomes too much, okay? We¡¯ll totally welcome you with open arms. We¡¯ll make you the vice leader and even find you a cute girlfriend. For example, yeah, we¡¯ll gift you Nangong Lexi if you join us¡­" Nangong Lexi immediately punched her guild leader in the shoulder. "What the fuck, you¡¯re a heartless woman, Yiyi!" I echoed in agreement, "Yeah, yeah! How could you recruit my subordinate right in front of me, Yiyi? Are you slapping my face in public? Don¡¯t you have any morals at all?" Lin Yixin glared at me. "So what if I am? What are you gonna do about it?" "I think I¡¯m going to treat you to lunch tomorrow¡­" "Good boy¡­" The gang could only vomit blood at the exchange. My tribulation wasn¡¯t over, however. He Yi glared at me and said, "You¡¯ve never treated me this well before." I replied immediately, "Once Strella is dead, we¡¯ll take tomorrow off and go shopping at Thai Hua in the morning. Then, we¡¯ll join Yiyi for lunch. Is that okay?" "Very good¡­" My beautiful guild leader smiled in satisfaction. Not far away, Wang Dongliang¡¯s eyeballs were just about to fall out of their sockets. He clenched his fists and swore in frustration, "Motherfucker! Just watch, I won¡¯t swim in the shallow waters forever! I¡¯m definitely going to rise to the sky one day!" Profound Puff shot He Yi a glance before replying, "That From Water is the former vice president of GGS, He Yi right? You¡¯ve tried everything to woo her to no avail, and now she belongs completely to Lu Chen. Do you still believe that money can conquer all women, Dongliang? After she left GGS, she founded a company called Raincube and stole nearly 37% of GGS¡¯ businesses in the Asia region. It¡¯s gotten to the point where the GGS headquarters are proposing to withdraw from Asia completely. What a woman¡­" Wang Dongliang couldn¡¯t stop his mouth from twitching. "The fuck, how do you know her so well?" Profound Puff shrugged. "I read the financial newspapers everyday, you know. Unlike a certain someone who only reads Men¡¯s Health and Playboy¡­" "Fuck!" ¡­¡­ We pushed through the dark halls of Dragon God Cave¡¯s sixth floor slowly and methodically despite outnumbering the mobs. The Dragon Spirits packed quite the punch, and a crit from their Greater Fireball killed anyone who wasn¡¯t a first-rate fighter. As a result, neither us nor Hegemon Palace were enjoying a good time. Hegemon Palace claimed that they wanted to preserve their strength, but they lost at least a hundred players in just an hour. Even we lost a dozen or so Dragonlight Cavalrymen because the Dragon Spirits¡¯ Magic Attack was too high. One and a half hours later, we explored nearly 45% of the ring-shaped map and started running into other guilds such as Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Flower Room, Mad Dragon and more. It was clear that the entrance to the seventh floor was just around the corner. Finally¡­ "Hey look! What is that thing?!" Gui Guzi abruptly pointed to the distance. A human warrior in black armor was chained to a rotten corner of the wall. The chains were connected to three gigantic iron balls to keep him from escaping. Li Chengfeng smiled. "I smell a quest in the air!" "Me too. Let¡¯s head over and take a look, shall we?" After we walked up to the NPC, Gui Guzi dropped to one knee and asked him, "What happened to you, bro?" The name on his head stated "Soul Eater Figue¡±. When he raised his head and saw Gui Guzi, the murkiness in his eyes cleared away to reveal naked excitement. "A human¡­ you¡¯re a human! Oh my god! We¡¯re saved!" Gui Guzi asked again, "So, what happened to you?" Figue replied, "I¡¯m a human who has been imprisoned here for almost a hundred years. I was the vanguard captain of Sky City, and I had come to Dragon Domain with a thousand-man battalion to search for Giant Dragon Gems and forge Giant Magic Cannons. Unfortunately, we underestimated the cruelty of the dragon race. That devil, Dragon God Strella had devoured all of our brothers and sisters and imprisoned Prince Karinter in the darker depths of Dragon God Cave. Sigh, I wonder if he¡¯s still alive. He would¡¯ve become the king if he hadn¡¯t been imprisoned in this god-forsaken place¡­" Gui Guzi grimaced. "Karinter? I only know Princess Karinshan, the current regent of Sky City¡­" "Karinshan?" Figue¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up. "Are you talking about Karinter¡¯s older sister? This¡­ this is a miracle! Has she come to Dragon Domain?" Gui Guzi shook his head. "No[1]. Anyway, you said that Karinter was imprisoned by Strella? Can we save the prince if we kill it?" Figue nodded. "Yes, everything will be freed once Strella is killed. However, that devil is too strong to beat! Even with your numbers, I highly doubt you¡¯ll be able to kill him!" I chose this moment to step forward and say, "That is none of your concern. All you have to say is yes, or no." "Yes! Yes, you can save the prince if you kill Strella!" Figue nodded before continuing, "Come, adventurers of the future generation. In the name of the old royalty, I ask you to travel to the depths of Dragon God Cave, destroy the four dragon-sealing pillars, and enter the Dragon Pit. Kill Strella and bring me its heart, and I will reward you with wealth and glory like the world has never seen!" Ding~! System Notice: You have received the quest [Soul Eater Figue¡¯s Request]! (Current Quest Rank: SS) Quest Description: Enter the Dragon Pit, destroy the dragon-sealing pillars, and kill Strella. Bring the heart of Strella to Soul Eater Figue for an extraordinarily handsome reward! ¡­¡­ Dammit, it was a group quest that could be accepted by anyone who approached Soul Eater Figue. However, only one person could complete the quest because, well, Strella might be the Dragon God, but it still only had one heart. Any more than that, and he would be the Monster God instead. "Alright, that¡¯s that!" Gui Guzi asked Figue, "We¡¯re entering the seventh floor right now. Would you like to come with us?" "Yes, I would!" Figue nodded. "I want to see that devil be torn to shreds with my own eyes, but¡­ as you may have noticed, I¡¯m chained to this place. The chains are nigh unbreakable, and the iron balls are heavy. I have to use all my strength just to move a couple of steps¡­" Gui Guzi said, "Oh, that¡¯s simple. Hupp!" He raised his Spear of the Knight God and brought it down on the chains. However, he only managed to leave a shallow mark on them... Beside him, Chaos Moon laughed mercilessly and said, "Hahaha! Your spear is good for a cavalry charge, but there¡¯s no way you can cut metal with it! What about you, Li Chengfeng? This is the perfect time to test out your Crimson Firmament Sword, right? Let¡¯s see if you are man enough to cut this chain that is thick enough to shame all men¡­" Li Chengfeng shivered violently. "I¡¯ll give it a try, but seriously, can you not word it that way? This chain has a RADIUS of 5 centimeters! There¡¯s no man in the world who has a girth like this!" Chaos Moon shot me a meaningful smile for some reason. I shivered even harder than Li Chengfeng before shooing her away, "Fuck off! What do you think I am, a sperm whale?" A short distance away, Moonkiss said to Luo River God of the Capital, "You hear that, Sister Wang Luo? I think I understand why people say that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are utterly shameless now¡­" Wang Luo: "..." ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng took out his Crimson Firmament Sword¡ªhe couldn¡¯t equip it yet, but he could ¡®hold¡¯ it and swing it with no stats applied¡ªand struck the chain. Unfortunately, the outcome was the same as Gui Guzi¡¯s. "Dammit, it¡¯s too thick¡­" Li Chengfeng groaned. Finally, I stepped forward and said, "It¡¯s fine. My turn!" I brought the Chill of the Nine Provinces down in one lightning fast motion, and this time the chains actually split in half. Figue rose unsteadily to his feet before giving me a nod. "Thank you, brave youngster¡­" I nodded back. "Let¡¯s go! It¡¯s time to kill Strella!" 1. T/N: Karinshan DID come to Dragon Domain, but maybe Gui Guzi missed her. The ASDS party did show up late Chapter 1280 After Figue rose to his feet, he grabbed his horribly rusted sword and walked to the forefront. He then pointed a finger into the black pit and said, "There¡¯s no need to search for the entrance. This is the entrance to the seventh floor; the Dragon God Main Hall. Of course, you¡¯ll need to survive the jump." Moonkiss stuck out her tongue. "From this height? What a scam¡­" I raised my arm and canceled the Fusion Armor clinging to my Guardian Dragon Armor. When the Ancient Divine Dragon reappeared, I said, "I¡¯m going to fly down and scout out the landing spot. Once I confirm that it¡¯s safe, you girls can jump down directly. I¡¯ll catch you just like the previous times¡­" He Yi and Lin Yixin nodded together before saying, "Watch out for Strella. Don¡¯t let him eat you in one gulp¡­" "Don¡¯t worry, Warsky¡¯s a big guy, and he¡¯s about as delicious as he can be thanks to all the exotic delicacies he enjoys everyday. Maybe the Dragon God has had its fill already¡­" I chuckled. Not far away, I could hear October Rain fuming a little, "That¡¯s a pretty heartless thing to say, you know!" I jumped into the pit after that. There were no Blood Hook Dragons on this part of the pillar, so I was able to ride the Ancient Divine Dragon in relative safety. Speaking of which, a couple of Dragonlight Cavalrymen and Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Kui Dragon Cavalrymen summoned their new mounts, the War Eagles, and flew after me. The War Eagle was a special mount that could only be grinded in the mountain ranges of Sky Forest. Most of its stats were absolute trash, but its movement speed was pretty good, and most importantly, it gave its rider the ability to fly. I had seen them being sold at the stalls of Sky City, and last time I checked, the price tag was 5000 RMB a piece. It was ridiculously expensive. It wasn¡¯t selling very well due to its low combat prowess. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s scales glowed a little gold and brown as it soared toward the bottom. I was grabbing its vines to steady myself, and the magic lamp suspended from it was illuminating everything around me. The sixth and the seventh floors were nearly 400[1] meters apart, but the Ancient Divine Dragon was fast enough that I reached the ground in no time. Both the walls and the ground were embedded with countless magic stones. It was said that dragons loved shiny things, and it looked like the saying wasn¡¯t false after all. The Dragon God Main Hall alone looked like a giant treasure vault. If we could kill Strella, then the magic stones here were as good as ours. I said inside the party channel, "I¡¯ve arrived. Yiyi, Eve, you can jump down now. I¡¯ll catch you with the Ancient Divine Dragon right before you land, so no need to worry about dying!" "Okay! Here we come!" Both girls let out a chuckle as they answered me. Very soon, a pair of beauties descended from the darkness above at high speed. After pinpointing where they were going to fall, I flew to that location, caught them early enough to amortize their fall, but not late enough for it to count as fall damage. Both of them displayed an excellent sense of balance as they flipped toward the ground and landed perfectly on their feet. I managed to catch Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue without any problem, but things went a little awry after that. Gui Guzi in his infinite wisdom had decided to remain mounted as he jumped. "Catch me Boss Broken Halberd! If I die you¡¯re treating me to a whole month¡¯s worth of meals!" I exclaimed in shock, "Little Gui you idiot! Why didn¡¯t you cancel your mount first!?" Bang! Gui Guzi slammed into the Ancient Divine Dragon like a rock, and we both rolled across the ground at least a dozen or so meters before we finally came to a stop. Gui Guzi only lost 10% HP from the impact, but a certain someone who had jumped right after him was going to lose much, much more HP: "OMG you fuckers! Someone catch¡ª!" Boom! The dragon warrior hit the stone floor face first and lost more than 85% HP in one go. When he leaped back to his feet, he said, "Shit! I would¡¯ve died if I didn¡¯t have great kungfu!" He Yi said expressionlessly from ten meters away, "Your lie would¡¯ve been more convincing if your face wasn''t flat from the fall¡­" Li Chengfeng shuddered visibly. "Really? Well thank goodness not many people saw it¡­" Murong Mingyue replied, "Don¡¯t you worry, I¡¯ve caught it all on video." Chiang! Li Chengfeng abruptly unsheathed his Crimson Refinement Sword and said in a sinister tone, "In that case, you leave me no choice but to silence you¡­ forever. I would¡¯ve preferred not to kill someone as sexy as you, but¡­" Murong Mingyue jogged behind my back and grabbed my arm playfully. "Oh no, that evil man is going to hurt me! Kill him and save me, hero! I promise I¡¯ll work like a horse to serve you if you do!" I replied expressionlessly, "You could never work like a horse, sis¡­" "What? Why?" "Because you¡¯re a dairy cow, that¡¯s why¡­" "Screw you!" Everyone erupted in laughter. A while later, Gui Guzi patted away the dirt on his butt and said, "Looks like there are no mobs on the seventh floor. Let¡¯s stop wasting time and rally our brothers and sisters already!" "Mn!" Li Chengfeng nodded before yelling, "Jump down while you¡¯re mounted, people! You¡¯ll lose 90% HP at most if you stay mounted! Once you¡¯ve used War God Recovery, you¡¯ll return to full health in two minutes tops! Jump down now!" A literal flesh rain happened after he said then. Hundreds of Dragonlight Cavalry fell from the sky and landed face first just like Li Chengeng did a moment ago. Our people weren¡¯t the only ones who came down either. Hegemon Palace, Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon and more did the same thing as well. Soon, thousands of players were gathered on the seventh floor. To my surprise, I saw Hot and Sour Noodles walking toward me. I didn¡¯t know that he had come to Dragon Domain until now. "I¡¯m a bit late, aren¡¯t I? Well, I¡¯m just here to see Strella the Dark Magma with my own eyes. It¡¯s not everyday you get to meet one of the Nine Sovereigns of the Purgatory after all. Do you know where the boss is, Lu Chen?" I pointed in a certain direction with my lips. "It doesn¡¯t look like there are mobs on the seventh floor, and there is one giant red dot at the center of the map. It¡¯s most likely Strella the Dark Magma. In any case, we¡¯ll know once we head over¡­" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ The entire Dragon God Main Hall was like a square in Sky City, except larger. Everyone was jumping in from every direction. After our HP had regenerated to full, we slowly and carefully approached the center. As the fog of war faded little by little, we began hearing the breathing sounds of a massive dragon. It sounded like an ongoing storm. When the last of the fog faded away, the girls nearly screamed out in surprise¡ª A huge, black-colored Holy Giant Dragon sat at the center of the main hall. It was covered in black scales with flames flowing across them, and its head was literally as big as a house. To make a comparison, not even me and my dragon were as big as just Strella¡¯s head. Maybe it was because it just ate lunch (Warsky) earlier, but it was sleeping very soundly right now. What really surprised me though was the fact that there was a gigantic iron collar around the Dragon God¡¯s neck. The inside of the collar was covered in cold, sharp spikes that dug deep into its scales. Not only that, the collar was connected to twelve giant pillars by twelve massive chains. It was only now that I realized that the pillars were a component of the prison that trapped Strella, not totems. ¡­¡­ "OMG, is that Strella the Purgatory Sovereign?" He Yi exclaimed in astonishment. "How is this possible? Even if the Dragon God Strella became a puppet of darkness, it was still a Dragon God. Who in the world had the power to trap it so? It¡­ it almost reminds me of a leashed dog!" I looked at the deep markings on the ground and commented, "Now I understand why Strella didn¡¯t just kill us all when it flew to the sixth floor earlier. It literally couldn¡¯t fly high because of the chains. This is almost sad. To think that the powerful Dragon God would be ¡®leashed¡¯ like this¡­" Li Chengfeng abruptly pulled out his Dark Blade and declared, "Prepare for battle, brothers and sisters!" Some distance away, Luo River God of the Capital also raised her scepter and made the same order every guild leader in the area was making. "We will attack Strella together! Whoever gets the last hit may be recorded in the history books of Heavenblessed, so don¡¯t hold back!" ¡­¡­ Hegemon Palace¡¯s guild leader, Wang Dongliang glanced left and right before raising his weapon suddenly. "This area, 30 degrees of the circle to the northeast belongs to Hegemon Palace! Please move elsewhere if you¡¯re not one of us, or we will attack you without mercy, not even if you¡¯re Ancient Sword or Candle Dragon! Please move away now!" Even Wang Dongliang had decided to man up for once and occupy one-twelfth of the available space by force. While the additional space did give his players a much higher chance to kill the Dragon God, the fact that he threatened us showed that his greed had completely overcome his rational sense. If I was a spiteful man who preferred his revenge hot, I would¡¯ve run over Hegemon palace with Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi already. For now though, I decided to ignore him and focus on the bigger fish in front of me. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! While the people were rallying, a Peach Garden magic knight lost control of his emotions and became the first person to charge Strella the Dark Magma. He smacked Strella right in the head while shouting, "Die, you stupid Dragon God!" Chiang! There was a metallic spark, and the damage number that popped up caused countless jaws to hit the floor¡ª 1! It wasn¡¯t a trick of the eye. The idiot actually did only 1 damage to the boss! "That guy¡¯s even more stupid than I am!" Gui Guzi sighed. As he said it, the single point of damage awoke the Dragon God from its slumber. As flames of anger gushed out of its nostrils, it slapped the magic knight with its left paw and sent both the player and the mount flying at least a hundred meters away. As soon as he rolled to a standstill, he dissolved into white light and left behind a cold, stiff corpse. Strella had literally one-shot the poor bastard! I activated Fusion Armor and barked out a series of orders, "Let¡¯s go! Priests, keep our frontliners healed! Frontliners, spread out so you don¡¯t get caught by its breath! I don¡¯t need to tell you how powerful the breath of a Dragon God is, do I?" Swhoosh! I then Thunderous Charged Strella and landed a basic attack. It was to gauge how much damage I could realistically dish out! Pu! A shallow mark appeared on the dragon scale, and the damage number that appeared¡­ wasn¡¯t too embarrassing compared to the one before, I supposed¡ª 19927! ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng exclaimed in disbelief. "Holy shit! Even Lu Chen could only do so much damage!" 1. T/N: I don¡¯t think the author grasped how big a gap 400 meters is. Even if this is a game, who the fuck can survive a 400-meter fall? Chapter 1281 The Chill of the Nine Provinces flashed once before piercing Strella¡¯s sides, injecting a stream of purple energy that reduced the Divine Rank boss''s Defense by a whopping 26.7%. Behind me, Beiming Xue Far Shot her Bone Eroding Arrow into the boss''s body and lowered it by another 14%. Now, Strella was much more fragile than before. Both Beiming Xue and Lian Xin had listened to my orders and Far Shot their skills from the farthest range possible. Not even Strella¡¯s breath could hit them from 150 yards away. Although the Far Shot mode reduced the power of their skills by at least 50%, not dying was far more important than doing more DPS. ¡­¡­ Impact noises resounded from all around the Dragon God Strella. Cavalrymen were Charging from all sides and landing their Barrier Break + Triple Slash combos. After the boss''s Defense had been lowered by Beiming Xue and me, even a normal player could now deal over a thousand damage. Strella¡¯s HP began decreasing at a slow but visible rate. "You are courting death, foolish humans[1]!" A low growl rumbled from Strella¡¯s throat as it shook its humongous head left and right before climbing to its feet. Then, it swiped left and right with its claws and blew a jet of dragon breath at its offenders, killing over 30 Candle Dragon Qiu Beast Cavalrymen almost instantly. The damage numbers that rose above their heads could only be described as absolutely terrifying¡ª 1826362! 1928283! 1823991! ¡­¡­ This wasn¡¯t the kind of damage the current baseline of players could endure, not to mention that Strella¡¯s attacks weren¡¯t purely physical. It was a dual cultivator of magic and physical arts of sorts, which meant that its skills dealt additional damage to heavy-armor players. Naturally, the frontliners became even more stressed out than they already were. Li Chengfeng launched a Dragonbone Flurry at the Dragon God¡¯s head, pissing it off and causing it to retaliate with a conic dragon breath. Gui Guzi, He Yi, Lin Yixin and I were unable to dodge it, so we had no choice but to endure the scorching pain ripping through our bodies¡ª MISS! 1429821! 1592394! 1422112! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! At least 50 Dragonlight Cavalrymen dropped dead at the same time. The boss had struck even the likes of He Yi, Lin Yixin and Li Chengfeng for over 1.4 million damage, so of course the Dragonlight Cavalry fared worse. Most of them received at least 2 million damage and were one-shot where they stood! I didn¡¯t take any damage because I was protected by Battle Astral Wind, but the one attack had deleted 47% of its durability. Two more hits like that, and I would be as vulnerable as any player in this hall. I immediately raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces and shouted, "Cold of the Nine Provinces!" An icy wind swept across the area and froze both the Dragon God and some of the players around me. It was because my attack mode was set to affect everyone except my guildmates and players from allied guilds. To my surprise, the ice had even extinguished the flames burning atop the Dragon God¡¯s head. The Ancient property of the Chill of the Nine Provinces was definitely stronger than the God Binding Art. "Eve, Chengfeng, Yiyi, go catch some healing now!" I yelled while unleashing Burning Blade Slash + War Crush + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo at the boss''s head. Then, I changed my attack mode again to peace mode¡ªmeaning that it only affected mobs and bosses¡ªand cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon. Countless dragons exploded out of the ground and attacked everything in its path. The Dragon God shuddered violently as many, many damage numbers rose from its head¡ª 290128! 310212! 281777! ¡­¡­ Strella had lost a ton of Defense after eating Purple Frost Concentration and Bone Eroding Arrow, so my skills could largely penetrated its Defense. Moreover, This was one of the few cases where Strella¡¯s huge body actually worked against it. The area of effect of Rise of the Guardian Dragon consisted of multiple linear-path attacks, and each path consisted of huge pillars of fire rising from the ground every ten yards. Since Strella was so huge, Rise of the Guardian Dragon struck it dozens of times more than normal and dealt nearly 10 million damage in total, or nearly 5% of its max HP. Normally, I would be rejoicing at the amount of damage I dealt, but learning that this motherfucker had over 200 million HP had killed most of that joy. Crack! Strella was the first out of everyone who had been affected by Cold of the Nine Provinces to break out of the skill. All of its aggro was on me right now, so it immediately struck my Cyan Dragon Shield twice and dealt a ton of damage¡ª MISS! 1340020! +134002! ¡­¡­ I shuddered and lost almost half my HP in one go, and that was after the Guardian Dragon Armor had converted 10% of the damage dealt as HP. Before I could rejoice at the fact, Strella opened its bloody maw and unleashed its breath again. I was starting to understand why it was the Dragon God. It hadn¡¯t even been 5 seconds since its last dragon breath, and it almost felt as if this motherfucker didn¡¯t need to accumulate its energy before converting them into a breath! So OP! Buzz! I burned and lost over 1.2 million HP in one go. I managed to restore myself to 800k HP thanks to Tenacity of the Dead and my priests¡¯ healing, but it still wasn¡¯t enough to withstand a single slap from the boss. I needed to do something, and fast! I made up my mind and activated the special effect of the Cyan Dragon Shield, Cyan Dragon Scale. A dragon¡¯s cry pierced the air, and the image of a cyan-colored divine dragon surrounded my body and formed some sort of magic-infused energy barrier on my Guardian Dragon Armor. A great but unoppressive weight supported me, and I knew that my Defense and Magic Resist had greatly improved! While this was going on, I didn¡¯t forget to swing my Chill of the Nine Provinces like a motor, deleting the Dragon God¡¯s HP and healing myself for every point of damage dealt. I tried summoning the Phantom Wolf King to assist me, but 3 seconds later the motherfucking boss fired its dragon breath again! Whoosh! The Phantom Wolf King let out a painful yelp and died instantly. However, I survived thanks to Cyan Dragon Scale¡ª 755427! Before the Cyan Dragon Scale took effect, the dragon breath would¡¯ve dealt 1.2 million damage. Now though, it had been lowered to just 750k damage. I knew that the Cyan Dragon Shield would turn out amazing! Unfortunately, Cyan Dragon Scale only lasted for 120 seconds. Worse, it had a 240-second cooldown. This meant that Cyan Dragon Scale would only be active for 50% of the time of this boss fight. I could tank the boss if the effect was up, but not when it was down. Moreover, we didn¡¯t have many priests with us. Over 30 ASDS priests had entered Dragon God Cave, but 20 of them had been killed by the first dragon breath because they stood a bit too close to the center. When the margin of error was so narrow, only the most discerning priests would survive. Unfortunately, Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew and Yamete were the only ones who truly were at that level. ¡­¡­ A hundred meters away, Pop Culture¡¯s Lone Moonshade was yelling, "Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace, Gods of Destruction, the fuck you guys are waiting for? Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya alone can¡¯t stop the boss! Even Lu Chen is struggling at 33% health! What the fuck do you think will happen if he dies!?" October Rain also shouted, "Stop worrying about your backs for once in your life! It¡¯s not like there are foreigners here! Plus, this boss fight is eventually going to be spread across the internet! Do you want the world to look down on our lack of unity? Let¡¯s go! A video tells no lies, and if your contribution is significant the people will know about it! If you truly wish to improve your guild standing in the server, then stop being selfish and go all out!" October Rain hit the nail on the head. The entire reason we came here was to one, to get some powerful equipment, and two, to show off our might so that our guild development would go smoother. A fight against one of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns was sure to be recorded and sent to the CGL officials, so the guilds who performed well during this fight would definitely be rated higher on the Guild Ranking. Many people made up their minds at once. Wang Dongliang ordered, "Little Piglet, take our men and do your best to keep the boss at bay! We are many, and Strella is but one boss! We will prevail!" Little Piglet bowed a little. "Got it, guild leader!" October Rain shouted while shooting the Dragon God from afar, "This is the vile dragon who devoured Warsky and the Immortal Blade! Kill it and take revenge for our guild leader!" However, Li Chengfeng revealed the truth. "Wow, that is a bald-faced lie if I¡¯ve ever seen one. You don¡¯t really care about Warsky at all, do you? It¡¯s the Immortal Blade that you really want. Hoh, your face has turned completely purple. I knew I was right about you¡­" "Fuck you!" October Rain fired an armor-breaking arrow that struck the dragon warrior¡¯s face squarely, causing him to stumble a little and muttering to himself, "I should¡¯ve known better than to provoke a woman¡­" ¡­¡­ Everyone was using their Great Earth Transformations or Heavenly River Transformations to attack the boss. I was the only one who continued fighting in my normal form. In fact, the pressure on my shoulders greatly lessened after the other guilds started fighting for real, so I transformed from a tank into a pure damage dealer whose sole job was to dish out a ton of DPS. Speaking of which, Lin Yixin and He Yi had rejoined the fray after returning to full health, and this time they wised up and buffed themselves with the Snot Dragon Card. It was the same for the other frontliners. There was nothing more important than survivability against a boss like this. "Roar!" Strella was still a mighty boss though. It killed over a hundred Hegemon Palace players with a single breath. It killed over 40 Peach Garden players and left Indigo Collar with just 29% HP with a swipe of its claws. Time passed agonizingly slowly for this boss fight. Strella wouldn¡¯t stop refreshing our views on the true power of a Divine Rank boss, its DPS was just out of the world. It killed dozens of players per second, and it was absolutely not a boss anyone was equipped to fight. Thankfully, a total of ten thousand Chinese players had entered the Dragon God Main Hall, so it wasn¡¯t exactly an unacceptable rate of deaths... ¡­¡­ Behind us, the formerly imprisoned human hero, Figue, was clenching his fists and watching our battle nervously and worriedly. However, there was also some sort of emotion lurking behind his eyes that I couldn¡¯t comprehend. I hardly had the time to puzzle out the thoughts of an NPC though, much less everyone else. "The boss''s HP had dropped below 10%, and the end is high. Should we kill it with our Ancient Divine Skills?" Li Chengfeng asked me. I nodded. "Yeah. Let¡¯s all use our Ancient Divine Skills so that the experience will go to Ancient Sword!" "Very well!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Lin Yixin allowed Strella to smack her a dozen or so meters away from her. Eyes tinged with a bit of doubt, she whispered, "Why¡­ do I feel like something isn¡¯t right? This dragon is a Divine Rank boss and one of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns, Strella the Dark Magma, right? So why does it feel like this boss fight is too¡­ easy?" 1. T/N: except there are other races except humans among the players, which I¡¯m sure the author forgot Chapter 1282 "Hmm?" I hesitated for just an instant. During this time, Strella had killed another dozens of Candle Dragon Qiu Beast Cavalry. If you looked at its Attack alone, it was without a doubt a Divine Rank boss in every sense of the word. And yet¡­ Lin Yixin was right. This was going a bit too smoothly. Strella the Dark Magma was one of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns, a boss you would expect to lose tens of thousands players against, even with the aid of powerful NPCs. Could we really defeat it at the cost of just a couple thousand players? It was too late to change our minds, however. There was a saying called "a notched arrow must be set loose", and we didn¡¯t have the time to puzzle out this conundrum. Li Chengfeng asked me again, "So? Are we doing it?" "Do it!" I growled out and activated Heavenly River Transformation. This was the first time I used it after making contact with Strella. As a pair of bloody wings spread out behind me, and the Chill of the Nine Provinces glowed red with the power of undead energy, the golden blade that was Xuanyuan Slash burst into existence. At the same time, I changed my attack mode to friendly guild mode. The soft-hearted cannot achieve great things, and I could be as hard as diamond if I wanted to. Anyone who wasn¡¯t an allied guild would die alongside the boss! ¡­¡­ However, Li Chengfeng acted before me and unleashed his Crimson Firmament Slash and, to the surprise of us all, Strella abruptly raised its head and covered every inch of its scales with a massive shield. The Ancient Divine Skill disappeared into it like it was an illusion, and it failed to deal even a single point of damage! "What¡­ what¡¯s going on?" Both Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi exclaimed in shock. Hegemon Palace¡¯s Wang Dongliang couldn¡¯t care less about this oddity though. "Quickly! The boss only has less than 6% HP left! Kill it and claim the loot! It might even drop one of the Twelve Divine Armaments!" The players quickly became overwhelmed by greed. A mountain of gold was right in front of them, and anyone who obtained one of the Twelve Divine Armaments would quickly transform from a nameless player to a top expert. After all, wasn¡¯t it every hardcore gamer¡¯s dream to rise to the top? It was chaos. The moment had passed, and I no longer knew if I should unleash my Xuanyuan Slash or not. Hundreds would die if I did it, and something was clearly off about this whole thing. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Strella raised its head hard, shook its body violently and spread its meaty wings wide. It pulled at the chains regardless of the fact that they were piercing into its scales, breaking some of them and shaking the entire Dragon God Main Hall. Then, it let out a mighty roar and said, "Damn you, Strella, you despicable coward! Why are you afraid to meet me? Why are you letting these lowly humans humiliate me and our racial pride? Damn you! Damn you! I will kill you, you despicable Dark Dragon God!" For a second, no one could utter a word. Staring at the black Holy Giant Dragon, Lin Yixin muttered in shock and disbelief, "This¡­ this dragon isn¡¯t Strella? It¡­ was referring to Strella as a different entity, and its voice sounded female-ish, but¡­" Gui Guzi clenched his fists tightly. "Heavens! Is it a little female dragon!?" Nangong Lexi shot him a surprised look. "Why do you sound so excited all of a sudden? You¡¯re not planning to marry her, are you? Well, it¡¯s not the worst thing to happen in the world¡­" Gui Guzi blushed. "What are you talking about? I just want to kill her, is all!" Li Chengfeng asked, "What the hell is going on? Is this dragon the Dragon God or not?" I finally canceled the Xuanyuan Slash and allowed its light to fade gradually into nothing. It would be foolish to continue on this course after everything that had happened. ¡­¡­ While everyone was confused, a low voice suddenly boomed from behind us¡ª "Hahaha, fret not, Lucifer, my beloved wife! The last light of your flames of life will certainly make the dragon race proud! Most importantly, your death will finally allow me to escape this place. Thank you for everything, my beloved wife. I especially thank you for cheating with the Crimson Crystal Dragon Eglin and opening my eyes to the truth, hahaha! For that, I will see you off personally!" We turned toward the source of the voice and saw that it was the wounded Soul Eater Figue who spoke. His face was hidden, and red light was shining from his body for some reason. An unnatural tremor overtook his body, and the skin on his arm abruptly shredded to reveal rows and rows of sinister, pitch-black scales. The more he extended his arm, the more his skin peeled away like onions. Finally, the human arm shedded completely ro reveal a dragon¡¯s talon. Not only that, Figue¡¯s head was slowly but surely contorting into that of a sinister, ferocious dragon¡¯s! "Holy shit!" I understood everything at that moment. Dashing backward while keeping Lin Yixin and He Yi behind me, I shouted, "We¡¯ve been tricked! The real Strella is this so-called human Figue! The bastard lied to us to make us kill his wife, Lucifer, for him!" "What?!" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes widened in disbelief. "How¡­ how can this be¡­" ¡­¡­ Figue slowly raised his head to reveal a savage grin. "That¡¯s right! I am the mastermind of everything! You realized the truth too late, though. Thanks to you¡­ lowly humans, the betrayer is dead, my wife, Lucifer, is soon to die, and my seal may finally be undone! I promised you I would reward you handsomely, haven¡¯t I? Rejoice! You will soon become a part of me for eternity!" Suddenly, the half-human, half-dragon monstrosity leaped into the air and bit Lucifer¡¯s neck before anyone could do anything. Figue¡¯s, or rather Strella¡¯s head grew more and more draconic, and with a mighty pull he tore a giant hole in Lucifer¡¯s neck and pierced it with his claws. A while later, he pulled out a purple crystal, put it in his mouth and began chewing. "Kakaka! Lucifer, you whore! To think you would swallow your lover¡¯s own crystal! You truly deserve to die!" Strella started thrashing left and right until Lucifer¡¯s neck was completely shredded. He then stabbed his talons into her neck and ended her dying struggle once and for all. Again, he fished around her brain, pulled out a black Dragon Crystal and devoured it as well. "Kaka¡­" Strella¡¯s body grew steadily bigger as he roared, "This! This is my true power! For a hundred thousand years I was imprisoned at this place, but finally, I shall be fully unleashed to the world! Only a Dragon God that is complete can become the true ruler of the Dragon Domain, and here and now, I am!" ¡­¡­ "I don¡¯t even know what to say." Li Chengfeng voiced his incredulity. "Every time you think you¡¯ve seen everything, the game just slaps you in the face and refreshes your views all over again." Dragon God Strella continued to unleash his power and grow his body in the air. Eventually, he became an absolute monstrosity that was 50% bigger than even Lucifer. He was literally a gigantic mountain of flesh. After his transformation was complete, he looked at the thousands of players still alive on the ground and said in a deep tone, "Come, adventurers. I shall send you to the Purgatory for an adventure myself! You lowly humans didn¡¯t really think that you would be able to conquer Dragon Domain with your feeble strength, did you? A dragon¡¯s power will never be within your reach, so die knowing that it is deserving!" The moment he finished his sentence, he abruptly swooped down and unleashed a long, long jet of dragon breath. Hundreds of unfortunate Peach Garden players including Indigo Collar himself committed the innocent sin of being at the wrong place at the wrong time and were burned to ashes in an instant. Indigo Collar had almost 2 million HP, and it still wasn¡¯t enough to withstand a single breath from the Dragon God! "What the fuck is that damage!?" The aura of Strength of Divine Arms lighting up his feet, Little Piglet spurred his mount to leap into the air so he could get close enough to unleash a series of sword auras. However, Strella¡¯s Defense hadn¡¯t been reduced yet, so the damage he dealt could only be described as depressing¡ª 477! 582! 532! ¡­¡­ Everyone knew how strong Little Piglet was. Ever since he obtained Great Conqueror, he had evolved from a fully defensive player to a fully offensive one[1], both style-wise and gear-wise. However, it still wasn¡¯t enough to pierce Strella¡¯s Defense. Just how tough was the motherfucker? Disdain entered Strella¡¯s eyes, and his talons flashed across the Cold Wind Swordsman¡¯s body before he could react. It was a one-shot. 4190294! Of all the times to receive a critical hit, this wasn¡¯t one of them. There was nothing he could do except die and be teleported away from the Dragon¡¯s Pit. Strella floated about ten meters in the sky, spread his wings and roared, "Elemental spirits from hell, heed my call! Fire devils, awaken from your slumber and burn everything to ashes! I, Strella the Dark Magma cast¡ªDragons of Hellfire!" Groan groan groan... The earth within a thousand yards of Strella was torn asunder, and fiery, draconic energy from hell began jetting out of the cracks. The AoE skill encompassed more than half of the Dragon God Main Hall. No one had expected Strella to cast such a terrifying AoE skill right from the start! He might even annihilate us all in one go! "Invincibility, now!" I shouted on top of my lungs. Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng and the others activated their invincibility skills to protect themselves, while I relied on a full-durability Battle Astral Wind to withstand the powerful attack. Scorching pain nearly overwhelmed my senses. I was still surviving, but white lights were flashing all around me. High Fighting Spirits, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and more were all killed by the Dragon of Hellfire, and columns of damage numbers amounting to millions rose above everyone¡¯s head! The skill lasted 15 whole seconds. It meant that everyone whose invincibility skill only lasted 6, 9, or 12 seconds were in danger as well. "Lu Chen, we can¡¯t hang on any longer¡­" Lin Yixin looked at me. I ran up to her and held her in my arms, but it was no defense against the ravaging fires. She shot me a helpless smile before departing the Dragon God Main Hall as showers of light. The heat turned overwhelming, and I revived on the spot. I immediately cast Battle Astral Wind again before I could take any more damage. "Lu Chen!" "Big brother¡­" Not far away, He Yi, Lian Xin and Beiming dropped dead as well. There were very few pieces of equipment that had invincibility skills that lasted over 15 seconds, and in my case, I could only rely on Battle Astral Wind and levels to cling onto existence. ¡­¡­ When the skill was finally over, the scene that encompassed the entire Dragon God Main Hall could only be described as hellish. Nearly everyone except a handful of people were still alive. 1. E/N: Just because he can deal a lot of damage because of his FGS¡¯s splash doesn¡¯t mean his Attack is anywhere close to the top players, author. Piglet is countered by Defense, hard. Just like he counters anyone that isn¡¯t Lu Chen. Chapter 1283 "Wha¡­ what the fuck is this nonsense? What the fuck is this boss?!" An assassin wielding a worn out dagger swore as he looked back and forth between the carnage and the boss hovering in the sky. His eyes were full of anger. "How is this design acceptable? All my guildmates died because of this bullshit?" With those words, he pulled out a return scroll, crushed it and began teleporting back to his city. ¡­¡­ Bang! I wasn¡¯t going to allow him though. My Ghost Spirit War Boots flattened some tiny rocks as I charged toward the assassin while shouting, "Assassin¡¯s Creed! You think you can leave after killing our guild members!?" That¡¯s right, it was none other than Assassin¡¯s Creed himself. He had an item with a super-long invincibility time, or he would have died to Strella¡¯s forbidden spell already. I was going to finish the job, however. He might be able to contribute in the fight against Strella, but after everything he had done, I would rather he died than to keep him alive nearby. I aimed my left palm at Assassin¡¯s Creed and shackled him immediately with God Binding Art. Then, I immediately threw my sword at his chest and pierced it for a massive amount of damage¡ª 472828! I had activated Resurrection Art a couple of times, and the attack boost had gotten to the point where Coiling Dragon Revolution did noticeably more damage than normal. There was no chance a leather-armor player like Assassin¡¯s Creed would be able to stop it, and he didn¡¯t. With a flabbergasted look on his face, he died before he could turn invisible. ¡­¡­ The few remaining Chinese players stared at the powerful Strella the Dark Magma with dumbfounded expressions. One of them asked with a tinge of hysteria in his voice, "Lu Chen¡­ can we leave, Lu Chen?" I replied, "Don¡¯t wait on my account!" They looked incredibly relieved as they crushed their return scrolls and disappeared from the Dragon God Main Hall. I didn¡¯t begrudge them for their cowardice because one, their aid was utterly irrelevant against a boss like Strella and two, I had no grudge with them. Anyway, should I continue this futile battle, or should I turn off the Resurrection Art and meet up with the others at the graveyard? Speaking of which, the graveyard must be jam-packed with players right now. I bet it painted a pretty interesting sight. ¡­¡­ "Hey brat!" Strella suddenly focused his attention on me. He was smiling, but his eyes were filled with killing intent. "You are the one who released me from my seal. Did you not know that a true Holy Giant Dragon can assume a human form? If so, does my true form terrify you? Come! I will crush your body and send you to the afterlife to join your fellow adventurers!" He swooped down again and swung his flaming claw at me. Both his form and his power were many times more imposing than Lucifer¡¯s. Unwilling to test my luck, I cast both God Binding Art and Cold of the Nine Provinces in hopes of immobilizing him! MISS! MISS! I knew this might happen, but it hurt my soul to see the misses anyway. I immediately shifted to plan B by assuming Guard stance and activating Cyan Dragon Scale! Bang! The impact rocked my body and dealt over 700k damage to me despite the successful Guard. Without Pure Love¡¯s buffs, both my Defense and max HP were much lower than what they could¡¯ve been. Just over 2 million HP wasn¡¯t enough to hold back Strella... The supposedly impenetrable halo that surrounded the Cyan Dragon Shield wobbled a little. I myself had skidded at least a dozen or so meters away even after I had plunged my sword into the ground. Clearly, the impact wasn¡¯t a comfortable one. There was no rest for the wicked, however. The second I could move without tripping myself, I activated Ghost Spirit Step Art and dashed sideways as quickly as possible. "Roar!" A jet of draconic flames turned the spot I had been at a moment ago into a raging inferno. The breath was so great that even the equipment on the ground was melted into nothing. I had no idea that the Dragon God¡¯s breath could melt equipment until just now! That was just one part of its attack, however. Before I knew it, my vision turned dark, and my breath was suddenly stuck in my throat. It was Strella¡¯s tail swinging toward me like a giant whip and landing for another 1.1 million damage. Thank goodness I had activated both Heavenly River Transformation and Cyan Dragon Scale, or the attack would¡¯ve killed me already! ¡­¡­ "Jiejie¡­" Strella cackled sinisterly. "What¡¯s wrong, brat? Where is your earlier attitude? Come, cream of the human adventurers. Live as long as you can so you may show me the pinnacle power of an ant! I¡¯ve been trapped in Dragon God Cave for over ten thousand years, and I absolutely could use tough prey like you as a toy!" Bang... After the tail caught me by surprise, I was sent flying across the air until I slammed into something hard. It was the black Holy Giant Dragon¡¯s corpse, Lucifer¡ªwait, what? She wasn¡¯t dead yet! I could see that her body was shaking a little, and her eyes were wide open. Strella had nearly turned her head into mincemeat, and yet somehow she still clung onto life. Even better, the bitch was trying to kill me with her dragon breath! "Just die already!" I growled and jumped up Lucifer¡¯s back. I did a side-flip in midair before landing Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo on her neck, tearing her mutilated body one last time and finally killing her. She let out a groan, and her eyes turned glassy. Then, golden light surrounded my body and carried me into the next level. I never thought I would get the last hit like this, but I wasn¡¯t going to complain about it. Unfortunately, Lucifer didn¡¯t drop any equipment. Strella¡¯s interference probably had something to do with it. Strella was completely unmoved by his ex-wife¡¯s death. "Whore. You should¡¯ve died a long time ago!" ¡­¡­ Crack! The moment Lucifer died, an indigo blade pierced through her stomach from the inside and split it in half, causing blood, innards and a certain blood-drenched warrior to flood out into the open. After the warrior shook himself a little and wiped away the blood covering his face, he looked at me and let out a surprised cry, "Heavens! Why are you here, Lu Chen? Were¡­ were you the one who saved me? Fuck, thank you so much, man! I can¡¯t even begin to tell you how disgusting it is to be stuck inside a dragon¡¯s stomach¡­" The warrior was of course Warsky. Somehow he had survived being digested, and he even had 32% HP. It was most likely thanks to the Immortal Blade. Before I could say a word, another stabbing noise caught my attention. I turned just in time to see a fiery sword piercing Lucifer¡¯s back and splitting it in half. A human hand thrust out of the opening, and another blood-drenched player with a fire dragon perched on his shoulder climbed out into the open. He glanced at me and Warsky before asking, "What happened? Why are there so many dead bodies? Huh. Luo River God of the Capital, Moonkiss, Legendary Brave, Beiming Xue and even Wind Fantasy are dead?" I was too flabbergasted to say anything. Warsky asked, "When did you get swallowed by this dragon, Candlelight Shadow?" Yep. It was Candlelight Shadow. He uttered with a disgusted expression on his face. "While I was falling down the cliff, I took a hit from a Blood Hook Dragon and was swallowed by this dragon right after. Ugh, this stench¡­" Warsky grinned. "Eh, I don¡¯t think it smells that bad. I was somewhere close to its heart, and it smelled like Turkish kebab since Barrier Breaks kept striking that spot¡­" I couldn¡¯t stop my mouth from twitching. "Your taste is seriously hardcore, dude!" ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow resummoned his mount and watched the flying Dragon God in the air. "Is that Strella the Dark Magma? Who is this dead dragon then?" I replied, "She was Strella¡¯s wife." Warsky asked, "Is Strella the one who killed everyone?" I replied again, "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Warsky brandished the Immortal Blade and cackled. "Well, it doesn¡¯t matter. Let¡¯s cooperate and take out Strella together, shall we?" That day must have been an interruption day or something, because a sharp spike exploded from Warsky¡¯s chest before I could say anything in reply. It was one of the sharp spikes on Strella¡¯s wings. Somehow, the boss had circled behind the warrior while we were talking and ambushed him. Unfortunately, it was powerful enough to delete all of his remaining HP. I replied in a sure tone, "Sorry, but it doesn¡¯t look like it¡¯s going to happen." Warsky collapsed to his knees and died with a sad expression on his face. Unfortunately, he dropped a chest armor instead of the Immortal Blade. On a related note, both Candlelight Shadow and I had shifted our position a little the second Warsky ate the fatal blow. Had Warsky dropped his Immortal Blade, we would¡¯ve fought each other to seize it no matter the situation. "Let¡¯s do this!" Candlelight Shadow abruptly spurred his mount forward and charged toward Strella from the side. He must have no idea how powerful Strella was, or he never would have chosen such a direct approach! Actually, scratch that. I myself couldn¡¯t think of any another way to do this. So, I charged toward Strella from a different direction. Strella let out a sneering roar before swiping left and right in quick succession. Candlelight Shadow and his mount were sent flying across the air, and I myself was knocked backward like a cannonball... "Motherfucker!" Candlelight Shadow growled and fired his Ghost God Prophecy at the boss. After the debuff had taken effect, he activated Heavenly River Transformation and landed Pangu¡¯s Axe right on the boss''s neck. Unfortunately, even the Ancient Divine Skill couldn¡¯t do more than 700k+ damage to Strella. It was nowhere enough to kill the powerful boss. In the end, dragon breath overwhelmed Candlelight Shadow, and he fell off his mount and died. He hadn¡¯t even used a card yet, so there was no chance he could¡¯ve survived Strella¡¯s pummeling. ¡­¡­ Pu! While Strella was killing Candlelight Shadow with its breath, I seized the opportunity to target its reverse scale and weak point, at the same time lowering its Defense with Purple Frost Concentration. The skill worked extremely well, but it also angered Strella instantly! "Do you want to die that much, brat?!" BANG! My entire person literally sank about a meter into the floor, and my bones felt like they might fall apart from the impact. I tried to Guard with the Cyan Dragon Shield, but Strella managed to stun me after a couple of strikes before firing its breath straight at my face. It roared furiously, "I¡¯ll kill you! I¡¯ll kill you!" This time, it twisted its claws and pummeled me again and again with both arms. Holy shit, I thought this kind of shit only happens in anime! Strella attacked me relentlessly even after I had revived twice. You would think it would give up after I had been pummeled completely into the underground, but no, the son of a bitch actually dug into the ground like a mole just so that he could hit me some more! I felt like giving up at that moment. I mean, what else could I possibly do to turn this around? It was just a waste of levels at this point. Chapter 1284 Crack! Pain erupted from my shoulder as Strella struck me for another 1.1 million damage. His mad assault shredded both the soil and my body. I had died over ten times at this point, and I was nearly a thousand meters beneath in the ground. I couldn¡¯t see anything beside the light of the Chill of the Nine Provinces and Strella¡¯s ugly face right in front of me. I hadn¡¯t turned off Heavenly River Transformation yet, and I activated Battle Astral Wind whenever it came off cooldown. I executed Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo that visibly decreased Strella¡¯s HP, but it was highly unlikely that I would be able to kill it before I dropped to Level 0. My Attack could be boosted to the high heavens, but a Level 0 could never land a single hit against a Level 300 Divine Rank boss. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Suddenly, I detected a new presence entering my Domain. I immediately grabbed onto Strella¡¯s tooth, gave it a mighty kick and shouted with all my might, "XINRAN!!" "What?!" Strella¡¯s movements slowed as if it sensed Xinran as well. The next moment, its body rocked unnaturally, and blasts of ice exploded against its scales. There was a gruesome tearing noise, and both the soil and Strella¡¯s wing became shredded into pieces. Finally, a blood-covered Xinran rushed to my side. "Big brother!" Xinran nearly cried when she saw my horrible appearance. "What happened to you, big brother¡­" I continued striking Strella while replying, "The Dragon God¡¯s too powerful, Xinran¡­" "I know!" She turned around and launched a punch at Strella¡¯s ugly face. Her fist was tiny, but it contained so much strength that it sent its head flying backward. The next moment, she thrust her spear forward and fired an energy blast that shredded Strella¡¯s chin. However, the attack only infuriated Strella. Eyes growing increasingly savage, he let out a mad cackle and said, "I know you, Wind Singer Xinran! You were one of the great powers of the Purgatory until you betrayed us to help the humans! Lord Lin Na will be pleased if I bring your head to him, won¡¯t he? Jiejie!" Strella swung its claws at Xinran, and the girl raised her arms to block it all because I was right behind her. Bloody gashes immediately appeared on her smooth arms as not even her astral aura was enough to withstand the attack. She opened her palm and cried, "Winged Silver Dragon, Bloody Finger, kill him!" The Winged Silver Dragon swooped down from the sky and bit Dragon God Strella¡¯s back. However, it was as small as a hatchling compared to Strella, so the latter didn¡¯t even bother to bat it away. Bloody Finger the Headless Knight was much more successful though. He slashed the Dragon God¡¯s back three times, split its scales and successfully deleted almost 4% HP. "Do you want to die that much, worms?" Enraged, Strella abruptly stopped its assault and shivered a little. Then, its stomach suddenly turned bright red, and fire spilled out of its body as it screamed, "Then die!" Whoosh! Strella was a king in terms of flame mastery, and he was able to unleash his internal flames through his whole body. As a result, the Winged Silver Dragon was scorched black, and its limbs looked like they were about to crumble away at the slightest breeze. Screeching in pain, the Winged Silver Dragon abruptly jumped into a spatial rift and left this plane entirely. "Crack crack crack¡­" Bloody Finger¡¯s cloak was completely scorched, and even his armor was melting little by little. However, he plunged his sword into Strella¡¯s back, balled his hands into fists and punched the dragon with all his might. The soul flame where his head was roared, "Kill him, Lady Xinran! Kill this tyrannical Dragon God! He has become a devil, and he no longer deserves to be called himself the ruler of Dragon Domain! Kill him¡­" Xinran¡¯s Dragonbone Spear abruptly glowed like the sun, and a million spear beams pierced Strella¡¯s stomach at once. However, Strella responded by letting out a mighty roar and increasing the power of his flames. It was a battle between two divine experts, and for now it was unclear who would become the victor. "Roar roar¡­" Strella abruptly opened his mouth and attempted to devour Xinran. The spear-wielding girl attempted to solidify her astral aura and protect herself, but the Dragon God shattered it via brute force and clamped its maw around Xinran¡¯s arm. Xinran managed to move her way in time, but it still left a deep gash on her arm and caused blood to gush out like a fountain. I tried to immobilize the boss with God Binding Art, but it only resulted in a MISS. I pulled Xinran behind me with my left arm and raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces with my right, shouting, "Cold of the Nine Provinces!" MISS! I shouldn¡¯t have expected my crowd control skills to work on Strella. The Dragon God was way too strong to be affected by them. That didn¡¯t mean I was going to give up though. I executed Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo before pressing a hand to the soil next to me and cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon. The pillars of draconic energy rammed against Strella¡¯s body with great prejudice, decreasing its HP quickly even though it had over 200 million HP. Of course, Xinran wasn¡¯t idle either. ¡­¡­ As Strella¡¯s howls rocked the earth, and its HP slowly approached the 50% mark, the Dragon God suddenly raised its head and shouted, "Do you still remember our contract, despicable Lin Na? If you still refuse to grant me your power, the traitor Wind Singer will soon claim my life! If that happens, Dragon Domain won¡¯t be under the Night Creatures¡¯ rule anymore!" Buzz! Red light suddenly descended from the sky, and Strella¡¯s body turned translucent all of a sudden. His black scales became tinged with a bit of red, and I could see his blood and fire circulating around his bones. His expression grew even more savage than before, and he roared at me and Xinran, "Taste the power of hell!" "Claw of Death!" His claws tore Xinran¡¯s defense apart and left deep, bloody marks across her chest. She spat out a mouthful of blood before collapsing into my arms. She kept crying again and again, "It hurts, big brother, it hurts¡­" I held Xinran tightly, raised the Cyan Dragon Shield in front of us, and empowered myself with Cyan Dragon Scale again. At the same time, I cast Myriad Swords Obliteration and Summon the Storm to attack the Dragon God. "Foolish cur!" Strella laughed madly as he swiped at us again and again. Despite my best attempts, he was able to inflict wounds upon Xinran¡¯s shoulders and arms. "Ugh¡­" Despite her horrible condition, Xinran gathered her strength and summoned a gigantic umbrella of indigo energy. "Phantom Umbrella! You will not¡­ hurt big brother¡­" Strella attacked the shield again and again, and every attack caused Xinran to shudder violently. My heart ached at the sight of her pain, but the only thing I could do was maximize my DPS as much as possible. At this range though, all I could do was cast the occasional ranged skills and basic sword auras. ¡­¡­ Bang! Eventually, the Phantom Umbrella shattered into a million pieces under Strella¡¯s claws. Another mouthful of blood escaped Xinran¡¯s lips, but the determination in her eyes only shone brighter. She raised her trembling arms, opened her palms and chanted, "O¡¯ slumbering gods in the domain of depths, heed my call and restore justice to this land! I, Wind Singer Xinran cast the forbidden spell¡ªFestival of the Gods!" The ground shook, and the pitch black ground suddenly turned as red as blood. Many, many rays of red light poured out of the soil behind us, took the form of ancient gods, and attacked Strella with their weapons. Their energies pierced Strella¡¯s body and dealt an unbelievable amount of damage! No wonder it was a forbidden spell! 5912887! 4298213! 5232735! ¡­¡­ Strella¡¯s HP instantly dropped to 20% HP or so. Xinran¡¯s forbidden spell was so powerful that even Strella couldn¡¯t defend against it at all. However, the price of casting a forbidden spell was exhaustion, and Xinran slumped limply against my chest. Her breathing was weak, and her body was feverish and covered in wounds. She said weakly, "I¡¯m sorry, big brother. I don¡¯t have the strength to kill Strella. I¡­" I replied solemnly, "Don¡¯t blame yourself, Xinran. We will kill him one way or another! I promise!" I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces again and unleashed every skill I had in my arsenal. I also summoned my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King as soon as they were off cooldown even though they were always one-shot. I could sacrifice anything in exchange for Xinran¡¯s safety. Although Strella wasn¡¯t looking too good, he glared ferociously at Xinran and cackled. "How does the power of Lin Na feel, Wind Singer?" Xinran abruptly looked up and tossed her Dragonbone Spear into the air! Puchi! The spear pierced Strella¡¯s right eye completely, blinding him and eliciting a howl of pain. A tiny smirk appeared across her lips as she said, "It feels as dark as your right eye¡­" ¡­¡­ Strella let out a furious roar and gathered all of its energy in its mouth. Then, it unleashed a scorching breath like nothing Xinran or I had ever seen until now. It had killed me instantly and forced me to revive myself again. Not only that, his ugly head abruptly moved closer and snapped around Xinran¡¯s legs. There was a horrific crunch of flesh and bones, and Xinran let out a terrible cry of pain. The dragon breath pushed Xinran and I at least another hundred meters deeper into the pit that was our battlefield. When I opened my eyes and saw Xinran again, my heart felt like someone had carved it into pieces. Her legs were gone. The bastard had bitten everything beneath the knees, and the flesh and bone that remained were scorched black by Strella¡¯s breath. Her robes were scorched and tattered, and her entire body was covered in blood. A tear slid down her cheeks as she trembled weakly in my arms. "It hurts, big brother¡­" ¡­¡­ At that moment, I nearly broke into tears. Chapter 1285 I held Xinran tightly while repeating, "It¡¯s going to be fine, Xinran, it¡¯s going to be fine¡­" I couldn¡¯t let Xinran be hurt anymore, so I turned around and covered Xinran¡¯s body completely with my own. At the same time, I raised the Cyan Dragon Shield, abandoned all attack attempts and simply Guarded against Strella¡¯s attacks again and again. Step by step, burst of pain by burst of pain, Xinran and I slowly sank to the infinite depths below. ¡­¡­ "Is this hell?" Xinran muttered when she opened her eyes and saw that she was surrounded by thin soil and tough rocks. Then, she saw Strella¡¯s head behind me, and her vision sharpened into focus. She held my neck tight and wept, "Big brother! No! I don¡¯t want to see you like this¡­" Crack! A talon pierced through my back and out my chest, dealing 1.5 million damage to me and killing me. Even as I came back to life, a jet of blood escaped my throat and spilled out from between my lips. I could count the amount of times I was injured this badly in the game on one hand. I pushed the pain away, forced out a smile that I was sure looked very ugly and said, "It¡¯s fine, Xinran, I can still hang on. I¡ª" Bang! This time, it was Strella¡¯s motherfucking teeth that punctured my body, and I nearly let go of my sword. Forget lying to Xinran, I couldn¡¯t even lie to myself anymore. This was literally killing me! ¡­¡­ Xinran sobbed quietly as tears slid down her cheeks. "I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m always a burden to you, big brother. I¡¯ve been dragging you down since Floating Ice City. I¡¯ve made you bleed and sweat from me since the beginning. I¡¯m so useless, I, I¡¯m so¡­" I stopped her before she could blame herself any further. "Enough, Xinran¡­" Bang! I took another heavy blow to the back that sank both me and Xinran dozens of meters to the ground. Normally, we would¡¯ve sank much deeper, but this time our momentum was halted by an unusually hard rock. "Hmm? What is this rock? And why is it so tough?" I exclaimed in astonishment. Xinran pushed away her pain temporarily and caressed the rock. Then, she explained, "This is the Stone of Sealing. It is a natural object capable of withstanding everything in this world, literally. It is untouchable even by the power of god, and it is about several kilometers deep. Behind the Stone of Sealing is the plane of hell itself." I shuddered. "Holy shit. We¡¯re this close to hell already?" "Yeah." Xinran nodded when suddenly, her eyes lit up with ingenuity. "Big brother, can you carry me and search for a perforation?" "Perfo what?" "I mean a hole. The Stone of Sealing is a stratum, so there are natural perforations in them. It¡¯s how some devils manage to escape from hell and slip into the human plane. These perforations are normally narrow, and Strella is way too huge to fit in any of them. All we need is to find a perforation like this, and we¡¯ll be able to kill him from range!" Xinran¡¯s explanation lit a new flame of hope in me. I was completely out of ideas, and I would¡¯ve let Strella kill me to Level 0 to protect Xinran. I was a player, but Xinran was an NPC. If she died, she most likely wouldn¡¯t come back to life. Even if she was just a packet of data, I loved her as deeply as I loved a real person. There was no way I was ever going to give up on her. "Hold me tight, Xinran!" "Mn!" I continued blocking Strella¡¯s attacks with the Cyan Dragon Shield while probing the Stone of Sealing with the Chill of the Nine Provinces. It was as tough as Xinran claimed; not even my sword was able to leave more than a faint mark. I died another 4 times during the search, and in total I had dropped all the way from Level 232 to Level 221. If this continued, I would drop all the way back to when I was just an eighth-promotion player. It wasn¡¯t unfixable though. If I managed to kill Strella, its experience would definitely boost me back to Level 230 or higher! Pu! Suddenly, my Chill of the Nine Provinces sank into a patch of soft soil with little resistance. Hope bloomed in my chest as Xinran whooped with joy. "This has to be a perforation, big brother!" "Mn!" I raised my arm and summoned the Xuanyuan Slash. A loud bang later, all the soil, dust and stone blocking the way were blown away to reveal a seemingly bottomless hole that was about a meter wide. Without hesitation, I jumped into the hole with Xinran in my arms. Once again, Lady Luck smiled upon us. The hole was only 30 yards deep, so I could hit Strella with my Dragon Slaying Slash and Burning Blade Slash. Moreover, Fusion Armor turned my basic attacks into ranged sword auras, and they traveled far enough to hit Strella as well. "Roar roar¡­" Strella roared furiously from outside the hole. "You think you can escape me like this, you despicable brat? Naive! Just you wait, I swear I¡¯ll tear you to shreds!" Before he could finish his sentence, I tossed my Chill of the Nine Provinces at his open maw and treated him to a taste of Coiling Dragon Revolution, dealing 500k+ damage. After all the times I had revived using Resurrection Art, my Attack had been boosted to the point where even the simplest skill dealt considerable damage to Strella. "Arghhhhh¡­" Strella backed a few steps and screamed in pain, but it refused to give up and blasted its breath through the hole. "Come the fuck on!" I was practically wailing at this point. I really didn¡¯t want to fall below Level 200 if I could help it. Once our adventure in Dragon Domain was over, the guilds and cities would start fighting each other over new maps again. It would be demoralizing to my guild members if I lost too many levels. Luckily, Xinran struggled out of my embrace and held her hands in front of me. Eyes filled with deep determination, she chanted, "Again, Phantom Umbrella!" Whoosh! The indigo umbrella Xinran had summoned before manifested again and blocked Strella¡¯s breath completely. Although Xinran shuddered and suffered even greater internal injuries, getting burned by Strella¡¯s dragon breath would¡¯ve been worse for the both of us. Moreover, Strella had to channel its breath at least 1 to 2 seconds before unleashing it. It was a powerful attack, but it was far less DPS compared to when it was able to tear into me with both its teeth and its talons. Overjoyed, I caught my returning sword and made a hand seal, blasting Strella¡¯s head with a Myriad Swords Obliteration. While my stronger skills were in cooldown, I hit away with basic sword auras and Dragon Slaying Slashes. Strella had horrifyingly powerful HP regeneration, but it wasn¡¯t enough to outpace my damage. Right now I had a DPS of 975k; a number the generic player didn¡¯t even dare to dream of especially against a Purgatory Sovereign like Strella the Dark Magma. Of course, this level of DPS was normally out of even my reach. It was possible only because I had died a dozen or so times and had my Attack boosted just as many times. It wasn¡¯t worth it in the slightest. My levels cost tens of hours to retrain, while the Attack boost would disappear the moment I logged out of the game! ¡­¡­ Despite her weakness and pain, Xinran continuously strengthened the Phantom Umbrella with her left hand and fired thin swords into Strella¡¯s head with her right. On one hand, Strella was too huge, and Xinran¡¯s conjured swords too tiny to deal any significant damage. On the other hand, every damage counted in this situation, and who was to say that Strella wouldn¡¯t turn into a retard if he accumulated too much brain damage? Meanwhile, the girls finally dared to speak to me in the guild channel¡ª He Yi: "How did it go, Lu Chen? Sorry we took so long to contact you, we didn¡¯t want to distract you while you were fighting against Strella¡­" Beiming Xue: "Big brother, you¡¯re only Level 221 now¡­" I replied, "Yeah. Strella is too powerful. So anyway, just so we¡¯re all on the same page, the black Holy Giant Dragon we fought earlier was NOT Strella. She was Strella¡¯s wife, Lucifer. The boss that one-shot everyone is the real Strella, and well, you¡¯ve all experienced his power with your own deaths. Xinran came to help me not long after you wiped, but she too suffered grievous injuries and won¡¯t be returning to full health anytime soon. Long story short, this whole boss fight is one massive pain in the ass." Li Chengfeng exclaimed in shock, "I cannot believe it! That Lucifer was powerful as hell, and she¡¯s still wasn¡¯t the real Dragon God?" [1] Me: "Yeah." Gui Guzi: "Heavens, this is humiliating. Forget giving it a real fight, I died to the very first AoE it used¡­[2]" Xu Yang: "Pooh! You call that humiliating? I died on the first floor!" Gui Guzi: "Brother Xu Yang banzai!" Xu Yang: "Fuck you!" I said again, "Anyway, you guys don¡¯t need to worry about me. I found a cheat spot, and I¡¯m currently using it to solo the boss. It¡¯s just going slowly because Strella¡¯s HP regeneration is too powerful. I think it¡¯ll take at least a couple of hours before I finally kill it." He Yi: "In that case, we¡¯re logging off and going to bed first. Be careful. We¡¯ll wait for you to finish in our dreams¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ I had given He Yi a conservative estimate, but with my current DPS, it should only take an hour or two for me to kill Strella. Moreover, I was partially protected by the Stone of Sealing and Xinran¡¯s Phantom Umbrella, so not even Strella¡¯s forbidden spell was able to reach me. I was about as safe as I could possibly be. An hour later, the Dragon God¡¯s HP dropped to 10%. Then, a heartbreaking moment happened in front of me. Strella shook its head and chanted, "O¡¯ infinitely glorious god of life, the one who gifted the dragon race with the strongest bloodline and resurrected the earth, grant me the power of life¡ªDragon Race Blood Boil!" Swhoosh! Not only did the Dragon God heal itself, the healing number nearly made me quit the game¡ª +60000000! ¡­¡­ "Are you shitting me?" I couldn¡¯t believe it. Strella¡¯s max HP had been increased to a whopping 400 million after he was enhanced by the power of the dead, and this Dragon Race Blood Boil healed him for 15% HP straight! If he could do this infinitely, I would sooner strangle the dev before I killed Strella! Thankfully, Xinran blinked once and said, "Don¡¯t give up yet, big brother. Blood Boil is a high-level dragon¡¯s racial ability, but it can only be cast three times a day. Keep this up, and he will die eventually!" "Three times ¡®only¡¯, you say¡­" It was good news, but it was still pretty depressing. My brain, my stomach, my bladder! Dammit! ¡­¡­ My internal struggles¡ªboth literally and figuratively¡ªwere great, but the Dragon God Strella couldn¡¯t care less about it. Every time it unleashed its breath, Xinran¡¯s internal injuries would worsen further. I tried feeding her some Saint Spirit Potions, but it was a stopgap measure at best. Her legs especially showed no signs of healing at all. I literally had no idea how to restore them. 1. T/N: Okay so the author is smoking something hard when he wrote these two paragraphs that I had to change it to make sense. The raw claimed that LUCIFER was the one who one-shot everyone, but as we know that¡¯s not the case. E/N: Well, it still sounds like it. After all, Lu Chen is explaining that Lucifer wasn¡¯t Strella¡­ to people who hadn¡¯t been one-shot by Lucifer and fought Strella. 2. I refuse to put that in for the author¡¯s sake, so here¡¯s the original TL: "Heavens, this is humiliating. Forget fighting the real thing, I died before I even caught a glimpse of it¡­" I guess Gui Guzi kinda forgot he fought Strella Chapter 1286 Dragon Race Blood Boil was a healing skill, but it made MY blood boil instead, almost giving me a heart attack. 15% HP didn¡¯t sound like much, but on a boss like Strella it equaled to one and a half hours of non-stop fighting. At this point, I was both physically and emotionally spent. Every time Strella¡¯s HP jumped from 5% back to 20% HP, I felt like I had died all over again. Finally, Strella used all three charges of his Dragon Race Blood Boil. He wouldn¡¯t be able to use it again until a day later. By now, my Chill of the Nine Provinces was chipped and warped in many places, and its durability had fallen below 10%. Strella was a super-tough target, and the mere act of attacking it cost a ton of weapon durability. Thankfully, it should last me until the end of this battle. Buzz! The necklace around my neck suddenly trembled, and my next attack triggered the Broken Blade effect. Not only was Strella stunned for 5.2 seconds, the second hit of my Burning Blade Slash triggered the septuple-damage effect as well¡ª 190877! 1699418! 312735! ¡­¡­ This time, it was the Dragon God¡¯s turn to feel physically and emotionally spent by my ridiculous DPS. It was 3 am in the real world right now, and I noticed on my friend list that He Yi, Lin Yixin, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue and more had all logged out of the game and gone to bed. Even the so-called "Midnight War Gods" of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡ªLi Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, and High Fighting Spirits¡ªhad logged out of the game. I bet the number of players still grinding inside the Dragon God Cave had dropped to an all-time low as well. Even if it wasn¡¯t the case, I wasn¡¯t worried that someone might steal the kill from me. Strella the Dark Magma had literally pummeled me about ten kilometers into the earth, and I highly doubted there were any players with the balls or the HP to jump down this height. Even if there were, they would¡¯ve died the instant they made contact with the flames on the Dragon God¡¯s back. On a related note, both the Winged Silver Dragon and Bloody Finger had returned to Xinran¡¯s summoning space after they were overwhelmed by Strella¡¯s flames. How could a normal player succeed where a dragon and a Divine Rank boss had failed? Even I would¡¯ve died to Strella¡¯s breath repeatedly if Xinran hadn¡¯t blocked it with the Phantom Umbrella. The clock ticked to 4:30 am, and Strella¡¯s HP finally scraped the bottom of the barrel. He only had 1% HP left, and he could die at any moment. A pale-looking Xinran was slumped against my chest and looked like she might faint at any moment. She had injected almost all of her power into the Phantom Umbrella, and judging from the growing cracks on the spell, she wouldn¡¯t be able to hold it for much longer. I made up my mind then. I drank a potion to heal my HP and MP to full before activating Heavenly River Transformation with my final 12 Divine Energy Points. Then, I thrust my sword forward and unleashed my greatest skill, Purple Dragon Howl. Strella¡¯s body was already bruised and battered from the fighting, but the skill literally stripped his scales piece by piece until the hurricane of energy looked more like a hurricane of dragon scales. Blood gushed profusely from his wounds, and his dying screams filled the air. Finally, Strella cursed one last time before his demise, "Dragon Domain will sooner be destroyed than fall under your control! Just you wait, the Purgatory Ruler will take revenge for me!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Golden light enveloped my person again and again. I had more or less solo¡¯d Strella the Dark Magma, and Xinran couldn¡¯t receive experience since she was an NPC. I instantly jumped 10 levels and returned to Level 231. All of my wounds vanished like they were never there, and my HP went back to full¡ªor it would¡¯ve gone back if I hadn¡¯t already been at full health. Xinran though, had fallen into a deep coma. She wouldn¡¯t wake up no matter how I tried to shake her awake. Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) for killing one of the Nine Sovereigns of the Purgatory, Strella the Dark Magma! Their rewards are: Level +2, Luck +10, Reputation +100000, gold +200000, and their main city NPCs¡¯ Defense +10%! Due to the death of Strella the Dark Magma, Dragon Domain is officially unlocked. The map will be refreshed in 10 hours! Killing a Purgatory Sovereign was nigh impossible, but when you succeed, the reward could only be described as amazing! ¡­¡­ Pa! With Xinran in my arms, I leaped out of the perforation in the Stone of Sealing and stared at the huge corpse that was the Dragon God Strella. There was a pile of shiny loot underneath its body, and I was almost certain it contained the objects of desire we traveled all the way to Dragon Domain to obtain! I walked up to the corpse and kicked away the claw covering the loot. Then, I slumped down to my butt and just lay there for a moment. Be it inside the game or in the real world, I was close to approaching my absolute limits. After a short rest, I checked out the equipment first. The first piece of equipment that caught my eye was a burning whip. It was obviously not ordinary. The second item was a pair of divine-looking poleyn, and the third was a halberd with apparitions lurking across its surface, and lightning energy slithering along the tip of the blade. I immediately had the feeling that this halberd was going to absolutely OP. Anyway, Strella only dropped 3 pieces of equipment (and the usual items that I couldn¡¯t care to check right now), so I picked up the whip to give it a closer look. The flaming whip was almost 3 meters long, and it looked like the perfect weapon of an S&M queen. All it lacked was a couple of candles to complete the picture. I waved my hand over it, and the stats looked very impressive¡ª Dragonbone Whip (Lower Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 12500~14000 Strength: +2450 Stamina: +2400 Agility: +2350 Intelligence: +2300 Tactics: +245 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 200% Passive: Increases all tamer¡¯s pets¡¯ stats by 70% Slots: 16 Outstanding Property: Draconic Possession. Applies the Dragon Soul effect to the user, increasing their Attack, Defense and HP by 90%, and the level of all their summons by 20. Effect: Soul Devouring. When attacking a target, 15% chance to trigger the Soul Devouring effect and inflict the Crippled status condition. Introduction: Dragonbone Whip. In ancient times, the gods and the devils had fought each other in a war for supremacy, and the race closest to the gods was involved in that war as well. One brave and formidable dragon warrior called the Holy White Dragon fought the Purgatory Devil God, but he didn¡¯t prevail and was killed in battle. The Purgatory Devil God extracted his bones, hung it atop the flames of Purgatory, and burned it for tens of thousands of years. Over time, the bone became an indestructible whip called the Dragonbone Whip. Level Requirement: 225 Reputation Requirement: 650000 ¡­¡­ I was somewhat surprised, to be honest. The stats of this Dragonbone Whip could only be described as dominating. The Dragonbone Whip was good enough to be used as a melee weapon, and just the image of a magic knight swinging the whip around like a mine supervisor sent waves of chuckles through my belly. That being said, the Dragonbone Whip had a passive and an Outstanding Property that massively boosted a tamer¡¯s capabilities, so it would be a waste if it didn¡¯t go to a Tamer class player. However, there were no outstanding tamers in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and I doubted that there was anyone who would dare to accept it as a gift. Even if there was, Gui Guzi, Yamete, Du Thirteen and the rest of my brothers would never accept it. Good steel should be forged into blades, and the Dragonbone Whip¡¯s stats was almost as good as one of the Twelve Divine Armaments. It had to go to a player who was deserving of it. Anyway, I put it in my bag and decided to deal with it later. Tamers had been a rather lukewarm class since the start of the game. It wasn¡¯t like there were no famous tamers in Sky City¡ªin fact, there were a ton of players praised as "Wild Gods" or "Wild Souls"¡ªbut none of them were truly super-tier. For starters, the Tamer class was a support class. Two, tamers had to be able to cooperate with their pets and control multiple characters at the same time to bring out their full potential. It already sounded hard, but actually doing it was hard on a completely different level. The average players just wanted to enjoy a good time, and the Mage class, as well as all fighter classes, provided exactly that experience with a much lower difficulty curve. It was the main reason the Tamer class had remained unpopular and underpowered even now. Pop! I moved onto the poleyns after throwing the Dragonbone Whip into my bag. The draconic blade aligning its edges was all I needed to see to know that it was going to be amazing. I subconsciously looked down on my own poleyn and felt deep embarrassment entering my face. The Sea Suppressing Poleyns I wore were Level 155 Outstanding Heaven-grade equipment, and I should¡¯ve swapped it out a long, long time ago. The only reason I hadn¡¯t was because none of the poleyns I picked up really met my fancy, until now. I put a finger on the poleyn and immediately felt a hot surge of energy; an energy that could only belong to a Divine Armament. That was all the confirmation I needed. I brought up its stats screen and nearly forgot to wipe my saliva as I stared at it. Man, all that hard work wasn¡¯t for nothing after all¡ª Dark Magma Poleyns (Lower Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 14000 Magic Resist: 12500 Strength: +2450 Stamina: +2400 Agility: +2330 Intelligence: +2200 Tactics: +190 Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 70000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 80% and Magic Resist by 50% Slot: 17 Outstanding: Dragon Race Blood Boil. Instantly regain 15% total HP. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Active: Dark Shield. Focuses the power of darkness to protect oneself from any harm. Lasts for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 120 minutes. Introduction: Strella the Dark Magma was the last reigning Dragon God. This black Holy Giant Dragon that had existed since ancient times possessed incredible power and intellect. He could also transform into a human and see through one¡¯s mind. Unfortunately, he became a puppet of darkness after Lin Na took control of his soul during the Dragon Domain War. The Dark Magma Poleyns are the proof of Strella¡¯s strength. Level Requirement: 225 Level Requirement: 800000 ¡­¡­ I was overjoyed to say the least. Not only were its stats befitting of an equipment that was dropped by a Purgatory Sovereign, its 30-second invincibility skill more than made up for my lack of invincibility skill right now. As long as I wasn¡¯t ganged up on by a group of Ancient Divine Skill owners, there was practically no situation I couldn¡¯t escape. Moreover, the poleyns also gave me the skill that had made my life hell earlier, Dragon Race Blood Boil, and it could restore 15% HP to me every 2 minutes. It would be easier to live than it was to die with this equipment! I immediately replaced the Sea Suppressing Poleyns with the lower Divine Armament metal-armor poleyns. My stats immediately jumped visibly¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: The Frostblade of Death) Class: Master Swordsman of Death Level: 233 HP: 845820 Attack: 35250~40270 Defense: 97865 Magic Resist: 88920 Reputation: 1259400 Tactics: 2033 Luck: 109 ¡­¡­ I now had over 100 Luck, 2000 Tactics, and 14k Intelligence. Divine Armaments were truly godlike. If I was a mage, I could cast God Devil Break on another mage at my level and make them squeal in terror of my power. Behold the power of good equipment! It was time to move on to the third and final equipment. Strella had dropped the Dragonbone Whip, the Dark Magma Poleyn, and an extraordinarily gorgeous and murderous halberd. The halberd was about 2.5 meters long, and it emanated a very familiar energy of death. I nearly froze when I checked its stats screen. What is a Divine Armament? This is a Divine Armament! Chapter 1287 Ghostblade Halberd (Twelve Divine Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 13700~17500 Agility: +2750 Stamina: +2700 Strength: +2650 Intelligence: +2400 Tactics: +275 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 215% Passive: Increases user''s splash damage by 65% Passive: Increases rank of all melee skills by 2, and their damage output by 10% Slots: 18 Outstanding Property: Ghostblade Strike. Gather the power of ghosts to land a powerful strike that ignores Defense and has 40%-increased damage output. Ancient: Hundred Ghosts¡¯ Descent. Summons thousands of ghosts to attack all targets within a certain area, dealing massive damage and absorbing their HP. Effect: Proficiency. Level Requirement is lowered by 10 Effect: Enhanceable Introduction: Ghostblade Halberd is one of the Twelve Divine Armaments. In ancient times, there was a time where the natural order was disrupted, and the dead were unable to enter the cycle of reincarnation. Countless ghosts were forced to roam the entrance to hell, and the Purgatory God seized the opportunity to eat them and increase their own cultivation. Enraged, the god realm waged war against the Purgatory God and was successful in executing them for their crimes. The wandering ghosts the Purgatory God had consumed gathered within the halberd they used and transformed it into the legendary divine weapon, Ghostblade Halberd. It is said that the Ghostblade Halberd brings death and misfortune to both the wielder and its victims when used. It is without a doubt the most lethal weapon in the entire world. Level Requirement: 225 Reputation: 700000 ¡­¡­ I smiled like an idiot as I read the description. The time I dropped the Immortal Blade didn¡¯t count because I had agreed to surrender all the loot to Warsky Alliance, but this time the two Lower Divine Armaments and one of the Twelve Divine Armaments, the Ghostblade Halberd, were all mine. Quality-wise, this was easily the best pile of loot I had ever gotten in this game. It was common sense that the most attractive stat in this game was Attack, and the only way to obtain the ultimate Attack was to obtain the limited edition of Divine Armaments, the Twelve Divine Armaments. For gamers, the desire for the ultimate offense was like the desire for the most beautiful of women. It was eternal, and never-ending. I examined the Ghostblade Halberd a bit longer before tossing it resolutely into my bag. I wasn¡¯t proficient with pole-type weapons, and He Yi already had the Suppressing Fire Sword. It would cause criticism if I gave it to her. As for Beauty Lin, I loved her very much, but she ultimately wasn¡¯t a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. There was no way my guild members were going to take it well if I gave her one of the Twelve Divine Armaments. In the end, I could only think of one person to give the Ghostblade Halberd, and it was our resident knight, Gui Guzi. No one was going to object to one of our best profiting from my exploits. Despite my joy and exhaustion, I didn¡¯t forget the real reason I had come to Dragon God Cave. I continued scouring the ground until finally, I found what I was looking for. Lying beneath Strella¡¯s tail were four bright and crystalline dragon eggs. Not only that, there were small cracks on the surface of the eggs. The little fellows were going to emerge very soon, and I would be the one to choose their masters. There was a crimson egg, a black egg, a silver egg and a blue egg. I gave each egg a quick scan as I put them in my bag. Their names were Crimson Crystal Dragon, Dark Crystal Dragon, Snow Crystal Dragon and Blue Crystal Dragon. They were all Lower Divine Rank boss mount pet eggs with stats that were almost as good as my Ancient Divine Dragon, which was just perfect. When the eggs hatched for real, they were absolutely going to take the Top 10 spot of the Mount Ranking by storm. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would also have their first official dragon knight squad. Well, kind of. After some serious consideration, I ultimately decided to give Lin Yixin one of the eggs. I chose the Crimson Crystal Dragon because its red color seemed like a perfect fit with her. Lin Yixin loved red armor and red capes, and her in-game appearance resembled a beautiful flame. It was also unwittingly a good fit with her previous ID, "Beautiful Little Pepper¡±. As for the rest of the eggs, the Dark Crystal Dragon would go to Gui Guzi, the Snow Crystal Dragon would go to He Yi, and the Blue Crystal Dragon would go to Li Chengfeng. If I found more dragon eggs in the future, then I would give them to Chaos Moon, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Xu Yang and so on. When all was said and done, I checked the time and noted that it was almost 5 am in the morning. He Yi, Lin Yixin, Gui Guzi, and Li Chengfeng had been sleeping for almost 5 hours as well. It was time to wake them all up! I called them directly from inside the game and told them to meet me at Dark Moon City¡¯s territory hall. I could¡¯ve waited until later to distribute the loot, but I was worried they would affect my sleep quality or even prevent me from falling asleep in the first place. ¡­¡­ As I continued picking up the boss''s loot, I was gifted yet another pleasant surprise. This was probably what people meant when they made up the idiom "lucky streak¡±. With this item, He Yi could finally have a hidden class¡ª Stormwind Covenant Token: Players with this token may attempt the trial to change their class to Stormwind Holy Knight and obtain the class¡¯s exclusive skill book. Level Requirement: 200. Class Requirement: Magic Knight, Warrior, Wanderer. ¡­¡­ Even if I were to ignore the clear benefits of a hidden class, the exclusive skill book alone would increase He Yi¡¯s strength by leaps and bounds! I was looking downward when I suddenly noticed Xinran still sleeping in my lap. The sight of her miserable appearance made me realize that I hardly had the time to dawdle around. After I picked up the remaining loot as quickly as I could, I canceled the Fusion Armor, climbed on top of the Ancient Divine Dragon and flew up to the entrance as quickly as I could. Of course, I was attacked by the Blood Hook Dragons on the way, but I wasn¡¯t afraid of them anymore. My Defense was high enough that the damage they dealt was negligible even if I failed to dodge a hit or two. Swhoosh! When I passed through Dragon God Cave¡¯s second floor, I noticed a lot of Chinese, Russian and Indian players grinding Dragonman Blade Devils. I paid them no heed though. When I passed through the barrier at the entrance, the sudden stab of sunlight nearly blinded my eyes. As I slowly descended at the temporary camp that belonged to the Violet Empire so as not to alarm the NPCs, Queen Sophie and Xue Wei looked in my direction and immediately shuddered in alarm. They ran over as quickly as they could. When Sophie saw how bad Xinran looked, she looked like she could break into tears at any moment. "What¡­ what happened? How did Lady Wind Singer become like this?" I replied quietly, "This is the price it took to kill Strella. The important thing is, what do we do now?" Sophie thought for a moment before replying, "We will pass through the teleportation formation we set up earlier and head to Violet City. Once we¡¯re there, I will arrange for the best witch doctors to treat her!" "Mn!" I entered the teleportation formation first and appeared within the Violet City. Sophie and Xue Wei appeared a second later and led me straight into the royal palace. When I attempted to set Xinran down on a bed, she grabbed my hand tightly and murmured, "Big brother¡­ Please don¡¯t leave Xinran, big brother¡­" I felt a twinge in my nose. I returned the grip just as tightly and whispered, "The doctors will treat you, so be good, okay? I¡¯ll come back and accompany you very soon¡­" It was enough to make Xinran let go of me and fall asleep again. Sophie assured me, "Don¡¯t worry, we will bring godlike witch doctors to treat her. We will do everything in our power to treat Lady Wind Singer¡­" I nodded. "Yeah. I¡¯ll come back later!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ After I left the royal palace, I teleported straight to Dark Moon City. Swhoosh! It was early in the morning in Dark Moon City. The territory hall had been upgraded to the point where every brick was made from precious metal. As for the undead castle itself, it was cold and unearthly in a way a normal castle could never be. Back to the present, Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Lin Yixin and Gui Guzi were all waiting for me at the entrance already. Lin Yixin complained with a pout the moment she saw me, "I haven¡¯t had nearly enough sleep, so tell us what Strella dropped as soon as possible so I can get back to bed!" I shot her a smile and replied, "Well, I¡¯ve gotten the four Holy Giant Dragon mount eggs¡­" "Really?" Everyone chirped in excitement when they heard this. "Of course not!" It was hilarious how their complexions went from red-faced happiness to ghastly-white disappointment. Before they could take out their frustrations at me, I took out the four dragon eggs and said, "Just kidding! Strella did drop four dragon eggs, but it¡¯s up to yourselves to hatch it, understand?" I gave Lin Yixin the Crimson Crystal Dragon, He Yi the Snow Crystal Dragon, Gui Guzi the Dark Crystal Dragon, and Li Chengfeng the Blue Crystal Dragon. "You actually got dem eggs, Boss Broken Halberd? Hell yeah! Ohh, I love this Dark Crystal Dragon already! How do I sign a contract with it? Is it blood?" Gui Guzi was so excited he couldn¡¯t stop talking. Li Chengfeng was already cutting his finger and dripping some blood on the dragon egg. There was a burst of light, and the dragon egg fell away to reveal a cute and tiny blue dragon. It looked at Li Chengfeng and made some cute baby noises. "Hahaha! It¡¯s so cute!" Lin Yixin laughed while watching Li Chengfeng¡¯s Blue Crystal Dragon. He Yi also dripped some blood on her Snow Crystal Dragon egg, and soon, a white baby dragon poked out of its shell to greet her. It was clearly overjoyed that its master was a beautiful and gentle woman because it wouldn¡¯t stop being cute in He Yi¡¯s palm. Each dragon seemed to have their own personality, and Lin Yixin¡¯s Crimson Crystal Dragon was the type that disregarded all barriers. The second it came to life, it immediately climbed up to its master¡¯s 34D-sized mounds and napped there. I could¡¯ve given it a thrashing, but then Lin Yixin would give me a thrashing instead. Plus, it felt like Lin Yixin¡¯s love for the Crimson Crystal Dragon exceeded her love for me for a second there... "Roar!" Giu Guzi¡¯s Dark Crystal Dragon was the most murderous of them all as it blew fire at Gui Guzi¡¯s face the second it emerged from its shell. Gui Guzi wiped his blackened face and said expressionlessly, "This pipsqueak wants to eat bacon the second it is born. What a dragon." I let out a laugh before planting the Ghostblade Halberd in front of Gui Guzi. Then, I said, "Take this, Little Gui. I think this weapon is a good fit with you!" Gui Guzi shuddered when he saw the Ghostblade Halberd. "Holy shit! One of the Twelve Divine Armaments!?" "Yep!" "I love you, Boss Broken Halberd¡­" "Sorry, but I only love Eve and Yiyi¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ While Lin Yixin and He Yi were shooting me looks, I fished out the last boss item in my bag, the Stormwind Covenant Token and dropped it in He Yi¡¯s hands. "Eve, this will allow you to change your class to a hidden one. Of course, you can head to bed first and perform the class promotion later. As for me, I¡¯m going to log out. I¡¯m so tired I can black out at any moment." Lin Yixin nodded and said in a gentle voice, "Yes, you should sleep. I¡¯ll come look for you and Sister Eve at noon, okay?" "Mn!" Chapter 1288 "Big brother¡­" I opened my eyes when I heard Xinran¡¯s heartbreakingly crisp voice. I discovered that I was kneeling at the center of a barren battlefield. There were dead bodies everywhere, and Xinran was lying weakly on my lap. Her long, slender legs had been replaced by charred, broken stumps, and her big eyes were filled with tears. "Big brother¡­ I can¡¯t keep you company anymore. Goodbye, big brother. You will always be my beloved big brother. Always¡­" Red light suddenly shone from the stumps, threatening to consume her all body. Cracks started appearing all over her skin, and before I knew it, the Dragonbone Spear had slipped through her fingers. By the time the spear hit the ground, her arms had turned into ashes and become scattered across the barren plains. "Xinran¡­" I desperately tried to catch her arms with my free left hand, but all I got was a handful of ashes. Xinran stared at me with eyes full of despair and death. She never said a word. "No¡­ no..." I did everything I could to stop the deterioration from continuing, but I couldn¡¯t stop anything. In the end, I felt like all my energy had been sucked out of my body, and a dark cloud of helplessness hung over my head. ¡­¡­ "Are you okay, Lu Chen?!" A voice abruptly woke me from my nightmare and caused me to sit up with a start. When I looked, I saw Lin Yixin sitting beside my bed and holding a Ray Li magazine in her hands. She smiled gently at me and asked, "What happened? Did you have a nightmare?" I nodded a bit. "Yeah. I guess it wasn¡¯t completely a nightmare though. It was something that really happened¡­" "What is it?" "Sigh, nothing. By the way, why are you in my room, Yiyi?" "The door¡¯s not even closed, so I just walked inside." "..." Another smile crossed Lin Yixin¡¯s lips as she glanced at my chest. "You look surprisingly fit for a gamer. Emphasis on ¡®look¡¯¡­" I made a face at her before looking at myself. I had well-defined muscles beneath my copper skin even though I didn¡¯t train much. In fact, my body seemed to be growing stronger and stronger ever since it was altered by the virus. I obviously couldn¡¯t compare to those who really worked out, but I could definitely kick the ass of 99% of the otakus out there. ¡­¡­ I shot Lin Yixin a slightly embarrassed look while grabbing my shirt. "I¡¯m going to put my shirt on and get out of bed, Yiyi. Are you going to watch me the entire time?" Lin Yixin set down her Ray Li magazine and watched me intently. "Yep. You may begin!" "Fuck!" I tossed my shirt aside, grabbed Lin Yixin¡¯s shoulders, and pushed her on the bed before she could react. Then, I kissed her long and deep. Lin Yixin wanted to cry out and resist, but she was in the Frost Cloud workshop right now. She didn¡¯t dare to go overboard knowing that He Yi or Murong Mingyue could be right around the corner. After the kiss was over, she puffed up her rosy cheeks and glared at me. "You¡¯re pretty bold today, aren¡¯t you?" I smiled cheekily. "You¡¯re the one who forced my hand!" After she returned to her feet, she picked up her magazine again and said, "I¡¯ll wait for you outside. Be quick though, everyone¡¯s waiting for you." "Where are we going for lunch, by the way?" "A restaurant at Wuxi." "Wuxi? Why are we traveling that far for a meal?" "You¡¯re exaggerating. It¡¯s at most a 40-minute journey. Also, it¡¯s because a guild sent us a lunch invitation." I was surprised. "A lunch invitation by a guild? Who are they to convince the Fruit Knife Goddess herself to show up?" Lin Yixin replied, "You know them, actually. They¡¯re the guild you saved during the War of the Center, the Twelve Musicians. Their guild leader, Hugging Bears in Silence, recently opened a guild at Wuxi, and they strongly requested our attendance. I agreed, Sister He Yi agreed, and the rest is history. Seriously though, go wash yourself already. It¡¯s almost 11." "Oh, them¡­" "Yes, them!" Lin Yixin beamed at me before moving closer and kissing me on the forehead without warning. She then hugged my shoulders and cooed at me, "Be a good boy and stop dilly-dallying, okay?" I felt ripples in my heart listening to my girlfriend¡¯s sweet voice. I pecked her one last time on the cheek before saying, "Got it. Later!" A blushing Lin Yixin left the room and shut the door after that. ¡­¡­ It took me a few minutes to finish dressing. This was an official invitation, so I couldn¡¯t wear as sloppily as I normally did. I set aside my Meibangdun outfit and put on the Versace shirt + coat + pants set He Yi had bought for me. I then put on a pair of Yves Saint Laurent leather shoes that He Yi had also bought for me during our previous shopping trip. Basically, she had bought me everything I had tried and found to look nice. When I left the room and entered the living room, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Murong Mingyue and even Lian Xin couldn¡¯t help but be wowed by my appearance a little. Then, Murong Mingyue curled her lips and said, "Damn. Who would¡¯ve thought that the idiom ¡®clothes make the man¡¯ would apply to our Lu Chen? Anyway, go brush your teeth already¡­" "Yeah, gimme a minute." After I finished my business, we took off to Wuxi in Lin Yixin¡¯s Porsche. He Yi sat at the front passenger¡¯s seat, and Lin Yixin, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue at the back. The car had a lot of space and the girls were pretty slender, so it wasn¡¯t as cramped as it could¡¯ve been. Still, both Lin Yixin and Lian Xin couldn¡¯t help but stare at Murong Mingyue¡¯s tight uniform blouse and coffee-colored jacket with deep envy. After all, Lin Yixin was a 34D cup, and Lian Xin was barely a C cup. However, it seemed like sis didn¡¯t feel like boasting today. Instead, she whispered many adult jokes into Lian Xin¡¯s ear while holding one arm beneath her breasts, and another across the latter¡¯s shoulders. Lian Xin couldn¡¯t stop giggling for a time. ¡­¡­ I stepped down on the gas pedal and brought us to the highway. Less than 30 minutes later after we entered Wuxi, I slowed down and began following the directions of my GPS. Our destination was the coffee chain of an investment company, and it was said that the Wuxi chain was their main outlet. Hugging Bear in Silence of Twelve Musicians would be meeting us there. On a fly-over, Lin Yixin lowered the car window to enjoy the wind for a bit. However, a nearby middle-aged driver immediately rolled down his own car window and wolf-whistled at her. Lin Yixin paid him no mind, but I couldn¡¯t stand his behavior. I stepped down on the gas pedal and put at least a kilometer between me and the Suzuki. "This is the place, right?" He Yi pointed to my right and said, "That¡¯s the coffeehouse. Feel free to park in front of the entrance. It¡¯s only been a couple of days since it officially opened." "Okay!" I did as He Yi asked. It was a huge three-storey coffeehouse that was either fully rented or bought. Either option required the coffee chain owner to be loaded! The sliding door of the coffee shop opened at the same time we exited our car. A beautiful woman wearing black Nizi coat greeted us with a bright smile on her face, "Now this is what I call a company of honored customers!" The woman was none other than Hugging Bears in Silence. There were a couple familiar-looking women behind her. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, they were Twelve Musician players. Twelve Musicians wasn¡¯t a particularly strong guild, but they were incredibly popular and a female-only guild. The pretty ones even had their pictures spread all over the forums. Naturally, a lurker like me couldn¡¯t have missed them. ¡­¡­ "You¡¯re Lu Chen, right?" Hugging Bear in Silence extended a hand toward me while smiling. "Thank you for saving us at Floating Ice City. We would¡¯ve had to restart from zero otherwise!" I grasped her hand and returned the smile. "No problem!" The two girls next to her exchanged a knowing smile before whispering¡ªbut not so softly that I couldn¡¯t hear them¡ªto each other, "Wow, Lu Chen is handsome both online and offline! He¡¯s way more handsome than Warsky and Candlelight Shadow!" "I know right?" I kept calm and didn¡¯t speak more than was necessary. After we had introduced ourselves to each other, we walked in only to discover that it was a maid cafe. The waitresses were all young, pretty women in tailored uniforms serving drinks to all kinds of otakus. Truly, businesses had evolved to keep up with the times. Oh well, it certainly wasn¡¯t a bad thing to enjoy a beverage or hold a conversation at a place like this. After we took a seat and chatted for a bit, I asked, "So, Hugging Bears, if I may be so bold, where are we eating lunch? It¡¯s 12 pm already, and I haven¡¯t even had breakfast¡­" She burst into a giggle before answering, "Gotcha. We¡¯ve booked a room in the restaurant just opposite of this street, and we¡¯ll head over right after our last VIP shows up. Don¡¯t worry, she¡¯ll be here in just a couple more minutes." "Oh? Who is this VIP?" He Yi asked smilingly. Hugging Bears in Silence replied mysteriously, "She¡¯s the investor of this coffeehouse and Twelve Musicians¡¯ future partner!" Lin Yixin asked, "I see. Can you tell us some details?" Hugging Bears in Silence nodded before starting, "For the longest time, Twelve Musicians had been unable to grow into a significant guild. We don¡¯t even have a territory of our own. Basically, we lack leaders, capital, network and more. To fix that, we need someone to invest in us and give us the gold necessary to grind all kinds of skills that can be used to support our professional players. It so happens that I have a university classmate with deep pockets and a high level in Heavenblessed. We came to an agreement almost immediately, and she has agreed to invest in Twelve Musicians and turn it into a major guild. Our first objective is to obtain a guild territory!" Now she got me interested. "I would like to know this friend of yours." "She¡¯ll be here very soon!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a maid led a beautiful woman to our table. She was dressed casually, but she exuded an aura of class that wasn¡¯t dissimilar to He Yi¡¯s. She greeted us with a professional smile on her face, "Sorry I¡¯m late! You¡¯re Ancient Sword¡¯s Lu Chen, right? And you¡¯re From Water, Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue and finally, Lin Yixin the Beautiful Little Pepper. Did I get it all right?" Hugging Bears in Silence said, "Yes, yes, you got it all right. Can we go to the restaurant now? Our guests have been waiting for you for at least ten minutes¡­" "Of course!" The woman then shook our hands and said, "Nice to see you all! I¡¯m Little Bear¡¯s classmate, Zhou Ping!" ¡­¡­ After the brief chat was over, we finally entered the most important subject of the moment: lunch! The super rich woman was called Zhou Ping, and her dad was even richer. To give an example, Zhou Ping¡¯s total assets were worth hundreds of millions at least. If she had any problems investing in Twelve Musicians, it would definitely not be because she lacked the capital. Anyway, while the girls were having a good time conversing with each other, I devoted most of my energy sweeping over 30% of the dishes on the table. What could I do? I was really hungry. I also made up my mind to visit Xinran at Violet City after we returned to the workshop. She had been on my mind all day, and I couldn¡¯t rest easy until I knew she was okay. Chapter 1289 On the way back, Murong Mingyue put a hand on my shoulder and said, "Maybe it¡¯s just me, but you seem rather uninterested in that Zhou Ping girl." Lian Xin agreed with her assessment, "Yeah. All you did throughout the lunch was eat and eat some more. I bet you spoke less than ten lines with Zhou Ping. It¡¯s so strange. Don¡¯t you like rich and beautiful girls like her, big brother Lu Chen?" I answered while steering the car, "Isn¡¯t that obvious? It¡¯s because I don¡¯t know her. What do you expect me to say to someone who isn¡¯t an acquaintance? Plus, who cares if she¡¯s rich and beautiful? Is she richer than Eve? Is she prettier than Yiyi?" Two women began making giggles of happiness. "You are a despicable man, you know that?" Murong Mingyue shot me a merciless criticism before continuing, "At the latest, we¡¯ll reach the workshop past 2 pm. What is everyone¡¯s plan? Instances or more instances?" He Yi said, "Yeah, the Snow Crystal Dragon Lu Chen gave me requires way too much experience. I grinded the whole morning and only managed to get it to Level 29. We definitely need to grind some instances to get that free experience. We¡¯re strong enough to grind the A4 instance now, so let¡¯s clear everything from A1 to A4. If it turns out that we¡¯re not strong enough, we can bring Gui Guzi with us. His Attack is now super strong thanks to the Ghostblade Halberd. He¡¯s almost in the same league as Lu Chen now." [1] Lin Yixin said, "Since this is an Ancient Sword event, I won¡¯t be joining you all. I¡¯ll just grind with Purple Marquis and Nangong Lexi." I also said, "Count me out too. I have something else I need to do today. Eve, have you changed your class to Stormwind Holy Knight?" She shook her head. "The class promotion requires me to kill a pretty powerful boss, and I was busy grinding experience for my dragon this morning. I¡¯ll complete it in the afternoon, I guess." "Can you keep her company when she undergoes her class promotion, Yiyi?" I asked Lin Yixin. The girl nodded smilingly. "As you command!" Lian Xin blinked once before asking, "You say you have something to do, but what is it that¡¯s keeping you busy, big brother Lu Chen?" I sucked in a deep breath before replying, "Xinran lost both her legs during our fight against Strella. She¡¯s currently receiving treatment at Violet City right now, but there¡¯s no telling if she¡¯ll recover. Considering that she nearly got herself killed for my sake, it¡¯s only right that I return the favor¡­" Lin Yixin was shocked to hear this. "Even Xinran couldn¡¯t beat Strella?" "Yeah. The Dark Dragon God was just too powerful, and he cheated by borrowing the dark powers of Lin Na. During the latter half of the boss fight, his power had completely surpassed the likes of Xinran and Sophie. All things considered, I can¡¯t even imagine how powerful Lin Na himself is. Unless we have no other choice, we should push the day we challenge Lin Na as far back as possible. Even if he drops a super Divine Armament or something, what does it matter if we can¡¯t kill him?" "I know. Unlike a certain person, I don¡¯t have a death wish¡­" "..." "By the way, you mentioned that Strella also dropped the Lower Divine Armaments, Dark Magma Poleyn and Dragonbone Whip, right? What are you planning to do with the Dragonbone Whip? If I remember correctly, there are no super-tier tamers in Ancient Sword, right?" I thought for a moment before replying, "I¡¯m going to drop it in the auction house and see if it¡¯ll earn me some cash. Dark Moon City¡¯s income is great, but too slow." Lin Yixin leaned against her seat and let the sunlight shine on her for a bit. She asked lazily, "I see. Why do you need so much money though?" I replied without hesitation. "To feed you, duh. I would say Eve too, but she¡¯s way richer than me, so¡­" Lin Yixin immediately blushed as red as an apple. She didn¡¯t say anything, but He Yi teased her, "Yiyi is embarrassed¡­" "I am not!" Lin Yixin retorted. "Yes, you are¡­" He Yi continued. Lin Yixin gripped her fists and pouted. "How can you do this to me, Sister He Yi? I thought we¡¯re in this together¡­" "Oh, I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll treat you to a big meal later, okay?" "..." ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin drove back to her university after we returned to the workshop. I went into my room, connected to the internet, and logged back into the game right away. Swhoosh! After I appeared in Dark Moon City, I stepped out of the territory hall and saw Lu Buyi standing together with a bunch of top-tier assassins, archers, wanderers and more. He was holding a dark green-colored fan and wearing a traditional Han Chinese outfit that made him look both elegant and noble. It looked like they were planning to challenge a high-level map or something. He shot me a smile and greeted me, "Did you rest well, Lu Chen?" "Mn." I nodded. "Where are you going, Buyi? Nearly everyone in the Top 100 of our guild is in your party." Lu Buyi laughed. "It¡¯s Heaven¡¯s Rain, not me. She¡¯s going to do an SS Rank quest, and we¡¯re tagging along as volunteers, so to speak¡­" "Oh, I see. Well, good luck to you all!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I walked into a teleportation formation and appeared within the solemn but magnificent undead kingdom that was the Violet Empire. Before I took off, I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and activated Fusion Armor. Its body disappeared, and its scales transformed into sharp, indestructible blades on my Guardian Dragon Armor, making me look even more impressive than before. After that, I stepped right through the palace entrance. The NPC soldiers seemed to recognize me, so they didn¡¯t try to block my entry. Moreover, I was a Rank 7 military personnel¡ªa Bloody General¡ªin the undead faction. Even if I was a total stranger, I was certain that they would¡¯ve respected my military rank. Whoosh! I pushed away the curtains hanging on top of the entrance and walked into the room where Xinran was resting in. I saw a couple of witch doctors boiling a huge pot of herbs. They spoke forcefully when they saw me, "Who are you?" I replied indifferently, "Calm down. It¡¯s me." Xue Wei was sitting on the bed. She rose to her feet and greeted me, "You¡¯ve finally returned!" I was hoping for some good news as I approached the bedside, but all I saw was a frowning Xinran with her lower body bandaged in red silk cloth. I understood everything when I saw that her legs hadn¡¯t healed yet. The sight alone sent a stab through my heart. Xue Wei continued with a deep frown on her face, "Lady Wind Singer¡¯s injury is incredibly severe. Strella¡¯s dark dragon energy had seeped into her wounds, so normal herbs were incapable of healing her at all. In fact, Lady Wind Singer herself is incapable of restoring her own body despite being a wielder of god-tier powers. Our witch doctors have tried everything, but¡­" Me: "..." I sat down beside Xinran and held her hand for a bit. It was cold, weak, and all too fragile. As the pain in my heart grew, I uttered grimly, "I will restore Xinran¡¯s body no matter the cost. Is there really no other way, Xue Wei?" Xue Wei sucked in a deep breath before replying, "The witch doctor king came yesterday, and she said that there is only one method to restore Lady Wind Singer¡¯s body. However¡­ it is a most cruel method¡­" "What is it?" I urged her to tell me. She scrunched up her brow as she answered, "Strella¡¯s dark dragon energy is preventing her wounds from healing. Therefore, one must look to a higher power to restore her. In this case, the power of rebirth will do the work nicely. However, the method to obtain the power of rebirth is exceptionally cruel. First, you must kill a living person. Then, you revive them as an undead using a voodoo art. When the dead revives, a strand of the power of rebirth is created. That is what Lady Wind Singer needs to restore her body. However, it will take far, far more than a strand to heal Lady Wind Singer, and¡­" Me: "..." Xue Wei looked at me and said, "You understand why I say this is cruel. In fact, Queen Sophie herself has made such practices forbidden a long time ago. That is why we don¡¯t know what is the right thing to do. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?" "I do!" I nodded heavily before carrying Xinran to my arms. I gave her a tight hug before binding her to my chest using my Sunchaser Cloak. I then said, "All she needs is the power of rebirth, right? I will do everything in my power to obtain it, and I won¡¯t give up until Xinran is restored. For Xinran¡¯s sake, I will even become a devil if necessary!" Xue Wei couldn¡¯t say anything for a time. "You¡­" I turned around and strode toward the entrance. Before I left, I bade Xue Wei goodbye. "Take care, Xue Wei. We will return when Xinran returns to full health¡­" "Mn. Good luck!" "Thank you!" ¡­¡­ A breeze blew as I stepped out of the room. Xinran shivered a little before waking up from her long slumber. When she set her light red eyes on me, the corners of her lips curled into a beautiful smile. "You¡¯ve finally come to visit Xinran, big brother. I¡­ I felt like I just woke up from a very, very long dream. I dreamed that you were with me¡­" I smiled back. "Don¡¯t worry, Xinran. I will always be with you." ¡°Mn." Xinran wrapped her right arm around my neck and watched my face for a moment. She then said with a small blush, "You¡¯ve never exclusively kept me company before, so I¡¯m not letting you go this time¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ After we left Violet City, I summoned my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King. I left most of the fighting to them because my arms were occupied by Xinran. In fact, there was nothing these two couldn¡¯t beat within the borders of Sky City, monster or player. Small guilds weren¡¯t strong enough to threaten me, and big guilds left me alone because I am who I am. If they were stupid enough to attack me, the Dragonlight Cavalry would make them rue everything. I was the boss of this city, not them. "Big brother!" Xinran called out suddenly. I nodded. "Yeah?" "How are you going to heal me, big brother?" "I¡¯m not sure about the specific method yet, but Xue Wei mentioned that the power of rebirth can heal your wounds. I¡¯m going to try and gather them first." "Mn." ¡­¡­ I wasn¡¯t walking with a specific destination in mind, but we came by a small graveyard along the way. There were countless graveyards in Sky Forest, and they were where a player¡¯s soul was remade after they perished in battle. Instinctively, I activated Dark Pupils and my Domain when I stepped into the graveyard. To my surprise, several grayish figures actually appeared in view. They were none other than the players¡¯ souls. I stared at a soul who didn¡¯t seem to notice that I could see and even hear his vulgar words, "Heh, who is this guy princess-carrying a pretty girl? Is he trying to find a hidden spot to have public sex with her?" Swhoosh! I swung my Chill of the Nine Provinces across his neck, but it did nothing to the player as I expected. I attempted to absorb his energy into my palm, but all I could feel was the power of death either. There wasn¡¯t a trace of power of rebirth to be found anywhere. Suddenly, a thought entered my mind. I¡¯m so stupid! Of course I wouldn¡¯t be able to find the power of rebirth in a graveyard; a place of death! What I really should find is his corpse! When he comes back to life, that is when the power of rebirth will manifest! So, I slipped underground and trailed the player¡¯s soul all the way to a small forest. There, I found around seven to eight players fighting a bear mob. The player¡ªan assassin¡ªhad probably been killed by this very mob. Swhoosh! The moment the assassin came back to life, I immediately emerged from the ground and aimed my palm at a wisp of near invisible energy that looked like white smoke. I was able to absorb it into my palm, and... "Ah¡­" Xinran let out a small moan and closed her eyes. At the same time, her body glowed with holy power. 1. T/N: I think it should be S1 to S4, but I¡¯m not sure. E/N: A1-A4 is way safer, they would 100% need Lu Chen for S1-S4. Chapter 1290 Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have collected 0.001% of the power of rebirth necessary to complete the restoration! ¡­¡­ I was a bit miffed, to be honest. One player¡¯s power of rebirth was only equal to 0.001%? It meant that I had to absorb at least 100000 players¡¯ power of rebirth to fully restore Xinran¡¯s legs! There were no Nation Wars right now. Where would I even find that many players to kill? I could find a subguild, speak to their low-level players and kill them repeatedly to restore Xinran¡¯s legs of course. I could even compensate them handsomely for their efforts. However, it was still very exploitative and a breach of trust. I couldn¡¯t possibly do that to them. In the end, I decided to do things the slow and steady way. ¡­¡­ I entered the area behind Wild Pheasant Ridge. The mobs here had been updated to Level 255 fiend-rank mobs, and a lot of players were grinding in this area. I had turned off my equipment luster, resummoned my apparition and Phantom Wolf King, and tweaked my appearance so that strangers wouldn¡¯t recognize me on the spot. The fact that I was carrying a beautiful but disabled woman also made me look more like an NPC than a player. Finally, I was at Level 233, so those who were 10 levels or lower than my current level wouldn¡¯t be able to see my name. Right now, there were less than 100 Level 233+ players in the entire Sky City. I saw the flashes of skills and heard the sounds of fighting almost immediately after we circled around a hill. I also heard the howls of wolves. It looked like my grind was off to a good start because I could see a huge red dot with my Dark Pupils. It was a boss, and where bosses existed, players would usually die. This was my chance to absorb the power of rebirth without having to do anything! Swhoosh! I used Earth Escape again and slipped into the underground with Xinran. If possible, I didn¡¯t want to show my face while I was, to put it bluntly, stealing someone¡¯s power of rebirth. Sure, it was useless to them, but still. ¡­¡­ On a clearing, a huge wolf with sharp horns on its head was roaring and attacking a bunch of players. It was called the Giant Wolf King Dilis, and it was a Level 280 Immortal Rank boss and the guardian of this part of the map. I could solo it without trouble, but a normal player couldn¡¯t claim the same feat. At the very least, this wolf king was a deadly threat to the group of players above me. "Hang on, brothers and sisters! Immortal-grade equipment awaits us if we succeed!" A large man wielding a broadsword shouted words of encouragement while fighting at the frontline. The emblem on his arm marked him as a guild leader, and his name was "Number One Swordsman¡±. He was a 35-years-old middle-aged man commanding a guild called "The Minstrels¡±. He had a refreshing appearance, and his orders weren¡¯t half-bad. Unfortunately, the group of players he gathered were pitifully low-level. The weakest of them was only slightly over Level 180, and the strongest of them was only Level 214. There was nearly a 100-level gap between them and the boss, so this boss fight was doomed from the very beginning. I saw about a hundred cavalrymen unleashing their Barrier Break on the boss, but they dealt only 1000+ damage or so per player. It almost wasn¡¯t enough to overcome the boss''s HP regeneration. "Roar roar¡­" The wolf king roared and killed eight cavalrymen instantly with a claw swipe. Then, it fired a deadly gust of energy at the dozens of archers and mages at the back and killed them as well. The Minstrels guild was utterly incapable of fighting the boss, and they had lost hundreds of players already. The only thing they had going for them was the fact that they were almost a thousand-man party. Assuming they didn¡¯t lose their nerve, they should be able to bring down the boss in another hour or two. ¡­¡­ Anyway, I started absorbing the power of rebirth after I found a suitable spot to linger on the battlefield. Every time someone revived, the energy would be absorbed into my palm. As a Heavenly River Realm player with a Domain, I could sense and remotely control every wisp of energy around me. Therefore, absorbing the wisps of power of rebirth wasn¡¯t a problem whatsoever. Xinran was clinging to my neck when she let out a chuckle. "We look like a pair of thieves, don¡¯t we, big brother? It reminds me of that Dragon Domain Scavenger¡­" I shrugged. "The power of rebirth is completely useless to them anyway. Does it really count as stealing if you pick up the trash that people don¡¯t need? Also, I don¡¯t want to frighten them and stop them from doing what they¡¯re doing. By the way, how did you know that Dragon Domain Scavenger?" Xinran blinked once before replying, "Because he¡¯s the one who stole the Dragonslaying Sword. duh. I¡¯m guessing that you don¡¯t know this, but Dragon Domain Scavenger was killed by Ziyan afterward. Therefore¡­" "The sword ultimately fell into Princess Karinshan¡¯s hands?" "Mn." "Damn." I should¡¯ve known that Princess Karinshan wouldn¡¯t let an important artifact like the Dragonslaying Sword slip through her grasp. Who knows, she might even be the one who instructed Dragon Domain Scavenger to steal it in the first place. And once he had outlived his usefulness, she¡­ actually, I¡¯m going to stop here. For starters, my assumption was completely baseless. Two, if my assumption was correct, well¡­ let¡¯s just say that no one enjoyed having their dark side brought into the light, least of all their victims. ¡­¡­ The restoration progress jumped by 0.1% after I had absorbed a hundred players¡¯ power of rebirth. The process might be slow, but not impossible. Even if it was impossible, I could never leave Xinran until we had found a better solution. Her ability to walk or fly wasn¡¯t the only thing that was impaired after she lost her legs. Her strength was nothing like it was before either. The Winged Silver Dragon and Bloody Finger had vanished to god-knows-where as well. To be fair, Strella was a ridiculously OP boss, and they were lucky they weren¡¯t outright one-shot. On the other hand, neither lackey had visited their master even once since the boss battle, which was all that needed to be said about their loyalty. No wonder Xinran treated them like crap back in the day. They totally deserved it. While the wolf king was busy slapping or biting The Minstrels to death, I shifted Xinran to my left arm and gripped my Chill of the Nine Provinces with my right hand in case I needed to take action. I could¡¯ve saved them the pain and ended this battle in five minutes, but then I wouldn¡¯t be able to absorb their power of rebirth and heal Xinran. Just this once, I was going to ignore my guilty conscience. ¡­¡­ Number One Swordsman didn¡¯t look very happy with the state of things. His vice leader was also saying softly, "At this rate, everyone has to die 2 to 3 times at least before we can kill this Immortal Rank boss. Worse, it¡¯s not guaranteed to drop Immortal-grade equipment. Worst-case scenario, they¡¯ll resent us for a long time to come¡­" Number One Swordsman grimaced, but he said, "I know, but we cannot not give up this boss. You know there isn¡¯t a single player in our guild with Immortal-grade equipment. Heck, we don¡¯t even have many Heaven-grade items. Everyone¡¯s running around in Purple Gold, Spirit or Earth¨Cgrade equipment. How can we attract any first-rate player into our guild if we maintain our current state? If we manage to take down this wolf king though, we will have officially taken the first step toward true success. Moreover, we must do it alone to prove that we aren¡¯t all bark and not bite. ¡°So take down this wolf king with all you¡¯ve got, people! We may never be as strong as Ancient Sword or Candle Dragon, but at least we¡¯ll be able to stand proud and declare that we are a bunch of dreamers, not trash!" Encouraged by Number One Swordsman, the players of The Minstrels roared their battle cries, surrounded the wolf king and unleashed their magic spells, arrows and blades with renewed vigor. From the looks of it, they wouldn¡¯t stop until the boss was well and truly dead. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle¡­ Suddenly, a patch of grass rustled unnaturally, and a figure manifested out of thin air. He was a Level 211 eighth-promotion assassin, and he said to Number One Swordsman, "We have a problem, guild leader. A group of Mad Dragon players is advancing toward us from the east, and they¡¯re led by Inconstant and Coldmoon Rose. They are most likely aware that the Immortal Rank boss, the Giant Wolf King Dilis, has spawned here. What do we do?" Number One Swordsman asked, "How many people do they have, and how strong are they?" "They¡¯re 500+ players strong, and they are buffed by Inconstant¡¯s Encourage VII, meaning that their Attack is buffed by 100%. Coldmoon Rose is Roaming Dragon¡¯s woman, and her equipment is exceptional. I heard that her bow, wristguards and cloak are all Immortal-grade. Inconstant is even better than her, sitting at 4 pieces of Immortal-grade equipment in total!" "Very good¡­" A cold gleam flashed across Number One Swordsman¡¯s eyes. "We¡¯re going to hold our ground and focus on taking out the boss first. If Mad Dragon attacks us first, we¡¯ll summon the two thousand-man parties we stationed to the south of Wild Pheasant Ridge and run them over. Hopefully, we¡¯ll be able to kill both Coldmoon Rose and Inconstant. Roaming Dragon is just a fat and useless trust fund baby who thinks he¡¯s all high and mighty when he¡¯s anything but that. Today, we¡¯ll teach them not to be idiots who¡¯d raid someone else¡¯s boss with just 500 men!" "The guild leader is wise. I¡¯ll make the arrangements right away!" "Mn!¡¯ ¡­¡­ The assassin turned around and waved his arm, and a lot more footsteps followed him into the forest. Clearly, at least dozens of eighth-promotion assassins were lurking in the forest. Assassins were extremely powerful in forest battles, and Assassin¡¯s Oath could potentially prevent even the archers¡¯ Clear of Flame from seeing through them. Their ability to appear and disappear unpredictably was scary to say the least. Pu! Suddenly, a shadow cut through the air, and the assassin¡¯s chest exploded with a mighty explosion. Shocked, the assassin glanced in the direction of the sudden attack just in time to spot Coldmoon Rose and her gorgeous-looking bow. He had lost 170k+ HP from the Explosive Arrow, and a follow-up Skypiercer claimed his life right after he entered stealth. His final words were, "Shit! How are they here already? Mad Dragon is here!" At the same time, Inconstant entered the clearing and unsheathed his blade with a mighty shout, "Go, brothers and sisters! Everyone knows that Wild Pheasant Ridge belongs to Mad Dragon, and The Minstrels dared to take our prey!? Kill them all and take out the Giant Wolf King Dilis while you¡¯re at it!" The ground started rumbling, and at least 200 elite Mad Dragon cavalrymen joined Inconstant in the charge. The Minstrels¡¯ assassins had set up Freezing and Blazing Traps along their path, but it wasn¡¯t enough to stop Mad Dragon¡¯s cavalry charge. Inconstant emerged from the smoke clouds with 50% HP left and roared vigorously, "50% HP is enough to deal with the likes of you!" Seven Ultimate Strength Breaks erupted among the archers and mages, and Mad Dragon¡¯s level advantage over The Minstrels became obvious. Practically every Mad Dragon cavalryman was an eighth-promotion player, and their Ultimate Strength Breaks dropped the mages and archers like wheat. ¡­¡­ "Motherfuckers!" Number One Swordsman¡¯s eyes turned bloodshot. "I¡¯ll kill you all!" Chapter 1291 Whoosh! Inconstant¡¯s blade burst into flames as he brought it down on Number One Swordsman. At the same time, the swordsman struck Inconstant with his Barrier Break. Unfortunately, the stat difference between the duo was pretty huge. Number One Swordsman lost 200k+ HP, but Inconstant lost only 70k+. Inconstant was one of the Gemini Stars of Mad Dragon, so his Attack and Defense stats were much stronger than a core player of a second or third-rate guild. Inconstant seized Number One Swordsman by the collar and stabbed him four or five times right through the chest, all the while cackling delightedly. "You think you can compete against Mad Dragon with your strength?" Pu! He stabbed Number One Swordsman one last time and let the latter collapse from his mount. Behind the guild leader, The Minstrels¡¯ players tried to run down Inconstant, but all they got was a faceful of arrows. About a hundred Mad Dragon archers had arrived just in time to turn them into pincushions. ¡­¡­ "Big brother¡­" Xinran watched the battle happening above ground and asked in puzzlement, "Why are they fighting each other?" I thought for a second before answering, "To fulfill their desires. When one¡¯s desires aren¡¯t fulfilled, they will take what others have to satisfy themselves. This is why wars happen." "I see. You have to help the weak, big brother¡­" Xinran said smilingly. Her voice was weak, but it affirmed my thoughts and spurred me to action. The Minstrels hadn¡¯t offended Mad Dragon in any way, but Mad Dragon PK¡¯d them just because they were in the way. It was morally reprehensible. Just this once, I supposed I could roleplay a hero of justice! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Wisps of bloody light appeared on the ground and transformed into me and Xinran. With Xinran in one hand and the Chill of the Nine Provinces in the other, I charged straight toward Mad Dragon or more specifically, Inconstant. The man was pulling his blade out of a pretty girl¡¯s stomach when he noticed my presence and exclaimed in surprise, "Hmm? Who are you?" "Your killer!" The Chill of the Nine Provinces didn¡¯t leak icy sword auras after its visual effects had been turned off, but it remained an ancient and murderous weapon. I stabbed it into Inconstant¡¯s shoulder before he could react and fired Burning Blade Slash right through his back. He was much slower than me, and in a PvP fight the player who couldn¡¯t keep up with their opponent was often the loser. Three big damage numbers rose from his head¡ª 390882! 482177! 582723! The Guardian Dragon Armor, Chill of the Nine Provinces, and Dark Magma Poleyn had increased my Attack far beyond the reach of the average player, and my explosive power was rivaled only by a handful of top-tier players. Meanwhile, Inconstant was at best a peak second-rate expert and much weaker than even Xu Yang and Du Thirteen. He was never going to survive me in a million years. Thud! I pulled out my sword and slashed his neck, deleting the last sliver of his HP. He dropped a floor of potions and a helmet, but I didn¡¯t bother to pick up any of them. Instead, I stepped over Inconstant¡¯s body and killed another dozens of Mad Dragon players with Myriad Swords Obliteration. ¡­¡­ "Who¡­ who¡¯s that guy?" Coldmoon Rose said angrily while running toward somewhere, "Who¡¯s that guy, and why is he attacking us?!" A corps commander replied to her, "Vice guild leader, that skill is obviously Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯s exclusive skill, Myriad Swords Obliteration, and the skill he just used to kill Inconstant was Burning Blade Slash, which again belongs to Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand only. Dammit, why is that fiend here?" Coldmoon Rose ordered through gritted teeth. "Withdraw! Our numbers are too few, and Lu Chen alone can defeat all of us. If Beiming Xue, From Water or anyone else shows up, things will be even worse for us!" "Yes, ma¡¯am!" I spent a second admiring Coldmoon Rose¡¯s seductive back and round butt. The red cape she wore wasn¡¯t enough to hide the beautiful curves beneath it. Coldmoon Rose was no Lin Yixin or He Yi, but she was still a gorgeous woman. It was a shame that she had grown increasingly snobbish and pretentious the longer she stuck to Roaming Dragon. Swhoosh! I tossed the Chill of the Nine Provinces in Coldmoon Rose¡¯s direction. The sword pierced through a tree trunk and nearly sliced it in half. Coldmoon Rose froze in her tracks because the blade of the sword was just centimeters away from her neck. If I wanted to kill her, she would be dead already. I slowly sauntered up to Coldmoon Rose while she turned around to look at me with a complicated expression. "What the hell do you want, Lu Chen? Seriously, what the HELL do you want? You¡¯ve hounded me since as early as Floating Ice City. You just want to make me miserable, is that it?" I pulled out the Chill of the Nine Provinces and shot her an indifferent glance. "You¡¯re mistaken!" Coldmoon Rose sneered. "Mistaken? Then how do you explain your current actions? As far as I¡¯m aware, Ancient Sword has nada to do with The Minstrels. Why on earth would you help them if it wasn¡¯t for me?" I exhaled a little before looking at her. "Is it so strange for a person to help someone in need? Hmph. Mad Dragon is almost a Top 10 guild on the Guild Ranking, and yet here you are bullying some third-rate guild for greed. If you really wanted to demonstrate your power, you would fight against Warsky Alliance or Candle Dragon. Well, I suppose I should¡¯ve expected such behavior from Lu Chao though. He is a pampered and spoiled brat who only knows how to bully the weak after all!" Coldmoon Rose clenched her fists tightly and breathed heavily for a moment. Then, she grabbed my collar, pulled her face closer and uttered in a barely controlled voice, "Fuck you, Lu Chen! Yes, I chose to become Lu Chao¡¯s woman! And yes, all I care about is the amount of money he pays me, not his character! So what? A long time ago, I asked you if you needed a woman like me, and you¡¯re the one who turned me down! So go be your hero, but get the fuck out of my way! You don¡¯t get to tell me what to do, understand!?" I shrugged and pointed to my right. "I won¡¯t attack you if you won¡¯t attack The Minstrels. Now, feel free to start running in that direction." "You!" Coldmoon Rose¡¯s shoulders trembled with anger. In the end though, she turned away and barked at the remaining Mad Dragon players, "Withdraw!" There were a couple of axe-wielding middle-aged men who looked mighty unhappy, however. One of them urged Coldmoon Rose, "There¡¯s no need to fear someone like him, vice leader! Worst-case scenario, we die and lose a level! Plus, he¡¯s carrying a disabled girl right now! We can take him on!" Coldmoon Rose only turned paler and shouted, "Enough! Withdraw!" ¡­¡­ After Mad Dragon¡¯s players finally disappeared from view, I turned around and absorbed the power of rebirth of the reviving players. Swhoosh! After Number One Swordsman revived, he said to me in an excited tone, "You¡¯re Lu Chen, right? I heard your conversation while I was running back to my body just now!" I nodded. "Yeah. Anyway, feel free to get back to your boss!" "Thank you!" "You¡¯re welcome!" I didn¡¯t leave because there was still a ton of power of rebirth to absorb. The Minstrels had lost almost everyone when Mad Dragon attacked, so there were at least a thousand wisps of power of rebirth lurking in the area. That was exactly what I needed to heal Xinran. ¡­¡­ An hour later, the Giant Wolf King Dilis finally died to the combined efforts of The Minstrels. Number One Swordsman rushed forward eagerly, flipped through the boss drops and abruptly raised a supernatural-looking sword into the air. He declared with a triumphant laugh, "Hahaha! We got it, everyone! We finally got a god-tier item! This Blade of Bloodthirsty is a Level 210 Immortal-grade weapon, and its upper Attack limit is over 6000! Hell yeah!" I rolled my eyes, but The Minstrels was just a third-rate guild. It was natural for them to treat a 6000-Attack weapon as a god-tier item. Number One Swordsman rolled for the equipment afterward, and he actually managed to roll the highest number out of everyone. Since he also had the highest guild contribution points within The Minstrels, the "god-tier weapon" naturally went to him. Meanwhile, I had slipped back into the forest and went away. The only reason I hung around in the first place was to absorb the power of rebirth. Since the boss had been defeated, and no one else was going to die, there was no reason for me to hang around any longer. ¡­¡­ A few minutes after I roamed the forest aimlessly, some disturbing news reached me from the guild channel¡ª Xu Yang: "Shit! I¡¯m so angry!" He Yi: "What¡¯s wrong?" Xu Yang said in an angry voice, "My party was grinding at Blood Swallow Cave of Dragonbone Mountain Range when Blood Alliance¡¯s assassins ambushed us! There were 17 of us, and 9 of us including Yu Tong and Moon Dew were killed! Shit!" Li Chengfeng asked urgently, "I¡¯m not far away from Blood Swallow Cave. Who are the attackers? I¡¯ll bring some men, seal the entrance and kill them all right now!" However, Yu Tong said weakly, "It¡¯s no use. The attackers are all high-level eighth-promotion assassins. Once they activate their Assassin¡¯s Oath, they can negate even the archer¡¯s Clear As Flame over 50% of the time. How can you kill them when you can¡¯t even see them?" Xu Yang said, "I¡¯ve already withdrawn our players from Blood Swallow Cave, and we¡¯re waiting for more archers to join us before we do anything else. These treacherous fuckers Ambushed 3 of our archers right from the get-go, killed them, and went into stealth before we could do anything. They would¡¯ve repeated the same shit over and over if I hadn¡¯t made the decision to withdraw. It¡¯s absolutely despicable!" I hummed in thought. "I guess someone paid Blood Alliance to target us¡­" Li Chengfeng replied, "It¡¯s not just us. Nearly every high-level guild in Sky City has run into situations like this. Warsky Alliance and Snowy Cathaya have lost many high-level players to Blood Alliance as well. Even Little Gui was ambushed by five Blood Alliance assassins just this morning. Of course, Little Gui managed to turn the tables on them and kill them all thanks to his new Ghostblade Halberd and the ever-reliable Undying Shield!" High Fighting Spirits roared, "Even Little Gui? Those motherfuckers! Let¡¯s muster our Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers and kick their teeth in already, guild leader! It¡¯s the best way to deal with a shameless guild like Blood Alliance! Plus, we¡¯re going to have three high-level dragon knights very soon. There¡¯s no way they can defend themselves against us!" However, I shook my head and said, "No, it won¡¯t work." High Fighting Spirits sounded surprised. "But why?" Chaos Moon explained in my place, "Blood Alliance has a dozen or so subguilds, and their main guild has over ten thousand eighth-promotion assassins. The problem is that these people have no territory or fixed assembly points. They¡¯re scattered throughout the map and spend most of their time grinding or in stealth. Forget crushing them, we can¡¯t even find them in the first place." "Shit! What do we do then?!" High Fighting Spirits was a hot-tempered man, and he was starting to lose control already. Chapter 1292 He Yi coughed once before asking, "I would like everyone to give their opinion regarding Blood Alliance¡¯s repeated assassination attempts. We cannot allow them to keep doing whatever they want, so what do you think we should do?" Li Chengfeng grimaced. "The enemy¡¯s hidden, while we are in the open. Honestly, it¡¯s very difficult to seize the initiative here. In my opinion, we should dispatch the eighth subguild to hunt down any Blood Alliance players they encounter. Besides that, we should put up a bounty on all Blood Alliance players and drive them out of Sky City entirely. Sky City is our home, and we shouldn¡¯t allow them to do as they please." Chaos Moon agreed. "Li¡¯s ideas are pretty logical. I support them." Gui Guzi asked me, "What do you think, Boss Broken Halberd?" I sucked in a deep breath before answering, "Yes, Chengfeng¡¯s ideas are pretty sound. Very well, we¡¯ll put up a bounty to hunt down all Blood Alliance assassins within Sky City borders. I¡¯m not sure how effective it¡¯ll actually be, but it¡¯ll put some psychological pressure on the fuckers at least. We should also contact all our allied guilds¡ªSnowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends and more¡ªand coordinate a joint declaration of war on Blood Alliance. If possible, I want to involve Warsky Alliance, Pop Culture and Candle Dragon in our efforts as well." He Yi said, "Got it. I know what to do." I continued, "On a related note, I heard that there are player guilds that are specifically made of spies and moles in Sky City. They¡¯re even called the in-game intelligence agency. We can seek them out and purchase the location of Blood Alliance¡¯s meeting spots for a cheap price. Considering the circumstances, any Blood Alliance player we manage to kill is a win for us. Their guild leader, Assassin¡¯s Creed especially must die. We should set his bounty at 5000 gold per kill!" However, Chaos Moon burst into a giggle. "OMG, you really are a stingy man!" I was confused. "What do you mean?" He Yi explained with a chuckle, "It seems like you aren¡¯t aware, but Blood Alliance has put a 150k RMB bounty on your head, you know? Gui Guzi, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng and I have a bounty of 90k RMB, and Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang and You and Yun have a bounty of 30k RMB. You¡¯re worth 5 times more than the cheapest of us. Aren¡¯t you glad?" I rubbed my nose in embarrassment. "I can¡¯t say it doesn¡¯t stroke my ego, but I certainly don¡¯t appreciate being priced like a piece of meat on the market. Anyway, let¡¯s focus on suppressing Blood Alliance as much as we can before the Northern Alliance and the India server launches the next Nation War. We cannot allow these greedy, shameless bastards to continue their reign of terror unimpeded." "Understood!" ¡­¡­ Very soon, three system announcements resounded throughout Sky City¡ª Ding~! System Announcement (Player "From Water" Shout): Blood Alliance has been ambushing my players repeatedly, and I will no longer stand for it. As the guild leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I hereby declare a kill operation upon the entire Blood Alliance! You will not PK and destroy the rules of the game for money in Sky City any longer! Ding~! System Announcement (Player "Wind Fantasy" Shout): Blood Alliance has ambushed Clear Perfume¡¯s party and killed 15 of our men. I will not allow this to stand! Assassin¡¯s Creed, wash your neck and wait for me. I won¡¯t stop coming for you until I¡¯ve killed you 15 times in person! Snowy Cathaya hereby declares an all-out war against Blood Alliance! We will kill you all! Ding~! System Announcement: (Player "Stranger of Three Lifetimes" Shout): My two friends have said everything I wish to say, so I¡¯ll keep this short. Blazing Hot Lips hereby declares war on Blood Alliance, and we will not stop until one of us is wiped from the surface of Heavenblessed. If you¡¯re smart, you¡¯ll remove that emblem from your arm right now, assassins. Otherwise, we¡¯ll kill you every time we see you[1]! ¡­¡­ Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and Blazing Hot Lips have declared war on Blood Alliance, and it wouldn¡¯t be long before Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, The Monarch Descends and more would follow suit. Blood Alliance had pissed off almost everyone, so it was only natural for them to strike back. As it turned out though, Assassin¡¯s Creed was a cold-blooded lizard. Not only wasn¡¯t he unperturbed by the declarations of war, he even made a system announcement of his own¡ª Ding~! System Announcement (Player "Assassin¡¯s Creed" Shout): I am Assassin¡¯s Creed, and your rules mean nothing to me. The only things I recognize in this game are my employer¡¯s instructions and their money. As long as my heart is still beating, I will keep killing until my employers are satisfied. Pay me the appropriate sum of money, and I will kill even Beautiful Little Pepper, Heavenly King Lu Chen, or Martial God Candlelight Shadow myself! Everyone in Blood Alliance is crazy or hated by the light, so we can hardly blame the rabble for hunting us. Be warned though, you are the one who will be hunted, not us! Hahaha! ¡­¡­ For a time, no one could say anything. Then, Li Chengfeng broke the silence: "Holy shit. I thought I was an arrogant mofo, but I¡¯m nothing compared to this Assassin¡¯s Creed. He really declared war on the entire Sky City?" I smiled grimly. "Assassin¡¯s Oath is an incredible skill after all. They¡¯re invisible 100% of the time to another player at the same level, 75% of the time to a same-level archer with Clear As Flame, and occasionally invisible even to my Dark Pupils. The season of assassins is upon us, so Assassin¡¯s Creed¡¯s arrogance isn¡¯t as baseless as you might think." He Yi said, "Chaos Moon, if you have any plans to grind today, cancel them all. I want you to sit at the intelligence agency and share with us Blood Alliance players¡¯ coordinates at first notice. Also, no more random party sizes. All parties are required to consist of at least 50 players, and must have at least 10 archers in them. The Dragonlight Archers will be participating in this operation as well. Let¡¯s try to kill a thousand Blood Alliance players at least before the day is over!" Chaos Moon: "Yes, sister guild leader[2]!" He Yi: "..." ¡­¡­ Sky City was never an idle city, but no one expected a small guild like Blood Alliance to cause such a huge commotion. Of course, this wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing. Events like these kept our guild united, and the timing of it was perfect because the Northern Alliance and the India server were still gathering their strength. The most direct proof of this was the fact that they were skirmishing against our fortresses. For those who didn¡¯t understand, it meant that they weren¡¯t plotting something big and thus could afford to lose those levels. If they were plotting something big, they would be hoarding their levels like gold and avoid engaging our borders until the right time. It was past 4 pm, and Xinran¡¯s healing was about 7% done. I had spent the whole afternoon roaming around Sky Forest and profiting off the deaths of small guilds. To be more specific, three bosses had spawned near Pegasus Springs, and a ton of small guilds died trying to challenge them. Their loss was my gain, and I was starting to think that gathering the power of rebirth of 100000 players wasn¡¯t as difficult as I thought. China had a massive playerbase after all. It just took a lot of time. It was past 5 pm when I decided to return to Sky City and resupply for a bit. Xinran smiled like a pretty little flower as she lay in my arms and clung to my neck. "Where are you going, big brother?" "Strella dropped Dragonbone Whip, right? Well, I was going to put it up for sale at the auction house earlier, but it slipped my mind. I hope it¡¯ll sell for 100000 at least. It¡¯ll allow me to make a down payment for a house in the suburbs¡­" "What is ¡®suburbs¡¯, big brother?" Xinran asked while blinking. I thought for a moment before explaining, "There is a world parallel to this one whom people like me call the real world, and the suburbs are a place in that world. The reason I want to live there is because it¡¯s relatively peaceful and quiet." "The real world¡­" Xinran thought long and hard on the term before pouting at me. "What do you mean by the ¡®real world¡¯, big brother? Are you happy living in the real world?" An involuntary smile sprung to my lips as I recalled Lin Yixin and He Yi. "Yes, I am." Xinran asked, "Can I go to the real world? I know you¡¯re there every time you disappear. I want to be there with you¡­" I gave her a tight hug before smiling at her. "Who knows? Maybe we will meet in the real world one day. It¡¯s unlikely, but if fate would have it, then..." A longing look appeared on Xinran¡¯s face. "The real world, huh? I wonder what it looks like? I can¡¯t wait to visit it¡­" She instinctively kicked her legs to express her joy, but terrible pain immediately erupted from her severed limbs. She let out a cry of pain as cold sweat immediately covered her forehead. I couldn¡¯t help but feel her pain too. I vowed to heal her as soon as I finished my business. A few minutes later, I arrived at a stately building with heavy traffic flow. It was none other than the auction house and the concentration point of wealth of the entire Sky City. It was only natural considering that millions of equipment and items, and hundreds of millions of gold were transacted everyday. ¡­¡­ "You need to pay for the ticket first before you can get in, young man!" Two NPC axe-wielders blocked my way and demanded me to pay them 1 gold as the entry fee. They then looked at Xinran and said, "The girl must pay 1 gold for the ticket as well!" I glared at him. "If I refuse?" "Then we¡¯ll have to do this the hard way. I commend your balls, kid, but this isn¡¯t a place where you can act as you please!" Xinran didn¡¯t want to make the situation worse, so she pulled a gold coin from her dimensional space and said, "Is this okay?" The brawny guy nodded with a smile. "I knew you were a sensible one, girl¡­" I grimaced. Sensible my ass, I¡¯m a goddamned Senior Master Sergeant in Sky City, but these knuckleheads never acknowledged my rank for even a second. These guards were just like the assassins of Blood Alliance; they would rather die than give up a profit. After we entered the auction house, I walked up to an auction NPC and put up the Earth-grade and Heaven-grade equipment I had picked up at Dragon God Cave for sale¡ª Sinclair¡¯s Wristguards: Grade: Earth. Shelf Price: 600 gold Grass Forest Dagger: Grade: Earth. Shelf Price: 900 gold Stegood¡¯s Battle Armor: Grade: Heaven. Shelf Price: 4000 gold Bard¡¯s Scepter: Grade: Heaven. Shelf Price: 5000 gold. ¡­¡­ As I put the equipment on auction, the big-bearded NPC couldn¡¯t help but shoot me looks of disdain. He seemed to be disdaining the fact that my listed items were only so-so. Unperturbed, I took out the Dragonbone Whip and watched his face turn from disdain to utter shock in an instant. It wasn¡¯t just him either, some nearby players were stunned by what they saw as well. Some of them exclaimed their astonishment out loud, "Holy shit, what the heck is that? It¡¯s so orange and bright! Is it a Divine Armament? It has to be a Divine Armament, right? But no one has sold a Divine Armament at this auction house until now!" I held the Dragonbone Whip in front of the NPC and said, "Give me a price estimate, beardy!" "What?" Beardy stuttered in shock as he held the equipment. "Are¡­ are you sure you want to sell this weapon? It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s the legendary Divine Armament, you know?" Getting impatient, I said, "Cut the bullshit and give me the estimate already!" 1. E/N: Funny, what if you can¡¯t see them though? That¡¯s kinda the point 2. T/N: you can read this as guild leader onee-sama if you don¡¯t get it Chapter 1293 "Well, judging from the fluctuations in the market value and the stats of this Divine Armament, I think¡­" Beardy hesitated for a second before continuing, "I think your reserve price should be 500k gold. We¡¯ll advertise it for free, but we¡¯ll be claiming a 5% auction fee as per usual. You will be losing a lot of gold. Is that alright?" I nodded. "It¡¯s fine. We¡¯ll do as you say." "Very well, honored customer. We will put it up for auction right away. Thank you for your patronage, and please remember that you are the pride of Sky City Auction House¡­" Beardy¡¯s tone was completely different from what it was before. Truly, snobbish bastards were everywhere these days. ¡­¡­ The Dragonbone Whip appeared on the shelf with a click, and a few seconds later a system announcement resounded across Sky City¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, please be informed that player XXXX has put up "Dragonbone Whip" (Lower Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) for auction with a reserve price of 500000 gold. The item will enter the bidding phase in 120 minutes. The item will go to the highest bidder! Don¡¯t miss it! The place became bustling with activity in no time, and countless people were pointing their fingers at me and saying¡ª "You see him? That¡¯s the guy who put up the Lower Divine Armament whip for sale. Tsk tsk, its stats alone make it a Divine Armament that¡¯ll last you to the end of the game! As a tamer, you¡¯ll have to be utterly incompetent to not rise to the top after obtaining it!" "I know right? Who the hell is this guy, and what boss did he kill to obtain a Lower Divine Armament? Whatever the case, he must be OP as hell!" "He¡¯s even carrying a gorgeous woman in his arms. Look at that chest, that face, that ass; she would be perfect if she wasn''t missing her legs¡­" "Seriously though, who is this guy? His equipment and his sword look real familiar. He¡¯s also wearing the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild emblem on his shoulder¡­" ¡­¡­ I grimaced. They would definitely learn of my identity if I dilly-dallied any longer, so I pulled out a return scroll and teleported away. After that, I left the city and continued to search for dying players in high-level maps. It wasn¡¯t difficult. After the Nation War ended, all the maps in Sky City had been updated with super high-level mobs. It was extremely common for players to die en masse. Beep! I received a message from Lin Yixin. "Dear!" "Yes, Yiyi?" I smiled. She messaged. "That Dragonbone Whip is yours, right? We have a Level 217 tamer in Snowy Cathaya that can use it¡­" I snorted. "Oh, you mean that guy who tried to pin down Gui Guzi with three pets, only to take a spear to the throat during a champion arena battle? I¡¯m sure he won¡¯t waste your precious money." "Pooh! Screw you!" I could practically hear Lin Yixin¡¯s pout. "I¡¯m going to the auction house and see if I can buy it! If it¡¯s not too pricey, then I¡¯ll take it for myself!" "Sure. Feel free to raise the price even if you don¡¯t want to get it, okay? I do love to make money." "Er, sure. I¡¯ll raise one mao for you!" "A raise is a raise!" It wasn¡¯t long before Luo River God of the Capital and Stranger of Three Lifetimes contacted me as well. They clearly desired the whip because it would transform any tamer into a top-tier expert. And when I say top-tier, I¡¯m referring to those players who were Top 10 in their respective class. What really surprised me was the message from the guild leader of Twelve Musicians, Hugging Bears in Silence. "Are you the one who¡¯s selling that Dragonbone Whip, Lu Chen?" Me: "Yeah. How did you know?" "I guessed!" She giggled. "I knew it. There are only a handful of players who are capable of obtaining high-level equipment, and you are the only one who took out a high-level boss in a high-level map as of late. I knew that there was a high chance that you would be the owner of the Dragonbone Whip, and I was right!" "Yes you are. So, why are you asking, Beauty Hugging Bears?" "Nothing! I just wanted to confirm. Heehee!" "I see. Well, talk to you later." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Two hours later, I returned to the auction house with Xinran. It was probably because of the Lower Divine Armament, but there were ten times more players in the auction house than usual. When I made it to the entrance, the two guards immediately said to me, "Welcome back, most honored guest! We¡¯ve prepared a VIP room for you! Feel free to enter whenever you like!" The option to enter the VIP room appeared in front of me. Upon confirmation, I felt myself being pulled into a wooden room by magic. It was a VIP room alright. The setting was extremely traditional, and the table looked moments away from rotting away completely. That being said, I could overlook the entire venue from here, and the windows were adorned with fragrant-smelling peach blossoms. Still carrying Xinran in my arms, I sat next to the window and looked outside. The players inside the venue could see us too, and there was every chance they might think that I was a despicable hooligan. Very soon, the beautiful host walked up the stage and announced, "Now then, the first highlight of the day is upon us, everyone! It has been nearly a year since Heavenblessed opened, and we finally have our very first Divine Armament in this auction house! It is the Lower Divine Armament, the Dragonbone Whip! It has an upper Attack limit of 14k, and it boosts all four basic attributes. It increases Attack by 200%, all pet stats by 70%, and has special effects such as Draconic Possession and Soul Devouring. It is without a doubt the weapon to strive for if you are a tamer using physical attacks! The reserve price is 500k gold, and the bidding will begin in 10 seconds! Please check your bank balance and make sure that you have the money to bid for it! ¡­¡­ The entire auction house went silent when she finished her sentence. 500k RMB wasn¡¯t a small amount, and it was outright unaffordable to customers below a certain class. Moreover, just because you were rich didn¡¯t mean you should bid for the item. A bidder¡¯s ID, level and other general data were put on display when they made a bid. If the bidder didn¡¯t have the strength to protect themselves after acquiring the item, they would absolutely be fucked over by a greedy and murderous guild like Blood Alliance. "It¡¯s so quiet, big brother¡­" Xinran tried her best to sit upright in my lap while clinging to the window sill. She smiled as she watched the scenery below us. "I¡¯ve visited Sky City here and there, but I¡¯ve never seen this many people in one place. Are they all for the Dragonbone Whip?" I nodded. "Yeah. To us people from the real world, it is no exaggeration to say that the Dragonbone Whip is a divine weapon of our dreams. That is why all these people are gathered here." "I see. It¡¯s really quiet though. Are they afraid to bid for it?" "Don¡¯t worry. They will!" I hadn¡¯t even finished my sentence when a loud, clear voice boomed from a corner of the room. He was Dominating Heaven Blade of Gods of Destruction, and he was raising his hand and declaring in a low tone, "600k!" The host immediately answered in a sweet voice, "Very well, player ¡®Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯ is offering 600k for the Dragonbone Whip! Is there anyone else who wants it? If no one responds with a higher bid in 7 seconds, the Dragonbone Whip will go to player ¡®Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯!" A deathly silence enveloped the venue again. Dominating Heaven Blade was frowning like the heavens had arrived to smite him for something. As far as I was aware, Gods of Destruction didn¡¯t have any noteworthy tamer among their ranks. Therefore, he could only be buying the Dragonbone Whip for one thing: to purchase the loyalty and service of a god-tier tamer! "700k!" A melodious voice came from a different corner of the venue. It was none other than the archer I antagonized a couple of hours ago, Coldmoon Rose. She was sitting next to Roaming Dragon, and obviously she was calling on behalf of her lover. "800k!" Another voice rang, and this time it came from an unusually handsome player, the guild leader of Flower Room, Li Le. After the declaration, Li Le grinned cheekily at a fuming Dominating Heaven Blade and even waved his fists at him. The message behind his unsaid words was as clear as day: You¡¯re stronger than me, but I¡¯m definitely wealthier than you! ¡­¡­ The atmosphere stilled for a couple more seconds before a new challenger entered the fray. She was a high-level female player wearing leather armor and a cape. Her body shape was extremely impressive¡ªhuge breasts, round butt, thin waists and long legs¡ªand she held a pitch black whip in one hand. She raised her hand and said in a very soft voice, "1 million gold!" The female host looked surprised, but she quickly recovered. "Wow, player ¡®Chance Meeting¡¯ is offering 1 million for the Dragonbone Whip! Is there anyone else who would like to bid for it?" I glanced at the newcomer and was surprised by what I saw. Twelve Musicians¡¯ Hugging Bears in Silence was sitting right next to Chance Meeting, and the latter¡¯s face looked very familiar¡­ Wait a second. Chance Meeting was one other than Zhou Ping! I had no idea she was a high-level expert in the game! I scanned the Heavenly Ranking, but filtered by the class and quickly proved my suspicions correct. Sitting at the No.1 spot of the Tamer class was Chance Meeting herself, and it stated here that she had three Immortal Rank pets in total! This was a player whose pets alone could wow the entire world! Even more surprising was the extent of her involvement. Her guild emblem marked her as the vice leader of Twelve Musicians! Lin Yixin, Nangong Lexi, Clear Perfume and a couple more girls were standing not far away from Twelve Musicians. However, Beauty Lin clearly had no intentions of involving himself in the competition. The bid price had already surpassed her expectations, and unlike the trust fund babies, her money was the product of her blood, sweat and tears. It made no sense for her to waste her money like this. ¡­¡­ Li Le felt humiliated, so he raised his hands and called out, "1.2 million!" Warsky immediately answered with a raise of his own hand. "2 million!" Not only that, he looked at Zhou Ping and smiled at her. "We don¡¯t have to be enemies, right Miss Zhou Ping? I can gift this to you later if you want!" However, Zhou Ping retorted coldly, "You think I want your gift? 3 million!" It was shocking. The Dragonbone Whip was a Lower Divine Armament, sure, but 3 million was still a ridiculous amount of money for a single piece of equipment. To give an example, 3 million RMB was enough to establish a reasonably-sized briefcase company. Why would anyone spend 3 million on a virtual item? Warsky clearly knew Zhou Ping since he called out her name. In fact, it looked like he was trying to woo her. However, Zhou Ping had responded to his advance with a hard slap to the face, so he stopped trying and fell completely silent. Meanwhile, a certain Roaming Dragon who couldn¡¯t read the room at all called, "4 million!" An ugly expression seeped into Zhou Ping¡¯s features, and the girl abruptly rose to her feet and declared, "8 MILLION!" ¡­¡­ The deathly silence that followed was nothing like anything the venue had experienced until now. Not even Roaming Dragon could answer this bid. Thud! Finally, the beautiful host hit the table with a hammer and declared, "Congratulations to player ¡®Chance Meeting¡¯ for obtaining the Dragonbone Whip at 8 million gold! Congratulations!" Chapter 1294 Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, the item "Dragonbone Whip" you consigned for sale has been sold for 8,000,000 RMB. After deducting the 5% intermediary fee, 7,600,000 RMB has been delivered to your bank account! Kindly confirm that the payment has been received! ¡­¡­ I let out a sigh of relief, glad that the bidding for the Dragonbone Whip was over. Normally, the Lower Divine Armament would be sold for 3 million at most, but thanks to the generous efforts of Li Le, Roaming Dragon and most of all, Zhou Ping, it had fetched more than twice its expected value. It was worth it for Zhou Ping though. Zhou Ping had three Immortal Rank boss pets, and the Dragonbone Whip increased their stats by an insane amount. One Phantom Wolf King with its stats boosted by 70% was impressive enough. Three? She could give even me a run for my money, much less everyone else. The Tamer class was very expensive. First, they needed powerful pets. Two, they needed powerful equipment. If they were lacking in either department, the main classes would slaughter them like they were nothing. They could go toe-to-toe against priests, bards and tacticians, but that comparison was unfair to say the least. Zhou Ping¡ªor rather Chance Meeting in the game¡ªcouldn¡¯t be lumped together with the vast majority of tamers though. She was already the highest-leveled tamer in China before this, and now the Lower Divine Armament was going to boost her to much greater heights. Hugging Bears in Silence looked ecstatic on behalf of her sponsor. She grabbed Zhou Ping¡¯s hands and beamed at her. "You did it! It¡¯s too bad you have to pay so much though. If I knew this would happen, I would¡¯ve set you up with Lu Chen for a private transaction instead. We would¡¯ve saved you some money and Lu Chen the 5% intermediary fee. Heaven knows Eternal Moon doesn''t deserve the 400k RMB fee." Zhou Ping smiled back. "It¡¯s fine. We have dozens of coffee chains throughout Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, and 400k is worth about an hour of income. It¡¯s nothing at all." Hugging Bears in Silence asked, "So, what are we going to do next, big sis?" Zhou Ping thought for a moment before replying, "Let¡¯s head back to Crimson Flame Cave. Remember the Level 285 Immortal Rank boss that wiped us back then? The Dragonbone Whip will make up for the lack of power, and we¡¯ll bring more priests to make up for the lack of sustain. It¡¯s time to take our revenge!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ You could literally feel the excitement in the venue waning after the Dragonbone Whip was sold. Roaming Dragon was sitting beneath a peach tree and caressing Coldmoon Rose¡¯s smooth thighs when he suddenly paused his movement and frowned a bit. "Come. We¡¯re leaving the city!" Coldmoon Rose opened her eyes and asked, "What are you planning?" "Contact Iron Pardon and Inconstant and tell them to scatter the assassins throughout Sky City. Inform me the second they discover Chance Meeting¡¯s coordinates!" "Dear, are you¡ª" Coldmoon Rose exclaimed in surprise, "Are you plotting to PK Chance Meeting in the open world and steal the Dragonbone Whip?" Roaming Dragon sneered. "Divine Armaments have a super high drop rate during the first three days they enter someone¡¯s possession. If we manage to kill Chance Meeting, there is at least a 33% chance she will drop the Dragonbone Whip... That being said, we may not need to dirty our own hands. Just watch, someone will play the role of the cicada-stalking mantis for us. All we need to do is to be the oriole that stalks the mantis!" "Okay!" Coldmoon Rose clung to Roaming Dragon¡¯s arm and sauntered out of the auction house while swaying her hips. Most of the players in the venue had dispersed as well. The greatest highlight of the day, the Lower Divine Armament had been sold, and the remaining items were a poor follow-up at best. ¡­¡­ On the stage, a sad-looking uncle replaced the beautiful host and murdered the dying interest of the players even more. He raised a dagger and shouted, "This is the Blade of Singelan, a Level 210 Immortal-grade dagger with a reserve price of 5000 RMB! The item will go to the highest bidder! Begin!" A mere Immortal-grade item couldn¡¯t invigorate one¡¯s spirits, so everyone looked like they were close to falling asleep. In the end, the Blade of Singelan was sold for 9200 RMB. It wasn¡¯t a very impressive trade, and it certainly couldn¡¯t compare to my Dragonbone Whip. There weren¡¯t many players in the venue at this point. Most of them were chatting to each other in quiet voices. This time, the uncle produced a ring and said, "This here is a very special item. It is called the Master of Disguise Ring, and it enables a player to change their ID, appearance and outfit however they¡¯d like. Of course, taking off the ring will cause the changes to revert. The reserve price is 50000 RMB, and the highest bidder will win the item! Begin!" A commotion immediately broke out beneath the stage. A berserk warrior carrying a battle axe chortled. "OMG, what a useless item. This Master of Disguise Ring alters one¡¯s ID and appearance, but it doesn¡¯t give any stats at all. Who the hell would waste an equipment slot on such a thing? This is Heavenblessed, not Audition Online! Get this shit out of my face already!" Another mage echoed in agreement, "Yeah. So what if I can look like Andy Lau? Is it worth replacing a ring with a 100% Attack boost? Of course not!" ¡­¡­ Not everyone shared their opinion, however. A middle-aged man who looked to be around 40 years old raised his arm and cried, "60k!" I licked my lips and raised my own hand. "70k!" Many people looked up at me. They were probably surprised that a VIP player would be interested in a "useless" item like this, and they were curious as to my identity. However, there were peach branches blocking their view, and I had hidden my ID and even sheathed my weapon behind my back beforehand. They shouldn¡¯t be able to identify me. Unfortunately, the auctioneer yelled, "Very well, player ¡®Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡¯ is offering 70k!" "What the fuck!" I clenched my fists and swore out loud. I was hoping to bid for the ring without revealing my identity, but that idiotic auctioneer ruined my efforts completely. He must have concrete instead of a brain in his skull instead... The bidder before me immediately clenched his fists. I could even see veins popping on his forehead. I could tell he was a hardcore veteran because he figured out the strength of the ring right away, but unfortunately for him, he didn¡¯t have the capital to bid against me. He raised his arm and called out graciously, "100k! Friend upstairs, feel free to respond if you really want the ring! This will be my last bid!" "Thank you!" I smiled back before raising my hand. "110k!" As promised, the uncle didn¡¯t bid for the item. Seven seconds later, 110k RMB was deducted from my bank account, and the Master of Disguise Ring appeared in my bag with a ding. The first thing I noticed was that the berserk warrior¡¯s claim that it didn¡¯t add any stats at all was a lie. It was just a very, very, VERY miniscule amount¡ª Master of Disguise Ring (Special Item) Strength: +1 Agility: +1 Intelligence: +1 Stamina: +1 Effect: Disguise. Enables the user to alter one¡¯s ID and appearance. The changes will disappear if the ring is removed. Level: Requirement: 230 Reputation Requirement: 1000000 Luck Requirement: 50 ¡­¡­ Now I understood why so few players were interested in it. Its requirements were stringent to say the least. There were less than four players in the entire China server who were Level 230 or higher right now, but the ring also required their user to have 1 million Reputation and 50 Luck. All things considered, I might be the only player in the entire China server who fit the bill. I bet that most of the bidders in the venue had checked the items¡¯ stats beforehand and deemed it useless to them. Ding! I replaced my Apparition Ring with the Master of Disguise Ring. Usually, the Apparition Ring was the superior choice. However, the Master of Disguise Ring opened to me a fan of opportunities that I normally wouldn¡¯t have if I was Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. I jumped down the window and activated the Master of Disguise Ring. An interface popped in front of me¡ª ID: Level: Class: New Appearance: ¡­¡­ I smiled to myself and entered¡ªID: Fruit Knife Guard Captain, Class: Magic Knight, Level: 211! My beloved Fruit Knife Goddess was the most popular female player in the China server, and you had to be living under a rock to not know her name. That was why "Fruit Knife Guard Captain" was a very common and unassuming ID. I had chosen my level and my class for the same reason. Magic knight was the most common class, and Level 211 was the average level in the game right now. I altered my appearance to look like a 30-year-old. Next, I dyed my hair fiery red so that I looked like a battle maniac who could go off his rockers at any moment. Finally, I reduced the lighting and dulled the metallic edges of my equipment so they looked like your shitty 50 RMB stall equipment. The only thing I couldn¡¯t change was my gaze, but that was fine. How many people could identify someone through gaze alone? After everything was finished, I saved the template and transformed into the Level 211 magic knight I designed. The disguise wasn¡¯t yet complete, however. I purchased a Level 150 mount pet egg¡ªa Wild Onager that cost me 5 gold¡ªfrom the auction house. Then, I purchased a saddle with fixing straps and sat Xinran on the onager. Finally, I grabbed the reins of the onager and slowly led them out of the auction house. Now, most people would think that Xinran was the mistress, and I, the servant. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment He Yi sent me a message and informed me that tonight¡¯s dinner would be postponed until supper. I was perfectly okay with the delay because I was leaving the city to PvP. I wanted to take revenge for all the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players who had been killed by Blood Alliance and collect the power of rebirth for Xinran at the same time. I walked into a deep alley where the walls were made of black and white bricks. An old tree stretched over half of its huge trunk out of a courtyard, and the wind blew off some of its peach blossom petals. I carried the Chill of the Nine Provinces on my shoulder with one hand and held the reins of the onager with the other. Xinran caught a peach blossom petal from the sky and beamed. "It¡¯s so pretty¡­" I smiled. I will probably remember this scene forever, won''t I? We soon arrived at the house connected to the courtyard. According to the forums, this was the headquarters of the so-called intelligence agency. Did I mention that their guild name was also ¡®Intelligence Agency¡¯? Anyway, Intelligence Agency was a non-combat guild. They didn¡¯t even participate in Nation Wars. Their only trade in the game was the collection and selling of all kinds of information. Pa! My boots rapped against limestone tiles as I entered the house. A couple of Intelligence Agency players were sitting on stone benches and accepting inquiries from their customers. I ignored the young ones until I found the person I was looking for; a 35-year-old man and the vice leader of Intelligence Agency, Outspoken. ¡­¡­ I strolled up to the guy and took a seat before him. I said with a smile, "I have a request for you!" "What is it, young man?" He smiled back politely. "Blood Alliance!" "Blood Alliance again?" Outspoken looked at my onager and the young girl sitting on it before chuckling. "Forgive me for saying this, but I don¡¯t think you¡¯re a match for Blood Alliance. Everyone knows that Blood Alliance¡¯s guild leader, Assassin¡¯s Creed, is on the same level as Moonkiss or even Farewell Song. Are you sure you don¡¯t want to amend your request?" Chapter 1295 "It¡¯s just a matter of perspective¡­" I said while glancing at the false appearance I had crafted for myself for a moment. A concealed set of godlike equipment, a head of messy red hair and somewhat dispirited features. Yep, it was producing exactly the effect I was hoping for. "Look at me. I¡¯m a trash man wearing a bunch of trash equipment. What do I have to lose? If I manage to kill one of them, it¡¯ll be worth the cost already. If I manage to kill two? You tell me if I¡¯m winning or not!" Uncle Outspoken chuckled. "Were you ambushed by Blood Alliance?" "Nah!" I pointed a thumb at Xinran and said, "My younger sister¡¯s the one who was ambushed by Blood Alliance. She even lost her legs as a result. I¡¯ll pay any price to take revenge for her!" "I¡¯m sorry, but¡­ your younger sister seems like an NPC." "That¡¯s because she is. She¡¯s my sister-friend per se¡­" For some reason, the guy¡¯s eyes turned green with envy. "So, you¡¯re really going to take revenge for her?" "But of course!" "Well, okay. Our men will cost you a lot of money though." I smiled, placed a palm on the stone table and moved closer to stare Outspoken in the eye. "When did I ever say that I¡¯m hiring your men to kill Blood Alliance¡¯s players? I will do it myself!" "Wait, seriously? You¡¯re going to do it yourself?" "Of course I am. All you need to do is to provide me with the intelligence, and I¡¯ll head over to kill the bastards myself. It¡¯s perfectly normal, isn¡¯t it?" "Okay¡­" Outspoken¡¯s eyes were full of pity. He even looked at me like I was a dead man walking. "How would you like your information, exactly?" I thought for a moment before replying, "I¡¯ll tell you my coordinates every 5 minutes or so. I want you to tell me if there are any Blood Alliance players within 1 to 2 kilometers of me. If you report any to me, I¡¯ll pay you 10 gold per target. What do you say?" Outspoken stretched his fingers. "Make it 15 gold and it¡¯s a deal!" "Deal!" I took his hand and shook it. Then, I added him as a friend. My ID was still Fruit Knife Guard Captain on the friend list, so he had no idea he was really adding the world¡¯s best player as his friend. On a related note, I had also altered the WEL MVP emblem and guild emblem on my shoulder, so not even Lin Yixin or He Yi might be able to recognize me. ¡­¡­ Outspoken shot me a smile. "So, do you know where you should go to find Blood Alliance members, brother Guard Captain?" I hummed. "It¡¯s said that Blood Alliance is scattered across the entire map, and that they have no territory or specific meeting spots. That is why I¡¯m planning to just roam around until I run into them." "You are wrong!" Outspoken chuckled. "I¡¯ll grant you that Assassin¡¯s Creed is a cautious, intelligent man, but it¡¯s impossible to run a guild without assembling your members for a chat once in a while. It is the same for Blood Alliance. Their meeting spot isn¡¯t fixed, but I¡¯ve found out that Blood Alliance¡¯s meeting spot for this month is a canyon to the northeast of Dragonbone Mountain Range called ¡®Blood Mallet Canyon¡¯. There are a total of 7 temporary supply spots in that canyon, which is why there are more Blood Alliance players there than otherwise. I¡¯m warning you though. If you bring too many people with you, they will realize that their location has been exposed and escape. ¡°Now, normally I would charge you for this level of information, but I have a strange feeling that our business is going to be more special than I imagine. That is why you get this one for free. Good luck." I smiled again. No wonder he was the vice leader of Intelligence Agency. He was a smart and intelligent man who held god knows how much information within his grasp. He might not be able to recognize me because I had disguised myself, but Xinran was a different story. He might¡¯ve realized who I really was through our earlier conversation. I fished out 1000 gold from my pocket and pushed it toward him. "Here¡¯s the deposit." "It¡¯s fine, I trust you. You can pay me after you¡¯ve had your fill." A trace of killing intent suddenly flashed across Outspoken¡¯s eyes. "Did you know that those crazy bastards are targeting our people as well? Hmph. I¡¯ve been waiting for an opportunity to destroy them." I nodded understandingly before rising to my feet. Then, I took the reins and left the courtyard. Unknown to me though, my onager had left behind a hot, steaming pile of shit. "Fuck!" This time, uncle Outspoken¡¯s eyes turned green for a completely different reason. ¡­¡­ After we exited the courtyard, I teleported straight to Dark Moon City and whispered to Xinran, "Can you hide yourself, Xinran?" "Of course, big brother!" She bent down a little and covered herself in a long, black cloak, revealing only her beautiful eyes. The average player would never realize that she was the terrifying Wind Singer. Speaking of Dark Moon City, its buildings and defenses had been growing stronger day by day. It was also a lot bigger than before. In fact, we were close to reaching our absolute limit and being ready to enter Rank 11. I saw a troop of Dragonlight Cavalry lined up in orderly formations on the training ground. High Fighting Spirits was carrying a battle axe on his shoulder and watching them intensely from the front. "Ready, everyone? We¡¯re heading to Fire Stone Valley to kill a thousand Blood Alliance players today. Do you think we can fuck them all up?" "YES WE CAN!" Everyone raised their weapons and shouted on top of their lungs. I nearly let out a sob. This was why I found it incredibly difficult to entrust High Fighting Spirits with training duty. Thankfully, the 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen he was assigned with were youngsters between 18 to 28 years old, and the large majority of them were buffoons with low boiling points and the infinite capacity to commit stupidity. They were a match made in heaven to say the least. There was a reason why He Yi was the former vice president of GGS and the current president of her own company, Raincube. I walked up to High Fighting Spirits and tapped him on the back with the Chill of the Nine Provinces. Then, I asked him in a humble tone, "Hey man. Can you give me directions to Blood Mallet Valley?" High Fighting Spirits turned around and answered in his honest, frank manner, "It¡¯s just a straight line ten kilometers to the east, man. You can¡¯t possibly miss it. How do you not know how to read a map at your age?" I smiled again. "Sorry. I¡¯m not very familiar with this region." "I see. Do you want me to send some men to escort you? There are a lot of high-level mobs on the way. Judging from your looks, one slap from a fiend-rank wolf is enough to kill half of you!" I nearly threw up blood at his comment. "Thank you, but it¡¯s okay. I¡¯m just exploring the region. I¡¯ll make sure to avoid the high-level maps." "Okay then. Be seeing you!" I turned around and hid a snicker. I was fairly confident with my disguise, but now I knew for certain that it would work. After all, not even High Fighting Spirits was able to recognize me. This Master of Disguise Ring is freaking OP! Swhoosh! There were two flashes of light, and I saw Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Eyes Like Water appearing in the city. Stranger of Three Lifetimes shot me a glance and commented, "Weird. That red-haired old man reminds me of Lu Chen for some reason. You can practically feel the vulgarity leaking out of his person¡­" Eyes Like Water chuckled. "Yeah. I so want to kick him in the ass too!" Bang! I stumbled on my feet and accidentally ate a mouthful of dust. I won¡¯t forget this, you two! I¡¯m the one who¡¯s going to kick your asses someday! ¡­¡­ I checked the map screen after we entered a forest. Originally, my plan was to maintain this pace, but it would take a bit too long for us to get to Blood Mallet Canyon. So, I changed back my appearance, summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon, and flew us to our destination in just a couple of minutes. I switched back to my disguise after we landed at the edge of another forest. The reason I needed this disguise was to bait Blood Alliance¡¯s assassins to attack me of their own accord. I sent a message to Outspoken. "I¡¯m at coordinates (52552, 79981). Are there any Blood Alliance players close to me?" A few seconds later, Outspoken replied, "There is one assassin at (52781, 80067) and one at (53110, 79902). This intel is just 17 seconds old. Go get ¡®em!" "Got it!" I couldn¡¯t help but be impressed by Intelligence Agency¡¯s efficiency. Not anyone could establish such a smooth and responsive intelligence network. I activated Dark Pupils and observed my surroundings closely. I kept my sword lowered as I sauntered toward my destination, ready to bare my fangs at a moment¡¯s notice. My Dark Pupils revealed three green dots in my sights. Two of them were assassins of Intelligence Agency, and the last one was a Level 214 assassin from Blood Alliance. He was under the effects of Assassin¡¯s Oath right now. The chance for Dark Pupils to see through the stealthing effects of Assassin¡¯s Oath was around 50%. I turned the skill on and off three times in a row until finally, I saw the second Blood Alliance assassin as well. As I thought, it was just a matter of repeating the skill until it worked. It wasn¡¯t nearly as easy as it seemed, however. For starters, it was incredibly taxing on the mind. It definitely wasn¡¯t something any normal player could pull for a prolonged period. I closed in on the nearest Blood Alliance assassin. Sensing my approach, he crouched lower, unsheathed his dagger, and activated Ambush. I feigned ignorance until he came close enough to launch his skill. Then, I took two steps backward, parried his skill perfectly, and cut his throat for 310k+ damage. The assassin couldn¡¯t believe it because it was just a basic attack. "What!?" Swhoosh! He died after leaving that parting word. He was shocked because he had received over 300k damage from a Level 211 magic knight. In reality, he would¡¯ve received at least 500k damage if I had summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and empowered myself further with Fusion Armor. The only reason I hadn¡¯t was because I needed to maintain the onager for Xinran and deception purposes. My base Attack was over 40k, and my equipment boosted that number by 5 times or more. That was over 200k effective Attack before accounting for the armor penetration properties of my equipment. Of course I had one-shot him. ¡­¡­ There was no time to waste, so I advanced toward the second assassin at high speed. The assassin was a smart one though. He turned his Assassin¡¯s Oath off and on as he made his escape. His trick would¡¯ve caused an archer with Clear As Flame turned on to lose sight of him. Even my Dark Pupils were having trouble tracking him as his dot went on and off on the map screen. As expected, there was no easy prey within Blood Alliance. Rustle rustle... It wasn¡¯t long before I caught sight of the assassin, or rather the disturbances he caused with his movements. This was a forest, and there were countless elements¡ªthe grass, the leaves, the dew, and even the wind¡ªthat could potentially break his invisibility. Swhoosh! The assassin was a decisive one. The moment I spotted him, he turned back and ran toward me along a random, zigzagging path. He tried to change directions and stab me in the back using the classic backstab + stun skill combo once he got close enough, but it was a mistake. The price of using an entry-level tactic against a Heavenly King was death! Whoosh! I slid my foot seemingly unintentionally to one side before thrusting my back toward the attacking assassin. I blocked the first skill with the plate on my arm and turned around just in time to nullify the stun skill. The stun wouldn¡¯t take effect if it couldn''t hit the target¡¯s back. For an instant, shock and confusion flashed across the assassin¡¯s eyes. Chapter 1296 Pata! Infinite despair and confusion erupted from the assassin¡¯s eyes when he felt the Chill of the Nine Provinces¡¯ cold blade pressed up against his neck. He couldn¡¯t believe that a Level 211 magic knight could duel this well. He found it even harder to believe that he had been completely outclassed by one, and that he was a fraction of a second away from being killed. "ßÇ£¡" Ka! I exerted a bit of force into my arm and pulled, slicing his neck and causing a shower of blood. I could even see the veins spasming in a hopeless attempt to keep its owner¡¯s blood in its body. The weak point attack dealt 370k+ damage and one-shot the second Blood Alliance assassin. Once again, I felt appreciative toward Intelligence Agency. It was definitely easier to assassinate Blood Alliance with their coordinates. ¡­¡­ I picked up the dagger dropped by the assassin. I had 109 Luck, so anyone I killed must be prepared to drop the good stuff. Our WMD¡¯s Famous General Skill, Plunder, was still better in terms of PK loot dropping, but not by too much. Anyway, the dagger was a Level 210 Heaven-grade weapon. It was no wonder he looked as disbelieving as he did. Beep! Suddenly, I received a message from Outspoken. "Brother Guard Captain, we have a problem. The spies we planted in Blood Alliance just informed us that your actions have alarmed the rest of the players in Blood Mallet Canyon. Assassin¡¯s Creed himself just ordered a hundred assassins to your location." I replied smilingly, "Don¡¯t worry, I can deal with this. Just keep me informed regarding their coordinates." "Got it!" ¡­¡­ Fiery red maple leaves were scattered throughout Blood Mallet Canyon. It was autumn in the game, so the falling leaves created a cascade of red and orange. This was good news for me because falling leaves and strong wind were disadvantageous to assassin stealth. Combined with my powerful perception, I had every confidence that I could defeat even an opponent like Farewell Song. This time, Intelligence Agency sent me 7 new coordinates. It was clear that these people were attempting to surround me from all sides. They had no idea that they were walking right to their deaths! Thud! An unnatural noise almost too soft to hear entered my ears, followed by an unnatural pause in movement when a leaf fell from a red maple tree. I smirked a bit. My first opponent had come to me. I ran toward the assassin and stabbed her through the chest. She was a 25-year-old woman with hanging eyebrows, triangular eyes, and harsh lines on her features. She took 340k damage and died before she could do anything. Another four coordinates closed in on me at nearly the same time. I could tell that they had all activated Swift Dash because the leaves on the ground looked like waves that were cut in half by a sword. "Watch out, big brother!" Xinran spoke in warning, but her smile revealed her true thoughts. Even without Fusion Armor, I still had over 1.3 million max HP. I had buffed myself with Iron Wall VII for the 100% Defense, and I had Cyan Dragon Scale to bump my defensive stats even higher if it turned out to be necessary. Suffice it to say, it was nearly impossible for these assassins to kill me. I waited until the time was right before dashing about two meters away from my original spot, causing Blade Vortices to miss me completely, cutting only some leaves in the way. After I dashed back into the fray, I one-shot two assassins with a swing to the neck each before parrying another assassin¡¯s attack with my shield. Finally, I spun around rapidly to face the fourth assassin and punched him in the chest! Bang! 109298! The shock on the fourth assassin¡¯s face was incredible. Somehow, my barehanded attack had deleted over 50% of his HP! He tried to escape, but he was only making things easier for me. After I turned back toward the third assassin and killed him, I threw the Chill of the Nine Provinces at the escaping assassin and pierced his torso with perfect accuracy. He never had a chance. He dropped to his knees and uttered in defiance, "This is impossible! Who are¡­" ¡­¡­ I bent down and picked up a ring he dropped. It added a ton of Agility and 4% critical hit rate; a great piece of equipment for Agility-based classes such as assassins, archers, and tamers. More importantly, it was worth at least a couple hundred RMB. I dropped it into my bag and resolved to sell all the loot at Sky City later. Suddenly, I felt a massive pressure entering my Domain, and a spine-crawling chill blowing against my nose. It was the fifth assassin. Somehow, he managed to elude my Dark Pupils even after he was less than three meters away from me. He might have a special stealth skill just like Farewell Song. The chill I felt on my nose earlier was his ice dagger stabbing toward my throat. Pa! I threw myself backward and felt the dagger sliding across my nose. It had been a millimeter away from hitting me. Moreover, the assassin didn¡¯t freeze just because his first attack had missed. He swung his left dagger from bottom to top and successfully landed Blind on my back. 49129! Not bad! Not many players could penetrate my Defense. My vision turned pitch black, and I saw in the combat log that the effect would last for 2.7 seconds. Blind removed a player¡¯s vision temporarily, but not their movement. Without hesitation, I hit the ground with the pommel of my sword, propelled myself back to my feet, and thrust the Cyan Dragon Shield forward with all my might! Bang! 112883! The shield bash knocked both the man and his daggers away from me. I chased after the source of the sound and slashed the space where I envisioned his torso should¡¯ve been, but... MISS! It missed. The assassin had crouched just in time to dodge it. I was prepared for this though. The moment I felt no contact, I raised my foot and performed a soccer kick! Chiang! I heard a metallic clang and felt a bit of pain biting at my leg. The assassin had parried my attack with his dagger and poisoned me with Envenomed Strike at the same time! Finally, 2.7 seconds had passed. My vision had finally returned to normal. I saw that the fifth assassin was a 25-year-old youngster called "Cold of Spring¡±. He was a Level 223 eighth-promotion assassin wearing a full set of Heaven and Immortal¨Cgrade equipment. No wonder he was able to go toe-to-toe with me for a time. His skills were nothing to scoff at as well. He had missed his chance, however. I was going to end his performance right here and now. Bang! I crashed my shield into his daggers again before slashing at his torso. Once again he managed to parry my attack, but I loosened my grip on the sword so I could smash its pommel into Cold of Spring¡¯s jaw. The moment the strike connected, and blood jetted out of his lips, his eyes became filled with despair. In a match-up like this, one wrong move was all it took to lose everything. Puchi! My blade cut across his neck, and blood spilled out of the wound like a fountain. This time though, the lucky sonuvabitch didn¡¯t drop anything. ¡­¡­ I gave Cold of Spring¡¯s corpse a kick to confirm that he was dead. I glanced at his shoulder and noticed that he was a corps commander. That would explain why he was much better than the assassins who had assaulted me up until this point. A guild can only have 7 corp commanders at most, and I¡¯m willing to bet that this guy was pretty high in the ranks even among his fellow corp commanders. Blood Alliance was an honorless guild where the most bloodthirsty and cruel players were gathered. Addicted with the killing in the game, there was nothing more they loved than killing players and robbing their dead bodies. One might say that they represented the darkest, most twisted subset of players in the game. Their personality was twisted, and they took joy in bullying others. Worse, they represented the majority of humanity in the real world. There were countless real gangs and crime syndicates, and I was absolutely certain that some of them were a part of Blood Alliance. It was one of the many reasons why everyone was eager to get rid of them. I wasn¡¯t afraid of Blood Alliance, and neither was He Yi. So what if they were real-life gangsters? He Yi had hired a dozen or so retired special force soldiers using her connections to protect us, and they were living on the first floor of our apartment. If they thought they could get the better of us offline, they were in for a rude wake-up call. ¡­¡­ Beep! Again, I received another message from Outspoken: "You really are something, aren¡¯t you, Brother Guard Captain? Did you recognize Cold of Spring among the players you killed earlier?" I replied, "Sure. What¡¯s wrong?" "Do you know who Cold of Spring is?" "Why would I know about some random nobody?" "Nobody? Is that a joke? Cold of Spring is one of the four best players in Blood Alliance. He¡¯s one of the highest elders in their guild, and they are given command over a dozen or so subguilds at least. Their titles are based on the seasons, so there¡¯s a Summer, Autumn and Winter elder besides the one you just killed. Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you, but they may be coming to you very soon¡­" I smirked a little before replying, "Wonderful. I hope they¡¯ll save me the trouble of finding them and come to me at the same time!" Outspoken: "..." ¡­¡­ Outspoken didn¡¯t message me after that. It was clear that my audacious reply had both awed and frustrated him a little. After all, there were only a handful of players in the world who would dare to treat Blood Alliance like a joke. I returned to Xinran, took the reins of my onager and continued toward my next destination. There were still a lot of players grinding or PKing in Blood Mallet Canyon, and one such battle was happening right in front of me. Most of the players who were ambushed by Blood Alliance chose to revive together so that they couldn¡¯t be ganged up on and killed again easily. I was collecting the power of rebirth for Xinran anyway, so I went to them without hesitation. On a related note, I wasn¡¯t the only one who was having a good time. The guild channel was bustling with activity as well¡ª Li Chengfeng: "Dammit, Blood Alliance are a bunch of scumbags, but you gotta admit that they¡¯re really skilled. They¡¯re at least 10% better than our eighth subguild. I was actually feeling a bit stressed when 7 of their assassins attacked me at once¡­" Chaos Moon: "Pooh! You won that 1v7 handily, you shameless man!" Gui Guzi: "We just took out a hundred-man party. It¡¯s quite easy if you know where they are. Of course, the Ghostblade Halberd helped out a lot. I critted some dude for 1 million damage just now. It¡¯s awesome!" Beiming Xue: "You should set your aspirations higher, big brother Gui. Do you know what big brother¡¯s highest damage number ever is? He once critted a boss, A BOSS, for over 10 million damage!" Gui Guzi: "Please don¡¯t use Boss Broken Halberd as a comparison. That¡¯s just unfair." He Yi: "Someone mentioned that a guy with an¡­ onager?... just appeared at Blood Malley Canyon and took out a lot of Blood Alliance core players earlier. They sound amazing¡­" Li Chengfeng: "Does anyone know this mysterious stranger?" Xu Yang: "Their ID is Fruit Knife Guard Captain, but I have no idea who that is." Murong Mingyue couldn¡¯t stop herself from breaking her silence. "The information must be false. How could anyone with that kind of ID be an expert?" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, He Yi¡¯s voice took on a much more serious tone. "Oh no! Everyone, stop whatever you¡¯re doing and assemble at Sky Ridge now!" "What happened?" Li Chengfeng asked. He Yi answered, "Chance Meeting just dropped her Dragonbone Whip 10 seconds ago! It was taken by a Blood Alliance assassin called Flame of Summer!" "What!?" Chapter 1297 Ding~! System Announcement (Player "Chance Meeting" Shout): [Bounty Announcement] Blood Alliance openly disregarded gaming ethics and ambushed Twelve Musicians in the open world, killing 400 and stealing my Dragonbone Whip in the process. I hereby declare a repeatable bounty on their guild leader, Assassin¡¯s Creed. Bring me video proof, and I will pay you 50k RMB per kill as a reward. If the Dragonbone Whip drops, and you bring it back to me, I will pay you 2 million RMB as a reward! Even if you decide to keep it for yourself, I will still reward you an additional 100k RMB for killing Assassin¡¯s Creed on top of the bounty! ¡­¡­ For a time, I didn¡¯t say anything. Then, I began steering the onager toward the direction of Sky Ridge. Sky Ridge Fortress had completed its construction a while ago, and it was currently guarded by the NPCs of Sky City. They represented a threat that the Japan server couldn¡¯t ignore. However, Blood Alliance had slipped past Sky Ridge Fortress and entered Purple Grape City¡¯s domain. It was looking increasingly unlikely that Zhou Ping would regain her Dragonbone Whip. Inside the guild channel, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and everyone else had rallied 30k Dragonlight Cavalry and 10k Dragonlight Archers in no time. They then marched straight for Sky Ridge Fortress. The Dragonbone Whip was a Lower Divine Armament, and a Lower Divine Armament couldn¡¯t be put in a warehouse for 3 days after being obtained. Therefore, Blood Alliance was sure to gather around Assassin¡¯s Creed to protect him. Assassin¡¯s Creed could teleport back to a main city and just log out until 72 hours were up, but he had shown himself to be an extremely arrogant and obstinate bastard. The more you challenged him, the more he would want to respond to that challenge[1]. He wouldn¡¯t have made that announcement after our guilds declared war on his guild otherwise. Rustle rustle¡­ A red leaf fell on my head, but Xinran brushed it away before I could do it myself. A drizzle turned the ground below wet and slippery, so I walked up to Xinran and pulled her cloak over her head. I smiled at her and said, "Don¡¯t catch a cold, Xinran." "I know, big brother¡­" She smiled sweetly at me. "I¡¯ll be fine. If I could endure God Domain¡¯s much harsher environment, I could certainly endure a bit of rain. The corruption of Strella¡¯s dark draconic energy prevents me from summoning my true qi, but my physical resistance remains unchanged." I caressed her shoulder gently. "Yeah. My Xinran is the toughest girl in the world¡­" "You too, big brother¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ The rain grew bigger and bigger. The players grinding at the canyon started running into the forest to hide from the sudden downpour. I ignored the weather and continued leading my onager along a small forest trail though. To most people, I probably looked like a herb-gathering support player who was exploring the open world with his younger sister. They might even think that the sword on my shoulder was mostly for show. In reality, hidden behind the unassuming and even harmless disguise were Divine Armaments such as the Fire God Helmet, Chill of the Nine Provinces, Guardian Dragon Armor and my latest acquisition, Dark Magma Poleyn. I could hardly wait to give the key members of Blood Alliance a taste of my virtual power. Meanwhile, a new set of coordinates from Intelligence Agency entered my message logs. At the same time, I noticed a lot of unassuming archers with pets grinding mobs in the nearby forest. They looked perfectly harmless and guileless, but I knew that they were all Intelligence Agency members. Their Clear As Flame was activated at all times, and they didn¡¯t allow even a single blip to escape their notice. Even a Blood Alliance player would be hard-pressed to remain hidden with so many of them lurking in the area, not to mention that this was how they earned a living, being paid a certain percentage for the intel they provided. Of course they were going to treat their jobs seriously. Swhoosh! I abruptly unsheathed my Chill of the Nine Provinces and threw it at a giant tree trunk. An instant later, a dead assassin with a sword through his heart slowly appeared out of thin air. He was clearly shocked and in disbelief. He couldn¡¯t believe that I would attack him when he was still 20 yards away, much less land an accurate one-shot. Melee players seldom threw their melee weapons at the enemy because it made them temporarily weaponless. Moreover, the accuracy of weapon tosses was less than 50%, a terrible number to say the least. However, I had used Coiling Dragon Revolution so many times that I could perform the movement in my sleep. I could also land my skill over 95% of the time unless the enemy was a player at Candlelight Shadow or Farewell Song¡¯s level. ¡­¡­ I went to the tree trunk and withdrew my sword. I also picked up Earth-grade wristguards from the ground. Every time I killed a Blood Alliance member, I would have to pay the Intelligence Agency 15 RMB. However, the equipment they dropped was worth 100 RMB at least. Therefore, I was really making money from all this. Moreover, I was an Asura King; a natural red name. Unlike a player with a basic race, the cities wouldn¡¯t put me on a wanted list for red-name crimes. Even if I was a player with a basic race, these Blood Alliance players practically made it their life¡¯s motto to PK other players. It was highly unlikely I would gain any infamy by killing them. I continued forward until I encountered a party of players. They were Warsky Alliance, and they were led by Warsky himself. The guild leader was leading the way with the Immortal Blade in his hand and his back guarded by Lin Bing Dou Zhe and Laughing At The Heavens. Warsky was declaring in a loud voice, "It¡¯s time, people! Let¡¯s kill Assassin¡¯s Creed and take the Dragonbone Whip for our own tamer! The equipment was wasted on a shitty guild like Twelve Musicians anyway, hmph!" The screaming band of men and women disappeared into the rain after that. I couldn¡¯t stop myself from rolling my eyes. I had no idea how they were going to kill any Blood Alliance assassin since I hadn¡¯t spotted a single archer in their party. Blood Alliance was arrogant, but not stupid. Who in their right mind would engage an entire band of cavalrymen when they could just hide themselves in the forest and wait until the danger was gone?[2] At the very least, the guy carrying the Lower Divine Armament certainly wasn¡¯t going to reveal himself. It might not even be with Flame of Summer anymore. He might¡¯ve transferred it to his guild leader, Assassin¡¯s Creed, for safer keeping. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Suddenly, an arrow rain exited a canopy and landed on an empty spot on the plains. Right after that, I heard Beiming Xue shouting, "Advance! Make sure to sweep every inch of space and give Blood Alliance no place to hide! Let¡¯s see if these bastards can remain hidden after we¡¯ve turned their bodies into pincushions!" The Dragonlight Archers shot what seemed like an endless amount of arrows and were able to expose countless hidden Blood Alliance assassins. They would then eat Spiraling Arrow Blade and be killed on the spot. The archer party Beiming Xue was leading was at least ten thousand strong, and every single one of them had Clear As Flame turned on. Even if the skill only had a 30% chance of penetrating the veil of invisibility that was Assassin¡¯s Oath, the sheer amount of archers made that chance infinitely close to 100%. The only way Blood Alliance¡¯s assassins could stay hidden was to stay far, far away from the archer party. I smiled. After she had returned to her university to study, Beiming Xue had become less like a dependent younger sister and more like a regal queen. In fact, it was the only way she could¡¯ve stayed on top of the Dragonlight Archers. Had she remained the cute little girl she was, our players would love her, but they would never truly respect her. The 30k Dragonlight Cavalrymen led by He Yi and Gui Guzi followed closely behind the Dragonlight Archers. None of them noticed me, and that was good. ¡­¡­ "Someone spotted Assassin¡¯s Creed passing through Sky Ridge and entering Purple Grape City¡¯s domain. What do we do? Do we continue the chase, or do we give up and cut our losses?" Eyes Like Water appeared next while carrying Stranger of Three Lifetimes on her mount. The beautiful guild leader declared without hesitation, "We chase them to the ends of the earth. Practically everyone is participating in the hunt for Blood Alliance anyway. It¡¯s time we teach these arrogant bastards a real lesson." "Got it!" Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ party was about tens of thousands of players strong. Their troop size was average, but nearly everyone in the party was an elite. That was why I wasn¡¯t really worried that the Japanese would dare to interfere with our business. ¡­¡­ "Hey, brother!" Suddenly, a couple of simply armored players appeared behind me. There were 7 of them, and they were all between Level 210 to Level 215. They also hailed from Sky City. The warrior who called out to me wielded a great hammer. "Are you alone, brother? If you¡¯re on the way to kill Assassin¡¯s Creed, you can join our party! Our workshop is only 7 men strong, but each of us is a strong player. If you join us, I¡¯m sure our chances of killing Assassin¡¯s Creed should we encounter him will be much higher." I considered the request for a moment. If I partied up with them, it would only increase the chances of my identity being discovered, and I would have to babysit them while fighting against top-tier assassins like Assassin¡¯s Creed. So, I shook my head and said, "Sorry, I¡¯m used to playing alone, and I¡¯m not here to fight Blood Alliance anyway. I¡¯m just traveling to Purple Grape City to enjoy the scenery¡­" "Oh, I see. That¡¯s perfectly fine, brother. See you some time!" "Thanks. You too!" I turned around and guided the onager and Xinran into the tunnel that led to Purple Grape City. Soon, I was greeted by a familiar sight. It had been a while since I returned here! ¡­¡­ I saw the Dragonlight Cavalry working together with the Dragonlight Archers to hunt down groups of Blood Alliance players. Wherever the enemies were most concentrated, that was where the carrier of the Dragonbone Whip most likely was. I wiped away the rain on my face as I trekked along the edges of the forest. I turned my Dark Pupils on and off repeatedly so that I wouldn¡¯t be caught off-guard by the enemy, but I wasn¡¯t really worried. The Dragonlight Cavalry had provided me with the best cover I could possibly hope for. Also, any party who detached themselves from the main force of Blood Alliance right now was most likely the party carrying the Lower Divine Armament. I didn¡¯t have to wait for long. Very soon, a group of seven or eight people slipped away from the clearing and entered a nearby forest. I immediately pulled on my onager¡¯s reins and gave chase. The onager whined in pain, and Xinran bounced up and down a bit on its back. She chuckled. "Slow down, big brother. There¡¯s no hurry¡­" Chiang! I abruptly unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces, bent as close to the ground as possible and charged toward two shadows who were moving in my direction. I immediately identified them as the elders of Blood Alliance because of their IDs: Flame of Summer and Leaf of Autumn. They must be targeting me because of my killing of Cold of Spring earlier. There was also a chance Flame of Summer was still carrying the Dragonbone Whip. ¡­¡­ "Is that the one who killed Brother Spring?" Flame of Summer said with chilly eyes, unlike his fiery and passionate name. Leaf of Autumn wriggled her daggers a bit. She was a beautiful woman, but her eyes were full of violence. She was clearly not a woman to provoke. 1. E/N: Yeah, that wouldn¡¯t happen author. You make a guild of assassins, precise, calculative bastards who gank others. They are arrogant because there¡¯s literally nothing you can do to them. They attack and disappear, they don¡¯t let you hit them back. That¡¯s why Assassin¡¯s Creed is arrogant. He doesn¡¯t think he¡¯s the strongest, he knows he can just kill weaker people, or cloth-armor classes and dodge the stronger ones. At the end of the day, he¡¯ll always win more than he loses. 2. E/N: ????? Didn¡¯t we just establish they are gangsters who are so arrogant they wouldn¡¯t log out of the game to wait until the danger was gone? Chapter 1298 Swhoosh! Fluorescent powders hit the ground, and both high-level assassins entered stealth at the same time. They were clearly plotting to assault me. I strode toward them while carrying the unassuming Chill of the Nine Provinces. The rain pitter-pattering against the grass[1] made it much harder for me to distinguish their movements and trajectory. Thankfully, my Domain gave me a vague sense as to their general location. Whoosh! The sharp blade of the Chill of the Nine Provinces sliced through the rain and rattled against a burning dagger, causing Leaf of Autumn¡¯s beautiful face to appear in midair. She looked astonished, but she fell forward as if she was slipping on the grass and thrust her left dagger at my heels. What a devious woman! At the same time, Flame of Summer struck me from behind. Still invisible, he swung at my back three times in a row. Their timing was impeccable, and their speed, considerable. It took a significant amount of training to reach such a level of cooperation, and even then not many people could pull it off on demand. The benefits were substantial though. A player with less-than-supernatural reaction speed would be chain-stunned and killed unless they possessed an unnatural amount of Defense and HP. Slide! I moved my left foot half a step backward and half-turned toward Flame of Summer, driving my shield into his daggers and successfully canceling the Ambush skill with a bang. Then, I used the rebound force to jump forward¡ªdodging Leaf of Autumn¡¯s assault in the process¡ªand kick out! Bang! My Ghost Spirit War Boots slammed into Leaf of Autumn¡¯s waist and elicited a dull groan. Both her and her dagger rolled away from me. The moment I regained my footing, I charged toward Flame of Summer and brought my sword down in one mighty swing. He tried to parry, but our Strength gap was so huge that the attack blew his guard open completely. I was able to follow up with a pommel slam into his neck! 90872! Flame of Summer lost almost 20% HP as he staggered backward. As expected of an elite assassin, he had HP equal to an average metal-armor player at the same level. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Leaf of Autumn tossed a dagger at me, but I easily blocked the projectile with the Cyan Dragon Shield before continuing forward. "How¡­ how is this possible?" Leaf of Autumn said while supporting Flame of Summer, "Xia Ge, this man¡­ this man is no simple warrior at all. He¡¯s pushing us back even though he hasn¡¯t used a single skill up until now. There are only a handful of players in the China server who can boast this level of skill, and they were all titled Heavenly King. I¡¯ve fought Candlelight Shadow in the competitive arena before, and even he wasn¡¯t as skilled as this man¡­" "That¡¯s not possible!" Flame of Summer cursed. Leaf of Autumn asked me while holding her daggers defensively in front of herself, "Who are you? Why are you hounding Blood Alliance? What do you want?" I smiled. "I don¡¯t want anything. It¡¯s just that you¡¯ve gone too far with your PKs recently¡ªambushing innocent players and all that¡ªso I¡¯ve decided to remove your guild from Sky City." Flame of Summer wiped the bloodstain on his mouth. "Words are cheap. You really think you can remove us from Sky City single-handedly?" I lifted my sword a bit and said, "Well said. My sword will be the answer to your question. Flame of Summer, you murdered Chance Meeting and stole her Dragonbone Whip. It¡¯s time to spit your ill-gotten loot back out!" Flame of Summer uttered hatefully, "Come and get it then!" ¡­¡­ Pa! A puddle on the ground rippled as my Ghost Spirit War Boots left it. Before Flame of Summer knew it, he was skidding at least a dozen or so meters to the back. I gave my sword a lazy swing before saying, "Do you know how clownish you look just now? I don¡¯t even need technique to defeat you!" Bang! I rushed toward him and kicked him in the underbelly. Then, I stabbed him through his chest¡ª 390287! The Summer Elder of Blood Alliance was finally dead, but he didn¡¯t drop the Dragonbone Whip. Has he given it to Assassin¡¯s Creed after all? And was he smirking right before I ended his life? Alarm bells rang in my head as a chill touched my skin. I was so focused on killing Flame of Summer that I had forgotten about Leaf of Autumn! I reacted instantaneously and without hesitation. Right before the stun took effect, I bent my knees, covered a large majority of my body with the Cyan Dragon Shield and Guarded. I also activated Battle Astral Wind. MISS! MISS! MISS! MISS! ¡­¡­ The series of misses caused Leaf of Autumn quite a bit of distraught. Even if she was capable of penetrating my Defense, there was no chance in hell an assassin could ever destroy my Battle Astral Wind in 1.9 seconds. It was impossible even for Warsky with the Immortal Blade or Candlelight Shadow. "Goodbye!" After I broke out of the stun, I bashed Leaf of Autumn with my shield and ran past her, stabbing her through the chest in the process. The nice thing about dueling assassins was that they died really fast if you managed to land a hit or two. I picked up the equipment they dropped, tossed it all into my bag and left their bodies behind without hesitation. It wouldn¡¯t take long for them to revive, and I didn¡¯t want to waste my time with them. Neither Summer of Flame nor Leaf of Autumn had dropped the Lower Divine Armament despite my 109 Luck and the early drop rule, so it was most likely in Assassin¡¯s Creed¡¯s possession right now. I continued to stroll through the rain with the onager and Xinran behind me. It was like I hadn¡¯t left behind two elder-Level bodies behind me. On a related note, Dark Pupils had an activation and turn-off cooldown of 1.5 seconds, so it took me 3 seconds in total to reactivate it. I had to do this all the time so that no one could sneak up on me. Both martial power and patience were extremely important when fighting against assassins. ¡­¡­ After I had traveled about a thousand meters, Flame of Summer and Leaf of Autumn revived behind me. Then, they both crouched and vanished into the air. There was no telling if they would continue to stalk me and leave to find easier prey, but that was fine. All I needed to do was to wait for the enemy to come to me. The sound of distant battle cries entered my ears, and a lot of red names appeared to my Dark Pupils. They were the Japanese players of Swallow Ear Canton. If I had to guess, they had finally run out of patience and made up their minds to chase us out of their borders. It wouldn¡¯t be easy though. Everyone who came to hunt down Blood Alliance was the elite of a super guild in China. They must be prepared to pay the price of blood if they wished to annihilate us all. Pa pa pa¡­ More unnatural ripples appeared on the ground. The signs revealed that at least dozens of assassins were running toward me, even though I could only see a dozen of them with Dark Pupils. Most, if not all of them were eighth-promotion assassins. Finally, the real fight is upon me. Smiling, I looked back at Xinran and said to her, "This one¡¯s going to be a real treat, Xinran. Just sit tight and watch me, okay?" "Mn!" Xinran nodded and beamed at me from beneath her hood. "I may not understand why humans desire conflict so much, but I at least know that anyone who wants to kill you is a bad person. Do your best and don¡¯t lose, big brother¡­" I stumbled. "Don¡¯t worry. The word ¡®lose¡¯ doesn¡¯t exist in my dictionary!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! A single assassin raced toward me from the front. More were running toward me from three other directions as well. All of their daggers were glowing red; the color of a stun skill to be exact. If even one of them managed to land a hit, there was over a 50% chance that I was going to get stunned. Whoosh! Cyan-colored energies surrounded my Guardian Dragon Armor as I activated Battle Astral Wind. Even if I wasn¡¯t quick enough to dodge all of the attacks coming my way, Battle Astral Wind should at least mitigate a ton of damage. It also lowered my chance of dying after a stun to a minimum. Here they come! I surprised the assassins charging directly toward me by taking a step to my 8 o¡¯clock at the last possible moment. While we were passing by each other, I thrust my Cyan Dragon Shield into his flank, turned around, and cut him down with a slash to the back. Not done yet, I zigzagged toward the remaining three assassins, changed both my direction and speed at the appropriate times to avoid their attacks, and scored a hit each. They all died in one hit because they were much weaker than the four elders of Blood Alliance. ¡­¡­ Chiang! After the enemy¡¯s vanguard was dead, I returned my sword to its sheath and pulled my hood up. Then, I walked toward the army of assassins about a hundred meters in front of me with a smirk on my face. Buzz! Suddenly, the air in front of me distorted as if someone had caught it in a vice grip, and an icy dagger zoomed straight for my eyeball. How cruel! How unexpected! Whoever this assassin was, they must be a super expert! The only thing I could do in this situation was to throw myself backward in an uncontrollable manner. I managed to parry the first dagger with the Cyan Dragon Shield, but there was nothing I could do about the second one as it had come at me from a completely different angle and with a completely different speed. As a result, I lost over 90k HP. Sometimes, there was only so much you could do. After the initial surprise was over though, my body immediately came up with the appropriate reaction. I launched a powerful kick at the thin air in front of me! Bang! The incredible assassin was immediately knocked out of his stealth. ¡­¡­ Assassin¡¯s Creed LV-223 Main City: Sky City Guild: Blood Alliance Position: Leader It was as I thought. There were only a handful of assassins in Sky City who could ambush me like that, and right here and now that person could only be the guild leader of Blood Alliance, Assassin¡¯s Creed. ¡­¡­ In the rain, I saw Assassin¡¯s Creed lifting his dagger to his concealed face and licking the blood on the blade. A cruel smile crossed his lips as he said, "Fruit Knife Guard Captain, is it? Interesting! I did not know that Sky City had an expert like you, but it doesn¡¯t matter. You¡¯re going to die for killing three of my elders!" 1. T/N: wait what? Their outline doesn¡¯t show when it¡¯s raining? Then why can leaves hit them and reveal their location? This should be easier, not harde Chapter 1299 Pa! Assassin¡¯s Creed stomped on a patch of grass, mud and water before vanishing into thin air all of a sudden. Then, a pair of footsteps began running toward me at high speed. It was impressive how much pressure I was feeling from the visuals alone. I gripped my sword tightly, stood where I was and kept the blade pointed to the ground. When I glanced at the footsteps on the ground though, a chill jolted through my spine like a gunshot. Assassin¡¯s Creed was only one man, so why was I seeing two pairs of footsteps on the ground? Scratch that, the two pairs of footsteps just separated into four pairs! What was going on here? Swhoosh! An icy dagger emerged from the veil of invisibility and stabbed toward the weak point beneath my armpits. Its wielder was a flaming¡ªliterally, the dude was on fire for some reason¡ªAssassin¡¯s Creed with violent, blood-shot eyes. I called him Assassin¡¯s Creed, but only because their appearance was identical. The real Assassin¡¯s Creed would never make such a flashy, thug-like entrance! I shifted sideway to dodge the attack and slammed my knees into the flaming assassin¡¯s abdomen, dealing 70k+ damage and eliciting a muffled groan. I was just about to kill him when two more flaming assassins appeared into view and attacked me from different angles! That made three flaming Assassin¡¯s Creed in total. What the hell was this? Some sort of shadow clone skill?! I withdrew my sword and smashed the pommel against the arm of the assassin to my right. At the same time, I raised my Cyan Dragon Shield slightly and parried the attack of the assassin to my left. However, the defense came at the cost of all my balance, and I was forced to stab the ground with my sword and propel myself across the air. Swhoosh! A bone-chilling cold approached me at the perfect timing. I knew it. The true assault must come from the true Assassin¡¯s Creed![1] The attack hit me in the back close to my kidney. He had calculated the angle and made it so that it was impossible for me to block or dodge it. As a numbing sensation spread through the wound, the combat log informed me that I had been poisoned by his Poisoned Weapon and lost 14.8% movement speed and Defense as a result. It wasn¡¯t good. Assassin¡¯s Creed¡¯s eyes were less than 20 cm away from mine. There was no sword technique in the world that would work at such a short distance. So, I did the only thing I could and punched his chest with the pommel of my sword at the same time he struck me with a four-hit Blade Vortex. After my stats had been reduced, his daggers easily ripped through my shoulder and dealt massive damage. 210992! 229188! 230184! 210233! Before Assassin¡¯s Creed could react, I put some distance between myself and his shadow clones, dashed toward him, and swung my sword down at his head. He reacted quickly by raising both arms and protecting himself with a double-layered parry. The advantage of dual-wielding revealed itself here. I managed to shatter his first parry, but not the second. As a result, I could only make the suboptimal choice of shield-bashing him a dozen or so meters away from me. My arms felt numb and tingly from all the fighting. Now I understood why Stranger of Three lifetimes and Eyes Like Water were killed at Dragon God Cave. If there was one player who was qualified to poke the murderous tiger that was Blazing Hot Lips in the butt, it was him. He had summoned three shadow clones and controlled all of them at the same time. Although his shadow clones¡¯ attack speed and angle weren¡¯t perfect, he was still controlling four characters at once in real combat. In a sense, he was extremely close to Farewell Song and Moonkiss¡¯s level already. Truly, you could never write off grass roots experts. Somehow, someway, Assassin¡¯s Creed had grown to his level without any of us learning about it until now. I continued running away from the three shadow clones while switching the Purple Cloud Ring with the Apparition Ring. Then, I summoned my own apparition to help me! Now that I had an extra body under my control, I immediately turned back and ganged up on the shadow clones with my apparition. My skills were better than Assassin''s Creed in the first place, and he had to control four characters while I only needed to control two. It was a one-sided slaughter. In less than three seconds, all three shadow clones had been skewered by my Chill of the Nine Provinces and turned into piles of dust on the ground. ¡­¡­ "Fuck! Who the fuck is this guy¡­" I heard Assassin¡¯s Creed swearing from the darkness before disappearing into the rain. Realizing that he was trying to escape, I hurriedly gave chase and uttered, "Don¡¯t you dare! Surrender the Dragonbone Whip now!" Suddenly, a troop of cavalrymen barged into the battlefield from the forest edges. They were led by Warsky, Laughing At The Heavens and more. There were about a dozen or so men strong, and judging from their movement speed they were the vanguard of their main force. I side-eyed the four high-level assassins who slowly slinked back in the darkness with Dark Pupils and let out a sigh of relief. They were the four elders of Blood Alliance. Had Warsky Alliance come a bit slower, they might¡¯ve engaged me in battle already. Assassin¡¯s Creed had most likely ordered them to let me go for now. Warsky said while gripping the Immortal Blade, "Down there! I saw Assassin¡¯s Creed down there just a second ago!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe cautioned, "Calm down, guild leader. We¡¯re in Blood Alliance¡¯s territory right now. Even if you have the Immortal Blade, you know better than anyone what a top-tier assassin can do!" However, Warsky replied, "Bah, you worry too much. This is a warrior versus assassin match-up." "But¡ª" Before he could finish his sentence, Warsky suddenly shuddered and froze in his tracks. A bunch of icicles had emerged from the earth and skewered both mount and rider. In fact, Laughing At The Heavens and Lin Bing Dou Zhe had fallen for the same trap. It was an eighth-promotion assassin¡¯s Freezing Trap. I knew that Blood Alliance would trap this place the moment they entered it. "Watch out! It¡¯s an ambush!" Warsky shouted, but it was too late. Damaged and slowed by the icicles, they reacted too late to the red figures appearing all around them. Laughing At The Heavens was just about to turn around and stab an assassin when he was stunned by Assassin¡¯s Creed himself. The latter and three more assassins immediately punched multiple holes in his chest and caused his blood to gush out like a super fountain. "Gah¡­" Laughing At The Heavens groaned and fell from his mount. Despite possessing almost 2 million HP, he still wasn¡¯t able to survive the ambush. Assassin¡¯s Creed picked up a shield dropped by Laughing At The Heavens and tossed it into his bag. Then, he and his assassins threw a fluorescent powder and turned invisible once more. Growing hasty, Lin Bing Dou Zhe skewered an assassin with Barrier Break and fired Ultimate Strength Break while the body was still on his spear. The devastating energy of the skill instantly shredded the body to pieces and killed another 7 assassins. Lin Bing Dou Zhe wasn¡¯t the vice leader of Warsky Alliance for nothing, and Warsky had never been wrong about a person despite his many flaws. Light shone from the Immortal Blade as Warsky galloped back and forth and cut down several assassins in the process. He managed to open up a path using Ultimate Strength Break, but hundreds of assassins had already rushed into the battlefield. The moment they successfully plunged their daggers into his mount¡¯s ass and stunned him, Warsky immediately fell into a hell of infinite stuns! Pa! The grass shuddered unnaturally, and a shadow rushed straight toward Lin Bing Dou Zhe. It was Assassin¡¯s Creed swinging his dagger at the vice leader¡¯s neck. Lin Bing Dou Zhe chuckled and clashed blades with Assassin¡¯s Creed. At the same time, he threw a punch at the assassin¡¯s right side. However, Assassin¡¯s Creed chuckled right back, raised his arm to block the blow, and allowed himself to be blown out of range. Lin Bing Dou Zhe immediately knew he was in deep shit. This was an ambush, and countless assassins were already swinging their daggers at him using Ambush. Without a skill like Dark Pupils or Clear As Flame, how on earth was he going to defend himself against this many invisible killers? "Ugh¡­" Lin Bing Dou Zhe died as expected. In fact, the entire vanguard except Warsky had died to the enemy. Warsky was still clinging to life, but it was only a matter of time. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ The Immortal Blade was a healing-type Divine Armament, and it kept healing Warsky for an insane amount¡ª +117829! +117829! +117829! ¡­¡­ Not only that, the Immortal Blade gave him a lot of Defense, so he was able to tank an entire group of assassins while still remaining above 50% HP. His complexion was deathly white though. So what if the assassins were having trouble killing him? Even if the Immortal Blade could heal infinitely¡ªand it couldn¡¯t¡ªthey could theoretically stun him until time immemorial. It was only a matter of time before he died to their damage. I was already running to Warsky¡¯s aid. Further back, Xinran was catching up to me on the onager. Crack! I hacked off the head of an assassin before continuing toward Warsky. I even activated Ghost Spirit Step Art so I could reach him as soon as possible. Although Warsky and I were neither friend nor enemy, I couldn¡¯t allow him to die to Blood Alliance. It was because everyone would suffer if the Immortal Blade fell into Assassin¡¯s Creed¡¯s hands. I could already imagine the fucker, no, the entire Blood Alliance, growing even more arrogant than they already were should the worst-case scenario happened. Suddenly, a miracle happened. Warsky broke out of his stun before the next one could happen and moved his mount several steps to the side. He killed an entire line of assassins with one swing of his blade and dropped Ultimate Strength Break that killed a dozen more. As long as the Immortal Blade remained in his possession, everyone must respect his Attack! Swhoosh! Unfortunately, that was where the miracle ended. Three red lights stabbed into Warsky from three different directions, and they were cast by none other than the elders of Blood Alliance themselves. The guild leader shuddered and was stunned yet again. Assassin¡¯s Creed eyes abruptly erupted with ambition as he cackled. "Well done, brothers! Kill him and drop the Immortal Blade! Make sure you turn on Stalker¡¯s Will to increase the stun rate!" Daggers went in and out of Warsky¡¯s body. This time, not even the Immortal Blade could outheal the damage he was receiving. He dropped below 10% HP in just the blink of an eye. Growing even hastier, I activated Thunderous Charge and cast Myriad Swords Obliteration right on top of Warsky. He must not die no matter what! Unfortunately, I was too late. Assassin¡¯s Creed and his four elders activated Night Armor, a skill that greatly reduced the power of Myriad Swords Obliteration. All of them managed to survive the skill. Crack! Warsky¡¯s final sliver of HP vanished, and I was still 10 meters away from him. ¡­¡­ I caught a glimpse of the despair in Warsky¡¯s eyes as he dropped dead. At the same time, the Immortal Blade came loose from his grip. You have to be shitting me! He actually dropped the Immortal Blade! Whoosh! I practically slid across Warsky¡¯s body as I made a mad grab for the weapon. Unfortunately, I only managed to catch a near-expired bread. It was Assassin¡¯s Creed who managed to steal it. ¡­¡­ "Guild leader!" Some distance away, Farewell Song finally appeared with murder in his eyes. He dashed straight toward us without hesitation. Assassin¡¯s Creed backed away while pointing a finger at me and shouting, "Kill him now! This guy took the Immortal Blade! Kill him now!" 1. T/N: OMG, it¡¯s the attack of the original and the spin-offs. Someone help! Chapter 1300 What was the saying again, you stink of perfume and you didn¡¯t even get to fuck her? That was what was happening right now. There was no chance I was going to stand for this, so I charged straight toward Assassin¡¯s Creed. My name would be clear once he died and dropped both the Immortal Blade and the Dragonbone Whip, right? It wasn¡¯t even as unlikely as it sounded. Both the Dragonbone Whip and the Immortal Blade hadn¡¯t been in Assassin¡¯s Creed¡¯s possession for over 72 hours, and I had a whopping 109 Luck. As long as I was the one who landed the last hit, there was a 75% chance at least this motherfucker was going to drop both items. It was too late for him to make a run for it either. The second he crushed that teleport scroll, I would shred his body into many tiny pieces. Even if he had an invincibility skill, I had the Xuanyuan Slash to counter that. Speaking of Xuanyuan Slash, I absolutely couldn¡¯t use it unless the situation was right. Although it had a massive range and area of effect, Assassin¡¯s Creed was fast enough that I couldn¡¯t guarantee a hit 100% of the time. If I missed, he would be able to invincibility-teleport wherever he¡¯d like. When that happened, it would be all over. Of course, Assassin¡¯s Creed was well aware of this. That was why we were having this stand-off, and why he tried to trick Farewell Song into attacking me. For now, it was impossible to tell who among the three of us would walk away the victor... ¡­¡­ Chiang chiang! I clashed blades twice with Assassin¡¯s Creed, driving him backward and dropping his HP to just 50% or so. After he drank a health potion, he tried to enter stealth with a fluorescent powder only for me to send him flying and rolling across mud with a sword swing. He didn¡¯t equip either one of the Divine Armaments he looted because assassins couldn¡¯t equip longblade-type weapons without suffering severe penalties. The lore reason was that an assassin lacked the arm strength to wield a longblade. Another assassin¡ªCold of Spring¡ªsupported Assassin¡¯s Creed¡¯s story and said, "Farewell Song, Fruit Knife Guard Captain is carrying the Immortal Blade right now. Take your fight to him and leave us out of this!" However, black energy surrounded the Warsky Alliance assassin and made him look like a devil god. It was the visual effect of Dark God Transformation. Suddenly, Farewell Song moved so fast that I almost couldn¡¯t see him with the naked eye. The next instant, his dagger pierced Cold of Spring¡¯s back, and Blade Vortex shredded his body into pieces. Farewell Song stared coldly at the dead body beneath his feet and said, "Even if Fruit Knife Guard Captain was the one who took the Immortal Blade, aren¡¯t you the ones who killed Warsky in the first place? It doesn¡¯t matter anyway. I¡¯ll kill both him and Assassin¡¯s Creed while they keep each other busy!" Flame of Summer, Leaf of Autumn and Cadence of Winter shuddered at the same time. None of them had ever encountered such a terrifying assassin until this point. Farewell Song¡¯s cruelty and decisiveness was famous in the China server, and he was already a legend back in Spirit of Grief. it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that he was the face of the Assassin class itself. Today, the four Blood Alliance elders would finally get the chance to test their mettle against him whether they liked it or not. ¡­¡­ The sound of blade carving into one¡¯s flesh was the only music of this rainy night. All three Blood Alliance elders lay dead at Farewell Song¡¯s feet. Not even a pretty woman like Leaf of Autumn was shown any mercy. The fact that the assassin had taken less than 45 seconds to kill all four elders showed that they were still a long way away from reaching the apex that was Farewell Song. Swhoosh! Farewell Song didn¡¯t wait long to run toward my back with glowing daggers. Here he comes! I abruptly activated Heavenly River Transformation and thrust my shield arm backward. However, I only managed to hit rainwater and air. Farewell Song had dodged to the side and swung his dagger at Assassin¡¯s Creed abdomen instead. "The fuck!?" Assassin¡¯s Creed swore angrily while sliding backward and parrying the attack. After he regained his footing, he growled, "Are you an idiot, Farewell Song? You think you can fight both of us yourself?" Farewell Song¡¯s reply was as harsh as his eyes. "It¡¯s not impossible, is it?" Farewell Song had earned himself about 1.5 seconds of spare time after knocking Assassin¡¯s Creed backward. He used that time to attack me with a skill called "Fire Snake Attack¡±. As far as I was aware, he was the only player who possessed this skill. It ignored a large portion of his target¡¯s Defense and increased the user¡¯s Attack, so it was effective against metal-armor classes as well. I stepped backward to buy myself a bit of time to react. It would be foolish to underestimate the skill¡¯s power. I struck the center of Farewell Song¡¯s blade but failed to parry the skill perfectly, so I stabbed my weapon on the ground, used it as a fulcrum, and did a 75-degree spin to dodge it. At the same time, I swung my Cyan Dragon Shield at him from an odd angle! Bang! Metallic sparks erupted, and Farewell Song looked surprised. The shield bash had definitely extinguished the flames on his dagger. However, his reaction was inhuman, and he had a speed advantage over me right now. Grabbing onto the interior of my Cyan Dragon Shield with my left hand, he pulled himself over the equipment like a bat, wreathed his right dagger in a cone of blue flames, and stabbed my throat with it! 509129! I didn¡¯t panic despite the massive pain that overtook my senses. I made the snap decision to discard my shield¡ªwhich destabilized Farewell Song and prevented him from following up his assault¡ªand slammed my sword into his shoulder. After the successful strike, I kicked him in the chest and sent him staggering toward the back. Although he had raised his arms in time to block it, he wasn¡¯t able to nullify its force completely. 380907! 112737! ¡­¡­ Farewell Song backed a few steps away from me as his HP dropped below 50%. His eyes were full of astonishment. "Who¡­ who are you? I know there isn¡¯t anyone like you in Sky City!" Assassin¡¯s Creed was attacking me from the flank, so I didn¡¯t bother to answer his question. I parried the incoming dagger aside and sent Assassin¡¯s Creed flying a dozen or so meters away from me with a kick. Assassin¡¯s Creed hacked and coughed as he crawled unceremoniously out of the mud. His eyes were full of astonishment as well. "Who the FUCK is this guy? How is he so strong!?" I stood my ground and pulled down my hood. My fiery red hair was incredibly conspicuous under the rainy night. I curled my index finger at both assassins and smirked. "Come. I¡¯ll defeat you both myself!" "Pay the price of your arrogance!" Farewell Song abruptly disappeared from his original spot. The next moment, he was rushing toward me with his blue flaming daggers again. This skill he got was similar to Lin Yixin¡¯s Holy Energy of my Undead Energy. It increased his weapon damage and his defense penetration by a lot. Otherwise, there was no way he could¡¯ve hit me for 500k damage with a basic attack even though he struck my weak point. ¡­¡­ Chiang chiang chiang chiang chiang! Five metallic sparks erupted in quick succession as the three of us clashed blades under the rain. The swirls of energies circulating around our person were great enough to form mini hurricanes. We were both actively seeking out a way to bring down our opponents, and we never stayed at one place for more than half a second. It was because we knew that it might mean death had we done so. I didn¡¯t use my skills because I didn¡¯t want to reveal myself. However, Heavenly River Transformation allowed me to keep up with the two peak assassins without falling behind at all. This fact only encouraged Farewell Song and Assassin¡¯s Creed even more because it wasn¡¯t everyday you encountered an Ancient Divine Skill owner who wasn¡¯t overly reliant on in-game skills and an incredible technician. Pa! Farewell Song kicked my sword upward and walked on top of it like he was a ghost. How confident would you have to be to literally stand on a knife¡¯s edge? In this case, he was rewarded with a successful stab to my shoulder. I didn¡¯t let him revel in his arrogance for too long, of course. I twisted my blade, struck him in the stomach, grabbed him by the boots and smashed him into the mud like a ragdoll. While Farewell Song was temporarily incapitated, I swung my shield backward and parried Assassin¡¯s Creed for the n-th time. The pace of the duel grew faster and faster after a minute or so. Farewell Song and I were doing okay, but Assassin¡¯s Creed was starting to fall behind us both. This was a blow to the Blood Alliance guild leader¡¯s pride because he believed himself to be the number one assassin in the world. Obviously, that wasn''t the case if he couldn¡¯t even keep up with our pace. "Fuck!" A peeved-looking Assassin¡¯s Creed crossed his arms in front of himself in an attempt to activate that flame clone skill that had given me so much trouble earlier. I immediately moved closer to him and smashed his face in with Magic Piercing Punch. While he was dazed, I grabbed his shoulder and stabbed the Chill of the Nine Provinces through his chest. After I spun around so that Assassin¡¯s Creed and my sword was facing toward Farewell Song, I finally used a skill for the first time since the duel began. "It¡¯s over!" I smirked at Assassin¡¯s Creed¡¯s disbelieving, hateful face. At the same time, Farewell Song shuddered violently. "That¡¯s¡­ Burning Blade Slash!?" ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang! The powerful skill tore Assassin¡¯s Creed¡¯s body into pieces and engulfed the spot Farewell Song was. Unfortunately, the latter had activated Swift Dash just in time to get out of the way. The sonuvabitch was almost as fast as that Dragon Domain Scavenger. The moment Assassin¡¯s Creed died, two Divine Armaments dropped from his person! I hurriedly grabbed the Dragonbone Whip and attempted to kick the Immortal Blade toward me. Pu! However, Farewell Song reappeared and stabbed me in the thigh. There must be some sort of paralyzing poison on his dagger, because my body froze for a moment before I could stop Farewell Song from retrieving the Immortal Blade. Dammit! Oh well. At least I had retrieved the Dragonbone Whip. ¡­¡­ Whoosh! It was at this moment a beautiful woman dashed past Farewell Song and slashed his throat. Caught off-guard, he died without being able to defend himself. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t drop the Immortal Blade. The beautiful woman was none other than Lin Yixin. For a time, she stared at me with an indiscernible expression on her face. I kept quiet because I didn¡¯t know what to say or do. I was wearing a disguise right now, and breaking it in public didn¡¯t seem like a good idea... Swhoosh! As expected, she ultimately decided to attack me. Her Dragonfrost drew a freezing arc across the air as she attempted to stab me with Extreme Break. At a certain level, an expert was so good you didn¡¯t take a discerning eye to identify them. I swung my Cyan Dragon Shield at her dagger and attempted to knock her back with a pommel strike to the chest. However, she surprised me by changing both her speed and direction to dash past my right. Before I knew it, she had changed her weapon and struck me with Ice Flame Slash. The damage I took was significant to say the least. Holy energy did extra damage to me after all. Pu! She stabbed my shield arm with her dagger in order to stop me from bashing her as I pleased. I caught her neck between my sword hilt and the guard before questioning her, "Why are you attacking me?!" She simply stared into my eyes and uttered, "He¡¯s the only one who¡¯s allowed to use Burning Blade Slash!" Bang! She kneed me in my groin right after she said that. Oof... ¡­¡­ We tumbled across the grass for a time until Lin Yixin swung Dragonfrost again, nailing my sword arm to the ground. This was getting ridiculous, so I hurriedly changed back to my true self and turned on all the equipment visual effects. As my hair turned from red to black, I stared at the woman of my life and cried out, "Dear, it¡¯s me!" Lin Yixin was sitting on my waist and bringing down her weapon when she heard this. She froze. Chapter 1301 It took Lin Yixin an entire half a minute to finally break her silence. "Is¡­ is¡­ is this how DID[1] is represented inside the game?" I nearly vomited blood when I heard her rationalization. After I sat up and put my cloak over her head to shield her from the rain, I showed her the Master of Disguise Ring. "It¡¯s this ring that changed my appearance. If I hadn''t concealed my identity, Assassin¡¯s Creed would¡¯ve run off the second he saw me. I would have never been able to have a dialogue with him." "So, what was the result of your ¡®dialogue¡¯?" "I¡¯ve wrecked almost all the elders of Blood Alliance and Assassin¡¯s Creed once each. Unfortunately, Farewell Song was able to retake the Immortal Blade from Assassin¡¯s Creed, but at least I got the Dragonbone Whip, so the operation is technically a success." I showed her the Dragonbone Whip in my bag with a chuckle. Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes looked like blinking stars when she blinked in the dim light of the night. "Chance Meeting said she would pay millions to anyone who returned the Dragonbone Whip to her. Will you claim that money?" I shook my head without hesitation. "There are things you can do and can¡¯t do in life, and this is one of the latter. I won¡¯t earn my money this way." "Good!" ¡­¡­ As I rose to my feet, I saw Xinran slowly making her way toward me on my onager. I immediately changed back to my disguise and grabbed the reins. Then, I asked her, "Are you okay, Xinran?" "I¡¯m fine, big brother¡­" Lin Yixin was staring at my fake ID in approval. "You¡¯ve chosen a good name~~" I grinned. "But of course!" Suddenly, a new troop of cavalrymen entered the forest from the southeast direction. It was the couple hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen led by Gui Guzi himself. He knocked down four or five Blood Alliance assassins with his new Ghostblade Halberd and allowed his troops to kill them. When Gui Guzi saw us, he exclaimed in surprise, "Eh? You¡¯re here too, Beauty Lin? And you are¡­" Gui Guzi¡¯s expression turned colder all of a sudden. He seemed to have misunderstood something. "Beauty Lin, you¡¯re aware that our Boss Broken Halberd is deeply in love with you, right? I¡¯ve always thought that you were equally in love with him, but who is this man, and why are you alone with him in this wilderness?" Lin Yixin, the forever troll, pretended to be coy. "It¡¯s exactly what you think¡­" The simple Gui Guzi pointed his halberd at Lin Yixin and erupted in anger, "Lu Chen loves you more than his own life, and this is how you treat him!? Pooh! Today, I shall teach you a lesson myself!" Lin Yixin also raised her Dragonfrost and smirked provocatively at Gui Guzi. "Yo, it looks like someone believes themselves to be invincible just because they wield one of the Twelve Divine Armaments! Come on then. It¡¯s been a long time since I educated you, and what time is better than now?" Okay, the joke was getting out of hand. I hurriedly unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces, turned on its equipment luster and said to Gui Guzi in a low tone, "Calm down, Little Gui. Do you recognize me now?" Gui Guzi rubbed his eyes as if he couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing. When he looked at Xinran and realized I really was who I was, he let out an awkward laugh and said, "Hahaha, it¡¯s really you, Boss Broken Halberd? But why are you dressed up like a uh¡­ country bumpkin?" My mouth twitched at his frank evaluation, but I answered, "It¡¯s to fool Blood Alliance. They¡¯re going to run as soon as they spot me otherwise, and that¡¯s just no fun at all. How is our guild doing, by the way?" Gui Guzi replied, "We managed to encircle and kill over 40000 Blood Alliance assassins, but many of them still managed to escape. It¡¯s because we still don¡¯t have enough Dragonlight Archers. Also, a dozen or so small and middle-sized Japanese guilds emerged from Wallow Ear Canton a while ago and are yelling at us about trespassing. There are about a million of them in total. Sister Eve was just asking me to ask you if we should fight them." Lin Yixin said expressionlessly, "It¡¯s Swallow Ear Canton, not Wallow Ear Canton¡­" The second-hand embarrassment I felt was worse than I thought. "Ahem. It¡¯s just a small detail. Anyway, the answer is yes. Please tell Eve and Chengfeng that we¡¯re going to crush these Wallow¡ªfuck me, I mean Swallow Ear Canton players, but they should meet up with Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends and the rest of our allies first. My Xinran needs a lot of power of rebirth to restore her legs, and the easiest way to do it is to kill a bunch of people. Once you¡¯ve taken out everyone, just retreat and let them revive so I can absorb their power of rebirth." Gui Guzi nodded. "No problem. I¡¯ll get it done right away!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi was just turning around when a new group of players entered the forest. They were all female players, and they were led by Zhou Ping and Hugging Bears in Silence themselves. I should¡¯ve known that the Twelve Musicians would come to Purple Grape City in search of their lost treasure. I didn¡¯t want to go through another misunderstanding like the one between myself and Lin Yixin or the one between Gui Guzi and Lin Yixin, so I switched back to my true appearance and bathed the forest in equipment luster. Then, I walked up to the Twelve Musicians party with Lin Yixin and greeted them, "Yo. Did you girls come to Purple Grape City for a midnight stroll or something? I didn¡¯t know Twelve Musicians had so much free time on your hands." Zhou Ping didn¡¯t look too good for obvious reasons. "You know that Blood Alliance has stolen the Dragonbone Whip you sold me, right? Sorry, but I¡¯m not in a joking mood right now..." I grinned a bit and took out the crystalline whip in my bag. "Oh, you mean this? I just got it from Assassin¡¯s Creed¡¯s corpse a while ago¡­" "Ah?!" For a time, Zhou Ping looked like she couldn¡¯t believe her own eyes. "You¡­ you actually reclaimed the Dragonbone Whip?" I nodded. "Yep. It¡¯s not too difficult to get a Divine Armament to drop as long as it hasn¡¯t been in a player¡¯s ownership for more than 72 hours." Zhou Ping respectfully accepted the Dragonbone Whip. She was wearing a leather armor and cloak right now, so she really looked like a BDSM queen after she reequipped the whip. She looked at me and said sincerely, "I promised that I would pay the person who returns the Dragonbone Whip to me a handsome reward. I¡¯ll transfer the money to your account right now¡­" "Stop!" I hurriedly held a palm in front of me. "You¡¯ve already paid me 8 million back in the auction house, so I cannot possibly take more money from you. Just consider this my after-sale service or something. However, this is the first and last time I¡¯m going to help you in regards to this. In the future, you should make sure to bring as many eighth-promotion archers and knights with you as possible. Had you had 10 archers with Clear As Flame or more by your side, all this drama may not have happened at all¡­" Zhou Ping nodded. "You¡¯re right. Thank you, Lu Chen!" I laughed. "You¡¯re welcome." ¡­¡­ Hugging Bears in Silence had more to say, however. "It¡¯s good that we managed to reclaim the Dragonbone Whip, but Blood Alliance is still targeting the best players of top guilds in Sky City. Not only did the Top 100 players in the champion arena lose a ton of levels to Blood Alliance, practically every top expert in Sky City was¡ªis¡ªthreatened by them. Don¡¯t you think that there¡¯s something weird about this?" I nodded. "It is weird. Since our venture into Dragon God Cave, Blood Alliance has been giving us Top 10 players ¡®special¡¯ attention. They¡¯re even targeting Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng even though it does them no good at all. The mastermind or masterminds behind all this must¡¯ve paid them a lot of money, and it doesn¡¯t look like they¡¯re planning to reveal themselves¡­" Hugging Bears in Silence pouted. "How are we going to drag these bastards out into the open then?" My Beautiful Little Pepper let out a chuckle and wiped away the rainwater on her forehead. She then said with a sweet smile on her face, "That¡¯s simple. The mastermind is specifically targeting the best players of various top guilds, right? It¡¯s because their growth is detrimental to whatever it is they¡¯re plotting. In that case, the mastermind must belong to a guild whose top players have NOT been targeted by Blood Alliance. If we can collect that data, then..." Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes lit up. "I can help with that! Chaos Moon just sent me a chart that lists out all the players and guilds who have been attacked in Sky City! Just give me three minutes to look through the data, and I¡¯ll be able to give you all an answer!" "Mn!" A few minutes later, Gui Guzi looked up at us and reported, "Alright. Of the Top 100 guilds in Sky City, there are 7 in total who haven¡¯t been ambushed by Blood Alliance even once. They are Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon, Spirit Firmament, Xuanyuan Pavilion, War God Battlefield and Under Heaven. Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon are among the Top 20, and the other five are ranked at 92nd, 94th, 95th, 96th, 97th and 98th respectively. So, this means that¡­" I smiled. "This means that Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon must be the ones who hired Blood Alliance. Of course, I¡¯m not saying that it¡¯s completely impossible for the other five guilds to be the culprits, but really, who else but Wang Dongliang and Lu Chao possesses the wealth to pay for all these assassinations? I alone am worth hundreds of thousands of RMB per kill. Tens of millions have already been paid out if you look at the latest number of successful assassinations. It has to be them." Lin Yixin let out a cough before saying, "I think I can offer some corroborating evidence, actually. Three days ago, Snowy Cathaya¡¯s first and third subguilds have lost at least a thousand core players to an unknown party. After I did a quick investigation, I discovered that it was Hegemon Palace who promised them a monthly salary of 10000 RMB¡­" Gui Guzi added, "Er, Boss Broken Halberd, I didn¡¯t tell you this because you weren¡¯t exactly free, but¡­ Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have also lost a thousand players or more in the past three days. They were all subguild elites, and they were all lured away by the promise of high salary just like Snowy Cathaya. I¡¯m aware that over 50% of Dark Moon City¡¯s monthly income is paid to our guild members as salary, but the enemy still managed to give them a better deal." I tightened my fists. "Damn. Wang Dongliang must be planning something really big then." Hugging Bears in Silence said, "I know right? It almost feels like he¡¯s planning to rule over Sky City as the sole sovereign. It doesn¡¯t look likely at all. The only experts in Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon who are worth mentioning are Little Piglet, Shangguan Wan¡¯er, Iron Pardon and the usual faces. They are nothing compared to the top players of Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya." Lin Yixin asked, "What if Blood Alliance is added to the mix?" Zhou Ping shuddered. "That¡­ may just be enough to turn them into a threat we cannot ignore." ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a rider entered the forest at a gallop. He reined in his horse at the last moment¡ªcausing the Cyan Crystal Dragon on his shoulder to chirp in alarm for a bit¡ªdismounted and greeted us, "Lu Chen, Beauty Lin, Little Gui, you¡¯re all here." I gave him a nod of acknowledgement before asking, "What¡¯s with the haste, Chengfeng?" "Er, now that I think about it, it¡¯s not really worth mentioning¡­" Li Chengfeng rubbed his nose in embarrassment when he saw our expressions. "Don¡¯t look at me like that. It¡¯s just a weird thing that I feel like I should report. Half an hour ago, I learned that Lu Chao has traveled to the headquarters of Shanghai Shengyi for a meeting with Wang Dongliang. At the end of the meeting, they swore oaths of brotherhood and officially became sworn brothers. You heard me right. They even went through the whole ceremony of incense stick burning, wine cooking and kowtowing¡­" I shivered. "Holy shit¡­" 1. dissociative identity disorde Chapter 1302 "What is this, a modern version of the brotherhood pact in Romance of the Three Kingdoms?" Lin Yixin laughed so hard that her breasts wouldn¡¯t stop bouncing. Li Chengfeng added, "Maybe? It doesn¡¯t matter though, we all know that it¡¯s really just a business relationship. Wang Dongliang is aware that Shanghai Shengyi may not have the capital strength to go toe-to-toe against Raincube, but he has Little Piglet, an excellent player who¡¯s in the Top 10 of Sky City¡¯s PvP ranking. Lu Chao¡¯s family is even more wealthy and influential than Shanghai Shengyi, but the man himself and the experts he recruit are¡­ Let¡¯s just say that the so-called Gemini Stars of Mad Dragon, Iron Pardon and Inconstant, aren¡¯t even good enough to get into the Top 50. That is why they chose to join forces with each other. They¡¯re covering up each other¡¯s flaws per se¡­" I wiped away the rainwater on my face and said, "Well, Guo Jing and Yang Kang became sworn brothers too, and we all know what happened to them¡­" Gui Guzi suggested, "Speaking of which, do you want to swear an oath of brotherhood, Boss Broken Halberd?" I waved. "Nah. We¡¯re already sworn brothers, aren¡¯t we? We¡¯ve already proven more than once that we¡¯ll give it our all to save the other person in times of danger, so why do we need to waste our time on mere formalities? Still, this weird shit Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon are pulling does make me feel like we are in the calm before the storm." Lin Yixin held my hand and asked, "Do you foresee a great war between them and us?" "It¡¯s too soon to say¡­ We¡¯ll wait and see what happens next!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Another group of riders emerged from the east, and they were Purple Marquis and his players. He asked Lin Yixin, "Guild leader, Ancient Sword has engaged the players of Wallow Ear Canton¡ªexcuse me, I mean Swallow Ear Canton¡ªat the foot of the mountain. Should we help them?" "Sure! Go get ¡®em¡­" "Yes, guild leader!" I asked, "Say, what level is your Crimson Crystal Dragon, Yiyi? Can you ride it soon?" Lin Yixin answered, "No. It¡¯s Level 79, and it¡¯s only mountable at Level 100. This leveling speed is seriously slow¡­ Anyway, I¡¯m going back to the city now. Lexi, Shadow Chanel and the others are planning to grind the S3 instance, and I¡¯m going to join them to grind the Crimson Crystal Dragon to Level 100. Then, we¡¯ll sweep the S4 instance for better equipment¡­" "Okay. See you later~" Lin Yixin bade everyone goodbye before producing a return scroll and teleporting away. The Twelve Musicians also did the same thing. They weren¡¯t as strong as the Dragonlight Cavalry, so there was a real chance they might die to the Japanese if they tried to fight them. I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and activated Fusion Armor. Then, I carried Xinran in my arms, slipped underground using Earth Escape, and moved toward the battle that was happening at the valley. ¡­¡­ The sound of battle cries reached us long before we actually arrived at the battlefield. Dragonlight Cavalry, Kui Dragon Cavalry and more high-level cavalrymen were all over the place. Beiming Xue was leading the Dragonlight Archers and having them fire into the low-level players of Swallow Ear Canton, and the outcome was one-sided to say the least. We could¡¯ve won even without He Yi¡¯s Royal Road or Gui Guzi¡¯s Knight God. Swhoosh swhoosh! Two columns of light suddenly lit up the sky. They were caused by Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust¡¯s S Rank Ancient Divine Skills, the Tiger Wing Slash and the Dog God Slash. Nearly everyone who got caught in the blast was one-shot. Even Li Chengfeng had given in to his bloodlust and fired Crimson Firmament Slash with his Crimson Refinement Sword, shaking the earth and mountains themselves. The SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill was the final blow necessary to shatter the Japanese¡¯s final sliver of morale and make them rout. As a result, we suffered much less casualties than we would¡¯ve otherwise. On my arms, Xinran stared wide-eyed at the battlefield and asked me, "Do you love one-sided battles like this one, big brother?" I frowned at the question before replying, "No one is born a killer, Xinran. It¡¯s just that sometimes we must kill or be killed to prove or protect something." "Will you stop fighting and keep Xinran company one day, big brother?" "I will." "Okay, big brother¡­" Xinran hugged my neck and said, "That¡¯s very good to know¡­" Suddenly, Xinran lost her gentle look and glared at a certain spot in the sky. She uttered, "Stop hiding and come out, you two!" Whoosh! A dragon poked its head out of a bloody cloud. It was none other than the Winged Silver Dragon. Still looking as ugly and vulgar as ever, it said, "Oh, my cute master, how low have you fallen! The sight of you pains me like a million blades in my heart. Oh, my dear master, who was the cruel monster who¡ª" Xinran interrupted, "Cut the nonsense. Where were you when I was grievously injured? And where is Bloody Finger right now?" The Winged Silver Dragon shuddered. "That brainless idiot you call Bloody Finger will be showing up very soon. As for me, I was recuperating, my dear master. I came immediately after I heard that you were okay. Can¡¯t you see the tears in my eyes? I am forever your most loyal Little Silver¡­" Xinran smiled, but it didn¡¯t reach her eyes. "My most loyal Little Silver? I highly doubt that. I think it¡¯s because you sensed that I have recovered to the point where I can threaten your life, right?" "Oh, my cute master, that is definitely not the case¡­" Bang! Suddenly, a figure fell from the sky and drop-kicked the Winged Silver Dragon in the head as hard as he could. He was none other than Bloody Finger. He kept the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s head pressed to the ground while saying, "Master, the Winged Silver Dragon had tried to tempt me into working with him and betraying you during your weakest moment. It wanted to escape your contract and regain its freedom!" Xinran asked coldly, "Is that true, Winged Silver Dragon?" The dragon hurriedly hit his head against the ground repeatedly. "That is not true, my dear master! I would never do such a thing! This brainless idiot is trying to frame me!" Xinran kept quiet for a couple of seconds before saying, "I will be accompanying big brother for a bit longer, so scram. I will summon both of you when I have need of your service again¡­" "Yes, master!" Bloody Finger grabbed the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s wings and disappeared into a spatial rift. Thank goodness the headless Bloody Finger was more loyal than that despicable Winged Silver Dragon, or Xinran might¡¯ve been in grave danger! ¡­¡­ A while later, the battle in the valley neared the end. Nearly 500k Swallow Ear Canton players were killed in action, and the rest had teleported back to their city. Bodies were strewn all over the place. All in all, we had dealt a blow to the Japanese while incurring minimal losses. After Gui Guzi gave me the notice, he and the Dragonlight Cavalry backed out of the battlefield and teleported away as well. Still underground, Xinran and I moved until we were at the center of the battlefield. Now, all we needed to do was to wait for the players to revive! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... As expected, after the Japanese players were sure that our players were gone, they came back to life looking disgruntled and unhappy. Obviously, no one liked suffering a defeat this bad. While they were doing so, I opened my palm and absorbed all of the power of rebirth with my Domain like a black hole. At the same time, I redirected it all into Xinran¡¯s body. Her condition began improving at an incredible rate! 45%! 46%! 47%! ¡­¡­ Xinran moaned a little as the progress bar kept ticking forward. Since I was holding her, I could feel her thighs shaking a little, and her legs growing back bit by bit. When the progress bar reached 50%, her legs were fully reformed. Her skin looked smooth, and her complexion looked healthy. They looked as good as new. "Haha¡­" Xinran laughed out loud when she saw this. She was so happy she couldn¡¯t help but plant a kiss on my chin. "My legs are back! my legs are back, big brother!" I nodded with an equally bright smile on my face. "Yeah. We¡¯re not done yet, but you will return to full health very soon." "Yeah. My legs have reformed, but I can¡¯t move or feel them yet." "That¡¯s because some of Stella¡¯s dark draconic energy is still inside your body." Xinran nodded. "Honestly, Strella should never have been able to injure me so. I was weaker because I took some injuries while fighting a Blood Devil in God Domain, and Strella was further empowered by Lin Na, the Purgatory Ruler himself. That was the only reason he was able to inflict a near-irrecoverable injury¡­" I was surprised. "Just how strong is Lin Na really¡­" Xinran pursed her lips. "Honestly, I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve never truly fought against him before, but I do know that Sophie dueled him once and was defeated horribly in just three exchanges¡­" Me: "..." Seriously? Even the second-strongest Purgatory Sovereign in this game, Sophie, could only endure three exchanges against Lin Na? Oh well. I supposed we would have to wait until we were maxed out on levels to even have a chance against him... I continued absorbing more power of rebirth until an hour passed by. In the end, the progress bar indicated Xinran was about 97% healed. Technically speaking, there were more than enough players in the canyon to heal Xinran to full. However, it wasn¡¯t like the players of Swallow Ear Canton were going to revive one by one so I could absorb their power of rebirth. The valley was massive, and my Domain wasn¡¯t nearly big enough to cover the entire area. At least 80% of all the power of rebirth in the valley had dissipated into nothing before I could absorb it. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After all was said and done, I returned to the ground surface and landed on a patch of grass near the mountain ridge. Xinran struggled a bit in my arms while saying, "I want to see if I can walk, big brother¡­" "Okay." I put her down, but kept a firm grip on one of her hands. Like a newborn who was learning to walk, she stood for a moment before tentatively taking her first step. She immediately stumbled and fell into my arms. After I carefully sat her on the ground, I rubbed her legs gently and said, "A bit more, and you¡¯ll be able to remove the dark draconic energy completely. You should be able to infuse your legs with true qi then¡­" "Yeah, big brother. I¡¯m more or less fine now." Xinran smiled at me for a bit before hugging my arms suddenly. "But I don¡¯t want to leave you yet, so can I pretend to be sick for a couple more days?" I chuckled at her cute appearance and said, "Sure. Feel free to pretend to be sick all you want!" "You¡¯re so nice, big brother!" "..." ¡­¡­ I carried Xinran in my arms again before crushing a return scroll. The moment I teleported back to Sky City, a system announcement immediately entered my ears¡ª Ding~! System Announcement (Player "Pillar of the Nation" Shout): All Sky City players, take note! For the longest time, Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon have worked hard to protect our main cities, and today we¡¯ve decided to merge both guilds and give it a new name, "Purgatory Mad Dragon"! I will be the guild leader, while Roaming Dragon and Coldmoon Rose will be its vice leaders. Little Piglet, Shangguan Wan¡¯er, Iron Pardon, Inconstant and Profound Puff will be the corps commanders. Purgatory Mad Dragon guild welcomes all experts to join them, and we promise you that the benefits are substantial! The Top 1000 players in the Heavenly Ranking or the Top 10000 players in the champion arena may join the guild without any conditions attached to it, and they¡¯ll be paid a monthly salary of 10000 RMB at least! The journey to your dreams begins here at Purgatory Mad Dragon! We have set up recruitment at every entrance of every main city, so feel free to join us now! Chapter 1303 I took a moment to digest the information while carrying Xinran. As I thought, Wang Dongliang and Lu Chao had become closer than ever before after their brotherhood ceremony. They even went so far as to merge Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon together with Wang Dongliang as the guild leader, Lu Chao and his woman, Coldmoon Rose, as the vice leaders, and Little Piglet, Iron Pardon and Inconstant as the corps commanders. Not only that, they had abandoned all pretenses and begun to recruit the elite players of all major guilds openly. Whatever it was they were planning, it must be supported by a blazing ambition! ¡­¡­ I sat down at a random corner of the square and took out the hundreds of items I had picked up during the battles earlier. It was time to enjoy a leisurely in-game afternoon. Rustle rustle¡­ A Level 209 assassin stopped in front of my stall and stared at a dark green-colored dagger with obvious fondness in his eyes. He asked me, "Hey brother, can you give me a discount for this dagger?" I glanced at the dagger he was mentioning. It was a Level 210 Heaven-grade item that increased armor penetration by 20%. It was quite a great dagger considering its grade, which was why I had priced it at 400 RMB. Even so, it was still quite a bit lower than its actual market price, so I asked the assassin, "How much can you pay? It¡¯s already quite cheap, you know?" The assassin nodded. "I know, but I just can¡¯t afford it. My gaming helmet was a prize I won from one of Eternal Moon¡¯s lucky draw games. I¡¯m still studying, and I only get a 200 RMB alimony per month. To save money, I only eat one youtiao and drink one glass of iced water for breakfast every morning. I grinded instances everyday and managed to collect a daily sum of 50 gold or so, but my equipment alone cost 40+ gold to repair. If I take my electrical bills into the equation, it means that my earnings are less than 10 gold per day. Your dagger is only 400 RMB to you, but it amounts to 40 days of grinding to me, and that¡¯s assuming I¡¯m a robot who doesn¡¯t need to eat or drink¡­" God damn, that was one helluva sob story. "How much gold do you have right now?" "244¡­" "Fine, you can have it for 200 gold. I¡¯ll leave you that 44 gold for your equipment repairs¡­" "Thank you so much, brother!!" The assassin paid the money and whooped over his new dagger. "With this, I finally have 5000 Attack, the minimum Requirement necessary to start grinding the S1 instance! I can finally start earning some actual money! Thank you again, brother!!" ¡­¡­ Xinran asked me softly after the assassin left, "Aren¡¯t you losing money, big brother?" I shrugged. "It¡¯s fine. Let¡¯s not forget that I had gotten all these items from the Blood Alliance players I killed, which is to say they cost nothing at all. Therefore, I¡¯m still making money even if I sold them for 1 gold¡­" Xinran: "..." I completed dozens more transactions after that. Since my prices were about 10% to 20% lower than the market price, it wasn¡¯t difficult to close a deal. I was growing sleepy when the noise of heavy boots clapping against a brick caught my attention. A player covered in gold-colored armor was walking a short distance in front of me, and he was carrying a huge golden sword. I checked his status and discovered that he was a pretty good expert. He was a Level 223 magic knight wearing a full set of Immortal-grade equipment at least, and his guild emblem marked him as a Candle Dragon player. His ID was Wind Listener, and he was one of the seven corps commanders of Candle Dragon¡¯s main guild. He definitely counted as a core player of Candle Dragon. Wind Listener, huh? I hummed for a second before checking the in-game database. I found what I was looking for. Wind Listener was a Top 1000 player in the Heavenly Ranking of the China server. He was originally the guild leader of "Wind Listening Pavilion", but three weeks ago he and his elite players joined Candle Dragon and quickly ascended through the ranks. His equipment was focused on lifesteal and passive regeneration, thus his playstyle was that of answering aggression with further aggression. Pa! A warrior wearing a pair of black boots stopped in front of Wind Listener and uttered in a cold voice, "I¡¯m going to kill you, you motherfucker!" Wind Listener simply smirked. "You again? I must admit that you have bigger balls than most men, Tiger Leopard Knight. You were killed 17 times in a row and dropped to Level 204, and you still won¡¯t give up?" The warrior clad in black armor really was Tiger Leopard Knight. He unsheathed the sword behind his back and glared at Wind Listener coldly. "What is 17 levels compared to my sister? What about you? Did you seriously join Candle Dragon just to get at her?" Wind Listener¡¯s grin turned lustful and evil. "Haha! Moonlight Stone is a cute and hot woman. Who wouldn¡¯t want to get their hands on her? That¡¯s right. I fell in love with her two months ago, and Candlelight Shadow¡¯s offer gave me the perfect opportunity to get closer to her. It¡¯s not like your sister detests me, so why are you butting in in our relationship?" "Bullshit!" Tiger Leopard Knight fumed in anger. "Like I would surrender my sister to a human trash like you! You think I don¡¯t know who you really are? When you were still the guild leader of Wind Listening Pavilion, you abused your authority and tricked as many as 47 young women in your guild to have sex with you! A bastard like you will never deserve my sister!" Wind Listener laughed. "So what? I¡¯m a man with great strength and charisma. Why shouldn¡¯t I enjoy what I deserve? Plus, I am serious about wooing your sister. Your obstruction is nothing but an expression of jealousy." "Serious?" Tiger Leopard Knight sneered. "If you were serious, you wouldn¡¯t have removed my authority and unseated me from my position the moment you entered Candle Dragon! If you were serious, you wouldn¡¯t have attacked my brothers and driven them all away from me! If you were serious, you wouldn¡¯t have gone so far as to disguise yourself as another person and robbed her kiss on a lift! If the janitor hadn¡¯t happened to pass by¡­ You neither know nor care how much she cried that night, don¡¯t you? Even a thousand deaths isn¡¯t too severe a punishment for a human trash like you!" Wind Listener shrugged. "A thousand deaths? Are you even listening to yourself? I¡¯ve killed you 17 times already, and you still think you can do anything against me? Hmph. I truly don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re thinking. You were the one who recruited Moonlight Stone to Candle Dragon in the first place, so why are you talking all this nonsense about protecting your sister now? Eh, whatever. Don¡¯t you worry your ugly head. I¡¯ve moved into Candle Dragon¡¯s base, so I can fuck her anytime I want now. I promise you I won¡¯t harass her once I¡¯m done with her, heh!" Tiger Leopard Knight clenched his fists. "You animal! I will remove you from Candle Dragon if it¡¯s the last thing I do!" That wiped the smile from Wind Listener¡¯s face. "Bullshit! Who the fuck do you think you are? Ask yourself how many times have you complained to Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar and God¡¯s Dance about me? Did it work? Do you know why it didn¡¯t? It¡¯s because I¡¯m strong, and I brought them 3000+ elites and 1000+ players among the Top 20000 of the China server! What about you? You offer Candlelight Shadow nothing, and you expect him to obey your whims? Are you stupid? Whatever. Moonlight Stone is mine, and just try to stop me if you can!" Wind Listener unsheathed his own sword and said, "Come, I¡¯ll give you the opportunity right now. Meet me outside the city if you dare!" He strode toward the city gate after that. Tiger Leopard Knight followed him without hesitation. The reason they were moving outside was because PK was forbidden within the city; a safe zone. ¡­¡­ Anger raged in my chest by the time their conversation ended. I had no idea Moonlight Stone was treated like this after she entered Candle Dragon. Even her older brother, Tiger Leopard Knight, was given the cold shoulder despite his loyalty. Candlelight Shadow was a pragmatist through and through, and it made perfect sense that he wouldn¡¯t offend Wind Listener and the thousands of elites under his banner for Tiger Leopard Knight and Moonlight Stone only, not to mention he needed strength now more than ever to fight against Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! I put away my stall and changed to my disguise. Then, I grabbed the reins of my onager and led Xinran toward the city gate. There was no chance in hell I was ignoring this if only for the sake of my old friend, Moonlight Stone. Outside the city, the autumn wind blew a bunch of wilted leaves into the air. Tiger Leopard Knight and Wind Listener stopped on the floating rock just outside the city gate. "Let¡¯s duel to the death, Tiger Leopard Knight! It¡¯s no fun if it doesn¡¯t end with death, does it!?" Wind Listener declared with a confident smile. Tiger Leopard Knight gritted his teeth and summoned a Qiu Beast. He was an ex-core player of Candle Dragon, so he had been gifted one when Candle Dragon first discovered the mount. Wind Listener swung his golden sword once and summoned a Qiu Beast just like Tiger Leopard Knight¡¯s. Then, they climbed onto their mounts and charged each other head-on! Swhoosh! Tiger Leopard Knight wreathed his weapon in flames and used Barrier Break. However, Wind Listener was able to tilt his body to one side at the last moment and lower the damage he received by over 40%. At the same time, he landed Triple Slash + Barrier Break combo at Tiger Leopard Knight¡¯s chest that dealt an incredible amount of damage. Not done yet, he waved his hand and summoned a sharp rock from the ground. 197282! Tiger Leopard Knight¡¯s follow-up strike was sent flying. His HP also dropped below 20% after just a couple of hits. He was going to die in the next hit or two. The gap between the duo was huge to say the least. "Die!" Wind Listener leaped into the air and brought his sword right down on Tiger Leopard Knight¡¯s head! ¡­¡­ "Ah!" Tiger Leopard Knight could do nothing but watch as the sword fell toward him. The strike was just too swift for him to dodge out of the way. Chiang! Right before the golden sword would cleave him in half though, a spinning blade slammed into it and knocked it out of the way. It was none other than my Coiling Dragon Revolution, of course. Carrying Xinran in one arm, I jumped into the air and punched Wind Listener with my bare fist! Bang! 80987! Caught completely off-guard, Wind Listener attempted to dash away only to be immobilized by my God Binding Art. When I caught my returning sword, I lowered my center of gravity, stabbed Wind Listener in the chest and executed a devastating Burning Blade Slash! 311723! 352771! 392020! Wind Listener was an expert, however. He had used a skill that healed his HP for 15% and actually managed to survive my Burning Blade Slash. While activating his invincibility skill and backing away from me, he exclaimed in shock, "Who are you?" Buzz! I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces above my head and summoned a giant golden sword. I answered, "Your killer!" Boom! The SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill tore his invincibility shield and crushed his body into pieces. It so happened that Mountain Crush took effect at the same time, so part of the floating rock was shattered into smithereens as well. Wind Listener¡¯s shattered body fell toward the ground with them. ¡­¡­ "Gulp!" Behind me, Tiger Leopard Knight looked at me and swallowed. "You¡¯re¡­ Lu Chen?" I shot him a stern glare. "What did you promise me back then? This is how you ¡®take care¡¯ of Moonlight Stone for me?!" Tiger Leopard Knight couldn¡¯t say anything. ¡­¡­ In the guild channel, I sent a message to everyone: "I want everyone who can fight to log out and wait for me at the entrance, NOW!" Gui Guzi: "What happened, Boss Broken Halberd?" Li Chengfeng: "Yeah, what happened? Who are we going to PK offline, Lu Chen?" I gnashed my teeth together as I answered, "We¡¯re bringing Moonlight Stone home, brothers and sisters¡­" Chapter 1304 I sent He Yi a private message next. "Moonlight Stone is bullied in Candle Dragon¡¯s gaming base, so Little Gui, Chengfeng and the rest of us will be leaving immediately to take her home, Eve!" He Yi didn¡¯t stop me. She simply replied, "Got it. Bring anyone you need and take care of yourselves. If this cannot be solved privately, call the cops. No one can stop Moonlight Stone from leaving Candle Dragon if she wants to." "Got it!" ¡­¡­ I immediately logged out of the game and removed my gaming helmet. I then left the apartment after putting on a black jacket and grabbing my car keys. My X12 roared out of the district and arrived at Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ gaming base in just ten minutes. Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and more were all waiting for me outside the building entrance already. The moment I came to a stop, Li Chengfeng opened the front passenger car door without hesitation and sat beside me. He said, "There¡¯s probably going to be a fight, right? As a police officer, it¡¯s my duty to come with you and make sure that you don¡¯t commit a mistake you may regret later." Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen took a seat in the back. "We ain¡¯t missing out on a fight!" I said to the rest of the people outside, "Xu Yang, Fighting Spirits, you guys should stay behind. We aren¡¯t actual gangsters, bringing too many people to Candle Dragon¡¯s base is just asking for trouble. The four of us should be able to handle everything." However, Chaos Moon ignored my advice, got into Buick parked in the basement and started the engine. After she drove the car behind me, she ordered, "Fighting Spirits, You and Yun, hop in. Xu Yang, you should stay. The base must have a leader at all times!" Xu Yang clenched his fists. "No way! I just found out what those animals did to Moonlight Stone, and there¡¯s no way I¡¯m staying out of this!" I hurriedly said, "No, no, the seven of us are enough! Think about it, what if they send someone to attack the base in retaliation? Do you expect boss to hold the fort all by herself?" Since I brought up He Yi, Xu Yang had no choice but to swallow his frustration. "Fine. Just make sure you bring Moonlight Stone back no matter what!" "Of course!" ¡­¡­ I slammed my foot on the gas pedal and drove onto the G2 Beijing¨CShanghai Expressway. Every second counted because the longer we dilly-dallied, the likelier Candle Dragon might notice our coming and prepare for it. Ideally, we would storm Candle Dragon¡¯s base and take Moonlight away from Shanghai before anyone could react to it. No matter what happened in the past, she was our former companion. No one was allowed to bully her, least of all Candle Dragon. Less than one and a half hours later, we entered Shanghai. Candle Dragon¡¯s gaming base was located at the 7th, 8th and 9th floors of Yanlong Building, Xujiahui. The three floors were rented, and there were over 1200 players living on them. They also represented the cream of the crop of Candle Dragon. It was they who enabled Candlelight Shadow to stand over his Wind City competitors such as Purple Lily and Peach Garden. Naturally, Candlelight Shadow valued the gaming base a lot. Creak! The moment the X12 stopped in front of the building with a sharp braking noise, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen got out of the car immediately. A second after I caught up to them, High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun joined us as well. Chaos Moon was the only one who didn¡¯t come with us. Remaining in the driver¡¯s seat and waving us off, she said, "I¡¯ll stay and keep the engines warmed for y¡¯all. Once you¡¯ve found Moonlight Stone, just drop her in my backseat so I can put my foot on the gas pedal and drive away immediately!" I nodded approvingly. "Good idea. Honestly, I don¡¯t want you to come with us anyway. It¡¯ll be too dangerous." "Yeah. Now go!" ¡­¡­ The six of us went up the floors with me leading the way. The security guards on the ground floor stopped us in our tracks and asked, "Excuse me, but which company do you belong to?" I smirked. "Candle Dragon¡¯s gaming base is on the 7th, 8th and 9th floor, right?" "Oh, you¡¯re Candle Dragon? In that case, please register your names here!" "No, we¡¯re not. We¡¯re just an old friend of theirs." "In that case, it¡¯s even more important that you register your names¡­" "Surely you can skip the process this once!" I threw the security guard¡¯s hand away from my wrist and continued toward the elevator without a care. Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen¡¯s grim expressions also helped to intimidate the security guards further. After we all entered the elevator, Li Chengfeng said, "Does anyone know which floor Moonlight Stone is at? There are three floors in total, and we can¡¯t afford to search them one by one. Now that I think about it, we don¡¯t even know if she¡¯s in the base right now." Du Thirteen said, "Don¡¯t worry, I talked with Tiger Leopard Knight on the phone earlier. Moonlight Stone is definitely inside the gaming base right now, and the female players of Candle Dragon all reside on the 9th floor, so that¡¯s where we need to go. However, Candlelight Shadow posted 4 security guards on the 9th floor to ensure the female players¡¯ safety, and I doubt we¡¯ll be able to get through without a fight this time." "We¡¯ll see what happens once we get there. Remember, we are here to take Moonlight Stone home as her friends, not to beat up the Candle Dragon¡¯s men as gangsters. Let¡¯s avoid fighting unless we have no other choice," I instructed. Li Chengfeng smiled. "Well said." ¡­¡­ The elevator door slowly opened. The ninth floor was surprisingly spacy, and the guild emblem of Candle Dragon was hung on the wall directly in front of us. Candle Dragon was a for-profit organization who made use of their elite players to develop their golden age and relied on guild territories and guild warehouses to make a profit. It was rumored that their gross monthly income was over 10 million, which was in stark contrast with over 95% of all the guilds in China. Unfortunately, we ran into two female players in casual wear the second we stepped out of the elevator. One of them looked at us and said, "Eh? You guys are on the wrong floor, you know? The president mentioned that no male player besides the guild¡¯s cadre are allowed on this floor. Surely you know the rules, right?" I cleared my throat and began, "Excuse me, ladies, but is Moonlight Stone staying on this floor? Is it okay if we ask for her room number?" "Moonlight Stone? Why do you want to see her? Who are you?" "We are her friends. We haven¡¯t seen her in a long time until we heard that she¡¯s staying in Candle Dragon¡¯s gaming base. It so happened that we were free today, so we decided to visit her and see how she¡¯s doing¡­" "Oh, I see! Well, she¡¯s staying in room 9179, Block C. Just go down the right corridor and keep going straight." "Thank you very much!" I smiled, but one of the girls¡¯ widened her eyes suddenly. She then asked in a feeble voice, "Excuse me, but¡­ would you happen to be Lu Chen?" I barely kept my surprise from showing on my face as I shook my head hastily. "No, you got the wrong person." "Is that so? You look really similar to him though¡­" I shot Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi a meaningful look instead of answering her. Then, the three of us began walking down the way we were told. We couldn¡¯t let the girls delay us for long. Unfortunately, a security guard chose this exact moment to walk out of the security room. He looked to be around 24 years old, but his face was stretched in a way only a ruffian could. He was carrying a cup of tea when he saw us. "Hey you! What are you guys doing here?" Li Chengfeng walked up to him. "Oh, we¡¯re here to see a friend!" He shot me a look while doing so. He was clearly telling me to go ahead first. Du Thirteen, High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun joined Li Chengfeng and surrounded the security guard at the center. I immediately ran ahead after the security guard was occupied. Gui Guzi followed right behind me while counting the door numbers out loud, "This corner is 9101 to 9109, and that one is 9111 to 9119. Damn, this building is huge¡­" I kept running. Going by the numbering, Moonlight Stone¡¯s room should be at the fourth corridor, which was less than a hundred meters away from our current location. ¡­¡­ The lighting grew dimmer over time, but I still saw the plate with the numbers "9171-9179" the second it entered my view. However, there were also two youngsters smoking right beneath the plate, so I slowed to a walk so as not to attract any suspicion. As my sports shoe clacked against the floor, their conversation grew clearer and clearer¡ª "I don¡¯t understand what boss is thinking. It¡¯s not like Moonlight Stone¡¯s body is all that impressive. She has a semi-perky butt, sure, but that¡¯s it. Like seriously, her breasts are even smaller than God¡¯s Dance¡¯s, and I can cup it all in one palm. I¡¯ve never seen boss going so far for a subpar woman¡­" "Shh, not so loud! Anyway, Moonlight Stone¡¯s true strength lies in her innocence and purity¡­ Anyway, let¡¯s just wait for him to finish. Maybe he can win her heart this time with his 99 roses. If he can¡¯t, hehehe¡­ If it were me, I would¡¯ve just drugged her outright. You know how women are. Once there is a first time, there¡¯ll be a second, third and fourth. Plus, Moonlight Stone is mild-tempered. She won¡¯t resist once she becomes boss''s woman." "Keke, I know right? I only wish we don¡¯t have to wait for him too long to finish his business." "What, did he bring the drugs after all?" "No, but he did bring the condoms!" "Kekeke!" ¡­¡­ Indescribable fury swelled in my heart. I quickened my footsteps a little and stopped in front of the two youngsters. "Hey bro. You new or something? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen you on the 7th or 8th floor before¡­" one of them said while blocking my way. I smiled. "Yeah, I¡¯m a newcomer." "Don¡¯t you know the rules? Male players can¡¯t be on the 9th floor." "If that¡¯s true, why are you guys up here?" For a time, neither youngster knew how to respond. One of them puffed up their chest and declared, "We¡¯re different. We¡¯re from Wind Pavilion; the pillars of Candle Dragon, so we get special treatment." I looked at the right corridor and frowned a little. "Well, I know a girl in room 9177, and I brought her some¡­ ahem¡­ special chocolate for her today¡­" "Oh. Oh! Hahaha, I see, I see! Okay, in you go! Why do you have this guy with you though?" "I¡¯m here to cheer him on!" Gui Guzi replied while very deliberately showing his fist. The two youngsters didn¡¯t make a huge fuss upon noticing that Gui Guzi was extremely fit and strong. ¡­¡­ I strode straight toward room 9179 and rapped on the door. A male voice immediately came from inside, "Little Five? Don¡¯t interrupt me now, man! Just keep the nuisances away from here!" I narrowed my eyes and clenched my fists. Then, I punched the lock with everything I got![1] Bang! There was a loud bang and a sharp pain coursing through my knuckles. They were even bleeding a little. However, the quality of the lock clearly wasn¡¯t very good because it was loosening already. I immediately raised my legs and kicked the door in! BOOM! The chains on the lock ripped open and fell on the floor, and the sight greeted me stunned me to complete silence¡ª A terrified Moonlight Stone was curled into a ball at a corner like a frightened rabbit. The upper part of her shirt was torn to pieces, and her arms were covered in bright red scratches. Her face was covered in tears as well. There was a man crouching next to her like he was consoling her, but the hand sliding up and down her shoulder was all I needed to see to know the truth. The floor was covered in roses. It was probably the 99 roses the two youngsters had mentioned earlier. Clearly, Moonlight Stone didn¡¯t like the "gift" at all. ¡­¡­ "Who are you?!" The man rose to his feet and yelled at me. I knew him. He was none other than Wind Listener, the guild leader of Wind Listening Pavilion and the new corps commander of Candle Dragon. His face looked exactly the same as his in-game self. Instead of answering him, I pointed a finger at Moonlight Stone and said in a quiet voice, "Once upon a time, we swore to treasure her like diamonds and protect her from all harm no matter the cost. That oath hasn¡¯t changed even now." "The hell are you talking about?" Wind Listener frowned. BANG! My fist was already flying toward his cheeks before he could finish his sentence. Right before he could hit the floor, I seized him by the collar, pulled him up, and punched him another two times before screaming, "I¡¯M TELLING YOU TO GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS AWAY FROM HER, YOU ANIMAL!" 1. T/N: Oh my god, you did not just punch a lock open. Chapter 1305 Pa! A beautifully-formed incisor flew out of Wind Listener¡¯s mouth and struck a nearby cabinet. Although Wind Listener was a gangster, it was clear that he barely trained himself anymore after he became a professional gamer. A couple of punches would¡¯ve dropped him like a sack of bricks, not to mention that my body had been strengthened by the virus. I dropped Wind Listener on the floor before walking up to the terrified Moonlight Stone. She was so scared that she didn¡¯t seem to comprehend what was going on in front of her. I said in a gentle voice, "It¡¯s me, Moonlight. Don¡¯t you recognize me?" At first, Moonlight Stone remained full of terror. When she met my eyes though, they gave way to confusion and recognition. She started sobbing in a tiny voice, "Don¡¯t come closer! Is¡­ is it you, Lu Chen? Is it really you?" I nodded strongly. "It¡¯s me!" "You¡­ you don¡¯t hate me for what I did?" She forced through her sobs. I could hardly describe the sorrow I was feeling right now. Life was a one-way journey, and it was impossible to know what lay ahead of us. During a crossroad in her life, Moonlight Stone had chosen her older brother over us and suffered tremendously as a result. I doubted that even she knew of her current feelings, much less I. I slowly put a hand on her shoulder and said gently, "Come with me. I told you before, didn¡¯t I? You are my friend, and you always will be, Moonlight." For a time, Moonlight Stone simply trembled violently and looked like she would collapse at any moment. Then, she pounced into my lap and sobbed loudly, "Please take me away from here, Lu Chen! I don¡¯t want to stay here for even a second longer! I don¡¯t want to have anything to do with those so-called companions anymore, so please take me home, please¡­" "Yeah. We¡¯ll be leaving right now¡­" I pulled Moonlight Stone to her feet before carrying her gaming helmet and handbag for her. She was still clad in her torn pyjamas, but there was no time for her to change her clothes or pack her luggage. Judging from her appearance, I doubted that she even had the strength to do so right now. We would buy her everything she needed when we returned to the base later. It was at this moment Gui Guzi walked into the room and kicked Wind Listener right in the face. The boot print he left behind was as clear as day. "Boss Broken Halberd, is your hand okay?" Gui Guzi looked at my injured fist. I shook my head. "I¡¯m fine. Let¡¯s get out of here first. I¡¯m sure Candle Dragon has picked up on the commotion we caused!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Moonlight Stone could barely stand, so I carried her in my arms and ran behind Gui Guzi. Thankfully, she wasn¡¯t so heavy that it would affect my speed. At the end of the corridors, the two Wind Listener lackeys saw us and abruptly came to a realization. "Shit! Those two bastards are actually trouble! Contact our brothers on the 7th and 8th floors now!" One of them dialed a number quickly, but Gui Guzi was able to elbow him in the chest and sent both him and his phone flying to the back. The other guy was just about to attack Gui Guzi when I sent him flying with a swift kick as well. Both men could only groan in pain on the ground. Unfortunately, the call went through, and I could hear someone yelling from the other side of the phone, "Hello? Five? HELLO? Shit! I knew those fuckers were suspicious! Gather our men and get to the 9th floor now! These intruders ain¡¯t getting out of Candle Dragon without a pummeling!" Oh shit. It doesn¡¯t look like we are getting out of this one without a fight! ¡­¡­ Moonlight Stone wrapped her arms around my neck and sobbed non-stop into my chest. She looked like she wanted to sink into my body and never reappear again. When Li Chengfeng saw us from the end of the corridor, he raced to our side and asked in an urgent tone, "What happened?" "Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s nothing too bad. Anyway, let¡¯s get to the elevator now!" However, Du Thirteen said, "That won¡¯t work. All three elevators are stuck on the 7th and 8th floor!" I replied without hesitation, "In that case, we¡¯ll run down the fire escape stairs! It¡¯s just 9 floors! This¡¯ll be easy!" "Let¡¯s go!" Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi led the way while Du Thirteen, High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun stayed at the back. I was protected at the center because I was carrying Moonlight Stone. Unfortunately, we hadn¡¯t even run through half a staircase when we ran into a group of seven or eight shouting men. One guy with red hair and a punk style attire yelled, "Fuck! They¡¯re Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and the man who hurt Boss Wind Listener really is Lu Chen! Crush them! There can only be one between Candle Dragon and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" Bang! Li Chengfeng dropped the punk with a single punch before sending three Candle Dragon players stumbling to the back with a powerful kick. God damn! I had never fought against Li Chengfeng before, but he definitely deserved his position as a special police officer! It wasn¡¯t long before everyone was embroiled in the fight. I couldn¡¯t use my arms because I was carrying Moonlight Stone, so I focused on dropping my opponents to the ground with targeted kicks to the legs. Lucky for us, it looked like most of these people had subpar fighting skills. ¡­¡­ "Get to the 8th floor now!" I ran down the stairs while Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi were punching a bunch of dudes and keeping them busy. Suddenly, a 20-year-old youngster ran up to me and swung his baseball bat straight at me. The attack would¡¯ve crippled me, Moonlight Stone or both of us, so I turned around and took the hit with my back instead. It hurt like a motherfucker, but I did a back kick and dropped the bastard to his knees before he could do anything else. It was at this moment Li Chengfeng jumped down the stair rail and knocked two people out with a punch to the face each. He then shouted, "Keep going, Lu Chen!" "Yeah! Be careful! And don¡¯t forget to take Thirteen and Little Gui with you!" "Don¡¯t worry!" I ran into another group of people the second I reached the 8th floor. This time, I saw some of them carrying fruit knives and more weapons. Were they seriously going to risk grievous injuries or even death? Candle Dragon¡¯s men must have gone insane! On second thought, these madmen must belong to Wind Listening Pavilion. They were the gangsters-turned-gamers after all. The sudden violence must¡¯ve awakened their repressed gang boss dreams or something, because every single one of them were running toward us with stools in their hands like they were Andy Chan or Jordan Chan! There were few things more dangerous than multiple weapons swinging toward you at once, so Li Chengfeng made sure to protect his head with both arms while kicking out at the assailants¡¯ stomachs. Every blow disabled the attackers instantly, and it wouldn¡¯t leave them with internal injuries or broken bones. Pa! However, there was only so much one man could do, and it wasn¡¯t long before a wooden bat slipped past his defense and hit him in the forehead. He wiped the blood away before repaying the favor with a heavy punch to the face. While dodging a table leg, he executed a sweeping kick and dropped multiple assailants to the ground. He fought with both his arms and his legs, but there was enough strength behind each blow to drive his opponents away from him. More people poured in from the 7th floor, and still I didn¡¯t dare to put Moonlight Stone on the ground. The entire reason we came to Candle Dragon¡¯s gaming base and engaged them in this offline PK was for Moonlight Stone, and there was every chance these motherfuckers might decide to vent their frustrations on her instead. I came to rescue her, so putting her in the way of danger went completely against the objective. Bang bang... There were two loud bangs, and High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun leaped down from the 8th floor all the way to the 7th floor. Actually, they could¡¯ve been pushed down by the enemy as well. It didn¡¯t matter though. What mattered was that despite the painful grimaces on their faces, they didn¡¯t hesitate to leap back to their feet, grab an iron bar and rejoin the fight. I didn¡¯t make it through the 8th floor unscathed, not even close. My shoulders alone were screaming from the seven to eight hits they had received. Of course, I made sure to pay back my offenders with as forceful of a kick as I could muster. "Haha, well fought!" Li Chengfeng praised me with a bloody face. Meanwhile, Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen rolled down the stairs above us until they hit a wall. Their faces bruised, and lips looked horribly bloodied. Even so, they refused to let go of the table legs they had snatched from their opponents and swung at their legs again and again. ¡­¡­ We somehow managed to run, fight, roll and crawl to the 7th floor, but I counted at least 50 bastards blocking our way. There was even a security guard running up from below and shouting, "Cut it out!" Unfortunately, he was KO¡¯d by a Wind Listening Pavilion guy before he could even finish his sentence. Drip¡­ drip¡­ Blood slid down my forehead and onto Moonlight Stone¡¯s pyjamas. They looked like plum blossoms in spring. Moonlight Stone exclaimed in a hurry when she looked up, "Lu Chen, you¡¯re bleeding! You¡¯re bleeding!" The sight of blood had caused her to panic instantly. I smashed a youngster¡¯s wrist to the wall and made him drop his knife with a well-placed kick. Just in case, I stomped on his wrist one more time and dropped him to his knees. It was only then I answered Moonlight Stone with a laugh, "Do you even see how big this fight is? There¡¯s no way anyone¡¯s getting out without an injury or two!" A short distance away, Li Chengfeng kicked away seven or eight people before pulling Du Thirteen by the collar. He complained, "Dude, Thirteen is so useless. He¡¯s out of energy already¡­" I stared at Thirteen¡¯s arms. "That¡¯s because someone cut his arm with a knife, dude!" "He¡¯s fine, the wound isn¡¯t that deep!" "Wound? He¡¯s been cut at least seven or eight times¡­" "Oh shit, now that you mentioned it, I do see several knife wounds on the other side of his arm¡­" ¡­¡­ After we finally fought our way down the 7th floor, the number of people blocking our way started thinning considerably. I had every reason to believe things would improve even further once we got to the entrance hall. No matter how crazy Candle Dragon¡¯s men were, they would never dare to attack us in public. That would open a whole can of worms they couldn¡¯t possibly deal with. "Ah¡­" Suddenly, Moonlight Stone let out a cry of surprise. I looked down and saw that she was staring at a cut on her arm. There was also a small bruise on her leg. She must¡¯ve only noticed it now because we were out of the thick. There was no helping it though. There had been way too many trackers, and I was no protective umbrella. Even if I could block 90% of the attacks flying her way, that was still 10% of damage she had to endure. Bang! Finally, I kicked open the fire escape door leading to the entrance hall and charged out. The two wounds on my forehead were burning, and I could feel blood sliding down my cheeks. My hair was stuck to the wound, and my expensive jacket had a lot more holes in it than it did when we first came here. My shoulders, arms, and legs were covered in varying degrees of injuries as well. The good news was that I still felt okay despite all the injuries I took. At the very least, none of them were crippling injuries that would require medical attention at the hospital. "Chengfeng, get everyone out now!" I shouted. Behind me, Li Chengfeng rushed out of the door with an exhausted Du Thirteen behind his back. He was quickly followed by Gui Guzi and High Fighting Spirits. One of Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s arms were carved up and useless just like Du Thirteen¡¯s, but he kept a tight grip on an iron bar with his other hand and wore an excited expression on his face. ¡­¡­ The security guards on the ground floor ran toward us when they noticed the commotion, but they backed away immediately when a sea of Candle Dragon players spilled through the fire escape door behind us. It was at this moment the sliding door leading into the building opened. The leader of the group of five was Candlelight Shadow himself, and he was followed by Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow, Transient Smoke and Clouds and God¡¯s Dance. "What the hell is going on?!!" Candlelight Shadow looked at me, Li Chengfeng, and Moonlight Stone in my arms. Then, he erupted, "What the HELL is going on here? Don¡¯t you know that it¡¯s forbidden to fight inside the gaming base? A brawl in broad daylight? Do you people like the smell of a prison cell that much?!" A red-haired youngster immediately pointed a finger at me. "But boss, he¡¯s the one who intruded our base, beat up Boss Wind Listener, and knocked out Little Five and Bumpkin!" Candlelight Shadow turned his hateful gaze on me. "Lu Chen, you know of the saying ¡®you can beat a man, but you cannot shame him¡¯, right? You dare beat up a cadre of my guild in my territory? Have I endured for so long that I gave you the impression of a pushover!?" Chapter 1306 I gently passed Moonlight Stone to Gui Guzi and gave my fists a tentative clench. Good, I still have some feeling and strength left. Slowly, I walked up to Candlelight Shadow and asked, "You ARE the guild leader of Candle Dragon, right Candlelight Shadow? In that case, you must know that Wind Listener is pursuing Moonlight Stone, right?" Candlelight Shadow replied grimly, "So what if I do? I¡¯m their guild leader, not their parents. It is not my business to interfere with my guild members¡¯ relationships." "Are you aware that Moonlight Stone hates Wind Listener then?" I continued closing the distance between us. Candlelight Shadow declared upright and unafraid, "Again, so what? Not all relationships bear fruit." I laughed. "When Wind Listener harassed Moonlight Stone, not a single person in your base tried to stop him. When Wind Listener barged into Moonlight Stone¡¯s room, your people just let him do as he pleased! This is none of your business, you say? What about the conflict between Wind Listener and Moonlight Stone¡¯s older brother then? Your generals are literally fighting among themselves, and you just stood by and let it happen! Are you really going to tell me that this is proper leadership?!" Candlelight Shadow continued grimly, "A successful person cannot be bothered by trifles if they wish to achieve great things. Unless someone crosses the line, I won¡¯t involve myself in my guild members¡¯ conflict. Plus, I¡¯ve already told Wind Listener to give up on pursuing Moonlight Stone. I can¡¯t do anything about it if he refuses to listen." "You can¡¯t do anything about it? YOU can¡¯t do ANYTHING about it? Hahaha! Hahaha!" I abruptly punched Candlelight Shadow in the face and dropped him to the ground. I then roared at his prone form, "What the fuck do you think Moonlight Stone is? A merchandise to use to curry favor with Wind Listening Pavilion? It¡¯s your responsibility as a guild leader to ensure every member of your guild receives the respect they deserve! If you can¡¯t do something as simple as that, then I will! I hereby declare that Moonlight Stone is Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯, and we will not allow Candle Dragon to humiliate her any longer!" Candlelight Shadow coughed out a few drops of blood as he climbed to his feet. He let out a laugh before saying, "Interesting! Who would¡¯ve thought that a vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would try to teach me how to be a guild leader one day?" Before I knew it, I was thrown back several steps by a punch to the chest. The attack was heavy and powerful. As it turned out, Candlelight Shadow¡¯s physique was incredibly strong for a professional gamer. Thud thud thud... I held up my hand and stopped Gui Guzi and High Fighting Spirits from coming to my aid. I said, "Stand back. The two of us should¡¯ve come to blows a long time ago, and I don¡¯t want anyone to get in our way!" Candlelight Shadow charged me again, and our fists met in midair. This time though, I was the one who won and sent Candlelight Shadow staggering to the back. I caught up to him and kneed him in the stomach, staining his white windbreaker in my blood and eliciting a painful groan from him. In fact, the blow was so powerful that he flew through the air and smashed into a porcelain vase. Pieces of the vase, flowers and water spilled across the ground, but as Candlelight Shadow climbed back to his feet I could see that he was smirking a bit. Suddenly, Candlelight Shadow grabbed a thorny stem beside him, leaped to his feet and whipped my arms like it was a whip. It left fleshy holes in my arms and inflicted massive amounts of pain. I responded by kicking Candlelight Shadow in the stomach again, but he managed to land a solid punch on my ankle. As I stumbled forward, I lowered my center of gravity and punched Candlelight Shadow in the cheeks. Bang! This time, he hit the ground and slid almost two meters away from me. Tempest Shadow couldn¡¯t stand this any longer and shouted, "Do you think there¡¯s no one who can stand up to you, Lu Chen!?" He rushed toward me and punched me hard in the shoulder. Thud! The blow was painful, but I allowed myself to drop to the floor while sweeping out with my right leg. After Tempest Shadow fell to the ground, I kicked out again and successfully dug my boot into his face. There was so much force behind the blow that he rolled a couple of times across the ground while screaming in pain. ¡­¡­ I slowly got back to my feet while covering my leg. My entire body was hurting like a bitch. A bit of pity entered God¡¯s Dance¡¯s eyes as she said, "You just want to take Moonlight Stone with you, right, Lu Chen? Then go. You¡¯ve made a big enough mess of our base already." I nodded at her while limping back to my allies. "Thank you!" After a drenched Candlelight Shadow finally climbed back to his feet, he uttered, "I¡¯ll admit that your criticisms and your actions have some merit, Lu Chen. It is my failure that Moonlight Stone, a guild member of Candle Dragon was bullied under my watch. That is no excuse for the humiliation you¡¯ve dealt to our guild, however. Wash your neck and wait for us. When the time is right, we will return this humiliation tenfold!" I turned back to shoot him a smile. "Like I care. Do whatever you want, but if you dare to bully my friends again, I swear I¡¯ll bring an even bigger group and crush your mob like the ants they are!" Candlelight Shadow: "..." "C¡¯mon. It¡¯s time to leave, Little Gui, Chengfeng¡­" I said. Everyone nodded and followed behind me. When Li Chengfeng passed by Candlelight Shadow, he murmured in a voice that only the former Martial God could hear, "This one doesn¡¯t count. When the time comes, you and I will settle our score once and for all!" Candlelight Shadow shuddered, but didn¡¯t reply. Ye Yuse was standing next to God¡¯s Dance. She was wearing a set of black uniform. Her gaze shifted from us, to Li Chengfeng, and finally to Candlelight Shadow. She then walked up to him and grabbed his arm in support, "Are you okay, boss?" Candlelight Shadow nodded. "I¡¯m fine. Let¡¯s check up on everyone¡¯s injuries right away. We also need to prepare a statement for when the cops arrive." Ye Yuse replied calmly, "Don¡¯t worry, Li Chengfeng is involved in this mess as well. Just leave it to him to wave the incident away." Candlelight Shadow: "..." ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Chaos Moon had rushed out of her vehicle the second we exited the building entrance. She could barely keep her jaws from hitting the floor when she saw our appearance. "What the fuck happened in there? This was supposed to be an escort quest, not a battle! Is that guy with drooping head okay? He¡¯s not dead, is he?" Du Thirteen looked up and retorted, "Stop jinxing me, Chaos Moon. I¡¯m just tired¡­" Pa! After I entered the driver¡¯s seat, and Li Chengfeng entered the front passenger¡¯s seat while clutching his wounded arm, he asked, "I don¡¯t think I can fasten my seatbelt like this, so I¡¯m not going to bother. Is that okay?" "Do whatever you want¡­" Li Chengfeng then took out his phone and called a number. He started saying, "Chief Huang, did you receive a call about a brawl in Candle Dragon¡¯s base? If you do, just forget about it. It¡¯s a brawl between players, and it¡¯s already over. If you must investigate it though, feel free to call in a player named Wind Listener and ask him exactly how he tried to force a girl to have sex with him." However, I hurriedly stopped him. "No, don¡¯t! If the cops investigate this, they¡¯ll have to bring Moonlight Stone in for questioning. she¡¯s already been traumatized enough by this incident." Li Chengfeng nodded. "Very well. In that case, just look into this guy¡¯s past three years of criminal record and lock him up for a couple of years, Chief Huang. Huh? What if he doesn¡¯t have a criminal record? Trust me, he absolutely does. Thanks, man. I¡¯ll treat you to lunch someday. Bye~" ¡­¡­ While this was going on, Chaos Moon was bandaging the wounded in her car. I had no idea she had brought some gauze with her. She truly was an attentive woman! After she was done with her passengers, she walked over to our car and performed some basic first aid on Li Chengfeng, Du Thirteen and me. Of the three of us, Du Thirteen fared the worst because he had blocked a lot of knives with his bare arms. Luckily, the wounds were pretty shallow and didn¡¯t reach the bones or sever any muscles. He should be fine after Chaos Moon had disinfected and bandaged his wounds. Du Thirteen suddenly let out a chuckle as he lay against the backseat. "Man, I¡¯m so going to fill my belly with good food after this. It¡¯s the only way to make up for all the energy I lost, hahaha¡­" Li Chengfeng joined in on the chuckling as well. "I am seriously impressed with all of you. You guys fight like you put your lives on the line!" Gui Guzi nodded. "This is the first time I see you fight, Li, and I feel like I learned a lot of things¡­" Li Chengfeng replied, "Thank you for the praise, but no homo man¡­" Gui Guzi: "..." Chaos Moon frowned while she was bandaging my arms. "Why are there rose thorns on your arms, Lu Chen? Were you really trying to save Moonlight Stone, or were you womanizing again?" I barely held in a scream of pain before retorting, "The fuck you¡¯re talking about? This one was caused by Candlelight Shadow!" "What? You even fought against Candlelight Shadow?" "Well, duh. How could I not after everything he has done? The sonuvabitch abandoned Moonlight Stone to the wolves just to curry favor with Wind Listening Pavilion and their 3000 high-level players. That¡¯s way over the line even if his goal is to become the number one guild of China once more. You have no idea how close it was, do you? If we were even ten minutes late, god knows what would¡¯ve happened to Moonlight Stone¡­" Li Chengfeng nodded. "Yeah. Thank goodness you were decisive, Lu Chen. I would never be able to forgive myself if Moonlight Stone was raped by Wind Listener!" "Me too!" Gui Guzi uttered while clenching his fists. I grimaced in pain again before catching Chaos Moon¡¯s hands. "For fuck¡¯s sake, can you please be gentler? It seriously hurts, you know?" As Chaos Moon burst into a giggle, she planted a sudden kiss on my cheek and said, "It doesn¡¯t hurt now, does it?" It certainly didn¡¯t. Both Li Chengfeng and I were too busy being shocked by her sudden kiss right now. Du Thirteen complained, "Oh man, why didn¡¯t I get the same benefit?" Chaos Moon laughed. "And why would you! I like Lu Chen, not you!" ¡­¡­ After that little intermission, Gui Guzi suggested, "Say, do you guys wanna have dinner at a restaurant after we return to Suzhou? This is an occasion for celebration, right?" I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. It¡¯ll be a celebration for Moonlight Stone¡¯s return to Ancient Sword!" Chaos Moon rolled her eyes. "You mean a celebration for your total victory over Candle Dragon, right?" Surprisingly, Li Chengfeng shook his head and said, "Total victory? You kidding me? Little Gui nearly died there¡­" Chaos Moon: "..." ¡­¡­ After the treatment, we rested in the car until I finally could move my limbs properly, or past 3 pm or so. Then, we drove back to Suzhou. He Yi, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue were already waiting at the entrance when we arrived at the gaming base. He Yi had even brought over a surgeon and a physician to inspect our injuries. Thankfully, the experts once again confirmed that none of our injuries were severe enough to warrant serious treatment, so the dinner to celebrate Moonlight Stone¡¯s return was a go. Speaking of Moonlight Stone, the girl¡¯s tensed features finally relaxed when she returned to the warm and welcoming group that was Moon Dew, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and Yu Tong. Soon, even the unpleasant experiences she had suffered in Candle Dragon would be washed away with time. On a related note, Li Chengfeng had also dispatched some men to fetch her older brother, Tiger Leopard Knight, from Candle Dragon¡¯s gaming base. After everything that had happened today, there was no way Tiger Leopard Knight could remain in Candle Dragon any longer. I mean he could, but I would be shocked if he somehow survived the combined vengeance of Candlelight Shadow and Wind Listener! ¡­¡­ We went to a 6-star restaurant to have our dinner. We ate to our heart¡¯s content since the bill would be footed by the guild. Rustle rustle... Some time during the dinner, He Yi rose to her feet beside me while holding a half-drank glass of red wine. She then said, "I just received word that Candle Dragon has declared war on us 15 minutes ago. Shall we make a toast to our enemy?" Chapter 1307 Li Chengfeng and my face twitched at the same time. \\\"Ugh. I thought this might happen, but it really did happen, huh?\\\" \\\"Yeah¡­\\\" I drained my glass of wine to the last drop before raising my eyebrows. \\\"Eh, whatever. It¡¯s Candle Dragon¡¯s prerogative to attack whoever they want, just as it is our prerogative to respond with overwhelming firepower. We are no longer the weak guild we once were, so anyone who challenges us will see their ancestral tombs looted, and their toilets burned to the ground! Wahahaha!\\\" He Yi stared at me expressionlessly. \\\"...\\\" Chaos Moon said, \\\"In fact, Candle Dragon¡¯s declaration of war on us could not be more timely. We absolutely need a victory¡ªno, a massive victory¡ªover Candle Dragon right now.\\\" Gui Guzi asked, \\\"What do you mean?\\\" Chaos Moon smiled. \\\"That¡¯s because I checked the Guild Ranking that is updated in real time in the CGL database. One month ago, Ancient Sword had already surpassed Warsky Alliance and officially became the number two guild of China. Today, we¡¯re just less than 1000 points away from surpassing the champion, Candle Dragon. All we need to do is to come out victorious in this war, and we¡¯ll definitely replace Candle Dragon... Can\\\''t wait until tomorrow to see more? Want to show your support? Click here to be a sponsor and get additional chapters ahead of time! Chapter 1308 Lin Yixin threw her arms around me the moment she saw me. When she moved my arm away from the pavement though, she caught sight of a terrifying pool of purple blood beneath my wrist and shuddered from head to toe. Heart wrenched in pain and biting her lips, she murmured, \\\"Already? I thought¡­ no, no! I still have time, I still have time¡­\\\" I opened my eyes and exhaled a little. Then, I shot Yiyi a smile and said, \\\"You¡¯re here. Can I¡­ rest here for a bit though? I¡¯m feeling very tired for some reason¡­\\\" Lin Yixin nodded repeatedly while crying, \\\"Mn! You¡¯ll be fine. You¡¯ll be fine. I will always be with you no matter what¡­\\\" Confused, I raised my hand with some difficulty and wiped away the tears on her cheeks. \\\"Er, I know I¡¯m not looking my best right now, but you don¡¯t have to cry over it. I just drank a bit too much alcohol is all. I¡¯ll be fine once I have a good night¡¯s sleep.\\\" However, Lin Yixin simply hugged me harder and choked out, \\\"Lu Chen, I¡­ Promise me you¡¯ll never leave me, okay, Little Cheat? Promise me!\\\" My confusion grew. \\\"Yiyi? What¡¯s wrong?\\\" \\\"Just promise me already!\\\" I let out a helpless sigh¡ªthe simple action took a bit more effort than I thought, but I didn¡¯t pay it much attention at the time¡ªand said, \\\"Fine. I, Lu Chen swear on my character to the heavens that I will always be together with Lin Yixin for as long as I live. Satisfied now?\\\" Lin Yixin finally broke into a smile. \\\"Yes. Are you feeling stronger now? If so, let¡¯s get you into my car already. In fact, you may as well stay over at my place tonight.\\\" \\\"Sure.\\\" ¡­¡­ After I regained some strength, I climbed to my feet and slowly made my way to the Porsche¡¯s front passenger seat with Lin Yixin¡¯s support. She fastened my seatbelt for me, started the engine, and took off. When I looked at my arm and saw the purple blood stains on it, I hurriedly grabbed a napkin and tried to wipe them clean. However, my attempt only seemed to irritate the wound and triggered even more bleeding. Panicking a little, I pressed an entire stack of napkins onto the wound and hid it inside my sleeves. Then, I attempted to distract Lin Yixin by making some small talk, \\\"It¡¯s a beautiful night tonight, isn¡¯t it Yiyi?\\\" Lin Yixin made a noncommittal sound before looking away from me. Where I couldn¡¯t see, tears began sliding down her lamp lit cheeks again. ¡­¡­ \\\"Du du¡­\\\" A short time later, my phone started ringing. I checked the display and saw He Yi¡¯s number on it. \\\"Do you want me to answer that for you?\\\" Lin Yixin asked. \\\"Yeah, please.\\\" She kept one hand on the steering wheel while taking my phone with the other. Then, she accepted the call and greeted, \\\"Hello. Is this Sister He Yi?\\\" He Yi¡¯s reply was clearly tinged with surprise. \\\"Oh, Yiyi? Where¡¯s Lu Chen? It¡¯s almost 11 pm, and he still isn¡¯t back at the workshop¡­\\\" \\\"Don¡¯t worry, Sister He Yi. I¡¯m with him right now. He¡¯s feeling unwell¡ªI think he caught a cold or something¡ªand I¡¯m taking him back to Snowy Cathaya¡¯s senior player workshop because it¡¯s closer. He needs a warm bath as soon as possible, or the cold is going to turn into a fever.\\\" \\\"I see. Okay!\\\" He Yi hung up, and so did Lin Yixin. I asked, \\\"Snowy Cathaya has a workshop for their senior players now?\\\" \\\"Yeah? It was built a month ago. How do you only know this now?\\\" \\\"Where is it?\\\" \\\"It¡¯s a detached villa at Yuexi. There are 7 of us living there right now including me, Qingqing, Lexi and Shadow Chanel. I¡¯ve been staying there unless I needed to stay overnight in the university for projects or something. It¡¯s livelier and more relaxing this way.\\\" \\\"Alright¡­\\\" I quickly fell asleep as I rested against the comfortable chair. Right now, I felt like my blood, my internal organs and nearly every ounce of energy in my body had gone up in flames. I was so exhausted that I almost didn¡¯t have the strength to sit straight. ¡­¡­ An unknown amount of time later, I was woken up by a kiss to the cheek. I realized that the car had come to a stop in a parking lot in front of a detached villa. Lin Yixin smiled at me and said, \\\"We¡¯re here. Let¡¯s go.\\\" \\\"Mn.\\\" However, I nearly dropped to my knees when I exited the car. Lin Yixin hurriedly supported me before asking, \\\"Do you feel completely exhausted or something?\\\" I nodded. \\\"Mn. I don¡¯t know what happened to me. I can¡¯t even remember the last time I¡¯ve been this weak. It¡¯s strange.\\\" \\\"Heehee. It¡¯s fine. A good bath and a glass of milk will restore your strength.\\\" \\\"Okay.\\\" With Lin Yixin¡¯s support, I slowly walked into the extraordinarily luxurious detached villa. This was just a guess, but I reckoned that the purchase price of the villa was tens of millions at least. Of course, it was far from unaffordable considering Lin Yixin and Snowy Cathaya¡¯s current financial abilities, but knowing how frugal Lin Yixin was she had probably just rented it for a short period. I saw two young women reading magazines inside the living room of the first floor. The one in rather sexy pyjamas was resting her long, exposed legs on a table. She was none other than Nangong Lexi. The other woman was Sun Qingqing. Naturally, I knew her even better than the former. Creak! When the glass door opened, and we walked into the living room, Nangong Lexi looked at us and immediately exclaimed in surprise, \\\"Yiyi? Why are you carrying a dirty man with you? This isn¡¯t some super hardcore fetish or somethng, is it?\\\" Sun Qingqing¡¯s eyes widened in realization. \\\"Wait a second. That¡¯s Lu Chen! What the hell happened to you?\\\" Lin Yixin let out a chuckle. \\\"Lu Chen drank too much and took a nap by the roadside. It was getting too late to drive him back to the Frost Cloud workshop, so I brought him over for an overnight stay. Is that okay with everyone?\\\" Nangong Lexi shrugged. \\\"Sure! He¡¯s the Heavenly King of Heavenblessed. If he dares to lay his grubby hands on us, we¡¯ll simply expose him and axe his career.\\\" I complained from Lin Yixin¡¯s shoulder, \\\"Who would dare to lay a hand on you, Beauty Lexi? I at least don¡¯t provoke girls with broad shoulders, thick waist, and muscles big enough to punch me through the wall¡­\\\" \\\"Your tongue is surprisingly sharp for someone who¡¯s drunk out of his mind. Anyway, get your ass into the bathroom already so I can mop up the mess you¡¯ve made to the floor¡­\\\" \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ After Lin Yixin had carried me into the bathroom, she filled the bath tub with warm water and tested the temperature like an obedient wife. \\\"The temperature¡¯s just right. You can bathe yourself, right? I need to buy some new clothes for you. We only have women¡¯s clothes here, so¡­\\\" \\\"Of course. It¡¯s really late, so make sure you drive carefully, Yiyi.\\\" \\\"Don¡¯t you worry. I¡¯ll be back in ten minutes.\\\" \\\"Okay.\\\" After Lin Yixin left the bathroom like the wind. I took off my clothes and lay myself in the bathtub. It felt like every pore on my skin was expanding to the warm, extremely soothing water. However, my blood soon dyed the water purple-red, and it looked so scary that I had to release the water and pour myself a new one. It took five bathtubs¡¯ worth of water to finally wash away the purple substance¡ªit looked a bit like coagulated blood lipids¡ªcoating my body. The good news was that I felt much stronger after I finished bathing. When I gave my fist a tentative swing, I felt that I had regained at least 50% of my strength. Did I suddenly bleed purple blood because my virus-modified body was undergoing detox or something? Would I be as clean as a newborn when the detox was complete? This shit had been weird from the get-go, but this was getting a bit too weird, wasn¡¯t it? In fact, my skin did seem a lot whiter than it used to be. That being say, the tan I had gotten during summer was still visible. Also, I was still very dark compared to a snow beauty like Lin Yixin. Anyway, I felt much more relieved since it seemed like tonight¡¯s episode was¡ªprobably¡ªbeneficial to me. At the very least, it wasn¡¯t life-threatening. ¡­¡­ Knock knock... A while later, Lin Yixin knocked on the door and asked me, \\\"Are you done yet, Little Cheat? Don¡¯t you dare use up the water! There are people who still haven¡¯t taken a bath yet, you bastard¡­\\\" I laughed. \\\"Yeah, yeah, I¡¯m done. Do you have the clothes, Yiyi?\\\" \\\"Mn. You¡¯re 177 cm tall, right? The clothes I bought you are for 180 cm, they should fit just fine.\\\" \\\"Thanks. Bring it in for me, please?\\\" \\\"No way, I bet you¡¯re completely naked right now¡­\\\" \\\"Fuck, is that your impression of me? I¡¯m wrapped in a towel, so stop dilly-dallying and come in already¡­\\\" Lin YIxin carefully opened the door and shot me a glance. She immediately shut the door after she passed me the set of clothes she bought. They were all Versace, and came with a shirt and even a pair of underwear. The entire set had to have cost at least 50k RMB. Lin Yixin was the kind of woman who would rather pay through the roof than buy a set of clothes she disliked but were a bit cheaper. This was even truer when she was buying me clothes. While I was changing, I heard the girls chatting outside the bathroom¡ª Nangong Lexi said, \\\"I don¡¯t know if you realize this, guild leader, but you¡¯re acting like a kitten currying favor with her owner right now. He should be the one buying clothes for you, not the other way around! Also, this brand is lomda wasted on his looks¡­\\\" Sun Qingqing replied, \\\"You¡¯re being too harsh on Lu Chen. Yes, he¡¯s a bit vulgar sometimes, but he¡¯s way more mature and responsible than the greenhorns in the university¡­\\\" Lin Yixin: \\\"...\\\" Shadow Chanel giggled and said to me through the door, \\\"You heard that, Lu Chen? Do you know how lucky you are to win the heart of a girl like Yiyi? Just marry her already, you slowpoke!\\\" An embarrassed Lin Yixin chided them all, \\\"Shut up, you all! One more word, and I¡¯ll kick you out of the guild and make you dig coal in Africa!\\\" \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ After I was done putting on my clothes, I scratched my somewhat messy hair and stepped out of the bathroom. I prayed to god that I wasn¡¯t such an embarrassment of a man that I would let down Lin Yixin and the Versace-brand outfit I was wearing. Please, please don¡¯t let me look like a country bumpkin wearing an outfit he absolutely doesn\\\''t deserve! The girls abruptly fell silent when I stepped into the dazzling light of the living room. It almost looked like they couldn¡¯t believe what they were seeing. The saying that the tailor makes the man was right after all. In Metersbonwe, I looked like a healthy young male who was striving to make a life for himself. But in Versace, I looked like a successful and easy-going man with a bright future ahead of him. Thank goodness Lin Yixin hadn¡¯t spent all that money for nothing... \\\"Hmm¡­\\\" Nangong Lexi blinked once before starting in a surprised tone, \\\"This guy in this outfit actually reminds me of an old acquaintance¡­\\\" Sun Qingqing asked, \\\"Huh? Who?\\\" \\\"He reminds me of Ding Shusheng¡­ they both give off the vibe where you feel like beating the shit out of him, but you can¡¯t because it¡¯d feel like beating a child!!\\\" Sun Qingqing: \\\"...\\\" Lin Yixin: \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ I walked to the nearest sofa and took a seat, pulling Lin Yixin with me. After I put an arm across her shoulders, I shot the other girls an easy-going smile and said, \\\"I¡¯m a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, so I cannot frequent this place too often. Thank you all for taking care of Yiyi and keeping her company.\\\" Lin Yixin bowed her head and giggled to herself. She seemed really happy to hear this. Nangong Lexi said, \\\"I don¡¯t know. You sound a bit lacking in sincerity.\\\" \\\"Oh? What should I do to show my sincerity then?\\\" I asked. She replied in a meaningful tone, \\\"Since you¡¯re already here, you may as well stay for a couple more days and keep Yiyi company¡­\\\" \\\"The Cities of Heaven patch is out tomorrow though¡­\\\" \\\"So? Are you saying that Ancient Sword can¡¯t conquer Silver City without you?\\\" \\\"That is true. What is Snowy Cathaya¡¯s plan, by the way?\\\" Lin Yixin answered, \\\"We¡¯re planning to conquer Bronze City and strengthen our archer party with the Dragon Punisher Archer skill.\\\" \\\"Oh? You¡¯re going to avoid Candle Dragon?\\\" \\\"Yep.\\\" Lin Yixin passed me a glass of milk from the table before continuing, \\\"Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and Purgatory Mad Dragon all declared on the forums that they will seize the Gold City for themselves. Rather than running headfirst into that conflict, I would rather strengthen our archer party to the point where enemy cavalry cower at the sight of them!\\\" Chapter 1309 Treating the living room as my own, I leaned into the sofa, crossed my legs on the table, and downed a sip of milk. \\\"Have you considered the possibility that Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance may repair the plank road by day while secretly crossing the Wei River at Chencang [1]? What if Candlelight Shadow and Warsky agree to fight over Gold City on the surface, but really are gearing to conquer Bronze City? Snowy Cathaya will be caught between a rock and a hard place.\\\" Lin Yixin pounded my thigh lightly with her fist while saying, \\\"That¡¯s fine. It¡¯s not like we don¡¯t have allies like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, The Monarch Descends and Blazing Hot Lips. I¡¯ve already discussed this with Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Ling Xueshang, and they all agreed to help me conquer Bronze City. If we are successful, we will repay them by training them a bunch of archers with Greater Premonition.\\\" Astonished, I set my glass on the table and asked for clarification, \\\"Greater Premonition?\\\" \\\"Yep. Silver Fir City reached Rank 10 a week ago, and the skill we got is called Greater Premonition. It increases our archer¡¯s scouting abilities by 50%. This means that archers with Greater Premonition have at least a 70% chance to cancel out Assassin¡¯s Oath. It is why Blood Alliance has been ambushing us less recently.\\\" \\\"Damn, that¡¯s an amazing skill¡­\\\" \\\"Of course. It¡¯s still much weaker than Dark Moon City¡¯s Mounted Archery Training and Duplicate Mount though¡­\\\" Suddenly, Lin Yixin leaned closer and asked softly, \\\"So, can you check with Sister He Yi later and see if it¡¯s possible for Ancient Sword to gift us another 1000 mounted archers? Honestly, 100 mounted archers are not enough to form an offensive force. 1100 mounted archers and the Dragon Punisher Archers though, that will make our base nearly unbreachable by any cavalry, right?\\\" I let out a thoughtful hum. \\\"Mn, it just costs too much resources to duplicate 1000 Dragonscale Beasts and perform Mounted Archery Training 1000 times. You must provide your own resources, or neither Eve, Li Chengfeng, nor Little Gui will accept it. Also, we are trying to get Dark Moon City to Rank 11 right now, so we cannot spare the resources even for Snowy Cathaya. Everyone will look down on me if I abuse my authority¡­\\\" \\\"Okay! It¡¯s a deal!\\\" A smiling Lin Yixin gave her sleeve a tug and unintentionally revealed her smooth arm for a bit. \\\"We will provide the resources, and Ancient Sword will provide us access to Mounted Archery Training and Duplicate Mount. We will begin after the contest for the Cities of Heaven is over. Silver Fir City has just reached Rank 10 anyway. We¡¯re nowhere close to getting to Rank 11 anytime soon.\\\" I grabbed her hand and asked her, \\\"Say, Yiyi, what is your ultimate dream for this game?\\\" \\\"Ah?\\\" For some reason, Lin Yixin stared at me for nearly three seconds before replying, \\\"I haven¡¯t really thought about it yet. I guess it¡¯s to become invincible and be free to roam the entire continent without worry? Oh, I also want to earn a ton of money everyday so I can eat every meal at a restaurant, travel wherever I want, stay in hotels that are six stars or higher, and enjoy life however I like in general¡­\\\" I imagined the scenes in my head and broke into a wide smile. \\\"Oh~ That is a most wonderful dream¡­\\\" \\\"Wonderful my ass!\\\" Nangong Lexi suddenly interrupted, \\\"I don¡¯t mind you flirting, but can you please take it somewhere else? We are all single females here! Also, we haven¡¯t even conquered the Cities of Heaven yet, and you¡¯re dreaming about becoming king of the world already? Are there even 6-star hotels in every city in the world?\\\" Lin Yixin blushed and struggled out of my embrace. After she regained her cool, she said to her sisters, \\\"So¡­ there are four Cities of Heaven in total. They are natural Rank 10 guild territories, which means that all the buildings such as the pharmacy, the smithy, the grocery shop, the teleportation formation and more are Rank 10 as well. Even if we aren¡¯t gunning for their special skill, the territory will still save us a ton of money. Therefore, I want everyone to rest early so we can begin preparations at 10 am tomorrow. The official assault will be launched at 12 pm sharp!\\\" Sun Qingqing chuckled. \\\"What are you going to do tomorrow, Yiyi?\\\" Lin Yixin bowed her head and said, \\\"Mom and dad are coming to Suzhou tomorrow, and dad said that he¡¯s planning to survey a commercial square at Chengnan. Since they¡¯re here, they want me to join them for lunch. I¡¯m planning to take Little Cheat with me.\\\" Shadow Chanel broke into a smile and stared at me. \\\"Sounds like someone¡¯s meeting the father- and mother-in-law tomorrow! Now I understand why the guild leader is willing to buy you a full set of Versace. You know, this reminds me of the time Purple Marquis tried to buy a full set of Versace for himself. When he saw the price tags though, he immediately ran out of the store like he had seen a ghost. It was hilarious¡­\\\" The corners of my mouth twitched once. \\\"You are joking. Didn¡¯t Purple Marquis sign a contract with Apple with a yearly salary of almost ten million?\\\" \\\"Yeah, but his older sister is starting a company and asked him to become a shareholder. As a result, he became so poor that he may as well be restarting from zero¡­\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" \\\"Alright, enough talk. Time to go to bed, everyone!\\\" Lin Yixin rose to her feet. \\\"It¡¯s too late to prepare the other rooms, so Lu Chen will be sleeping with me tonight.\\\" Nangong Lexi¡¯s mouth fell open. \\\"Wow! Are you two going to consummate your marriage tonight?\\\" Lin Yixin turned even redder. \\\"Consummate your ass! Did you forget that my room has two beds in it?\\\" I grabbed Lin Yixin¡¯s hand and placated her. \\\"Just ignore them, dear. So what if we are consummating our marriage? It¡¯s none of their business¡­\\\" Nangong Lexi said, \\\"Dial up the TV volume and we¡¯re gucci...\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ As I went upstairs with Lin Yixin, I noticed that my body had returned to about 80% of its prime after the glass of milk. When I clenched my fists, I found myself even stronger than I was during the afternoon brawl. The virus outburst had, against all odds, enhanced my body yet again. What will I become when I reach the pinnacle of my transformation, I wonder? Will I become Ultraman? I wiped the image from my head almost as soon as I conjured it. This miraculous body I had been \\\"gifted\\\" with was both a blessing and a curse! Creak! Lin Yixin¡¯s room was the biggest and the easternmost room in the villa. It was easily over 100 square meters big, and it had a balcony attached to it. There was a bed at the center of the room and another at the corner. There was also a piano close to the entrance to the balcony underneath the curtains. Lin Yixin giggled when she saw my astonishment. \\\"Mom bought the piano for me last month¡­\\\" I clenched my fists. \\\"You know how to play the piano, Yiyi?\\\" \\\"Yep. I¡¯m a master pianist¡­\\\" I looked at my cute girlfriend with wonder. \\\"You can¡¯t fight in a real fight, but I can¡¯t play the piano either, so I guess we¡¯re even¡­\\\" \\\"Is that how we¡¯re keeping score now? Get to bed already, you. I¡¯m going to take a bath.\\\" \\\"Sure. Which bed am I sleeping in?\\\" \\\"Whichever you want!\\\" \\\"I want to sleep in the one you¡¯re sleeping¡­\\\" \\\"Pooh! Have some shame!\\\" \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ I am a guest, so I should act like one. After I tidied up a bit, I lay down on the bed at the corner. The book shelves were nailed to the wall, so I could see the books just by tilting my head a little. There were books from Haruki Murakami, Rao Xueman, Han Han, Li Chengpeng, Pingwa Jia and more. Unlike most girls, her spectrum of reading material was pretty wide. Good for her. If I remembered correctly though, Haruki Murakami¡¯s books were pretty erotic... I turned a bit red as I hugged the soft blanket. I decided to check the Heavenblessed website and read about the Cities of Heaven on my phone while waiting for Lin Yixin. I might not be able to accompany Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls on their conquest for Silver City tomorrow, but that didn¡¯t mean I couldn¡¯t provide them with useful strategies and tactics at critical moments. Cities of Heaven There are four blocks in Heavenblessed Continent¡ªthe North, the Center, the East, and the South¡ªand four Cities of Heaven will spawn in each of them. The Cities of Heaven are split into four types: Gold City, Silver City, Bronze City and Dark Steel City. Each city has their own special effect. The contest for the Cities of Heaven lasts 48 hours, and the guild of the players who hold the City Lord Token at the end will gain ownership of it for a month. The city cannot be attacked during this period. I smiled as I read the introduction. Four Cities of Heaven would be spawning in the North as well, and I could already imagine the USA, France and the Chaotic 27 battling each other to the death for the four cities. Of course, there was a chance Vienna¡¯s Sorrow might decide to raid our Cities of Heaven instead, but it was a very small chance. Korea, Japan and India were located in the East block, so they would be contesting for the Cities of Heaven in that block. Finally, Russia, India¡ªyes, their domain stretched across two blocks¡ªPakistan and more would be contesting for the Cities of Heaven in the South block. This was good news for the China server because everyone would be too busy fighting over the Cities of Heaven to start another Nation War immediately. It also allowed us to continue occupying Hot Sand City and strengthening its defenses further. ¡­¡­ Knock knock... There were a couple of knocks on the bedroom door, and I heard Lin Yixin speaking from outside, \\\"I¡¯m coming in, Little Cheat.\\\" \\\"Mn.\\\" Lin Yixin walked in and locked the door behind her. Then, she looked at me and said, \\\"Oh, you¡¯re sleeping in that bed? I guess I¡¯ll be sleeping in my center bed then.\\\" \\\"Sure.\\\" Lin Yixin was only wrapped in a bath towel right now, and it didn¡¯t do much to hide her curves. Her breasts looked like they were about to burst out of the cloth, and her exposed legs filled me with infinite temptation. I gulped audibly. Man, this was the kind of benefit greater men would kill to have¡­ Pa! Unfortunately, Lin Yixin turned off the lights after she jumped onto her bed, and all I could see now was the starry sky outside the window. \\\"Let¡¯s sleep. We both need to wake up early tomorrow.\\\" \\\"Mn.\\\" ¡­¡­ However, despite having stared at the ceiling for at least half an hour, neither Yiyi nor I was able to fall asleep. \\\"Are you asleep yet, Yiyi?\\\" \\\"Mn, don¡¯t disturb me¡­\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" Another half an hour later, Lin Yixin said, \\\"I can¡¯t sleep. Why don¡¯t you come over and put me to sleep, Little Cheat?\\\" I couldn¡¯t help but let my mind wander. \\\"How should I do that, exactly?\\\" \\\"I don¡¯t care. Just get over here so I can hold you already¡­\\\" Lin Yixin said, her voice quiet like a mosquito. I obliged. I moved to the center bed, climbed under the blanket, and caressed Lin Yixin¡¯s cheeks a bit. They felt unusually hot to touch. I couldn¡¯t see her face from here, but I bet she must look very cute right now. 1. T/N: idiom that basically means deception Chapter 1310 \\\"I¡¯m just going to hold you. I won¡¯t do anything strange¡­\\\" \\\"Really? Why does that sound like something a perverted middle-aged uncle would say?\\\" \\\"You¡¯re overthinking it, really!\\\" \\\"Wow. There are countless lines to trick a girl into bed, and this one¡¯s about as classic as it gets...\\\" \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ Despite what she said, Lin Yixin still pushed her back against my chest. I instinctively wrapped my arms around her¡­ and was rewarded by a most soft and bouncy sensation in my palms. I froze like a statue as realization struck me. Shit! She just bathed, and I didn¡¯t hear her changing into her pyjamas just now! Of course she isn¡¯t wearing anything! \\\"...\\\" Lin Yixin neither spoke nor moved a muscle. My blood boiled with indescribable lust. I moved closer so I could kiss Lin Yixin on the lips, and Lin Yixin responded with surprising fervor. For whatever reason, she was unusually eager tonight. Almost a minute later, after we parted to breathe some air, Lin Yixin whispered with a pant, \\\"Hey¡­\\\" \\\"Yes?\\\" I asked. \\\"Are you going to keep grabbing my¡­ you know?\\\" she said in a most embarrassed voice. Oh, right. Since the moment I climbed into bed, I had been grabbing her¡­ Yeah, I might be pushing it a little. However, I decided to be bold and keep my hands exactly where they were. \\\"I don¡¯t want to move my hands away though. What should I do?\\\" Lin Yixin burst into a giggle. \\\"Pervert!\\\" We maintained this position for a while while Lin Yixin trembled. Suddenly, she pushed me to my back and climbed above me. I felt like I was being electrocuted when her pink nipples slid across my chest. As she lay on top of me and buried her face between my neck, I heard her whispering, \\\"Lu Chen¡­\\\" \\\"Er, why are you sounding so formal all of a sudden¡­\\\" I almost couldn¡¯t hear her next words even though her lips were right beside my ear. \\\"Tonight¡­ if you want¡­ I can¡­ give you¡­\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" My brain literally blanked out for a second. Am I hearing this right? I have to be! After all¡­ this was something every man in the world dreamed of hearing at least once in their life! My hands unconsciously slid down her back until they rested on top of her firm, round butt. She felt boiling hot to touch, and she was shivering like a leaf. Of course, this was the first time for her as it was for me. In fact, I felt like I could faint from sheer excitement. I couldn¡¯t possibly allow that to happen though. Forget me, even the readers had been waiting for this for almost 2 years! \\\"Ah¡­\\\" As Lin Yixin slid her butt downward, she abruptly came into contact with something hard and somehow turned even redder than she already was. Her breathing was so rapid that I would¡¯ve taken her to the hospital if I didn¡¯t know better. At any rate, she evidently had no idea what to do after this. It took everything in my power to remain conscious. I was 24 years old this year, and it would seem that I could finally bid goodbye to my virginity tonight. I mean, I better! What kind of man at this day and age was still a virgin at 24 years old!?[1] Some parts of my body were nearly threatening to fall into a coma. The part that was touching the Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯s warm place was certainly¡ªNo! If I think any further, Lost Leaf will be KO¡¯d by the government! I placed my hands on Lin Yixin¡¯s waist and gritted my teeth. Let¡¯s do this in one try, me! \\\"Mm¡­\\\" Lin Yixin let out a soft moan as buried her face against my chest. God knows if it was out of joy or pain, and I wasn¡¯t stupid enough to ask the question. ¡­¡­ The connection was almost complete as the tip of a sinful hardness slowly but surely became enveloped in warm folds. Then, my vision suddenly dyed red¡ª Pa! A bloody arm burst out of the ground and frantically clawed away at the earth covering it. It was me at one of the worst moments of my life. \\\"AHHHHHH¡­\\\" A bloodcurdling scream filled my ears, and the background suddenly changed to that of a bathroom in Bloody Mercenaries¡¯ workshop. I was screaming like a cow and spasming like I was having a seizure on the ground. At the same time, patches of dead skin started appearing all over my body. \\\"No, no¡­\\\" Lin Yixin and He Yi¡¯s cries reached my ears. I had burst into tears myself. It was at this moment a voice called out to me from the darkness. \\\"Lu Chen? Is that you, Lu Chen?\\\" I replied dazedly, \\\"It¡¯s me. Who are you?\\\" The immobile figure in the darkness said to me, \\\"Who else but you? I¡¯ve come with a warning. You were a dead man, returned to life by a mysterious virus. Do you have any idea what¡¯s happening to your body? Is your blood normal? Are your bodily fluids normal? Would they harm her? Even if damage isn¡¯t immediately obvious, could you live with yourself if something happened, and you knew too late? With your recent flare-up, you can¡¯t take your lover, no matter how much you love them, no matter how much you want to. Are you a man that would take a risk that could hurt his woman?\\\" I shuddered violently. \\\"I¡­\\\" The shadow smiled at me and said, \\\"I am your truest self, Lu Chen. Don¡¯t lose sight of me, don¡¯t lose your way. I know the walk has been hard, and that we have no way of knowing the end, but I believe in you, so you too believe in yourself!¡± ¡­¡­ \\\"Ah!\\\" After I broke out of my stupor, I pushed Lin Yixin away from me without hesitation and said, \\\"No! No! I cannot. I must not do this¡­\\\" In the darkness, a confused and embarrassed Lin Yixin chided me, \\\"Are you kidding me!? We were this close, and I¡­ we¡­ you¡­ are you chickening out on me now, you bastard?!\\\" I held her hand tightly and said again and again, \\\"I love you, Yiyi, I love you¡­\\\" \\\"Then why?\\\" She sounded really resentful. I gritted my teeth and hugged her tightly. Then, I said to her, \\\"I¡­ you know that my body isn¡¯t normal, right? It¡¯s constantly battling against my own will. Trust me, I¡¯m the last one who wants to say this, but can you please give me a bit more time? A year is all I ask. If my body remains normal for another year, I promise you won¡¯t be able to keep me away even if you try.\\\" For a time, Lin Yixin didn¡¯t say anything. Then, her hot tears dripped against my chest, and she kissed my neck. She said between muffled sobs, \\\"I-I don¡¯t blame you, Lu Chen. I love you too. I will always love you. But¡­ I¡¯m scared, Lu Chen, I¡¯m so scared you will¡­\\\" \\\"What are you scared about, Yiyi?\\\" \\\"N-nothing. I¡­\\\" Lin Yixin wrapped her arms around my back before continuing, \\\"Just hold me like this for the night, okay? I love you. I really love you¡­\\\" \\\"Mn.\\\" ¡­¡­ My feelings were a jumbled mess as I held the girl of my life in my arms. I had a feeling that Lin Yixin knew something about my condition, but neither she nor me were willing to broach that topic. We didn¡¯t know how much time we had left, but we would love each other with all our might no matter what might stand between us! An indefinite amount of time later, Lin Yixin¡¯s breathing finally slowed to a soft, steady rhythm. She had finally fallen asleep. I carely removed my hands from her chest and lay on my back. A few minutes later, a wave of exhaustion took me and carried me to dreamland as well. When I woke up, the sun was already shining in through the window. Knock knock knock knock! The sound of knuckles rapping against wood entered my ears, and Sun Qingqing called out from outside the door, \\\"Your breakfast is ready, sir and lady! Would you like me to tidy your bed sheets after you exit the room, or would you like to do it one more time before breakfast? Tell me now so I can carry out my duty properly!\\\" An awoken Lin Yixin blushed like an apple when she heard this. \\\"Duty your ass! Go warm us a glass of milk each. We¡¯ll be downstairs in a jiffy.\\\" \\\"Yes, yes. So¡­ did you remember to use a condom?\\\" Lin Yixin turned even redder. \\\"We didn¡¯t!\\\" \\\"You didn¡¯t use a condom!?\\\" \\\"I mean we didn¡¯t do anything! Get lost and go get that milk warmed already! Or do you want me to break out the belt!?\\\" Sun Qingqing went downstairs after she was finally done teasing her beautiful guild leader. Lin Yixin and I stared at each other for a moment. \\\"So, do you want to go for another try?\\\" I suggested. Lin Yixin lay back down on her bed and squeezed out a most inviting cleavage with her arms. \\\"Well? What are you waiting for?\\\" Instantly one-shot, I wrapped my arms around her and pecked her once on the lips. Finally, I gave her sexy butt a slap before saying, \\\"Enough, it¡¯s not good to dawdle in bed. Let¡¯s put on some clothes and eat breakfast already!\\\" \\\"Fine. Turn around.\\\" \\\"But I¡¯ve already seen everything¡­\\\" \\\"Turn. Around.\\\" \\\"Fine¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ After I finished washing and putting on my Versace outfit, I went downstairs to eat breakfast with Lin Yixin. When that was over, I called He Yi and told her that I was occupied, and that I wouldn¡¯t be participating in the contest for the Cities of Heaven for the day. She was surprisingly fine with it. \\\"Okay! The contest is going to last for 48 hours anyway. Just make sure you don¡¯t tear up your wound and come back tomorrow or tonight!\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" After I hung up, Lin Yixin asked me with a playful smirk on her face, \\\"I wonder why Sister He Yi told you not to tear up your wound?\\\" I pretended not to hear her. Nangong Lexi had no qualms revealing the truth in the most vulgar manner, however. \\\"Because it will suck if he tears his wound fucking you too hard, duh!\\\" My face was a stony mask, but thankfully Lin Yixin wasn¡¯t incapitated to the point where she couldn¡¯t speak. \\\"Pooh, that¡¯s enough dirty talk for the day. Lu Chen, it¡¯s almost 11 now, so get ready. We¡¯ll be having lunch with mom and dad at 12 pm sharp.\\\" \\\"Got it.\\\" ¡­¡­ My ride was currently at the Frost Cloud workshop, so I had no choice but to let Lin Yixin drive me to the Chengnan commercial square she mentioned yesterday. There used to be farmlands here and there in the city, but they had been replaced with supermarkets, shopping malls and more. However, business in the commercial square was much poorer compared to the city center, which was why the current owner was looking to transfer ownership to someone else. It must be said that Lin Xiao was an extremely rich man. Not every wealthy person could afford a commercial square this size. While holding hands with me and strolling across the commercial square, Lin Yixin said in a cheerful tone, \\\"We¡¯ll be having lunch at a western restaurant. I know you don¡¯t enjoy western food much, but please endure it this once~\\\" I smiled back. \\\"I¡¯ll be fine. Even boxed lunch is tasty if I can have it with you.\\\" \\\"Heehee, good!\\\" ¡­¡­ We strode into the western restaurant and found the table on the second floor next to a window. As mentioned earlier, both Lin Yixin¡¯s mother and father were present. Lin Xiao looked much younger than he used to after his beloved woke up, and auntie looked as gorgeous as ever. Considering how Lin Yixin turned out, it was only natural. There was another youngster with Lin Xiao and auntie, however. He looked to be about 28 years old, and he wore a pair of spectacles and a suit that made him look very refined. I had no idea who he was, but suspicion was growing inside my mind. Lin Yixin walked up to the trio together. \\\"Mom!\\\" The first person Lin Yixin addressed was her mother. Although her relationship with her father had improved, it was clear as day that she still felt a bit of resentment toward him. Also, judging from the flash of astonishment on his face, Lin Yixin must not have told him about my arrival. \\\"You¡­ you¡¯re here too, Lu Chen?\\\" Lin Xiao greeted me. I nodded. \\\"Hello, auntie. Hello, uncle. Yiyi invited me to join her, so I did. It wouldn¡¯t happen to be a problem, would it?\\\" \\\"Of course not. It¡¯s been a while since we last spoke!\\\" Auntie¡¯s smile was as sincere as she was beautiful. \\\"Allow me to make the introductions!\\\" Lin Xiao motioned at the young man beside him and began, \\\"This young man here is Owen, the CEO of our partner company, Murphy International. He will be cooperating with me to develop this commercial zone. We¡¯ve just finished negotiating the contract this morning, so we decided to have lunch together.\\\" Owen smiled politely before saying to Lin Yixin, \\\"It looks like Uncle Lin¡¯s boasts are true after all. You really are a beautiful and talented woman. Nice to meet you!\\\" 1. T/N: guess who¡¯s going to still be one at the end of this chapte Chapter 1311 Owen was oozing with the aura of a successful young person. His mannerisms were also refined in a way that a VR veteran like me couldn¡¯t hope to achieve, but that was okay. It was too pretentious for my tastes anyway. Owen looked at me next and said, \\\"This handsome man is¡­ ah! You¡¯re Lin Yixin¡¯s boyfriend, right? The two of you are quite the couple. Nice to meet you, my name is Owen.\\\" I shook his hand and greeted back, \\\"Nice to meet you too, Mr. O. My name is Lu Chen.\\\" He replied a bit confusedly, \\\"Er, my surname isn¡¯t O. Owen is my English name.\\\" I apologized, \\\"Oh, I¡¯m so sorry. I thought it natural for us Chinese to greet each other using their Chinese names¡­\\\" Lin Yixin complained beside me, \\\"You¡¯re doing this on purpose¡­\\\" Lin Xiao looked clearly annoyed, but auntie burst into a chuckle and said, \\\"This boy is as interesting as ever.\\\" Owen looked a bit humiliated, but he quickly got a hold of himself and replied, \\\"I see now you¡¯re a joker, Lu Chen. It is an interesting trait though. I understand now why Lin Yixin loves you so much.\\\" I shrugged. \\\"I just got lucky. To be honest, I don¡¯t know what Yiyi like about me myself.\\\" Lin Yixin pulled my arm and chided me, \\\"Take a seat. Also, when did I say I like anything about you? Stop praising yourself!\\\" I took a seat obediently before asking Lin Xiao and auntie, \\\"Have you ordered lunch yet, uncle, auntie?\\\" \\\"Mn.\\\" Auntie added, \\\"Feel free to order your own meals!\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" ¡­¡­ \\\"Waiter! Menu, please!\\\" I shouted. A beautiful waitress walked up to me and passed over a dark brown file. The menu looked very refined, but the problem was that I had no idea what it was saying. It was fully in English! \\\"Excuse me, but do you have a Chinese-translated menu or something?\\\" I asked. The beautiful waitress replied apologetically, \\\"I¡¯m sorry, but we only have 5 Chinese-translated menus, and they¡¯re all being used right now. How about you describe to me what you want to eat, and I¡¯ll tell you if we have a dish like that?\\\" Lin Yixin giggled heartlessly at the side and didn¡¯t try to help me at all. On the other hand, Owen took a menu and listed a couple of dishes in perfect English to the waitress, \\\"Feel free to introduce these dishes to Sister Lin Yixin and Lu Chen. They should enjoy it.\\\" I might not understand what he was saying, but I knew that he was flaunting his English! So, I fished out my smartphone, called a number and said, \\\"Blackie, can you bring me Di San Xian and Gaifan? Yes. Yes. I¡¯m on the second floor of the British western-style restaurant on the opposite side of your shop. I want it ready in ten minutes, okay?\\\" \\\"No problem, Brother Chen!\\\" For a time, Owen, Lin Xiao and auntie looked like they couldn¡¯t believe what just happened. Auntie burst into laughter again before commenting, \\\"That¡¯s incredible, Lu Chen. I guess there really is a first for everything.\\\" I shrugged. \\\"It¡¯s nothing. I know a lot of people around here because I¡¯ve worked here before. I¡¯ve even been a floor manager!\\\" \\\"I see¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take long before the dishes were served. Lin Yixin also ordered me a medium rare steak so that the lunch would actually be fulfilling. Finally, she also ordered two bottles of red wine. Lin Xiao raised his glass and said, \\\"It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve seen Yiyi, so let¡¯s toast to that, shall we?\\\" Owen and I clinked glasses with Lin Xiao before draining our glasses in one gulp. After that, he said, \\\"I¡¯m really happy to be able to cooperate with Murphy International regarding this commercial square. Owen is only 27 years old, but he¡¯s already a CEO with a good amount of experience interacting with various major companies. You¡¯ll take over eventually, Yiyi, so I would like you to learn as much as you can from Owen during our time of cooperation. Just treat him like a senior brother or something. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find it to be a rewarding experience!\\\" Owen replied with a slightly drunken smile on his face, \\\"Oh? Sister Lin Yixin is going to become my junior sister in the future? That¡¯s an honor for sure¡­\\\" I asked suddenly, \\\"How much is your yearly salary, senior brother Owen?\\\" He looked surprised. \\\"Around 7 million or so. What¡¯s wrong?\\\" I pointed at Lin Yixin and said, \\\"This gal here is the guild leader of Snowy Cathaya, a guild in Heavenblessed. She¡¯s also a member of Apple¡¯s e-sports main roster, so her yearly salary amounts to 30 million or so¡­\\\" Lin Yixin hid a snicker while thinking to herself \\\"Here he goes again¡­\\\" Owen tried to rescue himself from the hole I had dug him into. \\\"Ahem, income can¡¯t be the only metric to evaluate all successes and failures. In-game income is but temporary, and it¡¯s just a game in the end. It can¡¯t be the theme of one¡¯s entire life, don¡¯t you agree?\\\" I nodded. \\\"Makes sense. In fact, I am planning to start up a company that focuses on power-leveling other gamers after I retire from professional gaming. At a rough estimate, I think I¡¯ll be able to earn a couple million per year¡­\\\" For the first time, Owen looked at me seriously and said, \\\"If I may be so bold, how much do you earn from Heavenblessed, Lu Chen? It¡¯ll take tens of millions at least to establish a proper gaming company.\\\" Lin Yixin was the one who answered him, \\\"Him? Assuming that he retires in 5 years, he should have 300 million or more in his personal bank account. If you count the 10% share he holds in the Raincube Corporation as well, his assets are worth around 2 billion USD¡­\\\" \\\"That¡¯s¡­\\\" It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that Owen¡¯s world was flipped upside down. He certainly looked like it. It was at this moment Lin Xiao let out a cough and said, \\\"So¡­ I think Owen is correct. Heavenblessed is just an MMORPG created by Eternal Moon Corporation, and even if it lasts forever¡ªwhich it won¡¯t¡ªit cannot be the theme of one¡¯s whole life. Plus, Eternal Moon Corporation is the one who¡¯s ultimately profiting from your successes. Both of you should consider what you want to do after you retire. Anyway, why don¡¯t you exchange numbers with Owen, Yiyi? When you are free, feel free visit the company here and acquire some experience.\\\" Lin Yixin pouted. \\\"You know I¡¯m still a university student, right? A second-year university student who should be enjoying her youth to her fullest before facing the graveyard that is adulthood? How can you end my wonderful life prematurely, father?\\\" Lin Xiao rolled his eyes at her dramatic choice of words. \\\"Whatever, you do what you want. I¡¯m just saying that Owen is a good lad, and it won¡¯t hurt you to get to know him.\\\" Lin Yixin sighed. \\\"Fine. Senior brother, my phone number is 1351727****. Did you catch it all?\\\" Owen replied, \\\"Got it. I¡¯ll send you a message:\\\" \\\"Mn.\\\" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, I had drained another glass of wine in one gulp. Lin Yixin whispered affectionately into my ear, \\\"Little Cheat, you look real cute when you¡¯re jealous!\\\" I huffed back. \\\"What are you talking about? I¡¯m not jealous!\\\" \\\"You totally are!\\\" \\\"Hmph!\\\" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin stopped speaking, but she held my hand firmly underneath the table. Her meaning was as clear as day. No matter how much Lin Xiao wished for her to get to know Owen, and no matter how outstanding of a man Owen was, he could never replace all the experiences Lin Yixin and I had gone through together. I would remember the purple-eyed girl who slowly pulled down her cloak beneath the pine trees of Frost Mound for as long as I loved Lin Yixin¡­ and that would be forever. After we finished lunch, Owen rose to his feet and said politely, \\\"Uncle, auntie, Sister Lin Yixin, Lu Chen, if you have nothing to do for the afternoon, would you like to explore the commercial square? We¡¯re going to have to remake the entire commercial district anyway. I¡¯m sure uncle can give me some advice.\\\" Lin Xiao nodded. \\\"Yeah, that¡¯s not a bad idea. Let¡¯s go!\\\" I had no choice but to follow them. Consciously or not, Owen tried to walk side-by-side with Lin Yixin and put herself closer to her, but Lin Yixin defiantly ignored Lin Xiao¡¯s harsh gaze, held my arm in a way that could only suggest one thing, and beamed like she could melt an iceberg with her smile alone. Best of all, there was nothing Lin Xiao could do to stop her. We were way past the age where arranged marriages were a popular thing, not to mention that Lin Yixin¡¯s current business was a match of his these days. Moreover, auntie made eyes at him repeatedly to stop him from being more forceful about things. It was obvious that auntie had a great impression of me. Back when she was still in a coma, I had visited her multiple times with Lin Yixin. That, to her, was more important than anything Owen could offer. As we entered the commercial square¡¯s administrative district, employees kept nodding their heads to Owen and greeting him respectfully. No wonder Lin Xiao was regarding him so highly. He might be my love rival, but even I had to admit that he knew what he was doing. Unfortunately, it also meant that I was about as important as a background prop right now; the dancers who were only meant to prop up Wang Leehom at the center. Shit! Shit!! However, the gods hadn¡¯t abandoned me yet. A group of people wearing business uniforms walked out of a meeting room and headed toward our direction. A middle-aged man wearing a work badge that identified him as an operations manager smiled at Owen and said, \\\"Sir, we just finished negotiating with the person-in-charge for Huafeng Real Estate and signing a contract with them. In summary, we will be renting this lot for 10 years. This beauty here is the vice president of Huafeng Real Estate¡­\\\" The operations manager stepped aside to reveal the beautiful woman standing behind him, also the vice president of Huafeng Real Estate. But why does she look so familiar? When the woman saw me, she broke into a smile and greeted me, \\\"Lu Chen! You¡¯re here too?\\\" I exclaimed in surprise, \\\"It really is you, Yujia! Is Raincube getting involved in real estate now?\\\" Lin Yujia nodded. \\\"Yep. We confirmed the proposal about a week ago. It¡¯s why I was moved to Huafeng, to oversee this. I wasn¡¯t expecting to run into you here!\\\" Surprised, Owen asked, \\\"You know him, vice president Lin?\\\" Lin Yujia replied politely, \\\"Of course! He¡¯s a major shareholder in Raincube after all. He holds 10% of Raincube¡¯s shares, and Huafeng holds 35% of this commercial square¡¯s shares. In that sense, you could say that he holds 3.5% of this commercial square¡¯s shares! Anyway, you both know each other?\\\" Owen couldn¡¯t help but stare at me with slack-jawed shock. As for me, I nearly broke character and gave Lin Yujia a kiss there and then. Speak of the angel, and the angel shall appear! ¡­¡­ Du du! Suddenly, my phone rang. It was He Yi. \\\"Hi Eve! Did you conquer Silver City already?\\\" \\\"Of course not! It¡¯s only 12:50 pm.\\\" \\\"I see. What is it? I just finished eating lunch with Yiyi, and we¡¯re just wandering around the area right now. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be coming online today. Does it look like things are going well for us?\\\" She replied, \\\"It¡¯s too soon to tell. If Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and Purgatory Mad Dragon continue to focus their efforts on Gold City, then yes, we¡¯ll be able to conquer Silver City without trouble. Otherwise, it¡¯s hard to say. Purgatory Mad Dragon especially is going to be trouble because they¡¯re almost 3 million players strong. Even if they¡¯re all noobs, it¡¯s still going to take a while to kill them all¡­\\\" \\\"Do we have the coordinates of all the Cities of Heaven in the China server yet?\\\" \\\"Mostly. We have the coordinates of Gold City, Silver City and Bronze City, but not Dark Steel City.\\\" \\\"Okay. Do your best! I may come back tonight or tomorrow morning. If the territory war isn¡¯t over by then, I¡¯ll jump in and do whatever I can¡­\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" Chapter 1312 \\\"To the southwest corner of the commercial square is a big cinema with world class 3D and Max equipment. It should attract a lot of customers after this place is renewed.\\\" Owen¡¯s smile was brimming with confidence as he introduced every detail of the commercial square to Lin Lixin. Even I was listening closely to his words. Lin Yixin bumped my shoulder lightly and asked me, \\\"Hey, do you actually understand what he¡¯s saying? Do you know how to organize a commercial square for maximum effect?\\\" I shook my head. \\\"Nah, I¡¯m just wondering if I should take you to this cinema when Transformers 6 comes out!\\\" \\\"Sure!\\\" My beautiful girlfriend beamed, and auntie let out a chuckle. Lin Xiao and Owen clearly weren¡¯t too happy, but I paid them no heed. A short while later, I received another phone call from Gui Guzi. \\\"Yes, Little Gui?\\\" \\\"So, er, our main force is in the city already, but our opponents turned out to be stronger than expected. Soul Battle Robes¡¯ Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and Ringwraith are openly challenging us, and they¡¯ve even managed to persuade Flower Room, Pop Culture, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain and more big guilds to their side. Song of Ice and Fire promised to share the benefits once they¡¯ve conquered Silver City, and since we¡¯re the biggest threat in the area¡­ they all turned against us¡­\\\" \\\"Damn, Song of Ice and Fire is one ambitious dude. It sounds like he¡¯s trying to drag Soul Battle Robes to the top with his own hands. Still, what good can he possibly gain by going against us?\\\" \\\"I have no idea. All I can say is that Li and brother Xu Yang are pissed off, and they¡¯re getting ready to force the issue. If Soul Battle Robes dares to attack us, we¡¯ll flatten them and their allies in one go!\\\" \\\"Sounds good. Show them no quarter!\\\" \\\"When are you coming back online, boss Broken Halberd?\\\" \\\"I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯m keeping Yiyi company at a commercial square right now.\\\" \\\"Oh, I see. That is more important than one Silver City. Well, enjoy your time, Boss Broken Halberd. We¡¯ll handle this ourselves¡­\\\" \\\"Gotcha¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ Owen politely pointed at the cinema and suggested, \\\"We have nothing to do this afternoon anyway, so why don¡¯t we all go watch a movie together? The latest local 3D film, ¡®City of Warring States¡¯ is now showing. Maybe the experience will teach us something and provide suggestions that will improve this commercial square further.\\\" Lin Xiao thought for a moment before answering, \\\"Sounds like a fine idea. Are you two coming, Yiyi, Lu Chen?\\\" Lin Yixin asked me, \\\"What do you think?\\\" I answered, \\\"I¡¯ll go buy the popcorn. What do you want to drink?\\\" \\\"Get me a strawberry sundae~~\\\" \\\"Got it. I¡¯ll be back in a moment¡­\\\" Soon, Lin Yixin and I entered the movie theater and sat side by side just like any other couple. Of course, I made sure that Owen was sitting away from Lin Yixin. Beauty Lin was my girlfriend, and no one was allowed to touch a hair on her person even if I knew that she would hold it over my head until the end of days. The movie¡¯s pacing was surprisingly good. Halberds, blades and swords clashed against one another and lit a fire in every audience¡¯s blood. Owen looked distracted, however. On one hand, the movie was very good. On the other hand, he couldn¡¯t help but look at Lin Yixin from time to time. \\\"Hey¡­\\\" Suddenly, Lin Yixin gave my arm a tug and asked me in a small voice, \\\"Which sword do you think is cooler, Duke Xiao of Qin¡¯s sword or your Chill of the Nine Provinces?\\\" \\\"The Chill of the Nine Provinces, duh!\\\" \\\"Look over there!\\\" \\\"Huh? What?\\\" I was just about to look away when Lin Yixin pressed her lips against mine and slipped her tongue between my teeth like a true gangster. She even put down her cup of popcorn just so that she could hug my neck with both arms before closing her eyes. Her long eyelashes shivered visibly as she put all her heart into the \\\"secret\\\" kiss. I felt like my body was turning into stone. The kiss was one of the most wonderful kisses I had had yet, probably because we hadn¡¯t kissed in a movie theater before, but at the same time I couldn¡¯t help but think: Dear, your mom and dad are literally a meter away from us. There¡¯s no way they didn¡¯t notice this! What if their opinion of me drops because of it? Lin Yixin didn¡¯t care, however. We kissed for almost two minutes before she finally let go. Even in the darkness, I could see that she was completely red as she grabbed her popcorn and stuffed her cute little mouth one shove after another. The way she tilted her head a little to sneak a glance at me was both adorable and vexing. What on earth was she thinking? The answer came to me quickly. The entire reason Lin Xiao brought Owen was to start a spark between them. The old man had never accepted me because I was a professional player, and he wasn¡¯t going to change even after I was standing at the pinnacle of the world. Lin Yixin had known what her father was planning. Her choice to kiss me in the movie theater was her declaration to Lin Xiao that she would accept no one but me. I couldn¡¯t help but be moved by her decision. A knowing, beautiful smirk crossed her lips as I covered her hand with my own. I was pretty sure she knew what I was thinking right now. Owen hadn¡¯t missed our kiss as a matter of course, and it took him all he had just to not look like a deer caught in headlights. His mind was most certainly not on the movie anymore. Owen clearly liked Lin Yixin, but his chances of actually getting together with her were small to say the least. ¡­¡­ When the movie was over, I checked the time and said, \\\"It¡¯s almost evening. Are we eating dinner with uncle and auntie as well?\\\" Lin Yixin nodded. \\\"Mom and dad are going back to Shanghai tonight, so let¡¯s talk after we have dinner with them.\\\" \\\"Y-yeah, s-sure¡­\\\" \\\"What¡¯s wrong? Why do you look so green?\\\" \\\"I think I drank a bit too much cola in the theater just now. I need to go to the WC. Do you know where¡­\\\" \\\"The sign is right over there. How did you even miss it?\\\" \\\"Oh, thank goodness. I¡¯ll come back in a jiffy!\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" I was about to leave when Owen said, \\\"I need to go to the toilet as well. Auntie, uncle, feel free to wander around until we return!\\\" Lin Xiao nodded in agreement. After that, I wasted no time in entering the WC and finding a standing toilet for myself. Owen followed right behind me. I wasn¡¯t gay, so I looked directly in front of me as I took my piss. Owen clenched his teeth but didn¡¯t attempt to make conversation until we were both washing our hands in front of the mirror. \\\"Lu Chen,\\\" he started. \\\"Yeah? What is it?\\\" I asked. \\\"It¡¯s nothing big, really. I want to talk to you about Lin Yixin.\\\" \\\"Is that so? Continue,\\\" I urged. Owen¡¯s eyes grew determined as he leaned against the sink. \\\"I¡¯m certain I¡¯ve liked Lin Yixin since the first time I laid my eyes on her. I¡¯m sure you realized that Uncle Lin Xiao wants Lin Yixin and I to get together as well. I hope you know what to do after this.\\\" I flicked the water away from my hands while asking, \\\"And what do you want me to do, exactly?\\\" Owen snarled, \\\"Do you really think you deserve the daughter of the Lin Family? Look in the goddamn mirror, you fool! You¡¯re just a gamer and a shut-in!\\\" I laughed and looked him in the eye. \\\"And why would I not deserve Lin Yixin? It sounds like you think I¡¯m inferior to you, but we both know that it¡¯s the other way around. Do you have at least 100 million RMB in assets? Do you own the greatest guild in the entire world? Do you have the best brothers and sisters one can ever ask for? And before you start, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re better-looking than me. Like I care if a gigolo has a prettier face than mine.\\\" Owen¡¯s complexion turned completely green. \\\"The audacity! Even if that may be the case, all is fair in love and war, and I will have a fair fight over Lin Yixin!\\\" Bang! My response was to punch the tile beside his face so hard that they actually cracked, and even the wall caved in a little. I said smilingly as he stared at me in shock, \\\"Lin Yixin is my girlfriend and the woman of my life. Long story short, I¡¯ll beat the crap out of you if you dare to chase her. Fair fight? You don¡¯t deserve it!\\\" \\\"You¡­\\\" Owen was beyond pale at this point. He was angry at my declaration, but terrified at the unbelievable punishment I had wrought against the wall. It was often said that even a strong dragon cannot repress a snake in their habitat, but that was definitely not the case right now. As I walked out of the WC, I said, \\\"How can there be no dryer in a high-class WC? Pooh¡­\\\" Owen retorted, \\\"Are you blind? It¡¯s right there to your left!\\\" I went out without answering him. ¡­¡­ After we returned to the Lin Family, auntie shot Owen a concerned look and asked, \\\"Owen, you¡­ you look very pale. Are you okay?\\\" The guy hurriedly replied, \\\"I think I caught a stomach ache from today¡¯s lunch, but I¡¯ll be fine, haha. Where are we going for dinner, by the way?\\\" Lin Xiao replied, \\\"We¡¯re not sure. We haven¡¯t thought of anything yet.\\\" Owen suggested, \\\"In that case, would you like to try out the food at that seven-star hotel beside Taihu Lake, Longxiang Hotel? It¡¯s my treat.\\\" Auntie said, \\\"Ah, that¡¯s a bit wasteful¡­\\\" I added, \\\"If we go there, we¡¯re going to be spending 200k RMB at least. Any lower than that and our Yiyi is going to complain about starvation¡­\\\" Lin Yixin immediately started acting. \\\"Oh no, I¡¯m so hungry! Will someone save my tummy please~?\\\" I rolled my eyes at her. \\\"Don¡¯t give an inch and take a mile!\\\" Lin Yixin stuck her tongue out at me playfully. Lin Xiao confirmed, \\\"So, we¡¯re going to Longxiang then?\\\" I replied, \\\"Sure, let¡¯s. It isn¡¯t everyday we get together like this, and it¡¯s a fact that uncle and auntie haven¡¯t been in Suzhou for a long time. In fact, since I¡¯m the local here, why don¡¯t I treat you all instead? I¡¯m glad to have met you, Brother Owen, but you must give me this face, yeah?\\\" Auntie asked concernedly, \\\"It¡¯s going to be an expensive dinner. Are you sure, Lu Chen?\\\" \\\"I¡¯ll be fine, auntie.\\\" I produced a card from my pocket and said, \\\"I just sold an in-game item a couple of days ago and earned 7.6 million in total. It can¡¯t be THAT expensive, right?\\\" Lin Yixin asked curiously, \\\"How much money do you have in this card?\\\" \\\"It¡¯s a secret!\\\" \\\"I¡¯ll annihilate you if you don\\\''t tell me right now!\\\" \\\"Fine, fine. It¡¯s just 170 million.\\\" \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ Lin Xiao and auntie looked astonished. Owen was outright one-shot. You could say I \\\"cheated\\\" somewhat, though.[1] I really had 30 million only in this card¡ªthey were the profit I had made from the game¡ªbut He Yi transferred me a ton of bonuses saying that I would need at least this much when I got married, so before I knew it I had become a multimillionaire. Back to the present, Owen¡¯s \\\"successful person\\\" arrogance was completely doused after I had reported my card balance. To be fair, he was absolutely my grandfather in terms of business skills, but whoever said that doing business was the only way to be successful in life? At this day and age, it wasn¡¯t even the only way to measure one¡¯s successes. Owen might be a talented businessman, but he definitely wasn¡¯t the number one businessman in the world. On the other hand, Heavenblessed was the greatest game in the world, and I was its champion right now. That was all that needed to be said about the gap between us. We indulged in a bit of alcohol during dinner at Longxiang Hotel. It was fine though. Lin Xiao had brought a driver with him. The dinner lasted past 8 pm, and it cost me 310k RMB in total. I could positively declare that I had never had such an expensive dinner in my life! Holding Lin Yixin¡¯s hand with one hand and my card with the other, I complained to Lin Yixin in a hushed voice, \\\"Can you ask your dad to find a weaker competitor next time? It hurts me every time I remember how much it costs to defeat that bastard. That¡¯s an entire week of sales in the square of Sky City gone just like that¡­\\\" Lin Yixin burst into a giggle. \\\"You¡¯re always so stingy. Come on, it¡¯s time to go home!\\\" \\\"Yeah.\\\" 1. T/N: you know, this makes YOU the real gigolo between you and Owen Chapter 1313 Due to all the excitement during the day, I decided to stay at Snowy Cathaya¡¯s workshop and accompany Lin Yixin one more night. When Nangong Lexi logged out of the game, she reported with a bright smile on her face, \\\"We did it. Bronze City is basically ours. It is filled with Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips and The Monarch Descends players, and none of our enemies possess the strength to challenge us. All we need to do now is to wait for 48 hours to pass. The City Lord Token is currently in Purple Marquis¡¯s possession, so feel free to claim it from him when you go online.\\\" Lin Yixin nodded approvingly. \\\"Well done. I¡¯ll log back into the game tomorrow morning.\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" I was using a borrowed notebook and browsing the official website beside Lin Yixin. As expected, the flames of war were burning all across the four Cities of Heaven. The contest for Gold City and Silver City was the fiercest of them all because the two cities gave permanent buffs. Gold City was currently contested by Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Purgatory Mad Dragon, Purple Lily, Peach Garden, Rose of the Holy Domain, a dozen more big guilds and 400+ small guilds. It had been ten hours since the battle began, and still no one looked to be the clear victor. Warsky was currently holding the City Lord Token, but it didn¡¯t look like the possession would last because Candlelight Shadow and his Divine Generals had slain Lin Bing Dou Zhe and Laughing At The Heavens and Little Piglet had slain October Rain. It was worth noting Purgatory Mad Dragon had such a huge army that even Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon were just about to lose their minds. Long story short, it was a battle that would draw a river of blood. At Silver City, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls currently held the upper hand. There was a KIA list on the website, and it stated¡ª Yamete (KIA) ¡ª Song of Ice and Fire (Killer) Hot Sun (KIA) ¡ª Song of Ice and Fire (Killer) Song of Ice and Fire (KIA) ¡ª Li Chengfeng (Killer) Amazing Expert (KIA) ¡ª God Bone (Killer) Moon Dew (KIA) ¡ª Ringwraith (Killer) Ringwraith, God Bone (KIA) ¡ª Beiming Xue (Killer) ¡­¡­ I saw countless familiar faces among the KIA. Song of Ice and Fire was able to kill an incredible amount of Ancient Sword experts, but Li Chengfeng was able to end his killing streak in the end. In fact, it looked like Soul Battle Robes had more or less run out of super-tier experts. One of the most important factors in a contest like this was the strength of the key item owner. As long as Li Chengfeng and He Yi remained alive, no one should be able to snatch the City Lord Token from us. \\\"Shame¡­\\\" I let out a quiet sigh. Lin Yixin asked, \\\"Shame, what?\\\" \\\"It¡¯s a shame it¡¯s forbidden to occupy two Cities of Heaven at once, or I could leave Silver City to Eve and Li Chengfeng and attack Gold City with Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Gui Guzi myself. How cool would it be to claim the first and the second best Cities of Heaven for ourselves?\\\" \\\"Yeah, that ain¡¯t going to happen. Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, Farewell Song, Moonkiss, Luo River God of the Capital, Indigo Collar and more will rather fight to the last person than let you succeed. It may be cool to monopolize everything, but it will surely come at a price. You should pick a page from Snowy Cathaya. No one except us is seriously trying to occupy Bronze City even though Dragon Punisher Archer skill is so OP¡­\\\" \\\"Actually, Heart of the Holy Mages is really the best skill of them all. This skill makes it impossible for any cavalry to survive Galaxy Storm + God Devil Break combo in positional warfare¡­\\\" Nangong Lexi blinked before throwing in a comment, \\\"I don¡¯t know about that. I think that Candle Dragon is the overall winner if they manage to seize Gold City and train a bunch of Gold Cavalrymen. When that happens, the Dragonlight Cavalry won¡¯t be the strongest cavalry in the Center anymore¡­\\\" I chuckled. \\\"Since when was our mount the deciding factor of our cavalry strength? Our cavalry is the strongest cavalry in the world because we have Gui Guzi¡¯s Knight God and Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and Hickey¡¯s Knight General. These are all advantages that Candle Dragon does not possess. Plus, Candle Dragon can only train so many Gold Cavalry per day, while Our Duplicate Mount does not have such restrictions. This is not something Candle Dragon can compete with.\\\" \\\"Sure, but I feel like there¡¯s more bark than bite in your argument¡­\\\" \\\"Hmph hmph, we¡¯ll see about that!\\\" ¡­¡­ Again, Lin Yixin and I were sharing a room. I sat comfortably on the sofa with Lin Yixin snuggled against me. She was massaging my arm and ripping away my old bandage¡ªit had become useless after being soaked in warm water for too long¡ªwhen she exclaimed in surprise, \\\"OMG, over half of your wounds look as good as new already! You¡¯re like the real life version of King Piccolo the Namekian¡­\\\" I gave her a forceful kiss on the cheek. \\\"That¡¯s wonderful to hear. I wonder if I can actually regenerate an arm if I lose it?\\\" \\\"Heehee, maybe?\\\" While holding her, I asked thoughtfully, \\\"Did the experts say if they can flush the virus from my body completely when you were donating the serum, Yiyi? I haven¡¯t turned into Iron Man, have I?\\\" Lin Yixin snorted before slapping my arm playfully. \\\"What kind of logic is that? Stark is a normal human, so even if you become superpowered there is zero similarity between you and him, not to mention that you are anything but a rich-tall-handsome¡­\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" It was at this moment Sun Qingqing knocked on the bedroom door and called, \\\"Can I come in, Yiyi?\\\" \\\"Sure!\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" Sun Qingqing walked in with a plastic bag of snacks. She said smilingly, \\\"I just came to bring you both some gelatin dessert and stuff to eat in case you got tired of each other¡¯s lips. I¡¯m going back online now. Oh, and remember to use protection~~\\\" \\\"Eat a pillow!\\\" Lin Yixin was already throwing a pillow at her best friend. Sun Qingqing giggled like a schoolgirl while dodging out of the room. After Sun Qingqing left, I checked the contents of the plastic bag before passing it to Lin Yixin. \\\"Man, you girls sure like your snacks. Sis also eats all day and night at the workshop. Well, eat away. And don¡¯t worry if you get fat, Yiyi. It just means I¡¯ll have more to grab¡­\\\" Lin Yixin shot me a death glare. \\\"Why do you feel the need to say that? Is it because you¡¯re exactly the type who¡¯d ditch his girlfriend after she became fat?\\\" \\\"How did you even arrive at that conclusion? Trust me, I really don¡¯t mind¡­\\\" \\\"Fine, fine¡­\\\" Lin Yixin was choosing her first snack of the night when she suddenly shuddered from head to toe. I could see her eyes widening in shock and her face flushing red in an instant. As it turned out, snacks weren¡¯t the only thing Sun Qingqing had brought us tonight. She had brought a box of DLS as well! She actually wasn¡¯t kidding when she told us to use protection! Truly, Sun Qingqing was Lin Yixin¡¯s best friend! I shook my head at the petrified beauty in my lap before shoving the box of DLS into my pocket. Then, I said, \\\"Since we won¡¯t be needing this yet, I guess I¡¯ll take this with me. You probably don¡¯t want to decorate your room with condoms anyway. It¡¯d be a bad look. Why the heck does Qingqing have this though? She hasn¡¯t used it, has she? Now that I think about it, does she even have a boyfriend?\\\" Lin Yixin mumbled, \\\"Well¡­ she did mention that she¡¯s dating the school grass[1] about a week ago, but¡­ there¡¯s no way they got that far already. As far as I know, Qingqing¡¯s a pretty conservative girl. There¡¯s just no way¡­\\\" I side-eyed her. \\\"I wouldn¡¯t be so sure. Maybe she only ever showed you her good side. Maybe she had a goo goo ga ga already, and you still have no idea to this day!\\\" Lin Yixin shot me a glare. \\\"Hmph!\\\" Then, she stretched out her hand and said, \\\"Gimme that!\\\" \\\"Give you what?\\\" My brain couldn¡¯t catch up to the sudden action. \\\"What else? Qingqing gave it to me, not you¡­\\\" I shrugged and passed the DLS box with red packaging back to Lin Yixin. \\\"Sure, but what the heck do you want to do with it?\\\" Lin Yixin pursed her lips and stared at me as if she wanted to say something. A few seconds later, she finally confessed, \\\"You told me you¡¯ll take me a year later, right? We¡¯ll use it when that day arrives. Until then, I¡¯ll keep it in my handbag.\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" Lin Yixin added, \\\"Also, this is the perfect tool to ward off Owen. Dad thinks he can force Owen on me? He can watch as I scare the shit out of Owen with this!\\\" I solemnly wrapped my arms around her and said, \\\"Yiyi, you truly are the perfect wife. Now let me hold you for a minute¡­\\\" \\\"I have a backache right now!\\\" \\\"Lie down then. I¡¯ll massage it for you¡­\\\" Lin Yixin obediently lay on top of my legs so I could massage her amazing waist. Naturally, I tried to take it further and move my sinful hands to her chest¡ªscratch that, I already did. She abruptly stopped what she was doing and stared at me expressionlessly, \\\"Thank you, but I don¡¯t have a problem with my bust size¡­\\\" I replied, \\\"So? It¡¯s free service anyway!\\\" \\\"Oh? So you¡¯re saying that I¡¯m the one who¡¯s benefiting here?\\\" \\\"Of course!\\\" \\\"Alright then. Continue¡­\\\" \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before we grew tired, so we went to bed together. Lin Yixin looked like the prettiest kitten in the world as she snuggled up to me in her pyjamas. Normally, I would have tried to afford her some modicum of plausible deniability, but literally everyone in the workshop thought that Lin Yixin and I had done it already. More importantly, Lin Yixin didn¡¯t care if they misunderstood, so why would I be afraid to snuggle with my girlfriend? The night passed quickly, and I woke up to the first rays of dawn. \\\"Ah¡­\\\" I let out a soft sigh and turned to stare at the growing edges of the sun for a moment. Then, I shook Lin Yixin gently and said, \\\"It¡¯s time to wake up, dear. I need to return to the workshop and show my face in the game, or people will start wondering if I¡¯m growing too big a head. There are also insane rumors on the forums claiming that the reason we haven¡¯t participated in the war for the Cities of Heaven was because we¡¯ve eloped or something¡­\\\" Lin Yixin rubbed her sleepy eyes and chuckled. \\\"You want to make that rumor a reality? I don¡¯t mind¡­\\\" \\\"Come now¡­\\\" \\\"Alright, I¡¯m getting up. Eat breakfast with me before I return to my duties, okay?\\\" \\\"Of course!\\\" ¡­¡­ The sun grew brighter, and we enjoyed breakfast in the garden of the villa. A wave of tranquility washed over me as I held a glass of hot milk and watched some old people performing their morning exercises. I suggested with a smile, \\\"I want us to live life like a normal couple when we retire, Yiyi. Do you want to travel to Frog Hills and Guilin after everything is over?\\\" Lin Yixin was wearing a mini skirt, and it matched the beaming smile on her face perfectly. \\\"It¡¯s a promise! You¡¯re not allowed to go back on it!\\\" \\\"Of course. Anyway, I¡¯m going back now. Are you going to drive me, or¡­?\\\" \\\"You¡¯re so hopeless. Fine. I don¡¯t normally drive when I¡¯m wearing a skirt, but I suppose I can make an exception this once.\\\" \\\"Of course you can. Why wouldn¡¯t you want me to caress your thighs and steady your driving?\\\" \\\"Shameless!\\\" A while later, the Porsche drove out of the district and vanished into the bustling city. Life must go on, and we must work harder in order to grasp that wonderful dream in the future! 1. T/N: School Grass is the guy version of campus belle. I normally just translate the girl version normally, but school grass is just too good an idiom to not put here Chapter 1314 No one was surprised when I got back to the Frost Cloud workshop because I had already called He Yi beforehand. Also, all three of them were online and holding Silver City. There were less than 28 hours left on the clock before it became ours. So, I went to my room and logged into the game immediately! Swhoosh! After I appeared in Dark Moon City, I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces, summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon, and stepped out of the castle. Right as I was about to take to the air though, a silver dragon abruptly overshadowed me. It was none other than Xinran¡¯s Winged Silver Dragon! \\\"Master¡¯s big brother!\\\" \\\"Yes?\\\" \\\"My master instructed me to stay here until you¡¯ve returned. She wanted me to inform you that she has safely returned to the Violet Empire, and that you don¡¯t need to worry about her.\\\" I nodded. \\\"I see. Thank you for the news. You may go now, Winged Silver Dragon!\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" ¡­¡­ The cunning and powerful Holy Giant Dragon vanished into the clouds after that. It acted like a clown most of the time, but that was only because Xinran had it firmly planted beneath her boots. The vile beast¡¯s obedience was the proof of her strength and courage. Beep! Suddenly, I received a message from Li Chengfeng: \\\"You finally came online, Lu Chen!\\\" \\\"Yep. How is the battle for Silver City, Chengfeng?\\\" \\\"Soul Battle Robes are still trying to contest Silver City, but without Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and Ringwraith there is nothing the small fries can do. 90k+ players from our main guild are holding it right now, and the City Lord Token is in the guild leader¡¯s hands. All should be well.\\\" \\\"Where is Silver City, by the way?\\\" I asked another question. Li Chengfeng let out a delighted chuckle. \\\"It¡¯s at Bloody Shield Domain, the map next to Vanished God City. I swear man, this location is the best of all the four Cities of Heaven! It¡¯s surrounded by Level 250+ fiend-rank mobs, and there are a ton of small forest maps! This means that every player who wants to grind here will have to visit Silver City eventually. It is the perfect grinding zone supply spot, and the money¡¯s going to flood in like crazy~~\\\" \\\"That¡¯s great. Send me the coordinates, will you? It¡¯s late, but maybe I can still help out somehow!\\\" \\\"Sure! The coordinates are Bloody Shield Domain (21877, 10929)!\\\" \\\"Coming!\\\" ¡­¡­ I closed the chat and climbed onto my dragon¡¯s back. On a related note, I had withdrawn my onager into my mount space as a matter of course. There was no need for me to assume my secret identity in an open contest like this. After teleporting to Vanished God City, I soared into the sky and surprised a lot of Vanished God City. A lot of them recognized me immediately and exclaimed, \\\"That¡¯s Lu Chen! He¡¯s finally joining the battle for the Cities of Heaven! There¡¯s no chance anyone can take Silver City from Ancient Sword now!\\\" The Ancient Divine Dragon let out a rumbling growl as I set my target destination to the coordinates Li Chengfeng had provided me earlier. Then, I changed the flight mode to autopilot. Be it the humans, the elves or the succubi¡¯s territories, all flying units in Vanished God City were either human War Eagle Riders or Griffon Riders. I could afford to relinquish control because none of these units would attack me. Less than half an hour later, I reached the border of Bloody Shield Domain. It was very obvious where the line ended and began because the clouds themselves were unnaturally red. Bloody Shield Domain was currently under the control of the Purgatory Sovereign Coldblade the Infinite Storm, and he had forged a Purgatory legion to defend his domain. Assuming that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls successfully conquers the Silver City, we might have to fight against the despicable yet powerful boss very soon. It wasn¡¯t all doom and gloom though. The two evil bosses, Mingyu and Michael, both suffered massive injuries during the battle in Dragon God Cave. Although they had since escaped to god-knows-where, it was still a terrible blow to the forces of evil. Moreover, Sophie had parted ways with the Purgatory, Strella had been killed by yours truly, and Bloody Finger had submitted to Xinran. All in all, we were making good progress in uprooting all the evils in Heavenblessed. Swhoosh! I pressed my palm against the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s head, and it descended until it was just gliding above the trees. The newly spawned Bloody Shield Domain was filled with all kinds of devils and undead creatures. There were even more players hunting down these high-level mobs. Since the appearance of the Silver City, this whole place had become a player grinding zone. Eventually, I saw a silver sheen at the end of the horizon. That had to be the Silver City! The Ancient Divine Dragon let out a mighty roar as it homed in on Silver City, causing countless players to look at me in shock. Some of them cried out, \\\"Shit! If Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand himself is here, this means that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will do everything in their power to conquer Silver City! Is there even a point to attacking the city and playing the cannon fodder anymore? We may as well focus on grinding the fiend-rank mobs on this map instead. Who knows, maybe we¡¯ll drop an OP Immortal-grade ring, sell it for several hundred k, make the down payment for our house, buy a Changan Benben, get a girl and become fully accomplished in our lives!\\\" I couldn¡¯t help but snicker when I heard the declaration. It was a ridiculously small and secular dream, but who dare say that it wasn¡¯t a key to happiness? Some people saw too much, dreamed too much and gained almost as much, and yet they felt no happiness from their accomplishments at all. ¡­¡­ Less than five minutes later, the Ancient Divine Dragon officially arrived at Silver City. The city was occupied by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Bloody Mercenaries players, and the walls were crawling with Dragonlight Archers and Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Their sight alone instilled fear in our enemies. If you saw them, you knew Ancient Sword had arrived. Outside the walls, enemy players were assaulting the city in waves. Although the dominant advantage was in our hands, that didn¡¯t mean that the enemy was willing to give up the fight. Heart of the Holy Mages was the dream buff every mage, tactician, bard and other magic-type or niche classes sought for. For starters, an increase of 25% in magic power scaling was nothing to scoff at. Let¡¯s say that 100 Intelligence increased Magic Attack by 100. A player with Heart of the Holy Mages would gain 125 Magic Attack instead. That was an incredible amount of power, not to mention that Heart of the Holy Mages also increased max HP and Magic Shield durability by 50%. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had one peak-level mage like Lian Xin and a good number of first-rate mages like Yu Tong. Just two days ago, our former best mage Moonlight Stone had returned to us as well. Our mage party was stronger than ever before, and Heart of the Holy Mages would transform them into an unstoppable legion! He Yi was currently inside the territory hall because she was the holder of the City Lord Token. It made sense for her to hide herself in the most secure place of the city and maintain a low profile. It also served to lower the enemy¡¯s motivation further. If they wished to claim the City Lord Token, they must first breach the city. If they wished to breach the city, they must first defeat the Dragonlight Cavalry. But who among them could defeat them? Pa! I activated Fusion Armor while I was still in midair and landed safely on top of a rampart. Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi and everyone else were just around the corner. \\\"You¡¯re finally here, Lu Chen!\\\" Chaos Moon greeted me with a smile. I gave her a nod and said, \\\"Yep. It looks like I¡¯m not needed though¡­\\\" Li Chengfeng pointed at the ground below and said, \\\"It looks scary from here, but these chuckleheads really aren¡¯t trying. In fact, they couldn¡¯t even penetrate our Dragonlight Archers¡¯ suppression. Also, we nearly annihilated Soul Battle Robes¡¯ entire army at the cost of 10000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen four hours ago. I dare say that the worst has already passed.\\\" I arrived at the edge of the rampart and looked down. Some of the players on the ground noticed me and exclaimed in shock, \\\"Ah, that guy¡¯s wearing the WEL MVP emblem on his shoulder. He¡¯s Lu Chen! We¡¯ve lost our last chance to conquer Silver City¡­\\\" I cleared my throat a bit and smiled at them. \\\"Silver City is the second greatest city of the Cities of Heaven, and only the strong may occupy it. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has been spilling sweat and blood for our brethren for half a year, and we don¡¯t believe we have disappointed our server in any way. In fact, we are conquering Silver City in hopes of increasing our server strength even more. We wish to use it against the powerful enemies that surround the Center! ¡°So, I ask you all to give me, Lu Chen, this face and abandon your assault, handsome and pretty friends. In return, I promise to open Silver City to everyone and lower the prices to a minimum. Thank you for listening! I hope you will make the right decision!\\\" It was a gradual thing, but the people did listen. It wasn¡¯t long before more than half of the attackers had turned around and left. Meanwhile, a flabbergasted Li Chengfeng said, \\\"How the fuck? I never believed that something like this could happen in the modern day until now.\\\" Chaos Moon¡¯s mouth was agape as well. \\\"OMG, we had to murder these people¡¯s asses left and right to get them to leave, and you just talked more than half of them away from continuing¡­\\\" I was just as flabbergasted as they were, but for a completely different reason. \\\"Didn¡¯t you guys try to negotiate with them at all?\\\" Li Chengfeng shook his head. \\\"Nah. This territory war gives contribution points too, so we shamelessly assaulted everyone with everything we got¡­\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue put away her bow and smiled at me. \\\"Big bro, it looks like we¡¯re conquering Silver City for sure, so I¡¯m going to log out and take a nap, okay? You¡¯re here anyway, so¡­\\\" I walked up to her and gave her an assuring pat on the shoulder. \\\"Of course. Feel free to sleep as much as you like. Remember to eat something before you go to bed though. It¡¯s not good to sleep on an empty stomach.\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" Beiming Xue then gave me a hug and giggled into my shoulder. \\\"I miss you, big brother!\\\" \\\"I know. See you later¡­\\\" I rubbed her hair affectionately. \\\"Mn!\\\" Soon after, Beiming Xue entered the territory hall and logged out of the game. ¡­¡­ \\\"So, what do we do now?\\\" Li Chengfeng asked. I didn¡¯t answer immediately. \\\"How is the battle at Gold City?\\\" Gui Guzi answered, \\\"Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance are still in the lead despite having lost most of their legions. However, Candle Dragon was able to ambush and wipe out Warsky Alliance¡¯s elite mage party at the cost of several subguilds. The City Lord Token is still in Warsky¡¯s hands, but it¡¯s only a matter of time before he loses it to someone. The Immortal Blade is just a weapon, no matter how OP it is. One man cannot possibly defeat Candle Dragon¡¯s army and Candlelight Shadow¡¯s keen mind.\\\" I glanced at them both and asked another question, \\\"Chengfeng, Little Gui, what level is your Blue Crystal Dragon and Dark Crystal Dragon? Can you ride them yet?\\\" \\\"Actually, yeah. They¡¯re at the required level to become mountable, Level 107.\\\" \\\"Good!\\\" Chaos Moon blinked before asking me, \\\"What are you planning, Lu Chen?\\\" I gazed to the horizon before sucking in a deep breath. \\\"Candlelight Shadow left Moonlight Stone to her humiliation and indirectly stomped on our pride for one Wind Listening Pavilion. They even declared war on us. In that case, it¡¯s only right that we pay them back with a ¡®gift¡¯, don¡¯t you agree? Rally half of our Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers right now. We¡¯re going to march to Gold City and take down Candle Dragon¡¯s core. Anyone can have the Gold City, but not Candlelight Shadow. The time to take revenge for Moonlight Stone and Tiger Leopard Knight is now. We will tell Candle Dragon with our blades that no one is allowed to humiliate a friend of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!\\\" Chapter 1316 \\\"Blue Sky Scar is coming toward us!\\\" Gui Guzi looked incredibly excited. He brandished the Dragon God Shield [1] and spurred his Dark Crystal Dragon forward with a laugh, \\\"I¡¯m going! Let¡¯s see how strong Blue Sky Scar really is!\\\" I hurriedly warned him, \\\"Wait! Blue Sky Scar has Cyan Dragon Slash! If you get one-shot by him¡­\\\" \\\"Er, I guess I¡¯ll wait a bit then¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ A thousand meters away, Blue Sky Scar wielding a heavy sword ordered his Qiu Beast Cavalry, \\\"Take it slow and Guard at all times! Mages and archers, Far Shot your skills every three steps or less! Don¡¯t conserve your MP, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls didn¡¯t bring too many men anyway! Let¡¯s finish this as soon as possible!\\\" High Fighting Spirits asked me, \\\"So, how are we going to fight this out?\\\" I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces and declared, \\\"We¡¯re going for a full-frontal assault! All units, gallop at max speed and knock their magic knights back with brute force! If they dare to Guard in front of you, use Crushing Blow to take them out!\\\" \\\"Yessir!\\\" While the Dragonlight Cavalry were charging, Hymn of the Apocalypse raised his bow and declared, \\\"All Dragonlight Archers, prepare to Far Shot! Don¡¯t aim at their frontliners though, focus on killing the mages and priests in the back!\\\" ¡­¡­ It took only an instant for both sides to make contact with each other. The Dragonlight Cavalry slammed into the magic knights like a truck and successfully knocked them backward, but the magic knights were all protected by a golden sheen of light. As expected, Blue Sky Scar had ordered his units to use Holy Shield Protection to stop the first impact. However, Chaos Moon, Heaven¡¯s Rain and more brandished their weapons and used Crushing Blow to destroy their Guard and deal a massive amount of damage. The Dragonlight Cavalry charging closely behind them also attacked in turns. AoE skills were the main theme of this battle as Rock Crush, Rock Smash and more staggered the enemy. However, Candle Dragon was no Pop Culture. Any gap we managed to drill into the defense line was immediately plugged. As a result, our first charge fizzled out before we were able to make it to the end. \\\"Hold! Hold!\\\" Blue Sky Scar cut down a Dragonlight Cavalryman while shouting, \\\"Reinforcements will be showing up very soon! Hmph! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls underestimated our Qiu Beast Cavalry too much! Give them the bitter taste of defeat!\\\" An innumerable amount of magical spells and Spiraling Arrow Blades dropped atop our players and destroyed dozens of them instantly. Unlike all the opponents we had fought up until this point, it definitely felt like Candle Dragon¡¯s cavalry had gone through a massive upgrade. It was thanks to Candlelight Shadow drilling his players for months until their base stats weren¡¯t too far behind Dragonlight Cavalry. Another reason they were able to stop our charge was because they had the number advantage right now. Boom boom boom... That wasn¡¯t all. Candle Dragon¡¯s catapults started turning their attention toward us, and our casualties rose dramatically after the payloads of White Marsh Catapults started exploding in our midst. Candle Dragon had been fighting for 20 hours in this contest, so they had had the time to bring even their siege weapons to play. That they were able to seize the initiative from us so thoroughly was definitely something even I hadn¡¯t expected. ¡­¡­ \\\"Screw holding back!\\\" I abruptly raised my arm, surrounded myself in my Domain and expanded my bloody wings in full. After I activated Heavenly River Transformation and transformed into a living god, I ordered, \\\"All Ancient Divine Skill owners, transform and cut through their defense line with your Ancient Divine Skills! Show THEM the bitter taste of defeat!\\\" A giant golden sword appeared in the air, and I brought the Xuanyuan Slash right on top of a group of despairing players. They all looked terrified because they all knew there was no chance they were going to survive this. The Ancient Divine Skill split the earth in half and annihilated hundreds of Qiu Beast Cavalry in one go. Most were one-shot despite having hundreds of thousands of HP, and some were even more unlucky, outright dying from the 25%-chance instadeath effect of the Xuanyuan Slash. Equipment, potions and food littered the ground instantly. Had I been the only Ancient Divine Skill owner on Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ side, Blue Sky Scar would have still had a chance of bringing this around. But when Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust all activated their Heavenly River Transformations and unleashed their Crimson Firmament Slash, Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance, Tiger Wing Slash and Dog God Slash at the same time, there was only one way this battle could end. No level of defense could survive 5 Ancient Divine Skills hitting them at the same time, and over half of the enemy formation went poof just like that. Before we knew it, the battle initiative was back in our hands. After that, I activated Fusion Armor, summoned my apparition and Phantom Wolf King, and started cutting down the remnants of Blue Sky scar¡¯s forces. No one could survive the sword auras flying out of my blade, and blood ran like a river wherever I traveled to. Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi on their dragons were also tearing through the enemies in unstoppable fashion. This was especially true for Gui Guzi since he wielded the Ghostblade Halberd! Whoosh! As fearless as ever, Gui Guzi flew all the way to the middle of the enemy army and¡ªwhile being shot at by countless archers¡ªraised his Ghostblade Halberd and shouted, \\\"Taste the power of the Twelve Divine Armaments! Hundred Ghosts Descent!\\\" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Beams of ghastly, bloody energies rained from above, and every enemy within a hundred-yard radius instantly dropped to yellow or red HP so fast that not even the priests were able to heal them in time. It was the visual effect of Hundred Ghosts Descent. I didn¡¯t hesitate to turn the blade of my sword and shouted, \\\"Death!\\\" The three vortices of darkness on the back of my blade spun wildly, and every enemy player within a thousand yards of me lost 50% of their HP in an instant. Due to Gui Guzi¡¯s earlier attack, most of the players around us were either sitting at medium or low health. The active skill instantly killed them and left a retreating Blue Sky Scar with just 37% HP. There was just nothing he could do against the terrible power of the Twelve Divine Armaments. ¡­¡­ It was utterly inhuman! Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng was shouting a warning to Gui Guzi, \\\"Little Gui, you idiot, you¡¯re going to die if you fly too deep into the enemy lines!\\\" The Undead Knight and his dragon were stunned by a Shock Arrow at that exact moment. I would¡¯ve clapped at the coincidence if he wasn¡¯t one of my own. \\\"Bring down that arrogant motherfucker!\\\" After Blue Sky Scar returned to his army with new reinforcements, he immediately ordered to shoot Gui Guzi with everything they got. Unfortunately for him, Gui Guzi had an incredible amount of Defense and the Undying Shield. As a result, his HP refused to fall below 50%. Candlelight Shadow was watching this from afar. He flew beside a White Marsh Catapult, spun the entire siege weapon around with a single kick, and personally took aim at Gui Guzi. There was a series of mechanical sounds, and a flaming rock struck Gui Guzi and his dragon squarely in the back.[2] BANG! The power of the White Marsh Catapult wasn¡¯t something any player could withstand by force. Finally, the tenacious bastard and his dragon fell to the ground. Thud thud thud... Blue Sky Scar rushed toward Gui Guzi and leaped into the air. Gripping his sword with both hands and brimming with killing intent, he shouted, \\\"Die, Gui Guzi!\\\" Pu! His sword stabbed into Gui Guzi¡¯s chest, and he shouted, \\\"Cyan Dragon Slash!\\\" Buzz! The Ancient Divine Skill penetrated Gui Guzi, the Dark Crystal Dragon and the earth itself. Right as Gui Guzi was about to die though, he activated his S Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Shennong Tastes Grass and healed himself for 75% HP, just in time to tank the full power of Blue Sky Scar¡¯s Cyan Dragon Slash! 1490098! +745049! Undying Shield absorbed 50% of the damage as HP. Miraculously, Gui Guzi sat at 40% HP even after all the attacks he had suffered. Blue Sky Scar was furious beyond imagination, and he let that anger fuel his attacks. His sword struck Gui Guzi¡¯s chest again and again, and Gui Guzi was slow to react because his Dark Crystal Dragon, while powerful, had lowered his turn rate. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle... Meanwhile, I had finally made it to Gui Guzi¡¯s side to plant a foot on Blue Sky Scar¡¯s shoulder. The man and his weapon was sent flying across the air at least a dozen or so meters. I managed to hit him with Ancient Seal + Coiling Dragon Revolution, but it wasn¡¯t enough to kill the guy outright. Thankfully, I wasn¡¯t alone. On the sky, Li Chengfeng swooped down on Blue Sky Scar¡¯s crawling form and activated Dragonbone Flurry. The melee skill had its attack range extended when used on a mount, so it stabbed the ground 7 times in a row like some sort of artillery barrage. Speaking of which, the skill had recently evolved from a three-hit flurry to a seven-hit barrage. Although its attack power per hit was lower, the overall damage was a lot higher. When the dust settled, Blue Sky Scar¡¯s cooling corpse slowly revealed itself. He was one of the Four War Gods of Candle Dragon, but the other gods of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had forcefully ended his life. Physically and mentally, it was a terrible blow to Candle Dragon. ¡­¡­ I waved my arm and shouted, \\\"Continue! We¡¯re going to destroy their siege weapons next and take out Candlelight Shadow and God¡¯s Dance afterward!\\\" Our hooves trampled over our enemies¡¯ bodies, and it wasn¡¯t long before we engaged the enemy¡¯s ranged parties in melee. Obviously, it was a total slaughter. Ultimate Strength Breaks erupted among the archers, priests, mages, tamers and more, and no one who was caught in the barrage lived to tell the tale. The enemy mages tried to resist with God Devil Breaks as a matter of course, but most of the Dragonlight Cavalry had incredibly high HP. As a result, they got themselves killed instead. While this was going on, Gui Guzi and a group of players were destroying Candle Dragon¡¯s White Marsh Catapults one by one. Each White Marsh Catapult cost at least ten thousand RMB to build. Candlelight Shadow would be hurting over this for a long time. ¡­¡­ \\\"Kakaka, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls truly is a guild of justice! Lu Chen and his brothers have come to save us, so it¡¯s only right that we respond with fervor, right guys? Kill!\\\" Inside the city, Warsky waved his Immortal Blade and kept screaming words of encouragement at his troops. I rolled my eyes at his antics and muttered, \\\"Who the hell is here to save you, man¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ Smoke rose from every corner of the battlefield. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ cavalry troops were engaging Candle Dragon¡¯s main force at melee. Both sides were losing players at an incredible rate, but we could afford to die to the last person, and Candle Dragon couldn¡¯t. Our sudden attack might very well have destroyed Candle Dragon¡¯s hopes of conquering Gold City already. Covered in blood and riddled in holes, Candlelight Shadow looked at me with disappointed and frustrated eyes and asked, \\\"Why are you disrupting our operation, Lu Chen?\\\" I pointed my sword at him and retorted, \\\"What the hell did you think was gonna happen when you declared war on Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?\\\" 1. T/N: I¡¯m not sure if it was mentioned before, but it looks like Lu Chen gave Gui Guzi his old shield 2. T/N: Wow, this is an amazing moment for Candlelight Shadow. Chapter 1317 However, Candlelight Shadow smiled and motioned at the forests and mountain ranges around us. \\\"Lu Chen, you¡¯ve only brought 70k cavalry troops with you, and you¡¯ve lost almost 10k during the earlier battles. Do you really think you can destroy Candle Dragon with a force so small? The Dragonlight Cavalry may be strong, but they are definitely not the strongest unit in the game.\\\" I scanned the surroundings with Dark Pupils. There were an incredible amount of red dots concealed within the forests and mountain ranges, which meant Candle Dragon hadn¡¯t revealed all of their forces despite having come to assault Gold City. He was fighting Warsky Alliance, so I understood why he had decided to keep some cards close to his chest. In fact, Warsky Alliance had inadvertently screwed themselves over by claiming the City Lord Token too early and making them the public enemy of the day. ¡­¡­ \\\"Those players are¡­ Hall of Immortality?\\\" I smiled. Some of his troops were hidden, but some weren¡¯t. Rows and rows of Hall of Immortality cavalrymen started marching out of the forest edges. I caught a glimpse of Rose of the Holy Domain and Throne Seeker as well. They were Candle Dragon¡¯s trusted allies, and their appearance made it obvious that they were going to do everything in their power to seize Gold City for Candle Dragon. Whatever Candlelight Shadow had promised them, it had to be incredibly good. In the sky, Li Chengfeng hovered somewhere to my top right and whispered to me, \\\"Lu Chen, I count at least ten different Candle Dragon allied forces in the area. They haven¡¯t moved a muscle for the past twenty hours, probably because they were waiting for us.\\\" High Fighting Spirits waved his battle axe and spat. \\\"So what? Hall of Immortality and Throne Seeker are just trash! Let¡¯s take the fight to them and kill them all!\\\" I hurriedly stopped him. \\\"Calm down, Fighting Spirits. I bet you 100 RMB that Hall of Immortality¡¯s eighth-promotion assassins have laid a million Freezing Traps, Blazing Traps and more in the forest, and they are just waiting for us to trigger them all. The Dragonlight Cavalry is powerful, but there¡¯s no way we can assault multiple entrenched and fortified armies, not to mention that we have almost no healing at all. We would be doing exactly what Candlelight Shadow wants if we attacked them.\\\" Gui Guzi placed a hand on his Dark Crystal Dragon¡¯s head and asked, \\\"Should we just stay here and focus on attacking Candle Dragon then?\\\" \\\"Exactly!\\\" I nodded strongly and pointed toward Gold City. \\\"All we need to do is to cooperate with Warsky Alliance and take out Candlelight Shadow, God¡¯s Dance and everyone else in front of us. This will be easy as long as we don¡¯t fall for the enemies¡¯ taunts.\\\" \\\"Got it!\\\" \\\"Charge!\\\" ¡­¡­ We ignored Candlelight Shadow¡¯s taunts and charged Candle Dragon¡¯s formation again and again, and it proved to be very effective. In a head-on battle, Candle Dragon couldn¡¯t really endure our attack not only because the Dragonlight Cavalrymen were strong, but also because we had multiple Ancient Divine Skill owners and two newly minted dragon knights. Had He Yi been able to join us, this battle would have been over already. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls currently possessed four dragon knights in total, or three high-level dragon knights and one Ancient Divine Dragon Knight to be exact. On the other hand, Candle Dragon only had Candlelight Shadow. \\\"Kill Candlelight Shadow!\\\" Gui Guzi was the most impulsive among us, and he showed it by flying deep behind enemy lines and reaping their lives with his spear. His amazing defensive stats and powerful recovery skills like Undying Shield made him nigh unkillable. Furious, Candlelight Shadow shot to the air and stopped right above Gui Guzi. Displaying an uncanny level of skill for aerial combat, he was able to land a picture perfect Blazing Purgatory Slash on Gui Guzi¡¯s chest armor and deal over 1.5 million damage. Unfortunately for him, Gui Guzi¡¯s Undying Shield converted 750k of that into HP. \\\"Die!\\\" Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes narrowed as flames erupted from the sword hilt and surrounded his blade. It was Shattering Sword and Shield! Crack! He stabbed Gui Guzi through his shield and out of his back. The skill couldn¡¯t be guarded, so Gui Guzi took another 1.2 million damage. However, the latter still refused to die because he had an obscene amount of HP! Buzz! Finally, Candlelight Shadow activated his Heavenly River Transformation and prepared to use his SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Pangu¡¯s Axe! There was no way Gui Guzi was going to be able to dodge this attack, and we were too far away from him to rescue him. He¡¯s going to die! Gui Guzi had a plan, however. As Pangu¡¯s Axe took form, he smirked and raised the Ghostblade Halberd into the air. The next moment, a pair of bloody wings adorned his back, and he activated his S Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Shennong Tastes Grass, to heal him. His HP abruptly shot up by 75%¡ª +2259490! Truly, this Shennong Tastes Grass was OP as hell. Gui Guzi grinned arrogantly at Candlelight Shadow and said, \\\"You call yourself the Martial God, Candlelight Shadow? Hit me with your so-called SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill then! Let¡¯s see if you can actually one-shot me!\\\" Candlelight Shadow¡¯s complexion turned purple with anger, but he obliged Gui Guzi¡¯s wish and dropped the devastating energy on top of him and the hundreds of Dragonlight Cavalry behind him. The Ancient Divine Skill was powerful enough, but one must consider the splash effect as well! 2980064! 1783773! 1823767! ¡­¡­ A ton of damage numbers rose to the air. Gui Guzi shuddered and dropped to red health in an instant. Even with the Dark Crystal Dragon, Gui Guzi nearly got one-shot because Candlelight Shadow had scored a critical hit. The good news was that Candlelight Shadow definitely couldn¡¯t one-shot Gui Guzi. The bad news was that the hundreds of unfortunate Dragonlight Cavalrymen behind him were all dead. Li Chengfeng swore while knocking back an eighth promotion magic knight, \\\"Fuck, Little Gui is about to die! Save him, Lu Chen!\\\" I was the closest person to Gui Guzi, and I leaped forward after activating Fusion Armor. Right before Candlelight Shadow could swing his weapon another time, I activated Cold of the Nine Provinces and filled the sky with snow! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! All Candle Dragon players within 100 yards of me turned into ice. Candlelight Shadow, his Wind and Cloud Domain, as well as mid-animation Rock Thrust froze into ice sculptures as well. Usefulness aside, Cold of the Nine Provinces was definitely a visually appealing skill. While Candlelight Shadow was frozen, I cut his body three times with Burning Blade Slash but wasn¡¯t able to one-shot him because the Frozen status drastically improved his Defense¡ª 276161! 348128! 382827! However, Candlelight Shadow only had a little over 2.3 million HP, so I could definitely kill him with Xuanyuan Slash. Of all 99 Ancient Divine Skills, the Xuanyuan Slash was rated as the best of them all. It possessed an incredible amount of hidden Attack, and more importantly, it ignored Defense completely. It was the perfect skill to kill Candlelight Shadow before he could break out. Swhoosh! I saw Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes narrowing behind the ice as the golden sword filled the sky. Clearly, he realized that I would be able to one-shot him with the skill. Just in case he did survive, I dropped an Ancient Seal on top of his head before unleashing the Xuanyuan Slash. Now, his chance of surviving my attack was zero. It wasn¡¯t meant to be, however. During the 0.15 seconds it took for me to unleash the Xuanyuan Slash, a charm abruptly hit my shoulder armor and immobilized me. It was Ye Yuse¡¯s skill, Hold! The Xuanyuan Slash was canceled just like that. I was milliseconds away from killing Candlelight Shadow, but I failed all the same! \\\"I¡¯ll cover your back, boss! Get back to our healers now!\\\" Ye Yuse yelled while stepping out of a shrubbery and dropping her spells on me. One of her offensive spells, God Suppressing Pagoda, hit my back and dealt over 300k damage. It was impressive considering that it was me she was hitting! Hold canceled itself when the affected target was hit by an attack. However, Ye Yuse¡¯s timing was perfect, and she was able to land another charm before I could move out of the way¡ªPetrification! Unfortunately for me, the spell took effect and turned me into a statue. I had no choice but to command my apparition to attack in my stead. Thud! My apparition¡¯s foot impressed upon the earth like a comet and brought his sword down on Ye Yuse¡¯s head. Universe Break! ¡­¡­ Ye Yuse moved her left foot backward¡ªrevealing her pale leg while doing so¡ªwaved her scepter, and miraculously succeeded in parrying my Universe Break. She even managed to land Hold on my apparition while it was in the middle of using War Crush. Unfortunately for her, War Crush took effect first, and three hits later her HP nearly dropped to zero. \\\"OMG, Lu Chen¡¯s Attack is crazy¡­\\\" As Ye Yuse backed away from my apparition, a group of Qiu Beast Cavalrymen blocked in front of her and yelled, \\\"Please retreat, vice leader! We¡¯ll take it from here!\\\" The brave and loyal fighters were able to hack my apparition to pieces before it could do anything else. Crack! Right as the stone skin imprisoning my true body shattered, Li Chengfeng and the others showed up and dropped their skills on my would-be attackers. After that, the battle became a war of attrition. Whoever held out to the last was the final victor. ¡­¡­ \\\"Boss Broken Halberd!\\\" Some time later, Gui Guzi suddenly pointed his Ghostblade Halberd to the east and said, \\\"Look! Hall of Immortality¡¯s archers are making a move!\\\" I turned around and saw at least 10000 Hall of Immortality archers raising their bows about 120 yards away from our units and using the Far Shot mode to fire their Spiraling Arrow Blades and Skypiercers. The harassment did put us in a bit of a predicament... \\\"Those stupid motherfuckers are courting death!\\\" High Fighting Spirits charged straight toward the archers while shouting, \\\"Seventh squad, follow me!\\\" About 3000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen immediately obeyed the command and followed behind High Fighting Spirits. At the same time, High Fighting Spirits dropped Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance on top of the enemy archers. Boom! Over a hundred enemies died instantly. However, they pulled back into the forest without hesitation. ¡­¡­ \\\"Oh shit. Stop chasing, Fighting Spirits!\\\" Chaos Moon shouted. Unfortunately, the warning came too late. High Fighting Spirits was a brave general, but he was more likely to disobey your orders than not. Throwing caution to the wind, he and the 3000 Dragonlight Cavalry rushed into the forest only to be consumed by an seemingly infinite amount of Freezing Traps and Blazing Traps. I knew it. Judging from the sheer size of the explosion, there were at least a thousand assassins lurking in the area. The eight-promotion skill of the Assassin class, Trap, was just too good. Chapter 1318 \\\"Fighting Spirits you idiot!!\\\" I swore furiously while spinning around to face the exploding forest. I knew the moment I heard the 3000+ Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯ bloodcurdling screams that my comrades were basically dead. Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes widened like saucers as he spun his Dark Crystal Dragon around as well. \\\"Hall of Immortality is lying in wait in the forest! Fuck! We can¡¯t just leave them to die!\\\" He raised an arm and yelled, \\\"3rd and 4th squad, follow me! We¡¯re going to save Fighting Spirits and the others!\\\" However, he was immediately shot down by Chaos Moon. \\\"Are you fucking serious? You KNOW that there are traps everywhere inside the forest! Instead of getting away from it, you want us to step inside and do our enemies¡¯ job for them? Can you grow some freaking IQ for once, Wang Xu!?\\\" Li Chengfeng nodded while killing a couple of Qiu Beast Cavalrymen from range. \\\"Yes, let¡¯s not be impulsive, shall we? It¡¯s not that we don¡¯t want to save them, but we¡¯re probably going to end up in the same deep shit if we try.\\\" Heaven¡¯s Rain looked at me and asked, \\\"What do you think we should do, vice leader big bro?\\\" I was the highest commander of this party, so of course my word was law. If I ordered the party to rescue High Fighting Spirits, they would execute it even if they knew they were walking into an ambush. ¡­¡­ In the end, I couldn¡¯t abandon my players to die. I pointed toward Hall of Immortality¡¯s army and said, ¡°Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, activate your Knight God and Knight Generals, assemble 10000 men and follow me! I will lead the way, and you all will follow behind me! I have Dark Pupils, so I can see where the enemy¡¯s Traps are placed. Under no circumstances are you allowed to stray off course without my order!\\\" \\\"Yessir!\\\" After the rescue party was rallied, I ran toward the edge of the forest from an odd angle while scanning my surroundings repeatedly. For now, I saw a dozen or so Traps concealed within the trees. I raised my arm and fired an energy blade at one of them, and a Lightning Trap triggered and exploded just like that. That was very good. 50 MP to destroy a Trap spell that takes 10 minutes to set up? I would make that trade every time! Dragon Slaying Slash¡¯s cooldown was only 1 second, so I was able to fire it non-stop and destroy all the traps directly in my way. It didn¡¯t matter if they were Lightning Traps, Wind Traps, Blazing Traps or anything else, the Dragon Slaying Slash triggered them all and caused them to explode futilely against the wind. The hidden assassins could only watch impotently from their hiding spots because their chances of stopping a cavalry charge with their own flesh and blood were exactly zero. Also, I kept turning my Dark Pupils on and off to maximize the probability I would see through their stealth. One might say that I was countering everything they were trying to do right now. \\\"Here they come!\\\" There was a rustling of leaves, and a Hall of Immortality assassin dashed out and thrust his dagger toward Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s chest. The female knight wasn¡¯t even 20 years old yet, so her tolerance toward sexual assault was non-existent. She immediately bent backward and parried the attack with her spear. Then, she dropped Ultimate Strength Break and sent him flying to the back like a shredded leaf¡ª 340980! Fighters already countered assassins naturally, and Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s Attack and Defense were buffed by 100% by her own Knight General. Even the lousiest piece of equipment she owned was Immortal-grade. Naturally, she couldn¡¯t be threatened by any normal assassin. The rest of the Dragonlight Cavalry galloped through the area and cut down any assassin who dared to show their necks to us. There was barely any resistance at all. Boom boom boom¡­ After I destroyed dozens more Traps with Dragon Slaying Slash and confirmed that there were none left with Dark Pupils, I pointed my sword forward and declared, \\\"Alright, there are no more Traps within our vicinity. Now is the time to uproot Hall of Immortality¡¯s base completely! These bastards want to be Candle Dragon¡¯s dogs this much? Then they can die for it! Once Candle Dragon¡¯s allies are destroyed, there won¡¯t be anyone left to stop us from destroying them!\\\" Meanwhile, Hall of Immortality finally couldn¡¯t withstand the humiliation we dealt to them and stepped out! Chiang chiang chiang... The sound of blades exiting their sheaths filled the air as Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch, the guild leader of Hall of Immortality, appeared with a flaming sword and shouted, \\\"All cavalrymen, ride with me to run down Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Archers will Far Shot their Shock Arrows, and mages will Far Shot their God Devil Breaks! There is no such thing as an invincible cavalry, and we will prove it with our hands today! Follow me and destroy them all!\\\" Thundering hooves renewed in the forest, and at least 100000 Hall of Immortality cavalrymen charged toward us. There was a huge numbers disparity between our troops and theirs, but I was absolutely confident that my 10000-strong Dragonlight Cavalry troop would crush them all. Even if they weren¡¯t buffed by Knight God and Knight Generals, the quality of Hall of Immortality¡¯s cavalry troops had actually gone down compared to what they had once used to be. We could 1v10 and still come out victorious, easily! The melee took place on a huge forest clearing. Some time during the battle, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust activated their Heavenly River Transformations at the same time and unleashed their S Rank Ancient Divine Skills, Tiger Wing Slash and Dog God Slash upon the enemy. The destructive energies criss-crossed each other, dealt a massive amount of damage to the enemy army, and greatly improved our players¡¯ morale. That being said, Hall of Immortality weren¡¯t completely hopeless. Shock Arrows were stunning our Dragonlight Cavalry and turning them into easy pickings, and God Devil Breaks were annihilating at least 150k HP per hit. Without healing, our players couldn¡¯t withstand this level of DPS. Players with 20% lifesteal effects like me obviously fared much better, but players with lifesteal effects were among the minority in the first place, let alone 20% of it. It wasn¡¯t long before the Dragonlight Cavalry started to lose steam. While roaming the edges of the battlefield and firing Ultimate Strength Break, Heaven¡¯s Rain called out to me, \\\"Vice leader big bro, we need to do something about their ranged damage dealers! They¡¯re getting a bit too comfortable!\\\" \\\"Understood¡­\\\" I nodded and blocked a whole group of Hall of Immortality riders with my apparition and Phantom Wolf King. Then, I ran up a giant tree and began jumping from branch to branch like a spirit monkey. Fusion Armor made a lot of moves that weren¡¯t possible before, possible. As I landed at the center of the enemy¡¯s mages and archers, an archer with keen eyes and a sharp mind immediately cried out, \\\"Shit! Lu Chen is here!\\\" Buzz! I raised my sword high into the air and summoned a giant golden sword. Then, I split the heaven, the earth and everything in between in half in one devastating swing. It took the most elite breed of metal-armor players to barely survive an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, much less the likes of cloth and leather¨Carmor players. They never stood a chance. I wasn¡¯t done yet though. After unleashing the Xuanyuan Slash, I pointed the Death side of my blade toward the sky and activated the special skill. Three vortices of death spun wildly, and countless death energies crashed down from the sky to remove 50% HP from all enemy players within 1000 yards of me. I had already categorized Candle Dragon, Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker and all other enemy guilds as my enemies beforehand, so I didn¡¯t need to worry about hitting an innocent or allied player. Thud thud thud... While dashing sideways and smearing my boots in mud, I unleashed 19 Ancient Seals in a row and silenced an entire stretch of players. Since Xuanyuan Slash had already removed 50% of their HP beforehand, I knew that there was no chance any ranged player was going to survive my Ancient Seal bombardment. I never stopped to catch my breath. I kept charging forward and unleashing my Myriad Swords Obliteration, Summon the Storm, Thousand Ice Slash and everything else on the enemy. For a time, not even the full might of Hall of Immortality wasn¡¯t enough to pin me down. It was nighttime in the game right now, so the poor visibility also worked to my advantage. Suddenly, the night sky was temporarily illuminated by Xing Tian¡¯s giant image. It was the visual effect of the Ancient Divine Skill, Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance. A group of enemy players dropped to the attack, and High Fighting Spirits and several hundred low-health Dragonlight Cavalrymen charged out from behind. The moment he saw me, he shouted, \\\"Lu Chen and the gang have come to save us! Join up with the vice leader so we can slap the grandsons of Hall of Immortality together!\\\" In the sky, Gui Guzi hovered in the air and stabbed the ground again and again with his Ghostblade Halberd. Some distance away, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and Chaos Moon were just ending the life of Hall of Immortality¡¯s guild leader, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch. The poor sonuvabitch even got last-hit by Chaos Moon¡¯s Greedy Wolf Howl, meaning that she stole at least tens of thousands of gold from his pockets. There was nothing Chaos Moon and the skill loved more than slaughtering fat purses like his. ¡­¡­ I wasn¡¯t worried that our main force might crumble during my absence because I had left Li Chengfeng behind to supervise things. Candle Dragon was running out of players, and Warsky Alliance was struggling with all their might. Their time was almost up. When the night turned into day, and the morning sun shone on all of us once more, the mountains were littered with Hall of Immortality bodies. The ten thousand elite Dragonlight Cavalry I brought to rescue High Fighting Spirits and the 10000 Dragonlight Cavalry had dwindled to just 3700, but we had killed over 400k Hall of Immortality and Throne Seeker players in total. We had crushed most of the allies Candle Dragon had placed their hopes on, meaning that there truly was no way for them to make a comeback anymore. As I returned to the main battlefield on light footsteps, I saw Li Chengfeng flying up and down on his Blue Crystal Dragon to attack Candlelight Shadow and God¡¯s Dance. Not only were the two gods of Candle Dragon trapped in a corner by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Warsky Alliance, Purple Lily and Peach Garden had joined the fray as well. What could you do? Purple Lily and Peach Garden were the main guilds of Wind City, and they had suffered under Candle Dragon¡¯s yoke for far too long already. They didn¡¯t even care that Warsky was the one holding the City Lord Token right now. They could get back to business after Candle Dragon was snuffed out. ¡­¡­ \\\"Boss, we can¡¯t hold this any longer¡­\\\" An injury-riddled and tattered Ye Yuse said with a frown, \\\"There¡¯s no way a full-frontal assault will succeed as long as Ancient Sword is still prowling at the back. How about we withdraw for now and wait for a chance to steal the City Lord Token away? It will truly be over if we all die at this place.\\\" Candlelight Shadow considered her advice seriously before pulling her onto his mount. Then, he and his remaining troops of tens of thousands withdrew toward the mountain ridges. Our newly-minted dragon knights, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi refused to give up and bombarded Candlelight Shadow with their skills, eventually knocking the man to the ground because he was covering Ye Yuse¡¯s retreat. Bang! Candlelight Shadow unfortunately landed on top of some brambles as he hit the ground. He let out an involuntary cry of pain as his HP dropped from 7% to 3% immediately. Even his fire dragon had vanished in a pained scream. His mount tenacity¡ªas high as it was because he was a dragon knight now¡ªhad reached its end after battling the Dragonlight Cavalry for so long. \\\"Dammit!\\\" As Candlelight Shadow struggled to his feet, something completely unexpected happened. A blade pierced out of his chest and deleted the last sliver of his HP. Thud! A familiar face entered everyone¡¯s view when Candlelight Shadow dropped to his knees and died. Chapter 1319 \\\"Boss¡­\\\" Ye Yuse could only watch in shock as Candlelight Shadow crumbled in front of her. His ambusher was a Level 225 magic swordsman, and the man said with a pleased and twisted smirk on his face, \\\"Martial God my ass. This is all you amount to¡­\\\" Pu! The ambusher picked up a pair of wristguards Candlelight Shadow dropped before pulling his sword from the latter¡¯s back. The status screen above his head stated¡ª Amber Pupil LV-225 Magic Swordsman Nation: None Main City: None Guild: Dark Mercenaries Position: Leader ¡­¡­ I could hardly believe my eyes. Amber Pupil had been exiled from the China server and stripped of his in-game nationality and identity, so I wasn¡¯t expecting to ever see him again. However, not only had he returned to the China server, his very first act was to stab Candlelight Shadow in the back! \\\"Boss¡­\\\" Ye Yuse let out a dazed murmur as she watched Candlelight Shadow¡¯s body. Then, a steely look entered her eyes, and she activated her Heavenly River Transformation. She dashed sideways while hitting Amber Pupil with a Hold charm. Then, she dropped God Suppressing Pagoda that dealt over 600k damage to the magic swordsman. The spell was even more powerful than mages¡¯ Touch of the Dragonkiss. However, Amber Pupil continued smirking his twisted smirk and said, \\\"Do you think you can defeat Dark Mercenaries alone, Ye Yuse?\\\" Ye Yuse ignored him and continued attacking him, but holy light kept descending on top of Amber Pupil and healing his HP. There were dozens of priests at the foot of the hill behind him, and Ye Yuse didn¡¯t possess the firepower to immediately wipe him from the surface of the map alone. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle... I darted across the shrubberies and brambles at max speed toward the duo. The moment I entered within a hundred meters of Amber Pupil, I immediately threw my Chill of the Nine Provinces at him. \\\"Shit!\\\" One look at the spinning blade was enough to inform Amber Pupil that I had arrived. He spun around and tried to parry the skill, but his efforts proved to be completely futile. Coiling Dragon Revolution was very difficult to parry because the projectile was spinning with high speed and force. Not even Candlelight Shadow could parry it one hundred percent of the time, much less the likes of Amber Pupil! Bang! My sword penetrated his chest and caused a huge damage number to pop up¡ª390187! Unfortunately, the damage dealt by the skill was lower than expected because I had executed it from maximum range. I had no choice but to act as quickly as I could though. Amber Pupil was clearly planning to kill Ye Yuse, and I absolutely couldn¡¯t allow this to happen. Candle Dragon was our sworn enemy, but even they didn¡¯t deserve to die in the hands of a traitor like Amber Pupil. While clutching his chest in pain, a furious-looking Amber Pupil ordered in a tightly-controlled voice, \\\"Take out Ye Yuse now!\\\" Rustle rustle rustle... Countless archers burst out of their hiding spots and swarmed Ye Yuse from every direction. They were all Dark Mercenaries, and they were all eighth-promotion players. Their arrows struck impotently against Ye Yuse¡¯s Magic Shield, but it was only a matter of time they got through. Ye Yuse¡¯s class was Charm Master, so her Magic Shield wasn¡¯t as durable as proper mages¡¯. She was going to die unless someone could get to her now. The defeated troops of Candle Dragon fared even worse than Ye Yuse. Screams of pain erupted from everywhere when the arrow rain landed. Pu! An arrow pierced through Ye Yuse¡¯s Magic Shield and her chest. She staggered to the back until she hit a thick maple tree. Before she could do anything else, a couple more arrows pierced her body and hailed her to the tree trunk. Her scepter slowly dropped beside her body. \\\"Ye Yuse!\\\" Li Chengfeng descended from the sky, but the hero was too late to save the princess. Right before she died, the Charm Master stared at the bravest general of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and shot him a smile. \\\"You¡¯re too late, Li Chengfeng¡­\\\" [1] Pu! One last arrow robbed Ye Yuse of the final sliver of HP, and all that was left after a white flash was her dead body. Now, almost everyone in Candle Dragon, regardless of importance, was dead. ¡­¡­ On the mountain ridge, Amber Pupil watched us with a cold, stern expression while surrounded by a huge army of Dark Mercenaries players. They were all unaffiliated players, but I recognized some familiar faces here and there. For example, I saw some mages who, I was pretty sure, had been elite mages of Hero City. Their levels certainly spoke for themselves. For some reason, they had all abandoned their main cities and become members of Dark Mercenaries. Chaos Moon walked up to me and said in a hushed voice, \\\"It looks like the legends are true after all.\\\" \\\"LEGENDS? What legends? Just speak normally, please¡­\\\" I rolled my eyes at her attempt to be dramatic. Chaos Moon turned serious and said, \\\"After Tang Long was sentenced to life imprisonment[2], his nephew, Amber Pupil, was chased out of the China server. For half a month, he was forced to wander the outer lands as an unaffiliated player. That was until the flagship players of the Northern Alliance came to the decision to sponsor Amber Pupil and help him remake Dragons Run Wild. Now, the Dragons Run Wild guild has changed its name to Dark Mercenaries, the guild in front of us!¡± I gripped the Chill of the Nine Provinces tighter. \\\"I see. Tell everyone to get ready. We¡¯re going to test out their mettle in sixty seconds! What the hell do the Americans even see in Amber Pupil though? He doesn¡¯t have the character or the strength to deserve such support¡­\\\" Chaos Moon chuckled. \\\"He¡¯s a traitor, that¡¯s why. When you were exiled by Tang Long, you had devastated the Japanese in Final Duel Valley so much that Elephant City couldn¡¯t help but invite you to become their West King. Amber Pupil is just a pure traitor though. He and around 40k Chinese players had willingly cut themselves off from their own main cities, become unaffiliated and fought for scraps in the outer lands like wolves. It¡¯s exactly because he is a selfish bastard that the Northern Alliance is willing to sponsor him and bring him back into the game. As you may have noticed, Dark Mercenaries are here to lay claim to our Gold City. The Northern Alliance is obviously plotting to weaken our strength through Dark Mercenaries.\\\" \\\"It¡¯s a nice dream, but it¡¯s still a dream nonetheless.\\\" I clenched my fists and gnashed my teeth. \\\"I would rather give up on a City of Heaven than allow Dark Mercenaries to set foot on our homeland for even a second longer!\\\" Chaos Moon added, \\\"On the surface, Dark Mercenaries are a mercenary guild who¡¯ll throw their lives away for anyone who pays them well. They are very different from your standard mercenary guild though. For starters, they are at least 500k players strong, so we cannot afford to underestimate them¡­\\\" It was at this moment a thousand-man captain of Dragonlight Cavalry asked me, \\\"Vice leader, do we really have to go up against Dark Mercenaries? I thought we were here for Gold City[3]¡­\\\" I nodded. \\\"Yeah, the situation has changed.\\\" While saying this, I leaped up to a giant rock and pointed at Amber Pupil¡¯s party. Right now, they were about 300 yards away from us. I shouted, \\\"Brothers and sisters, there is a saying that human beings will die for riches, just as birds will for food, and that is exactly correct! After all, the reason we came all the way here was just to earn some extra contribution points. However, the traitor, Amber Pupil, has snuck into our homeland with evil plans in his mind, and someone has to stop him and his guild. ¡°Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon may leave Dark Mercenaries alone to seize Gold City, but we cannot! We are the shield of the China server, the guild of brothers and sisters who are forged by the hot blood in our veins! We would rather die to the last person than allow our enemies to invade our homes! Our nation¡¯s needs come first, and right now our nation needs us to stop Dark Mercenaries from whatever it is they¡¯re planning! You only live once in this life. Will you let it be one where you¡¯ll look back and regret everything? To that, I say no!\\\" Buzz! The Chill of the Nine Provinces shone, and all 30000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen standing in front of me unsheathed their weapons in response. We could have pursued the remnants of Candle Dragon and their allies, but we chose not to because of Dark Mercenaries¡¯ appearance. These cruel and greedy bastards must be chased out of the China server as soon as possible, or we would surely regret the consequences later! \\\"Little Gui, take 5000 men with you and attack from the left. Chengfeng, you do the same from the right. The rest of you, you¡¯ll be joining me on the full-frontal assault. We¡¯re going to catch the enemy from three different directions and crush them like the bugs they are. On a side note, make sure you hit as many people with your Ultimate Strength Break. Dark Mercenaries vastly outnumber us, so it is up to your proper use of Ultimate Strength Break to win this battle!\\\" After everyone gave me a nod of acknowledgement, I wasted no more time and raced for the mountain ridge. I raced way ahead of everyone so that the enemy would focus their firepower on me instead of the Dragonlight Cavalry. I checked my remaining Divine Energy Points while shrouding myself in Battle Astral Wind. I only had 57 points left, which meant that I could unleash the Xuanyuan Slash two more times at most. Provided that the angle was excellent, an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill was powerful and wide enough to one-shot a thousand players at once. Unfortunately, its cost was just as great. I would have to choose my timing carefully. If only we could have thousands of Divine Energy Points... ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Amber Pupil stared straight at me while growling, \\\"Lu Chen is coming. I want everyone to kill him with everything you¡¯ve got. Archers, decide now who among you will be spamming Shock Arrows, and the other group, Skypiercers. Mages, surround Lu Chen with God Devil Breaks. Taking him out is the fastest way to make the entire China server tremble beneath out boots!\\\" Ting ting ting ting¡­ It was impossible to dodge all the arrows flying toward me, but I didn¡¯t need to. I activated Ghost Spirit Step Art and gave myself a 75% chance to evade an incoming attack. I changed my movement speed and direction repeatedly to trick the archers into missing me. Those I couldn¡¯t dodge, I either parried with the Chill of the Nine Provinces or relied on the Battle Astral Wind to catch them all. Heaven only knows how much damage Battle Astral Wind stopped with this one charge alone. Crack! When I reached a suitable distance, I abruptly crushed a protruding rock under my boot and shot toward Amber Pupil like an arrow. Then, I executed my signature skill, Burning Blade Slash! Boom boom boom! As the triple-hit skill deleted over 70% of Amber Pupil¡¯s HP, I swung my blade across his neck and produced a MISS. It wasn¡¯t an execution error, however. I had hit him with a Pardon so that his healers couldn¡¯t outheal the next combo of skills I was going to hit him with! Amber Pupil was well aware of what I was planning. While backpedaling frantically, he shouted, \\\"Heal me now! Now!\\\" I threw my sword at him using Coiling Dragon Revolution. The ranged skill was more than enough to delete over 50% of his HP after Pardon. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Unfortunately, Amber Pupil activated his invincibility skill at the last moment and caused my blade to bounce harmlessly off of his body. I frowned but refrained from killing him with Xuanyuan Slash. He wasn¡¯t worth 20 Divine Energy Points, especially since I could just kill him after the invincibility ran out. Whoosh! Suddenly, a sea of flames engulfed my person, shredded my Battle Astral Wind and dealt over 400k damage to me. It was Hellish Tribulation, the Onmyouji class¡¯s ultimate skill! I looked up. Standing between some mountain rocks was none other than the Onmyouji, Now and Forever. ¡­¡­ I grinned. So the former guild leader of Sword Lord of Jianghu had joined Dark Mercenaries as well! Whatever they were planning, they weren¡¯t pulling their punches for sure! 1. T/N: this totally isn¡¯t foreshadowing anything, nope. 2. T/N: Holy shit Tang Long truly is the politician. Chengfeng was so sure he would get the death penalty, but he managed to change it to life imprisonment instead 3. E/N: And we thought too much food spoils the stomach and that you are here for Candle Dragon. I guess we were both wrong¡­ Chapter 1320 \\\"Motherfucker! It¡¯s that bastard Now and Forever!\\\" High Fighting Spirits¡¯ eyes turned bloodshot instantly. \\\"That guy¡¯s the very first animal to betray Lu Chen under Tang Long¡¯s orders, and Dark Mercenaries accepted someone like him? This guild truly is a public toilet! Every fly in the fucking world is trying to squeeze into the shithole!\\\" \\\"Kill them¡­\\\" I summoned my apparition on top of a group of tacticians and priests and made it use Burning Blade Slash and War Crush. My apparition\\\''s total Attack was 75% of mine. It wasn¡¯t strong enough to one-shot a metal-armor player, but it was a different story with cloth-armor players. \\\"Roar roar¡­\\\" A red furball rushed toward the enemy, swiped every player who was in its way and unleashed a Purgatory Storm. While doing so, it swiped at the surrounding enemies and triggered Claws of the Storm three times in a row. Each hit dealt at latest 200k damage since the little wolf was now Level 230. Its only weakness was its poor Defense, and that was speaking comparatively. ¡­¡­ On the mountain ridge, Now and Forever dropped Ghastly Plague on top of my Phantom Wolf King after he zigzagged away from my Dragon Slaying Slash. Then, he dropped Yin Yang Mirror on a friendly blond-haired priest who was being targeted by the Phantom Wolf King. Dang! Not only was the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s attack reflected, the damage it received was categorized as true damage! 762882! The Phantom Wolf King let out a painful howl as it deleted more than half of its own HP. The next moment, it was engulfed by a bunch of God Devil Breaks and sent back to my pet space. As it turned out, these motherfuckers were as good as Candle Dragon itself! The Northern Alliance sure didn¡¯t spare any effort in transforming them into a deadly threat against the Center! Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and everyone else fought some distance behind me. The mountain ridge was crawling with rows and rows of archers and mages, and their combined barrage was too much even for the Dragonlight Cavalry to bear. Of all the skills we were catching, God Devil Break was easily the worst due to how powerful it was. Even the weakest mage among the enemy was dealing 150k damage at least. \\\"Throw them back with sheer ranged firepower! Frontliners, don¡¯t even bother counterattacking! Just hold the line as best you can! We have the strongest ranged firepower in the entire world, and it is an advantage Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will never have!\\\" a cackling Amber Pupil shouted from a rock on the mountain ridge. After the bastard had returned to full health, he had thrown himself into coordinating the assault against Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. His boasts weren¡¯t baseless. Dark Mercenaries¡¯ mages and archers were made up of Northern Alliance elites and mercenaries who danced atop a knife¡¯s edge everyday to survive life in the outer lands. They were either incredibly skilled, fearless, or both, and they had proven strong enough to threaten even our guild. Of course, part of the reason we were on the back foot was because we had only brought 70k cavalrymen with us. It was fine though. Besides destroying Candle Dragon, I had come here with the goal of honing my players¡¯ skills even further. Even if every Dragonlight Cavalryman was to perish in battle, their ability to deal with enemies with superior numbers would vastly improve. Back to the present. Dark Mercenaries had set up three rows of magic knights along the entire mountain ridge. They dropped their shields in front of themselves, covered their bodies with them and abandoned all attempts to attack. In a sense, they were guarding but without using the Guard skill. It was why we couldn¡¯t just rip our way through their defense line with Crushing Blow. ¡­¡­ Chiang chiang chiang... Diamond Dust swung her sword three or four times and successfully killed several Dark Mercenaries cavalrymen. However, not only did she fail to breach through the enemy line, she took a volley of magic spells and arrows and dropped to just 25% HP or so. I hurriedly ordered, \\\"Retreat now, Diamond Dust! Don¡¯t come back until you¡¯re back to full health! In fact, all party leaders, do NOT risk your lives like you¡¯re expendable. Your Famous General Skills are what¡¯s keeping all of us alive¡­\\\" My arm suddenly turned cold while I was saying this, and I didn¡¯t hesitate to shatter a couple magic knights¡¯ defenses with a basic attack that dealt septuple damage before following up with Burning Blade Slash, wiping out all the mages and priests behind them from existence. Before I could push deeper though, a great number of blood-red tigers shook the earth with their roars and plugged the hole I had created. It was the enemy¡¯s tamer legion taking action against me. Every single tamer had at least 2 or 3 tigers, and although it was an Earth Rank pet they made up for the lack of quality with quantity. Dark Mercenaries must¡¯ve found them in a secret map and caught them all. It was a meaty, sweaty battle. The Dragonlight Cavalry fought fearlessly on the frontline and killed countless with Barrier Break. Ultimate Strength Break in particular always managed to inflict a painful blow to the enemy. However, the players of Dark Mercenaries were just as fearless, and what they lacked in strength they made up with sheer numbers. The death ratio was about 5 to 1, but they were slowly but surely grinding down the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s effective strength. They also had ranged support from their mages, archers, tamers, tacticians and priests, while we only had the Dragonlight Archers. Speaking of the Dragonlight Archers, I was infinitely glad that I had decided to bring them along. The prolonged battle had reduced their numbers to just 9000 or so, but they were easily the biggest reason why we were still in the battle. On the ground, Hymn of the Apocalypse kept barking orders and organizing volleys of Spiraling Arrow Blades and Skypiercers that made life a living hell for the enemy. It was a shame Beiming Xue was currently unavailable, or the scales of battle might¡¯ve been tipped in our favor. Time passed, and my allies died one by one around me. Even my Chill of the Nine Provinces was starting to suffer visible weapon damage. Boom! After Chaos Moon struck down a group of players with Rock Crush, she looked around her and clicked her tongue in displeasure. \\\"Come on! It hasn¡¯t been an hour since the start of the battle, and it¡¯s looking like we¡¯re going to be wiped out already!\\\" She was right. The slopes were covered in bodies of way too many friendlies. Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng were doing their best from the sky, but there were just too many Dark Mercenaries, and not enough of us. Dark Mercenaries had shown up with at least 350k players, and each of them was an elite of some sort. On the other hand, we were only 70k players strong, and we had fought against Pop Culture, Candle Dragon, Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker, Rose of the Holy Domain and more before this. The Dragonlight Cavalry were elite, but they were hardly invincible. \\\"How many players do we have left?\\\" I asked. Heaven¡¯s Rain replied while gripping a sword that was coated in fresh blood. \\\"Not much at all. We only have 7000+ Dragonlight Cavalry and less than 2000 Dragonlight Archers left¡­\\\" I shook my head. Earlier, Now and Forever¡¯s squad had successfully ambushed the Dragonlight Archers and dealt a massive blow to them. The Dragonlight Cavalry hadn¡¯t had time to pull back and recuperate either. Over 85% of our players were dead at this point. It wasn¡¯t all bad news though. In fact, I could declare with confidence that we were definitely not the losers of this battle. We had killed at least 250k Dark Mercenaries players in total and claimed over 80% of the loot on the battlefield. Every dead Dragonlight Cavalryman had picked up at least 3 to 5 high-level pieces of equipment before they died. Their gains were well worth the level loss. ¡­¡­ As Dark Mercenaries¡¯ casualties grew, so did Amber Pupil¡¯s impatience. He was still carrying out his duty and encouraging his troops, however. While killing a Dragonlight Cavalryman with a fireball, he shouted, \\\"Hold! We still have 100000 elites, while they have dwindled to just a couple thousand! Kill the Dragonlight Cavalry and shatter Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ legend of invincibility! Slap the Chinese¡¯s faces as hard as you can!\\\" Gui Guzi raged from the sky, \\\"Amber Pupil, you shameless fuck! You¡¯re a goddamned Chinese yourself! Is this how you treat your own birth country?\\\" Amber Pupil sneered. \\\"Birth country? I have fought for the China server since Spirit of Grief for three years, but what did I get? Not only was I labeled a traitor, I would¡¯ve been arrested if I hadn¡¯t moved to Washington! Pooh! Why the fuck should I care about a country who would tolerate such injustice?\\\" Gui Guzi was so angry he swooped down on Amber Pupil and scored a massive combo, but the archers surrounding the traitor responded by dropping his mount tenacity to just 31% with a volley of Mountain Stagger Arrows. Left with no choice, Gui Guzi could only withdraw to safety and wait for another opportunity. Amber Pupil was surprisingly good at setting up a defense-in-depth, and even I couldn¡¯t penetrate it deep enough to one-shot him, much less Gui Guzi. ¡­¡­ \\\"We¡¯re going to lose everyone if we keep this up¡­\\\" Li Chengfeng said. I nodded in agreement. \\\"Dragon knights, stay behind to protect the rear. Everyone else, withdraw to the forest for now and restore yourselves to full health. We¡¯ll deal with them later¡­\\\" The Dragonlight Cavalry was faster, so the enemy couldn¡¯t stop us from retreating. That didn¡¯t stop Amber Pupil from swinging his sword and declaring, \\\"Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is defeated! Chase them down and wipe them all out!\\\" The mountain ridge was what separated the outer lands and Chinese lands, and right now Dark Mercenaries players were crossing over to our soil. It wasn¡¯t a Nation War, but it definitely counted as an invasion. On the sky, Gui Guzi swore in frustration, \\\"Dammit! If Boss He Yi, Lian Xin and Beiming were here, these idiots would be screaming for their mothers already! Boss Broken Halberd, let¡¯s contact the main guild and tell them to send us some reinforcements already!\\\" I nodded. \\\"I agree!\\\" I sent a message to He Yi. \\\"Eve, we¡¯ve run into a bit of trouble. Can you tell Lian Xin and sis to send over the elite mages and priests? I also want the 200k elites of Bloody Mercenaries. Thanks!\\\" He Yi replied with a smiley face emoji. \\\"Dark Mercenaries, right? I¡¯ll get it done right away. Silver City is basically ours anyway.\\\" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, our remaining troops had withdrawn to the forest and were healing themselves using skills or potions. A couple hundred meters away, Dark Mercenaries were chasing after us. \\\"Look, Warsky Alliance has finally shown up¡­\\\" Less than a hundred meters away from Gold City, I saw Warsky riding out with the Immortal Blade in one hand and the City Lord Token in the other. He shot us a glance and said, \\\"I guess that trash of a human being called Amber Pupil isn¡¯t completely useless after all. C¡¯mon, men! It¡¯s time we repay Lu Chen¡¯s favor and give those motherfuckers a taste of our blades!\\\" However, Farewell Song suddenly appeared beside him and whispered something. The smile on his face was gone just like that. \\\"Guild leader?\\\" a magic knight asked. Warsky¡¯s mouth twitched before he ordered, \\\"Form a shield formation and seal off the northern gate of Gold City in case Purple Lily and Peach Garden decide to take us by surprise. There¡¯s only 20 hours or so left before Gold City is ours, and we can¡¯t afford to screw up now!\\\" The magic knight shuddered. \\\"You want us to cut off Ancient Sword¡¯s retreat?\\\" \\\"That¡¯s right!\\\" Warsky replied without hesitation, \\\"Warsky Alliance and Ancient Sword are both top-tier guilds in China. It has always been a matter of time before we came to blows with each other!\\\" Chapter 1321 Chiang chiang chiang¡­ Rows and rows of heavy shields dropped on the ground as thousands of Cyanscale Cavalrymen formed a shield formation at the eastern gate of Gold City. It was evident that nearly all of them were buffed by recovery spells from priests and buffs from bards. Although the Cyanscale Cavalry¡¯s individual combat abilities were far weaker than the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s, the buffs had lessened that gap to almost negligible. When Gui Guzi saw the Cyanscale Cavalry¡¯s movements, he realized what Warsky was planning and roared from the sky, \\\"What the fuck are you doing, Warsky? We helped you take out Candle Dragon¡¯s main force, and you repay us by cutting off our retreat? Have you forgotten how we rescued you when Candle Dragon pulled the same thing on you at Dawn Valley?\\\" Li Chengfeng was also raging, \\\"Are you stupid or are you just an ingrate, Warsky!? Dark Mercenaries is led by the traitor Amber Pupil himself, and they¡¯re literally invading our borders right now! This is not the time to backstab a fellow comrade-in-arms!\\\" ¡­¡­ On the walls of Gold City, Warsky stared at the two dragon knights and I for a moment before saying in an apologetic tone, \\\"Lu Chen, Li Chengfeng, Wang Xu. You are right. I, Warsky, have definitely done my former saviors a disservice today. However, Gold City is too important to Warsky Alliance, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is the ally of Purple Lily and Peach Garden. Call me a cynical person, but I simply don¡¯t trust you enough to let you into the city. If nothing else, I have a responsibility to Warsky Alliance and the hundreds of thousands of brothers who believe in me!\\\" He then planted the Immortal Blade into a gap between the bricks, leaned against an arrowslit and ordered, \\\"Archers and mages, prepare to attack any player who enters within 100 yards of the city who isn¡¯t our ally. I¡¯ve sent a message to our allied guilds at Vanished God City and Wind City and requested reinforcements of two million in total. All we need to do is to hold Gold City until then!\\\" On the ground, the Dragonlight Cavalry couldn¡¯t help but curse and wave their fists at Warsky. ¡­¡­ I frowned. Warsky was so determined to occupy Gold City that he was willing to borrow even Dark Mercenaries¡¯ aid to wipe us out. We were an unpredictable element in this war, and considering his cautious personality, it was no wonder he would like to be rid of us. His guild wouldn¡¯t even suffer any reputation loss since his guild technically wasn¡¯t the aggressor. Behind us, Dark Mercenaries¡¯ players had already caught up to us. Their foremost riders were just reining in their mounts and taking a moment to reorganize themselves. I spun and gazed at Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, High Fighting Spirits and everyone else. Then, I declared, \\\"Brothers and sisters, prepare to turn around and annihilate the enemy. Dark Mercenaries are the direct threat in front of us, so let¡¯s take them out first and settle the score with Warsky Alliance later. Dark Mercenaries will pay the blood price for invading our borders! That dog on the wall will regret thinking that this mob will be enough to wipe out Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ strongest cavalry!\\\" I checked the time while everyone was raising their weapons and shouting their battle cries. There were still five plus hours before Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue and Lu Buyi¡¯s armies would reach us. One way or another, our 9000+ troops must survive until their arrival. Rustle rustle... Meanwhile, Amber Pupil reined his mount to a halt after he reached the frontline. When he realized what was going on below the city walls, he let out a bark of laughter and called out to Warsky, \\\"Well fucking done, Brother Warsky, hahaha! As thanks, I promise to slay your rival to the last man and woman!\\\" However, Warsky only frowned at him with deep disdain and said, \\\"Who said you could talk to me, Amber Pupil? You are a stray dog who sold yourself to the Northern Alliance to take revenge against your own homeland. It disgusts me to even hear you say my name. Pooh! Just watch. The moment you¡¯re done with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I¡¯ll come out and kill the rest of you myself!\\\" Amber Pupil¡¯s smile froze for a second. Unable to endure the humiliation, he waved his heavy sword and ordered, \\\"Attack! Kill all Ancient Sword players!\\\" ¡­¡­ My players simply smiled and brandished their weapons at the enemy. Not a single person was afraid despite being outnumbered 10 to 1. So what if we all died here? We would¡¯ve dealt a heavy blow to Dark Mercenaries nonetheless. If there was one thing I was unhappy about though, it would be that Gold City was looking to fall into Warsky Alliance¡¯s hands. Warsky was a great manager, and he was supported by an intelligent beauty like October Rain. He had allied guilds all over the place, and he enjoyed a great reputation in the China server. Candle Dragon, Purple Lily, Peach Garden, Snowy Cathaya and the other top guilds might dare to challenge Warsky Alliance, but everyone else would leave him alone just because he was Warsky. It was the same reason why there were no longer any attackers left at Silver City. \\\"Kill them all!\\\" I activated the Xuanyuan Art again and removed 50% HP from the enemy players in front of me. The Dragonlight Cavalry immediately executed Barrier Break + flurry skill combos and destroyed them all before Dark Mercenaries¡¯ healers could save them. My sword, even if it was merely a pseudo version of one of the Twelve Divine Armaments, was ridiculously powerful, and Amber Pupil could do nothing about it except ordering the surviving members to withdraw to the backline and heal back to full. Unfortunately for him, the Xuanyuan Art only had a cooldown of 6 minutes. Every time I used it, the enemy¡¯s offense would be greatly disrupted. Boom boom boom¡­. My sword auras tore through armor and flesh and spilled blood everywhere. I and my Divine Generals would¡¯ve been able to kill even more enemies if we hadn¡¯t completely run out of Divine Energy Points, which led us to the biggest problem our cavalry was currently facing: a lack of decisive firepower. Forget using our Ancient Divine Skills, we couldn¡¯t even maintain Great Earth Transformation. Even Gui Guzi could no longer maintain his Killer God Formation, and that was another 25% boost to all stats that our Dragonlight Cavalry couldn¡¯t enjoy. Not all hope was lost, however. We were 70k strong at the beginning, and our numbers had dwindled to less than 10k. However, everyone who survived up until this point was among the best of the best. Dark Mercenaries wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat us without considerable effort. The battle lasted for nearly one and a half hours. Bodies stacked on top of each other like blocks where our armies met. Dark Mercenaries¡¯ number of able-bodied players had dwindled to less than 30k, and the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s had dwindled to just 5k. However, the pressure on our bodies had actually lessened instead. It was clear that the Dark Mercenaries guild was going to lose if this continued. \\\"Impossible!\\\" Amber Pupil clenched his fists and swore when he finally realized that the impossible was about to happen. They were over 350k strong at the beginning, and they were about to lose to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ 70k Dragonlight Cavalrymen! And that was after pretending that Candle Dragon hadn¡¯t depleted our strength! Amber Pupil couldn¡¯t accept this. How could they be losing when nearly every player in his guild was an elite chosen by the Northern Alliance itself!? ¡­¡­ Buzz... A black shadow fell from the sky before the painful howls of the Dark Crystal Dragon followed. It was Gui Guzi finally losing his mount tenacity and collapsing atop a pool of blood. He would have to wait 10 minutes before the Dark Crystal Dragon could be resummoned. He wasn¡¯t deterred in the slightest, however. He immediately climbed back to his feet and charged into the fray once more. It was at this moment Li Chengfeng pointed his Crimson Refinement Sword to the west. \\\"Look, Lu Chen! Our reinforcements have arrived!\\\" \\\"You¡¯re joking. It hasn¡¯t even been two hours,\\\" I said with a chuckle. When I looked though, I realized that Li Chengfeng was correct. It wasn¡¯t Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue, but Peach Garden who had come to help us. Indigo Collar himself had brought several thousand men with him, and they struck Dark Mercenaries¡¯ sides without hesitation. \\\"Hot damn!\\\" I shouted, \\\"Aren¡¯t you attacking Gold City, Indigo Collar? Did you suddenly grow a conscience or something?\\\" Indigo Collar spat on the ground. \\\"Shut up! Warsky Alliance¡¯s reinforcements are too numerous, and they¡¯ve even teleported siege weapons into the city! Almost all of my players were wiped out by their aerial advantage alone! Since conquering the city is no longer possible, I thought I might as well help you out and take out these motherfuckers instead!\\\" \\\"Get killing then, hahaha!\\\" I replied with a laugh, \\\"Once Dark Mercenaries are dead and our main force arrives, you wanna join us and try sieging Gold City again? Warsky backstabbed us earlier, so we ain¡¯t giving him Gold City!\\\" \\\"Sure! Are you giving the city to us or Purple Lily though?\\\" \\\"We¡¯ll cross that bridge when it comes!\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" ¡­¡­ The combined efforts of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Peach Garden proved enough to overcome Dark Mercenaries. In the end, there were only a couple thousand of them left cowering inside their forest. Amber Pupil was frowning deeply and staring at us when he uttered, \\\"Now and Forever, you told me we couldn¡¯t lose if we kept holding this terrain! So why are we still losing despite having depleted all their Divine Energy Points?\\\" Now and Forever was hiding inside the forest and killing the Dragonlight Cavalry one by one with his ghastly flames. His lips split into a sinister grin as he answered, \\\"Who knows? Maybe it¡¯s because our guild is too new, and we aren¡¯t running like a well-oiled machine yet. Be patient. When the Northern Alliance delivers their men and equipment, we¡¯ll grow stronger than ever before.\\\" \\\"What do we do now?\\\" ¡°We escape using our Escape Scrolls!\\\" \\\"Got it!\\\" Amber Pupil, Now and Forever, and the executive-level players of Dark Mercenaries all crushed red-colored scrolls and vanished into thin air. They had probably teleported to another map. These people grinded in the outer lands, so I wasn¡¯t exactly surprised they possessed items that we hadn¡¯t even heard about. ¡­¡­ The fight continued a bit longer, and finally there were no Dark Mercenaries players left on the battlefield. \\\"Kaka¡­\\\" Holding a bloody Ghostblade Halberd and standing in the middle of a sea of corpses, Gui Guzi let out a cackle and said, \\\"Dark Mercenaries my ass! Maybe they¡¯re strong enough to show off their biceps in the outer lands, but here? Idiots!\\\" Li Chengfeng asked me loudly, \\\"What do we do now, Lu Chen?\\\" I pointed my sword at Gold City next. \\\"There are still 15 hours left on the clock. We¡¯re gonna join forces with Purple Lily and Peach Garden and uproot all of Warsky Alliance¡¯s effective strength! There is no reason to gift Warsky the Gold City when he backstabbed us in front of the enemy!\\\" \\\"Got it!\\\" ¡­¡­ Before we could do anything though, a new army suddenly appeared from the horizon. They were led by Wang Dongliang, Little Piglet, Shangguan Wan¡¯er, Roaming Dragon, Iron Pardon, Coldmoon Rose and many more familiar faces. Purgatory Mad Dragon had withdrawn after getting their asses kicked by Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance ten hours ago, but now they were back with new forces! Chapter 1322 \\\"Purgatory Mad Dragon is here!\\\" Li Chengfeng leaped off his dragon¡¯s back and landed elegantly in front of me. \\\"During the earlier assault, Purgatory Mad Dragon had withdrawn after sustaining just a moderate amount of losses. I know it sounds like a miracle, but it looks like Wang Dongliang has finally grown some brain cells. He had learned to wait for Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Purple Lily and more to whittle themselves down before rejoining the battle.\\\" Gui Guzi asked, \\\"What is our next step then? Are we still sieging the city?\\\" I hurriedly shook my head. \\\"No, no. Purgatory Mad Dragon only has one top-tier expert, and that¡¯s Little Piglet. However, Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s greatest strength lies in their player quantity, not quality. There are still 14+ hours before the end of this event, and we¡¯ve exhausted almost all of our Dragonlight Cavalry. I suggest that we withdraw into the mountain forest and see what happens next.\\\" \\\"Mn.\\\" ¡­¡­ And so, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ remnant cavalry turned around and followed me into the forest right next to us. We weren¡¯t worried that we would run into Purgatory Mad Dragon because we were moving in different directions, and even we were, well, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi were leading the way in the sky, and I was guiding the troops on the ground. Wang Dongliang was an idiot, but he wasn¡¯t idiotic enough to engage us in battle. He hurriedly put a stop to some of his more impulsive subordinates before they could attack us. \\\"Ignore them. Ancient Sword is just here to muddy the waters. They¡¯ve also lost most of their troops during the battle against Dark Mercenaries, so they won¡¯t interfere unless we provoke them ourselves. Right now, our goal is Gold City.\\\" He then unsheathed his blade and spoke louder, \\\"We will be standing by the eastern gate and wait for our siege weapons to arrive. Once they do, we will be engaging the enemy immediately. Brother Chao, take 200000 men with you, seal off the surrounding canyon entrances and prevent Warsky Alliance¡¯s reinforcements from reaching them. Kill whoever dares to cross your path. We will have Gold City one way or another!\\\" His vice leader, Roaming Dragon, gladly accepted the order before raising his spear into the air. \\\"Iron Pardon, Inconstant, take our first, second and third subguilds with you. We will be intercepting Warsky Alliance¡¯s reinforcements while the guild leader handles the siege.\\\" Iron Pardon nodded. He was the corps commander of Purgatory Mad Dragon now, and this was a perfect opportunity for him to score some brownie points. He wasn¡¯t going to let it slip through his grasp. ¡­¡­ Blood and gore surrounded every inch of Gold City. Gold City possessed the highest value among the four Cities of Heaven, so it made perfect sense that it would be contested by the best guilds in the world. The four best guilds fighting for Gold City¡ªCandle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Purple Lily and Peach Garden¡ªhad exhausted most of their forces after 30 some hours. Candle Dragon had been defeated by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ cavalry troops, and Purple Lily and Peach Garden¡¯s total effective strength didn¡¯t even amount to 100k players right now. Theoretically speaking, there was no chance they would be able to threaten the 300k Warsky Alliance players holed up inside Gold City, not to mention their incoming allies. Warsky must¡¯ve promised those guilds the world. Why else would they throw away their lives for someone else¡¯s benefit? While this was going on, I was sitting atop a giant rock on a small hill and waiting for my HP, MP and equipment durability to recover. I commented while narrowing my eyes at the distant city, \\\"Heavens, Purgatory Mad Dragon is seriously too much. Quality aside, it is an impressive feat to gather 108 subguilds, or at least 3 million players under one banner. I have no idea how Wang Dongliang manages to feed all these people¡­\\\" Li Chengfeng answered my doubts while leaning against a tree and hugging his Crimson Refinement Sword, \\\"From what I heard, Roaming Dragon told his father that Mad Dragon was the Top 3 guild of China, that it was loved and respected by all players in Heavenblessed, blah blah blah, and basically swindled his father into forking out 1 billion RMB to create Purgatory Mad Dragon. He then proceeded to hire men, buy equipment and strengthen Purgatory Mad Dragon as best he could so as to give it a real chance to contend for first spot on the Guild Ranking of China. ¡°Also, did you notice that there¡¯s an extra symbol beside Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s guild emblem? That¡¯s Lu Chao¡¯s father¡¯s company logo. Assuming that Purgatory Mad Dragon manages to become the second best or best guild in the country, the advertising and reputation growth the company would enjoy does make the ridiculous investment, to a certain extent, worth it.\\\" Gui Guzi said, \\\"I heard that they purchased a ton of Immortal-grade pieces of equipment that are Level 200 or higher from all four main cities about a week ago. They were used to strengthen their elite players; players who are living in their offline gaming base. They¡¯re basically copying our method except that our gaming base only has less than one thousand players, while theirs has over fifty thousand!\\\" I couldn¡¯t help but exclaim in shock, \\\"Holy shit, they¡¯re wealthy!\\\" \\\"I know right? Anyway, it¡¯s time to see how strong Purgatory Mad Dragon is now¡­\\\" \\\"Yeah, I can¡¯t wait¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ The bad news was that nothing happened until almost nearly 3 hours later. The good news was that I wasn¡¯t disappointed when something finally happened. A long, long line of siege weapons escorted by an army of cavalrymen had appeared from the horizon, and I counted at least a hundred White Marsh Catapults and thousands of ballistae and catapults. Warsky Alliance was in danger now. In a sense, Wang Dongliang was going to bury Warsky Alliance in a bank vault¡¯s worth of cash! \\\"Grab your popcorn, people!\\\" Li Chengfeng cackled while rubbing his palms together in anticipation. I rose to my feet and focused my sight on the battlefield as well. This was a show I shouldn¡¯t miss, not to mention that Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue were still one or two hours away from arriving. Anyway, there was no hurry. Let¡¯s see Purgatory Mad Dragon\\\''s money-infused strength. ¡­¡­ Chiang! Meanwhile, Wang Dongliang was pointing his sword at Gold City and shouting, \\\"Brothers and sisters, this marks the first battle of Purgatory Mad Dragon since its conception! Gold City is a true king of cities that deserves to be ruled by a true king, and who¡¯s to say that the king cannot be us!? Charge and occupy the city for the Gold Cavalry! Kill Warsky and take the City Lord Token from his cold, dead hands! In fact, let¡¯s make this a competition, shall we? The person who succeeds in claiming the City Lord Token will be given a monetary reward of 10 million RMB! I will pay you right off the bat so that no one can say I go back on my promises!\\\" The players of Purgatory Mad Dragon immediately roared in excitement when they heard that the City Lord Token was worth 10 million RMB. Why would they be so excited, you ask? If you have money, you can live in a huge house of your choosing. If you have money, you can have a beautiful woman with long legs, big breasts, a bubble butt and a pretty face. If you have money, you can make all the disdainful eyes around you disappear. Therefore, for the sake of their sex life and dignity, they must have money, no matter the cost! The assault began, and the cavalrymen of Purgatory Mad Dragon galloped fearlessly toward the rain of arrows and magic spells. They were able to set up their siege towers and cloud ladders in a reasonable amount of time and begin scaling the walls of the Gold City. \\\"White Marsh Catapults, make sure you don¡¯t target the walls! The walls of Gold City are indestructible, so it¡¯d just be a waste of energy! Target their key players like Warsky, Farewell Song and October Rain or their mages and archers! Kill off all the effective forces! Also, no need to conserve the payload of White Marsh Catapults for me! I can afford it!\\\" Wang Dongliang barked out a series of orders. Beside him, Profound Puff the priest licked his lips and commented, \\\"Bro, one White Marsh payload is worth 500 RMB, you know? Are you sure?\\\" Wang Dongliang smirked. \\\"Hmph. Maybe I would be more conservative if it was just my business group, but we also have the funds from Brother Chao¡¯s family. What¡¯s the point of hoarding all this wealth if we aren¡¯t going to use it? I certainly don¡¯t mind using some of it to smash Warsky¡¯s stupid face in. He thinks he¡¯s the hot shit just because he got the Immortal Blade? We¡¯ll see what he has to say after we bury him in a mountain of RMB. Ideally, we¡¯ll rob him of the Immortal Blade and destroy Warsky Alliance once and for all!\\\" \\\"Got it.\\\" ¡­¡­ On the wall of Gold City, Warsky was swinging the Immortal Blade and sending heaps of Purgatory Mad Dragon players tumbling down their ladders. He ordered, \\\"Fire at will with all you¡¯ve got! Purgatory Mad Dragon thinks they¡¯re real smart coming after us after we¡¯re depleted, so show them that we¡¯re not one to be defeated by honorless cravens even without potions or supplies!\\\" Countless arrows and magic spells flew over the walls and landed on top of Purgatory Mad Dragon players. The sounds of fire burning against skin and steel cutting through flesh came together to form a symphony of death. Warsky Alliance had a couple of super high-level mages who were capable of casting what looked to be forbidden spells. I saw multiple fireballs with a radius of ten meters crashing on top of Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s players and one-shotting almost all of them. They quickly became the thorn in Wang Dongliang¡¯s side. Wang Dongliang pointed his sword at the city again and barked, \\\"Whte Marsh Catapults, stop whatever you¡¯re doing for now and aim your sights at those fucking mages! When I count to 3, fire your payloads and wipe them from the surface of this earth!\\\" After the calibrations were complete, Wang Dongliang shouted, \\\"1! 2! 3! Fire!\\\" Clack clack clack... The ropes came loose, and nearly 30 White Marsh payloads flew toward mages at the same time. The metaphor of being buried by a mountain of money had never been so real until now. It was such a stunning sight that even the mages couldn¡¯t comprehend what was going on for a time. Shocked but not stunned, Warsky yelled at his mages, \\\"The fuck are you waiting for? BLINK!!!\\\" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Those with a quick reaction time were able to Blink out of harm¡¯s way. The rest of them couldn¡¯t claim the same. There was a series of deafening explosions, and that corner of Gold City looked like someone had dropped a nuke on it. Hundreds of mages including a couple of super mages burned to death just like that. The power of a P2W siege weapon was definitely no joke. \\\"White Marsh Catapults! Fuck!\\\" Warsky gripped his Immortal Blade and uttered through gritted teeth, \\\"Rally the Cyanscale Cavalry! I¡¯ll lead the raid and destroy those White Marsh Catapults myself! We¡¯re all going to die if we allow them to keep doing this¡­\\\" However, a half-transparent Farewell Song advised, \\\"Calm down, Warsky. We only have less than 9000 Cyanscale Cavalrymen left, and Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s forces are going to destroy them long before they even get to the White Marsh Catapults. Right now, our best bet is to block those White Marsh payloads with our flesh and blood and defend the city with all we¡¯ve got. Don¡¯t worry, those rocks are extraordinarily expensive, and one White Marsh Catapult can only be loaded with 20 of them max. They will run out eventually.\\\" Warsky heeded the advice and forced himself to nod. \\\"Very well, we¡¯ll do as you say. By the way, can you urge our allies outside the canyons to move faster? They¡¯re taking too long¡­\\\" \\\"Hmph, I would rather you not entrust your hopes on those cravens. They are not our brothers, and they will not risk their lives for us. Fight as if we are the only ones against the world.\\\" \\\"Got it!\\\" ¡­¡­ It was war both on the walls and the ground. The walls of Gold City might be indestructible, but that didn¡¯t mean they couldn¡¯t be covered in soot or blood. Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s assault was terribly fierce, and Little Piglet had even occupied one corner of the city and begun clashing head-to-head against the defenders. Little Piglet was the invincible general of Purgatory Mad Dragon. As long as he remained alive, the players of Purgatory Mad Dragon would not lose hope. Warsky gripped the bloody Immortal Blade until his fingers were white. Never had he yearned more to recruit Little Piglet than now. Chapter 1323 The battle had reached a deadlock. The golden gate of Gold City was dyed in players¡¯ blood, but Purgatory Mad Dragon couldn¡¯t progress an inch further than that. It was as if there was a wall barring them from entering within ten meters of the hunk of steel. On the wall, Little Piglet killed a lot of Warsky Alliance players, but Warsky and Farewell Song killed more in total. After a couple of exchanges, Little Piglet fully realized Warsky¡¯s strength with the Immortal Blade in hand and was forced to beat a temporary retreat. The deadlock continued for almost 2 hours. It almost felt like it would never end. ¡­¡­ \\\"Yawn¡­\\\" Sitting on a blue-colored rock and leaning against a red maple tree, I let out a comfortable yawn, closed my eyes and said, \\\"Dammit, why is this siege so boring to watch¡­\\\" Li Chengfeng echoed in agreement, \\\"I know right? Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s offensive power is so terrible they can¡¯t land a solid blow on Warsky Alliance despite their number advantage. This siege is probably going to last a long time, and Warsky Alliance is in no hurry whatsoever. They know they¡¯ll be the final victor if Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s effective strength is all but depleted.\\\" A blinking Chaos Moon suddenly interrupted, \\\"A few minutes ago, a Warsky Alliance player paid a ton of gold and purchased 9 bottles of equipment repair potions in total at the entrance of Sky City. You guys wanna guess what they¡¯re used for?\\\" I answered, \\\"Is that even a question? It¡¯s to repair Warsky¡¯s equipment, duh. As long as Warsky remains alive and active, the city is as good as theirs.\\\" Chaos Moon chuckled. \\\"It¡¯s fine, there¡¯s still 10 hours left on the clock. That¡¯s plenty of time to foil their plans. Hey look! Lian Xin and Sister Mingyue are finally here!\\\" A large troop of players appeared from the horizon, and they were all wearing the emblem of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Lian Xin was walking side-by-side with Murong Mingyue, and Beiming Xue was guarding them with the Xuanming Bow in her hands. The main force had finally arrived! After they climbed up the hill we were resting at, I patted the rock beside me and asked, \\\"It was a long journey. Come take a seat and rest for a bit?\\\" Murong Mingyue shook her head smilingly, but Beiming Xue and Lian Xin took my offer and sat down beside me. Beiming Xue asked, \\\"How did the fight go while I was offline, big bro?\\\" \\\"Not very well, to be honest¡­\\\" I grinned. \\\"We defeated Candle Dragon¡¯s main force and defeated Amber Pupil¡¯s Dark Mercenaries, but we lost almost all of the Dragonlight Cavalry we brought as a result¡­\\\" \\\"Are you training to become a prodigal son or something?\\\" Murong Mingyue chided me playfully. \\\"A 10% casualty rate or higher is already considered unbelievable for a troop of Dragonlight Cavalry that is over ten thousand strong. How dare you shatter that record and lose nearly every Dragonlight Cavalryman and Dragonlight Archer you brought?\\\" I shrugged. \\\"Sorry, but I just can¡¯t stand shameless traitors like Amber Pupil. I cannot let him go even if it costs us most of our forces.\\\" Murong Mingyue turned serious. \\\"About that, the news of Amber Pupil creating the Dark Mercenaries in the outer lands and receiving support from the Northern Alliance is burning like wildfire on the forums right now. Countless people are cursing him and predicting that they will cause more trouble in the future. My point is that your choice to annihilate them even at the cost of most of the Dragonlight Cavalry was the right one. Many people on the forums are praising our guild and thinking that we are much more righteous than Warsky Alliance in this regard. Only a guild that can set aside their personal benefit for the bigger justice is deserving to become the number one guild of China.\\\" I exhaled. \\\"We¡¯re not the number one guild yet, but this moment can¡¯t be too far away. There¡¯s no way Candle Dragon can retain their throne after the massive defeat we just dealt to them. Speaking of which, can you urge Uncle Zhang Chun to rush out the new China Guild Ranking already? I want to see our name at the top right now!\\\" Murong Mingyue chuckled. \\\"Do you know what Candle Dragon is doing right now?\\\" \\\"No?\\\" I shook my head. Lu Buyi chose this moment to speak up. He looked like a dao immortal standing under a pine tree while waving his Iron Bone Fan. \\\"I can answer that if you want.\\\" \\\"Sure! What are they doing right now, Buyi?\\\" I asked. Buyi began, \\\"Some of my friends were grinding at Dawn City when they spotted Candle Dragon¡¯s remnant forces an hour ago. Candlelight Shadow is obviously gunning for Dark Steel City. Something is better than nothing after all.\\\" Li Chengfeng hummed. \\\"Candlelight Shadow already died once though. He wouldn¡¯t be able to get close to Dark Steel City. I guess he¡¯s entrusting the job to his remaining players?\\\" Lu Buyi nodded. \\\"That is correct. The contest for Dark Steel City is still going hot, by the way. Candle Dragon¡¯s appearance is only going to make it worse.\\\" I shrugged. \\\"Candle Dragon may have lost most of their executive-level players, but that doesn¡¯t mean they are even close to being defanged. Anyway, all we can do is to pray that the current defenders of Dark Steel City aren¡¯t too shit. We have to focus all our strength on Gold City right now. Even if we won¡¯t be taking it for ourselves, our allies will surely enjoy the gift.\\\" Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up. \\\"I have an idea, Boss Broken Halberd. Why don¡¯t we take Gold City for Bloody Mercenaries? This way, Bloody Mercenaries can produce the Gold Cavalry, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls can produce players with Heart of the Holy Mages! That will be perfect, won¡¯t it?\\\" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun agreed. \\\"That¡¯s a good idea! Bloody Mercenaries may be our subguild, but it is technically an independent guild in the game. It absolutely has the qualifications to occupy Gold City.\\\" I fell silent and thought for a moment. \\\"What do you think, Lu Chen?\\\" Murong Mingyue asked. I finally looked up at everyone and said, \\\"To be honest, I was tempted to take Gold City for Bloody Mercenaries. However, the Cities of Heaven were supposed to be shared with the entire server. What will the other guilds think if we take both Gold City and Silver City, the two best Cities of Heaven for ourselves? I think we should be satisfied with what we have. Gold City should go to a guild that actually needs it. If that guild becomes stronger than Bloody Mercenaries as a result, that is a good thing because it means that the China server is stronger as a whole. There is only so much resources to go around after all. We can be the strongest guild in the China server, but we shan¡¯t be the most selfish¡­\\\" Li Chengfeng nodded before letting out a short laugh. \\\"What are you laughing about, Li?\\\" Gui Guzi asked. Li Chengfeng laughed again before explaining, \\\"I laugh because Lu Chen possesses the strength to become a king, but not the qualities. To be more specific, Lu Chen is not like Candlelight Shadow, Warsky or Wang Dongliang. He¡¯s a benevolent man who would rather surrender a massive advantage like Gold City for the greater good. However, that is exactly why we all gathered around you. There is no such thing as a superior-subordinate relationship in your world, only brotherhood!\\\" I shrugged again before replying, \\\"You¡¯re right. I was never interested in becoming the king of whatever. All I ever wanted is to grind equipment and lead a proud life with everyone!\\\" Gui Guzi laughed as well. \\\"Haha! Well said, Boss Broken Halberd! Our goal isn¡¯t to become king, but to become the ones who step on those people who call themselves kings!\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment something new occurred at Gold City. A troop of players had broken through Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s lockdown and reached all the way to the city walls. The leader of the group was none other than the guild leader of Gods of Destruction, Dominating Heaven Blade himself. He shouted, \\\"Open the gate, Warsky! We¡¯ve come to help you!\\\" Warsky looked confused. \\\"I¡­ don¡¯t think I sent you a request for reinforcements, did I?\\\" Dominating Heaven Blade gritted his teeth. \\\"Are you fucking serious? That¡¯s what you¡¯re asking after we lost nearly ten thousand men to come to your aid? Anyway, the bastards from Purgatory Mad Dragon had flattened our grinding base as soon as they formed their new guild. There is no one I want to screw over more than them, so open the gates and let us help you with the defense already!\\\" Warsky accepted the explanation and ordered, \\\"Very well. Someone, open the gate and let our friends in! Ranged players, don¡¯t forget to provide cover fire for them! Hmph hmph, now that we have Gods of Destruction guild¡¯s help, our chances of holding Gold City are infinitely close to 100%!\\\" Creak¡­ creak... The golden gate groaned open, and Dominating Heaven Blade and his cohorts didn¡¯t hesitate to rush in. Soon, nearly 100000 Gods of Destruction players had entered Gold City. ¡­¡­ \\\"Hmm?\\\" Li Chengfeng made a confused noise. \\\"What¡¯s wrong, Li?\\\" High Fighting Spirits clapped a hand on his shoulder. Li Chengfeng replied with a frown, \\\"Something doesn¡¯t feel right about this. Gods of Destruction isn¡¯t weak, but could they really have cut through Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s forces all the way to the gates and lose less than 10000 men in the process? Also, why didn¡¯t they take out the White Marsh Catapults if they really were trying to reinforce Warsky Alliance? They were right next to them just now.\\\" Gui Guzi shuddered. \\\"Could it be... Did Gods of Destruction become Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s spy?\\\" \\\"I don¡¯t know¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ I abruptly rose to my feet, summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and climbed onto its back. \\\"Lu Chen?\\\" Murong Mingyue looked at me. I declared, \\\"Tell everyone to get ready. As Chengfeng says, something about this is completely unnatural. Dominating Heaven Blade has been screwed over plenty of times by Warsky as well, not to mention that Warsky Alliance¡¯s the one who has the upper hand right now. Why on earth would Gods of Destruction do something so pointless? The answer is that they wouldn¡¯t. There is a much higher chance that they¡¯ve come to an agreement with Purgatory Mad Dragon!\\\" \\\"Dominating Heaven Blade is selling out to Purgatory Mad Dragon? Seriously?\\\" Lian Xin exclaimed in disbelief. I nodded. \\\"It¡¯s most likely the case¡­\\\" Chaos Moon¡¯s fell open. \\\"Now that you mentioned it, Intelligence Agency sent me some intel that mentioned that Gods of Destruction has been running low on capital recently. Dominating Heaven Blade was even forced to sell off one of his estates to pay his players¡¯ salaries. Lu Chen¡¯s guess isn¡¯t far-fetched at all. We¡¯ve all seen how generous Wang Dongliang is being. It¡¯s entirely possible that he¡¯s offered Dominating Heaven Blade an irresistible sum of money for his service!\\\" ¡­¡­ As if on cue, a battle cry suddenly erupted from within Gold City. It was Dominating Heaven Blade killing two Warsky Alliance mages before shouting, \\\"Kill! I¡¯ve declared war on Warsky Alliance! Warsky thinks he can steal our grinding maps and shame our brothers? Now is the time to take revenge against him! Kill them all!\\\" The power of 100000 players couldn¡¯t be underestimated. Warsky Alliance took a huge blow immediately. The eastern gate opened once more, but this time it wasn¡¯t manned by Warsky Alliance¡¯s players. ¡­¡­ Wang Dongliang smiled and raised his sword. \\\"The strategy is a success, brothers and sisters! Go go go! Take out Warsky and steal the City Lord Token!\\\" Chapter 1324 \\\"Warsky Alliance!\\\" Warsky didn¡¯t panic despite the backstab. He ordered, \\\"Mages, archers, priests, don¡¯t waver and hold your ground! Tamers, release your pets to protect our mages and archers! All riders, activate Blitzkrieg and take out all Gods of Destruction players inside the city! I¡¯ll hold the gates in the meantime!\\\" Pa! After he was done giving orders, Warsky abruptly jumped out of the arrowslit, summoned his mount, and landed on the drawbridge with a resounding thump. At the same time, he fired a Cyan Tiger Shatter and knocked back an entire group of Purgatory Mad Dragon players. He declared with an arrogant grin, \\\"Come on then, my grandchildren! The only way you¡¯re getting in is over my corpse!\\\" ¡­¡­ Energy spun around him as he activated Great Earth Transformation. Countless Purgatory Mad Dragon players rushed him and pierced his chest with Ultimate Strength Break + Barrier Break combos, but he survived. His Defense was pretty high, and the Immortal Blade and the priests on the wall kept him from dying even though his HP had dropped below 25%. Like a rock that split the rapids, he endured the assault of over 20 players at once and stubbornly survived. Buzz buzz buzz... A green astral energy surrounded Warsky¡¯s metal armor. It was a special effect of the Immortal Blade, and it was similar to my Battle Astral Wind in the sense that it greatly reduced the amount of incoming damage he received. The true power of the Immortal Blade lay in its ability to restore both HP and Defense.[1] \\\"Kill him! Kill Warsky!\\\" Wang Dongliang¡¯s eyes turned bloodshot as he screamed on top of his lungs. \\\"Archers, dismount him with Mountain Stagger Arrows! Mages, hit him with God Devil Break! Warsky must die today, or Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s face will be left in the dust!\\\" Warsky unleashed various skills such as Flowing Light Slash, Molten Fury Slash and more while laughing madly. \\\"A group of mobs think they can kill me? Dream on!\\\" As arrogant as it sounded, Warsky definitely had the right to say that. Fireballs, arrows and more struck Warsky¡¯s armor and knocked him back repeatedly. However, every time the 6-second cooldown on his melee combos were up, he would retaliate with Cyan Tiger Shatter, Explosion Slash and more and kill a dozen or so enemies. Somehow, someway, he was holding the entire drawbridge by himself. He really was about to defy the heavens. Of course, the numerous priests healing him from the walls played a major role in his success. Profound Puff saw what was going on and pointed. \\\"Archers, stun those priests with your Shock Arrow. All catapults, recalibrate your aim at the priests and kill them all! Let¡¯s see if Warsky can still hold on after all of his healers are dead!\\\" It worked at the beginning. The archers and the siege weapons were able to wreak havoc against the priests for a time, but Warsky Alliance quickly responded by stationing the Cyanscale Cavalrymen in front of them. The shielders¡¯ only job was to protect the priests at all costs, and the priests¡¯ job was to keep Warsky alive at all costs. They had to, or all their efforts would be for naught. ¡­¡­ \\\"Do we act now?\\\" A thousand meters away from the walls, Gui Guzi asked me. I replied with a smile, \\\"Not yet. There¡¯s still room for them to whittle themselves down. One way or another, Warsky is definitely going to lose the token. It is the City Lord Token of the Gold City after all. Not everyone has the thick skin necessary to keep it, so to speak.\\\" Li Chengfeng chuckled. \\\"Yeah. 170k troops aren¡¯t enough to win this outright, especially since we lost too many Dragonlight Cavalrymen during the earlier battles. We can¡¯t possibly ask our archers and mages to assault an army or charge a battlement without protection.\\\" \\\"Let¡¯s just wait patiently. This is going to end very soon.\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" ¡­¡­ As it turned out, I was wrong. Another 4 hours passed, and the victor still hadn¡¯t been decided. For one, Purgatory Mad Dragon really sucked. Two, every time Warsky¡¯s equipment threatened to fall apart, he would use the equipment repair potions his players had bought to make them as good as new. As a result, the bastard somehow managed to hold the drawbridge for 4 hours straight. Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s players looked like they could swallow him alive, but the Immortality Blade was just too OP. They just couldn¡¯t do it no matter what they tried. Another two hours had passed, and we finally started clearing out the Purgatory Mad Dragon and Warsky Alliance players at the periphery and gathering some equipment. We didn¡¯t hold back because both guilds were our enemies. It was at this moment Luo River God of the Capital and Moonkiss came to us with around 5000 Purple Lily players. They looked like they had done their best, but Warsky Alliance¡¯s firepower was too much for them to handle. They were ultimately unable to breach the west gate. \\\"How did it go?\\\" I greeted her with a smile. Wang Luo shot me a look before replying, \\\"Your smile looks irritating, so don¡¯t. Anyway, why didn¡¯t you come to the west gate and help us? I¡¯m sure you would¡¯ve been able to tear down the gate for us. Goddammit, if only we had even one super-tier cavalry general.\\\" I shrugged. \\\"Sorry. I¡¯m Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I can¡¯t just join in on another guild¡¯s military operation willy-nilly. Also, I was fighting Dark Mercenaries to the death earlier. Where would I find the time or energy to assault Gold City?\\\" Moonkiss asked, \\\"Judging at the size of your force, it looks like you¡¯re the ones who¡¯re going to decide the final owner of Gold City. So? Are you going to take Gold City for yourselves, gift it to us allies, or put it on sale?\\\" I licked my lips before replying, \\\"You should speak with Indigo Collar first. Both Peach Garden and Purple Lily are our allies. I would definitely prefer the two of you over Warsky Alliance to get this city.\\\" \\\"We understand.\\\" Wang Luo smiled. \\\"Very well, I shall speak with Indigo Collar and see how it goes. I¡¯m pretty sure I know how the negotiations will end though, so I¡¯ll just tell you my plans right away. If you can occupy Gold City, Purple Lily will buy it from you. We¡¯ll compensate Peach Garden for all the losses they¡¯ve suffered during this battle.\\\" \\\"Very well!\\\" ¡­¡­ I looked at Gold City again. I ordered, \\\"We will begin our assault in 60 minutes. Doesn¡¯t matter who has the City Lord Token, the important thing is that it ends up with us!\\\" My players gave me an affirmative nod. On a related note, almost all of Gods of Destruction¡¯s players were dead at this point. They had been fighting for several hours after all. Dominating Heaven Blade had been assassinated by Farewell Song, and Dominating Warrior God and Dominating Knight God had been defeated by Warsky. They were foolish to think that they could fight him alone when Warsky had survived the concentrated fire of an entire troop of Purgatory Mad Dragon players. Finally, Purgatory Mad Dragon was able to breach the gates and engage Warsky Alliance in direct combat. Both sides began losing players at a rapid pace. An hour later, I finally climbed onto my dragon once more and pointed my sword at Gold City. I ordered with an easy smile on my face, \\\"Charge!\\\" We charged. Murong Mingyue had brought around 10k Dragonlight Cavalrymen with her, so our frontline was much less flimsy than it had been after the battle with Dark Mercenaries. The 15k Dragonlight Cavalrymen easily punched through Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s defense line and made it into the city. I swung my Chill of the Nine Provinces and fired Burning Blade Slash, killing almost a hundred enemies in an instant. An archer inside the city turned deathly white, \\\"Fuck! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are finally making their move! Run, people, run! Lu Chen and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have arrived to steal the city!\\\" A long way away, Warsky gripped the Immortal Blade tightly while ordering, \\\"Lu Chen and Li Chengfeng are here! All units are to assemble around the smithy area and protect the City Lord Token at all costs! Form a square formation to hold off Ancient Sword¡¯s players!\\\" It didn¡¯t take long for Warsky Alliance¡¯s remaining 50k players to do as he commanded. He was going to be a bit of a slogfest, although the main reason was because we had all run out of Divine Energy Points. Otherwise, it would take a miracle for Warsky to survive Xuanyuan Slash plus Crimson Firmament Slash! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Strength of Divine Arms¨Cbuffed Little Piglet was riding the wind when he caught sight of us and turned green. \\\"Are we still going to continue, guild leader? There¡¯s no way we can stop Lu Chen and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls now that they¡¯ve gotten into the city. We might as well withdraw and leave them to defeat the remnants of Warsky Alliance!\\\" However, Wang Dongliang rejected the suggestion. \\\"We¡¯re way past the point of no return, man. For now, ignore Ancient Sword and keep tackling Warsky Alliance¡¯s remaining forces. Brother Chao and Iron Pardon are making their way back with 140k troops, and they¡¯ll reach us within an hour or less. When that happens, we¡¯ll outnumber Ancient Sword almost 3 to 1. There¡¯s still a chance!\\\" \\\"Fine, you¡¯re the boss¡­\\\" Little Piglet shrugged, spurred his mount, and charged toward Warsky Alliance¡¯s square formation again. He truly was a man like the wind, charging the enemy alone and without fear. ¡­¡­ \\\"Kill!\\\" The battle reached a climax when the melee engaged. The smithy looked like a slaughterhouse where the blood ran freely. Although Warsky Alliance only had 50k players left, every one of them was an elite in their own right. Wang Dongliang¡¯s 200k men were unable to push them back in the slightest. I cut right into Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s flank and wreaked havoc there. Wang Dongliang¡¯s decision to focus on Warsky Alliance suited me just nicely because it meant that I was free to reduce Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s effective strength as I pleased. This would also make the battles to come that much easier to deal with. Two dragon knights flew over my head as I fought on the ground. It was Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi earning contribution points to their hearts¡¯ content. I didn¡¯t forget to pay attention to the equipment on the ground and pick up all items worth selling. My Luck was extremely high, so anyone I killed had a high chance of dropping some loot. My bagspace kept reducing as the people screamed, and two hours later, over 850 of my 1000 slots were occupied by equipment. ¡­¡­ \\\"We don¡¯t have much time left. Roaming Dragon is attacking our flank and killing many of our men¡­\\\" Li Chengfeng reported from the sky. I nodded. \\\"Chengfeng, Little Gui, go protect our rear. Lian Xin, Beiming, Chaos Moon, Fighting Spirits and I will seize the City Lord Token!\\\" \\\"Got it. You can¡¯t fail, okay? We all need the money to pay our electric bills!\\\" \\\"Never worry, brother!\\\" Wang Luo: \\\"...\\\" 1. T/N: don¡¯t ask me what it meant by restoring Defense, I don¡¯t really get it myself Chapter 1325 Smoke rose from every corner of Gold City. Boom... Thousand Ice Slash killed both Purgatory Mad Dragon and Warsky Alliance¡¯s players. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ forces were 170k elites strong, and our enemies were dwindling rapidly. I was now certain that we would win even if Warsky Alliance and Purgatory Mad Dragon decided to team up against us, which would never happen because Wang Dongliang was completely blinded by the fact that the City Lord Token of Gold City was currently in Warsky¡¯s hands. He would never come to his senses and attack us before it was too late. A ring of ice surrounded my feet, and the Chill of the Nine Provinces glowed with power again. This time, all enemy players within 100 yards of me were turned into ice sculptures. The Dragonlight Cavalry crushed both ice and frozen flesh into bits and sent them away in a flash of white light. Further back, Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng were attacking from the sky and commanding our players against the 100k-strong Mad Dragon party who was trying to reinforce their main force. Normally this would be cause for considerable worry, but this was Mad Dragon we were talking about. They were as weak as Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi were strong. It was only a matter of time before the dragon knights killed them all with their vastly superior Defense, Attack and HP. ¡­¡­ Time continued trickling forward, and Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s men grew lesser and lesser. Finally, an ashen-faced Wang Dongliang noticed the terrible possibility and ordered, \\\"Increase the intensity of the assault! We¡¯re running out of time! We must break through Warsky Alliance¡¯s defense line in ten minutes tops!\\\" Profound Puff replied while casting a healing spell, \\\"Speaking of which, we¡¯re running out of men too!\\\" Wang Dongliang: \\\"...\\\" It was at this moment a cackling Warsky launched a counterattack with a group of elite Cyanscale Cavalry, \\\"Who the fuck do you think you are, Pillar of the Nation? You think you can reign as the king just by dumping a couple hundred million RMB into this game? Dream on! Heavenblessed is a world where might rules all, and a tycoon with no power is just food for the power-hungry! Accept your defeat and die!\\\" Chiang! The Immortality Blade struck Wang Dongliang¡¯s chest and sent him stumbling to the back. Giving the guild leader no time to react at all, Warsky shattered Wang Dongliang¡¯s parry and cut him across his shoulder with a devastating Cyan Tiger Shatter¡ª 890128! It was a critical hit. Wang Dongliang wasn¡¯t lucky today. \\\"Die!\\\" Warsky¡¯s eyes was murderous and bloodshot. After being forced back by Purgatory Mad Dragon and having to defend the city for eight hours straight, Warsky was finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. He unleashed Molten Fury Slash that deleted Wang Dongliang¡¯s final sliver of HP. \\\"Just you wait!\\\" Wang Dongliang snarled savagely before his body turned limp. In the end, the scheming guild leader of Purgatory Mad Dragon couldn¡¯t prevent Warsky from running him over. Just like Warsky said earlier, a tycoon with no power was just food for the mighty in this game. Pop! A crystalline metal armor dropped to the ground, and Warsky couldn¡¯t stop from smirking when he picked it up and read its stats. \\\"Hmph! Level 195 Ancient Immortal-grade equipment? Thank you so much, Pillar of the Nation! It was a complete waste on your person anyway!\\\" ¡­¡­ \\\"That despicable sonuvabitch dropped the guild leader¡¯s Reverse Dragon Armor! Kill him and take back that armor now!\\\" A furious-looking Little Piglet launched a counterattack with a group of Purgatory Mad Dragon players. The man was very skilled and buffed by Strength of Divine Arms. He exchanged four blows with Warsky, and every time he was able to win the exchange and knock the man back. He was able to delete almost 50% of Warsky¡¯s HP. Luckily, the Immortal Blade had insane HP recovery speed and it wouldn¡¯t be easy for Little Piglet to one-shot him. \\\"Cyanscale Cavalry, take out Little Piglet! Archers and mages, work with them!\\\" Warsky ordered casually. The next moment, a thick storm of arrows and God Devil Break exploded among Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s players. The death of Wang Dongliang already demoralized the troops, and Warsky Alliance¡¯s powerful counterattack only made things worse. Those who somehow survived the barrage didn¡¯t hesitate to withdraw. Chiang chiang chiang... Little Piglet was dodging and weaving through the barrage when suddenly, the man froze in his tracks. It was Shock Arrow finally triggering its effect and stunning him in place. Swhoosh! A shadow appeared behind Little Piglet in a red flash. It was Warsky Alliance¡¯s strongest assassin, Farewell Song, and his appearance meant that Little Piglet was dead. Through my Dark Pupils, I saw Farewell Song laying down a couple of Traps that triggered instantaneously. He had cut off the Cold Wind Swordsman¡¯s retreat before he began his assault. Crack! Farewell Song stunned Little Piglet again, dagger leaving a deep imprint across Little Piglet¡¯s chest armor. At the same time, a thick cluster of God Devil Breaks fell on Little Piglet and dropped his HP to almost zero. Finally, Farewell Song sank his dagger into Little Piglet¡¯s chest and tore it apart with Blade Vortex. As the extraordinary general of Purgatory Mad Dragon fell from his mount, he said in a surprisingly calm voice, \\\"I will take revenge, Farewell Song.\\\" Farewell Song frowned a little at the parting words, but he crouched and vanished into the darkness once more. Farewell Song¡¯s true power wasn¡¯t in his ability to fight at the frontline, but his ability to show up at the right place at the right time to assassinate the enemy¡¯s ace. This was the essence of the Assassin class. ¡­¡­ \\\"Boss, Ancient Sword is about to charge us¡­\\\" A Warsky Alliance corps commander pointed in our direction. The corners of Warsky¡¯s mouth twitched before he replied, \\\"Let Lu Chen come. There is only 1 hour until the war is over. All we need to do is to hold for an hour[1], and we will remain the equal of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Candle Dragon and Snowy Cathaya.\\\" \\\"The guild leader is wise. We¡¯ll prepare the shield formations and hold them back as long as we can!\\\" ¡­¡­ Warsky Alliance¡¯s Cyanscale Cavalry lay down their shield formation in front of the smithy. The cavalry was incredibly pleasing to look at, and they weren¡¯t too far behind the Dragonlight Cavalry. It was a shame that they belonged to an enemy guild. Pa! I planted a foot on a Purgatory Mad Dragon player¡¯s corpse and stopped about 150 yards away from Warsky Alliance¡¯s formation. A stern-eyed Warsky was waiting for us to make our move. Lying between us were the bodies of Wang Dongliang, Profound Puff, Little Piglet, Shangguan Wan¡¯er and more Purgatory Mad Dragon players. Somewhere behind me, High Fighting Spirits was chasing after the beautiful archer Coldmoon Rose. When he finally caught her collar and stopped her dead in her tracks, he cackled. \\\"Tsk tsk, you¡¯re Roaming Dragon¡¯s woman, aren¡¯t you? What should I do to you, I wonder?\\\" Coldmoon Rose instinctively employed the charm that she used so often. \\\"Feel free to do whatever you want, hero. I am yours now.\\\" High Fighting Spirits grinned. \\\"Too bad for you, I like women who weigh over 120!\\\" Just like that, Coldmoon Rose vanished in a cyclone of beastial energy. High Fighting Spirits didn¡¯t enjoy killing women, but he knew better than to leave an enemy alive. ¡­¡­ \\\"Raise your bows and prepare to use Far Shot!\\\" Warsky shouted while raising his Immortal Blade high. \\\"The Far Shot mode lets you shoot up to 100 yards away, so shoot them the moment they enter within that range! Defend our territory with all you¡¯ve got! Give the wolves of Ancient Sword no quarter!\\\" One hand gripping the Chill of the Nine Provinces and the other carrying a half-transparent Cyan Dragon Shield, I looked up while walking toward Warsky Alliance¡¯s formation and said, \\\"Well, what are you waiting for? Gimme a Shock Arrow bath already. I¡¯m so dirty right now~\\\" A rather beautiful archer among Warsky Alliance¡¯s archer party burst into a giggle. \\\"OMG, Lu Chen is such a funny guy! He¡¯s definitely my type~\\\" Warsky¡¯s complexion turned a shade of purple. \\\"Let¡¯s be serious, shall we? All units, I will work together with Farewell Song to suppress Lu Chen, and I want you all to kill him with everything you¡¯ve got. Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi are nothing without Lu Chen!\\\" I laughed. \\\"Warsky, you should know better than to underestimate Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng!\\\" \\\"Loose!\\\" A volley of arrows immediately flew toward me. I activated Ghost Spirit Step Art and dashed horizontally without hesitation, dodging most of the arrows. At the same time, I threw my sword at the enemy while yelling, \\\"Coiling Dragon Revolution!\\\" Buzz! The divine weapon vibrated ominously in midair as it spun through a group of archers and mages. Its attack was just as high as Warsky¡¯s Immortal Blade, so dozens of them were killed instantly. Behind me, Beiming Xue raised her own bow and ordered, \\\"Dragonlight Archers, Far Shot, now!\\\" Gui Guzi raised his Ghostblade Halberd and ordered, \\\"This is the final battle, everyone! Run down their shield formations!\\\" There wasn¡¯t much that needed to be said in a real fight. Our 10000+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen charged forward and slammed into the Cyanscale Cavalry with the force of multiple trucks. The reason I said this was because unlike last time, they had full buffs and healing from bards, tacticians and priests. This battle wouldn¡¯t go like the time we fought against Candle Dragon or Dark Mercenaries. A smiling Lian Xin said to our mages, \\\"Silver City is ours, and we¡¯re all going to get Heart of the Holy Mages very soon. Let this be the last time we fight as ¡®mortals¡¯ before we ascend and become mage gods, shall we? God Devil Break their ass to hell!\\\" Both Moonlight Stone and Yu Tong responded smilingly, \\\"Let¡¯s go!\\\" The mages protected by yellowish orange Magic Shields entered the fray and dropped their God Devil Breaks onto the Cyanscale Cavalry. The result was devastating. Lian Xin¡¯s Origin Force Fields especially forced holes to appear in the enemy¡¯s shield formation and made their defense line far flimsier than it should¡¯ve been. The very start of the engagement was beyond Warsky¡¯s expectations already. \\\"Oh fuck¡­\\\" Warsky¡¯s eyelid twitched. \\\"I have a bad feeling about this¡­\\\" 1. T/N: did this guy never consider playing hide-and-seek as a viable option? I mean, it¡¯s a whole city. You don¡¯t need to stand in the fucking open and let everyone who can kill you know where you are and how to corner you. Chapter 1326 \\\"This does look pretty bad¡­\\\" A Cyanscale Cavalryman turned back to grin at his guild leader. \\\"Ancient Sword¡¯s mage party is using the Martial God Lian Xing stole with her Big Dipper to boost their Magic Attack by 200%. With less than 10000 Cyanscale Cavalrymen, we¡¯ll be lucky to withstand ten minutes of Galaxy Storms and God Devil Breaks¡­\\\" Warsky gripped his fists. \\\"Shit! It¡¯s all Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s fault! If they hadn¡¯t caught us off-guard with Gods of Destruction, Ancient Sword would have never been able to make it in so easily! Even Peach Garden and Purple Lily are inside already. Hold! We must hold no matter what!\\\" Farewell Song advised from the darkness, \\\"Let¡¯s find an opportunity to take out Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi. It¡¯ll buy us some more time. You draw their attention from the front, and I¡¯ll assassinate them from the back[1]. We¡¯ll kill whoever¡¯s the closest to us!\\\" \\\"Got it!\\\" ¡­¡­ Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was the first one to fuck it up. Unable to control his excitement or his speed, he plunged into the enemy lines and killed a bunch of archers with Rock Smash. However, Warsky immediately locked onto him and stunned him with Charge! Crack! The Wanderer class didn¡¯t have high HP to begin with, and he wasn¡¯t just fighting against Warsky. Blade Vortex + Penetrating Bone combo from Farewell Song, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun fell off his mount and died. \\\"Holy shit!\\\" Li Chengfeng exclaimed in surprise, \\\"Eighteen died in no time at all! Cool your jets, brothers and sisters. Don¡¯t follow his example¡­\\\" Before he could finish, a Shock Arrow stunned High Fighting Spirits at the right wing. Warsky immediately zigzagged his way to High Fighting Spirits and hit him in the chest armor with a basic attack + Cyan Tiger Shatter combo, dealing around eight or nine hundred thousand damage in total. However, High Fighting Spirits had over 2.5 million HP, so he wasn¡¯t going down as easily as Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun. \\\"Over here! God Devil Break!\\\" Warsky shouted, and High Fighting Spirits¡¯ HP immediately dropped dangerously low to a bunch of God Devil Breaks. \\\"Shit!\\\" I yelled in a hurry, \\\"Little Gui, use Shennong Tastes Grass now! I¡¯m going to use my offensive active skill instead!\\\" \\\"Got it!\\\" Gui Guzi was already activating Heavenly River Transformation as he spoke. He used the 20 Divine Energy Points he had just barely accumulated to heal all allied units within 1000 yards of him by 75% HP. Not only did High Fighting Spirits blow past the 90% mark, all other low-health players within the area returned to almost full health as well! That skill was so good! I raised the Death side of the Chill of the Nine Provinces to the sky and activated the Xuanyuan Art. The tens of thousands of Warsky Alliance players spread out around the entire smithy instantly lost 50% of their HP in one go. It was more than enough to make Warsky screech. \\\"Holy fuck!\\\" Warsky groaned as he looked at his people¡¯s HP. \\\"I can¡¯t believe that shameless bastard used the Xuanyuan Art. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck! There¡¯s no winning this fight. If only we had a Group Healing Scroll¡­\\\" A Group Healing Scroll was an item that was introduced in the latest patch. It healed all allied units within 100 yards of the user by 50% HP, and it was the perfect counter to the Xuanyuan Art. However, not a single Group Healing Scroll had been sighted so far, and no one knew how to obtain it. One thing seemed certain, however. It was probably an incredibly rare luxury item that was worth around a couple hundred thousand RMB; not something anyone was going to use willy-nilly at all. Now that Warsky had fallen below 50% HP, I immediately activated Heavenly River Transformation, raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces and summoned a gigantic golden blade above me. It was of course the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Xuanyuan Slash. There was practically no one who didn¡¯t recognize it because videos of me using Xuanyuan Slash were everywhere on the forums, not to mention that it was incredibly gorgeous. Warsky Alliance players should be happy that they were going to taste its wrath with their own bodies. \\\"This is bad¡­\\\" Warsky frowned. \\\"Priests, heal me to full health so I can survive the Xuanyuan Slash!\\\" While saying this, the equipment on his person abruptly changed to one that was glowing with green light. I had no doubt that it was a set of damage-mitigating equipment meant to deal with exactly this type of situation. Say what you want about Warsky, but he definitely wasn¡¯t a lazy worker. \\\"Go!\\\" My arm suddenly turned cold when I dropped the Xuanyuan Slash on top of my enemies. My grin widened. I had triggered the Chill of the Nine Provinces¡¯ septuple damage effect! This was going to be fun to watch! Standing at the center of a fountain on the edge of the smithy, Warsky laughed at the Xuanyuan Slash that was falling toward his head and said, \\\"The equipment I¡¯m wearing reduces all incoming damage by 55% in total, Lu Chen! SSS Rank or not, there¡¯s no way your Ancient Divine Skill can kill me! Wahahaha!\\\" BOOM! The Xuanyuan Slash exploded like a nuclear bomb. I could even see the shockwaves in the air. Warsky was the first to suffer its damage, and the damage number rising above his head could only be described as shocking¡ª 5970006! ¡­¡­ Pop! The poor bastard dropped to his knees in confusion and disbelief. His preparation was quite thorough, but when Lady Luck herself called for his death, there was simply no way to refuse it. A golden token rolled on the ground. Finally, after all those waiting and fighting, the City Lord Token of Gold City had dropped! \\\"I¡¯ll lay down some crowd control!\\\" Li Chengfeng swooped down from the sky and killed all the Warsky Alliance players who tried to pick up the City Lord Token with the 7-hit Dragonbone Flurry. Well done! I tried Charging toward the City Lord Token, but a magic knight knocked me aside and picked it up himself. \\\"Die!\\\" I tore the guy¡¯s torso apart with Burning Blade Slash, but he managed to toss the token into a friendly¡¯s hands right before he died. Buzz! Ice Spiral Matrix appeared beneath the Warsky Alliance players¡¯ feet before engulfing them all in an explosion of magic. Lian Xin entered the fray with a cool expression on her face, \\\"What are you guys doing? Kill them all, and the token will naturally be ours!\\\" Gui Guzi killed the next token holder with Death Flurry, but another cavalryman snatched it away in the blink of an eye. The system dinged every time the City Lord Token changed hands, and it had happened at least seven or eight times within the minute. The contest was fierce to say the least. Pa pa pa... I cut down every player I came across and made the Phantom Wolf King execute its Purgatory Storm while weaving my way toward the City Lord Token. There was no way I was letting it out of my sight. Time was getting short. Even Luo River God of the Capital, a mage, was fighting at the frontlines. Gold City was as critical to Warsky Alliance as it was to Purple Lily. After all, whoever controlled Gold City would control the Gold Cavalry, and whoever controlled the Gold Cavalry would play an active role in the future wars. ¡­¡­ Ding~! System Announcement: Player \\\"Hundred Battler\\\"[2] has obtained \\\"City Lord Token (Dark Steel City)\\\"! It was mixed among many other system announcements, but I didn¡¯t miss it. In fact, everyone saw it as well. There was the saying that a camel that starved to death was still bigger than a horse, and that was the case with Candle Dragon. Candle Dragon might have lost a ton of forces, but they were still a tad stronger than Blazing Hot Lips. \\\"Shit! Candle Dragon¡¯s taking Dark Steel City?\\\" Li Chengfeng looked furious. I nodded. \\\"Yeah. Candlelight Shadow may have failed to occupy Gold City, but that doesn¡¯t mean he can¡¯t occupy Dark Steel City and strengthen his tamers with Life of the Tamer. Anyway, there¡¯s no way we¡¯re making it to Dark Steel City in time, so you should just put it out of your head!\\\" Li Chengfeng admitted reluctantly, \\\"You¡¯re right.\\\" While this was going on, Gui Guzi was flying close to the ground and killing countless enemies with his Ghostblade Halberd. Before we knew it, he managed to seize the City Lord Token! Ding~! System Announcement: Player \\\"Gui Guzi\\\" has obtained the \\\"City Lord Token (Gold City)\\\"! I laughed. \\\"Well done, Little Gui! Come back to us now!\\\" Gui Guzi nodded. \\\"Hehe!\\\" Warsky Alliance¡¯s 20k remnant army could only watch helplessly as Gui Guzi took off with the City Lord Token they had protected for 48 hours straight. I would be out of tears if I was Warsky right now. \\\"Here, Boss Broken Halberd!\\\" Gui Guzi tossed the token in my direction. Pa! I caught it in midair before turning toward Luo River God of the Capital. \\\"So? Have you decided how you want to deal with this token?\\\" Luo River God of the Capital smiled sweetly. \\\"Wonderful! It¡¯s as I told you earlier. Tell me your price, and Purple Lily will buy it from you.\\\" I let out a thoughtful and playful hum. \\\"How much should I ask, I wonder? If the number¡¯s too high, you will complain to me. But if the number¡¯s too low, I will complain to you¡­\\\" Moonkiss smiled. \\\"Are you trying to make us disdain you?\\\" Beside us, Indigo Collar said, \\\"By my estimate, Gold City is worth around 500 million RMB. Are you sure you can afford this, Wang Luo?\\\" Luo River God of the Capital rolled her eyes. \\\"Are you kidding me? I made all my money with my own two hands, and I ain¡¯t no sugar baby. Where on earth do you expect me to get 500 million? I can pay you 50 million RMB though. Is that acceptable to you, Lu Chen?\\\" I thought for a moment before replying, \\\"Fine. A 90% discount is still better than nothing at all!\\\" Gui Guzi: \\\"...\\\" Chaos Moon: \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ After we had come to an agreement, I passed the City Lord Token to Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s hands and said, \\\"Keep it safe. I don¡¯t want to hear you losing it to an assassin or something. Beiming, I want you and 4000 Dragonlight Archers to protect her until the duration is over. Make sure to turn Clear As Flame on and off repeatedly so that no assassin can elude your perception!\\\" Beiming Xue nodded affirmatively. Meanwhile, the 20k remnant army of Warsky Alliance had given up and stopped fighting completely. One spear-wielding Cyanscale Cavalryman walked up to us and said, \\\"Lu Chen, you¡¯ve gotten the City Lord Token, and Warsky Alliance has given up on retaking it. Can we ask you to let us leave? Killing us all will do neither you nor us any good.\\\" I smiled. \\\"Sure. You will move at least 3 kilometers away from the city right now. Anyone who lingers will be treated as rebels and dealt with accordingly!\\\" 1. T/N: truly, Warsky Alliance has no brains once October Rain is taken out. Even if they somehow took out Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng, they still have Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Lu Chen, and 100 + k troops¡ªmost of which are damage dealers and fully buffed Dragonlight Cavalry¡ªto deal with. Farewell Song¡¯s even telling Warsky to charge, like are you fucking kidding me right now? 2. T/N: I¡¯m leaving this as Hundred Battler because it¡¯s possible that the guy has defected from Warsky Alliance to Candle Dragon. Of course, the likelier possibility is the author fucking up his names again. Chapter 1327 After the 20k+ Warsky Alliance players flooded out of the city, I switched Dark Pupils on and off repeatedly to make sure that there wasn¡¯t an assassin still lurking inside the city. Despite not finding anyone, I knew that there was a high chance Farewell Song, Warsky Alliance¡¯s greatest assassin, was still around. Farewell Song would never give up without a fight especially after Warsky was killed. Like a hungry wolf, he would wait until he found the opportunity to deal a fatal blow to the enemy. While standing on the walls and gazing at the surrounding plains, I suddenly frowned and asked, \\\"Who are those people?\\\" Li Chengfeng landed his Blue Crystal Dragon on the wall before sitting down on an embrasure. \\\"They¡¯re probably Warsky Alliance¡¯s allied guilds. There¡¯s only 500k of them or so, so pay them no heed.\\\" I checked the time. There were only 17 minutes left before the contest for the Cities of Heaven was over. On the surface, it looked like everything was calm. In reality, it was anything but that. Our players had fought a considerable number of battles up until this point, and now there were only 70k some of us left within the city. Purple Lily and Peach Garden¡¯s forces in particular were so few that they weren¡¯t even worth mentioning. I highly doubted that our players would be able to hold the city perfectly if they suddenly charged us. ¡­¡­ I licked my lips and said, \\\"Little Gui!\\\" \\\"Yes, Boss Broken Halberd?\\\" Gui Guzi looked up and asked. I thought for a moment before saying, \\\"Split up our forces and station ten thousand men on each gate. It¡¯s just in case something happens during the last 15 minutes of this contest.\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" It was at this moment I received a system notice. Wang Luo had paid me the 50 million RMB she promised. Since Purple Lily was being such an excellent customer, it was my responsibility to ensure that the after-sales service was perfect. Chaos Moon sat down beside me and patted me on the shoulder, smoothly legs swaying front and back a little. \\\"Why are you looking so tense? We still have almost ten thousand archers inside the city, and everyone has Clear As Flame turned on. Not even Farewell Song can hide from all of them.\\\" I nodded. \\\"I know, but I still feel uneasy.\\\" Chaos Moon chuckled. \\\"That¡¯s because you¡¯ve been shouldering everything by yourself for too long. It¡¯s to the point where you¡¯ve even developed paranoia. Come, I¡¯ll give you a massage and relieve those nerves a little.\\\" \\\"We¡¯re in the game! How would massaging my avatar do anything to relieve my nerves?\\\" \\\"Then I¡¯ll give you a massage in real life then.\\\" \\\"Oh? What kind of package do you offer? Partial? Full-body?\\\" \\\"It can be whatever you want¡­\\\" \\\"Shameless!\\\" \\\"You too¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ Five minutes later, Gui Guzi suddenly raised his Ghostblade Halberd and shouted, \\\"Boss Broken Halberd, look! A huge group of something is flying toward us! I¡­ I see Warsky Alliance¡¯s guild emblem! Warsky really did have one last trick up his sleeves, that motherfucker!\\\" A flock of huge, black birds were flying toward us. My Dark Pupils quickly identified them as the Black Crow Legion. The Black Crow was a Level 165 low-rank mount with stats so terrible you could go crazy just watching their stat screen. However, they were flying mounts, and that was enough of an advantage to make up for all of its flaws. Right now, I counted at least 10000 Black Crow Riders in the sky. This was Warsky¡¯s secret weapon; his last ditch effort to steal the City Lord Token! Chiang! I unsheathed my weapon and declared, \\\"Chengfeng, Little Gui, fly with me to destroy these Black Crow Riders! Lil Beiming, Lian Xin, take the archers and mages and guard Luo River God of the Capital at all costs! It¡¯ll be over if Warsky Alliance retakes the City Lord Token!\\\" Warsky Alliance had occupied the city before, so all they needed to do was retake the City Lord Token to retake Gold City. We couldn¡¯t let that happen no matter what! I canceled Fusion Armor, and the Ancient Divine Dragon let out a mighty roar. Then, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and I flew straight toward the Black Crow Legion in a triangle formation. ¡­¡­ The Ancient Divine Dragon was insanely fast, so I was the first to reach the enemy. I unleashed Burning Blade Slash + Myriad Swords Obliteration + Summon the Storm combo[1] that annihilated hundreds of Black Crow Riders instantly. Not far away from me, Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng were pulling their weight as well. Stat-wise, the Black Crow Riders were utterly inferior to us. They would only die if they tried to fight against us. The bad news was that they didn¡¯t have to. A Black Crow Rider shouted, \\\"Scatter! Our job isn¡¯t to fight them!\\\" The Black Crow Legion instantly scattered in every direction before continuing their way toward Gold City. It was impossible to chase and hunt them all down, so all we could do was whittle them down little by little. The Black Crow Legion was extremely swift. They reached the city in no time and canceled their mounts right on top of Luo River God of the Capital, the power of Ultimate Strength Break brimming in their weapons. It was clear what they were planning to do. Not even the super mage could survive multiple Ultimate Strength Breaks hitting her at once. \\\"Shoot them down!\\\" Beiming Xue and the archers raised their bows and unleashed their skills, killing a large majority of the Black Crow Riders before they even hit the ground. However, the number of attackers dropping down on them kept increasing, and it eventually reached the point where not even Beiming Xue and Lian Xin were able to kill all of them. Luo River God of the Capital stomped her foot and summoned her Magic Shield. Then, she cast a number of Ice Blasts that immediately relieved some of the defenders¡¯ burden. Warsky Alliance wouldn¡¯t be killing the super mage without a struggle. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh! Unfortunately, they were ultimately able to break through the web of fire. At least a hundred cavalrymen were able to land the ground and execute their Ultimate Strength Breaks, killing hundreds of Dragonlight Cavalrymen and mages at the same time. Even Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s Magic Shield looked a bit distorted after the attack. \\\"Die!\\\" A cyclone of flames instantly turned a group of riders into dust. The super mage¡¯s Magic Attack was insanely high. The Black Crow Cavalry kept dropping until the defense set up by Beiming Xue and Lian Xin was finally ripped apart. The enemies only used one skill after they landed¡ªUltimate Strength Break¡ªbut it was the perfect counter to our defense force. Puchi! Puchi! Luo River God of the Capital parried three Barrier Breaks in a row before sliding to the back and burning another seven or eight fighters to ashes. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t enough. A fighter managed to approach her from behind and stab her with his Barrier Break! 310929! HP dropping below 30%, Luo River God of the Capital suppressed a groan of pain and stomped her foot again. The ground and the fighter became encased in ice, and she killed the fighter with a single Fireball. Crack! Enemies were all around her. Bloodbreak Eviscerate shredded her Magic Shield into pieces, and Farewell Song appeared to steal away her last sliver of HP. Pa! All wasn¡¯t lost, however. A small, smooth hand extended from the darkness and caught the City Lord Token. It was none other than Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s most trusted aide, Moonkiss. She launched herself away from Farewell Song with a kick to the dagger before vanishing in a puff of fluorescent powder[2]. Farewell Song gritted his teeth and activated Dance of Death. Together with Haste, he was somehow able to dodge both Beiming Xue¡¯s Well of the Abyss and Lian Xin¡¯s Dimensional Storm before entering stealth as well. Beiming Xue blinked in astonishment. \\\"OMG, I can¡¯t see those two even though I¡¯ve been turning my Clear As Flame on and off repeatedly.\\\" Lian Xin said, \\\"Both their levels and stats are too high. It increases the stealth effectiveness by a lot.\\\" \\\"Yeah.\\\" ¡­¡­ Chiang chiang chiang¡­ In the darkness, the two super assassins abruptly broke out of stealth and clashed blades with each other three times. Neither Moonkiss nor Farewell Song dared to stay exposed for too long, so they both reentered stealth with fluorescent powder. Beiming Xue and Lian Xin cast their AoE skills in the surrounding area, but they still couldn¡¯t land a hit on the super assassin. It was at this moment I dropped down from the sky and activated Fusion Armor. I ran along the inner wall for a bit before throwing aMyriad Swords Obliteration + Summon the Storm combo behind and around me. After running another hundred meters to the front, I slapped my palm against the ground and cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon. Unfortunately, neither Moonkiss nor Farewell Song appeared in my vision. Switching my Dark Pupils on and off failed to reveal them either. This is bad! ¡­¡­ Chiang! The two assassins clashed blades again, but this time Farewell Song managed to leave a cut on Moonkiss¡¯s leg before they both vanished once more. Drip¡­ drip¡­ I could see a trickle of blood dripping down from seemingly nothing, betraying Moonkiss¡¯s location to anyone who was watching. That experienced sonuvabitch! There was no chance Moonkiss was going to survive this one unless I helped her! I ran up to her, pulled her right out of her stealth, and stomped the ground using War Crush. Right after that, I cast Cold of the Nine Provinces. Unfortunately, the AoE skills still failed to hit Farewell Song and reveal his location. Left with no choice, I cast the Xuanyuan Art! Swhoosh! This time, it worked. About 120 yards away from me, Farewell Song appeared out of thin air and lost about 50% of his HP. However, he was able to reenter stealth almost the second he was exposed. All my AoE skills were in cooldown right now. Feeling a freezing hand tightening around my heart, I said to Moonkiss, \\\"Helix!\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" The two of us charged forward for a bit before crossing our footsteps to form the beginning shape of the double helix maneuver. Both my Chill of the Nine Provinces and Moonkiss¡¯s daggers sliced across the air in an attempt to hit Farewell Song. Chiang! We succeeded, but he was standing behind me and in front of Moonkiss. It was the helix maneuver¡¯s weakness, and only those who knew the tactic well could exploit it. It¡¯s over! My heart sank as Farewell Song¡¯s dagger sank into Moonkiss¡¯s chest. Moonkiss managed to bend backward and send Farewell Song flying with a kick to the chin, but... Swhoosh! He activated Heavenly River Transformation and fired his S Rank Qiong Qi Break at Moonkiss. Moonkiss retaliated with her own S Rank Dragon Tooth Slash! Pu! Moonkiss died first and dropped the City Lord Token. Farewell Song changed his equipment set to a damage-mitigating one and miraculously survived Moonkiss¡¯s Ancient Divine Skill! Pa! Farewell Song caught the City Lord Token before me and activated his invincibility skill. Finally, he shot me a smile and declared, \\\"I know you don¡¯t have 20 Divine Energy Points, Lu Chen. This time, I win!\\\" I gnashed my teeth together and smashed a golden brick on the floor into pieces. 1. (T/N: they were fairly clumped up at the beginning and you didn¡¯t use Death or Cold of the Nine Provinces. I¡¯m so disappointed, Lu Chen. 2. T/N: Oh my GOD I¡¯ve been trying to give Warsky Alliance the benefit of the doubt, but assassins can ENTER STEALTH WHILE HOLDING THE FUCKING TOKEN? THEN WHY DIDN¡¯T YOU DO THAT EARLIER YOU TARD? WHAT¡¯S THE POINT OF ASSASSIN¡¯S OATH IF YOU AREN¡¯T GOING TO ABUSE IT? Chapter 1328 A number of system announcements resounded across Sky City, Vanished God City, Wind City and Hot Sand City at the same time. It was the final result of the contest for the Cities of Heaven¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player \\\"Farewell Song\\\" (China) is the final holder of the City Lord Token. Their belonging guild, \\\"Warsky Alliance\\\" will own Gold City for 30 days! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player \\\"From Water\\\" (China) is the final holder of the City Lord Token. Their belonging guild, \\\"Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls\\\" will own Silver City for 30 days! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player \\\"Wind Fantasy\\\" (China) is the final holder of the City Lord Token. Their belonging guild, \\\"Snowy Cathaya\\\" will own Bronze City for 30 days! Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player \\\"Hundred Battler\\\" (China)[1] is the final holder of the City Lord Token. Their belonging guild, \\\"Candle Dragon\\\"will own Dark Steel City for 30 days! ¡­¡­ There was one final system announcement¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: In descending order, the final contribution point ranking of the Cities of Heaven event is as follows¡ªLuo River God of the Capital, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Legendary Brave, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, Lian Xing, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, October Rain and Wind Fantasy. The first place, Luo River of the Capital, is rewarded with \\\"Spirit Heat Wristguards\\\" (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï), Level +3, Luck +3. The second place, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is rewarded with \\\"Battle Maniac Poleyns\\\" (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï), Level +2, Luck +2. The third place, Legendary Brave is rewarded with \\\"Soul Breaker Cloak\\\" (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï), Level +1, Luck +1. Congratulations to all the winners of this event! The Cities of Heaven map will be entering a 10-hour maintenance in 30 minutes! ¡­¡­ Pa! I sat on top of a stone disc and planted the Chill of the Nine Provinces on the floor. I took out the Battle Maniac Poleyns I received as a reward and tossed them into Chaos Moon¡¯s hands, saying, \\\"Give this to Fighting Spirits when you see him. His defense and resistances are shit, and this Battle Maniac Poleyns give 70% Defense and 35% spell resistance [2]. He¡¯ll want it.\\\" Beiming Xue sat down beside me and consoled me, \\\"Warsky Alliance got the Gold City in the end, but don¡¯t be sad, okay big bro?\\\" I shook my head. \\\"I won¡¯t. So what if Warsky Alliance gets the Gold Cavalry? The Silver City¡¯s Heart of the Holy Mages is the perfect counter to it. When we get back, we¡¯re gonna train a ton of mages with Heart of the Holy Mages and shut up all those naysayers who claim that our mages are weak. Speaking of which, come closer, Little Xin. I want to talk about something with you. ¡°I¡¯m going to transfer you the main controls of Silver City. We now have you, Moonlight Stone and Yu Tong as the faces of our mages, so I¡¯m going to leave it up to your three to build our mage army. Mages with Heart of the Holy Mages are extremely powerful, so do your best to train up as many of them as possible.\\\" Lian Xin let out a giggle. \\\"No worries, big brother Lu Chen! I promise you we¡¯ll have a super mage legion ready to deal with Warsky Alliance¡¯s Gold Cavalry in less than a month¡¯s time!\\\" Beside us, Li Chengfeng chuckled. \\\"Hehe. As Lu Chen says, Heart of the Holy Mages is the perfect counter to the Gold Cavalry. They can train up as many Gold Cavalrymen as they want. When the battle line is engaged, and the God Devil Breaks and Galaxy Storms start flying, Warsky Alliance¡¯s the one who has to ask themselves if they¡¯re tough enough to survive our bombardment.\\\" In front of the mill, Farewell Song slowly appeared into view before leaning against the wind mill with both arms behind his head. \\\"Don¡¯t you worry. Warsky Alliance will do everything to scale the totem of power. Who knows, maybe our Gold Cavalry will give you optimistic fellows a ¡®pleasant¡¯ surprise!\\\" Li Chengfeng shrugged. \\\"Do try. Our Dragonlight Cavalry hasn¡¯t encountered a worthy opponent since the start of the game. We¡¯ll welcome any challenge with open arms.\\\" Gui Guzi taunted Farewell Song, \\\"I don¡¯t know where you get your confidence from. Gold City can only train one Gold Cavalryman per hour, meaning that you can train a total of 720 Gold Cavalry at most even if we give you an entire month to prepare. Forget our guild, I alone can handle all of them.\\\" Farewell Song: \\\"...\\\" Beep! He Yi sent me a message: \\\"I¡¯m giving everyone a 10-hour break, so please tell your men to return to Dark Moon City and log out of the game, Lu Chen. By the way, Silver City can only produce one Heart of the Holy Mages per hour. We need to find a way to speed up the production, or it won¡¯t be worth it...\\\" \\\"Mn, got it. I¡¯m logging out now.\\\" \\\"Kay~\\\" I rose to my feet and said to all the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players around me, \\\"Thanks for all the hard work, everyone! Guild leader has given us a 10-hour break, so please don¡¯t hesitate to return to Dark Moon City and catch your beauty sleep. After that, feel free to visit our brand new Silver City. The real competition will begin then.\\\" Everyone cheered before pulling out their return scrolls and teleporting back to Dark Moon City. I didn¡¯t leave immediately because there was still one thing I needed to do. I transferred the 50 million RMB I received from Luo River God of the Capital back to her account before calling her on voice chat, \\\"Sorry, Sister Wang Luo. We grew lax during the last moment and gave Warsky the chance to steal Gold City from right under our nose. I¡¯ve returned your money since we failed to uphold our side of the agreement. Let¡¯s try again next month!\\\" Wang Luo chuckled. \\\"Thanks, but I don¡¯t blame you for the failure. Ancient Sword has fought against Candle Dragon, Hall of Immortality, Pop Culture, Dark Mercenaries and finally Warsky Alliance throughout this event. If your strength hasn¡¯t been depleted from all these battles, I¡¯m sure you could¡¯ve dealt with Warsky Alliance¡¯s divebombing tactic easily. It¡¯s also my fault for using up most of Purple Lily¡¯s forces during the earlier battle against Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance. Anyway, thank you again for everything. As you say, we¡¯ll try again next month!\\\" \\\"Yeah. See you sometime!\\\" I smiled after turning off the voice chat. Purple Lily might¡¯ve lost most of their players and still failed to seize the ultimate prize, but Luo River God of the Capital had walked away as the biggest individual winner of this event. It was because she went all out that her contribution points had surpassed even mine by a significant amount. On a related note, poor Beauty Lin was unable to score a good placement despite owning the Crimson Crystal Dragon. It was due to a lack of competition. After all, how could she accrue a good amount of contribution points when there were no enemies to kill? ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I teleported back to Dark Moon City after that. No matter what happened, Dark Moon City would always be our true headquarters. The city was currently undergoing the upgrade to Rank 11, and I hoped to be pleasantly surprised when the process was complete. I logged out at the territory hall because it was the safest place of all places. I removed my gaming helmet and felt as tired as a dog. It was noon right now, but I didn¡¯t care. I could adjust my bioclock another day. I stepped out of the room and entered the living room. He Yi and Murong Mingyue were sitting at the sofa, and Lian Xin was taking a bath. I stopped behind He Yi, massaged her shoulders and said, \\\"You all must be exhausted after staying online for so long, so stay here while I¡¯ll go downstairs to buy some lunch. We can sleep after we fill our stomachs.\\\" He Yi nodded smilingly. \\\"Sure! I can¡¯t wait to eat the lunch you bought.\\\" I smiled back. \\\"Mn. Go take a bath or something in the meantime. I¡¯ll be back very soon.\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" ¡­¡­ I was still wearing the Versace-brand clothes Lin Yixin had bought me, and I didn¡¯t feel like changing right now. So, I went downstairs right away and stepped outside. The fresh air and the lazy midday sun invigorated me almost immediately. It reminded me that I shouldn¡¯t spend all their time on games when there could be other things to enjoy in life. Of course, I didn¡¯t mean that I should give up on gaming completely, especially because it was the starting point of my dreams. Well, this is life. It¡¯s impossible to lead the healthiest possible life all the time. I looked around as I walked along the streets. A while later, I decided to order food from a nearby Anhui cuisine restaurant. There was a surprising amount of people in the restaurant. I had to wait in a queue for my turn to order my food. A while later, a fairly pretty waitress walked up to me and asked, \\\"Are you booking or are you eating here, handsome?\\\" I shot her a polite smile before replying, \\\"Takeaway. Can you hand me the menu please?\\\" \\\"Sure!\\\" I ordered six dishes of both the light and the spicy kind in total. Then, I sat at the chair near the entrance and waited for my food to be prepared. While watching my phone to pass the time, I noticed that the forums were bustling with activity right now. There was a highlighted title that stated: Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls loses the Gold City to Warsky Alliance despite joining hands with Purple Lily and Peach Garden. Is this the rise of Warsky Alliance? I gritted my teeth. The poster of this thread had avoided mentioning the ridiculous amount of opponents we had fought before we tackled Warsky Alliance, not to mention that we had started with a pure cavalry troop at first. Moreover, Warsky Alliance had managed to occupy the city at the beginning only because Candle Dragon had invested most of their efforts in taking out Purple Lily and Peach Garden¡¯s main forces first. It had no direct correlation with their guild strength at all. I was pretty sure that the administrator who stickied this thread at the top had been bribed by Warsky, and I was right. The administrator was named Free Swimmer, and I heard that he was Warsky¡¯s subguild leader[3]. To be fair, it wasn¡¯t a bad idea to have someone in control of the forums in your pockets. There was also another stickied thread by Warsky that was just as popular as the one about our \\\"defeat\\\"¡ª Summoning All Heroes! ~Thread Poster: Warsky (Stickied) Content: ¡°Brothers and sisters of the China server, thank you all for your continuous support! Half an hour ago, Warsky Alliance has finally seized Gold City from the hands of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Purple Lily, Peach Garden and Candle Dragon. This means that Warsky Alliance will be the only guild in the China server who has the Gold Cavalry. We will continue working hard to make sure that we don¡¯t betray all those who expect great things from us. ¡°Currently, the China server is in control of one Hot Sand City, the former main city of Vietnam and a hinterland of the Northern Alliance. However, there is no doubt that the wolves of Hero City, Burning City, Seven Star City and more are just waiting for the right opportunity to retake the ground we¡¯ve gained. As a Top 3 guild of the China server, it is our responsibility to ensure that doesn¡¯t happen. Therefore, I, the guild leader of Warsky Alliance hereby summon all the heroes of China to join us. All players who are within the Top 100 of Heavenly Ranking or any power ranking may shoot me a private message to join Warsky Alliance immediately. In return for your services, we offer a starting monthly salary of 50k at least. Let us spill our blood, sweat and tears together and contribute our strength to the China server! The doors of Warsky Alliance will always be open to you! 1. T/N: looks like Hundred Battler really has defected to Candle Dragon 2. T/N: don¡¯t ask me why it¡¯s not Magic Resist, I¡¯m just the translator. I¡¯ve translated a game where damage mitigation and damage reduction exist in the same game, so I can¡¯t say this is wrong 3. Some people may call this reveal random, but since the beginning of the novel, Warsky was very often within the first 3 comments of the important threads. Recently the narrative even joked that Warsky must have been really busy because he wasn¡¯t one of the first commenters. Now we know how he¡¯s been doing that Chapter 1329 I kept quiet. Warsky was the only one out of all of us who was daring and shameless enough to do such a thing. That didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t effective though. Assuming that he managed to sway even just a couple of Top 100 players to his side, Warsky Alliance¡¯s strength would easily grow by leaps and bounds. With all that said, his real target was the players ranked 100 to 10000. These players were the first-rate experts everyone used, be it during a guild war or a Nation War. On the other hand, the Top 1 to 100 players had been locked down by the major guilds a long time ago. If they really wanted to move to greener pastures, all they needed to do was to make a wink, and countless guilds would send them their greatest offers. For example, Warsky and Wang Dongliang would invite these players to an offline meeting immediately. If possible, they would even drive them back to their gaming base so they couldn¡¯t change their minds later. The \\\"hero summoning\\\" thread was met with positive response by countless players. Despite the other thread¡¯s extremely dubious claims, it was a fact that Warsky Alliance had taken Gold City. There were countless players out there vying to become Gold Cavalrymen because the opportunity would only come once in a lifetime. Take the Dragonlight Cavalry for example. Every single Dragonlight Cavalryman was proud of their status. They even felt taller and more confident when walking in the public and dating girls. On a related note, both Candlelight Shadow and Blue Sky Scar had posted their own threads to apologize to their players, blame absolutely everyone and everything for their unfortunate defeat, and promise a million empty promises about the bright future of Candle Dragon. To be fair, it was a skill every leader must possess. It was impossible to make a super guild if you couldn¡¯t do something as simple as manage your people. I browsed the forums a bit longer and found the most useful information of everything I had read thus far. Five hours later, the CGL committee would be announcing the latest China Guild Ranking. Unless something had gone horribly wrong, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would finally become the number one guild and the bellwether in the China server. We would finally surpass Candle Dragon. As written in the Analects, one¡¯s words carry weight given the right title. We had been China¡¯s strongest guild for a while, but to earn the official recognition by the CGL itself would be so much better. It was at this moment the beautiful waitress from earlier walked up to me with the food I ordered. \\\"I¡¯ve packed the food you ordered, handsome. The price is 278 RMB, but I¡¯ll make it just 270. Please come again!\\\" I paid the bill and shot her a smile. Then, I ran back to the workshop. When I opened the door and walked back to the living room, I discovered that He Yi and Murong Mingyue had fallen asleep on top of each other on the sofa. The previous 48 hours had been pretty tiring. \\\"Wake up, pretties. It¡¯s lunch time¡­\\\" I said. They didn¡¯t move a muscle. I decided to change my tactic. \\\"Holy shit it¡¯s Wang Leehom!\\\" The effect was immediate. The girls sat up and rubbed their sleepy eyes. \\\"Where? Where?\\\" I shoved my packed food in front of their face and chided them, \\\"Fangirls. Come on!\\\" The girls giggled. After that, we sat around the table and chowed down like hungry bears. Seriously, they finished everything in just ten or so minutes. What if they decided to eat me like that one day? Maybe I should stop bathing myself. I know they are all mysophobic to a certain extent... ¡­¡­ After lunch, I went back to my room and fell asleep in less than five minutes. Countless dreams fleeted across my mind until one dominated them all. Beneath a huge banyan tree, I saw a husband and wife surrounding a boy 2 or 3 years old riding a wooden horse. The boy¡¯s smile looked just as sunny as the mother¡¯s. \\\"You need to be good, okay Lu Chen? Be good!\\\" she said while holding the boy¡¯s hands. The boy made baby noises and grabbed his mother¡¯s hair. He was full of smiles. The young father then held up a wooden pinwheel and said to the boy, \\\"Look at my pinwheel! Does it look pretty? I¡¯ve even colored it for you¡­\\\" The mother looked back. \\\"I¡¯ve never seen one made out of wood before¡­\\\" \\\"Hehe, I promise you they can spin. I used flat wood to make the wheels.\\\" Still grabbing his mother¡¯s hair, the young boy said unclearly, \\\"Ma¡­ ma¡­ mama¡­\\\" The young mother gripped the young boy¡¯s hands and said. \\\"Lu Chen is so good! Remember to listen to papa as well, okay?\\\" The young father said, \\\"Come on, dear. This is almost like brainwashing¡­\\\" \\\"...\\\" For a moment, I simply watched the happy family. Feeling an unspeakable sorrow in my heart, I walked up to them and walked up to the young woman. I asked softly, \\\"Mom¡­ mom. Is it you? Mom¡­\\\" She couldn¡¯t see me though. She continued to pamper the boy. A sobbing noise escaped my throat. I felt like crying. The scene changed to a road at a farmer¡¯s village. The playful kid just turned four, but mom wasn¡¯t there. \\\"Don¡¯t play beside the road, Lu Chen. Come back when you¡¯re done, okay!?\\\" Father chided the boy while carrying a stack of four or five chairs on his shoulder. Beside him, third uncle said smilingly, \\\"Your boy is really active, old Lu. I bet he¡¯ll be nothing like you when he¡¯s grown up. Whatever he might become, he\\\''ll be much better than a carpenter!\\\" Father¡¯s face had become wrinkled, but it did nothing to hide the loving affection on his face. Suddenly, a roaring car appeared from one end of the road. It was moving too fast and too recklessly. Pa... Father dropped all the chairs and ran toward the boy with a look of terror. \\\"LU CHEN, LOOK OUT! THERE¡¯S A CAR BEHIND YOU!\\\" The horrible screech of a car brake cut through the air, and the next moment father was lying on the ground with a small pool of blood beneath his mangled leg. The terrified boy in his arms was completely safe, however. Third uncle¡¯s horrified voice followed next, \\\"OLD LU! YOU FINE, OLD LU!?\\\" ¡­¡­ Father¡­ father... Tears blurred my vision and slid down my cheeks when I watched my father¡¯s pained expression. Was this how you were lamed, father? Just how much more do I owe you... \\\"Ah¡­\\\" I awoke from my dream and blinked away some tears. The pillow was wet with tears. Then, He Yi¡¯s gentle voice rang beside me. \\\"Did you have a nightmare, Lu Chen?\\\" I slowly sat up. After noticing that He Yi really was sitting beside my bed, I hurriedly wiped away the tears and shot her an awkward smile. \\\"I¡­ I don¡¯t know if it was a nightmare or a painful memory that I saw. Can I¡­ take a vacation and return home for a couple of days? I would like to visit father¡­\\\" He Yi smiled until her own tears started to fall. She abruptly hugged me before murmuring, \\\"You kept calling out to your father and mother in your dreams. What on earth did you dream about? Just how bad was your childhood¡­\\\" I replied, \\\"No, my childhood wasn¡¯t bad at all. Mom loved me, and father loved me. It¡­ wasn¡¯t bad at all.\\\" While saying this, I grabbed my phone and called dad. ¡­¡­ \\\"Hello, Lu Chen?\\\" \\\"It¡¯s me, dad. Have you eaten dinner yet?\\\" \\\"It¡¯s past nine already. Of course I¡¯ve eaten dinner. You?\\\" \\\"Oh. Yeah, I¡¯ve eaten. How is it going these days? Is everything fine in the house?\\\" \\\"Yes, everything¡¯s fine. I raised two goats, although your third aunt¡¯s the one who usually fed them. We can slaughter one for a hot pot when you come home for Chinese New Year.\\\" \\\"Of course. By the way, I¡¯ll be visiting in a day or two.\\\" \\\"You don¡¯t need to visit if you¡¯re really busy, Lu Chen. Your time is far more valuable than this old man¡¯s. Is there anything specific you¡¯d like to eat? I¡¯ll ask your third auntie to prepare it, and I¡¯ll bring it to Suzhou myself.\\\" \\\"It¡¯s fine¡­\\\" \\\"What¡¯s wrong, son?\\\" \\\"It¡¯s nothing, dad. Can I ask you something?\\\" \\\"Sure. Ask away.\\\" \\\"How¡­ how did you lame your leg again?\\\" \\\"Oh. I was hit by a car when you were younger. The driver paid me forty some thousand as compensation. Don¡¯t you remember?\\\" \\\"Was it¡­ was it because I was disobeying you and playing by the roadside?\\\" \\\"Lu Chen, you¡­\\\" My dad was a bad liar. I knew the moment he spoke that I was right, and the truth churned in my heart like acid. I had no idea about this until now. Maybe it was because the dream had awakened my deepest memories, or maybe it was because I had unconsciously shied away from the memory all this time. Guilt and regret overwhelmed me. An entire half a minute later, I sobbed out, \\\"I-I¡¯m sorry, dad¡­ I¡­ I won¡¯t be thoughtless anymore, I¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­\\\" A few seconds of silence later, dad let out a chuckle before saying, \\\"Tell me what you¡¯d like to eat. I¡¯ll have third aunt prepare it and bring it to you with Old Third in a few days.\\\" I mumbled, \\\"I would like some pork rib soup¡­\\\" \\\"Got it!\\\" ¡­¡­ I sat in silence after hanging up the phone. I was still overwhelmed by guilt and regret. He Yi held my hand and said, \\\"Everyone has someone they owe many things to. However, those who truly love you would rather live everyday in happiness than wallow in guilt. The better you live, the happier uncle will be. Do you understand, Lu Chen?\\\" I nodded. \\\"Yeah. Starting now, I¡¯ll try and keep my father company as much as I can, Eve. I won¡¯t let him feel like he¡¯s alone.\\\" \\\"Mn. I¡¯ll be right there with you!\\\" \\\"Hehe, thanks!\\\" I pulled her closer and kissed her once on her cheek. She turned beet red, but she kissed me back on the cheek before saying, \\\"You should get up. The maintenance for the Cities of Heaven is almost over, so we should grab dinner now and log into the game later. Let¡¯s see if we can maximize the usefulness of Silver City.\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" We went out to grab dinner. At a table, I asked the girls, \\\"Has the China Guild Ranking come out yet?\\\" Murong Mingyue tapped away on her smartphone before passing it to me. The new list entered my eyes¡ª 1. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Guild Leader: From Water (Vice Leaders: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Lian Xing) 2. Candle Dragon. Guild Leader: Candlelight Shadow. (Vice Leaders: Blue Sky Scar, God¡¯s Dance) 3. Warsky Alliance. Guild Leader: Warsky (Vice Leaders: October Rain, Lin Bing Dou Zhe) 4. Snowy Cathaya. Guild Leader: Wind Fantasy (Vice Leaders: Purple Marquis, Nangong Lexi) 5. Purgatory Mad Dragon. Guild Leader: Pillar of the Nation (Vice Leaders: Roaming Dragon, Coldmoon Rose) 6. Purple Lily. Guild Leader: Luo River God of the Capital (Vice Leaders: Moonkiss, Moonlight Beneath A Rock) 7. Blazing Hot Lips. Guild Leader: Stranger of Three Lifetimes (Vice Leaders: Eyes Like Water, Lasting 8. Gods of Destruction. Guild Leader: Dominating Heaven Blade (Vice Leaders: Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God) 9. Baidicheng. Guild Leader: Come See The Snow Tonight (Vice Leaders: Splendor of Fire, Teeth of Darkness 10. Hall of Immortality. Guild Leader: Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch (Vice Leaders: Wing Breaker, Galaxy Breaker Mage) Chapter 1330 \\\"Pooh!\\\" I snorted. \\\"Did the committee drink when making this new China Guild Ranking or something? How on earth did a third-rate guild like Purgatory Mad Dragon make it to the Top 5, let alone be placed ahead of Purple Lily and Blazing Hot Lips? Is there anyone in that guild besides Little Piglet who¡¯s even a first-rate player? Unbelievable¡­\\\" Murong Mingyue argued, \\\"What they lack in quality, they make up for in quantity. Purple Lily and Blazing Hot Lips are strong, but can really they defeat all 5 million members of Purgatory Mad Dragon by themselves? No? That is why you can¡¯t say that this ranking is unscientific. Their placement is deserved.\\\" I curled my lips. \\\"Scientific my ass, Ancient Sword could¡¯ve taken out the entire Purgatory Mad Dragon with just 500k players. Moreover, Little Piglet is still a land-bound cavalryman, so he can¡¯t fight against Little Gui, Chengfeng, Eve or me. We are the only ones who truly deserve our spot, muahaha¡­\\\" Murong Mingyue puffed up her chest and jabbed a disapproving finger at me, \\\"Pooh, I¡¯ve never seen such a shameless vice leader in my life! Heavenly King of Heavenblessed my ass!\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" I downed a glass of water to hide my embarrassment. \\\"Oh right, I forgot to ask. Is there any new data on the Cities of Heaven? Do they provide additional buffs, and is there a way to increase the training speed of Heart of the Holy Mages?\\\" He Yi pouted. \\\"There is, but it¡¯s a total scam¡­\\\" \\\"I see. And how are we getting scammed exactly? Do we have to make a virgin sacrifice, or¡­?\\\" He Yi snorted. \\\"Players can now contribute Luck to the guild to be converted into Heavenly Points. 1 Luck is worth 10 Heavenly Points. 1 Heavenly Point increases the number of available Heart of the Holy Mages by 1. In summary, 1 Luck is equal to 10 mages with Heart of the Holy Mages.\\\" \\\"Oh for fuck¡¯s sake¡­\\\" I cursed in a dumbfounded voice while a beautiful waitress served the century eggs we ordered. \\\"Most players would consider themselves lucky to have 1 to 3 Luck, and you¡¯re telling me that 1 Luck can only be exchanged for 10 Heart of the Holy Mages? It really is a scam¡­\\\" Sitting next to me, Lian Xin tilted her head and shot me a cheeky smile. \\\"Don¡¯t you have 111 Luck right now, big brother Lu Chen? Wanna give it all up for the cause? That¡¯ll give us 1110 mages with Heart of the Holy Mages instantly¡­\\\" My mouth twitched. \\\"You may as well kill me. It¡¯s thanks to this 111 Luck that I managed to climb to where I am now. I¡¯m not even exaggerating when I say I¡¯m nothing without my Luck stat. It will be like restarting from zero, and who the hell wants to restart from zero if they don¡¯t have to?\\\" \\\"Seriously though¡­\\\" Murong Mingyue spoke up while leaning against her chair and crossing her arms in front of her breasts. I wasn¡¯t sure if she was doing it on purpose, but her huge breasts looked like they were about to jump out of her shirt. She shot me an uncaring glance before continuing, \\\"I do suggest that you contribute some Luck to the guild. You are the vice leader. What will the others think if even you won¡¯t contribute for the greater good? Since you have 111 Luck, I would suggest that you contribute 11 and keep the rest. It shouldn¡¯t affect your overall strength, and you¡¯ll have the perfect pretext to coax your experts and players to do the same thing. The sooner we work together, the faster we¡¯ll create the invincible magic army of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!\\\" I sucked in a deep breath before nodding. \\\"Yes, you¡¯re right. I shouldn¡¯t be too selfish. Very well, I will contribute 11 Luck as you say, sis. Of course, the rest of you shouldn¡¯t contribute more than 3 Luck. Luck impacts a ridiculous amount of attributes such as the drop rate, attack calculations and many more. Your total Luck is much lower than mine, so don¡¯t go overboard.\\\" He Yi nodded smilingly. \\\"I know. I have 47 Luck, so I¡¯ll contribute 2 Luck and keep it at 45.\\\" An idea entered my mind. \\\"How about this: when we speak to our guild members later, we¡¯ll tell them that every Luck they contribute is worth 100k guild contribution points. Do you guys think it¡¯s a good enough incentive?\\\" Lian Xin clapped her hands together. \\\"Yes, that¡¯s a great idea! We¡¯ll implement it immediately after we get back!\\\" Murong Mingyue nodded. \\\"Yes, that will work!\\\" I hesitated. \\\"Sis¡­\\\" \\\"Yes?\\\" \\\"Did you realize that your breasts have been growing bigger and bigger?\\\" \\\"Really? Would you like to cop a feel then?\\\" \\\"Let¡¯s talk about it after we get back¡­\\\" \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ It was past 10 pm by the time we returned to the workshop, the perfect time to return to the game! Swhoosh! The moment I appeared in Dark Moon City, I immediately received a system message: \\\"Good day, player. You are the vice leader of your guild, so you are granted the right to teleport to your belonging City of Heaven, Silver City, immediately!\\\" Wonderful! I clicked the teleport button and teleported right away. Silver City was located at the borders of Bloody Shield Domain, which was also the border between friendly human factions along with their allies, and the Purgatory¡¯s Night Legion. Those who traveled west would be venturing deeper into Bloody Shield Domain where high-level undead resided. It was a place overflowing with danger and killing, wealth and divine arms. After I entered the territory hall of Silver City, I saw that Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and the rest of the executives were all present. He Yi had notified them beforehand to come here to attend a temporary meeting. The Chill of the Nine Provinces hanging snugly behind my back, I walked over to the throne and leaned against a silver pillar. Then, I shot everyone a smile and asked, \\\"I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve already heard that Luck can be exchanged for Heavenly Points, so I¡¯m just going to get straight to the point: how much Luck will you be contributing to the guild, brothers and sisters?\\\" Gui Guzi curled his lips. \\\"This is such a scam, dammit. They want the one thing we lack the most¡­\\\" Li Chengfeng laughed. \\\"Let¡¯s see what the vice leader contributes first, shall we? Lu Chen, you have the highest Luck in the entire world. How much will you be contributing to the cause?\\\" I smiled. \\\"I will be contributing 11 Luck!\\\" Xu Yang exclaimed in astonishment, \\\"You¡¯re not joking, are you? 11 Luck is a lot!\\\" I nodded. \\\"I know, but it¡¯s the decision I¡¯ve arrived at after discussing it with Eve and sis. I¡¯ll still have 100 Luck after, so my power, drop rate and more are still going to be top-tier. Please don¡¯t follow my example, however. The guild still needs you to fight at the frontlines, so please don¡¯t sacrifice your Luck to the detriment of your own strength!\\\" Li Chengfeng slapped his chest and declared smilingly, \\\"I¡¯ll contribute 4 Luck then. It¡¯s the maximum I can offer!\\\" Gui Guzi said, \\\"I¡¯ll contribute 3¡­\\\" Xu Yang said, \\\"I only have 7 Luck, so I¡¯m only going to contribute 1. Please don¡¯t say that I¡¯m stingy¡­\\\" I laughed. \\\"Of course not! In fact, you shouldn¡¯t contribute more than 10% of your total Luck, or it¡¯ll definitely affect your strength. Oh, one more thing. 1 Luck is worth 100000 guild contribution points. Now, go!\\\" After that, a total of 1.1 million guild contribution points entered my figurative pockets as I submitted my Luck to Silver City. Everyone else did the same thing. There was a contribution ranking that showed exactly how much Luck everyone had contributed¡ª Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, 11 Luck. High Fighting Spirits, 9 Luck. Legendary Brave, 4 Luck. Gui Guzi, 3 Luck. Lian Xing, 3 Luck. Beiming Xue, 3 Luck. From Water, 2 Luck. Heaven¡¯s Rain, 2 Luck. Moonlight Stone, 2 Luck. Murong Mingyue, 2 Luck. Total Guild Luck: 1109 ¡­¡­ A shudder ran down my spine when I saw who was sitting at second place on the contribution ranking. I turned to High Fighting Spirits and questioned, \\\"Dude, what the fuck! Why did you contribute so much Luck? You¡¯re going to cripple yourself like this!\\\" A smiling High Fighting Spirits scratched his head as he replied, \\\"I only had 9 Luck, and I have no idea what it was even doing for me. In that case, I may as well donate it all and create a couple more Heart of the Holy Mages for the guild¡­\\\" I fell silent for a moment. High Fighting Spirits might be simple and reckless, but he was the kind of brother anyone would want to have. He didn¡¯t care about personal loss at all. Finally, I said, \\\"Again, I recommend that you don¡¯t donate more than 10% of your total Luck because this stat is very important for top-tier players, but I won¡¯t encourage or discourage anyone from doing what they think is best.\\\" He Yi then said, \\\"We¡¯ve gathered a total of 1109 Luck, or 11090 Heavenly Points, in less than an hour. That¡¯s a lot. It should be even higher in a couple of hours. I think I¡¯m going to make a guild announcement and encourage everyone to donate more¡­\\\" \\\"Okay. Thanks for your hard work, Eve~\\\" And so we waited at the territory hall while Lian Xin, Moonlight Stone and Yu Tong worked together to create a mage ranking for the guild. The main guild currently had a max player capacity of 200000, and nearly 50000 of them were mages. If we could give them all Heart of the Holy Mages, they would definitely become the nightmare of countless cavalries. Not even Warsky Alliance¡¯s Gold Cavalry might possess the durability to break through our holy mage legion¡¯s firepower. Deadly spells like God Devil Breaks, Galaxy Storms and more would hurt like never before! ¡­¡­ Four hours passed by in the blink of an eye, and practically everyone who could contribute any Luck at all had contributed to the cause. Our total Luck had reached 2012¡ªwhich equaled to 20120 mages with Heart of the Holy Mages¡ªbut it wasn¡¯t even enough to meet half of our demand. I looked at He Yi and suggested, \\\"Do you think we can purchase Luck from outsiders, Eve? How does 1000 RMB per Luck sound?\\\" He Yi nodded. \\\"It can work!\\\" However, Chaos Moon shot down the idea. \\\"It¡¯s too late, you two. Warsky Alliance has been paying 15k to anyone willing to part with 1 Luck, and he¡¯s been doing that for a while now¡­\\\" I exclaimed in astonishment, \\\"Heavens, has Warsky gone crazy? Is one Luck really worth 15k RMB? Since when did this become an economic war?\\\" Chaos Moon replied, \\\"What are you talking about? It was an economic war from the start. Gold City and Silver City¡¯s buffs are permanent, so none of the money spent on these buffs will be wasted. So, are we going to buy Luck from other players or not? May I remind you that Luck is a finite resource, and there is only so much Luck to go around even if we take the playerbase of the entire Sky City into consideration. If we miss this opportunity, we won¡¯t come by it again.\\\" Li Chengfeng raised a hand. \\\"Calm down, you three. The situation isn¡¯t as dire as you think. Our foundation is better than Warsky Alliance¡¯s, so we managed to gather over 2000 Luck from our guild alone. According to my spies, Warsky Alliance is only sitting at 700+ total Luck right now, meaning that we have almost three times their Luck. Even with their RMB tactic, they may not be able to accrue more Luck than us when all is said and done¡­\\\" I nodded. \\\"That¡¯s a good point. In that case, let¡¯s set the price at 10k RMB. There¡¯s no need to overdraw ourselves for that bit of extra Luck¡­\\\" He Yi smiled. \\\"Okay then. I¡¯m going to mobilize our friends and allies and snatch that Luck from Warsky Alliance now. We can¡¯t always rely on the Dragonlight Cavalry to carry the guild to victory, so we¡¯re going to develop as many Holy Mages as possible to counter the Gold Cavalry!\\\" Chapter 1331 Late at night at the west gate of Sky City. I was currently standing on the square next to the gate with all of my equipment visual effects turned on. The hilt of The Chill of Nine Provinces was peeking out of my cloak. Swirls of icy energy could be seen circling around it. Anyone who lay their eyes on the weapon would know that the weapon was used for only one purpose: murder. The Phantom Wolf King was crouching next to me and enjoying my ministrations to its head and ears. \\\"Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is offering 10000 RMB to purchase 1 Luck! Buyers will gain the right to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and fight by the side of Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Beiming Xue, and Gui Guzi!\\\" Chaos Moon spared no effort in shouting her lines as loudly and invitingly as possible. It was like a cold war. Whoever gained the most Luck out of this race would gain the upper hand in future conflicts. Not far away, Blue Sky Scar, Nangong Lexi and Laughing At The Heavens were doing the same thing. They were all doing their best to purchase as much Luck as possible for their guilds. Even Candle Dragon and Snowy Cathaya were in the race despite the fact that Bronze City and Dark Steel City¡¯s buffs weren¡¯t permanent. After all, it might as well be permanent if they never lost the cities to anyone. Considering their strength, it was definitely doable. ¡­¡­ \\\"Hello, Beauty Chaos Moon!\\\" A young fighter wearing Earth-grade metal armor stopped in front of Chaos Moon and asked, \\\"10000 RMB for 1 Luck, is it? Can you offer anything else if I give you more?\\\" Chaos Moon shot him a glance. \\\"How much Luck do you have?\\\" The fighter raised four fingers. \\\"4!\\\" Chaos Moon smiled. \\\"Donate it all, and you will be given the right to become a Dragonlight Cavalryman after one month of observation!\\\" \\\"Deal!\\\" And so the fighter became a member of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and donated all 4 of his Luck to his new guild. After he went away in a chippy manner, Chaos Moon shot me a smile and said, \\\"One Dragonscale Beast for 40 Holy Mages? It¡¯s so worth it I almost felt sorry for the guy!\\\" My mouth twitched. \\\"Keep it up. You have all of my moral support!\\\" \\\"Kay¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ A short while later, I decided to set up a midnight stall right beside Chaos Moon and began selling the equipment I had gotten during the war for the Cities of Heaven. There was a ton of great stuff like a Heaven-grade ring with a 7% lifesteal that was worth at least 50k RMB. Earning money was the only way I could feel better while spending money and resources to purchase Luck. An hour passed, and the number of players on the western square grew smaller and smaller. Then, I saw Candlelight Shadow and Warsky walking over to their booths. They were probably here to check how their Luck purchasing was going. It was an odd sight. We guild leaders rarely gathered at one place that wasn¡¯t the battlefield. About ten meters away from me, Candlelight Shadow watched me coolly with one hand on his sword hilt. Then, he abruptly unsheathed the weapon but kept it pointed to the ground. His fire dragon, currently in a child form, was perched above his sword. It was obvious that he bore a grudge against me after I screwed him over during the contest for Gold City. I rose to my feet and shrugged fearlessly at him. \\\"Allow me to remind you that Amber Pupil was the one who took your life. If you feel resentful, feel free to fuck up the Dark Mercenaries in the outer lands!\\\" Candlelight Shadow smiled. \\\"Do you think I¡¯m stupid, Lu Chen? Why would I hunt down Dark Mercenaries at this critical moment? Those fuckers will die one way or another, but now is not the time. Candle Dragon may have only gotten the consolation prize, but that doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t make good use of it. Just watch. I, Candlelight Shadow, will make even a piece of rotten wood shine as bright as the sun!\\\" Blue Sky Scar was also glaring at us menacingly. Chaos Moon grew annoyed. She planted her sword on the ground and glared right back at them, \\\"The war for the Cities of Heaven is already over. If you¡¯re displeased with the result, then you may challenge our ace to 1v1 outside the western gate. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re not that stupid though. You know your chance of beating Lu Chen is lower than 50%, right?\\\" Candlelight Shadow gritted his teeth visibly, but he didn¡¯t fall for Chaos Moon¡¯s taunt. He knew just as well as I that his chances of winning against me were less than 40%. My equipment was slightly better than his, and my Ancient Divine Dragon was much better than his fire dragon. My Chill of the Nine Provinces, while not one of the Twelve Divine Armaments yet, was also better than the sword he was using right now. Its septuple damage property especially would one-shot Candlelight Shadow every time it triggered. Even my Ancient Divine Skill, the Xuanyuan Slash, was a tad better than his Pangu¡¯s Axe. Frankly, his chances of beating me in a fair fight weren\\\''t high at all. A long time later, Candlelight Shadow finally squeezed out a retort. \\\"I¡¯m not going to argue with a woman, especially one whose tongue may as well be forged in iron.\\\" Chaos Moon stomped her foot furiously. \\\"Who the fuck are you calling an iron tongue!?\\\" I glanced at Chaos Moon¡¯s bouncing bunnies and chuckled. \\\"Hi, Chaos Moons. You girls are looking very bouncy today¡­\\\" Chaos Moon¡¯s gaze turned murderous. \\\"Whose side are you on!? Just you wait, I¡¯m going to drive to your workshop and murder you tonight!¡± After a brief pause, she added, ¡°My bunnies are pretty bouncy though¡­\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Warsky walked over with October Rain, Lin Bing Dou Zhe and the rest of his generals. He said smilingly, \\\"To be honest¡­ I understand Candlelight Shadow¡¯s feelings pretty well¡­\\\" Candlelight Shadow shot him a disdainful glance. \\\"Like hell you understand me!\\\" Warsky¡¯s smile froze for a second, but he continued, \\\"Of course I do. During the war of Gold City, almost all of your main force was crushed by Ancient Sword¡¯s 70000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Your Qiu Beast Cavalrymen were completely useless against them. Later on, you were easily taken out by a piece of shit like Amber Pupil, which led to Ye Yuse¡¯s death afterward. Ye Yuse is your woman, isn¡¯t she? How can a man who can¡¯t even protect his own woman deserve the title of China¡¯s Martial God? In the end, it was Lu Chen who took out Dark Mercenaries for you, but instead of thanking him for his efforts you¡¯re provoking him instead. Do you understand what gratitude means, Fang Zhuo?\\\" Candlelight Shadow¡¯s face was white with rage at this point. \\\"What the fuck do you think you¡¯re doing, Warsky? Are you here to ridicule Candle Dragon or what?\\\" Warsky raised his head, slammed his Immortality Blade into a brick, and declared fearlessly. \\\"You should¡¯ve seen this coming, Candlelight Shadow. Do you still remember that battle at Venomous Wasp Forest? I had gone to you to check if you were willing to form a military alliance between Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance, and how did you respond? You pointed at my nose, called me useless trash with hollow authority, and claimed that Warsky Alliance doesn¡¯t even deserve to become Candle Dragon¡¯s shoeshiner, much less an ally. I¡¯ve never forgotten that humiliation even now!\\\" Candlelight Shadow laughed. \\\"I see, I see! The guild leader of Warsky Alliance is really a small-minded person!\\\" Warsky sneered. \\\"So what if I am? Yes, I¡¯m the type who¡¯ll hound you forever for one humiliation! Are you terrified? I¡¯ve been waiting for this, Candlelight Shadow. Both Candle Dragon¡¯s three-year reign as the number one guild and your legend are over, while the era of Ancient Sword and Warsky Alliance has just begun! That¡¯s the reason you¡¯re acting so pissy, isn¡¯t it!? You¡¯re angry that Ancient Sword has replaced your guild as the new number one!\\\" Candlelight Shadow replied darkly, \\\"You¡¯ve barked and bitten off too much for a noname who didn¡¯t even register as a blip on the radar until Heavenblessed, Warsky. Just watch. Your retribution may come sooner than you think!\\\" Warsky shrugged. \\\"And I and my 100000 Gold Cavalrymen will look forward to your arrival. I cannot wait for you to see how badly your Life of the Tamer is going to perform before my Gold Cavalry!\\\" I interrupted, \\\"Bruh, you only have 700+ Luck right now. Are you going to pull out the rest of your cavalrymen from your asshole or something? At least prepare a script for your boasts!\\\" Warsky¡¯s mouth twitched. \\\"Fuck, stay out of this man, I¡¯m not even talking to you¡­\\\" Chaos Moon agreed. \\\"He¡¯s right. Why the heck are you interfering with the stand-off between two dogs when you can be buying more Luck instead? Once we¡¯ve gotten our 100k Holy Mages, both their Gold Cavalrymen and Life Tamers are going to be wiped off the surface of this continent anyway¡­\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" Candlelight Shadow: \\\"...\\\" Warsky: \\\"...\\\" Silence enveloped the western square of Sky City for a time. All the other players in the area were keeping their heads low to avoid attracting attention, but opening their ears as wide as possible so they wouldn¡¯t miss a single word of our conversation. After all, it wasn¡¯t every day you\\\''ve got to listen to the dialogue between the executive-level players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon, much less the CGL Hall of Famers. It was one of the juiciest gossips you could learn from this game. Blue Sky Scar glared at Warsky and uttered out words that dripped with venom, \\\"Savor this while it lasts, Warsky. When your lucky streak is over, Candle Dragon will grant you a payback like nothing you¡¯ve ever seen before¡­\\\" Warsky guffawed while lifting his Immortal Blade to his shoulder, \\\"It¡¯d better be! It¡¯d be too easy otherwise!\\\" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh... Suddenly, a shadow emerged from the darkness. He lay his emotionless gaze on Blue Sky Scar and said, \\\"Blue Sky, you must think you¡¯re so cool right now, don¡¯t you? Want to make good on your threat and become even cooler? I offer you the chance to 1v1 me outside this gate in a best of 7 right now. Whoever wins will pay the other person 1 million gold. What do you say?\\\" \\\"You!\\\" Blue Sky Scar wasn¡¯t dumb enough to fall for the taunt. He uttered through gritted teeth, \\\"Are you a child, Farewell Song? 1v1?\\\" Farewell Song smirked. \\\"I knew you wouldn¡¯t dare.\\\" \\\"Is that so?\\\" Candlelight Shadow abruptly pointed his sword at Farewell Song. \\\"I challenge you to a 1v1, Farewell Song. In fact, I raise you 1 million each round for your best of 7. Do you dare?\\\" ¡­¡­ Farewell Song looked surprised. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s counter-challenge had surprised everyone. Warsky pressed his lips together. \\\"Forget it. This match isn¡¯t fair at all. Everyone knows how disadvantageous it is for an assassin to go up against a warrior. Are you seriously lowering yourself to this extent, Candlelight Shadow?\\\" Candlelight Shadow replied indifferently, \\\"If he was any other assassin, sure. But he is Farewell Song, the strongest assassin in the entire China server, isn¡¯t he?\\\" Farewell Song raised his head and declared, \\\"It¡¯s fine, Warsky. I accept. 1 million per round, is it? Very well! I¡¯ll fight you, Candlelight Shadow!\\\" Chapter 1332 \\\"OMG, they¡¯re actually going to fight with each other! That¡¯s wonderful, I wasn¡¯t expecting such an exciting show so late into the night, heehee¡­\\\" Chaos Moon said while pulling my arm, giggling away like she couldn¡¯t wait to revel in the violence. She had a point though. It was boring as shit purchasing Luck and selling equipment at this time of the day, and now, the Martial God of China was suddenly going to fight against the best assassin in China in a BO7. Even better, the duelist would lose a level and a million RMB every loss. How could it not be exciting? I rose to my feet and unsheathed my Chill of the Nine Provinces. It drew everyone¡¯s attention as a matter of course. Candlelight Shadow sneered, \\\"What¡¯s wrong? Do you want to fight too?\\\" I shook my head. \\\"Nah, I¡¯m not interested in your duel. However, I do suggest that the two of you activate sparring mode to avoid losing levels and equipment. Also, you should summon your bards and fully buff yourselves. The fight will be more fair then.\\\" \\\"That¡¯s surprising. You don¡¯t want Candlelight Shadow or me to lose levels?\\\" Farewell Song asked smilingly. I nodded. \\\"That is correct. That would affect your strength.\\\" Farewell Song smiled wider. \\\"I see. I thought you would be happy to see us lose levels. After all, your chances of winning against the both of us will skyrocket that way¡­\\\" I raised my eyebrows. \\\"Is that a joke? Do you really think I need that kind of advantage to defeat you two?\\\" \\\"Er¡­\\\" Farewell Song and Candlelight Shadow¡¯s mouth twitched. They clearly weren\\\''t expecting this answer. Warsky let out a cough before saying, \\\"Alright. This will be a best of 7 duel-to-the-death, and I will be the referee of this match. Give me your bets, and I will pay the winner every time they win a round. Is this fair?\\\" However, Ye Yuse spoke up warily, \\\"Forget it, uncle. You are Warsky Alliance¡¯s guild leader, Farewell Song¡¯s boss. You can¡¯t promise you won¡¯t be biased toward your player. In my opinion, there is only one person who can act as the referee of this match.\\\" \\\"Who?\\\" \\\"Lu Chen!\\\" \\\"Why?\\\" \\\"Lu Chen¡¯s the vice leader of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and he has no direct conflict of interest in this match. Moreover, the referee must be strong enough to convince both participants that his judgment is fair. Ask yourself if you can beat our Candlelight Shadow or even your own assassin, Farewell Song.\\\" Warsky nearly broke into tears when he heard this. Ye Yuse¡¯s statement was fair though. Despite wielding the Immortal Blade, there was no chance Warsky could beat either Farewell Song or Candlelight Shadow in a best of 7 because his character skills and techniques were both a tad inferior. If superior equipment was all it took to win, shit players like Roaming Dragon would¡¯ve beaten us all already. ¡­¡­ I licked my lips. \\\"I can be a referee, but I have a request!\\\" \\\"What?\\\" Candlelight Shadow and Farewell Song asked in unison. I replied, \\\"I want 100k gold as my referee fee. The two of you can just pay me 50k each¡­\\\" \\\"You are such a bastard¡­\\\" Farewell Song said in a dumbfounded tone. Candlelight Shadow frowned. \\\"You want us to pay you 50k gold each to referee our match one time? Do you think our gold grows on trees?\\\" I shrugged. \\\"Look, I was here doing my own thing and selling my equipment until the two of you barged in, scared away all the customers and even asked me to be your referee. Even now, I¡¯m losing time and money just talking to you both. We are all adults here, and adults should know how to empathize with others, right? Therefore, I believe 100k gold is a perfectly fair referee fee. Also, remember that you are both CGL Hall of Famers. You probably don¡¯t want to be known as stingy people, do you?\\\" Farewell Song grimaced visibly. \\\"I don¡¯t know if we count as stingy, but I¡¯m certain everyone¡¯s going to hear about your vulgarity after today¡­\\\" I shrugged again. \\\"It is a fact that I¡¯m abandoning my stall to referee your match right now, so just accept your fate and cough up the dough already¡­\\\" Suddenly, Warsky said, \\\"Wait a second. You didn¡¯t even get any costumers, did you? It¡¯s fucking midnight right now!\\\" \\\"YOU DARE JINX ME!? I CHALLENGE YOU TO A 5 MILLION PER ROUND BEST OF 11 RIGHT HERE AND NOW! COME!\\\" Warsky trembled. \\\"I was just kidding, don¡¯t take it seriously, please continue¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ After accepting 50k gold each from Farewell Song and Candlelight Shadow, everyone except Chaos Moon walked out of the west gate. The reason I left Chaos Moon behind was because Blue Sky Scar and Laughing At The Heavens had abandoned their posts to watch the match, meaning that we had fewer competitors than before. There was only so much Luck in the entire China server, and those numbers wouldn¡¯t replenish until a very long time later. That was why the first 24 hours of the Luck purchase were the most important. When over 80% of the Luck in China was absorbed into the Cities of Heaven, it wouldn¡¯t matter even if we offered a mountain of gold. By now, the ground outside the city, the walls, the floating rocks and even the trees tall enough to stand on were covered by players. Everyone wanted to watch the match between the Martial God Candlelight Shadow and the apex assassin Farewell Song. It was a classic warrior versus assassin match, but this time the participants were some of the most famous faces of their class. Obviously, the assassins all supported Farewell Song, and the cavalrymen all supported Candlelight Shadow. There were also people who were hoping to learn something from this match and become better at dealing against warriors or assassins. True experts were good at creating new tactics after all. \\\"Stand back, please. The players will need more space¡­\\\" I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and did my best to clear out a fighting space for the duo. After I received the bet money from the players, I planted my sword on the ground and shouted, \\\"Alright! Let us begin! First round, start!\\\" ¡­¡­ The first round lasted 2 minutes and 27 seconds and ended in Candlelight Shadow¡¯s victory. Despite being chain-stunned by Farewell Song, Candlelight Shadow remained calm and parried three of Farewell Song¡¯s attacks in a row with just 19% HP. Then, he forced Farewell Song to stay still with a Wild Collision and one-shot him with his SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Pangu¡¯s Axe. The second round lasted 3 minutes and 11 seconds and ended in Farewell Song¡¯s victory. Candlelight Shadow didn¡¯t have the Divine Energy Points to use Pangu¡¯s Axe this round, so Farewell Song activated Dark God Transformation and baited his opponent into missing an attack with a circular step. As a result, Farewell Song¡¯s recharged enough energy¡ª70 points to be exact¡ªto stun Candlelight Shadow a second time[1]. In the end, Farewell Song was able to kill Candlelight Shadow with just 7% HP left. It was a close victory. On a related note, Candlelight Shadow hadn¡¯t ridden his Fire Dragon from the start until the end. Otherwise, Farewell Song¡¯s chances of winning were 0%. It was an unwritten rule that everyone understood, so there were no complaints about Candlelight Shadow holding back or something. Candlelight Shadow proceeded to win the third and the fourth rounds. He was able to counter Farewell Song¡¯s circular step tactic perfectly by exploiting the 0.2-second delay that occurred when dragging one¡¯s sword. The fifth and sixth round went in Farewell Song¡¯s favor. He had brought out two completely different playstyles and caught Candlelight Shadow off-guard both times. In the end, the match ended in Candlelight Shadow¡¯s victory. The seventh round was a duel of parries, and Farewell Song ultimately lacked just a tiny bit of Strength to survive Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Ultimate Strength Break. Candlelight Shadow defended his honor as the Martial God with a final score of 4:3, and Farewell Song showed off to everyone how to beat a top-tier cavalryman as an assassin. In summary, an assassin should always seek to drag out the battle, attack from concealment, whittle down the cavalryman¡¯s HP bit by bit, and launch a decisive assault when their HP was below 40%. If the assassin managed to do all the above, then they should naturally walk away as the victor. ¡­¡­ \\\"In the end, I still lost a million gold¡­\\\" Farewell Song sighed before looking at Warsky. \\\"Do me a favor and pay the bet for me, okay Warsky¡­\\\" Warsky¡¯s eyes widened. \\\"What the fuck? Why should I pay for your loss?\\\" Farewell Song grinned. \\\"You were the one who got challenged, remember? I¡¯m just the unfortunate guy who had to take a bullet for you. Also, how much money do you think you would¡¯ve lost if you had to fight Candlelight Shadow 1v1? I saved you 6 million, man...\\\" Warsky felt like dying. \\\"Come on, that¡¯s not fair¡­\\\" \\\"If you don¡¯t pay the bet for me, I¡¯ll have no choice but to leave the guild and work for Ancient Sword¡­\\\" \\\"Fine¡­\\\" \\\"That¡¯s a good bro if I¡¯ve ever seen one!\\\" \\\"...\\\" At the end of the best of 7, the image of a top expert in nearly every spectator¡¯s heart was solidified. They are strong, agile, decisive, courageous and, above all else, vulgar! ¡­¡­ On a more serious note, the match might have ended, but the war between Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon had just begun. It also marked the complete breakdown of relations between the Top 3 guilds of China and more wars in the future. The good news was that the Northern Alliance was trending toward building stability after the emergence of Cities of Heaven. I heard that Hero Alliance was the one who won the Gold City, and knowing Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, the guy wouldn¡¯t act until his Gold Cavalry was fully ready. Unsurprisingly, India¡¯s Cyan Beast was the one who won their Gold City. The true battle was just beginning. After that, I went to bed straight away to adjust my biological clock back to normal. Dad and third uncle would be visiting us in a couple of days, so I wanted to be in the best possible mental state. It wouldn¡¯t do to make him worry about me again. The third day at 8 am sharp, I ate breakfast and went online. Swhoosh! After I appeared in Silver City, I went to the territory hall immediately to check on our latest Luck total. It was great. After all the blood, sweat and tears, we managed to gather a total of 5998 Luck. It meant that 60k of our mages would soon own the skill \\\"Heart of the Holy Mages\\\" and experience a 25% boost to their magic power scaling, 50% to their max HP and Magic Shield durability. And what wonderful numbers they are! The 25% increase in magic power scaling was especially good. It wasn¡¯t as simple as a 25% boost to attack power. It was a 25% boost to the base number of a player¡¯s Magic Attack. In the future, it could be stacked infinitely to completely different effects as well! [2] Swhoosh! A beautiful figure entered the territory hall. It was none other than my beautiful guild leader, He Yi. \\\"You¡¯re here, Eve.\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" He Yi walked up to me and checked the surroundings. Then, she pecked me on the cheek and smiled at me. \\\"No one¡¯s here. Maybe¡­\\\" Suddenly, another beautiful woman appeared gradually out of thin air. She was Beiming Xue. \\\"Actually, I¡¯m here. I was testing out the effects of my invisibility cloak, and it looks like it fooled even big bro¡­\\\" He Yi turned as red as an apple. I shrugged. \\\"I didn¡¯t have Dark Pupils turned on, so¡­\\\" Beiming Xue: \\\"Hmph¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ While checking the city¡¯s control interface, I asked, \\\"How goes the Heart of the Holy Mages training, Eve?\\\" She answered, \\\"We¡¯ve selected 40000 high-level mages from the main guild and completed all their training. We¡¯re currently in the middle of selecting another 20000 high-level mages from Bloody Mercenaries and the other subguilds. We made sure to train players who are Level 215 and know God Devil Break at least because it¡¯s incredibly wasteful otherwise¡­ Also, we trained around 200 players from other guilds¡­\\\" \\\"Wait, what? Other guilds?!!\\\" 1. T/N: this was mentioned ages ago, but assassins don¡¯t use mana when using skills. Instead they have a fixed amount of Energy that they use to unleash and execute a series of powerful combos. In this case, it looks like Farewell Song has some sort of skill o that recharges his Energy when he successfully dodges an attack. 2. Author¡¯s Note: those who don¡¯t understand the difference should consult their math teacher¡­ E/N: Pot calling the kettle black¡­ Basically this is not like Killer God Formation, where Gui Guzi gives 275% boost instead of 250%. It boosts the base which is later multiplied by all these buffs. Chapter 1333 \\\"Yes. There are mages from other guilds who came to us asking to learn Heart of the Holy Mages, and we can¡¯t turn them down because, you know¡­\\\" He Yi pouted a little. \\\"Yesterday afternoon, Momo showed up with 27 Blazing Hot Lips mages and offered us 20 Luck. During the night, Yiyi showed up with 70+ Snowy Cathaya mages such as Shadow Chanel, and I trained them all for free. Even later, Luo River God of the Capital showed up with 30+ players and offered us 17 Luck. You get the idea¡­\\\" I smiled and put an arm across her shoulders. \\\"We didn¡¯t lose anything, so it¡¯s fine. We¡¯re all allies after all, it¡¯s only right that we reciprocate their favor from time to time¡­\\\" He Yi snorted. \\\"You really want to say ¡®reciprocate their feelings¡¯, don¡¯t you?\\\" \\\"What? That¡¯s complete slander¡­\\\" \\\"Slander? If that is slander, then Bao Zheng isn¡¯t pitch black¡­\\\" I smiled awkwardly. \\\"Let¡¯s talk about something else, shall we? Dad and third uncle said that they¡¯d be arriving at around 3 pm or so, so I suggest we don¡¯t go online after lunch. It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve seen them, so I want to make sure that everything is ready¡­\\\" He Yi nodded smilingly. \\\"Mn! It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve seen third uncle as well. We¡¯ll receive him together this afternoon, and¡­ I¡¯ll book a room at a restaurant so we can all eat dinner there. Beiming, do you want to come over after you finish lunch at your university? It¡¯s also been a long time since we met each other in real life, right?\\\" Beiming Xue nodded eagerly. \\\"Of course! I¡¯ll drive over right after I finish lunch!\\\"[1] \\\"Wonderful. What are we going to do for the morning though?\\\" \\\"I got an idea! Carry us through the S4 instance, big bro!\\\" \\\"What the heck? Volunteer duty again?\\\" \\\"How can you say that when Sister Eve has already given you a kiss? Or do you want me to give you a kiss too?\\\" I blushed. \\\"That will be unnecessary. You can kiss me when you arrive at Suzhou later¡­\\\" \\\"O-okay¡­\\\" Beiming turned even redder. He Yi covered her forehead with her palm. \\\"Please have some shame¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ The S4 instance, Ancient Battlefield, was the fourth of the god-tier instances It produced the Archean Immortal-grade equipment set, the Skysong set. Unfortunately, its item drop rate was unusually terrible. Even with my Luck, I only managed to drop Skysong Iron Fists for Lin Yixin during our previous grind. Moreover, the S4 equipment was about 20% stronger than your standard Archean Immortal-grade equipment if you gathered the full set, but about 20% weaker as individual pieces. Long story short, you always wanted to gather a full set as soon as possible. I called Lin Yixin to join us. At the end of the grind, I got the S4 Skysong helmet[2] for Lin Yixin and S4 Skysong leather chest armor for Beiming Xue. That was it. At least the mobs and bosses recharged all of our Divine Energy Points to 200. The last boss especially gave me 70 Divine Energy Points outright after I scored the last hit. It was the difference between a boss and a normal mob. Lin Yixin asked me while standing next to the boss\\\''s dead body, \\\"Let¡¯s challenge the S5 instance this afternoon, Little Cheat!\\\" I shook my head. \\\"Nah, my dad and third uncle are coming this afternoon¡­\\\" \\\"What? Uncle¡¯s coming over to visit?\\\" Lin Yixin blinked. \\\"Why didn¡¯t you tell me¡­\\\" I quickly let out a cough. \\\"Why don¡¯t you join us for dinner? My dad may want to meet you¡­\\\" The invitation instantly dispelled the swirling tears in her eyes and put a smile on her face. \\\"Okay! I¡¯ll head out with Lexi and Qingqing and buy good-looking spring clothes in the afternoon. Sister Eve, can I have your opinion? What do you think would suit me best?\\\" He Yi was distributing the enhancement gems. She paused to think for a moment before replying, \\\"My style is the office woman, but you¡¯re not the same. You¡¯re a university student, so I think you should buy a set of clothes that fit the profile and pretend to be young and innocent. Who knows, uncle might like it, heehee¡­\\\" \\\"What if he likes it so much that he chooses Sister Yiyi to become Lu Chen¡¯s wife?\\\" Lian Xin interrupted almost rudely. Judging from the surprised expression on He Yi¡¯s face, she hadn¡¯t even considered the possibility. \\\"Er, I didn¡¯t think that far¡­\\\" Lin Yixin said, \\\"It¡¯s way too early to think about these things. I¡¯m not even going to consider marriage until I¡¯m 25 years old¡­\\\" I asked, \\\"What if I run out of time?\\\" \\\"Bullshit. You have plenty of time!\\\" \\\"Fine¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ As mentioned earlier, we didn¡¯t go online during the afternoon because we were receiving my father and third uncle. Murong Mingyue put on some light makeup and a corset-style uniform, but somehow managed to pull off an especially refreshing appearance. Right now, she was standing in front of a mirror and adjusting her shirt. For whatever reason, she looked troubled by the amount of cleavage she was showing, more specifically, the lack thereof. She pulled down the shirt zipper until it looked like her breasts were about to spill out of her top, and she still seemed dissatisfied for some reason. Lian Xin had put on a black knee-length dress for the occasion. She looked at Murong Mingyue with her head tilted to one side and said, \\\"Sister Mingyue, why are you dressed like this? It¡¯s not like you¡¯re not going on a date. You¡¯re making me feel really inferior right now¡­\\\" Murong Mingyue lectured patiently, \\\"Every smart woman must know how to curry favor with an excellent man¡¯s dad because you never know if they¡¯ll become your father-in-law one day. Of course, I¡¯m not asking you to suck up to him, but leaving a good impression is the least you can do. Just look at Eve. If you think my attire is pretty, then hers is out of this world¡­\\\" I turned around and felt my eyes widened. For her top half, He Yi wore a white-and-blue plaid shirt on the inside and a black coat on the outside. For her lower half, she wore a mini skirt and a pair of leather boots. It was eye-opening. It was a less mature look compared to her usual attire, but that was exactly the point. Combined with the bangs she purposely left hanging in front of her forehead, she looked stunning in a way that I had never seen before. \\\"You¡­\\\" I stammered dumbly. \\\"Why? Do I not look good?\\\" He Yi made a little spin on her feet and bedazzled me even more than she already had. I swallowed with difficulty before saying, \\\"You look really pretty today, Eve. Why don¡¯t you dress like this more every day? It should be obvious, but I really, REALLY love this look.\\\" He Yi burst into a giggle. \\\"That¡¯s because I have to go to the office, silly. Who would obey me if I dressed like the girl next door?\\\" That was true. \\\"Alright. Is everyone ready? Dad and third uncle are almost at the bus and coach station now.\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" He Yi picked up her handbag, slipped her arm between mine, and we walked out of the apartment together. The moment the elevator door shut tight, she immediately tiptoed and pecked me once on my face. After I hugged her and returned the gesture, we looked up and saw that the elevator camera was pointed straight at us. Shit... ¡­¡­ We drove my X12 instead of the more extravagant cars. My phone rang the moment we reached the station, and I immediately saw dad and third uncle walking over with a huge bag each in their hands. Third uncle was even carrying a huge, C-shaped snake gourd on his shoulder. It was home-grown, of course. \\\"Dad!\\\" I walked up to them while holding He Yi¡¯s hand. When I took the bag dad was holding, I exclaimed in surprise, \\\"Heavens, this bag is heavy! What is it?\\\" \\\"It¡¯s the pork ribs you asked for, of course. I told your third aunt to prepare some surplus¡­\\\" \\\"Surplus? There must be half a pig¡¯s worth of ribs in this bag!\\\" \\\"You¡¯re exaggerating. We can¡¯t afford that much anyway.\\\" After I placed the bag in the car, I looked at third uncle and greeted him, \\\"Long time no see, third uncle. That melon on your shoulder¡­?\\\" He answered, \\\"It was grown in the large shed, and I guarantee that it¡¯s fresh. Once we get back to your place, I¡¯ll cook you my stir-fried melon with green pepper!\\\" He Yi blinked in confusion. \\\"Melon? Isn¡¯t that a snake gourd?\\\" I explained, \\\"That¡¯s just the way we call it in our village. No one really knows what its proper name is, so we call it the next closest thing. These snake gourds grow outside the earth just like melons, so we just call them melons[3]...\\\" \\\"I see¡­\\\" After I helped dad into the car, and both He Yi and third uncle had gotten into the car as well, I started the engine and asked, \\\"Dad, Eve has booked a room at the restaurant. Should we have dinner there?\\\" Dad replied while massaging his lame leg, \\\"No, no, that¡¯s too wasteful. You know how restaurants love to serve you an entire table of dishes even though you can¡¯t finish them. Let¡¯s just have dinner at your apartment¡­\\\" He Yi replied before I could even say a word, \\\"Okay! We¡¯ll eat at the apartment then!\\\" The corner of my lips curled upward as I thought to myself: Damn, He Yi is such a good wife! ¡­¡­ The second the car came to a stop at the parking lot, Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue immediately came over to greet us. This time, it was He Yi who supported dad out of the car while I carried third uncle¡¯s snake gourd¡ªI swear it weighed at least 5 kg¡ªand opened the door for him. Right after that, a Porsche parked next to my X12, and Lin Yixin jumped out of the car wearing a black-colored student attire exactly as He Yi had suggested. Brimming with youthfulness and confidence, Lin Yixin shot my dad a sweet smile. \\\"Hello, uncle! Do you still remember me?\\\" My dad looked at her before exclaiming in realization, \\\"Oh, you¡¯re Lin Yixin, right? I remember you. Lu Chen often talks about you when he comes home. You must be pretty close with him, right?\\\" Murong Mingyue joked¡ªor did she? \\\"Close? She may very well become your daughter-in-law in the future!\\\" My dad smiled wider, and my third uncle clapped a hand on his shoulder. \\\"You¡¯re one lucky man, Old Lu. Look at all the girls surrounding Lu Chen. Both Manager He Yi and that Lin Yixin girl are incredible!\\\" \\\"That¡¯s very true¡­\\\" After we led dad and third went upstairs, we left the rest of the girls while Lin Yixin, He Yi and I went to the market together to buy some ingredients. After all, we would be cooking dinner in the apartment tonight. ¡­¡­ Crossing my arms in front of me and glaring at the market across the street like it was my mortal enemy, I broke the silence, asking in a serious tone, ¡°Does anyone here know how to cook?\\\" Lin Yixin raised an arm and answered, \\\"I can cook egg fried rice!\\\" My mouth twitched. \\\"Anything else?\\\" \\\"Stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs!\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" He Yi answered, \\\"I know how to cook fish head with chopped chili, braised pork trotters, stir-fried pork kidney and the like, but I¡¯m still very new at this. All I can say is that they taste okay¡­\\\" \\\"Thank the heavens! We¡¯ll buy the ingredients Eve needs to make her dishes, and for Yiyi to make her stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs!\\\" \\\"What about you?\\\" \\\"Me? I¡¯ll handle the eating!\\\" \\\"So shameless¡­\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ Thankfully, dinner didn¡¯t turn out nearly as horrible as our imagination suggested it could. He Yi had cooked most of the dishes except one. Frankly I was embarrassed that I had made the CEO of Raincube, heck, my CEO, cook dinner for me, so I made sure to give her a proper massage later as compensation. That night, dad and third uncle slept in my room, and I slept on He Yi¡¯s sofa. The two old men spent a long time chatting with each other before they finally fell asleep. Despite our protestations, they both insisted on returning home in the afternoon. So, I stuffed my dad¡¯s wallet full of cash before seeing him off. He had been adamantly refusing to use a single mao in the debit card I had given him, but he wouldn¡¯t just leave all that cash sitting in his wallet¡­ right? When all was said and done, and I was just about to drive back to the workshop, I received a phone call from Gui Guzi. \\\"Boss Broken Halberd, a lot of people are planning to conquer Bloody Shield Domain right now. Is the Frost Cloud workshop going to join in the race? I heard that Bloody Shield Domain¡¯s boss is a super boss that is definitely going to drop a Divine Armament upon death!\\\" 1. T/N: and we never see her again¡­ E/N: Considering Lu Chen bought her a tank that goes 200 mph, really probable¡­ 2. T/N: the wristguard was called Iron Fist, meaning that \\\"Skysong helmet\\\" probably isn¡¯t the actual equipment name, hence lower case 3. T/N: I improvised the above translation slightly. In the raw, He Yi was asking why they¡¯re calling it a \\\"hanging melon\\\" or Trichosanthes kirilowii when it clearly isn¡¯t, and Lu Chen answers mostly as per translated above Chapter 1334 \\\"What¡¯s wrong?\\\" Lin Yixin cocked her head at me. As my phone screen dimmed, I answered, \\\"Our Silver City is located on the edge of Bloody Shield Domain, and Bloody Shield Domain is the biggest and highest-level grinding zone of Vanished God City right now. A lot of players have been setting out from Silver City to explore the secrets of Bloody Shield Domain. Little Gui was saying that the boss of Bloody Shield Domain is a super boss, and that we should kill it to drop a Divine Armament or something¡­\\\" Lin Yixin chuckled behind her palm. We were currently standing on the pavement outside the station, and the wind was unfurling her long hair like a curtain. \\\"Not everyone has the luck or the Luck to drop it, you know. Do you remember that Level 280+ Ancient Immortal Rank boss that against all odds somehow dropped one of the Twelve Divine Armaments? Other people have tried killing bosses of the same rank and level, and even after hundreds of them, no one has gotten even Ancient Immortal-grade equipment. To put it bluntly, it¡¯s all up to Luck and pure destiny. Also, Sister Qin Yun from Eternal Moon Corporation told me a secret¡­\\\" He Yi suddenly perked up in interest and placed an arm across Lin Yixin¡¯s shoulders. \\\"What is this insider information, Yiyi?\\\" Lin Yixin shot her a meaningful smirk before answering, \\\"It¡¯s not really insider information per se. Since the previous patch, Luck has undergone a hidden update where only players with over 10 Luck can drop an Ancient Immortal-grade equipment, 30 Luck for a Divine Armament, and 90 Luck for an Ancient Divine Armament¡­\\\" \\\"Holy shit! No wonder my Chill of the Nine Provinces is an Ancient Divine Armament! It¡¯s all thanks to my Luck total!\\\" \\\"What are you talking about? Your Chill of the Nine Provinces became an Ancient Divine Armament via evolution. Sigh. Not only is it the only Ancient Divine Armament in all the servers, its stats are even higher than some of the Twelve Divine Armaments. I have no idea how you managed it. I¡¯m still stuck with the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword to this day¡­\\\" I chuckled at her dissatisfied expression before grabbing her hand. Now, I was holding hands with both Lin Yixin and He Yi. \\\"Very well. After we head back to our homes, the Frost Cloud workshop will form a party with Moon Dew and Yiyi. Then, we¡¯ll all explore Bloody Shield Domain together. You¡¯ll get priority over any high-grade melee weapon we find during the journey. How does that sound?\\\" Lin Yixin broke into a smile. \\\"Now we¡¯re talking! Should we head back right now?\\\" He Yi nodded. \\\"Yes. Lil Beiming should be arriving at her university any minute now, so let¡¯s head back, log into the game, form the party, and depart from Silver City. We¡¯ll go around the common mob areas and straight to the deeper parts of the map. Unless we run into Coldblade the Infinity Storm himself, there should be nothing that can threaten our party.\\\" I smiled. \\\"It¡¯s settled then! Our next adventure will be set in Bloody Shield Domain! Anyone who hasn¡¯t accumulated enough Divine Energy Points yet can quickly do so on that map, and if we¡¯re lucky to receive an SSS Rank main quest along the way then even better! We all can use a Luck reward after everything we spent on the Cities of Heaven, and we need to consider the future as well. It will suck if we can¡¯t drop something better than an Ancient Divine Armament because our Luck doesn¡¯t meet the requirement. There are competitions like the WEL, sure, but it¡¯s an annual competition, and you need to become the MVP to get the really good stuff. That¡¯s just too unreliable.\\\" He Yi nodded. \\\"Mn. Let¡¯s go!\\\" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin drove back to her villa, while the rest of us went back to the Frost Cloud workshop. The beauty had been growing more and more like a professional player as of late¡ªskipping all classes except those that were absolutely mandatory to spare more time for Heavenblessed¡ªbut it wasn¡¯t an easy life for sure. During my stay at Snowy Cathaya¡¯s workshop, she had been reading textbooks while sitting next to me in the living room. Make no mistake, Lin Yixin was a true genius. Despite juggling two different lives, she was able to secure the first-class scholarship every semester. Her dedication and ability put shit stains like me and Du Thirteen to shame. However, even a true genius couldn¡¯t pass an exam if they never studied for it in the first place[1]. I was driving in silence when Lian Xin asked me smilingly, \\\"Have you considered Sister Lin Yixin¡¯s suggestion yet, big brother Lu Chen?\\\" \\\"Sorry, which suggestion are you referring to exactly?\\\" \\\"The one where we move our workshop elsewhere¡­\\\" \\\"Er¡­\\\" Now that I thought about it, Lin Yixin had mentioned something like this before. Our workshop was located in the downtown area, and she thought that it was a bit too noisy to provide us the kind rest we needed after a hard day¡¯s work. Considering our current income, she believed that we were perfectly capable of moving to a better place. She wasn¡¯t wrong. Our workshop was earning more¡ªa lot more¡ªthan 10 million RMB per month. He Yi said while looking out of the window, \\\"Yiyi is right about this¡­ I think we can find a good district in the suburbs of Chengnan and rent a villa there. It¡¯ll also save us the effort of having to pay the rent monthly.\\\" I considered the idea for a moment before answering, \\\"Very well¡­\\\" \\\"What is the plan?\\\" \\\"I¡¯ll ask Lin Yujia to find a district at Chengnan. I¡¯m not going to rent a villa though. Instead, I¡¯m going to spend 10 million and buy it right away. It¡¯s a good investment since Chengnan borders the elevated roads and highways, making it easier to commute around.\\\" He Yi broke into a smile. \\\"OMG, Lu Chen has grown wiser today! He¡¯s spending money to buy us a house, and he¡¯s even using the word ¡®investment¡¯!\\\" I smiled back. \\\"Nah. I just want to leave a little something behind for dad and third uncle, you know? When they¡¯re older, they can live in the villa and enjoy their retirement¡­\\\" Lian Xin frowned. \\\"Why do you have to put it like that, big bro? Usually, it¡¯s the elders who leave something behind for their children, not the other way around. It almost sounds like you believe that you¡¯ll leave us sooner than even uncle¡­\\\" I hid my emotions and didn¡¯t reply. He Yi noticed something and asked, \\\"Lu Chen? Is something wrong? Are you hiding something from us?\\\" \\\"Of course not.\\\" I smiled to mask the odd expression on my face, \\\"What could I possibly hide from you all? I even gave sis my underwear to wash. If that isn¡¯t honest enough, what is?\\\" \\\"Fine. Anyway, let¡¯s do our best to grind a real weapon for Yiyi today. Really, she should¡¯ve changed her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword for something else a long time ago, but she refused to, probably because it was a gift from you¡­\\\" I smiled again but didn¡¯t say anything else. ¡­¡­ After we returned to the workshop, I drank some water and logged into the game. Bloody Shield Domain was categorized as the outer lands, meaning that it didn¡¯t fall under the jurisdiction of Vanished God City. It also meant that outer land players such as Dark Mercenaries, Protective Umbrella and more could be roaming this place. It wasn¡¯t going to be an easy adventure. Swhoosh! I appeared inside Silver City¡¯s territory hall. The second I stepped out of the door, I was greeted by a sea of people. I knew that Silver City¡¯s geography was the best of all the Cities of Heaven. It wasn¡¯t like players didn¡¯t want to explore Bloody Shield Domain before today, but back then it took at least four to five hours of travel from the nearest city just to reach there. Now though, it only took them 2 RMB to teleport over. Already, Silver City was the temporary rally point of countless players. I went to the blacksmith to repair my equipment. The moment the brawny uncle saw my Chill of the Nine Provinces, he immediately out a sigh of admiration and said, \\\"Oh my god, I did not think I would ever get to lay my eyes on a Divine Armament of this level in my lifetime, much less repair it with my own hands! Honorable assistant city lord, the materials necessary to repair this sword are naturally expensive, but due to your noble status I will only accept 50% of the repair fee. Please pay me 32889 gold¡­\\\" I grimaced. If the Chill of Nine Provinces wasn¡¯t as good as it was, I would be filing a report to Eternal Moon Corporation already. Assuming that this venture into Bloody Shield Domain was a dud, I might not even make enough money to repair my sword. Worse, it cost a total of over 160k gold to repair all the equipment on my person. Thank goodness being the assistant city lord helped to cut the price in half, or I would have to pay the price of a Passat just to repair my Divine Armaments and almost-but-still-not-one-of-the-Twelve-Divine-Armaments just once. ¡­¡­ We had agreed to meet up in front of the territory hall, so I sat on the stone stairs and searched for information regarding Bloody Shield Domain while waiting for the others to arrive. I discovered that the entire map had been refreshed since the previous war, and Coldblade and his legion of death were lurking somewhere in this new map. So far, most players were stuck at the edges of Bloody Shield Domain because the mobs were too high-level. As a result, there was almost no data on the new Bloody Shield Domain at all, and the devs, as usual, were stingy as fuck with their descriptions. We would have to explore everything on our own. \\\"Big bro!\\\" A smiling Beiming Xue greeted me with the Xuanming Bow behind her back. She was as punctual as usual. It wasn¡¯t long before Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue, He Yi and Moon Dew showed up as well. Lin Yixin was the last one to arrive. With that, our 7-man party was ready to take off. After Lin Yixin added everyone into her party, she asked, \\\"Has anyone planned our attack route yet? Just so you know, it¡¯s a traffic jam of mobs and players out there, so¡­\\\" I leaped up to the roof of the territory hall and chuckled. \\\"Yes, I see what you mean. We can just bypass them completely with our flying mounts though. Yiyi and Eve¡¯s Holy Giant Dragons can carry one player each, while my Ancient Divine Dragon can carry 1 to 3 players in total. That means we can carry our entire party over in one go. There¡¯s a place called Bloody Mountains in the inner area of Bloody Shield Domain, and I suggest we officially begin our adventure from there.\\\" \\\"Okay! Has everyone brought their potions, consumables, cards and everything else? If so, let¡¯s go!\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon. As a Level 187 mount, its appearance was more mature than what it used to be. Its dark silver scales looked tough and impenetrable, its body was long and thick, and even the blue vine lamp looked as solid as steel. Including me, the interface showed that it could carry three players in total. After I leaped onto the dragon¡¯s back, I grabbed the vine lamp for support and stretched a hand downward. \\\"So? Who¡¯s flying with me?\\\" Beiming Xue joined me without hesitation and sat in front of me. Moon Dew was the next to follow because her Amity with me had reached 100. Now, we were just waiting for He Yi and Lin Yixin. He Yi and Lin Yixin quickly summoned their Snow Crystal Dragon and Crimson Crystal Dragon respectively. Lian Xin sat with He Yi, and Murong Mingyue sat with Lin Yixin. After that, I took to the sky first and led the way. ¡­¡­ I flew about a hundred meters above the ground. I didn¡¯t want to go too high because I might miss some important details on the ground otherwise. 1. E/N: Oh a beg to differ, how does he think I¡¯m finishing bachelor¡¯s?! Chapter 1335 Beep! System Notice: You have a trade request from player ¡°Wind Fantasy¡±. I was flying in the sky when Lin Yixin sent me a trade request. I looked back to see her beaming at me and saying, \\\"I have some good stuff to trade you. Open the trade window now¡­\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" I accepted the trade request and received 5 sets of health potions from Lin Yixin. Its strange purple-red color already set it apart from the other potions, but its effects were what truly wowed me. I had no idea that Beauty Lin had something so powerful. If she had sold them in Sky City, it would¡¯ve one-shot all the self-proclaimed royal Level potion masters in the squares. Dragonheart Orchid Agent (LV-13): Instantly restores 10000 HP to the user and regenerates their HP by 5% per second for 20 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds. ¡­¡­ \\\"Holy shit! This potion is amazing!\\\" I exhaled in astonishment and admiration, \\\"This has to be the strongest or second-strongest potion available on the market! The 100k HP instant healing alone would one-shot my Saint Spirit Potion, but this 5% HP regeneration every second for 20 seconds basically guarantees that anyone who uses it, regardless of their HP pool, will be restored to full health! It¡¯s absolutely bonkers!\\\" Beauty Lin said with a clear look of delight on her face, \\\"But of course! Do you remember the Dragonheart Orchid we went through great pains to gather at the Dragon God Cave? It was to create this batch of potions! Currently, the highest-rank potions sold on the market are Rank 11, and they restore 15000 HP in one go. Rank 12 Health Potions haven¡¯t hit the market yet, not to mention Rank 13 ones. I¡¯ve given everyone in the party one stack, or 100 Rank 13 Dragonheart Orchid Agents, so don¡¯t use them up too quickly, okay? I literally cannot produce more unless someone can gather the Dragonheart Orchid for me¡­\\\" Confusion flashed across my face. She claimed that she had given everyone 1 stack of Dragonheart Orchid Agents, but I got 5 stacks, 500 potions! Still smiling, Lin Yixin put a finger to her lips and hushed me soundlessly. At that moment, she looked so cute that I nearly fell off the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back. I¡¯m so blessed to have a girlfriend like her! ¡­¡­ As we flew toward our destination, we saw that the huge forest clearings outside Silver City were crawling with players. There were both people who were forming parties and people who were looking to join¡ª \\\"10-man party lacking a damage dealer! We¡¯ll accept any mage or archer with over 40k DPS! Don¡¯t bother if your DPS is only a couple thousand, my hip thrusts would¡¯ve done more damage than that¡­\\\" \\\"10-man party looking to kill Spirit Foxes in Bloody Shield Domain! There¡¯s a chance we may encounter a Heaven Rank boss Spirit Fox pet! We¡¯re missing 3 players right now, and we¡¯re looking for a mage with high DPS, a priest with high HPS, and an eighth-promotion tactician with 150% Iron Wall!\\\" \\\"Level 220 average 10-man party looking to venture into the inner areas of Bloody Shield Domain! We already have everyone except 1 pretty woman with long legs and huge breasts! We promise to roll for every piece of equipment to ensure that everyone gets their fair share of loot, so please! LFP! Looking for pretty! LFP!!\\\" ¡­¡­ I laughed. \\\"That party¡¯s probably going to be stuck there for a long time¡­\\\" He Yi chuckled as well. \\\"To be fair, it looks like that party is full of males. They do need a nice lady to liven the atmosphere while they explore the inner areas of Bloody Shield Domain¡­\\\" I replied, \\\"I guess. At least I don¡¯t have this problem¡­ or wait. Am I the problem here?\\\" Moon Dew giggled. \\\"Don¡¯t sell yourself short, vice leader. You¡¯re quite the handsome guy yourself, not to mention that you have high DPS and high drop rate. There are countless girls in the guild who want to form a party with you, you know? Even a few seconds would be enough for them...\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" Lin Yixin tilted her head at me before teasing, \\\"In that case, why don¡¯t you oblige to their request and spend an afternoon forming parties with them? You know, be a proper vice leader and actually help out your guild members for once¡­\\\" Murong Mingyue chuckled from atop her Snow Crystal Dragon. \\\"Are you sure, Yiyi? There are a lot of them who want to sleep with him, you know? Seriously, I¡¯m not even kidding. Do you still think he should fulfill their requests?\\\" Chiang! Lin Yixin unsheathed her Dragonfrost and uttered in a murderous voice, \\\"Is that so? Do you perchance have a list of their names, Sister Mingyue? I would like to treat them to dinner¡­\\\" \\\"Why does it sound like they would be the dinner? You do have your Dragonfrost and Crimson Crystal Dragon to make a good barbecue...\\\" \\\"How¡­ how did you know?\\\" Lin Yixin asked with a blush. Her jealous expression was intoxicatingly beautiful. He Yi simply smiled from the side. She had gotten used to this a long time ago. ¡­¡­ Our three Holy Giant Dragons quickly left the forest clearings behind and vanished behind the horizon. On the ground, many players were pointing their fingers at us and making all sorts of comments. \\\"Wow, those are dragon riders! I wonder if they are Ancient Sword or Candle Dragon¡¯s?\\\" \\\"Eh, there are other flying mounts in this world, you know? They can be Worm Riders!\\\" \\\"That¡¯s right! They may even be Fly Riders!\\\" \\\"Could also be Maggot Riders¡­\\\" \\\"What the fuck is wrong with you people? Urk¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ Like every other map, there was an outer zone and an inner zone to Bloody Shield Domain. The outer zone had mostly been explored, so the ten-man and hundred-man parties were setting their sights on the deeper areas of the map. These days few people formed thousand-man parties because one, it made loot distribution difficult, and two, many people believed themselves to be strong enough to strike out with just a couple of powerful teammates after becoming eighth-promotion experts. After all, there was no reward without risk; no chance of becoming a true expert that stood above tens of thousands until you truly challenged yourself. Naturally, things didn¡¯t end well for the large majority of these parties. The ground we were flying over was infested by light cyan-colored poisonous worms called the Corroders. They were Level 285 fiend-rank mobs with extremely high Attack and deadly toxin. They dealt at least 200k damage to a normal heavy-armor player with each hit. Long story short, it wasn¡¯t the kind of damage the players on the ground were equipped to deal with right now. One such Corroder was being surrounded by seven or eight cavalrymen, but it easily killed them one by one with the sharp spike on its forehead¡ª \\\"What the fuck! This thing deleted 30% of my HP in one hit, and it inflicts the Poisoned status effect! All the healing I receive during this time is reduced by half! OMG, did another Corroder just spawn over there!? We¡¯re all gonna die!\\\" \\\"Priest! Where¡¯s the priest!? I need healing¡­\\\" \\\"Third is dead! Boss, lock onto the one on the left and Charge it before it¡¯s too late! What? Boss was killed 5 minutes ago? Are you kidding me!?\\\" \\\"Archer, Shock Arrow the one on the left so we can retreat! We¡¯ll wait for boss and Third to revive, head back to the clearing and add a couple more priests to our party! These damned Corroders just have too much DPS! They attack faster than the woman who shook her hips above me last night!\\\" \\\"Bro! Now is not the time to think about women!\\\" \\\"Oh shit, Fifth is dead as well! What the fuck are the priests doing? Are they eating shit or what!?\\\" \\\"Our last priest just died¡­\\\" \\\"Shit, this is looking like a party-wipe¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ Some people did well, and some people did not. Party wipes happened everywhere, and they usually happened to those who underestimated the mobs of Bloody Shield Domain too much. There were a lot of ten-man parties who performed well, however. For example, I spotted one exceptional party who advanced when the time was right and retreated when it wasn¡¯t. They only fought the Corroders they marked and followed a systematic battle plan. Their main tank¡¯s selection of targets and ability to withstand attacks were excellent as well. These people most likely would be able to make it to the inner areas of Bloody Shield Domain, although how much they would be able to achieve in the end was of course unknown. \\\"Big bro, look! Bloody Mountains are over there¡­\\\" Beiming Xue wriggled against my chest while pointing toward the distance. As she said, a blood-red mountain range shrouded by thin black clouds had entered our view. I also smelled a bit of blood in the air. As it turned out, Coldblade the Infinity Storm¡¯s map aesthetic was as vile as his taste. I hadn¡¯t even fought in the map yet, and I already felt disgusted enough to turn back. If I knew this would happen, I would¡¯ve asked Sophie to join us. Not that she would comply with my request of course. I steered the Ancient Divine Dragon lower and made toward the foot of Bloody Mountain Range. Some people might wonder why I chose to start from the bottom of the mountain when I could fly anywhere I wanted. One, we were here to grind, and it was standard practice to start from the bottom and end at the top. Two, there were usually human NPCs to be found in the safe zones at the foot of a mountain, meaning that we might be able to accept quests before we grinded. Why wouldn¡¯t we want to grind efficiently and earn additional rewards? \\\"Careful, Lu Chen!\\\" He Yi suddenly pointed at the clouds above our heads. \\\"That cloud¡¯s rumbling unnaturally!\\\" \\\"Oh?\\\" I looked at the direction she was pointing to see a furious lightning striking down to the earth just four or five meters in front of me. Heavens! That would¡¯ve hurt like a motherfucker if it hit! On the ground, an unfortunate rhino mob disintegrated into ashes after the lightning strike. It was a Level 285 fiend-rank mob, and it had died in a single hit! This map is a total trap! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... More lightning fell from the clouds in front of us. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, this was a lightning barrier meant to kill everything that entered its zone. It was also big enough to cover nearly the entire Bloody Mountains. We would have to fly through the 500-meter-long lightning formation somehow if we wished to make it to our destination. \\\"What do we do?\\\" Moon Dew sounded a bit scared. Pa! I uncorked a Rank 13 Dragonheart Orchid Agent and held it between my teeth. Then, I said in an unclear voice, \\\"What else? We¡¯re going to fly through it as quickly as we can and use our new health potions to save ourselves when things look bad. Sis, cast Restore on us all. Yiyi, activate Bombshell to give us all additional Magic Resist. Is everyone ready? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll cover for you if things get dicey.\\\" \\\"Yeah. Let¡¯s go!\\\" Last but not least, I activated Battle Astral Wind to protect myself. It should be enough to protect me for the short journey, right? I led the way and flew straight toward Bloody Mountains like a silver comet while the Snow Crystal Dragon and Crimson Crystal Dragon followed closely behind. Lightning tore through the night sky furiously and far too frequently to be natural. Suddenly, my entire body trembled. I had taken a lightning strike, and Battle Astral Wind immediately lost 31% of its durability. Truly, the power of nature was to be feared. I didn¡¯t pause to tempt fate a second time. Behind me, the Snow Crystal Dragon and Crimson Crystal Dragon were being struck by lightning as well. A bunch of damage numbers rose from their backs¡ª 710239! 712626! 682920! ¡­¡­ Fuck! I hope it wasn¡¯t enough to instakill Lin Yixin or He Yi... Chapter 1336 I pointed the Life side of my Chill of the Nine Provinces toward the sky and activated it immediately. Three vortices of life spun rapidly and just barely dragged Lin Yixin and He Yi from the brink of death with its 50% heal. While this was going on, I took a couple more lightning strikes and lost my Battle Astral Wind, but I fearlessly flew back to the girls and blocked a lightning strike for He Yi! 592991! My entire body was numb after the lightning strike. It was an unpleasant feeling to say the least. \\\"Does it hurt, big bro?\\\" Beiming Xue looked back at me with a look of concern. \\\"It¡¯s so electrifying I could die¡­\\\" I replied sarcastically. Moon Dew: \\\"...\\\" Lin Yixin and He Yi dropped below 40% HP again as we continued forward. Even I had fallen below 25% HP after blocking around 4 to 5 lightning strikes for them. After downing Lin Yixin¡¯s Rank 13 concoction and casting Tenacity of the Dead to heal myself for another 25% HP, I shouted, \\\"Yiyi, Eve, faster! I can¡¯t block any more hits for you¡­\\\" It was just 500 meters, but it felt like an eternity. The fact we were flying closer to the clouds than anything else on the ground didn¡¯t help either. Swhoosh! Spasming and coughing up smoke, the three of us just barely broke through the lightning formation before swerving unsteadily toward the ground. Finally, we escaped the stupidly powerful lightning formation and made it to the inner zone of Bloody Shield Domain. ¡­¡­ Bang! Bang! Bang! There were three eruptions of dust clouds and a moment of silence. Then, the girls slowly climbed to their feet. Lin Yixin and He Yi¡¯s faces were covered in soot, and the Snow Crystal Dragon and Crimson Crystal Dragon had disappeared because the crash had destroyed the last sliver of their mount tenacity. It would take 20 minutes for the girl to resummon them. I walked up to them, wiped away the soot on their faces and said smilingly, \\\"At least we¡¯re not dead...\\\" I activated Fusion Armor so that I wouldn¡¯t be limited by mount tenacity. It would still regenerate to full in the background, however. It was at this moment Moon Dew poked me in the shoulder. \\\"Yes?\\\" \\\"Look around you¡­\\\" I did and felt a shiver zipping down my spine. What are the chances!? We were surrounded by a group of armed barbarians wearing skulls of all kinds and tattered cloaks. There were at least a thousand of them, and they all wore angry looks on their faces. This wasn¡¯t how I imagined we would start our adventure. \\\"What¡¯s going on here?\\\" He Yi asked. Lin Yixin pursed her lips. \\\"It looks like our ¡®landing¡¯ disturbed the local natives¡­\\\" I activated Dark Pupils and scanned the barbarians. They were called ¡°Clansmen of the Dark¡±, and they were Level 290 fiend-rank mobs. This alone made them a force to be reckoned with, but they were all wielding spears or bows as well. The second we fought back, they would turn us into pincushions. The only way we would survive that would be to activate our invincibility skills and teleport back to the city! We would have to decide our move carefully. \\\"Huba! Huba!\\\" A brawny barbarian with a pigtail walked up to Lin Yixin and extended his hand toward her chest. You know what, forget what I said about caution. \\\"DIE!\\\" I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces in an attempt to defend Lin Yixin, but the Clansmen of the Dark reacted faster than I could imagine. The second I made an unnatural move, a rope with iron balls tied to each end was immediately launched toward me. As the rope wrapped around my wrists like a vice, I received a system notice: You have been hit by the Clansman of the Dark¡¯s trap. You will not be able to make an offensive action for 10 minutes! Lin Yixin¡¯s face turned cold as she unsheathed her dagger and cut the offending barbarian in the arm. His evaluation of her instantly turned from prey to predator. Swhoosh! This time, a giant net big enough to envelop us all dropped from the sky. All 7 players in our party were captured, and not even our pets were able to make an escape. We felt embarrassed enough to die at that moment. The Clansmen of the Dark kept yelling \\\"huba, huba\\\" as they drew in the giant net and tied us up real good. Finally, they dragged us toward the inner area of Bloody Mountains. I couldn¡¯t unsheath my weapon since my hands were tied behind my back. The system made it clear that I couldn¡¯t take any offensive action anyway. I wondered if an invincibility skill would help us out of this bind, but I decided to save it for later. If these Clansmen of the Dark were planning to kill us, they would¡¯ve just done so from the start. Murong Mingyue was lying on top of my chest as we were dragged toward god-knows-where. Giant breasts squeezing against my non-existent plot, she raised her head to shoot me a glare. \\\"Gaming expert, I thought you said we can receive NPC quests at the foot of the mountain? If that¡¯s true, what the heck is this situation? I feel like a pig¡¯s tied trotters right now¡­\\\" Lin Yixin said from my shoulder, \\\"We can¡¯t attack them. How do we get out of this?\\\" I replied, \\\"Calm down. This is probably a plot sequence or something. It¡¯ll be fine.\\\" He Yi blinked. \\\"Really?\\\" \\\"Really! You can¡¯t catch the tiger¡¯s cub without entering a tiger¡¯s den! Believe me, we¡¯ll definitely be rich when all is said and done!!!\\\" \\\"Fine, I¡¯ll trust you, just this once¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ Ten minutes later or so, we were dragged into a valley filled with countless tents and caves on the mountain walls. Many more Clansmen of the Dark exited their abodes to raise their arms, dance on their feet and shout \\\"huba, huba\\\"... \\\"What on earth does ¡®huba¡¯ mean?\\\" Lin Yixin asked me. I shrugged. \\\"Something like ¡®welcome¡¯ maybe?\\\" \\\"Really? Why do I feel like it¡¯s something more sinister?\\\" \\\"You¡¯re overthinking things¡­\\\" After we were pulled to the center of the valley, the Clansmen of the Dark removed the giant net on our bodies but not the ropes around our wrists, meaning that we still couldn¡¯t take an offensive action. It was at this moment Lian Xin whispered to He Yi, \\\"I can cast spells without using my staff. Should I cast Ice Spiral Matrix on their faces?\\\" I hurriedly said, \\\"No, wait. Let¡¯s see what they do first¡­\\\" \\\"Fine¡­\\\" Next, a couple of young women overflowing with barbaric beauty walked up to me and stuffed some onions under my armor. They then sprinkled some sort of fragrant-smelling water on all of us. \\\"What are they doing? Is this some sort of custom?\\\" Beiming Xue blinked in confusion. \\\"Onions and holy water¡­ could it be¡­\\\" My eyes curved into joyful crescents. \\\"I know! They must think that we are holy messengers or something! Prepare to get rich, girls! There must be hoards of precious treasure and beautiful barbarian women waiting to be claimed in the caves, wahahahaha¡­\\\" \\\"Really?\\\" Lin Yixin still looked doubtful for some reason. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment two Clansmen of the Dark tied me to a wooden log, carried me on their shoulders, and led me toward a bonfire. I saw another human being propped up on top of the bonfire. Are they¡­ are they trying to barbecue me!? \\\"WHAT THE FLYING FUCK, GAME!?!\\\" I roared in anger. As it turned out, the onions were flavoring, and the \\\"holy water\\\" was really just chili oil or something! This was a goddamned barbarian tribe! It was at this moment the man on the bonfire screamed in pain, \\\"Oh my god, it burns, it burns¡­\\\" When I saw who it was, I immediately forgot my predicament and laughed until tears were running down my cheeks. The guy was none other than Warsky himself! \\\"HAHAHAHA! It¡¯s really you, Warsky! This is totally karmic retribution coming to bite you in the ass, MWAHAHAHAHAHA!¡± Warsky exclaimed in surprise while wiggling his butt in a hopeless attempt to avoid the licking flames. \\\"Lu Chen?! Why the fuck are you here¡­\\\" \\\"Well, why the fuck are YOU here? Also, why are you alone? Who¡¯s that pile of bones next to you?\\\" \\\"That¡¯s Laughing At The Heavens, man[1]¡­\\\" \\\"Seriously? This fucking game¡­\\\" \\\"Well, what are you waiting for? Save me already!\\\" \\\"Wait, I have a question for you. They¡¯ve been saying ¡®huba, huba¡¯ all this time. Is it something like ¡®welcome to the tribe¡¯ or something?\\\" \\\"Are you stupid!? It means ¡®food, food¡¯!\\\" \\\"...\\\" \\\"Seriously, save me now! I¡¯m literally about to be roasted alive here!\\\" \\\"Use invincibility and save yourself, idiot¡­\\\" \\\"It doesn¡¯t work. I tried it already¡­\\\" \\\"Huh?\\\" ¡­¡­ I paused for a second to activate my invincibility skill. However, it was restricted exactly as Warsky said. It was at this moment cold realization finally dawned upon me. Am I actually going to be roasted alive by these barbarians? Lian Xin asked, \\\"Should I give it a try, big bro?\\\" I nodded immediately. \\\"Yeah. Cut the ropes on me with an ice blade, and I¡¯ll do the rest¡­\\\" \\\"Okay! Be careful!\\\" \\\"Yeah. A warrior can be killed but not humiliated, not to mention that these cannibals are trying to eat my girls too! No way!\\\" Warsky shouted, \\\"Don¡¯t forget me!\\\" \\\"Bah! You think I¡¯ve forgotten about the Immortal Blade? I¡¯m sure you have the HP regen to roast for quite some time!\\\" \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! In the distance, Lian Xin summoned an ice blade and sent it flying toward my wrists and ankles. It sliced through the ropes without harming a hair on my person and freed me. Perfect! Chiang! I immediately unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and cut apart He Yi and Lin Yixin¡¯s ropes with my sword auras as well. Finally, I fired Burning Blade Slash at the Clansmen of the Dark! The Clansmen of the Dark could only block my attack with their arms, but they all survived. They were Level 290 fiend-rank mobs after all. Something was strange, however. Their names remained yellow even after I had assaulted them, meaning that they were still neutral toward us. What was going on here? Suddenly, a powerful voice boomed from across the air. \\\"Stop!\\\" A middle-aged man wearing gold armor stepped out from the crowd and watched me coldly. \\\"Distant adventurers, you should¡¯ve been prepared to die the moment you intruded into our domain. Will you resist?\\\" I brandished my weapon at him and declared, \\\"If killing you all counts as resistance, then sure!\\\" \\\"Very well!\\\" He abruptly grabbed a battle axe and declared, \\\"I¡¯ll let you go if you manage to beat me!\\\" \\\"Come!\\\" ¡­¡­ The NPC was a boss, but he was only a Level 290 Ancient Immortal Rank boss. Frankly, he wasn¡¯t a threat now that I had god-tier defensive equipment such as the Cyan Dragon Shield and Guardian Dragon Armor. Also, Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell was still active. I should be more than capable of beating a Level 290 boss solo. \\\"Hah! Explosion Slash!\\\" He raised his axe and launched his skill at me! I swung my sword at his weapon using Universe Break! Chiang! The boss was knocked back a couple of steps after the clash. He stared at me in astonishment before saying, \\\"I see. I admit defeat, brave warrior. Please accept our tribe¡¯s prettiest woman as our gesture of kindness and tribute¡­\\\" The corners of my mouth twitched. \\\"No thanks, at least not today¡­\\\" Warsky uttered through gritted teeth. \\\"Oh my god, who the fuck designed this plot? He¡¯s going to gift him a woman after a single exchange?\\\" 1. E/N: Truth was right, LATE is butt of the joke for the author. He¡¯s like a throwaway character that always dies whenever possible Chapter 1337 Avenger Frederick (Ancient Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 290 Introduction: The leader of the Clansmen of the Dark of Vengeance Canyon. His abilities are powerful, and he is extremely skilled in fire-based sword arts. However, he is alone and bearing the fate of the entire clan. ¡­¡­ I was surprised. I didn¡¯t expect this middle-aged man to be the clan chief. However, what kind of clan chief surrendered after a single exchange and offered his clan¡¯s prettiest woman as tribute? A short distance away, Warsky interrupted my thoughts with a cry, \\\"Don¡¯t fall for his honey trap, Lu Chen! More importantly, please save me already! I¡¯m about to run out of HP¡­\\\" Bang! Lin Yixin walked up to him, bent her leg backward, and kicked him right in the waist, sending him flying across the air but also saving him from his predicament. He would¡¯ve died within a minute otherwise. \\\"So? Will you accept my gesture of respect, young adventurer?\\\" Frederick asked while beaming from ear to ear. However, I read something sinister behind his mask and shook my head cautiously. \\\"Forget it. An outsider like me has no business with any woman in your clan, not to mention that my heart already belongs to the women of Sky City¡­\\\" I grabbed Lin Yixin¡¯s hand while saying this and elicited a blush on her face immediately. She slapped my hand away and chided me, \\\"Who are you calling your woman, huh?\\\" Frederick was insistent, however. \\\"Please take a look at our woman before you make your decision. I promise you won¡¯t be disappointed.\\\" I hummed for a second before nodding. It didn¡¯t look like the scene would progress unless I agreed to meet this woman. THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! Heavy footsteps suddenly resounded from inside a cave, and soon a black-skinned woman about 4 meters tall stepped out into the open. She only had one eye at the center of her face. Her nose was slanted upward instead of downward, and her nasal hair was at least 10 cm long. Her arms were as thick as a tree trunk. Her upper body was bare, so I could see that her chest was full of muscles. Her armpits were full of hair and stinking in a way that suggested that she hadn¡¯t taken a bath in years. Her waist was covered by a short skirt carved out of an animal¡¯s hide, and when she opened her mouth I could literally see the vegetables stuck between and on her teeth. She stared at me lustfully and said, \\\"Hello, dear human warrior. I am yours to take since you¡¯ve bested our leader, Frederick. Now come. When the sun sets, we shall officially consummate our love!\\\" Thud thud thud... I backpedaled until my back slammed into a Clansman of the Dark¡¯s shield. Pale-faced and clenching the Chill of the Nine Provinces with fright, I said harshly, \\\"You may kill a warrior, but not humiliate them! Frederick, keep your ¡®prettiest woman¡¯ to yourself and let me go! If you do, I will remember your kindness for eternity. If not¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ \\\"Heh!\\\" An odd smile appeared on Frederick¡¯s face. \\\"You won¡¯t accept my gift, honorable human adventurer? In that case, you must walk the other path¡­\\\" \\\"What path?\\\" \\\"You will complete a quest for me, or you and your companions will be stuck in the Bloody Shield Domain forever. There is only us and Coldblade¡¯s army in this place. Trust me when I say, you won¡¯t be able to escape¡­\\\" Beiming Xue let out a chuckle. \\\"Big bro, the quest you were looking for is here!\\\" I nodded. \\\"Alright, tell me. I will do anything except taking this ¡®beauty¡¯ of yours!\\\" \\\"Very good!\\\" Frederick gripped his fists and laughed. \\\"That is what I wanted to hear! I warn you though, this will be a very dangerous quest. There is every chance you may lose your life.\\\" \\\"Get to the point!\\\" \\\"Good!\\\" Frederick abruptly punched a rock next to him as his expression turned angry and sorrowful. \\\"Decades ago, Bloody Shield Domain was still the Clansmen of the Dark¡¯s domain. However, that changed when Coldblade the Infinity Storm emerged from the Purgatory. He and his legion of darkness slaughtered our people and enslaved them to build his castle of darkness. That wasn¡¯t the end of it, however. Seven years ago, one of his subordinates, Bloodthirsty Emissary, kidnapped my daughter Serena and vanished to god-knows-where. Seven years had passed since, and still I didn¡¯t have a clue as to where she is or even if she¡¯s still alive. I had tried slipping into Bloodthirsty Castle multiple times to save her, but all of my attempts had ended in failure¡­\\\" I asked, \\\"You are sure this Bloodthirsty Emissary is a subordinate of Coldblade?\\\" \\\"Absolutely!\\\" Frederick gnashed his teeth together. \\\"He was a highly-skilled stalker and the leader of a legendary thief group until he was tempted by Coldblade¡¯s promise of infinite power and succumbed. Recently, I came to learn that he is hiding to the southeast where Bloodthirsty Castle resides, and I¡¯m almost certain[1] that my Serena is with him. If you can bring my daughter back to me, I promise to reward you most handsomely, young brave!\\\" Ding~! System Notice: Do you accept the main quest [Frederick¡¯s Request]? I accepted it without hesitation and caused the system to ring again¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your party has accepted the quest [Frederick¡¯s Request]! (Current Quest Rank: SSS) Description: Slip into Bloodthirsty Castle, rescue Frederick¡¯s daughter Serena, and bring her back to her father safely. You must also kill the Dark Assassin Bloodthirsty Emissary and bring his head back to Frederick. Succeed in both tasks, and you will be rewarded handsomely for your efforts. Be careful though, Bloodthirsty Emissary is a killer of the dark. If you are not strong enough, it may be wiser to give up on this quest. ¡­¡­ I smiled after reading the quest description. \\\"An SSS Rank quest! It¡¯s not as hard as the Dragon God Cave, but it¡¯s definitely a worthy challenge. Let¡¯s go! The coordinates of Bloodthirsty Castle have already been marked on our map interface!\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" He Yi nodded. Not far away, Warsky finally climbed to his feet and patted away the soot on his butt. Then, Laughing At The Heavens and Lin Bing Dou Zhe revived right next to him. I hadn¡¯t noticed earlier, but it looked like Lin Bing Dou Zhe had been eaten by the Clansmen of the Dark as well. The poor bastard... \\\"Where¡¯s Farewell Song?\\\" I asked. Warsky shook his head. \\\"He hadn¡¯t come with us. By the way, are you guys departing for the quest now?\\\" I nodded. \\\"Yep. We¡¯ll be heading to Bloodthirsty Castle right now. I warn you though. Don¡¯t even think about sending Farewell Song to harass us. I haven¡¯t forgotten how Farewell Song stole the Gold City Lord Token from right beneath our noses. If he disrupts our quest too, I guarantee I will make life hell for the entire Warsky Alliance. I may not have been able to conquer Gold City due to the system restriction, but Warsky City is as free as it gets!\\\" Warsky¡¯s mouth twitched once. \\\"Hmph, Farewell Song isn¡¯t so free that he can dedicate his time to grief another player¡¯s quest, not to mention that we have our own quests to do. Also, I have over 30000 Gold Cavalrymen right now, so come to my Warsky City if you dare. I need a powerful opponent to test out the Gold Cavalry¡¯s strength anyway!\\\" \\\"Very well. We¡¯ll see after we¡¯re finished with our quests!\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" ¡­¡­ We climbed onto our dragons and flew away from the valley after that. All I had to say about this experience was that the Clansmen of the Dark¡¯s mechanics were absolutely shameless. You would expect bullshit like instantly immobilizing the players with ropes and preventing them from taking any offensive action in a single-player game, but not an MMO. There was also the not-insignificant chance that you might be roasted alive and eaten by them. Granted, our 7-man party basically made it through the experience unscathed, but Warsky, Laughing At The Heavens and Lin Bing Dou Zhe could hardly claim the same thing. \\\"Should I take that as a declaration of war?\\\" He Yi asked me smilingly. I answered, \\\"More or less. It¡¯s just as Warsky said that day; it was only a matter of time before we came to blows with each other. To be honest though, the stakes aren¡¯t worth it yet. Warsky City isn¡¯t valuable enough to start a war over. A Rank 11 city though, now that¡¯s a different story. I may take it for Bloody Mercenaries or Protective Umbrella.\\\" Murong Mingyue asked, \\\"Speaking of Protective Umbrella, how are your foreigner brothers and sisters doing?\\\" \\\"They¡¯re grinding at the outer lands right now. Hickey said that the outer lands are emptier, and there is less of a chance a Chinese player may attack them randomly. Let¡¯s not forget that Dark Mercenaries are also grinding at the outer lands right now. Long story short, the Zephyr Cavalry isn¡¯t going to be bored anytime soon!\\\" \\\"...\\\" It was at this moment Beiming Xue pointed to the ground below and said, \\\"We should land now. If we proceed any further, we will encounter Death Crows and be forced to descend anyway. Let¡¯s make our way over on foot. Bloodthirsty Castle is at the necropolis directly ahead of us.\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" After we landed on the ground, I activated Fusion Armor and covered my battle armor in layers of draconic energy. Then, I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and took point. He Yi put Murong Mingyue down to the ground but remained on top of the Snow Crystal Dragon. Lin Yixin landed on her feet and transformed the Crimson Crystal Dragon into a draconic pattern on her arm. As a light wanderer, Lin Yixin benefited from her mount¡¯s stats even when she wasn¡¯t riding it. In that sense, it was very similar to my Fusion Armor. Pa pa¡­ As our boots stepped on dew-covered grass, a faint but disgusting stench eventually wriggled into our noses. We must be very close to an undead creature now. Beiming Xue was riding on a Dragonscale Beast and guarding our rear when she suddenly asked me a question, \\\"There¡¯s something I can¡¯t figure out, big bro¡­\\\" \\\"What is it, Beiming?\\\" \\\"During the battle for Gold City, Farewell Song had been able to hide himself perfectly from my Clear As Flame, and I do mean perfectly. I understand that assassins¡¯ concealment rate increases with their Agility, but he shouldn¡¯t have been able to avoid my Clear As Flame completely. After all, perception increases with Agility as well, and my Agility isn¡¯t necessarily lower than Farewell Song¡¯s. So this begs the question: How did he do it? We would not have lost the City Lord Token if we were able to see him¡­\\\" I frowned. \\\"To be honest, I¡¯m pretty confused myself. My Dark Pupils weren¡¯t able to see through Farewell Song¡¯s stealth either, and I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not a bug because I saw through Moonkiss¡¯s stealth eventually. It¡¯s strange¡­\\\" Lin Yixin chuckled. \\\"There can only be one answer then.\\\" \\\"What is it?\\\" Both Beiming Xue and I asked together. Lin Yixin answered, \\\"Farewell Song must¡¯ve obtained a new skill or item that allows him to nullify any perception skill 100% of the time.\\\" I considered it for a moment before nodding heavily. \\\"Yiyi is right. Farewell Song was able to elude my Dark Pupils and Beiming¡¯s Clear As Flame, but not Moonkiss¡¯s skills and basic attacks. That¡¯s because Moonkiss is used to perceiving another fellow assassin via observing the terrain and the weather. Had we done our homework, we still wouldn¡¯t be able to see him, but at least we would know where he is and be able to react accordingly. We have become too reliant on our perception skills, and Farewell Song exploited our weakness perfectly.\\\" Beiming Xue blinked. \\\"We still need to know if it¡¯s an item or a skill that gave Farewell Song perfect stealth though.\\\" \\\"I¡¯d like to know that too.\\\" 1. T/N: I put \\\"almost certain\\\" when it was really \\\"certain\\\" because he just said earlier he had no idea where his daughter is. Chapter 1338 \\\"You all can stop wondering now. I¡¯ve found the answer¡­\\\" Less than three minutes later, Lin Yixin looked at us with an attractive smirk on her face. \\\"A spy I planted in Warsky Alliance confirmed it to be an item. As it turned out, the day before the contest for the Cities of Heaven, Farewell Song obtained a godlike necklace-type item called the Ghost Lake Mirror. As for its exact effects, search the database yourselves¡­\\\" \\\"Oh?!\\\" I hurriedly did as she said and typed the name \\\"Ghost Lake Mirror\\\" into the search bar. Soon, I found what I was looking for¡ª Ghost Lake Mirror (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Agility: +2000 Stamina: +1850 Intelligence: +1700 Effects: Creates a ghastly mirror that refracts all light around the user, ensuring that the user¡¯s stealth can never be pierced. Effect lasts until the user has removed the Ghost Lake Mirror. Passive: Damage received is reduced by 9%. Stackable. Level Requirement: 220 Reputation Requirement: 700000 Luck Requirement: 25 ¡­¡­ \\\"Fuck! It really is the Ghost Lake Mirror!\\\" I stabbed the Chill of Nine Provinces into the ground like it was Farewell Song himself. \\\"No wonder he managed to pull that comeback. If we had known this back then, Purple Lily would¡¯ve gotten Gold City, and we would be swimming in money right now! Dammit!\\\" He Yi chuckled. \\\"Is there nothing else you want in life except money? Seriously though, this Ghost Lake Mirror is quite something. It¡¯s OP enough on a regular assassin, but on Farewell Song its makes him near invincible. No wonder Moonkiss couldn¡¯t improve her win rate against him.\\\" I defended Moonkiss, \\\"That¡¯s a bit unfair. She did a pretty good job considering all the odds that were stacked against her. There literally isn¡¯t a single assassin in China¡ªnot even Assassin¡¯s Creed and Beautiful Little Naughty¡ªwho can determine Farewell Song¡¯s position based on some near-invisible footprints and slight rustling of shrubbery, except her.\\\" Lin Yixin tilted her head at me curiously. \\\"I heard you were there, by the way. With your skill, you should¡¯ve been able to determine Farewell Song¡¯s position and make it a 2v1, right?\\\" I shrugged awkwardly. \\\"Not really? Both Farewell Song and Moonkiss were buffed by Swift Dash at the time, so I couldn¡¯t keep up even with the Fusion Armor. Plus, I didn¡¯t want to interrupt the duel because Moonkiss was clearly trying to best Farewell Song with her own strength¡­\\\" \\\"So that¡¯s how you threw Gold City.\\\" \\\"Please, stop. My heart aches¡­\\\" Beiming Xue blinked once. \\\"What are these Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, by the way? I¡¯ve never heard about them.\\\" I explained to her, \\\"It¡¯s similar to the Twelve Divine Armaments except lousier. The Seventy-two Ghost Armaments are an assortment of armor, necklaces, rings and the like. They all have their own special functions. Think of them like super support-type equipment or something. There are only 72 of them in total in the world, and I have no idea how many of them are in the China server, but of course, the more, the better. They¡¯ll definitely give us an advantage in the future Nation Wars¡­\\\" Beside us, Moon Dew spoke up, \\\"Guys and girls, you can stop chatting now. The mob¡¯s here¡­\\\" \\\"Oh.\\\" ¡­¡­ The shrubbery directly in front of us was parted unnaturally as low hissing noises appeared from behind the morning mist. Soon, two skeletons wielding rusted iron swords and wearing rotting armor entered our view. They had green hair growing out of their bones, and their eyes were glowing an eerie green light. I supposed that their ear-piercing howls were supposed to make them scary, but all I noticed was that the leaking helmets they were wearing were copper green! \\\"Oh no, the green hat[1] skeletons are here¡­\\\" Moon Dew joked. I brandished my weapon and let out a chuckle. \\\"Green hats, eh? It¡¯s certainly not the worst start in the world. Let¡¯s go!\\\" I scanned the skeleton soldiers with Dark Pupils and read their stats. As expected of a mob from the inner area of Bloody Shield Domain, their level and stats were insanely high¡ª Undying Berserker (Fiend) Level: 300 Attack: 44000~52000 Defense: 50000 HP: 4400000 Skills: Undead Bone Skewer, Twin Blade Slash, Undying Rebirth Introduction: Demonized undead warriors. Once outstanding soldiers of the human race, the devils of Purgatory stole their souls away and turned them into their puppets. Moreover, Coldblade¡¯s devilish energy had corrupted them and imbued them with the power of rebirth. Every time they are killed, there is a 35% chance they will revive with full health. Their refusal to die makes them the nightmare of countless adventurers. ¡­¡­ \\\"Fuck!\\\" I swore after reading the Undying Berserkers¡¯ stats. \\\"Not only do they have an insane amount of Attack, Defense and HP, this Undying Rebirth¡¯s base chance is even higher than my Immortality. Anyway, Eve and I are going to aggro one mob each, and Yiyi will be the pure DPS. Twin Blade Slash is an AoE skill, so make sure you stand far back and don¡¯t get caught, squishies.\\\" While saying this, I ran toward the right Undying Berserker and hit its head with a Dragon Slaying Slash. Then, I followed up with a Coiling Dragon Revolution that punched right through its skeletal torso¡ª 359828! 432029! A mob with only 50k Defense could no longer tank my super-high Attack. On the other side, He Yi spurred her Snow Crystal Dragon forward and fired a cyan-colored wind-type slash at her own mob and dealt a sizable amount of damage¡ª 287676! 290109! 283712! Not only did it inflict three hits, it also dealt continuous damage to the target. Even now, I could see tiny wind blades cutting away at the skeleton¡¯s body. Stormwind Break was an absolutely wonderful skill! Right. Stormwind Break was a new skill she picked up from her hidden class, Stormwind Holy Knight. It was a triple-hit skill with high Attack boost that inflicted continuous damage to the target afterward. It had more or less replaced her Purgatory of Ice and Magma. There was also Stormwind Slash that summoned a storm to deal continuous damage to a large area and a highly durable Cyan Wind Shield that reduced damage received by 35%. Both her offensive power and survivability had grown considerably since the class promotion. Meanwhile, Lin Yixin had decided to give up on using the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword completely and just focused on being the Fruit Knife Goddess. She stabbed my skeleton in its weak point again and again until its HP dropped to zero. Of course, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin¡¯s DPS were amazing as well. Our 7-man party was almost invincible at this point! \\\"Please let this skeleton drop something good! This is the first Level 300 mob we¡¯ve ever hunted!\\\" He Yi said excitedly. I was smiling in anticipation as well as I stabbed the skeleton in the skull and unleashed a Universe Break. Instead of dropping an item though, it did what everyone of us had been dreading since reading its stats¡ª 592827! +4400000! I would prefer that the system had lied to us, but unfortunately that wasn¡¯t the case. The Undying Berserker had triggered its Undying Rebirth revived with full health. Shameless! Utterly shameless! On the other side, He Yi had run into the same issue as well. Her skeleton had come back to life when her Stormwind Slash landed, and she looked like her heart had shattered when she saw the green +4.4m healing number. \\\"OMG, why did you revive? Do you know how long I¡¯ve been whacking away at you!!?\\\" We laughed. Despite the annoying skill, we were in no danger of dying. It was only a matter of time before we killed them permanently. In just the blink of an eye, the skeleton I was fighting dropped to low health once more. I raised my Chill of the Nine Provinces and shouted, \\\"DIEEEEEEEE!\\\" Crack! My sword pierced through the skeleton¡¯s skull, and thank heavens it didn¡¯t revive this time. It dropped a round helmet and a bloody card. Lin Yixin picked up the helmet and let out a disdainful snort. \\\"Earth-grade, stall stuff. Does anyone want this?\\\" While she was passing it to Moon Dew, I picked up the card it dropped and was stunned by what I saw. A few seconds later, I finally returned to myself and said, \\\"Holy shit, this card is OP¡­\\\" Undying Berserker Card: Increases user\\\''s Attack by 45%, max HP by 100%, and grants a 25% chance to revive at full health upon death. Effect can be stacked with other revive effects. Level Requirement: 225. Reputation Requirement: 700000. ¡­¡­ For a time, the girls couldn¡¯t say anything. After He Yi killed off her skeleton, she declared, \\\"If we sell this at the auction house, its reserve price alone will be 5000 RMB¡­\\\" I nodded. \\\"I know right? This Attack and HP boost are pretty amazing already, but a 25% chance to revive too? This card is one of, if not the best card I¡¯ve picked up so far. Hehe. I¡¯m going to keep this one, okay? We¡¯re going to kill every single skeleton we encounter along the way and drop as many of these cards as possible. I only hope that its drop rate isn¡¯t too low.\\\" \\\"Just in case, we¡¯ll have you score the last hit from now on!\\\" Lin Yixin said. \\\"Yeah!\\\" After that, we fought for 3 hours straight and slaughtered nearly every skeleton there was in the wilderness. Unfortunately, the card¡¯s drop rate was abysmally low, and we only dropped 11 in total. I managed to roll two of them, by the way. Considering how high my Luck was, the card¡¯s base drop rate probably wasn¡¯t even 0.1%. Eternal Moon Corporation was stingy as usual. Of course, the Undying Berserker Card was all the more precious due to its rarity. We quickly agreed that we would only use it when we were fighting the final boss. If possible, we didn¡¯t even want to use it then. Nobody would begrudge a 25% chance to revive for free after all! I put away the cards and the dozens of equipment I picked up during our grind. The equipment¡¯s value ranged between 100 to 1000 RMB, which was good because they were all worth selling! ¡­¡­ Night arrived inside the game, and our vision became extremely constricted once more. Flying the Snow Crystal Dragon about ten meters in the air, He Yi commented, \\\"Turn on your equipment luster, everyone. It¡¯s either that or travel completely blind. Something¡¯s weird about this map. It¡¯s pitch black to the point where you can¡¯t even see the moonlight. So scary¡­\\\" I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces and cast its light as far away as possible while taking point. The girls followed closely behind me while Lin Yixin protected our squishes and He Yi covered our rear. I had also summoned the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition for the additional firepower I would surely need in a moment. Although the apparition¡¯s Attack was only 75% of mine, it was still a lot. ¡­¡­ \\\"Look. There¡¯s someone on the hill¡­\\\" Suddenly, Beiming Xue pointed above us. I looked. It was a girl carrying a lantern, and her face was shrouded by the darkness. At least she was curvy in all the right places. 1. T/N: green hat is the slang for cuckold Chapter 1339 \\\"Where are you, mama? Where are you, big bro?\\\" On the hill, a girl with shoulder-length hair was walking around with an orange lantern and seemingly calling out for her loved ones. From the side, I could see her round butt outlining her red-and-black cloak and her breasts threatening to spill out of her gold mage collar. She was sexy to say the least. \\\"Gulp¡­\\\" I swallowed as I tried to calm myself. \\\"Mob designs sure are cute and sexy these days. She¡¯s probably around the same age as Beiming and Lian Xin, but her figure is slightly better¡­\\\" Beiming Xue immediately puffed out her chests angrily. \\\"Did you just say my figure is inferior, big bro?!\\\" I gripped my fists. \\\"You misunderstand me. To be specific, your front isn¡¯t as good as the mob¡¯s, but your back is absolutely better¡­\\\" Murong Mingyue chuckled. \\\"Exactly. Our Beiming¡¯s bubble butt is the best. Come over and let me have a grab, will ya, Beiming?\\\" Lin Yixin stepped in just as Beiming Xue turned bright red. \\\"Stop teasing Lil Beiming already, you gangsters. Lu Chen, will you scan the mob with your Dark Pupils? You don¡¯t want to go through another humiliating episode like that time with the dragon girl, do you?\\\" I nodded. One scan later, I sucked in a deep breath to suppress my shock. Not only did the mob have powerful stats, it was a mage. This is going to be \\\"fun\\\"¡ª Lantern Girl (Fiend) Level: 300 Magic Attack: 37000~48500 Defense: 39500 HP: 2950000 Skills: Explosion Strike, Icicle Spell, God Devil Break Property: Indestructible. Magic Shield¡¯s durability is increased by 100%. Introduction: During ancient times, there were four dukes who led a corrupt and debaucherous life at the borders of Vanished God City. Not only did they kidnap beautiful civilian girls to satisfy their own selfish wants and perverted desires, they specifically targeted young girls between 14 to 19 years old despite being nearly a hundred years old themselves. These girls were also trained to sing, dance, and assassinate. After the devils invaded, the young girls regained their freedom at the cost of their own souls. They are now merely undead puppets with outstanding looks and powerful magic. ¡­¡­ I read the stats carefully before saying, \\\"Their Magic Attack¡¯s upper limit is almost 50k, so it¡¯s going to hurt like a bitch. It¡¯s also a Level 300 mob, so the level penalty is going to be considerable as well. Finally, we need to watch out for its God Devil Break because its Intelligence must be pretty high. I would¡¯ve preferred not to fight these Lantern Girls at all, but they¡¯re blocking our way, so¡­\\\" Lin Yixin unsheathed her Dragonfrost and declared, \\\"So we fight. We¡¯ll lure them to us one by one so that we won¡¯t get overwhelmed by them. Level 300 fiend-rank mobs are no joke after all. Little Cheat will take point, and Sister Eve and I will cover the rear!\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" I gathered the Dragon Slaying Slash in my blade before firing it at the Lantern Girl¡¯s head, dealing over 55k damage with a single hit. If there was one thing good about mage-type mobs, it would be that their Defense was paper-thin! The Lantern Girl spun around to face us. Her round, pale face looked both seductive yet warped under the dim lighting. She glared at me hatefully as she said, \\\"You dare set foot on this land, damned human? Surrender your life for Lord Bloodthirsty Emissary!\\\" A golden Magic Shield surrounded her as she spoke. It looked like the Lantern Girl was programmed to summon her Magic Shield the moment she was attacked, and its durability bar looked very long. This was going to take a while! I gripped the Chill of the Nine Provinces and shortened the distance between the Lantern Girl and me in an instant. I struck her Magic Shield with Burning Blade Slash, warping the golden shield but failing to destroy it. Just how much MP did she have that my Burning Blade Slash couldn¡¯t even delete half of the Magic Shield¡¯s durability? In China, the only mages whose Magic Shields were this powerful were probably Luo River God of the Capital, Lian Xin and Stranger of Three Lifetimes. Swhoosh! I pierced the Magic Shield, deleted another chunk of its durability, and dealt another 600k damage to the Lantern Girl with Universe Break. Furious, the mob raised her lantern and bathed herself in flames before hitting my Cyan Dragon Shield with an Explosion Strike. I hadn¡¯t activated Battle Astral Wind, so I was treated to the \\\"rejuvenating\\\" sensation of being burned alive. My HP dropped tremendously! 309182! Meanwhile, Lin Yixin had finally arrived with an exclamation of surprise, \\\"Even Little Cheat took this much damage from a bigger fireball? Just how strong is this mob?\\\" My Fruit Knife Goddess shredded the Lantern Girl¡¯s Magic Shield almost instantly. Together with He Yi, it should take them only seconds to shred the mob¡¯s 2.95 million HP into nothing. However, the beautiful undead girl abruptly stopped freezing me with her Icicle Spell and dropped a lightning-fast God Devil Break on all of us. Three massive damage numbers rose above our heads¡ª 229640! 368520! 391240! Equipment that boosted all four base attributes had never been more important than it was now. Whoever had the highest Intelligence would take the least damage from God Devil Break, and seven pieces of my equipment¡ªthe Chill of the Nine Provinces, the Cyan Dragon Shield, the Guardian Dragon Armor, the Sunchaser Cloak, the Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet, the Ghost Spirit War Boots and the Dark Magma Poleyns¡ªadded Intelligence. That was why my ability to tank God Devil Break far exceeded Lin Yixin¡¯s or He Yi¡¯s. In fact, most of Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance¡¯s \\\"elite\\\" mages didn¡¯t even bother to hit me with God Devil Break. It was because their total Intelligence was lower than mine, meaning that their God Devil Break could only hit me for the fixed minimum damage of 1000. Galaxy Storm would¡¯ve done more damage. ¡­¡­ Crack! Dragonfrost sliced across the Lantern Girl¡¯s chest one more time and finally deleted her last sliver of HP. As the mob slowly collapsed, she uttered defiantly, \\\"Lord Bloodthirsty Emissary will strip your hides and hang it over Bloodthirsty Castle as flags! Await the punishment of fate, ignorant humans!\\\" I picked up the legguards she dropped and read their stats. The item was called \\\"Skirt of the Lantern Girl\\\", and it was a Heaven-grade cloth-armor type item that added 44% MP and 7% Magic Shield durability. It was an amazing life-saving equipment for a mage, and it was worth at least 1000 RMB. We rolled for it, and Beiming Xue was the winner. Fortunately, Luck didn¡¯t affect dice rolls, or the person with the highest Luck would get most of the loot every time, and that was just plain unfair. It didn¡¯t stop me from feeling pained at the 3 points I rolled though! He Yi chuckled. \\\"It looks like the Skirt of the Lantern Girl is a set, and like all other sets, it takes 5¡ªthe headgear, the chest armor, the legguards, the boots and the wristguards¡ªto complete them. It adds a lot of Magic Attack, HP and Defense, and its final effect is a 50% boost to the damage of God Devil Break. Let¡¯s do our best to grind a full equipment set and sell it at the auction house later. I bet it¡¯ll sell for 100k at least. It¡¯s not a bad idea, right? We¡¯re still making progress in our quest, and we¡¯re earning gold while doing so¡­\\\" Whatever qualms I might have had instantly evaporated when I heard the word \\\"gold¡±. I nodded. \\\"Okay. We¡¯ll kill all the Lantern Girls there are on this hill before giving Bloodthirsty Emissary the retribution he deserves. It¡¯s the boss of an SSS Rank main quest anyway, so no one¡¯s going to be able to kill him anytime soon. Right now, grabbing this god-given gold is the bigger priority¡­\\\" Lin Yixin snickered, \\\"You¡¯re such a goldcon, Little Cheat!\\\" I shrugged. \\\"How can I not? Houses, cars, marriage; every one of these requires a truck load of money. It¡¯s why people say you can never have enough of it. Plus, it¡¯s not like the Lantern Girls give poor experience. Quite the contrary, this is an excellent map to grind both experience and gold!\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" ¡­¡­ We continued. The plains were still completely dark besides our equipment luster and the lanterns of the Lantern Girls. It was as if the map was devouring the moonlight from the sky somehow. The good news was that there were no other players in the area, so we could grind this map to our hearts¡¯ content. The Lantern Girl set was a Level 220 equipment set, and that was exactly the level the average player was at right now. I was sure there would be buyers one way or another. Unfortunately, it seemed like our luck had run out for the moment. We didn¡¯t drop a single piece of the Lantern Girl set even after killing the next 50 Lantern Girls. I was starting to wonder if the item we had gotten earlier was a fluke, or worse, the drop rate was so low that even my 100 Luck wasn¡¯t good enough to improve it to a reasonable number. \\\"It looks like the equipment drop rate is less than 1 in 10000¡­\\\" He Yi commented. Lin Yixin blamed me for some reason. \\\"Is your Luck stat on strike today or something, Little Cheat?\\\" \\\"Well, I did donate 11 to the guild¡­\\\" \\\"What a waste!!\\\" \\\"The Holy Mages they will produce are totally worth it though.\\\" \\\"That is true¡­\\\" It was at this moment my Chill of the Nine Provinces triggered its septuple-damage effect on a Universe Break and one-shot the Lantern Girl I was fighting. As if on cue, she dropped a red-and-black robe that was clearly a part of the equipment set. Just in case, I took a look and yep, it was the Robe of the Lantern Girl. My motivation instantly returned to the peak as I said, \\\"Alright, it looks like our worries were unfounded after all. There are still plenty of mobs in the area, so let us continue!\\\" ¡­¡­ The grind seemed to go so much faster when you were driven by hope. Five hours or so passed in the blink of an eye, and over half of the plains had been cleared out by us. In the end, we were able to drop 19 pieces of the Lantern Girl set, assembling 3 complete sets from them. I kept all the drops in my bag because I had the least chance of dying out of everyone. He Yi glanced at the near empty plains and clapped her hands once. \\\"We¡¯re more or less done. We¡¯ll have to wait for a respawn if we are to continue grinding the Lantern Girls. However, they respawn in just 4 hours, so should we continue or should we start making our way toward Bloodthirsty Castle?\\\" I thought for a moment before replying, \\\"Let¡¯s go to Bloodthirsty Castle. We¡¯ll log out, sleep, and come back tomorrow fresh when we reach the periphery.\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" Beiming Xue pointed at the lush forest slightly toward our right. \\\"Big bro, there¡¯s a canyon over there that leads straight to Bloodthirsty Castle. Should we use it?\\\" \\\"Why not? Let¡¯s go!\\\" ¡­¡­ I took point with my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King beside me. We didn¡¯t enter the canyon for long before we saw Lantern Girls respawning en masse in front of us. Unless I was sorely mistaken, this canyon was probably the Lantern Girls¡¯ den! \\\"Stop. There are people directly ahead of us!\\\" Suddenly, Lin Yixin dashed up to me and pressed me to the ground. We hid behind a bush and watched as a huge party of players¡ªI counted at least a thousand of them¡ªbattled against the Lantern Girls. Their guild emblem marked them as members of Candle Dragon! Chapter 1340 \\\"Why is Candle Dragon here?\\\" I asked while wrapping my arm around Lin Yixin¡¯s thin waist like it was the most natural thing in the world. Lin Yixin shot me a glance but didn¡¯t comment on my action. \\\"How would I know? Maybe Candle Dragon was already advancing into Bloody Shield Domain en masse while we were eating lunch? Look, the elite players of Candle Dragon are all here. I bet Candlelight Shadow is here as well¡­\\\" \\\"You are correct. Look up¡­\\\" He Yi whispered from beside me. A flaming shadow descended from the sky. It was a fire dragon, and its rider was none other than Candlelight Shadow himself. After the fire dragon landed on the ground, it crouched in a submissive posture so that Candlelight Shadow could leap down to the ground safely. He looked at his generals and said, \\\"Blue Sky, Tempest, split our party into fifteen smaller groups. I want every party to have a logical number of bards, priests, mages and cavalrymen. The goal is to do this without any casualties at all. I can now confirm that the spawn rate of Level 1 Lantern Girls is about 5%, and at the adult stage they can learn Flame Blast and God Devil Break. Both skills are god-tier skills in positional warfare, so we cannot let this god-given opportunity slip through our grasp!\\\" Blue Sky Scar nodded. \\\"Understood. I will arrange the parties right away!\\\" Spotting a slight look of dejection on Tempest Shadow and Transient Smoke and Clouds¡¯ faces, Candlelight Shadow smiled and clapped a hand on the archer¡¯s shoulder before saying, \\\"You shouldn¡¯t be dejected by the fact that we¡¯ve lost our spot on the Guild Ranking, Smoke and Clouds. In fact, you should be relieved by it. Now that the burden of number one is no longer on our shoulders, we can finally set our sights on our opponents and surpass them just like Ancient Sword had. There is no such thing as eternal dominance. As long as we never give up, it is only a matter of time before Candle Dragon returns to the apex!\\\" Transient Smoke and Clouds nodded. \\\"You are right, Candlelight. And I¡¯m glad that you are just as Yuse says.\\\" \\\"Oh?\\\" Candlelight Shadow shot Ye Yuse a smile. \\\"And what did Yuse say about me?\\\" Ye Yuse blushed in embarrassment and pretended not to notice his attention.[1] Transient Smoke and Clouds chuckled. \\\"Well, Yuse said that you¡¯ve become more mature, humble and graceful ever since the defeat at Gold City. She said that the you now truly have the strength to take us back to the peak. No matter how strong Lu Chen, Warsky and Wind Fantasy are, we will always have the chance to beat them, for Candle Dragon¡¯s sole purpose of existence was to do battle against powerful opponents. It is because they are strong that we have the chance to become stronger.\\\" Candlelight Shadow let out a hearty laugh. \\\"Yuse is right! It is because of Ancient Sword, Warsky Alliance and Snowy Cathaya that we were truly able to unearth our hidden potential! In that sense, we should thank Lu Chen for the defeat he dealt us! The stronger he is, the stronger I will become as well!\\\" God¡¯s Dance chortled. \\\"I¡¯m glad. It¡¯s been a while, but it looks Candle Dragon is finally going to flourish. Speaking of which, I¡¯ve reorganized the first subguild into a tamer-only guild, Candlelight Shadow. We¡¯ve gathered over 70k high-level tamers except the best of the best such as Chance Meeting. Our tamer legion should be strong enough to challenge the world now.\\\" Candlelight Shadow nodded. \\\"Very well, keep trying to recruit as many high-level tamers into our guild as possible, and continue accumulating Luck as we did before. Every little thing counts right now, so don¡¯t save money on my account. Buy them no matter how much they cost. Next, I¡¯ve rallied about 210k players and ordered them to make their way over from the gap between the lightning formation in the southeast direction. Please head over and receive them, Tempest Shadow. Once our elite players are all here, we¡¯re going to lock down the entire Magic Lamp Canyon and forbid anyone who isn¡¯t us from entry. We¡¯re going to make the Lantern Girls our exclusive unit, so be prepared to hold this map for a very long time!\\\" Tempest Shadow nodded. \\\"Understood!\\\" ¡­¡­ Still lying inside the bush, I commented, \\\"We killed all the Level 1 Lantern Girls we encountered earlier because they¡¯re only Earth Rank, but¡­ tsk tsk. As expected of Candlelight Shadow. His eye for potential is unlike most others¡­\\\" Beiming Xue looked confused. \\\"I don¡¯t understand, big bro.\\\" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes glinted with intelligence. \\\"Candle Dragon is currently in control of the Dark Steel City, so with enough luck, they can equip all their tamers with the Life of the Tamer buff. Any tamer can summon 2 pets to fight for them, but Life of the Tamer increases that slot count by 1, all their pets¡¯ stats by 30%, and their level by 10. Now, let us assume that these tamers all carry 3 Lantern Girl each. How many people do you think can survive their Fire Blasts and God Devil Breaks?\\\" Beiming Xue¡¯s mouth fell open. \\\"That does sound incredibly OP¡­\\\" I smiled. \\\"It looks like Candlelight Shadow really has grown up since his defeat at the Gold City. Not only had he found a way to combine a useless class and a useless City of Heaven perfectly, he may be able to snowball Candle Dragon¡¯s strength enough to control Dark Steel City for another month, and then another as well. With the tamer + Lantern Girl + Life of the Tamer combination, he may just be able to control Dark Steel City permanently and create an undefeatable advantage for Candle Dragon. From now on, we¡¯ll really have to watch out for him.\\\" He Yi said, \\\"Candle Dragon¡¯s party is huge, and both Candlelight Shadow and Ye Yuse are present. With our numbers, we¡¯ll be lucky to avoid a party-wipe and corpse-camp, much less do any real damage to them. What is your decision?\\\" I thought for a moment before replying, \\\"Let¡¯s ride out dragons and circle around their main force. Our goal is to seek out the treasures of Bloodthirsty Castle, and it¡¯s not like we need to stop Candlelight Shadow from making his comeback in Magic Lamp Canyon. Ancient Sword needs a powerful enemy to constantly keep us on our toes, and the China server needs a powerful Candle Dragon to be its shield and spear!\\\" Lian Xin giggled. \\\"Well said, big brother. This is what I like about you. You never push others by force to fulfill your goals like Warsky¡­\\\" Lin Yixin teased, \\\"Nah, he¡¯s just way too soft-hearted¡­\\\" I shrugged. \\\"It¡¯s ultimately a game and not the real life. No one here is our eternal enemy, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ destiny is to protect the China server, not to slay all powerful opponents within our borders. Silver City and Gold City are too important to let go, but we don¡¯t necessarily need Dark Steel City or Magic Lamp Canyon. In that case, why stop Candlelight Shadow from having it? Plus, we actually need him to grow stronger so that Candle Dragon can pose a threat to Warsky Alliance. Warsky has been on the rise recently, and now he has the Gold Cavalry to bolster the frontlines and Farewell Song¡¯s Ghost Lake Mirror to assassinate people without ever showing himself. They are a threat we cannot afford to ignore!\\\" Lin Yixin summoned the Crimson Crystal Dragon. \\\"Anyway, let¡¯s stop dilly-dallying and fly to our destination already.\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" I canceled Fusion Armor and pulled Beiming Xue and Moon Dew on top of the Ancient Divine Dragon once more. Soon, all seven of us were flying over Candle Dragon¡¯s heads and drawing their attention¡ª \\\"Fuck! That¡¯s the Ancient Divine Dragon! It¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!\\\" \\\"That fiery red Gem Dragon is the Fruit Knife Goddess¡¯s mount, the Crimson Crystal Dragon! Well, the top guilds are all exploring Bloody Shield Domain, so her presence isn¡¯t exactly surprising¡­\\\" \\\"The one riding the Snow Crystal Dragon must be From Water. That¡¯s three of the executive players of Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya in one place. Our place to be exact. What do we do?\\\" \\\"Can we shoot them down with Skypiercers?\\\" \\\"Are you serious? They are at least a couple hundred meters in the sky! We should ask the guild leader to fly after them and hunt them down¡­\\\" \\\"You¡¯re the one who isn¡¯t serious! What if the guild leader is killed by Lu Chen and the Fruit Knife Goddess instead?\\\" \\\"You dare! The guild leader would never lose! Candle Dragon is invincible! Candle Dragon is OP!\\\" \\\"Candle Dragon is invincible!\\\" \\\"Candle Dragon is OP!\\\" ¡­¡­ The sheer insanity of their dialogue nearly caused us to fall off our dragons. Truly, every guild had their own weirdos. At least they were as weird as they were hardworking. We didn¡¯t fly too far. Once we were out of their defense perimeter, we descended to the ground and continued on foot once more. The land in front of us was mostly barren except the masses of wilted vines and old trees. The sky was covered in thick flocks of black crows. There were also skeletons or half-rotted bodies hanging atop some stone pillars. Their armor had disintegrated to the point where they were falling apart. If I had to guess, they were human soldiers from Vanished God City who had been punished by the power of darkness. A row of corpse-eating crows perched on top of a tree branch suddenly swooped down on the half-rotted corpses and ate its flesh. Then, they started circling the sky above us like vultures. I sucked in a deep breath. Thank goodness we had landed as soon as we did, or I would survive with Battle Astral Wind, but probably not He Yi or Lin Yixin. None of us were eager to emulate the Buddha¡¯s example of feeding the birds with our own flesh. \\\"Watch out! Someone¡¯s behind us!\\\" Beiming Xue suddenly cried out in warning. Her perception most certainly exceeded mine. It wasn¡¯t long before hundreds of people burst out of the rotted forest behind us. The leader was none other than Hundred Battler. He had been a general of Warsky Alliance until he jumped ship to Candle Dragon to become their corps commander instead. Hundred Battler pointed his sword at us and said sharply, \\\"Spread out and prepare to charge, brothers! We may not be able to kill Lu Chen, but we must take out Wind Fantasy and From Water at the very least! Remember that they¡¯re the ones who kept us from taking Gold City! This won¡¯t settle the score, but it will at least ease the pain a little!\\\" \\\"Are you serious?\\\" I turned around with a snort. \\\"You don¡¯t seriously think you and your bunch of rotten potatoes are enough to defeat us, do you? Wait. Are you still angry because I beat your sorry ass¡ªwhich you totally deserved by the way¡ªoffline? Are you a child or what?\\\" \\\"What?\\\" A couple of Candle Dragon players turned toward Hundred Battler at the same time. \\\"Corps commander, did Lu Chen really beat you up offline before?\\\" Hundred Battler¡¯s face instantly became overcome with anger. \\\"Kill!\\\" ¡­¡­ I smirked and unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces. \\\"Let¡¯s end this quickly, ladies. Ancient Divine Skills, go!\\\" I locked onto an empty space in front of me and Thunderous Charged my way to it. Then, I activated Heavenly River Transformation and landed a picture-perfect Xuanyuan Slash on top of the hostile party. The skill and splash damage killed dozens and wounded many more. The Qiu Beast Cavalrymen who were lucky enough to survive the skill turned around and retreated without hesitation. I wasn¡¯t going to let them escape though. I spun my blade in my grip so that the Death side would be facing toward the sky. Die! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... This time, most of the players lost 50% of their HP and dissolved into white light. While I was wreaking havoc, Lin Yixin and He Yi had already activated their own Ancient Divine Skills and were unleashing their Storm Slash, Ice Flame Slash and more into the remnants. Beiming Xue and Lian Xin were unleashing their skills in full force as well. Less than a minute later, every person in the Candle Dragon party including Hundred Battler himself was a corpse on the ground. ¡­¡­ After the massacre was over, I turned around and declared, \\\"Let¡¯s get away from here before they revive!\\\" 1. T/N: I smell a conspiracy. Ye Yuse is close to both Li Chengfeng and Fang Zhuo, two sworn enemies. This isn¡¯t going to end well for her. Chapter 1341 \\\"It¡¯s interesting¡­\\\" We were strolling along the edges of a forest when Lin Yixin spoke up with a smile, \\\"Warsky Alliance is infamous for their shameless recruitment tactics. Purple Lily, Snowy Cathaya, Candle Dragon, Ancient Sword and more, practically everyone has lost some players to them before. This time though, Candle Dragon managed to recruit Hundred Battler from Warsky Alliance. Sure, Hundred Battler is just a useless noob, but Warsky can¡¯t feel very good about it. No one likes being treated to a taste of their own medicine after all.\\\" \\\"I cannot imagine Candle Dragon approving the attack after what we heard earlier, so Hundred Battler must¡¯ve acted out of his own accord. The dude definitely wasn¡¯t expecting us to slaughter him and his couple hundred Qiu Beast Cavalrymen in less than a minute though.\\\" I sighed. \\\"When you offend too many people, you can¡¯t go anywhere without watching your own back.\\\" \\\"And whose fault was it for standing out too much, huh?\\\" Lin Yixin teased me. I shot back. \\\"You of all people have the least right to say that, you murderous hobo¡­\\\" He Yi chuckled. \\\"Enough, you two. Let¡¯s get serious here, shall we?\\\" ¡­¡­ The forest was unusually quiet and desolate even considering that it was nighttime. We had moved far enough from the Lantern Girls¡¯ domain that I could spot an ancient castle at the distance. It was 2.5 kilometers away from us at most. The sky was covered in demonized crows, and their red eyes never left our person for a second. They seemed to be waiting for us to die so they could feast on our corpses. \\\"Get lost!\\\" An annoyed Lian Xin cast Ice Spiral Matrix in midair. The black crows immediately scattered in fright. Beiming Xue stared at the grass ground beneath our feet for a moment before pointing toward the northeast. \\\"Big bro, can you scan that area with Dark Pupils and see if there are invisible units close by? I¡¯m spotting some irregularities on the ground here and there. It¡¯s either a player or a mob¡­\\\" I turned Dark Pupils on and off two times before the invisible figure revealed itself to me. It was a humongous skeletal minotaur. I wasn¡¯t sure why it was an assassin though. Its size was only going to slow it down and diminish its stealth effects. I read its stats and noted that it had high Attack¡ª Minotaur Assassin (Fiend) Level: 300 Attack: 42000-51500 Defense: 44500 HP: 3750000 Skills: Night Blind Stab, Eye of Reincarnation, Blade Vortex Property: Stealth effect increased by 50%. Extremely high chance of avoiding being seen by Clear As Flame. Introduction: The Minotaur race is a mixed breed born from the union of ancient sacred beasts and humans [1]. They possess powerful physique and explosive strength, but they were ultimately unable to withstand the invasion of the undead legion and were transformed into the puppets of the undead. Bloodthirsty Emissary trained them into killers who can conceal themselves under the moonlight. The combination of their explosive strength and their assassination techniques is absolutely terrifying, but their stealthiness is questionable to say the least. Even so, countless humans had died to their daggers in the hundreds of years they¡¯ve been undead puppets. ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue stuck out her tongue. \\\"OMG, these assassin mobs have a crazy amount of Attack. I doubt even Farewell Song has this much Attack¡­\\\" I smiled. \\\"If we¡¯re just talking about base Attack, then sure. But if we account for equipment effects, then it¡¯s not as clear cut as you think. Farewell Song¡¯s basic attack can deal over 200k damage to me, and his skills are even more powerful. As for the Minotaur Assassins, well, let¡¯s check that out right now, shall we?\\\" I locked onto the closest Minotaur Assassin and activated Thunderous Charge! Swhoosh! It was a perfect stun. I immediately followed up with a six-hit Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo that dealt over 2.72 million damage. One more basic attack later, the Minotaur Assassin was almost done. Thud thud thud... My Phantom Wolf King swiped it three times with its claws, and the Minotaur Assassin died right as it broke out of the stun. Seven rays of EXP light entered our bodies, but 50% of the kill experience went to me. What could I do? The person with the highest DPS usually got the better reward. It was the main reason support players grew slower in terms of levels. Moon Dew said calmly, \\\"2.72 million damage, huh. Maybe we should just call you ¡®the boss\\\'' from now on¡­\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" Lin Yixin pouted. \\\"Yeah. Even my highest-burst combo deals a bit over 1.5 million¡­\\\" He Yi consoled her, \\\"Don¡¯t be sad. Lu Chen is our ally after all. Imagine if it was Candlelight Shadow or Warsky who had this much damage. We would die nine out of ten times when running into them¡­\\\" I consoled both girls, \\\"I only got this much damage because of my flurry skills. If Yiyi performs triple slash + Extreme Break, or Eve uses Stormwind Break + Purgatory of Ice and Magma combo, your DPS won¡¯t be far behind mine. Don¡¯t forget that you are dragon riders now. Your Crimson Crystal Dragon and Snow Crystal Dragon give almost as much Attack as my Ancient Divine Dragon.\\\" \\\"That¡¯s true. Well, let¡¯s keep this up!\\\" ¡­¡­ We continued. We always pierced the Minotaur Assassin¡¯s stealth with either my Dark Pupils or Beiming Xue¡¯s Clear As Flame so that they never got the drop on us. The mob dropped an assassin-exclusive equipment set that wasn\\\''t as good as the Lantern Girl set, but was still worth around 1000 RMB or so. More importantly, its drop rate was much higher than the Lantern Girl set, and it only took us an hour or so to assemble a full set. It looked like today was another jackpot day! Pa pa... Beiming Xue looked like a pretty little night-walking cat as she jumped from tree branch to tree branch. After she landed on a branch of a particular large tree, she concealed her Xuanming Bow¡¯s equipment luster and whispered in the party channel, \\\"Watch out, big bro. I see a group of players grinding on the right side of Bloodthirsty Castle¡­\\\" \\\"Oh? Can you see who they are?\\\" I asked while looking at a Minotaur Assassin. Beiming Xue nodded. \\\"The party leader¡¯s Amber Pupil, and the party members are Now and Forever plus 300 or so outer-land players. They¡¯re all Dark Mercenaries¡­\\\" \\\"Fuck!\\\" I clenched my teeth. \\\"I almost forgot that Bloody Shield Domain counts as the outer lands too. It makes perfect sense for outer-land players to explore this place. So this is where Dark Mercenaries have been grinding, huh? Very well. Beiming Xue, ascertain their location and numbers, then report back to me. We¡¯re going to take them all out. Amber Pupil managed to teleport away to safety last time, but he won¡¯t get lucky again. This time, I have more than enough Divine Energy Points to wipe the floor with him!\\\" Lin Yixin smiled. \\\"Let¡¯s do it this way: Sister Eve and I will hide in the forest and wait for your signal. Once you get close enough with Earth Escape and disrupt their formation, we¡¯ll rush out and catch them by surprise. Dark Mercenaries¡¯ players aren¡¯t as easy as Hundred Battler¡¯s party earlier. We need the surprise advantage to walk away unscathed.\\\" \\\"Very well! Let¡¯s do it!\\\" ¡­¡­ My apparition and I slowly crept our way toward Dark Mercenaries¡¯ party from beneath the ground. This skill was OP, but I could never become a top-tier stalker like Farewell Song or Moonkiss because it reduced my movement speed by a whopping 90%. Meanwhile, Farewell Song and Moonkiss had skills and equipment that increased their movement speed so much that they could be moving 5 to 7 times faster than normal when ambushing a target. At that point, you might as well treat them like ghosts; capable of suddenly appearing behind you without any notice whatsoever. They could¡¯ve chased down Dark Mercenaries¡¯ players one by one and killed them all, but I couldn¡¯t. Therefore, my only option was to catch them with a devastating sneak attack. The Phantom Wolf King was also following me while stealthed. I was still waiting for the right time to launch my attack. Not too far behind me, the beautiful riders of Crimson Crystal Dragon and Snow Crystal Dragon were waiting for my signal. The second people started screaming, they would immediately join the battle, but not a second sooner. It wouldn¡¯t do to alert our enemies beforehand. Beiming Xue whispered again inside the party channel, \\\"Big bro, I see a couple of very-high-level assassins to your left, coordinate (18274, 90892). There may be more of them. They¡¯re the scouts of the party. Their archers have also activated Clear As Flame, so make sure you avoid their perception range¡­\\\" I nodded. \\\"Understood¡­\\\" Meanwhile, Amber Pupil was gripping his broadsword and staring arrogantly at Bloodthirsty Castle. He clicked his tongue and said, \\\"Tsk tsk, an SS Rank quest isn¡¯t too hard to complete, especially one that only requires us to kill a servant girl of Bloodthirsty Emissary. Assuming that we have time to spare when the deed is done, do you think we should take out Bloodthirsty Emissary himself? Who knows, we may get one of the Twelve Divine Armaments for killing him!\\\" Now and Forever nodded. \\\"I hope so. The problem is the quality of these Hero City players we¡¯ve been given. If they¡¯re as bad as Sword Lord of Jianghu, well, we may not even be able to kill that Ancient Immortal Rank servant girl.\\\" \\\"Don¡¯t worry, they are the elites handpicked by Vienna¡¯s Sorrow himself. If you¡¯re worried about him screwing us over on purpose, remember that he demands us to return 50% of them when the one-time period is over. He wouldn¡¯t care so much if they were just useless cannon fodder, right? I plan to use them as much as possible during this time and strengthen Dark Mercenaries to the max. After all, there is no one we can rely on more than ourselves. Speaking of which, how are the 7000 players you recruited from Elephant City? Are they reliable?\\\" A tinge of cruelty entered Now and Forever¡¯s grin. \\\"Very. They are all players who have been kicked out from Elephant City, and they are either thieves, murderers, red names, or all of the above. This is exactly the type of people you want when fighting against Ancient Sword¡¯s Dragonlight Cavalry.\\\" Amber Pupil nodded approvingly. \\\"Treat them well. We need them to return to the China server.\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" ¡­¡­ I continued moving myself, my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King until I had Amber Pupil and Now and Forever surrounded in a triangle. I had to ensure that none of my characters were within range of the archers while still able to inflict massive amounts of damage at a short notice. Otherwise, the priests would be able to keep them alive, and our operation would more or less end in failure. Their numbers were vastly superior to ours. We couldn¡¯t afford to treat this lightly. Most importantly, Amber Pupil and his goons were blocking the way to the castle entrance. We couldn¡¯t enter Bloodthirsty Castle without clearing them out! 1. T/N: well this came out of nowhere Chapter 1342 \\\"Go!\\\" I shouted in the party channel and burst out of the ground, activating both Battle Astral Wind and Heavenly River Transformation at the same time. Amber Pupil¡¯s skill was questionable at best, but his men were nothing like him. They would have never made it this far in the first place if they were mere weaklings. That was why I couldn¡¯t afford to conserve my strength. Fire wreathed the Chill of Nine Provinces as I closed the distance between Amber Pupil and I by around 20 yards. Then, I unleashed my Burning Blade Slash from an angle that would catch Amber Pupil, Now and Forever and the rest of the elites beside them. \\\"Shit!\\\" Caught off-guard, Amber Pupil could only raise his sword and arms and assume a Guard stance. His body shook three times as he was struck by Burning Blade Slash! 179892! 221938! 252885! His Guard was successful, and he was even able to reduce over 50% of the damage he received. However, it didn¡¯t mean he was out of danger because I immediately cast Summon the Storm next. The ambush had just begun, and they were already 500k HP down or more. Now and Forever straight up lost his Magic Shield and was forced to withdraw. \\\"Ambush! It¡¯s that fucker Lu Chen!\\\" Now and Forever healed himself to full using Soul Forge before applying Yin Yang Mirror to himself. It was a skill that reflected the damage he received back to his enemy. While chasing after Amber Pupil, I shouted, \\\"Volley his Yin Yang Mirror[1], Beiming!\\\" Beiming Xue rode out of the dark forest and loosed an Evil Spirit Volley into the enemy. Only one of the arrows was aimed at Now and Forever, but she still lost over 400k HP in one go. Still, it was the best possible outcome we could hope for. If it was me who had to dispel the skill, I would¡¯ve lost at least a million HP. That would be unacceptable. Buzz! My sword buzzed, and a golden sword at least tens of meters long appeared in the sky. It was my strongest skill, the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Xuanyuan Slash! \\\"Oh no!\\\" Now and Forever was too close to me, so he had no choice but to Blink away. However, I predicted his reaction and Thunderous Charged straight away to his new location. Now and Forever¡¯s face turned purple when he saw me closing the distance while dragging the absolutely deadly energy that was Xuanyuan Slash with me! BOOM! The Xuanyuan Slash destroyed the earth, Now and Forever, and nearly a hundred Dark Mercenaries players. Screams filled the air, and the Onmyouji died just like that. 1.8 million damage was more than enough to take his life especially because he wasn¡¯t wearing any damage reduction equipment at all, at least not that I could see. \\\"Bastard!\\\" Amber Pupil¡¯s Square Slash and Blazing Fire Ball hit my back but failed to delete even a single point of HP. Instead, my Battle Astral Wind lost 29% of its durability. Amber Pupil¡¯s Attack wasn¡¯t very high, so even my Battle Astral Wind was too big of a hurdle for him. \\\"Get lost!\\\" I dashed backward, summoned the Cyan Dragon Shield in an instant and bashed it against Amber Pupil¡¯s shoulder, driving him right toward the magical spell that was Lian Xin¡¯s Ice Spiral Matrix. Horrified, Amber Pupil hurriedly stopped in his tracks before zigzagging away from Lian Xin. The reason he did this was because he knew that Lian Xin had Origin Force Field. Unfortunately, Lian Xin was far more skilled than Amber Pupil could possibly imagine. She had me and many more peak fighters to train with after all. She cast 7 Origin Force Fields in total along Amber Pupil¡¯s path, and not a single one of them had missed. Dizzy from the sheer amount of times he ran face-first into an invisible wall, he shouted, \\\"I need some cover fire and healing over here!\\\" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Holy light enveloped Amber Pupil again and again and pulled him away from death¡¯s door. Arrows and magic spells landed all around Lian Xin to keep her from finishing the job, and at least dozens of cavalrymen were circling to the back to ambush Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue. They never made a sound throughout the counterattack. This alone showed how experienced they were at PvP battles. I reckoned that any party who wasn¡¯t us would likely be facing the threat of annihilation already. ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud... I ran across the mud while changing my speed and direction repeatedly. Every time I reached a turning point, I would reduce my speed by 50%, gather my strength, and stab an archer right through their chest armor, killing them. Without pause, I would then dash down another direction toward another target. I never attacked an opponent directly. They were all running attacks that, if insufficient to kill the target, at least left them with a grievous wound that crippled their ability to fight normally. While I was passing by a group of archers and mages, I made a hand seal and unleashed Myriad Swords Obliteration + Rise of the Guardian Dragon combo that successfully decreased their Magic Shield¡¯s durability by a lot. However, I also became the focus of their God Devil Break and lost at least 200k damage per hit. The offensive power of Dark Mercenaries¡¯ best mages was definitely scary. Suddenly, a pair of dragons roared in the sky. It was Lin Yixin and He Yi activating their Heavenly River Transformations and Ancient Divine Skills. For a limited duration, all of their skills such as Ice Flame Slash, Storm Slash, Purgatory of Ice and Magma and more would ignore Defense. It was a one-sided massacre especially because they were attacking from the air. \\\"Roar roar¡­\\\" It wasn¡¯t like the enemy wasn¡¯t able to retaliate against us, however. The Phantom Wolf King died after failing to dodge a volley of God Devil Breaks from at least a dozen or so mages. My apparition also dropped to the ground in no time because it couldn¡¯t protect itself with Battle Astral Wind or benefit from passive defensive skills such as Ghost Deity Shield. The difference between our Defense stats was like night and day. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Suddenly, a red light flashed beside Beiming Xue, stunning her and deleting 290k+ HP from her person. Her ambusher¡¯s ID was¡ªCold of Spring! I shivered. Motherfucker! Wasn¡¯t Cold of Spring a member of Blood Alliance? Why the hell was he here now? A chill crawled across my spine. Blood Alliance was one of the parties who roamed the outer lands, and it was well-known that there was no one they wouldn¡¯t work for except those who couldn¡¯t afford their services. Could it be¡­ that Dark Mercenaries had come to some sort of secret agreement with Blood Alliance? I immediately scanned Beiming Xue and Lian Xin¡¯s surroundings with Dark Pupils and spotted at least a dozen or so assassins moving toward them. I hurriedly shouted, \\\"You¡¯re surrounded by assassins! Get them all with Frozen Domain!\\\" Before I could finish my sentence, Lian Xin was already stomping the ground and extending her magic outward. An instant later, ice, snow, and many, many frozen assassins suddenly appeared out of thin air. Frozen Domain was one of Lian Xin¡¯s ultimate skills, and it froze her targets 100% of the time. Unless her opponent was protected by an invincibility shield, or was a super high-level boss, there was no one she couldn¡¯t freeze with the spell. Naturally, Blood Alliance¡¯s assassins didn¡¯t fall under this category. If anything, Lian Xin had more than a 100% chance to freeze them since she outleveled them by a lot. Cold of Spring, Flame of Summer, Leaf of Autumn and Cadence of Winter all appeared frozen around Lian Xin at the same time. The frozen status condition would only last 4.5 seconds, so I wasted no time in moving to the right spot and tossing a Coiling Dragon Revolution while I was still 45 yards away from them. The spinning blade of death quickly engulfed Cold of Spring, Flame of Summer and Cadence of Winter and dealing a sizable amount of damage¡ª 790283! 812737! 729934! These assassins all had a good amount of HP. You might even say that they were the cream of the crop among leather-armor players. Due to the Frozen status condition increasing their Defense and the fact that they had around 1 million HP, my Coiling Dragon Revolution wasn¡¯t able to kill any of them. That was fine though. Lian Xin was there after all. A single Dimensional Storm was all it took to transform the Spring, Summer and Winter elders of Blood Alliance into a pile of potions and equipment. The remaining assassins could only watch helplessly from their icy prisons. It wasn¡¯t over though. I shouted as I reached Lian Xin, \\\"Watch out for Assassin¡¯s Creed!\\\" As if on cue, I picked up a surge of killing intent and saw a grass shudder just a bit too much to be a brush with the wind. I immediately pulled Lian Xin behind me and swung my Cyan Dragon Shield forward, successfully intercepting Ambush. My blade clashed against a dagger in a shower of metallic spark, and an invisible veil pulled away to reveal Assassin¡¯s Creed icy and malicious grin. He used the force of our clash to push himself a dozen or so meters away from me before reentering stealth in a flash of fluorescent light. Assassin¡¯s Creed quickly vanished from both my sight and my minimap, but a quick on-and-off of Dark Pupils was all it took to return him to view. As I thought, few assassins could escape my detection skill unless it was Farewell Song with Ghost Lake Mirror. I pretended that I didn¡¯t see Assassin¡¯s Creed though. I focused on taking out the five or six assassins who had just broken out of their icy prison before Beiming Xue revealed them all with Skypiercer. After that, it was just a matter of how fast Lian Xin could kill them all with her magic. ¡­¡­ While this was going on, our beautiful dragon riders had also murdered countless enemies including one sad and pathetic Amber Pupil. Moon Dew had seized an opening to run to the city gate and press a hand to a magical rune on its surface. She then shouted in the party channel, \\\"Everyone, the gate¡¯s going to open in 1 minutes and 42 seconds! It will open for only 15 seconds before closing! After that, we have to wait for 60 minutes before it opens again!\\\" I drove back a group of Dark Mercenaries players with Thousand Ice Slash before shouting, \\\"Move to the gate and get ready to charge in at first notice! I¡¯ll cover our rear and keep Dark Mercenaries and Blood Alliance away from the gate for as long as I can!\\\" Thud! Thud! Lin Yixin and He Yi descended from the sky. I could definitely hold the line alone for one minute or so, and the few players who could threaten me such as Now and Forever or Amber Pupil were still running back to their corpses. I would make certain that we were the first ones to enter Bloodthirsty Castle. ¡­¡­ Creak... As the gate slowly opened, a countdown appeared on everyone¡¯s interface¡ª 15! 14! ¡­¡­ I said in a hurry, \\\"Get in now! I¡¯ll hold the line for just a bit longer!\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" I stayed where I was while the girls rushed through the gap. Arrows and magic spells were blasting away at my Guardian Dragon Armor, but I barely felt any pressure with the protection of the Cyan Dragon Shield and my 2.3 million max HP. My breathing slowed to a crawl as I waited patiently and expectantly for my prey to show up. 1. E/N: Yin Yang Mirror reflects one attack back. Beiming¡¯s Volley is made up of weak arrows, probably like 30% of her basic attack, 8-12 arrows depending on skill variation. Other than some random DPS spell from Murong Mingyue, it¡¯s their single weakest damage numbe Chapter 1343 Rustle rustle¡­ The sound of rustling leaves entered my ears. Here they come! Assassin¡¯s Creed finally appeared when the countdown reached 5 seconds. I saw him and a dozen more assassins dashing toward the castle gate while stealthed. Clearly, he was plotting to lurk within the castle and make some trouble for us. I stood casually at the entrance with the Chill of the Nine Provinces resting snugly on my shoulder. Falling purple red maple leaves glided past my eyes, landed on my shoulders, and slowly slid down my bloody cloak. I glimpsed a smile on Assassin¡¯s Creed¡¯s face from the corner of my eye. The guy must have thought that I was overconfident, and that my Dark Pupils had failed to pierce his stealth. Swhoosh! When the time came, I took one small step to the side. One step was all it took to force Assassin¡¯s Creed into an unavoidable collision with me. \\\"Fuck!\\\" Assassin¡¯s Creed raised both arms and prepared to make it past me by force. He activated Dance of Death to massively increase his speed before slashing toward my neck with his daggers. The corners of my mouth curled into a smirk, and a chill overtook Assassin¡¯s Creed¡¯s heart! Swhoosh! A red light appeared right beneath Assassin¡¯s Creed¡¯s feet and trapped his legs. At the same time, four divine arms fell from the sky and immobilized the rest of his body completely. It was the upgraded version of my God Binding Art. As of this patch, the skill, and similar skills of other classes, gained a new casting method. I could now cast it beforehand, making it a trap of sorts. It was invisible and lasted for quite a while too. As for how effective it was, Assassin¡¯s Creed obviously didn¡¯t see it until it was too late. While my opponent was immobilized, I stabbed the Chill of the Nine Provinces through his torso and executed Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo! 398284! 442747! 492100! 612872! That was 1.94 million damage in total. Even with full buffs, Assassin¡¯s Creed only had a bit over 1.4 million HP. His mouth opened as he collapsed to the ground and flopped like a fish on dry ground. His eyes were full of anger and defiance. \\\"I told you I was going to kill you!\\\" I kicked Assassin¡¯s Creed¡¯s corpse away from me while chuckling and jumped backward into the castle. My timing was perfect, and the gate closed the second I was through. Outside the gate, the dozen or so Blood Alliance assassins could only stare at my disappearing figure in shock. Leaf of Autumn even murmured as she lowered her daggers, \\\"He instakilled boss of all people¡­ is he even human?\\\" ¡­¡­ I pulled my cloak tighter as a particularly cold breeze brushed against my body. I then turned around to face the girls and asked, \\\"Is everyone here? Good. Now that we¡¯re inside the castle, there¡¯s only one thing left to do. We find Frederick¡¯s daughter Serena, find Bloodthirsty Emissary, kill him, and bring his head and Serena back to her father.\\\" Murong Mingyue¡¯s palms shone with holy light. \\\"Not yet. Let¡¯s heal you back to full health first before we do anything!\\\" Beiming Xue giggled. \\\"That was such an exhilarating battle. The seven of us had kicked Dark Mercenaries and Blood Alliance¡¯s collective butts so hard I would bet that some of them would delete their accounts out of sheer frustration! Amber Pupil and Now and Forever must be so furious right now~\\\" He Yi asked, \\\"Did you kill Assassin¡¯s Creed before you came in, Lu Chen?\\\" I nodded. \\\"Yep.\\\" Lin Yixin asked next, \\\"How strong is Assassin¡¯s Creed compared to Farewell Song?\\\" I looked at the sky for a moment. \\\"I guess he¡¯s around 90% of Farewell Song¡¯s strength? He¡¯s a top-tier assassin alright. He¡¯s the strongest assassin I¡¯ve met besides Farewell Song and Moonkiss.\\\" Moon Dew commented, \\\"Someone said on the forums that Farewell Song bested both you and Moonkiss during the battle of Gold City.\\\" Beiming Xue replied uncaringly, \\\"Farewell Song didn¡¯t really clash against big bro during that fight. Farewell Song would¡¯ve died for sure if big bro was the one who held the City Lord Token, or if Farewell Song¡¯s goal was to assassinate big bro.\\\" I said, \\\"Let¡¯s not talk about Gold City again, okay? It depresses me every time I think about it. The fact is Farewell Song is skilled enough to threaten every one of us, and he¡¯s more dangerous than ever before after obtaining the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments¡¯ Ghost Lake Mirror. It¡¯ll never be a mistake to exercise caution against him. Even Candlelight Shadow only has a 55% chance of beating him, and my own win rate against Farewell Song isn¡¯t that much higher. It all depends if we are in form and in the right mindset at the time of the battle. Take the battle of Gold City for example, one of the main reasons I lost to Farewell Song was because I was distracted by the enemy¡¯s paratroops. No one can be forever undefeated in PvP. ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s talk about what we should do next. Do you want to continue, or do you want to log out and catch some rest first?\\\" \\\"I almost forgot that we agreed to take a break after getting to Bloodthirsty Castle. Blood Alliance and Dark Mercenaries will be coming in in just an hour though¡­\\\" \\\"Let¡¯s just take a short rest then! Is 20 minutes fine?\\\" I asked, \\\"20 minutes should be enough time to pee, drink some water, and eat some bread before coming back online. We¡¯ll burn the midnight oil to finish this SSS Rank quest. Hopefully, the system will take pity on us and reward us with a Divine Armament or a Seventy-two Ghost Armaments or something¡­\\\" Lin Yixin chided me, \\\"Instead of pee, you could¡¯ve said ¡®use the toilet¡¯, you know?\\\" \\\"However I say it, it doesn¡¯t change the fact that you still need to pee¡­\\\" \\\"Pooh¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ And so we logged out of the game and managed to pee, drink some water and eat some bread all within 20 minutes. There was a bit of a traffic jam when we were using the toilet though, which drove in the point that I really needed to move our workshop to a villa. The royal road here was to have 2 or even 3 toilets on a single floor! When our 20-minute break was over, we logged back into the game once more! Swhoosh! The girls and I all crawled out of the tent in a white flash. After the buffs were properly applied, we officially began our grind at Bloodthirsty Castle. First, I opened the map screen to see what the place looked like. The castle had four floors, and the ground floor was a blood pool where the corpses of countless animals, humans, elves, succubi and more were submerged. Countless souls were wailing in misery, giving the place an eerie vibe. The blood pools were the source of the undead faction¡¯s power. I activated Battle Astral Wind and walked to the forefront of our party. Then, I said to the girls, \\\"Everyone should buff themselves with an HP card. This map looks so red it¡¯s practically black on the map screen, and I have no doubt that the mobs¡¯ levels are way higher than ours. Survivability is far more important than DPS here.\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" Everyone took out a Bloodknight Card and buffed their HP by 80%. I didn¡¯t use Undying Berserker Card because it was still too early. Maybe I would use it on the final floor. Thud... Bloody ripples spread across the liquid surface as my boots stepped onto the blood pool. I frowned. The smell was unbearable as a matter of course, and I spotted long, maggot-like undead creatures slithering across its surface. The good news was that it wasn¡¯t the type of mob to attack us unless we provoked it first, but the bad news was that the girls still looked like they could vomit at any moment. We needed to get out of here as soon as possible. I dashed forward for almost a hundred meters before setting foot on the stone stairs leading up to the next floor. I was immediately greeted by a gust of rotten wind and a couple of brawny, blood-colored Corpse Eaters. They were clearly mutated because they were blood-red in color, and they were at least 5 to 7 times larger than your usual Corpse Eater. All full height, they were definitely much taller than I was. Currently, they were too busy feeding on a rotten corpse and to notice me. I scanned them with Dark Pupils and found their stats to be just as astounding as their appearance. Bloodthirsty Corpse Eater (Fiend) Level: 303 Attack: 46000~54000 Defense: 55000 HP: 4800000 Skills: Bloody Bite, Undead Toxin, Blood Thirst Introduction: These Corpse Eaters used to be giant beasts until their souls were stolen from their bodies, and they transformed into puppets with a terrible hunger for rotten flesh. Bloodthirsty Emissary had summoned them to Bloodthirsty Castle to be its low-rank guardians. They have sharp fangs and claws, and their souls may greatly increase their combat capabilities. They are not to be underestimated. ¡­¡­ \\\"I¡¯m going!\\\" I said to the others. Murong Mingyue dropped Restore on me and said, \\\"Go, my little hero¡­\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" I locked onto the closest Corpse Eater and activated Thunderous Charge! Swhoosh! After the mob was stunned, I executed Burning Blade Slash + Purple Frost Concentration combo to reduce its Defense. It wasn¡¯t everyday you encountered a Corpse Eater with 55k Defense after all, and it would definitely be easier to defeat after the armor break. Both my ranged and melee skills greatly wounded the Corpse Eater, but all it managed in retaliation were some powerless swipes that couldn¡¯t inflict even 100k damage per hit. So far, I felt no pressure whatsoever. However, something unexpected happened when the Corpse Eater¡¯s HP approached the 30% line. It roared. \\\"The great Beast God is about to bestow me with its power! Prepare to die, you lowly adventurers!\\\" A bloody light enveloped the Corpse Eater and caused its body to swell up like an elephant. It was the Blood Thirst skill buffing its Attack and attack speed by 40%! This was bad! Bang! It took a swipe at my Cyan Dragon Shield, and this time my body shook and lost 370k HP. Holy shit! Its DPS was at a whole different level after its Attack had been increased by 40%! I would even say that it was on the same level as Candlelight Shadow, except that the latter was obviously more handsome... \\\"Keep me healthy! I don¡¯t want to risk it critting me to death!\\\" I shouted while whaling on the Bloodthirsty Corpse Eater to keep its attention on me. After the Bloodthirsty Corpse Eater finally died, I wiped away the sweat on my forehead and swore, \\\"Fuck! This is just the first mob on the first floor, and I¡¯m having difficulty killing it already. This Bloodthirsty Emissary is absolutely going to wipe the floor with us.\\\" Lin Yixin didn¡¯t share my opinion, however. \\\"No, it was difficult only because we didn¡¯t have a proper strategy just now. Now that we know that the Blood Thirst triggers at 30% HP, countering it is just a matter of using our strongest skills at the right time. For the next Corpse Eater, you will save your Burning Blade Slash and War Crush, and Sister Eve and I our Stormwind Break and Extreme Break until its HP drops to 35%. I will use Extreme Break, and you will all execute your respective combos and instakill it.\\\" He Yi nodded in agreement. \\\"Yes, Yiyi¡¯s strategy is sound.\\\" ¡­¡­ We fought the second Corpse Eater following Lin Yixin¡¯s plan, and things were much easier as she had said. The Bloodthirsty Corpse Eater only managed to hit me once before it was gobsmacked by our high-burst skills. It even dropped an extremely good card for us¡ª Bloodthirsty Corpse Eater Card: Increases user\\\''s Attack by 30%, and max HP by 60%. When attacking a target, 3% chance to trigger Blood Thirst and increase Attack and attack speed by 40% for 7 seconds. Level Requirement: 220. Luck Requirement: 20. Duration: 180 minutes. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin smiled when she saw its stats. \\\"Yo, this is quite the amazing grinding card! Use it, Little Cheat!\\\" ¡°Yeah!\\\" I nodded. When I used the card, the Roland Bloodknight Card above my head changed to the Bloodthirsty Corpse Eater Card. I lost 20% max HP as a result, but my Attack was increased by 30%. It was an acceptable trade-off especially because the Bloodthirsty Corpse Eater Card had a chance of triggering the Blood Thirst effect! Chapter 1344 We continued forward. We entered an area where there were thick stone pillars with clumps and clumps of withered skeletons tied to them. They were humans who had been punished and killed by the undead, and many of them were Famous Generals as well. Many savage-looking Corpse Eaters were roaming the place, and we had to kill them if we wished to make it to the second floor. I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces and cast Dragon Slaying Slash at a Corpse Eater¡¯s head, dealing 300k+ damage or so. Not even we were brave enough to aggro the mobs en masse considering that the Level 303 fiend-rank mobs drastically outleveled all of us. Maybe we could pull it off if there was a choke point where only one or two of us would be attacked at a time, but this area was as wide and open as it gets. We would have to do this the slow and steady way. ¡­¡­ Chiang chiang! I accidentally aggroed two Corpse Eaters to us, so I challenged one on my own while leaving the other one to He Yi and Lin Yixin. The party was focus-firing my Corpse Eater when suddenly, a surge of heat washed over my body. It was the Blood Thirst effect increasing my body size by around 25% for 7 seconds. During this short period, both my Attack and attack speed were increased drastically! While the Corpse Eater was wailing in pain, I chuckled. \\\"Tsk tsk, this Blood Thirst is seriously amazing!\\\" Beiming Xue commented, \\\"Not only that, you look much bigger and stronger than before, big bro¡­\\\" \\\"Really?\\\" After the first Corpse Eater was dead, Murong Mingyue suddenly puffed up her chest and walked up to me. Before I could ask her what she was doing, she pressed a palm to my chest arm and slowly slid it all the way down to below my stomach. \\\"The real question is, did your little brother grow bigger as well?\\\" I turned purple. \\\"Sis! Seriously?\\\" Murong Mingyue giggled uncontrollably. \\\"Surely you¡¯re curious as well? If Blood Thirst really does make it bigger, hmm, let¡¯s just say I won¡¯t be locking my door tonight. You get me?\\\" \\\"I do not¡­\\\" \\\"Dishonest boy¡­\\\" A short distance away, Lin Yixin pouted. \\\"Sister Eve, are you sure this is okay? I feel like Little Cheat is going to lose his way if he continues to live together with Sister Mingyue¡­\\\" He Yi replied expressionlessly, \\\"Relax, she has been teasing Lu Chen for years, but nothing has ever happened before. That¡¯s just the way Mingyue is; all bark and no bite when it comes to relationships, and super selective with her men¡­\\\" While helping them to put down the second Corpse Eater, I said, \\\"Er, maybe it¡¯s just me, but you make it sound like sis has been hurt by men in the past. Has she?\\\" Murong Mingyue¡¯s healing paused for an instant before she let out a chuckle. \\\"Not really. All I ask from my men is to be obedient outside the house, do good work inside the house, and be useful in the bed. Love has no place in this equation¡­\\\" I shuddered. \\\"Holy shit, you¡¯ve actually been screwed over by love before!\\\" Murong Mingyue blushed. \\\"You¡¯re the one who got screwed, you little brat! Yes, I¡¯ve been in a relationship before, but I¡¯m still a virgin, okay?!\\\" I couldn¡¯t hide my disbelief, \\\"Sis, you¡¯ll have to lie really hard to convince anyone that¡¯s true. The wise men were right after all. Even ghosts are more believable than a woman¡¯s words¡­\\\" The temperature dropped all of a sudden. When I looked, I noticed that the other five women in my party¡ªLin Yixin, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Moon Dew¡ªwere staring at me with emotionless eyes. Me: \\\"I¡­ I¡¯m sorry, I was just kidding¡­\\\" Murong Mingyue said nonchalantly, \\\"Really? I wonder what your ¡®wise men¡¯ say when their dicks are in a woman¡¯s mouth. There is no man who doesn¡¯t like some oral action¡ªgood one anyway¡­\\\" Me: \\\"Can we focus on the grind please? This is getting way too NSFW for my liking¡­\\\" \\\"Whose fault do you think it is!?\\\" ¡­¡­ We eventually swept all the mobs on the first floor except the 100 Corpse Eaters at the center of the map. It was because I wanted to use them to stall Dark Mercenaries and Blood Alliance when they got in. I had to set up the roadblock myself, but it wasn¡¯t difficult at all. All I did was to hop onto the Ancient Divine Dragon, fly over the heads of about 100 Corpse Eaters, and use Earth Escape when I reached my destination. They would not have an easy time clearing the mobs out, and if Lady Luck willed it, they might even wipe once or twice in the process. The Corpse Eaters¡¯ offensive power skyrocketed when Blood Thirst was triggered, and not even Lin Yixin, He Yi and I could handle more than 5 Corpse Eaters at the same time, much less Dark Mercenaries. Blood Alliance would do even worse because the Assassin class absolutely didn¡¯t possess the tankiness necessary to solo a mob. All they were good for in PvE was CC on smaller mobs and quick burst of DPS. I took a moment to tidy my bag. I had picked up 19 Bloodthirsty Corpse Eater Cards in total, which was enough to last me until the end of this session. Lin Yixin and He Yi had also rolled a lot of Bloodthirsty Corpse Cards themselves. I loved cards that were useful and lasted 3 hours on use. The end of the first floor was a long, pitch black corridor. When we reached the end, I was surprised to find that the top of the staircase was blocked by some sort of pitch black, moss-covered stone slab. Heaven knows how many years had passed since people came through this place. \\\"The second floor is right above us. At least, that¡¯s what the 3D map is showing,\\\" Lin Yixin said. I tried giving the slab a push, but it didn¡¯t even move a millimeter. \\\"How do we get through this slab though?\\\" He Yi pumped her fist and cheered me on, \\\"Gogogo, Lu Chen! Break it with your Burning Blade Slash!\\\" My mouth twitched. \\\"Eve, please, I¡¯m no Superman, and I definitely don¡¯t have the power to destroy a system-designed roadblock. If you ask me, I think we chose the wrong path during the fork earlier. We should¡¯ve gone down the east path, but Yiyi kept saying that this one¡¯s the auspicious path¡­\\\" Lin Yixin blushed. \\\"It IS an auspicious path! Did you forget all the Rank 13 Leaf Spirit Grass I picked up along the way? Who do you think has to refine your high-rank potions, huh?\\\" \\\"Fine, fine, I¡¯m in the wrong here. Now, please step back while I make my attempt.\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" After the girls retreated a suitable distance away, I raised the Chill of the Nine Province and fired a triple-hit Burning Blade Slash at the slab! Boom boom boom! The ground shook, and the moss covering the slab was sliced to pieces by the sword aura. Unfortunately, the stone still didn¡¯t move an inch. It looked like Burning Blade Slash wasn¡¯t powerful enough to destroy whatever barrier was blocking our path. \\\"It¡¯s useless. My attacks are nullified by the system itself.\\\" \\\"Not yet. Try using your Xuanyuan Slash next. If it is a question of firepower, then your SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill has the best chance of shattering it to pieces. If possible, I don¡¯t want to waste time returning to the fork and giving Dark Mercenaries and Blood Alliance the chance to catch up to us¡­\\\" \\\"Very well!\\\" I raised my sword again and activated Heavenly River Transformation. When the Xuanyuan Slash struck the stone slab, my arms abruptly chilled with the effect of Mountain Crush. If even this doesn¡¯t work, then¡ª Bang! Thankfully, it worked. The slab was shattered into fine powder, and dust flew everywhere for the time. There was no time to savor my work, however. I raised my Cyan Dragon Shield in a hurry and yelled, \\\"Watch out! The second floor¡¯s mobs are coming down to us!\\\" My Dark Pupils had penetrated the dust clouds and identified at least seven armored undead soldiers rushing toward me. They were skeletons covered in rotten, dry skin, and the most \\\"well-preserved\\\" of them all had a complete eyeball¡­ dangling in front of its face. \\\"Damned invaders! You will pay the price of life for invading Bloodthirsty Castle! Now die so we can get a taste of fresh meat!\\\" ¡°Get a taste of this!\\\" I fired Burning Blade Slash and tossed the Chill of the Nine Provinces at the mobs right after. The fiery sword auras and Coiling Dragon Revolution were able to halt the mobs¡¯ charge and even drive them to the back. Without hesitation, I seized the opportunity to slam my shield into the ground, catch the returning sword and activate Cold of the Nine Provinces, freezing ten or so mobs at the same time. Now that I had a moment of respite and they couldn¡¯t move, I knew they were called ¡®Undead Podao Wielders¡¯. I immediately ordered, \\\"Lian Xin, seal the entrance with Ice Spiral Matrix and God Devil Breaks. Beiming Xue, hit them all with Evil Spirit Volley. Priests, keep me healthy while I hold the line. These Undead Podao Wielders are no joke, so be on top of your game!\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" The girls didn¡¯t panic despite the sudden attack. They attacked and healed in an organized fashion. Bang bang bang¡­ The Level 305 mobs were absolutely deadly. Even with the Cyan Dragon Shield, I felt like my arm was shattered into pieces when a single Heavy Slash + Barrier Break combo struck me. My HP dropped to 700k in just the blink of an eye. Thankfully, Murong Mingyue triggered a critical when casting a Greater Heal, and I was pulled away from the brink of death by a green \\\"+1280954\\\" healing number. While I was keeping the dozen or so Level 305 fiend-rank mobs at bay, Lin Yixin activated Gan Jiang and Mo Ye without hesitation and hit all the mobs with Ice Flame Slash and Ice Storm. He Yi also launched her own all-out assault. I was taking far more damage than I would¡¯ve liked. If we didn¡¯t wipe out the Undead Podao Wielders as soon as possible, there was every chance we would wipe here. Three Undead Podao Wielders dropped that after we smashed their faces in with a ton of long-cooldown, high-powered skills. Lin Yixin then stepped up beside me to split away some of the firepower while Murong Mingyue cast Pool of Life beneath our feet. Unfortunately, my HP still wouldn¡¯t go higher than 50% because too many mobs were hitting me with Barrier Breaks, so I gritted my teeth and activated the Death side of Xuanyuan Art. All the mobs within my view instantly lost 50% of their HP, and some even died straight away. Finally, we were out of danger. Xuanyuan Art was absolutely amazing against other players, but it was the complete opposite against monsters. It worked only when the mobs were on the same map as me, within 1000 yards and within my line of sight. Oh, and it was completely ineffective against bosses. Still, I couldn¡¯t complain. Right now, no other weapon of the Twelve Divine Armaments had an active skill that even came close to Xuanyuan Art¡¯s might. ¡­¡­ Eventually, all the Undead Podao Wielders dropped dead to our tactics, skill and cooperation. In total, they dropped a total of 4 pieces of Earth-grade equipment that could be sold in the market for a fair amount of money and magic stones. After we distributed the goods, we finally entered the second floor. I looked around and spotted a couple of isolated Undead Podao Wielders along the corridor we were at. I wondered if there was a boss on this floor. \\\"No time to waste. Let¡¯s begin from the rightmost path,\\\" I said. \\\"Mn.\\\" Lin Yixin nodded. It was at this moment we received a message from Gui Guzi: \\\"Boss Broken Halberd, we just encountered Candle Dragon¡¯s men in Bloody Shield Domain and fought a small battle against them. We learned that they are sealing Lantern Girls in Magic Lamp Canyon. Do you think we should disrupt their activity?\\\" Chapter 1345 \\\"It¡¯s simple. Beat them if you can beat them, leave them if you can¡¯t. I personally think you should leave them though. If Candle Dragon is too crippled to challenge Warsky Alliance, the latter may grow strong enough to challenge us for real. Let Candle Dragon develop their Lantern Girl legion and unleash them upon Warsky. The separation of powers will benefit us and the entire China server anyway¡­\\\" I replied. Gui Guzi clapped his hands and said, \\\"Got it, Boss Broken Halberd. By the way, did you know that your explanation is almost exactly the same as Li Chengfeng¡¯s? He also said that now is not the best to attack Candle Dragon especially since Candlelight Shadow had rallied a couple hundred thousand elites to Magic Lamp Canyon just to maintain his stranglehold over it. We still can give them a run for their money of course, but our forces in Bloody Shield Domain are quite scattered and unsuited for positional battles right now.\\\" \\\"Yes. I, Eve, Beiming and the others won¡¯t be able to help you either since we¡¯re grinding Bloodthirsty Castle right now. Watch your back when you grind, by the way. Chinese players aren¡¯t the only ones who are exploring Bloody Shield Domain, and our small party has already encountered Dark Mercenaries and Blood Alliance during our grind. This map is not too far away from the Chaotic 27 and Eternal Love City either, so there¡¯s a chance the Northern Alliance will join in on the conflict as well. Anyway, just be careful and make sure you keep everything within 5 kilometers of our players under tight watch. I leave Bloody Mercenaries and the main guild to you and Chengfeng.\\\" \\\"We understand, Boss Broken Halberd. Don¡¯t worry!\\\" Very well. Let¡¯s both get back to the grind!\\\" \\\"Yeah.\\\" ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue suddenly stopped in her tracks when I hung up. She was standing on a row of stairs and gazing to the distance with a wary look on her face. \\\"Heads in the game, everyone. There is a boss on the second floor!\\\" I grew excited. \\\"That¡¯s wonderful! It would¡¯ve been a tragedy if there wasn¡¯t! Let¡¯s go!\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" Sword at the ready, I walked next to Beiming and gazed to the front. There was a massive hall before the entrance to the third floor. Bronze-forged totems aligned its periphery, and there was a beam of red light shining down from above at the center. Enveloped within the red light was an unmoving general wearing copper-colored armor and wielding a gigantic, blood-red sword. He looked like he was thinking about something. I scanned it with Dark Pupils and shared the stats screen in the party channel. The bosses of Bloodthirsty Castle were high-level alright¡ª Bloody General Bronze Eye (Archean Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 300 Attack: 49000~59000 Defense: 78000 HP: 50000000 Skills: Ice Flame Slash, Bloodbreak Flurry, Stare of the Bronze-eyed Introduction: Bronze Eye was a human general who guarded the border of Vanished God City. When the undead invaded, and Vanished God City suffered a massive defeat, Bronze Eye and his army launched a counterattack against the undead¡¯s city by themselves. In the end, the enemy managed to capture him, but he willingly jumped into a pool of boiling copper because he would rather die than submit to the devil. His efforts were futile, however. Coldblade ultimately managed to steal away his soul, and his now copper-forged body was made into a guardian of Bloodthirsty Castle. ¡­¡­ \\\"Watch out. The boss has super-high Defense and deadly Attack.\\\" I continued while gripping the Chill of the Nine Provinces, \\\"I¡¯ll be the MT, so make sure to keep me healthy, sis, beauty Moon Dew. If I lost the threat on the boss, Yiyi should reclaim it immediately with Extreme Break. He must not be allowed to approach our support and ranged players no matter what. With almost 60k Attack and god knows how many hidden stat boosts, he absolutely can two-shot Beiming and Lian Xin.\\\" \\\"I know. Go get \\\''em!\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition first before shooting God Binding Art at the boss. I was lucky, and the skill was able to immobilize Bronze Eye. Without hesitation, I Thunderous Charged my way to the boss and stabbed his chest with Purple Frost Concentration, reducing his Defense by a whopping 33.7%. Beiming Xue¡¯s Bone Eroding Arrow reduced the stat by another 13.9%, and his supposedly impenetrable Defense was nullified just like that. Swhoosh! Next, I activated Great Earth Transformation and executed Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo aimed at Bronze Eye¡¯s throat. The reason I didn¡¯t use Heavenly River Transformation was because it cost 10 Divine Energy Points to maintain it for just 1 minute, while Great Earth Transformation only cost 1. Anyway, I was able to deal a considerable amount of damage¡ª 270928! 312181! 321662! 410299! However, my skills did less damage than expected. Even after reducing his Defense by so much, his hidden resistances were so broken that my damage dealt was reduced by 30% at least. This outcome was to be expected though. Bosses wouldn¡¯t be a challenge otherwise. ¡­¡­ It was about time Bronze Eye recovered himself, so I looked up. As expected, the boss was staring at me with his copper-colored, perfectly emotionless eyes and wreathing his giant sword in flames. He snarled at me and said, \\\"Have you come to die, damned human?\\\" \\\"Watch out! It¡¯s Ice Flame Slash!\\\" I hurriedly ran to the boss\\\''s side in an attempt to draw his Ice Flame Slash away from the girls behind me. However, Bronze Eye moved faster than I expected and was able to land Ice Flame Slash + Bloodbreak Flurry combo almost instantly. The Cyan Dragon Shield shrieked, and my left arm turned numb. I could even see the blood vessels on my arms bursting from the impact¡ª 490293! 602834! 612877! The two skills had deleted over half of my HP in an instant. I hurriedly cast a Tenacity of the Dead and downed the Rank 13 Dragonheart Orchid Agent I had been holding with my mouth to heal myself. It was a very close call¡ª +627605! +100000! +125521! +125521! +125521! ¡­¡­ I already knew that the Dragonheart Orchid Agent was incredible, but to watch it in action was something else. To heal 5% of my HP every second was like having an average priest casting their healing spells on me at all times. Of course, this level of HPS was still nothing compared to a super priest like Murong Mingyue. \\\"Don¡¯t falter, Lu Chen!\\\" He Yi cried while hacking away at the boss with her Suppressing Fire Sword. \\\"I know¡­\\\" I activated Battle Astral Wind and went to town with the boss myself. While I was dropping a skill + basic attack combo on Bronze Eye¡¯s shoulder, the septuple-damage effect of Chill of the Nine Provinces triggered and caused me to deal over 1.6 million damage in one hit. Unfortunately, the bastard had 50 million HP in total, so 1.6 million damage was like a drop in the bucket. I was able to keep the boss\\\''s aggro firmly in my grasp with Pool of Life beneath my feet. When the boss used long-ranged skills such as Ice Flame Slash, the girls would automatically scatter and avoid being hit. Also, Lin Yixin and He Yi consciously retreated to the back every time the boss executed his Bloodbreak Flurry because it was a full-damage skill. With their current Defense, it was better not to tempt fate and leave all the tanking to me. Time passed bit by bit. It wasn¡¯t long before Bronze Eye¡¯s HP approached the 30% mark. He wasn¡¯t too difficult a boss because his rank was just Archean Immortal. If he was a Level 300 Ancient Immortal Rank boss, then some of us would probably be dead already. We might even have to wipe once or twice. My frown didn¡¯t disappear though. Even the girls noticed that I was as taut as a string. \\\"What are you worrying about, Little Cheat?\\\" Lin Yixin asked me with a smile. I answered, \\\"The boss still hasn¡¯t used his third skill, ¡®Stare of the Bronze-eyed¡¯, and I¡¯m positive it¡¯s not because we got lucky. Just be ready to run like hell when it happens. it can be a debuff skill, an offensive skill, or both¡­\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" Not long after I said this, the boss abruptly crouched lower and glowed like a bloody sun. He fully opened his eyes¡ªthey looked like a pair of vortices¡ªand said in a deep voice that sounded like it came from hell itself. \\\"Come! Allow me to show you the debauchery and the hypocrisy of this world! Bronze Eye¡¯s strength will make you the strongest person in the world!\\\" Swhoosh! A bloody beam hit me, and my body suddenly started trembling uncontrollably. Then, I received a system notice: Bloody General Bronze Eye has used \\\"Stare of the Bronze-eyed\\\" on you. You will be a puppet for 15 seconds! ¡­¡­ \\\"Fuck!\\\" My eyes widened. The truth was finally revealed! \\\"Get back! The boss has taken control of my body!\\\" I shouted. \\\"What?\\\" The girls were stunned, but they didn¡¯t hesitate to pull back. Unfortunately, I was faster than they were. After I caught up to them, I unleashed Burning Blade Slash that caught both Lian Xin and Beiming Xue! Beiming Xue was instakilled before she could do anything. Lian Xin lost her Telekinetic Shield and just barely survived with a sliver of HP. \\\"Kick me out of the party and freeze me now!\\\" I shouted again. Lin Yixin acted quickly, but she still wasn¡¯t fast enough. The second I was kicked out of the party, I was already pressing a left palm to her chest and binding her with God Binding Art. Then, my Chill of the Nine Provinces burst with the light of Universe Break and my Ancient Divine Skill, Xuanyuan Slash. What the hell is this bullshit AI? Screw the perfect CC usage, it even knew what skills to use to instantly kill a metal-armor player! \\\"Shit¡­ sorry, Yiyi!\\\" I apologized helplessly. Lin Yixin could only stare as the two skills crashed into her like a tsunami. BOOM BOOM! 710192! 1790283! The double hit instantly emptied Lin Yixin¡¯s 2.2 million HP and sent her soul to the nearest graveyard. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Lian Xin¡¯s Frozen Domain finally encased me in ice, but it was just an instant too late. While holding off the boss with great difficulty, He Yi asked, \\\"What do we do now?\\\" At the back, Murong Mingyue joked, \\\"I cannot believe you killed your own girlfriend and little sister, Lu Chen! They will surely haunt you to your death later!\\\" Still not in control of my own body, I complained, \\\"Do you think I want this?? Just five more seconds, Eve. Five more seconds, and the effect will fade¡­\\\" \\\"Got it!\\\" However, Murong Mingyue suddenly added me to her party before casting her Famous General Skill, Bright Mirror. Before I knew it, I had regained control of my own body. I swore, \\\"Fuck! I should¡¯ve known that Bright Mirror could cleanse this effect. Everyone, remember to pass the party leader to sis if the boss uses this skill again.\\\" Murong Mingyue nodded. \\\"Fall into the moat and you\\\''ll be wiser next time.\\\" ¡­¡­ A while later, Lin Yixin and Beiming Xue revived at nearly the same time to stare at the boss\\\''s remaining 24% HP. My little sister lamented, \\\"That was too much, big bro¡­\\\" Me: \\\"Yes, yes, it¡¯s all my fault. I promise to treat both you and Yiyi to dinner, movie and supper on an all-in-one-set date later, okay?\\\" \\\"That¡¯s a promise!\\\" Lin Yixin said. \\\"It is. Now, rejoin the party so we can get revenge already!\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" Chapter 1346 We were ready when the boss cast his Stare of the Bronze-eyed the second time. Lin Yixin immediately passed the party leader to Murong Mingyue, and Bright Mirror cleansed the puppeteering effect. After that, things continued as safe as they possibly could. \\\"Lu Chen has 100 Luck, so we should let him land the last hit for better equipment!\\\" He Yi said. Lin Yixin nodded in agreement. \\\"Everyone except Little Cheat, stop attacking the boss when he drops to 1% HP!\\\" ¡­¡­ I had absolutely no qualms with the arrangement, of course. Killing a high-level boss would restore tens of Divine Energy Points instantly. Why wouldn¡¯t I want to deal the last hit? Swhoosh! The Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade abruptly took effect and stunned the boss for 7 long seconds, making the conclusion even more foregone than before. Burning Blade Slash and War Crush later, Bronze Eye finally let out a groan and collapsed to the ground. The boss carried so much experience that every single one of us leveled up instantly. Not only that, a lot of equipment tumbled into the open when I slowly withdrew Chill of the Nine Provinces from Bronze Eye¡¯s stomach. He sure was a generous boss! I flipped the boss over so that I could examine the equipment drops easier. This was easily one of the most enjoyable moments in the game. There was an elegant and exquisite-looking dark purple metal armor, a dark green scepter, a bamboo green necklace and an autumn yellow ring. On its head was the cool-looking image of a bloody war axe. I had almost no doubt that each and every one of these items was exquisite. Finally, we were properly rewarded for all the hardships we had gone through since the start of the journey! I grabbed the dark purple metal armor first and felt a thick surge of energy seeping into my palm. I smiled. The sensation felt identical to the time I held the Guardian Dragon Armor for the first time, so I was certain that this metal armor was around the same level. I waved a hand across to bring up its stats screen, and both Lin Yixin and He Yi were stunned beyond words¡ª Cyan Rock Armor (Sacred Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 14100 Magic Resist: 13200 Strength: +2590 Stamina: +2550 Agility: +2500 Intelligence: +2450 Tactics: +195 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 87% Passive: Increases user\\\''s max HP by 70000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Resist toward all types of magic by 220% Outstanding Property: Cyan Rock. Summons a cyan rock armor to increase the user¡¯s hidden physical Defense by 40% Slots: 17 Level Requirement: 225 Gender Requirement: Female Reputation Requirement: 800000 ¡­¡­ \\\"Damn, it¡¯s a Sacred Armament! Jackpot!\\\" I let out a hearty laugh. \\\"Its total rating on the equipment ranking is only 70 points below my Guardian Dragon Armor; a nearly non-existent gap. At the very least, it should be better than whatever the two of you are wearing right now, not to mention that it¡¯s female-only equipment. Get out the virtual dice, girls! May the Cyan Rock Armor go to the luckiest gal!\\\" Lin Yixin and He Yi exchanged a smile with each other. He Yi started. \\\"I¡¯ll go first~\\\" She tossed her virtual dice, but it stopped on an extremely paltry 7. She chuckled in both amusement and exasperation, \\\"My luck today is terrible, it seems. There¡¯s no way I can win like this¡­\\\" Lin Yixin disagreed. \\\"I¡¯m not so sure about that. Don¡¯t forget that I was killed by Little Cheat earlier. If that isn¡¯t a sign of bad luck, I don¡¯t know what is. Anyway, here I go! Please be higher than 7! I must beat Sister Eve and grab the Cyan Rock Armor~\\\" The virtual dice rolled and rolled until it stopped at¡­ 8. Judging from the expressions on Lin Yixin and He Yi¡¯s face, I was sure that neither of them was feeling too good with the outcome of the dice roll. Regardless, this one was Lin Yixin¡¯s victory. \\\"Alright, the Cyan Rock Armor goes to Yiyi. Better luck next time, Eve¡­\\\" I passed the metal armor to Lin Yixin, and she changed into it immediately. Next, I picked up the dark green scepter and brought up its stats screen. It turned out to be an amazing priest scepter¡ª Wind Spirit Scepter (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Magic Attack: 7000~10500 Intelligence: +2450 Strength: +2350 Stamina: +2300 Agility: +2250 Tactics: +127 Passive: Increases user\\\''s healing effectiveness by 115% Passive: Increases user¡¯s critical heal chance by 11% Passive: Increases user\\\''s max HP by 4000, and max MP by 2000 Slots: 16 Outstanding Property: Spirit Mist. A chance to summon spirit mist that increases the HP regeneration rate of all allied players within 100 yards by 150%. Level Requirement: 220 Reputation Requirement: 500000 ¡­¡­ I raised the scepter and asked Mingyue and Moon Dew, \\\"This Wind Spirit Scepter is obviously a priest-exclusive item. Do you two want to roll for it, or?\\\" Murong Mingyue shook her head. \\\"It¡¯s fine. My current weapon has higher healing effectiveness boost, and it so happens that Moon Dew is due for a weapon change. She¡¯s an elite player of our main guild, but her HPS is only 65% of mine. That is unacceptable, isn¡¯t it?\\\" I threw the scepter into Moon Dew¡¯s hands, and the girl beamed happily. \\\"Hurray! This trip isn¡¯t a waste after all! It would¡¯ve taken forever to get something this good if I had been grinding instances with Xu Yang and the others¡­\\\" \\\"Come on, Xu Yang¡¯s an elite player of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls as well. Don¡¯t slander him¡­\\\" Murong Mingyue joked, \\\"He¡¯s an elite small fry, sure¡­\\\" I insisted, \\\"Really, Xu Yang¡¯s the one who handles everything in Dark Moon City whenever any of us executive players is absent. He¡¯s even an outspoken and amiable guy who shares a great relationship with everyone in the guild. Housekeepers like him don¡¯t just grow on trees, and we really should be satisfied with what we have!\\\" Murong Mingyue chuckled. \\\"That¡¯s true¡­\\\" I moved onto the bamboo green necklace next. It had a beautiful glow and a moon-shaped gemstone for its pendant. It looked like the sparkling essence of the moon under the night. Its appearance alone won the girls¡¯ hearts completely, and when its stats screen was brought up, they nearly salivated on the spot¡ª Protection of the War Goddess of the Moon (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Strength: +2880 Stamina: +2750 Agility: +2700 Intelligence: +2550 Tactics: +187 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 90% Passive: Increases user\\\''s max HP by 60000, and max MP by 1000 Outstanding Property: Protection of the Moon. Reduces damage received by the user by 19%. This effect can be stacked. Slots: 17 Level Requirement: 225 Reputation Requirement: 700000 ¡­¡­ \\\"Fuck me, this necklace is ridiculously OP!\\\" I almost forgot to breathe for a second. My Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade was absolute trash compared to this baby[1]! \\\"This is a cavalryman necklace, right? Big bro, Sister Lin Yixin, Sister Eve?\\\" Beiming Xue inquired smilingly. However, I shook my head and said, \\\"I¡¯m staying out of this one. Its stats are amazing, but Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade¡¯s 7-second stun is still better in my opinion[2]. Eve, Yiyi, go for it. This necklace is good enough to increase a player¡¯s power straight to the next level.\\\" The two girls entered the figurative arena once more, and again He Yi was the first one to roll the dice. This time, He Yi managed to roll 91 points. \\\"Oh, thank goodness. This is much better than last time¡­\\\" Lin Yixin gripped her own dice nervously and whispered, \\\"Lady Luck, please let me roll a 100! If you do, I promise I¡¯ll burn the midnight oil and finish this week¡¯s homework tonight¡­\\\" I nearly vomited blood when I heard that. \\\"OMG, you don¡¯t have the pride of a student at all, Yiyi!\\\" Lin Yixin stuck her tongue out at me before throwing her dice. They rolled a couple of times on the ground and[3] the result was¡­ 1. Or was it? Just when we were about to explode in reaction, the dice twitched again and the interface showed an unbelievable 100. How was this possible? Lin Yixin¡¯s prayer actually worked... \\\"OMG! I won!\\\" Lin Yixin was so happy that she jumped onto me and hugged me tightly. Her seemingly over-the-top reaction was justified though. The Protection of the War Goddess of the Moon was super powerful and exactly what a low-health wanderer needed after all. After I put Lin Yixin down, I clapped a hand on He Yi¡¯s shoulder and said, \\\"Sometimes that¡¯s just how fate rolls. Don¡¯t worry though. The next OP necklace we get will go straight to you¡­\\\" He Yi chuckled. \\\"It¡¯s fine. What¡¯s mine is mine, and what isn¡¯t, isn¡¯t. Also, if you can give up on such a wonderful necklace for us, why can¡¯t I do the same? I know what you said earlier was a lie, by the way. We both know that a 19% damage reduction is way better[4] than a 7-second stun that triggers once in a blue moon!\\\" I shrugged. \\\"Eve, women who are too intelligent usually can¡¯t get married¡­\\\" She held my hand and replied in a gentle tone, \\\"That¡¯s fine. All I ask is to be with you always.\\\" Suddenly, Beiming Xue said, \\\"If big bro and Sister Lin Yixin marry, Sister Eve will become the mistress, won\\\''t she?\\\" Lin Yixin blushed like an apple. \\\"Who said I¡¯m going to marry him?\\\" I replied, \\\"Why even think about such things when we can just be happy together?\\\" Lin Yixin and He Yi nodded in unison. Murong Mingyue put a palm to her forehead and sighed. \\\"OMG, they¡¯ve literally transcended to the other realm¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Moon Dew advised kindly, \\\"Let¡¯s inspect the last piece of equipment and get to the third floor already. I have a feeling that Dark Mercenaries and Blood Alliance are about to catch up to us¡­\\\" I nodded and raised the autumn yellow-colored ring. Its shank was simple and elegant, but its head was shaped like a bloody war axe, giving it a bloody and murderous appearance. I felt a surge of scorching energy seeping into my palm as I held it. I like this! When I brought up its stats screen, the girls immediately erupted into claps and cheers. \\\"OMG, I know that Lu Chen has 100 Luck, but this is just unacceptable! If Candlelight Shadow and Warsky were here, they would be contemplating suicide right now¡­\\\" To put it bluntly, the ring¡¯s stats didn¡¯t disappoint their praise¡ª Song of Freedom (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Strength: +2900 Stamina: +2840 Agility: +2800 Intelligence: +2750 Tactics: +211 Effect: Binds the target with a chain of the divine realm for 7 seconds. If the target is killed during this time, break the rules by reducing the target¡¯s level by 10 and increasing their equipment drop rate by 300%. Passive: Increases user¡¯s attack power by 75% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist by 80% Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 50000 Level Requirement: 230 Luck Requirement: 100 ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open. \\\"This is yet another one of the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, but it completely blows Farewell Song¡¯s Ghost Lake Mirror out of the water. So OP¡­\\\" He Yi nodded. \\\"It outright states that it¡¯s breaking the rules. Shameless!\\\" I immediately pulled the Song of Freedom close to my chest and declared, \\\"Alright, this ring is mine! Anyone who challenges me for my precious will earn my eternal hatred!!!\\\" All the girls looked at me and shouted, \\\"Murderous hobo! Shameless bastard!!!\\\" 1. E/N: Its 7-second stun is still broken af since it works on bosses, what are you on about Lu Chen? This necklace has nothing, just stats, useless, pointless, pff 2. E/N: Whatever happened to ¡°absolute trash compared to this baby¡± -.- 3. E/N: Think of these dice as¡­ just an animation. There¡¯s no meaning to the visual representation of RNGesus, it¡¯s not a 100-sided die or like 17 dice 4. E/N: Uhh, no, it isn¡¯t, what are you smoking? Chapter 1347 The Song of Freedom was a ring equipment that increased all four basic attributes by 2500, Attack by 75%, and both Defense and Magic Resist by 80%. These benefits alone would¡¯ve made it as good as a standard Divine Armament, but it had one more effect that made it truly worthy of being ranked as one of the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, the Chains of Freedom. The Chains of Freedom was an active effect that allowed its user to curse its target for 7 seconds. If the target was killed during this time, they would lose 10 levels and have their equipment drop rate increased by 300%. Some spells were called forbidden because they were devastatingly powerful and unfair, and this Song of Freedom was the Divine Armament version of that. I declared, \\\"I¡¯m fine with just this ring. Seriously, please don¡¯t make me roll for this ring. In return, I promise to absolutely cripple the enemy¡¯s super-tier players to the utmost during the upcoming Nation Wars¡­\\\" He Yi giggled. \\\"Alright, enough. Beg too much and you¡¯ll just look pathetic, you know? Anyway, you have nothing to worry about. Didn¡¯t you notice that the ring has a luck requirement of 100? Right now, you are literally the only player in all the servers who meet this requirement. Of course you should have this ring.\\\" Beiming Xue agreed. \\\"Even if that wasn¡¯t the case, you haven¡¯t gotten any item up until this point. You definitely have the right to claim this equipment.\\\" Their support bolstered my confidence, but just in case I asked one more time, \\\"Are you sure? If you are, I¡¯ll be equipping it now.\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" All the girls nodded in unison. Clack! The Song of Freedom appeared on my right finger, and the Purple Cloud Ring officially exited the stage. The problem with the Purple Cloud Ring was that the Purple Cloud Strike¡¯s trigger rate was insanely low. To this day, I could count the number of times it triggered on one hand. Even if that wasn¡¯t the case, an active skill that I could use whenever I chose to was still more useful than a passive with a low proc chance. I felt a dense, powerful aura floating around my finger. At the same time, my stats jumped up visibly¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Frostblade of Death) Class: Master Swordsman of Death Level: 234 HP: 912820 Attack: 36750~41970 Defense: 97865 Magic Resist: 88920 Reputation: 1259400 Tactics: 2160 Luck: 100 ¡­¡­ My base HP was getting close to the 1 million mark. If I could hit a million base HP, I could have a maximum HP of 4 million or more with full buffs. My Attack and Defense stats also surpassed the magic knights who dropped all their stats into Stamina by a few times over. This was the power of high-level and high-grade equipment. They could increase a single person¡¯s powerlevel so much that even 1v100 wasn¡¯t an impossibility. Once again, I had obtained a skill that god himself would hate if he was playing Heavenblessed as well. Yes, Chains of Freedom only affected players, but that was perfectly fine by me. Once this skill became widely known, even the most careless, battle-hardened enemies would have to think twice before appearing in my sight. We distributed the rest of the loot such as enhancement gems, Divine Crystals and more via rolling. When all was said and done, Moon Dew and Lian Xin became the proud owners of two expensive Divine Crystals. Divine Crystals were amazing loot because even a 1 Quality Divine Crystal could be sold for 1000 gold, or 100k gold for 100 Quality. There was a saying that one Divine Crystal equaled a Mercedes-Benz, but it honestly wasn¡¯t too big of an exaggeration. Theoretically speaking, four or five Divine Crystals would be enough to buy a middle-class Benz. I looked at the entrance leading to the third floor and said, \\\"Come, the third floor¡¯s mobs and equipment are waiting for us. You don¡¯t want to burn the midnight oil all the time, do you? There¡¯s a reason people say that girls who sleep after 11 care little about their appearances. If you don¡¯t want to become one of those girls, then let¡¯s finish this as soon as possible¡­\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" We went to the third floor. The passage wasn¡¯t a staircase, but a 10-meter-tall ruined wall. It was covered by a dozen or so thorny vines. Clearly, the designers intended for us to climb our way up using the vines. Pa! My metal gloves crushed the thorns to pieces when I grabbed a vine. Obviously, I felt no pain whatsoever. After I planted my Ghost Spirit War Boots on the moss-covered wall and jumped upward a couple of times, I was able to land on the third floor without a hitch. I activated Dark Pupils to scan the surroundings for any danger. The closest mob was almost a hundred meters away from this entrance, meaning that there was nothing to worry about. \\\"It¡¯s safe up here. Come up, girls!\\\" The melodious cries of two giant dragons echoed, and Lin Yixin and He Yi carried our party members up to the third floor. It was at this moment a system announcement resounded in our ears. As it turned out, another one of the Twelve Divine Armaments had emerged into the world, and it belonged to Elephant City of the India server¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Player \\\"Flowing Cloud\\\" has obtained one of the Twelve Divine Armaments, \\\"Scepter of Divine Flame\\\"! (Ancient Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)! ¡­¡­ Speaking of which, the Twelve Divine Armaments had different names based on language. What we read now as the \\\"Scepter of Divine Flame\\\" was really just the Chinese translation of the Indian original. Anyway, the emergence of the Scepter of Divine Flame meant that a top-tier mage was soon to appear in the India server. I stared at the sky while rubbing my nose. \\\"Fuck, I thought that the Scepter of Divine Flame would first go to us, not Flowing Cloud¡­ This is so fucking unfair¡­\\\" Lin Yixin chortled. \\\"Are you serious? We already have the Chill of the Nine Provinces, the Immortal Blade and the Ghostblade Halberd. It would truly be unfair if the other nine of the Twelve Divine Armaments were to appear in the China server as well. Also, it¡¯s not necessarily a bad thing for the Scepter of Divine Flame to appear in Elephant City right now. Twelve Divine Armaments are extremely powerful, but that power also attracts much strife and conflict. With luck, India may be too busy fighting a civil war over it to attack us, which translates to more time to solidify our hold over Hot Sand City.\\\" He Yi nodded in agreement. \\\"Yes, Yiyi is correct. This Scepter of Divine Flame may earn us the recuperation time our server needs.\\\" I smiled. \\\"I guess. Now that I have the Song of Freedom, it doesn¡¯t matter who the Scepter of Divine Flame belongs to. I¡¯ll make them give it to me with the Chains of Freedom and Xuanyuan Slash. Let¡¯s check the Top 10 mage ranking of Elephant City and Cyan Earth City later. Flowing Cloud is a careful woman, and she would definitely entrust the Scepter of Divine Flame to a super-tier mage. Once we¡¯ve identified them, it¡¯s just a matter of killing them¡­\\\" \\\"Yes. For now though, let¡¯s focus on grinding and dropping our own Twelve Divine Armaments. Yiyi is still using the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword, you know¡­\\\" \\\"Yeah, you¡¯re right. Let¡¯s grind!\\\" ¡­¡­ I took point and stepped toward an eerie green light in the darkness. It was the glow of a mob¡¯s scepter. Unless I was sorely mistaken, the third floor of Bloodthirsty Castle was guarded by undead mages. I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces high and increased its light until the darkness hiding the mob was fully chased away. As I thought, the mob was a true skeletal mage wearing tattered robes and wielding a scepter. I said ¡®true¡¯, because I literally couldn¡¯t find a single scrap of flesh on its white, bony body. The scepter looked fairly impressive with a dark green magic stone embedded to its top, but the mob¡¯s stats were even deadlier¡ª Undead Purgatory Mage (Fiend) Level: 305 Magic Attack: 42000~55000 Defense: 46000 HP: 3200000 Skills: Fireball, Undead Blaze Blast, Summon Skeletal Warrior Property: Master of Magic. The cooldown of all magic skills decreased by 40% Introduction: The Undead Purgatory Mage is a soul walker whose soul has been refined at the entrance to hell. These undead mages have even greater control over magic than your average liches, and their understanding of magic far outstrips the average person. They are often called the artists of hell because their ability to kill people with magic is itself a kind of art. They also have the ability to summon skeletal warriors infinitely. ¡­¡­ \\\"God damn, a Level 305 fiend-rank mage with 55k Magic Attack¡­\\\" Murong Mingyue stuck out her tongue. \\\"I bet a hundred RMB that this Undead Purgatory Mage can hit Lu Chen for at least 150k damage with a Fireball¡­\\\" \\\"Really?\\\" Beiming Xue frowned. \\\"Big bro¡¯s Magic Resist is super high, you know. You know what, I¡¯ll take that bet!\\\" \\\"Very well. Go, my little hero¡­\\\" Murong Mingyue waved me away while puffing up her chest. Me: \\\"...\\\" I Thunderous Charged the mob the moment I entered within range, but this time I failed to land a stun. Still, I followed up with Burning Blade Slash that dealt over 1 million damage in total and rocked its body like a leaf. Another Universe Break later, the Undead Purgatory Mage¡¯s HP had dropped to almost 50%. \\\"You are courting death, damned boy!\\\" Angry, the undead mage raised its scepter and fired a crimson fireball at me. I didn¡¯t activate Battle Astral Wind because the girls wanted to know how much damage it could do to me with a Fireball. As it turned out, the winner of the bet was¡ª 179282! Lin Yixin exclaimed in disbelief, \\\"OMG, I can¡¯t believe it actually did more than 150k damage. The mobs here are seriously bullshit¡­\\\" Before she could even finish her sentence, the Undead Purgatory Mage unleashed Undead Blaze Blast that dealt 210k damage to me and 330k damage to Lin Yixin because she happened to be in the way. What is magic damage? This is magic damage. DPS-wise, this mob was almost as strong as Lian Xin. \\\"Stop chatting and start fighting¡­\\\" I yelled while swinging my sword. The mob¡¯s AI was surprisingly good. As it backed away from me, it waved its scepter and summoned skeletal warriors from the ground. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by a dozen or so Level 305 fiend-rank skeletal warriors. Their Attack was just as high as the Bloodthirsty Corpse Eaters¡¯, and even with my tankiness I almost died after just a round of attacks. It really was as Yiyi said. The mobs here were absolute bullshit! While activating Battle Astral Wind to protect myself, I shouted, \\\"That Undead Purgatory Mage only has less than 1 million HP left! Kill it with ranged attacks, and its summoned units should automatically drop dead!\\\" \\\"Okay¡­\\\" Lian Xin and Beiming Xue immediately unleashed their skills. I too unleashed my Coiling Dragon Revolution. Thankfully, the triple attack was good enough to one-shot its remaining HP! \\\"Ohhh, I will be back¡­\\\" The Undead Purgatory Mage dropped to its knees and yielded to us a stream of experience each. This was normal. What wasn¡¯t normal was his 12 skeletal warriors collapsing into dust and yielding their experience to us as well! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! My experience bar flashed visibly after I received all the streams of experience. Even now, I still couldn¡¯t believe that the 12 skeletal warriors gave experience as well. I guess the high risk came with high reward after all! Chapter 1348 \\\"So, the third floor is an EXP heaven¡­\\\" After the realization, I pointed at the dead Undead Purgatory Mage and said, \\\"Alright, here¡¯s the plan. We¡¯re going to fight like normal until the mob¡¯s HP drops to 35% or so. Once he starts summoning skeletal warriors, we¡¯ll wait until he summons 12 before we kill him with ranged attacks. Note that the undead mage¡¯s AI will be improving via machine learning and get closer and closer to player level¡ªit will start dodging and retreating is what I mean¡ªonce he begins his summon, so Eve and Yiyi, I want you two to block his path and make sure he doesn¡¯t run off. It¡¯ll be dangerous if he aggroes two or three undead mages to us.\\\" Lin Yixin and He Yi nodded in unison. \\\"Understood. Are you sure you can survive 12 skeletal warriors though?\\\" \\\"There¡¯s nothing I cannot survive as long as sis¡¯ breast milk doesn¡¯t run out!\\\" Murong Mingyue: \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ We moved on. The third floor of Bloodthirsty Castle was split into several big maps, and the passages were mostly accessible from all sides. After a quick discussion, we decided to follow the rightmost passage. Dark Mercenaries and Blood Alliance should be close to catching up to us, and I didn¡¯t want to run into them another if at all possible. After all, the reason we came all the way here was to complete Frederick¡¯s quest, not hunt down the Dark Mercenaries. There was nothing more boring than hunting down your foes. At the very least, I would like to be able to grind while killing them. That being said, it wasn¡¯t the worst thing if they did catch up to us. After all, it meant that I would be able to test my Chains of Freedom on Amber Pupil and Now and Forever. Pu pu pu¡­ My sword plunged through an undead mage¡¯s cloth armor before crushing its non-existent innards with Burning Blade Slash. The moment its HP fell below 40%, it immediately started running away from me and summoning skeletal warriors to its aid. Instead of hunting it down like before, I aggroed them and hunkered down. Thanks to my two beautiful priests healing me non-stop, it wasn¡¯t too difficult to survive until 12 skeletal warriors were summoned. While Lin Yixin and He Yi were blocking the undead mage¡¯s path and killing it, I dropped an Ancient Seal right on top of its head! Bang! 576266! It was such a wonderful amount of damage. The power of a Divine General Skill was a combination of Tactics and Attack. My Attack was already among the greatest in all the servers, but I also had 2160 Tactics. This meant that the skill did almost as much damage as Rise of the Guardian Dragon, and it only cost 1 Divine Energy Point to cast. The Xuanyuan Slash was incredibly powerful, but it cost 20 Divine Energy Points to use, or 20 Ancient Seals. Damage-wise, 20 Ancient Seals obviously did more damage than 1 Xuanyuan Slash. Generally speaking, offensive Ancient Divine Skills should only be used when you were aiming to pierce an enemy¡¯s invincibility and end their life. It absolutely wasn¡¯t a skill to use during a protracted battle. The EXP yield of thirteen Level 305 fiend-rank mobs flowed into our bodies at once. It was absolutely amazing to say the least! Lian Xin suggested with a glazed look in her eyes, \\\"You know, why don¡¯t we delay our quest for a bit and grind all the mobs there are in this place? It will only take us another 2 hours at most to level up. If we kill every undead mage in this place, we may jump 4 or even 5 levels in total¡­\\\" I nodded. \\\"Yes, let¡¯s do that. We¡¯ll try to grind all the mobs in the inner areas until Blood Alliance and Dark Mercenaries show up. Beiming, please keep your Clear As Flame activated at all times. I would rather lose some Magic Consumables than die to their ambush.\\\" \\\"Got it, big bro. You should be careful as well, okay?\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" Beiming was referring to the fact that I only had 37% HP left even though I had Battle Astral Wind turned on, and Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew healing me at all times. Even now, I was waiting for their spells to pump me back to full health. During this one fight, I had lost my Battle Astral Wind and received over 5 million damage from the twelve Level 305 skeletal warriors. I would¡¯ve died without Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew¡¯s healing. We continued grinding like this for 3 hours straight. As Lian Xin mentioned earlier, all the girls had jumped at least a level. I was only 3% away from hitting Level 235 as well. I was aiming to hit Level 250 as soon as possible. It represented the next stage of power and a whole new patch. To date, Eternal Moon Corporation hadn¡¯t released any information regarding that patch, and the radio silence would probably continue until someone finally hit Level 250. I checked my bag. It was filled with almost 300 pieces of equipment, all high-level equipment ranging from Earth to Heaven-grade and Level 210 to 230. A lot of them were top-tier items as well. They were mostly dropped from the mobs I fought since we had entered Bloodthirsty Castle; the Bloodthirsty Corpse Eaters, the Undead Podao Wielders, and of course the Undead Purgatory Mages. Truly, the mobs here were full of riches. If possible, I would like to grind here forever. Even if I sold them at Sky City for around 80% of their actual value, they were still worth over 500k RMB. That was 350k RMB of clean income even after deducting 150k of equipment repair fees, and all in a day¡¯s work no less. As top-rung players, we had practically endless avenues to make our profit. One might even say that with enough strength, you could get all the riches and bitches you wanted... Suddenly, I spotted a ton of red dots with Dark Pupils. Growing alert, I said, \\\"Girls, stop. At least 200 people are moving in our direction, and they¡¯re at most 300 yards away.\\\" \\\"Are they Dark Mercenaries?\\\" Lin Yixin asked. \\\"I don¡¯t know yet, but¡­\\\" I pointed at a dark place ahead of us. It was an abandoned smithy that was completely hidden in the dark. \\\"Let¡¯s hide in that smithy and see what happens.\\\" I wet my lips before continuing in a serious tone, \\\"The smithy is dark enough that their archers won¡¯t be able to see us even with Clear As Flame. After all, we¡¯re in the dark and they¡¯re in the open. If these newcomers aren¡¯t friendly, we¡¯ll wait for an opportune time and kill them all.\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" He Yi canceled her mount as we ran into the smithy. It was because the Snow Crystal Dragon was too big to fit into the small smithy. After we were all inside, we looked outside through the broken windows. A few minutes later, a ton of red names appeared within our view. As expected, they were Dark Mercenaries, and they were led by none other than Amber Pupil and Now and Forever. They were obviously here for us. Amber Pupil gripped his fists after observing his surroundings. \\\"Shit, the mobs here are all dead. Lu Chen¡¯s party must have come through this passage. Let¡¯s move faster and hit them from behind!\\\" Now and Forever nodded in agreement, but an American youngster with blond hair said, \\\"Guild leader, we¡¯ve been chasing after Lu Chen¡¯s party since we grinded the mobs on the first floor. Are we here at Bloodthirsty Castle for the view or the grind? The road ahead looks like it¡¯s clogged by undead mages anyway, so why don¡¯t we clear them out instead of searching for an easier path? It¡¯ll satisfy some of our brothers and sisters at least...\\\" Amber Pupil clenched his teeth, but he couldn¡¯t afford to offend his Northern Alliance sponsor. In the end, he forced himself to nod and say, \\\"Fine. Cavalrymen, step forward and enter into formation. Bards, refresh everyone¡¯s buffs; priests, keep everyone healed. We¡¯ll be splitting up into 20-man parties, and each party is to aggro only one Undead Purgatory Mage at a time. Also, archers, keep your Clear As Flame on at all times. Lu Chen has a stealth ability too, and you don¡¯t want to get ambushed by him. Be on your guard. Let¡¯s finish this grind as soon as possible.\\\" \\\"Yessir!\\\" ¡­¡­ I barely suppressed a chuckle when I saw the players of Dark Mercenaries splitting up into smaller parties. I said in the party channel, \\\"Do you guys see that? They think they can grind the Undead Purgatory Mages with 20-man parties! Hah! This is going to be fun to watch. It¡¯s practically suicide to tackle these undead mages without figuring out what their abilities are first!\\\" Lin Yixin giggled. \\\"They don¡¯t have your Dark Pupils, so it¡¯s only natural that they underestimated the mobs. Plus, the elite players of Dark Mercenaries are made up of the elites of the Northern Alliance. Why wouldn¡¯t Amber Pupil believe in their strength?\\\" I smiled. \\\"Let¡¯s see how good they really are then.\\\" \\\"Yeah.\\\" ¡­¡­ After Dark Mercenaries had split up into 9 smaller parties, their archers began shooting the Undead Purgatory Mages with Shock Arrow before running back to their party. Then, the cavalrymen rushed forward to tank and damage the mob while the priests healed them with AoE skills. The mob¡¯s Magic Attack was crazy, but both the tanks and the healers were good enough at their jobs to stay alive. This, I couldn¡¯t discredit. They definitely knew what they were doing. Amber Pupil smiled as he said, \\\"Good, good. At this rate, we should be able to clear this passage in ten minutes tops.\\\" Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t even finish his sentence when the first Undead Purgatory Mage to hit 35% HP abruptly backed away and created a hexagram on the ground. Then, skeletal warriors wielding broken weapons suddenly popped out of the hexagram and charged the cavalrymen! \\\"What the fuck? What is this shit?!!\\\" No one had seen this coming. The 7 cavalrymen attacking the undead mage instantly fell into panic, and 3 of them died before they ever got to regret their decision. \\\"Watch out! The undead mages can summon skeletons at the same level!\\\" Now and Forever shouted. Unfortunately, it was already too late. All the undead mages had begun summoning their skeletal warriors, and it took only an instant for the number of casualties to propel past 50. We saw everything from the smithy we were hiding. \\\"Retreat! We need to retreat and reorganize!\\\" Amber Pupil turned away without hesitation. A while later, he and his low-health Dark Mercenaries players ran away with a trail of bodies in their wake. ¡­¡­ \\\"That was a great show¡­\\\" Lian Xin clapped. Lin Yixin said, \\\"I¡¯ve recorded everything. When we¡¯re done grinding Bloodthirsty Castle, I¡¯ll release it on the forums and show everyone just how ¡®great¡¯ Amber Pupil¡¯s so-called elite players are¡­\\\" I chuckled. \\\"Damn, how devious¡­\\\" However, He Yi gazed into the distance and said, \\\"Amber Pupil will be back with Blood Alliance and more of his guild members in less than ten minutes. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll have Blood Alliance stun the undead mages with Ambush when they¡¯re at 35% HP and kill them before they ever recover.\\\" I nodded. \\\"Correct. That is why we must act during the next fight.\\\" I then looked at my new ring and grinned from the bottom of my heart. \\\"Just a bit longer, my precious. Just a bit longer¡­\\\" Moon Dew looked at me and shivered a little. \\\"Thank heavens vice leader big bro isn¡¯t our enemy¡­\\\" Chapter 1349 We waited in silence for around 20 minutes before we heard new activity from a distance again. Through my super long-range Dark Pupils, I saw a ton of red dots emerging from the end of the dark, long corridor. They were a troop of cavalrymen with all sorts of buff icons above their heads. Amber Pupil had returned with a much bigger and organized troop of elite cavalrymen, mages, priests, bards, archers and more classes. It was clear he wouldn¡¯t allow some mob, no matter how overpowered, to thwart him. \\\"Do you see Blood Alliance?\\\" He Yi whispered to me. I immediately brought up my interface and matched the red dots on my map to what I could see with my Dark Pupils. I could account for 90% of the players I was seeing, meaning the 10% I couldn¡¯t see on the map were stealthing assassins revealed to me because of my Dark Pupils. There might be even more that were still invisible to my Dark Pupils, who wouldn¡¯t be shown on the minimap too. \\\"Blood Alliance is definitely here. I count at least 500 enemies, so we need to be careful. It¡¯s probably all Dark Mercenaries players that have entered Bloodthirsty Castle in the past couple hours or so. If we manage to take them all out though, we should be able to grind in peace for a very long time,\\\" I declared with certainty. \\\"When are we attacking?\\\" asked Lin Yixin while leaning against the wall and playing with her Dragonfrost. She was clearly itching for a battle. I sucked in a deep breath before answering, \\\"When the time is right. We¡¯ll let them engage the mobs first. I¡¯ll control the Phantom Wolf King and aggro at least 20 Undead Purgatory Mages from the sides. I will then suicide it into Dark Mercenaries¡¯ formation. Once the mobs have engaged the enemy, we will jump out and kill them all.\\\" Lin Yixin nodded. \\\"Alright. We¡¯ll wait for your signal.\\\" ¡­¡­ The enemy party came closer and closer until they stopped just outside of the detection range of around 50 Undead Purgatory Mages. Amber Pupil then unsheathed his sword and ordered, \\\"These undead mages will start summoning Level 305 fiend-rank skeleton warriors infinitely when they reach 35% HP, so watch out. We¡¯re going to split into 50-man parties, and we¡¯re going to save our high-cooldown high-DPS skills until later. When the undead mages fall below 35%, do your best to kill the undead mages in the shortest amount of time possible and give them no chance to summon their skeletal warriors. Now, begin!\\\" Things went way better now that they had a proper strategy and the proper party composition this time. The archers and the mages proved especially deadly against the undead mages, able to deal massive amounts of damage and instakill them before they could summon the skeletal warriors. At this rate, they would clear out this part of the map in 10 minutes tops, and we couldn¡¯t allow it to happen. I whistled softly, and the Phantom Wolf King entered stealth beside me. I then took control of my pet and manually moved it down a different passage, careful to avoid the archers¡¯ 40-yard radius Clear As Flame along the way. My spirits went up when I saw nearly 100 Undead Purgatory Mages in the passage through the eyes of the Phantom Wolf King. Pa! My little wolf abruptly exited its stealth and bounded toward the mobs, zigzagging left and right like a lightning bolt. With its incredible speed, it was able to escape the mobs¡¯ range before they could cast their Undead Blaze Blast. Then, with dozens of Undead Purgatory Mages behind its tail, it charged straight toward Dark Mercenaries¡¯ flank. ¡­¡­ \\\"Guild leader!\\\" A Dark Mercenaries archer¡¯s pupils suddenly shrank into pins as he pointed to the right. \\\"Someone¡¯s pet is aggroing a ton of mobs and moving toward us! Who¡¯s the fucking idiot who did this!?\\\" \\\"Not good!\\\" Now and Forever gritted his teeth. \\\"What do we do now?\\\" Amber Pupil replied in a steely tone, \\\"Get 200 people over to hold the line and remind them of our tactic. No matter what happens, they must never tackle more than 4 Undead Purgatory Mages at once. The cavalrymen can hold the aggro, but they must not damage the mobs so much that their HP falls below 35%. Priests, keep them healthy during this time. We just need 5 minutes to take out these 40 undead mages. As for that pet¡­ hmph. Who else can it belong to except Lu Chen? For now, just ignore it and focus on the mobs. Archers, if you haven¡¯t activated your Clear As Flame yet, do it now and keep an eye out for Lu Chen and Lin Yixin at all times! Today is the day Dark Mercenaries goes head-to-head against the executive players of Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya!\\\" I was surprised by Amber Pupil¡¯s coolheadedness and logical reaction. The guy might be a bastard, but he definitely had talent in leadership. Otherwise, he would never be able to command the absolute bastards who roamed the outer lands. Chiang! I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and whispered in the party channel, \\\"Get ready. When I launch a frontal assault, Yiyi and Eve will attack one wing each. Just ignore the cavalrymen and do as much damage as possible to their archers and mages. Watch out for the magic knights¡¯ Trapping Nets, because you¡¯re dead the second they manage to immobilize you. Now, go!\\\" The girls unsheathed their weapons and followed me out of the dark smithy. ¡­¡­ While this was going on, the Phantom Wolf King had already been killed by God Devil Break. It was the first price I had to pay in this ambush. Dark Mercenaries was composed of some of the best players in the entire Northern Alliance or even all the servers. Only a fool would believe that it was possible to annihilate that without casualties. It was the biggest reason I had chosen to ambush them with mobs first; to reduce the price we would have to pay as much as possible. Rustle rustle... Like a ghost, I dashed out of the darkness and dropped Thousand Ice Slash on top of the nearest group of archers, encasing all of them in ice. Then, I ran sideways to dodge a number of retaliations while following up a near-perfect Myriad Swords Obliteration, killing all 30 or so archers instantly. At the same time, the undead mages they were supposed to crowd control and kill began summoning skeletal warriors. Swhoosh! A cold gleam suddenly appeared from my left. It was an assassin attempting to Ambush me. \\\"Dammit!\\\" The dagger was moving too quickly to parry, so I had to rotate rapidly on my feet and block it with the Cyan Dragon Shield. While this was happening, the assassin¡¯s right dagger had already slipped into my abdomen. Blood Alliance truly was a force to be reckoned with. I saw the assassin¡¯s face and realized that it was one of their four elders, Cold of Spring. I raised my leg and kneed Cold of Spring¡¯s dagger with the draconic spikes on my Dark Magma Poleyns. Before he could react, I slashed his neck at nearly the same time my apparition stabbed its fake Chill of the Nine Provinces into Cold of Spring¡¯s chest, killing him. Obviously, it was so much easier to defeat an enemy when it was a 2 on 1, even though I was controlling both characters. This was a game, so different weapons had different attack speeds. In descending order, the weapons with the highest attack speed were daggers, swords, axes and finally spears. Axes and spears in particular were so slow that they took at least 2 seconds to attack once. Even my Chill of the Nine Provinces took around 1.2 seconds to execute one basic attack. Again, this was a game, so I couldn¡¯t just pummel my enemy with a billion punches per second like Bruce Lee. ¡­¡­ \\\"Shit. Here they come!\\\" From a safe distance, Amber Pupil waved a hand in my direction and turned my surroundings into a sea of fire. It dealt a not insignificant amount of damage because he was a magic swordsman. His vice leader, Now and Forever, had also activated Yin Yang Mirror to protect himself. Their actions spoke volumes about their craven nature. The guild leader was staying far, far away from the threat, and the vice leader was doing the same AND still protecting himself with a shield. In the air, my beautiful dragon riders hit the enemy¡¯s wings with their Ice Flame Slash and Stormwind Slash at almost the same time. Lian Xin and Beiming Xue were also using the Far Shot mode to cast their Dimensional Storm and Skypiercer from afar with unerring accuracy. Dark Mercenaries¡¯ players dropped like flies under their combined efforts. We were never going to let Dark Mercenaries go scot-free especially after what they did to us during the battle of Gold City. Today, we would take revenge for all the brothers and sisters who had died in that battle! I didn¡¯t stop changing my direction and speed to avoid the rain of Trapping Nets even as I was affirming my own resolve. It grew to the point where the magic knights of the Northern Alliance couldn¡¯t help but stare at me with flabbergasted expressions. \\\"Shit! I know he¡¯s the WEL MVP, but what the hell are these moves? It shouldn¡¯t be possible to dodge the Trapping Nets like that¡­\\\" I glanced in Beiming Xue¡¯s direction and noticed at least a dozen or so shadows moving toward her. I immediately turned around and ran to her aid while tossing the Chill of the Nine Provinces. \\\"Watch out, Beiming, Lian Xin! The assassins of Blood Alliance are closing in on you! You must protect sis and Moon Dew!\\\" Bang! My Coiling Dragon Revolution instantly one-shot 4 assassins¡ªfiguratively speaking¡ªand stunned the rest. They couldn¡¯t believe that I was able to see through their Assassin¡¯s Oath¨Cempowered stealth and even skewer some of them like satay. ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud... Crisis temporarily averted, I raced toward Amber Pupil and Now and Forever next. To defeat the bandits, you must first capture their chief. If one or both of their heads were dead, their morale would naturally deline. \\\"We¡¯ll cover for you, Lu Chen!\\\" Lin Yixin looked like a fiery fairy wearing her new purple-red Cyan Rock Armor and riding the Crimson Crystal Dragon. She swooped down like a hawk, killed dozens of archers and mages and cut off Now and Forever and Amber Pupil¡¯s retreat path all at the same time. \\\"Dammit!\\\" Amber Pupil knew this fight was another \\\"broken halberd sank into sand\\\" after he saw all the damage that had been wrought to his forces. Without hesitation, he activated his invincibility skill and teleported away using an escape scroll. However, his vice leader, Now and Forever, didn¡¯t see this coming. \\\"The fuck?\\\" His surprise was my chance. I might not be able to kill Amber Pupil, but I could still take revenge against Now and Forever. Back then, this idiot had tried to backstab the China server and even ridiculed me during my \\\"coronation ceremony\\\" at Elephant City. Well, today is the day the \\\"West King\\\" gave him a taste of his wrathful strike... ¡­¡­ I appeared in front of Now and Forever like a vengeful ghost and grabbed his throat with my bare hand. As I activated the Song of Freedom¡¯s special skill, Chains of Freedom, red chains appeared out of nowhere and wrapped tightly around his neck. Then, I unleashed Burning Blade Slash against his Magic Shield and tore it to shreds. Unrelenting, I cast Summon the Storm that dispelled Now and Forever¡¯s Yin Yang Mirror even though the damage was reflected back to me. In response, Now and Forever Blinked to the back, activated his invincibility skill and pulled out a red escape scroll of his own. Did he think he could escape me? \\\"It¡¯s too late!\\\" I already knew where he was going to Blink to, so I charged to an appropriate location before activating my Heavenly River Transformation. A pair of bloody wings spread behind my back, and a giant golden sword burst into the sky. Its light revealed Now and Forever¡¯s fearful yet defiant features with perfect clarity. Chapter 1350 Bang! Now and Forever¡¯s back was cut off by rocks and amethyst spikes. I had chosen a tricky angle to unleash the Xuanyuan Slash from not only to keep him from escaping, but also to ensure that my skill would sweep dozens of Dark Mercenaries and Blood Alliance players. It would be devaluing for my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill to hit only one player. Nearly the whole third floor of Bloodthirsty Castle was shaking. The white sword aura easily tore Now and Forever¡¯s body to shreds. Mages were naturally fragile, and at this stage of the game even the hardiest of them only had 500k HP. Assuming that they had full buffs and a total damage reduction of 50%, it still wasn¡¯t enough to survive my Xuanyuan Slash. The Xuanyuan Slash ignored Defense and dealt between 1.6 million to 1.8 million fixed damage no matter what armor the enemy was wearing. Therefore, the only way a player could survive a hit was to have at least 800k HP and 50% damage reduction. Otherwise, they would die. It was that simple. Currently, there was no cloth-armor player who could survive an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill. For leather armor, peak experts like Beiming Xue, Farewell Song, Moonkiss, Ling Xueshang and a handful others could survive if they buffed their HP to 1 million with cards and wore a set of equipment that reduced damage by 40% at least. For metal armor, well, there were countless players who could survive my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill¡­ that was how the late game worked though. One-shotting another player¡ªespecially a tanky cavalryman¡ªbecame increasingly impossible as the game progressed. Even so, the power of the Xuanyuan Slash was something no enemy could ignore. After all, the number of players who could collect a damage-reduction set with 50% damage reduction were few and far between. Monetary-wise, a full set of damage-reduction equipment was worth at least a million RMB, something only the big shots like Warsky and Farewell Song could afford to buy. Even Lin Yixin and I hadn¡¯t tried to make such a set yet, although I supposed we really should begin to do so. Otherwise, it would be a pain dealing with say Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Pangu¡¯s Axe or Tear Stain¡¯s Yemaek Slash. ¡­¡­ Anyway, back to the present. As Now and Forever slowly collapsed to the ground, the Chains of Freedom around his neck began to shine brightly and ominously. When players died, there was a lull between the death blow and the actual death, which was why the Onmyouji had just enough time to widen his eyes and curse, \\\"What the fuck is this?\\\" I replied carelessly, \\\"None of your business. Rest in peace!\\\" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... Ten rays of light flew out of Now and Forever¡¯s body in a row. It was his 10 levels leaving him. Then, he scattered into dust and dropped a pile of equipment and a ton of potions. Even better, three of the pieces of equipment Now and Forever was wearing on his person were at the top of the pile¡ª Hand of Rocks: Scepter, Level 210 Archean Immortal-grade, 5-star Outstanding. Armor Breaking Ring: Ring, Level 200 Immortal-grade, 6-star Outstanding, damage against heavy-armor players increased by 30%. Wristguards of Mental Storm: Wristguards, Level 210 Archean Immortal-grade, 6-star Outstanding, Mental Storm: increases magic damage by 20%. ¡­¡­ After dumping all of the equipment in my bag, I turned around and killed another dozen or so enemies before throwing the Armor Breaking Ring and Wristguards of Mental Storm into Lian Xin¡¯s hands. \\\"Here, Little Xin. You probably can use these¡­\\\" \\\"Ah?!\\\" Lian Xin blinked from behind the Telekinetic Shield. \\\"Were these dropped by Now and Forever, big bro?\\\" \\\"Yep. Not bad at all, right? They¡¯re probably the best equipment on his person¡­\\\" \\\"Heehee, thanks! This Armor Breaking Ring is amazing, so I¡¯ll wear it. These Wristguards of Mental Storm though aren¡¯t as good as my current wristguards, so I¡¯m just going to sell them and share the spoils with you later, okay?\\\" \\\"Sure! Do whatever you like!\\\" Meanwhile, He Yi had triggered the Flame Dance effect of her Suppressing Fire Sword and was burning down a group of archers in the sky. However, her assault was interrupted when a couple of magic knights successfully hit her with their Trapping Nets and dropped both her and her dragon to the ground. Although He Yi had improved by leaps and bounds since we¡¯ve been reunited, she was still a long ways away from reaching Beauty Lin¡¯s level... That wasn¡¯t to say she didn¡¯t have her own tricks, however. The Snow Crystal Dragon suddenly let out a mighty roar, and He Yi shouted right after the swing of a blade, \\\"Who dares to fight me!?\\\" The intimidation attempt worked, and Dark Mercenaries¡¯ players were actually too scared to get close to her. After Lin Yixin descended back to the ground, and the Crimson Crystal Dragon transformed into a draconic rune on her arm, she smiled at me and said, \\\"The Song of Freedom¡¯s special skill is awesome as it appears, it seems! Not only did Now and Forever drop 10 levels in a row, he even lost 3 of his equipped items. He probably won¡¯t be coming back anytime soon. Make sure you use the Song of Freedom well, okay? Earn us a ton of money and if possible, find a good excuse to drop Warsky¡¯s Immortal Blade as well!\\\" I nodded. \\\"Yes, let¡¯s get rich together¡­\\\" Chiang chiang chiang... While we were making idle chat, Beiming Xue was leaping out of the shadows and parrying a Blood Alliance assassin¡¯s attack with her own dagger. While sliding across the ground, she notched an arrow and fired a super-close-range Explosive Arrow to her attacker¡¯s face, exploding it in a shower of fire, blood and brains. Another assassin struck her Xuanming Bow with his daggers repeatedly while snarling, \\\"Give me your Xuanming Bow, Beiming Xue! I promise I¡¯ll keep it nice and safe for you!\\\" Beiming Xue replied tensely, \\\"No! Die!\\\" \\\"So, you wanna talk some more, or do you want to save your cute little sister?\\\" Lin Yixin chortled. I hurriedly ran over to Beiming Xue and dropped Ancient Seal on the spot along her path. After the assassin was struck, he spasmed for a short moment before collapsing to the ground. 690199! Lian Xin¡¯s mouth fell open. \\\"Wow, your Divine General Skill is getting a bit OP, big bro. High Tactics stat is worth something after all, huh?\\\" I grinned. \\\"But of course!\\\" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a couple of skills erupted from another shadowy corner, and I saw Murong Mingyue¡¯s HP dropping all the way down to red on the party interface. Moon Dew turned gray immediately. I hurriedly ran toward her while shouting, \\\"What happened, sis!?\\\" Murong Mingyue replied while panting heavily, \\\"It¡¯s an ambush! It¡¯s the goddamned Japanese!\\\" \\\"What? How are they here?\\\" I charged toward her as quickly as I could, and Murong Mingyue did the same. However, right as she was about to reach me, a swirl of maple leaves shredded her Spell Shield, and a bolt of lightning engulfed her for an instant. As she collapsed to the ground, she said with a grimace, \\\"There¡¯s just no way a priest can beat a fighter¡­\\\" I didn¡¯t hesitate. I leaped over Murong Mingyue¡¯s body and fired Thousand Ice Slash straight into the darkness! Bang! The skill¡¯s light chased away the darkness, and I saw Red Maple himself backing away from me while gripping a sword of pure blackness. He said with a sinister chuckle, \\\"Just you wait, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. I have come for my revenge!\\\" I scanned the surroundings with Dark Pupils and spotted 7 other red dots in the area. They were probably all top-tier experts from Purple Grape City. The reason I said this was because the people I could see with my naked eyes were Red Maple and the stealthed assassin, Purple Thunder. \\\"Don¡¯t, Little Cheat!\\\" Lin Yixin shouted behind me. Beiming Xue also cried, \\\"Red Maple isn¡¯t alone, big bro! It¡¯s too dangerous! We¡¯ll all be in danger if you die as well!\\\" ¡­¡­ I gritted my teeth but stayed my hand as the girls advised. I replied in an indifferent tone, \\\"We¡¯ll wait until sis and Moon Dew revives. Beiming, keep your Clear As Flame turned on so that they can¡¯t ambush us again!\\\" After I said that, I waved my hand and slipped into the underground. Now that they couldn¡¯t see me, they were the ones who were feeling the pressure. As I thought, the red dots on my minimap began retreating away from us. Red Maple had decided to give up on the assault because he knew that further pursuit would only be detrimental to him. Plus, he had already successfully ambushed and killed two of our priests, and that was definitely a win to him. All in all, we had lost two priests not to Dark Mercenaries or Blood Alliance, but a third party. Murong Mingyue had been killed by Red Maple¡¯s Divine General Skill + Thunder God Ball combo, while Moon Dew had been assassinated by Purple Thunder. Unfortunately, we were not the oriole this time. On the bright side, Dark Mercenaries suffered the worst damage out of all the parties who were involved in this battle. Nearly all of them had been killed by us and the mobs. He Yi and Lin Yixin were currently fighting the last few undead mages on the battlefield, so I hurried over to help them. After that, the battle was officially over. We had all used up a ton of Health Potions and Magic Consumables, but the result was pretty great. Most of our enemies were dead, and we got a ton of loot and even some experience out of it. Chiang! I planted the Chill of the Nine Provinces on the ground and said, \\\"Let¡¯s camp these bastards while we wait here for sis and Moon Dew to revive. Say, I saw all four elders of Blood Alliance just now, but I haven¡¯t seen Assassin¡¯s Creed at all. Does anyone know why?\\\" Lin Yixin shrugged. \\\"I don¡¯t know either. I haven¡¯t seen him at all...\\\" Inside the party channel, Murong Mingyue said, \\\"Go about 20 meters into the right passage to find your answer, Lu Chen¡­\\\" \\\"Oh?\\\" Surprised, I did as she said with Lin Yixin right next to me. As it turned out, I didn¡¯t even need to walk 20 meters to find Assassin¡¯s Creed¡ªhis corpse to be exact¡ªnailed to the wall by a single dagger. His expression looked ugly, and his eyes were full of defiance even in death. Clearly, he hadn¡¯t expected to die a death like this. \\\"Heavens, who the hell managed to kill Assassin¡¯s Creed like this?\\\" I exclaimed in surprise, \\\"Assassin¡¯s Creed may not be on Farewell Song or Moonkiss¡¯s level, but he¡¯s still a Top 5 Chinese assassin. He¡¯s even stronger than our Cute Little Naughty, so how on earth¡­\\\" Murong Mingyue answered, \\\"Oh, it¡¯s simple. He was going to ambush me and Moon Dew, but since the Japanese were right behind him, he unwittingly became our shield instead. It¡¯s not like he has Farewell Song¡¯s Ghost Lake Mirror, and his attackers were Red Maple, Cyan Frost and Purple Thunder, literally the Top 3 experts of the Japan server. Of course he wasn¡¯t going to survive¡­\\\" I gripped my fists tightly. \\\"So, Red Maple and the experts of God¡¯s Domain are in Bloodthirsty Castle. This is annoying. All we want is to claim Bloodthirsty Emissary¡¯s head, but stuff just won¡¯t stop happening to us¡­\\\" Lin Yixin asked, \\\"So, what is the plan now?\\\" \\\"What else?\\\" I looked up with a confident expression on my face. \\\"We¡¯ll take out the Japanese first and Bloodthirsty Emissary later. Once we bring Serena home and grab our Divine Armament reward, we can go to bed, preferably with a cute girl in our arms¡­\\\" \\\"Have some shame and shut up¡­\\\" Chapter 1351 A while later, Murong Mingyue revived in a flash. She immediately protected herself with a Spell Shield before healing herself to full and using a consumable to recover MP. Right after that, Moon Dew revived as well. \\\"So? Are Dark Mercenaries and Blood Alliance here yet?\\\" I asked Murong Mingyue. The reason I asked her was because a player¡¯s soul was only visible to another player¡¯s soul[1]. As far as I was aware, there wasn¡¯t a skill including my Dark Pupils that could reveal another person¡¯s soul. Murong Mingyue nodded and said, \\\"Oh, they¡¯re everywhere. I counted at least a hundred of them before I revived. I don¡¯t need to tell you why they haven¡¯t revived, do I?\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" Lin Yixin asked, \\\"So, we campin¡¯?\\\" I considered the idea for a moment before saying, \\\"Nah, that would be too shameless¡­\\\" \\\"You say that, but your smirk betrays your true intentions!\\\" She pointed an accusing finger at me. I shrugged. \\\"I mean, if you girls really want to camp these bastards, then why not? Newly revived players don¡¯t have buffs, and they only have 50% of their HP and MP. Who doesn¡¯t enjoy killing enemies like that?\\\" Lin Yixin: \\\"...\\\" He Yi let out a helpless chuckle. \\\"Come on, there¡¯s no point camping them. If they revive and attack us again, we¡¯ll just wipe them until they¡¯ve finally learned their lesson. Amber Pupil isn¡¯t here anyway, and if I¡¯m not mistaken, his escape scroll probably took him somewhere far away from Bloody Shield Domain. Even if he rushes over immediately, it¡¯ll still take him a while to make the journey. The chance of these people attacking us without Amber Pupil¡¯s order is pretty low.\\\" I nodded. \\\"Eve is right. Let¡¯s go!\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" ¡­¡­ Unlike usual, I waited until the girls had all gone ahead of me before activating Earth Escape and slipping into the underground. It was to sow doubt in the enemies¡¯ minds by making them wonder if I would be so evil as to hide somewhere in a corner and kill them the second they revived. I knew it would work because even an innocent party would¡¯ve worried about the possibility, much less one we had absolutely thrashed in the past hour. For just a bit of MP, I could delay Dark Mercenaries and especially Now and Forever from reviving for at least ten minutes. It wouldn¡¯t be inaccurate to say that we had traumatized them. Anyway, we continued forward but chose a different path this time. Along the way, He Yi opened the map and pointed at the centermost area of the floor. \\\"This area is so red it¡¯s almost black. I¡¯m willing to bet it¡¯s where the boss or where the entrance to the fourth floor is. Therefore, we should explore it even if my deduction turns out to be untrue later.\\\" We obeyed her wisdom and grinded our way to the center. Nearly two hours later, I had leveled up to 235, 15 levels away from the godlike threshold that was Level 250. \\\"Halt¡­\\\" I suddenly stopped in my tracks and said, \\\"We¡¯re at most 100 yards away from the centermost area where the boss may very well reside, so I suggest that we heal our HP and MP to full first. I also want you girls to wait until I¡¯ve scouted out the area for Blood Alliance, Dark Mercenaries or God¡¯s Domain players. If there really is a boss in there, we should lure it to a passage at least a kilometer away from the original spot and kill it there. I don¡¯t want to do all the hard work and have our fruits of labor stolen by some asshole at the last second.\\\" Lin Yixin nodded. \\\"That is a great plan. Go then!\\\" After Murong Mingyue cast Regeneration on me, I slipped into the underground once more and scouted ahead with the Phantom Wolf King. Speaking of which, the whole third floor of Bloodthirsty Castle was unnaturally dark, limiting my natural vision range to just 20 yards and even Dark Pupils to just 200 yards. That was the main reason Red Maple and his goons were able to ambush us. I barely encountered any Undead Purgatory Mages along the way. As I approached the center, the area in front of me was suddenly set alight by rays of bloody light. There was an old skeletal mage chained to the center of a gigantic magical hexagram and altar. Both his arms and legs were trapped by thick chains that were clearly imbued with some sort of magic. \\\"Ugh¡­\\\" He moaned piteously, \\\"This fate cannot be mine! I want to leave. I want to leave Bloodthirsty Castle and return to my hometown. I want to kill everyone and turn them into ghosts that will only obey my command. Spirit Capital City should only belong to me and my great devil emperor! This fate cannot be mine¡­\\\" It really was a boss, a boss that was chained up no less! I thought to myself: this is going to be such a cakewalk when the boss fight begins! I¡¯m so going to attack its immovable weak point again and again! With some luck, we might even be able to beat it without losing a single point of HP! Dreams were great, but reality was a cruel mistress. The second I set a foot on the altar, flames immediately burst out of the hexagram and engulfed my entire body! 400000! 400000! 400000! ¡­¡­ Motherfucker! As it turned out, the hexagram formation dealt 400k fixed damage to anyone who entered it! No one could withstand this level of damage for long! I immediately rolled back down from the altar. Dammit, I should¡¯ve known that the devs wouldn¡¯t bundle their boss into a gift and just hand it over to the players like that. How about a ranged attack? I fired a Dragon Slaying Slash at the boss, but a blue screen appeared out of nowhere and blocked it. There was a barrier surrounding the hexagram, and it had an infinite amount of durability. There was only one way to do this. \\\"For fuck¡¯s sake¡­\\\" I groaned loudly. It was clear what I had to do. I must step into the hexagram, break the chains and lure the boss out of his confinement. It was either that or give up. After I had returned to full health, I leaped onto the altar and unleashed Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash + basic attack combo in three different directions. This time, I activated Battle Astral Wind to stop the flames from damaging me. I was able to shatter five chains and even leave a couple of cuts on the boss\\\''s body when all was said and done! Pa! Unexpectedly, the old skeletal mage returned to his feet with a kip-up and grinned maliciously at me. \\\"Who are you, boy? I am so very grateful to my savior. As thanks, I will kill you and revive you as a divine undead warrior with eternal life and an infinite path ahead. There is this small drawback where you must submit to my will and become my servant, but I¡¯m sure you will accept it¡­\\\" I smirked. \\\"I haven¡¯t released you to save you, old fool!\\\" Puchi! I pierced his chest with Universe Break and greatly reduced his Defense with Purple Frost Concentration at the same time. Then, I aimed at a blank space behind me and activated Thunderous Charge. It was the fastest way to get away from the boss and this goddamned flaming hexagram. Behind me, I heard the old mage roar in fury, \\\"You dare make a fool out of me? I will burn you into ashes, damned brat!\\\" The bony old mage immediately started giving chase. While running away, I said in the party channel, \\\"Here comes the boss! Beiming, prepare your Shock Arrow and Lian Xin, prepare your Ice Arrow Spell! The boss is super high-level, so bring your A-game¡ª\\\" While saying this, I looked back to scan the boss with Dark Pupils before sharing his stats in the party channel¡ª Bloody Minstrel Ornos (Archean Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 305 Magic Attack: 55000~62400 Defense: 70000 HP: 90000000 Property: 3% chance to instakill the target Skills: Blaze Blast, Prairie Fire, Blade of Shield Breaking Introduction: In ancient times, Bloody Minstrel Ornos was the king of Spirit Capital City and a mage with supernatural magic control. He was a once-in-a-century genius, and he became a holy magus at a very young age. However, he was too arrogant for his own good, and he suffered grievous injuries while battling against the Purgatory Lord Karst. He was never able to return to his former strength until the day Spirit Capital City was conquered by the undead. Ornos was imprisoned in Bloodthirsty Castle after his murder, and the hateful man converted all of his fury, resentment and defiance into the single-minded desire for destruction. Today, he wants nothing more but to return to the human realm and destroy everything. Perhaps Coldblade had unwittingly done the human empires a service by imprisoning Ornos... Whoosh! A wave of heat roasted my back and deleted 470k HP from my health bar. This bastard¡¯s Magic Attack was nothing like the Undead Purgatory Mages¡¯, and the gap between his minimum and maximum attack power was extremely narrow! Consistent DPS was definitely going to be one of the sore points of this boss fight! \\\"Watch out, Lu Chen!\\\" He Yi cried out in warning, \\\"Please don¡¯t let the boss\\\''s 3% chance to instakill trigger¡­\\\" Murong Mingyue said, \\\"You should turn on Resurrection Art now if you haven\\\''t¡­\\\" I drank a Rank 13 Dragonheart Orchid Agent while running. \\\"I¡¯ve been keeping it on all this time! Anyway, let¡¯s fight the boss inside that passage. Sis, Beauty Moon Dew, please keep me healthy while I lure the boss over¡­\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" Columns of holy light enveloped me and healed me repeatedly while I firmly held the boss\\\''s threat with Myriad Swords Obliteration and Coiling Dragon Revolution. It was only after the boss had entered my chosen passage did I finally turn around to face him. Now, no one should be able to interrupt us. Pa! I ran back to the boss and smacked his ugly head with a devastating Burning Blade Slash. The boss retaliated by casting his Prairie Fire spell¡ªa super AoE skill with a 50-yard radius¡ªand setting the world on fire. Even He Yi and Lin Yixin took damage despite flying in the air. 392092! 412828! 391021! Lin Yixin said in a hurry as her HP dropped like a fountain, \\\"I¡¯m losing HP too quickly! I¡¯m withdrawing!\\\" She landed one last Extreme Break between the boss\\\''s neck before pulling away to safety. Her HP had fallen below 30%, and she could¡¯ve died if she stayed for even a second longer. On the other hand, I had to remain where I was because all the girls would die the moment I pulled back. At least I had Battle Astral Wind and Tenacity of the Dead to keep me fighting. After Prairie Fire disappeared, Ornos cast another one of his magic spells, Blades of Shield Breaking. Countless giant blades appeared in the air before raining down on my position. It was clearly an AoE attack, but what kind of effect did it have exactly? Not taking any chances, I raised the Cyan Dragon Shield and activated Cyan Dragon Scale. My entire body became covered in cyan-colored dragon scales, and my resistances skyrocketed. Even so, I felt like I was being shredded to pieces as my HP dropped drastically¡ª872674! He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open. \\\"OMG, this boss is crazy¡­\\\" I had no choice. I turned the Life side of my blade upward and activated the Xuanyuan Art, healing everyone and myself by 50% HP. It was the right call because Ornos didn¡¯t hesitate to follow up with a standard Fireball and a much deadlier Blaze Blast. Still, with Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew healing me constantly, I was no longer in danger of dropping dead to a crit or something. \\\"You will die, boy!\\\" Ornos howled. I retorted, \\\"I¡¯ve heard that a million times, old bones!\\\" Boom! It was just a Fireball, but somehow my vision was graying in front of me. Goddammit! The boss had triggered that 3% chance to instakill his target! Swhoosh! Just as suddenly, I came back to life with full HP and MP. After my surprise had passed, I laughed. \\\"Well, shit! Immortality triggered too!\\\" ¡­¡­ I fear no one if I can keep reviving without cost! 1. T/N: this is one of the weirder things about Heavenblessed¡¯s mechanics to me. It seems like you can stay in ghost/spirit form for as long as you want, or at least long enough that there is value in doing so, so can¡¯t you just have one guy stay close to Lu Chen¡¯s party and spy on them until forever? They are the perfect spy since nothing can detect them and they¡¯re invulnerable to everything Chapter 1352 We traded blows with the boss again and again. I juggled his aggro, canceled his spells with Magic Piercing Punch, healed everyone with the Xuanyuan Art, increased my aggro by tanking its damage with Battle Astral Wind and reduced damage received with Cyan Dragon Scale. Long story short, I did everything in our power to fight against the Level 305 Archean Immortal Rank boss. Ornos¡¯s Magic Attack was just too high, and the few times he did crit when using Blade of Shield Breaking had nearly one-shot me. Thankfully, his 3% chance to trigger an instant kill never happened again after the first time. It was probably because our luck was turning around for the better. Swhoosh! Blades shredded the old mage¡¯s robes and left ugly, fiery marks on his pale white rib bones. It took us fifteen minutes, but we finally managed to drop Ornos¡¯s HP to 25%. It would take another five minutes tops for us to take out this super boss. In the air, He Yi was riding the Snow Crystal Dragon and attacking the boss from range. She said excitedly, \\\"I wonder if a Level 305 Archean Immortal Rank boss can drop one of the Twelve Divine Armaments or the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments¡­\\\" Lian Xin chuckled. \\\"Keep your expectations low so that you¡¯ll be most pleasantly surprised if it actually does¡­\\\" Lin Yixin said quietly while gripping her Dragonfrost, \\\"I just hope he will drop a sword-type weapon that¡¯s at least Immortal-grade and Level 200. The Seven Star Veluriyam Sword¡¯s Attack is so low that I¡¯m forced to fight using my dagger all the time, meaning that I¡¯m missing out on my class¡¯s 25% attack bonus for sword-type weapons¡­\\\" I nodded. \\\"Don¡¯t worry, you will have the sword if it drops!\\\" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes widened with caution. \\\"It looks like things won¡¯t go as smoothly as we hope. A group of less than 10 players is coming toward us from the north, but their levels are really high, and I can sense the power of Domain from them. One or more of them is an Ancient Divine Skill owner!\\\" \\\"Oh?\\\" I ran a few steps forward and turned my back toward the north so that I would be the first line of defense in case that engagement was inevitable. At the same time, I turned Dark Pupils on and off to refresh my detection. A couple of red dots immediately spawned on my map screen, and they were swiftly approaching our location. I immediately summoned the Phantom Wolf King and sent it toward the enemy to scout out their movement. Goddammit, of all the times they could¡¯ve shown up, they just had to choose the most inappropriate one! I flipped back and forth between my vision and the Phantom Wolf King¡¯s while still drawing Ornos¡¯s attacks. Stealthed, the Phantom Wolf King ran toward a dim corner where only a ray of dim light was shining through a small gap on the wall. There, the debris on the ground was being moved or crushed unnaturally¡ªa clear sign that someone was stepping over them¡ªbut the Phantom Wolf King couldn¡¯t see anyone. Clearly, the invisible walker was a stealthed assassin, and following right behind them was Red Maple clad in fiery-red battle armor and wielding a crimson-black sword. I also saw Cyan Frost, Red Hot Vortex and more JGL Hall of Famers. As expected, it was the experts of Purple Grape City who had come to attack us. Bang! While tanking a Fireball with the Cyan Dragon Shield¡ªand still losing 340k damage in spite of it¡ªthis damned boss¡ªI said in the party channel, \\\"There are 9 of them in total. I see Red Maple, Cyan Frost, Red Hot Vortex, a magic knight I don¡¯t recognize, Purple Thunder, an archer, a mage, a bard and a priest. They¡¯re about 200 meters away from us, and they¡¯re going to reach our spot in a minute or so. What do we do? Do we force this, or do we abandon the boss for now and come back later?\\\" He Yi blinked. \\\"There¡¯s no need to force this!\\\" Lin Yixin nodded in agreement. \\\"Yes. If we try to force this, there is a good chance we¡¯ll wipe here. Ornos still has over 20% HP anyway, so it¡¯s not like they can kill it immediately. I suggest that we retreat while Little Cheat uses his apparition to delay the boss. Then, we¡¯ll strike the Japanese when they least expect it. That is the safest and most surefire way.\\\" \\\"Alright. Withdraw now!\\\" I summoned my apparition but continued to tank the boss until the girls had run about 200 meters to the back. Then, I used Thunderous Charge toward an empty spot myself before performing Earth Escape to hide in the ground. Now that I had lost the boss\\\''s aggro, the apparition was the only unit left to bear his fury. It was destroyed in almost no time at all. ¡­¡­ A short while later, Red Maple arrived on his mount and scanned the surroundings for a bit. He then smiled and said, \\\"The boss is here! It only has 20% HP, so clearly someone was fighting it until they noticed us and ran away. They¡¯re most likely hiding somewhere nearby. Purple Thunder, scout out the area and find those people. We¡¯re not aggroing the boss until they¡¯re all dead!\\\" Cyan Frost turned her beautiful face toward Red Maple and asked, \\\"Who do you think was fighting the boss, Red Maple?\\\" Red Maple¡¯s visage darkened. \\\"Who else? There is not a single body on the ground, and there are only a handful of parties in the China server who could delete 80% of a Level 305 boss\\\''s HP without losing a single player. This is clearly the work of Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Wind Fantasy¡¯s party.\\\" Cyan Frost gripped her fists tightly. \\\"They are our sworn enemies. We must remove them no matter what!\\\" Red Maple smiled. \\\"Patience. Our outer-land friends will accomplish that for us. Hehe, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is also called the Little Heavenly King of the China server, right? Well, that won¡¯t be the case after today. We¡¯ll ensure that he finally lives up to his nickname!\\\" Cyan Frost smirked. \\\"You¡¯re going to use that?\\\" Red Maple caressed the wristguard covering his arm. A dark red draconic pattern ran along its surface. \\\"The creator of Eternal Moon¡¯s core AI is a Chinese old man. He is the one who designed the greatest Divine Armament in the game to be a Chinese mythological weapon Xuanyuan Sword, and the Chill of the Nine Provinces is its incomplete form. This is fine though. In fact, this is perfect. It will be worth everything if I can steal their national symbol from them.\\\" Cyan Frost smiled. \\\"Yeah. Let¡¯s do our best. Just give me the signal when you need me.\\\" \\\"Mn. He¡¯s dead the moment his HP falls to 30% or so!\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" ¡­¡­ I frowned after hearing all this through the Phantom Wolf King. I asked, \\\"Eve, Yiyi, can you guys search through the latest information regarding Purple Grape City and check if Red Maple has gotten some new Divine or Ghost Armament or something? More specifically, I want you to check if he got something that can steal another player¡¯s equipment. The way this bastard is speaking makes me think that he¡¯s plotting something. Also, Beiming Xue, can you move farther to the back and keep an eye on our rear? There¡¯s a possibility that Blood Alliance may ambush us.\\\" The girls nodded and got to work. Almost two minutes later, Lin Yixin let out an exclamation of surprise, \\\"I found it! 9 days ago, Red Maple got one of the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, a pair of wristguards called the Crimson Dragon Arms. We don¡¯t know about it because there isn¡¯t a ranking for the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments on the official website. The only reason I even found this was because a member of God¡¯s Domain himself leaked the information about 13 hours ago!\\\" I asked, \\\"What are these Crimson Dragon Arms?\\\" Lin Yixin hummed for a moment before answering, \\\"It¡¯s a pair of wristguards with a property called ¡®Crimson Dragon Devour¡¯. It allows its user to land a certain critical hit on the target, and if it kills, there¡¯s a 70% chance it may steal the previously-chosen piece of equipment¡­\\\" \\\"Fuck!\\\" I clenched my fists. \\\"No wonder Red Maple¡¯s acting so arrogant. He¡¯s planning to steal my Chill of the Nine Provinces¡­\\\" He Yi looked worried. Chill of the Nine Provinces is your symbol. You cannot let Red Maple take it from you. Just to be safe, you should let Yiyi and I be the main tanks for this fight. You just focus on killing them from the dark.\\\" However, I shook my head and said, \\\"There¡¯s no need. Red Maple is one of the China server¡¯s greatest enemies, and I will never hide before a man like him. He wants my Chill of the Nine Provinces? Well, I want his Crimson Dragon Arms too. For this fight, I will be the main attacker, and you two will take out Cyan Frost and Purple Thunder so I can fight Red Maple solo. I have a 70% chance at least to kick his ass, and more importantly he doesn¡¯t know that I have the Song of Freedom. He levels like crazy, right? Then I¡¯ll do him a favor and help trim some of his levels¡­\\\" Lin Yixin snorted. \\\"Very well, I¡¯ll support you! I love it when you refuse to surrender no matter what!\\\" Lian Xin looked at Lin Yixin. \\\"Does that count as a public confession?\\\" \\\"Er¡­\\\" Lin Yixin blushed as red as an apple. She wasn¡¯t able to say a word for a while. Murong Mingyue rolled her eyes before saying, \\\"Let¡¯s leave the sweet nothings for offline, okay? We have a pending PK battle. What is Red Maple doing anyway? Why isn¡¯t he engaging the boss yet?\\\" \\\"He¡¯s waiting!\\\" I answered. \\\"Waiting for what?\\\" \\\"He said he was waiting for his outer-land friends¡­\\\" I pondered for a moment before answering, \\\"It¡¯s most likely Blood Alliance. As you all know, Blood Alliance is an honorless guild who¡¯ll accept any kind of work as long as they¡¯re getting paid. God¡¯s Domain must¡¯ve come to a business agreement with them. Red Maple¡¯s 9-man party may not be able to wipe us, but they definitely have a chance if Blood Alliance manages to stab us in the back.\\\" \\\"It¡¯s fine, we have an advantage they don¡¯t¡­\\\" Lin Yixin said with a smile. \\\"Oh? And what is this advantage?\\\" I asked with a smile as well. She tilted her head and pointed at Ornos. \\\"It¡¯s our old friend over there, of course. We¡¯ve learned his habits, and we know that his Blade of Shield Breaking is strong enough to delete half of even Little Cheat¡¯s HP, much less the average cavalryman. I don¡¯t need to tell you which skill to use to trigger it, do I?\\\" I smiled. She was correct. There was one skill that triggered Blade of Shield Breaking 100% of the time, and it was¡ªFrightening Slash! Frightening Slash was one of the fighter¡¯s greatest skills against mages. One hit was all it took to delete their MP to zero or near useless, and not even Ornos, a boss, was an exception to the rule. That was why Ornos was programmed to use Blade of Shield Breaking every time I used Frightening Slash. As Lin Yixin said, we definitely could exploit this to our advantage. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Beiming Xue said in the party channel, \\\"Blood Alliance is here, big bro! I count at least 50 stealthing assassins! What do I do?\\\" I replied, \\\"Use Skypiercer and Spiraling Arrow Blade to break their stealth and force them to use up their fluorescent powder to reenter stealth. The next time they¡¯re revealed, they¡¯ll be forced to wait 15 seconds before they can enter it again. During this time, Lian Xin should use Dimensional Storm and God Devil Break to destroy them. After all, not everyone is a Farewell Song with bullshit OP assassin equipment. It¡¯s about time we taught these self-seeking bastards a lesson!\\\" Chapter 1353 Whoosh! A ball of flame appeared from the darkness, signaling the start of a great battle. Lian Xin had unleashed a blazing Firewall that burned 4 Blood Alliance assassins at once before pushing them right into Beiming Xue¡¯s Spiraling Arrow Blade with Origin Force Fields. They were dead before they managed to do anything. Swhoosh swhoosh... However, 7 more assassins dashed out of the sea of flames, and their leader was none other than Assassin¡¯s Creed himself. He then dropped fluorescent powder on the ground and reentered stealth once more. Meanwhile, the remaining assassins who broke through the wall of firepower toward us as if their low HP didn¡¯t matter at all. In fact, it didn¡¯t. They could be sitting on 1 HP, but they could still one-shot any class at the same level as long as they could find the right place and time to unleash their combo. That was just how the Assassin class was. Through my Dark Pupils, I saw at least 20 assassins trailing erratic paths toward us at high speed. To say that it was a scary sight would be a massive understatement. Worse, the Japanese had already circled around the boss to charge at us. The closest player to me was a hidden red dot I couldn¡¯t see with my naked eyes. \\\"Come out!\\\" I fired a Dragon Slaying Slash at the hidden Purple Thunder. He leaped backward and parried the energy blade before reentering stealth with a fluorescent powder. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin made a snap decision. \\\"Sister Eve, go help Beiming and Lian Xin. Little Cheat and I will deal with God¡¯s Domain!\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" While He Yi and her Snake King Little Qing charged toward Blood Alliance¡¯s assassins, I summoned my own Phantom Wolf King to race toward a distant magic knight and clamp its teeth around his torso. It was strong enough to keep him busy for a time. \\\"Watch out for Purple Thunder!\\\" I charged toward Red Maple after shouting out the warning. Red Maple did the same with an equally savage expression on his face. Some people claimed that they could never come to an understanding with their enemies, but that wasn¡¯t true. Sworn enemies understood full well that they hated each other, and it was a matter of time before they settled their differences. For Red Maple and I, that day was today. Thud thud thud... I changed my speed and direction repeatedly as I charged toward Red Maple. The instant we dashed past one another, I parried a swing, allowed the momentum to rotate me toward him, and dropped Icy Cyclone Domain to slow his movement speed drastically. Then, I charged straight toward the archer standing behind him and brought my sword down on her! \\\"Ah!\\\" The archer girl let out a surprised yelp but tried to parry my swing with both her dagger and her bow! Chiang! Red Maple was rotten in many ways, but his eye for talent definitely wasn¡¯t one of them. Despite having been caught off-guard, the archer girl had parried my attack almost perfectly before leaping 20 yards to the back to avoid my follow-up Universe Break. She was still too close to me, however. She cried in despair when I made a hand seal and dropped Myriad Swords Obliteration right on top of her! Crack crack crack! Just in case she somehow dodged the rain of swords, I fired Burning Blade Slash. Just like that, she became my first kill. Thud! The battle was just beginning, however. I leaped away from my original spot just in time to avoid a Trapping Net. Before I could regain my balance, Cyan Frost the Ice Knight appeared behind my back and attempted to hit me with a ruthless Freezing Slash. The skill froze its target for 3 seconds, so I absolutely couldn¡¯t allow it to hit me! Chiang! I stabbed my Chill of the Nine Provinces into the ground to stop myself from sliding into Cyan Frost¡¯s Freezing Slash, and I succeeded. Astonishment flashed across her face for an instant. This was probably the first time she saw anyone pulling a move like this. Whoosh! However, I ultimately wasn¡¯t able to stop a puff of maple leaves from engulfing me and dealing a massive amount of damage. There was only so much I could do against this many JGL Hall of Famers after all. 470298! I wasn¡¯t surprised by the amount of damage I received because Maple Kill was like Ancient Seal and its damage had both physical and magical components. On top of that, Red Maple must have had very high Tactics stat. He was the number one player of Purple Grape City after all. He would¡¯ve been dethroned already if he wasn¡¯t as strong as he was. ¡­¡­ Chiang! I took another hit on my shoulder. Red Maple had an excellent grasp of dynamics, and once he entered an attack rhythm it was often difficult to break it. Pushing past the pain, I swung the Cyan Dragon Shield backward to knock aside Cyan Frost¡¯s attack before sweeping her off her feet with a spinning kick. She fell chest first and made the battle slightly more pleasing to the eye than it should¡¯ve been. After I flipped back to an upright position, I raised my arm and fired Ancient Seal at a certain spot directly in front of me. There, Lin Yixin was battling against Red Hot Vortex! Boom! 712889! The Ancient Seal had super high attack power. Red Hot Vortex lost a ton of HP despite being a high-level cavalryman, and the disruption was enough for the Fruit Knife Goddess to stab him in the chest and end his life right there. \\\"Dammit!\\\" Unusually furious, Red Maple chased after me and did everything in his power to kill me. By now, Cyan Frost had flipped back on her feet to chase after me as well. While running away from the duo, I dropped a couple of Ancient Seals on top of the enemy priest, mage and bards to shred their magical shields and allowing Lin Yixin to kill them all with a devastating Ice Flame Slash. Now, 5 of Red Maple¡¯s party of 9 were dead. It was absolutely an unacceptable outcome for the Japanese general. Swhoosh! It was at this moment a shadow crashed against my chest. It was Purple Thunder¡¯s Divine General Skill, Shadow Explosion! BOOM! It felt like I was being ripped apart by a man-shaped bomb. My HP dropped another 653939! The explosion was so powerful that I was pushed back at least dozens of meters. Unrelenting, Red Maple raced after me and dropped 3 Maple Kills behind me! Both Maple Kill and Ancient Seal had no cooldown, but they couldn¡¯t be used on the same location until 7 seconds later. However, it was a different story if the target himself ran headlong into them. The smart bastard was hoping that I would suicide myself against his Divine General Skills! \\\"Shit!\\\" I stabbed the Chill of the Nine Provinces into the ground again and forcefully altered my trajectory once more. Unfortunately, I still got hit by two Maple Kills and dropped below 20% HP! \\\"Die!\\\" Cyan Frost shouted as she dropped down from the sky and swung her sword at my head! I hurriedly activated Cyan Dragon Scale and angled the Cyan Dragon Shield so that the attack would slide past it. However, I felt an unnatural chill approaching my back at high speed. It was the assassin, Purple Thunder! Bang! My shield was already in motion anyway, so I smashed it into the ground behind me and cut off Purple Thunder¡¯s Ambush by force. While running a tiny arc around my shield, I drove Cyan Frost and Red Maple back with Burning Blade Slash and followed up with a Rise of the Guardian Dragon! Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Dragon-shaped energies rushed toward the air. Cyan Frost and Purple Dragon were struck by the skill, but not Red Maple. Rise of the Guardian Dragon was in fact not an undodgeable skill, it just took an extreme amount of precision and skill to pull it off. Unfortunately, Red Maple was able to rise to the challenge and dodge all of its hits! ¡­¡­ \\\"Hah, hah, hah¡­\\\" When the skill finally came to an end, Red Maple¡¯s forehead was covered in sweat, and his breathing was heavy with exertion. Not only did he save his own life, he managed to waste 1000 of my gold. It was quite impressive. Unfortunately for him, neither Purple Thunder nor Cyan Frost had survived the attack. They had been battered and bruised by my Burning Blade Slash and Ancient Seal earlier. It was natural that they would fall to my Rise of the Guardian Dragon. Red Maple unconsciously looked between his wristguards¡ªthe Seventy-two Ghost Armaments Crimson Dragon Arm¡ªand my 19% HP bar. Judging from his defiant eyes, he clearly hadn¡¯t given up on robbing me of my Chill of the Nine Provinces. I had a cure for him though. Tenacity of the Dead + Rank 13 potion + Xuanyuan Art! +636510! +100000! +1273020! My HP instantly blew past the 75% mark and shattered Red Maple¡¯s heart to pieces. The Crimson Dragon Arm guaranteed a critical hit, yes, but even then there was no way he could delete 2 million HP in one go. Swhoosh swhoosh... Suddenly, a couple of Blood Alliance assassins entered the fray. Assassin¡¯s Creed was among them as well! \\\"Finally!\\\" Red Maple¡¯s face lit up with hope. Lin Yixin skidded to a stop beside me and warned, \\\"Be careful, Little Cheat¡­\\\" \\\"No worries. Let¡¯s kill the assassins first and deal with Red Maple later!\\\" I said. \\\"Okay!\\\" ¡­¡­ As we split up, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder how the other girls were doing. The fact that Assassin¡¯s Creed and 7 other players had successfully broken through their line of defense meant that things probably were going as well as I hoped. Beiming Xue and Lian Xin were strong, but they weren¡¯t metal-armor players. There was always a chance they might fall to the cruel assassins of Blood Alliance. Right now though, I was in no position to worry about them. I would have to defeat my own enemies first before helping them! Chiang chiang! Metallic sparks erupted in the air as Lin Yixin parried two hidden attacks in a row. Although the enemies¡¯ stealth wasn¡¯t dispelled, she was skilled enough to determine their location and attack angle just by observing the air flow and environmental disturbances. This was the judgment of a peak expert, and it was how Moonkiss and Farewell Song had dueled against one another. They probed, they whittled away at the enemy¡¯s HP, and they launched a decisive strike when the timing was right. \\\"Die die die¡­\\\" Lin Yixin¡¯s Holy Energy¨Cempowered sword cut through the air and successfully killed two assassins in one swing. However, it came at the cost of being stunned by Assassin¡¯s Creed himself. However, Beauty Lin wore metal armor, even if her Light Wanderer class was more fragile than Warrior or Magic Knight. Knowing that he wouldn¡¯t be able to instakill her, Assassin¡¯s Creed left her alone, reentered stealth and charged toward me. Rustling sounds appeared all around me. Red Maple was charging toward me as well. I knew what both Blood Alliance and the Japanese were planning. Both Red Maple and Assassin¡¯s Creed were willing to pay 10 levels each on top of everyone they had lost so far as long as they could get me to drop the Chill of the Nine Provinces. ¡­¡­ Inside the party channel, Lin Yixin whispered, \\\"Dear, Frightening Slash!!!\\\" \\\"I know¡­\\\" As I ran toward the boss, Red Maple declared with a malevolent gaze, \\\"Don¡¯t let him escape! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand must die no matter what!\\\" Chapter 1354 \\\"You miss me, boy?\\\" Bloody Minstrel Ornos declared with a sinister and terrifying smile on his face, but it almost felt like the greeting of an old friend. To be fair, the skeletal mage was a hundred times more appealing than the Japanese players and honorless assassins chasing behind me. \\\"Yes, I¡¯m back!\\\" I skidded a dozen or so meters to Ornos¡¯s side while blocking Blaze Blast from him. Behind me, Red Maple asked Assassin¡¯s Creed, \\\"What the hell does he think he¡¯s doing? Does he really think he can kill the boss in this situation?\\\" Assassin¡¯s Creed: \\\"Maybe he has a skill that can instantly delete 25% of the boss\\\''s HP[1]?\\\" \\\"Doesn¡¯t matter. We can survive the boss until he dies!\\\" Red Maple declared while running toward me. One warrior and five assassins raced toward me. I smiled. I imbued the Chill of the Nine Provinces with a purple energy and stabbed Ornos¡¯s stomach using the Frightening Slash. After letting out a howl of pain, the skeletal magus immediately raised his scepter and cast a Blade of Shield Breaking. Dark clouds formed above our heads, but instead of water it rained bloody swords within a hundred yards of the boss! \\\"Shit!\\\" Red Maple realized what was going on and shouted, \\\"Guard!\\\" Too bad for him, Blade of Shield Breaking was a Magic Attack. Guard wouldn¡¯t do anything to reduce the damage. ¡­¡­ I swung my sword and summoned Battle Astral Wind. This was the reason I hadn¡¯t used this super defensive skill until now. Red Maple¡¯s eyes just about popped out of his eye sockets when he saw me casting the Battle Astral Wind. He uttered through gritted teeth, \\\"Shit! It was a setup! He wants us to be hit by the boss\\\''s skill!\\\" Bang! 978287! Red Maple lost almost a million HP and dropped to red health in an instant. Swhoosh! Before he could react, I appeared in front of him and slammed an elbow against his throat. At the same time, I activated Chains of Freedom and watched as the red chains wrapped around his torso. Red Maple stared at it while muttering, \\\"What¡­ what is¡­\\\" I smirked. \\\"You can die now!\\\" \\\"Dammit!\\\" By the time Red Maple came back to his senses, it was already too late. My Burning Blade Slash had already penetrated his chest. Not done yet, I activated Heavenly River Transformation and struck him with my Xuanyuan Slash. Maybe my Burning Blade Slash had already killed him, or maybe it hadn¡¯t. I wasn¡¯t taking any chances. Boom! Far away, Lin Yixin cheered me on. \\\"Do it, Little Cheat!\\\" ¡­¡­ There were no surprises. As Red Maple let out a groan and died, he dropped 10 levels and a floor of potions and equipment. Chains of Freedom increased my target¡¯s equipment drop rate by 300%, and I had a total of 100 Luck. It would take an insanely lucky person to not drop a single piece of equipment while Chains of Freedom was still in effect, if that was even possible. Unfortunately, it looked like Lady Luck was at least partially on Red Maple¡¯s side today. He only dropped two pieces of equipment, and none of them looked like his wristguards. Still, I swiped them all before casting Earth Escape to get rid of the boss\\\''s aggro. Swhoosh! By the time I resurfaced on the ground, the battle was already over. My Dark Pupils revealed only 3 orange figures, and they were Lin Yixin, Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin. Lin Yixin only had 31% HP left. Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue¡¯s robes looked like they were about to fall apart, and both their HP bars were below 20%. This had been a fierce battle for sure. \\\"Eve, Beiming and Moon Dew all died?\\\" I asked. He Yi replied in the party channel, \\\"Yes¡­\\\" Lian Xin said, \\\"Boss died protecting me and Sister Mingyue¡­\\\" I was a bit lost for words as I stared at the corpses on the ground. \\\"I did not think this battle would be this close¡­\\\" Murong Mingyue disagreed. \\\"Each of these people is a famous expert in their respective server, you know? You should be proud that we managed to kill them all with just the 7 of us. By the way, you took out Red Maple with the Chains of Freedom, right? What did he drop?\\\" I took out the items from my bag and showed them. Moon Spirit War Boots: War Boots, Level 220 Archean Immortal-grade, 6-star Outstanding. God Condensation Ring: Ring, Level 210 Archean Immortal-grade, Attack increased by 70% and HP regeneration speed by 35%, 7-star Outstanding. ¡­¡­ \\\"Unfortunately, the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments Crimson Dragon Arm didn¡¯t drop¡­\\\" I said a bit dejectedly. Lin Yixin consoled me, \\\"It¡¯s okay. You know, we¡¯re lucky Red Maple ran into us immediately after he entered Bloody Shield Domain instead of, say, Warsky or Laughing At The Heavens¡­\\\" \\\"Why?\\\" \\\"Because of the Crimson Dragon Arm, of course! This Ghost Armament¡¯s purpose is to drop one¡¯s desired equipment. Had Red Maple run into Warsky first, there was a high chance the Immortal Blade would¡¯ve changed hands. You saw yourself what Red Maple was wearing right? All of his equipped items were either Archean or Ancient Immortal-grade equipment. Warsky has become stronger, but he¡¯s still an amalgamation of RMB and skill. His chances of beating Red Maple are less than 40%.\\\" I smiled. \\\"That is true¡­\\\" Lian Xin added, \\\"Still, everything went well, and now you¡¯ve dealt a massive blow to Red Maple. Even if he still has the Crimson Dragon Arm, it will take him a while to regain the 10 levels he just lost. He won¡¯t be doing much damage to the China server in the meantime. Seriously though, both the Crimson Dragon Arm and big bro¡¯s Song of Freedom are sooooooo stupid. How can such items exist in this game¡­\\\" I grinned. \\\"I know right?\\\" Lin Yixin puffed up her 34Ds and let out a sigh of relief. \\\"I¡¯m really glad we won this fight. Little Xin is right though. The Twelve Divine Armaments are all straightforward equipment: high stats, high Attack, and absolutely devastating. The Seventy-two Ghost Armaments are technically utility items, but their effects are sooooooooo stupid it¡¯s not even funny. Aaaaaaaah! Goddammit! Whether it be the Ghost Lake Mirror¡¯s 100% detection avoidance, the Song of Freedom¡¯s 10-level drop, and the Crimson Dragon Arm¡¯s pre-chosen equipment drop, they¡¯re all so, so, soooooooooo stuuuuuuuupid! If only I could have one, two or three of them¡­\\\" I couldn¡¯t stop myself from rolling my eyes. Should I laugh or cry at the fact that this shameless girl was my girlfriend? Then again, I was also an expert, so I was just as shameless as she was. top experts were all vulgar. It was a law as immutable as Murphy¡¯s Law and the like. ¡­¡­ \\\"What do we do now?\\\" I asked. Lian Xin said, \\\"Boss told us not to wait for them and engage the boss first. All the components¡ªtanks, healer and DPS¡ªare present after all. There¡¯s no chance we can¡¯t kill a boss with only 25% HP left. Also, it¡¯ll be 20 minutes before the gate of Bloodthirsty Castle opens again, and until then their souls are going to be stuck outside. We can also be sure that no one¡ªnot from Blood Alliance or the Japanese at least¡ªwill interrupt us until then.\\\" I nodded. \\\"Alright, I guess we¡¯ll do our best to defeat Ornos during this time. Yiyi, Red Maple¡¯s Moon Spirits War Boots should be a good fit with you, so take them. I¡¯ll keep the ring for Eve since she needs a boost to her Attack.\\\" After Lin Yixin put on the Archean Immortal-grade war boots Red Maple had traveled long and far to deliver to her, she beamed. \\\"The boss is regenerating HP, so let¡¯s not waste any more time and take it out!\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" ¡­¡­ As usual, I was the main tank of the party. There were only four of us left, but we still fought in a methodical and scientific manner. I died twice during this time and lost 1 level, but we managed to drop Ornos to 1% HP in less than ten minutes. \\\"Little Xin, enough. Give Lu Chen the last hit!\\\" Lin Yixin said while withdrawing. Lian Xin nodded and put away her scepter. The Chill of the Nine Provinces shivered as I unleashed Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo. One last Rise of the Guardian Dragon later, the bag of old bones finally collapsed to his knees and wailed, \\\"I knew it. I am too old for this. I¡¯m sorry I can¡¯t give you your happiness anymore, girls of Spirit Capital City. I¡¯m sorry this holy magus who used to last three hours per session can never warm your beds anymore¡­\\\" Thud! I planted my boots against the old mage¡¯s face and said, \\\"The girls will naturally find strong, handsome lads to warm their beds themselves, so rest in peace already you sack of shit!\\\" \\\"That is the most shameless dialogue I¡¯ve ever heard in my life¡­\\\" Lin Yixin said while lifting her dainty shoulders. Murong Mingyue simply smirked and said nothing. Pop pop pop¡­ Finally, Ornos died and dropped a floor of equipment or items. Just in case we missed an assassin or two¡ªespecially since Beiming wasn¡¯t around to watch over us¡ªI put all the equipment into my bag first before inspecting them. There was a fan that looked like it was concealing a divine dragon, a necklace that glowed a deep blue radiance, and a pair of cloth armor wristguards with slightly lacking luster. They all seemed to be pretty good though. \\\"Should we wait until the others return before we check the stats?\\\" I asked. \\\"Sure.\\\" Lin Yixin nodded. A while later, He Yi, Beiming Xue and Moon Dew revived in succession. While Murong Mingyue healed her, He Yi said, \\\"There are a dozen or so Blood Alliance souls around the area, but they didn¡¯t dare to revive because they think we¡¯re camping them. Red Maple, Purple Thunder and the Japanese aren¡¯t around though. I think it¡¯s because their resurrection points are quite far away from here. It will probably take them an hour at least to make it back.\\\" I nodded. \\\"That is wonderful news, Eve. Here, take this God Condensation Ring. It was dropped by Red Maple. If everyone¡¯s ready, I¡¯m going to inspect the boss drops now.\\\" He Yi smiled brightly. \\\"Wow, I wasn¡¯t expecting to be compensated for dying~\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ I picked up the fan first and brought up its stats screen. It was even more powerful than I had suspected it to be¡ª Hidden Dragon Fan (Lower Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 11000~13500 Intelligence: +2550 Stamina: +2500 Agility: +2450 Strength: +2400 Tactics: +215 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 195% Passive: The caps of all Tactician stratagems are increased by 50% Slots: 17 Outstanding Property: Hidden Dragon Strike. When attacking a target, a small chance to summon an invisible divine dragon to attack the target, dealing 170% damage and halving the effectiveness of healing they received for 120 minutes. Introduction: Hidden Dragon Fan was found in the eastern mountains of ancient times. Legend says that there was a divine dragon who cultivated in the mountains for tens of thousands of years. After it attained completion, the bones it left behind were discovered by a herb collector and donated to an ancient emperor. The emperor requested an ancient divine smith to forge it into a weapon, but the smith was unable to melt the bones despite ten years of trying. In the end, he made it into the spine of an unparalleled divine fan that would be later known as the Hidden Dragon Fan. Level Requirement: 220 Reputation Requirement: 750000 1. T/N: normally I would say this is absolutely nonsensical, but if I was a character in the story and I know all the bullshit Lu Chen has pulled up until this point, I would be asking the same thing myself Chapter 1355 \\\"This fan¡­\\\" I gave the Hidden Dragon Fan a wave before putting it back in my bag. \\\"This is clearly Lu Buyi¡¯s fan. Since the guy isn¡¯t here, I want to thank everyone on behalf of Lu Buyi for helping us make the number one tactician of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, if not the entire world!\\\" He Yi couldn¡¯t stop smiling. \\\"This Level 220 tactician fan is incredibly strong and perfect for Lu Buyi. It increases one¡¯s stratagem cap by 50%, meaning that his Purple Dragon can now increase all stats by 150%! That¡¯s so OP¡­\\\" I nodded. \\\"Yes. Just imagine our Holy Mage Legion blasting away at the enemy from behind 4000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen commanded by Lu Buyi himself, with their Defense, Attack, HP, Magic Resist all boosted by 150%. Now imagine that this army is standing side by side with Gui Guzi¡¯s 4000 Knight God¨Cbuffed Dragonlight Cavalry as well. No way Warsky Alliance can punch through our formation, no matter how many Gold Cavalrymen they possess.\\\" Lin Yixin mused while holding my hand, \\\"Man, I¡¯m so jealous of Ancient Sword¡¯s troop composition. Your Holy Mages are the unstoppable force, and your Dragonlight Cavalry are the immovable object. On the other hand, Snowy Cathaya only has¡­\\\" I tilted my head at her. \\\"You¡¯re not going to say that you ¡®only¡¯ have the Dragon Punisher Archers, are you? Offensive-wise, your Dragon Punisher Archers and our Holy Mages are more or less on the same level. Their DPS may be inferior to ours, but the 100-yard boost to their attack range more than makes up for it. They can now pepper enemies hit Shock Arrows and Spiraling Arrow Blades from 150 yards away without losing any attack power due to Far Shot. If that isn¡¯t OP, what is?\\\" \\\"I guess you¡¯re right¡­\\\" I moved onto the next equipment. It was a deep blue necklace with a rhombus-shaped deep sea gem for a pendant. Magical runes were floating all over it. I waved my hand over it, and its powerful stats caused the girls¡¯ jaws to hit the floor¡ª Dragon Demise Necklace (Lower Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Intelligence: +3150 Stamina: +3100 Agility: +3050 Strength: +2900 Tactics: +220 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 155% Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 90000, and MP regeneration speed by 40% Slots: 18 Outstanding Property: Dragon Demise Protection. The durability of the user¡¯s Magic Shield is increased by 100%, and the cooldown period after the Magic Shield is destroyed is reduced by 75%. Introduction: In ancient times, when the giant dragons still dominated the world, the dying dragons would seek out their own tombs and lay in wait for death. Most of them had decomposed to just bones, but one dragon¡¯s energy had transferred itself to the nearest gemstone instead. When a cultivator with incredible magical power discovered this gemstone, he forged it into the Dragon Demise Necklace. It is said that the wearer of this necklace is protected by the God of Magic themself. Level Requirement: 225 Reputation Requirement: 850000 ¡­¡­ \\\"Gulp¡­\\\" I gulped visibly before looking at Lian Xin. \\\"Aren¡¯t you happy you¡¯re the only offensive magic user in this entire party, Little Xin? You don¡¯t even need to roll for this Lower Divine Armament! This Dragon Demise Necklace will increase your survivability and magic power considerably, right?\\\" Lian Xin moved closer and tentatively touched the Dragon Demise Necklace. Then, she beamed like the sun and said, \\\"Wow! Are you sure about this, big bro? Can I really have this amazing necklace?\\\" I nodded. \\\"Do you even need to ask? You¡¯re literally the only one who can use it to its fullest potential.\\\" \\\"Mn mn!\\\" Excited, Lian Xin accepted the Dragon Demise Necklace and equipped it on her person. The translucent beads around her neck looked incredible, and the deep sea gemstone was sitting right above her cleavage. Speaking of which, Lian Xin¡¯s low-cut mage robe was excellently designed. Lian Xin wasn¡¯t much older than Beiming, meaning that she hadn¡¯t fully matured into an adult woman yet. The robe made her look less like a girl and more like a woman. It should be obvious, but both Lian Xin and Beiming had a ton of admirers in Sky City. According to Beiming, she had a two-digit number of players messaging her and requesting to meet her offline every day. It got so bad that they were forced to turn off the option to accept friend requests from strangers. I asked Lian Xin, \\\"How do your stats look now, Little Xin?\\\" Lian Xin replied smilingly while caressing her new necklace, \\\"My base max HP is at 400k, so I have over 1 million HP with the buffs from my card and Sister Lin Yixin¡¯s Bombshell. My Magic Attack has gone up by a lot as well. I love this Dragon Demise Necklace!\\\" I smiled. \\\"That¡¯s good¡­\\\" Beside me, Moon Dew exclaimed in astonishment, \\\"OMG, you¡¯re now a mage with 1 million max HP and a Magic Shield with 200% durability. Is there anyone in the world who can beat you 1v1 now?\\\" Lian Xin pointed at me without hesitation. \\\"Big bro can still one-shot me with a single Xuanyuan Slash since my equipment only reduces my damage received by 14%...\\\" I disagreed. \\\"Theoretically yes, but practically speaking it¡¯s not that easy. Xuanyuan Slash has plenty of length but only a width of 5 to 10 yards. With your reaction speed, you absolutely can Blink away from my Xuanyuan Slash before I can hit you. That¡¯s why I always force the enemy mages or archers to use their escape tools before ending their lives with Xuanyuan Slash¡­\\\" Lian Xin shot me a somewhat exasperated look. \\\"You don¡¯t have to tell me that, big bro¡­\\\" Lin Yixin giggled. \\\"Yeah, yeah, stop bringing up your younger sister¡¯s trauma, you evil man. Anyway, show us the last piece of equipment already so we can run up to the fourth floor and finally get rid of Bloodthirsty Emissary. I want to sleep before dawn arrives¡­\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" I nodded. Unfortunately, the third piece of equipment was a complete downer. It was a pair of Silver-grade wristguards that was worth at most 5 gold in Sky City and would be better off sold to the NPCs. It did have a high level requirement¡ª235 to be exact¡ªbut all the same, who the fuck would want to wear such a thing!? ¡­¡­ I dropped the Silver-grade wristguards on the ground because even the random drop of a Dark Mercenaries player was better than it. Then, I distributed the enhancement gems to everyone. While doing so, I discovered I had mixed up a Purple Gold Divine Crystal and gave it a look. To my surprise, it was a Quality 100 Divine Crystal. Who would¡¯ve thought that this tiny crystal could be traded for 100k gold with the NPCs? Moon Dew covered her mouth as she exclaimed, \\\"OMG, this is just¡­ so unfair!!\\\" \\\"What? What¡¯s wrong?\\\" \\\"When I was grinding the Snow Wolf Cave at Dragonbone Mountain Range with Xu Yang and Gui Guzi, we killed 5 Level 280 Archean Immortal Rank bosses in total but didn¡¯t drop a single Divine Crystal. However, Lu Chen dropped 3 Divine Crystals in just 2 bosses! How is this possible?\\\" \\\"That¡¯s the power of 100 Luck, girl. Let¡¯s get rolling, shall we?\\\" A short while later, Murong Mingyue became the proud owner of the 100 Quality Divine Crystal with 78 points. She said happily, \\\"Yay! I can imagine all the good food I¡¯m going to buy with this money already¡­\\\" He Yi snorted. \\\"It¡¯s always food with you. Let¡¯s head to the fourth floor now¡­\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" ¡­¡­ With me as the point, we returned to the hexagram formation Ornos had been sealed in and looked up. There were stone stairs leading toward somewhere that was fully shrouded by darkness. There was no telling what might be waiting for us up there. \\\"žž¡­¡­\\\" Thud thud... I lit the way forward with the deep blue light of my Chill of the Nine Provinces and walked up the stairs. When I entered the fourth floor, I suddenly felt a terrible chill and shuddered. The fourth floor was almost the same as the third floor in that the map was all rocks and passages. There were also no hints as to the boss\\\''s location. I activated Dark Pupils, and this line immediately appeared above the skill interface: Current range due to environmental limitation: 75 yards. God dammit, this map was so high-level that it limited the range of my Dark Pupils. The Aegis Combat System with a scanning range of over 1000 yards had suddenly been limited to just 75 yards or slightly better than a Clear As Flame. Still, it was better than nothing. In the dim lighting, I saw a red shadow standing directly in front of me. She was a high-level fiend-rank assassin girl. She had long, pale legs and an incredibly sexy figure. She wore a triangular chain leather armor that just barely concealed her private parts and a cloak that was almost transparent. Her face was covered by a black mask, but I could see that her eyes were full of murderous intent. \\\"Watch out. This floor is full of assassin-type mobs. Do your best, Beiming!\\\" I said. Beiming Xue giggled. \\\"Don¡¯t worry, big bro. I always do my best. Let¡¯s go!\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" I gripped the Chill of the Nine Provinces and used Thunderous Charge to engagethe stealthed assassin girl, stunning her. Then, I cut her neck with Burning Blade Slash. Level 308 or not, there was no way she could tank the power of the Chill of the Nine Provinces. \\\"Ugh¡­\\\" After the mob had recovered herself, she danced lithely to my side and stabbed me with a Gouge, successfully stunning me for 1.7 seconds. Then, she hit the same area with Blade Vortex + armor-breaking skill combo that deleted over 400k HP in an instant. As usual, a high-level assassin¡¯s ability to ignore armor was no joke. Thud! Thankfully, Beiming Xue managed to Shock Arrow the assassin girl before she could do any more damage, and a couple of swings from He Yi and Lin Yixin were all it took to kill the leather-armor class mob. As she died, she dropped crimson wristguards. I picked them up and smiled widely¡ª Moonshadow Walker Wristguards (Heaven-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 5400 Magic Resist: 4980 Agility: +1450 Stamina: +1500 Intelligence: +1300 Passive: Increases user¡¯s physical attack power by 27% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Agility by 10% Slots: 12 Outstanding Property: Moonshadow, increases user¡¯s stealth effectiveness by 12% Property: Moonshadow Walker Set, Wristguards Level Requirement: 220 Reputation Requirement: 400000 ¡­¡­ \\\"Looks like this mob drops a Level 220 Heaven-grade set that is on par with the S2 set, but unlike the S2 set we can sell them since they¡¯re not bound. As a full set, the equipment increases stealth effectiveness by 70%. We should gather a full set for Cute Little Naughty or sell it for gold.\\\" The girls all nodded. \\\"Let¡¯s get grinding then. I don¡¯t want to wait until Dark Mercenaries and God¡¯s Domain ambush us again¡­\\\" Chapter 1356 Crack! Blood dripped down my Chill of the Nine Provinces as I took out another assassin girl. There was something I wanted to complain about though. First, the assassin girl always let out a shocking moan when she died. Okay, whatever. However, every time the mob collapsed on the ground, her cape would cover her entire person except her deep blue-colored underwear. At this point, it became obvious that the designer of this floor was a bit of a pervert. I didn¡¯t want to look at it, but it was an impossible task when your goal was to grind the mob over and over. \\\"Say, do you think Dark Mercenaries, Blood Alliance and God¡¯s Domain will come after us again?\\\" Lin Yixin asked while picking up a card. Murong Mingyue waved her scepter. \\\"Who knows? Common sense doesn¡¯t work on crazy people like them.\\\" I answered, \\\"Let¡¯s start with God¡¯s Domain. Red Maple lost 10 levels and 2 of his main pieces of equipment to my Chains of Freedom. Cyan Frost, Purple Thunder and the other JGL Hall of Famers have also dropped a level. They probably won¡¯t come after us anymore. Red Maple is arrogant, but he isn¡¯t stupid. If he couldn¡¯t beat us earlier, what are the chances he can beat us now that his party has suffered a devastating blow? He may as well just gift me his Crimson Dragon Arm. No, the wiser option for him would be to seek out the other Chinese players in Bloody Shield Domain and gather their equipment with the Crimson Dragon Arm. Of course, I can¡¯t say he won¡¯t come after us once his level and equipment are back to par.\\\" He Yi nodded. \\\"Lu Chen is right. After Red Maple lost Purple Grape City, he has been accumulating his strength in Wallow¡­ ah pooh, I mean Swallow Ear Canton for several months straight. An enduring man like him definitely won¡¯t commit suicide willy-nilly. Dark Mercenaries and Blood Alliance though, they are much harder to predict.\\\" I smiled in agreement. \\\"Yes. It¡¯s very possible that Dark Mercenaries will say ¡®fuck it¡¯ and come after us even after Now and Forever has lost 10 levels. It¡¯s because they are extremely far behind us to begin with, and Amber Pupil is nothing but bold. If they wipe again, but they manage to steal any one of my equipment as a result, then it¡¯ll be an overall win for them.\\\" Murong Mingyue said, \\\"Yeah. Now and Forever¡¯s equipment is nothing compared to Lu Chen¡¯s Divine Armaments, Ghost Armaments or even Sacred Armaments¡­\\\" Lian Xin smiled. \\\"That¡¯s fine. Let them come. It¡¯s not like we have anything better to do¡­\\\" Me: \\\"Let¡¯s continue¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ Three hours later, we had killed almost every mob on the floor and collected 11 complete Moonshadow Walker sets in total. We still didn¡¯t see the boss though. The only area we hadn¡¯t cleared yet was the centermost area, so Bloodthirsty Emissary had to be there. I pointed my sword to the front. \\\"Bloodthirsty Emissary is most likely 100 yards ahead of us¡­\\\" He Yi said, \\\"He¡¯s an assassin-type boss, right? Do you think Dark Pupils and Clear As Flame can see through his stealth?\\\" Lin Yixin shrugged. \\\"Hard to say.\\\" Beiming Xue replied, \\\"I¡¯m not confident at least¡­\\\" I declared, \\\"There is only one answer, and that is no. Bosses are basically cheat existences. Not only do they have superior stats, I bet you that Bloodthirsty Emissary has an item like the Ghost Lake Mirror that gives perfect stealth¡­\\\" Beiming Xue said, \\\"That¡¯s good though, right? If we can drop another Ghost Lake Mirror, we can turn Cute Little Naughty into a top-tier assassin¡­\\\" \\\"Nah. The Seventy-two Ghost Armaments are supposed to be unique. On the off chance the boss does drop an equipment of the same effect, it won¡¯t be called the Ghost Lake Mirror¡­\\\" \\\"Why are we wasting our breath then? Go kill that Bloodthirsty Emissary already, big bro¡­\\\" \\\"What a great younger sister you are. Alright, I¡¯m going¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ I activated Battle Astral Wind before approaching the center of the map cautiously. The area looked crimson red on the minimap, so the chances that the boss was here was extremely high. I kept my footsteps as light as possible even though the boss most likely could hear it coming anyway. A cold breeze blew in from the window and rustled the dead leaves and dust on the ground. This place¡ªthis entire castle in general¡ªdidn¡¯t look like a good place to live in, but the important thing was that it was advantageous to me. The dust, the leaves and even the wind would help me identify the boss\\\''s position later. Stealth wasn¡¯t impossible to beat even if it was completely impossible to see through it with detection skills. After all, one hit was all it took to break it. As I progressed forward, I entered a huge indoor square that was covered in drawn runes. They looked like parts of a gigantic magic formation. At the center of the magic formation was a crystal coffin with a young and beautiful woman in it. She had clearly been dead for some time, and unless I was sorely mistaken, she was none other than Frederick¡¯s daughter, Serena. What a shame that she had passed away... Kneeling on one knee and bowing his head toward the crystal coffin was a war general clad in battle armor and blood-red cloak. Heaven knows how long he had been kneeling like this. All I knew was that he was utterly silent. My Dark Pupils finally worked when I came within 50 yards of him. The general was none other than Bloodthirsty Emissary, and he was an assassin who also wore metal armor. What a shameless motherfucker... Swhoosh! The girls sucked in a deep breath when I shared his stats screen in the party channel. The true challenge was finally upon us, and our enemy was a Level 310 Ancient Immortal Rank boss. This was going to be sick¡ª Bloodthirsty Emissary Zishui (Ancient Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 310 Attack: 59000~72400 Defense: 80000 HP: 200,000,000 Property: Stun skills land 100% of the time. Property: Shield Breaking. Ignores Magic Shield and invincibility shields. Skills: Remote Assassination, Bloody Blind, Kingly Cripple, Bloody Massacre Introduction: Bloodthirsty Emissary Zishui was the commander-in-chief of the ancient Zishui Empire. He was a martial arts experts since young, and he was especially proficient in the arts of assassination and stealth. He was considered a once-in-a-millennium genius. However, the Zishui Empire lost its royal power during a war and was taken over in a barbaric fashion by the Clansmen of the Dark afterward. Ziyu was imprisoned in a cage without any food or water until the princess of the Clansmen of the Dark, Serena, released him. After that, Zishui formed a thief group to survive in the wilderness. Seven years ago, he infiltrated the Clansmen of the Dark and stole Princess Serena away. ¡­¡­ Chiang! I slammed my blade into the ground and declared, \\\"Your time has come, Bloodthirsty Emissary.\\\" Zishui didn¡¯t look back, but he conjured an ice and a fire dagger before saying in a low tone, \\\"Leave, human adventurer. This is no place for you, and I have no wish to kill you. Appreciate your second chance in life and leave while you still can.\\\" I was surprised. It was rare to find a kind-hearted boss. I smiled a little before continuing, \\\"I cannot. I have accepte Frederick¡¯s request to take his daughter away from Bloodthirsty Castle. I won¡¯t leave unless you surrender Serena.\\\" \\\"What?!\\\" Zishui shuddered violently and turned around to face me. His handsome face warped by an expression of rage, he glared at me and declared, \\\"You want to take Serena with you? Dream on! I won¡¯t surrender Serena to anyone! No matter the odds, I will protect her until the day I die!\\\" Buzz! Energy rippled from the Chill of the Nine Provinces as I activated the Great Earth Transformation. I said quietly, \\\"Then we fight, Zishui. Remember, I didn¡¯t want to kill you¡­\\\" \\\"Die!\\\" Zishui exploded into motion and slammed his icy dagger into my blade. The impact was so powerful that my boots left a pair of skid marks on the ground. I responded immediately by thrusting the Cyan Dragon Shield into Zishui¡¯s face and unleashing the Burning Blade Slash. The flaming auras cut into Zishui¡¯s battle armor and triggered three damage numbers¡ª 198283! 223772! 273737! Dammit, I should¡¯ve expected this outcome. Without Purple Frost Concentration, not even I could breach the Defense of a Level 310 Ancient Immortal Rank boss! A smirk flashed across Zishui¡¯s lips as he stabbed my chest with his flaming dagger. There was a scorching sensation, and my vision abruptly turned into blackness. It was his Bloody Blind skill, and the combat log informed me that it lasted 4.9 seconds and couldn¡¯t be interrupted. Puchi! Relying on my other senses, I swung my sword in a wide arc and successfully landed my Purple Frost Concentration, lowering Zishui¡¯s Defense by 31%. At the same time, I cast War Crush and Rise of the Guardian Dragon to damage him. The combat log informed me that both skills had struck my target. Anticipating a devastating counterattack, I activated Cyan Dragon Scale to increase my Defense and resistances. I wasn¡¯t wrong. Just half a second later, Zishui landed Blade Vortex + Bloodbreak + armor break combo on my person and dealt a shocking amount of damage¡ª 392984! 419391! 412092! 719293! 671766! The combo would¡¯ve been enough to delete my HP from 100 to 0 if not for Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew¡¯s timely heals. Tenacity of the Dead and Xuanyuan Art later, I just barely avoided a most gruesome death. I fired a blind Thousand Ice Slash around me and against all odds, managed to freeze Zishui for 1.2 seconds. It wasn¡¯t nearly long enough though! \\\"Give me the party leader!\\\" Murong Mingyue immediately used Bright Mirror to remove my Blind status. Then, she returned the party leader to Lin Yixin. It took only 2 seconds to do so, so it didn¡¯t affect the combat too much. When I regained my vision though, I saw that Lin Yixin was dueling against Zishui. Unfortunately, the stat gap between the two of them was so huge that Lin Yixin had lost 50% of her HP in just the blink of an eye. I hurriedly ran over and regained the threat in a few hits. Behind us, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin were going all out. Zishui had 200 million HP, so there was literally no reason to hold back! \\\"Hah! Die!\\\" Suddenly, Zishui defied the standard rules of aggro and fired a flaming sword aura with his fire dagger. It pierced through Lian Xin¡¯s Telekinetic Shield like nothing and hit her hard¡ª 974772! Lian Xin couldn¡¯t believe it. She had nearly been one-shot by the skill. \\\"Watch out!\\\" I shouted, \\\"It¡¯s that Remote Assassination skill! It has an attack range of 35 yards, so make sure you¡¯re at least that far away from him! He¡¯ll kill you otherwise\\\" Lian Xin stuck out her tongue while moving to the back. \\\"What a ridiculous boss!!\\\" Chapter 1357 After I came to own the Guardian Dragon Armor, the Cyan Dragon Shield, the Fire God Helmet and many more Sacred Armaments or better defensive equipment, my HP and defensive stats were tough enough to go toe-to-toe against an Ancient Immortal Rank boss. Moreover, Ancient Immortal Rank bosses ultimately weren¡¯t Divine Rank bosses. As long as we could figure out their patterns, it was still very possible to end them without losing a single life. That was exactly what we did during the first twenty minutes we had fought against Bloodthirsty Emissary Zishui. There were three Icy Cyclone Domains surrounding the battlefield. Every 7 seconds or so, Beiming Xue would fire Skypiercer to further narrow the space Zishui could run to while I made the runs. If Zishui tried to enter stealth during this time, I could immediately break it with a skill or two. Zishui would enter stealth once every 15 seconds and flush away any threat we accumulated before attacking a random target. Usually, one well-timed and well-placed Coiling Dragon Revolution was enough to draw him back to me, but that didn¡¯t make the fight much easier. For 20 minutes, we fought cautiously and conscientiously. Eventually, Zishui¡¯s HP dropped to 50%. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! When the boss disappeared again, I backed a few steps and punched the ground, \\\"Rise of the Guardian Dragon! Show yourself!\\\" \\\"Roar roar roar¡­\\\" The columns of draconic energy roared and struck the invisible Zishui, breaking his stealth and staggering him for a bit. Activating Swift Dash, he rushed me like a lightning bolt and struck me in my chest armor before I could even raise the Chill of the Nine Provinces to parry it. My Guardian Dragon Armor let out a screeching wail as its surface split open with an ugly scar. After all the battering and punishment it had endured throughout the grind, its durability had finally fallen below 10%. That wasn¡¯t even the worst of it, however. The skill Zishui used was¡ª Beep! Combat Log: You have been hit by Bloodthirsty Emissary Zishui¡¯s \\\"Kingly Cripple¡±. All your stats have been reduced by 90% for 120 seconds! ¡­¡­ \\\"Oh no!\\\" My brain turned completely white as Zishui followed up with a basic attack that dealt over 7 million damage, killing me instantly. I resurrected myself with Resurrection Art and increased my Attack by 10%. However, what did it matter when all my stats were still reduced by 90%? Lin Yixin yelled before I could make a decision, \\\"Lu Chen, turn off Resurrection Art! We¡¯re going to wipe here!\\\" \\\"What?!\\\" I exclaimed in shock. \\\"Listen to me and turn off Resurrection Art now!\\\" she repeated a bit angrily. My brain caught up to her logic an instant later. Out of everyone in our 7-man party, I was the only one tanky enough to survive Zishui¡¯s attacks. However, Zishui had pretty much crippled me with his Kingly Cripple, and not even death could cut its duration prematurely. Without a main tank, there was only one way this boss fight could end. That was why Lin Yixin would rather we wiped of our own accord and restart with a tank than force the issue without it. As predicted, Zishui proceeded to murder Lin Yixin, He Yi and everyone else with Bloodbreak, Blade Vortex and more assassin skills. I too ate Remote Assassination and dropped dead a second time! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! One by one, the seven of us appeared in the nearest graveyard. At least there was no boring waiting or frantic corpse-running since we chose to wipe ourselves. \\\"So¡­ that was one hell of a fight,\\\" Beiming Xue started. I nodded in agreement. \\\"Kingly Cripple is just too OP.\\\" Lin Yixin said, \\\"Our strategy is fine until Zishui falls to 50% HP. After that, he will hit the highest-aggro player at the time with Kingly Cripple. The skill has a cooldown and duration of 120 seconds, meaning that someone has to be crippled for the entire second half of the boss fight. This person cannot be Lu Chen, so I¡¯ll do it.\\\" He Yi nodded. \\\"Yes. The gate is opening in 7 minutes, so let¡¯s make our way over already. If we¡¯re fast enough, the boss shouldn¡¯t have regenerated to full health. I am not looking forward to fight Zishui all over again.\\\" \\\"Me too. Let¡¯s go!\\\" ¡­¡­ The 7 of us¡ªour souls to be exact¡ªfloated toward the castle gate in a hurry. On the way, we saw a couple Dark Mercenaries players¡¯ souls, although neither Amber Pupil nor Now and Forever were among them. These players were probably just grinding fiend-rank mobs on the first and second floors, but they still died because, well, the mobs in Bloodthirsty Castle were just that ridiculous. Crack crack crack... The chains creaked ominously as the castle gate opened once more. In soul form, everyone¡¯s movement speed was increased by 100%, so we were able to travel a lot faster than normal. Even so, Zishui had regenerated to 87% HP by the time we finally made it back to the fourth floor. Swhoosh! The second I revived, I immediately downed a health potion and sat on the floor, waiting for my HP to regenerate back to full. After the rest of the girls came back to life, they too went through the motions of restoring their HP and MP, as well as reapplying all the necessary buffs. When we were finally ready, I said, \\\"Let¡¯s go!\\\" We fought the boss exactly the same way we did earlier for 15 minutes. This time though, I pulled back right before the boss\\\''s HP fell to 50%. While Lin Yixin snatched the aggro with an Ice Flame Slash, Zishui declared with an expression of hatred and anger, \\\"You are courting death, girl!\\\" The second he landed a Kingly Cripple on Lin Yixin, I immediately bashed him to the side with the Cyan Dragon Shield and retook the aggro with Burning Blade Slash. I wasn¡¯t going to allow him to kill Lin Yixin for obvious reasons. After Lin Yixin had put about 100 meters between herself and Zishui, she said smilingly, \\\"I¡¯m going to take a break for now. The boss will use Kingly Cripple again in 2 minutes, and this time it¡¯ll be Sister Eve¡¯s turn to tank it. We¡¯ll keep taking turns so that Little Cheat can fight Zishui at his full strength until the end.\\\" He Yi nodded. \\\"I know!\\\" Everything proceeded as planned. 120 seconds later, He Yi stole the aggro and tanked Zishui¡¯s Kingly Cripple. Just like before, I retook aggro before Zishui could kill her and covered her retreat. At the same time, Lin Yixin rejoined the battle with full stats. Up until this point, we had a strategy for each and every one of Zishui¡¯s battle patterns. By having He Yi and Lin Yixin taking turns tanking Zishui¡¯s Kingly Cripple, I was able to focus on tanking the boss while leaving most of the damage dealing to Beiming Xue and Lian Xin. The boss had a lot of HP, but it was going down quickly thanks to our strategy. Time passed some more, and Zishui looked more and more haggard. His entire body was covered in cut wounds, his back and his front was riddled with arrows, his left shoulder armor was black with soot, and his right shoulder armor had ice on it. It was of course the work of our party. The intensity of Zishui¡¯s attacks seemed to grow the lower his HP dropped, but nothing he did was working against us. His ice and fire daggers were mostly blocked or dodged by my Battle Astral Wind, Cyan Dragon Shield and Ghost Spirit Step Art. I also had two super priests, Moon Dew and sis to keep me afloat the 50% mark. It wasn¡¯t over yet though. When the boss\\\''s HP dropped to 20%, we were met with a new challenge! ¡­¡­ \\\"You will pay for your crimes, sinners. In the name of the Bloodthirsty Emissary, I, Zishui, summon the ancient power¡ªBloody Massacre!\\\" The moment Zishui said this, our surroundings suddenly became enveloped in blood. The ground was covered in blood, and the ceiling itself was raining blood. This was already pretty disgusting, but it turned out that the blood was corrosive as well. My armor durability dwindled rapidly to 50%, and rust began to grow on my Chill of the Nine Provinces. My HP had also fallen to 15% or so. Bloody Massacre lasted 10 seconds in total. This was bad! Zishui wasn¡¯t idle during this time either. He stabbed me with Blade Vortex, and I became the first person in the party to die during this second attempt. Swhoosh! After I appeared in the graveyard, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue and everyone else appeared one after another as well. There were also a couple of Dark Mercenaries and Blood Alliance players in the graveyard, but we didn¡¯t speak to them because seriously, what was there even to talk about? While gripping my 17%-durability Chill of the Nine Provinces, I said, \\\"Bloody Massacre only has an effective range of 10 yards, so the next time he uses the skill, just back away and let me tank it. After I revive using Resurrection Art, we\\\''ll fight as usual and hopefully delete his last 20% HP without any trouble.\\\" Lin Yixin nodded before saying, \\\"I¡¯ll give you an equipment repair potion later. Right now, your Guardian Dragon Armor looks like those shit-tier armors on the streets¡­\\\" I blushed. \\\"Thanks, Yiyi!\\\" \\\"Let¡¯s go!\\\" ¡­¡­ Once more, we returned to the fourth floor of Bloodthirsty Castle. After I came back to life, I used the equipment repair potion Lin Yixin gave me and repaired the Guardian Dragon Armor. The armor couldn¡¯t go below 5% durability, or it would lose at least 50% of its effectiveness. I wouldn¡¯t be able to be the MT at that point. Not only that, I also borrowed a couple more equipment repair potions from the other girls to repair the rest of my equipment. A main tank must be prepared to starve to keep their equipment in pristine condition at all times, and frankly, I¡¯ve been prepared since a long time ago. After we healed back to full and restored our buffs, we went back to the boss room to challenge Zishui a third time. This time though, there were 40 new bodies in the room. Amber Pupil and Now and Forever were among them as well. \\\"Oh? Dark Mercenaries had fought against Zishui while we¡¯re gone?\\\" Lin Yixin gave Amber Pupil¡¯s leg a kick. \\\"He looks like he¡¯s been dead for at least 10 minutes¡­\\\" I sighed. \\\"Seeing as the boss is back to full health, it means that these useless bastards couldn¡¯t even stall it long enough to halt its HP regeneration. At least they can¡¯t come in and harass us since the gate just closed. This means we only have 60 minutes to kill the boss though. Let¡¯s finish this in one go, okay?\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" All the girls nodded heavily. I kept the boss busy and thwacked it hard with my Chill of the Nine Provinces. The third attempt went much smoother since we had learned to overcome the boss\\\''s two greatest hurdles. Lin Yixin and He Yi¡¯s teamwork also grew smoother over time as they took turns to tank Zishui¡¯s Kingly Cripple. Eventually, after 45 minutes of grueling battle and me losing a level to tank Zishui¡¯ Bloody Massacre, we finally reduced his HP down to 2%. \\\"Get ready to give Lu Chen the last hit, everyone. Also, make sure you activate your Clear As Flame and Dark Pupils to prevent any mishaps!\\\" He Yi whispered. I was already scanning our surroundings with Dark Pupils before she gave the warning, and I spotted two red figures about a hundred meters away from us. I said, \\\"There are two Blood Alliance assassins skulking about a hundred meters to our north. They¡¯ll be coming in anytime now. Yiyi, I leave them to you. They must go through my Icy Cyclone Domain if they wish to KS the boss, so you probably don¡¯t need to worry about missing them. Just make sure you end their lives.\\\" Lin Yixin nodded. \\\"Got it!\\\" I gritted my teeth. To be honest, our plan wasn¡¯t fool-proof. If Farewell Song was lurking somewhere, we couldn¡¯t know because his Ghost Lake Mirror gave him 100% stealth and prevented my Dark Pupils or Beiming Xue¡¯s Clear As Flame from seeing through him. Knowing him, he would be able to nab at least one piece of equipment from us. I wasn¡¯t a man who relied on the heavens to save me, so I kept a close eye on everything around me while fighting the boss. The cold wind was still blowing, and tree leaves were flying completely to its whim. As far as I could tell, there were no invisible units within 30 yards of us. If I was wrong, this person could only be a godlike assassin. ¡­¡­ Crack! I landed the last hit, and Zishui abruptly dropped to his knees. However, he grabbed my sword and begged, \\\"You have beaten me, young warrior, but please¡­ don¡¯t separate me and Serena¡­ don¡¯t return her to that sinful home of hers¡­\\\" Chapter 1358 Pop pop pop¡­ After Zishui was done begging, he finally died and dropped a floor of equipment, enhancement gems, magic stones and more. As expected of the final boss of Bloodthirsty Castle, his loot was plentiful. To avoid someone stealing the loot, I threw everything into my bag first. When the items were in my position according to the system, I sat down beside Zishui¡¯s body and pulled out the items one by one. There was a cool-looking bloody necklace with a spiraling skull as a pendant, a ring that glowed with moonlight, and a light purple translucent sword. Judging from its glow and design alone, I had no doubt that it was at least a Sacred Armament. Lin Yixin would want to wield this for sure. But first, let¡¯s check out the bloody necklace. I waved my hand over it, and everyone including me started salivating at its stats screen¡ª Pity of the Purgatory Gods (Ancient Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Strength: +3250 Stamina: +3200 Agility: +3100 Intelligence: +2950 Tactics: +210 Passive: Increases user¡¯s attack power by 110% and Defense by 70% Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 120000 and recovery speed from poisoned status by 50% Outstanding: Pardon of the Gods. 30% chance to avoid magic attacks. Slot: 18 Introduction: Within the dark and terrifying depths of hell, the gods ruled over the spirits of the dead. The divine spirits of the Purgatory were brutal and strong, so they constantly warred against each other without a shred of pity. For thousands and thousands of years, negative emotions kept accumulating, divine experts kept dying, and spiritualities were shattered one after another, seemingly endlessly. Finally, a single tear of pity was born within the Purgatory. These energies converged into the Pity of the Purgatory Gods, a necklace that stands above all else. Legend says that the wearer of this necklace will be bestowed with the Purgatory¡¯s greatest power. Level Requirement: 235 Reputation Requirement: 1000000 ¡­¡­ \\\"Oh man¡­\\\" I held the necklace in one hand while wiping my saliva with the other. \\\"This baby adds so much Strength and Stamina it¡¯s crazy, and there¡¯s a 110% boost to Attack to boot. This Pardon of the Gods gives the user a 30% chance to dodge all magic attacks, something that¡¯s never been seen in the game until now. This is a godlike item for any melee player¡­ Yiyi, Eve, this one¡¯s between the three of us. If either one of you roll it, please lend it to me for a day so I can bully Luo River God of the Capital in the champion arena..\\\" Lin Yixin shot me a disdainful glance. \\\"I cannot believe you. Sister Wang Luo is truly unfortunate to make an acquaintance of you¡­\\\" \\\"Yeah, yeah, like you won¡¯t do the exact same thing. Let¡¯s go!\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" All three of us were super nervous. He Yi was going to forfeit her right until she gave in to my firm insistence. We picked up our virtual dice and threw them. A heart-thumping moment later, the result was as follows¡ª 77! 12! 100! Lian Xin¡¯s eyes widened. \\\"Holy shit, who¡¯s the one who rolled a natural 100?\\\" They were my dice! I wasn¡¯t ashamed to admit that I felt a bit dizzy at that moment. To think that I would win this godlike necklace fair and square... I picked up the Pity of the Purgatory Gods and said, \\\"Alright, I¡¯ll be taking this necklace. Are you both okay with this?\\\" Lin Yixin shrugged. \\\"Sure. Just remember to help me when I get into a fight later!\\\" \\\"Of course!\\\" He Yi said, \\\"Lu Chen, you don¡¯t need your Necklace of the War God¡¯s Broken Blade anymore, right? Can you give it to me? I like its amazing 7-second stun¡­\\\" \\\"Sure!\\\" I removed the necklace and passed it to He Yi directly. Then, I equipped the Pity of the Purgatory Gods and watched my stats skyrocket. A vast amount of energy surged inside my body and made me feel like a martial expert who had just been gifted sixty years of internal qi in one go. I felt even better when I looked at my character stat screen ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Frostblade of Death) Class: Master Swordsman of Death Level: 237 HP: 1056890 Attack: 38750~44370 Defense: 97865 Magic Resist: 88920 Reputation: 1425400 Tactics: 2272 Luck: 100 ¡­¡­ Despite the levels I had lost throughout the boss fight, killing Zishui still propelled me all the way to Level 237. The most obvious change after equipping the Pity of the Purgatory Gods was that my base HP had finally exceeded a million. Assuming the best-case scenario, with my HP being buffed by the Undying Berserker Card for 100%, Purple Dragon for 150%, and a bard HP buff for 70%, my total HP would equal 1.05 million times 4.25 or 4,462,500 HP. No one could call themselves a tank in my presence, muahahahaha! \\\"Hello?\\\" Lin Yixin clapped my shoulder and said, \\\"Earth to Lu Chen? Can you go through the rest of the equipment first before you bask in happiness? Also, we still need to turn in the quest before we can go to sleep. I don¡¯t want to deepen my dark circles any more¡­\\\" I nodded. \\\"Yeah, sorry!\\\" I inspected the ring next. It only took me a second to decide to toss it into Lian Xin¡¯s hands¡ª Moon Spirit Ring: Level 230 Sacred Armament ring, increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 120% and max HP by 70000, reduces casting time by 15%. This was obviously a mage item, and the only one in our party who could use it was Lian Xin. ¡­¡­ Finally, we locked our eyes on the light purple sword. Lin Yixin clasped her hands together in excitement and said hopefully, \\\"Please be good, Zishui. You already gave us an Ancient Divine Armament and a Sacred Armament, so please don¡¯t let this sword fall short. Please please please¡­\\\" \\\"Enough¡­\\\" I rolled my eyes at her before bringing up the stats screen. To be honest, we already knew that this sword was going to be great. Even so, we were shocked by how good it really was¡ª Purple Spirit Sword (Sacred Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 14000~17200 Strength: +2850 Stamina: +2800 Agility: +2750 Intelligence: +2600 Tactics: +275 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 225% Passive: Increases user¡¯s splash effect by 45% Passive: When swinging the Purple Spirit Sword, 10% chance to deal triple damage. Can be stacked with critical hits. Slots: 18 Outstanding Property: Purple Wind. When attacking a target, there is a 15% chance to blast them with a powerful gust of purple wind. Deals massive amounts of damage to all targets within an area of 20 yards and slows them slightly. Introduction: The Purple Spirit Sword was a royal sabre of the ancient Ziyun Empire. It was forged by the divine smiths of the Purple Spirit Clan, but Zishui, the commander-in-chief of the Ziyun Empire, seized it and made it the national treasure of his empire. After the Ziyun Empire was gone, the sword had become Zishui¡¯s personal weapon. Legend says that the owner of the Purple Spirit Sword will obtain the kingly power to rule over countless people and heroes. Level Requirement: 235 Reputation Requirement: 1000000 ¡­¡­ My heart skipped a beat as I explained, \\\"God damn, this sword is on par with the Chill of the Nine Provinces. No wonder Sacred Armaments are considered to be on par with Lower Divine Armaments. As promised, this is yours, Yiyi. It¡¯s about time you switched out your Seven Star Veluriyam Sword anyway. The guild leader of Snowy Cathaya shouldn¡¯t be running around with a sword this outdated¡­\\\" Lin Yixin chided me while accepting the Purple Spirit Sword, \\\"Who do you think I was keeping this sword for? I would¡¯ve changed it a long time ago if it wasn¡¯t a gift from you, hmph hmph¡­\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" Tak! The Seven Star Veluriyam Sword disappeared, and in its place was the new and powerful Purple Spirit Sword. It so happened that Lin Yixin was wearing purple armor, so the purple sword complemented her well. Combined with the Crimson Crystal Dragon, she looked both cute and absolutely lethal. She truly deserved her title as the Fruit Knife Goddess. I continued going through the rest of Bloodthirsty Emissary¡¯s loot. Besides the usual enhancement gems and magic stones, Zishui also dropped two tokens in total. One was gold in color, and the other, purple. It was rare for any boss to drop two tokens at once¡ª Revival Stone: Revives any target whose death timer hasn¡¯t exceeded 100 minutes. Target rank must not exceed Immortal Rank, or the item won¡¯t take effect. Vassal Token: Usable by a City Lord only. Greatly enhances the properties of a city after use. ¡­¡­ I curled my lips. \\\"This Revival Stone can only be used one time, and it can¡¯t revive anyone beyond Immortal Rank. Its usage is situational at best. This vassal token though is a completely different story. I wonder if it would increase the power of Heart of the Holy Mages if I used it on Silver City?\\\" However, He Yi said, \\\"That would be a waste. Silver City will be contested every once in a while, and there¡¯s no telling if we may lose it one day. We should use it on Dark Moon City. After all, Dark Moon City is our guild¡¯s foundation in Sky City¡­\\\" I nodded in agreement before pulling Lin Yixin away from her sword, \\\"Hello, earth to Yiyi? Can we have this Vassal Token or not? Just so you know, a vote won¡¯t work in your favor. There¡¯s more Ancient Sword than Snowy Cathaya here, sooooooo¡­\\\" Lin Yixin hugged her sword tighter and said, \\\"Take it. This sword is all I needI¡­\\\" Murong Mingyue sweat bullets. \\\"OMG, Snowy Cathaya¡¯s leader is such a failure of a leader¡­\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" Lin Yixin: \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ \\\"Alright, we¡¯ve completed our final objective! Time to head back and turn in the quest, people!\\\" He Yi pointed at Zishui. \\\"Wait, we need to take the boss with us. Frederick asked us to bring us his head, but¡­\\\" I gave it some thought before replying, \\\"No, let¡¯s not do that. It¡¯s unnecessarily cruel, and if nothing else, it looked like Zishui truly loved Selena. Anyway, I¡¯m going to take Princess Serena¡¯s body now!\\\" \\\"Got it!\\\" I walked to the center of the map and tried to open the crystal coffin. However, it turned out that it was completely sealed. Left with no choice, I crouched on my feet, grabbed the bottom of the coffin, and summoned my strength as a 5-Strength warrior. Then, I let out a mighty roar and lifted it all the way to my shoulder. Finally, I walked back to Zishui¡¯s body and held it beneath my armpit. It was time to leave! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Suddenly, there were three flashes of light. It was Amber Pupil reviving with two Dark Mercenaries players. He watched us warily while saying, \\\"Fuck, we¡¯re too late! The boss is dead!\\\" I glanced at them carelessly before saying, \\\"Eve, Yiyi, take them out!\\\" Amber Pupil shuddered visibly before yelling, \\\"Run!\\\" ¡­¡­ The so-called tyrants of the outer lands vanished into the darkness like they were never there. Chapter 1359 With a crystal coffin on my shoulder and a boss\\\''s body beneath my armpit, the girls and I walked away from Bloodthirsty Castle feeling like the bosses of bosses. After we reached the gate, I took to the sky with Beiming Xue and Moon Dew just like before. Behind me, the rest of the girls were following on the Crimson Crystal Dragon and the Snow Crystal Dragon as well. One of the benefits of having a high-level mount was the super-high mobility. Even if the quest giver was at a completely different city, the player should still be able to reach them in an hour tops. In our case, it would¡¯ve taken 2 or 3 hours of travel time if we had to travel on foot, or 5 to 7 hours if we had to avoid the lightning formation as well. Half an hour later, my Ancient Divine Dragon glided down the sky and landed at the center of the Clansmen of the Dark village. Pa! After the landing, I put down the crystal coffin, stunning the onlookers in the process. At the same time, an armed Frederick ran out of the crowd and dropped to his knees beside the crystal coffin. Tears streamed down his face as he watched his dead daughter, \\\"Serena, my daughter. What happened to you? Didn¡¯t you promise me that you would return safe and sound?\\\" While I was setting down Zishui¡¯s corpse beside the crystal coffin, Frederick abruptly looked over with an expression of utter hatred. \\\"Damned Bloodthirsty Emissary! You killed my daughter? I¡¯ll¡­ I¡¯ll kill you!\\\" He raised his axe and struck Zishui right in the chest, shattering bones and spilling blood everywhere. Who would¡¯ve thought that Zishui would suffer such indignity even in death? I hurriedly grabbed Frederick¡¯s attention before he could cut off Zishui¡¯s head. \\\"Calm down, old man! Anyway, we brought Serena back to you as promised, so can we receive our reward now?\\\" \\\"Oh right, I almost forgot. Thank you for reuniting my daughter and me, young warrior. She may have departed from this world, but at least I¡¯ve fulfilled one of my responsibilities as a father¡­\\\" A system ding later, the great reward we were promised came in¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have completed the SSS Rank main quest [Frederick¡¯s Request]. You have gained the reward: Level +2, Reputation +50000, 100000 gold, Luck +4, and the item reward: \\\"Fire Qilin\\\"! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh! I gained 2 levels and 4 Luck in one go, but even that wasn¡¯t my greatest concern right now. What is this Fire Qilin? Is it a pet or a mount? I hurriedly opened my bag and found a crimson pet egg occupying a slot¡ª Fire Qilin (Mount Pet Egg): Ancient Immortal Rank Divine Beast. Legend says that it can inhale and exhale the heavenly flames. Mountable after it reaches adult stage. Holy shit! Not only was it a mount, it was an Ancient Immortal Rank Divine Beast! This meant that it was at least as good as the Crimson Crystal Dragon or the Snow Crystal Dragon! I didn¡¯t think that the quest would reward me this well! I cautiously asked the girls, \\\"So, what rewards did you all get?\\\" He Yi answered, \\\"A pair of Ancient Immortal-grade boots.\\\" Lin YIxin: \\\"I got nothing¡­\\\" Lian Xin: \\\"Nothing¡­\\\" Murong Mingyue: \\\"Nothing¡­\\\" Beiming Xue: \\\"40 Undead Berserker Cards¡­\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" It would be a death sentence to say anything about their rewards, so instead I tossed the Fire Qilin mount pet egg into Beiming Xue¡¯s hands and said, \\\"Lil Beiming, I know you don¡¯t have a flying mount yet, but I hope that a king of the land will make up for it. I promise you it¡¯ll be amazing after it enters the adult stage¡­\\\" \\\"Ah?\\\" Beiming Xue blinked in disbelief for a moment. Then, she erupted in joy, \\\"Big bro!\\\" I laughed. \\\"Bind it now. It¡¯s at least a couple hundred times better than the Dragonscale Beast¡­\\\" \\\"Mn mn! I love you, big bro!\\\" \\\"I know¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ While Beiming Xue was making a contract with her mount, Frederick was still sobbing beside his daughter¡¯s coffin. Ten full minutes of grieving later, he said suddenly, \\\"Someone, please run to the Blood Ghost Clan and inform them to make the necessary preparations. Three days later, we will be holding a ghost marriage between my Serena and their prince¡­\\\" I blurted, \\\"Wait, what? A ghost marriage?\\\" \\\"Yes!\\\" Frederick explained to me, \\\"Seven years ago, the Dark Clan and the Blood Ghost Clan were going to hold a political marriage between the only son of the Blood Ghost Chief and my Serena. His son had been dead for 40 years, but we needed the Blood Ghost Clan¡¯s blood powers to fight against the Purgatory legions, so we went through with the arrangements anyway. Naturally, Serena refused the marriage, and¡­ Anyway, she¡¯s no longer in this world. Perhaps this outcome is the best for everyone¡­\\\" I started shivering uncontrollably. \\\"What the HELL are you talking about, old man? You were going to marry her to a dead person when she was still ALIVE? You¡­ you heartless bastard, you¡­\\\" Frederick¡¯s expression grew harsh. \\\"Do you think I wanted this, boy? It was all for the greater good! For the sake of the Dark Clan, I must marry Serena to the Blood Ghost Clan¡¯s dead son¡­\\\" Suddenly, I heard a clansman whispering, \\\"But this was what drove the princess to commit suicide in the first place¡­\\\" \\\"What?\\\" I was about to go berserk. \\\"What the fuck have we done? We¡¯re totally the villains right now¡­\\\" Lin Yixin gripped her fists tightly. \\\"This Frederick is an absolute bastard!\\\" ¡­¡­ There wasn¡¯t anything we could do to stop this, however. Frederick raised his axe and shattered the crystal coffin in one swing, causing Serena¡¯s body to roll across the grass. \\\"Oh, my beloved daughter¡­\\\" Frederick said sorrowfully despite what he had done and was still going to do to his own daughter. Suddenly, Serena¡¯s finger twitched. At the same time, bloody runes appeared all around her body. A clansman exclaimed in astonishment, \\\"That¡¯s¡­ that the Resurrection Spell! But how? The spell is only usable by an undead! Could it be¡­ Did that devil, Zishui, sacrifice his own cultivation to resurrect our princess?!!!\\\" Serena exhaled and slowly opened her eyes. \\\"Ah¡­ I¡­\\\" Frederick hurriedly said, \\\"Serena, my daughter, you came back to life! Thank goodness¡­ thank goodness¡­\\\" However, Serena backed away from him like a frightened animal. \\\"Don¡¯t¡­ don¡¯t come closer! I¡­ I won¡¯t marry a dead person¡­\\\" Frederick clenched his fists. \\\"We¡¯ll talk about this later. You being alive is all that matters right now¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle¡­ While this was going on, I slowly stepped toward Zishui¡¯s corpse and took out the Revival Stone. I muttered to myself, \\\"I hope I¡¯m still on time¡­\\\" Frederick noticed my unusual movements and asked angrily, \\\"What are you doing, boy?!\\\" Pu! I stabbed the Revival Stone into Zishui¡¯s chest and yelled, \\\"Awake and take your beloved away from this place, Zishui! You are the only one who can give her happiness! You don¡¯t have the right to die!\\\" \\\"Ahhhhh¡­\\\" Zishui shuddered violently before jumping back to his feet. He looked at me and the Revival Stone in his chest and made the connection. \\\"Thank you for reviving me, young warrior. I will not forget this.\\\" He then summoned a dagger in one hand and held Serena in the other. He asked her, \\\"Serena, the love of my life, do you still remember me?\\\" Serena watched him with a dazed but almost recognizing look on her face. \\\"I¡­ I haven¡¯t seen you before, but I¡­ I feel like you¡¯ve lived in my dreams. I remember your voice, I remember your face¡­\\\" Zishui beamed at her before facing toward Frederick. \\\"I won¡¯t kill you, old man, but I will be taking Serena with me. Her life shouldn¡¯t belong to a pile of dead bones!\\\" Finally, Zishui floated into the air and flew away with Serena. ¡­¡­ While the Clansmen of the Dark were being distracted by Zishui, I hurriedly summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and shouted, \\\"Girls, invincible and fly away before it¡¯s too late!\\\" I activated my own invincibility skill just in time to prevent the Clansmen of the Dark from trapping me like last time. Together, we took to the sky and flew far, far away from the Dark Clan. The girls were laughing like bells. No one had expected this quest to turn out like this. \\\"This whole quest feels like a waste of time, big bro,\\\" said Beiming Xue. I disagreed. \\\"Of course not! I got the Song of Freedom and the Pity of the Purgatory Gods, Yiyi got the Purple Spirit Sword and the Cyan Rock Armor, you\\\''ve got the Fire Qilin, Eve and everyone else got some high-level equipment, and everyone got 4 Luck for completing the quest! No, this wasn¡¯t a waste of time at all!\\\" \\\"That¡¯s true. So, where are we going now?\\\" \\\"Let¡¯s use our guild scrolls and teleport straight to Dark Moon City. I want to use the Vassal Token!\\\" \\\"Okay!\\\" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh... We appeared in Dark Moon City. It was midnight right now, so few people were loitering around the area. After we traveled to the territory hall, I sought out the Dark Knight Hero Udal and tossed the Vassal Token into his hands, saying, \\\"Use it!\\\" \\\"Yes, my lord!\\\" Udal dropped to one knee and raised his hands. The Vassal Token dissolved into dancing swirls of red light, and a system ring followed¡ª Ding~! System Notice: \\\"Vassal Token\\\" has been used successfully. The resources required to use Dark Moon City¡¯s unique skill \\\"Duplicate Mount\\\" and \\\"Mounted Archery Training\\\" have been reduced by 50%. The stats of the selected mount \\\"Dragonscale Beast\\\" have been greatly increased, and their new profile has been refreshed accordingly. Moreover, all existing Dragonscale Beasts will be updated to match its latest stats. ¡­¡­ \\\"Holy shit!\\\" I exclaimed after the shock had passed. \\\"The Dragonscale Beast was upgraded? Can someone show me its new stats?\\\" On the duplication platform, He Yi waved a hand across the interface and brought up a hologram of the Dragonscale Beast¡¯s stats screen¡ª Dragonscale Beast (Quasi-Immortal Rank Boss Mount) Strength: +1550 Stamina: +1600 Agility: +1450 Intelligence: +1400 Attack Increase: +105% Defense Increase: +90% Attack Speed: +90% Movement Speed: +270% Attack Range: +39 yards Max HP: + 70000 Turn Rate: -25% Mount Tenacity: +90% Unique Skill: Dragon Soul Protection. Summons a dragon soul to protect the rider. Increases user¡¯s Attack and Defense by 75%. Introduction: One of the descendants of the Dragon Race. The Dragonscale Beasts are violent creatures who live among the animals of the wilderness. They look like warhorses, but they are really carnivorous. Level Requirement: 220 Reputation Requirement: 350000 ¡­¡­ \\\"Hmm¡­\\\" I pondered. \\\"Not only did the Dragonscale Beast evolve into a Quasi-Immortal Rank Boss mount, it looks like it circumvented the requirement where only mounts that are Earth Rank or below can be duplicated as well. It¡¯s probably like how we can keep wearing our equipment even after we dropped below its requirements. Anyway, I had no idea that the Vassal Token would be this powerful. Looking at the results alone, it¡¯s easily worth over 1 billion gold! The Dragonscale Beasts are now 75% as strong as the Crimson Crystal Dragon, and 50% stronger than the Gold Cavalry! It looks like Warsky¡¯s dream of surpassing the Dragonlight Cavalry has been postponed indefinitely!\\\" Lin Yixin was slack-jawed when she said, \\\"OMG, Ancient Sword really is going to be unbeatable after today¡­\\\" He Yi giggled happily. \\\"Alright! There is nothing left to do, right? Then it¡¯s finally time to go to bed. Before I forget, Lu Chen, Yiyi, we¡¯re leaving for Shanghai tomorrow at 4 pm.\\\" \\\"What¡¯s this about?\\\" Lin Yixin asked. \\\"Zhou Ping¡ªyou know, the vice leader of Twelve Musicians, Chance Meeting?¡ªinvited us to her new bar in Shanghai as a token of gratitude for rescuing her Dragonbone Whip. She wouldn¡¯t let me turn her down, so¡­\\\" I replied, \\\"Sure! I see no reason to reject her invitation. Anyway, let¡¯s all head to bed now!\\\" \\\"Yeah.\\\" Chapter 1360 The next day, I blinked blearily at the incoming sunlight as I woke up. It was already past 3 pm. Obviously, our long grind at Bloodthirsty Castle was the reason I woke up so late. The Level 300+ mobs were difficult enough to deal with, but I had to watch out for Dark Mercenaries, Blood Alliance and God¡¯s Domain as well. It had taken an inhuman amount of effort and concentration to juggle it all. I got out of bed and went to the living room. Lian Xin was eating some snacks, and He Yi was drying her hair. After I was done cleaning myself, I ate a few slices of bread, poured a glass of warm water on the table and sat down beside He Yi. \\\"Is everything okay? Nothing big happened to the guild while we were grinding at Bloodthirsty Castle, right?\\\" \\\"Nope. However¡­\\\" He Yi pointed at the notebook on the table. \\\"Dark Moon City had come under the limelight once more after we upgraded it with the Vassal Token. See, there¡¯s even a suspicious uncle using it to analyze the current picture of the China server¡­\\\" I looked. It was a stickied thread posted by a person named \\\"Storyteller¡±. The thread had a lot of views and replies. \\\"The Vassal Token Appears, and Dark Moon City Rises\\\" It was the wee hours when the best players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡ªLu Chen, He Yi, Beiming Xue and more¡ªreturned to Dark Moon City. They had just completed an expedition to Bloody Shield Domain, and their reward was an item called the \\\"Vassal Token\\\" that would affect the power dynamics of the entire China server. As we are all aware, \\\"Duplicate Mount\\\" and \\\"Mounted Archery Training\\\" are the unique skills of Dark Moon City. They are the main reason the Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers are the greatest cavalry troops in the entire world. However, it looks like the Vassal Token is going to extend their insurmountable lead even more than it already was. There are two things the Vassal Token did for Dark Moon City. First, it reduces the cost of both unique skills by 50%. Theoretically speaking, this means that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls can now create twice as many Dragonlight Cavalrymen and Archers. This isn¡¯t the best boon they got out of the Vassal Token, however. Game balance is key in an MMORPG, and no one¡¯s skill, class and so on are so broken that it may as well be a cheat. In the case of Duplicate Mount, it is unable to duplicate any mount that is higher than Earth Rank. Not anymore. The Vassal Token has cleverly circumvented this requirement by upgrading the original mount, the Earth Rank Dragonscale Beast, to a Quasi-Immortal Rank Boss mount directly. Not only that, the upgrade applies to all existing Dragonscale Beasts as well. What this means is that the Vassal Token has transformed the Dragonlight Cavalry into a true game-breaking army that is both indestructible and unstoppable. According to my calculations, Warsky Alliance¡¯s Gold Cavalry is now only 71% as strong as the enhanced Dragonlight Cavalry, not to mention that they have a late start to begin with. How can they hope to surpass Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ new Dragonlight Cavalry now? At the very least, that letter of challenge will have to be postponed for a very long time. How should Warsky Alliance overcome this gap? Should they start developing giant dragon mounts, or should they target some strange beasts that have never been seen before? And don¡¯t get me started on the power of the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments. Can Warsky still keep a firm grip over his Immortal Blade now that Lu Chen has obtained the Song of Freedom? Can Candlelight Shadow still smile even though Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ climb shows no signs of stopping anytime soon? ¡­¡­ All things considered, it was a fairly objective analysis. It was a fact that the new Dragonlight Cavalry seemed almost unbeatable. It was also true that Warsky Alliance¡¯s Gold Cavalry was going to have a hard time surpassing them. Theoretically speaking, Warsky could shorten the gap by grabbing a Vassal Token of his own, but even if the item was common¡ªand it wasn¡¯t, not even close¡ªthere were multiple types of Vassal Token. Not all of them could increase a city¡¯s stats. [1] Next, I looked at the replies. Unfortunately for Warsky, he didn¡¯t manage to steal the 2nd post this time¡ª 1st comment (Player \\\"Ring Ring Ring\\\"): Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, the kindest and dearest guild of them all! 2nd comment (Player \\\"Ling Xueshang\\\"): Poor He Yi, poor Lu Chen. I can¡¯t believe you spent half the midnight grinding away at Bloody Shield Domain... 3rd comment (Player \\\"Candlelight Shadow\\\"): Congratulations to Lu Chen and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls for obtaining the Vassal Token. Only a powerful competitor can elevate Candle Dragon and the China server itself to greater heights! 4th comment (Player \\\"Phantom Dust\\\"): I would like to join Ancient Sword. Can anyone recommend me? I¡¯m a Level 219 magic knight with Immortal-grade necklace, ring and weapon, and Outstanding Heaven-grade everything else. Please recommend me. Please make me a Dragonlight Cavalryman!! 5th comment (Player \\\"Roaming Dragon\\\"): This Storyteller has to be a shill, right? Or do you really think Ancient Sword is this powerful? Disgusting. Just watch. Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s super unit will destroy everything! 6th comment (Player \\\"Chaos Moon\\\"): Everyone, look above me! It¡¯s the most shameless bastard you¡¯ll ever meet! 7th comment (Player \\\"Blue Peaks\\\"): Agreed. Purgatory Mad Dragon may have the numbers, but they would have never made it to the Top 10 without Little Piglet. ¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ 120993th comment (Player \\\"Warsky\\\"): Come on, I just woke up from bed, and there are 120 THOUSAND comments already? Anyway, I think you¡¯re trying to get Lu Chen to PK me, Storyteller. So what if he has the Song of Freedom? Everyone knows that the Immortal Blade is mine. Do you think Lu Chen will break his principles and PK me for my equipment? Even if he did, I¡¯m not just going to stand there and lose it, you know, not to mention that I have 1.4 million brothers and sisters behind me as well. Take my weapon from me, and my entire guild will chase you to the ends of the earth! ¡­¡­ ¡­¡­ 148282th comment (Player \\\"Stranger of Three Lifetimes\\\"): Man, Warsky is arrogant as hell, isn¡¯t he? My woman¡¯s intuition is telling me that he¡¯s either going to lose his Immortal Blade to Lu Chen¡¯s Song of Freedom, or better, Red Maple¡¯s Crimson Dragon Arm. We¡¯ll have the perfect reason to raid Wallow Ear¡ªah pooh, I mean Swallow Ear¡ªCanton then... 138283th comment (Player \\\"Eyes Like Water\\\"): You are right, my lady. By the way, can you please not spend so much time in the bath during the night, my lady? I need the hot water too, my lady... 148284th comment (Player \\\"Nono\\\"):... ¡­¡­ The comments were growing out of control at this point, so I stopped reading and said, \\\"Well, Warsky isn¡¯t wrong to be worried. His grip on the Immortal Blade is starting to weaken¡­\\\" He Yi chuckled. \\\"Are you really going to PK him with Chains of Freedom?\\\" \\\"Nah¡­\\\" I replied after thinking for a moment, \\\"It would make me seem too petty. We¡¯re going to war with Warsky Alliance anyway, so a suitable opportunity will arise eventually. When the time comes, I promise you that he¡¯ll grow to loathe Song of Freedom.\\\" ¡°Mn. Where is Yiyi, by the way? Why isn¡¯t she here yet?\\\" \\\"It can¡¯t be too long now.\\\" \\\"By the way, Zhou Ping only required the three of us to go, right? I think so¡­\\\" It wasn¡¯t long before there was a rapping sound on the door. The Fruit Knife Goddess wore a black windbreaker and a white mini skirt today, looking as gorgeous as a white flower that stands strong despite the winter chills. She beamed at me and said, \\\"The last time I went to a bar, I was in junior high school. I never thought that I would receive an invitation like this again. Though, I guess I should thank Little Cheat for this one~~\\\" I said, \\\"If we depart by 4 pm, we¡¯ll arrive at Shanghai past 5. We¡¯ll eat dinner first before we head to the bar. By the way, what¡¯s the name of the bar again? It only opens after 10 pm, right?\\\" He Yi nodded. \\\"It¡¯s called Chance Bar, and it¡¯s one of the chains Zhou Ping owns. The reason she¡¯s acting so ceremoniously is because the bar at Shanghai is her flagship bar.\\\" I grinned. \\\"Sounds good. It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve been to a bar myself. In fact, I¡¯ve been to Sky City¡¯s adventurer tavern more than I¡¯ve been to a real bar¡­\\\" He Yi giggled. \\\"Oh right, I heard that Zhou Ping is also inviting a female celebrity to her bar too! I think she¡¯s called¡­ Zhou Xiaomeng?\\\" I was surprised. \\\"Huh. Is that the one who sang ¡®Miniskirt¡¯?\\\" \\\"Yes, yes, that¡¯s her!\\\" Lin Yixin nodded smilingly. \\\"I know that one. I¡¯ve even spent a couple of days learning it. Unfortunately, Lil Beiming is still a better singer than me¡­ I keep going off-key¡­\\\" I looked at her white miniskirt and her long, pale legs before chuckling. \\\"It¡¯s fine. I have a feeling that the song will suit you perfectly nonetheless. In fact, let¡¯s have a karaoke battle with Zhou Xiaomeng later¡­\\\" While saying this, I searched for Zhou Xiaomeng on my phone and exclaimed, \\\"Oh, she¡¯s quite the beauty¡­\\\" \\\"Really?\\\" Both He Yi and Lin Yixin asked at the same time. I hurriedly changed my tune, \\\"Ahem, she¡¯s nothing compared to Eve and Yiyi though¡­\\\" Lian Xin chuckled. \\\"How pragmatic of you, big brother Lu Chen¡­ Anyway, Sister Mingyue and I won¡¯t be joining you all to your dinner party tonight because we¡¯ll be grinding a high-level map at Dragonbone Mountain Range with Lil Beiming, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi. Not all of us can be Level 239 like you, big brother Lu Chen. We need to grind experience to secure our lead over our enemies¡­\\\" I nodded. \\\"Okay! The guild will be in your hands until Eve and I return. The Dragonlight Cavalrymen and Archers are more powerful than ever before, and Beiming has just gotten a new mount. Help her grind her mount to adult stage as soon as possible!\\\" \\\"We will. By the way, you¡¯re not coming back tonight, right? So, see you tomorrow!\\\" \\\"See you.\\\" ¡­¡­ I had chose a black casual wear for the occasion. He Yi had taken a page from Lin Yixin and put on a windbreaker, a plaid shirt, a mini skirt and a pair of leather boots. The attire have her a fresh but stylish appearance. There were both good news and bad news about this. The good news was that they looked gorgeous as hell. The bad news was that we immediately became the center of attention almost the second we exited the apartment. I could already imagine some salivating men cursing me with all their might: \\\"His first time won¡¯t exceed 10 seconds\\\", \\\"he won¡¯t have a full hard on for the rest of his life\\\", \\\"his dick will shrink by 10 cm after it reaches adulthood\\\" [2] and so on. \\\"Which car are we driving today?\\\" I asked. He Yi replied, \\\"Let¡¯s ride in Yiyi¡¯s Porsche today. My Lamborghini can¡¯t fit all of us¡­\\\" I nodded. \\\"Works for me. Let¡¯s go!\\\" \\\"Mn!\\\" ¡­¡­ This model of Porsche Panamera was like a huge silver carp head. It had an incredibly low ride height, and it moved so fast that we reached downtown Shanghai in less than one and a half hours. Unfortunately, we were stopped by a traffic jam and remained in it until past 7 pm. Damned rush hour. When the clock turned to 7:30 pm, we finally arrived at the entrance of Chance Bar. Hugging Bears In Silence was standing right there and waving us to a parking space. She had worn a sexy black dress today. \\\"Over here! This is the last ground parking space in the area¡­\\\" Gratitude filled me for a moment. There were many reasons Shanghai was called Modu (Demon Capital), and the impossibility of finding a parking spot was one of them! Zhou Ping was present as well. After I parked my car, she walked up to us and said with a wide smile on her face, \\\"I thought you would arrive sooner¡­\\\" I replied, \\\"It¡¯s rush hour. If anything, we should be thankful we weren¡¯t stuck until 10 pm. Anyway, where are we eating tonight?\\\" Zhou Ping hummed for a moment. \\\"Well, what do you want to eat?\\\" \\\"I want meat!\\\" I replied without hesitation. \\\"I¡¯m fine with anything¡­\\\" He Yi said. \\\"Something tasty or nuthin¡¯!\\\" Lin Yixin declared firmly. Zhou Ping giggled at our responses. \\\"In that case, we¡¯ll grab you a hotpot before we head to the bar. While we wait for the food to arrive, I¡¯ll fetch you some snacks to tide you over. Is that fine?\\\" \\\"Yes, thanks.\\\" 1. T/N: this confirms that this Vassal Token is a different from the previous Vassal Token that was used to declare a territory war 2. T/N: when does a dick reach adulthood? When it graduates from virginity, of course! Chapter 1361 \\\"Holy shit, look! That couple over there is French-kissing!!\\\" I pointed to a random corner of the hot pot restaurant while my chopsticks leaped back and forth across the table. Lin Yixin turned but saw nothing. When she looked back at the hot pot, she exploded, \\\"I didn¡¯t see anyone like that! Also where the heck is the golden needle mushroom I just put in the hot pot!?\\\" Me: \\\"I don¡¯t know!\\\" \\\"Oh yeah? What is that in your mouth!?\\\" \\\"It¡¯s a nian gao!\\\" \\\"What kind of nian gao has feelers on it!!?\\\" \\\"A hairy nian gao, of course!\\\" He Yi put her palm to her forehead. \\\"Please eat properly, you two. Zhou Ping and Bear Bear [1] are right here¡­\\\" Zhou Ping giggled. \\\"It¡¯s fine, it just means they are having that much fun. To be honest, I¡¯m quite envious of you three. Despite your positions, you three seem so happy and carefree when you¡¯re together!\\\" I replied, \\\"That isn¡¯t true. It only seems that way because we hid our river of sorrow from view¡­\\\" \\\"Cut the crap, you think I didn¡¯t notice that you stole my mudbug?\\\" \\\"The fuck, you can cook mudbugs in a hot pot? Why don¡¯t you drop a bunch of bananas then?\\\" \\\"Waiter! Can you grab us a bunch of bananas? Thanks!\\\" \\\"...\\\" ¡­¡­ Two hours passed by in just the blink of an eye. It was now past 9 pm, and we were all filled to the brim. As we entered Chance Bar with Zhou Ping and Hugging Bears in Silence, we discovered that it was called her flagship bar for a reason. The venue was insanely huge, and heavy bass was rocking against our bodies and eardrums already. Zhou Ping had booked us a booth that could fit between 5 to 8 people. However, there were only three of us, and Zhou Ping had other things to attend to. So, Zhou Ping asked Hugging Bears in Silence to stay with us and introduced another two youngsters to our booth to keep us company. They were between 23 to 25 years old, and their attire was slightly more flamboyant than mine. I personally thought that the golden earrings they were wearing were a bit excessive, but that was just my opinion. \\\"Excuse me, but I have to leave for a bit to receive Zhou Xiaomeng. As the host, it¡¯d be terribly discourteous of me to neglect the star of the night, no?\\\" After Zhou Ping shook hands with me, she said, \\\"Don¡¯t worry though, I¡¯ll come back in a jiffy. In the meantime, please have a good time, Lu Chen, He Yi, Lin Yixin.\\\" Leaning against the sofa, He Yi gave her a nod and a smile before answering, \\\"See you later!\\\" After Zhou Ping left, Lin Yixin stuck out her tongue playfully and asked Hugging Bears in Silence, \\\"So, what are we playing? Honestly, I haven¡¯t been to a bar for too long. I don¡¯t even remember the process anymore.\\\" Hugging Bears in Silence smirked. \\\"Let¡¯s start off with a Truth or Dare, shall we? Lu Chen, Lin Yixin, Sister He Yi, Big Niu (one of the youngsters) and I will be playing. Is that okay with you?\\\" Lin Yixin nodded. \\\"Sure!\\\" \\\"Alright, let¡¯s begin!\\\" Truth or Dare is a fairly straightforward game. If someone asks you a question, you must answer the truth no matter what. If you refuse, you will have to carry out a request instead. Technically speaking, any question or any request can be asked of a player. Therefore, the most shameless person in the group usually would win the game. Thank goodness Murong Mingyue hadn¡¯t come with us, or she would have absolutely wiped the floor with all of us. ¡­¡­ After the turn order was decided¡ªHugging Bears in Silence, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Me, Big Niu and repeat¡ªwe immediately began the game. \\\"Ahem¡­\\\" Hugging Bears in Silence let out a polite cough before looking at He Yi. \\\"Here I go. Sister He Yi, my first question is¡ªwho do you like most out of everyone in this booth?\\\" Already, He Yi looked a little caught off-guard. I couldn¡¯t see her blush due to the dim lighting, but her voice already said it all, \\\"Lu Chen¡­\\\" Hugging Bears in Silence smiled. \\\"I see. Your turn¡­\\\" He Yi turned to look at Lin Yixin before smirking. \\\"Yiyi, when was your first kiss?\\\" Lin Yixin was lost for words for a second, but she looked at me and answered, \\\"Nine months ago¡­\\\" He Yi: \\\"Alright, I¡¯m done¡­\\\" Lin Yixin giggled and raised a menacing eyebrow at me. \\\"Ready, Little Cheat?\\\" I replied, \\\"Ask away!\\\" \\\"How many porn films do you have on your PC?\\\" It was like I had been struck by lightning. After stuttering for an indefinite amount of time, I finally answered, \\\"T¡­ ten, I guess¡­?\\\" Everyone including Big Niu and Little Niu guffawed at my answer. It was my turn now, so I looked at Big Niu and asked, \\\"When was your first time, Big Niu?\\\" \\\"Bro, you aren¡¯t pulling your punches at all, are you?\\\" That was what he said, but he answered without hesitation, \\\"When I was 13 years old¡­\\\" I trembled. \\\"O-okay¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ Big Niu asked Hugging Bears in Silence a question next, \\\"Are you still a virgin, Bear Bear?\\\" Hugging Bears in Silence fell silent for a moment. \\\"Can I not answer this question?\\\" \\\"Sure. All you need to do is head to the aisle and shout, ¡®I¡¯m so lonely¡¯!\\\" \\\"OMG!\\\" It was a terrifying request, but that was how the game went. Having no choice, Hugging Bears in Silence straightened her skirt, walked to the aisle and shouted, \\\"I¡¯m so lonely!!\\\" Right as she finished, an uncle holding an empty beer glass walked up to her and said, \\\"Want me to keep you company, beauty?\\\" Hugging Bears in Silence could only shake her head and stick out her tongue before returning to us. \\\"You want shameless, don\\\''t you? I¡¯ll show you shameless!\\\" an obviously displeased Hugging Bears in Silence declared. She looked at He Yi and said, \\\"Sister He Yi, what is the brand and color of your underwear you¡¯re wearing right now?\\\" He Yi blanched visibly. \\\"I¡­ er¡­\\\" \\\"If you won¡¯t answer, then you¡¯ll have to fulfill my request!\\\" \\\"Tell me¡­\\\" He Yi surrendered. \\\"I want you to circle around the aisle once before shouting, ¡®I won¡¯t wet the bed anymore¡¯!\\\" He Yi nearly turned into stone there and then. Biting her lips and rising to her feet with determination, she circled around the aisle as Hugging Bears in Silence requested before stopping under a dim fluorescent lamp. She then said with a deep blush in her cheeks, \\\"I won¡¯t¡­ I won¡¯t wet the bed anymore¡­\\\" I facepalmed. \\\"Heavens, what a shameless game this is¡­\\\" Lin Yixin simply snickered and said nothing. After He Yi returned to her seat, she turned toward Lin Yixin and smiled evilly. \\\"My turn!\\\" Lin Yixin sat up straight and declared warily, \\\"Come, Sister Eve! I¡¯ll handle whatever you throw at me!\\\" He Yi¡¯s smile widened. \\\"Alright. I want you to describe to everyone your latest wet dream in detail!!\\\" \\\"Ah!?\\\" It was an instant one-shot. After Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth opened and closed a couple of times, she finally surrendered and said, \\\"You¡¯re ruthless, Sister Eve. Fine, what¡¯s the dare?\\\" He Yi said, \\\"I want you to buy a popsicle at that store over there and ask the clerk, ¡®should I eat it together with the wrapping paper?¡¯\\\" \\\"OMG, this is going to be a new low for me, Sister Eve¡­\\\" Lin Yixin complained, but she ultimately obeyed the game¡¯s rule and went to the shop. Blushing like an apple, she asked the uncle, \\\"I want a Green Mood popsicle, and er¡­ should I eat it together with the wrapping paper?\\\" As expected, the uncle got the implied meaning instantly. \\\"Oh pretty, this is the first time you¡¯re here, aren¡¯t you? Do you have a boyfriend yet? If you don¡¯t, I have a nephew who¡¯s studying in Nankai University. Do you want me to introduce him? Even if you don¡¯t, I would like to have your QQ number¡­\\\" Lin Yixin escaped like the wind. ¡­¡­ We all had a good time playing and drinking in the bar. The alcohol smelled terrible, but it was sufficient to liven things up. Somewhere in the middle, I called a hotel to book our rooms for the night. Unfortunately, they had three available rooms. I was so looking forward to sleeping together with He Yi and Lin Yixin too. When the time ticked past 11 pm, Zhou Ping finally returned to us. She was accompanied by a beautiful woman wearing a pair of sunglasses and followed by a couple of bodyguards. I already had a feeling who she was when she walked over to us, and my suspicions were confirmed after she sat down at our booth and removed her sunglasses. She was none other than the \\\"star of the night\\\" Zhou Ping had mentioned earlier, the popular singer Zhou Xiaomeng. Her rather shameless¡ªand I meant no disrespect, it was just a fact¡ªsongs and dances were paraded across every street and school. \\\"Allow me to make the introductions. This is¡ª\\\" Zhou Ping began, but Zhou Xiaomeng interrupted her with a smile, \\\"There¡¯s no need, I recognize all of them. This man is the number one player of Heavenblessed, the man who defeated Candlelight Shadow, the Little Heavenly King Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. No one who dabbles in gaming has not heard about you. As for these two, I bet they¡¯re the Fruit Knife Goddess Lin Yixin and From Water He Yi. Again, I¡¯ve seen your posters everywhere on the internet and the streets. I don¡¯t play a lot of Heavenblessed, but it¡¯s impossible to not know about the three most famous players in the game.\\\" I smiled. \\\"Nice to meet you, Zhou Xiaomeng. My younger sister is your super fan. She often sings Miniskirt to me, sometimes all day and all night¡­\\\" Zhou Xiaomeng broke into a grin. \\\"Oh, you¡¯re talking about Beiming Xue, right? I like her a lot too. Miniskirt, huh? Very well, when I sing it on stage later, I shall dedicate it to you alone¡­\\\" I hurriedly waved my hand. \\\"Heavens, no. Your fans will destroy me¡­\\\" \\\"Haha, you truly are an interesting man¡­\\\" ¡­¡­ A quick chat later, Zhou Xiaomeng left to sing on the stage. She really was quite popular. The audience were going crazy over her performance, and her Miniskirt nearly caused some people to have a heart attack. Then again, how many people could handle a cute girl saying \\\"Do you really know that I am waiting to drop my miniskirt for you\\\" to them? All that useless pride and shame would¡¯ve been grinded down and reformed to two words: Yes, please... After the short performance, Zhou Xiaomeng left the stage and returned to our booth. Then, she offered me a cup and some dice and said, \\\"You wanna play a round or two, Lu Chen? If you guess right, I¡¯ll drink. If not, you drink.\\\" I nodded. \\\"Sure. Let¡¯s go!\\\" Unfortunately for me, Zhou Xiaomeng was way smarter than her appearance suggested. By the time I downed my seventh glass of beer, she had only drunk three. It was such a terrible defeat that even Lin Yixin and He Yi were shaking their heads in exasperation, \\\"How are you so smart in the game, but so dumb in real life¡­\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" It was at this moment two youngsters holding beer glasses walked up to Zhou Xiaomeng and asked, \\\"Miss Xiaomeng, our Brother Chao would like to invite you to his table to have a drink. If you would be so kind¡­\\\" \\\"Brother Chao who? Tell him to come over himself,\\\" Zhou Ping interrupted. The two youngsters looked surprised. \\\"Oh, you¡¯re¡­ Chance Meeting?\\\" \\\"You know me?\\\" That surprised Zhou Ping. A third youngster wearing a full set of brand clothes entered the scene. \\\"Of course we do¡­\\\" I looked up. Both the youngster and the sexy woman clinging to him looked very familiar. \\\"Roaming Dragon, Coldmoon Rose?\\\" \\\"Lu¡­ Lu Chen?\\\" Coldmoon Rose¡¯s lips parted. \\\"Why is Lu Chen here?\\\" At this point, everyone in Roaming Dragon¡¯s booth was looking at us. I saw Little Piglet, Wang Dongliang, Profound Puff, Shangguan Wan¡¯er and more. The world was a small place sometimes. Of all the bars Purgatory Mad Dragon could¡¯ve visited, they just had to show up at Chance Meeting¡¯s bar at this time. 1. T/N: I would translate this as Momo, but it reads the same as Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ nickname, so Chapter 1362 \\\"Do we know each other?\\\" Zhou Xiaomeng was unperturbed despite Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s sudden invitation. She poured herself some beer, crossed her legs and took a sip from the glass before saying, \\\"I¡¯ve already completed my performance for the day, and nowhere in my schedule does it say that I have to drink with the customers. Sorry, but maybe another day!\\\" The bodyguards also rose to their feet and blocked in front of Lu Chao and Wang Dongliang. However, Wang Dongliang fished out a business card from his pocket and passed it to Zhou Xiaomeng respectfully, \\\"I deeply apologize for my rudeness. If you would, this is my business card¡­\\\" Zhou Xiaomeng accepted it carelessly and took a glance. Immediately, her eyes widened as she looked at Wang Dongliang again. \\\"You¡­ you¡¯re the vice president of Shanghai Shengyi? Does that mean¡­\\\" Wang Dongliang beamed from ear to ear. \\\"That is correct. I am the executive vice president of Shanghai Shengyi, Wang Dongliang. The company responsible for your marketing, packaging and more is a direct subsidiary of our business group. Surely you can give me this face, Miss Xiaomeng? Don¡¯t worry, my friends here are just fans of your work. All we ask of you is a couple of drinks.\\\" Zhou Xiaomeng frowned, but in the end she returned the smile and said, \\\"Very well, I shan¡¯t turn down an invitation from President Wang himself¡­\\\" Wang Dongliang let out a chuckle before snapping his fingers at a bartender. \\\"Another five bottles of Margarita, my man!\\\" Both Wang Dongliang and Roaming Dragon saw us as they returned to their booth, but they only shot us surprised and hateful looks. Little Piglet was the only one who stayed behind and shot us a smile, \\\"Lu Chen, Lin Yixin, He Yi? Hahaha! And here I thought top rankers like you three would spend all day and night grinding away! I guess you guys know how to enjoy life once in a while too! Anyway, before I go back to drink some more free beer¡ª\\\" He raised his beer blass and said, \\\"Wanna toast to all the goods and bads between us, Lu Chen?\\\" Clink! I gladly clinked glasses with him and drank my fill in one gulp. I then asked, \\\"Say, have you had any plans to jump ships recently? Ancient Sword could use at least one more corps commander to lead our Dragonlight Cavalry. If you are interested, just shoot us a private message in the game.\\\" Little Piglet laughed candidly. \\\"I won¡¯t say I¡¯m not tempted, but my boss keeps paying me better and better. Even I¡¯m not so shameless as to leave him after everything he¡¯s afforded me. We¡¯ll see. If Purgatory Mad Dragon becomes unbearable one day, I¡¯ll consider Ancient Sword as an option.\\\" \\\"Gotcha!\\\" ¡­¡­ After Little Piglet left, Zhou Xiaomeng finally rose to her feet and took a moment to straighten her skirt. Then, she put a hand on my shoulder and said, \\\"I¡¯m leaving to drink with President Wang now, Lu Chen. It will be an¡­ intoxicating experience, so I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to accompany you all later. By the way, you¡­ you know that I¡¯m your fan, right? When I¡¯m done, will you¡­ will you please come over and sign me an autograph? You understand what I mean, right? I er¡­ well, see you later¡­\\\" I simply nodded and said, \\\"Don¡¯t worry, Xiaomeng. Beiming¡¯s your fan too, so we¡¯ll trade autographs later!\\\" \\\"Good. Good. I¡¯m going now!\\\" \\\"Yeah.\\\" After Zhou Xiaomeng left, Wang Dongliang summoned Zhou Xiaomeng¡¯s bodyguards to his side and whispered something we couldn¡¯t hear. Then, we saw the bodyguards nodding before leaving the area. I knew it. Zhou Xiaomeng¡¯s company was a subsidiary company under Shanghai Shengyi. The bodyguards had no choice but to obey the master of their master. I frowned as I watched Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s booth. \\\"Something stinks about all this.\\\" While leaning against the sofa and playing with a dice, Lin Yixin said, \\\"You don¡¯t say. Keep an eye on them, okay? Make sure that Wang Dongliang doesn¡¯t take Zhou Xiaomeng back to his bed.\\\" Hugging Bears in Silence asked, \\\"But what if it¡¯s consensual?\\\" He Yi smiled. \\\"Didn¡¯t you hear what she said to Lu Chen earlier? She asked him to sign her an autograph after they¡¯re done drinking. What she really means is that she wants Lu Chen to save her after the drinking is over¡­\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" Zhou Ping smiled as well. \\\"Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m the one who invited Xiaomeng. Worse comes to worst, I¡¯ll make sure that no harm befalls her. For now, let¡¯s keep playing, shall we?\\\" \\\"Yeah!\\\" We were playing cards when my phone suddenly rang. It was a call from Beiming Xue. \\\"Big bro!\\\" She sounded deafening despite the booming bass in the bar. \\\"Beiming!\\\" I replied just as loudly. \\\"Did you meet Zhou Xiaomeng in the bar?\\\" Beiming Xue asked excitedly. \\\"Mn, yeah, we even drank a little just now. What¡¯s wrong?\\\" \\\"What¡¯s wrong? I¡¯m her fan, dummy! Can you please get me her autograph and, oh! Can you take a photo with her as well? I want it so, so bad! Uu, if only I could meet her in person! I can¡¯t even drive over because the university¡¯s gates are already locked¡­\\\" I chuckled. \\\"As they should be. Go to bed, Beiming. I promise you I¡¯ll get you Zhou Xiaomeng¡¯s autograph no matter what.\\\" \\\"Mn mn! Thank you, big bro! You¡¯re the best, big bro!\\\" \\\"Yes, yes. Now be good and get your beauty sleep, okay?\\\" \\\"Okay! See you tomorrow!\\\" After I hung up, I shot He Yi a smile and said, \\\"Beiming was asking for Zhou Xiaomeng¡¯s autograph. I guess I have to rescue Zhou Xiaomeng from Purgatory Mad Dragon no matter what now¡­\\\" Hugging Bears in Silence huffed. \\\"Hmph. That Roaming Dragon had been eyeing Xiaomeng¡¯s legs since the moment he showed up. It is clear that he is up to no good. There are countless wealthy people who want to get their filthy hands on female celebrities, much less one as young as pretty as Xiaomeng¡­\\\" Zhou Ping replied, \\\"It¡¯s too bad the company Xiaomeng signed with belongs to Shanghai Shengyi, and Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon are best buds right now. Heck, Wang Dongliang even became sworn brothers with Roaming Dragon. It will be very difficult to free Xiaomeng from their clutches when they hold all the power right now¡­\\\" I looked at He Yi and asked, \\\"Eve, I remember Lin Yujia telling me that Raincube is expanding into other industries. Besides setting up our VR electronics supply chain, we¡¯ve also purchased a production company, right?\\\" He Yi nodded. \\\"The World Media, right? Right now it¡¯s kinda stuck in a mire though. What are you planning?\\\" I smiled. \\\"Let¡¯s invest in The World Media, send Xiaomeng a proposal and pull her out from Shanghai Shengyi. This way, Wang Dongliang can¡¯t control her anymore, right?\\\" Zhou Ping stuck out her tongue to express her disbelief. \\\"I didn¡¯t know that Raincube has a media company¡­\\\" Hugging Bears in Silence said worriedly, \\\"Xiaomeng is quite the valuable artist. You¡¯ll probably have to pay Shanghai Shengyi a lot of money to get her¡­\\\" Lin Yixin simply chuckled and patted her shoulder reassuringly. \\\"You have no idea how much capital Raincube possesses, do you? Let me put it this way. If Sister Eve wants to, she can recruit a thousand Zhou Xiaomengs and not bat an eyelid!\\\" That really surprised Hugging Bears in Silence. ¡­¡­ It was past 1 am before we knew it. We would¡¯ve left the bar already, but Zhou Xiaomeng was still drinking with Purgatory Mad Dragon. So, we had no choice but to keep waiting while drinking some low alcohol drinks to pass the time. Even so, I had downed so much liquid that I couldn¡¯t help but feel a little dizzy. So, I decided to walk around a little and take in the sights of the night life. I had experienced countless gruesome and bloody battles in the game, but it was the opposite regarding the nightlife. I saw women in heavy make-up and men who looked like their vitality had been sucked out of their bodies clinking glasses and making merry with one another. These were the better ones. There were some youngsters who, contrary to their age, had dry skin, swollen eyes, yellowed teeth and many, many more unsavory traits that suggested that they were only years or even months away from losing their best years forever. It was okay to frequent a bar once in a while, but if you turned it into a lifestyle, then all you would get in return was an emptier and lonelier soul. No amount of nightly passion or affairs could fill up that hole if you had lost sight of even the theme of your own life. \\\"Are you alone, handsome?\\\" While strolling, a blonde around 25 years old with heavy make-up greeted me. She was wearing a one-piece dress. \\\"If you are, would you like to have a drink with me?\\\" I shot her a polite smile and clinked glasses with her. However, I left after taking a sip from my glass. The bar was huge, but it was only a matter of time before I made my way to Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s booth. It was a luxury booth that could fit at least 15 to 20 people, and I saw them playing some sort of tissue biting game. One person would hold a piece of tissue in their mouth, and the next person¡ªit was usually played in clockwise order¡ªwould rip it in half with their mouths. The game would continue until there was literally nothing left to rip. If the game sounded lewd, well, that was the point. The group had also set it up so that no two people of the same gender were sitting together. (Author¡¯s Note: I¡¯m only describing the game as I heard it, I¡¯ve never actually played it myself, trust me¡­) Zhou Xiaomeng was seated next to Lu Chao, also known as Roaming Dragon. If it wasn¡¯t clear enough that Roaming Dragon was interested in her, the piece of tissue he was holding in his mouth was so tiny that it was practically impossible to rip without kissing. Zhou Xiaomeng raised her glass in a hurry and said, \\\"No way, this tissue is too small. Can I drink instead?\\\" Unfortunately, Iron Pardon and Inconstant cried, \\\"Nope! The game must go on!\\\" Left with no choice, Zhou Xiaomeng rose to her feet and tried to nip the other end of the tissue. However, Roaming Dragon had a devious ploy in his mind. He abruptly spat out the tissue and tried to kiss Zhou Xiaomeng in the mouth. \\\"Ah?\\\" Zhou Xiaomeng tried to dodge out of the way, but she still got kissed in the cheek. Her cheeks immediately turned a shade of anger. Roaming Dragon laughed. \\\"Don¡¯t be angry, Xiaomeng! I broke the rules, I¡¯ll drink to it!\\\" Zhou Xiaomeng sat down. She was literally shaking with anger. At the side, Little Piglet ignored the commotion and raised a glass to Shangguan Wan¡¯er, \\\"Do you want to play some dice, Wan¡¯er? The loser drinks.\\\" Shangguan Wan¡¯er declared confidently, \\\"Let¡¯s go! I¡¯m not afraid of you!\\\" I smiled. I could be wrong, but it looked like Little Piglet was very interested in Shangguan Wan¡¯er. I shouldn¡¯t allow myself to be distracted though. It was time to rescue Zhou Xiaomeng. At this rate, she might really be inebriated and kidnapped to someone¡¯s room. ¡­¡­ So I walked up to the group, shot them a humble smile and raised my glass. \\\"Excuse me, but Xiaomeng and I still have some unfinished business to settle. It¡¯s getting pretty late anyway, so you may as well lend her to me now, right? So sorry for my rudeness.\\\" While saying this, I grabbed Zhou Xiaomeng¡¯s hand and lifted her to her feet. She immediately shot me a grateful look and grabbed her handbag. \\\"Wait!\\\" Displeased, Roaming Dragon rose to his feet and said, \\\"We¡¯re not done yet, Lu Chen! It really is incredibly rude to cut into someone¡¯s fun like this!\\\" I still smiled. \\\"It really is an urgent matter. Please understand that.\\\" Roaming Dragon threatened, \\\"And if we don¡¯t?\\\" Bang! I slammed my glass against the table so hard that cracks started taking form around its walls. Smile vanishing, I said, \\\"You may want to choose your words carefully, Lu Chao. You may have forgotten already, but you are on Zhou Ping¡¯s territory right now. Do you want to test how fast her bouncers can run over and kick your ass?\\\" \\\"Who the fuck do you think you are?\\\" Lu Chao grew increasingly angry. Little Piglet couldn¡¯t ignore this any longer, so he hurriedly rose to his feet and said, \\\"Calm down, people. We may be enemies in the game, but that doesn¡¯t mean we have to be enemies in real life as well. Plus, it¡¯s no fun at all bringing your virtual grudge into reality, is it?\\\" I nodded. \\\"You are a sensible man, Little Piglet. We shall be taking our leave now.\\\" Not giving them a chance to have second thoughts, I pulled Zhou Xiaomeng with me and returned to my table as quickly as I could. While Zhou Ping¡¯s bouncers definitely could kick Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s ass to kingdom come, there was no way in hell they could arrive in time to save my ass if things did devolve into a brawl. I wouldn¡¯t go down without taking a couple of them with me, but the point was that I didn¡¯t want to go down in the first place. CH 1363 When Zhou Xiaomeng finally made it back to us, she downed an entire glass of beer to calm herself before sticking out her tongue. \\\"Where the heck did these young masters even come from? So disgusting¡­\\\" I answered, \\\"Well, the boss of your boss, Wang Dongliang, is called Pillar of the Nation in Heavenblessed. The one who tried to kiss you just now is Lu Chao, son of the president of Shanghai Hanying in real life, or Roaming Dragon in the game. They are the lord and master of the guild Purgatory Mad Dragon. As for that guy playing dice with his girlfriend, his name is Little Piglet. You know him, right? He should be famous enough¡­\\\" Zhou Xiaomeng rolled her eyes at me. \\\"I¡¯m only Level 71 in Heavenblessed. I¡¯ve heard of Lu Chen, Lin Yixin, He Yi, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, and I think that¡¯s it. I really haven¡¯t heard of Pillar of the Nation or Roaming Dragon before¡­\\\" \\\"Eh, it doesn¡¯t matter. The important thing is that you¡¯re okay¡­\\\" \\\"Yeah. Thanks again, Lu Chen. You wanna go for one more?\\\" \\\"Sure!\\\" After we toasted to Zhou Xiaomeng¡¯s safety, she said, \\\"Alright, give me your autograph and phone number. They¡¯re the perfect ammo to show off in front of the gaming addicts I call sisters and drive them crazy, heehee~\\\" I looked around me for a pen, but He Yi fished a signing pen out of her handbag and passed it to me. \\\"Here!\\\" I was surprised. \\\"You carry a pen with you all the time, Eve?\\\" \\\"Of course. It¡¯s for signing contracts.\\\" \\\"...\\\" I looked for a paper next but couldn¡¯t find one anywhere. \\\"I can¡¯t find anything to scribble on besides this tissue. Are you okay with this?\\\" Zhou Xiaomeng blinked once when suddenly, an evil smirk overcame her features. She pulled up her miniskirt to reveal her delicious thighs and pointed at it. \\\"It¡¯s fine, you can sign here instead. Okay? Okay!\\\" My mouth twitched. \\\"I can see your pink undies!\\\" Beside me, Lin Yixin clenched her fists like she wanted to punch someone. \\\"This is going too far!!!!\\\" Zhou Ping laughed so hard that tears threatened to slide down her cheeks. \\\"Xiaomeng, please, my bar can¡¯t handle a homicide!\\\" Zhou Xiaomeng giggled. \\\"Relax, it¡¯s just a joke¡­\\\" Me: \\\"...\\\" These days, any girl who possessed even a tiny bit of street experience was difficult to handle. An inexperienced young lad might find themselves drowning if they weren¡¯t careful. In the end, Zhou Ping motioned for the bartender to bring us two cards. I signed one for Zhou Xiaomeng, and Zhou Xiaomeng signed one for me. I placed it carefully in my pocket because I didn¡¯t want to crease it before passing it to Beiming Xue. ¡­¡­ We stayed until 2 am or so, but the number of people in the bar actually increased instead. All those people with excess energy were pouring in to spill their sweat of youth. All I felt was growing fatigue though. It was time to head back to the hotel and catch some sleep! \\\"Come on, it¡¯s time we return to the hotel¡­\\\" I said. \\\"Yeah!\\\" As Lin Yixin and He Yi nodded, Zhou Xiaomeng asked, \\\"By the way, which hotel are you staying in?\\\" \\\"Shangri-La Hotel. What¡¯s wrong?\\\" \\\"Oh, what a wonderful coincidence! I¡¯m staying in Shangri-La as well! Let¡¯s head back together then!\\\" \\\"Sure.\\\" We rose to our feet and got ready to leave, but a commotion suddenly erupted from a distant booth. There were sounds of loud swearing and even violent thumping noises. Something seemed to be going on in there. \\\"What¡¯s going on?\\\" I asked. \\\"Let¡¯s head over and take a look.\\\" \\\"Yeah.\\\" I walked over to the source of the commotion only to discover that it was Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s booth. The area was already jam-packed with onlookers, and I saw Little Piglet pointing a broken beer bottle at Roaming Dragon and shouting at the guy. Even more shocking was the blood all over his hands. \\\"Lu Chao, you motherfucker! How did your parents even give birth to a monster like you!?\\\" I frowned deeply. Despite the dim lighting, I could see that Little Piglet¡¯s face was covered in blood. Not far away from him, a drunken, unconscious Shangguan Wan¡¯er was lying on the sofa, but her clothes were very disheveled. Her miniskirt was half way down her thighs, her black underwear was hanging on one leg. Worst of all, Roaming Dragon was rising next to her while pulling up his pants. His red face suggested that he had a bit too much of a drink, but he possessed enough sobriety to smile disdainfully at Little Piglet and say, \\\"I don¡¯t think this is your business, Little Piglet. Who are you to stop me when even Brother Dongliang didn¡¯t say a word about this?\\\" Blue veins popped across Little Piglet¡¯s face as he roared, \\\"Not my business? NOT MY BUSINESS? The entire Purgatory Mad Dragon knows that Shangguan Wan¡¯er is my woman, and not only did you rape her while I went to the toilet, you¡¯re telling me that it¡¯s JUST THE RULES OF THE GAME? Let¡¯s see if that excuse will fly after I¡¯ve sent you to the king of hell myself, you bastard!\\\" Little Piglet¡¯s shout left no room for misinterpretation. I could only stare at the scene in complete shock. I had heard stories about youngsters going way overboard while playing their games in the bar, and that it wasn¡¯t even uncommon for a girl to ride three dudes on a \\\"dare\\\". However, that was still consensual sex, and this one could only be described as rape through and through. Clearly, Roaming Dragon was burning up after losing Zhou Xiaomeng, and he decided to vent it by extending his filthy hands to Shangguan Wan¡¯er. \\\"Little Piglet¡­ calm down, man!\\\" Wang Dongliang shouted. Little Piglet knocked Lu Chao to the ground with just one punch to the chest. He then shouted at his employer, \\\"Wang Dongliang, you coward! This sonuvabitch raped your player right in front of your face, and you just let him? You absolute coward!\\\" Wang Dongliang said with an ugly expression, \\\"Do you have to react like this? It¡¯s just one woman!\\\" Little Piglet lifted Shangguan Wan¡¯er into his arms and returned her attire to normal. Some of his blood became smeared across her legs as a result. He replied, \\\"I may be a greedy asshole, but I would never betray my country, and I would never betray my woman. You¡¯d do this to us after everything we¡¯ve done for you? Very well. I swear on my life that I will annihilate your Purgatory Mad Dragon. You too, Lu Chao. I will destroy you eventually!\\\" He sneered while rising to his feet with Shangguan Wan¡¯er in his arms, \\\"I know you have a good family. I know if I call the cops now and accuse you of rape, all I¡¯ll get is some corrupt policemen bullshitting to my face and scrubbing your criminal record clean afterward. That¡¯s fine. I like taking revenge my own way anyway. I¡¯ll make you lose everything. It¡¯s time you pay your penance for all the women you¡¯ve toyed with anyway!\\\" As Little Piglet turned away to take his leave, he came face to face with me. For a time, neither of us could say anything. \\\"Little Piglet, you¡­\\\" \\\"I envy you now, Lu Chen. You were right. A man shouldn¡¯t just live for money. You are a good man, but I chose the wrong person to follow. Goodbye!\\\" ¡­¡­ I watched as Little Piglet left with Shangguan Wan¡¯er. I wanted to console him, but there was literally nothing I could¡¯ve said that would make him feel better. This was literally the worst thing that could happen to any man. \\\"C-cops, call the cops! Don¡¯t let him escape!\\\" Lu Chao yelled drunkenly. I walked up to the fucker and kicked him in the face. \\\"What for? To take you to jail for rape?!\\\" Lin Yixin dragged me away before I could do worse. \\\"Come on, Little Cheat¡­\\\" A short distance away, Profound Puff abruptly smashed the beer bottle he was holding and muttered seemingly to himself, \\\"A man¡¯s lower half is an original sin, man. Shit, shit! We lost Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er. How the fuck is Purgatory Mad Dragon going to conquer the world with a couple million low-level players? Shit!\\\" Profound Puff raised his leg as if he wanted to kick Roaming Dragon, but the latter suddenly raised his head and glared hatefully. \\\"Are you going to hit me too, Zhao Yufeng?\\\" Caught off-guard, Profound Puff withdrew his leg and muttered, \\\"I was just stretching my leg is all¡­\\\" \\\"Coward!\\\" Profound Puff kicked Roaming Dragon hard and shouted, \\\"The fuck you just called me?\\\" It was chaos. Inconstant, Iron Pardon and Profound Puff quickly got into a brawl, and all this time Roaming Dragon¡¯s actual woman, Coldmoon Rose, was sleeping in her chair, drunken and half-exposed. Had she been awake, she would¡¯ve been forced to watch her boyfriend raping Shangguan Wan¡¯er with her own eyes. Though, it wasn¡¯t like there was anything she could have done to stop him. ¡­¡­ Little Piglet was already gone by the time we raced to the streets. \\\"Where did they go?\\\" Lin Yixin voiced out all our thoughts. I shook my head. \\\"I don¡¯t know. He probably doesn¡¯t want anyone to know where they¡¯re going.\\\" Zhou Xiaomeng said, \\\"I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll call the cops.\\\" He Yi gazed into the distance and said, \\\"Yeah. This memory alone is going to haunt Shangguan Wan¡¯er for the rest of her life. If Little Piglet truly loves her, he won¡¯t ever mention it for as long as he lives, much less put her through a dialogue with the cops. He will bear all the pain by himself.\\\" Lin Yixin sighed. \\\"I can¡¯t believe this actually happened. Roaming Dragon and Hegemon Palace¡¯s surprise merge had carried them to the Top 5, and they could¡¯ve advanced even further with Little Piglet¡¯s help. After this though? They¡¯ll be lucky if they aren¡¯t history as soon as tomorrow.\\\" \\\"I wouldn¡¯t be so sure about that¡­\\\" I said. \\\"Why?\\\" I looked up as a drizzle began to fall. \\\"Shanghai Shengyi and Shanghai Hanying¡¯s partnership was founded atop billions and billions of capital. Why did you think Wang Dongliang was almost silent from the start until the end? Shangguan Wan¡¯er may be his subordinate, but she is nothing compared to his partnership with Lu Chao. There are no eternal friends, only eternal profit. From the moment Wang Dongliang acquiesced to Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡¯s rape, he had made up his mind to give up on both her and Little Piglet. And so, they left.\\\" Lin Yixin asked, \\\"Is now a good time to recruit Little Piglet?\\\" He Yi shook her head. \\\"No. Little Piglet is like a wounded animal right now. Friend or foe, he will attack anyone he meets. We should at least wait until he returns to the fray, and who knows, he may yet surprise us. He is an extremely capable man after all.\\\" Lin Yixin smiled and slipped her arm into mine. \\\"What would you have done if you were Little Piglet?\\\" I clenched my fists and answered in a serious tone devoid of hesitation, \\\"I would have killed Lu Chao.\\\" Lin Yixin: \\\"...\\\" Beside her, Zhou Xiaomeng giggled. \\\"As expected of the Little Heavenly King.\\\" \\\"Little Piglet actually wanted to kill Lu Chao right there and then. He just knew he wouldn¡¯t succeed because everyone including his own boss would stop him. That was why he ultimately chose to simply leave with Shangguan Wan¡¯er. He¡¯s similar to Candlelight Shadow in that he¡¯s decisive, smart, and capable of forbearance. Purgatory Mad Dragon may have bitten off more than they can chew¡­\\\" \\\"Seriously, what a mess this night has been. By the way, what are we gonna do now?\\\" \\\"We eat some mudbugs and go to bed, duh. Also, who among you are going to service me tonight?\\\" I tossed out a most inflammatory question. He Yi pouted. \\\"I¡¯m tired¡­\\\" Lin Yixin chided me. \\\"So shameless!\\\" Zhou Xiaomeng pretended to be embarrassed. \\\"I suppose I can¡­\\\" Lin Yixin and He Yi: \\\"No way!!\\\" CH 1364 The next morning, I woke up to a small headache probably because of all the alcohol I had drunk the preceding night. I felt something human-sized in my arms and looked down to find¡­ a bolster. I couldn¡¯t deny feeling a pang of disappointment then. By the time I got up and ate breakfast, Zhou Xiaomeng had already left with her manager. He Yi had spoken to her about the move to World Media and negotiated the details of the contract. Assuming that everything went well¡ªand it should¡ªZhou Xiaomeng would be working for Raincube, and she would no longer have to worry about Wang Dongliang anymore. After that, we drove back to Suzhou and ate lunch outside. Then, we returned to the workshop and logged back into the game. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The first thing I did after appearing in Dark Moon City was repair all my equipment at the smithy. As I walked toward the warehouse next, I saw a troop of Dragonlight Cavalrymen exiting the city at high speed. Ever since we had upgraded the city with the Vassal Token, the Dragonscale Beast had become much faster, tankier and more powerful than before. High-mobility cavalrymen had always been perfect for ambushes, interceptions and reinforcements, and now the Dragonlight Cavalry was the indisputable king of cavalries. At this stage, our rivals would need to assemble a pure dragon cavalry to have a real chance at surpassing them. I restocked my potions but made sure to separate the Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potions I normally used and the 5 sets of Rank 13 Dragonheart Orchid Agents Lin Yixin had given me. At this stage of the game, the stock of Dragonheart Orchid Agents was incredibly limited. There were only 3 people besides Lin Yixin who even possessed the skill to create a Rank 13 potion, and the materials required to make them were worth a fortune, so much so that 99.9% of the playerbase could only stare at the potion impotently. That was why I should save them for PvP and boss fights only. Next, I summoned Cute Little Naughty and gave her the Level 220 Heaven-grade Moonshadow Walker set. It wasn¡¯t something she could wear until the end of the game, but it was enough for now. I dumped the rest of the Moonshadow Walker sets¡ªwe had collected a dozen or so in total¡ªto the guild warehouse and set the exchange price to 700k guild contribution points. Why such a specific number? It was because the Top 7 or 8 assassins in our main guild and subguilds all had around 700k guild contribution points in total. If I wasn¡¯t going to sell the equipment sets for cash, I might as well give it to my own assassins and strengthen them. It was the same thing with the Lantern Girl set. The number of our mages with Heart of the Holy Mages was growing every day, and the set was a great fit for our first-rate mages. On that note, I also saved a set for Moonlight Stone because she wouldn¡¯t have the necessary guild contribution points to exchange for it as a "new" member of the guild. Rustle rustle... We heard footsteps behind us, and Cute Little Naughty turned around with a smile. "Lu Buyi has arrived, vice leader big bro!" "Yeah!" I turned around to face Lu Buyi. The guy was looking more and more like an ancient scholar every day. I shot him a smile and asked, "What is your weapon¡¯s grade, Buyi?" Lu Buyi answered, "Immortal. Why are you asking, boss?" I took out the fan I got from our latest venture and gave it a wave. A crimson dragon¡¯s soul immediately circled around the fiery fan and let out a soft cry. Lu Buyi shivered and exclaimed in surprise, "Holy shit! This fan looks absolutely amazing¡­" "But of course!" My smile widened. "This fan is a Lower Divine Armament, a weapon comparable to a Sacred Armament, or a Cambrian Divine Armament. How can it not be amazing?" Lu Buyi replied without hesitation, "I will not accept it. A man who hasn¡¯t labored shouldn¡¯t be paid, much less something as valuable as a Lower Divine Armament¡­" I extended the Hidden Dragon Fan toward him anyway and said, "You don¡¯t have to worry about that. I will be deducting 1 million guild contribution points from your pockets, and I expect you to work hard for the benefit of the guild. More importantly, this Hidden Dragon Fan has a passive that increases the cap of all your stratagems by 50%, which means that your Purple Dragon can now increase all stats by 150%. This weapon is meant for you, man. Is there any army in the world who can defeat your party of 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen after this?" A thought entered my mind after I said this, "Speaking of which, we should pair you with a female cavalryman until your Intimacy reaches the required level. This way, she can carry you wherever you need to go when we¡¯re marching for battle¡­" However, Cute Little Naughty said, "Oh, you don¡¯t need to worry about that. There¡¯s already a female cavalryman in our main guild¡¯s 1st legion who¡¯s veeeeeeeery intimate with our Lu Buyi. They may even be boyfriend and girlfriend already¡­" "Little Naughty! W-we¡¯re not like that!" Lu Buyi cried in embarrassment. "You know I always obey the guild rules to the letter, and one of the rules states that a corps commander can not fool around with a member of the guild!" I smiled reassuringly at him. "That rule exists, yes, but it¡¯s only to stop those people who may be tempted to abuse their authority. If the two of you really like each other, who are we to stop you? Anyway, the reason I brought this up is to ensure that you have constant mobility. Since you already have someone, then all is well. Now take it, and don¡¯t you play coy with me! You know I would¡¯ve charged through the roof if you were anyone else!" Lu Buyi nodded and accepted the fan. Then, he transferred 500k RMB to my account and said, "I know this fan is worth at least 3 million RMB, but I don¡¯t have that much money, so¡­" Lu Buyi could be incredibly stubborn when his principles were involved, and it was true that our guild didn¡¯t have the habit of giving acquaintances gifts that went far beyond what was acceptable. So, I accepted the payment without hesitation and said, "Very well. At least now I can justify myself to the party members who were grinding with me, haha~" Lu Buyi laughed as well. "Thank you. If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯ll be leaving to pick up some new skills." "See you around!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, 7 high-level cavalrymen came through the entrance of the territory hall in a hurry. The first two players weren¡¯t riding a mount, but that was because they were dragon riders. They were none other than Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and Chaos Moon, and they were all wearing serious looks on their faces. "Lu Chen!" Li Chengfeng asked me the second he reached me, "Did you know what happened to Purgatory Mad Dragon?" "What¡¯s wrong?" I asked. Gui Guzi replied in an urgent tone, "Come on, Boss Broken Halberd! We just want to know what the hell is going on with Purgatory Mad Dragon! We came to you because Boss Eve wouldn¡¯t say a word about it!" "No seriously, tell me what happened first. Why are you guys acting like it¡¯s the end of the world or something?" I repeated. Xu Yang answered, "Earlier this morning, Little Piglet left Purgatory Mad Dragon and even relinquished his own nationality! It makes no sense at all! Something must have happened in Purgatory Mad Dragon for him to do something this drastic!" I fell silent for a moment before replying, "Alright, I understand now. I¡¯m not going to tell you what really happened because a person was hurt. The less people who know the details, the better. The summary version is this: Wang Dongliang and Lu Chao betrayed Little Piglet, and it is such a terrible betrayal that there is nothing Little Piglet can do in retaliation that wouldn¡¯t be fair or just. My plan is for our guild to stay out of this business as much as possible." "But¡­" Li Chengfeng pointed his sword to the northwest direction. "Little Piglet is currently being hunted by Purgatory Mad Dragon at Frostbone Ridge, Vanished God City map that leads to the outer lands. He may be able to make it out on his own, or maybe he won¡¯t. Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Blazing Hot Lips, Purple Lily and more have also sent their elite players to Frostbone Ridge, although it looks like they just want to recruit him to their guild. Are you absolutely sure we should stay here and do nothing?" "Those fuckers!" I clenched my fists. "Purgatory Mad Dragon is hunting down Little Piglet? Just how shameless can you get!?" Li Chengfeng nodded. "Yes. Earlier this morning, Roaming Dragon announced a 1-million-per-kill bounty on Little Piglet. The reason he gave was that Little Piglet has betrayed his oath and become a traitor of the guild. Since Little Piglet is completely isolated, many guilds think that this is the perfect opportunity to recruit him into their fold¡­" I unsheathed my Chill of the Nine Provinces and summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon. "Chengfeng, Little Gui, take 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen with you and teleport to Vanished God City now. Now is the time to exploit our mount¡¯s new speed and reach Frostbone Ridge as soon as possible!" "Understood!" "Lu Buyi, you¡¯re coming with us too. Gui Guzi will be buffing 3000 players with Knight God, and you¡¯ll be buffing the remaining 2000 with Purple Dragon!" "Yessir!" ¡­¡­ We rushed to the teleportation formation and teleported to Vanished God City directly! Swhoosh! My vision brightened as the Dragonlight Cavalry and I appeared on the streets of Vanished God City. It was then that I saw a 27-year-old spear-wielding magic knightress pulling Lu Buyi up her mount. She was mature-looking, incredibly attractive, and possessed an hourglass body that many women would kill to have. I had no idea that this was an older woman-younger-man relationship (Lu Buyi was 24 years old)! That being said, it didn¡¯t look like she was treating Lu Buyi badly, so whatever. I commented with a smile on my face, "Buyi¡¯s tastes are pretty good¡­" Lu Buyi looked incredibly embarrassed. The magic knightress replied with a giggle, "Oh, he knows!" Me: "..." Xu Yang brandished his blade and yelled, "Mount up and form your parties!" Lu Buyi added me to his party, and a moment later, all my stats were boosted by 150%. Words couldn¡¯t describe how pleasing it was to view my latest stat screen. A 150% boost to my Strength, Stamina, Agility and Intelligence attributes was bonkers to say the least, and I was certain that only a handful of mages in the whole world could threaten me with their God Devil Breaks right now. In fact, if I could learn God Devil Break, I would be the one murdering their asses instead... "Our destination is Frostbone Ridge!" I pointed to the northwest before continuing, "The mission is¡­ Actually, I don¡¯t know what we¡¯re going to do when we get there yet. Let¡¯s just say that we¡¯re going to see what happens and decide our course of action later. That okay with everyone? Good. Let¡¯s go!" We took off amid a chorus of hearty laughter. Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi led from the sky, and it wasn¡¯t long before He Yi showed up on her Snowy Crystal Dragon as well. Although Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had only mobilized 5000 players, it was enough to make the players of Vanished God City quake in their boots. After all, we were the only guild in the entire world with 3 high-level dragon knights right now. ¡­¡­ A cold wind blew as we neared the north side of Vanished God City domain. The forest was filled with grinding players, so our players had to do a bit of weaving here and there. Our three dragon knights even slowed down so that they didn¡¯t shake their own army off. Even so, we reached Frostbone Ridge in just 15 minutes. The map was a canyon passage with many bodies strewn across the mountain ranges to give it the appearance of an ancient battlefield. I counted at least 100000 players within the canyon. All of these players had shown up for Little Piglet. In a way, it was a testament of his power. CH 1365 Inside the frigid canyon, a shield formation of Purgatory Mad Dragon players were blocking the exit leading to the outer lands. Wang Dongliang was standing at the forefront with a heavy sword in his grip, and further back was a group of archers and mages. It was definitely powerful enough to intercept Little Piglet. I counted at least 5000 high-level Purgatory Mad Dragon players among them. A fair distance away from them, Little Piglet was wielding a deep cyan sword and riding a skeletal horse with draconic spikes all over its body. It was obviously Level 200 or higher and Immortal Rank at least. Even more imposing were the cyan spikes covering his armor. It was Shield Armor, a skill that reflected 75% damage back at his attacker as true damage. It was the main reason archers were generally afraid to hit Little Piglet. It was entirely possible that they might kill themselves long before they killed him. Little Piglet was not looking good though. Blood was dripping down his palm, and his armor looked moments away from falling apart completely. Even so, he raised his head high and glared at Wang Dongliang with furious eyes. ¡­¡­ Unwilling to meet Little Piglet¡¯s eyes, Wang Dongliang trained his gaze on the distant forests behind him before yelling, "Come back to your senses already, Little Piglet! Where do you think you¡¯re going with our 100000 elite players anyway?" Little Piglet sneered. "Your players? One, these people are my brothers and sisters, and two, they are standing with me today out of their own free will. You¡¯re better off asking them why they¡¯re willing to follow me to the outer lands instead of you! Also, we¡¯re already at the outer lands, so you stop pretending that you can¡¯t murder a fellow countryman and come at me already! Of course, you don¡¯t have the balls for it!" Roaming Dragon raised his spear and roared, "You are too arrogant, Little Piglet!" It was like pouring oil into a fire. Whatever cool Little Piglet managed to muster instantly evaporated into nothing. "Just wait like the dog you are, Lu Chao! I will take everything from you even if it costs me my life!" Roaming Dragon shut up for a second before looking at his generals. "Iron Pardon, Inconstant, get ready to work with the mages and kill him with God Devil Breaks!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Swirls of energy surrounded Little Piglet as he activated Great Earth Transformation. His sword was glowing with the deep cyan of Great Conqueror¡ªa Divine General Skill that increased his splash effect by 75%¡ªand within the blade was the faint bloody hue of the lifesteal effect. It was one of Little Piglet¡¯s active skills, and it converted 15% of his damage received into HP. It was one of the major reasons Little Piglet could stomp through a battlefield with impunity. As for his party¡¯s Famous General Skill, he was of course using Vajra to increase his Defense by 200%. It practically rendered him immune to the archer and fighter classes. "All units, switch to armor-penetration equipment and load up your Barrier Breaks! Archers, prepare to dismount him with your Shock Arrows and Mountain Stagger Arrows! Without a mount, Little Piglet is nothing but a dead dog!" Iron Pardon then raised his sword high before shouting, "Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s name will not be besmirched! How can we conquer the world if we can¡¯t slay even one Little Piglet? Let¡¯s go!" With that, the Gemini Stars of Mad Dragon, Iron Pardon and Inconstant, closed in on Little Piglet from two different directions. Both of them were followed by a stream of cavalrymen. "Come!" A smile crossed Little Piglet¡¯s face as he lowered his sword and cast Strength of Divine Arms. The skill increased the upper limit of his weapon¡¯s Attack¡ªor simply put, his character¡¯s base Attack¡ªby 20%, which was much stronger than just a flat 20% increase to his Attack. He also activated Freezing Heat to massively increase his movement speed. Now that he was ready, he spurred his mount forward and charged right toward the incoming arrows. At the last moment, he suddenly changed his speed and direction and successfully dodged more than half of the arrow rain. "Die!" An icy light appeared around his blade as Little Piglet swung his sword at Inconstant. The man wasn¡¯t stupid enough to treat Little Piglet lightly, so he raised his shield in an attempt to block the attack. There was a loud bang, but it wasn¡¯t the sound of his sword slamming against Inconstant¡¯s shield. It was Little Piglet kicking the shield to turn his mount and himself 180 degrees to the back¡ªeffectively bypassing the usual turn rate limitation¡ªand unleashing a devastating Ice Ray Flurry + Barrier Break combo at Iron Pardon! Thud thud thud thud... The other Gemini Star never saw it coming. He couldn¡¯t believe that Little Piglet would dare to pull a trick like this under these circumstances. Crack! One more swing to the neck later, Iron Pardon slowly fell off his mount and died. Every one of Little Piglet¡¯s attacks was meant to kill his target, and he without a doubt succeeded. While dodging countless God Devil Breaks and Trapping Nets, Little Piglet leaped into the middle of the enemy like a true Great Conqueror and shouted, "Freezing Purgatory!" A storm of wind and ice erupted among a group of Purgatory Mad Dragon archers and riddled their bodies with icicles. Not done yet, Little Piglet targeted the mages next and scored another truckload of kills with Ultimate Strength Break. His armor was groaning ominously due to the sheer amount of attacks he was receiving, but his 15% lifesteal effect kept him relatively comfortably above the 50% mark. ¡­¡­ It was utter chaos at the exit of the canyon. Little Piglet alone was giving thousands of Purgatory Mad Dragon players a hard time. There was a Chinese idiom called "raised up by Xiao He, cast down by Xiao He", and Little Piglet was the Xiao He of Purgatory Mad Dragon. Little Piglet was the main reason Purgatory Mad Dragon was counted among the Top 10 guilds of China, but now it was looking all downhill for them simply because Lu Chao couldn¡¯t control his lower half. All too often one evil thought; one loss of control was all it took to kickstart the domino effect of destruction. "Look over there¡­" Gui Guzi pointed at the right hill with his Ghostblade Halberd. "I think Warsky Alliance is about to make a move¡­" The large majority of the hill was shining with golden light because of the Gold Cavalry. Warsky himself was standing at the forefront with the Immortal Blade in his grip. The corners of his lips curled upward as he declared, "Get ready. We¡¯ll be charging Purgatory Mad Dragon and wiping them out in five minutes. Only we are deserving of a peerless general like Little Piglet!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe nodded. "The guild leader is wise! Ancient Sword and Candle Dragon are near though. I wonder what they will do?" "Ignore them. Sometimes making the first move is an advantage!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ He Yi looked at me for instructions. "Should we intercept the Gold Cavalry, Lu Chen?" I asked, "Can we intercept them?" "Warsky has only brought 10000 Gold Cavalrymen with him. We should be able to stop them." "Hmm, no. Just leave them." "But why?" "Because Candlelight Shadow will do our job for us. Trust me, he won¡¯t allow Warsky the chance to recruit Little Piglet¡­" "Very well¡­" ¡­¡­ As I thought, Candlelight Shadow and his fire dragon immediately appeared at the center of the canyon when the Gold Cavalry began making their move. He ordered the Qiu Beast Cavalry, "Intercept Warsky Alliance¡¯s Gold Cavalry now! Don¡¯t allow them to get close!" "Yessir!" 4000 Qiu Beast Cavalrymen led by Tempest Shadow and Blue Sky Scar charged toward the Gold Cavalry. Then, Candlelight Shadow declared with a smirk, "Little Wu, time to show off our secret army!" God¡¯s Dance chuckled, and soon, 5000 tamers clad in leather armor and wielding whips entered the canyon. Most of them were female players, so of course the entire canyon was ringing with wolf whistles for a time. They stood behind the Qiu Beast Cavalry and summoned their pets, the Lantern Girls. Every single one of them owned 3 Lantern Girls, so that was 15k Lantern Girls in total. Since the pets were buffed by Life of the Tamer, all their stats were boosted by 30%. This was a magic army that could rival some of the best mage armies in the world... Heaven¡¯s Rain pouted. "Oh, the Lantern Girls are usable already? No wonder Candle Dragon has been grinding instances like crazy. They were increasing their pets¡¯ levels¡­" Xu Yang clenched his fists. "Look, most of the Lantern Girls are between Level 100 to 150 only. This is just a training session for Candle Dragon, and Warsky Alliance¡¯s Gold Cavalry are the training dummies¡­" I smiled. "It¡¯s fine. God Devil Break is a Level 100 skill, and their Intelligence absolutely exceeds the Gold Cavalry¡¯s after the 30% boost from Life of the Tamer. I bet you that Warsky Alliance is going to cry like a bitch¡­" "Yes, we¡¯ll see¡­" It looked like the second and third best guild in China would be meeting each other on the battlefield with their new units. This battle was getting more and more interesting by the minute. ¡­¡­ The Gold Cavalrymen slammed mightily against the Qiu Beast Cavalry¡¯s shields before raising their hoofs. Then, they stomped the ground and caused a damaging shockwave about 5 to 10 yards wide. That¡¯s right, it was the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s¡ªthe Dragonlight Armored Horses to be exact¡ªold skill, Hoof Trample. Our players didn¡¯t have it anymore because their mounts had been changed to the Dragonscale Beast, and the Dragon Soul Protection¡¯s 50% boost to Attack and Defense were just as good. Long story short, both skills had their own flaws and merits. Pu pu pu... Both sides traded Barrier Breaks, and it was the Qiu Beast Cavalry who was losing horribly. If we were to look at AoE-damaging ability and individual power alone, the Qiu Beast Cavalry was way weaker than the Gold Cavalry. It was what Warsky was counting on. Raising the Immortal Blade and grinning like crazy, Warsky blasted a group of Qiu Beast Cavalry with his Molten Fury Slash before shouting, "Penetrate their defense line fully! Show Candle Dragon just how powerful the Gold Cavalry is, hehe!" But just because the Qiu Beast Cavalry were dropping like flies didn¡¯t mean that this was going to be a total victory for Warsky Alliance. Further behind Candle Dragon¡¯s frontline, God¡¯s Dance finally gave the order, "Tamer legion, attack! All Lantern Girls are to use God Devil Break!" The Lantern Girls began chanting cutely, and a moment later tons of God Devil Breaks that weren¡¯t cute in the slightest engulfed the Gold Cavalrymen in a storm of magic. None of the Lantern Girls could one-shot their target, but they didn¡¯t have to. There was already enough damage to put the Gold Cavalry between a rock and a hard place¡ª 172800! 142740! 136720! ¡­¡­ Each Lantern Girl dealt between 100k to 200k damage. Since the average Gold Cavalryman only had around 1.5 million HP, three Lantern Girls could remove almost half of their HP in a single salve. Thousands of them firing God Devil Breaks at the same time? There was no chance the Gold Cavalrymen directly under the line of fire were going to survive. As the Gold Cavalry began dropping like flies as well, Laughing At The Heavens shouted, "Warsky, the Lantern Girls¡¯ God Devil Breaks are hitting harder than expected, and we have no priests to keep us healthy! We can¡¯t drag this out!" Warsky declared decisively, "First army, follow me! We¡¯re going to circle around to their flank and kill all their Lantern Girls! Pssh, defeating this strategy is easy!" However, Candlelight Shadow immediately ordered a counter, "Archers, step up! Draw your bows and be ready to shoot the enemy to hell when they show their ugly mugs! Assassins, enter stealth and lay Traps along their paths! Show Warsky that you are not simpletons who would fall for his simple strategy!" ¡­¡­ Both sides were training their armies and practicing new strategies. It would cost tens of thousands of players their levels, but it would all be worth it in the end. Before a victor could be decided though, Little Piglet abruptly punched through Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s defense line and made a beeline for the outer lands. ¡­¡­ I immediately took to the sky and shouted to the warring armies below, "Stop! Little Piglet is leaving for the outer lands!" Warsky hurriedly ordered, "Halt! We go to the outer lands!" Candlelight Shadow also ordered, "We go to the outer lands!" Arms bleeding, Inconstant galloped after Little Piglet while shouting, "Fuck! Fuck! Little Piglet must not escape! Fuck!" Swhoosh! Suddenly, an arrow pierced Inconstant¡¯s throat and reduced his voice to a gurgle. It also deleted his remaining 17% HP. The arrow hadn¡¯t come from any of the armies fighting there, though. It had come from the outer lands. CH 1366 "What the hell? Who¡¯s the fucker who attacked my men!?" Roaming Dragon swore while riding to the exit of Frostbone Ridge with Coldmoon Rose. He was followed by seven to eight hundred experts. Although Purgatory Mad Dragon still had a lot of men, all of them were still shaking from Little Piglet¡¯s rampage. A lifeless Inconstant crashed heavily against the ground. His soul departed his body as a ball of white light. A huge party of red players were standing about dozens of yards away from him. They had cavalrymen, archers, mages, priests and more, and they all wore the same emblem on their arms. ¡­¡­ "Fuck!" Roaming Dragon clenched his teeth tightly. "Why is Dark Mercenaries here?" Wang Dongliang shuddered atop his horse. "Oh shit, this is bad. Was Little Piglet in cahoots with Dark Mercenaries from the start?" Meanwhile, Warsky, Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar and more had finally arrived at the scene. We, Snowy Cathaya and Blazing Hot Lips had arrived as well. The elites of the China server and Dark Mercenaries were several hundred meters apart, and standing in the middle was Little Piglet; bloody, tattered and alone besides his pet, a lizard with a golden tail. It was a pure physical attack-type, and it was very powerful. Warsky spurred his mount past the battle line and yelled at Little Piglet, "What is this, Little Piglet? Why is Dark Mercenaries here? Is this why you made a beeline for the outer lands?" I wasn¡¯t so sure. Little Piglet looked quite stunned himself. The scepter-wielding Onmyouji, Now and Forever, stepped into the open and shot Little Piglet an inviting smile. "Do you see, Little Piglet? You gave your all to Hegemon Palace, Purgatory Mad Dragon and the China server, but now they would oust you like they do a stray dog. This is the fucking life, man! Sometimes, all it takes is one ingrate to turn all your efforts to nothing. I may not know what Purgatory Mad Dragon did to you, but I don¡¯t need a brain to know that it must be the work of those self-important bastards, Wang Dongliang and Lu Chao!" He paused for a moment before continuing, "If you are a man, stand up and take revenge against them! Join us, and we will make you a vice leader and give them a taste of their own medicine!" Amber Pupil joined in on the persuasion as well. "Welcome to Dark Mercenaries, Brother Little Piglet! From now on, we are brothers-in-arms! As a show of our sincerity, we have already secured the 100000 Purgatory Mad Dragon players you fought to protect while they were escaping to the outer lands. If you join us, they will become the absolute core of Dark Mercenaries, and you will be able to enjoy the true freedom of the outer lands! No longer will you be restricted by the CGL or the VR department! No longer will anyone be able to tell you who you cannot kill! When the time is right, we¡¯ll even conquer Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s territory for your vengeance!" Little Piglet didn¡¯t say anything at first. He unsheathed his bloody, broken sword, pointed it at Dark Mercenaries and growled, "I may have become a stray dog, but I will never align myself with traitorous dogs! Amber Pupil, Now and Forever, who the fuck do you think the two of you are? One of you is a pathetic scumbag who sold a city of the Center to the northern wolves, and the other¡¯s a disgusting filth who sold his own pride to become a lackey of the north! You think you deserve to be my brother?! Pooh! Get out of my sights. Even if I am forced to roam the outer lands, Dark Mercenaries will always be first on my kill list, with everyone else as the distant second!" "You!" Amber Pupil gritted his teeth hard enough to break, but to my surprise he didn¡¯t explode like I thought he would. Something or someone was keeping him under control. Now and Forever then smirked craftily. "As expected of Little Piglet! Shabby Castle told us a week ago that you were going to join the outer lands and become a money-grubbing king of mercenaries, and it looks like he wasn¡¯t lying after all! You were going to join the outer lands eventually." "The fuck are you talking about? I never¡ª" Little Piglet retorted, but Warsky, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Laughing At The Heavens and more Warsky Alliance players closed in on him with angry looks on their faces. A furious-looking Warsky interrogated him, "Was he telling the truth, Little Piglet? Were you really in cahoots with Shabby Castle? You¡¯re not planning to sell Hot Sand City to the English, are you?" Little Piglet gritted his teeth. "Of course not!" Blue Sky Scar raised his sword. "And how are we supposed to trust your word? Anyone can say they¡¯re not guilty! If you really want to prove to us that you aren¡¯t in cahoots with Dark Mercenaries, then kill Amber Pupil and Now and Forever now!" ¡­¡­ He Yi clenched her fists together. "Are¡­ are Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon trying to drive Little Piglet away from the China server?" I clenched my teeth and activated Fusion Armor. Then, with my equipment luster fully turned on and the Phantom Wolf King growling beside me, I stepped out into the open and said, "Warsky, Blue Sky Scar, enough. No matter what happened, Little Piglet is a CGL Hall of Famer and a flagship player of the China server. Why are you forcing him to do something he can¡¯t possibly do? You know there¡¯s no way he can go up against Dark Mercenaries by himself, not to mention that his 100000 brothers and sisters are being ¡®protected¡¯ right now! Are you going to give up on our own countrymen?" However, Laughing At The Heavens pointed his spear at me and sneered, "It¡¯s obvious as fuck that Little Piglet has defected, so why are you defending him, Lu Chen? Do you think we¡¯ll just follow your command just because you¡¯re the vice leader of the number one guild and the number one active CGL Hall of Famer? I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re plotting, but I do know that we are defending the honor of the China server today! You¡¯d better have some self-respect, or else!" I clenched my fists together. "Shut your trap, Laughing At The Heavens. You have no idea what caused all this!" "So what?" Laughing At The Heavens'' sneer grew even more disdainful. "For starters, I don¡¯t give a shit about his reason. Two, if his reason really is that compelling, why didn¡¯t Little Piglet just spill it all already? Surely we would all understand, right?" I grew even angrier. "I told you to shut your mouth!" Laughing At The Heavens was going to say something more, but Little Piglet suddenly looked at the sky and let out a long, long laugh. Finally, he gave his sword a swing and said to me, "Thank you for defending me, Lu Chen. I¡¯m satisfied with just that. At the very least, I know now that not everyone in the China server is as blind as a bat. The fact is, I have nowhere else to go. There are countless people who want nothing more but to see me out of the China server. It¡¯s funny, isn¡¯t it? The three main cities are so big, but they just aren¡¯t big enough to fit one Little Piglet¡­" Li Chengfeng spurred his Blue Crystal Dragon forward and said from the sky, "Join us, Little Piglet. No matter what vengeance it is you¡¯re bearing, we promise to bear it with you!" Little Piglet shook his head smilingly. "It¡¯s fine. This is a score I must settle myself. I really do appreciate your offer, but there is no way left for me except the outer lands." Suddenly, he stabbed his bloody blade into the sand and dropped to one knee facing the direction of the China server. He looked at us with bloodshot but determined eyes before declaring, "I, Little Piglet, do not believe that I have let down my homeland even once in my life, but that is all going to end today. Starting now, I¡¯m going to do everything in my power to take revenge. To achieve that, I may have to become an outlaw and a traitor. I may have to offend many of the guilds standing here today. Know that what I will do has nothing to do with my personal honor. It is simply what Little Piglet the Avenger needs to do to achieve his vengeance. While I am still able, I offer you all my sincerest apologies, and I hope that you may find it in yourself to forgive me one day. ¡°Fair warning, but the next time we meet, do not expect any mercy or regret from me. One way or another, I. Will. Have. My. Vengeance!" With that final declaration, Little Piglet turned his back on us, walked toward Dark Mercenaries and yelled, "Now get your ass over here, asshole! What in the world made you think that Amber Pupil and Now and Forever are fit to negotiate with me? If you still won¡¯t show your face, I will take myself and my men elsewhere!" Amber Pupil and Now and Forever¡¯s expressions turned even uglier when they heard this. ¡­¡­ The players of Dark Mercenaries split apart to admit a platoon of high-level Armor Breaker Cavalrymen. The guild emblem on their shoulder marked them as members of God Breaker, the number one guild of England¡¯s Sunset City. A single mage stepped out from the center, and he was none other than Shabby Castle, the number one player of Sunset City. "I¡¯m here, Little Piglet. What are your demands?" Shabby Castle smiled while toying with his scepter. In the end, Dark Mercenaries and the Northern Alliance were able to grasp a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and separate Little Piglet from the China server. "Gulp!" Warsky swallowed once before ordering, "Gold Cavalry, form up and prepare to attack! Do the English think we don¡¯t exist? That they can do whatever they want right outside our doorsteps?" Candlelight Shadow also raised his sword and declared, "Qiu Beast Cavalry, be ready to attack when an opportunity presents itself!" Li Chengfeng looked at me from the sky, and I gave him a nod before saying, "Dragonlight Cavalry, form up! No matter where Little Piglet decides to go, these Sunset City players aren¡¯t leaving our outer lands alive!" "Yessir!" ¡­¡­ Whoosh whoosh¡­ A gale blew across the sand where Little Piglet was standing. The Cold Wind Swordsman smiled back at Shabby Castle before replying arrogantly, "I can join Dark Mercenaries, but only if I become the guild leader! Like hell I¡¯ll ever be under or equal to Amber Pupil and Now and Forever!" "What?!" Amber Pupil exclaimed in shock. However, Shabby Castle nodded without hesitation. "Understood. I have already come to an agreement with Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. If you join the outer lands, you will become the master of Dark Mercenaries and king of the outer lands. We will not interfere with your business in any way." Little Piglet nodded in satisfaction while Amber Pupil turned a shade of purple. "What is your next request?" Shabby Castle asked without having to be prompted. Little Piglet continued lazily, "The 100000 brothers and sisters who defected with me will be joining the main guild of Dark Mercenaries. They will all get 100k guild contribution points." "No problem. Anything else?" "First, I want 1 billion gold to be deposited into the guild warehouse as guild funds. Second, I want 50000 pieces of Level 180+ Heaven-grade and preferably Outstanding metal armor equipment to strengthen our cavalrymen. Only then will we be able to fight against the powerful enemies surrounding us. Third, I know that Hero Alliance has recently discovered a new Level 210 Heaven Rank mount called the Iron Cutter Warhorse. Tell Vienna¡¯s Sorrow that I want 100000 Iron Cutter Warhorse Sealing Stones from him. Finally, I do not want the Northern Alliance to interfere with my activities. That is all¡­" Shabby Castle considered the request for a moment before cursing, "Shit¡­" Bookmark CH 1367 Shabby Castle, the number one player of Sunset City, was literally trembling after hearing all of Little Piglet¡¯s "unreasonable" demands. "T-that¡¯s all, right?" Little Piglet shrugged. "Yes, that¡¯s all. And don¡¯t even think to bargain with me. If you agree to my demands, I will join Dark Mercenaries. If you don¡¯t, I will create my own force that specifically targets Dark Mercenaries every time they show your face. I won¡¯t regret it no matter what the outcome is." "But¡­" Shabby Castle hesitated for a moment. "We can gather 1 billion gold. We can purchase 50000 pieces of Level 180 Heaven-grade metal armor equipment from the auction houses as well. But the Iron Cutter Cavalry¡­ that is Vienna¡¯s Sorrow new baby, and you want 100000 of them? There aren¡¯t even that many Iron Cutter Cavalrymen in the entire Hero Alliance right now. You¡¯re literally asking Vienna¡¯s Sorrow to weaken his own guild!" Little Piglet smiled. "Every man and woman should know how much they¡¯re worth, and I think I am worth 100000 Iron Cutter Warhorses. If Vienna¡¯s Sorrow thinks so as well, then he shouldn¡¯t be stingy about it¡­" Shabby Castle answered, "Very well. I will consult him now. Give me half a minute." "Mn!" Not even 20 seconds later, Shabby Castle looked up and said, "It¡¯s done. He¡¯s agreed. However, he won¡¯t be able to give you the 100000 Iron Cutter Warhorses all at once. He suggested an 8-week installment where he¡¯ll give you 12.5k Sealing Stones per week. He¡¯ll be hard-pressed to convince his guild to bear such a demand otherwise. Do you agree?" Little Piglet nodded. "That¡¯s not a problem!" Little Piglet then continued, "Now, let us speak frankly. I know you must have quite the number of tasks for me to do to acquiesce to all of my demands, so I¡¯ll tell you my bottom line right now. Even as I am now, I will not do something as shameless as opening the gates for you or surrendering a main city. Other than that though, you are free to fire away." Shabby Castle smiled. "I know, and the Northern Alliance isn¡¯t foolish enough to ask you something that unreasonable. All we ask you is to eliminate 10 guilds. Also, the stronger Dark Mercenaries guild becomes, the happier we¡¯ll be!" "Elaborate." Little Piglet looked surprised. Shabby Castle began, "We want you to eliminate 3 guilds in Purple Grape City¡ªEra of Strife, Asura Period and Protective Umbrella¡ª2 guilds in India¡ªNation Guardian and Natural Flow¡ª1 guild in Korea¡ªThrone of the Wild¡ªand 4 guilds in China, namely Purgatory Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction, Blazing Hot Lips and The Monarch Descends. That is all. You may accomplish your task however you want to go about it!" "That¡¯s interesting, but what do you mean by ¡®eliminate¡¯?" Little Piglet asked. Shabby Castle chuckled. "Ahh, you couldn¡¯t know about it. Guilds in the outer lands get a unique all-or-nothing guild challenge mode where they can challenge any guild on the continent to a 100k versus 100k war. It can be done once every 7 days. The victor will be rewarded handsomely, and the loser¡¯s main guild will automatically disband. Moreover, the loser¡¯s guild name cannot be reused. If the challenged party rejects the challenge, their guild rank will be reduced by one. The requirements to make the challenge are quite demanding, however. First, the challenger must pay 10 million guild contribution points to make the challenge. Two, all the players within the challenger¡¯s guild will lose 3 leves. Finally, you need a Vassal Challenge Token. There are only 3 such tokens in the entire world right now, and 2 of them are in the USA server." Little Piglet smiled. "Understood¡­ pay me first!" "Mn!" It was at this moment Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon finally made their move. After the transaction was complete, Shabby Castle produced a return scroll from his bag and said, "Pleasure doing business with you, guild leader Little Piglet. I shall be taking my leave now, but I will remain in contact with you as a matter of course. Now, feel free to detach yourself from the China server!" "Understood!" Little Piglet shuddered once, and his nation emblem slowly vanished from his arm. He then removed his CGL Hall of Famer emblem, gave it one final kiss before declaring, "Goodbye, my former glory!" Crack¡­ crack¡­ His wrist turned, and the emblem shattered under his bloody blade. At this point, we all fully believed that Little Piglet had been completely consumed by his thirst of vengeance¡ªor, depending who you were asking, his determination to become king of mercenaries and command an army of millions. At the very least, it was a far more attractive proposition than becoming a corps commander of Purgatory Mad Dragon. Swhoosh! Shabby Castle and his group of Armor Breaker Cavalrymen all escaped using a return scroll, so Dark Mercenaries were the only one left. As the guild leader emblem appeared on Little Piglet¡¯s arm, Amber Pupil uttered with clear jealousy and hatred, "You¡¯ve gotten your wish, Little Piglet. Now, how are you going to command your very first battle as a member of Dark Mercenaries? Remember, Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya¡¯s elites are all here, and our quantity and quality are way inferior to our enemies. Surely you have a way to turn this around?" Little Piglet rolled his eyes at him before saying, "Are you even listening to yourself? Why fight a battle you cannot win in the first place[1]?" He then raised his sword and ordered, "Dark Mercenaries, scatter and escape in every direction! If you cannot, take as many down with you before you hit the floor! While you¡¯re dead, wait for my signal and make sure to take note of our new rally point. There¡¯s only so much they can do before they must let us go! Now, retreat!" ¡­¡­ Little Piglet¡¯s call was the right one. There was absolutely no chance Dark Mercenaries could defeat the Dragonlight Cavalry, Gold Cavalry, Dragon Punisher Archers and more, so scattering into the outer lands was their next best option. We didn¡¯t bring many players with us in the first place, and even if we did it was only a matter of time before these runaways literally ran out of our clutches. I, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and more didn¡¯t participate in the chase, however. We simply stood atop a small hill of Frostbone Ridge and watched the ongoing battle. I said, "It¡¯s unfortunate that Little Piglet still left us in the end." Chaos Moon replied, "Eh, not really? Little Piglet is a wild person by nature, and some idiot gave him the exact stimulation he needed to betray the China server. Still, I gotta commend the Northern Alliance this time. I wasn¡¯t expecting them to invest this much resources in Dark Mercenaries." Li Chengfeng rested his Crimson Refinement Sword on his thigh and leaped up a giant rock. "It¡¯s an acceptable investment. It¡¯s not surprising at all that the Northern Alliance would do this to restrain the nearby servers." Gui Guzi said, "That do-or-die guild challenge mode sounds pretty exciting, huh?" I smiled. "Yeah. The loser will automatically disband, and they won¡¯t be able to register their previous guild name. That¡¯s a bit too much even for me." Heaven¡¯s Rain blinked in confusion. "I mean, you can just make another guild, right? It doesn¡¯t really affect anything?" Li Chengfeng explained, "You don¡¯t understand, Little Rain. Imagine if Ancient Sword lost and was forced to disband. We wouldn¡¯t even be able to use our name anymore. Do you know how humiliating that is? Even if the guild is rebuilt with a new name, who would even want to stay in it?" Beiming Xue pointed a finger at me. "Big bro would. He stayed even though Ancient Sword was wrecked again and again in Spirit of Grief¡­" Me: "Girl, why are you tormenting me with my dark history?" Smiling, He Yi sat on top of my Ancient Divine Dragon, grabbed the lamp vine to steady herself and leaned against me. "At least the Northern Alliance¡¯s strategic goal is pretty obvious. The 10 guilds they tasked Little Piglet to eliminate aren¡¯t the best guilds of their respective domains, but they are close enough. Eliminating them will greatly eliminate the servers¡¯ strength and enable their expansion. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and Shabby Castle are clearly plotting something big¡­" Li Chengfeng hummed for a moment. "This guild challenge mode is a 100k versus 100k battle, so the scale is pretty huge. Moreover, Dark Mercenaries lose everything if they lose even once. Therefore, it stands to reason that Little Piglet will tackle the weaklings first. Blazing Hot Lips and Nation Guardian are among the better guilds, so there¡¯s no way he would challenge them first. Obviously, he won¡¯t challenge our allies either¡­" Diamond Dust puffed up her chest and declared proudly, "But of course! All we need to do is to send out 50k Dragonlight Cavalry plus 30k Dragonlight Archers plus 20k Holy Mages, and we¡¯ll wipe the floor with them even if they have thrice our numbers. They¡¯d have to be absolutely suicidal to challenge us¡­" I shrugged. "Obviously, Little Piglet will not be coming for us." "I wonder what Purgatory Mad Dragon will do? Obviously, they¡¯re the likeliest to be challenged first¡­" He Yi chuckled. I replied expectantly, "I wouldn¡¯t mind seeing them disband. Wang Dongliang and Lu Chao¡ªespecially Lu Chao¡ªare just the lowest of the lowest. Dude should have his limbs and his dick broken to pieces!" Gui Guzi nodded. "We¡¯ll fry him in a pot, and we won¡¯t even flip him around before serving the customers!" Li Chengfeng, "Heavens, you guys are so hardcore!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Warsky was standing behind his troops and watching the Gold Cavalry slaughtering the Dark Mercenaries on the ground. It was at this moment Wang Dongliang, Roaming Dragon, Coldmoon Rose and a couple hundred players walked up to him and asked, "Are you free to speak, Warsky?" Warsky shot him a glance before asking, "What is it?" Wang Dongliang gritted his teeth like he had difficulty saying the words he wanted. "There¡¯s something I want to discuss with you about. I hope you¡¯ll agree to it." "Yeah, sure. What is it?" I¡­" Wang Dongliang¡¯s face was fully red when he finally uttered, "I wish to rent your troops for a month. Is that okay?" "You want to rent my troops?" Warsky laughed. "Oh, Dongliang. Are you afraid of Little Piglet¡¯s revenge? Is that why you wish to rent our elites to survive this tribulation you had brought upon yourselves?" Roaming Dragon clenched his fists. "Why are you ridiculing us? It¡¯s not like we¡¯re demanding your service for free." Warsky sneered, "And why would I do that? The two of you are so stupid you would give away an excellent commander like Little Piglet to the enemy with a fucking ribbon attached. I would be doing my brothers and sisters a disservice if I sent them into your pigsty." "You!" Wang Dongliang shook with fury. However, October Rain stepped out and said, "Warsky, shut up. I¡¯ll do the talking here!" She then walked up to Wang Dongliang and said, "So, Dongliang, who do you wish to rent exactly?" "We would like to rent 10000 Gold Cavalrymen¡­" Wang Dongliang mumbled. "Sure!" October Rain smiled sweetly. "That¡¯ll be 500 million gold per month. That¡¯s acceptable, right?" "That¡¯s¡­" Wang Dongliang froze. CH 1368 "500 MIL A MONTH? You can¡¯t be serious!?" Lu Chao uttered through gritted teeth. Even after his group arrived with a partnership with Shanghai Shenyi, the total capital they got was just 1 billion RMB. Of course he found it difficult to swallow October Rain¡¯s demands. So far, the absolute best players of Heavenblessed across the world earned between 100k to 2 million per month via grinding bosses, selling equipment and items, competing in competitions and more. Some examples were Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng, Candlelight Shadow and more. Below them were the first-rate players who made a monthly income of 20k to 100k such as Heaven¡¯s Rain, Eyes Like Water and Blue Sky Scar. Further below them were the second-rate players who made between 5000 to 20k such as Du Thirteen and Zi Chuanyu, the middle-rank players who made between 500 to 1000¡ªbasically only enough to guarantee a full meal and paying the electric bills¡ªand finally the bottom tier who not only didn¡¯t earn anything, they were losing money just doing basic stuff such as repairing their equipment and buying potions. This was why October Rain¡¯s demand that Purgatory Mad Dragon paid them 500 million just to rent 10k Gold Cavalrymen for a month was definitely way over the top. She was butchering them like a pig for her profit and not even bothering to hide it¡ªthough of course, why wouldn¡¯t she when she had the power to do so? ¡­¡­ "Too much for your taste? How much do you think is enough then?" October Rain tilted her head questioningly. Lu Chao replied without hesitation, "200 million, and no more than that!" "Deal!" A Cheshire smile spread across October Rain¡¯s lips. Roaming Dragon knew at that moment that he had been tricked. October Rain had intentionally called out an impossible price so that his counter offer would be as close to his bottom line as possible. Warsky asked, "Are you sure you want to rent them our troops, October Rain?" "Why not?" And so October Rain rented 10000 Gold Cavalry to Purgatory Mad Dragon, but the deal weighed in Warsky Alliance¡¯s favor so much that even I found it difficult to look at. For starters, the 10000 Gold Cavalrymen would only participate in that do-or-die guild challenge, meaning that Purgatory Mad Dragon couldn¡¯t use them for anything else. Two, these 10000 Gold Cavalrymen had no loyalty toward Purgatory Mad Dragon whatsoever, so it was like they paid 10000 spies to spy on their own guild. Until the guild challenge was over, Purgatory Mad Dragon would have no secrets before Warsky Alliance. ¡­¡­ Beside a ledge, Wang Dongliang chided Lu Chao, "Brother Chao, that was too impulsive! Not even 10k Gold Cavalrymen are worth 200 million!" Lu Chao said, "I know, but the alternative is even worse. Little Piglet has gone completely bonkers, and the only way out of this is to defeat him in battle. If Purgatory Mad Dragon is disbanded, even if we remake a new guild, it won¡¯t have the guild points we¡¯ve accrued before and after the merger. We¡¯ll fall out of the Top 10 guild ranking and be forced to restart from zero. That is absolutely unacceptable!" "So, what are we going to do next?" Wang Dongliang asked. Lu Chao replied with a sneer, "We rent some more troops to bolster our army, of course. This time, we¡¯re going to borrow 10k Lantern Girl tamers from Candlelight Shadow. Then, we¡¯ll borrow 10k Holy Mages from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Any price is acceptable as long as we survive the month. After that, I¡¯ll speak with my dad to allocate more funds to further polish the guild¡¯s brand. Also, I heard that a lot of new maps have recently spawned in Russia¡¯s Frostsword City and Iron Horse City. I bet that there are high-level mounts we can capture and forge our own exclusive troop. Long story short, I¡¯ll do everything in my power to establish a foothold for Purgatory Mad Dragon during this one month!" Wang Dongliang nodded. "Mn, that is very reassuring¡­" ¡­¡­ I watched the two chuckleheads from above and let out an audible sneer. No way in hell Ancient Sword was going to rent them anything. Suddenly, a system announcement dinged across the sky¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Luo River God of the Capital" has listed the item "Heaven Suppressing Necklace" (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) for auction. The item will enter the bidding phase with a starting bid of 1 million gold at Wind City in 3 hours. All players are welcome to make a bid! ¡­¡­ "Fuck!" I swore out loud while tapping the equipment name on the system announcement to check its stats. I was immediately stunned by what I saw¡ª Heaven Suppressing Necklace (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Strength: +2700 Stamina: +2540 Agility: +2500 Intelligence: +2450 Tactics: +171 Ghost Armament Effect: Heaven Suppressing. Gain 100% lifesteal when attacking a target. All damage dealt is converted into HP. Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 20% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist by 15% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 10000 Level Requirement: 220 Luck Requirement: 30 Class Requirement: Warrior, Magic Knight, Wanderer ¡­¡­ He Yi, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and everyone else were stunned as well. "Holy shit!" Gui Guzi clenched his fists tightly. "Heaven Suppressing Necklace, 100% lifesteal? This Ghost Armament is completely busted!" Li Chengfeng exclaimed in astonishment, "Oh yeah, its bidding price is gonna be busted as well¡­" I said, "Luo River God of the Capital wouldn¡¯t have sold this if she had even one cavalryman who could be considered super-tier." He Yi pursed her lips for a moment before saying, "Lu Chen, you¡¯re coming with me to Wind City." "Eve? What are you planning?" He Yi clenched her fists together. "I¡¯m bidding for this Heaven Suppressing Necklace, of course! Hmph, this item cannot fall into an enemy¡¯s hands, or they may as well be invincible!" I licked my lips before giving my cautious assessment, "I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m being conservative here, but I reckon that this necklace is gonna be sold for at least 100 million gold. It isn¡¯t worth it especially since it¡¯s not as OP as you imagine. Let¡¯s say a random player gets the Heaven Suppressing Necklace and challenges Gui Guzi¡¯s Dragonlight Cavalry. All it would result is a complete stalemate because neither side possess the firepower to kill one another. Even if the enemy is a super-tier player, we still have a way to counter this. No one can survive a concentrated volley from our Holy Mages even if they have 100% lifesteal. Finally, we aren¡¯t Purgatory Mad Dragon. We grind our own high-level equipment via our own abilities, not RMB¡­" He Yi chuckled. "Fine, but we¡¯re still going to participate in the auction. This is an auction of one of the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, so it¡¯s going to be even more exciting than the Dragonbone Whip." "Sure!" The Heaven Suppressing Necklace was definitely an amazing piece of equipment, but my Ancient Divine Armament necklace¡ªPity of the Purgatory Gods¡ªwas even better. For starters, the four attributes it added completely blew the Heaven Suppressing Necklace¡¯s out of the water. Two, its Outstanding Property "Pardon of the Gods" gave me a 30% chance to avoid magic attacks, which was in no way inferior to the Heaven Suppressing Necklace¡¯s 100% lifesteal. Finally, and this was the biggest reason of them all, the final price of this Ghost Armament was destined to be astronomical. Even we couldn¡¯t free up that much money to purchase it. Also, what do you do when you can¡¯t get something you want? You shittalk it to make yourself feel better, of course! The Heaven Suppressing Necklace is total ass! Boo! Boo! ¡­¡­ Whatever fighting spirit the players had mustered to slaughter Dark Mercenaries was completely dispersed by this single system announcement. Everyone took out their return scrolls to teleport back to their main cities before teleporting again to Wind City. Even Lin Yixin and Nangong Lexi had shown up as well. And so I took Lin Yixin, He Yi, and Beiming Xue with me before paying 70 gold for a cramped and leaky F Rank box to watch the upcoming show. Yes, I am aware that the most luxurious box is SSS Rank. Ever heard of "to each their own"? Good. Now scram... Lin Yixin brushed away the cobwebs on the window sill and propped an elbow on it. While watching the stage, she said smilingly, "So, Heaven Suppressing Necklace, 100% lifesteal. Are you guys going to bid for it?" I shook my head. "Sorry, we can¡¯t afford it!" Lin Yixin chuckled. "Yeah, same here. Still, if it¡¯s below 10 million, then maybe..." He Yi put her down gently, "Yiyi, wake up. That¡¯s impossible¡­" "I know¡­" ¡­¡­ Many familiar figures entered the auction house while we waited for the auction to begin. Warsky, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Candlelight Shadow, Wang Dongliang and more had all arrived in person. While clutching my sword against my chest, I sat on the other side of the window and immersed myself in the sights for a moment. The auction house was honestly gigantic, but somehow the players still managed to pack it to bursting volume. It was almost ridiculous. Lin Yixin put a hand on my leg and shook it. "So, Lu Chen, did the Chains of Freedom ever cross your mind?" I shuddered unnaturally. "Noooooo, I would never!" "Liar!" "Fine, fine. If the Heaven Suppressing Necklace falls into an enemy¡¯s hands, why shouldn¡¯t I consider a robbery?" "Mn mn! We¡¯ll keep a line to the Intelligence Agency and wait for them to contact us. Once they feed us a coordinate, you¡¯ll catch up to the prey, immobilize them with the God Binding Art, hit them with the Chains of Freedom, and pierce their invincibility with the Xuanyuan Slash. One Heaven Suppressing necklace get! Heehee¡­" I snorted. "Already counting your chickens before they hatch, I see¡­" ¡­¡­ Three hours passed by in the blink of an eye. A beautiful host stepped onto the stage, smiled at the sea of people below and began the auction. "Everyone¡¯s here for only one thing today, so I¡¯ll just get straight to the point, okay? The theme of today¡¯s auction is the Heaven Suppressing Necklace. Is everyone here? Well, time waits for no one. The auction begins now. Bidders, please make sure that your account-bound cards contain a sufficient amount of money. You will not be able to overdraft to make a bid." Next, the beautiful host waved her hand and brought up the Heaven Suppressing Necklace¡¯s amazing stats screen. Well, to be honest, its stats and passives were utter shit even compared to some lower-ranked equipment, but that 100% lifesteal effect made up for everything and more. It was just that godlike... "Alright, players may make their bids now!" the host declared in her sweet voice. A brawny man immediately raised his hand and called out, "10 million gold!" It was Dominating Heaven Blade of Gods of Destruction. The guy was going all out from the start! "Bastard!" Lin YIxin stomped her foot angrily, "He blew me out of the water before I even got the chance to make a bid!" I shrugged. "So? You were never going to get the necklace anyway¡­" Then, my beautiful guild leader raised her arm and declared sweetly, "20 million!" Everyone in the room shuddered at the same time. The bidding had just begun, and already we were throwing around sums of money that some people might never be able to accrue in a lifetime. ¡­¡­ "30 million!" A guy from an SSS Rank box above us declared. Looking at the big display on the stage, the bidder was none other than Roaming Dragon himself. I knew that this idiot would bid for the necklace. Another man from another box shouted, "70 million!" This one was Warsky. Clearly, he had lost his cool as well. The greed permeating across the air was almost tangible. He Yi was red-faced with excitement. Not about to wait and see if she would make a regrettable decision, I hastily flipped down the window sill and covered her mouth, "Eve, calm down, girl. We don¡¯t want to bid for this in the first place, remember? Just let them bleed each other dry and enjoy the show." Thankfully, He Yi relaxed and nodded into my hands. ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow¡¯s voice boomed next, "90 million!" His reputation as the Martial God meant nothing here as Warsky countered that bid. "100 million!" Then, Roaming Dragon did something incredible. He leaped out of his SSS Rank box , landed on the stage, and pointed two fingers at the crowd. "TWO HUNDRED MILLION!" Candlelight Shadow fell silent for a couple of seconds before smiling derisively at himself. He didn¡¯t try to match the bid. Warsky fell silent as well. ¡­¡­ Bang! The beautiful host slammed her hammer once and declared sweetly, "The Heaven Suppressing Necklace goes to player ¡®Roaming Dragon¡¯ at the price of 200 million gold. Congratulations!" CH 1369 "Looks like the Heaven Suppressing Necklace really has passed us by¡­" I shrugged. "100% lifesteal is incredibly busted, sure, but that price is even more busted. 200 million gold, man. Only a prodigal son like Lu Chao would be able to afford this." He Yi clenched her fists and said seriously, "To be honest, I would¡¯ve bid 300 million for you if you hadn¡¯t stopped me earlier. With your stats, you would never have to worry about dying anymore." I smiled appreciatively. "Thank you, but it¡¯s just too expensive. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll find something similar in the future. We¡¯re strong, aren¡¯t we?" "Mn¡­" ¡­¡­ In the end, Roaming Dragon was able to win the Heaven Suppressing Necklace the entire world desired with a massive bid of 200 million gold. While admiring the Ghost Armament in his hands, he left the auction house with Coldmoon Rose, Wang Dongliang, Profound Puff and the usual players of Purgatory Mad Dragon. Lin Yixin, He Yi and I [1] were stepping out of the auction house as well when Lin Yixin asked me, "What will you be doing tonight, Little Cheat?" I thought for a moment before answering, "Nothing important. I¡¯m going to grind some instances." "Take me with you!" "Sure!" After we teleported back to Sky City, Beiming Xue bade us goodbye and left to conduct her business of the day. [2] It was at this moment a group of excited people surged toward the eastern square. A red-haired uncle carrying a battle axe said with a laugh, "Faster, faster! A new duel is happening outside the eastern gate, and I heard that one of the players is a solo player who has managed to make it into the Top 100 of the champion arena! I¡¯m going to bet on the dark horse this time!" I frowned. "What¡¯s this?" Lin Yixin explained smilingly, "It¡¯s become popular to have 1v1s just outside the gate of a main city as of late. Some people also organize some bets before the duels begin. Everyone¡¯s pretty high-level these days, so they can afford to entertain themselves like this. Even Purple Marquis came here a couple of days ago to have some fun, although he wasn¡¯t able to earn much money because he was too famous. Very few people were willing to accept his challenge." Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "Say, Lu Chen. You still have the Master of Disguise Ring?" I sneezed as if a devil had set their sights on me. "What are you planning?" Lin Yixin giggled. "Why don¡¯t you design a new character, disguise yourself with it and specifically target those famous experts at the eastern gate? I¡¯ll bet on you, and we¡¯ll share the money later. What do you think?" I was dumbfounded. "This is a bit too much, isn¡¯t it?" "Who cares? Anyway, let¡¯s head over there first. You can make your decision later." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ While He Yi and I were following Lin Yixin to the east gate, I replaced the Apparition Ring with the Master of Disguise Ring. It was better to have the Master of Disguise Ring + Song of Freedom than Master of Disguise Ring + Apparition Ring anyway[3]. I then designed a new character with super short hair, faded gray metal armor and faded red cloak. I also dulled the Chill of the Nine Provinces¡¯ image until it matched my new appearance. The only thing I couldn¡¯t change were my eyes because that was just the way the game was designed. Finally, I gave my new disguise the ID: Dark Iron Sword. Yes, it was a traditional but good-sounding name... Finally, I looked at the girls and said, "So, I¡¯m going to change into my disguise now. Obviously, pretend you don¡¯t know me and chat through the party channel only. When I fight, I¡¯ll try my best to keep my stats and skills under wraps and defeat my opponent via basic attacks only. I¡¯ll treat you all to a meal with the prize money later¡­" Lin Yixin and He Yi both nodded happily. "Okay! Let¡¯s do it!" We arrived outside the eastern gate. Between the floating rocks and the gate, there was a huge clearing with several hundred meters wide of vines growing all over it. The rhododendrons were blooming, and birds were chirping and flying freely amid the shrubberies and giant trees. A lot of players were already gathered on top of this dark green clearing¡ªseriously, I counted roughly ten thousand players¡ªto watch the duelists battle each other at the center. I forced my way through the crowd with my humongous Strength. Behind me, Lin Yixin and He Yi entered the clearing side-by-side. The smell of soil and grass wafted from the environment as I watched two players over Level 220 battling each other to the death. One of them belonged to Blazing Hot Lips, and the other, Pop Culture. It only took less than 10 seconds for the player from Pop Culture to achieve total victory over their opponent. A 40-year-old uncle raised his spear and declared, "As the referee, I declare that ?ho Will Fight Me [4] has won the match! The system should¡¯ve resolved all the bets of this duel, but please check your pockets and ensure that you¡¯ve gotten your winnings. Now, is there anyone else who¡¯s willing to challenge our expert here? Brother ?ho Will Fight Me has already won 7 matches in a row, and he hasn¡¯t lost a single match yet. Who will be the one to reap the 7907 gold prize money he has accrued?" Lin Yixin blinked and shot me a smile. She asked me in the party channel, "That¡¯s 8000 RMB, Little Cheat? You wanna go?" I shook my head. "No way. 8000 is not nearly enough to make me fight." "Hehe. It does make sense to stand by for now. This guy won¡¯t be lacking any challenger since he¡¯s an average player at best. He¡¯s not even as good as Zi Chuanyu¡­" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ A few seconds later, someone stepped up to challenge ?ho Will Fight Me as expected. A Level 225 fighter riding a mount that looked like a fearsome lion entered the battle ring. He wore a pair of dark silver boots and metal armor with shivering draconic images at the center and savage-looking spikes around the shoulders. He wielded a flaming warblade. After he dismounted, he looked back and forth between the referee and ?ho Will Fight Me before saying, "I wish to challenge the current champion. Do you have any demands to make?" The referee looked at him before frowning suddenly. "You¡­ I see you¡¯re a Top 100 player of the champion arena. Do you know the rules? Even if you win, you¡¯ll only obtain half of the prize money because of your ranking. Moreover, anyone who beats you will claim that money and everything else you¡¯ve accrued." The youngster chuckled. "That¡¯s not a problem. I accept." "Hmph! A hint of disdain flashed across ?ho Will Fight Me¡¯s features. "You¡¯re ranked 97th on the champion arena, huh? So what? I¡¯m ranked 117th myself. You think I can¡¯t beat someone just 20 places ahead of me?" The youngster simply smiled and waved his sword, revealing his ID for all to see¡ª Ray of Sunshine LV-225 Class: Master Swordsman of Blaze Guild: None Position: None ¡­¡­ He really was a solo player. Judging from faint arrogance shimmering in Ray of Sunshine¡¯s eyes, the man thought nothing of his opponent. Perhaps ?ho Will Fight Me really was as average as Lin Yixin said. The reason I couldn¡¯t quite take her at her word was because she was almost at the level of a peak Heavenly King. To her, the likes of Laughing At The Heavens or Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties counted as "average" as well. "Come!" A flicker of flames rose from Ray of Sunshine¡¯s sword as he lowered it to the ground. His class, Master Swordsman of Blaze, was the next evolution of the hidden class "Blaze Swordsman", so obviously he held an advantage in terms of character skills. Judging from the looks of his equipment, he was also the equal or better of ?ho Will Fight Me. However, ?ho Will Fight Me was the champion with 7 consecutive wins under his belt, so he was still favored to win. "Time to bet¡­" Lin Yixin stuck out her tongue and shot me another smile. "I¡¯m betting ten thousand gold on Ray of Sunshine!" I smiled back. "The odds are 1:5, do whatever you want. I guess I¡¯m betting ten thousand gold as well!" After that, all three of us turned in ten thousand gold into the betting system, changing the odds to 1:3.5 immediately. If Ray of Sunshine won, we would win 35k gold. If he lost, then we would get nothing at all. ¡­¡­ Outside the ring, a bunch of berserkers carrying battle axes, hammers, and spears roared, "Do your best, ?ho Will Fight Me! I¡¯ve literally bet all my living expenses on you! You have to win!" ?ho Will Fight Me grinned at the crowd before shooting Ray of Sunshine a disdainful glance. "So, how would you like to die, brother?" Ray of Sunshine replied casually, "Not planning to. I recently bought a rather expensive Level 210 ring from the auction house, so I¡¯m thinking to recoup some of that cash from you. You don¡¯t mind, do you?" "The arrogance!" ?ho Will Fight Me immediately shot Ray of Sunshine a sparring invitation, but Ray of Sunshine immediately shot back. "Sparring mode? That¡¯s so boring. Shoot me an actual 1v1 challenge. It¡¯s no fun unless the loser drops a level and a piece of their equipment, right?" "As you wish!" ?ho Will Fight Me was literally popping veins on his face as he shot Ray of Sunshine another sparring invitation with crueler rules. Long story short, it had the exact same penalties as an open-world brawl, except that the killer wouldn¡¯t get a red name. ¡­¡­ "Pa! A bloody banner landed between the two players. It signaled the start of the match! I rubbed my palms together. "I can already feel my pockets becoming 35000 gold heavier¡­" Beside me, Lin Yixin smiled sweetly. "Yeah, yeah! I think I¡¯m going to win as well!" He Yi simply smiled without a word. Neither girl tried to be inconspicuous because it was impossible considering who they were. At least half of the spectators in the area were shooting admiring looks at them and death glares at me. Why? Because I was "lucky" to be able to stand right next to the girls, because I was "just" a Level 211 cavalryman, and because my ID practically stamped the label "country bumpkin" to my face. Meanwhile, ?ho Will Fight Me let out a battle cry, channeled Ice Ray to his blade, and ran toward his opponent in a straight line. He unleashed the skill before he got close, and a gigantic icicle shot straight toward his opponent. A Rank 10 Ice Ray certainly wasn¡¯t a skill one could afford to underestimate. However, Ray of Sunshine simply smiled and surrounded himself in a wall of fire. It was Crimson Fire Shield, a protective skill that increased his Defense by 50%. Buzz! As the Ice Ray crashed against the Crimson Fire Shield, ?ho Will Fight Me let out a roar, rotated to one side and executed a Barrier Break + Triple Slash combo. It looked like the guy deserved his 117th rank after all. Not even Laughing At The Heaven might be able to execute the combo as smoothly as he did. "Heh¡­" However, Ray of Sunshine chuckled fearlessly before charging in. Like his ID, he shone like the actual sun as he slammed his shoulder against his opponent¡¯s chest and caused the entire combo to miss completely. At the same time, he retaliated with his own Barrier Break and a triple-hit skill with a dragon¡¯s head visual effect! It easily tore ?ho Will Fight Me¡¯s body into pieces! 419828! 371872! 448272! The skill was called Dragon Flame Flurry. What incredible power! 1. T/N: Beiming Xue literally evaporated into thin air I see ? 2. T/N: this is NOT in the raws. The author fucked up stating that the duels happened in Sky City in the next chapter when the auction had taken place at Wind City, so I¡¯m adding this here to correct the inconsistency ? 3. E/N: Song of Freedom is a necklace, right? That would mean there¡¯s a limit of just two accessories I didn¡¯t know about -.- ? 4. T/N: not a mistake. In the raws one of the characters used traditional Chinese instead of simplified, so I reflect this by tweaking the W to ? ? Bookmark CH 1370 "Ugh¡­" ?ho Will Fight Me let out an animalistic, guttural growl as he slowly dropped to his knees. It wasn¡¯t until he saw the fading draconic flames and burning hot metal sticking out of his chest that he realized just how big the gap between his skill and Ray of Sunshine¡¯s was. He had never stood a chance. Pop... A pair of fiery red wristguards dropped on the ground. It was ?ho Will Fight Me¡¯s "gift" to Ray of Sunshine. The Master Swordsman of Blaze picked up the wristguards and broke into a grin. "Immortal-grade wristguards! Not bad at all. The level¡¯s a bit low, but they are slightly better than the ones I¡¯m currently wearing¡­" After saying that, he equipped ?ho Will Fight Me¡¯s wristguards right in front of everyone. Beep! System Notice: You have won a total of 35289 gold from the bet! ¡­¡­ I broke into a grin myself. It was an incredible sum of money considering that I wasn¡¯t even a participant of the duel. As it turned out, you could earn money in the game by having a good eye for skill as well. One of the biggest mistakes the players who bet on ?ho Will Fight Me was thinking that a true expert wouldn¡¯t act flamboyantly. It was really the opposite. Lin Yixin shot me a glance and said, "This Ray of Sunshine is pretty skilled. If we look at his technique alone, he is at least on Gui Guzi¡¯s level and slightly below Chaos Moon[1]. His class and equipment aren¡¯t the most impressive, but it certainly won¡¯t take much effort to make him on par with Chaos Moon. Is Ancient Sword interested in recruiting this guy?" I nodded. "I am. I don¡¯t want to spoil his fun though. I¡¯ll let him win a couple more rounds before I speak to him about it. If it works out, then I¡¯ll recruit him into Ancient Sword. Speaking of which, don¡¯t you want to recruit him to Snowy Cathaya, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin shrugged. "I would, but this Ray of Sunshine is quite a handsome lad, and I don¡¯t want you to get jealous¡­" "I see. You and I are having words in the ring later¡­" "You¡¯re so petty¡­" ¡­¡­ Back in the ring, the referee said, "10% of the total bet money will be taken as the prize money for the next duel, and in this case it¡¯s 37k gold. Half of that will be paid to Ray of Sunshine right now, so the current prize money is 18.5k gold." Ray of Sunshine smirked at the crowd and said, "Don¡¯t be shy! I¡¯ve just changed into my hidden class 7 days ago, and my current weapon is just as new. I can definitely use someone to sound out my new limits. CGL Hall of Famers are welcome as well!" Ray of Sunshine made it clear who he was referring to when he shot us¡ªor more specifically, Lin Yixin and He Yi¡ªa glance. "You two are the guild leaders of Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword, right? Will you teach me a lesson, Fruit Knife Goddess?" Never one to back down from a challenge, Lin Yixin puffed up her chest and unsheathed her Purple Spirit Sword. "Who am I to turn down a fool¡¯s death wish?" However, He Yi gave Lin Yixin¡¯s arm a tug and said, "Wait! If you go now, our money-making scheme will have to end here. Let Lu Chen handle this¡­" Lin Yixin mulled over her argument before relaxing. "Yes, Sister Eve is right!" She then declared, "Thank your lucky stars, boy. I¡¯m just here to watch the show today¡­" Ray of Sunshine: "..." ¡­¡­ As it turned out, Ray of Sunshine¡¯s taunt had unintended consequences. The Fruit Knife Goddess was one of the most popular female players in China, and she had countless fans who would stand up for her even if she never asked for it. "Did this motherfucker just try to challenge our Little Fruit Knife? How dare he! If someone has an OP friend, wake them the fuck up and fuck this guy up already!" It wasn¡¯t long before a new group of players arrived, and they were led by none other than the guild leader of Pop Culture, Lone Moonshade. ?ho Will Fight Me chose this moment to revive and speak to Lone Moonshade, "This is the guy who defeated me, boss!" Lone Moonshade glanced back and forth between his underling¡¯s conspicuously bare wrists and Ray of Sunshine¡¯s new wristguards. He cursed, "Fuck! You dropped the Crimson Flame Hand when you died?!" "Yes, boss¡­" ?ho Will Fight Me bowed his head lower. Lone Moonshade stepped into the ring, unsheathed his sword and stabbed it into the ground. "Do you dare accept my challenge, Ray of Sunshine?" Ray of Sunshine frowned. "Why not? But who the fuck are you?" "You will know very soon!" Lone Moonshade grinned maliciously as he sent Ray of Sunshine a sparring invitation. There was a three-minute pause so that the spectators could bet on the outcome of the duel. As per before, Lin Yixin, He Yi and I bet 10k gold on Ray of Sunshine. When the time was up, the battle began immediately. "Here I come!" Lone Moonshade¡¯s fighting style was straightforward and aggressive, so he didn¡¯t hesitate to rush in the second the countdown hit zero. He swung a feint, put 5 yards between himself and Ray of Sunshine, and activated a super-short Charge in an attempt to stun his opponent. He even followed up with Wild Collision to push his advantage further. As a result, Ray of Sunshine was unable to do anything for the first 7 seconds besides parrying and dodging Lone Moonshade¡¯s attacks. His attempt to counterattack with Barrier Break was parried by Lone Moonshade as well. Thud thud thud... A shield bash later [2], Ray of Sunshine retreated and activated a new skill called "Dance of Conflagration¡±. It increased his movement speed by 70% and his attack speed by 40% for 15 seconds. It was obviously his class¡¯s signature[3] skill. "Hmm?!" His opponent¡¯s sudden speed boost caused Lone Moonshade¡¯s momentum to come to a screeching halt. While he was adjusting, Ray of Sunshine dashed behind him and dealt 370k damage with a single Crimson Flame Slash. Lone Moonshade didn¡¯t have any buffs right now, so his max HP was only 790k or so [4] Otherwise, CS could just one-shot Farewell Song with a single skill. He couldn¡¯t receive another hit like this. After he drove his opponent away with a double slash, he backpedaled and downed a health potion. Rustle rustle... Ray of Sunshine kept running around the ring in search of a good attack angle. Eyes calm, he abruptly stopped in his tracks and fired what seemed like a human shadow straight at Lone Moonshade. The skill passed right through the guild leader and actually stunned him for 4 seconds. Not only that, it dealt an incredible amount of damage¡ª 472622! The skill was called ¡®Shadow Breaker¡¯, and it was yet another Master Swordsman of Blaze class¡¯s skill. It was more than enough to one-shot Lone Moonshade considering his current HP, but the stun kept him standing for 4 seconds before he dropped to his knees and died. That was two wins in a row, and 70k+ gold in total in my pockets. Pop Culture was one of the major guilds in Sky City, and their guild leader had just lost to a nobody. No one was expecting this to happen. ¡­¡­ I slowly mulled over Ray of Sunshine¡¯s skills in my head. Crimson Flame Slash was a single-target skill, Dragon Flame Flurry was a triple-hit skill, Shadow Breaker was a ranged skill like Coiling Dragon Revolution but with the additional ability to stun the target, and Dance of Conflagration was a self-buff skill that increased his movement speed and attack speed. So far, it looked like Ray of Sunshine¡¯s skill set was extremely versatile. Assuming that he had a HP recovery skill and a big AoE skill as well, then he was almost a perfect metal-armor player. Not even our guild had more than a handful of players like him. "The¡­ the guild leader lost too¡­?" ?ho Will Fight Me was completely flabbergasted. The Pop Culture players who came with Lone Moonshade clenched their fists tightly. "Fuck! Not only did the guild leader drop his cloak, that arrogant bastard even equipped it right before our eyes! We need to tell Candle Dragon about this and get them to send over a couple of heavy-hitters right now!" "Yeah, we need to tell Candle Dragon now!" I smiled a little before whispering to Lin Yixin and He Yi, "See, I knew this would blow up. Ray of Sunshine is pretty good, but to think he would alarm even Candle Dragon¡­" Lin Yixin whispered back, "If Candlelight Shadow shows up, Ray of Sunshine¡¯s chance of winning will be less than 20%. The gap between their equipment is just too huge. Even with a 50% HP-buffing card, Ray of Sunshine would only have 1.3 million HP. It¡¯s not even enough to tank one flurry skill from Candlelight Shadow." I nodded. "Yeah. If his equipment was just a bit better, he may be able to tank a few more hits¡­" He Yi said smilingly, "I don¡¯t think Candlelight Shadow will fight Ray of Sunshine though. Knowing him, he¡¯ll find it beneath him to challenge someone who isn¡¯t already a famous expert¡­" "That¡¯s true. Pop Culture is Candle Dragon¡¯s subordinate guild though. I wonder who they will send¡­" ¡­¡­ The answer was revealed a few minutes later. Tempest Shadow of the four gods of Candle Dragon arrived at Sky City with a long, cyan-colored blade in his grip. He declared angrily, "Who is Ray of Sunshine? Fight me!" Ray of Sunshine raised an eyebrow the moment he saw Tempest Shadow. "You¡¯re Tempest Shadow? The guy who¡¯s called the shame of the CGL Hall of Fame?" Tempest Shadow¡¯s complexion turned a shade of pig¡¯s liver. "The arrogance!" Tempest Shadow issued Ray of Sunshine a sparring invitation immediately after he dismounted. A lot of people were cheering for him because he was a CGL Hall of Famer, and because it meant that the battle had climbed up a whole new weight class. The battle lasted 47 seconds in total. Tempest Shadow executed 14 skills, but only landed 3. It was still enough to drop Ray of Sunshine to almost no health, but the Master Swordsman of Blaze was ultimately able to regenerate back to full health with a skill called "Dragon Flame Recovery" and end Tempest Shadow¡¯s life with a flurry skill. Thump! A kind of realization spread across the crowd when Tempest Shadow dropped to his knees. Although Ray of Sunshine had been spoken about on the forums, the reason he never really became famous was because he was a solo player. Now that he had toppled an actual legend right outside the gate of Sky City though, he was destined to become a highly sought-after player in the China server. Even my guild members were talking about him¡ª Xu Yang: "Holy shit! Ray of Sunshine took out Tempest Shadow at a betting match outside the eastern gate just a few seconds ago!" Gui Guzi: "Dang, I would fight him if I wasn¡¯t grinding in an instance right now! Li, you wanna go kick his ass?" Li Chengfeng replied lazily, "You kidding, bro? There are show-offs every day, man. If I killed these chuckleheads every time they sprout from the earth, I would have no time to do my own thing¡­" Chaos Moon: "Yeah, only someone who¡¯s stupidly free would bother to kick Ray of Sunshine¡¯s ass." Me: "..." Heaven¡¯s Rain: "Oh no, vice leader big bro isn¡¯t saying anything. You¡¯re right outside the eastern gate, aren¡¯t you? You¡¯re going to kick Ray of Sunshine¡¯s ass, aren¡¯t you?" Me: "I would never¡­" "Like hell we¡¯ll believe that¡­" ¡­¡­ A new group of people showed up, and this time they belonged to Warsky Alliance. The challenger was none other than the vice leader of Warsky Alliance himself, Lin Bing Dou Zhe! "This is going to fun. Lin Bing Dou Zhe should have a much better chance than Tempest Shadow at beating Ray of Sunshine!" I declared. "True, but that doesn¡¯t mean he¡¯ll actually beat him¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s skepticism was spot-on. Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s technique was equal to Ray of Sunshine¡¯s, but the latter had a hidden class, and he didn¡¯t. In the end, he lost and became yet another stepping stone to Ray of Sunshine¡¯s legend. ¡­¡­ "Hahaha¡­" Ray of Sunshine laughed loudly as he picked up a necklace Lin Bing Dou Zhe dropped. "Looks like the so-called famous experts of Sky City are so-so after all! I would challenge Lu Chen himself if I had a couple more Sacred Armaments!" I finally stepped into the ring, walked to the opposite side of Ray of Sunshine and pointed my sword at him. "I¡¯ll challenge you¡­" "You?!" Ray of Sunshine watched me for a second before breaking into a smirk. "You think you, a Level 211 potato, can challenge me? Stop wasting my time and get out of my sight already." ¡­¡­ Behind me, Lin Yixin broke into a Cheshire¡¯s grin. "Oh, he¡¯s so dead¡­" 1. E/N: Since when is Chaos Moon better than Gui Guzi who should be just behind Li Chengfeng? No clue! ? 2. T/N: was it from Ray of Sunshine or Lone Moonshade? I have no idea! The shorter the text, the more ambiguous the meaning becomes ? 3. E/N: You might remember Little Piglet having a similar skill on his Cold Wind Swordsman. Seems like this Blaze Swordsman is the same class, just different element ? 4. T/N: this is why when Farewell Song and CS dueled earlier, Lu Chen told them to get full buffs ? CH 1371 The referee cleared his throat and declared loudly, "Dark Iron Sword, a Level 211 eighth-promotion Master Swordsman is challenging Ray of Sunshine, the Level 225 Master Swordsman of Blaze to a fight. However, Ray of Sunshine possesses the right to decline any challenger who is 10 levels below him. So, do you accept his challenge, Ray of Sunshine?" Ray of Sunshine stared at me for a moment. His eyes were indifferent, and his posture screamed arrogance. Then, he shrugged and said, "You can challenge me if you want, but you¡¯ll have to pay a ¡®challenger fee¡¯ of 10k gold. If I win, the 10k gold is mine. If you win, I¡¯ll pay you ten times the amount. What do you say?" I looked up and declared, "Accepted!" I submitted 10k gold to the system without hesitation, and the referee shouted on top of his lungs, "What are you waiting for, players? The battle will start in 180 seconds, so place your bets now while you still can!" The spectators immediately did as told, and as expected the total bet on Ray of Sunshine skyrocketed to a whopping 470k gold. Barely anyone thought that a shabby-looking guy like me had any chance at beating Ray of Sunshine. At the back, Lin Yixin and He Yi wordlessly bet 50k gold on me. Even so, when the timer had finally run out, the gold gap between me and Ray of Sunshine was still insanely huge¡ª Dark Iron Sword 119287, Ray of Sunshine 1782626. God damn, the betting odds were a whopping 17:1! It was clear that everyone thought that I was going to lose besides Lin Yixin and He Yi. It would¡¯ve been even lower if it wasn¡¯t for some fans following the Fruit Knife Goddess and From Water¡¯s example and betting a couple thousand gold on me. Mind you, their sentiment was completely understandable. Ray of Sunshine was a Top 1000 [1] player considering his level, solo ranking and champion arena ranking. He was already kind of famous in the sense that he rejected multiple guilds¡¯ invitations to remain a solo player, but now he had the strength to match it after acquiring a powerful hidden class a week ago. Today, he even defeated famous experts such as ?ho Will Fight Me, Tempest Shadow and Lone Moonshade. Why would anyone not bet on this guy? On the other hand, I was a nameless person who was only Level 211. My poor equipment luster also made it look like I was wearing Earth-grade equipment at best. What could you do? Humans were easily fooled by the eyes and ears, and the Master of Disguise Ring on my finger was specifically designed for this purpose. Ray of Sunshine¡¯s arrogance was doomed to be extinguished from the start. ¡­¡­ Pa! The banner hit the ground and signaled the start of a duel. I had already made up my mind to defeat Ray of Sunshine without using a single skill. I had to, or the entire world would know that the number one player on the CGL Hall of Fame had disguised himself to bully a no-name who was far weaker than him¡­ not even my face could survive that kind of embarrassment. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean I was going to let Ray of Sunshine off the hook. No one gets to insult me like that and walk away scot-free. The countdown began. I had selected Sparring Mode instead of PK Mode because there just wasn¡¯t any point. Ray of Sunshine¡¯s equipment wasn''t particularly impressive, so I saw no reason to use Chains of Freedom on him. It would also blow my cover because practically everyone in the China server knew that I was the wielder of Song of Freedom right now. Sure, Eternal Moon Corporation hadn¡¯t publicized the owners of the 72 Ghost Armaments, but at this day and age it wasn¡¯t realistic to hide most information for long. 3! 2! 1! Fight! Ray of Sunshine hid his sword behind his back and ran toward me in a straight line. He then leaped about half a meter into the air to gain a tiny bit of height advantage and swung a Crimson Flame Slash at me. The skill had a passive that increased its Attack by 75%, which made it just a tad better than the common fighter skill, "Blaze¡±. It was a straightforward strike, but it was a good way to sound out my strength. If I was weak, the one strike would almost one-shot me. If I was strong, he had plenty of ways to save himself. I didn¡¯t activate Battle Astral Wind, but I did have Ghost Deity Shield turned on. I moved my left foot about half a meter to the side to alter my center of gravity before swinging out with the Chill of the Nine Provinces, parrying the skill with ease. Still spinning, I thrust the hilt of my sword at Ray of Sunshine¡¯s torso and elicited a cry of surprise from him. He clearly wasn¡¯t expecting my technique to be this steady and practiced. He hurriedly raised an arm and blocked my attack! 70927! Ray of Sunshine¡¯s surprise turned into full-blown shock when he saw that my sword hilt had dealt 70k damage to him. To his credit, he stopped underestimating me immediately and buffed himself with Dance of Conflagration. Now that his attack speed and movement speed were much greater than before, he charged me like the wind and executed Barrier Break + Ultimate Strength Break combo without hesitation. He had figured out from that brief contact alone that my technique was sublime, so he was trying to kill me via stat difference instead. Swhoosh! I turned my body just in time to miss the Barrier Break. I couldn¡¯t dodge the Ultimate Strength Break because it was an AoE skill, and I didn¡¯t have Fusion Armor turned on to move out of its range. However, I wasn¡¯t worried because my opponent wasn¡¯t mounted. What were the chances that my opponent had higher Strength than me while dismounted? Well¡ª Boom! 1000! My body trembled a little, and my HP dropped by 1000. That was it. 1000 was literally the lowest damage Ultimate Strength Break could do, meaning that the attacker¡¯s Strength was literally lower than the attacked target. It was more than enough to break Ray of Sunshine¡¯s confidence like glass. "How¡­ how is this possible?" Ray of Sunshine¡¯s pupils shrank into needles as he exclaimed in shock. I didn¡¯t let the counterattack opportunity slip through my grasp, however. I swung my sword across his unprotected neck to score a weak-point attack, and despite Ray of Sunshine¡¯s attempt to move his neck out of the way, my blade still nailed his weak point like a homing missile. Pa! 542987! That one hit had deleted 50% of Ray of Sunshine¡¯s HP. At this point, even the spectators were crying out in astonishment, "Holy shit! Who the fuck is this Dark Iron Sword? How on earth did he delete 50% of Ray of Sunshine¡¯s HP with one basic attack?!" Ray of Sunshine backpedaled away from me after suffering the strike, but I couldn¡¯t use Thunderous Charge or God Binding Art to paralyze him, or use Burning Blade Slash or Thousand Ice Slash to kill him outright. So, I ran after him. However, Ray of Sunshine had Dance of Conflagration turned on, so his current movement speed was more or less equal to mine. Ray of Sunshine gritted his teeth and waved his arm once. A draconic, bloody light immediately surrounded him and regenerated his HP at high speed. It was that Dragon Flame Recovery skill, and it restored 7% HP per second to its user for 15 seconds. It was unlikely that he could be killed while the skill was active. Swhoosh! When Ray of Sunshine¡¯s HP returned to 70%, he activated Charge and rushed me again. This time, he acted even more decisively than before and fired Dragon Flame Flurry at me. Each swing of the blade came at me from a different angle. The technique had clearly been honed by god knows how many open-world battles. Moreover, only those who were used to dancing on the edge of a knife would know how to end their opponent¡¯s life in the fastest and most direct way possible. I moved the Chill of the Nine Provinces like lightning to parry the skill from three different angles as well. I managed to parry the first and second hit of the skill, but not the third. 190187! Surprise jolted through Ray of Sunshine again. He just couldn¡¯t believe that his prided Dragon Flame Flurry had failed to deal more than 200k damage, let alone what he normally dealt to his opponents. It also meant that my Defense was way higher than everyone he had fought up until this point. Pa! I stepped on a patch of grass and dashed forward. It was my turn to make a move now. I kneed Ray of Sunshine in the chest and slashed him again for¡ª 59293! 391209! ¡­¡­ "Ugh¡­" Blood spilled out of Ray of Sunshine¡¯s lips as he skidded toward the back, but his expression was one of rage. He abruptly dropped to one knee, raised his sword, and summoned a bloody cloud in the sky above his head. Then, the earth started shaking, and humongous bumps started appearing on its surface. Then, columns of fiery red, dragon-shaped energies burst into the sky! I was shocked. Is that my Rise of the Guardian Dragon?? It wasn¡¯t, but it was almost identical. The skill was called Rise of the Fire Dragon, and just like my skill, it damaged everything within 100 yards indiscriminately! Swhoosh! I immediately tossed my sword at Ray of Sunshine. No, I wasn¡¯t using Coiling Dragon Revolution. It was just a basic throwing attack! Puchi! 312267! Ray of Sunshine trembled once, and he slowly collapsed to his knees. On the other hand, the fire dragon exploding beneath my feet only managed to inflict a giant MISS above my head. Everyone was stunned by this, and even Ray of Sunshine was uttering in anger and disbelief, "How is this possible? How did my Rise of the Fire Dragon miss?" I hid a snicker. It was thanks to the Pardon of the Gods of the Pity of the Purgatory Gods of course. It gave me a 30% chance to avoid any magic attack, and clearly this Rise of the Fire Dragon was considered magic, not physical like Rise of the Guardian Dragon. Now that the battle was over, it became clear that I hadn¡¯t even lost 25% of my HP. No one was expecting me to take our Ray of Sunshine with just basic attacks. To be fair, he never stood a chance from the beginning. My equipment alone was way better than his, and the gap between our skills was even bigger. Sure, one might argue that this was completely unfair, but then again, what is life if not unfair? I wasn¡¯t going to strip myself until my stats were the same as Ray of Sunshine¡¯s. Plus, hadn¡¯t I accrued all of these "unfair" advantages fair and square? Sometimes, true fairness is shown in inequality. ¡­¡­ Dead silence enveloped the place for a moment. It was because everyone who bet on Ray of Sunshine had lost their money, and that was a LOT of people. No one was expecting the Master Swordsman of Blaze to lose this easily even after he had been forced to reveal his ultimate skill! Ding! I received 100k gold for winning the match. He Yi and Lin Yixin also won a whopping 1.7 million gold for betting on me, which was almost everything in the betting pool. We really had made a fortune with my false identity today! I walked up to my sword and pulled it from the ground. Ray of Sunshine also revived soon after, though he didn¡¯t lose anything because this was a sparring match. ¡­¡­ Pop Culture¡¯s players immediately laughed at Ray of Sunshine with derision, "You thought you were the hot shit, didn¡¯t you? You used your ultimate, and you still got pounded soundly like a dog! Hahaha, you didn¡¯t even manage to delete 25% of your opponent¡¯s HP! If that isn¡¯t embarrassing, I don¡¯t know what is! Now get lost! Stay the fuck away from Sky City, or we will kill you every time we see you!" "..." Ray of Sunshine didn¡¯t respond to the jeerings. He simply stepped away from the crowd and left behind a lonely back. He didn¡¯t get to go far, however. On the eastern bridge inside Sky City, a handsome man surrounded by a group of players called out to him, "You are a battlefield veteran, Ray of Sunshine! One defeat isn¡¯t going to crush your fighting spirit, is it?" 1. T/N: I think this should be 100 actually, but since it involved 3 criterias I gave it the benefit of the doubt and left it ? CH 1372 Ray of Sunshine looked up. The speaker was none other than the vice leader of Purgatory Mad Dragon and the man who had snatched the Ghost Armament, the Heaven Suppressing Necklace, from Candlelight Shadow, Warsky and even He Yi¡¯s (debatable) hands, Roaming Dragon. "What¡¯s your business with me?" Ray of Sunshine asked indifferently. Roaming Dragon chuckled. "I just want to speak with you is all. Now come! If you wish to defeat Dark Iron Sword, then make a deal with me! Otherwise, you may never be a match for him¡­" Ray of Sunshine fell silent for a moment. Then, he fell in line with Roaming Dragon¡¯s group. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, I was just telling the referee that I wouldn¡¯t be fighting the next match and taking my leave when someone called out to me, "Wait, Brother Dark Iron Sword! I would like to speak with you about something!" Goosebumps crawled all over my skin. When I turned around, I saw Wang Dongliang and Profound Puff catching up to me. "What is it?" I asked. Wang Dongliang smiled and spread his arms a little. "Your victory against Ray of Sunshine was most impressive, haha, and Purgatory Mad Dragon has never stopped thirsting for talent. In my capacity as the guild leader, I would like to invite you to join Purgatory Mad Dragon. If you do, I will make you a vice leader, and I will grant you a great gift!" I hummed for a moment. "What is this gift exactly?" "It is the Heaven Suppressing Necklace!" I shuddered. "One of the 72 Ghost Armaments, the Heaven Suppressing Necklace? Wasn¡¯t it sold for 200 million at the auction house?" "That¡¯s right!" Wang Dongliang declared arrogantly, "No ordinary person can be allowed to wear the Heaven Suppressing Necklace, but I can see that you are far more skilled than Ray of Sunshine. You may even be skilled enough to challenge Warsky, Farewell Song, Candlelight Shadow and even Lu Chen himself. That is why we wish to invite you to join Purgatory Mad Dragon! Just sign a contract with us, and the Heaven Suppressing Necklace is yours! Naturally, you will also become an executive member of Purgatory Mad Dragon!" I sucked in a deep breath before shaking my head, "Sorry, but I¡¯m not interested. Goodbye." "W-wait! What do you mean you¡¯re not interested? At least tell us why! Why aren¡¯t you willing to join us?" Wang Dongliang asked urgently. I simply said, "Your guild name sounds terrible¡­" Wang Dongliang: "..." After I shook off Wang Dongliang¡¯s hand, I rushed into the city, dashed into the nearest inn, and replaced my Master of Disguise Ring with the Apparition Ring once more. Then, I walked out and met up with Lin Yixin and He Yi. The two girls were bubbling with happiness ever since they made a killing from my match, and right now they were selling some equipment at one corner of the eastern square. There was even a mini traffic congestion around their stalls because everyone wanted to see the two prettiest women in Sky City. ¡­¡­ I sat down beside Lin Yixin and set up my own stall. Then, I placed a couple of high-grade equipment in front of me. He Yi shot me a glance and asked me, "Wang Dongliang tried to recruit you, huh?" I nodded. "Yep. They can¡¯t find me on the player list because Dark Iron Sword is a false identity, and thank god for that¡­" Lin Yixin said, "Wang Dongliang was right about one thing though. After they¡¯ve made an enemy out of their best player, they are absolutely thirsting for talent right now. Purgatory Mad Dragon needs to recruit a super player before Little Piglet returns to enact his vengeance. After the showdown between you and Ray of Sunshine, he and Roaming Dragon had immediately split ways to catch up to both you and Ray of Sunshine. You have to give them an A for effort at least¡­" He Yi chuckled. "Of course they would want to recruit both Lu Chen and Ray of Sunshine. Lu Chen took out Ray of Sunshine without using a single skill, and Ray of Sunshine had revealed himself to be a perfect seed with all the skills a cavalryman would want to have. His style and technique are pretty good as well. His only weakness is his equipment right now, but otherwise, he¡¯s destined to become a great expert." I said, "Wang Dongliang and Roaming Dragon are trying to use the Heaven Suppressing Necklace to attract super experts to their guild right now. Obviously, they aren¡¯t going to get anyone in the CGL Hall of Fame, but Ray of Sunshine? We already know the outcome." Lin Yixin stuck out her tongue cutely. "If Ray of Sunshine had the Heaven Suppressing Necklace just now, you wouldn¡¯t have been able to defeat him as easily as you did. 100% lifesteal is no joke after all¡­" I shrugged. "Sure, but that is only if he can score a hit on me. Also, if I allow myself to use my skills, all I need to do is to land God Binding Art, then I can kill him however I want to. Of course, I¡¯ll apply Chains of Freedom on him first so I can almost guarantee the Heaven Suppressing Necklace to drop¡­" He Yi teased me. "You¡¯re such a vulgar expert, you know that?" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ About 20 minutes later, a system announcement suddenly interrupted our chat¡ª Ding~! System Announcement (Player "Wang Dongliang" Shout): Congratulations to player "Ray of Sunshine" for signing a 3-year contract with Purgatory Mad Dragon and becoming our core player[1]! With this, we have granted him the honor of wearing the Heaven Suppressing Necklace. We¡¯ve also provided him with a set of metal armor: Winds of Purgatory Metal Armor (Level 220 Archean Immortal-grade), Skywater Wristguard (Level 215 Immortal-grade), Thundercrack Helmet (Level 210 Archean Immortal-grade), Fire Beacon War Boots (Level 220 Immortal-grade), and Etera Cape (Level 210 Immortal-grade)! I hope this proves that any skilled player who joins Purgatory Mad Dragon will be acknowledged and supported with all our might! Purgatory Mad Dragon, the Top 5 guild of the China Guild Ranking welcomes all players with a dream to join us! ¡­¡­ I let out a sigh of admiration as I read up on the items listed on the system announcement, "God damn, Purgatory Mad Dragon spent nearly 300 million RMB just to forge one Ray of Sunshine. They really are going all out¡­" Lin Yixin checked Ray of Sunshine¡¯s profile page on the database before saying, "Ray of Sunshine isn¡¯t Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s vice leader yet. I¡¯m guessing that they¡¯re going to meet offline and sign a contract first. There¡¯s no way Wang Dongliang and Lu Chao would¡¯ve given Ray of Sunshine the Heaven Suppressing Necklace otherwise." I nodded. "Yes, I think so too. The item is way too valuable. 100% lifesteal is the kind of attribute only a Divine Armament should have, sheesh!" He Yi chuckled. "Knowing Lu Chao and Wang Dongliang¡¯s style, they¡¯re going to secure Ray of Sunshine in 24 hours at most before they begin the initiation to make Ray of Sunshine a true member of Purgatory Mad Dragon." I smiled. "So, want to log out and eat dinner? We¡¯ll come back later and see if there¡¯s anything important to do." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ As it turned out, there wasn¡¯t anything important after all, so He Yi, Beiming Xue and I grinded around 3 hours in the champion arena to return my score to the Top 100. It had been ages since I grinded the champion arena seriously, so of course my ranking dropped even though my win rate was insane. The Top 10000 players in the champion arena could receive an experience reward every week, and for my current ranking¡ªthe 59th place¡ªI could receive around 17% experience. Considering my current level, that was pretty incredible already. If grinding experience the normal way became too difficult in the future, I supposed that grinding the champion arena wasn¡¯t a bad option as well. Still, it was such a massive pain to grind back to the Top 100. Did you know that the Top 10 rankers of the champion arena had a total match count of over thirty thousand? I didn¡¯t even know how they did it. I logged out at 11 pm, and went to bed at midnight. While I was half asleep, my phone suddenly rang and jolted me awake. I grabbed it and saw that it was Gui Guzi who called me¡ª "What is it, Little Gui?" "Boss Broken Halberd, Eternal Moon just announced a new patch moments ago. It¡¯ll officially launch in 48 hours. You seen it yet?" I checked the time and said, "Bro, it¡¯s 12:05 am right now. Of course I haven¡¯t¡­" Gui Guzi said, "Well, I think you should go over it with Boss Eve now. This new patch is pretty unique, and it¡¯s likely to bring about a massive change to the whole Heavenblessed Continent. That¡¯s why I think we should prepare as soon as possible and not fall behind the other guilds. Well, that¡¯s all I wanted to say. I¡¯m going to grind instances with Li now." "Yeah." I sat up straight and said, "Very well, I¡¯ll check out the details of the new patch with Eve right away. Work hard and get your mount to Level 200, okay? It may unlock some new attributes, and even if it doesn¡¯t, there¡¯s no harm in increasing our strength especially since a new patch is on the horizon." "Yeah. Bye!" After Gui Guzi hung up, I put on a shirt, grabbed my notebook, and went to knock on He Yi¡¯s room. While pressing the on button, I asked, "You slept yet, Eve?" He Yi¡¯s lazy voice came from inside, "Not yet. You wanna come in?" "Yeah." As I opened the door and walked in, a faint waft of fragrance immediately tickled my nose. There just was no comparison between a woman¡¯s bedroom and a man¡¯s. ¡­¡­ He Yi turned on her bedside lamp and chased away the darkness. The faint yellow light gave the room a peaceful and tranquil ambience. "What¡¯s wrong, Lu Chen? You don¡¯t normally knock on my door at midnight." The lighting was still a bit too dim for me to see He Yi¡¯s expression clearly, but her voice was clearly teasing. "You¡¯re not looking for a good time like Mingyue said you would, are you? I¡¯m not mentally prepared tonight, so maybe next time¡­" I rolled my eyes. "Come now, this is serious business. A new patch has just been announced¡­" "Oh?" I sat near the bedhead and put down my notebook. As expected, a row of blood-red text appeared on the home page when I clicked into the official website¡ª A New Patch Arrives! The March of Chaos Deep within the ancient continent, a mysterious power grows restless and hungry. Led by the lure of power, the ancient king and former Dragon Speaker, Mingyu has arrived at a forgotten ruin that allowed him to regain his powers day after day. Today, he has finally grown strong enough to summon the Purgatory¡¯s legions of the dead. Not even half a year has passed since his revival, but he has already created an extraordinarily powerful legion in the ruins with the aid of powerful experts such as Michael. That isn¡¯t all. The two Purgatory Sovereigns, Coldblade the Infinite Storm and Thunder the Blade of Death have also been led to the ruins by the power of the dead, and the terror that is soon to be unleashed will surely change the world. Meanwhile, the alliance led by Karinshan of Sky City is urgently making preparations for the upcoming war. The war drums will be beaten, and an earthshaking war for honor and survival will be fought on this ancient continent. Patch Introduction: When "March of Chaos" is officially launched, players may choose to join the Silver Moon Alliance (the faction consisting of humans, succubi, elves and more races of the living) and enter the Chaotic Regions as its members. Kill Night Creatures to earn patch-exclusive contribution points. The launch will be fully released only after Mingyu has been killed. Players of all servers are welcomed to participate in the event. The Top 10000 players on the contribution ranking will be rewarded handsomely. The best player is guaranteed to win one of the Twelve Divine Armaments, and the first and second runner-ups are guaranteed to win one of the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments each! 1. E/N: Remember when I said his class was the same as Little Piglet¡¯s, just a different element? Author isn¡¯t even trying to not make him Little Piglet 2.0 xD ? CH 1373 "Wow, the MVP of the contribution ranking will be rewarded one of the Twelve Divine Armaments¡­" He Yi sounded astonished. "Even the second and third place will be rewarded with a Ghost Armament. The devs really are going all out with this patch. We really have to treat this patch seriously, or the pressure is high if Warsky Alliance or Candle Dragon manages to claim 1 or even 2 of these prizes for themselves." I nodded. "The patch will launch 48 hours later. If I had to guess, undead creatures will be spawning throughout the entire continent. It¡¯ll be a competition of DPS. Bosses will probably spawn across the map as well, and obviously killing bosses should yield higher contribution points. Anyway, let¡¯s prepare the guild as soon as possible. We¡¯ll organize the guild to hundred-man parties, thousand-man parties or even ten-thousand-man parties now so that we don¡¯t waste time doing it on the launch day. We should also prepare potions, cards, consumables and everything else!" "Mn." He Yi smiled warmly. "I got it, but you know we¡¯re not going to get started until tomorrow, right? Did you really knock on my door just because of this?" "Yeeeeeeeeees?" I looked down. My beautiful guild leader was leaning against me and staring into my soul with those gentle, ticklish eyes. It was a temptation no man could possibly ignore. So I bent down and kissed He Yi on the lips. I pushed the notebook away so that we wouldn¡¯t accidentally knock it to the floor, but that was all I managed before He Yi hugged me tightly and responded in a way that could only be described as enthusiastic. The kiss lasted an entire minute before we finally separated to catch our breaths. Her cheeks felt as hot as my own, and her body was shivering a little against my own. Her eyelashes felt ticklish on my face as she blinked them. A while later, I said smilingly, "Is that enough, Eve? Any more than this, and it¡¯s going to wake something up¡­" He Yi burst into a giggle before kissing me one last time on the cheek. "Go, you. Rest early so that you can grind instances with Yiyi and I tomorrow. Both our dragons need to hit Level 200 as soon as possible." "Yes, but you don¡¯t have to be too hasty. The March of Chaos won¡¯t be ending anytime soon, and I¡¯m sure there¡¯ll be more than enough experience for everyone to share. Otherwise, it¡¯s not possible for any player to hit Level 250 in a reasonable amount of time, and if no one can hit Level 250, then that new realm at Level 250 won¡¯t surface as well." "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ I returned to bed after leaving He Yi¡¯s room. It didn¡¯t take long for me to enter a peaceful slumber. Nothing particularly noteworthy happened during the second and third day, so I spent this time grinding instances with the girls, cards for the upcoming challenge, and helped Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi overcome the S4 instance once and for all. It wasn¡¯t like they couldn¡¯t finish it themselves eventually, but it would have cost them some levels, and with the new patch coming out, they couldn¡¯t afford to drop in strength. Unfortunately, the equipment drop rate wasn¡¯t very good even with my Luck. Gui Guzi was the only one who got Archean Immortal-grade wristguards out of the S4 instance. Still, it was a great piece of equipment. Very soon, it was 10 pm of the third day. The new patch would be launching in less than two hours. Dark Moon City, inside the territory hall. I was sitting on a stair and wiping away the dust on my Guardian Dragon Armor. My Chill of the Nine Provinces was resting peacefully against my thigh. A while later, I looked up at my players and commented, "Why are you all looking so nervous? It¡¯s just another patch." Li Chengfeng replied excitedly, "Sure, but the MVP of the March of Chaos has a 100% chance of getting one of the Twelve Divine Armaments, man! How can we not be excited! Even if we cannot be the MVP, the second and third place will still get a Ghost Armament each, and we¡¯ve all seen how good the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments can be. Some of them are right up there with the Twelve Divine Armaments!" I smiled. "That is true¡­ oh right, did anything happen in the outer lands, brother Xu Yang? Dark Mercenaries must have made some preparations to deal with the upcoming patch, right? I heard that Little Piglet has been working them like horses ever since he became the guild leader¡­" Xu Yang chuckled. "29 hours ago, Little Piglet led a troop of 10000 elite Iron Cutter Cavalrymen and swept four 10000-man parties of Purgatory Mad Dragon on the Abandoned Plains, pissing off Wang Dongliang to no end. 11 hours ago, he led 70000 elite cavalrymen and wiped out another 50k Purgatory Mad Dragon players who were grinding at Vanished God City¡¯s borders, robbing plenty of potions and equipment in the process and enraging Roaming Dragon. Now, or should I say 2 hours ago, they are resting in their base and seemingly waiting for the new patch to launch." He Yi sat down beside me with a beautiful frown on her face. "Something doesn¡¯t feel right about this. Purgatory Mad Dragon isn¡¯t so weak that they can¡¯t even mount a counterattack against Little Piglet, not to mention Ray of Sunshine just joined them a while ago. He¡¯s an elite player be it in terms of equipment or skill, so why didn¡¯t he show up to stop Little Piglet¡¯s rampage?" Beside us, the guild leader of Protective Umbrella, Hickey, raised her arm and answered, "Guild leader, I¡¯ve actually encountered Ray of Sunshine, Wang Dongliang, Profound Puff, Coldmoon Rose and Roaming Dragon in the outer lands before. They were tackling the S5 instance, Five Spirits Holy Realm¡­" "What?" He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open in astonishment. Chaos Moon added, "Sister Eve, according to my intel, not only did their party manage to clear the Five Spirits Holy Realm in 6 hours, they¡¯ve gotten the metal armor boots, wristguards and helmet of the Spirit Realm set, which is enough to trigger the set¡¯s effects. Obviously, they¡¯ve given it to Ray of Sunshine. A day ago, Lu Chao also spent 4 million to purchase an Ancient Immortal-grade ring that is probably meant for Ray of Sunshine as well. Suffice it to say, the guy¡¯s stats are off the charts right now." I clenched my fists. "God damn, that¡¯s crazy! Not even we managed to clear the S5 instance yet! Is Purgatory Mad Dragon really going to defy the heavens with the Heaven Suppressing Necklace!?" Li Chengfeng licked his lips playfully. "It sure looks like it. Of all the attributes you might want to have when fighting against a boss, 100% lifesteal is probably among the best of the best. Let¡¯s say he deals around 200k damage with a basic attack, that¡¯s 200k HP healed instantly. Profound Puff is a passable priest too, so not even the final boss of the S5 instance can crush Ray of Sunshine. As for Coldmoon Rose and Roaming Dragon, what they lack in skill they make up with equipment¡­" Xu Yang joked, "Oh man, does that mean we should run away from Ray of Sunshine starting now? Haha!" However, I narrowed my eyes and said, "Actually, yes. Unless you¡¯re a top-tier player, it¡¯s best to avoid clashing directly with him. Purgatory Mad Dragon has never been our friend, and I guarantee you they¡¯ll be tempted to harass us now that they have Ray of Sunshine. We must be careful when we tackle the new patch later, and we should avoid getting into a fight with Purgatory Mad Dragon. If conflict is inevitable, then everyone is to take out Ray of Sunshine as soon as possible and preferably get him to drop the Heaven Suppressing Necklace. Without it, the guy¡¯s nothing more but a toothless tiger!" Gui Guzi bellowed in excitement, "Hell yeah! While we¡¯re doing so, we should get Warsky to drop the Immortal Blade as well! Now that¡¯s what I call a clean house!" Chaos Moon rolled her eyes at Gui Guzi. "Maybe if you were the creator of Heavenblessed. Otherwise..." Gui Guzi chuckled. "Oh look, the new patch¡¯s about to start¡­" ¡­¡­ It was 11:30 pm when the March of Chaos contribution ranking finally appeared on the interface. Everyone¡¯s score was a big fat zero right now, but my ID was displayed at the first place. It was probably because I had always been the MVP of most of the game¡¯s major events up until now. The second place was Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, the third was Red Maple [1], and the fourth was Tear Stain. All three players were exceptionally fearsome opponents, but Red Maple was the one who caught my attention most of all. I had never forgotten about his precious Crimson Dragon Arm. It was the kind of baby that would put even a wielder of the Twelve Divine Armaments on their toes. The last half an hour of waiting was excruciatingly painful, but finally a system announcement rang across the sky¡ª Ding! System Announcement: The March of Chaos patch has officially launched. Players may choose between combat or construction quests to accrue contribution points. Players who choose combat should seek out neutral maps outside the main city to begin their quests. One hour from now, 7 Divine Rank bosses, 77 Ancient Immortal Rank bosses, 744 Archean Immortal Rank bosses, as well as many bosses of lower ranks on the entire continent Killing these bosses will reward additional contribution points. Players who choose construction should head to their respective main cities. Your rulers are currently preparing for war, so accrue massive amounts of contribution points by gathering herbs, hunting game, collecting wood, mining ores, fishing and more. Good luck! ¡­¡­ "It¡¯s begun!" He Yi exclaimed in excitement. Li Chengfeng said, "Well, we¡¯re obviously going to choose combat. What is the plan, Lu Chen?" I brought up the world map and refreshed it. I immediately noticed that the outer lands in the northwest were dyed completely blood-red. Heaven knows how many high-level bosses have spawned in that area. It encompassed Bloody Shield Domain, Land of the Bloody Domain, Dragon Domain, Ancient Ruin and more. The most noteworthy map of them all was Ancient Ruin, a new map that spawned on the edge of the northwest border. It was most likely the ruin mentioned in the patch introduction, and those insanely powerful bosses such as Mingyu, Michael, Coldblade and Thunder probably all resided within. I made up my mind and declared, "We will teleport to Vanished God City, cut a beeline across Bloody Shield Domain, and travel to the innermost map in the northwest! Make sure you bring all the potions and cards you can carry because there may not be a supply spot along the way. We¡¯ll be marching as hundred-man parties, and I want every executive here to command 10000 players each to guarantee vigorous action. I¡¯ll begin. Ahem, I¡¯ll be taking Heaven¡¯s Rain and Beiming, 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen, 3000 Dragonlight Archers, and 2000 Holy Mages¡­" He Yi rolled her eyes at me. "Shameless. You literally took the best we have¡­" I grinned. "Well, that¡¯s about it. Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ I brought up the party channel and dragged Beiming Xue and Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s IDs to my party. I then marked all three of us as the leaders of our ten-thousand-man party. I was the corps commander, so I could dispatch orders to the entire party. "Beiming, Little Rain, I trust the two of you to pick our elites. Remember, do NOT accept those who are going to be logging out in 12 hours. It''ll just be a waste of time¡­" "We know, big bro!" While the girls were selecting our 8000 Dragonlight Riders, I left to choose our 2000 Holy Mages. Moonlight Stone was among my choices. After everyone was ready, Heaven¡¯s Rain buffed 3000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen with her Knight General, Beiming Xue buffed the Dragonlight Archers with her Bow God, and I buffed 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 2000 Holy Mages with Martial God. One of the greatest advantages of Martial God was that its 200% Attack boost applied to both Attack and Magic Attack. It was especially good for grinding maps! After the order was given, all 10000 of us teleported to Vanished God City. Then, I climbed up the Ancient Divine Dragon, gripped the Chill of the Nine Provinces, and tuned my equipment luster for max flashiness. As the flagship player of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, now was the time to be as showy as possible. Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Gui Guzi and everyone else led their 10000-man parties to the plains, marching toward Bloody Shield Domain together. 1. T/N: jesus christ how the fuck are you even here? Dude must be pulling off some seriously legendary shit during events if he¡¯s rated higher than even Breeze and Rain ? CH 1374 I arrived at the borders of Bloody Shield Domain on the Ancient Divine Dragon. The wind here felt absolutely bone-chilling, and the bloodiness in the air was even thicker than normal after the launch of the new patch. The mob density of the maps had visibly increased as well. About a hundred meters away, I saw zombies with incomplete limbs and tattered clothes jumping here and there on the barren plains. They were Level 295 fiend-rank mobs that could inflict Poisoned status with their attacks. Thank goodness the devs retained a tiny bit of conscience and didn¡¯t pit us against Level 300 mobs from the get-go. Otherwise, man, the combat players might as well change to construction right now. For this event, players who died in the Chaotic Regions would lose a level and revive in the main city right away, but they weren¡¯t barred from reentering the map. What this meant was that this was a test of tenacity, and that this battle was going to be a long one. Even with the entire world working to clear the event, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if it lasted two whole days or more. ¡­¡­ "How are we doing this?" Beiming Xue asked me. I thought for a moment before ordering in the party channel, "Split into hundred-man parties of Dragonlight Cavalry, Dragonlight Archers and Holy Mages and aggro the mobs one by one. The Dragonlight Cavalry will stun the mobs with organized Charges and execute their combos, the Dragonlight Archers will take turns stunning them further with Shock Arrows, and the Holy Mages will kill the mobs with Touch of the Dragonkiss. Begin!" Everyone nodded and got to work. The hundred-man parties had already been assigned beforehand, so there was no delay between my order and their action. While leading the charge, I took a moment to check my bag. The biggest stack of cards I had brought were the Bloodthirsty Corpse Eater Cards¡ªover 50 of them in total¡ªso I used it to buff my Attack by 30% and my max HP by 60%. It was good enough for this fight. My sword auras exploded among the mobs like a meat grinder. The Chill of the Nine Provinces was already amazingly powerful, but Martial God boosted my Attack by 200% as well. As a result, I was able to kill a Level 295 mob every 12 seconds or so. In fact, I was soloing a corner of the area because I didn¡¯t need my players to help me. The Dragonlight Cavalry exchanged wry glances with each other, and even Heaven¡¯s Rain stuck out her tongue and commented, "OMG, vice leader big bro¡¯s Attack is just insane. No wonder Candlelight Shadow couldn¡¯t beat you¡­" I shot her a smile and continued forward. The zombies were hopping mad, and our experience bars were madly hopping. All in all, we were off to a most pleasant start. The bloody plain was huge enough to fit us, the other 10000-man parties of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Blazing Hot Lips, Purgatory Mad Dragon, Warsky Alliance and more guilds. Everyone knew that the new patch was full of profits just waiting to be uncovered, and they didn¡¯t hesitate so split their forces to cover as many ground as possible. Almost 3 hours later, our 10000-man parties were several kilometers deep into the map. Bone-chilling wind wouldn¡¯t stop blowing, and the ground was covered in skeletons and rotten corpses on stakes. It was clear that they were humans that had been executed by this undead army. In fact, huge necropoleis were starting to enter my view. "Big bro, look!" Beiming Xue pointed to the west. "There¡¯s an Archean Immortal Rank boss over there!" "Hmm?" I looked behind me and saw the boss. There was a glowing red figure hopping up and down in the hazy night, and it was a huge zombie called the Zombie King. It had a pair of long fangs, and its arms were outstretched. Its clothes were straight out of an older Chinese dynasty. Long story short, it was a Hong Kong zombie. I was one hundred percent certain that the designer was a Chinese. Anyway, that wasn¡¯t the point. The point was that we absolutely possessed the power to annihilate this Archean Immortal Rank boss. It was just a matter of how. "Do we wanna swarm him?" Moonlight Stone asked. Her brother, Tiger Leopard Knight, replied from his Dragonscale Beast, "That¡¯s a bit too much. It¡¯s just an Archean Immortal Rank boss." I smiled. "Exactly. A hundred players should be enough to destroy it. I¡¯ll be the tank, so just get me a couple dozens of archers and mages. By the way, all Dragonlight Cavalry are to use only their skills to recover unless they have no other choice. As I mentioned earlier, there is no telling if there is a place we can restock our supplies in, so we need to take care to conserve our resources. For example, the magic knight¡¯s War God Recovery restores 100% of your HP over 60 seconds. Why wouldn¡¯t you want to abuse it? Now, let¡¯s go. Also, no need to maximize your DPS to squeak out some more experience. It¡¯s shared across 10000 players anyway, so it makes little to no difference. But of course, the last-hitter is going to get the bulk of the experience¡­" I was already charging the boss with the Phantom Wolf King as I made the above rant. I stunned the Level 295 Zombie King with a Thunderous Charge and made it scream with many devastating skills. Just so that the others could pierce its Defense, I stabbed it with Purple Frost Concentration and lowered its Defense by 37%. Behind me, dozens of Touches of the Dragonkiss burst out of the ground and struck the boss. The amount of damage they dealt could only be described as crazy¡ª 247271! 219238! 237178! ¡­¡­ Not even 2 minutes had passed, and the Zombie King only had 30% HP left. While shooting with the Xuanming Bow, Beiming Xue let out a sigh before saying, "OMG, our mage party is really starting to look unbeatable. No way Warsky Alliance¡¯s Gold Cavalry could punch through our firewall of God Devil Breaks no matter what they try¡­" While attacking the boss, I replied, "Not necessarily. Warsky isn¡¯t an idiot, he won¡¯t make his Golden Cavalry run headlong into their doom. Knowing him, he would send his Cyanscale Cavalry, Frostscale Cavalry or whatever to hold our attention, then dispatch the Gold Cavalry to charge our Holy Mages from multiple directions. The Holy Mages only have an attack range of 40 yards, and it takes the Gold Cavalry only an instant to cover that distance. If the firewall is spread thin enough for them to break through, then it will be our mages¡¯ turn to scream under their Ultimate Strength Breaks. That is why there is no such thing as the strongest unit, only the most flexible tactics and strategies. The strongest army is forged from blood and iron, and we all still have a ways to go." Beiming Xue nodded repeatedly. "Mn, big bro is right!" Heaven¡¯s Rain chuckled. "You certainly are becoming more and more like a resourceful commander, and your achievements are the very proof of your words¡­ You know, I heard a funny story about Warsky Alliance the other day. During one of their outings, Warsky had a bit too much to drink and wept into October¡¯s Rain chest. He said that he would¡¯ve traded Farewell Song, Laughing At The Heavens and Lin Bing Dou Zhe away if he could get just one Lu Chen for Warsky Alliance." I was astonished. "What happened after that?" Heaven¡¯s Rain giggled. "What else? October Rain slapped him, and Farewell Song, Laughing At The Heavens and Lin Bing Dou Zhe gave him a bump on the head each." Me: "..." Tiger Leopard Knight commented, "Haha. Too bad for him, Lu Chen is probably never going to serve another guild besides Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, not to mention that he would never serve someone like Warsky. Right, Lu Chen?" I sucked in a deep breath before answering, "Yeah. The paths we tread are ultimately different, so we can never truly work together with each other!" ¡­¡­ The Zombie King had dropped to 5% HP at this point, so I raised my voice and said, "Brothers and sisters, it¡¯s time to punch the boss''s face in! Whoever gets the last hit will get 50% of its experience, so don¡¯t hold back! Hahahaha¡­" Everyone laughed in response while unleashing their Barrier Breaks, Volleys, God Devil Breaks and more damaging combos against the boss. It only took a moment for the Zombie King to lose its last sliver of HP and drop to the ground. The combat log stated: Player "Moonlight Stone" has killed the Zombie King and gained 5000 points! Damn, bosses really were worth a ton of contribution points! Unfortunately, Moonlight Stone only had 6 Luck, so the boss only dropped Earth-grade equipment. I couldn¡¯t exactly tell the gang to leave the last hit to me either because people would think that I just wanted to claim the boss experience for myself. This was especially true considering that we were operating in a 10000-man party right now. It wasn¡¯t the same as when I was partying with just Beauty Lin, He Yi, Lian Xin and the rest of the girls. It takes a discerning person to be able to navigate through social interactions properly. Now that the boss fight was done, I dragged down the contribution point ranking to give it another look. There were players from all over the world and not nearly enough Chinese players up in the Top 10¡ª Candlelight Shadow and Luo River God of the Capital were the only two Chinese players in the ranking¡¯s Top 10. Little Piglet would¡¯ve been the third if he hadn¡¯t abandoned his nationality a while ago. Hickey was unaffiliated from the start. Anyway, the event had just begun, so it was natural for everyone¡¯s points to be super close to one another. For the same reason, I wasn¡¯t particularly worried about my ranking. I currently had 36770 points, which put me at the 12th place. With my insane number of AoE skills, it would only take me a moment to catch up to the point leaders. In fact, I bet I would have twice the amount of Tear Stain¡¯s contribution points already if I was soloing. I had that much confidence at least. Five whole hours passed, and we managed to kill a couple more bosses during this time. I managed to last-hit two of the bosses and drop an Archean Immortal-grade spear in the process. I gave it to Heaven¡¯s Rain to significantly improve her offensive power. Her Ultimate Strength Break should be able to really hurt a boss now. The guild channel was bustling with activity as a matter of course¡ª Li Chengfeng: "The mobs of the Chaotic Regions really are amazing. I¡¯ve calculated the average experience I¡¯ve been receiving, and I reckon that I can level up every 10 hours or so. If I grind hard, I should be able to enter the Heavenly Ranking of Sky City once more!" Gui Guzi guffawed. "Do your best, Li! We¡¯re having the time of our life as well. Man, the mob density in Bloody Shield Domain is seriously crazy. The experience from the Corpse Eaters alone can put a smile on my face." Chaos Moon: "Strange, Lu Chen still hasn¡¯t entered the Top 10 yet¡­" Beiming Xue: "That¡¯s because he¡¯s been grinding with us this whole time¡­" He Yi: "What¡¯s with the sudden sense of responsibility, Lu Chen?" I slapped my chest and said, "What do you mean? I¡¯ve always been responsible toward the guild. In the past, I grinded solo only because I had no other choice¡­" Everyone: "Like hell you did!!" ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, no peace could last forever. A few minutes later, Tiger Leopard Knight galloped up to me like the wind with a stern expression on his face. "Guild leader!" "What¡¯s wrong?" I asked. Tiger Leopard Knight pointed his spear to the west and said, "The map over there is a canyon-style mountain pass, but it¡¯s currently occupied by a bunch of Dark Mercenaries elite cavalrymen. They¡­ seem to be targeting the 30000 Purgatory Mad Dragon players next to us¡­" I was surprised. "Elite cavalrymen? Are they the Iron Cutter Cavalry Hero Alliance gave to Little Piglet?" "Yes. I counted around 3000 of them, and Little Piglet is with them as well. He¡¯s¡­ got a new mount¡­" "What is it?" "It¡¯s a huge, black beast called the Ink Qilin. I think it was sponsored by the Northern Alliance as well¡­" "Fuck!" I clenched my fists. Looks like the temporary peace has ended sooner than I thought. CH 1375 We were currently treading through a lifeless, dark green pine forest. Behind it was a mountain range with steep cliffs that blocked our advance. The only way forward was the 300-meter-wide canyon in between the mountain ranges. Right now, a 7000-man party of Blazing Hot Lips players led by Eyes Like Water herself were passing through it. Stranger of Three Lifetimes was nowhere to be seen. "Dark Mercenaries. Tsk!" Eyes Like Water clicked her tongue while eyeing the top of the mountain cliffs. There, around 5000 Iron Cutter Cavalrymen were standing behind a bluff of trees, and Little Piglet himself was standing on a cliff¡¯s edge with a sinister smile on his face. It was clear that they were thinking about attacking Blazing Hot Lips. The players of the outer lands were basically robbers. The main source of their equipment and materials weren¡¯t mobs, but players, and their lifestyle was to fuel war with more war. While the 7000-man Blazing Hot Lips party was elite, they might not be able to stop Little Piglet without Stranger of Three Lifetimes. I immediately sent Eyes Like Water a message: "Beauty Eyes, I and a 10000-man party are just a couple hundred meters behind you. If anything happens, we¡¯ll be able to reinforce you immediately, so don¡¯t worry about Little Piglet and just pass through the canyon!" A sweet smile crossed Eyes Like Water¡¯s lips when she saw the message: She then ordered loudly, "Stop dilly-dallying and march quickly! There¡¯s an entire map on the other side of the canyon for us to grind yet!" On the hill, Little Piglet had noticed us as well. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, but in the end he didn¡¯t say anything. ¡­¡­ We paid Dark Mercenaries no heed and continued cutting down the zombies, skeletal soldiers blocking our way and advancing at our own pace. From our location, we could barely see Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s party grinding about 2000 meters away from us. Rustle rustle... Like a beautiful elf of midnight, Beiming Xue slinked out from between the darkened bushes and shot me a beautiful smile. "I¡¯m done scouting, big bro. That Purgatory Mad Dragon party is about 37k players strong, and they are led by Iron Pardon. Unfortunately, his troops are all second-rate. Ray of Sunshine, Roaming Dragon, Pillar of the Nation and more are grinding somewhere else, so¡­" I declared, "So Iron Pardon and his buddies are done for!" "That¡¯s right! Also¡­" Beiming Xue pointed in another direction. "I saw more Dark Mercenaries players pouring in from the other side of the mountain range where the outer lands lie. Little Piglet is most likely going to commit his robbery here¡­" I gnashed my teeth together before replying, "Just ignore him and continue forward. We won¡¯t provoke Dark Mercenaries unless they provoke us first." "Mn!" ¡­¡­ On the hill, riding atop the Ink Qilin and wielding a powerful sword, a smiling Little Piglet commented while observing the ground, "What a party we have here! I see Lu Chen, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Beiming Xue. The map isn¡¯t huge, but so many first-rate players are here. What do you think of this, Amber Pupil?" Beside him, Amber Pupil declared haughtily, "Brother Piglet, it doesn¡¯t look like Lu Chen¡¯s brought a lot of men with him. Once our 15k Iron Cutter Cavalrymen have all arrived, we¡¯ll work together with our mages and archers to eliminate their 10000-man party. The real question is, what should we do to kill Lu Chen?" Little Piglet sneered, "Kill Lu Chen? What are you on about? He has the Resurrection Art, he can¡¯t be killed." [1] "Don¡¯t worry!" Amber Pupil¡¯s grin widened. "I¡¯ve read the map details beforehand, and I can confirm that all revival skills and card effects such as the Resurrection Art, Immortality Spell, Prophecy of Resurrection, Undying Berserker Card and more won¡¯t work in the Chaotic Regions. This means that even Lu Chen must drop equipment and revive in his main city if he dies here. This is a great opportunity to get the Chill of the Nine Provinces and Cyan Dragon Shield to drop, hehe¡­" However, Little Piglet said in a harsh tone, "We are NOT targeting Lu Chen. I¡¯ve told you many times that our enemy is Purgatory Mad Dragon, not Ancient Sword. When Dark Mercenaries was in your hands, you had used it to take revenge against the China server. But in my hands? It will only be used to take revenge against Purgatory Mad Dragon. I am not a dog of the Northern Alliance. If you still cannot get your priorities straight, you may fuck off from Dark Mercenaries right now. The entire main guild is made of my men now anyway!" "..." Amber Pupil was silenced, but there was no hiding the hatred in his eyes. A while later, Little Piglet unsheathed his weapon and growled, "Alright, it¡¯s time! The moment Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s players enter the rocky region, we¡¯ll charge down the hill and tear them to pieces! Take revenge for me and your sister-in-law!" One of the former Purgatory Mad Dragon players who had followed Little Piglet to the outer lands asked, "Speaking of sister-in-law, she hasn¡¯t shown up in a while. Is she okay, boss?" Little Piglet¡¯s hatred deepened. "It¡¯s nothing. She¡¯s not feeling too well is all. We fuck up Pugatory Mad Dragon, and maybe she¡¯ll feel better!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ At the foot of the mountain, Iron Pardon and his players entered a rocky canyon while having no idea about the metaphorical guillotine that was suspended right above their necks. It wasn¡¯t until the stones on the ground started shaking unnaturally, that Iron Pardon looked up and finally realized the danger, "Shit, it¡¯s Dark Mercenaries! Form up and prepare to receive their charge!" However, it was already too late. On average, the Iron Cutter Cavalry were elite Level 220 cavalrymen, and they even had a charge boost because they were galloping down a slope. They easily shredded Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s formation into pieces. At the forefront of the cavalry charge, Little Piglet transformed and imbued his sword with Great Conqueror¡¯s splash effect. He unleashed Ultimate Strength Break + Ice Ray combo into the enemy before following up with a Freezing Purgatory. Finally, his Ink Qilin let out a roar and engulfed everything in a jet of flames. It wasn¡¯t long before everyone except Little Piglet¡¯s allies were left standing around him. "Fuck!" Iron Pardon was furious, but there was nothing he could do to change this situation or stop Little Piglet. He could only beat an organized retreat while ordering, "Everyone who revived should form up at the city entrance first before making their way back over. Archers, use Spiraling Arrow Blades¡­ I mean Mountain Stagger Arrows to dismount the enemy. Without their Iron Cutter Warhorse, these chumps are just a bunch of trash¡­" Iron Pardon was clearly panicking. Forget that they were utterly inferior to Little Piglet¡¯s army in the first place, Dark Mercenaries was fueled by pure hatred as well. Although Iron Pardon¡¯s army outnumbered Little Piglet¡¯s 7 to 1, they still lost like never before. More and more bodies hit the ground until Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s defeat became absolutely irreversible. ¡­¡­ "Are¡­ are we really going to just watch them be slaughtered and do nothing?" It was so bad that Moonlight Stone was starting to sympathize with Purgatory Mad Dragon. Tiger Leopard Knight consoled her, "You don¡¯t need to pity them, sister. It¡¯s what they deserve." I said, "Yeah, we are not interfering in Little Piglet and Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s business. Purgatory Mad Dragon absolutely brought it upon themselves. Personally, I support Little Piglet¡¯s vengeance all the way." Heaven¡¯s Rain blinked at me and said, "You must know something. Tell us!" Me: "I will not talk about it." "..." ¡­¡­ It was an almost amusing scene from a bird¡¯s eye point of view. On one side of the entrance, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were grinding experience and loot happily. On the other, Purgatory Mad Dragon was being massacred like dogs. It was what I imagined the contrast between heaven and hell was like. It took only less than an hour for Dark Mercenaries to turn all 37k Purgatory Mad Dragon players into dead bodies, equipment, potions, cards and more loot. After they were done looting the battlefield, Little Piglet raised his sword and ordered, "Alright, time to return to the hills and wait for the rest of our brothers and sisters to join us. We can then begin our next hunt. Today, we aren¡¯t letting a single Purgatory Mad Dragon player past this canyon." Just a short while later, a new troop of cavalrymen led by a brawny man carrying a broadsword. He was none other than Dominating Heaven Blade of Gods of Destruction. The guild leader glanced back and forth between us and the despawning bodies on the ground and clicked his tongue. "Heavens, what the hell happened here?" Dominating Knight God said, "Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s 10000-man parties got wrecked by Little Piglet and the Dark Mercenaries¡­" "Fuck!" Dominating Heaven Blade shot a glance at the concealed Dark Mercenaries on the mountains before shuddering. "Tell our mages, priests, archers and other parties to catch up to our frontline as soon as they can. We¡¯re going to pass through the canyon in the shortest time possible, and we¡¯re going to avoid clashing against Dark Mercenaries. We¡¯re here for the experience and loot, not to hunt down the outer-land players. There is also no need to offend Little Piglet. That one¡¯s for Ray of Sunshine to do!" ¡­¡­ However, Dominating Heaven Blade might not want to clash against Dark Mercenaries, but Dark Mercenaries very much wanted to clash against him. On the hills, Amber Pupils licked his lips with greed and said, "Guild leader, we can raid Dominating Heaven Blade, right? He¡¯s screwed with us plenty of times, and his main force hasn¡¯t yet caught up to him. Let¡¯s attack him and get him to drop an equipment or two. The old man isn¡¯t all that skilled, but he has an entire set of top-tier Immortal-grade equipment. It¡¯s such a waste!" Little Piglet replied, "Purgatory Mad Dragon is our only prey." "But Purgatory Mad Dragon isn¡¯t here right now. You don¡¯t seriously expect us to do nothing in the meantime, do you?" Amber Pupil retorted. A couple of Dark Mercenaries players agreed with his reasoning. "Yeah, we all gotta eat, man. Where are we going to grind some equipment if we don¡¯t kill Gods of Destruction? We can¡¯t wait here and do nothing while everyone else is earning contribution points, man. You gotta take responsibility for our living expenses, man¡­" Little Piglet fumed. "Fine, fine! However, we¡¯re returning after we take out Dominating Heaven Blade and his couple thousand players!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Battle cries filled the air, and nearly 10000 Iron Cutter Cavalrymen charged down the hills once more. Dominating Heaven Blade shuddered. "Shit! I was hoping this wouldn¡¯t happen. Form up! It¡¯s too late to run, so we may as well drag as many enemies down with us to the grave as possible!" ¡­¡­ The activity hadn¡¯t escaped my notice. I immediately reined in my dragon and said, "Halt! Dragonlight Cavalry, follow me to intercept the Iron Cutter Cavalry! Show them the strength of the China server¡¯s best cavalrymen!" The Dragonlight Cavalry was way faster than the Iron Cutter Cavalry, so they were able to form a shield formation before the Iron Cutter Cavalry were able to hit them. Little Piglet was galloping at full speed when he noticed us and abruptly skidded to a stop. He then shouted, "What is the meaning of this, Lu Chen? Are you going to stop us from making some money?" I tossed the Chill of the Nine Provinces on the ground in front of me and declared, "I don¡¯t care what you do to Purgatory Mad Dragon, but you¡¯re not harming any other Chinese player! If you must wipe out Gods of Destruction, then you¡¯ll have to step over our bodies first!" "Fuck!" Amber Pupil exploded, "Get him!" 1. T/N: this officially makes Little Piglet THE smartest character in the entire novel bar none ? CH 1376 At the frontline, Heaven¡¯s Rain asked me while carrying her spear, "Are we really going to fight them?" I said firmly, "If Dark Mercenaries charges us, we will. Perhaps Little Piglet is no longer who he used to be. Perhaps hatred has twisted his mind enough that he no longer cares about his fellow countrymen!" Swhoosh! I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces into the sky. The light of the Ancient Divine Armament was so bright that even the darkness kilometers away from it was chased away. Then, I roared on top of my lungs, "Prepare for battle and take them out!" Chiang chiang chiang... Rows and rows of Dragonlight Cavalrymen unsheathed their weapons and empowered themselves with defensive skills such as Immovable, Will to Protect, Protective Aura and more. Most of these skills only increased their Defense between 10% to 30%, but it was better than nothing. Moreover, Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s Knight General also boosted their Defense by 100%. Finally, the Dragonlight Cavalry enjoyed higher priority when purchasing equipment from the guild warehouse with contribution points, so their equipment was very elite! ¡­¡­ While Amber Pupil and a large group of Iron Cutter Cavalry were charging down toward us from the middle of the hill, Little Piglet was hesitating and gripping his weapon tightly. In the end, he gnashed his teeth together and uttered, "Screw it, we may as well do this now! It was always a matter of time before we clashed against Ancient Sword!" The ground trembled, and red maple leaves with dew water on them became attached to the horse hooves thundering across the canyon. It almost looked like a sea of blood was flooding toward us. Little Piglet led at the forefront while everyone else followed closely behind him. His men¡¯s equipment and mount had all been strengthened by the Northern Alliance, so they were no longer just former elite players of Purgatory Mad Dragon. When they were just 40 yards away from our formation, snowflakes began dancing around Little Piglet¡¯s sword. He avoided me and fired Ice Breaking Slash at our sides. His timing and grasp of distance were perfect, and he was able to deal an incredibly amount of damage¡ª 272988! 221993! 213734! ¡­¡­ Even with the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s fortress-level Defense, they still lost a shitton of HP to Little Piglet¡¯s skill. Moreover, he had increased his splash effect by 75% with his Divine General Skill, so the entire group immediately dropped to 25% or so HP. "Die!" Little Piglet pulled at the reins of his Ink Qilin and caused it to jump into the air. While airborne, he unleashed Ice Ray Flurry at a dozen or so Dragonlight Cavalrymen and killed them in an instant. In response, our men immediately spread out and thrust their Barrier Breaks at him from every direction. "Hehe¡­" However, ripples suddenly appeared on all four of the Ink Qilin¡¯s hooves, and it pushed itself away from the incoming attacks almost as if it was on solid ground. As a result, no one was able to land a single hit on him. ¡­¡­ Boom boom boom! The Iron Cutter Cavalrymen in front of me screamed as three flaming bade auras him them. One extremely accurate Myriad Swords Obliteration later, dozens of them were dead before they ever hit anyone. At the back, Beiming Xue ordered loudly while shooting the Xuanming Bow, "Spiraling Arrow Blade + Mountain Stagger Arrow + Shock Arrow! Drag them down from their Iron Cutter Warhorses!" Several thousand Dragonlight Archers loosed their arrows at once, making life hell for all the enemy frontliners who were unfortunate enough to be in the line of fire. However, they couldn¡¯t dismount everyone because the enemy vastly outnumbered us. It was why Little Piglet was able to attack us with impunity. While fighting at the forefront, I activated the Xuanyuan Art and removed 50% HP from all Dark Mercenaries¡¯ players within 1000 yards of me. At the same time, I roared, "Kill them as quickly as possible! Use your Ancient Divine Skills!" I was already activating my Heavenly River Transformation and summoning the Xuanyuan Slash before I even finished my own sentence. After I found the perfect angle, I dropped the skill and evaporated hundreds of Iron Cutter Cavalrymen into dust in an instant. It was like a mini version of the meteor that caused the dinosaurs¡¯ extinction. On the other side, Beiming Xue activated her Ancient Divine Skill, Houyi¡¯s Fury, and turned countless earth, rock and trees upside down. Not only did hundreds of half-health Iron Cutter Cavalry die to the attack, she triggered her Xuanming Flame and burned even more of them to near death or totally dead. Heaven¡¯s Rain swung her spear in a wide arc and fired a Tiger Wing Slash that drove Little Piglet himself a dozen or so yards away from the frontline. Moonlight Stone ordered the Holy Mages, "Stop using the Sea of Flames! It¡¯s just a waste of a cooldown! Hit the enemy with God Devil Break, and remember that it has an area of effect of 50 yards! Lock onto the areas with the most enemies and kill them all!" Bang bang bang¡­ A ton of starry vortices exploded among the Iron Cutter Cavalry. The mages with Heart of the Holy Mage already had insane Intelligence, and these particular mages were among the upper echelon of our main guild. Little Piglet hadn¡¯t predicted this, so he lost over a thousand Iron Cutter Cavalrymen in just a few minutes¡¯ time. ¡­¡­ "Fuck!" Amber Pupil¡¯s eyes turned bloodshot as he jabbed an angry finger at the mages, "Those mages have Heart of the Holy Mage! First and second party, follow me to cripple the enemy¡¯s mage party with Ultimate Strength Break! There are only 2000 of them or so, so it¡¯s not impossible!" About 2000 Iron Cutter Cavalrymen immediately joined him and started charging toward our Holy Mages. I narrowed my eyes before ordering, "Out of the way! We¡¯re going to annihilate the Dark Mercenaries on the southeast side! Don¡¯t worry, Moonlight Stone and the Holy Mages will be able to annihilate the 2000 cavalrymen themselves!" ¡­¡­ While the Iron Cutter Cavalry was charging toward the Holy Mages at high speed, Moonlight Stone was pursing her lips tensely and making some quick but accurate calculations in her head. She said, "We¡¯ll do this according to our training program. First line, shields up!" A row of several hundred Holy Mages rushed forward about a dozen or so meters and raised their scepters. Then, they began chanting mysterious words before firing their Fireballs, God Devil Breaks, Galaxy Storms and more at the incoming Iron Cutter Cavalrymen. However, both their hit rate and their damage were severely affected by Far Shot, so they weren¡¯t able to do too much damage. Amber Pupil began smirking. "Ready, charge!" The second the hundreds of Iron Cutter Cavalrymen at the forefront used Charge, Moonlight Stone ordered with a smirk of her own, "First line, Blink to safety now! Second, third, fourth and fifth lines, lock onto the zone in front of the enemies and use God Devil Break!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh... An astonishing scene happened. The first line of Holy Mages Blinked 40 yards to the back before the Iron Cutter Cavalry could hit them with their Charge. As mentioned a long time ago, users couldn¡¯t move for a very short moment upon reaching the end of their Charge. As a result, these Iron Cutter Cavalrymen could only watch in fear and despair as the combined magic of over 1700 Holy Mages fell toward them from the sky! Boom boom boom¡­ Bloodcurdling screams filled the sky. That was 400 Iron Cutter Cavalrymen gone just like that! "What¡­" Shocked and disbelieving, Amber Pupil muttered in despair, "This can¡¯t be¡­ this can¡¯t be¡­ G-go, second party! Charge as before and be ready to use your Ultimate Strength Break the moment you¡¯re within range!" However, the second attempt went down exactly the same as the first. Thanks to Moonlight Stone¡¯s orders, the second line of our Holy Mages¡ªit was because the first line hadn¡¯t regained their Blink cooldowns yet¡ªBlinked backward to dodge the enemy¡¯s Charge while the other 4 lines unleashed their spells. It was a complete massacre. Our tactics completely triumphed over the enemies, and not a single Iron Cutter Cavalryman was able to breach through the death zone of God Devil Breaks! ¡­¡­ Little Piglet was stunned by what was going on as well. A second later, he uttered through gritted teeth, "Shit, Ancient Sword¡¯s mage tactic is too OP! Amber Pupil, get the fuck back over here, you retard! You don¡¯t waste my brothers and sisters like that!" I had to stifle a laugh while I was cutting down the Iron Cutter Cavalrymen around me. The tactic the Holy Mages were using had been created by our beautiful guild leader, He Yi herself. Her skill might not be super-tier, but she was absolutely one of the smartest people in our guild. The greater her understanding of the game became, the more perfect the tactics she created were getting. Rivers of blood ran across the grass. The 15k Iron Cutter Cavalrymen were able to deal a considerable amount of damage to the Dragonlight Cavalry, but it came at the cost of far more damage to themselves. Finally, the number of friendly corpses on the ground exceeded Little Piglet¡¯s limit. He attacked a nearby Dragonlight Cavalryman one last time before shouting, "Lu Chen, enough! Give the order to stop this battle already!" I immediately raised my Chill of the Nine Provinces, "Handsomes and beauties, cease fire! Cease fire now!" My words carried a lot of weight in the guild. One might say that my authority was almost as high as He Yi¡¯s. My players stopped fighting immediately, and Little Piglet barked down the Dark Mercenaries who were looking to exploit this situation. 15k Iron Cutter Cavalrymen had rushed down the mountain, but less than 5000 of them would be making it back after less than 15 minutes of battle. Even the survivors only had around 50% HP. I had cast the Death of Xuanyuan Art twice during the battle, so one might say that all those who were affected had lost at least one life to me. After all, there was only so much War God Recovery and potions could do to mitigate a 100% HP removal. Beiming Xue rode up to the front and called out to the retreating Dark Mercenaries with her bell-like voice, "Feel free to come again, lads!" Amber Pupil shivered all over but didn¡¯t shoot back a retort. The Iron Cutter Cavalry had suffered horribly under her Xuanming Bow, and no one was willing to provoke the seemingly cute and innocent little devil who massacred so many of their kind. ¡­¡­ "Report!" I said. Tiger Leopard Knight walked up to me and said, "We lost 1417 Dragonlight Cavalrymen in total. The Dragonlight Archers and Holy Mages are unhurt¡­" I nodded. "Not bad. It¡¯s a 1:7 ratio even though we went head-to-head against Little Piglet¡¯s trump card. Though, the Iron Cutter Cavalry¡¯s offensive and defensive abilities are very impressive. They would have been able to give us a proper fight if they had bard buffs and priest heals." CH 1377 Tiger Leopard Knight seemed puzzled. "According to what I saw on the forums, Little Piglet hasn¡¯t betrayed our country completely. To be more accurate, he and the Northern Alliance are just using each other to achieve their own ends. So why did Little Piglet just let Amber Pupil, who obviously has a grudge against us, to attack us with his army? Some people might believe that he couldn¡¯t control Amber Pupil, but I don¡¯t¡­" I nodded approvingly while staring at the equipment and potions on the ground. "You are correct. Little Piglet is the lord and master of Dark Mercenaries right now. There is no way Amber Pupil¡¯s influence could rival his." "If that¡¯s the case, then why is he doing this?" Moonlight Stone sounded even more confused than her brother. I stared at the withdrawing Iron Cutter Cavalry and Little Piglet, who looked back warily from time to time and answered, "It¡¯s simple. Little Piglet is training his players, and he¡¯s sounding out the strength of our most elite forces." "Sounding us out?" Beiming Xue pursed her lips. "But what¡¯s the point, big bro? Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s his main target, not us¡­" I smiled. "You need to look farther, Beiming. Little Piglet is leading the Dark Mercenaries in the outer lands and fighting against us right now, but he can¡¯t possibly do this forever. After he gets his revenge, it¡¯s only a matter of time before he and Dark Mercenaries return to the Center. When that happens, he will have to fight Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls for supremacy. That is why it does not harm him to fight us now, figure out our level and prepare accordingly. Clearly, Little Piglet has become more mature after the matter with Shangguan Wan¡¯er. No longer will he be blinded by a couple hundred million gold. He has learned to set his sights on the entire world..." Beiming Xue looked stunned by my analysis. Tiger Leopard Knight replied, "Yes, that makes a lot more sense. Yesterday, I saw Little Piglet leaving a message on the forums saying that he finally realized that only the man with the greatest power and authority can protect their loved ones¡­" I fell silent for a moment. "He is right in a sense, I suppose. A man who lacks the strength to protect their loved ones shouldn¡¯t even fall in love from the start." Moonlight Stone giggled. "Exactly! Don¡¯t complain that your man is neglecting you. He can¡¯t hold you if he¡¯s feeding you, and he can¡¯t feed you if he¡¯s holding you¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ We looted the battlefield. As it turned out, the Iron Cutter Cavalry¡¯s equipment was in no way inferior to the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s at all. He had extorted them from the Northern Alliance after all. Though, he had paid a huge price to sound us out. It was at this moment Dominating Heaven Blade, Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God and his usual lackeys walked up to me and thanked me gratefully, "Thank you so much for saving us, Ancient Sword. There was no way we could¡¯ve stopped Little Piglet, that madman¡­" I smiled back. "It¡¯s no problem¡­" However, Dominating Warrior God interrupted with a provocative tone, "I was going to test out my strength against the Iron Cutter Cavalry, but someone stole that chance away from me¡­" Since the very beginning of the game, Dominating Warrior God had been in love with Lin Yixin. Of course, everyone knew at this point that she was my official girlfriend, but the man still wasn¡¯t able to let go. He was way too narrow-minded for his own good. Dominating Heaven Blade looked back and rebuked him, "Speak human, Warrior God!" I simply shot Dominating Warrior God a lazy smile and pointed at the mountains. "There are still 5000 Iron Cutter Cavalrymen left including Little Piglet, Amber Pupil and Now and Forever. If you think you¡¯re that strong, feel free to ride up that mountain and duke it out against them. I promise I won¡¯t lift a single finger to help you. Well, what are you waiting for? Fly, youngster! You must fly to achieve your dreams!" Dominating Heaven Blade: "..." Dominating Warrior God: "You think I wouldn¡¯t do it!?" This time, even Dominating Knight God couldn¡¯t stand it any longer and rebuked his comrade, "Bro, you¡¯re being stupid again! If you wanna die, go die yourself!" ¡­¡­ In the end, Dominating Warrior God didn¡¯t have the courage to challenge Little Piglet. He wasn¡¯t that stupid. He knew that his chance of beating Little Piglet was less than 1%. Our party of 8000+ continued into the canyon while the Dragonlight Cavalry who respawned in Vanished God City made their way toward us. They had a high movement speed, so they should be able to catch up with us in 1 or 2 hours at most. It was dark and gloomy inside the canyon. The sky was filled with Black Crows as well. I communicated with Pure Love and told her to meet up with us with 5000 bards and priests. The best way to deal with powerful enemies was to fully buff our most elite Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Also, it was impossible to fight Ancient Immortal Rank bosses without priests. Too much firepower and no healing makes any party sad. "Big bro, look. There¡¯s a ton of dead bodies over there¡­" Suddenly, Beiming Xue stopped in her tracks and pointed at the narrow pass ahead of us. At the center of the pass was a sea of bodies. Most of them were Warsky Alliance players, and I even spotted a couple hundred Gold Cavalrymen among them. What on earth had taken them out? "They haven¡¯t been dead for more than an hour," Moonlight Stone declared with complete certainty. I nodded and sent a message to Eyes Like Water: "Eyes, did you guys encounter anything while you were passing though the canyon? Or did you battle against Warsky Alliance?" Eyes Like Water replied, "No? Nothing happened to us at all. What¡¯s wrong?" "It¡¯s nothing. Sorry to trouble you¡­" "Kay!" I scanned the surroundings with Dark Pupils and found a ton of red dots on both sides of the narrow pass on the map screen. They were mobs. However, I couldn¡¯t see many mobs at all with my naked eyes. What was going on here? I stepped closer to one of the bodies and examined it carefully. The guy was covered in poisoned arrows, and it was neither player nor NPC¡¯s work. Now I knew for certain that these players had been killed by the mobs. I rose back to my feet and yelled, "Stay alert, everyone! There are probably mobs lying in ambush on both sides of the pass!" Moonlight Stone stuck out her tongue. "Mobs can lie in ambush?" "Of course!" While saying this, I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and climbed onto its back. I¡¯m going to test the waters for a bit. Stay where you are and don¡¯t act recklessly. All Dragonlight Cavalry are to bring out their shields and protect the Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers." My dragon let out a roar as it charged toward the pass. Before we even got close, I immediately heard the twang of countless bowstrings and saw just as many arrows flying in my direction. I looked left and right as quickly as I could and confirmed that they were Level 295 Mad Devil Archers. I activated the Cyan Dragon Shield¡¯s Cyan Dragon Scale to block most of the arrows. While doing so, I said in the party channel, "Does anyone feel like going through the pass and experience what it feels like to be a porcupine? No? Okay. We¡¯re going to split up into two parties, move up the mountains, and clear out all the mobs. They¡¯re Level 295 Mad Devil Archers, and their Attack is very high, so make sure that both parties have a sufficient number of Dragonlight Cavalrymen to tank them." The gang responded affirmatively before splitting up. We hadn¡¯t forgotten that our main objective was to earn as many contribution points as possible from this March of Chaos event, and killing mobs was the most direct way to earn them. I activated Fusion Armor and returned to the ground. Then, relying mostly on the Cyan Dragon Shield to protect me I charged straight toward a group of a dozen Mad Devil Archers. The reason I was soloing the mobs was because I still wasn¡¯t a Top 10 ranker after all this time. If I didn¡¯t start trying hard now, the MVP would truly be out of my grasp. Ding ding ding... Most of the Mad Devil Archers¡¯ arrows bounced off my shield and dealt between 3000 to 5000 damage only. On the other hand, I dealt at least a couple hundred thousand damage per swing. The Chill of the Nine Provinces¡¯ 20% lifesteal was all I needed to be able to solo this particular map. Sure, the experience gained was shared between 10000 people, but just like bosses, the person who scored the last hit gained 50% of the experience. That was good enough. An hour or so later, Pure Love arrived with 5000 bards and priests. Including the returned Dragonlight Cavalry, we were now a massive party of 15k players. After Pure Love dropped all her buffs on me, she pulled on my wristguard smilingly and said, "Let¡¯s go deeper, Lu Chen. I can heal you, so you don¡¯t need to worry about being overwhelmed..." I curled my lips. "You mean you want to leech some experience." "Heehee, it¡¯s the same either way. Come on!" "Well, climb up¡­" I pulled Pure Love up the Ancient Divine Dragon. She carefully sat down behind my back, kept a firm grip on the lantern vine with one hand, and healed me with the other. Her HPS was about 20k per second or 20% of Murong Mingyue¡¯s HPS, but all things considered, it was pretty good already. According to the system, if a bard dropped all their buffs on an ally, and that ally killed a mob, 20% of the experience would be transferred to the bard. I was fine with it though. As our guild¡¯s number one bard, she had to be elite. ¡­¡­ If before I was worried about being overwhelmed, that worry was non-existent now that I had a bard who could both heal and buff me. I weaved in and out of the hills on the Ancient Divine Dragon and rained my Myriad Swords Obliteration, Thousand Ice Slash, Summon the Storm and more skills atop the mobs. The Mad Devil Archers yielded so much experience that my experience bar was blinking even though the majority of the kill experience went to my party. Of course, Pure Love was growing in levels even faster than me. Half an hour later, when we were about 3 kilometers away from the main force, I arrived at another necropolis [ref]T/N: this is probably the first raw text I had no idea what it¡¯s about. Google search doesn¡¯t yield anything either. I¡¯m putting it as necropolis for now, but feel free to correct me if you know what it is.]/ref] that was positively covered in tombstones, Mad Devil Archers, and scarce patches of herbs here and there. At first glance, I believed that they were Rank 12 herbs. Lin Yixin would be overjoyed if she was here, but then again, who was to say that there were no herbs to gather where she was grinding right now? We grinded at the necropolis for 2 hours. My experience jumped by 17%, and Pure Love leveled up once. Also, my contribution points were finally high enough to put me in the Top 10, the 7th place to be exact. This was what I wanted to see. As long as I kept soloing, with my stats and crazy repertoire of skills, there was still a high chance that I would become the MVP of this event. Actually, scratch that, I must become the MVP of this event. No way I was giving up one of the Twelve Divine Armaments to a foreign server! CH 1378 It was past 5 am right now. I was extremely satisfied with my experience growth, and my solo grind with Pure Love had finally pushed me into the Top 5. Currently, the scores were extremely close, and there were a ton of famous players who failed to make it on the contribution ranking¡ª After this, all I needed to do was to kill some bosses to propel me to the top. Tear Stain and Breeze and Rain were powerful rivals, but their stats were lower than mine, they didn¡¯t have as many AoE skills as me, and I was wielding the greatest weapon of the Twelve Divine Armaments, the Chill of the Nine Provinces. Be it its super high Attack, lifesteal effect, splash effect, or Xuanyuan Art, they were all god-tier in terms of murdering the fuck out of everyone and everything! "Big bro¡­" Beiming Xue reined in her Dragonscale Beast after she caught up to me and pointed to the canyon exit up just ahead of us. "The map opens up significantly after we get out of here, but I heard that multiple terrible battles are happening over there right now. The Northern Alliance, the India server, the Japan server, the Russia server and more have all appeared on that map!" "Yeah. Let¡¯s go. For more contribution points!" "Yeah!" I gave my dragon¡¯s hair a soft tug, and it obediently flew out of the canyon and into a long barren land. I saw huge, crumbling totems at least hundred of meters tall spread across the plains, and a golden statue of a god even further away from me. However, its color had mostly faded due to the erosion of time. Ding~! System Notice: You have entered the map¡ªAncient Chaotic Secret Realm. There are ten powerful Sovereign Rank bosses on this map, and each boss is carrying a priceless treasure that will 100% drop upon death. However, be warned that these Sovereign Rank bosses are extraordinarily powerful and far beyond anything you¡¯ve encountered so far. You should bring some companions with you before embarking on this journey! ¡­¡­ "Fuck!" I cried out in excitement while gripping the Chill of the Nine Provinces tightly, "There are ten Sovereign Rank bosses on this map? They even drop a priceless treasure upon death? That¡¯s amazing! We must seize this opportunity!" Moonlight Stone smiled. "I wonder if the Twelve Divine Armaments and the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments are among these so-called ¡®priceless treasures¡¯?" I nodded. "Most likely. The drop rate of Twelve Divine Armaments is probably pretty low, but the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments is a different story. Also, some Ghost Armaments are as good as the Twelve Divine Armaments." "Yeah. Let¡¯s go seek out some bosses then!" "Mn!" It took a moment, but I split up our 15000-man party into 15 smaller parties of a 1000 players each to search for the Sovereign Rank bosses. The map was so huge that it appeared to be lifeless even though we knew that at least a couple hundred thousand players had entered this map. I even saw a ton of fiend-rank mobs that hadn¡¯t been killed by the early arrivals. My 1000-man party had Beiming Xue, Moonlight Stone, Pure Love and more elite players. We also brought 100 priests to ensure that we could challenge any boss, no matter how strong. ¡­¡­ Maybe it was because it was early in the morning, but the fog kept growing thicker and thicker. Through it, we saw undead soldiers wearing armor and carrying iron halberds marching across the plains. They weren¡¯t just standing around and waiting for the players to attack them. No, they were marching somewhere to attack the light faction! Since the March of Chaos patch was launched, the armies of the Night Creatures and the Silver Moon Alliance had been fighting one another. We just happened to stumble upon one such undead army. "Hiss hiss¡­" The faces hidden behind the iron helmet were absolutely gruesome to look at. They looked like what you might expect from a dog who was left to rot for at least half a month: swollen and crawling with maggots. The worst part was that they were sticking out their unnaturally long tongues and hooting at us travelers. I counted about a hundred of them, and one of them was a boss riding a ghastly warhorse. I relaxed when Dark Pupils revealed the boss to be a Level 300 Immortal Rank boss. At this stage of the game, Immortal Rank bosses were not too difficult for the average player to topple. It was the Ancient Immortal Rank bosses that we had to watch out for. Chiang! I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and declared smilingly, "First squad, follow me to keep the boss busy. The rest of you, take out the fiend-rank guards. Don¡¯t allow them to penetrate our formation." As everyone began unsheathing their weapons as well, I activated Fusion Armor and charged the boss. I was able to stun it probably because I had full buffs from Pure Love. After I executed Purple Frost Concentration + Burning Blade Slash combo, I followed up with Myriad Swords Obliteration + Icy Cyclone Domain combo that successfully seized the boss''s aggro in a death grip. Finally, I summoned my Phantom Wolf King and attacked the boss from two different directions. The boss roared angrily as he struck my shield with his blade, "Filthy humans, you think your puny strength is enough to stop the march of the Purgatory Legions? Give up! You are just lambs waiting to be slaughtered!" Chiang! My body shuddered from the impact, and I lost around 170k HP. It was nothing. I was sitting on 2,500,000 max HP thanks to an HP buff card and Pure Love¡¯s buffs. This level of damage might as well be a mosquito¡¯s bite. Bang! A well-placed arrow struck the boss squarely in the chest and cracked its armor, causing black blood to flow out from between the gaps. It came from Beiming Xue, of course. Not only that, the attack triggered the fearsome Xuanming Flame and dealt continuous damage to the boss. The reason the Xuanming Bow was one of the Twelve Divine Armaments was because even her basic attack could deal massive splash damage. It made her more like a cannoneer than an archer. The priests healed me in organized fashion, and Dragonlight Cavalry ravaged the boss with Barrier Breaks and other deadly skills. "Get away from me!" Suddenly, the boss shouted in rage and began spinning like a top. It was the skill "Whirlwind Slash", an unstoppable cyclone of steel that dealt damage to everything within 5 meters of the boss. Two Dragonlight Cavalrymen dropped to low health because of the skill, but I was able to regain the aggro by landing three consecutive strikes on the boss''s neck. It was easy. Less than three minutes later, the boss dropped to his knees with a death cry, "The power of hell cannot be defeated! The wheels of the Purgatory Legion will grind you defiers into dust!" "Grind your dad, asshole!" I swung my blade and sent its head rolling a far distance away from me. A shower of equipment and items then erupted from its headless body. After Beiming Xue went through the loot quickly and confirmed that the best one was an Immortal-grade helmet, the Dragonlight Cavalry rolled the dice against one another to determine its ownership. I could have claimed the equipment for myself since I was easily the player with the highest guild contribution points in the guild, but why on earth would I do that? It was just an Immortal-grade helmet. Though, obviously I was going to stake my claim if a super good Divine Armament or whatever were to drop. It was the way of the world. ¡­¡­ After the small undead platoon was dead, I pointed my sword to the front while absorbing the boss''s undead soul spark. "We shall continue along this path. If more Night Creature armies show up, all the better!" Speaking of undead soul spark, I was still an Asura King all this time. It was every man¡¯s natural desire to become a godlike existence, but the goddamned evolution bar almost never budged. Oh well. Slow and steady wins the race. If one year wasn¡¯t enough to make me an Asura God, then I would grind a couple years more. Years should be enough for me to become an Asura God¡­ right? Right? So far, we hadn¡¯t suffered a single casualty. Our party composition had cavalrymen, Dragonlight Archers, Holy Mages, priests, bards and all the classes you might want to see in a combat party. Unless our opponent was overwhelmingly stronger than us, they wouldn¡¯t be able to wipe us. Trat trat trat... As raindrops started falling from the sky and splashing against my Guardian Dragon Armor though, a faint uneasiness started growing in my heart. I kept feeling that our journey would not go as smoothly as I hoped. Beiming Xue suddenly looked around in alarm. "Big bro, my heart rate just quickened for no reason. My senses are telling me that we are soon to encounter a super boss¡­" Pure Love teased her, "I¡¯m not so sure about that. Maybe your heart rate quickened because you saw a man you like?" Beiming Xue said with a blush, "Nah, my heart rate only speeds up when I¡¯m watching big bro close up¡­" Me: "..." Pure Love covered her forehead as if she couldn¡¯t stand this. "Look at how faithful she is! You should claim her if you have a heart, Lu Chen!" I curled my lips. "Yeah, not gonna happen. Beiming is and will always be my little sister!" Beiming Xue chuckled. "Yes, and I¡¯m satisfied with just this." It was at this moment Moonlight Stone let out a cough. "Guys? Stop chatting. The boss is here¡­" "Ah?" We looked as a gigantic woman about ten meters tall emerged from the fog. She wore a metal armor that looked ridiculously heavy, and wielded a maddeningly huge sword. She also wore a silver laurel that suggested that she was a queen of some sorts. She was kind of pretty, but she was also a giant. It took a person of peculiar tastes to be aroused by a pair of muscular legs that were thicker than your torso. "Huh. A long-legged goddess¡­" Tiger Leopard Knight exclaimed in astonishment. I looked back at Beiming Xue¡¯s legs and said, "Eh, Beiming Xue¡¯s legs are better¡­" Beiming Xue covered her mouth and giggled. "You¡¯re so bad, big bro!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Moonlight Stone spoke up again, "Oh shit. Stop fooling around, you shameless couple. This woman is no ordinary boss. She¡¯s a Sovereign Rank boss! Prepare for battle!" "Sovereign Rank!?" I smiled as I scanned the boss with Dark Pupils¡ª Shatter Queen Lin Qian (Sovereign Rank Boss) [1] Introduction: The queen of the ancient giant race, she became a forerunner of the undead legion after succumbing to the temptation of power. She possesses unparalleled strength, and it is rumored that she can cut Dragonbone Mountain Range in half in one strike. ¡­¡­ I hurriedly barked out a series of orders, "All units, scatter! A Sovereign Rank boss must have an AoE skill! Dragonlight Cavalry, protect our squishies and leave all the tanking to me! Priests, amges, archers, make sure you¡¯re at least 30 yards away from the boss before you try anything, and be ready to escape from a sudden attack at any moment! Tiger Leopard Knight, patrol the area with 200 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and chase away any force that isn¡¯t Ancient Sword! This boss fight will require our full focus!" Tiger Leopard Knight nodded determinedly. "Yes, Lu Chen!" 1. T/N: I wonder if it¡¯s a coincidence that searching for ÁÖÜç reveals a very¡­ thick woman¡­ ? CH 1379 Shatter Queen Lin Qian (Sovereign Rank Boss) Level: 300 Attack: 55000~79500 Defense: 82000 HP: 500,000,000 Skills: Sovereign Arrival, Frosty Night Prayer, Unrelenting Shatter, Rage of the Ruler of the Earth Introduction: The queen of the ancient giant race, she became a forerunner of the undead legion after succumbing to the temptation of power. She possesses unparalleled strength, and it is rumored that she can cut Dragonbone Mountain Range in half in one strike. ¡­¡­ Everyone looked flabbergasted when they saw the stat screen I shared in the party channel¡ª Tiger Leopard Knight: "Holy shit, the boss has almost 80k max Attack! Thank goodness we have Lu Chen, or how else were we going to tank her?" Moonlight Stone: "I don¡¯t know, even Lu Chen will have a hard time against this¡­" Beiming Xue: "Careful, big bro. Don¡¯t let it instakill you¡­" Me: "Priests, watch the healing! I¡¯m going!" ¡­¡­ I raised my hand and used an Undying Berserker Card to buff my max HP by 100%, Attack by 45%, and resurrection chance by 25%. The resurrection effect was useless because resurrection was forbidden in the Chaotic Regions, but the first two effects were already pretty good. Right after that, I shouted, "Heaven¡¯s Rain, lock onto my coordinates and bring 2000 players! We have a boss!" Heaven¡¯s Rain replied quickly, "Got it. We¡¯ll be there in 20 minutes!" When I looked up, I noticed that the boss was already raising her sword. She glared at me with anger as she said, "You will stop the giants¡¯ march even now, feeble, ant-like humans? Become the dust beneath my boots and die! It is the only way for your race!" The boss was too close. She actually had aggroed onto us first. Shatter Queen Lin Qian raised both her arms and surrounded herself in a column of golden light. It was the skill "Sovereign Arrival", and its effects were heartbreaking to say the least¡ª Attack +20%! Defense +20%! Crit Rate +10%! Motherfucker! A buff skill? We haven¡¯t even traded blows yet, and the boss was already buffing herself? Shameless! Utterly shameless! But it wasn¡¯t over yet. Next, Shatter Queen Lin Qian clasped her hands together to use the skill "Frosty Night Prayer¡±. Another three lines appeared beside her feet in rapid succession¡ª HP regeneration speed +50%! MP regeneration speed +50%! Blessing is successful! Unit cannot be critically hit! ¡­¡­ Some distance away, Tiger Leopard Knight turned as green as vomit. "Oh my fucking god! HP regeneration speed +50% and immunity to critical hits? This long-legged goddess is about to defy the heavens! How the fuck are we going to beat her?" No time to waste. While Tiger Leopard Knight was talking, I had already locked my sights on the boss and activated Thunderous Charge! Swhoosh! I zipped across the ground and arrived next to Shatter Queen Lin Qian¡¯s left foot. When I looked up, I saw that she was wearing black, not that I cared in the slightest considering the dire situation. I pressed my palm against the boss''s leg and used God Binding Art! MISS! It missed. It was within expectations however. Surprisingly, Shatter Queen Lin Qian was unusually angered by my action. The second she finished her buffing action, she immediately brought her sword down on me with the strength of mountains. She roared, "Die! No one gets to sneak a peek at my underwear and live!" "No one¡¯s interested in you, you psycho¡­" I retorted while bringing my sword and shield to bear. However, Unrelenting Shatter turned out to be an unparriable skill. The boss was able to score three full-powered blows on my shield, my shoulder armor and my chest, and for a second I thought I was going to be ground into paste. The boss''s Attack was just too high, and the damage numbers that floated above my head scared the shit out of me¡ª 632998! 712662! 690211! I made a fist and healed myself for 25% HP with Tenacity of the Dead. At the same time, I shouted, "What the fuck, stop staring at me and heal me already, priests!! Mages, use Touch of the Dragonkiss and Ice Arrow! Archers, use Shock Arrow and Spiraling Arrow Blade [1]! Beiming, lower the boss''s Defense with me!" The Dragonlight Archers¡¯ arrows struck true, but they only managed to deal three-digit damage. Worse, the blasts of wind whipped Shatter Queen Lin Qian¡¯s skirt into the air and revealed her black undies for all to see. No one here was hardcore enough to admire it, and I even closed my eyes for fear of being blinded by the terrible sight. I stabbed forward and used Purple Frost Concentration! The boss''s Defense dropped by 24%, and together with Beiming Xue¡¯s Bone Eroding Arrow that was -27.9% Defense in total. It was then that our Dragonlight Archers were finally able to pierce her Defense. It would¡¯ve been too shameful otherwise. Bang bang bang... The boss smacked me around with mountain-crushing strength, but I had 100 priests to heal me. Even considering her devastating power, my HP mostly maintained above the 75% mark. As long as Shatter Queen Lin Qian didn¡¯t crit with Unrelenting Shatter, she shouldn¡¯t be able to kill me. Chiang chiang chiang... You would think that my Chill of the Nine Provinces would cut the boss''s milky flesh into bloody ribbons, but no, it bounced away with metallic sparks instead. It was like trying to hack down a literal mountain. Truly, it took a special kind of person to accept the love of a woman of the giant race! I personally couldn¡¯t accept a woman whose legs could literally give me calluses! ¡­¡­ It looked like things were about to stabilize, but the boss''s AI proved to be smarter than that. Every 30 seconds or so, Shatter Queen Lin Qian would ignore the aggro table, charge toward a random group of people and roar, "Give me your lives, children!" Boom! Her giant sword hit the ground, and the dozen or so Dragonlight Cavalrymen she targeted lost over a million HP instantly. Bad enough that those who were critted were one-shot, the boss''s attack dealt splash damage as well. Tiger Leopard Knight hurriedly reined in his Dragonscale Beast and barked, "Back up! Back up so that Lu Chen can retake the aggro! The rest of us is just going to be one-shot!" My Burning Blade Slash hit the boss just in time to retake the aggro, but the damage had already been done. It hadn¡¯t even been 5 minutes, but we had lost almost a hundred players to Shatter Queen Lin Qian. Worse, the boss had 500 million HP, and we only managed to drop her HP to 90% so far. What a scam! That being said, I could hardly voice my complaints and demoralize my own troops. So I let out a hearty laugh and said, "Keep up the good work, everyone! There are only 10 bosses in this entire map, and it¡¯s pure luck we ran into her! Take her out, and she might drop one of the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments or even the Twelve Divine Armaments! Whoever got it will be giving everyone a bonus, so it¡¯s a win-win for everyone, yeah!?" Everyone laughed in agreement and fought harder. ¡­¡­ Fifteen minutes later, the boss had dropped to 67% HP. Although we lost a lot of men during this time, our main force was thankfully still intact. Suddenly, Tiger Leopard Knight galloped over from the perimeter and reported in an angry tone, "Lu Chen, a group of players is coming toward us from the north! I think they¡¯re targeting our boss!" I thwacked the boss''s knee while asking, "Who are they? Where do they hail from?" "They¡¯re Era of Strife, the second biggest guild in Purple Grape City! I count about 10000 of them, and the guild leader himself, Copper Spear, is here. I think he¡¯s even your old foe?" "Wonderful¡­" The corners of my lips curled up maliciously. "It so happens that Heaven¡¯s Rain 2000 men have just arrived, so their timing cannot be any more perfect. Tiger Leopard Knight, take 200 Dragonlight Cavalrymen with you and stall them for a bit. Don¡¯t try to block their way directly, just harass them from time to time and ensure that you have ample room to retreat. Lure their forces to the corroded ground to the east of the boss. I¡¯ll join you to fuck them up after I¡¯ve passed the boss over to someone!" "Understood!" ¡­¡­ A few minutes later, Heaven¡¯s Rain arrived with two thousand men. The large majority of them were Dragonlight Cavalry as a matter of course. She called out to me, "We¡¯re here, vice leader big bro! Should we take over the boss now?" I nodded. "The boss has insane Attack, so you¡¯ll need to tank her yourself. Activate Knight General and buff yourself with the best HP-buffing card you have. I¡¯m going to be gone for ten minutes, so forget about DPS and just focus on survival. Also, I¡¯m going to borrow 1000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen from you to deal with Copper Spear. Lil Beiming, you stay here and help. Use Freezing Arrows and Shock Arrows to delay the boss as much as possible. If you guys exceed my expectations and somehow bring the boss to red while I¡¯m gone, do NOT kill the boss just yet. Wait until I come back to score the last hit, okay? My Luck will net us more equipment, and you¡¯ll like the bonus I¡¯ll be paying you!" "Got it, vice leader big bro. Be careful!" I gave her a nod and selected my 1000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen as quickly as possible. Then, I ordered, "Let¡¯s go! Time to teach Era of Strife a lesson!" Everyone whooped as I made a new party and buffed everyone¡¯s Attack by 200% with Martial God. It was raining, and the sky was dark. Visibility was so poor that it might as well be nighttime even though it was the middle of the day. Luckily, I had Dark Pupils to show me Era of Strife¡¯s every movement on the map screen. The enemy had split up into three separate forces, so a timely charge should be able to break them apart. I swept my gaze across the surroundings as I flew up a hill. About 4000 Fire Scale Cavalrymen were chasing after the Dragonlight Cavalry led by Tiger Leopard Knight. The latter was drastically inferior to the former in terms of numbers, so they could only retreat again and again. "Kill!" I ordered with a laugh. "Kill them all!" My 1000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen galloped down the slope and cut right through the Fire Scale Cavalry¡¯s "belly." At the forefront of the charge, I raised my sword and reduced everyone¡¯s HP within 1000 yards of me by 50%. Then, I activated Heavenly River Transformation and brought my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Xuanyuan Slash down on the heart of the enemy¡¯s forces! BOOM! The Fire Scale Cavalry were too busy reeling from the sudden 50% drop of their HP to realize that there was a follow-up attack. It was a slaughter. I didn¡¯t slow my attack rhythm in the slightest, however. Our numbers were ultimately fewer than the enemy¡¯s, so we couldn¡¯t afford to drag this out. In fact, the tables could be flipped in an instant if the Fire Scale Cavalry managed to find a foothold. They were Era of Strife¡¯s ace unit after all, and they obviously hadn¡¯t come to the outer lands to die for naught. Swhoosh! I charged straight toward the center of the enemy¡¯s forces and pressed a palm against the ground. Giant columns of draconic energy instantly sent the Fire Scale Cavalry flying all over the place. Fire burned, and smoke rolled toward the air. My 1000 Dragonlight Cavalry was able to run over the Fire Scale Cavalry like they didn¡¯t even exist. Even Tiger Leopard Knight had turned his forces around to join us. While the battle was coming to a swift end, Tiger Leopard Knight rode up to me and pointed to the northeast. "Copper Spear is chasing after a couple dozen Dragonlight Cavalrymen over there!" I nodded. "Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ We rode up a hill once more, and right below a slope was Copper Spear firing a flurry skill at a Dragonlight Cavalry and killing them. His armor was covered in rainwater. My eyes turned steely. "Tiger Leopard Knight, grab a couple of people and charge Copper Spear. Once he¡¯s stunned, leave it to me to end his life!" "Got it!" We raced down the hill. From maximum distance, I fired Burning Blade Slash + Summon the Storm combo at Copper Spear and dropped his HP below 50%. While he was stunned, Tiger Leopard Knight struck him with Charge and stunned him for 1.2 seconds. The second and third Dragonlight Cavalrymen right after to keep him stunned a bit longer, and¡ª Buzz! A bloody chain appeared in my hand and penetrated Copper Spear¡¯s body. It was none other than the Chains of Freedom. I smirked at Copper Spear and said, "You shouldn¡¯t have come here!" Ashen-faced, Copper Spear stuttered, "S¡­ s¡­" I replied humbly, "No need to apologize." Copper Spear: "SHIT!!!" 1. T/N: AoE skills deal extra damage to large targets like his Rise of the Guardian Dragon I guess? ? CH 1380 Puchi! An indigo, flaming cone pierced through Copper Spear¡¯s neck and deleted the rest of his HP. The man was a formidable character in Purple Grape City and famed as a top expert of his generation, but that meant nothing before the sharp edge of the Chill of the Nine Provinces. Moreover, he had died after he was inflicted with Chains of Freedom, meaning that his level would drop by 10 and his equipment drop rate would be increased by 300%. Pop pop pop... When Copper Spear¡¯s knees touched the ground, items exploded like fireworks from his body. There were potions, equipment, cards; this man wasn¡¯t holding back at all. I could¡¯ve believed that he would give me his guts if it was a droppable item. A guest from afar was still a guest, and this one was so generous that even I was feeling a tad embarrassed! The surviving Era of Strife players couldn¡¯t believe what was happening. Ten thousand men, and yet they had fallen to our one thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen like flies. Of course, the main reason we were so successful was because our sneak attack was perfectly timed and placed. My Xuanyuan Art was also a great demoralizer on any battlefield. Finally, their leader, Copper Spear, was dead, and that was the final push needed to drive the survivors to stop struggling at all. Of course, they wouldn¡¯t have survived even if they struggled with all their might. Right now, the Dragonlight Cavalry was a godlike army that even the Gold Cavalry couldn¡¯t withstand, much less the Fire Scale Cavalry. I picked up the equipment Copper Spear had dropped. He¡¯d had 10 pieces of equipment on his person, and he dropped 4 of them in one go. There was an Archean Immortal-grade longblade, an Immortal-grade chest armor, a top-tier necklace with 11% lifesteal, and a ring with 7% lifesteal. That put Copper Spear just 2% behind my Chill of the Nine Provinces¡¯ lifesteal prior to him dying. Unfortunately, Copper Spear was born under an unlucky star, and not only did he die before he even got the chance to hit me, he lost both of his build-defining lifesteal accessories. I tossed the Immortal-grade weapon and chest armor directly into Tiger Leopard Knight¡¯s hands and said, "Here, give these to the hyenas and make them roll for it. The ring and necklace are better, so I¡¯m going to give Heaven¡¯s Rain the necklace and the ring to you. Of course, it will cost guild contribution points!" Tiger Leopard Knight nodded. "I know. Thanks, Lu Chen!" "Just checking, but you have 90k guild contribution points right?" "Yeah. No problem!" "Very well!" After I gave away the equipment, I immediately made my way back toward the Sovereign Rank boss. Tiger Leopard Knight and the rest of the Dragonlight Cavalry should be able to take care of the remaining two to three thousand Era of Strife players by themselves. Despite our victory, we were now on a timer¡ªI reckoned that we only had 10 minutes at most¡ªbecause our coordinates had been exposed to the enemy. Copper Spear would definitely send more men after us, and the best way to render his efforts useless was to kill the boss and secure its loot as soon as possible. ¡­¡­ Thud! The second I returned to the battlefield, I activated Fusion Armor and brought down my sword at the boss from above. Universe Break tore right through Shatter Queen Lin Qian¡¯s chest armor and revealed her humongous, ton-weight breasts. Heaven¡¯s Rain and Beiming Xue immediately exclaimed in admiration, "So huge¡­" I shouted while stealing the threat from Heaven¡¯s Rain, "Not the time! Heaven¡¯s Rain, back away now! You only have 15% HP left!" Then, I threw the necklace into her hands and added, "This one¡¯s yours!" Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s beamed the moment she saw that it was a necklace with 11% lifesteal. She chirped happily, "Thank you, vice leader big bro! I love you!" However, I was too busy being slapped around by the boss to be infected by her cheer. After enduring three devastating sword strikes, I swore, "What the fuck? Why is the boss''s Attack so high all of a sudden? I was only gone for a couple of minutes!" Beiming Xue giggled. "It¡¯s because she activated the skill ¡®Rage of the Ruler of the Earth¡¯ after her HP fell below 20% and increased her damage by 20%. That was why Heaven¡¯s Rain was almost one-shot just now. Be careful, big bro!" "Yeah!" I activated Battle Astral Wind and Ghost Deity Shield at the same time. Even for a boss, one-shotting me was no easy feat, not to mention that at least a hundred priests were healing me non-stop. It would take some pretty godly crits and unfortunate timing for the boss to kill me. ¡­¡­ Nine painful minutes later, Shatter Queen Lin Qian¡¯s HP finally dropped to just 1%. A Sovereign Rank boss was slightly stronger than an Ancient Immortal Rank boss, and weaker than a Divine Rank boss. The fact that I with 100 priests healing my butt was still pushed to this extent was the proof of her strength. Had I tried to tackle this boss with our usual 7-man party¡ªme, He Yi, Lin Yixin and the rest of the girls¡ªwe would¡¯ve been wiped countless times already. As I thought, this March of Chaos patch could only be tackled with big parties. "Here I go!" Once my cooldowns were ready, I abruptly unleashed a five-skill Burning Blade Slash + War Crush + Myriad Swords Obliteration + Summon the Storm + Rise of the Guardian Dragon combo. The first two skills were melee, so I couldn¡¯t execute a third without waiting for at least 6 seconds. But it didn¡¯t matter, because the latter three skills were AoE skills and thus didn¡¯t fall under the same limitation. When the five-skill combo deleted Shatter Queen Lin Qian¡¯s final vestiges of HP, and as she let out her death throes, she glared at me and said, "I loathe the fact that I couldn¡¯t meet you sooner, brave warrior. You may have become our king and my husband¡­" I trembled like a leaf. "Can I not?" Boom! With that parting words, Shatter Queen Lin Qian collapsed on the ground and triggered a system announcement¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" for killing the Sovereign Rank boss, Shatter Queen Lin Qian! He has gained 2 Luck, 200000 Reputation, 50000 March of Chaos contribution points, and the ultimate treasure Shatter Queen Lin Qian was carrying, "Infinite Quiver (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)"! ¡­¡­ "Holy shit!" After the involuntary shiver of shock had passed, I hurriedly looked over the boss''s body and found a blood-red quiver on the ground inside her thighs. As I picked up the shiny equipment and brought up its stats screen, everyone around me started gulping down their saliva¡ª Infinite Quiver (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Type: Off-hand, can be equipped together with a bow Agility: +2340 Stamina: +2500 Strength: +2440 Intelligence: +1800 Tactics: +100 Ghost Armament: Continuously produces God Domain Arrows. A player with this quiver can shoot an infinite amount of God Domain Arrows. Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 50000 Level Requirement: 230 Reputation Requirement: 500000 ¡­¡­ Heaven¡¯s Rain¡¯s face was flushed with excitement. "Ohh¡­ a Ghost Armament that removes the need to carry arrows completely? That¡¯s insane! An archer with this item will no longer have to fill half their bags with arrows¡­" Beiming Xue added. "I know right? High-grade arrows are crazy expensive too. The fletchers all came from Africa, so¡­" I let out a laugh before raising the Infinite Quiver into the air. "As you can see, this is an archer-specific Ghost Armament! Since Beiming Xue has the highest guild contribution points out of all the archers here, we¡¯ll give this to her at the cost of 250k guild contribution points! Is that okay with everyone?" There weren¡¯t many archers in our party to begin with, much less one with Beiming Xue¡¯s amount of guild contribution points. Plus, she was the most suitable person in the entire guild to use this Ghost Armament, so no one raised an objection as a matter of course. When the Infinite Quiver appeared in Beiming Xue¡¯s bag, blood-red-colored arrows suddenly manifested inside its empty space. Beiming Xue grabbed one of the arrows, inspected it and let out a cry of pleasant surprise, "Oh! No wonder it¡¯s called a God Domain Arrow. This arrow adds 150 base Attack, which is even better than those ridiculously expensive 100-gold-per-quiver arrows from Sky City that only add 100 Attack!" I smiled. "Well, looks like your expenditures just went down considerably, so our next next treat is on you, okay?" "Of course, big bro!" ¡­¡­ I crouched down and inspected the rest of Shatter Queen Lin Qian¡¯s loot. She was a Sovereign Rank boss, the Ghost Armament couldn¡¯t possibly be the only loot she dropped. After I found what I was looking for, I shared the stats screens in the party channel¡ª Oersted Spear: Level 220 Archean Immortal-grade spear, Attack +187%, Defense +70%, may trigger a 50% attack speed bonus. Armored Tiger Plate Armor: Level 220 Archean Immortal-grade chest armor, Defense +105%, max HP +30000 Profound Desolation Ring: Level 220 Ancient Immortal-grade ring, Attack +90%, 15% lifesteal, cannot be stacked Green Field Robe: Level 220 Ancient Immortal-grade magic robe, buff effectiveness and healing effectiveness are increased by 30%. Exclusive to bards. ¡­¡­ The Oersted Spear was rolled away by a Dragonlight Cavalryman, and both the Armored Tiger Plate Armor and the Profound Desolation Ring were rolled away by Heaven¡¯s Rain. Of the three items, the Profound Desolation Ring was the strongest because of its high stats and 15% lifesteal. The girl said that she was going to gift it to Diamond Dust as her birthday gift. As for Heaven¡¯s Rain herself, the 11% lifesteal necklace was already enough for her to increase her lifesteal past 20%. The Green Field Robe was a classic bard item, so I gave it straight to Pure Love after deducting an appropriate amount of guild contribution points. The rest of the loot was decided via dice rolling as well. While it was absolutely cruel to allow only the Top 10 players (in terms of guild contribution points) of their respective classes to participate in the dice roll, the rule also motivated everyone else to grind even more guild contribution points. It was why our guild had over 90% attendance rate every time there was a large event. No amount of hardships was too much as long as there were guild contribution points to earn... ¡­¡­ While this was going on, Beauty Lin, He Yi, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Purple Marquis, Gui Guzi and more had all sent me a congratulatory message: Besides that, Beauty Lin also warned me about two things: one, Copper Spear had declared our coordinates to the entire world in the forums and mobilized every Purple Grape City player to hunt me down. Two, Little Piglet had entered the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm map as well. This map had 10 Sovereign Rank bosses in total, and they could potentially drop one of the Twelve Divine Armaments. I had no doubt that this map would become the gathering spot of countless guilds, and that conflict was inevitable. That was fine though. I still had over 10000 Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls elites under my command. If necessary, I could also rally 100000 elites in under an hour. There was no one we feared in a head-to-head battle. ¡­¡­ While staring into the rain and wiping the raindrops on my face, I ordered, "Alright, it is time to move on and continue doing battle against the dogs of the Purgatory Legion. We shall live and die for honor and contribution points¡­" Heaven¡¯s Rain raised an eyebrow. "That is true, but it¡¯s a bit too direct, don¡¯t you think?" Me: "..." Suddenly, we heard the sound of mechanical springs from up ahead of us. It wasn¡¯t long before we saw a bunch of minotaurs dragging pitch black machines across the plains. I almost couldn¡¯t believe that we had run into the Purgatory Legion¡¯s siege troops. I broke into a grin and said, "What incredible luck! Prepare to raid the Purgatory Legion¡¯s supplies, people!" However, Beiming Xue shuddered visibly and asked me, "The supplies undead creatures need are either rotten corpses or animal innards. Are you sure you want to raid them[1]?" 1. E/N: Gui Guzi is jumping for joy right about now. ? CH 1381 The scent of wet soil mixed with grass permeated the air as the rain weakened. It was mixed with a faint but absolutely revolting stench as well. After the rain came to a stop, and our vision range increased for the first time since we entered this god-forsaken place, we saw a thick column of minotaur warriors wielding war axes that looked to be at least 3 meters long marching toward us. Some of them were pushing terrifying-looking, black-colored catapults with skulls hanging on the edges forward, and the sound of war gongs occasionally resounded through the air. It was at this moment we received another system announcement¡ª Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, the Purgatory Legion¡¯s first batch of supplies has officially entered the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm map. Players may kill the monsters guarding the supplies, seize their goods and deliver them to the Silver Moon Alliance Quartermaster at coordinates (19292, 6772) where a temporary camp has been set up. The more goods you deliver, the better the reward you will receive! ¡­¡­ I said while staring at the sky, "This is a public quest everyone can participate in, right? In that case, let¡¯s kill as many mobs and seize as many goods as possible to earn more contribution points!" Beiming Xue nodded. "Yes, let¡¯s do our best!" I shifted my gaze back down on the enemy and ordered, "Heaven¡¯s Rain, Moonlight Stone, Tiger Leopard Knight, take command and spread out our troops into formations. The Dragonlight Cavalry will be blocking the minotaurs at the front, and the mages will push them with God Devil Breaks and Galaxy Storms. The mob density is pretty high, so make sure you heal as best you can, priests. Don¡¯t let our frontliners die for nothing. Now, go!" I activated Fusion Armor while Pure Love was refreshing my buffs. After she was done, I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Heaven¡¯s Rain, Tiger Leopard Cavalry and the rest of our cavalrymen to form a shield formation that was at least 5 layers thick. The minotaurs were all Level 300 and terrifyingly powerful, so we must rely on our superior numbers to stop them. The closest transport cart was about 800 meters from me. We could only seize them after all of the minotaur warriors had been slaughtered. Buzz! The Chill of the Nine Provinces made a noise that sounded like excited ringing as four minotaurs charged toward me. They swung their ugly-looking axes straight at my head. You took additional damage if you took a direct hit to the head, and I wasn¡¯t stupid enough to tank it head-on. I bent my body a little and blocked all four hits with the Cyan Dragon Shield¡ª 31099! 28397! 27176! ¡­¡­ There was basically no chance this level of damage was ever going to kill me. The four minotaur warriors were hardly the only ones who were attacking, however. Behind them, an entire swarm of mobs let out furious roars, wreathed their axes in flames and swung them mightily against the Dragonlight Cavalrymen¡¯s armor and shields. In response, our Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers showered them with ranged attacks. Thud thud thud... My Burning Blade Slash sliced through an incredible amount of mobs and, thanks to the 70% splash effect of the Chill of the Nine Provinces, dealt at least 1.5 million damage to each enemy. Then, I dropped Myriad Swords Obliteration + Summon the Storm combo on the mobs and killed dozens instantly. Since I was using Martial God to buff my Attack by 200%, my attack of course dealt an incredible amount of damage. At the very least, the Dragonlight Cavalrymen close to me were having a much easier time than they would¡¯ve otherwise. Just tens of meters away from me, two Dragonlight Cavalrymen who rushed a bit too deep into the enemy lines had already fallen to the minotaurs¡¯ axes. The minotaur warriors had insane Strength and could hit even me for around 30k damage. The same basic attack could hit a Dragonlight Cavalryman for close to 200k damage, let alone the skills. Therefore, if a Dragonlight Cavalryman happened to be attacked by 2 or 3 minotaur warriors at once, and priests weren¡¯t able to heal them in time, there was every chance they could perish in battle. If even our party couldn¡¯t defeat this monster attack without any casualties, then the other guilds could only fare worse. The contribution points these mobs offered were very tempting, but the price to pay was equally severe. "Hold your ground and don¡¯t move out of our priests¡¯ healing range! All priests, use AoE heals only if someone drops below 50%!" I ordered loudly while cutting down the minotaur warrior in front of me. Suddenly, a blood-red card hit the ground. This was probably the first loot I had seen a mob drop since the battle began. I picked it up and shared its stats in the party channel¡ª Minotaur Card: Increases user¡¯s Strength by 30%. Duration: 120 minutes. Level Requirement: 220. ¡­¡­ "30% Strength buff?" Heaven¡¯s Rain blinked. "That doesn¡¯t sound very useful. It doesn¡¯t even buff any HP¡­" However, my grin was wide and happy. "Oh, you cannot be any more wrong, girl. In large-scale PvP battles, this card may be better than even a 100% HP buff card¡­" "How does that work?" Tiger Leopard Knight asked in puzzlement. I answered, "The card adds 30% Strength, not 30% Attack. It¡¯s an increment to your base attributes, so it actually gives a lot more Attack than 30%. Also, a 30% increase to Strength makes your Ultimate Strength Break a lot deadlier than before. If during a charge you manage to get close to an enemy mage party or something, you can use the Minotaur Card to guarantee a one-shot. Even in cavalry-versus-cavalry battles, the card is still usable because the Dragonlight Cavalry is the strongest cavalry in the world. With a 30% Strength buff, our players can hit even the Frostscale Cavalry and Gold Cavalry for 150k damage or higher! This card transforms your situational melee AoE skills into absolute AoE meatgrinders!" Tiger Leopard Knight¡¯s mouth fell open. "Damn, that is amazing. Now that you explained it, this card really is pretty incredible¡­" I laughed. "How much Strength do you currently have, Tiger Leopard Knight?" "Around 14k. Why?" I chuckled. "Your old rival and one of Candle Dragon¡¯s corps commanders, Wind Listener, has more or less 14k Strength as well. You may not be able to beat him as you are, but with this card your Ultimate Strength Break will deal almost 170k damage to him. Ultimate Strength Break is an AoE skill, which makes it a lot harder to dodge than single-target skills. And if he cannot dodge your damage, then your win rate will be much higher. Of course, the card is still best-used in a large-scale battle. Just imagine the expression on the enemies¡¯ faces when our Dragonlight Cavalry bash their faces in with Ultimate Strength Break. It will be amazing!" Tiger Leopard Knight clenched his fists tightly. "Yeah. Speaking of Wind Listener, that motherfucker¡­" "The past is in the past. Don¡¯t let it trouble you especially since you still have plenty of chances to take revenge. Ancient Sword and Candle Dragon are nowhere close ending their blood feud once and for all." Tiger Leopard Knight nodded affirmatively. "Yeah. By the way, how much Strength do you have, Lu Chen? It¡¯s not a secret, right?" Startled, I answered, "A-around 27k. Why?" "Holy fuck!" Tiger Leopard Knight rolled his eyes at me. Heaven¡¯s Rain giggled. "You should¡¯ve known better than to ask Lu Chen about his stats, man. He¡¯s fully clad in Sacred Armaments and Ancient Divine Armaments. You¡¯ll only fall into depression if you ask him about his stats. Learn from my example. I never ask him about this because I know I¡¯ll be wanting to hit him if I do¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ The gang started collecting the Minotaur Cards after I explained how good they were. Half an hour later, I had collected a total of 17 Minotaur Cards. However, I had given them all to Heaven¡¯s Rain and Tiger Leopard Knight because the power of my Myriad Swords Obliteration wasn¡¯t affected by Strength difference. Also, it was probably a good thing for everyone that I didn¡¯t have Ultimate Strength Break anyway. Otherwise, if say I fired an Ultimate Strength Break on a normal mage that was at least 20000 Strength weaker than me, the resulting 800k damage one-shot would most certainly make them quit the game outright. Very soon, three transport carts closed in on us. After I took out the minotaurs guarding one of them, I ran along its black chains until I was right on top of it. One swing of the blade was all it took to shatter the coffin-shaped transport cart into pieces. As the goods spilled all over the place, they transformed into countless rays of starry light and entered everyone¡¯s bodies. At the same time, we received a system notice¡ª Beep! Combat Log: Player DPS, damage received, healing and other factors are taken into consideration when deciding the ownership of the goods. Your total contribution in destroying the transport cart escort team amounts to 11.74%, so you have obtained 1174 out of 10000 goods! ¡­¡­ I was amused. I had no idea that the goods distribution was decided this way. On the other hand, I supposed that this was the fairer way of doing things. Otherwise, the mages, priests, bards and other classes at the backline would¡¯ve been toiling away for nothing. I moved on to destroy the next transport cart. However, I didn¡¯t manage to kill the escort guards like last time, so I only obtained 319 goods in total. It was still a very good outcome though. Also, I was glad that the goods only took up one bagspace, no matter how many we collected. The system wasn¡¯t always a bitch after all. "How many goods have you collected, big bro?" Beiming Xue asked me. I replied, "Almost 2000. You?" "I only have 400¡­" Beiming Xue pouted. Heaven¡¯s Rain waved her fists at the both of us. "Stop taunting the rest of us already, you two! Two transport carts amount to 20k goods in total, and at least ten percent of that went to just the two of you! Unbelievable..." I guffawed. With Beiming Xue and my DPS, it would be harder not to hoard the most goods in the party. I had insanely powerful AoE skills like Myriad Swords Obliteration and Summon the Storm, while Beiming Xue had the Xuanming Bow of the Twelve Divine Armaments. Naturally, there was no chance anyone was ever going to outperform us. In fact, Tiger Leopard Knight, Heaven¡¯s Rain and more left Beiming Xue and my battle areas outright because to stay with us was to have their contribution points stolen by us... As time progressed, the amount of transport carts I smashed grew to a dozen or so, and the amount of goods in my bag exceeded 10000. I¡¯m so happy! In the party channel, Moonlight Stone declared, "I¡¯m almost certain there is a Sovereign Rank boss at the back of this seemingly endless wave of minotaurs. Otherwise, we should be finished by now." Beiming Xue agreed. "I think so too. The question is, where will this Sovereign Rank boss appear from?" I ordered, "Beiming, send out 100 Dragonlight Archers to patrol the area and keep an eye out for potential bosses. We shan¡¯t be too passive when the Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City Purple Grape City, Candle Dragon, Warsky, and even the outer lands¡¯ Dark Mercenaries may try to ambush us. Let¡¯s spread our eyes and ears as far out as possible before they come to us." Beiming Xue nodded smilingly. "No problem, big bro. You just leave the scouting to me." "Good!" We continued. Minotaurs had high Attack, low attack speed, and yielded an incredible amount of experience. The fact that they also dropped Minotaur Cards made them the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s favorite mob to date. ¡­¡­ Two hours passed by in the blink of an eye. Finally, the seemingly endless stream of undead creatures and transport carts began to thin. Thud! I planted my sword on the ground and took a moment to wipe my sweat. "Finally. I will have to repair my sword soon. The edges are a couple of hits away from folding up completely¡­" Suddenly, Beiming Xue shuddered once before reporting, "The boss has appeared, big bro!" CH 1382 "Where? Where¡¯s the boss?" I looked around in a hurry. Beiming Xue waved her hand. "Not here! One of the Dragonlight Archers I sent away for scouting just died at the swampland directly south from here. He saw the Sovereign Rank boss of the monster wave we¡¯re fighting, and the people who are fighting it right now!" "What are the coordinates, and who are the people?" I asked. Beiming Xue blinked once before answering, "Koreans of Burning City. Not only are they the closest enemy party to us, my scout claimed that the leader was none other than Candlelight Shadow¡¯s junior sister, Tear Stain¡­" I clenched my fists. "Understood." Tiger Leopard Knight asked, "What should we do now, guild leader?" "Gather everyone and tell them that we¡¯re moving to contest the boss. The Koreans cannot be allowed to obtain a Ghost Armament and use it to threaten us later. In fact, we should contest any boss that isn¡¯t being fought by a Chinese guild." Moonlight Stone said, "But I heard that you¡¯re the one who gave up Sunset City to Tear Stain during the battle of Hot Sand City. I thought you shared a good relationship with her?" I laughed. "That was then, this is now, not to mention that it was a purely business transaction at the time. Also, Candlelight Shadow and I have literally fought each other both online and offline, and Tear Stain is his junior sister and a former lover. Do you think she would hold any good will toward me at all?" Moonlight Stone giggled. "You¡¯re so much more handsome than Candlelight Shadow though!" I replied calmly, "Yes, and that means nothing at all to Tear Stain. There are many people in this world who only love once in their lives. Even if they fall in love with another person in the future, they won¡¯t be as willing to give up everything anymore. Tear Stain is probably one such woman¡­ Anyway, let¡¯s stop the chit-chat here. All Dragonlight Cavalrymen, mount up and be ready to gallop at full speed. We¡¯ll be following Beiming Xue to the boss location. By the way, do you know how much HP the boss has left, Beiming?" Beiming Xue answered, "It was 40% about 5 minutes ago, so I reckon that it¡¯s about 20% now. It¡¯ll be 10% by the time we arrive!" "Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue and her pet led the way as the Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers followed closely behind her. The Holy Mages, priests and the other on-foot classes wouldn¡¯t be able to catch up with us immediately, but there was no time. Technically speaking, the China server was the closest server to the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm map. Therefore, there was no reason we should give up all this Luck, experience and loot that should rightfully be ours to the Koreans! The Brave General Horseshoe gleamed a magnificent shine as the Dragonlight Cavalry thundered across the wetlands. At the forefront, a ton of red dots appeared on my map screen thanks to Dark Pupils. I could even see blue-and-red skills flashing in the distant swampland with my naked eye. It was the color of magic and a sure indicator that the Koreans were duking it out against the boss. Chiang! I unsheathed the Chill of Nine Provinces and ordered in a low tone, "Beiming Xue, Heaven¡¯s Rain and I will take over the boss from the Koreans. I will try to take out Tear Stain as well. While we do that, the rest of you will run down the Burning City party. Dragonlight Archers, make sure to take cover while you stun the enemies with Shock Arrow. Finally, focus the mages first because they are the biggest threat against the Dragonlight Cavalry!" Everyone nodded. Moonlight Stone said to me from her older brother¡¯s mount, "I¡¯ll assist you with Ice Arrow Spells later. Let¡¯s take out Tear Stain before we tackle the boss!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ The Dragonscale Beasts¡¯ feet quickly became covered in mud. The ground was only a couple of inches above the water. About a hundred meters away, I saw a minotaur general around ten meter tall swinging a blood-red axe in every direction and causing havoc to the Throne of the Wild players surrounding it. A Level 221 magic knight had dropped dead after taking 1.79 million damage from the attack. The boss must be incredibly powerful to deal so much damage. After capturing the boss''s stats with Dark Pupils, I said in a hurry, "The Minotaur King is a Level 300 Ancient Immortal Rank boss with very high Attack. Don¡¯t kill the boss yet, just keep it CC¡¯d as much as possible while we clean up Throne of the Wild." Tear Stain¡¯s party probably numbered around ten thousand at most just like us. It wasn¡¯t like she couldn¡¯t bring more players with her, but some players wouldn¡¯t get to kill even a single mob if that was the case. By now, Tear Stain had discovered us as well. She maneuvered herself away from the boss to shout, "The Chinese are attacking! It¡¯s Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! Emperor Wang, take a thousand players with you and hold them off with everything you¡¯ve got! I just need 5 minutes. 5 minutes, and I¡¯ll be able to kill this boss!" Emperor Wang, vice leader of Throne of the Wild and a high-level magic knight nodded. "Leave it to me. Third and fourth squad, follow me!" ¡­¡­ Tiger Leopard Knight¡¯s features shook when he saw Emperor Wang charging toward us. He said, "Fuck, I know this Emperor Wang! I¡¯ve fought against him when I was still in Candle Dragon. He¡¯s a 5-Strength magic knight with first-rate equipment and enough Strength to injure me with Ultimate Strength Break!" I abruptly raised my sword and cried, "Together with Dreaming Souls, our Ancient Sword paves the way! Run them through!" While everyone was unsheathing their weapons, I steered my Ancient Divine Dragon into a beeline straight toward Emperor Wang. He was a powerful opponent, so I needed to kill him before he could impede our charge. There were only a couple thousand of us, and Tear Stain was the kind of woman who would absolutely give us hell with a shield formation + mage + priest party composition if we allowed her opportunity. "Dammit!" Emperor Wang quickly noticed who I was targeting, and he obviously didn¡¯t want to engage me in a head-to-head fight. It was too late to back out, however. Reluctance melting away into a fighting spirit, he let out an angry roar and charged toward me, "Kill!" Swhoosh! His spear blade became coated in red flames as he swung his Barrier Break in an arc at me. Using Barrier Break this way made it much easier to land a hit, but the trade-off was that its damage would suffer tremendously. It was at least 30% weaker than the normal Barrier Break. I didn¡¯t bother with dodging the attack. I simply put the Cyan Dragon Shield in his spear¡¯s way and tanked about 240k damage. His equipment was definitely powerful, and he definitely made my killing intent flare even brighter than before! Thud! The moment I brushed past Emperor Wang, I immediately activated Fusion Armor and covered my Guardian Dragon Armor in dragon scales. Right after that, I spun around with impossible speed and hit his back with a God Binding Art. Emperor Wang let out a muffled groan as his body suddenly froze against his will. Judging from the despair in his eyes, he knew exactly what was going to happen. Tiger Leopard Knight declared, "Allow me!" Pu pu pu... He and two other Dragonlight Cavalrymen struck Emperor Wang with Barrier Break and dropped his HP to 50% instantly. While this was going on, I slapped Emperor Wang with the ominous-looking Chains of Freedom and executed my Burning Blade Slash! "Dammit!" This was the first time Emperor Wang witnessed the Chains of Freedom in action, and what he saw in his combat log nearly made him shit his pants. He tried to activate his invincibility skill, but I had acted so quickly and decisively that Burning Blade Slash was already ripping him apart when he made the decision! White light escaped Emperor Wang¡¯s dead body again and again as he dropped 10 levels and 5 pieces of equipment. I grabbed them all and gave them a quick glance, and I was glad to announce that even the lousiest piece among them was Immortal-grade. Even better, the guy¡¯s chest armor was Level 220 Archean Immortal-grade. No wonder he was able to tank 3 Barrier Breaks and my Burning Blade Slash before dying. Most people would¡¯ve died to just 3 Barrier Breaks. ¡­¡­ "Emperor Wang!" Tear Stain exclaimed in shock while she scored a critical hit against the boss''s thighs. She clearly wasn¡¯t expecting her trusted aide to be one-shot so quickly. Furious and frustrated, she glared in my direction and swore, "Just you wait, Lu Chen! Bastard!" The Throne of the Wild players who were supposed to stop us basically lost all fighting spirit the moment Emperor Wang died. My 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen were fully buffed by our bards, and their Attack was boosted by 200% by my Martial God. We shredded through the demoralized enemies like paper and reached the Minotaur King when it still had 7% HP. It¡¯s not too late yet! I pointed the Death side of my sword toward the sky and growled, "Xuanyuan Art!" "Shit!" Tear Stain swore again as she backed away from me, but a devious smile crossed my lips. Instead of the gloomy flash that usually accompanied the skill, snow and ice started falling all around me. One of my weapon¡¯s strongest skills, Cold of the Nine Provinces, froze all enemies within 100 yards into ice! Crack crack crack... It wasn¡¯t just the players of Throne of the Wild who were immobilized by my skill. The Minotaur King had become encased in ice as well. Tear Stain had always been a decisive woman, and she didn¡¯t hesitate to turn her ring and protect herself in an invincibility shield. Then, she ordered through gritted teeth, "Retreat! The enemy is too powerful! It is better to surrender the boss than die here, so retreat now!" It wasn¡¯t like Tear Stain had another choice. In an MMORPG, few things felt worse than being PK¡¯d by your nemesis after you got a boss down to low health. Assuming you couldn¡¯t win, there were only two shitty options you could make: you could either escape and fight another day, or you wipe and fight another day. Obviously, Tear Stain had chosen the superior option. ¡­¡­ While the Dragonlight Cavalry were killing the players who I had frozen, Tiger Leopard Knight shouted, "No need to chase after the defeated enemy! Form a defensive circle around the boss and prepare for a boss fight!" I nodded approvingly. Tiger Leopard Knight had definitely been trained by Candlelight Shadow. He was able to make the right call in this situation. Now that Throne of the Wild had been chased off, I turned around and Charged the boss. Some of the Dragonlight Cavalry did the same and used Barrier Break! However, the enraged Minotaur King swung its axe wildly and killed seven or eight Dragonlight Cavalrymen in no time. It was only then that they backed off and let me tank the Minotaur King alone. No wonder Tear Stain and Throne of the Wild weren¡¯t able to end this boss before we showed up. It was definitely stronger than expected. If we hadn¡¯t carried over a couple of our high-level priests on our mounts, even I wouldn¡¯t be able to handle this boss. ¡­¡­ Less than a minute later, the boss had almost no HP left. A sudden chill suddenly seeped into my arm from the Chill of the Nine Provinces, and I struck the boss''s groin for 7 times more damage than normal¡ª 2607584! The Minotaur King let out a terrible scream before slowly collapsing. At the same time, a pillar of golden light enveloped me and increased my level to 241. I was yet another step closer to the mysterious ceiling, Level 250. CH 1383 Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" for killing the Sovereign Rank boss, Wild Hoof Kaul! He has gained 2 Luck, 200000 Reputation, 50000 March of Chaos contribution points, and the ultimate treasure Wild Hoof Kaul was carrying, "Flying Dragon Wristguards (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)"! ¡­¡­ My grin could¡¯ve split my face in half. Tear Stain¡ªor should I say Yoon Pae Meng¡ªtruly was our treasure bowl. Not only did she increase my level to 241, she even gave me 2 Luck, 50k contribution points, and more importantly, another Ghost Armament! Lady Luck was absolutely watching over us today. I wondered what kind of effects these Flying Dragon Wristguards possessed? First things first, I stomped the ground with War Crush to keep any assassin from stealing the loot. I had also been switching my Dark Pupils on and off this whole time just in case some of them managed to elude my skill with Assassin¡¯s Oath. Only Farewell Song with the Ghost Lake Mirror could avoid my detection, although there was little chance he was here. For one, the map was huge enough that he would have to follow us from the start to know exactly where we were. However, he couldn¡¯t do that because he had his own levels and loot to grind. It would be a bad look if he fell off the Heavenly Ranking because he was too busy skulking in the dark. Without exception, every expert¡¯s success was thanks to a culmination of sweat and hard work. I picked up the fiery red wristguards first as a matter of course. I could barely stop my hands from shivering in anticipation. What would it be, I wondered? I was currently wearing the Cambrian-grade Divine Armament, the Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet. Depending on how this Ghost Armament functioned, I might have good reason to change it, right? Burning hot energy seeped into my palm as I grasped it. Yes, yes! This is what I want to feel! I waved my hand across the equipment, and a purple hologram appeared before everyone¡¯s eyes¡ª Flying Dragon Wristguards (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 11000 Magic Resist: 10500 Strength: +2540 Stamina: +2400 Agility: +2350 Intelligence: +2200 Tactics: +142 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 95% Passive: Increases user¡¯s max HP by 50000 Ghost Armament: Flying Dragon Hands. Disables a chosen piece of equipment for 15 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds. Outstanding: Storage Space. Increases user¡¯s inventory slot count by 2000 slots Slot: 12 Level Requirement: 240 Reputation Requirement: 1200000 ¡­¡­ "Holy shit!" My heartbeat sped up the second I saw the wristguards¡¯ Ghost Armament effect. The ability to disable a chosen piece of equipment was absolutely OP in PvP. For example, I could cancel an enemy¡¯s Ghost Armament or Divine Armament for 15 seconds while dueling against them. What should theoretically be an even battle would turn absolutely one-sided for 15 seconds. Another usage for it would be to disable an opponent¡¯s weapon. I would be surprised if anyone could kill me after they were "disarmed"! There was no disarming skill in this game, which meant the effect of the Ghost Armament was truly one of a kind. It was easily as good as the Heaven Suppressing Necklace¡¯s 100% lifesteal! My grip on the Flying Dragon Wristguards tightened, and I declared, "I¡¯ll pay 300000 guild contribution points to get these Ghost Armament wristguards! No one has any objections, right?!" Tiger Leopard Knight¡¯s mouth twitched. "What did you think we were going to say? The Ghost Armament is fantastic, but we neither meet the level requirement nor the Reputation requirement. Who else here besides you even fits the bill?" Moonlight Stone added with a beautiful smile, "He¡¯s totally right. In fact, if you use the usual loot rolling rules, you can get this for free since you don¡¯t have a competitor¡­" That made me feel a bit embarrassed. "That is too much. I must deduct the guild contribution points for fairness sake. A man can¡¯t be too greedy¡­" A smiling Beiming Xue joked, "Says the guy who let his greed lead him by the nose? Equip the wristguards so we can check out the rest of the equipment already. We have all contributed a little to chase away Tear Stain from the boss, so we all have the right to claim the rest of the loot, right?" I nodded and wasted no time in equipping the Flying Dragon Wristguard. The Flying Dragon Hand skill iron appeared in my skill window at the same time all my stats jumped tremendously. The stat boosts of Ghost Armaments were so good, man. In fact, now that I thought about it, the stat boosts of the Ghost Lake Mirror were absolutely pathetic compared to most of the Ghost Armaments I had encountered up until this point[1]. Yes, the 100% stealth was pretty imbalanced, but otherwise, Song of Freedom and Heaven Suppressing Necklace completely blew it out of the water. In fact, that was how the Ghost Armaments were ranked. Besides that, the Flying Dragon Wristguards also gave me 2000 inventory slots, and who didn¡¯t like inventory slots? In this game, the only equipment that added bag slots were army pouches and wristguards. These days, even He Yi and Lin Yixin wore wristguards that added 800 slots, which was almost enough to surpass my Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet. These Flying Dragon Wristguards couldn¡¯t have arrived at a better time! I checked my new stats. Once again, everything looked much better than before¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Frostblade of Death) Class: Master Swordsman of Death Level: 241 HP: 1116550 Attack: 39750-45570 Defense: 104865 Magic Resist: 96920 Reputation: 1625400 Tactics: 2320 Luck: 108 ¡­¡­ I now had over 100k base Defense and 1.1 million base HP. In a game of war, superior stats was the royal road to victory, always! Next, I checked out the rest of the equipment and shared their stats with everyone. Moonlight Stone, Tiger Leopard Knight, Pure Love, Beiming Xue and more all kept their eyes wide open for any equipment they might be able to use. However, the results turned out to be a little disappointing. There was only one Archean Immortal-grade shield that I would consider good, while the rest were so-so at best. Heaven¡¯s Rain gave it to a high-level magic knightress whom I heard was her older cousin. The girl had average looks but an excellent figure, or at least that was what Du Thirteen had told me. Generally speaking, there were four types of adjectives my brother would use to describe a woman while salivating like a pervert: "Plot that pierces the heaven, butt as round as a rock, eyes as gentle as water, and legs as smooth as jade!" Of course, I totally agreed with him. There was a reason Mencius said, "appetite and lust are only natural" after all. I just thought that no womanly figure in the China server was better than Lin Yixin and He Yi¡¯s, and frankly a lot of people would support my statement. The only difference between those people and me was that I got to confirm it with my own two hands, while they could only confirm it in their imaginations... Unconsciously, I started caressing the Chill of the Nine Provinces while blushing... "Why the fuck are you blushing?" Pure Love stared at me. "You must be thinking about something perverted, aren¡¯t you?" Me: "No¡­" Pure Love tilted her head and swayed her hips a little. "It¡¯s fine, you can admit it to me. This is exactly why I like you after all¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Once more, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Murong Mingyue and everyone else sent me a congratulatory message: In fact, there were a bit too many messages this time¡ª Lin Yixin: "You got the Flying Dragon Wristguards yet, Little Cheat? You must take them for yourself no matter what! I love disarming, borrow it to me so I can use it to bully people in the arena later!" He Yi: "Heehee, congratulations to our dear Lu Chen for obtaining yet another Ghost Armament!" Murong Mingyue: "Dear, you¡¯re so strong, when are you getting me a priest-exclusive Ghost Armament?" Xu Yang: "Hot damn, you¡¯re lucky as hell, Lu Chen! Congratulations!" Du Thirteen: "Are you selling the Nine Heavens Li Fire Bracelet, dude? If not, fret not, I¡¯ll buy them off you. Best I can do is 300 RMB¡­" Warsky: "You are one lucky bastard, Lu Chen. By the way, you¡¯re grinding in the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm, right? Take care! Purple Grape City, the Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City and more are all there. Don¡¯t drop any equipment to them! Personally, I would prefer that the China server had as many Ghost Armaments as possible!" Moonkiss: "Oh, you¡¯re so good, big brother Lu Chen¡­" Me: "..." Some messages took more effort to reply to than the others. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, I received a message from a recently-added friend¡ª Chance Meeting: "Where are you in Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm right now, Lu Chen?" Me: "I¡¯m where the minotaurs are escorting transport carts. The coordinates are something like (113727, 09200). What¡¯s wrong, Zhou Ping?" Chance Meeting: "Oh, thank heavens you¡¯re only 1.5 kilometers away from us. We Twelve Musicians are also in Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm, and we¡¯re fighting a Sovereign Rank boss right now. However, we are being attacked by Elephant City right now. Can you please lend us a hand? Our coordinates are (120882, 11277). I can pay you for your efforts, so if it¡¯s convenient for you, please come!" Me: "Of course. Who is your opponent exactly? Are you holding up? How much longer can you hold? And how many enemies are there?" Chance Meeting: "It¡¯s Natural Flow. Flowing Cloud herself is here. They have a godlike mage with super high Magic Attack, and none of my cavalrymen are strong enough to tank two God Devil Breaks from him. Worse, Natural Flow has a total of 50k troops, and we only have 100k. Sure, we outnumber them, but there¡¯s no chance our second-rate guild is beating a super guild like Natural Flow. Please show up with as many people as you can muster!" I felt a little tingle on my scalp. I wasn¡¯t expecting to run into Flowing Cloud here, and honestly, I was hoping that I would never have to fight her directly. After all, she was the only person who had lent me a hand during my lowest point in Final Duel Valley. Moreover, I knew that Natural Flow had found someone to wield the Scepter of Divine Flame, and that super powerful mage Zhou Ping spoke of was almost certainly that person. Should I hit the guy with the Chains of Freedom and get him to drop the Divine Armament? If I did that though, Flowing Cloud would absolutely hate my guts. Despite my complicated feelings, I said, "Don¡¯t worry, Zhou Ping. I¡¯ll be arriving as soon as possible. Just make sure you survive until I show up!" "Ok. Be quick though. My men are dying way too quickly!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ I sent a message to all the executive-level players in the guild¡ª "Is there anyone close to Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm (120882, 11277) right now? This is an emergency. Please respond as soon as you can!" The replies came in quickly¡ª Legendary Brave: Lu Chen, my 10000-man party is about 20 minutes away from that location!" Gui Guzi: "Boss Broken Halberd, I¡¯m about 20 minutes away from that location as well!" Chaos Moon: "I¡¯m nearby¡­" He Yi: "I¡¯m about 90 minutes away from there¡­ looks like I¡¯ve lost my way again¡­" [2] Me: "..." I thought for a second before answering, "Three 10000-man parties and my 15000-man party should be enough to deal with this. Alright, please head to that location as quickly as you can! A great battle awaits us!" Li Chengfeng: "Some details, brother?" Me: "Twelve Musicians, the party led by Zhou Ping and Hugging Bears In Silence are battling a Sovereign Rank boss. However, Elephant City¡¯s Natural Flow is attacking them. We need to reinforce them as soon as possible since they¡¯re one of our allies." "Got it. We¡¯ll meet you there as soon as we can!" "Yes. Don¡¯t rush ahead though, we can¡¯t beat them when we¡¯re scattered, and Flowing Cloud is present as well. Her Ivory Tower tactic will absolutely annihilate us if we rush in recklessly¡­" "Oh, we remember. I would spit on that girl¡¯s face if I could!" "..." 1. E/N: Allow me to explain, my dear readers! That¡¯s author saying ¡°I wanted to make Ghost Armaments utility items with low stat boosts¡­ but then decided not to, and that¡¯s why you¡¯ve been seeing all those Ghost Armaments with good stats.¡± This is just him retconning and making Lu Chen mirror comments ? 2. T/N: He Yi¡¯s sense of direction is still as terrible as ever I see E/N: Some people might not remember, but when He Yi was introduced she was known as a complete noob with terrible sense of direction. She actually lost her way in a forest when going to grind with Lu Chen for the very first time. And then she roleplayed as a commentator because she couldn¡¯t do anything! ? CH 1384 The hooves of the Dragonlight Cavalry kicked up cold, wet soil and left behind many hoofprints along an ancient path. We were very close to Twelve Musicans¡¯ location, but Chaos Moon¡¯s 10000-man party was even closer. They were only one forest, or three minutes, away from them. ¡­¡­ I opened the world map and saw that there was a mountain range about a hundred meter tall ahead of us. The valley on the other side of the mountain range was where the battle was happening. There, a Sovereign Rank boss, China¡¯s Twelve Musicians and India¡¯s Natural Flow were beating the crap out of one another. Whoosh whoosh whoosh... The forest in front of us shook unnaturally before a troop of Dragonlight Cavalry burst out into the open. Clad in a full set of exquisite equipment, Chaos Moon rode up to me and said, "Finally. We¡¯ve been waiting for you for a while¡­" I smiled. "Mn. What¡¯s the situation?" Chaos Moon pointed to the right. "They¡¯re having a great time beating the hell out of each other behind that mountain over there. Surprisingly, the Twelve Musicians guild has become strong enough to trade blows with Natural Flow after Chance Meeting joined them. Even so, I think they¡¯re going to be routed on all fronts in half an hour at most. At least 30000 White Horse Cavalrymen were attacking their formation, and Flowing Cloud has mobilized another 50000 mages, priests, tamers and more to support them. They¡¯ll be arriving in ten minutes at most. Also, Natural Flow¡¯s current troop count has already exceeded 100k!" Tiger Leopard Knight sucked in a deep breath, "Damn, this gal ain¡¯t playing around!" I smirked. "It will be fine. They have greater numbers, but our numbers aren¡¯t few either. Our numbers will grow to 50000 in ten minutes tops. We can charge Natural Flow as soon as we gather that many men!" "Yeah!" We galloped all the way up the mountain range to get a better view of the battlefield. From between the dense trees, we looked down and saw that it was chaos within the valley. Dead players were everywhere, but the large majority of them belonged to the Twelve Musicians. The death ratio between Twelve Musicians and Natural Flow was at least 3:1 in favor of Natural Flow, if not higher. Flowing Cloud herself¡ªshe was currently wearing a silver battle robe¡ªwas fighting at the frontlines and commanding Ivory Towers to be planted a short distance behind their frontliners. The ridiculous tactic mowed down Twelve Musicians¡¯ frontliners like flies and made life an absolute hell for Zhou Ping. I sucked in a deep breath before repeating, "We¡¯ll wait ten minutes for Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng to arrive first. While the two of them destroy the Ivory Towers, the rest of us will ride down the mountain and destroy Natural Flow¡¯s effective strength!" Beiming Xue blinked. "Do you think we¡¯re being busybodies, big bro?" I smiled. "Of course not. Barring some exceptions, it is perfectly acceptable to help out a Chinese guild who is being attacked in the Chaotic Regions. Assuming that our roles were reversed, and we are the ones attacking Flames of War right now, Flowing Cloud wouldn¡¯t hesitate to come to their rescue." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ We didn¡¯t have to wait long before Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi¡¯s troops reached us. The two dragon riders descended from the sky before greeting us smilingly, "The Dragonlight Cavalry is all here. The mages, priests and archers will be arriving shortly. Should we begin now, or?" I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and declared, "We begin. Alright, listen up, people! Our first order of business is to cut down all of Natural Flow¡¯s Ivory Towers! I¡¯ll be leading the main charge this time. Chengfeng, Little Gui, you guys will fly ahead and take out the closest dozen of Ivory Towers first. Chaos Moon, you and your men will circle around to the right and attack Natural Flow¡¯s sides. You have three minutes. We¡¯ll commence the battle once three minutes are up!" Chaos Moon nodded. "All units, follow me!" About 7000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen followed behind her. Chaos Moon was a violent girl with a taste for violence, so of course she chose to steal away our most violent units. No one dared to voice any complaints though. After all, the amount of male players in the guild who could defeat her in a fair fight could be counted on two hands. When three minutes were up, I pointed my sword toward the valley and shouted, "Together with Dreaming Souls, our Ancient Sword paves the way! Brothers and sisters, charge!" As everyone unsheathed their weapons, two giant dragons swooped past our heads and charged straight at the Ivory Towers directly in front of us. Our hooves shattered the silence of the forest, and our armor and blades shone like the first dawn just peeking out from between the mountains. The moment our uniforms and magnificent-looking mounts thundered down the mountain, some Natural Flow¡¯s players immediately said, "Oh no, that¡¯s¡­ the most powerful cavalry troop of the Center, the Dragonlight Cavalry of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" Flowing Cloud reined her mount and glared at us for a moment. She had a new mount called the Penta Color Divine Bull, and it was said to be extremely high-level. Apparently, it was a hard fought prize Flowing Cloud had sacrificed nearly a thousand men to get, and she was so happy about it that she was radiating happiness for days. Today, her mount had reached full maturity and power, and the first worthy opponent to test out its mettle was right here. Flowing Cloud gritted her teeth. "Hmph, Lu Chen! All units, form battle formations to receive them as we protect the Ivory Towers. Mages, use God Devil Break and Touch of the Dragonkiss to kill the Dragonlight Cavalrymen one by one. Archers, time your Shock Arrows to hit the first row of Dragonlight Cavalry and disrupt their charge." Natural Flow¡¯s player quality was obviously superior to Twelve Musicians guild¡¯s in every way. In no time at all, their cavalry turned around to face us and smashed their shields against the ground, forming orderly battle lines. Then, they unsheathed their weapons and waited for us to arrive. "Roar!" In the sky, the Dark Crystal Dragon and Blue Crystal Dragon opened their jaws at nearly the same time and fired a pair of hot white breath attacks at the White Horse Cavalry, extinguishing nearly half of their health in an instant. It was a mount skill both dragons had. Furious, Flowing Cloud retaliated with a sword aura with an attack range of 100 yards, aiming at the Dark Crystal Dragon. Holy shit! "Wah!" Both Gui Guzi and his dragon lost their balance and crashed in between a cluster of Ivory Towers. However, Gui Guzi had grown so powerful that the siege weapon could only hit him for a couple hundred damage per hit. He laughed. Spurring his dragon to take the sky once more, he swung at the dozen of Ivory Towers and dropped their HP tremendously. Another swing was all it took for him to destroy them all. Not one to be outdone, Li Chengfeng fired seven sword auras in a row that wrecked both the Ivory Towers and the White Horse Cavalry on the ground. "Go!" I activated Fusion Armor and charged shoulder to shoulder with my Dragonlight Cavalry. I knew this wouldn¡¯t be a costless battle. The moment before impact was easily the most nervous moment of this battle. If the Dragonlight Cavalry managed to overcome the enemy¡¯s bombardment, then victory was ours. If not, then this would end with our terrible defeat. The air froze for a second. Suddenly, the third row of enemy magic knights removed their shields to reveal a group of well-equipped elite archers with a giant dragon image floating above their heads. My heart skipped a beat. That was¡­ the symbol of the Dragon Punisher Archers! I recognized them because Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Dragon Punisher Archers bore the same symbol! I had no idea that Natural Flow had occupied the Bronze City of their server! "Shock Arrows, loose!" Flowing Cloud¡¯s melodious voice cut through the air. Not only did she give the order while we were still 100 yards away from them, she didn¡¯t tell them to use Far Shot. It was because she didn¡¯t need to, the Dragon Punisher Archers had a range of 100 yards! Shit! Twang twang twang¡­ Every bow twang felt like a blow against my heart. At least 30000 Dragon Punisher Archers had loosed their arrows against us, and almost no one on the first row was lucky enough to avoid it. Tiger Leopard Knight and countless others were stunned by the Shock Arrows and trampled over by their own units, and the only reason I wasn¡¯t among them was because I had Battle Astral Wind turned on. It was a bone-chilling moment to say the least. "Motherfucker!" Enraged, I rushed forward and summoned my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, the Xuanyuan Slash! BOOM! After the skill took out an entire group of Dragon Punisher Archers, I waved my arm in front of me and fired at least a dozen Ancient Seals along the row of Dragon Punisher Archers. The skill was empowered by 2320 Tactics, so it dealt at least 700k damage to an archer. Countless died, but some survived thanks to their eighth-promotion skill, Impossible Escape. It gave them a 10% chance to revive after receiving a death blow. It wasn¡¯t a high chance, but it wasn¡¯t insignificant either. ¡­¡­ Still, there was only so much a single person could do on a battlefield. The Dragon Punisher Archers¡¯ attacks were terribly concentrated and powerful. In three minutes, they were able to halt the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s charge and kill them when they had just entered the range of 200 yards. In five minutes, they were able to kill at least 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. This was the first time ever our invincible cavalry had lost so many men in such a short time. "Motherfucker! Break through!" However, not all hope was lost. Tiger Leopard Knight became the first Dragonlight Cavalryman to break through the kill zone, soon followed by a second and a third rider. When their numbers swelled, and they managed to get close enough to drop their Ultimate Strength Breaks on the enemies, a trace of panic flashed across Flowing Cloud¡¯s features. It looked like she was aware that she would lose if her kill zone was breached as well. Thud thud! A couple of Shock Arrows struck my Guardian Dragon Armor and finally stunned me for 1.7 seconds. "Take out Lu Chen now!" Flowing Cloud attacked me without hesitation and deleted around 700k HP in just a couple of swings. Behind her, a mage wearing a black mage robe suddenly showed up with a fiery scepter as well. Finally, the owner of the Scepter of Divine Flame had joined the battle! Bang bang bang! Galaxy Storm + God Devil Break + Touch of the Dragonkiss! Three impossibly powerful spells engulfed my whole body and bathed my senses in pain¡ª 391277! 372740! 512881! ¡­¡­ My HP had dropped to almost nothing in but the blink of an eye. How terrifying! Thankfully, the priests we had brought with us had been healing me the whole time I was taking damage, and they just barely managed to keep me above 30% HP. The second I broke out of the stun, I immediately healed myself for 25% HP with Tenacity of the Dead and downed a Rank 13 Dragonheart Orchid Agent. Finally, I raised my sword and shouted, "Xuanyuan Art!" Bloody columns of light enveloped nearly all the enemies in front of me. My attack mode was set to "Nation War" right now, so the skill removed 50% HP from all non-Chinese players at once. "Shit!" Flowing Cloud ordered with a grim expression, "All units, retreat and defend near the Ivory Towers!" CH 1385 While Natural Flow withdrew their defenses and formed a tight circle around several hundred Ivory Towers, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ cavalry surrounded them from the east, west and south. The north was where the Twelve Musicians players were. Zhou Ping summoned two fearsome-looking wolves with a swing of her Dragonbone Whip before ordering, "Our friend Ancient Sword has come to help us. Counterattack now!" The Twelve Musicians had been holding back a belly of anger all this time, so they didn¡¯t hesitate to act when the time was finally upon them. Thousands of elite knightresses charged toward the Dragon Punisher Archers despite the rain of death above their heads. Although they lost half their numbers almost all too quickly, some of them managed to get close to the Dragon Punisher Archers and unleash their Ultimate Strength Breaks. The battle was definitely growing more and more intense. ¡­¡­ Buzz! I activated Cyan Dragon Scale to increase my defensive stats and resistances even further and blocked the ridiculously powerful arrow rain with the Cyan Dragon Shield. My Guardian Dragon Armor also converted 10% of the damage I received into HP. When 6 minutes were up, I executed Xuanyuan Art again and lowered the opponent¡¯s HP by another 50%. Since many of them hadn¡¯t had the chance to heal back to full health, at least thousands of them were one-shot in an instant [1]. Their souls transformed into contribution points and pushed my score even higher. All around me, hundreds of Dragonlight Cavalrymen were doing battle against the enemy with all they got, but unlike me, they kept collapsing one after another. Flowing Cloud had tens of thousands of Dragon Punisher Archers at her disposal, and their firepower was simply put, insane. At least 50% of the Dragonlight Cavalrymen who got close to them were being stunned by Shock Arrows, while the other half was facing a murderous storm of arrows. Our priests were still lagging at the back and unable to catch up to us immediately, so there was no avoiding some deaths. I looked up at the sky and shouted at Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng, "Little Gui, heal us with Shennong Tastes Grass. Chengfeng, start spamming your Ancient Divine Skill with me to take out the Dragon Punisher Archers! If we don¡¯t take out at least 50% of the Dragon Punisher Archers, the Ivory Towers will eventually kill us all!" In the sky, both Dragon Knights nodded in unison before getting to work. A pair of bloody wings spread out behind Gui Guzi as he raised his Ghostblade Halberd into the air. His Ancient Divine Skill restored 75% HP to everyone around him and made them as ferocious as tigers again. I also activated my Heavenly River Transformation, summoned a giant golden sword above my head before bringing it down on top of an entire column of Dragon Punisher Archers that was entirely too slow to run away. Their attempts to leap away or tank the Ancient Divine Skill with invincibility skills were of course futile. Only a handful of them triggered Impossible Escape and revived with 50% HP and MP. Not only that, Li Chengfeng¡¯s Crimson Firmament Slash joined my Xuanyuan Slash from the sky to form a gigantic cross slash. To our right, Heaven¡¯s Rain also used her Tiger Wing Slash to uproot Natural Flow¡¯s iron defense, while Chaos Moon seized the opportunity to bulldoze even more Ivory Towers into splinters. ¡­¡­ Boom boom boom¡­ Natural Flow responded by focusing much of their Galaxy Storms on Heaven¡¯s Rain. At the same time, Flowing Cloud dashed past Heaven¡¯s Rain and landed a flurry skill on her neck, and a Barrier Break through her chest, dropping the girl¡¯s HP below 40% immediately. Behind Flowing Cloud, the mage wielding the Scepter of Divine Flame followed up with Ice Dragon Break that froze Heaven¡¯s Rain and all of the players around her. One last Touch of the Dragonkiss, Heaven¡¯s Rain became our first key player to topple in the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm. "Fuck!" My gaze turned steely as I glared at the mage. Even with everything that was going on around me, I recognized the need to take this man seriously. A mage who could hit Heaven¡¯s Rain for over 700k damage with a Touch of the Dragonkiss was absolutely terrifying. One might even say that he was only a short distance away from reaching Lian Xin or Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ level of firepower. I glanced at the brief profile above the mage¡¯s head¡ª Lui Lok LV-237 Frost Mage Main City: Elephant City Guild: Natural Flow Guild Position: Vice Leader ¡­¡­ As I thought, he was the godlike mage Flowing Cloud had recruited with the Scepter of Divine Flame as the lure. Lui Lok¡¯s fighting style was simple but aggressive. He prioritized killing his target, and both his spell cycling and targeting were very textbook. If he could kill an enemy with Galaxy Storm, he would never waste another spell on them. "Fuck!" I gritted my teeth and called out to Beiming Xue, "Work with me to take out that Lui Lok!" Beiming Xue nodded. "Big bro, remember to use the Song of Freedom to get him to drop his Scepter of Divine Flame. Let''s get China one more of the Twelve Divine Armaments!" "Yeah!" When the timing was right, I dashed through a small gap between two enemies and fired three Ancient Seals to clear a path for myself. However, Flowing Cloud noticed my intention and didn¡¯t hesitate to ride after me on her Pentacolor Divine Bull. She fired a skill called ¡®Frost Magic Sword Slash¡¯, and it could decrease my speed to a crawl. I couldn¡¯t allow it to hit me, or I would be stuck neck-deep in a sea of enemies. Thud thud... I stopped in my tracks, and I stabbed my sword into the ground to slow myself even further. As a result, Flowing Cloud¡¯s skill wasn¡¯t able to hit me. She let out a cold snort, but I simply ignored and ran right past her even after she scored a hit against my back. I made a hand seal with my left hand and dropped Myriad Swords Obliteration right on top of Lui Lok. Since he was standing at the center of the skill, there was no way he could physically run out of the way no matter how fast he was. However, instead of the Blink I had predicted Lui Lok to use, he stomped the ground and encased himself in a pillar of ice. For 7 seconds, he was completely immune to my attacks. Interesting! Behind me, Flowing Cloud ordered, "Dragon Punisher Archers, stun and kill our West King!" A long time ago, I had made a fool out of Elephant City players by tricking them into thinking that I was going to join India. Therefore, every single one of them wished to kill me with their own hands and share the footage with the entire world to become famous. Naturally, their attacks grew even more ruthless. I gritted my teeth and activated the active skill of my Dark Magma Poleyn, Dark Shield. The equipment had dropped from a Purgatory Sovereign, and the active skill gave me a whopping 30 seconds of invincibility shield. I wanted to kill Lui Lok before these 30 seconds were up! Buzz! All the attacks that hit my person were nullified when Dark Shield appeared. Flowing Cloud stomped her feet furiously while shouting, "Watch out, Lui Lok! Be ready to Blink at any moment!" Lui Lok nodded in acknowledgement inside the pillar. Of course, I knew he wouldn¡¯t make it easy for me. Seven seconds passed in the blink of an eye, and Lui Lok didn¡¯t hesitate to Blink away from me. He only had one chance. Either he dodged my attack, or he would be one-shot. I sharpened my focus and began predicting the spot he would Blink to! Would he blink 30 degrees toward the northeast? No, he probably wouldn¡¯t. He would be out of his priests¡¯ reach¡­ He wouldn¡¯t, right? Or maybe that¡¯s why he would! PvP was all about tricking the enemy, so I trusted my instincts and used Thunderous Charge precisely on that location. Just in case, I summoned my apparition and made it Charge in the opposite direction! Swhoosh! I got him. Lui Lok had chosen to Blink to the spot where there were no priests to heal him, but a ton of Ivory Towers to pin down the enemy. Unfortunately for him, his opponent was none other than me. "Shit!" Lui Lok knew he fucked up the moment he saw me charging straight at him. I drove my blade into his shoulder and wrapped him in the bloody Chains of Freedom. At the same time, Shock Arrow fell from the sky like magic and stunned him where he stood, giving the man no chance to even make one last effort to save himself. Beiming Xue had provided me with the support I needed just as she said she would. Despair welled in Lui Lok¡¯s eyes. He knew exactly what was going to happen. I let out a laugh as a bagua formation appeared beneath my feet, and Universe Break pierced right through his body. Chains of Freedom immediately removed 10 of Lui Lok¡¯s levels and increased his equipment drop rate by 300%. It was GG for him! Pop pop pop... Lui Lok¡¯s equipment dropped on the ground, and one of them was an unusually shiny scepter with fiery dragon wings on it. Hell yes! It has to be the Scepter of the Divine Flame! My heart felt like it was about to stop as I stretched out my hand toward the scepter with lightning speed. Here I come, Scepter of Divine Flame! However, right as I was about to make contact with the weapon, my body suddenly froze as ¡°Stunned¡± label appeared above my head. Impossible! I still have my invincibility shield on! Who could possibly stun me through it? Flowing Cloud ran out from behind me and claimed the Scepter of Divine Flame. She shot me a cute smile and said, "I like you, Lu Chen, but I can¡¯t gift you the Scepter of Divine Flame. Bye bye for now. May we not meet again in this Ancient Secret Chaotic Realm!" The Pentacolor Divine Bull let out a roar and took Flowing Cloud far, far beyond my reach. At the same time, she raised her sword and cried, "Natural Flow, time to retreat so that we might fight another day! Use the Ivory Towers to slow down the enemies while we break through the right! Go!" I couldn¡¯t do anything to stop her because I was still paralyzed. Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng tried to chase after them only to be caught in Trapping Nets and get neatly pinned to the ground. However, a dragon knight was powerful even when they were immobilized, so no one dared to get close to them. While this was going on, I checked the combat log and confirmed that I was stunned by Flowing Cloud¡¯s S Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Rainbreaker. It dealt 110% damage and had a 100% chance to stun a target for 7 seconds. Thank goodness I was invincible, or Flowing Cloud could¡¯ve killed me there and then. I sucked in a deep breath. It was a shame that I ultimately failed to obtain the Scepter of Divine Flame, but at least I had forced Flowing Cloud to waste a precious cooldown. ¡­¡­ I gritted my teeth as Natural Flow left the battlefield, as well as our reach. Li Chengfeng said, "Shit, I can¡¯t believe that one Natural Flow managed to kill at least 10000 of our Dragonlight Cavalrymen. We¡¯ve never lost so many of our ace units in a single battle before!" I nodded. "Yes. This proves that Flowing Cloud truly is a world-class strategist. She used the White Horse Cavalry to form an impregnable wall, the Dragon Punisher Archers to lay down crowd control, and the Ivory Towers to mow down her enemies. That mage of hers also added an element of unpredictability to the battle. In this type of positional warfare where Natural Flow was the defender, practically no one could defeat them without incurring considerable casualties. From now on, we shan¡¯t charge recklessly if we run into them. We¡¯ll just have our Holy Mages Far Shot their spells and burn both people and towers into ashes!" Li Chengfeng grimaced. "Bro, that¡¯s a bit ruthless, dontcha think?" Me: "..." Gui Guzi walked up to us and asked, "Now that that¡¯s done, do we help Twelve Musicians fight against the boss?" 1. T/N: this is such utter nonsense, SIX MINUTES and you¡¯re telling me that they couldn¡¯t heal to full to tank another Xuanyuan Art? Where are the priests? If you¡¯re telling me just hundreds then whatever, but THOUSANDS? ? CH 1386 "Of course!" I said affirmatively, "We all know how powerful a Sovereign Rank boss is. Do you think Twelve Musicians have the quality of cavalrymen to tank it properly? Of course not. People are probably dying as we speak right now." It was at this moment Hugging Bears in Silence and Zhou Ping walked up to us. Zhou Ping gave me a nod. "Thank you, Lu Chen, everyone!" I asked, "Where¡¯s the boss right now?" "About 800 meters from here. Even before the battle against Natural Flow, the boss had already taken out 5000 of my men. Please help us!" Zhou Ping begged me earnestly. "I¡¯m worried that some other party will show up and raid us again while we¡¯re fighting the boss. Sovereign Rank bosses will attract players like bees to honey!" I nodded. "I understand. How about this: I¡¯ll lend you Gui Guzi to be your main tank, and we won¡¯t even ask to take the last hit or any of the boss''s loot. Just mobilize 100 priests to heal him and make sure he doesn¡¯t die." Zhou Ping¡¯s eyes shone with gratitude. "You¡¯re such a nice person, Lu Chen¡­" Gui Guzi complained, "OMG, all the praise goes to Boss Broken Halberd even though I¡¯m the one who¡¯ll be doing the hard work¡­" Li Chengfeng clapped Gui Guzi on the shoulder with a laugh. "Stop complaining and go do your job already, lackey! The beautiful cavalrymen of Twelve Musicians are counting on you to save them!" Zhou Ping snorted and asked half-jokingly, "Are you interested in our girls, Li Chengfeng?" Li Chengfeng chuckled. "I haven¡¯t found my future wife yet. I won¡¯t say I¡¯m not anxious about it." "In that case, you wanna join Twelve Musicians for a couple of months? You can date whoever you want¡­" "I¡¯d gladly take you up on that offer, but Lu Chen would murder me if I joined another guild just to chase a skirt¡­" I grinned. "How wise of you. Now stop wasting time and go get killing. Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, rally your men and guard the valley entrance with me. Zhou Ping is right, Sovereign Rank bosses do attract players like flowers attract bees, and it¡¯ll be troublesome if they are allowed to make their way in." "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ While Gui Guzi went away to help out Zhou Ping, I took a moment to pack my stuff before setting up a perimeter around 2000 yards away from the boss. The Dragonlight Cavalry stood at the front, and the Dragonlight Archers and Holy Mages stood behind them. This time, we were the defenders, and everyone else, the attackers. Anyone who tried to attack us was guaranteed to bleed much harder than Natural Flow had bled us. It wasn¡¯t an impregnable defense, however. We had lost an entire 10000-man party and some more after the battle against Natural Flow, so there were only 30000 or so of us left. We would have to intimidate our enemies with our sterling reputation instead of beating them all to submission like we normally did. Less than three minutes later, a great number of cavalrymen appeared from the horizon and charged toward us. They were Warsky Alliance, and they were led by Warsky, Laughing At the Heavens, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, and October Rain. They numbered around 30k men, and they were all Gold Cavalrymen. My gaze turned steely as I ordered, "Beiming, show them the battle line!" Swhoosh swhoosh! Beiming Xue drew two blood-red arrows from her Infinite Quiver and shot them as basic attacks. They landed about a dozen meters in front of Warsky and forced him to screech to a stop. All around him, the Gold Cavalry came to a stop as well. I took a few steps into the open and declared in a loud voice, "The ally of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Twelve Musicians, is currently fighting the boss inside. Please find another way forward or wait until the boss fight is over. We won¡¯t stop you then." There was obvious reluctance in Warsky¡¯s eyes as he said, "Fuck, it¡¯s a Sovereign Rank boss, isn¡¯t it?" I admitted, "Yes, it¡¯s one of the ten bosses of the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm, so give up. We won¡¯t allow you to pass no matter what. If you try, not only will we fight you to the death, you have 10 minutes at most to kill us all. That¡¯s how much time it will take them to kill this boss. Do you think you can pierce our defense line in 10 minutes?" Warsky gnashed his teeth together. "Guard duty doesn¡¯t feel like your style, Lu Chen." I chuckled. "What do you mean? I¡¯ve been guarding both Ancient Sword and the China server since day one! And what¡¯s so bad about guard duty? Work long enough, and the pay gets awesome just like most other jobs!" Warsky: "..." This time, it was October Rain who spoke up, "Lu Chen, you dropped Ghost Armaments from the two Sovereign Rank bosses you killed, didn¡¯t you? That¡¯s how amazing their drop rate is. Are you really telling me that you aren¡¯t tempted to take the boss for yourself? If you were the one who scored the last hit, there is a good chance it might even drop one of the Twelve Divine Armaments. I don¡¯t need to tell you how valuable that is, do I? According to the devs, even the lousiest of them can be worth at least 1 billion RMB because all of them can undergo evolution. They will remain the apex of equipment even when the game reaches its endgame!" I rubbed my nose with a chuckle. "There¡¯s no point trying to sow dissension between me and Twelve Musicians, Little Rain. While wealth is covetable for a gentleman as well, he takes it in its natural course. I would never snatch something that rightfully belongs to our ally, and I will only be happy for them if they manage to drop something like the Axe of Pangu, Dead Wind Blade or Wind Severing Sword. Our way is the way to protect, not pillage!" October Rain sighed. "Very well, you obviously haven¡¯t changed one bit. I¡¯m almost tempted to¡­" She suddenly looked at Warsky and asked, "Will it be okay if I leave Warsky Alliance for Ancient Sword, Warsky?" Warsky¡¯s facial muscles twitched. "Please don¡¯t slap my face in front of so many people, Little Rain. Do you think you can remain a vice leader if you go to Ancient Sword? I¡¯m sure you understand the saying ¡®to prefer to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a big pond¡¯ exists. Also, it¡¯s not like I haven¡¯t been showering you with the love you deserve for the past couple of years¡­" October Rain beamed. "But I prefer to be showered with the love of a man I actually like, and that man is Lu Chen¡­ I would be happy even if I was demoted to just a basic archer¡­" Warsky: "..." Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Tiger Leopard Knight commented, "Wow, October Rain seems to be really interested in you, Lu Chen!" I let out a non-committal chuckle before replying in a low voice, "You think she¡¯s actually interested in me? The reason she¡¯s saying all this nonsense is to distract us from her real ploy!" I then said to Beiming Xue, "Beiming, take 5000 Dragonlight Archers and 3000 Holy Mages with you and reinforce the inner defense at the boss location!" "Ah? But why?" Beiming Xue asked in confusion. I shot the distant mountain range a glance before replying, "I caught a flash of golden light to our right earlier. I suspect that October Rain has sent some men to sneak through the nearby mountain ranges and launch a sneak attack on the boss. As for the proof, you don¡¯t see Farewell Song anywhere among them, do you?" "Understood. I¡¯ll head over immediately." ¡­¡­ Very soon, Beiming and 8000 men had withdrawn from the frontline to reinforce our inner line of defense. While she did this, I casually walked dozens of steps into October Rain and Warsky¡¯s attack range and chatted idly with them about everything. Warsky was obviously fuming. October Rain was blushing a little. "Warsky, I think Lu Chen found out our little trick. He¡¯s such a smart, lovable boy. I really want to join Ancient Sword now¡­" Warsky: "Please, Little Rain¡­" Suddenly, a much bigger group of players arrived at the scene. They were none other than Purgatory Mad Dragon. Wang Dongliang, Roaming Dragon and Coldmoon Rose were with them as well. Their new vice leader, Ray of Sunshine was present as well. He was wearing half a set of S5 equipment, a couple of top-tier equipment, and the Ghost Armament Heaven Suppressing Necklace. His strength was nothing like what it was before. "We have a new guest¡­" October Rain commented indifferently. Purgatory Mad Dragon stood next to Warsky Alliance and watched us from a distance. Wang Dongliang asked first, "Is the boss behind you?" I nodded. "Yep." "Please step aside, Ancient Sword. We wish to meet the boss," Roaming Dragon said. I replied in a much cooler tone, "You want the boss? Then why are you even talking? Just pull out your sword already." Roaming Dragon grew a bit angry. "The fuck does that mean?" I gripped the Chill of the Nine Provinces and summoned the undead energy. Then, I erupted, "I just don¡¯t like Purgatory Mad Dragon is all. What, you wanna fight us? Come on then! We¡¯re all waiting!" Li Chengfeng joined in on the smack talk while caressing his mount¡¯s forehead. "Exactly, stop wasting your breath and attack us already. We haven¡¯t waited all this time just to listen to your nonsense!" Roaming Dragon shook with anger. "You¡¯ve gone too far, Ancient Sword!" I replied arrogantly, "Gone too far? GONE TOO FAR? You dare say that after what you did, you human scum? Actually, scratch that, you don¡¯t even deserve to be called human anymore!" Lu Chao: "..." Warsky laughed. "Interesting, interesting! I¡¯ve never seen Lu Chen acting like this. Did you do something terrible to Ancient Sword, Lu Chao? Or did you do something that is actually less than human?" "Who the fuck do you think you are to meddle in my business?!" Roaming Dragon exploded uncontrollably. Pissed off, Warsky pulled out his Immortal Blade and said, "The fuck did you say, you intellectually subhuman bastard? Allow me to teach you a lesson!" However, October Rain grabbed his arm before he could try anything. "The fuck are you getting so excited for, man? This is between Purgatory Mad Dragon and Ancient Sword, not you! Don¡¯t you dare throw away what little Gold Cavalry we have left¡­" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the sound of battle erupted behind us. We turned around and saw about 10000 Gold Cavalrymen galloping down a hill and making a beeline toward the boss''s location. Li Chengfeng looked a bit worried. "Damn, October Rain really did send a strike force. What do we do, Lu Chen? Do we help them, or?" I shook my head. "No need. Trust in Beiming and our Holy Mages. There¡¯s no way they can¡¯t stop just 10000 Gold Cavalry after all the resources we¡¯ve spent on them." Chaos Moon chuckled. "Yeah. Beiming Xue has Bow God and her Ancient Divine Skill, and Gui Guzi is tanking the boss. He can assist Beiming and the others with his Shennong Tastes Grass if necessary." ¡­¡­ I returned my attention to the front and said, "So, are we fighting or not, Purgatory Mad Dragon? Don¡¯t be a pussy, Lu Chao. We¡¯re waiting!" Roaming Dragon shook with anger, but Wang Dongliang urged, "Stay calm, Brother Chao!" Ray of Sunshine simply remained where he was and said nothing. Suddenly, a battle cry erupted from behind Purgatory Mad Dragon and Warsky Alliance. A great number of red names were pouring out from two sides of the mountain ranges and charging toward Purgatory Mad Dragon. They were none other than Dark Mercenaries. So far, Little Piglet hadn¡¯t broken his oath. Wherever Purgatory Mad Dragon went, Dark Mercenaries would haunt them like a ghost. They would chase them to the ends of their beds, follow them into their toilets, and find them in their bathtubs. They would stop at nothing until they were finally destroyed! CH 1387 "Dammit, it¡¯s Dark Mercenaries again. They just won¡¯t stop coming!" Wang Dongliang gripped his sword tightly as he uttered. Profound Puff watched Dark Mercenaries as he said quietly, "Well, Little Piglet is determined to make us pay. Who knows when his path of vengeance will end? Sigh. If only that hadn¡¯t happened¡­" Roaming Dragon cut him off before he could say more. "Enough, Zhao Yufeng." Iron Pardon asked, "What do we do now, boss?" Wang Dongliang slowly unsheathed his sword and ordered, "Purgatory Mad Dragon, prepare to receive the enemy. Don¡¯t worry, we have the advantage this time. We are seventy thousand elites strong, and Dark Mercenaries aren¡¯t. Archers and mages, Far Shot your skills at the enemy¡¯s Iron Cutter Cavalry as soon as they enter our range. It is our only chance of surviving this. Ray of Sunshine, we leave Little Piglet to you!" Ray of Sunshine smirked in response. "Will do. I¡¯ve been looking forward to dueling Little Piglet anyway. This is a good opportunity to experience the man who claims he¡¯ll destroy Purgatory Mad Dragon with the band of misfits he gathered at the outer lands!" ¡­¡­ A great battle was about to happen. Both sides were as tense as they could be. Li Chengfeng asked seriously, "What do we do now, Lu Chen?" "Nothing." I replied calmly while watching the two armies, "Our mission is to hold this entrance and allow no one to pass through until Little Gui and Twelve Musicians are done with the boss, so that is what we¡¯re going to do. By the way, if Purgatory Mad Dragon loses and escapes in our direction, do not let them inside." Li Chengfeng smiled. "What happened to make you hate Purgatory Mad Dragon this much?" "Nothing. Let¡¯s just say Roaming Dragon¡¯s karma stinks so bad that even I can¡¯t stand the stench!" "Very well. I¡¯m not in the habit of standing by and doing nothing when I see something I dislike myself, so I will support your decision!" We had over 10000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen on defense, bards and priests to buff and keep them healthy, and a lot of Holy Mages to blast anyone who would try to attack us. Warsky Alliance would¡¯ve been hard-pressed to punch through our iron defense, much less the small fries of Purgatory Mad Dragon. Some distance away, Warsky raised his Immortal Blade and ordered more or less the same thing, "Warsky Alliance, hold your ground and leave Dark Mercenaries and Purgatory Mad Dragon alone. If they attack us, don¡¯t hesitate to fuck them up. Otherwise, just sit tight and enjoy the show!" The Gold Cavalry immediately raised their shields and formed a shield formation in case either one of the warring parties decided to try something. Warsky Alliance had definitely evolved tremendously compared to a month ago. ¡­¡­ The cold wind blew, and the Ink Qilin¡¯s roar resounded across the mountain ranges as a man clad in excellent armor and wielding a sword appeared on a hill. It was Little Piglet entering the stage himself. He pointed his sword in the direction of Purgatory Mad Dragon and ordered, "Kill! Don¡¯t leave a single person alive!" Over 10000 Iron Cutter Cavalrymen and many, many other types of cavalry rode down the mountain ridge like an avalanche. I counted at least 50k elite cavalrymen among Dark Mercenaries. Wang Dongliang clearly wasn¡¯t expecting Little Piglet to dare to muster such a huge force on a map of the Chaotic Regions. After all, players from the outer lands were treated like rats on the streets. No one would hesitate to kill them if they encountered them. Whoosh whoosh whoosh... The Iron Cutter Cavalry¡¯s weapons became wreathed in cone-shaped flames long before they approached Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s defense line. There was no skill more powerful against a shield formation than Barrier Break. Little Piglet had taken off later than his men, but he eventually outstripped them thanks to his Ink Qilin. The stratagem "Vajra" shining beneath his mount, he abruptly activated Great Earth Transformation and Great Conqueror at the same time. Thud thud thud¡­ The entire row of Purgatory Mad Dragon players collapsed the second Dark Mercenaries¡¯ Barrier Breaks made contact with their shields. It was as clear as day that the Iron Cutter Cavalry was absolutely the superior of Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s cavalry, to say nothing of Little Piglet himself. He summoned the Ice Breaking Slash and dropped it on top of the enemies in front of him. The entire group took over 1.2 million damage and died just like that! Multiple Iron Cutter Cavalrymen made it through the shield formation, the magic spells and the arrow rains to reach the center. When the time was right, Little Piglet raised his sword and shouted, "Everyone, Ultimate Strength Break!" Boom! The dazzling skill erupted along an entire row of backliners and made them scream. Individually speaking, their player quality was already weaker than Dark Mercenaries¡¯. Worse, both sides shared more or less the same army size. As a result, Purgatory Mad Dragon looked like they would lose even though the battle was just beginning. Little Piglet definitely put in far more effort to train his troops than either Wang Dongliang or Lu Chao. ¡­¡­ Chiang! Sparks scattered as Wang Dongliang just barely blocked a sword strike from an Iron Cutter Cavalryman. Even so, he was sent flying to the back due to the enormous Strength gap between him and his opponent. Shocked and angry, he shouted, "What else are you waiting for, Ray of Sunshine? Bring in the shock troops already!" There was a short commotion, and Ray of Sunshine appeared with around 1000 men behind him. They were all elite cavalrymen, and their mounts were all incredibly high-level. Purgatory Mad Dragon had spent a ton of money to create these shock troops, and under Ray of Sunshine¡¯s leadership one might even say that they were the ace troops of their guild. Ray of Sunshine was covered from head to toe in top-tier equipment, and he was riding an Immortal Rank mount called the Cloud Devil Panther [1]. Like a lightning bolt, he instakilled an Iron Cutter Cavalryman with a triple-hit Dragon Flame Flurry, turned around and stunned another dozen or so Iron Cutter Cavalrymen with Shadow Breaker. Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s shock troops were able to make short work of them as a result. Ray of Sunshine had strengthened his Defense with Crimson Fire Shield, but he should¡¯ve fallen in battle considering the sheer amount of Barrier Breaks and other skills he was receiving. However, the Heaven Suppressing Necklace¡¯s 100% lifesteal was too OP. When Ray of Sunshine dropped to 27% HP, he unleashed Crimson Flame Slash that injured or killed an entire group of enemies and, more importantly, healed him to full health completely. All the Dark Mercenaries players who saw this were utterly flabbergasted by the sight. "Kill! Show the scoundrels of the outer lands that Purgatory Mad Dragon is not someone they can toy with as they please!" Ray of Sunshine let out a roar and plunged into the center of a group of enemies suddenly. Then, he raised his sword, paid 1000 gold and cast Rise of the Fire Dragon. The next moment, huge flaming dragons burst out of the earth, and at least hundreds of Iron Cutter Cavalrymen were caught within the attack. The skill dealt a string of 400k damage numbers to each cavalryman, and a moment later, everyone within 100 yards of Ray of Sunshine was dead. It was a complete slaughter. "God damn, now we¡¯re talking!" Roaming Dragon exclaimed in shock. Wang Dongliang barked out a laugh and ordered, "Everyone, follow Ray of Sunshine¡¯s lead and defeat Dark Mercenaries! Teach them the price of entering the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm!" ¡­¡­ Thanks to Ray of Sunshine and his elites¡¯ heroic efforts, Purgatory Mad Dragon eventually found their footing and pulled back from the brink of defeat. Not only that, thanks to the constant DPS from their mages and archer parties, they were able to turn the fight around and put Dark Mercenaries on the back foot instead. Their 10000 Iron Cutter Cavalrymen dwindled to less than 5000 almost all too quickly, and it was a loss Little Piglet hadn¡¯t seen coming at all. After taking out three metal armor players with a ball of fire, Amber Pupil turned toward Little Piglet and shouted, "Guild leader, we need to retreat now! Otherwise, we¡¯re going to lose everyone in less than half an hour!" Little Piglet clenched his teeth. "Gather everyone and retreat slowly. I¡¯ll protect the rear and face off against that Ray of Sunshine!" "Mn!" "Follow me!" Hundreds of players rushed to Little Piglet¡¯s side at his call. They then charged straight toward Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s new ace, Ray of Sunshine¡¯s thousand-man party. Swhoosh! An icy pillar crashed down on top of a group of Purgatory Mad Dragon cavalrymen as Little Piglet rode past them. At the same time, his Ink Qilin opened its mouth and spat out a jet of deadly flames. Finally, Little Piglet cast his signature Ice Ray Flurry and struck everyone within 30 yards in front of him. The one combo had killed almost a hundred Purgatory Mad Dragon elites. "You dare!" Ray of Sunshine roared and galloped straight toward Little Piglet. He raised his sword, but brought it down without using a character skill! Little Piglet narrowed his eyes and angled his sword to parry it! Chiang! Amazingly, the downward swing knocked Little Piglet three steps backward and stalled Ray of Sunshine only a little. It meant that the latter was just a tad superior to Little Piglet in the Strength department. It couldn¡¯t be helped. Purgatory Mad Dragon had spent hundreds of millions to make Ray of Sunshine who he was. If he couldn¡¯t even outmuscle Little Piglet after that, then it truly was the end of the road for Purgatory Mad Dragon. Little Piglet abruptly summoned a spear from his hands and slammed its end against the ground to halt his momentum. Then, he activated Freezing Heat to drastically increase his speed before dashing past Ray of Sunshine like a bolt of lightning. "Hmm?!" Ray of Sunshine caught this and backpedaled in a hurry. He also crossed his sword in front of himself to Guard against any incoming strike. Thud! However, instead of attacking after his blade came into contact with Ray of Sunshine¡¯s chest. Little Piglet lifted his sword to cancel the former¡¯s Guard and leave him wide open. Ray of Sunshine turned green immediately. They were in the thick of a battle, and Little Piglet still managed to pull off a high-level move that required the most delicate of controls. This was the true strength of a CGL Hall of Famer! Little Piglet proceeded to strike Ray of Sunshine three times with his last hit being a Barrier Break no less. It was almost everything he got! 362177! 412822! 472661! Unfortunately, the beautifully executed triple strike wasn¡¯t enough to one-shot Ray of Sunshine. The Master Swordsman of Blaze had full buffs, so he had over 2 million total HP. "If you can¡¯t kill me, then prepare to be killed!" Ray of Sunshine snarled viciously before grabbing Little Piglet¡¯s sword hilt with one hand and stabbing his chest with the other with Crimson Flame Slash. It looked like it would tear the Cold Wind Swordsman apart! 491287! +491287! Ray of Sunshine was able to deal a terrible blow to Little Piglet and heal a massive amount of HP at the same time. "Fuck off!" Little Piglet abruptly pushed himself up his mount and landed a vicious kick on Ray of Sunshine¡¯s throat. While he was twirling back to his mount, he scored another Ice Ray Flurry and Ice Blade Shatter on his opponent! 419244! 442770! He even managed to land one more basic attack before Ray of Sunshine finally stopped him. His skills were as amazing as ever. Unfortunately, while Ray of Sunshine¡¯s skills were inferior to Little Piglet, he wasn¡¯t so weak that the latter could overcome even 100% lifesteal. He was able to land two strikes of his own and healed himself for around 500k HP. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t like Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s priests were doing nothing during this time. Ray of Sunshine¡¯s HP quickly shot past the 90% mark, but Little Piglet¡¯s had fallen below 25%. The Heaven Suppressing Necklace was just too powerful! 1. T/N: okay, ±ª appeared again and I have no idea if it¡¯s a cheetah, a leopard or a panther. If this changes in the future, you know why ? CH 1388 "Little Piglet!" At the distance, Amber Pupil roared at the top of his lungs, "How many more times are you going to bash your head against the wall? Ray of Sunshine has 100% lifesteal from the Heaven Suppressing Necklace! You can solo him till the end of time, and you still won¡¯t be able to kill him! Get your ass back over now, or die!" "Fuck¡­ fuck me!" Little Piglet was obviously reluctant. The fact that he was looking back and forth between Ray of Sunshine and Roaming Dragon showed just how much he thirsted to kill Lu Chao at least once. However, he wouldn¡¯t be able to do so until he got rid of Ray of Sunshine. In the end, Little Piglet chose to withdraw from battle and activated Winds of Recovery to heal himself. Ray of Sunshine tried to stop him as he was making his escape, but he was able to parry his strikes before withdrawing with the remnants of Dark Mercenaries. Ray of Sunshine would¡¯ve given chase, but Wang Dongliang stopped him before he could do so. Obviously, Wang Dongliang wouldn¡¯t allow Ray of Sunshine to leave his priests¡¯ healing range. The Heaven Suppressing Necklace he was wearing was that valuable after all. If Little Piglet managed to capitalize on the mistake, kill Ray of Sunshine and drop the Heaven Suppressing Necklace, it would be like having an entire chunk of his flesh plus his kidney gouged out of his body. That was a loss not even Wang Dongliang could accept no matter what. ¡­¡­ After Ray of Sunshine returned to the main formation, he said with a chuckle, "It¡¯s a total victory, everyone! Looks like the Dark Mercenaries guild is so-so at best. Brother Pardon, you claimed they were invincible, but they sure don¡¯t look like it¡­" A disgruntled Iron Pardon replied, "You suppressed Little Piglet only because you had the Heaven Suppressing Necklace. Otherwise, you would have died a minute ago. You don¡¯t actually think you can beat Little Piglet, do you?" Ray of Sunshine narrowed his gaze. "The fuck does that mean?" Roaming Dragon hurriedly smoothed things over. "Come now, guys, there¡¯s nothing to argue about. It¡¯s a good thing that we managed to repel Little Piglet! Let¡¯s tally up our casualties, shall we?" ¡­¡­ Although Purgatory Mad Dragon managed to repel Little Piglet, it wasn¡¯t without a considerable amount of losses. At best, it was a 1:1 casualty ratio between them and Dark Mercenaries. It was because the Iron Cutter Cavalry¡¯s initial charge had dealt an incredible amount of damage to them at the beginning. However, Ray of Sunshine¡¯s intervention turned what should¡¯ve been a total victory for Dark Mercenaries into a small defeat. It was the power of 100% lifesteal and 200 million RMB. Suddenly, I heard a commotion from behind us. It was followed by a system announcement¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to player "Chance Meeting" for killing the Sovereign Rank boss, Sky Walker! They have gained 2 Luck, 200000 Reputation, 50000 March of Chaos contribution points, and the ultimate treasure Sky Walker was carrying, "Lost Blade (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)"! ¡­¡­ "Fucking finally. What the hell were Zhou Ping and Little Gui doing anyway? The boss should¡¯ve died way sooner than this," I complained. Li Chengfeng laughed. "That¡¯s because they left the boss alone for almost half an hour. Anyway, it looks like Chance Meeting isn¡¯t very lucky today. She didn¡¯t drop a Ghost Armament despite killing a Sovereign Rank boss¡­" I said, "If your Luck stat isn¡¯t high enough, of course the chances of dropping a Ghost Armament are going to be lower. Anyway, why did they leave the boss alone for half an hour?" "Well¡­" Chaos Moon pointed in Warsky Alliance¡¯s, or more specifically Warsky¡¯s direction. "You can see for yourself!" "Oh?" I saw Warsky clenching his fists and even smashing the hilt of his Immortal Blade out of sheer anger. He was a hair away from actually jumping in anger. What on earth was he angry about though? "Seriously, can someone just enlighten me already?" I asked again in confusion. It was at this moment Beiming Xue galloped up to me and replied cheerfully, "I¡¯ll enlighten you, big bro!" "Go ahead!" She began, "You remember that Warsky Alliance snuck about 20k Gold Cavalry up the mountain ridge to attack us and the boss, right? Instead of tanking them and the boss at the same time, we decided that we might as well ¡®give¡¯ them the boss if they want it that bad! Although the boss only had 10% HP or so, it was still nothing to scoff at. While the Gold Cavalry¡¯s attention was split, big brother Little Gui, the Twelve Musicians and I led our men and annihilated all 20k Gold Cavalry in half an hour at the cost of 30k players. That was why the boss only died now¡­" I was practically grinning from ear to ear when the short story came to an end. "No wonder Warsky¡¯s acting like someone stole a kiss from his girlfriend! It¡¯s because you guys carved up a hole in his baby!" Beiming Xue beamed. "Mn mn! Big brother Little Gui said that it was Warsky Alliance¡¯s own fault though. They thought they could flex their brand new Gold Cavalry and bully us, so we treated them to our Dragonlight Cavalry + Holy Mages combo. The Gold Cavalry never even got close to our players, although the same cannot be said for Twelve Musicians¡¯ metal-armor players, heehee~~" I was glad. Twelve Musicians could lose twice as many men, and they would still be all smiles because they had gotten an Ancient Immortal-grade weapon out of it. Moreover, the fact Twelve Musicians had successfully repelled Natural Flow and Warsky Alliance¡¯s elites in succession with the help of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls could only be good for their future development. This one battle was basically their declaration to the entire China server that Twelve Musicians was no flower vase guild who only knew to pretty up themselves and spread their legs for equipment. ¡­¡­ Although the battle was over, the Dragonlight Cavalry remained guarded because I hadn¡¯t given them their next order. Meanwhile, Chance Meeting, Hugging Bears in Silence and a couple more executive-level players of Twelve Musicians walked up to us. "So? Was it exciting, Zhou Ping?" I greeted her with a smile. Zhou Ping smiled like spring. "Oh yes, it was. We are truly blessed to have an ally like Ancient Sword, though I wonder when we¡¯ll be able to forge a godlike troop like the Dragonlight Cavalry. Practically every one of them is an elite who can fight a hundred warriors by themselves. I¡¯m so envious!" I smiled. "We didn¡¯t get here immediately, you know. It took us a whole year to create the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s reputation of invincibility, and it was forged through many trials of blood and fire. By the way, how is the Lost Blade? Does it have a super-high Attack or something?" "Mn!" Zhou Ping nodded. "It¡¯s a pretty amazing Level 230 sword-type weapon. I¡¯m planning to create a super warrioress with it. Speaking of which, can you give me some advice, Lu Chen? Which warrioress do you think has the highest potential in China right now?" I hummed for a second before answering, "Obviously, the strongest warrioress in the China server is Fruit Knife, but she won¡¯t leave her own guild for Twelve Musicians as a matter of course. Eve, Eyes Like Water and Chaos Moon come next, but again they won¡¯t be leaving their current guilds. After them, there¡¯s Familiar Scent, Moonlight Beneath A Rock, Purple Wind Chime and Mo Xiaoxiao. You may choose to recruit them, although personally I would suggest that you choose the strongest warrioress in Twelve Musicians based off of overall level and PvP ranking, then invest some good money in their mount and equipment. You can save the money on a weapon since you have the Lost Blade now. After that, you should have your warrioress spend as much time as possible in the champion arena and hone her skills. Every expert starts from zero after all. ¡°The reason I ask you to choose someone from your own guild is because only those who went through thick and thin with you can be truly trusted. RMB is great, but if someone is determined to leave, then no amount of RMB is going to stop them." Zhou Ping smiled. "That is some very enlightening advice. It¡¯s at least a thousand times better than the answers Bear Bear and Ling Ling gave me¡­" Hugging Bears in Silence complained, "Don¡¯t criticize us, Sister Zhou Ping!" I laughed. "Alright then. I guess our business here is officially done!" "Wait!" Zhou Ping walked up to me and gave me a shield. "This is a Level 225 Ancient Divine Armament shield that the boss dropped. Ancient Sword has gone above and beyond to help us this battle, so this is our thanks to you." I didn¡¯t turn her down. "Thank you!" "Mn. See you later!" ¡­¡­ After we left the valley, we waited a bit for Heaven¡¯s Rain and her party to catch up with us. As compensation for dying for the cause, I gave her the Ancient Divine Armament shield Zhou Ping had given me. It so happened that our tanky little knightress was lacking a shield with high Defense anyway. Fully-buffed, Heaven¡¯s Rain had 3 million HP and a pretty good Attack. With her last weakness more or less fixed, yet another powerful and tanky knightress was born in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. "What do we do next, Lu Chen?" Li Chengfeng asked me. I answered, "We keep doing what we were doing before, of course! We¡¯ll split up into three 10000-man parties and continue grinding the Purgatory Legion¡¯s transport carts for more contribution points!" Li Chengfeng nodded. "I agree!" And so, we split up once more and continued to intercept the Purgatory Legions escorting supplies out of the curtain of darkness. Of course, we didn¡¯t stop scouring the area for Sovereign Rank bosses either. Alas, the 4th to 8th Sovereign Rank bosses were claimed by Vienna¡¯s, Tear Stain, Hickey, Little Piglet and Lin Yixin. Unfortunately, none of them were lucky enough to drop one of the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments or Twelve Divine Armaments. Of the five of them, Tear Stain got the best equipment, a Sacred Armament sword, and Lin Yixin the second-best equipment, a Sacred Armament bow. It would probably go to Clear Perfume. ¡­¡­ The grind continued until the next day at 2 pm. I already lost count how many times I logged out just to use the toilet for a few minutes before returning to the grind. In the end though, even I had approached my limit. In this case, it was my stomach growling like it was the end of the world. On the plains, a couple of dog-headed monsters were throwing stones at us until a volley of arrows killed them all. While Beiming Xue was looting the battlefield in excitement, I kept a close eye on her surroundings while asking, "How long have you been online, Beiming? Do you want to log out and take a break?" "Yeah, I would like that. When are you coming back online, big bro?" "How about midnight?" "Sure!" "Very well, but before that, let¡¯s turn in the goods first. I wonder how much reward we¡¯ll get from this." "Okay, but fly me there, big bro. I can¡¯t find the place myself." "Mn." I canceled my Fusion Armor and pulled the beautiful archer onto my lap. After bidding everyone goodbye, I followed the directions on my minimap and flew toward the closest human temporary supply camp. With the Ancient Divine Dragon''s speed, it would only take five minutes to get there. After we passed through the clouds, I spotted a simple human fortress on the ground below me. Almost all of the structures were made out of wood, and the perimeter was covered in abatises and other fortifications. There were hundreds of players inside the fortress, and some had even set up stalls to sell their stuff. It was because the fortress was a safe zone where players couldn¡¯t PK each other, also known as a great place to log out of the game and catch some rest. CH 1389 A rare ray of sunlight pierced through the leaves and branches of a pine tree and cast some shadows on the ground. Standing beneath it was the quartermaster we were looking for, a tall and burly auntie with golden hair and the emblem of the Silver Moon Alliance floating across her shoulder. In a sense, I was glad to be a member of the Silver Moon Alliance. To fight evil, they would accept even an auntie with such a¡­ hardcore appearance to be their quartermaster. I walked up to the auntie with Beiming, passed her my bag of resources and said without mincing my words, "These are the goods we¡¯ve obtained along the way. Now, please give us our reward¡­" A trace of astonishment flashed across her eyes. "Over 80000 goods? You didn¡¯t steal this from somewhere, did you, boy?" I raised an eyebrow. "Of course I stole them. From the Purgatory Legions. You wanna give it a try yourself?" The quartermaster wisely shut up. NPCs like her weren''t even strong enough to give a minotaur a challenge, much less a slayer of countless minotaurs like me. She put a hand on my shoulder and declared, "Young warrior, you have done well to intercept these precious supplies from the Purgatory Legions. Without them, the enemy won¡¯t be able to forge the dark siege weapons necessary to attack our cities. This is the reward you deserve!" Ding! System Notice: Congratulations, the goods you turned in have net you the following rewards: 897720000 experience, 89772 Reputation, and 4 Luck! ¡­¡­ For a second, I couldn¡¯t say anything. Then, I immediately asked in the party channel, "Guys! Did you guys receive a Luck reward when you were turning in your supplies?" Moonlight Stone: "No? What¡¯s wrong, Lu Chen?" Me: "I received 4 fucking Luck is what! I turned in 80k+ goods to get it!" Gui Guzi: "I turned in 20k+ goods and got 1 Luck as well!" High Fighting Spirits: "What the fuck! I turned in 19k goods but didn¡¯t get any Luck¡­" Li Chengfeng: "I turned in 44k goods and got 2 Luck¡­" He Yi: "Er, I haven¡¯t turned in anything yet. I¡¯m almost at 40k though¡­" I hurriedly say, "Well, it¡¯s clear now that every 20k goods turned in will net you 1 Luck. This is the perfect opportunity to earn some Luck, so make sure you turn in your goods only after you¡¯ve gathered multiples of 20k!" Beiming Xue: "Big bro, I have exactly 40k goods, so I¡¯m turning them all in, okay?" "Mn." I thought for a moment before adding, "Eve, once you¡¯ve gathered 40k goods, you should turn in your goods and log out. We really should get some food soon, my stomach feels like someone¡¯s drumming inside of it." He Yi chuckled. "Mn. I¡¯ll speak with Mingyue and Lian Xin." "Kay!" ¡­¡­ The girls were still in the game when I logged out, so I went to take a bath first. When I came out, He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin were already eating in the living room. It was just a quick snack though. Our actual lunch took place at a buffet restaurant at 3 pm. The variety of food in the restaurant was subpar¡ªit was expected since not many people ate lunch at 3 pm¡ªbut we still ate like we had been starving for a couple of years. In fact, we almost ate enough to be worth the 200 RMB entrance "ticket" we paid per person. Once we got back to the workshop, it was dozing off to lalaland once more. When I woke up, it was past 8 pm and dinnertime once more. What could you do? Food was a critical aspect in everyday life after all. ¡­¡­ I was about to log into the game when my phone suddenly rang. It was an unfamiliar number. "Hello? Who is this?" "I¡¯m Nangong Lexi!" "Ohh, Beauty Lexi! What is it?" "Lu Chen, I¡¯m in Yiyi¡¯s bedroom at Suzhou University right now. We were here to grab some teaching materials for Yiyi, but a handsome guy suddenly appeared beneath the hostel in a white BMW with a trunk full of roses. He¡¯s confessing to Yiyi, and Yiyi has no idea what to do. She didn¡¯t dare to call you herself, so I hid myself in the toilet and called you myself. Oh right, you probably know that handsome guy¡­" "MOTHERFUCKER!" I jumped to my feet immediately. "Give me a moment. I¡¯ll be there right away!" "Please do. I¡¯ve been itching for some real life drama¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ I raced down the apartment and hopped into my X12. I arrived at Suzhou University in less than 20 minutes and was let in by the guards without any issue because the X12¡¯s symbol was just that shiny. As I came to a stop beneath Lin Yixin¡¯s hostel, I saw a shiny white BMW 760 just as Nangong Lexi had told me. A familiar figure was standing beside the car and making a call on his phone. He was a handsome man, and he and his BMW complemented each other well. "Owen?" I frowned as I shifted the gear to P and pulled the handbrake. Then, I grabbed my car keys and got out of the car. To be honest, I wasn¡¯t quite sure how to deal with Owen. Lin Yixin was my girlfriend, so no one would blame me if I punched the motherfucker right in the face. However, Owen was someone Lin Xiao, Lin Yixin¡¯s father, shared a business relationship with. If I went overboard, Lin Xiao would be put in a difficult position. Equally though, it wasn¡¯t my style to not retaliate after being challenged like this. What kind of boyfriend would I be if someone was courting my girlfriend in my face, and all I did was to criticize him loudly? I gave my collar a tug. Luckily, I was still wearing the Versace clothes Lin Yixin had bought for me the other day. I took out my phone and called Lin Yixin¡¯s number. However, all I got was a busy tone, so I had to wait for a couple of minutes before it finally connected. "Little Cheat!" Lin Yixin sounded absolutely delighted when she greeted me. I smiled. "I¡¯m downstairs right now, Yiyi. Come down and join me for supper, yeah?" "Sure! Wait for me!" Lin Yixin hung up happily. A short moment later, a beautiful figure exited the door. Lin Yixin was wearing a white shirt and a black mini skirt tonight. She looked intoxicatingly beautiful. While this was going on, countless girls in the hostel had opened their windows to watch the show. I could even hear some of their discussions¡ª "Wow, look at the trunk full of roses! That handsome guy with the BMW 760 is romantic. I wonder who he was waiting for? It¡¯s been an entire hour since he arrived!" "Yeah yeah! He looks so cultured too. He¡¯s totally my type of guy!" "Pooh, have some shame, girl!" "Oh right, did you guys notice that 12 series just a dozen or so meters away from that 7 series? That guy is quite handsome too!" "Huh? I don¡¯t see anyone!" "..." ¡­¡­ The moment Lin Yixin appeared, Owen hurriedly strode up to her. He never even noticed my presence, or more accurately he was too focused on Lin Yixin to think about anything. I never imagined that he would come all the way to the university and make such a low-class attempt to court Yiyi. Like seriously, a trunk full of roses? He seriously thinks he can court Lin Yixin with that? "Yiyi!" Owen was all smiles as he walked up to Lin Yixin. "You finally came down. I¡¯m going to fly to France tomorrow, and I¡¯ll be gone for the whole week. That¡¯s why I want to bid you goodbye before I go. Is there any gift you would like me to bring you when I return from France?" Lin Yixin easily zigzagged past Owen before opening her arms for me. With the sweetest smile on her face, she hugged me tightly and said, "I missed you so much, Little Cheat!" I returned the hug just as tightly while asking her, "So, are we getting that supper?" "Of course! I wanna eat the crawfish you peel for me yourself!" "Really? Where would we even find that in this season?" "I don¡¯t care! Make it happen for me!" "Fine, fine. We¡¯ll go hunt for your crawfish!" After I said that, I let go of Lin Yixin temporarily and glared at Owen. Right now, the guy looked like someone had sapped all the color of life out of his body. Even so, he forced himself to walk up to Lin Yixin and hold up a bouquet of roses to her. "Yiyi, regardless of what auntie and uncle think, I personally really want to date you. I really do love you¡­" Lin Yixin looked like she didn¡¯t know how to respond. The girls in the hostel even squealed, "Say yes! Say yes!" I gritted my teeth and walked up to Owen¡¯s car trunk. Then, I lifted a huge bouquet of roses with one hand, ripped off their petals, and flung them all into the air. As the rose petals of hundreds of roses fell from the sky, I tossed away the stems, walked up to Lin Yixin, and kissed her firmly on the lips. We kissed under the rain of rose petals right before everyone¡¯s eyes. At first, the startled Lin Yixin flailed her hands a little, but she quickly caught herself and returned my kiss with even greater passion than I. The busybodies who ran all the way downstairs just to watch the show were speechless as well. ¡­¡­ An entire half a minute later, I finally let go of the blushing Lin Yixin and smiled at her. "Let¡¯s go and search for our crawfish, shall we?" "Mn mn!" Lin Yixin nodded repeatedly. I let go of my pretty little girlfriend and smiled at Owen. "Sorry for damaging your prop, Mr. O. You won¡¯t ask me to pay for it, will you?" An ashen-faced Owen replied woodenly, "N¡­ no¡­" "Good!" I walked up to the nearest wall, pulled a brick out of it [1], and smashed it against the back of his BMW 760. The paint where the recess was was scraped, the car alarm blared loudly, and the resulting lights flashed Owen¡¯s face a complexion so ugly that nothing in our surroundings even came close to it. I said indifferently, "You said I don¡¯t need to pay you for damaging your prop. I believe you. I also said I¡¯d show you what I¡¯m made of if you dared to harass Yiyi again, and you should¡¯ve believed me! Tell your lawyer to contact me later if you want to claim damages for your car. I¡¯ll pay for it!" Finally, I led Lin Yixin into my X12, entered the driver¡¯s seat and drove past Owen with a broom. Both Owen and the girls in the entire hostel were completely stunned for a time! ¡­¡­ Suddenly, I caught Nangong Lexi stomping her foot on my back mirror. She was yelling, "You two did NOT just leave me here, you absolute bastards! What should I do now? Are you really going to make me catch a taxi??" I laughed and called Nangong Lexi on the phone, "Yiyi and I will be back after we grab some supper, so just do whatever you want until then. Do you want anything? We can pack it for you." She replied, "In that case, please bring me a handsome man who¡¯s good at everything and has a powerful waist¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, we failed to find the crawfish Yiyi craved despite searching for it for a very long time. So, we settled for some seafood and packed some for Nangong Lexi as well. Lin Yixin seemed really happy and satisfied with my performance tonight, and of course I didn¡¯t regret what I did one bit. From the moment I decided to be together with Lin Yixin, I had already resolved myself to fight off her skirt chasers for the rest of my life. I would take on even a million Owens if I had to! It wasn¡¯t past midnight that I finally returned to the workshop. It was time to log back in and continue the grind! 1. T/N: holy shit what? Okay I admit this one¡¯s pretty badass ? Bookmark CH 1390 Swhoosh! I appeared in the temporary supply camp in Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm. I looked around. Despite the time, a lot of players were still turning in their quests and stuff. I checked my equipment next. My Chill of the Nine Provinces had only 11% durability left, and my two greatest defensive pieces of equipment, the Guardian Dragon Armor and Cyan Dragon Shield, were both below 40% durability. I must repair them before I continue on my journey, or it will quickly become impossible to do anything. So, I paid an obscene amount of gold to repair my equipment and restocked on potions. Speaking of potions, the dozens of stacks of Rank 13 Dragonheart Orchid Agents Lin Yixin had given me a long time ago were barely touched because they were just that precious. I seldom used them unless I was in a life-or-death situation, a war or a boss fight. ¡­¡­ Ten or so minutes later after Beiming Xue came online, I carried her on the Ancient Divine Dragon and flew toward our agreed meeting point. On the way, I read up on the latest happenings. The ten Sovereign Rank bosses in the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm had all been killed, but the Infinite Quiver and the Flying Dragon Wristguards remained the only two Ghost Armaments to have dropped from them. Discounting them, the best equipment to have dropped from the Sovereign Rank bosses was a Cambrian Divine Armament. It looked like everyone¡¯s luck was just so-so. Thud! After I landed on the plains and put Beiming Xue down I activated Fusion Armor and walked up to Chaos Moon and Heaven¡¯s Rain. I heard someone saying, "Finally, the corps commander returns to us¡­" Chaos Moon also shot me a dissatisfied look. "You were ten minutes late. What do you have to say for yourself?" I shot her an embarrassed smile and apologized, "Forgive me, I had some real life business I had to deal with!" While looking to the distance, I asked, "There are no more transport carts left on this map, right?" Heaven¡¯s Rain replied, "Yeah. In fact, they were cleared out two hours ago. Our next step is to cross over Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm and make it to a ruin that is situated on the west, but there is a Purgatory Legion fortress blocking the way. We won¡¯t be able to make it through without conquering the fortress. This is a large-scale quest that¡¯ll kick off in 30 minutes!" "30 minutes? We better start making our way over then¡­" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ After everyone¡¯s attendance was confirmed, I assumed command of my 15k-strong party and continued westward. Chaos Moon¡¯s 10000-man party was following next to us as well. We passed through a ghastly forest and arrived at a giant clearing that smelled of blood. Two mountain ranges that looked like giant gods blocked the way forward, and the only exit between them was blocked by a gigantic, blood-red fortress that was almost 5 km long. Undead creatures filled the top and the bottom of the walls, and their levels were all pretty high. This wasn¡¯t going to be easy! I waved my hand and brought up the contribution point ranking interface. It was drastically different from what I saw last time¡ª Breeze and Rain (India) Points: 730090 Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (China) Points: 720930 Tear Stain (Korea) Points: 647280 Wind Fantasy (China) Points: 621170 Vienna¡¯s Sorrow (USA) Points: 572820 Candlelight Shadow (China) Points: 552200 God of War (India) Points: 542730 Luo River God of the Capital (China) Points: 540900 Lian Xin (China) Points: 498760 Legendary Brave (China) Points: 482170 ¡­¡­ I was offline for almost 10 hours, and I was still sitting strong in second place. It showed just how much higher my score was compared to everyone else before I logged out. Now that I was back, it should only take me an hour or less to return to the first place and secure the MVP reward for China. It would also be great to deny yet another Twelve Divine Armament or Seventy Two Ghost Armament from the other servers! During the late stages of a war, victory usually went to the server with the highest amount of Ancient Divine Skill owners and Twelve Divine Armaments, Seventy-two Ghost Armaments and Ancient Divine Armaments. If the China server came to own between 5 to 9 Twelve Divine Armaments and 20 to 50 Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, then our enemies would really have to think if it was even possible to defeat us. Meanwhile, all we needed to do was to sit on our asses and cower the other servers to submissions with our hoard of legendary equipment. When we became so strong that no one would even think to challenge us, who else could the true kings of Heavenblessed but we? Rustle rustle.. My boots rustled against a patch of dead grass as I stared at a gigantic light blue screen about ten or so meters in front of us. No player could pass it until it disappeared of its own accord. Behind it was of course the fortress everyone wanted a piece of. Ding~! System Notice: Godslayer Fortress will be open to all players in 17 minutes. Please note that the patch mission will fail if the Godslayer Fortress does not go down in 10 hours. Moreover, a terrifying devil slumbers beneath the Godslayer Fortress. Once the fortress is conquered, the devil will awaken and bring forth a great calamity. Beware! ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take long for the land outside the screen to become jam-packed with players. It wasn¡¯t just the China server who showed up¡ªin fact, we only had enough players to fill up around 30% of the 5-kilometer long fortress¡ªthe Northern Alliance, India, Japan, Chaotic 27 and more servers had shown up as well. This was a server wide mission, and practically everyone who was over Level 200 had come to participate. Practically no one below Level 200 was stupid enough to show up. In the sky, my beautiful guild leader, He Yi was gripping her Suppressing Fire Sword and standing on top of her Snow Crystal Dragon when she ordered, "Lu Chen, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, please join up our parties so we won¡¯t get into unnecessary conflicts with the other guilds. Let¡¯s try and become the first force to break through the Godslayer Fortress first!" "Yeah!" Everyone nodded and got to work quickly. Very soon, all our parties met up and occupied a small section of the clearing to the east of the fortress. Dragonlight Cavalry were standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their shields held in front of them, and us manager-Level players such as Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and I were standing together as well. While patting his Blue Crystal Dragon¡¯s head, Li Chengfeng asked, "Thank goodness the Blue Crystal Dragon can turn into an armor just like your Ancient Divine Dragon when it reaches Level 200. It¡¯s so unwieldy sometimes¡­ speaking of which, what level is the Ancient Divine Dragon right now, Lu Chen? You still struggling to Level it?" I shot him a glance. "Duh? It¡¯s Level 197 right now. It will enter the Divine Awakening Stage when it reaches Level 200, but the benefits I will get are still unknown. We¡¯ll see. Hopefully, my little dragon will hit Level 200 by the time this March of Chaos event is over. This leveling speed is seriously fucked up, man." Gui Guzi smiled. "Focus. There¡¯s only 1 minute left before the screen disappears. Kill more mobs and earn more contribution points, and all your problems will magically go away. By the way, look to our right. I don¡¯t know if they¡¯re doing it on purpose, Cyan Earth City¡¯s Cyan Beast has been moving closer toward us. Do you think it¡¯s a test, or¡­?" Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes turned steely. "Heh. Cyan Beast supposedly has 100k Gold Cavalry right now, so I bet they¡¯re planning to test out their new cavalrymen on us. It may even be a direction from God of War himself." I said seriously, "Little Xin, Beiming, tell our Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers to standby for anything. If Cyan Beast does attack us, do not hesitate to treat them to a hell of ice and fire!" Both girls responded smilingly, "Understood, big bro!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! As it turned out, we didn¡¯t need to launch an attack on the fortress when the blue screen finally disappeared. The undead creatures beneath the walls roared and rushed toward us themselves. They were all a kind of monster with an elongated head, huge, long tongue, a full body of scales, and an iron whip for a tail. This was also the first time we saw such a creature. I scanned its stats with Dark Pupils and shared it in the guild channel¡ª Spirit Devouring Devil (Fiend) Level: 300 Attack: 49000~57500 Defense: 70000 HP: 4400000 Skills: Dark Pierce, Strength of Two Arms, Spirit Devouring Introduction: The Spirit Devouring Devil is an undead warrior who was devilized and the masterpiece of a high-level undead magus. By tempering a normal human¡¯s body with magic and death energy, they are given abnormally tough scales, impossibly quick reaction, and arms strong enough to shatter rocks. It is said that they can steal their enemy¡¯s life force as well. The Spirit Devouring Devils are usually raised in the depths of hell only, so if one were to appear on the Human Domain, it means that a true calamity has befallen the world. ¡­¡­ "Holy shit, Level 300? Its stats are almost as good as a boss''s too!" Gui Guzi complained. Chaos Moon asked, "How are we doing this? We fight aggression with aggression, or?" I replied, "Calm down, girl. Frontliners, stay your ground and counterattack the mobs without breaking formation. Bards, make sure that our Dragonlight Cavalry are fully buffed. Priests, prepare to heal them at any moment. Archers and mages, we¡¯re relying on your to dish out the DPS this time. Finally, no one is to underestimate these Spirit Devouring Devils. They are numerous, and they¡¯ll easily sweep even us off our feet if we are careless!" Everyone nodded in unison. Like animals, the Spirit Devouring Devils ran on all fours with their mouths open and their tongue lolling. Their bloodshot eyes were full of violence, and their arms looked as strong as their description claimed. Moreover, there were bone blades sticking out of their arms. It was clearly their Spirit Devouring Devil¡¯s primary method of attack. However, a lot of guild leaders still ordered their guilds to charge the mobs. Their cavalrymen and foot soldiers had no idea that they were running headlong to their deaths. "These fucking idiots!" I uttered through gritted teeth, "Stat wise, these Spirit Devouring Devils are at least 20% stronger than all the mobs we have fought in the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm until now. They don¡¯t even belong in the same weight class!" Du Thirteen said, "You can¡¯t save people who won¡¯t save themselves, man." Li Chengfeng nodded. "Hold tight, frontliners!" About 500 meters away from the city walls, the guilds who decided to break the line finally clashed against the Spirit Devouring Devils. The outcome was about as bad as I expected it to be. The second the Spirit Devouring Devils got within range, they immediately jumped into the air and thrust their arms at the players. As it turned out, their arms could be spun like a drill¡ªit was none other than the skill "Dark Thrust"¡ªand they dealt at least 300k damage to an unguarded cavalryman. It was nothing compared to the skill, "Spirit Devouring" though. It converted 30% of its damage dealt to HP, which basically meant that it was a 30% lifesteal. How could those players possibly stop them? Puchi! I saw a Spirit Devouring Devil leaping into the air and biting a magic knight on the neck, dealing over 370k damage to him. Then, it sank its claws into the poor man¡¯s torso and shredded his innards into itty bitty pieces. The poor guy was dead before he even managed to let out a death scream. The same thing was happening to the tens of thousands players who rushed out prematurely. It was like watching a locust swarm absolutely annihilating a rice field. It didn¡¯t take long before the poor bastards were utterly massacred, but still the Spirit Devouring Devils were nowhere satisfied. They charged us as if they wouldn¡¯t stop until we were all dead. As the sea of Spirit Devouring Devils approached, I abruptly raised my sword and hollered, "Together with Dreaming Souls, our Ancient Sword paves the way! Frontliners, Holy Shield Protection!" Bookmark CH 1391 Chiang chiang chiang! The Dragonlight Cavalry at the front row smashed their humongous shields against the ground and kicked up countless many clouds of dust. Nearly everyone was holding their breath and watching the swarm of Spirit Devouring Devils with nervousness and anticipation in their eyes. If we failed to stop the monster wave, we would be killed and turned into their experience. If we managed to hold our ground though, these Spirit Devouring Devils would reward us with a most generous amount of experience and powerful equipment. Thud! Thud! It was at this moment Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi landed their Holy Giant Dragons on the ground. They were acting as the first stress points and damage dealers. Empowered by the power of the Fusion Armor, I gripped my Chill of the Nine Provinces standing in between and ahead of Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi. Together, we formed a triangle. Finally, I raised my left arm and shouted, "Dragonlight Archers, Far Shot your Shock Arrows!" Behind me, countless arrows rose to the sky before falling heavily on top of the Spirit Devouring Devils. Many of the mobs were stunned in place and became obstacles to the charging Spirit Devouring Devils behind them. Not a moment too soon, the Holy Mages¡¯ God Devil Breaks crashed down on top of their heads like artillery shells and dealt at least 200k damage per hit. The Holy Mages had insane Intelligence stat, and the Spirit Devouring Devils were purely physical mobs. Naturally, they were susceptible to God Devil Breaks. However, the Spirit Devouring Devils¡¯ numbers far exceeded our imagination. They easily broke through our dam of firepower and continued toward us. Hiss hiss... The foremost group of Spirit Devouring Devils charged toward me. Their lolling tongues looked ugly to say the least. Buzz! The Chill of the Nine Provinces buzzed once as I activated Great Earth Transformation. It cost only 1 Divine Energy Point per minute, and it increased all of my stats by at least 40%. This was a competition where the player with the highest contribution points would get the best reward, so super high DPS was the way to go here! Fiery red energy wreathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces. After I sent them flying into the thickest group of mobs, I took a few steps forward before stomping the ground. The group of Spirit Devouring Devils who were just about to hit me immediately let out their death screams and collapsed to the ground as experience. The mobs were so numerous that the 70% splash effect of the Chill of the Nine Provinces was performing even better than usual! I blocked the first blow with the Cyan Dragon Shield on my left arm while raising my other arm high. I fired 11 Ancient Seals in a row and damaged an entire line of Spirit Devouring Devils. However, the Divine General Skill was only powerful enough to delete 15% of their HP. It was the most I could do for my Dragonlight Cavalry without overtaxing my resources. Chiang chiang chiang¡­ A dozen or so Spirit Devouring Devils approached me at high speed and slammed their claws against my Guardian Dragon Armor. They strained the metal and dealt a decent amount of damage to me¡ª 39218! 29034! 33177! Even more disgusting was the fact that they were healing themselves with every hit. I saw some of them healing for at least tens of thousands of HP per hit. Unacceptable! The 6-second cooldown on my melee skills wasn¡¯t over yet, so I lashed out with basic attacks and dealt at least 400k damage per hit. I used the 20% lifesteal of my Chill of the Nine Provinces to trade HP with the Spirit Devouring Devils. Obviously, I was the one who had the upper hand here. Even without a priest to heal me, I should be able to survive on my own. Dozens of meters away from me, Li Chengfeng was swinging away at the mobs with his Crimson Refinement Sword. He flew his Blue Crystal Dragon high enough to hit as many mobs as possible with Reverse Scale Slash + Dragonbone Flurry combo, then raised his sword high into the air. When enough energy had gathered around his sword to form the image of a silver dragon, he threw the Crimson Refinement Sword using Dragonblade Revolution and watched the mobs be cut down like wheat. As expected of the 5-Strength dragon warrior, his Reverse Scale Slash + Dragonbone Flurry + Dragonblade Revolution combo he chose to spam every 7 seconds was very simple to execute, but absolutely practical in this scenario. It was why his position as a Top 10 player on the contribution point ranking was untouched. Gui Guzi¡¯s DPS was slightly inferior to Li Chengfeng¡¯s, but the combination of his Ghostblade Halberd, the Dark Crystal Dragon and the Undying Shield allowed him to fight at the frontlines like an unkillable tank. Further behind us, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Du Thirteen, Xu Yang, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Tiger Leopard Knight and more were doing their utmost to kill the mobs as well. The Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s hooves thundered against the ground, and offensive skills and flashes of healing light intertwined with each other until it was impossible to identify what was what. The mobs kept dying, but the Dragonlight Cavalry kept eating unfortunate crits and dying to them as well. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! God Devil Breaks and Galaxy Storms mixed with one another amid a backdrop of penetrating arrows. The Dragonlight Archers and Holy Mages were without a doubt the MVPs of this battle, doing so much damage that it took them only 20 seconds or so for them to delete an entire group of mobs. As for the Dragonlight Cavalry, over 80% of them just held their shields in front of them and Guarded most of the time and attacked only when the Spirit Devouring Devils attacking them had wasted their Dark Thrust. He Yi remained about 10 meters above the ground and hit the mobs using her Godslaying Blade. Her Suppressing Fire Sword left ugly scars across the ground and devastated the Spirit Devouring Devils with impunity. The Godslaying Blade¡¯s splash effect was absolutely insane for this battle, and her kill count climbed to incredible numbers in no time at all. Time passed bit by bit. After paying the price of nearly a thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen, Ancient Sword entered a stable state where all that was left to do was to kill, kill, and kill some more. As if sensing that it was a good time to show off its power, Beiming Xue¡¯s Xuanming Bow kept triggering its Xuanming Flame and reaped a ton of contribution points for her. There was a reason why any of the Twelve Divine Armaments was considered a priceless treasure. ¡­¡­ Boom! The Phantom Wolf King dished out its Claw of the Storm and Purgatory Storm at the same time and killed ten or so Spirit Devouring Devils at once. While firing Thousand Ice Slash to freeze the group of mobs in front of me, I snuck a glance at Cyan Beast¡¯s formation and saw that both Breeze and Rain and God of War had shown up. God of War was riding a massive beast that was shaped like a Taotie. Its name was ¡®Giant Abyssal Beast¡¯, an Immortal Rank Boss mount. As for Breeze of Rain, he was riding a mount called ¡®Purple Wing Unicorn¡¯, and just as its name might suggest, it was a unicorn with a pair of purple wings behind its back. Its horn could strike a certain area with lightning. Both of them had become much stronger since the last time I saw them. God of War carried a huge blade and ordered with a guffaw, "Hold the line! For tons of profit!" Breeze and Rain sped back and forth along his battle line while spamming his Blazing Slash, Moon Breaking Slash and more to reduce the pressure on his players. Although Cyan Beast¡¯s formation shook from time to time, they never took a single step backward. The damage they were sustaining was massive, however. Cyan Beast¡¯s Gold Cavalry kept dropping like flies, and barring any accident God of War was going to lose at least ten thousand of his one hundred thousand Gold Cavalrymen by the end of this battle. On the other hand, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was probably not going to lose more than 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. That was the difference between a Quasi Immortal Rank mount and an Earth Rank mount. Worryingly, our left side was doing much, much worse. Flower Room¡¯s entire party was conspicuously missing, and at least ten thousand Spirit Devouring Devils had broken through the defense line and wreaked havoc everywhere. About five hundred meters behind us, their guild leader, Li Le, just barely escaped certain death while a furious Dominating Heaven Blade yelled at him, "Fucking fuck! Just how goddamn trash you are, young master Le? We withdrew because you said Flower Room would be able to hold this area, so what the fuck is this? Are you trying to feed the goddamned Spirit Devouring Devils?!" Li Le spat in his direction. "Pooh! You can fight them since you¡¯re so good!" Dominating Heaven Blade obliged and pointed his sword forward. "Gods of Destruction, go!" And so, the two guilds clashed against the Spirit Devouring Devils once more, but because their frontliners lacked the tenacity to hold the line, they could only use what people loved to call the "human flesh" tactic, also known as keep throwing bodies at the thing until you win. It was unbearable to look at. Further away, I saw a fiery red Lin Yixin on her Crimson Crystal Dragon slicing and dicing the mobs with her Purple Spirit Sword. Both her appearance and her prowess matched her former ID "Beautiful Little Pepper" perfectly. She truly was a fiery and beautiful girl. Snowy Cathaya¡¯s generals¡ªPurple Marquis, Nangong Lexi, Zi Chuanyu, Lifestealing Sword and more¡ªwere doing absolutely everything in their power to hold the line. They kept fighting even though all their HP bars were below 40%. It was the main reason Snowy Cathaya¡¯s defense line hadn¡¯t crumbled. I checked out Blazing Hot Lips, Candle Dragon, Purple Lily and the rest of the super guilds. They were all sustaining a considerable amount of losses, but they were mostly able to kill the Spirit Devouring Devils dead before they breached their final defense line. ¡­¡­ "Lu Chen!" Suddenly, He Yi shouted to me, "The boss of this monster wave just showed up! It¡¯s not a Sovereign Rank boss, but it¡¯s still Ancient Immortal Rank! Also, it appeared right between us and Cyan Beast! Should we pull the boss over?" I hurriedly canceled Fusion Armor and rose to the sky. I quickly confirmed that He Yi¡¯s observation was true. A deep frown appeared on my face. The timing and position of this boss couldn¡¯t be any worse. Within China at least, all the guilds had arrived at the tacit understanding that the strongest of us would be guarding the sides. It was why we were guarding the right side, and Candle Dragon, the left. For an entire hour, Cyan Beast and us hadn¡¯t attempted to screw each other over not only because of the mobs¡¯ pressure, but also because it wasn¡¯t time yet. Unfortunately, it looked like this mutual understanding was about to be shattered. I glanced ahead and stared at the gigantic, 5-meter-tall boss. It was clad in black armor and dragging a battle axe. Every time it swung its weapon, it would cause a blood-red shockwave that I had no doubt would cause massive damage to all the players on the ground. The attack had an AoE of 20 yards, so only cavalrymen past a certain level of tankiness threshold could even get close to it. Otherwise, the shockwave was just going to slaughter all of them. "We must snatch this boss! We cannot let the Indians think that we¡¯re showing weakness!" I waved my sword, slapped my dragon once on the back and zipped toward the boss with lightning speed. At the same time, I saw a purple figure making its way toward the boss as well. It was Breeze and Rain of course. It was impossible not to notice his Purple Wing Unicorn. Bookmark CH 1392 Aerial battle! When two people meet, only one will emerge the victor. Both Breeze and Rain and I knew this well. It was do or die from the moment we had resolved ourselves to snatch the boss! The Purple Wing Unicorn shot a bolt of lightning that spread into a crackling web toward me. At the same time, Breeze and Rain opened his palm and used Soul Refining Cage, a skill that would immobilize me for 7 seconds straight. His movements were fluid, well-practiced, and took him almost no time to complete. I gave the Chill of the Nine Provinces a light swing before moving into action. First, I angled my body so that the Ancient Divine Dragon would loop around like a jet fighter while I held onto its red mane with my left hand. Then, I activated Battle Astral Wind to block the Purple Wing Unicorn¡¯s lightning strike. Finally, I swung my Chill of the Nine Provinces and clashed blades with Breeze and Rain while I was still upside down. I knew exactly where he was without needing to look. While metallic sparks exploded from our blades, I abruptly sped up and slammed into Breeze and Rain¡¯s shoulder. I could do this because the Ancient Divine Dragon was just a tad faster than the Purple Wing Unicorn. "Ah?!" Breeze and Rain exclaimed in surprise as a blood-red chain appeared around his neck. It was of course the visual effect of Chains of Freedom. Up until this point, I had used the Ghost Armament on several famous players such as Red Maple and Copper Spear. As a result, there was no one among the elites who didn¡¯t recognize its effect. Breeze and Rain twisted away from me and kicked me on the shoulder so that he could get away from me as fast as humanly possible. Then, he yelled, "Just you wait, Lu Chen!" He flew back to his party after shooting the verbal threat. ¡­¡­ Now that I was free to do whatever I pleased, I threw the Chill of the Nine Provinces at the boss''s face using Coiling Dragon Revolution. There was so much force behind the blow that its head was actually thrown back for a second. The boss immediately let out a furious roar and raced after me. Thud! After I caught the returned Chill of the Nine Provinces, I fired another two Ancient Seals at the boss''s feet before I began flying back to my party. There were Spirit Devouring Devils everywhere, and I wasn¡¯t so bold that I would fight this boss right in the middle of them. On the way, I scanned the boss and shared its stats in the guild channel¡ª Spirit Devouring General Shanlie (Ancient Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 300 Attack: 51000~75500 Defense: 62000 HP: 400,000,000 Skills: Battle Axe Ray, Burning Blade Slash, True Martial Oath Introduction: The leader of the ancient giant race, he became a forerunner of the undead legion after succumbing to the temptation of power. The Spirit Devouring General possesses incredible strength, and it is rumored that he can cut a mountain range in half in one strike. [1] ¡­¡­ I took a moment to weigh the boss''s strength. While it was clearly weaker than a Sovereign Rank boss, its DPS was still absolutely terrifying. Its first skill in particular¡ªBattle Axe Ray¡ªturned its basic attacks into cone-shaped AoE attacks with a length of 20 yards, and that was scary. Moreover, I had to pull the boss deep into our party so that God of War, Breeze and Rain and other Cyan Beast elites couldn¡¯t steal the last hit. After all, they were less than a hundred meters away, and they hadn¡¯t given up yet if I knew them at all. This would be quite the tricky boss fight. I pointed at the Dragonlight Cavalry directly in front of me and yelled, "Open up a way so I can lead the boss inside! Eve, Chengfeng, Little Gui, join me to lock down the boss''s aggro! Beiming and Lian Xin, organize our mages and archers to take down this boss without any casualties if at all possible! Priests, don¡¯t stop healing!" After the crazed boss had passed through the gap, the Dragonlight Cavalry immediately "closed the door" and resumed their resistance against the Spirit Devouring Devils. Thank goodness the Spirit Devouring Devils¡¯ strongest assault had passed, or this would¡¯ve strained our people to the max . ¡­¡­ After we were in the right location, I stopped running and activated Fusion Armor. The second my feet hit the ground, I charged straight toward Shanlie and stabbed its leg with Purple Frost Concentration, lowering its Defense by 29.3%. While jumping away from a retaliatory strike, I executed Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo that caused Shanlie to scream in pain. The three dragon knights¡ªHe Yi, Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng¡ªjoined the battle at this moment and worked with me to wear Shanlie down. Every time Shanlie swung its battle axe, deadly shockwaves would ripple across a wide area. Thank goodness I had ordered our players to get out of the way, or someone would be dead already. If even I took almost 300k damage from Battle Axe Ray, everyone else could only do worse. Beiming Xue drew her bow and ordered a volley of Shock Arrows from the Dragonlight Archers. There was a saying that went something like "even ants can kill an elephant given sufficient numbers¡±, and that was exactly the case with the Dragonlight Archers and Shanlie. A thousand Shock Arrows fired in rapid succession were more than enough to chain stun him for a long time! "Roar roar roar¡­" Rainbow-colored draconic beams burst out of the ground and engulfed the boss again and again. It was Lian Xin directing the Holy Mages to whittle down the boss''s HP with Touch of the Dragonkiss. Everyone already knew that the Holy Mages were powerful, but they still managed to surprise us by deleting 190 million HP from Shanlie¡¯s pool of 400 million in just 2 minutes. We were delighted by this outcome, of course. They were the living proof that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls truly deserved its title as the number one guild of China! ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Xu Yang shouted from my right, "Cyan Beast is charging us! What do we do?" I glanced toward that direction and saw Chaos Moon saying to me, "I¡¯ll rally the men and stop them for 5 minutes. Make sure you take out the boss during this time. This boss is ours, and Breeze and Rain ain¡¯t taking this away from us!" I nodded. "Be careful!" "Don¡¯t worry!" Chaos Moon and about a thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen charged toward Cyan Beast¡¯s party. I didn¡¯t worry too much about their safety because they had proven their strength to me long ago, not to mention that they were supported by a large number of bards and priests. Not even Breeze and Rain would be able to get through the Dragonlight Cavalry in just 5 minutes. I kept trading blows with the boss, but while the boss''s HP kept dropping without end, mine almost never fell below the 80% mark. It was the same for He Yi, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi. Unlike our previous grinds, we were 500000 strong with a full party of priests to support us. In a world of cold weapons, the human sea tactic is the best tactic in the world bar none... Less than five minutes later, Shanlie died to my Burning Blade Slash and dropped a couple of equipment drops and other various items. It didn¡¯t reward any Luck, but that was hardly surprising. Luck wouldn¡¯t be the precious stat it was if it was so easy to collect. ¡­¡­ I walked up to the boss and picked up its equipment. There was a pair of Ancient Immortal-grade wristguards that were rolled away by He Yi, a male-exclusive Ancient Immortal-grade metal armor that was rolled away by Li Chengfeng, and a ring that added 87% magic damage that was rolled away by Lian Xin. Gui Guzi and I were the only ones who got jack shit. "Looks like the two of us are the only ones who are empty-handed, Boss Broken Halberd¡­" Gui Guzi laughed. I produced a fiery red skill book and said, "Not necessarily. The boss also dropped this skill book. If it¡¯s some super cheat code or something, then I¡¯m claiming it by right of me being me¡­" Gui Guzi watched me with a look of betrayal on his face. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t meant to be. The second I brought up the skill description, what I saw made me feel like someone had kicked me in the balls¡ª Burning Blade Slash: Elite fighter skill book. ¡­¡­ "OMG, it¡¯s another Burning Blade Slash¡­" I said in a dumbfounded tone. Li Chengfeng exclaimed in excitement, "Hahaha, it¡¯s Lu Chen¡¯s signature skill! That¡¯s wonderful!" Gui Guzi was salivating as well. "Burning Blade Slash is an amazing skill! We must roll for this!" I brought up the loot rolling system and left them to it. I already had the skill, so of course I was going to roll for it. The Top 10 fighters with the highest DPS rolled for the skill book, but it really was between He Yi, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi only. A moment later, Gui Guzi became the proud owner of the second Burning Blade Slash in the guild. I was secretly glad that the skill book went to a worthy owner, to be honest. Gui Guzi was infamously tanky, but his DPS had always been his weak point. Not even the Ghostblade Halberd was enough to make up for the fact that he lacked a powerful offensive skill. That was no longer the case now that he had the Burning Blade Slash. "Care to show off your skill a bit, Little Gui?" Yamete and Du Thirteen demanded with a guffaw. Gui Guzi swung the Ghostblade Halberd in front of him. Immediately, three fiery arcs appeared in front of him in rapid succession. Visually speaking, it was most impressive. ¡­¡­ Yamete clapped Gui Guzi¡¯s shoulder with a laugh. "Haha, our Little Gui is finally OP! You can probably challenge even Candlelight Shadow now¡­" However, Chaos Moon said bluntly, "Challenge Candlelight Shadow? Are you trying to get him killed?" Du Thirteen: "Can you explain, Miss Chaos Moon?" She answered slowly, "The same skill is not the same in the hands of a different person. Little Gui has the Burning Blade Slash now, but does he have Lu Chen¡¯s Attack and precise control? To give you an example, I think the chances of Candlelight Shadow nullifying the Burning Blade Slash perfectly is over 85% for Gui Guzi, but less than 40% for Lu Chen." However, Gui Guzi didn¡¯t let Chaos Moon¡¯s assessment get to him and clenched his fists strongly. "It¡¯s okay. I know I¡¯m not a match for Candlelight Shadow right now. One day though. One day, I¡¯ll surpass him and beat him with my own hands!" Li Chengfeng nodded strongly. "Well said, brother!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment I noticed something. "Speaking of which, weren¡¯t you fighting Cyan Beast just a couple of minutes ago? How are you back already?" Chaos Moon shrugged. "Don¡¯t ask me, ask Cyan Beast. They retreated the second they saw us moving to engage them¡­" Heaven¡¯s Rain giggled. "That¡¯s because Breeze and Rain noticed how quickly we were killing the boss and realized there was no way they could have possibly stolen it¡­" I looked to the front next. Almost all of our Spirit Devouring Devils we had been fighting were dead. ¡­¡­ "What do we do now?" Gui Guzi asked. I looked at He Yi. "Have our engineers arrived yet, Eve?" "They have!" "Awesome! Set up the cloud ladders and White Marsh Catapults! It is time to siege the Godslayer Fortress!" 1. T/N: this description is almost identical to Shatter Queen Lin Qian¡¯s, but with some slight differences that makes it obvious that the king is inferior to the queen. It¡¯s why the queen had said to Lu Chen that she wished he had been her consort instead before she died. ? Bookmark CH 1393 Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was pushing forward while all the other guilds were still defending against the Spirit Devouring Devils. Large groups of Dragonlight Cavalry slowly and carefully escorted the engineers forward so that they could begin their work. One engineer built a Bloodfiend War Drum so that everyone¡¯s Attack would be increased slightly. The rest constructed White Marsh Catapults, ballistae and more at the heart of our chosen main position so that they could be used against the mobs on the walls, or the hostile forces on the ground such as Cyan Beast, the Northern Alliance, Swallow Ear Canton and more. ¡­¡­ At the fortress, the sound of clinking metals and roaring mobs intermingled with each other as multiple lifts rose up from behind the walls. Soon, an innumerable amount of Level 300 fiend-rank succubi archers appeared on the rampart and began shooting at us. "Do we try to scale the walls now, or?" I asked. He Yi shook her head. "Of course not! We¡¯ll take heavy losses if we do that. You, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi may be able to survive everything the mobs throw at you, but the rest of us are just going to die. Let¡¯s leave the engineers to smash like 50% of the mobs with the White Marsh Catapults and ballistae first before we think to scale it with the cloud ladders. Remember, we¡¯re here to earn experience, not die for nothing!" I chuckled. "The boss is wise!" He Yi raised her arm and declared, "All White Marsh Catapults, catapults and ballistae, aim at the mobs in front of you and fire at will! Let¡¯s use up 50% of our ammo first before we decide what to do next!" The engineers all nodded and responded, "Yes, guild leader!" The sound mechanical twangs, and the sky became filled with flaming rocks, normal rocks and giant arrows. The White Marsh payloads crashed on top of the rampart, tore the succubi archers to shreds, and burned their bodies to a crisp. It was basically one-shot-one-kill for any mob that took a direct hit. The White Marsh Catapult was so powerful that it remained the China server¡¯s number one siege weapon to this day. ¡­¡­ About 10 minutes of non-stop bombardment later, most of the succubi archers on the wall were either dead or almost dead. Now was the time to scale the walls and reap the experience and loot we rightly deserved. There wasn¡¯t a single person in the guild who wasn¡¯t delighted by the display of overwhelming power, especially since we had been fighting with our flesh and blood up until this point. It was thrilling to finally be able to use some artillery and bomb the mobs back to hell! Chiang! When I deemed that the time was right, I unsheathed my sword and ordered, "Go! It¡¯s time to set up the cloud ladders! Dragon knights, are you all fully buffed? If you are, follow me to provide cover for the others!" The Ancient Divine Dragon let out a mighty roar and took to the sky after I leaped onto its back. He Yi, Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng joined me soon after, and the four of us flew straight for the walls. Swhoosh! I activated Battle Astral Wind since I had no desire to be turned into a flying porcupine. As if on cue, a group of succubi archers aimed their longbows at me and loosed their arrows. "Die!" Flame exploded around the blade of the Chill of the Nine Provinces as I executed Burning Blade Slash. The succubi archers were low on health after the artillery bombardment, so the skill easily one-shot them all. Not only that, I raised my arm and dropped 20 Ancient Seals along the wide rampart. Not only did my Divine Energy Points go down, it jumped like crazy alongside my experience bar. Thank goodness that artillery support was a thing in this game! Not far away, Li Chengfeng, He Yi and Gui Guzi were flying back and forth across the rampart and killing the succubi archers as well. Our HP dropped rapidly as a matter of course, but Gui Guzi and I predicted this would happen and timed our Xuanyuan Art and Shennong Tastes Grass accordingly. When both our powerful heals had gone into cooldown, all four of us remained safe and sound, and the cloud ladders were mostly set up. In fact, High Fighting Spirits had already leaped onto the rampart and was slaying the mobs right behind Xu Yang. It took only the blink of an eye for the number of Dragonlight Cavalrymen on the rampart to swell to a thousand. However, the mobs responded by dispatching a ton of hammer-wielding Dark Beastmen up their lifts to engage us. It was definitely a challenging experience to become the first guild to reach the walls. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Suddenly, a swift shadow entered my vision. It was far too late to dodge out of the way, so I raised my Cyan Dragon Shield to block it! BANG! It felt like my torso was about to be ripped in half. In fact, whatever hit me was so powerful that I crashed through a parapet behind me and started falling uncontrollably toward the ground. I was in Fusion Armor form right now, and I wasn¡¯t sure if I could summon it in time. In my panic, I activated Heavenly River Transformation and forcefully halted my descent with the power of my Domain. A jump later, I just barely made it back to the wall. I checked my health and noted that I had lost a total of 970k HP. What the hell just hit me? I narrowed my eyes and looked until I saw a black machinery rising up slowly from the center of the fortress. A dozen or so brawny giants were pulling back a steel bolt as thick as my arm with a rope that was at least ten meters long. No wonder it felt like I was hit by a truck. He Yi assessed calmly, "There are only two things we can do in this situation. We either destroy it, or guard against it." Li Chengfeng scanned the fortress interior for a bit before clicking his tongue. "There are archers everywhere in this goddamned fortress. They only need ten seconds or less to shoot even Lu Chen into a flying porcupine, much less us." I nodded. "Yeah, there¡¯s no helping it. Keep an eye on that super ballista and try to minimize our damage taken as much as we can!" ¡°Yeah!" Before I could even finish my sentence, the ballista fired again and penetrated a Dragonlight Cavalryman this time. The poor sod took 2.24 million damage and was one-shot instantly! I let out a helpless sigh before shouting again, "Let¡¯s kill all of the mobs on the wall first before we think on how we should deal with that ballista. In the meantime, pray really hard that it doesn¡¯t target you. It fires once per five seconds, so that means¡­" Everyone laughed. "It¡¯s okay, Lu Chen! We can afford one death!" ¡­¡­ Our several thousand cavalrymen did everything in our power to defend our corner of the wall. The super ballista was shooting at us, and we had to contend with a seemingly endless swarm of mobs from both directions. Although we lost a lot of men in the process, our contribution points¡ªespecially the top players¡ªwere rising like crazy as well. In just 50 short minutes, our players scaled the rankings like crazy, and the gap between me and Breeze and Rain had grown tremendously. It was something Breeze and Rain and God of War absolutely couldn¡¯t stand as a matter of course. Meanwhile, the Spirit Devouring Devils had finally run out of steam, and the other guilds such as Cyan Beast, Throne of the Wild, Candle Dragon, Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance and more were finally able to scale the walls. Soon, nearly a million players were fighting on top of the fortress¡¯s vast rampart. Hunger? Fatigue? None of that mattered right now. Now was the time we threw all our weaknesses behind and earned as many contribution points as possible because it would be converted into a corresponding amount of experience and equipment during the reward stage later. Also, it was rumored that the reward pool for players with 999,999 contribution points and 1 million were completely different, so there was even more of a reason to try hard. Long story short, the more contribution points earned, the better the reward. Seven hours passed by in the blink of an eye. It was almost enough time for the mobs in the fortress to respawn all over again. Boom boom boom! While dropping 3 Ancient Seals and killing a group of Dark Beastmen, I checked my weapon and saw that its durability had fallen to 47%. It was a testament to how many mobs I had killed during this time. Not even the greatest of the Twelve Divine Armaments could withstand the abuse I was putting it through. On the other hand, it goes without saying that I was dominating the contribution point ranking, right? I was correct. I brought up the interface and allowed myself to bask in happiness for a bit¡ª ¡­¡­ The MVP reward was more or less in the bag unless I did something really stupid for the rest of this event. I wondered which of the Twelve Divine Armaments I would get? Even if I somehow failed to get first place, getting second or third in this event wasn¡¯t a bad thing either. Some Ghost Armaments were as good as the Twelve Divine Armaments after all. I also noted that Beauty Lin was currently at fourth place and not too far behind Tear Stain. If she pushed a bit harder, she should be able to enter the Top 3 and be rewarded with a Ghost Armament for her efforts! ¡­¡­ I stood at the edge of the rampart and observed the clamoring mobs and players inside the city. Our Dragonlight Archers and Holy Mages were also shooting the melee-range mobs from the walls. Considering what we had gone through earlier, the one-sided massacre was just as blissful and relaxing of an experience as our rising levels and contribution points. "What are you thinking?" He Yi descended beside me before asking. I shot her a smile before answering, "I was wondering about the system notice we received earlier when we entered the Godslayer Fortress map. It said that a terrible devil is slumbering in the fortress, but what is it? And when will it awaken?" He Yi chuckled. "It¡¯s obviously a boss. As for when it will awaken¡­ I guess it will be when the fortress is conquered?" "Yep." I watched the beelines of players still pouring into the fortress. "If I¡¯m not mistaken, it should be appearing very soon¡­" "Tell everyone to get ready." "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the entire Godslayer Fortress began shaking like an earthquake. The temperature shot up unnaturally, and the next thing we knew dozens of pillars of fire had burst out of the earth. The entire city had turned into a sea of flames! I hurriedly shouted, "Withdraw our troops right now!" But it was too late. Hundreds of Dragonlight Cavalrymen had already evaporated into ashes. As it turned out, the fortress interior was like a giant incineration trap that killed almost everyone who dared to step inside of it. As far as I knew, Heaven¡¯s Rain was the only one among the Dragonlight Cavalry who survived because she happened to be near the stairs when it happened. ¡­¡­ Bang! The earth burst open again, and the giant head of a brownish gray dragon emerged into the open. It spat out a jet of flames and one-shot an unfortunate group of Cyan Beast players! Breeze and Rain gripped his sword and trembled violently. "What¡­ the hell am I seeing?" Tear Stain¡¯s expression was deathly serious as well. "Are you kidding me? The guardian boss of Godslayer Fortress¡­ is one of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns?" CH 1394 The gigantic dragon raised its head high amid the sea of flames. Its eyes were closed, but its sinister-looking teeth gleamed something intimidating and deadly. Its brownish scales gave it the appearance of some strange beast that just crawled out of the earth, and when it expanded its meaty wings I realized that they were at least a hundred meters long. This bastard was even bigger than Strella the Dark Magma had been! Its head already looked like a little hill, and the fact that its wings were covered in flames made us feel even smaller. When it finally opened its eyelids to reveal a pair of merciless eyes, it actually spoke to us in the language or dragons, "This is not your domain. Remain, and you shall bring forth your own destruction!" ¡­¡­ "Skullblood the Earth Devourer¡­ Fuck me¡­" swore Xu Yang as a shiver coursed through his body. I hurriedly raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces and shouted, "All units, move away from Bloodskull now! It¡¯s one of the nine major bosses in the game and not someone we can battle right now! Our lives are worth more than this¡­" Li Chengfeng didn¡¯t hesitate to lead his group of Dragonlight Cavalry away from the inner wall. I took a moment to scan Skullblood with Dark Pupils and got some of its data¡ª Skullblood the Earth Devourer (Divine Rank Boss) Level: 310 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Passive: Completely immune to magic Passive: Completely immune to stun and slowing effects Introduction: Skullblood the Great Earth Devourer used to be one of the greatest elders of the dragon race. Its understanding of earth magic was rivaled by no one, and it was even chosen to become the next Dragon God. However, Skullblood eventually stepped into darkness when its thirst for power grew to uncontrollable levels. After Skullbood was completely taken over by darkness, it killed the existing Dragon God without hesitation, stole the Dragon Domain¡¯s Heart of Divine Dragons, and offered it to Lin Na the Purgatory Ruler as tribute. In return, Lin Na promised to reward Skullblood with even greater dark draconic power. Since then, Skullblood had slumbered beneath the Godslayer Fortress until some adventurers woke it from its millennia-long slumber. It seemed to be looking forward to a great slaughter as well. [1]¡­¡­ My heart skipped several beats as I read to the end of the introduction. Without hesitation, I grabbed the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s red mane, looked behind me and shouted, "The boss is completely immune to magic, so Lian Xin, evacuate our mages and bards to the grounds below and DO NOT come closer until the boss fight is over!" Lian Xin stuck out her tongue to alleviate some of her shock. "Seriously? Very well, we will withdraw right away. Be careful, big bro!" "Mn!" The archers, cavalrymen, tamers and any other class that wasn¡¯t magic-based (not including the priests of course) stayed behind while Lian Xin and our mages were pulling back to safety. Someone might wonder why we even stayed behind at all. I would argue that a super boss¡ªone of the great nine no less¡ªwasn¡¯t something you encountered everyday, and it was perfectly natural to want to experience an epic battle like this. Sure, there was an extremely high chance that all of us were going to die here, but one, it would cost only a level, and two, I couldn¡¯t imagine that there was a single person here who hadn¡¯t prepared themselves for that possibility. ¡­¡­ On the walls, Pop Culture¡¯s guild leader Lone Moonshade was galloping along the rampart when he saw our army movements and said disdainfully, "Withdrawing without a fight? And you call yourselves the number one guild of China?" I simply smiled and ignored the idiot. Gui Guzi pointed the Ghostblade Halberd at Lone Moonshade and yelled, "You think we¡¯re withdrawing? Cretin! Even if I pretend that you somehow have the right to judge our decisions, I bet you¡¯ve never even heard of the word ¡®tactic¡¯ before, Lone Moonshade!" Not far away, Warsky let out a cough and interjected, "The boss is already triggered, so we may as well take it out now. I suggest that we temporarily join hands¡ªmaybe even work together with all the other servers¡ªbefore we do anything else. Remember, if we cannot defeat this boss here, we risk failing the entire March of Chaos patch event." Candlelight Shadow nodded. Lin Yixin smiled in acknowledgement before sending me a message, "Little Cheat, be careful. There is a high chance Warsky and Candlelight Shadow will stab us in the back even though they¡¯re talking about cooperation now." I replied, "I know. Make sure that Snowy Cathaya stays close to us when the fighting begins, okay? A Divine Rank boss is incredibly powerful. Expect to suffer massive damage even if we manage to kill it." "I know~" It was at this moment a black shadow streaked across the sky before stopping above us. It was none other than Vienna¡¯s Sorrow on his black dragon. Gripping a sword and shooting us a polite smile, he said, "I would like to propose that we fight the boss together. Purgatory Sovereign is too powerful a boss for us to bicker among each other. Moreover, we may all be punished by the system if we fail the patch event, and that¡¯s something nobody wants. India, what do you guys think?" God of War declared from atop his Giant Abyssal Beast. "I agree! Until the boss is killed, no one is allowed to PK one another. After that, well, that is a whole another matter of course. On that note, let this be the pre-battle negotiations. Any server who isn¡¯t willing to abide by these rules may withdraw now!" God of War paused for a moment and looked to Breeze and Rain. The man spurred his Purple Wing Unicorn forward and looked at me. "Lu Chen, you are the number one player of the China server, so tell me, will the China server be participating in this boss fight, and do you agree to the terms we¡¯ve stated?" I nodded. "Of course. There is no reason for China to stay out of this boss fight." After the representatives of Frostsword City, Iron Horse City, the Chaotic 27; Tear Stain, Hickey, Little Piglet and more voiced their agreement as well, it was decided that the millions of players from all across the world would cooperate temporarily to defeat the boss. Of course, we all knew that some infighting would inevitably happen when the boss''s HP had dropped to dangerous levels. There was just no point talking about something everyone already knew was going to happen, and could do nothing to stop even if we did talk about it. ¡­¡­ "Let¡¯s go! Don¡¯t hold back!" God of War was the courageous leader type. Right after he said that, he spurred his Abyssal Beast forward and charged Skullblood with his Gold Cavalry without hesitation. When he was a suitable distance away from the gigantic dragon, he raised his sword to signal his men to spread out and attack the boss from every direction. This was how he earned the right to become the first to make contact with the super boss. "When do we act?" Chaos Moon asked. I stepped on a block of scorched stone and answered, "We¡¯re only going to deploy 4000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. 2000 of them will be led by Little Gui, and another 2000 by Buyi. We¡¯ll head in once everyone is fully buffed. There is no telling how this boss will react, so do your best to protect yourself and don¡¯t count on others to cover for you. As for you wall huggers, priests, make sure you heal. Archers, spread out and give it a shower of Shock Arrows. It says it can¡¯t be stunned, but it doesn¡¯t hurt to try¡­ Anyway, I¡¯m going to get down there and lower its Defense now!" "Mn!" I activated Fusion Armor and Great Earth Transformation at the same time. Then, I jumped off the wall and straight toward the boss''s massive back. Skullblood¡¯s back was covered in draconic spikes, and I could easily imagine that it was the toughest spot of all of its parts. That being said, I was also wielding the greatest of the Twelve Divine Armaments. It should be able to pierce Skullblood¡¯s back! Crack! I was right. My blade went right through a giant dragon¡¯s scale and into its flesh. Some of its blood splashed against the Chill of the Nine Provinces¡¯ blade as I lowered its Defense by 17.9%. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was better than nothing. ¡­¡­ "Roar roar¡­" Skullblood the Earth Devourer roared in pain before swinging its tail at me with a speed that didn¡¯t fit its powerful strength and massive size at all. Even with my movement speed, I failed to get out of the way before I was sent flying across the air! BANG! 1426662! Like a cannonball, I crashed against the wall and shattered countless bricks. I felt like all the bones around my chest had been shattered into pieces. If this was how much damage the sonuvabitch did to me with a single basic attack, didn¡¯t that mean that everyone else was going to take at least 2 million damage? I was right again. While Cyan Beast¡¯s Gold Cavalry were surrounding Skullblood and stabbing it with Barrier Break, Skullblood was also flattening them into meat pies in one strike almost like it was playing whack-a-human. Somewhere in the middle, it raised its head and spat a jet of crimson flames at the players. Heavy armor already took extra damage from magic attacks, but magic attacks of a super dragon was even worse¡ª 2412770! 2837322! 5213784! 5526620! ¡­¡­ Countless people ate a crit and died. Even those who were lucky enough to avoid a critical hit still died unless they were among the best of the best. There was almost no one who could withstand a single breath from a Level 310 Divine Rank boss! "Fuck!" While withdrawing to the back with less than 40% HP, God of War shouted in the direction of the Northern Alliance, "Don¡¯t start lowering my opinion of you now, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow! The so-called greatest hero of the north should not be backstabbing the boss from a safe distance!" The taunt got Hero Alliance to move as expected. The ground shook violently as 10000+ Iron Cutter Cavalrymen thundered down the stairs and straight toward the boss, and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow swooped down on the boss from above. In another direction, Warsky Alliance, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Natural Flow, Asura Period and more had also joined the battle. Soon, at least 100000 players were attacking the boss from every direction. A massive yet classic human sea battle had begun. ¡­¡­ On the walls, the archers loosed their arrows at the boss from every direction but failed to inflict any meaningful damage whatsoever. Most of them dealt 0 damage¡ªyou read that right, there wasn¡¯t even a fixed damage of 1 this time¡ªunless they were using an armor-piercing skill, and even then most couldn¡¯t do more than two-digit damage numbers. Beiming Xue bit her lip. "OMG, 1983 damage? Are you kidding me?" He Yi chuckled. "Don¡¯t be disheartened. This Skullblood the Earth Devourer is most likely a defense-type boss." While saying this, she rushed in and scored a basic attack that dealt around 3000 damage only. However, her follow-up Barrier Break managed to do over 70000 damage, so that was good. "Roar roar¡­" Suddenly, Skullblood let out a terrible roar and surrounded himself in sand and stone. Giant rocks with a radius of one meter flew everywhere in unpredictable patterns. It was a super large-scale AoE attack! "Shit!" My heart sank. The rock only dealt around 340k damage to me, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the archer and tamer legions on the walls. My interface showed that at least 240k players had died from that one AoE skill! 1. T/N: is adventurer really the right term here? I know it¡¯s correct, but it just feels weird considering they¡¯re also an army of millions. ? CH 1395 "It¡¯s so OP!" Beiming Xue exclaimed in shock while retreating to safety with less than 25% HP. She was one of the few archers who had survived the AoE skill. The boss''s rock-raining skill had a range of almost 1000 yards, so many guilds had lost almost all of their archers and bards. Even the 50k Dragonlight Archers we had left behind on the walls lost about half their numbers, although the remaining half still had 50% or so HP left. It was the advantage of being a mounted archer. Mounted archers had much higher HP than a normal archer thanks to their mounts, or even they would be hard-pressed to survive the powerful AoE skill. ¡­¡­ Crack crack crack¡­ After I crawled out of the pile of rock that had buried me under and dusted away the dust on my shoulders, I raised my sword without hesitation and activated the Life skill of my Xuanyuan Art. Everyone within 1000 yards of me instantly regained 50% of their HP! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and many more combatants turned around to glance at me. "The Chill of the Nine Provinces truly is a great weapon!" I said nothing and simply rushed toward the boss''s right wing and fired Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo at it. Without pause, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King to unleash another attack while I moved to another position. Basically, my plan was to change my location every time I scored a successful hit on the boss, thus minimizing its chance of catching me with a retaliatory strike. Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, He Yi and everyone else were using the same hit-and-run tactic. Against a super boss like this, surviving equaled higher DPS. Cyan Beast¡¯s army of Gold Cavalry seemed almost endless. They kept charging toward the boss''s lower neck and hacked away with their weapons without fear. All around the boss, the Dragonlight Cavalry, the Iron Cutter Cavalry, the Cyanscale Cavalry and more were doing their best to cut down the boss as well. Skullblood was without a doubt a terrifying boss, but its gigantic body also meant that it could be attacked by thousands of players at once. Even for a so-called defense-type boss, its HP was dropping at a visible rate. The human sea tactic was just that OP! About ten minutes later, the Earth Devourer decided that it was time to do earth-devouring things. After it let out a screeching roar, it crushed a ton of buildings with a swing of its head before opening its mouth. Then, a powerful suction force started drawing in everyone who happened to be standing in its way. Laughing At The Heavens [1] stabbed his spear deep into the ground before barking at his men, "The boss is trying to suck us into its stomach! Find an obstacle to hide behind and steady yourselves!" I frowned. The cone-shaped skill had a range of 100 yards, and, at maximum range, a width of 25 yards. What on earth is this skill anyway? I checked the combat log. It stated: Skullblood the Earth Devourer used "Earth Devouring¡±. The skill lasts 10 seconds! ¡­¡­ 10 seconds? I could only pray that Laughing At The Heavens and his Cyanscale Cavalrymen would last that long! Rustle rustle¡­ The players weren¡¯t the only ones who were sucked into the boss''s mouth. All the debris on the ground was being pulled toward it as well. As if on cue, the Cyanscale Cavalry abruptly left the ground and was swallowed into its stomach before they could so much as make a scream. As the soil on the ground itself was being dragged toward the boss''s maw, Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ spear abruptly snapped under the pressure. Then, he and the several meters wide piece of rock beneath his mount flew into the air at the same time. Bang bang bang¡­ Speaking of which, did you know that Skullblood had razor-sharp teeth deep within its throat? The instant the rocks, soil and players made contact with them, they were crushed to bits almost like they were put through a grinder. Almost a thousand Cyanscale Cavalrymen were dead just like that. "This¡­ this is insane. Laughing At The Heavens was literally ground to smithereens¡­" Lin Bing Dou Zhe muttered in dumb shock. Warsky ordered through gritted teeth, "Maintain formation integrity and don¡¯t stop attacking!" However, the moment the 10-second skill came to an end, and the ground directly in front of Skullblood had turned into a giant pit, it abruptly opened its maw and discharged everything it had devoured earlier. The rocks, the soil, the bodies; they all slammed into Warsky¡¯s formation with the force of a thousand sandstorms! Boom boom boom¡­ Warsky crossed the Immortal Blade in front of him, but he was still knocked at least a dozen or so meters to the back. His HP dropped to less than 30%, and almost everyone around him except Lin Bing Dou Zhe was dead. Warsky¡¯s prided Gold Cavalry was nothing before a Purgatory Sovereign. October Rain shouted at him from afar, "We¡¯re taking way too many casualties! You need to spread out our forces!" Warsky replied through gritted teeth, "How the fuck are we supposed to do that? There¡¯s people everywhere! Our luck is just shit today!" ¡­¡­ However, Skullblood turned away from Warsky almost as if it was trying to refute his claim. The next moment, Hero Alliance suffered a bombardment of rock and earth that killed an entire line of cavalrymen and even some of the priests and bards at the back. That was over a thousand players dead just like that. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow looked furious enough to shatter his own teeth. To vent that anger, he flew to the top of Skullblood¡¯s head and whacked its skull a couple of times with his sword. It was super effective. Skullblood looked up to glare at the dragon knight for an instant before batting him away like a cannonball. Both man and dragon sailed at least a couple hundred meters through the air before slamming into the fortress wall. He looked horrible, and his HP had dropped to 50% or so. Breeze and Rain instinctively opened his palm to cast Soul Refining Cage, but he canceled it midway and swore under his breath, "Fuck, I almost forgot that this motherfucker is immune to all magic. Guys, we need to find a way to disrupt the boss''s rhythm! Otherwise, we¡¯re all going to die to its Earth Devouring skill! It''s pure luck it hasn¡¯t chosen to slaughter us just now!" Somewhere near the perimeter, Little Piglet scored a couple of vicious hits that caused Skullblood¡¯s entire body to tremble with pain. The boss swung its tail at Little Piglet¡¯s shoulder in retaliation, but Little Piglet refused to go down, almost as if he was trying to prove something. He stabbed his sword into the ground to cancel his backward momentum as soon as he could before catching onto the boss''s giant tail. Then, he stabbed it with an Ice Blade Shatter and dealt an amazing 400k+ damage. Defense-ignoring skills were super good against this boss. "Roar roar.." In pain, Skullblood raised its claws and struck Little Piglet three times in a row, dropping his HP to just 10% or so. One more hit would kill him outright. I couldn¡¯t let Little Piglet die here, or we would have one less force to keep Cyan Earth City in check with. So, I leaped forward and lashed out with Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo. I was in Lu Buyi¡¯s party, so all of my stats were increased by 150%. My HP and Defense in particular had reached unprecedented heights as a result. Not only did the combo torment the boss greatly, my Universe Break even triggered the Chill of the Nine Provinces¡¯ special effect and dealt 7 times more damage than normal¡ª 286637! 342121! 371887! 3788932! ¡­¡­ Skullblood¡¯s aggro was transferred to me in an instant. The other peak-level players such as Breeze and Rain, God of War, Tear Stain and more were shellshocked by my damage as well. Tear Stain pursed her lips and sighed. "Friend or foe, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is ultimately a threat that cannot be ignored. A man as powerful and intelligent as him can overturn even seemingly impossible situations if he wants to¡­" Not far away, Red Maple licked his lips and said, "Wanna cooperate with our server and crush Sky City beneath our foot one day, Tear Stain? He¡¯s nothing if he¡¯s Level 0!" Tear Stain let out a chuckle. "Perhaps¡­" While they were chatting with each other, I had to deal with the full brunt of the boss''s assault. The sonuvabitch had executed three consecutive swipes and a bite. Not only did my full-durability Battle Astral Wind disappear almost immediately it was summoned, it only blocked two of its strikes¡ª MISS! MISS! 790821! 831675! ¡­¡­ I crossed the Chill of the Nine Provinces in front of me to block Skullblood¡¯s attacks. Not only did my sword feel scorching hot, a crack appeared from its edge to indicate that it had suffered massive durability damage. I also blocked one of the swipes with the Cyan Dragon Shield, and now there were three deep scars on its surface. The bastard¡¯s Attack was just too high! On the rampart, Murong Mingyue healed me for around 700k HP while shouting, "Control your DPS and survive, Lu Chen! Do you seriously need me to teach you what it means to stand out against overwhelming force?" I swung my sword with the biggest amount of strength I had mustered to date and somehow managed to knock the boss''s claws away from me. "Roar!" As if it felt that its authority was challenged, Skullblood let out another angry roar and attempted to bite me again! "Well met!" I backed a few steps and crouched down a little. Then, I injected a tremendous amount of strength into my Chill of the Nine Provinces and threw it straight into the boss''s mouth! BANG! To my surprise, Coiling Dragon Revolution pierced through the ceiling of the boss''s mouth, the brain and even the skull before spinning back to my hand! As it turned out, I had triggered the septuple damage effect of the Chill of the Nine Provinces again and a critical hit at the same time. Thanks to it, I was able to deal an unprecedented amount of damage to the Purgatory Sovereign! 8574398! ¡­¡­ The boss had a max HP of several hundred million, and you could still see an entire chunk of its HP vanishing into nothing. The strike stunned every expert in the area. No one could imagine a player dealing so much damage to a boss like that until it happened. Breeze and Rain exchange a serious glance with God of War. The latter muttered in a low tone, "It¡¯s no surprise, but the West King is a threat that must be removed so long as he stays in the China server!" Chiang chiang chiang¡­ The exploding sparks on my Cyan Dragon Shield began anew, and I shouted while running away with less than 50% HP, "Are you guys here to fight or watch a movie, Cyan Earth City, Hero City, Burning City??" It was only then Tear Stain, Breeze and Rain and everyone else returned to themselves and saved me from certain death by once again attacking the boss and drawing away the aggro. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s forces emerged from a collapsed section of the walls. Roaming Dragon stared at the distant boss and sucked in a deep breath, "It was as the scouts said. The slumbering devil beneath the Godslayer Fortress really is Skullblood the Earth Devourer, one of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns. Ray of Sunshine, go get ''em as we had discussed earlier. The bards will give you all the buffs you need, and the priests will focus all their healing on you!" Ray of Sunshine spurred his Ink Qilin [2] forward. The golden necklace around his neck could only be the Heaven Suppressing Necklace, a Ghost Armament that granted him 100% lifesteal. It was easily the Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s most prized possession. After defeating many, many powerful bosses they couldn¡¯t before, Wang Dongliang grew arrogant enough to declare, "Together with sunshine, we shall conquer the world¡±. It was a testament to Ray of Sunshine¡¯s strength. 1. T/N: when something terrible is about to happen, you bet your ass LATH will be there to take it all ? 2. T/N: ?? Did he get a new mount? ? Bookmark CH 1396 The Ink Qilin let out a shrill howl before charging down a straight slope. When Ray of Sunshine was about 40 yards away from the boss, he abruptly fired a human-shaped shadow that penetrated the boss''s body like nothing. 279809! Skullblood¡¯s attention was immediately drawn toward Ray of Sunshine. It swiped at the warrior¡¯s Crimson Fire Shield and deleted over 1.15 million HP instantly. Even with full buffs and an HP card, Ray of Sunshine only had slightly over 3 million HP. Normally, there was no chance he would be able to withstand this level of damage. Swhoosh! Ray of Sunshine Charged to the boss''s lower neck and executed a Crimson Flame Slash + Dragon Flame Flurry combo at the wound I had created with Universe Break later. If nothing else, Ray of Sunshine was smart enough to maximize his DPS. Skullblood let out another painful roar as three damage numbers rose above its head¡ª 412373! +412373! 376256! +376256! 352993! +352993! ¡­¡­ He both dealt a terrible blow to the boss and healed back all the damage he had taken a moment earlier. Ray of Sunshine, or more accurately the Heaven Suppressing Necklace¡¯s power caused everyone to salivate unconsciously. A hint of greed flashed across God of War¡¯s eyes. "100% lifesteal, huh? This Ghost Armament shouldn¡¯t belong to the China server. We would¡¯ve swept away Eerie Wind Mountain already if we had this necklace¡­" Breeze and Rain nodded in agreement. "Agreed." Flowing Cloud didn¡¯t say anything, but even her eyes were gleaming with something indecipherable as she watched Ray of Sunshine. The Indians at least knew to hide their reaction well, but Copper Spear of Swallow Ear Canton¡ªhe had returned to the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm after I murdered his ass recently¡ªstraight up stared at Ray of Sunshine with unbridled greed. "God damn, the Heaven Suppressing Necklace is so good. In fact, why don¡¯t we just leave that Chinese to tank the boss alone? He¡¯ll be saving all of us so much pain." Red Maple sneered. "You are wrong, Copper Spear. The 100% lifesteal is useful only if you can dish out a certain amount of damage to the target, and look, the Defense debuff Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand inflicted earlier is almost gone. You wanna bet that this Ray of Sunshine won¡¯t be able to tank nearly as well once the boss has regained its Defense? Even if he could, who¡¯s to say the boss isn¡¯t hiding another instakill or stun skill?" "Really?" As if on cue, Purple Frost Concentration lost its effect and allowed the boss to regain all of its Defense. When Ray of Sunshine swung his weapon once more, he abruptly realized that his DPS had dropped to 40% of what it was before. It was an instant disaster. "Roar roar¡­" Skullblood waved its claws impatiently and dropped a cross attack right on top of Ray of Sunshine. Not only that, it opened its bloody maw and used Earth Devouring once more. Ray of Sunshine was in danger! "Fuck!" Ray of Sunshine once again proved his intelligence by activating Dragon Flame Recovery and his invincibility shield without hesitation. He was the only one who managed to escape while all the players around him were sucked into Skullblood¡¯s bloody maw. When the skill reached its end though, Skullblood ejected a stream of rock, soil and bodies straight at Ray of Sunshine and sent him flying across the air. Unable to get close enough to the boss to lifesteal, his HP dropped to just 10% or so. He would have to let his priests heal him before he could get back into the fight. ¡­¡­ "Now!" Suddenly, Copper Spear made a break for Ray of Sunshine. Dozens of assassins also activated Swift Dash and raced toward him. It was clear as day that they were planning to kill Ray of Sunshine and drop the Heaven Suppressing Necklace! Buzz! A shrill cry cut through the air, followed by 7 sword auras that struck the assassins and killed all of them. The attacker dropping in front of Copper Spear and blocking his path was none other than Li Chengfeng. He said with a smirk while draconic energy brimmed from the Crimson Refinement Sword, "You didn¡¯t really think you were going to successfully kill a Chinese player right before Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, did you?" Copper Spear looked furious, but he turned away and left without a word. I let out a cold snort. "He¡¯s not one to fall for cheap provocations, I see¡­" Dominating Heaven Blade snorted disdainfully as well. "He¡¯s a shameless bastard. Of course his face is thick enough to tank most taunts. By the way, is there a story between Legendary Brave and Ray of Sunshine or what? I wasn¡¯t expecting you to go save him." Li Chengfeng replied incredulously while withdrawing his sword, "The hell are you talking about? I just don¡¯t want the Heaven Suppressing Necklace to fall into Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s hands." Dominating Heaven Blade: "..." Me: "Come on, we still have a boss to kill!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ We continued to cooperate tirelessly to wear down Skullblood the Earth Devourer, but that Earth Devouring and Rockslide skills were just way too OP. There were many blood-spitting moments where even I felt like saying ¡°fuck it¡± and throwing in the towel. Still, 90 grueling minutes later, the boss''s HP finally dropped to 4% or so¡ªthe most critical moment of any boss fight. Everyone wanted to score the last hit, although it was difficult to say who had the biggest chance to succeed. There were dead bodies everywhere in and outside the fortress. Even if I were to make a conservative estimate, I reckoned that Skullblood had killed at least ten million players up until this point. Moreover, everyone here was an elite of their server, or they wouldn¡¯t dare to venture into the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm in the first place. Currently, the elite players of all servers sat around Level 220 on average, and the boss was Level 310. The 90-level gap was the main reason we were sustaining such terrible losses. If, say, we were all Level 310, then the losses wouldn¡¯t be nearly as bad. Chiang chiang chiang¡­ I blocked a triple strike from the boss and retaliated with Burning Blade Slash + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo. At the same time, I tried to estimate the boss''s remaining HP. The game didn¡¯t have an in-game DPS calculator, so I could only estimate the boss''s HP based on our average DPS and Skullblood¡¯s HP regeneration speed. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, the boss had a total of 1.5 billion HP or so, 4% of that would be 60 million HP, and 1% of that would be 15 million HP. With my DPS, I should be able to do around 2 million damage to the boss, meaning that the best timing to go all out would be around 0.15% HP or so. To say that this would be difficult would be an understatement though. For starters, it wasn¡¯t easy to visualize what 0.15% looked like on an HP bar. Two, practically everyone would be switching up their strategies and DPS tactics to prevent people like me from securing the last hit. Finally, it wasn¡¯t like the boss would be doing nothing throughout these shenanigans. Argh, what a pain in the ass this is! "Boss Broken Halberd!" Gui Guzi suddenly called out to me from the sky, "I think they¡¯re about to make their move! Breeze and Rain has slipped a group of players behind Beauty Lin¡¯s party, and Natural Flow has moved about 5000 Dragon Punisher Archers into their effective range. I wonder what they¡¯re planning¡­" I rolled my eyes. "Do you even need to ask? They¡¯re obviously plotting to kill us." Beep! It was at this moment Lin Yixin sent me a message: "Little Cheat, Purple Marquis and I have agreed that we will turn around and take our all nearby Cyan Earth City players in 60 seconds. What are you going to do?" I answered, "In that case, we¡¯ll be clearing out all hostiles in our area within 60 seconds as well!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ I looked up and ordered in the guild channel, "Beiming, tell all Dragonlight Archers to lock onto Natural Flow¡¯s Dragon Punisher Archers and be ready to kill in 60 seconds. Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen, the two of you will charge God of War and Breeze and Rain¡¯s party with 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and interrupt their rhythm. Li Chengfeng and Eve, work together with me to deal the last hit to the boss. Lian Xin, get up the walls with the Holy Mages now. The true battle is upon us!" "Yessir!" The gang¡¯s response was strong and full of excitement. Although Skullblood the Earth Devourer was just the eighth strongest boss of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns, it was still one of the nine major bosses in the game. The chances of it dropping one of the Twelve was pretty huge. Even if the last hitter wasn¡¯t lucky, it should still drop a Ghost Armament, an Ancient Immortal-grade equipment or even a basic Divine Armament at least. Otherwise¡­ Eternal Moon Corporation¡¯s employees might want to consider hiding in a bomb shelter when this boss fight was over¡­ ¡­¡­ The Dragonlight Cavalry withdrew out of the boss''s attack zone and got ready for the inevitable war. It wasn¡¯t just us. Blazing Hot Lips and God¡¯s Domain were a step shy from baring their teeth against each other, and Warsky Alliance against Hero Alliance. Unfortunately, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was the only one who was facing pressure from two guilds at once. Not only that, one of them was the strongest guild in Cyan Earth City, and the other, the second strongest guild in Elephant City. However, our opponent acted earlier than we expected. Flowing Cloud suddenly raised her arm and ordered, "Suppressive fire!" The Dragon Punisher Archers immediately sent their Shock Arrows, Skypiercers and more flying toward our Dragonlight Cavalry. I hurriedly leaped onto my dragon¡¯s back, took to the air and shouted, "Counter attack now!" Beiming immediately gave the order for the Dragonlight Archers to Far Shot their skills. Gui Guzi and his 5000 Dragonlight Cavalry also began galloping toward Cyan Beast¡¯s main force. In fact, he came face to face with God of War and Breeze and Rain¡¯s forces. However, Gui Guzi was a natural hooligan who feared nothing and no one. He brought his Ghostblade Halberd to bear and clashed blade with both generals at once. It was his fearless courage that won him his reputation! The scene dissolved into complete chaos the moment the infighting began. Even Skullblood froze as if it couldn¡¯t believe that the "united" force of humanity doing battle against it a second ago would suddenly bare their fangs against each other. Well, this was humanity. It was something monsters like it would never be able to understand¡­ ¡­¡­ All the main guilds were busy bashing each other¡¯s faces in. Only Purgatory Mad Dragon, Dark Mercenaries, Asuka Periods and more second-tier guilds were still fighting against the boss. Ten minutes later, the boss''s HP had dropped to 1%, although it was impossible to guess if it was 1.0% or 1.9%. In the air, He Yi cried out to me, "Lu Chen, the boss is almost done. Get ready!" "Yeah!" I grabbed the lantern vine, pulled myself up my dragon, and charged straight toward the boss. I saw Breeze and Rain, God of War, Red Maple, Tear Stain, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and every other super-tier expert doing the same thing. Hot damn, this is so chaotic! "Don¡¯t hesitate! Charge!" In one direction, I saw Warsky, Ray of Sunshine, Little Piglet, Lin Bing Dou Zhe and more charging toward the boss. In the other, I saw Stranger of Three Lifetimes and more top-tier experts doing the same thing as well. Suddenly, I caught sight of something strange. One woman was Charging horizontally and parallel to the boss for some reason! Swhoosh! My heart grew colder. I had a bad feeling about this! My bad premonition was correct. The woman was Tear Stain, and she had Charged behind the group where Warsky, Little Piglet and more were. Then, she executed her SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill¡ªYemaek Slash! Boom! Warsky, Ray of Sunshine, Little Piglet and more suddenly froze in their tracks. The skill prevented its prey from moving for 3 seconds! CH 1397 Holy light descended from the sky like the rain. Although Warsky, Ray of Sunshine, Little Piglet and more were frozen for three seconds, Tear Stain knew that she wouldn¡¯t be able to kill either of them. That was why she charged toward the boss and ordered, "Men, pin them down!" Hundreds of Throne of the Wild cavalrymen immediately rushed over and threw their Trapping Nets. There was no way they were getting out of the infinite trap unless a miracle happened. Suddenly, Farewell Song emerged from the darkness and one-shot several cavalrymen. Then, he dashed straight toward the boss. He might be the only assassin in the entire world who had the guts and the skill to challenge a boss like Skullblood. ¡­¡­ In the sky, Li Chengfeng and He Yi were impeded by the black dragon knight, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. The man was able to act with impunity thanks to some ground support. Dominating Heaven Blade tried to make a rush for the boss, but they ran into Red Maple, Purple Thunder, Cyan Frost and more Swallow Ear Canton players almost all too quickly. "Fuck them! Kill them!" Dominating Heaven Blade was going all out. A long time ago, Gods of Destruction had been the second best guild in the China server, but today they could barely make it to the Top 10 of the China Guild Ranking. If they didn¡¯t perform well, and soon, the next ranking announcement would most likely be their death knell. That was something Dominating Knight God, Dominating Warrior God and more couldn¡¯t endure, much less the guild leader himself, Dominating Heaven Blade. Unfortunately for them, their opponent was Red Maple¡¯s group. Swhoosh! Freezing Slash froze Dominating Warrior God into an ice sculpture. Then, Cyan Frost stabbed Dominating Mage God through his Magic Shield and dealt over 570k damage, killing him instantly. Dominating Knight God¡¯s eyes turned bloodshot. "Fuck!" However, he was stunned before he even managed to turn his spear around. It was Purple Thunder who had hit him with an Ambush. For a short time, Dominating Knight God and Dominating Warrior God stood shoulder-to-shoulder, unable to move even a muscle. Bang! Red Maple struck Dominating Heaven Blade across his blade and sent him stumbling toward the rock right between Dominating Knight God and Dominating Warrior God. A smirk crossed Red Maple¡¯s lips as he said, "I can kill you useless fucks like dogs!" He opened his palm and summoned a deadly storm of blood-red maple leaves into existence with his divine energy. At the same time, Cyan Frost fired an AoE skill that encompassed Dominating Heaven Blade, Dominating Knight God and Dominating Warrior God altogether. The unfortunate trio could only glare at their killers before they dissolved into white light and dropped a couple pieces of equipment. They never stood a chance. "Holy shit, that is not a way I would choose to go!" Some distance away, Eyes Like Water caught sight of Gods of Destruction elites¡¯ crushing defeat and had to voice her shock. While doing so, she didn¡¯t forget to cut a Cyan Beast Gold Cavalryman¡¯s neck with a basic attack before killing him with Barrier Break. Then, she and dozens of Blazing Hot Lips players continued pushing toward the boss. ¡­¡­ Thud! Suddenly, an arrow appeared out of nowhere and struck Eyes Like Water in the middle of her chest. The warrioress¡¯ eyes widened as the ¡°Stunned¡± icon appeared above her head. "Watch out! It¡¯s the English!" She was correct. The person who shot her was an archer from the Blood Soul guild of Sunset City, and the super high-level metal-armor player charging toward her while she was incapitated was none other than the guild leader himself, Soul Slayer! He was an expert with an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill! Buzz! Soul Slayer raised his sword high, and the image of a bloody, giant god appeared above his head. He declared with a savage smile on his face, "Just go home and take a nice nap, lass from China! This place doesn¡¯t need you, and this boss belongs to the Northern Alliance!" "Shit!" Eyes Like Water blinked frantically, but there was nothing she could do to stop him. Boom! The Odin Slash fell. When the dust settled, literally everyone in her group was one-shot except Eyes Like Water herself. Soul Slayer rushed forward and pressed his sword right between Eyes Like Water¡¯s chest. Then, as if he wanted to draw out her death, he slowly pushed the blade forward while licking his lips. "Not bad, not bad. Not many people can survive my Odin Slash. Still, you must die. So long, lass!" All Eyes Like Water managed was a frown before she dissolved into white light and vanished from the fortress. ¡­¡­ "Motherfucker!" I cut down a Cyan Beast magic knight before yelling at He Yi and Li Chengfeng from the ground, "Eve, pin down Vienna¡¯s Sorrow[1]! Chengfeng, follow me to open a hole for the players of our server! Everyone except us has been pushed away from the boss!" "Got it!" Li Chengfeng yelled back. "You make your charge on the ground, and I¡¯ll assist you from the sky!" "Yeah!" A bit of worry flashed across He Yi¡¯s features. "Be careful, Lu Chen. There are a ton of top-tier experts on the ground!" "No worries!" I shot a glance at Eyes Like Water¡¯s dead body and felt a deep sense of humiliation was permeating inside my chest. Soul Slayer would do this to my ally? He will pay! ¡­¡­ Protected by Fusion Armor, I ran straight toward the group of dozens that belonged to Swallow Ear Canton. Red Maple, Cyan Frost and Purple Thunder were among them. Consciously or not, it looked like God''s Domain was playing the role of a shield for the Northern Alliance this time. Swhoosh! An assassin¡¯s blade abruptly emerged from the darkness. It was Purple Thunder attempting to Ambush me from the flank. A smirk crossed my lips, however. I found out his position 3 seconds ago, so his sneak attack was destined to end in total failure! I shattered a stone with my boots and rotated my body suddenly. Then, I kneed Purple Thunder right in the chest before stabbing him in the throat. The series of movements only took me 0.2 seconds to complete. In fact, Purple Thunder was still in the process of thrusting his dagger forward when his eyes widened. He clearly couldn¡¯t believe that it was possible to minimize one¡¯s action to this extent until it was too late. Cyan Frost¡¯s Freezing Slash greeted me next as I continued forward without pause. An instant before the skill could make contact with me, I activated Battle Astral Wind and nullified it completely. At the same time, I thrust the Chill of the Nine Provinces forward¡ªby the way, Purple Thunder¡¯s body hadn¡¯t yet despawned from my blade¡ªand skewered Cyan Frost right through the chest like satay. As I executed Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash combo, I shifted my feet so that the latter skill could hit Red Maple as well! "Shit!" Red Maple¡¯s reaction was much faster than Cyan Frost¡¯s, so he was able to Guard right before the hit. Still, he was blown back ten meters or so. I shook my sword once and caused Purple Thunder and Cyan Frost¡¯s bodies to dissolve into white light. Then, I rushed toward Red Maple and brought my sword down with a powerful swing! Chiang! Red Maple just barely parried the strike, and the sheer force behind the strike had temporarily rooted him in place. I kicked him in the shoulder almost the same time he attempted to sweep me off my feet. I wasn¡¯t planning to kill him though, at least not now. I pushed hard and propelled myself in the opposite direction like a cannonball! Swhoosh! As soon as I reached the Northern Alliance¡¯s group, I cast Myriad Swords Obliteration that shrouded at least a couple hundred English players. Right after that, I shot Dragon Slaying Slash that Soul Slayer just barely dodged out of the way. The man stared at the burn mark on the ground and uttered, "Fuck, I¡¯m his real target!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Suddenly, I felt a Domain approaching me from the flank with incredible speed. There were less than ten players in the world who possessed this level of movement speed and decisiveness, but only one that hated me to the very bone¡ªBreeze and Rain! To say that Breeze and Rain wanted to swallow me alive would be an understatement. He had lost to me so many times that he could write an entire book of grievances with the blood and tears he shedded as the ink. As the matter stood, there was no chance he was ever going to leave me alone. Chiang! I spun around to meet him even as my shield heated up all of a sudden. Breeze and Rain was in the middle of executing his Blazing Slash, and his second and third strikes were just moments from hitting me! I crossed my shield and my sword in front of myself to block the attack! I was able to block the second strike, but Breeze and Rain waited patiently until a flaw appeared in my movements. Without hesitation, he kicked my sword in the hilt, broke my Guard stance utterly and landed Moonbreaking Slash at the same time as the third hit of his Blazing Slash¡ª 319878! 472676! After scoring the successful hit and deleting a huge chunk of my HP, Breeze and Rain immediately followed up with his Divine General Skill, Soul Capture. If he was able to lower my stats by 70%, then the arrow rain alone would be enough to delete me from existence. However, Breeze and Rain canceled his own skill before it could reach completion. At the same time, he suddenly jumped away from me. Swhoosh! It was the right choice. My God Binding Art had been 0.1 second away from trapping him in place, but he somehow saw through it and dodged just in time to save himself. A short distance away, Copper Spear couldn¡¯t help but click his tongue in wonder, "God damn, the duel between two Heavenly Kings is so shameless. I feel like my bottom line is vanishing just looking at the two of them¡­" I was too busy to care about his comment, however. I bent backward just in time to dodge a basic attack God of War had aimed at my nose. The guy was obviously working together with Breeze and Rain to kill me. After the miss, he didn¡¯t hesitate to unleash a close-range Inferno Sixtuple Slash! There was no dodging this one, so I raised my shield and blocked the whole thing with Guard. My HP dropped to 50% at the end of it, and I was currently too far away for Murong Mingyue to heal me. I would have to survive this on my own. Swhoosh! As I ran, I tossed my sword at God of War and deleted much of his HP with a Coiling Dragon Revolution. I would¡¯ve hit Breeze and Rain too, but the guy was a tad more skilled than God of War and was able to dive into one of the pits Skullblood had created right before it would hit. Still, Breeze and Rain wouldn¡¯t be able to come at me immediately, so I sped up and raced toward Soul Slayer. While jumping out of the pit, Breeze and Rain shouted, "He¡¯s trying to kill Soul Slayer! Don¡¯t let him succeed, God of War!" "Dream on!" I sneered as I activated Ghost Spirit Step Art. A few lightning-quick zigs and zags later, I was able to slip around God of War¡¯s assault and drop Myriad Swords Obliteration + Summon the Storm combo on top of a group of enemies including Soul Slayer himself. The man immediately dropped to 30% HP or so. Thunderous Charge! I vanished from my original spot and appeared in front of Soul Slayer a moment later. Soul Slayer was the leader of the second strongest guild of Sunset City, so he was quite an experienced man. Even so, he couldn¡¯t help but shudder when he saw the look in my eyes at close range. "What¡­ what are you doing?" I replied indifferently, "Killing you, of course!" Soul Slayer¡¯s heart shattered the moment I waved my left hand and wrapped his neck in blood-red chains. No one wanted to be a victim of Chains of Freedom, and Soul Slayer was no exception. 1. E/N: Vienna can easily one-combo Lu Chen, He Yi should be dead within 10 seconds of 1v1 ? CH 1398 I felt one, no, two gusts of wind charging toward me from behind. It was God of War and Breeze and Rain attacking me at the same time. I crouched down and raised the Cyan Dragon Shield above my head, blocking the first strike from Breeze and Rain. Then, I raised one of my legs into a full-powered back kick that struck God of War in the waist and sent him rolling at least five or six meters across the ground. Finally, I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces and activated the Death skill of the Xuanyuan Art right in front of Breeze and Rain and God of War¡¯s faces! Swhoosh! Both players lost 50% of their HP, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for Soul Slayer. Having less than 50% HP after the massive damage I had dealt to him earlier, the bastard could only die and drop 10 levels in a row. God of War himself was in grave danger since he had only had 70% HP, and 20% now. Any one of my skills could kill him right now. "Die with him!" I tanked Breeze and Rain¡¯s strike with my body and parried Red Maple¡¯s sword away with the Cyan Dragon Shield. Then, I leaped into the air and executed Thousand Ice Slash. Out of all of my currently available skills, this one had the biggest area of effect. It was the best skill to use to narrow an opponent¡¯s escape options. God of War gritted his teeth and activated his invincibility skill. Unfortunately for him, I abruptly canceled my skill at the last moment and unfolded my bloody pair of wings. Then, I dropped a golden sword dozens of meters right on top of his head. Boom! God of War turned limp and hit the ground with a thud. He might have had a slight chance of surviving my Thousand Ice Slash with 20% HP, but my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill? Never. ¡­¡­ "What the hell¡­" Breeze and Rain was visibly rattled after watching God of War dying right before his eyes. God of War himself must be mad as hell right now. Cyan Beast and God''s Domain¡¯s best players had joined hands to kill me, and I still managed to eliminate my primary target and claim a couple of consolation prizes on the side. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if God of War was throwing a tantrum in the real world right now. I also wouldn¡¯t be surprised if Breeze and Rain told me that it wasn¡¯t the first or even the tenth time it had happened. Swhoosh! The battle wasn¡¯t over yet though. I caught the flash of a sword stabbing toward me, so I spun around and retaliated with a mighty punch. I felt my fist striking something soft and bouncy at the same time the sword pierced through my chest and dealt 400k damage to me. It was only after I knocked my attacker away did I notice that it was Flowing Cloud. "Huh¡­" Flowing Cloud stared at the messy shreds of steel and fleshy ribbons across my chest and my face. She froze. My HP had dropped below 19%, so I hurriedly backed away from her while downing a Rank 13 Health Potion and casting Tenacity of the Dead. Breeze and Rain shouted at Flowing Cloud in an exasperated tone, "For fuck¡¯s sake, Flowing Cloud! There are better times and places than now to be fawning over the love of your life! Now work with me to take out Lu Chen! We¡¯ve already lost one boss to him, we cannot lose a Purgatory Sovereign to him as well!" Flowing Cloud replied, "R-right¡­" ¡­¡­ However, a draconic breath and a mass of sword auras descended from the sky and drove back both Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud away from me. It was Li Chengfeng and his Blue Crystal Dragon finally coming to my rescue. With a faceful of arrows¡ªseriously, his entire face was covered in arrows¡ªhe said, "Natural Flow¡¯s Dragon Punisher Archers are so OP, man. I was stunned for 13 seconds straight, and I would¡¯ve died if Little Gui hadn¡¯t cast Shennong Tastes Grass¡­" I grinned. "Oh shit, that makes sense. I was wondering how I managed to survive for so long against so many experts¡­" Another 7 or 8 arrows struck my chest armor while we were chatting, so I broke into a run and said, "Time¡¯s running out, Chengfeng! Let¡¯s kill the boss before it¡¯s too late!" "Yeah!" We left Cyan Beast and Natural Flow behind and raced toward the boss as quickly as we could. Ultimately, this conflict was just a case of revenge killing. In the future, there would be plenty of opportunities to "spar" with my nemeses. On the other hand, killing Skullblood was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If we missed it, it would be gone forever. Although most of the players had switched their attention from the boss to each other, at least a thousand players from all servers were still attacking the boss. I saw Skullblood using its Earth Devouring skill on an unfortunate group of Hero Alliance players. In fact, a couple of them were even Ancient Divine Skill owners. How unfortunate for them. I checked Skullblood¡¯s HP bar and noted that it was still showing 1%. However, it was now flashing rapidly. This visual indicator occurred when the boss''s HP had fallen below 1%! "What do we do?" Li Chengfeng asked. I gritted my teeth. "We attack together, but wait until I¡¯ve injected it with Purple Frost Concentration for maximum damage!" "Got it!" "Also, give me a ride. We¡¯re going to attack from atop its head!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I leaped into the air and caught the Blue Crystal Dragon¡¯s talon. The second we flew above the boss''s head, I let go and stabbed the Chill of the Nine Provinces right through its skull. Immediately after that, I executed my two strongest melee skills¡ªBurning Blade Slash and Universe Break¡ªand all of my AoE skills that didn¡¯t fall under the melee skill cooldown limitation such as Myriad Swords Obliteration, Rise of the Guardian Dragon and Summon the Storm. Li Chengfeng also executed his Dragonbone Flurry, Reverse Scale Slash, Dragonblade Revolution and more skills at the boss''s open wound. It was chaos. Everyone was dishing out their strongest combos in order to steal the last hit. The boss let out its death throes, and many players howled in despair. It wasn¡¯t until I saw the system announcement that I found out who was the one who killed the precious boss¡ª Ding~! Congratulations to player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" for killing one of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns, Skullblood the Earth Devourer! They have gained 7 Luck, 1000000 Reputation, 900000 March of Chaos contribution points, and the ultimate treasure Skullblood the Earth Devourer was carrying, the "Dragon Soul Ring (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)"! ¡­¡­ The boss didn¡¯t drop a Divine Armament of the Twelve, but it did drop a Ghost Armament! I shivered as a shower of equipment erupted from the boss''s head. Although the system announcement claimed that I had gained the Dragon Soul Ring, it was actually still in the air and perfectly claimable by anyone who got to it first. I was falling together with the boss right now, and my only advantage compared to my competitors was that I was the closest person to the loot. It would have to be enough! I withdrew my sword and watched the shower of equipment closely. An instant later, I spotted a ring shining a brilliant crimson glow. This is it! Thud! I was just about to grab the ring when a gust of wind suddenly hit me. It was Vienna¡¯s Sorrow hitting me with a sword aura and pushing me away. I hurriedly canceled my Fusion Armor and leaped onto my dragon¡¯s back, but it was too late. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was already extending a hand toward the loot. Thud! It wasn¡¯t meant to be, however. An arrow hit him at just the right time and paralyzed him. On the ground, Beiming Xue chuckled cheekily as she lowered her bow. "Ohh, look at that rain of equipment!" There was no way she could grab anything, however. To be more specific, there was no way she could grab any equipment before the tens of thousands of players running in her direction ran her over. So, she did the only thing she could do in this situation¡ªshe cast a shameless Well of the Abyss and denied everyone within range from the loot! However, Well of the Abyss couldn¡¯t affect aerial units. A purple unicorn flashed through the rain of equipment, and it was Breeze and Rain successfully grabbing a leather armor helmet for himself. Before he could be happy though, he abruptly took six hits in rapid succession and nearly died. It was Gui Guzi hitting him with Burning Blade Slash, and Lin Yixin dishing out a three-hit combo. Never one to take risks when the potential loss was greater than the profit, Breeze and Rain activated his invincibility skill and escaped to safety! ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin and Gui Guzi tried to grab as many items as they could. In fact, they almost bashed each other¡¯s faces in the process despite being allies. Thankfully, our actual enemies such as Red Maple, Beethoven¡¯s Joy and more showed up to divert their attention. Also, Beiming Xue managed to grab metal armor legguards while Well of the Abyss was still active. "Fuck!" However, Beiming Xue swore with a pout. "Archean Immortal-grade? What a useless piece of trash!" Me: "..." While leaning back on her dragon¡¯s back and swaying her pretty legs a little, Lin Yixin showed off a pair of metal-armor boots with a smirk on her face, "These are Sacred Armament boots, so I¡¯ll count this as a win¡­" Gui Guzi said, "The gloves I got are Ancient Immortal-grade. Boss Broken Halberd, did you get the Ghost Armament?" I opened my hand while the Ancient Divine Dragon hovered in the sky. The crimson ring shining brightly at the center of my palm was one hundred percent the Ghost Armament, Dragon Soul Ring. Then, I brought up its stats screen for everyone to see. While I was still surrounded by enemies, I was pretty sure that an army powerful enough to punch through Lin Yixin, Gui Guzi, He Yi and Li Chengfeng and snatch the Ghost Armament from my hand hadn¡¯t been born yet. So, I leisurely admired the ring while every other top player within the area was salivating at its amazing stats. I bet they wished they were Luffy so that they could snatch the ring from me with a rubber arm¡ª Dragon Soul Ring (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Strength: +2400 Stamina: +2550 Agility: +2450 Intelligence: +2850 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 115% Ghost Armament: Dragon Soul Regeneration. Restores 5% of user¡¯s max HP per second. Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 40000 Level Requirement: 230 Reputation Requirement: 1200000 ¡­¡­ I could faint from sheer happiness. I immediately removed my Apparition Ring and put on the Dragon Soul Ring. With these two rings, I shall rule them¡ª [1] Ding! System Notice: You cannot equip two Ghost Armaments on the ring slot! My heart shattered like glass into a million pieces. My 5% HP regeneration! If I could equip the Dragon Soul Ring, I could¡¯ve regenerated 200k HP per second, an effect that rivaled even the insane HP regeneration of the Immortal Blade! Even if the Ghost Armament effect didn¡¯t exist, 40k extra HP and 115% Attack were super attractive stats in their own rights. Why did this stupid limitation exist? Dammit¡­ He Yi noticed my expression and asked me, "What¡¯s wrong? Do you not meet the item requirements?" I shook my head. "No, no." "Then why aren¡¯t you equipping it?" Lin Yixin asked. My tears immediately dripped uncontrollably[2]. "You can only wear one Ghost Armament ring at a time¡­" Beiming Xue and Chaos Moon immediately giggled at my misfortune. "That¡¯s fair. If you could, everyone else might as well quit the game right now!" ¡­¡­ "Now that the boss is dead, we have some time to rest before we move onward toward the next major battle. Wanna log out and grab some lunch?" Lin Yixin suggested with a smile of her own. "It¡¯s my treat this time. Sister Eve, Sister Mingyue and Little Xin should come too. We need to discuss how we should share Little Cheat¡¯s Dragon Soul Ring anyway!" I muttered emotionlessly, "Why do I feel like I¡¯ve become a victim?" He Yi giggled. "Yeah, let¡¯s rest. The next leg of our adventure is going to cost us another untold amount of hours after all. Where should we have lunch though?" Lin Yixin said, "I leave it up to you guys¡­" "Let¡¯s go to Juxiange then. I heard that even their cheapest meals there cost 2000 RMB¡­" Murong Mingyue suggested like a true demoness. I shrugged. "Sure. It¡¯s not like Yiyi is lacking in money. If you are free, you should join us as well, Beiming. Your university is super close to Suzhou anyway." Beiming Xue nodded. "Of course." "Alright, see y¡¯all offline¡­" ¡­¡­ After the brief discussion, all the executive-level players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls logged out of the game. We had earned our pay, and it was time to catch some well-deserved rest. And yes, I was fully aware that the real reason Lin Yixin and He Yi were setting up this lunch was to steal the Dragon Soul Ring from my cold, dead hands, but whatever¡­ 1. T/N: Yes, I took some liberties here. Like the author would know about LOTR back then ? 2. E/N: DEEJAY LUCHEN, SUFFERING FROM SUCCESS, ANOTHER ONE ? Bookmark CH 1399 It was around 11 am when we flattened the Godslayer Fortress and conquered an important stronghold of the event. However, this was but the first of many more difficult challenges. The Earth Devourer was just the eighth strongest boss of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns, and all of the bosses that were said to reside in the unknown ruin right now such as Opero the Nightwalker, Linda the Whisperer, Coldblade the Infinite Storm and even Lin Na the Purgatory Ruler himself were way stronger than Skullblood was. I had no doubt that one hell of a battle awaited us. ¡­¡­ The spring season had visited Suzhou in full force. The girls were dressing skimpier and skimpier as a result of the rising temperature. For this lunch, Lian Xin had put on a light blue casual shirt and tight-fitting casual pants. They outlined her long, slender legs and firm butt nicely, drawing many eyes on the streets. He Yi and Murong Mingyue both wore classy outfits and mini skirts that gave them the air of mature women. As I followed behind them, I made a silent fist and whispered in my head: Now this is my kind of dish¡­ We entered the car and traveled to Suzhou University first. When we arrived, Lin Yixin was already waiting for us in her pretty outfit when we got there. Next, we went straight to Juxiange. Lin Yixin had booked a room for us and asked the dishes to be served first while we waited for Beiming Xue to arrive. When the second last dish was served, the archer finally knocked on the door, came in smelling of the streets, and sat down beside me. The very first thing she said was, "Congratulations on getting the Flying Dragon Wristguards and the Dragon Soul Ring, big bro!" I smiled. "Congratulations to you on getting the Infinite Quiver too¡­" A smirking Lian Xin looked back and forth between He Yi and Lin Yixin before asking me an evil question, "So, who are you going to gift the Dragon Soul Ring since you can¡¯t wear it, big bro? Will it be Sister Eve, or Sister Lin Yixin?" I hummed thoughtfully. "I don¡¯t know yet. I guess that depends on how they perform¡­" He Yi chuckled. "What will the criteria be then?" I tried to think of something, but all I got for my efforts was a headache. So, I asked, "What about you, sis? How do you think they should decide the ownership of the Dragon Soul Ring?" Murong Mingyue leaned against her backrest and crossed her arms in front of her chest, the movement causing her massive 34Es to shudder visibly beneath her white bustier. After stroking her hair and shooting me a flirtatious smirk, she answered, "It¡¯s simple. We shall decide this by testing the thickness of their face. The Dragon Soul Ring is a precious Ghost Armament after all. It is only right that they pay in something of appropriate value, right?" "Uh¡­" Both He Yi and Lin Yixin looked stupefied by the suggestion. "What do you mean testing the thickness of our face?" Murong Mingyue chuckled. "You guys saw the pharmacy on the opposite side of this street, right? I want the three of you to walk into the pharmacy together. Lu Chen, ask the pharmacist if you can purchase two condoms, and no, you¡¯re not allowed to buy an entire box. Just two condoms. After that, Lu Chen will turn around and leave, and both Eve and Yiyi will follow right behind him. This way, the pharmacist will know that the three of you are together, and that the reason Lu Chen bought the two condoms is to¡­ Well, you know what I mean¡­" He Yi and Lin Yixin blushed like two apples instantly. He Yi shot Murong Mingyue a glare and rebuked her, "I should¡¯ve known that you would come up with a shameless idea like this¡­" Murong Mingyue cackled. "What can I do? The word ¡®shame¡¯ has been removed from my dictionary since the day you took me under your wing¡­" Meanwhile, Lin Yixin was looking back and forth between me and He Yi with steam rising from her ears. "Sister Eve, do we really gotta do this? What if, and I know the odds are slim, but what if we meet an acquaintance while we are performing this ¡®test¡¯? We won¡¯t be able to show our faces in Suzhou anymore¡­" He Yi let out a triumphant giggle. "Does that mean you¡¯re forfeiting, Yiyi? If you are, I¡¯ll happily take the ring off Lu Chen¡¯s hands. 5% HP per second regeneration is super good, and it even gives 115% Attack. To call this ring a super cavalryman ring would be an understatement. My offensive power is a bit lacking anyway, so this is the perfect piece of equipment for me. Thank you very much~" Lin Yixin hurriedly grabbed He Yi¡¯s hands and said, "Wait wait wait! I never said I wouldn¡¯t go! I¡­I¡¯ll do it!" Murong Mingyue slapped the table lightly like she was hitting the gravel. "Then it is decided!" I stared at her. "Excuse me? I¡¯m the one who has to do the most embarrassing shit in this ¡®test¡¯, and you didn¡¯t even ask my opinion. I¡¯ve never bought a condom from a pharmacy in my life, and the first time I do you¡¯re going to put me through this?" Murong Mingyue puffed up her chest and said tauntingly, "Oh? You don¡¯t want to do it? Sure! I¡¯ll just ask Li Chengfeng to perform the test with them later. He¡¯s quite the handsome lad anyway, the clerk would totally believe that they were with him¡­" I answered immediately, "Fine, I¡¯ll go. There¡¯s nothing I enjoy more than challenges I¡¯ve never done before¡­" "And he calls me shameless. Ah pooh!" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ We started eating after the last dish was served. We also ordered a bottle of low alcohol red wine, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin didn¡¯t have any since they were driving, and even the rest of us only took small sips from our glasses. A quick discussion later, we decided to sleep for about 2 to 3 hours in the afternoon before going back online. If you thought it wasn¡¯t enough to reinvigorate us fully, that was the point. We wanted our bodies to be suitably fatigued so we could sleep at 12 am sharp tonight and readjust our biological clocks. We might be professional gamers, but even we couldn¡¯t sleep during the day and play during the night all the time. It just wasn¡¯t healthy. Even Murong Mingyue chided me and said, "Do you want to keep your kidneys or not? Do you want to last 15 seconds or less before giving out? You may be satisfied, but do you think Eve and Yiyi will be?" I hung my head in shame as I absorbed her teachings. Every time I thought my thoughts were growing too perverted, Murong Mingyue never failed to prove that she could do worse. "Lu Chen." Lin Yixin¡¯s cheeks looked a bit rosy since she had downed a full glass of wine. "I heard you clashed multiple times against Dark Mercenaries in the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm, but only when they have crossed you. What are you thinking?" I let out a sigh before answering, "You were at Chance Bar. You know what Little Piglet went through. Personally, I believe that Little Piglet is doing the right thing. Even his choice of leaving to leave the China server and become the lord and master of a guild as abominable as Dark Mercenaries was a choice driven by necessity, not greed. That is why I don¡¯t wish to initiate conflict with Dark Mercenaries unless absolutely necessary. I have no wish to stand in a man¡¯s path of vengeance, when his cause is perfectly just." I clenched my fists a little before continuing, "Neither Little nor Shangguan Wan¡¯er will report Lu Chao in order to protect her owner, so the next best thing to take revenge is to make Lu Chao lose all the investment he has sunk in the game. There, I may even help him if the circumstances are right." Lin Yixin watched me with widened eyes for a few seconds before breaking into a smile. "Very well. I know you never act without reason, so I will support you if that is your decision." Murong Mingyue sighed helplessly. "Ai, Yiyi is so deep in love that she has lost herself¡­" Me: "..." Lin Yixin shot me a pitiable expression as if she wanted me to say something. So, I set down my chopsticks and said, "Yes, yes, no need to play coy. I promise I¡¯ll buy that condom with you later." Lin Yixin: "..." ¡­¡­ I was kinda hoping that the two girls would chicken out when it was time to actually perform the test, but they didn¡¯t. I supposed it made sense considering the worth of the Dragon Soul Ring. Lin Yixin¡¯s cheeks were fully rosy from the alcohol, but He Yi looked none the worse for wear as she crossed the street while chatting with Murong Mingyue. She was a businesswoman after all. There was a moment of silence when we finally arrived in front of the pharmacy. Finally, I said, "Let¡¯s go¡­" He Yi followed behind me, and Lin Yixin, behind He Yi. After I went into the pharmacy, I looked around and found an auntie about 50 years old and wearing a pair of myopia glasses. She was most likely the pharmacist. "What would you like to purchase, boy?" the auntie asked. I stuttered out, "D-do you sell condoms?" "Sure. Which brand do you like?" the auntie replied calmly. She must be very used to situations like this. I answered, "Anything¡¯s fine, I¡­ I just want to buy two condoms¡­" The auntie frowned. "Boy, nobody sells single condoms, just boxes. You either buy an entire box or none at all¡­" I fished around my pockets and produced a 5-yuan paper. "But¡­ I only have 5 RMB. I can¡¯t afford the whole box. Can you make an exception, please?" She fell for it. While sighing to herself about the state of the economy and the poor young people these days, she opened a box of Jissbon and passed me two condoms. "Here. I¡¯ll take your 5 RMB for two condoms." I nodded in thanks. "Thank you, auntie!" And now came the most crucial step of this test. I turned around and made toward the exit without looking back. At first, the auntie had thought the girls to be independent customers. Then, He Yi followed behind me with a mask of perfect calm on her face, and a red-faced Lin Yixin lifted her skirt higher just so that she could escape the pharmacy as soon as possible. At this point, it became as clear as day who I was going to use the condoms on, or at least that was what the auntie thought¡­ When we finally escaped the place, He Yi heaved out a sigh of relief and said, "For heavens¡¯ sake, that was more stressful than the general meetings I attended while I was still in GGS. Thank goodness the auntie didn¡¯t ask any awkward questions, or else¡­" I hurriedly shoved the two condoms into Murong Mingyue¡¯s hands before saying, "Here¡¯s your stuff. But uh, I don¡¯t think a winner is decided? Both Yiyi and Eve managed to clear the test of courage¡­" Murong Mingyue slipped the condoms into her handbag and replied calmly, "That¡¯s easy. Just play a game of rock-paper-scissors, and we¡¯ll have a winner." He Yi¡¯s jaw hit the floor. "If we¡¯re going to decide it like this, then why did you make us go to the pharmacy in the first place?" "To further hone your bond, of course!" "Pooh! Like we need you to hone our bond!" "Haha! Well, get it over already. I want to catch that nap as soon as possible!" ¡­¡­ Despite knowing now that they had been tricked, He Yi and Lin Yixin still played the game of rock-paper-scissors. It would be a round of one all or nothing! Rock, paper, scissors! In the end, Lin Yixin managed to defeat He Yi¡¯s scissors with her rock. He Yi sighed in defeat. "I knew I was terrible at gambling!" Lin Yixin said smilingly, "Thank you, Sister Eve!" I smiled without saying anything. The Dragon Soul Ring would¡¯ve been in good hands either way. Lin Yixin¡¯s offensive power was great enough to threaten even me, but her class¡¯s natural fragility meant that she was never going to begrudge a tank piece of equipment. The Dragon Soul Ring was one such item, and it would definitely improve her strength to a whole new level! ¡­¡­ After the little intermission, we returned to the workshop and took a short nap of three hours. Then, we returned to the game and continued clearing the March of Chaos event. Obviously, I was still at first place on the contribution point ranking because I had killed Skullblood, one of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns himself. At this point, few could hope to rival me unless they killed another Purgatory Sovereign. CH 1400 The impermanence of life is like a pair of blood-stained red sleeves. [1]. I weep into my pale hands thinking of the death that parts us forever. ¡­¡­ Dong Zhen¡¯s "Duel" woke me up from my slumber. It was the new alarm tone Lin Yixin had set for me, and as far as I could tell it was working wonderfully. It woke me up, but I felt no irritation whatsoever. I checked the time and confirmed that 3 hours had passed by. I hurriedly got out of my bed, put on some clothes and went to the toilet to take a pee. After that, I drank some water and returned to Heavenblessed to fight yet another day! Swhoosh! My vision brightened as I appeared at Godslayer Fortress. The fortress was in ruins, but it was jam-packed with players, and the body of Skullblood the Earth Devourer still hadn¡¯t despawned. A ton of players were pointing fingers and talking about at it¡ª "You see this? This monster here is one of the nine greatest bosses in the entire Heavenblessed. It was here it took out over 14 million players including CGL Hall of Famers like Laughing At The Heavens. It¡¯s so OP that it cast killing spells with a radius of a kilometer [2] like MP isn¡¯t a thing! Still, it was ultimately defeated by the top players such as Falling Dust, Candlelight Shadow, Beautiful Little Pepper, Breeze and Rain and more!" "Falling Dust is the best of all of them in my opinion. He was the one who landed the last hit, and I heard that he got 7 Luck in total for his efforts. It¡¯s just crazy!" "The best my ass. I was an observer of the battle, and I can tell you that Lu Chen was sent flying again and again just like any other player in the boss fight¡­" "Did you just insult my idol to my face? If you were the one of the combatants, I guarantee that the boss would¡¯ve shattered both your body and your dick in one hit! Don¡¯t believe me? We can find a Purgatory Sovereign to murder you right now!" "Fuck you, I don¡¯t have a death wish!" "Say, do you think the dragon scales of this Earth Devourer can be extracted? If they can, even one of its scales can be made into a super OP dragonscale armor, won¡¯t it? Tankiness and cavalrymen go hand-in-hand!" "Keep dreaming. You think you¡¯re the first one who came up with the idea? People have tried, but it doesn¡¯t work at all!" "Is that so¡­" ¡­¡­ As I climbed out of my tent, Beiming Xue greeted me smiling from her Fire Qilin, "Thanks again for Xiaomeng¡¯s signature, big bro~~" I replied, "You¡¯re welcome. It was my duty as your brother. Also, Zhou Xiaomeng knows of you and promises to visit you when she¡¯s free." "OMG, really? That¡¯s wonderful! I love you, big bro!" "Love you too, daughter¡­" "..." While trading banter with Beiming Xue, I arrived next to Skullblood¡¯s body and hummed thoughtfully to myself for a moment. Then, I decided to put a hand to its head and use Death Plunder. The skill had a 95% chance or higher to fail when used against a boss, but a chance was a chance. I was right. My heart pumped with excitement the moment I felt a warmth in my hands. I had used Death Plunder on countless bosses to no avail up until this point, and to have it work on a Purgatory Sovereign of all things was almost a miracle! [3] Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have gained "Holy Dragon Scale" x1128 using the skill "Death Plunder"! ¡­¡­ I immediately checked the stack of dragon scales that had appeared in my bag. They were as great as I expected them to be¡ª Holy Dragon Scales: A key material in armorsmithing. Can be forged into "Holy Dragon Armor (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)" if they are fused with high-rank ores. Holy shit! I clicked my tongue as the full realization dawned upon me. Death Plunder had netted me 1128 Holy Dragon Scales in total, which meant that I could use them to forge a total of 1128 Holy Dragon Armors. Obviously, an Archean Immortal-grade metal armor was useless to me, but to players like Du Thirteen, Xu Yang and High Fighting Spirits, it might as well be the equipment of their dreams, literally! Well, time to contact Yamete. Leave the armorsmithing to the armorsmith! "Mamate, where are you right now? How far are you from Godslayer Fortress?" Yamete replied very quickly, "We were heading back to the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm to repair our equipment, and we will be passing through Godslayer Fortress in 10 minutes. Is there anything?" "Yep. Come to the center of the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm. I have some good stuff that I would like to give you!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ A while later, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Lian Xin and more all came online as well. It was around the time Murong Mingyue lazily crawled out of her tent when Xu Yang finally appeared on his Dragonscale Beast, and Yamete on foot. Hugging his pot belly and panting heavily, Yamete asked me, "Ah, I¡¯m so tired. So, what is this good stuff you wish to give me, Lu Chen?" I smiled and traded him all 1128 Holy Dragon Scales. "Take a look at these. You were troubled that you couldn¡¯t find the materials to create excellent armor, weren¡¯t you? Well, here¡¯s your chance to mass produce the Archean Immortal-grade Holy Dragon Armor¡­" "Holy shit!" Yamete¡¯s eyes widened like saucers. "This¡­ this is insane! Do you know how many people dream of laying their hands on even one of these, let alone a thousand? Where did you even find these?" I pointed a thumb at the stripped Skullblood the Earth Devourer behind me. "I looted its body with Death Plunder. Not bad, right?" "Not bad at all. It so happens that my Armorsmithing skill is now Rank 12, so the blueprint for the Holy Dragon Armor has been unlocked for me. Honestly, I thought this armor would remain a legend until a long time later, but I should¡¯ve known that you would blow my expectations out of the water. I can¡¯t wait!" Yamete rubbed his hands together as he showed us the materials necessary to forge the equipment¡ª Holy Dragon Armor (Level 230, Metal Armor): Holy Dragon Scale x1, Wilderness Meteorite x40, Wild Silkworm Thread x50, Magic Silver Cloth x100, Rank 12 Armorsmithing. ¡­¡­ I asked thoughtfully, "Which of these materials do you still lack?" Yamete shrugged. "I¡¯ll need to check¡­" Xu Yang let out a hearty laugh. "I can answer that question. My secondary profession is Mining, and my Mining skill is now Rank 13. Therefore, I have a ton of Wilderness Meteorites just gathering dust in my warehouse right now. Even if it isn¡¯t enough, I can always mine more of them from the outer lands. I know Pure Love has a stock of Wild Silkworm Threads. Again, we can collect more if it turns out to be insufficient. As for the Magic Silver Cloth, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust have a ton of them in their warehouses. They were thinking about removing them because there wasn¡¯t any craftable equipment that used it, but that obviously isn¡¯t the case anymore!" Overjoyed, I praised, "Well done! I¡¯ll be counting on you guys to forge this batch of Level 230 Archean Immortal-grade armors then!" He Yi asked, "Are you planning to equip our Dragonlight Cavalry with these Holy Dragon Armors, Lu Chen?" I smiled. "Why not?" She smiled back. "Indeed. You have my full support!" I turned around to face Xu Yang again. "Let¡¯s begin this activity after this event is over. We¡¯ll forge a special force of Dragonlight Cavalry who are equipped with the Holy Dragon Armor! As compensation for your efforts and contributions, Xu Yang, you may pay out 10k RMB to Mamate, Pure Love, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and yourself for every forged Holy Dragon Armor. See it done!" Xu Yang nodded. "No problem!" Yamete suggested, "You know, I think I want to teleport back to the main city and store these scales safely in the warehouse first. Once the materials are gathered, I¡¯ll begin forging the Holy Dragon Armors right away. It¡¯s not like one priest is going to affect the course of this March of Chaos event, right? Xu Yang, can you tell everyone with the materials to teleport back to the main city and give them to me? It won¡¯t delay you all for too long. If possible, I¡¯ll try to get you guys 500 Holy Dragon Armors in three days!" Xu Yang nodded again. "Of course. We¡¯ll do as you say!" He Yi ended the conversation, "Thank you for your work. Don¡¯t let us keep you any longer!" ¡­¡­ And so Yamete and Xu Yang crushed a return scroll each and teleported back to Sky City. I tried Death Plundering the boss''s body a couple more times, but unfortunately it didn¡¯t give me anything else. In fact, I received a system notice saying that the body could no longer be looted during my tenth attempt. "Let¡¯s repair our equipment and stock up om our potions, shall we?" I looked around me. Out of all the top players, we were literally the only ones who were still loitering around. Everyone else had continued toward the mysterious ruin mentioned in the patch announcement to do battle against the legions of the Night Creatures. All I could say about these people who valued contribution points more than their own lives was that they were stark raving bonkers. I formed a temporary party with me, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue in it. We lacked a powerful bard, but that wasn¡¯t a problem. Once we had returned to the frontline, there would be tens of thousands of bards to keep us buffed to the end of time. I climbed onto my Ancient Divine Dragon and pulled Beiming Xue up with me. He Yi carried Murong Mingyue on her Snow Crystal Dragon, and Lin Yixin carried Lian Xin on her Crimson Crystal Dragon. We first flew back to the temporary supply camp set up by the Silver Moon Alliance to repair our equipment and stock up on potions. Also, Lin Yixin gave all of us around 400 new Rank 13 potions each. Well, this was expected. Beauty Lin was normally stingy, but if you did her a great favor¡ªin this case, it was the Dragon Soul Ring¡ªthen she was more than willing to return it. When everything was done, we took to the sky once more and traveled toward the ruin. The Crimson Crystal Dragon and Snow Crystal Dragon flew next to the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s left and right almost as if they were its bodyguards. A while later, we had passed through the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm completely and arrived at a new map. The new map was just as barren as the previous, but there were a lot more players, NPCs, and dead mob bodies on the ground. Obviously, these people hadn¡¯t been idle while we were grabbing our lunch and catching some ZZZzzzZZZzzz. ¡­¡­ I asked in the guild channel, "Little Gui, Chengfeng, where are you two? And where is our main force right now?" Li Chengfeng replied immediately, "Just open the world map and travel to the red zone about 25 degrees to the southwest from the Ancient Chaotic Secret Realm. With your Ancient Divine Dragon, you should reach it in 5 minutes at most. As for what is going on, well, come find it out yourself¡­" Me: "Oh come on, just tell it to me straight. I¡¯m a curious guy, I don''t like being kept in the dark¡­" Gui Guzi laughed. "Just come, Boss Broken Halberd. I promise you that it¡¯s a riot. Sky City, Vanished God City, Wind City, Burning City, Frostsword City and Cyan Earth City¡¯s NPC legions had temporarily joined hands and formed a mini Silver Moon Alliance force of sorts. It is to launch a massive assault against the Night Creatures. To that end, they¡¯ve built a temporary fortress in Crossroads Valley. Furious at this turn of events, Coldblade the Infinite Storm declared that he would send seven waves of undead legions and destroy this temporary fortress. We must hold the fortress before we can continue onward." Me: "..." Li Chengfeng: "Little Gui, What the fuck! You spilled literally everything¡­" I laughed. "Sounds good. We¡¯ll be arriving in a jiffy¡­" Li Chengfeng: "Oh right, watch out for the mobs when you fly over. Undead mobs are spawning all around Cross Roads Valley, and they practically have the entire fortress surrounded." "Got it!" 1. T/N: the color red is usually considered lucky. Red clothes are what you wear when you and your bride attend a Chinese traditional wedding. But for it to be dyed in blood, well, you catch the meaning ? 2. T/N: probably an exaggeration and not a mistake. People like to boast nonsense after all ? 3. T/N: this confirms that Lu Chen DID use Death Plunder on all kinds of mobs, the author just didn¡¯t write it because it¡¯s redundant ? Bookmark CH 1401 The clouds steadily grew thicker and darker. Lightning kept striking against the ground and setting some poor, wilted forest on fire. I even saw a couple of hurricanes slowly moving in the direction of Crossroads Valley. This apocalyptic scene immediately reminded me of the Purgatory Sovereign, Coldblade the Infinite Storm. He was the most cunning Divine Rank boss of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns, and he was finally going to show us his power. ¡­¡­ "Watch out, big bro!" Beiming Xue pointed to the front and said, "I see two high-level mobs flying our way!" "Got it!" I focused my gaze and saw two birds with a huge body, a pair of blood-red eyes and iron wings flying our way. Actually, calling them birds would be a mistake. At full wingspan, they were at least 5 meters long and almost as big as the Crimson and Snow Crystal Dragons. In Chinese legends, we called giant birds like this rocs. They were both Level 305 fiend-rank mobs, and since their feathers were made from iron, their Defense was bound to be super high. Normally, they would be the kings of the sky, but not when we were their opponents! "Let¡¯s go!" I abruptly unsheathed my sword and flew straight toward the rocs. Before I even got close, I caught both of them with Burning Blade Slash and Myriad Swords Obliteration. He Yi surrounded herself in gusts of stormy energy before unleashing Storm Slash that caught both birds as well. As for Lin Yixin, she didn¡¯t try to fight the mobs at melee range probably because she was carrying Lian Xin. She simply pointed her palm at the mobs and fired Ice Storm. The skill struck three times and killed both mobs, causing them to fall toward the ground. The rocs dropped two Phantasmal Magic Stones, but none of us bothered to pick them up. "We need to go. These Ironwing Birds are only going to keep growing in numbers¡­" I said. Both dragon knights nodded and fell into a dive with me. Crossroads Valley was right ahead of us. It was surrounded by mountain ranges from all sides, but there was a crossroad at the center leading toward the south, north, east and west entrances. Obviously, this was why it was called Crossroads Valley. The valley was a key strategic location to the human faction, and a basic fortress had been constructed to hold it. However, it was constructed mostly from stone and spikes, which was nowhere enough to withstand Coldblade¡¯s army. We would have to rely on our own strength to hold the valley. One good thing about the fortress was that it was immensely huge. The ramparts were filled with players, and the interface indicated that there were 9,547,867 players in Crossroads Valley right now, or almost 10 million players. The situation was still critically grave, however. It was because the counter for the undead legion showed 40 million and rising. This was going to be a most difficult battle. "Going down!" I spurred the Ancient Divine Dragon into a dive toward the eastern walls. It was because it was covered in a sea of red, the flag of our country. I also spotted Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi patrolling the nearby sky on their dragons. I moved straight toward them. ¡­¡­ "Something is flying toward us! Raise your bows!" Laughing At The Heavens barked out an order, and a group of Warsky Alliance archers raised their longbows in unison. Gui Guzi yelled at him, "Do you want to die, Laughing At The Heavens? They¡¯re one of us!" Warsky narrowed his eyes before saying, "It is Lu Chen and Beautiful Little Pepper. Lower your bows!" "Roar roar¡­" The Ancient Divine Dragon let out a bright and resounding cry before landing on the rampart. I leaped off of its back, and Beiming Xue did the same. Obviously, the guys¡¯ attention was fully on Beiming Xue¡¯s alluring legs as she descended toward the ground. I exclaimed in surprise when I saw Laughing At The Heavens, "Eh? I thought you were swallowed by Skullblood?" Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ facial muscles twitched. "Y-yes, and I ran back over. W-what? Is that a crime?" I gave him a thumbs-up. "Not at all. I admire people of tenacious and unyielding spirit like you¡­" October Rain commented, "Pooh. You say that, but your tone sure doesn¡¯t sound like praise!" I simply smiled and said nothing. While He Yi and Lin Yixin descended behind me, Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and more Dragonlight Cavalry were galloping over to reinforce us. Clearly, they were worried that a fight might break out between us and Warsky Alliance. This was a game after all, all I needed was to give the order, and we would be doing Coldblade¡¯s job before even made his move. The last one to live would be the Heavenly King of Heavenblessed¡­ ¡­¡­ I looked at the sky and saw countless Ironwing Birds slowly approaching us. On the ground, just as many Corpse Eaters were crawling out of the forest, the caves, even the gap between the rocks. It was impossible to say how many there were, only that they were all responding to Coldblade¡¯s summons, and they were all coming to destroy this fortress. I asked, "Which wave is this?" Gui Guzi answered, "The first wave hasn¡¯t begun yet!" I grimaced. "Warsky, Momo, Candlelight Shadow, what are your plans to defeat these 7 waves of monsters?" Warsky shrugged. "Hugging the fortifications and defending to the last. If necessary, the Gold Cavalry will ride out and lessen the pressure for the defenders." Stranger of Three Lifetimes gave an outrageous answer. "You want to put me through the wave 7 times?? That¡¯s too much!" [1] Candlelight Shadow answered the question with a question of his own, "How is Ancient Sword planning to fight this out?" I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and pointed toward the ground. "I¡¯m going to dispatch 20000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen to form a protective wall on the ground. The priests will heal, and the archers and mages will dish out damage from the walls. This is the best way to prevent the mobs from approaching the city, and to reap contribution points. You may have noticed, but there are tons of NPC arrow towers catapults in the fortress. You don¡¯t want the NPCs to take away all your points, do you?" Luo River God of the Capital smiled. "I support Lu Chen¡¯s plan. It¡¯ll also give us some initiative in this defensive battle." He Yi nodded. "Very well. Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, choose 20000 of our best Dragonlight Cavalrymen and have them form a protective wall on the ground. Their job will be to hold their ground and prevent the mobs from reaching the fortress. Ensure that the mage, priest and archer parties on the walls will be the strongest we have as well. The bards will provide max buffs to as many Dragonlight Cavalry as possible, if not all of them. The Corpse Eaters on the hills are already showing signs of restlessness, so they may attack at any moment. Finish the preparations as quickly as possible and get ready for tower defense!" ¡­¡­ I leaped off the wall to join the Dragonlight Cavalry. The wall was only 10 meters tall, so the HP loss was a mosquito¡¯s bite at worst. High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and more also emulated my example. After that, our key generals applied their Famous General Skills to their parties. The most notable among them was of course our white-robed tactician, Lu Buyi. The guy got to enjoy a personal entourage of 5 magic knights including his girlfriend, and his 4000-man party would have their stats boosted by 150% as long as he remained alive. On a related note, Lu Buyi ascended to become a Divine General half a month ago. The active effect of his Divine General Skill, Nature¡¯s Body, was so trash it wasn¡¯t even worth describing, but the very fact he became a Divine General doubled the number of players he could command, and that was more than enough to make up for his Divine General Skill¡¯s flaws. The fortress gate opened, and 20000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen stepped out into the open. Lu Buyi, Gui Guzi, He Yi, Lian Xin and Chaos Moon were chosen to command 4000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen each. On a related note, Lian Xin stole Lu Buyi¡¯s Purple Dragon but could only boost everyone¡¯s stats by 100% because she didn¡¯t have the Hidden Dragon Fan. As for me, I partied 4000 Holy Mages so that their Magic Attack would be boosted by 200%. They also enjoyed the King of Cities buff and the War Holy Temple¡¯s buff. Long story short, their magic damage was going to wow both enemies and allies alike! [2] Maybe it was because of my earlier advice, but Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips all did the same thing. Soon, the ground was overflowing with elite cavalrymen, and the walls with healers and damage dealers. Now, all we needed to do was to wait for the enemy to attack us. ¡­¡­ Thud! A pair of silver boots landed on the base of a watchtower and kicked up some tiny bits of stones. It was Karinshan in her royal battle armor. She frowned at the distant dark clouds and said, "This war is happening sooner than I expected¡­" Beside her, an equally battle ready Queen Sophia said with a grim expression, "The Purgatory Ruler must have thought that the time was right. At any rate, the living and the dead were always going to clash against one another. Karinshan, have you ever wondered what we should do if we lose this war? Where will the future of the humans, succubi, elves and dwarves lie?" Karinshan placed a hand on her sword hilt and said, "We have far outlived our expected lifespan not because the devils had mercy on us, but because we fought tooth and nail to come this far. If we were to lose this war, I were to die in battle, and the undead were to infest the continent, I would still have no regrets because I know that I have given it my all. I can go to the afterlife and face my ancestors and all that was living with a clear conscience." Sophia smirked. "There¡¯s no need to be that pessimistic. A powerful ally will be arriving to assist us very soon. I promise you that we won¡¯t lose." Karinshan shivered. "You¡¯re talking about Sophie¡¯s legion at Purple Grape City?" "Correct." Sophia nodded. "Two hours ago, Lady Wind Singer had personally traveled to Purple Grape City to recruit Lady Sophie¡¯s aid. They are both godlike legends of the Purgatory, and I¡¯m certain they can defeat Lin Na himself if they unite as one!" "Let¡¯s hope so¡­" Karinshan looked like she wanted to say something, but ultimately chose to keep her silence. ¡­¡­ The dark clouds rolled, and lightning struck. The restless monsters finally made their move. "Hiss hiss¡­" The Corpse Eater Legion let out a ghastly cry before breaking into a sudden run and swarming the fortress from all sides. They were all Level 305 fiend-rank mobs, and they had incredibly high Attack. It was up to us to ensure that the fortress survived. Chiang! I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and shouted, "Prepare to receive the enemy¡¯s charge, and do not give even an inch of ground to them! Also, all units are to use Guard when the first wave hits! Don¡¯t blame your priests if you die because you were too confident in your tanking ability!" Everyone unsheathed their weapons with clear excitement and passion in their eyes. 1. T/N: In the raw Momo is talking about boobs, so I drop a sexual slang here as a replacement. Don¡¯t get it, google ? 2. T/N: just pretend that one buff somehow works BEYOND Sky City¡¯s borders, and the other hasn¡¯t expired a million years ago ? CH 1402 "Here it comes!" The Chill of the Nine Provinces shivered in my hand. At full durability, it was perfectly ready to kick this battle off. From a distance, it looked as if a black sea was surging toward us. At close range, the Corpse Eaters looked like cheetahs running on all fours, except that their mouths were agape, their ugly heads swiveled loosely around their necks, and the white drool constantly splashing out of their mouths gave them the appearance of a starved predator who just found their prey. And who was the prey? Why, it was everyone in this temporary fortress of course. He Yi ordered in a low tone while gripping her Suppressing Fire Sword tightly, "All units, Guard where you are and act with caution. We¡¯ll see what we can do after we survive the first charge!" Everyone smashed their shields against the ground and assumed a Guard stance. At the same time, Beiming Xue ordered from the walls behind us, "All archers, raise bows and Far Shot your Shock Arrows! On the count of 3, 3! 2! 1! Let loose!!" Twang twang twang¡­ A rain of arrows shot over our heads amid a chorus of rhythmic bow twangs. They rained on top of the sea of mobs and stunned many Corpse Eaters, causing them to trample over each other and crumbling their formation. For this first charge at least, the pressure our players had to face was massively decreased. ¡­¡­ It took only the blink of an eye for the first group of Corpse Eaters to hit us. Not only did they possess high Attack, their bodies were small but wiry. This meant that every cavalryman on the frontline had to tank at least 3 to 4 Corpse Eaters at the same time. Even I had to play it safe and summon my Cyan Dragon Shield. When I thrust it forward to bash the Corpse Eaters, they actually clung to the piece of metal, swiped and bit at it like rabid animals. Several damage numbers rose from my head¡ª 17298! 14287! 20184! ¡­¡­ The mobs could only do between 10k to 20k damage to me, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for everyone else. Even an elite player like High Fighting Spirits was losing between 60k to 120k HP per hit. Worse still, the Corpse Eaters had insanely high attack speed, and occasionally they would dish out seven to eight hits in rapid succession. High Fighting Spirits turned green when he saw his HP dropping to the 50% mark all too quickly and shouted, "Fuck, these puppies hit like a truck! Heal harder, priests!" The Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s job was to grit their teeth and endure the Corpse Eaters¡¯ assault. The mages and archers¡¯ job was to bombard the mobs to hell, and the priests¡¯ job was to AoE heal as many people as possible, and single-target heal those frontliners whose HP had dropped dangerously low. Even then, at least a dozen Dragonlight Cavalrymen weren¡¯t able to survive because they were unlucky enough to eat multiple critical hits in a row. Of course, they were quickly replaced by the frontliners standing behind them. Swhoosh! I abruptly moved the Cyan Dragon Shield away and executed Burning Blade Slash + War Crush + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo. Since I was using my Martial God to boost my Attack by 200%, and the Fire War God Card to buff my offensive power even further, I was able to crush the Corpse Eaters like ants. Their small frame actually worked to their disadvantage here because it meant that my splash effect dealt way more damage than it would¡¯ve against a larger opponent. One Burning Blade Slash was enough to do at least 3 million damage to every Corpse Eater within its area of effect, and the follow-up Myriad Swords Obliteration and War Crush just obliterated them all and transformed them into sweet, sweet experience and contribution points. Once again, I couldn¡¯t help but admire how each strike of Burning Blade Slash dealt more damage than the previous. It was without a doubt my best offensive skill! Dozens of meters away from my position, Gui Guzi was sitting on his Dark Crystal Dragon and unleashing his own halberd-style Burning Blade Slash against the mob. His damage was pretty high, but he could only deal around 1.8 million damage to each mob because the splash effect of the Ghostblade Halberd wasn¡¯t as great as that of the Chill of the Nine Provinces. It was by no means a poor showing, however. A normal Dragonlight Cavalryman could only dish out several hundred thousand damage per skill. He might as well be a god compared to them. There were a couple more players who also had higher DPS than Gui Guzi. He Yi was one such player. While she was firing a triple-hit Stormwind Break into a group of Corpse Eaters, the last hit triggered her passive skill and engulfed them all in a continuously damaging storm. She immediately followed up with Stormwind Slash that reduced the Corpse Eaters into chunks of flesh and blood. It was an incredible amount of DPS for sure. Li Chengfeng¡¯s prowess needed not be said. As a 5-Strength dragon warrior and a skilled player in his own right, his DPS was even higher than He Yi¡¯s. Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and more were throwing out their AoE skills and murdering the shit out of the Corpse Eaters as well. In a battle like this, the rate at which the mobs died directly translated to increasing our chances of survival and contribution points. When the event ended, I fully expected all of us to be showered in an infinite amount of riches and bitches by the system¡­ ¡­¡­ It took a while, but we eventually found our rhythm and stabilized with our berserker-style defense. The priests on the walls had also gotten to the Corpse Eaters¡¯ attack pattern enough that we weren¡¯t bleeding Dragonlight Cavalrymen anymore. And of course, the Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers were the MVPs of this wave. Their superior DPS murdered the Corpse Eaters so quickly that their corpses quickly stacked on top of each other like hills. Boom! I dished out Thousand Ice Slash and encased a group of Corpse Eaters in ice. After Summon the Storm had killed them all, I inhaled and absorbed all of the undead soul spark left behind by the surrounding Corpse Eaters. I was slowly but surely becoming an Asura God. I took a moment to check how the other guilds were doing. Warsky was struggling alone in the first defense line¡ªeveryone else had died¡ªwhile the Gold Cavalry in the second defense line were trying to reorganize themselves. Their priests were run-ragged just trying to keep everyone alive, much less healthy. Warsky shouted furiously, "Hold! Hold! Don¡¯t hesitate or retreat! If Ancient Sword can stop the Corpse Eaters, we can too! These mobs are nothing to us! Now cha¡ª" October Rain interrupted him from the walls, "Did you forget that the Dragonlight Cavalry are riding Immortal Rank mounts, while our Gold Cavalry are only riding Earth Rank mounts? Also, you may have the Immortal Blade, but the rest of us are just normal players. Archers and mages, go all out and suppress the Corpse Eaters with superior firepower just like Ancient Sword. We must disrupt the mobs¡¯ attack formation if we are to have a chance holding this wave." Warsky Alliance¡¯s defense line was about 200 meters long. It looked like it was just a couple of steps shy of a total collapse. Next, I checked out Candle Dragon. Candlelight Shadow, Tempest Shadow, Blue Sky Scar and more elite players were fighting at the first defense line, and they were countering aggression with even greater aggression just like us. Candlelight Shadow especially was charging back and forth on his fire dragon and spamming his Outer Flame like it was free. His efforts reduced much of the pressure bearing down on his players, and so far they had lost only a couple thousand cavalrymen. The real reason Candle Dragon was doing so well though was their tamer legion, however. Every single one of them had Life of the Tamer and between 2 to 3 Lantern Girls. God¡¯s Dance barked orders from the walls, "Lantern girls[1], aim toward the front and Far Shot your God Devil Breaks!" The God Devil Breaks exploded among the Corpse Eaters and killed them with unbelievable ease. The Lantern Girls were high-level pets with impressive magic growth, and their Intelligence was on par or higher than a Level 220 mage with a full set of Immortal-grade equipment. Naturally, a dumb monster like a Corpse Eater was incapable of withstanding their power. Candle Dragon¡¯s tactic was definitely much more effective than Warsky Alliance¡¯s. Snowy Cathaya and Blazing Hot Lips were doing relatively well under Lin Yixin and Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ leadership as well. Their losses weren¡¯t insignificant, but at least they held their ground. On the other hand, Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s frontliners were dropping like flies. The only one who was holding firm and maintaining above 70% HP all the time was Ray of Sunshine on his Cloud Devil Panther[2]. Every time he lost HP, he simply needed to execute Dragon Flame Flurry, Triple Slash or other flurry skills to steal some HP. His skills dealt over 300k damage per hit, and the Heaven Suppressing Necklace gave 100% lifesteal. Therefore, it wasn¡¯t even surprising that he was at full HP for most of the time. A Ghost Armament like the Heaven Suppressing Necklace was perfect for killing mobs and bosses. ¡­¡­ It was a tough battle, but the China faction was ultimately able to hold back the first monster wave. Meanwhile, the gang was chatting in the guild channel¡ª Chaos Moon: "These fiend-rank Corpse Eaters are so strong. Their DPS is even higher than Tiger Leopard Knight¡¯s¡­" Tiger Leopard Knight¡¯s heart skipped a beat as he let out an awkward laugh. "Beauty Chaos Moon, you¡­ you¡¯re not implying that I should be kicked out of the Dragonlight Cavalry, are you?" Gui Guzi laughed. "Relax, bro. You¡¯re Moonlight Stone¡¯s older brother! You won¡¯t be kicked out thanks to good ol¡¯ nepotism!" Tiger Leopard Knight: "..." High Fighting Spirits: "Seriously though, not only do these Corpse Eaters have insane DPS, they¡¯re small and packed together like sardines. I wonder how the other gates are doing?" Li Chengfeng chuckled. "Hero Alliance and Cyan Beast¡¯s losses are within acceptable range, but I heard that God¡¯s Domain lost over 10000 players in just ten minutes. Well, losing your main city will do that to you¡­" He Yi said, "Yeah. Purple Grape City is still occupied by Sophie¡­" I said, "Red Maple is growing arrogant because of the Crimson Dragon Arm though. Not only did he taunt us repeatedly at our borders, he sometimes even invaded our land and massacred some newbies. The Japan server hates us like crazy right now. I have no doubt they would crush Sky City beneath their feet if given the opportunity¡­" Gui Guzi sneered. "That¡¯s perfect! When this patch event is over, we¡¯ll preemptively attack Wallow Ear Canton and deny them even their remaining shelter!" I corrected him. "It¡¯s Swallow Ear Canton, bro¡­" Chaos Moon: "Gui Guzi is sooo doing this on purpose!" Gui Guzi: "I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. I¡¯m just copying you guys¡­" Chaos Moon: "Pooh! Denial is futile!" Gui Guzi: "..." ¡­¡­ The Corpse Eater wave lasted about an hour before it finally petered out into almost nothing. Deeming that my presence was no longer necessary, I sheathed my sword and withdrew from the frontlines. I asked Chaos Moon, "Can you tally our casualties?" "I¡¯ve been doing it the whole time using the system¡­" Chaos Moon stuck out her tongue at me before answering, "We¡¯ve only lost a total of 2078 Dragonlight Cavalrymen, some potions, Magic Consumables and cards. Overall, it¡¯s a pretty good first wave¡­ You know, I heard that Warsky Alliance lost over 30000 players in total. Warsky¡¯s face had almost turned a shade of green when he heard this¡­" I laughed. "Not bad, not bad at all¡­" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Beiming Xue called out to me from the walls. She was looking toward the south when she said, "Big bro, a boss just appeared from the south! It¡¯s a giant Corpse Eater, and it¡¯s moving toward God¡¯s Domain!" 1. T/N: that moment when you realize that you¡¯ve been reduced to your pet ? 2. E/N: Guess he switched his random Ink Qilin from the ending of 1395/beginning of 1396 pretty fast¡­ Which only confirms author was high when writing it, and he wanted Ray of Sunshine to be the flame version of Little Piglet so much he even forgot Ray¡¯s mount back then and copied Little Piglet¡¯s, lol ? CH 1403 I tightened my grip around my sword and said with a smile, "That only leaves one course of action, isn¡¯t it? God¡¯s Domain can¡¯t even hold back the Corpse Eaters, so let¡¯s be good samaritans and relieve them of the boss. Dragon knights, follow me! We¡¯re going to aggro the boss to our formation now!" He Yi, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi slapped their Crystal Dragons¡¯ backs with their weapons once and followed me to the sky. We were about a hundred meters above ground when I looked at the scythe-wielding Corpse Eater boss leading a group of Corpse Eaters toward the southern gate. Its name was "God Slayer", and it was an Ancient Immortal Rank boss. Its rank was high enough that it could drop one of the Twelve Divine Armaments or the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments. Of course, the chance would be low, but a chance nonetheless. "Look, someone¡¯s on the move already!" Li Chengfeng pointed. About a hundred meters directly in front of Bone Slayer, I saw 7 Japanese cavalrymen galloping toward the boss. It was obvious what they were planning to do. They wanted to aggro the boss back to their formation and kill it slowly. Unfortunately for them, they weren¡¯t expecting the China faction to dispatch four dragon knights to snatch the boss. Honestly, I would¡¯ve ignored the boss if it had appeared at the Indians¡¯ or the Northern Alliance¡¯s gates and saved myself some trouble, but Japan? That was a completely different story! "You guys go aggro the boss. I¡¯ll deal with these chuckleheads!" I swooped toward the enemy riders without waiting for them to give me an answer. The Ancient Divine Dragon was hardly a subtle mount, so an axe-wielding rider spotted me as soon as he looked up. Complexion turning a shade of green, he swore, "Kuso!! It¡¯s the WEL MVP and the devil of Final Duel Valley! Change of plans! Killing him is more important than killing the boss! Go go go!" The magic knights changed directions at almost the same time. Then, they threw their Trapping Nets at me from four different directions so that at least one of them would hit me. "Heh!" I smirked. It would¡¯ve been boring if they were too easy to beat. I activated Thunderous Charge and blitzed through the empty space in the middle before the 4 Trapping Nets could enclose it, effectively dodging all of them. Then, I activated Cold of the Nine Provinces and froze all seven cavalrymen. After the Ancient Divine Dragon got close to the ground, I made a sudden U-turn, found a suitable angle and hit them all with Burning Blade Slash. Finally, I dropped an Ancient Seal on top of them as the Ancient Divine Dragon kicked itself off the ground and returned to the sky. Boom! The ground shook a little, and a shallow pit appeared where the Ancient Seal had struck. All seven cavalrymen were killed as a matter of course. The Frozen status condition prevented them from using their invincibility skills to save themselves, so they could do nothing but die. On a related note, I didn¡¯t bother to pick up any of their dropped items because they were so-so at best. Up ahead, He Yi and her Snowy Crystal Dragon were already flying back toward our formation while the snarling Bone Slayer chased behind her. Surprisingly, it was able to fire scythe auras at the Snow Crystal Dragon¡¯s rear and deal around 400k damage per hit. This Ancient Immortal Rank boss had Attack in spades for sure. Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi moved in to protect He Yi, but I decided to do one better and blocked right in front of the boss. I threw Coiling Dragon Revolution at its neck and dealt over 370k damage, angering it and stealing the aggro from He Yi. Then, I intentionally moved closer to the boss before activating Battle Astral Wind and flying back to our formation. "Let¡¯s go, Eve, Chengfeng, Little Gui!" "Heck yeah!" they all responded with bright smiles on their faces. It only took three minutes to lure Bone Slayer to our formation. As I had already mentioned before, the Ancient Immortal Rank boss had incredible Attack even considering its rank, and its scythe had an effective range of around 30 yards. What this meant was that its basic attack was basically an AoE attack just like the other boss we had fought earlier, and that the Dragonlight Cavalry wouldn¡¯t be able to participate in this battle. No one wanted to be caught by its splash effect and suffer unnecessary damage. Thud! After He Yi leaped off her dragon¡¯s back and landed on the rampart, she said, "We¡¯ll let Lu Chen tank the boss alone and deal the last hit. This way, we¡¯ll be able to maximize the loot, it¡¯ll be better for everyone. Holy Mages, this is your time to shine. The boss is of the metal armor type, and there¡¯s nothing it¡¯s more afraid of than elite-level God Devil Breaks like yours!" After I activated Fusion Armor, I began running around the boss while treating it to my Burning Blade Slash, Thousand Ice Slash and more. In the sky, blackhole-like spells crashed against Bone Slayer¡¯s body and elicited a constant stream of painful howls. Everyone¡¯s God Devil Break dealt at least 200k damage to the boss, and Lian Xin¡¯s even dealt a whopping 480k damage. It meant that her Intelligence was 12000 points higher than the boss¡¯s! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Since I was the only tank, the priests just locked their targets on me and healed away. Murong Mingyue commented with a chuckle, "Make sure to keep our Little Heavenly King properly hosed, okay? You won¡¯t want to see how ugly he looks if he dies¡­" Me: "..." To improve my defenses, I joined Lu Buyi¡¯s party and enjoyed a 150% increase to everything. Forget the usual HP, Defense and Attack stat, even my Intelligence stat was high enough that I didn¡¯t need to consider eating Magic Consumables to regenerate my MP at all... Bone Slayer was strong, but it had met its match. It was incapable of one-shotting me, and its aggro was firmly in my grasp. It was simply incapable of posing much of a threat to anyone. Even Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, Blazing Hot Lips, Snowy Cathaya and the other guilds had moved closer to watch the showdown after taking out their wave of Corpse Eaters. Of course, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi were circling in the sky and making sure that no one would try to steal the boss from us. After all, the patch event had progressed far enough that even Ancient Immortal Rank bosses were becoming extremely rare, and every killed boss of the Ancient Immortal Rank or higher was a chance to drop the Twelve Divine Armaments or the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments. Everything was progressing smoothly. In just 7 minutes and 24 seconds, the boss''s HP had dropped to 1%. He Yi immediately raised her slender arm and declared, "Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers, stop attacking and let Lu Chen last-hit the boss! Also, all units are to prepare to deal with any interference! If the boss drops any equipment, Top 10 players of the DPS chart[1] of their respective classes will get the right to roll for them!" I gathered my strength and unleashed Burning Blade Slash. I also unleashed Summon the Storm at the same time to prevent an assassin like Farewell Song from stealing the loot. Ghost Lake Mirror might make him undetectable, but I could still cancel his stealth state with a direct hit to his person. "Ahhhh¡­" Bone Slayer abruptly raised his head and let out a death scream. Then, he collapsed backward and erupted into a shower of equipment, magic stones and more. I reached the boss in a single step and stomped the ground using War Crush. Try guessing if I had done it consciously or not. While the skill was in effect, I swiped all the loot into my bag and turned on public sharing mode to show everyone that I hadn¡¯t tried to embezzle an item or two. Every stat and detail was shared in the guild channel¡ª Stuart Battle Armor (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 12000 Defense. Increases user''s Defense by 85%, increases max HP by 70000, 9% damage received is reflected back to the enemy. Level Requirement: 230. Bone Slayer Axe (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Battle axe, 11000~14400 Attack, +195% Attack. Outstanding: Bone Slaying, damage dealt ignores 20% of the target¡¯s Defense. Level Requirement: 230. Corpse Eater Warbow (Ancient Immortal-grade, ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Longbow, 8750~12500 Attack, +175% Attack. Outstanding: Corpse Eater¡¯s Kiss, ranged attacks may convert 5% of damage dealt into HP. Level Requirement: 230. Indigo Beam (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Dagger, 9450~13400 Attack, +180% Attack. Outstanding: Indigo Night, when attacking a target, 17% chance to deal 40% more HP damage. Level Requirement: 230. ¡­¡­ The boss had dropped 3 weapons and 1 chest armor, and they were all Ancient Immortal-grade. My players couldn¡¯t help but stare at me with their jaws on the ground. "OMG, the vice leader¡¯s Luck is so bullshit! Most people would be thanking their lucky stars if they got one 2-Star Outstanding Ancient Immortal-grade piece of equipment after killing TWO Ancient Immortal Rank bosses in a row. However, not only did the vice leader get FOUR from a single boss, they are all 5-star Outstanding or higher!" High Fighting Spirits laughed. "Man, is this boss a walking arsenal or what? I can¡¯t remember the last time I¡¯ve seen a single boss dropping three high-tier weapons in one go!" Li Chengfeng urged, "Lu Chen, get on with the equipment distribution already. The second monster wave should be arriving very soon!" I nodded and raised the Stuart Battle Armor above my head first. "This is an Ancient Immortal-grade metal armor with super high Defense and damage reflect. I already have the Guardian Dragon Armor, so I¡¯m going to give this to the guild. Obviously, I¡¯m the only metal-armor player who was fighting the boss, so we¡¯ll choose the Top 10 cavalrymen with the highest contribution points to roll for it instead. The player with the highest roll will get the equipment IF they can pay the proper amount of contribution points. Otherwise, the player with the second highest roll will get to claim it and so on." Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and more stepped forward without hesitation. I priced the equipment at 190k guild contribution points after checking its system rating. A few seconds later, Gui Guzi became the proud winner of one Stuart Battle Armor. That was fine. Gui Guzi already had an extraordinary amount of Defense in the first place, and now he was almost at the level where he could stand in the middle of an arrow rain and bask in a shower of 1 damage numbers. ¡­¡­ Next, I raised the Bone Slayer Axe and said, "This one¡¯s a battle axe with super high Attack and 20% armor penetration, making it a perfect tool for murder. Again, the Top 10 cavalrymen will roll for it. Its price is 240k guild contribution points!" Everyone was stunned when they heard this. Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and more grimaced visibly as they complained, "Are you kidding me? Who the hell even has that many guild contribution points¡­" As it turned out, there was one person who fit the bill. High Fighting Spirits stepped out and declared, "Hehe, guild leader Eve rewarded me a ton of guild contribution points after all this Luck I donated last time, so I can actually afford this[2]. Give it to me, bro¡­" 1. E/N: I guess it¡¯s a pet showdown if you are a priest then? ? 2. E/N: It¡¯s quite obvious Lu Chen did it on purpose and set the price so high that only High Fighting Spirits could get it. It¡¯s even his favorite type of weapon that he¡¯s been using for a while! ? CH 1404 Provided that the incentive was sufficient, even the most generous man would become ungenerous. This was the first time I saw the honest and the usually quiet High Fighting Spirits requesting an equipment of his own accord. That being said, I was hoping that the item would go to him anyway. He was the most brutish land general of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and his AoE skills such as Xiezhi Howl and Whirlwind Slash were all a perfect fit with the axe. There were few players who could use this weapon better than him. I looked at He Yi, and He Yi shot me a sweet smile and a nod. Understanding exactly what she intended, I tossed the battle axe into High Fighting Spirits¡¯ hands and said, "No problem, man. I will deduct 240k from your total guild contribution points. Keep working hard and earn more patch contribution points, okay? Don¡¯t let this weapon go to waste!" High Fighting Spirits nodded strongly. "I promise!" ¡­¡­ Next, I raised the dagger named Indigo Beam. Appearance-wise, it was indigo-colored just as its name suggested, and it had an elegant-looking pattern covering its surface. Stat-wise, its Attack was almost high enough to rank it among the Top 10 daggers of the world. It was a must-have that should only ever be equipped in the main hand. I cleared my throat before continuing, "Indigo Beam is a dagger with very high Attack and fairly good properties. Now, I¡¯m aware that some of our archer brothers may want to have a dagger of their own, but an offensive dagger like this is ultimately better in the hands of an assassin. Therefore, I declare that the Top 10 assassins with the highest contribution points in the guild will get the right to roll for this. The price is 220k guild contribution points!" A wave of sorrow blew through the crowd. As it turned out, there were only two assassins in the whole guild that met the requirement. The first one was Cute Little Naughty, and the second one was Sky Rock. They were none other than the guild leader and vice leader of the eighth subguild. Cute Little Naughty looked down on me from the wall with a giggle, "That¡¯s perfect, vice leader big bro! It so happens that I¡¯m lacking a good mainhand dagger right now. I¡¯ll compete against Sky Rock!" Sky Rock was a 27-year-old youngster wielding a bloody red dagger that currently served as his main weapon. He cut quite the impressive figure as he walked up to Cute Little Naughty and stood beside her. "Guild leader, you won¡¯t fire me for petty vengeance if I beat you in the dice roll and claim the dagger, will you?" A lovely grin appeared on Cute Little Naughty¡¯s face. "Oh? You want to get fired that much? I suppose I have no choice but to oblige then¡­" "Noooooo, like come on, I¡¯m such a hardworking vice leader. I come to work early, I go home late, and I even neglect sleep and meals in favor of managing the guild. You¡¯ll be sorry if you fire me¡­" "I know right? That¡¯s why you totally should lose this dice roll. Let¡¯s go!" Cute Little Naughty went first and rolled an impressive 97 points. Sky Rock looked both relieved and conflicted when he saw this. He was relieved that he would be keeping his job, but conflicted because Indigo Beam was an incredible weapon. After all, who wouldn¡¯t want to see the numbers go up? Sky Rock went next, and he also rolled an impressive 91 points. It wasn¡¯t good enough to win him Indigo Beam, but hey, at least he kept his position¡­ Finally, I raised the Corpse Eater War Bow and said, "This bow is kinda ugly, and its name is definitely disgusting, but who cares about appearance when it has high Attack, amirite? Anyway, Beiming Xue already has the Xuanming Bow, so she won¡¯t be competing for this. Just like before, the Top 10 archers with the highest guild contribution points will be rolling for this. Oh, and don¡¯t complain to me that you don¡¯t have enough guild contribution points, okay? We¡¯ve set it so that you¡¯ll earn guild contribution points from all the mobs you kill in this event. If you don¡¯t have enough, that simply means you aren¡¯t strong enough to wield this yet. Now, let¡¯s go¡­" In terms of AoE DPS, there was no class better than the Mage and Archer classes. As a result, their average guild contribution points were generally higher than a cavalryman¡¯s. The reason I brought this up was because all 10 archers who qualified to roll for the equipment had the guild contribution points necessary¡ª240k was the price¡ªto pay for it. The virtual dice littered the ground, and the Corpse Eater War Bow ultimately went to Hymn of the Apocalypse. Hymn of the Apocalypse was the third best archer in the guild, and his Famous General Skill was Bow General. He was one of the leaders of the Dragonlight Archers and a good fit with the Corpse Eater War Bow. ¡­¡­ The rest of the loot distribution went about as what one might expect. The only thing worth noting was that there was a skill book called "Sea of Blaze", a mage AoE skill. Its damage potential was around half of a mage¡¯s basic attack, but it had a diameter of 50 yards. It was the perfect skill to use when sieging or defending a fortified position. Moonlight Stone was the proud winner of the skill book. Speaking of Moonlight Stone, the girl had been pampered all the way to the heavens ever since she returned to Ancient Sword. If Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and more dropped a great mage piece of equipment when grinding, they would always give her the first pick. As a result, her Magic Attack had exceeded even Yu Tong¡¯s, and she was now the second best mage in the guild. Sea of Blaze would certainly make her shine even brighter in group battles. After the loot distribution was finally done, He Yi warned everyone, "Stay alert, everyone. I think that the second monster wave is coming very soon, if not here already. Something¡¯s strange though. Why can¡¯t I see a single mob anywhere?" I looked up and down. She was right. I couldn¡¯t find a mob be it in the sky or on the ground. "Hmm, I agree. The mobs should be here already, but I can¡¯t see them anywhere. What¡¯s happening?" Lin Yixin asked me from afar, "Did you see anything with Dark Pupils?" "No. Maybe there are mobs, but it just didn¡¯t work for some reason?" "It could be. Unlike players, some mobs don¡¯t obey conventional rules at all." "Yeah. Anyway, prepare for battle, everyone!" ¡­¡­ We all unsheathed our weapons and returned to our respective positions. On a related note, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and Xu Yang had returned to us with several thousand Dragonlight Cavalry in tow. They had had to fight their way through to enter the canyon, but at least we were together now. The dark clouds hanging above our heads turned into a downpour. It should be daytime already, but it was so dark that it might as well be night. Only the endless lightning strikes provided some illumination from time to time. I wiped away the rainwater on my face while complaining, "The fuck is going on here. Why is nothing happening still¡­" Suddenly, He Yi shivered a little. "It¡¯s here!" "Hmm?" I hadn¡¯t even finished hmm-ing when the ground in front of us suddenly bulged unnaturally. Then, giant centipedes as black as the night itself burst into the open and charged toward us! An underground assault? No wonder it was able to elude my Dark Pupils! A few meters away from me, a centipede mob burst out of the earth and pierced a Dragonlight Cavalryman¡¯s chest with a pair of sharp pincers. Then, it twisted like a drill and struck the man 5 times in a row, one-shotting the fully-buffed Dragonlight Cavalryman! What the hell!? "Guard! All units, Guard!" I shouted. "Archers, give us some suppressive Skypiercer! Mages, AoE skills now!" The ground beneath me trembled all of a sudden, and I took half a step backward in an attempt to avoid the attack. It was too fast though. I only managed to bring my shield in front of me before it hit me with a 5-hit drilling attack. Not only that, the amount of damage it dealt could only be described as shocking! 110,288! 98,272! 102,982! 102,535! 99,266! ¡­¡­ The skill absolutely had armor penetration embedded in it, or there was no chance it could deal this much damage to me. Even most bosses couldn¡¯t hit me that hard! I scanned it with Dark Pupils and retrieved its stats screen¡ª Deep Stone Walker (Fiend) Level: 305 Attack: 52,000~60,500 Defense: 60,000 HP: 5,000,000 Skills: Bite, Maddened Drill Introduction: A devilized undead creature. The Deep Stone Walkers are centipedes that used to live in the inhospitable areas of volcanic regions. They possess thick carapaces, sharp pincers, and the ability to move underground as they please. After they received the summon of the dead, their beastial instinct was brought out in full, and they became a powerful legion under Coldblade¡¯s command. They are extremely proficient at ambushing their enemies from the underground. Countless human braves have perished to their pincers, and their very name strikes fear in their enemies¡¯ hearts. ¡­¡­ "Its Attack is insane. What do we do?" Gui Guzi moved his dragon higher into the air while swinging futilely at the empty ground beneath him. I narrowed my eyes and knocked back the centipede directly in front of me. Then, I pressed a hand to the ground and cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon! Bang bang bang¡­ Columns of draconic energies burst out of the earth, bringing with them the centipedes that had been lurking underground. The skill both dealt great damage to the mobs and broke them out of their underground state! "Well done! Let¡¯s go!" High Fighting Spirits laughed madly as he charged right into the middle of a group with his new Bone Slayer. Then, he cast Xiezhi Howl and absolutely wrecked the Deep Stone Walkers. Of course, the giant centipedes retaliated with their own Maddened Drills. If our priests weren¡¯t prepared for this and dropped their heals on the battle maniac like crazy, he would¡¯ve died in five seconds or less. I had to wait for the cooldown to end before I could cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon again. While rushing into a group of mobs and seizing their aggro with the Burning Blade Slash, I shouted in the direction of Purgatory Mad Dragon, "Don¡¯t just stand there, Purgatory Mad Dragon! Ray of Sunshine, use your Rise of the Fire Dragon to cancel the Deep Stone Walkers¡¯ underground state! Quickly, before your men are all dead!" In fact, Purgatory Mad Dragon had already sustained massive losses even though the battle had just begun. The mobs had insane Attack, and their shit-tier mixed cavalrymen were nowhere good enough to hold them all. This time, Ray of Sunshine didn¡¯t let his arrogance get to his head and cast Rise of the Fire Dragon immediately. Just as I expected, it pushed out a ton of centipedes into the open, which Candlelight Shadow didn¡¯t hesitate to run over with a group of Qiu Beast Cavalry. Rather than helping Purgatory Mad Dragon, both he and I were really helping ourselves. If Purgatory Mad Dragon fell here, at least one corner of the fortress would become completely exposed to the mobs. If we lost the fortress, all of us would suffer the system¡¯s wrath. Despite our countermeasures, the casualties we sustained could only be described as massive. Super-tier players like me, Lin Yixin, He Yi, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi were able to reap a ton of contribution points, but everyone else kept dropping like flies. The only good news was that our ranged parties were completely unharmed. Since ancient times, the melee fighters had always been the "coolies[1]" of an army. It took almost an hour before we finally killed off most of the giant centipedes. Everyone was starting to look tired, and most of us had lost at least a companion or two. I could hardly believe that this was just the second monster wave. ¡­¡­ "Has the boss shown up yet?" I asked. He Yi nodded. "Yep. It appeared from the southwest direction, and Natural Flow is fighting it right now." I let out an "oh" before replying, "Flowing Cloud¡¯s fighting it, huh? Let¡¯s leave her to it then." He Yi smirked. "Is it just me, or does it sound like someone¡¯s in love with the Indian beauty?" "I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. I don¡¯t even know her¡­" He Yi: "..." 1. Coolie (also spelled koelie, kuli, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a term for a low-wage laborer, typically of South Asian or East Asian descent ? CH 1405 There were about twenty minutes of relative peace when a new group of mobs started appearing from the hilltops. They were crimson-colored leopards staring at the fortress with hungry eyes. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if we looked like flat slabs of meat to them. "The third wave consists of beasts called the Devil Blood Mad Leopards. They¡¯re Level 307 fiend-rank mobs¡­" I muttered quietly before asking, "Oh right, did we find out who killed the second wave boss, and what the loot was yet?" Li Chengfeng nodded. "Flowing Cloud was the one who killed it, and I heard that it dropped a Sacred Armament mage cloak that¡¯s better than a standard Ancient Immortal-grade cloak. It was given to Lui Lok. Yep, it¡¯s the guy with the Scepter of Divine Flame. Sigh, his Magic Attack is going to be even scarier now¡­" I shrugged. "Eh, it¡¯s not as bad as you think." Li Chengfeng looked surprised. "Can you elaborate?" I looked in the direction of Natural Flow and started, "It¡¯s simple. Lui Lok with the Scepter of Divine Flame is without a doubt a cannoneer that even I¡¯m wary of. However, a super mage is only scary if he is protected by circles upon circles of unbreachable walls. Here¡¯s the problem. Natural Flow¡¯s current strategy is to to snipe their enemies from afar with the Dragon Punisher Archers¡ªwhich is perfectly fine, mind you¡ªbut their White Horse Cavalry is now outdated compared to the Dragonlight Cavalry or even the Gold Cavalry. How can they protect their prized cannoneer then? Just watch. It is only a matter of time before Lui Lok loses his Scepter of Divine Flame. ¡°The Twelve Divine Armaments are actually cursed weapons. Even if you are a godlike player, there¡¯s no way you can keep one unless you have a powerful guild to support you. Why do you think we have the Chill of the Nine Provinces, the Ghostblade Halberd and the Xuanming Bow, but no one ever dares to raid us for our weapons? It¡¯s because we have 100000 unrivaled Dragonlight Cavalrymen!" I wasn¡¯t planning on motivating my men, but my explanation got them excited anyway. High Fighting Spirits even raised his new battle axe shouted, "That¡¯s right! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ cavalry is unrivaled in this world!" Everyone else did the same thing. "That¡¯s right, we are unrivaled in this world, hahahaha¡­" I huffed. "Now, now, don¡¯t give an inch and take a mile. Anyway, let¡¯s cut the chatter now and prepare for the third wave. We already lost a ton of people during the second wave, and the next wave is almost certainly going to be worse." "Mn!" "Form up and assume the Guard stance. Make sure you¡¯re fully buffed. We must ensure that no harm comes to our Sky City ruler, Princess Karinshan." ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the Devil Blood Mad Leopards started howling from every direction. They might be named leopards, but these bastards were as big as a goddamn yak. If it was me, I wouldn¡¯t even categorize them under the Felidae family. They would be as ferocious as a lion king and as fast as lightning. This wouldn¡¯t be an easy battle. Buzz¡­ As it turned out, the Mad Leopards weren¡¯t howling just because their throats were itchy. An intimidating figure covered in cyan-colored frost and wielding a sword descended from the dark clouds, and he was none other than the avatar of Coldblade the Infinite Storm himself. Yes, the man standing on the clouds wasn¡¯t the real Coldblade, just an image he had created to taunt us with. He let out an evil laugh before saying, "Go, my cute little kitties. Show them your strength and kill all those who dares to resist me. Flatten this miniscule fortress so I may capture Karinshan alive and make her realize the sweetness of womanhood on my soft bed, hahahaha¡­" On the watchtower, Karinshan¡¯s sword hand turned white with exertion, and her entire body was shaking with fury. Beside her, Ziyan unsheathed her sword and declared, "That vile monster! I¡¯ll tear him to pieces myself!" However, Karinshan placed a hand on Ziyan¡¯s wrist and said, "Calm down. That thing is but a false image of Coldblade. You know better than to fall for such a simple tactic." Sophia nodded approvingly. "Yes, we should be calm. Even if that is Coldblade, remember that our goal here is to destroy all of the undead fortresses they have constructed on this land, not to kill him. Xue Wei, are Lady Xinran and Lady Sophie still on the way?" Shadow Dancer Xue Wei answered respectfully, "Yes, Your Majesty." "Then we wait still and see how strong Coldblade¡¯s legions really are. Thankfully, our adventurer legions are no weaklings¡­" Sophia said with a hint of pride while watching the players surrounding the city. Clearly, they were the true main force against the devils. ¡­¡­ "Here it comes!" The crimson on the hilltops churned as one, and the Devil Blood Mad Leopards raced down the mountain ridges with unbelievable speed. Their numbers were innumerable, they resembled an unstoppable tide, and their roars shook the earth itself. It was such an intimidating scene that some of the players on the walls were even shaking with fear. "This is stupid, how the fuck are we going to beat this many high-level fiend-rank mobs? Are we going to wipe and lose our levels again? I don¡¯t wanna¡­" On the ground, He Yi ordered, "Raise shields and Guard! Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers, shoot together when the mob is within 200 yards! Do whatever you can to reduce the impact on our Dragonlight Cavalry! Lu Chen, show us its stats and skills as soon as you can!" I had been switching Dark Pupils on and off since the very beginning, but the mobs were too far away for the skill to capture anything. It wasn¡¯t until they neared 1000 yards when I finally captured their stat screen and shared it in the guild channel¡ª Devil Blood Mad Leopard (Fiend) Level: 307 Attack: 51,000~61,200 Defense: 65,000 HP: 5,200,000 Skills: Bite, Devour, Stormwind Blood Claw Introduction: A devilized undead creature. The Mad Leopards were fearsome animals that lived deep within the forests. They were pack animals who possessed incredible perception and fearsome speed. It was why they had been the kings of the jungle until Coldblade the Infinite Storm tamed them. The Devil Blood Mad Leopards had now transcended the level of mere beasts and became sky-piercing monsters that can put even Sword Saints on their toes. ¡­¡­ I frowned deeply as I warned in the guild channel, "You guys see this? Bite and Devour are common for beast-type monsters, but this Stormwind Blood Claw is absolutely an AoE skill, so watch out. All units, get up the walls unless you¡¯re a Dragonlight Cavalryman. When the Devil Blood Mad Leopards come close, try to stun and kill them before they even get close to our melee fighters. We may sustain heavy losses otherwise¡­" Everyone nodded in unison. Lian Xin and Beiming Xue responded at the same time, "Don¡¯t worry, big bro!" Surprisingly, Li Chengfeng answered jokingly, "Good to hear, girls. Kakaka!" The girls spoke in chorus again, "Pooh! We¡¯re not talking to you, shameless man!" Li Chengfeng shrank a little before complaining, "I¡¯m your elder, you know? Kids these days have no respect for their elders at all. You need to teach your little sisters some discipline, Lu Chen¡­" I answered, "Sure, we¡¯ll talk about that later. For now, we spank the kitties right in front of us first. On that note, Chengfeng, Eve, Little Gui, the four of us are going to fight around 20 to 30 yards in front of the walls and attract as many Devil Blood Mad Leopards to ourselves. It¡¯s just far enough to reduce the pressure on our Dragonlight Cavalry, but not so far that our priests can¡¯t reach us even with Far Shot. Levels aren¡¯t easy to grind after all. Let¡¯s reduce our losses as much as possible, okay?" Li Chengfeng nodded. "Understood!" The Dragonlight Cavalry kept quiet, but there was a layer of newfound respect in their eyes. Players joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls because one, we were the strongest guild in the world, and two, the executive-level players cared for the common players too. Our bond was the foundation that kept the guild strong. ¡­¡­ "Roar roar roar¡­" Still howling, the humongous leopards came within melee range in almost no time at all. Everyone including the players of the other guilds raised their weapons and prepared to face down the mobs. The Devil Blood Mad Leopards were so intimidating that some players looked like they might pee their pants. There were definitely some female players crying out loud, "I¡¯m not choosing a melee character next time¡­" I stood about 25 yards away from my formation and waited for the first group of mobs to hit me. Li Chengfeng, He Yi and Gui Guzi landed their dragons on the ground some distance away from me as well. Hovering in the air could prevent the mobs from hitting us, but that would defeat the entire purpose of our actions. We were among the tankiest players in the guild. If even we wouldn¡¯t take a bullet for the team, then no one would. Thud! I crouched down and placed my hand on the hot and slightly wet soil. The ground trembled a little, and a gigantic, golden-colored hexagram appeared beneath my feet. The moment the Devil Blood Mad Leopards hit us, I abruptly released Rise of the Guardian Dragon, said goodbye to 1000 gold and watched a seemingly endless amount of dragons bursting out of the earth and damaging the mobs. Some unfortunate mobs even ate multiple critical hits and were one-shot. It was a shame the skill didn¡¯t carry my splash effect. After all, the weapon wasn¡¯t swung when casting Rise of the Guardian Dragon, so its splash effect didn¡¯t take effect as well. Countless Devil Blood Mad Leopards were pulled toward me as a result of the skill. At least 8 of them were using Bite and Devour on me, dealing around 30 to 80k damage per hit. I responded by stomping the ground with War Crush and cutting them down with Burning Blade Slash. I¡¯m an expert at fighting fire with fire, so bring it on! On the walls, the archers and mages also fired their offensive skills on the mobs and killed as many of them as possible before they reached our players. It wasn¡¯t long before the fortress became embroiled in war once more. The Devil Blood Mad Leopards were here to destroy us, and we were here to gather their bodies for contribution points. In that sense, we were both getting what we wanted. It took about 7 seconds, but the mobs finally showed me their third skill, Stormwind Blood Claw! Three Devil Blood Mad Leopards raised their claws and nearly the same time, enveloped them in some sort of blood energy, and penetrated my armor and my body with ease. Not only that, the energy claw continued growing in size and traveling until it ravaged the ground behind me, dealing damage in a cone-shaped area. The good news was that there was no one directly behind me. The bad news was that the skill did a ton of damage¡ª 210,283! 193,287! 213,344! ¡­¡­ If even I took that much damage, then the other players could only do worse. I looked back and saw an enormous amount of Devil Blood Mad Leopards charging toward the frontmost Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Whenever they cast Stormwind Blood Claw, my players would take between 300k to 700k damage. The AoE skills overlapped with one another, and almost a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen were dead before the priests could heal them. Once again, if we were doing this poorly, the other guilds could only do worse. I couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh. Coldblade was definitely a lot stronger than the time I had fought him. His lackeys alone were giving us one hell of a bad time¡­ CH 1406 I raised my hand and summoned the Ancient Seal. Then, I fired 7 of them in a row along the battle line where the Devil Blood Mad Leopards were clashing against our Dragonlight Cavalry. Only by controlling their aggro would I be able to reduce our casualties, and we had to ensure that the mobs couldn¡¯t get close to the fortress. There was no telling if the fortress so hastily built with mud and stone was strong enough to withstand the bombardment of Stormwind Blood Claws. It would be terrible if the fortress fell and crushed Princess Karinshan with it. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng was swinging his Crimson Refinement Sword and firing dragon-shaped sword auras anywhere. If nothing else, his class skills and attacks¡ªnot to mention that he was riding an actual dragon¡ªlooked as cool as they were powerful. He Yi was a Stormwind Holy Knight, and her Cyan Wind Shield reduced the damage she received by 30%. It wasn¡¯t as good as Gui Guzi¡¯s Undying Shield, but it was still better than many defensive skills especially since it was stackable with Rock Shield. This was something I hadn¡¯t expected until He Yi tried it. Her attacks were just as impressive. The Suppressing Fire Sword gave her attacks properties of fire, and her class, element of wind. The Devil Blood Mad Leopards were hard-pressed to withstand this deadly combination of fire and wind. Of the four of us, Li Chengfeng and He Yi were at the lowest health¡ªthey kept jumping over and below the 50% mark because Stormwind Blood Claw was incredibly powerful¡ªso they received dedicated healings from our best priests, Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew. I was able to maintain around 70% HP thanks to my superior firepower, but Gui Guzi still beat me with a whopping 80% HP or higher. His Undying Shield and Undead Recovery gave him incredible tankiness, not to mention that his fan group of beautiful older sisters was healing him and him only from the walls. Lucky bastard. While the rest of us had to struggle to survive, he had to struggle to do the opposite¡ªnot that he was trying to kill himself, of course. On a semi-related note, Gui Guzi was super popular in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. For whatever reason, he was especially popular among female players between 22 to 28 years old; the kind of age range many male gamers couldn¡¯t attract even if they tried. One time we were drinking, a drunken Li Chengfeng had complained that his appearance was too masculine, and that he might¡¯ve been a lot more popular if he was just 25% more "moe" like Gui Guzi was. He then resolved himself to emulate my example and hone himself into a powerful, yet humble and tenacious warrior like I was. He thought he would be more popular that way. It was a complete joke, of course. Some people might think I was joking when I said that the number of female players who were willing to date Li Chengfeng started around 10000, but I wasn¡¯t. However, Li Chengfeng rejected them all claiming that a "executive-level player in the guild shouldn¡¯t be promiscuous¡±. There weren¡¯t many people who really knew Li Chengfeng. Some men only loved once in their lives, and for now at least it didn¡¯t look like anyone was capable of replacing his old flame. It wasn¡¯t a matter of qualifications. What could any woman do if the man himself wasn¡¯t willing to open his eyes and accept them? ¡­¡­ "Hey guys, check out Warsky Alliance! It looks like they¡¯re ¡®enjoying¡¯ the time of their lives!" shouted High Fighting Spirits while leaping off his mount to cast a Whirlwind Slash before returning to his mount [1]. We looked. As he said, Warsky Alliance was struggling to survive the Devil Blood Mad Leopards¡ª Bang bang bang¡­ Warsky was alone and surrounded by layers upon layers of mobs at the forefront. Countless Devil Blood Mad Leopards were swiping and biting at him like the wild animal they were. Although the archers and mages were doing their best to mow them down, and he had the Immortal Blade to heal him non-stop, he was still in grave danger. Further behind him, the Gold Cavalry were dropping like flies despite their best efforts to keep the thick swarm of Devil Blood Mad Leopards at bay. On average, they lost around 500k HP to one Stormwind Blood Claw, so their priests just couldn¡¯t heal them in time before they died. It took only the blink of an eye for Warsky Alliance to lose another tens of thousands of players. Warsky was so angry that he was shaking. While swinging the Immortal Blade wildly, he looked behind himself and shouted, "The Devil Blood Mad Leopards must not be allowed to approach the city! Little Rain, tell the men to jump down from the walls and plug the holes now!" October Rain argued, "We¡¯re almost out of Gold Cavalry¡­" Warsky shouted again, "I don¡¯t care! If we ran out of Gold Cavalry, then send in the Cyanscale Cavalry. If we ran out of Cyanscale Cavalry, then send in the Frostscale Cavalry! We are one of the Top 3 guilds of China! We will not be the ones to let the mobs reach the fortress! Do it now!" October Rain nodded. "Very well, I have received your directions¡­" October Rain took a few steps forward. Then, she suddenly launched a kick toward seemingly nothing! Bang! The air distorted a little, and a human-shaped figure fell unceremoniously toward the ground. The invisibility dispelled while the figure was still in midair, and he was none other than the assassin, Farewell Song. After Farewell Song climbed back to his feet, he looked at October Rain with betrayal on his face, "Little Rain, you¡­" October Rain simply harrumphed and said, "There, I got you the bodyguard you need." Warsky looked like he could spit blood. "How the fuck do you expect an assassin to body-block the mobs?? He¡¯s going to get one-shot!" "What are you talking about? Farewell Song¡¯s Defense is almost as good as a Gold Cavalryman¡¯s. He¡¯s exactly the guy you need right now." Warsky: "..." On the walls, thousands of diehard fans of Farewell Song hurriedly got on their Cyanscale Warhorses and jumped down the walls. They shouted, "Fuck, Boss Farewell Song fell down to the ground! Quickly! We have to jump down and save him before it¡¯s too late!" Just like that, Warsky Alliance reformed their battle line and bought themselves a couple more minutes. October Rain really was an intelligent woman. She had hit the nail right in the head¡­ ¡­¡­ If Warsky Alliance was struggling to hold, then the other guilds could only do worse. At Snowy Cathaya¡¯s battle line, Beauty Lin was running back and forth with her generals such as Purple Marquis and Zi Chuanyu to save her frontliners. Despite their best efforts, the Kui Dragon Cavalry still sustained heavy losses to the Devil Blood Mad Leopards. There were a couple of things going in their favor though. First, their tens of thousands of Dragon Punisher Archers were able to chain-stun many of the mobs with Shock Arrows and bought their frontliners much-needed breathing room. Second, the mage parties led by Shadow Chanel were also going all out and just barely keeping the situation under control. Third, they were working closely with Blazing Hot Lips and The Monarch Descends, so they were all able to minimize their casualties to an extent. At Candle Dragon¡¯s battle line, Candlelight Shadow was battling the Devil Blood Mad Leopards alone on his fire dragon. Farther behind him were the Qiu Beast Cavalrymen, and even farther back were the Lantern Girls raising their lanterns, chanting in their sweet voices and dropping tons of Galaxy Storms and God Devil Breaks onto the mobs. Their strategy was just as effective as before as evident from the tons of experience that were streaming toward the tamers. Although Dark Steel City was the worst City of Heaven, Candlelight Shadow was exploiting Life of the Tamer so well that their achievements so far actually exceeded Warsky Alliance¡¯s Gold Cavalry. Warsky was so impressed that he commented "the old ginger is hotter than young ginger after all", to which Candlelight Shadow responded with silence, and Tempest Shadow with "fuck you¡±... The southernmost area of the east gate was occupied by a bunch of outer lands players. It was where I had stationed Protective Umbrella. Warsky, Hickey and the Zephyr Cavalry were sustaining just as many losses as everyone else, but at least they were able to hold the line. Next to Protective Umbrella were Dark Mercenaries and Little Piglet, and surprisingly they too were able to prevent the mobs from taking a single swipe at the fortress thanks to the Iron Cutter Cavalry. Not everyone was able to hold, of course. In fact, some guilds were being routed, or had been routed already. Take the defense lines of Purgatory Mad Dragon, Flower Room, or Pop Culture for example, there were only two words that I could think of that could properly describe their situation. They were: oh no! Flower Room was almost wiped. Their guild leader, Li Le, and the vice leader, Life of Luxury, were already dead, and less than a thousand of them were still alive. Pop Culture wasn''t doing much better either. Lone Moonshade and his army¡¯s remnants were just barely clinging onto life as they struggled. Purgatory Mad Dragon performed the best out of all the losers, but it was really Ray of Sunshine roleplaying a one-man-army with the Heaven Suppressing Necklace. Even without any priest to heal him, he was able to keep his HP above 60%. You could see that he really was a talented player judging from how systematically he was using his AoE skills despite the chaos around him. He was also casting his Rise of the Fire Dragon like it didn¡¯t cost gold because he knew that Wang Dongliang and Lu Chao would compensate him and more. After all, Ray of Sunshine was their lord and savior right now. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that their only way to keep their position on the China Guild Ranking was to throw their full weight behind Ray of Sunshine. Unfortunately, Ray of Sunshine was literally the only one in Purgatory Mad Dragon who had any skill worth a damn. As a result, the Devil Blood Mad Leopards were able to get close to the fortress and begin attacking its weak walls. ¡­¡­ Forty minutes and nearly 10000 dead Dragonlight Cavalry later, we finally managed to clear out almost all of the Devil Blood Mad Leopards in our area. Unfortunately, our work was far from over. I looked in the direction of Purgatory Mad Dragon and groaned loudly, "Fuck, Purgatory Mad Dragon is so useless! Little Gui, rally 5000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and follow me! We need to reinforce them now, or the Devil Blood Mad Leopards are going to breach a corner of the walls!" "No problem!" Ever the battle maniac, Gui Guzi happily mustered his men and followed me to Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s rescue. He Yi, Li Chengfeng and the others stayed behind to protect our people. I charged my Chill of the Nine Provinces with power and fired a Coiling Dragon Revolution at the mobs, proccing many crits and killing the unlucky mobs. Now that I thought about it, it kinda looked like we were here to rob Purgatory Mad Dragon of their experience. We weren¡¯t though. I mean we were, but Purgatory Mad Dragon would¡¯ve been annihilated if we had left them be, and then they would¡¯ve lost an entire level worth of experience and their section of the walls as well. Gui Guzi raised his Ghostblade Halberd and roared, "Kill them!" Our 5000 elite Dragonlight Cavalrymen cut through the horde of Devil Blood Mad Leopard in unstoppable fashion. Seeing that reinforcements had arrived, the ranged players of Purgatory Mad Dragon hurriedly amped up their DPS as well. There was a problem though. Most of them were using guild attack mode, so their attacks were hitting both the mobs and us. Furious, Gui Guzi pointed his halberd at them and shouted, "Switch to Nation War attack mode, you fucking idiots! You wanna die?" At this point, Purgatory Mad Dragon players¡¯ mentality was completely wrecked by the mobs. It was to the point where they obeyed Gui Guzi¡¯s order without hesitation. ¡­¡­ About ten minutes of fighting later, the pressure on Purgatory Mad Dragon was fully lifted, and Wang Dongliang was able to dispatch a group of cavalrymen to defend the walls. Gui Guzi and I withdrew with the Dragonlight Cavalry after that. "Hey you two!" Suddenly, Li Chengfeng called out to us from the sky, "You need to come back now! The fourth AND fifth wave just showed up at the same time!" I exclaimed in astonishment, "You serious? Two waves at once?" "Yeah!" "Motherfucker! The boss hasn¡¯t even shown up yet, and the game¡¯s sending two waves at us at the same time? This is totally unlike your normal monster wave¡­" ¡­¡­ We hurriedly returned to our formation and restored our buffs and statuses. However, the mobs appeared from the mountain ranges before we managed to fully restore ourselves, and the bloody storm in the distance grew even thicker than before. "Roar roar¡­" Beastial roars filled the air as golden-scaled beasts that looked like tigers appeared on the mountain ranges. They were Level 308 fiend-rank mobs called Dragonscale Battle Tigers, and I had no doubt that their Defense was super high. Not only that, black war eagles appeared above the horde of tigers, and each one was ridden by a skeletal warrior with spears in their hands. Behind them was an unusually large quiver filled to the brim not with arrows, but spears. They were Level 309 fiend-rank mobs called the Spear-throwing Flyers! Scalp tingling with abject dread, I gripped my weapon tighter and asked quietly, "You guys prepared to wipe and call it a day?" Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi chuckled at the same time. "Nope!" "Very good. Now prove it with the steel in your hands!" Everyone unsheathed their weapons and waited for the land and aerial army to reach us. 1. T/N: ??? I guess he can¡¯t cast it from the mount because it needs him to spin his body? ? CH 1407 The Dragonscale Battle Tigers swarmed toward us from every direction like a tidal wave, their roars deafening enough to tear the sky itself. The sky was also crawling with Spear-throwing Flyers, and it almost looked like the riders were herding the tigers toward us. "You know¡­" Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyelid twitched. "I have a bad feeling that these tigers are even stronger than the Devil Blood Mad Leopards¡­" I nodded in confirmation. "Unfortunately, you are correct. The Dragonscale Battle Tiger¡¯s Attack is about 2% higher than the Devil Blood Mad Leopards¡¯, and they also know Stormwind Blood Claw. They also have a passive, Shield of Dragon Bones, and it increases their Defense by 20%. Long story short, they¡¯re way harder to kill than the Devil Blood Mad Leopards. However, the true threat of this super wave is above our heads, the Spear-throwing Flyers. We will have to rely on our Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers to fight them. Fight hard and pray just as hard. This fight is going to be every man for themself." Gui Guzi gulped. "Is our ranged party even strong enough to win against them?" On the rampart, Lil Beiming answered, "We don¡¯t have a choice, do we? If we¡¯re strong enough, then all is well. If we aren¡¯t, we still must fight until the bitter end!" I smiled approvingly. "Well said. See, Beiming¡¯s resolve is way better than yours, Little Gui!" Embarrassed, Gui Guzi changed the topic and asked, "By the way, should we dragon knights fly to the sky and engage the Spear-throwing Flyers in an epic battle when they hit us later?" I made a rough calculation in my head before answering, "You can try, but at least 100 Spear-throwing Flyers will be able to hit you for 150k damage each. Your Undying Shield will absorb half of that as HP, but that is still 8 million damage in total. That is not accounting for their active skills either. Overall, they can deal almost 20 million damage to you in an instant. How many lives do you think you need to be able to survive the whole wave, Little Gui?" Gui Guzi shuddered. "I think I¡¯ll fight on the ground, thank you¡­" Li Chengfeng laughed. "Yes, a wise man submits to circumstances¡­" On the walls, Moonlight Stone grimaced. "Why¡­ why is it that every time our executive-level players speak, I feel like I¡¯m losing something important?" Yu Tong giggled behind her palm. "You get used to it¡­" However, something shone in Moonlight Stone¡¯s eyes as she added, "Their vulgarness aside, sometimes they really are¡­ quite trustworthy. So trustworthy that it sometimes feels like you can entrust yourself to them completely¡­" Lian Xin let out an insufferable sigh. "I¡¯ve seen this before. Who did you fall in love with? Fess up now¡­" Moonlight Stone fell silent for a moment before answering, "I love all of them. What do I do?" "Marry them all¡­" "Very funny¡­" "Heeheehee¡­" ¡­¡­ The Dragonscale Battle Tigers drew closer while the gang was having a pleasant conversation. This time, I dared not tempt fate and stood together with the rest of the Dragonlight Cavalry. Before the mob arrived, I tossed out my Summon the Storm, Myriad Swords Obliteration and other long-range skills to draw as many Dragonscale Battle Tigers to me as possible. I had enough Defense and HP to withstand the barrage of Stormwind Blood Claws anyway[1], and I had 20% lifesteal from the Chill of the Nine Provinces. I should be able to last longer than most. "Get ready, everyone!" The battle began right after I shouted that! Arrows and magic spells filled the sky long before the mobs got to melee range. Our battle line was around 200 meters long, meaning that we would be fighting tens of thousands of Dragonscale Battle Tigers at the same time. Not only that, the Spear-throwing Flyers were swooping it in dense packs as well. The moment they were in range, they raised their spears and gathered ominous red energy to the spear blade. The visual effect told me that it was shield-piercing. If the Spear-throwing Flyers were allowed to unleash their skills without hindrance, at least thousands of Holy Mages would die from this one strike! "Go all out! Don¡¯t hold back anything!" I shouted while turning my blade and casting my sword¡¯s special skill, Cold of the Nine Provinces. Barring bosses, all units within 100 yards of me had a 90% chance or higher to become frozen in ice! Swhoosh! For a second, it felt like the very air was about to turn into ice. Then, countless Dragonscale Battle Tigers and Spear-throwing Flyers became frozen! When the enemy is down, you move it to pulverize them. The three vortices on the Chill of the Nine Provinces that represented Death began spinning rapidly as I turned the Death side of my blade toward the sky. There were some minor differences due to resistances, but hundreds of thousands of mobs lost a maximum of 50% of their HP, around 3 million HP, at once. Buzz! I wasn¡¯t done yet. A pair of bloody wings spread behind my back, and a giant golden sword cut across the sky. An instant later, my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Xuanyuan Slash cut through a thick swathe of Spear-throwing Flyers and killed at least a thousand of them. The skeletal riders could only scream impotently as they were killed before they were released from their frozen state. I was very happy to report that my experience bar was filling up like crazy as well. Li Chengfeng¡¯s Crimson Firmament Slash appeared in the sky right after my Ancient Divine Skill disappeared. He Yi also activated her Chengying and Hanguang and cleared out a small corner of the sky with Stormwind Break + Stormwind Slash combo. Our brutal DPS was the only reason Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was still surviving despite the dire straits. ¡­¡­ Warsky was stunned when the mobs around him lost 50% of their HP at once. "God damn, Lu Chen¡¯s sword is so fucking OP! If its cooldown was 6 seconds instead of 6 minutes, he could kill any non-boss in just 6 seconds! So OP!" October Rain chided him, "Focus on the mobs in front of you!" As if on cue, player screams started erupting everywhere. At this point, we weren¡¯t grinding the mobs for profit, we were all just trying to survive for as long as possible. ¡­¡­ Boom boom boom¡­ Lian Xin¡¯s Dimensional Storm and Beiming Xue¡¯s Skypiercer exploded in the sky. The were immediately followed by a bombardment of God Devil Breaks that killed or greatly wounded the Spear-throwing Flyers. However, their numbers seemed endless, and being at 50% HP didn¡¯t stop them from throwing their deadly spears at our Holy Mages. It easily pierced through the Magic Shields and dealt almost 500k damage to them. Droves of Holy Mages collapsed atop their pools of blood. We were literally giving up our lives to beat the mobs right now. While dodging the spear throws on her Fire Qilin, Beiming Xue shouted, "All Dragonlight Cavalry and Holy Mages on the ground, get up the walls and plug the holes as soon as possible! Don¡¯t stop attacking, and don¡¯t give the mobs total control!" Chiang chiang chiang¡­ A concentrated volley of spears hit my Cyan Dragon Shield and shook my arm violently. I had no idea how much damage I tanked just now, only that it destroyed my Battle Astral Wind and dealt over 2 million damage in total. Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and He Yi weren¡¯t doing much better either. The thousands of Dragonlight Cavalrymen fighting beside us had been defeated in just 3 minutes or so, leaving only us and a floor of bodies, equipment, potions, cards and so on behind. "Little Gui, Shennong!" I reminded him as I looked at the tens of thousands of low-health Dragonlight Cavalrymen behind us. Gui Guzi immediately entered Heavenly River Transformation, raised his Ghostblade Halberd and cast Shennong Tastes Grass to heal everyone by 75%, and I do mean everyone. All Chinese players within 1000 yards of him were healed by the skill because he was using Nation War mode. Warsky, Candlelight Shadow and more players couldn¡¯t help but shoot us grateful looks when they felt the healing warmth reinvigorating their tattered bodies. To be honest, they didn¡¯t have to. If we didn¡¯t help each other, this fortress would crumble, and we would all suffer a severe penalty. "Hah! Hundred Ghosts Descent!" Countless ghastly beams descended from the sky and one-shot many Dragonscale Battle Tigers and Spear-throwing Flyers. I checked my cooldown timers. The moment the 6-minute[2] cooldown was up, I activated the Death of Xuanyuan Art once more! Buzz! The sky became filled with columns of red light as all the mobs in the area lost 50% of their HP. It was during moments like this you realized that the Xuanyuan Art was truly the most bullshit experience-stealing skill ever. My March of Chaos contribution points skyrocketed by 500k, and the pressure bearing down on our gate lessened considerably. There were still a ton of mobs, but it didn¡¯t feel like utter annihilation was looming around the corner anymore. Behind us, players kept streaming onto the ramparts and attacking the mobs so as to prevent the fortress from falling. Although new hordes of Dragonscale Battle Tigers and Spear-throwing Flyers had spawned [3] into the game world, it wasn¡¯t as brutal as the first wave had been. All of us let out a collective sigh of relief. Li Chengfeng curled his lips as he stared at the mountain of bodies on the ground. "This double monster wave was so bullshit, man¡­" I replied, "It¡¯s not even the last wave. Continue¡­" Gui Guzi asked me, "Boss Broken Halberd, your Chill of the Nine Provinces is practically godlike in any group battle. Why didn¡¯t you use it sooner?" I thought for a moment before answering, "You know, Twelve Divine Armaments, cursed weapons, if I use it too much I will bring tribulations to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls blah blah blah¡­" Li Chengfeng laughed. "You¡¯re worried that the guilds will gang up on Ancient Sword because of the Chill of the Nine Provinces? Relax, bro. Not only are we strong enough to take all of them on, we also have staunch allies like Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips and Purple Lily. Don¡¯t worry and spam away!" I nodded. "Okay, let¡¯s continue. Oh shit, that new wave of Battle Tigers is massive¡­ it¡¯s such a shame Xuanyuan Art isn¡¯t a full-map one-shot¡­" The corners of Li Chengfeng¡¯s mouth twitched. "Have some shame, bro¡­" "Haha¡­" ¡­¡­ "On no!" Beiming Xue suddenly called out a warning from the rampart. "... bosses have spawned!" I broke into a grin. "Oh, that¡¯s wonderful!" Beiming Xue: "Did you not hear me! THREE BOSSES have spawned, and they are headed for us!" I shuddered. "Fuck!" ¡­¡­ On the distant mountain ranges, a gigantic mad leopard with wings, another gigantic Battle Tiger with metal wings, and an undead general riding a Bone Dragon spawned at the same time. Not only that, they were all targeting our eastern gate. My scalp tingled like never before as I said in a trembling voice, "All three¡­ are Ancient Immortal Rank bosses¡­ and they¡¯re all¡­ coming our way¡­?" He Yi spoke with a calm expression that probably didn¡¯t reflect her true feelings, "You know, I never thought I would feel disgusted at Ancient Immortal Rank bosses one day. So, so disgusted¡­" Gui Guzi chuckled. "Would the Indians and Americans please steal the bosses from us?" I groaned on the inside. The Dragonscale Battle Tigers and Spear-throwing Flyers alone were murdering the shit out of us. To have to fight off three Ancient Immortal Rank bosses too? Was this an obstacle the designers of this patch purposely prepared for us? I don¡¯t think we¡¯re capable of digesting this much "love", man! ¡­¡­ "What should we do?" I asked He Yi. She thought for a moment before replying, "Let¡¯s share the burden!" "Got it!" I shouted, "Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, you guys can handle an Immortal Rank boss each, yeah??" Candlelight Shadow struck back a Dragonscale Battle Tiger before replying, "Can we not?" "Oh but I insist!" 1. T/N: ¡­ but the guys standing next and behind you don''t. ? 2. T/N: seconds in the raw Kappa ? 3. T/N: Holy shit you need to spawn mobs with the level of processing power that is needed to run this game? Impossible! *fake gasps* ? CH 1408 Swhoosh! Warsky bravely charged toward the edge of the three bosses¡¯ aggro before fishing out a dagger from his pockets. Then, he tossed it using a ranged skill. The dagger hit the Mad Leopard boss''s head squarely, and the latter immediately let out a howl of rage and stretched out its wings. As it turned out, the wings on its back weren¡¯t mere decorations after all. On Candle Dragon¡¯s side, Candlelight Shadow swooped down from the sky on his fire dragon and smacked the Battle Tiger boss''s head with his sword. This meant that I had no choice but to take on the undead general riding a Bone Dragon. It wasn¡¯t like anyone wanted to kill a boss right now, mind you. The Dragonscale Battle Tiger and the Spear-throwing Flyers were already pressing us hard, and now we had to handle three bosses at the same time. Not even the fattest reward seemed good enough when the threat of ultimate failure was very real. Swhoosh! I threw my sword across the air and watched as Coiling Dragon Revolution smashed through the undead general and dealt a critical hit of 500k+ damage. Enraged, the undead general growled, "Are you challenging me, insignificant human?" The moment I caught my returning sword, I immediately smacked its head with Dragon Slaying Slash. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m challenging you! Get the hint already!¡± "Damned brat!" The boss spurred its Bone Dragon into action. At the same time, he thrust his azure-colored spear at me and fired a beam that was at least 50 meters long! What incredible attack range! I blocked the attack with the Cyan Dragon Shield and felt my arm turned numb. At the same time, a massive damage number rose from my head¡ª 410,282! Shit, the boss''s level was too high. At Level 315, it might as well be a Lower Divine Rank boss. This wasn¡¯t something I could deal with alone. I backed away as quickly as I could while sharing the stats screen I had captured with Dark Pupils in the guild channel¡ª Executor Lin Lie (Ancient Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 315 Attack: 59,000~82,500 Defense: 90,000 HP: 700,000,000 Skills: Ultimate Strength Break, King¡¯s Pledge, Rain of Stars Introduction: Lin Lie was a Dragon Knight Captain of Dragon Domain, but tempted by the power offered by Lin Na, he willingly joined the Purgatory as an enslaver of the dead. When Lin Lie was alive, he was already powerful enough to win the praise of Dragon Speaker Binglan. After he received Lin Na¡¯s dark dragon powers, he became an even scarier devil than before. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng gasped audibly when he saw the boss''s stats. "Dude, I¡¯ve known people who squeeze stress balls to relieve their stress, but I¡¯ve never seen someone who squeezed durians until now. I know you¡¯re one generous sonuvabitch, but you realize that even gifts have a limit, right?" I shouted while running for my life and freezing a group of Dragonscale Battle Tigers, "You think I want this!? Clear out the Spear-throwing Flyers atop the rampart as soon as possible! Lian Xin, dispatch 1000 mages and priests to help me! Sis, focus only on me and feed away like no tomorrow, or there¡¯s absolutely no chance I can tank this boss! Also, I¡¯m going to fight him in the air so that our brothers and sisters on the ground won¡¯t be impacted by the battle!" Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue nodded at the same time. "We¡¯ll get it done. Don¡¯t worry!" Swhoosh! The scales on my Guardian Dragon Armor fell away and took the form of the Ancient Divine Dragon instantly. I immediately pulled myself up its back and soared about 30 meters above the ground. Almost immediately, I was forced to activate Battle Astral Wind to survive a volley of spears from at least dozens of Spear-throwing Flyers. It was horrible. The good news was that I was in Lu Buyi¡¯s party, so my Defense was buffed by 220%. The Spear-throwing Flyers were deadly, but not so deadly that they were a threat I couldn¡¯t handle. "Where do you think you¡¯re going, brat?" The boss laughed with bloody eyes. "Do you really think you can escape me?" Me: "..." The boss soared above my head and struck me for over 300k damage. At the same time, his Bone Dragon opened its smelly maw and bit me in the arm, nearly puncturing my Flying Dragon Wristguards completely. A tearing pain erupted from my arm as my HP dropped to just 50% or so. This was unacceptable! The Chill of the Nine Provinces shivered in my grip as if it was getting angry. The Ancient Divine Dragon beneath me let out an actually angry roar. I should¡¯ve known that the best prize of the WEL would be extraordinary. As a king of dragons, it found the idea of being looked down on by a Bone Dragon absolutely humiliating. Without hesitation, it bit an entire chunk of bones out of the Bone Dragon¡¯s neck! "Roar roar roar¡­" The Bone Dragon roared in pain at the same time I received the system notice: Your mount "Ancient Divine Dragon" has intimidated the target¡¯s mount and lowered their mount effectiveness by 40%. The effect will last for 10 minutes! I was overjoyed when I saw this message: The Ancient Divine Dragon was now Level 199; a step away from reaching Level 200. Was this a taste of what the Divine Awakening stage would offer me? If it was, then it was amazing. In a 1v1, the ability to reduce the enemy¡¯s mount effects by a significant margin was broken, shameless, and most definitely would be loved by every top expert who got one! Li Chengfeng called out to me from afar, "Lu Chen, can you really tank the boss alone?" While injecting Purple Frost Concentration into the Bone Dragon¡¯s head and suffering a stab to the side for my efforts, I replied, "Yeah. Don¡¯t come closer unless my HP falls below 25%. Archers and mages, support me from afar. Also, get me a hundred priests to pocket-heal me!" While galloping on the rampart with a giant shield in hand, Heaven¡¯s Rain shouted, "Someone, get me a squadron of Dragonlight Cavalrymen to defend the edges of the fortress and protect the mages and archers behind you with Holy Shield Protection! Ranged units in the fortress grounds, continue attacking the Spear-throwing Flyers and reduce as much pressure as possible for big brother Lu Chen!" Bang bang bang! Meanwhile, I was blasting away Lin Lie¡¯s chest with a merciless Burning Blade Slash¡ª 351,893! 412,299! 471,724! Although Lin Lie had 90k Defense, he still ate over 1 million damage because his Defense was reduced. I was equipped with a set of Divine Armaments, Sacred Armaments and Ghost Armaments after all! On the walls, hundreds of Dragonlight Cavalrymen shot Lin Lie¡¯s Bone Dragon with Shock Arrows or armor-breaking skills. In this case, hitting the mount was the same as hitting Lin Lie himself. Unfortunately, the attack power of an Agility-based ranged class was incomparable to a melee class, and they only managed to do between 1 to 10000 damage or so. The only ones who managed to penetrate the boss''s Defense and do over 100k damage per hit were first-rate archers like Beiming Xue or Hymn of the Apocalypse. On the other hand, the Holy Mages were absolutely kicking ass. Even the weakest among them dealt over 100k magic damage with just one Touch of the Dragonkiss. Lin Qian¡¯s defense was of the metal armor type, and that type of mobs took additional damage from magic attacks. This was one area no archer could ever hope to compete with. ¡­¡­ "You are courting death!" Hurt by the barrage of magical spells, Lin Lie abruptly broke away from me and swooped toward the fortress even though I still held its threat. Then, he raised his spear and did a horizontal sweep across one section of the rampart. My heart clenched. That visual effect was Ultimate Strength Break! Bang! Hundreds of Holy Mages perished instantly. Ultimate Strength Break could pierce Magic Shields to deal unconditional true damage based on the Strength stat difference, and heavens only knew how much Strength Lin Lie had. All I knew was that his Strength was higher than mine, and that the Holy Mages never even stood a chance. "Motherfucker!" Furious, I slammed into Lin Lie from behind and hit him with a devastating Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash combo. Lin Lie immediately turned around and stabbed my Ancient Divine Dragon with his glowing spear. Once again, we were locked in an aerial battle. Thankfully, my HP never truly fell below the 70% mark thanks to the priests healing me constantly with their holy spells. ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, things didn¡¯t swing in our favor for long. When the boss''s HP dropped to 50%, Lin Lie abruptly shuddered and roared at the sky, "King who slumbers in the Purgatory, I beseech that you open your all-seeing eyes and awaken! I, Executor Lin Lie, request the power of kings¡ªKing¡¯s Pledge!" Beep! Combat Log: Executor Lin Lie has used the skill "King¡¯s Pledge¡±. Their Attack and attack speed are increased by 50%, they ignore 20% of their target¡¯s Defense, and their attacks may freeze their target! ¡­¡­ "Oh no!" I yelled, "Watch out! Eve, Chengfeng, Little Gui, get ready to tank the boss''s next combo!" The boss was already charging toward me before I could finish my warning. He smiled maliciously as he said, "Come, brat! Have a taste of the power of Dragon Domain! Stormwind Spear!" Are you kidding me? He got new skills after using King¡¯s Pledge? I immediately summoned the Cyan Dragon Shield and activated Cyan Dragon Scale to block the attack. Stormwind Spear was a five-hit skill imbued with the power of the wind. I would die if I didn¡¯t do everything in my power to block it, especially since the boss''s overall Attack had been increased by 50%. Bang bang bang¡­ My body shook violently, and my arm felt like it was being crushed into many tiny pieces. 5 damage numbers appeared above my head¡ª 609,283! 712,672! MISS! 712,028! 629,383! The good news was that Ghost Spirit Step Art nullified one hit for me. The bad news was that my HP still dropped to 25%. Lin Lie with King¡¯s Pledge active was absolutely the equal of a Divine Rank boss! Thud thud! There were two soft crunching noises as the Ancient Divine Dragon and the Bone Dragon bit each other. At the same time, Lin Lie and I pressed our palms against each other¡¯s chest and cast our skills! "God Binding Art!" But it was a miss. A death premonition immediately struck me. Tenacity of the Dead! +1,072,632! Lin Lie¡¯s ridiculing cackle grew even more mocking. "Die, adventurer of the later generation! No matter how strong you are, death is your only end today. Blazing Dragonrise, Enhance!" Both me and my Ancient Divine Dragon became bathed in flames in the blink of an eye. Lin Lie was a Dragon Knight Captain of Dragon Domain, so of course he knew how to cast a simple Dragonrise spell. This one in particular was going to hit me three times in a row! My heart nearly stopped as I watched the damage numbers above my head! CH 1409 977,470! 1,013,844! MISS! ¡­¡­ My heart had leaped to my throat. The Dragonrise spell dealt around 1 million damage per hit. Tenacity of the Dead had healed me for 1 million HP, and the priests on the walls had Instant Heal¡¯d me for another 1 million. Even so, I only had a bit over 2 million damage. I knew the second I saw the first damage number that I was going to die. The Dragonrise spell was an AoE spell, so I didn¡¯t even have the option of dodging out of the way. I dared not activate my invincibility shield either because the aggro would immediately be transferred to the players on the rampart. If that happened, our losses were going to be worse than if I had just died here. I resolved myself to die then. This way, Li Chengfeng, He Yi and Gui Guzi would have a chance to retake the boss''s aggro at least. Otherwise, this Level 315 Ancient Immortal Rank boss would absolutely wipe the floor with our 100,000-strong army! To my surprise though, the last hit of the Dragonrise spell missed. That¡¯s right, the AoE magic spell had missed, something that would normally be completely impossible. It was because I was wearing a necklace with an effect that was literally unique in the entire game, the Pity of the Purgatory Gods! Its passive, Pardon of the Gods, gave me a 30% chance to avoid any magic attack even if it came from a boss! My already favorable impression of the necklace immediately skyrocketed. As expected of an Ancient Divine Armament, it had saved its master¡¯s life at the last possible moment! Had I died here, I would¡¯ve been forced to respawn at Sky City and fly back over. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls could¡¯ve been annihilated by the time I finally returned to them. Thank the heavens that hadn¡¯t happened! ¡­¡­ While flying back to my priests to get healed, I downed a health potion and shouted, "Little Gui, hold the boss''s aggro for a bit! I need time to regenerate back to full health!" Gui Guzi swooped over on his Dark Crystal Dragon and executed Burning Blade Slash + Death Combo. It was just barely enough to free me from the boss''s attention. I immediately stopped above Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew, Yamete and the other priests and received my heals in silence. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ +69,882! +42,167! +71,200! Yamete complained when he saw the little bump in my HP bar[1], "I feel like a god when I heal another player, Lu Chen, but you? Like dude, you have even more max HP than Little Gui. Have some shame, man¡­" Me: "..." Murong Mingyue curled her lips. "Don¡¯t blame Lu Chen for your own poor healing skills¡­" Yamete wasn¡¯t stupid enough to argue with big boss Mingyue, so he immediately replied, "Sister Mingyue is wise¡­" Me: "..." It was at this moment Li Chengfeng shouted, "You need to come back now, Lu Chen! Little Gui¡¯s Defense isn¡¯t as good as yours, and he¡¯s taking at least a million damage per hit! Quickly!" I immediately returned to the fray without a word. When I was about ten meters away from the boss, an idea flashed to my head. Dragon-shaped energy manifested around my wristguards as I locked onto the boss and chose the piece of equipment I wished to disable. Then, I fired the flying dragon at it! Thud! Lin Lie exclaimed in shock when the draconic energy wrapped its giant paws around the boss''s azure spear, "Y-you! What the fuck do you think you¡¯re doing! Let me go! Let my Cave Ice Halberd go now! My weapon has been my partner for countless years, and you think you can steal it from me!? Never! It¡¯s forever mine! It¡¯s a divine arm you will never get your dirty hands on, you damned brat!" Okay, this was the most talkative I had ever seen any boss be. This might be an even greater idea than I thought¡­ Swhoosh! I withdrew my draconic energy and successfully pulled the Cave Ice Halberd out of Lin Lie¡¯s hands, disarming him for a total of 15 seconds! Deeply humiliated, Lin Lie raised an iron fist and punched me hard on the Cyan Dragon Shield, dealing¡­ only 270k damage! It was nothing like the monstrous amount of damage he had dealt to me earlier! As I thought, even a boss couldn¡¯t do much against me if he was disarmed, and I was certain that Lin Lie didn¡¯t have another Cave Ice Halberd in his bag. He would¡¯ve used it to smack me in the face already if he did. Now was the time to go all out! "15 seconds, people! Give it everything you got!" Right after I shouted, He Yi, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi and I went into a frenzy. Blades and energies scattered all over the place as we deleted much of Lin Lie¡¯s HP! During this period, I snuck a look at Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon to see how they were doing. The King of Mad Leopards were ravaging Warsky Alliance¡¯s Cyanscale Cavalry and killing countless with its Stormwind Blood Claw. Despite Warsky, October Rain and the other Warsky Alliance generals¡¯ best efforts, it would cost them dearly to suppress the powerful King of Mad Leopards. As for Candle Dragon, Candlelight Shadow, Blue Sky Scar and Tempest Shadow were taking turns to attack the King of Dragonscale Battle Tigers, but the boss kept running all over the place as if someone had pumped it with stimulants. Wherever it went, its roars turned into rending storms that shredded countless Qiu Beast Cavalry into pieces. Worst of all, a seemingly endless amount of high-level, fiend-rank Dragonscale Battle Tigers and Spear-throwing Flyers were still rampaging across all fronts and making life hell for the players. Even Candle Dragon¡¯s almost unbeatable Life of the Tamer legion was on their last legs. They had been around 200,000 strong at the beginning, but both the tamers and the Lantern Girls were killed almost all too quickly. Left with no choice, Candlelight Shadow could only dispatch even more cavalrymen to fight against the enemy. Candle Dragon couldn¡¯t afford to lose this fight because it would immediately put them at the same level as laughingstocks such as Warsky Alliance, Purgatory Mad Dragon, Flower Room and more. Countless guilds were just waiting for an opportunity to drag them away from their legendary status just like Warsky Alliance, Pop Culture, Purgatory Mad Dragon and more were hoping to do the same to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. In anyone¡¯s life, the only way to not lose was to plot every step of the way with care. ¡­¡­ Buzz! I instinctively turned when a burst of flames caught my attention. It was Lin Yixin riding her Crimson Crystal Dragon and swinging an Ice Flame Slash at a group of mobs using her Purple Spirit Sword. Since Snowy Cathaya didn¡¯t have to deal with any bosses, and their tens of thousands of Dragon Punisher Archers were incredibly powerful in this type of warfare, they surpassed everyone to become the stablest guild among the China guilds. Rather than fighting for their lives, Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis and more super experts were really reaping contribution points to benefit themselves. So I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces and shouted, "Come help us kill this boss, Yiyi! Quickly! We could use your DPS!" Without hesitation, Lin Yixin gave her dragon¡¯s fiery red mane a tug, zigzagged across countless Spear-throwing Flyers and came to my rescue like a goddess. On the ground, Purple Marquis spat in disbelief, "Ah pooh! Did our guild leader seriously just ditch us for her boyfriend?!" Nangong Lexi sighed helplessly from atop her Dragonscale Beast [2]. "What did you expect? Parents often say that married daughters are like spilled water, and we aren¡¯t even her parents! Don¡¯t worry, Yiyi ditched us knowing we can handle ourselves, and she¡¯ll definitely return after she¡¯s killed the boss. Let¡¯s just keep doing our jobs and continue solidifying our footing as best we can!" Purple Marquis nodded. "Yeah. Speaking of which, Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ left flank is about to collapse. Take 5000 Dragon Punisher Archers with you and provide them with some suppressive fire for ten minutes!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ After Lin Yixin shook off the Spear-throwing Flyers, she made a beeline toward the boss until she was almost on top of him. Then, she leaped off her mount, fished out her dagger, and slashed his neck with a perfectly placed Extreme Break, lowering Lin Lie¡¯s Defense even more. After she landed back on her dragon, she immediately switched back to the Purple Spirit Sword and showered the boss''s face with long-range sword auras. Finally, she used Freezing Purgatory that stabbed deep into the Bone Dragon he was riding. Our overall DPS skyrocketed immediately after Lin Yixin arrived. Her presence also freed up more room for me to go to town with the boss. Before we knew it, it became a battle between five dragon knights and a former dragon knight captain. Bang bang! The boss dished out two vicious attacks that forced Li Chengfeng to fly back to the fortress and receive the priests¡¯ healing. Gui Guzi had rejoined the battle earlier without waiting to be fully healed, and now he was forced to go back again. He Yi followed after him soon after. I myself only had less than 40% HP. I tried buying myself some time by summoning my apparition, but the boss literally killed it in two swings. I learned my lesson and decided that I wouldn¡¯t even bother using the skill anymore¡­ When the 30-second cooldown on Flying Dragon Hand was up, I immediately used it again! Buzz! Once again, a giant dragon¡¯s hand robbed the boss of his precious Cave Ice Halberd. Lin Yixin immediately burst into an enchanting giggle when she saw this, "OMG, this Ghost Armament active of yours is so shameless. You¡¯re not allowed to use it on me, or I¡¯ll beat you to death¡­" I laughed. "Relax, why would I disarm you when I can disrobe you instead?" Lin Yixin blushed like an apple while firing an Ice Flame Slash. "Pervert¡­" A fully-healed Gui Guzi heard this right as he came back to replace us, and he commented in a dumbfounded tone, "I can¡¯t believe you have the leisure to tease Beauty Lin during such a tense boss fight, Boss Broken Halberd. You really are the big brother I look up to¡­" Before I could give him an answer, Lin Lie abruptly hit me with an overhead Ultimate Strength Break! Bang! There was so much force behind the strike that both me and my Ancient Divine Dragon crashed to the ground hard. I lost over 200k HP and had to struggle to climb out of the dragon-shaped pit we had made with our own bodies. Lin Yixin stuck out her tongue as she watched me. "So, this is the hero you look up to, little boy?" Gui Guzi puffed up his chest. "Who are you calling a little boy? I¡¯m¡­ 15 centimeters long (self-proclaimed), you know!" Lin Yixin¡¯s smile immediately turned malicious. "Ah, I see someone is in need of some discipline. See you in the champion arena later, little boy!" Gui Guzi: "..." ¡­¡­ It took almost 40 minutes, but finally Lin Lie¡¯s HP hit rock bottom. During this time, the motherfucker had cast his Rain of Stars¡ªa super AoE skill with a radius of 200 yards¡ªtwice and utterly massacred our Dragonlight Cavalry, priests, and Holy Mages. At least it was finally going to be over now. Lin Lie only had 1% HP left! "This dude¡¯s an overleveled Ancient Immortal Rank boss. There¡¯s a high chance it¡¯s going to drop one of the Twelve!" He Yi chuckled. "Disperse, people! Give Lu Chen the last hit so he may drop us in the future!" I grinned and kicked off my final combo with a basic attack. However, the Chill of the Nine Provinces showed up at this moment and filled my entire arm with icy energy. The next thing I knew, the boss had eaten a basic attack that dealt 7 times more damage than normal¡ª 3,306,198! ¡­¡­ "Damned, shameless human¡­" Lin Lie shuddered violently as the final sliver of his HP disappeared. Then, equipment and items started raining from the sky. Finally! 1. T/N: I¡¯m going to pretend Yamete made it back even though he claimed he was going to spend ALL DAY MAKING SOME ARMOR AT SKY CITY ? 2. T/N: it says Dragonlight Warhorse in the raws, but that can¡¯t be right. They gave her a Dragonscale Beast and made her a Dragonlight Archer ? CH 1410 Pop pop pop¡­ If there was one thing everyone in Heavenblessed loved, it would be the luster of equipment. From my point of view, the shiny items were like beautiful blooming flowers in spring. The Ancient Divine Dragon had an incredible turn rate, so I was able to make a sharp turn and fly straight toward the loot. A dozen or so Spear-throwing Flyers were attacking me, but I ignored them all and focused on grabbing the loot. I was able to grab nearly everything the boss dropped and definitely all of the equipment, giving no one any chance to steal our loot. I couldn¡¯t say with 100% certainty that there wasn''t any assassin waiting on the ground to steal something, but assassins couldn¡¯t fly. If none of the loot ever reached the ground, how could they steal anything? "Let¡¯s kill these Spear-throwing Flyers first!" I brought the Ancient Divine Dragon to a sudden stop before firing Burning Blade Slash into a group of mobs. While doing so, I shouted, "Chaos Moon, we¡¯re about to run out of metal armor players! Muster another 10,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen to form a defense line outside the walls now! The Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers need to replenish their numbers as well. Also, don¡¯t hesitate to help out Warsky Alliance if you think it¡¯s necessary. The boss is about to single-handedly wipe out their entire guild¡­" After Chaos Moon responded with an affirmative, thousands of Dragonlight Cavalrymen leaped down from the walls to form an emergency defense line. It wasn¡¯t until we got the situation stabilized with superior firepower did I land on the rampart to check out what the boss had dropped for us. He Yi, Lin Yixin, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and more gathered around to check out the loot as well. I shared my bag view with everyone so that they knew that I hadn¡¯t stolen anything. It was pretty much impossible to stash anything you had looted just 5 minutes ago without a nearby warehouse anyway. I took out all of the equipment Lin Lie had dropped and held it in my arms. There was an azure-colored shield surrounded by bits of starry light. Its design was sleek and elegant, but not so flamboyant that it looked more ornamental than actually useful. Next, there was a ring surrounded by a dense cloud of ice mist. Its design was both unique and stylish. Finally, Lin Lie also dropped a fiery warblade and an eerie-looking scepter with a skeletal head. As usual, I brought up the equipment¡¯s stats screen one by one. I started with the azure-colored shield first and tapped a knuckle on it. Its stats screen immediately appeared above the equipment as a hologram. At first glance, the shield seemed almost perfect¡ª Shield of Cave Ice (Hadean Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 29,500 Magic Resist: 26,000 Stamina: +3050 Strength: +2850 Agility: +2800 Intelligence: +3050 Tactics: +295 Parry Chance: +72% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 170% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 150,000 Outstanding Property: Cave Ice Defense. User¡¯s actual Defense is instantly doubled for 15 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds. Slots: 17 Level Requirement: 230 Reputation Requirement: 1,000,000 ¡­¡­ "Gulp¡­" I swallowed audibly and gave the Shield of Cave Ice a caress. "Any comments, people?" Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng swallowed as well. Gui Guzi was the first to speak up, "This shield is absolutely amazing¡­ I¡¯ve never seen a Divine Armament shield before. This is probably the best shield to date, right? Hadean Divine Armament, so OP!!" Chaos Moon went next, "This Outstanding Property is especially good. The difference between doubling one¡¯s base Defense and 100% Defense boost is like night and day." Lin Yixin echoed in agreement. "I know right? It¡¯s too bad I¡¯m a dual weapon wielder and can¡¯t equip a shield, or I¡¯d be rolling for it for sure¡­" He Yi said with a smile, "Looking at the DPS ranking, the three players who meet the rRequirements to wield the shield are me, Gui Guzi and Lu Chen. Let¡¯s get rolling." Gui Guzi said hesitatingly, "But I don¡¯t think I have enough contribution points¡­" I steeled my resolve and said, "It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll lend you some¡­" Chaos Moon complained, "Since when can we ¡®lend¡¯ contribution points? You guys are so shameless¡­" I really wanted Gui Guzi or He Yi to get the shield though. To say that it would increase one¡¯s tankability to a whole new level would be an understatement! So I said, "Divine Armaments are split into four levels, and they are Cambrian, Hadean, Archean and Ancient. Cambrian is the weakest, and Ancient is the strongest. This shield is an Hadean Divine Armament and quite possibly the best shield to date. My Cyan Dragon Shield is still serviceable, so I won¡¯t be rolling for this. You guys ready, Little Gui, Eve? Now get rolling, and no cheating¡­" [1]Lin Yixin checked the equipment ranking before shooting the Cyan Dragon Shield symbol on my arm. "Actually, the Cyan Dragon Shield is still the No.1 shield on the list. Its points are just a bit higher than the Shield of Cave Ice¡­" I shrugged. "The stats of a Sacred Armament can differ wildly between all four levels of Divine Armaments. Good Sacred Armaments can be as good as Ancient Divine Armaments, and bad Sacred Armaments can be as poor as Cambrian Divine Armaments. You already know this¡­" ¡­¡­ While we were talking, Gui Guzi and He Yi finally rolled the dice. Both of them looked incredibly nervous: Gui Guzi¡¯s dice hand was shaking, and He Yi¡¯s face was as taut as a string. After glancing back and forth between my shield and her dice, Eve finally tossed rolled dice first! 32! It wasn¡¯t the best score one could roll, that¡¯s for sure. "Eve rolled a 32. Go get ''em, Little Gui!" Gui Guzi rolled his dice, and it was¡­ a 23! There was a moment of dumbfounded silence. Then, Li Chengfeng gave Gui Guzi a consoling pat on the shoulder and said, "It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s not like your current shield is bad, not to mention your Undying Shield is practically a cheat skill. You don¡¯t need this shield right now¡­" Gui Guzi smiled. "Thanks, but I¡¯m fine. This simply means that Boss Eve won¡¯t roll against me when a better shield appears in the future, hahaha¡­" I tossed the shield into He Yi¡¯s hands and said, "Your shield, Eve. Remember to treat us to a meal later, yeah?" He Yi equipped her new shield immediately and beamed. "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Now that He Yi had gotten the Shield of Cave Ice, her Defense became higher than ever before. Her Rock Shield and Stormwind Shield were already stackable, but now she could double her total Defense with Cave Ice Defense as well. Even I wasn¡¯t sure if I could penetrate her Defense anymore, let alone anyone else. Also, this was the point when it became clear that He Yi and Gui Guzi¡¯s builds had diverged even though they were both magic knights. He Yi¡¯s build was focused on crazy-high Defense, while Gui Guzi relied on ridiculous HP and recovery. Either way, they were nigh unkillable by normal players. Next, I picked up the ring with a cloud of ice mist surrounding it and brought up its stats screen. It was not as impressive as the Shield of Cave Ice, but it was by no means a lousy ring¡ª Flowing Ice Ring (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Strength: +2240 Stamina: +2400 Agility: +2350 Intelligence: +2300 Tactics: +130 Effect: Flowing Ice. When attacking a target, 10% chance to activate Flowing Ice and encase the target¡¯s feet in ice, slowing them by 50% for 3 seconds. Moreover, every time Flowing Ice activates, the user¡¯s ice resistance is increased by 1%. The effect stacks until the user logs out of the game.[2] Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 115% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 40,000 Level Requirement: 230 Luck Requirement: 10 ¡­¡­ I let out a cough before starting, "This is a very powerful Ancient Immortal-grade ring. I won¡¯t go over all of its effects, but this plus 115% Attack alone is very good. The Attack stat really applies to both physical and magical attack power, so the ring is usable by all classes. Therefore, we will have the Top 10 players with the highest DPS against this boss roll for this equipment. Is that okay?" Everyone nodded and got to rolling. I decided to forfeit again because I already had two rings. One of them was the Ghost Armament Song of Freedom, and the other was the Apparition Ring. The Apparition Ring was easily the lowest-grade equipment on my entire person, but its ability to summon a clone of myself was top-class be it for grinding or PvP. Ultimately, I believed that it was more valuable than the Flowing Ice Ring[3]. A quick roll later, Beiming Xue became the winner with a perfect 100-point score. A mandatory round of groans erupted before we moved onto the next item¡­ ¡­¡­ The third piece of equipment, the crimson blade, wasn¡¯t a long-handle weapon. It was shaped like an ancient podao and somewhat fell under the category of weapons you normally see in a sword and magic fantasy world. It could be used for slashing or stabbing, and it was a wanderer-specific weapon. However, Lin Yixin preferred swords over blades, and the Purple Spirit Sword was still a pretty good weapon. I had a feeling that she wouldn¡¯t try to roll for this one. I waved my hand across the equipment and brought up its stat screen. It was about as exciting as you might expect¡ª Godslayer Slash[4](Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 11,000~14,900 Strength: +2450 Stamina: +2400 Agility: +2350 Intelligence: +2300 Tactics: +150 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 185% Passive: Increases user¡¯s splash effect by 30% Passive: When swinging the Godslayer Slash, 7% chance to deal triple damage. Stackable with critical hits. Slots: 18 Outstanding Property: Godslayer. Increases user''s Attack by 40%, and when attacking a target, 10% chance to deal 50% more damage and prevent the target from being healed or going into stealth for 60 seconds. Effect: Lifesteal. 7% of the damage dealt is converted into HP. Level Requirement: 230 Reputation Requirement: 1,200,000 ¡­¡­ "Hot damn¡­" I grinned as I held the blade. "If this was a gift from an actual person, I would probably turn this down. This Ancient Immortal Rank boss is just too good to us!" I then raised the flaming blade above my head and said, "The Godslayer Slash has super high Attack and an imba effect that prevents its target from healing or going into stealth for 60 seconds! It is a must-have Divine Armament when you¡¯re traveling the world and murdering the shit out of your enemies! All cavalrymen are allowed to roll for this equipment at the cost of 250k guild contribution points. May the luckiest person win!" Everyone¡¯s eyes widened in delight. Melee players were aplenty in this game, and weapon shortage¡ªgood ones anyway¡ªhad been a thing since time immemorial. An Ancient Immortal Rank weapon? It was practically priceless. The Godslayer Slash instantly became the center of everyone¡¯s attention. As expected, Lin Yixin didn¡¯t participate in the dice rolling and just stood quietly beside me. He Yi, Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng also forfeited their right to roll and left it to Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, Tiger Leopard Knight, Du Thirteen and more to compete for it. In the end, our guild¡¯s number one wanderer, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, won the item with an amazing score of 97 points. The guy was so happy that he literally ran back and forth along the rampart eighteen times while shouting, "I finally have an Ancient Immortal-grade item! I¡¯m finally not your generic loser anymore!" ¡­¡­ The last piece of loot was still a weapon. My Luck was so high that I kept dropping equipment that was normally pretty difficult to drop. Take this as an example, all four of Lin Lie¡¯s equipment drops¡ªshield, ring and two weapons¡ªwere considerably harder to drop compared to other equipment slots. Anyway, back to the present. The last weapon was a skeletal head scepter, and it was yet another Ancient Immortal-grade scepter. Truly, my karma was booming today! 1. T/N: I had suspected this for some time, but it looks like we did get the order wrong after all¡ªunless Nab fixed it? Sigh. E/N: Clearly he means to say author or he got it wrong! :O ? 2. E/N: Okay, this is BEYOND bullshit. Lu Chen has the same effect, but he needs to DIE to trigger it. He wouldn¡¯t die 10 times to get 100% Attack boost. But this? Just spend some time triggering it and you are completely immune to ice, wtf? Average of 10 attacks, that should be around 12 seconds with combo limits and basic attacks in between, that¡¯s 5% a minute. 20 minutes and you are completely immune to ice magic. Get a few friends to trigger it with AoEs and within minutes someone becomes immune to ice¡­ ? 3. E/N: After deciding not to get Heaven Suppressing Necklace and this, NEVER call yourself a gamer in front of me ? 4. T/N: why is it called slash instead of blade? Fuck if I know. The good news is that it¡¯s distinctively different from Godslaying Blade ? Bookmark CH 1411 Bleak Death (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Magic Attack: 10,200~15,500 Intelligence: +2650 Stamina: +2600 Agility: +2550 Strength: +2500 Tactics: +225 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 190% Passive: When attacking a target, deals additional 20% damage Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 70,000 Slots: 17 Outstanding Property: Bleak Death. When attacking a target, there is a 100% chance to inflict Bleak Death and prevent them from receiving any healing for 30 seconds. If the target dies, they are unable to revive from their corpse. [1] Level Requirement: 230 Reputation Requirement: 1,400,000 ¡­¡­ I exhaled a little and, for a moment, wished that I was a mage. The scepter already had amazing stats, but its Outstanding Property, Bleak Death, was simply out of this world. Anyone who received a Bleak Death status condition wouldn¡¯t be able to receive any heals for 30 seconds, and the scepter had a 100% chance to inflict it. In a group battle, its value could only be described as priceless. So I looked at our mages and said, "This scepter is called Bleak Death, and it¡¯s an Ancient Immortal-grade weapon. It¡¯s kinda ugly, sure, but I promise you it¡¯s an absolute mankiller you won¡¯t want to miss¡­ Oh, I¡¯m not talking about you, sis¡­" Murong Mingyue rolled her eyes at me. "Pooh. Shameless bastard!" I continued, "So, Top 10 mage players with the highest guild contribution points, step forward and begin to roll. The price is 220k guild contribution points!" It wasn¡¯t long before Lian Xin, Moonlight Stone, Yu Tong and more began rolling for the dice. At first, my heart skipped a beat when I saw that Little Xin only rolled an 11. I knew then that our workshop¡¯s number one mage would not get the equipment unless someone was literally rigging it in her favor. Thankfully, Moonlight Stone was the final winner of the scepter. After the incident with Candle Dragon and Wind Listener, Moonlight Stone¡¯s loyalty toward Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was higher than ever before. There was almost no chance she was going to leave us for any reason, which meant that Bleak Death wasn¡¯t going anywhere either. "Alright!" When the last piece of equipment was finally distributed, I sat down on an embrasure and leaned against a wall. I then distributed the magic stones before taking a much-deserved rest. Almost all of the fiend-rank mobs on our side had been cleared out. Although our losses were severe, the patch contribution points we had gotten were just as great. It was a very comfortable feeling. ¡­¡­ While idling, I took a moment to check out the contribution point ranking. As it turned out, this defense of the Crossroads Valley Fortress had drastically changed almost everyone¡¯s placings. As for my contribution points, let¡¯s just say that they were so high that I was shocked by my own performance. At this point, there was zero chance anyone was surpassing me unless I deleted my account right now. Of course, I wasn¡¯t going to do that in a million years. I still wanted to earn more gold to marry a wife and raise a family¡­ Name Country Points Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand China 4,940,870 Breeze and Rain India 2,583,800 Wind Fantasy China 2,453,880 Candlelight Shadow China 2,242,900 Legendary Brave China 2,123,330 Vienna¡¯s Sorrow USA 2,093,470 Lian Xin China 2,042,770 Luo River God of the Capital China 2,013,430 Tear Stain Korea 1,992,830 God of War India 1,923,740 ¡­¡­ We hadn¡¯t even defended Crossroads Valley Fortress for more than 10 hours, but the amount of contribution points we had earned during this time could only be described as obscene. My amount of contribution points was almost twice of Breeze and Rain¡¯s, and everyone other Chinese rankers such as Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng, Lian Xin and more had skyrocketed in terms of placing as well. Six of the Top 10 players were Chinese. This was why the Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and Purple Grape City feared our strength so much. Tiger roars occasionally shook the sky. At Candle Dragon¡¯s formation, Candlelight Shadow was solo-tanking the boss with the help of a thousand priests. Things looked dicey even then¡ªthat was just how powerful the King of Dragonscale Battle Tigers was¡ªbut with Candlelight Shadow¡¯s adaptability, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem for him to kill the boss. After all, it was ultimately just an Ancient Immortal Rank boss. It was nowhere near a Divine Rank boss like Skullblood the Earth Devourer. I looked at Warsky Alliance next. Warsky was able to cling onto life thanks to the Immortal Blade, but Warsky Alliance¡¯s firepower was clearly inferior to Candle Dragon¡¯s. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s boss only had 17% HP left, but Warsky¡¯s boss still had 40% HP. It would take him at least half an hour to defeat it. ¡­¡­ "Oh no¡­" Li Chengfeng was lying on top of his Blue Crystal Dragon and enjoying a nap when suddenly, he rose to his feet and pointed to the distance. "Look! An army¡¯s coming toward us!" I rose to my feet as well and asked, "What¡¯s going on?" The 30,000-strong army of black cavalrymen thundering toward us wore the guild symbol of Hero Alliance on their shoulders. Leading in front of them was none other than Vienna¡¯s Sorrow himself. None of us was expecting to see this bastard at this time. He Yi said slowly while looking at Hero Alliance, "I know why Vienna¡¯s Sorrow here. The bosses of the third, fourth and fifth wave all spawned on our side, so he lost his cool and decided that he would snatch at least one Ancient Immortal Rank boss from us¡ªthat is what my foreign spies told me. He¡¯s targeting Warsky Alliance¡¯s boss. What should we do? I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and declared, "Do you even need to ask? Let¡¯s go and take out Vienna¡¯s Sorrow!" Our cavalrymen unsheathed their blades and prepared to set out. However, October Rain suddenly called out to us from a distance, "Thank you for your good intentions, Lu Chen, but we can handle this!" "Oh?" I paused. I waited to see what exactly October Rain meant by that. It was at this moment a group of cavalrymen burst out of the nearby forest and scattered the scattered pockets of Dragonscale Battle Tigers in their way. They were making a beeline toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow Iron Cutter Cavalry and Gold Cavalry! "Fuck!" Gui Guzi clenched his fists. "It¡¯s the Russia server¡­" That¡¯s right, the guild challenging Hero Alliance was the third strongest guild of Frostsword City. It looked like Warsky Alliance had developed an alliance with them. As expected of October Rain, not only had she expanded her guild¡¯s influence to Frostsword City, she was obviously planning to develop Warsky Alliance into an international guild! ¡­¡­ I raised my sword again and ordered, "Let¡¯s stand by for now and see what happens¡­" Everyone nodded. After the two forces clashed, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow tried his best to kill as many Russian cavalrymen as possible on his black dragon. However, he had acted too hastily. He had brought less than 100k cavalrymen with, while the Russians had at least 200k. Warsky Alliance wasn¡¯t idle either. Warsky had also dispatched a squadron of Gold Cavalry to strike Hero Alliance where it hurt. Even after Vienna¡¯s Sorrow used his SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Smile of the God of War Ares, he still wasn¡¯t able to obtain an overwhelming advantage. Both sides bled players at an extraordinary rate! "Roar!" The black dragon fired a jet of flames at a group of Gold Cavalry and one-shot them all. Smile of the God of War Ares increased his critical hit rate by 70%, so nearly every hit he dealt was a critical hit. Combined with his extraordinary stats, his firepower could only be described as utterly terrifying. However, his players were dropping like flies to the enemy¡¯s arrow rain as well. For a moment, he frowned deeply like he was considering something. Then, Beethoven¡¯s Joy the Knight of Stars galloped to him and yelled, "Something needs to change, Vienna! We¡¯re about to be surrounded by the Chinese and the Russians, and our tens of thousands of Iron Cutter and Gold Cavalrymen won¡¯t last an hour! The other guilds of the Northern Alliance won¡¯t be able to reinforce us in time either. We must mobilize our local troops now!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow considered the suggestion a moment longer before nodding. "Very well, we will use them this once!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ My eyebrows knitted together as a bad premonition rose in my heart. I clenched my fists together and muttered to myself, "Don¡¯t do it, Little Piglet. Don¡¯t you become another person¡¯s puppet and make me scorn you!" [2] Li Chengfeng asked, "What¡¯s wrong, brother?" I clenched my teeth. "You¡¯ll see in a bit¡­" It didn¡¯t even take ten minutes before Dark Mercenaries abruptly left their joint defense line with Protective Umbrella and headed toward the three-way battle. Little Piglet himself was leading 20,000 Iron Cutter Cavalrymen up a high ground before launching a cavalry charge toward the Russians. He raised his weapon high and declared with determination, "Kill off all the Russians in front of you!" His Iron Cutter Cavalry swung their own weapons and howled their battle cries. The high ground charge was too much for the Russians to hold off, and Dark Mercenaries were able to cut through their formation like a hot knife through butter. Combined with Hero Alliance¡¯s attack, the 200,000 Russian cavalrymen fell apart in just ten minutes¡¯ time. Little Piglet didn¡¯t just stop there. It wasn¡¯t until Dark Mercenaries had killed almost 70k enemies, and his own men had dwindled to just 10k before he finally turned back. The old Little Piglet would be wearing a lazy yet confident look on his face after a victory like this. Today, he looked more like a murderous god of vengeance. Warsky gripped his Immortal Blade tightly while swearing at the departing Dark Mercenaries, "Fuck you Little Piglet! How dare you help the Northern Alliance to torment your own countrymen! Shameless traitor!! You and I will be enemies until the end of time!" ¡­¡­ Dark Mercenaries¡¯ timely and decisive intervention greatly invigorated Hero Alliance. As a result, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was able to reach the boss when it still had 15% HP left and contest it. "Ai, Little Piglet¡­" Gui Guzi sighed. He Yi asked, "Now what do we do?" "What else can we do?" I pointed to the distance and ordered, "Little Gui, Chengfeng, take 20,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen with you and reinforce Warsky Alliance. Try and make sure that Warsky gets the last hit. If that isn¡¯t possible, then focus on keeping Warsky alive. He must not fall to Vienna¡¯s Sorrow no matter what." "Yessir!" ¡­¡­ I stayed where I was while Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng left to reinforce Warsky Alliance. Even Candle Dragon had dispatched a troop of elites to assist them. While both of us would like nothing more than to bash Warsky Alliance¡¯s face in ourselves, it was a different story to let them be bullied by a foreign force. Twenty minutes of chaotic battle later, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow ultimately gave up and withdrew. Almost too soon, a roaring thunder ripped above the mountain ridges once more. ¡­¡­ I looked at the distant horizon and said, "Coldblade himself may appear during the last two waves¡­" 1. T/N: I don¡¯t understand how something this good is only Ancient Immortal-grade, but whatever. More importantly, this confirms that the mechanic where players can choose to either revive from their bodies or revive from the city at the cost of 3 levels is actually a thing. It¡¯s just that no one ever uses it, or at least the author doesn¡¯t write it ? 2. T/N: what part of Little Piglet¡¯s "starting now, I will do anything to get revenge" speech don¡¯t you get? ? CH 1412 Dong dong dong¡­ The dull gongs of war drums resounded from all four directions of Crossroads Valley. At the same time, giant lizard beasts appeared on the mountain ranges. Their bodies were over ten meters long, and they were almost as huge as a giant dragon¡¯s. They had grayish brown scale armors that resembled crocodile scales. A blood-red war drum was set up atop its back, and a brawny beastman could be seen beating it with his hammer. The resounding boom pierced the clouds and thumped seemingly against our own hearts. The actual sixth wave mobs hadn¡¯t shown up yet, and already a dozen or so lizard beasts carrying war drums had appeared on the battlefield. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that the upcoming wave was going to be a deadly one. Soon, the clopping of hooves joined the war drums, and less than three minutes later, a sea of dark knights appeared from the mountain ranges. They were riding rotten undead warhorses and clad in battle armors that looked like they were forged from black dragon scales. They also wielded lightning blades. Obviously, the dark knights all shared the same standardized equipment. ¡­¡­ "Gulp¡­" Gui Guzi swallowed while staring at the mobs. "Are they the sixth-wave mobs? Appearance-wise, they actually look less intimidating than the Spear-throwing Flyers. Maybe this will be easier than we thought¡­" Li Chengfeng wasn¡¯t as optimistic. "Best not underestimate these knights. I have a feeling that they¡¯re extremely powerful¡­" I nodded in agreement. "Yes, these troops are incredibly powerful. The real challenge has just begun!" I looked back at the walls and ordered, "Little Xin, can you muster another 10k Dragonlight Cavalrymen to join us on the ground? We¡¯re going to form at least a 20-layer defense line and stop these things from approaching the fortress." Lian Xin nodded. "Mn, got it¡­" After the fortress gate creaked open, the Dragonlight Cavalry quickly formed battle lines outside the walls. Because the other guilds such as Purgatory Mad Dragon, Flower Room, Gods of Destruction, Pop Culture and more had lost a large majority of their armies, our defense line had extended from the original 200 meters to over 500 meters as well. This wave would truly test the might of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. The players on the walls hurried to assume their positions. We had lost far too many Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers during the double wave, and the players who died earlier were still a long way away from reaching us. They most likely wouldn¡¯t make it in time before the sixth wave ended, so we only had ourselves to rely on. ¡­¡­ Zap¡­ zap¡­ Suddenly, an undead general riding a bloody warhorse and covered in lightning energy appeared on a mountaintop. He wielded a lightning sword as well, but it was a lot more powerful than the dark knights¡¯. Lips curled into a disdainful smirk, he said, "Karinshan, Sophie, Grand Duke Roland, Duke Linlin and Duke Slater¡­ Hahaha, long time no see, leaders of the Silver Moon Alliance. Have you come to surrender your heads to the great power of the dark?" "Oh, fuck!" I shuddered from head to toe. Gui Guzi asked, "What¡¯s wrong, Boss Broken Halberd? Who is that boss?" I clenched my fists as I declared, "Bring your A-game, people. This wave is going to be several times harder than all the waves we¡¯ve fought up until this point because¡­ that boss is none other than one of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns, Thunder the Blade of Death himself!" "What? Thunder the Blade of Death?!" Li Chengfeng exclaimed in shock. "What the hell! This isn¡¯t even the final wave yet, and we¡¯re fighting against a Purgatory Sovereign already?!" I nodded. "Mn. At this point, I¡¯m almost certain that the last wave¡¯s boss is Coldblade himself. Two Purgatory Sovereigns against one Crossroads Valley Fortress? We are so damn ¡®lucky¡¯ today. Spread the news and let the other servers know that this wave¡¯s boss is Thunder the Blade of Death himself." "Got it!" ¡­¡­ Buzz! On the mountaintop, Thunder abruptly raised his Blade of Thunder and shouted with a most vicious grin on his face. "It is time to flatten the fortress in front of you, filthy bugs! Tear those hypocritical royal knights to pieces, drink their blood and feast on their flesh! We will enjoy their women and bring fear and darkness back to these lands! We will let all the living beings under the World Tree know that the power of death is unstoppable, and that the Purgatory legions will rule it all as their one and only ruler! All must be trampled beneath their feet be it god or devil!" On the hills, the restless undead knights finally took off after receiving a direct order from Thunder himself. Dust clouds covered the sky itself as they rode down the hills from every direction. At first glance, at least a million black cavalrymen were coming our way, not to mention that they were all super-tier undead cavalry! "I¡¯m flying ahead to get their stat screen!" I slapped my little dragon¡¯s butt with my sword and spurred it to action. As it took to the sky and approached the closest riders at high speed, I activated Dark Pupils and shared its stats screen in the guild channel. Everyone gasped when they saw exactly what they were dealing with. This had to be the undead legion¡¯s final trump card, right? Thunder Devil Soldier (Deity) Level: 310 Attack: 62,000~75,000 Defense: 85,000 HP: 7,500,000 Skills: Bloody Slash, Undead¡¯s Roar, War Stampede Introduction: Devilized undead creatures. These cavalrymen used to be humanity¡¯s greatest army until an undead plague consumed them all during their final expedition. After these proud royal knights were transformed into undead slaves, Thunder the Blade of Death became their commander and injected them with the power of dark thunder, transforming them into powerful devil soldiers with greater strength and sturdiness. They only serve the Purgatory legion, and they are numb to all pain and emotions. They are humanity¡¯s sworn enemies. ¡­¡­ "Oh heavens, this is too much¡­" Xu Yang broke into a helpless grin as he said this. "Level 310 deity-rank mobs? Deity is probably the next rank after Fiend, right?" I nodded. "Most likely. This is the first time I¡¯ve ever seen a deity-rank mob, and both its Attack and Defense far exceed that of a fiend-rank mob. Anyway, Bloody Slash and War Stampede are both AoE skills, so watch out! Also, we¡¯re keeping to the same tactics. Eve, Chengfeng and Little Gui, the four of us are going to stand about 10 to 20 yards ahead of our battle line and attract as many mobs to ourselves as possible. Mages and archers, please give us everything you got. The more you kill, the more brothers and sisters on the ground you¡¯ll save!" Lian Xin, Beiming Xue, Moonlight Stone and everyone nodded in unison. "We¡¯ll do our best!" "Finally, refresh my buffs, will you, Beauty Guanyue? I¡¯m going ahead!" I shot Guanyue a beaming smile and was rewarded with her buffs. After the preparations were ready, I assumed my position. Whoosh! This time, I activated Fusion Armor because I didn¡¯t need the aerial advantage, and because it gave me infinite mount tenacity. I wouldn¡¯t need to worry about being dismounted in the middle of a battle. I didn¡¯t forget to keep a close eye on Thunder the Blade of Death, of course. The guy might be ranked last among the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns, but that didn¡¯t necessarily mean that he was the weakest of all of them. Even if he was, what did it matter when he could still kill us players like nothing? The Thunder Devil Soldiers grew closer and closer. I gripped the Chill of the Nine Provinces so tight that my wrist was shaking a little. "Here they come!" The moment the Thunder Devil Soldiers entered a suitable range, I immediately cast a Cold of the Nine Provinces and turned the first couple rows into ice sculptures. What should¡¯ve been an organized charge fell into shambles as the mobs crashed into one another! "Now! Far Shot!" Beiming Xue ordered from the rampart and caused countless Skypiercers, Spiraling Arrow Blades, God Devil Breaks and more to explode among the mob. However, there was a problem. The Thunder Devil Soldiers had a Defense of 85k. Even if they weren¡¯t bosses, they were tanky enough that our normal archers were only doing around 3000 damage or so. It was clear that even we were starting to falter before the sheer power that was Level 310 deity-rank mobs. It wasn¡¯t all bad news though. As usual, God Devil Breaks, Galaxy Storms and magic attacks in general were doing well against metal-armor units. Long live the mages! ¡­¡­ "Dammit!" A bunch of devil soldiers swore as they trampled over their companions¡¯ bodies. At least dozens of mobs were heading straight toward me, the culprit behind their failed charge. As I assumed a stance, the Chill of the Nine Provinces rang in excitement. My weapon was just as excited as I was to reap the deity-rank mobs¡¯ experience as our own! "Kill!" I executed Burning Blade Slash + Myriad Swords Obliteration + Summon the Storm combo at a group of devil soldiers. Surprisingly, they actually survived the attack. Without pause, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and made it fire Purgatory Storm at the group of low-health mobs. This time, over 30 of them dropped dead, and at least 50% of their experience flew into my body. My experience bar filled up visibly, and my March of Chaos contribution points skyrocketed. Truly, riches and honor were found in danger. The stronger the mob, the better the reward! However, there was no way I could mow down the mobs faster than they could surround me, not to mention that they were fast-moving cavalrymen. At least ten Bloody Slashes hit me and dealt an incredible amount of damage¡ª 49,287! 51,256! 44,288! 102,984! ¡­¡­ That wasn¡¯t all. The mobs followed up with a War Stampede, and I lost nearly 2 million HP in total. I could count the number of non-bosses whoever dealt this much damage to me on one hand, especially after I had gotten the Cyan Dragon Shield and Guardian Dragon Armor. It was a rare and "invigorating" experience to say the least. Thankfully, our strongest priest, Murong Mingyue, was focusing all of her heals on me. Besides that, dozens of priests were doing their best to keep me alive as well. Finally, I had 20% lifesteal from Chill of the Nine Provinces, so I was just barely able to cling onto life. I fired Thousand Ice Slash and dealt around 500k damage to every mob. Add splash effect to the mix, and that was 1 million HP restored back to my health bar. However, my success was my own. In the time it took me to clear my area, the entire eastern defense line had already all but crumbled. CH 1413 "Grab your shields and Guard! You can do this! If Ancient Sword can hold, so can we!" On the frontline, Li Le was screaming on top of his lungs and commanding Flower Room¡¯s 30-meter-long defense line. The defense line was almost 30 layers thick, and they were all metal armor class. On the rampart, the mage parties led by Life of Luxury, archers, priests and more were supporting them. A hundred Thunder Devil Soldiers hit them like a truck. Zap¡­ zap¡­ Lightning crackled audibly from the devil soldiers¡¯ blades as they raised their weapons and fired their Bloody Slashes at Flower Room. The mid or high-level players spasmed like they were having a heart attack as their HP plummeted¡ª 472,674! 512,279! 472,980! ¡­¡­ The Thunder Devil Soldiers outclassed Flower Room¡¯s players in every way, and one skill was all it took to cut them all down like wheat! Bang bang bang¡­ Not done yet, the Purgatory cavalrymen trampled over their victims and executed War Stampede, killing off the low-health players at the back as well. It wasn¡¯t like the 30-layer defense line didn¡¯t present any resistance at all, it¡¯s just that the resistance it provided was negligible. "Fuck! So fast¡­" Li Le backpedaled until his hand reached a cloud ladder. Then, he raised his sword and shouted again, "Hold! Hold! Priests, use AoE spells to heal our frontliners! Single-target heals won¡¯t work here!" Unfortunately, they were still bleeding players like crazy. Flower Room was so busy trying to survive that they couldn¡¯t even find an opening to launch a counterattack. ¡­¡­ On the other hand, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ Dragonlight Cavalry was keeping a tight formation and raising their shields. The front row of the defense formation was all magic knights, and they were all using the Holy Shield Protection skill. It was capable of blocking both physical and magic attacks. Bang bang bang¡­ The Dragonlight Cavalry took between 200k to 300k damage from Bloody Slashes. Adding splash effect to the equation, and that was almost 1.5 million damage in total. However, almost all of our front-row players were buffed by Lu Buyi¡¯s Purple Dragon, so all of their attributes were buffed by 150%. Since they were magic knights, it also meant that they had an average HP of 2 million. Since one Bloody Slash wasn¡¯t enough to one-shot them, it meant that the priests behind them had a short time window to heal them. "Retaliate!" High Fighting Spirits erupted at the same time he executed Xiezhi Howl with his brand new Bone Slayer. A short distance away from him, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun also executed Rock Smash with his new Godslayer Slash. The elite Dragonlight Cavalrymen were able to stop the Thunder Devil Soldiers¡¯ first charge, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the other guilds. In total, nearly 50% of the frontliners were killed as soon as the second wave of Thunder Devil Soldiers arrived and dealt yet another 1.5 million damage. About a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen whose priests hadn¡¯t been able to heal them in time died instantly. I looked left and right and noted that Thunder Devil Soldiers were absolutely everywhere. It¡¯s time! I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces with the Death side facing toward the sky. Xuanyuan Art, go! Whoosh! Columns of red light descended like the rain and dealt a maximum of 50% HP damage to the mobs. My body immediately grew warm with energy, and my experience bar filled up. I didn¡¯t know how many Thunder Devil Soldiers I had killed with the skill, but even those that had been in perfect condition now only had 50% HP left. It made it easier for our players to kill them. Gui Guzi guffawed and said, "Boss Broken Halberd¡¯s weapon is unrivaled in this world!" He raised his own Ghostblade Halberd and cast its active skill, Hundred Ghosts Descent. Countless devilish shadows descended from the sky and hit every enemy within 200 yards, damaging or killing a great number of Thunder Devil Soldiers. Obviously, the Ghostblade Halberd was inferior to the Chill of the Nine Provinces in every way, but its special effect was still far beyond your generic Ancient Immortal-grade weapon. It definitely deserved its title as one of the Twelve Divine Armaments. ¡­¡­ The Thunder Devil Soldiers¡¯ charge was extremely deadly. Heavy armor players kept dying, and even more metal armor players replaced them only to die as well. On the war interface, the player count and mob count of Crossroads Valley map kept dropping like crazy. This battle was as intense as it was desperate. I was fighting so far ahead of our battle line that I was almost out of the priests¡¯ range. I was doing my best to draw as much damage away from my comrades as possible while rotating through all of my AoE skills like they were free. There was a reason I was trying so hard even though there was virtually no chance anyone could replace me as the MVP. The prize for being the MVP was one of the Twelve Divine Armaments, but I was certain that the higher my contribution points, the better the Divine Armament I would get. For example, if I could gather ten million patch contribution points before the war was over, there was a high chance the system would reward me with one of the three strongest of the Twelve Divine Armaments. That would be worth all the effort I was putting into this war! The other players must be hating the sound effect of War Stampede right now. Every time the mobs used it, the number of players guarding the fortress would drop drastically. Not even half an hour later, the four of us dragon knights looked behind and were greeted by a heart-stopping sight: Where there were almost 30,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen before, less than five thousand were still holding the line. This casualty rate was absolutely unprecedented for the Dragonlight Cavalry. Barring the four of us, literally everyone fighting at the forefront were dead. "Fuck, we¡¯ll probably lose everyone in another ten minutes¡­" Gui Guzi laughed despite the dire situation. Li Chengfeng also chuckled while gathering some draconic energy between his fingers. "It¡¯s not a big issue. They can just run back over from Sky City¡­" I said, "It¡¯s time to tighten our formation. We¡¯re about to run out of Dragonlight Cavalry, and the Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City and Swallow Ear Canton may ambush us at any moment. The closer we are to the end, the greater the danger becomes!" "True!" Gui Guzi checked out the other guilds. "The others are almost dead as well¡­" He Yi said, "Flower Room, Gods of Destruction, Pop Culture, Baidicheng and more are either on the brink of total annihilation, or have withdrawn into the fortress to continue their defense there. Purgatory Mad Dragon is the worst of them all. They only have a couple hundred players left¡­" I followed her gaze. As she said, Ray of Sunshine was the only frontliner still struggling against the Thunder Devil Soldiers with his 100%-lifesteal Heaven Suppressing Necklace. The Thunder Devil Soldiers he wasn''t fighting were already hitting the fortress walls with the Bloody Slashes. The fortress was a hastily built construction, and it was nowhere as tough as a century or even millennium-long city like Sky City or Wind City. Naturally, it wasn¡¯t going to hold for long. As for Snowy Cathaya, Lin Yixin was running across the blood-stained soil like a lithe spirit and cutting down the Thunder Devil Soldiers with every swing of the blade. Although she was surrounded and attacked from all sides, she chose to retaliate with almost reckless aggression. The sudden change in style was due to her newly acquired equipment, the Dragon Soul Ring. It was a godlike Ghost Armament that regenerated 5% of its beautiful master¡¯s HP per second. This allowed Beauty Lin to fight the seemingly endless horde of Thunder Devil Soldiers head-on instead of defending and dodging. Everywhere I looked, mobs were hitting the walls with their skills because Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, Blazing Hot Lips, Purple Lily, Peach Garden and everyone else were on the brink of collapse as well. Worse, Thunder was still summoning more Thunder Devil Soldiers as if he had an endless supply of them. ¡­¡­ Buzz! I raised my Chill of the Nine Provinces and dropped Xuanyuan Slash atop a huge horde of mobs. I didn¡¯t remember how many times I had cast the Ancient Divine Skill, only that I used it practically the moment it was off cooldown. At the same time, I cast Xuanyuan Art and deleted 50% HP from all the mobs within 1000 yards of me. My experience, contribution points and Divine Energy Points immediately skyrocketed. At a glance, I noticed that I had regained 47 Divine Energy Points with one skill. Theoretically speaking, I could do this forever, kakaka¡­ Beside our formation, Warsky shouted while battling the Thunder Devil Soldiers, "Everyone on the walls, organize the next defense line and get ready to reinforce me in 3 minutes! Warsky Alliance is not so weak that we cannot hold back even the second-to-last wave! Gold Cavalry, you fucking dead yet? If you¡¯re not, show your face and get ready to fight!" On the wall, hundreds of Gold Cavalrymen answered his call, "We are here, guild leader!" "Very good! Get the bards to fully buff you and prepare to join the battle! This whole section of the wall will crumble if we allow the mobs to hack at it any longer!" ¡­¡­ He Yi was also looking at our section of the wall and ordering, "Lian Xin, continue organizing our effective strength and deploying them. We must hold this wave even if we lose everyone. Xu Yang, how long will it take our dead players to return to us?" Xu Yang took a moment to gather his thoughts, "We had 100k+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen at the beginning, and around 30k of them just logged out of the game to rest. We have about 14k Dragonlight Cavalrymen left, and everyone else is rushing over to aid us now. It¡¯s probably going to take them around¡­ 30? minutes to reach us, but the entrances to the valley are sealed off by the Thunder Devil Soldiers. I highly doubt our players will be able to breach them. They will have to wait until the wave is finished to slip in¡­" "Got it¡­" After that, He Yi gave our remaining 14k Dragonlight Cavalrymen permission to fully enter the battle. After 20 minutes after desperate fighting later, the Thunder Devil Soldiers in front of us finally began dwindling in numbers. Diminished they might be, the Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers were still extremely powerful. ¡­¡­ At Candle Dragon¡¯s formation, Candlelight Shadow was running back and forth his battle line to mow down the Thunder Devil Soldiers with Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow and more. The reason he was able to do so was because his Lantern Girl Legion provided not just him, but the entire Candle Dragon with the strongest suppressive fire available in their arsenal. Throughout the entire March of Chaos event, the Lantern Girls had proven that Candlelight Shadow¡¯s plan to combine Life of the Tamer and them was a resounding success. That Candle Dragon was the Chinese guild with the second-highest total patch contribution points after Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was the proof of that. Some people might think less of them because they still failed to surpass Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, but that would be terribly wrong. We had the world¡¯s greatest cavalry and the powerful Holy Mage Legion, and they didn¡¯t. Rome wasn¡¯t built in a day, and they were hardly going to surpass us immediately. Warsky was also leading a group of men and clearing out the remaining Thunder Devil Soldiers. The dawn of victory was finally upon us. "Hahaha! We stopped them, right? This counts as a win, right?" Laughing At The Heavens laughed heartily. October Rain rolled her eyes from atop the walls. "Cool your jets. We still have one more wave to defend." Laughing At The Heavens said, "A pyrrhic victory is still a victory, right?" Warsky frowned. "Why are you talking like some CCTV reporter? Pyrrhic victory my ass! There is only victory or nothing at all!!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the galloping Gold Cavalrymen felt like they couldn¡¯t breathe. The next moment, a huge thunder cloud appeared above them! BOOM! Laughing At The Heavens and nearly a hundred Gold Cavalrymen were turned into dust instantly. A gigantic pit that looked like the abyss appeared where they were struck, and lightning crackled at the bottom of it. [1] From far away, with his palm raised and the Blade of Thunder propped against his shoulder, Thunder shot them a malicious grin and said, "How does Thunder Abyss taste, lowly human adventurers?" 1. T/N: At this point, Lost Leaf is utterly dedicated to using LATH as the laughingstock of this novel E/N: You can¡¯t even not see it, he¡¯s literally become ¡°the CGL Hall of Famer to get one-shot to show how strong X entity is¡± ? CH 1414 "Thunder¡­ Thunder Abyss¡­" Warsky was speechless for a time. Then, he commented, "What a powerful skill it is. It didn¡¯t leave a strand of Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ hair behind¡­" October Rain nodded agreeingly. "I know right?" A blue vein popped on Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s face. "We have a guild wipe crisis in our hands, and this is what you guys are concerned about? I don¡¯t even know what to say anymore! Oh fuck, the boss is coming our way. We need to get back to our party and organize our defense now! Why the fuck is the fucking boss fucking spawning in our fucking direction AGAIN when he can be fucking up the Indians or the Northern Alliance anyway[1]? Fucking motherfucker¡­" It was clear that Lin Bing Dou Zhe was a little shook up by the boss''s might and his close brush with death. ¡­¡­ Under Warsky¡¯s orders, the archers and mages of Warsky Alliance jumped off the walls and spread out into an orderly formation, ready to battle Thunder at a moment¡¯s notice. Speaking of which, the huge pit Thunder had created with Thunder Abyss had been refreshed back into a flat ground in just 10 seconds. I don¡¯t know why, but it made me think that Thunder Abyss probably had a short cooldown, maybe even as short as just a couple of seconds. The first time I encountered Thunder, he was just an Immortal Rank boss. Today, he was Divine Rank and a hundred times stronger than before. For narrative purposes, games would usually scale the NPCs to the average strength of players. Otherwise, main quests would only begin in the endgame! I nodded at my players and said, "Thunder has come to torment us Chinese just as we hoped he would. Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers, get down here and spread out into formation. You¡¯ve all seen Thunder Abyss¡¯ power, so try not to be blown into atoms in an instant. I guarantee you that it won¡¯t feel good. Still, how much Magic Attack does this fucker have anyway? To one-shot the likes of Laughing At The Heavens¡­" Gui Guzi shuddered violently when he recalled that scene. "You know, can we not fight this boss? I don¡¯t know why, but that Thunder Abyss skill really scares me. I hate this gut feeling¡­" I laughed. "Relax, you probably won¡¯t even feel it if it kills you. Anyway, we¡¯ll engage the boss after Warsky is dead¡­" At the distance, a blue vein popped on Warsky¡¯s face as he said, "If you¡¯re going to curse me behind my back, you may as well lower your voice so I can¡¯t hear you." The off-hand comment brushed aside the severity of battle as the remaining veterans all laughed heartily in the face of impending doom. ¡­¡­ The boss was gunning for Warsky Alliance, and Warsky didn¡¯t ask for our aid. If we were to attack the boss, they would view it as an attempt to steal their boss. Yes, Thunder was a Purgatory Sovereign who might very well wipe the floor with all of us, much less one Warsky Alliance, but he was also a walking bag of precious loot. Warsky would be damned if he "shared" the looting rights with us without at least putting up a fight. That being said, we weren¡¯t planning to engage Thunder anyway, at least not right away. Thunder was in perfect condition right now, and I had no desire to see the amount of devastation he could do to my guild¡­ "Get ready! The battle¡¯s about to begin!" Warsky yelled. "Gold Cavalry, Charge the boss in 10-man parties and use your Trapping Nets or whatever CC skills you have! Yes, I know they¡¯re almost guaranteed to miss, but so what? It¡¯s not like you can do any actual damage against Thunder anyway! All 100-man mage and archer parties, march forward and attack Thunder now! Yes, now! Show Ancient Sword, Candle Dragon and Snowy Cathaya our boss fighting ability!" 10 Gold Cavalrymen immediately formed up before using Charge against Thunder! MISS! MISS! MISS! As expected, they were all misses. However, just because the Charge failed to stun Thunder didn¡¯t mean that he wasn¡¯t knocked back a little by the continuous impact. Lips curling into a disdainful sneer, he swung his Blade of Thunder in an arc and caused a lighting shockwave that instantly burned all 10 players into ashes. The damage numbers were just terrible to look at¡ª 2,240,883! 1,982,367! 2,316,364! ¡­¡­ The stat difference was just too huge, and not every Gold Cavalryman had full buffs on them. They were no match for Thunder at all! The archers¡¯ arrows caused lightning ripples when they struck Thunder¡¯s armor. It looked like its surface was protected by some sort of lightning energy. As a result, Warsky Alliance¡¯s archers couldn¡¯t even deal 1 point of fixed damage to the boss. The mages¡¯ Touch of the Dragonkiss did manage to do some damage though¡ª 1477! 2436! 978! ¡­¡­ Even so, Thunder¡¯s HP bar wasn¡¯t decreasing at all. My guess was that Thunder had 1 billion HP or more. It meant that DPS of all mages there would maybe equal his passive HP regeneration. Warsky gritted his teeth. "Mages with insufficient Intelligence, cast God Devil Break anyway! A fixed damage of 1000 is still higher than whatever it is you¡¯re doing right now! Thousand-man mage party, go! Cavalrymen, don¡¯t be afraid! Ride with me!" Warsky really was going all out this time. He Charged and missed his stun just like everyone else, but his Cyan Tiger Shatter struck Thunder¡¯s chest for 78093 damage. The Immortal Blade was one of the Twelve Divine Armaments after all. Albeit barely, Warsky could still penetrate Thunder¡¯s Defense. "You want to die that much?" A bit angry, Thunder thrust his sword straight toward Warsky! Chiang! Warsky tried to block the attack with the flat side of the Immortal Blade, but it just wasn¡¯t possible. He was launched across the air, and he skipped a couple of times across the ground before slamming against the fortress wall. The impact was so huge that dust and stones could be seen falling from the wall. He took a whopping 1.29 million damage, but at least he wasn¡¯t one-shot. Meanwhile, the mages who failed to do more than 1000 damage with their usual spells started bombarding Thunder with God Devil Breaks. Finally, Thunder¡¯s HP began decreasing slowly. "Heh!" Sneering again, Thunder raised his left arm and summoned lightning to his fingertips. The next moment, another Thunder Abyss exploded among the attackers! BANG! A group of mages and archers were instantly one-shot. None of them were lucky enough to survive the attack. Not done yet, Thunder planted one foot on the ground and abruptly vanished from view, leaving behind only a trail of blue lightning and dust. The next thing we knew, he had appeared on the flank of another group of mages and archers. His movement speed seemed to have surpassed what the game would allow a player to do. He raised the Blade of Thunder and unleashed a cone-shaped lightning shockwave! Another one hundred Warsky Alliance ranged players dropped dead. The basic attack¡ªthat¡¯s right, it was just the sword aura of a basic attack¡ªwas almost as powerful as Thunder Abyss. Thunder¡¯s Attack was just way too high, and the fact that he could "teleport" around didn¡¯t help things one bit. In a sense, his skillset was the ideal every warrior should strive for. Compared to Thunder, Ray of Sunshine¡¯s skillset might as well be dogshit¡­ ¡­¡­ "Fuck!" Unwilling to admit defeat, Warsky brandished his sword and ordered, "We¡¯re going all out, Warsky Alliance! We will drag Thunder to hell with us even if it costs us all our lives! Human wave random bullshit[2] attack, go!" The Warsky Alliance players still on the rampart began jumping down to the ground. The archers fired only Shock Arrows and Armor Breaking Arrows because Shock Arrows might have a chance to stun the boss, and Armor Breaking Arrows[3] were the only skill they had that could do more than 1000 damage¡­ The battle dissolved into complete chaos as every man and woman in Warsky Alliance engaged Thunder. Thunder mowed down Warsky Alliance¡¯s players like wheat, but Warsky doggedly clung to his heels while relying on the Immortal Blade and his priests¡¯ healing to keep him alive. Healing light, magic spells and arrows filled the air. The all-out assault was absolutely costly, but it was effective to a certain extent. Ten whole minutes later, Thunder lost around 25% HP or so, but Warsky Alliance lost at least 100k players. The only ones who were still alive were Warsky, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, October Rain, Farewell Song and a couple hundred of elites. They didn¡¯t even have the numbers to do their human wave attack anymore¡­ "Pooh, Warsky is such an idiot¡­" Chaos Moon commented, "He sacrificed nearly all of his guild¡¯s effective strength just so that he wouldn¡¯t lose face. Was it worth it?" I disagreed. "That¡¯s not it. Warsky and the guild he founded are the unyielding type. The entire world may bend their knees, but Warsky Alliance¡¯s spirit will never bend for anything. That is why I respect Warsky more than most people. He can be unscrupulous when trying to achieve his objective sometimes, but his positive traits still outweigh the negatives." Gui Guzi said, "Well, Warsky Alliance may not bend, but they¡¯re definitely going to break in just a couple of minutes at most. They only have less than 1000 players left, and there are barely priests still alive to heal Warsky. Hell will freeze over before they beat Thunder¡­" I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and said, "That is why it¡¯s time we enter the battlefield and save them before they are completely annihilated. Warsky is as unyielding as he is stubborn, so he will never give us the S.O.S. In that case, we¡¯ll take out the boss ourselves and claim the reward!" Xu Yang asked, "What strategy are we using this time?" I thought for a second before shrugging, "I can¡¯t think of anything really. Just get in there and hack away, I guess¡­" Li Chengfeng chuckled. "Yeah, all strategies are meaningless against an enemy this powerful. Let¡¯s just play our roles the best we can: the cavalrymen will charge, mages and archers will CC and damage the boss, the priests will heal, and the bards will buff. Oh, there is one thing. How many people are we sending for the first charge?" He Yi replied, "Fifty thousand!" I nodded. "Very well. Main force, follow me!" ¡­¡­ The sound of the Brave General Horseshoes clopping against the ground sounded pleasing to the ear. The Dragonlight Cavalry charged toward Thunder, the legendary boss who was just moments away from destroying Warsky Alliance single-handedly. Swhoosh! I activated Thunderous Charge the second I got into range and came face-to-face with the Asura God boss. It was a miss as a matter of course. "Hmm?" Thunder¡¯s pupils abruptly dilated in shock and realization. "It¡¯s you!" Holy shit, he still recognizes me! "So it IS you!" Hatred and malice started filling his eyes. "The Wind Singer¡¯s accomplice! Perfect timing. I will tear you to pieces myself, you damned brat!" While he was busy threatening me, I thrust my Chill of the Nine Provinces into his battle armor and injected him with Purple Frost Concentration! The armor-break skill took effect and lowered the boss''s Defense by 18.9%. Combined with Beiming Xue¡¯s Bone Eroding Arrow, it was a total of 23.7% Defense reduction. Hopefully, it was enough for the Dragonlight Archers to penetrate his Defense. The second Purple Frost Concentration took effect, I immediately followed up with Burning Blade Slash at Thunder¡¯s weak point! 273,298! 342,774! 412,387! While the triple-hit skill was rocking Thunder¡¯s body, I pressed a palm to his chest and executed point-blank God Binding Art. Of course, it was also a miss. God fucking dammit[4]¡­ ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Lightning abruptly wreathed around the Blade of Thunder. Here it comes! I raised the Cyan Dragon Shield and activated Cyan Dragon Scale! Bang! Even with my Strength, I was sent skidding to the back by the powerful strike. My shield arm felt like it was being torn apart, and I must have skidded dozens of meters or so before a pair of smooth, slender legs caught my back. 1. E/N: It probably inherits aggro table from the entire legion. Lu Chen killed the most, so obviously he¡¯s aggro¡¯d on your side, lol. Same with last 3 bosses all going to Chinese side. ? 2. E/N: Moon Knight random bullshit go meme can¡¯t go wrong. Moon Knight is getting its own Marvel TV show too! ? 3. E/N: At this point I can¡¯t be sure if that¡¯s even a skill. I used to change these to armor-breaking arrows, since Extreme Break, Bone Eroding Arrow and Purple Frost Concentration are armor-breaking skills, while Devil Piercing Arrow, Barrier Break and many more are armor-piercing. Hopefully Truth will explain in the comments! ? 4. E/N: I know right? It was supposed to work BETTER against gods¡­ ? Bookmark CH 1415 I looked up and saw October Rain staring down on me. While pushing myself onto my feet, I said, "I will pay you back for saving my life one day!" October Rain giggled. "You can marry me!" "Sorry. Nobody got time for that!" I rejoined the battle after we finished trading jokes. At the same time, Moon Dew and a couple of priests healed back the 700k+ HP I had lost from Thunder¡¯s attack. ¡­¡­ Thunder looked like a proud champion surrounded by both living and dead foes. He hit He Yi with a triple-hit skill and sent both her and her dragon flying across the air. Thankfully, my beautiful boss narrowly avoided being one-shot by activating her new Cave Ice Protection property right before the skill struck, but she still lost over 1.8 million HP in total. Without her Shield of Cave Ice, she might have died already. Swhoosh! Hot lightning ripped through the air and left behind a visible arc. High Fighting Spirits, Li Chengfeng and a couple of Dragonlight Cavalrymen were all in the path of this hot lightning. Li Chengfeng reacted the fastest of all of them and was able to raise the Crimson Refinement Sword into a parry. Its effectiveness against a boss this powerful was questionable, but it should prevent him from getting one-shot at least. High Fighting Spirits was slightly slower, so he could only swing at the hot lightning with as much strength as he could muster. Crackle¡­ crackle¡­ Li Chengfeng lost 40% of his HP, and High Fighting Spirits, 64%. Both of them were knocked unceremoniously to the ground. However, it was a much better fate compared to the other 7 Dragonlight Cavalrymen who were one-shot. Moreover, Thunder¡¯s Attack seemed to have increased after his HP dropped below a certain threshold, so even our Dragonlight Cavalrymen weren¡¯t tanky enough to survive more than a hit anymore. I dashed past Thunder and executed Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash combo, hoping to freeze the boss with the latter. It didn¡¯t. I gritted my teeth and cast Cold of the Nine Provinces next! Swhoosh! This time, a bit of ice crept up Thunder¡¯s feet and froze them solid. It was only 2.7 seconds, but a freeze was a freeze. I should¡¯ve known that the skills of the Twelve Divine Armaments would be far more effective than a normal skill¡­ However, the Frozen status condition didn¡¯t mean perfect immobility. If the target had low resistance, then they would be completely encased in ice and unable to move a muscle. If they were stronger, well, Thunder could still summon lightning to his fingertips, twist his upper body to face me, and let out a menacing cackle. "Prepare to die, boy. I know you¡¯re very important to the Wind Singer, and killing you may awaken her to the truth that she shouldn¡¯t have become our enemy from the very beginning. We will definitely kill her, so just wait in hell for her to join you!" It¡¯s Thunder Abyss! I knew I wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge this. Thunder was casting Thunder Abyss on me, meaning that I would be at the center of the spell. It would take literal teleportation for me to dodge this. Thud thud thud! I summoned Battle Astral Wind while backpedaling from Thunder. I hadn¡¯t used the skill until now because I was saving it for this spell. After backing up to a spot where there were no Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players around me, I activated Heavenly River Transformation and waited for the inevitable. Boom! Thunder Abyss struck and scorched every nerve in my body and paralyzed me for a short moment. Battle Astral Wind was instantly destroyed by the skill, but I only lost 700k HP thanks to it. I reckoned that Thunder Abyss would¡¯ve dealt over 2 million damage to me without it. My Magic Resist meant little before a Purgatory Sovereign after all. Anyway, I was able to float on the air thanks to Heavenly River Transformation, and I made a beeline toward Thunder before he could react. Bloody ripples appeared beneath my boots as I literally ran across the air. Swhoosh! I slapped Pardon across Thunder¡¯s face while dashing past him. Exploiting my powerful turn rate to the max, I turned around as soon as I arrived behind his back and stabbed him with a powerful Universe Break! 890,287! Against a ridiculously tanky boss, Pardon + Universe Break was one of the most damaging combos I could use! Thunder chased after me furiously while I backed away from him. I simply shot him a smile and a Coiling Dragon Revolution to delete another 470k+ HP from his health bar. Suddenly, Thunder vanished from view. It was that instant teleportation again! My perception was much stronger while Heavenly River Transformation was active, and technically speaking, everything within my Domain was under my control. That was why I was able to sense the approaching danger behind me immediately. Without hesitation, I turned around to face Thunder, raised the Cyan Dragon Shield and activated Ghost Spirit Step Art. Every attack the skill managed to nullify was a win for me! Swhoosh! The Blade of Thunder crackled with what seemed like a fatal amount of energy before swinging at me three, no, four times in a row! This was going to be bad! "Fuc¡ªCLANG CLANG CLANG¡­" If my left arm felt like it was being shredded to pieces earlier, now it felt like it was being ground to fine paste. I wasn¡¯t even sure how my shield had survived the impacts. Four ridiculous damage numbers rose above my head as my feet dug a pair of deep ravines across the ground¡ª 1,102,834! 1,072,362! 1,027,377! 2,103,284! ¡­¡­ Not only did Ghost Spirit Step Art failed to nullify any hit, the last hit was a critical hit. Thankfully, my Guardian Dragon Armor absorbed 10% of my damage received as HP¡ªso that was around 500k HP or so¡ªand Murong Mingyue restored another 380k HP to me with a long-range, critical Instant Heal. As a result, I just barely survived the insane combo. I took a moment to check out myself after my momentum was spent. The Cyan Dragon Shield was red hot from the sheer amount of lightning it had just endured, and my shoulder armor was smoking a little. Even better, I only had 822 HP left. I smiled grimly. No matter how well-equipped, powerful and skilled a player was, we could never go head-to-head against a top-tier boss in the game. Like ants, we must gather everyone¡¯s strength to have a chance at killing a boss like Thunder. Still, the fact that I managed to delay the boss for ten plus seconds was a worthy feat¡­ "Lu Chen, watch out!" It was at this moment Lin Yixin¡¯s panicked cry entered my ears. I looked up and saw a huge ball of lightning right above my head! Motherfucker! It¡¯s Thunder Abyss again! Despite Gui Guzi and He Yi attacking Thunder with everything they got, the sonuvabitch wouldn¡¯t rest until I was dead! What an asshole!! Boom! I closed my eyes as lightning washed over me. I only had 822 HP. There was zero chance I could survive this skill. However, when I opened my eyes once more, I realized that I was still at Crossroads Valley. What¡¯s¡­ what¡¯s going on here? I checked the combat log and was instantly filled with glee. My necklace¡¯s Outstanding Property, Pardon of the Gods, gave me a 30% chance to miss all magic attacks, and that was what saved me from certain death! Swhoosh! While this was going on, Lian Xin ran close enough to the boss to cast her strongest CC skill, Frozen Domain. It successfully bought another couple seconds for me! I leaped out of the giant pit I was in before it could bury me. After activating Tenacity of the Dead and downing a Rank 13 health potion, I ran along the fortress walls so that the priests above me could heal me. Even Moon Dew was shouting, "Don¡¯t let our handsome guild leader die, people! Heal!" My HP was quickly restored past the 80% mark. Another heal from Murong Mingyue later, I was ready to rejoin the battle once more! ¡­¡­ Chiang! The Blade of Thunder clashed against Lin Yixin¡¯s dagger before Thunder kicked her in the shoulder. She let out a painful cry as sailed across the air and rolled across a patch of grass. That simple two-hit combo had left her with less than 20% HP. I ran like crazy before skidding to a stop in front of Lin Yixin. Then, I activated Heavenly River Transformation once more and, ignoring Thunder¡¯s incoming thunderous four-hit combo, dropped my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Xuanyuan Slash right on top of his head. Bang! The Xuanyuan Slash had a much longer range than Thunder¡¯s four-hit combo, so I was able to hit him first and even cancel his skill. However, despite the huge damage he just suffered, he immediately swung his sword and sent me flying across the air yet again. The knockback effect only happened when the attacker¡¯s Strength was at least 50% higher than their target¡¯s. In my case, I was literally sent flying across the air, so heaven knows how much higher Thunder¡¯s Strength was compared to mine¡­ ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud thud¡­ A shower of arrows hit Thunder¡¯s back and turned him into a porcupine. Enraged, he turned around and cast Thunder Abyss that killed dozens of Dragonlight Archers before they could escape. Not done yet, he fired another sword blast and killed another group of Dragonlight Archers. Less than 7 seconds later, he turned his attention on Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Dragon Punisher Archers and absolutely murdered them with his Thunder Abyss. It was probably because the Dragon Punisher Archers hit even harder than our Dragonlight Archers. It was an incredibly intense and desperate battle. We were trading lives just to chip away a bit of the boss''s HP, and the dragon knights and I were the only ones who could really tank a couple of hits from him. Not even High Fighting Spirits dared to charge the boss after the first couple setbacks because the only ones who could survive his flurry skill were me, He Yi and Gui Guzi. Even then, it was hardly a sure thing. ¡­¡­ The desperate battle continued for around 20 minutes or so. There were multiple times I was a hair away from dying. Our efforts weren¡¯t futile, however. We were ultimately able to bring Thunder¡¯s HP down to 50%... but that also meant that the boss was about to enter a new phase. Buzz! Thunder abruptly raised his sword and sneered savagely. "If your plan is to infuriate me completely, then you have succeeded, damned humans! I shall personally deliver you all to hell and enslave you properly!" Suddenly, the earth within a hundred meters of Thunder started falling apart. At the same time, lightning began striking like crazy from the sky. It was a super AoE skill! I hurriedly shouted on top of my lungs, "All units, use your invincibility skill now if you have one! Focus on saving yourselves with Instant Heals and health potions!" ¡­¡­ While saying this, I activated my own Dark Shield¡ªa 30-second invincibility skill of the Dark Magma Poleyns¡ªto protect myself. Some sections of the fortress¡¯s walls were within range of the AoE skill, so both the structure and the players on it were utterly destroyed. Even the Dragonlight Cavalrymen were panicking because the lightning strikes were completely random and unpredictable. If you were lucky, you might not eat a single lightning strike. If you were unlucky, you might eat multiple lightning strikes in a row. Somewhere in the middle of the casting, I raised my sword and cast the Life skill of Xuanyuan Art, healing everyone within 1000 yards of me by 50% HP. My effort successfully saved many tanky Dragonlight Cavalrymen who had been about to die from the lightning storm. A few seconds later, Gui Guzi cast his Shennong Tastes Grass as well! The storm stilled 15 seconds later, but the entire east side of the fortress had been turned into smoking rubbles. Several thousand still alive Dragonlight Cavalrymenstood on top of them with blank expressions looking like they couldn¡¯t believe what just happened. Our mages, archers and priests were almost completely killed. The only ones who were still alive were Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Moonlight Stone and those players who happened to have an invincibility skill. ¡­¡­ "Motherfucker, this Thunder truly is a walking calamity¡­" Warsky lamented. CH 1416 At 50% HP, Thunder was gradually overwhelming even the brave warriors of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Xu Yang, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and more Famous Generals had already been killed. The number of players who could clash swords with the boss and survive to tell the tale could be counted on one hand, and the ground was absolutely covered in dead bodies. This battle was easily worse than the battle against Skullblood. At very least, our casualty rate wasn¡¯t nearly as high. ¡­¡­ "What do we do¡­" Li Chengfeng was breathing heavily, and his Crimson Refinement Sword was shaking a little from exertion. "We¡¯ve almost run out of priests. Without them, everybody we throw at Thunder is almost certainly going to turn into a corpse. Warsky Alliance is already annihilated, and we will follow them if we don¡¯t do something soon." I gritted my teeth and ordered, "Retreat into the fortress! It¡¯s time to rely on the NPCs to defend us! We simply don¡¯t have the strength to hold Thunder back any longer!" Everyone nodded and started running toward the ruins that were once walls. However, Candlelight Shadow pointed his sword at Thunder and ordered, "Ancient Sword has retreated, so it¡¯s our turn to challenge the boss now! Qiu Beast Cavalry, Charge the boss in hundred-man parties. Priests and mages, keep within range of your cavalrymen! Use Shock Arrows and Ice Arrow Spells to control the boss! Tamers, spam your Lantern Girls¡¯ God Devil Breaks like no tomorrow! No matter how powerful the boss is, he is only one person. He is not as scary as you imagine!" The Qiu Beast Cavalry immediately obeyed their leader and bravely Charged toward the boss. ¡­¡­ Whoosh whoosh¡­ A cold wind blew up Thunder¡¯s cloak. The Purgatory Sovereign might be an absolute asshole, but he was also a general who had thrived in a hellish environment like the Purgatory for countless years. He watched Candle Dragon¡¯s army coldly for a moment before swinging his blade in their direction, killing dozens of Qiu Beast Cavalrymen in a single hit. Then, he dropped a Thunder Abyss that annihilated over a hundred tamers with Life of the Tamer. Chiang! Candlelight Shadow¡¯s first strike was blocked, but he immediately kicked the hilt of the Blade of Thunder before following up with a triple-hit Blazing Purgatory Slash to the head. It dealt a considerable amount of damage¡ª 271,626! 261,552! 251,909! Thunder sneered and punched Candlelight Shadow¡¯s fire dragon in the head. Then, he turned his wrist and slashed the warrior three times across the shoulder, sending both him and his dragon crashing into the ruins at least a hundred meters away from the point of impact. When Candlelight Shadow climbed out of the rubble, his HP bar showed only 10% or so. It was only now he realized just how powerful the boss was. Be it single target or multi-target, Thunder¡¯s ability to kill was absolutely flawless! God¡¯s Dance knew this the moment she saw the outcome of the clash. She said urgently, "We need to withdraw our forces after the last wave of hundred-man cavalry takes off. Thunder is too strong, and we are simply no match for him. Let us withdraw into the fortress and leave the NPCs to fight him just like Ancient Sword!" Candlelight Shadow nodded. "Yeah, we underestimated the boss. Retreat!" And so the rest of Candle Dragon¡¯s forces retreated while leaving the couple hundred players fighting Thunder to die. It was simply something that needed to be done. They would¡¯ve lost even more men if they hadn¡¯t left behind their "tail" like a lizard. ¡­¡­ There were a ton of arrow towers inside the fortress. Although they were hastily-built constructions, every arrow tower was manned by 3 to 5 Silver Moon Alliance archers. They were only Level 310 fiend-rank NPCs, and they were nowhere as powerful as the deity-rank Thunder Devil Soldiers. When Thunder¡¯s figure entered a ray of moonlight, hundreds of arrow towers fired their projectiles at once! Bang bang bang¡­ However, almost all of the projectiles were deflected by the thunderous energy surrounding his body. He said with a dark expression on his face, "Do you really think you can kill me with these puny towers, Karinshan, Sophie? The ignorance! You¡¯d better show me your true strength soon, or you will regret it. Show me the trump cards you¡¯ve hidden for centuries! Show me the forces you¡¯ve trained to combat our Purgatory Legion!" After he said this, Thunder suddenly broke the rules of the game and cast dozens of Thunder Abysses with almost no pause at all. To say that what happened next was horrific would be a massive understatement. Dozens of arrow towers were obliterated at once, and a countless sea of NPCs had been killed. The boss then rushed toward the troop of NPC cavalrymen charging him and cleaved them in half with an absolutely massive cone-shaped sword aura. The remnants of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and I could only watch the brutal scene helplessly from afar. Thunder¡¯s strength had skyrocketed the moment he made contact with the NPCs, and to engage him now was to commit suicide. Webs of lightning nearly hundred meters wide ravaged the inner grounds of the fortress. At least tens of thousands of Silver Moon Alliance NPC soldiers were killed all too easily. During a lull, Thunder let out an arrogant laugh and asked, "What¡¯s wrong? Where is your so-called bravery, humans? Speaking of humans, come over and fight me already, Karinshan. I thought you were the best woman, strategist and general humanity had to offer? Show me what you¡¯re made of. I will find you even if you hide yourself like a rat, and I will take you back to the Purgatory and show you what it really means to be a woman. Surely a powerful man like me is worthy of a woman like you? Hahahaha¡­" There was a flurry of movement from one of the watchtowers while Thunder was taunting Karinshan. The next moment, a vermillion-colored figure jumped down from it¡ªit was none other than Karinshan herself¡ªand ran across thin air with all the grace of a lithe dancer, and brought her sword down on Thunder¡¯s shoulder. At the same time, golden battle energy surrounded her sword completely! Bang! Caught off-guard, Thunder suffered a direct hit and was sent crashing into a giant succubi totem. His shoulder armor was utterly crushed as well. Crack crack¡­ Thunder pushed away the rubble covering his person and rose to his feet. After tasting his own black blood for a little, he looked at the floating Karinshan and suddenly broke into a smile. "Hahaha! What a surprise! To think that Princess Karinshan, greatest commander of the Silver Moon Alliance, would step into the realm of divines after cultivating for a thousand years and coming back to life! Hahaha¡­" Karinshan¡¯s arms and legs were both empowered by divine energy right now. She watched Thunder indifferently as she said, "You have already betrayed the Roland Empire, and now you help Lin Na destroy the rebuilt continent and order too? Today, you must die to appease the countless braves in the afterlife!" However, Thunder licked his lips and said, "None of that matters. What matters is that you are a divine expert¡­" Karinshan¡¯s brows knitted. "So what if I am?" Thunder¡¯s gaze turned vulgar as he licked his lips lustfully. "I just want to tell you that I¡¯ve toyed with the virgins of dukes, undying banshees, powerful abyssal witches and beautiful elf queens, but I¡¯ve never toyed with a divine woman before. It looks like you are going to help me fulfill my dreams¡­" Karinshan¡¯s expression instantly turned furious. "Do you know who you¡¯re talking to, Thunder? You are courting death!" Thunder remained perfectly unafraid. "Of course I know who I¡¯m talking to. The real question is, do YOU know who you¡¯re talking to? There are 11 of us divine experts in the Purgatory, but how many divine experts are there in the human world? I may be the weakest of all the gods of the Purgatory, but I¡¯m still more than enough to teach you, a baby of the divine way, a lesson, hahaha!" Karinshan was literally shaking with anger at this point. In the sky, the Green Dragon Knight Tia brandished her spear and uttered, "You don¡¯t need to waste your breath on this animal, princess! The five of us shall fight with you until Thunder¡¯s head is removed from his shoulders! Also, three of the eleven divine experts he speaks of, Strella the Dark Magma, Ovia the Bloody Finger and Skullblood the Earth Devourer have already been killed by our adventurers. It¡¯s only a matter of time before this weakling perishes with them as well!" "Little brat!" The amusement in Thunder¡¯s eyes faded away completely, and he abruptly vanished from view. The next moment, he appeared behind Tia, stabbed her through her chest armor and caused a jet of blood to escape her lips. She turned around just in time to see Thunder punching her with his lightning fist and sent both her and her green dragon crashing into the ground. The resulting pit was huge and seemingly bottomless, and the air above the pit crackled with lightning. It was impossible to tell if Tia had survived the assault. "Tia¡­" Karinshan muttered dazedly as she stared at the pit. Then, body shaking and infinite hatred overflowing from her eyes, she abruptly shot toward Thunder like lightning and clashed blades with the Purgatory Sovereign. After both divine experts pushed each other away with a kick, Thunder raised his palm and shouted, "Thunder Abyss!" Boom! Lightning ripped through Karinshan¡¯s body and shredded her battle robes. However, she refused to take even a step backward. It took only the blink of an eye for the perishable materials of her clothes to crumble away, leaving behind only a suit of dark gold armor. She was breathing heavily, and the armor around her chest area was stained with blood. Enraged and humiliated, Karinshan abruptly cried, "Freeze!" Buzz! The surrounding temperature abruptly plummeted, and countless icicles appeared all around Karinshan. She then sent them all flying toward Thunder. Not expecting the swift counterattack, Thunder could only curl into a ball and surround himself in protective lightning! Bang bang bang bang¡­ When the assault was over, a groan and a few drops of black blood escaped Thunder¡¯s lips. The battle was just beginning, however. He abruptly teleported behind Karinshan and hit her with a thunderous five-hit flurry. Karinshan turned around with all her might and shattered the armor around his waist with a single slash, but Thunder immediately retaliated with another kick. Boom! A watchtower collapsed into ruins with Karinshan right in the middle of it. Her flawless features were cut, and blood slid down her cheeks like bloody tears. CH 1417 "Protect Her Majesty! Protect Her Majesty!" It was at this moment a troop of golden-armored cavalry rushed out from deeper within the fortress. Their leader was none other than the Black Cavalry commander, Stark. The moment he saw Karinshan¡¯s heartbreaking appearance, his own heart broke as he charged toward Thunder, roaring, "Thunder, you devil! How many more lives will you take before you¡¯re satisfied!?" ¡­¡­ Floating in midair, Thunder let out an "oh" before saying, "Is this¡­ the legendary templar legion? Hahahaha, I see, I see! So this is one of humanity¡¯s hidden trump cards! You worship the gods of God''s Domain, use that faith to empower your armor and weapons, and choose the strongest warriors among you to become templars! Very well, show me your strength!" Thunder disappeared and reappeared on the ground. Then, he fired a lightning sword aura straight into the legion of templars. These templars were only as strong as the aerial experts in the sky, so there was no chance they could withstand the might of a divine expert. Bloodcurdling screams instantly filled the air, and many were dead or injured in the blink of an eye. Swhoosh! Stark¡¯s warhorse was as fast as it was strong. He became the first person to reach Thunder and bring his sword down on the devil! Chiang! There was a metallic clang as Thunder easily blocked the attack. His lips curled disdainfully as he said, "What do you think you can do when not even Karinshan is a match for me, boy? Do you really think loyalty can grant you absolute strength? No, self-improvement is the only way to gain absolute strength!" [1] Thunder¡¯s arm muscles bulged, and lightning surged through their blades and into Stark¡¯s body! Crackle! Crackle! Stark shuddered like a leaf, but he didn¡¯t attempt to draw away. He knew he must buy enough time for Karinshan to recover, or the supreme commander of the Silver Moon Alliance would be torn to shreds by Thunder. His body started smoking, and his complexion started to turn black from being electrified. The power gap between the two of them was just too huge. It was all Stark could do to hold on and glare at Thunder with infinite hatred. "Just die already. You don¡¯t deserve to be my opponent at all!" Thunder¡¯s blade abruptly cut through Stark¡¯s sword. The next thing we knew, the Blade of Thunder plunged into Stark¡¯s heart! "Ugh¡­" The man let out a painful groan, but he actually moved closer to Thunder and swung his own half-broken sword at Thunder¡¯s neck. He was able to stab deep into the Purgatory Sovereign¡¯s neck, draw a flood of black blood and elicit a painful groan from Thunder. "You bastard!" Thunder glared at Stark with indignance while pouring more energy into his Blade of Thunder. Stark¡¯s pupils slowly dilated. He was clearly on the verge of death, and yet there was a satisfied smile on his face as he said, "This is all you are, Thunder, haha¡­" Pu! After Thunder pulled out the broken sword in his neck, he said harshly, "Hmph! You think this tiny injury is going to cripple me? Or worse, do you actually think you can kill me? Hilarious! You know what, I¡¯ve decided to grant you a reward. Let¡¯s see how else you can speak of your ridiculous loyalty when all that is left of you is ashes!!" Stark was shaking all over and crying literal tears of blood. He looked at the earth beneath his feet, then at the banner of Sky City flapping at the distance before saying shakingly, "I may die, but I will never forget everything that has happened to me. I will never regret giving my life away to protect everything. I may die, but my soul will survive. The soul of I, Stark, will forever protect her and the homeland I love¡­" Whoosh! Flames abruptly poured out of the Blade of Thunder and into Stark¡¯s body. Slowly but surely, Stark was being cremated alive. Usually, people were exaggerating when they said that they were going to ground someone into dust or something similar, but Thunder wasn¡¯t joking around at all. Not one speck of Stark could be found when Thunder was finally done with him. The only proof of his loyalty was the broken, blackened sword on the ground. ¡­¡­ "Ugh¡­" Meanwhile, Karinshan had pushed herself to her feet just in time to catch Stark¡¯s horrific death. Tears burst out of her eyes as she held back a sob, "Stark¡­ no, no¡­" Thud! Shadow Dancer Xue Wei landed next to Karinshan and helped her to stand. She then said, "Don¡¯t force yourself, princess. You have just entered the realm of the divine, and there was never a real chance that you were ever going to best a powerful monster like Thunder. Just leave the rest to us. Violet Empire and the Silver Moon Alliance are together on this. If you perish, we will perish alongside you. Don¡¯t worry though, we will survive no matter what¡­" As she said this, countless undead cavalrymen rode out from the inner grounds. They were all wearing the Violet Empire¡¯s symbol on their shoulder, and they were all elites. At a watchtower, Sophia unsheathed her sword and commanded in a low tone, "Violet Empire, attack! Your mission is to kill Thunder!" Arrows rained endlessly in the direction of Thunder. It was the succubi archer legion commanded by Xue Wei herself. Although they weren¡¯t able to do much damage, they were slowly but surely chipping away at the boss''s HP. Thunder only had 25% HP left after the damage he suffered from Karinshan and Stark. It was only a matter of time before he died. How many people would he take with to his grave, though? Thunderous sword auras ripped across both human and undead. Thunder was alone, but he was like the Grim Reaper himself. He had come personally to announce death to this Silver Moon encampment. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, us players continued to watch the battle from a safe distance. I was gripping the Chill of the Nine Provinces tightly. My mind was not in a good place to say the least. Lin Yixin had to hold my arm and say, "Calm down, Little Cheat. It¡¯s still not the right time for us to rejoin the battle. Both our guilds have already lost too many players already, we need to wait until Thunder has 5% HP left before we act. For now, leave the NPC armies to carry out their jobs¡­" I nodded, but I couldn¡¯t shake off a bad premonition. I said, "Did you notice that it¡¯s been almost two hours since Thunder joined the battle? However¡­ the seventh wave still hasn¡¯t appeared yet¡­" "I did¡­" Not far away, Stranger of Three Lifetimes suddenly shivered. "OMG, speak of the devil and he doth appear. I think that¡¯s the seventh wave¡­" ¡­¡­ In the distance, a furious thunder tore through the sky and revealed a bunch of gigantic beasts on the hills. They moved with the grace of cheetahs, but the crimson flames exiting their mouth with every breath spoke of great power. They had lion-like heads and whiskers, but they had deer-like horns on top of their heads. Their body was even bigger than a Kui¡¯s. "What¡­ what are they?" Gui Guzi couldn¡¯t see what they were. It was nighttime now, and the only source of illumination we got was the tiny flames the mobs breathed and the occasional lightning in the sky. High Fighting Spirits commented, "They look very dangerous¡­" I nodded. "Yes they are. They¡¯re Level 310 minibosses, and they¡¯re even stronger than the deity-rank mobs we just fought earlier, not to mention that they¡¯re being spawned in groups. The most critical moment of this monster attack is upon us¡­" "Do you know their names?" He Yi asked. I fell quiet for a moment before answering, "Undead Qilin. They are undead-type beasts that share some of the characteristics of a qilin. That¡¯s all I can see for now¡­ Anyway, we should reorganize the defense line now. We can¡¯t let the eastern defense line be breached in the final moment¡­" "Yeah!" Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and everyone else nodded before commanding our last couple thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen to reform the defense line. We had to borrow a group of mages and priests from Blazing Hot Lips because we almost had no Holy Mages or priests left. Warsky Alliance was in the same boat as us. Warsky and less than 2000 Gold Cavalrymen were the only ones left after their great battle against Thunder, and they had to borrow some priests, bards and mages from other guilds as well. Truly, we had been brought low by the continuous waves of bosses. I hoped to the heavens that the final boss, Coldblade wouldn¡¯t spawn in the eastern direction as well¡­ ¡­¡­ Thunder roared again and again above the mountains. Then, the main character of this event, Coldblade the Infinite Storm, finally appeared to the west of Crossroads Valley Fortress. He pointed his sword forward and ordered, "Go, my precious babies! Show these hypocritical humans the power of divine beasts!" "Wonderful¡­" I chuckled shamelessly. "Coldblade has spawned in the direction of the Northern Alliance¡­" Li Chengfeng was grinning as well. "Thank goodness! All we need to do is to hold back the Undead Qilins!" "Mn!" Although the China server had suffered devastating losses in this monster attack, there were still almost a million players on the eastern defense line. About 40000 of them were Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players, and we had 5000 Dragonlight and 20000 Zephyr Cavalrymen. It was worth noting that the Zephyr Cavalry was mostly fresh because it hadn¡¯t participated in our battle against Thunder. Technically speaking, Protective Umbrella was one of ours. However, I didn¡¯t involve Hickey or Warscar in our battles. After all, the players of outerlands preferred to act independently, and just because they were loyal to me didn¡¯t mean that they must serve Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ interests. Warscar and Hickey both agreed. ¡­¡­ As usual, I stood a short distance away from the battle line. I checked my bag and noted that I had used up much of my Health Potions and Magic Consumables. We had been defending the fortress for over 10 hours, so most people were about to run out of consumables. I highly doubted that this seventh and final wave was going to be a piece of cake as well. The Undead Qilin took off and surged toward us like a tidal wave. The moment they got close enough, I captured their stats screen with Dark Pupils and shared them in the guild channel. Information is power. The more my guild members knew about the mob, the better the countermeasures they would be able to come up with to reduce their losses¡ª Undead Fire Qilin (Ancient Immortal Rank Miniboss) [2] Level: 310 Attack: 65,000~77,000 Defense: 82,000 HP: 45,000,000 Skills: Flame Spit, Ancient Divine Flame Shield, Nirvana Rebirth Introduction: Devilized undead creatures. The Undead Fire Qilins were originally strange beasts that lived in the wilderness. Once upon a time, they were even worshiped as divine beasts by humans because they were one of the races closest to holy spirits. They absorbed natural spirit energy to replenish their strength and possessed the ability to spit flames. Thousands of years ago, Coldblade the Infinite Storm laid his tainted hands on this race of nature and was ultimately able to tame all of them. He used the undead plague to make them more violent than normal before deploying them as one of the terrifying undead legions. When an Undead Fire Qilin is killed, it has a 10% chance to revive on the spot with 100% HP and MP. 1. T/N: holy shit, the boss is actually right E/N: HE DID NOT JUST IMPLY NAKAMA POWER ISN¡¯T REAL, DID HE?! ? 2. T/N: holy shit, moneeeeeeeeey ? CH 1418 "Fuck!" Li Chengfeng swore while gritting his teeth. "I¡¯ve seen the details of these skills on the forums before. Flame Spit is an AoE fire skill that deals 50% increased magic damage. Ancient Divine Flame Shield functions like a Magic Shield, but also deals immolation damage to everything within a certain range of it. The power of the immolation is based on the attacker¡¯s Attack. Finally, Nirvana Rebirth is a 10% chance to revive much like the Archer class¡¯s Impossible Escape¡­" I said, "Both the Undying Berserker card and my Resurrection Art are unusable here. As far as I know, Impossible Escape is the only revival skill that functions on this map [1]. Maybe this Nirvana Rebirth won¡¯t work on this map either¡­" Li Chengfeng snorted. "Do you really think that a rule that applies to us will apply to an NPC mob? The entire point of this ¡®challenge¡¯ is to fuck us over!" I clapped my own head. "Yeah, you¡¯re right. I was being stupid there¡­" Li Chengfeng let out a hearty laugh before saying, "Anyway, it¡¯s time to get into business. Let¡¯s arrange the formation and get ready to receive the minibosses. Priests, please give it your all, okay? These mobs are all minibosses and stronger than even the deity-rank Thunder Devil Soldiers we fought earlier. There¡¯s a very high chance we may be annihilated if we cannot hold them back. We are the China server¡¯s number one guild after all. We cannot afford to lose this face, can we!?" Everyone immediately raised their weapons and chanted, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is unrivaled! We may lose our life and money, but never our face!" I complained, "OMG, who the fuck came up with this slogan? It¡¯s so lowly and base¡­" Li Chengfeng shot me an incredulous look. "You set your in-game status on your profile to this three days ago¡­" Lin Yixin also shot me a look from afar. "You said the same thing when you were fighting to pay the bill during our lunch¡­" Me: "..." "It¡¯s okay, no one¡¯s losing any face today. Now focus! The mobs are almost upon us!" He Yi said smilingly from atop her Snow Crystal Dragon. The Shield of Cave Ice glittering prettily on her arm had drastically improved her tankability, and combined with her Suppressing Fire Sword one might say that He Yi was finally an all-rounder now¡­ ¡­¡­ The qilins¡¯ roars got closer and closer. Although they weren¡¯t as numerous as the Thunder Devil Soldiers, the mobs at the front row were only 3 to 5 yards apart from each other. Once the Fire Qilins at the back had caught up, we would be fighting at least 1 of them per yard. This meant that every player on the battle line must be ready to duke it out against one miniboss at least. If they couldn¡¯t hold, then our defense line would surely be destroyed. Lu Buyi was standing in front of the rubble where the walls used to be and buffing around 4000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen with his Purple Dragon skill. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that the 150% boost to all of our stats was our greatest shield against the Fire Qilins¡¯ assault. Thank goodness Lu Buyi had an invincibility shield, or he might¡¯ve died to Thunder¡¯s super AoE skill earlier. Just like before, I moved as far away from the Dragonlight Cavalry as I dared before saying, "The enemy¡¯s a miniboss this time, so I¡¯m not sure if my Xuanyuan Art will work. Guard first to weather the enemy¡¯s first assault, and find an opportunity to counterattack later!" While I was saying this, 7 Fire Qilins sensed me at the same time and charged toward me. They started using their Flame Spit before they even got within melee range. Normally I wouldn¡¯t be afraid of a miniboss, but they were all Ancient Immortal Rank and my armors were of the heavy type. A column of damage numbers rose above my head as scorching pain overtook me. Thankfully, my Pity of the Purgatory Gods nullified some of the attacks¡ª 592,883! 612,389! MISS! 528,778! MISS! MISS! 1,128,394! Motherfucker! Pardon of the Gods had nullified 3 of the 7 Flame Spits I received, but I still lost around 2.8 million HP! Even with 4 million max HP, I would¡¯ve been instakilled if not for my necklace! I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces and fired Burning Blade Slash at the largest group of mobs! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Over 1.7 million HP returned to my health bar at the same time 11 Fire Qilins lost around 1.5 million HP in total, temporarily putting me out of danger. I then pointed the Death side of my blade toward the sky and cast Xuanyuan Art! Whoosh whoosh¡­ Countless columns of red light struck the mobs, but the effects were greatly diminished just as I thought. Instead of the usual 50%, the minibosses only lost at most 10% of their HP. It was still better than nothing though. Imagine what would¡¯ve happened if these Fire Qilins were proper Ancient Immortal Rank bosses. Xuanyuan Art would¡¯ve failed completely, and our battle line was almost certainly going to be annihilated! The Xuanyuan Art was a great skill, but it wasn¡¯t without certain risks. The skill struck every Fire Qilin within 1000 yards of me, which also meant that I had aggroed all of them. If I didn¡¯t do something soon, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would be annihilated by the horde in 5 minutes tops¡­ I backed a few steps from the closest mobs and used Earth Escape. The moment the skill took full effect, all the aggro I had accrued with Xuanyuan Art instantly vanished like never before. Not wasting a second, I leaped back to the surface and paid 1000 gold to the system. Rise of the Guardian Dragon! While the Fire Qilins were being ravaged by the skill, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and our few remaining Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers fired their own skills and bought us time to react. Unfortunately, the mobs stubbornly refused to die because they had almost 50 million HP. Well, one step at a time, I suppose! Bang! While stealing more HP with a devastating War Crush, I rotated away from the Fire Qilins¡¯ melee attacks while making sure not to step into the path of their Flame Spits. At the same time, I executed Coiling Dragon Revolution + Myriad Swords Obliteration + Summon the Storm combo. After my sword had returned to my hand, I fired another Burning Blade Slash that restored another huge chunk of HP. Unfortunately, they went poor almost immediately as another barrage of Flame Spits deleted about 50% of my HP in total. I was dancing on a knife¡¯s edge here, but I didn¡¯t let the stress get to me and played seesaw with nearly a hundred Fire Qilins right in front of my guild¡¯s battle line. He Yi, Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng didn¡¯t dare to follow my example and fought together with the Dragonlight Cavalry though. Unlike me, they didn¡¯t have a 30% chance to avoid magic attacks. Not even Gui Guzi could shrug off a bunch of Flame Spits like it was nothing. "Roar roar roar¡­" The Fire Qilins roared as some of them finally struck the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s defense line. After they unleashed their magic attacks, they proceeded to use physical skills such as Hoof Trample, Horn Strikes and more. Most of these skills could be tanked with Guard, but there was a problem. The Ancient Divine Flame Shield had a range of about 1 to 2 yards or so and dealt between 100k to 300k immolation damage per second. It was torturous to be near one of these mobs to say the least. "God dammit, we¡¯re losing HP too quickly!" Tiger Leopard Knight groaned while swinging his blade, "My HP isn¡¯t rising with three Fire Qilins burning me at the same time! What do we do?" A short distance away, He Yi shouted while drawing the attention of two Fire Qilins with a Stormwind Slash, "Don¡¯t just spam your AoE heals, priests! Drop Instant Heal on anyone whose HP falls below 20%[2]! We cannot afford to lose anyone with so few of us left¡­" Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng didn¡¯t say anything. They simply focused on executing their skills, aggroing as many Fire Qilins as they were able and killing them. It was the only way to reduce our losses as much as possible. Despite our best efforts, the Dragonlight Cavalrymen were still dropping one after another. The Fire Qilin¡¯s Flame Spit was especially difficult for them to endure. It was a desperate battle to say the least. ¡­¡­ Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips and more were losing players much faster than we were. Although my Xuanyuan Art had reduced the Fire Qilin¡¯s HP by 10%, not a single one of the mobs had died during the first three minutes. 45 million HP wasn¡¯t something you could delete immediately after all. Lin Yixin was running around with a pack of Fire Qilins at her heels and killing them with her Purple Spirit Sword just like me. She lost HP at an incredible rate but regained it just as quickly because she had the 5% HP regeneration from the Dragon Soul Ring, lifesteal from the Purple Spirit Sword, greater HP and resistances than normal thanks to the Crimson Crystal Dragon, and finally the healing of her own priests. She wasn¡¯t doing as well as I was, but she was just barely holding on in there. As for weaker guilds such as Purgatory Mad Dragon, Flower Room, Rose of the Holy Domain, Hall of Immortality and more, let¡¯s just say that they were almost extinct from the frontline. The undead qilins had gone through them like hot knife through butter, and their rebuilt defense line was utterly destroyed in as soon as three minutes. It was just unacceptable. ¡­¡­ Boom boom boom¡­ After I dished out another Burning Blade Slash, I activated Heavenly River Transformation and dropped a Xuanyuan Slash on top of a group of mobs. Critical hits and splash effects ran wild, and 24 Fire Qilins dropped dead at the same time my experience bar filled up by 24%. If these Fire Qilins weren¡¯t so hard to kill, this would be the most perfect leveling experience I have ever had¡­ Rustle rustle¡­ My boots rustled against wilted grass as I made a mad dash across the barren land. The mobs were minibosses, so every kill restored 10 Divine Energy Points to me. The moment I noticed this, I immediately made up my mind to maintain Heavenly River Transformation for the entire battle and spam Xuanyuan Slash every time it was off cooldown. The amount of Divine Energy Points I was regaining was more than enough to make up for the consumption! The ground was covered in countless dead mobs. Some of them had glittering equipment on top of them. My eyes began to shine brighter. As a proud gold fetishist, my dignity wouldn¡¯t allow me to pass by a top-tier items without claiming it as my own! Swhoosh! I swiped four pieces of equipment from the ground and deposited them in my bag. They were all red-colored, metal-armor equipment with a rainbow luster on their surface. My experience was telling me that these equipment must be of a high grade, or they wouldn¡¯t have given that luster. While throwing out Summon the Storm, I snuck a peek at their stat screen and was delighted to find that they were pieces of a set! Fire Qilin Armor (Middle Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 9900 Magic Resist: 9550 Strength: +1980 Stamina: +1850 Agility: +1800 Intelligence: +1500 Tactics: +155 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 70% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 40%, and max HP by 50,000 Outstanding Property: Qilin Armor. Increases user¡¯s Defense by 2000 Property: Fire Qilin set, Chest Armor Level Requirement: 230 ¡­¡­ Holy shit! It was a 7-star Outstanding Middle Immortal-grade equipment set, and its stats rivaled that of the incredibly-hard-to-grind S5 or S6 instance sets! Jackpot! 1. T/N: the archer technically never died in the first place because they pulled off an Impossible Escape I guess ? 2. E/N: Okay I¡¯m confused about healing balance in this game. Not long ago we¡¯ve had someone tell their priests to NOT use single-target heals because their healing isn¡¯t enough, and to just drop AoE heals instead. When most attacks are tanked by the frontliners, MMO logic would be to throw Pool of Life under the frontline and spam single-target heals on key players when they are low. A few chapters ago we hear AoE heals are better, and now He Yi says that single-target heals are better, sheesh ? CH 1419 I caressed the smooth lines of the chest armor while checking out the other three pieces of equipment. They were the wristguards, the helmet and the boots of the Fire Qilin set. Since I owned more than two of the equipment pieces, I was granted the ability to view its set effects. What I saw made me certain that the Fire Qilin set was going to be the new wet dream for all late-game heavy-armor class players. One full set was enough to transform a pleb into a star-level player instantly¡ª Fire Qilin Equipment Set: 1 piece: None. 2 pieces: Increases user''s Defense by 120% 3 pieces: Increases user''s max HP by 240,000 4 pieces: Increases user''s Attack by 195%, and attack speed by 50% 5 pieces: Fire Qilin Oath. Summon the power of Fire Qilins. When attacking, 20% chance to trigger Fire Qilin Flame Strike and deal massive damage to all targets within a certain area. ¡­¡­ The Fire Qilin set was an all-rounder¡ªwhich was great¡ªbut what I really valued was the fact that it boosted all four basic attributes. This meant that any player wearing this set would have a significant amount of Intelligence. These days, cavalrymen weren¡¯t afraid of an archer¡¯s arrows, a priest¡¯s curses, or even a mage¡¯s Galaxy Storms. But God Devil Break? A skill that ignored all of your resistances and dealt fixed damage based on Intelligence difference was the bane of all cavalrymen. A high-level mage could absolutely deal over 500k damage to another metal-armor player of the same level. For that reason, many metal-armor players were traumatized by the experience that they started gathering equipment that boosted Intelligence and changed into them mid-battle to survive God Devil Break bombardment. In this game, it took only one action to change one¡¯s equipment. However, changing equipment mid-battle wasn¡¯t without its flaws. For one, it wasn¡¯t an instantaneous action. Two, the player¡¯s HP, Attack and more would most likely become weaker and not something you would want to wear for an extended amount of time. That was why a powerful all-rounder equipment like the Fire Qilin set was the perfect choice for elite cavalrymen at this stage of the game. My body became filled with righteous purpose. I now knew that I must kill as many Fire Qilins as possible, drop these Fire Qilin sets with my super high Luck, and equip our best Dragonlight Cavalrymen with them. Only by strengthening our players could we remain undefeated at the top of the world! He Yi was the first person to notice my odd behavior. "Lu Chen? What did you pick up?" I smiled and shared the Fire Qilin set¡¯s stats screen in the guild channel. It immediately started an excited conversation¡ª Xu Yang: "Hot damn! What amazing stats! Are these dropped from the Undead Qilins?" Me: "Yep. The drop rate isn¡¯t too high, but I¡¯m pretty sure we can collect eight or ten complete sets by the end of this wave." Li Chengfeng: "Hell yeah! Though¡­ I already have two Sacred Armaments. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to wear this Fire Qilin set¡­" He Yi: "Yeah, anyone who already has Sacred Armaments or Ancient Immortal-grade equipment should leave the Fire Qilin equipment set to the others. How do you want to distribute this, Lu Chen?" I thought for a moment before answering, "I¡¯ll give you a specific answer when this wave is over, but for now the plan is to put them all in the guild warehouse and let our best players buy them with their guild contribution points. We need at least ten sets so that we can have a small squad of Dragonlight Cavalry who all wear the Fire Qilin equipment set. They¡¯ll be almost unstoppable when they¡¯re buffed by Knight God, hehe! Oh right, remember to pass all the equipment pieces you drop to me. I¡¯ll keep them safe until the event is over." Heaven¡¯s Rain: "I¡¯m reserving a set, vice leader big bro¡­" Me: "Heaven¡¯s Rain! I thought both you and Diamond Dust were dead? Are you back yet? How much longer will it take you to reach Crossroads Valley? Our situation is pretty dire right now. We can use your reinforcements as soon as possible." Heaven¡¯s Rain: "We¡¯re still about 20 minutes away from you. Hang on until we get there, okay? 70k Dragonlight Cavalry is coming to your rescue! The priests and mages are on the way too, but it¡¯ll probably take them another 2 to 3 hours to reach Crossroads Valley. By then, the monster attack will probably be over. Oh right, is Thunder dead yet? That boss is so scary¡­" "Unfortunately, no. The NPC legions are still decreasing his HP, and we¡¯re holding back the seventh wave mobs. Anyway, talk to you later. When you arrive, send us a message, and we¡¯ll set out and¡­ Actually, we don¡¯t have enough people to receive you, so you¡¯ll have to fight your way in with the Dragonlight Cavalry. Think you can do that, Little Rain?" "I will. Let¡¯s all do our best!" ¡­¡­ I turned off the chat interface and returned my focus on the sea of Fire Qilins around me. While withstanding the pain of being burned alive by their Ancient Divine Flame Shields, I swung my Chill of the Nine Provinces and patiently deleted the mobs¡¯ HP little by little. Meanwhile, lightning strikes were still hitting Crossroads Valley Fortress with a frequency that could only be unnatural. Thunder was still fighting the NPC legions, and both Karinshan and Sophie were dispatching more and more elites to kill him. It was clear that both queens had resolved themselves to bury Thunder in the barren lands of Crossroads Valley one way or another. Karinshan especially wouldn¡¯t be satisfied until her trusted commander, Stark, was finally avenged! On the west side of Crossroads Valley Fortress, a dozen or so gigantic hurricanes were ripping the Northern Alliance¡¯s defense line to shreds right now. Players, pets, NPCs; no one was safe from the tarot that was Coldblade the Infinite Storm. His attacks seemed greater than even Thunder, and as the final boss Coldblade was much more cunning than Thunder was. It was just as Xinran said a long time ago. Coldblade was incredibly cunning and difficult to kill. There were many times the Purgatory Sovereign had pulled off a surprise escape before she could kill him. "Damn!" Gui Guzi glanced toward the west after killing a Fire Qilin. His face looked bright and bloodied under the lightning storm. "Who would¡¯ve thought that two Purgatory Sovereigns would show up on the battlefield at the same time? Man, if Lin Na shows up as well, then it will truly be a riot. I wonder who will get the last hit on the final boss?" Li Chengfeng said, "You mean, who will SURVIVE the final boss when this is all over. This fight has long since gone out of us players¡¯ hands. Lu Chen¡¯s stats are out of the world, and he still cannot withstand one full-powered strike from Thunder. Coldblade? That guy can probably wipe the floor with all of us single-handedly¡­" I said, "None of that is our concern right now. We¡¯ll think on it after we take out the undead qilins in front of us!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ New undead qilins were continuously spawned on the mountains. Officially, these vile beasts were teleported over directly from the Purgatory. Every time we took out a group of Fire Qilins, another new group would appear on the mountaintops and run toward us. As a result, over 10,000 Fire Qilins were engaging the eastern battle line at all times. It was a most bloody and depearte affair. The painful groans of the players and the angry roars of the Fire Qilins mixed together constantly. Countless people died to their Flame Spits nearly every second, though the number of Fire Qilins was slowly but steadily decreasing as well. Twenty minutes later, we suddenly heard a stampede of hooves from somewhere. It was our reinforcements finally arriving to rescue us. Heaven¡¯s Rain and over 60k Dragonlight Cavalrymen had managed to break through the valley entrance and reached our formation in short order. They cooperated with the original defenders and cut down at least a couple hundred Fire Qilins before they fully entered our formation. Heaven¡¯s Rain wiped away some blood stain on her face before beaming at me, "We have arrived, big brother Lu Chen. 61k+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen at your service¡­" I asked, "Little Rain, I thought you said 70k earlier¡­" Heaven¡¯s Rain stuck out her tongue at me. "We were attacked by the mobs and the Northern Alliance on the way, so. It¡¯s not a one-sided loss though. We took out at least 10,000 Iron Cutter Cavalrymen during the breakthrough¡­" I laughed. "Well done! Now, let¡¯s continue defending our formation. More Fire Qilins are spawning, and it won¡¯t take them long to reach us!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ The pressure on our shoulders lessened tremendously after reinforcements had arrived. We were now 64k Dragonlight Cavalrymen strong, and we could lose 20k or even 30k troops and still be the dominant force on this entire battlefield because the Dragonlight Cavalry was the champion of all cavalries on Heavenblessed. On a related note, it took another 30 minutes before the 70k Gold Cavalrymen Warsky Alliance had lost earlier finally made it back to their formation. Moreover, they had lost almost 20k troops on the way due to the Fire Qilins¡¯ assault. Both Warsky and October Rain were exasperated with this outcome, but some reinforcements were better than no reinforcements at all. For 50 minutes, we ran and fought and ran and fought and ran. We had to pay a huge price to kill the Fire Qilins, but at least we were able to save our formation. A ton of equipment was mixed among the sea of Fire Qilin bodies, especially the area about 30 yards away from the battle line where I was fighting. At some point, I was literally knee-deep in dead mob bodies, magic stones and equipment. I didn¡¯t take any loot besides the Fire Qilin equipment set, and I definitely didn¡¯t claim pieces of the Fire Qilin set that had been dropped by my Dragonlight Cavalrymen and Archers. For one, I had no right to their loot as a matter of course, and two, their Luck was so low that it was a minor miracle every time they dropped a Fire Qilin set piece anyway. After over an hour of non-stop fighting, I was almost out of consumables, and my Guardian Dragon Armor, Chill of the Nine Provinces and Cyan Dragon Shield only had 15% durability or so. It was worth it though. I had 15 full Fire Qilin sets in my bag, and a couple of individual pieces. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Lin Yixin appeared to our formation with Purple Spirit Sword that looked like it was about to fold up on its own in her grip. She shot me a smile and asked, "So? How many Fire Qillin sets did you manage to gather?" I chuckled. "You first." Lin Yixin had pretty high Luck too. She lifted five fingers and answered, "Snowy Cathaya managed to gather 5 full sets in total. And you?" I took a look in my bag before answering, "I¡¯ve got 15 full sets and many more individual pieces¡­" "OMG!" her jaw hit the floor. "I know you have double my Luck, but 15 full sets and many individual pieces? That¡¯s more than 3 times what I got! Uu, this is so unfair¡­" He Yi slowly walked up to me and asked, "What else do we lack?" I checked my bag again before answering, "We¡¯re 5 chest armors, 4 helmets, 3 pairs of wristguards and 1 pair of boots away from 20 full sets!" "Alright!" He Yi said with a dimpled smile, "I¡¯m leaving to buy the pieces you need then. Let¡¯s gather 20 full Fire Qilin sets and create 20 top-tier cavalrymen for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" "Mn mn!" ¡­¡­ Less than 5 minutes later, He Yi traded the 13 individual equipment pieces I needed to complete 20 Fire Qilin sets. In total, I had 100 pieces of an amazing set in my bag. What a wonderful feeling! Boom! Suddenly, a bolt of lightning erupted from the fortress¡¯s direction and broke me out of my reverie. It was Thunder¡¯s skill. I gripped my Chill of the Nine Provinces tightly and parted the crowd. "Alright, Thunder only has 3% HP left. We¡¯ll join the battle at the last moment and take him out. If we don¡¯t engage the boss at all, it¡¯s possible that the system won¡¯t reward us anything. You don¡¯t want that, do you?" "Yeah. Let¡¯s go!" Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and everyone else looked eager as well. CH 1420 Crackle! Crackle! Lightning crackled across the Blade of Thunder as the lightning-clad boss gathered a sphere of crackling lightning above his fingertip. He then dropped it on top of a hundred NPCs and turned them and the ground beneath them into ashes instantly. It was yet another Thunder Abyss. "Kakaka¡­" While avoiding the archers¡¯ arrows, Thunder fired another lightning shockwave while growling hatefully, "Do you really think these puny powers are enough to kill me, Karinshan, Sophia? Dream on!" ¡­¡­ Karinshan was standing atop a rubble with one of her arms hanging limply beside her. It looked like it was broken. Gripping the Guardian Blade with her remaining hand tightly, she shot toward Thunder like a cannonball and successfully knocked him back about dozens of meters. The Purgatory Sovereign crashed into a stone pillar and dropped to 2% HP. He wasn¡¯t quite dead yet, but he definitely had one foot in death¡¯s door. Thunder raised his arm and fired three Thunder Abysses in a row, driving Karinshan backward and nearly melting the armor she was wearing. If her body wasn¡¯t protected by a sheen of golden divine energy, she would probably be ashes just like Stark already. The average person simply couldn¡¯t withstand the power of Thunder Abyss. Thunder rose to his feet with a mad laugh. "Do you know, Karinshan? Even now, I can kill you as easily as flipping my palm!" A panting Karinshan simply frowned without uttering a single word. It was at this moment a black boot crushed the remnants of a brick into pieces, and an icy, feminine voice that sounded like it came from hell itself said, "We meet again, Thunder. Do you remember my promise to kill you?" ¡­¡­ "Dammit!!!" Thunder shuddered visibly as he stared at the space in front of him in shock. There, an incredibly sexy warrioress clad in black armor and wielding a fiery red blade was walking toward her. Her beautiful face was marred by a cold sneer, and the way the corner of her lips were curled could only be described as disdainful. "So¡­ Sophie¡­" Thunder gripped his weapon with the look of a man who was about to fight his death. He said in a trembling voice, "W-why did you betray the Purgatory? You promised Lord Lin Na you would serve the Purgatory and death for eternity. What made you turn your back on us and join the hypocritical humans?" Sophie replied indifferently, "When I learned that Coldblade was the one who planned by descent to hell, when I learned that my closest sister still cares for me, when I learned that a sliver of pity still exists in the human world, and when I learned of the true extent of the Purgatory¡¯s deviousness and shamelessness, I was no longer a member of the Purgatory Legion. Now come, Thunder. We have been acquaintances for a long time, it¡¯s only right that I send you on your last journey myself." "No!" Thunder gritted his teeth and looked toward the west. "Lord Coldblade¡­ Lord Coldblade wouldn¡¯t lie to me, I¡­" He abruptly took a step backward only to slam into a wind wall. A bloody wound immediately sprouted behind his back. Sophie slowly lowered her palm while smiling. "You think you can run? Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll never be able to do it as long as you are in my domain. In terms of the ability to escape, Coldblade is easily ten times your superior¡­" "I¡­" Thunder snarled when he finally realized that he had reached the end of his road. He swore, "Sophie, you fucking bitch! I¡¯d rather die than beg for my life! My only regret is that I pitied you and didn¡¯t ravage you like the bitch you are on your first day in the Purgatory! I should¡¯ve made you wish you were dead!" Sophie¡¯s complexion instantly turned a shade of angry green. "You asked for this, Thunder!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! It was at this moment a spinning blade penetrated Thunder¡¯s body and dealt over 380k damage to him. Sophie turned around just in time to see me running toward her. "Pooh. You again. What do you want?" She shot me a look of clear disdain. I caught my sword and replied smilingly, "Sophie, I have a score to settle with this Thunder. Can you make sure he doesn¡¯t escape while me and my men take him out? You won¡¯t have to get your hands dirty this way?" "Is that so?" Sophie tilted her head with a scornful smile on her face. "What if Thunder manages to take you out though? Xinran would tear me apart. Somehow, you are more important to her than even I am¡­" A cold gleam flashed across her eyes as she continued. "On second thought, that wouldn¡¯t be so bad, would it? If you die, I can grind you to dust and make it so that you don¡¯t exist in this world. This way, I will remain as the most important person in her heart¡­" I shuddered. "Are you helping me or not?" "Sure, why not? Go on then¡­" Sophie took a step to the side before staring at me menacingly. Gui Guzi let out a sigh of admiration. "Man, Boss Broken Halberd is seriously amazing. He¡¯s even got a brutal boss like Sophie under his thumb¡­" Li Chengfeng grimaced. "You sure? I think Sophie will kill him the second he gives her the opportunity¡­" He Yi: "..." Lin Yixin: "..." I rolled my eyes and rebuked all of them, "If you have the energy to talk, then you have the time to take out Thunder¡¯s last percent of HP! Now let¡¯s go! This super boss''s experience and equipment are ours! Also, don¡¯t let up on the healing, priests!" ¡­¡­ I kicked off my attack with a long-range Dragon Slaying Slash + Summon the Storm combo. Then, I pushed myself off a broken wall and stabbed Thunder in the chest from top down. It was Purple Frost Concentration to lower the boss''s Dfense. "You dare!" Humiliated and enraged, Thunder punched by Cyan Dragon Shield with an electrified fist and turned my arm completely numb. While I was pushed back by the force behind his strike, a ball of purple thunder gathered above my head. It was Thunder Abyss! 592,187! 2,367,167! Thankfully, the boss failed to instakill me. While I was flying across the air, I waved my hand three times in a row to execute Tenacity of the Dead + Dragon Bloodboil + Rank 13 Health Potion combo¡ª +1,082,873! +649,723! +100,000! ¡­¡­ Then, I returned to the fray. While I was incapitated, Li Chengfeng, Lin Yixin, He Yi and Gui Guzi were already surrounding Thunder and hitting him with their own combos. Although Thunder was still extremely powerful, he was also on his last legs. He attempted to give chase after knocking all the dragon knights backward with the swing of a blade, but found himself faceplanting into an Origin Force Field instead. The skill normally wouldn¡¯t work on him, but with only 1% HP left, he was so weakened the system no longer granted him immunity to such effects. Lian Xin went on to cast Dimensional Storm and Ice Spiral Matrix. No one¡¯s damage was more reliable than hers in a situation like this. Buzz! Another Thunder Abyss dropped He Yi and Lin Yixin to low health and drove them back. While activating Heavenly River Transformation and expanding a pair of pure white wings behind her back, Lin Yixin cried, "The boss must be near death, Little Cheat! Activate your Heavenly River Transformation and hit him with your strongest AoE!" "Yeah!" I healed myself to max HP and MP before activating Heavenly River Transformation. Then, I stabbed the Chill of the Nine Provinces into the ground. Countless dragon souls groaned beneath my feet as purple draconic energy crawled up my sword. Then, I swung the blade and sent a gigantic purple dragon straight toward Thunder. It was my strongest damaging skill, Purple Dragon Howl! It felt like all the strength in my body had been sucked out of me. The biggest flaw of Purple Dragon Howl was that it would inflict me with the Weakened status condition and make me extremely vulnerable for 3 seconds. Normally, I would never use it unless the circumstances were almost ideal like this one. ¡­¡­ Whoosh! Thunder stood blankly as the purple energy rushed toward him with enough energy to rip all the air and earth around it to shreds. Infinite defiance and hatred exploded from his eyes as he planted his blade on the ground and dropped to his knees. "To think that I, a hero of ages, would fall like this. To think that I, Thunder, would die in the hands of a human! This¡­ this is a great shame. I cannot accept this¡­ I cannot accept this¡­" Suddenly, an indigo figure dropped down from the sky! Bang! It was a man surrounded by icy energy. He was none other than the other Purgatory Sovereign I had antagonized a long time ago, Coldblade the Infinite Storm. He extended his palm in front of him and summoned an icy force field that looked like a giant shield. At the same time, he shouted, "Ice Shield! Break it all!" Boom boom boom¡­ Purple Dragon Howl slammed into Coldblade¡¯s Ice Shield and triggered a column of damage numbers, but all it did was a bunch of misses. What the fuck! Purple Dragon Howl was literally the strongest skill I knew, and the guy had blocked it all with a single Ice Shield? Just how strong was Coldblade now? ¡­¡­ "God¡­ dammit¡­" I swore resentfully. "Oh shit, Coldblade¡¯s here¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes widened in shock. Gui Guzi also swore, "Fuck! What do we do now? Coldblade still has¡­ 91% HP?? What the fuck was the Northern Alliance doing? When we fought Thunder the first time, we had reduced his HP to just 50% in the same amount of time!" Li Chengfeng said in a clinical voice, "Our spies reported that Hero Alliance, Shabby Castle, God¡¯s Domain and more had almost lost their entire guilds trying to fight Coldblade. He is definitely much stronger than Thunder¡­" He Yi ordered decisively, "Retreat! There is no need to die here!" ¡­¡­ We backed at least dozens of meters from Coldblade before we dared to look back. The icy storm Coldblade conjured looked like the storm of the apocalypse itself, and the earth beneath his feet looked like they had been split apart by an earthquake. "Ugh¡­" When Thunder opened his eyes and realized that he had been saved from the brink of death, he exclaimed in joy, "Lord¡­ Lord Coldblade! I knew you wouldn¡¯t leave me behind! I knew you would come and save me! Hahaha, what doesn¡¯t kill me makes me stronger! I will make those two bitches, Karinshan and Sophie, pay! I will make the entire human race pay for what they¡¯ve done to me!!" However, Coldblade turned around to face Thunder with a sneer. "Your mission is done, Thunder." "What mission?" Thunder asked. Shlk! There was a soft sound that sounded like ripping flesh, and Thunder¡¯s pupils dilated rapidly. Coldblade had stuck nearly his entire arm through Thunder¡¯s body before pulling out a bloody, black heart. He slowly moved it to his mouth, took a bite and chewed loudly. "The death energy of a sovereign-level expert is truly delicious! Rest in peace, Thunder, my brother. I shall inherit your power!" CH 1421 "Coldblade¡­ you¡­" Thunder¡¯s eyes widened to the max. He had thought that dying in a human¡¯s hands was the greatest shame of his life until his own brother killed him for power. He began to stiffen as life flowed out of his body. For an expert of the dark planes, losing one¡¯s heart was akin to losing his Divinity. In this case, it was completely stolen by Coldblade. ¡­¡­ "Slurp¡­" Coldblade licked the blood in his palm and allowed a satisfied smile to peek through his features as he licked the blood on his palm. He said, "Thank you so much for your soul spark, Thunder. Now rest in peace and leave the rest to me!" The Purgatory Sovereign raised his sword and slashed Thunder¡¯s neck! Crack! Coldblade caught Thunder¡¯s flying head in one hand before tossing it to Sophie and Karinshan¡¯s feet. Then, he shot us a sinister smile before saying, "The Silver Moon Alliance had a bounty on Thunder¡¯s head, right? Sophie, you swore you would kill Thunder with your own hands, right? Well, this is my gift to you two. And¡­ it is time I took my leave, lest Lord Purgatory Ruler be angry with me!" Sophie sneered after side-eyeing Thunder¡¯s head, "You think you can leave? Not without leaving behind your Divinity, no. A despicable, treacherous bastard like you never deserved it in the first place. Coming to Crossroads Valley will be the biggest mistake of your life, Coldblade!" "I don¡¯t deserve my Divinity?" Still sneering, Coldblade turned around and said, "The pot calls the kettle black, I see. Who was the one who killed countless innocent humans, Sophie? During year 8579 of the Age of Spirit of Grief, who was the one who allowed the devil riders to rape those girls, and the Corpse Eaters to unearth the dead? You! You are the one who committed all those sins! You are the one whose hands will forever be stained with their blood!" Sophie fell silent for a couple of seconds before surprising everyone with a somewhat innocent smile on her face. "Is that so? Shame I don¡¯t remember any of the crimes you accuse me of committing. I am just a traitor who is willing to protect humans and live the best she can be under the sunlight. To that end, I will kill you!" Coldblade gritted his teeth. "You think you can kill me? Then come! You will find that you are gravely mistaken if you think I am still the old Coldblade you may order around as you please!" ¡­¡­ "Sigh¡­" Meanwhile, I let out a sorrowful sigh at the sky. "What¡¯s wrong?" He Yi asked softly, "Are you worried about Sophie¡¯s safety?" I shook my head. "Nah, I¡¯m just lamenting the fact that Thunder was killed by Coldblade. If I was the one who killed him, I would almost be Level 250, and the Ancient Divine Dragon would be at the Divine Awakening stage already¡­" Lin Yixin giggled behind her palm. "Man, you¡¯re always thinking about this stuff¡­" Gui Guzi asked worriedly, "Sophie¡­ can beat Coldblade, right?" Li Chengfeng clenched his fists together. "Don¡¯t worry, Sophie is the second strongest Purgatory Sovereign. Her chances of beating Coldblade, the seventh-placed Purgatory Sovereign, should be pretty good." Beiming Xue couldn¡¯t quite agree with that. "But Coldblade just devoured Thunder¡¯s power¡­" I replied, "Don¡¯t worry, I just felt Xinran¡¯s presence somewhere nearby. There is no chance Coldblade can beat anyone with her around. I¡¯m also fairly sure Coldblade sensed her presence, so he wouldn¡¯t dare to act recklessly." He Yi nodded. "Lu Chen¡¯s analysis is sound. Anyway, let¡¯s wait and see what happens next. So far, it looks like this battle has transformed into a final showdown between light and darkness." "It¡¯s a showdown, yes, but I don¡¯t know about final. Lin Na hasn¡¯t shown up yet, and he¡¯s the one that worries me the most out of all the bosses." "Yeah¡­" ¡­¡­ Bang! Bloody divine energy surrounded Sophie as she stomped the ground and shot into the air. With purple lightning circulating around her body and her blade in hand, she towered imperiously over Coldblade and said, "Do you think you¡¯re the only one who knows how to devour, Coldblade? For the past few years, I¡¯ve devoured all the undead creatures in the Purgatory tribe to the southeast of Purple Grape City. My ability to devour is far stronger than yours!" Coldblade trembled visibly but declared, "Come then, Sophie! Show me your ultimate power!" Chiang! When Sophie finally unsheathed her weapon, purple lightning could be seen dancing across its surface. The wild cyclone spinning around her person was so powerful that it impacted the ground and drove away many nearby players. They didn¡¯t have a Domain of their own, so they were incapable of withstanding the pressure of two Divine Rank Domains. On the other hand, Lin Yixin, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, I and everyone else who ascended to the Heavenly River Transformation managed to hold our ground because we had some rudimentary grasp of the power of Domain. Buzz! A cross appeared on Sophie¡¯s blade as she gathered her strength. Coldblade burst out in laughter when he saw this. "Purgatory Cross Slash? Haha! Quit the jokes already, Sister Sophie. This is a skill that even a lowly skeletal knight can use! You don¡¯t seriously think it¡¯s enough to kill me, do you?" Sophie laughed as well. "That¡¯s exactly the point. I¡¯m killing a dog here, so it¡¯s only right that I use a skill that fits the beast. Coldblade, it is your lie that turned me into a devil. Today, we will settle the score once and for all!" Whoosh! Suddenly, Sophie crashed toward the ground like a fiery red meteor. While bearing down on Coldblade with the Purgatory Cross Slash, she also turned her Domain into a multilayered energy web to prevent him from escaping. Chiang! Sparks flew everywhere as Coldblade summoned his Ice Shield and blocked the first strike imperiously! However, Sophie¡¯s Purgatory Cross Slash wasn¡¯t so simple. Her power surged as she leaped into the air and brought her sword down again for a second strike! Chiang! Her power finally shattered the Ice Shield and slammed both Coldblade and his sword into the ground. The resulting shock wave was so powerful that the ground sank into a hundred-meter wide pit, and all the buildings within the area were destroyed. Sophie wasn¡¯t done yet, however. There was a third strike to her Purgatory Cross Slash! Bang! The ground shook, and Coldblade was forced to block the attack with his sword. However, blood vessels erupted from his arms due to the sheer power behind Sophie¡¯s attack! Despite the blood dripping down the corner of his lips, Coldblade taunted Sophie boldly, "Is this all you''ve got, you little bitch? Or are you giving me a foot massage? Don¡¯t hold back! Feel free to open your legs and show me all your techniques!" Sophie¡¯s expression was so cold it probably could¡¯ve frozen Coldblade if he wasn¡¯t a Purgatory Sovereign. She continued to attack four times more before the seventh and final strike of Purgatory Cross Slash finally overwhelmed Coldblade¡¯s strength and caused him to drop his sword. Puchi! When the sword hit flesh, Sophie pressed harder and cut deep into Coldblade¡¯s shoulder. The wound must have been 5 cm long at least. Sophie then aimed her palm at Coldblade¡¯s neck and growled out, "Ice Soul Strike!" Bang! A profound crystal at least 10 cm in radius manifested into existence and pierced Coldblade¡¯s body completely. Seemingly not satisfied yet, she abruptly launched a kick at the man¡¯s groin and turned it into a bloody mess. "Ahhh¡­" Coldblade finally screamed out in pain and attempted to slash Sophie. Bang! Sophie simply jumped over the attack, stepped on Coldblade¡¯s face, and propelled herself all the way to the sky. She then looked down at Coldblade and the 400-meter-wide pit she had created with her 7-hit Purgatory Cross Slash. At least a small half of Crossroads Valley Fortress had been destroyed by the attack. ¡­¡­ "Ugh¡­ grr¡­" Coldblade slowly rose to his feet and walked out of the pit. His chest wound was healing quickly, and said with a disdainful smirk on his face, "I see. So this is the extent of your ultimate strength. How disappointing¡­" Sophie frowned deeply. "Is that so?" She raised her arm and clenched her hand into a fist. Bang! The ice crystal that was still stuck in Coldblade¡¯s chest abruptly exploded. He was going to have a hard time healing from this one. "How about now?" Sophie giggled. Coldblade glared at her hatefully. "Just you wait!" Coldblade stomped the ground and summoned an impossible amount of thunder clouds above us. At the same time, the wind around us turned into a painful tempest. It was his AoE skill, and it had a diameter of at least a thousand yards! "Motherfucker! It¡¯s that skill again!" Gui Guzi shouted, "This AoE skill deals a fixed amount of damage to everyone and everything within its range! It¡¯ll deal a total of 4 million damage in 10 seconds! Watch out!" I replied grimly, "Understood. We¡¯ll take turns using our AoE heals. Don¡¯t forget to use the free-for-all mode!" "Okay!" The tempest blew, and icicles were everywhere. All players began losing 400k damage per second, and according to Little Gui it was going to last for 10 whole seconds. I looked back at everyone and ordered, "Sis, Moon Dew, I trust you two to heal the mages. The rest of you, drink your health potions and keep yourselves above 400k HP. I¡¯ll go first, Little Gui¡­" I hardly wanted the Dragonlight Archers who just joined us to be killed by Coldblade, so I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces and cast the Life skill of Xuanyuan Art on the third second. Everyone was healed by 50% of their HP instantly! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Countless healing numbers rose into the air. The players who would¡¯ve been killed a second later immediately breathed out a sigh of relief. In the fifth second, Gui Guzi raised his Ghostblade Halberd and cast his S Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Shennong Tastes Grass. This time, everyone within 1000 yards of him regained 75% of their HP and was pulled away from the brink of death once more! Unfortunately, our countermeasures weren¡¯t perfect. Many archers, mages and priests were still killed by Coldblade¡¯s AoE skill. I was almost at full health, however. Gui Guzi, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, the top-tier metal armor class players and even super priests like Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew were also unafraid of the skill. We top rung fighters had insane amounts of HP, and the super priests were more than capable of keeping themselves alive after my Xuanyuan Art and Gui Guzi¡¯s Shennong Tastes Grass. These days, it was popular for a priest or a bard to drop 3 points into Stamina and 2 points into Intelligence per level. As a result, they usually had higher HP than a mage, and the toughest ones could have as much as 1.5 million HP[1]. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After the storm finally came to a stop, Coldblade was¡­ nowhere to be seen? What the heck? "Where is he?" I asked while searching around. In the sky, Sophie looked to the west and sneered. "Trying to run away with your wind again? Don¡¯t even think about it, Coldblade! Today is the day you die!" 1. T/N: this is to counter Ultimate Strength Break, obviously ? CH 1422 Sophie transformed into a literal bolt of lightning and zipped toward the west side of Crossroads Valley Fortress. There, the Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City, Swallow Ear Canton and more were still defending against the Fire Qillins of seventh wave. Now that Coldblade the Infinite Storm had rejoined them, I bet they must feel like swearing up a storm. ¡­¡­ "Gulp¡­" Xu Yang swallowed while looking at the traces of remnant energy in the air, "The duel between Divine Rank bosses sure is exciting to watch, isn¡¯t it? What do we do now? Do we chase after them, or do we stay here?" I gripped the Chill of the Nine Provinces and declared, "What else? Main force, follow me! We¡¯re going to the west side of the fortress, wait for an opportunity, and take out Coldblade! The motherfucker stole Thunder from us, and he¡¯s not getting away with it!" Li Chengfeng smiled. "Yes, that is exactly what I was thinking. Let¡¯s go!" The ground rumbled as the surviving first-rate players of the China server started making their way toward the west side of Crossroads Valley Fortress. At this point, nobody cared if the west side belonged to the Northern Alliance or anything of the sort. The boss was more important than that. Also, the enemy might not necessarily have the power to stop us even if they tried. Coldblade had already killed a large majority of them during his first appearance, and he just went back for desserts. ¡­¡­ The barren lands were covered in fresh, not-yet-despawned bodies. Nearly the entire west side of Crossroads Valley Fortress was in ruins. All of the buildings were destroyed, and signs of storm-wrought destruction were everywhere. We all knew how powerful Coldblade¡¯s AoE skills were, so even we couldn¡¯t help but pity the defenders a little. "Form up and hold! Do not let the Fire Qilins breach through our defense line!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was commanding a couple thousand players to form new battle lines, but it wasn¡¯t going to be enough at all. A couple thousand players were absolutely no match for a couple thousand undead qilins. In another direction, Cyan Beast¡¯s God of War and Breeze and Rain were commanding their troops to kill the qilins as well. Their numbers were greater than Hero Alliance¡¯s¡ªI counted around 40k riders in total¡ªbut lacked the ranged DPS and support necessary to support their frontliners. As a result, they took massive casualties. Practically no one managed to survive more than a Flame Spit or two. Breeze and Rain pointed to the right and ordered, "There are three qilins over there! Get 100 Gold Cavalrymen to deal with them right now!" A captain rushed out to lead the squad of Gold Cavalry, but when they were about halfway to the three Fire Qilins, an icy cyclone suddenly erupted on the ground they stood on and turned them into piles of flesh, blood and bones. Coldblade could be seen flying right over them. "Motherfucker¡­" Breeze and Rain¡¯s complexion looked green. "Why is Coldblade back? This is bullshit!" He then shot us a glance and swore again, "Dammit, the Chinese are here as well. The situation¡¯s getting more and more chaotic¡­" God of War knocked back a qilin and asked, "What do we do now? Do you want me to face off the Chinese, or?" Breeze and Rain kept his cool. "It¡¯s fine, there are too many of them. Not even you will be able to do much against them. We should continue holding our ground and see what happens next. Coldblade is still a ways away from dying, so the Chinese shouldn¡¯t attack us so soon. Regardless, tell our dead brothers and sisters to return to us as soon as possible. If they don¡¯t show up soon, we are going to wipe one way or another!" "Yeah¡­" ¡­¡­ Pa! I planted the Chill of the Nine Provinces on the ground and pointed to the left and the right. "Let¡¯s set up a 400-meter defense line here and intercept some of these Fire Qilins. This is a good chance to nab a couple more Fire Qilin equipment sets while we wait for Sophie to deal with Coldblade. It¡¯s going to take at least half an hour before Coldblade¡¯s HP drops low enough for us to kill anyway." Everyone nodded. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was easily the most numerous and strongest force in Crossroads Valley. After our army of nearly 100,000 spread out into a battle line on the west side of the fortress, we began fighting the Fire Qilins. Maybe it was because of Coldblade¡¯s presence, but the mobs in this direction kept spawning even though they had stopped almost everywhere else. We could hear the sounds of clashing metals and whooshing air as Sophie flew into the clouds and engaged Coldblade. On the ground, Sophie¡¯s dark army appeared and clashed against the Fire Qilins as well. It was a chaotic situation to say the least. "Form up and prepare to receive the mobs!" I stood at the forefront and withstood the attacks of at least a dozen or so Fire Qilins. The Flame Spits felt like the warm air of a sauna except that their temperature was higher. Yep, the kind of temperature that would turn a slice of pork meat into charcoal¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before the other Chinese guilds¡ªSnowy Cathaya, Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and more¡ªjoined us and formed a complete defense line. Instead of kicking the Northern Alliance and Cyan Beast while they were losing, we chose to help them defend against the qilins instead. Both Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and Breeze and Rain let out an obvious sigh of relief. They knew that their chances of surviving were almost zero if the Chinese had chosen to backstab them now. ¡­¡­ The fighting continued for 20 minutes. We all earned a lot of March of Chaos points and Fire Qilin set pieces, and I was now sitting at over 20 complete sets. I had enough inventory slots to fit at least a hundred pieces of the set, so overcapacity was among the least of my concerns. Some time during the fighting, I opened the contribution point interface and noted that I was still firmly in first place as expected¡ª (Intrusive Nabuch Note: New site doesn¡¯t allow any formatting in tables, so allow me to slack and leave this ranking as is) Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (China) Points: 7,472,880 Breeze and Rain (India) Points: 3,712,200 Wind Fantasy (China) Points: 3,550,280 Lian Xin (China) Points: 3,472,770 Candlelight Shadow (China) Points: 3,112,900 Legendary Brave (China) Points: 2,923,330 Vienna¡¯s Sorrow (USA) Points: 2,913,470 Luo River God of the Capital (China) Points: 2,903,430 Tear Stain (Korea) Points: 2,812,830 God of War (India) Points: 2,803,740 ¡­¡­ After all the fierce battles we had fought up until this point, I now had more than twice as many contribution points as the runner-up, Breeze and Rain. Moreover, Lian Xin was the player with the highest jump in terms of placing, surpassing Candlelight Shadow, Li Chengfeng and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow to sit at fourth place. She could¡¯ve placed even higher if she hadn¡¯t wasted time running away from the mobs to dodge their powerful attacks. It was the right call though. Had she died, she wouldn¡¯t be earning any contribution points at all, and most likely would¡¯ve fallen out of the Top 10. All players in the Top 100,000 on the March of Chaos contribution leaderboard would be rewarded, but obviously the rewards for the Top 10 players would be incredible. Not only that, the difference between the rewards for the 10th and the 11th place was probably going to be like night and day. Just because the devs hadn¡¯t mentioned these unwritten rules anywhere didn¡¯t mean that we weren¡¯t aware of them. Long story short, get into the Top 10, and you would be rewarded with an endless amount of riches and treasures. ¡­¡­ "The fuck? Why are you guys fighting on the west side?" A familiar voice rang from the entrance to Crossroads Valley. It was Dominating Heaven Blade and Gods of Destruction. They had run back over all the way from Sky City to rejoin the battle. Dominating Heaven Blade was a decisive man, and despite the odd situation he didn¡¯t hesitate to point at Warsky Alliance and ordered, "We¡¯re going form a defense line beside Warsky Alliance. We have 50k players, so we¡¯re not going to fail this time¡­" Gods of Destruction formed their defense formation and aggroed a couple hundred Fire Qilins in no time. Blood immediately started spilling everywhere. The good times didn¡¯t last, however. Less than five minutes later, a group of red names appeared and glared at Dominating Heaven Blade with obvious anger on their faces. They were none other than God¡¯s Domain. Red Maple himself shouted, "Gods of Destruction of the China server, you are trespassing into our defense area! Fuck off now, or we will take you out!" Red Maple was acting like he could destroy Gods of Destruction anytime he wanted, which, to be fair, was completely true. "The arrogance! Let¡¯s fuck up these motherfucking little Japanese already!" Dominating Warrior God raged. A frowning Dominating Heaven Blade shushed him. "Not yet. If they don¡¯t attack us, there¡¯s no reason for us to provoke them!" Unfortunately, Red Maple never intended to let them get away. He Charged into Gods of Destruction formation and unleashed his Fire God Flurry, Windblade Cyclone, Maple Kill and more AoE skills immediately. As dozens of Gods of Destruction players hit the ground, the army of tens of thousands behind him hit Gods of Destruction as well. As expected, the Japanese players hadn¡¯t stopped hating us ever since they lost the War of Purple Grape City. They would grasp at any excuse to attack our server. "Motherfucker! Kill them all!" Dominating Heaven Blade was a hot-blooded man. He didn¡¯t hesitate to charge Red Maple the second the battle was engaged. Red Maple sneered, drove back the guild leader with Thunder God Ball, and one-shot the group of archers led by Dominating Archer God at the same time. The strength difference between the two guilds was like night and day. God¡¯s Domain was the Japan server¡¯s best guild, while the Gods of Destruction guild was barely holding onto their Top 10 spot and still declining to this day. ¡­¡­ Warsky couldn¡¯t stand by and see Gods of Destruction be bullied, however. He raised his Immortal Blade and roared, "Little Japan thinks they can fuck up Gods of Destruction right before our eyes? Follow me to take out Red Maple and God¡¯s Domain! Farewell Song, go!" True chaos descended on the battlefield as multiple player, monster and NPC forces clashed against one another. It literally couldn¡¯t get anymore chaotic than this. Red Maple was an intelligent man. While doing his best to avoid Warsky, Lin Bing Dou Zhe and the top players, he roamed about targeting swathes of weak or average players with just his AoE skills. As a result, Warsky Alliance lost a tremendous number of players despite being slightly stronger than God¡¯s Domain. ¡­¡­ "You have a good shield. I¡¯ll take it!" Red Maple laughed madly as he suddenly pounced toward Laughing At The Heavens [1]. As crimson dragon¡¯s claw grabbed onto Laughing At The Heavens¡¯ shield tightly, the latter thrust his spear forward in retaliation, "You think you can take my Green Dragon Shield? Dream on!" Crack! Unfortunately, this wasn¡¯t a 1v1. An assassin, Purple Thunder, stunned Laughing At The Heavens from behind and elicited another mad cackle from Red Maple. A triple-hit skill later, the magic knight dropped dead and lost his Green Dragon Shield to the Japanese. ¡­¡­ Red Maple didn¡¯t hesitate to turn tail and run the moment he got the loot he wanted. He was an intelligent man who knew to quit while he was ahead. However, a stun icon suddenly appeared above Red Maple¡¯s head while he was retreating. Then, Farewell Song appeared with two Ancient Immortal-grade daggers in his grip. He hit Red Maple 5 times and scored 3 critical hits, dropping the warrior to red health almost immediately! "Dammit!" However, Farewell Song¡¯s follow-up stun resulted in a miss, which gave Red Maple the chance to run away from him. He glared at Farewell Song with bloodshot eyes and uttered, "Heh, Farewell Song, is it? Just wait! I¡¯ll kill you one day!" Farewell Song simply melted into thin air once more. Red Maple wasn¡¯t stupid enough to waste another second threatening the assassin. He hightailed it as quickly as he could. ¡­¡­ On a tall hill, Red Maple growled, "Cavalrymen, cover me. Priests, heal me. We are absolutely going to destroy Gods of Destruction and that meddling Warsky Alliance today. Keep mustering the men until we have 200k riders! We¡¯ll crush them all in a cavalry charge!" Before he could finish though, a black figure dashed out of the nearby shrubbery with lightning speed. It was the Charge skill! Bang! Caught completely off-guard, Red Maple was stunned before he could do anything! Ice Blade Shatter! Ice Ray Flurry! ¡­¡­ Several icicles skewered the number one expert of the Japan server and killed him there and then. Pop! A pair of fiery red, dragon-shaped wristguards fell to the ground. The Ghost Armament, Crimson Dragon Arm, actually dropped! 1. T/N: respect, man. Keep absorbing this bad karma for everyone E/N: At this point he¡¯s the Bad Luck Brian meme ? CH 1423 Rustle rustle¡­ An ink-black qilin exhaled fiery air from its nostrils as its stern-faced master bent down to pick up the equipment of a man he had killed mere seconds earlier. After slipping Red Maple¡¯s Crimson Dragon Arm around his arm, Little Piglet said in a slightly lazy voice, "Oh, friends from Swallow Ear Canton! Sorry I forgot to care about your feelings. Well, too late now anyway. Crimson Dragon Arm is now mine. Feel free to come and get it from me anytime. I, Little Piglet, always welcome a challenge!" The "friendly" declaration instantly caused Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s players to erupt in a cacophony of swearings¡ª "Take down Little Piglet!" "That Northern Alliance dog dares to steal our Crimson Dragon Arm!?" "No one likes the traitor of the China server! Kill him and retake the Ghost Armament! That Crimson Dragon Arm rightfully belongs to us!" ¡­¡­ Little Piglet received their rebukes like a flower soaking in rainwater before raising his sword into the air, smiling. "Is that so? Since God¡¯s Domain is so arrogant, I¡¯ve decided to do something that¡¯ll make you regret your words for the rest of your life!" Little Piglet took out a token and used it, causing it to vanish from his grasp. The next moment, a shocking system announcement rang across the sky¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: As the representative of "Dark Mercenaries", player "Little Piglet" has successfully challenged the guild "God¡¯s Domain" to a guild battle using the Vassal Challenge Token! Each side may dispatch up to 100,000 elites. The winner will be rewarded generously, and the loser will have their guild disbanded, unable to use its name ever again! All players in the losing guild will lose 3 levels. The challenged guild may opt to reject the challenge at the cost of 5 levels and between 1 to 3 currently equipped pieces of equipment for every guild member! In 60 minutes, the participants will be teleported into a special arena where the battle will be carried out! Victory will go to the guild with more players remaining! ¡­¡­ "Mad. Little Piglet¡¯s gone completely mad¡­" Chaos Moon murmured to herself. Li Chengfeng let out a sigh before saying, "Little Piglet really is a madman. I cannot believe he chose God¡¯s Domain as his first guild to challenge. Are his Dark Mercenaries really that strong? This is just madness. What if he loses?" I said, "Pray that Little Piglet wins then. Personally, I¡¯d much rather have Dark Mercenaries win this than God¡¯s Domain!" "Duh!" He Yi blinked before saying, "I bet the main reason Little Piglet chose to challenge God¡¯s Domain was because he got the Crimson Dragon Arm from Red Maple." I agreed. "Yeah. The Crimson Dragon Arm is viewed as a symbol of power by God¡¯s Domain and maybe even the Japan server itself, and Red Maple was so unlucky he dropped it to the one man who was crazy enough to consider the option, and bold enough to actually act on it. Strong as the Ghost Armament may be, it¡¯s nothing compared to the blow it dealt to God¡¯s Domain morale. They are entering this battle with their fighting spirits shot to tatters." Lin Yixin frowned a little. "I agree that it¡¯s a golden opportunity, but it will be all for naught if God¡¯s Domain defeats Dark Mercenaries anyway. Where does Little Piglet¡¯s confidence come from?" Purple Marquis said, "There¡¯s no need to worry over this, guild leader. The answer will automatically be revealed to us in 120 minutes!" ¡­¡­ As time passed, the Fire Qilins¡¯ assault grew weaker and weaker. Countless layers of dead mobs were stacked before our formation, and most of the Fire Qilin set pieces they dropped were in my bag. I had a total of 27 full sets when the monster wave petered out completely, and He Yi and I went around to buy the individual pieces until we had 30 sets in total! "Coldblade only has 30% HP left¡­" Li Chengfeng smiled while watching the duel still happening in the sky. "It looks like this endeavor isn¡¯t completely hopeless after all. Coldblade is no match for Sophie even after he has devoured Thunder¡¯s strength. She definitely deserves her title as the second-strongest Purgatory Sovereign!" I nodded. "Yes. When Coldblade¡¯s HP falls to 5%, we must try and seize his threat from Sophie and kill him. Otherwise, I¡¯m pretty sure he¡¯ll pull an impossible escape if we leave him with Sophie¡­" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! It was at this moment a figure dropped from the sky and hit the ground hard. When the storm settled, we saw a bloodied Coldblade climbing to his feet and roared at the sky, "Sophie, you little bitch! You really think you can kill me?" A cold beam of light dropped down from the sky and struck Coldblade¡¯s chest hard. Metallic sparks flew everywhere as Sophie¡¯s sword carved into the Purgatory Sovereign¡¯s armor and reduced his HP even more. No matter how you looked at it, Coldblade was definitely no match for Sophie. Desperate, Coldblade staggered to his feet once more before he abruptly snapped the sword in his hand in half. Then, he infused an enormous amount of dark cyan energy into it and conjured a gigantic magic formation beneath his feet. Then, spitting out globs of blood as he looked up at the sky, he chanted, "Oh great ruler of the Purgatory, please grant me your strength so that the storm may blow away all this gloominess, and blood may wash the land clean! I, Coldblade, beseech¡ªEye of the Storm!" Boom! A spiraling vortex suddenly erupted around Coldblade and sucked all nearby objects toward it like a black hole. The unfortunate players who were too close to him when the skill happened were shredded the second they made contact with it. Even Sophie had to summon her energy to steady herself or risk being pulled into the vortex and damaged by it. Karinshan shouted as she galloped over from the fortress, "Be careful, Lady Sophie! That bastard is trying to use the Eye of the Storm to escape directly to the plane of the Purgatory!" Sophie gritted her teeth. "Don¡¯t worry, this brute isn¡¯t escaping anywhere today!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, the ground shook hard enough for everyone to feel it. There was the sound of dull impact, and¡ª Bang! A figure abruptly burst out of the earth and into the air. It was none other than the escaping Coldblade. There was a bloody, gaping hole in his chest, and his arms were trembling like leaves. His HP bar was almost completely empty. Wisps of icy energy filled the air as a beautiful woman slowly rose from the depths of the pit Coldblade had flown out from. She was none other than Xinran. Beside her, the Winged Silver Dragon swayed its ugly head left and right while flattering its master in the dragon¡¯s tongue, "Oh, everything is going according to your predictions, my cute and beautiful master. Coldblade was hoping to escape through the underground, but you have foiled his attempt perfectly¡­" Xinran looked at me and shot me a smile, whispering, "Big brother¡­" I nodded and canceled my Fusion Armor. I then leaped onto my dragon¡¯s back and said, "Coldblade is almost out of HP. Now is the time to attack him and seize his aggro. We need to attack him for at least 60 seconds, or he won¡¯t drop anything just like Thunder¡­" Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Lin Yixin and He Yi all nodded at the same time and followed me to the sky. A group of Northern Alliance players also did the same thing. However, they were mostly griffon riders or black crow riders except Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and thus not really a threat to the boss. ¡­¡­ Coldblade looked at the players flying toward him and uttered, "Storm!" Whoosh! A powerful storm appeared out of nowhere and engulfed a dozen or so black crow riders at once. Not only that, giant icicles had manifested from inside the storm and skewered the black crow riders, one-shotting them without ever giving the chance to fight back. Coldblade wasn¡¯t done running though. Before he even finished his attack, Coldblade abruptly shot toward the sky while growling, "Do you think this is enough to keep me, Wind Singer? The Purgatory is my home, and I have countless ways to return home!!" He was wrong in this instance. There was a loud bang, and Coldblade rammed skull first into what seemed like an invisible wall, bloodying himself. At the same time, a gigantic blood web that enveloped the entire Crossroads Valley slowly revealed itself to everyone. As it turned out, bloody corpses had been scattered around the entire Crossroads Valley, and each one of them was contributing their strength to form the giant web above our heads. The corpses had come from Heaven Domain[1] itself. "What¡­ what is this?" Coldblade was stunned. Xinran chuckled while gripping the Dragonbone Spear. "This is the Punishment of the Gods, an old Heaven Domain secret technique. Unfortunately, I am unable to use it alone, so I had to use the gods¡¯ remnants to activate it. I told you you must die today, Coldblade. No one can save you anymore. Not even the Purgatory Ruler himself would escape if he was in your place." ¡­¡­ Thud! Suddenly, Coldblade heard a soft sound behind his back. It was me pressing my palm against his armor while he was distracted, unleashing the God Binding Art. Coldblade abruptly shuddered before turning back to glare at me. "You are courting death, brat!" "Pooh!" I spat at him as God Binding Art took effect. Amazingly, the skill didn¡¯t miss but could only hold the boss for 5.7 seconds. It was still much better than what I had expected! "Now!" I stabbed Coldblade¡¯s chest and injected him with Purple Frost Concentration to lower his Defense. Then, I activated Heavenly River Transformation, backed a few steps away from him and unleashed Xuanyuan Slash. I wasn¡¯t just attacking Coldblade though. I had purposely adjusted my angle so that I would hit Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and the Northern Alliance players behind him as well! ¡­¡­ "Oh shit!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow swore when he finally discovered my intention. Whoever said you can¡¯t kill two birds in one stone? Boom! The giant golden sword cut through the air and caused a great deal of damage numbers¡ª 2,471,623! 2,582,774! 2,527,742! ¡­¡­ Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was the only one who survived the Ancient Divine Skill. The black crow riders and griffin riders around him were all torn to shreds. I wasn¡¯t done yet though. Coiling Dragon Revolution, go! Pu! Again, the sword passed through Coldblade¡¯s chest and continued toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. "Shit! Bull¡ªshit!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow only knew how to swear curses at this point. He raised his sword to parry the Chill of the Nine Provinces and actually succeeded, but it came at the price of him and his dragon falling toward the ground. To my right, Li Chengfeng unleashed a Dragonblade Revolution + Dragonbone Flurry combo while He Yi¡¯s Stormwind Slash and Lin Yixin¡¯s Ice Flame Slash formed a cross in the sky. After Gui Guzi unleashed his own Burning Blade Slash + Death Flurry combo, Coldblade¡¯s HP dropped to just 1%. The super boss could die at any moment now! ¡­¡­ "Well done! Don¡¯t stop killing!" Gui Guzi laughed. Crack! Before he was finished laughing though, a sword burst out of his chest and dealt over 1.4 million damage to him. His attacker was none other than Breeze and Rain himself! 1. E/N: For obvious reasons, we decided to change God Domain to Heaven Domain. We haven¡¯t really stepped into the divine planes yet, so I hope this change won¡¯t bother you too much. It should improve your reading experience with God¡¯s Domain in the very same chapter though! ? CH 1424 +724,991! However, Gui Guzi was incredibly difficult to kill. The Undying Shield alone was a pain to deal with as it converted 50% of the damage he received as HP. Breeze and Rain looked like he would spit blood if he could. Lin Yixin and He Yi immediately came to Gui Guzi¡¯s rescue, but the Agility Warrior was no idiot. He was completely outnumbered, and he had already spent his element of surprise. Without hesitation, he gave the Purple Wing Unicorn¡¯s neck a slap and flew back to the ground, effectively giving up the boss. "Now!" I backed about a dozen of meters away from the boss and activated both Fusion Armor and Heavenly River Transformation. Purple Dragon Howl was unusable while mounted, so I had to cancel it and use Heavenly River Transformation to keep myself temporarily afloat in the air. I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces high above my head and gathered a tremendous amount of purple dragon energy around its blade. Then, I unleashed it all at Coldblade. "You think you can kill me? Dream on!" Coldblade¡¯s face looked horrible. It was completely covered in cuts and blood. He waved his hand and summoned an Ice Shield, but it was nothing like the first Ice Shield that had blocked my Purple Dragon Howl perfectly. This one looked like a strong hit or two could destroy it completely. He Yi and Lin Yixin realized this and didn¡¯t hesitate to unleash their Stormwind Break, Extreme Break and more. Li Chengfeng¡¯s Dragonblade Revolution was the last blow necessary to shatter it completely. Whoosh! Purple Dragon Howl[1] arrived right on cue and engulfed Coldblade completely, dealing massive amounts of damage. The Purgatory Sovereign had finally reached the end of his life¡ª 1,072,833! 1,128,374! 1,093,737! ¡­¡­ The skill hit Coldblade around ten times, triggering one septuple damage effect and two critical hits for a total damage of 20 million. Even if Coldblade had 1 billion total HP, 1% of that was just 10 million. There was no way he could survive this! Crack! His sword fell toward the ground after his sword arm crumbled into bits of flesh and blood under the devastating power that was Purple Dragon Howl. Face twisted into an expression of abject anger, he howled, "Ahhhh¡­ Sophie, Xinran, Karinshan, just you wait! I may die, but the Purgatory Ruler will take revenge for me! The flames of vengeance will engulf the entire continent, and my death will only quicken your extinction! I¡ª" Before he could finish, Xinran abruptly threw her Dragonbone Spear at Coldblade¡¯s face. It passed right through his head, ended his miserable life, and caused a shower of equipment, magic stones, gems and skill books to erupt from his body. Thud! I made an air dash up to the boss''s body before asking, "Should I keep the loot?" He Yi nodded. A sense of satisfaction filled up my heart as I grabbed hold of all of Coldblade¡¯s loot. At the same time, a system announcement resounded across the entire map and officially confirmed that Coldblade was my kill¡ª Ding~! Congratulations to player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" for killing one of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns, Coldblade the Infinite Storm! They have gained 9 Luck, 1,000,000 Reputation, 1,200,000 March of Chaos contribution points, and the ultimate treasure Coldblade the Infinite Storm was carrying, "Soul Shocker Bell (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)¡±! ¡­¡­ I checked my status screen thinking that I would almost be at Level 250 already, but no. My Level had only jumped to 247, and even the Ancient Divine Dragon was still a hair away from reaching Level 200. Just how much experience did it take to level the damn mount? Onto better news, I was back to 124 Luck despite everything I had donated to create the Holy Mages. The reason killing Coldblade rewarded me with 9 Luck was probably because there were only so many Nine Purgatory Sovereigns. At any rate, it was a most generous reward! I looked inside my bag again and noted that there was a shiny, fuchsia-colored necklace lying among a pile of equipment. Tsk tsk, so this was the Soul Shocker Bell, was it? It had a pretty good name, but I hoped its effects would be even better. Thud! He Yi, Lin Yixin, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and more started walking up to me after I finally descended back to the ground, but the first person to actually reach me first was Xinran. The beautiful girl had tossed her Dragonbone Spear aside, opened her arms and jumped right into my embrace. She said softly, "It¡¯s been so, so long since we¡¯ve last seen each other, big brother¡­" I beamed back at her. "Yeah. We gotta stop meeting on battlefields like this!" Behind us, Sophie let out a cough before saying, "Xinran, you¡¯re one of the symbols of the Violet Empire, you know? You shouldn¡¯t be throwing yourself into a stranger¡¯s arms, much less a man¡¯s¡­" Xinran flushed but argued, "What do you mean? Big brother is no stranger!" A smiling Karinshan walked up to us¡ªone of her arms was still broken and unusable¡ªand dropped to one knee. A respectful salute later, she said, "Thank you so much for coming to our rescue, Lady Wind Singer, Lady Sophie. Without you two, the Silver Moon Alliance would most likely have faltered under Coldblade and Thunder¡¯s combined assault!" Xinran nodded. "You give us too much credit, Your Majesty!" Sophie asked, "Are you planning any more assaults, Your Majesty? I have brought an army of millions with me on this expedition. I can lend them to you if you don¡¯t mind commanding an army of undead. I have witnessed the death of my nemesis, Coldblade, so I no longer have any regrets left in this life." Karinshan nodded. "Thank you for your trust, Lady Sophie!" Karinshan then rose to her feet and pointed directly to the south. "The forgotten ruins of a main city called the Sainthelm Ruins lie over there. It is now a world of ice and snow. However, our magi detected a huge concentration of death energy over there¡ªit is most likely the origin point of the Purgatory Legion¡ªwhich is why I plan to attack it with everything we¡¯ve got. I wish to eliminate the undead threat once and for all and make it so that the humans, elves, succubi and more won¡¯t ever have to live in fear anymore." Sophie smiled. "Yes, I can detect several powerful energies to the south as well. Now then, let us prepare for our next march!" "Yes, Lady. I will chart our attack route right away!" ¡­¡­ While the NPCs were conversing with one another, us players were busy salivating over Coldblade¡¯s loot. I opened my bag and counted the number of items Coldblade had dropped. There were five. The first was the Soul Shocker Bell, the second was a helmet, the third was a dark green¨Ccolored traditional yaoqin, the fourth was a beast-shaped ring, and the fifth was a sea blue¨Ccolored scepter. Even before looking at their stats, they all looked like amazing equipment. Well, I did have over 110 Luck when I killed Coldblade. It was almost impossible for me to drop bad equipment! I picked up the Soul Shocker Bell first. The fuchsia-colored necklace had a small bell for a pendant that, contrary to its name, rang rather melodiously to my ears. That impression lasted until I brought up its stats screen¡ª Soul Shocker Bell (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Intelligence: +3050 Stamina: +2780 Strength: +2800 Agility: +2450 Tactics: +145 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 125% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 100000 Ghost Armament: Soul Shocker. Magic attacks cast by magic classes deal 100% more damage to the target. Level Requirement: 240 Reputation Requirement: 2000000 ¡­¡­ "Holy shit!" Li Chengfeng clenched his fists and declared without hesitation, "This Soul Shocker Bell is absolutely a godlike piece of equipment for mages! It even has nine Outstanding stars! This is literally the best version it can be!" I nodded. "Yes, dealing 100% increased damage is nothing like having your Magic Attack boosted by 100%. It¡¯s like having your spells crit 100% of the time, but you can stack another crit for even more damage!" He Yi smiled. "Very well. Who will be rolling for this ring? How many mages had participated in the assault against Coldblade?" I did a quick check before replying, "Only three mages had damaged Coldblade, and they are Lian Xin with over 4.9 million damage done, Moonlight Stone with over 1.7 million damage done, and Yu Tong with over 900k damage done." Yu Tong stuck out her tongue. "Hmm, my damage dealt is too low. I won¡¯t be participating in this loot roll." I shook my head and said, "Absolutely not. If you¡¯re in the Top 3, then you deserve to roll for the loot. We do this by the book." In private though, I sent Lian Xin a private message: "Please win this Soul Shocker Bell, Little Xin. You are our number one mage, so this necklace will be best used by you. Get it!" Lian Xin burst into a giggle and shot me a sweet smile. ¡­¡­ The dice rolling began, and all three mages looked like they might suffocate from sheer tension. When the virtual dices came to a stop, the victor was¡ª Moonlight Stone: 37 Yu Tong: 11 Lian Xin: 51 That was dicey! Lian Xin didn¡¯t roll her a high number, but she still won the necklace! "Heehee! It¡¯s mine!" Lian Xin was so happy that she turned around to hug He Yi and Murong Mingyue while stomping her feet. The Soul Shocker Bell immediately appeared above her chest after I tossed the item to her. Speaking of chest, her body had filled out wonderfully during the couple of years she studied overseas. I couldn¡¯t deny my eyes were affixed to a pair of flesh even more appealing than the Soul Shocker Bell itself. Anyway, Lian Xin was the perfect mage to have this Ghost Armament because she had the hidden class, Phantasm of Stars. Even before she got the necklace, she was already powerful enough to give warriors like me and Li Chengfeng a massive headache. Now that her damage was doubled¡­ Yeah, I think I¡¯m going to avoid pissing her off as much as possible from now on. ¡­¡­ Next, I held up the fiery red helmet and brought up its stats screen. It was pretty much as extraordinary as I expected it to be¡ª Sky Crystal Helmet (Sacred Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 15,500 Magic Resist: 13,700 Strength: +2650 Stamina: +2700 Agility: +2550 Intelligence: +2400 Tactics: +215 Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 110,000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist by 55% Slots: 17 Outstanding Property: Sky Crystal Shield. When attacked, 18% of the damage received is nullified, and 50% of that nullified damage is converted into HP. Level Requirement: 240 Reputation Requirement: 1,700,000 ¡­¡­ "Oh, a Sacred Armament! It¡¯s been a while since I saw a Sacred Armament!" I held up the Sky Crystal Helmet and said, "Sacred Armaments are really just Divine Armaments with a different name, and their quality varies between Cambrian, Hadean, Archean, and Ancient. Alright, the Top 10 metal-armor class players with the highest DPS against Coldblade, please step forward to roll for the loot¡­" Gui Guzi said, "Dude, did you forget the battle? Only me and you engaged Coldblade..." I nodded before continuing, "I have the Fire God Helmet, and I¡¯m not willing to give up on its OP skill, Rise of the Guardian Dragon. Is there anyone else who wishes to forfeit? Chengfeng? Yiyi? Eve?" No one else was willing to forfeit, however. I shook my head and said, "You guys need a refresher class in modesty¡­" Li Chengfeng¡¯s mouth twitched. "Modesty, my ass. You may have the Fire God Helmet, but we only have mid-game Immortal-grade helmets at best. Of course we¡¯re not giving up on this¡­" I laughed. "Fine, fine. Alright, start rolling already, people! We still have three pieces of equipment to roll!" "Mn!" 1. T/N: I¡¯m just going to pretend that Purple Dragon Howl¡¯s cooldown has been reduced to an hour or so after max upgrade, or the previous one didn¡¯t count because of a boss denying his victory moment. The latter one can actually makes sense because it was a bullshit moment ? CH 1425 Clack clack clack¡­ Several dice rolled across the ground until they came to a complete stop. This time, everyone was holding their breaths in anticipation. Not only did the Sky Crystal Helmet boost all 4 basic attributes, its Outstanding Property nullified 18% of all damage received and converted half of that into HP. Both damage mitigation and HP absorb were already excellent traits in their own right, and to have them both was even better. It wasn¡¯t the first time I had seen an equipment with both traits, but the damage mitigation was at most 10%, and the HP conversion 2% or 3% only. They were nothing compared to the Sky Crystal Helmet. Suffice it to say, the Sky Crystal Helmet was the kind of godlike piece of equipment that made even long-time CGL Hall of Famers like Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and Eve forget all their modesty. Who cares about face when you can have a godlike helmet instead? Modesty? How do you even write that word? The scores were revealed, and the winner was¡ª Lin Yixin: 79 He Yi: 84 Gui Guzi: 1 Li Chengfeng: 100 Obviously, Li Chengfeng was the proud winner of one Sky Crystal Helmet. Although Lin Yixin and He Yi rolled pretty high themselves, they wouldn¡¯t be getting anything this time. As for Gui Guzi¡­ Do I even say anything about the shameful bastard who rolled the lowest score possible for an item this good? Yeah, let¡¯s not. ¡­¡­ I tossed the Sky Crystal Helmet into Li Chengfeng¡¯s hands with a chuckle. "May you have today''s glory forever!" Li Chengfeng put on his new helmet¡ªor at least he tried to. "The fuck? Why does it feel like it¡¯s too small?" I shot him a glance. "That¡¯s because your head is too big!" "So? Big heads are often associated with upright characters and righteous personalities!" "Yeah, I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯re just talking out of your ass¡­" While Li Chengfeng continued to struggle with the Sky Crystal Helmet, I carried the traditional yaoqin in my hand and immediately felt a cool, refreshing sensation seeping into my palm. That was all I needed to feel to know that this was no ordinary weapon. In fact, while I was carrying the yaoqin, both my Chill of the Nine Provinces and Gui Guzi¡¯s Ghostblade Halberd let out a faint metallic hum. I frowned. "What¡¯s going on?" Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes widened in realization. "Could it be?" Lin Yixin glanced back and forth between the two of us before saying, "It¡¯s resonating with weapons of the Twelve Divine Armaments. That can only mean that this Seven-string Yaoqin¡­ is also one of them, right?" I brought up its stats screen as a hologram, and everyone¡¯s jaws hit the floor at once. It really was one of the Twelve Divine Armaments! This was easily our biggest reward for this trip!!! Seven-string Yaoqin (Twelve Divine Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) [1] Magic Attack: 12,700~16,500 Intelligence: +2,950 Stamina: +2,700 Strength: +2,650 Agility: +2,400 Tactics: +255 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 240% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 500,000 Passive: Every time a heal is cast, heal 40,000 more HP Slots: 18 Outstanding Property: Immortal Fate. The effectiveness of the user¡¯s buffs is increased by 200% Ancient: Seven-String Blade. Unleash a sharp blade created from seven strings to slice up all enemies within a 100-yard area, dealing massive damage and immobilizing them for 5 seconds. Property: Proficiency. Level Requirement is lowered by 10[2] Property: Evolvable Introduction: Seven-string Yaoqin. One of the Twelve Divine Armaments. During the ancient times, the devils invaded the heavens and fought a great war against the gods for over a century, disrupting the natural order fell into chaos and causing Heaven Domain to be embroiled into turmoil. The daughter of the God King was left behind in the Heaven Domain to protect it, and every day she would pray for her peers¡¯ safety beside the Yao Pond. However, the Heaven Domain was ultimately defeated, and countless ancient devils started massacring everyone in the heavens. She committed suicide by jumping into the Well of Gods and Devils after having lost all hope. Countless years later, her divine will gave birth to an extraordinary divine arm known as the Seven-string Yaoqin. It is said that the owner of the Seven-string Yaoqin can play music so touching that even the gods and devils themselves can¡¯t help but weep over it. (Author¡¯s Note: God damn, I¡¯m such an amazing bullshitter¡­) Level Requirement: 240 Reputation Requirement: 2200000 Class Requirement: Bard, Tactician, Mage ¡­¡­ "Wow¡­" Gui Guzi sucked in a deep breath before continuing, "Not only did we drop one of the Twelve Divine Armaments, this one is absolutely amazing¡­" Li Chengfeng clenched his fists and declared, "According to my knowledge, Pure Love¡¯s buffs can increase her target¡¯s Attack, Defense and HP by 80% now. Immortal Fate increases the effectiveness of her buffs by 200%, so that¡¯s 240% to all affected stats¡­ how OP is that?" [3] I grinned from ear to ear. "I''m so happy that Beauty Guanyue is my personal bard¡­" Lin Yixin asked, "How are you planning to distribute this? Are you going to just give it to Guanyue?" "Well, no. That wouldn¡¯t be fair to the other bards." I shook my head. "However, the Seven-string Yaoqin is one of the Twelve Divine Armaments, so it costs a ton of guild contribution points to exchange¡ª450k to be exact. No bard in our guild actually has that many guild contribution points, so we have to choose the player with the closest amount to receive it instead. It so happens that Guanyue is that person with a total guild contribution of 440k points. She is my personal bard after all, so she gets a share of my contribution points for every mob I kill. The second-best bard only has 210k guild contribution points, so¡­" Lin Yixin shrugged. "Sounds fair. Man, your personal bard is one lucky woman¡­" I let out a laugh before beckoning Guanyue over. "Come, Pure Love!" Beauty Pure Love knew exactly what was going to happen, and she could hardly contain her excitement as a result. "Really? Are you sure?" "Of course. Why would we lie to you about this?" I chuckled. "We will have to deduct all of your guild contribution points though." "It¡¯s fine!" "Very well!" After I passed the Seven-string Yaoqin to Pure Love, I deducted all of her guild contribution points before whispering to Li Chengfeng, "Countless people will be gunning for her new Divine Armament, so I want you to choose 100 of our best mages, archers and Dragonlight Cavalrymen and have them protect Pure Love at all times. Also, see if you can get her a piece of equipment with at least 12 seconds of invincibility. She¡­ still won¡¯t be perfectly safe, but it¡¯s better than nothing¡­" Li Chengfeng nodded. "It will be done!" After that, I looked at Pure Love and asked her, "Equip your yaoqin and refresh my buffs, will you? Let¡¯s see how good it really is!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Multicolored light surrounded me as Pure Love refreshed all the buffs on my person. My body shook a little from the new injection of power, and when I checked my stat screen I was very pleased with what I saw¡ª Level: 247 HP: 6,464,824 Attack: 39,750~45,570 Defense: 104,865 Magic Resist: 96,920 Reputation: 422,5400 Tactics: 2,320 Luck: 124 ¡­¡­ My max HP was looking very impressive. My base HP was only a little over 1.1 million, but it was boosted by 80% by my card, 150% by Purple Dragon, and 240% by Pure Love. This meant that my max HP was boosted by 579% [4] or nearly 6 times in total, which put me over 6.4 million max HP. Since my effective Defense was approaching a million as well, I should be able to tank a couple of hits from even the Purgatory Ruler, Lin Na himself if we had to fight him in this March of Chaos event, right? I raised my head and puffed up my chest. I felt like I could go anywhere with my current stats. Then, Lin Yixin grabbed my arm and pulled me back down the earth. "Hello? You can bask in your brilliance after you¡¯ve shown us the last two pieces of equipment¡­" "Fine¡­" I stood still and pulled out the animalistic ring with golden light surrounding it. Its stats were pretty good¡ª Beast Spirit Ring (Lower Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Increases user''s Attack by 70%. When attacking, 1% chance to trigger the Beast Spirit effect and double the user¡¯s critical hit rate. Level Requirement: 240. Everyone rolled the dice, and once again, Li was the one who got the item. The fifth piece of equipment was a sea-blue colored scepter with dazzling light running across its surface. Its appearance alone told us that it was a class or ten above Immortal-grade¡ªnot that a Purgatory Sovereign would ever drop something that poor at this stage of the game. I waved my hand across it and brought up its stat screen. It immediately revealed itself as the best item a priest could lay their hands on right now¡ª Spirit Gathering Scepter (Middle Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Magic Attack: 12,000~15,500 Intelligence: +2,750 Stamina: +2,500 Strength: +2,450 Agility: +2,300 Tactics: +211 Passive: Increases user''s healing effectiveness by 175% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 200,000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 100% Slots: 17 Outstanding Property: Spirit Gathering. User¡¯s healing critical rate is increased by 17%. Moreover, when critical healing is triggered, healing effectiveness is increased to 300% Property: Proficiency. Level Requirement is lowered by 10 Level Requirement: 235 Reputation Requirement: 1900000 Class Requirement: Bard, Tactician, Mage, Priest ¡­¡­ While clutching the Spirit Gathering Scepter, I said, "This is a Middle Divine Armament for priests, and you can see for yourself how amazing its healing effectiveness is. So¡­ the Top 10 priests with effective HPS against Coldblade, please step forward¡­" However, He Yi said, "Don¡¯t you know? Mingyue and Moon Dew are the only ones who had effective HPS. Everyone else did not pass the bar[5]." I curled my lips. "I see. Well, please roll for the equipment then, sis, Beauty Moon Dew¡­" However, Murong Mingyue sent me a private message saying, "Aiyo, we¡¯ve been together since forever, haven¡¯t we? I always fed you before anyone else, didn¡¯t I? Just give me the itemdirectly, dear. I¡¯m sure you can pull it off without triggering anyone¡¯s suspicion¡­" I pursed my lips. "Come now, sis. You¡¯re not even pretending to be fair now¡­" Murong Mingyue giggled a couple of meters away from me. "And what¡¯s so unfair about it? Or is this your way to ask for some incentives? How about¡­ I head over to your room and sleep with you tonight?" While saying this, she casually pulled back her hair and "unintentionally" caused her breasts to bounce a little. The resulting motion caused every male player within the vicinity to gulp at once. Truly, the world was lucky that sis wasn¡¯t a real demoness or born in an older time. She could literally ruin a country if she wanted to. Thankfully, I managed to resist her charms and said, "Yeah, how about no. Now stop stalling and roll the dice already. Also, have some confidence in yourself. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re afraid of when two of Moon Dew¡¯s are still smaller than one of yours¡­" For once, I was the one who one-shot Murong Mingyue. ¡­¡­ The roll began and ended in no time, and the victor was¡ª Moon Dew: 17 Murong Mingyue: 91 What did I say? Murong Mingyue won the dice roll handily! I passed the Spirit Gathering Scepter to Murong Mingyue and said, "Well, this is the best outcome. The better sis¡¯ healing prowess is, the longer we can live in this world¡­" Murong Mingyue was too busy caressing her new baby to hear what I said though. Friendship my ass, I bet she didn¡¯t even recognize me right now. ¡­¡­ Besides the five pieces of equipment, Coldblade also dropped some high-rank gems, magic stones and two skill books. The first skill book was Iron Wall IX that could increase Defense by a maximum of 250%. It was a pretty good choice¡ªobviously still not as good as Purple Dragon¡ªif you were in a situation where you needed Defense above all else. The second skill book was called "Luo Water", and it was an ice-type magic skill. The Iron Wall X went to one of our tacticians, and Luo Water went to Beauty Yu Tong. We also rolled for the magic stones and gems. It was the fairest way of doing things. It was past midnight when we finally wrapped up our business and called it a night. Karinshan was commanding her army and marching toward Sainthelm Ruins already, but over 90% of the players had logged out of the game to take a rest. The battle of Crossroads Valley Fortress had taken 15 hours to finish, and everyone was as tired as a dog at this point. We were still going to Sainthelm Ruins as a matter of course, but that was a challenge for another day. ¡­¡­ I held Xinran¡¯s hand and toured the ruins of the fortress for a bit. "Xinran, big brother is going away to catch some rest now¡­" Xinran looked at me with her huge, beautiful eyes. "Where are you going, big brother? You always leave every once in a while¡­" I replied smilingly, "It¡¯s another world¡­" "Can Xinran go there?" "I don¡¯t know, Xinran. Be a good girl, okay?" "Mn!" 1. T/N: £¨Lyre piano£©... Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah we¡¯re not following the author¡¯s translation for this one ? 2. E/N: God I hate this Effect so much. It¡¯s always almost exactly what a player needs it to be. Watch it conveniently be perfect for Pure Love ? 3. T/N: it¡¯s too bad Purple Dragon has a cap, or this item 100% would¡¯ve gone to him instead ? 4. T/N: plus a base of 100% HP ? 5. E/N: ¡­¡­.. what? Priests didn¡¯t have anything to heal? Damage I can understand, most people did literally 0 damage, or didn¡¯t even try to tank. But you want to tell me there were only two priests that were throwing heals during this ENTIRE FREAKING FIGHT? ? CH 1426 When I woke up from my dreams, it was already 11 in the morning. I hurriedly got out of bed and took care of business in the toilet. When it was 11:30 am, I went downstairs with He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin. "Did everyone have fun killing Coldblade last night?" I asked while driving the car. Lian Xin blinked before answering, "We should be the one to ask you that question. You damaged him for tens of millions of damage, but I only dished out a couple million¡­" I smiled. "It doesn¡¯t matter though. You still got the Soul Shocker Bell, didn¡¯t you? Sorry I didn¡¯t congratulate you last night, by the way. I was too tired to remember. You too, sis. The Spirit Gathering Scepter may just be a Middle Divine Armament, but its stats are truly impressive. You¡¯ve seen the Seven-string Yaoqin. It¡¯s one of the Twelve Divine Armaments, but its stats are only a tad better than the Spirit Gathering Scepter¡¯s, and it can evolve¡­" Murong Mingyue nodded. "I know." While leaning against her seat, He Yi said, "I checked the March of Chaos contribution point ranking before we came out. Lu Chen still has a massive lead, and everyone else seems to be offline as well. They¡¯re all taking a long rest just like us, so there¡¯s nothing to worry about. We should go eat a full lunch before we continue our journey in Sainthelm Ruins. I wonder if it¡¯ll be even more challenging than we¡¯ve already gone through¡­" I smiled. "It has to be. Of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns, the third-placed Linda the Whisperer and fifth-placed Opero the Nightwalker haven¡¯t shown themselves yet. There is a chance they may appear in Sainthelm Ruins as the next two bosses to beat, not to mention Lin Na, the Purgatory Ruler himself. I hope Lin Na doesn¡¯t show up. We¡¯re really not at the level where we can challenge him yet¡­" "Don¡¯t we have Xinran and Sophie?" Lian Xin asked. I fell silent for a couple of seconds before replying, "To be honest, I don¡¯t want Xinran to battle the Purgatory Ruler if possible. I may not be strong enough to help her if that¡¯s the case. What if something were to happen to her?" Lian Xin nodded. "Yes, big bro is right. Xinran¡¯s safety is more important than beating Lin Na. Also, I keep having this feeling that Xinran is extremely attached to big bro. In fact, her love for you may even exceed mine and Beiming¡¯s¡­" I pursed my lips. "Yeah, Xinran is¡­" He Yi added, "I used to think that Xinran is an NPC with super advanced AI, but the behavior she displays, especially her affection, exceeds what AI is capable of. It¡¯s almost as if she possesses true emotions. Obviously, machines don¡¯t have them. Even the best artificial emulations are only at Sophie or Karinshan¡¯s level. However, Xinran¡¯s feelings for Lu Chen seem to have exceeded that." Murong Mingyue crossed her arms and said, "Come on, you guys are exaggerating things. I¡¯ve always thought of Xinran as a cute and powerful little sister NPC who¡¯s overprotective of Lu Chen¡­" I smiled. "Anyway, let me focus on driving. Yiyi, Qingqing, Lexi and Purple Marquis are already waiting for us at the restaurant¡­" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Twenty minutes later, I parked the car at Guanqian Street¡¯s parking lot. Right next to the parking lot was a high-end buffet restaurant that cost 300 yuan per seat. The moment we went inside, Lin Yixin immediately rose to her feet and greeted us with a smile, "Over here! What took you guys so long?" She wore a cute pink-colored miniskirt today. It was very refreshing to look at. We went over and sat down with Purple Marquis, Nangong Lexi, Sun Qingqing and more. Everyone Lin Yixin brought with her was an executive-level player in the guild, the kind that could shake the guild if they stomped their feet a little too hard. After we took our seats, Lin Yixin pushed a plate full of well-cut lamb meat in front of me. Her face was all smiles while she was holding a knife and the lamb leg. "Here, I¡¯ve already cut up some lamb meat for you. I know you¡¯re about to starve to death¡­" I nearly cried from how considerate she was. I grabbed the meat and shoved it into my mouth. A couple of swallows later, my body grew warmer, and energy started flowing back into my body. Meat truly was the most delicious delicacy in the entire world! He Yi, Lian Xin and the rest of the girls went away to grab their own food. A while later, we started eating and conversing idly with each other. We were eating a little faster than normal though. The event wasn¡¯t over yet, and we could all earn more contribution points¡­ "You¡¯re still the number one player on the contribution point ranking, right Lu Chen?" Nangong Lexi asked me while holding a big South American shrimp. I nodded. "Yep. Or at least, I think so. Breeze and Rain and Yiyi both logged out at the same time I did. I doubt anyone can surpass my contribution points at this time." Purple Marquis said enviously, "You have over 7 million points, man. I don¡¯t even know how you managed to get that many. I only have 1.7 million, which just barely puts me in the Top 30. I hope it¡¯ll be enough to exchange for a lot of experience and a good item!" Shadow Chanel giggled. "You¡¯ll be lucky to get a Lower Immortal-grade piece of equipment, and don¡¯t even dream of a Lower Divine Armament¡­" I consoled him. "The March of Chaos event is an all-server event, and it is said that the Top 100000 players will all get a generous reward. To beat all these competitors and place among the top 30 is no easy feat. As long as you keep this up, there is actually a very good chance that you may get a Lower Divine Armament." Purple Marquis rubbed his hands together and said, "That sounds great! I¡¯ll take your word for it!" ¡­¡­ While holding a cup of flowering tea, Lin Yixin asked, "So, did you guys hear about what happened after the fight against Coldblade?" "I¡¯m not sure what you¡¯re talking about?" I asked in puzzlement. "Do you mean the assault on Sainthelm Ruins after we logged out of the game? There will always be players with sleep schedules different to ours, but none of the core players were up after the battle against Coldblade. There¡¯s no way they¡¯ve launched an all-out assault against Sainthelm Ruins already, right?" "No, I¡¯m talking about the guild challenge between Dark Mercenaries and God¡¯s Domain¡­" "Oh?" This time, everyone was looking at Lin Yixin. Lin Yixin took out her phone and opened a web page. She then showed it to us and said, "See? Little Piglet was the winner of the guild challenge! They only had 17k players left when the battle was over, but they were able to annihilate God¡¯s Domain completely and win a ton of rewards. God¡¯s Domain¡¯s main guild is now disbanded, and all of its former players suffered a level penalty. It¡¯s a huge blow to say the least!" "What?!" I nearly jumped to my feet in disbelief. "Little Piglet actually won? But that¡¯s impossible! Even if he had the Crimson Dragon Arm, Red Maple¡¯s Divine General Skill and Famous General Skill are still very powerful. They also have great players such as Purple Thunder, Cyan Frost, Red Hot Vortex. Meanwhile, Dark Mercenaries only have one Little Piglet. How¡­ how the hell did he win that?" Lin Yixin tugged my arm and said smilingly, "Calm down, you. I¡¯m not done talking yet. Little Piglet had reinforcements that played a pivotal role in this battle." He Yi asked in surprise, "What reinforcements?" Lin Yixin checked the web page again before answering, "According to the participant list, the Dark Mercenaries players who played a pivotal role in that battle are: Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone, Ringwraith, Heaven Punisher, Phoenix¡¯s Poise and so on¡­" For a time, no one said a word. Then, Purple Marquis asked, "Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and Ringwraith are Soul Battle Robes¡¯ main players, aren¡¯t they? Why are they in Dark Mercenaries?" Lin Yixin shook her head. "I¡¯m not too sure, but did you notice that Soul Battle Robes didn¡¯t show up for the March of Chaos event? As it turns out, Song of Cloud and Water was guarding the main guild, and the rest of her generals had joined Dark Mercenaries without anyone realizing. If I had to guess, Little Piglet had negotiated some sort of deal with them. You all know how unyielding Song of Ice and Fire is. He would never join Dark Mercenaries for real." I agreed. "Yes, the only reason Song of Ice and Fire joined the game was to restore Soul Battle Robes to its former glory. This is but one part of his master plan. Still, Little Piglet must¡¯ve offered them something amazing. I didn¡¯t think they would go this far to help Dark Mercenaries." Lian Xin said, "Looking at the bigger picture, this is good news for the China server, right? Little Piglet had practically wiped out the number one guild of Purple Grape City for us¡­" He Yi burst into a giggle. "Oh yes. Not only did they lose equipment and levels, their main guild cannot be rebuilt without using a new name and restarting from zero. It will take God¡¯s Domain a long time to recover from this. Red Maple must feel like deleting his account right now." Nangong Lexi said, "If only he was that mentally weak¡­" Everyone laughed knowing exactly what the other person was thinking right now. Although the Japan server had lost Purple Grape City to us first and Sophie later, they still had Swallow Ear Canton. They had used it to harass the China server repeatedly, provoked us into giving chase, and then jeered at us from the safety of the Impassable Great Wall. The fortification could hardly be taken by a couple of small squads. Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and I had discussed our plans to wipe out the Japan server¡¯s remaining city many times already. The moment we found the free time to do so, we would take out Swallow Ear Canton and make them truly homeless! To take out wolves, you must destroy the wolf den. It was just common sense. ¡­¡­ "Who do you think will be Little Piglet¡¯s next target?" Purple Marquis asked suddenly after taking a sip of wine. "It won¡¯t be Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls no matter what[1]¡­" I chuckled. Lian Xin declared confidently, "If he¡¯s stupid enough to choose us, the let him! Even with Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and Ringwraith, we still can take them out like nothing!" Lin Yixin shrugged. "Ancient Sword can wipe almost anything with just 100000 Dragonlight Cavalry. Little Piglet would have to be kicked in the head to choose you. I wonder if he¡¯ll challenge Snowy Cathaya[2] though? Our chances of beating Dark Mercenaries as they are not nearly as great¡­" Purple Marquis turned green. "Are you questioning our strength, guild leader?" "Of course not, I¡¯m just saying that there¡¯s a possibility¡­" "..." I let out a laugh. "Relax. Little Piglet may have left the Center, but I believe that he isn¡¯t a man without a bottom line. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have chosen our greatest enemy as his first enemy. Anyway, he probably still has two Vassal Challenge Tokens left. I wonder who he¡¯ll choose to tackle next?" "Regardless, one of them has to be Purgatory Mad Dragon[3]¡­" He Yi declared without hesitation. Lin Yixin and I nodded at the same time. "But of course[4] ¡­" We were all witnesses of the debauchery of Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s executives that night. If Little Piglet hadn¡¯t wanted to claim vengeance himself, we would¡¯ve uprooted Purgatory Mad Dragon for him already. Taking out Purgatory Mad Dragon was very simple. All we need to do was to destroy all five of their main and subguild territories and issue a bounty to hunt down all Purgatory Mad Dragon players within the server. The guild would disband on its own in at most a month. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng called me when I was finishing up my meal¡ª "What you doin¡¯?" "Lunch. Business?" "Ruins!" "Coming!" "Waiting!" ¡­¡­ After I hung up, both Lin Yixin and He Yi watched me with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. Then, they said at the exact same time, "You guys take succinctness to a whole new level[5]¡­" Me: "..." 1. E/N: Author, please¡­ ASDS WAS NEVER EVEN ON THE DAMN LIST, JUST THEIR ALLIES ? 2. E/N: Guess what, also NOT ON THE DAMN LIST. But hey, I¡¯m sure Little Piglet is all about taking revenge against China, not Purgatory Mad Dragon! ? 3. E/N: Author trying to paint common sense as He Yi being smart¡­ ? 4. E/N: No, quiet, your first thought was your guilds that have nothing to do with any of it ? 5. E/N: Oh girls, you haven¡¯t seen us order beer with just head nods at a familiar waiter ? CH 1427 I logged into the game at 1 pm sharp. Swhoosh! I appeared on the battlefield of Crossroads Valley once more, or should I say former battlefield, since the battle itself had ended almost 10 hours earlier. The entire place had been turned into a temporary supply base for the Silver Moon Alliance, and both players and NPCs could be seen all over the place. I saw a smithy, a potion shop, a tailor and more built under large banana leaves. Thank goodness this was the case, or we would have to return to Sky City first before continuing our march. I checked out my Chill of the Nine Provinces and noted that it only had 14% durability left. Had I continued fighting in this state, it would¡¯ve become a useless piece of metal in two or three hours at most. Swhoosh swhoosh¡­ He Yi, Murong Mingyue and more all logged into the game and crawled out of the nearby tents as well. While they did so, I walked up to a middle-aged man and chose the option to repair everything. It was a short but terrible experience. After I gained the Flying Dragon Wristguards and Song of Freedom, repairing everything I wore cost over 490k gold. There was no discount either. If I had made my repair in Dark Moon City, it would¡¯ve cost me 300k at most. What a scam. That being said, my accumulated profits so far more than made up for the gold cost, so whatever. He Yi walked up to me and asked, "Do you still have the Fire Qilin sets, Lu Chen?" "Yeah. Why are you asking?" "I think we should distribute them to our players and strengthen them now instead of later. This way, we¡¯ll be able to deal with whatever Sainthelm Ruins tries to throw at us better. We¡¯ll deduct the corresponding number of guild contribution points, of course. Do you think that¡¯s okay?" He Yi shot me a dimpled smile before continuing, "Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll be properly compensated. I¡¯ll pay your 100k RMB per Fire Qilin set, or 3 million RMB in total using the guild¡¯s coffers for giving up your loot." I let out a laugh before waving away her offer. "It¡¯s okay, you don¡¯t have to pay me. Plus, it¡¯s not like I grinded every Fire Qilin set in my bag. It doesn¡¯t feel right to be compensated for stuff I didn¡¯t work for. Come, let¡¯s head over and rate our metal-armor players." "Mn mn!" A while later, after Lin Yixin, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and more had all come online, we went with our usual seating arrangement¡ªBeiming Xue with me, Murong Mingyue with He Yi and Lian Xin with Lin Yixin¡ªand took off for Sainthelm Ruins! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The Ancient Divine Dragon burst through the clouds first while the Crimson Crystal Dragon and Snow Crystal Dragon followed closely behind. During this time, I brought up the guild interface, filtered the member list so that only the metal-armor players would show up, and began ranking them using the standard contribution rules. Very soon, I had a list in my hands¡ª 1-5: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Legendary Brave, Gui Guzi, From Water, High Fighting Spirits 6-10: Chaos Moon, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Diamond Dust, Amazing Expert[1] 11-15: Hot Sun, Imperial Abyss, Yama Slayer, A Lazy Cat, Tiger Leopard Knight ¡­¡­ I extracted the Top 100 players on the list and removed the top-tier players who didn¡¯t need a Fire Qilin set. Then, I submitted the final list the He Yi and said, "Here, the ranking¡¯s ready. Our guild truly is overflowing with talented cavalrymen. I dare say that there are no guilds in the world who possess as many talented cavalrymen as us!" He Yi giggled. "Come now, we need to be humble. Not only do we have powerful cavalrymen, our quantity and quality of mages, mounted archers, tacticians and bards are all unrivaled in the world!" I rolled my eyes at her. "Weren¡¯t you supposed to be humble? I heard not a shred of humility here¡­" He Yi continued giggling with a tiny blush on her cheeks. "We¡¯ll distribute the Fire Qilin sets according to this list then. We¡¯ll deduct 80% of their current contribution points as a way to encourage them all to work harder." "Good idea." I thought for a moment before adding, "The stats of the Fire Qilin set are so good that they can practically wear it until the end of time, figuratively speaking. It won¡¯t be outdated even after we¡¯ve passed the Level 250 mark. Hehe, our guild is going to add 30 top-tier cavalrymen to our ranks after today!" On the Crimson Crystal Dragon, Lin Yixin narrowed her eyes into happy slits as she said, "Is that so? Snowy Cathaya has also gathered 8 Fire Qilin sets in total. I guess we should distribute them as well so that we can tackle the Sainthelm Ruins map at full force!" "Mn. Good steel should be forged into blades, and there is no better time than now to use the Fire Qilin set." Around 20 minutes of flight later, we left the barren wasteland and arrived at a snowy region. Snowflakes filled the sky, and the broad-leaved forest on the ground gradually turned to needle-leaved forest. Another five minutes later, the only thing we saw was snow and more snow. "Look over there!" Leaning against my chest, Beiming Xue pointed to the south and said, "I see a lot of players grinding mobs in that necropolis over there. Big brother Little Gui and big brother Xu Yang are among them¡­" "Mn!" After we passed through the curtain of snow that was blocking our vision, the rest of us saw about 20,000 Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players attacking a necropolis filled with mobs. It wasn¡¯t the only necropolis in the area either. From our bird¡¯s eye point of view, the necropolises scattered across the snow looked as numerous as the stars in the night sky. This map was part of the massive map that was Sainthelm Ruins, and these necropoleis were the birthing grounds of undead knights, corpse eaters, skeletal devils and more undead units. In other words, we were extremely close to the Purgatory Legion¡¯s mother nest on the surface world. "Let¡¯s go!" I declared before spurring my Ancient Divine Dragon into a descent. When we reached the bottom and landed on the snow, I let loose an involuntary sneeze. Damn, this place is cold! Xu Yang walked up to us with a laugh. "You¡¯re here!" I nodded before watching Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi slaughtering a bunch of noisy skeletal devils from their giant dragons. Our players were grinding their own mobs as well. Not far away from our position, I saw Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon Purple Lily and more doing their own business as well. The main assault hadn¡¯t begun yet, so everyone¡¯s first priority was to clear out the mobs first. Luckily, there were were more than enough players to clear out one map. I looked at everyone and said, "So¡­ Eve and I have finalized the name list to distribute the 30 Fire Qilin set. I¡¯ll post the ranking in the guild channel later. All players who qualified for the equipment set but chooses to withdraw for whatever reason will be paid 100k guild contribution points for their kindness. Those who chooses to accept the Fire Qilin set will have 80% of their current contribution points deducted. Is everyone fine with this?" Du Thirteen answered for everyone, "The Fire Qilin set is so OP that you can deduct everything, and we¡¯ll still say yes!" I nodded. "Very well then. Let¡¯s begin!" After I posted the Top 100 metal armor class player ranking in the guild channel, I announced, "Everyone, we¡¯ll be distributing the Fire Qilin set now, and this is the player ranking we¡¯ll be referring to. The criterias we¡¯ve used to decide this ranking is your guild contribution points, your champion arena ranking, and open-world PK score. Those who think their current equipment is good enough that they don¡¯t need the Fire Qilin set may opt to forfeit their right and obtain 100k guild contribution points instead. As for the rest of you, please come to Sainthelm Ruins (31778, 128737) to grab your equipment set. Just so you know, not all of the equipment sets are dropped equal. Some of them are around 15% better or poorer than the average, and some even has their own unique skills. It will be up to luck whether you get a better Fire Qilin set or not!" He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and I forfeited since our current equipment were superior to the Fire Qilin set. Personally, I didn¡¯t care about the 100k guild contribution points compensation since I was sitting at around 3 million guild contribution points right now. However, I accepted it anyway since we were trying to set an example here. With the Chill of the Nine Provinces planted on the snow and He Yi and Beiming guarding next to me, I handed the Fire Qilin set over to the qualified players one by one. High Fighting Spirits was the first person to reach me. After he accepted the Fire Qillin equipment set and equipped it, he checked out his stat screen and burst out in hearty laughter. "Hot damn, I now have 950k base HP, and my total Attack is about 800k! This is amazing!" I nodded. "Yeah. The high Attack is mostly your Bone Slayer though!" "Yeah. Thanks, guild leader, vice leader!" "No need to thank us. We grinded these equipment together, so of course they should be shared around!" Chaos Moon, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and more put on their equipment set and beamed like it was New Year as well. Tiger Leopard Knight was the most excited out of everyone who received the equipment set. He had gone up to Moonlight Stone, got off his mount and showed off the Fire Qilin set to his sister happily, "You see this, little sis? I can¡¯t believe I would get to wear a middle-level Immortal-grade equipment set one day, one that is as good as an S6 equipment set no less! Hehe, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ benefits are seriously amazing¡­" Moonlight Stone held her older brother¡¯s arm and partook in his joy. "But of course! You have always been a great player, big brother!" "Yeah. I¡¯ll work even harder than before!" Tiger Leopard Knight declared with a clenched fist. ¡­¡­ After the equipment distribution was complete, Yamete walked up to me and asked, "Hey, Lu Chen!" "Hey, Mamate. What is it?" "Earlier, I went back to the main city, used up all the materials Heaven¡¯s Rain and everyone else gave me, and spent an hour to forge 345 Dragonscale Armors in total. How would you like to distribute them? Do you want to distribute them now?" I nodded. "Yeah, why not? The Dragonscale Armor has super high Defense, and everyone can use it. Give me a moment to remove those who already got the Fire Qilin sets from the list and sort it again. Then, you can distribute the Dragonscale Armors to everyone. The cost will be paid out of the guild¡¯s coffers." "Understood. I¡¯ll rally the men right away!" It wasn¡¯t long before a company of cavalrymen stood in front of us. Yamete was the vice leader of Bloody Mercenaries, so he took it upon himself to distribute the Dragonscale Armor to his players. Now, we had 30 Dragonlight Cavalrymen wearing the Fire Qilin set, and 345 wearing the Dragonscale Armor. We were slowly but surely progressing toward the dream where we could equip all our players with a standardized set of equipment. It was unfortunate that there were no munitions factories in Heavenblessed, or we would¡¯ve found a way to mass produce the Fire Qilin set and have all 100,000 of our Dragonlight Cavalrymen equip them. Now that would be something. ¡­¡­ "Now then, it¡¯s time to get back to the grind¡­" He Yi pointed to the front and said, "According to the plot hint, we¡¯ll need to clear out 99 necropoleis before we can venture deeper into the ruins. It is also rumored that a Sovereign Rank boss may be hiding among these 99 necropoleis. That¡¯s yet another opportunity to drop a Ghost Armament¡­" I chuckled. "It¡¯s fine, there¡¯s no rush. Even if we do find a Sovereign Rank boss, the chances that a Ghost Armament will drop from it are quite low." "Yeah!" I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces over my shoulder and looked around, "So, I wonder where my personal bard is?" A beautiful girl carrying the Seven-string Yaoqin chose this moment to step into the open. She was none other than Pure Love, of course. "I¡¯m here, dear¡­" Me: "..." 1. T/N: Du Thirteen truly has come far¡­ ? CH 1428 Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Light enveloped my body again and again as Pure Love cast her buffs. The Seven-string Yaoqin was an incredible weapon that allowed her to buff my Defense, HP and Attack by 240%. I felt so full of power that even my Chill of the Nine Provinces was trembling in response. Beside me, Xu Yang said enviously, "Damn, you¡¯re looking good, bro! I asked Guanyue to give me a full buff earlier, and my stats were almost as good as Li¡¯s. We¡¯re truly blessed to have a bard with one of the Twelve Divine Armaments. By the way, what are the full buffs for, Lu Chen? Are you on a mission to run through Breeze and Rain, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and God of War or something?" I snorted. "You must be joking, brother. I can beat those people even without such amazing buffs. I¡¯m just preparing for the inevitable boss fight. This map is the map before the heart of Sainthelm Ruins, and there¡¯s every reason to believe that there might be a bullshit boss waiting for us somewhere amid this god-forsaken snow. Anyway, make sure you¡¯re prepared to die, brother. If your expectations are low, then you won¡¯t be disappointed when it actually happens¡­" Xu Yang shrugged. "I¡¯ve resolved myself to death since the moment I stepped into the very first map, bro!" I gave him a thumbs-up. "That just shows how strong your mental fortitude is, bro!" "But of course, bro!" Xu Yang laughed. Finally, He Yi couldn¡¯t stand the sight of her elders bullshitting to each other any longer and said, "Less boasting, more grinding. Seriously, where do you guys get your shamelessness from¡­" Xu Yang and I laughed one last time before getting serious. I extended a hand to Pure Love and said, "Come, I¡¯ll ride the Ancient Divine Dragon normally with you. This way, Farewell Song won¡¯t be able to instakill you or something¡­" "Mn mn!" Guanyue leaped onto the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s back and sat behind me. She then placed the Seven-string Yaoqin on one thigh and grabbed the lantern vine with her free hand. I sat closer to the front so I could swing my weapon at the enemy. Obviously, it was easier to fight without a passenger, but Guanyue¡¯s presence wasn¡¯t going to affect my performance too much. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I Charged straight into a group of mobs and began the grind! Pure Love wasn¡¯t anticipating the momentum behind my Charge[1], so she fell forward and accidentally pressed her breasts up against my back. She immediately let out an embarrassed giggle before saying, "You must¡¯ve done this on purpose, Lu Chen! Does this dragon have a ¡®benefit¡¯ mode or something? Why is it holding up its butt so high? I have no choice but to press up against you¡­" I shook my head before dialing up the hardness sensitivity of my Guardian Dragon Armor so I wouldn¡¯t feel her breasts [2]. Then, I warned, "Make sure you hold tight to the lantern vine next to you, okay? I can¡¯t help it when I¡¯m fighting mobs, so you¡¯re all that stands between you and falling off. If you¡¯re going to hitch a ride, then remember to put on the safety belts!" Pure Love giggled again. "I know!" ¡­¡­ The fighting strength of the necropolis mobs were pretty high. They were all basically Level 310 fiend-rank mobs or higher. One such group¡ªthey were a bunch of frozen, screeching skeletons¡ªwas dragging their tattered bodies and pouncing toward us at this very moment. "That¡¯s a Frozen Bone Skeletal Devil, a Level 311 fiend-rank mob. It has a skill that allows it to ignore 11% of its target¡¯s Defense!" Pure Love looked up the enemy¡¯s data and reported dutifully. However¡­ Boom boom boom! Three flaming auras, one Myriad Swords Obliteration and one War Crush later, the group of dozens dropped dead before they even got the chance to hit me. I looked back at Pure Love and chuckled. "I¡¯m sorry? Ignores 11% of what?" Guanyue was speechless for a moment. "OMG, just how much Attack do you have? This is¡­" She pretended to be embarrassed again and hugged her chest. "This is amazing, dear! My experience actually jumped by 1% after that! Keep going, dear, don¡¯t stop on my account¡­" Me: "..." Lian Xin and Beiming Xue were at my party. When they heard this, they said with almost perfect unison, "Sister Eve, someone¡¯s seducing big bro again¡­" He Yi replied calmly while dishing out Stormwind Slash, "It¡¯s fine, I got used to it already¡­" Lian Xin shook her head helplessly before dropping two Dimensional Storms on a group of Frozen Bone Skeletal Devils. Soul Shocker Bell increased her damage dealt by 100%, so it looked like she was critting non-stop¡ª 790,984! 813,662! 821,540! ¡­¡­ In the party channel, Murong Mingyue said in a dumbfounded voice, "OMG, Little Xin¡¯s magic damage is literally unrivaled right now. Even Luo River God of the Capital can only hit a Frozen Bone Skeletal Devil for over 300k damage. Your DPS is literally more than twice of hers. Uwah, this experience gain is seriously amazing¡­" I said smilingly, "But of course. Little Xin¡¯s Magic Attack is really almost the same as Wang Luo¡¯s, but Dimensional Storm is stronger than your average magic spell, and Soul Shocker Bell doubles her damage dealt. This is just the natural outcome. Also, the Soul Shocker Bell is a Ghost Armament; an item that¡¯s only inferior to the Twelve Divine Armaments. It makes sense that it would give her this much damage¡­" Guanyue said, "Speaking of ridiculously OP Ghost Armaments, you have two of them, right Lu Chen? The Flying Dragon Wristguards and the Song of Freedom¡­" "Yep." I nodded. "You¡¯d better watch your back then! Countless people will be aiming for your treasures!" Guanyue giggled. I replied in a casual tone, "It¡¯s okay. In fact, I welcome them to try. With my current power level, it takes a very powerful or very stupid group of people to even have a chance to rob me of my equipment. If my Resurrection Art functioned on this map, I would declare myself the king of this hill already. If anything, you¡¯re the one who should be taking your own advice, Guanyue. You¡¯re just a bard with the Seven-string Yaoqin¡­" Guanyue stuck out her tongue cutely. "Bully. If you weren¡¯t so cute and lovable¡­" He Yi finally said, "Can you¡­ not seduce Lu Chen and focus on grinding please? He¡¯s my man¡­" Guanyue: "Er, of course, guild leader. By the way, you didn¡¯t remove my vice corps commander when I wasn¡¯t looking, right?" He Yi: "..." ¡­¡­ I progressed deeper and deeper into the necropolis as more Frozen Bone Skeletal Devils fell to the ground. I also got to absorb tons of undead soul sparks and strengthen my undead power even further. It was an amazing feeling to say the least. I was now only 13% away from becoming an Asura God after absorbing Coldblade and Thunder¡¯s undead soul sparks. I wondered what kind of benefit I would get from that realm? I didn¡¯t use Death Plunder on every Frozen Bone Skeletal Devil I killed though. There were just too many of them, and my thought process was simple. If my 120+ Luck isn¡¯t enough to drop everything there is to drop from the Frozen Bone Skeletal Devil, it simply means that the mob has nothing to drop in the first place. This was one of the reasons I didn¡¯t use Death Plunder very often. Not only was it a waste of time, it was a waste of my precious feelings as well. We soon entered the heart of the necropolis. Speaking of which, all the Dragonlight Cavalry who were fighting with us earlier had left us because, "Ugh, the guild leader and vice leaders are just too powerful! They¡¯re killing everything in the area and leaving nothing behind! We need to find another spot to grind, or we won¡¯t get to kill a single mob!" Obviously, the heart of the necropolis lay in the deepest tomb, so that was where we went. I looked up and read the epitaph above the tomb entrance. It was written in Wang Xizhi¡¯s calligraphy style¡ª Epitaph of Prince Hongming of the Great Wei ¡­¡­ "Pooh!" I snorted. "Whoever designed this is absolutely shameless. It¡¯s even using the Wang Xizhi¡¯s calligraphy style[3]¡­" He Yi said while carrying the Suppressing Fire Sword, "Take the lead, Lu Chen. We¡¯re heading down there to check if there¡¯s a boss or something." Guanyue asked, "Can we really beat the boss with just the few of us?" "Of course we can. With Lu Chen and your buffs, not even an Ancient Immortal Rank boss can pressure us too much¡­" He Yi declared confidently. I nodded. He Yi was completely correct. With my current stats and Murong Mingyue¡¯s healing, I could facetank even an Ancient Immortal Rank boss without much trouble. I slowly moved my dragon deeper into the tomb. The rainbow clouds beneath its body brought just a bit of cheeriness into the gloomy place. At the same time, I lit up the place with my Chill of the Nine Provinces and spotted a sizable amount of Frozen Bone Skeletal Devils in the area. After we had taken them all out, we went to the center chamber where a huge golden door was barring our way. "Can it be opened?" He Yi asked. I grabbed the handle and gave it both a pull and a push. "No, I think it¡¯s locked from the inside. Did anyone happen to pick up a key on the way?" Lian Xin asked jokingly, "Should we call the lock picker from downstairs to help out?" I snorted a little before raising my sword. "Nah. If the master¡¯s too sleepy to welcome us, then we¡¯ll just make our own way!" ¡­¡­ Chiang! After my blade cut through the door bolt, I kicked open the door and was immediately greeted by the disgusting stench of rot. Judging from the amount of jewelry and treasures adorning the chamber, it was definitely the tomb of a prince. "Watch out! Guards!" He Yi pointed to the front. It was as she said. Four horrible-looking monsters with green hair all over their body were slowly rising to their feet right next to a black coffin. They were Level 312 Ancient Immortal Rank minibosses called the Green-haired Zombie Guards. "How should we fight this?" He Yi asked. I answered, "It would be nice if we could pull the zombies over one by one and kill them, but they¡¯re too close to one another. This is the plan. I¡¯m going to aggro them over with a Dragon Slaying Slash. Eve will tank one, I¡¯ll use God Binding Art on the second, and Beiming Xue will Shock Arrow the third. Then, we¡¯ll all switch our focus on the fourth miniboss and focus on taking it out first. Level 311 minibosses have very high Attack, and we only have sis and Guanyue as our healers. There¡¯s a high chance they won¡¯t be able to keep up with us if we go too gungho." However, Guanyue raised her yaoqin and declared confidently, "Don¡¯t worry, the Seven-string Yaoqin added at least tens of thousands of base healing power to my existing stats. I¡¯m a pretty powerful healer now¡­" "Mn!" I fired a Dragon Slaying Slash at one of the Green-haired Zombie Guards. The undead immediately howled in anger, "Who dares to invade the prince¡¯s resting place? Surrender your lives, dogs!" I backed away and fired Burning Blade Slash at the mob. After immobilizing one of the mobs with God Binding Art, I dropped a couple of Icy Cyclone Domains and tanked a five-hit slash from the closest miniboss with the Cyan Dragon Shield. The skill only dealt 400k damage or so and filled me with confidence. I was starting to outgrow even Ancient Immortal Rank enemies now. 1. E/N: Yes, the sudden acceleration should make her fall BACK. I guess she had no problems bearing the acceleration, and fell forward when decelerating? ? 2. T/N: oh damn, that¡¯s actually a neat mechanic. Also explains why he can feel the girls¡¯ body through his armor before¡­ ? 3. T/N: I have no idea what the hell this means, but I think it¡¯s probably related to plagiarism? ? CH 1429 Crack crack crack! I hacked away at our first target like crazy and killed it in no time. Less than ten minutes later, all four Green-haired Zombie Guards were dead beside our feet. Their loot drop was incredibly average as well; a mid-level Immortal-grade longblade that everyone found wanting. I tossed it into my bag to put it up for sale at Sky City later. It could probably be sold for a couple hundred RMB at most, but it was better than nothing. "It¡¯s time to trigger the boss, so watch out¡­" I pointed at the dark wood in the middle of the coffin and said, "You see that? The wood of a Chinese scholar tree is used to make the cover and the bottom of the coffin. According to ancient knowledge and well, Chinese zombie movies, a dead person who is placed on a wood that is cut from a Chinese scholar tree for a whole night will surely transform into a zombie. Therefore, this prince is 100% a zombie boss. Anyway, I¡¯m going to open the coffin now. Try not to be scared when it jumps out¡­" He Yi nodded with smiling eyes. "Be careful¡­" "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m the man who fought three hundred bouts against Thunder and Coldblade each. No way I¡¯m going to die to a measly zombie prince¡­" ¡­¡­ It was one thing to say boastful words, and another thing to act boastfully. Not wanting to be caught off-guard by the zombie prince, I activated Fusion Armor and fired two Dragon Slaying Slashes at the coffin. Nothing happened, however. The dark wood that made the coffin was tougher than I thought. Left with no choice, I walked up to the coffin with my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King guarding by my side. Then, heart beating like a drum, I slipped my blade into the gap between the cover and the edge and slowly opened it! Creaaaaaaaaaaaak¡­ The terrible noise sounded like the overture to death. Another involuntary shudder overtook me, but I forced myself to lean forward and look inside the coffin. To my surprise, it was empty! What the hell? Suddenly, a green arm burst out of the darkness and grabbed my blade before I could react. What the fuck! The bastard was clinging to the bottom of the cover! The next thing I knew, most of my vision was blotted by green hair, and a putrid-smelling mouth bit me on the neck! A pain yet numbing sensation quickly spread across the affected area! 352,878! It wasn¡¯t a particularly powerful attack, but damn if it wasn¡¯t disgusting as fuck! I clenched my left fist and conjured the Magic Piercing Punch. Then, I punched the zombie prince in the stomach and kicked it away from me! 192,882! 232,747! [1] After I put some distance between myself and the zombie prince, I pointed my sword at it and used God Binding Art! Buzz! It was a success, and the boss was immobilized for 11 seconds! ¡­¡­ Waves of pain assault the area I was bitten, and my HP kept dropping in intervals. It was obvious that I was inflicted with some sort of zombie poison. While keeping the boss busy with my Phantom Wolf King and apparition, I moved to the back and shouted, "Cure me, sis! I¡¯m poisoned¡­" Swhoosh! A holy light descended on me, but it failed to remove the status condition. Suddenly, Beiming Xue let out a surprised yelp and pointed at my neck. "Wow, green hair is growing out of big bro¡¯s neck! It¡¯s so scary!" A chill grabbed hold of my heart. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" I hurriedly touched my neck. Unfortunately, she wasn¡¯t joking. The entire area felt hairy and unpleasant. I checked the combat log next, and it stated¡ª Combat Log: You have been attacked by "Poison Devourer" and inflicted with the toxin "Zombify¡±. You will turn into a zombie in 30 seconds and lose 25% of all your stats for 60 seconds! ¡­¡­ Fuck! I groaned on the inside and took a seat at a darkened corner of the chamber. ¡°Girls, summon your pets to tank the boss and don¡¯t let it bite you. I¡¯m going to transform into a zombie soon¡­" "But what are you hiding there for?" "I don¡¯t want you to see my ugly appearance¡­" He Yi was amused. "Relax, I doubt that your zombie self will be too much different from your normal self¡­" I complained, "What the fuck, is this how you treat someone who¡¯s about to turn into a zombie?" "¡­" ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before I transformed into a green-haired zombie completely. Even my Chill of the Nine Provinces was covered in green hair. That being said, losing 25% of my stats for 60 seconds wasn¡¯t too big of a deal. Thanks to Guanyue¡¯s buffs, losing 25% Attack didn¡¯t affect my DPS too much. In the darkness, I abruptly threw the Chill of the Nine Provinces! Swhoosh! My sword put right through the zombie prince¡¯s stomach and dragged a tube of black intestines¡­ (Author¡¯s Note: Sorry, today¡¯s chapter will be rather hardcore¡­) I also dropped Ancient Seal on top of the boss. I might not be able to be the tank now, but I could still be the damage dealer. ¡­¡­ "Roar roar roar¡­" The next couple minutes were quite the frightening sight. My Phantom Wolf King, Murong Mingyue¡¯s Ironwing Dragon, and He Yi¡¯s Snake King Little Qing were all bitten and turned into green-haired zombies. Physically, the Ancient Immortal Rank boss wasn¡¯t really all that threatening. But mentally? He Yi was so scared of turning into a zombie herself that she refused to engage it in melee any longer. She ran up to me and grabbed my hands, saying, "Lu Chen, can you please be the tank¡ª" Then, she noticed that my hands were completely covered in green hair and nearly let go. "OMG, I almost thought you were a ghost, Lu Chen!" I groaned, "Please, my poor heart can¡¯t take any more abuse than this¡­" "Heehee. Now go take out the boss already! It¡¯ll reward you with event contribution points, and who knows, it may even drop a Ghost Armament¡­" "Hmph hmph. I wonder how many people have died because of their greed for the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments¡­" ¡­¡­ And so I went up to my progenitor and fought a great battle against it. The sight of two green-haired zombies battling each other to the death was quite something to say the least. I also gained some insight into some of the map designs of Sainthelm Ruins. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, all 99 necropoleis surrounding the center of Sainthelm Ruins probably contained an Ancient Immortal Rank boss each. They were basically experience buffets for the players. Of course, if the players weren¡¯t strong enough to fight them, then it would be the other way around. Regardless, players would flock to these bosses like moths to flames because such powerful bosses could only reward a humongous sum of contribution points. Some time during the boss battle, Li Chengfeng spoke up in the guild channel¡ª Li Chengfeng: "OMG, the final boss of this necropolis is so bullshit. It just chain-stuns the strongest damage dealer in your party unto infinity! It¡¯s been 5 minutes since the boss fight began, and I¡¯m still stunned even now! Little Gui, your DPS is absolute shit!" Gui Guzi: "Fuck, you think I like this¡­" Chaos Moon: "Sigh. Anyway, Purgatory Mad Dragon was ambushed not long ago¡­" "Huh. What happened?" I asked. She answered, "Ten minutes ago, Ray of Sunshine, Wang Dongliang and Roaming Dragon were grinding a northside necropolis with about 30k players when Little Piglet and a bunch of Iron Cutter Cavalrymen appeared out of nowhere and hit them in the back. They were able to take out around 20k players before they were finally driven back by Ray of Sunshine¡­" I frowned. "Did Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and the rest of Soul Battle Robes participate?" Chaos Moon chuckled. "Nah. Ray of Sunshine would probably be dead otherwise. Little Piglet had tried to steal the Heaven Suppressing Necklace with the Crimson Dragon Arm, but Ray of Sunshine was able to save himself with a last-minute Rise of Fire Dragon. Seriously, he was that close to dropping the Heaven Suppressing Necklace¡­" I said regretfully, "That is a shame¡­" Gui Guzi suggested, "Boss Broken Halberd, why don¡¯t you use your Song of Freedom and steal the Heaven-Suppressing Necklace yourself? That item is worth several hundred million RMB. We¡¯ll be rich if we get it¡­" I shook my head. "No, no. That is simply too reckless. Do you know how many people are watching us? If we attack a fellow Chinese guild to steal the Heaven Suppressing Necklace, I guarantee that we¡¯ll be hit by a shitstorm. Give them a reason, and the slanderers on the forums can paint even heaven into hell with their bullshit. Trust me, I would¡¯ve robbed them of the Heaven Suppressing Necklace already if it wasn¡¯t for this[2]¡­" Li Chengfeng chuckled. "Yeah. I would¡¯ve done it myself if it wasn¡¯t for the same consideration¡­" High Fighting Spirits: "Man, am I the only purehearted grinder in this guild?" Li Chengfeng: "Purehearted my ass, who was the guy who added a Warsky Alliance priest to our party just because she gave him a kiss? Who?" Me: "..." He Yi: "..." ¡­¡­ Inside the pitch-black tomb, I slashed at the boss''s head again and again with a hairy hand and a hairy Chill of the Nine Provinces. The zombie prince was just a normal Ancient Immortal Rank boss, and I had Pure Love¡¯s super buffs and Murong Mingyue¡¯s super healing to keep me going. Speaking of super healings, Mingyue¡¯s healing powers had skyrocketed after she obtained the Spirit Gathering Scepter. Even her Instant Heal could heal around 300k HP per spell. Pure Love¡¯s class was a fringe class that could buff, damage and heal to a certain extent, but wasn¡¯t really good at anything other than buffing. Now though, the Seven-string Yaoqin had boosted her basic healing powers so much that one healing spell could heal for around 100k HP. It was an impressive amount considering that she was a bard. Long story short, I was able to go toe-to-toe against the boss despite having been turned into a zombie. Beiming Xue¡¯s Xuanming Bow triggered the Xuanming Flames again and again and dealt massive damage to the boss. Lian Xin dealt even more damage and made the zombie prince scream in pain with practically every spell she threw at him. As it turned out, Soul Shocker Bell also doubled the damage done by God Devil Break, so that was crazy. I would pity the boss if it hadn¡¯t turned me into an unsightly monster. Ten minutes later, the Xuanming Bow shivered once and triggered its Ice Kill effect, freezing the boss for around 5.2 seconds and killing it at the same time. If a player was killed while frozen by Ice Kill, they would lose 5 levels in one go. Bosses were immune to the effect as a matter of course. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Swhoosh! Swhoosh! Pure Love, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue all jumped a Level. On the other hand, I was still stuck on Level 247 and about halfway to Level 248. I was fully aware that it was going to be a slow and painful process to reach Level 250. I only jumped a level when I took out Coldblade the Infinite Storm, a Sovereign Rank boss, and that was only because I had scored the last hit. Otherwise, I would still be stuck on Level 247. I walked up to the zombie prince and kicked its body aside. Then, I looked at the small pile of equipment in front of me. A greenish, oily ring caught my eye. I picked it up and immediately felt a strange sensation seeping into my palm. I checked its stats and broke into a smile, "Huh, this is a ring with a special effect¡­" 1. T/N: so, your normal kick does more damage than your Magic Piercing Punch? Then again, I suppose you didn¡¯t actually cancel anything, so it didn¡¯t do extra damage¡­ ? 2. E/N: Damn, only if you had an item that could let you disguise yourself and do it without people knowing. Of course, using skills would clue people in, but no one would be CERTAIN, and that¡¯s what matters. He can just say it wasn¡¯t him, fence the necklace, never show himself with it, boom. ? CH 1430 Hongming Ring (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Strength: +2,400 Stamina: +2,340 Agility: +2,300 Intelligence: +2,250 Tactics: +99 Effect: Shapeshift. When attacking a target, there is a 5% chance to transform them into a small zombie that cannot attack or defend themselves for 7 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds. Passive: Increases user¡¯s physical attack power by 50% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist by 45% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 20,000 Level Requirement: 230 Luck Requirement: 25 ¡­¡­ I weighed the heavy ring in my hand before saying, "This isn¡¯t a Ghost Armament, but it¡¯s almost as impressive as one. It adds a lot of Attack and Defense and gives the user a chance to transform their target into a useless little zombie. Is there anyone who wants this?" He Yi shook her head. "No, I¡¯m fine¡­" Beiming raised the Xuanming Bow and said, "I¡¯ll take it if no one wants it. I like that Shapeshift ability!" "Okay!" It was no super-tier, one-of-a-kind ring, so I gave it to Beiming Xue immediately and continued to check out the rest of the equipment. They weren¡¯t worth mentioning though. Most of them except one mid-level Immortal-grade cape that I gave to Pure Love were stuff you sell at the market. There was a Rank 16 Dragonstone Gem that I rolled to embed into my Guardian Dragon Armor and increase its Defense by another 5%, but that was it. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle¡­ We stepped out of the tomb and into the snowy land once more. We couldn¡¯t see too far because it was snowing everywhere. "It looks like no one has discovered the Sovereign Rank boss''s coordinates yet." I patted away the snow on my shoulder and said, "This particular map is much smaller than Crossroads Valley. When the Sovereign Rank boss is found, I bet that everyone across the map will hear of it in no time. Anyway, let¡¯s move onto the next necropolis. The experience here is good enough that everyone should be Level 240 or higher by the time we¡¯re done clearing out all 99 necropoleis." "Mn mn!" The girls nodded in unison. I steered the Ancient Divine Dragon to fly at a low altitude. A short while later, I abruptly descended atop a pack of Level 311 fiend-rank corpse eaters and struck them. Hello, experience bags! "Roar roar¡­" The corpse eaters swayed their ugly heads left and right as they pounced toward me. They dealt between 3,000 to 20,000 damage per hit, which was nowhere enough to threaten me. So, I sat in the middle of dozens of corpse eaters and attacked them. Outside the ring of mobs, He Yi fired Stormwind Break that caused a bunch of corpse eaters to change targets and charge toward her. However, I fired a timely Ancient Seal and pulled them back to me once more. Suddenly, a couple of dark magi in black robes emerged from the distance while chanting some sort of spells. Then, they waved their scepters and fired black dragons at my Cyan Dragon Shield. I wasn¡¯t expecting to find such deadly mobs within this necropolis at all. What the hell were they? 272,873! 282,767! 253,744! ¡­¡­ "Damn, it hurts!" I swore. "Sis, don¡¯t let me die. Can someone tell me what is up with those black mages? How are they doing so much damage?" He Yi had already flown her Snow Crystal Dragon up to the three mages and captured their threats with a Stormwind Slash. At the same time, Beiming Xue narrowed her eyes before reporting, "Big bro, those mobs are actually Level 311 Ancient Immortal Rank minibosses. That¡¯s why they¡¯re doing so much damage to you. Their name is ¡®Dark Magus¡¯." I nodded. "I see 11 Dark Magi approaching our location. I¡¯ll lock one down with the God Binding Art, and Eve will keep three of them busy. Beiming, Little Xin, the two of you will be the damage dealers of this fight. Follow me to catch them in a pincer attack. Let¡¯s mow them down one by one and as quickly as we can, or there¡¯s a real chance we may lose here, which would be very embarrassing. Sis will heal me, and Beauty Guanyue will heal Eve. Now, let¡¯s go!" The girls nodded and went into action. Beiming Xue stunned one of the mobs with Shock Arrow before executing Evil Spirit Volley + Armor Breaking Arrow at the leftmost Dark Magus. Lian Xin followed up the attack with an Ice Spiral Matrix + Dimensional Storm + Touch of the Dragonkiss combo of her own. As for me, after locking down a Dark Magus with God Binding Art, I immediately fired Ancient Seal and Myriad Swords Obliteration at the miniboss. Then, I stabbed it in the chest and pulled out a bunch of rotten organs and a huge chunk of its HP as I withdrew the blade. Bang bang bang¡­ I stomped the ground with War Crush, killed the dozen or so corpse eaters around me and restored myself to full HP. Right after that, I pressed my palm against the ground and cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon, sending both the corpse eaters and the dark magi into the air. If nothing else, the damage numbers rising from their bodies were very pleasing to look at. Unfortunately, the minibosses didn¡¯t go down nearly as quickly as the corpse eaters, and their incessant magic attacks kept me at 25% HP or so. Worse, another 5 Dark Magi chose this moment to spawn nearby. This was going to be dicey. He Yi glanced at the group of newly spawned minibosses and said, "There are too many minibosses. Should we ask Li Chengfeng¡¯s party to help us? They¡¯re close enough." I shook my head. "No, Chengfeng¡¯s party is fighting a boss, remember? We¡¯ll do this ourselves!" While saying this, I cast Cold of the Nine Provinces that froze all the minibosses and allowed us to get a lot of healing and damage done. After the first miniboss finally went down to my Burning Blade Slash, I shouted, "Little Xin, get ready to freeze that group of 7 with Frozen Domain! Don¡¯t get one-shot okay?" "Don¡¯t worry, big bro!" Lian Xin hadn¡¯t been a newbie for a very long time. In fact, her game knowledge and control had reached super-tier already. She probably would¡¯ve known what to do even if I hadn¡¯t given her any instructions. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t easy juggling this many minibosses at once, but the pressure lessened to manageable levels especially after we killed the eighth Dark Magus. Long story short, He Yi, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and I focused down a miniboss as quickly as we could while Murong Mingyue and Pure Love kept us healthy. Forty minutes later, we took out all 17 minibosses and countless corpse eaters. When I went to pick up the mages¡¯ loot, I abruptly realized that we were fighting at the intersection point of at least 9 necropoleis. No wonder so many minibosses and corpse eaters had spawned in this one area. I bent down and picked up a black-colored card dropped by one of the Dark Magi. Then, I flicked it into Lian Xin¡¯s hands with a smile. "Use this, Little Xin. It¡¯s great for DPSing¡­" Lian Xin shot it a glance and felt her girlish heart quicken. "Uh, great doesn¡¯t even begin to describe this, big bro." Dark Magus Card: Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 150%, and reduces spell casting time by 45%. Level Requirement: 230. Luck Requirement: 20. Duration: 180 minutes. Beiming Xue picked up the rest of the cards from the ground before saying, "There are 11 Dark Magus Cards in total. Sister Xin should be able to use them continuously!" I nodded. "Yes, we¡¯re at the ruins that kickstarted this entire event. Unless the devs are hiding more surprises from us, I suspect that we¡¯re close to the endgame of this March of Chaos event. Rather than saving them for another day, you should use them now as earn as much contribution points as possible." Swhoosh! Lian Xin obeyed my advice and buffed herself with a Dark Magus Card immediately. ¡­¡­ We continued forward and took out another 3 necropoleis. The girls earned a juicy amount of experience, and I absorbed an equally juicy amount of undead soul sparks. Four hours had passed since we logged into the game, and the interface indicated that there were less than 14 necropoleis left on the map. The rumored Sovereign Rank boss still hadn¡¯t shown up though. I bet a lot of people were growing impatient and wondering if the rumor was fake after all. Beep! It was at this moment I received a message from Stranger of Three Lifetimes. "Lu Chen, where are you?" "We¡¯re at the center of the 99 necropoleis. What¡¯s wrong, Momo?" "The Sovereign Rank boss has appeared!" "Where is it?" "It just spawned at coordinates (33327, 21727). Pop Culture is grinding there, and Lone Moonshade has engaged the boss with less than 100 players. We¡¯re waiting for them to die because there¡¯s no chance they¡¯re going to hold out for long. Come as soon as you can. The situation will spiral out of our hands if we cannot kill this boss before the other guilds show up. You are aware that Sovereign Rank bosses have a high chance of dropping Ghost Armaments. It would not do if a foreigner were to get their hands on one." "Understood. We¡¯re coming over right now!" ¡­¡­ I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and pulled Pure Love up with me. Then, I said seriously, "Girls, get on your mounts and prepare to take off to coordinates (33327, 21727). The rumored Sovereign Rank boss has appeared, and we need to kill it before the other guilds show up. Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Eyes Like Water are watching the boss right now, but they won¡¯t be able to do much by themselves!" While saying this, I messaged Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Lin Yixin and Chaos Moon and asked them to show up at the coordinates as well. Of course, I didn¡¯t ask them to bring their entire party with them. It was just a boss contest. An army of millions might not necessarily do better than a party of elites. Snowflakes as big as goose feathers smashed incessantly against my head. I should be feeling cold from a snowstorm this bad, but the news of the Sovereign Rank boss lit a bonfire in my heart. A Sovereign Rank boss had a chance to drop a Ghost Armament. No way I was going to let it slip through my grasp. Six out of the Twelve Divine Armaments had already been unearthed, so many people had accepted the reality that they would never get one. However, there were a lot more Ghost Armaments than there were Twelve Divine Armaments, and one only needed to look at the Heaven Suppressing Necklace, Crimson Dragon Arm, Soul Shocker Bell and more to know just how good they could be. That was why Warsky, Wang Dongliang, Candlelight Shadow and more all believed that Ghost Armaments were the key to supremacy. The contest for Ghost Armaments might very well be fiercer than even the contest for Divine Armaments! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The Ancient Divine Dragon passed through a thick cloud of snow and stopped just above a small mountain ridge. On the ground, a massive figure that was clearly the Sovereign Rank boss was roaring and doing battle against a dozen or so Pop Culture players. It didn¡¯t take a keen eye to see that Pop Culture was about to be wiped. CH 1431 The snow grew bigger and bigger. It was to the point where the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s forehead was covered up by a thin layer of snow. After it was done shaking off the snow, I shifted to a more comfortable position on its back and asked, "Should we head down and help?" He Yi pouted. "Pop Culture helped Candle Dragon attack us. There¡¯s no way I¡¯m helping them fight the boss!" I smiled. "You misunderstood me. I mean we help the boss fuck up Pop Culture¡­" He Yi: "..." ¡­¡­ Beiming Xue narrowed her eyes for a moment before blinking away the snowflakes that became attached to her eyelashes. She said, "It doesn¡¯t look like we need to act. Look, a large group of people are closing in on the boss¡­" "Oh?" We looked. A huge troop of elite cavalrymen was rushing out of the thick snow with their weapons at the ready. Their guild emblem was a dragon¡¯s head. It was none other than Purgatory Mad Dragon. "Roar roar¡­" The roar of Mad Leopards filled the air. Leading the way was Ray of Sunshine on his Cloud Devil Panther. A powerful weapon in his grip and the Heaven Suppressing Necklace glowing red and golden around his neck, he declared with a small but confident smile, "Looks like this boss is ours, guild leader!" (Author¡¯s Note: Earlier, I stated that Ray of Sunshine¡¯s mount is an Ink Qilin. That was definitely a mistake, and I¡¯m fix ing it here. Much apologies.) Beside him, Wang Dongliang replied with a smirk of his own, "Yes. Form up and prepare to attack! Brother Chao, can you tell your men to come over as soon as possible and post another 20,000 players at the entrance in case Dark Mercenaries show up? Also, we should message Warsky Alliance Little Piglet¡¯s coordinates and leave Warsky and Farewell Song to deal with Little Piglet for us. That idiot thinks he can destroy us? Hmph!" Roaming Dragon sneered, "Tch! Who the hell does Little Piglet think he is? He¡¯s just one of the many dogs Vienna¡¯s Sorrow raised in the outer lands. He bites whoever his master orders him to bite. Take revenge for Shangguan Wan¡¯er? That¡¯s a baldfaced lie if I ever saw one. His true goal is to build an army of his own in the outer lands and call himself king. In fact, I dare say that he plotted this for a long time now¡­ hmph. For love? I suppose that Shangguan Wan¡¯er was tight enough to leave an impression¡­" Wang Dongliang frowned, and Profound Puff clenched his fists furiously. "Motherfucker¡­" "Calm down, Puff!" It took a stern rebuke from Wang Dongliang before the priest finally unclenched his fists. Purgatory Mad Dragon had no idea we were watching them from the hills. Technically speaking, both sides were within visible distance, but they had to look up to see us. No one was going to do that while a snowstorm was going on. So far, it looked like Purgatory Mad Dragon was nowhere as united as they would like the outsiders believed them to be. Shangguan Wan¡¯er used to be one of Hegemon Palace¡¯s central pillars until that terrible incident. Although Hegemon Palace ultimately chose self-interest over friendship, they weren¡¯t robots after all. Profound Puff obviously found it difficult to swallow Lu Chao¡¯s casual insult of his former comrade, and even Wang Dongliang looked like he was just holding his temper because of their business relationship. Otherwise, there would¡¯ve been a fallout already. ¡­¡­ Chiang! Wang Dongliang abruptly unsheathed his weapon and declared, "Go! Don¡¯t leave a single Pop Culture player behind! Oh, but leave Lone Moonshade for me to kill!" The moment the order was given, Ray of Sunshine Charged and skewered Lone Moonshade from behind, stunning him. The snowstorm gave him only a visibility range of a dozen or so meters, so he wasn¡¯t expecting to be ambushed from the back at all. The guild leader slowly turned back and saw Ray of Sunshine. "You again, Purgatory Mad Dragon!?" Lone Moonshade uttered with hateful eyes, "Just you wait! One day, I¡¯m going to slaughter you all!" Ray of Sunshine snorted. "You¡¯re just one of Candle Dragon¡¯s dogs, a disobedient dog no less. Forget Candlelight Shadow, I bet even you don¡¯t value yourself. Your guild is so useless that it¡¯s beneath us to declare war on you, so just die already." Swhoosh! Right after he finished, Wang Dongliang hit Lone Moonshade with a Charge and stabbed him in the stomach with Barrier Break. A massive damage number rose above the guild leader¡¯s head, and he was dead just like that¡ª 294,377! After Lone Moonshade died, a group of archers focused the last few Pop Culture players at the scene down. Boom! Suddenly, a heavy axe smashed into Wang Dongliang¡¯s back and sent him stumbling a couple of steps forward. He was a Level 231 cavalryman called "Devouring Holy Emperor", and he had struck Wang Dongliang with Blazing Slash that dealt 210k damage. The brawny man said furiously, "Wang Dongliang, you human trash! I won¡¯t forget today! One day, my brothers and I will settle the score with you!" Wang Dongliang chuckled, and Ray of Sunshine fired Dragon Flame Flurry that instantly dropped the cavalryman to just 20% HP. While turning away to escape, he said, "Where there''s life, there''s hope. We will meet again!" "Seriously?" Coldmoon Rose jumped off Roaming Dragon¡¯s thigh and grabbed an arrow from her back. After she stunned the escaping cavalryman with Shock Arrow, Iron Pardon Charged him and unleashed a triple-hit combo. With that, Pop Culture was officially wiped from the map. ¡­¡­ "Magic knight legion, tank the boss! Archers, mages, priests, form square formations and surround the boss from different directions! Let¡¯s go!" Wang Dongliang ordered loudly. Meanwhile, my Dark Pupils finally succeeded in penetrating the thick snow and capturing the boss''s stat screen. The Sovereign Rank boss was a six-armed monster that looked like half of its body was sewn together. It had two regular arms, two arms that were attached to its upper torso, and another two that were attached to its waist. It wore red battle armor, wielded two axes and two shields. All in all, it looked like the all-rounder type of boss. After it let out a furious roar, it swung its battle axes and charged straight into Purgatory Mad Dragon¡ª Forbidden Ground Devil Sovereign, Minotaur Knight (Sovereign Rank Boss) Level: 315 Attack: 59,000~83,500 Defense: 100,000 HP: 550,000,000 Skills: Sovereign Arrival, Twinblade Crush, Iron Shield Defense, Depravity of the Forbidden Ground Introduction: The leader of the ancient minotaur race. Knight was a hero of his race until one day, the undead invaded and defeated him and his elites in battle. His subordinates were decapitated and fed to the Corpse Eaters, but Knight was able to hold his ground in the forbidden ground and killed at least a dozen undead generals. In the end, it took the Purgatory Ruler Lin Na himself to finally subjugate him. Lin Na had torn his arms from his body and sewn the arms of a Doghead Devil to his body to humiliate him for eternity. Thankfully, Knight had already lost his soul by that point, so he couldn¡¯t feel the shame that Lin Na had subjected his body to. ¡­¡­ "Have you come to feed me, puny humans?" The minotaur boss glared hatefully at the Purgatory Mad Dragon players while attacking them with both axes. A Level 227 magic knight rushed up to the boss while saying, "I¡¯ll be the MT. Make sure to keep me healed!" However, a pair of bloody lights skewered the magic knight¡¯s shield and his body when the boss''s axes crossed the air. It was none other than the skill "Twinblade Crush¡±. The magic knight¡¯s eyes widened as a huge damage number rose above his head. He couldn¡¯t believe that he couldn¡¯t withstand even a single hit from the boss¡ª 3,792,773! It wasn¡¯t even a critical hit, so he couldn¡¯t claim that he had died because of bad luck. ¡­¡­ I watched the boss fight in silence. I had no doubt that Twinblade Crush was a skill that largely ignored the target¡¯s Defense because it had hit a magic knight for almost 4 million damage. Of course, the magic knight himself was more fragile than normal. If it was me, the skill would probably hit me for a million damage at most. It was definitely within my capability to endure. At the valley, Roaming Dragon ordered loudly, "We need a main tank! Ray of Sunshine cannot equip a shield, so he won¡¯t be able to tank the boss properly! Inconstant, you go! You just got a Level 230 Ancient Immortal-grade shield, so you should be able to take it on!" Inconstant Charged the boss without hesitation! Swhoosh! Amazingly, the boss was actually stunned by the Charge. An overjoyed Inconstant immediately dished out a triple-hit skill before it could recover, but¡ª 1,276! 987! 1,122! ¡­¡­ I nearly burst out in laughter when I saw the damage numbers. It took a lot of effort to contain myself. The moment the boss recovered, it roared and executed yet another Twinblade Crush. Crack! 2,784,099! Inconstant turned as white as a ghost. He was a 5-Stamina magic knight, and the boss still managed to drop him to less than 500k HP in one hit. I¡¯m guessing here, but it looked like his max HP was even lower than mine. When the Forbidden Ground Devil Sovereign struck out at Inconstant again, the Gemini Star shouted, "Sunshine, help me!" The Cloud Devil Panther roared, and Ray of Sunshine arrived just in time to parry the strike and save Inconstant¡¯s life. However, the boss was an all-rounder fighter. The moment its axe was blocked, it immediately executed a shield bash and knocked both Ray of Sunshine and his mount backward a couple of meters, dealing around 700k damage or so. The warrior turned white when he saw this. Wang Dongliang grew anxious. "Motherfucker! Priests! Where are the priests? We¡¯re going to have 300 priests focus all their healing on one person! No way this won¡¯t work!" ¡­¡­ I finally couldn¡¯t hold myself back any longer and commented, "OMG, my stomach is hurting so bad from all this hilarity. I can¡¯t wait to see the boss kill them¡­" Beiming Xue was also chuckling. "Yeah, I would be sorry for them if they weren¡¯t Purgatory Mad Dragon¡­" It was at this moment a smooth, milky hand clasped my shoulder, and a sweet voice said, "Hmph hmph, why didn¡¯t you guys message me that you were here? I was wondering why you guys haven¡¯t shown up yet on another hilltop¡­" CH 1432 I looked back and saw a female mage wearing a crimson mage robe with a low V-neck. Judging from its luster, I reckoned that the robe was at least Level 220 or higher and Ancient Immortal-grade. Of course, shinier than even the robe was the pair of bunnies capturing and melting snowflakes between the cleavage. Speaking of which, I should probably look away before it is too late. So I said, "Aren¡¯t you cold, Momo?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes looked at my armor and said, "A little. Why don¡¯t you give me your Guardian Dragon Armor and Sunchaser Cloak to keep me warm for a bit? Our Eyes Like Water is lacking equipment of this level anyway¡­" The corners of my mouth twitched. "Yeah, no. You can¡¯t freeze to death in the game anyway, so I would rather you continued to freeze." She giggled. "Anyway, add me and Eyes to your party already. This time, we¡¯ll steal the boss together!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I added the two girls but kept He Yi as the party leader because her Royal Road was the most useful Famous General Skill in this situation. While watching the boss fight in the valley, Stranger of Three Lifetimes asked, "So, when are we stopping Purgatory Mad Dragon?" I raised an eyebrow. "Why would we? We don¡¯t have to do anything at all!" "Explain?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes blinked. "Isn¡¯t it obvious?" I pointed at the rampaging boss in the valley. "Not only is this Forbidden Ground Devil Sovereign a Sovereign Rank boss, it¡¯s an all-rounder type that can both dish out the damage and tank for days. Those two shields alone add god knows how much Defense to the boss, and it has a total Defense of 100k. If you add in the bonuses it gets from being at a higher level and rank, I dare say that its effective Defense is at least 2 million or higher. Forget third-rate players like Inconstant, Iron Pardon and Wang Dongliang, not even their ace, Ray of Sunshine, may be able to penetrate the boss''s Defense!" He Yi giggled. "Come now, the Gemini Stars of Mad Dragon are at least second-rate players!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes agreed, "Yes, they¡¯re definitely second-rate. Still, it doesn¡¯t matter if they cannot penetrate the boss''s 100k Defense. Unless they have someone like Lu Chen or Beiming Xue who can reduce the boss''s Defense, this is obviously going to end in a disaster!" Murong Mingyue said, "Technically speaking, a priest can lower the boss''s Defense with a curse¡­" The corners of my mouth twitched again. "As if a 5% reduction is going to help them at all¡­" Eyes Like Water trotted up to us and asked, "So, we really just going to sit here and do nothing? Really?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes and I chuckled in perfect unison. "Why so hasty? Just be patient and wait until the boss is below 20% HP. It¡¯s not like we¡¯re the ones who¡¯re losing men¡­" Eyes Like Water rolled her eyes. "You¡¯re all devils¡­" ¡­¡­ A while later, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Lin Yixin, Chaos Moon and more hundred-man parties were camping on the hills and waiting for the boss to drop to an acceptable level of HP as well. The boss was a hot potato, and the ones who fought it first were destined to be bruised and battered. Not only that, countless vultures were observing and waiting for the opportunity to claim the boss for themselves. No one wanted to be in this position unless they couldn¡¯t help it. When Lu Buyi came, we joined all our parties together so that all 500+ of us could enjoy his Purple Dragon. When Lin Yixin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and more realized that his Purple Dragon now buffed all stats by 150%, they blurted, "Holy shit, Ancient Sword¡¯s tactician is OP as hell!" I hid a snicker. They would be even more surprised if I revealed to them exactly how broken Pure Love¡¯s buffs currently were. It was a guild secret though, so I kept my mouth shut even to Yiyi. That being said, they were all very intelligent women. I was sure that they could guess what kind of boons the Seven-string Yaoqin offered just by checking the Twelve Divine Armaments Ranking and noting that its owner was Pure Love. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment we heard a new chorus of hooves from a different direction. They must be pretty numerous considering that the entire valley was thundering with the noise! "Oh man, this is going to be exciting¡­" Lin Yixin said while rubbing her palms together with great enthusiasm. The big party that came bursting through the snow all had red names. They were Era of Strife, the second greatest guild of Japan, and they were led by their guild leader, Copper Spear. The man was only Level 221 because I had busted his ass twice with the Chains of Freedom, but I must admit that his leveling speed was quite impressive. He was back with a couple thousand Era of Strife players this time! "All units, charge formation! Take the boss from the enemy!" Copper said while laughing, "We¡¯re pretty lucky today! For once, only one trash Chinese guild is fighting a valuable boss! Take them out! Our reinforcements will show up very soon, so don¡¯t hold back!" Thousands of Era of Strife cavalrymen activated their Charges. It was quite the sight to say the least. Wang Dongliang glanced in Era of Strife¡¯s direction in annoyance. "Those motherfucking Japanese are causing trouble again. Mad Dragon magic knights, tank the boss for a moment. Ray of Sunshine, follow me to take out the idiots from Era of Strife. We¡¯ll take out their leader first!" Ray of Sunshine chuckled. "No problem!" Wang Dongliang, Ray of Sunshine and only a hundred cavalrymen counterattacked Era of Strife¡¯s thousands. Normally I would say that they had gone completely mad, but¡­ The moment Ray of Sunshine got close to Copper Spear, he immediately executed a Dragonflame Flurry + Crimson Flame Slash combo that deleted 70% of the latter¡¯s HP! "Dammit!" Copper Spear swore angrily and responded with a long-range sword aura, but Ray of Sunshine easily dodged out of the way. Era of Strife¡¯s players then attempted to lock down the Master Swordsman of Blaze with Trapping Nets, but again he dodged them all before closing in on Copper Spear and stabbing him in the chest with Barrier Break. Once again, the guild leader was knocked backward. "Retreat!" A shocked Copper Spear shouted after his HP had fallen below 10%. He never thought that a trash guild like Purgatory Mad Dragon would come to have a top-tier expert like Ray of Sunshine one day. Well, this one was totally his own fault. He should¡¯ve done his research. "You think you can escape?" Ray of Sunshine¡¯s chuckle sounded like it came from the King of Hell himself. The next moment, Rise of Fire Dragon burst out of the snow beneath Copper Spear and threw him into the air. Even with War God Recovery, Copper Spear hadn¡¯t recovered nearly enough HP to tank the skill in its entirety. Just in case the guild leader got lucky though, Ray of Sunshine cast his Shadow Breaker to stun him! Bang! 391,474! Copper Spear shuddered and died just like that. He also dropped a pair of legguards. ¡­¡­ On the hills, I shook my head in pity. "I don¡¯t understand why Era of Strife even came here. To donate equipment? Poor Copper Spear¡­" He Yi nodded. "Yes, he¡¯s an easily wounded man¡­" Lin Yixin said, "He¡¯s still better than Laughing At The Heavens though. He dies literally every time he shows up, and he¡¯s a CGL Hall of Famer no less¡­" Me: "..." Stranger of Three Lifetimes asked, "Era of Strife¡¯s departure is sure to attract more foreign guilds. Should we make a move soon?" I nodded in agreement before ordering, "Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, mobilize all nearby Ancient Sword players and have 100k players secure both sides of this valley. I expect the blockade to be done in 30 minutes tops. This boss belongs to us and no one else!" Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon nodded in unison. "Understood! We¡¯ll get it done right away!" Lin Yixin smiled approvingly at my decision. "This is how the number one guild of China should act!" I nodded with determination. "Yeah. Just this once, we¡¯ll be forceful and beat down anyone who dares to challenge us. We¡¯re not backing down even if Cyan Beast, Hero Alliance, Throne of the Wild and more were to gang up on us. We are close to the final stretch of the March of Chaos event anyway! We may as well take them all out and boost our server¡¯s morale for the next Nation War!" My declaration excited High Fighting Spirits, Gui Guzi and more Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players. They all clenched their fists and chanted, "Together with Dreaming Souls, our Ancient Sword paves the way! We will prove that our cavalry is unrivaled in Heavenblessed!" ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, the foreign forces arrived even sooner than we had expected. The Sovereign Rank boss was like a delicious mountain-sized cake that caught the attention of every living creature within tens of kilometers. Very soon, Tear Stain¡¯s several thousand Throne of the Wild players and Shogunate¡¯s 10,000 Asuka Period players had shown up at the valley. Not even the terrible snowstorm was strong enough to cover up the smoke of war. Meanwhile, Purgatory Mad Dragon was still fighting the boss¡ªactually, it was more of the other way around¡ªto little effect. That wasn¡¯t to say that their efforts were completely useless though. The Forbidden Ground Devil Sovereign had dropped to 70% HP or so thanks to the mages¡¯ DPS. Wang Dongliang growled, "Dammit, the Japanese and Koreans are here already! Brother Chao, are your people here yet? We need to organize our defense soon!" Roaming Dragon assured, "Relax, we have 70k people in the valley already. In fact, they¡¯re organizing the defense line right now. You just can¡¯t see them because the snowstorm is too strong!" Wang Dongliang perked up a little. "That¡¯s great news! This will be the battle to truly make Purgatory Mad Dragon famous!" For those without a vision skill, they could only hear the sounds of shields smashing against the frosted ground. As for me, Dark Pupils had an effective range of 500 yards or so in this snow, so I could see a ton of Purgatory Mad Dragon players forming a wide circle around the boss. There were at least 50k mages and archers within the circle as well. Purgatory Mad Dragon was going all out for this boss. "Let the grandchildren come!" Ray of Sunshine laughed arrogantly from the forefront of the formation. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Throne of the Wild and Asuka Period had joined forces to form a massive party of 15k cavalrymen or so. Then, they charged Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s defense formation together! Both Tear Stain and Shogunate were very worried. The reason they came to an agreement and launched an assault so quickly was because they knew that they didn¡¯t have nearly enough men to defeat a fully fortified enemy, even one as shitty as Purgatory Mad Dragon. The enemy mages and archers would easily obliterate their 15k men if they were given the time to completely set up their formation. Cavalrymen were powerful, but not so much in a positional warfare and definitely not as cannon fodders. Unfortunately, they were still too late. Purgatory Mad Dragon was the early bird, so they were able to keep the boss busy with about 10,000 players and secure the valley with about 100,000 players. ¡­¡­ The battle had already begun, but the snowstorm was too strong for us to see the whole picture. The air stank of fresh blood, however. Thirty minutes later, the green dots (Purgatory Mad Dragon) in my map screen only decreased by a little, while the red dots (Throne of the Wild and Asuka Period) bled numbers at a steady rate. It was clear that their temporary alliance had ended in failure. "It¡¯s time, people!" I abruptly rose to my feet and pulled Guanyue up my dragon. Everyone else also got onto their mounts and made a beeline for Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s formation. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, a small group of Asuka Period and Throne of the Wild players were retreating to the right side of the valley. Tear Stain was riding a huge horse and pulling out the arrows stuck to her arm while muttering, "Dammit, their firepower is too strong. We need reinforcements as soon as possible!" Her vice leader nodded. "Don¡¯t worry, our 30k cavalrymen are only ten minutes away from here!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a voice spoke from behind the snow. "Do you really think you can leave this place alive in this state?" "Who is it?" Tear Stain A group of cavalrymen burst out of the snow, and they were led by none other than Little Piglet. The Crimson Dragon Arm burned around his wrist as the man smirked. "Looks like today¡¯s the day I teach Candlelight Shadow¡¯s impudent junior sister a lesson. Kill them, brothers and sisters! We¡¯ll eliminate Tear Stain first, Purgatory Mad Dragon second, and the boss last!" CH 1433 "Dark Mercenaries, kill!" Little Piglet charged toward Throne of the Wild¡¯s right wing right after he gave the simple order. His Ice Blade Shatter scored a critical hit on a magic knight and one-shot them immediately. A couple of cavalrymen tried to retaliate with Barrier Break, but he was able to weave his way in between them and dodged them all. Suddenly, a pair of bloody wings spread out behind his back as he growled, "Come, Ice and Fire! Work with me to instakill Tear Stain!" Song of Ice and Fire galloped into the open with a giant axe in his hands and a smirk on his face. "Sure! Tear Stain is Candlelight Shadow¡¯s junior sister, and I¡¯m happy to do anything that makes Candlelight Shadow unhappy! Ringwraith, join us! Don¡¯t give Tear Stain any chance to escape. God Bone, you know what to do!" Swhoosh! There was a flash, and the eighth-promotion undead mage, Ringwraith, Blinked to the front of his formation and cast his Bone Cage at Tear Stain. "Tsk¡­" Tear Stain pulled at the reins and was able to dodge the CC skill with ease. However, Ringwraith then proceeded to cast his ultimate skill, Night of the Undead Dragon. The ground beneath her feet quaked ominously! "Dammit!" Tear Stain¡¯s complexion turned green, but she didn¡¯t hesitate to Charge away from the skill and straight into Ringwraith. After the undead mage was stunned, she dished out a lightning-fast Barrier Break + Quadruple Slash combo that only took her 0.2 seconds to execute. After Ringwraith¡¯s Frost Bone Shield was destroyed, she stabbed him through the chest with Barrier Break! Puchi! 482,773! The flurry skill from before had already deleted some of Ringwraith¡¯s HP, so he had no chance of surviving the skill. Although Tear Stain managed to kill Ringwraith, she had practically delivered herself into the hands of the Iron Cutter Cavalry. In other words, she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Gritting her teeth with resolve, she abruptly activated Heavenly River Transformation and raised her sword high up in the air. She then cast her SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Yemaek Slash at the incoming God Bone and stunned him before he could cast his Bloodbreak Slash. The Iron Cutter Cavalry behind him were stunned for 3 seconds as well. "Now, Seven!" As Little Piglet cut toward Tear Stain at a slanted angle, Shock Arrow appeared out of nowhere and struck the beautiful guild leader squarely on the chest. It successfully stunned her for 2.7 seconds [1]. Tear Stain turned purple. It was because she knew what the 2.7 seconds entailed. Clop clop clop¡­ Little Piglet made a big turn before skidding to a stop. Then, he fired the S Rank Ancient Divine Skill that even I hadn¡¯t seen him using until now, the Divine Arms Slash at Tear Stain. Song of Ice and Fire was also activating Heavenly River Transformation and shooting his SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Gonggong¡¯s Furious Strike, at the guild leader. 982,771! 1,126,354! Two Ancient Divine Skills later, Tear Stain was sitting next to no health at all. Still stunned, she could only glare impotently at her attackers. Finally, Little Piglet rode up to Tear Stain and targeted her weapon with his Crimson Dragon Arm. He let out a chuckle and said, "Sorry!" Buzz! The Devour effect of the Crimson Dragon Arm gave its user a 100% critical chance. Therefore, Little Piglet¡¯s last strike dealt over 900k damage and absolutely destroyed Tear Stain¡¯s final sliver of HP. After she let out a groan and dropped dead, her sword appeared in Little Piglet¡¯s hand. Thud! Little Piglet shot Song of Ice and Fire a glance before tossing the weapon to him. "Here. The Vast Sky Sword is an eight star Outstanding Ancient Immortal-grade weapon with a max Attack of 15k. It¡¯s perfect for you!" Song of Ice and Fire equipped the weapon without hesitation and smiled. "Thank you, guild leader. Now, what are we going to do next?" "We will clear out the remnants of Throne of the Wild and Asuka Period and hunt both Purgatory Dragon and the boss before Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ Dragonlight Cavalry can form their encirclement. We will become the final victor of this battle!" Little Piglet declared with absolute confidence. Song of Ice and Fire nodded. "Understood." Little Piglet glanced at Ringwraith¡¯s body and said in an apologetic tone, "It¡¯s too bad Ringwraith still lost a level. Sorry." However, God Bone replied in an easy-going manner, "It¡¯s fine. One level for Tear Stain¡¯s level and her main weapon. It is absolutely a worthwhile trade no matter how you look at it. Now, let us continue. Ringwraith has a skill that allows him to perform a long-range teleportation, so he¡¯ll be rejoining us in 15 minutes at most!" Little Piglet nodded. "Very well. Let us kill!" ¡­¡­ Together with God Bone, Song of Ice and Fire, and a troop of elite Iron Cutter Cavalrymen, Little Piglet dismantled Throne of the Wild and Asuka Period¡¯s defense line in just a couple of minutes and reached the edge of Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s formation. "Roar roar roar¡­" Meanwhile, Minotaur Knight the Forbidden Devil Sovereign was still slaughtering Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s players like it was the protagonist, and they were trash mobs blocking his way to glory. Purgatory Mad Dragon had always had a ton of players, but even they couldn¡¯t afford to lose them at this rate. Wang Dongliang¡¯s scalp tingled with fear when he saw the sea of Dark Mercenaries Iron Cutter Cavalry swarming toward his location. "Fuck, that bastard is going to strike us sooner than expected¡­" Profound Puff looked at Roaming Dragon and said, "Brother Lu Chao, why don¡¯t we fight the boss for now, and you guys split part of your forces to handle Dark Mercenaries?" Iron Pardon said in a hurry, "Why should we? Dark Mercenaries¡¯ Iron Cutter Cavalry is incredibly powerful. There¡¯s no way we can handle them by ourselves!" Profound Puff narrowed his eyes. "This is YOUR mess. You SHOULD handle it yourself." Wang Dongliang didn¡¯t say anything. His silence was itself an agreement with Profound Puff¡¯s words. ¡­¡­ Shing¡­ Roaming Dragon slowly unsheathed his sword before declaring, "Sure, we can do it. We need Ray of Sunshine though. He¡¯s the only one who can suppress Little Piglet and Song of Ice and Fire. Why the fuck is Ice and Fire and his elites helping Dark Mercenaries anyway? I thought they were the generals of Soul Battle Robes. Those shameless bastards. A bit of money is all it took to make them switch loyalties. Pooh!" Wang Dongliang nodded before saying to Ray of Sunshine, "Help out the defense and defeat Dark Mercenaries, Sunshine. We¡¯ll keep the boss busy until you¡¯re done killing Little Piglet and Song of Ice and Fire!" Ray of Sunshine smirked arrogantly and declared, "Don¡¯t worry. It will take 30 minutes at most!" Roaming Dragon was smirking as well. "Let¡¯s go. Archers and mages, go all out while our cavalrymen are stalling for you. They only have cavalry, so this battle is weighed in our favor. So what if they have the Iron Cutter Cavalry? Not only did they have to beg the Northern Alliance to get these mounts, they are still no match for the power of the Center! Let¡¯s defeat Dark Mercenaries here and make ourselves even more famous!" ¡­¡­ The defense line was formed quickly. Countless Purgatory Mad Dragon cavalrymen planted their shields in front of themselves. Thundering hooves shattered the silence of the snowy lands. Little Piglet and Song of Ice and Fire were at the forefront of the charge. Soul Battle Robes¡¯ generals aside, nearly everyone in the main guild of Dark Mercenaries were former Purgatory Mad Dragon players who left the China server because their own guild had subjected their leader, Little Piglet to great injustice. Therefore, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that this group of Iron Cutter Cavalrymen was fully driven by hatred and the thirst for vengeance. They weren¡¯t the only ones who were charging Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s defense line, however. Our cavalry were launching an attack on the other wing as well! As I closed in on Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s defense line, I fired three Ancient Seals and Burning Blade Slash that deleted most of the defenders directly in front of me. The Purgatory Mad Dragon players stared at me in shock, and the defenders who ran forward to fill in the holes in the defense widened their eyes like saucers. "What the fuck! Why is Ancient Sword here?!" "Move faster! We need to hold our ground somehow!" While the defenders were panicking, I raised my sword and shouted on top of my lungs, "Our target this time is Purgatory Mad Dragon only! Don¡¯t attack Dark Mercenaries unless they attack you!" At the distance, Little Piglet also raised his own sword and shouted, "Don¡¯t attack any other guild besides Purgatory Mad Dragon! Those who disobey will be kicked out of the guild immediately!" ¡­¡­ Our shouts chilled the hearts of the defenders even more. It was clear as day that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Dark Mercenaries were going to work together to slaughter them all. Relying on his powerful Defense and resistances to keep him alive, Little Piglet plowed right into Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s defense line and cast his Ice Breaking Slash. Combined with Song of Ice and Fire¡¯s Splitting Heaven and Earth, the two skills were able to kill about a hundred Purgatory Mad Dragon cavalrymen instantly. However, the Iron Cutter Cavalrymen were dying even faster to the defenders¡¯ storm of arrows and magic. In positional warfare, the defenders always had the advantage, especially when the attacker only had a mobile strike force. Suddenly, Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s defense line opened to admit Ray of Sunshine. Sword wreathed in flames, he Charged Song of Ice and Fire while shouting, "Still remember me, Dawning Wind Waning Moon?!" Song of Ice and Fire might have passed his prime some time ago, but he was still a great expert. He moved his mount two steps backward to dodge the Charge and Barrier Break-ed Ray of Sunshine for massive damage! 592,872! Next, he followed up with Frozen Flurry. It was a skill with a huge chance to freeze the opponent! However, Ray of Sunshine was prepared for this. The moment Frozen Flurry came out, he immediately moved sideways while buffed his movement speed with Dance of Conflagration. He was able to cancel the attack with a well-timed and well-placed Shadow Breaker. "Just die already!" A bit annoyed, Song of Ice and Fire activated Heavenly River Transformation again and cast Gong Gong¡¯s Furious Strike! Bang! 1,147,288! Ray of Sunshine shuddered from the impact and lost around half his HP. Then, Little Piglet¡¯s Ice Breaking Slash hit him as well and dropped him to less than a million HP. Stern-faced, Ray of Sunshine commanded his Cloud Devil Panther to slam into Song of Ice and Fire while he executed a Dragon Flame Flurry. Song of Ice and Fire managed to parry one hit, but the other two hits landed successfully¡ª 528,722! +528,722! 672,151! +672,151! MISS! +0! ¡­¡­ Song of Ice and Fire nearly crushed his own teeth when he saw that Ray of Sunshine was almost back at full health. "Are you fucking kidding me? This Heaven Suppressing Necklace is way too OP!" 1. T/N: wow, she had HRT turned on and still got stunned in one shot? Talk about unlucky. Also, don¡¯t all projectiles slow down within one¡¯s Domain? This seems to suggest that she had turned it off right after using her ADS, but that seems retarded and she¡¯s one of the smarter characters in the story ? Bookmark CH 1434 Little Piglet rammed into Ray of Sunshine¡¯s back with a Barbaric Slam before executing an Ice Ray Flurry + Ice Blade Shatter combo. A cold gleam in his eyes, he closed in on Ray of Sunshine while shouting, "So what if he has 100% lifesteal? It doesn¡¯t matter if you can one-shot him[1]!" Rustle rustle rustle¡­ Ray of Sunshine smirked while moving backward on his Cloud Devil Panther. "Your technique is good, but do you really think you can one-shot me, Little Piglet? Dream on!" The Master Swordsman of Blaze abruptly turned his wrist and threw himself backward. He was too late to dodge the Ice Ray Flurry, but not so late that he couldn¡¯t parry the Ice Blade Shatter. This was unexpected to Little Piglet because Ray of Sunshine hadn¡¯t been this good the last time he fought him. His equipment was super-tier, but now his skill was almost super-tier as well. No wonder Purgatory Mad Dragon was able to make a comeback. Little Piglet was still better than Ray of Sunshine though. He raised his leg and scored a free kick at the warrior¡¯s stomach. Bang! 72,772! While Ray of Sunshine was stumbling backward, he struck out with both his sword and his left fist and successfully destroyed Ray of Sunshine¡¯s Guard stance completely. Then, he landed a devastating Ice Breaking Slash on Ray of Sunshine¡¯s neck! Boom! 1,290,998! It was a critical hit, but Little Piglet was still nowhere close to killing Ray of Sunshine. The warrior wasn¡¯t fighting alone, and at least a hundred priests were healing the sonuvabitch. The damage Little Piglet worked so hard to dish out was quickly undone by them. After Ray of Sunshine had steadied himself, he immediately abandoned his mounts nd launched a counterattack. Still boosted by his Dance of Conflagration, he was able to knee away Little Piglet¡¯s own Guard stance before landing a Dragon Flame Flurry + Dragon Flame Slash combo. Metallic sparks flew everywhere as Little Piglet¡¯s HP hit rock bottom, and Ray of Sunshine returned to full health. This was always going to happen until Little Piglet found a way to one-shot the warrior. Eyes blazing with killing intent, Ray of Sunshine uttered, "Is that it, Little Piglet? How can you take revenge for your woman and yourself if this is all you''ve got? Just return to the outer lands and be the king of trash you¡¯re meant to be! The main cities of the Center don¡¯t welcome you!" Even more hatred and endurance entered Little Piglet¡¯s eyes when he heard this. After he pulled away from Ray of Sunshine, he abruptly activated his Heavenly River Transformation and cast his S Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Divine Arms Slash! Boom! 987,237! Little Piglet shouted at the same time Ray of Sunshine lost a huge chunk of HP, "Now, Ice and Fire, God Bone!" Song of Ice and Fire activated his SS Rank Gong Gong¡¯s Furious Strike, while God Bone executed a Charge + Bloodbreak Slash + Coldblood Flurry combo! Bang bang bang¡­ This was the trump card Dark Mercenaries¡¯ top players had worked out to one-shot the unkillable tank, Ray of Sunshine! They would kill him with two Ancient Divine Skills and God Bone¡¯s suicide attack! "What?" Ray of Sunshine nearly turned green. Not even the Instant Heals from the priests were fast enough to save him. Panicking, Ray of Sunshine struck a nearby low-rank Iron Cutter Cavalryman with Crimson Flame Slash + Barrier Break combo! [2] Puchi! 892,763! +892,763! 871,262! +871,262! ¡­¡­ The Heaven Suppressing Necklace¡¯s OP effect was displayed in full effect at this moment. Right before Ray of Sunshine would¡¯ve been one-shot, the necklace absorbed nearly 1.6 million HP and put him at the 50% mark. Thud! After Ray of Sunshine survived the attack, he immediately grabbed God Bone¡¯s spear to prevent him from escaping while healing himself with Dragon Flame Recovery. Then, he struck out three times with Dragon Flame Flurry that almost ignored the Defense granted by Iron Bone Armor and sent the Iron Knight flying across the air. The Strength gap between the two combatants was bigger than expected. Finally, Ray of Sunshine pressed his palm against the snow, cast Rise of Fire Dragon and threw Shadow Breaker at God Bone! Bang bang bang¡­ God Bone was famous for being a super tank in Soul Battle Robes, but even he couldn¡¯t tank three of Ray of Sunshine¡¯s skills and survive. He was dead before he hit the floor! ¡­¡­ "God Bone!" Song of Ice and Fire shouted in anger. Even Little Piglet¡¯s sword was shaking a little. "Fuck! What else can we do to kill the fucker? His skillset and especially his equipment put him beyond our reach¡­" While Dark Mercenaries was at their wit¡¯s ends, the Dragonlight Cavalry were engaging the other wing side Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s shield formation in full force. Boom! Thousand Ice Slash froze a bunch of Purgatory Mad Dragon players. I was currently in Fusion Armor mode, running parallel along the battle line and leaving behind a trail of death when I saw Little Piglet and Song of Ice and Fire healing themselves slightly away from Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s battle line, and Ray of Sunshine taunting them with a most smug expression on his face, "What are you waiting for? Come get me if you have balls! This boss is Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s, and no one else is allowed to have it!" Swhoosh! I Charged straight toward him while yelling, "Is that so? Did you ask for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ permission first?" "Motherfucker!" Ray of Sunshine hurriedly climbed onto his Cloud Devil Panther before glaring at me with hateful eyes. "Don¡¯t think you¡¯re hot shit just because people call you the Little Heavenly King of Heavenblessed or whatever, Lu Chen! Today¡¯s the day I trample over your reputation[3]!" Instead of responding verbally, I thrust out the Chill of the Nine Provinces from a tricky angle! Chiang! Ray of Sunshine bent out of the way and pressed his blade against mine at the same time. It counted as a successful parry. However, the moment the parry took effect, I jump-kicked the Cloud Devil Panther right in the head and elicited a painful cry from the mount. It staggered backward together with its master. The nearby Iron Cutter Cavalrymen who saw this exclaimed in astonishment, "Holy shit, just how much Strength does the Little Heavenly King have? He actually knocked back Ray of Sunshine with a single kick!" My gaze had been affixed to the Heaven Suppressing Necklace since the start of the battle. It was the piece of equipment that had carried Ray of Sunshine to the throne of power, but this would come to an end. Today would be the day his legend would come to a screeching halt! While running at a slanted angle, I fired God Binding Art at Ray of Sunshine! "Fuck!" Ray of Sunshine hurriedly reined in his Cloud Devil Panther to dodge the attack. At the same time, he began channeling his Shadow Breaker. It only took him 0.15 seconds at most to cast the skill, and the shadow traveled fast enough that not even I was fast enough to dodge it after cast. Therefore, I decided to nullify the skill another way. Swhoosh! I gathered swirls of bloody energy around my left fist and executed the Magic Piercing Punch. The moment his Shadow Breaker ended prematurely to my skill, I immediately followed up with the Cold of the Nine Provinces! Crack crack¡­ The surrounding temperature suddenly became much colder as over 70% of the players nearby became frozen. Unfortunately, Ray of Sunshine got lucky and didn¡¯t get frozen by the skill[4]. He retaliated by shooting a Dragon Flame Flurry at me while roaring, "Die, Lu Chen!" It looked like I was running haphazardly across the snow, but I wasn¡¯t. I was correcting my balance while swinging both my sword and my shield where the attacks would land. Three gorgeous misses appeared in the air¡ª MISS! MISS! MISS! For an instant, Ray of Sunshine could only stare at the perfect parries in shock. Then, he gritted his teeth and bent down to use Rise of Fire Dragon! I saw this coming, so I immediately jumped forward and kneed him in the shoulder. At the same time, I dropped to one knee and cast my own Rise of the Guardian Dragon! Roar roar! The ground shook as both skills clashed against one another. Little Piglet and Dark Mercenaries had moved away to give me the fighting space I needed, and Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s shield formation was turned to shambles by my Rise of the Guardian Dragon. Neither side was able to do anything at all. There was basically no chance Ray of Sunshine could ever hope to kill me. However, it wasn¡¯t easy for me to kill him either. Even if I could nullify every hit he threw at me, there were still too many priests dropping their heals on him like crazy. ¡­¡­ I had a plan, however. While continuing to pressure Ray of Sunshine, I brought up my friend list, selected Moonlight Stone¡¯s ID and asked, "Do you see me, Moonlight?" "Mn. I see you¡¯re fighting against Ray of Sunshine. What¡¯s wrong?" "Have Gui Guzi protect you and make your way toward me. When I give you the signal, attack Ray of Sunshine with your Bleak Death and suppress his HP absorption. This man must die today!" "Roger that!" ¡­¡­ Pa! My boots kicked up snow for the nth time as I weaved in and out of an endless storm of arrow and magic and chased after Ray of Sunshine. Before anyone realized it, I was behind Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s defense line, and Ray of Sunshine was outside! "Come to me, bastard!" an 80%-HP Ray of Sunshine uttered angrily while his priests healed him back to full HP in no time. He didn¡¯t realize the danger, and I was only too happy to exploit his ignorance. I rushed toward him and swung my sword mightily! Chiang! Heavenly River Transformation greatly increased my Strength. As a result, I was able to send Ray of Sunshine and his mount flying away from his shield formation like a ball. "Now, Moonlight Stone!" Galaxy Storm dropped from the sky the moment I gave the signal! Bang! 312,363! A skull symbol appeared above Ray of Sunshine¡¯s head and prevented him from being healed for 30 seconds. It was the Bleak Death effect. The moment he saw the combat log, he whispered while his complexion turned a shade of deathly gray, "Oh no¡­" I tossed the Chill of the Nine Provinces at him! Puchi! 1,192,663! Coiling Dragon Revolution was as powerful as usual. Empowered by the Ancient Divine Dragon, I reached Ray of Sunshine before he could even stand still and kicked him in the stomach. Pu! This time, he skidded across the snow like a bowling ball even farther than before because his mount had disappeared during my earlier strike. He didn¡¯t give up, however. He rushed toward the nearest Iron Cutter Cavalryman and attacked them to lifesteal some HP[5], but I simply ran up to him again and slapped his chest with a pair of bloody chains. It was none other than the Chain of Freedom! "Heavens¡­" Ray of Sunshine looked like he would die. He kicked me in my shield and attempted to use the backward momentum to escape from me. Right now, the expert who single-handedly carried the entire weight of Purgatory Mad Dragon on his shoulders looked like a stray dog that was desperately trying to escape its abusers. He wouldn¡¯t get the chance. A familiar figure appeared behind him, and it was none other than Little Piglet himself. The Crimson Dragon Arm glowing around his left arm, he seized the Heaven Suppressing Necklace with it and cast Ice Ray Flurry with his right hand. To Ray of Sunshine¡¯s credit, his reaction was lightning-quick. Before Little Piglet¡¯s skill could even hit him, he immediately used his invincibility skill and brought out his return scroll. ¡­¡­ I laughed seeing the man trying to escape, an image of a golden sword rising above my head. Xuanyuan Slash! 1. E/N: One-comboing during CC is enough too, just like you killed Tear Stain during a stun¡­ ? 2. T/N: in real life, this player would be kicked out of the guild so fast he won¡¯t even have the time to say "I¡¯m sorry!" ? 3. E/N: Sure dude, fight one of like three people that can make your necklace useless. Vienna, Lin Yixin, Lu Chen. You had one freaking job, and it was to avoid these people like fire. ? 4. E/N: That¡¯s actually pretty unlucky, Frozen status would grant him Defense bonus. Now he¡¯ll just get onetapped. Pardon maybe? ? 5. T/N: I thought Bleak Death would stop the effect, but no, it still works! Lu Chen really should¡¯ve bought the necklace! ? Bookmark CH 1435 Boom! The Xuanyuan Slash dug a deep gorge across the snow and shredded Ray of Sunshine¡¯s body into pieces. His mount tenacity was deleted just a moment ago, so there was no chance he was ever going to survive the attack. He wasn¡¯t the only enemy I was targeting, however. The Xuanyuan Slash had quite the long range, and it "just so happened" that a group of Iron Cutter Cavalrymen were behind Ray of Sunshine. Hundreds fell off their mounts and died at the same time! "Man¡­ you truly are the master at optimizing your ¡®profits¡¯, Lu Chen!" Little Piglet stared at me. I withdrew my blade and shot him a smile. "Take your men and leave now, Little Piglet. Surely you¡¯re aware that Dark Mercenaries is our next target after Purgatory Mad Dragon?" The Cold Wind Swordsman nodded. "Yes, of course. Damn, you can have the boss." I raised an eyebrow hearing his tone. "Is it just me, or are you acting like you¡¯re missing out on something? What the heck is that thing you¡¯re holding in your left hand then?! Oh I can make you miss out alright. Little Gui, Chengfeng, Fighting Spirits, any of you fancy the Heaven Suppressing Necklace?" Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi immediately arrived next to me before wiping their saliva with greedy expressions. "But of course¡­" Little Piglet licked his lips nervously and said, "Sorry, but, I, er, still need this necklace for something, so I can¡¯t gift it to you just yet¡­ See you when I see you, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" Little Piglet equipped the Heaven Suppressing Necklace there and then before turning toward his players. "The hunt is over, brothers and sisters! We still have other business to attend to, so it¡¯s time to leave the March of Chaos map completely! Let¡¯s go!" As the Iron Cutter Cavalry retreated, I walked up to Ray of Sunshine¡¯s dead body and picked up the other 3 pieces of equipment he dropped. The poor bastard had been targeted by my Chains of Freedom and Little Piglet¡¯s Crimson Dragon Arm before my Xuanyuan Slash ate him up. Not only did he lose 10 levels, he also lost the Heaven Suppressing Necklace and three other pieces of Ancient Immortal-grade equipment. The Master Swordsman of Blaze Wang Dongliang and Lu Chao had spent countless RMB to build was more or less dead on his feet. I tossed all the items he dropped into Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi¡¯s hands. Since I was the one who single-handedly killed Ray of Sunshine, it was my right to distribute the loot as I pleased. ¡­¡­ It looked like a dark, impenetrable cloud was sitting above Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s shield formation. No one expected the arrogant Ray of Sunshine to be taken out by the enemy despite having 100% lifesteal and hundreds of priests to keep him healed. They expected even less that his Heaven Suppressing Necklace, a priceless treasure Wang Dongliang and Lu Chao hundreds of millions to bid for, to be stolen by their nemesis¡¯ Ghost Armament. It was an outcome they absolutely couldn¡¯t accept. "Fuck, shit, cock, ass, titties, boner, bitch¡­" Blue veins popping across his face, Roaming Dragon abruptly looked at the sky and shouted, "You¡­ you dare humiliate me like this!? Just you wait! Little Piglet! I will return today¡¯s humiliation tenfold eventually! And you, Lu Chen! One day, I swear to kill every last man and woman in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and flatten your guild beneath my boot!" Chaos Moon snorted. "You talk as if you haven¡¯t been humiliated since chapter 6." I raised my hand and ordered, "The Dragonlight Cavalry has already locked down the entire valley, so take out Purgatory Mad Dragon now, Ancient Sword! The boss is ours!" ¡­¡­ The ground shook, and the sky reverberated with the shock waves caused by the four Crystal Dragons¡¯ assault. After Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s defense formation was crushed with unstoppable force, Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Gui Guzi and everyone else proceeded to annihilate absolutely everyone within the valley. No one had any mercy for these fuckers because those in the know was utterly revolted by Lu Chao¡¯s behavior, and those who didn¡¯t know generally loathed Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s behavior anyway. I even spammed the Chains of Freedom off cooldown to murder those Purgatory Mad Dragon players who were stupid enough to taunt us in this situation. The Song of Freedom was a cursed weapon that was sure to bring calamity upon Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls if I used it too much, but I¡¯m sure the heavens would pardon me this once for spamming its ability on scumbags who absolutely deserved their punishment. Purgatory Mad Dragon should be thankful that the skill had a 6-minute cooldown, or every executive-level player in the guild would have gotten Chain¡¯d by yours truly! Less than half an hour later, there were only Ancient sword Dreaming Souls players left on the battlefield. The Dragonlight Cavalrymen quickly spread out before Charging the boss in organized columns. The Forbidden Ground Devil Sovereign only had 34% HP left. It was the one good thing Purgatory Mad Dragon had done today. "Form up! Effective[1] breast milk only, priests!" While barking out an order, I charged the boss and reduced its Defense with Purple Frost Concentration. Purple Frost Concentration was an aggro skill, so the Forbidden Ground Devil Sovereign immediately turned toward me and swung both its axes. It was that Twinblade Crush skill that almost one-shot Inconstant in a single hit. I wonder how much damage it could do to me? I raised the Cyan Dragon Shield in front of me, tilted my body a little and executed Burning Blade Slash. At the same time, Twinblade Crush hit me and triggered a massive damage number¡ª 1,172,972! Fortunately, this level of damage was well within my endurance limit. Unfortunately, the Forbidden Ground Devil Sovereign gained a new action after its HP had fallen below 30%. Rock, ice and snow suddenly took flight as it raised both its arms into the air. It roared, "Taste the might of an ancient forbidden spell, adventurers of the future!" I hurriedly shouted, "Back off now! If you have an invincibility skill, use it now!" As I thought, the boss was casting its ultimate skill, Depravity of the Forbidden Ground! Boom boom boom¡­ Huge, sharp rocks burst out of the ground and skewered countless players for massive amounts of damage. I myself was struck by three rocks in a row¡ª 1,528,734! 1,623,649! 1,736,731! That was enough damage to actually kill me, but I just barely avoided death by healing for 40% HP using Tenacity of the Dead and Dragon Bloodboil. All around me, hundreds of Dragonlight Cavalrymen were instakilled by the powerful ultimate. We knew that bosses usually used their ultimate when their health fell below a certain threshold, but we weren¡¯t expecting it to trigger as soon as 30% HP. We must survive this ultimate somehow, or we wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat this Sovereign Rank boss. "Gulp!" I downed a Rank 13 Health Potion before stabbing the Forbidden Ground Devil Sovereign¡¯s chest with Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo. I was able to deal around 1.5 million damage and rejuvenate myself for 300k HP. 20% lifesteal was a lot, but I couldn¡¯t help but compare it to the Heaven Suppressing Necklace¡¯s 100% lifesteal and found it wanting. If I was wearing the Ghost Armament right now, I could stolen 1.5 million HP from the boss and basically solo it myself. Little Piglet must be having the time of his life right now¡­ I could¡¯ve stopped Little Piglet from escaping just now, but I ultimately chose not to because I believed that he was doing the manly thing; the right thing. A Ghost Armament was important, but a belief I could respect was even more important. It wasn¡¯t like Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was lacking in Ghost Armaments anyway. ¡­¡­ Chiang chiang chiang¡­ The minotaur boss continued to hack away at my Cyan Dragon Shield and dropped me back to 15% HP or so. I kept my stance as steady as possible as I fired God Binding Art that failed to take effect, and Icy Cyclone Domain directly at my feet to slow it down. Then, I activated Heavenly River Transformation to maximize my firepower. I had 148 Divine Energy Points left anyway, and 14 minutes would be more than enough time to kill this boss! Behind me, Lin Yixin, He Yi and the rest of the dragon knights returned after their HP had returned to full. Some distance away, Murong Mingyue was healing me and shouting, "You must hold on, Lu Chen! We¡¯ll wipe if you don¡¯t¡­" I rolled my eyes. If there was one thing I would like to complain about my own guild, it would be that we cared about unity too much. If possible, we always avoided employing the human wave attack against bosses because no one liked being used as cannon fodders. Therefore, it was up to me, the guild¡¯s main tank, to bear all the burden yet again. Gui Guzi was the only other tank who could replace me, but his Attack was often lacking against Sovereign Rank bosses, which meant that there was always a chance that the aggro might slip out of his grasp. Long story short, I was born under a tough star. ¡­¡­ Six minutes later, the Forbidden Ground Devil Sovereign cast his Depravity of the Forbidden Ground yet again. This time though, we were ready for it. The moment he raised his two axes, everyone ran like hell until they were at least 40 yards away from the boss. It wasn¡¯t a huge area, so practically anyone except a noob would be able to dodge it. Pa! I stepped up to the boss and treated it to a Magic Piercing Punch! Bang! 217,376! The skill blasted a sizable chunk of HP but failed to interrupt the skill. The ultimate skill was probably immune to all forms of player interruption. Well, I would be lying if I said I was surprised. It would be stranger if an "ancient forbidden spell" could be interrupted so easily. I protected myself with Battle Astral Wind and activated Cyan Dragon Scale. The light of the Ghost Spirit Step Art dancing around my feet, I ran circles around the boss and attacked it with everything I had. I would¡¯ve used Cold of the Nine Provinces to freeze the boss, but as I mentioned earlier, there was a high chance it was going to be useless. In that case, I might as well go all out while the boss was "immobilized¡±. Myriad Swords Obliteration, Burning Blade Slash and more ripped out chunks of the boss''s flesh. The might of a Divine Armament of the Twelve was unstoppable, and not even the Forbidden Ground Devil Sovereign with his 100k+ Defense was enough to stop it. When its HP fell below 10%, I noticed that the two arms around its waist had been almost completely severed. I aimed at the bone just barely keeping one of the arms together and slashed twice. Finally, the left arm holding an axe hit the ground with a bloody thud. At the same time, I received a system notice¡ª Beep! Combat Log: You have dealt crippling limb damage to Forbidden Ground Devil Sovereign, Minotaur Knight and disabled its skill, "Twinblade Crush¡±. Its Attack has also fallen by 20%! ¡­¡­ Wonderful! I was very glad to know that my high Attack could debilitate the boss this way. Not far away, Li Chengfeng suddenly turned his Blue Crystal Dragon away while yelling, "Lu Chen, a couple of Northern Alliance guilds are attacking our eastern defense line! I¡¯m heading over to beat up those grandsons right now! Remember to roll for me when you kill the boss¡­" I rolled my eyes again. "Yes, yes. Come back soon!" I looked up and noted that the boss only had 7% HP left. It would only take us 3 minutes at most to kill it. Right now, I was single-handedly keeping the boss at bay while everyone else went all out. Out of all of us, Lian Xin was the damage dealer with the highest DPS because the Soul Shocker Bell doubled her magic damage. Her DPS was about 40% higher than mine, and most of her skills were AoE skills. Top-tier mages were cheat-like existences, I swear! Some distance away, I heard He Yi saying, "Leave the last hit to Lu Chen. Of course, those with high Luck can give it a go too!" I had a whopping 124 Luck. Even if someone had high Luck, they had no reason to compete with me because the loot I dropped would still be way better than what they could drop. This also meant that 50% of the boss''s experience was mine! A few minutes later, the minotaur boss finally let out a death groan and dropped to his knees. While holding onto a broken axe, he roared angrily, "My racial pride will never be extinguished! Just you wait, the beastmen will return to this continent and take revenge for all of us!" ¡­¡­ Pop pop pop¡­ I smiled as I watched the equipment pop. I didn¡¯t know if the beastman¡¯s revenge would ever reach us, but the minotaur boss''s loot most certainly did! 1. E/N: I don¡¯t know what author or Truth were smoking, but there¡¯s no uneffective heals. It¡¯s not damage, you can¡¯t have enough Defense for priests¡¯ heals to not work. It¡¯s some bullshit author used to make Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew roll for the previous priest item¡­ ? Bookmark CH 1436 The snow where the minotaur boss had crashed onto slowly became dyed in red. Right beneath its still warm body were all kinds of magic stones, enhancement gems, items, and a golden skill book. This Sovereign Rank boss was a generous giver, I see. Rustle rustle¡­ I walked up to the boss and scooped up the loot. Then, I spread them out in front of me so that I could get a better look at it. There were two weapons¡ªa bamboo green jade flute and a red sword with cool-looking flames circulating around it¡ªa cyan-colored iron shield, a pair of leather-armor wristguards, and a crimson ring. The core players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Blazing Hot Lips, Snowy Cathaya and more came over. This was a joint effort, so everyone who even touched the boss got the opportunity to roll for a piece of equipment or two. I picked up the bamboo green jade flute first and gave my wrist a shake. Its stats immediately appeared to us as a hologram¡ª Ripples of Life (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Magic Attack: 11,200~15,200 Intelligence: +2,750 Stamina: +2,600 Agility: +2,550 Strength: +2,500 Tactics: +215 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Attack by 180% Passive: User blows the flute instead of chanting to cast magic. Deals 15% extra damage to the target. Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 100,000 Slots: 17 Outstanding Property: Ripple. When attacking a target, there is a 100% chance to inflict them with the Ripple status effect. Ripple causes the target¡¯s Attack to fluctuate between 40% to 140% for 30 seconds. Level Requirement: 235 Reputation Requirement: 1,400,000 ¡­¡­ I let out an "oh" before raising the jade flute into the air. "So, this is a magic weapon that deals 15% extra damage. The Top 10 mages with the highest battle contribution points will be rolling for it!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Lian Xin, Moonlight Stone, Shadow Chanel and more all qualified to roll for the equipment. There was the sound of dice clattering against the ground, and a few seconds later it was revealed that our mage, Yu Tong, was the proud winner of Ripples of Life! "Here¡­" I passed the jade flute to Yu Tong and shot her an encouraging smile. "Keep this up!" A happy Yu Tong switched out her existing scepter for the Ripples of Life instantly. She then brought the jade flute to her mouth and gave it a tentative blow. Her robe and hair started rippling on their own, and waves of magical light gathered around a person. Then, Galaxy Storm exploded right beneath her feet. It sure looked pretty impressive. Stranger of Three Lifetimes asked Yu Tong with deep sisterly love in her eyes, "Yu Tong, it¡¯s been ages since you went to Ancient Sword. When are you coming back to Blazing Hot Lips? Aren¡¯t we your real home?" Yu Tong blinked once before replying, "You were the one who sent me to Ancient Sword, Sister Momo¡­ Also, Lu Chen and Eve treat me too well. I would feel guilty if I were to leave now¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes covered her forehead. "Sigh, no wonder they say a daughter who is married is like spilled water¡­" Eyes Like Water added, "Yeah. She¡¯s even blowing his flute now¡­" Yu Tong blushed as red as an apple. "I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying at all!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes simply rolled her eyes. "Sure you don¡¯t¡­" ¡­¡­ This was getting out of hand, so I quickly picked up the other weapon and examined it. It was a fiery sword with an unusually wide blade and a single rune imprinted on its surface. When I grasped its hilt, I could feel a vast energy surging into my body. Its stats were also a match for the sensation it gave me. It was the loot drop of a Sovereign Rank boss after all¡ª Omnislash (Sacred Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 14,000~17,900 Strength: +3,050 Stamina: +3,000 Agility: +2,950 Intelligence: +2,900 Tactics: +255 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 245% Passive: Increases user¡¯s splash effect by 30% Passive: When swinging the Omnislash, there is a 5% chance to deal 5 times more damage than normal. Stackable with critical hits. Slots: 18 Outstanding Property: Omniscience. When Omniscience is activated, all of user¡¯s stats are increased by 25% for 300 seconds. Cooldown: 600 seconds. Introduction: Before the three realms were separated, humans used to be able to look up to the sky and know there exists an immortal realm beyond the nine heavens. For eons, countless eons sought for a way to ascend to the Heaven Domain to no avail. One day, a simple blacksmith¡¯s mother fell gravely ill, and the only way to save her was to obtain a spirit herb that exists within the Heaven Domain. He decided to forge a divine weapon that could slash open the Primordial Gate and opened a way to the Heaven Domain. That was how the Omnislash was born. In the end, the blacksmith was able to destroy the Primordial Gate and open up a path to the Heaven Domain, but he himself couldn¡¯t withstand the great power of the Omnislash and was killed. As a result, the divine weapon became known as a cursed weapon who killed its owner. It is said that the wielder of the Omnislash shares the same lifespan as the world. Level Requirement: 235 Reputation Requirement: 1000000 ¡­¡­ "Holy fuck¡­" Gui Guzi was almost salivating. "This Sacred Armament sword has an even higher Attack than Boss Broken Halberd¡¯s Chill of the Nine Provinces! Its passives are slightly weaker, but that¡¯s about it! This is amazing!" I was almost salivating myself. This Sacred Armament was definitely more powerful than all the existing Twelve Divine Armaments. However, the Twelve Divine Armaments could evolve to become stronger weapons, so they were still the greatest weapons in the world. "So¡­ Chengfeng is busy, so I¡¯m rolling on behalf of him, okay?" I said while rubbing my palms together. Lin Yixin shot me an exasperated glance. "What are you planning¡­" "Nothing? Anyway, all Top 10 metal-armor players with the highest battle contribution points, go go go¡­" It wasn¡¯t long before the results were revealed. Li Chengfeng had hit the boss a couple of times because he was forced to leave and deal with the Northern Alliance, so he was just barely in the Top 10. Lin Yixin, He Yi, Gui Guzi, Eyes Like Water, Xu Yang, Heaven¡¯s Rain, and Purple Marquis qualified as well. I grabbed my dice excitedly and tossed it on the ground. A while later, it revealed a score of 77! I wiped away some sweat. In my opinion, any dice roll with a score over 50 was a victory in its own right! Lin Yixin threw her dice so hard that it actually bounced off Gui Guzi¡¯s nose before landing on the ground. Her score was only 7! Well done, Little Gui! He Yi threw her dice gracefully¡ª45! Eyes Like Water¡ª71! Heaven¡¯s Rain¡ª54! Purple Marquis threw his dice steadily and scored¡ª95! "Hahahaha¡­" The vice leader of Snowy Cathaya was famous for his steadiness, but even he couldn¡¯t help but burst out in laughter and dance on his feet. "95! I¡¯m so lucky today! It might just be a dice roll, but we still beat Ancient Sword and got a Sacred Armament sword from them, not to mention that it¡¯s the seventh best weapon on the Weapon Ranking! Hahaha!" I lowered my arm. "Fine, this sword goes to Purple¡ª" However, a steady voice interrupted me, "Wait, Lu Chen! I haven¡¯t gotten my turn yet. I may be in the last place of the Top 10 metal-armor players, but you can¡¯t deny me my right to roll, bro¡­" I turned around and saw Xu Yang grinning at me while carrying a shiny ringed blade. Damn, I nearly forgot that he was one of the players who qualified to roll for the item too. "Say, what grade is your current blade, brother Xu Yang?" I asked him. "It¡¯s a basic Immortal-grade weapon. It¡¯s awesome, isn¡¯t it?" Xu Yang said. We nearly threw up blood at the self-praise. "Yes, yes, now roll the dice, hero¡­" For some reason, Xu Yang maneuvered his dice behind his ear before tossing it like it was a shot [1]. It landed dozens of meters away and rolled a little further across the snow. We raced over to see what number he rolled, and the outcome shocked all of us. As it turned out, Xu Yang had rolled a 96! It was only 1 point higher than Purple Marquis, but that was all he needed to win the Sacred Armament! ¡­¡­ "Oh fuck me¡­" Purple Marquis slapped his thighs and cried, "I would rather I never got a high score in the first place! My poor heart¡­" Meanwhile, the delighted winner couldn¡¯t stop himself from grinning ear to ear while accepting the Omnislash from my hands. Starting now, Xu Yang had as much Attack as a super-tier player because the Omnislash had an even higher Attack than my Chill of the Nine Provinces. Speaking of my weapon, I couldn¡¯t help but look forward to its next evolution. A Divine Armament of the twelve that does not evolve was a sad weapon, you know? Now that the weapons were distributed, it was time to look at the non-weapons. I picked up the dark cyan-colored shield and brought up its stats screen. It was more astonishing than I thought¡ª Shield of Medicine (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 28,500 Magic Resist: 28,000 Stamina: +2,950 Strength: +2,850 Agility: +2,800 Intelligence: +2,750 Tactics: +255 Parry Chance: +67% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 150% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 120,000 Outstanding Property: Practicing Medicine. Activate to instantly restore 50% HP to the user and regenerate 10% HP per second for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 10 minutes. Slots: 17 Level Requirement: 235 Reputation Requirement: 1,200,000 ¡­¡­ My eye nearly goggled when I saw its Outstanding Property. "Practicing Medicine¡­ This is so good! It restores 50% HP to the user instantly, and it regenerates 10% HP per second for 10 seconds¡­ this shield might as well be a portable super priest!" After that, I lowered the heavy shield and declared, "So, who wants this pocket doctor? The Top 10 magic knights with the battle contribution points may roll for the item." I also sent a message to He Yi: "I know you don¡¯t need this shield, but don¡¯t forfeit, Eve. If you do win, you can give it to Little Gui later. This shield is too good to give away to another guild, and it¡¯s not like Yiyi has many experts who can use it to its maximum potential anyway. Like seriously, can you imagine a second-rate expert like Zi Chuanyu using it? What a waste it would be! This shield would be so much more useful in our hands¡­" He Yi nodded and teased me a little. "You always make me do such shameless things¡­" I replied, "Oh, don¡¯t you worry about that. I¡¯m going to roll for the item too, and I¡¯m not even a magic knight!" He Yi: "..." ¡­¡­ Out of all the metal-armor players who attacked the boss, only 7 of them could equip a shield. Our competitors were two middle-aged uncles from Blazing Hot Lips, and Zi Chuanyu and another middle-aged uncle from Snowy Cathaya. Gui Guzi, He Yi and I put our heart and soul into the dice before throwing them, and I would like to think that it made all the difference. I managed to win the Shield of Medicine with a score of 89, which I then privately traded to Gui Guzi. If Gui Guzi was a cockroach before, now he was an unkillable cockroach thanks to Shennong Tastes Grass and the Shield of Medicine! That was all we got. Clear Perfume won the Ancient Immortal-grade leather armor wristguards, and Lin Yixin the crimson ring with an excellent 150% Attack and 9% lifesteal stats. She then gave it to her greatest general, Purple Marquis. The skill book was just a Rank 8 Encourage, and it was claimed by a tactician from Snowy Cathaya. We took a moment to recuperate and prepare ourselves after the loot distribution was finally done. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, after I stepped out of the snowy valley, I learned that Li Chengfeng and the Dragonlight Cavalry had successfully beaten back the heroes of the Northern Alliance. Despite losing nearly 9,000 men, they were able to inflict even greater damage to the enemies, and the Northern Alliance withdrew after learning that the boss was killed. That was how they worked. They preferred to avoid profitless battles if at all possible. Rustle rustle¡­ It was at this moment Chaos Moon trotted up to me and reported, "Lu Chen, I receive word that almost all 99 necropoleis are fully cleared. It won¡¯t be long before the screen blocking the way to the Sainthelm Ruins is removed, and we¡¯ll be able to march forth to the origin point of the Purgatory Legion¡­" CH 1437 Rustle rustle rustle¡­ The sound of hooves and boots trekking through snow rang incessantly. We were making our way toward the energy screen. It was frigid, but everyone looked like they were full of energy. I took a moment to tally our numbers. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls still had about 200,000 players after clearing out the necropoleis, but the other guilds could only do worse. Both the mobs and the bosses were no joke, and only the strongest parties could defeat the corpse eaters and the undead mages without losing anyone. Even more people died inside the tombs where the bosses usually resided. There was also the fact that nearly all of the best guilds in all the servers were gathered in Sainthelm Ruins. Rival guilds within the same server would love nothing more but to bash each other¡¯s faces in, much less rival guilds between different servers. After we exited the snowy valley, I learned that both Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon had fought against a couple of Northern Alliance guilds to the west side of the ruins. ¡­¡­ "We¡¯re almost there¡­" The snowfall lessened, and the stifling stench of death grew thicker and thicker as we approached our destination. About a hundred meters away from us, a crimson light screen was fading away to reveal what looked like an ancient city that had been frozen for at least 10,000 years. I figured that the reason the city was called "Sainthelm" was because it looked like a broken helm beneath the glaciers. "Sainthelm City¡­" Li Chengfeng sucked in a deep breath before saying, "Everyone who played Spirit of Grief would know that Sainthelm Ruins used to be Sainthelm City, the main city of the USA server. To think that it had become an undead ruin¡­" I nodded and glanced at the direction of Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and the American players. They too seemed to be recalling the great wars of the past and preparing themselves for the new battles to come. "Big bro¡­" Beiming Xue gave my cloak a tug before pointing at Sainhelm Ruins. "The city¡¯s not all the same as before. You see that? There¡¯s a whole new wall blocking our entry to the city¡­" I shuddered and looked real closely. It was just as she said. There was a circular wall surrounding the entire former Sainthelm City, and it almost looked like a giant bowl with some ice in the middle of it. Only the Purgatory Sovereigns and their countless enslaved corpse eaters could pull off such a massive project. "Dragonspeech Glacier¡­" Lin Yixin said in a trembling voice, "I¡¯ve been here before. I¡¯m pretty sure it didn¡¯t look like this when I came here at the beginning of the game¡­" A kind of crimson plant that looked like geckos was covering the entire glacier head. Purple fruits that looked like upright wild gingers were also growing out of their stems. They were filled with some sort of purple juice that was most likely poison, and occasionally the fruits would explode on their own and spill their juice on the glacier. It looked strange to say the least. ¡­¡­ Chiang! He Yi unsheathed her Suppressing Fire Sword and declared, "The mobs are climbing up the walls. Prepare for battle!" The Dragonlight Cavalrymen at the frontline all unsheathed their weapons. A couple of high-level Bone Dragons were circling above the city, and I reckoned that they were at least minibosses. Countless dark elf archers were also aligning the walls and aiming their arrows at their own kin. After the undead took control of the dark elves, they became the undead legion¡¯s strongest ranged forces. It was at this moment countless NPC armies appeared from behind us. Beneath a gorgeous Silver Moon Alliance banner, a still wounded Karinshan ordered in a low tone, "Begin constructing the siege weapons. This is the final battle, so make sure to seal off all exits around Dragonspeech Glacier. We will destroy the entire Purgatory Legion once and for all!" Ziyan nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty. By the way, Lady Sophia and Lady Sophie¡¯s armies have already arrived. When should we begin the assault?" "In two hours." "Yes, Your Majesty!" ¡­¡­ The NPC legions began spreading around the entire Dragonspeech Glacier. The ground hadn¡¯t stopped shaking since they appeared, and the sky was filled with griffon riders. Each one-thousand-man square formation was protecting a huge catapult, and these catapults surrounded the entire Sainthelm Ruins. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that the Silver Moon Alliance was investing nearly all of their forces into this war. It was do or die! Meanwhile, the player faction had also surrounded the Sainthelm Ruins. The first one to lose their patience was God of War of Cyan Earth City. One moment there was silence, and the next he was pointing his sword toward the sky and shouting, "It is time! We will invade the city, kill Lin Na, and claim the Purgatory Legion¡¯s divine arms!" Cyan Earth City began to move. The perimeter of Sainthelm Ruins was at least several kilometers long. It was definitely big enough to accommodate all the players. Not far away from us, Laughing At The Heavens was raising the banner of Warsky Alliance in the air while Warsky broke off toward the wall. The guild leader raised the Immortal Blade and roared, "For glory, for Warsky Alliance¡¯s future, charge!" In the sky, a fire dragon also let out a mighty roar before Candlelight Shadow ordered, "Candle Dragon, attack!" "Should we begin?" Lin Yixin and Stranger of Three Lifetimes looked at me at the same time. Our three guilds were teamed up for the moment, so of course we were going to attack the city together. I made a small nod before saying, "We haven¡¯t brought any siege weapons with us, so we can only scale the walls with the cloud ladders. The Dragonlight Cavalry will go first and provide cover for the engineers. We¡¯ll talk about the specifics after we set up a hundred cloud ladders!" Lin Yixin smiled. "Alright, I¡¯ll provide the engineers then. We have more than enough cloud ladders to spare." "Mn!" I then said to Lu Buyi, "Buyi, you know the drill. Have your wife carry you while you turn on Purple Dragon and carry the rest of us. I¡¯ll be joining your party as well. For now, just make sure you don¡¯t die until we set up the cloud ladders. There are a shit ton of archers and mages on the walls, and not even the Dragonlight Cavalry may be able to survive their bombardment if they target one specific area." Lu Buyi replied confidently, "Understood, guild leader." The beautiful knightress next to him blushed. "Vice leader, I¡¯m not his wife¡­" Me: "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let¡¯s go!" "Okay!" I gathered an entire platoon of magic knight Dragonlight Cavalrymen for Lu Buyi because they had high HP and the ability to equip shields. Once they were buffed by Purple Dragon, they would become the perfect candidates to soak up the mobs¡¯ ranged damage! ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the battles happening about 1,000 yards away from our formation were going much, much worse than anyone had expected. The guild leader of Nation Guardian, Wild King was charging the walls with 5,000 Divine Elephant Cavalrymen to provide cover for his engineers, but a single shot from the enemy archers dealt over 100k damage. As a result, all 5,000 Divine Elephant Cavalrymen were dead in less than two minutes, and not a single engineer was able to make it to the walls. Wild King was so shocked he literally couldn¡¯t close his mouth, "What the fuck is this Attack?!" Breeze and Rain ordered through gritted teeth, "Change of plans. We¡¯re going to have our bards buff our magic knight legions before sending them forward. Archers, try and stun the mobs on the walls and do whatever you can to suppress their firepower. Otherwise, we¡¯ll never be able to make any progress!" It wasn¡¯t just Cyan Earth City. Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance were suffering massive casualties as well. "Heavens!" Gui Guzi clenched his fists tightly. "The mobs¡¯ Attack is absolutely crazy¡­" I captured an archer¡¯s stats before replying, "They¡¯re Level 315 deity-rank Dark Archers with a maximum Attack of 70k. Of course they are going to do massive damage. Anyway, we¡¯re moving out after all the Dragonlight Cavalrymen are buffed. Little Gui, remember to take turns healing the men with me, or we won¡¯t be able to make it to the walls either. We just need to make it to the area within 20 yards of the walls. That¡¯s about 72 meters of distance we need to endure. Once we get in, we¡¯ll be safe from at least 80% of the enemy¡¯s firepower!" Gui Guzi nodded. "I know!" "Alright, let¡¯s go!" I climbed onto the Ancient Divine Dragon and gave its butt a pat. Then, we made a beeline toward the city. Behind me, every engineer was protected by 2 or 3 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. They moved at the pace of a foot soldier. ¡­¡­ The sound of hooves thundered against everyone¡¯s heart. The walls were jam-packed with so many deity-rank Dark Archers that even I couldn¡¯t help but feel wary, and it was clear that we weren¡¯t meant to assault the walls without the NPC legions¡¯ help. Even so, we would defy the odds and preferably breach the city before the NPCs could make their move! The distance between myself and the Dark Archers grew shorter and shorter. I could see the undead energy circulating around their arrows. The next moment, they all loosed their arrows at me! Swhoosh! I flew at an altitude so low that the Ancient Divine Dragon could almost drag its feet. I changed my speed, zigzagged a couple of times and successfully dodged most of the shots. The barren ground behind me was covered in so many arrows it almost looked like the back of a giant porcupine. It reminded me of the story of Zhuge Liang "borrowing" arrows from the enemy using straw boats. Chaos Moon cheered me on when she saw this. "That¡¯s smart! Lu Chen¡¯s attracting part of the enemy¡¯s firepower for us using his superior speed! Keep it up, man!" Contrary to her confidence, my forehead was covered in cold sweat. I was dodging at least 80% of the arrows, but the ones that struck still rattled my Cyan Dragon Shield and dealt around 5,000 damage per hit. One mistake, and I might have to pull off an emergency escape. ¡­¡­ Behind me, the Dragonlight Cavalry finally entered the enemy¡¯s attack range and began sustaining damage. The sounds of arrows pinging against shields suddenly grew a lot more rapid, and they all suffered around 50k damage per hit¡ª 52,398! 49,127! 51,399! ¡­¡­ Thanks to Purple Dragon and the Dragonscale Beast¡¯s godlike stats, the Dragonlight Cavalry took at least 50% less damage than Cyan Earth City¡¯s Divine Elephant Cavalry. Even so, too many players had fallen below 20% HP, and a few seconds later dozens of Dragonlight Cavalry and engineers dropped dead despite the former already activating War God Recovery to heal themselves. "Little Gui!" Li Chengfeng yelled, "Shennong Tastes Grass!" However, I overrode the order. "Don¡¯t use it yet, Gui!¡±¡°Calm down, Li. At least half of our troops haven¡¯t entered the death zone yet. We¡¯ll wait a couple more seconds before using up our heals. Ancient Divine Skill cooldowns are precious, and we mustn¡¯t use them willy-nilly!" CH 1438 Three seconds later, all 2,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen entered the mobs¡¯ attack range and began losing HP at a drastic rate. To say that the Dark Archers nearly shattered everyone¡¯s confidence with their arrows would be an understatement. The Dragonlight Cavalry was easily the tankiest cavalrymen of all the servers, and they still couldn¡¯t endure the attack without aid. Worse, we hadn¡¯t even gotten close enough to be blasted by the miniboss Rank Dark Magi on the walls yet! Speaking of which¡­ "Here comes the Galaxy Storms! Holy Shield now!" He Yi ordered urgently. Unless, the order was just a tad too late. Four Galaxy Storms erupted among a group of 100 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and killed them all. Not only that, Galaxy Storm had a pretty big range, so hundreds more Dragonlight Cavalrymen dropped to red health as well. Without hesitation, Gui Guzi raised his Ghostblade Halberd and activated Shennong Tastes Grass. It healed countless people for 75% HP and pulled them away from the brink of death. ¡­¡­ However, our short-lived joy didn¡¯t even last longer than the blink of an eye. Another barrage of Galaxy Storms and Skypiercers instantly dropped everyone to low health once more. I hadn¡¯t expected the Dark Archers to know Skypiercer, and this was a threat that could potentially end our march right here. The mobs¡¯ single-target DPS was already sitting at 200k or so, but add AoE skills into the mix and that was almost 500k per second. No one could survive this much HP loss! "This won¡¯t do. I¡¯m leaving to aggro the enemy!" I abruptly left my guild¡¯s battle line and zoomed all the way to the walls. Then, I made the Ancient Divine Dragon fly up to the edge, fired 11 Ancient Seals in a row, and froze a ton of archers and mages with Cold of the Nine Provinces. Before I could beat a swift retreat, hundreds of arrows struck me in quick succession! Bang! I shuddered violently and lost both my Battle Astral Wind and a ton of HP. These mobs were really hitting a bit too hard, weren¡¯t they? The Ancient Divine Dragon howled in pain as it rolled off the edge of the wall. Midway, I noticed that practically all of my Dragonlight Cavalrymen were below 50% HP and didn¡¯t hesitate to cast Xuanyuan Art! Everyone was healed for 50% HP! Meanwhile, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and a couple more players finally made it to the foot of the walls. A bunch of half-health Dragonlight Cavalrymen and engineers had made it as well. A great number of archers immediately bent over the wall to look at them, aimed their arrows and killed a couple of Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Pissed off, I threw my Chill of the Nine Provinces at them using Coiling Dragon Revolution. Since I was targeting their heads, the skill dealt over one million damage to each Dark Archer and killed dozens. ¡­¡­ "We reached the walls!" Another group of low-health Dragonlight Cavalrymen reached the walls, and High Fighting Spirits was standing among them. While gripping the Boneslayer, he boomed with a hearty chuckle, "Finally! Now get the cloud ladders on the walls already! I can¡¯t wait to get up there and kill some undead!" However, a beautiful engineer rolled her eyes at him and said, "It takes at least 30 seconds of casting to build a cloud ladder, you know? Plus, do I look like I have the arm strength to throw an entire cloud ladder against the wall like a guy?" High Fighting Spirits scratched his head with an embarrassed smile. "I don¡¯t know about the details because I¡¯ve never played the Engineer class before. Thanks for your hard work¡­" He then raised his axe protectively in front of himself and blocked in front of the female engineer. The scene put a wide smile on my face as I said to He Yi, "Look, I think our Fighting Spirits has found a lady!" He Yi burst into a giggle. "I wonder if Fighting Spirits will be the dominant one if they do get into a relationship?" Chaos Moon responded, "That¡¯s not a problem. Lu Chen gets bullied by Beautiful Little Pepper all the time, but they¡¯re as close as they could ever be, aren¡¯t they?" Me: "..." Not far away, a blushing Lin Yixin was standing in front of a middle-aged engineer and protecting him from the volleys as well. Xu Yang calculated while gripping his new Omnislash. "OMG, I¡¯ve always thought that we¡¯re OP as fuck, but of the 2,000 brothers and sisters who braved the firing line, less than 500 actually made it alive. If even the Dragonlight Cavalry are sustaining this level of casualties, I cannot imagine how the other guilds are doing¡­" I replied smilingly, "Yeah, the first charge is usually the hardest. When we¡¯ve climbed up the cloud ladders and distracted the mobs, it¡¯ll become much, much easier for the rest of our players to get over." Xu Yang nodded strongly. "Yeah. Let¡¯s set up the cloud ladders as soon as possible!" ¡­¡­ One by one, the cloud ladders were slowly propped up against the walls. The engineer class was quite the odd class compared to most classes. Normally, it was so unpopular that no one would even ask them to go on a grind. When there was a siege though, engineers immediately became one of the most popular classes in the game. It was why master engineers were normally employed by large guilds and fed a ton of materials to improve their construction skills. In fact, most players simply didn¡¯t possess the strength or the capital to improve their skills without the support of a large guild. I glanced to my left and right. Warsky Alliance was one of the guilds who were sieging the walls beside us, and I counted around 50 Gold Cavalrymen standing at the bottom of the wall and blocking the Dark Archers¡¯ attacks. Warsky was standing there with this odd expression on his face when he suddenly erupted like a volcano, "Are you kidding me? We were 5,000 strong when we charged the walls, and only 40 or so frontliners and 7 engineers managed to make it to the walls? This is a total scam!" However, Laughing At The Heavens said with a grin, "That¡¯s pretty good actually¡­" "Are you seriously telling me that a casualty rate of 99% is good?" "Really. Just look at Candle Dragon. Candlelight Shadow was charging the walls with 4,000 + Qiu Beast Cavalry, but only Candlelight Shadow managed to make it back to his people. That¡¯s like a 99.98% casualty ratio. Doesn¡¯t that prove that we¡¯re doing way better than they are?" Warsky felt a bit better until he looked in our direction and turned purple once more. "I cannot believe it. How did Ancient Sword manage to deliver a thousand players to the foot of the walls?" Laughing At The Heavens shrugged. "They have the Quasi Immortal Rank Boss mounts, the Dragonscale Beasts, which we don¡¯t have. They have Lu Buyi to buff everyone¡¯s stats by 150%, which we also don¡¯t have. Finally, they have Lu Chen¡¯s Xuanyuan Art to heal them for 50% HP, and Gui Guzi¡¯s Shennong Tastes Grass for 75% HP, which we also don¡¯t have, and¡­" Warsky corrected him, "Actually, the Xuanyuan Art and Shennong Tastes Grass healed us too. You didn¡¯t really think we could get 50 men to the walls without them, did you?" Laughing At The Heavens: "..." ¡­¡­ Despite the ridiculous casualty rate, Cyan Earth City, Elephant City, Swallow Ear Canton, Iron Horse City and more continued to hurl players at the walls like their lives didn¡¯t matter one bit. For one, it would be plain embarrassing if a top guild couldn¡¯t even scale the walls of an NPC city. Two, this was a race to see who could scale the walls first and potentially make it on the homepage of Heavenblessed official website tomorrow. These days, a good reputation could be traded for RMB and pretty gals¡­ Thud thud thud¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before hundreds of cloud ladders were propped against the icy walls. Sainthelm Ruins was a tier one city, meaning that it took about 60 seconds to scale to the top. It would literally be an uphill battle to make it up there, but if we faltered now then we would never be able to suppress their firepower. "So, how are we going to do this?" Lin Yixin asked. Purple Marquis answered, "How else? We climb the ladders and show them who¡¯s boss." I said, "Wait. Tell your players to charge at full speed after we climbed the walls and drew the mobs¡¯ attention. Hopefully, we¡¯ll be able to storm this section of the wall in one go. Also, don¡¯t forget to escort the priests and the bards. Without healing, it is all too easy to die from the mobs¡¯ attacks. We¡¯ll climb the cloud ladders in three minutes, okay?" Lin Yixin nodded affirmatively. Very soon, the Dragonlight Cavalry and Kui Dragon Cavalry waiting beyond the firing line were ready. After empowering myself with Fusion Armor, I grabbed a rung and said, "Alright, let¡¯s go! All players who are confident they can survive at least one full volley from the archers, follow me! When we get close enough, don¡¯t hesitate to use your most powerful combos! If we don¡¯t hit the archers hard enough to one-shot them, you and your friends are the one who¡¯ll suffer, get it?" Everyone nodded. Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Xu Yang and more all went to a cloud ladder of their own. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ There was no such thing as a clumsy player if they managed to make it to the top of a major guild, and I was of course the most agile of them all. After I protected myself with Battle Astral Wind and readied myself to activate my invincibility shield at a moment¡¯s notice, I immediately started sprinting up the rungs. When we were about midway up the wall though, Chaos Moon suddenly let out a cry of surprise. A small iron door had suddenly opened on the wall to reveal a beastman warrior. The mob had stabbed her right in her chest armor. Chiang! 198,277! Furious at the sudden ambush, she kicked the beastman in the face before climbing out of range. "Watch out, everyone! There are murder holes on the walls¡­" I shouted in warning, but it was too late. A couple of Dragonlight Cavalrymen had been knocked off their cloud ladders and sent screaming to their deaths. They would have to be very lucky to survive the fall. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! When I finally reached the top of the wall, I immediately activated Heavenly River Transformation and dropped Burning Blade Slash + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo on the mobs in front of me. The affected Dark Archers tried to shoot their arrows at me, but I followed up the attack with Thousand Ice Slash that encased the large majority of them in ice. Thud thud thud¡­ I took a few quick steps forward and froze yet another group of mobs with Cold of the Nine Provinces. This meant that most of the mobs between 70 to 120 yards from the edge were frozen in ice. When my Battle Astral Wind was shredded, I abruptly raised my sword and summoned the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Xuanyuan Slash. As if on cue, Li Chenfeng cast his own Crimson Firmament Slash and annihilated over half of the frozen Dark Archers in an instant. The Dragonlight Cavalrymen behind us quickly took advantage of the commotion to climb onto the rampart and summon their mounts. ¡­¡­ "I am here!" A little warrior from Snowy Cathaya fired an AoE skill at the mobs the moment his feet hit the rampart. Before he could steady himself though, dozens of arrows struck his body in rapid succession! Pu pu pu¡­ Not only was the poor guy turned into a porcupine, the sheer amount of force behind the volley sent him tumbling down the walls like a broken kite. He was dead before he even hit the ground. The Dark Archers¡¯ Attack was seriously OP. Purple Marquis gritted his teeth and tried to buy as much space as possible for his troops by charging left and right. In the sky, the dragon knights were making their own moves as well. However, the Crimson Crystal Dragon and the Blue Crystal Dragon were wailing in pain due to a bellyful of arrows. They were close to running out of mount tenacity. CH 1439 "Slow down! Make sure you can hold your ground first before you push deeper!" Lin Yixin commanded her players while swinging the Purple Spirit Sword at the enemy. Pa! Gui Guzi was forced to land on the rampart after his Dark Crystal Dragon lost all of its mount tenacity. However, he still had 40% HP or so, and after he cast Practicing Medicine he instantly returned to 90% HP. At the same time, he summoned a Dragonscale Beast, climbed onto its back and resumed fighting as if he was a Dragonlight Cavalryman. With or without a dragon, the Undying Knight was still a fearsome fighter! The symbols of Chengying and Hanguang glowed beneath He Yi¡¯s feet as she tossed flames into the enemy horde. Gradually, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and Blazing Hot Lips were able to take control of around 200 yards to 300 yards of the wall and greatly diminish the enemy¡¯s firepower. Freezing, slowing and stunning skills were easily the MVP of this battle. Our equipment advantage played a huge role as well. ¡­¡­ On the ground, more Dragonlight Cavalrymen were escorting the Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers toward the wall. Now that the Dark Archers were greatly suppressed, they were able to reach the foot of the wall with minimal losses. "Get up the wall now!" He Yi shouted. Very soon, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew, Pure Love and more appeared on the wall. About 500 priests climbed up the walls and began showering everyone with their milky light of healing. The Dragonlight Cavalry also formed battle lines on their own to defend against the Dark Archers¡¯ attacks. Everything was progressing as ideally as we could¡¯ve hoped for. "Roar roar¡­" Right as we thought that we had this in the bag, a deafening roar suddenly blasted against our bodies. The next thing we knew, a huge, black dragon swooped down from the sky and clung to the inner edge of the wall for balance. It was so powerful that much of the bricks beneath its talons shattered like sand. It slowly expanded its meaty wings and stared at us with its grayish brown, merciless eyes. Puchi! The dragon abruptly opened its mouth and devoured a dozen or so Dark Archers. The sound of crunching bones had never felt as scary as it was now. Still staring at us, it abruptly took off to the sky and raised its head high. At the same time, draconic flames began swelling in its throat! I hurriedly shouted, "All magic knights, Holy Shield Protection now! Dragon¡¯s breath!" Whoosh! The dragon breath struck nearly everything within its area of effect, one-shotting a dozen or so Dragonlight Cavalry who reacted too late and dealing massive damage to the rest. Even I had lost over 900k HP from the dragon breath. Just how powerful was the skill? I scanned the dragon with Dark Pupils and shared its stat screen in our party channel¡ª Black Dragon Vitas of the Seven Sacred Dragons (Sovereign Rank Boss) Level: 315 Attack: 60,000~85,500 Defense: 110,000 HP: 590,000,000 Skills: Dragon Flame, Dragon Armor Protection, Blessed Holy Armor, Eternal Night Introduction: The Seven Sacred Dragons were the seven elders of the ancient dragon race. These Holy Giant Dragons possess tremendous power and were once hailed as the rulers of the continent. However, the passage of time dilutes everything, and their fame grew more and more obscure until they completely faded from everyone¡¯s memories. In reality, the Seven Sacred Dragons had succumbed to the Purgatory Ruler Lin Na¡¯s evil powers and were transformed into his puppets. He had enlarged the wickedness in their hearts so much that all they desire now is to devour all creation. ¡­¡­ "Seven Sacred Dragons!?" Li Chengfeng swore, "Fuck! I thought the dragons were Ancient Immortal Rank at most, but Sovereign Rank? Are the rest of the dragons guarding Sainthelm Ruins Sovereign Rank as well??" I looked at the other dragons still circling the sky and shuddered. Unfortunately, Li Chengfeng was completely right. All Seven Sacred Dragons were present at Sainthelm Ruins, and we most likely had to kill them all if we wished to venture deeper and seek out the Purgatory Ruler. Although the Seven Sacred Dragons could drop the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments or even the Twelve Divine Armaments, they also represented some of the highest destructive power on this continent. No one could claim that they could survive the Seven Sacred Dragons long enough to see a Ghost Armament! Whoosh! The Chill of the Nine Provinces burned brightly as I fired Burning Blade Slash into the air. After the flaming sword aura just barely grazed the black dragon¡¯s talons and seized its threat, I yelled, "Sis, heal me!" Swhoosh! 542,878! It was a critical heal. Very good! I crouched lower and abruptly pushed myself off the walls. When I used Fusion Armor, I was imbued with nearly all of the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s properties. For example, I could jump at least ten times higher than the average player. I shot through the air like an arrow and arrived within a meter of the black dragon¡¯s merciless eyes in just the blink of an eye. Without hesitation, I stabbed its nostril and injected it with Purple Frost Concentration! Puchi! The boss''s Defense dropped by 17.1%, and thank goodness for that. Otherwise, literally no one could penetrate 110k Defense! As if on cue, Beiming Xue¡¯s Bone Eroding Arrow struck the Black Dragon Vitas as well. In total, its Defense was now reduced by 22.4%. Now that the boss only had 85k Defense or so, our first-rate Dragonlight Archers should be able to penetrate it. "What are you guys waiting for? Chain-stun it with Shock Arrows already!" I shouted and broke the archers out of their daydream. They began loosing their arrows and dealing between 2,000 to 10,000 damage per hit. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was certainly better than nothing. Purple Frost Concentration was a skill that attracted a LOT of aggro. Furious, Black Dragon Vitas immediately shook me off its nose and attempted to devour me in midair. Activating Heavenly River Transformation and manipulating my Domain to the best of my abilities, I managed to air dash a couple of times and barely avoided a gruesome fate. The black dragon¡¯s teeth had nearly caught my cloak, and the sound of its teeth snapping together had left me with a full body of cold sweat. I couldn¡¯t even imagine how much it would have hurt if I had been struck by it. Swhoosh! I canceled Heavenly River Transformation after returning to the walls because I was running out of Divine Energy Points. That didn¡¯t mean I had no ways of continuing my assault though. First, I summoned my dragon soul energy and tossed the Chill of the Nine Provinces at the boss''s right leg, dealing over 450k damage with Coiling Dragon Revolution. Then, I pushed myself off an embrasure with all my might, caught my returning blade, and executed Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash combo at its torso as I fell past it. Utterly infuriated, the black dragon took a swipe at me and made me feel like my chest was being torn apart. Then, it unleashed a dragon flame so huge that the players outside the walls looked at it in shock. I had no time for that, however. Black Dragon Vitas was swinging its left claw at me like how you would swipe a fly out of the air! I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces and attempted to Guard the attack! Bang! Yeah, that didn¡¯t work¡­ I crashed against the wall so hard that it cracked. Contrary to its size and body shape, the black dragon was unnaturally agile. In fact, it was only now that three damage numbers rose from my head¡ª 1,127,774! 972,676! 1,216,363! More than half of my HP was gone just like that. One more hit, and I would be¡ª A black shadow swelled in my vision once more, and I hurriedly rolled away just in time to dodge a swipe that destroyed a small section of the wall. That definitely would¡¯ve killed me! Bang bang bang¡­ Thankfully, reinforcements finally arrived. Four dragon knights attacked the boss together and temporarily pulled its attention away from me. "Lu Chen, over here!" Murong Mingyue beckoned me from afar. I hurriedly ran over to her and the priests. Less than 10 seconds later, I regained over 4 million HP. Not wasting even a second, I kicked off the wall once more and stabbed the boss in the stomach. I had to keep attacking the boss because no one else could withstand its attacks for long. Losing Lin Yixin, He Yi, Li Chengfeng or Gui Guzi would be a terrible loss for all of us. ¡­¡­ "Big bro¡­" On the rampart, Beiming Xue pointed toward the ruined city and said, "Look, the mobs are mobilizing again. Those new enemies look real scary and¡­ disgusting. So disgusting¡­" I glanced at the direction she was pointing at and felt my heart drop. A bunch of scrawny undead tamers had appeared into view, and each of them was holding a horrible creature with a red chain. The creature¡¯s body was shaped like a lizard¡¯s, but its rotten head looked like that of a human. When it roared, a rotten tongue at least dozens of centimeters long would flick all over the place. The creature was called ¡®Lizardman¡¯, and it possessed a skill called Poison Splash. It was obviously good at inflicting AoE damage. The tamers were pouring out from every entrance of the city. While blocking the black dragon¡¯s talons, I shouted, "Chaos Moon, muster some men and keep the two stairs leading up to our section of the wall blocked! Don¡¯t allow those undead tamers and their pets to get up the walls, or our defense line will surely crumble!" "Mn!" Chaos Moon nodded before looking at Xu Yang and High Fighting Spirits. "You two, follow me!" Xu Yang¡¯s battle judgment was inferior to Chaos Moon¡¯s, but he knew that his influence was greater. That was why he raised the Omnislash and ordered, "Brothers and sisters, follow me to block those ugly bastards at the stairs!" ¡­¡­ "Roar roar¡­" Maybe it was because Xu Yang¡¯s unintentional taunt was too insulting, but every tamer in the city suddenly roared their lungs out before charging in our direction. Chaos Moon uttered through gritted teeth, "OMG, bro, there is a time and place to taunt your enemies. Also, where do you get the confidence to call someone an ugly bastard when you look like one yourself?" Xu Yang: "..." ¡­¡­ I must admit that I was very worried at that moment. It was highly unlikely that we could handle both the Seven Sacred Dragons and the undead tamer legion at once! Thankfully, Cyan Earth City¡¯s Breeze and Rain and Burning City¡¯s Tear Stain had finally managed to get their own players on the walls. Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, Purple Lily and more Chinese guilds had achieved the same progress as well. At the very least, we wouldn¡¯t be focused by all of the Seven Sacred Dragons. Considering the intensity of the battle, it was hard to believe that the curtains had just been drawn. CH 1440 "Hiss hiss¡­" Green fluid dripped down the Lizardmen¡¯s ugly heads as they flicked their long tongues. The tamers let go of their chains, and they immediately dashed toward us like lightning. We knew this was coming, but what we didn¡¯t expect was the Lizardmen to scale the walls and move directly toward us! As it turned out, they had suckers beneath their feet that gave them the ability to climb almost any surface. They were like geckos except that they were way bigger, more aggressive and more venomous. Chaos Moon turned a shade of purple as she swore, "Fuck! The Lizardmen can climb walls! All units, line up along the inner walls and knock them down as soon as they reach you! Do it now before it¡¯s too late!" A group of Dragonlight Cavalry rushed up to the inner walls and looked down. They were immediately stunned by what they saw. Brown-green Lizardmen were hissing and climbing the walls everywhere. "Attack!" I grabbed onto an embrasure and sent a dozen or so Lizardmen plummeting toward the ground with Burning Blade Slash. Unfortunately, these deity-rank mobs weren¡¯t going to die this easily, and they immediately resumed climbing after they managed to struggle back to their feet. Swhoosh... Despite our best efforts, a good amount of Lizardmen were able to climb up to the edge, grab onto a Dragonlight Cavalryman with all four limbs, and bite them in the neck. Not only did the attack do between 200k to 500k damage, it also poisoned them and reduced their Defense. At least a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen turned a greenish complexion, and it was scary to say the least. "Cleanse them of their status conditions and heal them now!" [1] While protected by a group of magic knights, Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew and more rushed to heal our frontliners and keep the situation under control. Pa pa pa¡­ Technically speaking, there were many more monsters with bigger body size than the Lizardmen. However, they more than made up for it with their powerful Attack and great numbers. In just the blink of an eye, the number of dead Dragonlight Cavalrymen had exceeded a thousand once more. There was no helping it though. We could only wait for more reinforcements to scale up the walls and help deplete the mobs¡¯ numbers. Whoosh¡­ Black Dragon Vitas unleashed another dragon breath that claimed a hundred lives, causing Lin Yixin and Stranger of Three Lifetimes to turn blue. No one was expecting the mobs to put up so much resistance that it almost felt like they were the ones who were being attacked and not the other way around. ¡­¡­ "Roar roar roar¡­" More draconic roars came from within Sainthelm Ruins before six gigantic dragons took to the sky. It was the other six dragons of the Seven Sacred Dragons! "For fuck¡¯s sake!" Li Chengfeng groaned out loud. "This one dragon is already giving us a hell of a time. How on earth are we going to deal with seven of them at once?" I leaped into the air and smacked the Black Dragon Vitas with another Purple Frost Concentration. After I landed back on the ground and executed a Coiling Dragon Revolution + Dragon Slaying Slash combo, I said, "If we keep a low profile, the other 6 Sacred Dragons probably won¡¯t attack us. I highly doubt we have the ability to tackle more than 1 dragon anyway!" "Yeah. Any more than this, and we¡¯ll definitely catch indigestion!" "Yeah." ¡­¡­ Thankfully, the heavens weren¡¯t blind today. Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance got a Sacred Dragon each, and the other 4 went to Hero Alliance, Cyan Beast, Natural Flow and the Chaotic 27. Above the city, jets of draconic flames were searing the walls¡¯ bricks into red hot stones. Outside the city, countless players were climbing up rows and rows of cloud ladders. On a related note, the NPC legions had finally begun their assault. Ziyan was commanding a siege battalion that was attempting to smash the gates with a gigantic battering ram. Of course, the Dark Archers responded by raining hell from above and killing countless Sky City NPCs. For some reason, Sky City had been leading the war effort since the very beginning of this March of Chaos event. Maybe it was because Karinshan was the supreme commander of the Silver Moon Alliance, or maybe it was because Sky City was the one and only King of Cities, but the tier 1 city legions from Cyan Earth City, Hero City were still standing by for further orders. Back to the boss fight, the Sovereign Rank boss''s HP was slowly but surely being reduced by our combined efforts. However, it still managed to kill nearly 10,000 players from Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and Blazing Hot Lips combined army. Worse still, it was sitting at 30% HP! "Roar¡­" Suddenly, the black dragon let out an especially intimidating roar. I shuddered as I recalled what had happened during our previous Sovereign Rank boss fight. Was the boss going to use its forbidden ultimate skill since its HP had fallen to 30%? Unfortunately, I was correct. The sunny sky above our heads suddenly turned as dark as the night, and the area within a hundred yards of the boss suddenly felt as cold as ice. Then, some sort of dark energy struck all of us and dealt a massive amount of damage¡ª 2,102,882! The ultimate skill, "Eternal Night" was a magic attack. The good news was that it failed to one-shot me. The bad news was¡­ how long was "Eternal Night" really going to last? Xu Yang downed a health potion before uttering in annoyance, "Dammit, why isn¡¯t the combat log showing a duration?" On the wall, a great number of Dragonlight Cavalry and Holy Mages had been one-shot by the skill. Only the top-tier mages including Lian Xin were surviving and without their Magic Shields. I protected myself with Battle Astral Wind just in time to eat another powerful swipe from the damned dragon and crash against the wall. While struggling to my feet, I yelled, "Leave the darkened area now!" Everyone did as I ordered, but there was only so much space on the wall. In the end, not everyone was able to back out of the boss''s skill range! The forbidden spell procced its damage once every 10 seconds. I took no damage from the third strike thanks to Pardon of the Gods, but a couple hundred metal-armor players were one-shot without mercy. A large majority of them happened to be Blazing Hot Lips cavalrymen, which was why Stranger of Three Lifetimes looked like she wanted to eat the dragon¡¯s heart raw. "This goddamned patch is so bullshit! Even elites are one-shot like cannon fodder!" ¡­¡­ "Focus on taking out Black Dragon Vitas as soon as possible! We¡¯ll never be able to take back the initiative until it¡¯s dead!" On the sky, Lin Yixin shouted out order after order while attacking the boss with all her might. On the rampart, Nangong Lexi was shooting powerful arrows at the giant dragon¡¯s stomach as well. She was the strongest archer in the vicinity except for Beiming Xue. Eternal Night lasted 60 seconds, and thus consisted of seven hits. It dealt a painful blow to our forces and created an empty space on the walls. Still, we were doing much better than the other guilds. A far distance away, the silver of the Seven Sacred Dragons was circling around Warsky Alliance¡¯s head and freezing everyone with its icy breath. Even Warsky himself was currently encased in ice. The only way to describe their "battle" was a true massacre. Every time the silver dragon unleashed its icy breath, a whole group of Gold Cavalrymen was sure to drop their deaths. However, very few of them possessed the power to threaten the silver dragon. Candle Dragon wasn¡¯t faring much better either. They were fighting against a red dragon that turned the entire upper section of the walls into a sea of flames. Candlelight Shadow was doing his best to avoid the flames and fight against the boss, but it was clear from his seared battle garment that it wasn¡¯t going very well. Blue Sky Scar, Tempest Shadow and more had fallen very low on health as well. Of course, the other servers weren¡¯t faring much better either. Everyone was chipping away at the boss''s HP little by little at the cost of many lives. Worse still, the NPC legions looked like they might enter the fray at any moment. If they began attacking the boss, there was a good chance we wouldn¡¯t receive any experience, and that was simply unacceptable. The only good news was that the perimeter of Sainthelm Ruins was more or less conquered if we managed to defeat these Seven Sacred Dragons. ¡­¡­ The boss fight lasted for almost an hour. While the Dragonlight Cavalry were keeping the Lizardmen, Dark Magi, undead tamers, and many more mobs at bay, the archers, mages and dragon knights focused on mowing down Black Dragon Vitas¡¯ HP. Finally, the boss dropped to just 2% HP. As if weighed by exhaustion and all the injuries it had suffered until this point, the black dragon¡¯s attack finally began weakening as well. Meanwhile, the NPC regents of the rest of the main cities finally unsheathed their Blades of Kings [2] and ordered the all-out assault. Countless elite cavalrymen galloped across the ground, and swarms of griffins blotted out the sky itself. The griffin riders wore excellent leather armor and wielded giant lightning spears. Obviously, their attack method was similar to the spear-throwing flyers we fought at Crossroads Valley. "Pooh¡­" Li Chengfeng spat while swinging his Crimson Refinement Sword. "These shameless NPCs! If they had attacked sooner than whatever, but no, they waited until the boss was almost out of HP before they launched their assault! We lost nearly 30k elites to this motherfucker, and now they¡¯re threatening to claim the spoils for themselves!" I declared, "It¡¯s no problem. 2% is just 10 million HP. We¡¯ll use our high-cooldown skills at the same time and delete this black dragon in one go!" Lin Yixin waved her dagger with a dazzling smile on her face. "Wait until I use Extreme Break, okay? I¡¯ll count down from three!" "Mn!" After the countdown was finished, Lin Yixin zipped toward the boss, took a blow to the shoulder, and stabbed the boss''s eyes with Extreme Break! That was our cue to go all out! I hurriedly backed a few steps and summoned the Xuanyuan Slash. Not only that, purple draconic energy began circulating madly around my body. Now was the time to execute the Xuanyuan Slash + Purple Dragon Howl combo! Li Chengfeng used his Crimson Firmament Slash + Dragonblade Revolution combo, He Yi used her Stormwind Slash + Stormwind Break combo, and Gui Guzi his Hundred Ghosts Descent + Burning Blade Slash combo. Lin Yixin herself thrust out with a deadly Universe Break. All five of us were using our strongest killer combos! Bang bang bang bang¡­ The black dragon roared again and again. I bet this was the first time it ever received such "luxurious" treatment in its life! Countless damage numbers rose from the boss''s head as multiple types of energies ravaged its body. For a moment, most of the players on the walls stopped fighting to admire the rare view. It wasn¡¯t every day one saw this many Ancient Divine Skills and high-cooldown AoE skills being used at the same time after all! "Roar roar¡­" The Black Dragon Vitas let out one last roar before it finally dropped dead. Lin Yixin¡¯s Barrier Break was the skill that dealt the last hit, so she immediately jumped a level. At the same time, countless items and magic stones erupted from the boss''s body. CH 1441 "Yiyi, grab the equipment!" I shouted from afar. Using Purple Dragon left me in the Exhausted state, so I had executed it a safe distance away from the boss. Therefore, I had to leave it to Lin Yixin to pick up the loot. Lin Yixin flew back and forth a couple of times until the rain of loot was all in her bag. Then, she descended on the rampart together with everyone. Now that the boss was dead, our section of the wall was much safer than before. At the very least, we didn¡¯t need to fear being incinerated by a dragon breath anymore. Sauna baths are great, but 500-degree-Celsius sauna baths are a different story¡­ ¡­¡­ Thud! After I landed on the ground and sent a nearby Lizardman flying, I asked, "What did the boss drop, Yiyi? Did it drop a Ghost Armament or one of the Twelve Divine Armaments?" Lin Yixin glanced inside her bag and shook her head. "Unfortunately, no¡­" She then shared the black dragon¡¯s equipment drops with everyone¡ª Black Dragon Chain Armor (Sacred Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 17,000 Defense, 15,500 Magic Resist. Increases user''s Defense by 70%. Level Requirement: 235. Chord of the Dark Dragon¡¯s Blade (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 11,500~15,200 Attack. Increases user''s Attack by 190%. Level Requirement: 235. Dragonheart Barrier (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 27500 Defense, 25,000 Magic Resist. Increases user''s Defense by 120%, Parry Chance: 72%. Dragon Wick, instantly increases user¡¯s current Defense by 50% for 60 seconds. Level Requirement: 235. Cold Blood Necklace (Middle Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Provides no stats. Shoot chains that have a 27% chance of petrifying a target for 15 seconds. Level Requirement: 235. ¡­¡­ After ten minutes of negotiation, we decided that the Black Dragon Chain Armor would go to Purple Marquis, the Chord of Dark Dragon¡¯s Blade would go to Nangong Lexi, the Dragonheart Barrier would go to our Heaven¡¯s Rain, and the Cold Blood Necklace would go to Blazing Hot Lip¡¯s Eyes Like Water. Although the Cold Blood Necklace was¡ªequipment grade wise¡ªthe lousiest of all the equipment drops, its effect was probably the best of them all. It didn¡¯t provide any stats at all, but the user could simply switch their equipment to the Cold Blood Necklace when they wished to petrify a target, then back to their original equipment afterward. It wasn¡¯t the easiest maneuver to pull in the heat of battle, true, but it was child¡¯s play to someone like Eyes Like Water. The magic stones, skill book and more were fully distributed as well. Black Dragon Vitas dropped a Rank 8 Encourage that increased Attack by a base of 25% and up to a maximum of 150%. It was a godlike skill book for tacticians. These days, many stratagems completely outperformed Famous General Skills because they had a much higher cap. In fact, tacticians had become the kings of large-scale buffing a while ago. Non-tacticians could at most quintuple the base effect before they were cut off by a hard cap, while tacticians could go even further. I handed the Rank 8 Encourage skill book to a tactician from Blazing Hot Lips. Lin Yixin shot me a strange look. "You¡¯re strangely generous today. That¡¯s a Rank 8 Encourage skill book with a cap of 150%, you know? It can turn a normal tactician to a top-tier one instantly." I shrugged. "So what? It¡¯s only 150%. My Martial God is still 50% better. Of course, if it was a Rank 9 Encourage that increases Attack by up to 250%, I wouldn¡¯t give it to Momo even if she dropped to her knees and called me big bro. That would just be stupid..." The corners of Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth twitched. "I see... So that¡¯s what you want Momo to do, is it?" I shuddered when I realized my slip of the tongue. However, the person in question responded calmly, "To be fair, forget dropping to my knees, I would even s*ck your c*ck if it was a Rank 9 Encourage¡­" [1] For a moment, no one could say a single word. Then, Eyes Like Water erupted, "Where the heck is your shame, boss? You can¡¯t seriously think that a Rank 9 Encourage is worth that much?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes blinked innocently at her sister. "But, but! What does my dignity matter if sacrifice will improve our guild?" Eyes Like Water sighed while wiping away the soot on her shoulders. "Just admit that you¡¯re in love with Lu Chen already. It would¡¯ve been less embarrassing than that load of bullshit you just spouted¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes retorted, "Come on, you really think I would love that boy?" Eyes Like Water exploded again, "Why are you doing this? You could¡¯ve just said ¡®fall in love¡¯ like a normal person, but no, you just had to say it in a way that can be misinterpreted as a sexual inneundo¡­ the shame¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes: "..." Me: "..." ¡­¡­ After the idle conversation was over, we refreshed our buffs, healed back to full health, and went back to cutting down the seemingly endless horde of Lizardmen. Ultimately, killing mobs was the best way to gather contribution points. Bosses offered massive amount of contribution points, but only one person could obtain them. It wasn¡¯t a bad thing that Black Dragon Vitas¡¯ contribution points went to Lin Yixin though. It didn¡¯t look likely before, but now she had a chance at surpassing Breeze and Rain and becoming the runner-up of this event. The higher one¡¯s ranking, the better the equipment they would get, so this was a win-win for all of us! Meanwhile, a massive aerial battle was taking place in the sky. A skyful of griffin riders were attacking the remaining six dragons with everything they had. "Kill! Kill these sacred dragons! They are scumbags who gave up their own racial pride and honor! Kill them all and take revenge for all of their victims!" Pu pu pu¡­ Their lightning spears penetrated deep into the dragons¡¯ bodies, but the creatures possessed incredible vitality. A silver dragon roared in fury, unleashed a jet of icy breath, and turned at least a hundred griffin riders into ice. When they hit the ground, they shattered into a million icy bits and didn¡¯t leave even a drop of blood behind. That wasn¡¯t all. The silver dragon shredded many griffin riders with its tooth and claw, spilling blood, bones and guts everywhere. The Sovereign Rank boss was killing the Griffin Legion at an extraordinary rate. On the wall, an invisible Farewell Song asked his guild leader, "The NPC just stole the boss we fought for an entire hour and lost seventy to eighty thousand men to. Are you going to give up, Warsky?" Warsky let out a chuckle. "You know that¡¯s not my style. When the silver dragon¡¯s HP falls to 5%, we¡¯ll swarm it and hit it with everything we got. Plus, the Griffin Legion may not necessarily be able to defeat the silver dragon¡­" Laughing At The Heavens said, "The guild leader is wise!" ¡­¡­ A similar scene was happening in other areas as well. The NPC griffin riders and dragon knights were fighting the six Sacred Dragons with everything they had, but the battle wasn¡¯t going in their favor. They were bleeding troops so quickly that their armies would probably be annihilated first before the six Sacred Dragons went down. Rustle rustle¡­ Karinshan was watching the battle happening in front of her when suddenly, she clasped the hilt of her sword and slowly dropped to one knee. She then cupped a handful of soil and ice before whispering to herself, "It took 10,000 years, but we humans have finally returned to this land. I can sense your spiritual energy growing, you who slumber beneath the snow. Are you awakening once more to protect those you love?" It was at this moment Ziyan asked for directions, "Your Majesty, our aerial units won¡¯t last until the remaining six Sacred Dragons are dead. What should we do?" Karinshan narrowed her eyes before replying, "The Sacred Dragons are too powerful. One of them may have been killed, but the other six are still fairly healthy and powerful. Moreover, I can sense a tremendous amount of death energy coming from depths of Sainthelm Ruins. It is powerful enough to terrify even me." Ziyan sighed. "You didn¡¯t answer my question¡­" Karinshan: "..." ¡­¡­ A short distance away where Sophie¡¯s army resided, Xinran was floating in midair and shooting Sophie a smile, "How many strikes will it take you to kill a Sacred Dragon?" Snow Minstrel declared confidently, "With my Purgatory Cross Slash, I can dismember it completely in 5 strikes at most! What about you? You¡¯ve trained in Heaven Domain for a very long time, and I¡¯m very curious to know how sharp your Dragonbone Spear has become¡­" Xinran continued to smile. "You will know the answer to that very soon. You handle the red, blue and ice dragons, and I¡¯ll handle the silver[2], fire, and gold dragons. Let¡¯s see who can end the legend of the Seven Sacred Dragons[3] first, shall we?" "Very well!" Sophie answered, but she was already flying across the sky like a lightning bolt. Swhoosh! Xinran abruptly vanished from her spot as well. ¡­¡­ In the sky, the silver dragon roared while savaging and devouring the griffin riders, "The pride of the dragon race is not something you ants can imagine! Die, you ignorant humans!" Buzz! It was at this moment a beautiful woman who was shrouded in bloody energy appeared above it. Xinran smiled at the boss and said, "Silver Dragon Pais, I have come to end your life. Be a good boy and die, will you?" Sneering, the dragon elder taunted her in the draconic tongue, "Where are you from, humble girl? I was born to this land tens of thousands of years ago! Do you really think a child like you can kill me?" Xinran didn¡¯t bother wasting her breath on the dragon elder. She simply pulled her arm backward, infused her Dragonbone Spear with divine energy and said with a giggle, "Here I come then!" Swhoosh! The silver dragon roared when the Dragonbone Spear sailed toward him, "Come forth! Ice Dragon Armor!" A thick layer of ice instantly appeared around its head. It looked like a perfect defense against Xinran¡¯s spear throw, but¡­ Suddenly, the Dragonbone Spear became much larger and powerful than before. It was only then the silver dragon realized its mistake and shouted, "What the? How do you possess this¡ª" BANG! The Dragonbone Spear pierced the silver dragon¡¯s head and made it rain like a blood bag. Actually, I would like to amend that. The spear throw had exploded the dragon¡¯s entire head into smithereens and caused its headless body to fall lifelessly toward the ground. Who would¡¯ve thought that the Sacred Dragon was incapable of withstanding even a single hit from Xinran? ¡­¡­ On the wall, Warsky punched a nearby brick and uttered through gritted teeth, "My 5%! God dammit, silver dragon! Are you made of paper or what? Headshot kills aren¡¯t supposed to happen in a game like this!" October Rain said nonchalantly, "That NPC girl is Xinran and Lu Chen¡¯s greatest helper in the game. If you ever plan to curry favor with a woman, make sure to learn from the gigolo master himself, Lu Chen¡­" ¡­¡­ A sudden sneeze took control of me for a moment. Goddammit, who¡¯s the bastard slandering me behind my back? 1. T/N: in the raws it used the Chinese version of a censor "beep", but I did this instead because it didn¡¯t seem to fit the English sentence very well. ? 2. E/N: Silver dragon was freezing everyone at Warsky Alliance¡¯s side, but now there¡¯s silver AND ice dragons? ? 3. E/N: Seven? Lin Yixin ended THAT legend. You can end the legend of Six Sacred Dragons, but you can¡¯t really do it ¡°first¡±. Both of you need to finish for it to happen. Maybe compete who can end the legend of Three Random Sacred Dragons? ? CH 1442 Bang! A cross-shaped sword aura slammed into a blue dragon¡¯s spine and elicited many painful howls from the fearsome Sacred Dragon. It roared, "Dammit! Who are you? How are you a Divine Rank expert? And why are you so gentle and beautiful¡­" Instead of answering, Sophie dropped from the sky and imprinted yet another Purgatory Cross Slash into the blue dragon¡¯s spine. Blood spilled everywhere, and the dragon scales covering that area were completely destroyed. The blue dragon howled some more. "Oh, it hurts! Who are you? I can become your eternal servant if you let me live, beautiful and gentle girl!" the blue dragon begged while wheezing in pain. Sophie sneered, "Hmph! I¡¯ve heard that the Blue Dragon Sword is a promiscuous dragon, and it looks like it¡¯s true after all!" She dropped yet another Purgatory Cross Slash on the blue dragon¡¯s back, but this time she used the laws of fire to empower her attack. It burned away all the scales on its back and almost enough flesh to reveal the bones beneath it. The blue dragon screamed even louder and tried to swipe Sophie away from its back. Unfortunately, Sophie easily knocked its tail away with a swing of her sword. Dragons were normally famed for their physical strength, but Sophie completely outperformed the blue dragon even in that department, much less everything else. "Oh, it hurts so much!" The blue dragon continued to beg, "My beautiful warrioress, I really will be your slave if you let me live! As a show of my sincerity, allow me to tell you a secret. I¡­ I have cultivated to the point where I can assume a human form, and my¡­ lower half can be any shape you¡¯d like! It can be long, short, hard, thick; it¡¯s 100% going to satisfy you if you would just give me the chance to prove myself!! I swear on my Holy Giant Dragon¡¯s soul that I will provide you a service of the highest quality!" Sophie turned a shade of purple before uttering, "I don¡¯t need any service!" She struck the blue dragon two more times, and finally its mouth was shut forever. It was because Sophie¡¯s flames had burned its flesh away completely and left behind only a pitch black skeleton. Her power was truly unbelievable! ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Gui Guzi was laughing like crazy. "OMG, that blue dragon is such an idiot! My poor stomach! I cannot believe it actually tried to seduce Sophie, hahahaha¡­" I asked a serious question while hugging my sword, "But why though? She¡¯s a Purgatory Sovereign, right? Surely she has a harem of her own just like Coldblade and Thunder? Also, she said she doesn¡¯t need ¡®any service¡¯, not ¡®your service¡¯. It almost sounds like¡­" It was at this moment a sweet voice answered me, "Big brother, that¡¯s because¡­ Sophie is still a maiden¡­" I looked up and saw Xinran floating above us and shooting me a beautiful smile. Her blood-red battle garment gave her a very heroic appearance. "I see¡­" I exclaimed in realization. Xinran said, "I¡¯m leaving to take out the other Sacred Dragons now, big bro! Otherwise, Sophie¡¯s going to beat me in our race!" I nodded. "Be careful, Xinran!" "No worries, big brother!" She was a thousand meters away before she even finished her sentence. A second later, another dragon let out a death roar before collapsing in a single hit. No one knows how powerful Xinran was right now, except that she now possessed the power to kill a Sovereign Rank boss in a single hit; a Sacred Dragon that we had to fight for hours while risking life and limb all the time¡­ It was highly doubtful that we players could ever reach Xinran¡¯s level. Players couldn¡¯t evolve into gods after all. [1] ¡­¡­ All six remaining Sacred Dragons were dead in the blink of an eye, and the tides of Sainthelm Ruins began turning in our favor. There was no doubt that Sophie and Xinran played a pivotal role in this battle. No longer could the undead legion toy with us as they pleased. Our quest still wasn¡¯t over though. This meant that we still had to kill more mobs and obtain more contribution points. "This feels incredible!" Xu Yang grinned like a madman while killing seven or eight low health Lizardmen at once with his new Omnislash. "I¡¯ve never felt more powerful than I am now! My contribution points are skyrocketing as well!" Heaven¡¯s Rain chuckled. "Yeah. No one is a match for big brother Lu Chen though. He¡¯s the indisputable MVP of this event¡­" I leaped down from the wall and landed inside the city. There were NPC legions, players and monsters all over the place. Despite this, Sainthelm Ruins was slowly but surely being occupied by the Silver Moon Alliance, and it looked like it was only a matter of time before the Purgatory Legion¡¯s defeat was all but irreversible. Many things were still bothering me, however. For one, that powerful death energy emanating from the heart of Sainthelm Ruins was like a dark cloud that refused to fade. I decided to distract myself by checking out the contribution point ranking for a bit. My placing looked as solid as ever¡ª Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (China) Points: 10072630 Wind Fantasy (China) Points: 6025200 Breeze and Rain (India) Points: 5550280 Lian Xin (China) Points: 5412680 Candlelight Shadow (China) Points: 5318700 Legendary Brave (China) Points: 5201400 Vienna¡¯s Sorrow (USA) Points: 4983470 Luo River God of the Capital (China) Points: 4903430 God of War (India) Points: 4803740 Beiming Xue (China) Points: 4802900 ¡­¡­ Finally, my total contribution points had surpassed the 10 million mark. It was absolutely a crowning achievement of this event. The reason I was able to do it was thanks to all the bosses I killed, just like how Lin Yixin was able to surpass Breeze and Rain after killing Black Dragon Vitas and gaining its contribution points. Not only that, our cute little mage, Lian Xin, was looking like she would surpass Breeze and Rain as well. It would paint a most interesting picture if the top three players of this March of Chaos event were all from the China server. Despite the Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and Purple Grape City¡¯s best efforts, they ultimately weren¡¯t able to stop our march to become the king of this continent. On another note, Beiming Xue had finally taken over Tear Stain and squeezed her way into the Top 10 as well. Of course, I had no doubt that the Korean girl would do everything in her power to climb back up. The competition would be fiercer than ever before! ¡­¡­ A while later, He Yi said to me, "Alright, we can enter the heart of Sainthelm Ruins now¡­" I nodded and looked behind me. "Those who think they¡¯re powerful enough to survive the upcoming challenges, follow me. Otherwise, you should stay outside and kill the Lizardmen and tamers. Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you, but the chance that you may die to whatever¡¯s waiting for us at the heart of Sainthelm Ruins is infinitely close to 100%!" Xu Yang nodded. "I get it, bro. I¡¯ll stay outside and grind the mobs with our players. Be careful!" "Mn!" In the end, around 1,000 elites, almost peak-level players chose to follow me into the deep. Lin Yixin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Ling Xueshang, Come See The Snow Tonight and more were going in with their best players as well. As if on cue, the peak-level experts of all the servers walked side by side following the trail of the NPCs into the ancient map. Although we knew that there was an extremely high chance we would all perish in this battle, our curiosity ultimately trumped over caution. After all, the most powerful boss in the entire game, the Purgatory Ruler Lin Na, could very well be waiting for us at the end of this epic adventure! ¡­¡­ As we ventured deeper and deeper into Sainthelm Ruins, our vision slowly became filled with ice. The surrounding temperature had also plummeted drastically as well. Lin Yixin involuntarily pulled her robe around her before scanning the icy cavern around us dubiously, "This is strange¡­ I¡¯m feeling almost too cold despite being protected by the Crimson Crystal Dragon¡¯s power¡­" I was shivering like a leaf myself. "Yeah. It¡¯s like we entered the quick-freeze compartment of a fridge or something¡­" Not far away, Shadow Dancer Xue Wei answered my question softly, "You shouldn¡¯t have come here. This is no normal cold; it has been conjured with divine powers." I answered, "Xue Wei, this is where the Dragon Speaker Binglan was buried, right? I was here during that war, but my level was so low that the boss easily one-shot me with Depravity." Xue Wei nodded. "Yes, there is but one reason we are all gathered here today, and that is to awaken the Dragon Speaker from her slumber!" Queen Sophia stopped in her tracks and looked at me. "In fact, Lin Na is targeting the Dragon Speaker as well. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have chosen to rebuild his undead fortress on this frigid land!" Karinshan slowed down as well and explained, "Three years ago, when the glaciers of this land began melting, all Divine Rank experts immediately suspected that the Dragon Speaker Binglan was awakening from her slumber. She went so far as to sacrifice her own life force to seal the Great Saint, and now she has begun to regain her powers. Perhaps she is but moments from returning to this world. We would¡¯ve stormed this place sooner if Lin Na wasn¡¯t guarding this place himself, and we weren¡¯t strong enough to challenge him¡­" I nodded. It looked like all the threads were leading to the Dragon Speaker Binglan. I looked toward the front and called out, "Xinran!" "Hmm?" Xinran stopped in her tracks before walking up to me. "What¡¯s wrong, big brother?" "Do you know Binglan?" I asked. Xinran shook her head. "No. My consciousness has just begun forming when Binglan sealed herself in ice. After that, I fell to the Purgatory and endured 10,000 years of cultivation. Binglan is so famous that even in the Purgatory, I was taught that she was the Dragon Speaker and the strongest guardian of the human and dragon races¡­ but¡­" "But what, Lady Wind Singer?" Karinshan asked urgently. Xinran pursed her lips for a moment before continuing in a worried tone, "If she really is the protector of the human race, why couldn¡¯t I sense any pure or divine intent from this place? Why¡­ can I sense only viciousness and ruthlessness¡­" I shuddered and exchanged a glance with Lin Yixin. We both saw the worry in each other¡¯s eyes. ¡­¡­ "Watch out!" A soldier¡¯s cry suddenly erupted from the front. The next moment, many screams and the fresh stench of blood washed over us. "What¡¯s going on?" I rushed forward even as Xinran and Sophie zipped past me. We entered the cave with a long passage and saw the crushed bodies of seven or eight soldiers. "Dammit!" Karinshan swore softly. Deep within the cave, there was a man kneeling on one knee and gripping a blade that crawled with lightning. He raised his head and shot us a malicious smirk. "Lady Karinshan, Lady Sophie, Lady Wind Singer, and Lady Sophie! You have kept me, Michael the Hollow Thunder, waiting!" 1. T/N: except they can, your Asura race has a rank that¡¯s called Asura God¡­ ? CH 1443 "Michael!" Karinshan unsheathed her own sword and charged the boss without hesitation. Fire whirled around her body as she fired a crescent-shaped sword blast at him. Whoosh¡­ However, the flame attack passed through his torso like nothing and only rippled his body. It looked like it did no damage to him at all. Karinshan stared in confusion. "What¡¯s going on?" Michael cackled and discharged a lightning ball that sent Karinshan stumbling at least dozens of steps to the back before crashing into an ice wall. She didn¡¯t take any damage because she was protected by divine energy, but her confidence was dealt a great blow. She could hardly believe that one Michael the Hollow Thunder was giving her so much trouble. ¡­¡­ Xinran narrowed her eyes at Michael before smiling. "Lady Karinshan, you are unable to damage him earlier because he is using the Water Mirror Spell." "Water Mirror Spell?" Karinshan exclaimed in astonishment. "Mn." Xinran nodded. "Water Mirror Spell is an ancient secret art that renders its user usable temporarily intangible and allows them to avoid all damage. It is supposed to be a long-lost art, so I wonder where this villain managed to obtain this spell." "How do we dispel it?" Karinshan asked. Xinran chuckled. "Just leave it to me!" Xinran abruptly dashed forward before stabbing her Dragonbone Spear into the ice beneath her feet. Then, she clasped her hands together into a rhombus shape, gathered her divine energy and cried, "Thorny Light!" A piercing light filled the entire cavern. The next moment, Michael fell on his butt, and the strange mirror surrounding his body shattered into pieces. "How is this possible? How could this be¡­" Xinran declared with confidence, "Looks like the Water Mirror Spell is not too special after all¡­ you want to kill him, Sophie?" "Sure!" Sophie unsheathed her sword and was about to act when a man blocked in front of her. He was a general wearing black armor and carrying a ring of iron chains on his shoulders. "Lady Sophie, please leave this vile man to me. He and I are old enemies. I promise I will slay him for sure!" "Oh?" Sophie shot him a glance. "Are you Callan of the Dragon Domain?" "Yes, Lady Sophie. I¡¯ve joined Sky City!" "Very well¡­" ¡­¡­ That¡¯s right, the general was none other than Callan the Dragon Knight Captain himself. He used to be the Dragon Speaker Binglan¡¯s loyal subordinate, but now he was Karinshan¡¯s royal knight instead. After Callan turned back toward Michael, he swung his chains repeatedly until a cyclone of energy was surrounding his whole body. Then, he charged toward Michael with a roar and launched his chains like a web. "You are courting death, loser!" Michael cackled madly and knocked the chains away with his bare fists. However, Callan was able to use the opening to get close to Michael and thrust a conjured icicle toward his heart. "Hmm?" Michael frowned but puffed out his chest and circulated it with lightning. "Thunder Shield! You think you can hurt me, weakling?" Shred! As it turned out, Callan could. To Michael¡¯s astonishment, Callan¡¯s icicle actually pierced through his Thunder Shield and broke one of his ribs. It would¡¯ve passed through his heart if his astral energy wasn¡¯t protecting it. "Heh!" Callan abruptly snapped his icicle in half before landing a roundhouse kick squarely on Michael¡¯s face. Blood spewed out of Michael¡¯s lips as he staggered about four or five steps away from Callan. "Pooh!" Michael spat out an incisor hatefully before unsheathing his sword. Then, he stabbed it into the ground and growled, "Thunder Sword Web!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ The ice beneath our feet shook, and threads of lightning suddenly burst out of the ground and wrapped around Callan¡¯s ankles from below. It both immobilized him and scorched his boots completely black. "Hahaha, how does that feel, my righteous Dragon Knight Captain?" Michael let out another evil cackle. Callan gathered his strength and shredded the web of lightning with sheer power. Then, he launched his chain against Michael¡¯s shoulder like he was throwing a spear. However, more threads of lightning burst out of the ground and shackled Callan even further. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle¡­ Meanwhile, I frowned at the scene and walked up to Karinshan, Xinran and Sophie. "Don¡¯t you see that Michael is trying to buy time? I bet that something sinister is happening at the bottom of this ice cave. It is the only reason Micahel would try to stop us here. He should know that there is no way he could stop Xinran and Sophie combined." Xinran¡¯s mouth opened. "Big brother, are you suggesting we¡­?" "Exactly!" I nodded without hesitation. "We need to kill Michael and reach the bottom of this ice cave as soon as possible. Otherwise, we may come to regret our decision later!" "Very well!" Xinran nodded and vanished from my sight faster than I could blink. When I turned to look at Michael, I saw that his head was already sailing across the air even as his body was attempting to step away from Xinran. Incredible! The boss wasn¡¯t able to survive even a single blow from her! Gui Guzi exclaimed in admiration, "Man, is this how NPC fights go? Unbelievable. Michael is a Quasi-Divine Rank boss, but he still couldn¡¯t withstand a single hit from her. Your little sister is out of this world, Boss Broken Halberd!" I nodded. "Let¡¯s go. Time to head to the bottommost level of this cave and see if there are big profits to reap!" "Yeah!" Karinshan also unsheathed her own sword and ordered, "Warriors of the Silver Moon Alliance, full speed ahead! We are entering the bottommost level of this ice cave!" ¡­¡­ The ice cave was shaped like a spiral, and we were at the uppermost layer right now. We would have to follow the spiraling passage and fight all the way to the bottom. And yes, I said ¡®fight¡¯ because there were plenty of monsters along the way. Assuming that we tried to clear out everything in our path, it would take between 5 to 10 hours at the very least. It was because most of the mobs were deity-rank mobs or Ancient Immortal Rank minibosses. "Roar roar¡­" I canceled my Fusion Armor and pulled Beiming Xue up to the Ancient Divine Dragon. Then, I said, "Come on, we¡¯ll fly to the bottom floor right away. Chaos Moon, I trust you to lead our brothers and sisters and fight your way down the passage. If for whatever reason we fail to defeat the final boss, then at least we would have grinded some profit here. This is the nest of the Purgatory Legion after all!" Chaos Moon nodded. "Got it. Be careful!" And so the five of us carried one passenger each before flying down to the bottom of the ice cave. Karinshan, Sophie and Xue Wei jumped off the edge without any fear whatsoever. Divine Rank experts like Xinran and Sophie could fly, so the seemingly bottomless pit wasn¡¯t a problem for them either. The rest of the NPCs relied on their griffin riders to carry between 2 to 3 people before flying to the bottom. Of course, Breeze and Rain was riding his Purple Wing Unicorn, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow his black dragon, and Candlelight Shadow¡¯s his fire dragon. As for Warsky, the amazing bastard just jumped off the edge and relied solely on the Immortal Blade to keep him alive. Call him crazy, but never a coward[1]! The wind blowing against our garments was so chilly that I almost couldn¡¯t open my eyes. Thankfully, the Ancient Divine Dragon automatically summoned a protective layer of flame to keep us warm. High-rank mounts were nice like that. Squinting to keep the wind from entering her eyes, Beiming Xue said with a chuckle, "Do you think we¡¯ll die at the bottom of this cave, big bro? This is the first time I¡¯m so unsure about our chances¡­" I laughed. "Relax, it¡¯s only a level even if we die. It¡¯s not like this is Final Duel Valley." "Mn!" ¡­¡­ About 5 minutes of flight later [2], the sea blue light of ice suddenly entered my eyes all of a sudden. I hurriedly slowed down our descent and was able to come to a complete stop right before we were about to hit the bottom. Bang! Ice flew everywhere as Warsky crashed with a loud bang about ten meters away from me. An arm clung to the edge of the small pit, and Warsky pulled himself out with just 20% HP left in his health bar. He groaned, "Damn, that hurt!" Breeze and Rain arrived on his Purple Wing Unicorn as well. The second he saw that Warsky was low on health, he immediately made his way toward the guild leader without a word. Swhoosh! However, I immediately activated Fusion Armor and blocked in front of Warsky. I planted the Chill of the Nine Provinces into the ground and smiled innocently at Breeze and Rain. If the guy thought that he could kill a Chinese player right before my eyes, he would have to think again! ¡­¡­ "Big bro¡­" Suddenly, Beiming Xue gave my arm a tug and said, "Look¡­" I looked at the direction she was pointing and found that this part of the cave looked like a hall of some sort. There was a long staircase leading toward a deeper section of the cave, and the NPCs were all moving toward it already. "Let¡¯s go¡­ we¡¯re almost at our destination!" I said. "Mn!" Lin Yixin also transformed her Crimson Crystal Dragon into a mark on her arm before walking up the stairs side by side with me. The stairs were less than a hundred meter long. It led up to a brilliant place that looked like a royal palace. ¡­¡­ "Huh¡­" It was a stunning sight. Positioned directly in front of the sacred hall was a bloody red throne, and behind the throne was a hill of swords that could almost be mistaken for steely brambles. Sitting on the throne was none other than the evil Dragon Speaker we had fought a while ago, Mingyu. None of us was expecting[3] to see him here! That wasn¡¯t what shocked us the most though, not at all. A brilliant, icy crystal floated at the center of the sacred hall, and encased in it was a woman of supernatural beauty. She wore an exquisite-looking battle armor and a pair of sea blue-colored war boots. Her arms were slightly spread like she was about to embrace someone, and there was a tiny wound on one of her smooth, long legs. Her frozen blood looked like a translucent blood diamond! Something was very wrong, however. The top of the ice crystal was entangled in green vines, and countless poisonous fruits that looked like upright wild gingers. It was the same fruit that we saw spilling its contents against a glacier earlier. Right now, the same liquid was slowly seeping through the ice and dripping onto the woman¡¯s hair¡­ ¡­¡­ Mingyu opened his eyes and smiled widely. "Hehe. Wake up soon, my greatest pride and strongest Dragon Speaker in the world. Don¡¯t make your teacher wait too long. You are no longer just my student anymore. Now, you are also my precious little daughter. When you finally awaken, you will obey me and me alone!" A trembling Callan abruptly collapsed to his knees and burst into tears. "Lady¡­ Lady Binglan¡­" 1. E/N: How the hel is passive HP regeneration supposed to help him with FALL DAMAGE which will be one big number? ? 2. T/N: Jesus christ this is one deep cave ? 3. T/N: what do you mean you didn¡¯t expect to see him here? He was in the trailer, and you just fought Michael a while ago! ? CH 1444 I watched the icy crystal closer. It was completely stained with poison, and even Binglan¡¯s skin was turning a shade of purple not unlike the poison itself. An evil soul aura also permeated the entire crystal. "Oh no¡­" Sophie frowned a little. "That¡¯s¡­ the Soul Stealing Fruit. It¡¯s something that should only exist in legends. Where on earth did the devil find such a thing?" I asked, "What is the Soul Stealing Fruit?" Xinran gritted her teeth. "The Soul Stealing Fruit is an object that can completely transform a person¡¯s spirituality, big brother. In the case of a god, it can transform the purity of their divinity into something else entirely. A long time ago, the Godking himself was transformed into a devil of darkness after a thousand years of corruption by the Soul Stealing Fruit. As for Binglan¡­ this corruption must have been seeping into her mind for at least 10,000 years. What¡­ what do we do?" Xinran was clearly panicking when she reached the end of her sentence. I myself was chilled from the bottom of my heart. Perhaps our journey here really was a mistake. ¡­¡­ Thud! Xinran tossed Michael¡¯s head on the floor before asking, "Is this your goal, Mingyu?" Mingyu watched Michael¡¯s head emotionlessly for a second. Then, he rose to his feet and crushed it beneath his boots. He said after letting out a chuckle, "Useless thing. Oh well, it doesn¡¯t matter. When Binglan awakens, none of you will leave this place alive. Hahaha! Really, who else can face me when Binglan herself is on my side?" Karinshan took a step forward and yelled at Mingyu, "You were a Dragon Speaker once, Mingyu! The protector of Dragon Domain and the human realms! How can you allow your soul to succumb to depravity and transform into a wanton murderer!?" Mingyu laughed so hard that tears formed in his eyes. It was like he had heard the funniest joke in the world. "Protector, you say? If I was a protector, then what did I protect, exactly? I protected the royal power, but the nobles themselves harassed, shamed, and killed the commoners under my protection. If I had killed them, then I would have broken the law and been punished for my transgressions. But if I didn¡¯t, how could I call myself a protector? Protector of what? Royal power? More like royal hypocrisy, hahaha! Now that I think about it, you are currently the supreme commander of the Silver Moon Alliance, aren¡¯t you? That¡¯s right, you are a little princess who didn¡¯t need to worry about basic necessities from a young age. You can never imagine what it¡¯s like to be one of those people who didn''t have even a sliver of pride or status to their name. I, Mingyu, am a Dragon Speaker, but I am also the man who will break this rotten order! The reason I commit evil and kill is because I have seen through all this hypocrisy!" A tear slowly slid down Karinshan¡¯s cheek as she looked up at the slumbering Binglan. She dropped to one knee and said in a sobbing voice, "Binglan, you were once the greatest protector of humanity. No one loved this continent as much as you do. That is why you must not become a devil no matter what¡­ I beg you to maintain the purity and integrity of your divinity. I beg you to fight for humanity and all who are weak once more. You can never become a devil, you musn¡¯t¡­" Mingyu sneered, "Is this how you beg for your future, regent of Sky City and greatest expert of the current humanity?" Chiang! Sophie unsheathed her sword and said quietly, "Move out of the way, Karinshan. If this is how it must be, then allow me to shatter the crystal and kill Binglan now before she is fully corrupted. Only then the Silver Moon Alliance may continue to exist on this continent!" Karinshan abruptly turned around and spread her arms wide. "No! No¡­ you cannot. Binglan is our god, our eternal protector. You cannot kill her no matter what¡­" Queen Sophia frowned and took a step forward as well. "Karinshan, your emotions are overtaking your reason. You are not fit to be the supreme commander at this moment. Please move out of the way so that we may do what we must. I, Sophia, will bear the sin you cannot bring yourself to bear!" Karinshan gritted her teeth. "We aren¡¯t at that point yet, Sophia. We cannot sacrifice Binglan for our convenience, you understand? We cannot!" Sophie nodded. "I know¡­" ¡­¡­ A grim-faced Gui Guzi asked my opinion, "What do we do now, Boss Broken Halberd? We¡¯re in a deadlock here. Anyway, is this woman really that powerful? I¡¯m going to be honest, but she looks cuter than she is threatening. Surely she can¡¯t be that powerful?" I gritted my teeth. "That will be a terrible mistake. Binglan can literally one-shot all of us with a single fingersnap¡­" He Yi: "..." It was at this moment Lin Yixin looked up at Binglan and said something unexpected, "I know her¡­ she¡¯s the one who taught me my class and Holy Energy¡­" I turned toward her immediately. "Are you sure, Yiyi? Are you saying that Binglan awoke from her slumber earlier?" "Mn! Absolutely!" Lin Yixin nodded strongly. Hesitation filled my mind. Even I wasn¡¯t sure what to do now. It was at this moment Li Chengfeng declared, "If we can¡¯t decide if we have to defeat Binglan, then we may as well delay that decision until later and take out the mastermind behind everything, Mingyu, first! If he¡¯s dead, then she won¡¯t need to obey anyone¡¯s orders, am I right?" He Yi nodded. "It¡¯s not a bad idea, but it is difficult to execute¡­" It was at this moment Beiming Xue pointed to the distance. "Look! The Northern Alliance is about to make a move!" ¡­¡­ About a hundred meters away to our right, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and a group of 300 or so Northern Alliance players were glaring at Mingyu with fury. The guild leader uttered, "Knight of Stars and Riverside, the three of us will be the main tanks for this boss fight! The rest of you will attack the boss from a safe distance. Priests, split into teams, lock your target on us and heal us with everything you''ve got. Archers, CC the boss as best you can. Alright, let¡¯s go! This motherfucker destroyed our Sainthelm City in the past. Now is the time to take back everything with interest!" His black dragon roared, and the Northern Alliance players charged toward Mingyu. I swore inside my head, "Oh no, these impulsive youngsters! They¡¯re literally making our choice for us¡­" "Lowly humans!" Mingyu abruptly rose to his feet and unsheathed a blade with starlight flying around it. Heaven knows where the boss got it, but it didn¡¯t look like a weak weapon at all. He swung it at the direction of the Northern Alliance party and discharged an energy blast that contained the power of the stars! Boom! The attack had an area of effect of almost 40 yards, and it dealt millions of damage per person. That simple attack alone had killed over 50 Northern Alliance players in one go, and even Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and his dragon were sent flying back where they came from. The power gap between Mingyu and us players looked insurmountable right now. The Northern Alliance¡¯s attack was the spark that lit the fuse, and now Mingyu was about to go all out! Swhoosh! The boss suddenly jumped into a group of players before raising his blade, growling, "Bloodblade Storm!" Boom! Countless bloody blades manifested into existence before spinning themselves into a deadly cyclone. Not only did it kill countless Northern Alliance players, the closest Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance¡¯s players were caught up in it as well. Mingyu had transformed into a full-blown killer at this point. ¡­¡­ Chiang! I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and said reluctantly, "There¡¯s no way to settle this ¡®peacefully¡¯ anymore, I guess. All units, change your attack mode and suppress Mingyu with all you''ve got! As Chengfeng says, we can decide what to do after we kill Mingyu! Let¡¯s go!" I used Thunderous Charged and zapped toward the boss before I even finished my sentence! Swhoosh! After I got close to the boss, I stabbed him beneath the armpit and injected him with Purple Frost Concentration. After the skill had reduced his Defense by 12.9%, I executed Burning Blade Slash that dealt a ton of damage¡ª 312,772! 431,634! 992,778! The last hit was a crit, but I wasn¡¯t happy at all. Since I was the one who dealt the most damage to him, the boss was surely going to focus on me now! "How dare you!" Mingyu turned around and glared at me with red eyes. As he reached out to grab my weapon, I leaned in and tried to cast a point-blank God Binding Art to no avail. The next moment, he executed a triple slash of his own that shredded my Battle Astral Wind on the first hit, and wounded me severely on the second and third¡ª MISS! 1,127,434! 1,736,767! I flew like a broken kite before crashing hard against the wall. When I looked up, I saw him summoning a storm that killed Yu Tong, Moonlight Stone, Tiger Leopard Knight and more instantly. Goddammit! Not even our greatest elites can withstand a single hit! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Sophie charged and formed a cross with her sword. She swung three times at Mingyu¡¯s starry blade, but the blade flashed three times and negated all of her attacks like they never existed in the first place. Sophie¡¯s mouth fell open. "Heavens, that weapon is¡ªStarlight!!" "Correct!" Mingyu cackled sinisterly as he kicked Sophie hard in the chest and launched her into the wall behind her. It was a grievous blow. Pu! Although Mingyu managed to deal a serious blow to Sophie, a spear tip emerged from his chest at the exact same time. It was none other than the blade of the Dragonbone Spear! Xinran pressed her palm against Mingyu¡¯s back and summoned multiple icicles at once. They skewered Mingyu¡¯s heart and caused him to let out a terrible cry of pain! In retaliation, he sent Xinran skidding dozens of steps away with a powerful back kick. She was clearly surprised by the force behind the blow. Mingyu then raised his weapon and chanted, "Starlight!" Starlight gathered around his wounds and began healing him at a visible rate. Mingyu¡¯s smile grew even more sinister than before as he said, "Did you think I was still the same as before, Wind Singer?" ¡­¡­ The boss abruptly expanded his arms and detonated his bloody energy. The entire cavern was shaking from his power as he roared, "Be turned into dust!" A powerful storm swept through the tiny space in an instant, hitting the players of Cyan Earth City first before anyone else. Breeze and Rain and God of War managed to activate their invincibility shields in time, but the several hundred players they brought with them were all killed in an instant. No elite could withstand Mingyu¡¯s forbidden spell! "Watch out! Back off now!" The warning was too late by the time it escaped my mouth. Lian Xin and Beiming Xue were just a few steps slower than the others, but that was enough to make them Mingyu¡¯s next target. He let out a mad cackle and swung his blade at them! "Fuck!" I hurriedly charged the boss and activated my Cold of the Nine Provinces. Unfortunately, it could only freeze Mingyu¡¯s legs. He abruptly seized me by the throat and thrust his sword at me, yelling, "Die, boy!" Xinran tried to come to my rescue, but Mingyu abruptly turned around and pointed his palm at her, shouting, "Hold!" "..." Xinran froze in midair, unable to move a muscle as Mingyue stabbed me through the chest. "Big brother, no!!" ¡­¡­ Pu! 2,182,773! It was a grievous blow. Not done yet, Mingyu kicked me in the stomach while growling, "Do me a favor and wake up my good little daughter, will you boy?" Bang! There was nothing I could do to stop my momentum. I was launched into the crystal like a cannonball! There was an explosion of pain from my back, and the ice crystal shattered. The next thing I knew, both me and Binglan had become wedged inside a wall of ice. Miraculously, I was able to survive with a tiny sliver of HP. ¡­¡­ "Ugh¡­" There was a quiet sigh, and Binglan slowly opened her eyes and watched me coolly. CH 1445 Her pupils were as deep and profound as gemstones, but they were tinged with a bit of killing intent. Swhoosh! With only 10% HP left, I hastily crawled out of the ice wall, activated Heavenly River Transformation, and flew a dozen or so meters to the back. Then, I instantly restored 40% HP to myself with Tenacity of the Dead, Dragon Bloodboil and a Rank 13 Health Potion. I could already tell that Binglan was no longer the Binglan I used to know. The old her would never carry so much hatred in her eyes toward a human. ¡­¡­ Crash¡­ The entire ice wall shattered suddenly, and a white battle garment swayed slightly to the wind. Binglan let out a quiet sigh, closed her eyes, then opened them once more to stare at my shoulder. "Why¡­ is an evil undead who is close to becoming a god wearing the symbol of the human alliance?" I stuttered, "I¡­ er¡­" Before I could explain anything, she appeared in front of me with her fingers fully outstretched and a faint but devious smile on her face. "It doesn¡¯t matter. Today is the day you die!" Whoosh! Blue flames wreathed around her palm, and her powerful control over Domain prevented me from the slightest struggle. One second I was shivering from the unnatural cold of the environment, the next I was crashing toward the ground while scorching hot flames engulfed my body. Not even Cyan Dragon Scale was strong enough to withstand Binglan¡¯s attack! Bang¡­ My body shattered the ice beneath me and dragged a long line across the ground. My shoulders, elbows and face were all covered in blades. The impact hurt, and that one strike had dealt around 2.5 million HP. It didn¡¯t even look like she was putting much effort into the attack at all! Swhoosh swhoosh¡­ While Murong Mingyue and Moon Dew were healing me, Lin Yixin hurriedly blocked in front of me with her arms outstretched. She yelled, "Don¡¯t kill him, teacher! He¡¯s not a bad guy! Don¡¯t you recognize me, teacher?" A sheen of holy energy covered her Purple Spirit Sword. It was the symbol of a Dragon Speaker. However, Binglan¡¯s eyes were blood-red, and her hands were straightened like blades. "I feel like I¡¯ve seen you before, but I must ask you to step aside. If you don¡¯t, then I will kill you as well!" ¡­¡­ Behind us, Sophie unsheathed her blade and declared, "There¡¯s nothing else to say. Binglan¡¯s consciousness has been corrupted by the Soul Stealing Fruit, so she cannot recognize anyone right now. Dammit! Did Mingyu succeed after all?" Xue Wei drew an arrow and ordered, "Wind Spirit Archers of the Violet Empire, notch your arrows and prepare to shoot Binglan!" Karinshan raised her Guardian Blade and yelled, "No! Binglan is the protector of Dragon Domain! She would never kill a human!" Before she even finished her sentence, an astral wind erupted across the group of Wind Spirit Archers and killed them all. Floating in the sky, Binglan smiled dazzlingly and said, "You wish to kill me? Come try me then. It is about time my power awakened after 10,000 years of slumber!" At the distance, Mingyu cackled maliciously, "Well done, my good daughter. Your awakening cannot be more timely. Once I¡¯ve sacrificed you to the Great Saint, my path to obtaining the power of a Great Saint will finally be set in stone!" ¡­¡­ His declarations confused us even more. No one understood what the heck Mingyu was truly planning. Gui Guzi asked me, "What do we do now, Boss Broken Halberd?" I waved my weapon once and said, "We leave Binglan to the NPCs and focus all our strength in taking out Mingyu the Deathly Abyss. He is the main cause of this disaster! Take him out, and Binglan may yet regain her kindness!" "Alright! Dragonlight Cavalry, assemble!" Gui Guzi shouted, and hundreds of Dragonlight Cavalry who just jumped down from the passage above healed themselves to full and prepared for battle. The Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City, Frostsword City, Swallow Ear Canton and more were doing the same thing. Right now, no one was thinking about backstabbing one another because the boss was too powerful. Survival was everyone¡¯s first priority. Mingyu sneered while gripping his sword, Starlight. "You lowly humans think you can kill me? Dream on!" Thud! An arrow struck his head at the perfect moment and even stunned him for 1.9 seconds. It was none other than Beiming Xue¡¯s Shock Arrow. What irony! Not to belittle Beiming, but who would¡¯ve thought that a Divine Rank boss would be stunned by a mere player? "Go!" I rushed toward Mingyu and fired God Binding Art at his head. It missed, but the important thing was that the effort was made. Just like buying a lottery, it would be a jackpot if the skill took effect even once. Anyway, I stabbed Mingyu in the chest and used Purple Frost Concentration! The moment Mingyu broke out of his stun, he let out an angry roar and whipped his weapon in my direction! Bang! 1,726,633! My Cyan Dragon Shield buzzed like a bee, and it took me five steps to finally steady myself. Beside me, Lin Yixin, He Yi and Gui Guzi activated their own Charge skills and got lucky yet again. This time, it was He Yi who successfully stunned Mingyu. On the other side, Cyan Earth City¡¯s players were launching their own furious assault. Breeze and Rain and God of War employed a hit-and-run tactic where they immediately backed off after they unleashed their strongest skills such as Inferno Sixtuple Slash, Blazing Slash and more. They also relied on their normal cavalrymen to sacrifice themselves and keep them alive. It wasn¡¯t the most humane tactic in the world, but it certainly was the most scientific. Mingyu let out a mad roar before spinning on his feet. A moment later, everyone within 10 yards of him except the absolute strongest players had been killed by his Starlight. The cyclone of energy was so powerful that even He Yi, Gui Guzi and Lin Yixin were driven back with less than 40% HP. Naturally, most other players fared worse than they did. Thud thud thud¡­ Although Mingyu was powerful and practically unstoppable, our ranged players had formed a giant circle around him to blast away like no tomorrow. Since I had reduced his Defense with Purple Frost Concentration earlier, his HP began decreasing at a visible rate as well. In just 2 minutes, his HP had fallen to 97%. At this rate, it would only take us 60 minutes to kill him. It was understandable. The mages were players like Luo River God of the Capital, Lian Xin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Shabby Castle and Lui Lok, the archers were players like Beiming Xue, October Rain and Nangong Lexi, and the frontliners were players like Breeze and Rain, God of War, Candlelight Shadow, Flowing Cloud, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, Li Chengfeng, Lin Yixin and more. Nearly all of the absolute best players in the entire world were gathered at this place. Naturally, not even the former king of Spirit of Grief was able to withstand their combined power. ¡­¡­ Bang! Suddenly, an explosion erupted from the right side of our formation. At least dozens of high-level mages were engulfed by a blast of fire and ice. The only survivor of the group was, ironically, the NPC Shadow Dancer Xue Wei. There was a terrible wound on her arm, and it looked like she was seriously injured. Binglan didn¡¯t end her life though. After turning around to punch Sophie¡¯s blade and driving her backward with an astral blast, Binglan declared with a confident smile, "Taste my ancient war technique, princess of the Violet Empire! Ice Dragon Break!" Swhoosh! An ice dragon¡¯s soul came to life and shattered Sophia¡¯s energy shield. Not only that, it penetrated her shoulder and nailed her to an ice wall almost as if it had a life of its own. Blood dripping down her lips, the proud woman bowed her head in despair and whispered, "Why did it turn out like this¡­ why did it turn out like this¡­ where did we go wrong?" Again, Binglan didn¡¯t try to end Sophia¡¯s life because a greater opponent was upon her! "Break!" It was Sophie firing a Purgatory Cross Slash at Binglan despite her wounds! "Hoh?" Binglan smiled wider and extended her hand in front of herself. "Ice Shield!" Bang bang bang¡­ The Purgatory Cross Slash struck the shield at least a dozen of times, but it only managed to inflict a single crack on Binglan¡¯s Ice Shield. It was hopeless. ¡­¡­ Binglan abruptly knocked aside Sophie¡¯s sword and landed a mighty kick on her stomach. A powerful shockwave spread throughout the cavern, and the black armor protecting Sophie¡¯s abdomen crumbled away into dust. Not only did bloody cracks appear all across her stomach, the Purgatory Sovereign herself was launched into a ruin of ice and snow like a cannonball. Binglan frowned a little as if she was thinking about something. Then, she gnashed her teeth together and cried out suddenly, "Stop fighting! If you submit to my father, Mingyu the Deathly Abyss now, none of you will suffer any damage! Otherwise, you will all die!" Before she could finish, an ugly dragon¡¯s head emerged suddenly out of thin air and snapped its jaws around Binglan¡¯s shoulder. Blood instantly splashed against the goddess¡¯s battle armor. It was the Winged Silver Dragon! Finally, the bastard had shown up to help its master! After the Winged Silver Dragon successfully ambushed Binglan, the Headless Knight Bloody Finger also showed up to thrust his sword at Binglan¡¯s chest. However¡­ "Hmph¡­" Binglan let out a soft snort before raising her palm like a blade. Then, she waved at Bloody Finger and caused a giant hole to appear at the center of his chest. Then, his entire upper body abruptly exploded into a fountain of blood. Who would¡¯ve thought that the seemingly casual attack would contain this much power? After Ovia the Bloody Finger was defeated, Binglan proceeded to punch the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s head while uttering, "Get off of me, stinky dragon!" Bang! The Winged Silver Dragon was sent crashing into a wall. It glanced in a certain direction before letting out a sorrowful wail, "Oh, that idiot¡¯s soul has been crushed by Binglan, and I too am too wounded to fight anymore, my dear master¡­" ¡­¡­ "Come¡­" Binglan said quietly. Red battle garment swaying to the wind, Xinran slowly dropped down from the sky until she was suspended in front of Binglan. She watched the goddess with hostile eyes and declared, "You will not hurt big brother! I won¡¯t allow you to kill him even if I must use up all of my power!" Binglan said in an indifferent tone, "You are the Wind Singer whom even the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns cannot touch? I¡¯ve long since known of your legend[1]. Come! Show me how strong you really are!" 1. E/N: How though? We knew she was awake and out of ice when she gave Lin Yixin her class, but still. ? CH 1446 A complex series of runes appeared beneath Xinran¡¯s feet, and her aura suddenly became much brighter than before. She watched Binglan with stubborn eyes before chanting, "Sovereign Arrival!" The runes floated around Xinran before imprinting themselves onto her skin, filling her with incredible strength. "Hehe. Interesting!" Binglan continued watching Xinran peacefully and smilingly. "If you have any more trump cards, feel free to use them now. I have no wish to bully such a young girl¡­" Xinran remained calm despite Binglan¡¯s taunt. She raised her Dragonbone Spear, and the entire ice cavern shook under her power. The next moment, a lightning bolt dropped down from the sky and transformed into a lightning energy shield that encompassed her entire body. Its name was Thunder God Protection! Finally, Xinran glanced at me from afar and broke into a smile. "Keep doing your best, big brother¡­" Bang! However, I didn¡¯t catch her words because I was busy getting smashed into a block of ice by Mingyu. The smile on Xinran¡¯s face grew even gentler when she saw this. "Heh, big brother¡­" ¡­¡­ Binglan furrowed her brows slightly before asking, "Is that ignorant young man the source of your courage?" Xinran didn¡¯t deny it. "When I was at my weakest, he was the one who protected me despite his own lack of strength. That is why protecting him gives me courage. I love him so much I can give up everything for him¡­" Binglan smiled like a lake in spring. "Come at me then!" ¡­¡­ For the first time, Binglan turned serious as if she acknowledged the threat Xinran represented. She gathered a ball of silver light in her palm until it took the shape of a snow dragon. "Dragonrise!" "Roar!" The draconic power dashed past Xinran¡¯s arm and slammed directly into her Thunder God Protection, shaking her violently. However, she immediately retaliated by thrusting her spear at Binglan again and again at an impossible speed. The shock waves they caused nearly enveloped the entire ice cavern. A deep frown appeared on Binglan¡¯s face as she endured the attack with her Ice Shield. She could feel that her Ice Shield wasn¡¯t strong enough to nullify the ferocious attack. Clearly, Xinran was way stronger than Sophie! Still holding the Ice Shield in front of her, Binglan gathered a fistful of raging energy around her right fist, pushed forward and canceled Xinran¡¯s attack in a single hit. Then, she kicked upward with her smooth, long leg. Xinran showed no sign of retreating even though her attack was canceled. Instead, she gritted her teeth, gathered her strength and matched Binglan¡¯s kick! BANG! Space itself seemed to shake from the resulting impact. The shock wave was so great that some of the players grinding on the upper floors actually fell off the edge while screaming all the way like slaughtered pigs. That was just the first impact though. Xinran and Binglan proceeded to clash a dozen more times in the enclosed space and shake up the place even more. The fight was so intense that not even Divine Rank experts like Sophie or Karinshan were able to interfere. ¡­¡­ Bang! After a clash that separated the two fighters, Binglan suddenly raised her hand and gathered a great amount of holy energy. While hovering in the air, she declared with a smile, "The test is over. Time for the real fight!" A dragon-shaped energy surged toward Xinran as Binglan chanted, "War Dragon Strike!" Xinran knew just how powerful the attack was, so she immediately gave up on attacking and put a good distance between herself and Binglan. After she landed on the ground, she raised the Dragonbone Spear in front of her. "Spirit Piercing Umbrella![1]" Buzz! A huge, bloody umbrella appeared from the speartip. It rotated slowly and shone with enough divine energy to illuminate nearly the entire cavern. Here it comes! Binglan¡¯s War Dragon Strike was eleven dragon-shaped energy blasts being thrown at her opponent in just 1.5 seconds. To say that it was devastating would be an understatement. Every time they crashed into Xinran¡¯s Spirit Piercing Umbrella, a huge chunk of the skill and the surroundings would be shredded to pieces! Boom boom boom¡­ It was like being in the middle of an earthquake, except that there were also deafening explosions that damn near exploded our eardrums. I could only watch the clash from afar and pray that Xinran would survive the attack! The Spirit Piercing Umbrella managed to defend against the first ten energy blasts, but not the last one. It engulfed Xinran completely! Boom! Ice and snow flew everywhere, and there was a giant pit where the final blast of the War Dragon Strike had struck. When the dust settled, we saw Xinran kneeling on one knee and clinging to the Dragonbone Spear with bloodied arms. She looked up at Binglan stubbornly before uttering, "Is that all? It¡¯s your turn to taste my battle techniques then!" Thud! She leaped into the air and gathered her power. The Dragonbone Spear rang melodiously as a column of holy light descended from above, and flames swirled around the weapon. After a bunch of oracle script runes appeared around Xinran¡¯s person as well, she declared, "Eat this¡ªFire God Art!" Buzz! Buzz! The flames assumed the shape of some ancient giant god. Then, Xinran threw them all at Binglan. It was only a triple-hit skill, but each blast contained a tremendous amount of energy. In that sense, it was quite similar to the War Dragon Strike. Binglan smiled and made a knife motion with her palm again. She said smilingly while her power gushed around her, "Not bad. I shall use my beloved¡¯s favorite skill to resolve this then!" She raised her palm flatly above her head before swinging it three times in rapid succession. The skill was¡ªTotal Annihilation![2] ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang! Binglan was able to cancel the Fire God Art with Total Annihilation, but she didn¡¯t know that the skill had a fourth and final attack. It was Xinran herself speeding toward Binglan and stabbing her with a spear that was overflowing with fire divine power! "Hmm¡­" Caught off-guard, Binglan could only catch the Dragonbone Spear¡¯s pole with one hand. Thud! However, Xinran easily wrenched her weapon out of Binglan¡¯s grip before nailing the latter¡¯s arm to the ice wall behind her. Gritting her teeth, she gathered a ball of lightning and punched Binglan in the chest, yelling, "How can you be doing this! You were the protector of the human realms!"[3]Binglan groaned as a part of her chest armor shattered and revealed her wholesome cleavage. Suddenly, the redness in her eyes fading away slowly, she shot Xinran a tiny smile and whispered, "You know nothing, Xinran. You don¡¯t know the tribulations of the Frost Purgatory, the Great Saint¡¯s power, and how many times I¡¯ve clashed against him in the past 10,000 years. You don¡¯t even know that the Great Saint is about to break out of his seal, and that Mingyu is waiting for that very moment!" Xinran was caught off-guard by her statement. Before she could process them though, Binglan abruptly grabbed the Dragonbone Spear, turned it around, stabbed Xinran in the shoulder, and launched her far, far away with a powerful kick to the chest. As Xinran crashed into a distant wall, Binglan whispered, "There are some things in life that I can only endure alone!" ¡­¡­ "Xinran!" I hurriedly raced up to Xinran and pulled the Dragonbone Spear out of her shoulder[4]. Thankfully, she still had 45% HP left and was pretty far from dying. Binglan¡¯s HP had also fallen to just 70% as well. "Big brother¡­" Xinran grabbed my hand tightly and said urgently, "Mingyu is the key to all this! You must defeat him as soon as possible. Binglan, she¡­ the Soul Stealing Fruit did take control of her, but it was only for a very short time. The fruit is incapable of invading her divinity at all. If she really wanted to kill me, I would be dead just now! She must be waiting for something!" "Ah?" Everything she said only confused me. "Just kill Mingyu! Kill Mingyu as fast as you can!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ I hurriedly rose to my feet and returned to my formation. I shouted, "Brothers and sisters, no more holding back! Kill Mingyu with everything you''ve got!" As if on cue, a tumbling Gui Guzi crashed against the ground and yelled, "Grah! Boss Broken Halberd, you¡¯re joking right? We¡¯re the ones who¡¯re being killed with everything Mingyu¡¯s got right now¡­" I said awkwardly, "Er, in that case, do your best not to be killed with everything you''ve got?" ¡­¡­ However, while covering her arm wound with one hand, Binglan suddenly shouted, "No! It¡¯s too late. The Great Saint is about to break through the seal! Everyone, leave this place now before he kills you! The Gate of Death has been opened!" "What?!" Karinshan, Sophia, Sophie and the rest of the NPCs exclaimed in shock. The Great Saint was a great evil whose name was once synonymous with death. However, many cultivators sought him out anyway because his power was something every cultivator dreamed to have. It was probably why Mingyu had chosen to serve him. Boom! A scorching sword aura erupted from Starlight and drove everyone away from Mingyu. Then, he turned to face toward the throne, dropped to his knees and declared piously, "Awaken, Lord Great Saint! I have completed your instructions and protected the Gate of Death until you awakened, so please grant me a bit of your strength! I will be satisfied with even a tiny bit of power!" ¡­¡­ Buzz¡­ An energy vortex appeared where the throne was and crushed it completely. It then expanded into a gigantic abyss. "Oh no, it¡¯s too late¡­" Binglan said while biting her lip. Karinshan looked at Binglan while gripping the Guardian Blade tightly. "Lady Dragon Speaker, what is going on here? Why¡­ why did you attack us earlier? And why are you not¡­" A trace of regret peeked out of Binglan¡¯s features. "I¡¯m sorry, the Soul Stealing Fruit did steal my soul for a short moment just now. I¡¯ve already tried my best to resist it, but I still wasn¡¯t able to control myself. I can only apologize for what I¡¯ve done¡­ I¡­" Karinshan nodded. "It¡¯s fine, Lady Binglan. You don¡¯t have to explain anything else. What should we do now?" Binglan clenched her fists and declared, "When the Great Saint breaks through the seal, help me seal him again, or better, destroy him once and for all!" Karinshan shot Ziyan a glance, and the commander immediately produced a mysterious object that was covered in black cloth. Karinshan grabbed the mysterious object and tossed it toward Binglan with a smile. "Lady Binglan, this is my meeting gift to you!" Pa! Binglan caught the gift in puzzlement, but when she unwrapped it and saw a silver sword, she immediately broke into a grin. "Oh, the Dragonslaying Sword! It¡¯s been 10,000 years since we saw each other, haven¡¯t we?" ¡­¡­ Some distance away, Shadow Dancer Xue Wei was supporting Sophia when she exclaimed in astonishment, "Lady Xinran had given the Dragonslaying Sword to us before it was stolen away by the Dragon Domain Scavenger, so how did it fall into Karinshan¡¯s hands? Could it be¡­ was the Dragon Domain Scavenger really Karinshan¡¯s subordinate?" Sophie said quietly, "Quiet, Xue Wei. Now that Karinshan has gifted the Dragonslaying Sword to Binglan, Dragon Domain is sure to favor Sky City. We are alone, and Binglan has regained her weapon. Lady Xinran may not be able to defeat her as she is now¡­" "Yes, Your Majesty is wise!" "..." 1. T/N: it was Phantom Umbrella when she fought Strella, but who knows, maybe it upgraded? ? 2. T/N: For those who don¡¯t know, this is Frivolous Scholar¡¯s signature skill ? 3. T/N: what part of being slowly corrupted and mind-controlled for 10,000 years do you not understand? ? 4. T/N: do not try this at home, you¡¯re not a Divine Rank expert capable of resealing your wounds instantly ? CH 1447 For a moment, there was only silence within the ice cave. Despite Mingyu¡¯s speech, no reaction came from the vortex that led to the Abyss of Death[1]. Thick lightning occasionally shot out of the center, but that was it. ¡­¡­ "Lord Great Saint?" Mingyu looked up in confusion. "Could it be¡­ was the death energy I¡¯ve been stealing all these years still not enough to awaken you, Lord Great Saint? Binglan¡¯s seal has already been removed, so please awaken and show the hypocritical beings of this world the power of a true monarch! I, Mingyu the Deathly Abyss, will gladly serve you and be your spokesperson on the human continent¡­ all I ask is a bit of your power¡­" He still didn¡¯t receive any response despite the second attempt. The rest of us could only stare at the vortex and wait for something to happen as well. If even a ridiculously powerful boss like Mingyu dared not throw his villainous tantrum for fear of angering the Great Saint, then it made even more sense that we small fries should keep our heads low. Swhoosh swhoosh! Suddenly, a pair of bloody lights emerged from the vortex and landed next to Mingyu. They looked like some sort of blood creatures whose skin had completely melted away from their bodies, revealing the powerful muscles beneath. They stood on four limbs, which made them look like reptiles. Finally, their ugly heads housed a pair of pitch-black eyes, and a tongue at least a meter long. "Raptors! They are Raptors!!" Xinran shuddered all over. "I¡¯ve seen them when I was cultivating in the Purgatory. They are extremely scary creatures!" If even Xinran was saying this, then it had to be incredibly powerful! I scanned both the Raptors¡¯ level and stats with Dark Pupils. They were only Ancient Immortal Rank bosses, but¡­ their Level was 345! We couldn¡¯t even fight even one of them as we were, much less two! ¡­¡­ Mingyu frowned at the two Raptors. "Why hasn¡¯t Lord Great Saint awakened yet? And¡­ who are you two? How did you emerge from Lord Great Saint¡¯s dwelling?" The Raptors flicked out their tongues and circled around Mingyu once. Then, one of them spoke in an unusually strange voice, "Are you truly willing to serve Lord Great Saint? Do you swear that your loyalty comes from the bottom of your heart?" Mingyu nodded affirmatively. "Yes, I am!" One of the Raptors smiled and said, "Lord Great Saint has already awakened!" "Oh?" A wide smile appeared on Mingyu¡¯s face. "That¡¯s great news! But why isn¡¯t he coming out?" The Raptor continued, "That¡¯s because he has been slumbering for too long. What would you do if you were the one who awoke from such a long slumber¡­? You¡¯d feed, wouldn¡¯t you?" "What?!" Mingyu shuddered visibly. "What do you mean by that?" "Do I really need to spell it out to you? Lord Great Saint possesses the strongest death energy in the world, and you are a divine expert of death. Is there anyone more fitting in this place to be his breakfast?" The Raptor grinned maliciously. Mingyu abruptly rose to his feet and brought his weapon to bear. "Bullshit! I am the former Purgatory Ruler! Who would dare to kill me!? I spent years breaking the seal for Lord Great Saint, he would never be so ruthless as to kill his loyal subordinate! Also, why me when there are so many other divine experts in this place? Binglan, Xinran, Sophie! Lord Great Saint can feed on Xinran! Her death energy is powerful, and she¡¯s young and tasty! I¡­ I¡¯m just a bag of bones!" Swhoosh! It was at this moment one of the Raptors wrapped its tongue around Mingyu¡¯s neck. "Let¡¯s cut the nonsense here, shall we? Lord Great Saint is very eager to taste his breakfast!" ¡­¡­ "Get off me!" Enraged, Mingyu slashed the Raptor¡¯s tongue in half before firing 10,000 sword beams in one go. The unfortunate Raptor was instantly sliced and diced into a million cubes of rotten flesh and blood. However, the remaining Raptor was able to swipe his back a couple of times during this time. "You dare!" Mingyu turned around and beheaded the Raptor in a single strike. He roared, "I, Mingyu, am the lord of everything! You think you can treat me as food? Dream on!" ¡­¡­ Puchi! Suddenly, a black arm cut through Mingyu''s chest, spilling black blood everywhere. Before we knew it, a horrible-looking man who looked old enough to die at any moment was hovering right behind Mingyu. It was none other than the legendary Great Saint himself! "Ugh¡­" Mingyu¡¯s pupils widened quickly. He screamed in pain as the Great Saint pulled his heart out of his body. Pu! After his heart had fully departed his body, Mingyu slowly dropped to his knees. Then, his body began eroding away into dust as if he was caught in a time lapse. Technically speaking, a divine expert who had lost both their divinity and undead soul spark was nothing more but a pile of dust. That was what was happening with Mingyu. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Great Saint shoved Mingyu¡¯s heart into his mouth and took a huge bite. While savoring the taste of the former Purgatory Ruler¡¯s power, he said with a loud cackle, "Delicious! Truly delicious, Mingyu! You really were the lord of everything! Your heart wouldn¡¯t taste so delicious otherwise, hahaha! As compensation for your death, I promise you I will take out the Dragon Speaker Binglan, the Wind Singer Xinran and Sophie the Snow Minstrel!" ¡­¡­ "Ugh, that¡¯s disgusting¡­" He Yi and Lin Yixin said at almost the same time. I shot Xinran a worried look, and Xinran responded with a smile, "Don¡¯t worry, big brother. I won¡¯t die like Mingyu did¡­" I nodded. After the Great Saint had devoured Mingyu¡¯s heart completely, his withered body slowly became fuller. In the end, he had transformed from an old man on his last legs to a middle-aged man with pure evil in his eyes. Finally, he fully stepped out from Abyss of Death and said with a chuckle, "Who¡¯s next? Will it be the Purgatory Terrorist Wind Singer Xinran, the traitor Sophie, or the Dragon Speaker who imprisoned me for 10,000 years¡ªBinglan?!" Binglan trembled visibly before whispering, "Xinran, fight with me. Otherwise, we¡¯re all going to die here. The Great Saint is at least several times stronger than he was back then, but my strength hasn¡¯t grown much at all during my 10,000 years of slumber!" Xinran nodded. "I know. Don¡¯t worry!" I also looked at my own players and raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces. "This is the final battle, everyone. Prepare to launch an all-out assault against the Great Saint. We can die and lose a level, but both Xinran and Binglan must survive no matter what! Otherwise, the patch quest is a failure!" Everyone nodded. "Yessir!" ¡­¡­ "Sky City cavalry, kill!" Beneath her banner, Karinshan barked an order and triggered countless cavalrymen to charge toward the Great Saint. In the air, the griffin riders and dragon knights were launching their attacks as well. This was the final battle, and victory was ours if we managed to kill the Great Saint! The Great Saint wore an imperious expression as the griffin riders threw their lightning spears at him. None of the attacks was able to make it within 1 meter of the Great Saint before his energy shield bounced them off. "Puny humans¡­" The Great Saint sighed before raising his palm and crying, "Thundercloud Storm! Come!" Boom! There was a series of loud bangs, and it felt like the entire ice cavern was about to collapse upon itself. The lightning storm tore countless griffin riders and dragon knights into bloody pieces. It was disgusting to say the least. The Great Saint inhaled deeply, and the spinning vortex behind him ground those flesh and blood into even tinier pieces. Right now, the recently awakened Great Saint was like a starving evil spirit. Eating Mingyu might have restored some of his strength, but he wouldn¡¯t be satisfied until he was burping with a full tummy of death energy and life force. Unable to watch this any longer, Binglan said, "Tell them to retreat now! This is not their battle to fight!" While saying this, she leaped into the air. A powerful sword aura long enough to penetrate even the ice ceiling above her head erupted from her weapon before she brought it down in one mighty swing¡ªHoly Light Slash! Boom! The sword aura sliced the cavern in half and landed heavily against the Great Saint¡¯s body. As expected, Binglan¡¯s strength was multiple times stronger than what it was after she regained the Dragonslaying Sword! The Great Saint¡¯s shoulder looked like an absolute mess after the dust settled, but the man himself was laughing like a madman while saying, "Hahaha, your power is as merciless as usual, Binglan. However, do you really think you can kill me like you did back then? You¡¯d better, or you are the one who¡¯s going to disappear this time!" He made a clawing motion at Binglan, and her shoulder armor immediately shattered as if it was struck by an invisible force. The attack wounded her arm and drove her back at least tens of steps before she managed to halt her momentum. Swhoosh! The Dragonbone Spear pierced the Great Saint¡¯s chest at this moment. A powerful lightning scorched the twenty-centimeter fleshy hole until it looked like it was melting. The Great Saint continued to cackle. "Wind Singer, is it? Interesting! I am so glad to wake up and find yet another powerful girl to corrupt! Let us fall into the Purgatory together!" While saying this, the Great Saint abruptly picked up Mingyu¡¯s Starlight from the ground. Then, he threw it straight at Binglan while yelling, "Take this, Binglan! I heard that a sword to the heart is good for heartburn!" Swhoosh! The sword was traveling at an incredible speed, and Binglan couldn¡¯t move out of the way because was immobilized by the Great Saint¡¯s Domain powers. Xinran was faster, however. She appeared in front of Binglan and summoned her Spirit Piercing Umbrella once more! Bang! The skill shattered in a single hit, but it successfully deflected Starlight elsewhere. The Great Saint wasn¡¯t done yet though. Cackling again, he manifested a huge, bloody palm out of nowhere and caught both Xinran and Binglan. This time, both divine experts were caught within his grip. "Ugh¡­" Xinran cried out in pain. Binglan gritted her teeth and raised her palm just enough to use Ice Dragon Break! The attack successfully shattered the giant bloody palm, but again the Great Saint launched another palm strike at both of them! Bang! Xinran and Binglan were launched back in different directions and sent crashing into the ice walls. They were still too weak compared to the Great Saint. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! While the Great Saint was distracted, I planted a foot on the ground and became the first person to Charge him and stab him in the throat! Puchi! Purple Frost Concentration + Burning Blade Slash! MISS! 237,167! MISS! Some distance away, Breeze and Rain gave me a thumbs-up. "He¡¯s going in against that? That takes balls¡­" Flowing Cloud commented, "He has bigger balls than you, that¡¯s for sure¡­" God of War sucked in a deep breath. "Well, big balls or not, I have a feeling that he¡¯s going to die horribly¡­" 1. T/N: Don¡¯t confuse this with Mingyu¡¯s title, the Deathly Abyss ? CH 1448 "Are you trying to commit suicide, boy?" The Great Saint raised his ugly head and shot me a glance with his viper-like pupils. Cackling even more arrogant than before, he pierced my Cyan Dragon Shield with his bare, withered hand and made a grab for my chest. The simple motion had instantly deleted my shield¡¯s durability by 50%! I would take even more damage if I allowed it to touch my body! I lowered my shield and raised my leg at the same time, kneeing the Great Saint right in the arm. Unfortunately, I still wasn¡¯t able to halt the attack. A huge, bloody palm imprinted itself on my Guardian Dragon Armor! Whoosh! A scorching hot sensation erupted across my chest, and I slid backward uncontrollably despite having stabbed my sword to the ground. At the same time, an impossibly huge damage number rose above my head. The Great Saint¡¯s attack was just too powerful¡ª 4,120,388! ¡­¡­ He Yi hurriedly raised her Suppressing Fire Sword and ordered, "Heal Lu Chen now, and don¡¯t even bother getting close to the boss! If even Lu Chen can lose over 4 million HP, then the rest of us are going to be one-shot for sure!" She then made another decisive order, "All Dragonlight Cavalrymen on the bottommost floor, if you¡¯re not in the Top 1,000 of the champion arena, teleport back to the city or head to the upper floors now! There is no reason for you to lose your level and equipment just to watch the battle!" Chaos Moon nodded. "Yeah, this battle is completely out of our league!" High Fighting Spirits raised his Boneslayer and shouted at a group of blank-faced Dragonlight Cavalrymen. "Didn¡¯t you hear the guild leader¡¯s order? Snap out of your daydream and follow me to the upper floors already! The boss nearly one-shot vice leader Lu Chen, what the hell do you think we can do? Let¡¯s go!" Over 90% of our players retreated to the upper floors, leaving behind only dozens of top-tier players. It was the same for Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips and the other guilds. There was just no point dying to the boss here. Rustle rustle¡­ Meanwhile, I was climbing out of the pile of ice I had crashed into with my teeth clenched. Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew and Pure Love were already healing me back to full health. The good news was that not even the Great Saint could one-shot me because I had close to 5 million HP with full buffs. It meant that I wasn¡¯t completely powerless. ¡­¡­ In the air, Xinran and Binglan were just flying out of their ice walls they had crashed into as well. One of them was gripping the Dragonslaying Sword, and the other the Dragonbone Spear. Binglan wiped away the blood on her lips with a small frown before saying, "Xinran, I noticed that you¡¯re a master of various laws even though your power isn¡¯t as great as the Great Saint¡¯s. Am I right?" Xinran nodded. "Yes. I¡¯ve mastered the six laws learned by the gods during my cultivation in Heaven Domain." Binglan smiled. "That¡¯s good to hear. The Great Saint is an entity of pure darkness. I want you to hit him with a forbidden light spell and buy me time to reseal him, or better¡­ kill him outright!" "Can we really do it though?" Xinran asked, "I heard that you had to exhaust all of your lifeforce to seal the Great Saint 10,000 years ago. If possible, I don¡¯t want you to repeat the same thing a second time." "I know¡­" Binglan nodded before saying in a sorrowful tone, "Ten thousand years have passed, and everything I knew is gone. My beloved is probably just a pile of withered bones, and my loyal subordinates have all become the puppets of the undead. I think I would be happier if I returned to my slumber, wouldn¡¯t I?" Xinran replied decisively, "If that is how you wish to end your story, then I refuse to follow your plan!" On the ground, the Dragon Knight Captain Callan also stepped out from behind Karinshan before dropping to one knee. "Lady Binglan, it is true that many things have disappeared forever from this world¡­ but not everything. I have served you 10,000 years ago, and I am willing to serve you for another 10,000 years starting now. If you don¡¯t mind my humble strength, please use me to restore the glory of the Dragon Domain!" "Callan?" Binglan trembled visibly at the sight of an old face. "Long time no see¡­" Karinshan also dropped to one knee and said, "Lady Binglan, on behalf of the humans, the elves and the succubi, I beg you to live and rebuild Dragon Domain. This continent has been lost to chaos for too long, and we need a powerful protector to defend both light and order. Dragon Domain is a laughingstock these days, and you¡¯re the only one who can rebuild it and protect all life on this continent!" A small smile appeared on Binglan¡¯s face. "Very well. I¡¯ll do my best. Let¡¯s go, Xinran!" Xinran nodded. "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Whoosh whoosh¡­ Xinran raised her arms and surrounded herself in golden flames. She declared with determination, "Break!" Bang! The energy broke through the top of the glacier and let in a ray of sunlight. Then, as if it was a physical object, it scattered into tens of thousands of strands of pure light before swirling around the beautiful girl. As Xinran raised the Dragonbone Spear above her head, the light strands joined together and formed countless more Dragonbone Spears of pure light. It was like a mini sun had appeared inside the ice cavern. Even the tens of thousands of players grinding on the upper floors were looking down in astonishment as well. "Here I come!" Xinran let out a battle cry before launching the tens of thousands of light spears at the Great Saint. "Taste the power of an ancient forbidden spell, devil! Seven Gods Slash!" On the ground, the Great Saint looked up in astonishment. "What? The Seven Gods Slash? Dammit, I thought everyone who can execute the Seven Gods Slash in the human realm was dead!" For the first time, the Great Saint dared not treat his opponents lightly. He summoned a bloody shield in front of himself and cackled. "Come, interesting girl! Let¡¯s see if your Seven Gods Slash is stronger than my Dark Blood Shield!" Bang bang bang bang¡­ The light spears crashed against the bloody shield and shook the ground itself! However, the Dark Blood Shield only cracked a little despite having received hundreds of attacks in one go. There was no way Xinran¡¯s technique would be able to deal a severe blow to the Great Saint if it couldn¡¯t even land a hit on him. ¡­¡­ Chiang! I unsheathed the Chill of the Nine Provinces and rushed toward the Great Saint once more. Lin Yixin caught up to me while crying, "What are you doing, Lu Chen? Are you trying to commit suicide?" I uttered through gritted teeth, "I need to help Xinran, or she will die!" Li Chengfeng and He Yi didn¡¯t hesitate to fly after me as well. In the air, Gui Guzi shouted, "Let¡¯s go! If we¡¯re going to die anyway, we may as well go down fighting!" Crack crack crack¡­ I skidded to a stop right in front of the Great Saint and used Crushing Blow. Let¡¯s see how you can defend against my Xinran without your shield! Bang! It worked. Crushing Blow canceled the Blood Shield and even dealt 412,624 damage to the boss. At the same time, dozens of light spears skewered his chest and dealt around 2 million damage per hit. It looked like Xinran¡¯s light laws were powerful enough to deal massive damage to the Great Saint. "Damned brat!" Furious, the Great Saint turned toward me and fired a skill even though he was still being blasted by the Seven Gods Slash. "Blood Roar!" Buzz! The so-called Blood Roar was a powerful energy blast condensed into the shape of a lion¡¯s head. It threw me to the back and triggered three damage numbers¡ª 2,428,733! MISS! 2,516,263! Phew! My Pity of the Purgatory Gods negated one of the three magic attacks! I rolled across the ground with just barely a sliver of HP left. However, the Great Saint was still chasing after me. "Stop him!" He Yi blocked in front of the Great Saint and activated Cave Ice Defense, doubling her Defense instantly! "Out of my way!" The Great Saint roared furiously as he struck He Yi twice with his bare hands and left two horrific gashes on her shoulders. The Cave Ice Shield itself looked like it could fall apart at any moment. Pa! The Blue Crystal Dragon¡¯s claw hit the ground. This time, it was Li Chengfeng who blocked in front of He Yi and hit the Great Saint seven times in quick succession. Somehow, he was able to halt the Great Saint¡¯s advance while Gui Guzi healed us all by 75% HP with Shennong Tastes Grass! The Great Saint went absolutely ballistic when he saw this. He waved his arms again while yelling, "Die! Blood Vortex!" Swhoosh! It was a blast of pure magic. A girl vortex trapped He Yi, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi and began siphoning away their HP like crazy. Li Chengfeng especially dropped to less than 5% in just the blink of an eye! "Shit!" I hurriedly activated Cold of the Nine Provinces. The moment it failed, I tossed my sword at the Great Saint using Coiling Dragon Revolution! Pu! The sword pierced through the Great Saint¡¯s chest but still failed to cancel the Blood Vortex skill. I was despairing when the boss suddenly froze and became stunned. Behind him, Lin Yixin dashed out while yelling, "What are you waiting for? Run!" She had executed Moon Gaze + Extreme Break + Knockback Slash combo to cancel the Blood Vortex skill! It was a miracle! ¡­¡­ While we were pulling back, I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces again and healed everyone for 50% HP using Xuanyuan Art. Li Chengfeng desperately needed the healing after that close brush with death. While we were escaping, Candlelight Shadow arrived on his fire dragon and slowed down the boss with a powerful Shattering Sword and Shield. At the same time, he shouted, "What the hell are you guys doing? This is not a boss you can fight head-on!" I said while I dashed past him. "Thanks!" The Great Saint cackled and leaped into the air. Then, he sent both Candlelight Shadow and his dragon crashing into a wall with a single punch. Even Tear Stain and dozens of experts were rushing to our rescue. I heard her saying, "Someone, organize our players and give them suppressive fire, and don¡¯t you dare hold back! No one wins if we fail this event quest!" After she said this, she fired an Ice Blade Slash at the Great Saint¡¯s head. The archer, Frosty Night also executed a skill called Seven Shots of Dawn that greatly wounded the Great Saint. In retaliation, the boss fired a bloody palm strike that one-shot Frosty Night and the Throne of the Wild players next to him! ¡­¡­ "Haven¡¯t you killed enough?" Suddenly, an icy female voice rang from behind the Great Saint. Puchi! Then, a blade burst out of the Great Saint¡¯s chest. It was one other than Binglan¡¯s Dragonslaying Sword! ¡­¡­ Although Binglan managed to ambush the Great Saint, and he was still being bombarded by the Seven Gods Slash, he cackled madly, "Don¡¯t you understand yet, Binglan? Your attacks aren¡¯t enough to kill me, and I¡¯m still absorbing death energy through all that killing! You are destined to lose this no matter what you try! It is wrought in the stars!" "Is that so?" Binglan smiled and dripped a few drops of blood on the Dragonslaying Sword. Then, she said the words that drained all the blood from the Great Saint¡¯s face¡ª "I sacrifice my blood so that the souls may rest in peace. May the order reign eternal¡ªBlood Barrier, Seal!" CH 1449 Swhoosh! Thick jets of blood shot into the air, and many complex runes representing life spun wildly around the duo. It was clear from Binglan¡¯s suddenly pale face that she had cast the spell using her life force. Was she planning to seal the Great Saint again, or better¡ªkill him once and for all!? Buzz buzz buzz¡­ The Dragonslaying Sword shook violently as Binglan pushed more divine energy into the spell. She said, "We have fought for 10,000 years in the Frozen Purgatory of Spirit of Grief, Great Saint. You didn¡¯t expect this to happen at the very end, did you?" The Great Saint trembled for a moment before yelling on top of his lungs, "You think you can kill me, Dragon Speaker Binglan? Dream on! Even if you were ten times more powerful than you are now, you could never destroy me! I am the owner of the laws of darkness! I will outlast time itself!" Binglan smiled. "You are right. I could never kill you. There is someone else here who can, however. She is the Wind Singer, master of the laws of light! Today is the day you die in her hands!" The Great Saint¡¯s pupils shrank. "Dammit!" Binglan looked up at Xinran and said, "Use your strongest light-type battle technique, Xinran! Gather your divine energy and destroy the Great Saint¡¯s divinity!" ¡­¡­ Whoosh! Xinran nodded as she descended from above. When the golden light erupting from the Dragonbone Spear grew to full force, she stabbed the Great Saint in the head and launched a destructive blow against his divinity! "Ahhhhhhhhhh¡­" The Great Saint howled in rage while shuddering all over. Bit by bit, his skin and his flesh began falling away from his body. It looked absolutely terrifying. A smile peeked through Karinshan¡¯s features. "Are we going to succeed? This is wonderful! Not even the Great Saint is a match for Lady Binglan and Lady Xinran combined!" Ziyan was smiling as well. "Yeah. The laws of light are the Great Saint¡¯s greatest bane!" However, Sophia was less optimistic. "Hmph. When the Great Saint is dead, and the Purgatory Legion is completely wiped out, Sky City¡­ is probably going to target the Violet Empire next because we are undead." Xue Wei shuddered. "They won¡¯t¡­ will they?" Reply came from Sophie that was hugging her wounded shoulder. "Don¡¯t worry. Even if Dragon Speaker Binglan and the Dragon Domain support Sky City, we still have Xinran. Her improvement surprised even me. Maybe she¡¯ll be strong enough to buy us some breathing space¡­" Sophia nodded. "I hope you¡¯re right, Lady Sophie¡­" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Suddenly, a figure dashed over and slammed into Binglan¡¯s shoulder! It instantly broke the precarious balance Binglan and Xinran had done everything in their power to create! Bang! As Binglan was knocked backward, the Blood Barrier she maintained with her divine energy disappeared as well! "Ka ka ka¡­" The Great Saint laughed like a madman the moment he escaped the Blood Barrier¡¯s suppression. After he kicked away Xinran¡¯s Dragonbone Spear, he immediately flew back toward the Abyss of Death in an attempt to escape! After Binglan steadied herself, she looked up and saw that her attacker was a monster with a crooked back. He carried a wooden stick on his shoulder, and at the tip of his wooden stick was a bag full of gems, gold and more valuables. He was none other than the Dragon Domain Scavenger! Heaven knows why he was helping the Great Saint, but if I had to make an educated guess, I would say that he had been taken over by the villain! His blood-red eyes were proof of that! "You think you can run?" Furious, Binglan aimed her palm at the Dragon Domain Scavenger and immobilized him with her Domain. "Vanish!" Whoosh! A jet of ice and fire turned the Dragon Domain Scavenger into a pile of dust instantly. The price of angering the ruler of Dragon Domain was death! Meanwhile, Xinran cried while staring at the vortex, "Not good. The Great Saint is escaping!" Binglan was frowning as well, but there was nothing she could do about this. Both she and Xinran had been seriously injured. There was simply no chance they could catch up to the Great Saint as they were. ¡­¡­ "Await my return!" The Great Saint taunted while cackling madly, "I won¡¯t forget you two, Wind Singer Xinran, Dragon Speaker Binglan! The next time you see me, I promise to drain you both of your blood! You will die in my hands!" I exchanged a fuming glance with Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng. "For fuck¡¯s sake! What the hell are we supposed to do when a boss this OP makes his comeback? We¡¯ll all have to run for our lives¡­" Lin Yixin asked, "Is this the ending of the patch event?" Obviously¡­ ¡ªnot! ¡­¡­ Whoosh! Suddenly, a large majority of the vortex turned a bright shade of red. Then, a bloody hand stretched out of the center of the vortex and caught the Great Saint¡¯s half-decimated body. It wasn¡¯t a skill either. The armor covering the hand was clearly a wristguard. The Great Saint narrowed his eyes. "What is this?" The next moment, the Great Saint shivered violently before condensing into an icicle. The owner of the big hand slowly walked out of the vortex, revealing himself to be an undead general clad in a blood-red armor. Still clutching the transformed Great Saint, the surprisingly handsome man shot Xinran and Binglan a glance before smirking. "Long time no see, Wind Singer. This is the first time we¡¯ve met in several thousand years, and this is what you bring me as the reunion gift? You shouldn¡¯t have!" Shocked, Xinran stumbled backward until she bumped into my chest. While shivering violently, she murmured, "The¡­ the Purgatory Ruler! Lin Na is here! Run, big brother! Run!!" I tried to comfort her. "Do not be afraid, Xinran!" "What are you waiting for? Run!" Xinran was blabbering at this point. "You don¡¯t understand how scary Lin Na is! Run now while you still can!" ¡­¡­ Lin Na couldn¡¯t help but laugh. "Still attempting to protect the weak, Xinran? Hahaha! When will you learn, my innocent, pitiful girl? Even if you manage to protect them now, can you protect them forever?" Lin Na then looked at the icicle the Great Saint had transformed into and chuckled. "Oh, I nearly forgot to eat this. Is there anything more delicious than the dark energy of the Great Saint himself? I doubt it¡­" Lin Na suddenly swelled in size before he stuffed the entire icicle into his mouth. Black blood spilled out of his lips as he chewed. Who would¡¯ve thought that the final boss of an era would be eaten like ice cream one day!? "Thank you so much for delivering a major blow to the Great Saint. I wouldn¡¯t have had the opportunity to eat him otherwise!" Lin Na cackled. Xinran and Binglan both clenched their fists, but they dared not to act recklessly. Suddenly, Lin Na¡¯s cackle turned into a groan of pain. His stomach also looked to be writhing unnaturally. "You dare refuse to become a part of me?" Lin Na¡¯s smile turned sinister as he picked up the Starlight the Great Saint had left behind earlier and stabbed his own stomach. Blood divine energy surged as he cackled some more. "Be of use to me, Great Saint! Hahaha, what a delicious power of darkness!" For a while, he kept digesting the Great Saint while being attacked from the inside. In the end, Lin Na was able to fully digest the Great Saint, but he himself had suffered quite the heavy damage. With a heavy bloodstain on his lips, he watched us all before suddenly fixing his gaze onto Sophie and snorting imperiously. "When are you coming back, Sophie?!" Sophie simply brandished her blade and uttered, "Do not think you can enslave me again, Lin Na!" "Is that so?" Lin Na laughed loudly as he charged toward Sophie. "Try stopping me from taking you back then!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Binglan rushed toward Lin Na and attempted to slash his back with the Dragonslaying Sword. The Purgatory Ruler was unfazed, but he was forced to turn back for an instant, clashed blades with her, and sent her crashing into a pile of ice. Then, he continued toward Sophie at the same speed! This time, Xinran blocked in front of Sophie and raised the Dragonbone Spear. While summoning her divine energy, she cried, "Spirit Piercing Umbrella!" "Pointless technique!" Lin Na laughed arrogantly before shattering the defensive skill in one thrust and leaping right over Xinran¡¯s head! Xinran didn¡¯t back down, however. She jumped backward as much as she could before landing a powerful kick on Lin Na¡¯s stomach. It was a blow that caused the Purgatory Ruler to spit out blood, but he ignored it and continued to fly toward Sophie. Once he was in range, he swung Starlight mightily at the former Purgatory Sovereign! Bang! Sophie raised her sword to parry the attack, but the blade shattered upon making contact with Starlight. The slash would have carved her entire shoulder if she hadn¡¯t been sent flying to the distance like a broken kite. No one could imagine that the powerful Sophie wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand even a single hit from Lin Na until it happened. There was no way Sophie was in a fighting condition after receiving such an attack. ¡­¡­ Thud thud thud¡­ I ran forward and executed Ancient Seal + Dragon Slaying Slash combo. Then, I threw the Chill of the Nine Provinces at him! All things considered, the attack wasn¡¯t completely useless¡ª 21,736! MISS! 59,172! ¡­¡­ "Annoying mosquito!" However, Lin Na simply left behind that comment before continuing to race after Sophie. He really wanted to kill her for some reason. Swhoosh! Binglan appeared again, blocking in front of the incapitated Sophie and unleashing a devastating War Dragon Strike at the same time! Boom boom boom¡­ The Dragon Speaker possessed great power, and it was clear from Lin Na¡¯s trembling body and shredded left shoulder that he didn¡¯t walk away unscathed. However, Lin Na¡¯s determination was greater than anyone could¡¯ve expected! "Get lost!" He slashed Binglan in the shoulder and inflicted a horrible wound. Binglan remained exactly where she was and stabbed him through the heart. Then, she reappeared behind him and pulled her blade and Lin Na¡¯s beating red heart right out of his body! Whoosh¡­ A jet of icy flame turned the heart into ashes instantly. At the same time, Binglan dropped to her knees due to her serious injuries and deep exhaustion. CH 1450 Lin Na laughed. "Do you think that taking my heart is enough to kill me, Binglan? Hahaha! How naive! Nearly my entire body is filled with my spirituality. Unless you can burn my whole body to ashes, even a drop of blood is enough for me to be reborn as new!" [1] Bang! Xinran came to Sophie¡¯s rescue and kicked him right in the waist. "Get lost!" Lin Na was sent flying all the way to the throne, but he continued laughing like a madman, "You can¡¯t kill me, haha, none of you can kill me¡­ but I can destroy all of you with ease!" He then raised Starlight into the air, summoned a terrific gust of energy and chanted, "Destruction from the end of the world, heed my command and destroy everything around me¡ªNine Heavens Annihilation!" ¡­¡­ It was 100% a forbidden spell! Panicking, I shouted, "Invincible now!" He Yi, Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng and more all activated their invincibility skills, but not everyone had such equipment. The only thing they could do was die! I activated Dark Shield and gave myself 30 seconds of invincibility. Then, I ran up to Xinran, held her in my arms, then ran up to Binglan and covered both their bodies with my own! BOOM¡ª The ground shook, the sky turned into bloody flames, and a destructive shockwave spread out from Lin Na. Then, the cave, no, the entire Sainthelm Ruins itself dissipated into dust as if it had been struck by a nuclear bomb! Even though I was protected by an invincibility skill, the terrible pain enveloping my body felt all too real. The ice around me all disintegrated into dust. The NPC armies of Sky City, Violet Empire and all other NPCs crumbled away into dust. The only survivors were Karinshan, Sophia and a couple more people. When the dust finally settled, Karinshan stared blankly at the remains¡ªor rather, the lack thereof¡ªof her soldiers before breaking into tears. "Why did it turn out like this? Why did it turn out like this? All those loyal soldiers who came all the way to protect their homes, dead without even bodies to bury¡­" ¡­¡­ "Big brother¡­" Xinran held my arm while shivering. "Big brother, I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t stay with you anymore¡­" "Xinran?" I looked at her in confusion. Complexion pale, she continued, "I must send Lin Na back to the Purgatory, or the human realm itself will become a new Purgatory¡­ I¡­" At the distance, Lin Na raised his sword and chanted some more, "Braves of the Purgatory, rise! It is time to occupy all the cities and taste the fresh meat they contain! This time, you may enjoy their screams and fill your stomachs to your heart¡¯s content!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Bloody rays of light flew out of the vortex again and again. Every time they appeared, the system would make an announcement¡ª Ding! System Notice: The Divine Rank boss "Linda the Whisperer" and their army has appeared on the continent! Ding! System Notice: The Divine Rank boss "Opero the Nightwalker" and their army has appeared on the continent! Ding! System Notice: The Divine Rank boss "Arya the Windrunner" and their army has appeared on the continent! Ding! System Notice: The Divine Rank boss "Capella the Warbone of Thor" and their army has appeared on the continent! ¡­¡­ A panting Sophie pulled herself out of a pile of rubble and said, "We need¡­ we need to send Lin Na back to the Purgatory now. He just used up all of his power, so if we send him back now he won¡¯t be able to open another spatial crack to the human realms for a short time. This is our only chance¡­ or we will all die when the legions of darkness take control of the entire continent¡­" Binglan tried to push herself back to her feet using the Dragonslaying Sword, but she quickly stumbled back to the ground. She barely had any divine energy left after all the battles she had fought up until this point! ¡­¡­ Xinran abruptly raised the Dragonbone Spear and stomped her feet. The next moment, she appeared in front of Lin Na with her spear through his chest. She didn¡¯t stop running toward Abyss of Death as she said softly, "You will come to the Purgatory with me, Lin Na!" Lin Na roared angrily and punched her on the shoulder. "You think you can take me to the Purgatory in your state? Dream on!" "Ugh¡­" Xinran spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, but continued to charge full speed toward the vortex that led to Abyss of Death with Lin Na. ¡­¡­ "Xinran!" I threw all caution to the back of my mind and raced toward Xinran with all I got. Without hesitation, I plunged into the vortex together with Xinran and Lin Na. Shocked but not incapitated, Lin Na laughed and grabbed the Dragonbone Spear lodged in his chest. He snapped the upper portion of the spear in half and stabbed Xinran in the chest, spilling her blood and causing her to let out another painful groan. My chest boiled with pain and fury when I saw this. Still falling, I grabbed Xinran with one arm and thrust the Chill of the Nine Provinces into Lin Na¡¯s neck with the other. At the same time, I shouted, "Let¡¯s go home together, Xinran!" However, she shook her head and pointed downward. Lin Na had sunk his hand into her stomach and refused to let go. While enduring the terrible pain, she squeezed out, "You cannot come to the Purgatory with me, big brother. You cannot¡­" Tears spilled out of my eyes as I clung to her arm tightly. "No, Xinran!" She looked back at me with just as many tears. "We¡¯ll meet again, big brother! And¡­ Xinran loves you, big brother! Xinran will always love you!" ¡­¡­ I felt something hitting me in the chest and launching me into the air. It was Xinran¡¯s knee. My ascent wouldn¡¯t stop no matter how hard I tried to stop it using the Domain powers of Heavenly River Transformation. Meanwhile, Xinran and her tears continued to fall into darkness. Swhoosh! I was thrown out of the vortex as it began to close. (Author¡¯s Note: I¡¯m aware that this chapter is very short, but I don¡¯t feel well enough to write more. Please forgive me this once¡­) 1. T/N: in the raws it says "a speck of dust", which is¡­ eh? What¡¯s the point of burning you to ash then? ? CH 1451 After I caught my footing, I immediately postured myself to dive back into the Abyss. "No!" However, a woman slammed into me before I could do anything and pinned me against the wall. It was Karinshan holding me down and rebuking me loudly, "Have you gone insane? No living person has ever entered the Abyss of Death and came out alive. Don¡¯t you understand?" My knees gave, and my sword clattered beside my feet. I murmured, "I¡­ I must rescue Xinran from the Purgatory no matter what. Tell me¡­ tell me how I can enter the Purgatory. What must I do to see her again?" Karinshan stared blankly at me as she murmured back, "I don¡¯t know either¡­" Rustle rustle¡­ I heard a pair of boots walking up to me and the occasional splash of blood. It was Sophie pressing against the bleeding wound on her chest. She said, "If Xinran manages to survive Lin Na¡¯s subordinates, you may just be able to see her again. A mere mortal won¡¯t be able to enter the Purgatory plane, however." I shot her a confused look. "What do you mean, a mortal won¡¯t be able to get in?" Sophie said, "A mortal simply cannot endure the winds of the Purgatory. The mere brush against it will burn them to ashes. That is why you must ascend and become a god before you enter the Purgatory and seek out Xinran. In other words, you must become a god before you are qualified to search for her. In your case, you will need to evolve into an Asura God¡­" I nodded. "I understand¡­" ¡­¡­ When I finally rose back to my feet, the vortex that led to the Abyss of Death had already disappeared. All it left behind was a bottomless hole and the remains of the dead. I pointed my palm toward a pair of undead soul sparks. One of them belonged to Mingyu, and another to the Great Saint. They should be enough to make me an Asura God, right? Buzz buzz¡­ The moment the siphoning began, what felt like an unimaginable amount of death energy immediately seeped into my body. For a second, I actually thought that I might just explode like a balloon. It was that immense. It was worth it though. Before I knew it, my racial progress bar had skyrocketed from 72% all the way to 90%. Not only that, it was still ascending at an incredible rate. My heart nearly stopped. The thought hadn¡¯t crossed my mind earlier, but now I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if I was going to become an Asura God right here and now! I was right. The moment the progress bar was completely filled, I immediately received a number of system notices¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, you have evolved to become an Asura God (Basic God) and obtained the skills: Divine Deterrence, Unusual Physique and Murderous Intent! ¡­¡­ My eyes widened. I immediately opened my skill window to check them out. Three golden skill icons immediately entered my view, but they were dimmed for some reason. It meant that I hadn¡¯t met a certain requirement and wouldn¡¯t be able to use them¡ª Divine Deterrence: Afflict divine intimidation to all non-divine undead within 100 yards, lowering their stats by 40%. Skill Requirement: User must possess Divinity, 100 Luck, and be at Level 250. Unusual Physique: Activates divine power to protect oneself. Greatly reduces damage received and negates weak attacks completely. Skill Requirement: User must possess Divinity, 100 Luck, and be at Level 250. Murderous Intent: By injecting the power of the Asura God into your weapon, greatly increases its attack damage and gives it the ability "Undead Deterrence¡±. Skill Requirement: User must possess Divinity, 100 Luck, and be at Level 250. ¡­¡­ For a time, I simply stared at my three new skills. All of them were incredibly useful and indispensable on my quest to search for Xinran. Divine Deterrence directly reduced the enemy¡¯s power, Unusual Physique increased my survivability, and Murderous Intent greatly increased my killing power. Yes, I couldn¡¯t go without a single one of them! Its requirements were just as stringent, however. First, I must be at Level 250. Second, I must be at 100 Luck. I met both the stat requirements, but this Divinity thing didn¡¯t make sense to me. I am an Asura God now, right? How can I be a god and not have a Divinity to speak of? Noticing my hesitation, Sophie asked, "Have you become an Asura God?" I nodded affirmatively. "Mn. However, I don¡¯t seem to possess a Divinity. Why¡¯s that?" Sophie looked surprised. "That¡¯s strange. When Xinran and I became Asura Gods, our bodies produced Divinity on their own. Perhaps your constitution is different from ours? Normally, this shouldn¡¯t be happening. Regardless, this is still very good news. The Purgatory has existed for tens of thousands of years, but only 26 Asura Gods have ever been born during this time. You are the 27th." I grimaced. "Does that mean that there are 27 Divine Rank guardians in the Purgatory?"[1] Sophie shook her head smilingly. "Not anymore. Most of the Asura Gods had either been killed or exiled in their own wars. Even if you include Lin Na, there are less than 10 divine or lord guardians in the entire Purgatory. That is why there is yet a sliver of hope for you to find Xinran." I hummed. "How the hell do I get a Divinity though?" Even now, deep pain was wracking my heart. I sank onto the ice floor once more and glanced at the vanished entrance to Abyss of Death with deep regret. I regretted being so powerless that I couldn¡¯t keep Xinran company until my dying end. I regretted not being able to be there for her and share at least some of her pain and terror. Karinshan rose to her feet and put a hand on my shoulder. She said quietly, "I know you share a deep bond with Lady Wind Singer, but to be honest with you, her chances of surviving after plunging into the Purgatory with that devil, Lin Na, are¡­ low to say the least. That is why I would rather you stayed in the human realms than enter the Purgatory after her. If you continue to hone your powers in the human realms, you will surely become a champion general of the empire at the very least. But if you enter the Purgatory¡­" I looked up and shot Karinshan a smile. "Princess, I must enter the Purgatory no matter what. Otherwise, I will never be able to face myself, and I will be tormented by this pain for as long as I live. And I would rather die than suffer that fate." Karinshan smiled a little. "I knew you would say that. Well, good luck. Don¡¯t hesitate to ask for my help if you need anything. Lady Binglan and I will do everything in our power to help you!" "Thank you, Your Majesty. Thank you, Binglan!" I nodded at both women. A short distance away, Binglan gave me a nod while clutching her injured arm. "Mn. Xinran is brave, and so are you. You are both the protectors and pride of humanity. I promise to do everything in my power to find a way to save her just like you!" "Mn. Thank you!" ¡­¡­ I rose to my feet once more and stepped toward He Yi, Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and everyone else. Most of them simply watched me in silence and companionship, not daring to say even a word. They knew what a huge blow it was to me to lose Xinran in the fashion it did. She might only be an NPC and a bunch of data, but it was undeniable that I had developed a deep love for her. "Are you okay, Little Cheat?" Lin Yixin asked softly. It was as if she was afraid that I would be angry if she spoke too loudly. I forced a smile onto my face and patted her delicate shoulder gently. "Of course I¡¯m okay. Don¡¯t worry, Yiyi. Xinran may have fallen into the Purgatory with Lin Na, but that doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that she is dead. Speaking of which, it looks like I¡¯ll be grinding levels and equipment harder than ever before. The sooner I prepare myself, the earlier I¡¯ll be able to enter the Purgatory and not get knocked out prematurely by all the obstacles and bosses that are sure to stand in my way¡­" Beiming Xue held my arm and shot me a smile. "Thank goodness you can think this way, big bro. This is how you should be¡­" I nodded but didn¡¯t say anything. Noticing that I was still feeling down, Gui Guzi offered, "How about Li and I follow you to the Purgatory as well, Boss Broken Halberd? We are brothers after all. We live and die together!" I smiled. "While I wouldn¡¯t mind dragging the two of you down with me, you all heard what Sophie said earlier. To enter the Purgatory plane, you must first possess the power of a god. I have already evolved to become an Asura God, but one of you is a dragon warrior, and the other, an undying knight¡­ you would be air-dried by the winds of the Purgatory before you even got inside. If you want imagery, just imagine a grape turning into a raisin, but it¡¯s your corpse¡­" The corners of Li Chengfeng¡¯s mouth twitched. "Yeah, I think we¡¯ll grind on the continent while you have fun down there. We¡¯ll wait for you and Xinran to come back!" I nodded. "That¡¯s more like it!" ¡­¡­ He Yi was a careful woman. She held my hand smilingly and didn¡¯t say a word about Xinran. She simply stared at the ruins around us and commented, "Now that I think about it, we took out nearly all of the bosses of this event, and Sainthelm Ruins itself have turned into rubble. The event should be over, and the rewards should have been announced already, right? But there¡¯s still nothing¡­" I replied, "Who knows? They might have set a delay¡­" Speak of the devil, a system announcement hit us all right at that moment¡ª Ding! System Announcement: Congratulations to all players for successfully completing the March of Chaos event! Moving on, the storyline will enter the phase where the Purgatory Legion attacks the human cities. Due to the power of the Purgatory Ruler increasing, all factions aligned with the Purgatory Legion have gained an incredible amount of power. The human main cities will fall one after another, and all players will eventually become unaffiliated. During that time, please seek out a supply spot on your own and wait for the system to announce the right time to retake the main cities. The event is now officially over, and all rewards will be distributed in five minutes! ¡­¡­ "What the fuck? We¡¯re going to lose our main city?" Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes widened like saucers. "After everything we did to protect Sky City, we¡¯re going to lose it because of some storyline? Come on!" He Yi nodded. "Yeah. It looks like we¡¯ll be working together with the NPC legions to retake the main cities. The undead defenders are going to be super powerful though. This is the system testing our power!" I curled my lips. "Well, good luck and grind hard. I¡¯ll probably have reached the Purgatory when that happens, so I won¡¯t be participating in that event. I wonder which of the Twelve Divine Armaments the system is going to reward me in five minutes?" Lin Xixin giggled. "I hope you get the Axe of Pangu!" I shook my head. "It¡¯s the weapon after my Chill of the Nine Provinces, you know. I highly doubt I¡¯ll get it even with my contribution points. Also, who in the guild can even use it? Chengfeng uses swords and spears, and sister Yi is the same. The only one among us who¡¯s good at axes is High Fighting Spirits, but I¡¯m willing to bet money that Farewell Song will shadow him everyday if we give it to him¡­" Murong Mingyue chuckled. "Yeah. Anyway, let¡¯s wait here until the rewards are announced, shall we?" "Mn!" 1. T/N: what is this stupid question? You¡¯re counting Sophie and Xinran too? ? CH 1452 Five minutes passed by very quickly. Some distance away from us, Breeze and Rain, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and more were waiting for the next system announcement as well. The reason we weren¡¯t punching each other¡¯s faces in was because Lin Na¡¯s final attack had one-shot over 95% of the players in Sainthelm Ruins. Practically every guild was low on manpower right now, not to mention that there were no bosses left to contest anyway. Waiting for the system announcement was clearly the best choice here. I checked the patch contribution points ranking again. I was still the champion, and my contribution points were almost twice of the runner-up. All things considered, I should be rewarded something extra for my efforts. Right? Like really. Surely the system will recognize my achievement and reward me something else besides the MVP reward. RIGHT?! ¡­¡­ Finally, the system announcement rang and dispatched everyone their rewards¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Congratulations to all players for successfully completing the March of Chaos event! Player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) is the champion and MVP with 11,266,470 points, and their reward is "Wind Severing Sword" (Twelve Divine Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï), Level +5, Luck +5, and Reputation +1,000,000. Moreover, they are granted an additional reward because they have successfully accumulated over 10 million points in this event! Their evolvable weapon "Chill of the Nine Provinces" has evolved into its final form, "Xuanyuan Sword" (Twelve Divine Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)! Player "Wind Fantasy" (China) is the runner-up with 6,942,770 points, and their reward is "Cloak of Divine Fervor" (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï), Level +4, Luck +11, and Reputation +750,000! Player "Breeze and Rain" (India) is ranked third with 6,442,530 points, and their reward is "Bracelet of Hunger" (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï), Level +3, Luck +7, and Reputation +50,000! Player "Lian Xing", "Candlelight Shadow", "Legendary Brave", "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow", "Luo River God of the Capital", "Tear Stain" and "Beiming Xue" are rewarded the 4th to 10th place rewards, and all Top 100,000 players have been given special rewards! Finally, all player contribution points have been converted into the appropriate amount of experience! ¡­¡­ I received another system notice after the system announcement. It informed me that my Ancient Divine Dragon had finally reached Level 200 and entered the Divine Awakening stage! It was still not as delightful a news as my weapon¡¯s evolution into the Xuanyuan Sword, however. The Chill of the Nine Provinces was powerful, but I had a feeling that it would¡¯ve been insufficient to overcome the trials of the Purgatory. The king of the Twelve Divine Armaments, the Xuanyuan Sword though? That was a completely different story! Everyone was busy checking their reward and basking in the happiness of success, and I was no exception. I raised my new Xuanyuan Sword and admired it for a moment. Not only had it taken on a more righteous appearance, its stats had improved by leaps and bounds as well¡ª Xuanyuan Sword (Twelve Divine Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 25,000~40500 Strength: +5,050 Stamina: +4,900 Agility: +4,850 Intelligence: +5,000 Tactics: +540 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 375% Passive: Increases user¡¯s splash effect by 80% Passive: When swinging the Xuanyuan Sword, 15% chance to deal septuple damage. Stackable with critical hits. Slots: 18 Outstanding Property: Mountain Crush. When attacking a target, there is a small chance to destroy the opponent¡¯s equipment durability and render it useless. When attacking a building or a mine, greatly increase the shatter effect. Ancient 1: The Xuanyuan Art. Activates the Xuanyuan Sword Spirit¡¯s divine power. When holding up the sword with the positive side of the blade[1] facing toward the sky, activate the special skill "Life" and restore 70% HP to all allies within 1,000 yards. When holding up the sword with the negative side of the blade facing toward the sky, activate the special skill "Death" and remove 70% HP from all targeted enemies within 1,000 yards. Cooldown: 6 minutes. Cost: All of the current MP. Ancient 2: Cold of the Nine Provinces. Freezes all players within 100 yards of the user for 7 seconds. Cooldown: 6 minutes. Property: Proficiency. Level Requirement is lowered by 35 Property: Evolvable (1 more evolution available)[2] Property: Lifesteal. 50% of the damage dealt is converted into HP Introduction: The Xuanyuan Sword is the legendary Sword of the Sacred Way used to create the world during the Era of Gods. One side of the blade has celestial objects engraved onto it, and the other side, nature. One side of the grip has the art of farming written on it, and the other, the strategy to unite the four seas. After the Chill of the Nine Provinces inherited the Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s divine power, the weapon also gained the power to rule over life and death. Used wisely, and it will bring happiness to the world. Used recklessly, it will cause war, death and destruction. Level Requirement: 280[3] Reputation Requirement: 4,000,000 ¡­¡­ God damn, this is absolutely crazy! Its Attack had jumped all the way to 40k, which was way higher than the other of the Twelve Divine Armaments. Excluding Tactics, it also gave nearly 5,000 points to each stat. Its Attack boost passive had jumped to 375%, and finally the percentage chance to deal 7 times more damage than normal had jumped from 5% to 15%. This was easily one of the most valuable improvements I had gotten from this evolution. Assuming that I executed a six-hit Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo, I could be almost certain to trigger the passive at least once. Who could possibly survive that? Besides that, the effects of Life and Death skill of the Xuanyuan Art had been increased from 50% to 70%. That was amazing as well. Of course, everything I mentioned above still wasn¡¯t the best improvement I had gotten from the evolution. The best improvement was my lifesteal value jumping from 20% to 50%! It could now give the Heaven Suppressing Necklace a run for its money, and it didn¡¯t take up an equipment slot because it was part of the weapon¡¯s passive! It was just amazing! Most importantly, the Xuanyuan Sword could still evolve one more time! I couldn¡¯t even imagine how strong it would become when that happened! (Author¡¯s Note: Please don¡¯t compare this with the final weapons stats at Zongheng. I can give the Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s 100 million Attack or even 1 billion Attack, sure, but that won¡¯t make a good story now, will it?) ¡­¡­ After I was done admiring the Xuanyuan Sword, I checked the windy sword sitting quietly inside my bag next. It was the Wind Severing Sword. Although it was placed last among the Twelve Divine Armaments, it was by no means a weak weapon! I pulled out the Wind Severing Sword while still gripping the Xuanyuan Sword. An indescribable sense of pride filled my heart as I held both weapons in my hands. Who should I give the Wind Severing Sword to, I wonder? Before that, I should check out its stats. The moment I brought up the Wind Severing Sword¡¯s stat screen, everyone let out a cry of astonishment¡ª Wind Severing Sword (Twelve Divine Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 15,700~19,500 Agility: +2,950 Stamina: +2,800 Strength: +2,650 Intelligence: +2,400 Tactics: +295 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 235% Passive: Increases user¡¯s splash effect by 70% Passive: Increases all melee skills¡¯ rank by 1, and damage by 15% Slots: 18 Outstanding Property: Wind Severing. Gather wind divine energy to ignore 30% of the target¡¯s Defense. Ancient: Thundercloud Storm. Summon the power of the storm and deal continuous damage to all enemies within a 1,000-yard radius. Damage is based on the user¡¯s Attack. Cost: All of the current MP. Cooldown: 120 minutes. Property: Proficiency. Lowers Level Requirement by 20. Property: Evolvable (1 more evolution available) Introduction: The Wind Severing Sword is one of the Twelve Divine Armaments. In ancient times, when the laws of heaven were in shambles, the Wind God Roman and the War God Ares joined hands to battle against the devils. Unfortunately, they didn¡¯t survive when Heaven Domain was lost, and the gods perished in battle. For countless years, Roman¡¯s remains refused to erode until it was scattered by a vile beast. However, one of his backbones survived the trampling, and it became a legendary weapon later on. Legend says that the wielder of the Wind Severing Sword can control the weather itself and become the ruler of all nature. Level Requirement: 225 Reputation Requirement: 1,500,000 ¡­¡­ "Oh wow, that Thundercloud Storm is pretty good¡­" Gui Guzi said while salivating. I nodded. "It¡¯s okay¡­" Lian Xin chuckled. "Your Chill of the Nine Provinces has evolved into the Xuanyuan Sword, so you obviously don¡¯t need it. Who would you like to give the sword to, Lu Chen?" However, Beiming Xue immediately rejected the idea. "No way! Big bro had to battle heaven and earth themselves to get this MVP reward. It makes no sense for him to just give it away, no matter who they are. Even if he can accept this, I can¡¯t! It needs to be an equivalent exchange or nothing at all!" I smiled and put an arm on Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulder. "Beiming cares so much about me, I can only heed her suggestion. So? Who wants the Wind Severing Sword? It¡¯s first come first serve, so throw me your offers before it¡¯s too late!" Gui Guzi shook his head. "I¡¯ll pass. I already have the Ghostblade Halberd, and it¡¯s not good to be too greedy¡­" Li Chengfeng rubbed his palms together. "Hehe, is 100k RMB okay with you?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes teased him. "Have some shame, man! I offer 1 million RMB!" Eyes Like Water rolled her eyes. "Like you¡¯re any better. I offer 2 million RMB!" He Yi giggled happily. "Don¡¯t stop upping the bid, people! Make our Lu Chen rich!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Lin Yixin took out a blood-red cloak from her bag and said, "Can I trade this plus a million RMB for the Wind Severing Sword please, Little Cheat? I want it¡­" She said it in such a pitiable manner that even the others couldn¡¯t help but feel moved by it. Of course, even that was nothing compared to the item she offered to trade me for the Wind Severing Sword, the Cloak of Divine Fervor itself. Li Chengfeng slapped his thigh and said, "Goddammit, how can we possibly beat that? You win, Beauty Lin. I forfeit¡­" Lin Yixin waved a hand across the cloak and brought up its stat screen. Everyone gasped, and my temptation to trade suddenly grew ten times stronger¡ª Cloak of Divine Fervor (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 17,500 Magic Resist: 15,000 Strength: +3,200 Stamina: +3,150 Agility: +3,000 Intelligence: +2,950 Tactics: +300 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist by 75% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 270,000 Ghost Armament: Fervent Soul Protection. Damage received is decreased by 50%. Cannot be stacked. Outstanding Property: Divine Fervor. Increases user¡¯s movement speed by 115%, and attack speed by 90%. Moreover, it increases HP regeneration rate by 50%. Level Requirement: 250 Reputation Requirement: 2,500,000 Class Requirement: Warrior ¡­¡­ My mind was made up the moment I saw its Ghost Armament effect. I immediately slammed the Wind Severing Sword into Lin Yixin¡¯s palm and said, "It¡¯s a deal, dear! The Wind Severing Sword is yours, and the Cloak of Divine Fervor is mine!" "Mn mn!" Lin Yixin happily equipped the Wind Severing Sword and transformed into a beautiful storm goddess. Starting now, Beautiful Little Pepper would leave a stormy trail behind her no matter where she went. Li Chengfeng stared at the cloak while complaining, "It¡¯s not fair! 50% damage reduction on top of all these passives and stats? This is truly unfair!" I cackled. "I wouldn¡¯t trade the Wind Severing Sword for it if it wasn¡¯t that great!" 1. E/N We didn¡¯t know it when it first appeared, but it¡¯s not about the edge/the blunt side. As many descriptions since then state, it¡¯s about the pictures on each side. One side represents life, the positive side. The other, death and destruction, and that¡¯s the negative side. ? 2. E/N: Final form my ass. ? 3. T/N: doesn¡¯t matter to Lu Chen because he¡¯s already equipped the weapon. As long as he never unequips it, he can wield it even if he¡¯s below the requirement E/N: And as we¡¯ve learned as far back as chapter ~80, he doesn¡¯t need to unequip it to repair, even if the game makes him "give" the blacksmith his weapon. ? CH 1453 The Cloak of Divine Fervor was the #4 Ghost Armament on the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments Ranking. The reason it was ranked this high was because of one attribute only: it reduced the wearer¡¯s damage received by a whopping 50%. Everyone knew that Warsky, Farewell Song and more people had been collecting damage-reduction equipment to deal with SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skills, but individually, the items only gave at most 10% damage reduction. Moreover, this type of equipment usually had very poor stats, meaning that you would lose out on a lot of HP, Defense and Attack if you switched into them. Even so, equipment that reduced damage received by just 5% was almost too expensive to purchase in the current market, much less one that reduced the wearer¡¯s damage received by 50%! I would soon enter the Purgatory to find Xinran, and heaven only knows what kind of powerful opponents they would throw at me. That was why this 50% damage reduction was a must-have, not to mention that it also increased my max HP by 270k. With 50% damage reduction and 50% lifesteal, I was certain that I could survive the trials of the Purgatory alone. Trading the Wind Severing Sword for it was a win for me, and I was sure that neither He Yi nor Li Chengfeng would blame me for my decision. Even if they did, I could only bear it for Xinran¡¯s sake. ¡­¡­ I happily equipped the Cloak of Divine Fervor and gave the discarded Sunchaser Cloak to Chaos Moon. I immediately felt a tremendous energy surging into my body. My current stat screen showed¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (The Frostblade of Death) Class: Master Swordsman of Death Level: 252 HP: 1,358,550 Attack: 53,150~72,670 Defense: 116,365 Magic Resist: 102,920 Reputation: 522,5400 Tactics: 2,565 Luck: 139 ¡­¡­ A base Attack over 70k was definitely a world record for this game, and my base HP had jumped to 1.35 million as well. I could buff it to almost 3 million with a card, which should be enough to deal with most Divine Rank bosses I might encounter in the Purgatory. Even if it wasn¡¯t, my Asura God skills should help even the odds to the point where I could. With the Xuanyuan Sword in my grip and the Cloak of Divine Fervor behind my back, I looked at the sky and sucked in a deep breath. Right now, my equipment was without a doubt top-tier¡ªno, unrivaled¡ªin the entire world. There literally couldn¡¯t be anyone who had better equipment set than me. I had three of the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments¡ªthe Song of Freedom, the Flying Dragon Wristguards and the Cloak of Divine Fervor¡ªthe strongest weapon of the Twelve Divine Armaments, the Xuanyuan Sword, four Sacred Armaments¡ªthe Fire God Helmet, Cyan Dragon Shield, Guardian Dragon Armor and Ghost Spirit War Boots¡ªand the Ancient Divine Armament, Pity of the Purgatory Gods. In the same vein, there literally couldn¡¯t be anyone with better stats than me, so I shouldn''t be one-shot when I entered the Purgatory, right? "The system is going into maintenance for 60 minutes. Should we return to the main city for now?" He Yi asked. Lin Yixin nodded. "Mn. It took a long time, but we finally managed to clear this event. It¡¯s time to return to the city and log out¡­ Heehee, the Wind Severing Sword looks so cool¡­ I love it¡­" My cute little girlfriend tried to stay serious, but her attention kept being drawn back to the handle of the Wind Severing Sword. Admittedly, it did have a pretty unique design. Its metal was engraved with exquisite patterns, and wind-type energy floated around it at all times. It was a weapon that automatically looked imposing without needing to try. "Wait a second. I can¡¯t teleport back to Sky City¡­" Li Chengfeng said after crushing his return scroll to no effect. "Holy shit, I just received a system notice saying that Sky City has fallen into the Purgatory Legion¡¯s hands! Just how fast did Lin Na¡¯s lackeys work? What do we do now?" I said, "We return to Dark Moon City. Until the counterattack begins, we will use Dark Moon City as our main base. Speaking of which, do NOT increase our territory¡¯s repair fee or anything else. A lot of guilds will be moving into Dark Moon City, and I don¡¯t want to tarnish our reputation for the sake of short-term profit." He Yi nodded. "Don¡¯t worry, I know." Gui Guzi crushed a guild return scroll, and he was able to teleport away without trouble. Everyone quickly did the same thing. Soon, only Lin Yixin and I were left behind. Rustle rustle¡­ Lin Yixin stood beside me and asked curiously, "What are you waiting for, Little Cheat?" I answered, "Well, the Ancient Divine Dragon just entered the Divine Awakening stage¡­" "Okay. So?" "I would prefer to keep its new power a secret for now, so¡­" "Hmm?" I waved my hand once, and the Ancient Divine Dragon immediately canceled its armor form and rose into the air. Then, it assumed a smaller, cuddlier form and rubbed its head affectionately against my arm. On the surface, my mount didn¡¯t look any different from before, but in reality a new, invisible sheen of divine energy was surrounding its scales. I had no doubt that its Defense had increased by leaps and bounds. I wasn¡¯t wrong. When I opened its stat screen, I was delighted to find that all of its stats had increased massively. As expected of the Divine Awakening stage¡ª Ancient Divine Dragon (Ancient Divine Rank Mount) Level: 200 Strength: +5,500 Stamina: +5,400 Agility: +5,250 Intelligence: +5,000 Attack Increase: +305% Defense Increase: +250% Magic Resist Increase: +450% Attack Speed: +190% Movement Speed: +800% Air Attack Range: +90 yards Land Attack Range: +45 yards Max HP: +1,000,000 Turn Rate: -7% Mount Tenacity: +400% Unique Skill 1: Summon the Storm. Summons wind blades and ice rains to attack all enemy units within an incredibly wide area. Damage dealt is based on the owner¡¯s Attack. Unique Skill 2: Divinity Creation. When the requirements are met, create a unique Divinity for its master. Introduction: The Ancient Divine Dragon is a holy existence that soars beyond the Nine Heavens. Even the Dragon Gods bow to the Ancient Divine Dragon in respect. It is said that the Ancient Divine Dragon is the spirit double of the Ancient Primordial God. It can summon the storm to strike its enemies. Level Requirement: 250 Reputation Requirement: 2,500,000 ¡­¡­ I see! The reason the Ancient Divine Dragon had been stuck at Level 199 all this time wasn¡¯t because it didn¡¯t get enough experience, but because the Level Requirement was 250, meaning that it could never reach Level 200 and enter the Divine Awakening stage until its owner was Level 250. I clicked my tongue unconsciously as I admired the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s stats. Right now, the Ancient Divine Dragon was without a doubt a true Divine Rank mount in every sense of the word. Not only did it give 5,000 points to every base attribute, it even increased my max HP by 1 million, the single most important stat in my upcoming adventure. The more HP I got, the greater it was my chance to survive with my new 50% lifesteal and 50% damage reduction! The other thing that caught my concern was this new skill my little dragon learned called "Divinity Creation¡±. Supposedly, it would create a Divinity for its master when the requirements were met. I shuddered the moment I saw this skill. In fact, I could already envision myself becoming more OP than ever before. Could this "Divinity Creation" skill be the reason I wasn¡¯t able to form a Divinity when I became an Asura God? Now that I met all the requirements, could it create my own unique Divinity? Without hesitation, I tapped the skill right in front of Lin Yixin! "Roar!" My little dragon was still rubbing its head against my shoulder when I tapped the skill. It immediately let out a soft growl, left my side and started glowing to the point where the ground itself was shaking slightly. Its body bulged a little, and some sort of object seemed to be crawling up its neck. Finally, it opened its mouth and spat out a blood-red crystal that looked like a rhombus-shaped jade. It was a short distance away from me, but I could still sense the power it contained. It was a Divinity alright. It was my own Divinity of Death and the power both Sophie and Xinran had learned before! "What¡­ is that?" Lin Yixin¡¯s attractive lips parted as she stared at me and the Ancient Divine Dragon. The Divinity slowly floated to me before embedding itself into my forehead. It felt like a crystal that was both scorching hot yet impossibly cold was trying to enter my brain. I gritted my teeth and endured the exceedingly unpleasant sensation. This was the pain I must endure if I wished to ascend to become a god, enter the Purgatory, and find Xinran. Otherwise, my promise to her would be nothing but a hilarious declaration of a weakling. ¡­¡­ A while later, the pain ravaging my body gradually disappeared. My mind soon returned to full clarity as well. Ding! System Notice: Congratulations, you have ascended to become an Asura God. You have gained a new attribute, "Flight", and mastery over the six primordial laws: Wind, Fire, Ice, Earth, Thunder and Light. The damage of all law-based skills are increased, and your three existing skills¡ªDivine Deterrence, Unusual Physique and Murderous Intent¡ªhave been successfully activated! ¡­¡­ Flight? I felt a bit different, as if I had more control over my body. As I stared at the new attribute ub confusion, I thought of flight and soon found myself rising slowly until I was about half a meter above ground. I looked down at Lin Yixin. Normally, this was only possible with Heavenly River Transformation active. Obviously, that wasn¡¯t the case. Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open once more as she watched me. "Have you become a god, Little Cheat?" I nodded. "Yep. I¡¯m now an Asura God, I think." "Heehee. That¡¯s wonderful!" She clapped her hands once before jumping into the air. Then, she hugged my neck and kissed me affectionately on the cheek, saying, "Bring me with you to grind after you return to the human realms, okay? The flight speed of a divine expert must be amazing¡­" I said in half-exasperation and amusement, "Yes, but get down already. There are still a lot of people in the area, you know?"[1] "Mn¡­" ¡­¡­ I checked the time. There were only 47 minutes left before the system maintenance, which wasn¡¯t really enough time to seek out Rinser and complete my next promotion. Oh well, I could do it after the system maintenance was over. I wrapped an arm around Lin Yixin¡¯s thin waist and asked her, "Yiyi, what is the best potion you can make right now?" Lin Yixin blinked once before answering, "I¡¯m grinding for Rank 14 Health Potions right now. I think I can make them with another day or two, but I can¡¯t say for certain because the ingredients are super hard to get. Why are you asking?" I thought for a moment before answering, "Please create as many Rank 14 Health Potions for me. I won¡¯t have a place to resupply once I¡¯ve entered the Purgatory, so I can only rely on your potions. I know this is very unfair toward you, but please help me this time, Yiyi!" She punched me once in the chest before leaning against me, "Idiot. Of course I¡¯ll help you. You shouldn¡¯t even need to ask something this obvious¡­" "Sorry, sorry. In that case, can you help me buy another 50 Magic Repair Oils? Again, there won¡¯t be a place to repair my equipment after I enter the Purgatory. Actually, I think I¡¯ll need more than 50¡­" Lin Yixin gritted her teeth. "I give you an inch, and you take a mile? One Magic Repair Oil costs over 10,000 gold, you greedy bastard!" I side-eyed her. "Can¡¯t part ways with just 500k gold? Fine, I¡¯ll ask Eve to buy them for me¡­" "Noooo, I¡¯ll buy them¡­ it¡¯s still 500k gold though. I won¡¯t ask you to pay for them, but you''ve gotta treat me to lunch later¡­"[2] "Sure. I¡¯ll pay for 50 lunches over 50 Magic Repair Oils any day¡­" "Despicable!" ¡­¡­ We chatted a bit longer before logging out of the game. I could use the rest anyway. The next time I logged into the game, I might very well be entering the Purgatory and face off against the harshest trials of my gaming life! 1. T/N: oh, so you¡¯re fine showing off your abilities to complete strangers, but not your actual friends and family? ? 2. T/N:... There¡¯s a reason your best friend now looks down on you, Yiyi. ? Favorite CH 1454 It was night. I should be sound asleep under my warm blanket right now, but I wasn¡¯t. "Ugh¡­" I abruptly sat up. I was probably dreaming, but I felt like I just heard Xinran¡¯s cry of surprise just now. My mind wouldn¡¯t stop thinking back to the moment she had fallen into the darkness; the regretful and longing look she had shot me at the very end. It was a memory that had been forever engraved into my heart, and I could never absolve myself of this regret and self-blame if I didn¡¯t act to save her from the Purgatory. I miss her so much¡­ ¡­¡­ I picked up my phone. It was 3 am. After a long thought, I finally decided to bring up my contact list and call the vice president of Eternal Moon Corporation¡¯s southern branch in China, Qin Yun. Du du¡­ Five long dial tones later, the call finally connected¡ª "Hello? Lu Chen?" Qin Yun¡¯s voice sounded a bit slurred. I had obviously woken her from her dreams. I hesitated for about two seconds before steeling myself. "Yes. I mean, hello, Qin Yun. It¡¯s me, Lu Chen¡­" Qin Yun chuckled. "Do you not have a clock? Why are you calling me at this time?" "I know. It¡¯s about¡­" I hesitated again. Qin Yun hit the nail on the head. "Xinran, am I right?" I sighed. "Mn. I want to know how Xinran is doing, but I can¡¯t wait until the server maintenance is over, which is why I¡¯m calling you right now. How is Xinran doing in the Purgatory, and¡­ how can I find her after I get there?" Qin Yun hummed for a moment before answering, "There are some things I cannot reveal even to you. I may be the vice president of Eternal Moon¡¯s southern branch, but that doesn¡¯t mean that I have the power to breach the NDAs. Also, the stuff you¡¯re inquiring about is controlled by the system¡¯s core AI. No one except the main AI knows where she is. It¡¯s funny, but Shusheng kinda had the same conundrum as you¡­" "Shusheng?" "Yes. Actually, I¡¯m going to pass the phone to him. He¡¯ll explain things better than I can." It didn¡¯t take long before I heard Ding Shusheng greeting me, "Hello, Lu Chen!" "Hello." He said in a somewhat helpless tone, "Both Sister Yun and I are the vice presidents of Eternal Moon¡¯s southern branch, but we don¡¯t have the power to interfere with the game¡¯s storyline or progression mainly because all this stuff was designed at the very beginning. It¡¯s part of the core AI and there¡¯s no way to change it. To be honest with you, I have someone I care about deeply in the game just like you, Lu Chen. I very much want to meet her too, but I cannot due to my work responsibilities and the NDAs. Do you understand how it feels to be forced to watch someone from afar without being able to help them at all?" That caught me off-guard. "I don¡¯t know¡­" Shusheng chuckled. "It¡¯s fine. Anyway, I want to thank you for rescuing Binglan from Dragonspeech Iceberg. I don¡¯t know where she¡¯ll be garrisoning her forces, but I will find her no matter where she is in that virtual world. Even if it turns out that her memories have been wiped clean, I will find a way to awaken them all the same. So, give it your all, Lu Chen. Xinran will survive the Purgatory because she knows that her beloved will do everything in his power to find her. Moreover, she knows that he¡¯ll succeed because he is unrivaled in that world, am I right?" A smile finally broke across my face. "Yes, I will find her. Thank you, Shusheng!" "Mn. Anyway, I¡¯m going to hang up now. If we chat any longer I¡¯m afraid that we will wake up Ling Xue¡­" I nodded before asking, "One last question." "What is it?" "It¡¯s 3 am, and you¡¯re together with Ling Xue and Qin Yun. The three of you are sleeping together, aren¡¯t you?" For a time, there was only silence from the other side of the phone. Then, Shusheng said, "Would you believe me if I told you that we¡¯re actually in the attic, watching the stars and waiting for a meteor to pass by so we can wish for great wealth next year?" I answered solemnly, "I would rather believe that a meteor punched through your villa¡¯s roof and smashed both Ling Xue and Qin Yun onto your bed!" Shusheng couldn¡¯t say anything. I heard Qin Yun chuckling on the other side of the phone before saying, "Enough, you wretched man. It hasn¡¯t even been two minutes since you started talking with each other, and it feels like the entire world has been corrupted by your vulgarness!" The call ended in a cheery note. ¡­¡­ I put down my phone and fell quiet for a bit. Unfortunately, I still couldn¡¯t fall asleep, so I poured myself a cup of coffee, put on a shirt and walked to the balcony. I watched the starry sky while holding a cup of steaming coffee. Although the phone call had ended on a good note, my mind was still a mess of worries and fear. Xinran had already been grievously injured when she fell into the Purgatory with Lin Na, and Lin Na had become stronger than ever before after consuming the Great Saint¡¯s power. Not even Binglan could fight him alone, so how on earth was Xinran going to escape Lin Na¡¯s Starlight? The more I thought, the messier my thoughts became. I was so out of sorts that I accidentally spilled some boiling coffee on my hand. I let out a yelp of pain, put down the cup in a hurry and pressed the burned spots on the back of my hand to my lips. "Big bro¡­" Suddenly, I heard a girl calling out to me from behind. I turned around and saw that it was Lian Xin. She was wearing a light pink jacket and hugging herself gently. She shot me a smile as she walked over, "Why are you still awake at this time?" I gave her a nod before replying, "I couldn¡¯t really fall asleep, so¡­" "Is it because you¡¯re worried about Xinran?" Lian Xin asked after approaching me. I smiled. "I guess so¡­" Lian Xin smiled and hugged me gently. "It¡¯s really cold at this time of the night, you know? Are you afraid that you¡¯ll catch a flu like this?" Me: "..." Lian Xin buried her face in my chest before saying softly, "I understand your worry for Xinran, big bro. I really do. It¡¯s just like how Beiming and I feel toward you. We treat you better than anyone else because we know you¡¯ll always care for us, and that you¡¯ll never abandon us. We are not your women, but we are still one of the people you care about the most. If anyone dares to bully us, you won¡¯t hesitate to bash their faces in at all costs¡­" Lian Xin looked up and shot me a smile. Her eyes looked absolutely beautiful under the night sky. "Even when you¡¯re 90 years old, you¡¯ll still swing your walking stick at the bastard who bullies me or Beiming, won¡¯t you?" I smiled back and hugged her. "Little Xin has truly grown up, I see. You understand a lot more things you didn''t understand before." Lian Xin chuckled. "Really? Why do I feel like you¡¯re talking about something else?" She pressed her breasts harder against my chest, and I let out a snort of exasperation. "I mean both physically and mentally." Lian Xin stood on her tiptoes and pecked me once on the cheek before saying, "This one¡¯s for Beiming. We all understand that you¡¯re concerned for Xinran¡¯s wellbeing, but you should know that we are just as concerned for your wellbeing as well. Sleep soon and don¡¯t make us worry any more, big bro. Always remember that you have our full support in finding Xinran in the Purgatory!" "Mn!" I nodded strongly and hugged Lian Xin tightly. I rubbed my cheeks between her neck once before saying, "Well, I¡¯m going back to my room. You should go back to sleep as well, Little Xin." "I will. Be a good boy, okay big bro?" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ The night passed in a chaotic mess of dreams. It was already noon when I woke up the next day. Time was short, so I logged back into the game as soon as I had a quick lunch with He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin. It was time to see what wonders the Level 250 class promotion offered, and what else there was for a player to fight for after Level 250. Swhoosh! I reappeared in Sainthelm Ruins. Lin Na¡¯s spell had nuked the entire place to figurative hell, and there was literally nothing to do here. It was time I left and sought out my mentor, Rinser! I dragged out Dark Moon City¡¯s interface and teleported directly back to the city. The next moment, my senses were assaulted by the sight and sound of countless people. Sky City, Vanished God City and Wind City had fallen to the Purgatory Legion, so players had no choice but to grind and resupply themselves in player territories. Naturally, Dark Moon City¡¯s businesses were booming. Only a couple of hours had passed since the maintenance was over, but we had earned almost a week¡¯s worth of normal income. We were making big money even though we hadn¡¯t increased the prices of the teleportation, repairs, potions and more. I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and activated Fusion Armor immediately. Amazingly, even without any stratagems, cards or buffs in effect, my base HP still sat at a whopping 2.23 million. Assuming it was buffed by 150% by Purple Dragon, 240% by the Seven-string Yaoqin, and used an HP card, I could see it breaking the ten million mark. I would have higher HP than many minibosses¡­ ¡­¡­ "I¡¯m here, Lu Chen~!" Xu Yang waved the Omnislash and greeted me from afar on his Dragonscale Beast. I gave him a nod before asking, "Is everything normal inside the game, Brother Xu Yang?" Xu Yang snorted. "Other than the fact that the main cities have fallen, Purgatory mobs are everywhere, players are dying non-stop, and the NPC legions¡¯ asses are being kicked so bad they¡¯re hiding in mountains, I suppose that everything is ¡®normal¡¯..." I let out an awkward laugh before saying, "It¡¯s not that bad. We¡¯ve gone through worse than this. So what if we lost our main cities temporarily? We simply need to retake them. Also, there are nearly 150 player territories in Sky City alone, so it¡¯s not like we¡¯re lacking in supply spots." "Minus five¡­" Xu Yang said something I couldn¡¯t make head or tails of until he explained, "Last night before the system maintenance, a total of five Purgatory Mad Dragon main guild and subguild territories have been occupied and abandoned. As a result, we are 5 territories shorter than we were before!" That was shocking news. "What the fuck? 5 territories? Are you sure?" "Yep!" Xu Yang nodded heavily. "Obviously, it was Dark Mercenaries who did it. This is probably the first step of Little Piglet¡¯s revenge. While we were fighting a decisive battle at Sainthelm Ruins, he had invaded our borders, taken out all of Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s effective strength, and destroyed 5 territories in a row. Not only that, the guilds assisting Purgatory Mad Dragon including the 50k Gold Cavalry Warsky Alliance had lent to them were defeated as well. Little Piglet is absolutely at his peak right now!" I sucked in a deep breath. "Yeah, that makes sense. Little Piglet now has the Crimson Dragon Arm and the Heaven Suppressing Necklace. As he is, not even Warsky can defeat him one on one[1]." Xu Yang chuckled. "Mn. Even if we do not respond to this, Dark Mercenaries have offended many Chinese guilds including Warsky Alliance. One might say that Little Piglet is burning all his bridges so he may focus fully on his revenge. Well, that¡¯s how a man should be!" I smiled. "Anyway, I¡¯ll be taking my leave¡­" "What are you doing?" "I¡¯m going to find my mentor and complete my next class promotion!" "Awesome!" The moment Xu Yang gave me a thumbs-up, I leaped into the air and vanished into the clouds in just the blink of an eye. It was of course my new ability, Flight. It was so awesome that Xu Yang¡¯s eyes widened like saucers. "What the heck, that¡¯s so cool¡­" 1. E/N: One of the few times this can make sense. Little Piglet with Vajra and Heaven Suppressing Necklace is literally unkillable as of now. He can literally solo a player, 10 players, 100 players, 10000 players or even a million players. Unless he somehow ends up with no enemies around him and lets mages bombard him with no repercussions, he can do whatever. ? Favorite CH 1455 While I was flying, my body automatically enveloped itself in a sheen of protective divine energy and changed the color of my eyes from red to black. There was only a tinge of red around the edges. The appearance of an Asura God was cool and handsome to the maximum degree alright. If I had an in-game appearance like this from the beginning, I would never have to worry about not being able to find a wife! Flight plus the Ancient Divine Dragon equaled insane movement speed. I shot through the clouds like a rocket and flew straight toward Dragonbone Mountain Range where the residence¡ªor should I say his tomb, since he was dead?¡ªof my mentor, Rinser, resided. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I landed on a patch of snow at high speed and skidded for a fairly long time before I finally came to a stop. Then, I began walking toward Rinser. The old man was narrowing his eyes and murmuring dreamily, "Fresh mushroom and rabbits¡­ fresh mushroom and rabbits¡­ Ah, I suddenly feel so hungry!" I stopped in front of Rinser, but he still didn¡¯t notice me. To be fair, my boots only left behind shallow footprints on the ground. "I¡¯m back, mentor!" The greeting finally broke Rinser out of his reverie. He stared at me and exclaimed with astonishment, "Is it really you, boy? I heard that the War of Sainthelm Ruins ended with Dragon Speaker Binglan being grievously wounded, and Xinran being dragged into the infinite Purgatory by Lin Na. They said that it was a terrible war where countless people died and became food for the Corpse Eaters. I¡­ I¡¯m not still dreaming, aren¡¯t I? I can¡¯t believe you actually made it back here¡­" I clenched my fists and walked closer. "Yes, I managed to return alive, mentor. Now, I wish to complete my next class promotion!" "Promotion?" The old man suddenly broke into laughter. "Quit the jokes, boy. There is no class promotion after your last one. I¡¯m just a shitty old man who dabbles in sword and magic sometimes, what else can I teach a master swordsman like you? In fact, now that I think about it, why should I waste any more time on you now that Wind Singer Xinran is missing in action? Leave, boy. The times are changing, and the Purgatory Legions are soon to take over the continent¡­ What I really should be doing is to figure out a way to get a job under Lin Na. Maybe I should offer your head to Linda the Whisperer as a tribute¡­" The corners of my lips curled upward, but my eyes weren¡¯t smiling. Bloody aura and divine energy suddenly exploded from my person, and my black pupils suddenly shone bright red. I pulled out my golden Xuanyuan Sword and sneered at Rinser. "You want my head? Come and get it then! Don¡¯t think you can do as you please just because Xinran isn¡¯t in the human realms anymore. In fact, since you have nothing left to teach me, maybe I should take YOUR head to Princess Karinshan instead. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll make me a viscount or even a baron for my efforts!" "Oh¡­" Rinser¡¯s complexion turned a bright green when he saw my divine transformation. He hurriedly said, "I was just joking, my brave, precious student! There is another realm above master swordsman, but you must first meet a very stringent requirement. I wonder if you can satisfy it?" "Oh? And what realm is that, mentor?" I asked with a smile. Rinser hummed for a moment before looking at the sky. He began, "For a swordsman, the realms of human cultivation are Swordsman, Greater Swordsman, Swordsman of Stars, Sword Saint, and Sword Emperor. To exceed that is to exceed the human limits. That realm is known as Divine Throne Guardian. Back in the days, every chief god had a divine throne of their own, and every divine throne had their own guardians. The system is still functioning even though Heaven Domain is but a pile of rubbles and remains these days. If you are fortunate enough to break through the limits of a mortal and become a Basic God, then you will qualify to become a Divine Throne Guardian. Rinser shot me a glance before continuing, "My excellent and handsome student, you have cultivated into a Basic God in your own way. Therefore, you are already qualified to become a Divine Throne Guardian¡­" I nodded. "In that case, promote me now!" "Very well. Pay me 500,000 gold!" "Take it!" I tossed out the bag of gold without hesitation. I simply couldn¡¯t be bothered to haggle with Rinser at this point, not to mention that I did need the stat and power from this class promotion to be able to survive in the Purgatory. Moreover, I wasn¡¯t the only player who hit Level 250 or above. I had no intention of giving up the reward for becoming the first player to complete my ninth class promotion, also called ¡®class ascension¡¯ for a god like me. After Rinser put the gold away, he immediately placed a hand on my chest and said in a trembling voice, "Gods of the nine heavens, please open your eyes and witness the birth of an expert in this world. I, Rinser, guarantee with my life that the man before me is qualified to become a Divine Throne Guardian. He is a master swordsman, and he will serve the empire loyally for eternity!" Swhoosh! A column of bloody light enveloped me, and sacred music began playing in the air. After a seemingly endless amount of energy seeped into my body, a system announcement resounded across the sky¡ª Ding~! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) has successfully completed the ascension quest and become the first Dark Divine Throne Guardian of the game. He has gained the ascension attribute "Divine Aid (Sword)". When using a sword, all of the user¡¯s skill power, stats and resistances are greatly increased. Their level cap has also been increased from 255 to 275. As the first player to complete the class ascension quest in all the servers, they are rewarded the skill, "Mad God Lunge"! ¡­¡­ I felt as pleased as Punch. Now I was truly ready. As long as I wielded a sword-type weapon, my Attack would be massively increased. Since I was using the Xuanyan Sword, the strongest weapon of the Twelve Divine Armaments, it meant that I would probably be stuck with a sword-type weapon until the end of the game, not that I minded one bit. Finally, I was rewarded with a skill book called "Mad God Lunge" for becoming the first player to complete my ninth class promotion. It was sitting in my bag right now. Let''s check it out! I opened my bag and took out the skill book. It was blood-red in color and overflowing with murderous intent. Physical contact with it instantly filled me with a surge of great energy. Not bad! Powerful is exactly what I am looking for right now¡ª Mad God Lunge (Ancient Divine Rank Skill): Lunge toward your target, knock them back 10 yards with a 100% success rate, and stun them for 3 seconds. Ineffective against Invincible targets. Level Requirement: 250. Reputation Cost: 500,000 ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The skill book scattered into a shower of sparks before entering my body. Then, a new skill appeared in my skill window. Mad God Lunge was an excellent skill because it had a 100% success rate, meaning that it was effective even against bosses unless they were invincible. I was guaranteed to encounter at least one ridiculously powerful boss in the Purgatory, and this skill would make my life so much easier... While doing so, I selected the new tab that was just added to my interface. It displayed the seven great Divine Thrones and the number of players under these categories. Obviously, I was the only person on the interface right now¡ª Light Divine Throne Guardian: None. Effect: Melee skill proficiency, increased resistances of all types, increased Attack, and random attribute granted. Dark Divine Throne Guardian: 1 player. Effect: Melee skill proficiency, increased resistances of all types, increased Attack, and random attribute granted. Order Divine Throne Guardian: None. Effect: Ranged skill proficiency, increased resistances of all types, increased Attack, and random attribute granted. Chaos Divine Throne Guardian: None. Effect: Melee skill proficiency, increased resistances of all types, increased Attack, and random attribute granted. War Divine Throne Guardian: None. Effect: Melee skill proficiency, increased resistances of all types, increased Attack, and random attribute granted. Ice and Fire Divine Throne Guardian: None. Effect: Ranged skill proficiency, increased resistances of all types, increased Attack, and random attribute granted. Death Divine Throne Guardian: None. Effect: Melee skill proficiency, increased resistances of all types, increased Attack, and random attribute granted. ¡­¡­ The Seven Divine Thrones were tied to the player''s class ascension. According to the system rules, players could seek out their trainers and activate the opportunity to become a Divine Throne Guardian after reaching Level 250. After that, they would have a miniscule chance to achieve ascension every time they leveled up. However, their Level was capped at 255, and it was unknown if there were other factors in play that might or might not improve one''s ascension chances. At any rate, I was probably the only player to be made a Divine Throne Guardian after ascending to become an Asura God. I checked my character introduction next. My title had been changed to "Dark Divine Throne Guardian", and a devilish symbol had been attached to my ID. It would tell everyone that I wasn¡¯t someone to be trifled with no matter where I went[1]! ¡­¡­ I spent a little while packing my things before teleporting away. I had squeezed all that was worth from Rinser, and I even found out that the old bag of bones was plotting treachery. I¡¯m going to boil him like a frog after I bring Xinran back from the Purgatory! After I returned to Dark Moon City, I repaired my equipment and groaned at the amount of gold I had to pay. My Xuanyuan Sword seemed to have become even more expensive to repair after it went through an evolution. In fact, despite the ever-hiking price of Magic Repair Oil, with the cost of repairing my Divine Armament, it was still the more frugal option of the two¡­ Beep! It was at this moment Chaos Moon sent me a message: "Are you departing for the Purgatory yet? If not, then come to Dragonbone Mountain Range (17277, 62372) and help Gui Guzi and I to kill a boss!" "Sure. I¡¯m coming right away!" Lin Yixin was still preparing the Rank 14 Health Potions and the Magic Repair Oils I requested from her, so it still wasn¡¯t the right time to enter the Purgatory. ¡­¡­ I exited my territory and took to the sky. Then, I locked onto the coordinates and flew straight toward it. Less than two minutes later, I descended in a forest and met up with Chaos Moon¡¯s party. I counted about a dozen or so people, and Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Gui Guzi, Moon Dew and Moonlight Stone were all present. "Wow, this is quite the formidable party. Who was the amazing boss that thwarted you all?" I asked. Gui Guzi raised his Ghostblade Halberd and explained, "Sky City is temporarily under the control of Linda the Whisperer, and she sent a Sovereign Rank boss to guard Dragonbone Mountain Range. Coincidentally, it spawned right at the map we were grinding and even party-wiped us. It was because my Defense wasn¡¯t good enough to tank it[2]. That is why I invited not just you, but Boss Eve, Sister Mingyue and Lian Xin as well. They should be arriving very soon¡­" "Got it!" Half an hour later, after everyone who was contacted had arrived, our party of one hundred marched toward the mob¡¯s lair together. It was a bloody and eerily silent forest. ¡­¡­ We saw the axe-wielding boss standing in the middle of a blood pool. It had a pair of intimidating horns on its forehead. It glared at us with its sinister eyes before breaking into a malicious grin. "Have you come to die again, shameful humans?" Xu Yang raised his Omnislash and taunted, "You¡¯re the one who¡¯s going to die, idiot boss! Come face our newly minted ninth-promotion tank extraordinaire already!" Chaos Moon: "..." 1. E/N: Yo, Mr. Amazing Gamer, can you check if that shit sticks after using the Master of Disguise Ring? ? 2. E/N: ? Favorite CH 1456 "Eraser, Level 310 Sovereign Rank boss, 84,000 Attack, 125,000 Defense¡­" I muttered to myself while reading the boss''s stat screen. ¡°Yes, I see why you guys are having trouble with this boss. Its Defense is too high for your attacks to be effective, and its Attack isn¡¯t bad either. Little Gui, what is your average damage received from the boss?" Gui Guzi replied from atop his Dark Crystal Dragon, "The boss hits me for around 500k damage per hit, dammit. It has a bullshit axe skill that ignores a certain amount of Defense and dishes out a ton of hits. That one skill can delete more than half of my HP even with the priests healing me at all times. There was also one time it nearly one-shot Chaos Moon." Chaos Moon stuck her tongue out. "That was an accident, an accident! Anyway, what¡¯s the battle plan?" ¡­¡­ I hummed to myself for a moment before shooting everyone a smile. "Can you fully buff me, Beauty Guanyue? I want to see if I can solo this boss." "Ah?" Beiming Xue¡¯s mouth fell open. "Are you sure you want to solo a Sovereign Rank boss, big bro? What if you die?" However, He Yi said, "It¡¯s fine, Beiming. Don¡¯t forget that Lu Chen¡¯s Xuanyuan Sword has evolved, and his Ancient Divine Dragon is now at the Divine Awakening Stage. He also has 3 Ghost Armaments.[1] Theoretically speaking, he should be able to go toe-to-toe with a Sovereign Rank boss¡­" Li Chengfeng also nodded in agreement. "Yes, this is a good chance for Lu Chen to test his mettle. Lin Na dragged Xinran into the Purgatory, and Lu Chen is going to go after her alone. He¡¯ll surely encounter plenty of Sovereign Rank bosses during his journey. If he cannot even solo this boss, then he may as well give up now." "Chengfeng is right¡­" I nodded. "Please leave this boss to me, everyone. In exchange, you can have all of the loot as compensation." "Okay!" Very soon, Pure Love began playing the Seven-string Yaoqin and applying her buffs on me. I also used an Undying Berserker Card and activated my Famous General Skill, Martial God. My HP was now 3.4 times higher than it was originally, or 9.81 million HP in total. If Lu Buyi was here, then Purple Dragon could¡¯ve boosted it even higher to 13 million HP. I could declare with confidence that there was absolutely no one who could beat my stats right now. The Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s 1 million HP boost was just that good! ¡­¡­ I gave my sword a tentative wave, planted my feet on a patch of grass, and Charged straight toward the boss. However, instead of dashing across the ground like normal, my body shot into the air and stayed there thanks to my character¡¯s Flight attribute. It was like a passive ability that was inherent to my character, like a stat. A trail of ripples followed me as I sailed over the blood pool and, to my own surprise, stunned the boss. Even better, its Defense dropped by a whopping 35.7% when I stabbed it in the throat and used Purple Frost Concentration. It was most likely because I was a ninth-promotion player now. All of my hidden stats and effects such as stun rates, skill effectiveness rates and more had been massively increased! "Roar roar¡­" Eraser¡¯s face twisted into an ugly visage as it roared in pain. It then waved its axe and sneered disdainfully at me, "You dare challenge me, lowly brat? Prepare to die! I shall deliver you to hell myself!" I smiled back. "Oh really? Please do that! I just so happen to be looking for a way to get there!" Eraser roared again as a fiery cone much like Barrier Break suddenly erupted from its axe blade. It was the five-hit armor-piercing skill Gui Guzi had warned me about earlier! Despite my attempts to parry the attack, the skill went through like my sword didn¡¯t exist and struck me squarely on the Guardian Dragon Armor five times in succession. It was basically a superior version of the players¡¯ Barrier Break¡ª 221,736! 212,335! 231,994! MISS! 213,889! Eraser¡¯s attack was fierce, but it failed to delete even 10% of my HP. Seemingly infuriated by its own pathetic damage, it summoned a sinister tiger head appeared on its blade and roared, "Die!" It was none other than Warsky¡¯s signature skill, Cyan Tiger Shatter! Bang! I was driven back a few steps while a scorching pain ravaged my shoulder. The attack had dealt 1,193,735 damage to me, meaning that I would¡¯ve received almost 2.4 million damage if I didn¡¯t have the Cloak of Divine Fervor. Tsk tsk, as expected of a Sovereign Rank boss! It was my turn to attack. I swung the Xuanyuan Sword and executed Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash four-hit combo. Metallic sparks erupted from the boss''s metal armor, and it lost a ton of HP rapidly. The boss was simply incapable of withstanding my superior Attack¡ª 897,554! 472,762! 572,626! 712,989! That wasn¡¯t all. Besides dishing out an incredible amount of damage, the Xuanyuan Sword further displayed its superiority by converting 50% of my damage dealt as HP. Let¡¯s just say that I would be cussing up a storm if I had to fight myself¡ª +448,777! +236,381! +286,313! +356,494! ¡­¡­ Behind me, my guildies were so stunned by my power that they nearly forgot to breathe¡ª Gui Guzi murmured, "Incredible¡­ Boss Broken Halberd is going toe to toe with a Sovereign Rank boss¡­" Chaos Moon shook her head. "Toe to toe? No, he is clearly superior to the boss¡­" Li Chengfeng chuckled. "Lu Chen¡¯s current stats are absolutely OP. Not only does he have high HP and Defense, the 50% lifesteal of his Xuanyuan Sword is absolutely broken. No wonder the Xuanyuan Sword is the greatest weapon of the Twelve Divine Armaments!" Murong Mingyue puffed up her chest and said proudly, "But of course. He is Lu Chen after all¡­" He Yi was smiling with pride as well. After all, I was both Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ and hers. ¡­¡­ When the boss''s HP dropped to 50% or so, everyone immediately backed away from it. As expected, Eraser began using its long cooldown ultimate, Freezing Point Erasure and dealt indiscriminate damage to everything within a hundred yards of it. I stayed where I was and continued hitting the boss, however. The ultimate dealt around 500k damage per hit, and I could easily recoup that much HP with just one critical hit. I easily survived the ultimate without ever dropping below 75% HP! Of course, the main reason I was able to face-tank the boss was because Pure Love had buffed my stats by 240%. Otherwise, I would still have to rely on my combat techniques and skills to defeat it. Less than twenty minutes later, the boss''s HP finally hit rock bottom! Before landing the last hit, I made sure to scan my surroundings with Dark Pupils just in case there were assassins waiting to killsteal the boss. On my 11th strike, the septuple damage effect of the Xuanyuan Sword triggered and easily one-shot the boss''s final sliver of HP. I was very happy with this outcome, of course. After the Chill of the Nine Provinces had evolved into the Xuanyuan Sword, the septuple damage effect trigger rate had jumped from 5% to 15%. It made my DPS so much higher than before. Pop pop pop¡­ As the boss collapsed face first into the blood pool, I grabbed all the magic stones, gemstones, equipment, skill book and more before flying back to my friends. I landed lightly in front of He Yi before throwing all the loot into He Yi¡¯s hands. "Here. I said I wouldn¡¯t be taking the loot after all. That being said, if there is a Ghost Armament here that I can use, then please consider trading it to me. Ghost Armaments are the only thing I¡¯m lacking right now¡­" He Yi let out a chuckle and scanned the loot once. "Unfortunately, there are no Ghost Armaments¡­" "That¡¯s fine. I should¡¯ve known that Ghost Armaments wouldn¡¯t drop that easily¡­" ¡­¡­ The gang began distributing the loot. Although the boss hadn¡¯t dropped a Ghost Armament, my 139 points of Luck still got us 3 pieces of Ancient Immortal-grade equipment and 2 Lower Divine Armaments. The Ancient Immortal-grade items were one sword-type weapon called the Silver Moon Blade, one Ancient Immortal-grade helmet, and one Ancient Immortal-grade bracelet. The sword went to Chaos Moon, the helmet went to Tiger Leopard Knight, and the bracelet went to He Yi herself. It added a lot of Attack and max HP. As for the Lower Divine Armaments, both the Level 235 legguards and the necklace that added 18% lifesteal went to Li Chengfeng. Li Chengfeng¡¯s stats jumped a lot after he acquired the Lower Divine Armaments. He asked me with a wide smile on his face, "My base HP is 1.4 million now. How much base HP do you have, Lu Chen?" I answered, "2.23!" "God damn!" For a few seconds, Li Chengfeng looked at Pure Love like he wanted to say something. Then, he looked at me and said, "Lu Chen, I still don¡¯t think you should go to the Purgatory alone. After all, we have no idea what is in the Purgatory or even what death penalties there are there. Just say the word, and we will gladly follow you to the ends of the world!" I nodded. "I understand, and I¡¯m truly thankful for your offer, but the reason I¡¯m going to the Purgatory is purely selfish. I cannot possibly drag you all along with me. Moreover, I already told you about the winds of Purgatory. Any player who isn¡¯t a god is sure to suffer a huge amount of damage. That is why I must go alone." "At least bring Guanyue with you[2]," Gui Guzi suggested. "We¡¯ll all feel much better about your chances if you have her buffs." Pure Love blinked cutely before shooting me a smile. "Please allow me to accompany you to the Purgatory, handsome. It¡¯s a desolate and uninhabited place. If you want to do a little something there to me, no one will ever know or stop you¡­" I just barely suppressed a grimace. "No thank you. The last thing I want is for the Seven-string Yaoqin to drop in the Purgatory. If we both die, then we won¡¯t even be able to retrieve it. There are only so many of the Twelve Divine Armaments in the game, and we absolutely cannot lose one over something so trivial. Moreover, the ultimate dream is to gather all Twelve Divine Armaments and¡­" He Yi rolled her eyes. "... summon the Shenlong to make a wish?" I closed my eyes and said, "Yes. If that¡¯s a thing, I would wish that Xinran could break out safely from the Purgatory¡­" Beiming Xue walked up to me and held my hand. "Don¡¯t worry, big bro. Xinran is extremely powerful. You saw how she managed to punch a hole in his chest and drag him back to the Purgatory even after he had absorbed the Great Saint¡¯s power. He definitely won¡¯t have the power to hurt Xinran afterward¡­" I sucked in a deep breath before replying, "Yes, I hope so¡­ Eve, can you check what that skill book is so we can officially pack it and get back to our respective businesses?" He Yi shot it a glance and answered, "It¡¯s called Jump Slash, a Level 220 fighter-type offensive skill book. It allows the user to jump a far distance and deal 150% damage to all targets. Do you want it?" I shook my head. "Nah. A fighter can only execute 2 melee skills at most per 6 seconds, and I already have Burning Blade Slash and Universe Break. Anything else would just be a waste. We may as well use it to strengthen someone else¡­" "Mn!" In the end, High Fighting Spirits was the proud winner of one Jump Slash. That was good because High Fighting Spirits only ever used two skills, and they were Whirlwind Slash and Xiezhi Howl. He would finally have some variety in his repertoire! 1. E/N: Yeah, mention everything by name, except the only thing that gives him that confidence, the damn cloak with 50% damage reduction. Someone might say ¡°Oh, Gui Guzi has that passively¡±. Yes, and no. He has 50% damage reduction IF he survives the skill. ? 2. E/N: For eff¡¯s sake. Which part of ¡°winds of Purgatory, isn¡¯t a god, huge damage¡± did you not understand? ? Favorite CH 1457 Beep! At around 4 pm or so, I received a message from Lin Yixin. "I have everything, Little Cheat. Come meet me at my Silver Fir City¡¯s territory hall!" "Right away!" After I sent the reply, I turned around in excitement and said to He Yi, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin, "Yiyi has finished preparing all the items I asked her to prepare. I¡¯m heading over to Silver Fir City to retrieve them now. I¡¯m most likely going to head to the Purgatory after that, so, be sure to grind hard while I¡¯m gone. I¡¯ll be back very soon, I hope!" He Yi nodded before saying firmly, "Take Xinran home and become stronger, okay?" I showed her a fist. "I will. See you all later!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I teleported back to Dark Moon City first before teleporting to Silver Fir City. Swhoosh! Silver Fir City was just as crowded as our Dark Moon City. As a Rank 9 city, it possessed all the infrastructure a player might and was second only to our Dark Moon City. Beauty Lin must have made a ton of money during this time. I strode right through the territory hall¡¯s entrance. Lin Yixin had already granted me access, so there were no problems here. Inside the territory hall, Lin Yixin was sitting at her throne and swaying her legs a little while she waited for me. The Wind Severing Sword was propped against the armrest. The moment she saw me coming in, she immediately jumped to her feet and walked up to me with a smile, "Wow, you came faster than I expected¡­" I nodded. "I¡¯m in a hurry after all. Have you prepared all the items?" "Of course. This is me you¡¯re talking about¡­" Lin Yixin stuck her hand into her bag and pulled out 50 golden Magic Repair Oils first. "Here. Each one of these can restore 100% durability. The time window you gave me was short, so I had no choice but to purchase almost all of them at a high price. Can you believe that the most expensive bottle I bought cost 27k gold? Those dickless bastards¡­" I chuckled. "Mind your manners, Yiyi¡­" "Mn¡­" My cute little girlfriend blushed before amending her words, "Fine, those shady crooks. Anyway, this purchase costs nearly 1 million in total and definitely more than what I expected at the beginning. How are you going to repay me?" I replied without hesitation, "There is but one way, isn¡¯t it? Marry me, Yiyi." "Oh yeah? How much dowry are we talking about?" She tilted her head to one side with an amused expression. A dead pig doesn''t fear scalding water. I spread my arms and argued, "I may not be the most handsome man in the world, but I am still fairly attractive, you know? You should be thanking your lucky stars you''ve got someone like me, much less ask me to pay you a dowry¡­" Lin Yixin slapped my arm repeatedly. "Shameless, shameless! You are the most shameless and vulgar man I¡¯ve ever met in my life!" I replied while recalling my brief conversation with Shusheng yesterday, "They do exist, though. I know at least one such person¡­" Deciding that she was better off ignoring me, Lin Yixin went back to her bag and pulled out a bunch of potions this time. "This is the Rank 14 potion you asked for. It¡¯s freshly made, and I dare say that it¡¯s the very first batch of Rank 14 Health Potions in all the servers. One of its ingredients is the Blood of Snow Frog, and I had to sneak around a Sovereign Rank dragon to gather it at a live volcano deep within Dragonbone Mountain Range this morning. Thank goodness the dragon hadn¡¯t woken up, or I would be dead already¡­" I shot it a glance and was astounded by what I saw. Obviously, a Rank 14 Health Potion would be superior to a Rank 13 one, but its exact stats were still quite the shocker¡ª Snow Frog Agent: Rank 14 Health Potion. Instantly recovers 200k HP, and regenerates 6% HP per second for 25 seconds. ¡­¡­ The 200k HP immediate HP recovery alone could one-shot all Rank 1 to 12 potions [1], but this 6% HP regeneration per second was even better. It meant that I could recover a total of 150% HP in 25 seconds. It was the perfect potion for a high-HP-and-Defense player like me! I watched my girlfriend closely. Her armor was scratched and dented all over the place, and there were bloodstains on both her legs. She must¡¯ve gone through quite the intense battle to gather the ingredients necessary to craft these potions. In fact, I could tell that she just came back from a leveling ground not long ago because the potions felt hot to touch. She probably hadn¡¯t even eaten lunch today because she wanted to make absolutely sure that I would come back from my trip to the Purgatory alive. Deeply touched by her efforts, I gave Lin Yixin a hug and a long kiss on her cheek before saying, "Yiyi, you are my gift from the heavens¡­" Lin Yixin watched me with her beautiful, soulful eyes for a moment before replying, "And you must be my punishment from the heavens. It is the only reason I would fall for someone this hard and shackle myself with all these emotions¡­" I burst into laughter at her resentful tone. "Come on!" Lin Yixin cracked a smile too before pecking me once on the cheek. "Come back alive from the Purgatory. You are not allowed to drop the Xuanyuan Sword or the Cloak of Divine Fervor. You are not allowed to drop the Flying Dragon Wristguards, the Song of Freedom, the Guardian Dragon Armor and the Pity of the Purgatory Gods¡­ Wait a minute. Now that I think about it, nearly everything you¡¯re wearing is something you absolutely cannot afford to drop¡­ so unfair¡­" I simply held her tighter and kept quiet. "Little Cheat, I made 200 stacks or 20k Rank 14 Health Potions for you in total. It should be enough, right? If not, would you like to wait a little longer? Fair warning though, I would have to seek out a new crater first before I can gather more Blood of Snow Frogs. I gathered every ingredient there was at that one volcano, and it will take 15 days for them to respawn¡­" "It¡¯s fine, 200 stacks are enough. The Xuanyuan Sword has 50% lifesteal, so I won¡¯t need to use them unless I¡¯m battling against a boss. Plus, I still have plenty of Rank 13 Health Potions in my bag!" "That¡¯s good. When are you going to the Purgatory, by the way?" I thought for a moment before answering, "The sooner, the better. In fact, I would go there right now if I didn¡¯t need to find an entrance to the Purgatory first. I doubt it¡¯ll be easy¡­" "Do you have a plan?" "I¡¯m planning to seek out Sophie. She may be able to advise me on this matter." "Sounds like a good plan. Can I come with you? I would like to see you off¡­" she said with a look that caused my heart to ache. It was exactly the same as the eyes I saw when Xinran had fallen into the Purgatory. I put a finger beneath Lin Yixin¡¯s smooth chin and replied, "It¡¯s fine. Just stay at Silver Fir City, be a good girl, and wait for me to come home, okay? Who knows, maybe I¡¯ll come back with a full set of Ancient Divine Armaments by then¡­" Lin Yixin snorted. "What are you doing? Do you think I¡¯m a junior high school girl whom you can trick with your sweet words? All I want is for you to come back safely¡­" "And I will. So be patient and wait for me to come home, okay?" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin walked me to the entrance of Snowy Cathaya¡¯s territory hall before I looked toward the eastern sky. Then, I looked back at her and shot her one last smile. "Alright, I¡¯m leaving, Yiyi!" "Mn. Be careful!" After that, with Lin Yixin¡¯s gaze affixed to my back, I floated off the ground for a couple of seconds before shooting into the clouds like a lightning bolt. The commotion actually caused quite a number of players to look at the sky and comment¡ª "Holy shit, who is that guy? He just flew without using Heavenly River Transformation! Who is he?" "That¡¯s obviously a ninth-promotion player and a Divine Throne Guardian. Man, I wish I could fly too!" "That¡¯s gotta be Lu Chen. You see that super beauty standing at the entrance of the territory hall? She is none other than the Fruit Knife Goddess herself! She must have been seeing Lu Chen off. Where is Lu Chen going anyway, and what is he planning to do?" "Who knows? Maybe he¡¯s off to grind another ridiculously difficult map or something." "Can you cut the gossip and party us already? The S2 instance is waiting for us, and I¡¯ve got no time to waste! My girlfriend told me she would jerk me off if I could grind the full S2 equipment set within the week!" "Have some fucking shame[2]!!!" ¡­¡­ My flight speed was absolutely incredible, but it wasn¡¯t just because of my new ability. I would be a lot slower if it wasn¡¯t for my Ancient Divine Dragon. Less than twenty minutes later, I arrived at the airspace of Purple Grape City. Every human main city on Heavenblessed succumbed to the Purgatory Legion, but not Sophie¡¯s Purple Grape City. Her title as the second strongest Purgatory Sovereign wasn¡¯t just for show after all. However, it was currently under attack by a ton of Heart Rippers, Corpse Eaters and Frankensteins. It was a battle between NPCs, and not even Sophie was completely secure. Swhoosh! I made a nose dive toward the enemy mobs and executed a devastating Burning Blade Slash. One of the hits triggered the septuple damage effect and one-shot the Corpse Eaters instantly. That was all I did, however. After all, I was here to speak with Sophie, not to defend her city. Thud! I landed on a rampart, and there Sophie was hugging her sword and watching me with a smile. "One doesn''t visit a temple without a cause, so what¡¯s your business?" I returned my sword into its sheath while saying, "Please open an entrance to the Purgatory for me, Sophie. I¡¯m going to find her now!" Sophie shivered and fell silent for a moment. A long time later, she finally said, "I want to find Xinran too, but¡­ you know just how powerful Lin Na is. I fear that we are only going to add to the body count." "Ai¡­" I let out a sigh before replying, "Even so, I must go to the Purgatory to save her. Otherwise, I¡¯m worried that Xinran will¡­ will¡­" "I know¡­" "Are you aware that this plane and the Purgatory plane are separated by a powerful seal? It takes a divine expert¡¯s full-powered attack to open a crack to the other plane. However, the battle at Sainthelm City has left me seriously wounded and weakened, and I¡¯m still not recovered yet. As a result, I don¡¯t have the strength to create the entrance you ask for. I¡­ I¡¯m sorry, I¡­" I raised a palm to stop her. "You don¡¯t need to blame yourself, Sophie. I know you would¡¯ve gone to the Purgatory to save Xinran if it was at all possible. Just answer me this question: Who else besides you can open an entrance to the Purgatory?" Sophie hummed for a moment before replying, "Right now, there are three divine experts in the human realms, namely me, Karinshan and Binglan. Karinshan is still recovering from her injuries just like me, so she won¡¯t be able to help you either. This means that Binglan is your only remaining hope. She has moved back to Dragon Domain, and she is currently mustering a new force to protect the human realms. Although she was injured just as badly as us, her power is far greater than Karinshan¡¯s or mine. Therefore, Binglan should have enough power to open an entrance for you." I was overjoyed to hear this. "That¡¯s wonderful! I¡¯ll fly to Dragon Domain and find her now!" "Mn!" Sophie walked up to me and grabbed my arm. Then, she broke into a smile and said, "I see, you¡¯ve ascended to become a Divine Throne Guardian. Now I understand where your confidence is coming from. In that case¡­ give it your all and bring back my sister, Xinran¡¯s older brother. Lin Na¡¯s strength is growing day by day, and the Purgatory Legion¡¯s strength with him. We need both you and Xinran alive to fight against all that darkness!" "I know. See you later!" "Take care!" ¡­¡­ I leaped into the air and vanished like a meteor once more. My new objective was the new Dragon Domain, Binglan! 1. T/N: judging from this, I must assume that the Rank 10 potions or above offers some amount of HP regeneration as well. Otherwise, it¡¯s literally a drop in the goddamn bucket ? 2. E/N: And standards. That you can do yourself. ? CH 1458 The divine astral energy surrounding my body dispersed the wind before it could reach me. As I approached Dragon Domain, the surroundings gradually turned into ice and snow. I had to focus my divine energy on my pupils in order to just barely see the distant scenery clearly. Thud! I landed atop a mountain range and looked down. The wasteland that was once Dragon Domain was gradually being replaced by some pine trees. These pine trees never died completely despite the harsh environment it grew in, and the many wars that ravaged its lands for countless years. In a sense, it was a reflection of Dragon Domain itself. For 10,000 years, it was frozen in ice and put through multiple calamitous events. However, it was always able to preserve a spark of hope, survive, and even grow strong enough to fight against the powerful legions of the dead. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle rustle¡­ A party of one hundred armored riders were treading across a valley and weathering its harsh snowstorm. When they reached the center of the valley, they dropped to one knee and said in unison, "Lady Dragon Speaker, we are ready to serve Dragon Domain loyally for eternity and renew the oath between humanity and the dragon race. We are willing to protect everything we love with our life and sacrifice everything to that end!" A beautiful woman appeared from the snow. She was carrying the Dragonslaying Sword and followed by a silver dragon. She was of course the Dragon Speaker Binglan. She smiled at the group of riders and said, "You are some of the strongest elites the empire has personally selected to meet me. You are also humanity¡¯s final hope. Starting now, you are the warriors and dragon knights of Dragon Domain! I will teach you the strongest war techniques and help you form a contract with the dragons! First, allow me to introduce your new companions!" Binglan raised her left hand and gathered her divine energy. She chanted with a confident smile on her face, "You have slumbered for too long, oh dignified dragons! It is time to awaken from this harsh winter. I, Dragon Speaker Binglan beseech¡ªResurrection!" Buzz! A golden light rippled across the valley in an instant and affected even me. It felt like I was basking in a warm pool. Binglan¡¯s power was as impressive as ever! ¡­¡­ "Sssss¡­" A small, scratching noise came from the frozen walls, and some of the ice abruptly shattered and fell toward the ground. Then, I saw a black dragonling poking its head out of a cave. Judging from the sticky egg fluid clinging to its head, the black dragon had clearly been hatched just a moment ago. It flapped its tiny wings and attempted to fly, but of course it couldn¡¯t withstand the powerful snowstorm that was blowing in the valley. In the end, it could only run all the way down the hill and toward Binglan. The second, third, fourth, fifth and more giant dragons hatched in succession. More and more hidden dragon eggs hatched in response to Binglan¡¯s spell and ran up to her. Soon, hundreds of dragonlings were surrounding her and making screeching noises not unlike a chick that was asking to be fed. Binglan smiled beautifully at the dragonlings before whispering to herself, "Thank goodness Karinshan provided me with enough funds, or I don¡¯t know how I¡¯d even manage to feed you all." Binglan opened a portable space and caused a ton of fresh goat and bull meat to fall from the sky. Dragons were carnivores at birth, so they didn¡¯t hesitate to jump atop the meat chunks that were even bigger than they were and fed ravenously. Binglan then glanced at the riders and urged, "Now is the time to form a contract with your dragons! Just drip your blood atop the head of a dragonling, and the contract will be formed. Remember, you are only allowed to form a companion contract, not a pet contract. As dragon knights, we view the dragons as our equals, not slaves!" "Yes, Lady!" the dragon knights responded as they happily sought out the right dragonling for themselves. It wasn¡¯t long before one third of the dragonlings had formed a contract with them. ¡­¡­ Binglan planted the Dragonslaying Sword in front of her feet before continuing, "The Dragon Domain Secret Realm has been destroyed, and the dragonlings won¡¯t be able to endure this harsh winter for long. Therefore, we will need to gather a sufficient amount of wood and stone to rebuild the Dragon Domain. In the meantime, I will request the Silver Moon Alliance to send us a sufficient amount of fire magic stones so we may lay down a barrier and maintain a warm temperature for the dragonling and ourselves. I will also impart some of my divine energy to these dragonlings so that they may grow to adulthood in 3 to 5 years at most. After that, you will share your life force with your dragons so that they may wield their power as soon as possible." "Yes, Lady. We obey your command!" "Very well. We shall continue rebuilding our home at this pace¡­" ¡­¡­ It looked like Binglan was done with her business, so I jumped down from the mountaintop and flew straight toward Binglan! Swhoosh! The wind and snow parted visibly as I dove downward. A couple of powerful dragon knights immediately drew their swords and rebuked me, "Who are you? How dare you invade the Dragon Domain!" I raised my hand and unleashed a dark blast. It immediately swept the aggressive dragon knights off their feet and sent them stumbling across the snow. The show of power immediately improved the NPCs¡¯ impression of me. "What an incredible blast! This boy is no weakling!" After I landed, I explained in a calm tone, "Please don¡¯t misunderstand. I am not a member of the Purgatory Legion!" One of them actually supported me by saying, "Yeah, he wears the symbol of Sky City of the Silver Moon Alliance on his shoulder. He is Karinshan¡¯s friend and our ally!" Binglan walked up to me smilingly. "It¡¯s you. You are Wind Singer Xinran¡¯s¡­ older brother, right?" I nodded. "That I am. I have something I need your help with, Binglan." "Oh? What is it?" Binglan replied without hesitation, "Xinran fell into the Purgatory for all of our sakes. For that favor alone, I will do my best to fulfill your request no matter what it may be!" "Mn." I relaxed a little before saying, "I wish to enter the Purgatory, but I don¡¯t have the power to create an entrance on my own. That is why I¡¯ve come to ask for your aid." "Oh?" Binglan responded before scrunching her brow into a light frown. An entire half a minute later, she finally looked at me and said, "I¡¯m sorry, but I cannot fulfill your request!" "But why?" I asked urgently. "Purgatory is a far more dangerous place than you think. It is said that the Purgatory is made of seven floors, and each floor is guarded by incredibly powerful guardians called Sovereigns. A normal person wouldn¡¯t even be able to survive the first floor, much less the undead guardians. And even if you managed to beat all of the Sovereigns, how are you going to defeat Lin Na?" I clenched my teeth. "It doesn¡¯t matter. I must go one way or another!" "Absolutely not. I will not allow you to commit suicide!" Binglan answered just as unhesitatingly. I sucked in a deep breath before asking, "Alright, what do I have to do to convince you?" She said in an indifferent tone, "You must prove to me that you have the ability to survive in the Purgatory!" "And how should I do that?" "Endure three hits from me, and survive!" ¡­¡­ Chiang! Without hesitation, I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and summoned the Cyan Dragon Shield. I said solemnly, "It¡¯s a promise. If I survive three hits from you, then you must open an entrance to the Purgatory for me!" "Very well!" Binglan also turned her wrist and unsheathed her Dragonslaying Sword. We both assumed a stance and gathered our strength. The newly minted dragon knights had moved to a safe distance so they wouldn¡¯t be caught up in our battle. ¡­¡­ "Here I come!" Binglan¡¯s Dragonslaying Sword shivered as she infused it with her divine energy. Then, she leaped into the air and brought her sword down in a downward strike! The attack was infused with holy energy, so it probably did extra damage to me, an Asura God! Whoosh! Blood red energy spun, and a pair of bloody wings spread behind my back as I activated Heavenly River Transformation. At the same time, I buffed my HP by 100% with an Undying Berserker Card and increased my Defense by 150% with an Iron Wall VII. (the stratagem cap of a non-tactician class is 150% for Iron Wall. Famous General Skills are becoming outdated as player levels and Tactics increase). Finally, I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and prepared myself to parry the attack with all I had! Chiang! There was a loud ring as my Xuanyuan Sword clashed against Binglan¡¯s Dragonslaying Sword. The impact had rocked my body, scattered the snow, and even cracked the hard rock beneath my feet. However, it was a perfect parry. I didn¡¯t take a single point of damage from Binglan¡¯s strike at all! Is this the power of a divine player?! "Oh?" A flash of surprise crossed Binglan¡¯s features before she smiled. "I see. You have ascended to become a Divine Throne Guardian! In that case, I will increase my power to 80% for my next strike. Be careful! I¡¯ve only used 20% of my power for this first strike!" I shuddered again. Binglan would never lie to me, so I had to accept that this first strike really contained 20% of her power! "Here I come again!" The second strike caused a much bigger cyclone of energy, and the air surrounding Binglan felt almost solid. It was the Domain of a god, and it firmly pinned me to the ground. Unable to dodge, I could only cross my sword in front of myself and endure her second strike! Chiang! The second strike destroyed my Guard and struck my Guardian Dragon Armor hard. A tearing pain ripped across my torso as my HP dropped drastically! 2,962,177! Forget parrying the attack, I couldn¡¯t even Guard against it completely! Incredible! My entire body had sunk into the ground, and it took a bit of effort to pull myself free even as bits of rocks smacked against my face. It was horrible. Floating in the air and breathing just a tad heavier than before, she said, "Do you understand now? I don¡¯t wish to kill you, so give up now while you still can¡­" Instead, I healed myself with Tenacity of the Dead, Dragon Bloodboil and a Rank 14 Snow Frog Agent. Then, I raised my sword once more and declared, "Again, Binglan!" Binglan smiled. "As you wish!" Honestly, this wasn¡¯t looking very good for me. The Cloak of Divine Fervor reduced my damage received by 50%, and Binglan still managed to deal almost 3 million damage to me. This meant that she would¡¯ve dealt 6 million damage and one-shot me outright otherwise. Considering that I was using the Rank 7 Iron Wall, it was an unbelievable amount of damage¡­ ¡­¡­ Buzz buzz! This time, Binglan¡¯s Dragonslaying Sword rang even louder as a tremendous amount of draconic energy flooded into its metal. She watched me coolly while she said, "This time, I¡¯ll be using 100% of my draconic energy and 40% of my killing power. If you still manage to survive the attack, then I will tear open an entrance to the Purgatory for you!" I nodded and activated my Ghost Spirit Step Art, Cyan Dragon Scale and Battle Astral Wind all at once. Now was the time to go all out. Success was the only option! "Roar!" Draconic roars resounded across the air as Binglan swung her sword at me. Ignoring her 40% killing power, she was putting literally all of her power into this strike! BANG! My entire body sank dozens of meters into the ground. My entire body felt like it was being ripped apart, and the amount of HP I had left reflected it¡ª 4,422,673! It was such a close call I couldn¡¯t help but break out in cold sweat. I only had 40k HP left after the attack, meaning that I had survived with 1% HP! Not only did Binglan¡¯s attack tear through my Battle Astral Wind and Cyan Dragon Scale like paper, my Ghost Spirit Step Art failed to trigger as well. She was much stronger than even Xinran at her peak! The attack was so powerful that I couldn¡¯t stop coughing blood for a time. I was on my knees and clinging to the Xuanyuan Sword for support. I looked up at Binglan and awaited her final judgment. For a time, Binglan simply floated in the wind and snow and watched me. Finally, she let out a quiet sigh and said, "It¡¯s your win. I will open an entrance to the Purgatory for you. Xinran really is more important to you than your own life¡­" CH 1459 "Cough cough¡­" I coughed a couple more times before spitting out yet another mouthful of blood. Binglan¡¯s full-powered attack had injured me to the point where my character almost got Stunned without a CC effect on her attack. Unable to rise to my feet yet, I kneeled on one knee and asked Binglan, "Do you mean it?" "Mn." Binglan nodded. "It will take some time to rebuild Dragon Domain, and there are currently no key targets that require my power to defeat anyway. Karinshan and Sophie can take care of Lina the Whisperer themselves. So yes, I can open an entrance to the Purgatory for you." I yelled excitedly, "Awesome! Thank you, Binglan!" Binglan said smilingly, "No need to thank me. It¡¯s your determination that granted you your success. However, I must warn you that an endless amount of killing and death awaits you in the Purgatory, and there is a chance you may never return¡­ Please take care of yourself!" A pause later, Binglan asked, "When will you be departing?" I clenched my fists and declared, "Right now!" "Very well¡­" Binglan sheathed the Dragonslaying Sword before continuing, "Let us fly to Sainthelm Ruins then. The Abyss of Death itself is a massive entrance, and it is where the Wind Singer fell into the Purgatory. Perhaps you can find Xinran faster if you enter from there." "Mn!" ¡­¡­ After that, Binglan spoke a few words with the Dragon Knight Captain Callan before taking to the sky. Like a meteor, she shot toward the horizon at super high speed! I gritted my teeth and kicked myself off the ground with all my might, forming a mini cyclone beneath my feet. Even with the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s new stats, I was just barely able to keep up with Binglan¡¯s normal flight speed. That was fine by me though. The faster we reached Sainthelm Ruins, the sooner I would be able to enter the Purgatory and look for Xinran. Less than twenty minutes later, Sainthelm Ruins appeared before us once more. Gone was the magnificent castle that used to tower over the old Sainthelm City. After Lin Na¡¯s spell, even the glaciers had crumbled into nothing. There were many undead corpses on the ground as well. Earlier, Karinshan had ordered the Silver Moon Alliance to raze the place to the ground. Thud! After Binglan glided to the ground and stood still, she pointed at the patch of ice beneath her feet and said, "There are three realms in this world, and they are Heaven Domain, the Human Realms, and the Ghost Region. The Purgatory is a plane in the Ghost Region, and it is right beneath our feet right now. I want you to dig through the surface layer until we reach the inner core. Then, I will gather my power and open a crack to the Purgatory for you. I cannot afford to use up all of my power though, so the crack will be small, and it will disappear after a short period of time. Don¡¯t miss your chance to enter it." I nodded. "In that case, I¡¯m gonna start digging." "Sure!" Binglan nodded with a smile. I sucked in a deep breath before unsheathing my Xuanyuan Sword in one smooth motion. Then, I began injecting divine energy into it. When a normal player executed their skills, they generally infused it with battle energy or true energy. However, after I ascended to become an Asura God, my energy had transformed to divine energy instead. That was why my hidden Attack and armor penetration were much greater than before, even though they weren¡¯t displayed as stats. "Hah!" I swung my sword and unleashed a powerful cross slash that cut a pair of deep gorges on the ground. After the ground started shaking less, I jumped down into the hole and continued to shatter more layers of ice and stone. Mountain Crush proved to be invaluable in this case, and its effects were so powerful that even Binglan¡¯s mouth was wide open in surprise. Rocks flew everywhere as I dug deeper. Some made contact with my astral energy only to be turned into fine powder instantly. It was because I was protected by my new skill, Unusual Physique. Any damage dealt to me that was below a certain threshold would simply result in a MISS. Of course, Binglan¡¯s power had exceeded that threshold. In just a few minutes, I had dug so deep into the ground that the only illumination I got was the golden light of my Xuanyuan Sword. Then, my sword made contact with something unnaturally tough. It was a rock stratum that was protected by wisps of spiritual energy. I had reached the boundary between the Human Realms and the Ghost Region. ¡­¡­ Behind me, Binglan said softly, "Alright, that¡¯s enough. My turn." "Okay¡­" I backed about a dozen meters away before pointing at the stratum. "Just clarifying, but that is where the entrance will appear, right?" Binglan nodded. "Mn. I can only keep the crack open for a couple of seconds, so make sure you rush in immediately after it appears. Don¡¯t even waste time bidding me goodbye." I smiled. "Thank you again, Binglan!" "You¡¯re welcome. You are fighting for the human race after all!" ¡­¡­ Binglan fell silent as a serious expression overtook her features. Lightning started crawling across the Dragonslaying Sword, and a powerful cyclone blew at her skirt hard enough to reveal her long, dazzling legs. When the weapon became fully wreathed in a column of fuschia-colored lightning energy, she said, "Alright, I¡¯m going to open the entrance now. Get ready!" I nodded and sent everyone¡ªHe Yi, Lin Yixin, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Du Thirteen and more¡ªa message: "I¡¯m entering the Purgatory now. I don¡¯t know what it¡¯s like on the other side, and it¡¯s possible I won¡¯t be able to communicate with you all, so there¡¯s no need to respond to this message. Bye!" Boom! Binglan stabbed the stratum with the Dragonslaying Sword, and the barrier that looked like a spider¡¯s web was immediately torn apart. A crack that looked like a black hole, but with bits of lights that looked like the stars of a universe in it appeared. It was impossible to tell what lay behind it. "Now!" Binglan urged. I launched myself forward like a spring. Almost as soon as I passed through the crack, Binglan¡¯s voice and the light behind me abruptly vanished like they were never there. I was without a doubt on a different plane right now! Whoosh whoosh whoosh¡­ A frigid wind cut against the protective layer of my Unusual Physique again and again as I fell through the sky. If I was still a mortal right now, it most likely would¡¯ve cut me into pieces like a human would cut their lamb meat. Also, it was pitch black inside the Purgatory. Buzz! The Xuanyuan Sword buzzed as I received a system notice¡ª Ding~! System Notice: You have entered the first floor of the Purgatory, the "Undying Realm". If you are killed, you will lose 20 levels and 30% of your Luck. Your Resurrection Art has been disabled, and all communications systems have been deactivated. Please be cautious at all times. The demons of the Purgatory will not give you a second chance to struggle! ¡­¡­ I sucked in a deep breath. The limitations of the Purgatory could only be described as inhumane. Not only did it disable my communications systems, my Resurrection Art no longer worked as well. The revival effect of the Undying Berserker Card still worked, but there was no way I was gambling 20 levels and 42 Luck on a 25% chance to revive! The Purgatory was split into seven floors, and I was currently at its first, uppermost layer. My first objective was to find the entrance to the next floor. I opened my map screen and¡­ it was completely pitch black. Yes yes, I caught your message loud and clear, system. Left with no choice, I activated Battle Astral Wind and dove toward the ground. Ultimately, there was one very simple solution to my conundrum. I just needed to kill every mob I encountered on the Undying Realm until I found the entrance to the second floor. Of course, I wasn¡¯t saying that there was nothing on this floor that could threaten me. For example, I was almost certain that the guardian boss would constitute a deadly threat. It was impossible to guess what it might be though, so I could only improvise as I went. The ground of the first floor grew clearer and clearer. Even so, there was barely any light to see anything. Suddenly, a couple of small, bloody lights caught my attention. Their name was Eldritch[1] Night Watchman.They wore pitch black armor, and they looked like century-old men with crooked backs. However, their ugly, badger-like faces made it clear that they were no simple old men. They were also carrying a lantern in one hand and a steel blade in the other. I activated Dark Pupils and captured their stat screen. It was more or less what I expected to see¡ª Eldritch Night Watchman (Deity) Level: 320 Attack: 55,000~79,500 Defense: 90,000 HP: 9,000,000 Skills: Cruelty, Eldritch Possession, Blade Wind Slash, Eldritch Flame Dance Introduction: The Eldritch Night Watchman is a low-level guard of the Purgatory. These eldritch soldiers used to be humanity¡¯s bravest warriors until they died and were made into these abominations. Their lantern lights the way toward death, and their blade kills all intruders. It is said that in the countless years of their service, they had killed countless experts who accidentally entered the Purgatory. ¡­¡­ I took a moment to ponder my strategy. Cruelty was a skill that increased attack power, and Eldritch Possession was a skill that imbued their attacks with undead energy. Blade Wind Slash was a physical attack skill, so Eldritch Flame Dance had to be a magical attack. Its repertoire of skills was surprisingly versatile for a mere lackey. If it had a healing skill as well, its threat level could be even higher. Most importantly, the Eldritch Night Watchmen operated in squads of ten or twenty. This meant that the lowest requirement to survive in the Purgatory alone was to possess the ability to take out 20 Level 320 deity-rank Eldritch Night Watchmen single-handedly. To another player, the requirement would be seen as outright insanity. But to me? Hehe, it wasn¡¯t even improbable. Unusual Physique was an incredibly powerful defensive skill, and Divine Deterrence would lower the stats of any undead creature within 100 yards of me by 40%. [2]This meant that the deity-rank mob was only as threatening as a dread-rank mob to me. "Kill!" I abruptly dropped on top of them and swung my sword three times using Burning Blade Slash. Nearly all of them took 1 million damage per hit, and that was without accounting for the splash effect. The one skill actually dropped most of the Level 320 deity-rank mobs to half health! "Intruder! It¡¯s a damned Silver Moon Alliance warrior! Kill him now!" An Eldritch Night Watchman ran over to me and struck my Cyan Dragon Shield with a lightning-fast Blade Wind Slash. The metallic sparks it caused looked impressive, but the damage dealt was only 4,000 or so. It was absolutely within my ability to endure. That being said, Blade Wind Slash was a triple-hit attack. If a dozen or so Eldritch Night Watchmen surrounded me and unleashed the skill at the same time, then it could be a dangerous situation. "Die!" I unleashed a Universe Break that skewered the offending Eldritch Night Watchmen and 6 more behind it. Not only that, I triggered my septuple damage effect and one-shot them all. At the same time, the 50% lifesteal of my Xuanyuan Sword restored me to a state as good as new. 1. T/N: did you know that eldritch really just meant ghastly until Lovecraftian literatures twisted its meaning to unspeakable abominations? ? 2. E/N: Divine Deterrence doesn¡¯t work on divine entities, but obviously ¡°deity¡± mobs don¡¯t count. It doesn¡¯t work against true gods, Divine Rank bosses and players. ? CH 1460 "How does that damned brat have so much strength? Dammit!" The remaining Eldritch Night Watchmen panicked and summoned countless fireballs by waving their bloody lanterns at me. It was definitely the skill "Eldritch Flame Dance¡±. The skill dealt magic damage, so I had to treat it seriously. Magic damage would always be the pain of metal-armor players. Anyway, a couple fireballs struck my Guardian Dragon Armor¡ª 18,327! 21,732! MISS! MISS! 12,373! ¡­¡­ Not giving the mobs any more chances to deal damage, I unleashed my Burning Blade Slash a second time and turned the final row of Eldritch Night Watchmen into real corpses. Pop pop pop¡­ At the end of the battle, the 20 Eldritch Night Watchmen dropped some equipment and cards, and my HP was at 100%. Tsk tsk, the 50% lifesteal of the Xuanyuan Sword was truly insane[1]! I picked up the equipment and cards curiously, but they all turned out to be major disappointments. Was this all the mobs of the Purgatory had to offer? How disappointing. I stood still on the wet, rotten ground and checked the map screen again, but it remained as useless as ever. This Purgatory was 100% a virgin land to players, so much so that not even the system had a map that could be of any help! Suddenly, an angry rebuke interrupted my train of thoughts¡ª "Collect carefully, you filthy worms! The boss will skin you alive if you accidentally shattered these beauties¡¯ souls!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Sensing an opportunity, I immediately dashed into a nearby bush and turned off all of my equipment luster. Killing all the mobs on the first floor to find the way to the second floor was an option, but it was also the last resort. It would consume too much time that Xinran didn¡¯t have. There was a small, winding road just ahead of the bush I was hiding behind, and the bloody moon in the sky illuminated a squad of 50 or so Eldritch Night Watchmen on it. They were split into two groups¡ªone group protected the front, and the other the rear¡ªand they were escorting a group of black-robed people. According to the stats screen I captured with Dark Pupils, these black-robed people were called "Soul Collectors". They had no Attack, and they all carried a bamboo basket with a blood-red altar goblet in it in their left hand, and a blood-red net on their right. "Soul Collector?" I was puzzled. I had never heard of a unit like this. It didn¡¯t take long before my horizons were broadened. A group of Soul Collectors spread out and threw their nets on top of a bunch of greenery with tiny balls of white light attached to their surface. They then deposited the white balls into their altar goblets. Swhoosh! Suddenly, one of the white lights struggled before assuming the form of a 19-year-old girl. She struggled against the net while yelling angrily, "Why did you capture me? Let me go, you bastard!" The commotion immediately caught the attention of an Eldritch Night Watchman Captain. When he saw the girl, he immediately broke into a salivating grin and said, "Haha, this is quite the catch! Give me her soul goblet later. I¡¯m going to take her back to the Samsara Realm and train her to warm my bed!" The Soul Collector replied dumbfoundedly, "I think that¡¯s against the rules, captain. None of us can stand the wrath of the Lord Sovereign if he decides to punish us for the loss of a soul¡­" Angry at his disobedience, the Eldritch Night Watchman Captain slapped the Soul Collector across the face hard before erupting, "Who¡¯s the boss here, you or me? She¡¯s my woman, and that¡¯s that! Now give me her soul goblet already!" The girl screamed as her soul was sucked into a soul goblet which was immediately snatched away by the captain. I looked up and saw countless white dots falling from the sky like feathers. In that moment, I realized that they were the souls of all who had died in the Human Realms. Was this how the Purgatory enslaved the dead? This was definitely a whole new experience for me. Even the most powerful expert was destined to become a soul after they died. Until they found a way to escape this form, it was always possible that they might be abused by an evil Eldritch Night Watchman like the one in front of me. My killing intent immediately churned in my stomach. I was here, so these Eldritch Night Watchmen wouldn¡¯t be getting away with their crimes! ¡­¡­ The ring of Divine Deterrence beneath my feet, I dashed out of my hiding spot and rained my Burning Blade Slash, Summon the Storm and Myriad Swords Obliteration right on top of the mobs. After the first skirmish, I was now certain that these Eldritch Night Watchmen couldn¡¯t kill me even if I let 20 of them execute a full attack cycle twice. They would only deal 400k damage at most. I was sitting at 4.46 million HP after using the Undying Berserker Card, and I had 50% lifesteal from the Xuanyuan Sword. I would have to actively commit suicide to die in their hands[2]! The Eldritch Night Watchmen dropped like flies to my Burning Blade Slash. Their superior numbers were absolutely meaningless against me. It only took me one minute to end the battle! Bang! I cut open the Eldritch Night Watchman Captain¡¯s lantern before seizing the mob¡¯s throat. While lifting him into the air like a chicken, I took out the soul goblet he stole, broke it and released the girl¡¯s soul. She immediately gave me a bow of thanks before saying, "Thank you, handsome human warrior! But why are you in the Purgatory?" I simply smiled and said, "This is not a good place to chat. Run before the Soul Collectors catch you again¡­" "You¡¯re right. Thank you again!" The girl quickly flew to the distance, but it was only a matter of time before she would be caught and stuffed into a soul goblet once more. The reason I said this was because the entire Purgatory was currently ruled by Lin Na right now, and saving one person wouldn¡¯t change this one bit. The only way to truly save the souls of the dead was to uproot the entire organization that called themselves the Purgatory Legion! ¡­¡­ "What do you think you¡¯re doing? Let me go, you devil!" The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain cut my arm again and again with its blade while roaring, "You will be hunted to death, insolent brat! Your soul will be scattered like dust for the crime of intruding the Purgatory!" In response, I slapped him right across the face. This NPC seemed to possess incredibly high AI, which was exactly what I was looking for! I quickly left the road and arrived at a wilted forest. After stabbing the Eldritch Night Watchman Captain through the shoulder and nailing him to a huge tree, I favored him a sinister smile and said, "Be good and answer a couple of my questions." The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain still roared, "Dream on! I will never strike a deal with a human!" I chuckled and fished out a pitch black dagger from my bag. It was a Heaven-grade dagger I had dropped from an Eldritch Night Watchman I had killed. It was okay for an average player and absolute trash for me, but right now it was the perfect tool for what I had in mind. ¡­¡­ I grabbed the Eldritch Night Watchman Captain¡¯s left hand and swung my dagger. There was a fleshy sound, and a little finger and copious amount of black blood sailed into the air. The mob screamed in pain, "Give it up, devil! I will never obey your wishes!" I smiled grimly. "That¡¯s not a problem. I¡¯m a patient man!" Chink! This time, it was his ring finger that was chopped off. The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain screamed some more. Even for an undead, it couldn¡¯t possibly be a pleasant sensation. When I chopped off his seventh finger, the exhausted Eldritch Night Watchman Captain finally relented and drooped his head. "You¡­ you sinful devil¡­ what is it that you wish to know?" I smiled and withdrew the dagger. Then, I pulled out the Xuanyuan Sword, returned it to its sheath and backed a few steps away from the mob. I crossed my arms in front of my chest and asked coolly, "What happened to Wind Singer Xinran after she entered the Purgatory?" "Wind Singer Xinran!?" The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain¡¯s complexion instantly turned purple. "How could I possibly know anything about that sovereign?" My eyes turned colder. "Two days ago, she fell into the Purgatory with Lin Na. Are you seriously going to tell me that you know nothing about this?" The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain shook his head bitterly. "I¡¯m just a lowly eldritch captain. Forget knowing, I wouldn¡¯t even dare to inquire about a Sovereign. A divine expert like you could never understand my situation¡­" It looked like the Eldritch Night Watchman Captain really knew nothing about the incident, so I asked my next question, "The Undying Realm is the first floor of the Purgatory. How do I enter the second floor?" The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain shot me a blank look before answering, "As you have noticed, the Undying Realm is the space where the souls of the dead are collected. It is also the Purgatory¡¯s first defense line. A huge army is stationed on this floor, and there is no way you¡¯ll be able to kill them all. We have raised over ten million Soul Collectors to collect the souls, deposit them in the soul goblets, and transport them to the Samsara Realm. There, an even greater defense force awaits. If you dare to barge in by force, you will definitely be blasted into smithereens! There are plenty of divine experts who were killed in the Purgatory, you know!" He was about to let out another cackle until I shoved my foot into his mouth. I asked, "How can I enter the second floor?" The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain swallowed before answering, "There is only one way to enter the second floor, and that is through the passage where the soul goblets are transported. However, a Sovereign is guarding it, so you still won¡¯t succeed in your ploy. Actually, you won¡¯t even get that far. At least a million undead soldiers are guarding the area. Haha, you are so dead, boy! I can¡¯t help but rejoice when I imagine your dead body in my mind¡­" I grinned. "Don¡¯t worry, I still have a job for you!" "What are you planning to make me do, you devil who masquerades as a god!" the Eldritch Night Watchman Captain screamed on top of his lungs. Someone who didn¡¯t know better would think that I was about to rape him or something. I simply laughed and gazed toward the distance. "Your job is very simple. All you need to do is to escort me to the second floor entrance!" "And how am I supposed to do that!? Even a blind dog can see that you¡¯re an outsider!" "Thank you, I¡¯m well aware how outstanding I look compared to the rest of you. That is why I will be donning a disguise." "Donning a disguise?" The corners of the Eldritch Night Watchman Captain¡¯s mouth twitched. 1. E/N: Someone is smoking something, and it isn¡¯t me. Do not blame me for this pathetic damage, pathetic numbers, and magic attacks that literally can¡¯t outdamage Lu Chen¡¯s 1%/second HP regeneration. It¡¯s surely Xuanyuan Sword! And yes, I¡¯m completely taken out of my immersion seeing these pathetic damage numbers from BIG BAD MOBS OF THE BIG BAD PURGATORY! :) ? 2. E/N: Seriously, you only realized it now? I deleted it, but he literally said that they dealt sizable damage, that it hurt, and earlier he had even said that 20 of them COULD BE DANGEROUS ? CH 1461 "So? What will be your disguise?" The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain drooped his head like a girl who, after failing to resist her devious captor, decided that she might as well derive some enjoyment from the predicament. I pointed to the distance and said, "Who else? Those Soul Collectors all wear big black robes that are perfect for concealing oneself. I¡¯m going to disguise myself as a Soul Collector, and you will lead me into the soul goblet passage. If you refuse, I will simply kill you right here and now!" "You devil!" "Hmph. Move it!" ¡­¡­ After we returned to the road, I picked up a discarded Soul Collector robe from the ground and put it on my person. It was so big that it concealed both my equipment luster and my face. I also picked up a basket from the ground to complete the disguise. Now, it would take an extremely discerning eye to notice that I wasn¡¯t a Soul Collector. Finally, I pressed the dagger to the Eldritch Night Watchman Captain¡¯s back and said, "Let¡¯s go. Again, if you dare to disobey me at any point of our little trip, I promise I will end your life. Your friends may not necessarily be able to kill me, a god, but I absolutely possess the power to kill you." The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain gritted his teeth, but he ultimately chose to lead me toward my destination. On the way, we encountered many undead troops. Some were even division-sized armies with at least 10,000 undead soldiers in them. The Eldritch Night Watchman Captain was right to say that the Undying Realm was the Purgatory¡¯s first defense line against the Human Realms. Lin Na was probably worried that Karinshan and the Silver Moon Alliance would invade them, but I personally thought that it was overpreparation. No one would enter the Purgatory unless they had no choice¡­ "Yo, Captain Zoro! Why are you alone?" an Eldritch Night Watchman greeted the captain. His name was Zoro? It was a good name that didn¡¯t deserve the person it was tacked onto. I pressed my dagger harder against Zoro¡¯s back, causing him to shiver all over and blurt, "I¡­ I accidentally wandered off from those lazy maggots, so I had to debrief with just the soul goblets I currently have on my person. What did you manage to find this time, Orgone?" The Eldritch Night Watchman smiled lustfully. "Oh, I managed to gather the soul of a baron¡¯s daughter this time. I¡¯m planning to offer it to the Lord Sovereign as tribute. With luck, he may promote me to a Red Officer this time¡­" Zoro: "..." I whispered, "Enough chit-chat. Let¡¯s continue!" Zoro immediately ended the conversation and continued onward. Meanwhile, I checked the undead armies on both sides of the road and thanked the heavens once more that I hadn¡¯t brute-forced my way through. Otherwise, I could run out of Magic Repair Oils and still not defeat them all. ¡­¡­ About an hour of walking later, we finally arrived at a tall mountain range that was shaped like a devil¡¯s open maw. Below it was a passage where countless Eldritch Night Watchmen were escorting Soul Collectors to turn in their collected souls. Right now, they were everywhere around us. Zoro was shaking all over with nervousness. He whispered, "Boy, I have completed my task. Isn¡¯t it time you fulfill your promise and let me go as well? I have no wish to die under the Lord Sovereign¡¯s axe¡­" I let out a cold chuckle but withdrew my dagger. I said, "Sure. If you dare to try anything though, I promise you that you¡¯ll die a horrible death. Now get out of my sight. Whatever happens next has nothing to do with you." "In that case¡­ take care not to die too horrible a death, kakakaka¡­" "Get lost¡­" After Zoro took off like the wind, I entered the passage with my basket of soul goblets. Hundreds and thousands of Soul Collectors were walking together with me. These ghosts who might as well be slaves kept quiet and performed their own duties. It was at this moment a huge carriage appeared in front of me. The Soul Collectors immediately deposited the soul goblets they had collected into the carriage. The driver of the carriage was a fat beastman waving around a horse whip to spur his two long-tongued and venomous lizards. As expected of the Purgatory, even their transport was hardcore by design. "You! The filthy maggot over there! Put your soul goblets on the carriage now and fuck off!" One of the foremen rebuked me and swung his whip at me. I wasn¡¯t planning to keep myself hidden longer than this anyway, so I grabbed the barbed whip¡ªthank goodness the Flying Dragon Wristguards were tough enough that the barbs couldn¡¯t pierce its metal at all, or this would¡¯ve been a very painful experience¡ªand pulled the foreman up to me. Then, I pierced his body with the Xuanyuan Sword and unleashed Burning Blade Slash, killing him on the spot! "Oh god, it¡¯s a human! Kill him now!" The surrounding Eldritch Night Watchmen immediately panicked. I smiled and charged forward. A cyclone of energy beneath my feet, I launched myself upward like a rocket and kneed the beastman driver right in the head, sending him flying into the air. Then, I smacked the two giant lizards with the back of my sword hard, causing them to let out yelps of pain and running forward at high speed. Now this was more like it! I guided the lizards down the passage while carrying a cartful of soul goblets with me. At first glance, the downward path I was following seemed like it would lead me all the way to the second floor. This wasn¡¯t how I imagined myself entering the Samsara Realm like this, but I wasn¡¯t going to complain about it as a matter of course. There was one thing that kept me on my toes, however. Where was the guardian boss of the first floor? Entering the second floor couldn¡¯t be this easy, right? Oh well, I would cross that bridge when it came to it. Right now, making sure that I didn¡¯t crash the carriage was the immediate priority¡­ The two giant lizards ran like crazy. I bet they had never run this fast in their life until now. It was to the point where the soul goblets behind the carriage were constantly falling off and releasing the souls trapped within, scattering them across the entire road. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a group of halberd-wielding guards blocked in front. One of them shouted, "Stop that brat! Stop that insolent brat now!" They were Level 320 deity-rank guards, but they might as well be paper to me! I executed Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash combo that encased every one of them in ice. While the carriage was passing through, I followed up with Summon the Storm + Myriad Storms Obliteration + Coiling Dragon Revolution combo that killed them all. There was no sense in leaving free experience behind, right? My momentum was unstoppable, and I was able to reach the inner area in just a short time. After killing a dozen or so groups, I also gained a better understanding of my current strength. In the Purgatory, there were very few mobs that could actually pose a threat to me, an Asura God. Divine Deterrence was just too good a skill. It weakened the Level 320 deity-rank mobs so much that they couldn¡¯t stop my little rampage even now. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment I saw a blood-red barrier about a thousand meters away from me. My heart immediately leaped up to my throat. It was the entrance to the second floor of the Purgatory, the floor they called the Samsara Realm. I was slowly but surely getting closer to Xinran! Suddenly, a deep voice entered my ears, "Keke, Asura God from the Human Realms, are you aware that I, Ace, am the guardian of the entrance to the Samsara Realm? You should check with me before you attempt to enter the second floor, you know?" Whoosh! A ball of flame descended from the sky. It was a battle axe that was wreathed in terrific heat. It instantly scattered the two giant lizards into dust, shattered the ground and caused such a tremendous shock wave that I was blown into a nearby wall. This guardian was no joke alright. At the very least, it was much stronger than the Sovereign Rank boss I had fought at the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range! A general about three meters tall and wreathed in deadly flames rose to his feet, cackling. "You must step over my corpse first before you can enter the Samsara Realm, brat. Unfortunately, that is simply impossible!" ¡­¡­ Pa! Ignoring his taunt, I zoomed toward the boss like a lightning bolt and stabbed his chest with Purple Frost Concentration, lowering his Defense by 31.1%. Then, I kicked his axe with all my might! Bang! The boss stumbled two steps backward, shock running across his features. I had beaten him in a duel of strength! Meanwhile, I had finally gotten the opportunity to observe his stats with Dark Pupils. All things considered, he was an acceptable opponent. I readied myself for battle. Blaze Sovereign Ace (Sovereign Rank Boss) Level: 322 Attack: 67,000~95,500 Defense: 110,000 HP: 900,000,000 Skills: Sovereign Arrival, War Crush, Feat of Strength, Champion Arrival Introduction: Ace is an expert whose mastery of the element of fire had almost reached the level of god, and he was ordained by the Purgatory Ruler himself to become the guardian of the first floor of the Purgatory. In the countless years of his service, dozens of experts who had invaded the Purgatory perished under his mighty axe. His weapon is the legendary weapon of the Fire God himself, the Sacred Emperor¡¯s Sun. It is said that the wielder of the Sun wields the power to burn everything to ashes. ¡­¡­ I sucked in a deep breath. Ace was a Level 322 Sovereign Rank boss with nearly 100k Attack and 900 million HP, and my Divine Deterrence only managed to lower his stats by 29.4%. In short, he was an enemy that I would have to deal with carefully. To attempt to face-tank the boss would only result in horrible death, and even if it wasn¡¯t, I only had so many potions and Magic Repair Oils to spare. This was just the first floor, and Ace was just the first guardian boss. There were at least six stronger guardian bosses waiting for me below! Swhoosh! The Blaze Sovereign buffed himself with Sovereign Arrival before letting out an imperious cackle. Then, he ran up to me, stomped the ground with one of my signature skills, War Crush, and followed up the skill with a powerful Feat of Strength. I tried to parry them all, but the skills easily shredded my efforts and triggered four damage numbers¡ª 398,172! 412,734! 371,626! 518,723! ¡­¡­ It was a devastating amount of damage to say the least! In retaliation, I struck the boss with Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash combo that dealt around 2 million damage and restored 1 million HP. Then, I fired a blood-red claw at the boss''s weapon, Sacred Emperor¡¯s Sun. Disarm! It was a success. For a short amount of time, the boss wouldn¡¯t be able to use his weapon! I chuckled menacingly as I kneed the shocked boss in the stomach. It immediately knocked him back by 10 yards and stunned him for 3 seconds. Man, Mad God Lunge was quickly becoming my favorite skill already! I swung the Xuanyuan Sword and made the damage numbers fly all over the boss''s armor. CH 1462 "By my order and my blood, submit the enemy with the utmost freedom¡ªFeat of Strength!" Space itself froze as the Blaze Sovereign executed his Feat of Strength again. The effects were completely different from before, however. I felt like a mountain was pressing down on me and preventing me from taking even a single step, much less dodge out of the way. The battle axe, Sacred Emperor¡¯s Sun, struck my shoulder hard and unerringly¡ª Bang! 1,382,977! It hurt like a bitch. As I staggered backward, I abruptly noticed that a new ring had appeared beneath the Blaze Sovereign¡¯s feet. It was his fourth skill, Champion Arrival, and it increased his Attack and Defense by 40%. No wonder his Feat of Strength had dealt so much damage to me! A boss''s 40% Attack increase was completely different to my 40% Attack increase. My base Attack was only 75k, but a boss''s base Attack was much higher, and there were hidden stats and level penalties to consider as well. If I had to guess, his real Attack was at least 500k or higher, and the skill just boosted that number by another 200k Attack! ¡­¡­ Bang! While I slammed against a nearby wall, I pointed at the boss and used God Binding Art! MISS! Well, that wasn¡¯t surprising. Asura God or not, the boss was Level 322. It made sense that God Binding Art would still miss him more often than not. I was currently sitting at 50% HP, and I would die unless I fought the boss with everything I got. Truly, giving it one¡¯s all was a fundamental law of the universe even in a game! Thud! I dashed toward the boss''s side and dropped two Icy Cyclone Domains at its feet. At the same time, I fired Burning Blade Slash at its stomach, dealt over 1.4 million damage and regenerated 700k HP in return. Before the boss''s next strike could reach me, I summoned both my apparition and my Phantom Wolf King to tank the attack. Against a boss this powerful, it was unrealistic to think that I could withstand all of its attacks alone. I would need some fodder to share the burden. "You are courting death!" The Blaze Sovereign cackled as he raised his axe and growled, "Whirlwind Slash!" The boss spun at high speed as he charged toward me. It was a literal whirlwind of steel and death. Again, a boss''s Whirlwind Slash was nothing like a player¡¯s Whirlwind Slash. It was absolutely deadlier in the Blaze Sovereign¡¯s hands than it was in Li Chengfeng¡¯s hands! Chiang! I slammed the Cyan Dragon Shield onto the ground and activated Heavenly River Transformation. Then, I assumed a Guard stance and waited for the inevitable. The Blaze Sovereign¡¯s Whirlwind Slash was so fast that my eyes nearly couldn¡¯t keep up with it. Parrying it wasn¡¯t an impossible feat, but it was highly improbable. The boss''s fiery axe slammed against my shield again and again, rocking my arms to the point where it felt like they might break at any moment. Even after I had slammed the Xuanyuan Sword to the ground, the blow still sent me skidding at least dozens of meters away from the boss. Its Attack was just too high right now! That was just the first hit of Whirlwind Slash, and there were at least a dozen more hits to come. I waited until my HP was about to hit rock bottom before healing myself with Tenacity of the Dead and Dragon Bloodboil. Not only that, I moved my shield out of the way, and thrust the Xuanyuan Sword straight into the Blaze Sovereign¡¯s neck. Universe Break dealt a massive amount of damage¡ª4,723,824! Good, I had triggered the septuple damage effect of my weapon and regained 50% of my HP in one go! Next, I approached the boss from the sky and grabbed his weapon, the Sacred Emperor¡¯s Sun with Flying Dragon Hands. It successfully disarmed the boss! Swhoosh! The battle axe the Blaze Sovereign was wielding vanished like it was never there. He struck my Cyan Dragon Shield with a Feat of Strength, but¡ª Bang! 492,727! I smiled. As expected, the boss''s offensive power was greatly diminished without his axe. I mustn¡¯t waste these precious 15 seconds! I turned around and made both the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition attack with everything they had. Purgatory Storm, Claw of the Storm, Burning Blade Slash and more skills exploded all around the boss. Everyone knew the best time to kick an enemy was when they were down, and bosses? Even more so! For a time, I could only hear the sound of my weapon clanging against the boss''s armor non-stop. Many times, the Xuanyuan Sword gave me face and triggered its septuple damage effect in these short 15 seconds and propelled my DPS to new heights. In less than 5 minutes, the Sovereign Rank boss had lost over 40% of his HP. Moreover, I had come up with a battle plan for this boss fight. During the 15 seconds of disarm, I would go all out against him because there was no threat to my life. When the boss wasn¡¯t disarmed, I would use the Phantom Wolf King to block its movement while me and my apparition attacked from a safe distance using our sword auras. If I failed to control the boss for whatever reason, I would use Mad God Lunge to stun him and reset. It was a simple but very safe battle plan. By the time the Blaze Sovereign¡¯s HP dropped to less than 5%, I had only used seven Rank 13 potions in total. One thing I was really glad about in this boss fight was that the Blaze Sovereign¡¯s lackeys never tried to intervene. There were at least a thousand Eldritch Night Watchmen around the area, and it would¡¯ve been really bad if they all attacked me at once. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! My Xuanyuan Sword trembled joyously as it triggered its septuple damage effect twice. Not only that, the second hit was a critical. It was most delightful to see two humongous damage numbers popping above the boss''s head¡ª 3,998,715! 9,082,514! The Blaze Sovereign, guardian of the first floor of the Purgatory lost his final chunk of HP to my last attacks. As he let out a death groan and collapsed to his knees, he glared at me before roaring in anger, "You may have killed me, boy, but you will never be able to reach the seventh floor! Lord Lin Na will ground your body to dust and scatter the ashes across the Purgatory when he hears of this!" I retorted, "Oh yeah? It so happens that I cannot wait for him to meet me right now! Rest in peace, you piece of shit. Starting now, there will be no guardian of the Undying Realm!" My sword flashed across his neck, and the Blaze Sovereign¡¯s head sailed across the air. Just like that, the guardian boss of the first floor of the Purgatory died and dropped a ton of equipment, items and more. Unlike normal though, I didn¡¯t pick them up in a hurry. After all, I was literally the only player in the Purgatory. Not even a king of assassins like Farewell Song would be able to steal a single magic stone from me. Thud¡­ I dropped on my butt and just breathed for a moment. The boss fight might have lasted only ten or so minutes, but controlling three characters at once took a lot out of me. Moreover, after I had ascended to become a god, I felt like I could sense every disturbance in the air and every fluctuation in the enemy¡¯s aura. It was the power of my Domain. It wasn¡¯t without its cost, however. Without sufficient skill, it was impossible to exert one¡¯s Domain to its maximum capacity. The amount of stimuli was overwhelming, and took a lot of brain power to process. As soon as the battle was over I felt a sense of fatigue wash over me. I could fall asleep at any moment. It wasn¡¯t all bad, however. The boss loot would surely rejuvenate my tired and lonely soul. As usual, I went through the equipment first. There was a fiery metal armor, a ring, and a fiery battle axe, but I had a feeling that they were all god-tier pieces of equipment. The axe especially was most likely the legendary Sacred Emperor¡¯s Sun itself! First, I picked up the fiery red metal armor. I waved a hand across its surface to bring up its stat screen. Flame God Armor (Lower Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 15,200 Magic Resist: 13,800 Strength: +2,790 Stamina: +2,950 Agility: +2,800 Intelligence: +2,550 Tactics: +210 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 99% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 110,000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Resist toward all types of magic by 210% Outstanding Property: Blaze. When attacked, 3% chance to trigger Blaze and attack the enemy. Slots: 18 Level Requirement: 240 Reputation Requirement: 1,750,000 ¡­¡­ I sucked in a deep breath. Looks like we¡¯re off to a good start! Although it was only a Lower Divine Armament, it was still a Divine Armament, and its level was high enough that its stats were at the same level as the Guardian Dragon Armor. The difference between the two armor was that the Flame God Armor was offense-oriented because it had a 3% chance to trigger a special attack, and my Guardian Dragon Armor was defense-oriented because it converted 10% of the damage received into HP. Personally, I preferred the Guardian Dragon Armor more because surviving until the end was the royal road in Heavenblessed. I put the Flame God Armor into my bag and checked out the fiery battle axe next. The moment I grabbed its pole, I immediately felt a scorching energy flowing into my veins. It was clearly a Divine Armament. I brought up its stat screen and was stunned by what I saw¡ª Sun (Middle Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 17,000~22,300 Strength: +3,250 Stamina: +3,200 Agility: +2,950 Intelligence: +2,900 Tactics: +245 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 265% Passive: Increases user¡¯s splash effect by 40% Passive: When swinging the Sun, 9% chance to deal quadruple damage than normal. Stackable with critical hits. Slots: 18 Outstanding Property: Flame God¡¯s Fury. After activation. Increases¡¯ the user¡¯s attack damage by 50% for 15 seconds. Ignores the defensive properties of Magic Shield. Coolddown: 5 minutes. Introduction: The Sacred Emperor¡¯s Sun [1] was the Fire God¡¯s weapon. Legend claims that the Sacred Emperor¡¯s Sun contains the fiery power of the universe, and it is capable of burning everything into ashes. Even gods will receive massive amounts of damage from this weapon. Level Requirement: 245 Reputation Requirement: 1,500,000 ¡­¡­ I shuddered. Not only was the Sun a Middle Divine Armament, its stats were absolutely OP as well! I hurriedly brought up the Weapon Ranking. My Xuanyuan Sword was of course in the first place, and the runner-up was Lin Yixin¡¯s Wind Severing Sword. Gui Guzi¡¯s unevolved Ghostblade Halberd was at the third place, Beiming¡¯s Xuanming Bow was at the sixth, Pure Love¡¯s Seven-string Yaoqin was at the seventh, and the Fire God Scepter was at the eighth. Almost all of the top weapons on the Weapon Ranking belonged to the Twelve Divine Armaments, but the Sun still managed to place fourth despite the competition it faced. Excluding the absolutely OP Xuanyuan Sword, Wind Severing Sword and Ghostblade Halberd, this axe was greater than most unevolved versions of Twelve Divine Armaments and without a doubt the strongest normal Divine Armament in the game! I could already see Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and more rolling the dice and competing against each other. On second thought, Li Chengfeng and Chaos Moon probably wouldn¡¯t be rolling for this weapon despite its amazing stats. Axes were too unwieldy for technician-style players like them. This meant that the lucky bastard High Fighting Spirits was most likely going to get this weapon¡ªprovided I don¡¯t die in the Purgatory and drop it, of course! 1. T/N: yeah, don¡¯t ask me why it¡¯s Sacred Emperor¡¯s Sun here when its name is Sun. I think the author¡¯s just lazy CH 1463 Remember when I said I had a feeling that all three items were god-tier equipment? Well, I was wrong¡ª Barren Ring (Silver-grade) Strength: +240 Stamina: +225 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 50 Level Requirement: 240 ¡­¡­ This ring was so "OP" that I threw it away the second I saw its stats. It didn¡¯t even have the right to be sold at a stall in Sky City! Besides equipment, the boss dropped a lot of enhancement gems and magic stones. There were three unusually golden and shiny magic stones among the magic stones though. When I held it in my hands and read its stats, I nearly forgot to wipe my saliva¡ª Divine Crystal: Quality 100. ¡­¡­ Jackpot alert! Jackpot alert! One Quality 100 Divine Crystal was worth 100k gold, and all three Divine Crystals were of perfect quality! That was 300k RMB in my pockets! After I stuffed the three Divine Crystals and the rest of the loot into my bag, I rose to my feet and glanced at the sea of Eldritch Night Watchmen still watching me from a safe distance. My lips curled into a smirk as I said, "I¡¯m the one who killed the Blaze Sovereign, the guardian of this floor. If you wish to take revenge for him, then attack me now before I head to the Samsara Realm! I¡¯m in a hurry here!" As it turned out, the Eldritch Night Watchmen was capable of an uncanny level of intelligence when their lives were on the line. One of them stepped forward and clasped his hands in a respectful salute before saying, "Lord Blaze Sovereign was an evil man who lied to both his superiors and his subordinates after abusing the denizens of this floor for his personal interests for countless years. We have been displeased with his actions for many years, but we simply lacked the power to go against him. With that in mind, why would we attack you when you have saved us all by removing the devil and eliminating one of the great villains of the Ghost Region? In fact, we would even like you to return to us and become our new champion after you have accomplished our objective¡­" I couldn¡¯t stop my mouth from twitching. Say what you want about these opportunistic Eldritch Night Watchmen, but they certainly weren¡¯t stupid! "I¡¯m a busy man. We¡¯ll see!" I gave them a wave before sheathing the Xuanyuan Sword and stepping toward the teleportation barrier. The shiny, purple-colored barrier almost looked like a purple lake. Unless I was sorely mistaken, I should be able to enter the second floor just by stepping into it! Pa! I flew forward without hesitation and felt my vision brighten. The next thing I knew, I was in a huge valley where lush forest covered the ground and small clumps of buildings and palaces here and there. The buildings were all colored in red though, and it didn¡¯t take a genius to know that exploring them wouldn¡¯t be beneficial to me. I checked the time and noted that it had been 4 hours since I entered the Purgatory. However, I still knew nothing about Xinran¡¯s current condition at all. The more I thought about it, the more anxious I became. I immediately flew toward the ground at top speed. I needed to find some hints on the second floor. At the very least, I needed to confirm that Xinran was still alive! ¡­¡­ However, the ground of the second floor was further than I imagined. Ten minutes of flight later[1] what is, I was still a long way away from the ground. Oh well, there was nothing I could do except to fly some more¡­ I opened my friend list and sent a message to Lin Yixin: "Can you see this, Yiyi?" I didn¡¯t receive a response from her. Next, I tried to call her, but the system said: You cannot contact the outside world from this map! It really looked like I was cut off completely. Left with no choice, I brought up the forums and discovered that it was overflowing with rumors on how to complete the ninth class promotion, the ascension, and become a god. Obviously, it was because I had set a precedent and showed that it was possible to become a divine player. There was a pinned thread posted by a person with the ID "Bai Xiaosheng", and the content he wrote painted him as a bigger charlatan than most¡ª "The Little Heavenly King Has Completed His Class Ascension And Become A God. Who Will Be China¡¯s Next Divine Player?" According to reliable news, Lu Chen¡¯s journey to become god was a rough one to say the least. He had to climb dozens of mountains, kill nearly a hundred Ancient Immortal Rank bosses, and gather 100 Divinity Fruits to finally ascend and become a god. It was worth it though. Rumor says that he¡¯s now strong enough to go toe-to-toe with a Sovereign Rank boss, and his hidden stats are terrifyingly high. He has also gained the ability to fly without having to transform. We know that a player must be Level 250 or higher to ascend and become a god, but they most likely need to meet some other hidden conditions as well. What a conundrum it is. ¡­¡­ I scanned the replies, and it was a mess as one might expect¡ª 1st comment (Player "The Great Scheme of Ding"): Lu Chen is so incredible! Not only did he become a god, he¡¯s now strong enough to solo a Sovereign Rank boss when our thousand-man parties can fight a mere Ancient Immortal Rank boss and still wipe! Does that mean that a player who has become a god can 1v100, 1v1,000 or even 1v10,000? If that¡¯s true, then that¡¯s seriously broken. In the future, whoever has the most Divine Rank experts shall rule the world! 2nd comment (Player "Warsky"): Well, It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve had the 2nd comment¡­ 3rd comment (Player "Stranger of Three Lifetimes"): Right now, there are only 5 players in the China server who are Level 250 or higher. Still, it shouldn¡¯t take long before another god appears. All we need to do is to figure out the way to ascend. 4th comment (Player "Hated By All): Ah~ Mm~ it¡¯s so nice being under Beauty Stranger. Move faster, Momo¡­ 5th comment (Player "Eyes Like Water"): Fuck you, 4th poster! 6th comment (Player "Luo River God of the Capital"): I heard from the grapevine that there is a special way to greatly increase one¡¯s chance of becoming a god and a Divine Throne Guardian¡­ 7th comment (Player "Indigo Collar"): Can you please tell me what that special way is, Beauty Luo? 8th comment (Player "Chaos Moon"): You¡¯re only Level 246, 7th poster. You couldn¡¯t ascend even if you knew the way¡­ ¡­¡­ I was surprised when I saw Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s comment. Was there really a "special way" to ascend and become a god as soon as possible? It would be very disappointing if that was true. I had thought that I would be able to hold onto my advantage for a very long time¡­ I hurriedly checked the official database. It was there I found something new regarding the Divine Throne Guardians¡ª Divine Throne Guardian: It is rumored that the Divine Throne Guardians are all cultivators who cultivate divine energy. One of the ways of acquiring divine energy and creating a Divinity is to refine 100 precious gemstones called Divine Crystals. However, this method has a very low success rate, and the Divine Crystal must be of perfect quality. "What the fuck!" My eyes widened at the short passage. It was clear now that 100-Quality Divine Crystals were the key to completing the class ascension and becoming a god. However, how low was this success rate exactly? One in a hundred, a thousand or even 10,000? It was an absolute scam to players, but a genius way for Eternal Moon Corporation to recoup all the gold it had paid out to its consumers. After all, Divine Crystals were extremely expensive, and 100-Quality Divine Crystals in particular were worth 100k RMB each. One thing for certain, P2W players were once again granted preferential treatment over the F2P players¡­ On second thought, maybe not. 10 million RMB for a low chance to ascend sounded incredibly wasteful even for a very rich person. Gold sinks were like taxes, certain and everyone hated them! Very soon, I found a conversation between Warsky and Wang Dongliang¡ª Warsky: Haha, I knew it! Perfect Divine Crystals are one of the key materials to ascend and become god! Wang Dongliang: What¡¯s there to be happy about, 2nd poster? There are only so many Divine Crystals out there, not to mention ones that are Quality 100. Can you even collect that many Divine Crystals? I should tell you now that I have collected 20 + Quality 100 Divine Crystals already. Just watch, Ray of Sunshine may have lost the Heaven Suppressing Necklace, but he may yet be the second player in the world to become god! Warsky: Pooh! As long as I keep turning in the Divine Crystals, it¡¯s only a matter of luck before I ascend and become a god! Wang Dongliang: At least get to Level 250 first before you do that, idiot! Warsky: ¡­ ¡­¡­ I caressed the 3 Divine Crystals in my bag and beat myself up a little for rolling and losing all the perfect-quality Divine Crystals I had gotten from boss fights before. What a shame! Still, this was a great business opportunity. The price of 100-Quality Divine Crystals was going to skyrocket, and it was absolutely going to surpass its base value. Once more, a bloody storm of RMB loomed on the horizon. Say what you want about Eternal Moon, but they sure as hell knew how to earn their buck¡­ that being said, as long as Eternal Moon Corporation didn¡¯t put up Perfect Divine Crystals for sale in their shops, it was still a respectable game company. I sent a private message to He Yi on the forums: Eve, you¡¯ve seen the notice, right? It¡¯s time to start collecting Perfect Divine Crystals. There¡¯s no need to spend big money purchasing them from black-hearted traders though. Just ask within our guild and purchase them at a fair price. You, Beiming, Little Xin, Chengfeng and Little Gui will need them for your own ascensions. Very soon, He Yi responded to my private message: "Of course. How are you doing in the Purgatory?" I replied: "It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m entering the second floor now, but I still didn¡¯t hear anything about Xinran. I¡¯m worried, but I suppose that no news is good news in this case. Anyway, I¡¯m getting back to the grind, so talk to you later¡­ He Yi: Okay. I¡¯m fighting a boss with Little Gui and Beiming myself. Be careful¡­ ¡­¡­ I finally turned off the forums. Despite the system¡¯s claims, it couldn¡¯t actually turn of ALL of my communication methods. That being said, it was exceptionally troublesome to communicate like this. Not everyone could keep the overlay with forums turned on, respond, and fight at the same time. Whoosh! The air current suddenly grew a lot more turbulent. It was because I was really close to the ground now. After performing a backflip and landing in the middle of a thick forest, I looked up and found myself standing on a road that spread to every direction like a giant web. Standing in front of me was a group of undead swordsmen. Not only were they armed to the teeth, the blue sheen of light covering the surface of their armor made it clear that they were magical equipment. According to Dark Pupils, their level and stats were incredibly high as well¡ª Swordguard (Deity) Level: 322 Attack: 57,000~81,500 Defense: 94,000 HP: 9,500,000 Skills: Sword Mastery, Undead Energy, Fiery Triple Strike Introduction: The Swordguards are the guardians of Purgatory¡¯s second floor and the first obstacle of the Samsara Realm. The Purgatory stationed a massive army in the Samsara Realm because the souls of countless Human Realms and Heaven Domain experts are imprisoned in this place. Because of their lingering divine consciousness that can¡¯t be wiped away, these experts have been prevented from reincarnating, so as not to return as powerful enemies. Naturally, the Samsara Realm is also the residence of many powerful Purgatory experts who guard the gates of Ghost Region at all times. The Swordguards were extraordinary human swordmasters until they died and became puppets of the dead. They represent an extremely powerful fighting force in the Purgatory. ¡­¡­ "1, 2, 3, 4¡­" I counted 25 Swordguards patrolling the clearing directly in front of me. I would have to kill them all to pass through the area. Moreover, I had no idea where the third floor entrance was just like before, so I could only make my way one step at a time. I slowly pulled the Xuanyuan Sword from its sheath. When the time was right, I charged straight toward the enemy! 1. T/N: the heck? Let¡¯s say he¡¯s flying at a speed of 100 meter per second, that¡¯ll be 60km after ten minutes. And he¡¯s still "a long way" from the ground? What a waste of space¡­ ? CH 1464 Swhoosh! The grass rustled for an instant, and the centermost Swordguard was stunned by my Thunderous Charge before he knew it. Next, I bent down and pressed my left palm against the ground, filling it with golden divine energy. Countless draconic-shaped energy burst out of the earth and dealt over 700k damage per hit to all of the Swordguards. At the same time, Myriad Swords Obliteration rained from the sky and skewered their bodies for even more damage. The Swordguards roared in fury as a matter of course. The closest mob rushed me while swearing, "Dammit, it¡¯s a human invader! A human has invaded the Samsara Realm! Take him out, or the wrath of the Lord Sovereign will smite us all!" While moving backward, I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and fired my Burning Blade Slash so that it would engulf all of the Swordguards. The skill was already incredibly powerful, not to mention that I had an 80% splash effect as well. A dozen or so mobs died instantly, transformed into experience and filled up my experience bar. The mobs of the Purgatory were very high-level, so the experience bonus I got from killing them was massive as well. Grinding here was absolutely a time saver! While my AoE skills were in cooldown, the 5 surviving Swordguards finally closed the distance, activated their Sword Mastery skill to improve their sword-type weapon damage by 50%, and swung their swords three times in a row. It was the skill "Fiery Triple Strike"! Pu pu pu¡­ The attacks rocked my Cyan Dragon Shield and tingled my arm. It was like an enhanced version of Barrier Break. The powerful Swordguards were definitely a threat I couldn¡¯t treat lightly¡ª 76,045! 77,303! 75,366! ¡­¡­ That being said, they weren¡¯t so deadly that I had to go all out. The Cloak of Divine Fervor mitigated 50% of my damage received, so the deadly threat was reduced to a mild one at best. Smiling, I stabbed a Swordguard in the chest with Universe Break + basic attack combo and instantly healed myself back to full. Basically, these deity-rank mobs could never be strong enough to threaten me, and even if they did, I still had the Xuanyuan Art, Tenacity of the Dead and Dragon Bloodboil to instantly restore a total of 110% HP to myself! Crack! The Xuanyuan Sword cut through the final Swordguard¡¯s sword and his neck, ending his servitude of the undeath. The 25-man squad was destroyed in less than three minutes, and I was still at max HP. The Asura God¡¯s Divine Deterrence was just too powerful. It reduced all of my opponents¡¯ stats by 40%, effectively making the level advantage they had over me non-existent. Assuming that we were all on equal footing, I was confident that my stats and equipment were unrivaled in the entire world! I bent down and picked up the cards dropped by the Swordguards. There were 7 in total, and their stats were great¡ª Swordguard Card: Increases user''s Attack by 140%, and max HP by 40% for 180 minutes. Level Requirement: 235. ¡­¡­ This was probably the highest Attack boost I had ever seen from a card. I didn¡¯t dare to use it even though it was clearly a grinding card, however. It was because I deemed that a mere 40% boost to HP was insufficient to survive in the Purgatory. There was no telling what I might encounter next on this plane, and the buffer zone between a happy life and a severe death penalty was called ¡°HP bar¡±. Therefore, HP cards were the safest and the only play here. I returned the Xuanyuan Sword to its sheath and slowly walked forward along the forest¡¯s edge. There were more Swordguards at the distance, and we were within line of sight of each other. However, they were ultimately just mobs, and their AI wasn¡¯t high enough to attack me on sight. It gave me some room to plan my retaliation. There were many wooden stakes along the road, and they were all strewn with corpses. Sometimes it was a corpse that was staked through the butthole and the mouth. Sometimes it was a corpse suspended in the air by iron chains. I walked up to one of them and read the text that was engraved to the wood: Viscount Goode the Raven. Executed by hanging for killing the inn manager and a family living in his town. The long-withered corpse invoked a deep sense of revulsion in me, but I couldn¡¯t deny that it felt like justice was served in this case. I moved on. Occasionally, I would battle a group of Swordguards and massively increase my experience. ¡­¡­ "This is it, pigs! This is your final destination! May the sun dry your flesh, and the cold wind freeze the blood in your veins! The short freedom you enjoyed in the Human Realms is nevermore!" The speech was followed by a savage laugh that put a frown to my face. I stayed behind cover and crept my way toward it. When I rounded a tree, what I saw stunned me beyond words. There was a stone-made jail among the trees. Five prisoners were trapped inside of it, and placed right in front of the entrance was a giant pot of soup and white skeletons. I could even smell the faint aroma of flesh from it. 10 Swordguards were standing in line beside the boiling pot, and a general in golden armor was stirring its dirty contents with his spear while laughing. "Woops, I think I overcooked your companions¡¯ flesh a little! Does anyone of you want to taste his soup?" One of the prisoners, a brawny man said coldly, "The day I walk out of this prison is the day I tear you into a million tiny pieces." "Keep dreaming, you fool! This prison is made using superior Purgatory Metal, and not even the Lord Sovereign himself is capable of destroying it. You lot will be trapped in there for eternity, hahahaha!" ¡­¡­ I slowly pulled out the Xuanyuan Sword. There were five prisoners in this prison, and one of them might know where Xinran was, or at least where the entrance to the next floor was. This meant that there was only one course of action to take. The 10 Swordguards weren¡¯t a huge threat, but the general was a Level 322 Ancient Immortal Rank boss called "Ash General¡±. Who would¡¯ve thought that a random, insignificant captain in the Purgatory would be an Ancient Immortal Rank boss? Had this boss spawned at Dragonbone Mountain Range, the likes of Purgatory Mad Dragon and Flower Room would murder their own firstborn to get it! After a short moment, I decided that I would kill the Swordguards first while tanking the Ash General¡¯s attacks with the Cyan Dragon Shield. Once the small fries were dead, I would be able to focus all of my energy on the boss. Alright, let¡¯s go! Swhoosh! I rushed into the open and used God Binding Art! It was a resounding success! The Ash General was immobilized for 15 seconds straight! A smile cross my features as I stabbed the boss and injected him with Purple Frost Concentration. Then, I turned my blade toward the 10 Swordguards and hit both the boss and them with Burning Blade Slash. Once they had gotten within range, I immediately followed up the attack with a devastating War Crush + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo. So far, things were going even smoother than I imagined, so I positioned my apparition at a safe distance and made it unleash Myriad Swords Obliteration from time to time. Although it only had 75% of my Attack, it was still extremely powerful. Roughly speaking, its Attack was equal to Gui Guzi¡¯s¡­ The 10 Swordguards dropped dead in just the blink of an eye, making the already simple fight even simpler. 11 minutes of mindless, brute-force action later, the Ash General let out a groan and erupted into a pile of loot! "Haha! Good kill, boy!" the prisoners cheered. I ignored them and focused on picking up the boss''s loot. My luck was just average this time. The boss only dropped one basic Immortal-grade equipment and two middle-level Immortal-grade equipment, but it also dropped a Perfect Divine Crystal and a couple of red cards. I was all smiles when I saw the cards¡¯ stats. They were exactly what I needed right now¡ª Ash General Card: Increases user''s Attack by 135%, max HP by 150%, and base Defense by 500. Duration: 240 minutes. Level Requirement: 250. ¡­¡­ The Attack boost was considerable, but what really caught my eye was the 150% boost to max HP. The boss had dropped 9 cards in total, and each card would last for 4 hours. For 36 hours, my survivability would be greatly increased. Without hesitation, I replaced the card I was currently using with the Ash General Card. My max HP immediately skyrocketed from 4.4 million to 5.6 million. With my current HP and Defense, I should be able to deal with 95% of the situations I might encounter in the Purgatory. "Hey boy! Free us, and you¡¯ll be the benefactor of Jack-O¡¯-Lantern Mercenaries!" It was at this moment the brawny man shouted from inside the prison. I walked closer to the prison and shot all five of them a glance. "Jack-O¡¯-Lantern Mercenaries? I¡¯ve never heard of you people before. Were you a mercenary group on the continent?" The brawny man laughed. "There¡¯s a good reason you haven¡¯t heard of us. We were a mercenary group that dominated the continent 500 years ago, until we were ambushed by Vanished God City¡¯s troops in a decisive battle. As a result, all 400 of our members were killed in action, and we were given quite the ¡®exquisite¡¯ treatment in the Purgatory. As you can see, we aren¡¯t qualified to reincarnate even though we¡¯ve been dead for 500 years. It is because we are the famous Jack-O¡¯-Lantern Mercenaries!" I did a quick check on the database. Jack-O¡¯-Lantern Mercenaries were a mercenary group that once dominated the continent. They were also a monstrous group who committed practically every sin there was to commit in the entire world. Pillage, murder, rape; their crimes were so numerous that it would be difficult to fit them all in a single book¡­ "Famous? You mean infamous, right?" The brawny man shivered. "Does that mean you¡¯re not letting us out, boy?" "No, no. I will," I said. I didn¡¯t have the luxury of choice right now. I didn¡¯t have the time to find the path to the next floor on my own, and they were my only source of information right now. An NPC with a pointed mouth and thin face sneered, "You¡¯re wasting your time, boss. This prison is forged using Purgatory Metal, and not even a divine expert can break it by force. This boy looks like a human adventurer, so how can he possibly free us?" The brawny man startled as if he just realized this. He asked me, "Can you do it, young man?" ¡­¡­ I let out a chuckle and unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword. A holy energy coursed along its blade as I said, "Move back!" "Sure¡­" the five men hurriedly retreated as much as they could. I swung my sword once, and the so-called unbreakable bars were sliced in half by my sword! ¡­¡­ "Well done, boy!" The brawny man was the first to run out of the prison. He clapped my shoulder once and let out a hearty laugh. "I knew I wasn¡¯t mistaken about you! My name is Palen. Where did you get your sword, and are you interested in joining the Jack-O¡¯-Lantern Mercenaries? Now that we¡¯re free, we¡¯re going to fight against Lin Na, turn the Purgatory upside down, and call ourselves kings. Are you interested?" I shot him another glance before answering, "Nah. I just want to know how to make it to the third floor, the Reincarnation Realm. Can you tell me?" Palen shuddered and exclaimed in astonishment, "What? You¡¯re heading to the Reincarnation Realm?" CH 1465 "What¡¯s with the reaction?" I asked. The mercenary captain of Jack-O¡¯-Lantern Mercenaries, Palen, gulped visibly before advising, "The Reincarnation Realm is that devil¡¯s domain. Personally, I think we should not venture into it if at all possible. Seriously, young man. Don¡¯t go to the third floor of the Purgatory. This floor may as well be sunshine and flowers compared to it!" I clenched my fists and declared, "No, I must enter the third floor one way or another. You don¡¯t need to come with me, all I ask of you is to tell me where the entrance is." Palen thought for a moment before answering, "Very well. I must inform you that the second floor is rife with danger, however. You must be prepared for anything." "I understand. Why don¡¯t you begin by telling me the situation on the second floor?" "Mn!" Palen picked up one of the Swordguard¡¯s swords to be his weapon before starting, "The Samsara Realm is one giant Purgatory ground where countless experts of the Human Realms, Heaven Domain and Ghost Region are imprisoned, and there are over ninety thousand such prisons in total. While some of them are pretty powerful in their own right, none of them possess a weapon that can cut through Purgatory Metal like yours, so they have no choice but to languish in their prisons. The center of the Purgatory is south from here, and it is said that¡­" "Said that what?" I asked urgently. Palen smiled before continuing, "It is said that a terrifying divine expert is imprisoned there!" "That¡­" My heart skipped a beat. A divine expert¡­ Could that be the place where Xinran was imprisoned?! I grabbed Palen¡¯s arm and said, "Alright, we¡¯re heading to the center of the Purgatory immediately!" "And why the hell would we do that?" Palen¡¯s eyes widened. "It¡¯s certain death! Any one of the prison guards there can easily kill us! I¡¯m not going no matter what!" I smiled. "That¡¯s fair. You already showed me the direction anyway. I can head there myself!" "Wait¡­" Palen said suddenly, "Screw it. You saved our lives, so I¡¯ll follow you to the center of the Purgatory. However, news of our breakout has spread, and we are sure to be attacked by a lot of Swordguards. My brothers and I are hardly in fighting condition, so you¡¯ll have to deal with them yourselves!" I nodded. "Very well. Let¡¯s go then!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ And so I led the NPCs through the forest and southward toward the center of the Purgatory ground. Looking at the minimap, the entire area was blood-red in color. I had no doubt that a powerful boss awaited me at that location. After all, it was the only reason the minimap would look like this. Unfortunately, the map screen still didn¡¯t display any actual detail. It was really starting to bother me. It wasn¡¯t long before a battle cry broke out from outside the forest. As a cacophony of footsteps grew louder and louder, I heard someone shouting¡ª ¡°They¡¯re over there! Kill them! How dare they destroy a prison of the Samsara Realm!" "I¡¯m going to bleed them on a cross and have the vultures feed on their entrails!" "Dammit, today is a shameful day for the Samsara Realm!" ¡­¡­ Dark Pupils revealed a ton of Swordguards running toward us. I immediately raised my hand and ordered, "There¡¯s no escaping this one. We need to find a place to fight as soon as possible!" I looked around and spotted a rundown prison in the middle of a forest. It bordered a small hill to form a triangular choke point, which was perfect for dealing with hordes of mobs. "Over there!" After I ran over to the building, I told Palen and the other NPCs to climb onto the roof and conceal themselves. Then, I stood at the far end of the choke point and yelled at the Swordguards, "Over here, grandsons!" Very soon, the Swordguards rushed me like a tidal wave. I smiled. I didn¡¯t mind grinding some experience before the big battle! The first group of Swordguards hit me with their Fiery Triple Strikes, dealing almost a million damage in total in an instant. However, I easily regained all that lost HP with a single Buring Blade Slash. After I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and apparition to help me, I proceeded to mow down the Swordguards like grass. Myriad Swords Obliteration, Summon the Storm and my other AoE skills were easily the MVP of this fight. The 80% splash effect of my sword helped a lot as well. To be honest, the Swordguards¡¯ stats were extremely terrifying. Unfortunately for them, I was now a god, an Asura God no less. Divine Deterrence was the bane of their existence, turning what should¡¯ve been a close fight into a one-sided massacre. ¡­¡­ About an hour later, several thousand Swordguards lay dead beneath my feet. My experience bar had skyrocketed all the way to Level 252, 87% as well. Assuming that there was another horde like this, it would take me half an hour at most to reach Level 253. Not only that, the mobs dropped a lot of great loot including a ring that gave 7% lifesteal and an Immortal-grade shield that reduced damage received by 17%. Both items could easily sell for 100k at Sky City! I picked up around 40+ top-tier pieces of equipment and ignored the rest. Then, I continued onward with the five NPCs. The sky grew darker and darker. It was already nighttime inside the game. A small drizzle began pouring, and Palen let out a sneeze. "Achoo¡­" He then walked up to me and suggested, "Young warrior, it is cold and raining, and our stamina has reached its limit. Why don¡¯t we rest until the rain stops before we continue?" I looked at the white clouds some distance away from here. The drizzle was probably going to last only for a short while, so I said, "Sure." Finding a resting spot turned out to be harder than expected. In the end, we decided to rest beneath a huge tree. We used huge banana leaves to build a makeshift shelter. Then, the NPCs lay down on the banana leaves, closed their eyes, and snored away in no time. I kept the Xuanyuan Sword close to my chest as I leaned against the tree trunk and closed my own eyes. Every time the thought that Xinran might be imprisoned in the Purgatory ground crossed my mind, the itch to leap to my feet and run to her aid grew stronger. However, I needed the NPCs to guide me there because I didn¡¯t know the terrain, so I forcefully pushed down that impulse. It wasn¡¯t a bad idea to take a short nap anyway. I was pretty tired after several hours of non-stop battle after all. Then, I heard a rustling noise while I was halfway into dreamland. ¡­¡­ Instead of opening my eyes, I brought up the system¡¯s scouting tools. I discovered that Palen and the other four prisoners had picked up their weapons and were moving toward me stealthily. Palen especially was staring at the Xuanyuan Sword with greed. It was clear that they were gunning for my Xuanyuan Sword. What a dark world we live in these days! Swhoosh! The sound of wind breaking entered my ears. Not only was he aiming at my neck, he had empowered his sword with the element of ice. He was attempting to one-shot me! I opened my eyes, leaned sideways and turned my wrist. The Xuanyuan Sword exited its sheath about 20 cm and parried Palen¡¯s sword. After I knocked Palen back with a kick to the stomach, I leaped to my feet, spun around like a hurricane and fired Thousand Ice Slash at his four subordinates, freezing them all. "Die!" A follow-up Burning Blade Slash and War Crush were all it took to kill the four villains. Their eyes were full of disbelief. They weren¡¯t expecting their ambushed victim to react as quickly as I did. "Do you really think you can escape, Palen?" I aimed my palm at the Ancient Immortal Rank boss and immobilized him with the God Binding Art. Then, I began cutting away his HP like a machine gun. "Don¡¯t blame me for my cruelty, boy! Your weapon is simply too good!" Palen retaliated with his own sword. Unfortunately, his attacks were all blocked by my Cyan Dragon Shield, and my Xuanyuan Sword was blocked by absolutely nothing. It only took less than 7 minutes to drop him to red health. One of my attacks triggered the septuple damage effect, and he was dead just like that. This fight was always going to end in Palen¡¯s death. I could¡¯ve destroyed him even if he was in full equipment and perfect condition, and he was only clad in his shabby prison clothes. Palen barely dropped anything despite my Luck. The one piece of equipment he dropped was a pair of Bronze-grade wristguards. Obviously, his valuables had been stolen by his jailer a long time ago. I used Death Plunder on his body, and to my surprise I got something out of it. A parchment appeared in my palm, and its description stated¡ª The Map of the Seven Floors of the Purgatory: Item. ¡­¡­ Holy shit! What a stroke of good luck! Without hesitation, I used the item and watched it seep into my palm like magic. Finally, my map screen began functioning like normal and showing the nearby terrains, geography and so on. As Palen said, the center of the Purgatory ground was called the "Eye of the Purgatory". It was covered by a thick red light, and I had no doubt that it was guarded by a super boss. Xinran could very well be imprisoned there! My excitement grew when I thought that Xinran was still alive. It was time to move! Although I was traveling at night, there were a lot of prisons and prisoners on both sides of the road. Some of them shouted at me saying, "Don¡¯t go, boy! Let me go, and I swear on my grandmother¡¯s character that I will serve you loyally for eternity!" I curled my lips and didn¡¯t pause my footsteps for even an instant. There was no way I was trusting these villains a second time after the incident with Palen! More Swordguards appeared on the road; too many to fight without wasting an ungodly amount of time. I didn¡¯t want Xinran to suffer this place even a second longer if I could help it. I needed to rescue her as soon as possible! Swhoosh! I activated Earth Escape and slipped underground. Then, I continued toward my destination! I slowly slipped through the undead legion¡¯s massive defense zone. The wind grew colder and colder, and the prisoners beside the road grew more and more powerful. The weakest prisoners were Ancient Immortal Rank bosses, and the stronger ones were Semi Divine Rank bosses. ¡­¡­ Finally, I was only 100 meters away from the centermost area of the Purgatory ground! My heart leaped to my throat. Unfortunately, the Purgatory wind of this area was so strong that I couldn¡¯t maintain Earth Escape any longer, so I burst out of cover and ran straight toward the final prison. If Xinran was on the second floor of the Purgatory, then she had to be in that prison! "Alert! Alert! An outsider has invaded the place!" a skeletal warrior shouted from above a watch tower. I turned around and tossed the Xuanyuan Sword at the crier. It passed through his head and knocked him off the watchtower instantly. Thud! Still running, I caught the returning blade without looking back. ¡­¡­ After I charged into the bloody mist shrouding the final prison, I was greeted by a shocking sight. At the center of the Purgatory ground was a huge magic formation made of countless sharpened stakes, and at the center of the magic formation was a giant sword pillar. A girl whose face I couldn¡¯t see because her head was drooped was bound tightly to the pillar by thick iron chains. Blood slid down the pillar as 20 ancient undead magi were holding a magic stone each and casting some sort of spell. ¡­¡­ "Is that you¡­ Xinran?!" I shouted. CH 1466 The girl groaned softly, but didn¡¯t look up. Two thick iron chains had penetrated her collarbones, and it was impossible to say how much pain she was suffering. She might not even have the strength to raise her head anymore. Chiang! I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword once more and charged straight toward the sword pillar. Suddenly, runes floated out of the magic formation and into the air. They blocked my way like some sort of giant web. Bang! There was a loud impact, and I lost 500k HP instantly. Deadly flames engulfed me as the web knocked me backward. My pain was nothing compared to the pain the girl on the pillar was suffering, however. ¡­¡­ A black shadow slowly coalesced at the center of the magic formation. He wielded a scepter and wore a black robe. Behind his hood, he stared at me with his blood-red eyes and let out a malicious cackle before saying, "I don¡¯t care who you are, boy, but your only sentence for having come to the Purgatory execution ground is death, kakaka¡­" I activated Dark Pupils. As I thought, he was a Sovereign Rank boss and the guardian of the Samsara Realm¡ª Flame Singer Boley (Sovereign Rank Boss) Level: 324 Magic Attack: 65,000~92,500 Defense: 90,000 HP: 700,000,000 Skills: Secrets of Magic, Scythe of Death, Blade of the Void, Fire God¡¯s Demise. Introduction: Boley was hailed as the master of fire of an era. His mastery of the laws of fire was already at the divine levels, but he also discovered the secrets of fire formations after he succumbed to darkness. Rumor says that he is capable of creating a fire magic formation that is impervious to anything, and it is why he was made the guardian of the second floor of the Purgatory. In the thousands of years of his guard, countless experts have made it through the first floor of the Purgatory only to be stumped by Boley¡¯s fire formation. No one has been able to overcome it. ¡­¡­ I took to the sky and buffed myself to my best condition with Ghost Deity Shield, Cyan Dragon Scale and more. Then, I activated Heavenly River Transformation and fired Burning Blade Slash and the protective barrier, shouting, "There is no such thing as an unbreakable formation!" Bang bang bang! However, my triple-hit skill vanished the moment it made contact with the barrier. It was completely ineffective! At the center of the formation, Boley cackled loudly. "Do you think you can do whatever you want just because you have become a god, arrogant boy?" He then waved his scepter and shot Scythe of Death at me! Chiang! The magic blast struck my Xuanyuan Sword and knocked me backward at least dozens of meters. It also dealt around 800k damage. The boss''s Magic Attack was just too high! I glanced around. Maybe I had to kill the 20 Ancient Undead Magi who were empowering the formation first? "Die!" I flew down and fired Thousand Ice Slash at the four undead magi to the right, but¡­ Bang! Again, the skill was blocked by the barrier. My heart sank. Of course they were protected by the fire formation. ¡­¡­ The air around me seemed to freeze solid as a wind blade flew toward me. I shuddered again and lost another 1.1 million HP. The Blade of the Void was even more powerful than the Scythe of Death! Boley laughed like crazy as he turned his attention toward the girl on the sword pillar. Then, the bastard engulfed her in a blast of Fire Dragon Spell! The flames ate away at her tattered clothes and left black marks on her white skin. She writhed and screamed in pain. My heart felt like it was being cut into many tiny pieces. Throwing my own safety completely to the back of my mind, I charged the formation regardless of the burn damage and struck the barrier again and again, screaming, "RETURN XINRAN TO ME! RETURN XINRAN TO ME!" When my health turned red, I healed myself with the Xuanyuan Art and resumed attacking the fire formation! The boss hit me with Blades of the Void again and again. My forehead was covered in blood, and they slid down my cheeks together with my tears. My heart wrenched at the sight of the girl who was being burned alive. Sparks flew everywhere as the Xuanyuan Sword made contact with the barrier again and again. "RETURN XINRAN TO ME! RETURN HER NOW!" I roared even as three Blades of the Void slammed into my chest! Bang bang bang¡­ I flew back unceremoniously before crashing to the ground like a ragdoll. That combo had sapped nearly all of my body¡¯s strength. Rustle rustle¡­ I propped myself up with my sword and slowly pushed myself to a half-kneeling position. More blood dripped down my chin and into the shattered stones beneath my feet as I healed myself with Tenacity of the Dead and Dragon Bloodboil. Eyes full of fury and hatred, I roared again, "GIVE HER BACK! GIVE HER BACK!" ¡­¡­ Thud! I leaped into the air and downed a Rank 14 potion, swiftly healing myself back to full health. Then, I raised my sword and activated my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, the Xuanyuan Slash! BOOM! The entire fire formation rumbled ominously as it was struck by the skill. Not done yet, I backed a dozen or so meters before summoning a purple dragon energy to my blade. It was my strongest skill, Purple Dragon Howl! Roar roar! Draconic roars savaged everyone¡¯s eardrums as the purple blast assaulted the fire formation continuously. "Hah¡­ hah¡­" I panted heavily after the attack was over. Using Purple Dragon Howl put me in a Weakened state for a few seconds, and I was lucky my enemy hadn¡¯t ambushed me during this time. Otherwise, they would¡¯ve one-shot me like nothing. My efforts weren¡¯t futile, however. After Purple Dragon Howl had come to an end, a durability bar finally appeared above the fire formation. Not only that, it was sitting at a paltry 20%. It meant that my attacks weren¡¯t useless after all. Again, there was no such thing as an unbreakable formation! After I had recovered from my Weakened state, I landed on top of the barrier, pierced it with the Xuanyuan Sword and roared, "Rise of the Guardian Dragon!" The ground shook, and countless draconic souls savaged the fire formation from the inside. I could see Boley¡¯s ugly face turning purple by the second. Scepter shaking a little in his grip and voice tinged with fear, he muttered, "Where the fuck did this brat come from? Why is he going this far for one woman? Heavens, his power is terrifying. When did we provoke a divine expert from the Silver Moon Alliance?" Many more hits later, the fire formation finally shattered into pieces. I shattered a couple of blades beneath my feet before zipping toward the Ancient Undead Magi like lightning. Then, I executed Burning Blade Slash + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo plus a Claw of the Storm from my Phantom Wolf King. The Ancient Undead Magi were only deity-rank mobs with a bit over 5 million HP, so the combo instantly deleted them from existence. Now that four of the magi were dead, Boley couldn¡¯t recreate his fire formation anymore. "You damned brat! You will pay with your life!" shouted Boley as he fired Scythe of Death and Blade of the Void at me. I immediately turned around and punched him below the chin with the Magic Piercing Punch. Right after I canceled a Blade of the Void, a dozen or so Fireballs struck my back and engulfed me in flames. The good news was that five of the magic spells resulted in a MISS thanks to Pardon of the Purgatory Gods. Wonderful! ¡­¡­ I stabbed Boley through the heart and filled his body with Purple Frost Concentration, lowering his tankiness all the way down to the level of an Ancient Immortal Rank boss only. Now I could kill him even faster. In just 6 minutes, the boss''s HP had fallen below the 15% mark. The Xuanyuan Sword had triggered its septuple damage effect repeatedly, and to say that it absolutely chilled Boley¡¯s heart would be the understatement of the day. Every time the passive triggered, he would lose nearly ten million HP. Not even 700 million HP could endure this much punishment! "Dammit! You will not break through the Samsara Realm!" Boley raised his scepter and began chanting his forbidden spell¡ªFire God¡¯s Demise! Without hesitation, I activated my invincibility skill before resuming my attack. The forbidden spell might have killed the Phantom Wolf King and my apparition, but it couldn¡¯t deal even a single point of damage to me. This fight was utterly one-sided to say the least. Two minutes later, Boley joined his lackeys in a scream of well-deserved death. He turned into a cold, dead corpse and rewarded me with some of his loot. ¡­¡­ I wasn¡¯t thinking about the loot at all, however. The moment Boley was dead, I immediately ran toward the sword pillar and hugged the chained girl with one arm. Heart aching, I called out to her gently, "Xinran?" The girl groaned, but still didn¡¯t say another word. I held up her chin and was greeted by a beautiful face that was covered in wounds and deep exhaustion. However¡­ she wasn¡¯t Xinran. She wasn¡¯t even a familiar face. What¡­? "You¡¯re not Xinran¡­ you¡¯re not Xinran¡­" Words couldn¡¯t describe how I felt when realization finally struck me, and my heart became filled with disappointment and distress. The girl smiled weakly at me before speaking her first words. "Sorry¡­ to disappoint you¡­ but thank you¡­ for saving me¡­" Me: "..." I raised my sword and cut off the iron chains, freeing her from the sword pillar. Then, I took out two bottles of Rank 14 potion and poured them on her wounds. Hopefully, they would heal her to a certain extent. ¡­¡­ At the same time, I noticed that an ID was slowly appearing above her head¡ª Twilight Wanderer Uldan (Basic Divine Rank Boss) Introduction: Once a human girl who fell into darkness, she was rescued only to be killed yet again. Unwilling to become the puppet of darkness a second time, she killed her captors and broke out of her prison again and again until finally, Lin Na himself showed up to hunt her down. After she was captured, he pierced her collarbones with iron chains [1] and trapped her in a fire formation. Uldan was subjected to endless inhuman torture for thousands of years, but she never gave up waiting for her destined hero to rescue her from the bottomless darkness. ¡­¡­ "Twilight Wanderer¡­ Twilight Wanderer¡­" I repeated her name multiple times until it finally sparked a memory. That¡¯s right, she was one of the ten big bosses of Spirit of Grief! She was an OP woman who once bled the continent like a pig! Uldan opened her eyes and shot me a tired smile. "You finally arrived, my destined hero¡­" I stayed quiet for a moment before starting, "Actually, I¡¯m¡­" "Not here to save me, am I right?" Uldan smiled again. "Mn." I admitted frankly. The corners of Uldan¡¯s lips turned upward. "This person you gave your all to save is one lucky girl. Xinran, is it? Could she be the Wind Singer Xinran?" My heart skipped a beat, and I grabbed Uldan¡¯s wrist. "Do¡­ do you know her? She¡­ she¡¯s still alive, right?" Uldan shook her head. "Sorry, I don¡¯t know anything about her current condition. I¡¯ve been trapped in this fire formation for a long time, and I have no idea what is happening outside. Didn¡¯t the Wind Singer leave the Purgatory a long time ago? The fact you¡¯re here¡­ Did she come back? Why would she come back to this place?" I gritted my teeth. "She was dragged back into the Purgatory by Lin Na¡­ I came here to take her back¡­" Uldan fell silent for a moment. Then, she grabbed my hand and declared softly but firmly, "I¡¯ll search for her with you!" 1. T/N: in Chinese martial art novels, having your collar bones pierced usually seals away your qi powers ? Favorite CH 1467 I hesitated for a moment as I watched Uldan¡¯s serious eyes. "I may have to face off Lin Na himself, and he has devoured both the Great Saint and Mingyu¡¯s powers. Are you sure you want to come with me? You just escaped imprisonment. Aren¡¯t you afraid that you¡¯ll fall under his control once more?" Uldan chuckled. "Don¡¯t worry. I told you I¡¯m going to accompany you to the seventh floor of the Purgatory, and I never change my mind once I¡¯ve resolved myself to something. If I die, then at least I won¡¯t have to suffer the torment and humiliation to my soul any longer." "Yeah." I rose to my feet and went to pick up the loot next to the dead Sovereign Rank boss, Boley. It felt a bit lonely that there was no one to roll the loot with me, so I simply read the stats in silence¡ª Thunder Dragon Wristguards: Immortal-grade cloth armor, average stats, adds 45% Magic Attack. To be sold. Void Spirit Scepter: Average Immortal-grade weapon, Attack slightly above average. To be sold as well. Voice Spirit Ring: Ancient Immortal-grade accessory that adds 110% Magic Attack. It still wasn¡¯t a keeper, but it was the best of all the to-be-sold items. It could probably fetch me a couple thousand gold at least. The last piece of equipment was a dark purple-colored, leather corset armor. It looked like it was equippable by female players only, and it transmitted a cool sensation when held. The corset armor¡¯s design was very simple. The back was made up of layers upon layers of metal that were shaped like dragon blades, but the front was perfectly smooth and shaped to wrap around a woman¡¯s bust nicely. At first glance, the wearer would have to be 34C at least to fit the armor, or they might have to go to a blacksmith and reduce the bust size. I waved my hand across the chest armor to bring up its stats screen, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually one of the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments¡ª Purple Cloud Armor (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 10,700 Magic Resist: 10,500 Agility: +3,290 Stamina: +3,150 Strength: +3,000 Intelligence: +2,950 Tactics: +270 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 115% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 140,000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Magic Resist to all types of magic by 290% Outstanding Property: Inner Purple Protection. Summon the Inner Purple Shield and become invincible for 25 seconds. Ghost Armament: Defense is doubled when equipped. Slots: 18 Level Requirement: 250 Gender Requirement: Female Reputation Requirement: 1,750,000 ¡­¡­ I clenched my fists and broke into a wide grin. "This leather armor is amazing!" The Purple Cloud Armor might be a leather armor, but its Defense wasn¡¯t too far behind my Guardian Dragon Armor. More importantly, its Ghost Armament effect was absolutely insane. It doubled the user¡¯s total Defense, which was far better than just a 100% Defense increase. To give an example, the Agility-based player with this item would almost be able to enter my weight class¡ªassuming they also had a bunch of Sacred Armaments, Ghost Armaments, Divine Armaments and more, of course. I moved onto the non-equipment loot. There was a mage skill book called Fire Spread that increased the duration of Sea of Flames by 50%. I could give it to Lian Xin, Moonlight Stone or Yu Tong later. The boss also dropped 4 Divine Crystals, but only one of them was of the perfect 100 Quality. It was still an incredible income, of course. In fact, I had collected five Perfect Divine Crystals in just a day. Hopefully, I would be able to collect enough Perfect Divine Crystals to help He Yi or Lin Yixin attempt an ascension. As for Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and the rest of the bros, of course I wasn¡¯t going to help them. They were men, and what kind of men relied on other men to create their future? Plus, each of them had 3 to 5 subguilds under their command. You might even call them monarchs of a vassal state. It wasn¡¯t too difficult for them to gather the Divine Crystals they needed. I rose to my feet and looked at Uldan. Her thin, gray robe was nothing but tattered, scorched rags at this point, so I could see her fair skin, firm breasts¡ªthey were almost the same shape as Beiming Xue¡¯s actually¡ªand even two dots beneath the cloth. It was quite distracting to say the least. Whoosh! I grabbed a cloak that converted 12% of the damage received into HP and covered her body with it. Then, I said, "I can share my equipment with you, Uldan. What weapon do you normally use? At any rate, you shouldn¡¯t enter the third floor of the Purgatory unarmed¡­" Uldan chuckled and pushed my hand away slowly. She said, "It¡¯s fine, I have my own equipment. I wasn¡¯t able to bring it out when my powers were sealed, but now that is no longer a problem¡­" She opened a palm and opened a small, black hole. It was a crack that led to a different space; her private storage space to be exact. She rummaged around for a bit before pulling out a dark green chest armor, a cloak, a pair of legguards and a pair of boots. She now looked like a leather-armor class expert. Another thoughtful hum later, she finally pulled out a long, starry bow as her weapon. It looked like quite an amazing weapon too. As expected of a Basic Divine Rank boss, nothing she brought out of her storage space looked subpar. Swhoosh! Uldan looked like a completely different person after she was done changing her equipment. If she looked like she had half a foot in death¡¯s door before, now she looked like a cute and spirited archer. "So? How do I look? Am I worthy to be your companion now?" Uldan asked smilingly. I shook my head in a hurry. "Oh no, I¡¯m the one who has to be on my toes to keep up with you¡­" "You¡¯re too humble~~" I really wasn¡¯t though. I might be able to solo a Sovereign Rank boss now, but a true Divine Rank boss such as Thunder or Coldblade were still out of my reach. Even a Basic Divine Rank boss like Uldan was at worst my equal, or at best my superior. This was good news though. My chances of saving Xinran had just become much higher! ¡­¡­ "Alright, time to go to the third floor!" I turned around and leaped into the teleportation barrier without hesitation. Before I could even open my eyes though, a terrible heat immediately washed over my entire body. What the fuck? Where am I, and why is it so hot? I opened my eyes and looked at my new environment. What the fuck? Since when was the Reincarnation Realm a flaming hell? Wherever I looked, the ground was scorched and bright red with heat. It was as red as the bricks of a kiln. I couldn¡¯t help a shiver despite the temperature. I had no intention of becoming the omelet of this frying pan. Behind me, Uldan gave me a soft push and asked, "What are you waiting for? Let¡¯s move." I frowned. "Where to? There are flames everywhere. Where is the entrance to the fourth floor?" The map screen showed the names of various smaller maps on the floor, but the exit was nowhere to be seen. I opened the map screen to check, but no exit was marked. It looked like I would have to find it myself. The good news was that Uldan was here to be my guide. She used to be a Sovereign, so she should know where it was. Uldan pointed to the east and said, "There is a death well at the easternmost part of the third floor. It is the only passage to the fourth floor. However, I heard that Lin Na has posted an extremely powerful devilish beast to guard it, so we cannot be too careless." I nodded. "Mn. Let¡¯s fly over there now!" "Wait¡­" Suddenly, Uldan caught my arm and said with a troubled expression, "My Stamina is sitting at around 20% right now. I may run out of energy mid-fight if the battle proves to be more intense than expected. How about we rest for the night before heading to the death well tomorrow?" "That¡¯s fine too." I checked the time and noted it was past 8 pm already in the real world. I hadn¡¯t logged out of the game for an entire day either. I definitely needed to log out and take a break myself. We found a tall hill and landed there. After I put down a tent, Uldan lay next to it and promised, "I¡¯ll wait for you." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ After I logged out of the game, I removed my helmet and sucked in a deep breath. Although I hadn¡¯t found Xinran, my knowledge of the Purgatory had grown a little. Also, the fact that there was no news was probably good news. That was what I kept telling myself anyway. After I went out of my room, I took a moment to tidy myself before entering He Yi¡¯s room. She was still gaming, and her expression looked calm and peaceful. I sat next to the bed and said beside her ears, "Eve, I just logged out of the game, and I¡¯m going to head out for dinner. Do you want to come with me?" He Yi couldn¡¯t answer because she was still in the game, but the green LED on the gaming helmet began blinking rapidly. A few seconds later, she opened her eyes, took off the helmet and smiled at me. "Yes, I¡¯m hungry too. Mingyue and Little Xin just logged out as well, so we¡¯re all going together!" "Yeah, we¡¯ll go together." Still holding her hand, I apologized, "I wasn¡¯t able to keep you company for the past couple days due to, well, everything. You don¡¯t blame me, do you?" "Of course not!" He Yi let out a chuckle as she sat up. Then, she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me once on the cheek. "We¡¯re not kids anymore. I¡¯m fully aware we all have various works and responsibilities to attend to, so why would I begrudge you for doing your work diligently? You can keep me company after you¡¯ve found Xinran." "Yeah." He Yi was only wearing pyjamas, and she was clinging to me tightly. The sensation of her warm, firm breasts squishing against my chest made my heart race. I returned the kiss and slowly put her down on the bed. We were still kissing when I put one hand on her breast, felt its amazing roundness and bounciness, and lost control of my heartbeat completely. He Yi moaned a little into my lips. Her face was red, her hair was a little messy, but it only made her look prettier than ever before. We were deep into the kiss when a knocking sound jolted us back to reality. We immediately parted from each other and swiveled our heads toward the door like a pair of owls. At the entrance, Murong Mingyue was shooting us an exasperated glance and crossing her arms in front of her chest. "At least remember to close the door before you carry out your ¡®business¡¯¡­" He Yi¡¯s blush hadn¡¯t faded yet, but she chided her sister, "It would¡¯ve been fine if you stayed outside!" Murong Mingyue said, "Is that so? Okay, the fault¡¯s all mine. Please continue while Lian Xin and I have dinner¡­" Growl¡­ My stomach let out a pathetic growl. "No, Eve and I will come with you two¡­" "Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ Ten minutes later, the three beauties and I appeared on the streets while discussing where we should have dinner. Lian Xin said, "I feel like eating some wonton¡­" Murong Mingyue shot down the idea, "You¡¯ll get fat eating those. Lu Chen, you haven¡¯t logged out for an entire day. What do you want to eat?" I thought for a moment before answering, "Anything that has meat in it will do!" "Simple and straightforward. Okay, meat it is¡­" He Yi: "..." CH 1468 At a Turkish barbecue meat restaurant by the streets. I was holding a bottle of beer and letting out a satisfied burp in my seat when I sensed the three girls staring at me with deep curiosity in their eyes. "Uh, why are you guys looking at me like that?" I asked suspiciously. He Yi burst into a giggle before saying, "We just want to know what the Purgatory plane looks like, and how are you doing inside. Usually, we only need to go to Intelligence Agency to learn about the details of a major leveling ground or something, but the Purgatory plane is a completely new place, and you are its only visitor right now!" I thought for a moment before replying, "Eh, it¡¯s honestly not that different if you think about it¡­" "Have you found anything about Xinran yet?" Lian Xin asked with widened eyes. I answered, "Not yet, but the situation wasn¡¯t as bad as I thought it was at the beginning. I believe that she¡¯s still alive, and as long as she is still alive I will rescue her eventually!" He Yi nodded. "Yes, you can do it. Now, tell us about the Purgatory already." "It really isn¡¯t all that different¡­" I took a sip of beer before continuing, "As you probably can imagine yourself, the mobs are very high-level, and their hidden stats are extremely high. It has seven floors in total, and I¡¯m currently on the third floor. So far, I¡¯ve taken out two bosses and gotten quite the handsome loot. One of them was a Middle Divine Armament axe called ¡®Sun¡¯, and the other was a Lower Divine Armament metal armor called ¡®Flame God Armor¡¯. However, even they are incomparable to a leather corset armor I got called the Purple Cloud Armor. It¡¯s one of the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, and it doubles your total Defense once it is equipped!" "Double?" Lian Xin¡¯s mouth fell open. "That¡¯s amazing! It¡¯ll make the archer or assassin almost as tanky as a metal-armor player, right?" "Yep. I¡¯m giving it to Beiming after I return to the surface. Once she gets on her Dragonscale Beast, she¡¯ll be able to fight anyone in melee¡­" ¡­¡­ I let out another burp while accepting a skewer of lamb meat from Lian Xin. "I haven¡¯t really had the time to check the forums while I was in the Purgatory. How is the retaking of Sky City going?" He Yi sprinkled some cumin on a piece of barbecued meat while saying, "Not long after you entered the Purgatory plane, Karinshan had ordered her entire force to march toward Sky City to retake it at first notice. We took part in the battle, but things aren¡¯t going as smoothly as we would¡¯ve wanted. Linda the Whisperer is very powerful, and she has the ability to summon undead creatures from the Purgatory non-stop. Just today, we killed 9 waves of monsters in total and suffered massive losses as a result. A lot of players aren¡¯t coming back online either. That being said, the other guilds suffered even bigger losses, so¡­" Lian Xin let out a cough. "Boss, stop delaying the inevitable and tell big brother Lu Chen about the Sovereign Rank boss already!" I raised an eyebrow. "What about a Sovereign Rank boss?" He Yi pursed her lips. "Our luck isn¡¯t very good today. We killed 2 of the 9 Sovereign Rank bosses Linda the Whisperer summoned but only got two Ancient Immortal-grade pieces of equipment from them. Not only that¡­" "Yes?" "Warsky and Candle Dragon killed a total of 3 Sovereign Rank bosses between them, but they managed to get two Ghost Armaments¡­" "What the fuck!" My hand shook, and a bit of oil fell off my barbecued meat and onto the charcoal, causing some white smoke to rise. "I didn¡¯t check the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments Ranking before I logged out. What did Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance get? Ghost Armaments are all crazy powerful equipment. If we don¡¯t deal with them cautiously, we may fall prey to them some day¡­" He Yi nodded in agreement. "Yes. Warsky¡¯s Ghost Armament is called the Xuangu Shield. It¡¯s very similar to your Cloak of Divine Fervor except that it reduces the user¡¯s damage received by 35%, and absorbs another 15% as HP. Also, the Xuangu Shield has super high Defense. Its rating is at least 30% higher than your Cyan Dragon Shield¡­" "What the fuck¡ª" I choked on my words mid-sentence, and Murong Mingyue hurriedly poured me a glass of water and patted my back gently. She added, "Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Ghost Armament is the complete opposite. It is a wristguard called the Dragon Tooth Arm, and when activated, the user¡¯s next attack has a 100% chance to deal 9 times more damage than normal¡­" "Pu¡­" This time, I literally spat out the beer in my mouth. I stared at He Yi and complained, "This effect is a bit too OP, isn¡¯t it? Who the hell can withstand that much damage?" He Yi nodded smilingly. "I know right? This Ghost Armament effect is absolutely disgusting to say the least. Candlelight Shadow already has super high Attack. If he executes his Shattering Sword and Shield after triggering its effect, you may be the only player in all the servers who can survive it. Maybe Warsky can survive it too with his new equipment, but it will be close¡­" Sweat began forming on my forehead. "I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯d be one-shot without buffs¡­" Lian Xin added with a giggle, "It¡¯s not impossible to deal with though. All you need to do is to activate your invincibility skill after the Dragon Tooth Arm is activated¡­ actually, forget what I said. I had forgotten about Candlelight Shadow¡¯s SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, the Pangu¡¯s Axe. In that case, I suppose that you can only parry, Guard or evade the attack¡­" I grimaced. "Candlelight Shadow¡¯s signature skill, Shattering Sword and Shield, goes through both parry and Guard and deals 150% damage, sister. How do you not know about this yet? He¡¯s had that skill since forever¡­" Lian Xin shrugged. "I have Blink, so¡­" He Yi and I imitated her pose. "But we don¡¯t¡­" Murong Mingyue suddenly hit the table and complained, "Stop acting cute, you two! You made my heart race half a second ago!" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ I continued eating until my strength was fully restored. I had also made up my mind to eat only breakfast or brunch during the morning and dinner during the night for the next couple of days. Until Xinran was found, I was going to devote as much time online as possible. I asked another question, "By the way, this city retaking event has a contribution point ranking, right? What are the rewards?" Lian Xin replied, "Eh, it¡¯s just so-so. This time, the MVP only gets a Ghost Armament, and the second and third place, a Lower Divine Armament. Everyone else will have to pray that their luck is good." "So, who¡¯s ranked what?" Lian Xin chuckled. "Sister Lin Yixin is temporarily at first place, Luo River God of the Capital is second, Candlelight Shadow is third, I¡¯m fourth, Beiming is fifth, and¡­ boss, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and High Fighting Spirits are all between 11th to 20th¡­" I frowned. "Who are the players between 6th to 10th place?" "They¡¯re all mages such as Stranger of Three Lifetimes, God¡¯s Dance and more. The large majority of mobs we fought were metal-armor Corpse Eaters, which is why mages currently hold the advantage¡­" "I see. Well, do your best. If possible, try to take all three top spots for us. The Seventy-two Ghost Armaments are the key to conquering Heavenblessed¡­" "We know, but the enemy is cunning and powerful, so¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ It was past 10 pm when we finally stepped out of the restaurant. I had to lean on He Yi because I drank a bit too much alcohol. The night wind blew as a bar rolled up its shutters and began its business. Even before that, youngsters were lining up at the entrance and waiting for their turn to go in. A couple of hooligans wolf-whistled when we passed them, and the reason was of course the girls. The dim light did nothing to conceal He Yi''s exquisite beauty and class. While holding He Yi, I asked, "Do you want me to beat them up?" "It¡¯s fine. You should go to bed soon anyway¡­" He Yi chuckled. Lian Xin was supporting me on the other side. She too said with a chuckle, "Sister He Yi is right, big bro. Also, there¡¯s no way you can beat anyone in your current condition¡­" I replied, "I know, but I¡¯m feeling a bit too much pressure as of late. I feel like fighting someone to loosen up a little¡­" "And how exactly is getting beaten up going to help you ¡®loosen up¡¯?" He Yi said exasperatedly. I replied, "Well, even getting beaten up is a life experience that will transform into a beautiful memory when we enter old age. Just imagine this: the rays of sunset pass through a pavilion¡¯s window and illuminate an old photo frame. A 90-year-old Eve is rocking back and forth gently on a vine chair when she picks up the photo frame and sees me with a bruised face; the proof of me getting beaten up tonight. Then, she slowly wipes the glass on the frame while whispering, ¡®I miss you¡¯ to herself. That is quite the aesthetic image, isn¡¯t it?" Suddenly, He Yi paused in her steps and turned away from me, a tear sliding down her cheek. "I don¡¯t need memories like this. I would rather have this moment eternally frozen." None of us understood what He Yi meant by that. "What do you mean, Eve?" I asked her while still clinging to her shoulders. He Yi turned back toward me and wrapped her arms around my waist. Then, she said seriously, "Love is the blooming of a flower. It is short and meaningful only during that instant. A so-called eternal love is really a love that is forever frozen in time. That means that the only way I can love you forever is for us to commit double suicide right here and now¡­ Anyway, I will kill you if you dare to make another ominous joke like that, you hear me?" I shivered a little before returning the hug. "Sorry. I won¡¯t say stuff like that anymore¡­" He Yi giggled and kissed me beside my lips. The guys and gals in front of the bar immediately started clapping for some reason. Some of the girls were even shouting, "Marry him! Marry him!" Blushing like an apple, He Yi glared at me and said, "Let¡¯s go home already¡­" And so the four of us rounded a corner and vanished from the streets. ¡­¡­ After I returned to the workshop, I took a bath and went to bed immediately. The next day, before it was even 7 am in the morning, I got up, cleaned myself, and went downstairs to buy breakfast for the girls. Then, I woke them all up, had breakfast with them, and logged back into the game. Time was of the essence to me, and I needed to head to the seventh floor of the Purgatory as soon as possible. Swhoosh! Once more, I appeared on the third floor of the Purgatory, the Reincarnation Realm. I was greeted by an unbearable gust of heat the second I crawled out of the tent. Thank goodness I had the Unusual Physique, or this wind would literally burn me to ashes. "You¡¯re finally back!" Uldan¡¯s voice rang beside me as I turned around to face her. I noticed that her quiver contained what seemed to be arrows of pure light, which suggested that it had infinite ammo just like Beiming Xue¡¯s Infinite Quiver. Of course, NPC equipment was different from us players. Uldan¡¯s arrows were probably made from her divine energy. Also, the strength of a Divine Rank NPC and a ¡°Divine Rank¡± player was like night and day. Unless you had a full set of Divine Armaments and Ghost Armaments, the Divine Rank NPC was most likely going to kick a divine player¡¯s ass 100% of the time! "Let¡¯s go¡­" I said after using an Ash General Card. "Mn!" CH 1469 The flames of the third floor of the Purgatory towered high enough to scorch the sky. The wind was already hot enough, but there were hot ashes mixed among them as well. It was almost impossible to keep one¡¯s eyes open. On the ground, a kind of mob called the "Molten Worm" could be seen crawling and rolling across the molten rocks. Their body was bloated like a caterpillar¡¯s and their screeches sounded horrible. Of course, their ability to withstand over tens of thousands of degrees of high temperature was nothing like a caterpillar¡¯s. Swhoosh! A pair of human-shaped figures flew over the area. It was Uldan and me making our way toward the entrance to the fourth floor. I had to keep my arms perfectly straight along my body to reduce the amount of air resistance I faced while flying, but the Divine Rank archer didn¡¯t have such problems. She kept an eye on our surroundings while saying, "Make sure you don¡¯t get close to the Molten Worms. Those disgusting things can spit 10,000-degree acid at you. Not even the toughest dragon armor can withstand that kind of temperature[1]. I nodded. "I know. I¡¯m not landing even if I die¡­" I opened the map screen and noted that the heart of the map was blood-red in color. It was clearly where the floor boss was. When I looked in that direction though, I abruptly noticed that a bloody stretch of clouds full of lightning and fire were rolling toward us at high speed. It looked like it might devour us whole at any moment. "Shit! It¡¯s a worm cloud!" Uldan¡¯s face abruptly darkened as she grabbed my arm. "We need to head to the ground now! This worm cloud isn¡¯t something we can withstand!" "What¡¯s going on?" I flew toward the ground with Uldan, but we were just a bit too slow. One of the clouds managed to engulf us, and the next thing I knew my vision was greatly impeded, and my entire body was screaming in pain. I forced myself to activate Dark Pupils and take a closer look. To my shock, the bloody cloud was really many, many, MANY tiny insects that were less than a centimeter long in size. They were all basically the Purgatory¡¯s version of a mosquito tornado! Laiquito (Dread) Level: 324 Attack: 52,000~72,000 Defense: 50,000 HP: 1,000,000 Skill: Devour Introduction: An insect that lives within the caves of giant beasts. The laiquitoes can only survive in an environment between 100 to 800 degrees Celsius, but have incredible reproduction ability. It is said that they spend over 90% of their lifespan mating, and that they give birth to a new laiquito every 9 minutes or so. Although their offensive and defensive powers are subpar, they more than make up for their weakness with superior numbers. Many powerful experts have been eaten alive by these creatures, and they are without a doubt a symbol of death on the third floor of the Purgatory. ¡­¡­ My eyes nearly popped out of my eye sockets. I had no idea that the "worm cloud" Uldan was talking about was something so terrifying. Although it was only a dread-rank mob, it more than made up for it with their numbers. If one laiquito did around 500 damage per hit, then several hundred laiquitoes did around one million damage per second! It was scary to say the least! My HP turned red in just the blink of an eye. I needed to retaliate! I unleashed Burning Blade Slash and killed god knows how many laiquitos at once. However, even more laiquitoes flew toward us from every direction! Death meant nothing to these mobs! There was no time to check how much experience I had earned from my kills. Uldan was groaning because her divine protective aura had been shredded by the laiquitoes, and she had lost 40% of her HP in just a moment. She was a Divine Rank boss, and she still wasn¡¯t able to withstand the worm cloud! I could survive indefinitely against laiquitoes because I had 50% lifesteal. One strike was all it took for me to return to full health. However, Uldan didn¡¯t have such an ability! Pa! I grabbed Uldan¡¯s arm and pressed her tightly against my chest. I then covered her body with the Cloak of Divine Fervor while cutting down the laiquitoes. Their numbers seemed endless, however. In my arms, Uldan said while closing her eyes, "Don¡¯t try to fight against the worm cloud. Just descend to the ground as quickly as you can. The ground temperature is over one thousand degrees, and they can¡¯t survive there!" "Got it!" A shock wave spread across the air as I exploded toward the ground. A wave of scorching heat washed over my face at the same time we left the worm clouds. This place was seriously a nightmare! After we reached the ground, I looked up and saw that the worm cloud had stopped following us about a hundred meters above ground. They must feel pretty bad that they could only watch their prey and not do anything about it. "It burns¡­" Unfortunately, I felt like we were worse off than them. I felt like an ant on a frying pan standing atop of the red hot rocks. However, Uldan assured me with a smile, "Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯re a man with a Divinity, so your physique is tempered to a certain extent. This bit of heat isn¡¯t nearly enough to kill you. Anyway, let¡¯s continue our way to the lair on land. All we need to do is to circle around the giant beast guarding the barrier, and we¡¯ll be able to enter the fourth floor." "Circle around? Why don¡¯t we just kill it outright?" I asked. Uldan replied, "A long time ago when I was passing through these lands, I fought against the beast and suffered a horrible defeat. It even bit off one of my arms before I was able to enter the fourth floor. Are you sure you have the ability to kill it?" I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and declared confidently, "It will be different this time. I am here after all!" Uldan shot me a sweet smile before saying, "Alright, we¡¯ll give it a try. Right now though, our main priority is to take out the Molten Worms we are sure to run into along the way. I wouldn¡¯t approach those disgusting creatures if at all possible, but¡­" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a Molten Worm that looked like a fat maggot crawled out of a pool of molten lava and onto the rock. It was very close to us, so it noticed us immediately and charged. Half a minute later, it was still a dozen or so meters away from us. Finally, I asked, "So, do you want me to take it out, or¡­?" Uldan laughed. "Sure! I¡¯ll assist you from range!" "Okay!" I activated Thunderous Charge and stunned the Molten Worm. Dark Pupils revealed it to be a Level 324 Ancient Immortal Rank miniboss. No wonder Uldan was wary of it. Its Attack and Defense were high enough, but its greatest stat was without a doubt its HP. I injected the Molten Worm with Purple Frost Concentration before executing Burning Blade Slash. The final hit of the skill dealt 7 times more damage than normal and caused its fat body to tremble non-stop. Fiery red fluid kept spilling out of its wounds and landing on my Guardian Dragon Armor. It felt scalding hot despite my armor, and worse they wriggled like they were alive and dealt continuous damage to me. This was probably why Uldan wasn¡¯t willing to fight the mob at melee range. Suddenly, Freezing Arrow shot past me and landed squarely on the Molten Worm¡¯s head. It triggered a massive damage number¡ª 1,728,873! I was stunned. As expected of a Divine Rank boss, her one hit was equal to multiple of mine. Then again, it was perfectly normal for NPCs to deal several million damage to each other. Anyway, I should focus and make sure that the mob¡¯s killing right was mine. It would suck if it went to Uldan instead! The Xuanyuan Sword burned with the power of divine energy. Less than half a minute later, the Molten Worm¡¯s HP dropped to nothing! Pu! As the final strike killed the Molten Worm, it died and gave me just enough experience to level up to 253. The amount of experience required to level up after Level 250 could make a weak-willed person streak on the streets to vent their frustration, but I didn¡¯t face such problems because the Purgatory was overrun with powerful mobs. This place would be a good place to grind if it wasn¡¯t so easy to die here. Pop! The Molten Worm dropped a couple of magic stones and even a Divine Crystal. Usually, a miniboss wouldn¡¯t drop something this good. It was probably because of my 139 Luck. I picked up the Divine Crystal and noted that it was of 87 Quality. It couldn¡¯t be used as a material to attempt an ascension, but it could be sold for 87k RMB. Naturally, I tossed it into my bag. Finally, it dropped a red card that made me smile wide. Now this is what I call an HP card¡ª Molten Worm Card: Increases user¡¯s HP by 300%, but reduces Attack by 20% and HP regeneration speed by 50%. Duration: 240 minutes. Level Requirement: 235. ¡­¡­ Although it was the best HP card I had seen yet, it had the unfortunate trait of lowering one¡¯s Attack. In the end, I decided that I would stick with the Ash General Card. The 135% Attack boost was just too good to give up. That being said, the cards weren¡¯t bad at all. I threw them into my bag and made a mental note to pass them to non-technician players such as High Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang and Du Thirteen later. The card lowered their Attack but would give them nearly 3 million max HP. It would make them very difficult to kill. We continued forward. I fought at melee, and Uldan from ranged. Moreover, Uldan was an extremely smart NPC. She knew not to attack when the mob¡¯s HP had fallen below 10% so that I could receive the experience and loot rights. Four hours passed by in the blink of an eye. I supposed that it was almost like a standard grinding session. Hundreds of Molten Worms died by our hands as we made our way toward the heart of the map, and my experience had jumped from Level 253 0% to 71%. At this rate, I should be able to hit Level 254 before the day was over. It was never a bad idea to climb to a higher-level because it offered all kinds of benefits such as diminishing a lower level opponent¡¯s Attack, increasing one¡¯s dodge rate and so on. Also, the main cities should¡¯ve been recovered by the time I exited the Purgatory. This level advantage would be very useful when the other servers finally began their revenge in earnest. The Northern Alliance, India server and Japan server had every reason to hate us, be it for the contest at the outer lands or the killings at the Sainthelm Ruins. Moreover, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, Breeze and Rain, God of War and more weren¡¯t the type of person to sit still and do nothing while the Center continued to grow stronger by the day, not to mention that six of the Twelve Divine Armaments were in our hands. Even if they didn¡¯t have vengeance in mind, they would still attack us to rob us of our equipment. ¡­¡­ Crackle! Crackle! Electricity crackled beneath our boots. There was a massive pit of lightning about a hundred meters away from us. It was similar to the pits created by Thunder¡¯s Thunder Abyss, but this one was obviously even deeper and more unfathomable. Moreover, an incredible power was hibernating at the center almost as if it was waiting for Uldan and I to go to it. "Uldan, you fought against the ardian of this floor before, right? Why don¡¯t you be a dear and bring it over¡­" I suggested a bit uncertainly. Uldan rolled her eyes at me before giving me a push. "No way. You do it¡­" Crack crack crack¡­ The Xuanyuan Sword in my grip, I carefully stepped toward the lightning abyss while my boots crunched against burning hot rocks, and my Cloak of Divine Fervor flapped against the wind. I was about to reach the edge of the pit when a black shadow abruptly jumped out from it! Swhoosh! I took a step backward just in time to dodge a scythe-like pincer that would¡¯ve sliced through my nose. It cut into the molten rock as easily as a knife would cut through tofu. "Motherfucker! There is a giant monster in the pit!" I immediately beat a hasty retreat. There was no way I was dying here especially considering how cruel the death penalty of the Purgatory was. I had no intention of losing 20 levels and most of my equipment. 1. T/N: Those dragons must be pretty shit then ? Favorite CH 1470 Pu pu pu¡­ Three huge pincers cut into the ground as the giant beast slowly hauled itself out of the lightning pit. As it stared at me with its merciless gray eye, I¡ªwait, there¡¯s two, three, four, five¡­ What the heck? Why does it have so many eyes!? Whoosh! The giant beast leaped into the air and pulled out all four of its forepincers at the same time. Then, it attempted to flatten me like a pancake with its body. It was intimidating for sure, but it wasn¡¯t fast enough to catch me. Energy rippled strongly across the air as I flew out of harm¡¯s way. While backing away, I observed the massive boss and noticed that it was covered in a thick shell like a crab, but had so many legs that it reminded me of a spider. Worse, there were eyes all over its body. Roughly speaking, the boss had at least a hundred eyes. It was a super crab king with literally no blind spots whatsoever! It took a couple of attempts, but I was ultimately able to scan the boss''s stats¡ª Death Weaver Trella (Quasi-Divine Rank Boss) Level: 326 Attack: 75,000~102,000 Defense: 130,000 HP: 1,100,000,000 Skills: Crush, Web of Death, Four Blade Slash, Infinite Spawn Introduction: Trella is an ancient beast whose origin is a complete enigma. In ancient times, during the chaotic war between the gods and the devils, Trella awakened from its long slumber, tore apart the mountain ranges it resided in, and devoured the Divinity of 7 Divine Rank experts in a row. After it gained a Divinity by force and succumbed to darkness, it grew increasingly violent to the point where it fed on human flesh every day. Its name struck fear in both gods and devils, and it became a spokesperson of death itself. Legend says that no one can escape the Web of Death weaved by Trella. ¡­¡­ "Heavens. Speak of the Quasi-Divine Rank boss, and it shall appear¡­" Cold sweat covered my forehead, and my sword hand was shaking a little. I was afraid, but also excited. If I managed to kill it, there was a good chance it would drop even one of the Twelve. The Twelve Divine Armaments was the most desired equipment in the entire world because it was the symbol of absolute power. Ghost Armaments were broken in their own right, but they were ultimately just support equipment. If your pursuit was absolute power, then you must chase after one of the Twelve! "What do we do, Uldan?" I asked. Uldan took a single step backward and flew about a hundred meters away from me. Then, she said, "You¡¯re the one who wants to fight it, so I leave the main assault to you and support you from range¡­" "Fine¡­" Well, there was nothing else to do except to fight. I said while giving the Xuanyuan Sword a shake and charging toward a big ass spider from the flank, "Time for some spider soup, I guess¡­" Uldan winced visibly. "Count me out of it." Swhoosh! When I was right next to the boss''s body, I abruptly stopped in my tracks and stabbed it with Purple Frost Concentration. It would be painful to fight it without reducing it 130k Defense! Crack! The Xuanyuan Sword easily pierced the boss''s shell and elicited a painful howl from it. A purple sheen enveloped its whole body and reduced its Defense by 29.1%, leaving it with only 100k Defense or so. "Roar roar¡­" The boss turned to face me with unnatural speed and let out a furious roar. Then, it swung two of its right limbs at me and left a pair of deep gashes across my Cyan Dragon Shield. My arm turned numb as a huge chunk of HP departed my health bar. The bastard¡¯s Attack was just too high! 712,727! 628,382! Thank goodness the Cloak of Divine Fervor reduced my damage received by 50%, or this double attack alone might have killed me already. My Domain power rippled as I backed a dozen or so steps away from the boss. Then, I rushed it again with my most damaging combo, Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break! Boom boom boom¡­ The boss screeched as a bunch of damage numbers rose above its head. Ever since I got the Xuanyuan Sword, my Attack could only be described as powerful¡ª 442,743! 531,872! 612,671! 672,880! ¡­¡­ After regaining most of my lost HP, I took a moment to summon the Phantom Wolf King and the apparition to help me! "Watch out!" Suddenly, Uldan called out to me from behind. My heart sank. Something bad must be about to happen for Uldan to cry out a warning! As I thought, the giant spider abruptly paused in its tracks. A mouth with countless sharp teeth opened from the darkest part of its body and glowed red for an instant. The next moment, a gigantic red web was spat right at me! I wasn¡¯t expecting this at all, so I could only fire a sword aura at the giant web in hopes of shredding it completely. However, the attack failed to do anything, and I was completely caught in the web. Countless black balls were attached to the web, and they were heavy enough to prevent me from struggling free! Beep! Combat Log: You have been hit by the skill "Web of Death." For 7 seconds, you cannot move or attack, and you will lose 5% HP per second! ¡­¡­ So this is how the Web of Death works. This is bad¡­ I hurriedly activated my Cyan Dragon Scale and Battle Astral Wind. The moment a predator locked down its prey, it would immediately attempt to kill it dead. It was just basic common sense. I took control of the Phantom Wolf King and the apparition to stall the spider as much as I could. Uldan was also shooting from range to relieve some pressure. "Roar roar¡­" The giant spider skittered toward me like a walking fortress before swinging its four giant forelimbs in rapid succession. They easily cut through my apparition and deleted it from existence! It was the skill Four Blade Slash! 1,137,772! 1,421,663! 1,825,142! 2,103,989! My apparition had over 5.5 million HP, but it still couldn¡¯t survive the skill. Without Ghost Deity Shield and Battle Astral Wind, my apparition was as weak as tofu! Behind me, Uldan suddenly closed her eyes and summoned a bunch of magical runes around her. While drawing her bow, she chanted, "Slumber spirits of the dark, heed my command and submit those evil souls to my will¡ªBewitch!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Several rays of bloody light flew away from her and into the nearby Molten Worms. Then, they abruptly turned toward the boss and sprayed it with their venomous spit. It was some sort of bewitching spell! The big spider roared and swung its scythe-like blades at them, dealing nearly 7 million damage in one hit. It literally cut through the Molten Worms like they were vegetables, except that these vegetables squirted disgusting fluid when they died. Ugh, it was disgusting. Uldan¡¯s timely assist bought me a couple of precious seconds, however. By the time the boss finally reached me, there were only 1.7 seconds left on the clock. I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and did my best to receive its attacks! Chiang chiang chiang¡­ The boss hit me three times in total. The first one was nullified by Battle Astral Wind, but the second and third strike hit me squarely. I rolled out of the way immediately after the Web of Death disappeared. The Web of Death¡¯s continuous damage and the scythe strikes had deleted nearly 4 million HP from my health bar. It was absolutely brutal! The burning pain of pressing my hands against the molten rock was nothing compared to the boss''s scythe strikes. I launched myself backward with all four limbs just in time to see it being torn to shreds by the boss''s scythes. In midair, I activated Tenacity of the Dead and Dragon Bloodboil to heal myself before downing a Rank 14 Snow Frog Agent. Finally, I rushed toward the boss''s flank once more and, thanks to my superior speed, landed Universe Break + Burning Blade Slash combo without retaliation. It was also around this moment my Phantom Wolf King finally took a death blow from the boss and died. Still, it only died after the fifth hit, it was way tankier than my apparition for sure! ¡­¡­ I raised my head a little and observed the boss''s movements carefully. There was about 200 milliseconds of delay every time it raised a bladed limb or two to attack me. It was enough of a tell for me to dash out of the way and dodge as many of the boss''s attacks as possible. Pa! I fired a God Binding Art that resulted in a merciless miss. Undeterred, I dashed backward while executing Coiling Dragon Revolution + Ancient Seal + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo that deleted much of the boss''s HP. Unfortunately, the big spider had too much HP and HP regeneration. Even with Uldan¡¯s assistance, this was going to be a long, long battle! Swhoosh¡­ The boss lifted its body and opened its giant maw once more. I didn¡¯t take evasive action immediately because the boss could just adjust its aim and catch me. Instead, I waited until the instant the Web of Death exited the boss''s mouth. My breathing stopped, and my heart pounded loudly against my chest. I abruptly sped up and dashed out of the way! Swhoosh! However, my body shook unnaturally, and the Web of Death caught me yet again. What the hell? Did I make an error or something?! I was shocked, but there was no time to think. Already, the boss was skittering toward me and preparing to deliver the final blow with Four Blade Slash. Is this how I¡¯m going to die in the Purgatory?! I hurriedly raised my shield and activated Battle Astral Wind. It was the best defense I had against the boss! Chiang chiang chiang¡­ A series of eruptions rocked my body and deleted my HP like crazy. This boss''s Attack was seriously brutal! 442,873! 491,726! 531,621! 612,837! That was almost 50% of my HP gone just like that. Not only that, the boss shamelessly raised its huge ass head and headbutted me whole! Was this how the "Crush" skill worked? Ow¡­ 1,126,723! My HP hit nearly rock bottom in no time, but the boss wasn¡¯t stopping anytime soon. Both Tenacity of the Dead and Dragon Bloodboil were in cooldown, so I couldn¡¯t heal myself either. Left with only one choice, I cast the Life skill of the Xuanyuan Art! Swhoosh! +3,917,462! That was 70% HP back into my health bar. Now I can¡ª Before I even finished gloating, the damn spider used yet another ability. It spat me a green, poisonous fluid and inflicted me with the Poisoned status condition. Oh no¡­ My HP dropped to 400k or so yet again. One hit would be enough to kill me! My heart turned as cold as ice as I attempted to rescue myself by swinging my sword. However, it was impossible to attack while Web of Death was still in effect, meaning that I couldn¡¯t lifesteal any HP from the boss. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a beautiful figure slammed into the boss and knocked it off balance. It was Uldan coming to my rescue yet again. She truly was a kindhearted girl¡­ However, the boss retaliated by favoring her with another Web of Death. Uldan let out a painful groan and fell to the ground, unable to move even an inch. As expected of the guardian boss of the third floor of the Purgatory, not even a Divine Rank boss was able to avoid its web¡­ The moment the Web of Death on my person disappeared, I dashed past the boss like a lightning boss, turned around, and stole back around 1.5 million HP or so. Another Rank 14 Snow Frog Agent later, I just barely escaped the brink of death. ¡­¡­ Something wasn¡¯t right about this, however. I was sure I had dodged out of the way, so how did it still hit me? I was using Fusion Armor too, and I could declare with certainty that I had more than enough movement speed to dodge it. I replayed the battle in my mind until realization struck me. It was the boss''s power of Domain! It had to be! Favorite CH 1471 It had to be the case. If things had gone exactly as I had planned, I would¡¯ve taken evasive action 0.2 seconds before the boss executed its skill. In reality, I was stalled for an instant right as I was about to make my move, and that was enough to change the outcome of that exchange and nearly the entire battle completely. Long story short, the Death Weaver unleashed its Domain power to manipulate my movement right before it was about to make a move. The boss''s AI was seriously impressive! My confidence grew immediately. Now that I had figured out the enemy¡¯s tactic, all I needed to do was to counter it. In this case, I planned to use my own Domain power to affect its movement. We were all gods here, so there was no reason for this to be a one-sided affair. ¡­¡­ I fanned the fire with even more fire by attacking the boss non-stop. Very soon, I had regained 80% HP, and Uldan had escaped the shackles of the Web of Death as well. She resumed shooting her arrows at the boss, but not only was her attack pattern limited from range, her DPS was a tad lower than mine. The main offense of this boss fight was still me. Swhoosh! I leaped off the ground and flew toward the boss right now. I was very quickly growing more and more familiar with aerial combat thanks to the sheer amount of battles I had fought up until this point. In fact, barring the Web of Death, the boss was completely powerless to do anything against me. "Roar roar¡­" The scythe limbs landed on the ground, and the boss lifted its body once more. It¡¯s about to use its Web of Death again! I held my breath, watched the boss closely, and ran down a timer in my mind. 0.4 seconds before the skill was executed, I abruptly summoned a giant icicle with my Domain and smashed it against the boss''s head. It barely dealt any damage at all, but that didn¡¯t matter. All I needed it to do was to interrupt the boss before it could slow me with its own Domain, and it did! Rustle! I exploded into motion, and the Web of Death landed harmlessly behind me and resulted in a MISS! I was delighted at the success as a matter of course. Since the experiment was a success, I simply needed to repeat it until the boss was dead. So long as the boss''s Web of Death couldn¡¯t hit me, this battle was as good as won! ¡­¡­ At the distance, Uldan even let out a whoop of excitement, "Well done!" I thought it was very well done myself. And so the boss fight continued with me flying all over the place while using various skills to interrupt the boss''s rhythm. However, even after I had the boss figured out, it still took 80 long minutes to finally bring it down to 10% HP. Instead of letting my guard down, I heightened it even further. The boss should be using its ultimate skill any moment. I wonder what this Infinite Spawn skill is like¡­ I wasn¡¯t disappointed. The moment the boss''s HP dropped to 9%, its lower half suddenly began trembling wildly, and its two pincers were raised into the air. The next moment, a most disgusting thing occurred: it was giving birth to thousands and thousands of tiny spiders! Worse still, every single one of them was a Level 326 Ancient Immortal Rank miniboss! They only had 5 million HP or so, however¡­ Maybe this was a good chance to grind even more experience? I dismissed the idea almost as soon as I thought of it. Low HP or not, only an idiot would try to grind thousands and thousands of minibosses with nearly 100k Attack¡­ I opened my palm and executed three of my AoE skills¡ªMyriad Swords Obliteration + Summon the Storm + Ancient Seal! The mini spiders screeched in pain but survived the combo. I wasn¡¯t expecting that. There was no time to think, so I activated Heavenly River Transformation and summoned my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Xuanyuan Slash! Boom! Everything dissolved into dust before my super skill. My experience bar also skyrocketed to 97%! I needed to stop the mama spider from birthing more baby spiders though. Otherwise, Uldan and I were sure to be overwhelmed! I rushed forward and gathered the power of Magic Piercing Punch in my left fist. Be destroyed, Infinite Spawn! Bang! MISS! Unfortunately, it missed. The skill¡¯s visual effect was pretty, but its actual effect absolutely wasn¡¯t. The mama spider was still birthing babies, and if I read the channel bar correctly it was going to continue for 60 seconds. By the time it was done, Uldan and I might as well have been lying on the ground and waiting for death to claim us¡­ I still had a trump card to use, however. Once again, I gathered my strength and used¡ªMad God Lunge! It was a skill with a 100% success rate even against bosses[1]! Thud thud thud¡­ This time, the Death Weaver¡¯s staggered a few steps backward and, most importantly, its ultimate skill was disrupted. Humiliated and enraged, it retaliated with a devastating Four Blade Slash even as its baby spiders nipped at me with their teeth. My HP hit rock bottom in no time at all. I needed to act now! I used War Crush and stole an incredible amount of HP. Then, I moved backward and struck the spiders with Burning Blade Slash! The crisscrossing blades of doom annihilated the baby spiders and turned them into experience. At the same time, a column of golden light increased my level to 254 and healed me to perfect condition. Oh yeah! ¡­¡­ The Death Weaver let out a defeated wail before swinging its scythes at me as quickly as it could. After even its ultimate skill had failed to kill me, it had finally decided to discard its pride and go all out against me. It was too late. I had already figured out all of its secrets, and I had a counter to everything it threw at me. Whatever shot it had at victory was already lost forever. It was only a matter of time before it died. It didn¡¯t go down quickly, however. Another 10 minutes passed by in the blink of an eye, and I decided that I didn¡¯t even want to summon the Phantom Wolf King to assist me any more. With its constitution, all it achieved was a level loss in face of the attacks of a Divine Rank boss¡­ 4% HP! 3% HP! 2% HP! As the boss''s HP dropped little by little, my heart crawled up to my throat. Come on, give me one of the Twelve Divine Armaments! Help me annihilate all opposition and dominate the world! Come on! I swung my weapon one last time and triggered its septuple-damage effect. It was done! Swhoosh! My level jumped to 255. It was a height no one had ever reached besides me. However, even that achievement mattered little compared to the loot the boss dropped for me. Show me something that will make my heart race, baby! ¡­¡­ I kicked the boss''s body out of the way and stared at the pile of shinies. Or at least I tried to. Bang! All I managed to do was to sprain my own ankle. Even in death, the boss was way too heavy for me to kick out of the way¡­ Left with no choice, I dug a small passage below the boss''s body with the Xuanyuan Sword. It was at the center where I finally found a pile of shiny loot. OMG! It dropped 9 Divine Crystals in one go? This Quasi-Divine Rank boss was just too good! I narrowed my eyes to inspect them. Four of them were between 77 to 99 Quality, and the other 5 were a perfect 100. According to the forums, the current price of Perfect Divine Crystals was over 300k RMB, so this haul was 100% a jackpot. Obviously, I was going to save these Divine Crystals for Eve or Yiyi. A player who became god both gained a massive amount of hidden stats and the ability to fly. They were literally and practically gods on the battlefield. It would be well worth the investment if they completed their ascension successfully! I put the 9 Divine Crystals into my bag before checking out the equipment. The boss had dropped 4 pieces of equipment in total, and the stats of three of them¡ª Trella¡¯s Helmet (Ancient Immortal-grade Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Increases user¡¯s base Attack by 2,000, and increases all stats by 2%. Level Requirement: 240. Reputation Requirement: 2,000,000. Trella¡¯s Chest Armor (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Increases user¡¯s base Attack by 2,500, and increases all stats by 3%. Level Requirement: 240. Reputation Requirement: 2,000,000. Trella¡¯s War Boots (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): Increases user¡¯s base Attack by 2,200, and increases all stats by 2%. Level Requirement: 240, Reputation Requirement: 2,000,000. ¡­¡­ All three pieces were incredibly good in their own right, but they were also an equipment set. Unfortunately, the boss only dropped three of the pieces, and I absolutely wasn¡¯t going to hang around until Trella respawned so I could kill it again. Even so, the three pieces increased all of the user¡¯s stats by 7% and 6.7k base Attack in total. Even in its incomplete state, it was absolutely a god-tier equipment set at the current stage of the game! Once more, I put the items into my bag. The equipment set was suitable for offensive-type players, meaning that He Yi, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and more could use this. ¡­¡­ The fourth drop was what I looked forward to the most. It was a pair of pitch black boots with fiery runes floating around it. An ancient totem was engraved to the metal, and when I touched it, an incredible amount of energy surged into my body. I waved my hand, brought up its stat screen, and felt my heart race exactly as I hoped it would¡ª Rising Cloud (Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 24,500 Magic Resist: 22,000 Strength: +3,450 Stamina: +3,300 Intelligence: +3,270 Agility: +3,150 Tactics: +275 Passive: Increases user¡¯s movement speed by 370% Passive: Increases user¡¯s physical attack power by 115%, and all resistances by 150% Ghost Armament: Profound Armor. Upon activation, user¡¯s Defense is increased by 300%. Cannot be mitigated by armor penetration effects. Duration: 15 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds. Outstanding Property: Rising Cloud Art. When flying, overall speed is increased by 100%. The effect is canceled in combat. Slots: 18 Level Requirement: 250 Reputation Requirement: 3,000,000 Luck Requirement: 40 Class Requirement: Warrior[2] ¡­¡­ I literally teared up when I saw the Ghost Armament effect. The mama spider was a bro after all. It might not have given me what I asked for, but this support equipment was practically as good as one¡­ Not only did the Profound Armor increase Defense by 300%, I couldn¡¯t be affected by any armor penetration. This meant that anything with "ignore x% Defense" was completely useless during its 15 seconds. Not only that, they would have to face the full, impenetrable might of my 300% Defense. It was absolutely OP! Without hesitation, I switched out my existing boots and put on the Rising Cloud. As I thought, my decision to kill the giant beast was the right one after all. Even if I had gone with Uldan¡¯s plan to sidestep the boss, we still would¡¯ve had to fight it because it was hiding inside the bottomless lightning abyss; the one and only entrance that led to the fourth floor! ¡­¡­ After that, I dumped everything else the Death Weaver had dropped, be it good or bad, into my bag. I could sort them slowly after I¡¯ve returned to the city. Right now, the first priority was still getting to the seventh floor and finding Xinran. After I crawled out of the boss''s body and patted away the soot on my face and armor, I said to Uldan, "Let¡¯s go to the fourth floor now." However, Uldan asked with a slightly sickly complexion, "Is it okay if I¡­ take a break?" I asked concernedly, "What¡¯s wrong?" She sighed. "You saw me using the power of bewitchment earlier, right? It took a lot out of me, not to mention that I had lost too much divine power already during my thousands of years of torture¡­ I need to recuperate a little, or I¡¯m definitely going to drag your feet later!" I looked back and forth between the sky and the lightning abyss. Then I nodded and said, "Sure. I¡¯ll go kill the worm clouds while you catch a break. Just tell me when you¡¯re ready¡­" "Okay. Be careful¡­" "Don¡¯t worry. As you know, I¡¯m pretty powerful¡­" ¡­¡­ To be honest, I was okay with this arrangement. I had been eyeing the thick worm cloud also known as flying bags of experience for a while anyway, so I might as well try to grind to Level 256 while Uldan was resting. The higher my level, the greater our chance of rescuing Xinran. 1. E/N: Lu Chen is supposed to be a god gamer but doesn¡¯t Mad Lunge whenever it¡¯s needed. That¡¯s a sin. And then when he finally realizes he¡¯s been dumb this whole time, he tries to pass common sense off as his genius! ? 2. T/N: or fighter? I can¡¯t tell because he added a ϵ at the back, which makes it general. I think it¡¯s fighter ? CH 1472 Before I went up to grind the worm clouds, I checked my equipment durability and found it to be in better condition than expected. The Xuanyuan Sword sat at 17% durability, and the Guardian Dragon Armor and Cyan Dragon Shield at below 5% durability because they had suffered the most abuse. Everything else was between 10% to 20% as well. I was going to enter the fourth floor of the Purgatory anyway, so I might as well repair them now. I took out a couple of Magic Repair Oils and used them on my weapon, helmet, chest armor, necklace, wristguard, legguards, boots and cloak. The only thing I didn¡¯t repair was my ring because it still had over 50% durability. Rings generally wore out much slower compared to the other items. ¡­¡­ After I was ready, I looked at the bloody cloud that was really millions and millions of Level 324 Laiquitoes. Their numbers were absolutely insane, but they were only dread-rank mobs, and they only had 1 million HP. With my DPS, I should be able to take them out in just two strikes. Moreover, they were so tiny and densely packed that the Xuanyuan Sword could hit hundreds and thousands of them in one swing. Right now, it was the perfect target for me to grind experience! I bent my knees a bit before pushing myself off the ground. Like a loose arrow, I shot into the cloud and stopped right in the middle of the Laiquitoes. The moment they sensed my presence, they immediately surrounded me and bit me like crazy. I lost nearly 25% HP in just an instant, and just two seconds later my HP had fallen below 50%! In this case, no amount of healing would be enough to offset the damage. The only way to survive this was with the 50% lifesteal of my Xuanyuan Sword! Whoosh! My sword became wreathed in deadly flames as I shredded the bloody cloud with three fiery swings. At least a thousand Laiquitoes died to my Burning Blade Slash and increased my experience by 0.1%. Hell yeah! I swung my sword left and right as I floated in the sky. Laiquitoes both close and far kept swarming toward me. Since the Ancient Divine Dragon buffed my stats, and Unusual Physique mitigated much of the damage I would¡¯ve received otherwise, I was in a sense completely untouchable by these Purgatory-style mosquitos. That I could fire sword auras was a very welcome bonus as well. On a related note, every time I swung my sword and killed a bunch of Laiquitoes, they would erupt into countless magic stones and equipment. It wasn¡¯t long before the ground beneath me became a hill of equipment and magic stones. They failed to distract me in the slightest, however. The best loot I saw was only Earth-grade, and dread-rank mobs couldn¡¯t drop Divine Crystals. Therefore, the hill of loot might as well be a hill of trash. My experience jumped very quickly. Just one and a half hours later, a column of golden light surrounded me and increased my level to 256. If the other first-rate experts knew how fast I was leveling, I bet they would be tempted to delete their accounts. The massive experience income wasn¡¯t without its cost, however. At some point, the durability of all of my equipment fell below 10% and forced me to return to the ground and repair it with my Magic Repair Oils. While doing so, I checked out Uldan and saw her still closing her eyes and leaning sleepily against my tent. It looked like she wasn¡¯t getting up soon, so I returned to the sky and aimed for Level 257 next! Another two hours later, my level jumped to 257. Extremely pleased with this result, I returned to the ground and repaired my equipment once more! ¡­¡­ "Hmm¡­ how long have I been resting?" Finally, Uldan opened her eyes and favored me with a smile. Her beautiful eyes had regained their usual spirit as well. I thought for a second before answering, "Not too long. It¡¯s only been half a day or so." "In that case, shall we continue into the fourth floor of the Purgatory, the Soulless Realm?" "Of course!" ¡­¡­ I took the lead and jumped into the lightning abyss first. From my point of view, the hole truly looked like a black hole without an end. Heaven knows how deep it was because not even my Dark Pupils was powerful enough to see the bottom. "Let¡¯s go!" Uldan said. I immediately sped up to the point where the Cloak of Divine Fervor flapped wildly behind me. After Uldan caught up to me, she narrowed her eyes and warned, "This lightning abyss is a spatial rift torn open using the power of the Purgatory. We may encounter many unexpected things in this place, so be ready to deal with anything!" "Understood!" I immediately unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and summoned the Cyan Dragon Shield on my left arm. Less than a minute of flight later, a fiery red light suddenly filled my vision! It was not the exit! Uldan summoned a black shield of her own before warning, "Watch out! It¡¯s the Nether Flame!" "Hmm!?" I activated the Battle Astral Wind but discovered that more eldritch flames were flying our way. Without hesitation, I fired a huge number of sword auras at them and dispersed them all. However, there were simply too many of them, and at least a dozen or so Nether Flames slipped through my web of firepower and hit my armor. After my Battle Astral Wind dispersed, I began taking massive amounts of damage¡ª 316,726! 312,388! 322,839! ¡­¡­ Every hit dealt around 300k damage or so. I was losing HP rapidly, and Uldan wasn¡¯t faring much better either. At some point, I couldn¡¯t delay my emergency measure any longer and had to cast the Life skill of my Xuanyuan Art, healing both me and Uldan by 70% HP. Both of us instantly returned back to full health. Whoosh! Suddenly, my vision cleared, and the Nether Flame swarm was behind us. I looked behind our backs in trepidation while swearing, "Motherfucker! What the hell are those things? They¡¯re so powerful!" Uldan answered with a smile, "The Nether Flames are spirits that reside between the cracks between planes. They are bodies of energy that aren¡¯t truly alive, but will attack anyone and anything that gets close to it. It was the most common enemy a divine expert will face while cultivating in the outer worlds. Of course, a great number of them had succumbed to the Nether Flames and became naught but a pile of ashes." I sucked in a deep breath. Once again, I was taught the lesson that the entire Purgatory was a super death trap. I would¡¯ve died countless times already if I didn¡¯t have the Cloak of Divine Fervor to reduce my damage received by 50%! Ten minutes of flight later, a blood-red barrier finally appeared before our eyes. After we passed through it, the scorching heat of the third floor was replaced by a terrible cold that made me sneeze immediately. I tightened my grip around the Xuanyuan Sword while complaining, "What the hell? Why is it so cold?" I looked around me. The fourth floor of the Purgatory was a world of ice and snow, and we were floating right on top of it. The fiery red barrier behind us clearly didn¡¯t belong to this world. It was probably the teleportation gate to the third floor. ¡­¡­ Uldan explained while staring at the world of ice and snow before us, "The Soulless Realm is a lawless world without order. Undead experts who managed to pass through the third floor often fought each other to the death. Whoever survived until the end would become the king of the Soulless Realm. Since everyone who resides here is a super powerful undead, not even Lin Na can be bothered to manage this realm. As for who is the current king of the Soulless Realm, I don¡¯t know. My information is very outdated¡­" I smiled. "Who cares? We¡¯re here not to become the king of the Soulless Realm, but to head down to the next floor and find Xinran. Therefore, the real question is where is the entrance to the fifth floor?" Uldan nodded and pointed in a certain direction. "There is a place called ¡®Ice Phoenix Palace¡¯ about fifty kilometers from here. The ice phoenix used to be the symbol of immortality and the divine beast of the Purgatory, and the Ice Phoenix Palace is built atop a spatial rift. If we wish to enter the fifth floor, then we must go through the Ice Phoenix Palace first." "Let me guess, the Ice Phoenix Palace is guarded by a lot of guards and powerful undead, right?" "It is the palace of the king of the Soulless Realm after all. In fact, a lot may not be an adequate description¡­" Uldan confirmed my suspicions. I shrugged. "Well, whatever. Let¡¯s go!" I immediately took off toward the direction she pointed. A chuckle later, Uldan also followed behind me. She might be wary of the guardians of the Ice Phoenix Palace, but I wasn¡¯t. Right now, all I wanted to do was to reach the seventh floor of the Purgatory as soon as possible, find Xinran, and rescue her from this terrible hell. ¡­¡­ About an hour later, I finally saw a magnificent palace of ice and snow on the horizon. It was honestly more like a castle than it was a fortress, and I could see a lot of high-level undead knights patrolling the castle grounds. There were also scepter-wielding harpies patrolling the air. At first glance, it looked like the Ice Phoenix Palace was extremely well guarded. Thud! Uldan abruptly caught my wrist and said, "We can¡¯t go any further. These harpies are psychic creatures; every guardian in the castle will notice our existence if we attack them. Our best plan of entry is to continue on the ground, fight our way into the Ice Phoenix Palace, and slip through the spatial rift before anyone can stop us!" She looked up at the sky and smiled. "Luckily for us, it¡¯s the middle of winter right now. The snowstorm will provide us the cover we need. If we kill every ground enemy we encounter, no one will notice us even if we go deep into the Ice Phoenix Palace." "Oh yeah, I love killing all my enemies dead¡­" Uldan: "..." ¡­¡­ I looked around after we landed one after another. Despite the very very conspicuous reddish orange color of my Cloak of Divine Fervor, the snowstorm was thick enough that barely anyone more than three meters away from me could spot me. However, my Dark Pupils gave me near perfect detection of everything. I pointed to the front and said, "There is a scout cavalry squad about 80 yards directly ahead of us. They are 10 Level 326 Ancient Immortal Rank minibosses, Hunters. They are a cavalry unit that wields short blades." Uldan smirked. "Ah, I know these Hunters. They are the ace legion of the Purgatory. They are so valuable that even Thunder couldn¡¯t bear to use them when he was sieging Vanished God City, and the king would make them the guards of his castle? What a waste¡­" I shrugged. "Anyway, I¡¯m going to draw the Hunters over now. The plan is to kill them one by one while stalling the others as long as possible. Er, just shoot whoever I am attacking at the time. Can you do it?" To be honest, I was afraid that Uldan would reject my idea. After all, any unpredictable element could potentially lead to a wipe. Thankfully, Uldan nodded obediently and said, "I¡¯ll do whatever you ask me to!" CH 1473 Shadowy figures slowly emerged from behind the curtain of ice and snow. It was a troop of cavalrymen. The snowstorm was too strong for them to move faster than a trot, but I could still sense the sharp danger emanating from their blades even from ten meters away. It made sense that the Hunters would be pretty strong considering that they were the soldiers of the fourth floor of the Purgatory. The stat screen I captured with Dark Pupils proved that as well¡ª Hunter (Ancient Immortal Rank Miniboss) Level: 326 Attack: 71,000~84,000 Defense: 90,000 HP: 55,000,000 Skills: Swift and Violent, Peerless Strike, Rapid Mode Switch Introduction: An infamous bunch of huntsmen who hunt their prey with their sharp blades. The core of the undead legion, they are natural born killers with extremely high speed and powerful attacks. After they successfully tamed the Undead Warhorses, they became even stronger and mastered the secrets of Rapid Mode Switch. They can change between offensive and defensive mode in a flash and catch their enemies off-guard. ¡­¡­ Licking my slightly dry lips and gripping the Xuanyuan Sword tightly, I said in a low voice, "They are as powerful as expected. I¡¯m going, Uldan. Please save me if I¡¯m in danger¡­" Uldan nodded. "Mn, don¡¯t worry!" I aimed my palm at the troop of cavalrymen. Ten targets were too much for the two of us to handle, so my plan was to immobilize one of them with the God Binding Art. Swhoosh! The God Binding Art easily caught the foremost Hunter and immobilized him, causing the other 9 Hunters to fly into a rage and gallop straight toward me. They shouted, "Enemy invasion! Enemy invasion! No one, not even a god, is allowed to enter the fourth floor of the Purgatory! You must die! You must be cut into many pieces!" I moved backward while dropping a bunch of Icy Cyclone Domains on the ground to lower the bastards¡¯ movement speed. If they were faster than me, then I wouldn¡¯t be able to block and defeat them one by one. Bloody runes rose from their mounts¡¯ hooves when the Hunters emerged from behind the curtain of snow. It was the Swift and Violent skill, and it greatly increased their attack and movement speed. How troublesome! "Die, boy!" Blue flames appeared on three Hunters¡¯ blades as they attacked me at the same time. It was none other than their second skill, Peerless Strike. They hit my shield and triggered three very impressive damage numbers! 352,718! 341,672! 313,277! Still back away, I launched a phantom dragon at the nearest Hunter and disarmed him. However, the bastard didn¡¯t even slow for a moment as he proceeded to punch me in the throat for 80k damage. "Motherfucker! Do you think I¡¯m weak because I¡¯m not retaliating yet!?" Flames erupted around the Xuanyuan Sword as I fired Burning Blade Slash at the offending Hunter. However, he noticed the danger in time and immediately summoned a bloody shield to protect himself. At the same time, the words "Rapid Mode Switch" rose above his head. My skill struck his shield squarely and only dealt less than 1 million HP. How OP is this AI?! There was an easy way to counter this though. Crushing Blow! 1,212,773! Very good. The guy¡¯s AI was good, but not that good! The Hunter wasn¡¯t alone, however. Some of his companions attacked me and deleted my HP rapidly while I was busy dealing with the guy. Knowing that I couldn¡¯t allow this to continue, I moved back again and fired a long-range Thousand Ice Slash to stop them. It was then I noticed that the mobs used Rapid Mode Switch only when the offensive skill was executed within 5 yards of them. In other words, all I needed to do was to cast my skill from beyond that range, and they wouldn¡¯t be able to respond to it! Now that I had figured out the trick, I activated Cold of the Nine Provinces to freeze all 9 Hunters at the cost of 3 million HP or so. After I moved about ten yards away from them, I unleashed Burning Blade Slash and dealt massive amounts of damage. Not only that, my second hit triggered the septuple damage effect, so that was 5 million damage even before counting the splash damage. At the distance, Uldan loosed multiple arrows in a cone shape at the Hunters, hitting them five times in a row and greatly damaging them. Now that I knew how to fight them, the Hunters couldn¡¯t threaten me anymore. No matter how powerful their Peerless Strike was, it wasn¡¯t enough to one-shot me through my Unusual Physique. In that case, I would always emerge the victor. In a protracted battle, I could never lose with my 50% lifesteal~ It took less than two minutes for two of the Hunters to drop to almost no health. This was also a chance to drop some amazing loot. They were Ancient Immortal Rank minibosses, so there was a chance they might drop a Divine Armament, right? With my Luck, the chance certainly wasn¡¯t zero¡­ My sword fell, and both Hunters died and dropped a small pile of items. While the Phantom Wolf King was covering for me, I threw all the items into my bag and gave them a quick look. They dropped three disappointing pieces of Heaven-grade equipment and¡­ Hunter Card: Increases user''s Attack by 170%, max HP by 200%, and parry success rate by 20%. Duration: 300 minutes. Level Requirement: 250. Luck Requirement: 75. Cost: 1,000 gold per use! ¡­¡­ Damn, this is awesome. This was without a doubt the strongest card I had ever seen since I joined Heavenblessed. It was stronger than even the cards dropped by proper bosses. Both the 170% Attack boost and 200% HP boost were godly stats already, and I could hardly believe that they were allowed to exist in the same card. That being said, the requirements to use it were just as insane. The Level 250 and 75 Luck requirements already disqualified most players¡ªin fact, I bet that there were less than five players in all the servers who could use this card¡ªbut it also cost 1,000 RMB per use. To say that it was beyond the ability of a normal person to use would be an understatement. However, I might have to face the boss of the fourth floor very soon. It was worth paying 1,000 gold if it allowed me to survive longer and find Xinran! Swhoosh! A Hunter Card rose from my head. I didn¡¯t hesitate to use it immediately because there were plenty more Hunters to kill, not to mention that I could hardly afford to be stingy in a merciless map like the Purgatory. My max HP immediately jumped to 6.7 million after I used the card. The Attack boost from my card had also jumped to 170%, which was over three-fourths of my Martial God. All these increases would increase my odds of winning against the bosses of the Purgatory. I resumed fighting after putting away the other Hunter Cards. I baited the Hunters to run into each other and damaged them with long-range skills such as Burning Blade Slash, Myriad Swords Obliteration and even my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Xuanyuan Slash. The minibosses gave me 10 Divine Energy points per kill, so I didn¡¯t need to worry about conserving my points. Seven minutes of fighting later, the remaining Hunters died and dropped another 3 cards for me. That was 5 Hunter Cards in total and a most wonderful haul. The equipment they dropped was worth much less, however. I even suspected that it was a way to balance the fact that the Hunters dropped such amazing cards. They did drop a couple of Divine Crystals, but they were all below 50 Quality. I would have to kill a proper boss, or more specifically Divine Rank bosses, if I wished to get more Perfect Divine Crystals. ¡­¡­ "Alright, let¡¯s continue!" I beckoned Uldan after I looted the battlefield. She gave me a small nod and said, "Yes. Let us proceed with caution." "Yeah." We went against the snowstorm and got close to the fortress. Its gate was wide open, but every 5 minutes, a troop of Hunters would ride out of it. There were also 14 Hunters guarding the gate at all times. Using the same strategy as before, we aggroed the 14 guards to a safe place and killed them all. Again, they dropped a couple of Hunter Cards. After that, Uldan and I slipped into the fortress during the lull between the Hunter squads¡¯ patrols. The streets looked devoid of life. I rubbed my palms together as I walked along a row of rotten houses. "This damned place is so cold!" Uldan burst into a giggle. "That¡¯s because you haven¡¯t truly acclimatized after becoming a god. A god is capable withstanding any extreme temperature, and this is but the most basic trials you may encounter in the Purgatory." I rolled my eyes. "Well duh. I just become a god a few days ago; I¡¯m not even a Basic Divine if you really think about it. Of course I cannot compare to you¡­" However, Uldan gripped my hand tightly, watched my eyes and said seriously, "I sense a huge well of hidden strength in you though. Mm, your potential should be greater than mine¡­" I laughed. "That¡¯s my equipment you¡¯re sensing¡­" Uldan: "..." That was the truth. Right now, not even a boss might necessarily have better equipment than me. The Xuanyuan Slash, the Cloak of Divine Fervor, the Cyan Dragon Shield and more were the reasons I was able to survive in the Purgatory. Otherwise, I would just be a divine fodder. ¡­¡­ We continued along the snowy road. Uldan looked around for a bit before pointing in one direction and saying, "There is a scout party of Hunters in that direction. You¡¯ll need to lure them over and kill them all before we can continue. We¡¯ll have to kill between 7 to 9 such 20-man parties before we can enter the palace and reach the spatial rift." I nodded. "No problem!" There was nothing much to say except that killing the Hunters wasn¡¯t a bad experience both literally and figuratively. Even better, they dropped cards that were absolutely going to be critical for the rest of my journey. Did I mention that I loved its effects to death? Well, now I did. ¡­¡­ I grinded for 4 hours in the fortress and until over 7 pm in real life. During this time, I had killed at least 20 Hunter parties, grown my experience bar to around 40%, and gained 74 Hunter Cards in total. It would definitely be enough for and after my adventure in the Purgatory! Rustle rustle¡­ Our boots scraped against snow and stone bricks of the fortress as we walked toward the city hall. Snow blew in constantly from the outside and formed a thin layer of snow on the ground. Uldan abruptly stopped in her tracks and looked back at me. Then, she whispered into my ears, "The city hall is the famed palace, and the entrance to the fifth floor of the Purgatory. It may be guarded by a powerful guardian. Are you ready?" I gripped my sword tight and caused flames to circulate faster around its hilt. I smirked at Uldan and said, "Of course I am. In fact, I would be disappointed if there wasn¡¯t a guardian¡­" Uldan: "..." ¡­¡­ We rounded a wall and arrived at a cold, wide space. There was a giant throne at the center of the hall, and a gigantic, icy abyss some distance behind it. It was none other than the entrance to the next floor. We had a more pressing concern, however. There was a knight holding a halberd and wearing blood-red armor sitting on the throne. When he saw us, he let out a disdainful sneer and said, "Finally. I¡¯ve been waiting for you two!" CH 1474 "Disgraceful traitor of the plane of death, Twilight Wanderer Uldan, and Sky City¡¯s newly minted Asura God, how dare you invade my Ice Phoenix Palace. The road of paradise is open, and yet you just can¡¯t help but force yourselves through the wall of hell, can you?" The knight said while rising slowly to his feet, savage features twisting into an ugly visage. It was obvious who, or rather what he was just looking at his bloody pupils and powerful physique. He was an Asura God just like myself, and he wielded an unknown halberd that was clearly glowing with the light of a Divine Armament. It was perfect. Finally, I found a worthy opponent on the fourth floor of the Purgatory! Behind me, Uldan said indifferently, "Is that you, Undying? This is unexpected, I thought my attack was enough to kill you. To think you would survive and even become the final king of the fourth floor¡­" "But of course! I will never forget how you almost killed me!" The boss laughed and pointed at us. "Today is the day both of you die!" ¡­¡­ The entire Ice Phoenix Palace shook a little. It was as if it was afraid of its master¡¯s fury. There was nothing to say, so I simply unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and got ready to defeat the boss. The sooner I killed him, the faster I would be able to meet up with Xinran. Though, there was a chance this boss might know something about Xinran¡­ I might as well speak to him first before we fought. I scanned the boss with Dark Pupils and was shocked by what I saw. It wasn¡¯t his incredible power that shocked¡ªthat was a given¡ªbut his name. I¡­ I actually knew the fucking bastard! Suren the Undying Domain of God (Basic Divine Rank Boss) Level: 328 Attack: 77,000~112,000 Defense: 125,000 HP: 1,200,000,000 Skills: War Crush, Barrier Break, Splendid Light Slash, Towering Rage Introduction: Suren used to be an insignificant undead mentor in the Human Realms until his traitorous disciple took his life. Overflowing with rage and resentment even after his soul had fallen into the Purgatory, Coldblade discovered his potential and took him in as a subordinate. Suren proceeded to evolve into an Asura, an Asura King and finally, an Asura God. His infinite hatred drove him to grow ever stronger and more violent than ever before. Finally, after he received an injection of divine power from Lin Na himself, Suren became a true divine expert. On the fourth floor of the Purgatory, he killed all of his competitors and became the indisputable master of the Ice Phoenix Palace. Today, he awaits any and all heroes to challenge his claim. ¡­¡­ "It¡¯s you!" I uttered as my sword trembled uncontrollably in my grip, and the memory of him killing Xinran and devouring her corpse cruelly flashed across my mind. It was a hateful memory that I would never forget for as long as I lived. "It¡¯s you!" Suren recognized me as well and uttered just hatefully, the energy exploding from his halberd showing just how angry he was. He roared, "I remember you! You are the traitorous scumbag who killed his own master for a useless human girl!" I growled, "Bullshit! That was Xinran you murdered! I¡¯m so glad you¡¯re still alive, because that debt isn¡¯t something you can repay with one death!" "Xinran? Wind Singer Xinran?" Suren suddenly broke into a malicious grin. "I see! So that girl was Wind Singer Xinran! Hahaha, how interesting, to think that I of all people would be the one to kill her! Even better, I will get the chance to kill her a second time!" My heart sank. "What¡­ What happened to Xinran? Tell me now! She¡¯s still alive, r-right?" "Nah, she¡¯s dead!" Suren stepped forward and extended his arm, his armored hand slowly clenching into a fist as he said with a lustful grin, "Do you really think that Lord Lin Na would allow that reckless, presumptuous woman to continue to live? Hahaha, I can tell you now that Wind Singer Xinran had died in the spatial rift right behind me. Before she died, I even got to enjoy her womanhood! That soft breast, that tasty virginity. Heh, I¡¯m sure you can imagine how much pain she felt when I tore into her!" Buzz¡­ My mind dissolved into white hot rage, and my sword hand shook even harder. "You fucking animal!" It was at this moment Uldan caught my wrist and said in a hushed voice, "Calm down, boy. He¡¯s obviously just trying to provoke you. Assuming that what he says is true, we would¡¯ve sensed the energy fragments of her crushed Divinity. Since there is nothing, she clearly hadn¡¯t died here. If you are unable to fight properly because you are too angry, then¡­" The white hot rage passed as soon as it came. Uldan was right. I couldn¡¯t let my emotions overtake me, or both Uldan and I were going to die here. After all, Uldan couldn¡¯t beat Suren as he was right now. ¡­¡­ I watched Suren¡¯s skills as I whispered back, "He has three main offensive skills in his skillset, so make sure you don¡¯t anger him too much when you attack him. Otherwise, I may not be able to stop him in time to save you. Just leave the main assault to me, and help me if I am in trouble. Can you do that?" She nodded. "Mn. Be careful!" After that, she leaped backward until she was at least dozens of meters away from the main battlefield. Then, she notched an arrow and prepared herself for battle. I examined Suren closely. He had high Defense, so I would have to lower his Defense first before I began my main assault. War Crush was a close-ranged melee skill that I couldn¡¯t hope to dodge, so I would just have to grit my teeth and tank it. The question became how to avoid being one-shot, and the only method I could think of was to dodge his Barrier Break somehow. Barrier Break was literally a skill that ignored Defense, so my new Ghost Armament, Rising Cloud, would be effective against it. However, Profound Armor only lasted 15 seconds. Sooner or later I would have to tank the skill raw. I summoned my apparition and my Phantom Wolf King. Then, I controlled my apparition to hit Suren with a Dragon Slaying Slash. First things first, let¡¯s see if he will fall for the bait! Bang! Suren flew into a rage when the energy blade hit him squarely in the head. Without hesitation, he charged it with his halberd while roaring, "Let us settle the debts between us once and for all, boy!" Right before Suren was about to hit my apparition with Charge, I was able to intercept him with my own Thunderous Charge! Thud! I was lucky that the skill stunned him, and a well-timed Shock Arrow from Uldan stunned him even longer. I stabbed his chest with Purple Frost Concentration while uttering, "Since you¡¯re still alive, I¡¯ll do you a favor and kill you again! It doesn¡¯t matter if you go to heaven or hell, you will die for the sin of killing Xinran!" Suren only lost 24.9% Defense, meaning that his resistances were much better than even the giant spider we fought earlier. I followed up with Burning Blade Slash that ripped through his back and deleted a chunk of HP¡ª 472,883! 521,772! 612,781! After the skill finished, Suren immediately retaliated by stabbing his glowing red spear through my Cyan Dragon Shield and into my chest armor. I immediately felt a terrible pain and lost a chunk of HP¡ª 787,663! Unbelievable! This was just a basic attack, and he nearly did 800k damage to me! After I turned my wrist and knocked his halberd aside, I gathered a Magic Piercing Punch and hit him right beneath the armpit. At the same time, Suren stomped the ground and used War Crush! 829,874! 912,366! 903,647! His Attack was just too much. It was understandable though. He was a Basic God, so my Divine Deterrence was useless against him. Unlike those poor Sovereign Rank bosses, he was fighting at 100% of his fighting strength! Swhoosh! It was at this moment an all-too-familiar fiery cone appeared from his blade. It was of course the fighters¡¯ signature skill, Barrier Break! Unlike the usual fighter though, the sonuvabitch created three more flaming cones before launching them at me one after another! I checked my HP. I was sitting at less than half of my HP, so there was no way in hell I could survive three Barrier Breaks. Moreover, Suren attacked so much that I didn¡¯t even have the time to execute a skill. This was going to be a pure skill test! I brought my sword low and parried the first Barrier Break. Then, I took a step backward and successfully dodged the second Barrier Break. However, the third Barrier Break landed squarely on my shoulder, and the pain felt like a rabid animal had taken a bite from my shoulder¡ª 1,528,772! Goddammit! This is too much[1]! There was a lull in Suren¡¯s movement after such a devastating combo, so I gritted my teeth and went all out. After I knocked his halberd aside, I kicked off the ground and slammed into his body with Mad God Lunge! Suren was at least twice as big as I was, but he was still knocked backward by the skill and stunned temporarily. While I was downing a health potion, I slashed his neck repeatedly while praying for my sword to trigger its septuple damage effect! The prayer was a resounding success. It triggered twice in a row and healed me back to full HP. "You dare!" The moment Suren woke up, he immediately twirled his halberd and executed War Crush yet again. Right after that, he brought down his halberd in Splendid Light Slash. My body shook, and my HP fell below the 50% mark yet again. Seriously? Suren was at best a terrible undead swordsman trainer when I first became his disciple. How the hell did he become such a powerful boss? What on earth did Coldblade and Lin Na feed him? Not waiting for the boss to execute his next combo, I activated Rising Cloud¡¯s active skill, Profound Armor and increased my Defense by 300%[2]! A terrific energy spread across my entire body right before Suren unleashed his triple Barrier Break. His timing couldn¡¯t be any more perfect[3]. This time, I¡¯m going to tank all the hits! Pu pu pu¡­ The triple strike hurt me far less than it would¡¯ve had otherwise. Right now, it wasn¡¯t even as strong as a normal basic attack¡ª 90,277! 79,203! 89,273! Suren nearly flew into another rage when he saw that neither hit dealt more than 100k damage to me. While I still had 300% Defense, I launched an all-out assault against my former trainer and deleted as much HP as I could. I neither had a priest to heal me nor a bard to buff me, but it didn¡¯t matter. With this flesh and blood of mine, I was going to take out this Divine Rank boss one way or another! It was my responsibility and my promise to Xinran! ¡­¡­ Once 15 seconds had passed, I immediately disarmed Suren with the Flying Dragon Arm and rendered his attacks impotent once more. Suren clearly wasn¡¯t used to this style of fighting, so for a long time he wasn¡¯t able to regain his momentum at all, not to mention that Uldan was supporting from range all this time. At this rate, I could kill him even without her support. I was waiting, however. I was waiting for the moment his HP reached a certain threshold. I wasn¡¯t disappointed. When Suren dropped to 10% HP, he abruptly shuddered and shone bright red. It was his final skill, Towering Rage[4]! The skill increased all of his stats by 40% and allowed him to deal extra 150% damage to light-attribute enemies! It was deadly! 1. E/N: ??? Where the hell is Rising Cloud? Is your brain sleeping? Already forgot your big counter? ? 2. E/N: ???????? But he didn¡¯t even use his Barrier Break yet, why the hell would you waste it like that? And no, the boss using it in the next paragraph doesn¡¯t justify this. What if Suren used other skills? As Lu Chen said, the skill only lasts 15 seconds. The least you can do is make sure first use is on Barrier Break, not ¡°not waiting for him to use another skill, I popped it anyway and prayed Barrier Break will come¡± ? 3. E/N: What a gamer, relying on AI¡¯s timing because his timing was boundlessly dumb for no apparent reason ? 4. E/N: So¡­ did you at least try to interrupt his buff animation with Mad God Lunge? ? CH 1475 "Watch out!" Suren had already raised his halberd before the warning came. Golden light powerful enough to sweep the entire hall, and invisible pressure heavy enough to shatter the bricks on the ground erupted from it, and I was none other than its target. The empowered Splendid Light Slash struck me squarely across the chest! BANG! I shuddered like a leaf as the impact sent me sliding to the back and deleted over 2 million HP. Suren and I no longer belonged in the same weight class. ¡­¡­ I had no choice though. I had to defeat him one way or another! Whoosh! While dashing past Suren, I aimed my wristguards at his halberd and disarmed him again! "Damned brat!" Suren roared as he struck me with his triple Barrier Break combo using his bare fists. Even without his weapon, he still managed to deal over 1.2 million damage to me. This guy¡¯s power level was absolutely off the charts right now! I pressed my palm against his chest and chanted in my head: God Binding Art! It was a success. After I ascended and became a god, my skills¡¯ success rate was much higher than before. For example, the God Binding Art now had a fairly good chance of affecting even a Divine Rank boss. It was exactly what I needed right now! Suren roared in anger as he attempted to break out of the divine arms¡¯ control with his halberd. However, he didn¡¯t succeed. The Xuanyuan Sword buzzed with power as I executed a devastating War Crush + Burning Blade Slash combo. It deleted 3 million HP from the boss''s health bar and restored 1.5 million HP back to my own. Fifteen seconds were more than enough time for me to lifesteal back to full health and dish out over 10 million damage. Suren was a boss though. 10 million HP was almost nothing to him. ¡­¡­ "I swear I will cut you to pieces, traitor! I swear!" Suren completely flew off the handle as lightning began appearing from his halberd. Like a truck, he knocked me backward with several powerful slashes before following up with another Splendid Light Slash. In just the blink of an eye, my HP had dropped to one-third yet again. Once more, I activated the Profound Armor skill of Rising Cloud and increased my Defense by 300%. Then, I stood my ground and clashed forcefully against Suren. Deadly energies ripped through the air like crazy, and weapon auras dug deep gorges into the ground as we clashed against each other. Unfortunately, this stalemate could only last for 15 seconds. The moment Profound Armor petered out, Suren immediately let out an arrogant roar, grabbed my chain armor with his bare hands, and thrust his halberd forward! Puchi! Pain ripped through my chest as the halberd skewered me. After all the punishment they took, both my Guardian Dragon Armor and Battle Astral Wind finally failed and let through a deadly hit. Blood flowed out of my wound like crazy, and a massive damage number rose from my head¡ª 1,723,734! Shit! A deep frown marred my expression as I tried to react. However, Suren was attacking too rapidly for me to counterattack or heal myself. Even my Mad God Lunge was canceled by a punch the second I started channeling the energy! It was at this moment a cold arrow struck Suren¡¯s head, its starry tail shuddering from the force of impact. A stunned icon immediately appeared above Suren¡¯s head and froze him temporarily. "Phew¡­" I exhaled in relief before praising Uldan, "Well done, Uldan!" Her giggle returned like a bell. "Watch out! This undead swordsman is extremely powerful!" "Yeah!" I used Xuanyuan Art to heal myself for 70% HP. The instant the visual effect was done, I used Mad God Lunge and knocked Suren a dozen or so steps away from me, stunning him once more. At this point, Suren only had 7% HP left. Moreover, I had been consciously attacking the injury on his weapon arm from the start. Very soon, only tiny shreds of flesh and bone were still connecting his arm to his body. "This is how you do it! Keep it up!" Uldan cheered from afar. The Xuanyuan shone brightly as I attacked again and again. I brought my sword down one more time and growled, "Sever!" Pa! The dark green bone finally broke in half, and Suren¡¯s right arm and his halberd flew away from his shoulder. I received a system notice informing me that the boss had suffered massive damage and lost 50% of his Attack at the same time the halberd landed on the ground. I let out an obvious sigh of relief. It took an insane amount of effort, but I had finally dispelled the threat of death looming over my head. There was an ancient saying that said that you should view someone like a new person if you haven¡¯t met them for three days. That was the case with Suren. At least five times my HP had fallen to 5% where he was but a hit away from killing me. Without Uldan¡¯s assistance, I certainly would¡¯ve died already! ¡­¡­ Black blood spilled out of Suren¡¯s severed arm and splashed against the ground. However, his gaze only grew more savage as he punched my shield with his remaining fist, roaring, "I will kill you, boy! You are the biggest shame of my life! I must kill you so you will know what the law of the undead truly means!" Pu! I stabbed Suren through the chest and out of the back. Then, I growled out a question, "Where is Xinran? Where is she?!!" Suren simply laughed. "I told you I dropped her into the fifth floor after enjoying her body, and even that has been turned into ashes by the winds of the Purgatory. What, you can¡¯t accept the truth?" I turned my blade and turned his sneer into howls of pain. Clearly, not even an Asura God could stand having his innards being tortured like this. "Where. Is. Xinran?!" I uttered through gritted teeth. My tone was almost pleading at this point[1]. Thud! Suren grabbed my arm and pulled both me and my sword closer. Then, he laughed into my face, "Xinran is dead! Hahahaha! She died while she was ravaged by monsters, so give it up, hahahaha! You¡¯ll never see her again! You will never find Xinran even if you kill me! The last laugh is mine, hahahahaha¡­" "I¡¯ll show you a last laugh¡­" I steeled my resolve and downed a Rank 14 potion. Then, while my sword was still inside Suren¡¯s body, I activated Purple Dragon Howl[2]. The purple energy exploded his body like a balloon almost immediately and caused a column of golden light to shine down from above. Just like that, I leveled up to 258 while a shower of colorful loot landed on the ground. ¡­¡­ "Xinran¡­" There was a short weakened period after using Purple Dragon Howl, and this time I allowed it to bring my knees to the ground. My arms were covered in blood, and my mind in shambles. It was a most terrible battle. Uldan walked up to me from behind and put a hand on my shoulder. She said softly, "Don¡¯t worry. I don¡¯t sense the Wind Singer¡¯s soul fragments anywhere, so she definitely didn¡¯t die anywhere near here. Moreover, I am certain she is not on this plane either. If she was, we would¡¯ve picked up her divine energy already. Let¡¯s continue to the fifth floor. With luck, we will sense her the moment we reach it¡­" I nodded and rose back to my feet. First things first, I should check out Suren¡¯s loot. I wonder what my cheap mentor would give me this time? My heart raced a little when I saw the equipment on the ground. Suren was a Basic God, and I had 139 Luck. It wasn¡¯t too much to hope for a Divine Armament, right? Right now, Archean Immortal and Ancient Immortal¨Cgrade equipment were everywhere, but Divine Armaments, even Lower Divine Armaments were extremely rare. Basically, all peak experts were searching for Lower Divine Armaments right now, although they certainly wouldn¡¯t mind getting a Cambrian, Hadean, Archean or even Ancient Divine Armament¡­ The first piece of equipment to catch my eye was a halberd with cyan light circulating around it. It was the halberd Suren had been using to fight me as a matter of course. The second piece of equipment was a crimson metal armor with the image of a dragon¡ªit actually looked a bit similar to the Ancient Divine Dragon¡ªfloating on the center. The third and final piece of equipment was a shiny ring. I checked out the halberd first. It was Suren¡¯s weapon, so I had no doubt that it was a good weapon. I knew I was right the moment scorching energy seeped through my palm¡ª Cyan Peak Halberd (Middle Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 18,000~24,500 Strength: +3,850 Stamina: +3,800 Agility: +3,750 Intelligence: +3,700 Tactics: +275 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 295% Passive: Increases user¡¯s splash effect by 45% Passive: When swinging the Cyan Peak Halberd, 25% chance to deal double damage. Stackable with critical hits. Slots: 18 Outstanding Property: Cyan Peak. When activated, user¡¯s overall Defense is increased by 100%. Duration: 25 seconds. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Level Requirement: 245 Reputation Requirement: 1400,000 ¡­¡­ Tsk tsk, I wasn¡¯t expecting a Middle Divine Armament, much less one that was this powerful. It had higher Attack and DPS potential than even the Sun, and I already knew who I was going to give it to: Li Chengfeng. He was very good with this type of weapon, and Cyan Peak Halberd was a Divine Armament that was even stronger than the unevolved Twelve Divine Armaments. He definitely wouldn¡¯t mind this at all. I moved onto the next equipment. The crimson armor had a murderous design and wisps of flames circulating around its metal. Once again, I felt a scorching hot energy entering my palm when I made physical contact with it. It was probably another top-tier piece of equipment, and I wasn¡¯t wrong. Suren might be a shameless and despicable man, but his drop rate was absolutely deserving of praise¡ª Armor of the Divine Oracle Scarlet Dragon (Ancient Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 29,700 Magic Resist: 28,500 Strength: +4,590 Stamina: +4,450 Agility: +4,200 Intelligence: +4,150 Tactics: +290 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 175% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 450,000 Passive: Increases user¡¯s resistance toward all types of magic by 240% Outstanding Property: Scarlet Dragon Flames. When attacking, 5% chance to trigger Scarlet Dragon Flames and deal massive damage to the target. Slots: 18 Introduction: In ancient times, the noble dragons lived in the Moonlight Dragon City. After spending thousands of years injecting draconic energy into an unusual metal, the Dragon Speakers were able to forge another never-before-seen metal armor, the Armor of the Divine Oracle Scarlet Dragon. It is said that the wearer of the armor gains tenacity of dragons, and a massive boost to their vitality. Level Requirement: 250 Reputation Requirement: 2,750,000 ¡­¡­ I was overjoyed. Finally, a replacement for my Guardian Dragon Armor had appeared! Although the Guardian Dragon Armor was a Sacred Armament, its level was too low, and it was a defensive equipment. Right now I needed more Attack and max HP, and the Armor of the Divine Oracle Scarlet Dragon perfectly fulfilled those needs! I replaced the equipment without hesitation and gained a massive amount of HP and stats. A scorching heat washed over my body for an instant, and the next moment, it felt like the Scarlet Dragon Armor had become a natural part of my body. 1. T/N: seriously, it¡¯s okay you ask the first and second time, but a third? He obviously doesn¡¯t know shit, and even if he does why the fuck would he tell you anything? ? 2. T/N: wait wait wait wait why? I don¡¯t remember the agent healing MP, and if you only need to heal HP why the fuck would you drink a Rank 14 potion when you can just lifesteal it in one hit? ? CH 1476 The last piece of equipment was a shiny ring with a fiery shield as the crown. It glowed a white gold color, but it wasn¡¯t the color of the Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment. Moreover, wisps of strange energy seeped into my palm when I held it. It had to be powerful equipment. The moment I brought up its stats screen, my heart visibly skipped a beat¡ª Ring of Spiritual Tongue (Middle Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Strength: +3,500 Stamina: +3,440 Agility: +3,400 Intelligence: +3,350 Tactics: +291 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 105% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist by 120% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 100,000 Outstanding Property: Spiritual Tongue. Increases user¡¯s max Divine Energy increased by 100, and 1 Divine Energy Point is regenerated every minute. Regeneration remains active even when the user is offline. Level Requirement: 250 Reputation Requirement: 2,000,000 ¡­¡­ Great delight filled my heart once I finished reading the stats screen. Rings were generally harder to drop than armor, but Suren, my kind and generous trainer had given me a Middle Divine Armament ring! I knew he wouldn¡¯t mistreat his best student! The Ring of Spiritual Tongue gave a ton of Attack, Defense and even 100k HP, but none of these attributes even came close to its Outstanding Property, Spiritual Tongue. It increased my Divine Energy cap to 300, meaning that I could now unleash 300 Ancient Seals or 15 Xuanyuan Slashes in a row [1] I took a moment to weigh my options while basking in happiness. There was no chance I was dropping the Ghost Armament, Song of Freedom for the Ring of Spiritual Tongue, but a player could only wear two rings at a time. In the end, I decided to drop my oldest equipment, the Apparition Ring. The apparition was amazing, but it had paper-thin Defense and was liable to get one-shot by powerful enemies. In that case, I might as well grab 105% Attack and 120% Defense! Pop! I replaced the Apparition Ring with the Ring of Spiritual Tongue, taking yet another step toward a full set of Divine Armaments. My stats and especially my max HP jumped visibly¡ª ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: Dark Divine Throne Guardian) Class: Master Swordsman of Death Level: 258 HP: 2,744,550 Attack: 60,750~82,270 Defense: 143,365 Magic Resist: 127,920 Reputation: 5,225,400 Tactics: 2,954 Luck: 139 ¡­¡­ My base HP had risen to 2.74 million. With the Hunter Card, my HP would be increased by 200%, or tripled, putting me at 8.22 million max HP. It was insane considering that I wasn¡¯t buffed by a bard or tactician at all. However, I still wasn¡¯t feeling good about my chances of surviving the remaining floors of the Purgatory. Even with my current stats, I probably still couldn¡¯t tank more than three hits from Lin Na. On a better note, 2,954 Tactics could only be described as formidable. The power of Divine General Skills were tied to Tactics, and the attack power of my Ancient Seal had exceeded my Myriad Swords Obliteration and Summon the Storm a long time ago. Starting now, I would be spamming Ancient Seals to grind the mobs! As usual, the boss also dropped some magic stones. I found five Perfect Divine Crystals and stuffed them all into my bag. They might be useful in the future. "Are you ready?" Uldan asked smilingly from behind. I nodded. "Yeah. It¡¯s time to go to the fifth floor!" We stepped toward the deep blue abyss at the back of the main hall. A cold wind blew across its entrance. This was where we would be falling into the fifth floor. Thud! I jumped off the cliff and fell toward nothingness. Just in case there were unknown monsters in this abyss as well, I activated Battle Astral Wind to protect myself. At the same time, I whispered in my head, "Stay alive, Xinran. Wait for me. I¡¯m almost there¡­" Beside me, Uldan shot me a glance before saying, "There¡¯s no need to worry too much. Wind Singer is a once-in-a-million-years expert. Not even Lin Na will be able to bring himself to wipe her out immediately[2]¡­ I think¡­" I nodded. "I think so too. Even if he can, Xinran will not go down without a struggle¡­" "Mn mn!" ¡­¡­ After we flew for a while, I brought up the forums because it didn¡¯t look like we were reaching the other floor too soon. I noticed that Li Chengfeng was online on my friend list, so I immediately sent him a private message¡ª "What are you busy with, Chengfeng?" Five minutes later, Li Chengfeng noticed the private message and replied, "Just took out a boss and am distributing the loot right now. You¡¯re still in the Purgatory, right Lu Chen? How are you doing?" "Not bad. I just picked up a weapon, and I wanna know if you want it. Here, I¡¯ll send you a screenshot!" I took a screenshot of the Cyan Peak Halberd¡¯s stats screen and sent it to Li Chengfeng. "Holy shit!" Li Chengfeng started his reply with a shocked face emoticon. "These stats are absolutely shameless. I never thought a Middle Divine Armament would have a higher Attack than even the Wind Severing Sword, one of the Twelve!" I replied smilingly, "That¡¯s because the Wind Severing Sword can evolve two more times. So, do you want this weapon or not?" Two minutes later, Li Chengfeng replied, "Heh. Sure, I¡¯ll take it. You already have the Xuanyuan Sword anyway. I¡¯m better with swords, but I¡¯m not bad with pole weapons either. They have long range, high penetration, and are much more effective at breaking shield formations than swords. I¡¯m not so shameless that I¡¯m going to take this weapon for free though, and it just so happened that I managed to roll a worthy piece of equipment. Give me a minute." Very soon, Li Chengfeng sent me a screenshot of a dark-colored Lower Divine Armament cloak. It gave its user 30% physical evasion and 170k max HP. It was a very good defensive cloak. I asked in confusion, "Chengfeng, you can use this cloak yourself, right? You know I already have the Cloak of Divine Fervor, a Ghost Armament. I don¡¯t need this." "I know, but I don¡¯t need it either. I already have a Lower Divine Armament cloak." "I see. Okay, please give this cloak to Eve when you¡¯re free. If I don''t die and drop the Cyan Peak Halberd in the Purgatory, then I¡¯ll trade it for the cloak!" "Okay. Don¡¯t die, man. I need you to bring me my Cyan Peak Halberd¡­" "Haha, I know. Anyway, I won¡¯t keep you any longer. Go do your thing!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! My vision brightened, and I saw a starry sky and a vast but withered forest beneath me. There was the constant caw of crows as well. "The Life Shatter Realm is a plane of absolute death," Uldan explained. I asked with a frown, "What do you mean by a plane of absolute death?" She smiled. "It is because it is a place of judgment. When an expert in Heaven Domain, Human Realms or the Ghost Region grows past a certain threshold, and they don¡¯t obey the order of the three realms, then they will come here to face the judgment of death. Many divine experts such as Windchaser Karen, Annie, and more have perished in this place. Even your Wind Singer, Xinran, had been judged in this plane a long time ago. Although she was able to break free and even escape the Purgatory, it cost her both her divine power and her memories. That was how her sealed self came to meet you.[3]" I sucked in a deep breath. "Sounds like we¡¯ve arrived at a formidable place!" "Yes, quite. Make sure you are more careful than ever before." Uldan glanced at me again before continuing, "There are no less than 10 Ghost King¨Clevel experts in the Life Shatter Realm, and each one is tasked with the responsibility of judgment. Here, a divine expert¡¯s consciousness and Divinity are quickly destroyed, and the Ghost Kings¡¯ responsibility is to corrode their Divinities little by little until they are nothing more but a pile of forgotten bones¡­" I nodded. "What do we do then?" "What else? We head to the passage that will take us to the sixth floor¡­" Uldan smirked a little. "Our biggest advantage is that the Purgatory Sovereign¨Clevel experts¡ªLinda the Whisperer and Opero the Nightwalker¡ªhave all been sent away to the Human Realms to keep the human main cities under control. Therefore, the only Chief God¨Clevel expert we might have to face is Lin Na¡­" I smiled. "Sounds good. Where is the passage to the sixth floor?" "It¡¯s directly south from here, but we cannot fly because it¡¯ll draw too much attention. We¡¯ll make our way there on the ground while taking out all the scouts and ghost soldiers we encounter along the way." "Got it!" ¡­¡­ After we descended to the ground, I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and entered the combat state immediately. It was nighttime on this plane, and I could see tiny bits of bloody light amid here and there in the withered forest. They were the flames of death and a kind of undead soul spark. Unfortunately, I could no longer absorb undead soul spark to strengthen my power because I was already an Asura God. Currently, the only way to improve myself was to cultivate my divine power. Of course, I was also a player. For a player, levels, equipment and skills were still the royal road to great power. My Dark Pupils showed a dense group of red dots slowly making their way toward me, but the fog was too thick for me to get a good look. I raised an arm and said, "Watch out, Uldan. A group of enemies is approaching us from the south¡­" Uldan narrowed her eyes that seemed capable of penetrating everything. "Oh, I know. Those filthy bastards are called Gravediggers¡­" "Gravediggers?" "Mn," Uldan responded smilingly. "They are masterless souls who wander the Life Shatter Realm. They possess great strength, but they are unwilling to serve Lin Na. So, they became vagabonds who dig up the graves of the gods who were judged. As you know, the gods are usually buried together with their weapons, metal armors, skill books, secret scrolls and so on. That is what they¡¯re hoping to dig up. If they can find a priceless treasure and offer it to a sovereign commander as tribute, they may be pardoned and even returned to the Human Realms to lead a life of luxury." I grimaced. "Wow, they sound really similar to a certain Dragon Domain Scavenger¡­" "I know right¡­" ¡­¡­ Our first enemies on the fifth floor finally emerged from the fog. As it turned out, the Gravediggers were a bunch of midgets who were only around one meter tall. They barely had any hair or tooth left on their person, and they were dressed in rags that could only be described as filthy. Worst of all, they were horny little bastards who immediately grinned like a child when they saw Uldan. "Look, it¡¯s a pretty gal! That¡¯s our supper tonight, brothers¡­" Uldan gave her bow a tentative shake. "Hmph! These lowlifes think they can catch me?" 1. T/N: another one of those, hey, didn¡¯t he need to activate HRT first before he can use Xuanyuan Slash, and I tell you to just assume that that requirement is no longer necessary since he¡¯s a god ? 2. T/N: another stupid logic, but I guess if you¡¯re just trying to console someone anything flies ? 3. T/N: did you guys have a conversation that the author omitted or something? For someone who has been bound to a pillar for thousands of years you know shit that you really shouldn¡¯t be able to know ? CH 1477 I raised my sword and stood protectively in front of Uldan, saying in full confidence, "No need to get angry, Uldan. Just leave these scumbags to me." "Of course. You carry, and I¡¯ll score the last hit¡­" "Fuck¡­" It looked like Uldan was slowly picking up some gamer lingo thanks to my bad influence. ¡­¡­ First things first, I lowered my sword into a ready stance and scanned the mobs with Dark Pupils. Purgatory Gravedigger (Deity) Level: 328 Attack: 58,000~82,500 Defense: 104,000 HP: 10,000,000 Skills: Undead Energy, Brutal Gouge, Wild Dance Introduction: The Purgatory Gravediggers are vagabonds living on the fifth floor of the Purgatory. They were once powerful experts discarded by their people. Now, they make a living by digging through experts¡¯ graves and finding their valuables. One might say that the Purgatory Gravediggers themselves are walking treasure vaults, carrying all kinds of unimaginable reaches. Be warned though, the Purgatory Gravediggers are incredibly powerful, and even sovereign experts have to watch their backs in the presence of these Purgatory Gravediggers. If you wish to claim their treasure, make sure your strength is up to par. ¡­¡­ My eyes narrowed. They were deity-rank mobs, and they possessed higher Attack than even the Swordguards. Although the battle was in our favor, I counted around a hundred Gravediggers in total. It would be a pain if they all rushed us at once. "Be careful, Uldan," I said. "I know." She smiled. "You be careful too. Don¡¯t let the crazies hurt you." The Xuanyuan Sword buzzed, and I dashed toward the group of mobs like lightning. I executed Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo in the middle of a group of Gravediggers that immediately caused them to attack me like crazy. They waved their blades and spades at my Scarlet Dragon Armor[1] dealt only 30k damage per hit. So far, it didn¡¯t look like they were a particularly dangerous threat. Swhoosh! Before I could even begin to lower my guard, one of the Gravediggers¡¯ blades abruptly glowed a red light. I immediately recognized it as the assassins¡¯ Gorge. I would definitely be stunned if the mob managed to score a direct hit. I needed to dodge it! Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t manage to move out of the harm¡¯s way in time. I was stunned for 1.5 seconds! The 7 Purgatory Gravediggers around me immediately roared, "Now! Kill him now!" They started spinning on their feet like some sort of human cyclones and dealt an incredible amount of damage. It was another skill, Wild Dance! Each hit dealt around 70k damage to me, and I fell to 40% or so HP during the 1.5 seconds I was stunned. These fuckers! I should¡¯ve known that it wouldn¡¯t be so easy to claim their pressure! The moment I broke out of the stun, I immediately fired Xuanyuan Slash! BOOM! Dozens of Purgatory Gravediggers suffered over 2 million damage and restored me to full health. The power of a SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill was truly unrivaled. Not bothering to conserve my Divine Energy Points, I dropped three Ancient Seals that hit all 100+ Purgatory Gravediggers around me. Summon the Storm + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo later, and the tables were completely turned against the mobs. While I was casting Rise of the Guardian Dragon to delete their HP even faster, I made up my mind to focus down a mob and see what kind of priceless treasure it carried for me. Swhoosh! A bagua formation appeared beneath my feet as I pierced the throat of a Gravedigger with Universe Break, dealing 790k damage and killing it outright. "Ahhh, my remaining life! May I be drowned in wealth and power in my next life!" The fool couldn¡¯t stop talking about wealth even when he died. Worse still, the sonuvabitch only dropped a single Big Magic Stone. What kind of joke is this? You call this a "priceless treasure"? I was slightly disappointed, but undeterred. Perhaps I should try a different method. Right before a Gravedigger was about to die, I abruptly wrapped his throat with the Chains of Freedom and slashed him twice. This time, a couple of equipment pieces and magic stones fell out of his bag! I picked up the loot while knocking aside a couple of Gravediggers with Burning Blade Slash. What I saw delighted me greatly. The mob had dropped 3 Divine Crystals, and 2 of them were of perfect quality. It was amazing. Outside the Purgatory, countless players were battling each other to the death for a single Perfect Divine Crystal, now worth well over 300k RMB and rising. Meanwhile, I had gotten two Perfect Divine Crystals with just one Chains of Freedom. The equipment the Gravedigger dropped wasn¡¯t bad either. Although they were only Immortal-grade, one of them reflected 7% of the damage received. It was a great piece of equipment that could sell for at least one thousand RMB on the market! My confidence bolstered by the success, I began using the Chains of Freedom whenever it was off cooldown. Unfortunately, the skill had a cooldown of 6 minutes, so I only managed to afflict 3 Gravediggers with it and net four Perfect Divine Crystals in total. I wasn¡¯t going to complain about my good fortune though. In a sense, I had literally earned enough money to become a millionaire in a single day. How happy was that? ¡­¡­ We continued deeper into the forest after cleaning up the Gravediggers. Soon, countless long rotted corpses started appearing on both sides of the road. There was a giant altar at the center of a clearing. The severely eroded stones that made up its foundation made it obvious that the altar had been built for a very long time, and at the center of the altar was a tall, huge pillar. To my surprise, a living man was tied to the pillar with rusted chains. Goshawks could be seen circling the skies and waiting for an opportunity to feed on his rotten flesh. There were four level 328 deity-rank Purgatory Guards around the altar. I took out all of them before looking at the bound man and asked Uldan, "Who is he?" She blinked once before replying, "He is the seventh god of thunder, Tiras." "God of thunder¡­" I muttered, "The only one I know that goes by that title is Thor, and he¡¯s a very handsome man¡­" Uldan shot me a strange look. "Thor is the first god of thunder, and he¡¯s been dead for many years¡­" Me: "..." Suddenly, the bound man opened his eyes and revealed a pair of blood-red pupils. He looked back and forth between be and Uldan before licking the rotten meat around his lips with his rotten tongue. "Oh, it¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve seen a human in the Purgatory. A cute and delicate flower like you shouldn¡¯t be here at all, girl. That being said, you may as well set me free since you¡¯re already here. If you do so, I will teach you the world¡¯s greatest ecstasy myself¡­" "Holy shit, what kind of god of thunder is this?" I said in a dumbfounded tone. Uldan let out a chuckle before continuing, "Tiras was infamous for his inability to control his lower half. It was why he was abandoned by Heaven Domain despite being a Chief God. He had been bound here for almost 30,000 years, and his Divinity is so damaged that he¡¯s weaker than even a Basic God. Let¡¯s just leave. There¡¯s no point killing him and dirtying our own hands¡­" Tiras let out a mad cackle. "Oh, now I remember! You are Uldan, the Twilight Wanderer! Once upon a time, you were shackled to this place just like me, but you submitted to Lin Na and Mingyu, and I never did. Hahaha! What can you do? I am a Chief God, and you a lowly, mixed bred Basic God. It is only natural your Divinity wasn¡¯t able to hang on as long as mine. By the way, boy, I sense that you carry quite the evil Divinity. You wanna join me and be my lackey? I promise you I¡¯ll treat you to all the pretty delicacies there are in this world. Save me now! Justice needs me, and daughters with strict fathers need me even more¡­" My mouth twitched uncontrollably as I grabbed Uldan¡¯s hand. "Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ve never seen such a shameless god in my life¡­" Uldan replied with a blush, "Yeah¡­" ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before we were stopped by yet another group of Purgatory Gravediggers. After all, they were the true masters of this floor. We killed them all because it would take even longer to move around them. Thankfully, the deity-rank mobs weren¡¯t too big of a threat. As long as the mobs didn¡¯t get lucky and chain-stunned me, there was almost nothing they could do to me. Now that I had the Unusual Physique, the deity-rank mobs¡¯ chances of stunning me with Gorge was very low. I would even say that it was less than 1%. It was the biggest reason I was able to utterly dominate the mobs. Of course, Divine Deterrence lowering their stats by 40% was also a main reason their CC skill barely took effect at all. I checked the forums again while grinding the mobs. A huge title had appeared on the home page before I knew it¡ª [Newsflash] Once again, our players have shown off their prowess and retook Sky City in just 32 hours! Vanished God City, Wind City, Elephant City, Cyan Earth City, Hero City and more tier 1 cities have been retaken as well! Nearly all of the tier 1 cities had been retaken within 48 hours. Moreover, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, Wind Fantasy and Legendary Brave had worked together with Dragon Speaker Binglan, Karinshan and Sophie to grievously injure one of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns, Linda the Whisperer, and drive her into the outer lands. Even better, Opero the Nightwalker was killed in the war to retake Hero City by none other than Vienna¡¯s Sorrow himself, and the fruits of his labor was one of the Twelve Divine Armaments, the Dead Wind Blade! ¡­¡­ My heart sank. Goddammit, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow got the Dead Wind Blade from Opero the Nightwalker? I had to give the Americans credit for this. Killing a Purgatory Sovereign was hardly an easy feat, and the Divine Armament was going to make Vienna¡¯s Sorrow even stronger. It was unfortunate that I couldn¡¯t hear this news live. More reason to hate the Purgatory, I suppose. Dammit, it was such a good weapon too¡­ It was at this moment I saw that I had a private message: It was sent to me by He Yi 10 minutes ago¡ª "Lu Chen, we¡¯re holding a birthday party for Yu Tong at 7 pm. I, Mingyue, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, and the rest of the executive-level players will be attending. Are you coming? It¡¯s fine if you¡¯re not free. Sky City will be entering maintenance in 30 minutes, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll affect you since you¡¯re in the Purgatory." ¡­¡­ Yu Tong¡¯s birthday party? I should go. I was the one who dug her from Stranger of Three Lifetimes after all, and she was a core component of our Holy Mage Legion together with Moonlight Stone and Lian Xin. Yeah, I definitely should go. So I sent her a private message saying, "Yeah. I¡¯ll be done in a minute. Please wait for me." A few seconds later, He Yi replied, "Mn. We¡¯ll wait." ¡­¡­ After Uldan and I took out the twelfth group of Purgatory Gravediggers, I was almost out of Divine Energy Points. So, I bade Uldan goodbye and logged out of the game in a hidden valley. I took off the helmet and felt like I had just surfaced out of the water. ¡­¡­ It was the second day I entered the Purgatory, and still Xinran was nowhere to be found¡­ 1. T/N: author used a short form, and for once I agree. Armor of the Divine Oracle Scarlet Dragon really is too long ? Favorite CH 1478 He Yi, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue were already waiting when I stepped out of my room. We departed after I used the toilet! ¡­¡­ On the way, Murong Mingyue complained as she drove, "Your X12¡¯s gas pedal is too low. I almost can¡¯t step on it¡­" I ridiculed her, "Just admit that your legs are short already¡­" Murong Mingyue immediately erupted, "Pooh! I¡¯m 1.7 meters tall, and my three sizes are a perfect 36-24-35[1]! This is clearly your car¡¯s fault, not mine!" He Yi chimed in, "I think it¡¯s because she forgot to adjust her seat¡­" Lian Xin giggled. "True¡­" I leaned against the seat and slipped an arm around He Yi¡¯s waist. She obediently leaned her head on my shoulder and shot me a look of deep love before asking, "How are you doing in the Purgatory?" "Not very well, to be honest. I¡¯ve entered the fifth floor, but Xinran is still nowhere to be found." "You¡¯ll find her eventually." "Yeah. By the way, I saw that Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had gotten the Dead Wind Blade." "That¡¯s right!" Lian Xin said, "The Americans are pretty lucky this time. Who would¡¯ve thought that they would drop the Dead Wind Blade? Not only is it ranked fifth among the Twelve Divine Armaments, it is an entire tier greater than even the Ghostblade Halberd¡­" I replied, "Well, whatever. There¡¯s no sense getting irritated every time our enemy scores an advantage. Plus, we have more Divine Armaments¡­" "Exactly, heehee!" Murong Mingyue shot us a glance using the back mirror and pouted. "Eve, you¡¯re clinging to Lu Chen a little too close, don¡¯t you think?" He Yi retorted calmly, "So what? I want to. Focus on driving, you!" "Hmph¡­" ¡­¡­ A while later, the car came to a stop in front of a restaurant. It wasn¡¯t a particularly huge place, but it was so packed with customers it was insane. We had to wait ten or so minutes before we finally found a parking spot. After that, we went up to the second floor where two tables were seated by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ core players. Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Eyes Like Water had arrived as well. They were good friends with Yu Tong after all. There was no reason for them not to be invited. "You¡¯re finally here, bosses!" Gui Guzi rose to his feet and greeted us all. Stranger of Three Lifetimes walked up to us while saying, "Now that I think about it, everyone here¡¯s a famous person in Sky City, huh?" I teased her, "Have you come to freeload, Momo?" "What the fuck, at least wait a moment before you expose me¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes shot me a displeased look. "Ancient Sword took our mage; letting us freeload a meal or two off of you is the least you can do. Speaking of which, who¡¯s paying today?" Everyone pointed a finger at me in unison. I was surprised. "Why me?" Lian Xin burst into a giggle. "Probably because you made the most profit out of all of us?" Me: "..." Well, it didn¡¯t matter. I was expecting to walk away from the Purgatory with an entire hoard in my bag. The twenty-seven Perfect Divine Crystals I owned alone were worth a fortune! ¡­¡­ He Yi sat on my left, and Murong Mingyue on my right. I read the menu for a bit before saying, "Hmm¡­ I guess we can add a bear¡¯s paw per table¡­" "Holy shit! Are you actually going to spend big this time, Lu Chen?" Li Chengfeng asked. I nodded. "Yeah. It¡¯s Yu Tong¡¯s birthday party, and it looks like everyone¡¯s in a great mood today, soooo." He began rubbing his palms excitedly. "In that case, I also want to order three top-grade Lafite per table. You know, the kind that costs 24k RMB per bottle? I saw it before on the wine rack, but I¡¯ve never drank it since I¡¯m an honest and incorruptible police officer. Since you¡¯re so kind as to offer your wallet to the slaughter, I want to see exactly how different it is from Pepsi¡­" I rolled my eyes at him. "What a good brother you are, Chengfeng¡­" "But of course!" "In that case, make it 5 bottles per table. There won¡¯t be enough for everyone otherwise." I passed my card to He Yi before adding, "By the way, the password¡¯s your birthday. Foot the bill for me if I get too drunk, okay?" He Yi chuckled. "Are you sure there¡¯s enough money in your card? You ordered 10 bottles of top-grade Lafite, you know?" I curled my lips. "Yes, you can order 1,000 bottles and still have enough to spare¡­" High Fighting Spirits grew even more excited. "That¡¯s awesome! Let¡¯s order more alcohol, then! Honestly, there¡¯s no way we¡¯ll get drunk just drinking ten bottles of red wine!" I smiled. "You want to get drunk? That¡¯s easy. We¡¯ll just order a couple bottles of Erguotou." The pretty waitress standing next to me looked startled. "Sir, are you sure you want Erguotou?" "Yep. Make it 5 bottles per table just like the Lafite!" "Okay¡­" The waitress looked a little out of it probably because she had never received such a weird order before. Who in their right mind would put a 24k RMB Lafite and a 15 RMB Erguotou in the same order? She thought that a donkey must¡¯ve kicked these people in the head when they were younger. On the other hand, she might¡¯ve been a little too quick to judge. At least three of the ladies of the two tables were superstar levels of beauties, and their attire reflected that class. He Yi¡¯s appearance especially annihilated hers in every way even though she was a 7 out of 10 at the very least. ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take long before the dishes were served, and everything was a delicious and expensive delicacy. The bastards didn¡¯t hold back at all after they made up their minds to slaughter my wallet. A quick glance at the menu told me that this one dinner was going to cost me at least 300k RMB. At least it wasn¡¯t a frequent occurrence. I couldn¡¯t wait for the day it was my turn to slaughter their wallets¡­ My first sip of Lafite filled my mouth with a rich fragrance, even though I suspected that it was fake. In fact, I suspected that 90% of the goddamned dishes served on the tables weren¡¯t what they claimed to be. It was what the gang desired though, so whatever. These fools! I rose to my feet and raised my glass in Yu Tong¡¯s direction. I said, "Today is Beauty Yu Tong¡¯s twentieth birthday, an age where the flower blooms the prettiest. Let us all toast to her and drink until we¡¯re drunk, okay? No need to hold back, seriously. If it turns out that no one is sober enough to drive, we can simply call the base¡¯s drivers to fetch us." Yu Tong held up her own glass and replied embarrassedly, "Thank you, big brother Lu Chen. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Sister Momo and Sister Water~~!" After I drained the whole glass, we finally began devouring our food. I had been starving since the beginning, so I went straight for the boiled duck I had been eyeing for a while! ¡­¡­ I was basking in happiness and eating a duck drumstick when Stranger of Three Lifetimes set down her cup and asked me, "It¡¯s been two days since you entered the Purgatory, Lu Chen. How are you doing?" I put down the bone and said, "I¡¯ve gotten a lot of levels and loot, but¡­ I still haven¡¯t found Xinran¡­" "Yeah, I saw your level on the level ranking. How on earth did you even get to Level 258? You¡¯re grinding even faster than us mages! It¡¯s just inhuman!" "Haha, it¡¯s okay. You guys are leveling pretty fast yourselves. Practically everyone here¡¯s over Level 250 already. Have you found the opportunity to ascend and become a god yet?" "Unfortunately, no. I¡¯m already at Level 251, but I still haven¡¯t triggered anything." "Take it slow. Worse comes to worst, you can still use Perfect Divine Crystals to undergo the ascension¡­" "But that costs a lot of money, and it doesn¡¯t even have a good success rate¡­" "That¡¯s why I said to take it slow¡­" Li Chengfeng clinked glasses with me before asking, "All 27 tier 1 cities across all servers have been retaken. Now, all that¡¯s left is the inevitable invasion of the Northern Alliance. The first thing they¡¯ll do is to retake their Hot Sand City. What is your plan, Lu Chen?" I shook my head and said, "Nothing. I¡¯m not going to waste my energy thinking about anything else until I find Xinran." "That¡¯s fair." Li Chengfeng nodded strongly. "Xinran¡¯s matter is of critical importance. Guild leader Eve and I have a question for you though. Hot Sand City is situated between the Northern Alliance and Cyan Earth City, and it is unclear what action the Koreans of Burning City will take. One thing we know for certain is that holding the city will be incredibly difficult. Do you think we should even defend it, or¡­?" I thought for a second before answering, "Of course we should. But we can leave Candlelight Shadow to handle the defense." "Why¡¯s that?" Gui Guzi exclaimed in surprise. I replied, "It¡¯s simple. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, God of War, Natural Flow and Red Maple aren¡¯t stupid. If I was them, I would never pit my strongest troops against Hot Sand City. Although it is a tier 1 city, its city size, defense, city growth and more are mostly inferior to the other main cities. Simply put, it doesn¡¯t deserve the full brunt of their power. If I was them, I would hoard my elite troops until the right opportunity to invade the three main cities of China is ripe!" Li Chengfeng nodded. "I see. Your thoughts are almost identical to Beauty Lin¡¯s." Stranger of Three Lifetimes stared at me with wide eyes. "To be honest, I am of the same opinion as you. Right now though, I think there are new opportunities to be exploited¡­" I smiled. "Let me guess. You¡¯re talking about the new sieging rules that will appear 24 hours after the new patch is released, right?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes smiled. "Damn, you noticed that too?" "Yeah. That¡¯s basically all I can do in the Purgatory; grinding and paying attention to everything on the forums." ¡­¡­ Xu Yang asked in confusion, "What are these new sieging rules exactly?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes replied, "I¡¯m not too sure yet. The official announcement didn¡¯t reveal everything. To be specific, they¡¯re saying that they¡¯re amending the existing rules of city occupation and abandonment. Anyway, everyone¡¯s waiting for the new Nation War rules to be announced because it¡¯ll literally decide our next course of action." Xu Yang said, "I see!" While eyeing an oily rabbit leg, I said, "None of this is really important though. As always, our first priority is to upgrade our guild members¡¯ average level and equipment. The rules can change a million times, but if we possess absolute power then there is nothing to fear. In fact, we must. Our King of Cities provides a ton of buffs, and countless people are vying to take it for themselves. There¡¯s no way we can hold it without sufficient strength." Stranger of Three Lifetimes nodded. "Yes, that is why Blazing Hot Lips has been shifting their focus onto Sky City as well." ¡­¡­ It was at this moment my phone suddenly rang. It was an unfamiliar number from Beijing. When I accepted the call, an unfamiliar middle-aged man¡¯s voice spoke to me¡ª "Hello, is this Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Lu Chen?" I nodded. "Yes, I am. And you are?" "I¡¯m Tang Feng. Do you remember me?" "Yes, I do. Good evening, Chief Tang¡­" It would be difficult not to remember him. He was the current chief of the China VR department and the man who ultimately removed me from the China server¡¯s wanted list. He was an okay person overall. "Is there anything, Chief Tang? It¡¯s pretty late¡­" "Late? It¡¯s not even 8 pm yet. Let me guess, you¡¯re in the middle of a grind¡­" "Haha, not this time, I¡¯m afraid. I¡¯m having dinner right now. Why don¡¯t you tell me your business straight?" "Yes." Tang Feng¡¯s voice suddenly turned serious. "This is a heads-up, but I want you to come to Beijing in a couple of days and help us accomplish something very important." "Oh?" I exclaimed in surprise, "What¡¯s this about?" "It¡¯s classified, so I can¡¯t tell you right now. You¡¯ll know when you come to Beijing¡­" "I hate it when someone keeps me on tenterhooks¡­" "Ahem, it¡¯s not my fault this time. The secrecy of this matter is classified as S Rank, and even I cannot reveal the details despite my position. In fact, this phone call is under surveillance right now¡­" "Holy shit. Okay, sure. If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯m getting back to dinner. By the way, it¡¯s not a life and death matter, is it?" "Ahem, what are you talking about? Of course not!" "Okay. You have a good dinner too, Chief Tang." "Thanks, but I¡¯ve already eaten dinner two hours ago." "..." 1. E/N: God, why is she using feet and inches all of a sudden¡­ ? Favorite CH 1479 The next day 7 in the early morning, I was fully awake even though everyone else was still sleeping away the alcohol they had consumed during the mad party last night. It was because I was still on a mission to search for Xinran. This would be the third day I was inside the Purgatory. I bought breakfast for everyone but didn¡¯t bother waking them up and went online straight away. Time was of the essence right now. Swhoosh! Once more, I was greeted by the deathly sceneries of the fifth floor of the Purgatory. Not far away, a couple of Gravediggers could be heard digging into another ancient expert¡¯s grave to plunder their buried treasures. ¡­¡­ Next to me, Uldan was rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she summoned her bow. She asked, "You¡¯re back." "Yeah. Let us continue." I crawled out of my tent and put it away. The morning cold of the fifth floor was pretty chilly. After buffing myself with a Hunter Card and Martial God, we began making way toward our immediate destination. It wasn¡¯t close, so I anticipated plenty of battles before we reached it. As expected, we were constantly harassed by the Purgatory Gravediggers. These sonuvabitches both dug up the graves of the dead and robbed the living, and Uldan and I were both their primary targets. Their ploy went about as well as you might expect. Not only did the Xuanyuan Sword annihilate them all, the Chains of Freedom made them cough up plenty of Perfect Divine Crystals for me. If I wasn¡¯t in a hurry to search for Xinran, I might have hung around to grind as many Divine Crystals as I could. The amount of mobs blocking away far exceeded my imagination, however. I was forced to grind until nearly 4 pm in the late afternoon¡ªthat was 8 hours of non-stop fighting¡ªkill countless Gravediggers, and level up to 259. I was yet another step closer to the mythical Level 275. Of course, I had no idea if I could ever reach that Level. I highly doubted that I would be able to find a map as good as the Purgatory after I left it behind, meaning that I would be back to the days where a single Level would take at least a week of effort. It was definitely possible that grinding after Level 260 would take even longer, and it might even take half a year of grinding to level up once after Level 270¡­ Finally, we reached what seemed like a necropolis. It was the reddest area of the map and where the spatial rift to the sixth floor of the Purgatory was. ¡­¡­ I gripped my sword tightly as I asked in a hushed voice, "Who is the guardian of this floor?" Uldan stayed very close to me as she looked around with fully alert eyes. "The guardian was Penina the Magnificent Fire Dancer when I was imprisoned in the Life Shatter Realm, but it has been a very long time. It is entirely possible that it is someone else now. Regardless, they can only be very powerful. We must be careful." "Yeah. Let¡¯s sneak our way in." I crouched on the ground and slowly shuffled my way forward. It didn¡¯t take long before we started hearing mournful screams of pain. It was a group of undead being made to kneel on their knees. A bunch of undead generals in silver armor were standing behind them. When the time was right, they raised their blades and beheaded all of the kneeling undead. "Damn¡­" I pursed my lips. "Is this place an execution ground or something?" Uldan grabbed my wrist and said, "That is why we must be extra cautious. These soldiers are called Executioners, and each one of them possesses immense strength. They are one of the most elite units in the Purgatory. I didn¡¯t know that the fifth floor¡¯s guards have been replaced by these monsters¡­" I captured the Executioners¡¯ stats with Dark Pupils¡ª Purgatory Executioner (Ancient Immortal Rank Miniboss) Level: 329 Attack: 71,000~92,500 Defense: 109,000 HP: 40,000,000 Skills: Killing Blow, Death Cleave, Qilin Slash Property: Ignores 30% of the user¡¯s Defense Introduction: The Executioners are a merciless group. They possess extraordinary strength, and they are absolutely loyal to the Purgatory¡¯s cause. They are death squads who will hunt down any traitor of the Purgatory. If the unfortunate unrepentant traitors happen to be captured in the Life Shatter Realm, they receive the supreme penalty from the Executioners themselves. It is said that the Executioners¡¯ blades are capable of cutting through any shield and piercing any defense. ¡­¡­ "They definitely look as troublesome as you say¡­" I sucked in a deep breath after saying that. Not only did the Executioners possess extremely high Attack, they even ignored 30% of their target¡¯s Defense. This was terrible news to say the least. The reason I was able to defeat every mob so far was because I had high HP and high Defense. I dared not say that I could maintain this advantage at all if they could ignore 30% of it. It was at this moment the group of Executioners suddenly looked up as if they sensed something. One of them pointed their blade straight in my direction and shouted, "Someone¡¯s spying on us! Squad one, head over and bring their head to me!" The fuck? These Executioners could sense my Dark Pupils? Uldan grabbed my wrist again and pulled me into a run. "We need to run! There¡¯s no way we can battle 10 Executioners at once!" I was of the same mind, so I didn¡¯t hesitate to retreat with her. Thankfully, our movement speed was higher because we were divine experts. Eventually, the 10-Executioner squad became separated from each other, and only 3 of them were close to the forest we had come to a stop. 3 Executioners was way more doable than 10. "Let¡¯s defeat them one by one!" I said. "Mn." I unsheathed my weapon and activated Thunderous Charge. However, by the time I reached my target, the other two minibosses had already detected my skill usage and were charging toward me. These minibosses were far, far more sensitive than the Molten Worms on the third floor! "Damned boy! Leave your life behind and be ready to suffer 10,000 years of annihilation in the Purgatory!" One of the Executioners roared as he brought his blade down using Death Cleave. I couldn¡¯t dodge it, so I blocked it with my shield instead. My arm turned numb, and 457,162 HP vanished from my health bar just like that. The Executioner¡¯s attack ignored 30% of my Defense, so they were definitely capable of doing huge damage to me. That being said, this was hardly an impossible battle. I bound one of the minibosses with the God Binding Art before going to town with the other two. With 50% lifesteal, I had nothing to fear from them. We managed to take out the three Executioners after nearly ten minutes of fighting. They didn¡¯t drop anything particularly impressive, but the experience they gave was nearly 1% of my current level. Had I had the time to grind at my leisure, I could¡¯ve hit Level 260 in just 3 to 5 hours. I didn¡¯t have that time, however. If possible, I would like to enter the sixth floor of the Purgatory today! After that, we continued to split up the Executioners and take them out one by one. Less than an hour later, they were all converted into experience in my experience bar. Then, Uldan and I continued to make our way stealthily to the center of the necropolis. The deeper we went though, the fewer greeneries there were. Eventually, there weren¡¯t even enough leaves to keep us fully hidden. It meant that we might have to break through by force. A far distance away, I saw an army camp that was surrounded by wooden fences. The entrance was guarded by two undead knights, and a bloody banner flew above their heads. They were in the way. "Gulp¡­" I gulped audibly before saying, "There¡¯s an army camp in the Purgatory? Interesting. Let¡¯s force our way in, kill them all and enter the spatial rift to the sixth floor, the Redemption Realm¡­" Uldan caught my wrist before I could do anything rash. "Wait. Let¡¯s wait a bit and see what happens first!" "Okay." Half a minute later, a group of noisy Corpse Eaters with severed limbs in their mouths entered the army camp. They were then followed by a company of one hundred Executioners. The moment the entrance opened, I saw at least 10,000 Executioners standing at the military drill ground of the camp. That, I wasn¡¯t expecting at all. What is this bullshit? Forget me, not even Binglan might be able to go up against 10,000 Executioners at the same time! I sucked in a deep breath and muttered, "There are at least 10,000 Executioners in here¡­ Why is the Purgatory raising an entire army of Executioners on the fifth floor? Are they trying to defy the heavens or something? If these Executioners were to invade Sky City, it¡¯ll probably take them only half a day to annihilate Princess Karinshan¡¯s five ace cavalry legions¡­" Uldan was frowning just as deeply. "What on earth is Lin Na planning? This force is equal to nearly 50% of the Purgatory¡¯s elite forces. Also, there are at least 100k Executioners in that fortress. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t need to build such a huge necropolis to provide for the Executioners. Ugh, Lin Na must be plotting something big. It¡¯s impossible to raise such an army without years of hard work¡­" I rubbed my palms together. "It¡¯s a shame there are no nuclear bombs in this game, or one bomb is all it takes for the Silver Moon Alliance to beat the undead¡­" "It¡¯s never that easy¡­" Uldan shook her head before asking, "Can you guess why so many troops are being raised on the fifth floor?" I thought for a moment before answering, "The first, second, third and fourth floor are heavily guarded, but experts from all three realms can still invade them from time to time. However, the fifth floor is deep enough that not many divine experts can make it here at all, and it is close enough to the surface that marching them to the continent won¡¯t take too long. Is Lin Na assembling his troops to prepare a counterattack against the living?" Uldan smiled. "Not bad. You definitely possess both martial prowess and good wisdom[1]. Your survival thus far definitely isn¡¯t a fluke." I asked, "So, what do we do now?" ¡­¡­ Uldan looked at the sky for a moment before replying, "I don¡¯t know either, but we must pass through this fortress somehow to make it to the sixth floor, and the only way to do so is to destroy it and kill these Executioners¡­" I fell silent for a moment. "Are you serious? A group of 10 Executioners could¡¯ve killed us if they attacked us at once, and according to you there are at least 100,000 Executioners in this fortress!" Uldan shrugged before shooting me a smirk. "So? You¡¯re the one who wants to rescue the Wind Singer, and I¡¯m just the helper. If you decide to give up, I¡¯ll just wander around the floor and raise an army of my own. It¡¯s not the first time I¡¯ve done something like this anyway. I know exactly how to do what I have to do¡­" "Fuck!" I clenched my fists. "How unreliable! These days, even NPCs are utterly shameless!" 1. E/N: OMG LU CHEN ARE YOU SMART, ARMY OF THE DEAD IS TO BE USED AGAINST THE LIVING THEY HAD BEEN AT WAR WITH FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS?! WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT!!!!! ? CH 1480 [1] I looked up at the bright moon in the sky. The Purgatory¡¯s moonlight was just as gentle as it was on the surface with one difference: its light was cold enough to turn my skin into ice. Oh? What¡¯s that? I narrowed my eyes suddenly. A cloud had blotted out the moon¡ªno wait, that wasn¡¯t a cloud, that was an extraordinarily tall cliff top. That¡¯s right, it was a cliff top. The fortress was built at a gap between two mountain ranges, and the cliff top, for some reason, was at least 10,000 meters tall. It almost looked like a wolf¡¯s fang that was reaching toward the sky. It was so tall that we could just barely see it from the ground¡­ I raised my hand and measured the angle for a bit. Then, my heart began racing faster. ¡­¡­ "Hey, what are you doing?" Uldan shot me a surprised look. The corners of my lips turned up uncontrollably. "You¡¯re totally smiling like an evil villain right now!" She pointed a finger at me. I exhaled a bit before saying, "We¡¯re going to play a game called ¡®justice rains from above¡¯, Uldan. We¡¯re going to destroy this fortress and rush into the spatial rift while the enemy is confused!" "Oh? And how do we do that?" Uldan asked. I grabbed her hand and said, "Just follow me!" Pa! Leaving behind a barely discernible trail of divine energy in my wake, I flew Uldan up toward the sky. This plan would probably decide whether we could enter the sixth floor and continue our journey to rescue Xinran, or not. The higher we flew, the colder it became[2]. Eventually, it became so cold that my metal armor was covered in ice, and even Uldan¡¯s eyelashes were becoming frozen. She blinked a couple of times before asking me, "How much higher are we flying? We¡¯re more than high enough to avoid being detected already¡­" I pointed above my head. "Not yet. Look over there!" "Ah?!" Uldan looked up and finally noticed the impossibly tall cliff that looked like a wolf¡¯s fang. It looked tiny from the ground, but it was really an enormous object. Thud! After we landed on the frozen cliff top, I dropped to one knee and struck the ground with the Xuanyuan Sword. Sparks flew everywhere, and the Xuanyuan Sword only managed to leave a 10 cm deep mark on the ground. It was way tougher than I expected. I had a feeling that the ore that made up this ground was as tough as a meteorite, but unfortunately I didn¡¯t have a Mining skill. Otherwise, I could¡¯ve converted them into yet another bag of fortune. Uldan shivered in the cold wind while asking, "What is your plan exactly? You¡¯re not planning for us to jump off and dive toward the fortress, are you? We¡¯re still going to die, and I don¡¯t really think that our current company embodies the concept of justice." I laughed. "Of course not! If the two of us would suffice, I would¡¯ve charged the front entrance instead of flying all the way up here! No, my plan is to bring this big boy down on the fortress!" "What? You want to¡­" Uldan¡¯s mouth fell open. I nodded and pointed at the fang-like cliff. "We¡¯re going to sever the top part of this cliff. Then, we¡¯ll push the severed part about 500 meters to the front. If we succeed, I guarantee that we¡¯ll flatten all the bastards in the fortress like pancakes!" Now that Uldan realized the plan, she stomped her foot once and grinned widely. "That sounds awesome! But¡­ this cliff is extraordinarily tough. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be able to sever it even with our divine powers. The stone we are standing on is Dead Rhombus Stone, and it¡¯s a type of ore only found within the Purgatory. It is so tough that not even a Divine Armament will be able to penetrate it, much less us¡­" I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and said, "We have to try nonetheless. One way or another, we must take out the fortress if we wish to enter the sixth floor." "Alright, we¡¯ll do as you say!" ¡­¡­ I abruptly took to the sky once more and circled around the fang-like protrusion about seven to eight times. Finally, I found a fairly good spot to begin the project. The rock formation about a thousand meters below the cliff top was only about a hundred meters in diameter, and it was shaped a little like a goose¡¯s neck. Moreover, it was obviously a fault in the cliff because I saw winter moss and snow flowers growing inside of it. Assuming that the plants had penetrated deep into the rock formation, it might be even more fragile than I expected. Who knows, a strong push might even be enough to tip the protrusion over. Lin Na had been way too careless in choosing the location to build his fortress! Swhoosh! I backed a dozen or so steps before saying, "Uldan, head to the cliff top and push toward the north. I¡¯m going to start widening the fault of this cliff. Hopefully, we¡¯ll be able to sever it through and through!" Uldan nodded. "Alright. See you later!" As Uldan flew toward the top, I thanked myself for saving Uldan from her eternal bondage. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do this alone. I let out a shout, gathered my divine energy, and activated Heavenly River Transformation. A pair of bloody wings penetrated my Cloak of Divine Fervor and spread out behind my back. I would need all my power to sever this fang-like cliff! Burning Blade Slash! Bang bang bang¡­ The entire protrusion shook visibly under the assault, but it wasn¡¯t enough to sever it. However, there were clearly three deep marks where Burning Blade Slash had struck. Although the Dead Rhombus Stone was extraordinarily tough, the weapon I was using was also the greatest Divine Armament of this world. Its sharp edge was enough to cut through any obstacle! I gathered my energy once more and held the Xuanyuan Sword horizontally to my right. Then, I summoned a giant golden sword that was at least several hundred meters long. It was of course my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Xuanyuan Slash! "It¡¯s all up to you, Xuanyuan Slash!" I muttered a prayer before swinging the golden sword at the fault. I couldn¡¯t take too long, or those Executioners on the ground would surely realize what was going on eventually. Bang! There was a series of shattering noises as the Xuanyuan Slash traveled through the rock. It dug so deep that I couldn¡¯t even see the end. Higher up, Uldan pushed with all her might and finally tipped the fang-like protrusion over. The next moment, the entire thing was falling toward the ground. "Now, Uldan! Push it 500 meters toward the front!" I shouted. Uldan slammed hard against the rock, but it was just too big and heavy. It wasn¡¯t quite like a mayfly who tried to push a tree, but it was close. I would have to help her if this plan were to succeed. She was an archer after all. In the end, it was up to a fighter like me to perform the heavy labor! Chiang! I sheathed my sword and flew straight down. After I caught up to the falling rock, I threw a punch to move it toward the north. Heavenly River Transformation gave me immense power, but even then the rock only shuddered and moved about dozens of meters to the front. That was far from what I hoped would happen. ¡­¡­ I backed a few steps and descended toward the ground at the same speed as the rock. Then, I summoned the purple draconic energy around my fist. I was going to unleash Purple Dragon Howl and push it 500 meters to the front! Go! Whoosh whoosh! The powerful cyclone of energy slammed into the giant rock and did exactly what I hoped it would do. After the broken protrusion had moved enough distance, I immediately withdrew my strength so as not to overdo it. If my calculations were correct, the rock should land about 500 meters from here and directly on top of the fortress! The rock, Uldan and I descended lower and lower until we were less than three hundred meters away from the ground. Then, I abruptly stopped my descent, caught Uldan with one arm and said, "Let¡¯s stop here. There¡¯s no need to fall together with the rock, is there?" At the very edge of my vision range, I saw a ton of undead creatures looking up in surprise and puzzlement. An Executioner muttered to himself, "What¡­ is that? What¡¯s that falling toward us?" A group of Corpse Eaters screamed in fear. They seemed to realize the danger even faster than the Executioners themselves! ¡­¡­ What happened next was exactly what I hoped would happen. BOOM BOOM BOOM! The gigantic protrusion hit the ground with the force and speed of a meteor. The powerful shockwave engulfed countless screaming Executioners and Corpse Eaters and swiftly turned the hard-built fortress into a pile of rubble. Not only that, the rocks abruptly started detonating as if they were filled with gunpowder! "What the fuck? These things can explode?" my eyes widened. Uldan nodded. "The core of the Dead Rhombus Stone is filled with energy. Considering the force of the impact, it would be stranger if it didn¡¯t explode[3]¡­" I could only watch in shock as the Executioner army dropped like flies. At the same time, my level began jumping like crazy. I had no idea that killing the mobs like this would still give me their experience, and the rate I was scaling the eternal ladder could only be described as impossible¡ª Level 260! Level 261! Level 262! ¡­¡­ Level 267! ¡­¡­ I had skyrocketed all the way to Level 269 in just the blink of an eye. To say that the rush felt like an injection of ecstasy would be an understatement! For a moment, I could only stare dumbly at my own level. I had risen from Level 259 all the way to Level 269 in an instant. The devs had claimed that it would take at least 1 to 2 years to level this far, and I had reached it in just an instant! I silently opened the level ranking of Sky City. One refresh later, it was clear that I was far ahead of everyone¡ª ¡­¡­ Everyone had been shooting up the levels like crazy for the past couple days due to the patch event, the city retaking event, and of course the usual grinding. The top players especially were very, very close to each other in terms of levels. I was the only odd one out, of course. The level gap between me and everyone else was practically insurmountable at this point! On the forums, Stranger of Three Lifetimes sent me a private message: "Holy shit, are you goddamn crazy, what the fuck did you do to jump to Level 269 in one go? Are you trying to give the entire world a heart attack?" I replied silently, "I¡¯m undergoing a life-or-death trial right now, we¡¯ll talk later. Grind harder¡­" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Uldan gave my cloak a tug and said, "We need to go now. The way to the spatial rift is open¡­" "Where¡¯s the guardian?" I asked. "I¡¯m not sure. Probably inside the fortress¡­" As if on cue, a terrific roar suddenly erupted from inside the fortress. The next moment, a ferocious beast leaped up into the air. Without hesitation, Uldan and I flew straight toward the abyss at the back of the fortress. I was really glad that we didn¡¯t need to fight a boss this time, and a quick glance to the back further cemented my belief. The guardian of the fifth floor was a full-fledged Divine Rank boss, and there was just no chance we were going to beat it. The last thing I wanted right now was to die after a resounding success¡­ Swhoosh! The spatial energy of the rift caught me and pulled me forward. The next moment, we were on the sixth floor, the Redemption Realm! 1. T/N: took a bit of liberty with this title, but in my defense the author¡¯s chosen term has little to do with what actually happened in the chapter too ? 2. E/N: Oh noes, but if the Earth was flat, and Sun was on the dome, wouldn¡¯t he be getting closer to the Sun as he goes up, making it hotter and hotter?! ? 3. E/N: There¡¯s no nuke, but let¡¯s drop a condensed mass of energy that creates explosions when compressed. Guess how nuclear bombs work. There¡¯s no uranium 235 in it to be compressed with the explosion, but still, it¡¯s like a huuuuge bomb! Oh, and rhombus is used in engineering for bridges. Rhombus muscles are often cheaper and stronger than using a more expensive and sturdier material. So rhombus-shaped rocks being so sturdy here, maybe because of that. Author is an engineer like me, so I¡¯m guessing our trains of thought should be a bit similar. xD ? Favorite CH 1481 Swhoosh! The sixth floor was yet again a cold, windy place, the sudden drop in temperature causing me to sneeze yet again. I shouldn¡¯t complain though. Imagine what would¡¯ve happened if the fifth floor¡¯s boss had chased us into the sixth floor. The Cloak of Divine Fervor flapping loudly behind me, I stared at the ground and discovered that it was just as snowy as the fourth floor, with several noticeable differences. One, it wasn¡¯t snowing. Two, this floor was even colder than the fourth floor. A sheen of ice had appeared on my metal armor in the blink of an eye, and my eyebrows and eyelashes were about to become frozen as well. I used to think that Sainthelm Ruins was cold, but it was nothing compared to the cold of this place. I would¡¯ve frozen to death if I didn¡¯t have the Unusual Physique! Besides that, there were a lot of blood pools on the ground. The blood pools were set about one kilometer away from the other, and each one was guarded by 10 to 15 guards. The blood pools were also bubbling as if they were boiling water or something. I had no idea what they were. ¡­¡­ Seemingly noticing my puzzlement, Uldan shot me a smile and said, ¡°Those are the Wells of Redemption. They are unique to the sixth floor!¡± ¡°Well of Redemption?¡± My astonishment grew. Uldan nodded and explained, ¡°The experts who came to the sixth floor despite having survived the harrowing trials of the first to fifth floor are all people who wished to become the Purgatory Ruler¡¯s servants. They are also top-tier experts who potentially possess the power to threaten the Purgatory Ruler, which is why he built these Well of Redemptions to ensure their loyalty. Everyone baptized in the Well of Redemption would lose their lives¡¯ memories and obsessions and fully become a dog to Lin Na. Coldblade, Thunder, Bloody Finger, Skullblood, Opero and more have all been baptized in the Well of Redemption.¡± ¡°What about Xinran?¡± ¡°Wind Singer Xinran and Sophie are the exceptions. They have refused to go through the baptism, and Lin Na allowed it. In their case, it allowed them to maintain the integrity of their unique Divinities and grant them greater power.¡± I felt relieved. ¡°I see. I would never have met Xinran if she had chosen to go through with the baptism¡­¡± Uldan smiled again before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s go. The passage to the seventh floor, the Immortal Realm, lies at the heart of the sixth floor, but it is guarded by a divine expert. I hope we¡¯ll get lucky just like we did earlier. Moreover, the sky is locked by a divine sealing barrier, so we won¡¯t be able to fly undetected as we did before. We¡¯ll need to travel by ground.¡± ¡°Mn.¡± We descended to the ground and began trekking through a snowy forest. We made sure to stay away from the Wells of Redemption because the guards were Level 230 deity-rank mobs. Dealing with them wasn¡¯t too difficult, but it would take too much time that I couldn¡¯t afford. Moreover, it was almost 5 pm in the late afternoon, and I needed to log out and catch some rest around 8 pm. My body wouldn¡¯t be able to keep itself together otherwise. We didn¡¯t walk far before a large group of red dots suddenly appeared on the periphery of my map screen. They were moving in our direction at high speed! "Watch out. Someone¡¯s coming!" I grabbed Uldan¡¯s hand and pulled her deeper into the forest. Then, I buried us both beneath the snow. The instant we finished hiding ourselves, a party of 100+ undead cavalrymen galloped past our hiding spot. "Hunters! There are Hunters here too¡­" I uttered through gritted teeth. The undead party was led by ten Executioners. I didn¡¯t fear the Hunters, but the Executioners were a different story. They could deal massive amounts of damage because they ignored 30% of my Defense. Even with my current level, I would like to avoid a fight with them if at all possible. ¡­¡­ A short while later, another group of Hunters showed up and met up with this party. "We haven¡¯t found anything, sir!" a Hunter reported in a loud voice. An Executioner replied snarlingly, "They can¡¯t be too far from here. Those two traitorous bastards have destroyed the fortress troops that were stationed at the Life Shatter Realm, and Lord Lin Na is absolutely furious. He ordered us to slay them in the Redemption Realm, no matter what. You lot will continue the search in the northeast direction. The higher-ups have dispatched a total of 1,000 hunting parties to find these traitors. There is no chance for them to escape!" "Yes, sir! We won¡¯t let them escape the Redemption Realm!" "Good. Now go!" "Yessir!" ¡­¡­ Still buried under the snow, I sneezed again before saying, "Looks like we made a huge mess¡­" Uldan smiled. "It¡¯s your choice. Are you afraid of the consequences?" I gripped the Xuanyuan Sword and declared confidently, "Of course not. That being said, it will be foolish to attack a Hunter party with 10 Executioners in it. There¡¯s no need to take such a risk either. Let¡¯s target those that are weaker and easier to kill¡­" "Exactly my thoughts!" "Let¡¯s go!" We continued toward our destination. The crimson-colored Cloak of Divine Fervor was fairly eye-catching, but there was nothing I could do about it. The Master of Disguise Ring was one way to slip through the undead army unnoticed, but I didn¡¯t want to use it because both the Song of Freedom and the Ring of Spiritual Tongue gave me critical stats. Also, Uldan didn¡¯t have the ability to conceal herself, and I had no intention of abandoning her. I still needed her strength for the upcoming battles. We didn¡¯t go far before we countered yet another hunting party. This one only had 57 Hunters and 3 Executioners in it. The Hunters couldn¡¯t kill me, and the Executioners were few enough that I could brute-force the issue. My mind was already made up. Chiang! I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword. Uldan blinked. "Are we attacking them?" I nodded. "Yeah. I¡¯ll keep the Hunters busy before focusing an Executioner. You will help me to kill it before we move onto the next Executioner. Once all three Executioners are dead, the rest of the battle is a non-issue. The remaining Hunters won¡¯t be able to kill me." "Got it!" ¡­¡­ I ran up to the hunting party and immobilized an Executioner with the God Binding Art. This way, I only needed to fight two Executioners at the same time. I threw my sword at an Executioner using Coiling Dragon Revolution at an Executioner, putting a hole in his chest. He retaliated in anger, but I activated the Profound Armor of my Rising Cloud, increased my Defense by 300%, and rendered their passive armor penetration useless for 15 seconds. I easily tanked their Peerless Strike and other attacks. 300% Defense is awesome! Behind me, Uldan drew her bow and fired shots that dealt nearly 3 million damage per hit against the Hunters. The Divine Rank boss was just too strong for these small fries to handle. Thanks to her, I was able to kill a full-health Executioner in less than half a minute. A huge burden was lifted from my shoulders after the first Executioner was killed. Another minute later, the remaining two Executioners were dead as well. After that, the rest of the battle was relatively easy. Rustle rustle rustle¡­ On a related note, my boots never touched the ground. There were mini cyclones beneath my boots that kept me afloat and left a trail of spiraling holes across the snow. Exploiting my speed advantage over the Hunters, I led them on a merry-go-round while killing them with Ancient Seals, Myriad Swords Obliteration and more AoE skills. In less than ten minutes, all 60 minibosses died and gave me a good number of equipment and magic stones. I swept the battlefield and counted myself lucky. In total, I had gotten two Perfect Divine Crystals and a dozen more great pieces of equipment. At the same time, I briefly lamented the fact that I had gotten the experience from the tens of thousands of Executioners I crushed to death with a giant rock on the fifth floor, but not their loot. It was a real shame. At the same time, I checked my experience bar and was stunned by what I saw. I had just killed 60 Ancient Immortal Rank minibosses, but my experience was still stuck at 7% like it was a permanent fixture. I could hardly believe it. How long would it take me to level to 275 like this? The chance to one-shot tens of thousands of mobs in one go was hardly an everyday occurrence¡­ ¡­¡­ I shouldn¡¯t complain about my fortune not being good enough though. After I rescued Xinran and escaped the Purgatory, I could take it easy knowing that it would be a very, very long time before anyone could even catch up to me. In fact, I didn¡¯t even need to grind in the norm anymore; all I needed to do was to wait for the massive events and grab the MVP spots to raise my levels. In fact, it would be stupid to grind mobs to Level 275. I was no mage, I couldn¡¯t throw AoE spells all day and night. In two hours, we destroyed 14 parties and gotten 47 Hunter Cards in total. They were the real reward of our labor. A card that increased Attack by 170% and max HP by 200% was absolutely god-tier, and it could sell for at least 5,000 RMB on the market. Even then, no one would use it unless they were fighting a powerful boss or took part in a large-scale war. Even I wouldn¡¯t have been using this card if the Purgatory wasn¡¯t such a dangerous place. We continued forward after I put the cards and the loot away safely. The map before us grew redder and redder. Eventually, we arrived at a barren, bone-riddled land with a huge, bloody vortex at the center. I knew from the barrier energies spilling out of it that it was the entrance to the seventh floor. My heart leaped to my throat. The entrance led to the seventh floor of the Purgatory, and my Xinran was right over the other side of this barrier! For a moment, I couldn¡¯t stop trembling in anticipation. "Be careful. There has to be a guardian somewhere¡­" Uldan warned me. "I don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t see anyone even on my map screen¡­" "A true god can conceal their presence¡­" "Screw it. I¡¯m going!" I took off and made a beeline for the barrier. Your big brother¡¯s coming, Xinran! ¡­¡­ Before I could reach it though, an invisible pressure suddenly pressed down on me. Now that I had become a god and accumulated enough experience, I could tell that it was a power that not even a Sovereign Rank boss possessed. It was the domain power of another god! Chiang! I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword without hesitation and activated Heavenly River Transformation. I unleashed my own Domain to fight against the unseen enemy¡¯s. "You think you can break through my defense by force, boy?" An icy cold voice spoke from the sky. The next moment, I heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed, and an invisible astral energy smashed into my back and knocked me away from my original trajectory! 1,418,723! What a powerful attack! I kicked out with my leg, but it felt like I had struck a steel fortress. Pain shot up my foot as I was knocked back yet dozens of meters yet again. It took me a while to finally catch myself. CH 1482 A brawny figure appeared in the sky. He was clad in fiery red armor and wielding an equally fiery blade. His pupils were red, and his lips were curled into a malicious grin. He pointed his weapon at me and declared, "You must step over my dead body first before you can enter the seventh floor, boy. Can you, though?" I slowly pushed myself to a standing position and sucked in a deep breath. Then, I began examining the boss carefully. The guardian of the sixth floor of the Purgatory was a true Divine Rank boss in every way. In fact, I would even say that he was the equal of Thunder or Coldblade. He just wasn¡¯t listed as a Purgatory Sovereign¡ª Fireblade Dihai (Divine Rank Boss) Level: 332 Attack: 84,500~129,000 Defense: 145,000 HP: 1,500,000,000 Skills: Blade Beam, World Breaker, Fire God Flurry, Fire God Arrival Property: Damage received is reduced by 20% Property: Ignores all guarding and parrying Property: Immune to wind-type magic Introduction: Dihai is a hell sovereign who hid himself deep within the Purgatory. Legend says that Dihai was in the Purgatory since the Era of Gods, and that he was cultivating alone in the Banished Lands. When the Purgatory went through several tribulations, and Lin Na ultimately became the Purgatory Ruler, he was able to persuade this ancient, Divine Rank expert to guard the Redemption Realm. Dihai is an honest and just man who never abuses his strength and bullies the weak, but he is equally stubborn and old-fashioned. There is no changing his mind about his contract with Lin Na. Unless he dies, not a single uninvited soul will be allowed to set foot in the seventh floor of the Purgatory. ¡­¡­ "Oh no¡­" I swore on the inside. The guy was a Level 322 Divine Rank Boss, and at first glance his stats were even higher than the likes of Thunder and Coldblade. Although my equipment had gone through quite the overhaul since I entered the Purgatory, I wasn¡¯t sure that it would be enough to go up against a Divine Rank boss that was this powerful. I didn¡¯t have a choice, however. For Xinran, I must succeed even when faced with the impossible! I summoned the Phantom Wolf King. I had no idea what my little wolf could do to help in this situation, but something was still better than nothing. Behind me, I heard Uldan whispering in a shaky voice, "It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s that monster, Dihai. How did he become the guardian of the Redemption Realm? There¡¯s¡­ there¡¯s no chance we¡¯re going to beat him¡­" I said as I gripped my sword, "I won¡¯t ask you to die with me, Uldan. You have already done more than enough for me. However, I must go to the Immortal Realm!" Uldan bit her lips before declaring, "No. I will advance and retreat with you. We shall stick to our usual strategy!" "Mn!" What she meant was that I would be the tank, and she would assist me with debuffs, CCs and random status effects. ¡­¡­ After refreshing my Hunter Card buff and buffing myself with Battle Astral Wind and Ghost Deity Shield, I locked onto Dihai and rushed toward him. My very first move was my greatest CC skill, the God Binding Art. Will I succeed?! MISS! Of course not! It was disappointing, but hardly unexpected. I knew that its success rate against Divine Rank bosses would be much lower than normal[1]. Dihai let out a mad laugh while swinging his blade. "Do you really think you can kill me with such tricks, boy?" Buzz! Deadly flames spat out from his weapon. The invisible pressure he was emanating was suffocating, and he hadn¡¯t even brought his blade down yet. The next moment, both fire and metal smashed into my shoulder and filled my entire body with scorching pain. At first glance, it looked like I had only lost a bit over 600k HP. In reality, I knew that this World Breaker was strong enough to deal almost 1.5 million damage. The reason it hadn¡¯t was because Battle Astral Wind had canceled most of the damage. Thud! I opened my palm and grabbed the boss''s weapon. Then, I activated Flying Dragon Hands and successfully disarmed him for 15 seconds. At the same time, I rotated to his back and stabbed him in the back with Purple Frost Concentration, lowering his Defense by 21.9%. Now, my attack was capable of penetrating his Defense. It would¡¯ve taken forever to punch through his 145k Defense otherwise! I gripped the Xuanyuan Sword with both hands and injected it with my Asura God energy. Flames erupted from my sword as Burning Blade Slash exploded on Dihai¡¯s body three times and healed me a little¡ª 410,928! 471,884! 542,178! ¡­¡­ "You are courting death!" Dihai roared in anger as he turned around swiftly to face me. Flames surrounded his fist as he punched me on the shoulder again before kicking me in the stomach, knocking me back at least dozens of meters. It really hurt. Even after he was disarmed, the guy still managed to delete almost 700k HP with his bare hands and feet. Light erupted from my sword once more as I threw my sword through the boss''s chest with Coiling Dragon Revolution for 870k damage. At the same time, I opened my left palm and fired an Ancient Seal that dealt another 970k damage. "Hehe! Interesting boy!" Dihai laughed adly as he rushed toward me. He raised his hands into the air, conjured a blade of pure fire with his divine energy, and executed Fire God Flurry! 716,634! 791,823! 772,662! A large majority of my HP went poof in just the blink of an eye, and this was after he had been disarmed. I didn¡¯t dare to imagine what would¡¯ve happened if he had a weapon in his hand. I charged forward and attempted another God Binding Art[2]. Unfortunately, it once again resulted in a MISS. I had no choice but to face him head-on. The moment 15 seconds had passed, Dihai¡¯s blade returned to his hand once more. He cackled with delight and fired a blade aura at me. It was the skill Blade Beam! I instinctively raised my shield to Guard at the same time I recalled that his attacks ignored all Guard and parry. What I was doing was just a waste of energy! Bang! My body shuddered again as a massive damage number popped above my head¡ª 1,714,877! Despair filled my heart. Just how powerful could this boss''s attacks be? I activated the Profound Armor of Rising Cloud and increased my Defense threefold. At the same time, Dihai rushed in and hit me with a devastating four-hit World Breaker + Fire God Flurry combo. My body felt like they could fall apart at any moment; a sensation I hadn¡¯t felt ever since I received the Scarlet Dragon Armor. Not even my new armor was sufficient to protect me from Dihai¡¯s attacks¡ª 937,745! 926,731! 933,664! 1,028,747! The amount of damage I took shook me greatly. Even with three times the Defense, Dihai still managed to delete my HP like a chef would cut their vegetables. Dihai was without a doubt stronger than Coldblade and Thunder. Even with my amazing Defense, he was beating me up like it didn¡¯t exist! Xuanyuan Art! After healing myself with Life and downing a health potion, Dihai fired yet another Blade Beam at me! Thud! It was at this moment Uldan¡¯s arrow appeared just in time to stun Dihai. As I thought, her aid was absolutely invaluable in a nigh impossible boss fight like this. At the very least, her skill success rate was way higher than mine! My life was in danger once more after the 15-second protection from the Profound Armor passed. Each one of Dihai¡¯s blows felt like cannonball, and his World Breaker even critted and deleted 4 million HP in one go. To think that my prided 8 million max HP still weren¡¯t enough to withstand his battering at all. The Xuanyuan Art was still on CD, so my only choice left was to attack as hard as I could and keep myself alive with my weapon¡¯s 50% lifesteal. "Die!" Dihai raised his blade again and taunted, "Trash like you doesn¡¯t deserve to come to the Purgatory at all! You are just a mixed-breed Asura God from the continent. Go back to your Human Realms, trash!" My response was to bend down and slam into his stomach, knocking him back a dozen or so meters and stunning him. Mad God Lunge¡¯s 100% success rate was so much more reliable than the God Binding Art in a situation like this. Every time I used the latter, it felt like I was buying a lottery ticket and praying for a miracle. While he was stunned, I executed Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo. The hilt of the Xuanyuan Sword suddenly turned chilly to inform me that I had triggered its septuple damage effect¡ª 442,737! 498,472! 572,734! 5,195,071! The lucky hit instantly restored me to over 3 million HP and pulled me away from death¡¯s door. Once the Flying Dragon Hand¡¯s cooldown was up, I cast it once more and disarmed the boss. Once the effect wore off, I proceeded to activate the Profound Armor. Occasionally, the Phantom Wolf King would block in front of Dihai and stall him for a few precious seconds, turning what would¡¯ve been a fatal strike into a severely damaging one. Even so, the threat of death kept looming over me like an inescapable shadow. Dihai¡¯s Attack was just too high. I checked my HP as I ate another Fire God Flurry. I was in the red, and nearly all of my skills and even my health potion were still on cooldown. What could I possibly do to save my life? Moreover, it had been ten minutes since I¡¯ve begun fighting Dihai, and he still had a whopping 83% HP in his health bar. There was just no chance I could beat him¡­ Despair filled my heart, but I raised my sword and unleashed the Xuanyuan Slash. If I had to die, then I would at least go down fighting! It was at this moment a figure slammed into Dihai. It was none other than Uldan herself. "Uldan!" I shouted, but could do nothing as Dihai, after stumbling a few steps backward, raised his blade and left a terrible wound across her arm. She was literally putting her life in danger to save me. ¡­¡­ I glanced at my skill window as I ran forward. Mad God Lunge was ready again! Bang! The boss took a few steps backward and was stunned temporarily. Just in case, Uldan kicked Dihai in his blade hard and drove him back even further before catching my arm. She said, "We can¡¯t defeat him. Let¡¯s go!" Wind blew against my ears as Uldan pulled me away from this accursed place at top speed. In just the blink of an eye, both of us had vanished into a snowy forest. Dihai simply stood where he was and sneered, "I¡¯ll take both of your lives later!" ¡­¡­ "Cough¡­ cough¡­" After we had escaped to safety, Uldan abruptly collapsed on her knees and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. Dihai¡¯s attack had injured her severely. I hurriedly poured a Rank 14 health potion on her wounds, but it didn¡¯t look like it was very effective. Filled with guilt, I said, "Sorry. It¡¯s my fault you suffered such a grievous injury¡­" However, Uldan looked up at me and smiled. "What are you talking about? If it wasn¡¯t for you, I would still be tormented by that disgusting mage, Boley. It is thanks to you that I was able to escape those hellish days¡­" I sucked in a deep breath before asking, "What do we do? I don¡¯t stand a chance against that Dihai at all, but¡­ I¡¯ll never give up on finding Xinran. Maybe¡­ maybe you should leave me, Uldan. I¡¯ll try and stealth my way over. Maybe I can fool Dihai¡¯s eyes and enter the seventh floor without being detected." "No, it¡¯s impossible¡­" Uldan shook her head. "Trust me when I say that not even the best thief on the continent can fool Dihai¡¯s eyes. I may have a way to kill him though¡­" "What? What is it?" I grew excited. Uldan pointed to the south before saying, "There is a valley called Ice Devil Valley about five kilometers to the south. A bunch of ice giants live there, and their attribute is a natural counter to Dihai¡¯s flames. If we can employ their strength, then¡­" I was stunned. "Are you sure? Will these ice giants really risk their lives to help us?" Uldan smiled. "Did you forget my ability? I can bewitch them¡­" 1. E/N: Except¡­ God Binding Art: Summon four peerless divine weapons to bind your selected target. This target will not be able to move or attack for 15 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds. Please note that the God Binding Art¡¯s effect will vanish if your target enters a state of invincibility. The skill¡¯s effects are doubled against divine and purgatory bosses. ¡­ its effect should be doubled against divine and purgatory bosses. Now it doesn¡¯t work BECAUSE he¡¯s fighting divine purgatory bosses? The whole point of this skill IS to pin EXACTLY THESE down. ? 2. E/N: An actual gamer would use it right as the disarm ended. There¡¯s no point to get him immobilized AND disarmed. ? CH 1483 "But¡­" Uldan paused for a moment before looking at me. "The ice giants are very powerful. I will have to pay a huge price to bewitch them. It also means that I won¡¯t be able to use any divine energy for about 7 days after I¡¯ve finished bewitching them. I¡¯ll be as useful as a cripple. In other words, this is as far as I can help you. You¡¯ll have to finish the rest of your journey on your own." I nodded. "Understood. Thank you, Uldan!" "Hehe. Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ I waited until my HP had regenerated to full. The good thing about being a player was that returning to full health was the same as returning to full strength. I held Uldan in my arms, jumped and flew toward our destination. A huge valley appeared in front of us less than three minutes later. It felt absolutely frigid, and the source of the cold was the near invisible giants meandering about in it. It was a Level 230 Ancient Immortal Rank miniboss called the Extreme Land Ice Giant. I counted at least 10,000 of them. If we could put these big guys to good use, there was definitely a chance we could kill the legendary Dihai. Even now, I couldn¡¯t wipe the image of Dihai¡¯s powerful attacks and killing power from my head. The boss of the sixth floor was that powerful. Though, considering that the seventh floor was guarded by Lin Na himself, I supposed that it wasn¡¯t so surprising after all. "Alright, I¡¯m about to start. All you need to do is to keep me safe during this time¡­" Uldan chuckled. I nodded and floated beside her. "Don¡¯t worry. No harm will come to you!" "Mn!" Once more, Uldan stuck her hand into her portable space and pulled out a bamboo green flute. A moment later, she moved it to her lips and began blowing a tune. The music was both touching and absolutely melodious. Then, I remembered that it was "Ripples of Destiny"[1]... When the vicious ice giants heard the flute music, they all stopped doing whatever they were doing and looked at the sky. They looked like they were listening to the voice of god and submitting themselves to it. Slowly, they gathered and formed a massive group in front of us. Not even an hour had passed, and Uldan had assembled a temporary army of over 30,000 ice giants! "Holy shit, there are so many of them¡­" I exclaimed in disbelief. Uldan¡¯s face was covered in sweat at this point. Clearly, she had to pay an unimaginable amount of divine energy to bewitch this many ice giants. After she was done, she lowered her flute and said, "This is the most I can bewitch with my ability. Now, we return to Dihai and fight him once more. Let¡¯s see if his fiery blade will melt the ice giants, or the ice giants will extinguish his flames. I will command the ice giants to swarm Dihai later, and your job is to dish out as much damage as possible while he is kept busy. Be careful, and stay alive. As long as you remain alive, we will exhaust his strength and kill him eventually!" I nodded. "Got it!" I wrapped an arm around Uldan¡¯s waist. I could feel that she had almost lost even the strength to fly. ¡­¡­ We slowly flew back to Dihai with over 30,000 ice giants running after us and screaming their lungs out. I didn¡¯t know their language, but if I had to guess they were probably shouting something like, "Don¡¯t worry, goddess! We will die to prove our loyalty to you!" Yeah, that had to be it. Half an hour later, we arrived at the entrance to the seventh plane of Purgatory once more. Seemingly anticipating our arrival, a fire-wreathed Dihai rose to his feet and shot us a sinister smile. "Very good, Uldan. I knew you would return with that feeble Asura God. This time, I will kill both of you!" Dark Pupils revealed to me that Dihai¡¯s HP had returned to full. Bosses regenerated quickly, and it probably took him half an hour at most to regenerate 17% HP, and we were gone for over an hour. When the earth started shaking more and more, and the ice giants suddenly burst out of the forest and entered his vision, whatever confidence Dihai had had suddenly disappeared without a trace. He couldn¡¯t help but bark furiously, "Uldan, you despicable witch! You dare bewitch the ice giants to aid you? Your Divinity is no longer pure! You have become the shame of the Purgatory!" Uldan was weak, but she had enough strength to shoot him a disdainful smirk. "So? Since when is honor a thing in the Purgatory? Filthy things like you should¡¯ve perished a long time ago¡­ Go, my ice giants!!" The ice giants roared in unison and rushed Dihai under their goddess¡¯ command. They began throwing icicles that dealt nearly 100k damage per hit! ¡­¡­ "Here I go!" After I steadied Uldan, I zigzagged toward Dihai, unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword, and stabbed his back using Purple Frost Concentration. Without pause, I detonated Burning Blade Slash from within his body. "You are courting death, boy!" Dihai turned around and slashed me with his burning blade, dealing nearly 5.7 million damage with a single Fire God Flurry. I hurriedly dashed away from him while slapping Ancient Seal on top of him. Since the ice giants were acting as my tanks, I had ample amount of time to regain my HP. Dihai¡¯s AI was pretty good considering that he immediately chased after me to put me down. However, the ice giants¡¯ icicles were everywhere, and just a few seconds after he took to the sky he was literally knocked back to the ground. It was a humiliation the invincible Dihai couldn¡¯t accept. "You damned things! Die!" He swung his weapon in an arc and dealt 30 million damage to the dozens of ice giants standing close to him, killing them all. He then proceeded to leap into the air and fired many blade auras, melting another hundreds of ice giants into nothing. It was the kind of grinding prowess I could never hope to achieve in a lifetime. Although the ice giants were numerous, there was no way they could endure for long if Dihai was allowed to slaughter them at this pace. I quickly regenerated to full health and got back into the fray. I used a hit-and-run tactic so that Dihai couldn¡¯t really do much damage to me. I was still the main damage dealer, since the damage these miniboss NPCs could do to the Divine Rank boss was limited. Whenever the Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s septuple damage effect triggered, even Dihai couldn¡¯t help but let out a scream of pain. Time passed little by little. Dihai¡¯s HP was falling gradually as well. About 50 minutes later, when his HP dropped to 15% or so, he abruptly raised his arm and roared, "Infinite flames, accept my prayer and grant me the power of the ancient gods! I, Fireblade Dihai beseech¡ªFire God[2] Arrival!" Buzz! A crack appeared in the sky, and countless jets of flames gushed out of it. They entered Dihai¡¯s body and formed the image of a giant above his head. At the same time, I received a system announcement¡ª Combat Log: Fireblade Dihai uses the skill "Fire God Arrival." His Attack, Defense and speed is increased by 40%, and he gains the skill "Blazing Purgatory"! ¡­¡­ Blazing Purgatory? Dihai gave me no chance to be surprised. He opened his palm, and the 100-yard radius area in front of him abruptly erupted with flames. Nearly a thousand ice giants were caught in the sea of flames and turned into tiny pools of water in just an instant. It truly was a devastating skill! I looked around and noted that the ice giants¡¯ numbers had decreased considerably. There were at most 10,000 of them left. At this rate, Dihai would be able to kill them all in just a moment, and that would spell my doom. Once again, I hit him with Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo while dashing past him. Then, I turned around and cast a long-range Dragon Slaying Slash and Myriad Swords Obliteration. I was doing nearly everything I could to maximize my DPS and take the boss out as soon as possible! ¡­¡­ Whoosh! This time, I was the one who was burned alive by Dihai¡¯s ultimate skill, Blazing Purgatory. I had lost nearly 4 million HP in one go. Thankfully, I was able to heal myself with Tenacity of the Dead before dishing out even more damage. It was do or die! The ice giants kept being slaughtered by Dihai. All too soon, their numbers had dwindled to just a couple hundred while Dihai still had 3% HP or so. I was very anxious as a matter of course. The boss had 1.5 billion HP, and 1% of that was 15 million HP, so 3% equaled to 45 million HP. How the hell was I going to delete that last chunk of HP before the ice giants were all dead[3]? There was nothing else to do except increasing my pace and hacking away at the boss''s remaining HP. In the end, the last ice giants were slaughtered like pigs by Dihai! ¡­¡­ "Get out of my way, you damned brat!" He hit me with his blade and knocked me at least dozens of meters away from him. I lost nearly 3 million HP and dropped to less than 40% HP once more. Dihai laughed madly as he abruptly vanished from his spot. The next moment, he appeared in front of Uldan and swung his blade at her! Chiang! Uldan just barely parried the attack with her bow, but Dihai kicked it out of the way and stabbed her through the chest before she could react. I could even see the tip of his blade poking out of her cloak¡­ ¡­¡­ "ULDAN!" Fear seized my heart like a vice. I charged toward Dihai with all my speed, opened a pair of bloody wings behind me, and used Xuanyuan Slash! A chilly sensation assaulted my wrist at the perfect moment. This attack would deal 7 times, no, 14 times more damage than normal because it also happened to be a critical hit! Even the Scarlet Dragon Flames of my Scarlet Dragon Armor had triggered at this exact moment! BOOM! 19,971,558! That was nearly 20 million damage in an instant, but it still failed to kill Dihai. I backed away from the boss, healed myself to full health with the Xuanyuan Art, and downed a potion and a consumable. After both my HP and MP were full, I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and activated my greatest skill¡ªPurple Dragon Howl! "Roar!" The dragon-shaped energy engulfed the boss and dealt a ton of damage to him. For a time, Dihai couldn¡¯t stop screaming. Finally, Dihai¡¯s last chunk of HP was gone, and I fell uncontrollably from the sky due to the Weakened status condition. I landed in a pit that was caused by the Xuanyuan Slash, and Uldan fell right next to me. Dihai himself was still falling from the sky together with his pile of loot. Swhoosh! A column of golden light surrounded me, and I officially reached Level 270. ¡­¡­ "Uldan¡­ Uldan¡­" I crawled up to Uldan and held up her face. She asked me, "Did we defeat him?" I nodded. "Yeah. We did. We killed Dihai¡­" Her head tilted to one side, and she said, "This is as far as I can help you¡­" ¡­¡­ "Don¡¯t die, Uldan!" My sorrowful scream resounded throughout the canyon. Uldan slowly opened her eyes again and said in a slightly resentful tone, "I¡¯m still alive, friend. Stop cursing me¡­" CH 1484 "You¡¯re not dead¡­ you¡¯re not dead! Haha, thank goodness, thank goodness¡­" I erupted with joy while hugging Uldan tightly. Uldan¡¯s bright eyes were filled with exhaustion, but she mustered a smile and said, "Mn, I have no plans to die anytime soon. However, my divine energy is nearly depleted, and I cannot provide you with any more help. Go, young adventurer. Continue your journey and seek out Xinran on the seventh floor. There¡¯s no need to worry about me, I¡¯ll survive one way or another¡­" However, I carried her in my arms and said, "No. You are no longer alone in this world, Uldan. You¡¯re coming with me!" I rose to my feet and healed myself to full health. Then, I carried her on my back and used the tail end of the Cloak of Divine Fervor to bind her firmly against my back. Thankfully, Uldan was fairly easy to carry. She was a bit heavy, but that would only affect my movement speed a little. After the work was done, I looked back at her with a smile and said, "We will look for Xinran together¡­" Uldan shot me a smile that could be interpreted as happy or helpless. "You fool. Fine, do whatever you want. I¡¯m going to sleep now¡­" "Mn." And she did just that. I heard light snoring coming from my back almost immediately after she said that. ¡­¡­ Now with a girl behind my back, I decided to check out what the super secret boss, Dihai had dropped for me first. I needed his loot to be extraordinary because the seventh floor was going to be even more dangerous than the sixth! Dihai¡¯s loot sat amid a floor of ashes. First, there was a burning blade that was obviously the weapon he used to beat the shit out of me a moment ago. Second, there was a giant shield overflowing with divine energy that made my heart race. There wouldn¡¯t be a better weapon in this game than my Xuanyuan Sword, but there were plenty more shields that were better than my Cyan Dragon Shield. The third piece of equipment was a whip overflowing with spirit energy, and after that there was just a pile of magic stones, enhancement gems and a pet egg. I didn¡¯t know what it was, but I would get to it eventually. First things first, I grabbed the scorching hot blade and brought up its stat screen¡ª Dihai Blade (Middle Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 18,200~24,900 Strength: +3,950 Stamina: +3,900 Agility: +3,850 Intelligence: +3,700 Tactics: +255 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 285% Passive: Increases user¡¯s splash effect by 55% Passive: When swinging the Dihai Blade, 7% chance to trigger Fire God Flurry and damage the target with a devastating triple-hit slash. Slots: 18 Outstanding Property: Dihai Flames. The attack power of fire-type offensive skills is increased by 100% Introduction: Dihai was a hell sovereign who hid himself deep within the Purgatory. Legend says that Dihai had been in the Purgatory since the Era of Gods, cultivating alone in the Banished Lands. When the Purgatory went through several tribulations, and Lin Na became the Purgatory Ruler, he managed to persuade this ancient divine expert to guard the Redemption Realm. The Dihai Blade is none other than the divine weapon Dihai forged with many unusual ores during his time cultivating in the Purgatory. The Dihai Blade has never shown itself to the world, and the world is sure to tremble before its power. Level Requirement: 245 Reputation Requirement: 1,500,000 ¡­¡­ I was absolutely delighted to see yet another Middle Divine Armament. Who should I give this to, I wonder? Li Chengfeng had the Cyan Peak Halberd, Gui Guzi the Ghostblade Halberd, and High Fighting Spirits, the Sun already. This meant that I would have to choose between He Yi, Chaos Moon, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and more. I was the one who dropped this weapon, so I had the full right to decide who it goes to. In the end, I decided to give He Yi first dibs on the weapon. if she turned down the weapon for whatever reason, then I would check if Chaos Moon wanted it. Chaos Moon was a very good girl, so I¡¯m sure she wouldn¡¯t be so shameless as to demand the weapon for free. I wouldn¡¯t mind trading it to her for a cheap price¡­ It was time to move on. Next, I checked out the equipment that most caught my eye, the crimson shield overflowing with divine energy. Its stats absolutely surpassed the Cyan Dragon Shield¡¯s¡ª Dihai Shield (Middle Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Defense: 55,000 Magic Resist: 51,200 Stamina: +4,200 Strength: +4,100 Agility: +4,050 Intelligence: +3,900 Tactics: +405 Parry Success Rate: +84% Passive: Increases user¡¯s Defense by 215% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 300,000 Outstanding Property: Fire God Barrier. Summons the Fire God Barrier to greatly increase the user¡¯s Defense and Magic Resist. Duration: 180 seconds. Cooldown: 360 seconds Introduction: Dihai was a hell sovereign who hid himself deep within the Purgatory. Legend says that Dihai had been in the Purgatory since the Era of Gods, cultivating alone in the Banished Lands. When the Purgatory went through several tribulations, and Lin Na became the Purgatory Ruler, he managed to persuade this ancient divine expert to guard the Redemption Realm. The Dihai Blade is none other than the divine weapon Dihai forged with many unusual ores during his time cultivating in the Purgatory. The Dihai Blade has never shown itself to the world, and the world is sure to tremble before its power. Level Requirement: 245 Reputation Requirement: 1,500,000 ¡­¡­ I was overjoyed. A powerful defense was exactly what I needed right now, and this Dihai Shield was going to increase my survivability to a whole new level. Not even Lin Na would be able to one-shot me now, right? I didn¡¯t hesitate to replace my old equipment with it. The effects were profound to say the least. I put the Cyan Dragon Shield into my bag. When I returned to the guild, I would leave it in the guild warehouse and let the others have it. Next, I checked out the whip overflowing with spirit energy. I thought that it might be a Divine Armament, but I had no idea that it was no ordinary¡ªnot even extraordinary, it was beyond that¡ªDivine Armament until I brought up its stat screen. Dihai had actually dropped me the whip of the Twelve Divine Armaments!! Soul Scourge Whip (Twelve Divine Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 13,700~19,500 Intelligence: +3,250 Stamina: +3,100 Strength: +3,050 Agility: +2,900 Tactics: +295 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 295% Passive: Increases user''s max HP by 500,000 Passive: Increases stats of all of the user¡¯s pets by 250% Slots: 18 Outstanding Property: Soul Scourge. When hitting an opponent, inflict them with Soul Scourge and reduce all of their stats by 40% Ancient 1: Wild Evolution. Automatically increases the rank of all summoned beasts up to a maximum of Divine Rank. Ancient 2: Infinite Revival. A summoned beast can be immediately revived upon death. Ancient 3: Raising the Bet. Summon another 3 summoned beasts on top of what has already been summoned. Property: Evolvable (may evolve two more times)[1] Introduction: The Soul Scourge Whip was created on an ancient battlefield. After the perished gods¡¯ bones became one with an earth dragon¡¯s bones, an ancient god infused them with divine energy, ground them with profound metal, and forged them into a most extraordinary divine whip. It was none other than the Soul Scourge Whip. It is said that the owner of the Soul Scourge Whip can converse with wild animals and summon countless wild animals to aid them in battle. Since ancient times, this whip has transformed countless tamers into invincible powerhouses. Level Requirement: 240 Reputation Requirement: 2,200,000 Class Requirement: Tamer, Warrior ¡­¡­ My mouth felt dry when I read to the end of the stat screen. Heavens, this whip is literally heaven-defying¡­ I silently put the Soul Scourge Whip into my bag while affirming my resolve not to die on this trip once more. I would literally cry if I dropped all these top-tier equipment! Besides the three pieces of equipment, the last curiosity among all the loot Dihai dropped was of course the crimson pet egg. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, this was going to be yet another pleasant surprise. There were only so many Divine Rank bosses in Heavenblessed, and it wasn¡¯t like their numbers grew over time. It wouldn¡¯t make any sense for it not to be good. I could feel the tiny life wriggling inside the pet egg as I held it in my palm. I waved a hand across it and saw¡ª Fire Phoenix Pet Egg (Lower Divine Rank Mount) Level Requirement: 250 Reputation Requirement: 2,000,000 ¡­¡­ Holy shit, this was a Divine Rank mount egg? I couldn¡¯t stop myself from grinning. Even Lin Yixin, He Yi, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi¡¯s Holy Giant Dragons were just Ancient Immortal Rank mounts. Although this Fire Phoenix was just a Lower Divine Rank mount, it was still very OP. I bet that its stats weren¡¯t too far behind even my Ancient Divine Dragon. It was very fitting and lucky to have a true dragon and a true phoenix in the guild as well. I put the pet egg in my bag while considering its future owner. There were plenty of top experts in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and the best of them¡ªLi Chengfeng, He Yi and Gui Guzi¡ªwere all riding Crystal Dragons. Of all the first-rate players, Beiming Xue was the only one whose mount didn¡¯t really fit her status. The Fire Qilin was by no means a bad mount, but it was ultimately land-bound and more susceptible to terrain disadvantages. This Fire Phoenix would remove those constraints, grant her greater attack range than ever before, and powerful mobility. In short, she would become our aerial bomber, and an aerial bomber was exactly the kind of talent we could use in our guild! ¡­¡­ Finally, it was time to check out the more mundane stuff. Three of the seven Divine Crystals Dihai dropped were of 100 Quality, and the other 4 were between 70 and 99. There were also a couple Rank 17 and Rank 18 enhancement gems. Currently, no such enhancement gems existed in any market, so they were priceless to say the least. I decided to use a Rank 18 Cyanfire Gem to enhance my Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s Attack by 5%, and the Rank 18 Dragonstone Gems and Berserk Gems to enhance the Pity of the Purgatory Gods and the Armor of the Divine Oracle Scarlet Dragon by 5% Defense and crit rate. It was awesome. While I was looking through the loot, an unusual blue crystal suddenly caught my eye. Its color was unusually dazzling, and it was filled with magic energy. It seemed incredibly good at first glance, and I wasn¡¯t wrong. I fell silent when I saw its description¡ª Teleportation Divine Crystal: Sets up a 100x100 yards teleportation formation at a designated coordinate. Allows the owner of the crystal to teleport players to and from a designated teleportation formation without any requirements and constraints. Level Requirement: 270. Luck Requirement: 100. Teleportation Range: Infinite. ¡­¡­ I sucked in a deep breath. At first glance, the Teleportation Divine Crystal seemed very average. However, its strategic value had turned my mind completely blank for several seconds. To give an example, the total value of everything I had collected in the Purgatory until now was still lower than this one Divine Teleportation Crystal! After all, this tool would allow me to teleport an army anywhere, anytime! It was the item to use when executing a blitzkrieg maneuver in a war! I put the Teleportation Divine Crystal carefully into my bag even as my mind conjured up countless battle scenarios in my mind. To say that this one crystal would change our entire approach toward the upcoming Nation War would be an understatement. Our choices had increased as well. 1. T/N: not gonna lie, this single weapon makes me wish that Lu Chen had been a tamer instead ? CH 1485 Crackle! Crackle! Energy-infused lightning crackled incessantly atop a crimson abyss. I looked over the edge and toward the end of the spatial rift where my final destination lay, the Immortal Realm! It was the terrifying seventh floor of the Purgatory and the plane guarded by the Purgatory Ruler, Lin Na himself. I doubted that there was any player in the entire world who would willingly[1] enter this plane. Forget dropping the Divine Armament Starlight from Lin Na, they would be insanely lucky to just escape from him alive. I pulled my clothes closer and confirmed the bindings around Uldan. Then, I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and jumped into the abyss like a meteor. Whoosh whoosh¡­ The wind howled loudly beside my ears as I activated Battle Astral Wind. I didn¡¯t fall for long before Frost Spirits appeared in my path and fired icicles at me! "Get lost!" I retaliated with Burning Blade Slash that destroyed much of the Frost Spirits, but some of their attacks passed between the gaps and struck my Scarlet Dragon Armor. I had no choice but to raise the Dihai Shield and tank the attacks by force. Thankfully, the Dihai Shield was immeasurably powerful, and it blocked much of the incoming damage. In fact, I was able to preserve about 70% of my HP after a while. There was nothing I could do about the Purgatory winds cutting my body, however. They didn¡¯t do damage, but they certainly hurt like a bitch. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Ten full minutes of flight later, we abruptly exited the spatial rift and arrived at a bright place. The scent of flowers tickled my nostrils. I was shocked when I saw the scenery around me. I saw rivers and mountains joining together to form a picturesque scene. I saw impossibly tall trees carrying fragrant fruits stretching all the way into the clouds. There were even birds and pink flowers flying between the wind and clouds. Purgatory? I would¡¯ve mistaken this place as a paradise if I didn¡¯t know better! Behind me, Uldan wriggled a little before saying in a small voice, "Don¡¯t worry. This is definitely the Immortal Realm, the legendary plane where only gods are allowed to reside. You may think of it as the Heaven Domain of Ghost Region and the underground paradise Lin Na had created with his own hands. Since ancient times, countless experts who had passed away for one reason or another had come to stay in this paradise. Of course, the price they paid was submission to Lin Na¡¯s rule, and the eternal responsibility of guarding the Immortal Realm. That is why you must be careful. Everyone here potentially wields the power to kill us both!" I shivered involuntarily when I heard this. If what she said was true, then I would need to be on my toes every step of the way. I tightened my grip around the Xuanyuan Sword a little. I had just arrived on this plane, so it would be unwise to seek out Lin Na immediately. After all, I was here to rescue Xinran, not to duel Lin Na and determine a winner between us. Also, I needed to find someone who could tell me Xinran¡¯s whereabouts, and while Lin Na would definitely know where she was, he was more likely to spill my guts than spill the beans. ¡­¡­ A dark light washed over my pupils as I scanned my surroundings with Dark Pupils. Unfortunately, I failed to glean any information whatsoever. There were traditional-looking pavilions between the lush mountains, and it was probably where the "residents" Uldan spoke of lived. There was a touch of black at the heart of the map. I had no doubt that it was where Lin Na lived. I quickly chose a deep blue-colored courtyard and flew toward it. Hopefully, the residents of the courtyard will be able to tell me something! I quickly landed amid a dense forest. There was also a lush bamboo forest nearby. Rustle rustle¡­ The sound of rustling grass soothed my nerves a little, but a familiar noise quickly shattered that illusion. It was the sound of a Corpse Eater. I pulled down a couple of bamboo leaves, looked, and was surprised to find a hidden necropolis within the bamboo forest. A group of super high-level Corpse Eaters were carrying a bunch of dead bodies somewhere. The smell was revolting as a matter of course. I should¡¯ve expected this, to be honest. The residents of the seventh floor might be insanely powerful, but they were still undead. Without bodies to feed on from time to time, it was only a matter of time before they starved to death¡­ I summoned the Phantom Wolf King, and after a whine, it immediately hid behind with its tail between its legs. What a coward! It had sensed the dangers of this map immediately and resolved itself to use me as its shield, not the other way around! I stepped toward the blue courtyard until I was standing in front of a double-door gate. I thought to myself: Should I knock, or should I kick the door open? I very quickly decided to do the latter, and for a very simple reason too. No one on this floor was a friend of mine, nor could become one! Bang! A cyclone spun around the Rising Cloud, and I kicked the gate with all my strength. In fact, I overdid it and caused the iron gate to collapse inward. As I stepped over the metal and walked inside, I suddenly heard a hissing noise from the side. A huge crimson snake was coiled up right inside the courtyard! "I wasn¡¯t expecting a boss so soon¡­" I hurriedly unsheathed my sword and scanned the boss with Dark Pupils. It was a Level 332 Ancient Immortal Rank boss called the Crimson Python. Its level was super high, but it was only of the Ancient Immortal Rank, so it wasn¡¯t really a huge threat. Moreover, the level penalty wasn¡¯t too high since I was now Level 270, and my stats were absolutely superior to the boss¡¯s. There was no reason for me to lose this fight. "Hiss hiss¡­" The python¡¯s stance was as obvious as its appearance. It opened its bloody mouth and attempted to swallow me whole! Instead of dodging, I raised my left arm in front of me and caused the Dihai Shield to grow twice as big as normal. Right now, it looked more like a mini fortress than a shield. I was able to force it into the python¡¯s mouth and stop it from being able to close its mouth. While it was struggling to break free, I executed a lightning-fast Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo that dealt nearly a million damage per hit. As expected, Ancient Immortal Rank bosses were beneath me now. "Hiss hiss¡­" The python hissed in pain and shuddered like a leaf. Head and tail shaking, it thrust its tail toward me like a sword! I rotated quickly and kicked out with my boot! Bang! As the snake¡¯s tail was kicked harmlessly to the side, Uldan praised me from behind my back, "Well done!" I let out a chuckle, but didn¡¯t manage to get a word before the python suddenly spat out a jet of venom. My entire body turned numb in an instant¡ª Beep! Combat Log: You have been poisoned by the Crimson Python¡¯s venom. You will lose 5% HP per second for 45 seconds! ¡­¡­ A venomous python? This is absolute bullshit! I rushed forward and planted a foot on the midsection of the python¡¯s body. Then, I pulled out Li Chengfeng¡¯s Cyan Peak Halberd, nailed its tail to the ground, and pushed until the weapon was about halfway into the ground[2]. Now, this python wasn¡¯t going anywhere. After that, I hacked away with the Xuanyuan Sword and quickly absorbed all the HP I lost from the venom. It wasn¡¯t long before its HP dropped to just 10% or so. To my surprise, the python actually bowed its head and hissed in apology after seemingly noticing that I was a divine expert. "You think an apology can save your life? Dream on¡­" I rolled my eyes and renewed my attack. An ancient boss should give me at least 1% experience, and I wasn¡¯t one to waste free experience¡­ Right before I landed the killing blow though, an elderly voice suddenly came from the main hall to the front¡ª "Why must you kill my docile Little Red, youngster?" The main door opened, and an old man carrying a snake-like scepter stepped into the open. He shot me a warning look and said, "Let go of my Little Red now, or I promise that your death will be ugly¡­" I scanned him. The true boss had emerged, I see¡ª Hundred Beast Elder (Quasi-Divine Rank Boss) Level: 334 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Introduction: The Hundred Beast Elder is an old man who has lived in the Immortal Realm for tens of thousands of years. It is said that he can communicate with wild animals via thought, and that he has tamed countless wild animals throughout his life. He can summon any creature from anywhere, and not even a giant dragon is beyond his ability to summon. It is why even the Purgatory Ruler, Lin Na doesn¡¯t dare to slight him. ¡­¡­ I licked my lips. On the surface, the old man was just a Quasi-Divine Rank boss. In reality, Suren was proof that even a Quasi-Divine Rank boss might possess the power to play me like an instrument. Moreover, I no longer had Uldan to support me, so I could only rely on myself to overcome all the obstacles standing in my path. Thud! I pulled out the Cyan Peak Halberd and released the Crimson Python. At the same time, I said with a smile, "I¡¯m not sure we share the same definition of docile, old man. Your ¡®Little Red¡¯ nearly ate me, you know?" The Hundred Beast Elder chuckled with narrowed eyes. "If you were eaten by Little Red, it simply means that you deserved to die for your weakness. Obviously, that isn¡¯t the case. You are here on the seventh floor of the Purgatory after all. In fact, I dare say that you are the youngster who made an absolute mess of the Life Shatter Realm, right? Hehe! If I were to take you down here, I bet that Lin Na would trade me 10,000 catties of precious herbs as a reward. Don¡¯t you agree?" I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and declared, "Come at me then!" "Patience. Before we fight, I must ask you a question: Why have you come to the Immortal Realm? I must know so you can¡¯t tell me that your death is undeserved later!" I sucked in a deep breath before replying, "I¡¯m here to find a person." "You¡¯re here¡­ to find someone?" The Hundred Beast Elder laughed so hard that he nearly shed tears. He pointed a trembling finger at me and said, "That is the funniest joke I have heard in my life bar none! I cannot believe someone would come to the seventh floor to find someone, hahahaha¡­ Who is this person you¡¯re looking for?" "Wind Singer, Xinran!" I gripped my fists and declared solemnly. "What?!" The smile on the Hundred Beast Elder¡¯s face disappeared like it was never there. As a shiver coursed through his body, he asked, "Who¡­ who is the Wind Singer to you? Why¡­ why have you come all the way here to find Wind Singer Xinran? Who are you?" I answered honestly, "Xinran is my younger sister, and she had fallen into the Purgatory with Lin Na not long ago. I am here to take her home." "Take her home, you say?" the Hundred Beast Elder repeated with narrowed eyes. I asked urgently, "You must know where she is, right? Tell me now! Where is Xinran?" "If you want me to answer your question, then you must endure five attacks from me!" A malicious grin crossed the old man¡¯s features. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle¡­ I backed a dozen or so steps away from the old man and brought my sword and shield to bear. "Come on then! Forget five attacks, I¡¯ll endure even fifty if you¡¯ll answer my question[3]!" 1. T/N: of course there is. People risk their lives to climb deadly mountains, dive impossible depths and fly into space, and this is just a game. If there¡¯s a chance for a player to skulk around a map no one has ever been to before, you can bet there will be someone who¡¯ll risk everything to get there ? 2. T/N: THIS is bullshit ? 3. T/N: don¡¯t tempt fate, you idiot¡­ ? CH 1486 "You have balls, boy!" The Hundred Besat Elder chuckled. "However, I¡¯m afraid that you¡¯re sorely mistaken if you think that these five attacks will be easy to endure. Get ready now. If you die, die knowing that your arrogance was your undoing!" The Hundred Beast Elder then raised his snake scepter and shouted, "Bear Hug!" "Roar roar¡­" A loud roar came from the sky, and a giant bear about five meters tall appeared out of nowhere and swiped its claws at me. I wasn¡¯t afraid though. A trickle of flame spread out from the Dihai Shield and quickly enveloped my entire body. It was of course the Fire God Barrier increasing my Defense and Magic Resist drastically. Afterwards, I activated Battle Astral Wind and put my shield between myself and the bear! BANG! There was a scattering of divine energy, and the giant bear withdrew with a cry of pain. It was because the impact had turned its paws into a bloody mess. However, I had lost my Battle Astral Wind as well. That was worrying. If the first attack alone was this powerful, I wasn¡¯t sure if I could endure the next four attacks. "Second attack¡ªSnake Swallow!" The Hundred Beast Elder roared and raised his scepter again. This time, a sinister python¡¯s head appeared in front of me and attempted to swallow me whole. Once again, I backed two steps backward and crossed the Xuanyuan Sword before my chest. Guard! Pu! 1,827,374! God damn, that hurt! It was the Crimson Python from before, but its offensive power was at a whole different level! The old man gave me no time to rest. A tiger¡¯s head appeared above the snake scepter, and he shouted, "Third attack¡ªTiger Leap!" "Roar roar roar¡­" This time, it was the mythological king of the mountain itself that had come to face me. The Dihai Shield let out a shrieking noise, and I lost 3,752,255 HP just like that. I only had less than 9 million HP, so I hurriedly healed myself for 25% using Tenacity of the Dead, 15% with the Dark Magma Poleyn¡¯s Dragon Bloodboil, and downed a Rank 14 health potion to heal myself. Now I was almost at full health and ready to receive the fourth strike! "Great courage, boy¡­ fourth attack¡ªPhoenix Flight!" The sky suddenly turned hot, and a fiery phoenix swooped down on me. The next moment, what felt like a fireball exploded beneath my feet, catching me off-guard and giving me no chance to Guard at all. All the HP I had regained before disappeared like it never happened. This fucking old bastard is ruthless! 6,927,234! My soul felt like it might depart my body. These five hits were a bit too powerful! I turned my Xuanyuan Sword and cast Life! The Xuanyuan Art instantly healed me for 70% of my HP and returned me to full health! "Die, boy! Fifth attack¡ªRising Dragon!" While swaying his scepter left and right, the Hundred Beast Elder roared, "Give it your all, little fellow! Whether I can continue living in the Immortal Realm with my face intact is all up to you now! Kill that boy, and I¡¯ll treat you to a tiger lunch later!" ¡­¡­ "Rising Dragon?" I gritted my teeth and prepared for the worst. I was wondering where the final attack would come from when the earth suddenly shook, and the rocks beneath my feet suddenly crumbled without warning. It was¡ªunderground?? The next moment, a giant dragon burst out from beneath the earth and punctured my body with its claws and teeth. The attack was so great that it nearly severed my entire body! 8,719,237! Unfortunately for them, it still wasn¡¯t enough to kill me¡ªwait a second¡­ Wait a second! Why does that dragon look so familiar!? Pa! I abruptly leaped into the air and chased after that dragon. After I caught up to it, I grabbed its neck and punched it hard in the skull. As it fell back on the ground with a resounding crash, I pressed my blade against its neck and uttered, "You¡­ are the Winged Silver Dragon!!" That was correct. The dragon beneath my boots was none other than Xinran¡¯s Winged Silver Dragon! The Winged Silver Dragon waved its tail and twirled its black eyes a little. Then, it said, "Aha, I finally found you, my dear master¡¯s big brother! I thought you were crippled by Lin Na at Sainthelm City, but to think I would meet you here of all places! I am so happy, haha! My late master would be happy to see how strong you¡¯ve become!" I punched it so hard that one of its teeth was knocked out of its mouth. "What happened to Xinran!?" The Winged Silver Dragon answered while trying to wriggle away from me, "Oh, my beautiful, noble master¡­ After she was taken to the Immortal Realm by Lin Na, her aura suddenly vanished like it never existed. There can only be one explanation. My pitiful master must¡¯ve been stabbed in the heart by that villain, Lin Na! What a waste of her beauty and youth. Ai, my merciful yet sexy little master¡­" I kicked the shameless beast away from me before looking at the Hundred Beast Elder. "Alright, I¡¯ve received all five of your attacks, so it¡¯s time you fulfill your promise. Where is Xinran?" To my shock, he answered, "Very well, my answer is¡ªI don¡¯t know. Just like the Winged Silver Dragon, I am unable to sense her anywhere in the Immortal Realm¡­"[1] ¡­¡­ Pa! I vanished from my original spot. The next moment, I was pressing the Xuanyuan Sword against the Hundred Beast Elder¡¯s heart and uttering with blood-red eyes, "I dare you to repeat your answer, old man! Don¡¯t think for a second that I don¡¯t have it in me to kill you! I can see from your eyes that you know where she is! Tell me where Xinran is now!" The Hundred Beast Elder let out a sigh before replying, "Boy, you are a genuine talent. I don¡¯t wish to see you die a futile death." "What do you mean by that?" I asked. He answered, "Yes, I know where the Wind Singer is, but my advice to you is to give up and return whence you came. Otherwise, I promise you will regret ever entering the Purgatory!" "Explain," I urged. For a time, the Hundred Beast Elder said nothing at all. Finally, he replied, "With your talent and cultivation, you can become a Sword Saint or even a Master Sword Saint. You can become the ruler of the entire human plane, or a god that is respected by all. If you insist on treading this path though, there is every chance your life will end in ashes¡­" I lowered the Xuanyuan Sword and said firmly, "Please just tell me where Xinran is¡­ I¡­ I love her. I will find her even if the cost is everything!" "Fine¡­" The Hundred Beast Elder abruptly tossed his snake scepter away. It landed upright some distance away from me. He then said, "The Wind Singer is too powerful. Despite her injuries, she was able to retaliate against Lord Lin Na and destroy his arm upon entering the Immortal Realm, bleeding much of his strength. As a result, Lord Lin Na didn¡¯t have enough power to kill her outright, and so was forced to exile her from the Purgatory instead!" "Exile?" I was surprised. "Where was she exiled to?" "The Banished Lands. Purgatory¡¯s denizens consider it to be the eighth floor¡­" I sheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and asked Uldan, "We¡¯re going to the Banished Lands, Uldan. Are you okay with that?" She nodded obediently. "Mn. I¡¯ll follow wherever you go." ¡­¡­ "Are you two insane?" The Hundred Beast Elder said in a trembling voice, "Both of you have no idea what kind of world the Banished Lands is, do you? Anyone who is exiled to the Banished Lands is either incredibly evil, or powerful, or both. I am not exaggerating when I say that the only thing the two of you can do in that land is to die. Even the Wind Singer is just an above average expert in the Banished Lands. What can the two of you possibly do in that plane? Moreover, it is a one-way trip! You won¡¯t be able to return to your world!" "Even still, I must go to the Banished Lands¡­" I declared with a determined smile on my face, "I won¡¯t give up even if my fate is to be stuck in the Banished Lands forever¡­" The Hundred Beast Elder sighed. "It¡¯s your funeral, boy!" "Now, tell me how I can enter the Banished Lands!" The Hundred Beast Elder looked toward the sky and said, "It¡¯s very simple. Lin Na¡¯s living quarter is called the Bloody Hall, and behind his throne is an abyss called the Infinite Abyss. All you need to do is to jump into it. However, there have only ever been experts who were thrown into the abyss, never fools who leaped into it of their own accord, until now¡­" I smiled. "Thank you, old man. We won¡¯t forget you!" I then grabbed the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s wing and uttered, "You didn¡¯t think I would let you leave, did you? You¡¯re coming with me to find Xinran!" The Winged Silver Dragon shuddered visibly as he shot the Hundred Beast Elder a helpless look. "I¡¯m your dragon, old man! Help me!" The Hundred Beast Elder said indifferently, "Sigh. Looks like I¡¯ll have to go to Binglan¡¯s Dragon Domain and steal a new dragon to replenish my bestiary¡­" Winged Silver Dragon: "..." ¡­¡­ "First, we need to consider the immediate threat. To enter the Banished Lands, we must first escape Lin Na¡¯s pursuit," Uldan said behind me. I nodded. "I know." The Winged Silver Dragon complained, "Lin Na generally never leaves the Bloody Hall. It¡¯s suicide to enter that place¡­" I growled, "Shut your mouth, you coward. Bloody Finger was way more courageous than you!" "Which is exactly why Bloody Fingers is dead, and I¡¯m still alive¡­" I slapped the disobedient dragon in the head and lowered my voice threateningly. "Is that so? Until Xinran returns, I shall correct that cowardice of yours on her behalf!" "Also, assuming that we succeeded in finding Xinran, how do we come back to this world?" Uldan asked. I thought for a long while before stomping the ground, "Alright, let¡¯s go!" "What do you mean, alright?" Uldan asked in confusion. "It¡¯s nothing¡­" While dragging the Winged Silver Dragon behind me, I took to the sky and flew straight toward Lin Na¡¯s residence. ¡­¡­ Twenty minutes later, we landed outside an impressively huge castle swarming with undead. Countless Hunters and undead cavalrymen were going in and out of the gates at all times, and undead dragon knights were flying in the sky. The undead dragons looked oddly-shaped, and the black armor failed to improve their appearance at all. "Do we fight our way in, or?" Uldan asked. I shook my head. "Of course not. The mobs are too dense, the dragon knights are all Ancient Immortal Rank bosses, and the two captains are Sovereign Rank bosses. There is no way we¡¯re going to survive a direct battle." "How are we going to get in then?" "By disguising ourselves¡­" I took out the Master of Disguise Ring from my bag and put it on¡­ 1. T/N: remember, he only promised to answer Lu Chen¡¯s question, so "I don¡¯t know" is a perfectly valid answer ? Favorite CH 1487 I took a moment to change my armor color to pure black, and to create a shadow to cover up my face. Then, I changed the golden hue of the Xuanyuan Sword from gold to black. Now, I looked almost similar to those undead dragon knights. Pa! After I climbed onto the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s back, I said in a hushed voice, "Let¡¯s go. We¡¯re going to fly straight into the inner area of Bloody Hall as fake undead dragon knights! With luck, we may be able to enter the Banished Lands without trouble!" The Winged Silver Dragon was literally shivering from head to toe as it begged, "Oh, my heroic master¡¯s older brother, is it possible for you to find another dragon to replace me? I worry that my size isn¡¯t big enough to conceal your magnificent physique!" I slapped its head with my sword and said, "What the fuck should I ride into the air on if not you? A dog? Now get moving. Every second Xinran stays in the Banished Lands is another second of danger. Do you truly not worry about her safety at all?" "I¡­ I¡­ fine. Just this once, I will be the mount of a brave!" ¡­¡­ The Winged Silver Dragon carried both me and Uldan into the sky. Gradually, we joined up with a party of undead dragon knights and flew with them for 20 minutes. I actually managed to chat up the dragon knights to the point where they were one dialogue away from asking us to join them for a hot pot dinner when suddenly, the Winged Silver Dragon started descending toward the Bloody Hall. "Careful! Don¡¯t get too close to the archers!" I warned. There were tens of thousands of miniboss Dark Archers on the castle. We would all be dead if they saw through our disguise. The Winged Silver Dragon wasn¡¯t a big dragon. In fact, it was smaller than Lin Yixin¡¯s Crimson Crystal Dragon. Although I was a player, a group of Dark Archers still looked up in alarm when we flew over their heads. One of them cried out in warning, "Shit, I smell the stench of a human! That dragon knight is not one of us! Shoot him down now!" Twang twang twang! Innumerable bloody arrows struck the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s stomach constantly. At the same time, I lost a ton of HP. Individually, the Dark Archers weren¡¯t particularly powerful, but they more than made up for it with sheer numbers¡ª 172,376! 197,263! 184,377! ¡­¡­ In just a moment, we had lost nearly 5 million HP. Thank goodness I had warned the Winged Silver Dragon in time, or we might¡¯ve plummeted to our deaths already! The show of strength by the guards of the Bloody Hall was nothing to scoff at! "Those damned, filthy worms! They nearly ripped my stomach apart with their arrows!" The Winged Silver Dragon roared in anger. It wasn¡¯t my real mount, so it actually tanked most of the Dark Archers¡¯ attacks with its own HP. As a result, its wings were covered in arrows, and it was unable to maintain its stable glide any longer. It crashed into a tall building on one side of the castle! "Fuck¡­" I muffled a groan as I barely steered the Winged Silver Dragon to crash through a crystalline window. All three of us rolled across the floor for a moment before I climbed back to my feet and healed myself with Tenacity of the Dead and Dragon Bloodboil. At the same time, I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and examined my surroundings carefully. We had invaded the inner area of Bloody Hall, and I could sense an extraordinary power right in front of me. Unless I was sorely mistaken, the power was none other than Lin Na himself. Next, I looked outside of the room. There was a long, dark corridor, and a party of Hunters were walking toward us. There were only 15 of them though. They were the scouts of the castle. ¡­¡­ However, they were just NPC mobs, and their AI wasn¡¯t high. Our rather loud crash landing hadn¡¯t caused too big a commotion. As long as I didn¡¯t attract any aggro, the mobs wouldn¡¯t attack me on their own. If this was real life, the alarm would¡¯ve been sounded, and we should¡¯ve been swarmed by tens of thousands of Hunters already. I raised my hand and stamped an Ancient Seal in the middle of the Hunter party. They immediately raced toward me. After I returned into the room, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and said loudly, "Help me, Winged Silver Dragon! We¡¯re going to take out these Hunters as soon as possible!" Puchi! I didn¡¯t even finish my sentence when the Winged Silver Dragon bit a Hunter in the neck, shook its ugly head left and right a couple of times, and pulled the poor undead¡¯s head right off its shoulders. It was a stunning sight alright. I should¡¯ve known that Xinran¡¯s lackey was still stronger than the low rank bosses of this castle. A bit of fighting later, all 15 Hunters were killed without trouble. I put away the loot and looked out of the door once more. This time, I didn¡¯t see anyone. Behind me, Uldan said in a soft voice, "Lin Na lives on the bottom fifth floor of Bloody Hall, and we are on the ground floor right now. We need to find a way to get there while drawing as little attention as possible!" "Got it¡­" I pulled my cloak over my head so that I would look like a warrior in black robes. Then, I retrieved a thick iron chain from a corner of the room and clasped it around the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s neck. Finally, I bent my back so that Uldan would look like my hunched back. As I held the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s chain, I asked smilingly, "How do I look? I¡¯m the spitting image of a Dark Tamer, aren¡¯t I?" Uldan smiled back. "Yes, you are¡­" The Winged Silver Dragon muttered resentfully, "I¡¯m a Holy Giant Dragon, an ancestor-level dragon among the Holy Giant Dragons no less. I cannot believe someone as noble as I would be led around like a dog one day¡­" I yanked at its leash and said in annoyance, "Cut the crap. You should¡¯ve known this would happen when you abandoned Xinran. This is the atonement you deserve, unless you would prefer to be cut into several pieces by Xinran?" The Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s last bit of resistance evaporated into nothing at the mention of Xinran. It drooped its head and said, "I will throw myself to death for my beautiful master!" ¡­¡­ With the Winged Silver Dragon behind me, I leisurely walked out of the room and took a moment to analyze the interior structure of the castle. I quickly found the entrance to the second-to-bottom floor, and even better, it was currently unguarded, so we easily reached it. The ground of the bottom second floor was covered in ice. Behind me, Uldan whispered again, "This is where the great mages reside." I nodded and, still keeping a tight hold over the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s leash, leaped down from the circular hole at the center of the floor and landed on the bottom fifth floor right away. No one ever said that I had to go down the floors methodically. This was clearly the faster and more straightforward way. I opened the map details. The fifth floor was called also Bloody Hall, and Lin Na¡¯s living quarters were directly ahead of me. However, I would have to pass through a row of bloody rooms to get there. It would take even longer to walk around the rooms, and I couldn¡¯t wait even a second longer. I walked up to the door and kicked it open. Bang! What I saw turned my mind completely blank¡ª (10000 words omitted here) [1] ¡­¡­ I unsheathed my sword and slashed toward the wall at the back, yelling, "Mountain Crush!" My luck was good, and Mountain Crush actually took effect. After a giant hole appeared on the wall, I jumped through it with the Winged Silver Dragon right behind me. The dragon screamed, "Oh, the ecstasy!" "Are you kidding me right now?" I shouted. We could die at any moment, and this beast is talking about ecstasy! Directly ahead, a group of guards wielding golden swords rushed toward us while shouting, "Assassin! Kill him!" The bodyguards were called Dark Blood Guards, and they were Level 334 Ancient Immortal Rank bosses. I counted at least a hundred of them. There was no way I was going to fight them head-on! Thud! I jumped over their heads and landed behind them. It was then I saw a huge throne at the center, and Lin Na himself was sitting on it. He was holding Starlight in one hand and hugging a woman with the other. They were playing with each other. Behind the throne was a blood-red abyss. That had to be the entrance to the Banished Lands! I sped up! Now was the time to finish this in one spurt of energy! ¡­¡­ Lin Na abruptly looked up with chilly, bloody eyes. "You again? You dare cause all this trouble in my Purgatory? I will pull out your tendons, skin you alive, and put you through all the punishments there are in the world!" As the Starlight shone brightly, I finally noticed that Lin Na¡¯s right up was made up of energy. The Hundred Beast Elder did mention that Xinran had cut off one of his arms. Even so, Lin Na still possessed the power to one-shot me. He was the final boss after all! Profound Armor! Heavenly River Transformation! Xuanyuan Slash! I clashed swords with Lin Na using my greatest power. All I needed was one opportunity to enter the Banished Lands! Just one! ¡­¡­ Bang! There was a terrific explosion, and my arm turned numb from the impact. Before I could react, Lin Na abruptly kicked me in the stomach and dealt over 4 million damage. This guy¡¯s Attack is just crazy! Then, he swung his Starlight at me again! In response, I yanked at the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s leash and threw it at Lin Na! Boom! The moment the Winged Silver Dragon slammed into Lin Na, I vanished from my original spot and entered the spatial rift in the blink of an eye. Behind me, I heard the Winged Silver Dragon crying, "Oh! Must I atone with my life, despicable older brother of my master? Please take me with you to the Banished Lands! I don¡¯t want to be ravaged by Lin Na¡­" 1. T/N: if you read ATG, you¡¯ll know what this means ? CH 1488 A strong wind blew against me as I hovered above the Banished Lands. Unlike the Immortal Realm, not a grass or a leaf could be seen anywhere. Not only was the land completely barren, there were holes on the ground that reminded me of honeycombs, except these ones spat hot jets of flames from time to time. It was scary to say the least. ¡­¡­ It only took an instant for my Scarlet Dragon Armor to turn scalding hot. I sucked in a deep breath and said, "It¡¯s so hot. Are we in the Banished Lands, Uldan?" Behind me, she answered, "I don¡¯t know. The Banished Lands are a forgotten part of the Purgatory. I¡¯ve never been here before." I opened the map screen but could only find a very limited amount of data. The map we were currently on was called the "Forgotten Valleys", and there was a blood-red sea directly ahead of us called "Blood Sea¡±. That was all. Another thing I was certain of was that my Dark Pupils couldn¡¯t scan anyone or anything. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was because my level was too low, or it was because there were no mobs to be scanned in the area. ¡­¡­ "Roar roar! I¡¯m coming through!" Suddenly, a noisy cry erupted from behind us. The next moment, a spatial rift appeared out of nowhere, and the Winged Silver Dragon stumbled out of it. Its meaty wings looked broken and severed, and there was blood all over its body. It landed on the ground only to jump right back to its feet, crying, "Ouch! It¡¯s scalding hot!" I laughed. "Not bad, Winged Silver Dragon. To think you managed to escape Lin Na¡¯s grasp¡­" The Winged Silver Dragon said with a snarl, "That bastard nearly severed my entire wing in one slash. Oh, it hurts! I truly am giving it my all for my beautiful and gentle master this time!" I walked up to it and poured a Rank 14 Health Potion on its wounded wing, saying, "Then heal quickly so we may find Xinran in the Banished Lands together!" "Eh, how about I stay here and wait for you to retrieve her¡­" "Yeah, no." ¡­¡­ Just a short while later, the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s wings had more or less healed. It was no wonder the giant dragons were known as the race with the greatest vitality. Then, we started walking toward the next area together. I didn¡¯t take to the sky this time because I was afraid of missing a clue that might lead to Xinran. It wasn¡¯t long before we arrived at a tall cliff. When I stepped on the cliff edge, I was surprised to see that the canyon below it was full of flames. It was a densely packed volcanic field with molten lava shooting out from everywhere. Worse, it wasn¡¯t even the scariest phenomenon in the area. No, that award went to the endless lightning storm that kept shooting lightning at the ground. The upper seven floors of the Purgatory were practically child¡¯s play compared to this plane! I gripped my sword tighter and swore, "Come on! This is bullshit!" Uldan said quietly, "And yet we must cross it still, or we won¡¯t be able to make it to the inner area of the Banished Lands. I¡¯m sure Xinran has passed through this road of death already¡­" Me: "..." What else could I do? I kicked off the ground and flew into the air. Of course, I didn¡¯t fly too high because there was a lightning formation up there. I would literally be burned to ashes if I got caught by it. Thud thud thud¡­ From time to time, I would bounce off a spot of molten lava and constantly changed both my movement speed and my direction to avoid the spilling lava and lightning strikes. However, the latter were just too rapid and unpredictable. Despite my best efforts, one of them still managed to hit me! Buzz! 1,716,151! My mind turned a little blank, and my body became paralyzed for a short moment. There was a saying called bad things come in pairs, and the lava that erupted beneath my feet the next second was proof of it. Thankfully, I was able to activate Battle Astral Wind just in time to keep it from hitting me. Otherwise, Uldan would¡¯ve been caught by it as well. With one hand gripping my sword and the other holding up Uldan¡¯s firm, round butt, I leaped away from the place of death and continued forward. Behind me, the Winged Silver Dragon let out a scream of pain as it was covered in lava and turned into a fire dragon unwillingly. Not long after, it took a lightning strike of its own and screamed in pain again. It didn¡¯t die though, so all was well. ¡­¡­ Five whole minutes later, we finally managed to put the terrifying map behind us. Thud! Breathing hard atop a tall rock, I took out a health potion and drank it to heal my HP. Thank goodness our flight speed was considerable, or there was a real chance the map would have killed us before we got anywhere. Beside me, the Winged Silver Dragon started shaking its body like a dog would shake off the water. The problem was that it was shaking off molten rocks, and some of them hit me and burned away a not insignificant amount of HP. Bastard! ¡­¡­ We continued forward. We flew because the ground beneath our feet had given way to a seemingly endless sea of blood. It was of course the map "Blood Sea." I looked around for a bit before saying, "There¡¯s nothing here, and I can¡¯t sense Xinran either. We¡¯d better leave this place as soon as possible, or we won¡¯t even be able to rest our feet when we get tired later!" Uldan nodded in agreement. "Yeah!" Beside us, the Winged Silver Dragon said in puzzlement, "This place is strange. Master¡¯s aura is incredibly powerful and pure, and yet I cannot sense her divine energy anywhere. It¡¯s so strange¡­" Uldan replied, "I can¡¯t sense her aura either. The Banished Lands¡¯ energy field is pretty strange. Maybe divine energies don¡¯t conduct very well here. Anyway, all we can do is to keep searching for her. We will find her eventually." As I nodded, Dark Pupils suddenly showed a giant red dot flying toward us at high speed. Uldan sensed it as well and said urgently, "Do you two sense that? An incredibly powerful aura is flying toward us! We¡¯ve been discovered!" I looked at the sea of blood beneath our feet and said, "What do we do? There¡¯s nowhere to hide!" Uldan didn¡¯t know what to say. Chiang! I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and declared, "There¡¯s only one course of action, then. Winged Silver Dragon, work with me to take out this attacker!" It nodded. "Got it!" ¡­¡­ A black shadow flew toward us at high speed. Before I knew it, a hole had appeared at the center of the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s chest, and it fell into the sea of blood with a painful scream! "What the hell is that? It¡¯s so fast!" The attacker¡¯s speed reminded me of the Dragon Domain Scavenger. He moved so fast that not even a god might be as fast as he was! "Watch out!" Uldan warned me urgently. I expanded my domain and focused my spiritual perception to almost max Level. Right before the black shadow was about to hit me, I raised my sword in defense and was knocked back dozens of meters away from my original spot. The attacker finally came to a stop and revealed his ugly black face. It was the face of a long dead human, but for some reason it looked so clear that I could even see the pores and the blood vessels. He stared at me with his black pupils and smiled sinisterly. "For what reason have you been exiled to my land, unlucky fellows? Oh well, it doesn¡¯t matter. Be devoured and become a part of my strength!" "Devour your sister!" I cast Mad God Lunge at the same time I swung my shield at the monster. To my surprise, the skill resulted in a MISS, and I took a retaliatory hit that felt like it could sever my entire arm. The sudden loss of 3 million HP from my health bar told me that it wasn¡¯t a mistake. This bastard¡¯s Attack was almost as high as Lin Na¡¯s! I hurriedly activated Profound Armor and cast Burning Blade Slash. He was moving too fast for me to hit him normally, so I could only rely on AoE skills to damage him! Bang bang bang¡­ He parried my attacks with his black sword, but he still lost nearly 2 million HP from the attack. I was glad to learn that his Defense wasn¡¯t nearly as OP as his speed. The night wind blew as we stared at each other in silence for a moment. His black cloak swayed lightly in the air, and his black armor gleamed coldly beneath the moonlight. Speaking of which, I was able to scan the monster with Dark Pupils eventually, but nearly all of his stats remained hidden to me¡ª Night Fury (Ancient Divine Rank Boss) Level: 340 Attack: ??? Defense: ??? HP: ??? Skills: ??? Introduction: Night Fury is an incredibly powerful existence in the Banished Lands. No one has ever seen his true appearance, but everyone knows of his power and fears it. They also know him as one of the guardians of the Banished Lands. ¡­¡­ "Not even Dark Pupils can reveal his stats?" I gritted my teeth and activated Heavenly River Transformation once more [1]. Then, I attacked the boss with my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Xuanyuan Slash. Let¡¯s give him a taste of my strength first! Boom! Again, Night Fury tried to parry the golden blade only to lose 1.2 million HP for his efforts. He smiled sinisterly at me and said, "Not bad, boy. It has been a while since I felt pain!" I replied in an indifferent tone, "You¡¯re welcome. Next, I¡¯ll teach you the feeling of abject pain!" I needed to stun him somehow, or I wouldn¡¯t even be able to land Purple Frost Concentration. I had never fought such a troublesome boss in my life. His movement speed completely exceeded my ability to handle, much less the likes of Lin Yixin, Candlelight Shadow or Breeze and Rain! ¡­¡­ Whoosh! Once more, he vanished like a gust of wind. I swung my sword at him, but¡­ MISS! ¡­ it missed just as I thought it would. The next moment, the boss struck me on the shoulder again. However, I took the opportunity to press my hand against Night Fury¡¯s chest and activate the God Binding Art! Unfortunately, it was a MISS yet again. My heart felt ice cold at this point. In the sky, Night Fury raised his sword and let out a sinister chuckle. "Game over. Now, die!" He fired three rapid slashes at me that I couldn¡¯t possibly dodge. Without hesitation, I healed myself for 70% using the Xuanyuan Art and disarmed him with the Flying Dragon Wristguards! His sword vanished, but Night Fury still slashed me anyway like his arm was a sword! 1,428,272! 1,512,377! 1,492,871! ¡­¡­ The impact was so great that I crashed straight into the blood sea below! Bang! A translucent red surrounded my eyes as I floated in the middle of the blood sea. I thought it was over for me, but surprisingly Night Fury didn¡¯t enter the water to end my puny life. "What¡¯s going on?" I voiced my doubts. Uldan narrowed her eyes and whispered beside my ears, "Maybe it¡¯s just me¡­ but doesn¡¯t it look like Night Fury is afraid of the sea water?" "Is that so? Huh. It may actually be the case¡­" I smiled and pulled the lazy Winged Silver Dragon who had been watching the battle all this time closer to me. Then I said, "Spray that fucker with some seawater, will you?" 1. T/N: what a waste of Divine Energy Points, reactivating it cost 10 fucking points dude, you may as well keep it on from the start ? CH 1489 The Winged Silver Dragon stared at me. "And how am I supposed to do that!?" "Drink them, duh!" I answered. And so the Winged Silver Dragon began drinking the sea water until there was a visible bulge where its stomach was. Meanwhile, I continued to stand beneath the sea water and watched Night Fury in case he tried something. It looked like he was simply going to wait until we resurfaced though, and to be honest, it was the best decision from his perspective. Although divine players could stay underwater for a very long time, one hour was our utmost limit[1]. Why would he fight me underwater when he could simply wait for me to resurface? ¡­¡­ When the Winged Silver Dragon¡¯s stomach had become as big as a massive balloon, I pointed to the sky and said, "You go first. I¡¯ll cover you!" The Winged Silver Dragon let out an audible groan but did as I said. It flapped its wings and burst out of the sea surface like a submarine! I wasn¡¯t just paying lip service when I said I would cover for the Winged Silver Dragon. It was strong, but there was no way in hell it was a match for an Ancient Divine Rank boss. In terms of power level, Night Fury wasn¡¯t actually too far behind Lin Na himself. He just had a weakness that Lin Na didn¡¯t have. I sheathed my sword and gathered my Asura God divine energy with both hands. Then, I pushed downward while yelling, "Rise of the Guardian Dragon!" Countless sealed, roaring dragons burst into the sky within a hundred yards of me, carrying countless blood-colored sea water with them. They looked like many hurricanes sucking the sea water into themselves. I knew that Night Fury might move too fast for the Winged Silver Dragon to hit it, so the only other surefire alternative I could think of was Rise of the Guardian Dragon! While the draconic spell was ravaging the sea surface, I burst out of the water, unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and charged straight toward Night Fury! Boom boom boom¡­ The skill was hitting Night Fury and drenching him in sea water. The water was completely harmless to the rest of us, but it caused Night Fury¡¯s armor and body to smoke like he was drenched in acid! That¡¯s right! Despite being the guardian of the Blood Sea, he was actually afraid of the Blood Sea itself! Beep! Combat Log: Affected by the spiritual energy of the Blood Sea, Night Fury¡¯s Attack has been reduced by 35%, and movement speed by 50% for 180 seconds! ¡­¡­ Perfect! His Attack and movement speed were exactly what I was afraid of! He wasn¡¯t exactly defanged yet, but now it was actually possible for me to kick his ass! Swhoosh! I stabbed Night Fury through the chest and injected him with Purple Frost Concentration, lowering his Defense by 19.7%. Then, I turned my blade and cast Burning Blade Slash right inside his body¡ª 481,812! 542,485! 712,164! I wasn¡¯t done yet! As I cast Universe Break, the septuple-damage effect of my Xuanyuan Sword triggered and sent him sailing across the air! 5,425,868! Finally, the Winged Silver Dragon opened its mouth and bit the boss in the arm. At the same time, it vomited some seawater and prolonged the boss''s period of weakness even more. ¡­¡­ "You dare, you insolent fools!" Night Fury roared in fury before punching the Winged Silver Dragon hard in the skull. The blow nearly shattered the poor dragon¡¯s skull, spilling its blood and causing it to back away with a painful scream. There was no helping it. Even in his weakened state, Night Fury was still way stronger than the Winged Silver Dragon. After knocking back the Winged Silver Dragon in one hit, Night Fury immediately turned around, wreathed his sword in some sort of bloody energy, and struck the Dihai Shield 3 times in a row. Even after his Attack was lowered by 35%, he still hit like a truck and deleted nearly 4 million HP in a flash. I had no choice but to activate the Dihai Shield¡¯s Fire God Barrier and Rising Cloud¡¯s Profound Armor to tank them. For a short moment at least, he wouldn¡¯t be able to one-shot me. Swhoosh! After the Ancient Seal exploded midair and dealt around 1 million damage to the boss, I sliced away with the Xuanyuan Sword until my HP had returned to 70% or so. My increased Defense ensured that the HP I absorbed was higher than the damage I received. Another Rank 14 Health Potion later, I quickly returned to full health. Thanks to my many HP restoration skills and potions, I was able to hold my ground and chip away at the boss¡¯s health bar little by little. Ten minutes later, Night Fury had lost nearly 15% of his HP, while I remained comfortably above the 70% mark. It was such an incredible feat that even Uldan was saying, "This sea water truly is the bane of this Night Fury. Keep it up. If we can eliminate this devil, our chances of finding Xinran in the Banished Lands will be so much higher¡­" I nodded and opened my palm. I summoned a pillar of water from the sea, held it in my palm, and punched Night Fury right on the cheek, extending his weakened period some more. I couldn¡¯t allow the weakness to wear off, or I would be the one who died here. I disarmed his weapon with Flying Dragon Hand. Then, it was back to more fighting. ¡­¡­ Everything was progressing exactly as I had planned. Although Night Fury was an Ancient Divine Rank boss and way stronger than either Coldblade or Dihai, the sea water of the Blood Sea was his fatal weakness. That was enough to tip the scales in my favor. Over an hour later, Night Fury only had less than 10% HP left, and I had to pour a Magic Repair Oil over my weapon to restore its durability. His face looked even uglier than before because the seawater had burned away so much of his flesh and skin that his bones were peeking out from beneath. Suddenly, he said angrily and frustratedly, "Follow me if you dare, boy! I will teach you the pain of defeat!" Swhoosh! He abruptly flew away like a black lightning bolt. My eyes narrowed as I gave chase. Three minutes of flight later, the sea water gave way to land, and Night Fury floated above it with an evil smile on his face. Dammit, the boss was more cunning than I thought. It was trying to trick me to leave the sea and kill me on land. I wasn¡¯t going to do that, of course. I needed to stay alive and save Xinran! I withdrew back to the sea surface. For a time, neither of us could do anything against one another. ¡­¡­ I checked the time. It was past 11 pm, and my body wouldn¡¯t allow me to drag out this stalemate any longer. So, I took out my tent, set it up as close to the sea as I could manage, and logged out. Not even a boss could do anything against me if I was offline. Uldan and even the shameless Winged Silver Dragon had squeezed into my tent to hide from the boss as well. I summoned the system fairy and logged out of the game. Swhoosh! My vision darkened, and I took off my gaming helmet. I walked out of the room and saw a couple of dishes on the dining table. He Yi had left them behind for me. After I warmed them and finished dinner, I went to check out the girls only to discover that they were all sound asleep already. After I entered He Yi¡¯s room and gave her a kiss, I returned to my room and went to bed as well. I thought I could figure out how to defeat Night Fury tomorrow. ¡­¡­ The next day early in the morning, I returned to the game after I finished breakfast with the girls. When I went back online though, I discovered that Night Fury was no longer around the Blood Sea. I had no choice but to venture deeper into the Banished Lands even though the threat wasn¡¯t eliminated yet. We arrived at a Gobi desert that was infested by a kind of Level 340 deity-rank mobs called Imps. There was nothing worth mentioning about them except that they gave a ton of experience. I spent the whole day grinding Imps. On the fifth day, while we were searching around the edges of the Sea of Death, we took out two Ancient Immortal Rank Sirens, conquered their palace, and took out all the threats in the area. However, we still found no sign of Xinran anywhere. On the sixth day, we entered a place called the Devil God Cave, and I had to stay online for 24 hours straight to clear it completely. In the end, I was able to defeat a Quasi-Divine Rank Devil God[2] and got two pieces of Ancient Immortal-grade equipment for my efforts. I also took out all of his lackeys and increased my experience to Level 270, 21%. Xinran was still nowhere to be seen though. On the seventh day, we exited the Devil God Cave and went to the Lionheart Coast and fought the devilized Ancient Lion Devils. Once again, we were able to defeat the Lion Devil King and clear the entire map. However, I was growing despondent because Xinran was still nowhere to be found. I even spent nearly an hour just sitting by the seashore and collecting myself before venturing toward a new map once more. I was growing lost, to be honest. Where on earth was Xinran? ¡­¡­ Past 9 pm on the seventh day, at a certain coffee shop. "Du du du¡­" My phone suddenly rang, and Lin Yixin immediately shot away from my chest. She looked around nervously while saying, "Sister Eve didn¡¯t find us out, did she?¡¯ I laughed. "What are you even talking about? I¡¯m just eating dinner with you, not to mention that she has known about our relationship since forever." "Who is the caller then?" "I don¡¯t know¡­" I took out my phone and glanced at the screen. The phone number belonged to Tang Feng. Was it about what we discussed last time¡­? I was right. The moment I connected the call, he skipped the greetings and started talking. "Lu Chen, remember what we talked about last time? I¡¯ve already booked an 8 am high-speed rail ticket to Beijing for you. I¡¯ll send someone to receive you when you get there." I asked, "What is this matter really about, Chief Tang? Can¡¯t you tell me anything at all?" Tang Feng fell silent for a moment before answering, "I know what you¡¯re doing as of late¡­" I was confused. "What do you mean?" "You¡¯ve been fighting in the Purgatory alone and facing life-or-death battles for an entire week just to find a virtual person, right?" "Mn!" Tang Feng hummed for a moment before saying, "Let¡¯s just say that this NPC of yours is extremely important to the entire framework of the game. We have encountered a technical problem in our attempt to repair her data, which is why we need you to come to Beijing and speak with us face-to-face." He then added, "The severity and secrecy of this matter is S class, so again, you mustn¡¯t tell anyone about your visit to Beijing." I told him directly, "Yeah, uhh, Lin Yixin already knows about it. She¡¯s here now too." Tang Feng replied in an exasperated voice, "I guess it¡¯s fine if it¡¯s just her. She is the guild leader of Snowy Cathaya, and she understands her position well. I¡¯m sure she can keep a secret." I added, "Actually, He Yi knows about this too¡­" "She¡¯s fine as well. Why don¡¯t you save me the pain and just tell me everyone who knows about this in one go?" "Nah, it¡¯s just the two of them. Are you planning to silence them or something?" "Haha! What are you talking about? That being said, I would ask you to bring them to Beijing with you. Just treat it as a vacation or something." "Are you serious? Beijing¡¯s transport is utter shit, and there are so many tourists on the Great Wall I¡¯m surprised people don¡¯t fall off daily. It¡¯s also plagued with foreign visits, leader inspections, traffic control and more. Who would ever want to go to Beijing for a vacation?" Tang Feng finally couldn¡¯t take it any longer and slammed the table. "Would it kill you not to contradict me, you brat? Anyway, just get your ass over to Beijing tomorrow! Whether you want to bring your girls with you is your choice, but I¡¯m not going to book their tickets for you! I¡¯ve given your number to the person who¡¯ll receive you, so see you tomorrow!" That was the end of the phone call. ¡­¡­ I stayed silent for a moment before putting down my phone. "Pooh, chief of the VR department my ass, he can¡¯t even take a bit of ribbing¡­" Lin Yixin shook her head beside me. "I¡¯ll book the ticket tonight and come with you. You should head back soon and prepare your luggage as well. Who knows, we may have to stay there longer than expected¡­" I put a comforting arm across her shoulders and said, "It¡¯s fine, let¡¯s just treat it as a tour around the capital¡­" Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me and said, "Don¡¯t make me roast you¡­" Me: "..." 1. T/N: you can cleave a mountain but you can¡¯t stay underwater for more than an hour? The power level¡¯s all over the place¡­ ? 2. T/N: the raw says miniboss, but that makes no sense so I just assume that the author left out a word because he typed too fast or something ? CH 1490 The same night after I returned to the workshop. "What? You¡¯re going to Beijing tomorrow?!" He Yi erupted as she rose to her feet with a clenched fist. Then, she relaxed and said in an easy tone, "Then I¡¯ll pack my luggage and join you and Yiyi¡­" This time, it was Murong Mingyue who rose to her feet and slapped the table. Her 34Es jiggled visibly as she complained, "Have you no shame, CEO? Tomorrow¡¯s the monthly meeting with the people of our company! All the major shareholders will be attending as well! You may as well resign now if you¡¯re not going to attend it!" He Yi looked at her and said slowly, "You will be replacing me. Guess who¡¯s the one who¡¯s going to resign if she says the n-word (E/N: No. She means ¡®No¡¯. Too dangerous to put it in the footnote, I need y¡¯all to know that!) ." Murong Mingyue sucked in a deep breath before replying, "My CEO is wise. That is exactly what I was going to suggest¡­" Me: "..." I went online and booked a ticket for He Yi. ¡­¡­ The next day, very early in the morning, Lin Yixin¡¯s Porsche was already roaring beneath the apartment. When I opened the window to take a look, I saw her standing beside her car and raising a plastic bag above her head. "I¡¯ve bought us breakfast. Let¡¯s eat on the way, shall we?"[1] I helped He Yi carry her luggage downstairs and threw everything into the trunk. Then, we entered the car and took off. I didn¡¯t speak much as I ate Lin Yixin¡¯s breakfast and looked outside the car window. "What¡¯s wrong? You look more serious than usual." Lin Yixin examined my expression through the back mirror while driving. He Yi answered, "Tang Feng¡¯s the one who summoned Lu Chen to Beijing. I think it has something to do with the game, and he¡¯s asking for Lu Chen¡¯s help to resolve it¡­" "Oh?" Lin Yixin blinked. "That doesn¡¯t answer much, but at least we¡¯ll know exactly what this problem is when we get there." "Mn!" ¡­¡­ We were just in time to catch our train. A while later, I sat in the middle of the two girls. Lin Yixin cut an orange for me like a good wife, and He Yi listened to music from her earphones with her eyes closed. I took out my phone to check if there was any new news about the game. A lot had happened during the seven days I was stuck in the Purgatory. For example, there were new Lower Divine Armaments, Seventy-two Ghost Armaments, level ranking and more. Beep! Suddenly, a small popup notice appeared on the lower right corner. It stated¡ª Latest News: Player "Breeze and Rain" has leveled up to 255 and triggered an ascension! He has become a god and Chaos Divine Throne Guardian! The abilities he obtained are¡ªUnusual Physique, Flight and Mount Armor Transformation[2]! ¡­¡­ "God damn, Breeze and Rain just completed his ascension!" I chuckled. Lin Yixin immediately leaned over to take a look. "Really? He ascended?" He Yi also removed her earphones, opened her eyes and looked toward my phone screen. "That is some impressive luck. It¡¯s not like we don¡¯t have our fair share of ninth-promotion players, but not one of them has ascended via leveling¡­" Lin Yixin looked at me and asked, "Little Cheat, Unusual Physique is a common skill among divine players, right? Is it good?" I nodded. "Oh, absolutely. It is a skill made to bully weaklings. Anyone whose Attack is below a certain threshold will be nullified completely. Even if that isn¡¯t the case, it still has a 50% chance to at least nullify them. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to kill a Divine Rank boss and two Quasi-Divine Rank bosses in the Purgatory otherwise¡­" Lin Yixin shot me a cheeky grin and grabbed my hand. "So, you¡¯ve been fighting in the Purgatory for 7 days now. What equipment did you get during this time? Tell us now, or else¡­" I thought for a moment before answering, "I didn¡¯t get as much as you think, really. Personally, I got the Middle Divine Armament Dihai Shield, the Ancient Divine Armament Scarlet Dragon Armor, the Ghost Armament Rising Cloud, and the Middle Divine Armament Ring of Spiritual Tongue. As for other items, I got the Soul Scourge Whip of the Twelve Divine Armaments, the two Middle Divine Armaments Sun and Cyan Peak Halberd, the Lower Divine Armament Flame God Armor, and finally the Ghost Armament Purple Cloud Armor. It¡¯s an okay haul, I suppose[3]¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s complexion had turned a shade of purple while I listed my haul. "You¡­ you dropped this many top-tier pieces of equipment in 7 days, and you¡¯re telling me it¡¯s just ¡®okay¡¯, you shameless bastard!? How much money did Lost Leaf owe you to rig the game for you this much??" I shrugged. "Calm down, Yiyi. It¡¯s just how life is¡­" "Life, my ass! Take me with you the next time you go to the Purgatory!" "Do you have any idea how difficult it is to survive there? It¡¯s no trip to Zhouzhuang, you know?" I rolled my eyes at her. He Yi chuckled beside me. "Enough, you two. Though, you have to admit that the sheer amount of great equipment you dropped in the Purgatory is magical, Lu Chen. Of course, this is a good thing for both us and the China server. Right now, Lu Chen is without a doubt the number one player in the entire Heavenblessed game, and no one, not even Breeze and Rain possessed the power to threaten you!" Lin Yixin nodded. "Yeah. Both his equipment and in-game skills are super good, and with buffs I suspect he can 1v3 me, Li Chengfeng and Candlelight Shadow¡­" However, I shook my head and said, "It will be very difficult. Chengfeng¡¯s technique is on the same level as mine. If he manages to keep me busy while Yiyi lands a sneaky Extreme Break when I¡¯m not looking, I¡¯ll be lucky to survive Dragon Tooth Arm from Candlelight Shadow. Nonuple[4] damage is no joke, man¡­" "Oh? You¡¯re being surprisingly humble." "But of course. A true hero is as receptive as an echoing canyon¡­" "If that is true, then do you mind removing your hand from my and Sister Eve¡¯s leg? That uncle in the front row is watching you, you know¡­" Me: "..." I removed my hands from their legs, but slithered my arms across both their waists. I declared, "So? Let him stew in jealousy¡­" "So shameless¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ When it was almost noon, we tried out the train¡¯s boxed lunch. When I was done eating, I clapped my hands together and concluded, "This tastes absolutely terrible!" Both girls nodded in agreement. After I was back at my seat, I asked, "I¡¯ve been busy killing mobs in the Purgatory or hiding from bosses for the past couple days, so I didn¡¯t really have the chance to check out what¡¯s happening outside. Can you girls tell me?" He Yi started, "The main cities have been retaken, and Dark Moon City is developing nicely. There were Resource Bag drops during the siege, and Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng and more brought back a lot to our guild. As a result, our Dragonlight Cavalry including the main guild and subguilds is at least 150k strong, and our Dragonlight Archers number 70k as well. Also, we never stopped creating more Brave General Horseshoes, and the goal of course is to equip everyone with it. Finally, our Holy Mages are approaching the 100k mark as well. In summary, we are er¡­ around 50% stronger than Candle Dragon¡­" Lin Yixin chuckled. "You¡¯re too humble, Sister Eve. In my opinion, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls absolutely possess the power to kick two Candle Dragons¡¯ asses. Why else would Warsky Alliance form a temporary alliance with Candle Dragon?" "Huh? Warsky Alliance is allied with Candle Dragon now?" I exclaimed in surprise. He Yi nodded. "Mn. Just the day before yesterday, they have formed a military alliance with each other. It¡¯s probably because they felt threatened by us. It doesn¡¯t matter though. We¡¯ve also formed an alliance with over 100 middle to small¨Csized guilds[5] across all three main cities in response to their alliance¡­" I smiled. "Good to hear. They can do whatever they want. Oh right, are there any news regarding the outer lands recently?" Lin Yixin chuckled. "Oh yes. In fact, the outer lands are the busiest of all places¡­" "What do you mean?" I asked. Lin Yixin held my hand before explaining, "Little Piglet has conquered nearly all the forces in the outer lands, meaning that he¡¯s now truly the king of the outer lands. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Protective Umbrella is an ally of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Dark Mercenaries would¡¯ve attacked them as well. It¡¯s why your foreigner friends, Warscar and Hickey, couldn¡¯t stop contacting Eve in the past couple days¡­" He Yi laughed. "Yes, that is true. The Dark Mercenaries guild is incredibly powerful these days, and both Warscar and Hickey are deeply worried for their safety. That being said, Little Piglet had never harmed a hair on Protective Umbrella. I think it¡¯s because he respects you, Lu Chen. After all, you were the only one who extended him a helping hand when everyone else tried to see him exiled." I sighed. "I understand how it feels to be abandoned by everyone." "Mn." He Yi continued, "Not only did Little Piglet conquer most of the player forces of the outer lands, he also conquered over half of its maps. Thanks to the Heaven Suppressing Necklace and the Crimson Dragon Arm, he was able to challenge practically every boss there was to be challenged, and he didn¡¯t stop until he reached the edge of Dragon Domain. Today, his weapon is a Middle Divine Armament, and even the lousiest equipment on his person is a Lower Divine Armament." "Holy shit! He¡¯s that powerful now?!" I exclaimed in surprise again. Lin Yixin pursed her lips and said, "Right now, there are only five people in our server whose chances of beating him are over 50%, and you are one of them. Not even I qualify among the five¡­" I asked, "Oh yeah? Who are the other four, then?" Lin Yixin explained, "Obviously, you have the highest chance out of everyone to beat Little Piglet. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Dragon Tooth Arm can potentially one-shot Little Piglet before he lifesteals back to full health. Warsky is the same as Little Piglet in the sense that his lousiest equipment is a Lower Divine Armament, and his Immortal Blade just underwent an evolution three days ago. Farewell Song is another player who can chain-stun Little Piglet to his death. Finally, your Lian Xin¡¯s Origin Force Field + Ice Spiral Matrix combo is the bane of all fighters. I encountered her 7 times in the champion arena, and she actually managed to beat me 3 times. Uuu¡­" I broke into a smile and tightened my grip reassuringly. "Well, Lian Xin¡¯s solo dueling skill is first-rate, and Origin Force Field is the perfect counter to Charge, positioning, burst movement and many more strengths of a cavalryman!" "Mn¡­" ¡­¡­ We chit-chatted a bit longer before we finally arrived at Beijing! The girls only carried their gaming helmets and left all the heavy lifting to me. Oh well, I had expected this. The moment we exited the platform and entered the pick up area, a couple of people immediately raised their arms and called out, "Over here, Lu Chen!" I was surprised. I wasn¡¯t expecting my receiver to be Hot and Sour Noodles, Uncle Zhang Chun! Zhang Chun was the chairperson of the CGL committee. We might be incredibly influential players in the game, but he shouldn¡¯t have to lower himself to receive us at all¡­ ¡­¡­ "Why are you here, uncle?" I stared at him. Zhang Chun clapped my shoulder with a grin on his face. "You weren¡¯t expecting this, were you?" "Of course not! By the way, you look more handsome than usual!" "Really?" "Nope!" "I knew it¡­" 1. T/N: but why? Just eat it when you reach the train station or before you drive¡­ ? 2. T/N: basically the same as Lu Chen¡¯s Fusion Armor, but slightly different name ? 3. E/N: Dear author, while I understand your need to skip through 7 days of fighting Devil Gods, Ancient Lions and many more devils¡­ He must have gotten something from these Quasi-Divine Rank bosses, right? Riiiiiight?! You can¡¯t off-screen several bosses and not make them drop anything! :( ? 4. E/N: We are quickly approaching the ¡°words you¡¯ve probably never seen¡± territory with these ridiculous bonuses. xD ? 5. E/N: While that may seem insignificant before the might of Warsky Alliance, remember that their guild also consists of many subguilds. These small/medium size guilds are probably enough to fight against 90% of these two subguilds, and ASDS subguilds and main guild can fight Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance ? CH 1491 We took off again in two Buick GL8s. I rode in the car at the front. Zhang Chun took a seat beside me and rubbed his palms together. Suddenly, he asked me in a serious tone, "Are you surprised that I personally showed up to receive you?" I nodded and answered simply, "Yeah." Zhang Chun exhaled before continuing, "Well, I can assure you that it wasn¡¯t a mistake." "What is going on?" I asked. "I can¡¯t tell you the details yet, but you¡¯ll know when we reach Eternal Moon¡¯s headquarters¡­" That caught me by surprise. "Wait, we¡¯re heading to Eternal Moon¡¯s headquarters, not the VR department?" "That is correct." ¡­¡­ That got me worried, but Zhang Chun refused to say anything more no matter how I tried to prod him about it. I was just worried about Xinran¡¯s safety. She might just be a pile of data, but I still wanted her to be safe and sound. That was the only reason I entered the Purgatory and even the Banished Lands to find her. It took over an hour to arrive at the Beijing headquarters, one of the three main headquarters of Eternal Moon Corporation. It was even rumored that the Beijing headquarters used to be the true headquarters until a shift of capital caused the core to be shifted to New York. After we got out of the car, a group of employees wearing chest badges walked up to us and greeted us warmly. Standing at the forefront was none other than Tang Feng himself, and after he shook my hand he said, "Sorry to make you come all the way here, Lu Chen." I nodded. "It¡¯s nothing, Chief Tang. By the way, the three of us haven¡¯t had anything substantial during noon. Why don¡¯t we talk business after we¡¯ve had lunch?" Tang Feng thought for a second and, to my surprise, didn¡¯t agree to even that. ¡°No, let¡¯s talk about this first, and have a good lunch after.¡± I frowned. "This must be really serious if we¡¯re delaying even lunch to talk about it." "Just follow me¡­" "Mn!" We entered a skyscraper that was at least 40 floors tall. There was another group of Eternal Moon employees in work uniforms in the main hall, and a middle-aged man about 50 years old or so walked up to me and said, "Hello, Lu Chen. I am the CEO of the Chinese branch of Eternal Moon Corporation, Xu Ning!" "Hello¡­" I glanced to the side and saw that Shusheng and Ling Xue were present as well. Ling Xue took a step forward and introduced herself formally, "I am the CEO of Eternal Moon¡¯s southern China branch, and this is Shusheng. You already know us¡­" I nodded. "Mn. So, what is going on here?" Shusheng sighed once before replying, "We want you to meet someone." "Okay?" The CEO, Xu Ning, led the way with solid footsteps. I had only ever heard of this man until now. His assets probably exceeded tens of billions. ¡­¡­ The employees took our luggages away while we entered a lift and went down to the bottom fifth floor. He Yi and Lin Yixin were very surprised, but not panicked even though we still weren¡¯t given an explanation until now. It was because Ling Xue, Shusheng and Zhang Chun were with us. There was no way Eternal Moon Corporation would try to harm us. We walked to the end of a long corridor where a huge, white-colored electronic door was. Xu Ning took a moment to enter the password, and it slid open to reveal yet another door. Three such doors later, we finally arrived at a gigantic laboratory. There was no one in the laboratory, but there was a huge running computer and a monitor projecting[1] all sorts of ever-changing data. The rapid changes made it look like the place was alive. Zhang Chun saw my confusion and explained, "This is the Eternal Moon¡¯s main computer. Most people thought it was in New York headquarters, but it had always been in China. China is the origin of Eternal Moon¡­" I exclaimed, "So, Eternal Moon isn¡¯t an international company after all¡­" Ling Xue chuckled. "We are an international company, it¡¯s just that we were founded in China." We continued forward until we reached a giant glass-made electronic door. Xu Ning pointed toward it and said, "The answer to everything is behind that door, but you are the only one who has the right to enter. Head in, Lu Chen. It¡¯s all on you now¡­" ¡­¡­ I shivered. "What on earth is behind this door?" "You will know when you head inside¡­" Xu Ning bowed his head and gritted his teeth. "Please, head inside and fulfill your and my mission¡­ There are only two people in this world whom the retina scanner on the door will work on. One of them is me, and the other one is you¡­" There was nothing else to say. I stepped toward the door and allowed a red light to scan my retina. After it slid open, I stepped inside and was greeted by one of the most shocking sights of my life¡ª Lying inside a giant capsule filled with translucent liquid was a naked girl with a dozen or so cables connected to her head. Her eyes were closed, and her body looked relaxed. Her perfect chest was in full view, her long legs were a miracle of the Creator Himself, and her countenance was nearly unparalleled in this world! ¡­¡­ Thud! I dropped to my knees as I placed a hand on the outer glass of the capsule. I murmured, "Xinran¡­ is that you, Xinran?" She continued to sleep as if she hadn¡¯t heard me at all. The right palm I placed on the capsule felt ice cold. I began shaking uncontrollably as I asked, "What is going on here? Who put you in here? How are you¡­ Why are you¡­ Can you open your eyes and answer me, Xinran? It¡¯s me! Please¡­" I was so agitated that I punched the glass. It didn¡¯t budge in the slightest, however. It was clearly bulletproof. My mind was a chaotic mess at this point. Xinran was real[2]! She wasn¡¯t a pile of data, she was a girl who really existed in this world! I abruptly turned around and strode out of the small room. ¡­¡­ "Lu Chen? Are you okay?" Lin Yixin immediately noticed my agitation. I strode right up to Xu Ning, grabbed his collar with one hand and pointed the other at the room. I growled, "What happened to Xinran? Why is she like this? What is going on here?" Xu Ning gently removed my hand from his collar and shot me a bitter smile. He said, "Calm down, boy. I know that you became the big miss¡¯s acquaintance inside the game, and that she¡¯s very dependent on you, right?" "Big¡­ miss?" My confusion grew even bigger. Xu Ning nodded and let out a long sigh. He then looked at the main computer some distance away from here and said, "Are you aware that the Eternal Moon system was built by a genius scientist called Dong Ren?" I shook my head. Xu Ning continued, "In Eternal Moon, Dong Ren is known as the founding father. He had single-handedly created the mainframe, and the reason he did so was to save his own daughter¡­" Xu Ning pointed a finger at the sealed laboratory where Xinran resided and said solemnly, "Her true name is Dong Xinran[3], and I am just Dong Ren¡¯s assistant¡­" For a time, I was too shocked to say anything. Shusheng, Ling Xue, Tang Feng, Zhang Chun and everyone else were gravely silent. Xu Ning gritted his teeth visibly before explaining, "The big miss was born without control of her senses. She couldn¡¯t feel, hear, or see. She is now 17, but she has spent her whole life growing up inside a nutrient-filled capsule and a lab. The master created this system in hopes of one day using it as a stimulus to awaken her senses. He predicted that the technology would mature enough to seamlessly connect a person¡¯s brain wave to the game, and that¡¯s why he created Eternal Moon. It was all so that one day, when he could connect Xinran and his creation, it would trigger her brain activity and awaken her from her coma." Xu Ning then clenched his fist and punched the glass door beside him hard. "Unfortunately, he wouldn¡¯t live to see that day. His illness had taken him on the fifth year of the first game, Eternal Moon. As he predicted, the technology experienced a qualitative leap during the fifth year of Spirit of Grief, and we officially connected the big miss to the game in the first year of Heavenblessed. That was how the two of you came to meet each other. During the battle of Sainthelm Ruins, the big miss¡¯s brain activity reached an unprecedented peak. We believe that it is a sign that she is soon to awaken. Do you understand how important you are to me and the big miss now, Lu Chen? The master spent 7 years developing Eternal Moon¡¯s mainframe just so that someone could awaken her from her eternal slumber one day!" I slumped against the nearby wall as if in a daze and looked in the direction of the room. "Xinran¡­ is really a real person?" Xu Ning nodded. "Haven¡¯t you seen her with your own eyes? In real life, she is stuck in a coma and is unable to speak with you. In the game though, she is the Wind Singer you¡¯ve interacted with all this time. Is that not real enough for you? Her words, her actions, her thoughts; do you doubt them, Lu Chen?" "Enough¡­ It¡¯s enough¡­" I clenched my fists and asked, "What do you want me to do?" "You¡¯re already doing it." Xu Ning patted my shoulder assuringly while saying, "The seven days you spent in the Purgatory are proof of it. You must like the big miss a lot, don¡¯t you? You wouldn¡¯t go this far if it wasn¡¯t for her." I nodded. "Yes. Xinran is infinitely important to me!" "Good. All you need to do is to go back into the game and awaken her. This time though, you¡¯re going to awaken her both in the game and in real life!" Suddenly, Xu Ning dropped to one knee in front of me and said solemnly, "This was the master¡¯s long-cherished wish. I, Xu Ning, am a failure of a businessman. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t have sold the game¡¯s copyright to an outsider for a high price or split off Eternal Moon¡¯s shares into too many pieces. However, I am at least a man who won¡¯t break his vow, and I have sworn to witness the big miss¡¯s awakening with my own eyes!" My mind was a complete mess right now, so I simply stared at the kneeling CEO and didn¡¯t try to lift him to his feet. Shusheng, Ling Xue and Zhang Chun were panicking, however. They hurriedly pulled him to his feet while saying, "What are you doing, President Xu? Are you trying to kill the foolish boy?? OMG!"[4] ¡­¡­ After Xu Ning rose back to his feet, he asked, "How far have you progressed into the Purgatory, Lu Chen? I don¡¯t have the authority to make such an inquiry to the main system, so I can only ask you in person." I answered, "There is another floor below the seven floors of the Purgatory called the Banished Lands. An NPC told me that Xinran was exiled to that floor. I¡¯m already there, but the place consists of many smaller maps, too many to count really. I can only search them one by one, so I still haven¡¯t found her." Xu Ning nodded strongly. "Got it. Thank you for going to the lengths you did to save her. As long as you awaken the big miss, I will reward you with, er, a lot of money!" I shook my head and started to leave. "I don¡¯t need it. All I want is for Xinran to awaken." "Really? Let me cancel the 1 billion USD monetary reward tied to Xinran¡¯s name then¡­" I stopped dead in my tracks. ¡°What did you just say?" "..." 1. T/N: projecting in holograms, not displaying ? 2. E/N: New site doesn¡¯t let us comment, so there you go, a big footnote! This was our theory since the very first foreshadowing of it¡­ somewhere at the beginning. Lu Chen mentioned "car", and she said it sounded familiar. After 1400 chapters of waiting, it finally paid off! ? 3. T/N: The Xin here is a different character, but it¡¯s fine in this case ? 4. T/N: I¡¯m not quite sure how to explain this. It is believed that if an elder kneels before a youngster, or if a youngster bullies an elder, or if someone gets something that they don¡¯t deserve and so on and so on, karma will correct it in some way. This is basically it ? CH 1492 That night, we stayed at Eternal Moon¡¯s base. Lin Yixin, He Yi and I were provided with a 6-star residence that was close to Xinran¡¯s room for ease of communication. My mission was very simple. I would find Xinran in the Banished Lands and take her away from the Purgatory. Then, I would tell her that it was time to wake up in the real world. ¡­¡­ When the clock ticked past 9 pm, I finally logged back into the game. Swhoosh! After I appeared at the seashore of the Banished Lands once more, I crawled out of the tent to find Uldan kneeling right next to it. She broke into a smile when she saw me. "You¡¯ve finally awakened!" I nodded and looked at Uldan¡¯s legs. "Hmm? Have you recovered, Uldan?" She shook her head. "Not yet. I¡¯ve tried a couple of times, but I¡¯m still unable to fly. My legs are still lacking their usual strength." "Got it!" I got to my feet and lifted Uldan to my back. After I had secured her to me, I looked at the sky and called out, "We¡¯re departing, Winged Silver Dragon. We shan¡¯t stay here for too long!" The Winged Silver Dragon swooped down from above and caught something with its talons while it was flying over the sea. It was a fat fish about half a meter long. After it devoured the fish in one gulp, it shot me a deferential smile and asked, "Master¡¯s big brother, you¡¯ve not eaten any food for many days, have you? Would you like to eat some before we continue?" I checked my Satiety and noted that it was sitting at 31. Ever since I ascended to become a god, my ability to withstand hunger had increased drastically. That didn¡¯t mean I no longer needed to eat though, so I took out high-grade bread that restored 100 Satiety from my bag and consumed it. Now, I would be able to fight for another 7 days. ¡­¡­ I brought up the map screen. There was a red-colored valley area directly ahead of me, meaning that the mobs in there were pretty high-level. The name of the map was "Ancient Ogre Valley¡±. Ogres were famous for their carnivorous diet, and Xinran unfortunately fell under that category. It was hard to imagine that anyone would even think to consume a woman as gorgeous as Xinran, but then again an ogre¡¯s aesthetics hardly matched a human being¡¯s. Xinran might be a god, but not even she could withstand being boiled alive in a pot of boiling water [1], could she? My concern turned into impulse, and my impulse drove me to unsheath my Xuanyuan Sword and take off to Ancient Ogre Valley immediately! Thud! I took to the sky and entered the airspace of the valley in no time. The second I did so, I received a system notice¡ª Ding! System Notice: You have entered the map "Ancient Ogre Valley¡±. The ogres who reside in this valley are ancient devils, and they are far stronger than the ogres in any other plane. Don¡¯t let them catch you with their net, or you will be made into their food! ¡­¡­ "What the fuck¡­" I swore under my breath while descending toward a golden hilltop. There were campfires and ogres all over the valley, and it looked like they were waiting for their pot of prey to be cooked. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, they were mostly animals such as hyenas, boars and more. As for humans, what humans? There were no humans in the Banished Lands until recently. Each campfire ws surrounded by 20 ogres at least. According to Dark Pupils, they were Level 340 deity-rank mobs. I didn¡¯t think it would be a problem for me to fight 20 of them alone, so I made up my mind to make my way through the valley one campfire at a time. Once I had cleared out the area and reaped all the experience, I would proceed toward the deeper area of the valley. It was because I saw a giant cage at the edge of my vision. Who knows, it might be where Xinran was trapped! Before I made my move, I checked the sky again to confirm that Night Fury wasn¡¯t close. There shouldn¡¯t be anything on this map besides him that could threaten me. ¡­¡­ I walked toward a group of ogres until I was close enough to hear their conversation¡ª "Hey, how long has it been since we¡¯ve tasted human flesh? Is it three thousand years, or seven thousand?" "I¡¯ve forgotten a long time ago. There are only badgers to eat in this accursed place, and they all stink like hell. Man, I miss the days when I was still young. The human I had eaten was so fresh and tasty¡­" "Why don¡¯t we break out of the Purgatory and enjoy life in the Human Realms?" "Quit dreaming. That devil, Night Fury patrols the sky day and night, and he¡¯ll never let us out of this place. Also, did you forget what the Banished Lands are? We are a forgotten race, and we will be stuck here for eternity. That is a fate not even Night Fury can overturn. If there is, we would¡¯ve escaped from this place a long time ago¡­" ¡­¡­ He was going to say something else, but the blade of a sword had suddenly burst out of his chest. It was me, of course. I executed War Crush so that the iron pot hanging above the campfire would be flipped over. Now, they wouldn¡¯t even get to eat a badger¡¯s meat anymore. "What the¡ªis that a human? Look at his huge muscles! Hahaha, we¡¯re eating a human today!" The ogres roared as they swung their clubs at my Dihai Shield. Unfortunately for them, the Fire God Barrier had greatly increased my Defense, and although the clubs looked scary they couldn¡¯t even do 20k damage to me. One swing of my sword was all I needed to regain nearly that much HP! Two minutes later, I had taken out all 24 ogres at the campfire. I examined the loot on the ground for a bit and concluded that their loot drop rate was pretty good. The best loot they dropped was Immortal-grade, and with my Luck, practically any Immortal-grade equipment I dropped was Outstanding. Out of all the equipment drops, the best one was a pair of wristguards that had high Defense and stackable 6% lifesteal. It was also a Level 240 Immortal-grade item. If I were to sell it at Sky City, it would net me 5,000 RMB at least. I tossed it into my bag and continued on my journey. Assuming I succeeded in bringing Xinran home, I would be making a small fortune as well. It was because there were at least 500 such pieces of equipment in my bag! ¡­¡­ I fought the ogres for over an hour, cutting a literal path of blood through the Ancient Ogre Valley. Instead of accompanying me, the Winged Silver Dragon went on a feeding frenzy of its own. I saw it biting an ogre¡¯s arm, tearing out a chunk of flesh and swallowing it in no time. The ogres ate humans, but the dragons ate the ogres. The Winged Silver Dragon was definitely higher than me on the food chain. Rustle rustle¡­ It was at this moment Uldan looked over my shoulder at the giant cage we were moving toward. She said, "I¡¯m almost certain that whoever¡¯s trapped inside the iron cage cannot be the Wind Singer. Did you notice how fragile the iron bars are? They wouldn¡¯t even be able to stop the Wind Singer from blowing them away, much less imprison her!" I shrugged. "I figured that out a while ago, but we may as well check it out since we¡¯re already here, right?" "Mn." I leaped into the air once more and flew straight toward the cage. However, I quickly noticed that at least a hundred elite ogre warriors and twenty or so ogre shamans were surrounding the cage. The shamans were also deity-rank mobs, but their stats were much higher than a normal ogre. This wouldn¡¯t be an easy fight. I activated Battle Astral Wind and spread three Ancient Seals across the group of mobs. Then, I executed a Summon the Storm + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo. Most battles would finish faster if I hit them all at the same time! "Dammit, someone¡¯s trying to kidnap our princess! Kill him!" The ogre warriors¡¯ angry shouts surprised me. The person imprisoned inside the cage was their princess? The Xuanyuan Sword shone brightly as I unleashed Burning Blade Slash. Ten minutes later, all 100 ogre warriors and over 20 ogre shamans were dead. The Xuanyuan Sword had lifesteal, and the Cloak of Divine Fervor reduced my damage received by 50%. Although the ogre shamans¡¯ Lightning Chain skill hurt a lot, they weren¡¯t enough to kill me in an instant. And if they couldn¡¯t kill me in an instant, then their defeat was all but certain. ¡­¡­ I stepped over the ogres¡¯ dead bodies and stepped toward the cage. Then, I cut apart the chains on the door. A gigantic figure stepped out of the cage and greatly surprised me. It was easily the biggest ogre I had encountered today, and it even had rouges on its cheeks¡­ wait a second. This ogre was a female! "Thank you for saving me, my beloved warrior!" The ogre princess stepped toward me with a pair of impossibly hairy legs and footsteps that had to weigh at least three tons. She crouched on the ground and said to me, "Thank you for having a kind heart, but¡­ I must still marry that devil for the sake of my race!" I sucked in a deep breath and started, "You are too kind, princess. Saving someone in need is but the basic responsibility of a hero. Anyway, I¡¯m a busy man, so see you later¡ª" Thud! However, the ogre princess grabbed my arm and said, "Wait, my brave hero. You may have saved me, but I still must marry that devil to end the humiliation of our race once and for all. I need you to defend the pride of our ancient tribe!" I was unable to pull free. The ogre princess¡¯s Strength was at least two times higher than mine. What a brawny princess! Meanwhile, I was wailing inside my mind. What the heck does your marriage have anything to do with me? Don¡¯t drag me into your business, I have no interest in the political marriage between ogres at all¡­ ¡­¡­ Ogre Princess Canarina (Quasi-Divine Rank Boss) Level: 345 Introduction: Leader of the ancient ogre tribe. ¡­¡­ I was despairing a little at this point. What the heck was this several-tons-heavy princess planning? It was at this moment an axe-wielding ogre warrior dropped to one knee beneath the steps and asked, "Princess Canarina, have you truly made up your mind to marry that devil?" The princess nodded. "Yes, I have decided of my own free will. However, I will take this brave warrior with me. He will act as my bodyguard and protect me from danger!" She then clenched her fists before adding, "With his aid, we will finally be able to kill that devil, Night Fury and retake both our territory and dignity!" The ogre warrior looked surprised. "Forgive me for saying this, Your Highness, but Night Fury captured a beautiful girl about half a month ago. I believe he no longer needs you after he captured that girl!" "Nonsense! He will accept me!" The princess erupted in anger. His words caught my attention though. "What did you say? You said that Night Fury captured a beautiful girl? Is¡­ is she a human girl?" "Yes, brave warrior!" I immediately turned around and said to Canarina, "Your Highness, I agree to accompany you to Night Fury as your bodyguard. I will aid you in your quest to murder that bastard!" 1. E/N: ¡­ yes she could? You¡¯re withstanding LAVA, and you think 100 degrees Celsius are a problem? ? CH 1493 So far, the storylines in the Banished Lands were pretty surprising. I would never have imagined that the tribal wars existed in this place, much less me joining the ogre¡¯s tribe and becoming their princess¡¯s escort. It was necessary though. Night Fury was too powerful, and I was no match for him alone. With the help of a Quasi-Divine Rank boss like Canarina though, my chance of success was much higher than before. Even without her aid, I must go nonetheless because the human girl he captured was most likely Xinran! ¡­¡­ At night, about a thousand ogre warriors raised their torches and lit up the valley so bright it almost felt like daytime. Canarina had put on a red linen cloth around herself to act as her wedding dress. Originally, the plan was to have 16 ogres carry a marriage sedan with their princess in it, but none of the wooden poles survived her crushing weight, so she had no choice but to walk there on foot. Still carrying Uldan behind my back, I held the Xuanyuan Sword in a loose grip and walked silently beside Canarina. Suddenly, the princess shot me a glance and produced a light purple dagger. She looked at me and said, "Brave warrior, Night Fury is so strong that not even I am a match for him. Therefore, we must attack his greatest weakness to have a chance at defeating him. This is the Godslayer Dagger, and it was forged using a dark metal that lay beneath the Blood Sea for 10,000 years. It contains the power of the Blood Sea, and it is capable of suppressing his power. When the fighting begins, be sure to stab him with this dagger when the opportunity presents itself, or we are sure to join the dry bones of Red Dragon Lair." I nodded and asked while accepting the dagger, "Night Fury lives in Red Dragon Lair?" "Yes." That was the end of our conversation. ¡­¡­ About half an hour later, we entered another map. At the same time, the words "Red Dragon Lair" appeared on the map screen. This was where Night Fury resided, and there was a very high chance that Xinran was trapped inside as well! Before we even got close to Red Dragon Lair though, a group of Hunters riding Ghost Wolves suddenly showed up. Officially, their name was "Red Dragon Guard¡±. They were clearly Night Fury¡¯s subordinates. I didn¡¯t expect that devil to have an army in the Banished Lands. "Halt!" A Red Dragon Guard raised his sword and declared loudly, "Lord Night Fury has decreed that only the princess and the 10 escorts to be her dowry may enter his residence! Everyone else will stay outside or face the punishment of death!" A dozen or so ogre warriors immediately roared angrily, "Bullshit! We are all the princess¡¯s bodyguards, and you wouldn¡¯t let us follow her? We will flatten this Red Dragon Lair if you try to separate us!" "Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you!" The Hunter smiled maliciously and rushed toward the dissenting ogres on his Ghost Wolf. It took him only a moment to behead all of the ogres and drop them to the ground. I was stunned, to be honest. Battles of NPCs were always like this, but I still didn¡¯t expect the Hunter to one-shot all the ogres like it was nothing. The gap between minibosses and deity-rank mobs was so huge¡­ "Stop!" Canarina growled before continuing, "I¡¯ll bring 10 guards only as he demands. Everyone, stay outside and don¡¯t act recklessly, understand!?" "Hehe, now we¡¯re talking!" The Hunter chuckled. "Now, please come with me, princess. My lord has been waiting for you¡­" ¡­¡­ I kept a low profile and even sheathed my sword so as not to attract any attention whatsoever. I quietly followed the ogre princess into the unnaturally hot and dry Red Dragon Lair. It was only after I got in did I realize just how tight the security of this place was. There were high-level Hunters practically everywhere we went. Night Fury really had turned this place into his private territory. Also, I now understood why Night Fury would demand the ogres to submit to him. Their territory was right next to his, and he wasn¡¯t so ignorant about the ways of ruling that he would leave a powerful race living right next to his turf to grow unsupervised. Steps had been added to the long corridor we were walking on, and at the end of the steps was Night Fury himself sitting on an eerie-looking throne emanating murderous aura. A black sword in hand and a disdainful sneer on his lips, he said, "Oh, Canarina, the princess of the ogre race. You¡¯ve kept me waiting for too long. Have you finally decided to lay down your pride and submit to me?" The princess slowly stepped forward and bowed her head, saying, "I¡¯m willing to marry you, Lord Night Fury. I also promise that the ogres will never attack the Red Dragon Lair. With this, I hope that the relationship between our two tribes will become as amiable as before." "Oh really?" Night Fury walked up to her and grabbed her fingers. He then let out an evil chuckle and said, "Very well. You are my wife from now on. I may not be able to sleep with you, but I promise that my Red Dragon Legion will never enter into another conflict with your tribe. Why? That is because my 30,000-strong Hunter Legion has moved to surround your valley while you were coming over. After today, your tribe will not exist on the Banished Lands, so of course there won¡¯t be another conflict between our tribes. Don¡¯t you agree?" "You!!" Canarina trembled with fury. "Night Fury, you broke your word! You are an animal!" Night Fury simply said, "I am a devil. Why would a devil keep his word? You are too naive, ugly sow¡­" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Canarina conjured a huge fiery axe out of nowhere and swung it at Night Fury. Behind her, her 9 bodyguards also rushed forward to attack him with their maces. Night Fury was alone right now, so this might actually be a good chance to defeat him! Night Fury swung his black blade and easily parried Canarina¡¯s axe swing. Then, he kicked her in her stomach so hard that even with her weight, she was sent flying across the air a dozen of meters before slamming into a wall. After that, he swung his sword a couple more times and beheaded all 9 of her bodyguards. "Dammit!" The princess roared in fury and charged forward once more. This time, light burst out of her axe, and she swung the weapon three times in a row. Not even Night Fury could afford to treat the attack like it was nothing, so he summoned a black shield and said with a malicious grin, "Let¡¯s see if you can break through my Dark Shield!" Bang bang bang¡­ Flames erupted across the Dark Shield, but her skill was completely blocked just as Night Fury knew it would. Suddenly, his smile froze on his face. It was because I had stabbed him in the back with the Godslayer Dagger. However, only half the blade went through his armor and into his body, so I activated Heavenly River Transformation and kicked the hilt of the dagger with everything I got, shouting, "Get in!" BANG~! Blood spilled everywhere, and the entire dagger including the hilt sank into Night Fury¡¯s body. It was impossible to pull it out now. Beep! Combat Log: The Godslayer Dagger has weakened Night Fury¡¯s Attack by 50%, Defense by 40%, movement speed by 65%, and Magic Resist by 70% for an indefinite amount of time! ¡­¡­ "Well done!" Uldan let out a cheer behind me. Night Fury roared out in pain and swung his sword at me. Fearless, I clashed swords with him before unleashing Burning Blade Slash + Purple Frost Concentration combo to further lower his Defense. With this, the Ancient Divine Rank boss''s Defense was lowered to the point where even I could deal massive damage to him. Furious at being pushed back repeatedly, Night Fury roared and executed a triple-hit slash! The attack was so great that I skidded a dozen or so steps backward while feeling like my body was about to crumble on the spot. Not only that, I had also lost over 4 million HP. If the Godslayer Dagger hadn¡¯t reduced his Attack, he absolutely had the chance to instakill me with consecutive attacks! "Night Fury, you shameless devil! Die!" A murderous Princess Canarina shattered Night Fury¡¯s energy shield with a mighty axe swing before leaving a massive boot print on the bastard¡¯s head. I had to say that it was an impressive attack. Unfortunately, Night Fury¡¯s counterattack was still greater even though he was weakened. It only took him two or three strikes to damage Princess Canarina worse than the two of us had damaged him. ¡­¡­ "Red Dragon Guards!" Night Fury roared in anger, "Kill the ogre escorts and aid me in killing this bitch and her helper now! You damned brat, I should¡¯ve killed you back then!" I smirked. "It¡¯s too late for regrets now, you bastard!" Currently, I was doing over 900k damage to the boss per hit. It was because Night Fury¡¯s Defense was greatly diminished by both the Godslayer Dagger and Purple Frost Concentration. Before the Hunters killed all the ogres outside and came in to aid their master, I needed to deal as much damage to Night Fury as possible, if not kill him outright. Otherwise, the tables would be turned against us all too quickly. ¡­¡­ Nearly 40 minutes later, the Hunters¡¯ battle cries started moving toward the throne. It was because they had killed all the ogres outside the lair and were coming to their master¡¯s aid. Chiang! After knocking back the below-quarter-HP Night Fury, Canarina said to me, "Young warrior, I will keep the guards from entering the room. I trust you to end his life!" I nodded. "Be careful!" Before I could finish my sentence, lightning suddenly surrounded Night Fury¡¯s body. At the same time, he grew nearly twice as big as before¡ª Beep! Combat Log: Night Fury has undergone a transformation. Their Attack is increased by 10%, knockback power by 90%, and Defense by 20%! ¡­¡­ Bang! He struck me as he did before, but I suddenly found myself sailing through the air like a cannonball! BOOM! I crashed through countless rocks before becoming embedded inside a wall. The attack had also decreased much of my HP. I had just healed myself with the Xuanyuan Art when Night Fury appeared in front of me again and used his triple-hit skill. I hurriedly activated Profound Armor to protect myself! Bang bang bang¡­ I was knocked through the wall once more. In fact, I had appeared on the other side of the wall and into a whole new area. Before I could react, Night Fury flew up to me and kicked me in the chest! Again, I was sent flying a hundred meters across the air. Night Fury said with a snarl, "You didn¡¯t expect this, did you boy? This is my territory, and no one can stop me from killing you! Since you¡¯re here, I may as well kill you in front of her and make her submit to me completely!" I looked around in confusion, but didn¡¯t find this "her" he was talking about. Shrugging, I activated Heavenly River Transformation once more and dropped an Ancient Seal right on top of his head, "Dream on, dog!" ¡­¡­ My retaliation looked cool, but Night Fury swung his sword and sent me crashing through a wall like a cannonball once more! Bang! At this point, I had lost count as to how many times I had crashed through a wall. I spat out a mouthful of blood when my momentum finally came to an end. The boss''s knockback power was insane, and I could barely get close to him at all. Worse, there was no way I could lifesteal enough HP to keep myself alive if he kept knocking me around like this¡­ "Die!" Night Fury cackled and stabbed me through the chest. I hurriedly turned to one side and stopped it from going through my back. Thankfully, the maneuver worked, and the stab didn¡¯t hurt Uldan [1]. In retaliation, I thrust my own sword forward and stabbed Night Fury through the chest. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a spear blade cut through the rock behind me¡ªit was just inches away from my neck¡ªand sank into Night Fury¡¯s head. The moment I saw it, I shuddered violently and nearly broke into tears. I said in a trembling voice, "Xin¡­ Xinran¡­" A weak cry appeared from behind me¡ª "Big brother¡­" CH 1494 "Is that you, Xinran?" I turned around and dug out the rock and soil as quickly as I could, ignoring the fact that the furious action was causing my fingers to bleed profusely. A few seconds later, a metal cage appeared in front of me. It was from here Xinran had thrust out her Dragonbone Spear[1] from and saved my life. However, her arm was covered in horrific gashes as a result. There were spikes all over the iron bars. Heart aching, I asked in a trembling voice, "Does¡­ does it hurt, Xinran?" "Mn¡­" Xinran responded before looking at Night Fury with a frown on her face, "Night Fury seems to have become weaker, big brother. Did something seal his strength? Is it the legendary Godslayer Dagger?" I nodded. "Yeah!" "That¡¯s wonderful, big brother! Kill him while I keep him pinned!" She extended her arm even more and caused the Dragonbone Spear to pierce through Night Fury¡¯s head completely and nailed him to the wall. Then, she summoned bloody wind blades from her palm and battered his body repeatedly to keep him from moving. Crack! I felt like I was floating even as I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and executed Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo at Night Fury. Finally, I had found Xinran¡­ ¡­¡­ Night Fury stood almost no chance before our combined might. Every time he raised his sword, Xinran¡¯s wind blade would interrupt his attack as if on cue. Not only that, he seemed to have lost his consciousness completely because his head had been skewered by the Dragonbone Spear. His retaliation was just a reflex. At this point, Night Fury¡¯s death was all but cemented. Chilly energy kept flooding into my arm and triggering the Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s septuple-damage effect. When the damage effect had triggered for the tenth time, Night Fury¡¯s remaining 20% HP finally hit rock bottom. Still nailed to the wall, he let out deathly throes and exploded into a pile of loot. It wasn¡¯t the end, however. The entire Fire Dragon Lair shook violently, and cracks began spreading all over the walls at unnatural speed. The Fire Dragon Lair had been built by Night Fury. Now that he was dead, the power keeping the Fire Dragon Lair was gone as well [2]. Behind me, Uldan said, "The Fire Dragon Lair is about to collapse. You need to rescue the Wind Singer before it¡¯s too late!" I hurriedly raised the Xuanyuan Sword and flew up to Xinran¡¯s cage. "Back up, Xinran. I¡¯ll release you!" "Mn¡­" Xinran couldn¡¯t walk because her legs were covered in wounds. She had to fly herself backward using her divine energy. ¡­¡­ Chiang! Sparks flew everywhere as I struck the cage¡¯s metal bar with all my might. However, the blow only left an indentation on the metal. "Dammit!" I gritted my teeth and struck the cage again and again, but the progress was slow-going. Heaven knows what this metal cage was made from, because I had never encountered an object capable of withstanding this many hits from the Xuanyuan Sword until now! My attacks grew more frantic. After a dozen or so attacks, the Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s blade actually broke first as its durability hit zero. Goddammit! I hurriedly took out a Magic Repair Oil and poured it over the sword. After its durability had been restored, I continued hacking away at the cage like crazy! Chiang chiang chiang¡­ On the other side, metallic sparks illuminated Xinran¡¯s tearful face as she murmured, "Big brother, big brother¡­" ¡­¡­ Finally, when the Xuanyuan Sword had lost 74% of its durability, one side of the metal cage finally broke under my repeated assault. Her beautiful face covered in blood and tears, Xinran murmured again, "Big brother¡­" I sheathed my sword and hugged her tightly. "I missed you, Xinran¡­" Xinran hugged me just as tightly. "Xinran missed you too, big brother. The past few days have been completely sleepless because I couldn¡¯t stop thinking about you¡­ I was afraid that Lin Na would kill you because you came to save me, but I was also afraid you wouldn¡¯t come because you don¡¯t want me anymore¡­" Heart aching, I replied softly, "Never. I would never abandon you, Xinran." It was at this moment a couple of giant rocks fell down from the ceiling and crashed behind us. Uldan urged, "Can we have this confession somewhere else? Otherwise, we¡¯re all going to be buried alive here[3]!" I nodded and dashed toward Night Fury¡¯s corpse. After I pulled out the Dragonbone Spear, I kicked away his corpse, grabbed his loot and threw them all into my bag. There was no time to check them out after all. Finally, I raised my sword above my head and fired a powerful Xuanyuan Slash toward the ceiling! Boom! The power of an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill was of course incredible. It tore through the ceiling almost instantly and allowed me to fly Xinran and Uldan through it. Surprisingly, the Winged Silver Dragon appeared out of nowhere and clumsily chased after us, yelling, "Oh, my beautiful master, please forgive this Winged Silver Dragon for his late rescue! Please be assured that this Winged Silver Dragon is eternally loyal, and that he would never abandon your side!" Xinran¡¯s gaze and arms were fully locked on my person, however. She paid the Winged Silver Dragon no attention at all. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After we flew out of the cave, we looked down and saw that the Fire Dragon Lair was barely more than a pile of dust now. It was at this moment Princess Canarina rushed out of the rubble with her battle axe in hand. When she looked up and saw us, she let out a hearty laugh and said, "Oh, my brave warrior! I didn¡¯t expect you to kill Night Fury and rescue the future champion of the Banished Lands too!" I was confused at first. "Future champion?" Then, realization dawned upon me as I looked at Xinran. "What were you doing before I came, Xinran? And how did Night Fury manage to imprison you?" Xinran blushed like an Apple. "Lin Na was trying to execute me in the Immortal Realm, but I was able to find an opportunity to deal him a severe injury. However, I myself was greatly injured and exiled into the Banished Lands. Not long after that, I encountered that bastard, Night Fury, and he tried to force me into becoming his concubine. I managed to wound him, but he also managed to trap me in that dark metal cage. You already know the rest¡­" "I see¡­" I looked at the ruins and said, "Pooh! He thinks he can make Xinran his concubine with his character? He should¡¯ve looked at himself in the mirror. That shameless, old bastard¡­" Both Xinran and Uldan chuckled at that. "Eh?" Finally, Xinran noticed that there was another person clinging to my back and asked, "You are¡­ the Twilight Wanderer? How are you here?" I hurriedly explained, "I had rescued her while I was journeying through the Purgatory, and thank heavens for that. Without her, I would¡¯ve died countless times before I made it to you¡­" "Oh. Thank you for helping big brother, Twilight Wanderer¡­" After Xinran shook hands with Uldan, I sucked in a deep breath and said, "Shall we leave this place now?" "Of course!" Xinran nodded firmly. "I don¡¯t know how we can do this though, big brother. The Banished Lands is a sealed plane, and no one has ever been able to leave this place. I¡¯m sorry, but¡­ you may be stuck in the Banished Lands with Xinran forever¡­" However, I shot her a confident smile and said, "Don¡¯t worry, I have a plan. However¡­" I looked at Xinran¡¯s marred legs again and said concernedly, "Let¡¯s clean your wounds first, shall we? They look terrible¡­" "Okay¡­" Xinran curled up gently against my chest like a pretty little cat. Her gaze especially felt like it could turn my heart into butter. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! It didn¡¯t take long to fly toward the Blood Sea. Hovering a short distance above the sea surface, I carefully scooped up some crystal clear sea water and began washing Xinran¡¯s injured legs. I also took out my Rank 14 Health Potions and poured them over her wounds without reservations. Xinran groaned from time to time and held me tighter. I didn¡¯t know if it was due to pain or pleasure. The Winged Silver Dragon was curled up nearby and watching me treating Xinran carefully. Suddenly, it let out a heartfelt sigh and said, "I finally understand why my master was willing to stake even her life to fight for this man¡­" Xinran immediately shot it a glare and said, "Shut up!" "Yes, my dignified master!" the Winged Silver Dragon responded before dunking its head into the water. ¡­¡­ Xinran¡¯s wounds began healing a short while later, but it was slow going to say the least. From the looks of it, it would take her at least a day or two before she could begin walking without support. Most importantly, she had been forced to fight multiple desperate battles in a short time and had used up most of her divine energy as a result. She couldn¡¯t even regain her energy while she was imprisoned inside the dark metal cage. It was no wonder that she was feeling weakened. Still carrying Xinran, I rose to my feet and said, "Let¡¯s head back to the Immortal Realm right now. We¡¯ll break through all obstacles and fly all the way back to the Human Realms. I can only hope that Binglan is still waiting for us at Sainthelm Ruins, and that she¡¯ll be able to open a spatial rift to save us¡­" Xinran scratched my chin once and giggled. "Don¡¯t worry, big brother. I may not have much strength left, but I can still open a spatial rift without problems." "That¡¯s even better!" "But first, how are we going to leave the Banished Lands?" "Hehe. The mountain man has his own ingenuity!" ¡­¡­ I took out a deep blue stone from my bag. Then, I raised it above my head and activated a reverse teleportation formation! Swhoosh! A hexagram spun in the air, and a teleportation formation quickly manifested into existence! Xinran¡¯s mouth fell open. "Wow, is that¡­ a Teleportation Divine Crystal? I¡¯ve only heard of such a thing. Where did you get it?" "From Dihai¡¯s dead body." "You¡­ you managed to beat Dihai? You¡¯re amazing, big brother¡­" I replied honestly, "Nah, Uldan¡¯s the one who did most of the work. I¡¯m just the opportunist who kicked the dog when it was down¡­ Anyway, let¡¯s go!" Uldan chuckled. "Now I understand why you stomped the ground when you were at the Hundred Beast Elder¡¯s residence. You were leaving behind a teleportation imprint! You really are an incredibly smart guy!" I shot her a smile before entering the portal. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! The teleportation formation tore our bodies into tiny bits of lights before reforming them on the other side of the plane. Before I knew it, I was standing in the Hundred Beast Elder¡¯s courtyard once more. "Hiss hiss¡­" The Crimson Python was so scared that it hid itself in the Hundred Beast Elder¡¯s lap. The old man himself looked deathly pale with fright. "Heavens, he actually managed to escape the Banished Lands! And¡­ is that Lady Wind Singer he¡¯s carrying? Er, it''s an honor to meet you, Lady Wind Singer. The next time you return and flatten the Immortal Realm, please leave my courtyard intact on account of my service rendered to your older brother, will you?" Xinran simply smiled and said nothing. I said, "Goodbye, old man!" Bang! I kicked off the ground and flew straight toward the clouds. At the same time, Uldan suddenly looked at the Bloody Hall with a deeply worried expression, "Shit! Lin Na sensed our power! He¡¯s coming after us right now!" 1. T/N: so, the idiot didn¡¯t even disarm her ? 2. T/N: which means that he had to expend at least a sliver of his power to keep his lair from collapsing at all times. How stupid is that? ? 3. T/N: you¡¯re all gods, you would¡¯ve just dug yourself out¡­ ? CH 1495 All I could do was to fly toward the teleportation formation at top speed. The air current was so strong that I could barely open my eyes, but what else could I do with Lin Na and countless experts chasing behind my back? It would be all for naught if we failed to escape! ¡­¡­ Lin Na¡¯s ugly face burst through the clouds as he gripped his Starlight and roared, "Do you really think you can escape my clutches with the Wind Singer, boy? All cultivators on all planes, heed my command! Stop Xinran and the human boy from escaping the Purgatory at all costs! Otherwise, this will become an eternal mark of shame in all our lives!" I shot a glance at the figures rising from the distant horizon and swore inwardly¡ª Extreme Lands Sword Saint Lin Shi (Quasi-Divine Rank Boss) Star Devourer Burren (Quasi-Divine Rank Boss) Purgatory Tomb Keeper (Quasi-Divine Rank Boss) ¡­¡­ Three Quasi-Divine Rank bosses had risen from the Immortal Realm to chase after me. Weren¡¯t they giving me too much credit? One of them could¡¯ve made my life an absolute hell. Three? Are they trying to one-shot me? However, Xinran looked up from my chest and gave me a kiss on the cheek. She then said smilingly, "Don¡¯t worry, big brother. Leave those rotten potatoes to me and just focus on flying as quickly as you can!" I asked, "Are you sure you have the power to do it?" "Yes, I do!" I nodded, kicked off the air and sped up even more. A bloody sheen ran over Xinran¡¯s eyes as she opened her palm and chanted something under her breath. Then, three Spirit Piercing Umbrellas appeared right in front of the three Quasi-Divine Rank experts and caused them to collide headlong into them. I had no idea she had the power to conjure a Spirit Piercing Umbrella so far away from us, much less three. Moreover, they were tough enough to literally break the foreheads of the Quasi-Divine Rank experts. The Purgatory Tomb Keeper wiped away the blood on his forehead while screaming in anger, "Dammit. It is said that the gods who enter the Banished Lands gain the blessing of the ancient power hidden within, and it¡¯s starting to look like it¡¯s true! The Wind Singer¡¯s strength is far greater than what it was before! We must stop her from escaping the Purgatory, or no one will survive her future counterattack!" Lin Na simply uttered, "Keep chasing, you trash!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! My body abruptly felt warmer after I passed through the barrier. The next moment, I was back in the Redemption Realm once more. I could still see Dihai¡¯s body right where we had left it. Instead of pausing to admire my handiwork, I continued toward the next exit with all my might as a matter of course. None of us was safe until we had left the Purgatory completely. It wasn¡¯t long before two more Quasi-Divine Rank experts appeared from the horizon. I had never seen them before, but then again, the Purgatory was a huge place. Even considering all the maps I had passed through, I couldn¡¯t have explored more than 10% of them. I looked behind me once more and immediately broke out in cold sweat. Lin Na was very close to me now, and he was accompanied by 5 Quasi-Divine Rank bosses. I had to be the first player in history to be chased by such a stacked party! "Die, boy!" Lin Na abruptly closed the distance and swung his Starlight at me. I shot a glance at the teleportation formation above me before turning around to face Lin Na. Then, I clashed swords with him with all my might! Chiang! A terrific shock wave exploded between our swords as we lost 3.97 million HP. That was exactly what I needed though. I allowed the knockback to send us flying through the teleportation formation and into the fifth floor of the Purgatory like a cannonball! Swhoosh! I burst out of a bloody cloud and continued toward the sky when a gigantic paw suddenly blocked my way. Now that I thought about it, I hadn¡¯t killed the guardian boss of this floor. How troublesome¡­ "Allow me, big brother¡­" Xinran assured me. She opened my palm and easily knocked the paw out of our way. Xinran¡¯s strength was nothing like my own. The beast tried to attack a second time, but I had already left it behind, so all it managed to hit was air¡ªoh wait, Lin Na was right behind us, so¡­ ¡­¡­ "Get lost, trash!" Lin Na¡¯s Starlight flashed intimidatingly, and the poor beast¡¯s paw was sent flying into the air. What a ruthless bastard! I continued to travel at full speed while suppressing the chill in my heart. At the same time, I thanked the extra movement speed provided by the Ancient Divine Dragon from the bottom of my heart. Without it, both Xinran and I would be dead already. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ I continued to fly through barrier after barrier while Xinran stalled Lin Na and the five Quasi-Divine Rank bosses with her Spirit Piercing Umbrellas. The clashes between their energies actually left behind ripples that looked surprisingly similar to fireworks. Swhoosh! Finally, I exited the last barrier and returned to the first floor of the Purgatory. A ton of Soul Collectors were gathering souls at the distance just like before. After we flew about a couple hundred meters into the sky, Lin Na and his cohorts exited the barrier as well. Shocked and terrified, the Soul Collectors hurriedly dropped to their knees and chanted, "We greet the Purgatory Ruler!" Lin Na didn¡¯t even glance at them. He was fully concentrated in his objective to kill me and Xinran before we escaped the Purgatory. ¡­¡­ Our hope was right before our eyes. I stared at the sky¡ªthe spot I had emerged from when I first entered the Purgatory to be exact¡ªand whispered to Xinran, "Be ready to open a spatial rift in a minute, Xinran." She nodded. "Got it. Don¡¯t slow down, big brother. We¡¯re going to get out of here in one rush!" "Yeah!" A while later, Xinran opened her palm and summoned a ball of cackling lightning. The next moment, it transformed into a lightning spear that she threw straight toward the void. She would open a spatial rift to the Human Realms with this attack! Behind us, the Extreme Land Sword Saint Lin Shi growled, "This is bad, Lord Lin Na. They¡¯re going to create a spatial rift any time now. What do we do?" Lin Na replied through gritted teeth, "We chase them! The Wind Singer must die even if we must chase her to the Human Realms to do so! Otherwise, she will become a deadly threat to all of us!" Bang! There was a crack of thunder, and a gigantic spatial rift that nearly looked like a black hole appeared in front of us. It would seem that Xinran had used a bit too much power to create it. Swhoosh! I flew right into it with everything I had! The moment my body entered the black hole, I felt its energy pulling me apart and reforming me again on the other side of the black hole. My vision brightened, and a familiar snowy land greeted me once more. It was Sainthelm Ruins! Finally, we had escaped the clutches of Lin Na! However, I suddenly felt a hand catching my boot and preventing me from flying further. It was none other than Lin Na himself! Just how fast was this fucker? "Fuck off!" I kicked out with my right foot repeatedly before treating him to a Xuanyuan Slash to the face. The attack was enough to slacken his grip and push him away, but he immediately chased after us again while shouting, "Put Xinran down so I can kill you both, boy!" ¡­¡­ "Not today, Lin Na." Suddenly, a melodious voice cut through the air. I looked up and saw none other than Dragon Speaker Binglan herself. Her silver blade was glowing brightly with power, and I saw Sky City and Violet Empire¡¯s NPC armies readying their arms a short distance away. Dozens of dragon knights were circling the air as well. Binglan must¡¯ve had faith that I would bring Xinran back and prepared accordingly for it! Buzz! The Dragonslaying Sword rang loudly as Binglan struck Lin Na with a full-powered attack. She cried, "Heaven Strike!" Bang! There was an explosion of light, and Lin Na was thrown back into the darkness with blood gushing out of his mouth. Binglan had clearly been gathering her power for some time, and it wasn¡¯t something a seriously injured Lin Na could endure right now. Right before the spatial rift disappeared however, a figure wielding a spear rushed out in an attempt to chase us. It was none other than the Quasi-Divine Rank boss, the Purgatory Tomb Keeper. The Purgatory Tomb Keeper froze at the sight of the army in front of him and glanced back at the vanished spatial rift behind it. Then, he swore vehemently, "Oh, what have I done? Why had I rushed out without thinking?" ¡­¡­ Xinran smiled and stabbed his chest with a manifested icicle. Binglan arrived as if on cue and beheaded the boss in one clean strike. There was no way a mere Quasi-Divine Rank expert was a match for Xinran or Binglan, and even if he was, the nearby dragon knights and NPC armies could rush to their aid immediately. The poor guy had lost his chance to live the moment he exited the spatial rift. At the distance, the undead army led by Queen Sophia herself dropped to their knees and chanted loudly, "You¡¯ve finally returned, Lady Wind Singer!" Xinran smiled at them and said, "Rise! It¡¯s big brother who brought me back¡­" I let out a proud chuckle. Binglan walked up to me and said, "I had faith, but I wasn¡¯t really sure if you would succeed, young warrior. I am very impressed. Now that Xinran has returned to us, we no longer need to fear Lin Na¡¯s counterattack!" I gave her a nod before facing toward Sophia. "Your Majesty, I encountered this bright lady when I was venturing in the Purgatory. She¡¯s er, on my back right now. Her name is Uldan. Would you like to take her in?" Sophia¡¯s mouth fell open. "Is¡­ is she the Twilight Wanderer?" "Yep!" "Of course I would!" I put down Uldan and allowed Xue Wei to pull her up her warhorse. This was the best way to help Uldan settle in the Human Realms, especially since Xinran would be recuperating in the Violet Empire as well. ¡­¡­ The NPCs soon withdrew since their mission was complete. While riding the carriage Sophia had prepared for me, I also let out a sigh that I had kept cooped up inside my lungs for a whole week. Still carrying Xinran on my lap, I looked out of the window and saw the Winged Silver Dragon shooting me a cheeky, vulgar grin. I had no idea when or even how the bastard had escaped the Purgatory with us. Perhaps Lin Na himself had no clue. It was why it had survived until now when countless others had died. I looked inside my bag to check out the loot Night Fury had dropped, but it was extremely disappointing. The mysterious Ancient Divine Rank boss had only dropped one piece of Ancient Immortal-grade equipment, like are you kidding me? Still, I shouldn¡¯t complain. It didn¡¯t drop any good equipment, but it did drop nine Perfect Divine Crystals in total. It was enough¡­ Beep! It was at this moment I received a message from He Yi: "I can send messages to you now, Lu Chen. Have you exited the Purgatory?" I nodded. "Yeah. Long story short, it¡¯s a perfect ending. What are you and Yiyi doing?" "Nothing in particular. How is Xinran doing?" "She¡¯s slightly wounded, but she¡¯s doing pretty well overall. I haven¡¯t brought up the reality stuff yet because we just escaped. I¡¯m also afraid that she won¡¯t be able to accept it immediately." "Got it. Shusheng, Ling Xue and the others are urging though. Try not to delay it for too long." "Yeah!¡± ¡­¡­ At a certain room inside Violet Empire¡¯s castle. Xinran was lying on top of a bed and smiling at me. The Winged Silver Dragon was curled up beside her like a very big dog. I stared at the beautiful scenery outside the window for a moment before looking back at Xinran. I was thinking of a way to start when Xinran pre-empted me by asking, "Do you have something to tell me, big brother?" She really was a smart girl. ¡­¡­ I knelt on one knee beside her bed and held her small, delicate hand. Then, I said in a gentle voice, "To tell you the truth, Xinran¡­ I¡¯ve already met you yesterday¡­" "You¡­ met me yesterday? What do you mean by that?" Xinran asked in confusion. I stared at him and said slowly, "I saw you in the other world; the real you. Do you understand what I mean?" "I¡­" Xinran suddenly burst into tears. CH 1496 Xinran¡¯s shoulders shook as she leaned against my chest. Tears sliding down her cheeks, she whispered, "I don¡¯t know what the other world looks like. This is the only world I¡¯ve ever known. That is why I would rather I never knew that it existed." I held her hand tightly. "But¡­ I¡¯m in the other world too, Xinran¡­" Xinran looked at me and said stubbornly, "I know, but I can see you and touch you in this world, big brother. What if I awaken in the other world, but you aren¡¯t there? What is Xinran supposed to do by herself? I¡¯m terrified that this is all a dream. I¡¯m terrified that I¡¯ll wake up and find that I¡¯m all alone. That is why I would rather never awaken¡­" "Xinran, I¡­" I hugged her tightly and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Very well, we¡¯ll take things one step at a time, then. I¡¯ll let you feel my existence in the other world, okay? When you¡¯re ready, I¡¯ll show you many sights you¡¯ve never seen, experience many things that you¡¯ve never experienced¡­" "Mn!" Xinran nodded strongly and held my neck tighter. "I don¡¯t care which world I live in. I won¡¯t be alone as long as it is one with you in it, big brother¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ After I managed to convince Xinran to fall asleep, I immediately sent out a message in bold, red font in the guild channel, "Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Chengfeng, Beiming, Eve, come meet me at the territory hall of Dark Moon City as soon as you can. I need to speak with you all about something!" A ton of messages began scrolling through the guild channel¡ª High Fighting Spirits: "Wahahaha, the vice leader has finally left the Purgatory!" Gui Guzi: "You must¡¯ve gotten a lot of loot, right, Boss Broken Halberd? Did you save Xinran?" Chaos Moon: "It¡¯s been 8 days, you bastard. I miss you so much¡­" He Yi: "..." Li Chengfeng: "Y¡¯all heard the vice leader. Cut the chatter and assemble at the territory hall now!" ¡­¡­ I brought up the territory interface. As the city lord of Dark Moon City, I had the right to teleport directly to it, so I did just that. After that, I stepped into the territory hall and sat down on the steps next to the city lord¡¯s throne. A while later, everyone I had summoned arrived at the territory hall. Everyone looked cheerful and happy. Li Chengfeng was the first person to walk up to me and say, "I¡¯ve given my equipment to Eve already, so show me my Cyan Peak Halberd, bro!" I tossed the Cyan Peak Halberd into his hands. "Here you go!" Next, I took out the Ghost Armament Purple Cloud Armor from my bag and passed it to Beiming Xue. I explained smilingly, "This Purple Cloud Armor is extremely good. Its Ghost Armament effect doubles your total Defense. With this, you¡¯ll be just as tanky as a first-rate cavalryman!" "Wow¡­" Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes were curled into happy crescents as she held her new armor. "I love you, big bro~~" "There¡¯s still more¡­" I took out the pet egg and said, "This is a Lower Divine Armament Rank mount pet egg, a Fire Phoenix¡¯s egg to be exact. Once you¡¯ve contracted it, you¡¯ll be able to fly in the air and shoot the enemies from anywhere you want. I don¡¯t need to tell you how scary an archer who can fly is, do I? Hehe¡­" After Beiming Xue accepted the pet egg, she jumped into my lap and pecked me once on the cheek. She pulled away just as quickly and withdrew to a safe distance to summon her Fire Phoenix. At this point, everyone was used to it. Even I had gotten over the embarrassment a long time ago. This time, I beckoned High Fighting Spirits to my side and passed him battle armor and an axe, saying, "Here, Fighting Spirits. This one¡¯s the Flame God Armor, a Lower Divine Armament, and this one is Sun, a Middle Divine Armament. They both suit you well." High Fighting Spirits shivered visibly. "This¡­ this is too much. I can¡¯t possibly accept it." I smiled. "I never said I¡¯m not going to give them to you for free. I do have a family to feed after all. Now make your pitch." High Fighting Spirits had always been a daring man, and he didn¡¯t hesitate to drop a heavy bag of gold right before my feet and said, "I just exchanged all the money in my bank account into gold, and I got 4.98, almost 5 million gold, here. I know that a Middle Divine Armament is worth at least 20 million, but this is all I have. Please excuse me, brother¡­" I accepted 2 million gold and returned the rest to him, saying, "Even that is enough. You¡¯re at the age where you should be getting a wife, buying a car, buying a house and so on. Everything costs money these days, you know. For example, a house worth a damn in Suzhou is worth at least 2 million RMB. Assuming that you sell your existing weapon at a fair price, you should be able to earn around 3 million gold or so. If you ask me, I would advise you to spend that money to buy a house¡­ Forgive me for speaking frankly, but it¡¯ll be difficult for you to attract a girl with your looks. However, it¡¯s a very different story if you have a house and a car¡­" High Fighting Spirits smiled. "Got it. Thanks, Lu Chen!" "You¡¯re welcome. Just earn more guild contribution points as usual. Remember, the reason we play this game isn¡¯t just to become the kings of the world, but also to get rich!" "Yeah!" After I was done giving High Fighting Spirits his equipment, I produced a fiery blade from my bag and said, "This is the Middle Divine Armament, the Dihai Blade. Some of you probably already know of it if you were paying attention to the Weapon Ranking. Chaos Moon, this one¡¯s for you. Your current weapon isn¡¯t very good anyway, so this will make a great replacement¡­" Chaos Moon shivered. "You¡¯re giving me the Dihai Blade? S-seriously? Why not give it to Eve? This weapon is way better than the Suppressing Fire Sword!" I smiled and rose to my feet. After I wrapped an arm around He Yi¡¯s waist and pulled her close, I said, "Eve and I are family. If I find a weapon that she can use, trust me when I say that I will give her the weapon without a second thought. However, Eve¡¯s skill is limited, and the only weapon she can really use is the most traditional two-edged sword. That is why I¡¯ve ultimately decided to give¡ªah pooh! I mean sell¡ªit to you. Now, pay me my expenses!" A giggling Chaos Moon tossed me a bag of 5 million gold without hesitation. "No need to give me a 50% discount like Fighting Spirits. I have Plunder and the Greedy Wolf Howl, money hasn¡¯t been an issue for me for a long time. Did you know that my savings have exceeded 10 million?" I accepted the money without question. This way, everyone was happy with the outcome. After that, I took out the less impressive, but still awesome equipment I had collected here and there during my adventure in the Purgatory. Li Chengfeng purchased the 7% lifesteal ring, He Yi took the 110% Defense ring. Gui Guzi, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and everyone else made their picks as well. I would be selling the leftovers at Sky City later. I would¡¯ve summoned Lin Yixin to make her pick as well, but then I recalled that she had gotten the Wind Severing Sword of the Twelve Divine Armaments. She could stand to sit this one out. ¡­¡­ After I finished distributing the equipment, I gave everyone 10 Hunter Cards each. Then, we sat down in the territory hall and chatted idly with each other. It had been a while since we got to do this. "How is the situation with the other servers?" I asked. Li Chengfeng answered, "The Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City and Swallow Ear Canton have been working closely with each other. Unless I¡¯m gravely mistaken, a war is already in the making. We know they¡¯re most likely going to aim for Sky City, but we need to find out if they¡¯re going to attack our fourth main city, Hot Sand City, as well!" I replied, "Hot Sand City is like a poisonous thorn lodged in the heart of the Northern Alliance. Knowing Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, there is no chance he wouldn¡¯t remove the threat. The real question is, do we defend the city or not?" Gui Guzi suggested, "I think we should think aggressively rather than passively. How can they attack Hot Sand City if we bring war to, say, Cyan Earth City?" He Yi smiled while holding my hand. "That is a good suggestion. In fact, it is one we must consider carefully considering that the new patch has introduced a new wrinkle into the Nation Wars." I let out an "oh" before asking, "What is this new wrinkle?" She explained, "There are now three ways to handle a city after occupying it. The first way is occupation, which is what we did with Hot Sand City. The second way is abandon, which is what we did with purple Grape City. The third and new way is called conquer. This option is selectable if the sovereign of the target city is killed. The city will still belong to the target server, but they will have to send us, the conqueror, 25% of their income as tribute for 3 months!" I sucked in a deep breath. "25% of the city¡¯s income as tribute? Hahaha! Eternal Moon is truly playing it big this time!" I clenched my fists and declared, "In that case, it is clear what we need to do. Either we do nothing at all, or we conquer most of our enemies at once! We¡¯re going to conquer Cyan Earth City, Hero City and Seven Star City all in the same war!" Chaos Moon covered her forehead. "Boasting right after you exited the Purgatory? Where do you even get your confidence from?" Li Chengfeng raised his new Cyan Peak Halberd and said, "I believe Lu Chen can do it though!" Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and everyone else also said, "Yeah! We believe in Lu Chen as well!" I rose to my feet and said, "All of you are my source of confidence. With your strength, what is a dream can become reality. For the next couple weeks, be sure to grind hard and become gods as soon as possible. It won¡¯t be long before all future wars will become the war between gods!" Everyone nodded in unison. It was at this moment He Yi whispered beside my ears, "You¡¯ve been playing for quite some time, and it¡¯s 11 am in the late morning right now. Xu Ning, Tang Feng, Zhang Chun, Shusheng, Ling Xue and everyone else are waiting for your report¡­" "You¡¯re right. I¡¯ll log out right away." "See you later." ¡­¡­ After repairing my equipment, I flew back to Violet Empire and returned to Xinran¡¯s room. To my surprise, she was still asleep. She must¡¯ve been exhausted after all the trials and tribulations she had gone through in the Purgatory. I sat down beside her bed and logged out. After I returned to the real world, I took off my gaming helmet and sucked in a deep breath. The heavy rock that had been sitting in my heart had finally been lifted. I had finally found Xinran, and everything was well. The moment I stepped out of the room, Xu Ning, Tang Feng, Shusheng and more rose to their feet and said, "You¡¯re finally out!" "How did it go? How is the big miss doing?" Xu Ning asked concernedly. I exhaled a little before starting, "I¡¯ve told Xinran about the real world, but there are some things she has difficulties believing. She¡¯s afraid that it¡¯s all a dream, and that she¡¯ll be all alone when she awakens in the real world. I think¡­ I need to let her feel me in the real world." Xu Ning frowned. "Can you clarify what you mean by that?[1]" "I mean, can you take her out of her capsule and catch some fresh air?" I said. "I see. Of course!" Xu Ning nodded strongly. "It so happens that Professor Wang has suggested something similar. He said she would¡¯ve had to leave the capsule eventually, so why not now instead of later? By the way, the big miss¡¯s brain activity reached a whole new peak about an hour ago. Now that you mentioned it, it¡¯s probably because of what you said to her." "Yeah. Let¡¯s get everything ready as soon as possible, shall we?" "Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯ll all be ready when afternoon arrives!" "Okay. In the meantime, I¡¯m going to eat lunch." "It¡¯s already been prepared. Shusheng and Ling Xue will accompany you!" "Nice, thank you!" CH 1497 Eternal Moon northern headquarters, the dining hall. Lin Yixin, He Yi and I were immediately greeted by the sight and smell of a tableful of delicious food when we entered the dining hall. Ling Xue, Shusheng and Zhang Chun were with us as well. "Have you found Xinran inside the game, Lu Chen?" Zhang Chun asked. I sat down and nodded. "Yeah. She¡¯s currently staying in the Violet Empire." "That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good. It looks like this lunch is the celebratory feast then!" "Oh, I¡¯m so hungry¡­" I did a quick count in my head and realized that it had been over 15 hours since I ate anything. Without hesitation, I grabbed a pair of chopsticks and slid three slices of braised pork down my throat. Ah, nothing more invigorating than a slice of meat or three. Ling Xue didn¡¯t take a seat yet, however. She poured each of us a glass of purple red wine before raising her glass. "Congratulations to Lu Chen for finding Xinran in the game. It¡¯s not over yet, but at least we¡¯ve completed the first step, right everyone?" She kicked Shusheng beneath the table right as she finished her sentence. The guy immediately bounded to his feet and raised his own glass. "Totally. We are all happy that Lu Chen found Xinran so soon!" I drained my glass and said, "Thank you!" Zhang Chun said, "If we take yesterday into account, it means that Lu Chen has spent 8 days and nights searching for Xinran. It wasn¡¯t an easy journey, and it¡¯s not over yet. If you succeed in waking up Xinran though, you will become one of the greatest heroes of the China server ever, Lu Chen!" I was confused. "Er, I don¡¯t get what you mean, Uncle Zhang Chun?" Zhang Chun shot me a mysterious smile and motioned at Shusheng and Ling Xue. "Don¡¯t ask me, ask them. They are the ones who are truly involved in this. Long story short, there is an unbelievable amount of interest invested in the awakening of Xinran. Like seriously, just look at these two. When have you ever seen them eat lunch with an acquaintance so earnestly? It¡¯s because they are invested in this matter, of course¡­" So I looked at Ling Xue and asked, "Can you explain this to me, President Ling?" Ling Xue sucked in a deep breath and rose to her feet. She pulled her jacket closer, but it wasn¡¯t enough to cover up her proud pair of 34Ds. She looked at me for a few seconds before starting, "I¡¯m only going to say this once, so listen well, Lu Chen. The founding father of Eternal Moon Corporation, Dong Ren, still holds 25% of the company¡¯s shares, even though he passed away years ago. It is because he stated in his will that the shares would be transferred to his daughter when she awakens. Xu Ning may be the CEO of the Chinese branch, but he doesn¡¯t even hold 1% of the company¡¯s shares. In fact, I hold more of the company¡¯s shares than he does. Anyway, the point is¡­" She paused suddenly, so I urged her, "The point is?" She smirked a little before continuing, "The point is, if Xinran is still in a coma after she becomes an adult, the 25% shares that are supposed to go to her will be diluted into common shares. Do you know how much money that is? That is around 250 billion USD being pulled out of China¡¯s pockets and distributed across the entire world! Xinran is already 17 years old, and she¡¯ll be 18 next month!" (Author¡¯s Note: Eternal Moon¡¯s total assets are 1 trillion[1] USD) Me: "..." Pa¡­ I had fallen back into my seat before I realized it. In fact, my wine glass nearly slipped through my hand. "X-Xinran is that¡­ important¡­?" Shusheng nodded. "That¡¯s right. Within the company, we call her the little princess of Eternal Moon. After all, she¡¯ll immediately become the largest shareholder of the company and its true CEO across the entire globe. I don¡¯t need to explain to you how much interest is involved in this, do I? It¡¯s also why this building is guarded by so many armed guards. Both the VR department and the economy department have also invested much energy into our headquarters as well. That is why Xinran must awaken no matter what!" I sucked in a deep breath and nodded. "Understood. I¡¯ll do my best. But uh, I still can¡¯t see how either of you have any direct interest in this matter. Even if Xinran awakens, and 25% of Eternal Moon¡¯s assets remain in China, how do you stand to profit from this?" Ling Xue chuckled. "Silly boy! Think about the return of capital! If the shares were to remain in China, then the China server will immediately become the biggest investor of the corporation. Our influence over the game¡¯s many aspects will massively increase, and our ability to make money through it will increase as well. Since we are the persons-in-charge of the southern headquarters of the China server, that means we¡¯ll be promoted to a higher position, and we¡¯ll be paid a much bigger salary¡­" "Fuck. Now I understand¡­" Ling Xue straightened her skirt and looked at He Yi. "By the way, Mrs. Genius CEO of GGS¡ªer, I mean Eve. I know Xinran and Lu Chen are very close, but¡ªassuming that she awakens¡ªplease don¡¯t use that relationship to target Blue Star¡¯s piece of the pie¡­" He Yi toyed with her wine glass and answered smilingly, "Don¡¯t worry. My eyes are set on the entire world, so why would I narrow myself to just the small gaming industry that is the China server?" Shusheng shuddered from head to toe. "No! I have a bad feeling about this! Please show mercy to our money, Beauty Eve¡­" I chuckled. "Relax, you two. We aren¡¯t the type of people who¡¯ll pull the carpet from underneath you. Anyway, let¡¯s finish this quickly, shall we? I want to catch a quick nap before I go back online!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I fell asleep almost immediately after I returned to my room and hit the pillow. An unknown amount of time later, I awoke to Lin Yixin knocking on my door and saying loudly, "Wake up already, Little Cheat! Xinran has been transferred to the Sun Ward, and everyone¡¯s just waiting for you to meet her! ¡®A quick nap¡¯ my ass, it¡¯s past 7 in the morning already, you lazy donkey¡­" I sat up and complained, "A mill donkey never stops rotating the mill, and yet you would call it lazy? How is that fair to the donkey at all?" Lin Yixin giggled. "Fine, fine, I was wrong. Now get up already. I¡¯ll be waiting for you in Sister Eve¡¯s room." "Okay!" After I washed myself and put on a new set of clothes, I went to He Yi¡¯s room as Lin Yixin had asked earlier. I saw both girls sitting in front of a notebook reading something on the display. Also, they were dressed even better than normal for some reason. Perhaps they felt threatened after meeting Ling Xue yesterday? I took a moment to admire both girls. To be honest, truly beautiful women would look good no matter what they wore, especially sexy and classy women like He Yi and Lin Yixin. They could put on a simple shirt and make it look like an international brand. Even from the entrance, they looked like a pair of superstars. "What are you guys looking at?" I asked. "We¡¯re reading about the third ascended player¡­" "The fuck? Someone ascended and became a god again?" I exclaimed in surprise. "Yep. Why don¡¯t you make a guess?" Lin Yixin asked smilingly. I fell silent for a moment before trying, "Li Chengfeng!" "He doesn¡¯t have the karma¡­" "Gui Guzi?" "He doesn¡¯t have the looks¡­" "It can¡¯t be¡­ Du Thirteen?" "He isn¡¯t Level 250 yet¡­" "Damn¡­ who the heck is it, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin showed me the display and revealed the answer, "It¡¯s Sister Wang Luo. Her throne is the Order Divine Throne, and she has Unusual Physique, Flight, and Elemental Infusion. It increases her hidden Magic Attack by 180%, or so I¡¯ve heard¡­" I grimaced. "God damn, I¡¯m moving out of her path the next time I meet her¡­" He Yi giggled. "She probably thinks the same thing you know. What mage would want to fight against an inhuman divine melee fighter like you?" I shrugged. "Let¡¯s go. We¡¯re meeting Xinran after we finish breakfast." "Yeah." ¡­¡­ After we finished breakfast, we followed two employees in white coats into the Sun Ward. Crack! I was the first person to enter the room. There was a huge sick bed in the high-class ward, and Xinran was lying on top of it. She was dripping, but her body had clearly been cleaned. She was currently dressed in simple patient clothes, and her eyes were closed and unmoving. Xu Ning was standing beside the bed with his arms crossed. "Oh, you¡¯re here. Come, Lu Chen¡­" I nodded and strode over, but my gaze never left Xinran¡¯s face for even a moment. It was such a beautiful face, and it was nearly the same as she was inside the game. It felt like a dream. Just a day ago, I would never imagine that I would meet Xinran in real life, much less the unbelievable truth behind it all. I held Xinran¡¯s hand and grasped it gently. It felt cool to touch. "It¡¯s me, Xinran. Can you hear me?" At the side, Professor Wang was looking at a medical instrument display. He shook his head and said, "It¡¯s not working. Her brain activity is stable and unchanging." Xu Ning said, "There¡¯s no need for haste. Lu Chen still needs some time." I pursed my lips. "Can you guys leave the room for a bit? I would like to be alone with Xinran." "Sure!" ¡­¡­ He Yi was the last person to leave the sick ward. She pointed at the lounge next to the ward and said, "Yiyi and I will be waiting for you next door. Wake up Xinran soon, okay? I still have seven or eight meetings to attend in the south¡­" I let out a chuckle and nodded. "Yeah, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll do my best!" "I trust you!" ¡­¡­ The door closed. Now, there was only me and Xinran. I held Xinran¡¯s hand tightly as I took a seat next to her. I said quietly, "You said you were afraid that I¡¯m not here in the real world, that it will all just be a dream when you open your eyes. However, this world is the real world to me. Don¡¯t you wish to touch me in the real world, Xinran? I promised you I would show you the colors of the sun, the smell of a rose, and the songs of birds. Not in the game, but in real life, so wake up, Xinran. Your big brother doesn¡¯t have much time left, you know?" My sleeve slid down and revealed a patch of light purple skin. My heart ached again as I pressed Xinran¡¯s tiny hand to my cheek while holding back the tears. "I want to hear your voice and feel my gaze on you while I¡¯m still alive, Xinran. Wake up please, Xinran? I want to see you. I¡­ I really don¡¯t have much time left¡­" Beep¡­ beep¡­ Suddenly, I noticed a massive amount of brain activity on the instrument display. I wiped my tears away while murmuring, "Xinran¡­ could you hear me, Xinran?" Suddenly, a rapping noise appeared from outside the door. I heard Professor Wang shouting, "Lu Chen, we noticed the big miss¡¯s brain activity peaking! What did you do? Can we come in?" I hurriedly rolled back my sleeve before answering, "Yeah. Come in!" Everyone rushed back to the room, but their faces quickly became dyed with disappointment once more. It was because Xinran still hadn¡¯t awakened. "It¡¯s only a short burst, it seems. Her brain activity still hasn¡¯t reached the point where she can awaken¡­" Professor Wang shook his head in disappointment before saying, "Never mind. Let¡¯s get out. We shouldn¡¯t disturb the big miss¡¯s rest any longer." Xu Ning also nodded. "Mn. Remember to provide her with the necessary nutrients for noon, and expose her to a suitable amount of sunlight." Meanwhile, Zhang Chun clapped my shoulder consolingly and said, "Don¡¯t be sad, Lu Chen. You still have plenty of chances to try. Let¡¯s head out and give Xinran the rest she needs." ¡­¡­ Everyone began walking out of the sick ward. I too rose to my feet and tried to leave until suddenly, I realized that I couldn¡¯t move my hand. Xinran¡¯s hand clenched tightly around mine, and a pair of tears dripped down her still closed eyes¡ª "Big brother¡­" 1. There are companies in the world like BlackRock that have assets worth 165 billion, but assets under their management are 10.1 TRILLION. It¡¯s the first time I actually think author¡¯s numbers make sense. Obviously, assets and assets under management (AUM) are two different things. It would still put Eternal Moon at double of AT&T, our world¡¯s biggest company, and 3x the assets of Apple ? CH 1498 At that moment, I felt like my heart had come to a stop. Trembling, I called out Xinran¡¯s name urgently, "Xinran¡­ Are you awake, Xinran!?" Nearly everyone had turned around at the same time. They also saw Xinran clutching my hand tightly. ¡­¡­ "Close the blinds now! Her eyes can¡¯t stand too much sunlight since this¡¯ll be the first time she opens her eyes!" Xu Ning shouted. Two employees immediately did as they were told, causing the lighting in the room to dim considerably. Xinran¡¯s tears were still flowing beneath the lamplight. She said in a small voice, "Big bro¡­ I don¡¯t want you to go, big bro, I¡­" I hurriedly knelt beside the bed and wrapped another hand around her small palm. "Don¡¯t worry, Xinran. I will always be here. Are¡­ are you really awake? If you are, why don¡¯t you open your eyes and look at me? Please?" Xinran continued to shut her eyes as she shook her head fearfully, "I¡¯m scared, big brother¡­ I¡¯m scared I won¡¯t see you if I open my eyes, and I won¡¯t ever be able to return to the world where you exist anymore¡­" Still holding her hand tightly with my left hand, I cupped her cheek with my right hand and said, "Can you feel my touch, Xinran? I¡¯m right next to you. You have nothing to worry about, so open your eyes!" "Big brother¡­" Finally, Xinran slowly opened her eyes and revealed a pair of pupils that looked like black diamonds. I could see my own reflection in them. I looked so happy that it was almost uncanny. I blurted, "You can see me right, Xinran? Can you see me?" For a while, Xinran simply stared at me blankly. Then, she raised an arm and touched my face with a cool finger, asking, "Why are you dressed like this, big brother? Where¡­ where is your Scarlet Dragon Armor? Isn¡¯t it your pride and honor?" I slapped my shirt once with a silly grin on my face. "In the real world, we all wear Meibang!" Xinran: "..." Xu Ning laughed heartily as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders from behind. "Hahaha, well done, Lu Chen! Finally¡­ finally, I have fulfilled my promise to Master Dong Ren! Finally, I¡¯ve lived up to everyone¡¯s expectations, hahahaha! Anyway, nice to meet you, big miss! It¡¯s me, Xu Ning¡ªer, now that I think about it, you don¡¯t know me¡­" Xinran watched the dancing Xu Ning and asked me, "Who is this uncle, big brother? Is he a bard? If he is, his dance is not worthy of his profession¡­" I nearly turned into stone when I heard that. Everyone was laughing with joy. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before Xinran¡¯s eyes adapted to the lighting, and the blinds could be drawn open once more. However, her body and especially her bones were still a ways from recovery. Although she had received various nutrients to increase her bone density, the lack of stress and weight meant that she still couldn¡¯t walk in her real body. As a result, even the act of raising herself to a sitting position took a considerable amount of energy. Not to mention that Xinran knew practically nothing about the real world. "What is that little metal object called, big brother?" "It¡¯s called a cellphone¡­" "What is a Meibang, big brother?" "It¡¯s the equivalent of a Divine Armament for a loser¡­" "Why do I feel like I¡¯ve seen that big sis called Lin Yixin before, big brother?" "She¡¯s called Wind Fantasy. She¡¯s one of the adventurers of Sky City." "What is that food you¡¯re eating, big brother?" "It¡¯s an apple¡­" "I want to eat it¡­" "You will in a couple of days. For now, you should drink your porridge¡­" ¡­¡­ The idle moment continued until noon when a couple of beautiful nurses pushed a wheelchair into a room. It was so that they could move Xinran around until she could walk on her own. However, when the nurses tried to change Xinran¡¯s clothes, she struggled mightily and curled up into a ball at the bedhead. She said panickedly and fearfully, "Don¡¯t come closer! Don¡¯t touch me. Big brother¡­" Xu Ning sighed when he saw her holding my hand in a vice grip. "Big miss, you¡­" Xinran said, "I want big brother to stay with me¡­" Left with no choice, Xu Ning said to the nurses. "It¡¯s fine, Lu Chen can change Xinran¡¯s clothes for her. By the way, a banquet has already been set up at the main hall, Lu Chen. Come down with Xinran before noon, will you?" I wasn¡¯t expecting this, but what else could I do but accept? "Got it. I¡¯ll ask Eve and Yiyi to help her." "Mn. See you later¡­" After the door clicked shut, Xinran said again in my arms, "I want you to help me change, big brother¡­" Me: "..." Both Lin Yixin and He Yi laughed at my awkward expression. They rose to their feet and said, "We¡¯ll punch you if you get a nosebleed, understand?" ¡­¡­ Left with no choice, I closed the blinds and carefully held up the dress the nurses had picked up for her. I said, "Take off your patient clothes first, Xinran. I¡¯ll put on this pretty dress for you when you¡¯re done." Xinran nodded and tried to pull off her clothes, but her arms were weak, and her movements unnatural. Knowing that I would have to do this myself, I steeled my resolve and helped her to take off her clothes. I tried to minimize skin-to-skin contact for obvious reasons, but there were still some accidental bumps from time to time. All I could say was that no woman in the world could ever have skin as flawless as Xinran¡¯s. She had literally grown up in a vat of nutrients fluid after all. Taking off her clothes was just the first part. It wasn¡¯t even the difficult part. For a long time, I studied the pink bra I was supposed to help Xinran put on until I finally figured out how to do so. Despite my careful maneuvering, I still caught an accidental glimpse of her amazing 34Cs and nearly suffocated on the spot. By the time I was done putting on a pair of white stockings on Xinran¡¯s legs, I felt like I was on the verge of death. After Xinran was fully dressed, Lin Yixin looked at her and smiled brightly. "You¡¯re so pretty, Xinran!" The girl nodded obediently. "Thank you, Sister Lin Yixin¡­" He Yi said, "Let¡¯s put you in your wheelchair. It¡¯s time to head to the main hall and have lunch¡­" Xinran immediately extended her arms toward me and said with overflowing cuteness, "Carry me, big brother¡­" I never imagined that I would gain a younger sister like this, not that I was complaining at all. I carefully put her on the wheelchair before pushing her out of the room. I hid a sigh of relief. Finally, I could declare that my main mission had been completed successfully. ¡­¡­ A table large enough to fit 18 people was set down in the main hall. Xu Ning was paying, and everyone was smiling from ear to ear. It was because Xinran¡¯s awakening was a boon to everyone present¡­ I pushed Xinran up to the table and sat down beside her. Lin Yixin and He Yi kept a protective eye over her as well. They probably thought of Xinran as her younger sister, and they wouldn¡¯t be wrong. After all, she was only 17 years old and 155 centimeters tall. Xu Ning held up a glass and started, "This is a toast to our big miss! She still has no idea who this prattling old man is, but it¡¯s fine. She¡¯ll know me in time¡­" I nodded. "Don¡¯t worry, CEO Xu. Xinran will accept this very quickly." "Yeah. Thank you again, Lu Chen. None of this would''ve happened without you!" "You¡¯re welcome!" Zhang Chun echoed in agreement, "Lu Chen really is a blessing to all of us. He had helped us to conquer Purple Grape City and Hot Sand City, defeat the Northern Alliance and Cyan Earth City multiple times in the Nation Wars, and now he¡¯s even awakened the most priceless girl in China. Raise your glass, Mr. Blessing. You and I are having a drink!" I rose to my feet and said humbly, "You praise me too much, Uncle Zhang Chun. I¡¯m just a boy who¡¯s doing his best to earn some gold¡­" Xu Ning set down his glass and said seriously, "Don¡¯t put yourself down, Lu Chen. I was watching the incident with Tang Long, and I knew of all of the pains you had suffered in the hands of that corrupt politician. Even so, you still created Protective Umbrella and defended the honor of your country. How many people can say that they are as strong and devoted as you are? I may be a businessman, but I respect you nonetheless. You are a hero, Lu Chen!" Shusheng also raised his glass and toasted to me, "Let¡¯s go, hero!" After we all drank our wine, Ling Xue asked, "Zhang Chun, you¡¯re the chief of the CGL committee, right? Is the CGL Hall of Fame going to be reordered again? Shusheng is still number one on the ranking, but he¡¯s going to be surpassed soon, isn¡¯t he? Can you tell us anything at all?" Zhang Chun chuckled. "Normally I would say no, but I am in the presence of the CEO of the Eternal Moon Corporation China branch, its 25% shareholder, the southern branch president, the guild leader of Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls right now. How can I possibly say no?" Lin Yixin chuckled. "Stop stalling and tell us already, uncle. Will our Little Cheat be climbing to the number one spot?" Zhang Chun let out a cough before revealing the answer, "As you are aware, the CGL ranking is determined by a point system that isn¡¯t revealed to the public. Shusheng was ranked at number one with a hidden score of 1.97 million, Lin Fan at number two with 1.91 million, and Lu Chen at number three with 1.88 million. That was the score during the previous ranking. Now though, after everything Lu Chen achieved during the March of Chaos event and his 8-day journey in the Purgatory, I can tell you with absolute certainty that he is now the indisputable number one player of the CGL Hall of Fame¡­" I put down my glass and asked, "Do I get a reward for the achievement?" "I can ask someone to make you a trophy if you want it¡­" Me: "..." Lin Yixin held my hand and smiled sweetly. "Congratulations, Little Cheat. You''re number one the next time the CGL ranking is refreshed¡­" I nodded. "I thank my country and my organization for my achievements¡­" Zhang Chun guffawed. "The hell you¡¯re talking about? It¡¯s all the result of your own efforts!" ¡­¡­ Ling Xueshang shot Shusheng a glance and said, "You see now? I told you you should¡¯ve completed your seventh class promotion, but no, you just had to drag it out for whatever reason. Now your precious throne is lost to that boy, Lu Chen. What do you even want me to say?" Shusheng declared with determination, "Alright, I¡¯ll complete my seventh class promotion when we return to Shanghai tomorrow! Before that though, can you collect a couple lifesteal items for me, Little Xue? Immortal-grade is fine. My current equipment is pretty shit¡­" Ling Xue: "..." ¡­¡­ After we were done eating, a beautiful female employee appeared in the room with a thick stack of documents in her hands. She said respectfully to Xu Ning, "The documents are ready, president. The big miss only needs to jot down her signature to confirm it." "Mn." Xu Ning accepted the document and went through it once before saying, "Everything seems to be in place." He then rose to his feet, walked up to Xinran and said respectfully, "Big miss, this is the will your father, Mr. Dong Ren, established before he passed away. To put it simply, his inheritances are yours to inherit if you were to awake before you were 17. Although the total shares you were supposed to inherit have decreased from 41% to 25%, the total value of assets is also several times bigger than before. All you need is to sign this, and you will become the biggest shareholder of Eternal Moon Corporation!" Xinran blinked once and asked, "What is this, Uncle Ning?" Xu Ning fell silent. It was as if he just realized that Xinran didn¡¯t understand what he had said at all. I explained, "It¡¯s like this. Your father left behind a huge cake for you before he passed away, and you need to sign this thing to accept it¡­" However, Xinran shook her head and said, "I don¡¯t want anything. All I want is to be together with big brother¡­" This time, no one could say a word. Suddenly, Xinran added, "Uncle Ning, what¡¯s mine is big brother¡¯s. I want you to give this cake to big brother!" ¡­¡­ Xu Ning jolted back to reality like he had been struck by lightning. "T-this is too careless, big miss! I know we¡¯re describing it as a cake, but it¡¯s not actually a cake, you know? It¡¯s a sum of wealth so huge that it can dwarf countries! Y-you can¡¯t just give it all away like it¡¯s nothing!" CH 1499 Xinran smiled despite a blue vein popping on top of Xu Ning¡¯s forehead. She held my hand and said, "Calm down, Uncle Ning. I don¡¯t covet anything from this world except one thing, and that is time spent with big brother. I believe in him, and I¡¯m certain he won¡¯t neglect me even after I¡¯ve given him my riches. Plus, I really don¡¯t understand this, so I would rather have big brother make this decision for me¡­" I frowned and made sure to clarify. "President Xu, I swear, I did not ask her to say this¡­" Xu Ning said helplessly, "I know, but¡­" ¡­¡­ Beside us, a young man carrying some documents of his own said smilingly, "President Xu, I am lawyer, Zhang Wei. I would like to remind you that this contract only has legal effect if it is made with the consent of the involved party. Since Miss Xinran wishes to transfer the assets to that sir, I believe that it is necessary to respect her wishes. Otherwise, it will be a breach of law." Xu Ning clenched his fists together. "But Xinran still doesn¡¯t understand the full severity of the situation. We should postpone this until she does¡­" Zhang Wei shook his head. "If we wait for too long, Miss Xinran will be 18 years old. Do you want your assets to be turned into common shares? The people from the International Bar Association[1] have arrived as well. The authority of this contract supersedes everything, and I hope you fully understand the interests that are involved here. I believe that transferring the assets to this sir is a better option than giving away 250 billion for nothing. He is Chinese, isn¡¯t he? Excuse me, sir, are you Chinese?" Lin Yixin rolled her eyes. "He¡¯s Lu Chen!" "Oh my god, you¡¯re Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? I''ve long looked forward to meeting you, man! I¡¯m your fan¡­" Zhang Wei suddenly broke character when he realized who I was. The spotlight was on me once more. It didn¡¯t look like Xinran was going to change her mind, and even He Yi was hiding a snicker and whispering, "Looks like a true tall-rich-handsome is about to be born¡­" I rose to my feet and looked at everyone. "Can everyone settle down and give me a moment to speak?" Xu Ning nodded. "Of course!" I said seriously, "As you can all see, I am the only one whom Xinran trusts. However, it is a fact that Xinran doesn¡¯t understand the full scope of the interests that are involved in this matter. Moreover, we don¡¯t have the time to bring her up to speed. Therefore, I suggest that we transfer the shares to me as per Xinran¡¯s wish, but with some additional conditions. To put it simply, if anything happens to me, or if Xinran wishes to retake them for any reason, they will be returned to her unconditionally. How does that sound?" ¡­¡­ Xu Ning sucked in a deep breath and kept his silence. Tang Feng and Zhang Chun whispered something I couldn¡¯t hear with each other before nodding as well. Finally, Xu Ning said, "Very well, we shall respect the big miss¡¯s wishes and transfer all 25% of the shares to your name. We will begin drafting a second contract immediately. Once the IBA has confirmed its legality[2], we will have Lu Chen sign it right away. It so happens that everyone of concern is present right now, so let¡¯s try and finish this before the day is over. If nothing else, my second long-cherished wish will finally be realized!" Xu Ning then walked up to me and said solemnly, "I trust your character, Lu Chen. I leave the big miss in your hands. Do not betray that trust!" I nodded back just as firmly. "I will never betray Xinran!" "Thank you!" "Thank you too for taking care of Xinran all these years!" "Haha, it was my responsibility!" He then walked even closer and whispered to me, "So, do you think I can continue being the CEO of Eternal Moon¡¯s China branch, Lu Chen?" I nodded. "But of course!" "Thank you!" ¡­¡­ I rolled my eyes when Xu Ning wasn¡¯t looking. Now I realized what he was worried about. He was afraid that I would boot him from his position now that I held a considerable amount of power over the entire company. I had no reason to do so though, not to mention that the true boss of the company was still Xinran. I was just the proxy¡­ On the opposite side of the table, Shusheng held up his glass again and said, "Let¡¯s go for another round, shall we, Boss Lu Chen?" I replied, "Me? You¡¯re the boss, dude. I¡¯m just a player, and you are the vice president of the southern branch¡­" Shusheng replied seriously, "You¡¯re not just a player, dude. China possesses 9% of the total assets of Eternal Moon Corporation, and 3% of that is in the southern branch. However, even if Little Xue and Yue¡¯er gave me some of their shares, my owned shares still don''t exceed 0.7%. Now though, 25% of those shares are in your hands. To give a comparison, if you are the boss of a 5-star hotel, then I am a noodle hawker by the roadside. Therefore, you are the one who¡¯s giving me face, not the other way around." I shook my head. "Nah, I¡¯m just the agent and not the true owner of this money. To borrow the same analogy, I¡¯m the hall manager of the 5-star hotel. If one day the boss finds me irksome and fires me, I may be worse off than even you, the so-called hawker¡­" Shusheng said, "Nah, we won¡¯t end up like that. But if we do, I will walk with you, brother!" I answered, "So will I, brother!" Zhang Chun shook his head. "I just bore witness to the shameless dialogue between two Heavenly Kings of Eternal Moon, and I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯m proud of it¡­" He Yi: "..." Lin Yixin: "..." Ling Xue: "..." ¡­¡­ When afternoon came, I held a precious Diamond-grade gaming helmet in my hand. It was the gaming helmet the company had specifically made for Xinran. Now that she had woken up, she would be using it to enter the game just like the rest of us normal players. According to Professor Wang, it wasn¡¯t a good idea to keep Xinran in the real world for too long. She needed to enter Heavenblessed from time to time to maintain a healthy psyche, especially since her very consciousness had begun in Heavenblessed. I was worried though. Would Xinran lose her identity as the Wind Singer and be forced to restart from zero if she entered the game? Thankfully, my worry was quickly proven to be unfounded. Swhoosh! I logged into the game and appeared in Xinran¡¯s room inside the Violet Empire. Beside me, Xinran slowly opened her eyes and noticed that she had returned to Heavenblessed. She immediately lifted herself up into the air with divine energy before pushing me down on the bed, smiling from ear to ear. "Big brother, big brother! The you I saw in the real world is really you, right? Right?" I nodded with a bright smile of my own. "Yes, that was the real me. Anyway, it looks like you¡¯re recovering pretty well. Your strength is much greater than before!" "Mn mn!" "Do you want me to take you out for a spin?" "Sure!" Beside us, the Winged Silver Dragon said while shaking its tail, "I will be your most loyal guard, my dear master!" Xinran¡¯s voice immediately turned cool and indifferent. "No, you will stay inside the castle. Like I need a guard to protect me with my strength¡­" The Winged Silver Dragon didn¡¯t hesitate to change its tune. "Yes, my powerful master!" ¡­¡­ I checked out my bag and saw that the Soul Scourge Whip of the Twelve Divine Armaments was still there. It was about time I dealt with it! I brought up the level ranking and filtered the list, the Tamer class being my only criterion. The current top three players were Floating Dream, Chance Meeting and Sky Rock. Floating Dream was Candle Dragon¡¯s number one tamer, Chance Meeting was Twelve Musician¡¯s vice leader, and Sky Rock belonged to Soul Battle Robes. I then looked for my guild¡¯s best tamer and found that he was languishing at 19th place. Yeah, no, there is no way I¡¯m giving someone this weak the Soul Scourge Whip[3]¡­ In the end, I decided that I would put the Soul Scourge Whip for auction, earn more money and fill up my debit card. Although I would be owning 25% of Eternal Moon¡¯s shares in the very near future, I was really just the proxy. Moreover, a man¡¯s income was his spine, and the higher the income, the straighter their spine would become. That was why I must sell the equipment! And so, Xinran and I left the Violet Empire and flew straight to Sky City. Thud! After we landed outside the gate, I held Xinran¡¯s small hand and entered Sky City with her. A lot of players were shooting me looks of astonishment because Xinran appeared to be an NPC with an orange ID, which signified her status as a Divine Rank NPC. For obvious reasons, they found it unbelievable that a player could date a mighty god. When I arrived at the auction house, selected the "Sale" option, and brought out the Soul Scourge Whip, the manager¡¯s eyes nearly popped out of his out sockets. He exclaimed in disbelief, "Heavens, this is a weapon of legends! I cannot believe that I would be holding a weapon like this one day, it¡¯s unbelievable! What will be your base price for this equipment, young man?" I thought for a moment before answering, "Make it 10 million gold, please!" "Understood. Your request shall be processed right away!" A while later, the system bell dinged three times in a row before releasing the announcement¡ª Ding! Ding! Ding! System Announcement: Player XXXX has listed the weapon "Soul Scourge Whip¡± (Twelve Divine Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) for auction. The starting bid is 10 million gold. Due to the excellence of the item, the markup bid must not be lower than 1 million gold. The item will enter the bidding phase in 3 hours. If the item is of interest to you, make sure not to miss the auction! ¡­¡­ The entire Sky City, no, the entire server, erupted like never before. Ghost Armaments and even Divine Armaments had been auctioned before, but this was the first time ever one of the Twelve Divine Armaments had appeared in the auction house. The Twelve Divine Armaments were the twelve greatest weapons in all the servers after all, and there might never be a thirteenth Divine Armament until Heavenblessed reached its end. With that in mind, who in their right mind would auction something so precious?! Xinran and I enjoyed a leisurely time in the VIP room while we waited for the auction to begin. Players had been pouring into the auction house since the announcement, and it wasn¡¯t even ten minutes before the entire place was packed like sardines. I saw a lot of familiar faces, and some of them didn¡¯t even belong to our server. It looked like our Chinese players weren¡¯t the only ones who coveted the whip. Some foreigners had entered our server after activating peace mode. Beep! Lin Yixin sent me a message: "Aren¡¯t you afraid that a foreigner will get the Soul Scourge Whip, Little Cheat?" I replied smilingly, "That would be perfect, actually. Not only will I be earning a foreigner¡¯s money, I can steal it back with the Chains of Freedom and repeat the process until infinity¡­" "I see. Well, I support your decision!" ¡­¡­ A while later, Lin Yixin, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and more arrived at the auction house and were summoned into my VIP room. They were here to partake in the joy of my money-making, and while waiting, the girls spent the time chatting with Xinran. It didn¡¯t take them long to familiarize themselves with her, and when they learned that she was the princess of Eternal Moon¡ªthere was no need to keep it a secret anymore¡ªBeiming Xue and Lian Xin looked like their jaws were about to hit the floor. A while later, the auction began, and the auctioneer was a beautiful woman in leather armor and skirt. She was none other than Fei¡¯er herself. I wondered where she was before she was summoned over? ¡­¡­ "Let¡¯s begin the auction already, girl!" one man shouted loudly from beneath the stage, and he was none other than Warsky himself. The guy looked more handsome than the last time I saw him, probably because his Immortal Blade had evolved, and he was wearing a full set of Divine Armaments right now. If nothing else, he certainly looked to be in high spirits! 1. E/N: What? Do they oversee important contracts? Fairly sure their job is to judge if a lawyer is fit (or unfit) to be a lawyer. Why would they make a trip to China to see it? Do they expect THE LAWYER to do something illegal/unethical? What¡¯s next, will the IRS arrive? xD ? 2. E/N: They don¡¯t check contracts, they check lawyers who check contracts. :| ? 3. E/N:I¡¯m fairly sure Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and You and Yun are way out of Top 20 of their class. Now a kid at 19th place that never got any freebies is too weak. Poor kid. ? CH 1500 "What do you think will be the final price of the Soul Scourge Whip?" Murong Mingyue was sitting at the window sill. She had pulled away the leaves of decorative plants obstructing the view to get a better look at the auction stage. The way her impressive breasts were lifted into the air was a sight to look at. "The base price is 10 million gold, right? I bet that the final price will exceed 80 million gold," Beiming Xue said. Lian Xin¡¯s pale, slender neck became revealed as she leaned closer to the window as well. "This is the first ever Twelve Divine Armaments auction in Heavenblessed. The place is packed after just a couple of hours, and there are a lot of Chinese players who are acting as agents for their foreigner friends to bid for the Soul Scourge Whip. It¡¯s hard to way if this Divine Armament will ultimately remain in the China server." Beiming Xue blinked. "Is the Soul Scourge Whip really that powerful?" Lin Yixin nodded smilingly. While hugging the Wind Severing Sword, she explained, "You saw its stats. Its ability to lower the stats of anyone it strikes by 40% is already godlike be it against players or bosses, but it also drastically increases a summoned beast¡¯s offensive and defensive stats, and allows for infinite pet revival. If this whip isn¡¯t worth a fortune, then nothing is. You can ask your big bro if you don¡¯t believe me. This whip¡¯s practical value is top-tier even among the Twelve Divine Armaments. At the very least, it is superior to my Wind Severing Sword and perhaps inferior only to your big bro¡¯s Xuanyuan Sword." I smiled. "It¡¯s okay. While it is true that any tamer with the Soul Scourge Whip will become very OP¡ªthey don¡¯t even need to fight themselves, all they need to do is to send out their boss-tier pets to do their dirty work for them¡ªthey are by no means the best players in the world. In the end, the tamers themselves have low HP and Defense. If they run into a party of first-rate cavalrymen, mages or archers, they can be one-shot before they put up much of a struggle. Not even the Soul Scourge Whip can help them there." Lin Yixin giggled. "This is especially true if their opponent is someone with a ridiculous amount of explosive power such as Candlelight Shadow. Shattering Sword and Shield does 150% of defense-breaking damage, and Dragon Tooth Arm can multiply that damage by 9. Unless his opponent is someone with 50% damage reduction and high health like Little Cheat, he will never have any problems against an opponent like that." I added while looking at the ground from above, "One more thing. A tamer with the Soul Scourge Whip is powerful, but that is only if they possess an extremely high level of control. They must be capable of controlling four or even five units at once, or they won¡¯t be able to kill any first-rate player. Anyway, the important thing is that this whip will definitely fetch a good price!" "Mn mn!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, after taking a few steps closer to the audience, Fei¡¯er held up the Soul Scourge Whip and declared with a smile, "I¡¯m sure everyone here knows what this auction is about, right? That¡¯s right! The weapon in my hand is none other than the fabled Soul Scourge Whip itself! It increases its user¡¯s Attack by 295%, max HP by 500k, and all of their summoned beasts¡¯ stats by 250%. Besides that, it also grants the ability to reduce any target¡¯s stats by 40% via whipping. Increases the rank and summon count of the user¡¯s pets, and most importantly, gives them infinite revival. This means that a summoned beast may as well be unkillable. The Soul Scourge Whip is the whip of the Twelve Divine Armaments and literally the best weapon a tamer could hope to get, so make sure you don¡¯t miss out on it! The base price is 10 million gold, and the markup price cannot be less than 1 million gold! As usual, the highest bidder will get this equipment, and please make sure that you have enough money in your accounts before making a bid." Thud! Fei¡¯er slammed the Soul Scourge Whip on the table to great effect. She then declared with a beautiful smile, "Without further ado, let the bidding begin!" She didn¡¯t even finish her sentence when Warsky raised his hand and shouted, "18 million!" Clearly, Warsky was seeking to better his guild¡¯s number one tamer. He had always been an excellent guild leader. He was willing to spend both cash and effort to strengthen his guild. It was no wonder Warsky Alliance had become the equal of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Candle Dragon, Snowy Cathaya and more super guilds. Another man raised his hand from a different corner of the hall and called, "25 million!" This time, it was Candlelight Shadow who made a bid. He was covered in godlike equipment from head to toe just like Warsky was, and I reckoned that the heavy sword he carried behind his back was at least a Middle Divine Armament. The gorgeous wristguard on his arm was the Dragon Tooth Arm of course. No one had been idle while I was grinding in the Purgatory. They were all killing bosses to improve their equipment probably because they could sense that the lull they were enjoying now was but the calm before the storm. If they didn¡¯t strengthen themselves as much as they could before its arrival, they could very well become obsolete. "Candlelight Shadow is purchasing this for Floating Dream, right?" He Yi said smilingly, "He must be aiming to create the number one tamer of the China server¡­" Lin Yixin drew back some of her hair while saying, "But of course. The number one tactician and bard are both in Ancient Sword. How can he live with himself if he doesn¡¯t create his brand soon? Also, I heard that he has been collecting tons of Perfect Divine Crystals as of late. He wants to ascend so much that the madness is getting to him¡­" I looked back and forth between Lin Yixin and He Yi before asking, "You¡¯re both Level 255 now. How many Divine Crystals have you collected?" He Yi replied, "I have 94 now. I should be able to make an attempt very soon, but whether I¡¯ll succeed is a completely different story. The success rate is just too low¡­" I licked my lips. "Well, Luck can probably increase the success rate, and both you and Yiyi have a lot of Luck. I dare say that your success rate is around 25%, which isn¡¯t low at all considering the reward. You should be able to ascend in just a couple of tries!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the bid price had jumped to 45 million. Everyone was going all out to get the whip of the Twelve Divine Armaments. It was almost as if the winner of the Soul Scourge Whip would become the champion of the jianghu. "70 million!" Suddenly, a sweet voice cut through the cacophony of shouts. It came from a group of female players and belonged to none other than Zhou Ping of Twelve Musicians. She had waited for a long time before making her bid. Although the Dragonbone Whip was strong, it was insufficient to satisfy her needs at all. Zhou Ping was a very ambitious woman who hoped to turn Twelve Musicians into a Top 10 guild[1]. However, it required a massive leap of power that the average guild couldn¡¯t hope to match. Otherwise, her dream would forever remain just a dream. "Haha, Beauty Chance Meeting is a true woman¡­" Warsky commented with a smirk before raising his hand again, "90 million!" Warsky had obviously decided to battle against Zhou Ping. I wondered whose wallets would be slaughtered today. Candlelight Shadow was frowning deeply, but he raised his hands again and declared, "95 million gold!" Not only was Candlelight Shadow a guild master, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that he had created his empire via his two virtual hands. You could see that he knew the value of RMB from the fact that he never made an exceedingly large bid. Zhou Ping puffed up her chest and declared without hesitation, "100 million!" This time, both Warsky and Candlelight Shadow gritted their teeth in frustration. Suddenly, a plump man stood up from the southeast corner and said leisurely, "110 million!" For the first time since entering the auction house, Zhou Ping wrinkled her brows and swore, "Fuck! It¡¯s Fatty Liu!" "Fatty Liu who?" Hugging Bears in Silence asked. Zhou Ping replied, "He¡¯s a famous coal boss. I heard that his net worth is over 300 million¡­" Hugging Bears in Silence stuck out her tongue. "No wonder his tummy is so huge¡­" Zhou Ping: "..." Another voice answered the bid in no time, "140 million!" The guy wore dark gold-colored armor and the emblem of Purgatory Mad Dragon on his arm. He was none other than Wang Dongliang. Roaming Dragon, Coldmoon Rose, Ray of Sunshine and the usual faces were present as well. He Yi couldn¡¯t help but smile at the sight of them. "They still haven¡¯t given up on their world domination dream despite being destroyed repeatedly by Little Piglet in the outer lands, I see. Do they really think that the Soul Scourge Whip can pull them out of their rut? Say, how good is the Soul Scourge Whip in the hands of a fighter?" I nodded. "Not bad at all, actually. It boosts the user¡¯s HP and Attack, drastically improves their pets, and gives them the ability to reduce all of their opponent¡¯s stats by 40% in a single hit. A fighter with the Soul Scourging Whip can be nearly unbeatable." Lin Yixin giggled. ¡°Heehee. Does this mean that Wang Dongliang and Lu Chao are still going to support Ray of Sunshine despite him losing the Heaven Suppressing Necklace?" I shrugged. "Perhaps. Ray of Sunshine is the strongest player in Purgatory Mad Dragon, and it¡¯s not his fault that he lost the Heaven Suppressing Necklace. And even if he was, do they really have any other choice with Little Piglet constantly breathing down their necks? Beiming Xue chuckled. "But of course. There was no chance Ray of Sunshine was ever going to keep the equipment from the moment he decided to duel big bro, not to mention that Little Piglet was present as well. It would¡¯ve been a miracle if he managed to save the Heaven Suppressing Necklace¡­" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the bid price was still rising far beyond our expectations. It was sitting at 190 million now! A young warrior from the southwest corner raised his arm and declared, "210 million gold!" Warsky frowned and shot Candlelight Shadow a look. Candlelight Shadow looked puzzled himself. "Where did that guy come from? How can a guy wearing Dark Gold¨Cgrade equipment possibly have 210 million in his bank account?!" Zhou Ping bit her lips. "Is he the agent of a foreign financial group?" She then raised her hand and made another bid, "240 million!" Hugging Bears in Silence hurriedly pulled Zhou Ping¡¯s hand and said, "Sister Zhou Ping, that¡¯s more than what we expected to pay for this Soul Scourge Whip! It¡¯s not worth that much¡­" However, Zhou Ping replied through gritted teeth, "I must have this Soul Scourge Whip! Don¡¯t you understand? I¡­ I won¡¯t stand being powerless while our sisters are bullied anymore. With this item, I¡¯m going to bully everyone who has ever bullied us!" Another female player rose to her feet and declared, "270 million gold!" Everyone was turning numb by this point. At this point, no one could tell how much higher the bid price was going to rise. Candlelight Shadow was rich, but he was also just a player. He shrugged once before declaring with a helpless smile, "Yes, yes, I see now that this is the game of those with too much money. I withdraw. I don¡¯t care who gets this Soul Scourge Whip anymore¡­" Warsky also shook his head and took a seat, unwilling to make another bid for the Divine Armament. ¡­¡­ At the distance, the fighter shot Zhou Ping a taunting smirk. "You wanna go some more, Beauty Zhou Ping? Come on then! You¡¯d better make sure you have enough money though!" Zhou Ping clenched her fists angrily. Finally, I couldn¡¯t stand the guy¡¯s smug face any longer. Without changing my expression or twitching a muscle, I sent Zhou Ping a message saying, "Keep bidding, Zhou Ping, those players are clearly hired by foreign players, but too bad for them, I¡¯m the one who put the Soul Scourge Whip for auction. I¡¯ll just give you 50% of your winning bid back." On the ground, Zhou Ping shuddered for a second. Then, she broke into a small grin. 1. E/N: And to think our first interaction with them was them getting farmed to Level 0 by Japanese. They¡¯ve come a long way huh ? CH 1501 "340 million gold." Zhou Ping the tamer raised her arm and upped her bid once more. The fighter was speechless. A blue vein appeared on his face as he blurted, "Are you serious? Not even one of the Twelve Divine Armaments is worth this much! Forget it, I give up." The coal boss had fallen silent as well. His net worth was pretty high, but to pay 10% of it to purchase a virtual item? That was a bet he wasn¡¯t willing to make. The female fighter still wasn¡¯t willing to give up, however. She raised her hand and tried again, "370 million gold." Zhou Ping gritted her teeth and uttered, "400 million gold." The female fighter stomped her feet in anger, but she finally fell silent as well. Fei¡¯er was an incredibly smart woman. She realized what just transpired and asked immediately, "Is there anyone else who¡¯s willing to raise the bid? If there isn¡¯t, then the Soul Scourge Whip will be going to player Chance Meeting." 7 seconds later, the gavel rapped against the table, and the Soul Scourge Whip was finally Zhou Ping¡¯s. Zhou Ping was so happy that she let out a cry and jumped on her feet. However, Hugging Bears in Silence said worriedly, "How on earth are you smiling after spending so much money? That¡¯s 400 million gone just like that. Uncle will surely criticize you for this." Zhou Ping simply hugged her guild member and assured her, "Don¡¯t worry, Bear Bear. Heehee, it¡¯ll be fine." ¡­¡­ There was another person in the VIP room who realized everything. He Yi suddenly looked at me and said, "You sent a message to Zhou Ping, didn¡¯t you, Lu Chen?" I raised an eyebrow. "No, I didn¡¯t." "I dare you to say that again." My beautiful guild leader put her hands on her waist and got ready to explode. I caved and broke into a grin. "Fine, fine. After the bid went over 300 million, I promised Zhou Ping I would return half of the final price and told her to keep bidding. If she won, the Soul Scourge Whip would remain in the China server. If she lost, I would still be making a fortune. It was a win-win for me either way." "Mn. It all turned out well, so¡­" Xinran was lying beside me and watching the seemingly endless crowd flooding out of the auction house. She said with a smile, "It¡¯s been a while since I visited Sky City, but it really is one of the most populated main cities in the world, huh?" I pointed a finger outside. "This is my haunt, Xinran, so why don¡¯t you stay here from now on? Of course, you¡¯re free to visit Violet Empire if they need you for something[1]." "Sure, big brother." It was at this moment I received a system message: Ding~ System Notice: Congratulations, the item you consigned for sale "Soul Scourge Whip¡± (Twelve Divine Armaments, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) has been sold for 400 million gold. 2% of the total sum is deducted as the processing fee. The total of 392 million gold will be deposited into your account in 5 minutes. ¡­¡­ I was overjoyed, of course. I had earned nearly 400 million gold in one transaction, and if I wanted to, I could call myself a tall-rich-handsome right now. Of course, I would be returning around half that sum to Zhou Ping, but 192 million gold was still a huge sum of money[2]. Most people grinded their own equipment either at instances of high-level leveling ground, so equipment sales were in a slump to say the least. To earn this much money from one transaction was practically a miracle in the business. I purposely checked the auction sale records to confirm this. The highest single item transaction in the past month was a Lower Divine Armament sword that was sold for 17.9 million gold, and the buyer was none other than Blue Sky Scar. My Soul Scourge Whip was at least a dozen times more valuable than his sword. Five minutes later, 392 million gold entered my account. I immediately converted them to RMB. Although Eternal Moon Corporation had been keeping a tight control over the in-game market, there was no telling if it would crash one day. It would be horrible if I held onto my gold for too long, and the price suddenly plummeted from 1 gold per 1 RMB to 100 gold per 1 RMB one day. I sent a message to Zhou Ping: "Beauty Zhou Ping, where are you? I¡¯ll come to you to return your 50%. You and I both know that that whip isn¡¯t worth nearly this much¡­" This was an insane sum of money, so Zhou Ping forewent the pleasantries this time. I saw her sticking out her tongue cutely at me in the dialogue screen before saying, "I¡¯m waiting for you at the Holy Temple. Come trade me now." "Mn mn." ¡­¡­ After I bade He Yi, Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue and the rest of the girls goodbye, I held Xinran in a princess carry and flew out of the VIP room in an instant. A gust of wind later, I was hundreds of meters away from them. The girls could only stare at my vanished back in shock. "God damn, his movement speed is absolutely off the charts right now¡­" Less than 10 seconds later, I descended at the Holy Temple with Xinran. Rustle rustle¡­ I skidded to a stop in front of Zhou Ping, Hugging Bears in Silence, and the rest of the executive-level players of Twelve Musicians. Some of them were holding their breaths, and some of them looked incredibly nervous. Well, I could understand their feelings. This wasn¡¯t a joking matter after all. Still, I shot them a dissatisfied look. "Why are you all looking at me like that? You don¡¯t really think I¡¯m going to renege on my promise, do you?" Zhou Ping shook her head smilingly. "Of course not. We all trust in your character. Plus, you¡¯re a top player in the CGL Hall of Fame, and your name alone is worth 1 billion. You wouldn¡¯t scam lil ol¡¯ me¡­" I walked up to her and opened the trade window. I made sure to make it visible so that everyone else could see it. Then, I traded 200 million gold back to Zhou Ping. After the transaction was complete, Zhou Ping pressed a hand to her chest and let out an obvious sigh of relief. "You just saved me one hell of a scolding from dad¡­" I laughed. "I wasn¡¯t expecting to see such a side from you, Zhou Ping. Is your father the type to reprimand you if you spend too much money?" "But of course. Who do you think I am, Roaming Dragon? I don¡¯t have it in me to spend a couple hundred million without batting an eye." Zhou Ping turned her waist a little and replaced her existing equipment with a much shinier one. It was of course the Soul Scourge Whip. She gave it a couple of tentative swings and caused a couple of loud, crisp cracks. Combined with her attire, she looked like quite the regal queen. "Roar roar¡­" Next, Zhou Ping summoned two pets. She stared at her two tigers with a bright smile on her face, "Wow! My Purple Gold Rank pets have become Immortal Rank. It¡¯s amazing." I advised, "A tamer has 3 tamer slots, and the Soul Scourge Whip added three more. Be sure to fill them with high-rank pets to maximize its effect." "I know, that much is obvious." Zhou Ping chuckled before speaking to Hugging Bears in Silence, "Bear Bear, keep a close attention on all the auction houses in the three main cities, okay? Inform me immediately if a boss pet egg above Spirit Rank is on sale. At least pet eggs aren¡¯t too expensive." Hugging Bears in Silence replied smilingly, "Will do." I added, "Oh, one more thing. The Soul Scourge Whip is strong, but it mostly buffs your pets. You, the tamer, are still incredibly vulnerable to top-tier assassins, cavalrymen and so on. I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t need me to tell you how many people will be coming after you for your equipment." Zhou Ping nodded with deep agreement. "What should I do then?" I smiled. "It¡¯s simple. All you need to do is to gather a party of cavalrymen and archers to be your bodyguards and have them accompany you at all times. This way, few would be able to sneak up on you without resistance. This party of yours has to be powerful though." Zhou Ping pursed her lips for a second before asking, "So, are you interested in becoming my bodyguard, Lu Chen? I can pay you 1 million a month¡­" I laughed. "Thanks, but no thanks. I¡¯m a great fighter, but I¡¯m really not qualified to be a bodyguard¡­" "Can you introduce someone to me then?" Zhou Ping continued with a frown, "To be honest, our Twelve Musicians guild is extremely lacking in talent in terms of cavalrymen and archers, and as you said, I have offense in spades but not enough defense¡­" I thought for a second before replying, "I can summon the guild leader of Bloody Mercenaries and have him introduce you to some high-level players to be your bodyguards. Is that okay?" Zhou Ping looked overjoyed. "Of course it is! Anyone from Ancient Sword can only be great!" "Got it." I immediately sent Du Thirteen a message, "Thirteen, come to the Holy Temple of Sky City, will you? I got you some business." "I¡¯ll be right there." Less than three minutes later, Du Thirteen appeared looking like he had just returned from battle. He greeted me, "Yo, brother! What is this business you were¡ªwow! I wasn¡¯t expecting to see so many beauties here! You truly are a bro, Lu Chen¡­" I rolled my eyes. "Control yourself. You have Xue Lu already, you know. Anyway, the business relates to them." "Okay, what is it?" After I explained everything to Du Thirteen, he clapped his chest once and promised, "Don¡¯t worry, Beauty Chance Meeting! I will select 500 high-level Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 500 Dragonlight Archers from Bloody Mercenaries and have them join Twelve Musicians. No one should be able to sneak up on you, and in the case of an ambush, you should be able to hold out until reinforcements arrive." Zhou Ping giggled. "That¡¯s wonderful. I see that the brothers of Ancient Sword are all more lovable than the next." Du Thirteen opened his palm. "I have a condition though." "Oh? What is it?" "I want Twelve Musicians to send 100 of their prettiest ladies to our Bloody Mercenaries¡­" "Shameless," Zhou Ping and I said in unison. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Du Thirteen noticed Xinran beside me. He exclaimed in excitement, "Oh, she¡¯s Xinran, right? You finally found her, Lu Chen!" He then held out a hand to her and said, "Hello, Xinran. I am your brother¡¯s best brother, Du Thirteen. I¡¯m still single¡­" Xinran stared at his hand for a moment before pulling my arm. "Big bro, are you sure he¡¯s your brother? He doesn¡¯t look like a good person no matter how I look at him¡­" I replied, "Don¡¯t worry. He might have the face of a villain, but he¡¯s kind-hearted on the inside." Du Thirteen jumped. "You¡¯re the kind villain, fucker¡­" The girls of Twelve Musicians laughed brightly at our antics. ¡­¡­ After that, I gave Du Thirteen the equipment I had replaced such as the Guardian Dragon Armor and the Cyan Dragon Shield. I might not have to use them anymore, but they were still some of the best equipment at the current stage of the game. Du Thirteen might be terribly unskilled still, but the equipment would make up for it. An expert who could only attack like a maniac was still an expert if he killed his opponent and refused to fall. I logged out of the game when it was nighttime. It had been a very tiring day after all. 1. T/N: poor Violet Empire, man ? 2. E/N: Dude, you did HER a favor, she should eat the processing fee and get 192m, not you. xD ? CH 1502 It was 9 pm when I exited my room and saw a beautiful woman carrying a stack of documents sitting on a sofa. She rose to her feet and greeted me with a smile, "You''re back. President Xu and everyone are already waiting for you at the meeting hall. You should visit them with the big miss now." "Mn. What is this about?" "It''s about the contract signing. Have you forgotten?" "Oh, right. Thank you. We''ll be there immediately!" ¡­¡­ I knocked on He Yi and Lin Yixin''s doors and brought them out of the game. Then, I went to Xinran''s room and saw her lying on the bed and fiddling with her gaming helmet. When she saw me, she immediately broke into a wide smile and said, ¡°You finally came, big brother!" "What''s wrong?" I asked in surprise. "I was worried you would abandon me here and run off somewhere!" Xinran answered seriously. He Yi chuckled at that. "Don''t worry, he won''t." I walked up to Xinran and carried her to her wheelchair. After I covered her legs with a blanket, I began pushing her toward the meeting hall. Almost everyone was present even though it was nighttime already. They were all waiting for the contract to be signed. ¡­¡­ There were two empty seats at the head of a long, long meeting table. Xu Ning pointed at them and said, "That is where you and the big miss will be sitting, Lu Chen. You two are the true masters of this place now." This was not the time to act courteous, so I didn''t. After I helped Xinran into her seat and took my own, an employee set down the contracts in question in front of us. We each got five copies, and he said, "Please read the documents carefully. It will have a legal effect after you''ve signed them." I nodded. Honestly, I didn''t understand the documents very well, and I didn''t really care about becoming the biggest shareholder of Eternal Moon Corporation. However, it was a matter of Xinran''s future, and so deserved my full attention. After I passed a copy of the contract each to Lin Yixin and He Yi, I began studying the contract word by word. Less than five minutes later, He Yi pushed her copy forward and said, "I see no problems with it." Lin Yixin also nodded. "Agreed." I shot the contract another glance before saying, "Well, truth be told, I have no idea what I¡¯m looking at, but it sounds cool¡­" "It''s okay, we understand¡­" they replied kindly. Me: "..." The signing part went much smoother than the reading part. It only took me a short moment to jot my signature on all 10 contracts. The same couldn''t be said for Xinran though. It took her a considerable amount of time and effort to write her own true name, Dong Xinran on the documents. It was one thing to see the characters in the game and another to write them in the real world after all. It didn''t matter if her words were ugly though. As long as she could write her name, then all was well. ¡­¡­ Xu Ning checked the contracts briefly before rising to his feet. He shook my hand and said, "Congratulations, you are now the biggest shareholder of Eternal Moon Corporation. Let''s hold a shareholder meeting at New York next week." I frowned. "Let''s have the shareholder meeting in China instead. Also, we should have the main headquarters be transferred to Beijing." "Er¡­" Xu Ning hummed for a second before nodding. "Sure, we can do that. I''ll bring it up during the board meeting. It should be fine since 34% of Eternal Moon''s total shares are in China right now. Even the Americans hold only 16% of the shares, which means that they have no say in this. Yeah, this will even improve the economic development of Beijing to a certain extent." I smiled. "Good to hear. At the very least, I won''t need to fly back and forth." Not far away from me, Ling Xue flipped through the contract for a bit before saying, "Speaking of which, is there anything you would like to add, Lu Chen? You''re the boss now. There are a total of 179 servers in China, but only 71 of them are set up in southern China. As a result, there are often lag, unclear images and other issues due to player congestion. In my opinion, this is a good time to shift some of our focus from the main headquarters to the southern headquarters." Beside me, He Yi rose to her feet and said, "I suggest that we construct another 100 servers or so in the southern cities." Xu Ning nodded. "No problem. Henry Company will provide the technical support." However, He Yi shook her head and said, "No, we''ll do it. There are too many bugs in Henry Company''s code[1] right now. At least a dozen bugs have been discovered near Dragonbone Mountain Range just last month[2]. With that in mind, I would ask you to give us the relevant contact." At the end of the meeting table, a fat man immediately argued, "You can''t just take the contract from us like that! Who gave you the right?" He Yi narrowed her eyes and smiled beautifully at him. "I believe I have the right because I wish to make the game even more perfect than it is, and because my employees'' skill is far superior to yours. They were all the elites of GGS before they joined Raincube. If I may be so rude, where was Henry Company when GGS took the world by storm?" The fat man slapped the table and jumped to his feet. "So what? The server building contract has been ours since forever!" Xu Ning let out a cough and interrupted, "Please mind your manners, President Wang." He Yi pursed her lips and continued, "I''m aware that President Wang was one of the founders of the China server during Spirit of Grief. I''m also aware that you are the brother-in-law of the former CEO. I am not asking you to surrender your existing servers to us; I am simply asking that all future servers of the Eternal Moon series be built by Raincube. Without exaggeration, I believe that our technology and skill are at least 10 years ahead of yours. We absolutely can perform your job better than you can!" The fat man repeated, "Again, so what? Who gave you the right?" This time, I rose to my feet and patted He Yi on the shoulder. Then, I placed both hands on the table and smiled at President Wang. "President Wang, I know very well that Raincube is more than up to the task. Ling Xue and Shusheng are well aware of their prowess as well. Therefore, I hereby declare that a joint venture proposal between Eternal Moon Corporation and Raincube to be drafted immediately, and that I will sign it myself when it is ready. Any further questions?" The fat man gritted his teeth. "This is blatant nepotism!" I smiled. "I know, pot, I know. Now, the kettle suggests you shut up if you wish to keep providing service for the northern servers. Otherwise, I''m sure Raincube will be more than happy to take over all of the technical support of the entire China server." He Yi smiled as well. "Oh yes, we will¡­" The fat man slowly sank back into his seat. "Very well. If that is your decision¡­" Not far away, Ling Xue joked, "OMG, what a dark world we live in these days! Eve, remember to contact us after you get the contract, okay? Let''s strengthen the southern side of China together!" He Yi nodded with a smile. "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Lin Yixin whispered beside my ear, "The China server has always been plagued by many bugs, and they were even criticized by the western servers as a result. Raincube''s takeover of the technical department will definitely improve things. Well done seizing another''s power within the first hour of your job, both of you¡­" Me: "..." The China branch CEO, Xu Ning said practically nothing throughout the contest of power. It was because the matter didn''t affect his interest directly. All he wanted was to keep his job as the CEO of the China branch. Of course, I had no intention of removing him since he was a subordinate of Xinran''s father. As for myself, Raincube''s involvement would give me the legitimacy I needed to truly integrate myself in Eternal Moon Corporation, and thank goodness for that. Otherwise, I would be terrified to accept my new position as my CEO of the entire Eternal Moon Corporation. It wasn''t long before the meeting was over, and Shusheng and Ling Xue returned to their rooms while holding hands. Unfortunately, Xu Ning had held back the rest of us for midnight tea... While pouring the tea, Xu Ning asked me, "Lu Chen, the big miss just woke up, and both her physical and mental state still require observation. So, what are your plans? Would you like to keep the big miss at Beijing and return to Suzhou first, or would you like to stay in Suzhou permanently and participate in the meetings the CEO of the Eternal Moon Corporation main headquarters is expected to participate in?" I shook my head. "No. I basically know nothing about a CEO''s responsibilities, so I won''t be interfering with the management. Also, I wish to take Xinran back to Suzhou because one, it is where I live, and two, the capital city is too noisy and rather polluted. I don''t think Xinran will be able to recover properly if she stays here." "Really? Are you sure you don''t want to reconsider your decision? I''m not sure sending the big miss to Suzhou alone is¡­" Xu Ning was clearly reluctant to part ways with Xinran. He had watched her grow up after all. He might even think of her as his daughter. Beside me, Xinran said, "It''s okay, Uncle Ning. I''m going wherever big brother is going. Otherwise, I would truly be alone in this world." Xu Ning chuckled at that. "As your wish, big miss. Lu Chen, how is your current residence in Suzhou? Ahem, don''t take this the wrong way, but I would like to provide the big miss with a comfortable home. Her health is no joke after all. Also, an expert and two nurses will be accompanying you back to Suzhou. They''ll be taking care of the big miss until she''s truly recovered." I hummed in thought and didn''t answer immediately. He Yi said, "That''s not a problem. I''ll give Mingyue a call and tell her to buy a villa in the suburbs immediately. It will be done in 24 hours at most¡­" Lin Yixin interrupted in a hurry, "Wait! I want the villa to have two floors and a garden. I would also like a room for myself¡­" He Yi snorted in amusement. "Fine, fine, I''ll tell Mingyue about it. Don''t worry, the villa will be super luxurious if only for Xinran¡­¡± Xinran looked at me and asked, "Are we going home, big brother?" I nodded. "Mn. We''re going back to our true home." "Okay!" Xu Ning smiled when he saw Xinran''s joyous expression. ¡­¡­ We ate a small supper until past 10 pm before we returned to our rooms. Or at least, I tried to. After I delivered Xinran to her room, she grabbed my sleeve and refused to let go. She watched me with her diamond-like pupils and said almost in a begging tone, "I don''t like sleeping alone, big brother. Keep me company, please?" I shuddered. "Er¡­" Both He Yi and Lin Yixin looked awkward as well. "That''s not a good idea, Xinran." I dropped to a kneeling position and held her hand. "In China, we have an old saying that goes something like: men and women should not touch hands when they give or receive things. You are my younger sister, it wouldn''t be right for me to sleep with you. Plus, you are a grown-up, aren''t you? You should be sleeping alone at your age." I shot Xinran''s breasts a glance after I said this. Yep, she was way too grown up for me to sleep with her. However, Xinran refused to let go. "I don''t wanna! I want to be together with big brother! I don''t get your ancient saying whatever!" He Yi shook her head helplessly. "Fine, fine. Yiyi, you sleep with them and make sure they don''t¡­ cross the line, so to speak." Lin Yixin turned beet red instantly. "W-why me? You do it!" ¡­¡­ Xu Ning''s old, wrinkly face was red as well. "What the hell is this dialogue? I can''t watch you people any longer¡­" 1. E/N: W-what? Both client and server side have to be coded by Eternal Moon. The fuq does their code have to do with anything? There¡¯s no magical code to host a server on your machine, that is, you guessed it, on Eternal Moon¡¯s side of code too. ? 2. E/N: You mean to tell me that like a CMS suddenly made Eternal Moon¡¯s code function wrong? What? ? CH 1503 It was 11:50 pm, almost midnight, but I still hadn''t fallen asleep for one reason or another. I was suffocating atop Xinran''s 1.8-meter-long bed[1]. We were using two different blankets as well. I was going to sleep on a couch or something while Xinran and Lin Yixin shared a bed, but Xinran adamantly refused the arrangement. So, I had no choice but to share the bed with them. Lin Yixin and I shared a blanket while Xinran used her own. I was staring at Heavenblessed''s home page to distract myself from my predicament when Lin Yixin said, "Stop looking at your phone and sleep already. We need to grind tomorrow¡­" She pulled my arm to emphasize her point. "Mn¡­" My heart rate immediately climbed to a new level as I put down my phone. The moment I slipped my arm under the blanket, Lin Yixin immediately hugged it against her smooth, warm chest. I couldn''t deny that this particular day was very lucky. Lin Yixin snickered as she observed my expression. I knew what she was snickering about. This wasn''t the first time we had slept together, but it was definitely the first time we had slept while a third party was right next to us, not to mention that it was a gorgeous beauty like Xinran. My pretty little gangster must be getting excited at the situation. It was the only explanation! ¡­¡­ "Is Xinran asleep yet?" she asked softly. I looked beside me and saw that Xinran''s eyes were closed, and her breathing was even. So, I nodded and said, "I''m not sure, but I think so¡­" "Oh¡­" I turned back to her and wrapped myself around her sexy body. She was trembling with nervous excitement, and I had no reason to hold myself back. So, I lowered my head and kissed her sweet lips. Her eyes were closed, and her body felt boiling hot to touch. Her long, bouncy legs were wrapped around my waist. A while later, she pulled away from me looking as red as an apple, and her eyes looking like they were spinning with stars With one hand on her waist and another on her smooth, round butt, I let out a tiny chuckle and said, "You feel so smooth, Yiyi¡­" Lin Yixin turned even redder. "Don''t say that!" I exerted a bit of strength into my arms, and she obediently leaned into me. Her impressive breasts were squeezed into half globes and one deep, bottomless gorge that nearly sent me into a coma on the spot. My fingers accidentally slipped into her thin, pink-colored panties and was rewarded with a most pleasurable sensation. "Uu, are you crazy? Xinran is right next to us!" Pleasure flashed across Lin Yixin''s eyes for a second, but she immediately suppressed it with her reason. Mouth feeling dry, I kissed her one more time before putting her back down and whispering, "You''re right. There''s no rush. Better be safe than sorry¡­" Lin Yixin giggled. "Are you sure you have the energy after spending a whole week searching for Xinran in the Purgatory?" "For you, I will make the necessary sacrifice¡­" "Pooh, you shameless bastard. Speaking of which, it''ll be Sister Eve''s turn to sleep with you and Xinran tomorrow. You wouldn''t¡­ would you?" "Well, that depends on how proactive my Sister Yi is¡­" Lin Yixin immediately let out a cute whine and climbed on top of me. She blew into my ear and whispered, "No way! If she must, then I''m going first¡­" "Fuck¡­" I nearly spat blood at her provocation. "We''re not in our house right now, dear. At least wait until we''ve returned to Suzhou. What if we accidentally dirty their bedsheets? Xu Ning might think that I did the unthinkable and beat the crap out of me. This is a man who remained loyal to Xinran''s father even after he''s passed away for years, you know¡­" Lin Yixin burst into a giggle before sliding off of me. "Fine, I''ll stop teasing you¡­" "Tease? You''ve been teasing me all this time? You''re wounding my pride, woman!" "So what?" It was at this moment Xinran shuffled beside me and muttered, "Big brother¡­" "I-I''m here," I hurriedly replied while suppressing my wildly beating heart. A wide-eyed Lin Yixin dared not move a muscle as well. I felt Xinran slipping a hand into our blanket. Then, she dragged my hand to her side. I let out a sorrowful sigh. It looked like my fate was to become a bolster tonight. As expected, I felt my left arm being trapped between a pair of wonderfully soft globes. Worse, her pyjamas had slipped off of her, so it was as if she wasn''t wearing anything at all. No wonder it felt so good... Lin Yixin blinked and figured out what happened immediately. She then whispered into my ear in a murderous tone, "So? Does it feel good?" I closed my eyes. "Not bad, although they''re not as big as yours¡­" Lin Yixin glared at me. "You call that a praise?" "What else could it be? Now get to sleep already. What a pain this night has been¡­" "I bet you must be feeling so pleased right now!" "Not telling¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ The next morning, a ray of sunshine slipped through the gap between the curtains and lit up the very dim room slightly. I slowly opened my eyes. My body still felt a bit fatigued due to how hard I had pushed myself for the past couple days. I unconsciously looked to the side and nearly experienced an impromptu nosebleed. This was turning out to be too exciting a morning already¡ª The girls were clinging to me like I was a teddy bear. To my right, Lin Yixin had one leg curled around my own and her whole body pressed up against me. Her long eyelashes glimmered under the sunlight, and her face expression looked serene and at peace. She looked like a lazy cat who would refuse to get out of bed even after it was noon. Her pyjamas hung loosely around the shoulders, so her 34Ds looked like they would leap out of her collar. To my left, things were even more arousing. Xinran''s pyjamas had slipped down her upper torso completely, so her C+ size breasts were pressed up against my arm without anything to insulate the sensation. She too was happily out cold with her face buried in my neck. Thank goodness the air-con of this room was powerful, and we had entered a fairly warm season. Otherwise, everyone here would catch a cold for sure. I sniffed once to confirm that I hadn''t experienced a nosebleed. Only then I hooked the blanket to cover up our very naked bodies. If the girls found out about this, I would never be able to enjoy a morning like this again. "Wake up, Yiyi!" I called out to her. Lin Yixin slowly came to wakefulness. The moment she realized her position, she immediately withdrew her leg from my waist and asked embarrassedly, "Did I crush you last night?" "What do you think?" I moved my right arm a bit. It was about as sore as you could imagine. I woke up Xinran next, but she was far calmer about the situation than Lin Yixin was. She pushed herself up from my chest and greeted me with a lazy smile, "Good morning, big brother¡­" In this position, her perfectly firm and bouncy 34Cs were in full display. "Er, this is¡­" Stunned, not even Lin Yixin knew what to say to fix the situation. To be fair, Xinran had no concept of modesty because she grew up inside a game. What would a girl who grew up fighting monsters and killing enemies be ashamed about her nakedness? I would say that her common sense was skewed, but the reality was that she didn''t even possess a shred of common sense yet. One might say that she was as pure as a white paper in this regard. ¡­¡­ After I dressed up Xinran in a hurry, I put on my own clothes and went to the toilet to wash myself. The girls must''ve had a quick talk while I was gone because an embarrassed-looking Xinran immediately said to me after I came out, "I''m sorry, big brother... I won''t do it anymore¡­" I asked with a toothbrush still in my mouth, "Do what?" "I¡­" "Okay, we¡¯ll talk about that later. Put on your shoes, wash your face, and get ready to head out and have breakfast. Eve should be waking up soon as well¡­" "Okay, big brother!" ¡­¡­ At the restaurant. He Yi was stacking bread and meat loafs together to make her own burger when she said, "I''ve called Mingyue last night and got us our new residence. We''ll be staying in a 3-storey detached villa with a garden with a fountain in it, a swimming pool in the backyard, and twelve rooms¡­" I replied, "I don''t know how to swim, so I feel like the swimming pool is wasted. I do like the garden though. I''ve been planning to buy an Alaskan dog¡­" "Which you will name ''Get Rich'', am I right?" Lin Yixin shot me a knowing look. "Exactly¡­" He Yi rolled her eyes in exasperation before continuing, "Mingyue has already contacted a moving company to move our stuff over, so we can simply move to our residence right away when we return to Suzhou. Lian Xin and Mingyue will be moving over today, and Beiming can visit us during the holidays." "That''s wonderful. That''ll save so much effort and time." He Yi then asked us a question, "What will we be doing today?" Lin Yixin shook her head. I thought for a second before replying, "If there''s an event, then we''ll attend it. Otherwise, we can find a high-level leveling ground and waste some time. Worse comes to worst, we can ask Warsky or Candlelight Shadow out on a duel in the champion arena. I want to know if Candlelight Shadow''s Dragon Tooth Arm can one-shot me!" He Yi smiled. "Very well. We''ll decide after we log into the game." ¡­¡­ I logged into the game after we went online. Swhoosh! Once more, I appeared in Xinran''s room at the Violet Empire. I took a moment to admire my Scarlet Dragon Armor, Dihai Shield, Ring of the Spiritual Tongue and more and basked in a fulfilling sense of accomplishment. Then, Xinran woke up beside me, gave the Winged Silver Dragon a pat on the head and said, "Big brother, I''m going to visit Sophie at Purple Grape City today. She still hasn''t recovered from her injuries, so I''m going to help her regain her strength." "Mn, you do that. I have some business to take care of myself. We can meet up here when we log out of the game. Oh right, what did Xu Ning speak to you about yesterday?" Xinran blinked once before answering, "Uncle Ning said I can help you kill bosses and complete quests and stuff, but not participate in a Nation War. Otherwise, the foreign players will denounce the China server for sure." I let out a chuckle and responded, "Yes, I can see why he said that. Tell him not to worry about anything. I''m aware of the stakes in play, and I will strive to accomplish everything with my own power." "Mn. Do your best, big brother!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment I received a message from Xu Xang: "Lu Chen, there''s an ongoing outer land battle right now. Are you interested in participating?" "Oh? Who is fighting against who?" "Dark Mercenaries, also known as Little Piglet''s guild, was attacked by Purgatory Mad Dragon. Wang Dongliang had also recruited Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance to help him. They claimed that they will utterly uproot Dark Mercenaries in the coming three days and wipe out the ''Center-harrassing scum'' once and for all." I clenched my fists. "Are Candlelight Shadow and Warsky finally going to attack Little Piglet?" "Mn. Are we going?" "Absolutely!" Although Little Piglet''s methods were fairly extreme, he was a real man in every sense of the word. Moreover, he had never attacked Ancient Sword even once since joining Dark Mercenaries. Finally, Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance''s decision to venture into the outer lands and attack Dark Mercenaries could only be described as bullying the weak. I was a very simple man. Little Piglet was a Chinese, so I wouldn''t allow him to be killed in the outer lands no matter what! 1. E/N: God, my feet are in the air most of the night on a 2.1m bed, and she¡¯s 155 cm, so she only has 25 centimetres! Obviously her head isn¡¯t right at the edge of the bed?! ? Favorite CH 1504 Swhoosh! After teleporting to Dark Moon City and stepping into the territory hall, I found that Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Lu Buyi, Gui Guzi and more were already present. "So?" Gui Guzi looked to me for directions. "Are we participating in this conflict? And are we attacking Dark Mercenaries or Candle Dragon?" I asked, "Who are you supporting, Chengfeng?" Li Chengfeng responded, "I support the idea that we rush to the scene with sufficient men and figure out the exact situation first. Guild leader Eve shares the same opinion as me as well. We can''t express our stance too soon anyway, or Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance will be ready for us." Xu Yang clenched his fists tightly. "Hmph! For the past few days, both our main guild and subguilds¡¯ players have been killed by Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance here and there. We haven''t even paid them back for the Ancient Immortal-grade piece of equipment they dropped from one of our members, and now they''re taunting us again?" My eyes turned cold. "They killed our players? What did Warsky and Candlelight Shadow have to say for themselves?" "They claimed that it was a personal feud and had nothing to do with the guild as a whole." Lian Xin pursed her lips. "That''s obviously a lie. Tiger Leopard Knight''s 7-man party was ambushed by at least 100 Candle Dragon players at the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range. The poor guy even lost his best equipment¡­" I clenched my fists and smiled. "So, they''re looking down on us because we haven''t kicked their asses in too long. Very well. We shall head to the outer lands and reeducate them on the might of a king''s guild!" ¡­¡­ He Yi asked, "How many people are we bringing with us?" I thought for a moment before replying, "50k Dragonlight Cavalry, 30k Dragonlight Archers, 20k Holy Mages and about 150k support players in total. We just need enough players to mount a sizable offense or defense. Warsky has been coveting our Dark Moon City after all." "Mn, no problem!" Ten minutes later, an entire formation of Dragonlight Cavalry entered our view. Their morale was high, and their average level was even higher. Even I was surprised to find that the Dragonlight Cavalry''s average level was 245. It was something no other guild in the whole world possessed, not to mention that their equipment and mounts were top-tier as well. Their strength was definitely not a product of luck. With a mini cyclone supporting my feet, my arms crossed proudly in front of my chest, I began with a smile on my face, "Brothers and sisters, Little Piglet and Dark Mercenaries are no ally of ours, but Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance are definitely our competitors. The enemy or our enemy is our friend, which is why we''ll be heading to the outer lands where they are fighting right now! Standby for my signal when we arrive at the battlefield. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is rivaled by no one!" A golden light filled the sky when I pulled out the Xuanyuan Sword. All 50,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen unsheathed their own weapons and chanted the slogan as well. The hooves of war began earnestly. At this speed, we would pass through Sky City and arrive at the outer lands in less than an hour. ¡­¡­ I flew in the sky while accompanied by three dragon knights and a phoenix knight. Of course, the three dragon knights were He Yi, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi, and the phoenix knight was Beiming Xue. She was carrying Lian Xin behind her. Right now, they looked like they were basking in flames. Suddenly, a system announcement rang beside our ears¡ª Ding~! System Notice: Player "Wind Fantasy" (China) has attempted to absorb the divine energy of 100 Divine Crystals and failed. They are unable to ascend to become a god. Divine Crystal x100 has shattered, and the player''s Luck has increased by 1! ¡­¡­ "Poor Beauty Lin¡­" I covered my forehead while saying, "That''s 100 Divine Crystals gone just like that. Even if we pretend that each Divine Crystal only cost 100k, that''s still a loss of 10 million RMB. Poor girl¡­" He Yi asked, "I still have plenty of Divine Crystals. Should I give Yiyi some to make another attempt?" I shook my head. "No, you should save them for yourself. I''ve collected a total of 137 Divine Crystals during my time in the Purgatory, so I''ll do it. If she still cannot ascend, then I''ll give you the remaining Divine Crystals." Li Chengfeng said lazily while lying atop his Cyan Crystal Dragon, "Fuck, the late game of Heavenblessed is all about money. There''s no way a lawful and incorrigible police officer like me can ascend¡­" Gui Guzi said, "And yet we must. The difference between having Unusual Physique, Flight, or Mount Armor Transformation, and not having them, is just too huge. Even if by some miracle you managed to overcome the huge gulf of power between a mortal and a god, they could simply fly away to safety if the situation looks dangerous. There is just no comparison¡­" I shook my head. "I''m going to see Yiyi now, so go on without me. Don''t worry, I have high movement speed, I''ll catch up to you guys in no time!" "Mn. Come back soon!" "Will do!" ¡­¡­ After I sent Lin Yixin a message and received her coordinates, I immediately flew to her location. Swhoosh! I broke through the clouds and left behind a small shockwave at supersonic speed. The Ancient Divine Dragon''s flight speed was just too good! I stopped in my tracks when a blue dot appeared on my map screen. A beautiful girl was hovering in the clouds with a forlorn expression on her face. The Crimson Crystal Dragon''s rune was glowing on her arm, and the Wind Severing Sword was suspended behind her back. She was of course Lin Yixin. She nearly broke into tears when she saw me, "I read the Book of Changes and found out that facing the sunlight from this angle at this time is where my luck will be at its best during the day, but it still wasn''t enough¡­" I let out a chuckle, gave her a hug and kissed her once on the forehead. Then, I said, "Calm down, girl. Only a couple of people have ascended so far, so this outcome is hardly unexpected. Also, it''s not like you''ve lost all hope to succeed. I have enough Divine Crystals for you to make another attempt." "Ah? You mean¡­" Lin Yixin''s mouth fell open, but she shook her head and said, "No, you should save them for Sister Eve. My ascension can wait until later!" "It''s fine, Eve already has 100 Divine Crystals." While saying this, I took out my 100 Perfect Divine Crystals and passed them to Lin Yixin. "Quickly now, let''s make another attempt before the best hour is over. I would like to witness the birth of the fourth Divine Rank player with my own eyes!" "Mn!" Lin Yixin nodded heavily before receiving my Divine Crystals carefully. Then, she brought up the refinement screen and went through the necessary procedures. A second later, all the Divine Crystals shattered and started spinning wildly in front of Lin Yixin. At the same time, the spirit energy that escaped the Divine Crystals began merging as if it was trying to form something. Lin Yixin stared at the light show with wide open eyes while saying, "This is the part I failed in last time. The energy wasn''t able to form a Divinity, and without a Divinity I couldn''t ascend¡­" I licked my lips. "Slow and steady¡­" The crystalline light continued merging for a moment before there was a sudden ding. Then, we saw it transforming into a crimson, icy crystal and slipping into Lin Yixin''s forehead. When her entire body became flooded by divine light, a system announcement rang across the sky¡ª System Announcement: Player "Wind Fantasy" (China) triggered an ascension! They have become a god and a War Divine Throne Guardian! The abilities they obtained are¡ªUnusual Physique, Flight, War Song and Mount Armor Transformation ¡­¡­ "Haha, it worked!" I hugged Lin Yixin tightly and laughed. "Your lucky place and time really does work!" Lin Yixin was hugging me just as tightly. "I don''t need to waste money anymore! Hurray! Hurray!" I asked another question, "What is this War Song skill, by the way? Is it unique to War Divine Throne Guardians? Is it good?" Lin Yixin showed me the skill detail with a hand wave, and it was pretty good¡ª War Song: Divine Rank skill. Damage dealt of all allies within 1000 yards of the user is increased by 20%! Tsk tsk, not bad at all! Assuming that a player did 10k damage to a target, this skill would increase it to 12k[1]. It was definitely a very practical skill... ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin''s eyes were narrowed in happiness as she asked, "What are we doing next?" I replied, "We''re heading to the outer lands and maybe engaging Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon in a small-scale battle. Are you joining?" "In that case, I''ll ask Purple Marquis to head over with a party of Snowy Cathaya players. We can always use some combat practice!" "Okay!" The two of us flew toward our destination together. Since we were both Divine Rank experts, our flight speed could only be described as superb. However, what really delighted Lin Yixin was the fact that she wasn''t stuck at Level 255 anymore. The level cap for Divine Rank experts was 275 where another whole new realm awaited us. I checked my level and noted that I was Level 270 right now. While being the highest-leveled player in the entire world was gratifying, it would probably take me at least a month of grinding to get to the next level. After all, I wouldn''t be able to enter the Purgatory again, and even I wasn''t shameless to ask Binglan to help me. Even if she would oblige my request,the Purgatory remained an exceedingly dangerous place that could kill me at any moment. Worst-case scenario, I could die and lose 20 levels. That would be counterproductive to say the least... ¡­¡­ The outer lands were a vast map with little to no natural vegetation to be found. Players of the outer lands must be able to survive the threat of brutal monsters and seek out cheap supply spots to restore themselves. Players who could fly like me had no such problems, but those on foot might have to pay through the roof just to resupply one time. That was why players who could survive the outer lands could be compared to winter grass; tough and unyielding. Right now, the soil of the outer lands was wet with blood. The beats of war drums and battle cries filled the air, and two armies were clashing fiercely against one another. On the frontline, Little Piglet could be seen swinging a Divine Armament sword and killing a bunch of Qiu Beast cavalrymen. Thanks to the Heaven Suppressing Necklace, every attack he dished out caused massive green numbers to rise above his head. Occasionally, he would use his Crimson Dragon Arm and steal some equipment from his fallen foe. For example, he just seized a golden shield from an unfortunate fellow before cutting down the rest of the enemies with his sword. ¡­¡­ On a low hill, Warsky abruptly unleashed a blade aura into a group of enemies before roaring, "How much longer are you going to stand here and watch your players be killed, Candlelight Shadow? Stop hesitating and kill Little Piglet already!" However, Candlelight Shadow said coolly, "Not yet!" "What could you possibly be waiting for? Are you waiting for us to be annihilated?" Wang Dongliang shouted from afar. Blue Sky Scar chuckled. "Purgatory Mad Dragon truly are a bunch of idiots¡­" 1. E/N: That¡¯s why it says ¡°damage dealt¡± and not ¡°attack power¡±. It increases damage that would be dealt after all calculations of Attack/Defense/armor penetration ? Favorite CH 1505 "Tamers, fire as one!" God¡¯s Dance raised her scepter high from Candle Dragon¡¯s formation. "Give Little Piglet a taste of the Lantern Girls¡¯ indiscriminate bombardment and send Dark Mercenaries packing!" At least a thousand tamers with Life of the Tamer commanded their pets to attack at the same time. The next moment, the Lantern Girls waved their lanterns, shot jets of flames into the air, and engulfed the land about a hundred yards wide in flames. The amount of area they could cover was shocking enough, but the density of their firepower was just as impressive. Candlelight Shadow wasn¡¯t really here to annihilate Little Piglet and Dark Mercenaries¡ªor rather, it was a secondary objective¡ªhe was using them to train his own troops. Everyone knew by now that Candle Dragon had shifted their development focus onto their tamer legion, and the 150k Life of the Tamer tamers proved they were worth the investment so far. Whoosh whoosh whoosh¡­ The blazing flames burned hundreds of Iron Cutter Cavalrymen to death in just the blink of an eye. Every Lantern Girl had around 70k Attack, and together they dealt over 500k combined damage per second. How could anyone from Dark Mercenaries except Little Piglet survive such a deadly barrage? Speaking of Little Piglet, a jet black qilin let out an animalistic roar and rushed out of the sea of flames. Little Piglet had over 7 million max HP, but even he was sitting at less than 10% HP after the bombardment. It would be apt to say that he already had one foot in death¡¯s door, but he still chose to activate Freezing Heat and charge toward the enemy at high speed. "Die!" He raised his sword and swung an icy sword aura across the Qiu Beast Cavalry. Empowered by Great Conqueror, he dealt over 500k damage to each enemy and healed instantly to full thanks to the 100% lifesteal from the Heaven Suppressing Necklace. Behind him, a large group of Iron Cutter Cavalry tried to come to Little Piglet¡¯s rescue only to be stopped by the man himself. While making a 180-degree turn and fighting his way back to his troops, Little Piglet shouted, "Leave me! Our target isn¡¯t Candle Dragon, but Purgatory Mad Dragon! March toward the southeast and tear their main force apart! I swear to bury Lu Chao¡¯s bones in the outer lands! Get them now while I cover for you all!" Song of Ice and Fire and God Bone were present among the Iron Cutter Cavalry. Their guild emblems marked them as vice leaders. Even Amber Pupil was demoted to a corps commander. Led by Song of Ice and Fire, they charged bravely toward Purgatory Mad Dragon''s formation. Song of Ice and Fire wasn''t too far behind Little Piglet in terms of overall strength, so Dark Mercenaries'' charge was even deadlier than usual. ¡­¡­ While spinning around, Little Piglet lashed out twice with his sword and cut down a dozen Iron Cutter Cavalrymen. He pierced 5 tamers like he was skewering barbecued meat and killed them all with Barrier Break. The 15 Lantern Girls they controlled also vanished and gave him some much needed breathing room. Candlelight Shadow watched the battle grimly from the sky. A while later, he said in a low tone, "Why must you continue on this foolish path, Little Piglet? I know how lonely and desperate you are with none of the luxuries you normally enjoyed at the Center. You neither have a reliable place to resupply yourself nor an ally you can count on. However, you are and will always be a Chinese. Come back to us, Little Piglet. Join us with Dark Mercenaries, and we will open the door to the Center for you ourselves!" Little Piglet narrowed his eyes and reined in his mount suddenly. While the Ink Qilin was turning around, he threw his sword straight at Candlelight Shadow! Candlelight Shadow gritted his teeth and knocked the sword out of the way with his fist. He then uttered angrily, "Why are you doing this, Little Piglet? What are you so obsessed with? Surely you don''t think that Candle Dragon is beneath you? Come back to us already! I don''t wish to use the Dragon Tooth Arm against a hot-blooded Chinese like you!" Little Piglet retorted after catching his returned sword, "Save your bullshit, Fang Zhuo! Why you expect me to join you when you''re the one who brought thousands of troops to hunt me down in the first place I will never understand! I''ve said from the beginning that my target is Purgatory Mad Dragon only, and anyone who stands in my way is an enemy of mine. Right now, you''re the one who''s blocking my way first and foremost! You don''t deserve to be my friend at all!" Candlelight Shadow gritted his teeth but didn''t allow his emotions to overwhelm him. He said, "Whatever. You have 10 minutes. If you still insist on treading this foolish path in 10 minutes, then I will spill your blood across this barren land!" [1] "I''ll be waiting, Martial God!" Little Piglet continued to fight with everything he got after that, ripping through the tamer legion like a hurricane. Although he was losing HP rapidly, he was regaining them even faster. His HP staunchly remained at the 75% mark, and not one person among the 200k-strong army of Candle Dragon was able to stop him from going on a rampage! ¡­¡­ "This is getting too unsightly! I''m taking him out myself!" At the forefront of Warsky Alliance''s troops, Warsky raised his sword and got ready to charge. Pa! However, his vice leader Lin Bing Dou Zhe caught his arm and said with a grim expression, "This kind of work is beneath you, guild leader! I''ll do it!" "Are you sure you can stop him?" Warsky asked. "Not at all!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe raised an eyebrow. "But that is no excuse not to face an enemy, is it?" Warsky guffawed. "You are correct. Off you go, then!" ¡­¡­ A neigh cut through the air as Lin Bing Dou Zhe rushed toward Little Piglet with a shiny spear. As if on cue, Blue Sky Scar was charging toward Little Piglet in a beeline as well. It was clear that the two experts were planning to catch the Cold Wind Swordsman in a pincer attack. "All units, stay away from him so he can''t lifesteal from you! Bombard him from range!" It was clear from his shout that Lin Bing Dou Zhe was a wise commander. Candle Dragon¡¯s tamer legion didn¡¯t hesitate to obey after seeing that it was advice from their ally as well. A moment later, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Little Piglet and Blue Sky Scar were the only ones left on the corpse-ridden battlefield. "Go, Blue Sky!" Lin Bing Dou Zhe erupted before charging straight toward Little Piglet. Before he even got close, he raised his spear and gathered a swirl of fiery red energy before growling out, "Mad Blade Slash!" Little Piglet saw it coming and smirked in response. He opened his empty left palm and summoned an ice shield out of nowhere. Bang! The moment Mad Blade Slash shattered the ice shield, Little Piglet executed his armor-piercing Ice Blade Shatter! 712,556! Lin Bing Dou Zhe was visibly hurt by the attack, but he thrust his left palm toward Little Piglet¡¯s chest while smiling, "You can die now¡­" It was Fire Prison of Heaven, a 4-second immobilization skill! I had witnessed it before! Some people displayed their true prowess when they were pressed, and Little Piglet was one of them. The tip of his sword gliding just a couple inches above the ground, he jumped away from Lin Bing Dou Zhe at the same time he canceled his mount state, miraculously dodging the attack. Before he could stand still though, Blue Sky Scar slashed him in the back three times in a row and dealt massive amounts of damage¡ª 428,383! 417,334! 440,949! Little Piglet¡¯s situation turned precarious in just an instant. While the duel was going on, at least a hundred mages were locking their targets on him and casting very deadly Touch of the Dragonkiss. He didn¡¯t even dare to stay at the same spot for more than half a second. Stepping across sand and gliding backward like a ghost, he changed his position twice in quick succession before executing a well-placed Ice Breaking Slash that hit both Lin Bing Dou Zhe and Blue Sky Scar! 861,626! 827,374! After stealing back a sizable amount of HP, a grim-faced Little Piglet suddenly activated his Charge skill. True experts almost never used Charge when dueling against one another, but Little Piglet did it and came to a stop right in front of Blue Sky Scar. "Shit!" A chill sprang from the bottom of Blue Sky Scar¡¯s heart. Little Piglet had clearly predicted his movement to appear right where he was going to be. After he got into position, Little Piglet slashed Blue Sky Scar¡¯s throat with Ice Blade Shatter. He practically had to jump to reach the fighter because he wasn¡¯t mounted right now. Then, he spun in midair, activated Heavenly River Transformation and cast his S Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Divine Arms Slash! Boom! Blue Sky Scar instantly dropped to red health. He ran away while cursing, "Dammit, how is he so strong?" Obviously, Little Piglet wasn¡¯t going to let him. Three icicle strikes later, his Ice Ray Flurry deleted Blue Sky Scar¡¯s remaining health and killed him where he stood. The poor guy had even dropped his boots. Little Piglet paid no attention to the loot Blue Sky Scar dropped though. He couldn¡¯t anyway. Lin Bing Dou Zhe¡¯s spear had stabbed through his back and out of his chest. "Heh¡­" Little Piglet¡¯s fighting spirit didn¡¯t diminish in the slightest even though his HP had fallen drastically. After he activated Wind of Recovery to heal himself, he spun around to face Lin Bing Dou Zhe, grabbed his spear and performed three quick slashes. The Warsky Alliance fighter was hurt, but there was nothing he could do to stop him. Little Piglet should¡¯ve died at least two times already, but he still survived thanks to his Heaven Suppressing Necklace. Inevitably, Little Piglet shredded Lin Bing Dou Zhe into pieces as well. Not even two minutes had passed, and Little Piglet had destroyed the two experts and achieved a total victory in the duel! Swhoosh! The assault was just beginning, however. Ye Yuse stepped on the dry sand and cast God Suppressing Pagoda! Bang! 1,136,345! Little Piglet buckled under the power of the skill. His HP dropped to red in just the blink of an eye. "Die!" Freezing Heat wasn¡¯t over yet, so he ran straight toward his attacker. Ye Yuse withdrew without hesitation because she knew that distance was her lifeline. Hold! MISS! A miss appeared at the same time Little Piglet smirked disdainfully. It was of course War God Rampage. It made him immune to any magic skill for a short time, so of course Hold didn¡¯t work on him. Swhoosh! His blade cut through Ye Yuse¡¯s clothes and dealt over 1 million damage. Then, he followed up with another Ice Ray Flurry! Bang bang bang! Ye Yuse fell backward like a falling leaf as she had lost most of her HP. Her attacker¡¯s figure continued to grow bigger and bigger in her pupils as he moved in for the final strike. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh¡­ It was at this moment a figure dropped down from the sky and kicked up a thick cloud of sand and dust. Then, Candlelight Shadow clashed blades with Little Piglet. Chiang! Metallic sparks flew everywhere as both experts backed a couple of steps from each other. The even clash meant that their Strength stats were practically identical. 1. T/N: this is your best persuasion you can make, dude? This is worse than offering plain old money ? CH 1506 Swhoosh swhoosh¡­ A fiery light shone from the Crimson Dragon Arm. It was its pre-activation visual effect. It needed not be said that Little Piglet was planning to drop Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Ghost Armament, the Dragon Tooth Arm, because it was the only way he was going to survive this duel. He might have the Heaven Suppressing Necklace and the Crimson Dragon Arm, but he didn¡¯t have defensive Divine Armaments and Ghost Armaments like my Cloak of Divine Fervor and Rising Cloud. There was no way he could take 9 times the damage from Candlelight Shadow and survive. Candlelight Shadow was raising an arm and shouting to the Candle Dragon players behind him, "Halt! I will test Little Piglet¡¯s mettle myself! He is a man who killed Blue Sky Scar and grievously injured Ye Yuse right before my eyes. I will now see the man who dared to challenge Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance is truly as fearsome as appears!" The tamers, mages and archers immediately stopped their attack, returning much silence to the battlefield. Candlelight Shadow then extended a hand and said, "I will wait until you¡¯ve returned to full health, and your cooldowns are ready. I won¡¯t be riding my fire dragon as well. I won¡¯t let you say I took advantage of you when this is over." Panting heavily, Little Piglet closed his eyes and stood there quietly for about half a minute. Then, he looked up and said, "Let¡¯s go. Martial God Candlelight Shadow, you may be feared by a lot of people, but not me. Whoever you may be, I will make you regret standing in my way!" "Good!" Candlelight Shadow smirked. "I like experts like you. Now come. Don¡¯t die an early death and disappoint me. Also, I won¡¯t use the Dragon Tooth Arm unless you force me to, so you have nothing to worry about. It¡¯ll be an incredibly dull duel otherwise!!" Little Piglet gritted his teeth and uttered, "Cut the bullshit and come at me already!" ¡­¡­ Little Piglet buffed himself with Strength of Divine Arms to increase his Attack by 20%. He then tossed a light blue-colored card into the sky and caused a 50-yard snow terrain to appear out of nowhere. It was an extremely rare terrain-type card. Usually, cards like these would be used to kill bosses. I had no idea that Little Piglet was collecting cards like these, and that he would use it to kill Candlelight Shadow. Candlelight Shadow remained calm even though his movement speed had been reduced by 25%, stomping the ground to activate Wind and Cloud Domain. The domain reduced the Attack of all enemies within his domain by 20%, which was a good counter against Little Piglet¡¯s Heaven Suppressing Necklace. Without sufficient Attack, Little Piglet might not be able to lifesteal enough HP to offset the damage he received. Thud! Little Piglet was the one to make the first move, swinging his sword lightly as if he was making a tentative strike. However, the moment he got close to his opponent, he abruptly sped up and executed Ice Blade Shatter. He succeeded in catching Candlelight Shadow off-guard! 717,236! Despite scoring the first hit and deleting much HP from Candlelight Shadow¡¯s health bar, Little Piglet wasn¡¯t surprised with just this. He followed up with an Ice Ray Flurry that cut off the Martial God¡¯s retreat. Without a word, Candlelight Shadow withdrew unto himself and raised his sword defensively. Guard! Bang bang bang¡­ Ice Ray Flurry shook his body and knocked him a few steps backward. While bits of ice were still flying everywhere, Candlelight Shadow abruptly rushed toward Little Piglet and executed a lightning fast Blazing Purgatory Slash! "Hmm!?" The skill was a triple-hit skill, and each hit flew toward Little Piglet from different angles. The Cold Wind Swordsman frowned, shifted his left foot half a step backward to steady himself, and tried to parry. He managed to parry the first hit, but not the second and third hit. Moreover, all of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s slashes were targeted at the throat, so he took a lot of damage! 1,018,271! 992,673! Faster than even Little Piglet could retaliate, Candlelight Shadow leaped into the air and knocked his Guard stance apart with his knee. Then, he executed a fiery Shattering Sword and Shield! 1,451,272! Little Piglet let out a cry of pain as he fell backward. During this time, he ate another two basic attacks and dropped to low health. The skill "Second Wind" surrounded Candlelight Shadow as he ran across the snow, healing him for 5% HP per second. He was clearly favored to win this duel. ¡­¡­ Pa¡­ Little Piglet ate a kick from Candlelight Shadow and was sent rolling across the snow. After halting his momentum by stabbing his sword into the ground, he pushed with his left hand and launched a kick toward Candlelight Shadow¡¯s lower body. Candlelight Shadow dodged it with a perfect zigzag and responded with an Outer Flame! Little Piglet hurriedly downed a health potion and to survive the Divine General Skill. At the same time, he executed a near instantaneous Ice Ray Flurry + Ice Break Shatter combo before activating Heavenly River Transformation following up with his S Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Divine Arms Slash once more! 3198374! It was a critical hit. This time, it was Candlelight Shadow¡¯s HP who was nearing rock bottom! "Bastard!" Candlelight Shadow narrowed his eyes at the same time his Dragon Tooh Arm began glowing. It was clear that he was preparing to use his killer move. There was no way Little Piglet would survive if he managed to land the empowered attack. ¡­¡­ In the sky, Lin Yixin¡¯s mouth fell open, "Oh no, Little Piglet¡¯s about to die¡­" "No he won¡¯t!" Faster than my own words, I descended from the sky like lightning and lashed out with the Xuanyuan Sword. The domain-empowered strike cut the ground right in front of the Martial God and forced him back a step. The light from the Dragon Tooth Arm had faded as well. "You!" Candlelight Shadow stared at me grimly and said, "What is the meaning of this, Lu Chen? I am dueling Little Piglet right now. You know it is not right to interfere, right?" I pointed my sword at him and said, "It¡¯s simple. I think of Little Piglet as a friend, so I won¡¯t allow you to kill him with the Dragon Tooth Arm. If you are a man, then don¡¯t get in the way of another man¡¯s revenge, Candlelight Shadow." Candlelight Shadow stomped the ground and refreshed his Wind and Cloud Domain. Clearly, he was planning to fight even me. The corners of his lips turned up as he said, "Is that so? This one man¡¯s revenge will affect millions of Purgatory Mad Dragon players¡¯ lives; Chinese players. Surely I don¡¯t need to tell you the stakes involved in this matter?" I gritted my teeth. "So what? These people are willing to join a guild like Purgatory Mad Dragon. They are scumbags who value greed over compassion and revel in bullying the weak. Are we going to ignore all the horrors Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s people have committed in Sky City? Are we going to pretend that countless people aren¡¯t criticizing Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s action on the forums every day? Isn¡¯t it enough?" Candlelight Shadow replied indifferently, "I don¡¯t care if Purgatory Mad Dragon is good or bad. All I care about is killing Little Piglet to appease Purgatory Mad Dragon and all the Chinese players who have died to Dark Mercenaries. Long story short, Purgatory Mad Dragon is under my protection today, and anyone who dares to hurt them will face my wrath!" Thud! I abruptly tossed the Xuanyuan Sword toward the ground and replied just as indifferently, "Well, Little Piglet is under my protection as well! You will have to wipe out Ancient Sword first before you can lay a hand on Little Piglet!" The sound of hooves thundering against the ground resounded as the Dragonlight Cavalry led by He Yi and Li Chengfeng arrived. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that two dragon knights and tens of thousands of Dragonlight Cavalry equaled a massive amount of fighting strength. Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon¡¯s players certainly looked apprehensive as they muttered, "Shit, Falling Dust must¡¯ve gone insane! Is he really going to fight against Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance for one Little Piglet?" I looked at Candlelight Shadow, and he looked at me. Perhaps we were the only two people in the world who truly understood that there would never be a "we" between the two of us, at least not in this game. It was either me or him! ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Little Piglet let out a chuckle and produced a Vassal Challenge Token from his pockets. The next moment, we were all informed that Dark Mercenaries had challenged Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s main guild to a guild challenge. The battle would begin 60 minutes later, and the loser would lose their guild, be unable to rebuild it, and lose 3 levels across the board. It was a battle no one could afford to lose! "Motherfucker!" Candlelight Shadow uttered in a frigid tone, "You are a fearless man if nothing else, Little Piglet! Even if you aren¡¯t afraid of offending Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance, do you realize how many Chinese players you¡¯re harming with this act of yours??" Little Piglet replied indifferently, "I know that. It is why I do regret my decision. However, I still must see it through, or I won¡¯t ever be able to look myself in the face!" ¡­¡­ Little Piglet looked at me and said, "Lu Chen, you are my friend, so I¡¯m asking you now to allow me one final dignity. I don¡¯t wish to leave under another¡¯s protection even if it is the protection of a friend!" I nodded solemnly and flew about a hundred meters to the sky. Then, I said, "I will respect your choice, Little Piglet!" "Thank you¡­" he nodded. The next moment, Candlelight Shadow and Little Piglet crossed each other¡¯s path, and the Dragon Tooth Arm flashed. Two massive damage number floated above both their heads¡ª 1,226,321! 13,219,155! ¡­¡­ Little Piglet let out a groan and dropped to the ground. Not only did the guild leader of Dark Mercenaries die, he even dropped the Crimson Dragon Arm. Swhoosh! I descended right on top of the Crimson Dragon Arm and knocked Candlelight Shadow back with a strike before saying, "No one is getting Little Piglet¡¯s loot while I¡¯m around!" Candlelight Shadow uttered through gritted teeth, "You¡¯re a goddamned busybody, Lu Chen!" "As if you¡¯re not one yourself! Who¡¯s the one helping Purgatory Mad Dragon to attack Little Piglet?" I countered. I then crouched down and picked up the Crimson Dragon Arm. Blue Sky Scar had already revived at this point. He said resentfully from behind Candlelight Shadow, "Candlelight, Ancient Sword has gone too far this time. Do we attack them?" At Warsky Alliance¡¯s formation, October Rain was frowning lightly and saying, "Candle Dragon is going to attack. While I like Lu Chen a lot, it will be bad for all of us if Ancient Sword continues to dominate the scene. Attack Ancient Sword¡¯s flank when Candle Dragon makes their move. We¡¯re gonna destroy these Dragonlight Cavalry before their Holy Mages arrive!" Warsky Alliance gripped his Immortal Blade tighter. "You said my thoughts!" ¡­¡­ I looked toward He Yi and nodded once. "Fight!" It had been a very long time since our three guilds fought one another, and everyone was itching to test their mettle. Moreover, everyone here was a high-level player, meaning that the winner of this battle would prove themselves to be superior to the other guilds. It was something everyone was eager to find out. ¡­¡­ Buzz! A few minutes later, Candlelight Shadow abruptly rushed toward me with his wristguard shining brightly. Clearly, his Dragon Tooth Arm was ready to unleash its devastating power once more. The moment the equipment¡¯s cooldown was ready, he didn¡¯t hesitate to use it on me and score first blood for Candle Dragon! Favorite CH 1507 "Lu Chen!" I understood what Lu Buyi was trying to say the moment he shouted my name. The moment I added him into my party, all of my stats abruptly skyrocketed by 225%. At the same time, I used Hunter Card and increased my max HP further to 14.78 million. I was temporarily out of range of a bard, or I would be sitting at over 20 million HP right now. It would¡¯ve caused everyone¡¯s jaw to hit the floor with a resounding clang! Buzz! A fiery red light erupted toward the sky. As I thought, Candlelight Shadow was going to hit me with a Dragon Tooth Arm-empowered Pangu¡¯s Axe. As an SSS Ancient Divine Skill, it ignored the target¡¯s Defense, and its damage was solely derived from the user¡¯s base Attack. Right now, Candlelight Shadow was fully clad in Sacred Armaments, Lower Divine Armaments and other incredible pieces of equipment, so this one attack could definitely do over 2 million damage at base. With the nonuple multiplier, well, how many people could survive so much damage? I activated Resurrection Art so he couldn¡¯t send me back to the main city even if he managed to kill me. I also activated Profound Armor and wreathed my sword in the flames of Burning Blade Slash. If we were going to fight against each other, then I might as well go all out, not to mention that negotiations had broken down completely. ¡­¡­ "Die, Lu Chen!" Candlelight Shadow uttered hatefully. He obviously hated the fact that I had dragged him down his throne, and today he was going to repay that "favor" using the Dragon Tooth Arm! A swathe of crimson light fell toward my head. The Pangu''s Axe covered an extremely wide area, and not even with my speed could I escape to safety in time. I could only tank this attack head-on! BOOM! My entire body shook as a huge damage number rose from my head¡ª 10,393,065! What a ridiculous amount of damage! What a terrifying man Candlelight Shadow had become! Every player who saw this scene was flabbergasted, and even I was gnashing my teeth together in irritation. Not even the Cloak of Divine Fervor¡¯s 50% damage mitigation would have been enough to save my life had he managed to score a critical hit! Right now, who else besides me could survive an attack with over 20 million base damage? The duel was just beginning, however. I cut through the flames of the Pangu''s Axe and struck Candlelight Shadow¡¯s armor three times with Burning Blade Slash. The skill greatly injured Candlelight Shadow and restored a ton of HP¡ª 719,377! 801,823! 1,029,874! Bang! I kicked Candlelight Shadow in the chest with all my might and sent him stumbling backward. While he was catching himself, I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and executed my true counterattack, the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Xuanyuan Slash! "Shit!" Candlelight Shadow hurriedly summoned his fire dragon and leaped onto its back. He was trying to escape into the sky. I gave him no chance to do so. By shortening the channeling time of the skill as best I could and bringing down the Xuanyuan Slash at the same time, I was able to hit him in the back and send both him and his dragon crashing back against the ground. Not only that, the large group of Qiu Beast Cavalrymen behind him got caught in the attack, ate a ton of splash damage and sustained heavy losses as well. Candlelight Shadow himself lost 2.74 million HP in one go and dropped to 50% HP, although he had around 12 million max HP or so and was thus not even close to dying. Of course, he would be dead if my attack had triggered its septuple damage effect. Since I hadn¡¯t gotten lucky and one-shot Candlelight Shadow, I chose to drop three Ancient Seals atop Candle Dragon¡¯s shield formation instead. The pale-faced magic knights hurriedly shouted, "Heal us, priests! We can¡¯t hold out much longer!" Before they could finish, a beautiful figure descended from the sky and dropped five God¡¯s Tears in a row, killing many of them. She was of course the ascended Lin Yixin. ¡­¡­ "Take them out, mages!" At the distance, Ye Yuse commanded with a wave of her scepter. The sky became illuminated by an innumerable amount of Fireballs, Touch of the Dragonkiss, Galaxy Storms and more spells. Both Lin Yixin and I were caught squarely in the bombardment, but the amount of damage we received could only be described as mind-boggling¡ª 31,980! 1! MISS! 1! 45! ¡­¡­ The ninth-promotion [1] players could greatly penetrate our Defense, but only them. Everyone else¡ªespecially those who were slightly over Level 230 and didn¡¯t have very impressive equipment¡ªdid little to no damage at all. Some of them couldn¡¯t even deal a fixed 1 damage thanks to our Unusual Physique. This was the power of a Divine Rank player [2]! Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes widened. She almost couldn¡¯t believe the amount of damage she was receiving. I wasn¡¯t nearly as surprised as she was since I had time to acclimatize to my new power. This was why people said that Divine Rank players would be the focal points of all future Nation Wars. Unless your enemy¡¯s power exceeded a certain threshold, practically no one could penetrate your Defense or deal an effective amount of damage. If I hadn¡¯t ascended, a Level 230 mage would have dealt around 4,000 damage to me using a Touch of the Dragonkiss. Now? The spell could only do at most 50 damage to me, and at minimum 1. The power gap between a god and a mortal was especially obvious in a chaotic war like this one! ¡­¡­ "Let¡¯s retreat, Yiyi!" Back to the present. Ye Yuse and God¡¯s Dance were slowly approaching us, Transient Smoke and Clouds looked like he could spring into action at any moment, and Candlelight Shadow was staring at us with unbridled fighting spirit. They were clearly plotting to kill either me or Lin Yixin. The two of us might be able to treat most of their attacks as air, but not Candlelight Shadow¡¯s nonuple damage effect. It would be safer not to engage him unless absolutely necessary! Pa! Pa! Lin Yixin and I left behind a pair of mini cyclones and flew toward Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ formation. We cut down some Candle Dragon players on our way down before hovering above a bunch of Dragonlight Cavalry. Pure Love was going to buff me when I stopped her, "It¡¯s fine, I don¡¯t need it yet. Buff Fighting Spirits so he can go on a rampage, Pure Love!" "Got it!" Pure Love waved her scepter a couple of times and gave High Fighting Spirits full buffs. The warrior then rushed right into a group of enemies, spun his new Sun and cut down everyone around him with a Whirlwind Slash. At this point, the Qiu Beast Cavalry were absolutely incapable of stopping High Fighting Spirits, not to mention that Pure Love¡¯s buffs had propelled his max HP past the 10 million mark, and his equipment gave him a total of 11% lifesteal. Even with his recklessness, I was certain that High Fighting Spirits would be able to keep himself alive! In the sky, Li Chengfeng asked me while gripping his new Cyan Peak Halberd, "How are we doing this, Lu Chen? Candle Dragon is in front of us, and Warsky Alliance is behind. If we dare to launch an all-out assault against Candle Dragon, they are sure to hit our rear. It¡¯s been a long time since Warsky has declared war on us after all!" I sucked in a deep breath before assuring him, "There is nothing to worry about. Treat this as a practice war of some sort. We can afford to lose this battle, so let us stay calm and deal with them as they come! Anyway, we¡¯re going to split up our forces. I, Eve, Little Gui, Chaos Moon, Lian Xin and You and Yun will be attacking Candle Dragon directly. You, Beiming, Fighting Spirits, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and everyone else will take 20k Dragonlight Cavalry with you and take the fight to Warsky Alliance! Best-case scenario, kill Warsky and get him to drop his Immortal Blade! Li Chengfeng chuckled. "Got it! Third and fourth column, follow me! We¡¯re going to face off against the so-called number two guild of Sky City!" Hovering in the sky and looking toward the horizon, I asked, "When are your men arriving, Yiyi?" "Ten minutes!" "Wonderful. Tell Purple Marquis to hit Warsky Alliance from the rear and cut off their retreat path. I want to see Warsky weep after we drop 20% of his players¡¯ equipment!" "No problem. I¡¯ll stay with you to fight Candle Dragon and find a chance to take out Candlelight Shadow. Is that fine?" "Of course!" ¡­¡­ Without needing to be prompted, Lu Buyi added Lin Yixin, He Yi, Chaos Moon and more elite players into his party so they could enjoy his 225% stat buff. This was the advantage we wielded over our enemies. Without it, this would be a hard fight since Candle Dragon alone numbered over 100k players, and we were only tens of thousands of elites strong. Boom! I hit the Candle Dragon players at the front row with a skill before bringing down the Xuanyuan Sword. Since I had changed my attack mode to guild attack mode, all Warsky and Candle Dragon players within 1000 yards of me lost 70% of their HP instantly. It was absolutely deadly to say the least! Everyone was livid when they saw that their HP had fallen to dangerous orange. A wide-eyed Blue Sky Scar swore, "Fuck! It¡¯s the effect of the Xuanyuan Sword! I know it¡¯s the number one weapon of the Twelve Divine Armaments, but isn¡¯t it still a little too imbalanced?? All units, do not retreat and heal yourselves with health potions! Priests, keep our frontliners alive at all costs!" Meanwhile, Chaos Moon was eliciting screams of pain and death wherever she went with her new Dihai Blade. The blade was a perfect fit with her style and eliteness. Rock Crush! A rock-filled blade aura traveled about dozens of meters to the front and killed off an entire group of magic knights. Chaos Moon was extremely fast, and she strove to kill her enemies as quickly and efficiently as possible. Her blade fell downward, and five low-health enemies dropped dead before they could make an escape. It was at this moment God¡¯s Dance Blinked in and surrounded herself in a spiraling inferno. Her scepter didn¡¯t look like an ordinary weapon. Then, she spun on her feet and hit Chaos Moon¡¯s chest three times with some sort of flame spike that dealt a shocking amount of damage¡ª 1,923,877! 1,726,673! 1,826,364! A ninth-promotion mage was no joke. Although Chaos Moon¡¯s Magic Resist wasn¡¯t as great as mine, she was still one of the best players in our guild! "Come back, Chaos Moon! God¡¯s Dance¡¯s Magic Attack is too high!" I shouted at her while she beat a quick but orderly retreat. She didn¡¯t forget to attack the closest players and lifesteal some HP, which was a good thing because a trail of arrows nipped at her feet immediately after. The situation was incredibly dangerous. "God¡¯s Dance wields a Lower Divine Armament scepter that can cast unique offensive spells! Be careful!" He Yi warned. I hurriedly spun around and threw Coiling Dragon Revolution at God¡¯s Dance. Boom! The sword cut through all enemy players in the way and dealt over 2 million damage to them. It was a cathartic experience because all the high-level mobs and bosses I encountered in the Purgatory took less than 1 million damage from the skill. It was only back in the Human Realms that I realized just how scary my Attack had become! "Watch out, Little Wu!" Candlelight Shadow abruptly descended from the sky and stood protectively in front of God¡¯s Dance. He executed Shattering Sword and Shield and, against great odds, actually managed to send my sword flying back to my hands. I sucked in a deep breath. The fact that he managed to cancel my skill meant that his Attack and Defense stats weren¡¯t too far behind my own. This was going to be annoying! 1. T/N: I wanted to say this earlier, but it seems you CAN be ninth-promotion without being ascended. Lu Chen just did a shit job explaining it because to be fair, why would he need to pay attention to how a normal player completes their ninth class promotion? The goddang author has no excuse though ? 2. T/N: now that I think about it, Thunder should be fucking ashamed that Lu Chen when he was still a noob managed to do even 1 point of damage to him ? Favorite CH 1508 Roar! A jet of flames shaped like a sharp blade penetrated through a crowd. It belonged to the Wind Severing Sword. "Get lost!" Tempest Shadow leaped toward Lin Yixin and swung his blade at her. Lin Yixin fished out a dagger from her waist and parried the blow, but she was knocked back ten meters away from him because she lost her balance. Hovering about one meter above the ground, she pointed the Wind Severing Sword toward the front and muttered, "Thundercloud Storm!" Whoosh! Scorching hot wind whipped wildly around her blade for a moment as the sky turned dark. Then, lightning, wind blades and icicles started raining from the sky and wounding every Candle Dragon player within a 1,000x1,000 yard area. It was a scene straight out of the apocalypse. This was the price of angering the Fruit Knife Goddess especially since she now wielded the Wind Severing Sword. Candlelight Shadow and other players with over ten million HP weren''t pressured by the skill, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for the healers of Candle Dragon. There were too many allies who needed rescuing from the skill, and they were simply incapable of outputting the HPS necessary to keep them alive. A thousand frontliners dropped dead in just the blink of an eye. A couple more attacks like that, and their frontline was sure to collapse. "Keep it up, Beauty Wind! I¡¯ll protect you!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun cried while rushing toward Tempest Shadow and scoring a good hit! Puchi! 702,884! Blood erupted from the man¡¯s wound as he instinctively backed away from his attacker. Smirking, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun followed up with a Rock Smash that sundered the earth itself! 1,102,395! Tempest Shadow¡¯s HP fell below 3 million in the blink of an eye. What an awkward situation for him! He didn¡¯t get a chance to improve it. Lin Yixin dashed past him like a lightning bolt and landed an Extreme Break with her dagger. Then, she turned around and stabbed him in the back with the Wind Severing Sword! 1,982,737! Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun spurred his mount to leap into the air so he could bring his sword down on Tempest Shadow. His blow nearly cleaved the warrior in half and ended the life of the so-called god of Candle Dragon. ¡­¡­ Thud! Suddenly, another figure broke away from the frontline and rushed straight toward Lin Yixin. It was none other than Candlelight Shadow himself, his Divine Armament sword and Dragon Tooth Arm gleaming an intimidating light! "Shit!" Lin Yixin spun to face him with a hint of panic in her pupils. Candlelight Shadow was moving too quickly for her to prepare a proper response. She pulled out her dagger and to parry Candlelight Shadow¡¯s sword at the same time she thrust the Wind Severing Sword through his stomach. She was about to execute a Knockback Slash when Candlelight Shadow smirked and said, "Too bad, Beauty Lin! You guessed wrong!" He cast Shattering Sword and Shield, the skill that couldn¡¯t be parried or blocked! Swhoosh! Lin Yixin desperately tried to put some distance between herself and Candlelight Shadow as her dagger was knocked out of the way. Candlelight Shadow¡¯s blade was less than 10 cm away from her chest, and if contact was made no one in the world could save her life. Lin Yixin gritted her teeth and bent backward as much as she could. While doing so, she kicked Candlelight Shadow¡¯s stomach with all her might! Bang! Her effort might not have been enough to save herself, but Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun arrived just in time to ram Candlelight Shadow with the Dragonscale Beast and slap Candlelight Shadow¡¯s face with Triple Slash. "Fuck you!" Humiliated, Candlelight Shadow changed targets and struck the Dragonlight Cavalryman with his Shattering Sword and Shield instead. 20,174,184! Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun let out a groan and died as a matter of course. He only had 9 million HP, so there was no chance he was going to survive Candlelight Shadow¡¯s nonuple damage attack. ¡­¡­ "Ugh¡­" Lin Yixin panted heavily as she stared blankly at Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s dead body. The Dragonlight Cavalryman¡¯s courageous action had saved her life. If it wasn¡¯t for his intervention, there was an extremely high chance she would have been the one who was one-shot by Candlelight Shadow. Bang! She quickly broke out of her trance and kneed Candlelight Shadow hard in the chest. Then, she executed Ice Flame Slash + Freezing Purgatory combo that deleted another 3 million+ HP from Candlelight Shadow¡¯s health bar. She tried bombarding the warrior with her God¡¯s Tear while he retreated to safety, but she only managed to drop him to less than 30% HP before he reached the safety of his players. He smirked again and said, "We¡¯ll meet again. Let¡¯s see how many first-rate players I can kill before this battle is over!" Lin Yixin wanted to give chase, but she was driven back by a dense volley of arrows. Helpless, she could only stomp her foot in anger and stare at Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s corpse with guilt. Boom! While tearing apart a group of Qiu Beast Cavalry, I said in the party channel, "Don¡¯t feel guilty, Yiyi. You and Yun did the right thing in giving up his level to buy you more time on this battlefield. Let us continue. Candlelight Shadow is sure to return in 6 minutes, so all elite players are not to split up too far away from each other. I¡¯m going to see if I can freeze Candlelight Shadow with Cold of the Nine Provinces. If I succeed, everyone is to hit him with everything they can. Candlelight Shadow has around 12 million HP and super-high Defense, and not even I can instakill him." He Yi, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and Lin Yixin all nodded in unison. "Got it!" However, it turned out that Candlelight Shadow was even shrewder than we could imagine. ¡­¡­ Six minutes later, when Candle Dragon¡¯s formation threatened to collapse, Candlelight Shadow appeared on the frontline once more with his fire dragon. "Go, Lian Xin! Freeze him with your Freezing Domain!" I abruptly departed my original spot and flew toward Candlelight Shadow like a shot arrow. I couldn¡¯t allow him to kill our first-rate experts any longer, or even if we won, the only ones who would survive this battle would be our executive-level players. Lian Xin Blinked close to the frontline and waved her scepter. Freezing Domain had a 100% chance to freeze its target, so I was certain that Candlelight Shadow wouldn¡¯t be able to escape it! "Heh!" However, while taking out a Dragonlight Cavalryman in passing, Candlelight Shadow downed a small green potion and surrounded himself with an ink green round shield. It actually prevented Lian Xin¡¯s Freezing Domain from taking effect! He Yi exclaimed in surprise, "It¡¯s an Anti-Magic Potion! It was rumored that Candle Dragon recently recruited a high-rank alchemist, and it looks like it was true after all! Right now, they¡¯re the only ones who know how to create the Anti-Magic Potion¡­" The Anti-Magic Potion made its user immune to all magic and status conditions. It must be one of the reasons Candlelight Shadow felt confident enough to challenge us to battle! "Die, Ancient Sword¡¯s number one mage!" Candlelight Shadow activated his Heavenly River Transformation and charged straight toward Lian Xin. It looked like he was a moment away from skewering her Telekinetic Shield with his blade! Lian Xin calmly stomped her foot and summoned three Origin Force Fields! Bang! Candlelight Shadow slammed into the first Origin Force Field, but not the second or third. Exploiting the temporary flight ability granted by Heavenly River Transformation, he flew over her Origin Force Fields and slashed at her again. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I arrived just in time to cancel Candlelight Shadow¡¯s deadly attack before leaping back into the air. Rising Cloud surrounded by a cyclone of blood-red Asura God energy, I dealt over 300k damage to Candlelight Shadow with a kick before raising my sword to launch my next attack. However, Candlelight Shadow caught the hilt of my sword in the blink of an eye and shoved us both toward the ground! Buzz! Our crash left a huge pit in the ground that was filled with deadly energy cyclones. Inside the pit, I stomped the ground and executed War Crush, causing Candlelight Shadow to lose a sizable chunk of HP. He hurriedly downed a health potion because he was afraid that I would kill him with the Xuanyuan Art. Gui Guzi abruptly descended from the sky and slashed Candlelight Shadow¡¯s back with the Ghostblade Halberd. However, the Martial God seemed to be prepared for this. The Dragon Tooth Arm suddenly shone brightly, and a giant axe manifested itself into existence. It was his SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Pangu¡¯s Axe! "Shit!" Gui Guzi realized the danger, but Candlelight Shadow¡¯s movement was far beyond his ability to react. Maybe Li Chengfeng or Lin Yixin could¡¯ve pulled off an incredible technique or something to save themselves, but Gui Guzi wasn¡¯t at their level yet. His decision was to activate Undying Shield, hide behind his shield and steel himself to receive a Dragon Tooth Arm¨Cempowered Pangu¡¯s Axe. I groaned. It was said that a newborn calf didn¡¯t fear the tiger, and right now Gui Guzi was that calf. He had no idea how terrifying Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Dragon Tooth Arm was! Pa! I vanished from my original spot and appeared in between Candlelight Shadow and Gui Guzi in an instant. Then, I summoned my Asura God powers and attempted to save Gui Guzi¡¯s life with my Domain. Red cracks that looked like tears in space appeared between us as I punched Candlelight Shadow in the chest! Candlelight Shadow fell from the sky like a meteor and rolled unceremoniously across the ground at least a hundred meters before he finally came to a stop. My Strength completely outstripped his, and the power gap between a Divine Rank player and a ninth-promotion player was so that even a skill like the Pangu¡¯s Axe could be interrupted. ¡­¡­ "Don¡¯t think you can kill anyone else while I¡¯m around!" I said indifferently while staring at Candlelight Shadow. Candlelight Shadow climbed to his feet, wiped away the bloodstain around his lips and smiled. "I guess I can¡¯t really win until I¡¯ve ascended to become a god¡­" God¡¯s Dance looked shocked at his defeat. "What do we do now?" "We keep fighting until the last man and woman!" "What about our equipment and levels?" Candlelight Shadow burst out laughing. "We can always grind more equipment in the future, and losing levels is actually going to help us because we¡¯ll have another shot and triggering an ascension when we hit Level 255 again, right[1]?" God¡¯s Dance beamed. "As expected of Candlelight Shadow!" I watched them coolly as I raised my arm. "Trample them, Dragonlight Cavalry! Leave no one alive!" ¡­¡­ The battle swung wildly in our favor after Xu Yang, Du Thirteen and more arrived with 100k+ elite reinforcements, not to mention Purple Marquis¡¯s 200k Snowy Cathaya elites. Their 70k Dragon Punisher Archers especially put on a great showing by countering Warsky Alliance¡¯s Gold Cavalry almost perfectly under Nangong Lexi¡¯s leadership. Warsky could only gawk at the scene in disbelief. Meanwhile, Little Piglet¡¯s Dark Mercenaries and Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s main guild had been teleported into the exclusive battlefield to fight out a massive 100k versus 100k battle after 60 minutes had passed. This was his chance to wipe out Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s main guild once and for all! 1. E/N: No, it might as well be a flag that you already failed to trigger. It would be a shitty design to have it reset every time you fall back to 254. But other than that, it¡¯s perfectly consistent with Candlelight Shadow. He doesn¡¯t care he loses, he looks for a way to make this into a positive. He lost Gold and Silver cities, so he turned the Tamer city into Lantern Girl Legion. ? CH 1509 The closest graveyard to the battlefield was very close, so a player could run back to their corpse in 5 minutes at most. What this meant was that there was no end to either side¡¯s reinforcements, and that there wasn¡¯t much point in continuing this battle besides pure schadenfreude. As a result, everyone stopped fighting eventually. It wasn¡¯t like we were using our full strength anyway. I couldn¡¯t speak on behalf of Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon, but for us, the main goal of this battle was to train the Dragonlight Cavalry to be more impactful in combat, not to defeat Candle Dragon or Warsky Alliance. In fact, us executive-level players stopped fighting after we had successfully beaten Candlelight Shadow back. The battlefield was currently covered in slowly despawning corpses, equipment, potions, and more, and Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Xu Yang and the others were looting them all. Despite being ganged up by Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance, we were still the victors of this battle. Our kill/death ratio was above 3 against Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon. Naturally, the majority of the loot on the battlefield had been claimed by us. On a low hill at the edge of the battlefield. I was sitting on top of a giant rock and watching the sky when I murmured, "I wonder if Little Piglet can defeat Purgatory Mad Dragon¡­" Lin Yixin answered after blinking once, "It¡¯s hard to say. Little Piglet¡¯s greatest force is his 100k Iron Cutter Cavalrymen, but Wang Dongliang and Lu Chao borrowed a lot of elite forces from Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance since they knew he was coming for them from the beginning. Moreover, Little Piglet had lost his Crimson Dragon Arm prior to entering the exclusive battlefield, so he¡¯s not at his best right now¡­" I took out the Crimson Dragon Arm from my bag and frowned. "This item was Red Maple¡¯s, then Little Piglet¡¯s, then mine. So far, no other item of the Twelve Divine Armaments or Ghost Armaments that I know of has changed hands this rapidly. It is on track to becoming the most cursed item in the game¡­" Lin Yixin giggled. "So what if it¡¯s cursed? Our big titty priest right here is the perfect candidate to cleanse it!" Murong Mingyue crossed her arms across her own oversized weapons before threatening, "Is that a veiled insult, Yiyi? Have you forgotten that I¡¯m the one who¡¯s responsible for your new room arrangements? If I want to, it is totally in my power to arrange Lu Chen¡¯s room on the first floor and yours on the third!" Lin Yixin hurriedly rose to her feet and held Murong Mingyue¡¯s hand placatingly, "Nooo, I was just joking, Sister Mingyue¡­ Plus, you can¡¯t deny that your t¡­ I mean chest, is pretty huge. I¡¯d be lying if I said I don¡¯t feel jealous from time to time¡­" I curled my lips. "There is no need to be jealous of a woman who can¡¯t ever look down and see her own feet, you know¡­" Murong Mingyue fell silent for a second before saying, "I may not be able to see my own feet, but at least I can use my chest as a pillow when I''m tired. Judging from Yiyi and Eve''s breast size, that is one treatment you won''t be getting in the future¡ªstop! Don''t hit me¡­" Everyone grinned with schadenfreude when Lin Yixin and He Yi closed in on Murong Mingyue. I had to pretend that I hadn''t noticed them because the situation was embarrassing enough already. ¡­¡­ Not far away next to a maple forest, Warsky and Candlelight Shadow were conversing with each other while guarded by their own men. Warsky commented with dissatisfaction, "That was a 2v1, and we still lost. What do you have to say for yourself, Candlelight Shadow? I can''t believe you still lost despite being able to dish out 9 times more damage than normal with the Dragon Tooth Arm¡­" Candlelight Shadow uttered through gritted teeth, "Cut the nonsense! The Dragon Tooth Arm is hardly an omnipotent item, not to mention that Lu Chen has gained a god''s power of Domain on top of his OP skills and equipment! If you think you''re so hot you can fight him yourself!" Warsky laughed. "What a surprise! I didn''t think I would see the day the Martial God admits inferiority! Then again, you haven''t been number one in a very long time. Lu Chen is the number one active CGL Hall of Famer right now, and his total points are far ahead of yours¡­" Candlelight Shadow: "..." Unable to stand the bickering between the two guild leaders, October Rain spoke up. "Can we not do this and focus on what actually matters, such as the outcome of the battle between Purgatory Mad Dragon and Little Piglet?" Candlelight Shadow said disdainfully, "There''s nothing to worry about. Although Little Piglet is supported by the Northern Alliance''s Iron Cutter Cavalry, lead can never turn into gold. Even if I pretend that most of the Chinese army Purgatory Mad Dragon borrowed are trash, the 20k Life of the Tamer players we lent them don''t fall into this category. You know how deadly the Lantern Girls are, not to mention that Little Piglet has lost his Crimson Dragon Arm. He is like a tiger whose fangs have been blunted. It''ll take a miracle for him to defeat Purgatory Mad Dragon as he is¡­" Warsky nodded in agreement. "I agree. Warsky Alliance has also lent Purgatory Mad Dragon 50k Gold Cavalrymen, not to mention that the Purgatory Mad Dragon players fighting the guild battle are the elites serving under Ray of Sunshine. Overall, their chance of winning is over 70%, so there is nothing to worry about, Little Rain!" However, October Rain frowned from her seat and responded, "Honestly, I don''t feel nearly as confident as you are. Did you forget that the elites of Soul Battle Robes¡ªSong of Ice and Fire, Ringwraith and God Bone¡ªare supporting Little Piglet as well? Hmph. If you ask me, I think the guild battle could go either way. In fact, Little Piglet has higher explosive power than Ray of Sunshine when under pressure. Assuming that Song of Ice and Fire didn''t die immediately from an unlucky strike or something, Dark Mercenaries may actually be favored to win this battle¡­" Candlelight Shadow frowned deeply, "Don''t you think you''re overestimating Little Piglet a little, Beauty October?" October Rain retorted with a raised eyebrow, "You''re the one who''s underestimating him because of your arrogance, Candlelight Shadow. If he really was the ''lead'' you claim he was, he wouldn''t have defeated the super guilds of Japan and India in the previous three guild battles. Also, he purposely endured to the fourth just so he could challenge Purgatory Mad Dragon at his best, and he is motivated by revenge as well. I don''t think you understand just how much power it gave him." Candlelight Shadow opened and closed his palm in one smooth motion before declaring, "I don''t need to understand shit about Little Piglet! All I need to do is to extinguish him like a fly when he finally sets his sights on Candle Dragon!" October Rain chuckled. "It sounds like you''re going to attack Little Piglet if Purgatory Mad Dragon loses, and your 20k Life of the Tamer tamers lose their equipment and levels as a result." "That is exactly what I''m saying." Candlelight Shadow said coldly, "Little Piglet has repeatedly invaded Vanished God City and Wind City''s borders to attack our server''s guilds using the Northern Alliance''s forces. If he really does defeat my tamer army, then I will hunt him down to the end of the world and more! Candle Dragon won''t stop until he has deleted his account and apologized for everything!" Warsky nodded approvingly. "That, I agree, is the right thing to do. From the day Little Piglet challenged us, he should be prepared to face the ultimate retaliation!" ¡­¡­ After that, most of us stayed quiet and waited patiently for the guild battle to end. Right now, Little Piglet was without a doubt the focus of all Chinese players. No one knew what the final fate of the king of outer lands would be. While waiting, I tossed my remaining 37 Divine Crystals into He Yi''s hands and said, "You wanna give ascension a go, Sister Yi?" He Yi nodded and gave it a go. Unfortunately, she failed. A different silence permeated throughout our formation. It looked like the success rate of this P2W ascension was even more abysmal than we imagined. Ascending via leveling was even worse, however. Currently, there were over 100k players who were Level 250 or higher in the entire world, but only 2 who had become a god via leveling. That was all you needed to know to know just how unlikely it was to ascend via leveling. I consoled He Yi, "It''s no trouble, Eve. We simply need to kill more bosses and grind another 100 Divine Crystals. Eventually, we''ll succeed. It''s not even too low a chance. Just look at Yiyi, she succeeded on her second attempt, didn''t she?" He Yi nodded with a smile. "I know, and honestly, I''m in no hurry to ascend. Not even Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi have ascended yet, so I''m not worried." Li Chengfeng was standing at the edge of the hill when he heard this. He shuddered visibly before saying, "The incorrigible public servant expresses that he may never gather 100 Divine Crystals¡­" The charade lasted until Yamete pointed a finger at his nose and said, "Pooh! You say that, but everyone knows you''re only 3 short from attempting an ascension¡­" Li Chengfeng''s visage abruptly turned sinister. "I''m sorry, but I cannot let you live any longer, Mamate. You know too much¡­" Yamete: "..." It was at this moment a system announcement resounded across the sky. The guild battle had finally come to an end, and the outcome was¡ª System Announcement: Attention all players, the guild challenge issued by guild Dark Mercenaries has ended. Final player count: Dark Mercenaries: 27 Purgatory Mad Dragon: 0 All players of the Purgatory Mad Dragon guild will lose 3 levels and many pieces of their equipment. The guild will be disbanded immediately! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ A great number of light specks landed on the plain in front of us before assuming human forms. It was the Purgatory Mad Dragon players who went to battle. "Fuck!" Wang Dongliang let out a furious roar while staring down at his body. "I lost my sword and my metal armor! How is the drop rate so high? How is this fair? How did we lose¡­" Roaming Dragon dismounted from his horse and lamented dispiritedly while staring at the guild emblem that was vanishing from his arm, "How can this be¡­ Everything we invested has gone up in flames¡­ Is this the end of Purgatory Mad Dragon?" Coldmoon Rose tried to console him. "It¡¯s not over yet. Our levels can be retrained, and we can just make a new guild under a new name. We can restart from¡ª" Roaming Dragon cut her off with a furious roar. "Restart my ass! I invested hundreds of millions to get everyone their equipment, and more than half of that is gone just like that! How the fuck are we support to restart anything? How can we hope to return to the Top 10 of the Guild Ranking? I would never have joined hands with Hegemon Palace if I knew this would happen! My old man is going to skin me alive when he learns that all the money he invested is for naught!" Coldmoon Rose could only stand there and look like she could cry at any moment. Wang Dongliang pointed a finger at him, "What the fuck are you trying to say, Lu Chao? Are you seriously going to blame all the loss on Hegemon Palace? Everyone in my guild did their fucking best, and we all paid the price for losing!" Roaming Dragon humphed resentfully before saying, "Get lost. Starting now, Purgatory Mad Dragon is no more, and I¡­ I am leaving!" He crushed a return scroll and disappeared after saying that. ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a chorus of horse hooves interrupted the short silence. It was Candlelight Shadow and Warsky getting on their mounts and going somewhere! I hurriedly raised the Xuanyuan Sword and ordered, "We¡¯re following them! Let¡¯s go!" Everyone got on their mounts and rushed to the scene as well. At a corner surrounded by countless Gold Cavalry and Qiu Beast Cavalry, there stood Little Piglet and several thousand Iron Cutter Cavalrymen. The Cold Wind Swordsman looked unperturbed despite his situation, and Shangguan Wan¡¯er was just as calm beside him. ¡­¡­ Candlelight Shadow crossed his sword in front of his chest and growled, "Do you understand what you¡¯ve done, Little Piglet? Do you understand the consequences you¡¯ll be facing real soon?" Warsky uttered just as angrily, "You are a traitor who colluded with the Northern Alliance, Little Piglet! You are the shame of our server, and you won¡¯t be existing on this map by the time we¡¯re done with you!" Little Piglet let out a careless chuckle before dismounting from his Ink Qilin. He then said, "I know I offended many of my countrymen. I¡¯m also aware that I¡¯m a cursed man. So yes, I will take responsibility for everything I¡¯ve done. I only ask that you don¡¯t harm my brothers and sisters for my sins. Their only crime is following a madman!" A bunch of data circulated his palm as he raised his arm into the air. "I will delete my account. This is my final goodbye to you all. So long!" I shouted, "Stop! You don¡¯t need to delete your account!" Little Piglet looked at me and gave me a smile. "Thank you, Lu Chen. You are a good friend, and both Wan¡¯er and I are thankful for everything you¡¯ve done for us. Goodbye, my friend!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! Streams of data scattered in every direction, and Little Piglet¡¯s body slowly dissolved into dust. Just like that, his account was gone forever. Shangguan Wan¡¯er wordlessly did the same thing and dissolved into a pile of data dust as well. CH 1510 "He deleted his account¡­ He actually deleted his account??" Warsky gulped audibly before exclaiming in confused rage, "Is he insane?! The Heaven Suppressing Necklace, the Giant Spirit Sword and the Hidden Dragon Armor; all those godlike pieces of equipment gone just like that¡­ Doesn¡¯t he care about the money at all? Fuck!" A grim-faced Candlelight Shadow watched the pile of dust Little Piglet had been reduced to for a moment before snorting. "I didn¡¯t expect him to shoulder all the blame, but it was the act of a true man. If nothing else, his decision to delete his account is a respectable one!" However, Blue Sky Scar turned his gaze on the remnants of Dark Mercenaries and growled, "Little Piglet may have deleted his account, but his accomplices are still around. Kill them all! Delete the scum of the China server from the face of this outer map!" ¡­¡­ Whoosh! Before anyone could take action though, I descended on the ground in between Warsky Alliance and Dark Mercenaries and faced Candle Dragon. Then, I activated Heavenly River Transformation, channeled the Xuanyuan Slash and declared, "Enough! Hasn¡¯t enough blood been spilled on this land already? Regardless of what had happened, these Dark Mercenaries players are still Chinese. You will have to step over my body if you wish to harm them!" Blue Sky Scar swallowed before he criticized me, "You¡¯re such a busybody, Lu Chen!" Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi chose this moment to jump down from their dragons¡¯ backs and stand on my left and right side. They then pointed their weapons at Candle Dragon before retorting, "Is that a challenge to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? We don¡¯t mind fighting a bit longer, you know. Worse comes to worst, we give our Blazing Hot Lips, Purple Lily, Peach Garden and the rest of our allies a call and fight you for a week! Trust me when I say we can afford to waste that time and effort!" Candlelight Shadow said grimly, "Forget it. There is no longer any point in continuing this fight." Blue Sky Scar urged, "Boss! We can¡¯t let our brothers and sisters¡¯ deaths be for nothing!" "Enough!" A bit of frustration leaked into Candlelight Shadow¡¯s voice. ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a party of elite cavalrymen galloped over from the distant plains. They numbered around 5,000 players or so, and they all wore the emblem of Soul Battle Robes on their shoulders. The beautiful knightress leading them was none other than Song of Cloud and Water herself. After she dismounted, she looked at Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone, Ringwraith, and the rest of the former Soul Battle Robes players and said, "Nicely done! Now, it is time you return!" Song of Cloud and Water nodded. "Yeah. Give us a moment!" The next moment, all Soul Battle Robes players who had joined Dark Mercenaries withdrew themselves from the guild and returned to Soul Battle Robes. Not only that, a lot of Iron Cutter Cavalrymen joined Soul Battle Robes as well. That was surprising. In less than five minutes, all of Little Piglet¡¯s former subordinates had become members of Soul Battle Robes. Astonishment flashed across Candlelight Shadow¡¯s eyes as he coughed to catch Song of Cloud and Water¡¯s attention. "What is going on, sister? Why are you recruiting the elite Iron Cutter Cavalry of Dark Mercenaries?" Song of Cloud and Water blinked once and answered honestly, "It¡¯s very simple. Little Piglet wanted us to work for him, and in return for our service he promised to give us his 100k+ Iron Cutter Cavalrymen. It¡¯s a very good deal, isn¡¯t it? Heehee!" Candlelight Shadow: "..." Warsky uttered with realization and frustration, "Fuck! I was wondering why a man like Song of Ice and Fire would allow himself to be ordered around by Little Piglet. Shit! I should¡¯ve realized sooner that Little Piglet would make a deal like this. He was a man who gave up everything to carry out his revenge, why wouldn¡¯t he trade away the valuable Iron Cutter Cavalry if it would help him to achieve his goal?" Li Chengfeng chuckled. "Interesting. The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind!" I smiled. "Well, Little Piglet once said that he would do anything to destroy Purgatory Mad Dragon and Lu Chao. He succeeded, so all is well¡­" Candlelight Shadow didn¡¯t say anything for a moment. Then, he abruptly unsheathed his sword and ordered, "Time to return to Candle Dragon City and plan out our next grinding session, Candle Dragon!" Warsky nodded as well. "We shall withdraw as well. Dammit, I wonder what we¡¯re going to do with this extra free time¡­" ¡­¡­ I felt a bit sad as I watched the countless number of dead bodies on the ground. I hadn¡¯t expected this war to end with Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡¯s account deletion. It was honestly a shame. This is a guess, but Little Piglet¡¯s equipment including the Heaven Suppressing Necklace was probably worth at least 300 million RMB in total. It was why Warsky was as shocked as he was. Still, it was the only way for Little Piglet to break free of his chains. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be able to justify himself to Shabby Castle of Northern Alliance. "What are we going to do next?" He Yi asked smilingly. I thought for a moment before replying, "We find a high-level map¡ªpreferably one with a boss or two¡ªand grind, I suppose. I¡¯ll also ask Yamete to travel to each main city and purchase as many Divine Crystals as he could at a cheap price. I will make you, Chengfeng, Little Gui, Beiming, Little Xin and more gods even if it costs a couple hundred million to do so. You¡¯ve already noticed, but the difference between a divine player and a normal player is considerable." "Yeah." Li Chengfeng nodded. "As for Little Gui and I, we¡¯re going to PK each other later and drop a Level. Then, we¡¯ll level back up to 255 and see if we can get lucky and trigger an ascension. We¡¯re poor, so we can only ascend the plebian way¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ On a related note, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Soul Battle Robes had entered into an official alliance with each other. At first, Song of Ice and Fire didn¡¯t have the best impression of me, but my choice to defend Little Piglet¡¯s Dark Mercenaries from beginning until the end had moved him and the other Soul Battle Robes players enough to change their minds. Now, we didn¡¯t need to fear retaliation from either Candle Dragon or Warsky Alliance anymore. For Soul Battle Robes, being able to ally themselves with the strongest guild in the world could only be a good thing. For us, being able to make a new powerful ally also increased our strength. After all, we weren¡¯t so conceited as to think that we could fend off the united army of Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance with just us and a couple allies. After that, I grinded bosses at Firestone Cavern of Dragonbone Mountain Range with He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and more until it was nighttime. I landed the last hit on all the bosses, and my 139 Luck was kind enough to net me seven 100-Quality Divine Crystals in total. Everyone was envious as a matter of course. During this time, Yamete and Xu Yang went to the main cities and successfully purchased over 40 Perfect Divine Crystals. Its price had jumped to 200k gold per piece, but it remained in great demand because of the power it promised. All the major guilds in the China server were collecting Divine Crystals to ascend their players, and even more people were losing levels on purpose in hopes of triggering a leveling ascension. It was why the IDs on the level ranking were hopping up and down like bunnies as of late. ¡­¡­ Chiang! After Lin Yixin sheathed the Wind Severing Sword, she said, "Alright, I think we should stop here. We¡¯ll leave the 14 Divine Crystals we collected today with Sister Eve, and tomorrow we¡¯ll grind more Divine Crystals. We won¡¯t stop until she successfully ascends to become a god!" I nodded. "Yeah. It¡¯s time to log out. It¡¯s pretty late already." "Okay!" The two girls went to the inn and logged out of the game. I went to Xinran¡¯s room at the Violet Empire and hovered outside the window. Xinran was sitting on her bed when she shot me a smile and asked, "Come in, big brother." After I entered the room, I said, "You should summon the system fairy and log out, Xinran. Your real body may suffer otherwise." "Okay¡­" I logged out only after Xinran had vanished. ¡­¡­ I took off my gaming helmet and checked out the time. It was 8 pm and most definitely dinnertime. We went out. Everyone including He Yi and Lin Yixin assembled at Xinran¡¯s room. I was pushing Xinran¡¯s wheelchair when she suddenly pulled my hand and said, "I want to walk by myself, big brother¡­" "Can you do it?" I asked. She smiled. "I think so. My legs have regained some strength." "Okay." He Yi and I carefully supported Xinran with an arm each, placed her feet on the carpet and stood up. She looked like a baby who was just starting to learn how to work; legs shaking with exertion due to how weak she was right now. Xinran managed to take two steps, but on her third she collapsed against my chest and let out a cute whine. I said, "Looks like you still have a ways to go. It¡¯s fine though. If you practice everyday, you should be able to walk on your own very soon¡­" Xinran nodded before complaining, "Mn. If only I could fly like in the other world¡­" I chuckled. "That¡¯s impossible. We¡¯re not Ironman, you know?"[1] He Yi: "..." ¡­¡­ Speaking of which, Xu Ning and a couple Eternal Moon employees had been waiting for us outside Xinran¡¯s room. He asked, "You guys have been playing for quite a while." I nodded. "Yeah. Everyone¡¯s busy getting their ninth class promotions and ascensions, and I have my own business to take care of as well. Sorry to keep you waiting." Xu Ning smiled. "It¡¯s no trouble. Dinner has already been prepared, so let¡¯s head over and fill our tummies right now. By the way, Xinran can eat something other than porridge now, so I¡¯ve added some bread and other easily digestible stuff into her diet." "Got it." Xinran begged, "I want to eat meat, big brother. Both you and Sister Lin Yixin looked so happy when you were eating meat¡­" Xu Ning let out a laugh before lowering himself to Xinran¡¯s eye level. "Don¡¯t worry, big miss. Your digestive system will get used to the food in at most another week. You¡¯ll be able to eat all the meat you want then. Your big brother is a rich man, so he can treat you to meat everyday if you like¡­" Xinran looked at me excitedly. "Can I, big brother?" I chuckled. "Of course¡­" ¡­¡­ It was 9 pm after we¡¯ve eaten dinner. It was too early for bed, but Xinran¡¯s expression betrayed a hint of fatigue. Lin Yixin looked at me with those beautiful, confessional eyes and said, "So, Sister Eve will be keeping you company tonight¡­" I said, "Yeah. This will be the last night I sleep together with Xinran as well." Xinran¡¯s eyes widened. "But why, big brother? Don¡¯t you like Xinran anymore?" "Er¡­" I crouched on my knees before grasping Xinran¡¯s hand. "It¡¯s because we are siblings, Xinran. You are a grown-up now. One day, you¡¯ll find another boy whom you love from the bottom of your heart and marry him. Big brother will always protect Xinran, but it is one thing to protect you and another to treat you like I own you. Do you get what I¡¯m saying?" Xinran blinked. "I don¡¯t really understand, but¡­ big brother will leave Xinran if I ask you to stay with me, won¡¯t you?" I didn¡¯t know how to answer. "It¡¯s¡­ not really like that. Anyway, you¡¯ll understand eventually¡­" Xinran: "..." I rose back to my feet and said to Lin Yixin, "Can you buy a couple of female romance webnovels on 17k and show them to Xinran later? You may have noticed, but I have no idea how to teach her these things¡­" [2] Lin Yixin giggled. "Fine¡­" 1. T/N: says the super zombie ? 2. T/N: Lost Leaf advertising for 17k LOL ? CH 1511 It was night. The moonlight spilled through the curtains and onto the plaid sheets like water. "What¡¯s wrong? You can¡¯t sleep?" He Yi asked quietly beside me. I exhaled once before answering, "Mn. I was thinking what a shame it was that Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡ªespecially Little Piglet¡ªhad to go out the way they did¡­" He Yi chuckled. "It¡¯s Little Piglet¡¯s choice. In the past, Little Piglet was a greedy man who¡¯d do anything for money. However, what happened to Shangguan Wan¡¯er opened his eyes probably for the first time in his life and made him realize what really mattered to him, and what didn¡¯t. He walked away from it, so it¡¯s not too late for him." I replied, "On a related note, it looks like Warsky and Candlelight Shadow are determined to join hands and fight us with all they have. They were hoping to recreate the Three Kingdoms state of things, but our strength is greater than what they anticipated[1], so they had no choice but to work together even though they hate each other¡¯s guts." He Yi stretched lazily beneath the blanket before replying smilingly, "That, you don¡¯t have to worry about. Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi will handle most of the guild matters for you." I nodded. "Yes. I was planning to spend the next few days keeping you and Yiyi company anyway." "Speaking of which, how long has it been since you kept me company, huh?" He Yi said teasingly. Me: "..." I pulled He Yi into my arms and immediately felt my heart skipping a beat. She was wearing beige-colored pyjamas that gave her the look of an intellectual beauty, but it was only after I held her that I realized that she wasn¡¯t wearing anything underneath. ¡­¡­ I looked down and saw He Yi watching me with clear desire in her eyes. I didn¡¯t have to ask to know what she was hoping from me. Unable to control myself, I kissed her on the lips and felt as if I could melt right on top of her person. She responded to my advances clumsily and hugged me tight enough that our bodies looked like they would become one. I trailed a hand across her smooth, milky skin, finding not one bit of excess fat along her smooth left waist at all. She moaned against my lips and turned as red as an apple. Gently, I pulled away from He Yi and climbed on top of her. We watched each other for a moment before I bent down and trailed kisses along her lips. She smiled like an angel as she hugged me tighter and wrapped her long, slender legs around my back. To say that the pair of 34Ds pressing against my chest felt wholesome would be an understatement. "Do you want to¡­" He Yi started, but was too embarrassed to finish her sentence. Still kissing her lips, I let out a chuckle and asked, "You were boasting up a storm when you were joking around with sis earlier. Where did that bravery go, Sister Yi?" He Yi retorted, "That has nothing to do with this!" "Anyway, what were you asking again, hmm? Do you want to¡­ what?" I prodded while grabbing her breast. Her eyes grew even wetter, and another moan escaped her lips. "Uh¡ªyou naughty boy¡­" I felt like someone had set me on fire. I knew that this wouldn¡¯t be an easy night to pass, but I had no idea how crazy it would become until it did. He Yi was just as lost in lust as I was, her arms wrapped around me like unbreakable vines and her body having escaped the confines of her pyjamas before I knew it. Naturally, her breasts felt even more suffocating than before in the best way. "I can¡¯t hold it any longer¡­" I whispered, "Did you bring a condom, Eve?" He Yi shook her head and shot me a puppy face. "This is my first time. Do we really need it?" I said with difficulty, "I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s not safe¡­" "It¡¯s fine. Come on¡­" He Yi closed her eyes after saying that. I felt like my brain was melting inside my head. After I stripped away He Yi¡¯s final defense, I lowered my waist and felt the most wondrous sensation. I slowly pushed as He Yi held me tighter. ¡­¡­ Then, a voice resounded inside my head, "Are you crazy, Lu Chen? Is every one of your cells healthy? Can you guarantee her safety?" I slowed to a stop. Noticing that something was amiss, she asked, "What¡¯s wrong? I nearly broke my lip preparing myself for the pain, and you choose that exact moment to stop? Come on¡­" "Fuck¡­" I nearly burst out laughing at that. "Eve, I just remembered that my body isn¡¯t exactly¡­ safe right now. I think we should use a condom if we want to continue." "Where are we going to buy one though? It¡¯s so late. You¡¯re not suggesting that we ask Xu Ning, are you?" "Er¡­" I looked outside the window. "Look! There¡¯s a 24-hour supermarket on the opposite side of the street. I¡¯ll head there and buy it¡­" He Yi nodded. "Mn!" Before I could do anything though, a face suddenly appeared beside us and nearly scrapped the crap out of us, "Big brother, Sister Eve, what are you two doing?" "We¡­ we¡­ er¡­" It was none other than Xinran, of course. We had completely forgotten about her during our moment of passion, and we were so shocked we couldn¡¯t say a single word even when she was examining our position curiously. ¡­¡­ "Get down already, you little idiot¡­" He Yi gave me a push before laughing at the absurdity of the situation. I hurriedly did as she said before letting out an embarrassed cough. "It¡¯s nothing, Xinran. By the way, why are you still up?" "Well, I was thinking about Sophie¡¯s troubles. Her Corpse Eaters are running out of food as of late. They¡¯re even running out of wild animal carcasses in the forest¡­" I replied, "Er, I don¡¯t normally interfere with Sophie¡¯s business. Tell her to help herself¡­" "Mn." ¡­¡­ He Yi was still holding my hand inside the blanket when I turned back to her and whispered, "Looks like we¡¯ll have to postpone this until the next time¡­" "Mn. It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m not really in a hurry¡­" "I am though." "Really? Weren¡¯t you sleeping with Yiyi last night? Didn¡¯t you two¡­?" "We, er, we also decided to postpone it until the next time¡­" "Pooh! You are the most shameless man I¡¯ve ever met!" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Another wild and restless night passed just like that. My eyes were bloodshot due to poor sleep when I woke up the next day. Most people would wake up from the embrace of two gorgeous women looking like the sun, but me? I felt like the walking dead being forced to deal with the temptation and having nowhere to vent it! We met up with Lin Yixin after we left the room. She was clad in a black windbreaker. After she greeted us good morning, she showed us her phone display and complained, "It¡¯s terrible¡­" He Yi and I asked in confusion, "What¡¯s terrible?" Lin Yixin said with a frown, "Candlelight Shadow ascended to become a Chaos Divine Throne Guardian last night¡ªit¡¯s the same one as Breeze and Rain¡ªand learned Unusual Physique, Flight and Mount Armor Transformation¡­" "That is terrible¡­" I curled my lips. "What about our situation? How many more Divine Crystals do we need before He Yi can make another attempt?" He Yi replied, "I¡¯m just a couple Divine Crystals short before I can make an attempt. If I fail again, it¡¯ll probably take another week before we can gather enough Divine Crystals to make another attempt¡­" Lin Yixin added, "Purple Marquis suicided to Level 254 yesterday before grinding all night to get back to Level 255 [2]. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t trigger an ascension¡­" I let out a long sigh. "Patience. Hasty men don''t get to eat hot tofu. We have time." It was then Lin Yixin poked her head into Xinran¡¯s room and looked left and right. Her eyes were obviously gleaming with mischief. Knowing exactly what she was thinking about, I placed an arm across her shoulders and said, "Nothing happened last night, so you can stop wasting your energy now." "That¡¯s relieving to hear¡­" Lin Yixin patted her chest instinctively before turning red in realization. "Ah shit, I shouldn¡¯t have spoken my thoughts out loud¡­" He Yi replied expressionlessly, "It¡¯s okay. It shows that Yiyi is an honest and generous girl¡­" Lin Yixin: "..." ¡­¡­ After I ate breakfast, I promised Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi to slay the bosses of the S6 instance with them. Right as I was about to go online though, my phone suddenly rang with an unfamiliar number¡ª "Hello. Who is this?" I asked. The person on the other side had a low, masculine voice. "Is this Lu Chen?" "Yes, I am. And you are?" I asked in a confused tone. Lin Yixin and He Yi looked surprised as well. The guy continued in a cool tone, "I heard you¡¯re in Beijing right now. Is that true?" "Yes. Seriously, who are you?" "I¡¯m Little Piglet." "What!?" I nearly jumped on my feet. Once the shock had passed, I started chiding him, "Little Piglet you actual pig! Why did you give into the pressure and delete your account? The Heaven Suppressing Necklace, the equipment, all gone in one button tap! Such a shame!" He chuckled. "Haha. I know, but I¡¯ve gotten over it. Money is not the most important thing in the world, and you can¡¯t earn all the money there is in the world anyway. That is why I¡¯ve decided not to sacrifice my life for it any longer." "Good decision. Why are you calling me, by the way?" "Nah, it¡¯s just that both Shangguan Wan¡¯er and I are in Beijing right now. Do you want to meet up and chat a little?" "Sure! Where do we meet?" "Let¡¯s meet up at the Workers¡¯ Stadium (Beijing Workers'' Sports Complex) in front of the MIX Club [3] at 10 am. Is that fine?" "Sure. I¡¯m with Lin Yixin and He Yi right now. Is it okay if I bring them with me?" He chuckled again. "Mn. It¡¯ll be fun. I¡¯ll be there with Wan¡¯er as well." "Got it. See you later!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ "What¡¯s going on? What¡¯s the situation?" Lin Yixin asked with widened eyes after I hung up. I put down my phone and said to Eve, "Eve, can you message Chengfeng and Little Gui for me and tell them that our S6 plans for the morning are canceled? The three of us are going to the Workers¡¯ Stadium to meet up with a very important friend." "Who is it?" She asked. "It¡¯s Little Piglet!" They looked shocked. Lin Yixin asked after she collected her jaw from the floor. "I thought he deleted his account?" I shot her a strange look. "He did¡­ but he didn¡¯t delete his real life¡­" "Well, okay. I¡¯ve never been to the Workers¡¯ Stadium even though I¡¯ve heard of it many times over the years. This will be a good opportunity to sightsee¡­" "Okay. We agreed to meet up in front of the MIX club at 10 am, and there¡¯s not much time left. Let¡¯s go immediately, shall we?" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Ten minutes later, the three of us stood by the street and attempted to hail a taxi. When a taxi slowed to a stop next to us, I walked up to the driver and asked, "Driver, can you take us to the Workers¡¯ Stadium?" "Workers¡¯ Stadium? That¡¯s too far! No deal!" The taxi drove off just like that. After the second taxi came to a stop, I tried again, "Driver, can you take us to the Workers¡¯ Stadium?" "Workers¡¯ Stadium? That¡¯s a bit out of the way, and I need to fetch someone else later. You should wait and find a different taxi!" The second taxi left us as well. After the third taxi came to a stop, I repeated, "Driver, can you take us to the Workers¡¯ Stadium?" "Workers¡¯ Stadium? Sorry, I¡¯m handing over to the next shift!" The third taxi drove off without any remorse. The fourth taxi came to a stop, and I repeated once more, "Driver, can you take us to the Workers¡¯ Stadium?" "Workers¡¯ Stadium? Sorry, but you should find another driver. I¡¯m not feeling too good today, and I¡¯m looking for stops that won¡¯t require me to brake too often. I wouldn¡¯t want to cause you trouble." The fourth taxi drove away like the wind. Unable to control myself any longer, I shouted furiously, "These fuckers have zero professionalism whatsoever!" Beside me, Lin Yixin shook her head and said, "Nah, you¡¯re just bad at this¡­" She took a step forward and, while her miniskirt was fluttering lightly to the wind, pulled up the hem of her skirt a little to reveal her smooth, white thigh. A taxi that was driving at a breakneck speed a moment skidded to a dead stop right in front of her. The driver asked, "WHERE ARE YOU GOING, PRETTY????" "Workers¡¯ Stadium." "LET¡¯S GO!!!!" 1. E/N: Food for thought. 3 is the magic number. No two of the three can go to war because they will both lose after the third sweeps the remnants.My homework for you, our awesome readers, is try to think about it in the real world. China, NATO, Russia. Think why we live in peaceful times, and how bad it would be for NATO to split into two. I¡¯m just saying, 4 kingdoms can easily become semifinals. I¡¯ve seen some people surprised USA gets involved with Europe. Well, we need the third kingdom to be just one kingdom, and can¡¯t let any of the other two get too strong. ? 2. T/N: how many bosses did he kill in a row? Because there¡¯s no way he can grind normally back to 255 in one night ? 3. T/N: once again, most if not all of the IRL locations in this story are real ? Favorite CH 1512 We arrived at Beijing Workers'' Sports Complex before 10 am. We saw a couple standing in front of the MIX club. They were of course Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er. They looked a little weary even though they had deleted their accounts and freed themselves from their demons. Some injuries stay with you forever. Perhaps the only way to heal them was to vanish from the world itself. When we were less than ten meters away from the couple, I greeted them with a smile, "I thought I wasn¡¯t ever going to see the two of you again!" Little Piglet turned around to face me. He was wearing a black windbreaker and crossing his arms in front of his chest. "We shouldn¡¯t. Wan¡¯er and I had made up our minds to never¡ª" I knew what he was trying to say, so I interrupted him before he could finish. "How about we find a place to sit down and have a drink before we get into the serious stuff, yeah?" "Sure. There¡¯s a coffee shop over there." "Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ As the five of us walked side by side toward our destination, I asked Shangguan Wan¡¯er, "Long time no see, Wan¡¯er. How are you doing lately?" She smiled back and responded, "It¡¯s okay. I¡¯ve been living together with Little Piglet. We haven¡¯t really planned out what to do after we deleted our accounts, and we¡¯re still in the middle of discussing the details." I nodded. "I see. Still, Little Piglet must¡¯ve saved up some money during his time as the king of the outer lands, right Little Piglet?" The man in question raised five fingers and answered, "Yep. Fifty million." "Good, good. Assuming you don¡¯t live too luxuriously, you won¡¯t need to worry about basic necessities anymore." "Of course, it¡¯s important to be frugal¡­" It wasn¡¯t long before we settled down at a table and ordered our respective drinks. Lin Yixin, He Yi and I sat together on one side, and Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er on the opposite side of the table. "Ahem¡­" I let out a cough before starting, "You two have no idea how pained, no, agonized I felt when you deleted your accounts." Shangguan Wan¡¯er looked at me and asked, "Do you actually mean what you say, Lu Chen? Do you really think of Little Piglet as a friend?" I nodded. "Of course. I was agonized that a great talent and account went poof just like that. It is a loss for the entire China server. At the same time, I was also agonized by the loss of the Heaven Suppressing Necklace. It¡¯s 100% lifesteal, man. That¡¯s a stat even I salivate over in my dreams. Excluding Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Dragon Tooth Arm, the Heaven Suppressing Necklace is probably the best item of the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments!" Little Piglet wasn¡¯t sure if he should laugh or cry. "Fuck, it¡¯s the Heaven Suppressing Necklace you were agonized over, not me!" I took a sip of coffee before continuing, "That being said, losing the Heaven Suppressing Necklace is probably the best decision you could¡¯ve made at the time. Otherwise, the world will surely hound you for the equipment no matter where you escaped to. Now then¡­" Beside me, He Yi shot me a glance, snickered, and whispered to Lin Yixin, "Here comes the main point¡­" I smiled awkwardly before continuing, "You¡¯re both probably past the line where you need to work hard to make a living, but isn¡¯t it a shame to abandon an excellent game like Heavenblessed just like that? Therefore, I would like to formally extend an invitation to you both. Come to Ancient Sword, Little Piglet, Wan¡¯er. It doesn¡¯t matter to me what level you are at, and how strong your equipment is. I promise you that Ancient Sword will be your unbreakable shelter." Little Piglet looked surprised. "But¡­ we¡¯ve already decided to quit the game." Shangguan Wan¡¯er said quietly, "Oh really? Then why have you created a new account to run around on?" Little Piglet: "I..." I smiled a little before motioning for Little Piglet to elaborate. "Why don¡¯t you tell me about your new accounts?" Little Piglet let out a cough before starting, "We created our new accounts the same night we deleted our existing ones. We made sure to alter our appearance so that most people wouldn¡¯t be able to recognize us. However, our plan was just to fool around the starting village and slay some Green Praying Mantises and pass the time." I grimaced a little but resolved myself to say, "In that case, you definitely should come to Ancient Sword. We are friends, aren¡¯t we? Also, you¡¯ve left a piece of equipment with me¡­" "Huh? What?" Little Piglet asked in confusion. I lifted my arm. "The Crimson Dragon Arm, of course. With it, it will not be a matter of chance whether you¡¯ll get top-tier equipment, only a matter of time. If you join Ancient Sword, then it will be my gift to you. It was yours in the first place¡­" "Oh right! The Crimson Dragon Arm¡­" Little Piglet looked visibly excited. "I had thought it was stolen by that bastard, Candlelight Shadow¡­" Lin Yixin put a hand on my shoulder and declared proudly, "Candlelight Shadow¡¯s looting skill is nothing compared to this guy¡¯s!" I chuckled. "Again, I would like you two to join Ancient Sword. We will prepare the skill books, the Ascension Proofs needed to ascend and become a Famous General, the items needed to become a Divine General and so on. We will do our best to return you to your former strength. In fact, I can even make you one of our five corps commanders. When the time comes, all you need to do is to point the finger to wipe out anyone you want. I shouldn¡¯t need to tell you, but any one of our armies can roll over Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s remnants like nothing¡­" It didn¡¯t take long before the silence was broken. Pa! Little Piglet slapped the table and declared, "Screw it! Let¡¯s do it! I¡¯ll join Ancient Sword if only for your personality and strength!" Shangguan Wan¡¯er smiled. "What a relief¡­ Whatever happens now, he won¡¯t be brooding inside his head anymore." I asked, "What are your new IDs? I¡¯ll add you two the moment I get back." Little Piglet answered, "My ID is ¡®Piglike Opponent¡¯, and Wan¡¯er¡¯s is "Godlike Teammate¡¯. I¡¯m a basic warrior, and Wan¡¯er is an archer. Yeah, she changed classes. She said she wanted to try out Beiming Xue¡¯s style of one-shotting opponents from superior range¡­" I exhaled. "Great IDs. Alright! I¡¯ll go find you in your starting village this afternoon after I grab your equipment. I¡¯ll also return you your Crimson Dragon Arm; just remember to throw it into your warehouse until your level is high enough to use it again. By the way, do you guys want to go for a drink later at noon?" Little Piglet smiled. "Sure, why not? By the way, what are you guys doing in Beijing? I thought you all lived in southern China?" "We had to come here for some important top secret business that we are in no capacity to tell you¡­" "Fine, I shall not be prying into the affairs of my guild leader, vice leader and Beauty Lin, heh¡­" ¡­¡­ When it was noon, we went to a restaurant to eat lunch and enjoy some alcohol. Little Piglet and I had deleted a bottle of Maotai liquor almost single-handedly. It was ridiculously expensive, and I couldn¡¯t even write it off as expenses. On second thought, I was now a core member of Eternal Moon Corporation, and I could even make myself the CEO if I wanted to. I could probably really write this off as an expense, but I supposed it would be too shameless[1]¡­ When the time ticked past 1 pm, when we returned to Eternal Moon China headquarters, I saw Xinran holding a small umbrella and waiting for us to return at the entrance. The moment I returned, Xinran walked up to me while Xu Ning supported her and said in a near sobbing voice, "Where did you go, big brother?" I hurriedly went up to her and supported her. "I went out for some business. Have you eaten lunch yet, Xinran?" "Yes¡­" "Let¡¯s return to our rooms then. It¡¯s windy and raining outside¡­" "Okay!" After I calmed down Xinran and made her go online, I returned to my own room and logged into the game. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! After I appeared in Dark Moon City, I repaired my equipment, replenished my potions and sent Chaos Moon a message: "Sister Moon, I got a question for you!" Chaos Moon responded, "What do you want to know, Brother Chen?" I asked, "What is the best equipment for a Level 50 swordsman and archer right now?" "Oh. A Level 50 swordsman should have a Level 50 Gold-grade Fire Wolf[2] equipment set and a Level 50 Spirit-grade sword. Level 50 archer should have a Level 50 Gold-grade Clear Shadow equipment set and a Level 50 Spirit-grade bow. What¡¯s this about, dear?" I coughed once before saying, "Please get me these items within an hour then. Actually, please get me the strongest equipment for a Level 100 warrior and archer as well." "No problem. It¡¯ll cost you some money though." "How much?" "Around 50k gold." "Okay. Just grab it from the guild warehouse and put the expenses under my account." "Okay. Vice leader big bro is majestic¡­" "Go get spliced already, you!" "Oh? Who will be my bridegroom? You?" "Nah, you should marry Chengfeng. He¡¯s been lusting over you since forever¡­" "Nonsense, we all know that his one true lover is Gui Guzi." "You know too much. Be careful, or they may silence you to hide their shame." "It will be fine. You will protect me, right?" "Sure, sure, now stop dilly-dallying and go grab those items already!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Chaos Moon was an even faster worker than I expected. Less than 20 minutes later, she appeared at the territory hall with the Dihai Blade in one hand and a bag in the other. "It¡¯s done. It so happens that the sets were sold at the auction house, and I got them all for a total of 47k gold. I¡¯ve already taken the gold from the guild warehouse." "Nice job." After I received the equipment from Chaos Moon, I said, "Thank you. I knew this, but you really are better at this than I am. It would¡¯ve taken me at least an hour to gather everything I need." "I gladly accept your praise, but what do you need these items for? You¡¯re aware that our guild doesn¡¯t accept super low-level newbies, right?" I nodded. "I know, but I¡¯m the one who makes the rules, aren¡¯t I? Naturally, I have the power to break them as well." Chaos Moon squirmed in mock embarrassment. "So manly. What else are you going to break? Maybe¡­" "Do not utter another word, you shameless woman!" I patted Chaos Moon once on the shoulder before walking past her. "Grind hard and ascend to become a god as soon as possible, okay? Only then will you be able to unleash the Dihai Blade¡¯s true power. Anyway, I¡¯m going now!" "Kay!" ¡­¡­ After I exited the city, I searched for the IDs "Piglike Opponent" and "Godlike Teammate" and added them both as friends. Then, I asked Little Piglet, "Which starting village are you at, bro?" "No. 177 within Floating Ice City borders. Are you coming right now?" "Yep. Coordinates?" "We¡¯re at (19,383, 52,656)." "Okay. Wait for me!" I accelerated to top speed and broke through the clouds in no time, leaving behind a supersonic shockwave in my wake. Because my Scarlet Dragon Armor, Cloak of Divine Fervor and even my Asura God divine powers looked as red as blood, I sometimes wondered if I looked like a devil to a random player. Less than five minutes later, I glided downward and landed steadily at a forest clearing. Not far away, I saw a couple of Level 7 Green Praying Mantises screeching at a newbie warrior and swinging their blades at him. The warrior easily zigzagged between the attacks and struck one of the mobs three times in quick succession. Unfortunately, the iron sword¡¯s Attack was so low that he only dealt 10 damage per hit. Behind him, an archer with excellent figure shot the mobs accurately and methodically. Tsk tsk, their cooperation was pretty good considering that Shangguan Wan¡¯er was learning a new class¡­ I helped Little Piglet wipe out the Green Praying Mantises by dropping an Ancient Seal on top of them. The guy immediately turned around and joked, "What the fuck, some high-level dog came to steal our food!" I guffawed. "You¡¯re the dog! I¡¯ve come with the equipment I promised." 1. E/N: Lu Chen, you do realize being the CEO of Eternal Moon doesn¡¯t mean law doesn¡¯t mean jack shit to you, right? Being CEO doesn¡¯t change anything ? 2. T/N: I think this set was mentioned a looooooooong time ago between two random players actually, what a callback ? CH 1513 Little Piglet looked incredulous when he saw the brand new Fire Wolf equipment set. "This¡­ is worth a lot of money, isn¡¯t it?" "You serious, man? Who do you think I am?" I was incredulous that he was incredulous. "Your current equipment is shit, so we need to replace it. Now come on, I¡¯ll powerlevel you two to 50 so you can wear them." "Is it really okay?" Shangguan Wan¡¯er asked smilingly, "We wouldn¡¯t want to waste the Little Heavenly King¡¯s precious grinding time¡­" I rolled my eyes. "I¡¯m Level 270 right now. Is there even a map on Heavenblessed that can boost my level anymore? Yesterday I spent over half the day grinding several maps worth of mobs and bosses, and all I got was a grand total of 1% experience! It¡¯s terrible!" Little Piglet chuckled. "Alright then. I know there¡¯s a Fire Stone Valley with high-level mobs between Level 70 and 120 about five kilometers away from here. Let¡¯s kill those mobs and powerlevel to 50 in one go. Once we can equip these items, we won¡¯t need to trouble Lu Chen anymore." I nodded. "Yep. Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ The moonlight cast three soft shadows on the ground as we followed a small trail. On the way, Shangguan Wan¡¯er looked at me and said, "Ahem, Lu Chen, you know your Xuanyuan Sword, Scarlet Dragon Armor and Cloak of Divine Fervor are on full display, right? Anyone who sees you will be able to identify you immediately, and from there it wouldn¡¯t take them too much effort to figure out who we are. That wouldn¡¯t be good, would it?" I apologized immediately, "Sorry, you¡¯re right. I¡¯ve completely forgotten about this. Just give me a moment to disguise myself¡­" "Yeah, be quick~" I took out the Master of Disguise Ring and turned off all of my equipment luster. I then dulled the appearance of my equipment until they looked like plain equipment. Finally, I altered my own appearance to make it look like I was a newbie who just recently entered the game; a super newbie to be exact since they still wouldn¡¯t be able to see my level [1]. But of course, I didn¡¯t alter my appearance so much that my looks were inferior to Little Piglet or Shangguan Wan¡¯er¡­ Little Piglet¡¯s chosen race was barbarian. He had long, crimson hair and bulging muscles everywhere including his face. His eyes looked as wide as a toad¡¯s, and he looked like he could shake a mountain with a shout. Appearance-wise, he looked like your standard all brawns no brains or skill player, but in reality Little Piglet was anything but unskilled. In the future, he might even become a warrior with High Fighting Spirits¡¯ explosive power and Chaos Moon¡¯s delicate control. When that day came, he would be a true peak expert. As for Shangguan Wan¡¯er, she had chosen to be an elf this time. Not only did it complement well with her already gorgeous looks, her long ears twitched from time to time whenever she said something. Little Piglet was obviously completely infatuated with her new look. ¡­¡­ Beep! System Notice: Player "Dark Iron Sword" has joined your party! As the party leader, I activated the stratagem "Iron Wall VIII" to increase everyone¡¯s Defense by 120%. The reason I did so was to ensure that Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er wouldn¡¯t be one-shot by the high-level mobs. "Dark Iron Sword? Not bad. But why do I feel like I¡¯ve seen your ID somewhere?" Shangguan Wan¡¯er watched me closely. Little Piglet revealed the truth, "Dark Iron Sword was the man who wrecked Ray of Sunshine outside Sky City without using any skill whatsoever. It was you all along, Lu Chen? Fuck¡­ I should¡¯ve known better though. It¡¯s not everyday you run into an expert who can toy with Ray of Sunshine like a child¡­" I chuckled. "Yep, this is my shadow identity. I use it to do all that dirty work my original identity cannot do¡­" Shangguan Wan¡¯er approved. "Yes, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is a Heavenly King and a hero, but that fame comes with a lot of unwritten restrictions. You are wise to have a shadow identity." I nodded before pointing at a horde of Level 85 elite wolves ahead of us. "I¡¯m going to grind the mobs now. You guys can just stand here and leech the experience. Grind hard and try to hit Level 200 in a week, okay?" "You serious?" Little Piglet looked astonished. "Wan¡¯er and I are awesome, but we¡¯re not that awesome, guild leader. It¡¯s practically impossible to hit Level 200 in a week¡­" I smiled. "It¡¯s not possible to get to Level 200 normally, no, but what if I ask Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and more to take turns to powerlevel you guys in major leveling grounds? In that case, 200 levels in a week is nothing at all." A pause later, I added, "Getting to a high level¡ªpreferably Level 240 or higher¡ªas soon as possible will be beneficial to you as well. It¡¯ll give people the impression that you¡¯ve joined the game a long time ago. This way, few people will suspect that you are really Little Piglet and Wan¡¯er." Little Piglet waved his sword once. "Yes, what you said makes sense. Let¡¯s do this then, guild leader!" "Yeah!" I charged toward the horde of wolves and used Burning Blade Slash, one-shotting at least a hundred of them instantly. 50% of the experience went to me, and only 1% or so went to Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er. Even so, the experience they gained was enough to increase their levels by a dozen immediately! Three hours later, I swept through the entire Fire Stone Valley and annihilated all the wolves, dogs and bears residing in the map. It was such an intense session that even the Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s durability had fallen by 40%. The good news was that Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er finally reached Level 50 and were able to put on the equipment I had given them. There was still time, so I looked above the map and said, "The night is still young. Do you guys want to grind two hours of Corpse Eater Lair?" Corpse Eater Lair was a fairly infamous map. It had an incredible mob respawn rate, and the Corpse Eaters were Level 120 to 150 dread-rank monsters. Although they gave incredible experience, most low-level players were too weak to grind there. They were more likely to die than to reap the bountiful experience the Corpse Eaters carried. As a result, not many players frequented the map at all. Sometimes, a small party or two would grind it, but even then they never ventured deep to the center. Little Piglet shrugged while swinging his new Spirit-grade sword around, "Sure! If you¡¯re fine with this arrangement, then of course we are too. In fact, let¡¯s see if we can hit Level 100 today. I know what you said, but Level 200 in 7 days is still a pain¡­" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ We were greeted by a mapful of Corpse Eaters the moment we entered Corpse Eater Lair, so that was great. Also, it had been a while since I got to enjoy the sensation of one-shotting, well, anything. The game had reached its mid to late stage, and even Candle Dragon¡¯s shitty Qiu Beast Cavalry had over 5 million HP on average. As for our Dragonlight Cavalry, they easily had over 8 million HP with full buffs. The Xuanyuan Sword was powerful, but the days where it could one-shot a target was long gone unless they were small fries like the Corpse Eaters I was mowing down right now. However, it wasn¡¯t long before Little Piglet suddenly let out a warning, "Someone¡¯s coming, Lu Chen¡­" "Yeah, I see them." I saw a large group of players making their way toward our location on the minimap. "Let¡¯s step aside. There¡¯s no reason for us to clash against them." We stepped away from the trail and beneath a tree where there were a ton of Corpse Eater bodies. The sound of horse hooves grew louder and louder. Soon, the cavalrymen were close enough to be seen under the moonlight. They were all Level 230+ and wearing the guild emblem of ¡°Mad Dragon 1st Subguild¡± on their arm. Little Piglet gritted his teeth as he said in the party channel, "Fuck! Do they belong to Mad Dragon?" I nodded. "Yeah. Their main guild is dead, but their subguilds are still around, it seems. It doesn¡¯t matter though. Even if the remnants are still alive, they are far weaker especially after they¡¯ve parted ways with Hegemon Palace." ¡­¡­ As the party of cavalrymen trucked past us, we saw that they were followed by dozens of low-level players between Level 70 to 100. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, the higher-level cavalrymen were here to powerlevel their buddies just like us. It was at this moment the Level 244 cavalryman at the forefront directed a malicious grin at us and said, "Mad Dragon 1st Subguild will be conducting a leveling event in Corpse Eater Lair. Please leave before we show you who¡¯s boss!" Another cavalryman looked at us and said, "Yo, that Level 53 archer girl looks pretty cute! What a shame that a 7 out of 10 at minimum is sticking together with 2 ugly bastards. Hey girl, you wanna join Mad Dragon 1st Subguild? We promise to carry you to Level 150 within a week~~" Shangguan Wan¡¯er replied coolly, "Not interested!" The Level 244 cavalryman immediately frowned in dissatisfaction. "Tsk, we offer you kindness, and this is what we get? Whatever. Let¡¯s go already, Third. We need to get to the Corpse Eater Hall as soon as possible. The guild leader ordered us to carry these 50 players to Level 80, remember? We can¡¯t afford to waste time here." However, the warrior disagreed, "Nah, I think we should clear the air first, if you get what I mean. I don¡¯t like the way that Piglike Opponent is staring at me. I want him dead!" Little Piglet uttered, "Your gaze feels revolting too, bitch!" "What did you say, you fuck? You are courting death!" Even after all the turmoil they had gone through, Mad Dragon was as arrogant as ever. Roaming Dragon possessed a unique charisma that kept drawing assholes like these idiots to him, I supposed¡­ Swhoosh! The warrior thrust his spear at Little Piglet in an attempt to kill him with Barrier Break. He would definitely be killed if he took a hit, and he probably couldn¡¯t dodge it because the stat difference between the duo was too great. "Back off, you two. I¡¯ll take care of them!" I knocked aside the guy¡¯s Barrier Break with ease and leaped into the air. After I kneed him in the jaw for 790k damage, I thrust the Xuanyuan Sword right through his dirty mouth! 2,765,712! How unfortunate for him. It was a critical hit! Just like that, the Level 241 warrior was one-shot. For a time, the hundreds of Mad Dragon players could only gape at me in shock. "What the fuck! Who the fuck is this Dark Iron Sword? His level is hidden, and he managed to take out Third in two hits! Get him now! Wipe him out!" ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t use any skill because I didn¡¯t want to expose myself. My skill alone was enough to deal with these chuckleheads anyway! The Xuanyuan Sword cut through their armor and flesh like a hot knife through butter. Occasionally, it would even one-shot a small group of people due to it triggering its septuple damage effect and dealing massive amounts of splash damage. Less than three minutes later, all 226 high-level Mad Dragon 1st Subguild players were dead. I didn¡¯t kill the dozens of leeching low-level players because it was beneath me. I pointed my sword at them and threatened, "What are you guys still standing there for? You aren¡¯t expecting me to powerlevel you all, are you?" The group scattered like rabbits, and Shangguan Wan¡¯er burst out in laughter. "Lu Chen sure is an interesting fellow¡­" Little Piglet was grinning as well. "Maybe our lives would have been less tumultuous had we joined Ancient Sword sooner." I curled my lips. "Enough bootlicking, you two. I still have stuff to do tomorrow, so the sooner you hit Level 100, the better!" "What stuff?" "The three of us are returning to Suzhou tomorrow. By the way, feel free to give me a call and visit Suzhou whenever you like. I¡¯ll treat you two to mitten crabs!" "Yeah. We¡¯ll visit once we¡¯ve settled down in Beijing!" 1. T/N: I thought the ring disguises level as well? E/N: Well, it does. But he¡¯s still an entity with Level 250+, so level suppression still applies, and in this case, people can¡¯t see his stats and level. Just like a Level 50 player couldn¡¯t make themself Level 400 and make everyone unable to see their level when they should, Lu Chen can¡¯t make others see his level when they shouldn¡¯t. ? CH 1514 The next day, 7 in the morning. My back and waist felt a bit sore as I awakened from my dreams. I had a pretty good sleep last night. At the very least, it wasn¡¯t a night where I had to rein in my impulses all night. I thought back to yesterday¡¯s events while lying on my bed. Life was like a dream sometimes. After I had powerleveled Little Piglet and Shangguan Wan¡¯er to Level 100 last night, they had put on the Level 100 equipment set I gave them and went off to grind instances. After that, I asked Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon and the others to assist them in their grinding. I didn¡¯t tell anyone about their identities, but I was sure that Chaos Moon and Li Chengfeng at least had already figured out who they were. They just hadn¡¯t said anything about it. The fewer people who knew about this, the better! I didn¡¯t get to daydream for long before someone knocked on my door. "It¡¯s time to go home, Little Cheat!" It was Lin Yixin. While I got out of bed, I asked, "Yeah. Give me a moment. Have you booked the train tickets?" "Nope! Xu Ning had arranged a private jet to fly us to Sunan Shuofang International Airport directly. Someone will be receiving us there¡­" "Fuck, fine¡­" I scratched my head. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t expecting this level of treatment at all. I guessed that I had really climbed the ranks now¡­ ¡­¡­ After breakfast, at the entrance hall. Xu Ning said while holding Xinran¡¯s hand tightly, "Listen to Lu Chen when you¡¯re at Suzhou, okay Xinran? Uhh, now that I think about it, you¡¯ve only listened to Lu Chen since you woke up, so scratch that. Anyway, Uncle Ning will visit you as much as he can, so take good care of yourself, okay?" Xinran replied while nodding, "I know, Uncle Ning, so don¡¯t cry." Xu Ning: "..." I added, "Don¡¯t worry, Uncle Ning. I will take good care of Xinran. She will be perfectly safe and sound." "That¡¯s good to hear. You already know this, but Professor Chen and two nurses will be going with you. Assuming that nothing goes wrong with the big miss¡¯s recovery, Professor Chen will return to Beijing a month later." "Got it. We¡¯re leaving now." "Take care!" After we exited the building, I carried Xinran in my arms while Lin Yixin folded her wheelchair together. We entered a limousine while two employees moved our luggages into the trunk. On the way to the airport, I called Murong Mingyue to inform her about a couple of things, and she said that she had already booked lunch. We would be able to enjoy a meal the moment we returned to our new workshop. ¡­¡­ A black-colored private jet was waiting for us the moment we arrived at the airport. It immediately entered the airstrip and took off after we boarded it. It was a one and a half hour flight, which was neither too long nor too short a time. I was sitting on a sofa and peeling an apple for Xinran. He Yi mocked me saying that my technique was so bad that the only thing left of the apple was the inedible core. Lin Yixin was closing her eyes and catching a short rest when suddenly, she opened her eyes and asked, "I think the best time to attack Sky City and Wind City is now, so why aren¡¯t the Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City and Swallow Ear Canton doing anything?" He Yi shook her head and said, "No idea!" I replied, "Maybe they¡¯re still waiting." "Waiting for what?" Lin Yixin asked. I thought for a moment before answering, "Maybe they¡¯re waiting for more of the Twelve and Ghost Armaments to drop. Maybe they¡¯re waiting for more of their players to become gods. Both Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and God of War are aware that divine players will be the pivots of all future wars. They must be searching for a way to ascend their players with everything they¡¯ve got. I promise you that the Northern Alliance will attack us the moment they deem that they have enough gods to destroy us!" Lin Yixin fell silent for a moment before saying, "I don¡¯t think that there¡¯s anything we can do to stop them." I nodded. "Yeah. What we can do is develop more Divine Rank players than they do. It is why I had tried so hard to recruit Little Piglet back to the game. Our enemies are numerous, and we only have so many experts. We absolutely cannot afford to lose any talent." He Yi chuckled. "Who cares? Right now, the most important thing is to head home and enjoy the warmth of the south! Beijing is just too cold for my taste!" "Haha, I agree. Would you like to move in with us, Yiyi?" I asked. Lin Yixin shook her head. "I¡¯ll still be staying in Snowy Cathaya¡¯s workshop, but I¡¯ll definitely visit your new place from time to time, so don¡¯t forget to keep a room for me. It must have an ample amount of sunlight and a big bed¡­" I replied, "Of course. The bed will be big enough for you to roll back and forth as you please. In fact, it¡¯ll be big enough for three people to roll around the bedsheets¡­" "Pooh! Shameless!" Both ladies glared at me in unison. ¡­¡­ We arrived at Sunan Shuofang International Airport at 10 am and entered a private car. Before it was even 11 am, we crossed Suzhou¡¯s borders and began heading straight toward our new workshop. I felt extremely blessed as the car slowly passed through the gate and into the massive garden of our villa. If nothing else, it wasn¡¯t a bad place for the little princess of Eternal Moon to live in. A three-storey detached villa entered our field of view, and standing in front of the entrance was none other than Murong Mingyue, Lian Xin and Beiming Xue. The moment the car came to a stop, a cheerful-looking Beiming Xue opened the car door in a hurry and said, "Where¡¯s Xinran? I need to see how cute she is in real life~~" Xinran blushed and pressed her face against my chest. "Big brother¡­" I shot her a reassuring smile and said, "This is Beiming!" "Hello, Sister Beiming Xue¡­" "Good girl! I¡¯ll buy you some sweets later¡­" Xinran: "..." I let out a cough and chided the girls, "Stop treating Xinran like a little girl, Beiming, Lian Xin. Did you forget that she¡¯s the Wind Singer inside the game? She¡¯s the woman who faced countless murder attempts and conspiracies and came out alive. In fact, I bet she¡¯s way smarter than you two when it comes to scheming and trickery¡­" Xinran pulled my arm and complained, "I¡¯m not tricky, big brother¡­" ¡­¡­ The room arrangements had already been completed. My room was the centermost room on the second floor facing toward the stairs. One might say that I was the guard of the second floor. The two nurses, Professor Chen and the hourly auntie each had a room to themselves on the first floor. Also, there was a security post less than a hundred meters away from us, so our safety shouldn¡¯t be a problem. The dining room on the first floor was practically twice the size of our original workshop¡¯s living room. A tableful of food had already been prepared for us, although most of them were light-flavored and dry because Xinran was still recuperating. We were starving, so we didn¡¯t hesitate to take a seat and dig into the food immediately. Murong Mingyue said while holding a ladle, "By the way, there¡¯s one thing I need to ask your opinions about." "Hmm? What is it?" He Yi looked up. She smiled. "It¡¯s nothing big. Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, Yamete and more found out that you¡¯ve returned from Beijing with Xinran, so they¡¯re planning to hold a welcoming dinner for her at this very workshop tonight. It¡¯s been a while since we all gathered anyway. What do you think?" He Yi looked at me and said, "You decide, Lu Chen." I thought for a moment before saying, "Tell them to prepare a red packet with at least 10k RMB in it, or they can forget about showing their face¡­" Murong Mingyue curled her lips. "You are one scummy older brother, aren¡¯t you?" I shrugged. "How is this scummy? Those bastards claim that they want to hold a welcoming dinner for Xinran, but who¡¯s the one who will be preparing the food? We are. They just want to eat a free dinner. No, it¡¯s my solemn duty to stop them from taking advantage of us too much¡­" "Yes, yes, you¡¯re all despicable. Anyway, I¡¯m leaving to make the preparations then. It¡¯ll be too expensive to order directly from the restaurants, so I¡¯m just going to hire a couple of chefs over to prepare our food. I¡¯ll be purchasing our alcohol separately as well." "Sure. Thanks for everything, sis!" "You¡¯re welcome!" Murong Mingyue puffed up her huge chest with pride before shooting me a resentful look. "Seriously though, Lian Xin and I barely slept a wink in the past three days to get this residence set up and move everything in, you heartless bastards. Appreciate me more¡­" I shot her a glance and snorted. "Like hell you are. I can see that your eyes are puffy from oversleeping, you know. I bet you¡¯ve been sleeping over 10 hours everyday¡­" "My eyes are puffy because I haven¡¯t been sleeping!" "Yeah, yeah, whatever¡­" ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t log into the game when afternoon arrived because there weren¡¯t many things left to do online. My level was too high to grind, and everyone else was busy with their ascensions. There wasn¡¯t much I could do for them either, so instead I chose to keep Xinran company and explore our garden a little. From what Murong Mingyue told me, the villa had been purchased at the price of 17.9 million RMB. No wonder the garden was ridiculously huge. "Big brother¡­" Xinran wasn¡¯t sitting on a wheelchair right now. Wearing a beige-colored miniskirt and a pair of white boots, she was currently holding onto my arm and carefully stepping on the fallen leaves on the ground. After maintaining her balance for a while, she said with a smile, "I think I can walk on my own now¡­" I slowly released her, took a few steps to the front before facing toward her with my arms spread. "Try walking over to me then. Don¡¯t fall, okay?" "Okay." Xinran bit her lips and slowly made her way over. Although her steps looked a bit odd, it was a rather pleasing view considering how beautiful Xinran was. The moment she got close to me, her left leg gave way, and she collapsed into my embrace. It will take her a while longer to walk on her own, I see. "Should we take a rest?" "Mn!" I supported Xinran to a rattan chair before taking a seat myself. Xinran looked at me, then at the ground, then at me again. I said expressionlessly, "Walk over yourself if you wish to sit in my lap¡­" "Can I?! Okay!" She smiled ear to ear before rising from her chair. She then walked up to me, sat on my lap and hugged my neck affectionately, saying, "I like being in your lap, big brother. It makes me feel like time has come to a stop, and that I can forget everything." I caressed her shoulders lightly. "Is that so? But¡­ this isn¡¯t right, Xinran. Remember what I said about ¡®men and women should not touch hands when they give or receive things¡¯? When you get a boyfriend in the future, he is sure to annihilate me if he sees us like this¡­" Xinran looked at me and said, "In that case, I don¡¯t want a boyfriend. I only want you, big brother¡­" I said, "Big brother will marry either Eve or Yiyi in the future though. When the day comes, I won¡¯t be able to hold you like this anymore. Otherwise, they may get angry and annihilate me together¡­" Xinran sniffed and looked like she was about to cry. "What do we do then?" Me: "..." A while later, I supported Xinran to her feet and resumed her walking practice. I also taught her some normal habits and stuff. The sooner she grew accustomed to the modern world, the better. I knew full well I wouldn¡¯t be able to stay with her forever. All I could do was to teach her as many things as I could while I was still in this world. ¡­¡­ Xinran was practicing her walking when a group of people suddenly barged into the courtyard without warning. A brawny, savage-looking man walked right up to her, broke into a savage grin, and held up a tanghulu before saying, "Smile for me, and I¡¯ll give you a tanghulu, little girl!" Xinran was so scared that she dared not move a muscle. I said expressionlessly, "You wanna die, Fighting Spirits?" Favorite CH 1515 Behind High Fighting Spirits were Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi, and they were carrying a small red box each. The boxes were open, so I could see that there was a small cake about half the size of a palm inside of them. They passed their gifts to Xinran with a smile and said, "Hehe, we finally got to meet you in person, Xinran! You¡¯re one pretty little sister, aren¡¯t you?" I shot the boxes a glance and said, "Wow, that¡¯s quite the ¡®big¡¯ gift you brought Xinran¡­" "But of course! It¡¯s only right considering that she just returned to the real world!" I said, "Want to make your gift even bigger then? I¡¯ve prepared a card swiper at the living hall. When we get inside, you will all swipe 10,000 USD[1]." "Nooooo¡­¡­" ¡­¡­ A while later, Li Chengfeng and the others arrived as well. A huge group of people were already gathered at the living hall of the workshop including Chaos Moon, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, Moonlight Stone and more. We would need two large tables at least to accommodate this many guests. While walking along a flight of bluestone steps and supporting Xinran, Chaos Moon walked up to us with a grin on her face. "Is this Xinran, Lu Chen? Hello, Lady Wind Singer! You¡¯re really pretty!" Xinran nodded embarrassedly before asking, "Thank you. Who are you, sister?" Before Chaos Moon could answer, I said, "She¡¯s one of our guild¡¯s accountants. You don¡¯t need to memorize her name though. She¡¯s just a small fry and not deserving of your brain cells. Come, let¡¯s go eat some more fruits¡­" To Chaos Moon¡¯s credit, she valiantly resisted my disregard of her. She was still pulling at my clothes like a cat when we entered the living hall. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun rose to his feet and greeted Xinran politely. He then clicked his tongue and said, "Xinran¡¯s the little princess of Eternal Moon, right? I heard that her assets are worth a couple hundred billions¡­ ahem. I¡¯ve never met such a rich woman in my life. To be honest. I¡¯m so excited¡­" I curled my lips. "Neither have I. In fact, I don¡¯t think there has ever been a girl in China with this much wealth until now¡­" Beiming Xue blinked once before whispering beside my ear, "Big bro, I heard Sister Eve saying that Xinran had unconditionally transferred all of her assets to you. Is that true?" "Mn." I nodded but added, "However, I¡¯m only holding onto them until she¡¯s ready to accept them. I¡¯m fully aware that these assets really belong to Xinran, and personally I¡¯d prefer to be a blacksmith of my success anyway. That is why I sold the Soul Devouring Whip and became a billionaire¡­" Beiming Xue¡¯s smile was sweet. "Yes, you are my billionaire big bro¡­" I wrapped an arm across Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulders before saying, "Alright, it looks like the ingredients sis ordered from the restaurant have arrived. Go kidnap Little Xin and give them a hand, will you? By the way, don¡¯t you have classes today?" "I¡¯ve decided to skip classes for a week. Don¡¯t worry, I gave my lecturer two bottles of Maotai that are worth 10,000 each¡­" "Bribery at your age? That¡¯s not very moral¡­" "Heehee, what can I do? It¡¯s a skill my big brother taught me after all!" "When have I taught you bribery??" "Did you not bribe Sister Mingyue to wash your clothes with cotton candy a long time ago?" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ A while later, our two Knight Generals Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust pushed a three-storey cake to the center of the living hall. I didn¡¯t see this coming. "Excuse me, but is it someone¡¯s birthday today?" Heaven¡¯s Rain said, "No. But who says that you can only have cake for birthdays? Little Xue and I spent a lot of money to buy this, you know? We¡¯ll have to eat only cup noodles next month¡­" I snorted. "Like hell you are. You are all corps commanders or vice corps commanders with a monthly salary of 100k at least. Also, I check the expense bills of Dark Moon City every month, and I bet I¡¯m going to see a certain cake on the ledger later. Cry wolf again, and I¡¯ll make you foot the bill for this dinner. The same goes for all of you!" Heaven¡¯s Rain stuck out her tongue and said, "Vice leader big bro is omniscient and wise. I¡¯m starting to like you more and more¡­" "Ahem. Don¡¯t forget to leave Xinran a piece of cake, by the way. I don¡¯t think she¡¯s had one in her life¡­" Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng was crossing his arms and basking in the liveliness when he asked, "Lu Chen has three little sisters now, and it looks like he¡¯ll be snubbing the two of you for at least a while, Beiming, Lian Xin. So, Little Xin, do you want to become my little sister? I promise I¡¯ll take good care of you and buy you the best clothes. Whaddya think?" Lian Xin looked thoughtful while holding a fruit plate. "Is that so? What¡¯s our score versus each other in the champion arena again? If your win rate against me is 70% or higher, then I¡¯ll become your little sister. Otherwise, don¡¯t even think about it¡­" Li Chengfeng shuddered before pulling out his phone and tapping it in rapid succession. A while later, all the blood drained away from his face as he said, "Oh no. I¡¯ve won 10 times out of 19 against you in the champion arena¡­ Damn, that¡¯s not 70%..." Lian Xin beamed. "There you have it. What kind of older brother cannot win against their little sister? Unlike you, Lu Chen had beaten me 16 times out of the 21 times we fought each other in the champion arena. Moreover, I have a suspicion that he had purposely held back during those five losses¡­" Li Chengfeng threw his arms in the air. "Why is this so hard? I just want a little sister!" It was at this moment Du Thirteen said, "I know someone who may be a good sister candidate for you, Li. The question is, do you dare to accept her?" "Who are we talking about?" "Ye Yuse of Candle Dragon!" "Er¡­" Li Chengfeng hummed for a moment before replying seriously, "Nah, she¡¯s out. Although we are acquaintances, she¡¯s firmly loyal to Candle Dragon, or should I say Candlelight Shadow. I had tried to recruit her to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls before, but she claimed that she couldn¡¯t because she wanted to repay Candlelight Shadow for his patronage and appreciation of her skills. I can see that she has fallen in love with him. Who knows, they may have even rolled in the bed sheets already¡­" I asked, "Does Candlelight Shadow have a girlfriend right now?" "I don¡¯t think so." "Then it¡¯s none of our business. We hardly have the right to stick our foot into a consensual relationship." Li Chengfeng nodded. "You are right, and I¡¯m not saying that we should interfere at all. I just find it a shame that Candle Dragon had gotten to her first before we did. If she had joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, our ability to control and snipe players on the battlefield would have been much superior." I chuckled. "It doesn¡¯t matter. We may not have Ye Yuse, but we have Lian Xin and Beiming Xue, Chaos Moon and Heaven¡¯s Rain, and Moonlight Stone and Guanyue. I¡¯m very proud of you all because not a single one of you is inferior to Ye Yuse. The reason Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is number one on the Guild Ranking now isn¡¯t due to anyone¡¯s strength, but the strength of us all." Guanyue was also holding a fruit plate when she heard this. She immediately blushed and said, "Oh my, I¡¯m so touched! If only I could marry you right now¡­" Li Chengfeng: "..." Du Thirteen: "..." ¡­¡­ The feast went about as well as you might expect. The restaurant employees only delivered the ingredients, so it was up to the chefs we had hired to turn them into delicious food. One by one, the dishes were served onto the table. When it was time to eat, I helped Xinran onto her chair and went to town on the food. After a few days of recuperation, Xinran¡¯s legs were much, much stronger than they had been at the beginning. She could now stand on her own without trouble, so I wasn¡¯t worried if she could slip off her chair or something. She was even getting a hang of using chopsticks. Unfortunately, her accuracy was still very low, so she kept losing meat to shameless bastards like Du Thirteen and Mamate¡­ Each table was served with five bottles of high-quality red wine. As Li Chengfeng rose to his feet, he raised his wine glass higher and looked at me and Xinran, saying, "Thank you for allowing us to mooch off this dinner, Xinran! As a show of my thanks, I shall drink a toast to you!" While he was draining his wine, Xinran asked me in a small voice, "Who is this guy again, big brother? I forgot¡­" Dong! Li Chengfeng was so sad that he collapsed to his knees and slipped under the table. Everyone laughed at his antics before continuing to fill up their bellies at an incredible rate. Gluttonous, hard-working, loyal, brave, and ever-victorious. Those were the adjectives that fit us best right now. Lin Yixin whispered to me, "Hey, your bros are downing their wine like it¡¯s water. I don¡¯t think they¡¯re going home tonight." I replied, "Yeah. Thankfully, there are at least a dozen or so empty rooms in the villa. It¡¯ll be enough to accommodate everyone for the night¡­" She pouted. "What if they stay longer than expected? I was hoping to spend a few quiet days with you, and now I can¡¯t even go to your room later¡­" I let out a chuckle and gave her hand a squeeze. "If you¡¯re too embarrassed to come to my room, then I can go to your room. Plus, they¡¯re not going to stay for long. Once their hangovers have passed, they¡¯ll return to the gaming base. They¡¯re not that shameless!" Before I even finished my sentence, Du Thirteen and Li Chengfeng immediately raised their chopsticks and said, "Lu Chen, your villa has exquisite scenery and people. Is it okay if we move over and stay here temporarily?" Lin Yixin turned deathly pale when she heard that. Thankfully, He Yi came to our rescue. "This villa is meant to be Xinran¡¯s recovery home, which is why it was paid by Eternal Moon main headquarters themselves[2]. You guys are too noisy, so we can¡¯t have you here. Also, the base cannot function properly without you people. You are the backbone of the guild after all¡­" Du Thirteen said, "It will be fine. We promise we¡¯ll feign ignorance if we hear any suspicious noise at night!" He Yi smiled. "Well, fine. I can arrange your rooms, but you¡¯ll have to pay 500k per month as rent." Du Thirteen immediately turned as green as vomit. "Actually, I think the gaming base is just fine. That¡¯s the rental price of a presidential suite¡­" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, Chaos Moon raised her phone and said, "Guys and girls, I¡¯m very sorry about this, but I have some bad news to announce to you all¡­" I nodded. "It¡¯s fine. Tell us." He Yi also said, "What bad news?" Chaos Moon looked down on her phone and read, "17 minutes ago, the so-called number one expert of India¡¯s Cyan Earth City, God of War, has successfully ascended to become a god through the Divine Crystal method! Not only that, Hero City¡¯s number one expert[3], Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, has achieved the same thing on his third attempt using the Divine Crystals just 9 minutes ago! They both belong to the Light Divine Throne. What do you guys think?" "God damn¡­" Xu Yang grimaced. "There are now 7 divine players in the entire world, and 4 of them belong to China, and 3 to the rest of the world. Moreover, these 3 divine players all belong to hostile forces. Frankly, I don¡¯t like how the next Nation War is shaping up to be. Previously, we were able to turn the tides in our favor thanks to a superior amount of Famous General Skills and Divine General Skills, but not this time¡­" Chaos Moon said carelessly, "It will be fine. We have Lu Chen to do the impossible!" I commented while holding a ladle, "Er, I can¡¯t fight forever, you know. I will have to retire some day¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes glimmered with intelligence. "Hmm¡­ I have a feeling that they will launch their invasion the moment they¡¯ve gotten more than 5 divine players. Sky City is a giant threat to all of them, and neither Vienna nor God of War will allow it to remain in the current state. After all, the King of Cities buff is another major reason they¡¯ve suffered defeat after defeat in our hands." I gripped my fists and declared, "There is only one thing to do, and that is to work hard and ascend as quickly as you can. The more ascended players we have, the more cautious and afraid they¡¯ll become!" 1. T/N: not a mistake. Lu Chen just decided to up the currency ? 2. T/N: god damn, they didn¡¯t even need to pay a dime for their new workshop! Say what you want about their shamelessness, but they sure know how to get their free stuff ? 3. T/N: lul one is so-called, and one isn¡¯t ? CH 1516 Li Chengfeng frowned. "It¡¯s hardly easy, man. Even if we gather 100 Divine Crystals, there''s no guarantee we can ascend successfully. There was a story about an oil tycoon from the Chaotic 27 spending 700 Divine Crystals to attempt ascension 7 times, and it all ended in failure. Can you imagine how low the success rate must be? Ugh, I¡¯m honestly not hopeful at all¡­" "Calm down!" I sucked in a deep breath. "It¡¯s not as hard as you think. A player¡¯s Luck can improve the success rate, and your Luck is pretty high, isn¡¯t it? Yiyi for example managed to ascend in just two attempts. In my opinion, any player with over 50 Luck should ascend in just three tries at most[1]. Of course, it still puts a hole in your wallet, but it isn¡¯t nearly as bad as you think it is." Li Chengfeng smiled. "I guess. I¡¯ll make my first attempt tonight. Hopefully I will succeed on the first try. Pray for me, brothers and sisters!" Beside him, Moonlight Stone said with a small smile on her face, "Li Chengfeng, I¡¯ll become your little sister if you succeed on the first try. What do you think?" "Oh? Is Tiger Leopard Knight okay with this?" Tiger Leopard Knight raised a glass from the second table. "It¡¯s fine. We¡¯re all brothers here. My little sister is everyone¡¯s little sister as well[2]." Li Chengfeng rubbed his palms together. "Very well! With such a cute and beautiful little sister on the line, I¡¯m sure my karma will work extra hard tonight¡­" I slapped the table and declared, "For the sake of Li Chengfeng¡¯s ascension, drink! Now I understand why he brought his gaming helmet over¡­" "First they mooch off your meals, now they mooch off your beds. Ancient Sword¡¯s members are truly ¡®impressive¡¯..." Lin Yixin shook her head lightly. ¡­¡­ The dinner had started at 6 pm, and it wasn¡¯t until 9 pm that it was finally over. The gang drank until they were dead bodies on the ground. No one who saw their current appearance would think that they were an expert. I didn¡¯t drink too much because someone had to carry these chuckleheads into their rooms. It took me half an hour to finally throw them all into their rooms while the aunties were cleaning up the mess they had left behind. When all was said and done, we finally returned to our respective rooms. As it turned out, I had both the biggest room and the biggest bed. The sight of the bed immediately reminded me of Murong Mingyue¡¯s meaningful smile and comment that it was "big enough to fit at least three people¡±. I understood her meaning completely of course. I had just taken a bath and sat down on my bed when my phone rang. It was a call from Xu Ning¡ª "Are you busy right now, Lu Chen?" "No, I¡¯m free right now. What is it, Uncle Ning?" I heard him chuckling a little before asking, "Is Xinran doing okay in Suzhou?" "Mn. Everything is normal." "Good, good. Well, I¡¯m calling you to talk about something." "Tell me!" "Eternal Moon¡¯s international headquarters have confirmed and signed the contract the big miss signed after she awakened. This means that her shares have been officially transferred under your name. However, since the big miss has awakened, they demand that her in-game character be reset to a Level 1 Wind Singer. What are your thoughts about this?" I thought for a moment before saying, "Uncle Ning, Xinran has gotten used to her power for quite some time, and it was something the main computer has set at the very beginning. I¡¯m worried that she¡¯ll experience various discomforts if she was suddenly lowered to Level 1. Therefore, I must insist that her levels and everything else be maintained exactly as they were." "But¡­" Xu Ning sounded a bit troubled. "They¡¯re putting a lot of pressure on me. You understand what I¡¯m talking about¡­" I let out a cough before saying, "It¡¯s simple. I¡¯ve looked through the internal statutes and protocols of the company before, and I found a line saying that no one has the right to alter the main computer¡¯s settings. Unless the voting shares of the board of directors exceed 80%, everyone must obey its original design. They had already modified Lin Yixin¡¯s God¡¯s Tear before [3], and now they¡¯re plotting to modify Xinran¡¯s stats as well? Not a chance. Tell them I own 25% of the company¡¯s shares, so they can¡¯t get 80%. That means my word is the law here. If I say ¡®no¡¯, then ¡®no¡¯ it is!" For a moment, Xu Ning was too surprised to say anything. Then, he broke into laughter and said, "Good man! It looks like the big miss¡¯s choice to make you her spokesperson isn¡¯t just an emotional decision after all!" I said, "Just checking with you, but my reasoning is fine, right? If they refuse to obey, then make them use our internal protocols. I have 25% of the company¡¯s shares, and southern and northern headquarters¡¯ combined hold another 9%. I¡¯m sure that 34% shares is enough to decide everything!" Xu Ning laughed again. "Yes, it will. In that case, we will do as the¡­ CEO says. The big miss¡¯s stats will remain as they are, and Eternal Moon will not interfere with the main computer¡¯s designs!" "Good. Anyway, you should sleep soon, Uncle Ning. You¡¯re not young anymore¡­" "Er, sure, right after I hold a temporary meeting. By the way, the big miss is already asleep, right?" "Yeah. The nurses have put her to sleep after the checkup." "Good. Good night then!" "Good night, Uncle Ning!" ¡­¡­ I sucked in a deep breath after hanging up. The servers were plotting a virtual war against each other, so I could understand why they¡ªespecially the USA and India servers¡ªwould want to weaken Xinran. However, the way they were going about things was too petty even for me to swallow. Also, the only reason I wanted Xinran to preserve her strength was so that she could protect herself better inside the game. Lin Na would return eventually, but her chances of beating him were great as long as she remained at full strength. As for the Nation War, I had never once thought to ask Xinran to help me, so that was a moot point. My brain still felt a little warm and dizzy due to the alcohol I ingested, so I wasn¡¯t planning to go online tonight. I opened the official website and found that it was full of threads about failed ascension attempts of both the F2P and P2W kind. Also, Purgatory Mad Dragon¡¯s disbandment was the headline news for the day. Mad Dragon and Hegemon Palace had parted ways, and Roaming Dragon and Wang Dongliang had returned to being their old guilds¡¯ leaders. Moreover, both guilds had vanished from the Top 10 of the Guild Ranking as a matter of course. With this, Little Piglet¡¯s revenge had reached a perfect conclusion. Although he failed to kill Lu Chao even once throughout his revenge journey, he did cost him his dream and more importantly, the billions of RMB he had invested into Purgatory Mad Dragon. Today, Mad Dragon wasn¡¯t even on the same level as Hall of Immortality and Rose of the Holy Domain. Finally, Little Piglet¡¯s revenge wasn¡¯t over yet. He had reached the end of one account, yes, but his new account was just beginning its journey. When he had reached a sufficient level, he would march through Mad Dragon forces once more with the heroes of the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls on his side this time. It would be a most interesting battle. If there was one thing certain about the virtual journey, it was that it would never run out of interesting battles. ¡­¡­ I read the threads until it was past 11 pm. I yawned and decided that it was bedtime. I lay down on the bed and was about to fall asleep when a cacophony of laughter suddenly erupted outside my door. I heard Gui Guzi, Xu Yang and more people¡¯s voices mixed among them, and they were singing and laughing like they had inhaled ten grams of heroin or something. Worried that something might have happened, I got out of bed, put on some clothes and opened the door just in time to see Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen and Li Chengfeng laughing like crazy in the corridor. I asked them, "What the hell are you idiots doing? It¡¯s almost midnight, man!" Still laughing, Gui Guzi looked at me and said, "You haven¡¯t slept yet, Boss Broken Halberd? Hahaha, we¡¯re celebrating because Li actually managed to ascend on his first try! He¡¯s the eighth player to ascend, and he is a Chaos Divine Throne Guardian just like Breeze and Rain and Candlelight Shadow!" It was a most pleasant surprise. "Holy shit! Really?!" Li Chengfeng nodded. "Yep! In fact, it just happened three minutes ago. Cool, right?" I clapped my hands. "Absolutely, hahaha! This is deserving of a celebration! How are you going to celebrate this, by the way?" Gui Guzi pointed at the entrance without hesitation. "Food stall, barbecue, and beer!" I shivered. "Wonderful idea! I¡¯m coming with you!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Lin Yixin and He Yi were just crawling out of my bed [4] and asking me why we were being so noisy. They were happy about Li Chengfeng¡¯s ascension, but declined my suggestion that they join us for the barbecue. They claimed that our taste was too "unique", and that it was too late to head out. Also, they were still full from dinner and didn¡¯t feel like eating anything¡­ And so, 14 of us in total paraded out of the villa at 12 am midnight. Moonlight Stone was the only girl who joined us not because she didn¡¯t want to go to bed, but because she promised Li Chengfeng that she would become his little sister if he completed his ascension on the first try. Naturally, Li Chengfeng was the happiest man of the day. And why wouldn¡¯t he be? He both ascended to become a god and gained a little sister. The guy was grinning like a bloomed flower. The night of spring was cold but not chilly, not to mention that we were at Jiangnan. On another note, the middle-aged uncle and auntie working at the food stall also grinned like a pair of flowers when they saw us. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that we were there to give them a good amount of money. We celebrated until 3 am in the morning when we were absolutely bone-tired. It was only then we returned to the villa and dropped on top of our beds. Speaking of which, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and Du Thirteen were sharing a bed tonight, but how they were going to share it wasn¡¯t my problem. I returned to my room, closed the door and slept like a log. ¡­¡­ I woke up at noon the next day. The gang had already returned to the gaming base because Li Chengfeng wanted to grind and set himself apart from the unascended players as much as possible. It couldn¡¯t be helped. During the middle to late stage of the game, one level¡¯s gap could be as big as night and day. Right now, everyone was aiming to reach Level 275. As for me, I went online after I ate lunch. Swhoosh! I left the territory hall after I appeared in Dark Moon City. Speaking of which, all the buildings in our city had been increased to Rank 11. Perhaps there was an opportunity to increase our city to Rank 12 somewhere, but I wasn¡¯t expecting it to surface anytime soon. Moreover, we were still the only Rank 11 city in all the servers. Even Lin Yixin¡¯s Silver Fir City or Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Candle Dragon City were still at Rank 10. I looked up. A black draconic pillar so tall that the tip was hidden by the clouds stood several hundred meters away from the territory hall. Due to being a divine player, I could sense the energies soaring about the dragon¡¯s lair. They were of course the Dark Bone Dragons I had acquired from Sophie. They were the reason no one dared to attack our Rank 11 city. Otherwise, Candlelight Shadow and Warsky would¡¯ve mustered their allies and maybe even their enemies to launch an all-out assault against us. Warsky at least was shameless enough to pull off such a stunt¡­ ¡­¡­ "Hmm?" Suddenly, I turned my gaze toward a certain point in the sky. It was because I had sensed a tremendous power flying toward me from that direction. A moment later, a beautiful woman descended from the colorful clouds and stopped right in front of me. Her legs looked dazzling beneath her combat skirt, and her armored figure was sensual to say the least. She stared at me with her gorgeous eyes and said, "I found you, big brother!" I looked up. "Heh. What¡¯s wrong, Xinran?" 1. E/N: Based on absolutely nothing. Seriously, it makes no sense to even think about it like this. Yiyi took 2 attempts, sure. It doesn¡¯t mean the chance was close to 50%. Even if they take into account everyone who succeeded, that¡¯s the kicker, they succeeded. In BDO there used to be a spreadsheet that compiled all Dream Horses (Pegasus, Unicorn, Doom Horse) and the # of attempts. The average was 19 attempts. But this data was from ones that SUCCEEDED. It didn¡¯t take in all the data from the guys that had 30, 40, 50 or even 70 attempts. It was only after these guys succeeded after dozens of attempts that their numbers were put into the spreadsheet. Just like in this case, no one cares how many attempts it took Yiyi, you need to compile data from all attempts and then you can think about the actual chance. ? 2. T/N: honestly this thing absolutely isn¡¯t a thing in my country, but who knows China¡¯s culture can be different ? 3. T/N: and YOU had pressured your fellow countrymen into reinstating Lin Yixin¡¯s account, which was what led to her God¡¯s Tear being modified, bro. Then again, you¡¯ve always been a shameless hypocrite, so ? 4. T/N: bruh ? CH 1517 A faint, bloody hue surrounded the Dragonbone Spear. Hair dancing to the wind and feet hovering slightly above the ground, Xinran beamed at me while saying, "I have brought you a quest, big brother!" I immediately looked around in a hurry. "Ahem. You brought me a quest? That¡¯s wonderful! Keep it down though. I don¡¯t want to give the players of the Northern Alliance the opportunity to complain that you are cheating for me¡­" Still beaming like the spring breeze blowing across a blue lake, Xinran replied, "You worry too much, big brother. Sophie and I have known each other for a long time, and now she¡¯s looking to me to help her. You are acquainted with both me and her, so it¡¯s perfectly natural for me to seek your help." "Mn. So, what is this quest about?" "We need you to escort a batch of supplies. Fly with me to the Violet Empire, will you?" "Sure!" ¡­¡­ Xinran pushed off the air a little and shot straight to the sky like a loosed arrow. I hurriedly activated Flight and chased after her. Thanks to the Ancient Divine Dragon, I was just barely able to keep up with Xinran. Of course, if Xinran flew at her max speed, then I still wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up with her. Less than five minutes later, we landed on a forest clearing. Three gigantic supply carts were parked on the clearing, and at first I thought them to be blood-colored tortoises due to how they looked. They were at least ten meters long in radius, and they moved on countless wheels. The animals dragging the supply carts weren¡¯t mules, but the fearsome Savage Giant Beasts. Each of the beasts had four heads, and each head was bound by some sort of a steel collar that also doubled as their armor. Finally, each beast was commanded by a tamer wielding an iron whip. Whatever they were transporting must be incredibly important. They wouldn¡¯t have gone through so much trouble otherwise. I saw Queen Sophia, Xue Wei and several hundred Violet Empire Undead Cavalrymen in front of the three supply carts. In fact, Karinshan, Ziyan and more Sky City NPCs were standing by at the edge of the forest as well. ¡­¡­ "Queen Sophia, are you sure you don¡¯t want our Griffin Legion to escort your Bright Arms for you?" Karinshan asked with a bright smile on her face, "It had taken you two months to prepare these supplies, right? It will be a huge loss to the Violet Empire if they were to raided by some robbers or undead!" Sophia shook her head firmly. "Thank you for your concern, but we have already hired a powerful adventurer to escort them. Moreover, I have prepared a troop of elite cavalrymen too." "Very well. That is very reassuring to hear." Xinran and I had already descended to the ground while they were talking. Sophia immediately walked up to me after speaking with Karinshan. "I know your strength, young warrior. You are the only one I can trust to complete this quest successfully!" I nodded. "Please speak, princess[1]!" Sophia smiled at me before pointing at the three supply carts. "These supply carts contain a great number of Bright Arms. The Bright Arms are weapons that can deal soul damage to the undead. That is why I would like to transport these armaments to Purple Grape City, bolster Lady Sophie¡¯s undead legion, and increase our fighting strength against Lin Na. However, the road there is destined to be crawling with thieves and robbers, which is why I would like to employ you to guard them. Do you accept?" I slapped my chest without hesitation and declared, "No problem. Just leave it to me!" "Good!" Ding! System Notice: You have accepted the quest [Violet Empire Supply Escort]! (Current Quest Rank: SSS+) Description: Escort these three supply carts through Dragonbone Mountain Range and arrive at the eastern border. Then, pass through the ruins of Ice River Canton before delivering them to Purple Grape City for an extraordinarily generous reward. However, be warned that the quest is extremely difficult, and that you will encounter many thieves who will do everything in their power to steal from you along the way. Feel free to bring not more than 9 companions with you on this journey to ensure the completion of the quest. Be warned that failure to complete this quest will result in an extremely harsh punishment. Your level will be decreased by 5, and your Luck by 10! ¡­¡­ My heart skipped a beat when I read the final line of the description. "Ahem. I¡¯m sorry, but isn¡¯t the punishment for failure a bit too harsh?" Xue Wei laughed. "Of course not! These supplies are extremely important to us!" I suggested, "Perhaps Queen Sophia would like to join me on the mission? Preferably with her personal guards?" ¡°Her Majesty has an even greater responsibility to fulfill, namely watching over the Violet Empire¡­" "Then I want Xinran to come with me¡­" Xinran said reluctantly, "You were the one who said I can¡¯t help you too much, big brother. Also, the system chief god[2] will warn me if I try to help you. I will be literally struck by the lightning of heaven¡­" "Ah?" I placed a reassuring hand on Xinran¡¯s shoulder and said, "Never mind then. I¡¯ll ask my brothers to assist me!" Xinran giggled. "You mean brother Li Chengfeng and the others?" "Yep!" "Do your best, big brother. I¡¯ll be gathering energy in the ruins of Heaven Domain!" "Yes¡­" ¡­¡­ After that, I turned on the guild channel and asked, "So, I have a triple-S super quest here that I can¡¯t handle myself. Eve, Chengfeng, Little Gui, Beiming, Lian Xin and sis, are you guys free? Also, Guanyue, Moon Dew and Lu Buyi, what are you guys doing right now? If you can¡¯t go then say it right now!" Li Chengfeng replied, "I¡¯m fairly sure everyone will free up some time one way or another." I asked in confusion, "Huh? Why¡¯s that?" Beiming Xue replied, "It¡¯s because a player who meets the requirement to ascend has a very low chance to ascend if they complete an SSS Rank quest. Don¡¯t you know about this, big bro? It¡¯s why SSS Rank quests are super hot right now¡­" "Damn, I had no idea. In that case, come to the eastern gate of Violet Empire. I¡¯ll be waiting for you here. I don¡¯t need to say this, but prepare yourself fully before you come over." "Right away!" ¡­¡­ And so, I stood alone at the forest clearing while waiting for the others to come to me. A few minutes later, I felt a sudden chill in the wind. My Domain was telling me that a faint but definitely present killing intent was emanating from the forest. I could tell that someone was going to attack me! Swhoosh! Suddenly, a deep blue-colored figure rushed toward me at high speed. The next moment, a sword brimming with incredible power broke through the trees and flew straight toward my chest! What impressive power, what incredible speed! I crossed the Xuanyuan Sword in front of myself just in time to knock my opponent¡¯s blade out of the way. Then, I raised my leg and attempted to kick them in the stomach. However, the mysterious attacker was faster than I expected, and they managed to punch me in the boots and sent me staggering a couple of steps away from them. I hadn¡¯t even caught a glimpse of their face up until this point. Their deep cyan cloak whipped back and forth in front of me as they performed a zigzag and arrived on my flank. Then, they spread open their fingers, clenched them again and punched out with so much force that space itself had cracked like a spider web! Icicles manifested from pure divine energy flew straight toward me! A divine player!? My heart skipped a beat, but I counterattacked without a single pause in my movement. First, I smashed my opponent¡¯s fist aside with the Dihai Shield. Then, I leaped into the air and kneed them right in the chest! "Damn, it hurts!" shouted my attacker as he did a backflip. Then, he kicked out at me from an unusual angle. Still in midair, I met his kick with a punch! Bang! The resulting shockwave from the clash between two divine energies caused the surrounding trees to be knocked down like dominos. Both of us dug deep gorges on the ground after we were propelled away from each other and landed on our feet. ¡­¡­ Chiang! I sheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and smiled at my attacker. "Your power and speed have finally reached super-tier, Chengfeng!" The attacker was none other than Li Chengfeng. He shot me a lazy smile and shrugged. "Super-tier my ass, you managed to hit me an extra time before I could react, and my strength didn¡¯t affect you too much either. Also, that knee of yours froze me in place for at least tenth of a second. It was terrible¡­" I laugh once before adding Li Chengfeng to my party and sharing my quest with him. Li Chengfeng grew more and more astonished as he read the quest description. "Holy shit, it really is an SSS+ Rank quest. How long has it been since we performed such a difficult quest? Also, what the fuck is this punishment, man? Is it too late to withdraw now?" "Yeah, no. Success or failure, you¡¯re with me on this until the very end!" "No, I don¡¯t wanna! Thank goodness I won¡¯t be the only one who suffers if we do fail this quest. I can¡¯t wait to see Little Gui, guild leader Eve and everyone else¡¯s faces when they see this¡­" I grinned. "Quit complaining already. This quest is an excellent opportunity for all of us. Little Gui, Beiming and Lian Xin have already met the requirement. Assuming that we succeed, this SSS+ Rank quest may trigger one or even multiple ascensions at the same time. Five levels is nothing compared to that!" "True. Speaking of the others, what the hell is keeping them? So slow¡­" "You don¡¯t say! You can fly, but they have to ride over on their mounts!" "Haha, that¡¯s true. Little Gui¡¯s legs are pretty short¡­" "He has a dragon, bro¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ Despite Li Chengfeng¡¯s joking complaint, it didn¡¯t take long for the rest of the gang to arrive. After I added everyone into the party and shared my quest with them, I gave the party leader for Lu Buyi so that he could buff all of our stats by 225%. Purple Dragon was the main reason I decided to add him to the party. Otherwise, I would probably have brought Chaos Moon instead. After Pure Love buffed me with her Seven-string Yaoqin, and I used a Hunter Card to buff my stats further, my total HP nearly gave myself a heart attack. My base HP was 2.95 million, and it was increased by 200% by the Hunter Card, 225% by Purple Dragon, and 240% by the Seven-string Yaoqin for a total of 665%. Add that to the base 100%, and my HP was 7.65x its base, or 22.56 million max HP in total. I was probably the player with the highest HP in all the servers right now. Lian Xin stared at the party screen with wide eyes. "Wow. Who was the guy who said that cavalrymen could never exceed 20 million HP again? Big brother Lu Chen has over 22 million HP right now. What do you have to say for yourself?" Li Chengfeng rubbed his nose in embarrassment. "Come on, he¡¯s clearly the exception to the rule. Just look at the equipment he¡¯s wearing¡­" Pure Love asked worriedly, "We can¡¯t possibly fail this quest¡­ right? What kind of enemies will we face along the way?" I shook my head. "Who knows? We¡¯ll meet them eventually!" "Yeah." 1. T/N: don¡¯t ask me why he calls her princess when she hasn¡¯t been one for ages. She¡¯s not even Princess Karinshan ? 2. T/N: can make it just The System I suppose, but then people won¡¯t know that it¡¯s a chief god ? CH 1518 In front of the three tortoise-like supply carts were 100 guards. They were all Level 320 fiend-rank NPCs. They were fairly strong, but only if they were up against mobs and newbies. If their opponent was someone like Warsky or Candlelight Shadow, then they were no more powerful than a fish on the chopping block. The captain of the NPCs was a middle-aged uncle wielding a spear. He was an Ancient Immortal Rank miniboss, and his name was "Devil Breaker Guard Morn¡±. I nodded in Lu Buyi¡¯s direction before saying, "Shall we start the quest, party leader?" Lu Buyi replied while holding the Hidden Dragon Fan, "Sure, but uh, please don¡¯t call me party leader. I¡¯m just a stratagem buffer. You are the real leader of this party, not to mention that the guild leader, vice leaders and corps commanders are all here. It¡¯s too much pressure¡­" "Yes, yes¡­" Lu Buyi walked up to Captain Morn and spoke with him. Very soon, the guard captain raised his spear and let out a confident laugh. "The dew waits for the breeze on the branches, and the bird shit waits to slide off the leaves and hit someone in the head! A new outdoor adventure has begun, and you will all be my companions for the trip. I hope that there will be prey who are foolish enough to challenge our group!" I didn¡¯t say anything. If nothing else, Captain Morn had arrogance in spades. And so we took off at a slow pace. The supply carts moved very slowly¡ªI estimated that their movement speed was only one-third of a mage player¡¯s walking speed¡ªso we had to stop from time to time to allow the supply carts to catch up with us. I looked around with Dark Pupils. Each supply cart had 10 million max HP and 500k Defense, which seemed like a lot at first glance until you remembered that it didn¡¯t take long at all for a group of mobs or even players to delete them. I couldn¡¯t help but worry about it. In the sky, He Yi ordered while holding the Suppressing Fire Sword, "Lu Chen, go to the front and open up the path for us. Li Chengfeng, stay at the back and protect our rear. Gui Guzi, Beiming, Lian Xin, protect the center supply cart. Lian Xin and Beiming, make sure you stay close enough to the supply carts that your attacks can cover all three of them. Finally, remember to change your attack mode to party." "Mn!" Everyone nodded in unison. As we continued along the path, a progress bar suddenly appeared above our interface screen. It was much longer than your usual progress bar, and it was progressing at a snail¡¯s pace. It was impossible to say when we would reach Purple Grape City, not to mention that there was no way we would encounter no attackers along the way. It wouldn¡¯t be classified as an SSS+ Rank quest otherwise. I hovered about three meters above the ground and scanned our surroundings with Dark Pupils at all times, unwilling to allow even the slightest traces to escape my notice. Failure was not an option. The gang could afford to lose 5 levels, but I could not. Without exaggeration, to drop from Level 265 to Level 270 was like losing over half a year of progress¡­ "Chengfeng!" I shouted. "Hmm? What is it?" Li Chengfeng answered from the back of the convoy. I thought for a moment before answering, "Have Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits lead several groups of 10,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and Archers to grind around Purple Grape City. While I¡¯m fairly confident that we won¡¯t be attacked while we¡¯re still within Floating Ice City¡¯s borders, the same cannot be said when we enter Ice River Canton¡¯s ruins. At the very least, Red Maple, Cyan Frost and more will be more than happy to make us fail our quest. I want our people to be able to retaliate the second our enemies try anything." Li Chengfeng nodded. "Got it. I¡¯ll speak with Chaos Moon right now. By the way, can we bring several tens of thousands Holy Mages as well? I¡¯ve seen how they slaughtered the Gold Cavalry before. In a large enough group, a single Encourage will turn them into meat grinders that will mow down anything." "Sure. Use them at your own discretion." ¡­¡­ Less than ten minutes later, while our three supply carts were passing through the forest, Beiming Xue suddenly pointed to the right on her Fire Phoenix and cried, "Look, someone¡¯s coming to raid us¡­" It wasn¡¯t long before a bunch of mobs only 40 centimeters tall burst out of the foliage and charged straight toward us. It was a little devil wearing a red hat and wielding a rusted axe. At least a thousand of them were rushing toward us and shouting, "Get them! Steal their supplies! They must be hiding something good in those shells!" At the same time, a skull appeared at the starting point of the quest progress bar. Unless I was sorely mistaken, the skull was referring to this monster attack. "Pu¡­" He Yi burst out in laughter. "Level 250 dread-rank Redcap Goblins? Is the game looking down on us or what?" I asked, "Who wants to take them out?" Gui Guzi offered, "Allow me!" He commanded his Dark Crystal Dragon to swoop down on the mobs before hitting them all with a blade aura from his Ghostblade Halberd. Beiming Xue supported him with a Skypiercer, and Lian Xin dropped Sea of Flames around the supply carts to prevent the Redcap Goblins from getting over. They could try, but Lian Xin¡¯s Magic Attack was so high that they would die long before they passed through the Sea of Flames. I didn¡¯t participate in the action because it was unnecessary. Just three of our members were enough to take out the thousands of Redcap Goblins. Four of the Twelve Divine Armaments¡ªthe Xuanyuan Sword, the Ghostblade Halberd, the Xuanming Bow and the Seven-string Yaoqin¡ªwere in our hands after all. We had nothing to worry about in the first couple of waves at least. ¡­¡­ The convoy continued its way after we took care of the wave of Redcap Goblins. At the back, Li Chengfeng let out a cough and said, "Dammit, my hands are itchy. I didn¡¯t even get to kill a single mob. How about Lu Chen and I deal with the next wave ourselves?" Pure Love chuckled. "Where is your pride as a CGL Hall of Famer? Just leave the goblins to us noobs to kill, dude¡­" Lu Buyi nodded in agreement. "Yes, we can handle them ourselves¡­" I shrugged. "Do whatever you want. Speak up if you think you need our help." ¡­¡­ I opened the map screen to look at our travel route. While I was doing so, a lot of players grinding next to the path stopped whatever they were looking to stare at our party. Since we hadn¡¯t hidden our IDs, they could see our guild emblems and IDs as clear as day. Naturally, it started quite the commotion¡ª "Holy shit! They are all the greatest players of Ancient Sword! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Legendary Brave, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xing, and more CGL Hall of Famers are present as well! This is crazy!" "What are they doing surrounding those three NPC carts?" "Maybe they¡¯re doing a quest? It¡¯s obvious that those carts are supply carts, so maybe this is a supply escort quest or something¡­" "Do you want to try raiding them?" "I have no idea you have so many heads to spare. Go get ''em then. I¡¯ll be wishing you luck all the way." "..." ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before the road led down a narrow path surrounded by two steep mountains. It was ¡°Broken Stone Ridge¡±, and it was the territory of the Wild Beastmen. "Be careful. I have a feeling that we¡¯re going to encounter another wave very soon¡­" I said smilingly. Gui Guzi answered confidently, "No problem. Just leave it to us¡­" "Mn mn!" Beiming Xue looked eager as well. It was at this moment a great number of beastmen appeared at the top of the ridges. They all wielded axes. "Those supply carts belong to the Violet Empire! Kill the undead guards and steal their supplies! It is time to pay back that bitch, Sophia, for dispatching her troops to attack our tribes!" A sea of Wild Beastmen rushed down from both sides of the path toward us. They were Level 275 fiend-rank mobs, so they were way, way stronger than the Redcap Goblins. "I¡¯ll help!" This time, He Yi joined the fight and fired sword auras from atop her Snow Crystal Dragon. Beiming Xue and Lian Xin remained close with the supply carts to prevent the mobs from attacking them. Lu Buyi also fired off waves of Dragon Vein Art at the incoming beastmen. His Attack was pretty high and on par with a second-rate mage. The Wild Beastmen were no match for our party, of course. They fell like wheats. "Shit!" Suddenly, Li Chengfeng let out a shout and pointed at a group of red beastmen. "Those beastmen are Axe-throwing Beastmen, and they possess the ability to attack from range! Oh no!" As if on cue, the Axe-throwing Beastmen threw their axes at the supply carts and dealt between 500 to 1000 damage or so. The supply carts only had so much HP, and we still had a long way ahead of us. There was no way they could endure for long if we continued to allow the beastmen to rain axes on them! "Chengfeng, let¡¯s clear out those ranged mobs as soon as possible!" Li Chengfeng and I took off toward the mountain ridge together. I flew along the mountain ridge and dropped a dozen or so Ancient Seals in rapid succession. My Tactics was high, and my stats were far superior to the Level 275 dread-rank mobs¡¯. As a result, one Ancient Seal was almost enough to one-shot them. It was a bit of a messy fight, but we ultimately were able to resolve the crisis and continue toward our destination. ¡­¡­ As we continued, the Dragonbone Mountain Range appeared on the horizon. There was also a fortress on top of it. It was none other than the Bloody Rose Fortress we had fought at a long time ago. I flew up to the fortress before yelling at Sky City NPCs below me, "Violet Empire is transporting a batch of supplies to Purple Grape City. Please open the gate for us!" The Sky City NPC nodded like a bird the moment he saw my Sky City military rank. "Yes sir, right away, sir!" We were able to pass through Bloody Rose Fortress and enter the plains of Purple Grape without any trouble. It had been a long time since we had come here. From my perspective, I could see the frozen Impassable Great Wall on one side and the Wallow¡ªpooh, I mean Swallow Ear Canton the Japanese were relying on to survive in Heavenblessed. However, our travel route didn¡¯t take us through Swallow Ear Canton, and we were escorting a bunch of valuable supplies right now. It would be wise for us to keep a low profile. He Yi pointed to the north and said, "We will be arriving at the ruins of Ice River Canton after we pass through Lost Forest. There is an encampment of Protective Umbrella players in that area, and we will be much safer once we¡¯ve reached them." "Yes, let us continue. It looks like the convoy was headed toward that direction anyway¡­" ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng smiled and tried to say something, but the ground directly in front of us suddenly collapsed without warning. Before long, the ground beneath our feet was the only piece of land that was still intact. A huge flaming claw clung to the edge, and an ugly head emerged from the pit and smiled savagely. "I smell fresh meat!" "Fuck¡­" Li Chengfeng¡¯s smile froze on his face. CH 1519 "Watch out. It¡¯s a giant dragon type boss¡­" I backed up a few steps while holding the Xuanyuan Sword. Much of the ground around us had collapsed, and this dark type giant dragon was staring at us unblinkingly with bloody, hungry eyes. If its intention wasn¡¯t obvious enough, it was licking its own fangs with its long tongue. Its entire body was covered in black, scaly armor, so I could bet that its Defense was pretty high as well. The floating rune that represented the Blue Crystal Dragon floated around Li Chengfeng who was suspended in the air. Clearly he had activated his Mount Armor Transformation. "Lu Chen, tell us its stats, will you? We don¡¯t fight battles we aren¡¯t confident at winning!" I nodded and scanned the boss with Dark Pupils. Then, I shared its stats in the party channel¡ª Ghost Dragon Earthwalker (Quasi-Divine Rank Boss) Level: 320 Attack: 74,000~101,000 Defense: 120,000 HP: 1,000,000,000 Skills: Death Devour, Lethal Dragon¡¯s Claw, Ice Fire Triple Strike, Infinite Summon Introduction: The Earthwalker was a Holy Giant Dragon who was buried in the graveyard of Dragon Domain until it was resurrected by evil dark magic. The Earthwalker possesses tremendous strength, and it was an overlord in the Purgatory until the Wind Singer escaped from the Purgatory, and the enraged Lin Na dispatched a great number of troops from various planes to hunt her down. The Earthwalker was one of the dark commanders who had snuck out of a plane rift to hunt for food. ¡­¡­ "Holy shit!" Gui Guzi¡¯s Ghostblade Halberd shivered in his grip. "This is bullshit! A Quasi-Divine Rank boss with over 100k Attack? Considering its hidden stats, its actual Attack must be 20 times or higher than its visible Attack! Can we really beat this thing?" I nodded. "We can! I¡¯ve beaten a Level 326 Quasi-Divine Rank boss in the Purgatory before. I was aided by the Twilight Wanderer at the time, yes, but there are 10 of us and only 1 boss, so we definitely have a good chance of slaying it. Also, I doubt the supply carts will be able to pass through until we¡¯ve killed it. It¡¯s clearly attracted by our quest." Li Chengfeng asked, "What¡¯s our tactic?" I pondered for a moment before replying, "I¡¯ll use Profound Armor to tank the boss. Sis, keep me healed. Guanyue, refresh my buffs. Beiming and Lian Xin, CC the boss with stuns and slows. Eve, Chengfeng and Little Gui, attack when you think there¡¯s an opportunity. Be very careful though. This Ice Fire Triple Strike may be able to one-shot us all!" "Got it. Let¡¯s go!" "After me!" I buffed myself again with the Hunter Card. After Lu Buyi and Pure Love refreshed their Purple Dragon[1] and bard buffs on me, my max HP skyrocketed all the way to 24 million. It shouldn¡¯t be possible for the boss to one-shot me now. Now that I was ready, I flew straight toward the Earthwalker[2]. "Roar!" The Earthwalker raised its neck and roared, "Finally! It¡¯s been too long since I¡¯ve smelled the scent of fresh meat! I¡¯m going to consume you all!" "Consume your sister!" I let out a chuckle and pressed my blade against its neck. Then, I jammed it in and used Purple Frost Concentration to lower its Defense by 23.7%. The boss''s resistance was definitely weaker than the gods¡¯ I had fought in the Purgatory. Hurt, the Earthwalker shook me off and hit me with Lethal Dragon¡¯s Claw! Chiang! Its talons struck the Dihai Shield and caused a sharp, metallic ring. I shivered violently and lost a huge chunk of HP. As expected of a Quasi-Divine Rank boss! 1,102,776! I raised my arm and cast God Binding Art. However, a big fat MISS severed my hopes and dreams ruthlessly. I then resolved myself to fight this out without using the God Binding Art because honestly, it was very unlikely that the skill would work on a boss of this rank and power. I aimed at the boss''s head and retaliated with Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo. The resulting damage was extremely pleasing to look at to say the least¡ª 972,873! 1,127,374! 1,452,733! 1,823,729! In the sky, Li Chengfeng manifested his dragon into existence and stabbed the boss 7 times using Dragonbone Flurry. Each hit dealt around 700k damage, not to mention that Lian Xin and Beiming were providing ranged firepower as well. As a result, the boss was losing HP at an astonishing rate. "Roar roar¡­" Suddenly, the boss turned around and swiped both Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi with Lethal Dragon¡¯s Claw¡ª 3,183,784! 3,527,739! Gui Guzi looked like he was about to turn green as he flew away from the boss, "What the fuck is this Attack? The boss also deals extra damage to mount tenacity as well! It just deleted 20% of my Dark Crystal Dragon¡¯s tenacity in one hit!" Li Chengfeng laughed heartlessly at Gui Guzi¡¯s plight and said, "Luckily for me, divine players have infinite mount tenacity after transforming, hehe¡­" Gui Guzi: "Fuck you¡­" It was around this time the Earthwalker suddenly opened its maw and condensed something that looked like a giant black hole. It was the skill Death Devour, and it was aimed at me. Is it trying to devour me? I steeled my resolve and rushed forward instead of retreating. Bloody energy wrapped around my body like a cyclone, I slammed straight into the boss''s body and sent it stumbling at least a dozen or so meters to the back despite its size. Mad God Lunge had a 100% success rate, so the Earthwalker¡¯s Death Devour was canceled before it could unleash it! Humiliated and enraged, Earthwalker raised both of its claws menacingly. One of it was wreathed in flames, and the other in ice. It roared, "Die, lowly boy!" The boss''s claws were too huge, and its attack speed too fast for me to dodge out of the way. So, I raised my shield, activated the Profound Armor skill of my Rising Cloud boots, and entered a Guard stance! Chiang chiang chiang! The first two hits of Ice Fire Triple Strike were ice-based, but the third was fire-based. To say that it felt jarring and unpleasant would be an understatement. My left arm felt like it was losing all sensation, and the damage numbers rising above my heads caused everyone¡¯s jaw to hit the floor with a resounding clang¡ª 1,928,381! 2,102,389! 2,575,785! My HP dropped to the 25% mark all too quickly. Li Chengfeng clenched his fists and uttered, "If it could deal this much damage to Lu Chen when his Profound Armor was active, then it might one-shot the rest of us on the first hit!" Pa! Thankfully, the Xuanming Bow flashed just in time to stun the boss. I immediately executed my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Xuanyuan Slash! The attack deleted over 3 million HP instantly. My Divine Energy Points would slowly recover over time, so there was no reason not to use them. ¡­¡­ As it turned out, battling the boss wasn¡¯t as difficult as we had initially imagined. I had enough HP and Defense to tank even the boss''s greatest skill, Murong Mingyue and Pure Love could heal me, and even Lu Buyi had a weak healing skill that was better than nothing. With Murong Mingyue¡¯s Pool of Life constantly healing me, I could even stay at the same spot and fight toe-to-toe against the boss. The Earthwalker grew more and more violent after his HP had dropped to 30%. Its scales started glowing a dark light, and its claws began attacking even faster than before. There were multiple times He Yi, Gui Guzi and even Li Chengfeng had been knocked out of the way by its attacks. Although the divine players¡¯ Unusual Physique could mitigate a lot of damage, that was only if the enemy was drastically weaker than them. Its effects were negligible when the opponent was on equal footing, and practically non-existent against a Quasi-Divine Rank boss like the Earthwalker. For example, Li Chengfeng was incapable of tanking the boss at all. His equipment only gave him 19% damage mitigation in total, which was nothing compared to my 50%. "Is it just me, or does it look like the boss is about to evolve?" Pure Love asked while hugging her Seven-string Yaoqin. Lu Buyi also tightened his grip around his Hidden Dragon Fan and warned, "Stay alert and keep Lu Chen healed¡­" It was at this moment we all received a system notice. I narrowed my eyes instantly¡ª Ding! System Notice: Ghost Dragon Earthwalker is enraged. They have successfully undergone an evolution and entered a berserk state. Their Attack is increased by 40%, their armor penetration is increased by 30%, and the damage of their Ice Fire Triple Strike is doubled! ¡­¡­ "Oh man, here comes the real fight¡­" I chuckled. Beiming Xue yelled while shooting her bow. "This is no time to be laughing, big bro! Take care not to be one-shot by the boss!!" "Get your crowd controls ready. The boss will cast Ice Fire Triple Strike every 18 seconds. The skill doesn¡¯t have any tells, so make sure you pummel it with stuns before it uses it! We¡¯ll beat the boss to them with our superior number! 4 more seconds!" "Got it!" Our tactic was to hit the boss with every crowd control skill we had before it could cast its Ice Fire Triple Strike. Beiming Xue and Lin Xin cast their stuns at the same time, and even I was punching the boss''s lower jaw with Magic Piercing Punch that dealt 500k+ damage. Unfortunately, we still failed to stop the skill from casting in the end. "Die, boy!" The Earthwalker truly had gone berserk. His super Ice Fire Triple Strike rocked my Dihai Shield so hard I thought my arm would shatter from the pressure¡ª 3,476,367! 4,018,273! 10,283,778! The last hit was even a critical hit! I turned as white as death as my HP plummeted to almost nothing. Murong Mingyue hurriedly shouted, "Use Shennong Tastes Grass, Gui Guzi! Lu Chen, cast Xuanyuan Art to save yourself! We¡¯re all going to die if you die here¡­" Gui Guzi¡¯s Shennong Tastes Grass healed a lot of HP, and I was back to fighting condition after I downed a Rank 14 potion. I didn¡¯t use Xuanyuan Art despite big sis¡¯ advice because we were fighting in the Japanese¡¯s domain right now. I was saving it for when they attacked us. It was a fierce battle. The boss kept striking my chest armor and shield and deleting their equipment durability at an astonishing rate. If it wasn¡¯t for the quest limitation, I would never have fought the Quasi-Divine Rank boss with so few people. Not long ago, a Level 310 Quasi-Divine Rank boss had spawned at Dragonbone Mountain Range, and Candlelight Shadow had to mobilize as many as 3000 players to kill it. Naturally, the pressure our 10-man party was facing was many times greater than that. Another 20 minutes later, the boss had dropped to 10% HP. After it let out an angry roar, it chanted in the dragon¡¯s tongue, "Come forth, ants of the Purgatory! Feast on these lowly lives with your sharp teeth!" A black hole appeared on the Earthwalker¡¯s body. The next moment, countless fiery mosquitoes emerged and flew straight toward us! I recognized the mob immediately. It was the Laiquito I had fought down in the Purgatory, and I knew they were powerful enough to instakill most players! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I descended to the ground and yelled, "All flyers, stay on the ground unless you want to die! Those mosquitoes can suck you dry in no time! Lian Xin, surround us with Sea of Flames! Those mobs are Level 324 dread-rank Laiquitoes, and they only have 1 million HP. They wouldn¡¯t be able to survive your Sea of Flames for long!" Lian Xin nodded and did as commanded. The Laiquitoes squeaked with pain immediately after they entered the Sea of Flames. Lian Xin¡¯s Magic Attack was powerful enough, but the Ghost Armament Soul Shocker Bell also doubled her damage. This meant that her Sea of Flames dealt 500k damage to the mobs per second and killed them almost the moment they entered its range. Not long after, Li Chengfeng jumped to Level 256. If you could deal with the Laiquitoes, then you would be rewarded with an incredible amount of experience. 1. E/N: Since when do tacticians need to REFRESH their stratagems? They have no CD, they are active as long as the tactician is the party¡¯s leader¡­ ? 2. T/N: I¡¯ve noticed that these bosses just wait for you to prepare everything even though they¡¯re supposedly intelligent. It is a game after all ? CH 1520 Thanks to proper planning and coordination, the Quasi-Divine Rank Earthwalker couldn¡¯t help but lose HP despite its best attempts to thwart us. When its HP fell to 2% or so, I said, "Kill it while I hold its attention, Chengfeng. You can gain more experience that way. I¡¯m almost at the level cap, so this bit of experience doesn¡¯t matter to me¡­" Li Chengfeng disagreed, "But your Luck is more than double of mine! We¡¯ll get much better equipment if you¡¯re the one who kills the boss!" "I¡¯m your boss, so just do as I say[1], dude!" "Yes, party leader!" ¡­¡­ I cast Magic Piercing Punch repeatedly to gain a large amount of threat in a short amount of time. Then, I endured the boss''s attacks even though the Dihai Shield looked like it was about to turn into a sieve. While this was going on, Li Chengfeng hit the boss with Dragonblade Revolution, Dragonbone Flurry, Crimson Firmament Slash and more skills until finally, the Earthwalker let out a death groan and died. A column of golden light surrounded Li Chengfeng and increased his level to 257. Pop pop pop¡­ A ton of equipment and items erupted from the boss''s body. I ran up to them with a grin on my face. "Let¡¯s hope it drops a lot of Perfect Divine Crystals. That is what we need the most right now!" He Yi chuckled. "Let¡¯s hope so." The boss had dropped 9 Divine Crystals in total, and 3 of them were of 100 Quality. I gave them all to Lu Buyi. Then, I started checking out the equipment drops. Unfortunately, they weren¡¯t very good. For a Quasi-Divine Rank boss, the Earthwalker was surprisingly stingy. I thought it would definitely drop a Ghost Armament or a Divine Armament at least, but all we got was a pair of Ancient Immortal-grade legguards. Gui Guzi won it during a dice roll, and his plan was to sell it for money at the market. These days, Ancient Immortal-grade equipment was almost useless to top-tier players because even their weakest equipment was a Lower Divine Armament. Of course, the same couldn¡¯t be said for the normal players. In Sky City at least, Ancient Immortal-grade pieces of equipment were still the "Divine Armaments" of all middle to high¨Clevel players. ¡­¡­ Standing on top of the dead boss''s head, I looked left and right before saying, "It looks like we¡¯ll have to make a detour¡­" Captain Morn nodded in agreement. "Convoy, make a right turn and walk around these pits. We¡¯ll continue into Lost Forest after that!" The NPCs immediately started whipping the giant beasts to turn them around. As the escorts, we followed them as a matter of course. While walking on a lush plain of grass, I gazed into the distance and said, "The scenery in Purple Grape City is really great. It¡¯s a shame that it¡¯s the Japanese¡¯s settlement. Not only have they invaded us repeatedly, they even attempted to sneak past Sky Ridge to raid Snowy Cathaya¡¯s territory just half a month ago. A centipede dies but never falls down. They are an annoyance for sure¡­" Gui Guzi clenched his fists and declared, "There¡¯s an easy way to remedy that. All we need to do is to rally Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips, Warsky Alliance and more Sky City guilds, pass through Blood Rose Fortress and take out Wallow Ear Canton in one go. Without their last settlement, they are nothing more than a tiger without fangs." I shook my head. "You¡¯re underestimating our enemy too much, not to mention that the current situation is so that any movement can trigger a cascade of unpredictable consequences. If we dare to attack Swallow Ear Canton, I guarantee you that the Northern Alliance will invade Wind City through the Fortress of the Iron Halberd, and the Indians will swim to us through the Black Sea. Worst-case scenario, we may not be able to make it back to Sky City and can only watch as we lose our three main cities one by one." Li Chengfeng chuckled. "Yes, this isn¡¯t something we can decide on a whim. If Little Gui was the commander of this Nation War, I reckon that it would be GG for our server in 10 hours¡­" Gui Guzi grimaced. "Fuck you, I¡¯m not that bad." Li Chengfeng spread his arms. "Bullshit, you are worse than bad." I said, "Stop arguing and eyes on the front, you two. Anyway, I hope we won¡¯t be fighting another boss with a shitty drop rate but high difficulty like this. There were multiple times I was almost instakilled by its Ice Fire Triple Strike¡­" "Haha!" ¡­¡­ We didn¡¯t go far when a system announcement suddenly resounded across Purple Grape City¡ª System Announcement: Player "Red Maple" (Japan) triggered an ascension! They have become a god and a Death Divine Throne Guardian! The abilities they obtained are¡ªUnusual Physique, Flight, Vanish and Mount Armor Transformation! For a time, we could only stare at the sky in speechlessness. I said with a deep frown on my face, "Red Maple couldn¡¯t have chosen a better time to ascend, could he? Can anyone tell me what that Vanish does?" He Yi did a quick check before saying, "It increases the drop rate by 20%..." "Right. Never get killed by Red Maple, y¡¯all." "Don¡¯t worry, Red Maple is just a small fry we can kill at any time¡­" "Yeah. If he dares to show his face, don¡¯t hesitate to wipe the floor with him!" ¡­¡­ We entered the vast Lost Forest about two plus hours later. There were barely any Chinese players in the vicinity, but a ton of Japanese and unaffiliated players. I could see a lot of players whispering among themselves after they saw our convoy. I had no doubt that our location had already been revealed to Swallow Ear Canton. "Stay alert, everyone. I¡¯m certain we¡¯ll be PvPing in half an hour at most¡­" I said while licking my lips. "Will Red Maple show up, I wonder?" Li Chengfeng asked smilingly. I smiled back. "I cannot wait¡­" "That¡¯s what I think too, hehe!" ¡­¡­ Less than ten minutes later, a group of 2,000 players emerged from the forest. The blue bird on their shoulder marked them as players of Asuka Period, the third greatest guild in the China server. Their guild leader, Shogunate, was leading them with his scepter gripped tightly in his hand. A malicious grin danced across his lips as he said, "According to reliable sources, the Little Heavenly King and his goons are performing an SSS Rank quest. The China server will suffer a blow if we manage to disrupt it." An axe-wielding knight beside him asked, "Should we attack them now, or?" "Are you in a hurry to die or something?" Shogunate rolled his eyes at his player before explaining, "You don¡¯t think they¡¯re noobs, are you? Every single player in their party possesses the power to solo a small army. Hmph! There is no need to rush this. They can¡¯t act as they pleased because they need to protect the convoy, so we¡¯re going to use that to bring that down. Tell our archers and mages to spread out and get into position. Once they¡¯ve formed an encirclement, we¡¯ll launch a coordinated assault and defeat them all in one go. Be careful though. They have two gods in their party; the Little Heavenly King himself and that murderous devil of Final Duel Valley, Legendary Brave. It won¡¯t be easy to defeat them. Try to chain-stun them and kill them before they break free!" "Got it, boss!" ¡­¡­ We heard everything clearly, and Beiming Xue asked me, "Are we just going to let them surround us, big brother? It seems a bit too passive¡­" "Since when did I say that we¡¯re going to let them do as they please?" I unsheathed my sword and declared with a smile, "Eve, Little Gui, stay here and protect the convoy with everyone. Chengfeng, follow me to stamp out their morale. Divine players are excellent against large groups, and Unusual Physique will prevent us from being stunned, slowed or even critted most of the time. There is nothing to worry about!" "Heh, got it. I¡¯ll attack from the left, and you from the right. Let¡¯s race and see who can take out that idiot, Shogunate, first!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! A couple of green foxtails swayed back and forth as I flew toward the enemy at a low altitude. I appeared a hundred meters away from the convoy in no time before swooping down on a group of archers, smirking. "You really should¡¯ve waited until your party was bigger!" I raised my sword and cast the Death skill of Xuanyuan Art! All players within the area of effect lost 70% of their HP instantly. The Asuka Period players tried to heal themselves, but there was no way they could do it fast enough to offset my following strike. Flying so low to the ground that my feet were almost touching the grass, I moved parallel to the enemy¡¯s formation and dropped Ancient Seal after Ancient Seal on top of them. With just 30% or so HP left, not one of them was able to tank my Divine General Skill. Death screams filled the air instantly. "Lock him down with Shock Arrows!" A high-level archer roared. A volley of arrows immediately flew toward me, but they bounced off the energy shield of my Unusual Physique and dealt less than 100 damage per hit. I hadn¡¯t even activated Profound Armor yet. It was an exhilarating feeling to say the least. I flew straight into the middle of the enemies and executed Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash combo, reaping lives like I was reaping wheat. At the same time, bloodcurdling screams were erupting from the other side of Asuka Period¡¯s formation as well. I had no doubt that they were caused by Li Chengfeng. ¡­¡­ It was clear that the 2,000 players Asuka Period had assembled in haste couldn¡¯t even threaten me or Li Chengfeng, much less the rest of our party. Moreover, their status condition skills were largely useless against us due to our Unusual Physique. In fact, we hadn¡¯t been stunned even once since the start of the battle. The gap between a divine player and a non-divine player was simply too huge. Not only were we almost immune to status effect skills, we could attack from the sky and we didn¡¯t suffer from turn rate penalties. It was like we were mowing down mobs. "Shit! This cannot continue!" Shogunate growled, "Retreat! We will return after our main cavalry force has arrived! The mages and archers of the eastern leveling ground simply aren¡¯t good enough to fight Ancient Sword! Their level is too low!" I flew at top speed before stopping directly in front of Shogunate. Sword wreathed in flames, I smiled at him and said, "Do you really think you can escape, Shogunate?" "Do you really think I can¡¯t?" To my surprise, Shogunate declared with a smirk before summoning a fiery magical shield around him. I see. Whatever this magical shield was, he must be very confident in its ability to protect him! ¡­¡­ "Stop him! Use Charge!" A dozen or so magic knights Charged toward me in an attempt to protect their guild leader. I simply smiled, concentrated a great amount of divine energy on my blade, and unleashed them in a whip-like form! Burning Blade Slash! Bang bang bang¡­ All of the magic knights were sent flying into the air at the end of the skill. 9 of them were dead, and 3 more were almost dead. I raced up to Shogunate and dropped Myriad Swords Obliteration + Ancient Seal on top of him! Bang bang¡­ As it turned out, Shogunate¡¯s confidence wasn¡¯t completely unfounded. My ranged combo had only managed to shatter his Magic Shield. Still, he wouldn¡¯t be able to resummon it until a couple seconds later. This was my chance to one-shot him! Swhoosh! I threw my sword at him and used Coiling Dragon Revolution! Shogunate exclaimed in shock, "Shit!" He hurriedly Blinked away to safety. His skill was impressive, and he actually managed to figure out where I was aiming. My Coiling Dragon Revolution missed him completely. ¡­¡­ However, my movement speed was more than enough to make up for my mistake. After I came to a stop behind Shogunate, I caught the Xuanyuan Sword in mid-flight before stabbing him in the back with a flaming cone! Pu! 2,765,521! ¡­¡­ Shogunate looked back at me with eyes full of rage and resentment as his HP dropped all the way to zero. "I will be back!" Pulling out my sword from his body I recited him his last words. "Sure, just be back with more people, okay?" 1. E/N: ¡°It¡¯s a dumb idea but just do it for no reason! Did he forget leveling up to 255 can make someone a divine player? Why the fuck would he waste it on Li Chengfeng that¡¯s already a god??????? ? CH 1521 "Fuck, you killed him already?" In the sky, Li Chengfeng stared at Shogunate¡¯s corpse with a dissatisfied expression on his face, "You¡¯re too fast, Lu Chen. I didn¡¯t even make it close to you¡­" I looked at the convoy and said, "We don¡¯t have time to play anyway. Let¡¯s catch up to the convoy before we fall out of range!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ We were divine players, so we were able to fly back to the three supply carts in just the blink of an eye. Murong Mingyue counted, "That¡¯s exactly 5 minutes. How many people have you killed?" I thought for a moment before replying, "Chengfeng and I killed a total of 1,500 players or so. That being said, a lot of them managed to run away during the hunt, and this is just the first wave of harassers." "Did you kill Shogunate?" He Yi asked. "Yep." "Did he drop anything?" "Nope¡­" "Why didn¡¯t you use Song of Freedom?" "I, er¡­" Li Chengfeng roasted me, "Because he wanted to kill Shogunate before me, of course. He was so busy acting cool that he forgot to use Song of Freedom¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Amazingly, nothing happened in the next hour at all. Neither the mobs nor the players had shown up to attack us. The three tortoise-shaped supply carts slowly rolled forward among the ruins of Ice River Canton while I walked in front of them. "Strange. Where are the people?" Beiming Xue looked left and right anxiously. Gui Guzi sucked in a deep breath. "This is the calm before the storm. I¡¯m almost certain that they¡¯re preparing something big¡­" I nodded strongly. "I am of the same opinion. Either they don¡¯t show their faces at all, or they will show up with something that will destroy us for sure. Chengfeng, give Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits our coordinates and tell them to come to our aid now. If they can¡¯t reach us immediately, then have the Dragonlight Cavalry come over first. My hunch is telling me that the Japanese server will attack us in less than ten minutes¡­" Li Chengfeng smiled. "Got it. Chaos Moon and 50k Dragonlight Cavalry are already on their way. They¡¯ll probably arrive in 15 to 20 minutes. High Fighting Spirits, Xu Yang, Heaven¡¯s Rain and more are mustering the other classes. They will be arriving not too long after. In total, I¡¯ve mobilized 200k elites to come to our aid. We may as well turn this battle into an appetizer before the Nation War, right?" I leaped onto a supply cart and sat on its tortoise shell, saying, "Yeah. The convoy won¡¯t stop just because we need it to stop. Therefore, I want everyone to stay alert at all times. If the enemy manages to destroy the goods, our SSS Rank quest will end in failure, and we will all suffer a harsh penalty. Also, Xinran is the guarantor of this quest. I won¡¯t be able to face her later if we lose the goods I promised her to protect¡­" Suddenly, Gui Guzi let out a snicker and said, "By the way, have you claimed Sister Xinran already, Boss Broken Halberd? I only caught a glimpse of her during the party, but I can tell that she is an absolute beauty despite having slept in a pod for many years!" I rolled my eyes at him before saying, "What about you? Could you screw your own younger sister? That¡¯s what she is to me, no more, no less." Murong Mingyue wrapped an arm around Beiming Xue¡¯s shoulders and said, "I wouldn¡¯t be so sure about that. Don¡¯t you agree, Beiming?" Beiming Xue turned beet red as she stuttered, "I-I won¡¯t force it if big bro isn¡¯t willing. I won¡¯t get jealous because he¡¯s together with another girl either." Murong Mingyue facepalmed for a moment. "Okay, that¡¯s a more well-rounded answer than I thought you would give. What a smart girl! Did you hear that, Eve? If neither you nor Beauty Lin can tame Lu Chen, someone will gladly replace you two¡­" He Yi turned beet red as well. "You¡¯re so shameless, Mingyue. If you¡¯re this thirsty, I can find you a boyfriend within the company. In fact, the business unit manager from last time seems like a good guy. I also know he¡¯s interested in you since he couldn¡¯t stop looking at you during the meeting!" "Eh¡­ he looks a little too girlish. Lu Chen¡¯s more my type, if you get what I mean¡­" Me: "..." I stayed as quiet as a dead body. I had no doubt that Murong Mingyue would play me like a fool if I gave her even the slightest opening. In the meantime, I brought up my friend list, scrolled to Hickey¡¯s ID and gave her a call. She greeted me after accepting the call, "Hey boss! What¡¯s the matter?" I replied in a succinct manner, "Ahem, me and my friends accepted a quest to escort a batch of goods from Violet Empire to Purple Grape City. We are currently at the ruins of Ice River Canton. We suspect that the Japanese have prepared a massive ambush for us, so I want you to bring whoever is available at this time to Ice River Canton as quickly as you can. How long will it take you to reach us?" Hickey hummed for a moment before replying, "20 minutes!" "Alright. Be quick. The success of our quest depends on you!" "Don¡¯t worry, boss. We¡¯ll get it done!" ¡­¡­ I also sent Lin Yixin a message because I realized that this war might be beyond our single guild¡¯s ability to fight. "Yiyi?" ¡°Yes, what is it, Little Cheat?" Lin Yixin replied with a voice that reminded me of clear bells. "Hehe, nothing? I¡¯m just missing your voice¡­" "Yeah, I don¡¯t believe you. Now tell me what you need already!" "I accepted a quest some time ago, and my party and I may be ambushed at the ruins of Ice River Canton. If possible, can you muster a troop of elites and come to our rescue? Make sure they¡¯re pure cavalrymen, or you may not be able to reach us in time!" "I see¡­" Lin Yixin giggled. "A large majority of my players are currently grinding, and it doesn¡¯t feel right to cut their session halfway, so¡­ I can only promise around 100k cavalrymen or so. Is that enough?" "That¡¯s enough. Come quickly!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ After everything was ready, I refreshed my Dark Pupils and scanned my surroundings once more. I immediately shivered in alert. My Dark Pupils had a vision range of 1,000 yards or so, and my map screen showed that a great number of red dots was littered all across the forest ahead of us. They were lying in ambush, most likely for us. Chiang! I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and pointed to the front. "At least 10,000 Swallow Ear Canton players are waiting for us over there. Should I head over and test their strength?" Li Chengfeng shook his head immediately. "No, you are the commander of this party. You must stay here and oversee everything. I¡¯ll scout them and see if I can force them to reveal their cards!" "Alright. Don¡¯t let your guard down for even a second though! Unusual Physique is a powerful skill, but super-tier players can still do a considerable amount of damage to you. Also, Mount Armor Transformation and Flight aren¡¯t that big of an advantage either since you¡¯re fighting a one versus many battle. You may die if they manage to surround you[1]." Li Chengfeng waved a hand confidently. "I know, I was there when you fought Candlelight Shadow, remember? Anyway, you have nothing to worry about. I am no Warsky. I never underestimate my opponent no matter the time or place!" "Okay. Go get ¡®em!" ¡­¡­ Pa! A couple of maple leaves spun madly in the air as Li Chengfeng took off into the sky and sped straight toward the front. When he reached a certain area, he abruptly came to a stop and fired a pair of blade auras toward the ground. A dozen or so archers immediately let out painful screams and dropped to their knees. "Come out!" Li Chengfeng uttered. Seven whole seconds of silence later, the trees suddenly shook violently. At the same time, countless arrows shot into the air and flew straight toward Li Chengfeng. Pa pa pa! Unfortunately, the volley only managed to pierce the dragon warrior¡¯s afterimage. He had always been famed for his strength and agility, and he had engaged evasive maneuvers the second the enemy¡¯s arrows had left their bowstrings. The assault was just beginning, however. A bunch of Galaxy Storms followed the arrows, and this time he wasn¡¯t able to dodge them perfectly! While backing away with only 60% HP left, Li Chengfeng cursed, "Fuck, this is a lot of damage! Who are these mages?!" Suddenly, an axe-wielding berserker rushed out from behind a shrubbery and swung his axe at him at high speed, shouting, "Do you remember me, Legendary Brave?"[2] Chiang! Li Chengfeng managed to parry the attack, but he was sent skidding across the grass because he had been caught by surprise. He lashed out with a Reverse Scale Slash before kicking the attacker out of the way, laughing. "Red Hot Vortex? Sorry, but you are not a worthy prey to me!" ¡­¡­ Another figure rushed out from behind the trees. This time, it was Cyan Frost the Ice Knight! She fired a Freezing Slash at Li Chengfeng! The dragon warrior had just spent his strength knocking back Red Hot Vortex, so he could only drop to the ground to dodge the skill! MISS! The instant Freezing Slash had missed him, Li Chengfeng bounced back to his feet and exploded toward Cyan Frost so hard that the space where his boots were literally cracked under pressure. He was able to grab Cyan Frost¡¯s cape and haul her off her mount before thrusting his halberd toward her pale neck. Although Cyan Frost was a woman, Li Chengfeng didn¡¯t hesitate to go all out against her. It would be incredibly foolish to put the party in danger just because the enemy happened to be of the fairer sex. A bloody icicle knocked his weapon away before he could hit her though. It was the temporary attack a divine player could conjure using their Domain! Li Chengfeng looked up as a grinning Red Maple swooped toward him from above. "Today is the day you die, Legendary Brave!" Fire God Flurry! Li Chengfeng let out a muffled groan as the triple-hit skill dropped his HP to just 30% or so. In retaliation, he stabbed Red Maple in the shoulder before punching him in the chest. ¡­¡­ "No, Chengfeng can¡¯t beat Red Maple, Cyan Frost and Red Hot Vortex alone!" Gui Guzi clenched his fists tightly. I looked around and saw that a great number of enemies were moving toward our location. I immediately said, "Little Gui, heal Chengfeng with Shennong Tastes Grass while I fly over to help him!" "Mn!" I rose until I was about three meters above ground before flying toward Li Chengfeng. After I found an appropriate attack angle, I executed a long-range Burning Blade Slash! "Watch out! It¡¯s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" Red Maple and Cyan Frost reacted almost identically. They both crossed their swords in front of themselves and Guarded! Bang bang bang¡­ The duo were blown back dozens of meters by the powerful skill. The moment they regained mobility, they downed a health potion despite the fact that a ton of healing spells were flashing on their person. It was the smart thing to do. Their HP had gone above 70% before I could use the Xuanyuan Art to kill them. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng grabbed my cape and said, "We need to go. There are too many high-level players in the area. There¡¯s not much even we can do against this many enemies!" I nodded and followed him back to the convoy, an endless shower of Shock Arrows and Galaxy Storms following our wake. It looked like Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s highest-leveled and best-equipped players were all here. 1. E/N: ?????????? Just last chapter you said it was a huge advantage, that¡¯s why you went alone for Shogunate¡­ BECAUSE you could fly and it was a huge advantage in 1vX??????? Surround? He can literally just fly up????? ? 2. T/N: Li Chengfeng probably dodged TO the ground. Not the worst decision since hovering in the air here is asking to be sniped, but I agree that the author could¡¯ve mentioned it somewhere ? CH 1522 [1] Swhoosh swhoosh! We quickly flew back to the convoy before landing on the ground. "Heal Chengfeng quickly, sis!" "Mn!" Murong Mingyue cast her spells on Li Chengfeng and healed him for almost 4 million HP in just 7 seconds. Her current HPS was around 600k, which put her among the best priests in the entire world. Li Chengfeng clenched his fists while gazing to the distance. "Their equipment is too good. Dammit, if only I had equipment that reduced damage received by 50% like the Cloak of Divine Fervor!" He Yi nodded before saying quietly, "Red Maple had gathered almost all the experts of the Japan server to kill you. It would be stranger if he failed to damage you considerably." ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle¡­ Grass was trampled as Cyan Frost, Red Hot Vortex and more players emerged from the forest. Not only that, several armies were marching toward our location from different directions as well. Copper Spear of Era of Strife, Shogunate of Asuka Period and Sun-shooting Bow of Tail Feather Palace were all here. I also counted a dozen or so guilds of various sizes. My DarK Pupils revealed red dots everywhere. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, at least a million players were surrounding us from all sides. "God damn¡­" Lu Buyi said coolly while the wind blew at his white sleeves. "We¡¯ve stepped on a landmine, it seems. Practically all of the JGL Hall of Famers have come out to fight us. Hmph hmph, they must¡¯ve found out the goods we¡¯re guarding are the key of our SSS Rank quest. They wouldn¡¯t have come at us with such a huge force otherwise." He Yi gave her growling Snow Crystal Dragon a reassuring pat before asking, "It¡¯ll take at least ten minutes before our first reinforcements arrive. What do we do?" I said with a smile, "What else? We defend the convoy for ten minutes with everything we got until then. The enemy will be launching a full-powered assault very soon. While Chengfeng and I dish out our AoE damage, Eve, Little Gui and Beiming, I want you guys to guard a supply cart each. Lian Xin, set up as many fires as you can and keep the enemy from approaching us. The supply carts only have a total HP of 10 million. They can¡¯t take too many attacks." Pure Love asked while Li Chengfeng nodded, "What do I do?" "Focus on healing Chengfeng because the enemy will pay extra focus on him. You hear that, Chengfeng? The two players the Japanese hate the most are me and you. I¡¯m hard to kill, so they may prioritize killing you first. It would suck to die in their hands, right?" I said with a smile. Li Chengfeng put his halberd on his shoulder and shrugged. "Eh, I don¡¯t actually mind that. Everyone dies one day, much less in a game. They will have to pay a great price to kill me though. By the way, look at Copper Spear¡¯s army, Lu Chen. I see a bunch of elite mages with Heart of the Holy Mage. It looks like they¡¯ve taken control of a Silver City. You should prioritize killing them to lessen our pressure." I frowned. "Alright, I have a multiple-choice question for you all. I can kill either Red Maple or the Holy Mages with Xuanyuan Art + Xuanyuan Slash[2] combo. Who do you think I should kill?" Gui Guzi declared, "Red Maple. He is the soul of God¡¯s Domain. Killing him will greatly diminish the enemy¡¯s morale!" However, Beiming Xue disagreed with him. "I think you should kill the mages, big bro. If they manage to get close enough to fire a volley of spells, both Little Xin and I may be one-shot by them. The bombardment of Holy Mages are just too powerful at close range." He Yi said, "I agree that Lu Chen should prioritize killing the mages as well. Chengfeng can keep Red Maple busy while he carries out the deed." I nodded. "Alright, then I¡¯ll prioritize killing the mages. God¡¯s Domain owns the Gold Cavalry, but that is a lesser threat toward us compared to the Holy Mages. Wait for my signal later. The moment I cast the Xuanyuan Art, execute your AoE skills and kill as many enemies as you can!" Everyone nodded in agreement. ¡­¡­ A while later, we exchanged gazes with the Japanese players on the opposite side of a vast forest clearing. God¡¯s Domain cavalrymen were all Gold Cavalry, and Red Maple was floating in front of them. The man said with a cold smile on his face, "We meet again, friends of the China server. I should welcome you respectfully since you¡¯re a guest in our lands, but the goods you¡¯re escorting are just too, hehe, you get what I mean. Long story short, they are not entering Purple Grape City." My heart skipped a beat. As expected, Red Maple had somehow found out every detail of our quest. I was expecting this though. The walls have ears after all.[3] Copper Spear of Era of Strife sneered, "You didn¡¯t think you could come and go to our borders as you please, did you? None of you are returning to your main city today." Li Chengfeng chuckled at that and said, "Is that so? I honestly thought of Purple Grape City as the backyard of the China server. What kind of backyard doesn¡¯t allow its master to come and go as they please?" "Fuck you!" Shogunate raised his scepter and threatened, "Just watch, we will launch our counterattack eventually. When the day comes where Sky City is nothing but ashes beneath our feet, you won¡¯t be laughing anymore!" I simply held a finger in front of my lips. "Shh, loser." Shogunate was so furious his face was white with rage. Red Maple sneered, "Quiet, Shogunate. You¡¯re not good enough to beat him in a match of words." The so-called number one player of the Japan server then raised his sword and growled with resentment, "And why do we need to waste our breath on him when our steel will do so much better? Let¡¯s go. The Gold Cavalry will advance first, and the Holy Mages later. Remember that our priority isn¡¯t them but their supply carts. Destroying all three supply carts will feel so much better than killing them, wouldn¡¯t it? Of course, if you can kill them, then don¡¯t hesitate to jump on the opportunity!" With that, the battle began in earnest. ¡­¡­ Iron hooves galloped across the plains. The Gold Cavalrymen unsheathed their blades, screamed their battle cries and charged straight toward us. Still on her Snow Crystal Dragon, He Yi descended to the ground and raised her Suppressing Fire Sword. "Don¡¯t move yet, Lu Chen, Chengfeng. Until the enemy¡¯s Holy Mages approach, just leave these cavalrymen to me!" I nodded and watched as He Yi rushed into the group of Gold Cavalry and cast a series of flaming skills. At the same time, Lian Xin dropped her Sea of Flames, Dimensional Storm, Ice Spiral Matrix and more on top of the enemy. 200% damage was just too much for most people to bear, and practically every hit dealt around 1.5 million damage. Combined with the continuous damage from the Sea of Flames, she needed 3 to 5 hits at most to kill a full-health Gold Cavalryman. Lian Xin¡¯s new equipment also shortened her cooldowns drastically. It took her around 7 seconds at most to cast them again. "Here they come!" Li Chengfeng said while staring at a certain spot. He brandished his Cyan Peak Halberd and gathered swirls of divine energy beneath his feet. We saw at least 10,000 Holy Mages were advancing toward us slowly. When they were about 30 yards away from us, they abruptly stood still and started firing their spells with the Far Shot mode! "Shit, they¡¯re targeting our supply carts[4]..." I turned my blade while saying, "I¡¯m going to cast Xuanyuan Art now. Prepare to hit the enemy!" Three vortices appeared on the Death side of the Xuanyuan Sword. It was the Xuanyuan Art¡¯s precast visual effect. The moment Red Maple saw it, he immediately withdrew to the back and produced a green bottle from his bag. It was an Anti-Magic Potion that protected the user from all magic-type attacks, and it cost 5,000 gold a bottle in the black market! The moment Xuanyuan Art activated, all the enemy players in front of me lost 70% of their HP in one go. I was already leaping toward them and firing Burning Blade Slash at a bunch of mages with their Magic Shields turned on. At the same time, I dropped 17 Ancient Seals in a row in front of me. After the powerful skills destroyed their Magic Shields, I cast Summon the Storm + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo to kill them all! In another direction, Gui Guzi raised his Ghostblade Halberd and cast Hundred Ghosts Descent that also one-shot a group of people. Li Chengfeng just flew to the middle of a group and cast his skills like crazy. The battle was incredibly fierce. Even with 50% damage reduction, I couldn¡¯t stop losing HP due to the sheer amount of arrows and spells that were striking my body. The good news was that 50% lifesteal was sufficient to keep me alive, and countless players died every time I swung my sword. I said ¡°countless¡± because I literally couldn¡¯t be bothered to count my kills. It was a good thing I could sustain myself because the enemy did focus much of their firepower on Li Chengfeng as I thought. As a result, Murong Mingyue had to spend most of her healing spells on him. ¡­¡­ Chiang! Li Chengfeng knocked Red Maple¡¯s sword aside while he was spinning in midair. Twisting his halberd and stabbing a nearby expert in the neck, he executed a 7-hit Dragonbone Flurry that turned both the poor fellow and the group of Gold Cavalrymen behind him into shreds. A bloody dagger stabbed into his back immediately after, but thankfully he was a divine player. He wouldn¡¯t be stunned so easily. Without hesitation, Li Chengfeng lifted his leg backward and kicked Purple Thunder away from him. A bunch of maple leaves engulfed Li Chengfeng, Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin altogether and dealt a sizable amount of damage to all of them. Red Maple had always been a powerful attacker, but he was also a divine player. One Divine General Skill was all it took to delete much of Lian Xin¡¯s HP. "Freeze him!" Beiming Xue said. Lian Xin nodded and dropped Frozen Domain on top of Red Maple! "Hmph¡­" To my surprise, the guy let out a snort and surrounded himself in a golden shield. It was his invincibility skill! Just how confident was he to activate his invincibility skill just to neutralize Lian Xin¡¯s Frozen Domain? Did he really think he could take us out in a reasonably short time? ¡­¡­ Chiang chiang chiang! While striking Cyan Frost¡¯s blade three times in a row, Gui Guzi snuck a peek at his party members¡¯ HP and cast a Shennong Tastes Grass to heal everyone. At the same time, he shouted, "Watch out for the assassins! They¡¯re targeting Lil Beiming!" Beiming Xue immediately withdrew her bow, backed a few steps from her original position and activated Clear As Flame. After she found her targets, she shot them down one after another with the Xuanming Bow. There really was a group of assassins gunning for our number one archer¡¯s Divine Armament! Unfortunately, Beiming¡¯s Clear As Flame didn¡¯t reveal all of the assassins charging toward her! Less than a hundred meters away from Beiming Xue, I saw the number one assassin of the JGL, Purple Thunder, making a mad dash toward her! ¡­¡­ I clenched my fist and knocked back the Gold Cavalrymen behind me with the power of my Domain. After I propelled myself toward Beiming Xue using the knockback effect, I opened my palm covertly and cast God Binding Art! Swhoosh! Purple Thunder was frozen in place when he was just a single step away from Beiming Xue. He was so close to stabbing her that he was in the middle of thrusting out his dagger. "OMG¡­" Beiming Xue turned as white as death as she backed away from him. She then rewarded his valiant effort with a faceful of arrows. 1. T/N: I forgot to mention it in the previous chapter, but man it¡¯s so retarded that the enemy manages to reach them before his own players did, even though Lu Chen has already told them to grind in Purple Grape City domain ahead of time ? 2. E/N: I really hope you mean Xuanyuan Slash + Xuanyuan Art. Also, I¡¯ve been fuming for a while, but Lu Chen never uses Xuanyuan Art to kill people like Candlelight Shadow with half HP¡­ So many battles could have ended early because of it ? 3. T/N: More like a "I¡¯m parading the fact that I¡¯m doing a very important escort quest, and I¡¯m surprised there aren¡¯t live threads of our movement on the forums" situation ? 4. T/N: You don¡¯t fucking say? Why do you sound surprised? ? CH 1523 I lowered my upper body a little. When I was 50 meters away from Purple Thunder, a mini dragon snaked up the Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s blade before I threw it straight at him. Purple Thunder was a super-tier assassin with at least 700k base HP. Assuming that it was increased by 6 to 9 times higher due to bard buffs, card buffs and more, he could have as much as 4 million HP. Therefore, Beiming Xue might not be able to kill him in one hit. Bang! 1,387,664! As I thought, Beiming Xue¡¯s close-range shot only managed to delete 30% of his HP. Swhoosh! The Xuanyuan Sword drew a gorgeous arc across many unfortunate torsos before plunging into Purple Thunder¡¯s heart. 2,193,287! 1,128,734! The man let out a groan and slowly collapsed to the ground. He even dropped a pair of red leather-armor wristguards that Beiming Xue picked up. ¡­¡­ "Dammit¡­" Red Hot Vortex looked deeply hurt by his friend¡¯s death. Rage fueling his arms with tremendous strength, he swung his axe 5 times in quick succession and actually managed to knock both Gui Guzi and his dragon ten meters to the back. After Gui Guzi knocked Red Hot Vortex away with his Ghostblade Halberd, he commented, "Damn, this guy attacks like crazy the second Purple Thunder dies. You two are gay for each other, aren¡¯t you?" "You¡¯re gay!" Red Hot Vortex responded by attacking even harder. Pa! After I caught the Xuanyuan Sword, I spread open my left palm and dropped an Ancient Seal at the group of Gold Cavalry behind me. While tanking countless hits from every direction, I said in the party channel, "Teamwork time, people. Beiming, stun Red Hot Vortex with Shock Arrow. Chengfeng, Little Gui, let¡¯s work together and take him out!" "Okay!" Beiming Xue¡¯s Shock Arrow was in flight before she even voiced her reply! Bang! 923,774! Not only was it a successful stun, the Shock Arrow triggered the Xuanming Flame and scorched all nearby Japanese players. I couldn¡¯t reach Red Hot Vortex in time, so I fired Myriad Swords Obliteration and another Ancient Seal at him instead. Gui Guzi also cast a long-range Death Flurry that skewered the JGL Hall of Famer. Finally, Li Chengfeng struck him with a powerful Barrier Break before ripping his halberd out of the torso, nearly cutting the berserker in half. Groaning, Red Hot Vortex fell to his knees before dropping a sinister-looking helmet. Li Chengfeng was picking up the loot when a bunch of Touches of the Dragonkiss slammed into his body and knocked him sideways. Swhoosh! At the same time, a freezing sword thrust into Li Chengfeng¡¯s side. It was none other than Cyan Frost¡¯s Freezing Slash! Crack! The dragon warrior failed to dodge the skill this time, so he lost 1.1 million HP and became encased in ice for several seconds. Cyan Frost¡¯s Attack definitely wasn¡¯t on the low side. Distracted, Gui Guzi was ambushed from above by Red Maple and sent crashing to the ground by a Fire God Flurry. As if on cue, countless arrows and magical spells fell from the sky and dealt massive damage to both him and our backliners. It was nothing Gui Guzi hadn¡¯t experienced before, but Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue and Pure Love quickly fell to low health. Panicking, I shouted, "Little Gui, Shennong Tastes Grass now! Your cooldown should be reset by now!" While Gui Guzi was casting the skill, I dashed in front of Li Chengfeng and activated Profound Armor. I was able to parry the blow that would¡¯ve killed Li Chengfeng and elicited an exclamation of surprise from Cyan Frost, "Impressive strength¡­" That was what she said, but she wasn¡¯t one to give up so easily. She followed up with a powerful Blaze Flurry! I simply raised my arm and blocked the attack with the Dihai Shield. Two damage numbers rose above my head¡ª 212,873! 192,837! Cyan Frost blurted as her eyes widened like saucers, "Impossible! H-how do you have so much Defense?" I simply shot her a smile, pressed my blade against her chest armor, and executed Burning Blade Slash that sent her and her mount flying. Her mount vanished in midair because the skill had deleted her last chunk of mount tenacity. The Ice Knight left behind a trail of damage numbers in the air¡ª 1,526,736! 1,937,473! 2,213,641! When she saw how much HP she had left, Cyan Frost muttered with a forehead of cold sweat, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is as scary as ever¡­" "Watch out, Cyan Frost!" Red Maple shouted an urgent warning to her, but it was too late. Cyan Frost looked up just in time to see a gorgeous knightress stabbing her with a sword aura and deleting her last chunk of HP. Her killer was none other than our guild leader, He Yi. He Yi scooped up Cyan Frost¡¯s dropped necklace from the ground before dodging a shower of arrows and magical spells. While doing so, she said triumphantly in the party channel, "Heehee, I did it¡­" A low-health Li Chengfeng grinned. "The guild leader is formidable¡­" Everyone¡¯s HP had fallen below par again, so I hurriedly cast the Life skill of the Xuanyuan Art to heal everyone. The immediate goal was to survive until reinforcements arrived after all. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ White light enveloped everyone and restored 70% HP to their health bar, temporarily rejuvenating them. Murong Mingyue complained while waving her scepter again and again, "This is too much¡­ this isn¡¯t a battle where Moon Dew and I alone are enough at all¡­" I replied, "We¡¯re doing a special quest, so. Also, we can¡¯t possibly ask our players to spend half the day escorting us until we are certain that the enemy¡¯s ambush is beyond our ability to handle. They¡¯re our players, not our babysitters. And what if the Japanese decided that it¡¯s not worth the trouble and never ambushed us in the first place? I guarantee you that our Reputation will suffer greatly if we do that¡­" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment He Yi shot the supply carts a glance and warned, "Oh no, the foremost supply cart has fallen below 40% durability¡­" "I know. What the fuck¡¯s keeping Chaos Moon?" Li Chengfeng flew round and round the supply carts and killed everyone in his way, but there were simply too many enemies. Captain Morn, the NPC was fighting alongside us too, but his HP had already fallen below 20%. Unless the Japanese suddenly decided to stop attacking him, he was probably going to die very soon. His survival meant little to us though. After all, our job was to protect the supply carts, not him. If he died, then he would¡¯ve died performing his duty, so whatever¡­ Red Maple was circling us like a hawk in the sky. I shot him a glance before clenching my fists, "There are only a handful of JGL Hall of Famers left. Chengfeng, try baiting Red Maple into attacking us if you can. Beiming, cast Well of the Abyss the second Red Maple enters within 40 yards of us. Lian Xin, freeze him the moment Well of the Abyss vanishes. Chengfeng and I will handle everything after that[1]!" "Mn!" Unfortunately, Red Maple seemed to realize our plan and never came close enough for us to execute it. He simply hovered in the sky and ordered in a cool voice, "All units, attack them with everything you''ve got. They¡¯re going to collapse any moment now¡­" "That motherfucker¡­!" I tried to fly into the sky to take him out, but He Yi caught my boot and chided me, "Where do you think you¡¯re going? We need you to protect the convoy! Did you not realize that two of our supply carts are close to being destroyed?" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ It felt like time was passing at a snail¡¯s pace. Finally, when another 3 minutes had passed, a familiar thundering noise resounded from the forest. Everyone recognized it immediately as the galloping of hooves! Whoosh whoosh whoosh¡­ A shrubbery was crushed under a boot as a general carrying a giant flaming axe ran up to us. He greeted us with a hearty laugh and asked, "Lu Chen, Li, Little Gui! Did y¡¯all miss me!" Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes lit up. "Hell yes, we missed you to death! Now help us take these fuckers out already!" Beside High Fighting Spirits was Chaos Moon with the Dihai Blade in hand and a sea of Dragonlight Cavalry behind her. Finally, our reinforcements had arrived! What an exciting moment it was! I immediately pointed at the enemy and ordered, "Cut through from the center and prevent the enemy from making contact with the supply carts! It¡¯ll be all for naught if they manage to destroy it! Also, tell Xu Yang to hit the enemy from the flank!" "Understood!" ¡­¡­ The Dragon Soul¨Cempowered Dragonlight Cavalry Charged toward the enemy fearlessly, forcing the enemy¡¯s Gold Cavalry and Holy Mages to defend themselves. The enemies surrounding the supply carts immediately lessened by a considerable degree. While the reinforcements were keeping the enemy¡¯s main forces at bay, the ten of us focused on cleaning up the remnants near the supply carts and succeeded a few minutes later. Even Red Maple had flown away because he knew the first thing I would do after I was done with his underlings was to kill him. He also knew that his chances of escaping Li Chengfeng and my combined attack was almost zero. After all, Red Maple didn¡¯t have a nonuple damage weapon like the Dragon Tooth Arm and so couldn¡¯t threaten either of us. It was at this moment Copper Spear ordered icily, "Holy Mages, form a defensive formation and stop the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s charge! The time to realize our objective has arrived¡ªlet this place be the grave of the so-called number one cavalry on the continent!" It wasn¡¯t an empty threat. 50k Holy Mages quickly formed a square formation before firing their spells at our charging players! High Fighting Spirits and several thousand Dragonlight Cavalry managed to break through the line of fire and even kill around 3,000 mages, but it came at the cost of nearly 2,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen lives. As it turned out, not even the Dragonlight Cavalry was strong enough to withstand the Holy Mages¡¯ bombardment! Copper Spear couldn¡¯t help but laugh when he saw the floor of Dragonlight Cavalry bodies. "Do you understand our power now? Hmph! They all say that Ancient Sword¡¯s cavalrymen are number one in the world, but so what? They¡¯re still dead dogs before our mage formation! Come on! Charge us again! Let¡¯s see who runs out of troops first!" High Fighting Spirits¡¯ eyes were bloodshot, and veins were popping all over his face. He roared, "That little fuck!" Chaos Moon shook her head helplessly. "Oh no, that idiot is about to go on a rampage again¡­" I yelled at him from the sky, "Fighting Spirits, stop!" The berserker looked up and asked, "What is it? Do you have a plan?" I nodded affirmatively. "Yeah. I want you to rally 10,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen into formation and wait for my signal. When the time is right, we¡¯ll destroy Era of Strife¡¯s Holy Mage party in one go!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Beside me, Li Chengfeng asked, "What is your plan exactly?" I shot him a meaningful smile and answered, "We¡¯re going to give Era of Strife the taste of a new tactic; a tactic that only divine players can execute!¡± CH 1524 "What new tactic?" Li Chengfeng grinned. "It must be a pretty disgusting tactic for you to smile like that." I looked at the sky and said, "It¡¯s not that disgusting, but it will disorganize them for sure." "Disorganize?" He Yi repeated in confusion. "Mn." I nodded and said, "Divine players have Flight and incredible movement speed, right? Chengfeng and I will fly up to the clouds and hide there. When the time is right, we¡¯ll dive toward the ground and execute our combos. We¡¯ll be moving way faster than even our normal flight speed due to inertia, so I expect us to reach the ground in at most 3 seconds. Our landing will be explosive, literally. What are the chances Era of Strife¡¯s 50k Holy Mages will be able to keep it together when our 10k elite Dragonlight Cavalry charge them at the same time?" Li Chengfeng laughed after hearing the plan. "Not bad! Everyone¡¯s busy fighting right now, so not many people will pay attention to the sky, if at all. Now that I think about it, this is practically the enhanced version of the airdrop tactic, isn¡¯t it?" I licked my lips. "No, it¡¯s even better than that. This tactic is especially effective against land-bound top experts, so I think it¡¯s more apt to describe it as ¡®air-sniping¡¯. Take a crowd control-type expert like Ye Yuse. Normally, she would be able to inflict massive damage before we could even get to her and kill her. We¡¯ll suffer far less casualties if we air-snipe her though." Li Chengfeng nodded heavily. "Should we go then?" "Yeah. Let¡¯s go!" Thud thud! Two pairs of mini cyclones spun on the supply cart¡¯s shell as Li Chengfeng and I took to the sky. Chaos Moon stared at the streams of air trailing our backs and commented, "These mules¡­" Pure Love chuckled. "Yes, they are mules who do everything by themselves, and succeed. It is how Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls rose to the top of the world, isn¡¯t it?" He Yi hid a smile behind her palm, and she looked so gorgeous in that moment that the Dragonlight Cavalry surrounding her looked like they would ascend to heaven. Our beautiful, mature and wise guild leader was why our guild was incredibly united[1]. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng and I stared at the ground as we flew side by side inside the clouds. The Holy Mages¡¯ square formation looked like a small dot from where we were. I opened the map screen, marked two spots and said, "I¡¯ll hit the right dot, and you the left dot. I¡¯m going to count down from 3, but you will descend when I say 2, and I will descend when I say 1. It¡¯s because I want the two of us to hit the ground at the same time!" Li Chengfeng nodded. "I get what you¡¯re saying. You¡¯re the BMW, and I¡¯m the Jiangnan Alto. That is why I need a head start¡­" "Er, I think you¡¯re exaggerating a little. If your Blue Crystal Dragon is a Jiangnan Alto, then my Ancient Divine Dragon is at best a Wuling Sunshine¡­" "Haha! Long live loser cars!" "..." I contacted High Fighting Spirits. "Fighting Spirits, get ready to charge the enemy in 10 seconds!" The berserker had been growing impatient since a while ago. "Got it!" Hooves began thundering against the ground once more. At the distance, God¡¯s Domain, Tail Feather Palace and more guilds were being run down by Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and Gui Guzi¡¯s Dragonlight Cavalry. In fact, their battlefield was the main battlefield. That being said, High Fighting Spirits¡¯ 10,000 Dragonlight Cavalry versus Era of Strife¡¯s Holy Mages was a more interesting show right now. "Let¡¯s go! 3, 2, 1!" Li Chengfeng dived first, and I followed him a count later. I made sure to activate Profound Armor, Battle Astral Wind and more skills just in case the enemy¡¯s firepower turned out to be greater than expected. The moment I burst out of the clouds, I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and chuckled to myself. "Let the fight begin!" On the ground, the Holy Mages were swinging their scepters and casting spells at the Dragonlight Cavalry. High Fighting Spirits was swinging his axe and approaching the enemy¡¯s frontline. Swhoosh swhoosh¡­ It was at this moment Li Chengfeng and I cut through the air like a pair of lightning bolts. "What¡¯s that?" A Holy Mage looked up and felt his pupils widening. "Oh no[2]!" Bang bang! Li Chengfeng hit the ground at the same time and caused a shockwave that engulfed all the players around us. The ground itself depressed into a pit about 2 meters deep and 20 meters wide. I executed War Crush and dropped 17 Ancient Seals around me. Li Chengfeng activated his Divine General Skill, Battle Soul Possession to greatly increase his stats before firing his AoE skills everywhere. Countless Holy Mages died to our combined attacks. "Kaka! This is fun! Go, brothers!" High Fighting Spirits grinned from ear to ear when he saw the destruction we wrought. He and the Dragonlight Cavalry made a concentrated charge, and the next moment the firewall Era of Strife¡¯s mages had tried so hard to maintain was broken completely. Not only that, they were able to split the entire square formation in half. The Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s Attack was so high that two Barrier Breaks were basically enough to kill one Holy Mage. It was no wonder they weren¡¯t able to stop them. "Huh? What¡¯s that?" Li Chengfeng suddenly looked up and said, "I¡¯m sensing divine energy nearby. Is it Red Maple?" I tightened my grip, "Perfect. Get ready to take him out!" "Mn!" However, the figure that burst out of the clouds had a pair of 34Ds, a dazzling pair of legs, and a unique sword imbued with the power of the wind, the Wind Severing Sword. Not one of these attributes could possibly belong to Red Maple! "Oh look, your girl has come to your rescue¡­" Li Chengfeng grinned when he realized who it was. I rolled my eyes at him. As Lin Yixin descended, she pointed her sword at the ground and manipulated the air currents to her will. Dark clouds gathered, and lightning bolts erupted from inside. It was the skill Thunder Cloud Storm! The AoE ultimately caused great pain to the Holy Mages. When the time was right, I turned my blade and cast the Death skill of the Xuanyuan Art! A skill that removed 70% of the opponent¡¯s HP was absolutely OP. An entire group of Holy Mages were one-shot just like that. Li Chengfeng couldn¡¯t help but blurt out, "Fuck, I¡¯m on your side, and even I feel like this is completely unfair. How is anyone going to counter this?" I chuckled. It was true that this combo was nearly impossible to guard against. It could only be prevented by an invincibility skill or an Anti-Magic Potion. Without either of these things, only the absolute best players could potentially survive it. Bang! Lin Yixin landed with a bang just like us before sweeping the Wind Severing Sword around her. The sword gave all of her attacks 30% armor penetration, so the Ice Flame Slash easily killed a lot of players. Barely anyone around her was still alive after the skill was cast, and Copper Spear himself only had 17% HP left. He looked like he would collapse on his own as he muttered in despair, "How can this be¡­ We were the ones who held the advantage¡­ How can this be¡­" Lin Yixin simply shot him a sweet smile and said, "The battlefield is ever-changing. If you don¡¯t adapt, defeat is the only outcome. Now allow me to send you on your way¡­" Swhoosh! She threw the Wind Severing Sword at Copper Spear and killed him on his mount. Then, she raced up to her sword, pulled it out from the ground, and rushed toward the Holy Mages at the back. ¡­¡­ Thanks to the power of three divine players, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was able to push 200 yards deeper into enemy ground. Not only that, we exploited the cover provided by the Dragonlight Cavalry and wreaked absolute havoc in the backlines. We weren¡¯t this bloodthirsty during the battle at the outer lands because it was a civil war, and we never routed our enemy when our enemy was a fellow countrymen. The Japanese were no countrymen of ours, however. Our only policy against them was to kill them to the last! "When are your players showing, Yiyi? We can use anyone we can get. They number at least 1 million players, if not 2 or even 3 million. All of God¡¯s Domain¡¯s elites are present in this fight!" I said after catching up to Lin Yixin. After cutting down a group of noobs, she faced toward me and answered, "Soon. They¡¯ll be here in 10 minutes at most. Don¡¯t worry. Our guilds should be enough to defeat Red Maple and his goons!" "Got it!" ¡­¡­ It took less than 30 minutes to destroy Era of Strife utterly. Not one of their 50k Holy Mages lived to stand on the battlefield at the cost of just 5,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Moreover, Xu Yang had arrived with another 90k Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 50k Dragonlight Archers and 70k Holy Mages. They were the true main force of our guild. Multiple major guilds fought against one another in Lost Forest and the ruins of Ice River Canton. This was practically a small-scale Nation War. It wasn¡¯t long before reinforcements from Blazing Hot Lips, Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Purple Lily and more arrived as well. As a result, the Japan server was being beaten back again and again. I stood in the sky and looked at Red Maple. He matched eyes with me for a second before letting out a cold humph and ordering, "We can¡¯t hold the ground any longer. Withdraw! Withdraw toward Purple Grape City!" ¡­¡­ "Are they withdrawing? Have we won?" He Yi asked. "It¡¯s not that simple¡­" I activated Dark Pupils and looked around for a bit. Then, I pointed to the south and said, "I count at least tens of thousands of assassins in stealth in that direction. They¡¯re clearly trying to ambush our convoy. Beiming, take 20k Dragonlight Archers with you, pierce their stealth with Clear As Flame and take them all out!" Beiming Xue nodded. "Will do, big bro!" Less than ten minutes later, all 10,000 Japanese assassins were dead with multiple arrows lodged in their bodies. The power gap between our Dragonlight Archers and them was just too huge. Not only were they unable to survive the Dragonlight Archers¡¯ assault, our units were riding the improved Dragonscale Beasts. Their movement speed was considerable, and they could attack or retreat anytime they wanted. Any assassin whose stealth was pierced by Clear As Flame was as good as dead. "Continue. Chase them all the way back to Swallow Ear Canton!" I ordered. ¡­¡­ The plain where the battle had occurred was a bloody mess. At least 2 million Japanese players had died on this battlefield, while the China server lost only 500k players at most. The strength disparity was due to the Japanese¡¯s loss of their main city. Over an hour later, the sounds of battle disappeared more and more. Red Maple and about tens of thousands of God¡¯s Domain elites had withdrawn to a canyon entrance that would lead to Swallow Ear Canton and stayed there. "Should we launch a brute-force assault?" Li Chengfeng looked at the canyon entrance. I shook my head. "There¡¯s no need. That terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack. We will suffer considerable losses if we launch a brute-force assault." "What should we do then?" I frowned. "I wonder why Red Maple chose to hold this position. Had he let us into Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s hitherland and worked together with the NPCs to attack us, we would¡¯ve suffered even greater damage¡­" "Maybe¡­ they¡¯re hiding something behind the canyon¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes widened. I nodded. "Yeah. Everyone, stay where you are for now. Divine players, follow me to scout the enemy!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ We slipped into the clouds and looked down from above. The entire map looked motionless except the eastern corner. We saw a lot of NPCs and players moving in and out of a canyon. Swhoosh! I dived down until I was just several hundred meters above ground Level. It was then I discovered that the canyon was less of a canyon and more like a munition factory. There were two red dragons bound in chains on the ground, and directly in front of them was some sort of fiery red machine. A bunch of NPC mages were casting spells on a machine that was sucking the dragons¡¯ energy into a container. The red dragons were groaning in pain as a matter of course. "Fuck¡­ this is¡­" My eyes widened like saucers. Lin Yixin and Li Chengfeng arrived behind me and saw the same sight as me. Li Chengfeng gritted his teeth. "Is this their secret weapon?" Lin Yixin also bit her lips. "Dragon Cannon¡­ It¡¯s the legendary ultimate siege weapon that deals true damage to city walls¡­" CH 1525 "Dragon Cannon¡­" Li Chengfeng¡¯s mouth couldn¡¯t stop twitching. "This is bad. No wonder Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s players were so quiet as of late. They were secretly building the Dragon Cannon!" I checked the database and flipped to the page where the Dragon Cannon was mentioned under siege weapons¡ª Dragon Cannon: A type of cannon that is forged from Frozen Iron and uses a dragon¡¯s flame to create its payload, it can withstand incredibly high temperatures. Legend says that only the strongest empires can forge the Dragon Cannon. Its forging technique was lost after Dragon Domain fell, and there were no more wild dragons to provide the dragon flames necessary to power it. ¡­¡­ At first glance, I counted 7 Dragon Cannons that were being forged inside the canyon. It was impossible to tell if there were more in the area. "I thought we planted spies in the Japan server? Why haven¡¯t we heard about this at all?" I questioned. Li Chengfeng shrugged helplessly. "Don¡¯t ask me, I¡¯m not the spies who are supposed to find this out. I can make an educated guess though. Most of the builders of the cannon are Swallow Ear Canton NPCs, and the players helping them all belong to God''s Domain. Clearly, this secret is known to a selected few only. Also, I spot a lot of archers and warriors grinding around the area. Not even an assassin will be able to make it in without being discovered." "They really are going all out!" I sucked in a deep breath before continuing, "The Northern Alliance, the Indian server and the Japanese server had formed a military alliance with each other, and it is now clear that the Japanese¡¯s role is to supply their forces with these godlike siege weapons. If we don¡¯t destroy them as soon as possible, they may very well lead to the downfall of Sky City!" Chiang! Lin Yixin unsheathed the Wind Severing Sword and asked, "Should we attack them now?" "Not yet¡­" I scanned the cannons with Dark Pupils before adding, "The Dragon Cannons is an Ancient Immortal Rank siege weapon with 100 million HP and 140k Defense. There is no way the three of us can destroy them in a short time. Moreover, the NPCs applying magic to the cannons are all Level Ancient Immortal Rank bosses over Level 320. It is far likelier for them to destroy us than it is the other way around." "What should we do then?" Li Chengfeng asked. I thought for a moment before answering, "The convoy will reach Purple Grape City in another ten minutes or so. We¡¯ll turn in our quest first and tell Eve, Gui Guzi and the others to come here later. In short, we¡¯re going to push through Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s borders and destroy those cannons. Yiyi, please inform Purple Marquis to lead a group of Dragon Punisher Archers up the mountains and provide us with cover fire from the flank later." Lin Yixin nodded. "Mn. I¡¯ll accompany you as say, your bodyguard then~" "Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ Pa pa pa! The three of us vanished to the horizon just like that. The people hard at work on the ground still had no idea that their well-guarded secret was a secret no more. A few minutes later, the convoy finally reached the gate of Purple Grape City. Since Xu Yang and a party of Dragonlight Cavalrymen were guarding it, we, the original escorts of the convoy, had chosen to relax on the sidelines. Rumble rumble rumble¡­ A pitch black drawbridge was lowered, and a group of high-level undead cavalrymen galloped out into the open. Among them was a woman riding an undead warhorse that was covered in flames. She was none other than Sophie herself. "Long time no see, Sophie," I greeted her. Sophie burst into a giggle. "When Xinran was imprisoned in the Banished Lands, I thought I would never see her again in my life. And yet, you have defied my expectations and rescued her from the Purgatory. Xinran¡¯s eye for talent truly is one of a kind. So, how was your journey? You weren¡¯t harassed too much on the way here, were you?" I smiled. "Nah, we were only attacked by a bunch of goblins, beastmen, and a couple million natives after we entered your domain. It¡¯s no biggie¡­" Sophie remained silent for a couple of seconds before she dismounted from her horse and touched one of the supply carts. She said with a smile, "Mn! These supplies will allow me to train up a group of superior cavalrymen and equip the dark dragons. Your timing could not have been better." She then looked at all of us and smiled widely. "As thanks, I will grant you all the best reward I have right now. Come! This is the glory you deserve!" Ding~! System Notice: Congratulations, your party has completed the SSS+ Rank quest [Violet Empire Supply Escort]. You have gained the following rewards: 17% experience of your current level, Luck +3, Reputation +400,000, 50,000 gold, and an item reward: ¡°Crimson Dragon Blade (Lower Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï)¡±! ¡­¡­ My heart skipped a beat. A Lower Divine Armament couldn¡¯t be bad, right? I hurriedly opened my bag and saw a brand new crimson dagger lying inside it. I took it out and brought up its stat screen so that everyone could see it¡ª Crimson Dragon Blade (Lower Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï) Attack: 17,000~19,500 Strength: +3,050 Stamina: +3,000 Agility: +2,950 Intelligence: +2,900 Tactics: +255 Passive: Increases user¡¯s Attack by 220% Passive: Ignores 50,000 of the target¡¯s effective Defense Passive: When swinging the Crimson Dragon Blade, 30% chance to trigger a critical hit. Moreover, critical hits now deal 285% damage. Slots: 18 Outstanding Property: Crimson Dragon Attachment. 75% chance to bind a target and prevent them from moving or attacking for 7 seconds. Level Requirement: 250 Reputation Requirement: 1,900,000 ¡­¡­ It was an excellent dagger that could probably enter the Top 10 dagger ranking of the China server. I was right. I checked the ranking and saw that it was ranked ninth without an owner yet. I threw it back into my bag and reminded myself to give it to Cute Little Naughty later. Our assassin party could definitely use some more improvement. With that done, I looked at everyone else and asked, "How about you guys? What are your reward?" He Yi answered, "I got nine Perfect Divine Crystals¡­" Murong Mingyue said, "I got eleven. But why? Why do you get a weapon, and we only get Divine Crystals?" "You act like your reward isn¡¯t as valuable as mine. These days, one 100-Quality Divine Crystal is worth at least 200k, and this dagger is worth at most 2 million RMB. It¡¯s really not that much better than your reward¡­" In fact, considering that Divine Crystals was an essential ingredient in achieving an ascension, I would say that it was even more valuable than the dagger. That the quest gave us so many Divine Crystals was definitely a good thing. Beside me, Beiming Xue said, "I got an Ancient Immortal-grade bow instead of a Divine Crystal. I¡¯m going to sell it at the auction house¡­" Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi said in unison, "Our reward was Divine Crystals¡­" Pure Love, Moon Dew and Murong Mingyue all got items besides the Divine Crystals. Lu Buyi didn¡¯t get any equipment, but he did get the highest number of Divine Crystals of us all, 16. He Yi began purchasing the Divine Crystals off their hands, and since everyone here was a friend they only charged her 80k a piece. If we gather all of the Divine Crystals together, one of us could make an attempt to ascend. Otherwise, no one could ascend at all. It was clear which one was the superior choice. It wasn¡¯t long before He Yi had 60 Divine Crystals in her hands. She immediately gave them all to Murong Mingyue. I was surprised. "Don¡¯t you want to ascend, Eve?" He Yi shook her head before explaining, "I¡¯ve already failed once. I may as well give this chance to someone else." "She¡¯s just a priest though¡­" I said. He Yi giggled. "I checked the database, and it is said that a priest who became a god will gain a skill that instantly heals any target to full health at the cost of a large amount of MP!" "Oh, that¡¯s good¡­" I shivered. If there really was a skill that could heal my 20 million HP to full in an instant, then I could probably fight even a Divine Rank boss! Gui Guzi asked, "So, what are we doing next? Should we return to whatever it is we were doing?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes walked over and chimed in, "Yeah, it¡¯s time to return." I hurriedly shook my head. "No, not yet. There is an incredibly important mission that I need all of your strength to complete!" "What is this important mission?" A feminine voice said from the sky, and we looked up. It was Luo River God of the Capital walking toward us from the sky. She looked like a goddess in her dark green robes, and in fact she was our server¡¯s one and only divine mage and Lian Xin¡¯s greatest rival. She shot us a smile and repeated, "Well? What is this important mission?" I broke out of my reverie and pointed in Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s direction. "Chengfeng, Yiyi and I discovered a great secret just a while ago! I don¡¯t know how it came to be, but I do know that a bunch of NPCs are secretly building Dragon Cannons in the northeast side of Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s canyon. They already have 7 in total, and more may be under construction as we speak. That is why we need to punch through this canyon entrance and destroy them. Otherwise, I guarantee that they will become a massive thorn in our side during the Nation War!" "Dragon Cannon?" Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s eyes widened. "I heard that name before. It is said that one hit from a Dragon Cannon can tear even the greatest fighter to pieces. I wonder if it¡¯s true¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes said, "Who cares about that? Let¡¯s get there and destroy these cannons already." I nodded. "Yeah. I will dispatch 50k Dragonlight Cavalrymen to launch a frontal assault against the entrance. The rest of you will pincer the enemy from the sides. Let¡¯s punch through Red Maple¡¯s fortifications as soon as possible and destroy those canyons. Also, Red Maple is the only ascended player in Purple Grape City, so, Sister Wang Luo, stay close to me, will you? If a chance presents itself, we¡¯ll work together and take out Red Maple!" Luo River God of the Capital nodded affirmatively. "No problem!" "Alright. Let¡¯s go!" I shot my players a glance, and they automatically started forming parties without needing me to guide me. The main cavalry would consist of Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust; the Knight God and Knight Generals. He Yi, Li Chengfeng and I would be leading our own parties to round out our army further. ¡­¡­ Rustle rustle¡­ A drizzle started falling as we rode through Red Maple Forest. It looked as if the mounts were stepping on clumps of flames, not maple leaves. Several million Chinese players were currently marching toward Swallow Ear Canton not to topple the city, but just to destroy the seven Dragon Cannons. Otherwise, they were sure to inflict a lot of pain to us during the upcoming Nation War. "Watch out! There are enemy archers hiding in the forest!" Li Chengfeng cried out a warning from the sky. Stranger of Three Lifetimes glanced at the direction he was pointing in and ordered, "Eyes, take a group of cavalrymen with you and destroy those archers!" "Yes, boss!" Eyes Like Water rode out with several thousand elite cavalrymen and slipped into the forest in just the blink of an eye. Skills started flashing against our eyes. Our forces hadn¡¯t yet properly engaged the enemy, and already the casualties were considerable. CH 1526 Shattered Rock Forest was a forest filled with jagged rocks. It also sat in front of the entire canyon entrance. In other words, the only way to enter Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s domain was to pass through this part of the map. I looked up and stared at the growing, jagged slopes that ultimately led to an entrance about a hundred meters wide. There, God¡¯s Domain¡¯s tens of thousands of Gold Cavalrymen had already formed a shield formation. There were also countless Dragon Punisher Archers crouching atop the two mountains that formed the entrance. I had no doubt that they were fully prepared and were just waiting for us to attack them. Crack¡­ My boots made crushing noises as I stepped on rocks and branches until I was about several hundred meters away from the entrance. Behind me, I heard my Dragonlight Cavalrymen grumbling among themselves¡ª Xu Yang said, "This terrain is super unsuited for cavalry battles. Not only are we slower than we would¡¯ve been on foot, our mount¡¯s stat boosts have been reduced by 74%. We may as well dismount before continuing our way!" Chaos Moon frowned. "I don¡¯t know. If we dismount, we will lose at least 1.5 million HP per person. It¡¯s bad enough that the enemy is fully prepared, we have to ride uphill as well. Our casualties will be unimaginable." Heaven¡¯s Rain blinked. "In that case, we should remain mounted. We may be slower, but the stats will prevent us from dropping like flies. Also, the terrain close to the canyon entrance is flatter than it is here. We¡¯ll regain our stats if we manage to reach that point. Of course, there is still no chance we are breaking through by force." I leaped into the air before hovering about three meters above ground. I nodded and said, "Yes, Little Rain is right. Advance as we are and do not be in a hurry to attack. Wait until our bards and priests have caught up to us, and make sure that everyone on the frontline is fully buffed by the bards. I also want our priests to be stationed on the second defense line so that their healing range extends as close to the canyon entrance as possible." Nor far away, Murong Mingyue nodded and said, "Mn. We¡¯ve brought about 20k priests with us, which should be sufficient for this battle as long as the Dragonlight Cavalry doesn¡¯t die too quickly." Li Chengfeng asked, "How about us sky riders? Where should we place our focus?" I pointed at the canyon entrance and said, "When the battle begins, we¡¯ll support the ground force by blasting at the enemy¡¯s shield formation or their ranged units. At the same time, we must take care to protect ourselves and survive no matter what. The death of a divine player will greatly impact our players¡¯ morale, so I suggest we avoid dying as much as possible." Li Chengfeng answered with a smile, "Understood. I doubt we can die with Beauty Mingyue behind our backs though!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Stranger of Three Lifetimes walked up to us with a bunch of elite mages and a scepter in her hand. She said, "In that case, should we join you on the second line and launch a coordinated assault together?" He Yi nodded. "That will be the best!" In the sky, Lin Yixin glanced toward the forest floor. "I¡¯ve already sent Purple Marquis and 50k Dragon Punisher Archers to climb the mountains. Whether they succeed or not, I will be joining you on the frontal assault as well." Stranger of Three Lifetimes smiled. "Wonderful. Your participation will certainly add to our chances of winning!" Luo River God of the Capital spoke up, "Same here. I will Far Shot my spells together with the mage party to clear out the Gold Cavalrymen at the canyon entrance." "Mn!" A while later, High Fighting Spirits said to me, "The priests and mages are more or less ready, and it looks like the Japanese are ready as well. Should we begin our charge?" Chiang! I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and ordered, "Chinese force, attack!" ¡­¡­ Crack crack crack¡­ The Dragonlight Cavalry and Kui Dragon Cavalry began riding up the slope, but their movement speed was so slow it was almost comical. Right now, they looked nothing like the best cavalrymen in the China server at all. It must be said that Red Maple had made an incredibly wise choice when choosing this location to buffet us. We would¡¯ve swept his army like a tidal wave almost anywhere else. "Careful. We¡¯re less than 150 meters away from the enemy now¡­" Luo River God of the Capital warned. The frontliners began using their defensive skills such as Beast Protection, True Qi Protection and more. It only increased their Defense by 30% or so, but it was better than nothing. The sounds of many projectiles cutting through the air resounded from the mountain peaks. It was of course the enemy archers shooting at us from nearly 150 yards away! They were able to do so thanks to the height advantage! Bang bang bang¡­ Arrows struck against armor and shield, dealing a lot of damage. Part of the reason was due to the Dragon Punisher Archers¡¯ special qualities¡ª 71,672! 54,889! 152,663! ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t like the Japanese had no top-tier archers either, so even players like Chaos Moon had lost 20% of her HP in ten seconds. Almost everyone else could only fare worse. Bang! High Fighting Spirits abruptly stopped in his tracks as a Shock Arrow stunned him. More and more frontliners became stunned and slowed down our progress even more. "Don¡¯t stop! Keep advancing!" He Yi flew back and forth across our battle line to body block as many arrows as she could. A lot of archers tried to shoot her down, but He Yi¡¯s Defense was higher than most players¡¯. Almost none of their attacks were able to pierce her Defense. "Careful. We¡¯re just 100 yards away from the enemy now!" Luo River God of the Capital warned again. "Era of Strife¡¯s Holy Mages should be able to attack us now¡­" Wang Luo¡¯s prediction was spot on. Before she even finished her sentence, the sky turned red from the light of countless Fireballs and Galaxy Storms. The next moment, they erupted across the slope and dug countless shallow pits on the ground. At the same time, dozens of Dragonlight Cavalrymen fell from their mounts and died. The terrain disadvantage was just too much! Li Chengfeng clenched his fists. "I¡¯m going!" "Wait!" I hurriedly shouted, "The time isn¡¯t right yet!" Unfortunately, the dragon warrior hadn¡¯t made his fame being a good little shoulder. Before I could finish my sentence, he was already flying above the mountains and killing a group of archers with his Dragonbone Flurry. Naturally, he became the focus of the enemy¡¯s firepower instantly. At least hundreds of Shock Arrows struck Li Chengfeng at the same time, and one of them actually managed to get through his resistances and stun him! His HP began falling drastically! "Oh fuck¡­" I leaped into the air while shouting, "Little Gui, save Li with Shennong Tastes Grass! I¡¯m going to bring him back!" "Got it!" While Li Chengfeng¡¯s HP suddenly shot up by 75%, I reached his side and relied on Battle Astral Wind to bounce off most of the incoming Shock Arrows. Then, I cast the Death skill of the Xuanyuan Art and removed 70% HP from all enemies within 1,000 yards of me! All the players above and below the mountains panicked instantly. They temporarily abandoned Li Chengfeng to heal themselves. "Let¡¯s go!" While the enemy was distracted, I hurriedly dragged Li Chengfeng back to our battleline by the collar. Luo River God of the Capital smirked after we came back. "You¡¯re a ballsy one, Li Chengfeng, but you do realize that our forces haven¡¯t yet engaged the enemy fully? You were like a lice who was harassing a bald man. You¡¯re just asking for them to kill you." Li Chengfeng replied sheepishly, "Er¡­ I wasn¡¯t expecting them to hide that many people on the mountains. How am I supposed to know that at least 100k Holy Mages and Dragon Punisher Archers were concealed on that hilltop alone?" He Yi chuckled. "Slow and steady, Li. Divine players are strong, but they aren¡¯t so strong they can 1v10,000, can they?" I nodded in agreement. "Mn. As divine players, our job is to snipe the enemy¡¯s generals and commanders. These days, everyone¡¯s a high-level dog, and Level 255s are literally everywhere. Unless you have a level advantage like me, let¡¯s not roleplay Zhao Yun and try to seven-in-and-seven-out the enemy, shall we?" Everyone laughed for a moment before continuing toward the canyon entrance. Our true assault could only begin after our frontliners made contact with the enemy¡¯s shield formation. Until then, the natives basically had all the advantage. They had at least 5 minutes where they could attack us without fear of any retaliation. ¡­¡­ Thud! After I returned to the ground, I opened my palm and froze the air in front of me. Then, a 10-yard-wide shield with bloody runes on it took form in front of me and bounced away the arrows. I was starting to realize that there were many ways a divine player could employ their Domain power. In fact, Domain was in essence a formless energy. How we used it was entirely up to us. Face covered in at least a dozen or so arrows, High Fighting Spirits shouted encouragingly, "Hang on, brothers and sisters! We¡¯re just¡­ 70 yards away from the enemy now! They¡¯ll know our power the moment we reach their shield formation!" Tiger Leopard Knight wasn¡¯t as confident as he was though. "But bro, those cunning bastards are changing up to Mountain Stagger Arrows now. Most of our frontliners have already fallen below 25% mount tenacity. I don¡¯t think¡ª" A dozen or so Dragonlight Cavalrymen abruptly lost their mounts and landed on their feet before he could finish. It was because their mount tenacity had reached zero. Without the Dragonscale Beasts¡¯ stats, it only took the enemy¡¯s Sea of Flames a moment to burn them to death. Lin Yixin stepped toward the enemy slowly while staring toward the distance. Suddenly, her beautiful pupils shrank in alarm as she warned, "Shit, they¡¯re making a move¡­" "Fuck!" I uttered through gritted teeth. About 3,000 God¡¯s Domain Gold Cavalrymen had detached themselves from the main formation. Red Maple was standing in front of them as he declared, "Gold Cavalry, ride forth and delay the enemy from reaching us! Today is the day we kill these Chinese before they can set even a foot in the canyon! Show them that Swallow Ear Canton is an impenetrable fortress, and that we Japanese will spend every last drop of blood to protect our home[1]!" The cantering of hooves began as thousands of Gold Cavalrymen charged toward us. They were galloping downslope, so they had all the terrain advantage here. "That cunning bastard¡­" High Fighting Spirits groaned out loud. Li Chengfeng gripped his Cyan Peak Halberd tightly. "They say that all is fair in war, and this Red Maple is proving to be full of craft and cunning¡­ This is like fighting in quicksand¡­" In contrast to their pessimism, our beautiful guild leader simply raised her Suppressing Fire Sword and declared with determination, "It doesn¡¯t matter what they throw at us. We¡¯ll cut through all opposition and win! When two people meet, only one will emerge the victor!" 1. T/N: the one thing I appreciate about this novel is that it has nationalism, but at least the author didn¡¯t make the enemy dumb shits. Red Maple has proven time and time again to be one of the most formidable enemies in this story ? CH 1527 "We¡¯re going to take them out all in one go!" The Xuanyuan Sword trembled in my grip almost as if it could sense the enemy¡¯s strength. "How?" Li Chengfeng asked. I smirked. "It¡¯s simple. All first-rate players on the frontline are to use their Ancient Divine Skills or greatest combos to delete these 3,000 Gold Cavalrymen off the surface of the map! We will annihilate Red Maple¡¯s plan before it ever comes to fruition!" Whoosh whoosh! Golden light gathered above the Xuanyuan Sword until it took the form of a gigantic golden sword. It was of course my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, the Xuanyuan Slash! The platoon of 3,000 Gold Cavalrymen instantly turned purple. There was no one in the world who didn¡¯t recognize the Xuanyuan Slash at this point. They could hardly turn back, however. All they could do was continue their charge and pray for the best! I turned my wrist and cut a deep gorge across the entire slope. The 500 Gold Cavalrymen who were caught by the attack instantly took 3 million damage, and that was before counting the splash damage and the 25% chance for one-shot. As a result, less than 50 players were alive at the end of the golden slash. At the frontline, the light of Gan Jiang and Mo Ye shone beneath Lin Yixin¡¯s feet. For 15 seconds, all of her attacks would ignore Defense, invincibility skills, and deal additional damage on top of that. He Yi also activated her own Ancient Divine Skill and annihilated a group of Gold Cavalrymen with Ice Flame Slash + Purgatory Slash combo. Li Chengfeng was flying around to seek out the perfect angle to strike the Gold Cavalrymen. When he found it, he abruptly came to a stop and unleashed the Crimson Firmament Slash. As if on cue, High Fighting Spirits also executed his SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance! Beiming Xue fired her Houyi¡¯s Wrath into the sky. The Ancient Divine Skill possessed incredible range, and when it landed the resulting shockwave struck even Red Maple and pushed him back a few meters. His face turned white with shock. Luo River God of the Capital raised her scepter and summoned a phoenix that crashed into the incoming cavalrymen, dealing massive amounts of damage. It was her S Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Phoenix Break. Beside her, her faithful retainer, Moonkiss, waited for Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust to execute their Tiger Wing Slash and Dog God Slash so she could match them with her own Dragon Tooth Slash. Their Ancient Divine Skills was a reference to the three infamous demonic blades of ancient times, and combined the resulting power could only be described as utterly devastating. At this point, the 3,000 Gold Cavalrymen had dwindled to less than 200. Even so, they never dropped their blades or faltered for even a moment. The leader of the group shouted, "We may be buried in horse hide, but we will never allow our enemy to breach our homes! Don¡¯t stop, brothers and sisters! Never forget the pride and honor of the Yamato!" When the 200 cavalrymen finally got close to our battleline, Stranger of Three Lifetimes slowly waved her scepter and said smilingly, "It¡¯s my turn now¡­" Whoosh! A dark green¨Ccolored divine arm manifested at the tip of her scepter. She swung it horizontally and killed over half of the enemy¡¯s troops instantly. It was the S Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Hongming Blade! After that, Lian Xin and Beiming only needed to go through their skill rotation once to annihilate the remaining cavalrymen. Just like that, all 3,000 Gold Cavalrymen were destroyed by our SSS Rank, SS Rank and S Rank Ancient Divine Skills before they even managed to engage our units at melee. The Japanese players at the canyon entrance could hardly believe their eyes. No one expected the Chinese army¡¯s power to be this explosive! ¡­¡­ "Dammit¡­" Red Maple¡¯s sword trembled a little in his grip. Beside him, Cyan Frost asked in a cool voice, "Have you lost heart, Red Maple? Our opponent is strong, their divine players are numerous, their Ancient Divine Skills are aplenty, and worst of all, they are commanded by monstrous devils such as Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Legendary Brave¡­" Red Maple clenched his fists tightly. "No. I will never lose heart. I know that there is no one left in our country besides me who can lead us to victory. That is why I will give it my all no matter what becomes of this war. If nothing else, I will be able to face my country and my companions with a clear conscience!" Cyan Frost smiled. "Mn. This is the Red Maple I know! This is the man whom we can entrust our lives to!" ¡­¡­ A minute later, our army started swarming the enemy from every possible direction! The Dragonlight Cavalry had finally overcome the slopes and stood on the same ground Level as the enemy¡¯s shield formation. We were now less than 5 meters away from the enemy! High Fighting Spirits swung his axe and cackled. "Charge! Who says a 5-meter charge isn¡¯t a charge?" Everyone locked onto the enemy directly in front of them and sped up. An instant later, they were engaging the enemy¡¯s Gold Cavalrymen at melee. "Now! Go all out!" I hit the players directly in front of me with a devastating Burning Blade Slash. Since I was using Martial God to buff my party¡¯s Attack by 200%, they all took massive amounts of damage. Then, the moment 6 minutes was up, I immediately cast the Xuanyuan Art! [1] Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ 70% of the enemy¡¯s HP was instantly removed from their health bars. Right after that, I dropped 14 Ancient Seals in a row and killed at least a thousand Gold Cavalrymen. While unleashing Rock Crush, Chaos Moon commented happily, "Damn. What country wouldn¡¯t shit their pants with a kickass motherfucker like Lu Chen on the opposite side of the barricade?" I rolled my eyes at her. "Manners! This is exactly why you can¡¯t get a boyfriend!" After Chaos Moon cut down a couple of Japanese players whose gazes were glued to her chest like a magnet with the Dihai Blade, she replied, "Hmph! That¡¯s because they¡¯re not up to my standards!" I laughed. "Oh yeah? I wish you luck on your arranged interviews[2] then!" That hurt Chaos Moon¡¯s feelings and caused her to stomp her foot furiously. "None of your business!" Arranged interviews would always be the eternal agony of "ripe", "leftover" women¡­ ¡­¡­ Magic and arrows were traded incessantly between the two armies. It would be apt to describe the canyon entrance as a meat grinder as cavalrymen dropped like flies on both sides. The large majority of our ranged units including elite players such as Luo River God of the Capital, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and more had to Far Shot their attacks to avoid being killed, but reduced damage was still better than no damage at all. Of course, the biggest amount of casualties had occurred on the frontline. At least 10,000 of Gold Cavalrymen had died in just 20 short minutes. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had lost at least 5,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen as well. In the air, Red Maple fired off multiple sword auras while paying close attention to me, Li Chengfeng and Lin Yixin. Every time we attempted to get close to him, he would retreat and order his Dragon Punisher Archers to shoot us. While doing so, he shouted, "Gold Cavalry inside the canyon, come to the entrance and plug the holes with your flesh and blood as soon as possible! Don¡¯t allow the enemy to take even a step into our homeland! Are the siege weapons ready yet?" Cyan Frost looked up and answered, "They¡¯ll be ready in three minutes!" "Very good!" Red Maple said with a laugh. ¡­¡­ He Yi and Gui Guzi were approaching the archers on the mountains on their dragons. Even Luo River God of the Capital had flown up to the sky and rained down ice and fire at them. There was nothing much the enemy archers and mages could do against a top-tier divine mage like her. Crack! I split apart a magic knight¡¯s shield with the Xuanyuan Sword and cut him down. Not even looking at the equipment he dropped, I flew straight into the clouds and looked around when I was about a hundred meters above the sky. I quickly saw that at least a hundred catapults had appeared within the canyon. Red Maple knew this battle would happen, so he had ordered his players to move them over a while ago. Thank goodness they were only basic catapults¡ªtheir ability to build siege weapons had greatly diminished ever since they lost their main city. Of course, the Dragon Cannons were an exception to that rule! "Watch out! Their catapults will be coming online in 10 seconds at most¡­" I cried in warning. There wasn¡¯t much our frontliners could do except push harder though. Li Chengfeng asked me, "Should we fly over and take out those catapults, Lu Chen?" "Sure. All those who can fly, follow me!" Three divine players, two dragon knights, and a couple hundred players with flying mounts immediately joined me. That was all the air force we possessed right now. ¡­¡­ Floating amid the cold wind, I surveyed the ground again before licking my lips. "I will activate Profound Armor and descend to the ground first. I will then activate Xuanyuan Art to remove 70% of their HP¡ªyes, the Xuanyuan Art worked on siege weapons too¡ªafter that, all you need to do is to drop your combos and run away. There is no need to sacrifice yourselves needlessly." "Got it!" I looked around carefully and noted that the catapults were surrounded by archers and mages. It wouldn¡¯t be an easy attack, not to mention that it looked like they were intentionally using their catapults to bait us out. "I¡¯m going!" I canceled my Flight ability and started falling toward the ground. Then, I activated it again and shot toward the ground like a rocket. Before I hit the ground, I activated the Death skill of Xuanyuan Art and cast a ton of Ancient Seals across the entire catapult legion! The catapults had pretty high HP. Even with powerful skills, they still had around 20% or so HP. At the same time, the enemy archers and mages raised their weapons and shouted, "Here they come! Blast them all to pieces!" ¡­¡­ The arrows and spells began flying our way. It wasn¡¯t long before a dozen or so players were stunned in midair. Only those with better stats managed to avoid being stunned. Luo River God of the Capital shouted, "I¡¯ll freeze the enemy! I leave destroying the siege weapons to the rest of you!" Buzz! She abruptly opened her palm and caused some sort of invisible ice energy to spread across the land. Every enemy within a hundred yards of her was frozen instantly. "Damn, that¡¯s amazing¡­" Li Chengfeng hid his surprise while attacking the siege weapons. I fired Burning Blade Slash that tore five catapults to pieces in an instant. Then, I dropped another dozen or so Ancient Seals that destroyed both catapults and players. The sound of falling snow abruptly ceased. It was Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s freezing spell coming to an end. Without hesitation, I cast Cold of the Nine Provinces and froze the enemy players again! "Don¡¯t conserve your Divine Energy Points! Use your Ancient Divine Skills!" He Yi shouted. Catapults collapsed everywhere as golden lights flashed. ¡­¡­ Wh¡­ what¡¯s that thing?" Suddenly, Gui Guzi noticed something and pointed at a certain direction. I glanced and nearly shat my pants there and then. It was because a completed Dragon Cannon was aimed straight at us! I didn¡¯t even know when it was set up! At this point, I was starting to realize that Red Maple¡¯s true goal was to wipe out our divine players [3]! ¡­¡­ "Dodge now!" I shouted without hesitation. Lin Yixin and Li Chengfeng reacted with godlike speed, kicking off the ground and flying to safety right away. Unfortunately, Luo River God of the Capital, Gui Guzi and He Yi were much slower than they were. It was too late! Swhoosh! The Dragon Cannon trembled for a moment before unleashing a fireball. It was huge and moving way faster than a standard fireball! 1. T/N: you guys remember the part where he said he¡¯s using Xuanyuan Art as little as possible so as not to draw too much attention? It¡¯s valid, but in real life I don¡¯t think anyone¡¯s stupid enough not to challenge him over it. Like seriously, Lu Chen was attacked over many things, but he was never attacked for the Xuanyuan Sword even once. Dude should¡¯ve been ambushed by both allies and enemies alike since the moment he used the Xuanyuan Art ? 2. T/N: kinda like blind dates but more formal, usually the parents/relatives are the one who set it up ? 3. T/N: except it still doesn¡¯t matter because you have Resurrection Art and Immortality. Even if everyone dies you can still keep fighting until everything¡¯s dead around you. Why is your skill still legal btw? ? CH 1528 "Watch out! Activate your invincibility skill!" I raced forward, activated Profound Armor, and blocked in front of Luo River God of the Capital with my arms spread wide open. No matter how powerful the Dragon Cannon was, it shouldn¡¯t be able to one-shot Gui Guzi or He Yi. This meant that the only one in danger of dying here was the divine mage. Whoosh! Not a moment too soon, the draconic energy struck us and engulfed us in smoke and flames. Terrible pain wracked our whole bodies as shocking damage numbers rose from our heads¡ª 3,982,777! 9,018,238! 10,973,745! MISS! Luo River God of the Capital didn¡¯t take any damage because I had blocked the attack for her. However, Gui Guzi and He Yi took around 10 million damage each, and even I with Profound Armor activated still took almost 4 million damage. The power of the Dragon Cannon was truly astonishing. If even we took this much damage, then the Dragonlight Cavalry could only fare worse. "We need to go!" I grabbed Luo River God of the Capital¡¯s hand and took to the sky immediately. Gui Guzi and He Yi had leaped onto their giant dragons and followed behind me as well. Red Maple tried to give chase, but Gui Guzi easily pulled himself and He Yi out of danger with a Shennong Tastes Grass. To deter Red Maple even more, I turned around and tossed the Xuanyuan Sword at him. It was a 100-yard super-long-range Coiling Dragon Revolution! Swhoosh! The spinning sword blew Red Maple¡¯s parry apart and pierced his body for 2,937,374 damage, snuffing out his desire to chase us completely. If he caught up to us, he was the one who would be in danger of dying! ¡­¡­ We flew all the way back to the canyon entrance where a fierce battle was still being waged. Beiming Xue asked me from atop her Fire Phoenix, "How is the situation, big bro?" I frowned deeply, "At least one of the Dragon Cannons has already been fully forged. We need to break through this defense line, extend our formation and destroy the Dragon Cannons in ten minutes tops. If the enemy manages to move even one Dragon Cannon to the canyon entrance before we break through, they can kill at least thousands of players in one blast!" "Ah? You¡¯re not joking, are you?" "Absolutely not. Little Gui and Eve got hit by a Dragon Cannon just now, and they both lost around ten million HP. Everyone else including you are just going to be one-shot¡­" Beiming Xue stuck out her tongue. "That¡¯s scary¡­" On the ground, Moonkiss frowned at me and said, "Why are you grabbing our boss''s wrist, Lu Chen? Are you trying to kidnap her or take her back to your fort to be your mistress?" I hurriedly let Luo River God of the Capital go and coughed. "Ahem, of course not!" Luo River God of the Capital was in no mood to respond to jokes, however. "Let¡¯s give the order to enter the canyon at all costs. Otherwise, it will truly be too late." "Mn!" I abruptly unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and pointed toward the ground, yelling, "All units, don¡¯t conserve your cooldowns and attack the entrance with everything you''ve got! We must enter the canyon in five minutes at most!" After I gave the order, I landed on the ground and executed Xuanyuan Art + Xuanyuan Slash combo that wiped out an entire area of enemies instantly. Now, bodies were littered everywhere on the grassy floor of the canyon entrance. The rest of the divine players also descended from the sky and unleashed their skills. High Fighting Spirits and around 20,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen seized the moment to brute-force their way into the canyon. It marked the official collapse of the Japanese server¡¯s defense line and displayed the inferiority of their guilds! I continued flying here and there and cutting down enemies wherever I went. Blood showered wherever my sword traveled, and super AoE combos such as Summon the Storm + Ancient Seal terrified the enemies even more. I didn¡¯t hold back this time for the security of my server. Those Dragon Cannons must be destroyed, or they would give us hell during the upcoming Nation War for sure. In the sky, Lin Yixin shouted, "Purple Marquis and 70k Snowy Cathaya members are attacking the place where the Dragon Cannons are forged, but I¡¯m not sure that they can hold out for long! I¡¯m going to head over and help them! Join us as soon as you can!" I nodded. "Got it!" She vanished into the horizon after receiving my response. A true guild leader wouldn¡¯t abandon her players during key moments, and Lin Yixin knew that well. ¡­¡­ The Dragonlight Cavalrymen chased after the enemy all the way to an open plain. High Fighting Spirits raced farther than all of them and unleashed his Xiezhi Howl like he had infinite MP. He was the living embodiment of a berserker-style warrior. Although Red Maple was stronger than High Fighting Spirits, the latter was supported by many Dragonlight Cavalrymen and Dragonlight Archers. As a result, Red Maple couldn¡¯t snipe him lest he get stunned to death by the Dragonlight Archers under Beiming Xue and Nangong Lexi¡¯s command. Crack! After cutting both a magic knight¡¯s shield and body in half in one strike, I raised my weapon and ordered, "The Dragon Cannon is just in front of us! Form 3 to 5-man parties and spread out now! The Dragon Cannon¡¯s AoE is extremely huge, so make sure you don¡¯t all get caught by its blast!" Chaos Moon nodded affirmatively. "Understood!" Our mounts¡¯ hooves shook the plains violently. At this point, God¡¯s Domain¡¯s Gold Cavalrymen were in full retreat. Many of their archers, mages and other classes were being chased as well. "I see it!" Heaven¡¯s Rain pointed her spear forward. "That red siege weapon over there is the legendary Dragon Cannon, am I right?" "Mn!" I nodded. "It fires special shells with draconic energy in them instead of conventional shells, so it¡¯s like getting hit by the breath of Holy Giant Dragon or worse. Be careful. Again, split up into small parties, surround the cannon from all sides and take it out!" ¡­¡­ Thud! Red Maple landed gently atop the Dragon Cannon before looking down at the dozens of God¡¯s Domain players operating the siege weapon. "Turn 3 degrees to the east and fire in 7 seconds!" Creak¡­ The muzzle shifted slightly into position. A while later, it fired a huge fireball at a group of Chinese players! Bloodcurdling screams filled the air. At least a hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen had dissolved into ashes without any resistance! "Continue to fire at will!" Red Maple ordered with grim eyes. "Are the other two Dragon Cannons ready yet? If they are, then have them attack the enemy together. Cyan Frost, rally our Gold Cavalrymen and form a defense line within 10 yards of our Dragon Cannons. Don¡¯t let the enemy get closer no matter what!" Cyan Frost nodded smilingly. "Understood¡­" ¡­¡­ The enemy abruptly turned the Dragon Cannon toward me. Here it comes! I flew close to the ground while raising the Dihai Shield in front of me. This time, I activated both Profound Armor and Fire God Barrier to greatly increase my Defense and resistances. I should be able to block the attack even if the Dragon Cannon¡¯s attack was magic-type! Red Maple flew toward me while ordering, "Archers and mages, focus fire Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Today is the day we kill China¡¯s Little Heavenly King! Dragon Cannon, give me a triple shot! There is no need to conserve the Dragon Crystal¡¯s energy!" The cannon boomed three times in response, and in that moment it felt as if the air itself had become frozen by fear. The next moment, three gigantic fireballs struck my Dihai Shield in rapid succession and deleted a huge chunk of my HP. Not only that, the bloody energies pierced through me and one-shot the Dragonlight Cavalrymen at the back as well! 4,128,773! 4,019,234! 3,921,938! Countless arrows and magic struck my Dihai Shield at the same time, but the amount of damage they dealt were negligible. The only person who could do any real damage to me was Red Maple, and right now he was swooping down on me and executing a triple-hit Fire God Flurry! I met him head-on and executed Burning Blade Slash! Bang bang bang! Red Maple shuddered as he lost 40% of his HP. However, his Fire God Flurry failed to do good damage to me because my Defense and resistances had been buffed beyond imagination thanks to Profound Armor and Fire God Barrier! He was unable to pierce my Defense even though he was a divine expert! 122,376! 183,734! 212,376! Red Maple¡¯s pupils shrank. "Shit¡­" I let out a chuckle and slammed right against his chest. Mad God Lunge! Bang! While he staggered backward and became stunned for a short time, I summoned the Xuanyuan Slash to delete him from the surface of the map! Bitterness shone behind Red Maple¡¯s eyes. Clearly, he didn¡¯t want to die before his ambitions were still fulfilled! ¡­¡­ Bang! Fate was not on my side this time, however. Somehow, someone managed to stun me with a Shock Arrow and prevent my Xuanyuan Slash from activating! After Red Maple awoke from his stun, he grinned savagely and activated his own Heavenly River Transformation. Was he trying to hit me with his Ancient Divine Skill? He was! The head of a ferocious tiger appeared above his blade before he stabbed me! 3,917,264! Shit, that hurt. The effects of an Ancient Divine Skill took priority over any equipment effects, meaning that it was all-piercing as usual. My Profound Armor, Fire God Barrier and invincibility skill were basically non-existent before an Ancient Divine Skill. "Die!" Red Maple cackled as he raised his sword to unleash the final blow. Swhoosh! However, he was forced to turn midway and parry a dark green halberd that nearly caught him in the side. My rescuer was none other than Li Chengfeng! "Fuck off!" He executed Reverse Scale Slash that sent Red Maple stumbling to the back. I hurriedly shouted, "Let¡¯s take him out together, Chengfeng!" "Of course! Watch out for his invincibility skill" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I dashed past Red Maple like lightning while wrapping his throat with a bloody chain. The Song of Freedom had successfully taken effect. Red Maple hurriedly activated his invincibility skill, but it was too late. "Ancient Divine Skill!" Li Chengfeng and I uttered the words at nearly the same time as the Xuanyuan Slash and Crimson Firmament Slash passed through Red Maple¡¯s body. Just like that, the Heaven¡¯s Warrior finally let out a groan and dropped to his knees, dead. Not even a divine player could survive our combined attack! Pop pop pop¡­ Not only did he lose 10 levels, his equipment drop rate had been increased by 300% as well. As a result, Red Maple had lost his helmet, legguards, wristguards, necklace and even his ring! "You grab the loot, Chengfeng. I¡¯m going to take out the Dragon Cannon!" Without pause, I took to the sky and flew straight toward the cannon. Li Chengfeng blanked out for a second before muttering to himself, "Well¡­ looks like I¡¯m the one who struck the jackpot this time¡­" CH 1529 Bang! The ground shook suddenly. A massive fireball had struck a group of Dragonlight Cavalrymen and shattered them into pieces. The air was thick with the stench of blood. High Fighting Spirits pointed his axe toward the Dragon Cannon and shouted, "Don¡¯t be afraid! It is just one level. We need to destroy this Dragon Cannon before it kills more of our men!" Close to the Dragon Cannon, Cyan Frost the Ice Knight raised her sword and ordered, "Shield formation! Don¡¯t let the enemy get close to the Dragon Cannon no matter what! Yes, Red Maple is dead, but so what? He¡¯ll rejoin the battlefield in less than five minutes!" "Bitch!" High Fighting Spirits roared as he led a cavalry charge against the shield formation. Barrier Breaks rose and fell again and again, but they weren¡¯t able to break through the shield formation immediately. In fact, it was the Dragon Cannon that was wreaking havoc every time it fired a shot. Hundreds died every time a fireball impacted them. At this rate, we would lose nearly all of our 100,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen in less than an hour. ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I swooped down from an odd angle before unleashing Burning Blade Slash + Thousand Ice Slash combo that froze a bunch of low-health enemies. At the same time, I shouted, "Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, faster! The Dragon Cannon is too powerful!" "Mn!" Suddenly, the Dragon Cannon swiveled around and aimed directly at High Fighting Spirits. One of the Japanese players manning the cannon said with a smirk, "That bastard is annoying. Kill him!" In response, High Fighting Spirits leaped onto his mount, raised his axe high, and charged straight toward cannon, roaring, "Let¡¯s see how powerful you really are!" Boom! High Fighting Spirits was able to execute a Xiezhi Howl that annihilated all of the players inside the cannon. However, the cannon also fired a shot that struck High Fighting Spirits squarely in the chest. At that range, not even god could¡¯ve blocked the shot in time! Bang! High Fighting Spirits was thrown back like a rag doll. He was dead before he hit the ground limply. He had taken over 13 million damage because he was standing practically point blank in front of the cannon, and because he was a pure warrior without a shield to protect him. Naturally, his Defense was way lower than Gui Guzi¡¯s or He Yi¡¯s. Pop! His battle axe, the Sun, erupted from his body before hitting the ground. I immediately unleashed Coiling Dragon Revolution that killed off the Gold Cavalrymen who were attempting to steal it before grabbing the weapon. I then tossed it into Chaos Moon¡¯s hands and said, "Give it back to Fighting Spirits later!" I faced toward the Dragon Cannon to attack it once more, but the siege weapon was still aiming in my direction. It fired another two shots! I gritted my teeth, activated Profound Armor, and tanked the shot with my shield once more. I lost almost 10 million HP from the double hit, but at least I was able to prevent it from killing too many players this time. Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and He Yi swooped down one after another and cleared out the Japanese players around the Dragon Cannon. Beiming Xue was raining Spiraling Arrow Blades and Skypiercers from the sky and killing many Gold Cavalrymen as well. Occasionally, her Xuanming Flame would trigger and deal almost 5 million damage to the enemy. It wasn¡¯t long before the Dragon Cannon¡¯s HP hit zero! Bang! There was a series of crumbling noises, and the Dragon Cannon finally collapsed under our combined might. ¡­¡­ The battlefield was riddled with holes. Player bodies could be seen in nearly every direction. This particular Dragon Cannon had fired almost all 100 of its Dragon Crystals and successfully killed around 10,000 Chinese players as a result. Everyone who attended this war was an elite, so it was a heartbreaking number to say the least. The good news was that we were ultimately able to bring down the siege weapon. Not only that, we had quickly destroyed the other two Dragon Cannons as well. The Japanese server¡¯s loss was definitely bigger than ours. "What do we do now?" Chaos Moon asked. I pointed to the eastern canyon and said, "There are 7 more Dragon Cannons in construction over there. It is the Dragon Cannon¡¯s construction base. Once we¡¯ve swept that base, we will have achieved our mission objective!" "Mn. Let¡¯s go!" Chaos Moon raised the Dihai Blade and cried, "Ancient Sword, follow me toward the east!" ¡­¡­ As we made our way toward the eastern canyon, I noticed Cyan Frost glaring at me from afar. Her blade was even trembling visibly in her grip. She was angry that we had crushed their plan so soon, and she was even angrier at my killing of Red Maple. The Japanese server looked up to Red Maple as their god and soul. Although death in a game was hardly consequential, it was surely going to impact their morale either way. I beckoned Li Chengfeng to my side, and he asked, "Yeah?" "Cyan Frost will definitely attack us when we attack the construction base. Let¡¯s find an opportunity to gang up on her and make her lose another 10 levels. She¡¯s probably the second best player in the Japanese server besides Red Maple." "Sure." Li Chengfeng responded affirmatively before smirking. "You didn¡¯t use the Song of Freedom even once when we fought against Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance. Why the sudden change of mind?" I smirked back. "They may be enemies, but they¡¯re also our fellow compatriots. It wouldn¡¯t be right to be utterly merciless against them. The wolves are a completely different story though!" "Good. That line alone qualifies you to become our server¡¯s supreme commander of the next war, Lu Chen!" "Hmph hmph. I¡¯ve never been the server¡¯s supreme commander, and I probably never will. I¡¯m satisfied with just being the supreme commander of Ancient Sword. With our current strength and reputation, we can probably conquer one or even two tier 1 main cities on our own!" "Haha. Anyway, let¡¯s catch up to the others already. Chaos Moon will complain if she dies because we were too busy chatting to help her¡­" "Yeah¡­" ¡­¡­ To the east of Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s inner plain was a lush, green canyon. There, a lot of Japanese players were grinding and doing their own thing. Our army didn¡¯t harass these people unless they attacked us first because our ultimate goal was to conquer the game, not to turn it into a barren wasteland. Tens of thousands of Dragonlight Cavalrymen led the charge into the canyon. We didn¡¯t face too much resistance because we had breached the strongest defense line formed by the major guilds of the Japanese server earlier. The ones guarding the canyon were only second-rate players and NPC troops. Alarmed birds took to the sky when they sensed our approach. Before they even flew a hundred meters, a group of sorry-looking cavalrymen rode up to us. They weren¡¯t the enemy, however. They were the players of Snowy Cathaya. Everyone including Purple Marquis had less than 50% HP left, and their bodies and armor were blackened and in tatters. It was obvious that they had been struck by the Dragon Cannon! A beautiful figure dropped down from the sky at this moment. She was of course Lin Yixin. Her armor looked a bit dusted, and her normally flawless legs were slightly scratched as well. She looked at us and said solemnly, "An NPC cavalry legion of Swallow Ear Canton is guarding the canyon. We did the best we could, but we weren¡¯t able to break through before the Dragon Cannons blasted us to pieces¡­" Her expression grew darker. "It is a level of defeat we had never experienced until now¡­" I walked up to her and held her shoulders. "What do you mean by that? How many people did you lose?" "The men you see here is all we had left¡­" I was stunned to say the least. "I count only a couple thousand people here¡­ you said you had 100k players attacking the canyon¡­ and they¡¯re all dead? But how?" Lin Yixin bit her lips and looked like she would burst into tears. Purple Marquis answered, "The NPC legion in the canyon is Level 330 and Ancient Rank, Lu Chen. They and the Dragon Cannons combined were able to destroy us with almost humiliating ease. How many people have you brought with you? If you don¡¯t think we can breach through the enemy¡¯s defense line immediately, I suggest that we abandon our operation now. Otherwise, I guarantee that the casualties we will incur will be nothing you¡¯ve ever seen." Chiang! However, I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and uttered through gritted teeth. "We can all turn into cold dead bodies, but these 7 Dragon Cannons cannot be allowed to exist no matter what! Otherwise, they will absolutely make us regret our decision in the upcoming Nation War! Losing a level is nothing, failing to achieve our strategic objective is everything!" Zi Chuanyu nodded in agreement. "Lu Chen is right. This is our best chance to destroy these 7 Dragon Cannons. If we allow it to slip through our grasp, Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s players will use them to turn our Skyridge Fortress, Blood Rose Fortress and even Sky City into rubble! They will make a comeback!" Purple Marquis gritted his teeth. "I know. I¡¯m not afraid to die. I¡¯m just worried that we will fail even after we¡¯ve sacrificed everything!" "We¡¯ll see. The Dragon Cannon has an attack range of 1,000 yards, so make sure that our forces are at least 1,000 yards away from it. Don¡¯t act carelessly until I¡¯ve returned, okay?" I took to the sky and flew to the center of the canyon after leaving these words behind. ¡­¡­ While Murong Mingyue, Moon Dew and our priests nursed Snowy Cathaya¡¯s cavalrymen back to full health, Lin Yixin left to meet up with her ranged parties and reorganize another 100k strong army. They then rejoined our forces and continued toward the center of the valley. However, their melee forces were more or less crippled, so they could only provide ranged firepower with their Dragon Punisher Archers now. As I approached the center of the canyon, I saw that signs of damage riddled the entire map. The mountain ranges, the forest, and even the lakes were marred by explosions caused by the Dragon Cannons. There were a lot of Snowy Cathaya bodies that hadn¡¯t despawned as well. One look was all I needed to know how terrible that battle had been. An NPC legion was standing at a forest clearing. Their warhorses neighed from time to time, and banners covered the sky. At the center of the NPC legion was a warrior clad in dark metal armor. The royal symbol adorned his helmet. He stared arrogantly at our forces, unsheathed his sword and shouted, "Halt, invaders. We will destroy you if you dare to advance any further!" I frowned. According to the lines of text above the NPC¡¯s head, he was a Swallow Ear Canton noble¡ª Marquis Swiftwind, Wind Armor (Ancient Immortal Rank Boss) Level: 330 ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin flew up to me and whispered, "According to the database, the royal family of Purple Grape City was exiled to Swallow Ear Canton after the defeat of Purple Grape City. This Wind Armor is famed as one of the three heroes of Swallow Ear Canton, and his position, marquis, is the highest position besides duke. Also, the reason Wind Armor was able to forge the Dragon Cannons here is because an unknown player had completed a quest. If we destroy the Dragon Cannons, the quest will be done for as well." "Good!" I clenched my fists. Unfortunately for the marquis, he was going to become the target of our ire today. CH 1530 I brought up my map screen and confirmed the coordinates of the 7 Dragon Cannons. Then, I drew a 1,000-yard radius circle around each coordinate. After confirming that I hadn¡¯t missed anything, I turned around and said to Lin Yixin, Stranger of Three Lifetimes, and Luo River God of the Capital, "Give me permission to share stuff with your guild, you all!" "Why?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes asked. "You¡¯ll know once you give me the permission." "Shameless¡­" After I obtained all the necessary permissions, I opened the system tools and shared the image I had created with everyone. Seven towering red circles immediately appeared around the vast canyon in front of us. I said with a smile, "The red zones represent the Dragon Cannons¡¯ attack range. When we launch our attack later, simply bait the NPC soldiers out of the zone and kill them. After that, we will slip into the red zones and destroy the Dragon Cannons one by one. Our losses will be a lot smaller this way¡­" Purple Marquis¡¯s eyes widened. "What the fuck¡­ How did we not think about this earlier?" Lin Yixin curled her lips. "I forgot because I was too hasty[1]¡­" Nangong Lexi: "..." ¡­¡­ I pointed the Xuanyuan Sword toward the front and declared, "Alright, we can begin our assault now. First things first, let¡¯s take out the NPC army. That Ancient Immortal Rank Wind Armor is going to be a problem, but that¡¯s fine. We can kill him with sheer numbers!" Xu Yang asked, "Lu Chen, a lot of Swallow Ear Canton players are trying to enter the canyon. They¡¯re probably here to save the Dragon Cannons. What should we do? Red Maple is with them as well¡­" "Who wants to stall Red Maple?" I asked. "Most people won¡¯t be able to do it¡­" He Yi hit the nail on the head. Li Chengfeng hesitated for a moment before raising his Cyan Peak Halberd. "I¡¯ll go. I know Red Maple¡¯s style well, and his equipment is still warm inside my bag. I will need Lu Buyi to support me with Purple Dragon though. Otherwise, I don¡¯t think I can challenge Red Maple, Cyan Frost and Purple Thunder alone." "Alright, Chengfeng and Lu Buyi will guard the canyon entrance with 50k players. Whatever you do, keep them busy for 2 to 3 hours. The battle should be over by then." "Mn!" Li Chengfeng turned away and left. Suddenly, Luo River God of the Capital spoke up, "By the way¡­" "Yes, Sister Wang Luo?" He Yi asked. The divine mage pursed her lips before continuing, "I just want to say it¡¯s really ungenerous and unusual that Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Pop Culture, Flower Room, Hall of Immortality and more haven¡¯t made a peep even though it had been a while since we engaged Swallow Ear Canton. There¡¯s no way they haven¡¯t heard about our war by now, right?" I gritted my teeth. "Forget them. This war started from our quest after all. Perhaps Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance think that it¡¯s more appropriate if they stay out of our business. It doesn¡¯t matter anyway. We can¡¯t always rely on others to help us, and why should we when we can win this war by ourselves?" Wang Luo nodded. "I¡¯m not saying that we need their strength to win this war. I just think that it¡¯s really ungenerous of them to not even ask how we¡¯re doing. If they were the ones fighting this war, I¡¯m sure Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would¡¯ve ridden to their rescue, right?" "Stop troubling yourself with such trifles and focus on the NPCs in front of you. These ones give experience, you know¡­" "Fine, you simple-minded boy. If nothing else, you lead a freer life than most¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ He Yi pointed her sword forward and declared, "Kill!" The Dragonlight Cavalry immediately dashed forward and engaged the NPC cavalrymen. An instant later, the archers and mages¡¯ attacks landed and dealt massive damage to the enemy. Lin Yixin¡¯s Dragon Punisher Archers especially managed to stun most of the NPCs they were targeting thanks to their incredible stun rate. Right behind the first battle line was Lian Xin and Beiming Xue. Standing side-by-side with each other, they single-handedly created one of the strongest offensive walls of firepower on the battlefield. Not even the ancient NPCs could withstand their combined might and died in droves. It was unfortunate that there weren¡¯t enough to bump their experience bars into the next level though¡­ "You are courting death!" Wind Armor leaped into a group of Dragonlight Cavalrymen and whipped his blade left and right three times in a row. He did 12 million damage in total and one-shot 5 Dragonlight Cavalrymen instantly. The level disparity was just too huge, and their equipment wasn''t particularly powerful. Naturally, they were unable to survive the attack of the Level 330 Ancient Immortal Rank boss! "Damn, as expected of a Level 330 boss¡­" Purple Marquis commented with a laugh. I tossed my sword at the boss and dealt over 2 million damage to him with Coiling Dragon Revolution, seizing the aggro. Then, I yelled, "Yiyi, Beiming, Eve, Little Xin, let¡¯s take out the NPC commander first. Sis and Moon Dew, I¡¯m tanking the boss, so keep me healed¡­" Thunderous Charge! Swhoosh! The basic skill was able to stun Wind Armor because he wasn¡¯t a Divine Rank boss. A Burning Blade Slash and War Crush combo later, Wind Armor roared in fury and attempted to retaliate. However, Beiming Xue¡¯s Shock Arrow stunned him just in time to cancel the attack. Lin Yixin also cast Thundercloud Storm that darkened the skies and ravaged the boss and the NPCs around him. "Dragon Punisher Archers, focus-fire the boss! Let¡¯s see how quickly we can kill this fucker!" Lin Yixin ordered while dishing out Triple Slash. Lian Xin also said, "Holy Mages, give the Japan server NPCs a taste of your Touch of the Dragonkiss, will you?" There was only one possible outcome that could come from being attacked by the two ace legions: a swift death. Not only was poor Wind Armor bogged down by me, I even managed to immobilize him once with the God Binding Art. As a result, he ate a ton of Armor Breaking Arrows and Touches of the Dragonkiss and lost HP like crazy¡ª 82,736! 47,599! 56,298! ¡­¡­ Everyone could pierce the boss''s Defense after I had reduced it with Purple Frost Concentration. The weaker attacks dealt tens of thousands of damage, and the stronger ones dealt hundreds of thousands or even millions of damage. As a result, Wind Armor¡¯s HP went from a hundred to zero in less than a minute! "Damn you! My regent will take revenge from me! My distant brothers will kill you and wipe this shame from my history! Just you wait!" Wind Armor dropped dead after making his threat. While I was pulling out my sword, I thanked Lady Luck for allowing me to score the last hit and net a sizable amount of experience¡­ For an enemy NPC, Wind Armor generously dropped us 3 pieces of Ancient Immortal-grade equipment that I split among my and Snowy Cathaya¡¯s players. The NPC wasn¡¯t our focus, however. As we marched forward like an unstoppable tidal wave, we saw plenty of Japanese players flooding in from the mountains to protect the Dragon Cannons. I had no doubt that the upcoming battle would be a bloody one. ¡­¡­ Half an hour later, we took out all the NPCs beyond the range of the Dragon Cannons. Wind Armor and his hundreds of thousands of NPC soldiers had become our experience as well. Wind Armor himself hadn¡¯t managed to survive a minute, so his subordinates could only do worse. "How should we fight this?" Lin Yixin asked. I pointed to the left and said, "Yiyi, take your men and take out the Dragon Cannon over there. Sister Wang Luo, you get the one after that. Momo will go for that Dragon Cannon over there, and Ling Xueshang that one. Ancient Sword will handle the remaining three. Oh, but remember to avoid the areas where the Dragon Cannons¡¯ attack range overlap with one another, okay? You WILL die a horrible death!" "We know¡­" the girls responded palely. They had all witnessed the power of the Dragon Cannon. ¡­¡­ The guilds broke up, leaving only 200k Ancient Sword players at the center of the canyon. I shot them a glance before raising my hand and shouting, "Spread out and push toward the first Dragon Canyon like a pincer! Frontliners, try not to stay too close to each other! Our ranged players will kill the enemies blocking your way, so just focus on staying alive and pushing forward. High-level tacticians, buff our Dragonlight Archers with the Range stratagem. It should give them a basic attack range of 500 yards, and with Far Shot that is over 800 yards! Again, we¡¯ll push forward slowly, safely and methodically! Understand?" "Understood! Let¡¯s go!" Gui Guzi responded excitedly. Du Thirteen asked me from atop his Dragonscale Beast, "Should we ride with you, Lu Chen?" I thought for a moment but shook my head. "No, no. You see my CGL Hall of Fame and WEL MVP emblems? I stand out like a sore thumb, so they¡¯ll definitely focus me with the Dragon Cannon. In other words, you guys should swarm them from the other directions while I distract them¡­" He Yi giggled. "You¡¯re like a walking warning sign, Lu Chen." "Pretty much, yeah. Alright, let¡¯s begin the assault! Remember, don¡¯t stay too close to each other! I will laugh at you later if the enemy manages to catch you all in one group!" We departed toward the first coordinate amid a chorus of hearty laughter. Not long after we entered the red zone, we saw the Dragon Cannon just 800 meters away from us. The Dragon Cannon couldn¡¯t move because its wheels were still being built, but it could swivel around and attack. It was also surrounded by a ton of players and NPCs. I couldn¡¯t help but miss Lin Yixin¡¯s presence at that moment. If she was here, we could¡¯ve cast Thundercloud Storm + Xuanyuan Art combo. We could¡¯ve easily deleted 10,000 players from the surface of the map! ¡­¡­ I flew up until I was several hundred meters in the sky. Then, after He Yi, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, Xu Yang and more began their charge, I dove straight toward Dragon Cannon! Swhoosh! I moved so fast that no one was able to react in time when my sword struck the Dragon Cannon. Without pause, I cast Xuanyuan Art and removed 70% of everyone¡¯s HP within 1,000 yards of me. The enemy priests looked at the impossible homework I gave them and nearly burst into tears. Next, I executed Summon the Storm + Myriad Swords Obliteration combo and dropped a ton of Ancient Seals all around me. Over a thousand of players were dead just like that, and no one close to the Dragon Cannon was alive. Meanwhile, Gui Guzi was clearing out an area with Hundred Ghosts Descent, and He Yi was using her Stormwind Slash to clear out large swathes of enemies as well. It was common sense to beat your enemy when they were down, and these NPCs and players only had 30% HP left. There was no chance they were ever going to survive this! ¡­¡­ Creak¡­ The Dragon Cannon slowly turned toward a group of Dragonlight Cavalrymen and blasted at least dozens of them into smithereens. The more I saw the damned siege weapon in action, the more terrified of it I became. We absolutely couldn¡¯t allow this siege weapon to leave this canyon, or it would only take two shots at most for it to destroy the iron gates of Sky City! 1. E/N: While it is a cardinal sin to not think of just luring mobs out of the effective range of the cannons, the other sound strategy would be to rush them while Ancient Sword is fighting the elites. But they should have scrapped that idea the second they realized NPC legions were even stronger than the players ? CH 1531 I leaped over the corpse-riddled area to a spot about 200 yards away from the Dragon Cannons. There, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and continued to kill more NPCs and players. It didn¡¯t take long before the player controlling the Dragon Cannon reached maximum hate. They aimed the cannon at me and roared, "Die!" Bang! The Dragon Crystal¡¯s powerful energy slammed into my Dihai Shield and sent me flying across the air while spinning like a top. I lost over 8 million HP this time because I hadn¡¯t used Profound Armor. After I climbed back to my feet, I executed Burning Blade Slash that instakilled the surrounding players and restored about 3 million HP to me. In a group battle like this, they would have to try really hard to overcome my 50% lifesteal. ¡­¡­ "Stay away from Lu Chen¡¯s battle zone! You¡¯re just going to get killed for nothing!" He Yi ordered. Beiming Xue was providing cover fire for Lian Xin as they advanced toward the Dragon Cannon. Chaos Moon and dozens of Dragonlight Cavalrymen rode straight up to the siege weapon and swung their weapons again and again. Although the Dragon Cannon had 100 million HP, it was only a matter of time before it was destroyed. Destroying the first Dragon Cannon only took us 17 minutes. During this time, I had tanked probably 20 Dragon Crystal shells in total and lost nearly all of my Scarlet Dragon Armor¡¯s durability as a result. I still had some Magic Oil in my bag though, so restoring the equipment was as simple as pouring the potion over my armor. Boom! The dozen or so players manning the Dragon Cannon were ejected after it collapsed from a Stormwind Slash. Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen immediately ran up to them and killed them all. While standing atop the pile of rubble, I glanced to the east and said, "About 30% of the second and third Dragon Cannons¡¯ areas of effect overlap with one another, so watch out. Chaos Moon, what are our casualties?" She curled her lips as she reported, "We lost around 8,000 players¡­" "Damn. No rest for the wicked though. Next!" ¡­¡­ It took much longer to bring down the second Dragon Cannon because Copper Spear and Era of Strife¡¯s players had returned. It took us almost an hour before we were finally able to destroy both the siege weapon and Era of Strife¡¯s 40k players. I also helped Copper Spear in returning to Level 243 using the Song of Freedom. The guy must be so happy right now. The third Dragon Cannon went down in just 30 minutes, but our losses were still incredibly severe. Our 200k players had dwindled to less than 100k after the continuous battles. Li Chengfeng had returned from the canyon entrance with just 5,000 players as well. Li Chengfeng managed to snipe Cyan Frost, but Red Maple also managed to kill Lu Buyi. Both sides had sustained considerable losses. And of course, it was an absolute bloodbath inside the canyon. "Time to loot the battlefield and teleport back to the city¡­" I sighed. "It is said that one¡¯s legend is built atop countless corpses, and this battle certainly fits the description¡­ but whose legend will this battle be attributed to?" Luo River God of the Capital walked up to us and said, "Someone said on the forums that the Little Heavenly King has grown arrogant over his achievements and attempted to challenge the entire Japanese server with Ancient Sword, Snowy Cathaya, Purple Lily and Blazing Hot Lips. They said that he is attempting to claim as much merit for himself before the Nation War begins and increase his CGL ranking. Finally, they said that Candlelight Shadow was a lot steadier than you are¡­" I simply smiled and said, "Er, sure? I totally want to claim more merit to myself, yes¡­" Luo River God of the Capital smiled meaningfully. "You won¡¯t defend yourself, Lu Chen?" I pulled the Xuanyuan Sword out of a still warm body and replied, "Those who understand me don''t need any explanation, and those who don¡¯t understand me, don¡¯t deserve it." "Hehe. That does seem to be the case." Luo River God of the Capital let out a sigh before continuing, "Back then, you were abandoned by the China server and forced to fight alone in Final Duel Valley. How many people in the world could truly understand your feelings? You must¡¯ve felt incredibly wronged and bitter at the time, haven¡¯t you?" I shot her a puzzled look. "Why are you bringing that old story up, Sister Wang Luo?" She shot me a smile and said, "Nothing? I just thought that there are only three players in the entire history of Eternal Moon who truly deserve the title of ¡®Heavenly King¡¯, and you are without a doubt the one with the most painful experiences of them all. Lonely Grave once said that any guild who got either Falling Dust or Candlelight Shadow would be able to conquer the world, and that prediction has since proven itself to be true. Today, you and Candlelight Shadow are the only people capable of challenging each other." I shrugged. "I don¡¯t really care about that. Rather than fight Candlelight Shadow for the world or become the world¡¯s number one, I would rather go crazy while I¡¯m still young and wreck the noobs for fun¡­" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Stranger of Three Lifetimes walked over and said, "Yo, is it over? Can we leave now? It¡¯s 6 pm in Beijing already¡­" He Yi said, "Yep, it¡¯s over. If you¡¯re done looting the battlefield, feel free to return anytime you want." "Okay!" And so, everyone teleported back to their respective cities. After I returned to Dark Moon City, I repaired my equipment and teleported again to Violet Empire. Swhoosh! I flew back to Xinran¡¯s room but couldn¡¯t find her anywhere. I walked up to the window and basked in the cool wind and calming shadows of bamboo forest for a moment. Then, I shouted, "Come back, Xinran! It¡¯s time to log out!" Although Xinran was now a player, she didn¡¯t have a player ID I could add into my friend list. As a result, it wasn¡¯t easy to contact her the normal way. However, it looked like Xinran could sense my summon somehow because a swirl of energy suddenly appeared next to me. A spatial rift opened in midair, and the next thing I knew Xinran was wrapping her arms around me. She smiled like a flower as she said, "I heard from Sophie that you¡¯ve successfully completed the escort mission, big brother. You¡¯re amazing¡­" I said humbly, "It was just an escort mission. You should¡¯ve seen me when I soloed hundreds of Wild Chickens in Wild Pheasant Ridge, kicked the Green Praying Mantises of Cool Wind Forest in the ass, and beat up the Wild Wolves of Sky Forest until they went running for their mothers! I was invincible back then!" "Really? You soloed hundreds of Wild Chickens alone? You¡¯re amazing, big brother!!"[1] Xinran exclaimed with widened eyes before rubbing her cheeks against my neck. Pretending as if my shameless boast wasn¡¯t embarrassing at all, I said, "Alright, let¡¯s log out of the game. I can be hungry, but you cannot¡­" "Mn. I¡¯ve logged out once to eat lunch at noon." "Good girl. And now it¡¯s time to eat dinner." "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I went to Xinran¡¯s room after logging out of the game. Before I could knock on the door, it opened on its own to reveal Xinran on her feet. She was now strong enough to walk on her own, although she wasn¡¯t fully steady on her feet yet. The two of us slowly made our way toward the living hall. Lian Xin, He Yi and Murong Mingyue were already there, and the table was full of delicious food. It was great to have a cook prepare all our meals for us. If there was one thing I would like to complain about though, it would be that the cook was a Shanghainese cook. The food he cooked was a little too sweet for my taste. After we took our seats, we enjoyed some soup before diving into the main course. "We took out 10 Dragon Cannons in total today. Red Maple must be so angry that his face may become permanently twisted," Beiming Xue said. He Yi chuckled at that. "Mn. Our casualties were more severe than expected, but it was worth it in the end." I hummed. "Honestly, the situation isn¡¯t as optimistic as you may think. Red Maple is the god of his server. How do gods react when you destroy their plans and piss them off? His eventual counterattack will surely be something to behold¡­" Murong Mingyue¡¯s eyes widened. "What do we do then?" I grinned. "What else? I¡¯ll treat him to Chains of Freedom again, of course!" "Shameless!" Suddenly, I received a phone call from Hot and Sour Noodles, Zhang Chun¡ª "What¡¯s the matter, uncle? I¡¯m having dinner right now." "First things first, congratulations on your accomplishments at Swallow Ear Canton. I¡¯m calling you because there¡¯s something important you need to know!" "What is it?" "There¡¯s no hurry. After you¡¯ve finished your dinner, please log into the game and come to the Holy Temple of Sky City at 10 pm. The guild leaders are holding a meeting to discuss the upcoming Nation War." "Got it!" ¡­¡­ I told everyone what Zhang Chun said to me after hanging up. Was it a pre-Nation War mobilization meeting, or was it something else? Oh well. It didn¡¯t matter as long as the guilds could set down their differences and work properly with each other¡­ After I finished dinner, sent her back to her room and cooed her to sleep, I returned to my room and logged into the game. Swhoosh! After I appeared in Violet Empire, I teleported to Sky City and flew to the Holy Temple without pause. I was going to be late. The second I flew into the Holy Temple, I ran into someone and sent them stumbling at least ten meters to the back. The unfortunate guy was none other than Warsky! Warsky stared at me with an alarmed look on his face, "What the fuck, do you dislike me that much, Lu Chen? And how much Strength do you have right now? I cannot believe you managed to knock me back so far¡­" I apologized, "Sorry, sorry, it was an accident. I was rushing because there were only a few minutes left on the clock." Zhang Chun stepped out from within the Holy Temple and smiled at all of us. "It looks like all guild leaders with over 100k players under their command are here. There are 100 of us. That¡¯s good. Anyway, I¡¯ll get straight to the point. I¡¯ve summoned you all here today to discuss the upcoming Nation War, but before that, there is something important that I need to tell you all." "What is it?" I asked. Zhang Chun summoned the system tool and brought up the world map. He then pointed at a couple of marked dots and said, "Just this afternoon, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow obtained a couple Relocation Tokens from the NPCs and moved a couple of Rank 10 territories to these locations. As you can see, they are obviously aiming to pincer Hot Sand City and Fortress of the Iron Halberd, and relocating their territories will allow them to resupply their forces much quicker. All signs point toward the Northern Alliance aiming to attack the Fortress of the Iron Halberd very soon, and if they succeed, Dawn City and Wind City will become exposed to their forces. Of course, Hot Sand City will be having a bad time as well." Lin Yixin asked, "What do you think we should do, uncle?" Zhang Chun said, "I would like to hear all of your opinions first. Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, what do you two say?" Warsky crossed his arms in front of himself and said, "I, Zhu Yuanfang, believe that holding the fort is the royal road here. We are outnumbered by the Northern Alliance, India server and Japan server combined, which is why we should reduce their numbers via defending from our fortifications. Once 48 hours have passed, we¡¯ll launch a counterattack and conquer 1 or 2 cities." However, Candlelight Shadow let out a cold chuckle and said, "I think we should go on the offensive!" Everyone looked surprised by his suggestion. Zhang Chun looked at me next. "What do you think, Lu Chen?" I leaned against a totem and said, "I agree with Candlelight Shadow. I think we should force the Northern Alliance to be on the defensive and claim the initiative for ourselves." 1. T/N: I think this is a reference to the chickens in Oblivion? ? CH 1532 "Our biggest problem right now is that we don¡¯t have enough ascended players." Zhang Chun said succinctly, "In the past 2 days, the top players of the Northern Alliance, Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and more had all used their Divine Crystals to ascend almost as if they had agreed on the timing. They have more resources than us, so expect them to have more divine players than us when the Nation War starts." Warsky nodded and said, "I¡¯ve used up 200 Divine Crystals to ascend to no avail. I¡¯m going to make one more attempt tonight, but if that fails too then I¡¯m just going to rest for the next couple days." Candlelight Shadow smirked. "I¡¯ve already ascended, so this is none of my business¡­" "Hmph!" Suddenly, Farewell Song let out a snort before exiting his stealth state. "Fuck, you scared me¡­" I nearly pulled out my sword there and then. October Rain hurriedly said, "Stop, hero! Please don¡¯t harm our Farewell Song¡­" Farewell Song smirked. "As if he could kill me¡­" I shot him a glance and said, "It looks like someone¡¯s nose is getting a little too high after they got the Ghost Lake Mirror. You don¡¯t actually think that it makes you invincible, do you? You know what, I challenge you to a BO3 in front of the eastern gate after this meeting is over. Do you dare to accept it?" Farewell Song gritted her teeth. "Why wouldn¡¯t I accept? What¡¯s your bet?" I raised one finger and said, "Let¡¯s keep it small, shall we? The bet will be 1 million gold per round. Uncle Hot and Sour Noodles, please be a referee and hold onto our bets until the winner is decided." "I don¡¯t know¡­" Zhang Chun frowned visibly before saying, "The Nation War is right around the corner. Is this really the time to start fighting among yourselves?" I planted the Xuanyuan Sword on the ground before saying, "It¡¯s about time someone repaid the debt that was due anyway. Farewell Song currently holds the highest win rate in the champion arena, and he seems to think that he¡¯s also the number one duelist in the China server. I need to remind him that the only reason he¡¯s there is because some of us have more important things to do than grinding the champion arena." Farewell Song sneered at me while toying with his dagger. "Is that so? I can say the same thing about you. While it is true that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have risen to the top of the China server since your return, it looks like your achievements have also given you an inflated ego. I would like nothing more than to be that person to deflate it and remind you that there is always someone who¡¯s better than you¡­" Warsky smiled proudly at the declaration and gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "Defend our reputation well, Farewell Song!" October Rain stomped her foot angrily. "Warsky, you idiot! Don¡¯t add fuel to the fire!" Intelligence sparkled in He Yi¡¯s eyes as she chuckled. "Hmm, it looks like Warsky is acting arrogant and even declaring war on Ancient Sword at the outer lands precisely because he thought that Farewell Song has surpassed Lu Chen. Very well. We may as well deal with all these trifles in one go so we may enter the Nation War as a united entity!" Warsky nodded. "Sure. Also, this is just a friendly match no matter what the outcome of this duel may be!" I smiled. "Yes, I agree." ¡­¡­ Finally, Zhang Chun let out a small cough and said, "So, are we continuing the meeting, or¡­? I haven¡¯t planned for a sudden duel to happen, you know? How am I even going to steer you all back to the conversation¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes chuckled. "If you ask me, I would postpone it to a later time and just enjoy the show, uncle! This is a classic warrior versus thief BO3 between the Little Heavenly King and the King of Assassins. Do you know how many warriors and assassins have dreamed of watching this duel with their own eyes? In fact, I¡¯m going to post a thread in the forums right now. Help bump it up to the top, okay? By the way, should I set the match time to half an hour later? Okay? Okay!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes was fanning the flames so hard she was starting a forest fire. It wasn¡¯t a bad idea though. If I left Warsky Alliance be, Warsky would surely try to do something sneaky and butt heads with us during the Nation War. This duel would serve as a great deterrent. A few minutes later, Stranger of Three Lifetimes waved her hand and sent us all a URL. She said with a wide grin on her face, "And, done! Please bump the thread now, dear CGL Hall of Famers. Unless everyone¡¯s with stuff today, it¡¯s going to get real hot outside the eastern gate very soon." I entered the thread and found it to be as inflammatory as I had imagined it would be¡ª [Hot] The King of Assassins has impugned the Little Heavenly King¡¯s honor, so the duo will be having a duel outside the eastern gate in 30 minutes! The bet is 3 million gold! 1st comment (Player "Wind Fantasy"): Do hold out for at least a minute per round, Farewell Song! 2nd comment (Player "Warsky"): Farewell Song will win! 3rd comment (Player "Laughing At The Heavens"): Farewell Song will win! 4th comment (Player "Gui Guzi"): Like hell he will¡­ 5th comment (Player "Cold Wind"): Looking forward to it~ 6th comment (Player "Candlelight Shadow"): This is going to be interesting! 7th comment (Player "Beiming Xue"): Do your best, big bro! ¡­¡­ All of the top comments belonged to CGL Hall of Famers, so it was impossible for the thread to be unpopular. Just a few minutes later, the thread had accumulated over 10,000 replies already. Zhang Chun asked, "So, do you guys want to discuss plans for the Nation War in the meantime?" Warsky declared, "Unnecessary! All we need to do is to send more people to Hot Sand City and Dawn City. If the enemy attacks us, then we act. If not, then we don¡¯t act! It¡¯s very simple!" Zhang Chun tried, "That is way too broad. Can we narrow it down a little?" While sheathing my sword, I said, "There are five divine players in the China server right now. I suggest that we declare war on our enemies right after that number hits ten. Our first target will be Swallow Ear Canton, and we should aim to annihilate them thoroughly within the first 24 hours!" "Sounds good. After that?" "That¡¯s it. The battlefield can change at any moment, so we¡¯ll see how it goes then." "..." ¡­¡­ "It¡¯s time." I shot Farewell Song a glance and asked, "Before we head to the eastern gate, do you have any conditions you would like to add regarding this duel?" Farewell Song said calmly, "Is it okay if I ask you not to use the Xuanyuan Art?" I nodded. "No problem. I won¡¯t use it." While we walked out of the Holy Temple, Lin Yixin whispered beside my ears, "I just got the latest data on Farewell Song¡¯s profile. His main dagger is a Middle Divine Armament called ¡®Devil¡¯s Kiss¡¯, and it ignores 24% of the target¡¯s Defense. The effect¡¯s stackable. His secondary dagger is a Lower Divine Armament called ¡®Blade of Flowing Light¡¯, and it ignores 17% of the target¡¯s Defense. It is also stackable. His chest armor and helmet are Lower Divine Armaments, his wristguards, cloak and boots are top-tier Ancient Immortal-grade items, his necklace is of course the Ghost Lake Mirror, and finally his ring is called ¡®Xuanyuan Blood Ring¡¯, an Upper Divine Armament. He got it from the outer lands just yesterday. The ring increases his HP by 1 million and reduces his damage received by 30%. Therefore, you may not be able to instakill him without buffs." I sucked in a deep breath. "I see. No wonder Warsky is so confident. It¡¯s crazy how powerful Farewell Song¡¯s equipment has become in just a couple of days. He probably has around 1.8 million base HP right now, and with the right card he can boost that up to almost 5 million. Add 30% damage reduction to the mix and¡­ yeah, it will be difficult to instakill him." Lin Yixin giggled. "It will be fine. Your equipment is even crazier than his after all. That being said, I¡¯m sure Farewell Song knows the details of your equipment as well, so be careful. Anyway, you cannot lose this duel no matter what, or else¡­" I shot her a smirk. "Or else you won¡¯t let me sleep with you?" "Hmph, shameless¡­" "Hmph hmph. Just watch¡­" ¡­¡­ By the time we reached the eastern gate, it was jam-packed with people already. Even the floating rocks were full of players. On a related note, the system had spawned a 100x100 yard wooden arena at the nearby forest so that the players could duel each other to their heart¡¯s content. Truly, the system was a generous and caring master¡­ "Excuse us¡­" Lin Yixin said while pulling my hand and opening up a path for me. He Yi was holding my hand as well. I couldn¡¯t say I didn¡¯t enjoy their treatment of me today. On the other side, Warsky pushed his way through the crowd by force while October Rain, Farewell Song and more followed behind me. Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Luo River God of the Capital, Moonkiss, Candlelight Shadow, Li Chengfeng and more had appeared around the arena as well. Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue hovered in the sky both to get a clearer look of the fight and to cheer for me. Gui Guzi shot me a grin before saying, "Don¡¯t worry, Boss Broken Halberd! I promise to pick up your equipment for you if you drop them!" Beiming Xue curled her lips unhappily. "Don¡¯t say that!" I let out a laugh and leaped up the arena. When I landed though, I noticed that the wooden plank had nearly broken under pressure. Like come on, my equipment wasn¡¯t that heavy, was it? Dagger in both hands, Farewell Song also leaped up the arena but landed far more quietly than I did. It was also obvious that his movement speed was far superior to mine. That was the advantage of being an assassin. ¡­¡­ Finally, Zhang Chun walked up the stage and said, "This is a friendly duel, right? In that case, I suggest that you guys duel each other in Sparring Mode. You are both the irreplaceable pillars of our server. Any equipment or level you lose is a loss to all of us." However, Farewell Song said coldly, "Cut the nonsense and just start the match already, uncle. A duel is a duel. I¡¯m prepared to accept all the consequences!" I noticed that Farewell Song was eyeing my weapon and couldn¡¯t help but laugh at his naivety. I raised the Xuanyuan Sword high and said, "The Xuanyuan Sword is the greatest and most powerful weapon of the Twelve Divine Armaments. Do you want it, Farewell Song? Come take it then. I¡¯m sure Warsky or Lin Bing Dou Zhe will greatly appreciate it. I don¡¯t think you have the ability to do it though!" Farewell Song smirked. "Just you wait!" Zhang Chun extended his hand and declared, "You may turn in your bet money now!" ¡­¡­ Thud¡­ I tossed a bag of 3 million gold into Zhang Chun¡¯s hand, and Farewell Song did the same thing. Our referee immediately jumped down from the arena before declaring, "Alright. At least 10,000 players are witnessing this duel. Get ready, you two!" Swhoosh! Farewell Song gave his dagger a quick swing that cut the air sharply. The next moment, a bloody banner descended on the ground in front of him. Player "Farewell Song" had challenged me to a duel! I raised my hand, unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword in one smooth motion, and accepted the challenge! The system began counting down from three. The air seemed to freeze as everyone unanimously held their breaths¡ª 3! 2! 1! Begin! ¡­¡­ To my surprise, Farewell Song didn¡¯t enter stealth. Instead, he activated Swift Dash to increase his movement speed. Is he seriously trying to kill me without stealthing? CH 1533 "The arrogance! The fucker thinks he can kill Lu Chen without going into stealth?!" Li Chengfeng exclaimed with widened eyes. Candlelight Shadow also sneered but didn¡¯t comment on it. ¡­¡­ Thud thud¡­ Strong vibrations resounded from the withered planks of the arena as Farewell Song dashed toward me like a shadowy arrow. He didn¡¯t have a mount, but he was moving faster than when I was flying with the Ancient Divine Dragon¡¯s boosts active! It was truly astonishing! I raised two fingers before my forehead and cast Myriad Swords Obliteration on top of myself. At the same time, I leaped toward the back to put more distance between myself and Farewell Song. The assassin looked a little surprised, but he was able to circle around the skill and continue advancing toward me. Unfortunately, there was one skill he couldn¡¯t dodge, and that was the wider Summon the Storm! Swhoosh! Farewell Song shuddered and lost a huge chunk of HP¡ª972,763! However, he remained calm as some sort of green shield surrounded his body. It was the Anti-Magic Potion. Now, magical skills like Summon the Storm wouldn¡¯t work on him anymore. Bang! Bits of wood erupted from Farewell Song¡¯s feet as he launched his true assault. His two daggers struck three times in rapid succession! I steadily raised the Dihai Shield and the Xuanyuan Sword to parry the attacks. I was able to parry the first two strikes, but the Devil¡¯s Kiss still managed to sink into my shoulder on the third hit. An assassin¡¯s attack speed was way higher than a warrior¡¯s, so even I couldn¡¯t parry it perfectly. 628,334! It was a painful blow. Neither Farewell Song nor I had had a bard to buff us. We were only fighting using our stratagems and cards. I had less than 9 million HP, and Farewell Song, less than 5 million. With so little HP, victory or defeat could be decided in a single moment. Moreover, I hadn¡¯t increased my Defense by 300% using Profound Armor, and Farewell Song¡¯s main and secondary dagger together had a combined total of 40% armor penetration. Even my super Defense wasn¡¯t too big of a problem to him. Back to the present, I responded to Farewell Song¡¯s aggression with Burning Blade Slash! I could use Profound Armor now to improve my chances, but I didn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t want anyone to say that I was "bullying" Farewell Song later. I didn¡¯t even use Heavenly River Transformation. I was going to kick his ass without the advantages of a divine player! I made sure to fire each sword aura of Burning Blade Slash from a different angle. It was to deal with players with incredible evasion abilities like Farewell Song. "Hmm?" Farewell Song grunted in surprise as my skill slammed into his daggers and drove him backward, dealing a total of 1,028,773 damage. That was 40% of his HP gone just like that. A pair of hands stretched out from the darkness and grabbed onto the Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s blade. Then, the daredevil pulled himself toward me, circled around my back before I could react, and stabbed me in the back using the Bloody Backstab skill! 972,774! Even with the Cloak of Divine Fervor to reduce 50% of my damage received, I still lost a lot of HP. Farewell Song was also able to absorb around 240k HP because he had a total lifesteal of 24%. His equipment was seriously powerful. The backstabbing wasn¡¯t over yet, however. Farewell Song ran around me like a shadow as I attempted to turn toward him. I bet he had killed countless top-tier warriors in the champion arena like this. Ambush! I shivered. I was stunned for 1.8 seconds! Farewell Song ripped through my back before ending his combo with a devastating Blade Vortex. This time, it was my turn to drop to 50% HP. In fact, Farewell Song had regained almost 1 million HP and was now sitting at 80%. I would have to change things up to win this! I stomped my foot and crushed the wooden plank beneath it. While spinning around to face Farewell Song, I parried away his Devil¡¯s Kiss before extending my left hand toward an empty space. Farewell Song¡¯s leather boots passed by the area exactly as I predicted it would, so I was able to catch him and pressed him to the floor. I made my sword disappear as I mustered the Magic Piercing Punch with my right fist! Bang! 813,276! The skill dispelled whatever it was Farewell Song was planning to do. While he was still stuck in the hole I had created in the ground, I resummoned the Xuanyuan Sword and unleashed a lightning-fast Universe Break + Pardon + basic attack combo toward his chest. A series of damage numbers rose from his head¡ª 1,982,773! MISS! 1,867,632! As mentioned earlier, victory or defeat could be decided in a single moment. This was it. Farewell Song died and was sent back to the city to revive. At the same time, a red dagger¡ªit was none other than the Devil¡¯s Kiss¡ªdropped to the floor. ¡­¡­ "Shit, the Devil¡¯s Kiss!" Warsky hurriedly clambered up the arena. I grabbed the dagger and glared at Warsky. "Get down. I¡¯m dueling Farewell Song, not you." Warsky stared at the dagger in my hand and tried, "Lu Chen¡­ that dagger¡­ we agreed¡­" "Agreed on what? I won¡¯t repeat myself. Get down." Warsky gritted his teeth as October Rain pulled him down the stage. Speaking of below the stage, everyone was cheering right now. No one was expecting a classic warrior versus assassin duel to be this exciting. If the assassin got caught by surprise by the warrior, then they would be deleted off the surface of the battlefield in an instant. However, if the warrior got chain-stunned to infinity by the assassin, then they wouldn¡¯t be able to lift a finger until they perished. This was especially true for a top-tier assassin like Farewell Song. Killing most warriors was almost as easy as killing a mage to him. ¡­¡­ Farewell Song returned a minute later as a Level 254 assassin. He stared at me coldly after he leaped up the arena. I tossed his dagger back to him and said, "Again!" Once more, the atmosphere felt positively stifling. The first round had been decided in just 10 seconds, and neither of us had had the time to down a health potion. I had a suspicion that the next two rounds would be pot-free as well. Again, I didn¡¯t activate Profound Armor or Battle Astral Wind for the upcoming fight, and I definitely wasn¡¯t planning to use the Xuanyuan Art. I just waited for Farewell Song to finish regenerating his HP and launch his challenge again! Swhoosh! This time, the assassin faded into nothingness before the countdown had even finished. It was impossible to detect him with Dark Pupils due to the Ghost Lake Mirror, but Summon the Storm¡¯s AoE was wide enough to cover the whole arena. I could reveal him anytime I wanted to. Chiang! I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and watched my surroundings warily. Already, the blade was glowing with the power of Summon the Storm. I was going to use it the second the countdown hit zero. Farewell Song was a top-tier assassin with an excellent grasp of the maps and terrains he was fighting on. He also strived to minimize the amount of noise he made whenever he was moving in stealth. I wasn¡¯t going to give him the chance to play games with me at all. Suddenly, I regretted my decision. Farewell Song must realize as well that I could break his stealth with Summon the Storm. This meant that there was only one thing he could do: move behind me and attack me the second the countdown hit zero! I immediately cast War Crush! Bang bang bang! Farewell Song ate all the damage and lost nearly 2 million HP in total. However, he was able to score an Ambush on my exposed back and stunned me for 1.8 seconds. Crack crack crack¡­ The fucker managed to hit me 6 times in less than 2 seconds. That dagger¡¯s delay between attacks had to be lower than 400 milliseconds! I counted down the time mentally as I waited to launch my own counterattack. I needed to drive Farewell Song away, or this would be a difficult battle. However, Farewell Song and his energy gauge flashed across my vision as he rotated in front of me. Then, he landed a frontal Gouge that not only dealt a lot of damage, but also stunned me for another 2.1 seconds. A high-level assassin¡¯s stun rate was tied to their Agility, and only Farewell Song knew exactly how much Agility his equipment gave him. At the very least, he was able to stun me 100% up until this point even though Unusual Physique had greatly increased my resistances. Gouge¡¯s stun would be removed the instant the target was attacked, which was why Farewell Song planned to make good use of it. He moved behind me again and began charging his entire body with red energy. My heart sank. This was probably a new skill I hadn¡¯t seen before¡­ As I thought, he charged his energy for about 1.5 seconds before thrusting both his main and secondary dagger forward. A cross-shaped blade aura slammed into my back! Cold Blood Mad Strike! 4,876,278! The ridiculous damage number caused my heart to skip a beat. It was a critical hit, but even so, I couldn¡¯t remember the last time I lost almost 5 million HP to any enemy that wasn¡¯t a boss! I shot a glance at the combat log. Apparently, Coldblood Mad Strike was a skill that cost 70% of the assassin¡¯s Energy and had a 1.5-second channeling time. It had a 60%-increased critical hit rate, which was almost 100% if combined with Farewell Song¡¯s base critical rate. My HP saw red in just the blink of an eye. Who would¡¯ve thought that even 9 million HP wasn¡¯t enough to tank an assassin¡¯s combo? No wonder Warsky became so arrogant as of late; Farewell Song was practically the guardian deity of his guild! ¡­¡­ I took another hit after the stun had passed. When I opened my eyes again, I was treated to a poison sac to the face. This one inflicted the Blind status condition! Swhoosh! My vision blackened once more, and the combat log informed me that it was going to last for 7 seconds. However, I could still move like normal! Swhoosh! I hurriedly lowered my sword to what I thought was an appropriate position when I heard the sound of something cutting toward me. It was a successful parry. Immediately, I raised my free arm and elbowed Farewell Song in the chest. 7 seconds was more than enough time to kill me even if I had multiple lives! Right now, I was relying on my Domain to pinpoint Farewell Song¡¯s position. I raised my arm and dropped Ancient Seal directly in front of me. Then, I cast God Binding Art toward the right and activated Thunderous Charge! Swhoosh! I could clearly hear and feel Farewell Song dodging toward the side with supernatural speed. I abruptly canceled the skill, planted the Dihai Shield on the wooden floor, and cast Mad God Lunge! Farewell Song knew of Mad God Lunge¡¯s 100% stun rate, so again he swerved out of my path. This time though, I was close enough to strike out with Magic Piercing Punch! "Shit!" Farewell Song grunted. I could hear that his footsteps were a bit disjointed. I waited to hear a thumping noise. Bang! Wonderful. This meant that Farewell Song had slammed into the Dihai Shield I had left behind earlier. Without hesitation, I fired Burning Blade Slash at him! 1,102,987! 1,428,874! 1,823,762! A stomp of War Crush later, Farewell Song dropped to his knees before the Dihai Shield. ¡­¡­ It took another 4 seconds before my vision finally returned to me. Farewell Song was gone as a matter of course, though my shield was still stained with his blood. Although I had won, I couldn¡¯t help but recall Farewell Song¡¯s chain stun strategy with trepidation. Thank goodness he had chosen to use a long-term blinding item that didn¡¯t immobilize me instead of a short-term blinding item that did, or that really could¡¯ve been GG for me. Farewell Song probably wasn¡¯t expecting me to keep my cool so well even though I was blinded. CH 1534 Beneath the stage, Warsky was so angry that he was shaking. I picked up the Devil¡¯s Kiss Farewell Song had dropped again and let out a sigh on his behalf. The poor child, it took a prodigious amount of bad luck to drop your main weapon twice in a row. Was it because today just wasn¡¯t his day, or was it because my drop rate was too high? Thud! Again, Warsky leaped up the platform before uttering, "Lu Chen, the Devil¡¯s Kiss¡­!" I put the weapon in my bag and grinned at him. "Eh, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m returning it this time¡­" October Rain blurted, "Lu Chen!" Warsky raised his Immortal Blade threateningly. "I will take it from you by force if you don¡¯t return it!" I raised an eyebrow. "Really? You want to fight against me? I¡¯m not looking down on you, Warsky, but until now, your win rate against me has been a big fat zero. Currently, it¡¯s impossible for you to get even a lucky win against me, so what are you even talking about?" "You!" Enraged, Warsky rushed me with the Immortal Blade raised high! ¡­¡­ Thud! A wooden plank snapped as I rose to my feet. I activated Profound Armor and blocked the Immortal Blade¡¯s strike with my bare arm! 291,872! Warsky froze in disbelief. He couldn¡¯t believe how little damage the Immortal Blade did to me. In fact, the Divine Armament possessed outstanding regeneration power, but none of the Devil¡¯s Kiss¡¯s armor penetration. The rest of his equipment was either equal or inferior to mine as well, so of course his basic attack couldn¡¯t do much damage. I raised my knees and sent his head flying backward. Before he knew it, a bloody chain had wrapped around his neck, and the Xuanyuan Sword rose and fell three times in a row! 1,527,723! 1,729,323! 1,938,374! Warsky hadn¡¯t brought any damage-reducing equipment with him, so he suffered more damage than even Farewell Song himself. The triple hit sent him skidding across the platform with less than 50% HP left. The Immortal Blade was healing him rapidly, but he would die if I really wanted to kill him. ¡­¡­ I looked down on him from above the sky. "So? You still wanna go?" Whatever rage or courage Warsky had a moment ago had been sapped completely by the Chains of Freedom around his neck. If he died here, there was a high chance his lifeblood, the Immortal Blade, would drop. If that happened, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that Warsky might lose even his will to live. Warsky staggered out of the debris and uttered, "Fine! I give, you bastard! But the Devil¡¯s Kiss¡­" I tossed the weapon back to him and said indifferently, "You didn¡¯t think I would lust over a mere Middle Divine Armament, do you?" Farewell Song arrived at this moment and caught the weapon himself. He then said, "Best of five!" ¡­¡­ Suddenly, He Yi called out to me from below the stage, "Lu Chen, Xinran is calling for you in the real world. It sounds like she had a nightmare¡­" I immediately descended to the ground and said, "Alright, that¡¯s enough fighting for the day. Give me my money, Uncle Zhang Chun!" Farewell Song hurriedly said, "What, you running away after winning two rounds?" Li Chengfeng chose this moment to fly up the arena and point his halberd at the assassin¡¯s nose. "Lu Chen gave you an inch, and you take a mile, you bastard? If you hadn¡¯t made Lu Chen promise not to use the Xuanyuan Art, the fight would¡¯ve been over already. He hadn¡¯t even activated his Profound Armor or Battle Astral Wind, and he still kicked your ass twice in a row. Slink back to your room and train harder, Farewell Song. You are still far, far away from the Heavenly King level!" A pale-faced Farewell Song exploded, "Li Chengfeng, you¡ª!" Below the stage, a smiling Candlelight Shadow spoke up, "Enough, Farewell Song. You should know now that you are Lu Chen¡¯s inferior, be it in terms of equipment or skill. Your chances of winning against him are 30% at most." The spectators began booing and making Warsky even more uncomfortable than before. He looked like he wanted to walk off the stage with Farewell Song right away, but he didn¡¯t want to show weakness either. Thankfully, the intelligent October Rain said, "Stop dilly-dallying and come down already! We need you two to be the tank and DPS for our S6 instance run!" "Er, oh, yeah, right¡­" They quickly excused themselves and left after that. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, after informing He Yi and Lin Yixin about my departure, I immediately flew back to an inn and logged out. I took off my helmet and went straight to Xinran¡¯s room. I saw her sitting beside her bed with tears on her cheeks. "What¡¯s wrong, Xinran?" I walked up to her and held her hand gently. Xinran looked at me with teary eyes and said, "I had a dream just now, big brother. A nightmare¡­" "What was it about?" I dreamed that you went to a far, far away place and never returned¡­" She broke into tears again and pressed her face against my chest. "I came all the way from another world to meet you, big brother. Please don¡¯t leave me?" I patted her shoulder gently while consoling her, "Don¡¯t worry, Xinran. I¡¯m not going everywhere. In fact, I¡¯ll keep you company until you fall asleep, okay?" "Mn. You¡¯re the best, big brother¡­" ¡­¡­ A while later, Xinran fell asleep once more. I stepped out of the room and came face to face with He Yi and Lin Yixin. "How is she?" He Yi asked. I said with a frown, "Xinran has just returned to the real world, so her emotions are very unstable right now. It¡¯s natural for her to have nightmares. We should consult the doctor on how to solve this problem later." Lin Yixin said, "I¡¯ve already done so. The doctor told me that the villa is still a little too noisy for Xinran, and that we should move to a quiet recreational resort temporarily. He said that a few days of quiet rest should be enough for her to recover." "Alright¡­" She continued, "There is a place like this next to the Taihu Lake¡ªit¡¯s about an hour¡¯s drive from here¡ªand it should be a suitable place for Xinran to recover. Its rental fee is a little expensive though." "How much are we talking about?" "200k per month¡­" "Fuck, that is a little expensive. Oh well, I¡¯ll pay for it. We¡¯ll rent it for a month¡­" "But of course. You are the richest¡ª" "Shh, we need to be humble, remember? Anyway, I¡¯ll leave it to you to contact the person-in-charge. Can we move there tomorrow?" "No problem. The estate belongs to my friend. Should we bring Lian Xin, Beiming and Mingyue over as well?" "Sure, but do remind them to keep the noise down." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ The next day, I woke up very early in the morning. The girls were so excited that they had packed their stuff as soon as last night. They looked like they were going on a vacation, which I supposed they were. Still, I reminded them to bring their gaming helmets with them because there was a high chance a Nation War would be declared in the next couple days. At 9 am sharp, we departed the workshop and arrived at the lakeside resort in less than an hour. We were greeted by the sight of two European-style villas. I had no doubt that the owner of the estate was either incredibly rich, powerful or both. No wonder the rental fee was 200k RMB per month. After we entered the estate, I discovered that it was as tranquil as advertised. I could barely hear the sounds of car engines from the distant roads, and the sound of lakewater washing against the shore felt incredibly peaceful. We ate a quick lunch before I went fishing with Xinran in accordance with her wishes. There was a cutoff bridge beside the lake, and the end of the bridge was an exclusive spot for fishing. The water was only two meters deep. Xinran leaned against my side with a silly smile on her face as I reeled in fish after fish. She seemed to enjoy this rare moment of tranquility a lot. When nighttime arrived, the cooks¡ªwe had brought them over from the villa because why not?¡ªused the fish I had fished to make delicious soup for everyone. At the living hall, Murong Mingyue said while holding her notebook, "Now that the real life stuff is done, allow me to report the in-game situation. First things first, a total of 7 players across the whole world have ascended since the last time we logged into the game!" "7??" My eyes widened. "That¡¯s insane!" "It is. Almost everyone used up their Divine Crystals because the Nation War is on the horizon¡­" "Alright. Who are these new ascenders?" Murong Mingyue recited while staring at the list on the display, "In the Korea server, Tear Stain became a Light Divine Throne Guardian. In the India server, Flowing Cloud became a War Divine Throne Guardian, and Lui Lok an Ice and Fire Divine Throne Guardian. In the Japan server, Cyan Frost became a War Divine Throne Guardian. In the USA server, Beethoven¡¯s Joy and Death Wish have also ascended. Finally, Warsky became a Light Divine Throne Guardian in our server!" "Oh no¡­" I sucked in a deep breath. "This is really bad. That¡¯s 6 players from the Northern Alliance, India server and Japan server ascending. The Nation War is truly just around the corner!" "Yeah. We can¡¯t afford to fool around anymore!" "I understand. We¡¯re challenging the S7 instance when we log into the game later!" "What if we get wiped?" "We won¡¯t! You have me!" "..." ¡­¡­ We requested two bottles of red wine and enjoyed a quiet dinner. The girls went back to their rooms after the meals, but I stayed in the side hall to enjoy a cup of tea and the peaceful atmosphere. Creak¡­ Suddenly, the door opened to reveal Beiming Xue¡¯s pretty head. She looked at me and asked, "Are you alone, big bro?" "Yeah. Come have a seat!" "Heehee¡­" The elf-like girl entered the room and closed the door. She then walked up to with lithe footsteps and, to my surprise, sat on my thighs and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Big bro¡­" Her eyes looked misty and starry for some reason. "What¡¯s wrong?" I panicked a little. Beiming Xue pouted unhappily. "Big bro, I feel like you¡¯ve abandoned me ever since Xinran showed up. Am I an extra to you?" I apologized sincerely, "Of course not, it¡¯s just that Xinran¡¯s circumstances are a bit¡­ special. She needs care and love more than any of us right now. Don¡¯t overthink this, Beiming. You will never be an extra to me¡­" ¡°In that case, how about you give me a kiss to profess your innocence?" she said while looking at me hopefully. I didn¡¯t want to disappoint her, so I held her waist and pecked her once on the cheek. After that, I slapped her once on her firm butt and said, "Satisfied? You can get off me now. This isn¡¯t right¡­" However, Beiming Xue didn¡¯t remove her hands and continued, "But big bro, I¡¯ve been missing you since I went to university. Are you really going to give me the cold shoulder so soon after I¡¯ve returned?" "Cold shoulder? You call this cold shoulder? Fine, what do you want?" "I want you to kiss me, big bro. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying? I don¡¯t want a simple peck on the cheek¡­ just this once¡­" she said while staring at me with deep longing in her eyes. I didn¡¯t say anything. I simply straightened my back and leaned down toward her. Beiming Xue shivered from head to toe as she closed her eyes. When our lips finally met, she hugged me even tighter and said through the kiss, "I love you, big bro¡­ You know it, don¡¯t you?" A pair of tears rolled down her cheeks. CH 1535 I was beet red by the time the kissing session was finally over. What should I do now? Should I continue holding her like this? Or should I let go? She seemed to find my expression amusing because she suddenly punched me on the shoulder. "Why do you look like that, big bro?" I asked, "This is a one-time thing, right Beiming?" "Mn. I promise I won¡¯t make such an improper request anymore¡­" Beiming Xue said with cheeks as rosy as mine. "I¡¯ll be your younger sister even after I become a granny, okay?" "Not okay, actually. You need to find someone for yourself in the future¡­" Beiming Xue immediately humphed angrily. "Hmph! You¡¯re worried that I¡¯ll keep hounding you like a nuisance, don¡¯t you?" I curled my lips. "Of course not. I just¡­ don¡¯t want you to sink deeper than you already are." Beiming Xue shot me a long look, bending down and kissing me beside the lips once more. She let out a giggle and said, "Don¡¯t worry, big bro. Beiming will leave if you truly don¡¯t want her around[1]." "You promised that that was the last time we kissed like that, Beiming..." I stared at her. She simply shot me a cheeky smile and said, "No I didn¡¯t. I said I won¡¯t make such an improper request anymore, and I didn¡¯t, did I? So, will you make me leave, big bro?" I sighed on the inside as I watched her beautiful face. I couldn¡¯t possibly do that, could I? ¡­¡­ "I want to sleep with you tonight, big bro. Please?[2]" Beiming asked suddenly. I shivered for an instant before turning her down decisively. "Absolutely not!" "But why, big bro?" I teared up. "Do you really need to ask? I feel like I¡¯m becoming a bolster as of late; having to sleep with all these beautiful girls but not getting to do anything about it. No way, nuh uh! I will not be reminded that I¡¯m still a virgin to this day¡­" Beiming Xue: "..." I thought that was the end of it, but I should¡¯ve known better. Beiming Xue was obviously not a good girl. It was past 2 am in the night when my sleep was disturbed. I dreamed that a plate of pickled hot and sour fish, poached fish, steamed fish head with preserved chili and a bowl of white rice was placed in front of me. I was just wondering where I should start when I was startled awake by someone pulling up a corner of my blanket. The next thing I knew, a warm body had invaded my bed and squeezed itself against my chest. "Dammit, I knew this would happen[3]¡­" I grabbed my phone from the bedhead and turned on the display. I used it to illuminate the "invader" who was shooting me a cute smile from inside my blanket. It was none other than Beiming Xue. "It¡¯s really cold tonight, big bro!" While holding me tightly, she said, "Your bed is the warmest, big bro¡­" I said exasperatedly, "Beiming, you promised me you wouldn¡¯t do this. It¡¯s bad enough that we kissed, but sleeping together on the same bed? Don¡¯t you care about your reputation?" She blinked. "I don¡¯t!" "I care about my reputation though. What if I lose control and eat you up?" "I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be fine. You¡¯re a gentleman, I¡¯m sure you won¡¯t go overboard¡­" "Fuck!" ¡­¡­ I began chanting the Three Character Classic to repel my evil thoughts: Men at their birth are naturally good; their natures are much the same, their habits become widely different; the desire for food and sex is part of human nature, and so it¡¯s natural that the beast will occasionally unleash itself¡­ Wait a second¡­ fuck! I never stopped struggling against the beautiful temptation that was Beiming Xue, but I couldn¡¯t deny that her presence on a cold, lonely night like this was very comforting. I could hear her heavy breathing and see that her face was beet red despite the poor lighting. She blinked beneath the moonlight and asked, "I can¡¯t sleep, big bro. What should I do? How about you tell me a bedtime story?" "Once upon a time, there was a little girl who couldn¡¯t sleep at night. She was then kidnapped and eaten by the wolves. The end." "You¡¯re terrible, big bro!" We fell silent once more as Beiming Xue dug deeper into my arms. I continued chanting the Three Character Classic with my eyes closed. If I shut off my visual sense and filled my head with noise, I should be able to survive the night just fine. You¡¯re just sleeping with your sister, I told myself. You¡¯ll be lesser than human if you can''t endure even this level of temptation, so persevere! For a short time, Beiming Xue too closed her eyes in an attempt to accumulate sleepiness. However, she soon opened them again and looked at me, asking, "Are you asleep, big bro?" "Yep." "Nonsense! How did you answer me if you¡¯re asleep?" "..." "Am I really that unattractive, big bro? You don¡¯t seem to be tempted at all. My classmates told me that men are all the same; that they can¡¯t possibly control themselves if they are hugging a beautiful woman on the bed." I rolled my eyes. "You should choose better classmates, Beiming. Anyway, you¡¯re my sister, and I want to remain a gentleman. I will never be tempted by my younger sister¡­" Beiming Xue fell silent for a couple seconds. Shen then said, "You say that, but I can feel that you¡¯re hard, big bro¡­" I flipped her around so that her back was facing me before saying, "Alright, more sleeping, no talking!" Beiming Xue: "..." ¡­¡­ Surprisingly, I was able to catch a good night¡¯s sleep despite the unexpected interruption. When I woke up in the early morning, I opened my sleepy eyes just in time to see Beiming Xue curled up inside the blanket and putting on a pair of skin-colored stockings. After she was done, she turned toward me and flashed me her miniskirt, saying, "Do I look good, big bro?" Considering the fact that I nearly experienced a nosebleed, I replied, "Yes¡­" Beiming Xue hugged me for a second and pecked me once on the cheek. Finally, she said, "Alright, I¡¯m going back to my room now. It will be bad if Sister Eve or Sister Lin Yixin find out about this¡­" "You just realized that?" Beiming Xue stuck out her tongue at me and said, "Yes. Bye, big bro!" "Mn!" I let out a sigh of relief after she put on her shoes and left. I looked at the morning sun outside the window and felt very happy. How much longer will this happiness last, I wonder¡­? ¡­¡­ Du du du¡­ My phone rang a while later. It was Li Chengfeng who called me. "What¡¯s the matter, Chengfeng? It¡¯s quite early in the morning." "Not anymore, brother! The Nation War is about to begin!" That jolted the sleep out of my brain completely. "What¡¯s the situation?" He chuckled. "The Northern Alliance has rallied about ten million players outside Fortress of the Iron Halberd and looks like they will declare war on us at any moment. That¡¯s why Zhang Chun asked me to inform you to come online right away. You are the only one who is fit to command us in this war." I gritted my teeth. "Er, I¡¯m not out of bed yet, and I need to eat breakfast with Xinran later. I¡¯ll log in as soon as I can, but if I¡¯m late don¡¯t bother waiting for me, okay? Also, tell Uncle Zhang Chun to order the guild leaders to head to their main cities and declare war on the Northern Alliance, Japan and India right away!" "But why?" "Once we¡¯ve declared war on the enemy, any enemy we kill on the continent won¡¯t be able to log into the game anymore. Our numbers are far inferior to the enemy¡¯s, so we have to fight smart and diminish their effective strength as much as possible!" "Understood. How long do you think you¡¯ll need before you log in?" "Half an hour!" "Got it. See you later!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ After I crawled out of bed with some difficulty, I put on my clothes, went through my cleaning routines and exited my room. He Yi was walking toward the living hall with a tray of breakfast in her hand when she saw me. She said, "Good, you¡¯re here. Let¡¯s finish breakfast quickly. You need to become the MVP of the Nation War if you wish to hit Level 275 as soon as possible. Ideally, we want you to become the first player to hit the level cap, so¡­" I smiled knowingly. "But of course. First thing we do after we log into the game is wreck the Japanese!" "Yeah!" Beiming Xue and Lian Xin also entered the living hall not long after. Murong Mingyue came out with Xinran because she had been helping the girl with bathing. She complained, "Heavens, I never knew how hard and tiring it was to help someone take a bath¡­ Still, Xinran¡¯s body is impossibly good. How do you keep your skin as soft as a baby¡¯s, girl? I¡¯m so envious. I doubt there¡¯s any guy in this world who wouldn¡¯t like a girl with skin like yours¡­" Suddenly, Murong Mingyue shot me a wary look and asked me, "Be honest, Lu Chen. Have you ever thought of Xinran that way?" I trembled at the sudden attack but declared without any hesitation, "Are you joking? There are only two people in the world whom I think of that way, and they are Eve and Yiyi! There won¡¯t be a third, now or forever!" Lin Yixin was walking out with a tray of fruits when she heard this. She let out a chuckle and praised me, "Not bad! You¡¯re getting better at smooth-talking!" Beiming Xue said, "That¡¯s because he¡¯s scared that you and Sister Eve will punish him¡­" I stared at Beiming Xue with a look of betrayal. "Et tu, Beiming?" Calm and looking like nothing had happened at all last night, Beiming Xue simply pulled my hand and said, "Let¡¯s finish breakfast quickly, big bro. Fortress of the Iron Halberd needs us¡­" I was confused. "Wait, Fortress of the Iron Halberd? Who said we¡¯re guarding the Fortress of the Iron Halberd?" "Uncle Zhang Chun, of course!" "Oh? Why is that?" "He said that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is the strongest guild in the China server, so he wants us and Blazing Hot Lips to defend Fortress of the Iron Halberd. Everyone else such as Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, Purple Lily and more will be attacking Swallow Ear Canton. As you mentioned earlier, they¡¯ll aim to flatten Swallow Ear Canton in 24 hours!" Lian Xin looked at me and asked for confirmation, "Do you disagree with Zhang Chun¡¯s plans, big bro?" I sat down and shook my head. "No, no, I agree wholeheartedly. I too think that we should both defend our server and attack the enemy at the same time. We need to catch the Northern Alliance and Swallow Ear Canton off-guard, or Fortress of the Iron Halberd may have to endure an inhuman amount of pressure. Plus, the fortress has always had a lot of defenders, so Vienna¡¯s Sorrow may not necessarily focus his main forces there. This is our chance to earn a great amount of contribution points!" "Mn mn!" ¡­¡­ After we finished breakfast, I held Xinran¡¯s hand and said in a gentle voice, "Xinran, will you busy yourselves with the Violet Empire for the next couple days? I won¡¯t be able to keep you company for long because I¡¯ll be busy fighting a Nation War." Xinran stared at me with her bright, big eyes and asked, "Are you going to kill some bad people, big brother?" I smiled. "They¡¯re not really bad people. They just don¡¯t stand on the same side as us, that¡¯s all. I may be a hero from your perspective, but my enemies may think of me as the most evil bastard they¡¯ve ever encountered. In the end though, we are all people who are giving it our all for the sake of our homeland." Xinran clenched her fists and said, "I¡¯ll help you, big brother!" "No, you cannot kill a player, remember? It¡¯ll be breaking the rules, and the western servers will file a complaint¡­" "Okay. I¡¯ll listen to you, big brother. You must log out and keep me company for a bit everyday though¡­" "Of course. Don¡¯t worry!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ After I sent Xinran back to her room and helped her put on her gaming equipment, I returned to my room and drank half a glass of water. A new war was on the horizon, and our greatest enemies were clearly confident in their chances of winning. It was yet going to be another difficult war! Swhoosh! After I appeared in Sky City, I checked my status and went through the usual motions. I repaired my equipment and restocked my Health Potions, Magic Consumables, cards and more. I also grabbed a stack of Magic Repair Oils. Finally, I picked up three high-level food and tossed them into my bag. Now that I was a god, three high-level consumables were enough to last me for at least half a month. Nation Wars lasted 3 days only, so Satiety wouldn¡¯t be a problem. When everything was ready, I teleported to Dark Moon City! 1. E/N: Do her a freaking favor, save her freaking life and tell her to piss off before you scar her for life, dude. ? 2. T/N: this DEFINITELY counts as an improper request, girl ? 3. T/N: why didn¡¯t you lock the door then? ? Favorite CH 1536 The ground outside the territory hall was full of mounts and players. Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and more were busy rallying the Dragonlight Cavalrymen into organized groups. Judging from the eager looks on everyone¡¯s faces, they had been looking forward to this inevitable war for quite some time already. The previous Nation War was so long ago that they had almost acclimatized to the bland days of grinding. Almost. This Nation War would probably be unlike all the Nation Wars that had happened before though, and the main reason for that was the divine players and Ancient Divine Skills. ¡­¡­ "You¡¯re here, Lu Chen!" Li Chengeng walked up to me and reported, "There is a small problem I need to talk to you about. Our main and subguilds combined have a total of 177k Dragonlight Cavalrymen, but because the war had started earlier than expected, less than 50% of them are online right now. The workers are working, the students are studying, and the truants received the message too late and are unable to make an escape just yet. What should we do?" I nodded. "It¡¯s fine. If possible, I¡¯m not planning to use the Dragonlight Cavalry during the first 24 hours of the war anyway. Tell those who are online to teleport to Dawn City first. I have great plans that will require their presence later!" "No problem!" Beside me, Chaos Moon said, "What about the lower-tier cavalrymen? You know, the common mounts that every guild has such as the Profound Wolf Cavalry. Ah, the Profound Wolf is a Level 210 Earth Rank mount that can be captured at Sky Forest. Bloody Mercenaries and some of our subguilds combined own a total of 100k Profound Wolves. We also have over 200k Thunder Cavalrymen. Their mounts are the even-more-common Level 190 Earth Rank Thunder Beasts. On a side note, 90k Dragonlight Archers and 110k Holy Mages are available right now." I was pleasantly surprised to hear this. "Damn, I didn¡¯t know we were this strong now. Good. Tell everyone to teleport to Dawn City, march toward Fortress of the Iron Halberd, and assist the NPCs in the defense. But not the Dragonlight Cavalrymen. They are to stand by and await orders." "Okay. Beauty Stranger is already setting up her defense at Dawn City. We should head over and meet up with her now." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Our troops marched into the teleportation formation and teleported to Dawn City. Although Dawn City was just a tier 2 city, there wasn¡¯t a single player in the world who hadn¡¯t heard of its name. After all, it was the city where the epic conclusion of the first Nation War had occurred. Instead of following my players into the teleportation formation, I opted to wait until everyone was gone. Murong Mingyue, He Yi, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin stayed by my side as well. Finally, Lian Xin couldn¡¯t stop herself from asking, "What are we waiting for, big bro?" I grinned at her and said, "I want to lay a safety net just in case the enemy pulls off something unexpected." "It¡¯s unusual for you to hide things from us. Can you tell us about this ¡®safety net¡¯ now?" I chuckled and took out a golden stone from my bag. It was none other than the Teleportation Divine Crystal I had obtained from the Purgatory. Silently, I set the 100-yard radius area in front of the territory hall as the initial teleportation point and canceled the terminal at the sixth floor of the Purgatory. Now, I could teleport reinforcements from Dark Moon City to my location anytime I wanted. This was why the Teleportation Divine Crystal was so important. Distance was practically a non-existent issue for as long as it was functional. It was my trump card for this Nation War! He Yi was an intelligent woman, so she figured out my plan the moment she realized what the item was. She couldn¡¯t help a chuckle and said, "I¡¯m feeling much more confident about our chances now¡­" I smirked. "Now, now, it won¡¯t do to get complacent before the Nation War even begins. Let¡¯s check out the Northern Alliance¡¯s movements first. To the Fortress of the Iron Halberd!" ¡°Mn!" ¡­¡­ "Oh right, big bro. Look!" Suddenly, Lian Xin pulled my arm to draw my attention. "Look, what?" I admired her pretty features for a moment before breaking into a grin. "Oh! Did your chest grow to a new size, Little Xin? Hmm, I think it¡¯s bigger, but it¡¯s not that much bigger¡­" Lian Xin stomped her foot angrily. "Pervert! That¡¯s not what I meant! Look closely¡­" "Of course¡­" Lian Xin slowly floated into the air. Just as she was about to rise high enough for me to glimpse her pink undies, she came to a stop. It was then I noticed that an invisible shield of divine energy was surrounding her body. It was the visual effect of Unusual Physique! Fuck me, when did Lian Xin become a god?! "When did you ascend, Little Xin?" I exclaimed in surprise. She dropped back to the ground and said with a smile, "Last night, of course. I gave it a go around midnight and got super lucky!" I slapped my head. "Now that you mention it, is there anyone else who ascended last night besides you?" Beiming Xue answered, "There are a total of three people who ascended last night. One of them is Little Xin, the other is Shabby Castle of the England server, and the last one is Purple Thunder of the Japan server¡­" "Huh. The Japan server has three divine players now?" I frowned. He Yi assured me, "Don¡¯t worry. Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Soul Battle Robes, Snowy Cathaya and Purple Lily are among the guilds who¡¯ll be attacking Swallow Ear Canton. Our number of divine players absolutely exceeds theirs!" "That¡¯s true. There should be nothing Red Maple can do against Yiyi, Candlelight Shadow and Farewell Song combined!" "Yeah. Let¡¯s go, shall we?" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ We stepped through the teleportation formation together and appeared in the bustling Dawn City. The war was on the horizon, and the tier 2 city was crowded like never before. To avoid the crowd, I carried Murong Mingyue, and He Yi carried Pure Love to the sky. Beiming Xue rode her Fire Phoenix, and Lian Xin could fly on her own thanks to her new ability, Flight. These days, almost all of us possessed the ability to fly. I pointed a finger at the black fortress at the end of the canyon and said, "Let¡¯s fly straight to Fortress of the Iron Halberd. If the battle has already begun, even better. I don¡¯t mind earning contribution points sooner and getting a headstart." He Yi chuckled. "Yeah. Let¡¯s make every second count!" I looked at the Nation War UI and noted that a ridiculous amount of countries were participating in this Nation War. This was, without exaggeration, a great war that involved the entire continent. The Center, the Northern Alliance, India, Swallow Ear Canton, Frostsword City, Chaotic 27 and more were all participating in this war. It also meant that anyone who died on a map under these servers for whatever reason wouldn''t be able to log into the game for 3 days. Therefore, the non-combat players such as traders and such were all holed up inside their respective main cities. The last thing they wanted was to be caught in a random battle they wanted no part of and die[1]. It took us less than five minutes to cross the distance between Dawn City and Fortress of the Iron Halberd. The ramparts were already full of players, and the large majority of them belonged to Blazing Hot Lips. This time, Blazing Hot Lips¡¯ forces would be the main force of a battle. Swhoosh! I landed gently on the rampart and set Murong Mingyue on her feet. A faint milky scent brushed against my nostrils. A few meters away, Stranger of Three Lifetimes shot me a smile and said, "You¡¯re finally here, Lu Chen. According to Hot and Sour Noodles, our guilds are supposed to be working together and guarding Fortress of the Iron Halberd this time. Do give us your full cooperation, okay?" I raised my eyebrows. "But of course, Momo. Quick question, how many people can you bring over?" "Assuming that everyone is online, about 1.5 million in total. What about Ancient Sword?" "Our normal online rate is 80%, and we have 29 subguilds in total. Roughly speaking, we can easily muster a force of 2 million players, and they all enjoy the buffs of the War Temple. We¡¯re amazing, right?" "Er, yeah, but the question is, is it enough to stop the formidable army of the Northern Alliance? Look closely¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes pointed toward the outskirts, and I looked. I sucked in a deep breath. The map some distance away from Fortress of the Iron Halberd was completely jam-packed with red dots. I had no doubt that the Northern Alliance had mobilized practically all of their players. There were at least 20 million enemy players on the canyon plains alone, and we defenders numbered 10 million at most. It was because the majority of our forces had left to kick Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s ass. ¡­¡­ "So? Still confident that we can hold the fortress?" Moonkiss asked me smilingly while playing her dagger. I curled my lips. "Sure. Their army is massive, but do you see their divine players anywhere? Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, Shabby Castle?" "Not yet, no." Stranger of Three Lifetimes blinked. "I checked the identities of the guilds standing before us, and they are second or third¨Crate at most; the equal of our Mad Dragon, Flower Room, and Pop Culture. Personally, I agree that these people are only here to donate their contribution points, but at the same time¡­ I¡¯m also anxious as to the whereabouts of the Northern Alliance¡¯s main force." I clenched my fists. "I know. Hero Alliance is our greatest threat. We cannot rest easy until they are truly removed from our side." Stranger of Three Lifetimes glanced at the Dragonlight Cavalrymen riding into Fortress of Iron Fortress and said smilingly, "I bet Vienna¡¯s Sorrow thinks the same thing about Ancient Sword as well. They can never rest easy until Ancient Sword is kicked out of this war!" "Anyway, let¡¯s cut the chit-chat and begin organizing the defenses, shall we?" "Yeah. You guard the east, and we guard the west. How does that sound?" "Works for me!" I looked at the enemy¡¯s forces again and discovered that they were growing restless. I said, "It looks like the battle will begin in 30 minutes at most. Let¡¯s not waste any more time!" "Agreed!" I took to the sky once more, waved my hand and ordered loudly, "All Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players, this will be your first order! The Dragonlight Cavalry will be resting for now! I want 50,000 magic knight Thunder and Profound Wolf Cavalrymen to form a shield formation outside the fortress! Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers, get onto the ramparts and towers and be ready to Far Shot your attacks at any moment! Also, our defense zone is the east side wall! High Fighting Spirits, choose 50k elite Dragonlight Cavalrymen and be ready to ride out the gates with me at any moment!" High Fighting Spirits raised his axe and responded, "Got it!" ¡­¡­ After I landed back on the rampart, I said to He Yi, "Eve, tell Xu Yang to teleport in our siege weapons. Fortress of the Iron Halberd have wide walls, which is wide enough to set up the siege weapons. We¡¯ll blast the enemy to death with White Marsh Catapults!" He Yi nodded smilingly. "Got it." ¡­¡­ At the distance, a Level 255 magic knight abruptly raised his sword high and shouted, "The time for vengeance has finally arrived! Prepare to attack! Today¡¯s the day we uproot Fortress of the Iron Halberd, carve our way into the hinterland of the China server, and sweep all of the natives!" I felt very confident as I looked at the Dragonlight Archers and Holy Mages behind me. I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and shouted, "Prepare for battle! Take out all targets who dare to approach within 200 yards of our walls!" 1. T/N: wow, so my speculation from a long time ago where players can declare to be a non-participant of the war isn¡¯t a thing. This absolutely wouldn¡¯t fly in a real game lol E/N: Yeah, that¡¯s how war works. Men between 18 and 60 can¡¯t leave Ukraine right now for example. ? Favorite CH 1537 "Do we go down and meet them in battle?" Gui Guzi asked. "No.¡± Gui Guzi accepted my answer without question and waited silently for the enemy to arrive. He had his shield propped in front of himself because it wouldn¡¯t be long before the enemy started shooting arrows and spells up the walls. "It¡¯s time. The enemy is 200 yards away from the wall!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes raised her scepter and ordered, "Archers, fire!" Bow twangs began beating against our eardrums incessantly as countless arrows rained on top of the enemy. As expected, the Far-Shot arrows were unable to inflict any sort of critical damage to the enemy because the first few rows were all magic knights with shields. They weren¡¯t idiots, so they had them firmly in arrows¡¯ direction and didn¡¯t let any unnecessary damage go through. That, however, wouldn¡¯t matter in the long run. Once they passed through the 100-yard line, the Attack boost granted by the height advantage would really start to display its power. Bang! There was one player who was the exception to the rule though. Despite the Attack reduction, Beiming Xue¡¯s Evil Spirit Volley still turned her targets into pincushions and scorched them with the Xuanming Flames. Dozens of magic knights were losing over 2 million HP almost all too easily. Archers weren¡¯t supposed to have mounts, but Dark Moon City¡¯s unique skill bypassed rule. Now, Beiming Xue wasn¡¯t just the proud owner of a high-level Fire Phoenix, but also the wielder of the evolved Xuanming Bow. The bow had a base Attack of over 35k and was almost as powerful as the Xuanyuan Sword. It would be stranger if she dealt negligible damage. ¡­¡­ "Look!" He Yi pointed toward the horizon and said, "It¡¯s the Northern Alliance Rank 10 player territory¡¯s new siege weapon, the Magic Crystal Cannon! It deals 50% extra damage to structures and is protected by a shield generated from a magic crystal! The shield must be destroyed first before the body can be damaged!" I frowned. As she said, a large number of engineers had emerged from behind the sea of magic knights. They were pushing about 20 Magic Crystal Cannons toward us. Worse, at least 500 Fire Catapults and 1,000 Basic Catapults were already standing by for orders. This wasn¡¯t an assault we could afford to underestimate. A hint of worry flashed across Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ features as she glanced in my direction. "I have a bad feeling about this. Zhang Chun might have posted too few troops at Fortress of the Iron Halberd. Can we really hold this place with just the two of us and a couple of small guilds?" I nodded in agreement. "I thought that the assault against Fortress of the Iron Halberd was a feint, and that their main focus would be Hot Sand City. However, it looks like I¡¯ve underestimated Vienna¡¯s Sorrow appetite. This guy¡¯s planning to punch right into the hinterlands of the China server and conquer Sky City and Wind City!" "What do we do? Should we contact Zhang Chun and request for reinforcements?" "No, we are still in the early stages of the Nation War. Fortress of the Iron Halberd is a very defensible structure, and I reckon that we can hold them off for at least 24 hours even if their main force shows their face later. Remember that we¡¯re buying time for Zhang Chun and the others to conquer Swallow Ear Canton. All we can do is to pray that Candlelight Shadow, Warsky and Yiyi will flatten Swallow Ear Canton as soon as possible, push north from there and invade the Northern Alliance¡¯s territory. If everything goes as planned, our crisis will naturally resolve itself." "I see. Let us continue then!" ¡­¡­ Chiang! I unsheathed my sword and said in a low tone, "All ascended players, follow me to take out the Magic Crystal Cannons once they come into range. There are only 20 of them, so I¡¯m sure we can take them out without much trouble. Dragonlight Archers, I want you to form 100-man parties and target any and all catapults that enter your range. The battering rams are one thing, but the catapults¡­" However, Beiming Xue said, "But big bro, our effective range is 200 yards, or 500 yards at best with the Range stratagem. The catapults have an effective range of 600 yards¡­" "Oh. I guess there¡¯s no other choice then¡­" I grimaced. "Little Gui, rally 50k Profound Wolf Cavalrymen and wait for orders. If the pressure grows unbearable, you will head out and trim down the enemy. If we lose all of our Profound Wolf Cavalry, then we¡¯ll send in the Dragonlight Cavalry!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the Northern Alliance players beneath the walls were beginning to speed up. While providing cover for the engineers, the magic knights were rushing toward the walls as quickly as they were able. It was clear what they were aiming for. They wanted to prop the cloud ladders against the wall and create pressure for our defenders as much as they could. While our players were distracted, they would push the Magic Crystal Cannons up against the walls and knock away like no tomorrow. If they managed to destroy our walls, then it would be impossible to defend the fortress. "Focus-fire the enemy¡¯s ladder squads! Don¡¯t let them get close enough to set up anything!" Lian Xin ordered loudly while firing her spells. The Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers¡¯ skills fell from the sky like the rain. The enemy¡¯s ladder squads were numerous, but not even one of them managed to pass through the 80-yard mark. Our two units were just too powerful. The Holy Mages¡¯ Magic Attack was almost 1.4 times a normal mage¡¯s, and they were further boosted by my Martial God, He Yi¡¯s Royal Road or other stratagems. They could almost sweep any enemy that came their way. Ten minutes later, the Northern Alliance¡¯s forced assault came to a temporary end. The first wave numbered around 50k players, and not one of them had managed to slip through our firepower. No one bothered to pick up the equipment and items they left behind. Gui Guzi laughed heartily from atop his dragon, "What other strategies do you have, grandsons of the Northern Alliance? You¡¯d better show them soon, or we may destroy you before you even reach this fortress!" Li Chengfeng was also chuckling. "I¡¯m glad to see that Blazing Hot Lips and our ranged firepower is superior. If Snowy Cathaya¡¯s Dragon Punisher Archers were with us too¡­ sheesh, we would be riding out to meet them instead of holing up in the fortress!" Restlessness visibly spread across the Northern Alliance¡¯s troops due to our players¡¯ taunts. Soon, a Level 255 warrior clad in lightning armor stepped into the open. He was Titan God, the number one player of Titan City and the so-called number two player of the USA server [1]. Standing behind him were the players of Olympus. Finally, one of the main forces of the invasion had shown themselves! Titan God said with a dark expression on his face, "The second wave must work no matter what. Tell the catapults to bombard the walls and provide cover fire for our cavalrymen!" "Yes, guild leader!" The engineers began constructing their catapults. Less than three minutes later, hundreds of catapults appeared in a line around the fortress, and hundreds of payloads began flying toward us! ¡­¡­ "Watch out! All frontline cavalrymen are to use Guard!" I shouted. The first payload skidded across the rampart before hitting two Profound Wolf Cavalrymen directly. They took over 2 million damage and were sent flying into the air as a matter of course. They were able to survive the blow, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for three other Dragonlight Archers who happened to be along the trajectory of the payload. They took over 3 million damage and were one-shot without resistance [2]. "Motherfucker!" I jumped off the rampart and toward the hundreds of payloads flying in my direction. After firing multiple sword auras to shatter a couple of payloads, I raised my arm and manifested a 30-yard wide, spider web like shield using my Domain that blocked or bounced off dozens of payloads. Titan God¡¯s face turned purple when he saw this, but what could he do? This was just the power of a divine player! Li Chengfeng also did the same thing as me before asking, "By the way, where are our catapults? Set them up on the walls already¡­" He Yi nodded. "Yes, it is time to set up the White Marsh Catapults. We have the height advantage, so our catapults should have an effective range of at least 1,500 yards. Fire at will and disrupt their formation! No need to conserve your ammo!" ¡­¡­ The enemy¡¯s hooves shook the ground once more. This time, Titan God was leading the charge with a bunch of cavalrymen who rode steel rhinos! "That¡¯s¡­ the evolved version of the Fire Rhinoceros!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes exclaimed in surprise. "Go all out! It will be difficult for us if they manage to break through!" Once more, arrows and magic poured down the walls like a waterfall. Olympus wasn¡¯t fooling around because I counted at least 100k Steel Rhinoceros Cavalrymen charging toward the walls. They were your classic tanky cavalrymen with at least 6.5 million HP and an insane amount of Defense. The majority of our Dragonlight Archers could only deal 50k damage or so per hit to the enemy, which was nowhere enough to stop the charge. "This is bad!" Li Chengfeng panicked when he saw that enemy cavalrymen possessed the tankiness to break through our ranged firepower. He immediately descended toward the ground and killed a group of enemies with Reverse Scale Slash and Dragonbone Flurry. I did the same thing and froze a bunch of people with Cold of the Nine Provinces. While flying past their heads, I unleashed Burning Blade Slash that dropped them to red health despite their Defense and finished them all with Ancient Seal! Our two dragon knights, He Yi and Gui Guzi, also swooped down and joined in the attempt to slow the enemies¡¯ charge. On the walls, Lian Xin plopped down a dozen of Origin Force Fields that stopped everyone in front of them dead in their tracks. Then, she descended to the ground and cast her destructive spells everywhere. Thanks to the Soul Shocker Bell, even one Ice Spiral Matrix could deal just below 5 million damage to a single enemy. Naturally, no one could survive more than one spell from Lian Xin! ¡­¡­ "Don¡¯t let the enemy distract you and keep charging! Reach the walls and set up the cloud ladders no matter what!" Titan God rebuked those who faltered. Buzz! Titan God abruptly raised his sword and charged toward a nearby Chinese warrior. She was none other than Chaos Moon. To her surprise, the warrior started off his assault right off with an Ancient Divine Skill, Blade of Caesar! "Die!" Chaos Moon shuddered as the attack struck her and deleted 1.9 million HP from her. However, since it wasn¡¯t a particularly terrible blow, she immediately retaliated with her own Greedy Wolf Howl. "You dare!" A couple of Olympus players rode to their guild leader¡¯s aid and struck her with Barrier Breaks. Now she was in a critical condition. While drinking a health potion and withdrawing, she shouted, "Save me, Lu Chen!" I dropped down in front of Chaos Moon and unleashed Thousand Ice Slash! Bang! The group of Olympus players attacking Chaos Moon were frozen, but not Titan God. His mount leaped mightily into the air as he executed Earth¡¯s Fury + Lightning Fury combo![3] I met him head-on and flicked my wrist three times in quick succession. I was able to parry three of his strikes before canceling the fourth with Magic Piercing Punch. Finally, I stabbed him with Universe Break! Puchi! 1,932,774! I looked at the sea of Northern Alliance cavalrymen around me and judged that it was time. I raised my sword and cast the Death of Xuanyuan Art! ¡­¡­ "Shit¡­" Titan God¡¯s pupils shrank when he saw my movements. "It¡¯s the Xuanyuan Art! Watch out!" Titan God was able to activate his invincibility skill in time and protect himself from the skill. Then, he turned tail and rode away without hesitation because he noticed Li Chengfeng approaching him from a different direction. He knew he wouldn¡¯t survive if he was caught in between two divine players. 1. T/N: how the fuck is he still number 1 and 2? I don¡¯t think he¡¯s even ascended? ? 2. T/N: and are unable to play the game for 3 days¡­ like what? What is this stupid system, man? ? 3. T/N: Divine General Skill + triple-hit skill btw, doesn¡¯t feel right to translate it in the actual sentence so I¡¯m putting it here ? CH 1538 "Are you leaving so soon after you arrived? That¡¯s not very polite now, isn¡¯t it?" A peal of girlish laughter rang from the sky. It was Lian Xin flying above Titan God and dropping Origin Force Fields to block his retreat. Titan God looked like a mess as he kept running into invisible wall after invisible wall. Despite his best attempts, Lian Xin was able to stop him nearly every step of the way. Being able to predict an enemy¡¯s movement was a skill every ranged player must possess[1]. Li Chengfeng cackled. "Well done! Titan God¡¯s the second best player of the USA server! Don¡¯t let him escape!" I didn¡¯t say anything. The gang interpreted it as approval and ganged up on Titan God. Even Gui Guzi and He Yi were flying over to kill the man. It would be a morale boost to anyone to kill a top-tier expert like Titan God at the very start of the Nation War. Swhoosh! I used my Charge as well. A player who was invincible couldn¡¯t be attacked or afflicted with any status condition unless it was an Ancient Divine Skill, but blocking their way? That was absolutely possible. I landed in front of Titan God like a titan and caused him to slam face first into my Dihai Shield. He was knocked back a couple of steps because his Strength stat was lower than mine. Not only that, his invincibility was starting to run out! His players attacked us with everything they had, but they simply lacked the firepower to truly threaten us. In the end, a vice leader shouted, "What are you waiting for, boss? Teleport back to the city already! What¡¯s a couple hours compared to being knocked out of the war?" Titan God gritted his teeth but crushed the return scroll as his vice leader advised. There was a problem, however. It took 3.5 seconds for the teleport scroll to run its course, and since I had been watching Titan God closely from the start, I knew his invincibility would run out in just 3.2 seconds. That was enough for me to do what I needed to do! The Scarlet Dragon Armor started glowing a faint red color. The second his invincibility ran out, I stunned him with Mad God Lunge and canceled his return scroll before it could take effect! At the same time, I wrapped his neck with the Chains of Freedom! "My god¡­" Titan God seemed to realize what was about to happen. He glared at me and said, "You dare to use this skill in this war, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? Do you understand the price you¡¯ll be paying for this?" "Whatever it may be, it is my burden to bear," I replied in a low tone. The Xuanyuan Sword erupted into light as Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Gui Guzi and Lian Xin executed their combos. Three strikes later, my Burning Blade Slash became the final blow that deleted the last chunk of Titan God¡¯s 10 million+ HP! Pop pop pop¡­ I glanced at the equipment he dropped and said, "Little Gui, pick them up and split them among yourselves, will you?" "Of course¡­" Gui Guzi happily carried out the order. There was no way the second best guild leader of the USA server would be wearing shit-tier equipment [2]. As usual, a system announcement reverberated across the maps every time an important player was killed¡ª Ding! System Announcement: Player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) killed the Heroic Bannerman "Titan God" (USA) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 0 points! "Fuck¡­" Li Chengfeng laughed so hard that he was nearly in tears. "Now that I think about it, Titan God hasn¡¯t killed a single enemy since the start of the battle, which is why he has no contribution points at all. And now, he¡¯s dead and completely knocked out from the Nation War. This is what people call an absolute fail, hahahaha¡­" I shook my head before saying, "Let¡¯s return to the walls already. The enemy¡¯s firepower is getting a bit difficult to bear." "Mn!" And so, we returned to the walls to heal ourselves or be healed by our priests. Olympus¡¯ mages and archers had finally gotten close enough to hit us, and not even with Unusual Physique were we tanky enough to endure so many attacks. Thud! Gui Guzi made his Dark Crystal Dragon land on the edge of an embrasure before shooting me a grin. "Boss Broken Halberd, Titan God dropped a Middle Divine Armament metal armor, a pair of Lower Divine Armament boots, and a Hadean Divine Armament necklace. They¡¯re all top-tier equipment!" I waved my hand. "Awesome. Go speak with Chengfeng and Eve and see how you want to distribute the loot. I don¡¯t need them, so count me out!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ There were mountains of bodies below the walls at this point. The harder Olympus charged, the bigger the price they paid. Still, Titan God had managed to deliver nearly 30k players to the walls with his sacrifice. The cloud ladders began building, and one vice leader mage raised his scepter and yelled, "Get those Magic Crystal Cannons over as soon as possible! Flyers, get onto the walls and take out those turtling cowards!" Some distance away, Stranger of Three Lifetimes shot me an incredulous look before asking, "Did that fucker just call us turtles!?" I nodded. "We¡¯ll dispatch the cavalrymen and split their front and rear troops in half. 50k elites from each of our guilds should be enough, right?" "Yeah. I¡¯ll dispatch 50k Profound Wolf Cavalrymen then!" "Same here. Let¡¯s go!" I glanced at Gui Guzi, and he figured out my meaning immediately. He leaped down to the fortress grounds and shouted, "Profound Wolf Cavalry of Ancient Sword, assemble! Follow me to cut down the enemy!" The iron chains began grinding as the fortress gate was lifted. A seemingly endless stream of cavalrymen led by Famous Generals such as Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, Eyes Like Water and more flooded out of it and began cutting a line between the troops that had already arrived at the walls, and the ones who were coming in from the distance. Once the separation was complete, killing the engineers setting up the cloud ladders and the fighters scaling the walls would be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. "How should we fight this out, big bro?" Lian Xin asked. I answered simply, "Attack at will and farm contribution points!" "Right¡­" The mage leaped over the walls once more and hovered about 50 meters above the ground. She then started raining all kinds of spells on the enemy and racked in those contribution points like crazy. Since she was a divine mage, she had nothing to fear from the enemy¡¯s Shock Arrows. Moreover, her ability to float well out of the range of most ground units meant that there was little to nothing they could do against her. Of course, a divine fighter or assassin would be a huge threat, but she had Li Chengfeng and me to protect her. Not even Vienna¡¯s Sorrow himself might be able to find a chance to snipe Lian Xin, not to mention that Lian Xin herself was a divine player. ¡­¡­ Thunk thunk thunk¡­ A couple of White Marsh payloads sailed across the air and crashed in the middle of the enemy troops. Some of them even managed to shatter a couple of catapults at the same time. Whoever made the shots absolutely deserved to be commended for their accuracy. Li Chengfeng looked at me and said, "It looks like Hero Alliance ain¡¯t going to move their asses until Olympus is completely annihilated. In the meantime, should we attack those legendary Magic Crystal Cannons?" "Yeah. You take out the ones to the west, and I will take the east¡­" "Got it!" After Pure Love had applied all of her buffs on me, she gave my back a pat and said, "And, done! Go earn them contribution points, dear! I gave you everything, so it¡¯s only right that you give me 25% of your contribution points, right?" Me: "..." A snickering Murong Mingyue commented, "What? You gave him everything, Guanyue? If you don¡¯t mind me asking, how many times did he do it with you?" I interrupted expressionlessly, "Have some shame, miss. I¡¯m leaving now. Don¡¯t slack off, you hear?" A pair of mini cyclones spun on the floor as I took off to the sky. Swhoosh! I left behind a trail of death and devastation as I flew toward the closest Magic Crystal Cannon. It was even bigger than I thought it was close-up. The cannon was 20 meters long and 10 meters wide, and it had a 140-centimeter-diameter muzzle. It looked like a walking pillbox. However, its ammo was so heavy that it only had an effective shooting range of 10 meters. This meant that it was just a useless hunk of metal unless it got within 10 meters of a wall. I unleashed Burning Blade Slash before landing on the ground. Boom boom boom! To my surprise, the triple-hit skill that normally just shredded through everything only deleted 40% of the siege weapon¡¯s shield¡¯s durability. Considering how high my Attack was, its tankiness could only be described as outstanding. No wonder Olympus valued the siege weapon so much. Unfortunately for them, Titan God was not only dead, but knocked out of the war completely. Without their leader, Olympus was no match for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls at all! Thud! I ran around the siege weapon as a shower of arrows nipped at my heels. At least a thousand players were protecting this Magic Crystal Cannon, so I had to activate profound Armor to protect myself while I chipped away at its HP. Every time my HP fell to 70% or so, I would unleash Thousand Ice Slash to freeze the enemies and life-steal some HP. My attacks never left the siege weapon, and it wasn¡¯t long before the magic crystal shield shattered and exposed the body. The actual cannon only had 10 million HP and was far, far more destructible than the Dragon Cannon. I alone could destroy it before the enemy wore me down! I executed another Burning Blade Slash before bending my body sideways and activating Heavenly River Transformation. After smashing three magic knights¡¯ Barrier Breaks to the side with the Dihai Shield, the Xuanyuan Sword burst into a giant column of golden light! "Shit! It¡¯s the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill!" The discerning ones recognized the skill immediately. The next moment, I turned the Magic Crystal Cannon into a pile of shattered wood, steel and purple crystals with the Xuanyuan Slash. Judging from the pained expressions of the Northern Alliance players, I had no doubt that the siege weapon cost a ton to build! ¡­¡­ After the deed was done, I flew at a low altitude and sought out my next target. A few minutes later, Li Chengfeng also destroyed a Magic Crystal Cannon and apparently, another Heroic Bannerman¡ª Ding! System Announcement: player "Legendary Brave" (China) killed the Heroic Bannerman "Wight" (India) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 0 points! Good, that was another Heroic Bannerman gone from the war permanently. Speaking of which, I wondered how Swallow Ear Canton was doing. I hadn¡¯t heard anything from them even now. ¡­¡­ Bang bang bang¡­ Suddenly, A stack of arrows struck my Dihai Shield and stunned me for 1.9 seconds. The people around me immediately stabbed me with their Barrier Breaks and deleted about 5 million HP. After I recovered from the stun and cut some of them down, I took to the sky once more while shouting, "Chengfeng, their reinforcements have arrived! It¡¯s time to leave!" Li Chengfeng obeyed the order and flew to the clouds with just 27% HP. He grinned at me and said, "I was going to leave even if you didn¡¯t say so. A couple of powerful archers have come to the rescue!" I nodded. "Yeah. There¡¯s no hurry anyway. The Magic Crystal Cannons only have an effective range of 10 meters, so we can ask Beiming and Little Xin to take them out when they roll up to the walls. They won¡¯t be a great threat. Also, the Fortress of the Iron Halberd has great layout and fortifications, so just smashing the walls won¡¯t be enough to topple the fortress." "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ After we flew back to the city, Stranger of Three Lifetimes looked at me and said, "We just received the latest battle report from Swallow Ear Canton. Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Purple Lily, Snowy Cathaya and more are currently attacking the Impassable Great Wall, but Elephant City has gone to their rescue. More specifically, Flowing Cloud and Natural Flow have circled around Final Duel Valley and struck a blow to their flanks. Purple Lily, Soul Battle Robes and a couple more guilds suffered a not insignificant amount of damage as a result." I nodded. "Got it!" It was at this moment a system announcement reached our ears¡ª Ding! System Announcement: Player "Flowing Cloud" (India) killed the CGL Hall of Famer "Transient" (China) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 21,971 points! 1. T/N: she has 12 fucking force fields she can cast instantly versus 1 dude. Unless she¡¯s a complete idiot there¡¯s no way Titan God can run anywhere ? 2. T/N: he could¡¯ve changed into shit-tier equipment to give you the middle finger though, dude was invi he had time. How the fuck is this guy the second best player, seriously E/N: uhh, changing gear in combat state is probably not possible. Then again, using return scrolls used to be impossible in combat state, but they still do iframe->return scroll strats ? CH 1539 Swhoosh! My Phantom Wolf King was fighting on the ground, and I was kicking an enemy off a cloud ladder before killing them with a sword aura. Beiming Xue¡¯s grip on her Xuanming Bow tightened as she said from her Fire Phoenix, "Transient was killed by Flowing Cloud, big bro¡­" I nodded. "It¡¯s no surprise. Flowing Cloud is a god and a great player in her own right, while Transient is just a standard mage who doesn¡¯t even have a hidden class. The war at Purple Grape City domain must have reached a crescendo¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes added, "Now that Elephant City has joined the war, uncle Zhang Chun may not be able to defeat Swallow Ear Canton as quickly as he hoped. The Impassable Great Wall is one of the most difficult fortifications to overcome as well, so expect casualties to be massive¡­" Li Chengfeng smiled. "If I was him, I would have dispatched a large troop to circle around Ice River Canton Ruins, slip through Shattered Rock Forest, and strike at the hinterlands of Swallow Ear Canton directly!" However, He Yi said with a smile on her face, "According to the latest news, Warsky was going to do just that until they were intercepted by Cyan Earth City at Ice River Canton Ruins. God of War himself was leading the army. Farewell Song tried to assassinate God of War, but he was defeated and forced to run away with barely any HP left¡­" Gui Guzi gripped his fists tightly. "What the hell? I didn¡¯t know that grandson was so skilled!" "You can¡¯t become the boss of a server without some skill¡­" ¡­¡­ Chaos Moon chuckled. "If only we were the ones who were tackling the Impassable Great Wall¡­" I shook my head. "Let¡¯s think about conjectures after we defeat the enemy in front of us, shall we? Until Vienna¡¯s Sorrow shows his face, I can¡¯t help but worry what the hell the bastard has in store for us." Meanwhile, it was chaos below the walls. In the sky, Beiming Xue activated the Ranged stratagem to increase her attack range before firing Evil Spirit Volley at a Basic Catapult. By now, her bow-flicking technique was so amazing that she managed to land every arrow on the same target. The Basic Catapult only had less than 3 million HP, and with her current Attack she could destroy 1 Basic Catapult every 3 seconds. It wasn¡¯t long before her Basic Catapult kill count passed 100! "God damn, Lil Beiming¡¯s Attack is out of this world¡­" Li Chengfeng rubbed his palms together in joy. He Yi echoed in agreement, "Yes, Beiming is the treasure of Ancient Sword. The Northern Alliance must be groaning themselves silly over a way to deal with a flying archer right now¡­" Gui Guzi declared, "It doesn¡¯t matter what they try. We¡¯ll be there to protect her from all danger." "Well said!" Speak of the devil, a large group of Griffon Riders suddenly rose from the horizon. They were obviously planning to kill Beiming! "I thought it was about time they lost their cool¡­" I said while scanning the enemy crowd. "Their current commander is Grief of the Dark. Let¡¯s find an opportunity and snipe him later. Olympus is a massive 2-million-player guild. If we keep sniping their commanders, it¡¯s only a matter of time before they collapse from their own weight!" "Yeah." He Yi nodded while staring at the rallying Griffon Riders. ¡°The Griffon is an incredibly rare Level 220 Heaven Rank mount. There are only 4 maps in the entire Northern Alliance domain that spawns the mount, and Olympus had monopolized one of them. Only super high-level players were allowed to own a Griffon[1], and currently they have a total of over 1000 Griffon Riders. It looks like Olympus was planning to keep their griffon squad hidden, but Beiming¡¯s assault has forced them to reveal themselves." I smiled. "Yeah. Beiming has high Attack, great accuracy and even aerial advantage right now. It is something they have to deal with. Anyway, get ready to receive the Griffon Riders. When they arrive, Beiming will withdraw to the back, and the rest of us will damage the Griffon Riders as much as possible. Our first mission of the day is to cripple Olympus or better, wipe them from the surface of the continent completely!" Everyone nodded in unison. ¡­¡­ Less than two minutes later, a swarm of Griffon Riders flew toward us at high speed. Their leader was a Level 255 warrior called "Blackjack", and his choice of weapon was a halberd. A smirk etched across his lips, he declared, "All units, target the Dark Archer Beiming Xue and throw your Thunder Spears at her the moment we get into range. She must be killed as soon as possible. Also, the Chinese are sure to try to protect her, so make sure to wait for my signal and snipe them one by one. Ideally, we want to destroy all of the enemy¡¯s air force." "Yes, boss!" Blackjack then raised his halberd and pointed it straight at Beiming Xue. "It¡¯s almost time. Throw your Thunder Spears the moment the target enters the 100-yard mark!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ The Griffon Riders all raised their weapons and manifested a thunder spike at the tip of their blades in response. I had no doubt that it was the Griffon¡¯s active offensive skill; something that few mounts in this game possessed. If the mount was used properly, it was definitely greater than even our Dragonscale Beast! "Retreat, Beiming!" I shouted. "Mn!" Beiming Xue turned around without hesitation, canceled her mount, and fell straight toward the fortress. Swhoosh! A shockwave spread across the sky as I exploded toward Beiming and caught her between my arms. On her own, there was no way she could¡¯ve dodged all of the Thunder Spears. That was why she was relying on my greater speed to bail her out of the situation. Meanwhile, hundreds of Thunder Spears reached the spot where Beiming Xue had been a moment earlier, detonating in a spectacular display of fireworks. While I was flying away from the Griffon Riders, I turned my blade and cast the Xuanyuan Art the moment its 6-minute cooldown was finished. Deleting 70% of the Griffon Riders HP would make it so much easier for the others to deal with them! "I¡¯ll fight them!" Gui Guzi rushed toward a group of Griffon Riders and thrust his halberd at them three times. He was able to skewer dozens with Death Flurry and turn them into bits of broken bones and flesh. Blackjack backed dozens of meters to the back and downed a health potion to heal himself. He then shouted, "Hit Gui Guzi with Thunder Spear!" About 200 Griffon Riders raised their weapons and cast their mount skill once more. The rain of thunder looked like a scene from the apocalypse, but Gui Guzi arrogantly raised his shield and Ghostblade Halberd in front of himself and Guarded. He was going to tank all of the attacks! Bang bang bang¡­ The Thunder Spears struck, and the explosions were so great that Gui Guzi was pushed back almost a hundred meters. Not only that, his HP was almost all gone, and the trail of big damage numbers behind him was positively shocking¡ª 217,377! 221,132! MISS! 212,373! ¡­¡­ Every Thunder Spear dealt about 190k damage to him. Although 50% of the damage he received was converted to HP, he was left with less than 7% HP when all was said and done. It was a close call that drained all the blood from his face as he swore, "What the fuck! I had over 16 million HP, and I still almost died?? This is ridiculous!" Li Chengfeng executed a Dragonblade Revolution + Dragonbone Flurry combo from the flanks and tore twenty 30%-health Griffon Riders to pieces before saying, "You WOULD have died if you hadn¡¯t gotten lucky and dodged some of the Thunder Spears while your ass was being blown across the air!" While the duo was bantering, I helped Beiming Xue to the ground before turning around and firing a couple of Ancient Seals. At the same time, I threw the Xuanyuan Sword at the Griffon Riders using Coiling Dragon Revolution! Swhoosh! As the cyclone created by Coiling Dragon Revolution ripped through the Griffon Riders, He Yi and Lian Xin launched their own combos as well. Together, we had taken out nearly 200 Griffon Riders in total. However, the rain of Thunder Spears was so dense that He Yi had to beat a retreat after her health had fallen dangerously low, and Lian Xin just barely escaped death by the skin of her teeth. Both girls looked shocked by the amount of damage they received from the Griffon Riders. ¡­¡­ Buzz! A thick light surrounded the Dihai Shield as I flew to the forefront. After I caught the returning Xuanyuan Sword, I fired Burning Blade Slash while saying in the party channel, "I¡¯m going to bait these Griffon Riders into flying close to the walls. Beiming, activate your Range stratagem and order the Dragonlight Archers to shoot them when they¡¯re about 100 yards away from you. We¡¯re going to turn all these Griffon Riders into pincushions!" Beiming Xue responded brightly, "Got it, big bro!" Right after that, I activated Heavenly River Transformation and swung a Xuanyuan Slash at the enemy! Blackjack¡¯s eyes widened as he shouted, "Watch out, it¡¯s the Xuanyuan Slash! Scatter!" Thanks to Blackjack¡¯s timely warning, my Xuanyuan Slash only managed to kill 100 or so players. The Griffon Riders also displayed incredible discipline by returning to formation right after they had dodged the skill. "Thunder Spears on Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" Blackjack ordered, following the order with deep resentment. "This is the man who has thwarted our efforts again and again! Today¡¯s the day we settle our score with him!" Hundreds of Thunder Spears rained toward me, but I was fearless because they were no Ancient Divine Skill. I placed my shield in front of myself, activated Profound Armor, and continued attacking the Griffon Riders like I wasn¡¯t being bombarded by them! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ I shuddered like a leaf as Thunder Spear after Thunder Spear struck my body. However, the damage numbers that appeared surprised not just Blackjack, but also myself¡ª 37,263! 41,277! 32,737! ¡­¡­ Having triple the amount of Defense was just too good, especially since Unusual Physique was a skill that diminished or outright nullified all damage below a certain threshold. These Griffon Riders might be outstanding players within the Northern Alliance, but both their levels and equipment were far inferior to mine. That being said, 300 Thunder Spears still equaled to around 10 million damage or so. Since the skill only had a cooldown of 12 seconds, it would only take the enemy 3 rounds at most to kill even me! Blackjack raised his blade and encouraged his men, "Well done! Two more rounds like that, and Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand will be knocked out of this war! Do what even Vienna¡¯s Sorrow cannot do, Olympus!" I didn¡¯t hesitate to turn around and flew parallel to the wall. As the 800 Griffon Riders chased behind me, Blackjack made a quick calculation inside his head before shouting, "Make sure you are at least 50 yards away from the walls! Also, throw your Trapping Nets at Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and immobilize him!" I was afraid they wouldn¡¯t eat the bait, so I purposely slowed down and allowed the Trapping Nets to hit me. Dozens of misses later, one of them finally took effect and immobilized me for 6 seconds. As I fell toward the ground, I yelled in the guild channel, "Catch me please, Eve! It would be embarrassing if I died to fall damage here¡­" He Yi simply chuckled and stayed silent. "Here they come!" Beiming Xue cried out, "Ready! 3-2-1! Loose!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ The arrows sailed across the sky like a swarm of locusts. Amazingly, every single Griffon Rider was stunned by the volley. After that, well, there was no ¡®after¡¯ for them. The Holy Mages treated them to a baptism of magic, and less than half a minute later, the sky was completely free from their taint. All 800+ Griffon Riders landed on the ground as cold, dead corpses. ¡­¡­ "Fuck!" Grief of the Dark hit the ground with his scepter and raged, "I cannot believe that fucking idiot inted our best troops!" 1. T/N: you mean who reached Level 255 the fastest? Cuz divine players won¡¯t be riding a Griffon, and everyone else is stuck at 255 ? CH 1540 After that little intermission was over, Gui Guzi returned to the ground and led a party of Profound Wolf Cavalrymen out of the gate as we had planned earlier. Thanks to his Knight God, it took them less than ten minutes to divide the enemy¡¯s front and rear forces in half once more. In the air, flaming payloads continued to smash the puny players on the ground and deal massive amounts of damage. The White Marsh Catapults¡¯ single-target damage was no less deadly than the Dragon Cannons¡¯, so practically anyone who took a direct hit was one-shot by it. Moreover, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was the guild with the highest amount of White Marsh Catapults because Dark Moon City was Rank 11¡ªmeaning that it could accommodate more siege weapons¡ªand He Yi was willing to spend the money. The engineers we hired had also worked tirelessly to churn out the siege weapons before the Nation War began. ¡­¡­ "Big brother Little Gui and the guys seem to be taking more damage than expected¡­" Beiming Xue commented suddenly. I frowned because I agreed with her assessment. Since the moment our Profound Wolf Cavalry rode out to meet the enemy, they had been showered with magic spells and arrows non-stop. In fact, Grief of the Dark was even ordering their catapults to target them. The payloads killed the Profound Wolf Cavalrymen in droves, and the only ones who could truly survive them was a super tanky player like Gui Guzi, or someone with over 20% lifesteal like High Fighting Spirits. However, it was incredibly rare for a normal player to collect a set of equipment that gave 20% lifesteal or higher. Going by Sky City¡¯s market value, a ring that gave 7% lifesteal could be sold for as much as 20k gold. This meant that it was highly unlikely to purchase a set of equipment that gave 20% lifesteal or higher unless your budget was 50k gold or higher. This price tag alone was enough to make over 95% of the players in the world stop in their tracks. That being said, you couldn¡¯t perform well in a Nation War without good equipment. It was simply a matter of high investment, high return. He Yi slowly pulled out the Suppressing Fire Sword and suggested, "We should help them. Otherwise, we might not even have Profound Wolf Cavalry to speak of when they finally return to the fortress¡­" However, I shook my head and said, "No, that will be an overextension. We will lose even more troops if we surrender Fortress of the Iron Halberd¡¯s excellent terrain advantage. Tell Little Gui and Eyes Like Water to stay within 100 yards of the walls. This way, our ranged players can help them somewhat, and they can still prevent the Northern Alliance¡¯s follow-up troops at bay." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi and Eyes Like Water¡¯s 70k Profound Wolf Cavalrymen pulled back to the walls and killed nearly all of the Northern Alliance players who were preparing to scale them after He Yi had given the order. Their destruction also marked the complete failure of the Northern Alliance¡¯s first and second attempt to overcome Fortress of the Iron Halberd. "Form up!" Gui Guzi raised his Ghostblade Halberd as he ordered the Profound Wolf Cavalrymen to form a thick shield formation beneath the walls. Several thousand Steel Rhinoceros Cavalrymen slammed futilely against our shields before they were skewered by Barrier Breaks, blasted by magic spells, and turned into pincushions. Thousands were dead in just the blink of an eye. "God¡­" Grief of the Dark sucked in a deep breath before steeling himself for the big push. He yelled, "Fire Catapults, advance! Keep firing as you advance to provide cover for the Magic Crystal Cannons! Either Olympus overcomes Fortress of the Iron Halberd, or we all die beneath the enemy¡¯s walls on this third wave! That is what we swore before entering this Nation War!" Nearly a million players raised their weapons in response before making their move. I counted at least a thousand Fire Catapults and countless more cavalrymen approaching us. "Hmph¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes pouted. "Are they literally trying to scorch-earth all our Profound Wolf Cavalrymen with their Fire Catapults? Shameless, ruthless bastards!" He Yi gritted her teeth. "The Fire Catapults have an effective range of 300 yards, and our archers had an effective range of 200 yards at best without Range. What do we do?" "Use Range. It¡¯s fine losing a bit of Attack. Also, since Olympus¡¯ players are going all out, there is no chance Little Gui and Eyes Like Water¡¯s 70k Profound Wolf Cavalrymen can stop them. They¡¯re also too far away for our healers to heal them. Eve, take Chengfeng, Lian Xin and Beiming with you and assist them from the air. I¡¯m going to rally several tens of thousands Dragonlight Cavalrymen and reinforce Little Gui!" I was already leaping down to the fortress grounds while He Yi was nodding in response. The Dragonlight Cavalrymen were full of impatience when I descended in front of them. Tiger Leopard Knight said, "Are we finally going to head out, Lu Chen? The enemy¡¯s coming at us in full force!" I nodded. "Yes. All Dragonlight Cavalrymen over Level 245, 90k base Defense and 1.5 million base HP, you guys are following me to meet the enemy in battle! Bards, please buff all the Dragonlight Cavalrymen who meet the criteria I specified!" It wasn¡¯t long before over 30k Dragonlight Cavalrymen had assembled. They were the best of the best cavalrymen we had, and they were all itching to head into battle. After the bards had buffed them all, I asked our first-rate tacticians to buff them with the stratagem, War Blood. War Blood was a common Level 100 tactician skill that increased max HP by 20% up to a maximum of 200%. However, only tacticians with over 1,000 Tactics could achieve that effect. There were over 100 tacticians in our main guild and subguilds combined who met the requirement, but it was enough for my current purposes! The bards¡¯ buffs boosted all their stats by 120%, and the tacticians¡¯ buffs boosted their HP by 200%. After they buffed themselves with a 150% HP card, everyone was sitting at 8 million HP or higher. Now, there was little chance the Fire Catapults could kill them in one hit! "Alright, let¡¯s go!" The gate opened, and I flew out with the Dragonlight Cavalrymen trailing behind me. Tiger Leopard Knight, Xu Yang and everyone else had been raring to go since a while ago, so they moved and spread out into formation as quick as lightning. Also, I had told them to keep near to the walls so that the priests on the ramparts could heal them. ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi shot me a glance before breaking into the grin. "Hehe, we have a much better shot now that you¡¯re with us, Boss Broken Halberd! How many Dragonlight Cavalrymen have you brought?" "30k!" "Sounds good! It should be enough for this battle!" I smiled. "Yes. It¡¯s not a big number, but it¡¯s enough to annihilate Olympus!" ¡­¡­ The sound of wheels crushing debris seemed to ring from every direction as the enemy slowly pushed the Fire Catapults toward us. They stopped about 250 yards away from our battle line before Grief of the Dark waved his scepter and shouted, "Ready! Fire Catapults, attack and burn these Chinese elites to death!" I was shouting my own orders at my players, "Magic knights, raise shields and use Holy Shield Protection! The rest of you, use Guard and do your best to survive the first bombardment! Drink a health potion if you think it¡¯s necessary, and priests, do please give us your best shot! Make sure you heal whoever lost the most HP and are directly in front of you!" Not a moment too soon, the Fire Catapults launched their fiery payloads at us and dealt around 500k damage per player. At the same time, the ground turned into an inferno that constantly ate away at our HP. I was fine thanks to Battle Astral Wind and Unusual Physique, but the Dragonlight Cavalrymen around me couldn¡¯t claim the same thing. The explosion and subsequent burn damage had deleted around 50% of their HP, and they hastened to drink their HP potions while the priests on the walls healed them. It wasn¡¯t easy, but we just barely managed to hold our ground. "Ahhhh¡­" The Dragonlight Cavalrymen might be tanky enough to survive the Fire Catapults¡¯ bombardment, but the Profound Wolf Cavalrymen were not so fortunate. Hundreds of Profound Wolf Cavalrymen burned into ashes in the blink of an eye and dropped piles and piles of potions and equipment. No one tried to pick them up though. The foremost thought in their minds was to plug the holes and sustain the battle line. Above the fortress, Beiming Xue rained infinite arrows with her Xuanming Bow, and Lian Xin endless spells onto Olympus as they advanced toward us. Li Chengfeng attempted to fly close to the Fire Catapults and execute a Dragonblade Revolution + Dragonbone Flurry combo. While he succeeded in dealing a good amount of damage, he was too close to the enemy¡¯s ranged units and ate a shower of arrows and spells for his efforts. After he managed a frantic retreat, he complained, "That goddamn firepower! Their so-called ¡®frontliners¡¯ are all ranged units!" Gui Guzi uttered through gritted teeth. "This isn¡¯t good. The Fire Catapults still hurt too much despite our preparation. We won¡¯t be able to hold the line like this!" Suddenly, an idea popped into my mind. I unsheathed my sword and ordered, "All players on the first and second line, Charge the enemy and treat them to an Ultimate Strength Break! Retreat immediately after you do so though! Don¡¯t try to fight the enemy!" "Yessir!" The frontliners immediately switched out their shields, pulled out their weapons, and Charged toward the enemy. No one liked being one-sidedly bombarded by the enemy¡¯s artillery, so they didn¡¯t hesitate to seize the opportunity to give some payback! The Dragonlight Cavalrymen had high movement speed, so they were able to reach the enemy¡¯s battle line in no time at all. They ignored the arrows and spells blasting away at their bodies and executed their AoE skill, Ultimate Strength Break! Bang bang bang¡­ Every enemy mage and archer on the battle line lost over 200k HP or more. The Dragonlight Cavalry was the most elite cavalry troop in the entire world, and they had at least 5,000 Strength over any standard archer. Multiply that difference by 40, and what you''ve got was an explosive amount of damage. A great number of ranged enemies and even dozens of Fire Catapults were destroyed just like that! After unleashing my Burning Blade Slash, I raised my sword and cast Xuanyuan Art! Countless columns of bloody light descended from the sky and massively injured or killed the Olympus players. Beiming Xue and Lian Xin¡¯s super AoE skills also arrived just in time to deal even more damage! "Retreat!" My thousands of Dragonlight Cavalrymen heeded my order and pulled back to the battle line as quickly as they could. Of course, we still lost hundreds to the enemy¡¯s Shock Arrows, Touches of the Dragonkiss, and many more skills. It was just another price one had to pay during a war. ¡­¡­ Grief of the Dark didn¡¯t like the damage his side suffered at all. "All units, advance! Cavalrymen, advance first and tear the enemy¡¯s defense line to pieces! Now!" Warhorses neighed, and cavalrymen rode. This was exactly the moment we had been waiting for. ¡­¡­ "The time to reap contribution points is now!" I yelled loudly, "Hold the line! We have priests to keep us alive, and they don¡¯t! We have Dragonlight Archers and Holy Mages to provide us cover fire, they don¡¯t!" CH 1541 Olympus¡¯ cavalrymen galloped toward us in full force. In fact, they were raising their weapon and charging their energy long before they hit us in a full gallop. Were they planning to penetrate the Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s defense formation with Ultimate Strength Break? Hilarious! The most that skill could do was 1,000 basic damage! "Prepare to receive the enemy charge!" I bent down slightly and activated Cold of the Nine Provinces before the first wave could hit us. An entire swathe of cavalrymen were immediately frozen in their tracks, causing the ones at the back to slam into them or trample over each other. On the walls, Stranger of Three Lifetimes waved her scepter while crying, "Hit them with everything you''ve got!" The mages immediately unleashed their Touch of the Dragonkiss, Galaxy Storms and more, laying down suppressive fire between 100 to 150 yards from the walls! Not only had Grief of the Dark lost his head, he also underestimated our ranged firepower too much. As a result, his men had to pay the price for his mistake. Our 50k Holy Mages killed his Steel Rhinoceros Cavalrymen in droves, and Beiming Xue¡¯s Dragonlight Archers stunned most of them to keep them in the line of fire until they died. The player counter on the Nation War UI¡ªspecifically the one pertaining to the battle of the Fortress of the Iron Halberd¡ªwas dropping at a drastic rate! ¡­¡­ Barely anyone managed to make it through the line of suppressive fire. No one knew exactly how many players had been sent straight to kingdom come by the Holy Mages¡¯ bombardment, only that Lian Xin had suddenly become the runner-up on the Nation War contribution point ranking. The only reason she hadn¡¯t surpassed me to become the champion was because my Xuanyuan Art was too OP for even a world-class mage to overcome! "Either you die, or we die!" shouted a small group of low-health Olympus cavalrymen. They were right, and cut into pieces by our Dragonlight Cavalry. Time passed little by little. When 9 minutes had passed, and the enemy¡¯s Fire Catapults had come so close that our Dragonlight Cavalrymen were constantly bathing in inferno, and their archers came close enough to the walls to shoot their Shock Arrows and put some pressure on our ranged players, the battle finally looked a little less one-sided. "Hold the line!!" Gui Guzi shouted while expanding his bloody wings and casting a Shennong Tastes Grass to heal everyone for 75% of their HP. It was a move the low-health players on the frontline definitely needed. I summoned the Phantom Wolf King, wrecked the enemy for a bit with my pet, and cast the Xuanyuan Art again the moment the cooldown was up. The ones who didn¡¯t have over 70% HP died and turned into contribution points, and those who had had more HP no longer had nearly enough HP to survive the Holy Mages¡¯ bombardment even in the best-case scenario. Already, it looked like Olympus¡¯ final charge would end in failure at any moment. That being said, their commander, Grief of the Dark was doing his damndest to make sure that that wouldn¡¯t happen. He kept shooting icicles at our low-health Dragonlight Cavalrymen and were able to kill hundreds in less than half an hour. Worse, he was always able to position himself just right and dodge Li Chengfeng, Lian Xin and even my attempts to get rid of him. ¡­¡­ "We cannot allow Grief of the Dark to continue killing our Dragonlight Cavalrymen like this!" He Yi said in the guild channel. I nodded and suggested, "Mn. Let¡¯s work together, everyone. Chengfeng, I want you to heal yourself to full before rushing into the enemy lines. Hit Grief of the Dark from behind and force him to use his Blink. If you succeed, I¡¯ll be able to Charge him and break his shield with a combo. Beiming, make sure you land your Shock Arrow on him when that happens. Eve, you¡¯re the one who will land the final blow. Does everyone get the plan?" "Understood! We¡¯ll get it done right away!" As Li Chengfeng flew right into the fray, he activated Battle Soul Possession and shone like a god. After cutting down a swathe of enemies, he abruptly shook his halberd and made it snake toward Grief of the Dark¡¯s back like a living creature. I couldn¡¯t help but cry in admiration when I saw this. There were only a handful of players in the entire world who could use both a sword-type weapon and a pole arm¨Ctype weapon to this extent, and Li Chengfeng was one of them! "Oh shit!" Grief of the Dark was manifesting another icicle when Li Chengfeng had attacked him from behind. Without hesitation, he activated Heavenly River Transformation and Blinked away to safety! Swhoosh! Lightning surrounded me as I used Thunderous Charge toward Grief of the Dark¡¯s new location. My Burning Blade Slash easily shattered his Magic Shield, but he was able to parry the last hit and allow himself to be knocked dozens of meters away from me. Not only that, the sly bastard proceeded to roll on the ground and into the crowd in search of an opportunity to escape. Unfortunately for him, he wasn¡¯t just facing me and Li Chengfeng only. A beautiful huntress had been watching him from afar and waiting for the best moment to attack! Before he could slip completely into the crowd, a Shock Arrow abruptly froze him in his tracks and stunned him for 2.1 seconds! "Quick! Protect the boss!" The players of Olympus panicked. Unfortunately for them, He Yi¡¯s Snow Crystal Dragon roared as she swooped down from above. The Suppressing Fire Sword shone a dazzling light as she summoned a bunch of mini cyclones in front of her before executing a 4-hit Stormwind Slash + Stormwind Break combo. It was enough to delete all of Grief of the Dark¡¯s HP and caused him to drop a helmet and a pair of boots. Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "From Water" (China) killed the Heroic Bannerman "Grief of the Dark" (USA) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 52,871 points! The Olympus players standing next to Grief of the Dark¡¯s body looked like they might faint. No one had seen this coming[1]. ¡­¡­ I raised the Xuanyuan Sword high and shouted, "The time to counterattack is now! Annihilate them all but don¡¯t go beyond 300 yards from the walls! All remaining Dragonlight Cavalrymen in the fortress, come out and fight as well!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes jumped off the rampart and flashed her pretty white legs for a bit before landing. She made a spitting noise at the Dragonlight Cavalrymen who were dazzled by her display before ordering, "All Blazing Hot Lips cavalrymen, follow me! We¡¯re going to crush Olympus¡¯ remnants before they escape!" The gate opened again, and the players cooped up inside the fortress flooded out like a tidal wave. The battle cries shaking the sky instantly became far louder than before. Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and He Yi led a cavalry troop each to cut off the enemy¡¯s retreat. Only a couple of small guilds were assisting Olympus, so they were of no real threat to us. Grief of the Dark¡¯s death left Olympus without a leader once more. In fact, many of their players took out their return scrolls and teleported back to the city immediately. Of course, even more players were trampled by the Dragonlight Cavalry or blasted into smithereens by the Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers. High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and more were absolutely going to town against these people. Only an idiot would let an opportunity to earn contribution points by the bucketful slip through their grasp. Less than two hours had passed since the battle began, and Olympus had already suffered a massive defeat! The ground was littered with bodies, equipment, potions and all sorts of items. There was no time to loot them properly though. It was because another super guild of the Northern Alliance was beginning to march toward us. I hurriedly raised my sword and yelled, "All units, there¡¯s no time to loot the battlefield! Return to the walls now!" And so we picked up only a few pieces of equipment each before rushing back to the fortress. ¡­¡­ After I flew up to the rampart, I looked at the sea of bodies on the ground and lamented Olympus¡¯ fate for a bit. Olympus was the number one guild of Titan City, and it almost felt like a shame that they were annihilated so early into the Nation War. "2.24 million players gone just like that¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes chuckled. "Normally, I would be congratulating everyone already, but it¡¯s clear that the Northern Alliance is planning to fight a war of attrition. Olympus is but the first pawn they sacrificed to chip away at our strength. Still, they couldn¡¯t possibly have predicted us to defeat Olympus so easily!" "Who said it was easy?" I curled my lips. "Casualty report please, Chaos Moon." Chaos Moon nodded before starting, "We¡¯ve lost 54k Profound Wolf Cavalrymen, 4k Dragonlight Cavalrymen, and around 2,000 Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers. With all profession-based players and ground troops, we¡¯ve lost around 100k players. It¡¯s not a significant loss." "What about you, Momo?" I asked. Stranger of Three Lifetimes sighed. "Our casualties are around 200k and probably twice yours. Overall, we lost 300k players but defeated 2.24 million enemies in total. Truly, being the defender of a siege is so awesome... Also, we destroyed a good number of Magic Crystal Cannons and Fire Catapults, and never allowed their siege weapons to come close to our fortress. This is definitely a great victory for us." I gazed to the horizon before saying, "One of the major reasons we did so well is because Olympus had underestimated us. I highly doubt that our next opponent will make the same mistakes." "Who is our next opponent?" "They¡¯re right there." I pointed with a finger. A new tidal wave of players marched toward us, and their guild emblems marked them as Blood Soul, the second strongest guild in the England server. The leader of the army was an axe wielder riding a green dragon; a dragon knight. He was also the guild leader of Blood Soul, Soul Slayer. A legendary expert and the owner of the SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Odin Slash, Soul Slayer was certainly going to be another difficult opponent. "Blood Soul is here¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes clenched her scepter. "Fucking wars of attrition, man. No matter how well we perform, they¡¯re going to break through eventually¡­" He Yi frowned. "But why are they sending their guilds to attack us one by one? Had they sent 3 to 5 guilds at once or gave us no breathing room at all, the siege would¡¯ve gone a bit better, wouldn¡¯t it?" I sucked in a deep breath. "Clearly, they¡¯re plotting something." "What should we do?" "Dispatch some parties to patrol the key locations around Dragonbone Mountain Range and keep an eye out for everything. This battle would be completely pointless if they managed to slip across Dragonbone Mountain Range and raid Sky City," I said. He Yi chuckled. "This, you don¡¯t have to worry about. Many of our subguild players are patrolling the maps right now. It is nearly impossible for the enemy to launch a sneak attack without us noticing." "Good¡­" ¡­¡­ "Wait a second¡­ what is that?" Suddenly, Beiming Xue exclaimed in surprise from her Fire Phoenix. The rest of us were stunned as well. The distant horizon was shrouded in fog because it was almost nighttime. However, we spotted many humongous shadows behind the fog and with footsteps so loud that we could hear them all the way from here. Were those giants? I rubbed my eyes to confirm that I wasn¡¯t seeing things before saying, "I¡¯m going to fly over and take a look!" I took to the sky and quickly arrived above Blood Soul. The humongous shadows were definitely giants, and they were all carrying heavy stone clubs. They were obviously not pets but NPCs. In fact, they were all Ancient Immortal Rank bosses called Mountain Giants! But why were the NPCs helping the Northern Alliance to siege our fortress? I was utterly confused. It was at this moment I heard a tiny voice from among the Mountain Giants. "Destroy the fortress before you, my precious little babies! We will take revenge for our regent!" The speaker was a short and ugly dwarf. In fact, he belonged to the main city we had conquered, Hot Sand City¡ª Dwarven Tamer Lochdan (Quasi-Divine Rank Boss) Level: 330 1. T/N: yeah right, he was one man versus 3 divine players and none of you saw this coming, sure ? CH 1542 "Heavens, a Quasi-Divine Rank NPC?" Li Chengfeng asked while floating in the air and crossing his arms, "Why are the NPCs involving themselves in the Nation War?[1]" He Yi shook her head. "Who knows? Maybe some player did a quest and triggered something?" I replied, "It seems like that is the case. For example, Xinran probably would¡¯ve agreed if I had asked her to fight this Nation War for me. It¡¯s not unthinkable that this Dwarven Tamer Lochdan had agreed to join this Nation War because a player close to him asked him to, or maybe it was prompted by a quest as Eve said." Gui Guzi said, "Well, who cares? We¡¯re going to have to defeat them one way or another!" "Be careful. This NPC tamer is way stronger than the average tamer. It can summon 10 Mountain Giants at the same time!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes warned. ¡­¡­ I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and said, "Chengfeng, Little Xin, want to see if we can take out the tamer first? If we succeed, we won¡¯t need to fight against 10 Mountain Giants at once, not to mention that the giants can probably do massive damage to structures!" "Sure, big bro!" I kicked off the ground and flew toward Blood Soul¡¯s formation, Li Chengfeng and Lian Xin trailing closely behind me. The Mountain Giants were currently standing at the forefront of their formation, and sitting on one of the giants¡¯ shoulders was none other than the NPC tamer we were looking to snipe, Lochdan. He gave his thorny whip a swing before letting out a cackle. "Go, my precious little babies. Conquer Fortress of the Iron Halberd and kill everyone inside of it!" I raised my hand and muttered God Binding Art under my breath. The red-colored skill struck Lochdan squarely in the chest, but the divine arms failed to immobilize him. Unfortunately, the skill¡¯s success rate against a Quasi-Divine Rank NPC was lower than 50%. Alarmed, the tamer immediately rose to his feet and surrounded himself in a protective shield. Then, he swung his thorny whip straight at me! Crack! The whip struck the Dihai Shield and numbed my arm a little. While the boss was distracted, Li Chengfeng closed in on him and executed a 7-hit Dragonbone Flurry. MISS! MISS! MISS! ¡­¡­ 7 big misses later, Li Chengfeng felt like his heart was about to shatter into a million pieces. "Are you kidding me? My skill only deleted 1% of its shield durability!?" Before he finished speaking, two Mountain Giants raised their stone clubs and swung at me and Li Chengfeng! Bang! Bang! There was a tremendous amount of force behind the swings. We might be divine players, but our Strength was still no match for a boss¡¯s. Li Chengfeng and I crashed unceremoniously against the ground in opposite directions. The attack didn¡¯t hurt us too much, but it further hammered in the point that our plan to assassinate Lochdan was a complete failure. Even Lian Xin with her powerful spells could only decrease Lochdan¡¯s shield durability little by little. "You are courting death!" Lochdan let out a strange cry before landing a powerful blow on Lian Xin¡¯s Telekinetic Shield. Not only did she lose 37% of her shield durability, the whip also dealt around 100k damage to her. This meant that the boss''s Attack could partially pierce Magic Shields. It was bad! I returned to the sky and caught Lian Xin by the waist. "Time to go, everyone. We can¡¯t defeat him without a priest, not to mention that he¡¯s supported by plenty of players!" Buzz! It was at this moment a gigantic red sword pierced the sky. It was the goddamned SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Odin Slash! Soul Slayer, the boss of Blood Soul cackled maliciously. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Legendary Brave and Lian Xing! So nice to meet your outstanding faces here! Now, die!" I searched the database quickly and confirmed that Odin Slash had an AoE range of 150 yards. It should be enough! I abruptly gave Lian Xin a mighty push and shouted, "Fly, Little Xin! You can¡¯t tank an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill!" The smart girl quickly caught onto my plan and used my push to reach max flight speed as quickly as she could. She was able to escape Odin Slash¡¯s range in time, but Li Chengfeng and I were not so lucky. As a swathe of red slashed toward us, I raised my shield in a futile attempt to reduce the incoming damage[2]! Boom! 1,484,772! 3,457,477! ¡­¡­ Both Li Chengfeng and I lost a chunk of HP. Unfortunately for Soul Slayer, he neither had Candlelight Shadow¡¯s Dragon Tooth Arm nor Red Maple¡¯s incredible crit luck. He only did 1.48 million damage to me, and about one-quarter of Li Chengfeng''s HP. It was because most of his equipment was offensive, and not many of them gave damage reduction. "Time to go?" asked Li Chengfeng while forcing himself to stop with divine energy before he would crash to the ground. I nodded. "Right after we treat them to our own Ancient Divine Skills!" "Gotcha!" We activated Heavenly River Transformation and locked our targets on Soul Slayer. At the same time, I prayed for the Xuanyuan Sword to get lucky and trigger its sextuple damage effect. With my Attack, there were only a handful of players in the world who could survive it! Swhoosh! A column of golden light pierced the heavens as I swung the scalding hot energy blade at the enemy in front of me. Soul Slayer was my target, but the cavalrymen, archers, mages and more who were standing too close to him were damaged as well. The Ancient Divine Skill¡¯s direct damage and splash damage combined were enough to kill a lot of people¡ª 3,892,767! 4,277,373! 4,516,631! ¡­¡­ The Xuanyuan Slash¡¯s damage calculation was affected by my Attack, the enemy¡¯s damage reduction, and especially the gap between our levels. Soul Slayer lost almost 30% of his HP in one go, and over 95% of the players around him were one-shot [3]. Before he could recover, Li Chengfeng¡¯s Crimson Firmament Slash followed in earnest! Boom! That was another 20% of his HP gone just like that. Now, Soul Slayer was sitting at half health only. When he saw me raising my arm, he immediately turned the ring on his finger and activated an invincibility skill! Xuanyuan Art! I thought that a show of strength would be great in this situation, and I was right. Not only did every enemy within 1,000 yards of me lose 70% of their HP, many of them didn¡¯t even realize that it was due to the Xuanyuan Art. "What the fuck! Who the hell deleted 70% of my HP!? Heal me, priest! Fuck, what the fuck do you think your job is? Heal me to full health already!" Li Chengfeng and I exchanged a grin with each other before flying back to Fortress of the Iron Halberd. A moment later, a dense shower of arrows and magic spells trailed our backs. It wasn¡¯t that we didn¡¯t want to roleplay a one-man army, but the game was balanced in a way that made it impossible for any one person to handle thousands of archers alone. Even a super tank like me could die if I was chain-stunned with Shock Arrows, not to mention that they had a powerful cavalryman like Soul Slayer. Another Odin Slash plus the full might of Blood Soul would be more than enough to wipe me from the surface of the continent. ¡­¡­ Half an hour later, I landed on the edge of the wall and ordered, "Prepare for battle! When the NPCs show up later, be sure to focus-fire the Mountain Giants one by one. That tamer should be useless if we took out all of his summoners. Beiming, Little Xin, work with me to take out Soul Slayer if the chance presents itself. Until the situation changes, we may as well focus on killing their leaders all the way!" The girls nodded. "Will do, big bro!" Beneath the walls, High Fighting Spirits looked up at me and asked, "Vice leader, are you sure we¡¯re going to stop Soul Slayer with so few people? You¡¯ve withdrawn all the Dragonlight Cavalrymen into the fortress. Is 100k Profound Wolf Cavalrymen really enough to stop the enemy?" I shook my head. "Not even close!" "Then why?" "It¡¯s because¡­ er, it¡¯s because of some reason I can¡¯t tell you. Everyone who dies in battle can receive a compensation of 1,000 gold at Dark Moon City when the Nation War is over, so just do your best¡­" "Got it!" Beside me, He Yi whispered, "Are you trying to preserve the Dragonlight Cavalry, Lu Chen?" I curled my lips and nodded. "Yeah. You noticed what they¡¯re doing, don¡¯t you? The Northern Alliance is sending their guilds over one by one because they¡¯re plotting to chip away at our main force until nothing¡¯s left. I have big plans for the Dragonlight Cavalry later, so I can¡¯t lose them to the enemy¡¯s strategy. Instead, I¡¯m going to sacrifice the Profound Wolf Cavalry and the Thunder Cavalry and keep the Northern Alliance out of Dawn Valley for 24 hours. All we need to do is to hold out until Swallow Ear Canton falls, and we¡¯ll finally be able to go on the offensive!" "Mn. I trust you, you don¡¯t need to explain yourself to me!" "I know, but you¡¯re the boss. I gotta let you know about my strategic intent, right?" "..." ¡­¡­ Unlike Olympus¡¯ wave approach, Blood Soul opted to go throw everything¡ªcavalrymen, siege weapons, cloud ladders and of course, the 10 Mountain Giants¡ªat us right from the get go. It was inevitable that most of our ranged firepower would be attracted to the Mountain Giants, so their ground units would be able to approach the walls with far less casualties. Therefore, it was up to the Profound Wolf Cavalry to hold them at bay. This was going to be a costly battle for sure. Bang bang bang¡­ A pair of purple war drums operated by a beastman berserker had also been set up on the distant hill. It buffed the players¡¯ Attack by 7%. It was a negligible number, but it was certainly better than nothing at all. I floated into the air before saying, "Eve, we should head down and join the battle line as well. Otherwise, Fighting Spirits and the others may not be able to endure the assault." "Mn." On the walls, Stranger of Three Lifetimes ordered loudly, "Give me your full attention, priests! Each first-rate cavalryman is going to get between 3 to 5 priests¡¯ worth of dedicated healing! The small fries can die, but the first-rate players cannot! Let¡¯s do this!" As I landed in front of the line of Profound Wolf Cavalrymen, I grimaced. "Momo acts like an SM queen sometimes, doesn¡¯t she?" "If only the queen could whip Soul Slayer dead¡­" Li Chengfeng grinned. "Get ready. The enemy¡¯s Fire Catapults should be able to hit us any moment later!" "Mn!" Less than 10 seconds later, flaming payloads fell from the sky and crashed into our players like shotgun pellets. Gui Guzi, He Yi and more used their shields to block the attack, but Li Chengfeng and I simply expanded our Domains and created an invisible wall in front of us. It was enough to bounce off nearly 50% of the Fire Catapults¡¯ payloads. ¡­¡­ "Full speed! Get through the enemy¡¯s line of fire in one go!" The shouter was a halberd wielder and a thousand-man corps commander. He rode a black warhorse that gave him incredible movement speed. He was probably a core player of Blood Soul. However, the moment he got close to the line of fire, an arrow abruptly struck his forehead and froze him in place. Then, a beautiful girl riding a Fire Phoenix in the sky fired shots that dealt over 1 million damage per hit. At the same time, a deep blue matrix formation expanded beneath the corps commander¡¯s feet and carved up his body with blades of ice. Lian Xin¡¯s attack was just as deadly as Beiming Xue¡¯s! The first man to enter the line of fire dropped dead to the two girls in just 4 seconds. 1. T/N: says he while pretending Princess Karinshan hasn¡¯t helped them massively in the previous war, even though she¡¯s a special NPC ? 2. T/N: it truly is futile because the skill ignores Defense and Guard, so you should take the same amount of damage whether you blocked it with your shield or not ? 3. T/N: it¡¯s mostly the splash effect¡¯s work really, all ADS have lost the ability to one-shot a long time ago ? CH 1543 Everyone on the frontline was holding their breaths. It felt like the enemy hooves were thundering against their hearts and not the ground. However, practically every Blood Soul player who broke through the line of literal fire was instantly turned into a porcupine and felled from their mounts. The ground was littered with bodies almost all too quickly. Even Stranger of Three Lifetimes couldn¡¯t help herself but say, "Ancient Sword¡¯s Holy Mages had to be some of the best mage groups in all the servers, if not the best. If even the first and second best guilds of the Northern Alliance could barely break through the line of fire, it¡¯s no wonder they annihilated Warsky Alliance¡¯s Gold Cavalry so easily during the previous battles¡­" ¡­¡­ "Here they come!" Gui Guzi yelled in warning as a couple of gigantic figures emerged from dust and smoke. They were none other than the Ancient Immortal Rank bosses, the Mountain Giants. Their footsteps were slow and lumbering, but what they lacked in speed they made up in size and tankiness. A full volley from our archers didn¡¯t even delete 1% of their HP, and the Mountain Giants could cross ten meters in a single step. As a result, they were able to break past our line of fire all too quickly! "Watch out!" I hurriedly flew dozens of meters forward before firing a Dragon Slaying Slash at a Mountain Giant¡¯s head to aggro it. At the same time, I shouted, "Archers, stun these Mountain Giants with Shock Arrows! Our battle line will be fucked if they are allowed to attack as they pleased!" Beiming Xue, Hymn of the Apocalypse and more nodded and did as I ordered, but most of their Shock Arrows failed to take effect. In fact, Beiming Xue was the only one who managed to stun one Mountain Giant while the other nine reached us all too quickly! Buzz! Less than three meters away from me, a Mountain Giant swung its stone club and sent a dozen or so Profound Wolf Cavalrymen flying into the distance. Not only did they lose 3 million HP at least, some lost their mounts and rolled unceremoniously across the ground. The Mountain Giants roared and stomped the players ruthlessly with its gigantic feet. Then, they grabbed their clubs with both hands and started spinning on the spot. Whirlwind Slash?? Boom boom boom! Players and mounts flew to the sky. Seven or eight holes appeared in our defense line in just the blink of an eye. Every leader was panicking because Blood Soul¡¯s cavalrymen were right behind the bosses. Their equipment was elite, and their mounts were elite warhorses with a fiery blade growing out of their forehead. The mount was the Level 180 Scarlet Blade Warhorse! "Keep the bosses under control and prepare to receive the enemy¡¯s charge!" I fired another Burning Blade Slash at a Mountain Giant. In just the blink of an eye, more than half of the Scarlet Blade Cavalrymen managed to break through our line of fire and stabbed our Profound Wolf Cavalrymen with their Barrier Breaks. However, our players were no slouches themselves, especially since they had been buffed by powerful stratagems such as Purple Dragon, Royal Road, Knight God and more. Thye tanked the Scarlet Blade Cavalrymen¡¯s charge head-on and retaliated with their own combos. Chaos reigned over the battle line in just the blink of an eye! He Yi flew up to a Mountain Giant and caught its attention before yelling, "All first-rate players, aggro the Mountain Giants and keep them in one place as much as you can! The rest of you, focus on holding back the Scarlet Blade Cavalry!" Very soon, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, High Fighting Spirits, Eyes Like Water and more aggroed a Mountain Giant each and kept them busy. Everyone else pushed the battle line forward and defended against the Scarlet Blade Cavalry there. However, Blood Soul¡¯s assault was brutal and relentless, and our 100k Profound Wolf Cavalrymen gradually faltered despite their best efforts! Less than ten minutes later, a giant, bloody sword cut across the air and killed hundreds of Profound Wolf Cavalrymen in one go. It was none other than Soul Slayer¡¯s Odin Slash. He pointed with his heavy sword and said, "Punch through the enemy line from here. Fire Catapults, keep advancing and take down the walls as quickly as you can. The Chinese won¡¯t be able to hold the fortress once their walls are down!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes finally couldn¡¯t hold still any longer. She leaped down the walls while ordering, "Blazing Hot Lips cavalrymen, plug the hole! Don¡¯t allow the enemy to do as they pleased!" She waved her scepter and froze dozens of Scarlet Blade Cavalrymen with an Ice Blast. However, the enemies were so numerous that at least a dozen or so cavalrymen were able to reach her unimpeded. They swung their blades at her ruthlessly! Stranger of Three Lifetimes parried two blows in succession before planting her scepter on the ground. A gush of flames instantly engulfed the magic knights before her and dealt around 2 million fire damage to her. Not done yet, she turned toward another group of enemies and stretched her palm wide, chanting, "Dark Flame Hurricane!" Dark Flame Hurricane was a skill that dealt continuous fire damage to a 100-yard radius area. Nearly every Scarlet Blade Cavalryman who were caught in the skill received over 5 million damage and were left dead or heavily injured. For a while, the Blood Soul players could only stare at her stupidly. Had a single mage really just interrupted their charge? "I¡¯ll kill her!" A harsh yell cut through the air. It was Soul Slayer descending on top of Stranger of Three Lifetimes on his green dragon! Quadruple Slash! Scepter clashed against heavy sword again and again, but Stranger of Three Lifetimes only managed to parry the first hit. As a result, she had lost her Magic Shield and even suffered some damage! MISS! MISS! MISS! 1,172,736! Seeing that her HP had dropped by almost 30%, Stranger of Three Lifetimes withdrew to the back while channeling something that looked like an ice spell with her scepter. Then, she fired an ice crystal into the green dragon¡¯s eyes¡ªLie of Ice! The green dragon howled in pain and became uncontrollable. Lie of Ice was a skill that made a target¡¯s mount temporarily uncontrollable[1]! However, a grim-eyed Soul Slayer let out a dark chuckle. He might be out of balance, but that didn¡¯t stop him from firing a sword aura straight at the mage! Stranger of Three Lifetimes withdrew as quickly as she could, but not fast enough that she could dodge the sword aura. At a critical moment, a shadow knocked Stranger of Three Lifetimes to the side and tanked the attack with his broad chest. Her rescuer was none other than Xu Yang[2]! "Ouch!" The attack had deleted over 2 million HP, so he had to pull back temporarily and heal himself to full. He said, "Take care, Stranger!" After firing Touch of the Dragonkiss and Storm Spell at Soul Slayer, Stranger of Three Lifetimes jumped into the air and was taken away by a Blazing Hot Lips knightress riding what seemed like a white bird. If I remembered correctly, the mount had been purchased from the Russia server. ¡­¡­ Arrows and magic spells splashed against our armor. The Profound Wolf Cavalry was losing HP and lives at an astonishing rate, forcing Gui Guzi to heal everyone with his Shennong Tastes Grass. At the same time, he looked at me and urged, "Boss Broken Halberd, we can¡¯t keep staying on the defensive like this. Otherwise, we may lose everyone without achieving much!" I nodded. "You¡¯re right. Let¡¯s counter charge and kill their archers and mages with Ultimate Strength Break then. Blood Soul may annihilate our Profound Wolf Cavalry, but they will pay the blood price!" "Yeah. Kill!" Our remaining 50k Profound Wolf Cavalrymen launched a countercharge as soon as Gui Guzi gave the order. Their Ultimate Strength Breaks exploded among the enemy ranged players and killed countless. Of course, Blood Soul¡¯s players were pissed off and fought violence with even greater violence. It was as if the entire battlefield had been set on fire. The dominant force on the battlefield was still Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ Holy Mages. Their Galaxy Storms and especially their God Devil Breaks and more were able to kill all the enemies beneath the walls sooner or later. Over 300k Scarlet Blade Cavalrymen had Charged through the line of fire, but less than 40% of them were able to make it to the walls. In fact, the 10 Mountain Giants were falling one after another because our ranged firepower was just too great. The Mountain Giants helped to delay the inevitable, but they weren¡¯t a great enough factor to turn the tables against us. Still, the last Mountain Giant was able to swing its club against the wall and smash a huge hole in it before dying to Beiming Xue. More Crimson Blade Cavalrymen rode up to the walls and provided cover for the approaching Fire Catapults. The situation could still easily spiral out of control if not handled carefully. ¡­¡­ "Hold! Hold!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes yelled in a panicked voice while looking upward. "Who will be the temporary commander, Lian Xin, Beiming? Your brother strayed a little too deep into the enemy lines!" Lian Xin blasted a group of Scarlet Blade Cavalrymen into pieces before declaring, "I will. Big brother Xu Yang, muster 100k Thunder Cavalrymen to protect the walls! We cannot lose the walls so soon into the war!" Xu Yang leaped down the rampart and gave his Omnislash a swing. "200k Thunder Cavalrymen, follow me! We¡¯re going to attack the enemy and take their contribution points![3]" The gate opened, and countless cavalrymen flushed out into the open. They engaged Blood Soul¡¯s players under our ranged players¡¯ suppressive fire. ¡­¡­ Pu! I skewered three archers through the chest like satay before unleashing Thousand Ice Slash that killed another group of enemies. After I noted that I was still sitting at 179 Divine Energy Points, I cast 9 Ancient Seals in a row and Xuanyuan Art to massively increase my Nation War contribution points. The skill was so OP that, upon noticing that I was using the Xuanyuan Art almost immediately off cooldown, the Northern Alliance guilds behind Blood Soul backed far, far away for fear of being affected by the skill. The coward! I looked around me and noted that only a handful of my players such as High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Gui Guzi and more were still fighting on the frontline. Moreover, most of them were surrounded or close to being surrounded by Blood Soul¡¯s players. Thank goodness Blood Soul were running out of players as well, or this would be quite the precarious situation! I carved my way to Heaven¡¯s Rain side and said, "We¡¯re fighting our way back to the fortress, Little Rain. Otherwise, we¡¯re all going to die here!" "Okay!" Heaven¡¯s Rain stayed close to me as we rounded up High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Chaos Moon and more. In total, I was able to gather about a hundred players before we began fighting our way back to the fortress. Our task was made a bit easier thanks to He Yi, Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng providing some cover from the sky. It had been an entire hour since we engaged Blood Soul, and the ground was completely covered in player corpses. We had lost over 100k Profound Wolf Cavalrymen in this battle, but Blood Soul¡¯s casualties were at least several times greater than ours! ¡­¡­ We had just returned to the walls when we saw Xu Yang and the Thunder Cavalrymen riding toward us in full gallop. He shouted from a distance, "Should we surround and annihilate the enemies close to the wall, Lu Chen?" "No need. Just throwing them back is good enough!" I suddenly caught a glimpse of Soul Slayer some distance away from me and felt a surge of murderous intent. I said in the party channel, "Chengfeng, Little Gui, Eve, let¡¯s work together to surround and take out Soul Slayer. His invincibility skill is still on cooldown, so we should be able to do it. Just watch out for his Odin Slash!" "Okay!" 1. T/N: sounds like an incredibly niche skill; it¡¯s not like the player¡¯s stats are reduced in anyway. Does it do damage? ? 2. T/N: Woohoo! Poor guy is kinda a foil in ASDS even though he¡¯s a thoroughly good guy, so it¡¯s great to see him shine once in a blue moon ? 3. T/N: In the raws, Xu Yang specifically said ¡®we¡¯re not going to defend, we¡¯ll attack instead¡¯. I didn¡¯t translate it that way because it reads awkward. What this means is that the dude bent almost all of Lian Xin¡¯s orders and did as he pleased lol ? CH 1544 "Be careful! Soul Slayer¡¯s shield has a skill that nullifies all physical attacks for 15 seconds!" Li Chengfeng warned me with a worried look on his face. "We¡¯ll only get one shot at this. If Soul Slayer catches on to our plan and activates the skill, it may not be possible to kill him. Lian Xin¡¯s magic attacks are powerful, but not even she can delete over 10 million HP in an instant[1]." I nodded. "Don¡¯t worry, just leave it to me! Eve, go attack the enemy and pretend that you¡¯re being pushed back by them. I¡¯m sure Soul Slayer won¡¯t b able to resist leaving the protection of his players and going after you. Li Chengfeng and I will catch him in a pincer, and Little Gui and Beiming will control him with their skills. Lian Xin, charge your magic and get ready to unleash your greatest combo now!" Lian Xin chuckled in the air. "Don¡¯t worry, big bro. There¡¯s a single-target offensive skill I¡¯ve been saving for an occasion like this. If Beiming Xue¡¯s Shock Arrow stuns, I guarantee that it¡¯ll be enough to one-shot Soul Slayer!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ The Snow Crystal Dragon let out a long roar as our beautiful guild leader descended right in the middle of the enemy. She then used Stormwind Slash that deleted 12% HP from Soul Slayer. When Soul Slayer saw that the attack had come from He Yi, he uttered through gritted teeth, "Heal me back to full! That beautiful woman is¡­ Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ guild leader, huh? Hmph! If we take her out, Ancient Sword will be without their leader. Four Knights, follow me!" We weren¡¯t expecting Soul Slayer to bear down on He Yi with four Level 255 elite knights[2]. At first glance, it looked like everyone of them had at least one Basic Divine Armament, and to the masses, anyone with one Divine Armament was basically a god. Whether it was intentional or not, it was definitely harder for us to assassinate Soul Slayer. The Snow Crystal Dragon flapped its wings mightily and did a U-turn. It then flew back toward the sky! Soul Slayer grinned savagely from atop his green dragon. "You think you can escape? Dream on! I¡¯m not one to show mercy even to a beautiful woman!" "Icicle Slash!" Soul Slayer raised his sword and conjured a gigantic, icicle-shaped blade. He then brought it down right on top of He Yi¡¯s shoulder. The attack was so powerful that both her and the Snow Crystal Dragon fell uncontrollably toward the ground. They crashed and kicked up a giant cloud of dust. "Die!" As Soul Slayer swooped down on her, his four elite knights threw their Trapping Nets at he Yi and successfully immobilized her for 5.4 seconds. "Let¡¯s go!" I growled as I kicked the air with both feet and shot toward Soul Slayer like a lightning bolt. Full-powered human battering ram! Bang¡­ At first glance, I was much smaller than Soul Slayer and his dragon combined. In reality, my Strength was higher, and I had momentum behind me. As a result, Soul Slayer was sent flying across the air, and his sword missed He Yi right before it would hit. I proceeded to grab Soul Slayer by the neck, stabbed him in the stomach, and executed Burning Blade Slash! However, one of the four knights aimed his palm at Soul Slayer and shouted, "Guardian Spirit!" 2,717,263! 3,172,376! 3,981,771! ¡­¡­ Not only did the Soul Slayer endure what I thought for sure would¡¯ve been the killing blow, the knight who withstood all the full brunt of Burning Blade Slash still had 25% HP left! Moreover, his Guardian Spirit skill was still protecting Soul Slayer! Soul Slayer raised his fist and launched a backward punch at mey. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you bastard!" The punch struck me on the shoulder but only dealt 40k damage to me. However, Soul Slayer bought himself enough time to turn around and slash at me twice. One of the slashes was Barrier Break, a skill that pierced a lot of Defense. I raised the Dihai Shield and smashed the Barrier Break aside. Then, I raised my sword and cast Xuanyuan Art! Swhoosh! Soul Slayer¡¯s face turned a shade of purple immediately. However, the moment his HP dropped by 70%, he immediately let out a shout and covered himself in some sort of shiny green vine. It healed him for an incredible amount of HP¡ª +6,799,774! God damn, a skill that heals for 50% HP? That¡¯s amazing! While Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi were keeping Soul Slayer¡¯s three remaining knights busy, Beiming Xue said to me in the guild channel, "If you can¡¯t instakill him, then let Little Xin and me try, big bro! Get ready to move out of the way, now!" An involuntary smirk crept onto my face. It confused Soul Slayer so much that he blurted, "What?" Instead of answering, I leaped off the green dragon¡¯s head and flew straight toward the sky. A blood-red arrow immediately passed through the spot I had been at an instant earlier! Thud! The Shock Arrow immediately stunned Soul Slayer for 1.9 seconds. His face turned deathly pale when he saw a Fire Phoenix swooping down on him. The problem wasn¡¯t Beiming Xue but the beautiful mage flying next to her. Judging from the air current dancing around her person and rising magic power, she was clearly charging her skill. Soul Slayer was no noob. He knew very well that any skill that had a channeling or charge time would generally be pretty powerful, and one that had obvious visual effects, even more so! It took Lian Xin 2.1 seconds to fully charge the skill. The instant Soul Slayer broke out of the stun, she pointed her scepter at him and cried, "Shadow of Ice Soul!" An icicle shaped like a trident exploded toward Soul Slayer! Puchi! Soul Slayer¡¯s eyes widened as the icicle punched through his chest like nothing. It was because his HP had fallen all the way to zero. He could hardly believe that a mage¡¯s single-target offensive skill could be so powerful¡ª 9,262,557! It wasn¡¯t even a critical hit! No wonder the spell took Lian Xin 2.1 seconds to charge!! The spell really did 4 million or so damage, but the Soul Shocker Bell doubled her damage done. Soul Slayer only had himself to blame for this outcome! Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Lian Xing" (China) killed the Heroic Bannerman "Soul Slayer" (England) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 70,377 points! ¡­¡­ "Well done, Little Xin!" I laughed as I made a grab for Soul Slayer¡¯s body. I then lifted it into the sky before shouting, "See this, Blood Soul? We¡¯ve killed your leader, Soul Slayer! Drop your weapons and surrender, or we will send every last one of you to the grave with your guild leader!" The players at the forefront froze in disbelief¡ª "Impossible! Boss Soul Slayer is a great player and an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill owner! There¡¯s no way he could die! There¡¯s just no way[3]!!" "China will fall! We won¡¯t lose! Boss can¡¯t have died¡­" "But that system announcement¡­" "It has to be an illusion. It has to be. They can¡¯t fool us![4]" At least some of the players looked like they had lost their marbles. After Li Chengfeng killed two of the three elite knights Soul Slayer had brought with him, he said in a dumbfounded voice, "Lu Chen, I don¡¯t think showing Blood Soul their guild leader¡¯s head is going to do much." I said, "But it¡¯s better than nothing, right? Any chaos and demoralization we sow will help us to reduce our losses and increase theirs." "True." ¡­¡­ As expected, Blood Soul didn¡¯t collapse entirely despite Soul Slayer¡¯s death. They were a super guild with around 2 million members after all. Their vice leaders tried to take charge, but Li Chengfeng, Lian Xin and I killed them as soon as we identified them. We continued to kill all 7 of their corps commanders and even their thousand-man captains to disorganize them to the point where they were just headless chickens. Night had passed inside the game before we realized it. By the time the first ray of dawn reflected off the copper statue at the top of the Fortress of the Iron Halberd, we had fought Blood Soul for 3 hours straight. Blood Soul never retreated, however. All 2 million of them fought until they had gasped their last breath. The air was thick with the stench of blood as I flew around the battlefield to grab some loot. It would be a waste to leave them lying around, right? As I looked around, a ring hiding in a pile of dead bodies caught my eye. I picked it up and discovered that it was an Ancient Immortal-grade equipment that added 71% Attack and 8% stackable lifesteal. I could sell this for at least 50k RMB! I happily tossed it into my bag while Stranger of Three Lifetimes were directing a group of Blazing Hot Lips cavalrymen to loot the battlefield. "Be quick! We only have 10 minutes! All players are to withdraw back into the fortress when 10 minutes is up, or don¡¯t blame me when the next enemy guild turns you into porcupines!" It was at this moment Xu Yang, Chaos Moon and Heaven¡¯s Rain walked up to me. Their footsteps were heavy, and their expressions were severe. There was none of the joy or afterglow you might expect to see after a great victory. I knew why they looked like shit, of course. "So. What is our casualty this time?" Xu Yang replied in a low tone, "Blood Soul is quite strong, and they had attacked us before we were fully prepared. As a result, we lost far more players than we did during the battle against Olympus. Nearly all the Profound Wolf Cavalry from the main guild and the 29 subguilds are gone, the Thunder Cavalry has dwindled to just 100k men, and the other classes have lost a total of 270k players. Our total casualty is over 400k or over 20% of our total number. Also, the 11th, 17th and 21st subguilds have been annihilated to the last man because they were part of the army fighting outside the wall!" I sucked in a deep breath and said, "Got it¡­" Stranger of Three Lifetimes curled her lips. "I think it¡¯s time we request some reinforcements. Otherwise, the third wave will probably be the last wave we can mount a proper defense. Over 40% of my players who are online are gone." I nodded. "Got it, Momo." It was at this moment a couple of system announcements hit us from the Impassable Great Wall¡ª Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Candlelight Shadow" (China) killed the JGL Hall of Famer "Murasame" (Japan) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 31,721 points! Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Candlelight Shadow" (China) killed the JGL Hall of Famer "Wind Snake" (Japan) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 21,330 points! 1. T/N: If only there is a skill that overrides item effects¡­ oh wait, it¡¯s called Ancient fucking Divine Skill ? 2. T/N: ¡­ is it too late to support an MC with slightly more common sense? ? 3. T/N: I want to say this reaction is unrealistic, but people do have the tendency to turn a blind eye on pros from other countries and just praise their own ? 4. T/N: this reaction though makes no sense whatsoever ? CH 1545 "Candlelight Shadow¡­" He Yi murmured as we all looked at the sky, "He killed two JGL Hall of Famers in a row?" Li Chengfeng clenched his fists. "Tsk!" Eyes Like Water blinked and said, "According to the latest report, Candlelight Shadow really killed three experts in total. The reason there were only two system announcements was because one of them was an expert who hasn¡¯t entered the JGL Hall of Fame yet. Anyway, he killed the first enemy with Ghost God Prophecy, the second via brute force, and the last one, Murasame, with the Dragon Tooth Arm. Apparently, he even scored a critical hit and dealt over 44 million damage to the poor fucker¡­" "What an animal¡­" High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon said at the same time. ¡­¡­ Feeling a bit tired, I sat against a pile of bodies and asked, "How is the battle at the Impassable Great Wall going anyway? On that note, how are they still stuck there? It¡¯s only the Impassable Great Wall! It¡¯s shameful that our main force has been stuck there for 7 hours straight!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I¡¯m even starting to suspect that Warsky, Farewell Song and Candlelight Shadow went there to view the peach blossom, not fight a war." I curled my lips. "You know what, I¡¯m just gonna ask Uncle Zhang Chun. As long as the Impassable Great Wall stays up, the pressure on us will not relent. We¡¯ve already lost so many people before Throne of the Wild, Hero Alliance, God Breaker and more had shown their faces. If they decide to join hands and attack us all at once, we may not be able to hold Fortress of the Iron Halberd for another 10 hours." "Yes, speak with Zhang Chun and see what he says¡­" I rose to my feet and opened my contact list. Then, I sent Zhang Chun a comms request. After he appeared on the screen, I noticed that his face was drenched in blood. He asked me, "What is it, Lu Chen?" "Have you taken the Impassable Great Wall yet, uncle?" "No. What¡¯s the situation at Dawn City?" "We¡¯re holding, but I cannot guarantee that Dawn City will remain a Chinese territory if you don¡¯t take Swallow Ear Canton soon. Also, are you aware that 7 Northern Alliance main cities have come together to attack Fortress of the Iron Halberd? How can you expect Ancient Sword and Blazing Hot Lips to stop them all alone? Send us some reinforcements already!" However, Zhang Chun replied with a troubled look on his face, "To be honest, the battle at the Impassable Great Wall isn¡¯t doing well either. The Japanese are reinforcing the walls like crazy[1], and Elephant City has dispatched over 30 guilds through Final Duel Valley to help them. We¡¯re being attacked from both the front and the wings, but most importantly, we are unable to scale the walls even now due to a certain complication!" "Huh?" I was very surprised. "How can that be? You have Yiyi, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky and Luo River God of the Capital. How can a mere Impassable Great Wall give them much trouble? Don¡¯t tell me the damn thing is too tall to scale. I¡¯ve literally conquered the fortress before, and I can say with confidence that it should¡¯ve taken Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon 30 minutes at most to scale it¡­" "I¡¯ll just show you. A picture tells a thousand words!" Zhang Chun quickly shared his view with me. I saw countless cloud ladders and siege weapons propped up against the walls and even more Chinese players attempting to scale them. However, the enemy archers and mages attacked them relentlessly, and there were ballistae shooting holes in their bodies as well! However, none of these threats were even remotely comparable to the three crimson cannons on the walls. They were none other than the Dragon Cannons. They were firing non-stop because they had a line of players reloading them every time their Dragon Crystals ran dry. I saw Warsky Alliance delivering several hundred Gold Cavalrymen up the rampart only to see them blasted to kingdom come in one shot. "You see that?" Zhang Chun gripped his fists tightly. "I don¡¯t know how that grandson did it, but somehow Red Maple managed to install three Dragon Cannons on the Impassable Great Wall. There is just nothing we can do against it. There were multiple times Candlelight Shadow and Warsky ate a few shots in a row and nearly died. As a result, they weren¡¯t willing to lead the charge anymore. Even our tankiest magic knights couldn¡¯t survive two shots. Also, our second army was stopped at Ice River Canton by Cyan Beast, so we¡¯re stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. Don¡¯t worry though. We will overcome the Impassable Great Wall in 10 hours at most!" "That¡¯s too long. The Impassable Great Wall must fall in 2 hours tops!" I uttered through clenched teeth. "Are you aware that Blazing Hot Lips has lost over 40% of their total troops, and Ancient Sword, over 30%? At this rate, both our guilds will be annihilated before you overcome the Impassable Great Wall! Do you think China can win this Nation War in 50 hours without Ancient Sword or Blazing Hot Lips?" Zhang Chun looked frustrated. "What do we do then?" I replied, "Dude, why are you asking me? You¡¯re the supreme commander, not me!" After a moment of thought, Zhang Chun clasped his hands. He clearly made a tough and important decision. "Alright, let¡¯s do it this way. I want you, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and Beiming Xue to come to the Impassable Great Wall and lend us your aid for 60 minutes. Your only mission will be to destroy the Dragon Cannons. What do you think?" "Sure, but I want 5 million troops in return. Dawn City will fall if we don¡¯t get at least that much reinforcements!" "Fine. It¡¯s a poor deal, but still better than being stuck at the Impassable Great Wall for another 10 hours. I¡¯ll dispatch Gods of Destruction guild¡¯s 5 million troops to Fortress of the Iron Halberd once you¡¯ve completed your mission!" "Oh no you don¡¯t. Send them now, or no deal!" "Fine, fine. You guys should come over as soon as possible as well!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I rose to my feet and looked out of the fortress. The Northern Alliance¡¯s new invasion force had shown themselves, but this time it wasn¡¯t one super guild, but twenty or so middle or small guilds combined. Their strength probably wouldn¡¯t measure up to a top-tier guild¡¯s, but what they lacked in quantity they made up for with quantity. I counted at least 5 million players in the first wave alone! "More fodder¡­" Li Chengfeng scoffed. "What on earth is the Northern Alliance planning?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes figured out the truth immediately. "Hmph. Looks like Vienna¡¯s Sorrow has learned his lesson from Olympus and Blood Soul¡¯s failure. If I¡¯m not mistaken, he¡¯s going to keep sending these fodders after us for 12 hours or so to deplete our physical and mental strength. When nighttime arrives in Beijing, Hero Alliance, God Breaker and Throne of the Wild will launch the real, full-powered assault! He¡¯s planning to exploit the time difference to destroy us!" I nodded. "I agree. If I had to guess, Hero Alliance, Throne of the Wild and all the other guilds who¡¯ll be participating in the real assault are probably sleeping right now. They will be fully refreshed while we are fully exhausted when it is time for the real assault. Those despicable bastards¡­" Gui Guzi looked green. "Does that mean it¡¯s GG?" "Of course not!" I smiled and pointed to the east. "Little Gui, Eve, Beiming, Chengfeng, Little Xin, you guys will be following me to the Impassable Great Wall. Take Guanyue and Lu Buyi with you as well. We¡¯re going to help Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon conquer the Impassable Great Wall so that they can flatten Swallow Ear Canton before nighttime. Once Swallow Ear Canton is dead, our 40 million strong army will be able to make their way to the north and threaten the cities there. Finally, we¡¯ll match their timing and ride out to strike at the invasion force. This way, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s plans won¡¯t come to fruition!" "Alright!" Gui Guzi was a single-minded man. After hearing that there was a solution, he immediately bounced to his feet and said excitedly, "Should we fly to the Impassable Great Wall now?" "Yeah. We¡¯ll teleport to Sky Ridge first before making the flight. That way, we¡¯ll reach our destination in ten minutes at most!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Everyone climbed onto our mounts and teleported to Sky City first. Then, they teleported to Sky Ridge and took off to the skies. Our party was only 11 men strong, but our threat level was off the charts. The sunlight reflecting off our blades and armors gave us an intimidating appearance. On an unrelated note, my passenger was Murong Mingyue. "Look over there!" Beiming Xue pointed from above her Fire Phoenix. A group of White Horse Cavalrymen was chasing down a Chinese guild. They obviously belonged to Natural Flow. More battles were happening outside the forest, and a lot of troops seemed completely lost. All they knew to do was to kill the enemy in front of them. The ground was littered with piles and piles of bodies. Flowing Cloud was an intelligent woman. She knew her guild couldn¡¯t threaten China¡¯s main force, so she focused on killing all the casual guilds on the periphery. "What should we do? Do we help them, or?" Li Chengfeng asked. I gritted my teeth but shook my head. "No. We can deal with Elephant City after we¡¯ve accomplished our mission. Conquering the Impassable Great Wall will save millions of lives, while killing a couple thousand enemies here won¡¯t affect the war at all." "Yeah. Let¡¯s go!" Seven or eight minutes later, we arrived at the Impassable Great Wall map. Even from far away, we could see the eternally frozen fortress, the Chinese players invading the ground, and the elite Swallow Ear Canton players defending from above. The total number of players easily exceeded tens of millions. On the walls, the Dragon Cannons fired their payloads and dealt fatal damage to hundreds and hundreds of Chinese players per hit. They were just as terrifying as I remembered them. Beneath the wall, Zhang Chun raised his sword and ordered, "White Marsh Catapults, aim at the Dragon Cannons¡¯ location as best as you can. Fire!" However, the counterattack was almost futile. The terrain disadvantage was just too huge! ¡­¡­ Warsky looked up and said, "Lu Chen¡¯s party is here!" Swhoosh! After I descended in front of the guild leaders, I said, "The situation¡¯s critical, so I¡¯m cutting straight to the point. I want you all to muster a group of high-level cavalrymen as quickly as you can and prepare to make an attempt to scale the walls. Warsky, Candlelight Shadow, Yiyi, I¡¯m going to charge first and attract the Dragon Cannons¡¯ attention. You guys will follow afterward and destroy the Dragon Cannons as soon as you can. Sister Wang Luo, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue, your job is to snipe the enemy¡¯s Divine Rank players. Candlelight Shadow, I want you to target the Dragon Cannon at the center. Empower your Pangu¡¯s Axe with the Dragon Tooth Arm and carve it up like sushi!" "Got it. We¡¯ll launch the assault 10 minutes later!" "Good. Buffs, please!" While I was buffing myself with a Hunter Card, Lu Buyi applied his Purple Dragon and Pure Love her bard buffs with the Seven-string Yaoqin on me. Now, I should be able to endure a couple of shots with these buffs. I then looked at Gui Guzi and said, "Little Gui, I¡¯m going to have to use the Xuanyuan Art to kill later, so please heal me with Shennong Tastes Grass when my HP falls below 40%. Don¡¯t let me die, please!" Gui Guzi nodded smilingly. "No problem!" After I had given out all the instructions, I looked at the Dragon Cannons on the wall and sneered. "Those fuckers. I honestly thought we had destroyed all of their Dragon Cannons." Zhang Chun chuckled. "It¡¯s simple. Red Maple is not an idiot, he knew that he shouldn¡¯t place all of your eggs in one basket. There must be another Dragon Cannon construction base somewhere in Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s territory. Once we¡¯ve overcome the Impassable Great Wall, we¡¯ll destroy both the tier 2 city and the base at the same time!" "Yeah. Get ready!" 1. T/N: because it¡¯s literally the most defensible structure they have? The tier 2 city is actually shittier than the wall lol ? CH 1546 Red Maple was floating above the Impassable Great Wall and a long line of Swallow Ear Canton defenders when he abruptly looked in my direction. Face distorted into an expression of hatred immediately, he ordered, "Archers and mages, target and destroy Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand if he dares come close to the walls!" There was a dark shadow floating next to him; a flying assassin to be exact. I had no doubt that he was Purple Thunder, the only assassin in the game to have ascended so far. Purple Thunder, Red Maple and Cyan Frost whom I couldn¡¯t spot yet, were both Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s greatest hope and our biggest opponent in this battle. ¡­¡­ As I slowly walked toward the Impassable Great Wall, the arrows that were shot in my direction bounced harmlessly off my body. A normal archer simply didn¡¯t possess the Attack to pierce my Defense, not to mention that I had an extra layer of defense called Unusual Physique. I looked up in the sky and yelled, "Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, what are you guys waiting for? Tell your men to scale the walls first!" "Mn!" Candlelight Shadow nodded before waving an arm and yelling, "One more charge, people! Don¡¯t let the Japanese look down on us! So what if you die? It¡¯s just one level!" About 20k Candle Dragon cavalrymen galloped toward the walls immediately. When they reached the cloud ladders, they canceled their mounts and began climbing upward. A lot of siege weapons were bombarding the wall, but they kept being focused down by the defenders. As a result, they were unable to unleash their full power. Hovering in the sky with the mark of Mount Armor Transformation shining on his arm, Warsky also growled, "Gold Cavalry, charge! We¡¯ll have to die to pay for our failures if we still can¡¯t overcome the Impassable Great Wall this time, so make sure you do your damnedest!" At least 50k Gold Cavalrymen answered Warsky¡¯s command and thundered toward the walls. The guy was seriously going all out; he had rallied nearly all of his Gold Cavalrymen for this charge. ¡­¡­ The cloud ladders were full of players. Some were killed before they ever got to the edge, and some were stunned with a Shock Arrow before they were kicked off the walls. Rows and rows of players fell a hundred meters before hitting the ground with a sickening splat. They were alive, but they left behind countless pools of blood and a sickening stench that only thickened over time. Rustle rustle¡­ It was around this time Zhang Chun walked up to me and said, "Everything is ready, Lu Chen!" "Mn!" I nodded strongly and gripped my sword. Then, I shot toward the sky like a lightning bolt and reached max velocity in just a short time. Energy surrounding my entire body, I flew straight toward the Dragon Cannon at the center like a sword! Red Maple saw this coming as a matter of course. He hurriedly shouted, "He¡¯s coming! Target and kill him now!" I expected this, so I quickly set up a couple of waypoints in the air. The moment I reached the first waypoint, I kicked my foot and shot toward a different direction in an arc. Sometimes I accelerated, sometimes I decelerated. All in all, it looked as if I was zigzagging across the air in an erratic manner. Movements like these were the hardest to pinpoint. A large majority of the arrows missed me, and skills with over a second of channeling time such as God Devil Break, Galaxy Storm were so off the mark they might as well have been using them at random. It was quite the pretty sight to have a trail of MISS text trailing behind me. "Dammit!" Anxious, Red Maple decided to bring me down himself and charged toward me. He bore down on me like a mountain and unleashed Fire God Flurry! I gritted my teeth and went all out. I expanded my Domain in full before lashing out with Universe Break! Bang! Our two swords clashed, and Red Maple was immediately knocked back by the impact. It was because my Strength, level and more were all higher than his. However, he did manage to pause me in my tracks for an instant and even strike me in the face with Maple Kill! 792,174! It was a considerable amount of damage. I kicked my feet again and flew higher into the sky. At the same time, I threw my sword using Coiling Dragon Revolution and fired Ancient Seal at the unsteady Red Maple! Pu! Red Maple shuddered when the sword passed through his chest armor. The next moment, the Ancient Seal hit him and deleted another massive chunk of HP¡ª 2,114,884! 1,625,531! ¡­¡­ Unfortunately, that wasn¡¯t enough to kill him. Red Maple¡¯s HP was unusually high¡ªand of course it was; he would¡¯ve died to Candlelight Shadow or Warsky already if that wasn¡¯t the case¡ªbut from the sounds of it Candlelight Shadow never really found an opportunity to engage him. Otherwise, there was at least a 70% chance he could¡¯ve one-shot Red Maple. The Japanese warrior healed himself over the 80% mark before I could use the Xuanyuan Art to kill him, so I didn¡¯t. "Focus fire! All of you, kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" the leader of an unknown Swallow Ear Canton guild shouted. Fireballs, ice blades, wind storms and rocks descended all around me. I had to slow down to fight Red Maple earlier, and the Xuanyuan Sword hadn¡¯t returned to me yet. So, I had no choice but to raise the Dihai Shield in front of me and activate Profound Armor to triple my Defense! Thud thud thud¡­ Arrows and magic spells splashed against the Dihai Shield like a river. The density of the attacks was so great that I lost over 9 million HP in an instant. The good news was that I had nearly 25 million HP, so they were still a ways away from defeating me! After I finally caught the Xuanyuan Sword, I continued charging toward the enemy and drawing both their attention and their firepower so that Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Snowy Cathaya and more could climb up the walls. As long as they managed to take control of the rampart, this battle was as good as half-won. Up until just now, they had been forced to defend passively like a boxer who just couldn¡¯t find an opportunity to throw a punch at the opponent no matter what. "Well done, Lu Chen! Fly up to the Dragon Cannons and draw their attention as well!" Zhang Chun shouted from a distance. I groaned on the inside. It was moments like this where Zhang Chun¡¯s "talent" as a commander truly shone. While he was waving flags and shouting battle cries far behind the frontlines, I had to brave thousands of Japanese defenders plus the Dragon Cannons to secure the mission, all the while knowing that one unlucky stun might very well be the end of me¡­ ¡­¡­ As if predicting my movement, a beautiful woman abruptly appeared on top of a Dragon Cannon. She was none other than Cyan Frost, the woman who had died in my hands in the previous battle and dropped to Level 254, only to become a god on the very same night. I would be foolish to underestimate the divine Ice Knight. "You¡¯ve kept us waiting for too long, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand¡­" Cyan Frost said indifferently before leaping off the Dragon Cannon and brandishing her blade at me. Just like Red Maple, her expression was one marred by deep hatred. My goal was to destroy the Dragon Cannon, and Cyan Frost was determined to be my obstacle. In that case, I had to remove her to do what I needed to do. Cyan Frost¡¯s eyes gleamed unnaturally as she opened her palm at me. She was using her Domain! My heart turned icy as an infinite amount of snowflakes suddenly surrounded me out of nowhere. As it turned out, the freezing effect of her Domain was powerful enough to slow me. I should¡¯ve been able to dodge out of her Freezing Slash¡¯s way with ease, but now I couldn¡¯t! Freezing Slash froze its target for a short amount of time. I would be in for a bad time if I allowed it to hit me! I stopped in my tracks, opened my left palm, and fought against her Domain with my own. By constantly shifting the power balance between our Domains, and having one overpower the other, I caused clashes of divine power that spilled into and affected the surroundings. As a result, my body was shifted about 2 meters to the back, dodging an attack that was positively undodgeable otherwise! "What? How is that possible¡­" Cyan Frost¡¯s eyes widened at the afterimage I left behind, but she immediately conjured a number of icicles and fired them at me. It was Icicle Flurry! I put the Dihai Shield in front of myself and tanked the quadruple-hit skill head-on. Ice crept around my shield instantly! 312,377! 412,772! 371,762! ¡­¡­ Whoosh! While this was happening, I was able to grab Cyan Frost by her collar and pull her close to me. The moment I succeeded, I immediately activated a point-blank Mad God Lunge! Bang! Cyan Frost was knocked back and stunned by the attack. ¡­¡­ The Xuanyuan Sword burst into light. This was the perfect opportunity to instakill the divine Ice Knight! Right before I was about to execute my surekill combo though, He Yi suddenly shouted from behind. "Lu Chen watch out!" Another Domain suddenly invaded my senses, and something cold pierced into my back at the same time. It was the work of the divine assassin¡ªPurple Thunder! ¡­¡­ The Ambush stunned me for 1.7 seconds. Purple Thunder wasted no time in carving up my back with his twin daggers. Despite the Scarlet Dragon Armor¡¯s best efforts, it wasn¡¯t strong enough to block a divine assassin¡¯s power. His Blade Vortex dropped my HP like crazy even though Profound Armor was still active because most assassins wielded weapons with high armor penetration! 312,623! 281,877! 267,389! Purple Thunder was equally astonished by the amount of damage he dealt, but for a completely different reason. "Are you fucking kidding me? How much Defense does he have that my Blade Vortex can¡¯t even deal 1 million damage to him!?" I was still being bombarded by arrows and magic spells, so my HP fell below 50% in the blink of an eye. It was a dangerous situation! "All units, stop attacking! I¡¯ll kill him!"[1] After I was blinded, Purple Thunder shifted in front of me and used Gouge! I had just enough time to parry his secondary dagger out of the way, but not his main dagger. As a result, he was able to stun me for yet another 1.7 seconds! "Hah!" Purple Thunder let out a mighty shout and began charging his energy. He looked like a crazed killer the way energy danced around him like mad, and his arms glowed a murderous red. It looked like a Coldblood Mad Strike type of skill that completely ignored the enemy¡¯s Defense and drastically increased his damage dealt at the same time. It certainly wasn¡¯t just a simple skill with increased Attack. It was at that time I made up my mind. Purple Thunder must die as soon as possible! Pu! The dagger pierced through my Scarlet Dragon Armor and triggered a gigantic damage number¡ª2,976,661! He then threw a fluorescent powder on the ground to enter stealth while shouting, "Retreat now, Cyan Frost! The Dragon Cannon will take him out!" ¡­¡­ "Guh¡­" The moment I broke out of the stun, I immediately tracked down the departing shadow that was Purple Thunder with Dark Pupils. Without hesitation, I raised my sword and cast my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Xuanyuan Slash! Boom! 4,109,837! Purple Thunder didn¡¯t die because he had full buffs, but that was fine. I turned my blade and cast Xuanyuan Art! ¡­¡­ "Shit¡­" Purple Thunder¡¯s pupils shrank as his body was shredded into pieces. His items, equipment, potions, cards and more fell from the sky like snowflakes. 1. T/N: WHAT? ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID? HE STILL HAS IMMORTALITY + REINCARNATION ART, YOU NEVER STOP ATTACKING LU CHEN UNLESS HIS ALLIES INTERRUPT YOU! ? CH 1547 Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) killed the JGL Hall of Famer "Purple Thunder" (Japan) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 111,721 points! ¡­¡­ Purple Thunder was dead, but instead of pressing me Cyan Frost chose to flew away instead. She looked back resentfully and uttered, "Just you wait, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! We¡¯ll destroy you eventually!" I didn¡¯t say anything. I had killed Purple Thunder and defeated both Red Maple and Cyan Frost up until this point. What else did they have that could possibly repel me? The Dragon Cannon? If that was their plan, then all I could say is that it wasn¡¯t quite enough¡­ Thud thud thud¡­ I resumed flying while arrows, God Devil Breaks, Galaxy Storms and more continued to strike me. By the time I got close to the ramparts, my HP had fallen past the 40% mark. I immediately yelled in the party channel, "Little Gui?!" "I am here!" Gui Guzi laughed as a pair of bloody wings expanded behind his back. He activated Shennong Tastes Grass and instantly restored my HP by 75%! The Japanese players on the walls groaned loudly at the demoralizing sight. "What the fuck! It took ages to bring his HP down, and one skill is all it takes to heal him back to full? This is bullshit!" Meanwhile, Red Maple had landed on top of a Dragon Cannon and took control of it. He immediately rotated the muzzle in my direction while shouting, "All Dragon Cannons, aim and fire at Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand at the same time! Let¡¯s see if he can survive six consecutive cannon shots!" A Dragon Cannon could fire two shells in rapid succession, so three Dragon Cannons could fire a total of six shells at a time. Dodge! I abruptly changed directions and flew parallel along the walls, but Red Maple still managed to lock onto me anyway[1]. I couldn¡¯t use my invincibility skill yet, or he would target Lin Yixin, He Yi, Gui Guzi or the others instead. We might suffer incredible losses if that was the case. There was no time. Unable to think of a better plan, I decided to put my shitty plan to use! I dashed toward the rampart and landed in the middle of a group of archers. Then, I weaved in and out of the crowd to avoid the Dragon Cannon¡¯s targeting! "Boss, don¡¯t! We¡¯ll hit our own like this!" a player shouted. Red Maple¡¯s complexion turned green, but he gritted his teeth and said, "You can¡¯t always get what you want without paying the price, and taking out Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand is worth losing 100k troops[2]!" The Dragon Cannon shuddered, and the muzzle turned red. Then, it opened fire at me with a tremendous shock wave! I backed away while paying close attention to the Dragon Cannons. The siege weapons were player-controlled and placed in different locations, so their shots couldn¡¯t reach me at the exact same time. I might be able to exploit the time difference and save my own life! Red Maple¡¯s shots arrived first and engulfed me and the players around me in flames almost instantly. My heart sank as I measured the pain I was feeling. It was because one of the shots was a critical hit! 7,571,787! 15,236,884! Over half of my HP was gone just like that. This was unacceptable! Still dashing around, I cast Tenacity of the Dead and Dragon Bloodboil and just barely avoided being instakilled by the enemies around me¡ª +6,435,309! +3,861,185! I zigzagged along the rampart as unpredictably as I could, but I was ultimately unable to avoid being hit by the third and fourth shot. The Dragon Cannon¡¯s AoE was just too huge to avoid via dodging, not to mention that I was smack dab in the middle of enemy territory and being attacked from every direction. I felt like a dirty rat in broad daylight. And so two explosions engulfed me and the Japanese players around me once more, throwing broken limbs into the air and causing two damage numbers to rise from my head¡ª 6,892,873! 7,001,727! I shot my HP bar a glance and felt like my heart was about to stop. Motherfucker! My HP had dropped to just 1,000 or so, meaning that even the slightest brush against an attack would probably kill me! The explosive impact caused me to crash against the snow-covered bricks and leave behind a deep trench. The knockback power of the Dragon Cannon¡ªassuming that the victim wasn¡¯t blasted into pieces immediately¡ªwas no joke. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to come to a stop with my Domain. Then, I charged straight toward a group of archers and hit them with Burning Blade Slash! Boom! The skill killed or damaged countless and caused my HP to skyrocket. Thousand Ice Slash at a different group of enemies later, I had returned to 16 million HP. The 50% lifesteal of my Xuanyuan Sword was just too good! Finally, I raised the Dihai Shield, plunged my sword into the bricks, and Guarded against the fifth and sixth shots. I was pushed back a dozen meters or so, but by the end of it I still had around 2 million HP. I let out an involuntary cackle before flying straight toward Red Maple with a shout, "You¡¯d better kill me while you still can, or you¡¯re the one who¡¯s going to die, Red Maple!" Red Maple gritted his teeth and charged toward me. "You think I¡¯m scared of you!?" Buzz! His sword glowed golden. It was the light of an Ancient Divine Skill! He thought he could one-shot me with it while my health was low? I laughed again. The moment Red Maple got close to me, I aimed my palm at his weapon and activated Flying Dragon Hand! Disarm! Swhoosh! Red Maple¡¯s Ancient Divine Skill struck me right after he was disarmed. He did pretty good damage considering that he was unarmed, but¡ª 890,034! It didn¡¯t matter as long as the damage wasn¡¯t fatal. Even if I assumed that the rest of his equipment increased his Attack by 800%, his base Attack was still too low after losing his main weapon, not to mention that I had 50% damage reduction from the Cloak of Divine Fervor. He would have to be incredibly lucky to kill me barehanded. ¡­¡­ I retaliated with Burning Blade Slash! However, Red Maple surprised me by flying into the air and activating his invincibility skill. He would rather waste a precious cooldown if it meant preventing me from killing him. "You think you can escape?" I chased right behind him. His flight speed was slower than mine, so I could just wait until his invincibility ran out and kill him afterward. However, I barely flew for a couple of seconds before Trapping Net suddenly appeared in front of me! I backed away just in time to dodge the skill. Then, I saw Cyan Frost flying toward me with the Freezing Slash charged. If nothing else, the Japanese woman was tenacious as hell. She never gave up on trying to kill me! Despite the passive HP regeneration of Regeneration of the Undead and a Rank 14 health potion, I was only sitting at 10 million HP or so. I didn¡¯t think I could survive the combo that was sure to land after Freezing Slash, especially since Cyan Frost wasn¡¯t a defensive magic knight. With her Attack and the hidden boosts one got for being a divine player, she had a pretty good chance of killing me if I dared to underestimate her! Chiang! Her sword struck the Dihai Shield and quickly encased it in ice. In the end, I wasn¡¯t able to avoid being frozen. Cyan Frost had come at me just a bit too quickly! 774,671! Cyan Frost immediately executed an Ice Ray Flurry after the success, but she quickly discovered that I was regenerating almost as much HP as she was deleting. At Rank 10, Regeneration of the Undead healed 2% of my max HP or 500k HP per second. The Rank 14 health potion I had used was regenerating my HP at an incredible rate as well! "How is this possible¡­" Cyan Frost uttered through gritted teeth before showering me with an angry glare. "I will kill you! I won¡¯t let Red Maple¡¯s efforts go to waste!" She brought her sword down in one powerful swing! Pa! However, I caught the blade with my bare hand before pulling it behind me. Then, I leaped over Cyan Frost¡¯s head and struck her shoulder with the Xuanyuan Sword! Bang! The eternal cyclone that surrounded a divine player¡¯s body, Unusual Physique, shattered into pieces from the blow. The gap between our stats was just too huge. It seemed that losing Unusual Physique also caused her to lose her ability to fly because she started falling uncontrollably toward the ground. Crash! She hit the rampart and rolled across the snow-covered bricks unceremoniously. After she crawled back to her feet, she raised her sword and glared at me again, uttering, "Get down here, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! I¡¯m going to kill you!" ¡­¡­ I let out a soft snort but remained in the sky to regenerate my HP. At the same time, I threw my sword at her using Coiling Dragon Revolution! Swhoosh! Cyan Frost tried to parry the attack, but the power behind the skill was so much that it nearly knocked her over the wall. Meanwhile, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, Beiming Xue, Lin Yixin and more Chinese players had finally scaled up the walls! "Hmph. You¡¯ve lost, so die!" Candlelight Shadow leaped into the air and activated the Dragon Tooth Arm¡¯s special effect. When Shattering Sword and Shield penetrated Cyan Frost¡¯s body, it dealt an incredibly amount of damage¡ª 21,742,911! Cyan Frost muffled a groan as her sword slowly tipped toward the ground, and her knees collapsed hard against the floor. As her warm blood dripped against the icy bricks of the Impassable Great Wall, she looked up at the sky and mumbled, "Stay alive, Red Maple. Don¡¯t forget our promise¡­" Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Candlelight Shadow" (China) killed the JGL Hall of Famer "Cyan Frost" (Japan) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 129,982 points! ¡­¡­ For a moment, I simply watched Cyan Frost¡¯s fallen figure in silence. I hadn¡¯t expected her to die in this¡­ manner. In the end, all I could say was she hadn¡¯t died an unworthy death! While stepping on Cyan Frost¡¯s blood, Candlelight Shadow looked up at me and said, "You did it, Lu Chen. You are the only one who could face down 3 Dragon Cannons alone[3] and win!" I nodded. "Let¡¯s conquer the wall as soon as possible!" "Mn!" Candlelight Shadow raised his blade and shouted, "Surround the Dragon Cannons and destroy them now! Battering rams, smash the gate open so that the Impassable Great Wall cannot be an obstacle to us any longer!" After Warsky climbed onto the wall, he shot Cyan Frost¡¯s body a glance and frowned. "I thought Lu Chen would be the one to kill her, but you stole the kill in the end!" Instead of answering, Candlelight Shadow flew along the rampart and spammed his Outer Flames like crazy. He Yi flew Murong Mingyue over to me so she could heal me back to full health. The Dragon Cannons were still firing away and killing countless Chinese players with every shot, but our players had already occupied the walls almost completely. There was no way they could kill enough to change anything! Half an hour later, all three Dragon Cannons had been destroyed, and all Japanese players on the Impassable Great Wall had been slaughtered! ¡­¡­ A long-range away, Red Maple shot the victorious Chinese army a hateful look before uttering, "All Japanese players, withdraw! There¡¯s no point guarding this place any longer. We¡¯ll return to our city and prepare to defend it to the death!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ A lot of Japanese players began crushing their return scrolls and teleporting back to their city. Of course, there were a lot of people who couldn¡¯t escape combat and so could only wait for death to claim them. "Phew¡­" Standing atop a rubble that used to be a Dragon Cannon, I let out a sigh of relief and said to Lin Yixin beside me, "Swallow Ear Canton will definitely fall in 10 hours." She smiled as she gazed toward the horizon. "Barring any unexpected circumstances, yes." 1. T/N: why do you think guns are OP ? 2. T/N: except it¡¯s not BECAUSE HE HAS REINCARNATION ART ? 3. T/N: Gui Guzi: my heal helped too you know ? CH 1548 The stone towers collapsed one after another, and soon the Impassable Great Wall itself began falling apart. A loud boom later, the entire structure collapsed into a pile of ruins. As Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, Snowy Cathaya, Purple Lily and all the guilds who were part of the Swallow Ear Canton invasion army were crossing over the ruins, Warsky shouted words of encouragement from the sky[1], "Let¡¯s march all the way to Swallow Ear Canton! No way a tiny tier 2 city can stop our advance!" Some distance away, Candlelight Shadow let out a chuckle and said, "You¡¯re always too optimistic, Warsky. I just received word that Flowing Cloud is rallying a 15-million-strong army at the borders. If we were to attack Swallow Earn Canton in full force, I¡¯m certain that they will try to stop us. Can you claim that we will definitely endure a full-powered assault by the forces of Elephant City?" Warsky frowned. "What is your plan then?" "We must send between 3 to 5 major guilds to intercept Elephant City¡¯s forces outside Final Duel Valley. Otherwise, we will be facing a two-pronged attack and be trapped between a rock and a hard place." Warsky smiled. "In that case, who do you think we should send to intercept them?" Candlelight Shadow hummed for a moment before answering, "The guilds we send must be powerful enough to hold back Elephant City. I think Ancient Sword, Snowy Cathaya, Purple Lily and Peach Garden are pretty good choices!" I abruptly unsheathed my sword, glared at Candlelight Shadow and growled, "Bullshit! I didn¡¯t see either of you offering your assistance when Ancient Sword was holding back the Northern Alliance¡¯s tens of millions of troops, and now you want us to stop Elephant City as well? Dream on! My brothers and sisters¡¯ levels and experience aren¡¯t so cheap that they can be thrown away like this!" Beside me, Lin Yixin pulled my hand and said in a soft voice, "That Candlelight Shadow is so shameless, Little Cheat. It¡¯s clear he¡¯s planning to use this Nation War to weaken our guilds. Hmph. Flowing Cloud has recently become a god, and she¡¯s supported by the divine mage, Lui Lok, who wields the scepter of the Twelve Divine Armaments. Who would want to fight against an opponent that strong?" A short distance away, Zhang Chun said placatingly from his warhorse, "Stop it. I¡¯m the supreme commander, so allow me to call the shots, okay? I want five of the ten biggest guilds of Vanished God City to intercept Elephant City. That¡¯s Rose of the Holy Domain, Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker, Fate, and Zero Pitch Sonata. On top of that, I¡¯ll give you 5 million troops to support your efforts. Is that enough?" A knightress stepped out into the open, and she was none other than the guild leader of Rose of the Holy Domain, Rose Thorn. She was now a Level 255 Guardian Knight and fully clad in elite equipment. She watched Zhang Chun coolly as she said, "Hot and Sour Noodles, you are aware that we don¡¯t have a single divine player across all our guilds, right? How do you expect us to deal with Flowing Cloud and Lui Lok? Even if we pretend they don¡¯t exist, the number one guild of Elephant City, Dark Clouds, is chock-full of experts. How on earth are we going to beat them?" Zhang Chun inhaled deeply before breaking into a polite smile. "Don¡¯t worry, Beauty Rose. I¡¯m not asking you to defeat them. I just want the five of you to delay them long enough for us to conquer Swallow Ear Canton. 5 hours. In 5 hours, Swallow Ear Canton will definitely fall to our forces. When we¡¯re done, we¡¯ll swing around Final Duel Valley and assist you in taking out Elephant City. What do you think?" Rose Thorn smiled. "We still have to be rewarded for our efforts, right, Battle Monarch?" The leader of Hall of Immortality, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch, smiled as well. "Yeah. You¡¯re basically asking us to suicide into Elephant City¡¯s main force. We ain¡¯t doing this without some reward." Zhang Chun¡¯s smile widened until it looked like his wrinkles were blooming. "That¡¯s no problem at all. If you are able to halt Elephant City¡¯s main force completely for 5 hours, I promise that the CGL committee will reward all 5 guild leaders extra points. In fact, I¡¯ll even make an exception and allow you all to enter the CGL Hall of Fame. What do you say?" Rose Thorn watched Zhang Chun with her icy pupils for a moment before replying, "Alright. A verbal agreement means nothing though, so I¡¯ll be uploading this footage to the forums immediately. If you break your word, be ready to lose your position in the CGL committee!" Zhang Chun nodded. "No problem!" Satisfied with the promise they had wringed out of Zhang Chun, Rose Thorn, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch, Emperor¡¯s Equal and more said to their subordinates, "Time to head over to Final Duel Valley, people! We¡¯re going to intercept the grandsons of Elephant City!" ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t comment on the trade, but Beiming Xue pouted from atop her Fire Phoenix and said, "The standard to enter the CGL Hall of Fame is getting lower and lower these days¡­" He Yi chuckled. "It¡¯s not that bad. The guild leader of Fate, Predestined, was a CGL Hall of Famer himself; he just wasn¡¯t able to achieve much during the Nation Wars. Nothing stays the same forever. Some people will shine like the stars, and will gradually fade into obscurity. It is one of the ironclad laws of history." Lian Xin commented, "Seriously though, Rose Thorn and Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch are sketchy as hell. I can¡¯t believe they forced Uncle Zhang Chun into giving them a promise like that¡­" I shrugged. "He¡¯s the one who asked for this position, so¡­" Whoosh¡­ It was at this moment Lin Yixin flew up to us. She shot us all a smile before asking, "Snowy Cathaya and I will be attacking Swallow Ear Canton soon. Will you be joining us, Little Cheat?" However, I shook my head and said, "No. We¡¯ve been online for too long already, I¡¯m planning on logging out and catching some rest. The Nation War is 72 hours long, and I don¡¯t plan to be tired and groggy when my strength is actually needed. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, Tear Stain or the other top-tier experts are absent most likely for the exact same reason. Who knows, they may even be enjoying a vacation right now. They will only show up and strike the fatal blow during our weariest moment!" "So, what are you planning to do?" ¡°I just told you. I¡¯m going to log out of the game, see Xinran for a bit, eat some food, and catch a good nap¡­" I then looked at the rest of my party and said, "You guys should catch some rest as well. Someone will notify us if our presence is needed. Someone should inform our players to take turns resting as well. Hopefully, we¡¯ll be able to catch between 5 to 7 hours of sleep before the next big battle. No one can fight for 72 hours straight and still be at their best[2]." Li Chengfeng nodded in agreement. "Yes. Prolonged exhaustion can slow down one¡¯s brain, and raise reaction time to between 1 to 3 seconds. If that happens, you won¡¯t be able to defeat a first-rate expert even if you¡¯re Daluo Jinxian. I¡¯ll discuss this with Chaos Moon and make the appropriate arrangements in a moment. Dominating Heaven Blade and his 5 million troops are about to reach Fortress of the Iron Halberd anyway, so we can afford to log out of the game. What do you all say?" I expressed my agreement immediately. "I¡¯m logging out even if you guys tell me not to. I¡¯m about to burst a bladder¡­" Lin Yixin turned red and said, "In that case, I guess I can log out and catch some rest as well. I¡¯ll ask Purple Marquis, Lexi and Shadow Chanel to work a bit harder¡­" I shot her a disdainful look. "You are the leader of Snowy Cathaya and the boss of the Snowy Cathaya workshop, and you won¡¯t even fight together with your comrades? By the way, how much longer are you planning to freeload off us, huh?" Lin Yixin slapped my shoulder. "I do what I want!" Murong Mingyue said, "Everyone in the house is logging out, okay? I¡¯ve already instructed the cooks to prepare dinner. It¡¯ll be ready in about 20 minutes, so you may as well wash yourselves during this time and prepare. It¡¯s already past 9 pm in the real world, and as Lu Chen said, I doubt we will be catching too much sleep tonight. Go go go!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ And so, we teleported to Dark Moon City first, Dawn City next, and then flew straight back to Fortress of the Iron Halberd. At a glance, it looked like the Northern Alliance hadn¡¯t fully expanded their next wave, and there were no real main guilds among them. They were definitely working to chip away at our strength little by little. Well, that wasn¡¯t my business now. Dominating Heaven Blade could hold them back while we catch some rest. I removed my helmet and took a quick bath. I stepped out of the door after drinking some water. The scent of delicious food was already permeating the living hall by the time I arrived. So far, the three cooks we hired had proven to be incredibly reliable. Dinnertime had passed quite some time ago, but they didn¡¯t hesitate to start cooking the moment they received a call from Murong Mingyue. Then again, I doubted that they would harbor many grievances when they were male, and everyone in the house besides me was a gorgeous woman. On a related note, one of the cooks was a famous cook for GGS until He Yi wrenched him free from his previous position and hired him to serve us. My taste buds certainly weren¡¯t complaining at all[3]. Xinran was sitting beside the table and holding a glass of warm water when she saw me. She immediately put the glass down and opened her arms wide at me, saying, "Hug me, big brother¡­" Me: "..." I walked up to her and rubbed her head for a bit. I then inquired about her daily activities, "What have you been doing during the day, Xinran?" She blinked once before answering, "War is happening not too far away from Purple Grape City, and Sophie is quite nervous about it. That is why I spent the whole day keeping her company and protecting her lair from invaders¡­" "Lair?" I asked in a dumbfounded voice. Xinran stuck out her tongue at me and said, "That¡¯s what Sophie calls her city anyway¡­ How is your Nation War, big brother?" I answered, "It¡¯s going okay, I guess. The enemy¡¯s fierce, but we are quite powerful ourselves, so¡­" "Do you need my help, big brother?" Xinran gave her small fist swing with a bright smile on her face. "I¡¯m pretty powerful inside the game, you know? Also, I¡¯ve upgraded the Spirit Piercing Umbrella to a whole new level. Now, Sophie can¡¯t break it even if she hits it 10 times at full power¡­" I clapped my hands in delight as I sat down. "That¡¯s amazing!... is it good enough to stop Lin Na¡¯s attacks though?" Xinran tilted her head cutely and thought hard for a moment. Then, she said, "Big brother, I used to think that Lin Na is incredibly terrifying, but now¡­ he¡¯s still powerful, but he doesn¡¯t feel as scary as before. Why is that?" I shook my head. "I don¡¯t know¡­" She continued, "Sophie told me that it¡¯s because I had entered the Banished Lands and received the baptism of its divine powers. It is why I have grown by leaps and bounds since then. Since Lin Na has never entered the Banished Lands before, and he is still too afraid to risk his own life, I¡­" I patted her head again and said, "That¡¯s very comforting to hear. Make sure you kill him the next time you meet him, okay Xinran?" "..." Xinran looked up at me but didn¡¯t say anything. Suddenly, Beiming Xue interrupted, "Big bro, you shouldn¡¯t pat Xinran¡¯s head too much. It¡¯ll affect her growth¡­" Murong Mingyue stared at Xinran¡¯s chest and said, "Oh, I don¡¯t know about that. They look pretty big to me, and they¡¯re not sagging in the slightest¡­" I nodded in deep agreement. "Your eyes are as piercing as X-ray, sis!" Xinran shot me a confused look and asked, "What is ¡®sagging¡¯, big brother?" I answered, "It¡¯s nothing. All you need to know that yours aren¡¯t saggy at all, and that¡¯s good¡­" Lin Yixin and He Yi abruptly slapped the table and rose to her feet. "And how would you know that? You¡¯ve seen them before, haven¡¯t you?!" Their reaction caused me to tremble like a leaf. "No¡­ no¡­ Let¡¯s get back to dinner, shall we? We need to finish quickly and catch some rest soon. The Nation War needs us, and¡­ uhh¡­" Beiming Xue and Lian Xin wouldn¡¯t stop snickering for a time. ¡­¡­ After we finished dinner, and I had put Xinran to sleep, I returned to my own room and slept like a pig myself. It had been an extremely exhausting day. I was dreaming when my phone suddenly jolted me to wakefulness. It was a phone call from Li Chengfeng, and I had no doubt that it was about the Nation War. 1. T/N: Did he ascend? I don¡¯t remember myself ? 2. T/N: or be alive for that matter. Even streamers get to eat, shit, and piss during their marathons ? 3. E/N: Except you WERE complaining that it¡¯s too spicy because he¡¯s from Beijing. ? CH 1549 My drowsiness was chased away instantly. I abruptly sat up on the bed and answered the call, "Skip the pleasantries and tell me the situation straight away, Chengfeng!" Li Chengfeng answered, "Yeah. The Chaotic 27 have mobilized their troops!" "To attack us, am I right?" "How did you know?" "Because you wouldn¡¯t ring me if they were targeting the Northern Alliance¡­?" Li Chengfeng chuckled. "The Chaotic 27¡¯s army totals around 12 million players and has already passed through Bloody Shield Domain and Eternal Ice Snow Region. They¡¯ll arrive to Wind City in another 5 hours at most. The Northern Alliance is stalling us directly so that the Chaotic 27 can attack it without interruption. They¡¯re seriously going all out to strike a blow against us!" I said, "Let me guess. The reason the Chaotic 27 are helping the Northern Alliance even though they were¡ªare¡ªenemies is because Vienna had offered them a massive payout, right?" "Yep!" Li Chengfeng replied. "You are completely correct. Vienna declared that the Northern Alliance will give them 3 cantons if they are able to raid Wind City successfully. It¡¯s the same tactic he used to tempt Tear Stain into attacking the China server. Somehow, he managed to convince the English server to give up Sunset City to the Koreans." "There are so many complicated ploys in play here¡­" I clenched my fists as I uttered, "Anyway, those mercenary little fucks think they can raid Wind City while we¡¯re busy? We¡¯re going to teach them a lesson they won¡¯t forget!" "Hehe!" Li Chengfeng chuckled again before saying, "You remember Who Will Fight Me[1]? He was the supreme leader of the Chaotic 27 and your friend, and he never agreed with the plan to attack the China server from the start until the end. Literally. The poor guy has been removed from his position, and the number one experts of the other countries are now in charge. Anyway, the first wave of cavalrymen are expected to hit Wind City in 5 hours. What do we do?" "What else? We go online and intercept them!" "Okay!" I hung up and left the room. It was 5 am in the morning, which meant that everyone had had almost 7 hours of sleep. That was enough. I knocked on everyone¡¯s door and woke them up for some soft porridge. ¡­¡­ Twenty minutes later, I logged into the game with a half-full stomach! Swhoosh! After reappearing at Fortress of the Iron Halberd and inspecting myself for a bit, I decided that I was in fine enough condition that there was no need to repair or restock my supplies. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players kept logging into the game all around me, and Gods of Destruction was still battling against the Northern Alliance. I saw Dominating Heaven Blade fighting against the invasion force made up of smaller guilds with his usual cohorts, and players rushing up and down the walls as well. The battle was fierce for sure. "Give us the order, Lu Chen!" High Fighting Spirits licked his lips with a wide grin on his face. "What should we do next? Should we stay and fight, or are we going somewhere else?" I smiled and ordered in the guild channel, "All online Dragonlight Cavalrymen, Dragonlight Archers and Holy Mages, teleport to Wind City now and await further orders!" In Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, my word was basically the law. Although He Yi was the guild leader, everyone knew that her orders would never contradict mine. Therefore, my orders were on the same level as hers[2]. Swhoosh! After teleporting back to Sky City, I stepped through the teleportation formation and selected Wind City! My figure blurred for an instant before I appeared on top of Wind City¡¯s teleportation formation. All around me, large groups of Dragonlight Cavalrymen could be seen moving toward the smithy and potion shop to repair and stock up on supplies. They were working quickly because I had only given them ten minutes to prepare! He Yi walked away from the bustling crowd and toward me. She asked, "Are we going to intercept the Chaotic 27 alone, Lu Chen?" I nodded. "Yep!" "Are you sure we can do this alone?" He Yi looked a bit worried. I shot her a reassuring smile and said, "Absolutely!" "How are you so sure?" "Yeah!" Murong Mingyue chimed in as well. "How are you so sure?" I answered without hesitation, "It¡¯s simple. The Chaotic 27 want their reward so bad that they are trying to blitz Wind City as soon as possible. Therefore, their vanguard is purely composed of fast-moving riders. According to reliable info, their total cavalry count is around 5 million, and they belong to more than 300 guilds. All we need to do is to wipe out these 5 million cavalrymen, and the rest of the army will be too scared to continue any further!" He Yi still looked worried, however. "That¡¯s still 5 million enemies that we have to fight. Can we really do this alone?" "Of course!" I said smilingly. "Inform our core members to gather at the Holy Temple of Wind City for a quick meeting, will you?" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Three minutes later, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen and the rest of our core players were assembled in the Holy Temple. There were about 20 of us in total. I was waiting patiently at the center of the crowd when the last person finally arrived, and the meeting was ready to begin. "So, how are we going to ambush the enemy?" Li Chengfeng asked while scratching his head. "I can do a frontal assault just fine, but I seriously can¡¯t plot strategies or trick the enemy, so tell us the plan already, Lu Chen. Can¡¯t you see the curiosity in my and Little Gui¡¯s eyes? It¡¯s about to burst out of our eyeballs!" I rolled my eyes at them. "Sometimes, I so want to kick both of your asses!" Beiming Xue burst into a giggle. "Seriously though, don¡¯t keep us waiting any longer, big bro!" "Mn!" I waved my hand and shared with everyone Wind City maps that bordered Bloody Shield Domain. I tapped a finger on the three maps I had marked earlier and began, "Take a look. The first map is Burning Plains, the second map is Autumn Forest Trail, and the third map is Falling Goose Valley. We¡¯ll be setting up our ambush in these three maps!" Xu Yang¡¯s eyes widened. "Why Burning Plains though? It¡¯s a plain; how do you set up an ambush with no cover whatsoever?" I grinned. "It¡¯s just the first battle. We¡¯ll be fighting the enemy directly on Burning Plains." Li Chengfeng crossed his arms in front of his chest. "To be honest, I¡¯m pretty confused myself. Even I can tell that the forest beside Bloody Shield Domain is more suitable for ambushes. Why these three maps in particular, Lu Chen?" He Yi looked curious as well. "Yes. Why?" Chaos Moon teased me. "We won¡¯t fight for you if you don¡¯t give us a proper explanation!" I sucked in a deep breath before starting, "It¡¯s simple. I want the first battle to happen on Burning Plains because it is the most advantageous map for our enemies. We¡¯ll let them slaughter us for a bit[3] so that we can lure them into the second map to the right, Forest Autumn Trail. Forest Autumn Trail is an excellent map for ambushes, but we¡¯re still going to pretend to lose after a while and lure them deeper into Falling Goose Valley. This is where we¡¯ll be showing them our true power. If we are successful in luring all 5 million enemy cavalrymen into Falling Goose Valley, then I promise you that not a single one of them will make it out alive. We¡¯ll muster 90% of our currently online players and annihilate the enemy here at Falling Goose Valley. When all is said and done, these self-seeking bastards won¡¯t dare to invade the China server ever again!" "But¡­" He Yi voiced her doubts, "Not everyone in the Chaotic 27 is an idiot. Surely some of them will notice that we¡¯re faking our defeat and keep their allies from entering the trap we set?" "They will. They won¡¯t be able to resist my poisoned candy!" I declared. "Candy? What?" My beautiful guild leader looked utterly confused. I turned toward our second subguild¡¯s leader, Disillusion, and said, "Disillusion, you and your 90k online players will engage the enemy¡¯s 5 million cavalrymen on Burning Plains later. Everyone including yourself must perish in battle!" Disillusion looked shocked. "Lu Chen, what are¡­" I nodded. "You are all my brothers and sisters, so it¡¯s only right that I inform you why exactly I¡¯m sacrificing your guild. Long story short, I need your guild to perish in this battle to achieve the best possible outcome. As compensation, we will reward every man and woman in the second subguild 10,000 gold or 10k RMB when the battle is over!" Disillusion finally realized what I was trying to make his guild do and let out a hearty laugh. "Forget the compensation, man! We¡¯re not cowards, and we definitely aren¡¯t so prideful that we can¡¯t bring ourselves to play the role of bait! As you command, we will fight the enemy until we¡¯re all dead. We also promise to make the enemy pay the blood price for it. Again, I won¡¯t ask you to reward us for performing our duties. All I ask is that you give my guild priority when you train the next 10,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen in the future!" I nodded. "No problem, brother!" ¡­¡­ "Alright, you¡¯ve explained the first part of the plan. What¡¯s next?" Chaos Moon asked. I looked at Xu Yang and asked, "Can you give me a tally of our currently available players?" Xu Yang responded, "Practically everyone from the first to tenth subguilds is online. We also have 150k Dragonlight Cavalrymen, 80k Dragonlight Archers, and about 100k Holy Mages in total. The other classes total up to around 700k players. Overall, we have about 1 million players in total. Do you think that¡¯s enough to annihilate the enemy¡¯s 5 million elite cavalrymen?" "Absolutely!" I nodded strongly before ordering, "Second subguild, you may depart to Burning Plains and prepare to receive the enemy now. I also want 50k Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 50k Dragonlight Archers to set up an ambush at Autumn Forest Trail. As for everyone else, we will be moving to Falling Goose Valley to set up our ambush now. Yes, now. The enemy should reach us in about 7 hours!" Li Chengfeng looked surprised. "Now? You said yourself it¡¯ll be another 7 hours before the enemy arrives at Falling Goose Valley. Isn¡¯t that a bit too early?" "No. It has to be now!" I declared. "Why?" Li Chengfeng voiced his doubts. I took a moment to gather my thoughts before explaining, "I¡¯ve been to Falling Goose Valley before, so I can tell you that the forest is chock-full of geese. If we head over there and set up our defense now, enough time will have passed for the geese to respawn, or stop running about after being startled by our army. When the enemy¡¯s cavalry arrives at Falling Goose Valley, they will see a bunch of startled geese taking to the sky and not think that there¡¯s already someone there. Only then will they feel safe enough to march all 5 million of their cavalrymen into the valley. As you say, our enemies aren¡¯t idiots. We can¡¯t annihilate the enemy if we don¡¯t ensure that our acting is perfect![4]" Li Chengfeng let out a chuckle of realization and said, "Damn, that is a cunning plan befitting the Little Heavenly King¡­" I continued, "All flyers¡ªEve, Little Gui, Beiming, Chengfeng, and Little Xin¡ªwe will be following the second subguild to the Burning Plains and do as much damage as possible to the enemy. We will withdraw right before the second subguild is annihilated and lure the enemy into Autumn Forest Trail!" "Got it. Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ After that, everyone got to work and departed Wind City as quickly as we could. Our main force slipped into the forest of Falling Goose Valley and did their best to remain concealed. I prayed that our plan wouldn¡¯t be leaked to the Chaotic 27. We only accepted players who had passed through a set of stringent requirements, but it was impossible to say that our guild was completely free of spies. 1. T/N: the author certainly doesn¡¯t because the raws say Red Ovenbird. Jesus ? 2. E/N: Technically, if she would never go against you, and you would go against her, that means your orders are at an even higher level¡­ ? 3. E/N: ¡°We¡¯ll let them hold an advantage over the greatest guild in the freaking world, and they won¡¯t suspect a thing. Oh, and did I mention that I will sacrifice people for that, even though I wanted to preserve my forces not long ago? ? 4. T/N: can actually work since the enemy composition is pure cavalrymen ? CH 1550 Burning Plains. The ground of the Burning Plains was ashen, thick steam rising out of the ground. The scorching hot wind blowing against our faces added to the feeling that the map was constantly on fire. Various mobs were roaming the map as a matter of course, but they were nothing the second subguild of Ancient Sword couldn¡¯t handle. We made a quick tally prior to coming to the Burning Plains. Excluding the Dragonlight Cavalrymen, the Dragonlight Archers and the Holy Mages, the second subguild had about 81k players of everything else. They were currently standing behind us in a long line, and they all would be spilling their last drop of blood on this scorching hot land. The Northern Alliance was pushing the China server from the front, and Cyan Earth City from the right. It was imperative that we finish off the Chaotic 27 as soon as possible before they could put us between a rock and a hard place. ¡­¡­ As we waited for the enemy to arrive, Disillusion asked me from atop his Dragonscale Beast, "How should we fight this battle, Lu Chen?" "Grab every advantage you can possibly get." "Mn. You voiced my thoughts." Disillusion chuckled. "At the very least, I want everyone to earn enough Nation War contribution points to increase a level before they die!" I nodded while observing my surroundings. Although the Burning Plains were mostly barren, there were small clumps of shrubbery that were just tall enough to hide a person. I pointed at them and said, "Tell your mages, archers, priests and other non-melee classes to hide over there. We¡¯re going to fight the enemy with pure cavalrymen for a bit before withdrawing to that location and setting up a defense line. There, we¡¯ll rely on our ranged players to deal as much damage to our enemies as possible." "No problem!" About 3 hours of silence later, a halberd-wielding warrior flew over from the horizon and stopped in front of us. He was of course Li Chengfeng. He said, "The first wave of cavalrymen is about 3 to 4 guilds, 1.5 million players strong. I see Brazillians, Argentinians, and South Africans among them. They should arrive in 20 minutes!" I nodded. "Got it. Everyone, apply your buffs and cards and prepare for combat!" Chiang chiang chiang¡­ Every player on the one-kilometer-long battle line unsheathed their weapons and stared at the spot the enemy was expected to emerge from. No one retreated even though this was a battle where they were ordered to fight to their last breath. For a moment, it felt like the air itself had turned solid. Then, ten or so minutes later, the distant noise of thundering hooves grew closer and closer until a huge wave of red-name cavalrymen emerged from the horizon. They were none other than the players of the Chaotic 27. On a side note, they had declared war on our server a while ago. Swhoosh! I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and shouted, "Prepare for battle!" Red hot smoke exited the Dragonscale Beasts¡¯ nostrils as the players raised their weapons. From the opposite side, our battle line probably looked like a long, blood-red river. Aesthetics aside, we certainly intended to wet the soil with the blood of our enemies! ¡­¡­ Several hundred yards away, a Level 255 Argentinian cavalryman narrowed his eyes at us for a second before grabbing the battle axe on his back. Guffawing loudly, he said, "The reception¡¯s here, people! Kakaka, the Chinese truly are a hospitable bunch. Not only did they send someone to receive us, they even sent the best guild of their entire server, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, hahaha! There¡¯s only tens of thousands of them though. Go get them, braves of the Chaotic 27! Tear them to pieces and let them know that we are not to be trifled with!" "Here they come!" The corners of my lips turned up as I said in a low tone, "Don¡¯t get lost in bloodlust when the battle begins. We¡¯re going to fight them for only 5 minutes before withdrawing to our battle line. Magic knights, make sure you use Trapping Nets to delay the enemy¡¯s advance!" Disillusion nodded affirmatively. "Got it, vice leader!" "Let¡¯s go!" I shouted and exploded at the enemy at low altitude. The moment I got close, I concentrated Burning Blade Slash at a single spot and was able to kill nearly a hundred cavalrymen immediately. My skill did almost 10 million total damage per person, and since they rode over in a hurry, far ahead of their ranged and supporting players, their buffs had expired a long time ago. The cards they used only buffed their max HP to 5 million or so, so there was no chance they could¡¯ve survived my attack! "Kill!" Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and more raised their weapons. The elites of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls then charged straight toward the enemies! Both sides agreed that no verbal exchange was necessary. The sounds of clashing blades, blades cutting into flesh, battle cries and painful screams intermingled with each other all too quickly. An instant later, the soil of the Burning Plains was completely dyed in red! Meanwhile, I waited until the timing was right and executed the Xuanyuan Art, removing 70% HP from all enemies! As countless damage numbers rose into the air, I followed up with a dozen or so Ancient Seals that one-shot nearly everyone I struck. It was incredibly fun one-shotting low-health enemies with Ancient Seal! Gui Guzi was riding his giant dragon and casting a skill that caught me by surprise. As it turned out, his Ghostblade Halberd had undergone an evolution sometime during the war, and his Hundred Ghosts Descent had also transformed into Thousand Ghosts Descent. The skill now had an area of effect with a 400-yard diameter. Naturally, the enemy suffered even greater damage! Trapping Nets flew in from every direction and forced Gui Guzi and me to back off temporarily. As if on cue, He Yi stepped up and cut down most of the nets with Stormwind Slash. The feat also enabled a group of Profound Wolf and Thunder Cavalrymen to charge the enemy! ¡­¡­ Five minutes passed by in the blink of an eye. When it was time, I immediately rose my sword and shouted, "Withdraw now!" Our players immediately turned around and galloped away as quickly as they could. Of course, the players of the Chaotic 27 weren¡¯t idiots. They immediately tossed out their Trapping Nets and were able to trap thousands of players. Their only fate was to be cut down by the enemies. Thankfully, about 30k cavalrymen were able to withdraw to the shrubberies where we had hidden our ranged units and set up a defense line. As the Chaotic 27¡¯s cavalrymen continued to charge us, Disillusion raised his weapon and shouted, "It¡¯s time! Far Shot your attacks and kill as many enemies as you can!" A large number of players stepped out of the shrubberies and filled the ears with the sound of bow twangs, chanting and whistling[1]. The bards and tacticians also refreshed the buffs on our frontliners. ¡­¡­ "Ambush! We shouldn¡¯t charge further, Crimson Pillar!" an Argentinian player shouted. Unfortunately, his guild leader had given into his bloodlust that completely overtook his rationality. "So what? They only have 100k players at most! Are you telling me we can¡¯t overrun them with 6 million cavalrymen? Unless you want to bring shame to our Black Earth City, charge them with everything you''ve got! Kill every Chinese player who dares to stand in your way! The time to earn Nation War contribution points is now!" "Hold!" My order was very simple. "Focus-fire the enemy with 3 to 5 Barrier Breaks. They have no buffs or heals, so they aren¡¯t as threatening as they look!" Everyone held their breaths. Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and He Yi were already charging the enemy and causing as much chaos as possible to minimize the inevitable impact on the battle line. As for me, I simply cast the Death skill of Xuanyuan Art again to reduce HP of all enemies within 1,000 yards of me by 70%. Cavalrymen¡¯s HP-recovery abilities were much poorer compared to the other classes[2]. They could only rely on their passive regeneration, shitty health recovery skills, and health potions to recover their HP. As a result, most of them dropped in a single hit or two after the Xuanyuan Art had removed 70% of their HP! Thud thud thud¡­ Arrows rained atop the enemy and killed countless. It almost seemed like everyone we fought had low health because the Xuanyuan Art had affected around 50k enemies in one cast! Equipment and potions stacked on the frontline like crazy as the players of the Chaotic 27 kept dying. However, the enemy far outnumbered us, and it was only a matter of time before we were overrun. Even with healing, our Profound Wolf Cavalrymen and Thunder Cavalrymen were dying at an incredible rate as well. Even with Beiming Xue and Lian Xin giving it their all and racking in a ton of Nation War contribution points from the sky, it still wasn¡¯t enough to stop the second subguild¡¯s formation from collapsing! Finally, when the number of enemy cavalrymen grew to 2 million or so, the second subguild¡¯s defense line finally collapsed completely! ¡­¡­ Disillusion looked at us and shouted, "We can¡¯t hold them back any longer, boss! Pull back while we cover your retreat!" I nodded and said, "Chengfeng, Eve, let¡¯s go. We¡¯ll attack as we withdraw!" As I fought my way to the back, I watched as Disillusion and the second subguild players were being overwhelmed by the Chaotic 27¡¯s cavalrymen. Despite this, they fought with everything they had and not a word of complaint reached our ears. Boom! Trapping Nets nipped on my heels as I continued to retreat. The Chaotic 27¡¯s strategy was simple but effective. Their plan was to immobilize our players indefinitely with Trapping Nets and skewer them with Barrier Breaks until they died. Many of our melee players had died this way. Around 40 minutes later, there were less than a thousand Ancient Sword players left on the battlefield. I waved my sword and said, "Withdraw now! Those who are still alive, withdraw with me now!" Pa! Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and everyone else who could fly joined me as I took to the sky. I watched as hundreds of Profound Wolf Cavalrymen kept the enemy at bay as best they could while withdrawing into Autumn Forest Trail. The enemy cavalrymen kept pushing despite having lost 500k players in the battle. I counted at least 2 million people chasing after our people like an unstoppable tidal wave. "Boss, we need to stop! There might be an ambush!" Many Chaotic 27 players shouted similar warnings, but as I had mentioned before, the tidal wave of flesh was unstoppable. Even though they knew that there might be a trap ahead of them, the over-two-million cavalry troop at the back could only chase after their 2 million allies at the front. It felt almost unbelievable that our several hundred Profound Wolf Cavalrymen were dragging around a tail of over 4 million enemies. ¡­¡­ In the guild channel, I said slowly, "Chaos Moon, Fighting Spirits, Little Rain, Little Diamond, careful now. The Chaotic 27¡¯s cavalrymen are entering Autumn Forest Trail right now. Engage the enemy once they¡¯re inside. The Dragonlight Cavalry will withdraw after 30 minutes, and the Dragonlight Archers will provide cover via hit-and-run tactics. Once we¡¯ve lured all 5 million cavalrymen into Falling Goose Valley, plug every exit and start shooting the fish in the barrel. Don¡¯t let a single one of them escape alive! After the enemy has fully entered the valley, I want the Dragonlight Cavalry to split into 150,000-man parties and carve up their entire formation as quickly as you can. I want all of them to be stuck in the combat state and so that none of them can teleport back to the city! Holy Mages, you know what to do. Wipe them all out with your spells!" Chaos Moon replied, "Understood, sir. By the way, where are you right now?" "In the sky. Now, carry out my orders!" "Will do!" Ten minutes later, I unsheathed my sword and ordered, "Attack!" Battle cries filled Autumn Forest Trail as 100k elites broke out of their hiding spots and engaged the Chaotic 27. The Dragonlight Cavalry was far stronger than the Profound Wolf Cavalry or the Thunder Cavalry because their Attack and Defense were increased by 50% thanks to Dragon Soul, and because some of them were buffed by Lu Buyi¡¯s Purple Dragon. The enemy were incapable of piercing their Defense at all! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I dropped from the sky and shattered a ring of people with War Crush. Then, I cast the Xuanyuan Art and slapped down a row of Ancient Seals. He Yi, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and more were swooping down from the sky and executing their own combos as well. Once again, we had fully engaged the enemy! Just ten minutes later, Chaos Moon yelled, "Retreat back to Falling Goose Valley! They¡¯re too strong!" 1. T/N: tamers whistle when they summon apparently ? 2. E/N: We don¡¯t know either. I have no clue what other classes even have HP regen. Mages? Archers? Assassins? Nope. But clearly cavalrymen who actually have these skills have poorer recovery than other classes. We don¡¯t know. ? CH 1551 Falling Goose Valley was situated between Burning Plains and Wind Forest. Burning Plains were an extremely hot map, but Wind Forest was the complete opposite. Perhaps that was why Falling Goose Valley turned out to be a moderately warm map that a lot of birds loved to inhabit. Bird nests could be seen all over the forest, but it was a surprisingly quiet and peaceful place. "Withdraw quickly!" Chaos Moon yelled while heading first into Falling Goose Valley. The Dragonlight Cavalrymen followed closely behind her, and the Dragonlight Archers Far Shot their attacks at the enemy while withdrawing. ¡­¡­ Right now, Forest Autumn Trail was filled with a cacophony of thundering noises because millions of Chaotic 27 cavalrymen were galloping through it. Leading at the forefront were five Level 255 guild leaders. Despite hailing from different countries, they all shared the same Chaotic 27 nation emblem. A middle-aged man wielding a halberd sneered. "The Chinese have withdrawn into Falling Goose Valley, and its terrain is perfect to set up an ambush. This is a trap. It would explain why they¡¯ve crumbled so easily despite being the number one guild of China!" A young sword-wielding guild leader raised an eyebrow and snorted. "Banana Leaf, you are a leader of the Chaotic 27 and one of the ten guild leaders who are currently responsible for leading our main blob, so why are you so timid? Even if Ancient Sword is strong, they are just one guild against our 6 million cavalrymen. Do you really think we cannot beat them?" "I don¡¯t think it¡¯s safe either¡­" Not far away, a dark-skinned knightress said with a frown, "They have 3 divine players¡ªBroken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Legendary Brave, and Lian Xing¡ªand yet they had withdrawn almost too quickly during the previous battles. It¡¯s obvious that this is a trap!" "Not necessarily, no!" A young magic knight with a spear chose this moment to step forward and point at the valley entrance. "My five guild leaders, you currently command 3 million cavalrymen and 5 million other classes, right? If you noticed, geese were startled into flight everywhere when Ancient Sword¡¯s men entered the valley. This can only mean one thing¡­" "Mean what?" The knightress stared at him. The magic knight chuckled. "It means that the Chinese can¡¯t have set up an ambush here, or the geese would¡¯ve been startled a long time ago. Now that your fears are assuaged, allow me to remind you that we must pass through this place if we are to invade deeper into China territory. Also, we are millions of players strong. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s a bit too cowardly to be stalled here by some imaginary fear[1]?" The sword-wielding guild leader looked up and laughed. "There are countless leaders in the entire Chaotic 27, and yet not one of you is as bold or smart as this young man right here. What a joke! Anyway, feel free to stay behind if you want. We Filipinos are going with or without you!" He then raised his sword and shouted, "Let¡¯s go! We will pass through Falling Goose Valley at top speed and raid Wind City before the Chinese can react!" With one guild charging, the snowball followed. Countless players followed him regardless of whether the decision was wise or not.[2] "Sigh¡­" The middle-aged player let out a sigh. "I still don¡¯t think it¡¯s wise, but it¡¯s true that we¡¯ve agreed to cooperate with each other. I won¡¯t be the one to disrupt that unity. Plus, I don¡¯t think even Ancient Sword has the ability to swallow our 6 million cavalrymen[3]! Let¡¯s go! Cut through Falling Goose Valley and shatter the Chinese¡¯s courage! Show them our power by claiming their fertile soil as ours, hehe!" The words "fertile soil" nearly caused everyone present to salivate. They immediately spurred their mounts forward and charged through the valley entrance. Hundreds of thousands of players were through in just the blink of an eye, and at a glance it seemed like the stream of players would never end! Falling Goose Valley was shaped like a bottle gourd, so it was fairly spacious at the center. Some Chaotic 27 players actually chose to rest temporarily at the center clearings while their allies continued to flood in. ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before the quiet tranquility within the valley was completely shattered by the noise of men. It was irritating to say the least. Some distance away, I watched the enemy cavalry in silence from atop a peach tree branch. Li Chengfeng looked at me and asked, "Should we attack now, Lu Chen? At least 2 million people have entered the valley already. If we don¡¯t attack now, their vanguard may exit the valley first¡­" However, I shook my head and said, "Patience. If we don¡¯t destroy them all in one go, they will continue to be a threat in this Nation War. Since the Chaotic 27 have made up their minds to stick to the Northern Alliance until the end, we must take them out like Qin took out Wei during the The Battle of Shaoliang. We¡¯ll crush them so hard that the memory will haunt them not just for this Nation War, but for the decades to come. Only then can we truly prevent them from ambushing when we fought against the Northern Alliance." Li Chengfeng nodded. "Alright, we¡¯ll wait!" I smiled. "Can¡¯t catch a big fish if you¡¯re not willing to use a long line, man!" It was at this moment a smiling Lian Xin flew down from the sky and said, "Look, another five guild leaders have entered the valley. I know their status because their IDs are all gold in color¡­" He Yi chuckled. "Wonderful. All ten guild leaders are finally present for the slaughter. In fact, these ten people seem like the new persons-in-charge the Chaotic 27 have chosen to lead them. Poor Who Will Fight Me, hmph. To think that they would strip their own best expert of his authority. The Chaotic 27 truly deserve their name[4]." I clenched my fists and said, "That¡¯s perfect. Kill them all, and our dear friend Who Will Fight Me will surely regain his power! Send out the word to wait for my signal to start the operation 20 minutes later. All Dragonlight Cavalrymen are to be buffed with tactician and bard buffs, and the Holy Mages are to pressure the enemy slowly. Today, we¡¯re going to annihilate their 5 million buffless cavalrymen with our fully-buffed army! Also, remember that the Dragonlight Cavalrymen are to carve up the enemy¡¯s formation as 150,000-man parties. Scatter them all and give them no chance to escape!" The air was pretty humid, so there was sweat on High Fighting Spirits¡¯ face even though the battle hadn¡¯t begun yet. He let out an honest chuckle and said, "Finally. I love fighting battles where my side has inferior numbers!" Chaos Moon teased him, "That¡¯s only because you¡¯re serving under a wise general like Lu Chen. Otherwise, I seriously doubt you would like it. If Warsky was the one commanding this battle, he one hundred percent would¡¯ve ordered to attack the enemy on the Burning Plains. We would still win, but it would be one that cost most of our players. This is the difference between Lu Chen and the likes of Warsky and Candlelight Shadow, and¡­" She added with a blush, "That''s why I like him so much¡­" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun shuddered. "I cannot believe you¡¯re saying this right before the guild leader. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if you lost your corps commander status by the end of the day¡­" He Yi pressed a hand on the Snow Crystal Dragon¡¯s head and said indifferently, "Relax, I couldn¡¯t lower myself to abuse my power for personal benefit even if I tried. Anyway, go get the buffs applied now. We need to reduce our casualties as much as possible since we still have a battle to fight at Fortress of the Iron Halberd." "Yes, guild leader!" ¡­¡­ Time passed bit by bit. Everyone was so nervous that the atmosphere felt stifling. This time, I chose to form a party of my own and buffed everyone¡¯s Attack by 200% with Martial God. The Famous General Skill was very suited for an annihilation battle like this. Our troops were hidden along the edges of the valley. All we needed to do was to charge forward, and the enemy was sure to panic and make this battle even easier. Even if they somehow kept their cool, each one of our players was still worth ten of theirs. This wouldn¡¯t be as difficult as it looked. Twenty minutes passed in the blink of an eye. The stream of players flooding into the valley from Forest Autumn Trail had finally trickled down to almost nothing, and over 5 million Chaotic 27 cavalrymen had entered our encirclement. Chiang! I unsheathed my sword in one ringing motion and shouted, "Now is the time! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, attack!" Battle cries erupted from all over the edges of the valley as my players rushed out of their hiding spots and climbed up their mounts. Then, they began charging down the slopes from every direction! "Shit!" A couple of guild leaders turned pale immediately. "It¡¯s a trap! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls intends to ambush us here!" The young warrior unsheathed his sword and shouted, "There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of! We can crush any ambush with 6 million cavalrymen! Counterattack and destroy the enemy! We¡¯ll tear their legend down, and create a legend of our own!" ¡­¡­ Fully-buffed Dragonlight Cavalrymen galloped toward the enemy in one-thousand-man parties[5]. Because they had taken off from the mountain slopes, the increased movement speed made them look like a knife speeding straight for the enemy¡¯s jugular. Leading at the forefront of the charge was of course me, Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and the rest of our core players. We were the tip of the proverbial knife, and it was our job to punch through the enemy¡¯s shield formation as soon as possible. Otherwise, the cavalry charge could potentially be slowed to a halt, and this battle would become much more difficult than it should be. Bang bang bang¡­ On the Chaotic 27¡¯s side, giant shields were dropped on the rocky ground of Falling Goose Valley as a guild leader shouted, "Stop them! Bury these cunning bastards in the graves they dug!" Swhoosh! In response, I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and fired Burning Blade Slash straight at them. The fiery skill cut right through a row of shielders and dealt basic hits, critical hits and even sextuple-damage hits. All in all, each shielder lost at least ten million HP from the single skill, stunning the delusional players of the Chaotic 27 into speechlessness. Not a single cavalryman who was struck by my skill survived the attack! Flying at a low altitude, I fired Thousand Ice Slash next at the center of the enemy¡¯s square formation. Then, I led the thousand-man party behind me straight toward them! "Stop him! Stop that WEL champion! Trapping Nets, Charge, anything, JUST STOP HIM!" The enemy commander was clearly panicking and not in the best state of mind. Otherwise, he would¡¯ve realized that the standard Trapping Net rain was almost useless against me. I started zigzagging left and right in an unpredictable fashion to dodge the Trapping Nets and Charges. After diving several hundred meters behind the enemy lines though, I skidded to an abrupt stop! Unlike the shielders I had killed up until this point, the ones before me were golden in color. I wasn¡¯t expecting to see the Gold Cavalry here! There were about a thousand of them. The Gold City hadn¡¯t spawned in the Chaotic 27¡¯s territories, so I had no doubt that these were borrowed troops from Hero Alliance. Right now, they were trying to impede my way. "Stop him!" a Level 255 knight shouted. I smiled and turned the Death side of my blade upward. Xuanyuan Art! Countless columns of bloody light rained from the sky and removed 70% HP from all enemies within 1,000 yards of me. The Gold Cavalrymen instantly shuddered with terror! "Kill!" I charged toward them and cut them down without any mercy whatsoever. 1. T/N: can¡¯t send a scout either since they¡¯ll just be killed at the entrance. HOWEveR, since they¡¯re going to enter en masse anyway, they could¡¯ve checked the sides with their until they discover ASDS¡¯ hidden army, which I¡¯m totally sure they¡¯re going to do ? 2. E/N: Unfortunately, regardless of the call, moving united is better than hesitating. Even if the call is shit, it¡¯s better to follow it wholeheartedly than hesitate and keep losing players questioning orders. ? 3. T/N: you realize it¡¯s dwindled to just 4 million, right? ? 4. T/N: considering what happened to Lu Chen, truly a pot says kettle black moment ? 5. E/N: They are moving in troops of 150,000, but individual parties (that are actually sharing stratagem of the leader) are 1k I guess ? CH 1552 A row of pitch black shields split in half to the Xuanyuan Sword. It was thanks to its Mountain Crush property. The Gold Cavalrymen tried to escape after seeing my power, but, of course, their efforts were futile. I dropped seven or eight Ancient Seals before throwing the Xuanyuan Sword. Coiling Dragon Revolution cut right through the chests of the low health magic knights and killed them all! ¡­¡­ On the horizon, Li Chengfeng was flying at a low altitude and striking down everyone near him with the Cyan Peak Halberd. No one he targeted managed to survive his Reverse Scale Slash, Dragonbone Flurry, Dragonblade Revolution or other skills. Every time he landed on the ground, an empty zone several hundred meters wide in radius would appear. The enemies had suffered one too many times from his Dragonblade Revolution already. On the other side, High Fighting Spirits spun the Sun madly and transformed into a flaming hurricane. Tangible effects aside, Xiezhi Howl had always had impressive visual and audio effects. When the time was right, he unleashed his Ancient Divine Skill, Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance and penetrated three lines of shielders in one go. Roaring, he and the one thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen he was leading broke through the enemy encirclement despite enemies¡¯ best attempts to pin him down. Boom! Chaos Moon¡¯s Rock Crush and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s Rock Smash exploded among an enemy group together. Gui Guzi and He Yi were riding their giant dragons and providing cover for the players below them. This meant that Chaotic 27 players¡¯ had to watch out for not just the ground attacks of the Dragonlight Cavalry, but also the aerial attacks of our dragon knights. They were suffering to say the least. One player was floating about a hundred meters above ground and raining hell upon the enemies. She was none other than Beiming Xue. She was untouchable by the enemy because she was too high up for the magic knights¡¯ Trapping Nets to reach her. Not only that, her attack power was increased by 25% at least due to the height advantage, and the Xuanming Bow made even AoE skills like Skypiercer and Evil Spirit Volley deal over one million damage per hit. The occasional Xuanming Flames were just the icing on the cake. Even better, our one and only divine mage, Lian Xin was dropping Sea of Flames wherever she went and killing dozens every time she cast a Dimensional Storm, God Devil Break or more. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that she single-handedly overturned the invaders¡¯ common sense regarding mages. They had never encountered a mage who could wade through a sea of fighters like they didn¡¯t exist and crush them all! Even our tactician, Lu Buyi was sweeping the enemy with Dragon Vein Art. If he got injured, he would immediately heal himself with a healing spell. The Tactician class¡¯s excellent self-sufficiency was a good reason to play the class. ¡­¡­ "Roar roar¡­" Suddenly, a couple of draconic roars erupted from the middle of the 5 million cavalrymen. Then, seven gigantic shadows rose into the air before flying straight for our players. They were the Chaotic 27¡¯s dragon knights! I knew that the ten guild leaders weren¡¯t the strongest players in their midst, but I wasn¡¯t expecting seven dragon knights! I had no doubt that this was their trump card! "Kill the despicable ambushers, dragon knights!" A couple of sword auras descended from the sky and killed a dozen or so low-health Dragonlight Cavalrymen instantly. A dragon knight¡¯s Attack was far higher than a standard player¡¯s as a matter of course. Chaos Moon urged, "Those dragon knights have to be their trump card! We need to take them out as soon as possible!" I nodded before ordering, "All players who think they¡¯re sufficiently capable, take out these seven dragon knights as quickly as you can!" I was already flying toward the dragon knights before I even finished giving the order. A couple of magic knights tried to hit me with Barrier Breaks before I took off, but they were way too lte. ¡­¡­ I didn¡¯t attempt to hide my aim. I flew straight toward the ghost dragon knight closest to me and channeled Universe Break. One dragon at a time! "Heh!" The dragon knight let out a snort. He was clearly confident in his skills because he abruptly removed his shield and swung his dragon spear at me. I wasn¡¯t saying that he was bad, but did he seriously think he could parry my Universe Break? "Stupid!" I shouted as I moved my sword 5 cm lower right before it would make contact with the spear. At the same time, I grabbed my sword with both hands to exert even more strength into the blow. Parry shatter! Pu! The dragon knight could only watch in horror as my Universe Break broke through his spear, pierced through his neck, and dealt a shocking amount of damage¡ª 17,835,041! The septuple damage effect of my sword triggered, so the unfortunate fellow had no choice but to be one-shot! I kicked off the dragon knight¡¯s body right before he and his ghost dragon disappeared and shot toward the green dragon knight behind him. When I was close enough, I swung my sword three times in quick succession¡ªBurning Blade Slash! "Dammit!" The green dragon knight was caught off-guard because he was busy attacking the Dragonlight Cavalrymen below him. He hurriedly raised his shield to block the attack, but of course it wasn¡¯t nearly enough¡ª 1,817,773! 2,281,871! 2,721,662! To my surprise, the dragon knight actually survived my skill[1]. He must have a lot of HP! Still, it simply meant that I had to put in a little more effort. I swung my blade across the green dragon knight¡¯s head. The guy was expecting another damage number, but a MISS rose from his head instead. "Huh? MISS? But how? I couldn¡¯t have possibly dodged the attack of China¡¯s number one¡¯s player, could I?" That was as far as I allowed him to indulge in his delusion before tossing my sword at him using Coiling Dragon Revolution. Puchi! The Xuanyuan Sword opened a huge hole in his back and dealt an absolutely ridiculous amount of damage. Pardon + Coiling Dragon Revolution was already a pretty sick combo, but since I triggered the sword¡¯s septuple damage effect the final damage number was¡ª 26,219,823! ¡­¡­ That was another one biting the dust. The dragon knight dropped a couple of pieces of equipment, but I paid them no heed because another green dragon knight was attacking me from my right flank. He raised his halberd and stabbed me four times! The invisible shield that was Unusual Physique protecting my body, I turned around and blocked all four attacks with the Dihai Shield. The damage numbers were¡ª 487,874! 486,553! 492,837! 426,736! The attacker¡¯s pupils shrank visibly. "What the hell is this Defense!? My Dragonblade Flurry should have dealt a lot more damage than this! God, he has at least 20 million HP, at this rate¡­" My figure blurred, and I appeared above the green dragon knight. While overlooking him from above, I said disdainfully, "I hope you don¡¯t think that being a dragon knight makes you almighty. What a childish notion¡­" I used my Domain to propel myself and exploded toward the green dragon knight like a lightning bolt. Then, I reversed the grip of my sword and struck his shoulder with all my might. I was in a mounted state even though I wasn¡¯t riding a mount, so my Strength was far higher than the green dragon knight¡¯s. As a result, he could only plunge uncontrollably toward the ground. "Ah¡­" Both man and dragon struck the ground like a meteor and crushed many unfortunate cavalrymen who happened to be in the way. A short distance away, High Fighting Spirits let out a cackle. "Kaka, Lu Chen beat the fucker out of the sky! Kill him!" A group of Dragonlight Cavalrymen immediately surrounded the green dragon knight and hacked away like crazy. While High Fighting Spirits was executing a devastating Xiezhi Howl + Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance combo, our two beautiful Knight Generals, Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust, galloped over and cast their Ancient Divine Skills at the same time. The Tiger Wing Slash + Dog God Slash combo easily tore the dragon knights to shreds! ¡­¡­ The players of Chaotic 27 couldn¡¯t believe that they had lost three dragon knights in scarcely a minute. They probably thought that seven dragon knights would be enough to bring them hope or even turn the tides against us, but reality was a cruel mistress. They were practically pathetic before the power of our divine players. At the distance, He Yi was wrecking a dragon knight herself with Stormwind Slash + Stormwind Break combo. Death Combo from Gui Guzi later, the dragon knight drooped his head and died. Li Chengfeng was fighting two dragon knights on his own and seemingly enjoying the time of his life. I was about to lend him a helping hand when he shouted, "Stay out of this, Lu Chen! I¡¯m going to take them out myself! I¡¯ll hate you forever if you interfere, you hear me¡­" I shrugged. "Just don¡¯t die again, man. Now that I think about it, there hasn¡¯t been a single Nation War where you survived until the end¡­" Li Chengfeng laughed. "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll definitely outlive you in this Nation War!" Meanwhile, a red dragon knight was trying to chase down Beiming Xue to no avail. Every time it looked like he was about to catch up, he would catch a faceful of CC skills such as Shock Arrows or Mountain Stagger Arrows. As a result, his HP kept dropping, but Beiming Xue was completely unharmed! He erupted, "I¡¯m going to kill you, you damned woman!" Beiming Xue simply let out a cold snort, flew higher into the sky, and pepper him some more with Mountain Stagger Arrows! Thud thud thud¡­ The red dragon knight¡¯s complexion turned greenish. Despite his best efforts, he couldn¡¯t stop his mount tenacity from falling rapidly. In the end, his giant dragon abruptly vanished his feet, and he started freefalling toward the ground. "Heehee!" Beiming Xue let out a giggle as she descended toward the now-dragonless knight. To his surprise, she pulled out a dagger from her waist and slashed him in the neck for 270k damage¡­ The dragon knight died. Even in death, he couldn¡¯t believe that he, a powerful dragon knight, had been slashed to death by a female archer. It was a shameful death to say the least! ¡­¡­ Again, the red dragon knight dropped a couple of pieces of equipment. I was sure that their equipment was excellent since they were dragon knights, but there were more pressing issues to deal with, namely carving up the enemies. Our foes¡¯ number advantage was real after all. If we couldn¡¯t suppress them to the point where they couldn¡¯t even organize a countercharge, the battle would become harder than expected. Thankfully, our Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers were doing exactly that. It was like watching an endless wave of carpet bombing as they mowed down group after group of enemies with their arrows and spells. Since the enemy cavalrymen were only buffed by cards and stratagems, they simply didn¡¯t possess the tankiness to withstand this level of damage. ¡­¡­ Everyone who wasn¡¯t our enemy was having a good time when suddenly, a system announcement caught our attention. Someone had ascended to become a god, and the female player was surprisingly one of ours! Ding! System Announcement: Player "Murong Mingyue" (China) has the highest contribution of all priests in this Nation War. They have triggered a hidden condition to ascension and become a Law Divine Throne Guardian! They have obtained: "Unusual Physique", "Flight", "Kiss of the Goddess of Life", and "Mount Armor Transformation"! 1. T/N: who was the guy who said that the days of one-shotting a fellow cavalryman are the distant past? You ? CH 1553 "Sis ascended?" I felt a little dumbfounded, to be honest. Who would¡¯ve thought that a priest of all classes would ascend before the first-rate experts like He Yi, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, Purple Marquis and more? Not far away from my position and sitting atop He Yi¡¯s Snow Crystal Dragon, Murong Mingyue grinned widely as her body glowed with the transparent shield of Unusual Physique. After leaping off the mount and flying around in a circle, she declared with a proud smile on her face, "Now I can call myself a strong player!" Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and the other girls hurriedly congratulated her, "Congratulations, Sister Mingyue!" He Yi nodded in approval as well. "Hehe, not bad!" ¡­¡­ I asked, "The important question is¡­ how does your new skill work, sis? We all know how Unusual Physique, Flight and Mount Armor Transformation work, but what is this Kiss of the Goddess of Life?" She looked down at the window only she could see for a second before answering, "Oh¡­ hmm¡­ it¡¯s a skill that sacrifices 20% of my MP to instantly heal a target to full health. It has a cooldown of 120 seconds¡­" "God damn¡­" Our jaws nearly hit the ground when we heard this. All players with over ten million HP would understand exactly how powerful this Kiss of the Goddess of Life was. For example, I currently sat at 25 million HP with full buffs, so most health potions heals weren¡¯t worth a damn. However, this Kiss of the Goddess of Life would restore 100% HP to me no matter what my max HP was. It was without a doubt the best healing spell to date! I said happily, "Let¡¯s grind the S7 instance when this Nation War is over, sis. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll clear it easy peasy!" Murong Mingyue agreed, "Of course!" It was at this moment Chaos Moon looked up at us and said, "My glorious leaders, please be reminded that we are in the middle of a battle right now. Can we chat after we¡¯ve annihilated these Chaotic 27 players?" "Sure¡­" ¡­¡­ Murong Mingyue¡¯s healing abilities skyrocketed visibly after she ascended to become a god. Thanks to her casting her new Kiss of the Goddess of Life every 120 seconds, powerful fighters like me, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and more could almost fight on the frontline at all times. Out of all of us, the one player who benefited the most from her spell was without a doubt High Fighting Spirits. The guy possessed incredible offensive power¡ªhis Xiezhi Howl + Xing Tian¡¯s Defiance combo was particularly devastating¡ªbut he wasn¡¯t tanky at all. Even with his lifesteal, it usually took just a couple of skill rotations from the archers and mages and concentrated fire from a couple melee experts to drop him to low health. That was no longer the case with Murong Mingyue¡¯s healing. Now, he almost never had to withdraw from the frontlines to allow the priests to heal him to full. "Take out those two guild leaders over there!" Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi immediately carried out He Yi¡¯s orders by catching the two guild leaders in a pincer attack. The latter turned green in the face after eating a Death Combo + Dragonbone Flurry combo and dropping to low health. "Dammit! How can this be? We may have been ambushed by the enemy, but we are also 6 million elite cavalrymen strong! It makes no sense that a single Chinese guild can beat us![1]" Behind them, a group of cavalrymen screeched in despair, "We can¡¯t hold them back any longer, guild leader! Our composition is completely countered, and we are unable to pierce through their shield formation at all. What do we do!?" "What do we do?" a dark-skinned, sweat-drenched guild leader muttered to himself before shouting, "Let¡¯s focus on the threat directly in front of us first! Someone, pin down these two fuckers with Trapping Nets! Third guild leader, dispatch a troop of Gold Cavalrymen to carve us a retreat path! I don¡¯t know where these cunning and despicable Chinese got their mages, but our players are dropping like flies to their spells! We need to get the hell out of this trap before it¡¯s too late!" "Gulp¡­" The third guild leader downed a health potion to heal himself, but Li Chengfeng easily deleted his recovered HP and more in two slashes. After he caught his footing, he responded anxiously, "It¡¯s already too late! I just received word that Ancient Sword has sealed the exit with 10k Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 5k Holy Mages! So far, everyone who tried to escape through there had been gunned down like fish in a barrel! Worse, their team composition is complete, their magic knights are buffed, and they have priests to heal away all the damage! It¡¯s a horrible mistake coming here without our full army!" "God!" The dark-skinned guild leader swung his axe at an enemy before roaring, "In that case, tell everyone to use their return scrolls if they can! There¡¯s no need for all of us to die here!" The third guild leader lamented, "It¡¯s no use¡­ the cunning bastards have ordered their cavalrymen to punch through our formation from every direction, and there¡¯s practically no one who isn¡¯t stuck in the combat state¡­ Also, our 7 dragon knights barely got to take flight before they were killed by the enemy¡¯s dozens of divine players¡­" "What the hell are you talking about? They don¡¯t have dozens of divine players! More importantly, what do we tell the Northern Alliance later? There¡¯s no way Vienna will give us those cantons if they hear of our failure!" The third guild leader steeled his resolve and said, "Shit! This is what we¡¯re going to tell Vienna when we get back. We were ambushed by the Chinese at Falling Goose Valley with 50 million players. Not only did they bring 8 ascended players and 19 Ancient Divine Skill owners to the battlefield, they even bombarded us with 100k catapults and 7k White Marsh Catapults, AND they triggered 7 NPC main legions to attack us. Despite this, we killed over 10 million people and didn¡¯t stop fighting until the last man. Understand?" The dark-skinned guild leader shuddered. "Yes, I understand¡­" ¡­¡­ A beautiful warrioress suddenly entered the scene with a mighty shout. Before they could react, she struck the third guild leader¡¯s neck with her Ancient Divine Skill, Greedy Wolf Howl! "Ah!!" The third guild leader let out a bloodcurdling scream as he fell from his mount. The blow had nearly sent his head flying off his shoulder[2] and caused 3 pieces of equipment to drop from his body. Finally, Greedy Wolf Howl had stolen 10% of the gold he was currently carrying, and the amount, evident from the golden number rising from Chaos Moon¡¯s head, was¡ª +119,887! Li Chengfeng guffawed when he saw this. "Holy shit, Chaos Moon stole 120k gold from the enemy! Jackpot! Who said that the players from the barren lands were poor again? That¡¯s clearly and evidently false! Look, this guy had over a million gold on him! They are all that rich I bet!!" Gui Guzi let out a battle cry as he stabbed the dark-skinned guild leader in the stomach. He died and dropped a golden shield when Gui Guzi swung his halberd sideways and physically hauled him off his mount. At this point, it was clear that we were going to win this battle despite our fewer numbers. The equipment these 6 million cavalrymen dropped would be ours as well. I expected our players to improve by around 5% after they had replaced their equipment with better ones. After all, the barren lands weren¡¯t completely devoid of experts, not to mention that some of them had received gifts from the Northern Alliance. Of course, that only made the victory sweeter! ¡­¡­ I rose up to the sky until I was a couple hundred meters above ground. There, I observed the entire battlefield and helped out my troops as best I could. Every time the Chaotic 27 rallied over a thousand players and readied themselves to launch a counterattack, I would immediately treat them to a tasty Summon the Storm + Ancient Seal combo. My 6-minute-cooldown Xuanyuan Art was even deadlier as a matter of course. The battlefield was jam-packed with people, so I could affect tens of thousands of enemies with a single cast. It was practically a death sentence to these priestless cavalrymen. Almost 5 hours of fighting later, the battle finally approached the end! Cold wind carrying the thick stench of blood blew strongly inside the valley. The ground was positively littered with bodies, equipment, potions and other items. Near 5.5 million Chaotic 27 players had entered the valley, but less than 10%¡ªmaybe not even 5%¡ªmanaged to teleport back to the city. Our 1 million elites were just that strong. While stepping over a stack of potions, I said, "Get looting, people. Chaos Moon, give me a casualty report." Chaos Moon nodded and typed over a hologram keyboard for a bit. Very soon, she looked up from her screen and said, "In the past 7 hours, both our main and subguilds have killed around 5.7 million enemies. We¡¯ve lost around 300k players, but the large majority of them were mages, archers, tamers and other classes[3]. We¡¯ve lost over 5,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and over 7,000 Dragonlight Archers and Holy Mages combined[4]. This absolutely counts as a great victory from a position of vast number disadvantage!" I nodded in agreement. He Yi said, "Although it is a great victory, we still lost about 30% of our forces¡­" "Sure, but considering that we annihilated 5.7 million enemies in total, that¡¯s a stunningly small price to pay¡­" Li Chengfeng chuckled. I also chuckled. "It¡¯s a war. Our enemies will also weaken with time. Little Gui, can you ask around and tell me how the battles at Fortress of the Iron Halberd and Swallow Ear Canton are going?" Gui Guzi replied solemnly, "Not very well, to be honest. The Northern Alliance launched 3 assaults against Fortress of the Iron Halberd in the past 7 hours, and decreased Dominating Heaven Blade¡¯s 5-million army to less than 2 million. The walls are fairly damaged as well. However, they should be able to hold their ground as long as the truly powerful guilds such as Hero Alliance don¡¯t show up. The situation at Swallow Ear Canton is even more complicated. Breeze and Rain and God of War managed to reach Swallow Ear Canton and reinforce them despite a long march, and Red Maple, that ballsy bastard somehow managed to hold out for 7 hours despite all the odds that are stacked up against him. Both sides had lost a tremendous amount of forces, and it isn¡¯t clear yet who¡¯s going to win the battle." I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. "I see. This means that the war now hinges almost entirely on the action of Northern Alliance¡¯s top guilds. Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, do everything you can to find out where Vienna¡¯s Sorrow is and what he is plotting. We cannot allow him to disrupt the flow of the war!" Chaos Moon nodded. "I¡¯ll do my best!" Li Chengfeng asked with a frown, "What do you think the Northern Alliance will do in this situation, Lu Chen?" I thought for a moment before answering, "If I were them, I wouldn¡¯t try to end the war as soon as possible. That will be disadvantageous for them. I would continuously chip away at the top guilds¡¯ strength until they are too weak to do anything. In fact, that is exactly what Vienna has been doing up until this point. He has sacrificed powerful guilds like Olympus and Blood Soul and tempted the Chaotic 27 to attack all to achieve this point. What I¡¯m most worried about is the killer move that is supposed to end it all after we¡¯ve been completely worn out. In my opinion, they¡¯re going to one of our three main cities and hit it with everything they have next. That will be absolutely terrifying." "What should we do then?" "Keep a close eye on everything close to the main cities." "Mn!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Xu Yang¡¯s voice came from the guild channel. "Lu Chen! Are you guys finished? If you are, then come back to the Fortress of the Iron Halberd as soon as possible!" "What¡¯s wrong?" "Ghost ships¡­ huge ghost ships have just appeared in the sky!" "What the fuck?" 1. T/N: someone never played tower defense I see ? 2. T/N: how did it NOT send the head flying? It¡¯s an ADS! ? 3. T/N: I don¡¯t understand how they manage to lose any mage or archer at all. Tamers I can understand since they control multiple units at a time and can probably lose track of themselves, but archers and mages can attack from pretty far away. This isn¡¯t like a real MMO where there is tons of space for you to slip through either. The dragon knights went down within like 1 minute as well, so where did this 300k come from? ? 4. T/N: HOWWWWWW??? ? CH 1554 "Ghost ships? Is that a new scam or something?" I asked in a dumbfounded voice. Xu Yang said in a low tone, "It looks like a transport ship. Anyway, you should come back with our main force as soon as possible. Blazing Hot Lips has accumulated so much damage that Beauty Stranger is about to burst into tears!" "Mn!" I abruptly rose to my feet and ordered, "We have an emergency at Fortress of the Iron Halberd! All Dragonlight Cavalrymen, Dragonlight Archers and Holy Mages are to teleport to Dawn City and make way for Fortress of the Iron Halberd now!" I crushed my return scroll faster than anyone and teleported back to Sky City. After I teleported to Dawn City, I flew high enough into the sky to observe Fortress of the Iron Halberd. I saw flames and smoke rising from the direction of the fortress¡ªthat was normal since there was an ongoing war over there¡ªand shiny dots that looked like vessels above it. It looked like Xu Yang wasn¡¯t making a metaphor when he called them "ghost ships" after all. Boom! I crossed a hundred meters in an instant as I returned to low altitude and flew toward Fortress of the Iron Halberd. All the players who could fly such as He Yi, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue were following behind me as well. We were the fastest and the strongest players in the main force, so reaching the fortress even a minute sooner could potentially improve the situation! It took me only a few minutes to pass over the heroic statue on top of Fortress of the Iron Halberd and stop above the walls. I saw 10 to 15 ghost ships floating in the sky and slowly making their way toward the fortress. More ghost ships were parked farther away so that the players of the Northern Alliance could board them without disruption. As Xu Yang said, it was a transport ship! ¡­¡­ Creak! The closest ghost ship abruptly opened its hatch to reveal a huge number of cavalrymen. The next moment, they leaped out of the hatch and straight toward our walls. There was about 50 meters of distance between the hatch and the walls, so the elite players wouldn¡¯t lose all of their mount tenacity when they landed. If they were allowed to land successfully, the ranged players on the walls wouldn¡¯t be able to maintain the line of fire on the ground properly. That would be incredibly dangerous! Stranger of Three Lifetimes looked up at the ghost ship and made a cute whining sound. Her pale neck seemed to shimmer beneath the dazzling moonlight as she said, "So annoying! How do we even stop these people? All units, aim your spells at the air and kill all those who try to land on top of us!" In just ten seconds, hundreds of cavalrymen had landed on the rampart before pouncing toward our mages and archers like rabid animals. A red-faced Xu Yang raised his Omnislash and erupted, "11th subguild¡¯s Thunder Cavalry, follow me to teach these grandsons a lesson!" I stared at the ghost ship for a bit longer before steeling myself. Then, I rushed forward and fired Burning Blade Slash at it! Bang bang bang¡­ Unfortunately, my skill only managed to leave a couple of deep scars on the ship¡¯s hull. It wasn¡¯t enough to destroy it entirely! On the rampart, Stranger of Three Lifetimes shouted, "Lu Chen, the ghost ships have insane amount of Defense and Magic Resist, so normal skills won¡¯t cut it! Use armor penetration or armor break skills instead! Also, the ship has 10 million durability!" I nodded. "Thanks!" A pair of bloody wings expanded behind me as I activated Heavenly River Transformation. Then, I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and executed my SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill¡ªXuanyuan Slash! Bang! To my surprise, the attack actually split the ship in half. There were about four to five thousand cavalrymen inside the ship, and thankfully most of them had crash-landed outside the walls. When I looked at the damage number I inflicted, I immediately understood why I was able to cut it in half in one strike. I had triggered the Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s septuple damage effect¡ª 17,415,755! ¡­¡­ I flew toward the next ghost ship to continue my work. The Chinese players on the ramparts tried to help me by shooting their projectiles at the ship, but most of their attacks were unable to piece its Defense. There wasn¡¯t really anything they could do against it. One enemy spotted my arrival through a window and shouted in a hurry, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand has returned! Someone, drive him away from the battleship with Barrier Break now!" The hatch opened just a tiny bit to enable a dozen or so cavalrymen to jump out of it. Their judgment was good, and they were able to fall right on top of me. As soon as they were in range, they immediately swung their blades at me. "Heh!" I chuckled and activated profound Armor to triple my Defense for a short time. Let¡¯s see if your Barrier Breaks can pierce my current Defense! 87,767! 71,826! 90,763! ¡­¡­ Amusingly, not one of them managed to deal more than 100k damage to me. While they were utterly dumbfounded, I slammed them to the walls and killed them with Ancient Seal. Now that the nuisances were gone, I flew to the ghost ship¡¯s side and used Pardon! MISS! Basic attack! Crack! That was 3.12 million durability gone just like that. At Rank 10, Pardon allowed my next attack to pierce nearly all of the target¡¯s Defense. It was amazing for situations like this! I raised my sword and cast Universe Break this time. The ship let out an audible groan as its durability dropped by another 2.74 million. Now, its durability was less than half. Next, I tried casting the Xuanyuan Art! Columns of red light fell from the sky, and all low-health Northern Alliance players within 1,000 yards around me dropped dead instantly. Unsurprisingly though, the ghost ship was unaffected just like the Dragon Cannon had been. It was metallic machinery after all. There wasn¡¯t much time left to experiment, however. The ghost ship was just seconds away from making contact with the wall. I made up my mind and rammed against the hull with Mad God Lunge! Buzz! My entire body vibrated like a bell, but I was able to push back the ghost ship by a dozen or meters. The players inside the ship couldn¡¯t help but goggle at the sight. "What the fuck! Is he even human? I cannot believe he knocked back our ghost ship with his physical body!" It was at this moment Li Chengfeng, Lian Xin and Beiming came to the rescue. A Dragonbone Flurry + Dimensional Storm + Armor Piercing Arrow combo struck the ghost ship and reduced its remaining durability to zero. Lian Xin killed a large majority of the players before they even crashed on the ground. ¡­¡­ Riding on her Snow Crystal Dragon and standing on the rampart, He Yi stared at the dozen ghost ships in the sky and asked, "What are these ships exactly?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes explained, "I heard it¡¯s Hero City¡¯s unique skill that produces these ghost ships. There are a lot of guilds in Hero City that produce flying transport vessels as well. I¡¯m worried that they¡¯ll try to use the ghost ships to slip their forces through our defense line and attack Wind City directly. That would be bad!" However, He Yi shook her head and reassured Stranger of Three Lifetimes, "Don¡¯t worry, Momo. We have scouts keeping an eye on the entire Dragonbone Mountain Range. There¡¯s no way they¡¯ll be able to slip through without us noticing." "That¡¯s good to hear. How should we deal with this crisis though?" He Yi smiled. "Easy. It¡¯s time we unleashed our secret weapon¡­" "What secret weapon?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes exclaimed in surprise. He Yi clapped her hands and ordered, "Third Uncle, construct the Chiyou Plume now!" "What? The Chiyou Plume?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes goggled at He Yi. "I¡¯ve heard of it before! It¡¯s the strongest siege weapon in Sky City, right? I heard that only the guild leader of the strongest guild on the Guild Ranking will be able to receive a quest from their regent to build the Chiyou Plume!" He Yi nodded smilingly. "That is correct. That is why Ancient Sword is the only guild that can build the Chiyou Plume right now. Since Hero City has revealed one of their trump cards, it is only right that we respond with one of our own, right? Third Uncle, construct 7 Chiyou Plumes right away!" Inside the fortress, the number one engineer of Ancient Sword we fondly addressed as "Third Uncle" nodded smilingly. "Will do, boss¡­" ¡­¡­ The engineers started producing the raw materials from their bag and constructed the siege weapons. In less than two minutes, 7 exceptionally huge ballistae were ready to rain hell upon our enemies. Appearance wise, it looked a little like a crossbow except that it was at least 20 meters in length and 10 meters in width. The Chiyou divine energy it was imbued with caused red dragon scales to appear on its body as well. Each bolt was at least 15 meters long and 20 cm in radius. You could imagine just how powerful it was! After the construction was complete, He Yi gave her the next order. "Lock onto the ghost ships in the sky and fire at will. The Chiyou Plume can hold up to 12 bolts at a time, and it will passively create a bolt every 30 seconds. Hence, there is no need to conserve ammo!" Third Uncle nodded. "Mn!" The sound of bow twangs resounded across the fortress as the Chiyou Plumes launched their gigantic bolts at the ghost ships. The bolts themselves were impressive enough, but to our surprise it assumed the form of a snarling black dragon after they were launched and struck the ghost ships like a bomb shell! BANG BANG BANG BANG¡­ The ghost ships shuddered as insane damage numbers rose into the air¡ª 6,276,744! 7,126,631! 7,026,256! ¡­¡­ Just like that, 11 ghost ships were destroyed just the blink of an eye! "Motherfucker, that Attack is just out of the world¡­" Xu Yang exclaimed with a flabbergasted expression. "Boss hasn''t told even me about the Chiyou Plume, so this is the first time I see it in action¡­" I watched as the ghost ships crashed beyond the walls and turned into smoking rubbles one after another. He Yi looked at me and asked, "So? What do you think of its power?" I curled my lips. "I¡¯ve tested the ghost ships¡¯ Defense myself, so I know just how tanky it is. The fact that the Chiyou Plumes did that much damage regardless¡­ Its single-target damage is equal to the Dragon Cannon at the very least¡­" "Oh no¡­" My beautiful guild leader lifted a finger and favored me with such a dazzling smile that I felt like my soul was being sucked in. "Not only is it better than the Dragon Cannon, its single-target damage is about 40% higher. Its only flaw is that its area of effect isn¡¯t as big as the Dragon Cannon, and it costs 5 million gold to build just one Chiyou Plume. Why else do you think I¡¯ve been saving this until now?" I sucked in a deep breath. I fucking knew it! This war is all about P2W! He Yi ordered next, "Third uUncle, move the 7 Chiyou Plumes to the walls and fire at the enemy¡¯s troops next! It¡¯s been 24 hours since the Nation War began. There¡¯s no need to hide them from the enemy any longer." Third Uncle replied, "The guild leader is wise!" ¡­¡­ The seven Chiyou Plumes were moved up the walls in no time. The siege weapon had an effective range of up to 2,000 yards, which was again something not even the Dragon Cannon could compare against. It was amazing! "Adjust 17.42 degrees to the northeast and aim 457.3 meters above sea level. Fire repeatedly once the target adjustment is complete!" Third Uncle ordered with perfect coolness. He was a genius when it came to siege weapons. Twang twang¡­ Two Chiyou Plumes fired their bolts. The next moment, a ghost ship that just took off from the ground shuddered violently before exploding into a million pieces. If the Ghost Ship was a super transport vessel, then the Chiyou Plume was its perfect counter! CH 1555 I looked down from the wall of Fortress of the Iron Halberd. The ground was crawling with Northern Alliance players, the cloud ladders were propped all around the arrow loops, and the walls were covered in so many arrows that they looked like porcupines. The battle had continued for 21 hours without pause, and yet Fortress of the Iron Halberd still refused to fall. It was without a doubt the MVP of this war! "Who is sieging us right now?" I asked. Stranger of Three Lifetimes answered while blasting the enemy players on the ground with Ice Blast, "The fourth-best guild of Hero City ¡®Seven Heroes¡¯, the second-best guild of Titan City ¡®Blood Spirit¡¯, and the third-best guild of Seven Star City ¡®Conqueror¡¯. They are all incredibly powerful, and at least 70% of their main force has yet to be mobilized!" I nodded. "Got it. We must protect the fortress no matter what. If Fortress of the Iron Halberd falls, both Wind City and Dawn City will be fully exposed." "Yeah, we¡¯re all doing our best¡­" ¡­¡­ At a section of the walls, Dominating Heaven Blade looked behind him and shouted after killing a player who had scaled up the walls using a cloud ladder, "Where are the archers and mages? Get your asses over here and do your jobs properly! Don¡¯t let the enemy scale the walls without resistance!" Dominating Knight God was also running back and forth and clearing out any Northern Alliance players who had made it up to the walls. Dominating Archer God was shooting his arrows, and Dominating Mage God was firing his spells non-stop. None of these players was first-rate, but they gave it their all to defend the walls anyway. They were exactly the kind of people we needed right now. I nodded in approval before descending toward the ground. The more havoc us divine players caused, the lesser the pressure the defenders would have to endure. ¡­¡­ Some time later¡ªand it definitely had been some time because I¡¯ve used Xuanyuan Art a few times since¡ªI checked the international contribution ranking and wasn¡¯t surprised at all to find myself in first place. Everyone¡¯s score was pretty high too since this was the first Nation War to involve all the servers in the game! Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (China) Points: 5,187,680 Lian Xing (China) Points: 3,987,720 Breeze and Rain (India) Points: 3,816,290 Luo River God of the Capital (China) Points: 3,618,770 Wind Fantasy (China) Points: 3,348,820 Beiming Xue (China) Points: 3,313,900 Red Maple (Japan) Points: 3,219,880 Flowing Cloud (India) Points: 3,109,720 Candlelight Shadow (China) Points: 2,987,660 Lui Lok (India) Points: 2,876,510 ¡­¡­ My contribution was way higher than even first runner-up¡¯s, Lian Xing¡¯s, thanks to my Xuanyuan Sword. I was certain that I would accrue over 10 million points when this Nation War was over. I wondered what kind of reward I would get for my achievements? On a related note, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, Tear Stain, Shabby Castle and more top-tier players hadn¡¯t shown their faces since the start of the war, which meant that they had accrued almost no contribution points at all. That they were sacrificing their chance to become the MVP showed just how determined they were to conquer our main city. Cyan Beast¡¯s Breeze and Rain and God of War were fighting the China server¡¯s main force directly, so their contribution points were pretty high. Elephant City¡¯s Flowing Cloud and Lui Lok were attacking our forces from the flank, and Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s Red Maple was pushing back against them as well. It didn¡¯t take much imagination to realize that Candlelight Shadow, Warsky and Lin Yixin weren¡¯t having a good time. Even we couldn¡¯t claim to have an easy time if we were the ones who had to fight against the full force of the India and Japan servers. Right now, our server was strained as taut as a guitar string. The only unknown factor left was the Northern Alliance¡¯s true assault! The walls shook again and again as the enemy¡¯s catapults continued to throw their payloads against them. In fact, the hole-riddled northern wall of the fortress looked rather like a blood-coated beehive right now. The despawning bodies stacked beneath it were literally several meters high. "Here they come!" Beiming Xue suddenly pointed to the horizon. "Look, big bro! The three great guilds are finally sending out their cavalrymen for a strong assault!" "Not only that¡­" Lian Xin looked to the east and said, "I see a dozen or so ghost ships flying toward Dragonbone Mountain Range over there. Are they planning to fly past Dragonbone Mountain Range and hit us from behind?" I nodded. "That¡¯s highly possible!" Gui Guzi asked, "What do we do then?" "It¡¯s simple!" I looked at Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and said, "You and Yun! I¡¯m giving you 5,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Activate your Flying General, chase after those ghost ships, and kill everyone that tries to drop down! A ghost ship can hold several thousand players at most, and none of them are a match for the Dragonlight Cavalry. Go!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun nodded. "Yessir!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun leaped down to the fortress ground and mustered 5,000 elite Dragonlight Cavalrymen quickly. They then galloped out of the back gate and toward the ghost ships. I might¡¯ve given him more troops, but I couldn¡¯t afford to split up our forces too much right now. Also, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun was a Divine General. His Divine General Skill might be very situational, but he shouldn¡¯t have any problem sweeping the enemy with 5,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. ¡­¡­ I narrowed my eyes as I watched the rolling smokes below. "What are you thinking, Lu Chen?" He Yi asked. I curled my lips. "I count about 1.5 million enemy cavalrymen in total, and they are escorting large siege weapons over from the sides. We may not be able to hold the fortress if we allow them all to reach the walls. There are many parts that are too damaged to handle another battering ram or two." "What do you want to do then?" I answered, "I¡¯m heading out. Rally all of our Dragonlight Cavalrymen! We¡¯re going to engage the enemy in a head-on battle!" "Got it!" Beside me, Chaos Moon asked for clarification, "Excluding the ones we¡¯ve given You and Yun, we still have 130k Dragonlight Cavalrymen left. Do we take them all?" "Yes, let¡¯s!" I raised my Xuanyuan Sword and declared, "All Dragonlight Cavalrymen, go get your buffs and ready your cards and positions. We¡¯re heading out to defend Fortress of the Iron Halberd and Dawn City!" ¡­¡­ The iron chains pulled the gate open once more. All 130k of our elite Dragonlight Cavalrymen rode out of it and spread into formation in no time. Behind them, 70k Dragonlight Archers led by Beiming Xue and He Yi had appeared as well. I had decided to strike out with all of our elites because losing the city would put us on the passive completely. We had endured many hardships to finally strike out at the enemy, and we weren¡¯t withdrawing our fist now! Standing at the forefront, I slowly unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and pointed to the front. I said in a low tone, "The cavalrymen of the three invading guilds are right before us. Prepare to charge and take them all out!" Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls might be the only guild in the world who could boast about annihilating an army of 1.5 million with just 130k players and make it a reality. Less than 100 yards away from us, the Northern Alliance players unsheathed their swords and raised their weapons in front of their chest as a sign of respect. Although we were enemies, everyone here possessed at least a warrior¡¯s honor. A Level 255 spear-wielding magic knight called Ice Wing stepped forward. He was none other than the guild leader of Seven Heroes. He watched us for a moment before yelling, "Gamers from the China server, we will soon battle each other for our main cities and pride, but it is just the battle between fellow gamers on opposite sides of the barricade, not enemies. We won¡¯t be playing games forever, but we can be friends for a lifetime! I hope that everyone here understands that!" Li Chengfeng nodded in approval. I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and responded in a solemn tone, "In that case, we shall give it our all for pride, my friends from distant lands!" Ice Wing also raised his spear and declared, "Seven Heroes, Blood Spirit, Conqueror, give it your all for pride and youth[1]!" ¡­¡­ Thundering hooves rocked the ground as both sides began charging toward each other in full force! Flying at a low altitude and keeping my sword low, I waited until the time was right before shouting, "Trapping Net!" The Dragonlight Cavalrymen immediately threw out their Trapping Nets and immobilized many of the enemy cavalrymen. The enemy commander had ordered the same thing, but only a small number of Dragonlight Cavalrymen were affected by the skill. The disparity between our resistances was pretty huge. "Kill!" I unleashed my Xuanyuan Slash and the Xuanyuan Art at the same time! A huge number of Northern Alliance players dropped to low health after they were affected by the Xuanyuan Art. Those who weren¡¯t killed by the Xuanyuan Slash died to the Dragonlight Cavalrymen¡¯s charge afterward. Li Chengfeng, Lian Xin and other divine players also unleashed their combos and their Ancient Divine Skills like crazy. Blood ran like a river from the moment we made contact with each other! Pu! A Dragonlight Cavalryman stabbed an enemy in the throat, but the latter¡¯s teammates immediately retaliated by one-shotting him with their Barrier Breaks. As the melee fighters traded lives with one another, our Dragonlight Archers Far Shot their arrows into the enemy ranks non-stop. It kept the Northern Alliance on their toes at all times. Lu Buyi was slowly and carefully making his way to the battleline. A couple of Dragonlight Cavalrymen had stayed behind to protect him, but he yelled, "I can protect myself! You guys should chase after the guild leader and kill more enemies instead of hanging around me!" He cast a Dragon Vein Art while saying this and one-tapped a quarter-health magic knight. It was almost unbelievable that a tactician could deal almost 800k damage with a single Dragon Vein Art. ¡­¡­ Steel clashed against steel. Fiery payloads unleashed by the Fire Catapults kept crashing into our midst as well. Although we were dealing massive damage to the enemy, the Dragonlight Cavalrymen were also dying far faster than they were during the battle of Falling Goose Valley. Our opponents were the elites of the Northern Alliance, and they were giving their all. It was simply impossible to win this without any casualties. A bunch of system announcements resounded across the battlefield as the battle continued. It grew to the point where we were almost numb toward it¡ª Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) killed the Heroic Bannerman "Fire Swinger" (India) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 142,779 points! Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Legendary Brave" (China) killed the Heroic Bannerman "Ice Wing" (USA) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 192,763 points! Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Candlelight Shadow" (China) killed the JGL Hall of Famer "Pioneer" (Japan) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 98,763 points! Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Breeze and Rain" (India) killed the CGL Hall of Famer "Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties" (China) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 212,766 points! ¡­¡­ To think that even a super-tier expert like Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties would fall to the enemy. What on earth was going on at Swallow Ear Canton? The battle lasted 4 hours straight. In the end, we were able to kill all 1.5 million Northern Alliance players at a huge cost to ourselves. It was at this moment I received a message from Lin Yixin. "We have a problem, Little Cheat¡­" "What is it, Yiyi?" "Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes¡¯ 3 million main force was ambushed by the enemy¡­" 1. T/N: the youth here is mean to show that you are only young once, so don¡¯t fight in a way that you¡¯ll regret in the future ? Favorite CH 1556 "I¡­ what¡­ How did they get ambushed? I thought you guys were attacking Swallow Ear Canton??" I exclaimed in disbelief. If our 3-million main force were to be swallowed up in an ambush, then we might as well forfeit this Nation War right now! Lin Yixin sounded worried as well. "Cyan Beast had been attacking our formation non-stop, but we were able to pay back as much damage as they were dishing out to us. Then¡­ after Breeze and Rain got pincered by Farewell Song and Song of Ice and Fire and dropped to low health, he escaped with several 10,000 Cyan Beast first subguild players. Warsky wanted his head, so he gave chase together with the main force of Warsky Alliance and even Soul Battle Robes. It was because he thought they would be safe. However, they got ambushed at the intersection point between Soaring Flame Desert and the northern realms, Pharaoh Valley. They are still fighting, but they¡¯ve received considerable damage up until this point!" "Wasn¡¯t Cyan Beast reinforcing Swallow Ear Canton?" I clenched my fists. "Logically speaking, Warsky Alliance plus Soul Battle Robes is a force no ordinary guild could ambush. But who else in Cyan Earth City besides Cyan Beast could threaten them?" Lin Yixin groaned a little. "It was Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. Nearly the entire Hero Alliance has been waiting in hiding inside Pharaoh Valley[1]. Tear Stain and Throne of the Wild were present as well. They¡¯re the ones who sealed the exit and prevented Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes from escaping. In fact, their baiting strategy was almost completely identical to the one you used to annihilate the Chaotic 27 at Falling Goose Valley!" "Fuck!" I punched a rock next to me hard. "Those motherfucking idiots! That unreliable Warsky! I told him to focus on Swallow Ear Canton before I left, and he went chasing after Cyan Beast¡¯s subguild? Even if there was no ambush and he managed to kill all of them, what the fuck would he achieve? Delay Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s demise? And he calls his guild the number one guild of Sky city! Fucking idiot!!" Lin Yixin giggled at my outburst. "Calm down, dear. What should we do now? Pharaoh Valley is locked down by Throne of the Wild, and Warsky Alliance, Farewell Song and Song of Ice and Fire are currently trying to break through their blockade. If they succeed, then we could rescue at least 2 million players. If not, they¡¯re all going to die in there!" "Fine, I get it. I¡¯ll find a way to save them. You just focus on stopping Natural Flow and conquering Swallow Ear Canton as soon as possible!" "I promise you I¡¯ll wipe them out in 4 hours[2]!" "KK. Muah¡­" "Muah your ass for now and go rescue our forces!" "#@£¤%#&..." ¡­¡­ "What¡¯s wrong, Lu Chen?" Chaos Moon looked at me. He Yi also asked me, "Who was it?" I looked up and answered, "Lin Yixin.She has brought us some terrible news. Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes¡¯ 3-million strong army had been lured into an ambush at Pharaoh Valley. Even better, the ambushers were none other than Hero Alliance and Throne of the Wild. Both Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and Tear Stain have finally shown themselves and are working together to kill them all right now!" "OMG¡­" He Yi frowned deeply. "Both guilds are the pillars of the China server. The blow to morale from losing both of them alone will cripple our players. What do we do?" I hummed for a second before answering, "We need to help them, but we can¡¯t all go together. Otherwise, Fortress of the Iron Halberd will fall to the enemies¡­" "Okay. So, how are we going to do that exactly?" Li Chengfeng asked. I replied after thinking for a moment. "Chengfeng, I want you to rally 16k of our best Dragonlight Cavalrymen, but they must all be able to keep a secret. Is it doable?" "Sure. We have at least that many trustworthy elite players. What¡¯s the plan?" "A surprise attack. We¡¯re going to open the hole Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes need to escape!" "Alright, I¡¯ll get it done in 10 minutes!" "Mn!" I looked at Chaos Moon next and asked, "How many players do we still have?" Chaos Moon curled her lips. "That latest battle took a lot out of us. We currently still have 90k Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 50k Dragonlight Archers, but our subguilds are severely damaged¡­ roughly speaking, we have lost over 50% of our army, and our available players don¡¯t exceed 1.5 million¡­" I gritted my teeth. "1.5 million players from us and a couple hundred thousand from Momo is definitely not enough to hold the fortress¡­" "What should we do then?" "Give me some time to think¡­ In the meantime, tell the guys to loot the battlefield as quickly as they can." "Mn!" A moment later, I flew up the wall and landed beside the elite players of Gods of Destruction. "Fuck¡­" Dominating Heaven Blade shot me a look. "You surprised me, man. What is it?" I looked at Dominating Heaven Blade and said, "Do you want to protect Fortress of the Iron Halberd?" "Of course!" Dominating Heaven Blade declared strongly. "These bastards killed over a million of my brothers and sisters. It¡¯s my dream to hold the fortress AND wipe them all out!" I nodded. "Good. I¡¯m going to share Ancient Sword¡¯s guild emblem with you, Dominating Heaven Blade. I want you and everyone in Gods of Destruction to change their emblems and ID markers temporarily to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" "What?" At the side, Dominating Warrior God looked agitated. "Are you trying to force us to become your subguild, Lu Chen? Unacceptable!! Gods of Destruction may not be as glorious as it used to be, but we will defend our independence until the bitter end! We will never become the subordinate of any guild be it Candle Dragon or Ancient Sword!" Dominating Archer God was frowning as well. "What is the meaning of this, Lu Chen?" I turned around and looked at the sea of Northern Alliance troops at the horizon. "The enemy still has an army of 15 million at the very least, and even Ancient Sword has used up much of our forces, let alone everyone else. At this rate, it won¡¯t be long before the fortress falls. That is why the time for physical warfare is over, and the time for psychological warfare is now. I need you to buy us enough time to do what needs to be done." Dominating Mage God hummed for a second. "Are you¡­ planning to fool the enemy into thinking our forces are more formidable than they actually are?" I nodded. "Exactly!" Dominating Heaven Blade slapped his thigh and grinned. "I get it now! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has struck fear into the hearts of the Northern Alliance during the previous battles. If we all ¡®join¡¯ Ancient Sword now, it will seem like your reinforcements have arrived to save you. The Northern Alliance may suspect something, but they wouldn¡¯t dare to go all out against a fortress that seems to hold a couple million Ancient Sword players, right?" I nodded. "Correct. Now be quick. I have other urgent matters to attend to!" "Got it!" It wasn¡¯t long before all the players on the walls had changed their emblems to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. From a distance, our emblems must look like a sea of red to our enemies! ¡­¡­ A while later, Li Chengfeng flew up the wall and reported, "Brother, the 16k Dragonlight Cavalrymen you ordered are ready. Lu Buyi and I are the party leaders. Do you have any other instructions?" I answered, "Give the party leader to Eve and teleport back to Dark Moon City with your men. Remember the teleportation formation I¡¯ve set up at the territory hall? When it activates, you and your men will charge through it immediately. We¡¯re going to break through Tear Stain¡¯s blockade from outside." Li Chengfeng grinned in realization. "I see now! It¡¯s the shameless infinite teleportation tactic! I love it! I¡¯ll pass the party leader to Eve right now. We¡¯ll crush the enemy with Royal Road and Purple Dragon as our stratagems!" "Yeah. I''m going now. I need to be at Pharaoh Valley to set up the teleportation formation. Also, please remind everyone to keep this a secret. I want to keep our enemy in the dark about this strategy for as long as possible!" "Got it. Take care, brother!" "You too!" ¡­¡­ I slowly rose into the air before taking off like a fighter jet. I then searched for Pharaoh Valley on the map screen and locked onto it. Pharaoh Valley was an impassable valley with only one exit, which made Warsky¡¯s decision to run headlong into it seem even stupider. Both him and Song of Ice and Fire were just too impulsive for their own good. Then again, I had to commend the Northern Alliance¡¯s bravery for using the low-health Breeze and Rain as bait. A thin layer of astral energy protected my body from the wind and allowed me to fly toward Pharaoh Valley at 100% of my speed. The forest beneath me slid back at high speed. I had unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword beforehand because I could see red dots everywhere. They were either mobs or Northern Alliance players, so I needed to be on my tiptoes all the time. Thankfully, I wasn¡¯t delayed overly much along the way. I reached Pharaoh Valley 9 minutes later, but I didn¡¯t dare to go close for fear of being detected by the enemy. Dark Pupils increased my vision range, so I could see through the clouds that the valley floor of the entire Pharaoh Valley was drenched in blood. Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes¡¯ players were doing their best to break out, but they were just surrounded by too many troops. I counted almost 10,000 players, and the England server¡¯s God Breaker and the second and third best guilds of the Korea server were present as well. That was nearly ten million elites surrounding just 3 million Chinese forces. ¡­¡­ "Charge full force for a bit longer! I¡¯ll use the Immortal Blade¡¯s Restoration Formation to heal everyone¡¯s HP!" Warsky was flying in the sky and fighting the enemy. Streams of green energy seeped out of his Immortal Blade and regenerated the HP of the players below him non-stop. This was one of the powers of the Immortal Blade. Its HP recovery abilities were so incredible that it rivaled my Xuanyuan Art or Gui Guzi¡¯s Shennong Tastes Grass. It also possessed incredible longevity. On the ground, I saw Song of Ice and Fire, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, God Bone, Laughing At The Heavens[3] and many elite cavalrymen making a break for it. At least 100,000 players were attacking the valley exit and painting the ground red with their blood. Hovering above the exit where a green forest lay was a beautiful swordswoman. She was none other than the ascended Tear Stain. The corners of her lips turning upward at the sight of the charging players, she ordered, "No need to hold back, ballistae! Kill anyone who dares to resist!" Twang twang twang! As it turned out, a ton of siege weapons had been set up on the mountains. What seemed like 10,000 ballistae bolts fell from the sky and killed Warsky Alliance¡¯s frontliners instantly. Even Warsky was knocked back by the attack. ¡­¡­ Unable to watch the bloody scene any longer, I clenched my fists and glanced around for a bit. Outside the valley, there was an empty clearing in the middle of a pine forest. A lot of Throne of the Wild cavalrymen were patrolling around it. I decided instantly to use it as the starting point of our surprise attack! 1. E/N: Okay, Warsky IS an idiot. But he couldn¡¯t have expected Northern Alliance to literally waste their time hiding in jungle. He probably thought they were thinking of using some crazy way to get into their territory, like the ghost ships, not sacrificing their guilds just for this one ambush. He still shouldn¡¯t have overextended. ? 2. T/N: H&S Noodles promised to take out SEC in 5 hours, but he failed and let it drag out to 7 hours. Now she still needs another 4 HOURS to conquer it? Is no one capable of doing shit without Lu Chen? ? 3. T/N: holy shit you¡¯re still alive my man? That¡¯s incredible! ? CH 1557 Thud! Rising Cloud made a soft rustling noise as I landed gently on the ground. I made my move after I looked around with Dark Pupils and confirmed that there were no mobs or players within 500 yards of me. The Teleportation Divine Crystal shone brightly in my palm. Summon! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Wisps of light blue magic rose from the ground and transformed into a huge hexagram in no time. At the same time, I said in the party channel, "Now, brothers! Once you¡¯ve come through the teleportation formation, form up and charge toward the north immediately! Throne of the Wild¡¯s blockade is just a thousand yards away from our position!" The teleportation formation began flashing rapidly. The first person to come through it was a flying Li Chengfeng. He paid me no heed and flew straight toward the north. Behind him, Gui Guzi, He Yi, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue, Chaos Moon and more Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls elites rushed out and shattered the silence of the forest instantly. They were all brandishing their blades and following closely behind Li Chengfeng! 5 minutes later, after everyone had come through the teleportation formation, I immediately turned it off and put the Teleportation Divine Crystal back into my pockets[1]. For now, it seemed like no one knew how the Dragonlight Cavalrymen had appeared out of nowhere. In fact, not many people were aware that the Teleportation Divine Crystal was what allowed me to pull off this stunt. The only ones who really knew what was going on were He Yi, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and a handful of others. ¡­¡­ I chased after my troops. A shield formation was waiting for us at the valley entrance not because Throne of the Wild knew we were coming, but because Tear Stain was a meticulous woman who prepared for the eventuality that someone would try and rescue Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes. I counted at least 100k enemies in total, and behind the shield formation were thick rows of mages, archers, tamers and other classes. Overall, the enemy¡¯s battle line was at least 100 meters deep[2]. It would be very difficult to penetrate it. Floating about 2 meters above the ground, Li Chengfeng gave his Cyan Peak Halberd a swing and asked loudly, "Do we attack now, Lu Chen?" I gave him a small nod. "Yeah. Let¡¯s hit them together. We¡¯ll breach the enemy¡¯s shield formation with our Ancient Divine Skills so that the Dragonlight Cavalry could penetrate all the way to their ranged players! Ideally, we want to penetrate the enemy¡¯s battle line in one go!" "Got it!" I looked up. "Beiming!" "Yes, big bro?" The beautiful Dark Archer shot me a smile. "What do you need me to do?" "Suppress Tear Stain and keep her from interrupting our charge!" "I¡¯ll do my best!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the Koreans guarding the valley entrance had been alerted to our presence. A big man with a tanned face shouted, "Ssi-bal! Where the fuck did these Chinese come from? I thought we¡¯ve sealed off all the exits! Ssi-bal! It¡¯s Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ strongest cavalry, the Dragonlight Cavalry no less!" An archer said with a deep frown, "Oh no, the players flying at the forefront¡­ they¡¯re Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and Legendary Brave! How did they show up here? There are so many Dragonlight Cavalrymen. How on earth are we going to stop them?" It was at this moment a ring of light shone from atop their heads. It was the power of Tear Stain¡¯s Domain. As she descended toward the ground¡ªthe sight of her long, pale legs causing some of her subordinates to swallow audibly¡ªshe smirked at our players and said in a low tone, "First row of the shield formation, move forward to increase the depth of our battle line. Archers and mages, focus-fire the foremost enemies and bring them down one by one. I may not know where this army came from, but I know that not one of them is leaving this place alive. They think they can rescue Soul Battle Robes and Warsky Alliance with just 10,000+ Dragonlight Cavalrymen? We¡¯ll crush them!" Countless shields were dropped on the rocky ground. As expected, the enemy had moved its magic knights forward so as to increase the depth of their battle line. The move also meant that our Ancient Divine Skills wouldn¡¯t be able to penetrate the enemy¡¯s shield formation in one go. Li Chengfeng grew anxious when he saw this. "That cunning woman. What do we do?" I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and declared with a smile, "What else? We blow them apart via brute force!" "Mn!" I dropped lower until I was just a meter above the ground. Then, I sped up toward the enemy¡¯s shield formation. Beside me, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, He Yi and more did the same thing as well. When I got within melee range of the first row of shielders, I swung my sword repeatedly and batted the enemy cavalrymen away like it was baseball, creating an empty space immediately. My Strength was just that high. My friends copied my movement, and in just an instant we had made an absolute mess of the first shield formation! "These brutes¡­" Tear Stain swore, but didn¡¯t say anything further. Swhoosh! The grass shook like crazy as I exploded toward the next line of enemies. Heavenly River Transformation already activated by the time I reached the next shield formation, I brought down the Xuanyuan Slash in one smooth motion! Boom! Dust flew everywhere as the gigantic golden blade fell on top of the enemy. The Ancient Divine Skill was already powerful and Defense-ignoring, but the Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s septuple damage effect and my own critical hit rate made it positively lethal. I hadn¡¯t even accounted for the splash effect yet. Long story short, hundreds of people screamed in pain as ridiculous damage numbers rose from their heads¡ª 7,812,762! 3,766,301! 25,052,615! 55,824,314! ¡­¡­ At least a hundred people were one-shot and turned into souls just like that. Behind me, a red-faced Heaven¡¯s Rain cheered excitedly, "Wow, vice leader big bro¡¯s Attack is seriously crazy! No wonder the Xuanyuan Sword is the greatest of the Twelve Divine Armaments!" "He¡¯s not even done yet!" Li Chengfeng laughed. "Please Xuanyuan Art their asses so we can grab some contribution points, Lu Chen!" I chuckled. "No problem!" A red shock wave spread out from my person as I activated the Xuanyuan Art. All the players outside the valley and even some of those inside the valley lost 70% of their HP in an instant. They swore, "Ssi-bal! What is going on? How did we lose so much HP all of a sudden?" Inside the valley, Song of Ice and Fire dished out a Gonggong¡¯s Furious Strike while laughing. "Did you see that? That can only be the Xuanyuan Art, which means that Lu Chen and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have come to our rescue, haha! Now is the time to break out of the enemy¡¯s encirclement, brothers and sisters!" Warsky wiped the sweat on his face and smiled as well. "You can always count on Lu Chen to be a bro¡­" October Rain chided him while drawing her bow, "Hmph. I told you not to chase the enemy, but no, you just had to get that kill on Breeze and Rain. Thank goodness Lu Chen still chose to save us despite our differences, or this battle would¡¯ve ended in regrets. Speaking of which, I¡¯m growing to love Lu Chen more and more. I think I¡¯m going to quit my position after this Nation War, join Ancient Sword, and serve under Lu Chen so I can win his heart¡­ and his dick¡­" Lin Bing Dou Zhe couldn¡¯t keep his face from twitching. "Little Rain, your shame¡­ Where is it?" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the battle outside the valley was growing fiercer and fiercer. Li Chengfeng swooped down on the low-health players and swept them all with his SS Rank Crimson Firmament Slash. The poor bastards only had 30% HP or so, so of course they died without resistance. This was what Li Chengfeng meant when he had asked me to assist the gang in grabbing some contribution points with the Xuanyuan Art. Of course, if I used the Xuanyuan Art after my players used their Ancient Divine Skills, then the contribution points would go to me. I wasn¡¯t lacking in contribution points though, and it wasn¡¯t fitting for a vice leader to act in such a selfish manner. Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust unleashed their Tiger Wing Slash and Dog God Slash. Eve also activated Chengying and Hanguang to drastically increase her attack power and speed, and make all of her attacks Defense-ignoring. Nearly everyone who ate her Stormwind Slash + Stormwind Break combo died without resistance. Right after that, Gui Guzi cast Thousand Ghosts Descent that affected all enemies within 400 yards of him and yoinked countless points for himself. While all this was going on, the Dragonlight Cavalry kept pushing forward and cutting down anyone who dared to stand in their way. Although the enemy¡¯s mages and archers managed to focus fire and kill a lot of them, they were ultimately successful in reaching the enemy¡¯s ranged party and treating them to the bane of their existence, Ultimate Strength Break. Throne of the Wild¡¯s player count dropped drastically after just one rotation of the blue-colored skills! ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! It was at this moment a divine player swooped down from above. It was none other than Tear Stain herself! "Die!" Tear Stain cast her S Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Yemaek Slash while still mid-glide! Boom! Rocks flew everywhere as High Fighting Spirits and Chaos Moon abruptly froze in place. The skill prevented them from moving or attacking for 3 seconds. After Tear Stain landed on the ground, she dodged a couple of Trapping Nets, found a suitable attack angle, and unleashed Lin Yixin¡¯s signature skill, the Ice Flame Slash. Its power might not be equal to Lin Yixin¡¯s, but it was still plenty powerful! 1,576,762! 1,711,265! My heart ached at the sight of the high damage numbers. Chaos Moon and High Fighting Spirits were no tanky fighters, and they had no priests to heal away the damage[3]. They couldn¡¯t possibly withstand this level of DPS for long. "I¡¯ll kill her!" Li Chengfeng declared as he abruptly dashed toward Tear Stain! Tear Stain smiled as she floated backward like a butterfly. To our surprise, Li Chengfeng actually missed his attack and allowed Tear Stain to freeze him for 1.5 seconds with an Ice Blade Slash! Stunned, High Fighting Spirits commented in the party channel, "How the fuck did Li fall for such a basic attack? I know, it¡¯s because he can¡¯t think clearly after the attack on his beloved, Chaos Moon¡­" Chaos Moon glared at the guy. "Bullshit! You¡¯re his beloved!" Li Chengfeng: "Beloved my ass! I missed because a goddamned leaf fell in front of my face and fucked up my camera angle¡­" ¡­¡­ In the sky, Beiming Xue fired an Evil Spirit Volley that struck Tear Stain repeatedly in the chest and drenched her pair of snowy mounds in blood. Furious, Tear Stain flew up to meet her in combat! "Screech¡­" However, the Fire Phoenix was able to pull away from Tear Stain while Beiming Xue flicked Shock Arrow at her. It was a successful stun! ¡­¡­ "Now! Take out Candlelight Shadow¡¯s junior sister!" I shouted while flying toward Tear Stain. 1. E/N: Holy fuck, it¡¯s not one-time use only? How broken is that? Are there any limitations, or is he a portable army? ? 2. T/N: yo seriously? Even if it¡¯s not packed like sardines that¡¯s still SUPER deep ? 3. T/N: the raws says that they have no buffs, but Lu Chen specifically ordered them to get full buffs before they went through the portal, and I don¡¯t think so much time has passed that their buffs have expired, so no lol ? CH 1558 Shock Arrow was only going to stun a divine player like Tear Stain for up to 1.5 seconds, and most of us couldn¡¯t get to her before she recovered. The only exception here was Li Chengfeng! Thud! That was why Beiming Xue wisely shot Tear Stain with Bone Eroding Arrow and broke her Defense. It would make it much easier and faster for us to bring her down! Li Chengfeng shot up from the ground and pointed his Cyan Peak Halberd straight at her stomach. Then, he skewered her with a 7-hit Dragonbone Flurry. He was divine himself, so he dealt at least 700k damage per hit or over 5 million damage in total to her. However, Tear Stain still had over 50% HP because she was fully buffed. I reckoned that she had around 14 million HP or so. "Kill her with Dragonblade Revolution!" I shouted. "Mn!" A dragon¡¯s soul slithered up his arm even as he responded to me. I had to admit that practically all of the Dragon Warrior¡¯s skills were cool as fuck! Unfortunately, an arrow struck him in the chest and stunned him before he could unleash the killer move. It was the Heroic Bannerman and number one ranged player of the Korean server, the legendary Dawn Archer Frosty Night who stunned him with a Shock Arrow! Swhoosh! Not only that, a bloody flash suddenly appeared behind the Chinese warrior. It was Throne of the Wild¡¯s best assassin, Blazing Pulse! Blade Vortex! The series of attacks dropped much of Li Chengfeng¡¯s HP! Without hesitation, Gui Guzi slapped his Dark Crystal Dragon¡¯s in the head, charged toward Blazing Pulse and swung his Ghostblade Halberd! Clang! Sparks flew everywhere. Blazing Pulse just barely parried Gui Guzi¡¯s attack but was still sent flying across the air. He didn¡¯t wait to land to use fluorescent powder to forcefully reenter stealth. While Gui Guzi was rescuing Li Chengfeng, He Yi and I unleashed Burning Blade Slash + Stormwind Break combo in an attempt to one-shot Tear Stain where she stood. I even fired off an Ancient Seal to ensure that she would be seriously injured even if she survived the combo! Unfortunately, Tear Stain recovered from her stun before our skills could hit her. She immediately wrapped herself inside her exclusive Divine General Skill, Void Barrier. It was a skill that could cause any attack to have over a 50% chance to miss her! Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh! Only one of my attacks managed to land on her. Pale-faced and low on health, Tear Stain chose to cast Absolute Zero! At the same time, I executed my own Thousand Ice Slash! Bang! 2,417,676! We were frozen at nearly the same time, but Tear Stain was able to fall on top of her troops. I didn¡¯t think we could get to her now. Crack! I took a 7-hit Dawn Rapid Shot to the chest right after the Frozen status condition had passed. The Dawn Archer didn¡¯t even give me the time to breathe before shaving about 3 million HP from my health bar. What a dangerous bastard! ¡­¡­ "Change of plans. Let¡¯s kill Blazing Pulse first!" I said in the party channel. Li Chengfeng asked, "What, he¡¯s still around?" "He¡¯s 5 meters behind you!" "Holy shit!" Li Chengfeng immediately turned around and threw out his Dragonblade Revolution. His aim was good, and the AoE skill was able to dispel the assassin¡¯s stealth and deal over almost 2 million damage. "Dammit!" Blazing Pulse panicked and tried to leap away to safety. However, he slammed face first into an invisible barrier and got a bloody nose for his efforts. It was of course Lian Xin¡¯s Origin Force Field. He tried a couple more times to return to his troops but just couldn¡¯t stop running into Origin Force Fields again and again. Lian Xin had his escape options completely nailed down. Buzz¡­ Next, a blue matrix formation appeared on the ground right before Blazing Pulse set his foot on it. It was her killer move, Ice Spiral Matrix! The assassin felt like giving up there and then. Li Chengfeng was making a mad dash toward him from behind, and all left or right paths were completely sealed off by Origin Force Fields. He had no choice but to continue forward despite knowing that he could die to the spell. 3,917,638! Just like that, Blazing Pulse was knocked out of the Nation War. It wasn¡¯t his fault though. There was simply nothing he could do against a top-tier divine mage who could fly. Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Lian Xing" (China) killed the Heroic Bannerman "Blazing Pulse" (Korea) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 92,779 points! ¡­¡­ "Beiming, Frosty Night!" Beiming Xue got my meaning right away despite my rather succinct instruction. "Okay, you lead, big bro!" "Mn!" She approached her target soundlessly from the sky while I dashed forward. Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi and more were doing their utmost to punch through the blockade as well. I raised my arm and charged the Ancient Seal. Then, I said in a low tone, "Pay close attention to his Leap angle, Beiming. Ready?" "Ready!" Swhoosh! A golden seal dropped right on top of the Dawn Archer. He let out an exclamation of surprise but was able to dodge the skill by Leaping about 30 yards to the back. However, the second his foot touched the ground, an arrow appeared too fast for him to react. He attempted to touch his ring and activate his invincibility skill, but it was too late. Right after the Shock Arrow stunned him, a spinning blade cut through his body from behind. It was of course my Coiling Dragon Revolution. I had also thrown my sword right after Frosty Night used Leap so I could match the pace of Beiming Xue¡¯s Shock Arrow¡ª 1,625,653! 6,716,258! Frosty Night groaned and died as expected. My Coiling Dragon Revolution had critted, so he didn¡¯t have even the slimmest of chances to survive the attack! Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) killed the Heroic Bannerman "Frosty Night" (Korea) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 172,661 points! ¡­¡­ That was yet another Heroic Bannerman dead. Everyone¡¯s morale was skyrocketing at this point! A far distance away, Tear Stain could only watch her subordinates be killed because she was still healing from her injuries. Unwilling to admit defeat, she abruptly unsheathed her sword and declared, "Archers and mages, focus-fire the enemy as I told you too! Follow-up teams, advance to the front! There has to be an end to them! Also, don¡¯t bother attacking Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Legendary Brave and the like! We can¡¯t one-shot them anyway, so we may as well focus on those we can kill!" Dozens of Dragonlight Cavalrymen immediately took an arrow to the knee[1] and fell off their mounts. I had to admit that Tear Stain was an intelligent and tenacious woman. She wouldn¡¯t be able to create such a powerful guild otherwise. However, the Dragonlight Cavalrymen present were among the absolute best of the best. Many refused to fall despite the enemy mages¡¯ deadly bombardment. Before we knew it, we were close enough to the entrance that we could see Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes battling against the enemy less than 500 meters away from us. "Kill! Don¡¯t stop charging!" Li Chengfeng ordered loudly. ¡­¡­ Bang bang¡­ Dozens of Dragonlight fell to a barrage of God Devil Breaks. Despite Purple Dragon boosting their stats by 150%, the Intelligence gap between a mage and a fighter was still too huge to overcome. Plus, we didn¡¯t have anyone to heal us besides Murong Mingyue. There was no way she could¡¯ve kept all of us alive! "We can¡¯t continue like this. We¡¯re taking too much damage!" Chaos Moon exclaimed with a pained look on her face. I gritted my teeth. "And yet we must, or everyone¡¯s death will be for nothing!" "Mn." On the fourth activation of Xuanyuan Art, we were finally less than 200 yards away from the valley interior. Countless magic and arrows were falling from the mountains that formed the entrance, so you could imagine just how much damage our Dragonlight Cavalrymen were suffering. There was almost not a single moment where I couldn¡¯t see a Dragonlight Cavalryman dying to the enemy. My heart was dripping blood, but the sacrifice had to be made to save Warsky Alliance. ¡­¡­ On the other side, Warsky and Lin Bing Dou Zhe were charging with a group of Gold Cavalrymen as well. They were doing everything they could to meet up with us. Tear Stain gripped her sword tightly and descended to the ground once more. She executed Yemaek Slash that instantly one-shot a group of low-health Gold Cavalrymen. Warsky immediately shouted, "NOW! TAKE HER OUT NOW!" Swhoosh! There was a bloody flash, and Tear Stain suddenly froze like she had lost consciousness or something. It was Farewell Song landing an Ambush from behind with his blood-red Devil¡¯s Kiss. Farewell Song knew that time was precious, so he immediately charged his Coldblood Mad Strike right after he executed his Blade Vortex. Unfortunately, a spear plunged through his shoulder before he could finish charging the skill! 1,412,273! Farewell Song was an assassin, so the blow nearly sent him flying across the air. His attacker was none other than the vice leader of Throne of the Wild, Emperor Wang! After interrupting Farewell Song¡¯s charging with his spear, Emperor Wang proceeded to cast Ultimate Strength Break! 573,720! As expected, the Ultimate Strength Break of a 5-Strength magic knight was quite powerful! Farewell Song gritted his teeth in frustration, but he didn¡¯t hesitate to stun Tear Stain again with Gouge after landing on his feet[2]. Then, he entered stealth using fluorescent powder and dodged Emperor Wang¡¯s follow-up attacks. ¡­¡­ "Take him out! Take out Emperor Wang!" Warsky shouted as he knocked Emperor Wang back with a powerful blow. Behind him, Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone, Song of Cloud and Water and more rushed forward as well. Worried that they would lose themselves in bloodlust, I shouted while unleashing Thousand Ice Slash, "Don¡¯t let the enemy bog you down, Warsky! Focus on getting through the enemy¡¯s blockade so we can get the hell away from this place as soon as possible! Quickly! I¡¯ll have the Dragonlight Cavalrymen keep the path open, but Throne of the Wild may cut off our retreat at any moment, so hurry the fuck up! There isn¡¯t much time left!" Warsky nodded. "Thank you, brother!" The blockade had been penetrated, so I hurriedly raised my sword and shouted, "Dragonlight Cavalrymen, stick to the walls and hold your ground for a bit! Kill all the Throne of the Wild players in the entrance and open up a path for our brethren!" Chaos Moon gritted her teeth. "That¡¯ll cost a lot more lives, you know¡­" My heart ached, but I said resolutely, "Doesn¡¯t matter, we have to rescue the bulk of their main force no matter the cost!" He Yi nodded in agreement. "Mn!" ¡­¡­ The Dragonlight Cavalrymen died in droves to the enemy¡¯s arrow rain. We just didn¡¯t have enough healing, and War God Recovery wasn¡¯t nearly enough to survive this. Meanwhile, Warsky, Song of Ice and Fire and more rushed out of the valley with their elite Gold Cavalrymen and Iron Cutter Cavalrymen. Warsky roared, "All units, set up a defense line on both sides of the entrance in front of the Dragonlight Cavalrymen! We must not let our rescuers suffer too much damage! Little Rain, take over the evacuation effort while I fight!" 1. T/N: seriously, that¡¯s what the raws say. I guess Skyrim is just that popular ? 2. E/N: The timing on these stuns has to be perfect, so despite being ambushed he still knew the exact millisecond his stun would end and followed it up while dodging attacks, in hopes that someone else will finish the job. ? CH 1559 A row of 200 ballistae were set up on top of each mountain ridge. The steel bolts they fired were several meters long and magically enhanced, so they dealt even more damage to your metal armor class than usual. They were all built by Burning City. Candle Dragon wasn¡¯t here, so Tear Stain didn¡¯t need to worry about breaking Candlelight Shadow¡¯s heart or something. She was doing absolutely everything she could to destroy Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes! Chiang! Tear Stain unsheathed her blade and narrowed her eyes a little. "All ballistae, target Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and fire!" Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ I, Li Chengfeng, and Lian Xin activated our Domains at nearly the same time and created a spatial crack that bounced away at least dozen of steel bolts. However, it didn¡¯t take long for the barriers to be shredded, and dozens of Dragonlight Cavalrymen to be skewered by the steel bolts and turned into cold, dead bodies. Heart aching painfully in my chest, I said in a hurry, "Little Gui, I¡¯m going to use Xuanyuan Art first. Have your Shennong Tastes Grass at the ready if our HP falls low again!" Gui Guzi nodded. "Got it. But I can only use it three more times, Boss Broken Halberd. I¡¯m running out of Divine Energy Points!" "Got it!" I turned my blade toward the sky and activated Xuanyuan Art, healing all Chinese players within 1,000 yards by 70% HP. That of course included Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes¡¯ players. Song of Ice and Fire laughed. "How invigorating!" Warsky frowned. "Song of Cloud and Water, where are the guilds under your command? Why aren¡¯t they coming out yet? We need to form an offensive square formation outside the valley soon so we may break through their second defense line." Song of Cloud and Water gritted her teeth. "It¡¯s too late. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, Breeze and Rain, God of War and Shabby Castle had split up our forces into smaller groups and trapped at least a dozen of subguilds inside. There¡¯s no rescuing them!" While shooting and killing the archers on the mountains, October Rain said, "Screw it then. We¡¯ll save whoever we can. Tell those who are trapped inside to find an opportunity to use a return scroll. If even that is impossible, then tell them to kill as many enemies as possible before they die!" Song of Cloud and Water nodded. "Mn!" Warsky activated the Immortal Blade¡¯s unique skill to heal everyone within 500 yards of him continuously. It was like every man and woman was carrying a Level 180 priest of their own. Noticing this, Tear Stain immediately pointed a finger at him and ordered, "Focus-fire the guild leader of Warsky Alliance! Make him drop his Immortal Blade!" Warsky¡¯s face immediately became riddled with arrows. The symbols that represented Touch of the Dragonkiss appeared beneath his feet before he was engulfed by a torrent of spells. His HP dropped at a drastic rate despite the Immortal Blade¡¯s power. ¡­¡­ "You think you can kill me? Come on then!" Warsky¡¯s eyes were bloodshot with fury even though the Immortal Blade was keeping him alive. He pointed his sword at Tear Stain and roared, "What are you waiting for? The Immortal Blade is right here for the taking! Or are you too pussy to carry out the job yourself? I should¡¯ve known that you¡¯re both an ingrate and a bangzi, bangzi!" Tear Stain turned green from the insults. "You Chinese guild leaders have no class at all. Hmph!" While dropping a couple of Ancient Seals on top of the ballistae, I looked at Tear Stain and growled, "Yoon Pae Meng, you are a friend of the Candlelight Shadow and half a friend of the China server. During the previous Nation War, we gave you Sunset City without asking for anything in return. But now, you would help the Northern Alliance to ambush our main force? Do you have any morals at all, Yoon Pae Meng[1]?" Tear Stain responded coolly, "Lu Chen, it is true that I love Candlelight Shadow deeply. It is equally true that you are the man who single-handedly destroyed his dreams. Might I remind you who was the one who put him between a rock and a hard place during the War of Dawn City? It was you. It was all you. Also, it¡¯s cute you¡¯re trying to spin your gift of Sunset City as an act of generosity when we both know that you¡¯re just trying to use us to delay the Northern Alliance. Or are you going to deny that as well? Anyway, I¡¯m going to destroy you and take revenge for Candlelight Shadow. What are you going to do about it?" I parried away a volley of arrows before laughing. "I see. So you¡¯re one of those who can never have enough, no matter how much kindness you were showered with. Very well, Tear Stain. You may have dealt a heavy blow to us, but you have my word that we will march to Burning City in 24 hours and make it submit to the Center. Don¡¯t believe me? Just wait and see what happens!" Tear Stain gritted her teeth. "Hmph. I¡¯ll be waiting for you at Burning City!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I activated Profound Armor and abruptly flew up the mountains. After destroying a dozen or so ballistae, I immediately bounced toward a different group and killed the enemies there. Thanks to my movement speed, I was able to draw away at least some of the enemy¡¯s firepower. Moreover, Tear Stain didn¡¯t dare to stop me because a certain fire phoenix rider was following behind me all this time. If Tear Stain dared to attack me, Beiming Xue would immediately riddle her with crowd control skills and delete her from this Nation War with me! The valley entrance had turned into a meat grinder. Countless Chinese players had died at this place, and the death of the Dragonlight Cavalry especially hurt me and He Yi. At a rough guess, I would say that over half of our 16k elites had already perished in battle. Of course, Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes lost even more players than us. Too many players had died inside Pharaoh Valley to count. Relying on the Immortal Blade to keep him alive, Warsky never stopped fighting on the frontlines. He even pointed his blade up the mountains and shouted, "One party of Gold Cavalry, follow me to charge the mountains now! Yes, now!" Swhoosh! However, I descended from the sky and knocked the Gold Cavalrymen who were about to carry out his order backward. I then glared at Warsky and uttered, "Are you serious? You should be commanding your men to escape this place, not fight the enemy! Have we not lost enough men yet?" Warsky looked astonished by my reaction. At the distance, Chaos Moon said, "We need to make our breakthrough soon. I just received word that Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and a group of Hero Alliance players are circling around to surround us!" I sucked in a deep breath and said, "Twenty more minutes, and we¡¯re withdrawing from this place no matter what!" "Mn!" Li Chengfeng nodded strongly. He too had had enough watching his comrades dying left and right. ¡­¡­ In just 20 short minutes, another 3,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen had perished at the valley entrance. Finally, I raised my arm and shouted, "Almost everyone who can come out has come out, so it¡¯s time to withdraw, brothers and sisters! We started making a break for it. Already, over a million Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes players were gathered outside the valley. Our sacrifice had bought them their lives! Our blood-drenched Dragonlight Cavalrymen were galloping toward a forest clearing when October Rain shouted a question from afar, "Should we return to Swallow Ear Canton and meet up with Snowy Cathaya and Candle Dragon, Lu Chen?" I nodded. "Yes, we¡¯re heading there right now. Throne of the Wild¡¯s perimeter forces aren¡¯t too strong, so we should be able to blow them back easily!" "Mn!" It was at this moment Beiming Xue pointed to the north. "Look over there, big bro! It¡¯s Hero Alliance! There are so many!" "Fuck!" I groaned on the inside while taking to the sky and scanning the surroundings with Dark Pupils. I saw none other than the divine player, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow himself, flying toward us at high speed. ¡­¡­ I shouted, "We¡¯ll hold them back for a bit, so get your asses out of here as quickly as possible!" Li Chengfeng nodded. "Heh. I¡¯ve been wanting to meet Vienna¡¯s Sorrow in combat!" "Yeah. Let¡¯s go!" I, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon and about a thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen started charging toward Hero Alliance. We had to do this because we couldn¡¯t afford to lose any more troops than we already did! ¡­¡­ "Watch out for Vienna¡¯s attacks. I also see Shabby Castle in the sky, so you handle him, Lian Xin. The enemy is numerous, so be careful, everyone!" I said in the party channel. Gui Guzi responded, "Got it. How are we going to do this, by the way?" I replied, "I¡¯ll stall Vienna. Lian Xin, Beiming and Chengfeng, you guys work together and try to kill Shabby Castle if you can. Don¡¯t forget that he¡¯s a divine mage, okay? He¡¯s hard to kill, and his firepower is insane!" "Mn!" When two people meet, only one shall emerge the victor. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow flew straight toward me with a black sword in his grip. He cackled before he even got close and said, "I¡¯ve waited for you for too long, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" We met at the center and clashed swords with one another. The resulting shock wave blew Vienna and I at least dozens of meters to the back and shook the forest like a hurricane. This fight could very well be described as the battle between the world¡¯s two strongest players. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow smirked. "Come. Let us settle the grudges between us once and for all!" ¡­¡­ Vienna¡¯s Sorrow made the first move. He executed a lightning-fast Berserk Triple Slash! I responded by firing my own Burning Blade Slash! Bang bang bang¡­ I shuddered like a leaf as the skill struck me and deleted around 3 million HP. However, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow lost around 9 million HP to my Burning Blade Slash, so I was definitely the winner of the first exchange. After I had closed the distance between us, I gathered my fist and punched him right in the chest! Bang! The wind broke against Vienna¡¯s sword as he struck my shield with an Ice Stream Blade. Then, he activated Heavenly River Transformation and used Smile of the God of War Ares to increase his critical hit rate by 70%! He then proceeded to use Iron Arm Reinforcement to increase his Strength by 70%! Not only did the guy buff himself to max power the instant he discovered that he was no match for me at his base stats, he unleashed Beast Howl Slash that was so fast that I couldn¡¯t parry it in time! Bang! A terrible pain engulfed my chest as the Beast Howl Slash critted. Not even my Profound Armor was enough to withstand the attack! 7,477,688! Over half of my HP was gone just like that. My bard buffs had expired a long time ago, so I only had a bit over 13 million HP. A prolonged fight would end in my defeat for sure! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow tried to hit me a third time, but I was able to dodge to the back before flying back in to grab his armor. Then, I "disarmed" his metal armor with Flying Dragon Arm before executing a lightning-fast Xuanyuan Slash[2] of my own! "Shit!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow turned green when he realized what just happened. Boom! 9,052,678! The attack had nearly one-shot him because Xuanyuan Slash had critted! I turned my blade and cast Xuanyuan Art without hesitation. Now is the time to end his life! However, the distant Shabby Castle suddenly pointed his scepter at Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and cast his SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Freya¡¯s Kiss, healing him for 60% HP instantly. At the same time, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow activated his own HP recovery skill and an invincibility skill! Thud! Saving Vienna¡¯s Sorrow came with a price tag, however. An arrow pierced through Shabby Castle¡¯s Magic Shield and stunned him while he was distracted. Immediately after that, Li Chengfeng and Lian Xin executed their combos, shredded his Magic Shield and one-shot him from existence! Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Legendary Brave" (China) killed the Heroic Bannerman "Shabby Castle" (England) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 222,637 points! ¡­¡­ That was all the havoc we managed to create before true danger arrived, however. On the ground, countless Hero Alliance Gold Cavalrymen were charging toward us and killing the sky with what seemed to be an endless number of Trapping Nets. I hurriedly shouted, "Withdraw! If we don¡¯t withdraw now it¡¯ll be too late!" Li Chengfeng, Beiming Xue and He Yi immediately pulled back, but High Fighting Spirits swung his axe and said, "You guys go first. I¡¯ll cover the rear[3]!" "Fighting Spirits!!!" I was already a hundred meters away when I saw High Fighting Spirits holding the line alone with Xiezhi Howl. Then, a shadow dashed up to him and pierced his chest with a black sword. Blood spilled everywhere, and a critical hit damage number rose from his head! ¡­¡­ "Big brother Fighting Spirits¡­" Beiming Xue murmured as she looked back at the berserker. I was so furious that my heart could shatter. Li Chengfeng kept swearing under his breath with bloodshot eyes, "What the fuck is this, what the fuck is this¡­" ¡­¡­ Blood spilled out of High Fighting Spirits¡¯ lips as he slowly dropped to his knees. Right before he lost all control of his body though, he swung his axe one last time at Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s head before muttering, "Hehe, but everyone¡¯s safe, right?" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow beheaded him for the rude gesture and swore, "Bastard!" ¡­¡­ The scene was so shocking that I actually lost control of my Flight for a moment. Heart breaking like glass, I swore, "Just you wait, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. I will kill you if it¡¯s the last thing I do¡­" Li Chengfeng caught me by the collar and said quietly, "Let¡¯s go, brother¡­" 1. T/N: pretty hypocritical for a guy who fought all of his Nation Wars preaching the greater good. It¡¯s almost like the time he betrayed Flowing Cloud for his nation never happened. ? 2. E/N: You took off his armor to use a skill that ignored armor¡­? ? 3. E/N: That¡¯s actually a good trade-off. He¡¯s a player that dies almost too quickly, but has CRAZY damage. If he spams his AoEs, enemies will not walk into them. If it was a tanky turtle, they would just walk past him. Of all players of Ancient Sword, he¡¯s the best to die covering the retreat. He has enough damage to make an army stop at a choke point and he¡¯s not so strong he¡¯s a huge loss overall. ? CH 1560 The stench of blood permeated the once silent forest. A beautiful woman landed on a forest clearing before shooting a small smirk at Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and asking, "How¡¯s the battle, Vienna?" Thud! A frowning Vienna¡¯s Sorrow stabbed his black sword into the soil like it was an enemy before answering, "You saw the message, didn¡¯t you? Shabby Castle was killed." Tear Stain chuckled. "I thought he called himself the number one mage in the world? How did he get himself killed then? Hmph." The Knight of Stars uttered, "Enough, Tear Stain! This is not the time to be pointing fingers and blaming each other. Shabby Castle was ganged up on by Beiming Xue, Lian Xing and Legendary Brave. His death was understandable." "Speaking of which, where is Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and his men?" "They escaped." "What are we waiting for then? Shouldn¡¯t we give chase or something?" Tear Stain stared at Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. The warrior pointed at High Fighting Spirits¡¯ body before replying, "We¡¯ve killed a couple hundred Dragonlight Cavalrymen and taken out one of their corps commanders. This High Fighting Spirits carried an incredible amount of contribution points, so I reckoned that he killed plenty of our men. Also, we¡¯ve killed almost 2 million Chinese players in Pharaoh Valley, so I¡¯d say that we¡¯ve achieved our strategic objective. All that said, I don¡¯t think there is a need to chase them down. A cornered enemy is dangerous, and Candle Dragon and Snowy Cathaya are still sieging the city just ahead. There is no need to turn this into an all-out battle yet." "What do we do now then?" Tear Stain asked. Beside Vienna, the mage Death Wish replied with a smirk, "Easy. We¡¯ll tell Breeze and Rain and God of War to continue reinforcing Swallow Ear Canton. While the Chinese army is busy, we¡¯ll conquer Sky Ridge Fortress and march toward Sky City from there!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ At another faraway forest. Pitter patter¡­ A drizzle was falling from the sky. I felt like a storm had taken residence inside my heart as I stepped across wet grass toward our destination. Guilt and regret toward High Fighting Spirits had twisted my facial features into a permanent frown. I hadn¡¯t imagined that the battle to save Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes would be such a costly one until the worst happened. "It¡¯s not your fault, Lu Chen¡­" He Yi walked up to me and whispered. Li Chengfeng also said, "Yes, Fighting Spirits¡¯ death isn¡¯t your fault. It was all to save Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes from annihilation, and for the sake of this Nation War¡­" I was still very upset, however. Fist clenched and blood sliding down my blade, I declared in a cool voice, "I¡¯m absolutely going to cut Vienna¡¯s head off, or I won¡¯t have the face to meet Fighting Spirits!" He Yi nodded. "Mn! So, what do we do now?" "We meet up with Warsky Alliance and travel to Swallow Ear Canton. I need to see it destroyed with my own eyes!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Warsky Alliance was currently resting at a wide forest clearing. Their equipment looked warped and tattered because they had been battling for 5 hours straight. In fact, most of them were still at low health. It was because not many priests managed to escape the ambush. They could only rely on low-rank potions to heal themselves, and many of them didn¡¯t even bother to drink one. It showed just how demoralized they were. "They¡¯ve come¡­" October Rain said while rising to her feet. "Ugh¡­" Warsky was sitting beneath a tree and resting. When he heard that we had come, he opened his eyes, rose to his feet and walked up to us with a smile on his face. "I didn¡¯t think that the one to come to our rescue would be the opponent we had declared war against. Life truly is an unpredictable thing. Thank you very much for your help, Lu Chen!" Thud! Without a word, I darted up to Warsky and punched him with a fist fully charged with divine energy! Bang! Blood spilled out of Warsky¡¯s lips as he slammed into a tree behind him. The tree trunk shook violently, and tree leaves fell in clumps. As I withdrew my fist, I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and stabbed him through the chest, effectively nailing him to the tree trunk. While blood spilled out of his wound, I roared at him with bloodshot eyes, "Look what you¡¯ve done, Warsky! Did you know how many brothers and sisters I lost because of your impulsiveness? Even High Fighting Spirits was killed by Vienna! If I could choose again, I would¡¯ve left you for dead!" "Hah¡­ hah¡­ hah¡­" Warsky looked at me while panting heavily. "I¡¯m sorry, brother¡­ I¡¯m truly¡­ sorry¡­" Not far away from me, Farewell Song immediately came to his guild leader¡¯s rescue. However¡­ I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword, activated Profound Armor and slashed at him. "Get lost!" "Ah?!" Farewell Song tried to parry the attack with both daggers, but I turned my wrist at the last moment to execute a parry shatter. Not only that, I had activated Heavenly River Transformation to empower my attack. As a result, the attack went right through his daggers and sent him flying like a broken kite. He rolled across the grass for at least 30 meters before he finally came to a stop. Thud¡­ Suddenly, a pale hand grabbed my sword hilt. It belonged to October Rain. She said, slowly, "Lu Chen, we are aware that Warsky Alliance really did Ancient Sword wrong this time. We thank you truly for saving us during our time of need. However, killing Warsky and Farewell Song won¡¯t change things, and we still need them to fight the war, don¡¯t we? Please stop here." He Yi also pressed a hand on my arm and said, "Enough, Lu Chen¡­" I sheathed my sword dejectedly and leaned against the rain-drenched tree. I then closed my eyes and said, "Over 10,000 elites including High Fighting Spirits had died at Pharaoh Valley¡­ I just can¡¯t stand it, I can¡¯t stand my brothers and sisters being slaughtered like defenseless chickens¡­ I just can¡¯t stand this goddamned guilt and regret[1]¡­" Li Chengfeng walked up to me and patted me once on the shoulder. "And yet we¡¯ll never blame you for your decisions because you are our brother, and we are yours. I understand your feelings, Lu Chen. I feel guilty about Fighting Spirits¡¯ death too, but this is war. Just like in real life, casualties are bound to happen eventually." ¡­¡­ I raised my head and stared at the gloomy sky for a bit, "Battle report please, Chaos Moon¡­" Chaos Moon nodded. "We were 2 parties of 8,000 men each when we departed. Party 1 only has 3,147 players left, and party 2, 4,459 players. We have lost 8,394 players in total including High Fighting Spirits, and everyone was a core player in Ancient Sword and an elite within the Dragonlight Cavalry!" "Fuck!" I punched the tree behind me as the pain in my heart spiked once more. Beside me, Warsky said, "Lu Chen, I truly thank you for coming to our rescue. If you don¡¯t mind, I would like to compensate your dead brothers and sisters." I shot him a glance and said, "You will pay everyone who died 50k gold per person, and those who didn¡¯t, 10k gold per person. Now." Warsky nodded without thinking. "Mn. I¡¯ll transfer 100 million gold to you right now. You can distribute the gold later." I sucked in a deep breath before replying, "Okay." ¡­¡­ The transaction was completed a short moment later. If nothing else, Warsky was a man of his word. He wasn¡¯t done yet though. Walking to the center of the clearing and facing toward my players, he clasped his fists together and apologized deeply, "I am the one who has given the wrong order in this battle. It is all my fault, so please don¡¯t blame my players for my mistake. I will carry this responsibility alone. Thank you all of you for coming to rescue us today. I, Warsky, swear that I will treat all Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players as my sworn brothers and sisters starting now. I will never betray you all for as long as I live!" Warsky Alliance¡¯s players looked shaken by their guild leader¡¯s declaration. Lin Bing Dou Zhe even walked up and said, "Boss, you didn¡¯t need to bear all the responsibility. In fact, we¡¯re the ones who asked you to chase down Cyan Beast. You were just complying with our request. We¡­" October Rain interrupted, "Lin Bing Dou Zhe, it¡¯s okay. Let Warsky bear this alone. He is the guild leader. This is what he should do!" Warsky nodded. "One should answer for one does. I have never been one to shift the responsibility, and I¡¯m not about to start now. This mistake is all mine, and I will do my best to fix it. When this Nation War is over, I¡¯ll compensate everyone for their loss as best I can." ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a huge man carrying a warblade walked up to us. He was accompanied by a beautiful girl and several other players. They were all the executive-level players of Soul Battle Robes. Song of Ice and Fire glanced back and forth between me and Song of Cloud and Water before saying quietly, "This battle has greatly changed my impression of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Lu Chen. I admit that we really should¡¯ve become sworn allies with them, guild leader." Song of Cloud and Water said with reddened eyes, "I have always liked Lu Chen since he became a pro. I like his perseverance, dedication, and unparalleled talent. That is why for the first time, I am going to make an important decision as the guild leader of Soul Battle Robes¡­" She turned around to look at her subordinates and shot them a bright smile. "You can defy me and even reject me, but this is one time you won¡¯t be able to change my mind." Ringwraith looked surprised. "What are you planning, big miss?" Song of Cloud and Water smiled and said, "I hereby declare that Soul Battle Robes will be joining Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls as their subguild. I wish to become a member of Ancient Sword. Only then will I be able to play this game happily¡­" Song of Ice and Fire looked shocked. "Big miss¡­ isn¡¯t this decision a little¡­ too¡­" "Impulsive?" Song of Cloud and Water replied coolly. "Maybe, but I¡¯ve made up my mind. Will you support me?" Song of Ice and Fire clenched his fists tightly. "I¡­ I will respect your decision, guild leader. I too am willing to join Ancient Sword and become one of them, although¡­ we should probably ask if they¡¯re willing to take us in first¡­" ¡­¡­ To be honest, I, He Yi, Li Chengfeng and everyone else were bubbling with joy the moment we heard that Soul Battle Robes were hoping to join Ancient Sword. Everyone was aware of the strength of Soul Battle Robes and especially their best players, Song of Cloud and Water, God Bone and Ringwraith. Song of Ice and Fire especially was a super-tier player with the SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Gonggong¡¯s Furious Strike. Who wouldn¡¯t want an expert like him? And so He Yi walked up to them with a smile as warm as a cool spring. "No problem! Ancient Sword is more than willing to accept you as our subguild! Our strongest subguild, Bloody Mercenaries, is an independent entity. If Soul Battle Robes joins us, you will enjoy the same independence as them. Is that fine?" Song of Cloud and Water smiled. "Okay!" 1. E/N: That¡¯s Lu Chen¡¯s biggest flaw, apparent since the beginning of the game. He cares TOO MUCH about people around him. Candlelight Shadow was outgearing him for a while at the beginning because Lu Chen was giving out best pets and items, and it¡¯s also why he¡¯s been hiding for He Yi. His rationale is completely taken over by altruism sometimes. If anything, he¡¯s consistent, but also annoying¡­ ? CH 1561 Song of Cloud and Water stared at me with pitiful eyes. "Why do you look unhappy, Lu Chen? Don¡¯t you want us to join you?" I hurriedly shook my head. "N-no! In fact, I¡¯ve wanted this to happen for a long time. It¡¯s just that High Fighting Spirits and my brothers just died, so it doesn¡¯t feel right to celebrate like it¡¯s New Year¡¯s before half an hour has even passed, you get what I mean?" Li Chengfeng laughed while rubbing his palms together. "High Fighting Spirits said that he¡¯s going out for a hotpot with a couple of dead brothers to fill his empty tummy, so I dare say that the mourning period has already passed. Feel free to celebrate anytime you want to." I smiled. "Good!" I then looked at Song of Cloud and Water and said, "Since we¡¯re one big family now, can I request Soul Battle Robes to obey my orders for the duration of this Nation War?" Song of Cloud and Water nodded. "Your order is our highest order!" I looked at Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and Ringwraith. They were the true backbone of the guild after all. Song of Ice and Fire rubbed his nose and smiled. "Whatever the miss decides, I obey!" God Bone climbed onto his mount and said, "What else is there to say? We are brothers from now on, Lu Chen. Just give us the word, and we will die for you." The wisest of them all, Ringwraith let out a chuckle and said, "I suppose that this was inevitable. Big miss has wanted to be a stepsister for a long time now. As you can see though, I¡¯m just a fragile mage. Do assign a couple of Dragonlight Cavalrymen to protect me¡­" I nodded smilingly. "Sure. We¡¯re all good, then." ¡­¡­ Very soon, Soul Battle Robes changed their guild emblem to Ancient Sword and became our second independent subguild next to Bloody Mercenaries. As the scene unfolded before Warsky Alliance, Warsky rubbed his nose and lamented, "To think that Lu Chen would accomplish what I failed to accomplish[1]. Is this fate?" I shot him a glare. "Cut the bullcrap and get ready to march to Swallow Ear Canton. Let¡¯s pull out this thorn in our side in 2 hours!" "Mn!" We all climbed onto our mounts and sped toward Swallow Ear Canton. I flew at a low altitude and kept pace with Chaos Moon, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and more so that I could protect them immediately if necessary. High Fighting Spirits¡¯ death proved that our first-rate players were still a ways away from becoming true world-class players. In fact, they couldn¡¯t even go up against Red Maple right now. That was why they needed protection until the day they could spread their wings. Chaos Moon turned toward me and asked, "Our two parties don¡¯t even amount to 8,000 players. Should we mobilize 10,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen from Fortress of the Iron Halberd to help us?" I thought for a moment before answering, "Sure. Bring in the elites only. Though, Xu Yang will have to stay behind to direct the others to protect the fortress!" "Mn!" "Oh right, how is Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun doing?" Chaos Moon smiled. "Very well. As it turned out, the ghost ships the Northern Alliance used to transport their troops had limited range. They landed not too long after they flew over Dragonbone Mountain Range and were taken out by You and Yun and his men one after another. In fact, he and his men are have already returned to Fortress of the Iron Halberd." "That¡¯s good to hear." It felt like a heavy rock was lifted from my chest. Though, my true relief really came from the fact that the last of the major players¡ªHero Alliance, Throne of the Wild and God Breaker¡ªhad finally shown themselves. Now that I had the full picture and knew where everyone was, I could finally strategize properly. It was at this moment Li Chengfeng descended from the sky and asked me, "What are we going to do with Hero Alliance?" I answered, "It¡¯s simple. They hid until now because they wanted to annihilate Soul Battle Robes and Warsky Alliance in one go, but we managed to interfere in time and prevent them from fully accomplishing their objective. In my opinion, they really only have two options now. One, they attack Fortress of the Iron Halberd and follow the same attack route they used during the first Nation War. Two, they attack Sky Ridge Fortress and march onward to Sky City. After all, the King of Cities is the real thorn in their side." Li Chengfeng asked, "Should I inform Zhang Chun to dispatch a couple of guilds to Sky Ridge Fortress now?" "Mn!" I nodded. "There¡¯s no way they can hold it for long, but some delay is better than no delay at all!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ We arrived at Swallow Ear Canton 30 minutes later. From a distance, we saw rising smoke, a sea of red names, and at least tens of millions of Cyan Earth City players standing in our way. Cyan Beast was standing among the square formations as well. They were the true reason the Chinese force was still unable to conquer Swallow Ear Canton until now. The goddamned Indians had invested at least 20 million troops to stop us! Meanwhile, Snowy Cathaya, Candle Dragon, Purple Lily and almost 20 million Chinese guilds were still sieging the city from every direction. The defenders were repelling them, and the attackers were hitting them from the outside. They couldn¡¯t be feeling well considering the circumstances. Still, if they could conquer Swallow Ear Canton in time, then the situation would immediately favor the China server. Gui Guzi gasped when he saw just how many enemies were surrounding our forces. "Heavens, just how many players has Cyan Earth City mobilized? They¡¯re throwing literally everything they have against us¡­" Warsky said darkly, "We¡¯re 600k elites and 90k+ Gold Cavalrymen strong after the escape from Pharaoh Valley. Adding the dozen or so subguilds coming to reinforce us from White Rose Fortress, Warsky Alliance still has a total of 1.5 million players. Do we launch a frontal assault now?" I shook my head. "Stay cool, Warsky. Let¡¯s tally our forces first before we decide anything. Ice and Fire, how many players and Iron Cutter Cavalrymen does Soul Battle Robes guild still have?" "We still have 500k+ players and 60k+ Iron Cutter Cavalrymen. We also have a reserve of 400k players near the Impassable Great Wall, so our total army size is about a million. How are we going to fight this, guild leader?" I thought for a moment before answering, "Let¡¯s stand by for a bit and wait until our total troop count has reached 5 million. I also need some time to rally Protective Umbrella to our cause. I didn¡¯t want to involve Protective Umbrella because its members are outer-land foreigners with no stakes in this war, but it doesn¡¯t look like we have a choice right now. Warsky, Ice and Fire, do rally whatever troops you can in the meantime. Once we¡¯ve gathered 5 million troops, we¡¯ll attack the encirclement and help our allies to destroy Cyan Earth City¡¯s 10 million troops together." "Okay!" After that, I brought up the communicator and made a call request to Hickey¡ª "Hi, boss, I miss you so much~" Hickey¡¯s Chinese was growing better and better each day. I said, "Do you know what¡¯s going on with the Nation War, Hickey?" "Yep. Are you finally going to use us?" "Yeah!" I nodded strongly before continuing, "I want you and Warscar to rally your main forces and come to me through White Rose Fortress as soon as possible. Speaking of which, how many players can you rally right now?" Hickey chuckled. "Around 700k or so. It¡¯s because everyone¡¯s been waiting for you to summon us, and we¡¯ve been accepting plenty of stowaway players from the Chaotic 27[2], Greedy Wolf City and more¡­ Hehe, you don¡¯t blame us for expanding our forces without going through you first, do you?" I chuckled myself. "Of course not! I would give you a kiss right now if I could! Rally them all and join me at the forest outside Swallow Ear Canton as soon as you can. How long do you need?" "An hour." "Got it. Be quick!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ We waited in silence. As it turned out, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ 10k Dragonlight Cavalrymen from Fortress of the Iron Halberd were the fastest to arrive. They joined He Yi and Lu Buyi¡¯s party and grew our army to around 2 million. Still, we waited because I had given the order to rest until we were 5 million strong. Some small to middle-sized Cyan Earth City guilds couldn¡¯t stand the loneliness and provoked us, but of course our Dragonlight Cavalry, Iron Cutter Cavalry and Gold Cavalry turned them all into contribution points. An hour later, a shining party of Zephyr Cavalrymen appeared from the plains. They were also escorting a huge group of priests, mages, archers, bards and more. Protective Umbrella¡¯s 700k army had finally arrived! Warscar and Hickey were the first to reach us and dismount. They greeted us smilingly, "How have you been, boss, guild leader?" I nodded. "We¡¯re doing very well, thank you. Tell everyone to take a 10-minute break. We¡¯re going to set up the attack formation and attack the Indians¡¯ square formations soon!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Our ears were filled with the cries of our mounts. This time, I partied 8,000 Zephyr Cavalrymen so they could benefit from my Martial God. Chaos Moon, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and more Famous Generals also made their own 8,000-man parties to greatly increase our overall combat capabilities. At full stretch, our coalition of armies was at least a dozen kilometers long. It looked impressive to say the least. When Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes¡¯ formations were ready as well, it looked as if we were a forest of flesh and armor. No, we are one. This is gonna be good! I looked at Cyan Earth City¡¯s army and smiled. "Alright, the enemy¡¯s 10 million elites are right in front of us. It¡¯s time the army we clobbered together faced them in battle!" I then raised my sword and shouted, "Chinese force, attack! Crush them all into paste!" The ground shook, and the air instantly became covered in dust clouds. The vanguard consisted of over 17k Dragonlight Cavalrymen, and they were empowered by He Yi and Lu Buyi¡¯s stratagems no less. One stratagem increased all stats by 150%, while the other not only buffed them but also reduced enemies stats by 30%. This was going to be a slaughter. ¡­¡­ Cyan Earth City¡¯s forces reacted to our movement by moving the shield formation at the front to the side and revealing an entire row of brand new ballistae! They were definitely prepared for our charge! "Don¡¯t fear! Continue onward and take out those siege weapons!" I declared with a laugh. Most of the frontliners behind me had been buffed by bards and tacticians, so the ballistae definitely wouldn¡¯t be as deadly as they had been at Pharaoh Valley. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh¡­ Cold wind blew across the land again and again. Carried within them was a thick volley of steel arrows. As a member of the vanguard, I immediately ripped the space in front of me with my Domain powers. All the arrows who hit it had their trajectories distorted and redirected toward the ground. Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi had already flown into the middle of the enemy and were tearing the ballistae into pieces. I waved my sword and cast the Xuanyuan Art, causing tens of thousands of enemies to lose 70% of their HP immediately. They were stunned speechless as a matter of course. "Attack!" The Zephyr Cavalrymen led by Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust hit the enemy¡¯s shield formation like a battering ram and dyed the barren soil red immediately. Countless players carrying red-starred flags above their heads battered against the dam that was Cyan Earth City¡¯s 10 million troops like a tidal wave. Sword skills and magic clashed, mingling to the point one couldn¡¯t be distinguished from the other. This was a battle only the bravest would emerge victorious from! 1. E/N: They left your command long ago, and yet you still managed to almost drag them down with you this Nation War¡­ ? 2. E/N: I hope Who Will Fight Me is among them as a surprise author and Hickey is hiding from us ? CH 1562 Crack! The Xuanyuan Sword triggered its Mountain Crush effect and sliced a magic knight¡¯s shield in half. It also sliced through his neck and dealt around 4 million damage. The magic knight stared at me with disbelieving eyes as he slowly slid off his mount and died. He couldn¡¯t believe that there was someone who could dish out 4 million damage with a basic attack. The 17k Dragonlight Cavalrymen displayed incredible prowess as well. They were able to mow down the enemy shielders like grass and shred the catapults and ballistae further behind like they didn¡¯t exist. Their Defense was just too high for most players to pierce. It wasn¡¯t a surprising outcome. Not only did they enjoy Sky City¡¯s King of Cities and Dark Moon City¡¯s buffs, their Dragonscale Beast¡¯s Dragon Soul skill further boosted their Attack and Defense by 50%. More importantly, the Dragonlight Cavalrymen in this battle were all veterans who had fought a hundred battles at minimum. I guaranteed that their equipment alone was among the best in all the servers, if not the best! ¡­¡­ "Charge!" Heaven¡¯s Rain charged the enemy¡¯s flanks while leading a group of Knight General-empowered Zephyr Cavalrymen. Following her cue, they executed Ultimate Strength Break + Barrier Break combo that instantly swept a huge swathe of enemies. Of course, Cyan Earth City retaliated with a barrage of arrows and magic that dropped plenty of Zephyr Cavalrymen, Profound Wolf Cavalrymen and more as well. Cyan Earth City was the equal¡ªsome might even say the better¡ªof Hero City or Burning City due to their massive player population, and their two main cities were among the absolute best in the world. This wouldn¡¯t be an easy battle. In the sky, our cute and beautiful Phantasm of Stars was casting vast and devastating spells on the enemies without a break as if her body contained an infinite amount of mana. Not only did her Soul Shocker Bell double her damage dealt, her AoE spells were big enough to engulf dozens of Cyan Earth City players every time. Her DPS was out of the world as a matter of course. Warscar was swinging his battle axe and rampaging on the frontline as he pleased. His head and chest were covered in arrows, but he paid them no hit and kept charging like no tomorrow. He also regained a lot of HP each time he swung his axe around, meaning that he had to have at least 10% lifesteal or higher. Protective Umbrella¡¯s base was set at the edge of Dark Moon City facing toward the Black Coast, so they had the right to use our instances. This meant that they could upgrade their gear at a speed similar to ours. At the very least, it was nothing like the days where they exchanged shitty equipment for nearly as shitty equipment in the outer lands. Pu pu pu¡­ A group of Protective Umbrella archers dropped dead after receiving an arrow rain from the enemy. Hickey looked at me and yelled, "Boss, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be able to wipe out the enemy¡¯s 10 million troops at this rate. Even if we do, we¡¯ll be near annihilation ourselves. What do we do?" I hummed for a moment before replying, "There¡¯s no hurry. I¡¯ll see if I can mobilize more reinforcements to help us!" "Mn mn. Do your best, boss!" ¡­¡­ After I cast the Xuanyuan Art to remove 70% of the enemy¡¯s HP, I brought up my communicator and called Xu Yang. "Brother, how is the battle at Fortress of the Iron Halberd going?" Xu Yang was breathing heavily. He was obviously in the middle of a fight himself. He said with a chuckle, "Not bad. Hero Alliance, Throne of the Wild and God Breaker seem to be gearing up to take down Sky Ridge Fortress, so the pressure here has been lifted a lot. I think Dominating Heaven Blade and Stranger of Three Lifetimes can actually hold this place with just 5 million men." I nodded. "That¡¯s great to hear. I want you to rally every Dragonlight Cavalryman, Dragonlight Archer and Holy Mage you have and teleport to White Rose Fortress straight away to help us. Today, we will annihilate all Cyan Earth City players around Swallow Ear Canton and give Breeze and Rain a taste of our true power!" Xu Yang chuckled. "Sure! A lot of our players have come back online, so we can muster around 85k Dragonlight Cavalrymen, 70k+ Dragonlight Archers and 80k+ Holy Mages. That¡¯s awesome, right?" I guffawed. "Fuck, that is one hell of a surprise! In that case, tell them to come over right now. Fortress of the Iron Halberd can do without 200k+ players, but we absolutely need your strength here!" "No problem. The heavy cavalrymen and mounted archers should arrive at your location in 15 minutes. The mages will be arriving half an hour later!" "Got it. Be quick!" ¡­¡­ I resumed fighting after that. My Divine Energy Points had fallen below 100, but they skyrocketed back to 147 a few minutes later. It meant that I had killed at least several thousand players with a single cast of Xuanyuan Art. I had to admit that Xuanyuan Art was as OP as a bug. It was no wonder my greatest enemies tried to remove me from the battlefield whenever possible.[1] The player count on the map screen continued to fall drastically. Cyan Earth City was bleeding players like crazy, but the China server wasn¡¯t doing much better themselves. At least several hundred large guilds were stopping us from advancing at a reasonable pace. Some had even set up "camp" close to the walls so as to force us to suicide into them. The Dragonlight Cavalrymen might be powerful, but there were only 10k+ of them. It wasn¡¯t enough! After we tore down three defense lines, we came across a shielders + ballistae formation that was about a kilometer long. It was Cyan Earth City¡¯s true defense line. Standing amid a group of players and smirking, a beautiful archer shouted, "The Chinese army is powerful, right Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? Why don¡¯t you come test out the defense line we have prepared especially for you?" "Yeye the Witch¡­" I gritted my teeth. "Is she the commander when Breeze and Rain and God of War aren¡¯t around?" Li Chengfeng took one look at the incredibly long defense line and abruptly halted his charge. He licked his lips and said, "So, we¡¯ve finally drawn out Cyan Beast¡¯s main force. Are they planning to fight us to the death here? It¡¯s not just them either. I see the Top 10 guilds of Cyan Earth City among them¡­" Gui Guzi inquired my opinion, "What do we do now, Boss Broken Halberd? Do we charge now, or?" I shook my head. "Let¡¯s wait a couple of minutes. There is no reason to charge a shielders + ballistae combination head-on especially when our numbers are inferior in the first place. All we will achieve is a terrible death. Cyan Beast is no Olympus or Blood Soul. They are one of the best guilds in the entire world, and both their melee and ranged forces are top-class!" I raised my arm and shouted, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, halt your attack and wait for an opportunity!" ¡­¡­ From far away, Warsky shouted, "Seriously, Lu Chen? The arrow is drawn, but we¡¯re not releasing it? If you¡¯re not going to charge the enemy, I¡¯ll go!" I retorted just as loudly, "I¡¯ve already told you to calm the fuck down, Warsky! Or do you think Warsky Alliance hasn''t lost enough men?" That snapped Warsky out of his haze and shut him up. Unfortunately, not everyone listened to my order. My old "acquaintance", Li Le, rode out on a white horse while shouting, "Ancient Sword and Warsky Alliance are pussying out of the battle! If they won¡¯t attack the enemy and rescue our allies, then we will! Flower Room, charge! All cavalrymen, follow me!" About 30k Flower Room cavalrymen followed right behind him. "Guys, look, a moron," I said with a deadpan expression. He Yi responded with a smile, "There¡¯s no stopping someone from being stupid. At least he¡¯ll make for a good example why the rest shouldn¡¯t charge¡­" "Sure, if only that example didn¡¯t involve 30,000 Chinese players following him¡­" ¡­¡­ Smirking, Yeye the Witch notched an arrow and declared, "Ballistae will fire at full power, archers will Far Shot their attacks, mages will use God Devil Break, and shielders will activate their Holy Shield Protection. Ready? 3¡ª2¡ª1¡ªfire!" Countless arrows rained atop Flower Room¡¯s party and killed many of them almost immediately. Bloodcurdling screams filled the air as they rolled across the ground. Those who got close enough to catch the mages¡¯ spells only died a worse death, much less the ballistae bolts. The bolts were so powerful that they barely lost momentum as they pierced our players, going through many players in a row. Gui Guzi abruptly shifted his shield and sent a steel bolt that happened to sail his way flying. The ballista¡¯s attack range was just too massive! I too caught a flying bolt with my bare hands before it would pass through me, hurting players behind me. Its tail was shivering, and its body was completely coated in blood. Heaven knows how many Flower Room players had died to this one bolt. Their cavalry charge was suicide from the very beginning. It took an exceptionally stupid person to underestimate Cyan Beast¡¯s power, and Li Le was that person. ¡­¡­ The cries of battle faded into nothing in just ten short minutes, and 30k cavalrymen including Li Le himself had perished in battle. This was just the price they had to pay for their foolishness. When the battle was over, a Cyan Beast cavalryman named "Fang" couldn¡¯t help but raise his axe and taunted loudly, "Is this all the China server has to offer? Hahaha, the way they¡¯re sprawled reminds me of dead dogs! Dead Chinese dogs, hahaha!" I leaped into the air and stayed there with a dangerous smile on my face. "Patience. You will witness the power of us Chinese dogs very soon!" It was at this moment Xu Yang and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun showed up with the Dragonlight Cavalrymen. Xu Yang raised his Omnislash and yelled, "We¡¯re not too late, right, Lu Chen?" I smiled. "No, you¡¯re right on time! All Famous Generals, leave your parties and form your own to buff our Dragonlight Cavalrymen now! These motherfuckers mustn¡¯t realize that we still have a perfectly untouched group of 100k Dragonlight Cavalrymen[2] after all the big battles we had fought up until this point. Today, Cyan Beast¡¯s defense line will get to taste of their strength! I count at least 1 million Cyan Beast elites here, and not a single one of them are going to escape this battle! Let this be our gift to God of War!" The Famous Generals did as I said. Very soon, all 100k Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 80k Dragonlight Archers were buffed with the appropriate stratagems and moved to the frontline. Of course, they would be supported by the mage parties, priest parties, bard parties and more. Once the Dragonlight Cavalrymen had punched through the enemy¡¯s shield formation, they would have to fight a battle of attrition against the enemies. That wouldn¡¯t be possible without healing. I rose my sword high again and shouted, "Now is the time, brothers and sisters! Warsky Alliance, you go too! Let¡¯s take down these 10 million Cyan Earth City players in one go!" Warsky nodded strongly. "Hell yeah!" ¡­¡­ The mounts neighed, and the attack began. Our 100k Dragonlight Cavalrymen spread out in a straight line before charging straight toward the enemy¡¯s formation. Seeing the sudden influx of our iconic cavalrymen, Yeye The Witch frowned as she ordered, "Keep firing! Shielders, guard! Mages and archers, Far Shot!" This time, their defense didn¡¯t nearly go as well as before. The arrows hit the Dragonlight Cavalry for only 200k damage or so, which was almost nothing considering most of them had over 8 million max HP! "Mountain Stagger Arrow! Kill the dogs dead!" Fang ordered next. Hundreds of Dragonlight Cavalrymen had their mount tenacity sniped and landed on two feet, but still they didn¡¯t stop charging until they were finally killed! Flying at the forefront, I raised my sword and cast Xuanyuan Art! Whoosh! A bloody shock wave spread out from me and deleted 70% HP from all non-China or ally units. At the same time, I threw my sword at Fang using Coiling Dragon Revolution! 1. T/N: Little Piglet screams: Which part of Lu Chen. Can¡¯t. Die. Do. You. NOT understand?? ? 2. E/N: Some people may call bullshit on it, but remember the beginning of the war when they said the Northern Alliance was waiting for China to go to sleep, and that¡¯s why Lu Chen and co went to rest earlier? Well, it¡¯s been like 12 hours since then, and it SHOULD be morning in China, so this timing isn¡¯t really bullshit. This is all Dragonlight Cavalrymen who were at work/busy when the war started. There will be no more of such reinforcements, if someone dies they can¡¯t log until the end of the Nation War. ? CH 1563 "What!!" Fang jolted in surprise but couldn¡¯t do anything to stop it. Coiling Dragon Revolution cut right through his shield and body, triggering a massive damage number¡ª 3,018,271! To my surprise, the guy wasn¡¯t dead yet. He must have over ten million max HP, not to mention that his priests were healing him non-stop. Of course, their spells were nowhere as good as Murong Mingyue¡¯s Kiss of the Goddess of Life. Swhoosh! I dashed up to him like lightning and stopped about a meter away from him. After my sword had returned to me, I asked him with a smirk, "So? Still think that Chinese dogs are weak, idiot?" "You!" Fang erupted, his expression full of frustration. "Get out of my way!" I swept the Dihai Shield horizontally to parry his axe swing. At the same time, I brought my sword down and struck him in the neck. My attack was so powerful that his head was sent flying from his shoulders. Before it could fly too far away, I jumped into the air and gave it a mighty kick! Swhoosh! Fang¡¯s head slammed against the shield of the guy Yeye the Witch was hiding behind. The archer turned green as she uttered, "You and I will forever be enemies, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" ¡­¡­ "So be it!" My eyes turned chilly as I dashed toward her with explosive speed. I cut down the players blocking my way so that my Mad God Lunge wouldn¡¯t trigger prematurely. Both Yeye the Witch and the magic knight protecting her let out involuntary groans as they were pushed a dozen meters to the back. I wanted to kill Yeye the Witch first so that Cyan Beast would be demoralized and without a capable commander. Golden light illuminated the area. Ancient Seal came crashing down at her at high speed! "Ah!" Yeye the Witch hurriedly Leaped to the back. She was just an archer, so there was no way she could withstand my Ancient Seal. Also, she was well aware that a player of my caliber would have 2,000 Tactics at least. It didn¡¯t take a genius to know how much damage it would do if it hit! "Stop him!" A group of Cyan Beast players immediately swarmed me and struck me with their Barrier Breaks. Even more Mountain Stagger Arrows and Shock Arrows struck me from every direction. Unfortunately for them, being divine effectively gave me infinite mount tenacity, meaning that the Mountain Stagger Arrows were all but wasted. Moreover, I had activated Profound Armor beforehand to reduce the effectiveness of Barrie Break to a minimum. I arched my body slightly and rose about half a meter above ground. Then, I whipped my sword at a magic knight and knocked both him and his mount to the ground. Planting a foot on his shield, I activated a midair Thunderous Charge! Swhoosh! Yeye the Witch was dead the moment the skill stunned her. I plunged my sword into the beautiful Indian¡¯s stomach and cast my Burning Blade Slash¡ª 2,987,723! 3,418,772! 4,126,634! Eyes full of defiance until the end, she slowly slid to the ground and died. Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) killed the Temple Guard player "Yeye the Witch" (India) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 192,371 points! ¡­¡­ The tables were turned immediately after Yeye the Witch¡¯s demise. The Indian troops became demoralized, and the shield formations on the frontline grew increasingly unstable. Not about to give them the time to recover, Li Chengfeng unleashed his Crimson Firmament Slash, Heaven¡¯s Rain her Tiger Wing Slash, and He Yi her Chengying and Hangguang¨Cempowered Stormwind Slash. Together, they utterly annihilated several hundred meters of the defense line and allowed the Dragonlight Cavalrymen to penetrate with ease. One moment later, countless Ultimate Strength Breaks fell on top of the enemy ranged players like meteors! "Kill! Obliterate them!" Xu Yang shouted in excitement as he charged forward with the Omnislash in hand. Beside him, a smiling Chaos Moon teased him, "Try not to die too ugly a death, okay Xu Yang? You are the head of the Four Elders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It would demoralize our troops if your death was too unsightly. Of course, I¡¯m warning you because you¡¯re the easiest to kill out of all Four Elders. My dear Lu Chen doesn¡¯t have such a problem!" Xu Yang rolled his eyes at her. "Since when did my brother become your dear?" Suddenly, Chaos Moon cried out in warning, "Watch out!" Xu Yang let out a furious roar as a volley of arrows turned his face into a porcupine¡¯s back. His HP instantly dropped to less than 5%. One or two God Devil Breaks would probably be enough to send him to heaven. It was at this moment Murong Mingyue appeared in the sky. She dropped Kiss of the Goddess of Life on Xu Yang and triggered a healing number that could only be described as impressive¡ª +10,226,691! Xu Yang grinned. "Thanks, Mingyue!" Murong Mingyue was flying in a face down position, so of course her amazing globes were being pulled down by gravity. The way they jiggled within her robes was mesmerizing to say the least. She shot Xu Yang a look and said, "You are an adult, so why are you making me babysit you like a baby?" Xu Yang: "..." ¡­¡­ Diamond Dust asked, "The Dragonlight Archers have arrived. Should they Far Shot?" Beiming Xue answered, "Of course. Tell them to provide suppressive fire with the Spiraling Arrow Blade + Skypiercer combo. We would lose too many cavalrymen without it¡­" Diamond Dust nodded understandingly. "Got it. We¡¯ll punch through their square formation at the cost of 10,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen!" Dust rolled across the battlefield. At the distance, Swallow Ear Canton looked like it might crumble at any moment, but in reality, the damn city had managed to hold out against our army for too long already. Its walls were crawling with Chinese players, but its defenders were able to repel them again and again. It was because all four walls had a couple of Dragon Cannons on them. This was the real reason Swallow Ear Canton was able to survive until now. In a sense, one might say that the Dragon Cannons had changed the course of fate of the Japan server. Without the siege weapons, we would¡¯ve wiped out the server from the surface of Heavenblessed a long time ago! A short while later, our Holy Mage Legion led by Moonlight Stone and Yu Tong had arrived as well. They asked me in the guild channel, "What strategy should we use, boss?" I replied without hesitation, "Advance horizontally toward the enemy under the Zephyr Cavalry¡¯s cover. Do not let a single Indian player escape this canyon." "Got it. Is there anything else?" I thought for a moment before adding, "Contact Cute Little Naughty from the eighth subguild and tell her to take her assassins and set up an ambush near Shattered Rock Forest. Tell her to trap the place and annihilate any Indian player who tries to withdraw through there!" "Okay!" Li Chengfeng asked, "What about us, Lu Chen? What is our strategy for this battle?" I answered, "We¡¯ll focus on taking out any reinforcements who try to save Swallow Ear Canton. Removing the enemy¡¯s effective strength will serve to grease the wheels to fulfill our final objective!" Li Chengfeng smiled. "Hehe, I get it¡­" ¡­¡­ Beep! Lin Yixin sent me a message: "I heard you¡¯re attacking from the outside, Little Cheat?" "Yep!" I replied. "Hang on, okay? We¡¯ll meet up with you very soon. Muah!" Lin Yixin turned on the communicator so she could speak with me directly. After the call had connected, she complained, "It¡¯s such a difficult battle. We have to siege the city and endure Elephant City¡¯s flank attacks!" "Eh? Weren¡¯t Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain and three more top guilds from Vanished God City stalling them to the death at Final Duel Valley?" "Stall my ass¡­" Lin Yixin said a bit angrily. "Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch is an idiot and a pig. I don¡¯t know how, but he and his 500k somehow fell for Flowing Cloud¡¯s taunt and were slaughtered INSIDE Final Duel Valley. Hall of Immortality is as good as history now that they¡¯ve lost all of their levels and equipment. Rose of the Holy Domain and Throne Seeker didn¡¯t do that well either. While they had the common sense to fight Natural Flow and Elephant City outside Final Duel Valley, Flowing Cloud managed to dig open a river and trap over 300k of their cavalrymen at a marshland. As a result, their ranged troops became separated from their melee troops, and Natural Flow was able to destroy them all one by one. Overall, Elephant City had single-handedly devoured several million troops with negligible losses. This defeat is on par to the one we suffered at Pharaoh Valley!" I groaned. "For fuck¡¯s sake¡­ What the hell is going on here?" Lin Yixin sighed. "If it wasn¡¯t for that beautiful ambush battle you won at Falling Goose Valley, our players would have become too demoralized to fight a long time ago, so keep up the good work, dear. Take out all the Cyan Earth City forces surrounding us and meet up with us. Then, we¡¯ll work together to eliminate Swallow Ear Canton once and for all. Right now, we¡¯re thinking of a way to drop the Dragon Cannons on the walls, but their attack range is just too high. It¡¯s so annoying. I have a bad feeling that we won¡¯t be able to conquer the city until they¡¯ve run out of Dragon Crystals¡­" I consoled her, "It¡¯s fine, there¡¯s no hurry. We still have plenty of time left!" "Kay. Do your best!" "You too!" ¡­¡­ The addition of the Holy Mages greatly improved the speed of our advance. In just less than two hours, Cyan Earth City¡¯s player count had fallen below 3 million. The China server had lost over 2 million players in the battle, but we got a constant stream of reinforcements from White Rose Fortress and saw our troops swelling to 9 million or so. This meant that our total number of troops had actually grown bigger instead of smaller. "Keep this up! Annihilate them all!" I shouted while hunting down stragglers left and right. Several tens of thousands of Cyan Earth City players were breaking out of the encirclement and escaping in the direction of Shattered Rock Forest, but I paid them no heed because the eighth subguild was lying in wait with a whole forest of traps. They wouldn¡¯t be making it out alive. As time passed, Warsky Alliance, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Protective Umbrella and Soul Battle Robes fought better and better. It was probably because we finally saw a victory after being on the defensive for such a long time. God of War and Breeze and Rain probably weren¡¯t expecting the ten million troops they had left behind to save Swallow Ear Canton would be defeated by our mishmash of troops. Suddenly, I spotted rising dust coming from the east of Swallow Ear Canton. I saw two armies were battling against one another. I asked with a frown, "What¡¯s going on there?" He Yi answered, "Candle Dragon, Pop Culture, Thunder and more are fighting a decisive battle against Elephant City¡¯s 18 million troops on the plains. Candlelight Shadow himself is attending to that battle. As of the latest report, they managed to kill 7 million troops at the cost of just 4 million." I smiled. "Candlelight Shadow has finally awakened!" Gui Guzi commented, "Seriously, this war would be unwinnable if even Candle Dragon couldn¡¯t pull some of the weight." ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a panting Xu Yang rode up to us and reported, "Boss Eve, Lu Chen, I just received word that Hero Alliance, Throne of the Wild, God Breaker and a dozen more major guilds are launching a frontal assault against Sky Ridge Fortress right now. They are also joined by God of War and Breeze and Rain¡¯s 1 million Cyan Beast troops. Their total player count is expected to be 10 million or so!" "Oh man, this is where the real headache is¡­" Li Chengfeng said with a bitter smile on his face. CH 1564 "Who¡¯s guarding Sky Ridge Fortress right now?" I asked. Li Chengfeng did a quick check before replying, "Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon, and dozens of big and small guilds. In total, they number 9 million troops or so. The real defenders are the two NPC legions Karinshan has posted at Sky Ridge, however. They number over 1 million in total, and Sky Ridge is several hundred meters high. It should take a while for our enemy to overcome them¡­" I nodded. "That¡¯s good to hear. We can¡¯t afford to be distracted right now. Let¡¯s take out all the enemies in front of us first!" "Yes!" ¡­¡­ Over an hour later, not a single Cyan Earth City player on the northern side of Swallow Ear Canton was still alive. Cute Little Naughty had also ambushed the tens of thousands of players who had attempted to escape through Shattered Rock Forest and killed them all. At best, a million enemies managed to teleport back to the city before we could get to them. The rest of the 10-million-strong army had been killed on our battlefield. The ground beneath the city was covered in equipment and bodies. After a simple sweep of the battlefield, I gazed into the distance and watched Snowy Cathaya, Purple Lily and more still firing their White Marsh payloads at Swallow Ear Canton and giving the walls a beehive makeup. Unfortunately, the tier 2 city still refused to fall thanks to its 12 Dragon Cannons. After the men were rallied into formation, we began a slow march toward the city ourselves. I looked around and noted that Snowy Cathaya, Purple Lily, The Monarch Descends and more had suffered tremendous losses. I asked Chaos Moon, "How many people do we have left, sister?" After Chaos Moon had tallied everything, she replied, "We¡¯ve lost almost 20k Dragonlight Cavalrymen, 10k Dragonlight Archers, 10k Holy Mages, and around 50% of the Zephyr Cavalry. The other unit types aren¡¯t faring much better either. Including Soul Battle Robes, we only have about 900k troops left." Song of Cloud and Water rode up to me and asked, "Are we attacking the city, big brother Lu Chen?" I hesitated. "The Dragon Cannons are too powerful. If we launch a frontal assault, we may win, but we will lose almost all of our Dragonlight Cavalrymen. What¡¯s the point of all this if we lack the strength to attack enemies¡¯ cities afterward?" "What should we do then?" Li Chengfeng asked. I looked at He Yi and said, "Eve, it¡¯s your time to shine. The Chiyou Plume has a slightly higher range than the Dragon Cannon, so we¡¯re going to use it to snipe the Dragon Cannons one by one. Without them, Swallow Ear Canton is a piece of tofu we can destroy with a single finger!" He Yi nodded smilingly. "Got it. I¡¯ll get it done right away. The siege weapons should arrive in an hour or so." "Awesome. Do send a couple thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen to escort them!" "Will do!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment Lian Xin moved closer to me and whispered, "Big bro, I logged out of the game just now and found Xinran waiting for you at the living hall. She said that she hasn¡¯t seen you the whole day¡­" I looked at the time and realized that it had been 14 hours since I had come online. It was past 10 pm in the evening, and I hadn¡¯t even drunk a sip of water throughout this time. Of course, it was the same for everyone else. Li Chengfeng sat down on the ground and shot me a glance. "I say we catch a couple of hours of rest while we can. We¡¯re not men of steel who can fight forever, and I¡¯ve already noticed our Dragonlight Cavalrymen¡¯s timing for Trapping Nets and Charges has been slipping. Their reaction time is dropping because they are exhausted. We¡¯re still more than capable of handling a second-rate guild of course, but if we have to go up against a guild like Hero Alliance¡­" I nodded. "That makes sense. Alright! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Protective Umbrella, Soul Battle Robes, it¡¯s time to log out and catch some rest! Is 5 hours of rest enough? I would give you more, but I doubt Sky Ridge Fortress can hold out for too long. In fact, we¡¯ll head for Sky Ridge Fortress immediately after we¡¯ve logged back into the game. There can¡¯t be more than 500k Japanese players still standing on the walls, and once the Chiyou Plume arrives to destroy the Dragon Cannons it¡¯s going to topple like a sand castle. Natural Flow should be running out of troops as well. I¡¯m sure Candle Dragon and the other guilds will be able to handle that much." Li Chengfeng smiled. "Yes, I think so too. Long story short, log out and keep Xinran company, Lu Chen. If I had a younger sister like her, I wouldn¡¯t even log back into the game¡­" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ Everyone logged out in the nearby forest after the order was given in the guild channel. Only a small number of people remained online to keep watch. I turned on the communicator and contacted Lin Yixin: "Yiyi, we¡¯re logging out to catch a 5-hour break. What about you? I¡¯m sure you would like to eat some food and take a pee, right?" Lin Yixin blushed at my uncouth wording and glared at me. "Shameless! But not yet. I¡¯ll log out after we have conquered Swallow Ear Canton. Ancient Sword and Blazing Hot Lips have been roleplaying as our meatshields for a whole day and night already, and we still haven¡¯t managed to conquer a tiny place like Swallow Ear Canton. Forget me, even Candlelight Shadow seemed embarrassed by this outcome. I¡¯ll log out once I¡¯ve redeemed myself, okay?" I nodded. "Well, okay¡­ Don¡¯t force yourself to stay up if you really can¡¯t though." "I get it. Now go catch your rest already!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ I found a place in the forest, set up a tent, and logged out of the game. I took off my helmet and sucked in a deep breath of fresh¡ªwait a second, why does it smell like gunpowder? I looked outside the window and saw that someone was shooting fireworks. It was probably someone celebrating a marriage or something.[1] I stepped out of the door after taking a moment to clean myself. At the living hall, I saw Xinran sitting on the sofa and staring blankly at her cell phone. The moment she saw me, she immediately erupted into a cheer and jumped to her feet. She spread her arms wide open and said, "Hug me, big brother¡­" This time, I pulled her into my arms and sat down on the sofa with her on my knees. Then, I asked her, "Did you have a good time today, Xinran?" She nodded. "Mn. I¡¯m still guarding Purple Grape City for Sophie, but it doesn¡¯t look like anyone dares to attack us. A lot of players are killing each other within our borders though. I also saw a lot of Chinese players." "Yeah, that¡¯s to be expected. The Nation War is going on right now. Well, you don¡¯t have to pay them any heed unless they attack you. I¡¯m going to wake the cooks and tell them to cook something for us now!" "Okay! I¡¯m hungry!" Subsequently, I called the cooks to begin their work. While waiting, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Lian Xin and Beiming Xue all walked out of their rooms and sat down by the sofas as well. "I think we did pretty well today. The only problem is that we lost a bit too many Dragonlight Cavalrymen," He Yi said. "We¡¯ve lost at least 60k Dragonlight Cavalrymen in the past 24 hours. It¡¯s a huge loss, seriously¡­" Lian Xin pouted. "It¡¯s all because of Warsky. We wouldn¡¯t have lost even High Fighting Spirits otherwise." I said, "It¡¯s in the past now, and look at the bright side¡ªat least we managed to save 30% of Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes¡¯ forces, didn¡¯t we? Also, we can¡¯t really pin all the blame on one person. It was a very cunning plan the Northern Alliance and Cyan Earth City had come up with. Anyway, the next 36 hours of this Nation War will be a true war of attrition. Every player lost is one less player capable of fighting this Nation War. Whoever stands tall at the end will be the final champion!" It was at this moment Murong Mingyue looked up from her phone and said, "According to the news, at least 70% of the usually online players have already been killed in action." I laughed. "Looks like this Nation War is going to break a new record. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if no one survived by the designated end time of the Nation War[2]." Beiming Xue asked while holding a glass of water, "What should we do assuming Swallow Ear Canton falls, big bro?" He Yi echoed in agreement, "Yes, I would like to know as well." "Hmm¡­" I frowned for a moment before saying, "Let¡¯s defend Sky Ridge Fortress first and see what happens. Cyan Earth City, Hero Alliance, Throne of the Wild and God Breaker are all godlike opponents. If they are allowed to enter Sky City, there is a high chance Karinshan will fall to their blades. I have no desire to see her dead, and Sky City conquered by our enemies¡­ Assuming we manage to hold them back, I plan to attack Burning City next!" The Koreans¡¯ main city?" He Yi looked surprised. "But why?" "Burning City is closer to Hot Sand City, so it¡¯ll be easier for our troops to regroup. Also, Burning City isn¡¯t as tough as Cyan Earth City or Hero City. It¡¯ll be much easier to conquer it by force considering our less-than-ideal numbers." Lian Xin smirked. "Will Candlelight Shadow call us out for killing his pretty little junior sister, I wonder?" "Who cares. That¡¯s something to think about another day. I doubt he can spare the concentration until Swallow Ear Canton is conquered anyway. They¡¯ve taken too long to conquer that tier 2 city." "Yes, it was an exhausting battle¡­" He Yi chuckled. Xinran giggled in my arms despite having no idea what we were talking about. It was as if being with us was all she needed to become the happiest girl in the world. ¡­¡­ A while later, the dishes were finally served. I was so hungry that I ate three bowls of rice. The conversation continued while we were eating, but we dared not take too much time because we only had 5 hours to rest. After the dinner was over, and the tableware was put away, I gave High Fighting Spirits a call just in case he developed a trauma or something. Thankfully, he didn¡¯t seem troubled by his death. He only said, "I don¡¯t mind being beheaded as long as you promise me that you will behead him before this Nation War is over!" That, I promised him without hesitation. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow had been allowed to do as he pleased for too long already. It was time he paid for his transgressions. ¡­¡­ After everything was done, Xinran held my hand and watched me with watery eyes. "Can you sleep with me tonight, big brother? Please?" I gave into her demands. It wouldn¡¯t be too long anyway. Lying atop a soft bed and being held between my arms, Xinran fell asleep in no time. Her face was buried in my neck, and I could feel her warm breath tickling my skin from time to time. The way she curled up against my chest reminded me of a pretty kitten, and she even murmured from time to time, "Big brother¡­ big brother¡­" My heart suddenly ached like never before as I watched her in silence. It was to the point where I nearly burst into tears. I whispered, "If there comes a day I can¡¯t stay with you anymore, please don¡¯t blame me for it, okay? Sister He Yi, Sister Beiming and everyone else will take care of you in my place. I will always love you, here or in the af¡ªjust remember to always be a good girl, okay?" Xinran shivered a little. Despite sleeping, tears still rolled down her long eyelashes. ¡­¡­ I fell asleep for god knows how long when suddenly, a phone call woke me up. I grabbed it and saw that it was a call from Li Chengfeng. There was still half an hour to the appointed time, so I knew immediately that something bad must¡¯ve happened! "What¡¯s wrong, Chengfeng?" I asked after accepting the call. He replied in a solemn tone, "It¡¯s time to log back into the game, brother. Sky Ridge Fortress¡¯s two NPC legions have been annihilated, and the fortress may crumble at any moment. Elephant City and Cyan Earth City have mustered over ten million troops to surround our forces at Swallow Ear Canton once more, and even Breeze and Rain and God of War have returned to aid in the effort. Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon and Purple Lily are all in danger. Worst of all, Flowing Cloud has killed CGL Hall of Famers¡ªFarewell Song, Purple Marquis, Come See The Snow Tonight and Ling Xueshang¡ªsingle-handedly!" "WHAT! Farewell Song and Purple Marquis are dead!!?" I was so shocked that I sat up immediately. 1. T/N: the author does remember that they¡¯ve moved to a resort with a fucking forest as a garden, right? ? 2. E/N: They last 3 days, no more, no less. If all major guilds die within 2 days, they will still have to wait for some randoms scouring the battlefield and random 5v5 fights to end. ? CH 1565 "Yeah. Come back as soon as you can. At this rate, we¡¯re probably going to lose both Skyridge Fortress and Swallow Ear Canton!" Li Chengfeng said urgently. I climbed to my feet while responding, "Got it. Hold the line for the moment, will you? I¡¯ll be there right away!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ I hurriedly put on my clothes after hanging up. Then, I felt a pair of small, delicate hands wrapping around my elbow. Xinran had woken up from her sleep and was staring at me with her gem-dark eyes, asking, "The sun hasn¡¯t even risen yet, big brother. Are you leaving already?" I nodded and caressed her cheek gently. "The situation¡¯s gone critical in the game, so I need to log in right now. Don¡¯t wait for me. I doubt I¡¯ll be able to log out until tonight at least. We¡¯ll see each other then, okay?" Xinran made a cute "mn" sound before struggling to a sitting position. Hugging me with both arms and squeezing her ample pair of rabbits against my body, she said, "Okay. Do your best, big brother!" "I will." My heart raced at the physical contact as I gently put her to bed once more. Then, I stepped outside and knocked on every girl¡¯s door except Lin Yixin¡¯s. It was because I didn¡¯t know if she had logged out of the game. If she had, she must be in deep sleep by now. If she hadn¡¯t, she wouldn¡¯t be able to respond to me anyway. Either way, I decided not to disturb her. The girls hurriedly ate a plain water + bread combo to replenish their energy. Then, they logged back into the game! Swhoosh! I appeared in a distant forest beyond Swallow Ear Canton. All around me, the Dragonlight Cavalrymen were logging in as well. Li Chengfeng immediately tagged me in the guild channel the moment I appeared, "You¡¯re finally here, Lu Chen! Uncle Zhang Chun said to leave Swallow Ear Canton to Snowy Cathaya, Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance, so take everyone with you and come to Sky Ridge Fortress now!" I wasn¡¯t sure. "Farewell Song, Purple Marquis and Ling Xueshang are dead. Can they really handle Swallow Ear Canton as they are?" Li Chengfeng replied, "One way or another, they must. Right now though, we must focus on defending Sky Ridge Fortress. Otherwise, the enemy will have a direct path to our main cities!" "Got it!" I crawled out of my tent, summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon, and activated Fusion Armor. I checked my equipment next and noted that they were all sitting around 30% durability. I immediately said in the guild channel, "All units, return to Sky City to repair your equipment. Rush to Sky Ridge Fortress immediately after you¡¯re ready!" I took a moment to check out Swallow Ear Canton. The city was moments away from collapsing completely, but it was impossible to say how long this moment would be considering that it had already survived far longer than it should. In the sky, giant dragons and divine experts were flying and pouring dazzling sword skills at the defenders. There were even more players fighting against each other on the ground. Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Snowy Cathaya, Purple Lily and more Chinese super guilds were currently doing fierce battle against Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and Burning City¡¯s forces. "Do your best, Yiyi¡­" I said under my breath. I didn¡¯t message her because I didn¡¯t want to distract her. I could see her standing on a wall and killing a bunch of players using Thundercloud Storm. The Wind Severing Sword flashed for an instant, and the system announced the death of a JGL Hall of Famer and propelled her to second place on the contribution point ranking. Heaven only knows how many powerful enemies she had killed during the four hours we had been resting. ¡­¡­ I took out a return scroll and crushed it to teleport back to Sky City. A lot of casual guilds¡ªand I do mean a lot, even the floating rocks were jam-packed with people¡ªhad stationed themselves in the city because they knew that there was a chance that Sky Ridge Fortress and Fortress of the Iron Halberd might fall to the enemy¡¯s assault. If that happened, the enemy was sure to attack Sky City. I quickly repaired my equipment, bought all the potions and Magic Consumables I needed, and flew straight toward Sky Ridge Fortress with He Yi, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue right beside me. Gui Guzi and Chaos Moon were a tad slower. My figure cut through the sky like a black meteor. Less than four minutes later, an impressive-looking fortress appeared on a snowy peak of Dragonbone Mountain Range. Right now, it looked to be embroiled in flames because it was under heavy assault from the opposite direction! Swhoosh! I flew over the fortress and took in everything. Blood ran like a river on the other side of the fortress. Countless Northern Alliance and Cyan Earth City players were flooding up the mountain and placing super long cloud ladders against the fortress¡¯ walls. Worse, a thick row of siege towers slowly approaching the walls. The moment they made contact, hundreds of Northern Alliance players immediately flooded onto the walls! On the rampart, Hegemon Palace¡¯s Wang Dongliang was cutting down an enemy while shouting, "What the fuck are you doing, archers? Shoot the enemies off the walls already! Mages, use God Devil Break! It¡¯s the most powerful spell you have. Also, where are the White Marsh Catapults? Shoot those siege towers and destroy them already!" Before he could finish his sentence, a dragon knight swooped down from the sky and struck Wang Dongliang and the group of Hegemon Palace players behind him. It was the Knight of Stars, Beethoven¡¯s Joy. It looked like he had switched out his previous mount to a fire dragon. Boom! 1,928,734! Wang Dongliang turned purple as he backed further away from Beethoven¡¯s Joy. "Goddamned dragon knight! Drop him from the sky with Trapping Nets!" A whole group of Hegemon Palace magic knights threw their Trapping Nets at Beethoven¡¯s Joy, but the man sneered disdainfully and said, "You trash think you can bind me with your Trapping Nets? Dream on!" He swung his sword again using Star Slash. It dealt an insane amount of damage and one-shot a lot of archers and priests. Behind him, a great number of Hero Alliance players were flooding onto the walls and rushing toward the Chinese defenders. Beethoven¡¯s Joy¡¯s plan was very simple. If he could delay Wang Dongliang and his main force long enough for Hero Alliance¡¯s forces to fully invade the walls, Sky Ridge Fortress was as good as theirs! Swhoosh! With the wind and snow blowing behind me, I descended onto the walls and activated Heavenly River Transformation. I had already buffed myself with Martial God and a card beforehand, so I wasted no time in attacking Beethoven¡¯s Joy! "Who¡¯s that?!!" Beethoven¡¯s Joy¡¯s pupils shrank when he looked up and saw me. "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Shit!!!" My movement speed was insane, and my turn rate penalty was practically zero, not that it mattered for a beeline. I was able to land on his fire dragon¡¯s head and stab him with Universe Break before he could react! 2,726,567! Beethoven blanked out for an instant. It had been a while since we had crossed blades, so he didn¡¯t realize how powerful my Attack had become. He hurriedly executed a four-hit Armor Break Flurry! I easily interrupted his skill with Magic Piercing Punch. While doing so, I glanced at Hegemon Palace¡¯s archers and shouted, "Focus him now!" Beethoven¡¯s Joy reflexively activated his Scorching Shield of Stars, a skill that absorbed any damage taken three times in total. Unfortunately for him, I simply waited until a shower of shitty arrows wasted all three charges of his invincible shield. The moment his Scorching Shield of Stars vanished, I smiled and wreathed myself in flames. Then, I knocked both him and his dragon off the walls before wrapping his neck with Chains of Freedom. Finally, I pressed the Xuanyuan Sword against his chest and executed Xuanyuan Slash + Burning Blade Slash combo! I was betting on the Xuanyuan Sword triggering its septuple damage effect at least once in this combo and one-shotting Beethoven¡¯s Joy![1] "Ah?!" Beethoven¡¯s face warped the moment he saw the chains. He was a divine player, so he absolutely couldn¡¯t afford to die while the Chains of Freedom skill was in effect! Unfortunately, it was too late. The damage numbers that appeared were¡ª 3,791,727! 1,928,894! 2,358,779! 21,881,118! ¡­¡­ I smirked. As expected of the Xuanyuan Sword, it had triggered its septuple damage effect on the last hit! Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) killed the Heroic Bannerman "Beethoven¡¯s Joy" (USA) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 218,789 points! ¡­¡­ The Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon players on the walls immediately erupted, "Holy fuck! He killed the vice leader of Hero Alliance in one combo! Good shit, Lu Chen!" There was no time to bask in their praise, however. After grabbing the sword and shield Beethoven¡¯s Joy had dropped, I purposely crashed on top of a siege tower and swung the Xuanyuan Sword repeatedly. A series of strikes later, the siege tower collapsed and subjected its passengers to a drop from several hundred meters high. I turned my blade and activated Xuanyuan Art. All the enemies scaling the fortress immediately lost 70% of their HP or died immediately, causing my contribution points to skyrocket. The snow outside the fortress was completely drenched in blood. One man in an approaching group of Hero Alliance archers pointed at me and said, "That¡¯s the champion of the first WEL! Kill him and take revenge for Beethoven!" I activated Battle Astral Wind to render the rain of arrows flying toward me useless. At the same time, I executed Ancient Seal + Summon the Storm combo that massacred a bunch of archers. Unfortunately, one Shock Arrow was able to stun me for 1.4 seconds around this time. The enemy did have plenty of Level 255 archers, and despite my level, I couldn¡¯t say that I was immune to CCs. A beautiful figure stepped out into the open and ordered, "Spear riders, throw!" On the ground, a troop of cavalrymen wearing deep blue armor immediately raised their shields and threw their spears at me. At the same time, the beautiful woman who gave the order struck me with an Ice Blade Slash + Ice Flame Slash combo that sent me flying to the back! 1,527,766! 1,782,737! Since Ice Blade Slash had encased me in ice, I wasn¡¯t able to stop my descent until I crashed against the ground. Pa¡­ A pair of warm hands supported me back to my feet, and He Yi said beside my ears, "It¡¯s Tear Stain¡­" Gui Guzi and Li Chengfeng struck out at Tear Stain and forced her to slip behind the lines once more. She had no intention of fighting against our apex predators head-on anyway. While standing in the middle of a crowd, she waved her hand and ordered, "Siege towers, keep advancing! Ground troops, hit the walls with warhammers and bring them down!" "That devious woman¡­" Gui Guzi clenched his fists. Li Chengfeng shot me a concerned look. "Are you okay, Lu Chen?" I climbed up to my feet and patted away the ice still clinging to my body. "I¡¯m fine. By the way, how did Purple Marquis and Farewell Song die? Who killed them[2]?" "Flowing Cloud!" Li Chengfeng answered solemnly, "Purple Marquis got last-hit after Lui Lok had dropped him to low health. Farewell Song left an opening when he was ambushing a couple of Temple Guards and got taken out in one combo!" I uttered through gritted teeth, "Just how strong has Flowing Cloud become?" As if on cue, the system dinged an announcement¡ª Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Flowing Cloud" (India) killed the CGL Hall of Famer "Warsky" (China) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 231,279 points[3] 1. T/N: I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s enough to one-shot him regardless ? 2. T/N: I received a midnight call once where my brain couldn¡¯t comprehend a single word. So I¡¯m going to give Lu Chen the benefit of the doubt and say that he didn¡¯t catch LCF saying earlier that Flowing Cloud killed them ? 3. T/N: that no one rage-quit is the single most unbelievable thing in this novel ? CH 1566 "Heavens!" He Yi¡¯s eyes widened. "Even¡­ even Warsky has been killed by Flowing Cloud? What is going on over there?" Li Chengfeng said solemnly, "According to the latest update, Warsky dropped his Immortal Blade. It was taken away by Lui Lok¡­" I had to use a few enemy magic knights as punching bags before I managed to calm myself enough to blurt, "What the fuck is going on at Swallow Ear Canton? How is the enemy slaughtering our CGL Hall of Famers like chickens?" He Yi shook her head. "I don¡¯t know¡­" ¡­¡­ BOOM! Suddenly, there was a loud boom that shook seemingly the entire fortress. My eyes widened in alarm as I asked, "What¡­ just happened?" "Battering rams!" Li Chengfeng pointed to the ground. "Holy shit, the balls on Hero Alliance¡¯s players! They¡¯re striking the bottom of Sky Ridge Fortress and digging out the rocks! Did they give up on conquering it and want to topple it instead?" I followed his gaze and exclaimed in shock, "With how high it is, it might actually be doable. Look over there¡­" I pointed. A half-meter crack had appeared on the walls before we realized it. Clearly, it was from stress it was enduring after its foundation had begun to crumble. At this rate, the entire Sky Ridge Fortress would collapse under its own weight¡­ Li Chengfeng raised his Cyan Peak Halberd. "We can¡¯t let them continue like this. I¡¯ll go destroy those battering rams!" "Wait¡­" I hurriedly grabbed his cloak and pulled him back to us. "Calm down, you. Don¡¯t you see that the ground is crawling with Throne of the Wild and Hero Alliance mages and archers? They¡¯ll absolutely wreck us if we go down there now. Sigh, our defenders are so goddamn useless. Let¡¯s wait for our Dragonlight Archers and Holy Mages before we make our move. It¡¯s okay, the walls should hold for a bit longer." "Okay!" Li Chengfeng was panicking despite my assurances. In fact, everyone was panicking and urging our troops to march faster in the guild channel. A while later, the first group of 30,000 Dragonlight Archers finally reached the walls. After they had received the buffs of various stratagems such as Purple Dragon, Martial God, Royal Road, Bow God and more, they began shooting at the players on the ground in earnest. The arrow rain and my Xuanyuan Art immediately deleted all enemies within 100 yards of the fortress and drove Tear Stain 200 yards to the back. The shocked woman uttered with a purple complexion, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ main force is here!" At the distance, a floating Vienna¡¯s Sorrow said coolly, "Calm down, Tear Stain. Tell our archers to scale the mountains next to the fortress to strike at their flank. Of course, we¡¯re going to continue our frontal assault. Keep sending the siege towers, firing the catapults, and attacking the bottom of the fortress. If all goes well, it will fall in less than half an hour!" "Mn!" Tear Stain nodded heavily. ¡­¡­ There was an old saying "You have Zhang Liangji, but I have a wall ladder". Even if your opponent had an advantage, you were bound to have an advantage of your own. A total of 11 Chiyou Plumes were set up on the walls under He Yi¡¯s orders. Each time they fired, they could instakill a single catapult, but the enemy could do nothing against them due to the height disadvantage. Also, Chaos Moon, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and He Yi were guarding beside the siege weapons, so there was no chance Vienna¡¯s Sorrow could snipe them. This was without mentioning that Li Chengfeng, Lian Xin and I were standing by to react to anything the Northern Alliance might attempt to pull. After that, Li Chengeng and I attempted to bait the enemy into rash actions such as killing rows of frontline magic knights before flying back to the fortress. We were able to piss off Tear Stain, but that was it for the moment. On a related note, the enemy archers they had sent up the mountains beside the fortress to harass us were swiftly cleared out by Beiming Xue and Lian Xin. The archers were too cold to even draw their bows properly, but the two girls had no such problems. Lian Xin feared no weather conditions thanks to Unusual Physique, while Beiming Xue rode a Fire Phoenix that kept her wonderfully warm. The battle stagnated, turning into a stalemate for a good while One siege tower after another fell to our attacks, but, for whatever reason, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow didn¡¯t lower the intensity of the assault even a little. Boom! After I had hacked another siege tower into pieces, I uttered in frustration, "Has Hero Alliance gone insane? Why are they attacking so relentlessly yet futilely?" Li Chengfeng said, "They must be scheming something. Could it be¡­" Desperate for answers myself, I answered, "Oh? What is it?¡± "No clue!" "Fuck off!" ¡°Hehe.¡± ¡­¡­ I floated up into the sky and took a moment to call Lin Yixin. This was a good time as any to figure out what the hell had happened at Swallow Ear Canton¡ª "Yiyi?" "Mn!" I could hear her heavy panting and even the occasional sounds of clashing blades. The battle must be raging hot over there. "What¡¯s going on at Swallow Ear Canton? How did Warsky and Farewell Song die to the enemy?" "Mn¡­" Lin Yixin hummed. "I¡¯m not sure either. We¡¯re currently inside the city and battling against the NPC legions, but Flowing Cloud, God of War and Breeze and Rain are hitting us hard from the outside. From what I heard, Warsky Alliance was on the brink of total annihilation. However, Uncle Zhang Chun demanded that we fight to the bitter end and destroy as many Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and Swallow Ear Canton forces as we can. It¡¯s all to preserve Ancient Sword¡¯s forces!" I clenched my fists. "How many people does Snowy Cathaya still have, Yiyi?" "Not much. Our effective force is around 100k strong, I think. Lexi and Shadow Chanel are already dead." I said, "In that case, I¡¯ll head over and help you, Yiyi!" "No!" Lin Yixin¡¯s tone turned stubborn. "I can¡¯t always rely on your strength, Little Cheat. Just leave it to me. We will make the siege of Swallow Ear Canton a success no matter how many enemies we face in battle!" "Fine¡­ Take care, Yiyi!" "You too. Now let¡¯s both get back to killing some more enemies, shall we?" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ It was at this moment a ball of flames stopped next to me. It was Beiming Xue and her Fire Phoenix. She patted away the snow on her shoulder before putting one arm around my neck and whispering to me, "Big bro, I just discovered something huge at coordinates (38877, 98773) east of Sky Ridge. An army of 1.5 million Hero Alliance players, 3 Dragon Cannons and about 100 Ghost Machines has been assembled there. They¡¯re moving at a slow pace so as not to be discovered by the enemy, but I reckon that they¡¯ll be able to launch a destructive assault against us in 1 hour at most!" I shuddered from head to toe. "Are you sure, Beiming?" "Of course, big bro. Unless you think I¡¯m lying to you?" I immediately opened the map screen. Now I understood why Vienna¡¯s Sorrow kept up the assault despite the futility of it. It was because he was planning to catch us with this surprise attack! Three Dragon Cannons and a hundred Ghost Machines was definitely enough firepower to destroy Sky Ridge Fortress completely. In fact, I didn¡¯t expect him to still have 1.5 million elites so late into the Nation War[1]. It was definitely a force powerful enough to annihilate Sky City if we let it! "Do you have a plan, big bro?" Beiming asked with a blink. I clenched my fists and said, "Yeah!" Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes widened. "What are our new orders?" I thought for a moment before ordering, "Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Cloud and Water, Hickey; give me a tally of your currently available troops!" "Okay!" A short while later, Li Chengfeng replied first, "We have almost 70k Dragonlight Cavalrymen, 40k Zephyr Cavalrymen, 120k mixed cavalrymen, 60k Dragonlight Archers, 70k+ Holy Mages and a total of 500k supports plus other ranged units." Song of Cloud and Water answered, "We have about 30k Iron Cutter Cavalrymen, 150k normal cavalrymen, and 400k of other classes." Hickey answered, "We have 20k Zephyr Cavalrymen and 300k of the rest!" I ran the calculations in my head before muttering, "This should be enough¡­" Gui Guzi asked in puzzlement, "Enough for what, Boss Broken Halberd? What are you planning?" I pointed to the east side of Sky Ridge Fortress and said, "We¡¯ve been had. Hero Alliance has slipped under the radar some time during the attack, meaning that the force attacking us right now is really Throne of the Wild and God Breaker¡¯s 500k-strong army. Their true attack, Hero Alliance¡¯s 1.5 million players, is being prepared at a nearby valley. I¡¯m planning to teleport our troops behind their army and hit them from behind. Chengfeng and Little Gui will also be leading a different troop and hit them from the front. Once we¡¯ve eliminated these 1.5 million troops, this Nation War will be as good as won!" Li Chengfeng turned red with excitement. "God damn, that sounds like it¡¯ll be extremely fun! How many players are you going to give me and Little Gui? Mind you, we need some oomph since we¡¯ll be hitting them from the front¡­" I thought for a moment before answering, "You will have 20k fully-buffed Dragonlight Cavalrymen, all of Soul Battle Robes, and Lu Buyi. Do you think you can do it?" Li Chengfeng nodded with full confidence. "Absolutely!" I smiled. "Good. All Ancient Sword main guild units besides the 20k Dragonlight Cavalrymen I mentioned, teleport back to Dark Moon City now. The same goes for Protective Umbrella. After that, wait for my signal before you go through the teleportation formation. This is going to be a big battle! We¡¯re beginning our operation in ten minutes because Sky Ridge Fortress doesn¡¯t have much time left. Go go go!" "Yessir!" ¡­¡­ Everyone took out their return scrolls and teleported to Dark Moon City. This part of the plan took one minute at most. After that, I shot Profound Puff and Wang Dongliang a look before saying in an indifferent tone, "In the meantime, we need you to defend Sky Ridge Fortress. Don¡¯t allow even a single fly to get past these walls!" Wang Dongliang nodded. "Got it!" With that done, I leaped into the air and flew straight into the clouds. One of the points of the Teleportation Divine Crystal was fixed at Dark Moon City, and I had to establish the other one myself. I flew until I was 2,000 meters in the sky or so and plunged into the clouds. This way, most ground units wouldn¡¯t be able to spot me. ¡­¡­ Right after I passed through a cloud though, a fiery light suddenly flashed in front of me! I immediately activated Profound Armor and blocked the flaming attack with the Dihai Shield. Despite that, my arm still turned numb from the attack. It was clearly made by a divine expert! Clad in black armor and wielding a black sword, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow watched me with a cool smile on his face. "I¡¯ve been waiting for you[2], Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" Chiang! I unsheathed my sword, rushed him and cast God Binding Art immediately! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow wasn¡¯t expecting me to engage him without any chit-chat at all. In fact, he could sense that I intended to kill him here and now! MISS! He dodged the skill. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow wasn¡¯t too slow even compared to me. He responded to my aggression with Berserk Triple Slash! I didn¡¯t avoid the attack because I wanted to hit him with my own skill. My body shook from the damage he dealt me, but I also managed to engulf him in my Burning Blade Slash. The first hit even dealt septuple damage¡ª 9,950,311! 2,277,739! 2,988,371! ¡­¡­ Vienna¡¯s Sorrow groaned, "Ugh¡­" His HP dropped dangerously low, but he wasn¡¯t dead. I took a moment to scan his equipment. As it turned out, his legguards were a Middle Divine Armament that reduced damage taken by 18%[3]. No wonder he had managed to survive my attack! Iron Arm Reinforcement! Penetration of the Deep! Here comes the combo. Vienna went all out right after he downed a health potion. "Heh¡­" I let out a chuckle and waved my hand at Vienna. The moment a bloody chain appeared around his neck, I immediately summoned the Xuanyuan Slash! 1. T/N: why wouldn¡¯t you? Dude barely took any damage at all. I¡¯m more surprised he failed to steamroll the weaklings in 5 hours ? 2. E/N: Seems like not only Breeze and Rain can be a step ahead Lu Chen. ? 3. E/N: 1566 chapters in, and there¡¯s a fucking INSPECT button to see others¡¯ gear? Wtf? I could rewrite it into ¡°On the way here I checked the public info, and found that he had recently gotten a new pair of legguards¡­¡± ? CH 1567 "Shit!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow swore the moment he saw the Xuanyuan Slash¡¯s casting visual effect. While falling toward the ground, he hastily turned the head of a ring on his right hand and basked himself in a sphere of green light. A green number rose from his head¡ª +7,921,773! Hmm, it looked like his ring¡¯s active skill could heal its owner for 50% HP. It was a pretty impressive number.[1] Regardless, I was already mid-cast, so this Xuanyuan Slash had to go! I dove toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow like a jet fighter and dragged the gigantic golden blade that was the Xuanyuan Slash across the sky. The light struck Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, caused a massive explosion and knocked him straight into the earth. Unfortunately, the Xuanyuan Sword didn¡¯t trigger its septuple damage effect this time, so the resulting damage number was¡ª 3,723,674! ¡­¡­ While descending, I gripped my fist and struck the forest where Vienna had crashed with the power of my Domain.[2] All the trees in the affected area shuddered, but Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was nowhere to be seen. I glanced to the side. Not only was he several hundred meters away from the impact zone, the golden shroud surrounding his body was clearly an invincibility shield. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was doing everything he could to survive because he didn¡¯t want his army to be demoralized. He was the number one expert of the Northern Alliance after all. He couldn¡¯t allow himself to become one of the system announcements that had chilled countless hearts already. Instead of chasing after him, I activated Dark Pupils and dashed into the forest. After I found a huge forest clearing, I took out all the hidden assassins I discovered with Ancient Seals and Dragon Slaying Slashes! I took out the Teleportation Divine Crystal and set up a new teleportation point. As the magic runes of the blue teleportation formation came to life, the teleportation formation at Dark Moon City turned active as well. I immediately said in the guild channel, "Tell everyone to come over now, Eve! Quickly!" Mn!" The words had just barely escaped my lips when He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue rushed out of the magic formation and took to the sky. Right behind them, Chaos Moon, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and more Dragonlight Cavalrymen appeared as well. Soon, the hooves 50,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and sixty thousand Dragonlight Archers were rocking the entire forest. After them, the Holy Mages, Zephyr Cavalrymen, Thunder Cavalrymen and Iron Cutter Cavalrymen appeared as well. They were led by Song of Ice and Fire, Hickey, Warscar, God Bone, and Song of Cloud and Water. Song of Cloud and Water trotted up to me and asked, "Do we wait until everyone¡¯s come over, big brother Lu Chen?" I nodded. "Yes, of course. The enemy has three Dragon Cannons and countless players. We must assemble all of our forces to have a real chance at defeating them. Also, I must remind you all that this battle is the most important and decisive battle of this Nation War. If we lose, Sky City will be taken by the Northern Alliance. Therefore, defeat is not an option!" Song of Ice and Fire declared with a chuckle, "Don¡¯t worry, vice leader. We will win. With Beauty Heaven¡¯s Rain and Beauty Diamond Dust¡¯s Knight Generals, we are as good as invincible!" I said, "I get what you mean, but don¡¯t underestimate the enemy. Ice and Fire, Chaos Moon and Ancient Sword will attack the rightmost Dragon Cannon, so you and Soul Battle Robes will attack the leftmost Dragon Cannon. As for the Dragon Cannon at the center, just leave that one to me!" "Are you sure you can take out a Dragon Cannon by yourself?" God Bone looked a bit skeptical. I smirked. "Sure! All I need is for Eve to protect me while I use my ultimate!" "What ultimate?" "The Purple Dragon Howl!" I revealed honestly since Soul Battle Robes were part of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls now[3]. God Bone chuckled with a look of realization and expressed that he had heard my infamous skill for a long time now. ¡­¡­ In just 15 minutes, around 1.2 million Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players had been assembled at the forest. After making sure that everyone had been buffed with stratagems and cards, I flew into the sky and declared, "It is time. Advance toward the valley in front of you! Destroy every Northern Alliance structure and kill every Northern Alliance player you find! When two people meet, only one will emerge the victor. We are the pride of the China server, and we will obtain victory even it costs the last drop of blood in our bodies!" After my players raised their weapons in response, they began marching toward the valley in front of us. A lot of Hero Alliance players popped up along the way in an attempt to stop us, but they were easily crushed by the hooves of the Dragonlight Cavalry. Plus, top-tier players like me, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and more were leading at the forefront. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, the one player who could stop us just barely escaped certain doom a while ago, so he wasn¡¯t willing to tempt fate again, at least not now. ¡­¡­ Crack¡­ The green brambles were trampled down to nothing as the Dragonlight Cavalry reached the valley entrance faster than any other troops. The Northern Alliance hadn¡¯t expected us to show up this quickly, so the defense at the choke point was incredibly weak. One cavalryman shouted as him and several hundred others to climb up their mounts, "What the fuck? How did the Chinese show up without warning? Are the scouts blind or something? Shield formation! We need to set up a shield formation as soon as possible!" Chiang! I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and yelled succinctly, "Don¡¯t bother wasting time on them! Charge!" Chaos Moon, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Heaven¡¯s Rain and more unsheathed their blades and ran right through the players like they didn¡¯t even exist. The valley was extremely vast. Now I understood how it had managed to fit 1.6 million Northern Alliance players. Some distance away, I spotted Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and several hundred thousand cavalrymen already making a charge toward us. The man sure was a fast worker. The true test was finally upon us! I glanced at the three Dragon Cannons set up around the valley. The Dragon Cannon at the center was at most 2,000 yards away from the valley entrance, meaning that it wouldn¡¯t take much effort for it to hit us. I will have to play this out carefully to preserve as many Dragonlight Cavalrymen as possible! Pa! I abruptly sped up while yelling, "Leave Vienna¡¯s Sorrow to me! The rest of you just focus on reaching the Dragon Cannons and taking it out as soon as possible! Holy Mages, advance in a tight formation! This battle WILL end with our victory!" On the other side, a fully-buffed Vienna¡¯s Sorrow also left his forces to engage me in the middle. Before he reached me, he buffed his Strength by 70% using Iron Arm Reinforcement. Until the skill wore off, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow would be the player with the highest Strength in the entire world. Not even my Strength was a match for his! I fired Thousand Ice Slash, and he, Beast Howl Slash. Neither of us gave an inch as our skills and swords clashed against each other! Clang! Sparks scattered everywhere, and a shock wave spread out from the point of impact. Our Domains fought for dominance as Vienna¡¯s Sorrow uttered with steely eyes, "Show me how strong you are, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" He exerted himself and was able to push me dozens of meters away from him. Just how much Strength does this motherfucker have? I kicked the air and rushed toward Vienna¡¯s Sorrow once more. This time, I executed Burning Blade Slash! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s eyes were bloodshot as he met my attack head-on with Berserk Triple Slash. As if on cue, he activated a shield to protect himself, and I, the Profound Armor[4]. The time to give it our all was now! Bang bang bang¡­ My Burning Blade Slash dealt over 8 million damage to the American god, but his Berserk Triple Slash was all critical hits. Not even Profound Armor was strong enough to resist that much power¡ª 1,988,674! 2,189,838! 2,345,672! ¡­¡­ I abruptly kicked Vienna¡¯s Sorrow in the chest and activated Flying Dragon Hands. As his metal armor suddenly vanished into thin air, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow exclaimed in shock, "Fuck[5]!" Swhoosh! It was at this moment a Dark Meteor Arrow engulfed me in flames. It was Da Vinci Code¡¯s Divine General Skill! I backed a few meters as Vienna¡¯s Sorrow retreated. His body was surrounded by the light of the Anti-Magic Potion probably because he was afraid that I would take his life with the Xuanyuan Art. For now, he managed to escape from my clutches, but Da Vinci Code wouldn¡¯t be as lucky. Out of seemingly nowhere, Lian Xin entered the fray and froze the Shadow Archer with a freezing spell! "BEIMING!" I shouted at the same time I bent my torso all the way back. With my full might, I threw a 90-yard-long Coiling Dragon Revolution! Beiming Xue changed her stratagem to Range and fired a super-long-range Evil Spirit Volley as well! Thud thud thud¡­ Da Vinci Code could only shoot us a wide-eyed look as Evil Spirit Volley shaved away at his HP chunk after chunk. Finally, the Xuanyuan Sword pierced through his chest and ended his life, dealing over 3 million damage. It was a horrific way to die for sure! ¡­¡­ Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) killed the Heroic Bannerman "Da Vinci Code" (USA) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 242,779 points! The Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s blade was covered in blood when I caught it, so I shook it off in one smooth motion before casting the Xuanyuan Art. A red shock wave instantly engulfed all the players within 1,000 yards of me and removed 70% of their HP, allowing the Dragonlight Cavalry to run over them like grass. The more I used the Xuanyuan Sword, the more I felt that it was the king of all swords and the absolute dominator of all battlefields. It possessed abilities that the other eleven Divine Armaments couldn¡¯t even hope to match. Take Gui Guzi¡¯s Ghostblade Halberd for example. Thousand Ghosts Descent was powerful, but to call it the poor man¡¯s version of the Xuanyuan Art would still be an insult to the Xuanyuan Sword. "Kill! Attack at full force!" I shouted. Beiming Xue said, "Should I tell Li Chengfeng and big brother Little Gui to attack now, big bro?" However, I shook my head and said, "Not yet. Give it another ten minutes or so. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow will definitely ask Tear Stain to help him if the situation here gets dangerous. Only then will Chengfeng and Little Gui be able to assist us without worries!" Beiming Xue giggled. "You¡¯re so smart, big bro. I love you!!" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ Just a few minutes later though, Li Chengfeng sent me a message that was bristling with impatience: "Bro, I can literally hear the sounds of your battle from here. Is it time yet? Can we join you already? You¡¯re not cheating me out of my contribution points, are you!?" CH 1568 "Patience¡­" I laughed. "Hasty men don''t get to eat hot tofu[1]¡­" Li Chengfeng groaned. "Don¡¯t tempt me to punch you, man. You have no idea how painful it is for Little Gui and I to just sit here while everyone else is enjoying the action. Actually, how about you ask Lian Xin and Beiming Xue to replace us? It¡¯s the same either way, right?" While cutting down a Hero Alliance Iron Cutter Cavalryman, I said, "Absolutely not. Again, be patient. The chance will present itself eventually!" Li Chengfeng sounded confused. "What chance?" "The enemy¡¯s ¡®cowardice¡¯, of course¡­" I chose my words carefully before beginning my explanation, "You are fighting at least 500k Throne of the Wild troops right now. Normally, they will have no problems chewing up and spitting out your 20k Dragonlight Cavalrymen if you attack them head-on. That is why you need to wait until Vienna¡¯s Sorrow cries for help, and Tear Stain is forced to turn around and help him. The moment she does that, you and Little Gui will ride out with the Dragonlight Cavalry and holler that Throne of the Wild has lost. What happens after that, well, I don¡¯t need to tell you, do I?" Li Chengfeng couldn¡¯t stop himself from chuckling. "OMG, that is so devious. I like it! Yes, what you said makes a lot of sense. Our forces are fewer than the enemy¡¯s, so we can¡¯t tackle them head-on. Little Gui and I will wait a while longer then. Do kick Hero Alliance¡¯s ass hard so that Tear Stain will pull back as early as possible, okay?" I nodded. "We¡¯ll do our best to give Hero Alliance and God Breaker the fright of their life. But you know, they still have over 200k Iron Cutter Cavalrymen, and my Dragonlight Cavalrymen are¡ª" Li Chengfeng¡¯s eyes widened. "Stop right there! You think I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re doing? We¡¯re going to fight against Throne of the Wild very soon, and you want us to give up more Dragonlight Cavalrymen to you? You may as well tell us to grab a poker, muster the engineers in the guild and capture Tear Stain alive to become your mistress of the fort! Don¡¯t even think about it!" I nearly spat blood at the unjust accusation. "Fuck you! Do I look like such a heartless person? I will never make such an unreasonable demand to you¡­ that being said, surely you can fly Lu Buyi over to buff us with his Purple Dragon¡­?" Li Chengfeng replied, "Pooh! Little Heavenly King my ass, I¡¯ve never met such a shameless guild leader in my life! You can have Lu Buyi, but I demand that you trade us Beiming Xue. We can use her Xuanming Bow here¡­" "You dare! No one lays a hand on my sister!" "Fucking shameless! Cut the chatter and focus on killing already!" ¡­¡­ I turned off the communicator. Right now, the Northern Alliance and us were more or less on even footing. I expected the side with the greater guts to turn this battle in their favor. In the sky, Beiming Xue triggered a Xuanming Flame that burned a huge chunk of HP from a hundred Iron Cutter Cavalrymen and killed nearly half of them. The Xuanming Bow¡¯s Attack was absolutely mind-boggling these days. It was at this moment the system dinged all of a sudden, and Beiming Xue let out a surprised yelp. A sheen of golden light surrounded her body, and mini cyclones of Domain energy swirled beneath her feet. The Fire Phoenix also transformed into a rune on her arm¡ª Ding! System Announcement: Player "Beiming Xue" (China) has the highest contribution points in this Nation War of her class. They have triggered a hidden condition to ascension and become a Law Divine Throne Guardian! They have obtained: "Unusual Physique", "Flight", "God Hunt", and "Mount Armor Transformation"! ¡­¡­ "Wow, Beiming Xue has become a god¡­" He Yi exclaimed with pleasant surprise. I looked up at the Dark Archer and asked, "What does God Hunt do, Beiming?" Beiming Xue let out a hum before answering, "It increases my ranged attack power by 100%[2]..." "Not bad at all!" I clapped my hands in delight. "Our luck is really good this Nation War. Who would¡¯ve thought that two of our players would ascend via being the player with the highest contribution points in their class? Anyway, keep this up, and don¡¯t stop killing!" Beiming Xue aimed at a group of low-health Iron Cutter Cavalrymen and fired a Spiraling Arrow Blade that also triggered the Xuanming Flame. To our amazement, the one skill dealt over 3 million damage and one-shot all of the enemies. At this point, was it really appropriate to call her an archer? This is just brutal! Beiming Xue proceeded to fire her Skypiercer, Well of the Abyss and more skills. Now that she had become a god, Beiming Xue was almost strong enough to handle one front of the battlefield single-handedly. ¡­¡­ "Shit¡­" A Level 255 God Breaker magic knight called "Snails Are Disgusting" raised his eyebrows and said, "That Chinese girl is getting a little too cocky. Iron Cutter Cavalry Column 1, follow me to take her out! We¡¯ll drop her to the ground with Trapping Nets before killing her with Ultimate Strength Break. With luck, we¡¯ll get her to drop her Xuanming Bow!" "Yes, corps commander!" A group of Iron Cutter Cavalrymen immediately changed directions and began advancing toward Beiming. The 5,000 Iron Cutter Cavalrymen tried to be sneaky, but He Yi and I spotted their movement all too easily. She said to me in the guild channel, "That Snails Are Disgusting is bringing a lot of Iron Cutter Cavalrymen with him. He¡¯s targeting Beiming, isn¡¯t he?" I nodded. "Yeah, no doubt about it!" Chaos Moon suggested, "No worries. I¡¯ll intercept him now with the Dragonlight Cavalry!" However, I shook my head and said, "No, no. The Dragonlight Cavalry¡¯s main task is to charge the enemy, not intercept them. Beiming, I have a plan." Shooting without pause, the girl winked at me and said, "Tell me, big bro. I¡¯ll do anything you say!" I smiled. "Alright. Chaos Moon, I want you to spread out the Dragonlight Cavalrymen blocking the 5,000 Iron Cutter Cavalrymen and let them in. Beiming, you will move to the back to lure the enemy into the range of our ranged players. The Dragonlight Archers will pepper them with Shock Arrows from both sides, and the Holy Mages will bombard them with God Devil Breaks from the back. Let¡¯s aim to take out all 5,000 Iron Cutter Cavalrymen without any losses, okay?" Beiming Xue giggled. "You¡¯re so bad, big bro¡­" Chaos Moon curled her lips. "I know right? Every single tactic I¡¯ve ever heard from his mouth is of the shameless variety¡­" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun chimed in. "But of course! How can you conquer the world if you¡¯re not shameless!? Speaking of shameless, I¡¯m going to stick by your side for the rest of my life, so please carry me forever, Lu Chen¡­" Me: "..." He Yi quipped expressionlessly, "Long live bromance¡­" Beiming Xue: "..." ¡­¡­ "You heard the boss. Move aside and pretend to attack the enemy!" Chaos Moon ordered. Very soon, thousands of Dragonlight Cavalrymen spread out and allowed Snails Are Disgusting to make his way up to Beiming Xue. Eyes trained onto her beautiful figure, he threw a Trapping Net at her as soon as he was close enough! Whoosh! Not only had Beiming Xue dodged the skill with ease, she wore a seductive smile on her face as she counterattacked with a Skypiercer. She didn¡¯t mean it that way of course, but at the same time I was almost surprised that someone like Beiming was still single¡­ "Ignore the Dragonlight Cavalry and charge! If we manage to kill Beiming Xue, then it¡¯ll all be worth it!" Snails Are Disgusting cried stubbornly. The moment he and his 5,000 men entered our formation, Chaos Moon immediately ordered her men to plug the hole shut. At the same time, a rain of Shock Arrows fell from the sky and stunned most of the enemies. Snails Are Disgusting turned green when he finally realized what happened, "Shit, I think we walked into a trap¡­" If he wasn¡¯t sure before, the barrage of God Devil Breaks that absolutely annihilated a portion of his Iron Cutter Cavalrymen all but dashed his final vestiges of optimism away. He shouted, "It¡¯s a trap! Turn back now!" Unfortunately, it was already too late. Chaos Moon and the Dragonlight Cavalry would be damned if they allowed him to escape. Just like that, 5,000 Iron Cutter Cavalrymen went poof without being able to do anything! On the frontline, the battle was growing more and more desperate for both sides. Although the Northern Alliance was bleeding players like crazy, the China server wasn¡¯t faring much better either. We were losing Zephyr Cavalry, Profound Wolf Cavalry, Thunder Cavalry and other types of cavalry at an insane rate. Thankfully, the powerful Dragonlight Cavalry was able to make it all the way to the backline and massacre the ranged players with their Ultimate Strength Break. Neither Hero Alliance nor God Breaker could really do much to stop them. ¡­¡­ In the sky, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was shooting glances at me about as often I shot glances at him. He didn¡¯t dare to make a real charge against our army because he had almost run out of helpers. Shabby Castle, Beethoven¡¯s Joy the Knight of Stars, Da Vinci Code the Shadow Archer and many more had already died. Even if he took the risk, he would never be able to escape Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and me alive. "Careful now. We¡¯re almost within the Dragon Cannons¡¯ range¡­" I warned. Song of Cloud and Water asked, "How should we do this, big brother Lu Chen?" I answered, "It¡¯s simple. Split your forces into smaller groups and attack them from several different directions at the same time. The Dragon Cannon¡¯s attack range is incredible, but you can easily dodge its attack once you¡¯ve gotten within 5 meters of it. Moreover, the Dragon Cannon¡¯s attack doesn¡¯t discriminate between friend or foe, so it¡¯s not like the enemy can fire with impunity. Now go. Now is the time to go all out!" Our forces immediately split into two as ordered. I myself led a group of players toward the Dragon Cannon at the center. In the sky, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow narrowed his eyes before saying quietly, "Tell our players to withdraw to 10 yards away from the Dragon Canon and hold the line there. Then, use the Dragon Cannons to mow down the enemies. No need to save the Dragon Crystals, we have more than enough to kill all of them!" ¡­¡­ As I thought, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was different from Red Maple. He wasn¡¯t willing to hurt his own people. This was the type of people who people rallied behind[3]! "Let¡¯s go. Don¡¯t fall behind our leader!" Song of Cloud and Water ordered. Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and the other Soul Battle Robes players rushed ahead without hesitation. The moment the enemy¡¯s battle line disengaged from ours, a corps commander immediately shouted, "What are you waiting for? Blast them all to pieces now! Don¡¯t hold back on my account!" One Dragon Cannon shuddered, and a ball of flames engulfed a group of one thousand Soul Battle Robes Iron Cutter Cavalrymen instantly. Not a single player managed to survive the attack! My heart ached at the horrible deaths. On the other side, Chaos Moon and the players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had also taken a couple of bombardments from their Dragon Cannon and lost a tremendous amount of players! ¡­¡­ The ground was littered with dead bodies, equipment, and the smell of gunpowder. A pale-faced God Bone roared in anger, "I refuse to believe these Dragon Cannons are powerful enough to stop all of us! All units, follow me!" God Bone activated his Iron Bone Armor and made a beeline straight for the Dragon Cannon! In the sky, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow shouted, "Give me a rapid fire and shatter him!" Bang bang! The Dragon Cannon shuddered twice and engulfed God Bone in flames. The warrior raised his shield and managed to survive the first shot, but not the second! Pa¡­ Bone, flesh and blood scattered everywhere as the air detonated. The vice leader of Soul Battle Robes was shattered into pieces, just like that! 1. T/N: the idiom is also used in the context of taking advantage of women ? 2. T/N: you can tell that we¡¯re approaching the end from how lazy this skill is ? 3. T/N: That¡¯s flawed logic. Red Maple dropped to Level 0 once, but he remained the most trusted player in his server. If anything, the Japan server is probably the most united of all servers because of a common enemy, and a leader who¡¯s willing to do anything to lead them to victory ? Favorite CH 1569 "What a terrible way to go, brother¡­" Ringwraith mourned while shuddering like a leaf. "Seriously, he¡¯s literally been blown to itty bitty pieces! If that isn¡¯t a horrible way to go, I don¡¯t know what is! Is there no one who can withstand this Dragon Cannon[1]??" Song of Ice and Fire abruptly shortened the distance between himself and the Dragon Cannon to ten yards before unleashing his Ancient Divine skill, Gonggong¡¯s Furious Strike! "Die!" Song of Ice and Fire didn¡¯t forget to move his feet even as he struck down an entire swathe of players and damaged the Dragon Cannon. He was able to dodge a ton of damage he would¡¯ve taken otherwise. This display alone firmly placed his technique in the super tier. After moving to the other side of the Dragon Cannon and striking down a group of archers with Splitting Heaven and Earth, he roared, "Spread out and attack the Dragon Cannon from all sides! The rest of you, charge the enemy so that they can¡¯t attack us with impunity!" Meanwhile at the right Dragon Cannon, Chaos Moon and her players were dodging left and right to avoid the screeching fireballs headed their way. Unfortunately, most of them were unable to escape unscathed and were turned into piles and piles of scorched ashes! ¡­¡­ "Let¡¯s go. Ground units, give me some cover fire once I engage!" After I leaped into the air, I turned to He Yi. "Eve, I will enter a 3-second Weakened status after I use Purple Dragon Howl. Please protect me during that time!" She nodded. "No problem. Just cancel your mount after using the skill so that I can pull you up my mount. Unless I die, you won¡¯t be in any danger whatsoever[2]!" "Okay!" On the ground, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and his men were rushing the Dragon Cannon at the center when the commander responsible for directing the siege weapon narrowed his eyes menacingly and said, "Dragon Cannon, target that dark-skinned man and kill him!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun¡¯s heart immediately sank. "For fuck¡¯s sake, do I stand out that much? Fuck this shit, Flying General!¡± The moment he activated his Famous General Skill, his movement speed skyrocketed, and his figure transformed into an almost-invisible blur. The controller of the Dragon Cannon immediately swore, "What the fuck is that speed? This is bullshit! There¡¯s no way I can lock onto him like this!" I seized the moment to approach the Dragon Cannon from the sky and was immediately spotted by a couple of archers. They immediately yelled, "Target Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand and kill him now! He must be scheming something bad[3]!" "You¡¯re goddamn right." I smiled as I activated the Xuanyuan Art and removed 70% HP from all enemy players. At the same time, I dropped countless Ancient Seals and gave them a taste of my version of the "scorched earth tactic¡±. At the end of my bombardment, nearly all of the players around the Dragon Cannon except some very tanky magic knights were dead. The survivors had to withdraw to the back because Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and his cavalry troops were approaching at high speed! After I healed my HP and MP to full, I activated Heavenly River Transformation and used the ultimate skill I hadn¡¯t used for a long time¡ªPurple Dragon Howl! Buzz buzz¡­ The Xuanyuan Sword shuddered as a purple dragon slithered around its blade. When the skill was fully charged, I locked onto the Dragon Cannon and sent the Purple Dragon straight at it! Roar roar roar¡­ Purple Dragon Howl ravaged the siege weapon, cutting into its fortifications and stripping away the fiery runes on its body bit by bit. Not only did it do an insane amount of damage, there were even critical hits and septuple damage procs! How brutal! 4,721,676! 35,873,306! 10,288,784! 5,102,981! ¡­¡­ The Dragon Cannon had lost nearly 80% of its durability by the time the skill was finally over. At the same time, I fell into the Weakened state! Not far away, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow immediately rushed over with a shout, "All archers, Far Shot your attacks and take out Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Dragon Cannon, give the fucker a shot as well!" I hurriedly dismounted the Ancient Divine Dragon just in time for a pair of warm, gentle arms to catch me. The Snow Crystal Dragon turned its head to look at me with its eye and shook its head a little[4]. He Yi was all smiles as she said, "Perfect!" "Watch out for Vienna¡¯s Sorrow!" "Mn!" The man suddenly sped up and clashed swords with He Yi immediately. The guild leader was utterly fearless despite going up against one of the best players in the entire world. The magic circle of Chengying and Hangguang and the Cyan Wind Shield came alive at the same time as she unleashed a point-blank Purgatory of Ice and Magma! Clang clang clang¡­ Sparks flew everywhere as Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was pushed back. A trace of surprise flashed across his face¡ªhe had clearly underestimated He Yi¡ªbut only for a second. After buffing himself with Iron Arm Reinforcement, he struck her sword once more with a Furious Strike! Bang! He Yi suffered huge damage and fell toward the ground like a meteor. However, she was able to fire one more skill at her attacker: Stormwind Break! 2,871,626! 2,527,733! Chengying and Hangguang made all of her attacks ignore Defense, so Vienna¡¯s Sorrow could only stare at his HP in shock and back off. Not a moment too soon, an arrow cut through the space where he had been a moment earlier. Beiming Xue and Lian Xin had finally come to the rescue. "Farewell!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow let out a sneer before escaping into the distance. He knew the girls¡¯ power all too well to risk fighting them in nearly any capacity. ¡­¡­ After I had recovered, I struggled out of He Yi¡¯s embrace and resummoned the Ancient Divine Dragon once more. After I activated Fusion Armor, I pounced toward the Dragon Cannon once more. Together with the girls and the Dragonlight Cavalry, our small elite squad was the first to destroy a Dragon Cannon. The players of Hero Alliance and God Breaker turned visibly ashen when they heard their siege weapon crumbling into a pile of useless rubble. A few minutes later, Li Chengfeng said in the guild channel, "Lu Chen! Tear Stain is withdrawing!" I smiled. "But of course. At this rate, we¡¯ll overrun the forces in the valley. Come over with your men now! We¡¯ll catch them in a pincer attack and kill them all!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ The battle in the valley was still ongoing. The other two Dragon Cannons crumbled not long after the first because they lacked the height advantage of the Impassable Great Wall or Swallow Ear Canton. How could they hold it for long when everyone could reach it? Moreover, the China server had a great number of elites. Not only did we have numerous players on the same level as Song of Ice and Fire[5], Heaven¡¯s Rain and Diamond Dust, there were even greater players such as Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and myself. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was strong, but there were simply too many of us and only one of him. On the frontline, players died in droves, and equipment drops were everywhere. It wasn¡¯t yet time to loot the battlefield, however. As the Holy Mages advanced as one dominant force, Hero Alliance¡¯s army grew smaller and smaller. In fact, God Breaker and the weaker guilds were almost fully annihilated. Our scorched earth tactic was going wonderfully for sure. ¡­¡­ Time passed by, until a cacophony of battle cries erupted from ahead of us. Following it was a stream of players wearing 5-star red flags riding down the mountain range and toward us. It was none other than Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and the rest of the Dragonlight Cavalry! Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun guffawed. "Hell yeah! Take them all out! This is almost everything the Northern Alliance has left in this war! Take them out, and we will surely become the final victor!" Everyone attacked the Northern Alliance¡¯s troops with renewed vigor. Our numbers had dwindled considerably as well, but the tide was slightly in our favor especially considering our number of divine players. We had Li Chengfeng, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and me, but the Northern Alliance only had Tear Stain and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. Even better, they couldn¡¯t go all-out for fear of being caught out and deleted from this war! ¡­¡­ Suddenly, a series of system announcements resounded across the sky¡ª Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Red Maple" (Japan) killed the CGL Hall of Famer "Blue Sky Scar" (China) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 176,525 points! Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Flowing Cloud" (India) killed the CGL Hall of Famer "Luo River God of the Capital" (China) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 474,885 points! Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Candlelight Shadow" (China) killed the JGL Hall of Famer "Red Maple" (Japan) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 452,770 points! Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Wind Fantasy" (China) killed the JGL Hall of Famer ¡°Rakare¡± (Japan) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 221,447 points! Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Flowing Cloud" (China) killed the CGL Hall of Famer ¡°Candlelight Shadow¡± (China) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 512,773 points! ¡­¡­ "Heavens, what the hell is going on at Swallow Ear Canton[6]..." I exclaimed in disbelief. He Yi answered, "According to the latest news, they¡¯re fighting the final battle of Swallow Ear Canton¡­ both sides have barely any players left. Even Candle Dragon has less than 100 players left after Candlelight Shadow¡¯s death. However, they have taken out nearly all of Cyan Earth City and Elephant City¡¯s players¡­" I gritted my teeth. "What about Yiyi? How many players is she fighting right now? Breeze and Rain, God of War, Flowing Cloud and Lui Lok are still alive! Meanwhile, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky Farewell Song, Purple Marquis, and even Luo River God of the Capital have been killed by the enemy! She¡¯s all¡­ alone¡­¡± "No!" I abruptly raised my sword and declared, "Eve, you guys continue the fight here. I¡¯m going to Swallow Ear Canton. There¡¯s no way I can stand by when she¡¯s fighting against all those enemies by herself¡­" The chain of system announcements was still ongoing. The death of another 4 JGL Hall of Famers followed by CGL Hall of Famers such as Zhang Chun, October Rain and God¡¯s Dance were reported. Both sides were literally running out of players. Chaos Moon yelled, "Calm down, Lu Chen! It¡¯s too late even if you go there now!" I shivered as I floated in the wind. "I don¡¯t care! I need to be there. No one can stop me. I cannot abandon Yiyi and let her face all those enemies¡­" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun said solemnly, "There are less than 100 people still alive in the entire Swallow Ear Canton, but I¡¯m not sure if beauty Wind Fantasy can beat all her enemies alone. She doesn¡¯t have many allies left¡­" My mind was a mess. "I leave it to you all!" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! My heart burned with anxiety as I flew toward Swallow Ear Canton at top speed. I prayed again and again in my heart, "Hang on, Yiyi! You must hang on! Take out Flowing Cloud and the rest of the bastards before they take you out!" It was at this moment another two system announcements rang¡ª Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Piglike Opponent" (China) killed the Temple Guardian "Lui Lok" (India) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 412,878 points! Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Breeze Break" (China) killed the Temple Guard "God of War" (India) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 372,876 points! ¡­¡­ "Who the fuck is Breeze Break?" I couldn¡¯t help but ask in the guild channel. He Yi answered, "You know who Piglike Opponent is. As for Breeze Break, I actually have him on my friend list. He was killed by Flowing Cloud just two seconds ago, and he is Lin Fan¡­" "Lin Fan¡­" That caught me off-guard. The Heavenly King of Eternal Moon was the last person I expected to kill God of War¡­ ¡­¡­ The revelation made me even more anxious. I willed myself to fly as quickly as I could! Soon, the ruins that were the Swallow Ear Canton entered my sight. I saw smoke rising from the battlefield and the flashing light of skills! Before I could reach it though, it all came to a stop. W-was I too late? As I shuddered from the bottom of my heart, another two system announcements entered my ears¡ª Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Wind Fantasy" (China) killed the Temple Guard "Breeze and Rain" (India) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 477,161 points! Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Wind Fantasy" (China) killed the Temple Guard "Flowing Cloud" (India) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 712,877 points! ¡­¡­ Whoosh¡­ I abruptly reached the ruins where the battle had taken place. The corpses piled like mountains, blood was everywhere, and the wind was thick with the stench of blood. Kneeling in the middle of this scene from hell was a beautiful girl. Her white battle garment was dyed completely red with blood even as her cloak flapped behind her. In one hand she held the Wind Severing Sword, and in the other, the sea blue¨Ccolored Immortal Blade[7]! There were two corpses next to her. One of them belonged to Flowing Cloud and the other, to Breeze and Rain. She had clearly killed them both at the same time! Lin Yixin looked up. Her face was stained with blood, and her HP bar showed 3%. Curling the corner of her lips upward to shoot me a sweet smile, she said, "I¡¯m so tired, Little Cheat¡­[8]" ¡­¡­ Swhoosh! I abruptly pounced toward her and pulled her into my arms. CH 1570 Lin Yixin smiled at me as she lay limply against my chest. Her long eyelashes looked like they had caught a bit of dust. She tried to push herself to a standing position, but I held her still and said, "Stop. You¡¯ve been logged in for 24 hours straight, haven¡¯t you[1]?" "Mn. Swallow Ear Canton was a tough bone to break, so¡­" she replied with a nod. My heart ached like a bitch as I examined the fatigue trailing her expression. I looked around to take my mind off things for a bit. Breeze and Rain was nailed to the wall by a fiery scepter, and Flowing Cloud was lying face down on a heap of sand with a blood-drenched cape. She had been stabbed in the heart, and her killer was none other than the girl in my arms. There were two other corpses slightly farther away from here. The first one I checked out was Little Piglet. He had a Level 220 sword in his hand, and he was sitting against a wall. His throat had been cut, but he clearly died with a smile on his face. Not far away from him was India¡¯s number one mage, Lui Lok. He had a spear lodged in his chest, and if I remembered correctly, Little Piglet was the one who killed him. Finally, the third corpse was a handsome man lying face up in a pool of blood. His fists were clenched tightly even in death. He was none other than the man who killed the number one expert of India, God of War, the former Heavenly King of Eternal Moon, Lin Fan. He was Level 245 and his class was "Saint Peak Magic Knight¡±. ¡­¡­ Seemingly noticing my puzzlement, Lin Yixin said softly, "I and a dozen or so Snowy Cathaya players were the only ones left after Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, Luo River God of the Capital and the others died. Meanwhile, the enemy still had Flowing Cloud, Breeze and Rain, God of War and Lui Lok. As you might have noticed, we weren¡¯t supposed to have won this battle. Thankfully, Breeze Break appeared at the last moment and pulled off one of the best helix maneuvers I¡¯ve ever seen. Not only did he dodge God of War¡¯s attacks four times in a row, he single-handedly deleted 40% of God of War¡¯s HP with insane attack speed. Unfortunately, he was ultimately killed by Flowing Cloud¡¯s Ancient Divine Skill¡­ Who is that guy? He¡¯s as good as Candlelight Shadow and me¡­" I replied quietly, "Lin Fan." "I see. The first Heavenly King¡­" "Mn." "What about the other guy, Piglike Opponent? He¡¯s Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, but I¡¯ve never noticed him until now. His skills are pretty good, and his timely intervention was the only reason I managed to escape Breeze and Rain¡¯s combo." "He¡¯s Little Piglet¡­" I smiled at her. "It¡¯s a secret, okay?" Lin Yixin was a smart girl. She nodded with a look of understanding. "Ah, I see. I¡¯ll definitely keep it a secret. Oh right, we¡¯ve already killed Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s regent and chosen to abandon the city. The war here is already over." I exhaled. "Mn. Well done, Yiyi. Of course, that goes to everyone else who died¡ªWarsky, Candlelight Shadow, Wang Luo, Farewell Song and more¡ªas well¡­ Not only did you manage to take out Swallow Ear Canton, you¡¯ve neutralized all of Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and Swallow Ear Canton¡¯s effective strength as well. Now, there is no one left to protect the two main cities of India." Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes widened. "Oh? How many people do you have left? Do you have enough to attack Cyan Earth City? I heard that the Russian players of Frostsword City and Iron Horse City are already attacking Elephant City. Assuming that you still have enough troops, you should attack Cyan Earth City and wipe out the Indian server completely!" However, I shook my head and said, "No, I¡¯m not planning to attack Cyan Earth City even if we assume that it¡¯s completely empty." "But why?" Lin Yixin looked puzzled. I cupped her cheeks and gave her a kiss. "It¡¯s simple. Even if Tear Stain and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow lose the battle at Sky Ridge Fortress, they can still muster an army of millions. If we throw everyone we have at Cyan Earth City, I¡¯m certain they¡¯ll respond by invading Sky City. We¡¯ll be stuck between a rock and a hard place then. That is why my plan is to attack Burning City!" "The Korean main city? Are you sure?" Lin Yixin giggled. "Of course! The only one who¡¯ll stand up for Tear Stain, Candlelight Shadow, is dead, so there is nothing to worry about. We¡¯ll march into Burning City and take out their regent." "In that case, I¡­ don¡¯t think I can do anything else to help, to be honest. Less than one thousand players of my guild are still alive, not to mention that most of them are production-class players. But that doesn¡¯t matter since we¡¯ve fulfilled our mission¡­" I nodded and caressed her face gently. "Yes, you have. Now log out and leave the rest to me. If I can¡¯t log out because I¡¯m too busy, please accompany Xinran on my behalf!" Lin Yixin pursed her lips together. "I will. I will pay close attention to the Nation War even after I¡¯ve logged out of the game. If necessary, I¡¯ll jump back into the game after I¡¯ve had enough rest. We¡¯re almost out of divine players after all." "Yes, yes. Now log out and catch a rest already!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin stood up and set up a tent. Then, she logged out in the middle of the rubble. After her tent had vanished, I rose to my feet and pulled out the scepter that was stuck to Breeze and Rain¡¯s chest. I was expecting this, but I still couldn¡¯t help but tremble when I identified it as the Scepter of Divine Flame, one of the Twelve Divine Armaments! I used my detective skills to quickly figure out what had transpired. Little Piglet had taken out Lui Lok and got him to drop the Scepter of Divine Flame, but he was taken out by God of War before he could put it into his bag. Then, Lin Yixin launched her surprise attack and somehow stabbed Breeze and Rain to death with the scepter[2]. It was hardly the best way to go, especially for a top-tier fighter like Breeze and Rain, but then again, it was Lin Yixin who was on the other end. With her Attack, there were few people she couldn¡¯t kill, even with a scepter. Since Lin Yixin had logged out of the game, I decided that I would keep this scepter for her until she recovered. In the meantime, I was sure that Lian Xin could find some use out of it. It wasn¡¯t like Beauty Lin to forget something as precious as a Divine Armament of the Twelve though[3]. She was just that exhausted. I would have to treat her real good when I logged out of the game later. Perhaps I could even convince her to trade it to Lian Xin permanently. I¡¯m sure we could gather enough Lower Divine Armaments and Middle Divine Armaments to make up for it. ¡­¡­ After that, I rose to my feet and looked at a seemingly empty spot near the broken walls. I asked, "Seen enough yet?" A surprised yelp immediately broke out from the spot! Swhoosh! The Xuanyuan Sword exited and entered its sheath in one smooth motion. The next moment, two Japanese assassins appeared out of thin air and collapsed to their knees, dead. Judging from the disbelief in their eyes, they clearly had no idea that I was aware of their presence. Hmph. They thought they could steal the Scepter of Divine Flame from right under my nose? Well, they thought wrong¡­ I jumped to my feet and took to the sky. Then, I began flying back to Sky Ridge Fortress. On a related note, it was absolute chaos in the guild channel right now¡ª Li Chengfeng: "Holy fuck! What the fuck happened at Swallow Ear Canton? We¡¯ve never lost this many CGL Hall of Famers in a row before! Seriously, that¡¯s 19 active CGL Hall of Famers killed in one single battle! What the hell is this Nation War even?" Chaos Moon: "Yeah! Even Candlelight Shadow and Luo River God of the Capital are dead¡­ Just how strong is Beauty Lin now? I can¡¯t even imagine the skill it took to kill Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud alone¡­" Li Chengfeng fell silent for a moment before saying, "Fuck¡­ my skill still isn¡¯t at her or Lu Chen¡¯s level!" Gui Guzi: "Why are you stating the obvious?" Li Chengfeng: "..." He Yi said slowly, "Although our losses are severe, the battle result is better than expected¡­ You can check the latest updates yourselves, but all 59 JGL Hall of Famers and 47 Temple Guardians are dead. Although we lost Candlelight Shadow, Wang Luo and Farewell Song, we are absolutely the winners of this trade¡­" It was at this moment Beiming Xue spoke with a voice full of worry, "Big bro¡­ Are you there, big bro? What is going on at Swallow Ear Canton?" I cleared my throat before replying, "I¡¯m fine, Beiming. Swallow Ear Canton has been flattened and abandoned. When the Japanese log back into the game, they¡¯ll be unaffiliated and without any main city to call to their name." He Yi asked, "How is Yiyi, Lu Chen?" I replied, "Yiyi is doing fine. She¡¯s just too exhausted, so I told her to log out of the game and rest. By the way, for all those who don''t know yet, Breeze Break is Lin Fan, and he took out quite a few powerful enemies for Yiyi. Unfortunately, he has died as well. Also, Warsky¡¯s Immortal Blade has been reclaimed by Yiyi, and Lui Lok¡¯s Scepter of Divine Flame is in my hands right now. Yiyi forgot about it, so I¡¯m holding it for her temporarily¡­" Lian Xin immediately interrupted with an excited voice, "Oh, really? Can I borrow it for a bit? I need it to show off in this Nation War¡­" I rolled my eyes. "Did you even check your own Nation War contribution points, girl? Oh right, I¡¯m flying back to Sky Ridge Fortress right now, but how are you guys doing?" Li Chengfeng answered, "Hero Alliance, God Breaker and Throne Breaker are goners. God Breaker¡¯s 600k troops are almost all gone, Hero Alliance¡¯s troops have dwindled to just 300k or so, and Throne of the Wild¡¯s troops have dwindled to just 100k. However, Tear Stain and her remaining troops managed to break out of our encirclement, and it looks like they¡¯re returning to Burning City."[4] I asked, "What about Hero Alliance? We can¡¯t allow them to slip back into the shadows!" Li Chengfeng chuckled. "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow managed to kill many of our experts, but Lian Xin and Beiming were able to repel him together. Hero Alliance¡¯s 300k troops have withdrawn into Soaring Flame Desert, and I think they¡¯re either returning to Hero City or joining the assault on Fortress of the Iron Halberd. I doubt he¡¯ll choose the second option though. Fortress of the Iron Halberd is guarded by Dominating Heaven Blade and Beauty Stranger, and he doesn¡¯t nearly have enough troops to change anything." He Yi asked, "What do we do now, Lu Chen?" I replied without hesitation, "All units, return to Dark Moon City to rest and reorganize in the next 30 minutes¡ªthat is the amount of time I need to fly to Burning City. Repair your equipment and restock your potions, cards, bread and everything else. Then, I¡¯ll teleport you all over and hopefully catch Tear Stain before she can return to Burning City! Let¡¯s give that woman the fright of her life!" Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun laughed loudly. "Hell yeah! That sounds fun!" ¡­¡­ I immediately changed directions and flew toward Burning City after I had made up my mind. It wasn¡¯t long before a bunch of red dots suddenly entered my map screen. They were none other than Tear Stain and her 100k defeated troops! Of course, I didn¡¯t underestimate them and circled around them even though they had been defeated in battle. They were still the elites of the Throne of the Wild after all. Tear Stain might have ordered her players to teleport back to her main city, but she herself had chosen to ride back instead, probably to vent her frustrations on the unfortunate Chinese players along her way. This woman was just too competitive for her own good. 1. T/N: didn¡¯t you often do this to yourself? And weren''t the earlier grinds something like this? ? 2. E/N: That I have NO CLUE how you deduced. Impaling a guy with a freaking scepter? I¡¯m betting my money on Lin Fan pulling off THAT stunt. Hell, guy has some knight magical hybrid, he could probably equip it and buff like one or two skills of his with it. Universe Break works with thrusts after all. ? 3. E/N: Yeah, and there was that guy who was much more brutal than Lin Yixin and probably didn¡¯t even care about this scepter because he¡¯s not been playing Heavenblessed that much¡­ ? 4. T/N: the biggest failure of this war is without a doubt the non-China nations not making a death ball of divine experts and forcing China to always meet them at a numbers disadvantage. It¡¯s so stupid. Also, Red Maple may be an absolute dick, but respect to him for nearly pulling off the impossible. Literally everyone else except Flowing Cloud deserves to eat ass ? Favorite CH 1571 Whoosh! The wind blowing against my bangs and forehead felt a bit painful. When I burst out of the clouds, a city basking in the first glimmer of dawn entered my view. It was none other than Burning City, the so-called Pearl of the North and the pride of the Korean server. Its walls were tough and difficult to overcome. It was also situated in the middle between the Northern Alliance and Cyan Earth City. It was the reason why God of War and Breeze and Rain had never dared to set their sights on the north[1]. ¡­¡­ I checked the player count under the Nation War interface¡ª Korea: 3,124,770 China: 11 India: 4,217 ¡­¡­ Looks like I was one of the 11 Chinese players on the map. I had no idea where the other 10 Chinese players were or what they were doing, but that was fine. I wasn¡¯t counting on them to play a role in this invasion anyway. Tear Stain was an intelligent woman. Judging from the 3 million players she had left behind at Burning City, she clearly knew not to store all of her eggs in one basket. I doubted that they were elites, but 3 million players were still going to be a grind. I immediately contacted He Yi¡ª "Eve?" "I¡¯m here. What is it?" "Tell the gang to prepare the siege weapons. Once they¡¯re ready, I¡¯m going to teleport them all to Burning City. Also, please contact the remnants of Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips, Purple Lily, Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and anyone else who¡¯s still online and tell them to move their siege weapons to Dark Moon City as well. This time, we¡¯re going to drown the enemy with payloads instead of scaling their walls normally!" He Yi burst into a giggle. "You want to beat the enemy via the P2W method? That¡¯s pretty unusual. Why the change of heart?" I coughed. "Well¡­ that¡¯s because they still have 3 million defenders. How can we possibly defeat them if we do this the standard way? No, the only way to do this is to destroy their walls with the White Marsh Catapults and force them to engage us in a do-or-die battle on the plains." He Yi exclaimed in realization, ¡°I see. Understood. I¡¯ll get it done right away. Give us 30 minutes, will you?" "Of course!" ¡­¡­ Pa! I landed on top of a maple leaf and slowly made my way toward Burning City. I chuckled as I stared at the distant defenders slowly shuffling their way onto the walls for a moment. It was finally our turn to go on the offensive and make both the Northern Alliance and the Indian server shudder in fear! It was at this moment the system announced the temporary occupation of Elephant City by Frostsword City. If Elephant City¡¯s players couldn¡¯t retake their city in time, then Elephant City would become the Russians¡¯! "Heh¡­" I looked up and chuckled. Once upon a time, after I was coronated the "West King" of the Indian server, I had killed their collaborator and taken away their prize from right beneath their nose. Therefore, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that the Indians hated me just as much as the Japanese. In order to protect Swallow Ear Canton, Elephant City and Cyan Earth City had thrown nearly every man and woman they had against us only to be thwarted at the last moment. Now, their decision had come back to bite them. The incredibly powerful Indian server had less than 5 million online players left in this war, which was nowhere near enough to resist the Russians. God of War, Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud must feel like dying in real life right now. I waved my arm and activated Earth Escape. Then, I continued to make my way toward Burning City. There was nothing to do until the gang was ready anyway, so I might as well take a leisurely stroll while I could. ¡­¡­ Thirty minutes passed very quickly. He Yi said to me in the guild channel, "We¡¯re ready, Lu Chen!" "Mn!" I immediately returned to the surface and took out the Teleportation Divine Crystal. Once the 100-yard-radius teleportation formation immediately had taken form, my players immediately rushed out into the open. My corps commanders and the Dragonlight Cavalrymen emerged first, followed by the Dragonlight Archers, Holy Mages and other classes. I had chosen to establish the teleportation formation in front of the southern gate of Burning City because it was where Tear Stain and her 100k troops would be passing through to return to their city! "Dragonlight Cavalry, spread out and guard the perimeter!" Li Chengfeng yelled while raising his Cyan Peak Halberd. The stream of players coming through the teleportation formation seemed like it would never end. It wasn¡¯t long before the players quickly encircled the city. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and its few remaining subguilds alone numbered around 700k players. Adding the stragglers we managed to collect from the other three main cities, we actually managed to form a fighting force of 2 million or so. Of course, the quality of these players was so-so at best. In the end, the only one we could truly count on was ourselves. In the sky, He Yi ordered while group after group of engineers streamed out of the teleportation formation, "Faster! We¡¯re going to set up an offensive line of siege weapons on the southern gate! Bring out all of the White Marsh Catapults, the Basic Catapults and the Chiyou Plumes as well! When we¡¯re ready, focus-fire any and all high-level players who dare to show their faces on the walls! Also, prioritize killing Tear Stain if she shows herself!" I felt like laughing, to be honest. He Yi was a patient woman, but it was clear that even she was at her limits after losing so many elite Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players to Tear Stain. She must¡¯ve been looking for an opportunity to take the guild leader out from the start, and now that opportunity had finally arrived! ¡­¡­ "Here they come!" Li Chengfeng pointed to the south. It was as he said. Dust clouds appeared on the horizon as Tear Stain and her 100k-strong force made their way back from Soaring Flame Desert. When they saw that several million Chinese players were gathered right outside her doorsteps, she immediately turned green and swore, "What the fuck? How did they get ahead of us? Since when can the Chinese appear wherever they please?" Behind her, a corps commander asked, "Guild leader, should we inform the brothers and sisters inside the city to come out, catch the enemy in a pincer attack and annihilate them all?" Tear Stain shook her head immediately. "We¡¯re less than 24 hours away from the end of the Nation War, and there¡¯s just no need to take that risk. Ancient Sword still has around 30k Dragonlight Cavalrymen, and they are commanded by Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Legendary Brave, Gui Guzi and more. They alone can slaughter our 100k players to the last, much less the others. One of the greatest quality a person could have is to know one¡¯s own abilities. Right now, we need to defend against the enemy, not attack them." The corps commander¡¯s eyes widened. "What¡­ what should we do then?" Tear Stain took out a scroll from her lap and declared, "All units, don¡¯t engage the enemy! I repeat, don¡¯t engage the enemy! Instead, teleport back to the city and prepare for a city defense! Also, set up the arrows towers and move all of our siege weapons to the walls!" "Yes ma¡¯am!" The Throne of the Wild players crushed their return scrolls immediately. A minute later, all 100k of them had returned to the city. Li Chengfeng let out a disdainful snort. "I knew this would happen¡­" "You talk as if we don¡¯t hold all the advantage¡­ Anyway, it¡¯s time. Arm the siege weapons and prepare to attack!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and pointed at the defenders of Burning City. Then, I shouted, "All White Marsh Catapults, Basic Catapults and ballistae! Aim about 30 degrees upward and fire everything you''ve got! Once their wall is down, we¡¯ll able to get inside and slaughter them to the last!" The gears and springs screeched. At least 300 White Marsh Catapults, 4,000 Basic Catapults and over 10,000 Ballistae fired at Burning City. Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and the remaining guilds had contributed all of their siege weapons to this assault, so it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that the siege weapons of nearly the entire China server were here. Forget Tear Stain, even I was shocked by the commotion they caused! BOOM BOOM BOOM¡­ Countless rocks smashed against the walls of Burning City and left deep holes in them. Their durability began falling in earnest. Gripping her sword and biting her lips tightly, Tear Stain said, "Goddammit¡­ Where are our siege weapons? Get them up the walls and focus-fire their White Marsh Catapults now! Our walls won¡¯t be able to hold out for long like this!" ¡­¡­ "Keep attacking!" He Yi ordered again beneath the city. Tear Stain was starting to get really nervous. "Target their White Marsh Catapults and destroy them!" Hundreds of Ballistae took aim, fired, and destroyed a couple of White Marsh Catapults instantly. There was simply no way the White Marsh Catapult could survive a volley like that. Still, we should be thankful that Tear Stain wasn¡¯t so close to Red Maple that she could coax him to lend her 3 Dragon Cannons like Vienna¡¯s Sorrow did. Otherwise, it would¡¯ve been a lot harder to topple the city. Tear Stain responded to our siege weapons with machinery of her own. Now, the ball was in our court! He Yi glanced at her engineers and ordered, "Chiyou Plume team, set up the Chiyou Plumes 1,500 yards away from the walls and target their siege weapons. Use penetration mode!" 11 Chiyou Plumes were quickly set up behind the lines. They alone just had to be worth a big chunk of our guild¡¯s entire wealth. A Chiyou Plume shot could inflict at least ten million damage to a single unit, and a basic ballista only had several million HP. Just in the first salve alone, an entire row of ballistae was wiped out without a trace. A few seconds later, another 11 ballistae vanished from the walls. The Chiyou Plumes might have poorer AoE, but they more than made up for it with unerring accuracy! Tear Stain¡¯s complexion had turned purple at this point. "No, no! We¡¯re going to lose our main city if this continues! All cavalrymen from third to seventh subguilds, follow me to attack their formation! I know their numbers seem great, but the only ones who can really fight are Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. That¡¯s a couple hundred thousand at most. I want the other three gates open and a million troops to disrupt their formation! Also, contact the German server and tell Chariot City to send reinforcements! I know they can mobilize at least a million troops or so!" The gates opened, and Tear Stain herself flew down the walls. Here they come! ¡­¡­ I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and ordered with a smile, "Dragonlight Cavalry, stay where you are and Guard. Holy Mages, bombard the enemy when they get close. We¡¯re just going to hold the line and minimize our losses. Healers, please keep our Dragonlight Cavalrymen alive!" At the same time, I threw the Scepter of Divine Flame to Lian Xin. She caught it firmly and said, "Thank you, big bro!" And so, our divine mage became the proud owner of the scepter of the Twelve Divine Armaments. I didn¡¯t think there was any mage in the world who could beat her now. "Ready! Shoot Tear Stain the moment she gets into range, Beiming!" Gui Guzi declared with a laugh. However, Tear Stain didn¡¯t try to engage us. In fact, I doubted that she even considered fighting us divine players at all. Instead, she bore the God Devil Breaks of our Holy Mages and attacked a group of Protective Umbrella Zephyr Cavalrymen at the wing. As for her cavalrymen, they weren¡¯t able to do much at all. Our preparations and buffs were simply too great to overcome. He Yi lowered her arm and ordered again, "Ballistae, lower your aim and fire at the cavalrymen on the ground!" ¡­¡­ The ballistae fired, and a thick rain of steel bolts flew across the plains. A second later, the entire southern field of Burning City was drenched in blood. 1. T/N: you¡¯re sure it¡¯s not because you keep aggroing the shit out of them? ? Favorite CH 1572 Crack! A magic knight was sliced in half as a sword cut through both his shield and his armor. The critical damage number of 6 million stunned all those who were close enough to witness it. The three vortices of death on the blade began spinning, and the next moment all Korean players within 1,000 yards of me lost 70% of their HP. Many of them didn¡¯t survive the experience. As my contribution points skyrocketed, I fired Thousand Ice Slash at a group of archers and froze them all. Lian Xin then dealt the last hit by dropping Dimensional Storm in the middle of them. Now that she had the Scepter of Divine Flame, her basic attacks¡¯ damage was over 2 million. Add the Soul Shocker Bell into the mix, and only a handful of players received less than 5 million damage from her. It was why every Burning City plate who caught sight of her acted like the devil himself was upon them. To put it simply, a top-tier mage was both unkillable and unbeatable. ¡­¡­ It took a couple of Xuanyuan Arts and Thousand Ghost Descents, but the ground before the southern gate of Burning City quickly turned into a sea of blood. Nearly three hundred thousand of the one million troops Tear Stain had mobilized were dead in less than an hour. Even Tear Stain had withdrawn to the city and stayed there because Beiming Xue was marking her with the Xuanming Bow almost all the time. The woman looked like she might die of stress, but there was nothing she could do about it. After all, she knew that our divine players would swarm her if she was stunned even once. Tear Stain neither had the courage nor the leeway to make such a gamble. Bang bang bang¡­ The walls of Burning City continued to shudder under the bombardment of our White Marsh Catapults. Worse still, most of the catapults, ballistae and other siege weapons Tear Stain had attempted to use to counter our siege had been sniped by the Chiyou Plume. For a time, a frowning Tear Stain could only sit atop an embrasure and stare blankly at me. The urge to cry suddenly threatened her eye ducts. "Jiejie¡­" Suddenly, a troop of flying riders flew over her head. Tear Stain looked up and broke into a smile of relief. "Hmph. Is the royal army of the Burning Empire finally going to make a move?" Tear Stain rose to her feet, unsheathed her sword and declared, "Burning City players, the NPCs¡¯ Griffin Legion has made their move! Now is the time to launch our counterattack! Reform the cavalry troops and make a beeline for their siege weapons! The first thing we¡¯re going to take out are those disgusting super long-range siege weapons!!" The gates opened, and a huge number of NPC cavalrymen rode out to meet us. They were Level 335 fiend-rank soldiers, and they were supported by countless griffin riders. This siege was starting to look a bit dicey. Thud! I abruptly rose into the air and remained at a certain height. I said in a quiet voice, "The griffin riders are flying units, and they add a whole new dimension to this battle. Thankfully, my Xuanyuan Art affects all units within a 1,000-yard-radius sphere. I¡¯m going to activate Profound Armor and attract the griffin riders¡¯ attention. Once they are close enough, I¡¯m going to delete their HP with the Xuanyuan Art. I want Little Gui to use your Thousand Ghosts Descent after that, and Beiming and Lian Xin to cooperate with me as well. The griffin riders only have 10 million max HP, so let¡¯s try not to involve our normal players and destroy this air force ourselves!" Everyone nodded in unison. "Okay!" I shot a glance at the super beauty flying next to He Yi and shot her a smirk. "Make sure to keep me fed, okay, sis?" Murong Mingyue shook her waist a little before replying in a lazy tone, "Hmm? Sure. I don¡¯t have the heart to leave my little brother for dead, or do I?" I replied, "Good. Let¡¯s go!" ¡­¡­ I gave my legs a push and shot straight toward the horde of griffin riders. I counted about 10,000 of them. Before I even got close to them, I cast a dozen or so Ancient Seals to catch their attention. After that, their Thunder Spears nipped at my heels like relentless hounds as I weaved in and out of their ranks in an S-shaped pattern. Despite Profound Armor and dodging countless Thunder Spears, I still lost almost ten million HP all too quickly. The excitement was almost too much to bear! It wasn¡¯t long before I was met by a literal wall of griffins. I abruptly skidded to a stop and cast Xuanyuan Art! The shock wave of death spread out, and countless griffin riders lost 70% of their HP at the same time. They weren¡¯t boss NPCs, so they weren¡¯t immune to the effects of the Xuanyuan Art. That being said, it wasn¡¯t without its price. During the second I took to cast the Xuanyuan Art, I was immediately struck by a barrage of unnaturally accurate Thunder Spears! Thud thud thud¡­ My HP plummeted past the 5 million mark in just the blink of an eye. I hurriedly shouted, "Sis, kiss me now!" Murong Mingyue giggled as she cast her Kiss of the Goddess of Life. A ray of green light surrounded me and triggered a never-before-seen and most exciting healing number¡ª +23,166,729! The instant my HP returned to full, I unleashed Burning Blade Slash that tore an entire swathe of griffin riders to shreds. On a related note, killing NPCs gave Nation War contribution points too. Woohoo! As if on cue, Gui Guzi¡¯s Thousand Ghosts Descent and Li Chengfeng¡¯s Crimson Firmament Slash appeared at the same time and cleared out another group of NPCs as well. As for Lian Xin and Beiming Xue, they boldly dove into a group of griffin riders and fired their AoE skills everywhere. Practically every attack they dished out dealt at least 5 million damage, so only a handful of griffin riders were able to endure more than one hit from them. In short, they were tearing the flying riders into pieces without any pressure whatsoever. It took less than ten minutes for us to slaughter the 20k griffin riders to the last. While this was going on, Burning City¡¯s royal knights, Tear Stain and the Korean players were clashing against the Dragonlight Cavalry. Although most of us top players weren¡¯t available to help them at the time, the Chinese army still held the advantage. While our frontliners were holding the line, our Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers were able to blast away at the enemy with near impunity. It didn¡¯t matter how many Korean players joined the battle. They were all going to die one way or another! The battle lasted two hours. We paid the price of several hundred thousand players, but we were able to repel Tear Stain¡¯s second counterattack. Not only that, the Nation War interface showed only 1.4 million or so Burning City players left on the map, meaning that we had killed over half of their numbers in just over three hours. It was the only move Tear Stain could¡¯ve made, however. If she had chosen to stay her hand, the walls of her main city would¡¯ve gone down already. ¡­¡­ Tear Stain was covered in blood from head to toe when she appeared on the edge of the wall once more. She stared at the sea of Chinese players on the ground, gripped her bloodstained blade tightly and shuddered like a leaf. "Uu¡­ Why did it turn out like this¡­" Beside her, a Throne of the Wild corps commander advised, "Guild leader, we can¡¯t last any longer than this. How about we ask Hero Alliance for help? Vienna¡¯s Sorrow still has 2 million elites at least, and¡­ all we need to do is to bow our heads to guarantee his cooperation. When he arrives, we¡¯ll catch the enemy in a pincer attack and¡­" However, Tear Stain shook her head before replying, "No, it¡¯s probably too late already. Lu Chen is number one player not just in China, but the entire world. There is no one who has greater rallying power at him. Just look. We¡¯ve been fighting for over three hours, and pockets of Chinese players are still streaming in from the Center. Their numbers have actually swelled to almost 7 million after the battle, but there are only so many of us. Even if our numbers were equal to theirs, their siege weapons still outnumber ours too. It¡¯s just too much. We can¡¯t even charge through their defense line and destroy those siege weapons. The end is nigh¡­" Tear Stain sniffed and actually broke into tears. "I have let down the Korean server and everyone¡¯s hopes and expectations. I¡¯ve always thought that I could hold the line just like Candlelight Shadow, that I was just as excellent as he was, but¡­ Candlelight Shadow at least died a worthy death on the battlefield, while I was hunted by Lu Chen all the way to my homeland¡­" She turned to look at her corps commander with blurry eyes. "I feel like I¡¯m the biggest failure in the world. I¡­" The corps commander trembled. "Guild leader, you can¡¯t¡­ you can¡¯t collapse here. If even you give up all hope, Burning City will truly be beyond salvation. There has to be another way¡­ there has to be¡­" Tear Stain looked at the sky but didn¡¯t believe that there was any hope left. ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, the executive-level players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls were resting beside the Chiyou Plume after taking out all the Korean players on the ground. Song of Cloud and Water was wiping the bloodstain on her blade when she said, "This is the most contribution points I have ever earned from a Nation War. Thank goodness I chose to join big brother Lu Chen¡¯s guild, or we would¡¯ve been guild-wiped by now¡­" I teased her, "Who was the one who begged me to join Soul Battle Robes again?" Song of Ice and Fire sighed. "Soul Battle Robes is not a bad guild, you know? We just lack a spiritual leader to rally behind. I don¡¯t count, and the big miss is too young to hold any real authority over these bastards. Perhaps we could¡¯ve grown to be your equal if Brother Seven was still around, but I doubt that even he¡¯s a match for you. You have already grown too powerful¡­" Chaos Moon chuckled. "That¡¯s normal. Even Shusheng thinks Lu Chen is scary¡­ Assuming that everyone restarts from zero, I doubt even Seven-Star Lamp would have a 20% chance of beating Lu Chen¡­ Assuming that he hasn¡¯t improved, his technique is just around my level¡­" Song of Ice and Fire grimaced. "We¡¯re all one big family now, so please don¡¯t dishonor our former guild leader. I might be tempted to fight you to the death otherwise¡­ God Bone certainly would¡¯ve hit you with his spear if he wasn¡¯t dead already¡­" Chaos Moon puffed up her wholesome chest and sneered, "Ceh! You think his short spear can satisfy me? I prefer Lu Chen¡¯s weapon, the Xuanyuan Sword, more¡­" I glanced at my sword for a second before looking up at her. "Mine is even shorter though?" "..." Chaos Moon wore a betrayed look on her face. The siege weapons continued to bombard the walls throughout our conversation. We weren¡¯t in any real hurry since we had the entire city surrounded, and Chinese players were still streaming in from all places. Right now, all we needed to do was to wait for Tear Stain to lose her patience and make a third counterattack, or wait for the walls to fall. One way or another, we would have a direct line into the main city afterward. ¡­¡­ I brought up the Nation War contribution ranking. It was drastically different from what it was before, especially because of the outstanding battle at Swallow Ear Canton. Lin Yixin, Flowing Cloud and some other players were way higher on the ranking as a result¡ª Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (China) Points: 12,528,800 Wind Fantasy (China) Points: 10,298,830 Lian Xing (China) Points: 9,876,650 Beiming Xue (China) Points: 8,977,180 Flowing Cloud (India) Points: 6,415,890 Legendary Brave (China) Points: 5,041,880 Tear Stain (Korea) Points: 4,992,770 Candlelight Shadow (China) Points: 4,614,950 From Water (China) Points: 4,519,890 Breeze and Rain (India) Points: 4,294,440 ¡­¡­ "Got damn, everyone¡¯s points are so high¡­" I was overjoyed. CH 1573 Thanks to the Xuanyuan Art, I now had a total of 12.5 million contribution points. There were still 20 hours left on the clock, so I might even be able to accumulate 15 million contribution points before everything was over. That would truly be unprecedented. Also, each kill gave a basic amount of 100 contribution points, which meant that I had killed a total of 120k players. Of course, the large majority of my kills were indirect kills. On top of the basic amount, the Heroic Bannermen I had killed also donated 10% of their total contribution points to me. In that sense, their kills were also my kills. The runner-up, Lin Yixin, was no less impressive. Not only did the Fruit Knife Goddess manage to survive the brutal battle of Swallow Ear Canton, she even defeated two super divine players in mortal combat. It also propelled her total contribution points past the 10 million mark. It was the best testament to Lin Yixin¡¯s strength. She might still not be the best player in the world, but she certainly was stronger than Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud. Lian Xin and Beiming Xue were the second and third players with the highest contribution points in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and they absolutely deserved it. The two divine beauties had killed so many enemies that even I didn¡¯t want to become their foe, ever. Li Chengfeng¡¯s endurance had led him to fifth place, and He Yi had also entered the Top 10. According to Gui Guzi himself, he was apparently sitting at 11th. Barring exceptional circumstances, he should be able to push Breeze and Rain out of the Top 10 very soon. ¡­¡­ Burning City tottered and shuddered as the White Marsh Catapults continued to bombard its walls. The fortifications proved to be extremely sturdy, however. A long time had passed, and it was still sitting at 55% durability. A weaker main city would¡¯ve crumbled a long time ago. Suddenly, the familiar sound of thundering hooves erupted from behind us. It was a level of noise that took at least 10,000 heavy cavalrymen to produce! We all spun around at the same time and saw a long line of cavalrymen galloping toward us. Their names were red, and they belonged to¡­ Nation Guardian, Cyan Earth City! "What the fuck?" Li Chengfeng clenched his fists tightly. "Wild King! Wild King is still alive? His main force seems perfectly untouched as well! Goddammit, how the hell did we miss the second strongest guild in Cyan Earth City?" Gui Guzi said with a frown, "Now that you mention it, Nation Guardian hadn¡¯t shown their faces in this Nation War until now. If I remember correctly, it was because God of War had ordered him to protect Cyan Earth City if the worst-case scenario happened!" He Yi said in puzzlement, "This makes no sense¡­ If what you say is true, then Breeze and Rain is a cautious man who has prepared for even the worst-case scenario. But instead of staying at Cyan Earth City, Nation Guardian has chosen to come to Burning City¡¯s rescue in full force instead. What is going on here? Since when was Cyan Earth City and Burning City so close to one another?" "I don¡¯t know¡­" I said while wetting my lips. "Perhaps there is some secret deal we¡¯re unaware of." Chaos Moon looked up suddenly and said, "I¡¯m not sure if I should say this¡­" "I¡¯ll punch you if you don¡¯t¡­" I raised my fist jokingly. Chaos Moon immediately grabbed my arm like a cat and swayed her butt left and right. "No, don¡¯t beat me. I¡¯ll confess everything¡­" "Shameless¡­" He Yi couldn¡¯t stop herself from rolling her eyes. A giggle later, Chaos Moon turned serious. "I just received the latest report from Intelligence Agency. As it turns out, Tear Stain and Wild King are acquainted with each other. They first came to know each other during the WEL, and apparently that was enough for Tear Stain to make a deal with him. If Wild King aids her in defending Burning City, then she will fly to India and have dinner with him. As for what they¡¯re going to do after, I¡¯m sure you already know¡­" I shuddered. "Ah, it¡¯s the infamous offline meeting¡­" Eyes bloodshot, Li Chengfeng clenched his fists and erupted, "Fuck!" Chaos Moon shot him a confused look. "Why are you acting so agitated? It¡¯s not like you¡¯re the one who¡¯s attending the offline meeting." I hurriedly silenced Chaos Moon with a glare. Li Chengfeng¡¯s late girlfriend had done the same thing in the past, and to this day he still wasn¡¯t able to free himself from his demons. That was why he was so agitated. ¡­¡­ Chiang! I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and pointed to the south. "Doesn¡¯t matter how many people Nation Guardian sent to attack us. All we need to do is to kill them all. Can their Divine Elephant Cavalry stop the Dragonlight Cavalry? No! Assume defensive fighting positions and wait for the enemy to reach us! Sister Song of Cloud and Water, I leave the offense to you and Soul Battle Robes. We must not allow Tear Stain to coordinate with Wild King and threaten our troops!" Song of Cloud and Water nodded affirmatively. Song of Ice and Fire raised his blade and chuckled. "You have nothing to worry about. Just focus on taking out Nation Guardian as soon as possible!" It wasn¡¯t long before the plains were filled with players. Nation Guardian didn¡¯t travel too quickly because they were waiting for their archers, tamers and other classes to catch up to them. It was a wise decision. Li Chengfeng stood next to me and planted the butt of his Cyan Peak Halberd on the bloodstained soil. He then joked smilingly, "Now that I think about it, it¡¯s the last day of the Nation War already, huh? I cannot believe I¡¯m still alive. It almost makes me wonder if something bad is about to happen¡­" I rolled my eyes. "Screw you. All units, get ready for battle!" Li Chengfeng continued, "This is such a reckless move from Wild King though. Did he even leave any troops behind to guard Cyan Earth City? No wonder the ancients claimed that lust is the downfall of many heroes¡­ Still, Tear Stain is cute and sexy, but did Wild King never wonder that the goods he lusts for may just be the result of plastic surgeries? Also, everyone knows that Tear Stain is in love with Candlelight Shadow. Isn¡¯t he afraid of offending the Martial God?" Gui Guzi snorted. "Wild King is a villain in Cyan Earth City. Why would someone like him be afraid of Candlelight Shadow? Plus, it¡¯s not like he¡¯s a Chinese. Candlelight Shadow is nothing to a Cyan Earth City player, you know. Lastly, the true Martial God of China is our Boss Broken Halberd, not Candlelight Shadow! Is Tear Stain Boss Broken Halberd¡¯s girlfriend? No? Then there is nothing for Wild King to be afraid of, is there?" Li Chengfeng looked at me. "Assuming that Nation Guardian is successful in defending Burning City, do you think Tear Stain will really have sex with Wild King?" I let out an involuntary laugh. "Chengfeng, we are all adults here, and we don¡¯t live in a fairy tale. If Burning City is safe, and Tear Stain¡¯s objective is fulfilled, she can just break the promise off, can¡¯t she? Plus, even if she does have sex with him, it is just a one-night stand. I don¡¯t know what type of woman Tear Stain is, but maybe she¡¯s the kind who doesn¡¯t care about these things. Also, you don¡¯t believe she¡¯s been saving herself for Candlelight Shadow all these years, do you? Men have needs, and so do women¡­" Chaos Moon interrupted, "The topic¡¯s getting a little too unhealthy, you shameless bastards¡­" Gui Guzi echoed in agreement, "Yeah, man. My face is boiling hot over here¡­" Chaos Moon immediately shot him down. "Silence, virgin!" In the sky, Beiming Xue said with red cheeks, "Seriously though, can we please not talk about sex or one-night stands right now? It¡¯s too¡­ too much. This isn¡¯t for Little Xin and me to hear!" Beside her, Lian Xin giggled wickedly. "I¡¯m perfectly fine with it though? Feel free to continue, big bro. We¡¯ll just pretend that we haven¡¯t heard anything. Also, I¡¯ve heard way crazier things when I was studying in the USA. This really is nothing compared to those stories¡­" Murong Mingyue suddenly teased her, "Speaking of which, did you date anyone when you were in the USA, Little Xin?" Lian Xin flushed red instantly. "N-no, I haven¡¯t! Don¡¯t slander me, Sister Mingyue¡­" Murong Mingyue giggled. "Why not though? Could it be that you are saving yourself for Lu Chen?" I looked up. "Get lost. Little Xin and I grew distant after she went to the USA, so why the heck would she save herself for me?" Lian Xin pouted. "What do you mean we grew distant!? I decided a long time ago that I would find someone like Falling Dust if I were to ever get a boyfriend!!" "Bro, I think she just confessed to you¡­" Li Chengfeng stared at me. I turned my face away and changed the topic. "Ah, Wild King¡¯s here. Go fuck him up!" Li Chengfeng: "..." ¡­¡­ "All units who think they can endure the enemy¡¯s assault, advance 20 meters to the front and reduce the pressure on our shield formation. All units, don¡¯t hold back and kill all 200k Divine Elephant Cavalrymen here. Let us destroy Wild King¡¯s dream with our own hands!" I unsheathed my sword and chuckled. "If nothing else, Candlelight Shadow will probably appreciate it!" Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Gui Guzi and everyone else advanced 20 meters to the front as I ordered and assumed a stance. Not a moment too soon, the Divine Elephant Cavalry reached us and began their assault. What the Divine Elephant Cavalry lacked in speed, they made up for with their massive strength and stamina. The trait also made them exceptionally suited for tackling defensive formations. This would be a good test for my players! No one bothered to snipe Wild King because¡ªto put it quite frankly¡ªhe was beneath our notice. The Dragonlight Cavalry could have their fun with him. I flew close to the ground as I unleashed Burning Blade Slash. Hundreds of Divine Elephant Cavalrymen staggered under the attack, and at least dozens were one-shot to critical hits or the Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s septuple damage effect. At the same time, I dropped a couple of Icy Cyclone Domains to suppress the enemy further. "Circle around him! Brothers to the right wing, circle around Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!" Wild King shouted. So what if they try to circle around me? I can just chase after them. Wild King¡¯s expression looked ugly, but there was nothing he could do about it. The battle was slanted in our favor practically since contact was made, and the man himself knew why that was the case. Not only did Ancient Sword have 5 divine players, the quantity and quality of our troops were greater than Nation Guardian¡¯s as well. This fight was hopeless for them from the start. Bang bang bang¡­ The Divine Elephant Cavalry slammed hard against the Dragonlight Cavalry and Zephyr Cavalry¡¯s shield formation only to be bounced off like a ball. Not a moment too soon, a barrage of God Devil Breaks, Skypiercers and other ranged skills made their life an absolute hell. Not even 30 minutes later, Nation Guardian was starting to look like they would wipe! On the wall, Tear Stain uttered furiously, "OMG, Nation Guardian is fucking trash¡­" Her corps commander asked in a dumbfounded voice, "What do we do, guild leader?" "We wait for an opportunity!" Tear Stain slammed her sword against the wall to vent her anger. ¡­¡­ Not long after, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls launched a counterattack with 200k or so cavalrymen of all kinds. I myself was leading a party of 8,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen and making a beeline for Wild King. It was time to cut off the snake¡¯s head, and the man was less than a hundred meters away from me! "Let¡¯s go! Kill Wild King!" Li Chengfeng declared with a loud laugh. "Are they running away already?" Gui Guzi asked doubtfully. "They are, but that direction¡­" I trailed off with a frown. ¡­¡­ Nighttime visited the plains once more as Wild King and about 100k Divine Elephant Cavalrymen or so escaped into the desert. It wasn¡¯t long before everyone felt that something was amiss. Li Chengfeng asked, "Why do I feel like they¡¯re luring us somewhere? We¡¯ve killed tens of thousands of their men, but instead of resisting they chose to run away like rats!" I opened the map screen and said, "There¡¯s a castle ahead of us¡­" "What castle?" "Sky Barren City. It¡¯s Throne of the Wild¡¯s Rank 10 territory¡­" Favorite CH 1574 "Sky Barren City¡­" Li Chengfeng curled his lips. "Never heard about it¡­" I stared at him. "The database is right there, dude!" Li Chengfeng did as I said and exclaimed in surprise, "Fuck! Tear Stain sure is one underhanded bitch!" "What¡¯s wrong?" He Yi asked. Li Chengfeng waved his hand and brought up Sky Barren City¡¯s data¡ª Sky Barren City (City Lord: Tear Stain) Gold Production: 312,000 per hour (+40%) Wood Production: 322,000 per hour (+27%) Stone Production: 287,000 per hour (+19%) Crystal Production: 110,000 per hour (+14%) Farmers: 103,200 Buildings: 32 Troops: 150,000 (40,000 Frost Archers, 40,000 Sacred Mages, 70,000 Sky Knights) Wall Durability: 3,500 (+70%) Teleportation Formations: 7 City Skills: Skill Proficiency, Iron Armor Art Lord: Viscount Autumn Maple ¡­¡­ "Fuck me!" I had to rub my eyes to confirm that I wasn¡¯t seeing things. "This Tear Stain is seriously crazy! She has 150k NPCs in a Rank 10 castle? Not even our Rank 11 Dark Moon City has more than 50k NPC troops. Is she plotting to defy the heavens or something??" Chaos Moon chuckled. "It¡¯s simple. The resources of nearly the entire Burning City were burned to satisfy the needs of Sky Barren City. As a result, it hit Rank 10 faster than even Beauty Lin¡¯s Silver Fir City, and it is also the third player territory to reach Rank 10. Literally every other player territory within Burning City is only Rank 7." He Yi asked, "What do we do now, Lu Chen? Do we attack Tear Stain¡¯s player territory, or do we withdraw and continue focusing on Burning City?" I thought for a moment before answering, "There are still 20 hours before the Nation War ends, so we have plenty of time. Soul Battle Robes is attacking Burning City, and Stranger of Three Lifetimes is coming over to reinforce us with her remaining 200k troops. So, no, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be turning back. Tear Stain wants us here anyway, so we may as well take it out and destroy her biggest and last trump card! We¡¯ll make it so that she doesn¡¯t even have the capital to fight the next Nation War!" Li Chengfeng chuckled. "So ruthless. It¡¯s because she¡¯s Candlelight Shadow¡¯s junior, isn¡¯t it?" I shrugged. "More like because I¡¯m not close to her, so why the hell not?" I then raised my sword and yelled, "Alright, we¡¯re advancing to Sky Barren City next, people! This is also a good opportunity to wipe out Nation Guardian¡¯s remnant troops! Chaos Moon, mobilize another 200k Ancient Sword players to join us, will you? I would like to occupy this territory in one go. Be careful though. A territory NPC can only move and attack within 1,000 yards of the territory[1], but that also means they¡¯ll be aggroed the moment we enter within 1,000 yards. 150k high-level human NPCs, man. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll get a good chunk of Nation War contribution points out of this!" In the sky, Beiming Xue shot me a sweet smile and said, "It¡¯s too bad territory troops can only operate around a territory. Otherwise, you would have simply needed to order the 1,000 Bone Dragons from Dark Moon City¡¯s Dragon¡¯s Lair to attack Sky Barren City, and it¡¯d be turned into rubble in half an hour at most!" I chuckled. "It¡¯s okay. Territory troops are meant for defense only, and the Bone Dragons are why the Northern Alliance never dared to attack our territory even once. Anyway, let¡¯s prepare for the attack. A territory¡¯s fortress isn¡¯t very tall, so we¡¯re just going to scale the walls normally. Watch out for the NPCs¡¯ attacks though. The Sky Knights are Rank 10 units and quite powerful!" "Mn! Should we bring some of the catapults over to help with the siege?" He Yi asked. I replied, "It¡¯s fine. They¡¯re needed at Burning City to maintain the pressure, and I¡¯m sure we can do this ourselves!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Our 200k cavalry troops were already next to Sky Barren City by the time we finished our conversation. We stopped about 1,000 yards away from the territory, while Wild King and his remaining 100k players rode through the gate unimpeded. After he rode up the walls, he unsheathed his blade and challenged me, "Come attack us if you dare, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! I¡¯ll be waiting for you right here!" I narrowed my eyes. There were a ton of arrow towers and even catapults in Sky Barren City. If I wasn¡¯t certain before, I now knew that this was definitely a trap Tear Stain had set up for us. I had no intentions of backing out, however. What kind of person would choose to return home empty-bellied when the host had invited them to a feast? So, I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and raised it high. "Probing attack! All units, enter within 500 yards of the city and form a shield formation! Holy Mages and Dragonlight Archers, prepare to attack any enemy that shows their faces! We¡¯re going to draw out the NPCs from the city and kill them all first!" Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust and more spurred their mounts into a gallop and advanced as one perfect line. The Dragonlight Archers were following right behind them, and even further back were tens of thousands of Holy Mages. Lian Xin and Beiming Xue were flying here and there in the sky as well. It was a show of force that was sure to put some invisible pressure on the enemy. ¡­¡­ On the walls, Wild King said with a cold expression, "I cannot command the Sky Knights of Sky Barren City, so tell Tear Stain to teleport over already. Otherwise, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will overcome this territory in an hour or so!" Beside him, a Throne of the Wild corps commander nodded in agreement. "Don¡¯t worry. The guild leader is coming right now!" The teleportation formation inside the city sparkled with magic before he even finished speaking. It was Tear Stain and a large group of Throne of the Wild players teleporting over from Burning City. Tear Stain flew up the walls, landed lithely on the rampart, and stared at Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ troops with anger in her eyes. "Hmph, the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild is acting like they¡¯re the king of the world. If not for the fact that they retained the strength to launch a counterattack when all the other top Chinese guilds such as Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Snowy Cathaya, Purple Lily and more were killed, I would say that it is undeserved!" Wild King smiled at Tear Stain with undisguised lust in his eyes. "Stop dilly-dallying and give the order already, Yoon Pae Meng. Tell your NPC troops to enter the battlefield, and I will mobilize my own troops to catch Ancient Sword in a pincer. I have three more intact armies stationed outside the plains, and each one numbers around 200k players or so. It will be enough to annihilate Ancient Sword¡¯s 300k men." However, Tear Stain raised an eyebrow and said, "Since when did you have the authority to order me around, Wild King? How I fight my battles is my business. Also, who was the one whose 2-million-strong army was crushed by Ancient Sword¡¯s exhausted players? Don¡¯t you have any shame at all?" Wild King looked surprised. "What, are you breaking your promise?" "Promise?" Tear Stain smirked. "The promise was for you to defeat Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and defend Burning City successfully. Have you accomplished either of these objectives yet? No? Then why should I fulfill my side of the promise?¡¯ Wild King¡¯s tone grew urgent. "You must be joking! I have lost 1 million troops right under Burning City! You will not act like their sacrifices are for nothing[2]!" Tear Stain looked discontented, but she decided that it would be unwise to tear into Wild King right now. Instead, she shot him a sweet smile and said, "Of course not. However, you will have to repel the enemy in front of us before we talk terms. There¡¯s no way I will fulfill the promise if I lose my territory and main city!" Wild King clenched his fists and declared spiritedly, "No problem! I¡¯ll do my best!" ¡­¡­ Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng and I were flying toward Sky Barren City when the former said with a laugh, "You are a devious woman, but no one can doubt your devotion toward your main city, Sister Yoon Pae Meng! Don¡¯t worry, you are Candlelight Shadow¡¯s junior sister, so we won¡¯t allow you to besmirch your reputation even if you try! We promise to destroy Burning City and flatten Sky Barren City no matter what! Wild King will not get his dirty hands on you!" I also laughed. "Yes, Yoon Pae Meng. The man you love is Candlelight Shadow, and Candlelight Shadow is our compatriot. We will ensure that your love is undamaged!" "Huh¡­" For a time Yoon Pae Meng simply stood there unblinkingly, unsure if she should be happy or angry at our taunts. Shoulders shivering and eyes swirling with complex emotions, she whispered, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls are Candlelight Shadow¡¯s enemies, but¡­ they can be cute when they want to, huh?" Wild King shot her a confused look. "What did you say, Pae Meng?" Yoon Pae Meng abruptly returned to earth and transformed into the queen of Burning City once more. She unsheathed her blade and cried imperiously, "I will dispatch 70k Sky Knights to attack the enemy in 3 minutes. While they are leading the attack, please hit the enemy from the flanks and surround them, friends from Nation Guardian! Also, please mobilize the troops on the plains now! We will encircle and crush Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls right here!" Wild King brandished his weapon and declared, "Anything you say!" ¡­¡­ Creak¡­ All four gates of Sky Barren City opened at nearly the same time as the Sky Knights rushed out into the open. The Sky Knights were cavalrymen that rode flying horses, and as their mounts might suggest they possessed the ability to fly. They could only fly for a short distance of a dozen or so meters, however. As the strongest troop type of the Human Castle, the unit naturally possessed an extraordinary amount of Attack and Defense. What was ridiculous was that Sky Barren City had 70k+ of them. To give an example, Lin Yixin¡¯s Silver Fir City only had 10k+ Sky Knights. To say that Tear Stain had way too much money for her own good would be an understatement! Throne of the Wild and Nation Guardian¡¯s players were following right behind the Sky Knights. Behind us, the Nation Guardian troops we had scattered in the previous battle reformed themselves to launch a second assault. A centipede dies, but never falls down. Assuming that their morale remained high, they could come after us again and again until we killed all of them. ¡­¡­ "Shields up! Hold!" Li Chengfeng shouted. I contacted Stranger of Three Lifetimes with a frown, "Momo, have you and your people passed through Soaring Flame Desert yet?" Stranger of Three Lifetimes replied, "Yeah. What¡¯s wrong?" "Give me your current coordinates!" "(128878, 90088)!" "Mn." I took a moment to confirm her coordinates on the map screen before saying, "Momo, travel full speed toward the north right now. In 10 minutes, you should encounter an army of Nation Guardian players. Kick their butts hard while we bash their faces in from the front!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes smiled. "Sure! I¡¯ve cobbled together an army of 240k players or so. We¡¯ll do our best to assist you!" "Thanks!" ¡­¡­ Battle cries filled the air, and Ancient Divine Skills poured across the frontline like crazy. Everyone was doing their best to stop the Sky Knights and the players attempting to attack us from all sides. Thankfully, the Dragonlight Cavalry and the Dragonlight Archers proved capable of holding back the dual army via sheer firepower. Also, I had ordered Warscar and Hickey to move to the back and engage the enemies attempting to hit our rear with their 100k+ players. There was a rumbling noise, and dark clouds suddenly covered the sky. Soon, a downpour splashed against our armor and turned the ground into a literal ocean of watery blood! Crack! After cutting down a Dragonlight Cavalryman, Tear Stain backed away just in time to dodge a number of arrows from Beiming Xue. She swiftly flew back to her castle and ordered without hesitation, "Loose!" Thud thud thud¡­ Shock Arrows struck impotently against Beiming Xue¡¯s aura of Unusual Physique, but it was wiser not to tempt fate. Beiming Xue flew away and returned to the main battlefield, shooting a Skypiercer to kill a group of Nation Guardian cavalrymen. ¡­¡­ I was tired. Everyone was tired. Even the players of Cyan Earth City[3] and Sky Barren City were tired. Even so, we gave it our all because we knew that the last man standing would become the final victor of this great Nation War! We would write the new chapter of Eternal Moon and jot our names down in it with our own hands! 1. T/N: unless they¡¯re gathering resources I guess? Man that was so long ago ? 2. T/N: says the guy who sacrificed 1 million players and potentially his city to get some pussy ? 3. T/N: no they¡¯re not. Nation Guardian has been sitting on their asses all day ? CH 1575 7:20 pm, 12 hours and 40 minutes until the end of the Nation War. Boom! After 7 hours of long battle, the northern gate of Sky Barren City finally crumbled to our assault. Li Chengfeng was the first player to rush into the city and take out a group of shielders with Dragonblade Revolution. Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Gui Guzi and more were following right behind him. After our dragon warrior sustained heavy damage flying in headfirst, Murong Mingyue cast Kiss of the Goddess of Life and healed him back to full. "Kill!" Ignoring the arrows peppering against my Scarlet Dragon Armor from nearly every direction, I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and cast Xuanyuan Art. There was no cause for concern since most of the archers were incapable of piercing my Defense, not to mention that my counterattack was absolutely torturous for the NPCs and the players of Sky Barren City. Not even the Sky Knights Tear Stain had deployed as her trump card could stop me from casting Xuanyuan Art every 6 minutes or so. In the end, all of her efforts turned out to be in vain. ¡­¡­ Pa! Tear Stain¡¯s HP bar showed 71% as she sat on a heavily damaged section of a wall. Her eyes were reddened, and she looked like she was a moment away from bursting into tears. "Is this the end? Was Nation Guardian and Sky Barren City still not enough to stop Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls? Just where did we go wrong in this war?" Li Chengfeng replied coolly while floating in the sky, "You went wrong from the moment you chose the wrong side. Lu Chen gave you Sunset City for free because of the love you shared with Candlelight Shadow, and yet you betrayed his trust by working together with the Northern Alliance and attacking the China server once more. So, we retaliated by invading Burning City. It is that simple!" Tear Stain gritted her teeth and abruptly rose into the air. Standing on equal footing as Li Chengfeng, she responded, "I¡¯ve never regretted joining the Northern Alliance, much less the decision I¡¯ve made back then. I know that Lu Chen was just using me to keep the Northern Alliance in check, and I definitely know that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls doesn¡¯t care for the wellbeing of Candlelight Shadow¡¯s friends. Save your lies for someone else! You¡¯re not going to gaslight me!" "It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t believe me. Doesn¡¯t change the fact that you¡¯re going to die here." Li Chengfeng launched his attack right after he finished his sentence. The Cyan Peak Halberd slithered toward Tear Stain like a living dragon and thrust 7 times in a row using Dragonbone Flurry! Tear Stain hastily assumed a Guard stance to reduce the incoming damage. After the skill had dispersed her Unusual Physique[1], Li Chengfeng immediately smashed the shaft of his halberd into the Korean girl¡¯s shoulder and pushed her toward the wall behind her! Bang! Bits of stone flew everywhere as Tear Stain crashed into the wall. However, she was able to slip away from Li Chengfeng¡¯s assault by descending toward the ground at high speed. After taking out two low-health Dragonlight Cavalrymen, she flew toward Burning City and left behind a final threat, "Just you wait, The Koreans will never surrender!" ¡­¡­ Standing inside the territory and staring at Tear Stain¡¯s departing figure, I said smilingly, "No problem. We¡¯ll just kill all of you." Chaos Moon trotted up to me and said, "Wow, you are not kind toward the fairer sex at all." "She¡¯s Candlelight Shadow¡¯s woman. Why the hell would I be kind toward her?[2]" I took a seat on a giant totem pole within the city and said, "Brother Xu Yang, go take out the NPC lord and abandon the city. Chaos Moon, give me the casualty report. Also, we¡¯re going to head back to Burning City right after we looted the battlefield. There isn¡¯t much time left on the clock now." Chaos Moon nodded and leaped onto the totem pole. Then, she put away the Dihai Shield and took a seat next to me. While pulling my legs onto her thighs and pounding it lightly like an obedient concubine, she reported smilingly, "We¡¯ve annihilated almost 200k Throne of the Wild players within the city, and 600k Nation Guardian players outside of it. However, it was not without its cost. Our numbers have dwindled to less than 300k players, and Blazing Hot Lipsonly have around a hundred thousand. Also, 6 million or so Chinese players are sieging Burning City, so we still have some time!" I smiled. "Huh. I thought it would be lower, to be honest. Everyone¡¯s a grizzled veteran these days¡­" Chaos Moon blinked. "Should I give the order to launch a strong assault against Burning City and occupy it as soon as possible?" However, I shook my head and said, "No. As you say, we still have some time, so let¡¯s take this slow and steady¡­" "But why?" He Yi asked while landing behind me. When she saw Chaos Moon giving my legs a light pounding, she chuckled. "What are you doing, Chaos Moon? Have you decided to become a masseur or something?" Chaos Moon immediately rose to her feet and declared, "No. It¡¯s just the responsibility and duty of all female corps commanders to serve our exalted vice leader, is all¡­" My mouth twitched. "You say that, but your tone sounds like I should be dragged to the execution ground¡­" He Yi chided, "Focus. Why did you suggest that we should take it slow, Lu Chen?" "It¡¯s simple¡­" I gritted my teeth and explained, "According to Intelligence Agency, the Northern Alliance still has quite a number of forces under their command despite their apparent defeat. For example, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow still commands 1 million Hero Alliance elites, and the Germans of Chariot City have barely made a move since the start of this Nation War. No one knows if they¡¯re planning to do nothing for the whole war, or if they¡¯re planning a last-minute assault or something. What we do know is that they currently have the highest number of online players in this war¡ª7 million to be exact." Lian Xin descended from the sky with widened eyes. "Oh? The German server has that many elites? Why didn¡¯t they make any move?" He Yi answered, "Maybe it¡¯s because they felt our fury and knew that there was no way they could win¡­ Maybe they think that the best play here is to protect Chariot City with everything they have." I nodded. "Yes. That is why we need to lure out Hero Alliance and Chariot City¡¯s forces if we are to accrue even more achievements in this war. Currently, the best way to do that is to conquer Burning City, the southern gate of the Northern Alliance. They¡ªor at least Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡ªknows full well that we¡¯ll have a direct path into their hinterland if Burning City was to be conquered." "In that case, why haven¡¯t they sent any reinforcements yet?" Beiming Xue asked. "They¡¯re waiting," I replied. "Waiting for what?" "Waiting for Burning City to deplete our forces. They¡¯ll only show up to reinforce Burning City during the last five hours because they believe that, even if we managed to defeat them all and conquer Burning City in the end, we still won''t have enough time to conquer their main cities. Long story short, it is the surest way to secure their main cities. It is also why Tear Stain is still hanging on until now. She knows that the strongest reinforcements will arrive in Burning City as long as she holds out until the final hours." Gui Guzi gripped his Ghostblade Halberd and grinned. "Looks like the war isn¡¯t purely a contest of strength after all. At the very least, Boss Broken Halberd is fighting a psychological war against the enemy." He Yi chuckled. "What can you do? Uncle Zhang Chun is gone, so Lu Chen is now the King of Hanzhong¡­" I nearly spat blood. "King of Hanzhong? Come on¡­" Li Chengfeng let out a polite cough before speaking, "Guild leaders, I just received news that, after conquering Elephant City, A Snowy Night Below 30 Degrees and her army of 10 million has proceeded to conquer the main cities of smaller countries such as Pakistan and more. They¡¯ve united almost the entire southern frontier in just 48 hours, and even the part of the outer lands where Lu Chen had stayed for a short time had fallen under their control as well. Just now, they have arrived at Final Duel Valley¡­" "Huh¡­" Very surprised by the news, He Yi looked at me for directions. "Do you think this is normal, Lu Chen?" I gripped my fists tightly. "It¡¯s perfectly normal for them to conquer cities and territories for their own gain, but the Russian server should know that Pakistan¡¯s Proud Dragon City, Greedy Wolf City and more are our allies. So why have they conquered those main cities? Are they trying to lay claim to all the lands to the south?" Li Chengfeng nodded in agreement. "It¡¯s not impossible. Our ally hides a lot of things up their sleeves." I said, "The Indian server has already lost one of their two main cities. If I had to guess, Frostsword City is planning to conquer Cyan Earth City next. If they succeed, Frostsword City will be able to pose a direct threat to our main cities and turn all future wars into north versus south wars! No, no, this isn¡¯t good. This isn¡¯t good at all¡­" Gui Guzi looked confused, but he asked honestly, "What do we do then?" "After the battlefield is looted, we¡¯re attacking Cyan Earth City and claiming it for ourselves! Then, we¡¯ll stay there and see if Frostsword City will attack. If they dare, then we¡¯ll fight them to the bitter end!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ It didn¡¯t take long for the looting to finish. After the regent was killed, the entire Sky Barren City lost its luster and crumbled into ruins almost instantly. Without pause, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Blazing Hot Lips 300k-strong army marched south and headed straight toward Cyan Earth City. Had Nation Guardian not disregarded his order and come to Tear Stain¡¯s aid, I doubted that either we or the Russians would¡¯ve been able to take Cyan Earth City in a short time. However, Wild King had been taken out by Li Chengfeng, and only ten or twenty percent of Nation Guardian¡¯s troops had been able to make it back to their main city. They were now only as strong as a toothless tiger. As a bonus, we even did Candlelight Shadow a favor and prevented his beautiful junior sister from attending an offline meeting with Wild King! It took us 30 minutes to pass through Soaring Flame Desert. Soon, the magnificent city that was Cyan Earth City appeared before us. In the past, just the sight of the city would¡¯ve struck fear into our hearts. Now though, the Nation War interface showed that there were only 500k Indian players or so across the entire domain, not to mention that the large majority of them were non-combatants. It was about as strong as an empty city. When I flew over the limestone path leading up to the main city and saw the sparse amount of defenders on the walls, I knew that the main city was going to fall to our legion of champions! Chiang! I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and cried, "Strong assault! Take down that gate!" Gui Guzi, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, Heaven¡¯s Rain and several thousand Dragonlight Cavalrymen rushed forward to bring down the gate. Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and the Dragonlight Archers lay down suppressive fire on the walls and prevented the defenders from doing practically anything at all. Lian Xin¡¯s Attack especially nearly one-shot every player who dared to stand in her path. We hadn¡¯t even made it inside the city yet, but the death and despair permeating the walls felt almost tangible. ¡­¡­ "Careful. Cyan Earth City still has around 3 million NPC troops!" He Yi warned. I nodded. "Yeah. Brother Xu Yang, please lead the direct charge. Flyers, follow me to fly into the royal palace and kill the regent directly. We¡¯re going to choose the Conquer option this time!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ 57 minutes later. Crack! After the head of Stuttgart VII rolled across the steps of the royal chamber, I grabbed the royal scepter he dropped, and stepped on top of his throne. The system immediately offered me three options¡ªoccupy, abandon or conquer! 1. T/N: this probably suggests that the skill has a damage limit E/N: Like 20 chapters ago something similar happened to Beiming Xue or Lian Xin, but it was an even more off-hand mention ? 2. T/N: basically confirming that LCF was trying to gaslight TS kappa ? CH 1576 I selected the Conquer option without hesitation. We absolutely lacked the strength to defend this city, so this was the only option that made sense! A few seconds later, a system announcement resounded in the air¡ª Ding! System Announcement: Player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) killed the Cyan Earth City regent Stuttgart VII and chose the Conquer option after obtaining the royal scepter. If no other force claims the royal scepter before the end of the Nation War, Cyan Earth City will become the vassal state of Sky City. For 90 days, Cyan Earth City¡¯s players will not be able to attack any city of the China server. Moreover, 40% of Cyan Earth City¡¯s daily gold income will be given to the China server! ¡­¡­ "Woohoo! As expected, Conquer is the royal road!" Li Chengfeng laughed. I gave Xu Yang the royal scepter and said, "Alright, the NPCs of this city are yours to command now, brother. I will also be leaving behind a couple thousand troops just in case. In the meantime, the rest of us will return to Burning City!" Xu Yang nodded with a chuckle. "Sure! Hehe, I love missions like this!" I smiled. "Me too, man¡­" However, our elated feelings were short-lived. Behind me, Chaos Moon said suddenly, "We have an emergency, Lu Chen! Frostsword City¡¯s 5 million troops are just 5 minutes away from Cyan Earth City! Their intentions are unclear!" "What the fuck?" I felt like someone had taken a hammer to my heart. Frostsword City had appeared even faster than I had anticipated. What are they plotting? I immediately left the royal palace with Li Chengfeng, He Yi, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and more Ancient Sword experts. By the time we exited the gate, the plains were already full of Russian players. Several million White Horse players from Frostsword City were spread out in battle formations, and their guild leader, A Snowy Night Below 30 Degrees, was watching us from a distance. "I don¡¯t think they¡¯ve come here to congratulate us¡­" Li Chengfeng grimaced. I nodded in agreement before saying quietly, "Tell everyone to prepare for combat. If necessary, we¡¯ll defend Cyan Earth City to the death!" He Yi abruptly unsheathed the Suppressing Fire Sword. An entire swathe of Dragonlight Cavalrymen unsheathed their weapons as well. Although our numbers were far inferior to the enemy¡¯s, our morale was as high as it could be. Moreover, we were now in control of the city¡¯s millions of NPC troops. Assuming we fought well, we might even be able to defeat them in battle. If nothing else, we had enough strength to keep Snowy Night from choosing to attack us immediately. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng pressed a hand on my shoulder and gave me a push. "What are you waiting for? Go negotiate with them already¡­" "Fuck you!" That was what I said, but I rose into the air and stopped about 10 meters away from Snowy Night. Even as I sheathed my sword as a show of friendship, I could see that a lot of White Horse archers were a hair trigger from firing their arrows at me, and their cavalrymen were ready to Charge at a moment¡¯s notice. Tsk tsk, they definitely weren¡¯t here to congratulate us! "What is this?" I shot Snowy Night a smile and started casually. "The Russian server and the China server have been allies for several games straight, haven¡¯t we? So what is this? It almost looks like you¡¯re planning to stab us in the back. You are a veteran yourself, Snowy Night. Surely you understand the situation better than the younger players of your server?" Snowy Night smiled politely. "Of course I do. You are our friend, and the China server is our ally. That is why we¡¯ve crossed half the continent and taken out all the obstacles along the way just to meet up with you. You understand our goodwill, don¡¯t you?" I pointed at her players. "I will, if you explain why your players are drawing their weapons at me." "Please don¡¯t misunderstand, they¡¯re not targeting you!" Snowy Night looked at the main city behind me and said, "It¡¯s because we have a score to settle with Cyan Earth City, and our enemy is right in front of us. With that said, can you please move aside so we may¡­ finish things?" "Move aside?" I chuckled. "I¡¯m afraid that you¡¯re already too late. Cyan Earth City is now our vassal state, the NPCs are under our command, and about a million brothers and sisters are guarding the city behind me. Go home, Snowy Night. You get Elephant City, and we get Cyan Earth City. It¡¯s a fair trade, isn¡¯t it?" It was at this moment a Russian axe wielder behind Snowy Night stepped forward with an arrogant smirk on his face. "What if we decide not to give you face, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand? What if we insist on killing our way into Cyan Earth City and taking it for ourselves? What can you possibly do against us?!" I abruptly unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and pointed my blade straight at him. "Do it then. Step over me and my people¡¯s corpses and get the Cyan Earth City you so desire. Of course, whether you have the ability to do so is an entirely different story. Cyan Earth City, Elephant City, Hero City, Burning City. We are the ones who took out all of their main forces. We don¡¯t blame you for taking Elephant City, but you dare to set your sights on Cyan Earth City as well? Are you so foolish that you don¡¯t understand the consequences of insatiable greed?!" He raised his axe at me. "Oh? Is that a declaration of war I hear?" I gritted my teeth and raised my arm. A blood-red chain locked around the man¡¯s neck at the same time I gathered the power of Universe Break with my bare fist. I then punched the man right in the chest! Bang! 1,712,671! My punch sent the man stumbling a few steps to the back. His eyes widened in shock as he stared at me. I then planted my sword on the ground and declared loudly, "The China server has never been afraid of anyone. We have always thought of Frostsword City and Iron Horse City as our allies, and we¡¯d like to think that you consider us allies too! Therefore, we request that you give us the respect we deserve! If you do not, then we will meet you in battle! We have already defeated Cyan Earth City, Burning City and Hot Sand City. We will flatten Frostsword City and Iron Horse City as well if you want it so badly!" Snowy Night hurriedly raised her hand and put a smile on her face. "Calm down, Lu Chen. That isn¡¯t what my subordinate meant. Anyway, it¡¯d be thoughtless of us to push further since you¡¯ve put your foot down, so we shall stop here¡­ By the way, we may choose to invade Purple Grape City later. You wouldn¡¯t stop us from doing that, would you?" I nodded. "I promise I won¡¯t interfere if you choose to invade Purple Grape City. Now, please withdraw your troops, Snowy Night!" "Good¡­" The woman finally raised her arm and declared, "Withdraw! We are attacking the three cantons at Barren Frost Plains next!" ¡­¡­ After the Russian players had withdrawn completely, I finally allowed myself a sigh of relief. Behind me, Li Chengfeng commented with a chuckle, "I thought Lu Chen was going to showcase his amazing diplomacy skills to convince our ¡®ally¡¯ to turn away, but in the end he still resorted to the Xuanyuan Sword¡­" He Yi chuckled as well. "It¡¯s great to have a silver tongue. It¡¯s even better to have a sharp sword in hand when you work your silver tongue!" I turned around and said, "Now that that¡¯s done, it¡¯s time to head back to Burning City as planned!" However, Li Chengfeng said with a frown, "Lu Chen, we¡¯ve been online for 27 hours straight. There are a lot of people who didn¡¯t even get the chance to pee, and we¡¯re still 11 hours away from the end of the Nation War. Why don¡¯t we take a 6-hour break?" I clenched my fists. "It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to give everyone a well-deserved break. I¡¯m just worried that something might happen during these 6 hours, not to mention that Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and his men are still around. Who knows when they¡¯ll make a move?" He Yi suggested, "How about this: Xu Yang and Du Thirteen will remain online to keep an eye on things. If something happens, they¡¯ll immediately contact all offline players to return online. You need a break yourself, Lu Chen. You will lag if you stay online for too long. It¡¯ll be bad if you encounter Vienna¡¯s Sorrow during this time and get one-shot by him as a result, won''t it?" "Alright¡­" I acquiesced with a smile and said, "We¡¯ll log out after we return to Burning City!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ By the time our army of 200k players had returned to Burning City, the White Marsh Catapults had already finished their bombardment. Now, small groups of players were scaling the walls and skirmishing against the enemy. Tear Stain was nowhere to be seen as well. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, she had logged out of the game to take care of "business¡±. Let¡¯s just say sometimes, a man could stay online for longer than a woman due to the physiological differences between our bodies. Our players set up their tents and logged out of the game one after another. Blazing Hot Lips had done the same thing. We agreed to rest for 5 hours and return to the game 6 hours before the end of the Nation War for one final battle! The moment I logged out of the game and removed my helmet, I immediately made a beeline for the toilet. I was this close to wetting the bed. ¡­¡­ After I took a bath and wrapped a bath towel around my body, I took a moment to stare at my own reflection in the mirror. As water dripped down my hair, I suddenly felt like my face looked much older than before, and the energy in my eyes was fading little by little. Then, a terrible pain suddenly erupted from my neck! "Ah¡­" A gasp escaped my lips as I clutched the affected area. The veins on my neck bulged like they might burst, and before I knew it, my entire body was wracked with terrible pain. I was forced to lean against the basin for support, and it wasn¡¯t until a long time later that my strength returned to me. When I opened my hand, I saw a tinge of black blood at the center of my palm. It felt like a lightning bolt had struck me. So the inevitable is finally happening¡­? I grabbed a tissue and wiped the blood on my neck as best I could. Thankfully, there was less blackish purple blood than I initially feared, so maybe the situation wasn¡¯t as bad as I thought it was. Still, there was no mistaking the bulging veins around the area. As I looked at my own reflection once more, deep sorrow began to well inside my eyes. I punched the basin hard before leaving the bathroom. ¡­¡­ After I put on my clothes, I took out a scarf from my luggage and wrapped it around my neck so that the girls wouldn¡¯t notice any changes. At the same time, I sent Lin Yujia a message: "Yujia, has my blood sample reached Nanjing yet?" Lin Yujia replied quickly, "Mn. They are in the middle of analyzing the virus¡¯s[1] structure right now. Lu Chen, are you sure you want to continue keeping this a secret from Eve and Sister Mingyue? This is not fair to them." "It¡¯s fine. Please contact me as soon as you can. My condition is not very stable right now. Tell them to come up with a suppressant as quickly as they can, or I¡¯m afraid I may not last the month." "Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ I left the room after I tidied my clothes and wiped away the bloodstain on my palm. Dinner was already served at the dining table. He Yi looked up from her work and shot me a smile, "You must be tired. Have your fill and catch some sleep as quickly as you can, okay?" "Yeah¡­" While I was taking a seat, Xinran suddenly caressed my face and stared at me with her beautiful pupils. "Big brother? Are you okay? You look a little¡­" "What¡¯s wrong? Of course I¡¯m okay." I removed her hand gently. "I¡¯ve been fighting for a long time. Of course I would look a bit haggard. Anyway, you should wash your hands and get ready to eat dinner¡­" "Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ After I finished dinner¡ªwell, more like supper¡ªwith the girls, I went to bed and fell asleep in no time. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to sleep for long before my phone woke me up. It was Gui Guzi who called me. "Has Chariot City and Hero City marched their forces to Burning City, Little Gui?" I asked. Gui Guzi exclaimed in shock, "How did you know? Can you predict the future, boss Broken Halberd[2]?!!" 1. T/N: for the first time, the author typed the word virus in Chinese correctly. I¡¯m not even joking ? 2. T/N: Gui has memory issues I see ? CH 1577 "What¡¯s the exact situation?" I asked. Gui Guzi said, "Chariot City is dispatching almost everyone to reinforce Burning City, while Hero Alliance is dispatching only 50% of their forces. The other 50% was left behind to guard Hero City, Seven Star City and Titan City. They are expected to arrive at Burning City in 50 minutes. On our side, we are in the final stages of conquering Burning City. Almost all of the NPCs are dead, and Tear Stain has less than 5,000 useful subordinates. We can conquer the city at any moment!" I broke into a smile. "Good. Don¡¯t conquer the city yet though. Wait until I come online first!" "Okay!" I got out of bed and woke up He Yi, Murong Mingyue and the rest of the girls. Then, we gathered at the living room to eat a quick breakfast. "Hmm?" It was at this moment the room on the left opened to reveal a pyjamaed Lin Yixin. She was rubbing her eyes lazily and asking, "What¡¯s with the noise? Did something happen?" I stared at her. "Please don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve been sleeping all this time, Yiyi[1]¡­" "Yeah? I just woke up¡­" "You¡¯ve been asleep for 13 hour straight¡­ Come over and have some breakfast. Since you¡¯re awake, you may as well help us wrap up the final hours of the Nation War!" "Mkay¡­" ¡­¡­ Half an hour later, we all returned to our rooms and logged into the game. I was sure that our odds of winning were much better with the return of the Fruit Knife Goddess. Swhoosh! Light shone against my eyelids as I appeared in the game. I slowly opened my eyelids, climbed out of the tent and discovered that I was surrounded by Chinese players. Burning City was completely surrounded and stripped of its outer walls. Inside the city, Gui Guzi was attacking the enemy with a group of Dragonlight Archers. I also saw Tear Stain floating helplessly above the battlefield. "You¡¯re online, Lu Chen!" greeted Li Chengfeng while walking up to me. I nodded at him while messaging Lin Yixin to fly over straight away. After that, I summoned all the executive-level players in the guild and ordered, "Chaos Moon, You and Yun, Brother Xu Yang[2], take Soul Battle Robes, Blazing Hot Lips, Bloody Mercenaries and the secondary forces of the main guild with you to stall Hero Alliance and Chariot City¡¯s forces. I¡¯m aware that there are 7 million of them, and that their troops will probably be more elite than ours. However, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem for you to stall them for a couple of hours. Chengfeng, Little Gui, Eve, Beiming and Lian Xin, stand by for further orders. I will need all of you to pull off the big heist later¡­" "Sounds interesting. What is this heist about?" He Yi asked with widened eyes. I rubbed my hand against my sword hilt before replying, "When Chariot City and Hero City¡¯s main force arrive, I will fly to Hero City, Titan City and Seven Star City and set up the teleportation formations. I will teleport in 10,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen, Dragonlight Archers, Holy Mages and priests each to every city so that we may commit regicide. Our goal is to conquer all three USA main cities and shatter the soul of the Northern Alliance in one fell swoop!" Li Chengfeng shuddered visibly as he digested my audacious plan. A long time later, he finally said, "Your appetite is bottomless, brother. Three main cities in one go? Are you sure we can do this?" I nodded. "Yes. It will succeed because the enemy will never see it coming!" Gui Guzi gripped his halberd excitedly. "I support your strategy all the way, Boss Broken Halberd!! I¡¯ve been wanting to get one over the American server since forever, and everyone will be happy if we succeed in taking out their three main cities!" Li Chengfeng frowned. "The NPCs of the three main cities aren¡¯t small fries. They may even be guarded by Karinshan-level bosses. It won¡¯t be easy to snipe their regents." "That is why I need y¡¯all divine players to pull your weight¡­" I grinned. "I¡¯ve already contacted Yiyi. She¡¯ll help us achieve our goal!" Li Chengfeng smiled. "Good. Our chances of success will be much better with her around!" ¡­¡­ A while later, a beautiful woman with the Wind Severing Sword in her hand and the Immortal Blade behind her back descended from the sky. She greeted us, "I¡¯ve come to help! By the way, is there anyone who would like to borrow the Immortal Blade? I already have the Wind Severing Sword, so¡­" Li Chengfeng raised an eyebrow. "I would gladly borrow the Immortal Blade from you¡ªif you think that I¡¯m worthy of it, of course!" Lin Yixin smirked. "You? You aren¡¯t quite up to snuff, but¡­ yeah, you¡¯re at least a better choice than Gui Guzi or Xu Yang. Okay, you can have it for now¡­" She then tossed the Immortal Blade into the air. Pa! After Li Chengfeng caught the blade and equipped it, he grinned widely. "Wow, my Attack is much higher than before! As expected of one of the Twelve Divine Armaments! I¡¯m sure Warsky would be glad to hear that I¡¯m the temporary wielder of his weapon¡­ Say, are you going to return the Immortal Blade to Warsky after the Nation War, Beauty Lin?" Lin Yixin hesitated for a couple of seconds before smiling. "I think that the Twelve Divine Armaments are above worldly concepts like that, don¡¯t you agree? Plus, Lu Chen has already gifted my Scepter of Divine Flame to Lian Xin, and I can¡¯t possibly ask her to return it to me, can I?" Lian Xin realized the implication behind Lin Yixin¡¯s words and widened her eyes. "Sister Lin Yixin, are you¡­ do you really mean it?" Lin Yixin nodded. "Of course! It¡¯s yours now. Just remember to treat me to a Hai Di Lao hotpot later¡­" I immediately interrupted, "Ooh, sounds great. Remember to bring me along when you go¡­" Lin Yixin shot me a glance. "You¡¯re footing the bill then!" "Sure! It¡¯s not like I can¡¯t afford it!" "..." Beside us, Chaos Moon raised her Dihai Blade tentatively to catch our attention. "So¡­ Chariot City¡¯s men are about to arrive, so I¡¯m going. See you all later?" "Yeah. Be careful!" ¡­¡­ The sky was filled with dust and soot. After wiping away the grayish stain on her face and blinking her gorgeous eyes, He Yi asked, "Should we split the teams now?" I smiled. "Mn. The first wave is the most important because the attackers must both snipe the regent and destroy all of the teleportation formations inside the city. This way, when the reinforcements traveling to Burning City teleport back to their main city to defend it, they¡¯ll find that they have to make the journey to another main city on foot. Well, some of them anyway. Not everyone carries an infinite amount of return scrolls in their bag after all; bagspace being precious and all that." Li Chengfeng asked, "I¡¯ll go on the first wave then. Which city are we attacking first?" "Seven Star City!" I pointed to the northwest before continuing, "Seven Star City is a fairly secluded city, and ideally we want to draw all of the enemy¡¯s main force over and keep them there. Chengfeng, Eve, Little Gui, Beiming, the four of you will be on the first wave. Will that be okay with you all?" They all shook their heads and replied, "No problem!" I nodded and continued, "The second wave will be Titan City, and Yiyi, Lian Xin and Stranger of Three Lifetimes will be tackling them." The three girls also nodded in unison. "Okay!" Finally, I said, "Hero City is the American server¡¯s greatest main city. Naturally, it has the highest number of defenders as well. I, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Diamond Dust, sis and Moonlight Stone will be tackling it!" "Okay!" Murong Mingyue giggled. "Be sure to keep us safe, okay?" "Of course. Go get your parties ready now and teleport to Dark Moon City. One more thing. Don¡¯t kill the regent of Burning City just yet. For our plans to succeed, I need you to hold on for 3 hours before conquering Burning City!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ As my players teleported back to Dark Moon City one after another, I flew into the clouds to conceal my presence before flying toward my first target, Seven Star City. As with all the previous teleportations, I needed to be there in person in order for the teleportation to work! The wind whipped against my metal armor as I traveled at high speed. It should take me 25 minutes at most to reach it. Some time later, the clouds parted to reveal a magnificent city with strong walls, numerous arrow towers, and fortresses that surrounded the main city and gave it the shape of a seven-pointed star from above. Perhaps this was how its name came to be. I activated Dark Pupils and saw plenty of NPC generals standing in front of the imperial palace. I would have to defend against the NPCs¡¯ attack first before I could activate the teleportation formation! Swhoosh! I descended at high speed. The NPC archers spotted me as soon as my altitude crossed 1,000 yards and leveled their bows at me. "Enemy attack! Shoot him down!" I activated Battle Astral Wind to block the powerful shots. As I landed on the ground, a nearby group of Seven Star City players raised their weapons and charged at me. "Dammit! Vienna was right! Someone did show up to surprise-attack our city!" I smirked. So what if he guessed correctly? The whole gist of the plan is to kill their regents right underneath their noses! I took out the Teleportation Divine Crystal and activated it immediately. As a blue portal took form behind me, I shouted in the guild channel, "You can come over now, Chengfeng! Quickly!" Li Chengfeng emerged from the blue teleportation formation and fired Reverse Scale Slash at a group of enemies. He was immediately followed by He Yi, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue and the Dragonlight Cavalry. I yelled again, "Alright, I leave it to you all to carry out the rest! Eve, take out the teleportation formations first!" He Yi nodded. "Be careful!" ¡­¡­ Once more, I jetted into the sky and flew straight for Titan City. I said in the guild channel, "I will be arriving at Titan City in 15 minutes. The existing teleportation formation will cancel when I set up a new teleportation formation, so make sure that you¡¯ve teleported all your men to Seven Star City before that time! Otherwise, you may not be able to withstand Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s counterattack!" He Yi responded, "Got it¡­" Fifteen minutes later, Titan City appeared from the horizon. Again, the numerous defenders standing on the walls proved that Vienna¡¯s Sorrow was prepared against a surprise attack, but he couldn¡¯t have known that my strategy was to teleport troops right in front of the royal palace. No one could¡¯ve predicted that I would come by an item as OP as the Teleportation Divine Crystal! Swhoosh! I burst out of the clouds and one-shot the group of archers standing in front of the royal palace. Then, I canceled the teleportation formation at Seven Star City and built a new one at Titan City¡ª Beep! System Notice: Coordinates duplication is successful. The teleportation formation at Sky City Domain (*****, ******) is now linked to the teleportation formation at Titan City Domain (79767, 120993)! ¡­¡­ "Come out, Beauty Lin¡­" I said smilingly in my mind. As expected, a beautiful figure flew out of the portal and patted me once on the shoulder. She was of course Lin Yixin. Raising the Wind Severing Sword, she hit a group of NPCs and players with Thundercloud Storm. Not a moment too soon, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Lian Xin rushed out with a group of Dragonlight Cavalrymen, Dragonlight Archers and Holy Mages behind them. In high spirits, Stranger of Three Lifetimes shouted out an order, "Enter the palace and kill the regent now!" 1. T/N: ??? she was up for 24 hours. 13 hours is amazing considering that some people crash for another 24 after cramming for exams ? 2. T/N: jesus let my man sleep already ? CH 1578 Swhoosh! The galloping Dragonlight Cavalrymen came to a sudden stop. It was because a brilliant sword ray had cut through their bodies and stunned them in place. A bunch of damage numbers instantly rose to the air¡ª 3,102,882! 2,987,261! 2,488,727! ¡­¡­ I was stunned. I had no idea when she had come there, but a perfectly healthy Tear Stain was floating in the sky. She was the one who had struck nearly 200 Dragonlight Cavalrymen with her Yemaek Slash and one-shot dozens due to the splash effect and critical damage! She wasn¡¯t the only nasty surprise either. Floating above her head was none other than the champion of the USA server, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow himself! "Shit!" I uttered through gritted teeth. "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and Tear Stain have arrived sooner than expected. In that case¡­ Yiyi, Momo, Little Xin, we¡¯re going to end them all right here! I¡¯ll go first and create an opening for you all!" A near manic smile spread across Vienna¡¯s Sorrow face as he said, "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you are one of the most vicious men I¡¯ve ever met. It takes a kind of ruthlessness to even dream of devouring three of our main cities in one go, much less execute it in reality. We are no AI that you can exploit and play around as you please though. Not a single one of you will be leaving this place alive!" Chiang! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow slowly unsheathed a longblade behind his back, but it wasn¡¯t the black Middle Divine Armament blade he was using before. This one was coated with air magic and possessed enough power to rival the Immortal Blade. It was the Wind Severing Blade of the Twelve Divine Armaments, and it was a mysterious weapon whose stats had been well concealed to this day. In fact, our knowledge of the Wind Severing Blade was almost zero! "Party me¡­" I whispered to Lin Yixin as she added me to her party. It was no longer possible for us to snipe the regent of Hero City¡ªnot until we had ended Hero Alliance in front of the royal palace of Titan City at least! After I was done buffing myself, I shot Tear Stain a glance and whispered again, "I¡¯m going to attack Tear Stain first. Have the Dragonlight Cavalry use Trapping Net on Vienna the second he tries to descend from the sky. Momo, get ready to freeze the enemy with Ice Blast. Little Xin, limit Vienna¡¯s movement with Origin Force Field!" All the girls nodded at once. After I was done giving instructions, I abruptly vanished from my original spot and charged straight toward Tear Stain. While unleashing Burning Blade Slash at her, I shouted angrily, "You will abandon your own main city to intercept us, Tear Stain!?" Tear Stain declared decisively, "I cannot allow you to destroy the Northern Alliance!" Sparks erupted as our blades clashed against each other. While Tear Stain was casting her Void Barrier, I turned the Xuanyuan Sword and cast Xuanyuan Art. Not only did Tear Stain and Vienna¡¯s Sorrow lose 70% of their HP, the Hero Alliance players who had just emerged from the teleportation formations of Titan City were affected as well. Absolute Zero! After firing her freezing skill at me, Tear Stain moved to a different angle before following up with an Ice Blade Slash. She wasn¡¯t going to show me any quarter at all! I relaxed my body and allowed myself to fall from the sky. At the same time, I cried in the party channel, "Little Xin!" Bang! An Origin Force Field appeared in midair and caught Tear Stain completely off-guard. She slammed face-first into the invisible barrier and lost almost 100k HP. Wounded but undeterred, she descended to a lower altitude and zigzagged toward me with great determination. Behind her, a great number of Hero Alliance players were rushing toward me as well. Now that they knew that my Teleportation Divine Crystal was the reason for their misery, they were gunning for me with everything they had. Only by knocking me out of this Nation War could they keep their main city[1]. ¡­¡­ Murderous intent brimming inside my heart, I said quietly in the party channel, "Don¡¯t attack yet, Yiyi. Wait until I¡¯ve drawn her over!" Lin Yixin immediately backed away and tackled a different enemy first. A quintuple slash struck my back and deleted over 5 million HP in one go. I spun around and responded with a slash, but Tear Stain leaped over it and brought her sword down using Barrier Break viciously. You would think that I had murdered her loved one or something! That wasn¡¯t all. A deadly wind blade was sweeping toward me as well! A glance immediately told me that the flank attack came from Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. The Wind Severing Blade was wreathed in Blazing Wind, and his SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Smile of the God of War Ares, was turned on. The Berserk Triple Slash was so swift that I probably couldn¡¯t have parried it even if Tear Stain wasn¡¯t coming at me from the front! "Watch out!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes hastily cried out a warning and cast Ice Blast at the duo. Unfortunately, she wasn¡¯t able to freeze either one of them. Their resistances were simply too high! I activated Profound Armor and turned around to face Vienna¡¯s Sorrow. Then, I raised the Dihai Shield to block his triple slash! Bang bang bang¡­ My body rocked back and forth as Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s skill shredded my HP. Not only were all three hits critical, the Wind Severing Blade¡¯s Blazing Wind effect made his attack mostly Defense-piercing. As a result, I took a massive amount of damage even after my Defense was tripled[2]¡ª 5,098,730! 5,428,892! 5,827,728! ¡­¡­ The attack left me with just a sliver of HP left. Right after that, Tear Stain attacked me with an Ice Flame Slash! There was no time to lose. I planted one foot on Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s Wind Severing Blade and pushed myself to the ground. While I was falling, I struck the ground with my left palm and "bounced" away from the point of impact. As a result, Ice Flame Slash missed me by a hair¡¯s breadth and caused a huge pit to appear on the ground. It wasn¡¯t over yet though. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow immediately raised his weapon, let out a battle cry and activated his weapon¡¯s skill¡ªWinds of Desperation! It was a super AoE skill not different to Lin Yixin¡¯s Thundercloud Storm. It enveloped nearly every Chinese player on the battlefield and dealt massive damage. I had just cast Tenacity of the Dead and Dragon Bloodboil when Winds of Desperation struck me and deleted over 4.9 million HP. If even I took this much damage, then the others could only do worse. The 2,000 Dragonlight Archers behind me had been instantly one-shot. The Dragonlight Cavalry lost about a thousand players as well. The casualties were horrible! "Now!" I charged through the blazing wind and pressed a hand against Tear Stain¡¯s stomach. Divine energy took the form of red chains and wrapped itself around her delicate neck. As fire burned beneath our feet, Tear Stain stared wide-eyed at me and uttered, "You¡¯re ruthless, Lu Chen!" Instead of replying, I slammed into her using Mad God Lunge! Bang! Tear Stain stumbled backward a dozen or so meters and lost a chunk of HP. Since she was stunned, she couldn¡¯t even activate an invincibility skill to save herself! In the sky, Lin Yixin activated Gan Jiang and Mo Ye and dropped an Ice Flame Slash right on top of Tear Stain¡¯s head. She wasn¡¯t dead yet, so I rushed forward and dealt the last hit! 418,727! As Tear Stain slowly dropped to her knees due to the blade wound across her shoulders, she looked at me and uttered word by word, "I won¡¯t forget this. I will never forget this!" Just like that, she lost 10 levels and triggered a system announcement¡ª Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) killed the Heroic Bannerman "Tear Stain" (Korea) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 597,161 points! ¡­¡­ Tear Stain¡¯s equipment erupted from her body, but I kicked them toward a group of Dragonlight Cavalrymen before they could scatter. My players immediately picked them up and equipped them. "Now, we take down Vienna¡¯s Sorrow!" I glanced at the palace entrance and ordered, "Momo, take a party with you and lure out the regent! We¡¯ll kill him at the entrance!" "Got it!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow wisely backed away several hundred meters after his failure to kill me. He commanded a group of Hero Alliance players to attack our square formation, but unfortunately for him my teleportation point was set right in front of the palace. He could only watch as Stranger of Three Lifetimes rushed into the royal palace with a group of Dragonlight Cavalrymen. "Charge! Punch through their defense with everything you''ve got! We must protect Titan City no matter what!" Vienna¡¯s eyes were bloodshot with fury. He shook his weapon as he roared, "Hero Alliance will never accept this humiliation! I, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow, will never accept Hero City, Titan City and Seven Star City becoming China¡¯s vassal states! If we fail to defend our main cities today, then I and the entire Hero Alliance swear to delete our accounts as punishment for our failures! We are the protectors of our country, and we. Must. Not. Fail!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow declaration motivated all of his players to charge like crazy. I shot Lin Yixin a smile and said, "Yiyi, combo with me three minutes later. Let¡¯s kill Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s heart once and for all!" Lin Yixin nodded smilingly. "Got it!" ¡­¡­ A while later, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and her players emerged from the palace entrance once more. Following behind them was none other than the regent of Titan City. He was an axe-wielding Quasi Divine Rank boss, but he shouldn¡¯t be too difficult to kill. "Dragonlight Archers, stun him!" Stranger of Three Lifetimes commanded. Over 30% of our Dragonlight Archers were Level 255, so their stun rate was exceptionally high. The king was stunned again and again even as his HP plummeted like crazy. Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s raged. "You motherfuckers! Stop it!" ¡­¡­ "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow has finally lost his cool¡­" I said with a tremor in my voice. "Now, Yiyi!" Vienna¡¯s Sorrow made his move before I could, however. Roaring, he one-shot an entire group of Dragonlight Cavalrymen with Ultimate Strength Break¡ªhe could do it because he had increased his Strength by 70% using Iron Arm Reinforcement¡ªand tore a Level 255 main guild magic knight to shreds with Beast Howl Slash! "Kill!" I dashed forward and executed Burning Blade Slash + Xuanyuan Art combo. Lin Yixin also cast her Thundercloud Storm! Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s HP instantly saw the bottom after the series of attacks. But to our surprise, instead of securing his life with an invincibility skill, he abruptly pounced toward Stranger of Three Lifetimes while shouting, "Dammit! Stop killing our regent!" The female mage Blinked to the side, but Vienna¡¯s Sorrow caught up to her with a Charge and pierced her Magic Shield with another Ultimate Strength Break! 1,075,240! Not even a mage of Stranger of Three Lifetimes¡¯ caliber could withstand Ultimate Strength Break that had been enhanced by Iron Arm Reinforcement. As she groaned and dropped to her knees, she barely got enough time to write in the party channel, "OMG! GTG¡­" The system announced the death of yet another CGL Hall of Famer! I rushed forward and sent Vienna¡¯s Sorrow sprawling across a flight of stairs with a kick. I then planted a foot on his chest and growled, "You have lost, Vienna. Surrender!" Vienna wasn¡¯t looking at me, however. He stared at the regent still fighting for his life and uttered with bloodshot eyes, "I¡¯ve failed my country!" There was nothing else to say. I activated Heavenly River Transformation and cast Xuanyuan Slash! The Xuanyuan Sword flashed once, and a head flew into the air! Ding! System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" (China) killed the Heroic Bannerman "Vienna¡¯s Sorrow" (USA) and obtained 10% of their contribution points, 421,827 points! ¡­¡­ I ascended to the sky and spoke to Lian Xin and Lin Yixin on the ground, "I¡¯m going to Hero City now. Clean up the rest!" "Yeah!" Both girls nodded in unison. ¡­¡­ Twenty minutes later, I arrived at Hero City! A teleportation formation manifested, and a great amount of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players flooded into the city. As if on cue, the system announced the fall of Seven Star City. Then, He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and the rest of the players who had been attacking Seven Star City quickly came through the teleportation formation and aided us in our efforts to conquer Hero City! ¡­¡­ 17 minutes later, the Xuanyuan Sword triggered its septuple damage effect, and the head of Hero City¡¯s regent rolled across the stairs. I gripped the royal scepter tightly in my hand. Slowly, I raised my bloodstained arm and shouted at the ceiling, "Can you see this, Zhang Chun, Tang Feng? Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have fulfilled their mission!" He Yi, Li Chengfeng and everyone else smiled at the same time. Everyone looked tired, but the 72-hour long Nation War was finally over. Buzz! Suddenly, a whiteness overcame my mind and dropped me to my knees. I looked at my arm and was stunned to see it slowly dissolving into data. "Argh¡­" A wave of terrible pain bowed my head against my will. "What¡¯s wrong?!" He Yi exclaimed in shock. "What¡¯s¡­ wrong¡­" Li Chengfeng rushed forward and tried to support me, but my arm had already vanished into thin air. His eyes reddened as he muttered, "You¡¯re in the game, but your avatar is disappearing even though you¡¯re not in a tent or an inn. What is¡­ what is going on, Lu Chen?" ¡­¡­ I looked at him, then at He Yi. The urge to cry suddenly assaulted my senses, and I said, "I¡¯m sorry. I can¡¯t walk with you all until the end after all¡­" My vision darkened, and I lost all consciousness. 1. T/N: Okay, this confirms that Lu Chen¡¯s Resurrection Art was probably banned in a Nation War because it was BS. WOULD BE NICE IF YOU MENTIONED IT SOONER THOUGH AUTHOR E/N: It¡¯s been disabled in like all Nation Wars after the first, and many events, maps, raids etc though ? 2. E/N: You mean that skill that literally says armor penetration doesn¡¯t work on its triple Defense? :) ? CH 1579 A flock of white birds was soaring in the sky when I found myself standing on top of a tuft of grass. I looked around in confusion. Where am I? There was a perfectly paved limestone path leading behind the horizon, where a floating city basked in silver radiance was situated. On both sides of the path were floating rocks, atop which various girls were dancing. They were carrying herb baskets on their backs and holding wildflowers in their hands. I stepped onto the paved path and slowly walked toward the city. Some time later, a group of cavalrymen galloped past me and dismounted from their horses before dropping to one knee along the path. Their royal insignia gleamed intimidatingly under the sunlight. For some reason, they were acting extremely respectful toward me. I continued forward in a daze. This time, countless Corpse Eaters, Liches, Hunters and more undead appeared on both sides on the path. Unlike the cavalrymen from before, they chose to fully prostrate themselves in front of me. It was like they were revering a king. ¡­¡­ Finally, I arrived at the end of the path where a royal banner flapped in the air. A beautiful woman carrying a sword at her hips was waiting for me there. She was none other than the master of Sky City, Karinshan. She smiled at me and said, "We are all proud of you¡­ Now, please swear your loyalty once more to Sky Empire[1], my dearest warrior¡­" I slowly dropped to one knee with the Xuanyuan Sword planted on the grass in front of me. As I looked at my sword, droplets of blood began dripping down on its edge. The droplets soon became a puddle that soaked my legs. I raised my hands to my face, just to see them completely drenched in blood. Suddenly, the sky itself turned as red as blood. Karinshan and Sky City around me vanished, as if it had never been. ¡­¡­ "Ah!!" I abruptly jolted awake and opened my eyes. The very first thing I saw was He Yi¡¯s beautiful face, but her eyes looked swollen, and her face looked haggard with pain and sorrow. My heart ached at the mere sight of it. It looked like she had been crying for a very long time. "Is that you, Eve?" I whispered. He Yi¡¯s pupils abruptly focused on me. Then, she burst into tears again when she realized I had woken up. While nodding repeatedly, she said, "It¡¯s me, it¡¯s me! You¡¯ve finally awakened, Lu Chen. Uncle Du, Professor Liu, he¡¯s woken up! Come quickly!" Very soon, two people wearing white chemical protective clothing walked into the room. I recognized one of them. He was none other than Du Thirteen¡¯s dad and the person-in-charge of a certain gene research organization in Nanjing. "Do you recognize me, Lu Chen?" "Of course. Long time no see, Uncle Du¡­" "Heh. Keep quiet for the moment, will you? Someone, please come and inspect his heartbeat, temperature and other vitals¡­" I looked around the room while waiting for the doctors to perform their duties. He Yi was the only person in the room. Li Chengfeng, Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue and more were all missing. "How long have I been asleep, Eve?" I asked. Hot tears slid down He Yi¡¯s cheeks as she gripped my icy hands. "It¡¯s been four days, Lu Chen¡­ Thank goodness you woke up in the end. The doctors said that there was a chance you may never awaken¡­" I nodded and glanced at the professionals beside me. "Uncle Du, please explain my exact situation to me. I want to know everything. I have a right to know my own condition, and I know I¡¯m going to die very soon. There is literally no worse news you can tell me about my condition, so please don¡¯t hide anything from me!" Uncle Du frowned and took a moment to choose his words. "A year ago, Lin Yixin¡¯s blood was able to inhibit the growth of the virus inside your body. However, we knew that it wasn¡¯t a permanent solution because it was only a matter of time before the virus would become resistant to it. Viruses constantly mutate, and if even a single of millions of mutations happens to become immune, it will quickly outlive the rest of the mutations and become the dominant strain. We had expected this process to take at least 5 years, and to have that timeframe to research a better solution. However, a mutation immune to the blood serums seems to have appeared in your body in just a year!" I sucked in a deep breath and felt an indescribable weakness inhibiting my body. "Do you have a solution yet?" "Not yet¡­" Uncle Du grimaced visibly. "The virus¡¯s composition is far, far beyond the reach of our technology right now. We haven¡¯t even been able to fully analyze it. However, the CEO of Eternal Moon China branch, Xu Ning, came over this morning and delivered the data we¡¯ve gathered from your blood sample to major countries such as the USA, Japan, Canada and more. We promise to do our best to research a new cure¡­" "Help me up, Eve¡­" I said while struggling to sit up. He Yi asked while assisting me, "What are you planning? You need to rest some more¡­" I smiled. "This is no flu or fever. Rest won¡¯t be doing me any good[2]." I then looked at Du Thirteen¡¯s dad again and asked, "Is it truly impossible to analyze the virus fully with our current technology, Uncle Du? Is it completely hopeless?" "Well, no, not exactly. Given infinite amount of time, we could just keep experimenting with different aminoacids until we managed to find one that could suppress or even eliminate the virus outright. However, my rough estimate is that we would need hundreds of thousands of simulations if we were lucky, and hundreds of millions if we weren¡¯t. And that¡¯s just to create one portion of viable medicine. Moreover, we lack a suitable test subject that could help us test our samples and narrow the experiments down to certain patterns. It would speed up our research drastically." "What do you mean by test subject?" "It means someone who can bear your virus and grow immune to it." I fell silent. I wouldn¡¯t wish this fate for anyone. I fell silent for a moment before asking another question, "How much time do I have left, Uncle Du?" "A month¡­" he said with a pained look on his face, "perhaps less¡­" It felt like knives were shredding my heart into pieces. I didn¡¯t think I would have so little time left. ¡­¡­ "Eve¡­" I looked at He Yi. She also looked at me with her round, reddened eyes and asked, "What¡¯s wrong?" "I want to go home¡­" I nearly burst into tears when I said this. He Yi turned her face away for a moment to wipe her tears. Then, she looked back with a smile and said, "No problem. We¡¯ll go home¡­" Uncle Du stayed silent for a moment before saying, "Please give me a blood sample each day. I need first-hand data to be able to react to any changes that may befall you¡­ Also, you need to be very careful from now on, Lu Chen. Your body will continuously weaken every day, and your senses may be largely affected or weakened as well. Someone must be around to take care of you at all times." I nodded. "Got it¡­" I slowly made my way off the bed and allowed He Yi to put my clothes on for me. My footsteps were still stable, but I felt much more weakened compared to how I used to be. I lacked the strength to even form a fist. He Yi put my arm around her neck and supported me as we walked out of the room together. When we reached the hall of the research building, I saw Xinran, Beiming Xue, Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi and many, many more familiar faces. Almost everyone was present. ¡­¡­ "Big bro¡­" Xinran and Beiming Xue shot up to their feet immediately. I shot them a smile and gave them a hug before saying, "I¡¯m fine now. Let¡¯s return to Suzhou, shall we?" Lin Yixin walked up to me with reddened eyes. "Are you really okay?" He Yi said, "Yiyi, don¡¯t ask. Let¡¯s just¡­ return to Suzhou, okay?" "Mn." I gave my scarf a tug to make sure that it was covering the shade of purple on my neck. It was like a curse that might activate and kill me at any moment. Looking at the brothers, sisters and girlfriends all around me, I didn¡¯t think I would have any regrets when I finally passed away. ¡­¡­ We got on a bus to fetch us all back to Suzhou. At a corner seat, I pulled my sleeve up and took a look at my arm. My veins had turned purple, and looked like they might burst open at any moment. It was the exact same as when I had developed livor mortis. This was what worried me the most. An oppressive silence dominated the entire bus. Xinran was the only one who didn¡¯t care about the awkward atmosphere. She gave my arm a tug and asked me with red eyes, "Big brother, why¡­ why is everyone crying?" I caressed her cheek while replying with a smile, "It¡¯s because I was sick. But now that I was discharged from the hospital, everyone is crying from happiness that I¡¯m fine¡­" Beside me, Du Thirteen abruptly pressed his forehead against the seat back and cried out loud. ¡­¡­ I let out a cough and patted Du Thirteen on the shoulder. "Come now, you have an image to maintain. Also, I¡¯ve come to terms with this a long time go. Some things in life are inevitable, and all we can do is to make the best of it." Du Thirteen looked away while retorting, "The fuck are you talking about? Only idiots would cry over something like this!" I chuckled. "That¡¯s right. There¡¯s nothing to cry about. In fact, why don¡¯t we talk about something happier?" "Like what?" Du Thirteen asked. I thought for a moment before answering, "For starters, what happened to the Nation War? I was asleep for 4 days, so I had no idea how it ended. How many cities did we conquer in the end?" "I don¡¯t know¡­" Chaos Moon muttered. I glared at her and said, "How can you not know these things?! Give me a status report, now!" Despite her bloodshot eyes, Chaos Moon started, "We were able to conquer Cyan Earth City, Seven Star City, Titan City and Burning City, and abandon Swallow Ear Canton in the end. The enemy managed to retake Hero City from us at the last moment[3], but the Northern Alliance is no more regardless. Also, after losing Titan City and Seven Star City to us, Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and the entire Hero Alliance guild deleted their accounts in three days. That¡¯s over 200,000 players in total¡­" I couldn¡¯t help but exclaim in surprise, "Holy shit. If nothing else, Vienna has proven himself to be a true man until the end. It takes some real balls to do such a thing¡­ Oh right, what were the rewards of the Nation War, and was I the MVP still?" This time, it was Li Chengfeng who answered my question. "Yes, you were. The Axe of Pangu should be in your bag." "The Axe of Pangu, huh¡­" I grinned. "Sounds like one of the Twelve Divine Armaments. It was all worth it then¡­" He Yi looked at me with pursed lips. "Are you logging back into the game after we get back home?" I nodded. "Yeah. I will not allow Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to be dragged down because of me. Even when I¡¯m gone, you must all keep your promise and spread the sound of our hooves across the entire continent. You will tell everyone about the oath we had sworn back then!" Gui Guzi clenched his fists tightly. "Don¡¯t worry, Boss Broken Halberd!" "Oh right¡­" Li Chengfeng started. "The registration for the second season of the WEL is right around the corner. Are you going to keep the same party? Hehe." Li Chengfeng forced a smile when he said this. He truly was a wise person. Time waited for no one, so why would you want to wallow in misery when you could be enjoying life instead? I nodded. "Sure. it¡¯ll be the Frost Cloud classic¡ªme, Eve, Beiming, Little Xin and sis." Lin Yixin asked, "What is your plan for the Axe of Pangu, Lu Chen?" "High Fighting Spirits can have it!" I said without hesitation. He looked surprised. "You don¡¯t think it¡¯s a waste on me?" "If you think it is, then grind hard and ascend to become a god, fool!" "Mn!" 1. T/N: there has been moments where Sky City is referred to as Sky Empire instead. I normally just changed them to Sky City, but this part feels almost symbolic and, I¡¯ve heard that the first game, Eternal Moon, is actually an alternate universe, so this dream may not just be a dream¡­ ? 2. T/N: while I would say that rest is ALWAYS good, his case is so unique¡ªand by that I mean completely fictional¡ªthat it could be true ? 3. T/N: Seriously? It¡¯s probably because all the main players logged out of the game after Lu Chen collapsed ? CH 1580 Back at the villa, Suzhou. I logged into the game after everything was settled. Swhoosh! There was a flash, and I found myself standing in front of the royal palace of Titan City. A lot of American players were staring at me like they had seen a ghost. Heck, I was just as shocked as they were. Now that I thought about it, I had "logged out" of the game inside the royal palace, hadn¡¯t I? I quickly brought up the territory interface and teleported back to Dark Moon City. After I reappeared in front of the territory hall, I sent High Fighting Spirits a message: "Fighting Spirits, come to the territory hall as soon as you can!" "Okay!" Half a minute later, High Fighting Spirits appeared riding a strange beast I had never seen before. I asked him curiously, "That¡¯s a cool ride you have there. What¡¯s its name?" High Fighting Spirits replied with an honest smile on his face, "Its name is Ghost Beast, a Middle Divine Rank mount. It¡¯s my reward for placing 27th in the Nation War. It¡¯s not bad, but of course it¡¯s nowhere as powerful as the Ancient Divine Dragon¡­" I nodded and took out a dignified-looking battle axe from my bag. It was of course the Axe of Pangu. After I passed the weapon to High Fighting Spirits, I said, "You, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and Chaos Moon will be forming a team for the upcoming WEL competition, right? With Gui Guzi¡¯s Ghostblade Halberd and your Axe of Pangu¡ªLi Chengfeng and Chaos Moon¡¯s weapons are pretty good as well¡ªI expect your team to make it to the top three of the WEL!" High Fighting Spirits gripped the weapon tightly and nodded. "Got it. Er, I¡¯m not good at polite speech, nor am I good at thanking people. All I can say is, thank you for everything you¡¯ve done for me, brother!" I laughed. "You¡¯re welcome. It¡¯s all for Ancient Sword¡¯s honor!" "Yeah!" "Now get out there and ascend as soon as possible!" "Okay~" ¡­¡­ After that, I sat down on the steps in front of the territory hall and checked out the divine player list. It was only then I realized that Gui Guzi, He Yi, Chaos Moon, Purple Marquis, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and more had ascended to become gods. As it turned out, the large majority of the players who ranked high in the Nation War were rewarded with an ascension. This was good though. I could only imagine how epic the next WEL competition would be. Next, I checked out my own stat screen and noted that I was Level 275. I was literally at the level cap, and I wouldn¡¯t be able to level further unless I discovered the path to a new realm. I highly doubted that I could accomplish that within my remaining time though. I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and gave it a swing! Whoosh! Three flaming auras swept across the area in front of me, but something didn¡¯t feel right about my movement¡­ "No. Something¡¯s wrong. Something¡¯s definitely wrong here!" I executed yet another attack, but the sensation remained the same. It was something I hadn¡¯t felt for a long, long time! I immediately brought up the friend list and selected Lin Yixin. "Yiyi, come to the entrance of Dark Moon City¡¯s territory hall right now. I need your help with something!" "Okay!" Very soon, Lin Yixin flew over from the teleportation formation and landed lightly in front of me. "What¡¯s wrong, Little Cheat? It¡¯s rare for you to seek me out first." I smiled at her and said, "It¡¯s been a long time since we fought, Yiyi. Wanna go for a spar?" Lin Yixin pouted. "Eh, I don¡¯t want to bully a patient¡­" "Who are you calling a patient? Take me out before you boast, girl!" "Fine¡­" A blood-red banner dropped between us as Lin Yixin sent me a spar challenge. After I accepted the challenge, she said¡ª "Here I come!" Lin Yixin giggled like a bell while dashing toward me like a lightning bolt. She swung the Wind Severing Sword at my waist to probe for weaknesses. It was very simple to deal with a move like this. All I needed to do was to zigzag in a different direction, speed up and counterattack at the same time! However, the Wind Severing Sword struck my Scarlet Dragon Armor right as I was about to make a move! 976,765! "Ugh¡­" I quickly switched plans and dished out a basic attack instead. A basic attack was the fastest attack a player could execute because it required no channeling or charging. Lin Yixin shouldn¡¯t be able to dodge this. However, she easily side-stepped out of the way of my attack once more. She was way faster than me now! "It¡¯s all wrong¡­" I murmured blankly as I lowered the Xuanyuan Sword. By now, Lin Yixin noticed that something was wrong with me as well. She canceled the sparring match and asked me, "What happened, Little Cheat? Why¡­ why can¡¯t you dodge a simple attack? And why¡­ was I able to dodge your attack so easily?" I planted the Xuanyuan Sword on the ground and stared at my palm for a moment. Then, I looked up and muttered, "My brain lag has returned. I¡¯m delayed for at least two seconds. I¡­" "How can this be?" Her eyes widened in disbelief. I gritted my teeth as I sat down in front of the territory hall once more. "It¡¯s probably the virus. How ironic. It was the reason I was able to return and even surpass my peak, but now¡­ Well, it doesn¡¯t matter anymore. I wasn¡¯t planning to participate in this year¡¯s WEL anyway¡­" "Mn." Lin Yixin sat down beside me and shot me a quiet smile. "If you don¡¯t participate in the WEL, then I won¡¯t either. This competition is utterly meaningless without you. Who else could even fight me for the MVP spot?¡± I burst into laughter. "Now now, the other players aren¡¯t that bad. Flowing Cloud, Red Maple and Tear Stain are all powerful opponents, and if Vienna¡¯s Sorrow hadn¡¯t deleted his account, he would almost certainly pose the greatest threat in this competition¡­" "Say what you want, but I know I can beat them all." Lin Yixin blinked once before adding, "Just like how I know this competition is yours to take if only you choose to compete in it¡­" I shrugged. "If I could function like normal? Sure. With 2 to 3 seconds of delay in my actions? I probably can¡¯t even beat Chaos Moon right now. Nah, it looks like I¡¯ll be spending my days guarding Dark Moon City like a retired security guard¡­" "So, what are you going to do now?" she asked. I thought for a moment before answering, "Nothing. I¡¯m level-capped anyway. I might as well log out and spend some time with you and Xinran¡­" "Mn." ¡­¡­ During the afternoon, Xu Ning visited me with an entourage of people. He Yi and Lin Yixin were busy pouring tea for Xu Ning while Xinran and I sat together on the sofa. Xu Ning waved them down with a smile on his face. "Thank you, but I¡¯ll be taking my leave soon. I just came here to say a few things." I asked, "What is it, Uncle Ning?" Xu Ning turned serious, "There are two things I¡¯d like to talk to you about. First, a research institute at California has analyzed your virus and come to the conclusion that it¡¯s not impossible to research a cure in a month¡¯s time. However, they need data from a test subject who can bear your virus. This is the single greatest obstacle to finding a cure right now, and they¡¯re doing everything they can to find one." "Thank you. What about the second matter?" I asked. He smiled. "The second matter is much simpler. The second WEL is about to begin, and a mobilization meeting will be held at Beijing as part of the pre-match promotion. A lot of famous players from all over the world have been invited to attend it as well. If you are okay with it, we would like you to show up for the mobilization meeting as well. Four days ago, you, the champion of the first WEL, wowed the entire world with your achievements. Today, you are the hero of countless men and women. That is why we would like you to attend the meeting. Just treat it as a contribution to Eternal Moon or something. You do hold 25% of its shares, you know¡­" I nodded. "But of course. When will we be departing?" "The day after tomorrow in the afternoon." "Okay!" ¡­¡­ After I saw Xu Ning off, I sent most of the girls back into the game, and Xinran to the bathroom to take a bath. Lin Yixin was the only one with me on the balcony. Sitting on top of my thighs and leaning against my chest like a cat, Lin Yixin said smilingly, "If what Uncle Ning said is true, it looks like your chances of recovery are pretty high, Little Cheat. Cooperate with the treatment with a cheerful and relaxed disposition, understand?" I nodded. "But of course. I am planning to grow old with you and Sister He Yi, you know? Also, they say that scoundrels live for a thousand years, and if that¡¯s true, a scoundrel as big as me should live for 10,000 years at least!" Lin Yixin burst into a giggle. "I give you an inch, and you take a mile? Absolutely shameless!!" I replied while hugging her shoulders, "I¡¯m just speaking the truth¡­" "Little Cheat¡­" "Hmm?" "I want to sleep with you tonight¡­" "Absolutely not!" I rejected her without hesitation. "The virus in my body has become active once more. My bodily fluids probably resemble a pot of soup right now. If you became infected because I had sex with you¡­" "You¡¯re rejecting me again!" She stared at me with a hurt, puppy look on her face. "Not even your puppy dog eyes will work on me this time!" I said before stealing a kiss from her. Lin Yixin made a cute whiny sound before wrapping her arms around me. She then kissed me full on the lips and slowly teased me with her tongue. The way her long eyelashes fell over as she closed her eyes was absolutely beautiful. A while later, she abruptly stopped and looked at me murderously. "Why aren¡¯t you stretching out your tongue?" Me: "..." "You are courting death, boy!" "No, I¡ª" Before I could defend myself, Lin Yixin suddenly bit me on the shoulder hard enough to draw blood. I let out a yelp of pain and squirmed beneath her body, but I didn¡¯t have it in me to hurt her, nor was I strong enough to push her away from me right now. Combined with the fact that her exquisite body was pressed up against my torso, all I could say that the experience was quite the mix of pain and pleasure. A few seconds later, Lin Yixin finally let go and raised her head. Beneath the moonlight, her silent eyes and blood-stained lips gave the appearance of an absolutely stunning vampirette. Then, she licked the blood on her lips and visibly swallowed. "Yiyi, no!" I cried even though it was already too late. "You can¡¯t drink my blood!!" She had the audacity to smirk at me and say, "It tastes pretty good though¡­" I panicked. "Have you gone mad?!" "I¡¯ll be fine. You¡¯re not the only scoundrel that should be haunting this plane for a thousand years¡­ Also, what is death anyway?" I stared into her eyes and realized that it was a serious question. I answered quietly, "Death¡­ is to leave this world or to suddenly vanish without warning. Death¡­ is to never be again¡­" For a long time, Lin Yixin simply stared at me as if she was lost in thought. Then, her eyes suddenly turned misty, and a pained sob escaped her lips. "But death will not stop me from missing you, Little Cheat. What will I do if I miss you, but you are no longer here?" ¡­¡­ I recalled something I heard from a long time ago: Who will look for me like mad if I disappear one day? Who will cry like a fool in their seat? Who will look at their friend list and wait for me to come online? Who will hold my photo and engrave my image into their memory again and again? And who will wake up at midnight and weep at the thought of me? CH 1581 It was midnight when I awoke from my dreams. Moonlight spilled through the windows like water. The pillow cloth was wet with tears. I slowly sat up and curled up into a ball, shivering. It wasn¡¯t because of the fear toward unknown death, but because I still had so, so many things to do in life. I wanted to stay by Lin Yixin and He Yi¡¯s side for many, many years to come. I wanted to accompany Xinran and Beiming Xue on their life¡¯s journey. But now, the final full stop was about to be penned in my life¡¯s diary. How could I possibly accept this outcome without a struggle? I buried the terrible guilt and regret deep within my heart. I don¡¯t deserve it¡­ ¡­¡­ I picked up my phone and called Du Thirteen. A few beeps later, he accepted the call and asked, "This is quite the late call, Lu Chen. Do you need anything?" "Do you want to hang out tomorrow, Thirteen? Let¡¯s meet up tomorrow at 9 am at the New Island Cafe on the opposite side of the gaming base. There are a couple of things I will need your help with." Du Thirteen agreed. "Sure. 9 am, right? See you then!" "Yeah¡­" I put my phone away and lay down. Then, I fell asleep once more. The next morning, I went downstairs after bidding He Yi and Lin Yixin goodbye. I felt a bit stronger today, so I thought I would be able to drive without issues. Also, if I had weakened to the point where I couldn¡¯t even pull the handbrake, then I wouldn¡¯t be able to make the trip to my car in the first place[1]. It wasn¡¯t long before my X12 arrived on the road on the opposite side of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ gaming base. New Island Cafe was located on the second floor. Du Thirteen was already there when I reached the table. He also brought Gui Guzi with him. They were as close as brothers, so I probably should¡¯ve seen this coming[2]. ¡­¡­ "Have you eaten breakfast yet, Boss Broken Halberd?" Gui Guzi asked. "No. Let¡¯s order something, shall we? Nothing too sweet though¡­" "Yeah!" It wasn¡¯t long before our meals were served. We sat around the round table, ate our food and chatted idly about everything¡ª Gui Guzi asked, "Are you feeling better today, Boss Broken Halberd?" "Mn." I nodded. "I¡¯ve regained much of my strength. I drove myself over, didn¡¯t I? Oh right, the second season of the WEL is about to begin. What are your team¡¯s plans for the competition, Little Gui?" Gui Guzi declared confidently, "It¡¯s simple! We steamroll everyone with our Divine Armaments! I have the Ghostblade Halberd, Fighting Spirits, the Axe of Pangu, and there are also Chengfeng, Moonlight Stone and Chaos Moon. Chengfeng and I are solid point winners, and we should always be able to win the 2v2s. As long as we don¡¯t run into a team like yours too soon, we should be able to make it into the finals without problems." I curled my lips. "Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t get in your way this time. You should be able to kick my ass easily even if you were ¡®unlucky¡¯ enough to run into me¡­" "Huh? What do you mean?" Du Thirteen looked confused. I paused for a moment before answering, "Yesterday, I sparred Yiyi at Dark Moon City and found that my brain lag is back. My reaction time is over 2 seconds again. It¡¯s almost as bad as when I was at my worst. That is why any of you should be able to defeat me even with my Divine Armament. I¡¯m good at predicting, but not even I can predict what strategy or action my opponent will be pulling two seconds later¡­" "Fuck!" Du Thirteen gripped his fists tightly. "This¡­ goddamned virus! How much longer does it plan to torment you?" I shrugged. "It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ve come to accept it. The virus is the only reason I managed to live until now. It¡¯s been more than a year since my miraculous revival, and I¡¯ve seen everything I wished to see, and experienced all the glories I wished to experience. It¡¯s worth it, isn¡¯t it?" "Of course not!" Gui Guzi¡¯s eyes reddened with tears. "We brothers swore an oath to walk with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls until the end, and that Bloody Mercenaries will be Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ toughest shield. But what is this? Bloody Mercenaries without Lu Chen are no Bloody Mercenaries, and the same goes for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Boss Broken Halberd, you said you would be there when I got a girlfriend. You said you would gift Beiming the best wedding gift in the world when she got married, so why are you acting like you¡¯re going to go back on your word?" I bowed my head and nearly burst into tears myself. "Stop, Little Gui¡­" Gui Guzi had no problems bursting into tears. "Why should I? A man¡¯s promise is worth a thousand gold, but you are our faith, Boss Broken Halberd. Your promises, more than anyone else¡¯s, are priceless! You promised us that you would walk with us until the end, so it¡¯s your responsibility to survive no matter what! If nothing else, please¡­ please live for us brothers. Please¡­" Thirteen was crying as well. Disregarding his usual grace and wiping his snot and tears on his sleeves, he said, "You¡¯d better live no matter what, you fucking twat. If you give up on the world and those who have sworn to follow you until the end, I will look down on you for the rest of my life! I won¡¯t treat you as a brother any longer!" I leaned against my chair and said nothing. A short distance away, a couple shot us an astonished and disturbed look. Then, the girl stuck out her tongue and said, "I¡¯ve never seen three big men crying like this before. Don¡¯t they have any shame at all?" The guy hid a snicker. "Of course not. I heard that only the most useless of men would openly cry in public like this¡­"[3] ¡­¡­ A while later, I let out a cough. "Alright, stop crying already, you two. You¡¯re going to scare the customers if you continue¡­" Then, I took out a golden card from my pocket and slowly pushed it across the table. "There is 500 million on this card, and the password is my birthday[4]. You know when my birthday is, so I¡¯m leaving this in your care, Thirteen." Du Thirteen looked confused. "What for?" I looked outside the window as I explained, "Although I¡¯m fully confident that California¡¯s research institute will find a cure, there¡¯s always the possibility that I won¡¯t last until they do. Plus, it¡¯s not like the Americans¡¯[5] technology is invincible. If¡ªif I do bid this world goodbye, then¡­" I nodded at the card and said, "Then I leave it to you to take care of my family, my father, my third uncle and auntie[6], Thirteen. You, Chengfeng and Little Gui are the best brothers I¡¯ve ever had, but I can¡¯t burden Chengfeng with this because he¡¯s already too busy with his job. Therefore, I can only ask the two of you to fulfill my filial duties. In the past few years, I¡¯ve given little attention to the real world in favor of the virtual world. I was a bad son to my father and my late mother. I would like to make up for my past mistakes, but I¡¯m afraid that I may never have the chance to do so. I need you to promise me that you¡ª" Gui Guzi interrupted me, pushing the card back to my side of the table, "Boss Broken Halberd, we are brothers, aren¡¯t we? Your father is our father, and we would¡¯ve taken care of him even if you didn¡¯t ask us to do this. For as long as I and brother Thirteen are alive in this world, we will never allow your father to suffer any grievances! As for this money, we don¡¯t need it. We¡¯re hardly poor¡­" I smiled. "Don¡¯t give me that bullshit. I know you¡¯ve earned a lot of money from the game, but how much have you really earned? A million? Ten million? You can only play for so long, and all the earnings you¡¯ve made will run out eventually. What will you do then? Also, this isn¡¯t really my money; it¡¯s Eternal Moon¡¯s, so don¡¯t feel guilty about it. I¡¯d like to save you both some money while I still can. Oh right. This is just a heads-up, but I may not be attending your and Lulu¡¯s wedding, Thirteen, for one reason or another. You¡¯ll have to do with my blessing. Ah, of course, you¡¯ll still have my blessing even if you decide to marry another woman in the future¡­" Du Thirteen¡¯s eyes reddened again. "Would you stop talking like this already? I¡¯m going to cry again, you motherfucker¡­" Gui Guzi finally accepted the card, but he said, "I¡¯ll take the card, but I won¡¯t use a single yuan, Boss Broken Halberd. I¡¯m certain you¡¯ll return to take it back one day. I never liked owing anyone anything, and I¡¯m not about to start now!" I nodded smilingly. "Sure! It¡¯s 500 mil, man. Why would I give it up if I could keep it? I can sell my CGL ranking and still not earn that much money¡­ In fact, I promise to treat you all to a month of luxury at the 7-star hotel next to Taihu Lake right before Little Gui returns the card to me!" Du Thirteen laughed. "You promised! You¡¯re a grandson if you fail to keep your word!" "I will, just you wait!" "Ha¡­" ¡­¡­ A while later, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Heaven¡¯s Rain, Moonlight Stone and more heard that I had showed up at the cafe and came over. It was very rare for the coffee shop to see this many customers around the same table. "Are you okay, Lu Chen?" Chaos Moon carefully took a seat beside me while asking, "Do you want me to give you a massage?" I shot her a glance. "I ain¡¯t paying if your technique isn¡¯t up to par, you hear?" "Screw you!" That was what she said, but she still put my leg on her thighs and began massaging it carefully. Eighteen Steends of You and Yun rubbed his palm enviously. "Damn, I¡¯m so envious. I don¡¯t think any other man has ever enjoyed such a service from Miss Chaos Moon. You¡¯re so lucky, dude¡­" I grimaced. "You wanna replace me? Cuz I can tell you right now that she doesn¡¯t know how to control her strength at all¡­" Li Chengfeng took a sip of his coffee and frowned. "Ah shit, why is this so sweet?" Heaven¡¯s Rain asked, "You want me to order you a new cup?" Li Chengfeng nodded. "Yeah, go for it[7]!" While "enjoying" Chaos Moon¡¯s service, I asked, "Alright, since everyone is here, you may as well give me a report. Tell me what¡¯s been going on inside the game¡­" Li Chengfeng nodded smilingly. "There hasn¡¯t been anything major, to be honest. For starters, China¡¯s Gaming League¡¯s income has increased drastically since we conquered Titan City, Seven Star City, Burning City and Cyan Earth City, and Tang Feng had personally voiced his thanks to our contributions. In other news, you remember Vienna''s Sorrow, Beethoven¡¯s Joy and those players who deleted their accounts as an apology for failing their country? Well, they¡¯re grinding new accounts from zero¡­" I shook my head. "I should¡¯ve known they wouldn¡¯t give up so easily¡­" Li Chengfeng chuckled. "If you think that¡¯s funny, wait until you hear this one: After we conquered Cyan Earth City, and Elephant City was occupied by the Russians, the Indian server players were stuck with Cyan Earth City being their only supply spot. God of War and Breeze and Rain had no choice but to invade Purple Grape City¡¯s domain en masse to find new leveling grounds and supply spots. Because of this, they¡¯ve fought at least a dozen or so major battles against the Japan server in just the last three days. Also, I heard that the Japanese are now migrating en masse to the southern portion of the continent after losing their final main city and becoming unaffiliated¡­" I commented, "They brought it upon themselves¡­" "Oh, one more thing¡­" Li Chengfeng added. "Flowing Cloud has joined the China server forums as herself and publicly asked for your contact number. However, no one¡¯s willing to give it to her¡­" I looked confused. "What does she want with me?" "I don¡¯t know¡­ maybe she wants to ring you up for a one-night stand?" "Fuck you!" "Haha¡­" 1. T/N: let me remind all of you that his doctor SPECIFICALLY TOLD HIM NOT TO GO ANYWHERE ALONE BECAUSE HE MAY EXPERIENCE SUDDEN BOUTS OF WEAKNESS. MUCH LESS DRIVE A FREAKING CAR ? 2. T/N: my god, the healthy guy brought someone with him, the dying one didn¡¯t. What is this world even? ? 3. T/N: some people are dicks like this ? 4. T/N: if I remember correctly, Lu Chen¡¯s birthday had already passed when the novel began, so not many people in this novel actually know his birthday since they haven¡¯t celebrated it ? 5. T/N: to those who are going to complain that America and Canada are separate, I know, but Lu Chen doesn¡¯t differentiate them ? 6. T/N: I¡¯m injecting a bit too many T/Ns here and I apologize, but what a fucking mess. You know they¡¯ll never tell his family what he really died from, but they¡¯ll have to come up with a convincing lie either, so that¡¯s additional pain to everyone ? 7. T/N: one thing I noticed about the entire gang is that they always make someone else do shit they can do themselves. How hard is it to order a goddamn black yourself? ? CH 1582 "Beauty Lin had taken out Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud at the same time during the battle of Swallow Ear Canton. I wonder what she thought about that fight? And why is she working so hard to find you?" Li Chengfeng said wistfully while holding his new cup of coffee. "That was such a brutal battle too. Top-tier experts died like dogs, and even a senior-level CGL Hall of Famer like Lin Fan was pulled out of retirement. It¡¯s too bad his level was low, and his equipment was lacking. Otherwise, he might¡¯ve pulled off an impossible comeback[1]¡­" Chaos Moon blinked. "By the way, Piglike Opponent is Little Piglet, right? Hmph, I knew it was him almost from the get-go. Who else possesses the skill to kill Lui Lok and make him drop the Scepter of Divine Flame with the Crimson Dragon Arm? And thank goodness for that. Otherwise, our number one mage, Lian Xin, wouldn¡¯t have gotten the most powerful magic weapon of the Twelve Divine Armaments, heehee¡­" Gui Guzi clenched his fists. "I declared that I would defeat Lin Yixin back then, but now¡­ Ahem, it looks like I¡¯m still far, far away from achieving my goal. I don¡¯t think I have the skill to defeat Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud alone¡­" Chaos Moon shot Gui Guzi a cheeky grin and said, "Boy, if you think that killing two top-tier experts solo is the limit of Lin Yixin¡¯s skill, then all I can say is that you are too naive. There¡¯s video footage of that fight already, and from what I¡¯ve seen, Lin Yixin was at least part of the reason Lui Lok, God of War and Red Maple were defeated in that battle. Also, have you seen anyone dodging Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud¡¯s pincer attack repeatedly with just slight balancing and pirouettes alone? You might think it¡¯s impossible, but Beauty Lin did it. That video became the top hit in the forums in just three days, and there are foreigners who even think that Wind Fantasy is the most talented player in the entire history of Eternal Moon[2]¡­" I set down my cup and said, "Don¡¯t praise her too much. She¡¯ll grow conceited¡­" Chaos Moon giggled. "But I thought girls like¡ªahem¡ªa lot of ¡®benefits¡¯ in bed?" I shot her a look. "Like hell they do¡­" "Looks like someone is still a pure, unblemished boy¡­" "It¡¯s good to be honest, but excessive honesty is just annoying, girl. Don¡¯t make me wipe the floor with you¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng asked me a serious question, "Sky City¡¯s Attack and Defense have grown considerably after this Nation War, and the King of Cities¡¯ buff is double what it used to be. As a result, players of Sky City are now much stronger than any player of the same level and equipment. It¡¯s all thanks to you and everyone, of course. My question is, how should we continue growing our strength? The Northern Alliance and Cyan Earth City are sure to launch another assault in three months¡­" I smiled. "It¡¯s simple. Continue scrounging as many territory resources as you can and aim to make every cavalryman in both main and subguilds a Dragonlight Cavalryman. Ideally, no one can touch us if our number of Dragonlight Cavalrymen grows to a million. At the same time, we need to improve Dark Moon City¡¯s rank to 12 as soon as possible. Also, we need to convince Song of Cloud and Water, Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and Ringwraith to move to the gaming base since they¡¯re our guildies now. Constant interaction is critical in facilitating a harmonious relationship." Li Chengfeng nodded. "That¡¯s a good idea, but you should know that Song of Ice and Fire was already a top-tier expert back in Spirit of Grief. It¡¯s the same for God Bone and Ringwraith. They are as skilled as they are prideful, so I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll encounter many bumps as we grow to know one another. When that happens, should we side with our brothers, or should we side with them?" Chaos Moon echoed in agreement, "You voiced my thoughts." Li Chengfeng added, "Soul Battle Robes only joined Ancient Sword because of you. In fact, you are the only one Song of Ice and Fire and Song of Cloud and Water will obey. I¡¯m worried that we¡¯re inviting unnecessary trouble into our base if you aren¡¯t around to keep them obedient." I nodded smilingly. "I get it, I get it. I¡¯ll remain in Ancient Sword and keep them under control. Relax, I¡¯m not going to die so easily." "Good. I¡¯ll make the arrangements then!" "Yeah!" "So, tomorrow¡¯s the opening of the WEL. Have you guys received your invitation yet yet?" "Mn. All of us are going to take the morning flight tomorrow. Are you going?" "Yeah. They said I need to be there to give a speech because I¡¯m Eternal Moon¡¯s CEO. However, I have to give a second speech because I¡¯m also the player representative. Have you ever heard anything as bullshit as this?" "Nope. Please accept my condolences!" "Condolences your sister. Anyway, I¡¯m not logging into the game today, so wanna eat lunch together?" "Sure!" ¡­¡­ The day passed by in a lively and cheerful manner. In the evening, I watched TV with Xinran, Lin Yixin, He Yi and the rest of the girls before going to bed. The next day, a private car came to fetch us to the airport. I packed some simple luggage, grabbed my gaming helmet and went out of the workshop. Lin Yixin didn¡¯t join us because she had returned to Snowy Cathaya¡¯s workshop earlier. On the plane, I fell asleep while holding Xinran¡¯s hand. I started sleeping more and more ever since the virus returned. "Big brother¡­" Some time later, Xinran shook me awake and stared at me with her big, glittering eyes. "Your hand is really cold¡­" I personally couldn¡¯t feel it, but I smiled at her and said, "Is it? Maybe I caught a cold last night¡­" "Oh¡­" Xinran was quite easy to fool sometimes. ¡­¡­ We were received by none other than Xu Ning and his men when the plane arrived at the capital airport. We traveled straight to China branch headquarters because it was more convenient, and because the opening ceremony would be held in the afternoon. After eating a casual lunch at a restaurant, Xu Ning passed me a script and said, "This is the speech you need to give as the CEO. All you need to do is to recite it. I can¡¯t help you with your player representative speech though. The other two player representatives, Flowing Cloud and Tear Stain, will be giving their speeches as well¡­" I nodded. "Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s no problem." "You¡¯ll have to handle the local and foreign media as well." "I got it!" The opening ceremony began some time after 2 pm. I couldn¡¯t help but look left and right for someone. "What¡¯s wrong?" He Yi asked me. "Where¡¯s Yiyi?" I frowned. "She said she would attend the opening ceremony as well, didn¡¯t she? Where is she?" "Should I give her a call?" "Yeah, why not¡­" A while later, He Yi hung up her phone and said, "Yiyi said she won¡¯t be attending because she¡¯s feeling unwell. She said you¡¯d better perform well since she¡¯ll be watching you on the TV¡­" I rolled my eyes. "I bet she¡¯s looking forward to seeing me embarrassing myself live¡­" He Yi burst into a giggle. "Yiyi¡¯s not as bad as you think she is!" There was a sea of people at the main hall of Eternal Moon¡¯s headquarters. Besides the reporters, players and employees, there were a lot of fans as well. In fact, so many foreign fans had flown over to attend this opening ceremony that there were less than 25% Chinese fans at the scene. They had to be hardcore players who had come to witness the superstars of Heavenblessed in the flesh. A beautiful host stepped on the stage[3] and recited the opening speech in three different languages¡ªChinese, English and Korean. Then, she requested the CEO of Eternal Moon to give a speech in excellent Chinese and English. I was wearing a high-class western suit Xu Ning had prepared for me. I had no idea what the brand was, but it was probably extremely famous. As I walked up the steps leading to the stage, a ton of female players went crazy and screamed, "Ah¡­ ah¡­ is that Lu Chen? Ohmigosh he¡¯s so handsome! Is he the CEO of Eternal Moon now? That makes him both rich and handsome!!" I pretended that I couldn¡¯t understand them and walked up to the podium. Then, I let out a cough and began reading the speech. There was a problem, however. There was fucking English on the script! I tried to read it as best I could until I suddenly realized that the entire script was basically just a boast about Eternal Moon¡¯s development in the past couple of years, the game¡¯s glorious development and more blahs that no sane gamer could possibly be interested in¡­ Plop!So, I threw it on the ground, gave everyone a bow and beamed. "Anyway, all of that doesn¡¯t really matter. What Eternal Moon can do is to develop a fun game that everyone can enjoy, so please continue to enjoy our games, everyone!" A thunderous applause erupted from the crowd. It was ironic that the simple sentence won more claps than all the blahs I had spouted until then. Beneath the stage, Xu Ning muttered to himself with a grimace, "Sigh, our new CEO is such a colorful character¡­" ¡­¡­ As I walked down the stage, I suddenly discovered a beautiful woman and a group of players pushing their way through the crowd toward me. It was none other than Flowing Cloud and her subordinates. I should¡¯ve known this, but Flowing Cloud was an exquisite beauty in real life as well. She was no traditional Indian who wore a headscarf and a nose ring either. She was the living example of an elite white-collar, and I even heard that she was the leader of a big company. In short, she was a very impressive woman in real life as well! "Flowing Cloud is here. Protect the boss, men!" Li Chengfeng stood in front of me and said smilingly, "Now come at me, girl¡­!" Flowing Cloud was caught off-guard by his appearance, but she said in broken Chinese, "Move¡­ aside. I speak with¡­ Falling Dust, not you¡­" I was about to say something when the host announced that it was time for the player representatives to give their speeches. The first person to go on stage was none other than Flowing Cloud herself. She looked at me and said, "We¡¯ll speak later¡­" I nodded. Flowing Cloud went on stage and gave her speech in English. Naturally, I didn''t understand a single word of it. Not far away, Tear Stain was holding her script and staring intently at Candle Dragon¡¯s group. Specifically, she was staring at Candlelight Shadow, God¡¯s Dance and Ye Yuse. A while later, she suddenly looked at Candlelight Shadow and asked, "Who is this woman to you, Candlelight?" Ye Yuse puffed up her underripe breasts and retorted, "It¡¯s none of your business!" Tear Stain immediately exploded. "Who the hell do you think you are?!" Candlelight Shadow hurriedly stepped between the duo. "You misunderstood, Pae Meng. Allow me to start from the beginning¡­" A far distance away, Li Chengfeng pointed at Candlelight Shadow with his chin and said, "Beginning my ass. If I had to guess, the two of them have already done it¡­" High Fighting Spirits smirked. "The guild leader of Candle Dragon sure knows how to have fun¡­" Me: "..." ¡­¡­ A while later, Flowing Cloud finished her speech and walked down the stage. She tried to speak with me again, only for the host to announce that it was my turn. She could only wave me on with a resigned look on her face. I hadn¡¯t actually prepared a speech, so I wasn¡¯t sure what I wanted to say to the public. Instead, I spread my arms and offered, "The Nation War has just ended, and I¡¯ve been quite busy as of late. As a result, I haven¡¯t been able to prepare a speech. How about you ask me a couple of questions, and I try to answer as many of them as possible?" An American reporter immediately rose to her feet and asked a question in English. I didn¡¯t understand a single word of what she said. Thankfully, He Yi hurried up the stage and translated the question for me, "She¡¯s saying that Vienna¡¯s Sorrow and several hundred thousand Hero Alliance players had deleted their accounts as an apology to their server. As the one who directly caused their drastic actions, do you have anything to say to Vienna?" I nodded at the reporter and replied, "I consider his decisiveness worthy of utmost admiration. He is a most respectable opponent!" He Yi translated my reply, and the reporter sat down in satisfaction. Then, another Western reporter rose to his feet and asked in slightly broken Chinese, "Lu Chen, you¡¯ve led the China server in multiple Nation Wars. Each one was won by a narrow margin, but you were able to make your opponents taste the bitter taste of defeat. However, it has been rumored lately that you¡¯ve logged out of the game prematurely during the last Nation War because you were sick, and that you may pass away within a month¡¯s time. Assuming that you are passing away soon, is there anything you would like to say to the public[4]?" I trembled visibly. Everyone was looking and waiting for my answer. I held up a fist and smiled at everyone. "There¡¯s nothing much to say, to be honest. I have resisted the invasions and protected my homeland. I have done everything that I had set out to do. If I have to say something, then I guess it will be¡ªI have achieved my aspirations, and I have no regrets left!" ¡­¡­ Right after I said this, a drop of blood suddenly dripped on the podium. Then, the trickle grew stronger and stronger. Is my nose bleeding? My head spun, and I was falling backward before I could find that out. 1. T/N: that he managed to grind to fucking Level 240+ at all while still working is already unbelievable ? 2. T/N: could be the case. If she hadn¡¯t decided to forego some of her glories to Lu Chen, she definitely could¡¯ve become his equal in terms of achievements ? 3. T/N: somewhere, Fei¡¯er audibly breathed a sigh of relief ? 4. T/N: knowing reporters, probably not even the Top 100 most offensive questions ever asked in the history of journalism ? CH 1583 It felt like I was returning from a nightmare when I awoke once more. My mind felt muddled, and there were tubes in my nose. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was He Yi sitting next to me with bloodshot eyes. My arm seemed to have lost all of its strength. I had to really exert it to finally grasp He Yi¡¯s hand. When she saw that I had opened my eyes, she immediately burst into tears and shivered like a leaf once more. ¡­¡­ The sick ward looked fairly comfortable. He Yi was the only one inside the room right now. "What happened to me?" "Nothing much¡­" He Yi said while wiping her tears, "It¡¯s just that¡­ your condition has worsened a bit more¡­" I smiled. "I thought that might be the case. What is this place, Eve?" "Eternal Moon headquarters." "Oh. Did everything go well?" He Yi replied quietly, "Other than your blackout, everything went fairly well. Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Beiming, Lian Xin and the others nearly went mad with worry¡­" I sucked in a deep breath. "I didn¡¯t want to worry everyone either, but this body just refuses to stay strong for a bit longer. It almost feels like this body isn¡¯t mine. What could I do¡­" He Yi nodded. "Give me a moment to call the doctor." "Sure, but I don¡¯t think there¡¯s any point in calling them over. They¡¯re no genetics or biochemistry specialists. There¡¯s nothing they can do to help me¡­" "At least you haven¡¯t lost your ability to talk shit¡­" "Yes, yes. Now go get the doctors¡­" "Mn!" A while later, a couple of doctors came in and gave me an inspection. One of them was a middle-aged woman, and she said to He Yi, "Have him rest often and do not let him linger around noisy places for too long. The good news is that these symptoms are just temporary flashes and aren¡¯t doing any permanent damage. He¡¯ll recover his strength very soon." He Yi thanked her repeatedly. Suddenly, the door to the sick ward opened. Xinran rushed inside and hugged me tightly. "You scared me to death, big brother¡­" I caressed her head while smiling. "I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m fine, see?" She looked up from my chest. Her tear-soaked eyes reminded me of black diamonds. "They said you will die, that you will disappear from this world. What will Xinran do if you disappear from her world, big brother? Xinran only came to this world because of you. You cannot abandon me now, big brother¡­" My heart ached as I held her tightly. "I won¡¯t. I will always be with Xinran¡­" I shot He Yi a glance, but she had turned her face away to wipe the tears. ¡­¡­ Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and the rest of the gang stood at the entrance but didn¡¯t go in. I shot them a glance and said, "Come in already. Aren¡¯t you guys embarrassed about blocking the corridor?" Li Chengfeng strode in and said, "Don¡¯t worry too much, Lu Chen. We¡¯re thinking from every possible angle and using every resource we can find to analyze the abnormal substance in your blood. We¡¯ve conquered countless obstacles up until this point, and I¡¯m sure it will be no different this time. We all believe that the Heavenly King of Heavenblessed will not collapse so easily!" I smiled. "I won¡¯t!" Gui Guzi clenched his fists as he said, "Boss Broken Halberd¡­" I immediately chided him, "Don¡¯t cry, Little Gui! When are you going to get a wife if you keep crying at the smallest things?" Gui Guzi gritted his teeth and held the tears back. Beiming Xue walked up to the other side of my bed and held my hand. She then said in a small voice, "Please don¡¯t leave us, big bro¡­ Please recover soon¡­" I nodded. "I will. I will¡­" Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue, Moonlight Stone and more simply stood where they were as quiet as death. It was almost funny that I, the man who was near death, was the one consoling them one by one. That was just how distraught they were. Maybe it was because they were used to having me as a constant part of their life. If I were to be gone, they might really feel half their world had crumbled. ¡­¡­ A while later, I heard a commotion outside the room. "Now what?" I asked. Li Chengfeng answered, "It¡¯s Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, Blazing Hot Lips. Some other guilds have come too. They¡¯re all here to see you. Is that fine?" I smiled. "Sure. This VIP sick ward is as big as a meeting hall anyway. It can fit everyone." "Mn." A while later, Warsky, Candlelight Shadow, October Rain, Ye Yuse, Tear Stain, Rose Thorn and more walked into the room. Their expression turned pained and sorrowful the moment they saw me. October Rain was pinching her nose and just barely holding back the urge to burst into tears. She sniffled, "Be strong, Lu Chen¡­ I never imagined that the invincible Little Heavenly King would one day become this¡­ fragile. I¡­" Warsky put an arm on her shoulders and said, "Enough, Little Rain¡­" Candlelight Shadow walked up to me next and said, "Lu Chen, you are the strongest rival I have ever met in my life. A long time ago, I couldn¡¯t understand why the heavens would set up Falling Dust as my rival after leading me back to the China server. And now, after more than a year in the world of conquest, I think¡­" He bowed his head a little before continuing, "The ambitions and hegemony I have been striving so hard to achieve almost seem meaningless now. Perhaps the saying that there were no eternal games, only eternal friends was true after all. Will you accept me if one day I would like to become your friend, Lu Chen?" I smiled. "We¡¯ve been friends since the day we joined forces to fend off powerful enemies, man. If Candle Dragon, Warsky Alliance and Snowy Cathaya hadn¡¯t killed all those Indian and Japanese players in the battle of Swallow Ear Canton, how could Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Blazing Hot Lips possibly have swept four main cities in a row? Our achievements were built atop your shoulders. A large majority of the glory belongs to you all as well!" Candlelight Shadow nodded before asking quietly, "What are your chances of recovery, Lu Chen?" I thought for a moment before replying, "Probably less than 5%, and that is the most optimistic estimate, I think. It can be lower or even outright hopeless¡­" He shuddered from head to toe and had to clench his fists to control himself. ¡­¡­ Warsky walked up to me next and sat down beside my bed. He stared at me intently as he said, "The China server is not complete without Lu Chen. The world won¡¯t be complete without Lu Chen. Most importantly, without a rival to chase after, Warsky Alliance will lose their motivation completely. That is why you must keep living not just for yourself, but for the rest of us¡­" I let out a bitter chuckle. "Warsky." He continued staring at me a while longer when tears suddenly welled in his eyes. He gripped his fists tightly as he continued, "I admit that I am an extremely ambitious person. I wish to become China''s server number one, and you are my biggest rival. That is why I never stopped trying to defeat you by hook or by crook. I know that the game will not last forever, but¡­" The dam finally burst, and his tears flowed down his cheeks profusely. "But if you continue to live, and we can continue this rivalry to the next generation, I would be fine with it even if you were Shusheng again, and I, Seven-Star Lamp¡­" I trembled in my bed as a kaleidoscope of emotions choked me. Was there any opponent I couldn¡¯t settle our differences with at death¡¯s door? Warsky abruptly rose to his feet and said, "I, Warsky, have never submitted to anyone, but you will be the first, Lu Chen. It is said that a man¡¯s knees are padded with gold[1], but for you, I can do it. I have respected and admired you for a very long time, and you even became the symbol of an era the day you were exiled from the China server. You are our pride and faith, Lu Chen. You have done everything a man should¡¯ve done. If you quit, then you must accept my knee. If you stay, then we are sworn brothers for eternity¡­" Thud! There was a soft thud, and the guild leader of Warsky Alliance, with tears still running on his cheeks, dropped to his knees before my bed. Behind him, October Rain, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, Farewell Song and more all dropped to their knees as well. Candlelight Shadow stifled a sob, grabbed Blue Sky Scar¡¯s arm and pulled them both to their knees as well. Suddenly, nearly every Chinese player in the room¡ªRose Thorn, Dominating Heaven Blade and more¡ªhad dropped to one knee as well. Outside the sick ward, the nurses were utterly flabbergasted by the scene. ¡­¡­ I struggled to a sitting position and said, "Thank you for your acknowledgement, everyone¡­ There is nothing I can say that will match the sincerity that you¡¯ve shown today, so please stand up. Seriously, I don¡¯t have the strength to pull all of you up to your feet right now¡­" Warsky let out a laugh before rising to his feet like the others. He then said, "We shan¡¯t disturb your rest any longer then. Please recover as soon as possible, okay? The next Nation War will be more brutal than anything before. The Northern Alliance and the Indian server are sure to pull every trick in the book to defeat us. We will lose without you!" I nodded. "Got it. I¡¯ll do my best to live until the next Nation War¡­" "Haha, good! A nobleman''s word is his bond!" It was at this moment I heard another commotion from outside the sick ward. Gui Guzi said with a frown, "Boss Broken Halberd, Flowing Cloud and her bunch of asans[2] insist on meeting you. Should we let her in, or?" I snorted. "Dude, you don¡¯t think she¡¯s going to kill me in real life, do you? Let her in. All people from distant lands are guests, and Flowing Cloud is our friend." "Okay¡­" ¡­¡­ It wasn¡¯t long before the beauty of Elephant City walked in with her subordinates. She was carrying a thick stack of papers in her arms. Warsky muttered with a frown, "Hmm? What¡¯s going on? Why is she carrying so many papers?" Flowing Cloud walked up to my bed and greeted me, "Hi, Lu Chen. Do you remember me?" I nodded. "Thank you for trusting me back in Final Duel Valley, Flowing Cloud. I may think that my actions had been justified at the time, but it doesn¡¯t change the fact that I had let you down¡­" Flowing Cloud smiled and replied in non-native Chinese, "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be sure to pay you back in the game. But to do that though, you must first be alive to accept my vengeance¡­" She then motioned at the papers she was holding and said, "My uncle is a genetics specialist. Two days ago, I requested a sample of your blood and gave it to him so he might perform an analysis. He wasn¡¯t able to analyze it completely because he lacked the advanced instruments necessary to do so, but after locking himself inside his lab for an entire day and night, he wrote down many formulae regarding your blood and isolated a total of 171 amino acids that, according to him, may be able to suppress your virus. They¡¯re all in these papers. Also¡­" She set the papers down on the bed and took out a red pendrive from her pocket before continuing, "He secretly copied a ton of top secret data from his company into this pendrive. Hopefully, they¡¯ll be of use to you¡­" He Yi whispered beside me, "I heard that India¡¯s research has achieved some very unique advancements on genetic mutations in the past couple of years. Flowing Cloud¡¯s gift may be even greater than we realize¡­" I accepted the pendrive without hesitation and beamed at the Indian girl. "Thank you very much, Flowing Cloud!" ¡­¡­ She simply smiled and said, "You¡¯re welcome. We are friends, aren¡¯t we?" Then, she bent down and kissed me once on the cheek. Warsky, Candlelight Shadow and more were so surprised that they had nearly forgotten to breathe in[3]. 1. T/N: meaning that you must never kneel unless you absolutely must ? 2. T/N: derogatory slang for Indians ? 3. T/N: He Yi makes cute growling noises in her mind ? CH 1584 Professor Wang looked utterly shocked as he stared at the scrolling data on his monitor. Fists clenched tight, he asked, "Where¡­ where on earth did this data come from?" I replied, "It¡¯s a secret. How is it? Do you think it¡¯ll help?" "Of course it will!" Professor Wang nodded repeatedly. "If I¡¯m reading this correctly, this data is at least 10 years more advanced than the one the California research institute is using to help you! Of course it¡¯s useful! All we need now is a test subject[1], and you¡¯ll have a real shot at recovery!" I rubbed my palm together happily. "That¡¯s wonderful. I owe Flowing Cloud a huge debt this time¡­" Beside me, Li Chengfeng broke into a grin and said, "Yeah. If you manage to get rid of the virus in your body, you should set up an offline meeting with her and fly to India. I¡¯m sure she¡¯s very interested in you!" Me: "..." Beiming Xue immediately chided him, "Shut up, Li! Big bro¡¯s beloved is Lin Yixin and Sister Eve. Flowing Cloud is but a passerby in his life¡¯s journey!" Li Chengfeng shrugged. "So what? That doesn¡¯t matter, does it? Hehe!" ¡­¡­ The next morning, I logged into the game. I was still at Beijing because of my illness. Swhoosh! Not long after I appeared in Sky City, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue appeared as well. I added them all to my party before speaking with an NPC and registering our party in the second WEL. The preliminaries would last for a month, followed by tense and exciting bouts of matches that would decide the final victor. Naturally, my record would be reset by the new MVP of the WEL. The main city was fairly silent and calm today. He Yi caressed the MVP emblem on my shoulder and said, "It looks like we won¡¯t have anything to do with the MVP this time¡­" I chuckled. "But of course. We¡¯re not even registering because we¡¯re aiming to win. My brain lag is 2.7 seconds right now, so there¡¯s no way I can compete. I probably won¡¯t even fight any battles. When the preliminaries begin, I expect you guys to handle the 1v1s and Eve + Beiming, Little Xin, or sis to handle the 2v2s. 1 melee and 1 ranged is a versatile setup for any composition, and you are all gods anyway. In fact, Mingyue¡¯s Kiss of the Goddess of Life should be very powerful in the 2v2 matches. Theoretically, you can heal Eve infinitely if the enemy doesn¡¯t wear her down first¡­" He Yi shot me a look. "I don¡¯t even know why you¡¯re making us fight the preliminaries. What is the point of the WEL without you, not to mention that we¡¯re at the point where we don¡¯t really need the title of champion anymore¡­" I shrugged. "Fine, fine, do as you wish¡­" Beiming Xue was carrying the Xuanming Bow and floating just a little above the ground. The wind blew her cloak against her round, firm legs as she giggled at me. "Just focus on recovering your strength, big bro. So what if the second season¡¯s MVP and championship title go to someone else? We can always take it back in the third season." I nodded before letting out another chuckle. "Speaking of recovery, that reminds me of the classic tale of a heroine doing something to help the main character recover¡­" Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes widened. "Really? Doing what?" Murong Mingyue slapped me across the arm before I could say anything. "Don¡¯t listen to your shameless brother, Beiming. As for you, I should¡¯ve known that your perversity couldn¡¯t be stopped by something as simple as a virus! You call her your sister, but what are you trying to do to her, huh?" I shrugged. "I tease her because I love her. You don¡¯t see me teasing October Rain or God¡¯s Dance, do you?" "You do want to tease them. You have teased them on occasion. You just stopped because they weren¡¯t responding to your advances!" He Yi coughed. "I don¡¯t know about that. October Rain¡¯s responses seemed pretty positive to me¡­" "Ahem¡­" I let out a cough before the hole got deeper. "You know what? Let¡¯s talk about lunch instead¡­" ¡­¡­ This time, we chose to eat at a restaurant instead of the headquarters¡¯ canteen. He Yi wanted to push me on a wheelchair, but of course I turned her down. It took lifting a 20kg dumbbell to prove to her that I¡¯m not quite dead yet before she finally agreed to allow me to walk my way to the restaurant. She still held my arm the entire way, afraid that I would stumble and be taken out by the dangerous roads of the capital[2]. My right arm was supported by He Yi, and my left arm was wrapped across Xinran¡¯s shoulders. Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue were following behind me as well. Naturally, I felt very grateful to be alive right now. Of course, I would feel even more grateful if High Fighting Spirits, Du Thirteen and Mamate weren¡¯t following behind us and whistling at random Beijing women in the streets. We found a donkey meat restaurant at a small alley and decided to have lunch there. We sat down around a large round table and ordered a lot of food. Du Thirteen and the others ordered some baijiu to drink, but I stuck to tea because the doctor told me that, while it looked like my food preferences wouldn¡¯t affect my condition, it was still best to avoid stimulating food. That meant no alcohol. I didn¡¯t want to shorten my already very short lifespan any further. My appetite wasn¡¯t very good, so I pulled my chair to the window after just a couple of bites. I then took out my phone and called Lin Yixin. It had been a while since I contacted her. A few beeps later, the call finally connected¡ª "Little Cheat?" She sounded as sweet as ever. I smiled. "Yes, dear. What kept you at Suzhou? You didn¡¯t come to Beijing, and I didn¡¯t see you in the game when I went online earlier." I could hear Lin Yixin smirking as she said, "Nothing? It¡¯s only been a day, you know. Do you miss me already?" "Of course I do. I want to hold you right now¡­" "When are you coming back, by the way? I miss you too¡­" "I¡¯ll be flying back tomorrow morning. I may not be able to get back by noon though. Is afternoon at Snowy Cathaya¡¯s workshop okay with you?" "Afternoon?" "Yeah? Are you busy with something?" "No, no. Sure! See you then!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ After I returned to the table, I found myself unable to resist the thick fragrance of alcohol permeating from Du Thirteen¡¯s glass. "Can someone get me a glass, please? I would like to take a sip[3]¡­" He Yi chided me, "You are seriously ill, control yourself!" "Just one sip, please¡­" I begged. "Fine, just one[4]¡­" "I want the one with 65 percent¡­" ¡°Oh my heavens¡­" My stomach felt warm and pleasant after I downed a sip of baijiu. A red-faced Li Chengfeng said happily, "I heard that a beautiful girl from Twelve Musicians is joining Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls today. Even better, she¡¯s apparently a fan of mine! She has the face of Zhang Ziyi, the three sizes of Coco, and long, black hair. She¡¯s totally my type, man¡­" Gui Guzi asked, "Are you going to make her yours?" "We¡¯ll see after we get to know each other better¡­" Li Chengfeng smiled. I praised, "That¡¯s a good decision. It doesn¡¯t matter what class she is, just pair up with her, find a high-level map, and play the damsel-saving hero a couple of times. After that, it¡¯s just a matter of time before you become a couple¡­" He Yi giggled beside me. "Hmph hmph. Sounds like someone¡¯s speaking from experience!" I hurriedly defended myself. "No, no, it wasn¡¯t like that. Little Gui can be my witness! Yiyi and I became familiar with each other while I was trying to take revenge for him!" Gui Guzi grimaced. "Oh man, that was a bitter memory alright. Back then, the two of us nearly had the crap beaten out of us by Beauty Lin solo. Neither our levels nor our equipment were a match for hers at the time, so we kept dying again and again¡­" High Fighting Spirits laughed boisterously. "Holy shit! I didn¡¯t know the two of you have such a glorious past!" I smiled. "No one is always at their peak, you know. At the time, I was no match for Yiyi. Her equipment and her skills were a tad stronger than mine, and my brain lag hadn¡¯t fully recovered. Little Gui though, he was just completely outmatched by her in every way. I heard he wasn¡¯t able to kill her even once after many, many deaths¡­" Yamete pointed a finger at Gui Guzi¡¯s nose and cackled. "Kakaka! If I were you I would have hung myself already!" "Fuck you!" Gui Guzi transformed into a super saiyan. ¡­¡­ The next morning, we finally flew back to Suzhou. In fact, we flew on Eternal Moon¡¯s private jet. Of course, it was because Xinran and I were the bosses of Eternal Moon now. All I needed to do was to say the word, and the company would carry out my directions to the letter. Even Xu Ning had to listen to my orders despite being the CEO of the China branch of Eternal Moon. Authority came with a lot of benefits, and being the highest authority, with even more. We arrived at Suzhou before noon and ate lunch at Ancient Sword¡¯s gaming base. After that, the girls went online to take care of guild matters while I drove to Snowy Cathaya¡¯s workshop to meet up with Yiyi. I was parking my X12[5] outside the villa to see Nangong Lexi walked out to meet me. She asked, "You¡¯re quite early, Lu Chen. I thought you were going to show up around 3 pm or something¡­" I pulled my scarf to cover up my purplish, sickly skin as I shot her a smile. "Is Yiyi home, Lexi?" "Yes, she is¡­" "Then I¡¯m heading over to her room then¡­" "Er, remember to knock before you enter¡­" "Huh? Why? It¡¯s not like we¡¯re strangers." That being said, I still knocked on Lin Yixin¡¯s door after arriving outside her room. "Open up, Yiyi. I¡¯m here." However, Yiyi¡¯s reply sounded extremely panicked. "No! N-not yet, Little Cheat. I¡¯m, er, quite filthy right now. I haven¡¯t finished putting on my makeup yet¡­" I was startled. "Yiyi, you¡¯ve never put on makeup once in your life. Why start now?" "You¡­ Just give me a moment, will you? Just a moment¡­" It was my turn to panic. Whatever Lin Yixin was doing, she clearly didn¡¯t sound right. "What¡¯s going on, Yiyi? Open the door! Let me see you, please?" Her voice sounded like a strangled sob. "No¡­ no¡­ I don¡¯t want you to see me right now¡­" "What on earth has happened to you¡­.?" I banged my fist against the door again and again. "Yiyi, I¡¯m going to smash the door open if you won¡¯t open it! I¡¯m serious!" "..." ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin didn¡¯t give me a reply. Worried that something bad might¡¯ve happened to her, I grabbed a stool from nearby and smashed it against the lock[6]. A couple of hits later, the door finally sprang open to reveal a most shocking scene¡ª Lin Yixin was lying on the carpet in a white pajama dress. I saw blood dripping down her chin and splashing against her dress and the mattress. Blood was seeping out of her ears, her nose and the corners of her mouth. Even her eyes were bleeding slightly and giving the term "bloodshot eyes" a whole new meaning¡­ I felt like someone had cut my heart into tiny pieces. This was the ¡°makeup¡± Lin Yixin was talking about? A makeup of blood? ¡­¡­ There was a row of syringes on the ground beside Lin Yixin. Each one was labeled with a timestamp. I understood everything. That day, Lin Yixin had bitten my shoulder to infect herself with my virus. She forcefully made herself the test subject for the scientists, at a threat to her own body. ¡­¡­ I could never let down such a love for as long as I lived. 1. E/N: Basically, Flowing Cloud¡¯s uncle has 171 theories that could be useful. They are starting points because the guy is just that smart. Now they need to see if his theories are correct and see what works, just keep applying them to a test subject and see if there¡¯s any reaction. Obviously, the uncle is wrong in like 99%-100% of them, because he hasn¡¯t done any simulations. ? 2. T/N: not even a joke, these people don¡¯t slow down even when there¡¯s someone on the road ? 3. T/N: ¡­ I have never met a person who treasures his health less than Lu Chen in my entire life. Binge-eating, sleeping after meal, irregular meal times, irregular bed times, no exercise and so on and now disobeying the ONE rule the doctor gave him. Incredible ? 4. T/N: this is why you''ve got beaten by Lin Yixin girl. ? 5. T/N: THE SONUVABITCH WENT DRIVING ALONE AGAIN! ? 6. T/N: at least he isn¡¯t punching the lock this time ? CH 1585 I rushed into the room and hugged Lin Yixin tightly. She trembled slightly in my arms as tears slid down her cheeks. "Why did you come in, Little Cheat? I¡­ I didn¡¯t want you to see me like this, I¡­" I cupped her cheeks to stop her from talking. "Enough, Yiyi. I would¡¯ve died on my own if I knew you were going to do this to yourself. Just why?" She smiled a little. "No one forced me to do this. As of now, I¡¯m the only one who has the constitution and genetic structure to withstand your virus. In fact, my blood was able to suppress your virus until recently. If anyone else tried to subsume your virus they would most likely just die¡­" I hurriedly wiped away the fresh blood, pulled out bundles of tissues from a tissue box and wiped away the fresh blood covering her face. My white shirt was stained with blood as a result. She smiled at me and said, "You got your shirt dirty¡­" "It¡¯s no problem¡­" I held her hand tightly as another bloodied tear slid down her cheek. Feeling like my heart was caught in a vice grip, I asked quietly, "Does it hurt?" Lin Yixin bit her lips and shook her head. Behind us, Nangong Lexi and Sun Qingqing were standing at the entrance. Sun Qingqing said quietly, "Of course it hurts, you stupid. I could hear her weeping all the way from my room last night. She¡¯s such a tough girl, and yet she still couldn¡¯t keep her voice down in spite of it. Of course it hurts¡­" I bowed my head and held Lin Yixin¡¯s hand tightly. "I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry¡­" Lin Yixin smiled at me. "Don¡¯t say that. I did it because I love you¡­" I could only nod in silence. ¡­¡­ A while later, Lin Yixin tried wiping the bloodstains on her legs but gave up soon after. I supported her as she rose to her feet. ¡°I need to take a bath. Wait for me. You and I are going out for dinner later!" I said, "No problem. What about these blood samples?" Nangong Lexi said, "After Yiyi¡¯s body reacts to the virus, she is required to draw her blood once per hour, seven times a day. She¡¯s been doing this for three days, so that¡¯s twenty-one blood samples in total. She¡¯s already fulfilled today¡¯s quota, so someone will pick them up later, analyze it and send the data to the relevant institutes in China, the USA and so on. You might think this looks bad, but it¡¯s nothing compared to yesterday. Yesterday, Yiyi looked like she was bleeding from every pore on her body. Do you have any idea how scared Qingqing and I were[1]? I truly have no idea what Yiyi sees in you, Lu Chen. She would¡¯ve happily traded her life away for yours if it was possible." I muttered, "I know, I know¡­" "Like hell you do! Hmph¡­" "..." ¡­¡­ I blankly looked outside the window while the pitter-patter of the shower came from the bathroom. A while later, I took out my phone and called Xu Ning. The call connected after a few beeps¡ª "Hey, Lu Chen. Do you need me for something?" Xu Ning greeted me. I asked quietly, "Uncle Ning, you knew that Lin Yixin experimented with her body to create a cure for me, didn¡¯t you?" Xu Ning paused for a second before replying, "Yes, I did¡­ So you found out.¡± "Mn." I nodded before continuing, "Yiyi¡¯s condition is pretty unstable right now. She¡¯s losing a lot of blood. This cannot be safe, can it? Will this endanger Yiyi¡¯s life?" Xu Ning replied, "I have discussed this with the PIC of the China Research Group, Dr. Mark,at length, and he confirmed that Lin Yixin¡¯s body is not just capable of withstanding the virus, but also curing it to a certain extent. She¡¯s bleeding profusely because it is her body¡¯s way of ¡®detoxifying¡¯ itself, if you would interpret it that way. Mark estimates that it¡¯ll take her 7 days at most to fully expel the contaminated blood, and we asked her to take blood samples so we may record the entire process[2]. If everything goes smoothly, then your chances of recovery will be much higher than before." "How much are we talking about?" I asked. "Originally, your chances of surviving were only 5% or less. But with Lin Yixin¡¯s blood sample records and Flowing Cloud¡¯s secret data, that chance has skyrocketed to 30% at least." I nodded. "Got it. Thank you, Uncle Xu Ning. But¡­ is Lin Yixin really going to be fine like this? I¡¯m worried that this will threaten her life¡­" Xu Ning paused for another second before replying, "You don¡¯t have to worry too much, Lu Chen. An ordinary person would¡¯ve died within 24 hours[3] of being injected with your blood, but Lin Yixin managed to hang on for 72 hours straight. Even better, yesterday¡¯s blood samples showed that the concentration of the toxin produced by the virus is 27.4% lower than what it was on the first day. This is proof that her body can not only suppress, but eliminate the virus. The process is extremely painful though, so I would advise you to watch over her for the next few days at least. Seriously, you are really lucky to encounter a girl as good as her¡­" I nodded. "I know, Uncle Ning. I won¡¯t leave Lin Yixin until she¡¯s fully cured. One more thing. My 30-day deadline has been reduced to just 25, hasn¡¯t it?" This time, Xu Ning was silent for a couple of seconds straight before he said, "Don¡¯t overthink this, boy. Everything is going smoothly, so whatever you do, stay strong until the day we can finally cure you. You should¡¯ve noticed that the big miss is a million times more dependent on you than she is on me. I need you to continue watching over and taking care for her until she finally becomes an independent woman. It was originally my duty to do so, but well, I¡¯m no longer qualified. You are the only one who can do this now." "Don¡¯t worry, Uncle Ning. I will. Thank you for answering all of my questions. I won¡¯t keep you any longer. Bye!" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I sent He Yi a message after I ended the call: "Eve, Yiyi drank my blood and made herself a test subject to help with the cure. I¡¯m going to stay at Snowy Cathaya¡¯s workshop for a couple of days until she recovers. Bring Xinran over if she wants to see me." He Yi didn¡¯t reply probably because she was in the game. It didn¡¯t matter. She would see it when she logged out later. Lin Yixin stayed in the bathroom for an entire hour. When I couldn¡¯t hold it any longer, I knocked on the door and asked, "Yiyi? Are you done?" "Not yet. Just give me a moment¡­ I¡¯ll be out very soon¡­" I returned to the bed and waited after confirming that she was okay. A while later, Lin Yixin finally came out wearing refreshing casual wear. Truly beautiful women looked beautiful no matter what they wore, and Lin Yixin fell under this category. Of course, most of her clothes were luxury-brand clothes, so she looked even classier and more charming than normal. "How do I look?" She spread her arms and twirled once on her feet. I simply rose to my feet, pulled her against my chest, and pecked her once on her soft lips. "I love you¡­" "Pooh! You said it too quickly. I bet it has no sincerity behind it!" She smirked. I sucked in a deep breath and repeated the phrase, "I. Love. You¡­" "Who do you love?" It looked like someone wanted to give me a hard time today. My face felt like it was reaching boiling point as I said, "I love Lin Yixin¡­" "Who loves Lin Yixin?" "Lu Chen loves Lin Yixin!" I blurted as I threw my dignity out the window. Finally, Lin Yixin was satisfied with my answer. She giggled. "That¡¯s acceptable, I suppose. Oh right, tonight¡¯s dinner¡­ Ahem, won¡¯t just be the two of us." "Oh? Who else will be present?" "My father, mother, uncles and aunties will be there. It should be around seven or eight people. It¡¯s a family gathering." "Huh¡­" I hummed. "So, this is an official parents meeting?" "Why, you scared?" "Of course not." She giggled again. "Good boy. It¡¯s a win-win for everyone anyway. You don¡¯t want my aunties to introduce me to a so-called ¡®Top 10 outstanding youngsters¡¯, do you? Hmph. Have you ever seen an ¡®outstanding youth¡¯ who¡¯s 51 years old and completely bald?" I shuddered. "No, but I have seen a section chief who embezzled tens of billions of RMB and claimed to be clean¡­" "Shameless. You¡¯d better not follow that person¡¯s example, Mr. CEO of Eternal Moon¡­" "Why would I need to embezzle the money when I have the authority to mobilize these assets under official capacity? Not to mention that I¡¯ve earned enough money from Heavenblessed to live wastefully for a couple lifetimes¡­" "Country bumpkin. You think several tens of billions are enough to spend for a couple lifetimes? When you¡¯ve recovered, you¡¯re going to buy me a beachfront villa and become my sugardaddy¡­" "Shameless girl. I dare you to say that when we eat dinner later¡­" Lin Yixin grabbed my hand and shook it left and right. "Speaking of which, we still have some time until then. You wanna go for one round, daddy?" I nearly threw up blood. "Stop, stop! You keep this up, and I¡¯m going to die from a heart attack before the virus kills me. It¡¯ll literally burst like the water pipes on the streets¡­" "Er, really? Okay, okay. In that case, help me clean up the place instead. We¡¯ll drive your X12 when we head out later. You gotta show the elders that you can afford me¡­ Speaking of which, when are you buying me a 20 million RMB limited edition Cadillac?" "Er, ask me again when I¡¯m a rich man." "..." ¡­¡­ We drove into a certain restaurant¡¯s parking lot past 6 pm or so. Then, we walked through the entrance with our arms linked. The parents had booked a room on the second floor, and I counted seven or eight people the moment we walked inside. Lin Xiao and Lin Yixin¡¯s mother, Liu Wanru was inside as a matter of course. There were also a couple of middle-aged men and women that were probably Lin Yixin¡¯s aunties. There was one person I didn¡¯t expect to see at all, however. Owen was present as well! "Hmm?" Lin Yixin asked in puzzlement, "Why are you here, Owen? I thought this is a¡­ Dad, what¡¯s going on?" Lin Xiao let out a cough and said with a smile, "You¡¯ve come with Lu Chen, Yiyi? Ah, I ran into Owen at the entrance just now, so I thought I might as well invite him to dinner. Everyone here¡¯s a friend or family anyway, so why not?" Lin Yixin frowned but said, "Fine¡­" I took it as my cue to nod at Lin Xiao and Liu Wanru. "Uncle, auntie¡­" "Hello, Lu Chen!" Liu Wanru nodded back with a smile, but Lin Xiao said nothing at all. Guess the man was still hung up on me. ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin pulled my arm and said, "Let¡¯s sit beside my dad and mum¡­" "Sure!" By coincidence or not, Owen was sitting on the opposite side of me. He shot me a neutral look before smiling a little. "Long time no see, Lu Chen. It¡¯s been¡­ three months since you smashed the back of my car, hasn¡¯t it?" Lin Xiao immediately exclaimed in surprise, "Oh? And why would Lu Chen smash your car?" Owen shrugged. "It¡¯s nothing. I guess he wasn¡¯t feeling very well that day." I shrugged as well. "Yes, I wasn¡¯t. Yiyi is my girlfriend, and I love her deeply. Naturally, I cannot stand someone orbiting around her like a goddamned fly. And what do we do with flies, Owen? We squish them beneath our boots!" 1. T/N: Then. Why. Did. You. Not. Take. Her. To. A. Fucking. Hospital. ? 2. T/N: she¡¯s taking it on her fucking carpet. I just can¡¯t ? 3. T/N: jesus christ. This will be my last T/N of this chapter because I wouldn¡¯t be able to stop ranting at this rate CH 1586 "You!" Owen¡¯s face turned ashen. If he thought that I would control myself because Yiyi¡¯s family was present, he thought wrong. In fact, I felt like I was acting too restrained regarding this matter for a while. Despite all my warnings and threats, the sonuvabitch still wouldn¡¯t stop chasing after my girlfriend. If I was High Fighting Spirits or Du Thirteen, the guy would be lucky not to go home with a pig-sized face. He rose to his feet like he wanted to do something, but slowly slid back into his seat with anger in his eyes. "We said we would have a fair fight over Yiyi[1]!" Lin Xiao looked surprised. "A fair fight? Er¡­" Liu Wanru also frowned a little. "You mean you want to compete against Lu Chen for Yiyi¡¯s affection, Owen?" Owen nodded. "That¡¯s right. I love Yiyi as well. That is why I want a chance to compete against Lu Chen and prove that I¡¯m more suitable for Yiyi than he is¡­" Chest burning with righteous anger, I said in a low voice, "Love is about love, not suitability. How do you not understand such a simple thing?" Lin Yixin straight up slapped the table, rose to her feet and smiled dangerously at Owen. "I love Lu Chen, and I hate you. You want a chance to compete against Lu Chen? How about I give you the chance to be tossed over by myself?" Owen¡¯s complexion turned purple at the threat. Seeing that the atmosphere was souring quickly, Lin Xiao hurriedly let out a cough and said, "Come now, this is hardly the appropriate way to interact in a family gathering, is it? Youngsters these days, why must you argue until your necks are red when you can just sit down and talk things out properly[2]¡­ Now that I think about it, I haven¡¯t introduced Lu Chen to the rest of the seniors in the room. Much apologies¡­" Lin Xiao pointed at the middle-aged man who looked to be around 55 years old beside him and said, "This here is my second brother, Lin Yang. He¡¯s currently working as the head of a department at the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Transportation, and the one beside him is his wife[3]. The one over there is¡ª" I greeted the relatives as Lin Xiao introduced them one by one. Lin Yang was a fat man who looked to be around 100 kg or so. He looked like he had lived like a prince his whole life, but the deep intelligence¡ªor more accurately, the cunning of an old wolf¡ªbehind his eyes told a different story. Not anyone could become the head of a department. Lin Yang looked at me and smiled. "Lu Chen reminds me of my 20-year-old self. I was just as young and impetuous as he was back then. Not bad at all, boy. You too, Yiyi¡­" Lin Yixin chuckled. "You praise us too much, second uncle¡­" ¡­¡­ Lin Yang looked at Owen and asked, "Where are you working, Owen boy?" Owen declared confidently, "Oh, I dabble in real estate. Other than my property management company I run two headhunting companies and one other business. I generally earn my living in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai." Lin Yang exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, not bad! You are quite accomplished for your age. How old are you again?" "29 years old." "Not bad at all! You must have over a hundred million in personal assets, right?" Owen chuckled. "Around seven hundred million, yes. The financial turmoil in the past two years was so bad that I wasn¡¯t really able to make a serious investment. Things should get better in another two years though. The best thing to do during this time is to learn from a senior like you. The waters of business are so murky that one wrong step can mean the end, so one must be cautious¡­" Lin Yang immediately praised, "You¡¯re young, but you¡¯re also humble and cautious. Those are very good traits you have¡­" Lin Yang then shot Lin Yixin a meaningful smile. "Yiyi, I know you have extremely high standards, but are you sure they can be¡­ matched?" He purposely emphasized the word "matched" and shot me a glance. It didn¡¯t take a genius to know what he was implying. Bastard! ¡­¡­ Next, Lin Yang turned to me and asked me the same question he had asked Owen, "How about you, Lu Chen? Where are you working right now?" I answered, "I¡¯m not. I¡¯m currently playing a game called Heavenblessed." "Oh, Heavenblessed! I know that game. You¡¯ll have to be living under a rock to not know about it these days. Have you built a guild in the game yet? I heard that guild founders earn a lot of money¡­" I nodded. "Yes, I have. I make about a couple million per month¡­" "Not bad, not bad¡­" Lin Yang smiled so wide that his wrinkles looked bent. "Not as good as Owen, but not bad¡­" Indignant, Lin Yixin said, "Uncle, he¡¯s also a member of Eternal Moon, you know." "Oh? Really? What position is he holding?" Lin Yang asked smilingly. "Is it programming? I heard that Eternal Moon¡¯s programmers are all amazing. Some even say that they¡¯re the best in the entire world." Lin Yixin shook her head. "No, not a programmer." "Is he a tester then?" "Nope!" "A manager?" "Absolutely not!" Lin Yang was stumped. "Well, I don¡¯t know what else he can be, girl. I have a friend who works as a manager at the Shanghai branch and earns 400k a month. Lu Chen is even younger than Owen, so he can¡¯t possibly hold a position higher than that, can he?" Lin Yixin giggled as she revealed the truth. "But he can, second uncle. He¡¯s the CEO of the company~~" "WHAT? The CEO? That¡¯s impossible! Is he the CEO of the Shanghai branch of the China server?" "Actually, he¡¯s the CEO of the entire corporation, second uncle¡­" "That¡¯s just impossible! Impossible!" Lin Yang sounded like he had just encountered a ghost. "Wait. I know! You¡¯re just teasing me like you always do, you naughty girl! Well, I¡¯m not falling for it this time. I¡¯m going to make a call and find out the truth right now![4]" He pulled out his phone and called someone immediately¡ª "Hello, Brother Liu? Yeah, it¡¯s been a while. Can I ask you something? Is the CEO of your company a Chinese? Ah? He is? What is his name then? WHAT? LU CHEN? Are you sure? Are you absolutely certain about this? Okay, how much are his personal assets worth? Tw¡­ TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY BILLION?? USD?!!" ¡­¡­ Lin Yang looked completely out of it when he finally hung up. He looked at me with dazed eyes and murmured, "Are you really the CEO of Eternal Moon¡¯s international headquarters, Lu Chen?" I nodded. "Mn. I¡¯m just the proxy of the real CEO though." Lin Yang¡¯s complexion turned purple. "That¡­ that is enough money to rank among the richest billionaires in the world! At your age¡­ and Yiyi managed to get you to be her boyfriend??" The second brother turned to look at Lin Xiao. "Your daughter¡­ is truly a good judge of character!" Lin Xiao looked astonished as well. "When did you become the CEO of Eternal Moon, Lu Chen?" I coughed. "You guys are exaggerating things. I told you I¡¯m just the proxy¡­" Lin Yixin examined Owen¡¯s complexion and snickered. "Yo, someone turned deathly pale all of a sudden? You still wanna ¡®compete fairly¡¯ against my Lu Chen, Owen? Still wanna show off that 700 million worth of assets that your dad transferred under your name?" Owen clenched his fists tightly for a moment, but his frown suddenly faded away from his features. Then, he broke into a smile and said, "Alright, I give up. You can have Yiyi, Lu Chen. So, since you¡¯re Eternal Moon¡¯s true boss, wanna make a business deal with me? I would like to advertise a milk tea chain brand through Eternal Moon¡¯s products. I promise you that we¡¯ll both come out the victor of this deal¡­" I simply looked at him and replied politely, "Sorry, we only work with companies that are true power brands¡­" Owen: "..." Lin Yixin giggled so hard that she almost couldn¡¯t keep herself from hitting the table. She had always been one to take delight in her enemies¡¯ misfortune, and it didn¡¯t look like she was going to change this nasty habit of hers anytime soon. ¡­¡­ After dinner was over, we ditched the elders and went to the theme park. We had already agreed beforehand to spend the whole night offline. We took a Ferris wheel ride. Lin Yixin was standing by the window, watching the stars in the sky and the lights on the ground. I hugged her from behind and said smilingly, "You feel great¡­" Lin Yixin snorted. "Pervert!" I asked her, "Feeling better, Yiyi? This is the first time you asked me to take you to a theme park." "It¡¯s because¡­" She turned around and favored me with her starry eyes and entrancing smile. "I strongly believe that you will recover from this, but if the heavens don¡¯t favor us, and we are to be separated for eternity¡­ I want to do everything we can do before our time is up. I don¡¯t want to regret it later¡­" I held her tightly and replied, "Mn. I¡¯ll accompany you no matter what it is you want to do!" "Okay then. Let¡¯s go sing at the karaoke before going home?" "Sure!" ¡­¡­ It was past 10 pm when we arrived at a karaoke box and sang. More accurately, Lin Yixin was the one who sang while I sat on the sofa and listened to her. It took her a long time to finally tire herself enough to lean against my chest. Still trying to sing, she cried into my shirt while holding the mic. When her sobs finally stopped, she returned to her feet with a smile and continued singing until almost midnight. Only then did we drive back to the workshop and sleep together. Of course, we only cuddled. All I wanted to do at that moment was to protect her. She might seem invincible on the outside, but I knew just how close her mental defenses were to collapsing. The next day, we woke up very early in the morning. A couple of cars were parked outside Snowy Cathaya¡¯s workshop. The first car was He Yi, Xinran, Beiming Xue and the rest of the girls, and the rest of the cars were Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen and more. As expected, they came after knowing that I was here. We ate porridge and bread for breakfast in the courtyard outside the villa. The spring wind blew comfortably against the skin. ¡­¡­ Sitting on a vine chair, He Yi inquired about Lin Yixin¡¯s condition in a concerned tone, "Are you feeling well, Yiyi?" The latter nodded. "Mn. Don¡¯t worry, Sister He Yi. I have a strong body¡­" "That¡¯s good¡­" Li Chengfeng spoke up while holding a cup of coffee, "Do you know that a small-scale Nation War happened last night?" "Oh yeah?" I asked. He smiled. "It was Cyan Earth City launching a retaliatory assault against us. More specifically, it was Breeze and Rain crossing the Black Sea with 5 million men to attack our Dark Moon City. Unfortunately for them, they underestimated the speed at which we were able to defend ourselves. They weren¡¯t able to gain any advantage since Protective Umbrella and Blazing Hot Lips had responded to our call for help immediately. Also, they surrounded the city with 500k men only to surrender and teleport away immediately after we revealed our 1,000 Bone Dragons. It was quite amusing." High Fighting Spirits said, "Cyan Earth City got off pretty good all things considered. At least they still have one main city left. The Japanese are a completely different story. Swallow Ear Canton and Ice River Canton have been turned into ruins, and the players weren¡¯t able to retake Purple Grape City despite a long siege. In the end, Red Maple was forced to migrate south with the players of the Japanese server, but even that hadn¡¯t gone smoothly. On the way, they were ambushed by the Russian players of Elephant City¡­ Red Maple called it a tactical retreat, but it sure looked like a continuous string of defeats to me¡­" I said, "You guys fought a war last night and still came to visit so early in the morning? Much apologies¡­" Li Chengfeng grinned. "Sorry, but your apology is wasted on us. None of us had participated in the war because we were preparing for the WEL preliminaries tonight. It was Xu Yang, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and the others who repelled the enemy." "I see." 1. T/N: Owen, bro, just find another girl already. Your persistence is admirable, but you¡¯re using it in the wrong place ? 2. T/N: says the guy who literally instigated this whole nonsense ? 3. T/N: oh my god, Lin Xiao¡¯s such a traditional man he didn¡¯t even bother giving the wife¡¯s name ? 4. T/N: Mind you, Lin Yang¡¯s reaction is perfectly understandable. That he¡¯s willing to make a call to confirm this already extremely magnanimous of him ? CH 1587 It was around 8 am when Lin Yixin suddenly clutched her chest and ran into her room. Since the gang was still in the middle of enjoying their tea, I immediately put a hand on He Yi¡¯s shoulder and said, "Eve, keep Chengfeng and the others company, will you? I need to check up on Yiyi. I won¡¯t be logging into the game during the day, but I will participate in the WEL preliminaries later, okay?" "Yes. Go!" He Yi watched my back as I departed. I locked the door behind me after I had entered the girl¡¯s room. She was sitting on her chair with sweat all over her forehead. ¡­¡­ I walked up to her and held her gently. "Does it hurt?" "N¡­ no¡­" She shook her head, but bit her lip so hard that it nearly bled. My heart ached horribly at the sight. "And you call me Little Cheat. I won¡¯t think of you any less for being in pain, you know¡­" She broke into a smile, but her nose began bleeding before she could say anything. She quickly grabbed a nearby syringe, drew some blood, and placed it among the other blood samples. Throughout the process, she continued twitching from time to time and tearing at the sheer amount of pain she was suffering from[1]. I didn¡¯t know how to comfort her. All I could do was to hold her tightly and talk about anything to distract her from the pain. While wiping away her tears, she said, "Don¡¯t laugh¡­" I would be shocked if I could even smile under these circumstances. "I won¡¯t¡­" She said softly while biting her lips, "I¡¯m not crying because I¡¯m regretting my decision or something. It¡¯s because it really, really hurts, and I can¡¯t control myself¡­" I whispered, "Yes, I know. If my Yiyi wasn¡¯t so pain-averse, we would¡¯ve done it already¡­" "That is a complete lie!!" Lin Yixin¡¯s face turned even redder, but it looked like she had temporarily forgotten her pain as she said, "Is that the only thing you can think of, you pervert? Hmph! On behalf of all 2 million Snowy Cathaya members, I extend our utmost disdain for you¡­" I pecked her once on the lips before wiping away her nosebleed with a tissue. "Whatever. Your disdain is my honor¡­ Huh, that sounded even more self-deprecating than when I recited it in my mind¡­" Lin Yixin was going to smile again when another wave of pain turned it into a frown. At least she wasn¡¯t bleeding from all her orifices like yesterday. This was a definite sign that the virus in Lin Yixin¡¯s body was decreasing day by day. It was afternoon when the 7-hour-long detoxification process was finally over. After Lin Yixin took a bath, she lay down lazily on my chest looking like she had just gone through a tribulation. It reminded me of a pretty little cat that just returned from a ten-kilometer jog. I kissed her on the lips while rubbing her back. "Feeling better?" "Mn." She nodded before blinking her eyes once. "It feels like I just recovered from a huge illness. My body feels empty, and I feel no appetite even though I haven¡¯t eaten anything for lunch. If I¡¯m not mistaken, it won¡¯t return until dinnertime at least. We¡¯ll have to eat more later. You haven¡¯t eaten anything for lunch as well, right? " "Yep. It¡¯s all your fault I had to skip lunch¡­" "Pooh! And who do you think I¡¯m suffering for, you heartless little thief?" "That is why I love you so much¡­ Give me another kiss." "Shameless¡­" ¡­¡­ We were curled up together on the sofa when I pulled a blanket over our bodies. The afternoon sunlight shining through the window felt very warm and comfortable. I felt like I might fall asleep at any moment, so I took out my phone and checked the forums for a bit. Lin Yixin was staring at my screen as well. The biggest headline on the official page was of course the WEL preliminaries. The rewards for winning had also been announced¡ª MVP Champion Reward: Level +7, Luck +15, 1 Heaven Domain Soul Armament. Champion Team Reward: Level +5, Luck +8, 5 million USD, 10% chance to draw a Heaven Domain Soul Armament. Runner-up Team Reward: Level +4, Luck+6, 2 million USD, 30% chance to draw an Upper Divine Armament. 3rd to 4th Place Team Reward: Level +3, Luck+4, 1 million USD, 30% chance to draw a Middle Divine Armament. 5th to 8th Place Team Reward: Level +3, Luck+3, 500k USD, 10% chance to draw a Middle Divine Armament. 9th to 16th Place Team Reward: Level +3, Luck+2, 200k USD, 5% chance to draw a Middle Divine Armament. ¡­¡­ I scrolled down the page and found that everyone in the Top 64 would have a chance to draw a Divine Armament. This year¡¯s MVP reward seemed just as amazing as the previous year. I wonder what a Heaven Domain Soul Armament looks like? One thing for certain, it was definitely better than an Upper Divine Armament. Lin Yixin asked with widened eyes, "Heaven Domain Soul Armament? Do you think that it¡¯s greater than your Ancient Divine Armament, the Xuanyuan Sword, Little Cheat?" I shook my head. "It¡¯s hard to say. The Xuanyuan Sword is the king of the Twelve Divine Armaments, and it is closer to an Outstanding Ancient Divine Armament than an Upper Divine Armament. This Heaven Domain Soul Armament is at best as strong as an Ancient Divine Armament, although I am certain that it¡¯ll carry a special effect just like the Seventy-two Ghost Armaments. These days, assembling a set of Lower Divine Armaments or Middle Divine Armaments is pretty simple. What isn¡¯t simple is assembling a set of Ghost Armaments!" "Says the guy who already has a set of Ghost Armaments." "Not really. The Song of Freedom, Cloak of Divine Fervor, Flying Dragon Wristguards and Rising Cloud are just four, that¡¯s not a full set¡­" She chided me, "You make it sound like it¡¯s no different from owning a four-piece bedding set! There are only 72 Ghost Armaments in the world, and each one is a priceless treasure on its own!" I chuckled. "Everything depreciates eventually. When the Heaven Domain Soul Armament becomes the mainstream equipment, most of my equipment will become second-rate at most. Though, I guess the Xuanyuan Sword will remain top-tier. It still can evolve one time and I¡¯m sure it will remain the greatest offensive-type Divine Armament in the world if it evolves¡­ Speaking of which, your Wind Severing Sword can also evolve, am I right?" She nodded. "Mn. I haven¡¯t triggered it yet, but there¡¯s no hurry¡­ By the way, are you really going to give up on these WEL preliminaries, Little Cheat? You should know that the WEL is such a cutthroat competition that the rule where the previous champion and runner-up are usually allowed to skip the preliminaries entirely doesn¡¯t apply. Even Ancient Sword must fight tooth and claw to enter the Top 64 and attend the offline championship!" I let out a sigh. "I know, but¡­ my delay is around 2.7 seconds right now. This means that any command from my brain will only take effect inside the game after 2.7 seconds. I know I¡¯m amazing, but I highly doubt I¡¯ll be able to enter the championship like this." Lin Yixin rubbed my nose and whispered, "Idiot. If even you choose to give up before trying, what will Sister He Yi, Lil Beiming and Lian Xin think? Do you want them to wallow in sorrow and depression forever?" The realization struck me like a lightning bolt. Grateful, I hugged Lin Yixin tightly and kissed her cheeks at least a couple of times before declaring, "Understood. Delay or not, I will do everything in my power to get our team into the offline championships!" "That¡¯s the spirit!" She giggled. "Even if you can¡¯t fight at your best, you should know that each and every one of your party members is incredibly powerful in their own right. Sister He Yi is an ascended Stormwind Holy Knight with one of the best Famous General Skills in the game, Royal Road. Not only is her technique around the same level as Chaos Moon, her overall power is at least greater than Gui Guzi¡¯s[2]. Beiming Xue and Lian Xin are some of the best, if not the best, ranged players in the entire world. Finally, every player in your team is a god. Even if you don¡¯t fight a single match, there is still a good chance your team may win the whole thing. What you need to do is to accompany them into every match and cheer them from behind. If nothing else, you should let them know that you will always support them¡­" Touched, I nodded and said, "Yeah. Thank you, Yiyi. I can¡¯t believe I nearly failed to realize it until you told me. I will log into the game on time, and I will fight every day for as long as I live! I¡¯ll even participate in the matches actively. Worse comes to worst, I¡¯ll just release the Phantom Wolf King to stall the enemy and bombard them with a million AoE skills. There can¡¯t be too many people who can handle this tactic in the preliminaries¡­" "Heehee. That¡¯s the Little Cheat I know and love!" "Oh my, a confession? I¡¯m a hard catch, but I guess you¡¯re barely up to my standards. I accept." "Screw you!" ¡­¡­ We ate dinner at Snowy Cathaya¡¯s kitchen. I had to hold Xinran¡¯s hand and comfort her again and again until she finally agreed to let me stay at the Snowy Cathaya workshop until Lin Yixin had recovered. There was no persuading her from not coming over and visiting me everyday though, so I had no choice but to burden He Yi with this. While eating dinner, I said, "So¡­ the preliminaries start at 8 pm, right? I¡¯ll be fighting one of the 1v1s and the last 2v2 with sis. As for strategy, there¡¯s no need for strategy until we encounter a particularly difficult line-up!" Beiming Xue¡¯s eyes widened. "Big bro, have you finally resolved yourself to fight the WEL seriously?" I nodded. "Mn! It¡¯s because I saw that the MVP and a champion team player can win a Heaven Domain Soul Armament. I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll be stronger than my Xuanyuan Sword, but it¡¯s better to have it in my hands than not, right?" Lian Xin smiled widely. "That¡¯s wonderful! We have a real shot if big bro is going to fight seriously!" "Ahem. I don¡¯t want to be a downer, but I¡¯ll be frank. It¡¯s going to be tough to win even the nationals¡­" I began explaining the participating teams like I was counting my family valuables. "Yiyi has given the Immortal Blade to Purple Marquis, which means that Snowy Cathaya now has two point securers in their team. If we run into them, it¡¯s highly likely we¡¯ll lose at least two points to them. It¡¯s completely up to luck if we beat them or not. Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance are obviously powerful teams, and our second seed is far greater than what they were the last WEL. High Fighting Spirits has the Axe of Pangu, Little Gui has the Ghostblade Halberd, Chengfeng is Chengfeng, and Chaos Moon is no slouch herself. They¡¯re a powerhouse team that can potentially crush any opposition who stands in their way." "It¡¯s fine. We¡¯ll deal with them as they come," He Yi said smilingly. "Yeah." I nodded. "You guys should head home immediately after you finish dinner. I¡¯d like to log in sooner to prepare for the match. The internationals are one thing, but it¡¯ll be embarrassing if we fail to even make it into the national finals!" "Okay!" CH 1588 That night, I logged into the game half an hour before the preliminaries began. Participants were required to fight 5 opponents or 5 matches in a row. A newcomer might find this taxing, but it was nothing for those who had fought a dozen or so matches in a row in the first WEL. The white light before my eyes faded away to reveal Sky City. The first thing I did was to repair my equipment, stock up on Health Potions and Magic Consumables, and check that I had the cards necessary to compete. You could use cards to buff yourself in the WEL, so it was very important to carry some with me. I had chosen to bring cards that buffed my HP and Attack this time. My delay was horrifying, so there was no chance I could defeat a first-rate player with pure technique. In that case, I could only gear-smash¡­ ¡­¡­ I added the girls into my party after they logged into the game. Then, I sat at the square and sold a couple pieces of equipment for 20 minutes or so. The 5,000+ RMB I earned sure did wonders to my mood. Ten minutes before the preliminaries began, we all received a system notice saying: Your opponent will be chosen soon. Please enter the arena now! Swhoosh! We teleported into the battle arena after tapping the confirmation button. This time, the battle arena was set at the center of an ancient temple. The platform where the battle would take place was 100 yards in radius. When our opponent had been found, they would be teleported to this arena so that the battle could take place. There were countless instanced arenas like this. "Try to keep your nerves, people. We fought on bigger stages than this, and generally speaking, the first match shouldn¡¯t be too difficult¡­" He Yi gave a small speech to the girls. However, Murong Mingyue shot her a glance and said, "You say that, but your hands are shaking." "I¡¯m not shaking, I¡¯m devising a strategy for the upcoming battle¡­" "Really? It sure doesn¡¯t look like it!" "All dissenters shall die!" "My lord is wise¡­" A few minutes later, the system had chosen our first opponent. Their names appeared on the interface¡ª Prime Minister Li Si LV-255 Mage Prime Minister Xiao He LV-255 Berserker Prime Minister L¨¹ Buwei LV-255 Archer Prime Minister Wei Zheng LV-255 Warrior ¡­¡­ "Ahem, I don¡¯t think we should call our opponents noobs when they¡¯re all Level 255," I jested. Lian Xin said, "Let¡¯s decide our line-up, big brother Lu Chen. The main question is, who¡¯s going to fight in the 2v2?" I replied without hesitation, "It¡¯s simple. You and Lil Beiming. Just kill them all with superior firepower. They can¡¯t even damage you since you can fly beyond their range!" "Yeah!" I had decided to fight the first battle, and my opponent was the archer, Prime Minister L¨¹ Buwei. L¨¹ Buwei was a villain during his time, so it was my natural duty to slay him as quickly as possible! Swhoosh! I waited quietly for the match to begin after teleporting onto the platform. I also buffed myself with the Hunter Card and released the Phantom Wolf King. I had set its attack mode to Auto because even just blindly charging at the enemy would be better than me trying to control it with my 2.7-second delay¡­ L¨¹ Buwei wielded a rattan short bow when he teleported into the platform. He looked at me with a dumbfounded look on his face. "Sigh. I cannot believe that I ran into Ancient Sword¡¯s first seed on the very first match, much less fight against the Little Heavenly King himself. Thank goodness the preliminaries have a double-elimination format, or we would be GG already. Please be gentle, Falling Dust¡­" I grinned. "Come at me!" The moment the countdown hit zero, Summon the Storm, Myriad Swords Obliteration and a bunch of Ancient Seals immediately slapped down on top of the archer. Naturally, he immediately shattered into many cold and itty bitty pieces. When he teleported back onto the platform for the second round, his expression grew even more dumbfounded. "You promised you would be gentle¡­" I shrugged. "I am, dude¡­" He curled his lips. "In that case, please be as brutal as you can¡­" 1.5 seconds before the countdown ended, I acted to cast the Xuanyuan Art and slid to the side. I knew for certain he would advance toward me because he couldn¡¯t avoid my AoE skills even if he moved backward. My prediction was correct, and the archer died a second time to my Ancient Seal. As it turned out, it wasn¡¯t impossible to overcome a 2.7-second countdown¡­ ¡­¡­ I was able to finish the first match with a clean 2:0 score. Lian Xin let out a laugh after I returned. "Well done, big brother! The next match is mine!" Her opponent was a Level 255 mage. Unfortunately for the guy, he stood no chance at surviving Lian Xin¡¯s attacks, much less beating her. One Ice Spiral Matrix was all it took for her to shatter the enemy¡¯s Magic Shield, and a couple of Fireballs later, Prime Minister Li Si was as dead as a dodo. Throughout this time, the poor guy had only managed to cast Touch of the Dragonkiss and Ice Howl that deleted 17% of Little Xin¡¯s shield durability. There was just now way our powerful mage could lose. Lian Xin also got a 2:0 sweep and won us another point. The third match was He Yi¡¯s, and again, she was able to defeat Prime Minister Wei Zheng with ease. We could¡¯ve ended the battle then, but out of respect for our opponents and our desire for the MVP spot, we decided to fight out the fourth and fifth match. Beiming Xue¡¯s opponent was the berserker Prime Minister Xiao He, and he wielded a fiery red war axe. He stared arrogantly at Beiming Xue and sneered, "Dark Archer Beiming Xue, you really are as pretty as the posters show. Do you know that you are the lover of many of my brothers¡¯ dreams?" Beiming Xue¡¯s complexion turned a shade of red and purple. "Shameless¡­" "Hehe, you will know what true shamelessness is very soon!" Xiao He let out a roar to give himself a powerful buff. Then, he raised his axe and charged straight toward Beiming Xue! The Dark Archer floated a few steps backward and drew her bow suddenly. Occasional whines escaped her throat as a cyclone of energy gathered around her. She was charging up a skill. After all this time, she finally got a charging skill of her own! Swhoosh! An arrow charged with lightning energy escaped her bow and slammed into the berserker¡¯s chest! Bang! 13,126,768! It was a critical hit! Prime Minister Xiao He sure was an unfortunate child. Normally speaking, you would never see an archer one-shot a warrior. Then again, this was Beiming Xue¡¯s furious retaliation for his teasing. Of course it was powerful! Xiao He teleported back into the arena as soon as he was able and yelled angrily, "You couldn¡¯t give me some face, girl? Also, how is this Thunder Arrow so strong? It¡¯s unscientific!" Beiming Xue smirked while floating about two meters above the ground. "Idiot¡­" "What did you call me??" A furious Xiao He Charged Beiming Xue in an attempt to make her pay, but all he achieved was getting one-shot by Thunder Arrow again. She only dealt around 7.11 million damage this time, but it was still enough to one-shot a buff-less berserker. As long as she had the Xuanming Bow, one might say that Beiming Xue¡¯s ranged attack was unbeatable! The score turned 4:0. Everything was going as smooth as butter! The fifth match was a 2v2, and it ended even faster and more decisively than the previous matches. Our two divine beauties easily shredded the enemy team¡¯s warrior duo into tiny pieces and gave us a perfect 5:0 score. With that, we entered the winners¡¯ bracket and continued plowing through the opposition! ¡­¡­ The next four matches were just as easy as the first, although we had to cut down one ally¡ªan all-female party belonging to Twelve Musicians¡ªto do so. I was constantly frustrated and impeded by my brain lag, but even at this state the noobs were no match for me. When the clock ticked past 11 pm, the preliminaries of the first day were finally over. We didn¡¯t lose a single fight, although many other teams such as Li Chengfeng, Lin Yixin, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, Song of Ice and Fire and more boasted the same results as well. Countless teams were participating in the preliminaries after all. It would take a prodigious amount of bad luck to run into another team who rivaled their strength. Late night at the auction house of Sky City. I spent a long time going through the items at the auction house until something finally caught my eye. I called Beiming over with a smile on my face, "Beiming, look. There¡¯s a Level 240 Ancient Immortal-grade ring here that increases physical attack stun rate by 11%. It¡¯s perfect for you. Ideally, you should get a stun with a single cast of Evil Spirit Volley¡­" He Yi and Beiming Xue leaned over to take a look, but the former stuck out her tongue and said, "It¡¯s rather overpriced though. 400k RMB for Ancient Immortal-grade equipment?" I shook my head. "No, it¡¯s not. 11% stun rate is really good, you know? Maybe I would agree with you if it couldn¡¯t be stacked, but it is. Also, I remember that Beiming has a passive that increases her physical attack stun rate by 0.7%." Beiming Xue said while holding my arm, "That was Rank 1, big bro. At Rank 10, the skill increases stun rate by 7%!" I smiled. "That¡¯s even better then! Combined with this ring, you¡¯ll have a total stun rate of 18%! Who can defeat you and Little Xin in a 2v2 if you have this ring? I doubt that even Li Chengfeng and Gui Guzi will be a match for you two. You can¡¯t outrun an arrow, no matter how fast you are." Beiming Xue pouted. "It¡¯s still pretty expensive though. 400k is enough to buy half a house in the suburbs¡­" Maybe, but I didn¡¯t mind it. "It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll just buy it for you!" Ding! 400k RMB vanished from my bank account, and the ring appeared in my hand right after. I passed it to Beiming Xue and said, "Here. Now that we¡¯re past the first day¡¯s preliminaries, my point is no longer secure. You, Little Xin and Eve will have to make up for my weakness." Beiming Xue giggled. "Is it okay for you to give me a free gift for no reason though, big bro?" I hummed for a second before replying, "Let¡¯s just call it your Valentine¡¯s Day gift then¡­" "But I¡¯m your little sister, aren¡¯t I?" "Yeah, and every little sister is the lover the older brother missed during his past life¡­" I laughed. He Yi shook her head with a wry smile. "Oh no, I don¡¯t think Beiming will be catching any sleep tonight¡­" I clapped my hands together and checked out the auction house a bit more. After confirming that there was no other piece of equipment worth using, I said, "It¡¯s getting pretty late, so you all should get to bed soon. Remember to log back into the game at 7 pm tomorrow. Look forward to some Rank 15 Health Potions the next time we meet. Yes, you heard me right. Yiyi messaged me yesterday that she had managed to make a batch. They can restore 33% HP instantly. Amazing, right?" He Yi¡¯s mouth fell open. "Wow! That is a bit OP!" "I know right?" ¡­¡­ After the girls logged out of the game, I opened the friend list and selected Lin Yixin. "Yiyi, can you make some Rank 15 potions for me?" She replied quickly, "Sure, but I¡¯m lacking some ingredients right now. Do you want to go on a trip to Immortal Cloud Ice Cave with me in the afternoon? I saw a thread on the forums saying that there are Rank 15 herbs in there." "Sure. Well, you should log out now. I¡¯m coming over to your room in a moment¡­" "Okay¡­" CH 1589 The next day, 8 am in the morning. Lin Yixin was sitting on the sofa and staring at me silently. A while later, she said, "Don¡¯t worry, today will definitely be better¡­" I nodded. "Mn. And I¡¯ll be right here with you." It wasn¡¯t long before she began trembling a little. The symptoms arrived at almost the exact time, but they were a lot milder than they had been the day before. This time, she only experienced a minor nosebleed and nothing else. I drew her blood using a syringe and labeled it as she had done it yesterday[1]. My heart ached at the sight of the numerous needle tracks riddling her normally unblemished skin. Lin Yixin had given up almost everything for me. The girl scrunched up her eyebrows before wiping the sweat on my forehead with a smile. "I¡¯m the one who¡¯s in pain here, so why are you the one who¡¯s nervous? Calm down. As you can see yourself, everything is going fine¡­" I smiled. "It looks like most of the virus in your body has been expelled, Yiyi. That is great news¡­" "Mn." Lin Yixin said, "According to the doctors, the viral toxin was supposed to affect my health for 7 days or so. Today¡¯s the 5th day, so it won¡¯t be long now. By the way, your delay is almost 3 seconds, right? Are you sure you won¡¯t drag my feet when I grind at Immortal Cloud Ice Cave later?" My mouth twitched. "Why are you hurting my feelings? Yes, my reaction speed is slow, but I¡¯m doing this for you, aren¡¯t I?" "Bullshit. You want to join me because you want my Rank 15 potions¡­" she said while pushing her huge breasts forward. Her waist looked like it was straining under the weight it was carrying, but I didn¡¯t care; the sight was just too alluring. I pursed my lips. "It will be fine. Even if I¡¯m delayed, I can still activate Profound Armor and act as your meat shield. You can be the one to manage the DPS¡­" "That is true¡­ sigh. I feel so much pressure though. Who would¡¯ve thought that I would one day be forced to grind at a super-high-level map like Immortal Cloud Ice Cave with a third-rate expert¡­" "You are courting death, girl!" I erupted, but her only response was to giggle like a silver bell. ¡­¡­ At noon before lunch time, a Cadillac parked outside the gate of the Snowy Cathaya workshop. Then, a couple of men in black suits stepped out and walked toward us. The guy at the forefront was none other than the CEO of Eternal Moon¡¯s China Branch, Xu Ning. The people with employee badges behind him were obviously the geneticists. I walked up and greeted the entourage, "Did you come here to visit Xinran, Uncle Ning? She¡¯s still at my workshop though!" He replied with a small smile on his face, "I know. I visited her before I came over to find you." "You¡¯re here to see me? What business do you have with me?" He lifted the briefcase he was holding and said, "After 24 hours of non-stop working, the Californian institute has come up with the first batch of suppressants. They created it after studying the deterioration of the toxin in Lin Yixin¡¯s blood. They claim that its success rate is over 90%. While it cannot eliminate the toxin in your body, they say that it can suppress the symptoms and soothe your pain¡­" I nodded. "I see. Well, come in!" After we went to the living room, Xu Ning placed the briefcase on the table and opened it. Nangong Lexi, Sun Qingqing and Shadow Chanel were staring at the scene with wide eyes. Lin Yixin was looking at me with worry. There were three blue metallic syringes in the briefcase. I had only ever seen something like this in movies. I had never thought that I would one day go through such an experience, until that day. I stretched out my arm and rolled up my sleeves. The purplish veins covering my entire arm shocked Nangong Lexi and Sun Qingqing so much that they had to cover their mouths to stop themselves from screaming. Lin Yixin on the other hand wore a look of deep worry and distress on her face. She asked softly, "Does it hurt, Little Cheat?" I shook my head. "Nah, it doesn¡¯t hurt at all." "But I clearly heard you grunting in pain last night¡­" "That was¡­ er¡­" Xu Ning said smilingly, "Don¡¯t worry, the suppressant should help with the pain as well. Are you ready, Lu Chen?" "Do it, Uncle Ning!" I nodded. One of the scientists walked up to me and picked up the syringe labeled "#1¡±. He then stabbed the needle slowly into my arm. It hurt like a bitch of course, like, did you see how goddamn big the needle was? No? Well, it was. The blue fluid injected into my body felt cool yet refreshing. When the needle was finally removed, I realized that I hadn¡¯t breathed throughout the entire process and hurriedly gulped down a mouthful of fresh air. "How is it?" Lin Yixin asked me with concern. "Does it hurt?" I replied smilingly, "It hurts so bad I could die, dear¡­" Lin Yixin hit me, but she was smiling. "Stop joking, you!" Xu Ning said, "These suppressants will only work for 24 hours, so you must remember to use the syringe labeled ¡®#2¡¯ at this time, and #3 the day after[2]!" I asked, "I see only 3 syringes in the briefcase. Is there no #4 syringe?" "To avoid your body developing immunity, all of the suppressants work differently¡­ and a fourth combination hasn¡¯t been researched yet¡­" "..." Xu Ning chuckled at my dumbfounded expression, "Relax, we¡¯ve mobilized nearly half of the geneticists and biologists in the entire world to tackle your sickness. I am sure that the fourth suppressant will be created very soon. Anyway, do you feel any changes in your body? Does it hurt or something?" I raised my arm a little and found it lighter than normal. Then, it felt like someone had lit a fire within my veins. I abruptly collapsed into the sofa beside Lin Yixin and started sweating like crazy. "Holy shit, this is even more painful than I thought! I¡­" Xu Ning nodded. "Yes, that is the expected outcome. The suppressant is killing the virus inside your body, so it¡¯s obviously going to hurt a lot. Professor Liu, give him a painkiller and see if it can alleviate his pain!" Before I could react, the scientists held my left arm down and injected me with the painkiller. Everyone was looking at me right now. Lin Yixin was using a tissue to wipe my sweat until she abruptly discovered that it was stained with blood. She blurted, "What is this?" Xu Ning consoled her, "It¡¯s also the expected reaction. The toxin inside his body is being expelled out of his pores. I would be extremely worried if that didn¡¯t happen¡­" He then looked at me and asked, "Lu Chen, the painkiller should have taken effect by now. Does it still hurt?" I was clenching my fists and trembling like a leaf from the sheer amount of pain that was wracking my entire body. I just barely managed to squeeze out a reply, "Uncle Ning¡­ your painkiller¡­ is completely useless!" Beside me, Professor Liu chuckled. "Actually, no. If you haven¡¯t had the painkiller, you would¡¯ve fainted from the pain already. That you haven¡¯t proves that the painkiller is working as intended." I quipped sarcastically, "Oh yeah? Thank you so much for keeping me conscious to feel it then¡­" "You¡¯re welcome. It¡¯s our duty." I rolled my eyes at him before returning to suffering in silence. The pain only lasted ten minutes or so, but the painful process felt like a year. Nearly my entire body was drenched in bloodied sweat, and I felt like I could collapse at any moment. When it was finally over though, the pain abruptly vanished like it was never there. It felt like an invisible weight had been lifted off my body, and even my vision and strength had returned to me. I felt like I went from the bottom of the well all the way to my highest peak! I rose to my feet and clenched my fists. I couldn¡¯t stop myself from grinning, "Holy shit, it works! This suppressant is amazing!" Xu Ning nodded and patted me once on the shoulder. "Yes. Maintaining a healthy mindset helps in eliminating the toxin as well. Anyway, you should take a bath now. Your entire body is drenched in blood and sweat, isn¡¯t it?" I shook my head. "No, I want to eat lunch first. I feel like I can eat an entire cow right now. Uncle Ning, professors, why don¡¯t you guys join us for lunch? I promise you that Snowy Cathaya¡¯s meals are very good. It so happens that today¡¯s meals have greater variety than normal as well¡­" Xu Ning smiled. "Are you sure it won¡¯t bother you?" Lin Yixin said, "Of course not. In fact, we will truly be bothered if you don¡¯t stay around for lunch. You¡¯ve flown all the way from Beijing just to treat Lu Chen¡¯s sickness. Treating you to lunch is the least we can do to thank you." "In that case, we shall fulfill our duties as the guests of this house. It¡¯s certainly a better choice than having to look for a restaurant at this time¡­" All the girls in the workshop smiled at that. Snowy Cathaya booked their lunches from a restaurant, so they didn¡¯t have to worry about lack of variety or quantity. As for today, they just needed to tell the restaurant to prepare ten people¡¯s worth of rice. ¡­¡­ The suppressant not only returned me to my peak, but also restored my appetite. It had been a long time since I had been able to enjoy a meal to my heart¡¯s content. However, Lin Yixin was frowning because her toxin-induced pain hadn¡¯t fully dissipated yet. I gave her hand a squeeze and caused her to turn toward me. She shot me a beautiful smile and said, "I¡¯m fine. Just enjoy your meal!" "Mn!" I took a bath in Lin Yixin¡¯s bathroom after lunch. When I walked out, Lin Yixin passed me a stack of clothes and said, "Here. Lexi just bought this from Heilan Home. I had to throw away the ones you were wearing because I couldn¡¯t wash out the bloodstains." I groaned, "Ah, my Versace¡­ It was a gift from you too¡­" Lin Yixin giggled. "It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll buy you some new ones later. Don¡¯t wear them when you inject yourself with the second suppressant though. A full set of Versace is worth tens of thousands of RMB¡­" "I know¡­" ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin¡¯s adverse reaction fully subsided that afternoon, and all 7 blood samples had been passed to the geneticists. They then left to fly to their next destination, wherever that was. As for me, I went shopping with Lin Yixin, and she bought two new sets of Versace as she said she would. Then, we returned to the workshop and logged back into the game. I had promised to gather some Rank 15 herbs with her at the Immortal Cloud Ice Cave after all. Before that, He Yi gave me a call to inquire about my condition. After hearing that I had taken a suppressant, she drove over with the girls to see how I was doing with her own eyes. After confirming that I was doing much better than I had been yesterday, she went back saying that she needed to prepare for tonight¡¯s WEL matches. The bright smiles on her and everyone else¡¯s faces were exactly what I needed to see at that moment. I logged into the game. Swhoosh! After appearing in Sky City, I walked straight out of the adventurer¡¯s inn and headed toward the eastern bridge. There was no need to repair my equipment or stock up on consumables since I hadn¡¯t done anything yesterday. Near the eastern gate, I saw a dark-haired beauty clad in godlike armor looking out toward the horizon. She then turned toward me and favored me with her purple, starry eyes and radiant smile. I couldn¡¯t help but praise after I walked up to her, "You are my gift from the heavens, Yiyi¡­" Lin Yixin smiled playfully. "Oh really? You¡¯re not going to get touchy-feely with me, are you?" "Not here, of course¡­" While saying so, I unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword and fired Burning Blade Slash out of habit. Then, I froze like a statue. "What¡¯s wrong, Little Cheat?" Lin Yixin asked after noticing my odd behavior. I said in a trembling voice, "Yiyi, I¡­ I¡¯m not delayed anymore¡­" 1. T/N: Yes! Only took him a day, but the author finally realized that someone else who isn¡¯t the suffering patient should be drawing the blood ? 2. T/N: bro, the last person you should trust to take his medicines on time is Lu Chen ? Favorite CH 1590 "Really? Is it really gone?" Lin Yixin exclaimed in joy. "Yeah." I could barely control myself as I nodded. "It¡¯s all thanks to the suppressant. Thank the heavens! Assuming this continues, our dream of conquering the second WEL as well isn¡¯t a pipedream anymore! Hell yeah!" Lin Yixin pouted. "Oh nyooo, I was thinking that Snowy Cathaya finally had a shot at becoming the champion of the WEL, but now¡­" "So what? What¡¯s yours is mine, and what¡¯s mine is yours¡­" "Smooth talker¡­" "Heh. Shall we go? Party me and share your map screen. Don¡¯t forget to mark the coordinates of the Immortal Cloud Ice Cave for me!" "Yeah!" ¡­¡­ After Lin Yixin added me to her party, she activated Bombshell and increased all stats of us both by 80%. With the Hunter Card, my total HP easily surpassed the 11 million mark. Unless we ran into a proper Divine Rank boss, there was no one in the world that could one-shot me. Also, Profound Armor and the 50% lifesteal of the Xuanyuan Sword should give me enough power to kill any boss that existed in the Human Realms. Thud! We took off into the sky and shot into the clouds in no time. Shocked, the players around the eastern bridge immediately began gossiping among themselves. A young archer said while looking at the sky, "I knew it! I knew that they were divine players from their formidable auras! In fact, that gorgeous lady could only be the Fruit Knife Goddess herself! It has to be!" A berserker carrying a battle axe said, "That guy and the sword he was wielding looked pretty familiar as well. Unless I¡¯m sorely mistaken, that was Lu Chen and the Xuanyuan Sword. Who was the fucker who said that our Little Heavenly King was gravely ill again? He obviously looks as fine as rain! The next time someone slanders my idol, I¡¯m going to plunge my axe right up their asses!" An aged herbalist stroked his beard while sighing, "A perfect couple, huh. I¡¯m so envious¡­" ¡­¡­ Immortal Cloud Ice Cave was a leveling ground situated at the border of the Chaotic 27. All kinds of players were gathered at this place including players from Wind City, Vanished God City, the Chaotic 27, and the Northern Alliance. However, the number of grinders on this map was lower than one might expect. It was because the mobs here were at least Level 320 and far beyond the capabilities of the average player. About 40 minutes of flight later, we descended from the clouds and saw a range of glaciers connecting Barren Frost Snow Region and Dragonbone Mountain Range together. I could see parties of players making their way toward the higher-level maps, or killing the mobs in the valleys of Dragonbone Mountain Range. Nearly everyone was Level 255¡ªanyone below this was unlikely to have made it this far anyway. "Should we head down?" Lin Yixin asked. I nodded and dove downward. As Lin Yixin and I landed on a field of ice, a brawny Ice Bear appeared in front of us. It was a Level 315 fiend-rank mob with incredibly high Attack. The generic Level 255 metal-armor player would receive at least 200k damage from any of its attacks. I stepped forward and stabbed the Ice Bear right in the stomach! Bang! Blood erupted from its wound, and a 9-million damage number rose from its head. Considering that my base damage against the mob was over 4 million, I was certain that I had scored the maximum damage roll. The upper bound of my Attack was 80k+, and lower bound, around 60k. The difference between my minimum and maximum damage roll was quite huge. But back to the present. The one attack had deleted over 90% of the mob¡¯s HP. It would be dead after another attack from Lin Yixin, which quickly followed. "Roar¡­" The Ice Bear slowly collapsed on the ice and died. However, its blood barely flowed before it became a red crystal around its dead body. This place was so cold that even the sunlight reflected off the ice felt chilly. "Let¡¯s go¡­" I said while slowly making my way forward. Immortal Cloud Ice Cave was just several hundred meters ahead of us. Since we had never been there before, we still have to find the cave¡¯s entrance. Suddenly, my pretty little girlfriend asked, "There¡¯s a group of Argentinian players over there, Little Cheat. Their levels look pretty high too. Should we avoid them?" "It¡¯s fine. Their goal is the Ice Bears, and ours is Immortal Cloud Ice Cave. There shouldn¡¯t be any reason for us to clash." I shot them a glance before adding, "Also, it¡¯s just a 20-man party. Either one of us could take them out easy peasy." "Would you like to reveal our IDs and scare them away?" Lin Yixin asked. I shook my head. "Absolutely not. Did you forget that Ancient Sword killed over 6 million of their cavalrymen at Falling Goose Valley? To say that they loathe us would be an understatement. If they recognize who I am, I guarantee that our trip to Immortal Cloud Ice Cave will be a rocky one." Lin Yixin giggled as she checked out both of our levels. "You¡¯re Level 275 and I¡¯m Level 262, so they shouldn¡¯t be able to see our levels. Let¡¯s go. If they must annoy us, then we¡¯ll take them out!" "Yes." ¡­¡­ We both released our pets to patrol the area as we explored our way toward Immortal Cloud Ice Cave. We grew closer and closer until the map was right beneath our feet. However, the entrance was still nowhere to be seen. "Did the forum post mention how to enter the ice cave, Yiyi?" I asked. She shook her head. "They said that there is no one sure path to enter Immortal Cloud Ice Cave. The first player to enter the map was a Chaotic 27 player. He was gathering Snow Lotuses when Lin Na was coming to the Human Realms to fight us back then. His emergence caused an earthquake that shattered the mountains. Miraculously, the player survived the fall and discovered that he was in a map called Immortal Cloud Ice Cave, and that it was littered with the Rank 15 herb, Immortal Cloud Grass. It is said that the herb doesn¡¯t exist anywhere else. Unfortunately for that player, his Herbalism was only Rank 13. This is why there hasn¡¯t been a Rank 15 Health Potion created yet." "Tsk tsk, sounds like we¡¯re about to hit the jackpot then. You will definitely be the first person to create a Rank 15 potion, and even if you aren¡¯t, we aren¡¯t leaving this place empty-handed." "Yeah." "Wait¡­" I suddenly broke into a grin. "I see 3 assassins moving toward us from the southeast direction. They are all Level 255 and Argentinian. I¡¯m fairly sure they¡¯re gunning for us." "What do we do?" "What else? We take them out and continue searching for the entrance to Immortal Cloud Ice Cave." "Okay¡­" The assassins thought they were being stealthy, but I could see them as clear as day with Dark Pupils. "Be careful. I¡¯ll handle the assassins, so focus on taking out that 27-man party moving toward us from the right. I see 9 cavalrymen and many archers on the move. They¡¯re probably planning to ambush us at the same time, but we¡¯re going to catch them first. I¡¯m going!" Swhoosh! I abruptly sped up and thrust my sword forward. One of the assassins was one-shot before he could even react. Then, I fired an Ancient Seal that dealt over 7 million damage and took out another assassin. The third assassin saw this and turned as pale as a sheet. "Shit! He found us out already?!" By the time he looked up, I was already right in front of him. He hurriedly thrust his left dagger forward! I was faster than him though. I placed my shield in front of his dagger and prevented him from finishing even a basic attack. Then, I stabbed him through the chest and dealt a massive amount of damage¡ª 4,918,771! All three assassins were dead just like that. They had dropped a ton of potions, cards and some equipment, but I paid the drops no heed and instead sped to where Lin Yixin was battling the rest of the Argentinian party. The Fruit Knife Goddess danced across the field of ice and spilled her enemy¡¯s blood like a butterfly. She didn¡¯t use her Divine Armament¡¯s special effect or even Ice Flame Slash. All she did was stab the metal-armor players with Barrier Breaks and dodge the ranged players¡¯ attacks with good erratic movement and good positioning. No one expert truly shared the same beginnings as another. Some people were born with great talent and were able to become peak experts with just a small amount of experience. Lin Fan and Shusheng were two such players. People like Candlelight Shadow rose via overcoming one adversary after another until they finally hit the peak. And finally, people like Lin Yixin who reached the peak via continuous learning and sparring. Lin Yixin hadn¡¯t risen to stardom in a single day, but I could confidently say that her skills now rivaled that of Lin Fan and Shusheng. It was impossible to say if she could surpass that though. A player¡¯s peak lasted a year or two at most. Once they had passed that point of no return, there was no point trying to compare them to others experts of the same apex level. Crack! The Xuanyuan Sword¡¯s blade was near translucent and glazed gold[1] in color. It remained untarnished even as I stabbed it through an archer¡¯s chest and tossed the body aside. I then one-shot a magic knight with Universe Break to relieve some of the burden on Lin Yixin¡¯s shoulders. At the distance, a deathly pale Argentinian player wielding an axe shouted, "I¡¯ve got confirmation that the player who killed Four is the monster who slaughtered our 6-million cavalry at Falling Goose Valley, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Stun him with Shock Arrow! Do everything you can to kill him! We will not rest until the devil is dead!" I simply kept quiet and continued the slaughter. From the moment we began fighting, I knew there was little to no chance that the Argentinian players wouldn¡¯t realize who I was. It was even less likely that they would forget past enmities or that I had annihilated their army. From now on, I should expect to be attacked by the Chaotic 27 the moment they saw me. Oh well. Better me than the entire China server, I suppose. ¡­¡­ The Xuanyuan Sword blitzed across the air like lightning. It took a life nearly every time I swung it. My Rising Cloud wasn¡¯t even touching the floor as I zigzagged through the players. Just a couple of dashes later, the Level 255 berserker who had shouted earlier was the only one still alive in his party. Coincidentally, he was also the party leader. "We will never let you go, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Just wait for our revenge to catch up to you!" "Heh!" I merely chuckled and swung my sword at him. At the same time, Lin Yixin swung hers from a different angle. Our swords connected to form a storm that would cut through anything. it was of course our Intercourse skill. 11,377,739! Our combined attack dealt over 10 million damage, and the guy only had 7 million HP. He dropped to the ground and died, just like that. ¡­¡­ I stepped over a pile of potions and stared at the translucent ice beneath our boots. "Yiyi, I think we don¡¯t need to find an entrance. We can just make one ourselves." Lin Yixin picked up a pair of wristguards and nodded. "Yes, the Mountain Crush effect of your sword should do just fine. Also, I can now confirm that your brain lag has definitely disappeared, hehe!" CH 1591 Bang! My sword struck against the thick, hard ice, causing the glacier itself to shake a little. The attack successfully left a one-meter-deep gorge on the ice, but from the looks of it there was another 9 meters to go at least. "Keep it up! Use your Ancient Divine Skill this time!" Lin Yixin encouraged me from above. "Yeah!" I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and summoned a gigantic golden blade. According to the new patch, Ancient Divine Skills that were matched with the right weapon¡ªfor example, my Xuanyuan Slash and the Xuanyuan Sword¡ªwould have their hidden power increased by 20%. If the Axe of Pangu was matched with Pangu¡¯s Axe, then its power would be increased by 25%. Unfortunately for Candlelight Shadow, the Axe of Pangu was in High Fighting Spirits¡¯ hands right now. On a related note, Li Chengfeng¡¯s Crimson Firmament Slash should be used together with the Crimson Firmament Sword, but unfortunately, the Divine Armament hadn¡¯t made its appearance yet. It seemed that Li Chengfeng would have to use the Cyan Peak Halberd a bit longer. Bang! The ice shook, and the gorge deepened to 4 meters or so. I then followed up with Burning Blade Slash. My sword¡¯s Mountain Crush effect was practically magical in situations like this, allowing me to dig through the ice like a Transformer. It wasn¡¯t long before I was almost through the ice. It was around this time Lin Yixin called out to me again, "Faster, Little Cheat! I see another group of Chaotic 27 players approaching us from a distance! They belong to the same guild, and they¡¯re clearly here for revenge! My spy within the Chaotic 27 also just informed me that they had made a server-wide announcement[1] and are organizing their troops to hunt us down!" I chuckled incredulously without stopping my work, "Seriously? They¡¯re going to mobilize their main troops just to deal with us two? What are they gonna do if we fly or return-scroll away to safety? Wouldn¡¯t it just be a waste of time then?" She giggled. "I bet it¡¯s because they have nothing else to do. Their maps are of poor Quality and quantity, and the ones beyond are too high-level for them to beat. Perhaps that is why they grew to become as bloodthirsty as the players in the outer lands. Anyway, dig faster already. We have nothing to fear once we¡¯ve entered the Immortal Cloud Ice Cave." "Yeah. And even if we¡¯re too late, we can still kick their ass anyway!" "Heehee. Good, good!¡¯ A tiny warmth flickered in my heart. I might not be able to cause havoc with her in the future, which is why I should appreciate our time together even more. ¡­¡­ Boom! I finally cut through the icy layer of the glacier completely. I had opened a round hole about 4 meters in diameter beneath my feet. I couldn¡¯t see anything beneath the hole except some reflected light, but the system notified me that I was close to the Immortal Cloud Ice Cave. This is it! An unnatural dark cloud gathered above my head and spat lightning at something I couldn¡¯t see. I had no doubt it was Lin Yixin casting Thundercloud Storm at some foes and killing them. My map screen also revealed a lot of red dots converging on our location from all sides. They were clearly Chaotic 27 players. "It¡¯s through, Yiyi! Come down now!" I said in the party channel. "Mn!" With a bloodied blade in hand, Lin Yixin descended from above and right through the hole I had made. I jumped down after her and received a system notice: You have entered the map "Immortal Cloud Ice Cave"! ¡­¡­ Thud! I grabbed Lin Yixin¡¯s hand mid-flight and pulled her to the right. Above us, a dozen or so Chaotic 27 magic knights had also jumped through the hole in an attempt to catch up to us. There was just a tiny problem, however. One man noticed the endless abyss beneath their feet and screamed like a pig, "Oh no! There¡¯s no land down here! We¡¯re all going to fall to our deaths! Those cunning motherfuckers!" All the players who had jumped into the hole fell several hundred meters before skewering themselves over a pit of icicles. Lin Yixin and I were perfectly unharmed as a matter of course. The Flight ability allowed a divine player to navigate nearly any type of terrain. It certainly wasn¡¯t something a normal player could hope to match. If they insisted on fighting us here, they were going to lose a lot of men. Some arrows sailed harmlessly past us as their archers attempted to shoot through the hole. A while later, someone roared, "Fuck! The magic knights who jumped into the hole and died from fall damage have confirmed that the map they entered was the Immortal Cloud Ice Cave. That accursed Little Heavenly King had dug through the icy layer and made his own way into the map! Contact the Northern Alliance[2] and tell them to dispatch a troop of griffin riders to reinforce us now! Our flying players are assembling as well. Once everyone is ready, we will fly into the map and kill them dead!" I shook my head incredulously when I heard that. "Are they seriously going to keep up the pursuit? Just how bored are they?" Still holding my hand, Lin Yixin let out a giggle and said, "Come on, let¡¯s stop wasting time on these useless people and gather the Immortal Cloud Grass already!" "Mn!" I fully activated my equipment luster to reveal the cave interior in a shower of gold. Just like most ice cave maps, the cave was separated into multiple floors. Normally, a player must find the second floor entrance before they were able to make it to the second floor. Since both Lin Yixin and I could fly though, we didn¡¯t need to find the entrance nor fight our way through floor by floor. We could simply fly to the location of the Immortal Cloud Grass. "So, which floor is the Immortal Cloud Grass at?" I asked. We flew close to the walls as Lin Yixin replied, "I¡¯m not sure myself. The Immortal Cloud Grass is a Rank 15 herb, which makes it a boss among herbs. I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t be easy to find. There¡¯s no need to worry though. It shouldn¡¯t take us too long¡­" The first floor corridor was filled with Ice Wolves with red eyes. They were Level 325 fiend-rank mobs, and every mob was just two to three meters away from another. A player who wished to grind this floor might have to fight between 3 to 5 Ice Wolves at once. I highly doubted that it would be a pleasant experience. "Look. I see green light over there. Are they herbs?" I pointed at an ice wall and asked. Lin Yixin shook her head. "It¡¯s a herb, but it¡¯s not the Immortal Cloud Grass. It¡¯s the Rank 12 Blue Nether Grass that every assassin needs to Envenom their weapon. One set of Blue Nether Grass is sold for 1,000 RMB in Sky City. Expensive, isn¡¯t it?" "Way too expensive¡­ So, are you going to gather it, or?" "I don¡¯t wanna. Our goal is to gather the Immortal Cloud Grass, remember? You are now the CEO of Eternal Moon, so why are you still acting like a miser who found a yuan on the ground? Have some dignity¡­" "Fine, fine. Let us continue!" We flew down the first floor and circled around the second floor for a bit. It was at this moment I spotted a bunch of oddly-shaped herbs at the edge of a cliff. I couldn¡¯t help but say, "This is it, right?" Lin Yixin looked back at me with a disdainful look on her face. "You¡¯ve seen these herbs before, man. It¡¯s the Dragonheart Orchid you gathered with me back at Dragon Domain. How could you forget about it? Do you not love me anymore[3]?" I immediately hugged her and pecked her once on the cheek. "Of course not. I was testing you to see if you remembered, dear¡­" "Shameless¡­" "..." We flew past the third and fourth floors until we reached a flat ground. It was the fifth and final floor of the Immortal Cloud Ice Cave. Surprisingly, the floor was crawling with fire-type mobs called ¡°Fire Bears¡±. They were Level 335 deity-rank mobs with super-high Attack and incredible HP. "Look¡­" Lin Yixin pointed around her. "There are 7 cave entrances in the main hall, and one of them leads to the boss''s location. I suspect that we will find the herb next to the boss. It is an invaluable Rank 15 herb after all. This means that we will have to kill the boss before we can gather the Immortal Cloud Grass[4]¡­" I nodded. "No problem. With our current stats, we can beat most bosses without a priest. Your Bombshell is an extra layer of assurance as well." "Yeah. Should we explore the caves one by one?" "Sure. Let¡¯s take out the Fire Bears blocking the leftmost cave first. I¡¯m going!" "Yeah!" I descended on top of the Fire Bears and treated them to Burning Blade Slash. After I landed on the ground, I backed a few steps and executed War Crush that deleted the HP of an entire group of Fire Bears. Then, Lin Yixin landed behind them and cast Ice Flame Slash that killed them all. The mobs dropped a surprising amount of equipment pieces. Lin Yixin must¡¯ve gotten a lot of Luck after becoming the second highest contributor in the recent Nation War. Her drop rate wasn¡¯t far behind mine now. I ignored the drops and focused on killing the mobs outside of the cave while Lin Yixin flew inside to scout. Less than three seconds later, she came out and shook her head at me. "It¡¯s a dud. Let¡¯s go to the second cave after we clear out the mobs!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ After clearing out 4 caves¡¯ worth of mobs, we finally found what we were looking for. The corners of my lips turned up as I said, "This is it. I can see a big red dot with my Dark Pupils!" "There¡¯s no hurry. Let¡¯s clear out the rest of the mobs first!" "Mn!" A few minutes later, all of the Fire Bears transformed into experience for Lin Yixin. I got nothing because I was at the max level already. I turned around and entered the cave carefully. An icy sensation immediately gripped my entire body. It felt like I had entered a freezer or something. Lin Yixin¡¯s teeth nearly shattered as she followed right behind me, "Heavens, it¡¯s so cold inside¡­" I smiled. "Look, I think the boss is hibernating or something¡­" "Yeah!" A huge beast with azure fur was sleeping soundly on the ground before us. It looked like a massive lion. Its ID said¡ª Ice Lion King (Quasi-Divine Rank Boss) Level: 335 ¡­¡­ "Quasi-Divine Rank¡­" Lin Yixin grimaced before shooting me a smile. "Do you think you can kill it?" I raised the Xuanyuan Sword and declared confidently, "Yeah. I¡¯m level-capped, so this is about as short as the power gap can get. I¡¯m certain we can kill it with my Profound Armor and 50% lifesteal. That said, let¡¯s try and use Intercourse as often as possible to speed up our progress. I can sense a lot of Chaotic 27 players outside, and I don¡¯t want them to disturb us in the middle of a boss fight¡­" "Yeah. Let¡¯s go!" 1. T/N: she¡¯s referring to player shout I believe ? 2. T/N: the fuck, this seems to suggest that the ten guild leaders are still in charge despite their catastrophic failure. Get your act together ?ho Will Fight Me ? 3. T/N: what a trauma-inducing line this is ? 4. T/N: that herbalist who fell down a hole and into this map must be INCREDIBLY lucky then ? CH 1592 Thud! The Cloak of Divine Fervor flapped wildly as I leaped into the air. Gripping the Xuanyuan Sword with both hands, I stabbed the Ice Lion King right in the head and injected it with Purple Frost Concentration that lowered its Defense by 29.7%. The one move was enough to draw all of the boss''s aggro, and how could it not? I had lowered its Defense before the battle had even begun, the lion had to be pissed! "Roar¡­" Having been rudely awakened from its slumber, the Ice Lion King let out a furious roar and rose to its feet. It was at least 4 meters tall, and its entire body was covered in thick fur, except the spot beneath its chin. That spot was also its weak point. Reaching it would¡¯ve been a problem if we couldn¡¯t fly, but since we could, it was a non-issue. Technically speaking, we could also attack its eyes to score a weak point attack, but they were a lot smaller and harder to hit, especially considering the speed of a Quasi-Divine Rank boss. While the boss was still stirring, I seized the opportunity to slap its head with a point-blank God Binding Art. Four gigantic divine arms fell down from the sky and successfully bound the Ice Lion King for 12.4 seconds. Lin Yixin let out a chuckle behind me. "Wow! As expected of a Level 275 divine player. Your hit rate is incredible[1] I laughed heartily as I struck the boss''s head with Burning Blade Slash. It wasn¡¯t just my hit rate that had improved, my damage was crazy as well. My skill had triggered both a critical hit and my sword¡¯s septuple-damage effect, so it was a rude awakening for the Ice Lion King to say the least¡ª 25,050,494! 8,234,992! 5,127,377! ¡­¡­ The boss only had an HP bar of 700 million, and it had lost nearly 40 million right from the get-go. There was no way it could withstand this level of punishment for long. However, it could only stand in place and roar since it had been immobilized by the God Binding Art. Lin Yixin dashed past the boss and landed Extreme Break on its neck. Then, she unsheathed the Wind Severing Sword, began to cast Barrier Break, and shot me a sweet smile. There was no need for verbal exchange. I cast my own Universe Break and struck the boss at nearly the same time as Lin Yixin. A golden cross formed across the boss''s body as Intercourse triggered successfully. The Ice Lion King roared in pain again as a massive damage number rose above its head¡ª 19,877,347! I was stunned by the amount of damage we did. "Holy shit, that was almost 20 million damage. Does this count as animal abuse, Yiyi?" Lin Yixin replied, "It wasn¡¯t me. It¡¯s your Xuanyuan Sword that contributed the bulk of the damage! Anyway, let¡¯s kill this boss before it¡ªhuh¡­" Lin Yixin trailed off when she noticed that there was a long passage covered in silvery plants behind the Ice Lion King. She immediately broke into a gorgeous smile and said, "I was right! The Immortal Cloud Grass is here!" I was worried that she might ditch me to gather the herbs, so I hurriedly said, "Patience. You can gather all the herbs you want after we¡¯ve killed the boss. We should release our pets, by the way!" "Mn!" Ice Dragon Kris burst out of her hexagram, gripped the ceiling with its talons, and spat a scorching breath at the Ice Lion King. The Phantom Wolf King attacked it from the flank. Meanwhile, I put on the Apparition Ring[2] and summoned my apparition to life. I then made it fire Dragon Slaying Slash, Myriad Swords Obliteration, Burning Blade Slash and more long-range skills from a safe distance away. It would get one-shot if it approached too close. After the effects of the God Binding Art wore away, the Ice Lion King buried its claws in my Dihai Shield and scored a deep scar on the metal, dealing over 2 million damage to me. It was within my limits of endurance though. A single basic attack and Universe Break were all I needed to regain my lost HP. I continued to tank the boss head-on while dishing out one attack after another. "Roar roar¡­" Suddenly, the Ice Lion King raised its head and gathered red energy around its paws. It was clearly going to cast a powerful skill. Lin Yixin said hurriedly, "Watch out! It¡¯s that 7-hit Mad Beast Flurry!" "No problem!" I raised the Dihai Shield and activated both Profound Armor and Battle Astral Wind at the same time. As a result, three of the hits were blocked by the Battle Astral Wind, and the rest dealt less than 5 million damage in total. That¡­ was actually scarier than I had expected it to be. Without Profound Armor or Battle Astral Wind, there was a huge chance¡ªno, a definite chance, the boss would have one-shot me. ¡­¡­ I was pushed back a couple of meters by the ferocious attacks. After I came to a stop, I immediately dashed forward and retaliated with a furious Burning Blade Slash, giving the boss no chance to breathe at all. Lin Yixin also cooperated with me and ensured that we would trigger Intercourse again and again. Less than ten minutes later, the Quasi-Divine Rank boss''s HP had fallen below 10%. It was only a matter of time before we took it out. I was sure that the Ice Lion King would die with a smile on its face. After all, it was the wielder of the Xuanyuan Sword and the Wind Severing Sword who would send it to the kingdom come! It was at this moment we heard the screeches of griffons from the direction of the main hall. I looked behind my shoulder and smirked. "Careful, Yiyi. The Chaotic 27¡¯s reinforcements have arrived. Those griffon riders must belong to Seven Star City¡­" "Seriously? Don¡¯t they know they¡¯re just committing suicide?" Lin Yixin curled her lips. I was surprised by how confident she sounded. "The griffin riders are no slouches, you know. It¡¯s not easy to survive a barrage of Thunder Spears, and none of us are buffed by a bard right now. If I die, I can revive with the Resurrection Art, but if you die, you¡¯ll lose a level and maybe even drop the Wind Severing Sword¡­" "So what? You¡¯ll just retrieve it for me," Lin Yixin jested. "Seriously though, it¡¯s fine. Seven Star City won¡¯t be able to threaten us!" "How so?" I asked. "It¡¯s because Seven Star City is Sky City¡¯s vassal city right now. You can think of them as our colony. According to the new rules, the stats of a player of a vassal city are reduced by 20% if they fight against a player from the city who owns them. That is why I say that it is suicide for them to attack us¡­"[3] I exclaimed in realization, "I see. That¡¯s a huge relief¡­" "Relief what?" "Hehe¡­" I replied after knocking away the Ice Lion King¡¯s sharp claws, "It¡¯s simple. Cyan Earth City, Burning City, Seven Star City and Titan City are all our vassal cities. With their stats reduced by 20%, how can they ever hope to retake sovereignty of their main cities[4]? This means that you, Chengfeng, Candlelight Shadow, Wang Luo, Momo and everyone else will still be able to defend our territories even if I¡¯m not around." "What the hell are you saying?" Lin Yixin¡¯s eyes reddened immediately. "You must stay with us! Forever!" I nodded solemnly. "Of course. I will always be with the China server!" "Good. Anyway, the boss is about to die. Get ready to use your Mad God Lunge¡­" "Yeah!" The Ice Lion King raised its neck and began casting its ultimate, Icicle Volley, before I finished my reply. I immediately slammed into it with Mad God Lunge. Thanks to the power of a Level 275 divine player, I was able to cancel even the ultimate of a Quasi-Divine Rank boss. A couple more slashes later, I said, "Yiyi, you should score the last hit since I¡¯m already at max level[5]. Activate your Gan Jiang now!" "Mn!" Lin Yixin activated her SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill, Gan Jiang and Mo Ye, and landed a beautiful combo on the boss. That was enough to kill it and turn it into a pile of equipment and items. "Pick up the loot and watch my back while I gather the herbs, Little Cheat!" "Sure!" Lin Yixin immediately dashed into the passage at the back to gather the herbs. I picked up the loot as she requested while shooting a glance at the hundreds of Seven Star City players outside the cave. I chuckled. The griffin riders could see me, but not a single one of them dared to fly down and challenge me. I bet some of them had been killed by me personally during the defense of Fortress of the Iron Halberd. The very sight of me struck fear in their hearts. I shared the stats of the equipment I got in the party channel¡ª Ice Profound Armor (Middle Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 28,000 Defense, 25,500 Magic Resist. Increases user''s Defense by 150%, adds 400k max HP. Level Requirement: 260 Frost Ice Spear (Lower Divine Armament, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 22,500~28,700 Attack. Increases user''s Attack by 240%. Level Requirement: 255 Tapasya Long Boots (Ancient Immortal-grade, Outstanding¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï): 9,700 Defense, 8,000 Magic Resist. Increases user''s Defense by 75%, and Magic Attack by 50%. Level Requirement: 255 ¡­¡­ Lin Yixin replied in the party channel, "Not bad! We got a Middle Divine Armament out of it. That metal armor looks really good¡­" I said, "It¡¯s better than the metal armor you¡¯re currently wearing, right? You can have it¡­" "Sure! How is it going outside, by the way? There¡¯s a lot of Immortal Cloud Grass in this place, so much that I reckon that no one has ever been here before. The player who discovered this map for the first time must have found Immortal Cloud Grass somewhere else, and definitely not in such big quantities. Anyway, protect me for 10 minutes, Little Cheat. I¡¯m not leaving a single Rank 15 herb behind." I grinned. "You¡¯re such a greedy girl. Anyway, be careful. They¡¯re finally going to make a move¡­" "Mn!" Dozens of Crow Riders descended to the ground before switching out their mounts for Fire Rhinoceroses. It was because the latter gave much better stats, at the price of being land-bound. I also saw priests, bards, mages and even some Heroic Bannermen among the crowd. They were seriously gunning for us with everything they had. Chiang! I planted the Xuanyuan Sword in the ground and beckoned them to approach me. "Well, what are you waiting for? I¡¯m right here!" ¡­¡­ "Shit! The arrogance!" A spear-wielding magic knight uttered with ashen anger, "Form a square Holy Shield Formation and slow-push toward Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! Mages and archers, focus-fire him and give him no chance to retaliate! Otherwise, no amount of people will be enough to kill him!" "Yes!" 1. T/N: If I was the author I would change this to duration instead. Lu Chen has been missing this skill since forever, and to say his hit rate is incredible just because he landed it one time sounds stupid ? 2. T/N: I was going to cry What the fuck until I recalled that he hadn¡¯t sold or given it to anyone. Fair play, author ? 3. T/N: a long time ago, someone said, "There will never colonialism in this game!" Guess who was wrong, again ? 4. T/N: if this novel isn¡¯t going to end in 8 chapters, I swear the author would¡¯ve forgotten that this debuff is actually timed and treat it as permanent until the end of the game ? 5. T/N: Li Chengfeng screams: nooooo! My Crimson Firmament Sword! ? CH 1593 The sounds of rubbing metal grated against my ears as around a dozen Seven Star City magic knights stepped into the cavern. Shield shining with the light of Holy Shield Protection, they slowly urged their mounts to walk toward me. The magic knight leading at the forefront had a thick mustache and a spear in his hand. His ID was "Knight Roger", and he was a Level 255 Heroic Bannerman. He was at least a named player in the Northern Alliance. He ordered with an arrogant smirk on his face, "Immobilize him with Trapping Net if he tries to approach us! There is only so much space in his cavern, so there¡¯s nowhere for him to escape! Mages and archers, you may attack now!" ¡­¡­ I frowned a little. Knight Roger was a smart guy who brought only Level 255 players to the hunt and immediately figured out that my Flight ability was near useless in this confined space. A different player would¡¯ve been hard-pressed to dodge a constant hail of crowd-control skills, much less do anything against the enemy. The me from the day before certainly would¡¯ve activated my invincibility skill and teleported back to the main city already. But I wasn¡¯t the brain-lagged wreck of a player of yesterday, so there was nothing to be afraid of. I wouldn¡¯t even need the Xuanyuan Art to play these people like a fiddle. Thud! A Shock Arrow struck my Scarlet Dragon Armor, failing to stun me but dealing over 130k damage. Whoever had shot this had to have top-tier Attack and at least 30% armor penetration. They wouldn¡¯t have hit me for six digits otherwise. I pulled out the arrow and stared at the incoming God Devil Breaks and Galaxy Storms. Then, I abruptly dashed away from my original spot, kicked off the wall and sped straight toward Knight Roger. After dodging some spells and Trapping Nets with a zig and zag, I thrust my sword straight at the mustache man! "Dammit!" Roger lowered his head to dodge the attack. At the same time, he thrust his spear through the gap between his shield and the shield of a magic knight next to him, aiming for my waist. I parried the spear thrust with the Dihai Shield, sidestepped and slashed at the magic knight next to him using Crushing Blow. Holy Shield Protection was considered Guard stance, so he immediately took a massive amount of damage¡ª 7,128,677! His complexion turned purple because the skill had left him with just a sliver of HP despite his full buffs. Without hesitation, I backed away like lightning and threw my sword using Coiling Dragon Revolution at the same time! Pu! The spinning blade cut a giant hole in the low-health magic knight¡¯s chest and struck three mages and two bards exactly as I had planned. Each player ate over 5 million damage and was one-shot without question. Thud! I slowly descended to the ground after catching my returned blade. Knight Roger¡¯s complexion also turned purple when he realized that I had killed 6 players in just one casual assault. He thought that I was going to kill him, but I was really targeting the players around him in search of a different breakthrough point. It was because he had at least 14 million HP at full buffs. Rather than wasting my DPS on him and allowing his allies to whittle me down little by little, I would rather kill his allies first. Once he was alone, he was as good as dead. After all, there was no one I feared in a 1v1 fight! Knight Roger gritted his teeth so hard it looked like he might break them. He shouted angrily, "H-he dares attack our weak point? How despicable! Archers and mages, keep attacking. Someone, tell the people waiting outside to come in, we need those griffin riders to bombard him with Thunder Spears! This despicable bastard isn¡¯t escaping us today!" It was quite the speech considering they were trying to corner me with sheer numbers, but I simply launched another assault using the exact same method and tactic. Five seconds later, another five players had died. Although Knight Roger was a Heroic Bannerman, he was at best a first-rate player. He was neither skilled nor powerful enough to counter my lightning-fast player-sniping tactic. To put it simply, he and his allies were utterly helpless to stop me from doing anything. "Dammit¡­" Roger clenched his fists tightly while shooting a glance behind his back. Dozens of griffin riders had entered the cavern, but he chose to bide his time, probably because he thought that there weren''t enough men to kill me yet. Succumbing to his impulses could give me an opening to kill off the new arrivals. "Not yet. Shielders, hold the line as best you can. Griffon riders, ready your Thunder Spears and shoot him down the second he comes close to you!" Yessir!" Dozens of griffin riders immediately raised their weapons and charged them with lightning energy. It was their mount skill, Thunder Spear. I had to admit that the Northern Alliance had the China server beat in terms of aerial cavalry. Our strongest aerial units were the dragon knights, but they couldn¡¯t be mass-produced like the griffins. Moreover, the griffins were fairly powerful and mobile despite being weaker than the dragons. Our server might have the strongest land cavalry in the world, the Dragonlight Cavalry, but that strength was greatly offset by our inability to produce griffin mounts. Anyway, I didn¡¯t wait for the enemy to muster enough numbers to kill me as a matter of course. It wasn¡¯t long before I launched a third assault! Bang! I knocked a magic knight back with Mad God Lunge at the same time I cast a bunch of Ancient Seals on the griffin riders. A follow-up Burning Blade Slash, the 65%-HP griffin riders were torn to shreds without much resistance. Simultaneously, magic knights on the ground were being ravaged by War Crush, dying one after another. All this time, the mages and archers continued to pepper my Scarlet Dragon Armor with spells and arrows. After my HP had fallen to a certain point, I knocked my attackers backward with a horizontal sweep before backing nearly 50 meters away in an instant. Then, I drank a health potion to recover my HP. ¡­¡­ "This¡­ this is just¡­" Knight Roger looked utterly flabbergasted. He couldn¡¯t believe how easy it was for me to navigate around his players and reap their lives[1]. "Boss¡­ I think¡­" a magic knight beside Roger said in a hushed voice, "I think we¡¯re no match for Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Both his stats and skill are out of our league. If he keeps evading and attacking us like this, our griffin riders won¡¯t even be able to touch the corner of his sleeves¡­ This just isn¡¯t winnable[2]¡­" Roger growled, "Silence! The battle isn¡¯t over yet, and you¡¯re losing heart already? All experts have a battle rhythm of their own. Once it is disrupted, even Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand can bleed. Listen! This man is our greatest enemy in the south bar none. If we don¡¯t kill him here, we may never be able to lift our heads in the future. Just because Vienna¡¯s Sorrow has deleted his account doesn''t mean that we have no one left who can stand against Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! I may despise Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s arrogance, but even I must admit that he was a hero. Now is our best chance to take revenge for him!" "Yes, boss!" ¡­¡­ I still remained silent as Knight Roger encouraged his players. More and more griffin riders gathered at the cave entrance. Soon, the small cavern was packed with 500 griffin riders hanging in midair and 200 players on the ground at least. It was almost amusing how many people they had mustered to kill me! "Charge!" Knight Roger raised his spear and yelled, "Charge and kill Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! We will reclaim Vienna¡¯s Sorrow¡¯s honor!" I backed away some more while thinking of a way to take the enemies out when a beautiful figure approached me from behind. It was of course Lin Yixin. She waved a white pouch at me and shot me a sweet smile. "I¡¯ve gathered everything, Little Cheat! I got 29 stacks in total. It¡¯s a jackpot!" Suddenly, she noticed the swarm of players not far away from us and blanked out for a second. Then, she exploded in anger, "What¡­ what the hell is this? Did Seven Star City seriously send over a thousand players to bully us? This is unacceptable! Unacceptable!" Chiang! She furiously unsheathed her Wind Severing Sword and uttered, "I absolutely will not stand for this shit! Little Cheat, follow me to kill ¡®em all! Let¡¯s go!" "We can just go invincible and teleport back to the city, you know?" "It¡¯s so much more fun to kill them all before we teleport though!" "True!" I had already been flying at the enemies when I was giving that answer. After buffing myself with Battle Astral Wind and Profound Armor, I activated the Death skill of Xuanyuan Art and removed 70% HP from all enemies within 1,000 yards. At the same time, Lin Yixin cast Thundercloud Storm that unleashed deadly storms, icy blades, lightning and more natural elements at the enemy. In just 5 seconds, nearly every griffin rider in the cavern had evaporated, just like that. The combined power of two of the Twelve Divine Armaments couldn¡¯t be stopped by mere griffin riders! While charging toward the exit, I took out Knight Roger with a single basic attack¡ªhe only had 5% HP left after the double whammy¡ªand aimed my palm in his direction. The poor guy could only stare wide-eyed as I sucked his spear into my hand with the power of my Domain. It was a Lower Divine Armament. Not bad at all¡­ After we had returned to the main hall, we looked up and saw more flying units making their way toward us from above. I let out a laugh as the Xuanyuan Sword erupted in a burst of light. Lin Yixin and I cut down foe after foe as we slowly made our way upward. Someone died nearly every time she made a turn in the air. Her burst damage was just off the charts. A few minutes later, we finally escaped the darkness that was the Immortal Cloud Ice Cave! Several thousand Chaotic 27 and Seven Star City players were waiting for us on the surface, but Lin Yixin and I weren¡¯t going to bother with them now that we had made it to the surface. As we soared through the sky, we crushed our return scrolls and teleported away. The next moment, we were floating above the peaceful and tranquil Sky City, the King of Cities. ¡­¡­ I set up a stall and sold some equipment. When it was almost dinnertime, I checked my friend list and noticed that He Yi wasn¡¯t online. I asked Lian Xin, "Where¡¯s Eve, Little Xin?" She answered, "I don¡¯t know. She logged out a few hours ago¡­" "Oh¡­" It was at this moment I heard my phone ringing from outside the game. I accepted the call inside the game and heard Murong Mingyue¡¯s voice¡ª "Lu Chen. You need to know something." "What is it?" I asked. "Something¡¯s happened to Eve¡¯s eyes!" I jolted upward. "What?!" "Are you free to come home? I¡¯ll explain it to you once you get back." "I¡¯ll be there soon!" 1. T/N: Suuuuuuuuure, he totally can¡¯t imagine even though Lu Chen had whooped their ass again and again throughout the game. ? 2. T/N: Also Resurrection Art ? CH 1594 After telling Lin Yixin what had occurred and bidding her goodbye, I hurriedly logged out of the game, put on a coat and left the building. I started the X12¡¯s engine and sped off as quickly as I could only to find myself stuck in a traffic jam soon after. It was because it was rush hour right now. I could only stew with anxiety as my car inched bit by bit toward my destination. It was already 7 pm by the time I reached the workshop. I was so anxious that I had even forgotten to lock the car. By the time I arrived, I noticed that Beiming Xue, Lian Xin and Xinran were already sitting in the living room and waiting for me to return. "How¡­ how is Eve?" I asked urgently. Lian Xin stood up and looked at me with bloodshot eyes. "Something¡¯s wrong with boss''s eyes¡­" "What? Where is she right now?" "Her room!" "Got it!" I ran toward He Yi¡¯s room and went inside. I saw Murong Mingyue sitting at the bedhead and two doctors performing an inspection on He Yi. The girl was currently lying on the bed with her eyes wide open. They seemed to have lost their usual radiance for some reason. They were staring blankly, at seemingly nothing at all. "Lu Chen!" Murong Mingyue turned toward me. I immediately approached He Yi and gripped her hand. "Eve, can you¡­ see?" He Yi returned my grip strongly while smiling at me. "It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s just an illness I¡¯ve had since I was young. It seemed to have relapsed recently." Murong Mingyue nodded to confirm He Yi¡¯s explanation. One of the doctors looked at me and asked, "You are?" "Her family," I replied immediately. He nodded. "In that case I¡¯ll get straight to the point. The patient has an incredibly rare congenital eye disease clinically known as the G12 disease. Only one in ten million patients with eye disease has it. It cannot be fixed with surgery, and the only way to deal with it is medication and a lot of rest. Also, the patient is strongly advised from shedding tears[1] as it will worsen her condition." I trembled. "That¡­" I held He Yi¡¯s hand tighter as deep guilt well inside my heart. "I¡¯m sorry, Sister Yi. It¡¯s all my fault¡­" She chuckled. "What are you saying, stupid? It¡¯s hardly your fault I was born with a congenital disease. If there must be a reason, then it¡¯s probably because I¡¯m being punished for the sins I¡¯ve committed in my previous life or something." I chuckled back. "Well, you heard the doctor. As long as you maintain a happy outlook, you should be able to recover very soon. By the way, can you see me right now?" "I can see a blurry outline¡­" She stretched out her hand and caressed my face lightly. "Judging from the shape of your features, you are definitely Lu Chen¡­" I chuckled. "At least you can still make jokes¡­" Murong Mingyue chimed in. "Of course she can. She¡¯s one of the toughest women I¡¯ve ever known¡­" Suddenly, we heard rain pitter-pattering against the window. It was the beginning of summer, and it looked like the rain had hit us early. Not only that, it rapidly developed into a heavy downpour. The doctor leftside to the bed looked at us and asked for permission, "Can we begin treating the patient now?" I nodded. "Sure!" The doctor took out his pen and began writing down a prescription, but a frown soon appeared on his face. A phone call later, he shot us a worried look and said, "I need to tell you all something. Among the medicines that are used to treat the G12 disease, one of them is called the Nordfran powder[2]. Due to its rarity, none of the pharmacies in Suzhou have stocked up on the medicine, and the nearest pharmacy that has it is at Wuxi. Unfortunately, that pharmacy doesn''t do deliveries, and it is raining quite heavily right now. Therefore, I would like to ask one of you to head over to that pharmacy and retrieve the medicine as soon as you can!" He glanced at He Yi before adding, "Ideally, I would like to treat the patient with the medicine in at most five hours to achieve the best results. Otherwise, I¡­ I¡¯m afraid it may affect her recovery!" I rose to my feet without hesitation. "Give me the address. It''s a one and a half hour trip at most." He nodded, wrote the address on a strip of paper and passed it to me. Pa! Suddenly, Murong Mingyue grabbed my arm and said, "Have you forgotten that you¡¯re a patient yourself? Quite a serious one too. I¡¯ll go retrieve the medicine. You should just stay here and keep Eve company[3]." I immediately showed off my biceps and shot her a grin. "Come now, sis. I¡¯m not as fragile as you think. If you don¡¯t trust me, I¡¯ll even let you touch my muscles for a bit. Seriously though, there are only so many things I can do for Sister Yi, and this is a responsibility I cannot surrender to anyone else. Just stay in the workshop and wait for my good news. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m familiar enough with the Suzhou-Wuxi route that I can drive back and forth with my eyes closed[4]!" Murong Mingyue rolled her eyes but said, "Fine¡­ be careful!" "I know. I¡¯m not called the ¡®Protector of the Road¡¯[5] for no reason, you know?" "Heavens. Less boasting, more driving!" Murong Mingyue sighed. He Yi bade me goodbye with a smile, "Take care!" ¡­¡­ After rushing out of the room and informing the girls waiting at the living hall about my short trip, I grabbed an umbrella and went out of the workshop. After I entered my car, I started the engine, set the GPS, and cut through the rain like a boat sailing bravely into the dark, stormy sea! I quickly drove out of the urban area and entered the highway. There were few cars on the highway probably because the downpour was too strong. For once, I complied with Mingyue and He Yi¡¯s request and made sure my speed didn¡¯t exceed 100 kilometers per hour. I turned on all the lights and even the emergency lights for maximum safety[6]. 50 minutes later, I arrived at the pharmacy. I ran into the building so fast I hadn¡¯t even opened the umbrella that was supposed to shield me from the rain. The receptionist was a white-dressed young woman who looked to be 20 years old or so. She had a small box of medicine in her hands. She asked, "Are you the family of the patient from Suzhou?" I nodded. "Yes, it¡¯s me. Is this the Nordfran powder?" "Yes!" "How much does it cost?" "I heard that the patient needs to receive their medication as soon as possible, right? Just pay us the next time you come back. It¡¯s not very expensive anyway!" "Oh, thank you!" "You¡¯re welcome. By the way¡­" I was almost at the door when I turned back to ask, "Yes? What is it?" She blinked once and stared at me intently. "You¡­ you look real familiar for some reason." "You mean I look like Lu Chen." "Oh yeah, you¡¯re right!" "That¡¯s because I am." "Ah, really??" the young woman exclaimed in pleasant surprise. "Can I get your signature, please?" "Not now. I need to deliver the medicine, remember? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll promise to return and thank you when the patient has fully recovered!" "Okay! You¡¯d better keep your promise!" "Bet!" I stuffed the medicine into my pocket and returned to the car once more. Then, I started the engine and drove into the powerful downpour once more. I drove straight for the highway entrance. I needed to get back as quickly as I could to ensure that He Yi¡¯s eyes would heal smoothly. Otherwise, I would regret this for the rest of my life. She had already given up too much for me, and there were only so many things I could do for her. Along the way, the GPS kept warning me that I was exceeding the speed limit. I would release the gas pedal for a moment only to speed up again before I knew it. It was a struggle to keep my composure the entire way. Again, I was surprised by how few cars there were on the highway. Normally, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising if I was stuck in a traffic jam. It wasn¡¯t until later that I learned that some highway entrances had been closed because the downpour was so strong that driving on the highway had been judged to be a safety hazard. On top of it, it was a workday. I touched the medicine in my pocket as I approached the exit to Suzhou. A sense of satisfaction welled in my heart. The doctor called this a specialized medicine, so I was sure that He Yi would recover very soon. It was at this moment a shudder coursed through my entire body, and an unnatural numbness began spreading from that very arm. I stepped down on the brakes almost reflexively. This was absolutely the worst possible timing for my symptoms to suddenly return! Boom! There was a bang and a screech of metal as the X12 slammed hard against a bridge pier to my right at nearly 110 km/h. I could¡¯ve been tossed right out of the window if my seat belt hadn¡¯t kept me firmly in my seat. I could see debris flying from in front of my car even as it spun wildly across the highway. The next moment, I lost nearly all of the strength in my body. The engine was dead before I realized it. I couldn¡¯t muster any energy to help myself. The car crash was obviously one reason, but the virus¡¯s sudden flare-up was a major reason as well. It also proved that the suppressant Xu Ning had given wasn''t completely effective. The virus in my body was far stronger than the one in Lin Yixin after all. Creeeeak¡­ Somehow, I slid out of my seatbelt and hit the ground with a thump. Rainwater splashed against my face, but my consciousness was still clear. Cars kept driving by the wreckage that was my car, but no one even slowed to take a look at what had happened, much less lend a helping hand[7]. Suddenly, my phone started ringing in my pocket. I did my best to fish it out, but I lacked the strength to even raise it to my ear. When it slipped out of my grasp and hit the ground with a thud, I seized the chance to press down on the receive call button. Unfortunately, any voice that might¡¯ve come from the phone was drowned out by the heavy downpour. A few seconds later, the phone let out a sizzling spark before dying. Its circuits had been fried by the rain. My consciousness grew more and more blurry. I wanted to cry, my body had no strength to do even that. It wasn¡¯t because of the car crash, it was because the virus was spreading and slowly but surely taking over my entire body. ¡­¡­ An unknown amount of time later, I suddenly heard a shrill braking noise from beside my car. It was because a black Lamborghini that was driving in reverse down the highway had suddenly screeched to a stop before maneuvering around to the back of my wrecked X12. I was barely clinging to my consciousness at that point. However, someone lifted my head and held me against their bosom, sharing with me their warmth in this cold, dark night. I looked up and saw that it was Murong Mingyue. Her coffee-colored uniform was drenched in blood, and her face was covered in both rainwater and tears. She cried loudly while holding me, "What happened to you, Lu Chen[8]?" I raised my arm with all my might and wiped away the tears on her cheeks. "I¡¯m fine, sis. I¡­" "Stop talking¡­" she cried uncontrollably. "I¡¯ll take you home. I¡¯ll take you home¡­" Murong Mingyue wasn¡¯t physically strong, so it took her a while to carry me into her car and fasten the seatbelt for me. After she had returned to her seat, she took another look at me before leaning against the steering wheel and bursting into tears once more. She couldn¡¯t stop shaking until a long time later. Now that I was out of the rain, my body was beginning to regain some of its strength again. I put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Stop crying, sis. Why so sad? It was just a small accident. You don¡¯t need to cry that much¡­" She looked at me with glistening eyes. "I¡­ I just can¡¯t accept that the man who single-handedly raised Ancient Sword to the top, saved the China server, and bantered dirty jokes with me all the time would¡­ would suddenly become so weak¡­" I nearly broke into tears myself, but I forced myself to say quietly, "It¡¯s okay¡­ even if I¡¯m weakened, I promise I will walk with all of you¡­ until the end of my life[9]¡­" Murong Mingyue stared at me for a moment before hugging me tightly, her tears streaming down without control. "Stupid dummy¡­" 1. T/N: does that mean she can only use eyedrops to clean her eyes? Shedding tears is like a vital function of the eyes lol ? 2. T/N: for once, both the disease and the drug are complete fabrication ? 3. T/N: HOLY SHIT COMMON SENSE! ? 4. T/N: guess what¡¯s going to happen in the next couple paragraphs ? 5. T/N: reference to a show called ¡®Protector of the Earth¡¯, I believe ? 6. T/N: according to a random Chinese article, you are allowed to turn on the emergency lights under exceptional circumstances. I guess a super downpour on the highway does count as one ? 7. T/N: it is like this in some countries ? 8. T/N: what you should¡¯ve known was going to happen. What in the world made you think that letting a dying man go on a 2-hour drive on a rainy night is a good idea? ? 9. T/N: guess who breaks his word the very next chapter ? CH 1595 A long time later, I patted Murong Mingyue on the shoulder again and said, "Alright, that¡¯s enough¡­ Sister Yi is still waiting for us to deliver her medicine, you know. The doctor said that she has to receive her treatment in 5 hours, and 3 hours have already passed¡­"[1] One hand on the handbrake, a red-eyed Murong Mingyue pulled away from me and said, "Mn!" When the Lamborghini¡¯s engine roared, I suddenly noticed that the windshield was cracked here and there. I couldn¡¯t help but blurt out, "Sis, you were driving over from Suzhou, right? Did you ram through the traffic barrier[2] to get to this lane? You¡¯re crazy¡­" Murong Mingyue shot me a look. "What could I do? Your call had cut short without warning, and I¡¯d heard enough unnatural noises to know that something must¡¯ve happened to you on the road. My only choice was to ram through the traffic barrier once I found you. Thank goodness there weren¡¯t many cars on the road, or I would¡¯ve been in a really bad spot. I had a few close brushes just now, and it was really scary to say the least¡­" I curled my lips. "Well, prepare to say goodbye to your driver¡¯s license!" "It¡¯ll be fine, I know people in the traffic department¡­" "What the hell¡­" ¡­¡­ We returned to the workshop looking as wet as fish. Beiming Xue ran up to us immediately and asked, "Are you okay, big bro? Why are you so drenched? There¡¯s also a bruise on your forehead¡­" I shook my head and shot her a reassuring smile. "It¡¯s nothing. It was just a minor car accident¡­" "What about your X12?" "It¡¯s totaled. It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll just get a Ferrari now¡­" "..." I returned to He Yi¡¯s room and took out the medicine in my pockets. Thank goodness it hadn¡¯t been damaged during the car accident. The rest of the prescription had already been delivered to the doctors¡¯ hands, so they immediately began the treatment process after I had given them the Nordfran powder. He Yi couldn¡¯t see that we were drenched. She asked, "Is Lu Chen okay, Mingyue?" Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t want her to worry, so she answered, "Yes, he was just delayed by the rain. He¡¯s right here with me, isn''t he?" "That¡¯s good. My heartbeat was racing for no reason just now. I thought it was a bad premonition¡­" "Clearly, it¡¯s just your overactive imagination playing tricks on you!" "Yes, it is¡­" ¡­¡­ At some point during the night, the downpour finally stopped and revealed a bright, round moon in the sky. It looked so white and pure it was as if it had been cleansed by the rain. I was sitting next to He Yi and keeping her company. "Take your shoes off and climb into the bed with me, will you?" He Yi asked suddenly. I did as she asked and slipped my legs under the blanket. She immediately hugged me and pressed her face against my neck. Her warm breath was both ticklish and comfortable at the same time. My emotions were a jumbled mess. I didn¡¯t know how much longer I could enjoy this moment of tranquility. "I need to tell you something, Sister Yi," I said after a very long time. She looked up. "Yes? What is it?" "I¡¯m going to head overseas to treat my sickness. I won¡¯t be coming back until I¡¯m fully healed." My arms were shaking a little when I lied to her face. I had promised that I would never lie to her for as long as I lived, but in the end, I wasn¡¯t able to keep that oath. Surprise colored He Yi¡¯s features before she replied softly, "Is that so? I¡¯ll come with you. I want to stay by your side¡­" I caressed her soft, long hair and said, "No. You need to rest until your eyes are fully healed. Just stay in Suzhou and wait for me to return." She stayed silent for a moment before looking at me. "I know you¡¯re lying, but I¡¯m still going to believe you because I love you¡­" I trembled all over and nearly broke into tears. I hugged her tightly and kissed her on the lips. He Yi returned my affections just as strongly. Two hours later, I finally gathered enough resolve to take my leave. ¡­¡­ Standing beside He Yi¡¯s bed, I bent down to kiss her once more in the lips before saying with a smile, "Be a good girl and wait for me to come home, okay? I promise you I will come back no matter what. I will definitely keep this promise¡­" He Yi bit her lower lip as she stared at me. Maybe it was because she couldn¡¯t see me clearly, but she said quietly, "I will. If you don¡¯t, I will still wait for you to return home." "Mn. Don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t disappoint you!" I gave her a pat on the shoulder to feign casualness and walked out of the room. The second I was out of the door though, a tear slid down my cheeks almost immediately. I leaned against the wall for a moment to muster myself. This may be the last time I saw He Yi. This may very well be our last day together. Do I really want to leave like this? I turned around and stared at He Yi¡¯s unfocused eyes. Tears poured down my cheeks like an unending waterfall. It was time to leave. No matter how much I hated to leave her side, my desire to stay could only be satiated if I overcame my tribulation. ¡­¡­ I turned around and walked out of the workshop. Murong Mingyue, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and Xinran were already waiting at the gate. We had agreed that I would be leaving because He Yi could never truly rest as long as my presence reminded her of my condition. The fact that I was deteriorating faster than expected was a major reason I had chosen to leave as well. She might never recover from her eye disease if she had to deal with me getting ever so closer to death by her side. "Big bro¡­" Beiming Xue suddenly burst into tears. "You must come home, big bro¡­" I gave her a hug and said, "Mn. I will do everything in my power to live for your and everyone else¡¯s sake¡­" "We all love you, big bro!" "I know¡­" I let go of Beiming Xue and went to hug Xinran next. She asked me with her eyes widened, "Where are you going, big brother?" I answered, "A place far, far away from here." "When will you be coming home?" Xinran asked again. I replied, "Soon. Maybe a month, maybe sooner than that¡­" Xinran broke into tears immediately. "Don¡¯t leave, big brother! What will I do without you?" I held her tighter. "You¡¯ll be good. Sorry, it¡¯s all my fault. While I am gone, sis will take care of you in my stead. I promise you I will do everything in my power to come home because I too wish to stay with you, watch you grow up, see you marry a good man and so on¡­" She continued to cry in my arms. "Little Xin?" I turned around and went to hug Lian Xin next. "Cry if you want. You¡¯ll feel better that way¡­" Her shoulders shook as she sobbed against my chest, "I¡¯ve just come home a year ago or so, and you¡¯re leaving me already? You said you would stay with us forever. Why are you breaking your promise?" "I will come home. This, I promise!" I said with resolve before letting go of Lian Xin as well. Finally, I wrapped an arm around Murong Mingyue¡¯s waist and shot her a smile. "I¡¯m leaving, sis. You want a goodbye kiss?" Without a word, she wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her lips against mine. After teasing me a little with her soft tongue, she let me go and said with rosy cheeks, "That¡¯s another one ticked off the checklist. Now I have no regrets¡­" I smiled. "Alright, now that the hugs and French kisses are over, I¡¯m going. Be safe and wait for me to come home, all of you¡­" "Mn!" ¡­¡­ I got inside a brand new Buick¡ªit was a company car Lin Yujia had assigned me¡ªstepped on the gas pedal and left[3]. I dared not look back because I was afraid that I would lose all my resolve the second I did so. After driving for about a kilometer or so, I stopped the car by the roadside and gave Lin Yixin a call¡ª "Yiyi¡­" "Mn. Why haven¡¯t you logged into the game?" I exhaled once before replying, "Yiyi, my condition has worsened once more. The suppressant lost effect much sooner than expected." "What? Come back as quickly as you can!" "Sorry, but not this time¡­" Lin Yixin asked, "What are you planning?" I said quietly, "The suppressants have always been nothing more but a stop-gap. They slow down the deterioration, but don¡¯t change the fact that I¡¯m going to die. According to Professor Liu, I will gradually lose my senses. I won¡¯t be able to see, hear, or even feel pain by the time virus is done ravaging my body. I don¡¯t want you to see me like this. That is why I¡¯m going to find a safe place and wait for¡­ well¡­ don¡¯t worry though. I¡¯m still going to send Uncle Ning a blood sample everyday. I¡¯m not going to give up until the end. Yiyi, I love you. I don¡¯t want you to see me ugly and weakened. I¡¯m glad I have met you during the best moments of my life, and I don¡¯t have any regrets¡­" Lin Yixin finally could hold back her emotions and wept on the other side of the phone. I hung up the call and took out the SIM card. I snapped it in half and tossed it into the rubbish bin. I restarted the engine and drove to the gaming base next. It wasn¡¯t long before I saw Gui Guzi standing on the pavement with a solemn expression on his face. He climbed into the front passenger seat after I stopped the car. "Did you get everything?" I asked. The man nodded. "Yeah. I promise I won¡¯t tell anyone about your location. Not even Brother Thirteen, Mamate or Beiming will get me to talk. Where do you want to go, Boss Broken Halberd?¡± I thought for a moment before answering, "Let¡¯s go to Hangzhou, Zhejiang¡­" "Okay." "Can you drive? I¡¯m afraid I will suddenly lose strength." "Yeah, sure!" After we swapped seats, the car engine roared, disappearing into the darkness of the night. We entered the highway and left Suzhou in almost no time at all. I took a moment to check out my bag. My bank cards, gaming helmet, suppressants[4] and a batch of vials were all there. I should have everything I needed to survive until the final moment, no matter where I went. We arrived at Hangzhou at almost midnight. We continued to travel north from there. "Take a right turn and get off the highway, Little Gui. It¡¯s time to find a town somewhere¡­" "Yeah¡­" Few cars were driving so late into the night. I read the road signs as we traveled along a moderately wide road¡ª Right Turn¡ªGucheng Lin¡¯an Left Turn¡ªYang Guo Cun Straight Ahead¡ªLittle Cabbage Memorial Hall, Yuhang Old Town ¡­¡­ I pointed to the front and said, "Let¡¯s go to Yuhang Old Town, Little Gui." He nodded. "Right away!" At midnight sharp, we parked our car in front of a house in Yuhang Old Town. It had a small courtyard with a fir tree in it. My bag on my back, I stepped out of the car and knocked on the door. A minute or two later, a middle-aged man who looked to be around 50 years old opened the door and asked me with a puzzled expression, "Do you need anything, young man?" I replied humbly, "Uncle, I¡¯m a traveler from Suzhou, and I would like to rent a room and stay in your house for a bit. Is that okay? Don¡¯t mind my companion, he won¡¯t be staying with me. All I ask is that you feed me everyday. I¡¯ll pay you 5,000 RMB to stay in your house for a month." He looked puzzled. "But why would you¡­?" I smiled. "I just want a change of air." "Well¡­ okay. My son is working in another state, and he won¡¯t be returning for at least another year. You can stay in his room!" "Thank you so much, uncle¡­" ¡­¡­ At midnight, I sat in an unfamiliar environment and stared at the many stars above my head. I let out a shuddering breath. Outside the window, Gui Guzi said, "I¡¯m going now, Boss Broken Halberd. T-take care¡­ I¡¯ll come visit you every afternoon¡­" I nodded. "Yeah. Book a room in the urban area and stay there for the night. It¡¯s not safe to drive so late[5]." "I know¡­" The Buick vanished, and I continued to sit there feeling as if I had lost something. Suddenly, my body heated up, and the tearing pain that I had grown all too familiar with assaulted my senses once more. 1. T/N: on a related note, did you guys know how fucking dangerous it is to park your car on the highway? You didn¡¯t even park it in front of wreckage so the crazy drivers will hit it first ? 2. T/N: it can also be the road-block that prevents the cars from entering the highway because of heavy rain as mentioned in the previous chapter, but Lu Chen specifically mentioned that she drove over from the opposite side so it can only mean one thing ? 3. T/N: then he crashed 3 seconds into the drive and died because WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU STILL DRIVING? YOU CRASHED LITERALLY HOURS AGO BECAUSE YOUR ILLNESS KICKED IN AT THE WORST POSSIBLE TIME! ? 4. T/N: thank fuck, for a moment I thought he was so stupid that he didn¡¯t even take the suppressants ? 5. T/N: if only you¡¯ll take your own advice, or any common sense at all really ? CH 1596 There was a small path covered in maple leaves and surrounded by flowers. I was walking along it while dressed in a white shirt. The cheerful laughter coming from the forest reminded me of the joy of the good old days. "Lu Chen¡­" He Yi stared at me. "Little Cheat¡­" Lin Yixin¡¯s dimpled smile was just as beautiful as ever. Li Chengfeng and High Fighting Spirits greeted me in casual clothes, "Hey, brother!" Gui Guzi clenched his fists. "Boss Broken Halberd¡­" Du Thirteen and Yamete called out my name, "Lu Chen¡­" ¡­¡­ I tried to keep pace with everyone despite my heavy footsteps, but their figures grew more and more distant until I could no longer see them. It felt as if they had vanished from my life. In the end, I had to face the end alone. At least I had a feeling that this decision had been my own. If I must depart this world, then I would depart alone and in silence. "Ah¡­" I was startled awake from my dreams and found myself in the bedroom of a random house of Yuhang Old Town. I looked outside. The sunlight was bright, the tree branches were swaying hypnotically to the wind, and the air was filled with the scent of flowers and the melodious chirps of birds. I sat up and quickly discovered that I was drenched in sweat. Heaven only knows how many nightmares I had suffered throughout the night. It was at this moment I heard someone knocking on the door. It was the uncle asking, "Boy, breakfast is ready. Do you want me to bring it to your room, or do you want to come out and have it in the courtyard?" I replied, "I¡¯ll come out in a moment, uncle!" "Alright then. Remember, it¡¯s at the table in the courtyard." "Okay!" I took a good look in the mirror after putting on my clothes. My face was the face of an incredibly haggard man. I tried putting on my shoes only to discover that even the simple action was growing difficult. It was as if my strength was being drained little by little. I arrived at the study table and drew my blood into the vials. Then, I went out and basked in the morning sunlight. However, a burning sensation assaulted my senses almost immediately. It was exactly like when I had caught the virus at the beginning. Sunlight was painful for me now. There was a small square table beneath the fir tree in the courtyard. A bowl of egg noodles with chopped onions sprinkled over them had already been set on it. The uncle was sitting at the entrance and holding his own bowl of noodles when he greeted me with a smile, "You¡¯re a late riser, aren¡¯t you? Oh right, I haven¡¯t asked for your name." I answered, "I¡¯m Lu Chen from Suzhou, uncle." "I see. Is it just me, or do you look a bit ill, youngster? You just woke up, but you look rather lethargic¡­" I smiled. "Yeah. I am a little sick right now. It¡¯s fine though, I¡¯ve gone to the hospital already. The doctor just told me to rest more." "Well, finish up your noodles now! They will get cold if you leave them any longer!" "Okay." I complied, but found myself unable to down more than half a bowl. My body was deteriorating at a rate faster than I could possibly imagine. After I finished breakfast, I returned to my room, shut the door and took a bath. I put on the same clothes I had been wearing the day before¡ªI could just ask Gui Guzi to buy some for me later¡ªand stared at my phone for a bit. I then inserted a new phone card, entered Gui Guzi¡¯s number and called him. "Hello, who is this?" Gui Guzi asked from the other side of the phone. I coughed. "It¡¯s me, Little Gui. This is my new number. Have you returned to Suzhou already?" "Yeah, I returned before the day broke. By the way, I think you should log into the game, Boss Broken Halberd. Show Boss Eve and the girls that you¡¯re online everyday. It¡¯ll assure them that you¡¯re¡­ still around." "Good idea, Little Gui. I¡¯ll do that. By the way, can you buy me some clothes when you come over in the afternoon? I haven¡¯t brought extra clothes with me." "No problem. One more thing." "Speak!" "The girls didn¡¯t participate in the WEL last night because of your matter, so Frost Cloud workshop has dropped into the losers¡¯ bracket¡­ Should I tell them to expect you tonight? It feels like a huge shame to give up like this¡­" I shook my head. "Forget it, there¡¯s no way I can compete in the WEL like this. Whether Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls can climb to the top a second time is up to you, Chengfeng, and everyone else in the second seed." Resolved and serious, he replied, "Don¡¯t worry, Boss Broken Halberd. I won¡¯t disappoint you. I promise to give the WEL my all, eliminate all enemies, and take the champion trophy back to the base!" "Good. I¡¯m going to catch some rest now. You go do whatever you need to do. Also, don¡¯t forget to take a break later. I doubt you¡¯ve had the best sleep last night." "Got it!" ¡­¡­ While lying on the bed, I glanced to the side and found a Heavenblessed data port, as expected. Eternal Moon had equipped every household with a dedicated line years prior. I decided that I might as well go online and check out how everyone was doing. Swhoosh! After appearing in Sky City, I stood silent in the adventurer¡¯s inn for a while. A lot of players were surprised when they logged into the game and found me right next to them. Very soon, I received a ton of messages from Beiming Xue, Lin Yixin, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Stranger of Three Lifetimes and more. I didn¡¯t read all of them. I responded to all the messages with: "I¡¯m fine. Thank you for your concern!" After that, I moved to a private room and called Lin Yixin on the communicator¡ª "Little Cheat¡­" I could hear the cry in her voice. I said, "Don¡¯t cry, Yiyi. Be strong. I¡¯m still doing okay. I promise to log into the game everyday so you can see me." Lin Yixin couldn¡¯t stop sobbing. "But¡­ but I miss you so much. What do I do? Where are you right now?" I chuckled. "Be good, Yiyi. I¡¯m in a town in Jiangnan right now. The environment here¡¯s pretty nice and comfortable. I¡¯ll bring you here for a trip once I¡¯ve recovered." Lin Yixin nodded sharply. "That¡¯s a promise. You¡¯d better not lie to me¡­" "Of course. When have I ever lied to you[1]?" Lin Yixin choked out a chuckle. "Would I be calling you Little Cheat if you had never lied to me?" "Er¡­¡± ¡­¡­ We ended the call after chatting for a while longer. Next, I called Beiming Xue¡ª "Beiming?" "Big bro¡­" Beiming Xue was crying before she even said anything, "You have to be safe. You have to come back alive, big bro¡­" I replied, "Don¡¯t worry, Beiming. I¡¯m doing okay right now. By the way, how is Eve doing today?" "Sister He Yi¡¯s eyes are recovering nicely. She could already see me today¡­" "That¡¯s good to hear¡­" I smiled a little before continuing. "Eve is sick, sis has to take charge of Raincube while she¡¯s gone, Xinran is still young, and Little Xin hasn¡¯t yet acclimatized to the country after returning from overseas. That is why you are the only one who can support the workshop now. Be strong just like your big bro, okay? Be strong enough to take care of Sister Yi, Xinran, and everyone else. Can you promise me this?" She nodded. "I know, big bro. But can you promise me that you will stay alive, no matter what? I¡­ I don''t want to wake up one day with the realization that you are gone forever¡­" I consoled her, "Yes, don¡¯t worry. I will come back. I¡¯ll log in at least once everyday so that you know I¡¯m here. If you feel worried, you simply need to check my data to know the last time I¡¯ve logged into the game. I¡¯ll prove to everyone that I will survive this. I will live past my 30-day deadline and conquer this virus once and for all¡­" "Yeah. Do your best, big bro¡­" ¡­¡­ I turned off the communicator and made a mental calculation. There were only 23 days left before the virus utterly demolished my body. Despite my promises, I had no idea if I could hold out for that long. Thud! I leaped into the air and left Sky City. A few minutes later, I landed in front of a newbie village. A new group of Goblins, Big-eared Rabbits and more mobs had just spawned, and newbies were fighting against them to level up. They reminded me of young heroes ready to prove their mettle to the world. I slowly walked into a nearby forest and headed toward Frost Mound. It was where Lin Yixin and I had met for the first time. All the big or small moments in my life played out in my mind. No one had imagined that my journey would end up this way. Finally, I arrived at the blood pond where Xinran had been killed by Suren. It was also where Lin Yixin and I PK¡¯d each other for the first time. Thud¡­ I knelt down beside the blood pond, unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword, and stabbed it into the ground. Then, I rested against it and just sat there for a very, very long time. I reminisced about the good old days. The melancholy of the moment made me feel like I was waiting and praying to be saved. ¡­¡­ I checked the Heavenly Ranking. At Level 275, I was the number one player on the level ranking, as a matter of course, but it wouldn¡¯t be long before Candlelight Shadow, Luo River God of the Capital and more caught up to me. Luo River God of the Capital was the runner-up at Level 267; an unsurprising outcome considering that she had always been one of the fastest grinders in the game. Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue or Lian Xin should have been fighting for the third spot, but because of my matter they weren¡¯t logging in enough. Still, it wouldn¡¯t be long before they began grinding once more. Long story short, there was no way I could maintain my position as the number one ranker for long. Even if I miraculously conquered the virus 23 days later, someone would¡¯ve surpassed me by then[2]. It didn¡¯t matter though. Right now, surviving should be my first priority¡­ Some time later, I rose to my feet and made He Yi the city lord of Dark Moon City. Just in case. Finally, I flew around the entire Heavenblessed continent one more time, before returning to Sky City and logging out of the game. ¡­¡­ Lunch was basically what you might expect in a farmer¡¯s family¡ªthree dishes, one soup, and a bottle of Wuliangye. My kindhearted landlord had even slaughtered a chicken for me. He raised a cup at me with a grin. "Care to drink with an old man, youngster?" I smiled and took a seat immediately. "Of course. It¡¯s boring to drink alone anyway!" He was just filling my cup when we heard the sound of a car braking. It was Gui Guzi. He walked over with a huge bag of stuff and smiled when he saw us eating lunch in the courtyard. "Looks like I¡¯m right on time. Is it okay if I join you all for lunch?" The uncle smiled wider. "Of course, friend of Lu Chen. Let¡¯s all enjoy a drink together!" Gui Guzi took a seat beside me. Then, he examined my complexion and asked, "Have you used the suppressant yet?" I shook my head. "No. I¡¯ll use it after lunch!" "Got it. By the way, I¡¯ve gotten two new suppressants from Beauty Lin. They¡¯re numbered, so make sure you use them in order." "I know, I¡¯m not that illiterate that I can¡¯t recognize arabic numerals¡­" "Good¡­" ¡­¡­ Drinking spirits with high alcohol content felt like setting your heart on fire sometimes. However, baijiu seemed like the best anesthetic on a bad day like this one, not to mention that the doctor hadn¡¯t warned me not to drink alcohol[3]. Even if they did, everyone would die one day, so whatever¡­ Gui Guzi and I turned red after downing several cups of baijiu, but we didn¡¯t slow for even a moment. Happy that he had found two drinking partners, the uncle opened another bottle. Just like that, we drained two bottles of baijiu in a single afternoon. Around 1 pm or so, I returned to my room and used a suppressant. I waved my arm and felt my strength returning a little. I was aware that it treated the symptoms but not the root cause, but it was better than doing nothing at all. 1. T/N: like right now? ? 2. T/N: How though? It¡¯s the level cap. Is there a hidden point system that calculates effort or something? ? 3. T/N: no, they told you to avoid all stimulating substances, which you yourself admit that baijiu was a while ago. Can someone restrain this motherfucker and tie him to a hospital bed already? This is insane! ? Favorite CH 1597 Whoosh whoosh¡­ A lightning strike awoke me from my slumber. It was raining heavily outside. A rhythmic rumbling also resounded from beside my feet¡ªit was Gui Guzi leaning against the bottom side of the bed and snoring away with his thunder-like snores. I checked the time and saw that it was already evening, so I kicked him awake and said, "Wake up, drunkard. Are you going back to Suzhou today or what?" Gui Guzi rubbed his nose sleepily before jolting awake all of a sudden. "Oh shit, what time is it? I haven¡¯t missed today¡¯s WEL, have I?" I shook my head. "No, but did you bring your gaming helmet with you? If you left it back at Suzhou then you¡¯re definitely missing today¡¯s WEL." He smiled. "Nah, I brought it with me just in case. It¡¯s in the car right now. I¡¯ll grab it, find a hotel around town and log in from there." I nodded. "Good idea!" ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi grimaced when he saw the dark clouds and terrible downpour outside the window. "The heavens just gotta rain when the roof is leaking[1]¡­" I rolled my eyes at him. "It¡¯s not leaking though, is it? Now cut the bullcrap and go check if there¡¯s an umbrella or two around the corner. It¡¯s highly unlikely the landlord will be able to buy the groceries necessary to cook our dinner tonight, so we should take him to a nearby restaurant instead." "Yeah!" There was a pair of old umbrellas in the house, but Gui Guzi still ran back to his car and grabbed a big umbrella we would all fit under. The landlord tried to turn us down claiming that he was way too old for an outing like this, but we eventually succeeded in dragging him into the car. Gui Guzi kicked the gas pedal and vroomed deeper into the town. A while later, we paused in front of a small fish restaurant and sat down at a corner on the second floor. There was hardly anyone in the restaurant because of the weather. Gui Guzi was now a rich man, so he didn¡¯t hesitate to order a ton of delicious food. Stunned by his lavishness, our landlord asked, "Lu Chen, what does your friend do?" I thought for a moment before answering, "Oh, he¡¯s the backbone of a tech company. He dabbles in source code." "Oh, what a successful young man you are! How much do you earn per month?" Gui Guzi answered a bit embarrassedly, "About 200k or so¡­" I rolled my eyes at him again. Was he trying to give him a heart attack? As expected, the landlord was speechless for a very long time. Gui Guzi probably looked like a god to him right now. When he recovered, he asked again, "Lu Chen is your colleague, right? He should be earning a lot of money as well?" Gui Guzi said, "Oh, him? He¡¯s just the security guard. He earns 2,000 RMB per month at our company¡­" I stared at him. Someone¡¯s getting their ass kicked once I recover my strength! ¡­¡­ We were chatting about random stuff when suddenly, I received a call from Xu Ning. I had sent him my new phone number earlier. As usual, he wanted to talk about my condition. "Are you busy right now, Lu Chen?" Xu Ning asked. "Nah. What is it, Uncle Ning?" I replied smilingly. "I have a couple of news to share with you regarding your sickness. First, the University of California has joined the research program. Second, during this afternoon¡¯s seminar, the world¡¯s most prestigious scholar in the field of genetics declared that after repeatedly analyzing your virus, he managed to discover a pattern using some sort of asymmetric algorithm[2]. According to his findings, your virus will never stop damaging your genetic structure, making it impossible to heal you completely via medication." It was shockingly bad news. "Does¡­ does that mean there¡¯s no hope for me?" "No," Xu Ning said in a reassuring tone, "he has come up with a different solution. He wishes to build a never-before-seen machine. Theoretically, the machine will kill the cancerous cells in your body using gamma rays between 450 to 700 rem while another machine repairs your genes continuously at the same time. Supposedly, the chances of this method curing your permanently are over 40%. There is a prerequisite that must be fulfilled before the method can be attempted, however. First, they must fully analyze the genetic code of your virus, and that will take some time¡­" I sucked in a deep breath. "So, you¡¯re saying that I must survive until they can give me the help I need?" He nodded. "The company has already negotiated an agreement with the research institutes. We have allocated them 500 million USD to finish the analysis as soon as possible. What I want to say is¡­ we are all doing our best to save you, so you¡¯d better do your best to live until then too. Once the analysis reaches 100% completion, we¡¯ll be able to give you the treatment you need right away." I nodded smilingly. "Got it, Uncle Ning[3]. You scared me at the beginning, but I guess your news wasn''t bad after all!" "Of course. We held three board meetings in three days, all to keep you alive, you know? No one wants our young CEO to pass away so soon, so you too should do your best to live as long as possible, okay?" "Haha, yeah. Thank you, Uncle Ning!" "Mn. I¡¯ll contact you again as soon as there is any progress!" "Okay!" ¡­¡­ Gui Guzi smiled after I hung up. "It sounds like there¡¯s a new breakthrough or something." I nodded. "Yeah. The new plan is to kill the virus with a 700-rem gamma ray¡­" Gui Guzi looked surprised. "Seriously? I heard that 700 rems is enough to kill a man directly¡­" I smiled. "I know, that¡¯s what I thought too. It feels like a bit like a scam to be honest, but if I¡¯m going to die anyway, I may as well try out the one that gives me the best chance of recovery, no matter how dangerous it may seem!" Beside us, the landlord looked completely confused. "Boys, why can¡¯t I understand a word of what you¡¯re saying?" I chuckled. "It¡¯s nothing, uncle. We¡¯re just talking about some company business!" "But aren¡¯t you a security guard? Has the bar risen so high that even security guards have to learn some deep stuff these days?" "Er¡­ I¡¯m guarding the server room, so I need to have some knowledge too, you know¡­" "Oh, I see¡­" ¡­¡­ At night, Gui Guzi stayed at an express inn while the landlord and I returned to the house. At the study table, I surfed the internet using the brand new notebook Gui Guzi had brought me. As I was checking the China server forums, I found a popular thread where the main character was none other than Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡ª [Stickied post] Lu Chen is gravely ill and soon to pass away. Where will Ancient Sword go from here? Content: During the previous Nation War, the Little Heavenly King, Lu Chen, stunned the entire world by conquering all four tier 1 main cities in one fell swoop. However, he was forced to log out of the game prematurely due to an unknown illness. It is rumored that he had caught an extremely dangerous viral disease, and the fact that he fainted during the WEL briefing seems to corroborate that rumor. Lu Chen is the symbol of an era and the leader of the China server. While we are all praying for Lu Chen¡¯s safety, we cannot help but notice that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ very existence is under threat right now. Even their guild leader, From Water, has not logged into the game for some time. Not long ago, Cyan Earth City¡¯s Breeze and Rain and God of War and Burning City¡¯s Tear Stain had declared that they would flatten Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ headquarters, the Rank 11 Dark Moon City. Will Legendary Brave, Gui Guzi and more be able to defend Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls¡¯ honor without Lu Chen? There were a ton of replies under the post¡ª 1st comment (Player "Tian Zheng"): I pray for the Little Heavenly King¡¯s safety and swift recovery! 2nd comment (Player "Naughty Yao Yao"): I wuv the Little Heavenly King. May he be safe and sound! 3rd comment (Player "Warsky"): Ancient Sword is the eternal champion of the China server! 4th comment (Player "Stranger of Three Lifetimes"): I wuv Lu Chen¡­ 5th comment (Player "Rose Thorn"): We may have been opponents in the past, but I still wish that Lu Chen recovers as soon as possible! ¡­¡­ I couldn¡¯t help but smile as I looked at the screen. The Nation Wars we had fought weren¡¯t in vain after all. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was now the sun of the China server, and it should be fine even if He Yi and I weren¡¯t available to manage the guild. Even enemy guilds such as Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon had ceased their hostility toward us. Perhaps I could even trust them to fight with us when Cyan Earth City and Burning City launched their inevitable assault against Dark Moon City. Plus, we still had the 1,000 Bone Dragons I had obtained from Sophie. Their dragon breaths should be enough to thwart anything God of War and Breeze and Rain might throw at us. I checked out the WEL preliminaries next. A lot of matches had already been played out, and, as expected, the first seeds of Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon, Blazing Hot Lips, Snowy Cathaya and so on had been able to enter the offline qualifiers without troubles. In fact, our team was the only team that defied expectations and fell to the loser¡¯s bracket. We might not even be participating in the national qualifiers, much less the international tournament. I couldn¡¯t say I hadn¡¯t expected this though. The girls were incredibly demoralized after my sudden departure. It wouldn¡¯t surprise me if they had chosen to forfeit the competition already. Beep! Suddenly, I received a forum private message from Stranger of Three Lifetimes. It wasn¡¯t a particularly long one: During the briefing, you said ¡®I have achieved my aspirations, and I have no regrets¡¯. You were right. In life, you bloomed as bright as the flowers of summer. In death, I expect you to wilt as artfully as the leaves of autumn as well. Not that I expect that to happen until many, many decades later. You will always be our Little Heavenly King, Lu Chen! I smiled and sent her a reply: "Thanks, Momo. Fight well in the WEL. You must enter the quarterfinals no matter what! I believe in you! ¡­¡­ After that, I logged into the game. Swhoosh! I inspected myself after appearing in Sky City. Everything was as it should be. I then sent Li Chengfeng a message: "You busy, Chengfeng?" He replied, "Nah. You finally came online. Are you doing well?" I smiled. "I am. Can you come to Dark Moon City¡¯s territory hall right now? I¡¯ll be waiting for you there." "Sure!" I teleported over to Dark Moon City and entered the territory hall. Then, I stood next to the throne and waited for Li Chengfeng to arrive. Just a few seconds later, the dragon warrior strode in in silver armor and the Cyan Peak Halberd in his hand. He was ridiculously handsome as usual. "Yo! What is this about?" Li Chengfeng greeted me smilingly. I waved my sword before saying, "I can¡¯t compete in the WEL anymore. You already know about this, right?" "Yeah." "I have a serious question for you." I suddenly trained my eyes on Li Chengfeng and asked, "Do you still loathe Candlelight Shadow?" The dragon warrior was caught off-guard by this. "I, er¡­" "Please answer me honestly." "Fine¡­" Li Chengfeng sat down on the skeletal stairs before murmuring, "When I first found out about everything, I wanted to murder the bastard with my own two hands. Now though, after I¡¯ve had the time to process everything, I realize that the whole matter wasn¡¯t entirely his fault. Sometimes, things happen, one thing leads to another, and at the end, there¡¯s no villain you can put all the blame on. Life is all about the shades of gray. That being said, there is one thing I¡¯ve never changed my mind about¡­" "You still wish to defeat him, don¡¯t you?" I asked. The flames of ambition burned in his eyes. "Yeah. I will make him kneel before me with my own power!" I smiled. "Good. This WEL will be your best chance to do so!" "Yeah!" Li Chengfeng nodded strongly. "I will give it my all!" Crack¡­ After confirming Li Chengfeng¡¯s resolve, I removed the Song of Freedom, Scarlet Dragon Armor, Flying Dragon Wristguards, Pity of the Purgatory Gods, Cloak of the Divine Fervor, Rising Cloud and the rest of my equipment and passed them all to Li Chengfeng. I said, "I¡¯m in no condition to use these items right now, so I thought I might as well lend them to you to win the WEL. This is all I can do for you though. In the end, it is up to your skill to defeat himand take back the champion trophy to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!" Li Chengfeng trembled. "Lu Chen, you¡­" "Just think of it as safekeeping if you find it difficult to accept it. I should recover in a month or so, so I¡¯ll take them back once I¡¯m back. You¡¯d better not play dead and ghost us when the time comes, yeah?" "No problem¡­" Li Chengfeng accepted my equipment and equipped the Xuanyuan Sword. Then, he declared with determination, "Don¡¯t worry, Lu Chen. With this weapon, I promise to defeat Candlelight Shadow and seize the MVP title! No one will be able to stop me!" "Yeah. Do your best! I¡¯m logging out to take my suppressant now¡­" "Yeah. Live until I return with the trophy, okay?" "I¡¯ll try¡­" "Fuck trying! You will live and return to all of us, you hear me!?" said the dragon warrior, his eyes crimson red. 1. T/N: the english equivalent is "when it rains, it pours" ? 2. E/N: Okay, what I think author is trying to say here, it works like an MD5 hash, or asymmetric cryptography. Just knowing the result doesn¡¯t help. Hashing is one-way only, and in asymmetric cryptography result and public key aren¡¯t enough to decode the message. Basically, this virus is some alien shit rewriting his genetic code with a one-way hashing function, so it can not be reversed. ? 3. T/N: no you didn¡¯t. If you did you would be at a fucking hospital where medical personnel could respond to debilitating symptoms immediately and keep you alive for as long as they can ? CH 1598 T/N: This is the final chapter of the story, but don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s an epilogue chapter 17 days until the final day. When the losers¡¯ bracket matches of the WEL preliminaries began, Lian Xin, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue didn¡¯t show up just like the day before. As a result, Ancient Sword¡¯s first seed was disqualified from the competition. However, Ancient Sword¡¯s second seed¡ªthe team made up of Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits and more¡ªdisplayed extraordinary prowess and crushed every opponent they encountered. Li Chengfeng especially rarely encountered anyone who was worthy of being his opponent. In fact, during the surprise encounter with Ancient Sword¡¯s third seed in the preliminaries¡ªIt was the Soul Battle Robes team made up of God Bone, Song of Ice and Fire, Ringwraith and other familiar faces¡ªLi Chengfeng had won both his rounds and crushed Song of Ice and Fire in a dominant fashion using the Xuanyuan Sword. ¡­¡­ 15 days until the final day. At the sunlit courtyard, I was sitting in a recliner and drinking a fresh cup of coffee. Unfortunately, I could no longer smell or taste it anymore. Just a day earlier, the virus had robbed me of these two senses. The landlord was enjoying the fan while staring at the blue sky above our heads. He complained, "I can¡¯t believe how hot it is. Summer has just begun. By the way, where is your family, Lu Chen? You¡¯ve been here for two weeks already. Aren¡¯t they worried about you?" I smiled while holding the cup in my hand. "They have their own things to do, and I¡¯m here to enjoy a relaxing holiday. That¡¯s why they didn¡¯t come to find me." "I see. What would you like to eat for lunch? I can roast us a pair of fish if you¡¯d like. My fish-roasting skills are amazing, you know? It¡¯s something I had to learn when my wife passed away." "Sure. Thank you, uncle." "You¡¯re welcome!" ¡­¡­ 13 days before the final day. I had become so weak that I couldn¡¯t even lift my Alienware notebook[1] anymore. Moreover, the suppressants Gui Guzi had been delivering me everyday were nearly useless at this point. My condition was growing worse and worse, and since the summer season was approaching I couldn¡¯t even cover up my body with towels and long-sleeved shirts anymore. Du du du¡­ My phone rang. I accepted it immediately when I saw that it was from Xu Ning¡ª "How is it, Uncle Ning?" Xu Ning was breathing heavily on the other side of the call. "I just came back from a meeting. According to the latest news, after gathering at the University of California and spending 9 days working on your virus, the experts from all across the world have finally pushed the progress of the gene analysis to 87.2%. Stay calm and continue using the suppressants, no matter how ineffective they¡¯ve become. You must live so that our efforts are not in vain. Also¡­" I said, "Is it bad news? I can take it, Uncle Ning. Just tell me honestly¡­" Xu Ning said, "What? No. I just want to tell you that, the past couple of nights, at least several hundred players have gathered at the entrance of our headquarters to pray for your safety. I want you to know that you are not alone in this fight¡­" My heart grew warm as I replied, "Please thank them on my behalf, Uncle Ning. I would thank them in person, but I¡¯m in no condition to do so anymore." "Got it. By the way, if you don¡¯t mind me asking¡­ How bad is your condition right now?" I suppressed the bitterness in my heart and mumbled, "It¡¯s not too bad yet. I can¡¯t taste or smell anymore, but I can still hear clearly, and I still feel pain. My vision is growing blurrier though¡­" Xu Ning replied, "Understood¡­ one more thing. I went to visit the big miss the day before yesterday. There is not a day that passes by without her crying for you to come back. She even¡­" "Even what?" "A few days ago, she ordered a driver to take her to your hometown thinking you might be there. When she scoured the whole place to no avail, she cried for a long time inside the car. Don¡¯t¡­ don¡¯t you think our current arrangement is a torture both for you and for her¡­?" I sucked in a deep breath. "I know, Uncle Ning, I know¡­ but I still can¡¯t show myself to her, especially now. She will be frightened if she sees me in my current state[2]¡­" "I understand. I¡¯m in no position to judge if your decision is the correct one," Xu Ning chuckled. "Stay strong, Lu Chen. You are our pride. You must live for not only Xinran, but also the entire China server." "Yeah, I will¡­" ¡­¡­ 9 days before the final day. I hadn¡¯t been able to sleep properly the whole night. My skin felt like the surface of an erupting volcano. When I woke up the next day, I discovered that the bed sheets had become drenched in purple blood[3]. My skin was beginning to show signs of deterioration as well. When Gui Guzi came through the door and saw my appearance, he immediately lost his composure and started shedding tears like crazy. Despite that, he kept quiet and injected me with another suppressant. After that, he said in a quiet voice, "Can you still hear me, Boss Broken Halberd?" I nodded. "Sure I can. In fact, you could keep it down a little¡­" "Heh¡­" He turned around and took out a book from his bag. He said, "Boss Eve wants me to give you this. Well, she wanted to pass it to you personally, but I turned her down and¡­ she actually tried to tail my car on my way here. I managed to shake her off at the Wujiang roads though¡­" "..." I received the book. It had a pure white cover with the title "Life Is Like the Flower of Summer" on it. I flipped it open and found a passage written by He Yi herself on the title page. It said, "Life is as dazzling as the flower of summer. How can you leave when summer hasn¡¯t yet passed? We are all waiting for you to return, Lu Chen¡±. I closed the book and stayed quiet for a while. I couldn¡¯t even begin to describe my feelings. Gui Guzi patted me once on the shoulder and asked, "Do you miss her?" I clenched my fists. My body trembled, and tears were welling inside my eyes. "I would be lying if I said I didn¡¯t. In the past year, I have never been away from her for so long. It¡¯s funny how humans only tend to realize how precious certain things are when they¡¯re about to lose them. I regret not giving her the love she deserved, and failing to make her realize the depths of my love¡­" Gui Guzi smiled. "You still have a chance to make things right, boss. You will have all the time in the world to make things right if you live through this. As I see it, the countdown to your death is irrelevant. The only countdown I need is the only toward the completion of your virus¡¯s analysis. Once that reaches 100%, I¡¯m sure scientists will come up with plenty of ways to cure you permanently. After all, many of them are Nobel prize winners, and some have even been featured in the Times magazine¡­" I nodded. "I know, I know¡­ Say, how is your team doing in the WEL? The final battle should be close, right?" "Yeah. Things are going fairly smoothly. We¡¯ve encountered some difficult opponents, but none were strong enough to deal us the fatal blow. Li had defeated Song of Ice and Fire in just 17 seconds after getting your equipment. That is all you need to hear to know how strong he¡¯s become. Right now, his biggest goal is probably to defeat Candlelight Shadow in the national finals[4]." I smiled. "Yeah. That is what I wish to see as well. Only by defeating Candlelight Shadow can Chengfeng truly surpass his limits just like I had!" "Yeah¡­" ¡­¡­ 5 days until the final day. My vision had finally gone from blurry to an impenetrable gray haze. I could barely see anything now. This time, it took Gui Guzi until past 4 pm to finally show up. "Boss Broken Halberd, your eyes¡­" Gui Guzi let out an uncontrollable sob the moment he saw me. "Can you¡­ can you not see me anymore? I¡­" I smiled while holding the back of my chair. "So what? It¡¯s nothing to cry about. Anyway, I guess you would like to give me another suppressant?" "There won¡¯t be a suppressant anymore, boss. The doctors said that the existing suppressants are completely useless now. What the fuck are the Americans doing anyway? They should¡¯ve made a breakthrough by now!" I said, "Patience. These things need time¡­" "There are only five days left, and your body has already deteriorated to this extent! You don¡¯t have much time!" "Enough, Little Gui. I would like you to go home and give me some peace and quiet. Also, you can stop coming over since the suppressants no longer work on me. I¡¯ll be fine. Uncle can take care of me¡­" Gui Guzi¡¯s voice grew urgent. "I cannot possibly do that!" I chided him, "Are you a man or what? Even if you continue to visit me everyday, there is nothing you can do to improve my condition, is there? What you should do right now is focus on the WEL. Even if I die, I need you and Chengfeng to hold the banner of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls high. Don¡¯t forget the oath we swore back then. A life may end, but our dreams will forever live on. With some luck, I may yet live in your hearts after I¡¯m gone¡­" Gui Guzi retorted while crying, "Who the fuck would want a dude¡¯s spirit in their heart!? We only accept pretty ladies, so you¡¯d better stay alive if it¡¯s the last thing you do, you hear me? Don¡¯t let us down, boss. We are all waiting for you to come back!" I patted him on the shoulder and said, "Yeah. Now go. I promise you I will go home alive and continue conquering Heavenblessed with everyone¡­" "Yeah¡­" Gui Guzi left the room reluctantly. It wasn¡¯t until ten minutes later before I finally heard the engine of a Buick being started. ¡­¡­ 3 days until the final day. My body was near the state of total collapse. I was sitting beneath the shade of a tree, but I could neither feel the cool brush of a wind nor feel the burning pain of the sunlight. My vision had become so dim that I could barely see anything besides darkness and shadows. I could feel my last bit of vitality departing my body. I closed my eyes and felt like crying all of a sudden. Perhaps a silent passing would be beneficial for me and everyone else. But¡­ but I couldn¡¯t let go of the threads of fate connecting me to everyone, even at the end of my life. Lin Yixin, He Yi, Beiming Xue, Xinran, Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, everyone¡­ I just couldn¡¯t let them go. ¡­¡­ Pa¡­ My arm fell off my lap and brushed against a few shoots of grass. I could no longer muster even the strength to raise it back to my lap. Is this how it ends? Tears started rolling down my cheeks profusely. It was at this moment I heard the gate opening with a creak. Is it uncle coming back from somewhere? Suddenly, I felt someone grabbing my hand and lifting my drooping arm back to my lap. I opened my eyes and tried to identify the person standing in front of me to no avail. I murmured, "I¡­" Drip¡­ Hot tears dripped against the back of my hand, but they weren¡¯t mine. Albeit faintly, amid the sobbing I could make out the words, "Little Cheat¡­" 1. T/N: Little Gui, dude, you bought a fucking Alienware notebook for him? Seriously? ? 2. T/N: honestly, I wonder if Xinran could¡¯ve worked her goddess powers on him somehow. But at this time no one knows that the game "Eternal Moon" is a real universe¡ªfuture novel spoilers¡ªyet, so it¡¯s a moot point ? 3. T/N: poor landlord. Imagine taking a dude who, to be fair, paid you a lot of money for one month''s stay, but looks like a walking sack of transmittable diseases the more time passes ? 4. T/N: What the fuck? I remember the local competition of the first WEL ending in just 2 or 3 days before moving on to the internationals super quickly. Did it get extended or something? ? CH 1599 Final Chapter A man pushed open the rusted gates of Heavenblessed and ambled along a path illuminated by red lanterns. His magic scrolls had lost their luster, his armor was rusted, his weapon was broken, and the youngster he had once been was nowhere to be seen. He looked up at the white moon hanging in the sky. Time had washed too many memorable moments away, and it would continue to do so until the end of time. He sat alone beneath a roof and shed tears that seemed like they would never end. Life was like an ephemeral dream. The most anyone could hope for was that they had lived like a flower of summer, and died like a leaf of autumn. ¡­¡­ Epilogue Scenes Ten days later, Suzhou. A breeze blew into a room from a small but tranquil courtyard, swaying the window curtains a little. He Yi was resting on a snow white bed with a gauze covering her eyes. Today was the last day of her treatment. Clack¡­ The door to the room opened suddenly. He Yi sat up, gripped her blanket tighter and asked immediately, "Is that you, Lu Chen?" Li Chengfeng, dressed in his police uniform, stood at the entrance with the WEL championship trophy in his hands. When he heard He Yi¡¯s cry, he immediately started shaking and crying like a child. Swhoosh¡­ The trophy slipped through his fingers and hit the floor with a thud. His tears ran down his cheeks like a pair of waterfalls. "It¡¯s me, boss. It¡¯s Li Chengfeng. Lu Chen is still being treated right now¡­" She murmured, "Have you won, Chengfeng? Have you defeated Candlelight Shadow?" Li Chengfeng stared at the trophy on the ground and sobbed, "No, I have not¡­ There is only one WEL MVP in this world, and he is my eternal brother, Lu Chen¡­" ¡­¡­ Yangzhou, Yongan Town, at a riverside. After a Porsche had slowed to a stop, a beautiful girl stepped out and watched the bluish river for a moment. Then, she whispered in a crying voice, "Is there where big brother grew up?" Behind her, two bodyguards in black uniforms said in a low voice, "We should head back soon, big miss. President Xu is going to reprimand the two of us otherwise¡­" The girl shook her head resolutely. "No! Big brother had found Xinran in that world, so I will find big brother in this world as well. I know he wouldn¡¯t leave this world. I will find him, no matter what¡­" ¡­¡­ Suzhou. Beneath a gorgeous night sky, Beiming Xue sat unmoving at a cold transit stop. She stepped on the debris repeatedly while furrowing her pretty brows into a frown. Lian Xin said while supporting her shoulder, "It¡¯s time to head back, Beiming. You can¡¯t stay here all night, can you?" It wasn¡¯t until a long while later that the girl finally answered, "I don¡¯t want to return to the workshop. I will only stare at the big bro¡¯s room and blank out the whole day. I¡­ I would rather leave the workshop forever if big bro isn¡¯t there¡­" Lian Xin: "..." Suzhou, at a certain bar. Du Thirteen¡¯s face was utterly red from the sheer amount of alcohol he had ingested up until this point. He was so drunk that he didn¡¯t even notice that he was downing a glass of nothing at all. Gui Guzi consoled him, "Slow down, Brother B. And speak to us if you need to vent. I, Fighting Spirits and Li can all listen¡­" Du Thirteen¡¯s hot tears dripped against the table as he uttered, "We haven¡¯t heard anything since Lin Yixin had accompanied Lu Chen to the USA. I¡¯m worried that¡­ that¡­" "Don¡¯t worry,¡± said Li Chengfeng while gripping a bottle of beer and staring at the lamp above his head. ¡°Heavens help the worthy, and Lu Chen is the most worthy of us all!" A golden-haired beauty leaned against Li Chengfeng¡¯s shoulder with a smile. "Why don¡¯t you treat me to a drink, handsome?" The policeman simply replied, "Get away from me[1]." ¡­¡­ Heavenblessed, Dragon Domain. Rustle rustle¡­ A hand shot out from beneath a rock and strained against its coarse surface for a bit. Then, a Level 241 warrior pulled himself up the rock before chuckling, "Dragon Domain. Finally, our paths cross once more!" Whoosh! Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind blew against his body. It was so strong that he actually tipped backward and rolled down the slope. His long screams echoed, "What the fuck, how is the wind so powerful¡­" Half an hour later, a blood-drenched palm clung to the rock once more. This time though, the warrior didn¡¯t want for the wind to reset his progress a second time and leaped over to the other side immediately. He rolled down the entire way like a snowball. Pa¡­ Suddenly, he rammed into something and came to a sudden stop. When he looked up, he saw an impossibly beautiful woman staring down at him and saying softly, "Finally¡­ you have reached this place¡­" The warrior gripped his fists and began trembling all over. "Do¡­ do you still remember me, Binglan?" She nodded. "Of course I remember you. You are the reason my Dragon Domain became a land of ruin, are you not?" The warrior grimaced. "It¡¯s not my fault though? Anyway, I¡­ I wish to become your disciple and serve the Dragon Domain once more. I¡­" Binglan brought out a parchment and let it roll all the way to the ground. The warrior grabbed it and read the end of the long parchment. "I¡¯ve overdrafted by 90 million gold¡­? Shit¡­" ¡­¡­ USA, California. A beam of sunlight shone against a white bed and stirred a sleepy girl to wakefulness. She opened her eyes to reveal a pair of pupils that looked as pure as a gem. She visibly shuddered before whispering a daze, "I¡­ I¡¯m not dreaming, am I?" She sat up. The blanket covering her naked body slid down to reveal a pair of curvy breasts so beautiful that even the heavens might be stunned by them. She glanced at the person next to her before curling her lips into a beautiful smile. "I guess it isn¡¯t a dream after all. Hmph. You said you would take me all night, but you really lasted just 16 minutes, boastful dummy¡­ Mm, it still hurts a little¡­" At the small table next to the bed, a bag of DLS with its corner ripped open basked quietly beneath the morning sun. ¡­¡­ Beneath Dragonbone Mountain Range, Cool Wind Forest. Two mortal warriors were running across a wide forest clearing. Their IDs were¡ª ID: Breeze Break ID: The Scholar Isn¡¯t Eating Today ¡­¡­ "Your name sounds retarded, man¡­" Breeze Break said. The Scholar Isn¡¯t Eating Today waved him off. "I don¡¯t expect you to understand, but trust me when I say: I had to fight tooth and claw to register this ID before anyone else¡­ Anyway, have you finally resolved yourself to teach that brat a lesson?" Breeze Break said with a deep frown on his face, "You¡¯re aware that Lu Chen is definitely stronger than both of us now, right? I¡¯m worried that we will go for wool and come back shorn!" The Scholar Isn¡¯t Eating Today replied smilingly, "It will be fine. We just need to play dirty and wreck him with traps[2]. Your technique is better, so you can be the tank. I¡¯ll steal the last hit¡­" Breeze Break raised his eyebrows. "Sure. You¡¯re treating us to lunch if we get soundly beaten though!" "No problem! I¡¯ll just ask Xu Bing to foot the bill for us. She¡¯s your relative anyway¡­" Breeze Break: "..." ¡­¡­ Somewhere else in Cold Wind Forest. A pair of high-level players was sitting atop the branch of a thousand-year-old tree. They were a warrior in full metal armor and a girl wielding a windy blade. "Oh no¡­" The warrior suddenly took to the sky before unsheathing the golden sword behind his back. While summoning Battle Astral Wind to protect himself, he gazed into the distance and said, "I sense two perverts approaching us from that direction. Give me a moment to take them out, Yiyi. I¡¯ll be back in a jiffy!" The girl nodded with a smile. "Come back soon, and don¡¯t die¡­" "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m pretty strong, you know!" His sword came to life, carving a couple of words on the ground¡ª This novel has reached the end, my fellow heroes! Author¡¯s Divinity +1! T/N: And we¡¯re finally finished! There¡¯s actually one more chapter to go, but that¡¯s like 100 words long and a joke chapter. You should still read it though! Translating this novel has not been easy for many reasons, but the biggest reason of it all is that it doesn¡¯t pay well because of its lack of popularity. Lu Chen¡¯s choice at chapter 16 or something killed most of our readers¡¯ interest even after we tweaked some things to make it more acceptable. In the sequel¡¯s sequel called "Cutting The Moon", there is actually an extra arc involving Lost Leaf (yes, the author himself) going around slaying the heart devils of his protagonists and ultimately his own heart devil to wake up from his nightmare or something. Lu Chen is actually one of those protagonists. Had this novel been popular enough, I would¡¯ve translated Lu Chen¡¯s mini arc (which is basically one final recap of some of the major events in this novel, and a conclusion that made Lu Chen unique¡ªor should I say, unrivaled¡ªeven among all the other protagonists) for you guys to read. Alas, it would practically be charity and I¡¯m already running one such charity¡ªStar Rank Hunter, which I translate and post for free on Reddit¡ªand really don¡¯t feel like doing another. A man¡¯s gotta eat and all that. Not like fucking Mars is making things easy by going on a two month plus hiatus. All in all though, I didn¡¯t regret translating VRMMO: The Unrivaled. Despite the author¡¯s many, many flaws, his book featured a lot of epic and over-the-top moments that are rarely seen in many other web novels. Also, Lu Chen is a wonderful example of a flawed but fairly realistic protagonist done well. He¡¯s not perfect by any means, but his story is wonderful to follow all the same, which is something you cannot really say for say, Cha Jeong-woo from Second Life Ranker. While that novel is entertaining in its own right, I¡¯m mostly interested in the atrocities he¡¯ll commit in the name of bullshit and not the man himself. Anyway, I¡¯ll cut my rant short here. Thank you all¡ªespecially the sponsors, I¡¯m really sorry that we can¡¯t even entertain you by commenting on your comments since the website update¡ªfor supporting this novel, and hopefully we¡¯ll meet each other somewhere again. Ciao! Nabuch''s Note: Aaaaand it''s done! Editing this novel, for a gamer like myself, with education that should be identical to the author, was fun. There have been many times I''ve admired author''s ideas (anyone remember my rant about hexagram being used to escape pursuit in Final Dual Valley? Author is a genius!), many times I''ve laughed my ass off, and many times I''ve almost gone bald because dead people came back to life or math was just wrong (especially when items boosted healing power AND decreased casting time, author was always waaay off in these). The novel obviously had its flaws, but if I had one word to describe it, it would be "fun". The author had a loooot of ideas, and sometimes it felt like he was mixing them up, thus the confusion. The real life over-the-top soap opera was a cool refreshment between the "epic" Nation War moments where some people thought "Lu Chen, it''s just a game though, they aren''t REALLY dying in Final Duel Valley". I also appreciate that author was really growing the characters instead of randomly introducing new ones. Blood Alliance and Intelligence Agency were . Because of it, the world felt alive. If you went back and read some of the earlier chapters and character introductions you''d probably be surprised how many of them lasted until the very end of the novel. Our main ASDS cast was unchanged since like chapter 180. Now, Lu Chen as an MC. Frankly, he''s like an arrogant young master. After the beginning of the novel, he''s been relying on superior reaction time for pretty much everything. He was faster than everyone else and thus made the best decisions. His skill usage was really, really dumb near the end. Like Mad God Lunge not being utilized all the time, disarming while an enemy is immobilized with the God Binding Art. I don''t consider myself a god gamer in PvE, I''ve been playing Black Desert Online for years and there is literally nothing of the sort there. Still, I can recognize a bad PvE skill usage when I see it. :P Near the end of the novel he felt more like a mechanically good player with amazing equipment and shit for brains, opposite of the beginning of the novel really. A bit of a shame, so my theory is that the virus somehow repurposed his working thinking braincells into reactory braincells whose sole purpose was to send impulses fast enough for him to function. I mean, how do you explain his reaction time getting better once zombie virus was in his body?! In Nation Wars, his strategies were sound. He did rely heavily on the strongest cavalry in the world of course, and as a result, many of his dumb decisions, like chasing enemies into Flowing Cloud''s traps, were left unpunished. I still liked his style of counterattacking at the first possible moment. Taking the initiative really did suit him well, considering his superior army and personal strength. With both initiative and strength, even the strangest scenarios seemed at least plausible. I do think it''s a real shame many people dropped the novel because of Chapter 16 and Lu Chen hiding in the closet making He Yi cry. This one decision REALLY hurt the readerbase. I think we really underestimated the impact a single plot point can make for early readers, especially if it''s done so early that they feel like dropping the novel isn''t much of a loss. Since my fee was fixed, the novel''s popularity didn''t really affect me, but I honestly believe people who didn''t read up to at least chapter 88 and further were and are missing out. I''ve had a lot of fun. 1. E/N: Might seem random, but it¡¯s supposed to show that Li Chengfeng¡¯s wounds still haven¡¯t healed and he still doesn¡¯t welcome the idea of getting a girlfriend. ? 2. T/N: since neither of them are assassins, I¡¯m assuming that they mean luring Lu Chen to a minefield or something ?